and make our Bed swim with them by night we should certainly lie much softer for it But where the HOLY GHOST speaks of David's watering his Couch with his Tears it may be worth observing that He expresses it by a most ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 emphatical word to set forth the Greatness or Passionatenss of his pious Grief For the word signifies to dissolve or melt As if He wept to such a Pitch as that the Plenty of his Tears was able almost to dissolve the very Couch he lay on And so we find the same * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word made use of Psal 147.18 to express the melting or thawing of icy Morsels there mention'd To David we may add S. Peter He rushed we know into a grievous Sin in Denying our LORD It was such for the matter of it as a Christian could not well be guilty of a worse And it was as unhappily circumstantiated For he acted it after Warning expressly given him by our SAVIOUR against it †Mat. 26.34 Verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice He acted it after timely praecaution and a Solemn Promise that he would not commit it * ver 35. Tho' I should dye with Thee yet will I not deny Thee He acted it within a very short time even a very few hours after the Warning given and this Promise made He acted it at no distance from our Lord neither but in the same House and in the same Room where He was within His View and before His Face And yet He was one of the first Apostles that CHRIST ever called and amongst all the Apostles one chiefly favoured Nor did he barely deny his Master but he did it three times one after another interlarding his Denials with †ver 74. Cursing and Swearing A most sad Aggravation of his horrid Trespass when besides that it was so ill circumstantiated it was withal so hideously complicated and repeated But then his Grief we must observe was answerable to his Sin For he did not only mourn but weep Nor did he only weep but weep bitterly Mat. 26. ult And truly there needed more than ordinary sorrow to fetch out so deep and black a stain The last Example shall be that of Mary Magdalen By Sin She was gone a great way from GOD. But when she returned she mourned and wept and that in such a measure that she washed His Holy Feet with her Tears who cleansed her polluted Soul with His Blood If Scripture Patterns therefore of pious Mourning which are authentic Presidents be reasons for the Performance it is very fairly recommended to our Practice Fourthly We must mourn for our own Sins because it helps forward Repentance and destroys Impiety It helps forward Repentance By the sadness of the countenance the Heart is made better says Solomon Eccles 7.3 He speaks there of sadness arising from Civil Occasions And truly that 's an excellent Preservative of Innocence and so makes us better than otherwise we should have been by keeping us from growing worse For it tames our Wildness and binds up our Loosness it fixes our Minds and unites our Thoughts and makes us serious and considerate It calms the turbulency of our restless Passions and takes off the Gayness of our wanton Fancies and rebates the Edge and eager fierceness of our raging Appetites and vain Affections and so indisposes us to immoral Actions When Satan tempts a sorrowful Person he strikes fire as it were into wet Gunpowder that will not readily kindle Now if Worldly Sorrow as we are taught to call that which does not flow from Religious Principles be of such force to prevent Sin how very powerful must Godly Sorrow be to lead us to Repentance For godly sorrow worketh Repentance to Salvation not to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 It causeth us to repent so truly and throughly as to bring us into a Most safe condition and to Qualify us for Happiness whenever we dy tho' our sins have been never so great and numerous And they that repent at such a Rate must be far from repining at what they have done And as this Sorrow according to GOD helps forward Repentance so it effectually destroys Impiety Penitential Tears rot the Weeds of Sin at the Root they never thrive nor can they live in that Soil which is well watered with these shours Depart from me ye wicked for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping said David Psal 6.8 If once we fall to weeping to weeping for our sin we shall soon grow weary of it and warn it together with all its abettors from our company On our sins therefore let us spend our Tears So we shall turn them upon their right Object and put them to their proper and their best use For as * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrysostom well observes sorrow is profitable only for sin And this is manifest For they that grieve for their dead friends cannot restore them to life They that mourn for their lost riches cannot so recover or make them good They that lament their sicknesses are so far from curing them that they thereby aggravate and make them worse They that weep for their Debts or uneasy Imprisonments should they weep their Eyes out could by their Tears neither satisfy their Creditors nor procure their Liberty But Mourning for Sin is beneficial to our selves by being baneful to that And therefore the same Father adds †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sorrow was given for Sin and by Sorrow Sin is done away For ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. As the Worm which is bred in wood consumes that wood so likewise sorrow which is brought forth by Sin does abolish it And well it may For pious Sorrow awakens the Spirit and softens the Heart and makes the Conscience exceeding tender and then we cannot but be fearful to commit Sin and careful to avoid it For behold this self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort What Carefulness it wrought in you yea what Fear 2 Cor. 7.11 None are so watchful against Sin none so afraid of relapsing into it as they that have been duly sorrowful for it Lastly We must Mourn for our own Sins because 't is one great means to strengthen our Graces and may hasten our translation to the future Glory As Water cast upon quick Lime produces Heat and sometimes Fire so do pious Tears in good Christians They fill their Minds with solemn Thoughts and inflame their Souls with sacred Zeal and a serious Mind and zealous Heart will raise us to high degrees of Grace and so carry us to Heaven with a swifter course The Reason why our Stay upon Earth is prolonged and our Translation to the heavenly Glories deferred may be our immaturity and unfitness because we are short of the measure of Grace which is here appointed us Till we all come to a perfect man unto the
Uneasinesses and dost not express thy Sorrow the same Way and in suitable measures when Religion requires it and where there is more Cause and Reason for it thou maist well conclude there is a fault in thee and by all means let it be amended But if no worldly considerations can work upon thee so far as to make thee weep thou art the more excusable for not doing it upon Religious Accounts Only thou must be sure then to raise thy Grief to the highest pitch thou canst and to express it in other loudest Accents Thou must sigh that is and thou must mourn where thou hast cause to do it with all the holy Passion that thou art able This to thee must supply the Place of Tears and GOD be assured will accept it in their stead And therefore I exhort no good People here simply and absolutely to holy Weeping but to holy Mourning Tho' still I say that that kind of Mourning is to be accompani'd with holy Tears where-ever Persons are capable of shedding them The second Concomitant of solemn Mourning is Prayer Prayers and Tears were ever in high Esteem as well as in great use with Christians They have always been reputed the Church's Weapons and when she rightly encounters the worst Evils with them she commonly prevails against them by happy Conquests And without doubt to mourn upon our Knees with Hearts breathing out Heavenly Desires while our Eyes overflow with godly Tears must needs add much to the Solemnity of the Performance And pity it is but Prayer should be called in to joyn this Exercise when it will not only advance its Solemnity but promote its Success For the Christian that mourns solemnly must be supposed to do it either from the want of some Blessing which he would gladly obtain or from the sense of some Misery which he would fain get rid of or from the fear of some Evil which he is Solicitous to Prevent and in all these three Cases devout Prayer is singularly helpful If we want any Blessing it will help to procure it If we feel any Misery it will help to remove it If we fear any Evil that is like to happen it will help to avert it And when Prayer is so great an Assistant of Mourning and serves its Ends with a powerful Influence who that design to mourn for their Advantage which all holy Mourners certainly do would not call in Prayer to inforce the Duty Thirdly To make holy Mourning more throughly Solemn we must annex Fasting to it That will be a means both to raise it higher in Sorrow and Acceptance For by refusing to take our usual Nourishment we shall gain the more time to spend in the Duty and may attend it the Longer without interruption as being free from the disturbance of those innocent Avocations which our Repasts occasion And then our Stomachs being empty of Meat and Drink and the digestive Faculty unimployed this will be a farther help in the case For then the gross Fumes which after full Meals do commonly Rise cannot ascend or steam up into the Head And so the Brain will be less clouded and so the Spirits will be less clogged and so the Mind will be less dulled And the more sprightly and active the Mind is the more pure and piercing will the Thoughts be And the more refined and penetrative our Thoughts are the more deep will they strike into contemplated Subjects and the quicker Apprehensions will they give us of them And the Quicker Apprehensions we have of Mournful matters the lower we shall sink into a Mournful Temper and the deeper will our Hearts be cut and wounded with pious Relentings So that Discreet Abstinence from bodily Refections will be very Serviceable to awaken our Spiritual Grief which often lies dormant under the weight of moderate and ordinary Food and is not easy to be rowzed up Tho' the higher it grows in commendable degrees the more grateful still will it be to GOD and also the more beneficial to our selves Fourthly To render our Mourning more Solemn yet we must cause Alms-deeds to bear it Company I do not mean only that thou shouldst be kind to the Poor in a constant setled Course of Charity as all Christians are obliged to be in proportion to their Wants and their own Abilities but that thou shouldst on thy Mourning-Days give something Extraordinary to the relief of the Indigent Or if thou dost not dispense it then yet however devote it to that Use and give it out afterward as Occasion is offered Thus we shall help our holy Mourning considerably and make it more efficacious than otherwise it would be For that as all other Sacred Exercises must be carried on by the Strength of Divine Grace And that Grace shall descend in a more abundant Measure upon the Charitable Christian is fairly intimated 2 Cor. 9.8 Where to excite People to liberal Contributions towards supplying the pressing Exigencies of the Needy the Apostle tells them that GOD is able to make all Grace abound towards them Insinuating that our Charitable Benevolences to the necessitous shall be recompenced with abundance of all sorts of Grace And when the Graces of Heaven are conferred upon us Holy Mourning as well as other holy Offices by Virtue of that Power which they derive to our Souls shall be the more effectually performed by us Let somewhat therefore of more than ordinary Charity always wait upon this Sort of Mourning So the more of God's Grace and the more of GOD's Blessing will rest upon us in the Work and that shall not only be better in it self but the more Serviceable to those worthy Ends to which we direct it Fifthly In case we would mourn solemnly It will be necessary to have Set-times for doing it Every Action requires Time nor can it do otherwise in the Nature of the thing For if it be of any Continuance that Continuance includes some Moments in it and what can that successive Duration be but Time tho' never so short Yea if any Transaction be of so swift dispatch as to be instantaneous yet the least possible Instant must be the smallest Part of Time as the least possible Atom is the smallest Part of Matter Now as every Action requires Time naturally so every religious one must do the same But then withal the more Serious we would be in any such Action the more Time proportionably we must bestow upon it For so we may consider it the more throughly and thorough Consideration will ingage us in it the more zealously and when Zeal is up and upon the Wing it will carry us to the End of it the more chearfully and vigorously And therefore Religious Mourning being one of the most important Tasks of a Christian it behoves us to have Times stated or Set-times wherein to exercise it That will be one means to inable us to undertake it and go through with it with the more Consideration Zeal and Vigorousness Now the Time to be allotted
totally they shall not be finally cut off or quenched If the same GOD who gives them pleases to continue them nothing can be able to deprive us of them So much is intimated by our dearest LORD St. John 14.27 Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you not as the World giveth give I unto you Betwixt the Peace which CHRIST gives and the Peace which the World gives there is vast Difference As much as there is betwixt that which is substantial and heavenly and that which is Secular and void of Solidity And as great difference there is betwixt their Ways of giving it When the World gives Peace it does it formally in way of Empty heartless Wish when CHRIST gives it He does it effectually in way of actual cordial Dispensation And how unsettled and Transient soever the World's Peace may be CHRIST's is always most durable and permanent When once He gives it to us He never finally retracts or takes it from us again till we force him to it He would fain have us keep it and keep it for ever And in case we do not the whole Fault is our own because we wilfully forfeit it or choose to forgo it Let but us be careful to preserve it and none but GOD can take it from us And how unlikely is it that He should bereave us of it when it was a kind and pretious Legacy we see left us by our dying REDEEMER Nor would He ever have bequeath'd it to us if He had not known it was His FATHER's Will it should rest upon us And when this Peace or Comfort is our SAVIOUR's Donative and when it is the FATHER's Pleasure that what the SON bestowed on us should abide with us who can pretend to Power enough to take it away Does it not come down from Heaven and who then can reach so high as to stop its descent Does it not spring up in our very Souls and who then can reach so deep as to pluck it thence In short as none but GOD in Heaven can give us it so none upon Earth can take it from us Our kind LORD hath not only intimated but openly and aloud declar'd as much and none amongst us should be so incredulous as not to take His Word in the Case Your Heart shall Rejoyce and your Joy no man taketh from you S. Joh. 16.22 So that Christians Joys are Cordial things they reach their Hearts and not only so but they take up their Residence there and none shall ever ravish them thence unless themselves be first willing to let them go Even those cruel Hands which could take away their Estates their Liberties their Friends and their very Limbs could not take their Joys or Comforts from them So far from that that by taking away those they did but secure if not increase these For it is said that they took Joyfully the spoiling of their Goods Heb. 10.34 When they were Mercilessly stript of other good things yet their Comforts being left they could rejoice in them yea rejoice in the sad losses which they Suffered by virtue of those Comforts they still retained And when Comforts stick by them in such tragical Circumstances this sufficiently proves that they are Secure And then that these strong and secure Comforts belong most properly to Holy Mourners is easily made out For in that very place where the LORD JESUS tells His Proselytes that their Joy shall not be taken from them He tells them withal that they shall be sorrowful but their Sorrow shall be turned into Joy S. Joh. 16.20 Whence it appears that this Strong Comfort this Secure or durable Comfort is partly to spring out of Holy Sorrow and so Pious Mourners have the clearest and most indefesible Title to it Thus we have run through the four Chief Properties of Spiritual Comforts which contain the first Branch of Blessedness that those Comforts afford to Holy Mourners They are divinely Sweet so Sweet as to be inexplicable They are divinely Glorious so Glorious as to be incomparable And at the same time they are Strong so Strong as to be very serviceable to us And withal they are Secure so Secure as that none in this World can take them from us Whence it will follow that as many as partake of these Admirable Comforts must be Blessed Creatures And so Holy Mourners must be Blessed upon Earth because their Mourning as we have prov'd gives them a Right to these Beatifying Comforts and regularly will put them into Possession of them But then what a Motive what a powerful Motive to Holy Mourning must this be Can we aim at more than being blessed upon Earth Can we desire more Blessedness than divine Comforts will bring us Are not they Delights which come from GOD Are not they Joys which descend from Heaven And so must they not fill us with blessed Pleasures And this alone granted that divine Comforts flush holy Mourners with blessed Pleasures which truly in Reason cannot be denied how powerfully I say must it draw us to mourn For Pleasures of all things are most alluring to Mankind nor can they be otherwise considering our Nature For I plainly averr and were there place for it here I could easily prove that Man was a Creature made very much for Pleasures The Goodness of His Creator the Dignity of His Being the State wherein he was at first put and the End to which He was design'd at last all shew as much And tho' now by means of His Folly and Sin his Nature be corrupted and his Circumstances altered and Himself exposed to innumerable Miseries yet this does not argue but that he might originally be created for Pleasures as those Angels were who are now in Chains and destin'd to Torments And truly if Men were not made for Pleasures whence come those violent Inclinations to them and those vehement and furious Desires after them which are so raging and unruly in their Breasts And when it is really thus with them when Pleasures were a great End of their Creation and they must necessarily enjoy them because they insatiably desire them is it not fit that they should choose the best Will it not be wise in them to single out those Pleasures which will make them blessed Yet if they would do that they must be sure to make choice of divine Comforts And to procure them they cannot do better than to fall to Holy Mourning which certainly leads them to the Fruition of them So we have done with the first Branch of Blessedness springing up to Holy Mourners from the Root of their Comforts From the Root of their present Spiritual Comforts as they contain the aforesaid Properties CHAP. VIII An apologetic Inference from the Doctrine in the foregoing Chapter clearing Christianity from the Aspersion of Unprofitableness With Advice to careless and circumspect Christians THE Matter of this Chapter relates to the Substance of the former and runs upon an Inference drawn from the Same In it I confess
we digress a little But tho' what it delivers be somewhat beside our professed Scope yet the Benefit I hope will make amends for the Deviation it being a kind of Apology for the Christian Religion or a short Vindication of it from the contemptuous Obloquy of Evil Men. The Inference is this How egregious is the Folly and Rashness of those who decry Religion as vain and unprofitable So degenerate are some and so far sunk below the Raised Dignity of their Reasonable Nature that they mock and cavil at true Religion as if it were an empty and fruitless thing and attended with no considerable Advantage * Job 21.15 What is the ALMIGHTY that we should serve Him and what Profit should we have if we should Pray unto Him was the Language of the Dissolute in Job's Days †Mal. 3.14 It is vain to serve GOD and what Profit is it that we have kept His Ordinances said some Impious and Blasphemous Jews in the Prophet Malachy's Time And Men of such vile and ungodly Principles seem to be sprung up in too great Plenty amongst us For how many are there that dispute or deny all Rewards of Righteousness And as for such as in Faith and Hope of the same addict themselves to Virtuous and Holy Living they slight and despise them and vilify and reproach them especially if they be a little stricter than ordinary and their Zeal flies above the Common Pitch Then they censure and condemn them for downright Ideots for People of no Sense of no Reason and of no Judgment that dote upon Shadows and feed upon Fancies and fill their Expectations with impossible things But let such know that themselves are mistaken and grievously misled and as for the Sons of Virtue and Goodness whom they are pleas'd thus to Scorn and Deride they are the wisest and happiest of all Mortals For as upon surest Grounds they look for infinite future Retribution so they are sensible of present Recompence The Psalmist speaks of this where he says in keeping GOD's Commandments there is great Reward Psal 19.11 Not there shall be Reward for keeping them hereafter in Heaven but there is Reward in keeping them here upon Earth And this Reward is ample as well as certain * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Emolument or Recompence And what the Sacred Writer thus positively asserts the faithful Christain feels true in himself He does not only hope for Remuneration to come but He actually finds it in his present Enjoyment And as it is great in many Respects so a great part of it lies in those excellent Comforts which descending from above do strangely delight Him And that this Reward must consist of these Comforts is clear from hence because otherwise no great Reward can here come to Men in keeping GOD's Commands Yea instead of great Reward or of any Reward their very keeping of His Precepts may expose them as it hath done Martyrs to the worst Sufferings and Deaths And for any to say that GOD makes Temporal or Worldly Blessings a great Reward to such as keep His Commandments would be perfect Non-sense For the greatest of those are not only really little in themselves but much less still in the Esteem of good Christians So that 't is necessary that the great Reward mention'd by the Psalmist should be made up of Joys or Comforts from Heaven And truly were the worst but well acquainted with it by being made throughly sensible of it they could never stick at owning it to be great And from the sense of its greatness they would immediately alter their opinion of Christianity and no longer blame its most zealous Professors for taking much pains as they now think they do in pursuing nothing Indeed so long as Men choose to rest in Sin and are unwilling Captives to domineering Lusts and the base and sinful Pleasures of the Body 't is impossible they should enjoy the Comforts of the SPIRIT I am confident rather let them say what they will and make what fair shew they can that they mostly lie as it were upon a painful Rack There hainous Guilt unless they be stupid or quite insensate will certainly be attended with secret Torment and will raise such fears and horrors within as they shall no way be able to suppress There may as well be Rest in the Sea when 't is tossed with Winds as true Peace to that Soul which perisheth in Sin For the Wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot Rest and to them there is no Peace saith GOD Isai 57.20 21. But let them abandon Vice and betake them to Virtuous and Religious Courses and they shall soon perceive an happy Change Then the mouth of Conscience shall quickly be stopped and her hideous Clamours shall all be quieted and the bloodly Scourge wherewith she chastiseth them shall be wound up and laid aside and inward Peace and Applause of Mind shall exceedingly refresh them Then they shall be visited with Joys from on high and the Light of GOD's Countenance shall shine into their Hearts and the Beams of His Favour shall dilate their Spirits and the Influence of Heaven shall sweetly replenish their expanded Souls In a word then the great JEHOVAH will love them and delight in them and lifting them up into Communion with Himself will ravish them with high and strong Consolations With such Consolations as can proceed from nothing but His propitious Presence and the favourable Illapses of that divine Paraclete who is the Comforter of GOD's Elect. Let none doubt of the Truth of this Let none question but there are such excellent Comforts as these If your own Experience hath not discover'd them yet do but perform your respective Duties in answer to the several Obligations upon you and that will lead you directly to them Then you shall soon find that extraordinary Sweetness is treasur'd up for the Righteous A Sweetness surpassing our corporal Delights and the fullest Gratifications of all lower Appetites And well it may as being indeed no other than Angelic Satisfactions which from the Face of GOD are shed down into the Hearts of pious Men. Some refined Heathens priz'd Tranquility of Mind at such a Rate that they accounted it no less than the chiefest good Thus Epicurus taught that Happiness consists in Pleasure Meaning that Pleasure which springs up and spreads through Virtuous Livers and is the pure Result of that Harmony and Agreement which there is betwixt Virtue and the rational part of them that practise it Tho' some mistaking him have thought he plac'd it in gross Delights and so have condemn'd Him for a notorious Sensualist and a Patron of vile and shameful Voluptuousness And as this was * Note IV. Epicurus's Opinion so it was the Judgment of many other great and noble Philosophers Now when there were some Ethnic Sages who thought so highly of inward Peace or mental Pleasure which moral Integrity brought along with it how unreasonable is it that
flourishes in the World Guilt within dulls his Happiness and makes it insipid yea imbitters the same and makes it unsavoury And in case he declines or falls under Misfortunes the same Guilt aggravates and inrages his Miseries It adds extreamly to the weight of his Calamities and sets so terrible an Edge upon them as makes them to cut more deeply and direfully And as the Guilt which Impious Men have contracted tortures them thus wofully while they live so it racks them a thousand ten thousand times worse when they come to die if they be not senseless of their sad condition Then quick Apprehensions of the Justice of GOD and of their own unworthiness break in upon them And being once entred they startle their Minds and they awaken their Souls that before perhaps slept securely in sin and dreamt of nothing but Ease and Pleasure And the same Apprehensions that rowze them out of their wretched Security help them to form right Notions of Death They tell them plainly and they tell them truly what it must be to their unprepared Spirits Namely a Messenger of Wrath and an Instrument of Vengeance and a sad Consignation to endless Torments A terrible Breach which the divine Anger makes upon them whereat Condemnation and their Ruine enter When GOD summons them from hence out of the Body they can think no other than that 't is to send them directly to Hell and to confine them for ever to the Regions of Darkness and the Prisons of Sorrow and the cursed Habitations of rebellious Sinners And when once they are convinc'd that their Passage hence is a Descent to everlasting Plagues and Miseries how must they fear and what Horrors will seize them when they feel it approaching As the * De Serres Historian relates concerning Lewis the Eleventh of France when he drew on a pace to his Dissolution he strictly charged all about him that they should not so much as mention that cruel Word Death to him And no wonder that from the aforesaid conviction such excessive Fear should arise to such as die impenitent For when Men perceive that they are sinking down into the bottomless Depths of eternal Sufferings how can they chuse but be lamentably overwhelmed with raging Horrors Nor does the amazing Prospect of this dismal Calamity overset Men with Fears only at their last Hour but hurries them on to other Expressions of their Astonishing Troubles For when they feel they must die and that Death will convey them to interminable Punishments then poor Souls they sigh and lament Then they ring their Hands and they tear their Hair and they curse the Day that ever they were born to be so unhappy Then they sigh when they are awake and they start in their sleep and are continually frighted with such inward Terrors that they would gladly run away even from themselves if so be they did know but how and whither Then they call for Ease but they cannot have it they seek for Rest but they cannot find it and therefore bursting out into doleful Tears in the heighth of bitter but fruitless Passion to those about them they make either this or the like heavy complaint Now we are undone O wretched Creatures we are lost for ever We might have been saved if we would and we verily thought we should have been so but alas we find that we were greatly deceived For our Hopes are now gone and our Confidence is quite sunk we are leaving the World and GOD hath left us and who can relieve whom He rejects Once we were offered Peace and Love and might have had them both upon easy Terms But those blessed Tenders are now over and the Hand that kindly reach'd them towards us is armed with Rage and stretcht out with fierce Indignation against us Oh the precious Hours that we imbezilled the sweet Opportunities that we neglected the gracious Invitations that we refused the holy Motions that we resisted the heavenly Glories that we despised Foolish rash and senseless Creatures that we were to do it O that we might but repeat our Lives that we might injoy these Mercies but once again But here 's the thing that breaks our Hearts we know that this shall never be Our Time is spent and Grace is past the LORD is just and we must perish Such are the Wailings of hopless Sinners and in such mournful Strains as these they sometimes relate their Death-bed Miseries And let none blame them as if they were too querulous at such a time they have cause enough for the Complaints they make Yea when in bitterest Words and loudest Out-cries they express their Grief they rate the Accents of it too low their Sorrow is bigger than their Lamentation Grant O GOD of Mercies we beseech thee that we may never fall under the one and never have occasion to take up the other Of all the sad Spectacles in the whole World I think none more lamentable than to see a wicked Man upon his Death-Bed To see how the nearer he draws to dying the more afraid still he is to do it because he is unfit With what terrible Anguish must this Fear of his needs sting his Soul and how intolerable must that Anguish be because it is incurable Yea the truth is in reference to the ungodly Death is armed with a double sting before it comes it strikes them with the Sting of woful Horror when past with that of cursed Misery Death to them is but an Inlet into Hell that Kingdom of Misery where Sorrow reigns without Measure or End And as they that are in this miserable state cannot but languish in grievous Tortures so they that feel themselves hasting to it cannot but lie under as grievous Fears But now when the righteous go from hence they do it in far more easy circumstances because they do it in a better condition They profess themselves strangers here upon Earth and they seek a City that hath Foundations in Heaven And as they have wisely laid up their Treasure there so their Hearts are with it already which makes them very willing to follow When their Turns come they never repine or quarrel at their Destiny nor lament the case of their dislodging Souls but lie down contentedly at the Feet of Providence and are really pleas'd that they have leave to be gone And one good Help to make them so is the Sweetness of their Passage Their uprightness according to the Royal Psalmist brings them Peace at the last And that Peace keeps all those Thorns out of their Death-bed Pillows or else plucks them thence which prick and gall ungodly Wretches and make their Heads to lie uneasy And when that is done instead of these Thorns it wreaths Olive Branches about their Temples fills them with Tranquillity and holy Quietness And then though Death comes never so suddenly and though when it comes it strikes never so furiously its fiercest Blow cannot make them unhappy They can bear it composedly and without Fear
because they can do it comfortably and without Danger It was a noble piece of courage which David put on and a gallant Resolution worthy of himself which he bravely took up Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil But whence did it spring or what was the Basis upon which it stood Not his Puissance though he was a mighty Prince not his Magnanimity though he was an Heroe of a great Mind but Divine Comforts They were the blessed and generous Stock which bare this excellent and desirable Fruit. So the following words inform us for Thou art with me Thy Rod and thy Staff they shall comfort me Whence it is plain that GOD's Presence and his supporting Consolations were the Grounds of the good Man's confidence and courage And truly as many as are happy in those though they be in the valley of the Shadow of Death must needs be above all fear of dying For for such to dye is but to step out of one Heaven into another and can the fearfullest in the World be afraid to do that Whenever we draw near to the Gates of Death if GOD be but with us if the Rod of His Power does but protect us and the Staff of His Comforts does but sustain us we are as sure to be free from distracting Terrors as they that are destitute of those Encouragements and unworthy of them are sure to be full of them at such a Time if they be themselves and think what they are about to Suffer And let none surmise as some perhaps may be ready to do that divine Comforts those Cordials from Heaven may be too weak or languid things to support them under their Death-bed Terrors For be their Illness never so great and be their Miseries never so many and be their Pains and Agonies never so strong and never so wearisome Yea be their Condition as sad and deplorable as violent Sickness or approaching Death are able to make it and so their Fear as high as dying Circumstances can possibly raise it yet if GOD will but please to be merciful to them if He will but graciously condescend to visit them if He will but look down and smile upon them or as we read in the * Chap. 1. 2. 2. 6. Canticles fall upon their Necks and Kiss and Embrace them all their fears will leave them in a Moment And no wonder that the Comforts which issue from the Face and Favour of GOD should immediately chase away the Fears of Death when they would do no less by the Pains of Hell were they shed down upon the blackest Spirit that suffers the worst or extreamest of them But alas his ruful unfitness for them and incapacity of receiving them will for ever bar and hinder the Experiment Nor will holy Comforts only expell good Peoples Fears of Death and turn them into noble courage against it but they often improve their Courage into pious Desires of it This is discoverable from several Texts of Scripture So we find Rev. 22.17 that the SPIRIT and the Bride say Come The true Church of GOD being influenc'd by His SPIRIT for in the words there is an Hendiadis one thing express'd by two does beg CHRIST's Second Coming His coming to Judgment And they who desire that Advent of His must also implicitly desire to Dye because whenever it comes if they be alive it brings upon them a Change equivalent to Death And S. Peter tells the Christians of his time that they should not only be looking for but hasting unto the coming of the Day of GOD 2 Pet. 3.12 or rather †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hasting or speeding the coming of that Day But one chief way of accelerating or hastening it is by desiring it or praying for it So S. Paul speaking of others as well as of himself professes We are willing to be absent from the Body 2 Cor. 5.8 And how willing were they to it That He tells us at the 2d Verse For in this in this Body we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven While the best Souls dwell here their Habitation is mean no better than an * V. 1. earthly House And most fitly it is so denominated as rising from the Earth and as returning to the Earth and as remaining upon the Earth while it continues undissolved In which respect it is said by the Apostle to be not only a bare ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earthly house but * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an house upon the Earth And as Christians are willing to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go far out of the Body their earthly house so they are so willing we see that they are desirous of it and so desirous of it that they groan and groan earnestly for it For when they groan earnestly to be cloathed upon with their House which is from Heaven as immortal Glory is here expressed they can do no less than groan as earnestly at the same time to go out of their Earthly House that is to dye Even in the Old Testament we have Intimations of such Desires as these in the eminently Religious All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my Change comes said the good Man Job 14.14 And he that expected the great Change * That Job speaks of his change from life to death and not from death to the resurrection as some think his very Expression shows For he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will wait or hope or expect which sounds but harshly if said of one in his grave And when or how long would he wait all the days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of my warfare But could he fight when he was dead And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the change he mentions according to the Targum cannot be a change from death because that renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the changes of my life the last of which all know is death And therefore Rabbi Levi expresses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my excision or my divorce that is from the body And Aben Esra speaks it out more plainly yet by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my death And so that must be the change which Job means of Death and expected everlasting Happiness by it as Job questionless did must needs wait for it with Desire as well as with Patience Whom have I in Heaven but Thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides Thee said Asaph Psal 73.25 And when he desired GOD so much he could not chuse but desire to dye that he might come to the full and most comfortable Enjoyment of Him Especially when he apprehended him to be the Strength of his failing Flesh and Heart and his Portion for ever as it appears he did in the following Verse Like as the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so longeth my Soul after Thee O GOD. My
Soul is athirst for GOD yea even for the living GOD when shall I come to appear before the Presence of GOD Psal 42.1 2. Which pathetic Expressions tho' in their primary Aspect they look to GOD's Presence in the Sanctuary yet they may extend to His Presence in Heaven as well And so they show the vehemently transported Passions of a Soul ravish'd with Comforts from GOD and languishing with eager and importunate Desires of the Body's Dissolution that so she might be carri'd up hence to an everlasting Participation of more of those Comforts And therefore here we must note that none desire Death merely for it self nor can they in reason do it as being destructive to their Nature For the Nature of Man we know consists in the Vital Union of Soul and Body But Death divides these two and very rudely tears them asunder And who can desire such contra-natural Violence should ever befal them for its own sake a Violence that separates those essential Principles whereof they are compounded and so brings with it the present Ruin of their Persons The Law of Self-preservation in the animate World is universal and so must be in force among Rational Beings and can never be rooted out where Humanity grows For us therefore to desire what is fatal to us merely for its self must be nothing less than to put off our own Nature and to be what we are not even while we continue what we are which is perfect nonsense and manifest contradiction and a thing most unpracticable because impossible And then besides there is a farther malignity in Death which makes it that it cannot be desirable for its self For it is not only an enemy to Man as it demolishes his Body and breaks his vital Frame to pieces but also as it contains malediction in it For it is the cursed fruit of Adam's sin and so carries with it the bitterness of a penal severity it being justly inflicted as a punishment of Disobedience But tho' none can desire Death for it self yet we may desire it upon other Accounts particularly upon account of Divine Comforts And here let me add these Desires * Note that what follows is spoken only of eminent Christians and but of some of them neither in some eminent Christians are strangely vehement and importunate They grow so high and they run so strong that they are fain to give vent to them in Solemn Expressions For sometimes they sigh and sometimes they weep and sometimes they are ready to fret and be half discontented and sometimes to repine and be holily impatient that they cannot dye They are fit to cry out and that very often O Death where art thou thus long Why comest thou so slowly Mend thy pace and make more haste that so thine hand which others fear may lead my weary Soul to Heaven They wonder what shift those famous Men made who liv'd so long in the Primitive World and should they be condemned to the Like Abode upon Earth they would think it an hard and most cruel Sentence They rejoice exceedingly upon their own account that the Life of Man is so very much shortned and next to the Mercy of dying at all they reckon it a choice one that they dye so soon And as short as the Thread of Life is now made they grudge it should run out to its utmost Length but are willing rather to have it cut off betimes that so they may be happy in a speedier Dismission Whereas others quarrel with Time for its Swiftness and angrily wish that its Wings were clipt for flying so fast they cry out 't is slow and blame it that it does not mend its Pace For if they must be old before they depart they would be so quickly that they might the sooner be gone They hope for Death every Year they look for it every Month and they long for it every Day If they envy not the Saints that dye young they are hugely pleas'd with their happy Lot and had it been in their choice how very contentedly would they have been of their Number So very desirous are they to dye that they can scarce hear of one desperately Sick but they are ready to grieve that it is not their case So very desirous are they to dye that when they hear of one dead or see him carri'd to his Grave they are ready to cry out O that I had gone in his stead and that he had staid in my Room So very desirous are they to dye that high Distempers do but chear their Spirits and tho' through weakness of Body their countenance may droop yet their Souls even then rejoice and triumph and are vested with Robes of Light and Gladness So very desirous are they to dye that when dangerous Sickness wears off again and fair Possibilities of Life return the Sense of this makes them dumpish and heavy and is matter of Trouble and Affliction to them Now how Divine Comforts may stir up such eager desires of Death is obvious and easy enough to apprehend As for Death it self we have already hinted it is no more desirable to the very best than to any else nor is there any Reason why it should be so Pain and Sickness which usher it in and the Coffin and the Grave which follow after it if considered in themselves are as little pleasing to them as to others But then this is confessedly true on all hands that when we have once tasted what is rarely sweet 't is natural for us to desire more of it and where we are sensible most of it is there we are most desirous to be Now the Comforts of GOD which descend from Heaven being so incomparably sweet and pleasant they inflame us with Desires of removing thither And tho' our Way lies through the Gates of Death yet our burning Desires make us earnest to pass them that so we may exchange these imperfect Measures of delicious Comforts for the Entire Fulness and Immensity of them The little Draughts we drink of them here enrage our Appetites after the Fountain from whence they spring The slender Rivulets which run through us now make us thirst insatiably after that Ocean from whence they flow Those single Rays which strike us at present as through a crevise make us long incessantly to ascend into the clear and open Light and to sit under the Gleams of that Eternal Sun whose consolatory Glories shall irradiate our Souls and delight and satisfy them to everlasting Ages Thus the sweet foretasts of future Satisfactions make us greedy of dying that we may be finally settled in the Possession of them And who can deny this to be a piece of true Blessedness All must dye and most are afraid of Death and many fear it immoderately they therefore that fear it not at all but are lifted up so far above Fears that they earnestly Desire it must needs be reputed signally Blessed and which is more must really be so But then here we
must call to mind that as this Blessedness also is the Offspring of Comforts so are they of Mourning And therefore as we would be blest in such Comforts as shall free us from extravagant Fears when we dye or as shall turn our Fears into Desires of Death we must live holy Mourners CHAP. XIV The Tenth Motive to Mourning in General being the Seventh Branch of that Blessedness which springs from the Comforts annexed to Mourning They sweeten our Life by conducing to our Health and by bettering the Temper of our Minds as well as the Habit of our Bodies THat holy Comforts are blessedly useful and beneficial to our Souls what hath been said on the foregoing Heads does sufficiently prove But then they have a benign and blessed Influence on our Bodies too Nor is it at all strange that those Comforts which are no other than the sweetness of Heaven in our Spirits should sweetly affect the bodily Part of our Beings For while the Spirit and the Flesh continue in this state of vital Union as what is agreeable to the Flesh or Body is frequently pleasing to the Soul or Spirit so on the contrary what is highly delightful to the Spirit will often be recreative to the corporeal fleshly Part of us A most excellent Man who knew this in himself hath transmitted his happy Experience to us in the infallible Book * Psal 84.2 My heart and my Flesh says he rejoice in the Living GOD. Where by the Heart cannot be meant that musculous piece of Flesh in the middle Region of the Body properly so called for then the Expression would have been tautological and might as well have run thus My Flesh and my Flesh rejoyce in the living GOD. But by it we are to understand the Mind or the Soul which is the Source of Understanding and of all Sense and the Spring of all Thoughts Desires and Actions But then this informs us that when Joy or Comfort descends upon the Soul it snatches the Body into Sympathy with it For here it is said of the Heart and the Flesh at once * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have rejoyced or they have broken out into †To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usurpatur etiam de dolore sed praecipuè de gaudio cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ☊ conjunctum ut hic significat ovationem c. Pol. Synop. Jubilations or Ovations in which excessive Joys do commonly shew and naturally spend themselves Not that divine Joy affects the Body no farther than just the visible Gesture or the audible Voice in which it sometimes runs out or discharges it self for the Body hath its share as well in the sweet Passion as in those Expressions of it As it is said of the Soul and Body both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Septuagint well renders the Hebrew they have exulted tho' the Soul in strictness cannot leap for joy but must leave that chiefly for the Body to do so the Body cannot strictly rejoyce neither but must leave that principally to the Soul Yet as when the Body leaps for joy the Soul must have a Perception of that Exultancy so when the Soul rejoyces for Comfort the Body hath some sense shall I say or shares in the effects of that heavenly Gladness The holy Psalmist cries out Psal 63.1 My Soul thirsteth for Thee ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Flesh longeth for Thee Whence it is plain that when the good Soul is carri'd with passionate and thirsting Desires after GOD her very Flesh at the same time pines and languishes through their Eagerness and Ardency as if that were capable of divine Longings too So when the Soul is ravisht with transporting Joys the fleshly Body it wears rejoyceth with her according to its measures It is affected I mean with the Blessed Passion Which rising at first from a spiritual Motion begun in the Soul does yet terminate in the Body which is the Instrument of Passions and by causing grateful Motions there which return upon the Soul in way of Sensation she is thereby pleased with reflected Delights Now when holy Comforts that descend upon the Soul do thus influence the Body its partaking of them may be a means to keep it in a regular state and to sweeten Life by preserving of Health The Scripture seems to insinuate as much Psal 118.15 The voice of Joy and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnimodam salutem significat tam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Health is in the dwellings of the Righteous Where by Joy a great †Interiora gaudia August Man understands the inward Joys of righteous Livers And as they have cause to lift up their Voice in praising GOD for those Joys so many times they have cause to do it likewise for that Health which is the Fruit or Product of them For the HOLY GHOST may not only signify here that the Righteous have more Joy and Health than others to praise GOD for but also that their Health may be derived from their Joy And in the Third of the Proverbs Solomon suggests something like this For there he tells us that Wisdom or true Religion ‖ Ver. 18. is a tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her That is it is like * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tree of Lives which GOD planted in the midst of Paradise And that we know was to keep Man from Sickness as well as from Death and so not only to prolong his Life but to preserve his Health And as we find in the same Chapter also to fear the LORD and depart from evil which is Wisdom or Religion in other Terms * Ver. 8. shall be Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones A good Evidence that where-ever true Religion dwells in Men in the due Course or just Order of things it will have Health for its Inmate Unless GOD for great Reasons best known to Himself shall please to order it otherwise But then we must enquire whence is this Or how comes it to be thus Why should Religion in the Soul conduce to Healthfulness in the Body The making out this is the Scope of that Point which we are upon and Solomon hath done it to our hand I mean where he declares that the ways of Wisdom are ways of Pleasantness and that all her paths are Peace Prov. 3.17 That virtuous Livers by being virtuous have great Advantages of Health on their side beyond others who are loose and vitious in the World cannot be denied For their Piety and Purity their Self-denial and Sobriety their meek or dispassionate Temper and the Like besides that they entitle them to the Blessing of Heaven do effectually secure them from those Disorders of Mind and Distempers of Body which the contrary Evils naturally breed in them or bring upon them And then they as certainly prevent those dreadful Visitations which as often come down judicially from above and are
is great and so is the Love of a Mother to her Child and so is the Love of a Man to his faithful Friend But all are short of true Love to JESUS And that they must be so we are well assured by the Word from Heaven For that informs us that as it is the first and great Command and so our prime and chief Duty to love the LORD so it tells us at what Rate we must do it even with all our Heart and with all our Soul and with all our Mind Mat. 22.37 Our Love to Him must be raised to an higher Pitch than what it stands in to any thing else And there 's Reason for it For in that its Elevation or Superiority in that its Pre-eminence above or Prevalence over all other Affections lies the very Sincerity or Essence of it So that to love CHRIST no better than other Things or Persons is indeed not to Love Him at all not at all duly and so not at all acceptably And the same Word tells us that Love to CHRIST is such for Ardency as many Waters cannot quench nor Flouds drown Cant. 8.7 And again it tells us of true Lovers of Him that they are sick of Love to Him Cant. 2.5 A plain case that Love to CHRIST is a Passion so strong and that the Fits of it in some are so violent and high that they affect them with a kind of Sickness The Expression came from the HOLY GHOST and believe it there is nothing Hyperbolical in it No Rhetorical Strain or Figurative Scheme of Speech Nothing Catachrestical or Improper What it affirms is literally true without Flourish There are thousands of eminent Christians in the Church whose Affections to JESUS are so vigorous whose Desires of Him are so vehement whose Longings after Him are so earnest that they bring perfect Qualms over their Hearts and make them quite sick of Love to His MAJESTY And where a pure Mind is carri'd out in so powerful a Love to an Object that is infinitely perfect and glorious let Reason judge how inconceivably delightful its Actings must be O LOVE * O Amor quid te Appellam nescio dulcem an asperum suavem an injucundum Ita enim utroque plenus es ut utrumque esse videaris Salvian Epist 1. said a good Man of old I know not what to call thee good or evil delicious or troublesome sweet or unpleasant For so full of both thou art that thou seemest to be both And most true is this of our kindest Love to one another It is at best but a Miscellaneous thing A Compound made up of two Ingredients some satisfaction and much uneasiness But Love to CHRIST is of quite another Nature He that feels that divine Passion finds nothing in it but divine Pleasure His Mind is full of Peace his Soul dwells at Ease and his Spirit is wrapt up in most heavenly Delights Delights so blissful that there are none like them but those above in the eternal World Divine Love is the sweetest Power that humane Souls are capable of and the most perfect GOD is the sole Object of that Power And therefore whenever it is imploy'd in receiving the influxes of His special Favour and in sending up streams of reciprocal Affection to His MAJESTY O LORD what Delights must here be produc'd No less for certain than such as are beatifying beyond Expression And that indeed is the truest Character of them they are inexpressible When we call them so we really say more what they are and give in a juster Description of them than if leaving that out we should discourse never so long and largely concerning them And let any judge that are able to do it if those Comforts that raise this Love which causes these Delights do not render Men truly Blessed For when Time hath sunk them never so low and Old age hath worn them even quite out and both together have put them past relishing all other Pleasures they 'll fill the Religious with such a Love as will replenish them with such Delights as will affect them with unspeakable Sweetness But then Holy Mourning being one chief Door at which these blessed Comforts enter and come in upon us as many as would be Blessed in these Delights which they occasion and which survive all other must look upon it as a thing most eligible and for their own benefit must conscionably use it and keep close to it CHAP. XVI There are false Comforts as well as true How to distinguish the one from the other Whence false Comforts spring A Great deal and very great things have been said of holy Comforts which are Fruits or Effects of Religious Mourning Yet no more than is proper and applicable to them as being indeed most true concerning them For such is their excellent Worth and Usefulness that they do not only answer the Character given them but would easily fill up one far more large and comprehensive And yet as incomparable as these Comforts are there is a kind of mimical or mock-comforts like them And tho' they be false they are Images or Counterfeits of the true and to them that sit under the Influence of them which is Evil and Malignant may prove to be of pernicious consequence That there are False Comforts we need not question for we have loud Hints of them in the holy Books let us note but two King Herod heard John Baptist gladly S. Mar. 6.20 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pleasantly sweetly delightfully And whence came this sweet and delightful Pleasure As for the Baptist he was an austere Man and the Doctrines he taught were undoubtedly strict and severe like himself And so for certain there could be nothing in them which by reason of Agreeableness might take the Humour or tickle the Fancy of that unrighteous Prince The matter of His Preachin◠might be such rather and so delivered 〈◊〉 to be fitter on the other side to incense and provoke him In all likelihood therefore some spark of Comfort whencesoever it came was struck at this time into his Breast Tho' it might be as far from true Comfort as King Herod was from being a good Man The Stony Ground also received the Word with Gladness S. Mar. 4.16 Yet by that Ground as our great Master who delievered the Parable expounds it are meant those that proved unsettled or unsteady such as * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had no Root of Virtue in themselves As had no Fixedness or Stability no living lasting growing Principle of real Goodness but were as He there says of them †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temporary in Religion or wavering and inconstant Professors of it For as He declares in the 17th verse When Affliction or Persecution ariseth for the Words sake immediately they are offended They were ready upon the first Occasion given by any sad or troublesome Emergencies to manifest their fickleness and unsincerity Now when such a Character of any sort of Men comes
from the Mouth of the SON of GOD their Qualifications must needs be such as cannot intitle them to genuine Comforts Yet even these who were thus characterised by our LORD did not only hear but receive the Word ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Joy But then their Joys must be spurious or false because they could have no manner of Right to the true For they are not usually the Lot of fluctuating and unstable Souls that are not rooted and grounded in Religion but of such as are well fixt in Faith and Piety We must withal remember that these false Joys or Comforts being different from the true they will likewise have different Operations and by them will produce very different Effects So that whereas true Comforts inliven the Mind and chear the Heart and delight the Spirit and laying fast hold of Men by their powerful Charms and taking them in their soft and sweet Intanglements draw them still nearer and nearer to GOD and intice them to higher Degrees of Righteousness indearing even all that is good to them False ones on the other side which come down upon them that are dissolute are apt to encourage and harden them in Carelesness And because when they do ill no sensible Inconvenience ensues upon it but they find they are at Ease and a secret Pleasure attends their Exorbitancies this rivets them close to their immoral Practices and makes it next to impossible for them to leave them And then which is worse these unhappy Ones do often Fancy their false Comforts to be true and their egregious mistake proves of evil consequence For while they so conceit or conclude concerning them they seal up their unwary deluded Souls in a deep Security and cause them to flatter themselves with Thoughts of Peace and Hopes of Safety till they sink into fearful unexpected Ruine The very Infelicity which S. Paul observes as incident to the Ungodly 1 Thes 5.3 When they shall say Peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them Now it being thus evident that there are false Comforts and that they very much imitate or resemble the true and yet are as different from them in their Operations and as contrary to them in their Effects as they are seemingly like them in some Qualities and Symptoms this may be matter of concern to good Christians and may occasion them Trouble and great Solicitude For they considering that there are such counterfeit and fallacious Comforts and that they have so mischievous an Influence and Tendency will be fit to surmise that theirs are no better and that notwithstanding the singular content they find in them they will greatly indanger rather than advantage them And how such a suspicion would vex their Spirits and what Uneasiness such a Jealousy would bring upon them is not easiy to say To keep the Mispersuasion therefore out of good Minds where it is not entred and to cure or kill it where 't is gotten in it will be necessary to set down the principal Marks of genuine Comforts That so they that are happy in them that are true by the help of these Marks may for their own satisfaction be able to distinguish them from those that are false The chief Marks then of this Nature are Five The First is taken from the Time wherein they come The Second from the Objects whence they flow The Third from the Instruments whereby they rise The Fourth from the Effects which they produce And the Fifth from the state which we are in The Time wherein true Comforts come is mostly when we are well imploy'd The Objects whence they flow are commonly divine The Instruments whereby they rise are most coelestial The Effects which they produce are ever pious And the State which we are in must still be righteous The First Mark of true Comforts is They mostly visit us when we are well imployed When we are conscionably busied in those devout Exercises which GOD hath injoin'd us Which He hath laid upon us as Tests of our Sincerity as Instances of our Duty as Conditions of our Happiness and as Means to advance His own Honour by bettering and improving of our Nature Of this sort of Exercises are servent Praying attentive Hearing religious Watching solemn Fasting humble Mourning holy Communicating liberal Alms-giving patient Suffering the Angelic Work of singing Praises to GOD and the like When we are busi'd in these or other such high and divine Imployments if then holy Comforts break in upon us they prove themselves in some measure to be genuine For they encourage and abet us in that which is good a fair Argument if not a sure Evidence that they proceed from GOD. And when our Minds are unbent and our Virtuous Imployments are laid aside if they visit us at any time in the Intervals of Duty or in our innocent Rests or Cessations from the same they must still be true For however the Acts of Virtue for a while are then intermitted yet the Habits of it remain entire and when they come in such Junctures as they serve to Recompence Duties past so they dispose and whet us on to other approaching And where they come at so seasonable Times as happily to minister to such excellent Ends they intimate themselves to be of the right Kind But if Comforts usually rise within us when we are vainly set or vitiously inclined or actually ingaged an evil Practices and eagerly running on in licentious Courses this aloud proclaims them to be false and counterfeit and argues that they are not from the Blessed SPIRIT For He that injoins us not to bid the wicked GOD * 2 Joh. 10. Speed will never so interfere with his own Injunction as to countenance any in their naughty Ways by communicating heavenly Consolations to them while they persist in Sin and Lewdness The Second Mark of true Comforts is they commonly flow from divine Objects Men †Mat. 7 6. do not gather Grapes of Thorns nor Figgs of Thistles not can we expect to reap heavenly Comforts from earthly Grounds or Considerations Joys that are divine must spring up from divine Objects and be deriv'd to us by divine Vehicles or Conveyances GOD or His Attributes or Mercies CHRIST or His Merits or Benefits the HOLY GHOST or His Graces or Favours HEAVEN or its Glories or Felicities or some other noble Spiritual Excellencies must be in our Minds when Holy Consolations overflow our Souls For being of so divine a Nature themselves they can never grow but upon such Stocks as are congenerous or of the same kind with them If from these Objects therefore or from any like them we derive our Comforts here may be some Sign that they are genuine For they as we read of the Baptism of John they may be from Heaven and not of Men as flowing rot from the nether but the upper Springs But in case our Comforts be rooted in the Earth and grow up from below only that is from a sense of Health and
of Scripture mistaken and misapplied First False Comforts are sometimes Effects of Nature Where the Spirits are good and the Bloud is sweet and the Ferments of the Body regular and even besides Health and Indolency we there find a constant readiness in Men or a standing Disposition to Lightsomness and Jollity So that if they of this Constitution who dwell as it were upon the Brinks of Joy be at any time carri'd by Just occasions but a little farther they forthwith step into the pleasing Passion it self And how they should come to be advanced to it and also raised to an high Pitch in it even by a natural complexional Efficiency is easy to apprehend Melancholy in conjunction with a sanguine Temper is able to do it For by mingling its brisk acrimonious Flatulency with a sweetish heavyish kind of Bloud it strikes upon the Nerves with such grateful Touches as cause delightful Titillations in the Body and so affect the Soul with much joy and pleasure Nor need we wonder that such joyous Comforts or Delights should result from meer nature or our bodily Temper if we do but consider how other things are very productive of the like Effects Wine for instance hath a power in it to chear our Spirits or as it is expressed in holy Stile * Psal 104.15 to make glad the Heart of Man Insomuch that Josephus says of it †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiq. li. 11. cap. 4. it even transports and regenerates Souls It puts a kind of new life into them by mending or raising the Temper of their Bodies and rendring them more healthful and vegete I speak of the moderate and sober use of it it being most baneful both to Soul and Body wherever it is taken in excess So Mela informs us that the Thracians who had no Wine suppli'd the want of it at their Feasts by a certain Seed And of such a Quality was that Seed that the Smoak of it caused Intoxication and Mirth Which things considered how Melancholy should cause high Joys within us will not be difficult to conceive For it is but allowing hypocondriacal Humors to have Affinity with Wine or its Vapours to have cognation with the Fumes of the Thracian Seed and the work is done And that Nature which out-does the most exquisite Chymists should refine Melancholy to such a Degree and sublimate or exalt it to such an Height as to make it so capable of the forementioned Operations as to fill us with joyous and triumphant Delights cannot be surprizing to the intelligent For they know very well that where Melancholy is predominant and duly heated and invigorated by a sanguine Temper or Constitution very strong Joys and even rapturous Delights will result from it So * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle expressly affirms that it produces Extasies and Joys of Mind and that too as he adds †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Probl. sect 30. with singing And when Men may so overflow with Joys as that their Joys shall rise up into Raptures and their Raptures run out and spend themselves in singing must not the Gratifications they feel within be exceeding high Yet these are Fruits that may grow upon the bare stock of Nature and so may have nothing at all of the Good SPIRIT in them or of His true Consolations Secondly Inward Comforts False ones I mean may be Effects of a worse Cause than this they may be derived from Satan himself As GOD sheds abroad true Joys and heavenly Consolations into the Hearts of His Servants to encourage and strengthen them in the Works of Religion so the Devil who loves to ape the ALMIGHTY where he can does sometimes cast false Joys and delusive Comforts into the Hearts of his Vassals to animate and imbolden them in the Ways of unrighteousness For should they always walk on in Dulness and Darkness this might so startle them as to make them seriously bethink themselves It might so alarm and terrify them as at some time or other to fright them out of their vitious into virtuous Courses Now and then therefore he tantalizes them with some feeble Glimmerings of false Light and Comfort He darts some glaring Joys into their Souls to make them well opinion'd of themselves And perswading them by this means that their Condition is good tho' it be quite otherwise he so prevails with them to persist in Sin till at length they fall into irrecoverable Ruine Nor is it hard to conceive how the Evil Spirit should kindle this Fire of false Joys in our Breasts and warm us as it were with Comforts which flash from Hell For since an agreeable mixture of Melancholy with our Bloud can raise us as we have heard to an Elevation of rapturous Delights the Devil who hath power to actuate the Humors and Vapours in our Bodies especially if we be his Servants by his dexterous agitation of those Vapours and Humors inforcing them beyond their natural strength he may easily transport us with ravishing Satisfactions And thus the strange Delights which some Men feel and which they reckon to be divine Influences from above and blessed Productions of the HOLY GHOST are but natural Effects or Satanical Injections and so rather hellish Infusions than Inspirations from Heaven Thirdly False Comforts may proceed from Enthusiasm For where that prevails Imagination is strong Insomuch that the Mind which should always be under the government of free Reason is wholly sway'd by this lower Faculty And where Fancy rules it easily over-powers and bears down the Soul into a firm Belief of the Truth of what she vigorously apprehends be her Apprehensions never so enormous and extravagant Hence it hath come to pass that one Fanciful Enthusiast has conceited himself to be a Prophet or an Angel another has thought himself to be the true Messiah or the great Judge of the World another has boasted himself to be GOD the FATHER or the HOLY GHOST Now when the Strength of Fancy or Force of Imagination thus carries away the Mind into a credulous Assent to such wretched Mis-conceits these or the like Conceits naturally lift up Souls which fully believe them to be great Truths into very high Joys and Ravishments of Spirit Yet be they never so lofty or never so luscious they are but a corrupt and dangerous sort of Fruit as having nothing but Enthusiasm for their chiefest Root Fourthly False Comforts may arise from wrong Notions which Men have in Divinity Thus some too opinionative are mightily for absolute or irrespective Predestination Others for Justification by Faith alone Others for being justifi'd by CHRIST's Righteousness imputed And others again are as stiff Assertors and as strenuous Maintainers of that absurd Perswasion that GOD sees no Sin in His own Children Now they that firmly believe and fiercely contend for these and such Fancies conclude they are highly beneficial to them in their greatest Interests and so they are strangely affected with them and influenced by them and feel them
measure of the stature of the fulness of CHRIST are St. Paul's Words Eph. 4.13 Which seem to insinuate that there is a decreed Pitch or Perfection for us to reach in this Life before we can dy and ascend to Blessedness And shall we not haste on then by holy Mourning with all possible speed to the heighth of Grace which must be accomplisht in us What would we not fain be in Heaven Do we not sigh and groan under the Load of our Mortality and would we not gladly be freed from the heavy Burthen and hard Bondage of it Are we not weary of our present Troubles and do we not complain of many uneasinesses and should not a call to endless Rest and perfect Joy be welcome to us Or had we rather continue here and abide still in this earthly State O senseless stupid and egregious Folly can we love our Prisons and embrace our Chains and hug our Fetters Can we court a longer Exile from our eternal Home and be content to be kept out of the coelestial Kingdom Is not God our loving Father there Is not CHRIST our tender Husband there Is not the HOLY GHOST our sweetest Comforter there And to go lower are not many of our good Friends and dear Relatives there And is not the greatest part of the true Church gone thither and now triumphing in the Presence of our LORD and can we once wish to stay behind Does not the Hireling long for his Pay The Servant for his Wages The Souldier for his Reward The Husbandman for his Harvest The Heir for his Inheritance And do not we long and pant and ardently desire to be in Heaven It will be seen here whether we do or no for then we shall mourn the oftener and the more earnestly that so we may get thither quickly To all good Christians the Gates of Heaven are set wide open and the faster we improve in Divine Grace the sooner possibly we shall enter What more forcible Reason can there be or Motive either to provoke to this Duty If we can outstand the Dint of this vain it will be to propound any more well therefore may it be the Last I offer Let good Christians think seriously with themselves what a vast difference there is between what we are now and what we hope to be hereafter What a sad case are we in here What variety of Infirmities encompass and incommode us We have stupid Minds and crooked Wills clouded Understandings and erroneous Judgments unfaithful Memories and extravagant Affections sensual Desires and unruly Appetites polluted Souls and filthy sickly mortal Bodies What a blessed Condition shall we be in above and what a fulness of Beatitude shall there surround us For besides a freedom from the aforesaid Complaints we shall have a clear and most comfortable Vision of GOD whom our Souls upon Earth so entirely loved The immediate Fruition of the eternal JESUS whose very Name was so ravishing to us The taking Society of Angels most spotless and illustrious that now do us good and we perceive it not The delightful Fellowship of departed Saints whom we prized so much and were so loth to forego Souls pure as the brightest Cherubim and Bodies at length more glittering and radiant than the Starrs or Sun And shall not the hope of such high Preferment make us forward to increase in Grace tho' it were by Mourning that so we may the sooner be invested with it Does not the sense of our many Miseries make us impatiently desirous of Heaven Are not our Sins many Are not our Doubts and Fears and Distractions many Do not these rend our Hearts and afflict our Spirits and sting and gnaw and wound our Consciences and make us oftentimes restless and joyless Can we serve and please GOD as the Souls of the just made perfect do Can we see Him and know Him and love Him and laud Him and derive Happiness from Him as they do Alas the best Services which we perform to Him and the Highest Felicities we receive from Him in these lower Regions are not worthy to be named in the same day with theirs The Duties we offer up to GOD are lame and imperfect mingled with Failings and many Weaknesses and scarce deserve the Name of Duties And answerable to our Duties to Him are our Comforts from Him so faint and low in comparison that they scarce deserve the Name of Comforts If now and then we can get a slight Taste of GOD's Goodness a short Glimpse of His Countenance a single Beam of His Favour darted into our Souls that 's all which ordinary Christians commonly attain to But O the quick and lively sense that the Saints in Glory have of GOD's Love O the close and sweet Embraces that they there feel in the Arms of His Mercy O the fresh Torrents of incessant Joys that always overflow and exceedingly affect them They continually bathe themselves in streams of delight that issue directly from the Great JEHOVAH and swim in such an Ocean of Divinest Pleasures as hath indeed neither Bounds nor Bottom Nor is the measure of their Happiness beyond its Duration for in respect of that it is really infinite being to last as long as GOD Himself Now are not these Excellent things worth the having Can there be any more valuable and so more eligible than they And consequently can we desire any thing so much as a speedy Passage into the Fruition of them Would we not gladly exchange corruption for Glory and a dying Life for blessed Immortality Had we not rather sit down before the Throne of GOD in Holiness and Triumph than abide here in a condition of Sin in a state of Sufferings and in a vale of Tears In short were it not better for us to be taken up into the Mansions on high to reap the Fruits and injoy the Rewards of our respective Labours than still to be imploy'd in any painful Exercises Why if in reality we think it better and accordingly desire it let us manifest the sincerity of our Desires by the Earnestness of our Endeavours to encrease our Graces by holy Mourning Happy are they who by any Piece of early Piety do so advance or augment their Graces as to obtain an early ascent to Heaven And to encourage a little farther yet as we shall go to Heaven perhaps the sooner for this so we shall have the more Glory there Every Vessel shall be full in that Sea but yet the biggest shall receive most That therefore we may be capable of the more Bliss in Heaven while we are on Earth let us enlarge our Graces by Religious Mourning CHAP. XXI Reasons why we must mourn for the Sins of others The Best have done it The neglect of it is blameable It prevails with Heaven It brings us Comforts It secures us from Judgments when others fall by them Both Nature and Religion bind us to it It may be we have been Sharers in the Sins of others HAving given in the Reasons why we
taught he that is * Prudens nemini miseretur prudent pities none But as the Wisdom of this World is foolishness with GOD 1 Cor. 3.19 so this Piece of Wisdom as the Stoics reckon'd it amongst true Religionists is the worst sort of folly as being a real and an hainous Sin And tho' †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Rep. lib. 3. Plato who was Master of a nobler Philosophy excluded Tears from great Mens Eyes yet it cannot be deni'd but his Political Rule in that case does plainly interfere with the Evangelical Law and His Maxim of state lies cross to the precepts of Orthodox Christianity And then the weakness of their Principles is notoriously manifest from the contrary Practice For notwithstanding the Doctrines of both these Schools great and wise Men have been struck with commiseration and upon just occasions have exprest their Pity in plenty of Tears Thus Julius Caesar wept when the Head of Pompey was brought before Him Scipio Africanus wept excessively when he saw Carthage in flames Marcellus wept when he beheld Syracuse which he was to enter in so sad a condition tho' Livy says he wept for Joy at so great an Atchievement as his Conquest of it Now these were not only great and wise Men but wise and great Generals and by being Martial Heroes were Sons of Bloud not to add of Rapine and Violence and so by reason of their Office might be much harder than others Yet these very Persons had a natural Tenderness for Mankind and Sympathized deeply with such as were their proclaimed and professed Enemies And when heathen Soldiers could with Tears lament the sufferings of their Enemies shall not we Christians mourn for the sins of our Brethren In case we do not besides that we refuse to tread in the steps of the best we plainly call our own Goodness in question For according to the Greek Proverb * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Men are prone to Tears And as they are so upon many accounts so especially for the sins of others And therefore in the Judgment of an admirable Divine †Guil. Paris lib. de Morib none can doubt but pious Souls do so much the more flow with tears of Pity by how much the more they see or hear the sins of their Neighbours to abound Secondly We must mourn for the sins of others because to neglect it is highly blameable It is GOD's Command to Christians Phil. 2.15 and so should be our care and endeavour to be harmless and blameless and without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation Tho' the Generation wherein we live be never so irregular and unrighteous yet we must not only be harmless as to others but blameless in our selves So blameless as to be guilty of nothing that the piercing Eye of the All-seeing GOD shall discern to be a wilful fault or that the fierce and malicious Accuser of our Souls may be able to charge upon us as such But then in order to this 't will be necessary for us to mourn for the known and scandalous Sins of those about us else the very omission of that will render us grossly culpable So it did a whole Church once and laid it under Apostolical Censure The Church I mean was that at Corinth It was newly planted and had lately received the Christian Faith and being just born and in her tender Infancy one would have thought she might have been innocent Especially having one so skilful and careful so pious and prudent as St. Paul was to super-intend her 1 Cor. 5.1 But we find it far otherwise with Her and that She was over-run not only with early but great Disorders Amongst the rest there was one corrupt and scandalous Member that liv'd in open and horrid Incest with his Father's Wife And yet which aggravates the Crime he was a Person that made some figure in the Church for according to S. Chrysostom and Theodoret both * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he had obtained the Degree of a Doctor Now so grievous a Lewdness being so publickly committed amongst the Corinthians how should they have behav'd themselves in reference to the bold and shameful miscarriage They ought by all means to have lamented it or mourned for it And because they did not they are reprehended and blamed by the great Apostle in these Words ye are puffed up and have not rather Mourned Which gives us to understand that when any in the Communion which we are of fall into deadly and damnable Sins it lies upon us to mourn for the same And in case we do not we are utterly in a fault In a fault so great that it deserves express Reproof from Heaven And as it highly deserves it it shall certainly have it for indeed such a fault where-ever it happens stands actually reproved by GOD already in those very words which we last cited As therefore we would escape the Dint of this Reproof we must bewail the great Sins of all those Christians that come to our knowledge but especially of those who belong to the same Church or Nation with us And if they be so many as GOD knows they are very numerous that we cannot consider and bewail them apart or every one in particular it must suffice that we do it in gross by a more comprehensive and general Mourning But then we must take care that this our Mourning be not slight and superficial but deep and hearty such at least for the sadness and seriousness of it as we usually bestow on our departed Friends And let none despise this Rule or Measure as being borrowed from no meaner Person than learned Origen For where he describes the Discipline of the Primitive Church he thus informs us That as the venerable School of the Pythagoreans * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con. Celsum lib. 3 set up empty Coffins in the places of all such as deserted its Philosophy to shew they were esteemed no better than Dead so for those that were conquered either by Carnality or any other Evil Christians us'd to mourn as for Creatures lost and dead to GOD. So that look how we mourn for dead and so we must mourn for sinful Christians Or if there be any Difference to be allow'd betwixt them the abatement must be made on the Deceased's side inasmuch as Moral or Spiritual Death is far more deplorable than that which is Natural Thirdly We must mourn for the Sins of others because such Mourning prevails with Heaven As we read Lam. 3.26 The LORD is good to the Soul that seeketh Him But how good He is to such and how strangely he manifests His Goodness to them in a gracious Readiness to be found of them none can tell like the well experienc'd Yet this I must say that none prevail more and none prevail sooner with GOD than they who seek Him with holy Mourning And therefore when Jacob had Power with GOD and such Power as to have his
the Title Private Devotions And most fitly may we peruse and consi or them well on our Mourning Days Heads of Self-examination contained in that excellent Book the whole Duty of Man Where we shall find Sin so fully though compendiously represented in the sundry Kinds and Branches of it as will very much help us to understand the great variety of our Sins Thirdly Our Sins have been frequent and repeated As we have committed many Sins so we have acted them many times As if some had been born for nothing but to Sin they have indeed done little else And they that have been more moderately vicious or the most strict and virtuous livers of all have run into so many reiterations of Sin that they are without Number Witness the Psalmist's solemn Interrogatory * Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errors That is how frequently he hath repeated or renewed them And therefore in our other Translation it runs thus Who can tell how oft he offendeth According to which to count up our Sins will puzzle the best Arithmeticians amongst us Who can reckon up their evil thoughts And yet the Sins of the Tongue can no more be numbred than those of the Mind And therefore truly to summ up all our Sins must needs be impossible Even as impossible as to compute the Drops of Water that are in the Sea or the Grains of Sand that lie spread upon the biggest Desart of the Earth A most sad Thought if seriously entertain'd by pious Men. Lastly We have sinned boldly and impudently Many of us want common Modesty as well as Christian Integrity and therefore we * Isa 3.9 declare our sins as Sodom and hide them not Some amongst us have not only been foolish and brutish before GOD but also before men and in the sight of the Sun They have wallowed publickly in their leudness and have owned their Prophaness and have been so far from sneaking into corners to cover their Baseness that they have practis'd it abroad in the open Streets And when they have done instead of being abashed at their monstrous sin they have rather been proud of it and have gloried in that which was their greatest shame And to this very day how usual is it every where for naughty Men to glory thus shamefully To boast of their strength in Drinking to vaunt of their malice in Revenging to make sport with Atheistical Talking to divert themselves and others like them with nauseous Stories of their Swearing lying defrauding debauching and the like And so besides affronting and dishonouring GOD by breaking his Righteous and Holy Laws they mock and laugh at the violation of them As if they meant to put Shamefacedness quite out of countenance and to scorn and deride and hector all Bashfulness out of the World This may be thought very plain and I own it to be so but then withal it is very true and that makes it as sad O that I had no occasion to speak thus And though all of us have not the same Degrees of Impudence to answer for yet sinning too impudently or audaciously may well be charged on us because as hath been said we have sinned highly and sinned variously and sinned frequently A most lamentable consideration if throughly weighed Enough to melt any Heart that is not as hard as the nether Milstone Now what remains but that in the Name of GOD I beseech all those who read this Book designed to promote Religious Mourning that they would duly consider these Suasives to it and add any else which they shall think or find to be proper and useful So I doubt not but what I aim at in this plain Treatise will with Heaven's Blessing be happily accomplisht I mean our Souls shall weep in secret and our Hearts shall mourn within us for our own and others Sins especially those of this Nation A Form of Devotion Proper for the pious Christian when he spends a Day in private Mourning for his own and the Nation 's Sins WHEN the Day you have set is come rise no later than you use to do but if you use to rise late then somewhat sooner When you are dress'd retire into your Closet or be as private as well you can But if any thing of necessary Business or Civility forces in upon you be not too shie of admitting them But when you are fain to ingage in either and with the company that brings the same converse as freely as you are wont and conceal the serious Imployment you are about Only make all the prudent innocent Excuses that you may to withdraw as soon as is convenient and to return to your better Exercise But if inavoidable Diversions take you off it too much then break off the Performance you have begun that Day and deferr it to another but be sure that you lose not a Day in the Course you have resolved on or appointed to your self A preparatory Prayer As soon as your ordinary Morning-Devotions are ended use the following Prayer preparative to the Solemnity of the Day I Am taught in thy Word that the * Prov. 16.1 Preparations of the Heart in Man are from Thee O LORD Before Thee therefore I prostrate my self earnestly beseeching Thee to prepare my Heart to seek Thee this Day with Fasting Praying and holy Mourning Without Thee I know that I can do nothing and that 't is Thou who must work in me both to will and to do whatever is good Cause Thy divinest SPIRIT O GOD to descend upon me and by His blessed Inspirations so to inliven and assist my Soul as that I may offer up an acceptable Service unto Thee Let Him give me a due Sight of my own Vileness and Unworthiness and affect me with a deep Sense of thy Glories and Perfections that so I may approach Thy Presence with such Reverence and Humility with such Faith and Modesty and with such Zeal and Fervency as becomes most sinful Dust and Ashes addressing to the Infinite and Adorable MAJESTY of Heaven and Earth And then †Psal 5.1 2. give ear to my Words O LORD and hearken I beseech Thee to the Voice of my Cry my King and my GOD even for JESUS CHRIST His sake Amen Before you rise off your Knees humbly offer unto GOD what Money you think fit to be laid by at present and afterward to be given to the Poor as occasion serves Remembring that as Fasting is one of the Wings of Prayer to carry it up to Heaven with more force and speed so Alms-deeds are the other But when you make your Oblation say thus Accept it O GOD in thy Beloved SON and vouchsafe me thy special Assistance this day in the weighty Duty I am undertaking Then rising up read one or two or more of the * Which are the 6th 32th 38th 51th 102th 130th 143th Penitential Psalms meditating so upon what you read as that it may help to work you into a Mourning frame And when you break off
us with constant and most powerful Preaching of Thy Word but we do not hear it so as to obey it Thou indulgest to us a blessed Liberty and frequent Opportunities of calling upon Thee by Public Prayer but we do not join it so as to honour Thee and advantage our selves by it Instead of keeping holy * Isai 58.13 Thy Day we break and pollute it Instead of Reverencing Thy †Levit. 19.30 Sanctuary we neglect or prophane it Instead of ‖ Mat. 6.9 Hallowing Thy Name we abuse and blaspheme it Instead of Duly frequenting Thy Table we turn our Backs upon it or come unworthily to it Instead of rightly attending on any of Thine Ordinances we either so slight them as to absent from them or if we resort to them we are so lukewarm in them that we profit little or nothing under them Instead of * 1 Thess 5.13 Esteeming Thy Ministers very highly for their Works-sake we despise them too much and vilify them too often upon that account These are great and provoking Sins O LORD and who besides Thy patient Self could ever have born so long with us in them But yet I have more and more hainous Sins to confess unto Thee which multitudes amongst us most Blessed GOD commit against Thee For many are guilty of horrid Atheism They do not only say in †Psal 14.1 their Hearts there is no GOD but profess and contend for it and maintain it in their Discourse Notwithstanding they are Baptiz'd into the Faith of Thy SON they doubt of thy Being and dispute against it O Heavenly Father Many are guilty of abominable Idolatry The Glory which is due to Thee alone they superstitiously give unto a meer Creature against the plainest sense and clearest Reason adoring even the Bread which themselves do eat Many are guilty of damnable Heresie and some allow not of Thy DIVINITY O Eternal and most Glorious JESUS But though Thou hast laid down Thy Life as a ‖ Mat. 20.28 Ransom for our Souls they wretchedly deny * 2 Pet. 2.1 the LORD that bought them Many are guilty of hideous Perjury They make light not only of common Swearing but of the Solemn Oaths of GOD upon them They count them such sorry and trifling Obligations as impiously to neglect the necessary Duties to which they are bound by those Sacred Ties And O LORD how lamentable must our case be when in this one miscarriage alone there is malignity enough to make †Jer. 23.10 a Land to mourn Many are guilty of most filthy Pollutions Thou feedest them to the full and they assemble themselves by Troops in the ‖ Jer. 5.7 Harlots Houses Instead of * Gal. 5.24 crucifying the Flesh they †Ephes 4.19 work uncleanness with greediness and Adultery and ‖ 5.3 Fornication which should not once be named amongst Christians are matters of their common and continual Practice How shalt thou * Jer. 5.7 pardon us for this O LORD and what direful effects of thine Anger may we justly expect when for †Eph 5.6 these things sake the wrath of GOD cometh upon the children of Disobedience Many are guilty of high Injustice They oppress the Widow and wrong the Fatherless and instead of living righteously in the World they steal and they kill and addict themselves to Fraud and all manner of violence Many are guilty of Faction in the State Instead of being ‖ Rom. 13.1 subject to the higher Powers which are ordained of GOD and of * 1 Pet. 2.13 submitting themselves to every Ordinance of Man for the LORD's sake they are so †2 Pet. 2.10 presumptuous as to confront Government ‖ Jude 8. despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities Many are guilty of Schism in the Church Instead * Eph. 4 3. of keeping the Unity of the SPIRIT in the bond of peace of being of one †Act. 4.32 heart and of one Soul of ‖ Rom. 15.6 glorifying GOD with one mind and with one mouth they have sowed Dissentions and have caused Divisions they have invaded the Ministry and seduced thy People drawing them away into divers Sects by dangerous Separations Many are Guilty of Gluttony and Drunkenness Instead of eating and drinking to thy * 1 Cor. 10.31 Glory O GOD they do it continually to their own great shame and to thy dishonour And notwithstanding the many and great Obligations upon them to Sobriety they abuse themselves and the good Creatures Thou vouchsafest them to most brutish Intemperance and Excess And which mightily aggravates all our sins so deadly in themselves they have been acted directly against Knowledg and Conscience We can plead no Ignorance O LORD in excuse of our Enormities For Thy word from Heaven hath taught us plainly and told us aloud that we †2 Cor. 5.10 must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ That ‖ Rom. 6.23 the wages of Sin is Death That there shall be * Rom. 2.9 tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth evil That except we †Luk. 13.3 repent we shall all perish That the Wicked shall go into ‖ Mat. 25.46 everlasting Punishment But all this and whatever else should have hindred us from sin through our own perverseness hath but heightned our Guilt Nor have we sinned only against strongest Convictions but with greatest Boldness We have boasted of our Lewdness we have bragged of our Baseness and have been ready to defend if not to applaud it Our Immoralities and Irreligion have fac'd the Sun and instead of concealing them we have gloried in them And as thus we have offended the upright and virtuous so the vitious we have encourag'd to do like our selves Nor are our Sins few O LORD that have been thus hainous For they are greatly multiplied as well as scandalous and are not more notorious than innumerable * Jer. 5.9 Shall not GOD visit for these things shall not His Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this Here rest again and by reflecting and ruminating on the Nation 's Sins raise your Sorrow for them as high as you can And to help to increase it use these Petitions LORD make mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears to weep for the Transgressions of this sinful Nation Let mine †Lam. 1.16 20. Eye run down with Water O GOD and let my Bowels be troubled because this People have so grievously rebelled We have ‖ Ps 106.6 sinned with our Fathers we have committed iniquity we have done wickedly for this let mine * Lam. 2.11 19. Eyes flow with Tears and let me pour out my heart like Water before the face of Thee O LORD I have contributed too much to the Sins of this Land which call for Vengeance inable me Good GOD to help to drown that hideous Cry with holy Mourning If Sorrow swells to such a rate as to debilitate or dispirit you then once more
pleasest both them and me from the Strokes thereof by thy Special Providence †Psal 57.1 hiding us under thy Wings O LORD until the Calamities be over-past But if as we deserve Thou justly involvest us in the Common Miseries O mingle our Sufferings with a sense of thy Love and make them all Instruments of our Benefit and Blessedness And whatever shall happen to our Estates or Bodies LORD let our Souls be precious in thy sight and ‖ Mal. 3.17 remember them in the day when Thou makest up thy Jewels And that for His sake who redeem'd them even Thy CHRIST and our JESUS who hath given us assurance that * Joh. 16.24 whatever we ask in His Name we shall receive In His Name therefore and in His Words I humbly conclude my unworthy Supplications Our Father c. As short as this Mourning-Office may seem to be yet if it be recited deliberately and with calling to mind and sadly confessing our particular Offences compriz'd in those general Heads which come most home to our personal Extravagancies we shall find it will take up more time to rehearse it than we are aware But should it with the Intervals of Reading require all the Forenoon yet to fill up the whole Day from the time we rise till Six at night we shall want a farther supply for Devotion As meet provision therefore to carry on the pious Exercise thus far contitinu'd I shall here add another Form of Prayer And lest it should be too much to use it all at once I have divided it into several Collects or Sections that so you may the less abruptly break off where you please and as often as you think fit and then begin again where you left off A PRAYER For the Holy SPIRIT of GOD and the Principal of His Heavenly Graces O Most Merciful GOD and Father I the unworthiest of all thy Children prostrate in thy Fear and sacred Presence from my Heart do magnify Thee for the innumerable Blessings I have received from Thee And most humbly I intreat Thee to bestow such other good things upon me as I still need and can no where obtain but at thy bounteous Hands I. For the HOLY GHOST ABove all vouchsafe me thy HOLY SPIRIT which thou hast freely promised to them that * Luk. 11.13 ask Him And let Him be helpful to me in those several Offices which He came down from Heaven to execute in the Church even in comforting conducting and santifying of my Soul Make Him a Comforting SPIRIT to me That freeing my Mind from afflictive Horrors and disconsolate Heaviness I may †Phil. 4 4. rejoyce in the LORD evermore and live in that divinest Peace of GOD ‖ 4.7 which passeth all understanding Make Him a Conducting SPIRIT to me That dispelling the Darkness and Blindness of my Mind by illuminating me with bright and saving Knowledge He may help to lead me into a competent understanding of all necessary Truths Make Him a Sanctifying SPIRIT to me That Cleansing me from all moral Corruptions and Impurities I may become holy as * 1 Pet. 1.16 Thou art Holy by His infusing precious Graces into my Heart II. For Hatred to Sin LET Him fill me with Hatred and Detestation of Sin With such an Hatred as may not only turn me from it but set me against it and make me a deadly and irreconcilable Enemy to it To which End let Him open mine Eyes to see the malignant Nature of it How it is a Transgression of Thy Law a Contradiction of Thy Mind and an Opposition to Thy Will and so the worst and basest thing in the World as being contrary to Thee the Chiefest Good Let Him convince me also of its direful Effects How besides many Temporal and Spiritual Miseries it subjects me to woful Eternal Calamities which I can neither avoid nor yet abide And let the Consideration of its abominable Vileness and destructive Consequents help to beget in me speedy Repentance where I have committed it and also strongest Antipathies to it and constant and vehement Aversations from it in all presumptuous Instances whatever III. For Faith LET Him indue me with unfeigned Evangelical Faith With such a Faith as may inable me to †Heb. 11.6 believe that GOD is and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him and so to believe it as to become my self a most diligent and unwearied Seeker of Him With such a Faith as is a ‖ Gal. 5.2 fruit of the SPIRIT as will shew it self * Jam. 2.18 by my Works as will †1 Joh. 5.4 overcome the World and so throughly ‖ Rom. 5.1 justify me that I may have peace with GOD. Even peace with Him * Eph. 4.13 till we all come in the Unity of the Faith to the sweet and endless injoyment of Him who is the sole †Heb. 12.2 Author and Finisher of it IV. For Hope LET Him work in me a most firm and lively Hope Such an Hope as may not ‖ Rom. 5.5 make me ashamed by suffering me either to presume or despair But may be an * 1 Thess 5 8. Helmet to me in my Spiritual Warfare and an †Heb. 6.19 Anchor of my Soul while I am tossed in the Waves of this tempestuous World And having this Hope in me let me ‖ 1 Joh. 3.3 purify my self even as He is pure who is at once both the Object and End of my Hope the LORD JESUS CHRIST V. For Love to GOD. LET Him inflame my Heart with Love to Thy MAJESTY O my GOD. With such an holy ardent and passionate Love as becomes a Creature to his Sovereign LORD and Maker and a Dutiful Child to his indulgent heavenly Father I acknowledge my self unworthy of so high a Favour But Thy only SON died to purchase this inestimable Grace amongst others for all that need and seek it of Thee None O LORD want it more than I and with humblest Earnestness I seek and crave it O deny me not this one Request whatever else Thou with-holdest from me I am willing to be I am willing to do I am willing to bear or to suffer any thing with Thy help so I may but love Thee Turn me all into Love and indear me greatly to Thy self and I wish no more I neither want nor ask nor care for any thing in this World like that It is not Health nor Wisdom nor Riches nor Honour nor Life it self nor any thing in it or belonging to it that I so importunately beg but the Love of Thy Self O dearest GOD the Love of Thy Self is the Blessing I desire LORD give me but that and I have enough Thou hast said that Thou * Psal 107.9 satisfiest the longing Soul and fillest the hungry Soul with goodness †Ps 71.4 Thou O LORD art the thing that I long for and my Soul Thou seest hungers after Thâ—… O that Thou wouldst fill it with