that we know that none can sojourne in the Tabernacle of of the Lord Psal 15. none can inhabit the place of his holinesse who regulates not his steps according to his divine Ordinances In the Country of the Gadarens the man who had an unclean spirit which inhabited not but in Desarts â—nâ— Sepulâ—hres which broke all the cords all the chaines which restrain'd him who roared without intermission and gash't himself with stones when afarre off he beheld the Saviour of the World he ranne and prostrated himselfe at his feet and we who are not cram'd and stuf't with Devils who have not our abiding in Cavernes and who do not dismember our selves with rage and fury we I say who apprehend the verity of the Gospel who have the knowledge of God shall we fly before him when he approacheth us shall we stop our eares at his voice to lance and destroy our selves in vice Let 's awake our selves from our drowsinesse and render our selves capable of our proper good The men of Nineve reformed themselves at the preaching of Jonah The Queen of the South travelled from the extremities of the earth to heare the Wisdome of Solomon There is in the Gospel greater than Jonas greater than Solomon there is the Spirit of God who talketh to us who excites us to retire from our sinnes who hastens who threatens us Let us submit our selves then to God let 's approach him let 's remark our offences let 's lament weep and purifie our hearts let 's humble our selves under his powerful hand to the intent that he may secure us from the Devil who encompasseth us to devoure us Let 's abandon our transgressions and submit our neeks under the just government of the Omnipotent acknowledging him the stedfast Wall against which who knocketh breaketh himself Let 's lift up our tyred hands Heb. 12.12 and our dislocated knees and adore him who hath formed both the heaven and earth the Seas and all Fountaines of waters and not longer abase our selves as the impious as unregardful of his glory which we should elevate more high than the heavens if there remaines in us any recentment of his graces whil'st his favourable hand continues on us for our good whereof he has been more Prodigal than Liberal Let 's offer instantly our bodies a living sacrifice let 's spread out our hands before his wrath by prayers and amendment of life dreading his vengeance or ever it irrevocably destroy and overwhelme us which if we omit we hasten our deaths we ate the hang-men of our own soules if we longer attend Luk. 13.25 the gate of Gods mercy shall be for ever closed against us and in the day wherein we shall behold Abraham Isaac and Jacob with all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God wherein we shall see set at the Table of God his children who shall come from the East and from the West from the North and from the South we shall be miserably cast into darknesse 'T is long since God having endured our manners expecting our repentance he hath not hitherto corrected us but with the chastisements of a Father but if still we are insensible of these stripes and of our offences we shall constraine him to punish us with the Sword of extermination and give us up unto the power of the Executioners of his Justice Long patience contemn'd Heb. 2.1 draweth rigour without pity If what was pronounc't by Angels was firme and every transgression and disobedience hath received a just reward how shall we escape if we neglect the judgment of God so often declared against the children of iniquity would we be of the cockle and straw which shall be cast into the fire would we be of those cursed ones Mat. 13.49 who by the Angels shall be separated from the just to be cast into the Furnace Of those evil servants who shall be punish't with many stripes of those Reprobates who shall be overtaken with sudden destruction of those plants of offence who shall be devoured with consuming flames Would we be of those of whom Jeremiah complaines in these terms They know the way of the Lord Jerem. 5. but themselves have broken the yoke and the bonds Therefore are they slain by the Lyon of the Forrest the Wolfe of the Evening hath wasted them and the Leopard watcheth against their Cities whosoever cometh out shall be torn in pieces for their offences are multiply'd and their rebelloins are increased How shall I pardon thee for this saith the Lord thy children have forsaken me I have fed them to the full and they have committed adultery and are gone in Troops into Harlots houses shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation God is not idle in Heaven He contemplates on what is done here below He is there seated as a Judge to punish iniquity and when he reaches his hand highest 't is but to give the heavier stroak Why tarry we Rom. 2.5 if by the hardnesse of our hearts without repentance we heap up wrath against the day of the just judgment of God who rendreth honour immortality life eternal to them who with patience and well-doing seek his glory and who giveth tribulation and anguish to every soul of man who rebelleth against him and followeth iniquity If God spared not the Angels who had sinned 2 Pet. 2.4 and at once drowned the whole World except eight persons If he have given so many testimonies of his rigour on them who live in impiety what waite we for since 't is recorded in so many passages of the Gospel that we shall be more severely handled than Sodom and Gomorrah which were burn'd and reduc'd into a heap of sinders Seeing then that it is said 2 Thes 1.8 that God shall exercise vengeance with flames of fire against those who serve him not and are disobedient to his will Would we swallow the cup of the wrath of God even to the dregges would we dry up and exhaust to the very bottome the treasures of his patience Go to then since our malady is yet capable of Remedy Let us tear out those motes that are in our eyes let us reconcile our selves to God who stretcheth out his armes to us remembring that his children are not born of blood nor of the will of the flesh John 1.13 nor of the unsatiable desires of man but are born of God are born of prudence of charity wisdom and vertue Let 's not tarry longer fearing that he should rain fire and brimstone upon us and that he chase us not as cursed gates into eternal fire prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25.41 Instantly detesting our crimes abjuring our vices our sinnes and offences let us cast and prostrate our selves at the feet of God let 's raise our voices suing for our pardon redoubling our petitions submitting our selves entirely to his pleasure otherwise the tempest will
Satan There was none but he alone proper for so great an enterprize He alone who hath drawn us out of the path and slaughter of death to fill us with Triumphs He alone who is the Phaire and the Lanthorne who directs us to arive in a safe harbour and who hath ever his eyes open for our happinesse and watcheth over our affictions He alone who is the channel of perpetual sweetnesse which uncessantly distills on them who cast themselves into the Port of thy Clemency Great God The compasse of the Universs adores thy Grandure but as the glory of thy chiefest benefits are perpetually graved in the hearts of thy faithfull ones in whom by this holy sacrifice thou hast planted thy victorious lawrels Also it is requisite that I be the Temple in which for ever there may be chanting and sounding forth the Hymnes of thy Triumphs and that thou may'st be the sole object of my heart as thou art the cause of my repose and the end of my vowes as thou art the Redeemer and Conserver of my being what more beautyfull object my God can I enjoy then for ever to contemplate that Christ is the inexpugnable wall and Rampart of my life and that his charity heated with his watchfulnesse over me causeth without intermission to spring in thy compassions new sprouts of compassion This is the true Father of men who transported with the love of his children is offered for them in sacrifice and hath embraced their sorrowes and his death Up then my soul let thy thoughts be ravish't in the contemplation of this holy light of the world who shineth over the heaven and the earth and enlightneth with his flame the gloominesse of our most obscure night Up admire his compassion adore this Lamb without spot that holy Burnt-offering that eternal high Priest who hath given himself for thee Rejoyce thou oh my soul since thy clensing is so perfect and so pure since the merit of that death shall carry thee into the heavens Thou hast not my soul Heb. 7. one of those Sacrificers which are subject unto death made after the law of a carnal commandment who have need to offer continual sacrifices first for their own sinnes then for those of the people Thou hast one Sovereign high Priest made according to the power of an uncorruptible life and who hath one perpetual oblation one holy Priest Innocent separate from sinnes exalted far above all heavens who is consecrated for ever offering himself once to obtaine an eternal redemption The light of the world my soul chaseth the night and obscurity farre from thee but the knowledge of this sacrifice dissipateth all darknesse from thy eyes and renders thee capable happily to finish thy course on earth and attain with joy an aboad in Paradice Divine Trinity the only foundation of salvation Holy unity of three persons in whom consisteth all perfection and felicity whereof my soul can be render'd capable Grant me that I may worthily comprehend the majesty of this sacrifice and that all the dayes of my life I may meditate on its greatnesse Lord the Lamb is slain from the beginning of the world and both our fathers and we our selves have washed in one same blood and are redeemed by the same sacrifice 'T is what the Apostle saith our fathers were all under the cloud 1 Cor. 10.1 and have all passed throw the Sea and were all baptized in Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and have all eaten of one and the same spiritual food and have all dranke of one and the same spiritual cup. For they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them and that Rock was Christ So Lord the Patriarchs and Israelites have eaten and drank the same spiritual substance with us and have participated as we of the Communion of the body of the Saviour of the world The word Prophetick and Apostolick have the same efficacy Christ in the one and the other throw all equal to himself Their Sacraments giving them Jesus Christ to come to assume humane flesh and suffer for their sins and ours give to us the Saviour of the world come having taken flesh of the Virgin endured the Crosse and risen for our Justification The Manna and the water signified to them their future redemption and the bread and wine signifie to us the satisfaction of our Randsome acquitted by Christ come dead and risen after such a sort that we have but one like and same faith under divers signes Christ the only salvation of the Church in all its periods without the law under the law and under Grace He is prefigured in all the sacrifices exhibited in all Sacraments as well Old as New which are in all times unprofitable without Christ which is himself alone both the foundation and the sustance Abraham saw the day of the Lord and rejoyc't This great secret was revealed unto the Prophets who Publish't it through the world they were the signes of salvation to come Or Host and of the holy Bread which should be offered up for their sins and for our sakes the great Saviour of the world would rayse to the heavens at thy right hand the body which he had taken of the Virgin instituting the Sacrament of his body and of his blood to the intent that That which was once offered for the satisfaction of our sinnes should continually be honoured by a mystery Baptisme admitteth us into an allyance with God instead of ciricumcision The holy Supper instead of the Passeover nourisheth and entertaineth us Baptisme is called Regeneration that is to say a new birth The holy Supper The Communion of the body and blood of our Lord to nourish us to life eternal Of Baptisme water is the sign The blood of Christ the thing signified The water which washeth the staines of the body The blood which clenseth the sins of the soul In the holy Supper the bread and the wine are the signes The Body and the blood of Christ the things signified and signified most conveniently and properly by these signes of bread and wine for as much as the nourishment of our souls which is in Christ could not be better express'd than by that of our Body which converteth into their sustance that which they eate and drink So in the Sacrament of the Eucharist the bread which is blest and which is broken and given to eate and the cup which is blessed and given mee to drink represents to me The body and blood of Jesus Christ given and shed for me on the Crosse to me are the sacred Symboles and assured earnests that I am received into the communication of his body and of his blood which I spiritually enjoy by Faith in the Participation of the supper When I see the bread broken in the celebration of the supper I meditate with my self of his body which hath suffered death on the Crosse for the remission of my sinnes When I behold the wine poured into the cup I
call to my remembrance his blood shed for to acquire for me life eternal By the receiving the bread and the wine I enter by faith into a community into the society of the body and blood of the Son of God I draw life I draw absolution and am clothed again with his innocence and with his Justice By the vissible receiving which I performe of the bread and of the wine I am assured that I am spiritually united to Christ and made a Citizen of the Kingdome of heaven that he hath bequeath'd me and possessor of eternal life which he hath given me and in eating and drinking the bread and the wine at thy holy Table I am assured my God that I Participate of the body and of the blood of thy Son which I truely receive by faith and by which I participate of the Treasures and Heritage which he hath acquired by his death and which he hath bestowed on his faithful servants When I receive the bread and the wine I receive not only the Elements which are the figures and sacred signs of his body and of his blood but I receive by faith and in spirit the things themselves which are signified and represented Not that the bread and the wine of the Eucharist communicate to me his body and blood but thy goodnesse my God Thy truth Thy majesty Thy vertue and the efficacy of thy holy Spirit communicate and reach forth this body and blood to my understanding and my soul to be spiritually eaten and drank by faith The bread and wine serving to this purpose being sacred signes of his Body and of his blood which should be eaten by the operation of his holy Spirit without understanding any thing therein of sensual any thing corporeal ☜ any thing carnal and without searching here below and in our corporal mouths His true body with it's proper essentials with it's inseparable accidents with it's quantity and dimentions which is ascended to the heavens and set at the right hand of God where 't is requisite that the heavens contain him even until the restauration of all things Thus Lord I seek the body of Christ in heaven Acts 3.21 by faith I celebrate in the holy Supper the memory of his Death and of his Passion I declare it I esteem it and magnifie it even untill he come and I receive it not with a carnal mouth and corporal throat but after a Divine manner Sacramentally under a signifficant mystery with the mouth of my heart and spiritually by faith By faith which is the substance of things hoped for By faith whereby I really embrace his Body and blood and which bring to passe that in the holy Eucharist I am made partaker of it By faith which is the vessel and the hand whereby I receive thy Graces And as Lord 't is by faith that the Lamb was slaine from the beginning of the world 't is by faith that Abraham saw the day of the Lord 't is by faith that the Galatians have had Christ crucified before their eyes 'T is by faith that the Gospel gives me at this present eternal life Also Lord 't is by faith that in the celebration of thy holy Supper His body and his blood are present and subsistent in my heart in my spirit and in my soul 'T is by faith that I embrace his body and suck his blood which distilleth from his wounds And by means of this Sacramental eating and feeding on the body of the Saviour of the world and this spiritual drinking of his blood I am made bone of his bone flesh of his flesh I am incorporated in him I draw by faith eternal life from his flesh broken for me and from his blood shed for me I live of Christ and in Christ I live of his Justice instead that I should dye of my sinne I am justified by him sanctified in him to be eniivened and glorified in him By this holy Sacrament I am also admonished of my duty toward my Neighbour in regard as we are ransomed with the same blood made members of the same body and Dependants of one and the same Head and consequently one among our selves and by the Commandment of God and natural duty We all draw life from one and the same death nourishment from one and the same food and the self same cup. Up then my soul 't is here where thou oughts to Anchor and fix thy cogitations stay thy course and cast thy eyes upon the love of thy God 'T is here that thou oughtest to supplicate that Divine heavenly heart who onely bestowes motion upon men That only pulse and life of thy being 'T is the only base whereon thou foundest thy hope to inspire in thee the ardent flames of his Spirit and turn into thy heart the generous boylings of zeale heate and ardour toward him to the intent that thou mayest be a worthy partaker of that holy Sacrament which is the most singular consolation the most effectual remedy and greatest guift which he hath communicated to his upon the earth It 's the entyre Summe and Soveraign abridgment of his benefits it 's the certaine token of his infinite love the true treasure of his bounty Lord Eph. 1.7 thou hast ransomed me by the blood of thy Sonne according to the rickes of thy grace which thou causest plentifully to abound over me Instructing me in the secret of thy pleasure Thou hast informed me that 't is the bread of life by the which my soul is sustained That 't is the true Vine whereof I am a branch The gate of Honour and the rich assent which conducts me to the mount of Glory Thou hast called me to the communication of his body Hast applyed his merits to me made me his Co-heritor partaker of his Riches enjoying his celestial heritage In time-past I was not of thy people but now am I of the chosen generation of the Royal Priest-hood of the holy Nation of thy purchased people To th' intent I should set forth and magnifie thy grace and vertue my God who hast called me out of darknesse into thy merveilous light Thy Sonne is my only sacrifice my only oblation my onely Holocost by the vertue and merit whereof the heavens and all the treasures of heaven are open to me 'T is the onely remedy of my sin the onely spunge capable to efface my crimes 'T is the Sanctuary the Assillum of my salvation my heritage the joy and the Divine chaine sufficient to rayse me from these miserable places 'T is the tongue of succour who undertaketh my defence 'T is the sacred Anchor which stayeth my vessel and secureth it from ship-wrack and the prosperous Gale which freeth and delivereth me from the depths and Gulfes of the world If the food Lord which will sustaine me but one day obligeth me to praise thy Fatherly goodnesse how much more ought to be excited and enflamed my Devoyre to render thee thanks for the bread of life and for
Blest is he who is capable happy he who is treated as the Master Happy he who is of those grapes The Children of this World who are not couch't in a divine estate make themselves merry they are weak-sighted altogether imperfect to contemplate on heavenly mysteries they are strayed too far to recover the right way they imagine not that the reward is at the end of the race but they shall one day find that our miseries shall terminate in delights which endure for ever and their pleasures end in horrible and eternal torments 'T is then in this Combat against afflictions and death that we must contest that we must vanquish and that we must search for the Crown of Christianity and Kingdome of God Our hearts will be crush't our eyes blemisht but our souls shall be filled with gladnesse we shall be beaten we shall be torn but our zeal shall augment and in its augmentation our contentment shall encrease Thou Barbarian thou mayst ravish our goods but the Eternal will not forsake us thou can'st exile us but all the Earth is the Lords Thou can'st threaten our lives but 't is those of our bodies 't is that of the World our soules are immortal Thou mayest send us to death but we conduct our selves thither we there shall receive it we will there suffer it patiently Our spirits are heads and masters of our bodies they are so elevated by the assistance of the Omnipotent Spirit that they are able to surmount all sorts of torments and death it self Infidels with what do you affright us so much with punishment with what do you menace us so highly to take away our lives with what do you make us so much afraid of death O pitiful Adversaries we contemn we despise the world we make no account of afflictions we trample over the fear of death Ha wherefore should we fear so much to give for so admirable and excellent a Subject so Glorious so Honourable That which such a multitude of persons lavish dayly to obtain a little pay That which so many Generals give so freely to merit to have their browes encircled with a branch of Olive or of Palme How many mighty men hazard themselves dayly to the peril of a thousand shot presse into dangers and into the croud of a battel on the hopes of an earthly victory rather than to behold their proper valour surmounted what a multitude presse and advance to the forefront bearing their bodies against wounds exposing themselves to the edge of the Sword stretching out their persons on the earth to sustaine the Banners of a stranger of whom they receive not above foure Crowns of pay With how much more reason than they should we render ourselves obstinate in the Combat resolute of the victory We contend not for a point of honour and glory we endure not for a stranger we suffer not for an inconsiderable reward we have a better and different hope than a punctillio of honour or of gain than of pay We contest for the immortal honour of true Christians we endure for the great God for the Creatour of heaven of earth of men we suffer for our Saviour our Christ our Salvation for a glittering recompence resplendent and enduring for ever God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of courage we can performe all things through Christ which strengthneth us 2 Tim. 1.7 Phil. 4.13 we can demonstrate that nothing can reverse the Banners of the Church and that every thing that opposeth it self against it's course is not but for the augmentation of its glory What if Murtherers leavy war against the Gospel they do nothing but dash against a mighty and puissant Rock which fixes and strengthens it self within it's own wait Let them satisfie their rage and fury they shall not for that overthrow the Kingdome of God Their fathers imagined they had massacred all the Prophets and neverthelesse the Lord reserved to himself seaven thousand men who had not bowed their knees to Baal 'T is requisite mauger all the Wolves that the Gospel passe from one Pole to the other That it cause his voyce to eccho over all that which the Sunne illustrates with his beames that it glide like a Thunderbolt of fire as a flash of lightning even to the most barbarous and savage regions and fill their mouths with the memorable and mighty acts of the Lord. God when it shall be seasonable for his glory will multiply his own by meriads when it shall be seasonable he will cause his Church to out-shine all the Idols of men To the intent that as he caused miraculously the Rod of Aaron to flourish among the twelve Num. 17. laid on the Tabernacle by the Tribes of Israel he ratified and confirmed his High Priest against the murmure of the people after the same sort having caus'd his Church to flourish above all false doctrines of men he shall by so much the more confirme his own When it shall be seasonable he will smite our enemies with dimnesse as he did the Inhabitants of Sodom who would have forc't the house of Lot wherein he had withdrawn two of his Angels When it shall be convenient he will silence these Vultures and these Ravens who foretell epidemical calamities these fire-brands and incendiaries who come to light again the flames and to foment the sparks of our adversities he will stifle and silence these Trumpets of sedition these bloody voyces these stomachs of Iron and of Brasse who howle without intermission to procure the destruction of Christians When it shall be seasonable he will cause to rebound on their account Luk. 11.51 the righteous blood spilt from that of Abel even unto that of Zechary who was slain betwixt the Altar and the Temple and from that of of Zecharie even untill this day But these dayes shall come in that rank which he hath ordained for them by his providence who now calls us to suffer affliction with constancy We know that the Nations ought to exalt themselves against us Mat. 24.6 that we must be led before Governours and Kings for Christs Name sake Our nearest relations must deliver us to death we must be afflicted we must be hated ☞ we must behold the abomination fore-told by Daniel the Prophet we must be torn as sheep by the Wolves we must suffer hunger and thirst we must be Vagabonds in Desarts and to endure persecution in every place but our reward is great in heaven and the same hath been practic'd against the Prophets We are blessed to suffer persecution for righteousnesse and to manifest that we are the Children of God in patience in anguish and in labours we are happy to be guided through these dusky nights to the desired haven of our repose Our bodies are blessed to suffer these stripes which heal their wounds and more blessed our souls to receive them to their salvation We shall relish somewhat of sweetnesse in our sufferings of repose in our inquietudes
no more quench't than that of the Dropsie When he possesseth the wealth and treasures of the earth the care of it doth not faile to accompany his wretched steps His desire hath no limits he findes nothing that stayes it it still encreaseth with the augmentation of his wealth His avarice interrupts his sleeps accusing him of sloth spurs up his diligence the hath alwayes some designe upon his neighbours estate his eye is ever pensive ever sad ever evil and ever watching the riches of his neighbours as adulterers the wives of other men He renders himself a slave to his wealth he commits himself into it's power and possession and still stares and gazes upon it When he considers that they are fleeting and unstable that none can ever hold them sure that there is ever danger that they be not taken away then he trembles then he changes colour then he growes pale Beholding them ravish't in his presence he suddenly tares dismembers and butchers himself with rage He cannot behold without despair the losse of the riches which altogether possesses his will Poor and blind man thou observest not how thou plungest thy self into the water after those superfluous and perishing things that the defect is not in thy wealth but in thy spirit that by how much the more thou augmentest thy treasures by so much art thou laid open to the stroakes of adversity Go ☞ go fill not the aire with so many vain complaints weep not more for that thou hast lost thy wealth but because thy riches have lost thee Shed rivers of teares for that thou hast hitherto disturb'd thy spirit and not for that they are slipt out of thy hands If gold would prolong thy dayes if death would accept a randsome for thy life thou hadst then some excuse to have so afflicted thy heart to be separated from them But thy stately structures the spatious extent of thy fields thy large and oriental pearles the lustre of thy diamonds and thy ornaments of pride have not sufficient vertue as to remove sorrow from thy heart and anger from thy countenance Thy feavour will not forsake thee to behold thy treasures display'd nor by unfolding thy great wealth the cold fit will as much shake thee in a bed of state as of straw Thou wast too eager sharp and greedy after the provision of this life thou shalt have more than is necessary for the way that is behind Observest thou not how speedily our age passeth that life then leaves us whil'st we make preparation to live how death pursues us how he casts his darts after us and at one blow parts us from our riches To what end serves all this wealth seeing life is so fraile and failes So lightly so easily ☞ seek then things necessary for thee Note and not more Search them without Passion enjoy them without care and lose them without regreat For the Future Elect Treasures which can secure themselves from oppression and that are not subject to Moth or Rust and hide them in such a place that by none they may be betrayed unlesse thy self Behold another who is driven with different gusts The Ambitious man describ'd whose industry is not lesse marke what paines he undergoes to atchief glorious Titles to satisfie his ambition he hath not other end of his strugling than a vain grandure he is puft up and swells his soul to the heighth of his Station he prides himself to observe the excellency of the structure of his Palace To see the threshold of his gate throng'd by multitudes of Sutors And despises and contemns all beneath him but the miserable wretch Idolizeth the lustre of some dignity more eminent than his own and being arived to that he yet aspires higher and so he dayly pants gapes and reaches after those things which are above him untill that death at one stroke deprive him of his life and cause him at one horrible leap to tumble as low as he designed to have flowen high What fury is so puissent and prevaent that can transport his spirit so long enraged with a blind errour to seek his content in the throng of such a multitude of unpleasant and troublesome affaires what folly is it rather to seek his glory in a half worm-eaten Title Ancient Marble in a Rusty Helmet than in his vertue ☜ his Knowledge his Prudence what madnesse to glow with a desire to eternise ones memory by erecting of Palaces which time will demolish rather than engraving his glory in an eternal Brasse and to seek a perdurable habitation within the Holy dwelling of Paradise where lyes the Grandure and Immortallity of name and not in the vanities and smothers of the world This Rock is more firme This Holy Pillar more sollid and more assur'd than the earth which hath not received from God other foundations than the slippery prop of the most subtill Element Ayre 'T is there then that he ought to establish his felicity and not in-humane delights which suddenly passe and escape our eyes in an instant The Voluptuous man describ'd This other worldling which thou beholdest is baited with the vain sweets and delights of the flesh he sucks his vapors with long draughts he stupisies all his senses in the pleasures and extacises of an adulterous bed he plunges and precipitates himself headlong in these transports and that she who possesseth his soul which even ravisheth him with delight with one onely glanse of her eye being incited with the same cupidity and ever the more for to entice him mixes a thousand beauties with her native lustre she addeth art to the workmanship of nature wherewith she so very properly embellisht all the glances of her countenance She adornes her head with false hayre and borroweth her complexion from a most exquisite paint and tincture But all these delights shall perish in an instant like dreames who lose their pleasure in awaking These Delicates are to them venomous potions These Perfumes penetrating poysons which murther in an instant They swallow Pills outwardly guilded and sugred whereof they shall incontinently relish the bitternesse They eat of the apples of our first Parents pleasant to the sight but hard of digestion These ayres which flow so sweetly from the mouth and with such an agreeable Tone are Syrens Songs which through the eares charme their souls and slacks them to ruine them Their mouth for one kisse breaths out a thousand sighths their hearts for a dram of delight sends forth a thousand groanes The time of their pleasure is not to be compared to the length of their Repentance And often by a sudden mutation men see one day the sun shining upon their delights and on the morrow Hell covering their miseries Behold some of those Dreams we ran after The Passions within the which we bury our selves without power to disengage us There are an infinite number of others whereof the recitall would be troublesome and superfluous seeing that in these alone the
vanity of our Cogitations are but two apparent and their end cannot be hid The covetous wretch hath but a little gold and land this Mallady is not folly 't is Rage all to him is too little and a little to him is nothing The Ambitious knoweth no Serene dayes the ferver of his desire causes him every moment passe his life in renewing deaths And in conclusion he enjoyes nothing but winde The voluptuous man has but little pleasure which glides vanishes away and forsakes him sooner than thought or instant leaving him nought but a Boysing ☞ but a sad Repentance and all three are so inchain'd so fastned to the world and yet have secret Vultures which without intermission gnaw and tyre on their Hearts Let us not then like them Establish our hopes on Humane things which are leaves moved with every blast Let us not pursue these vaine Grandures neither plunge our selves in these Delights followed with so sad so miserable a conclusion Let us steere our vessels out of Perill and not linger till the Tempest by force cause us make Port after ship-wrack Let us not longer be slack to our good considering that all is vanity which the heavens encompasse defacing and razing one of our hearts all the Tracks of the world establishing our assurance on the force and right hand of him whose firme support shall no way be able to frustrate our expectation Our Ornament shall be quite different to theirs and the fruit of our labour shall far surpasse them They heap up these earthly vapors and exhalations which as suddenly vanish They fill the ayre with their clamours and wishes they sow to the winde and reap nought but vanity and emptinesse They Build on the sand and their edifices fall to ruine They paint on the floods and the Traits of their Pensill disappears They are carefull of nothing but their fraile Bodyes and permit their souls the immortal seed of heaven to lye neglected They wallow in Mud and Dirt and come forth desil'd ☞ They search for Paradise in Honours in Riches in the world and find nought but Passions but paine and sorrows Instead of meditating of and assuring the life after these ashes they close up against themselves the passage of heaven In the course of their vanity they are cleere seeing Owles and of that which is above blind Molds They suffocate their Reason in their Delights and live as creatures that have not other care but for their bellyes Instead of transforming themselves to Angels they degenerate into Beasts They abase instead of exalting themselves in lieu of elevating continually their hearts on high they pronounce not the Name of God but with Blasphemies In stead of dreading the powerful effects of his puissant arme they have nought but their desires for Law And if they sometimes talk of God 't is not but like Paretts with their lips without understanding what themselves say and are deafe to their own proper voyces Let us not then follow this path by the which men march retrograde but contrarily not give rest to our eyes till we have discovered the true path walking by the way that tends to our Original Neither let us aspire to any thing but our felicity being still mindfull of our salvation Let us build on the Rock and on the Free-boord to the end that we may remaine firme as the Mount of Syon Let 's oppose our spirits to our flesh by a solemn Protestation consecrating our hearts our voyce and our hands to the Glory of the Chief Universal and the Principal cause of all beings Let our desires terminate in him that his fear may be a Curb to our follyes That in his love these springing passions may be extinguisht To the intent that we may hold in chief of Heaven and not so much as relish of earth Joyning our voyces to the sweet and melodious accents of those Divine spirits and beautifull soules which glitter in the midst of our Darknesse as stars in the night And ever be mindfull that our other chiefest agitations proceed from artificial and ridiculous causes but that our prime and universal obligation is that of God in which consideration we ought freely to engage all the estate and our lives Casting behind us the Idolatry of perishing beauties being obliged to trample under foot that lustre we so blindly adored It 's expedient to be effected that the delights of the world should be despleasant to us it behoveth us not like mad men to weave the web of our proper destruction and building our felicity on a basse of so short a duration and which resembles a flash of fire which is extinguish't as soon as kindled The riches of men are fleeting and subiect to be lost James 1.10 there is no assurance in their favours the rich with their enterprizes will fade as the flower of the grasse having great designs yet know not what shall fall out to morrow their life is nothing but vapour and smoke He lives in pleasure upon earth James 5.2 he abounds and satisfies his heart but his Riches shall corrupt his garments shall be moth-eaten his money shall rust and it's rust shall be a testimony against him and shall gnaw his flesh like fire His fields shall yield a plentifull encrease he shall gather goods for many yeares but in the following night God shall require his soul Let 's not then more labour after the food that perisheth Luke 12.20 but after that which endureth to life eternal John 6.27 Let 's follow the steps of Jesus Christ and push from us with detestation the enchanting voyce of the world leaving our nets in the Sea after the example of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew quitting the ship and Zebede in imitation of St. James and St. John following the Saviour of the world who summons us The graces of the Omnipotent are the greatest happinesse we can attain to Tim 6.7 He forewarnes us that we set not our hearts on the uncertainty of riches but on him who bestoweth all things plentifully He hath advertis'd us Tim. 6.7 that covetousnesse is the root of all evil makes men wander from the faith and envolves them in many sorrowes Go to them ☞ let 's call to mind that there 's no felicity but in him and that none but his love is Permanent He hath caus'd the earth to yield fruits to nourish our Fathers he by its dayly productions releeves us after them and will effect it by his goodnesse that it shall still bring forth to sustain our Posterity He who hath satisfied five thousand mē with five loavs two little fishes Mat. 14.19 will ever supply us with means sufficient to pass the rest of our time which he will have us to live upon the earth The men of the world have their Heritage in this life their bellies are satisfi'd with food their children are glutted and leave the over-plus to their little ones They imagin themselves rich
danger The infinite number of afflictions should instruct us not to esteem them as considerable Our life is no other than a continual war-fare if sometimes we are free from heavinesse it 's nothing but a short truce with the world or rather a suspension of armes and no absolute no entire peace If the Sunne shines bright a sudden storm in an instant chaseth away the serenity of the ayre and filleth all with darknesse if we behold a glimpse of light we are again plunged presently into a more close prison War interrupts peace sicknesse health death the sweetnesse of conversation Pleasure and sorrow are of near assinity and ever entertain each other Such is the condition of men against which plaints are unprofitable Such it was to those in ages past and so shall it be to them in time to come The remedy is that we serve our selves of these changes as Musitians of Tones flat sharp and diverse It 's necessary that we learn to conduct our vessel not onely in calme still waters but also in the high going and rough billowes Contrary winds do not hinder that we aid our selves by following the North if so be we hoyse and trimme our sailes as we ought The bitternesse of griefs are sweetned by remedies the nettles do not sting when we presse them very hard nor afflictions when we tread on their throat If they made choice of persons if in passing by some they spar'd them altogether their inequality would be more insupportable but the bullet is blind it pierces as soon the Captain as the Souldier The feavour is deaf it retires not sooner for the plaints of the greatest than the meanest The heat of the Sunne scorches without distinction all those who are in the Plain The cold as easily penetrates the Velvets as the Shagges and death overturnes every one without excepting any to the intent that the equality of each ones necessary destiny should serve for a general consolation But if it appeares to us that we behold some who are ever at their ease who live and flourish in great plenty of all things without encountering any affliction assuredly we abuse our selves it 's the lustre of their habits which dasles us their Port and Fashion which deceives us we see not with what a multitude of agitations their soules are tormented what perturbations and what desires vex their spirits putting them into inquietude and interrupting their repose we see not their Catarrs their issues and the cryes they send forth in the dolour of their stone and gout the condition of their spirit and disposition of their Bodies is unknown to us They go not forth of their houses but in health they shew not themselves in publick but with a cheareful countenance whereas often their hearts are heavy and that is it which deceives us and then what know we what afflictions they have had heretofore what distempers then when we were in health what heavinesse at such time when we were in delight what understand we what mischiefs hang over their heads ready to overcome and destroy them An Ague is ready a pestilent ayre a weaknesse a fall the treachery of an enemy And if we be not satisfied with so many Considerations let 's cast down our sight and beholding so many poor people afflicted of all sorts seeing the beggar often in despaire for default of finding a morsel of brown bread Behold them tormented with a feavour impaired languishing laid overturned on the pavement observe the greatest consolation which they receive from our charity they are dragged to a hideous place fil'd with wretches there they understand nothing but cries but plaints but groanes but gaspings after death oft-times the dead remaining long among them before they be enterred and thus in these continued miseries they finish their lives Behold on the other side a poor father sick stretch't out upon the straw to whom bread is wanting when his labour failes him having five or six small children lying about him crying for hunger Behold one Bed-ridden of the Palsie these foure yeares continually pierc't through with heavinesse constantly gasping after death if we be so mischievous to receive any consolation from the harmes of another agreeable to our sorrowes 'T is most facile for us by this communion of miseries to asswage our own and to mitigate our affliction by the multitude of other afflicted ones which are so innumerable But let 's return to our selves what advantage have we by so many plaints do our afflictions retire for our cryes ☞ no they never swerve out of their way Give them passage then and crosse their humour to the intent they should not abide in our Company If by lamentations we think to chase away our evils If by teares we hope to lift up the Tombs and renew and enlighten again the extinguisht lives of our friends I should be of opinion to enforce our selves to distill out all we have of oysture But if our lamentations bring them no advantage if that our regreates are not so much as understood by them if the marble that presseth them heareth not our groanes to what end are so many unprofitable sighths so many rages so many faintings to no effect If it be in regard of them 't is folly if for our own do we love our ease so much then as to cruciate our selves for the losse of one contentment of one support or a little wealth If we lament for that 't is an affliction consider our misery observe how one stroak seconds another and how that if for every occasion we will afflict our selves ☞ teares will faile us sooner than a ground for lamentation 'T is a miserable remedy to go about to drive away one heavinesse with another it 's the way to passe away our life in continual teares and sadnesse and not to manifest the grandure of our courage and generosity of our soules Who is more praise-worthy or he who being surpriz'd and overtaken by an affliction doth by his impatience aggrevate and imbitter his misfortune and gives himself to despair or rather he who yieldeth not to it's assaults and thereby abates and frustrates the force of adversity by an invincible heart and couragiously bears away the victory The good disposition of our spirits should not change as that of our bodies according to Climates and Moons This World which beholds our persons may afflict them but not our soules which should continually reside in the hand of God what though our bodies are sometimes languishing wasting and consuming we are neverthelesse sound in our better parts to wit our soules seeing we fill them with assurance And why bemoan we our selves for so many diseases understand we not that our bodies are no other than receptacles of corruption and that many of them are hereditary and left us as a sad patrimony If we consider of how many diverse parts our bodies are compos'd and fram'd to how many several accidents each is subject and that the
Temple of my God Rev. 3.12 and he shall never go forth more and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is the new Jerusalem Who overcometh Rev. 3.21 I will cause to sit with me upon my Throne even as I also have overcome and am set with my Father in his Throne What hinders us now what doth obstruct us then to bear afflictions and miseries with constancy who hinders to surmount and overcome these things Is it this World are they our riches Alas why change we not chearfully and willingly our lands our habitations and our lives for repose for felicity for eternal beatitude Our life is short wherefore for so short a time do we renounce a perpetuity of blessednesse of the ages of Paradise Our life passeth in an instant why for to preserve a few dayes do we precipitate our soules in the Abisme Our life is precious to God he holds it he keeps it in his hands i◠he dispose it 't is for his honour 't is for our preservation ☞ why deny we him this glory and to our selves this profit Do we dread torments there is more of grief and anguish to finish ones life by a long and continued distemper than by a violent stroak death is more languishing and tormenting in a bed than in the sight of heaven in an assembly The Feavers Convulsions Catarrhs are more insupportable and fatal than torments Christ is present he exhorts us he offers himself to us he invites us he spreads his armes to receive us he will open the heavens for our consolation as to Saint Steven than when the enemies of the Gospel stoned him He will assist us with his strength and augment our courage as he hath done to so many Martyrs who have endured for his name Let us not then loyter any longer committing our selves into his hands The Lawrels and the Palmes never cast their leaves the true Children of God never quail The love of heaven doth so ravish them they are after such a manner fil'd with that divine fury so that when nothing remaines to them but their heart wherewith they are accustomed to contemne the most dreadful things that continues sound even to the end of their lives their souls are invincible untameable free and generous Let 's suffer then with patience lifting up our hearts to heaven Let those savage Beasts which are not satisfi'd but with blood and wounds who are not asswaged but with murthers who are not delighted but with the sounds of racks having nothing agreeable but to dismember Christians Let us suffer if it be the pleasure of God to deliver us into the hands of these Butchers if they cause our bodies to stoop under the weight of Martyrdome Let us suffer if they redouble their rage if they do not forbear any kind of cruelty and as Lyons Whelps fil'd with flesh they feed their eyes on our dead bodies and dabble their hands in our bloody effusions God will assist us with his power and will raise us by his Omnipotent Spirit when 't is for the honour of his Name above the racks and flames The most cruel torments shall not be considerable to us the greatest most ponderous punishments shall be pleasant unto us these cruelties cannot astonish us death it self shall be life Our faith shall sustain our bodies seeing them torn it shall the more encourage us to suffer Our holy zeal shall delude the most sowre afflictions will cause us to advance into flames without amazement we shalconsume our selves with satisfaction embracing Martyrdome We shall imitate those Martyrs who for such a subject have endured a thousand afflictions have a thousand times spilt their blood have sustained a thousand flames These Martyrs whose Names and Renowns have found the earth too narrow to comprehend them These Martyrs who have magnifi'd Christianity by their blood who have accepted Martyrdome for their Crown These Martyrs who by a few torments are gone for ever into Supreme felicity Up then Barbarians what havock and slaughter soever you make of our bodies we remain firme and resolv'd to die Our bodies are vanquish't our spirits remain Conquerors You shall behold us languish full of delight in a divine Martyrdome You shall see our blood boyling with devotion to distill and trickle into the flames That our death shall be lovely and beautiful to be for ever famous to Christianity That our bodies shall be blessed to be consumed for the glory of the Saviour of the World That our blood shall be precious to witnesse and trace out the way to heaven That those flames shall be exquisite which set a lustre on the truth in the eyes of a throng and croud of poor Ignorants That our ashes shall be pretious to celebrate publish and to spread the Gospel among men If the earth be glutted with our blood the example of our Martyrdome will make us re-created by Miriads if they consume us as the Phenix we shall be renewed within our ashes Meditations for one that is sick FRail Creature in the midst of thy imaginations thou wastest and consumest thy self thou straglest thou wanderest and losest thy self amongst the vanities of the World Thou runnest out of knowledge in these slippery paths without understanding thy feeblenesse without considering that at the first step upon the first advance thou mayst stumble that a sprain may turn thee quite short and that thou hast no sooner weighed anchor than thou art in danger of Ship-wrack thy health hath puft thee up thy courage hath raised thee up precipitating thee into pleasures and delights and suddenly a chilnesse surpriseth thee some heat a pain in the head thou art dejected thou tremblest thou doubtest whether it be some light distemper or rather a disease tending unto death O Lord the World to this moment hath possessed me her delusions have intoxicated me at this instant my sinnes stare in my face as if I were awaked from a prosound slumber I begin to recover my spirits my eyes retort their looks upon my self to behold my weaknesse and my body tyred and consum'd with the feavour which is mixt with my blood and with the pain which torments it is constrain'd to acknowledge her misery to reject her Presumption Lord these fogs which obscure heaven to me begin to fall off my Soul so long blinded recovers some glimmering I have lived to this very instant swimming and floating at the pleasure of the Tide give me grace that I may arrive at the Port I have passed my time in darknesse give me light in the rest of my dayes Poor Carcasse thy Original is in infection thy habitation in a station fil'd with tempests with diseases with torments with bloody wars in a place common to the savage beasts upon an ingrateful earth out of which thou can'st extract nothing but with the Plow-share and edge of the Iron For thy end thy flesh is the prey and triumph of wormes thy
our carcasses under the weight of his yeares how highly our dayes glide away That the present makes way to the future that importunes it that presseth it that treads on it's heels that our yeares are consum'd by months the months passe away by dayes the dayes glide by houres and the houres by moments and that encreasing to be we advance our selves to decrease and be no more Perceive I not Lord that in this world all things incline to their destruction posting to their period marching and running into death and notwithstanding that there are some works of thy hand very durable yet neverthelesse there is nothing that is permanent Witnesse those great and proud Cities who find themselves sudenly devoured and suddenly swallowed by earth-quakes Those nations grown insolent by their long rule authority who behold themselves in an instant mowed down by millions by the Pestilence I shall therefore prepare my self good God cheerfully to obey thy Ordinances I shall contemplate on my infirmity which by degrees cuts off the use of this life I observe that my fall is already far advanc't that death mixes and confounds it's self through out my life I shall joyfully and cheerfully receive and with an unastonish't countenance that which it pleaseth thee to ordain for this poor creature and shall not be of their number who submit to thee by constraint because the winde carryes them because the celestial decrees who ever conserve their puissance draw them from above and because they understand that in vain they should resist thy invincible power which tames and surmounts all things wherefore then esteeme I not my self blessed to have an entyre and absolute deliverance from my sufferings and to go and triumph with the ever blessed Citizens in heavenly joyes and delights who feel not any griefs nor distempers wherefore after having so long turn'd tost having so long time floated at the pleasure of the waves and floods do not I please my self to have attain'd the shore and to appear in the Port why should not the haven be agreeable from whence I see a far off the Sea swelling stir'd up and enraged by the tempest to lift it self up to the clouds and the Billowes foaming to sink the ships or cast them against the Shelves and the Rocks to break them and my self in the mean time freed from ship-wrack Up arise my soul thou art here far off from perfection fix not thy eyes longer on the earth with-draw thy sight from the miseries of the world efface them out of thy fantacy Imitate the Pilgrim who seekes the fresh and the cool shadows to ease him of his travel Up up my soul remember thy self that God gives not admission into his pleasant Syon but by the sacred gate of a blessed issue out of this world abandon the night to enjoy that Sun quit these desolate fields and desarts to enter into these quarters of flowers come out of these endlesse Gulfs of mischiefs to live in these fulnesse of blessings Up rouze thy courage fortifie thy zeal embrace this Divine present Embrace this passage to ascend to heaven Follow chearfully thy God who will catry thee for ever into his holy Temple all resplendent and glittering with glory and felicity where thy eyes shall perfectly behold him whom thy spirit adores where thine age shall remain firm where thou shalt be rendred more sparkling and bright than the Stars where thou shalt behold the earth under thee and the day to issue and break from under thy feet O wretched vessel which the waves which the winds and the Pilot direct and steer to such contrary courses that thou shalt be happy to have power speedily to traverse these dangerous Shelves and Rocks of this life to behold thy self in all safety and shelter in a freedome in a place of rest in a place where tranquility and peace inhabit forever O my soul that thou shalt be content freed from the vexations of the world to understand those holy notes and that sweet that pleasant and Divine harmony of heaven which so many millions of Angels render unseasantly unto the Lord Quit then thy shackles and thy prison ☞ render thy self into his hands who hath formed thee and will carry thee into this holy habitation wherein repose is infinite the satisfaction eternal and riches without measure where thy cogitations shall have no other aime than thy God thy eyes no other object than his glory where thou shalt flourish in an eternal spring ☞ and shalt breath nothing but most perfect and absolute felicity Praise praise this Divine Herald which comes intimating the day of thy departing that thou must cease to live and disrobe thee of thy desires imitate the swans who in dying render their voyces most harmonious being the last day of their songs Good God I am without colour without vigour and without motion unlesse that which perturbations of minde causes a thousand cares gnaw my spirit and a thousand snares of solitude entangle in my cogitations and hold me straightly fixt to their sorrowes the same distemper the same grief equally labours my body and my soul I miserably languish in this poor carcasse which surfeits on sorrows and savours of nothing but the Coffin My soul is stuffed with ignorance and gloominesse with ice and coldnesse 't is stupid and heavy but by thy grace in one instant she will mount her self into heaven she will be fil'd with splendour and light she shall be ravish't in the contemplation of the beauty of thy Divinity she will be partaker of joyes not to be exprest and with contentments the only contemplation whereof begets an ardent desire in my will she shall adorn her brow with a wreath the folyage whereof shall ever flourish and never wither she shall bathe her self in thy Divine spring there to draw water and drink to the intent never to thirst more to the end that that draught should be made a fountain of living water in her flowing into life eternal O holy stream Current of joy and entyre delight Eternal Source which never dryes up that my soul might ever repose under thy shadow that it might draw the sweetnesse of thine ayre let her live in the admiration of thy perfections This Lord is the ardent desire that inflames me 't is the only vow which possesseth my heart the health of this body concernes me not her greatest age is not so much as one poynt to the price of the eternity of my soul and then 't is necessary to return to earth to be fashioned anew that she may dye in Adam to be born again in Christ that she may descend into the grave to come forth immortal that she must hide her self under the earth even to the day that thou comest to awaken on a sudden raising it up to glorifie it until that great day which shall surprize all humane designs Thou shalt make this All to shiver at the sound of the Trumpets of thine Angels
the only vertue whereof shal fix establish this handful of earth higher than the heavens I already perceive the rayes of his divine grace which begin to shine over my soul I feel in my self the assistance of his holy Spirit Away then all worldly cares get you behind me be packing and approach no more You are nothing but corrupt water but rottennesse then infection in respect of those heavenly beauties of those odorifferous and fragrant flowers which cast forth so sweet a sent which surpriseth my spirit and ravisheth me in the contemplation of them But good God pain and torment cuts off my speech whilst I implore thee consider my malady which reinforces it self which redoubles its violence It appears to me that my feavour is obstinate to revenge on my flesh and on my bones the offences committed against thee the heat stifles me the chilnesse causeth the members of my feeble carcasse to shiver to sustain and endure a thousand torments I can do no more but sighth and bemoan my self I languish all wounded quite undone and my vigour hourely wasts and decayes I am thirsty my mouth is dry I can find nothing that can quench my infinite drought my feavour takes away from me the relish of every thing all liquors seem bitter all food is against stomach their very sight is nautious not so much as the thought I swallow my spittle instead of all nourishment Alas Lord I well perceive what will become of me I cannot longer resist the assaults of so many evils all the succours of the earth are too feeble to heal me my countenance droops its extinct my members begin to feel the rigour of death I tosse and tumble up and down I stretch my self and am no more I court a little repose a little sleep but it flyes me I can obtaine none Alas formerly my repose descended and dropt so pleasantly into my eyes The night was accustomed to bury all my cares to give truce to my labours to enclose all my torments in a grateful slumber I ever adjourn'd my trouble untill the day untill the Sun came to open mine eyes But now Lord I cannot with great difficulty close my eyes to slumber but instantly I waken my self affrighted with the terrour of a thousand dreams with a thousand horrible visions which appear before me successively The silence of the night which was so agreeable to me at present redoubles my horrours my eye-lids are inclined to watch perpetually my infirmity increases dayly its rigour and violence recovers new force every moment and oppresseth me the more it gains upon me Lord thou hast made adversity as saith the Prophet Amos thou hast created it as saith Isaiah and nothing comes upon us but by thy just providence as Job hath acknowledged in the extremity of his affliction Alas my God thy judgments are perfect I feel the effects of thy fury the weight of thine Arme I submit and render my self to thy mercy cure not my evil by another apply not remedies more sharp than the distemper have pity on my sufferings At least Lord prevent that the tediousnesse of my pain discompose not offend not nor overturn my spirit continue my judgment to me to the intent that I may employ that little time which remaines to meditate and consider thy graces and to beg my pardon Lord thou hast caused waters to flow out of the rock and to refresh thy people in the Desart cause to spring out of my faith a fountain to refresh my scaldings and to give intermission to my evils to the end that my soul fil'd with a divine zeal may wholly raise up her self to heaven and civert from this carcasse the sense of its miseries Lord Lord approach thee near to me my voyce cannot convey my sorrowes even to thy eares and so my miseries shall surpasse my plaints Lord from thy Royal Palace from thy holy and sacred Throne thou considerest all that is acted here below Alas incline thy countenance to my aid assistance redouble not more the extremities of my feavour augment not my sufferings I understand good God that by the destruction of this carcasse my Soul must enter into its felicity but cause what remains to dissolve easily cause that my natural faculties diminish by degrees and that my Soul may depart gently and from the midst of this bed she may fly to thee Lord my breath is so short my infirmity is so violent my dissolution is so near that I behold nothing but the shadow of my Coffin and the depth of my grave which attends me My half dead body makes me utter interrupted speeches my words vanish in my mouth and willing to continue my complaints I cannot make an end Alas good God I fear that my voyce will forsake me strengthen me for awhile or at least be so gracious that in my Soul I may acknowledge my faults and obtain thy pardon Grant me that the short time I have to live may be nothing else but a penitence for my sinnes and a meditation of thy goodnesse that I may not delight but in the sound of thy voice that thy holy volume may be in lieu of a pillow that my heart that my spirit may breath forth and contemplate thy praises Lord my distemper is so violent that it suffocates me yet notwithstanding it oppresseth me not so much as the vast number of my sinnes which I observe hasting before me and the punishment that followes I tremble when I turn my eyes toward thee great God revenger of iniquities which enlightneth and pierceth through the shadowes and remarkest the tracts of all my offences Thou beholdest my conscience without any vail without ornament all my cognitations are open to thee the past and present are both alike before thee thou readest during the course of my life the train of my offences that I have committed thou beholdest thy enemy in my habitation thou findest him inclosed in my bosome My voyce should ever sound in thy eares it ought incessantly to cause thy praises to eccho upon the earth on the contrary my mouth hath ever been open to blasphemies closed to thy Word Thou hast given me a spirit to know thee a heart to adore thee hands to stretch forth to the support and relief of my neighbour I am revolted from thee I have despised the afflicted and have avoided the path of the poor and needy fearing their ran-counter I have avoided their company as if I had dreaded to behold them When thy heaven hath thundred I have stopt my eares I have rendred my self deaf When thy Sun hath cast forth his beames upon me I have made my self blind when thou hast sought after me I have fled away when thou hast called me I have not answered when thou hast corrected I have been hardned at thy stroakes Inlieu of sacrifising my life for thine honour I have continually betrayed thy service I am abandoned to vices I have serv'd riches the follies and vanities