this vast Globe Such O my God and infinitely less are the richest Kingdoms here below If we compare their most pompous State with the meanest degree that is in the Court of Heaven When thou hast fed us a little while with Milk thou invitest our appetite to stronger Meat Thou tellest us of a sweet delicious life in the blest Society of Saints and Angels With whom we shall dwell in perpetual Friendship and be lov'd and esteem'd by them all for ever Thou tellest us of a pure Soul-ravishing joy in beholding the amiable face of Jesus Whose Gracious smiles shine round about and fill the Heavens with Holy Gladness And thou tellest dear Lord of delights that are still incomparably higher than all these Hearken well to such things O my Soul and humbly adore thy bounteous God. His abundant goodness has provided thee large rewards indeed he intends himself to be thy Portion and exceeding great reward Himself he will clearly unveil before us and openly shew us that great secret What it is Glorious Lord to behold thy face to know as we are known O happy secret if once at last attain'd If once we can but see the face of our God in Glory To know the Immensity of thy self-subsisting Essence and the Infinite Excellence of all thy Attributes To know the power of the Eternal Father and the Wisdom of the Uncreated Son and the Goodness of the Holy Spirit the incomprehenfible Glories of the undivided Trinity This O my Soul is the top of Happiness this is the Supream perfection of our Nature This this alone is worthy to be the aim of our Being the Hope and End of all our labours When we are come to this we shall presently rest and our satisfied desires will reach no farther We shall be fill'd with overflowing bliss and our utmost capacities can hold no more In one Act of Joy we shall be eternally fixt one lasting Act which will spring fresh and unwearied for ever MEDITATION III. NEver can we say too much my Soul of this glorious subject never can we think enough of the Felicities of Heaven Arise my Soul and leave mortality and time below thy flight to thee these joyes belong Arise and advance thy self on high Fly away with the wings of thy Spirit are they not strong enough to lift thee from earth the only reason of it is want of exercise Fly if thou canst possibly to that land of Promise try resolutely strive manfully to do so and visit those Heavenly Regions Take an Evenings walk in that Paradise of pure delights amongst the beautified Spirits of just men who perpetually contemplate the Eternal Deity Think thô thy habitation at present is in this vale of tears thou mai'st hope one day to be advanced to their dignity to have a place and sing among their holy Quires We may hope to know all things that are produc'd and to know besides the all producing Cause O what a fire of love will it kindle in our hearts when we shall see those shining Mysteries When our great God like a burning mirrour shall strike his brightness on the eyes of our Soul. O what excessive joy will that love produce a love so violently desiring and so fully satisfied When our capacities shall be stretcht to the utmost and the rich abounding Object shall fill and Overflow them O what profound repose will that Joy beget a Joy so exceeding high and so eternally secure When in amorous languishment we shall sweetly dissolve into a fort of blissfull Union with our first beginning When without losing what we are we shall become even what he is We shall take part in all his Joyes and share in the Glories of all his Heaven O what divine and ravishing words are these How gently they enter and delight my Ear How they diffuse themselves over all my Brain and strongly penetrate to my very Soul Methinks they turn to substance as they go and I feel them stir and work through all my powers Methinks they lie as a rich Cordial at my heart and send forth Spirits to quicken and refresh me There O my Soul we shall rest from all our labours which are but the way to all that happiness There we shall rest from sin and sorrow and no longer be troubled with our selves or others There we shall rest for ever in the protection of our God in the arms and bosom of our dearest Lord We shall enjoy a rest not senseless and stupid as here but attended with spritely joy and pleasure Such is the desirable rest that remains for the Servants of God. PETITIONS O Heaven the eternal source of all these Joyes and infinitely more and infinitely greater As the Hart pants after the Water-brooks so does my Soul thirst after thee After thee it is that I daily sigh and mourn and with a greedy longing eye often do I look up and say Descend thou blessed Heaven into my heart or rather take up my heart to thee Thy Joyes indeed are too great to enter into me O God! I pray thee who art the Heaven I long for take me hence to enter into them When O my God shall I sit at that fountain head and drink my fill of those living Streams When shall I be Inebriated with that torrent of pleasures which springs for ever from thy glorious Throne Oh that the dayes of my banishment were fully finisht How is the time of my weary Pilgrimage prolong'd Why am I still detain'd in this valley of tears still wandring up and down in this wilderness of dangers O God! who dost graciously wooe us to our eternal Inheritance by all manner of wayes which are apt to work upon us Make these glories I beseech thee powerfully to insinuate themselves into me and become absolute masters of my heart that I may not wander in this wilderness but may steadily direct my course to the heavenly Canaan Let the felicities of it so strongly settle themselves in my affections that my Soul may be ravisht therewith that I may run with courage and diligence in the way that leads to it Make me despise the gawdy vanities and temptations of this world that would bribe my flesh to hinder me in my race Come thou sweet Jesu my only hope and sure deliverer out of all sorrows and dangers Come thou and here begin to dwell in my heart O come quickly to prepare my Soul for that life which I desire and hope to live with thee in Heaven And when thou hast fitted me for it take me in thy time to my eternal home Hymn 2. WHy do we seek felicity Where 't is not to be found And not dear Lord look up to thee Where all delights abound Why do we seek for treasure here On this false barren sand Where nought but empty shells appear And marks of Shipwrack stand O world how little do thy joyes Concern a Soul that knows It self not made for such low toyes As thy poor hand bestows How
away And into Joy turns all our Grief Come thou bright Sun shoot home thy darts Pierce to the Center of our Hearts And make our living Faith love thee Without thy Grace without thy Light Our strength is weakness our day night And we can neither move nor see Lord wash our sinful stains away Water from Heaven our barren Clay Our many mortal Bruises heal To thy sweet Yoke our stiff Necks bow Warm with thy fire our Hearts of Snow And soon our wandring feet repeal O grant thy Faithful dearest Lord Whose only hope is thy sure Word The saving gifts of thy good Spirit Grant us in Life t' obey thy Grace Grant us at Death to see thy Face And Heave'ns Eternal Joyes inherit All Glory to the Sacred Three One ever-living Deity All Power ascribe and Bliss and Praise As at the first when time begun May the same Homage still be done While time does last when time decayes Amen MEDITATION II. HOw glorious O Lord is thy Grace over all the World How admirable are the influences of thy Spirit They who through dulness so slowly understood the often repeated Lessons of their divine Master now when the Spirit descended upon them did with the first swift glance see through all and no mystery could pose nor errour deceive them They who through fear forsook their Lord and fled away from the danger of being his now do rejoice in suffering for his Name and neither Life nor Death can forbid them to confess him They who knew only their Mother tongue and that no better than as simple Fishermen now speak to every Nation in their several language and with their powerful Eloquence ravish their Hearts They who after our Saviours resurrection shut fast the doors for fear of the Jews now in the open Streets and publick Synagogues confidently proclaim the Name of Jesus These were new bottles sill'd with new Wine wine that made them quite forget their former selves Wine that exalted them into a generous Spirit of despising all things for the love of Jesus Wine that in the midst of Racks and Prisons made them often break forth into that sweet extasie no joy like the pain of suffering for Jesus no Life like the death endur'd for his Love. O were there now such tongues of fire to kindle in the world those divine flames O were there now such Hearts in the world to receive the holy sparks that fall from Heaven The Apostle Peter preach't but one Sermon and immediately there were converted to Thee three thousand Souls he preach't again and wrought but one Miracle and five thousand more were added to the Church Thus every day they encreas'd in number and which was better their number encreas'd in Vertue They were all inebriated with the same heavenly Wine and all fill'd with the same Heroick Spirit They sold all they had and brought the price and laid it down at the Apostles feet they liv'd in an Innocent community and call'd nothing their own even in their will and understanding they were all united Every one had enough and that is to be rich none had too much and that is to be free free from the cares that perplex the wealthy free from the temptations that wait on superfluity Hadst thou been there my Soul to have seen the flaming ardour of those first converts it would have made thee utterly asham'd of all sloath and coldness You may easily suppose you might have heard them saying such passionate words as these from a mixture of grief and love Ah dearest Lord why were we not so happy as to be converted by thee while thou livedst amongst us Why not to entertain Salvation when thou broughtest it to our homes and didst preferre our little Nation before all the World Unhappy we in our neglect and perverseness which were the causes of our insidelity We lookt on thy many kind miracles O Lord and did not see them Before our Eyes thou didst give sight to the Blind and our Souls were dark with Sin and prejudice Thou didst cleanse the Leprous and heal all manner of Diseases thou didst raise the Dead and cast out Devils with a Word Yet we alas how many of us blasphem'd thy Name how many conspir'd with thy Bloody Crucifiers We cryed out among the tumultuous rabble Away with him away with him crucifie him crucifie him for we knew thee not then to be the Lord of Glory Blessed be thy holy Spirit who has opened our Eyes and made us see through the veil that eclips'd thy lustre Now we believe thee the Messias we expected now we acknowledge thee the King of Israel MEDITATION III. PRoceed my Soul a little further to meditate on the mighty works of the Holy Spirit and with their greatness admire his power and with their goodness his bounty and Love. When Lord thou didst descend into our wretched World then was that Word of thy faithful Prophet fulfill'd The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid the Calf and the Young Lion and the Fatling shall be together and even a little Child shall lead them They who in the day of our Saviours Passion fiercely persecuted him like Lions and Wolves thou didst easily convert many of them into innocent Sheep and join them with the rest of his harmless Flock Those that were covetous as Wolves thy powerful Grace made them liberal those that were fierce and proud as Lions it made humble and meek Those that had been intemperate as Swine were made sober and they that were lustful as Goats became chast They were all join'd together in the bonds of pure Charity and submitted to the government of the meek and poor Apostles Then was the worship of God not a burden but a delight not a diversion but a business to the ardent love thou didst inspire The Disciples continued daily in the Apostles Doctrine humbly attending to their saving instructions Daily they broke the holy Bread and celebrated the appointed Supper of our Lord inflaming thereby their love to him and confirming their holy Faith and resolutions Daily they assembled to unite their Prayers being fill'd with the Spirit of Grace and Supplications Thus they obey'd thy dictates and thus they encreas'd in the measure of thy Gifts and the strength of thy Graces Such were the fervours of those happy times and Oh how Happy were our times had we those fervours too But our times alas are become miserable by Schisms and heresies and the darkness that covers a great part of the World Ours are become miserable by the defect of Charity and by the scandalous examples of too many Christians Many are scandalous in the Principles which they profess to the disparagement of our Lord's instructions and many others in their vicious Conversations which disparage his wise and pure Precepts Too many alas there are of these yet the Gates of Hell can never prevail against the Power of God Still the same Spirit visits the World and
keeps alive in some the same Primitive Fire Still there are some Hearts full of the Holy Ghost full of the ravishing Wine of Divine Love Still there are some who renounce the World and readily take up the Cross and follow our Lord Still the Almighty Goodness is true to his Church and keeps it one and Holy and Universal Still the Holy Spirit thanks be to his unwearied goodness maintains in his Church some burning and shining Lights He that as a Wind breaths where he listeth and is the free Dispenser of his own Gifts is often found of those that seek him not and vouchfafes to strive with them that resist him Though the ungrateful World abuses his blessings yet he has not utterly withdrawn himself from the ungrateful World. Yet O ye Sons of Adam consider what your Maker has said My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with Man. If this refining Fire does not purge you from your wickedness the slames of his wrath will devour your World and you PETITIONS O Kind and gracious Spirit who art often near to us when we are far from thee often ready to grant when we are unmindfull to ask Vouchsafe now to hear these few humble Petitions which thy Grace disposes me to present I pray O Lord for the good Estate of thy Catholick Church Fit and dispose thy Servants first to entertain thee then graciously vouchsafe to descend into our hearts Fill us O Holy Ghost and our little Vessels and as thou fillest us enlarge our Capacities Make us the more we receive of thee still grow in desire of receiving more till we ascend to those satisfying joyes above where all our Faculties shall be stretch'd to the utmost where they shall all be fill'd to the brim and overflow'd with a Torrent of Pleasure Make us fit to entertain thee and then possess us with the holy fire of Meekness and peace that all the World may know whose Disciples we are by seeing us love one another O deliver us from the contrary fire the fire of the false and evil Spirit that scorches without warming and smoaks without shining and consumes without enlightening Deliver us from Schism and Heresie and every the least uncharitable Passion Vouchsafe to give us the spirit of Fortitude the spirit of Temperance Justice and Prudence the spirit of Wisdom Understanding and Counsels the spirit of Knowledge Piety and the fear of thee the spirit of Patience and Benignity the spirit of Humility Sobriety and Chastity And bring we pray thee the whole World into thy one Flock that all may be so far of the same mind here as all to enjoy the same happiness hereafter Grant these things O Lord to the Merits of our only Mediator Jesus Christ Glory be to c. Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. WE are not our own but the Temples of the Holy Ghost let us dedicate our selves intirely to his Service Come let us now again prepare our Hearts and humbly offer this our evening Sacrifice Who will give me this happy favour that I may now find my God alone that I may find him in the silence of retirement where the noise of this World can no way interrupt us but that my God may speak to me and I to him as dearest friends converse together That I may unfold before him all my wants and freely ask the Charity of his Counsel What shall I do O gracious Lord to be happy here what shall I do to be happy hereafter Nature already has thus far taught me that in all I undertake I seek mine own good Onely I have cause to fear I may mistake that good and set up a vain Idol instead of thee unless my God the Spirit of Truth vouchsafe to instruct me and shew my Soul its true Felicity Heark my Soul how the eternal Wisdom gives thee Advice and let every word sink deep into thee Seek with thy first endeavours the Kingdom of Heaven and all things else shall be added to thy wish Love with thy whole Affections the enjoyment of thy God and all things else shall conspire to thy Happiness All these my lips confess are excellent Truths but my Life O God is not so ready to confess them I cannot perfectly overcome my Passions nor guide them so as to tend steadily towards thee Often do they draw me into sin by setting me upon the pursuit of this World. While they are mine I cannot govern them behold dear Lord I offer them to thee to be subjected in all their Motions to thy Laws and entirely employ'd in thy Service That my fond heart may be wean'd from the follies of this World and its Appetites quicken'd to thy solid Joyes That I may hunger and thirst perpetually after thee and those glorious Promises thou hast made to thy Servants That my whole Soul may seek thee alone since thou alone O Lord art all my Heaven O glorious God my Life my Joy and the onely fit Center of all my Hopes were my too unsteady Soul once firmly united to thee and could I relish the true sweetness of thy presence how would all other Company seem dull and tedious and the whole World be even bitter to my taste How would my thoughts cleave fast to thee and gladly seal this everlasting Covenant If thou O Lord wilt dwell with me my Heart shall continually attend on thee Night and day will I sing thy Praises and all my life long adore thy Mercies MEDITATION II. WHen O my Soul shall thy God find thee alone free from those busie thoughts that fill thy head O with what ready Charity would he then instruct thee and let thee into his blessed Secrets Himself would become thy familiar guest and dwell with thee in perpetual joy Strive then to clear thy self of all other thoughts that fill thee at best with nothing but emptiness Remember thy God is a pure Spirit and delights to dwell in a clean Tabernacle He will not entertain a Soul that regards any Sin nor stay where he finds his grace neglected If he vouchsafe the blessing of a Visit and O how sweet and ravishing is his presence let us open wide our bosoms to receive him and summon all our powers to entertain him Say Come my Understanding and bring all thou knowest all that enlightens thee in the way to Felicity Come my Will and call in all thy Loves and contract them into one and settle them here for ever Come my Memory but lay aside thy swarm of Notions and forget them all but what concerns thy Eternity Come my whole Soul with these Faculties about thee and prostrate adore the Eternal Spirit Behold he now is nigh and sits in the devout heart as on the Throne he delights in In devout retirement and calm silence he will familiarly speak to us and teach us what shall be for our good Come then and with devoutest reverence attend my Soul to what now thy God will say Let thy Understanding be ready to assent to his
we may apply them to the earnest pursuit of our one necessary work the securing to our selves the Kingdom of Heaven Why should we spend all our daies about trifles and our labour for that which will not profit Earthly riches profit not in the day of wrath my Soul seek Heavenly Treasures Seek thou lasting and substantial Joys while others dote on and pursue those flitting shadows sensual Pleasures Seek thou the sacred Knowledge of thy God and Jesus the Christ whom he sent into the World whom to know is Life Eternal Miserable are they O Lord who study all things else and neglect this Sacred Science though their skill can number the Stars and trace out the wayes of the Planets Miserable are they who gather great possessions who heap up Gold and Silver but get no interest in thee Miserable are they who enjoy all that this World can afford to please but have no enjoyment of thee To know thee is to be truly wise and is the highest Learning To have thee my God and Portion is to be exceeding rich to contemplate and enjoy thee is a Heaven of Pleasure I determine to value no other Knowledge but that of Jesus the Christ and him crucified I account all things but loss and dung that I may win Christ and may have Communion with the Father and the Son through the Spirit PETITIONS WIth fervent desires O Lord and a panting Soul I am going to thy house O maintain I pray thee such desires after thy self and fulfil them while I am waiting where thou appointest Draw nigh to us who are drawing near to thee Make us sitly to perform our Duty Open thou our Lips and our Mouths shall shew forth thy praise Open thou our eyes O Blessed Lord that we may see the beauty of thy Commands how Wise and Sweet in themselves they are how Necessary and Beneficial to us While they improve our felicity here and fit us for that which will be hereafter Send forth thy beams of spreading light O thou that art the morning Star and lead us to thy Holy Hill. Send forth thy Truth O increated Wisdom and bring us to thy Blessed Tabernacle Guide thou our Lives O Gracious Lord in the waies of thy Precepts that by observing faithfully those excellent rules we may all every where be happy O Glorious Jesu in whom we live and without whom we dye mortifie in us by thy Spirit all sensual desires and quicken our Hearts with thy Holy Love that we may no longer have a high esteem for the Vanities of this world but may place our affections entirely on thee Show us thy glorious self O Jesu in thee we shall behold all we can wish Only so much we beg to conceive of thy Majesty as may move our Hearts to seek thee Only so much discovery we ask as may conform us to thy likeness If we may not know thee clearly now let us know at least so far as to make us long to know further If we cannot perfectly love thee in this Life let us love so much as that we may desire to love more So let us know and Love thee here O thou the Soveraign bliss of our Souls that we may hereafter know thee better and Love thee more for ever to our Eternal Bliss and thy Eternal Glory thereby Glory be to the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen For Sunday Evening MEDITATION I. LEt them O Lord seek other delights who expect no felicity from thee Let them fill up their time with other employments and wast the remainder of this Holy day who think thy rewards not worth their labour As for me my Souls chief content shall be to meditate on the Glories prepar'd for thy Servants above So will I meditate on them as often as the daies of sacred leisure do return that my Heart shall be firmly set upon those Glories And all the few years that I live shall spend themselves to purchase that one Eternal Sabbath which thy Saints shall celebrate in Heaven A Day that is whose brightness knows no night nor ever fears the least eclipse Whose chearful brow no cloud o're-casts nor does any Storm ever molest the passage of its raies But it still shines on serene and clear and fills with splendor all the spacious Palace That ever-living day needs not the fading lustre of our Sun nor the borrow'd Silver of the Moon The Sun that is risen there is the Lamb and the light that shines is the Glory of God. O how Beauteous Truths are said of thee thou City of the King of Heaven Thy Walls are rais'd with precious stones and every Gate is one Rich Pearl Thy Mansions are built with choicest Jewels and the pavement of thy Streets is transparent Gold. Along in the midst of thee runs a Chrystal River perpetually flowing from the Throne of God. There all along those pleasant banks does most deliciously grow the Tree of Life A Tree which can heal all wounds with its balmy Leaves and make immortal all those who eat and taste its pleasant Fruit. Thus is the Holy City built thus is the New Jerusalem like a Bride in every part adorn'd O Blest and Glorious City how Free how Rich how Secure and Happy are thy glad Inhabitants Every Head in thee wears a Royal Crown and every Hand a Palm of Victory Every Eye overflows with joy and every Tongue with Psalms of Praise Behold O my Soul the Inheritance that we seek and where can we find more Riches to invite us Behold the felicities to which our exalted Saviour calls us Consider what Mansions he is gone to prepare Where can we meet with such pleasures to entertain us Can thy Sences present to thy Knowledge a place on Earth like this Surely they cannot Banish then my Soul all worldly vain desires Let none of them hereafter molest thy Peace Look not at the transitory things which are seen but at the Eternal which are not And so receive some glimpse of this Heaven to encourage and quicken thy Travel towards it MEDITATION II. BLest be thy Gracious Wisdom O Lord that so mercifully condescends to the mean and low capacities of our present mortal State. Under these veils thou hidest these glorious misteries which are too high and Spiritual for our Flesh and Blood to us it cannot yet appear what we shall be But after this manner hast thou revealed thy sublime rewards to allure and captivate us with things that of this world are most admired Scepters and Crowns thou know'st are apt to win the Hearts of us thy Children Children alas we are too truly in sacred Knowledge O that we were such in Love and Duty My Soul if these imperfect shadows of the future bliss do transport and please so many men should not the real substance sweetly delight thee What is a drop of Water to the boundless Ocean or a grain of dust to
Crucified Redeemer I cannot question the love of the Father to Mankind God the Father it appears did so love the world as that he gave his only begotten Son to dye for them God the Son I see is willing that many should be partakers in his Death since he has Instituted this Blessed Sacrament and Invites all men to it With Angels then and Archangels and all the glorious host of Heaven I Praise and admire the Love of God the Father and God the Son I Praise and adore the ever blessed Trinity for the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ And I come O Saviour to take and eat thy Body which was broken for me I come joyfully to drink that Cup which is the New Testament in thy Blood which Blood thou hast shed for the remission of the sins of many and invited all believing Souls to partake of I desire I long to partake of this my necessary Food I desire I long to receive these incomparable dainties As the Hart pants after the water-brooks so thirsteth my Soul after thee O Christ I will open my mouth wide O Lord for thy fullness can suffice my largest desires When O my Soul thou seest the Holy Bread broken and the Consecrated Wine apart from it say I remember thy sufferings O crucified Love and that bitter passion which ended in Death it self I call to mind how thy Blessed Body was scourg'd and bruised How thy Sacred Head was prick't with the sharp Thorns How thy Hands which had wrought many a kind Miracle were bored through and torn with great Nails How thy Feet which had carryed Thee about to do good were now by ungrateful men nail'd to the Cross How thy tender Heart was pierc't by the Souldiers Spear and at these wounds thy Blood and thy Life forsook Thee I must grieve and I must love O thou great Martyr of Love when I consider all this was undergone for me I must needs detest my self and abhor my Sins when I consider thou wast made a curse for me My numerous Sins increas'd thy heavy load my Sins were some of the procuring causes of thy bitter Death With a broken and contrite Heart I deeply lament my past transgressions and resolve that from henceforth every Sin shall be very odious to me I resolve to sight against it with all possible care and industry and will not allow any known Sin to be quiet in me When the Bread and Wine my Soul are by Christs Ministers given to thee say These kind Lord are thy Instruments of conveyance and they make over to me the Blessings of the New Covenant Welcome dear signs of my Saviours presence Welcome sure pledges of his love and of my Happiness Open ye everlasting doors of my Heart and let this King of Glory enter in Welcome dear Lord to my poor Soul and sit thou as sovereign of my Heart I shall be very happy under thy Dominion and very safe under thy protection My Beloved is mine and I am his I will live to my Love that dyed for me When the Bread and Wine are given to others in thy sight thou must look upon them as members of Jesus Christ Thou must look with love upon those whom he loves and resolve to practise all the kindness to them that thou canst Conclude the solemnity with hearty Joy and Thankfulness and say What shall I render unto the Lord for all his Benefits O matchless love of God to a poor Sinner O Love beyond Degree O Love that passes Knowledge I can never sufficiently show my self grateful Yet bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his Holy Name Praise him who graciously forgiveth all thy Sins and justifies thee freely by his Grace Praise him who healeth all thy diseases Study to make as liberal returns to thy Lord as thou canst for thy Lord has dealt very bountifully with Thee PETITIONS O Lord thou art the great searcher of Hearts and thou know'st us altogether O assist my serious examinations of my self that I may overlook no secret Sin. Thou Lord know'st how to influence and turn our Hearts even as pleaseth thee O prepare my Heart according to thine own will to draw nigh to thee Breath O Divine Spirit upon my Soul and then the grateful odours of my Grace will flow forth O Lord I would with all due affections commemorate and receive my Saviour and I earnestly desire that every Grace may renew its strength Let every Grace O Lord be so improv'd as that I may bring forth more fruit in doing well and may more steadily resist the assaults of all temptation to evil Lord I believe help thou my unbelief and fill me with all Joy and Peace in believing Inflame my Heart with a more ardent Charity let my love be stronger than Death let me be rooted and grounded in love Make me to mind more the things above and despise the things below to be more patient in adversity and more humble and fruitful in prosperity To be strictly just and honest in a deceitful World and charitable to those that injure me and set themselves against me Increase in me the Love of all thy Commands and the hatred of every Sin. O God the Father our Creatour and Sovereign Lord regard I beseech Thee thy Son's death which we shall now commemorate before Thee remember how well he pleased thee in all things and when I am united to him regard me with favour too When I partake of his Sacrifice accept it as a propitiation for my Sins and pardon for his sake all my transgressions O Spotless Lamb of God once slain for us Sinners on the Cross have Mercy upon me O Christ hear me and be my powerful Advocate with the Heavenly Father Solicite by thy merits his Mercy for my poor Soul. Offer thy sacred Body before his Throne and turn away the wrath that my sins have deserved If thou wilt O Eternal Merciful God one God in three persons do all these kind things for me for the sake and merits of the Redeemer and out of thy great love to Souls then since I can never have given thee praises enow grant that I may ever live to praise Thee Glory be to the Father c. Amen For Thursday Evening MEDITATION I. HAst thou my Soul been Feasting at the Table of the Lord Has he given thee himself and his rich blessings What thou hast done signifies the renewal of that Covenant that was made in Baptism between the Lord and Thee Thou hast in coming to this Feast profest thy self a Christian and declar'd a resolution to live and dye so Thou hast pretended to account nothing so precious to thee as thy Saviour and that no other Lord but he shall have dominion over thee The Loving Jesus must now have full possession of thy Heart and thou maist not be govern'd by the love of this World. Thou hast bound thy self my Soul to be the Servant of Jesus Christ
their God Yet this prepar'd them for the times of Grace to which thy Mercy O Lord reserv'd far greater favours to which thou hast promised by thy Holy Prophets an effusion of Blessings from thine own full hands I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts I will be their God and they shall be my People I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall Prophesie They shall teach no more every one his Neighbour saying Know the Lord for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest saith the Lord. Hymn 31. COme Holy Spirit come and breath Thy Spicy Odours on the Face Of our dull Regions here beneath And fill our Souls with thy sweet grace Come and root out the poys'nous weeds Which over-run and choak our Lives And in our hearts plant thine own seeds Whose quickening pow'r our Spirit revives First Plant the humble Violet there Which dwells secure by dwelling low Then let the Lilly next appear And make us chast yet fruitful too But O! Plant all the Vertues Lord And let the Metaphors alone Repeat once more that mighty Word Thou need'st but say Let it be done We can alas nor be nor grow Unless thy powerful Mercy please Thy hand must plant and water too Thy hand alone must give th' increase Do then what thou alone canst do Do what to thee so easie is Conduct us through this world of woe And place us safe in thine own Bliss All Glory to the Sacred Three One ever-living Sovereign Lord As at the first still may he be Belov'd and Prais'd Fear'd and Ador'd Amen MEDITATION II. LOok up languishing World look up and see how punctually thy faithful Lord performs his word When he had finisht here that gracious work which his goodness undertook for our Redemption when he had told us what we ought to do and what to suffer for the Kingdom of Heaven when he himself had done more than he requir'd of us and was about to be offer'd up for us by his Death on the Cross and he had wrought our Salvation so far that now his absence from Earth was more expedient for us He first prepares the hearts of his Disciples and comforts their Sorrows with these sweetest words Children I will not leave you Orphans but will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth who shall teach you all things and bring to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Peace I leave with you my Peace give I to you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid I ascend unto my Father and to your Father to my God and to your God I goe to prepare a place for you that where I am there may also my faithful and constant Followers be Thus he gave them to expect that the Holy Spirit should be sent into the World upon his departure from it That this kind Spirit would apply himself to Comfort them by all those wayes wherein comfort could be given That this Spirit should supply his Presence not only for a time but should abide with them never to remove to Heaven again as he did That he should continue in the Christian Church a sufficient Guide and a powerful Comforter to Teach them what is to be done to Comfort them under Afflictions to fortifie and support them in their spiritual Conflicts to assist the application and use of those excellent Instructions which he had left among them to take their part in the World and convert their enemies into friends by convincing them of sin in not believing on Jesus of the righteousness which it appears they may have from him because he is gone to the Father and of Judgment to come for sinful men since the sinning Angels are judged And after their kind Master had said these and other comfortable things to them he led them forth together and gave them his Blessing and parting from them went away into Heaven So loving Mothers when the weaning time is come withdraw from their beloved Children but while they thus deprive their tender little ones of their most dear and all-supplying Presence they still depute some faithful Friend to assist them for though they leave they do not intend to forsake them Such and far greater was the care of our God as his love is far greater than that of tenderest Mothers to their Infants He saw it necessary for so mysterious a Faith to be shown in a clear and supernatural light to the first Believers that they might confidently recommend to others what they knew with infallible certainty themselves He saw it necessary for so perverse a World to infuse into its first Converters a fullness of Charity that with an ardent Zeal they might instruct their Hearers and with a patient courage overcome their opposers He saw it necessary for such varieties of Nations to furnish the Preachers with variety of Languages that they might teach every one in their native Speech and understand their doubts and satisfie their objections MEDITATION III. WHEN the appointed time was come as all the works of God go forth in their fittest season the Disciples having tarried at Jerusalem according to direction to be endued with power from on high when they were gather'd together into one place and with one accord and so were excellently dispos'd for the Visits of Heaven when they had long continued in ardent Prayer and wrought up their Affections to the utmost point of desire suddenly there was a sound from Heaven from whence every good and perfect gift descends a vehement Wind fill'd the whole house for the Grace of God is strong and liberal Behold on the Head of each sate a Tongue as of fire the properest means to inable them for the Conversion of the World While they were all illuminated with a pure light and all enflam'd with a fervent heat and to communicate both to every Nation they were all endued with the gift of Languages Thus were the words of the Prophets fulfill'd and the Promises of our Saviour perform'd and the Faith of the Christian Church was thus miraculously begun Thus were the Messengers of everlasting Peace prepared they were miraculously baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire and were perfectly qualified for their great Commission to Preach to every Creature this happy Gospel He that believes and is Baptized shall be saved When our Lord ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men He did not affright the world again with the Thunders and Lightnings of Mount Sinai but gently infused the pleasant fire of divine Love into the hearts of his Disciples How should we bless the Lord our God who are Members of the Christian Church to which at this time instead of the Law of Moses was given the grace of Christ for the Letter the Spirit for Shadows Truth and for the Spirit of Fear the
Truths thy Will to follow his divine Inspirations Thy Memory to treasure up his sacred Instructions and all thy Powers to acknowledge his glorious Attributes The blessed Spirit will not only visit but dwell in thee if thou entertain and obey him as he justly requires He will never forsake thee unless thou chase him away but will guide and comfort thee with his holy Inspirations Resolve then that the Flesh shall deceive thee no more nor draw thee to disoblige the Holy Spirit If the Flesh grow bold and insolently demand How can you live without sinful Liberties Hear thou the Spirit and he will tell thee they are base Slaves that serve sensual Lusts and the Service of God is the only true Freedom If the Flesh alleadge What joy is there in suffering Ills or doing contrary to our own Inclinations Hearken to the Spirit who will tell thee the Cross of Christ is sweet and nothing is so glorious as the conquest of our selves If the Flesh insist What do you see or hear or exercise any sense in but the things of this World Regard the Spirit rather who will enter his protest and make every devout Soul subscribe this Truth I see the vanity of this World and its vexations and meet in every thing danger and falshood Say then according to the dictates of the Spirit Away Flesh and Blood with your foolish Inclinations away deceitful World with thy bewitching Vanities You were onely created to serve me in the way to my Father's house and to set me down at my journey's end Away with all your fond deluding dreams be banish'd for ever from my awakened Soul. MEDITATION III. HAppy were we O God could we be still thinking on thee and could we raise our thoughts into desires to be with thee Happy were we could we alwayes feel those fervours of which sometimes thou inspir'st a little spark If that spark were kindled into a Fire and that Fire blown up into a continual Flame But we alas are hot and cold by fits and which is worse our cold fit is the longer Some few half hours we spend in Prayer and many whole dayes in Vanity and Idleness Sometimes we bestow a little on the poor and often throw a great deal away on our Passions Sometimes we deny and mortifie our selves but far more often obey our sensual Appetites Sometimes we follow thy Grace and are drawn by it to do one good Work but we are again seduc'd by our Nature to a thousand Iniquities and then we resist and grieve the Holy Spirit Thus we confess to thee O Lord our God who perfectly seest every corner of our hearts Thus we confess to thee not that thou maist know us but that we may know our selves and thou maist cure us To thee Lord I may go on confessing for many are the Graces I want and none can give them but thy Bounty Many are the sins and miseries thy poor Creature is exposed to and none can deliver me but thy Providence Such an occasion often endangers me and such a Temptation too often overcomes me My own infirmities are too strong for me and my ill customs prevail against me Every day I resolve to amend and every day I break my resolutions Often am I unhappily engag'd and blindly running on in the wayes of Death and then I need thy Grace O Lord to check my desperate speed and to make me stay and look before me To shew me the horrid downfall into that bottomless Pit where impenitent sinners are swallow'd up for ever To strike my too regardless Soul with fear and trembling at the dreadful sight of so sad a ruine I need thy powerful Grace O Lord to turn my eyes from the allurements of sin to a safer Prospect To make me sensibly Meditate on the Peace and Pleasure and great advantage of a Pious Life To make me look steadily on this and well consider it and besides to look through and see beyond it To make me delight in the hope it enjoyes a hope of Joyes that are unconceivable and glorious Joyes which none O Lord but thou canst give and none but thou canst make us capable to receive O Lord all our Springs are in thee and all our Happiness depends on thee In thee our Sorrows have a Comforter to allay them our Sins an Advocate to plead against them In thee our Ignorances have a guide to direct them and all our Frailties a God to relieve them To thee therefore we will continually address our selves and rely only upon thy care and conduct To thee we will with humble confidence direct our Petitions who promisest to help the Infirmity of our Prayers we will not doubt the graciousness or bounty of thy goodness but hope thou wilt grant whatever thy Word gives us leave to ask And above all things we will seek thy self being assur'd that the Holy Spirit shall be given to them that ask him PETITIONS O God the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son have mercy upon me miserable sinner O God of infinite compassion and comforter of penitent minds have mercy upon me sorrowfull sinner I lament O Lord and beseech thee to pardon my sins past and to prevent the repetition of my sins and follies for the future Cure me O thou great Physician of Souls cure me of all my sinful distempers Cure me of this aguish intermitting Piety and fix it in an even constant Holiness O make me use Religion as my regular Diet and not only as a single Medicine in a pressing necessity So shall my Soul be possest of a sound health and disposed for a long even an everlasting Life Come to all thy servants O blessed Spirit of Faith and govern our Lives with thy holy Maxims subdue our Sense to the dictates of Reason and perfect our Reason with the Mysteries of Religion Teach us to love and fear what we see not now but what we are sure will be our Bliss or Misery hereafter Shew us the narrow way which leads to Life which few without thee can find or follow Guide on thy Church in the middle path of Vertue that we never decline to any vicious extream Let not our Faith grow wild with superfluous branches nor be stript into a naked fruitless trunk Let not our hope swell up to a rash presumption nor shrink away into a faint despair Let not our Charity be cool'd into a faint indifferency nor heated into a furious Zeal Give us O Gracious Lord the free Beginner and Finisher of all good actions give us a right Spirit to guide our intentions that we may constantly aim at our true end give us a holy Spirit to sanctifie our affections that what we rightly design we may piously pursue give us an heroick Spirit to confirm our Hearts that what we piously endeavour we may couragiously atchieve Grant these things O Lord for thine own Glory to whom all Glory is due for ever Amen Hymn 38. COme my vain thoughts that
King too O Blessed Jesu and we alas thy unprofitable subjects we cannot praise thee like those thine own bright Quires above yet will humbly offer our little tribute And while with thy present goodness to us we consider thy great bounty to them the glorious hopes which we from thence conceive give our praises the more spritely accents O praise our Lord we are constrain'd to say all the powers of our Souls praise the immortal King of Saints and Angels Praise him as the Author of all their Graces praise him as the Finisher of all their Glories Praise him for the mighty Hosts of Angels whom he sets about us for the guard of our lives that they may safely keep us in all our wayes and conduct our Souls at last to their eternal home Praise him for the consecrated company of Apostles to whom he reveal'd the Mysteries of his Kingdom that they might teach us too those heavenly truths and shew us the same blest way to felicity Praise him for the generous fortitude of Martyrs whom he strengthned with courage to resist even to death that we might learn of them to hold fast our Faith and rather lose this Life than hazard the other Praise him for the eminent sanctity of Confessors whose whole design was a course of Heroick Vertue That we might raise our minds from our usual lazy slight and with a quick and active wing mount up towards Heaven Praise him for the Angelical purity of those Virgins whose Hearts he so inflam'd with his Divine Charity that they would admit no such desires as would bring upon them other cares besides those of pleasing himself alone And pray him to possess thee too with such a fervent love to him the spouse of Souls as may make thee regard with great indifferency even the best of this worlds goods Praise him for the excellent holiness of all his Saints whose lives he has moulded into so various shapes that every sort of ours might be readily furnisht with a pattern cut out and fitted for it self O praise our Lord all you powers of my Soul praise the Immortal King of Saints and Angels Praise every Person of the Sacred Deity for every person has concurr'd in these glorious works say Blessed for ever be the Eternal Father who has fixt his Angels in so high a Happiness Triumph bright Angels on your radiant Thrones and shine continually in the presence of your God Blessed for ever be the Eternal Son whose love has exalted weeds of Earth to be flowers of Paradise There as they shall Eternally grow and shine their lustre shall alwayes redound to his Glory Blessed for ever be the Eternal Spirit whose Grace prepares the Saints for Glory where every happy Saint rejoices in his own felicity and every one in the felicity of all Blessed for ever be the Undivided Trinity whose sight alone is the Heaven of Heavens O sing his praise all you the Citizens of Heaven sing all together your everlasting Hymns MEDITATION III. WHo are we born here below in the Dust and still kept down with the thoughts of this World Lord who are we that our polluted hands dare offer to thee the Incense of praise We who so often disobey thy commands and so seldom lament for our many follies Yet is praise from us thy undoubted due and we cannot neglect it without omitting our duty But because our praises alone are too low to reach the deserts of thy wondrous nature and perfect works we will in our hearty wishes call upon those to do it who are better able to praise thee O praise our Lord you pure unblemisht Angels praise him ye mighty ever-active flames Praise our Lord all you the Spirits of Just men made perfect now you are free from the heavy clogs of mortal bodies And thus they do look up my Soul and see the innumerable multitude of triumphing Spirits See how they stand all cloath'd in white robes with palms in their hands and with golden Crowns on their Heads Behold the glorious Angels fall down before the Throne and prostrate adore him that lives for ever Behold the blessed Saints lay their Crowns at his feet and on their faces adore him that lives for ever Heark how they fill that spacious temple with their Hymns while night and day they continually sing Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come Hallelujah Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Hallelujah Glorious art thou in creating all things glorious in preserving them in every moment of their being Glorious in governing them their several wayes glorious in appointing them their proper ends Glorious in rewarding thy Servants above their hopes glorious in punishing Sinners below their demerits Glorious art thou O Lord in all thy works but infinitely more in thine own self-blessed Essence Thus they rejoice above thus they triumph and may their joy and triumph last for ever While we who live below may as faithful Ecchoes to their praises repeat every day these few short Ends of their Seraphick Hymns Salvation to our God that sits on the Throne and the Lamb that redeem'd us with his Blood Hallelujah Blessing Honour Glory and Power be to him that sits on the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Hallelujah PETITIONS O Most Glorious and Gracious God we are all so beholden to thy abundant goodness that we owe thee the utmost praises our Hearts and Lives can render O do thou excite us to endeavour and assist us to succed in the discharge of this mighty debt Open our lips that our mouths may shew forth thy praise bestow upon us every divine Grace that our lives may shew forth the vertues of him that has called us from the dark to his glorious Kingdom Make us inure our selves by degrees to thankful acknowledgments and praises in this place of our banishment that we may at length be fit to sing the lofty songs of the celestial Zion O let us see thy goodness still preparing us for the blessedness of Heaven sanctifying every condition to the promoting our growth in Grace which as it will raise our hopes of the future Glory will proportionably raise our praises O let thy love dear Lord at length be pleased to take us to the fellowship of those joyes and glories which so raise the thankful praises of the happy Spirits above Bring us to that perfect state where no defect shall weaken us to that happy place where nothing shall divert us from seeing enjoying loving and praising thee for ever Grant O most merciful Saviour that as thy Blessed do without ceasing pray for thy Church below we may be ready devoutly to praise thee for them And help us Lord so to commemorate those excellent Graces and good works by which they adorn'd our holy profession as to be excited thereby and directed to practise the same Till we all meet before thy glorious Throne with one Heart and Consent
his Honour may it cause many to have serious and affectionate thoughts of Religious matters may it promote a true and ardent Love to God in the World which will be proportionably attended with Love foâ— our Neighbour may none through Envy or dislike of a few small particulars when they must needs approve the greatest part of it be so guilty as to oppose and hinder its usefulness so preferring the advancement of their private Opinions before the service of Religion in general for promoting the Life and Power of which it is design'd and fitted Let all know I constantly endeavour that it may be a small thing to me to be judg'd by mans judgment which is oft mistaken both in approving and condemning And there is one even the great God who will be the final Judge of us all to whom I am chiefly concern'd to approve my self To him be Glory from us all for ever and ever Amen Devotions FOR Every Day IN THE WEEK The First Part. For Sunday Morning MEDITATION I. WElcome blest Day wherein the Sun of Righteousness arose and chased away the clouds of fear Welcome thou art to my Soul thou Birth-day of our hopes a day of joy and publick refreshment a day of Holiness and solemn Devotion a day of rest and universal Jubilee Welcome to us and our dark World for the healing saving light thou bringest May thy radiant Name shine bright for ever May all the Earth be enlightened with thy beams and every frozen Heart dissolve and sing May all the Generations to come entertain thee with reverence and employ thee in the praise and worship of the Lamb who is the Light of thee This is the Day which our Lord has made let us be glad and rejoyce therein This is the day that he has sanctified to himself and call'd by his own most holy Name Hark O my Soul dost thou not hear the King of Heaven invite thee into his presence He graciously bids thee to suspend the mean Employments of this World to lay aside thy corroding earthly Cares He calls thee to the honour of Communion with himself to spend a day in his most delightful service he desires to entertain thee with unspeakable Joyes in his House of Prayer to feast thee with spiritual Dainties that afford strength and pleasure to the Mind Worthy art thou O Lord of all our time worthy to receive the Praises of all thy Creatures Every moment of our life is bound to bless thee since every moment subsists by thy Goodness Shall others labour so much for Vanity and shall we not rest for the service of our God Shall we employ the whole week on our selves and not offer in gratitude one Day to Thee To thee who bestowest on us all we have and wilt give us hereafter more than we can now receive or hope for A day spent in thy Courts O Lord I will prefer to a thousand that engage me in any other places I will go to the House of my God to the Assembly of his Saints Know ye all the Nations of the world it is the Lord who is the only true God. It is he that hath made us and not we our selves Let us enter into his Gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise Come let us adore our Glorified Saviour Hymn 1. BEhold we come Dear Lord to thee And bow before thy Throne We come to offer on our Knee Our Vows to thee alone Whate're we have whate're we are Thy Bounty freely gave Thou dost us here in mercy spare And wilt hereafter save But O can all our Store afford No better gists for thee Thus we confess thy riches Lord And thus our Poverty 'T is not our Tongue or Knee can pay The mighty debt we ow Far more we should than we can say Far lower should we bow Come then my Soul bring all thy pow'rs And grieve thou hast no more Bring ev'ry day thy choicest hours And thy Great God adore But above all prepare thy heart On this his own blest day In it 's sweet taâ—k to bear thy part And sing and love and pray Glory to Thee Eternal Lord Thrice blessed three in one Thy name at all times be ador'd Till time it self be done Amen MEDITATION II. WHen the Harvest Sun provides a Cloud and seems to rest his wearied beams He seeks not to save the journey of his light he only spares the Reapers head Much less O Lord dost thou who mad'st the Sun seek by the reserve of a day to procure thine own repose Thou hast not commanded the business of the World to cease for one day in seven for that thou art tyred with over-ruling it to thine own glory Thou who createdst all things by a word of thy mouth and sustainest them all in thy hand without feeling any weight Who governest the whole World without any perplexity of thoughts and always remainest the same unchangeable fulness It is not to encrease thine own Eternity that thou takest a portion of our time It is not to receive any advantage to thy self that thou requirest this dayes Worship of us Thy Goodness does friendly bear the Name of the day but thou kindly intendest for us all the profit of it That the wearied hands may be relieved with rest and be enabled to lift themselves up to thee That the ignorant Minds may be taught thy Truth and learn the way to everlasting Happiness That the guilty Consciences may humbly confess their sins and receive an assured Pardon from Thee who hast promised to revive the spirit of the humble and the Heart of the contrite That in this our militant State we may ask and receive of thee grace sufficient for us That all may speak to Thee by Prayer and hear thy Voice by the mouth of their Pastors That the Love-prepared Souls may approach thy bounteous Table and may feast and confirm their Faith and Hopes with that delicious banquet O blessed Lord what excellent and sit means has thy wisdom invented to fit us for and bring us to thy self How well are thy sacred Ordinances suited to our necessities To enlighten our dark Minds to melt our hard Hearts to quicken and consecrate our Affections Thou strengthenest our Faith by thy Word and Sacraments and improvest our Charity both to Thee and one another by our publick Assemblies while we all meet together for the same blest end and by mutual requests and praises encrease our fervours Happy thrice happy are we O merciful God! whom thy Providence favours with these blessings We that may freely resort to thy holy Sanctuary and there sing aloud thy Praises for these great mercies MEDITATION III. COme let us lay aside the cares of this World and take into our Minds the Joys of Heaven Let us empty our Heads of all other Thoughts and prepare that upper Room to entertain our God. Retire we from the many distractions of this Life and recollect and closely unite the forces of our Soul. That
cross art thou to that design For which we had our birth Us who were made in Heaven to shine Thou bow'st down to thy Earth Nay to thy Hell for thither sink All that to thee submit Thou strew'st some flowers on the brink To drown us in the pit World take away thy tinsel wares That dazle here our eyes Let us go up above the Stars Where all our treasure lies The way we know our dearest Lord Himself is gone before And has engag'd his faithful word To open us the door But O my God! reach down thy hand And take us up to thee That we about thy Throne may stand And all thy glories see All Glory to the sacred Three One ever living Lord As at the first still may he be Belov'd Obey'd Ador'd Amen For Monday Morning MEDITATION I. IT is highly fit and just that all Mankind do adore their Maker The great God form'd our bodies out of the Earth and gave us the Spirit in man which bears his likeness a Soul that all created nature cannot sill nor any thing that is below his own Immensity He has freely bestowed on us all the rest of his Creatures which are fitted to serve and delight our bodies But he has moreover design'd us for his glorious Kingdom that we might dwell with him in perfect bliss All the Creatures he has made the great God has alwayes under his observing eye so long as they continue in being All things are open and naked to his Omniscience Though his Throne of State be establisht above and the splendours of his glory shine only on the Blessed that are there yet his unlimited Eye looks down to this lower World and beholds all the wayes of the Children of Adam If we go out he marks our steps and when we retire our shut Closet cannot exclude him while we are alone he minds all the vain and roving imaginations that we have he observes too the end that we aim at in all the Studies which we apply our selves to When we converse with others He observes our deportment and the good or ill we do to them or our selves In our Devotions he takes notice of our carriage and regards with what attention and affection we make our Prayers All the day long he considers how we spend our time and the darkest night conceals not our works from him If we deceive our Neighbour He spies the fraud and hears the least whisper of a slandering tongue If we in secret oppress the Poor or by private alms relieve their wants If in our hearts we murmur at the Rich or live contented with our little portion Whate're we do He perfectly sees us where e're we are He is sure to be with us He that made the Eye shall not he see and shall it be said that he cannot hear who formed the Ear But O thou Sovereign Lord of Heaven why dost thou stoop thus low thy glorious Eye What canst thou find that here does deserve thy view among the trifles of this empty world It is not thy own satisfaction that thou seekest herein but thy design is our advantage Thou appearest still ready to punish our sins that the fear of thy rod may prevent our miseries Sure O my God thy favours must be sweet since even thy threatnings have so much mercy And I must be worse than blind if I venture to be wicked in the face of Heaven Thou dost also Lord graciously stand by us to see us work that thine awful Eye may quicken our diligence thou art still at hand to relieve our wants When all thy work my Soul is done in the sight of him thou servest this may justly encourage thee this may make thee hope that the Labours and Sufferings of thy love shall not go unrewarded Happy we who have our God so near us if our pious Lives keep us near to him Hymn 3. WAke now my soul and humbly hear What thy mild Lord commands Each word of his will charm thine ear Each word will guide thy hands Hark how his sweet and tender care Complies with our weak minds What er'e our State and temper are Still some sit work he finds They that are merry let them sing And let the sad hearts pray Let those still ply their chearful wing And these their sober way So mounts the early chirping Lark Still upwards to the Skies So sits the Turtle in the dark Among her groans and cries And yet the Lark and yet the Dove Both sing though several parts And so should we how er'e we move With light or heavy hearts Or rather both should both assay And their cross notes unite Both grief and joy should sing and pray Since both such hopes invite Hopes that all present sorrow heal All present joy transcend Hopes to possess and taste and feel Delights that ne're will end All glory to the sacred Three All honour power and praise As at the first may ever be Beyond the end of days Amen MEDITATION II. MY God since Thou art never absent from us we will endeavour to be alwaies present with thee Often will we go up to thy Throne above and there contemplate and admire thy glory We will often wait upon thee in thy house and there adore and praise thy mercy Every where will we seek to meet thee and every where delight to find Thee My soul let it be thy endeavour to walk with God in all the parts of thy conversation and take heed that thou walk humbly with thy God. Gracious God we will spread all our wants before thee and offer all our Petitions unto thee Thou dost willingly incline a favourable ear to the Prayers that come from an upright and fervent heart Thou art a rewarder of those that diligently seek Thee Our God loves to hear us treat of Heaven as if we made it the main business of our lives to get thither All other things we must ask with submission to Him since we do not know what of them is absolutely good for our selves But his Eternal Joys we may beg without restraint we may urge and press for his assistance to gain them Heaven is the thing we may wish for if for any thing without resignation We may pray for it with great fervency and perseverance and he will not account us too importunate O wise and gracious Lord whatsoever thou dost thy love intends it for the good of thy servents If thou dost sometimes defer to grant our requests it is only in charity to us to make us repeat them It is that we may more sensibly feel our own poverty and be more strongly convinc't of our dependance on Thee That we may practise our Hope and exercise our Faith and Patience while we long expect and may practise the higher gratitude when we receive at last It is that we may learn this sure and happy skill of working in our souls the Vertues that we desire For those very desires by being often renew'd do at length
take him for their King When they shall see that God who made them to enjoy his glory will now cast them into thick deep shades of eternal darkness and the blessed Jesus who came into the world to redeem sinners will say to them Depart from me I know you not Then shall they curse the day of their birth and the unfortunate companions that inveigled them to sin they shall curse this vain deceitful world that draws them on in the wayes of perdition and by a fatal mist cast before their eyes hinders them from foreseeing the perdition they are going to Are these alas they will say the effects of those fond desires whose gratifications we made our chief felicity Alas what do now our wanton liberties avail us what the fugitive pleasures that we so eagerly pursued What comfort receive we from those empty honours from those faithless riches that tempted us to sin they are all of them vanisht away like a shadow and gone as a cloud of smoak that is scattered with the wind But the remorse and punishment of these endure for ever and torture our spirits with perpetual anguish Thus shall they cry and none will regard them thus mourn and there will be none found to pity Such will be the dismal end and consequence of a sinful and impenitent Life Be thankful to God O my Soul whose gracious Providence has given thee warning to avoid these miseries Hymn â— OPen thine Eyes my Soul and see Once more the light returns to thee Look round about and chuse the way Thou mean'st to travel o're to day Think on the dangers thou maist meet And alwayes watch thy sliding feet Think where thou once hast fall'n before And mark the place and fall no more Think on the helps that God bestows And cast to steer thy life by those Think on the sweets thy Soul did feel When thou didst well and do so still Think on the pains that shall torment Those stubborn Souls that ne're repent Think on the joyes that wait above To Crown the head of holy Love. Think what at last will be thy part If thou go'st on where now thou art See life and death set thee to chuse One thou must take and one refuse O my Dear Lord guide thou my course And draw me on with thy sweet force Still make me walk still make me tend By thee my way to thee my end All Glory to the sacred Three One undivided Deity As it has been in ages gone May now and ever still be done Amen MEDITATION II. AS the day will come wherein God will destroy all the workers of Iniquity so the day will come my soul the day will certainly come when the gracious God will reward and crown all that love his commandments and seek the Glory he has made us for Why do you mourn ye children of the light to whom belong the promises of Bliss you who feed on the pleasant Fruits of Piety and the continual feast of a good Conscience Who taste already the sweetness of Hope and hereafter shall be satisfied with the fulness of Fruition What can molest your happy state whom the God of glory has chosen for himself whom He has adopted into his honourable family and design'd for heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven That Blessed Kingdome where all Delights abound and sorrow and tears are banisht away Where none are sick or grow old or dye where all flourish in perfect health and live an immortal Life in all the beauty and vigour of an Eternal Youth Where none are perplext with cares or fears but all dwell secure and free for ever Where we shall no more be subject to chance no more be expos'd to the danger of temptation No more shall we be cross'd by others nor ever disquieted with our own Passions There a serene tranquility shall alwaies dwell within us and innumerable Joyes be round about us Joy in the Excellencies of our glorified Bodies joy in the perfections of our enlarged Souls Joy in the sweet society of Saints joy in the glorious company of Angels Joy in the ravishing sight of our beloved Jesus joy in the blissful Union with the adorable Deity All shall be joy and love and peace and all endure for eternal ages Let then the servants of our Lord rejoyce and sing sweet is the yoke of thy Love dear Lord and light is the burthen of thy Commands But O how far more rich are thy faithful Promises how infinitely greater thy glorious rewards When every divine vertue in us shall there be rewarded with its proper Crown and Glory The humble there shall be highly exalted and the poor in spirit shall be prefer'd to be Kings The meek shall possess that holy Land and the Mourners be comforted with eternal refreshments The clean of Heart shall see the God of purity and the lovers of Peace shall have the priviledge of his Children They who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled and the merciful will be entertain'd with the kind embraces of mercy They who suffer persecution for Righteousness sake shall receive a great Reward they that are Teachers and enlighten others shall shine bright as the Stars They who relinquish any thing for God shall receive an hundred-sold and all the Just shall be in glory for ever Then shall they bless the true Friend that at any time reproved their foolish courses and so was instrumental to convert them to the waies of Bliss they shall bless each charitable hand that was assistant to their happiness They shall praise and admire the provident mercies of their God and sing aloud the victories of his grace With joyful wonder they shall say Is this the effect of those little pains we took are these the Repairs for the petty losses we suffer'd Happy we who deny'd our selves a few Toyes and are now advanc'd to these high felicities Millions of years shall pass away and our Glory shall but then seem to begin Yea when millions of millions are past our glory shall not for all that be nearer to its end Thus shall they all rejoyce and none shall disturb them and all the Hosts of Angels shall joyn with them in the high praises of God. O be very thankful my Soul to the Gracious God whose favourable Providence to thee has brought this felicity to thy knowledge that it may allure thee to the pursuit of it MEDITATION III. AND now my Soul consider what thou hast to do Consider what it is likely to profit thee to gain the whole World and lose thy self See Life and Death here set before thee the rewards of Saints and the pains of Sinners Consider these things and make thy eternal hearty choice choose wisely and thou shalt not need to choose again Choose while thy gracious Lord allows thee time and day lest the night of darkness overtake thy neglect Make a Choice but remember that all Eternity is concern'd and consider well thou hast reason before thou settle
Life confirming and encreasing that happy union with himself which is begun even while we live below on earth and shall be perfected when we come to Heaven PETITIONS O God the Father of mercies Father of our blessed Saviour Jesus the Christ We believe that having given us thy dear Son thou wilt with him also freely give us all things that whatever we ask of thee O Father in thy Sons name believing we shall receive it I humbly beceech thee therefore O Lord to have mercy upon me a poor miserable sinner And as thou hast sent thy Son into the World send him also to take possession of my Heart Let this great light of the world enlighten my dark mind with a saving knowledge of thee and of himself Direct me to discern my true happiness from the false flattering goods of this world that I may not spend my time here in worldly cares and pursuits but in seeking thee my End by him the only true Way to thee Let him teach and convince me of the great excellency of thy Laws and make me consider my wayes and turn my feet unto thy Testimonies Let the glad tidings of the Gospel O Lord by joyful tidings to me by thy giving me an assured interest in them Give me the pardon of all my sins by the Death of Christ and a right to Life and Happiness by his meritorious Life In me I pray that the mighty Redeemer may effectually destroy all the works of the Devil deface the ugly image of the Apostate spirit and restore the glorious likeness of thee my God. Make me Lord diligently and reverently to use thy appointed Means of Grace and let thy blessing alwaies make them means of grace to me And while I thankfully use them and am duly fruitful under them let me enjoy the means of Grace till thou hast brought me to glory Grant this O Father for the sake of thy beloved Son our compassionate Saviour Glory be to the Father c. Amen For Thursday Evening MEDITATION I. THe kind Master of this blessed Feast sends his Embassadors to make a general invitation He that is the divine Food puts the kindest words into their mouths that their invitation may not fail of good success He has said Come to me all ye that labour for Holiness and are oppress'd under the weight of your sins Come and I will give you the end of your Labour and will ease you of that intolerable burden Come you that hunger after Angels spiritual Food and thirst to drink at the fountain of bliss Come to me I will refresh you with the Wine of gladness and the bread of life Come you that are weak and you shall be strong come you that are strong lest you become weak Come you that have leisure and here entertain your time to your great advantage And you also that are busie and here sanctifie and devote your Employment Our glorious God did not only make a visit but is willing to dwell perpetually with us men upon earth He whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain will make his residence in our little Tabernacles He whom the Seraphims prostrate adore and fly with all their wings to perform his commands He who came down to die for us sinners and ascended again above the highest Heavens Himself is there with all his precious blessings to the Soul that does desire and believe To such a Soul this blessed Sacrament applies all the vertues and merits of our Saviours Death and Passion When he receives the consecrated Bread and Wine from the hands of Christs Minister in his stead he is made a partaker in the Satisfaction of his death and the Pardon of all his sins is seal'd and confirm'd By eating the Bread and drinking the Wine the good Soul is more firmly united to the Redeemer And as a member of his mystical body shall be quickned and guided by his good Spirit The indwelling Spirit shall teach him his duty and inable him to run in the way everlasting He shall communicate power to conquer difficulties and temptations and to persevere with patience till he reach the Crown By this is such a soul united also to that Jesus who rose again from the death he submitted to And as it is assuredly risen to a new life of Grace it shall hereafter rise to an eternal life of Glory It may look on these signs as certain pledges that it shall be advanced to the happy mansions above Thus as our Lord himself when on Earth contain'd under his outward poverty all the glorious fulness of the Godhead so these signs that represent him to us are but poor in themselves in comparison to the rich blessings they bring along with them Whatever faintness we feel if we hunger after Christ and come hither to receive him he can refresh us Whatever fears dwell in our guilty minds and trouble us this Wine of true Consolation will chase them away O How great is thy Love Dear Lord that invites us miserable sinners to partake of thee That invites our emptiness to be united to thy fulness and our weakness to be cured by thy al sufficient power O how should the sons of men flock in when he sends out his invitations to this Feast when he calls us to a Feast of peace and love A feast of joy and incomparable sweetness What should the Captive wish but Liberty and the weary Pilgrim but rest What should the Sick desire but health and the depending Creature but to be near its God All are welcome to this Feast that have but Desire to partake and Faith to receive MEDITATION II. LOrd who are we unworthy wretches that thou thus regardest our sinful dust what is all the world compar'd to Thee that thus thou seemest for our sakes to disregard thy self It is for our sakes and to make us rich in Grace that thou so graciously condescendest to come among us More unworthy yet do we make our selves if we neglect to come where thou wilt be present O how insensible of their own true interest are those that neglect to approach this Sacred Feast Is it a small matter with you O careless wretches to ly under a great load of guilt that you come not to receive the pardon of your sins Is the Great God willing to be reconcil'd to sinners and to give them sure pledges of his reconcilement And should not all Mankind then earnestly seek his favour and gladly receive the pledges of his love None of us can be assur'd that he will not turn us into Hell till we are assur'd of our title to Heaven Where are all they that have been baptized and pretend that they account themselves Christians Why do they not come and own the Covenant then made by renewing it again at this Supper They that neglect this do in effect renounce that Covenant and despise the incomparable blessings it promises Well may they be impotent towards all good and enslaved to the tyranny of evil
spirits who neglect this Means appointed to convey spiritual strength and to furnish them with the Spirit of Grace Such must needs have lamentable cause to bewail the weakness of their Graces and the slow progress of their Holiness Well may they contract very deep stains that do not often wash themselves with the blood of the Lamb. Well may they that begin in the Spirit soon after end in the Flesh who do not often here renew their resolutions and receive fresh strength to hold on their race Those were times of vigorous and sound piety when Christians had a strong appetite to this Spiriual Food This Appetite discover'd their health and by often eating they maintain'd it When they could hardly be contented a Day without receiving one of these blessed meals When they never came together to worship but they also broke this holy Bread Then they were patient under the hardest sufferings and then they abounded in every good work Then did the love of Jesus burn hot in their breasts and the light of it shined bright before men Then they had great charity towards all men and much peace one with another It is a sad sign and may be reckon'd a cause that the Spiritual life greatly languishes in our daies When the proper Food of it is little relisht by many and a great many more never desire it Our sad dayes are likely still to languish in devotion to be over-run with impiety and profaneness Still will the base love of the world abound amongst us every one minding his own things and none the things of Christ Christians will be enemies to one another and more barbarous and cruel than wild-beasts They will go on to bite and devour their own kind and to consume and destroy the Christian Church If we do not oftner commemorate the Love of our Lord and solemnly bind our selves to love one another MEDITATION III. Does our gracious Lord make a Feast of himself for us and invite us poor Sinners to sit down at his Table And should we not readily obey his call and go to the Feast he has so kindly prepared Behold our Lord himself is willing to meet us and to bring a Heaven with him to entertain us O leave the trifles of this world ye reasonable Souls and go to partake of his substantial Joyes Suspend the pursuit of transitory goods ye immortal Creatures and seek of Christ his eternal Treasures O how ungrateful Dear Lord to thee are all they that neglect this thy incomparable Provision The Eternal Fathers Love is slighted by them who gave his beloved Son to dye for us The Love of our kind Redeemer is not duly valu'd while we have no esteem or desire for the blessings he has purchas'd The sweet and saving Influences of the Holy Spirit are set at nought while we decline the proper means to enjoy them Is it not a most unspeakable ingratitude in mankind to trample under foot the Blood of the Son of God to despise that precious Blood which was shed for our sakes which was shed for the remission of our sins should we forget that painful Death he underwent to excuse us from suffering an eternal death It was the particular charge that great Love left when he was just a going to be sacrificed for us That we should devoutly celebrate this holy Supper and often do it in remembrance of him Are we not under great Obligation from his Love to do any difficult or dangerous thing for his sake and much more to comply with his dying will when it requires so easie and so pleasant a duty Did our Saviour drink Vinegar and eat Gall for us and shall we refuse at his command to take these pleasant dainties He drank off the bitter Cup which the Father gave him to purchase for us a Cup of blessing O how well would it become the whole world to say We will take the Cup of Salvation and praise the name of the Lord We will remember thy Love more than Wine dear Lord and never forget thy most useful Benefits We will show that we love thee as we ought to do by keeping this and the rest of thy Commands Had we but ingenuous Souls we should be extreamly glad that he who has done so much for us has told us what will please him This Feast is appointed by our Lord to shew forth his Death 'till he come For he will come again in Glory and with Power to Judge both the quick and the dead When he will render to every man according to his works and severely Punish all those that obey not the Gospel What must become of all those in that dreadful day that do constantly neglect an undoubted Precept Men pretend to fear the incurring of damnation by unworthy receiving but do not fear to deserve it by neglecting to receive his Supper But since we disobey and offend our Lord in both of these it should be our labour and care to prepare our selves and draw nigh PETITIONS O Most Gracious and Merciful God who hast in kindness sent thy Son into the world O let the same kindness effectually draw us and we will run after him for none of us can come unto him except the Father that has sent him draw them Alas Lord we know not our true Interest 'till thou do effectually reveal it we certainly refuse our own mercies if thou do not incline us to pursue them O send forth a mighty power of thy Spirit upon the world and convince men of sin because they believe not in Jesus let him convince men of their guilty state by nature and of their further guilt in not obeying the Gospel Bring them in multitudes to Jesus Christ by making them sensible that there is no other name but his by which they can be saved Teach us how necessary to make atonement for our sins the great Sacrifice of himself was which he offer'd upon the Cross and make us all earnestly concern'd to partake of that Sacrifice and therefore forward to use the appointed means of it Convince us that we are poor without the riches of his grace and naked without the robes of his righteousness and in want of all things necessary to Salvation 'till we are possest of an interest in him O make us come to Jesus Christ that we may have life that our forfeited right to eternal Life may be restor'd and that he by his Spirit may quicken us to a spiritual and divine Life who are by nature dead in trespasses and sins Quicken us O thou who wast dead and art alive for thou alone hast the words of eternal Life Make us discern and seek and relish divine and spiritual things capable of the pleasures of devotion and desirous above all things of Communion with thy self Make us in retir'd Devotion and publick Worship often seek to have Communion with the Father and the Son through the Spirit And Lord whenever we draw nigh to thee by coming carefully prepar'd to
thine Ordinances do thou graciously draw nigh to us and satisfie us with those good things thou hast to bestow make us joyful in thy house of Prayer and renew our strength while we wait upon thee Let every approach to thee in Worship conform us more to thy likeness and fit us more to see thy face in Heaven These things O Lord our God are desired as the purchases of our dear Saviours Blood to whom be Glory and Praise world without end Amen Hymn 10. COme Royal Sion come and sing Thy Soul 's kind Saviour thy hearts King Stretch all thy powers thy Song to raise And since this lofty Theam's above The best ambition of thy Love Call Heavens loud Quires to help thy Praise Sing how his Love from Heavens high throne To Earth's low footstool brought him down For thee a cursed death to dye Sing that when hence he did remove He lest a Legacy of Love His needful Presence to supply Lo here the Bread of Life this day 's Triumphant text provokes thy Praise The living and life-giving Bread See the heart-chearing precious Wine Which Great Love 's pierc't Heart did resign To the Great Twelve distributed Praise him who has thy Pastors bid Ever to do what he once did And thankfully his gifts receive Sing loud that to this bounteous Feast Each hungry Soul may be a guest And from his Death may Life derive The Heav'n-instructed House of Faith Here a mysterious dictate hath Himself to me my Saviour brings With graces which are all divine Under the veils of Bread and Wine Immortal cloath'd with mortal things Lo the life-food of Angels then Bow'd to the lowly mouths of men Lo the full final Sacrifice The ransom'd Isaac and his Ram The Manna and the Pascal Lamb As figures fixt on this their eyes Jesu to thee we sinners sue O Thou our Food and Shepherd too Grant in all good we may improve Still by thy self vouchsafe to keep As with thy self thou feed'st thy Sheep And from us Lord all ill remove Blest be that love which thus makes thee Mix with our low mortality O may it raise and set us up Coheirs with Saints that so all may Drink the same Wine and the same way Convicters all of thy full Cup. Amen For Fryday Morning MEDITATION I. MY God who can complain of doing too much if they consider the labours of the loving Jesus those painful labours that he freely undertook and the humble task he so mildly stoopt to When he might have flown on the wings of Cherubims he chose to walk with us Worms in the dust When he might have call'd for Manna from Heaven in the sweat of his brows he would eat his Bread When he might have made the Angels his foot-stool he rather became the servant of his Parents living with them in their little Cottage and readily obeying even their least Command There in that humble privacy he encreas'd in wisdom and grew in favour with God and man still by his pious candour gaining the love of those happy few that saw his life Happy they that saw thy life O glorious Jesu and heard with joy and wonder thy incomparable sayings that felt a gentle motion stir their hearts to love and imitate so blest a pattern O that the same sweet Spirit of grace might draw our minds dear Lord to thee O that we could my Soul in every passage of our life still actually reflect on the example of His His retirements were fill'd with holy Speculations and in the midst of business his mind was free for Heaven His Converse with others mispent no time but bestowed every moment in excellent Charity sometimes he was imployed to instruct the ignorant sometimes to inform aright those that were deceived He apply'd himself to comfort the afflicted and heal the diseased to convince the froward and absolve the penitent and perswade all the world to be truly happy It was meat and drink to him to do his Fathers will and it should be ours to perform his It was for our sakes that he made himself subject to the Law and to obtain for us an everlasting happiness he perfectly obey'd it Take up thy Cross my Soul and follow thy Lord for his yoke is sweet his burthen is light He humbled himself for us and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross to save us When we had sold our selves to sin and were all become the slaves of Satan our blessed Jesus descended from Heaven and brought a vast price to buy out our freedom The price was no less than his own dearest Blood which he plenteously shed on the ignominious Cross depositing so his inestimable life to rescue us sinners from eternal death Come let us adore our God that redeem'd us Hymn 11. COme let 's adore the King of Love And King of Sufferings too For Love it was that brought him down And set him here in woe Love drew him from his Paradise Where flowers that fade not grow And planted him in our poor dust Among us weeds below Here for a time this heavenly Plant Fairly grew up and thriv'd Diffus'd its sweetness all about And all in sweetness liv'd But envious frosts and furious storms So long so fiercely chide This tender Plant at last bow'd down Its bruised head and dy'd O narrow thoughts and narrower speech Here your defects confess The Life of God the death of Christ How faintly you express O Thou who from a Virgin-root Mad'st this fair flower to spring Help us to raise both heart and voice And with more spirit sing To Father Son and Holy Ghost One undivided Three All highest Praise all humblest Thanke Now and for ever be Amen MEDITATION II. MY God who can repine at suffering too much if they remember the afflictions of Jesus Those many afflictions He so patiently endur'd and bore with Silence all their weight Even from his humble Cradle in the City of Bethlehem to his bitter Cross on the Mount of Calvary How little do we read of glad and prosperous in his Life how much of pains and grief and perpetual affronts sometimes he was abandon'd by his nearest Friends and left alone among all his discomforts sometimes pursu'd by his fiercest enemies and made the common mark of all their spite sometimes they plot to insnare Him in his words and enviously slander his miraculous Deeds sometimes they tumultuously gather about him to gaze at and abuse a man of sorrows Sometimes they furiously seize on his Person and hale and drag him along the streets At last they all conspire to take away his life and condemn him to a sharp and cruel death Have you ever seen a harmless Lamb stand silent in the midst of ravenous Wolves so stood the Prince of Peace and Innocence besieg'd with a ring of savage Jews When they blasphemed Him he reply'd not again and when they injuriously struck him he only observ'd their rashness When they provok't him with their utmost Malice he
under the Banner of thee our Crucified Saviour that we may withstand the shock of all Temptations and conquer the Assaults of all our spiritual Enemies And make us watch as well as pray lest we enter into temptation that so we may be delivered from evil So guide and govern us dear Lord by thy great Wisdom and Love that nothing may be able to separate us from the love of thee our Glorious Redeemer who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen Hymn 12. AND now my Soul canst thou forget That thy whole life is one long debt Of love to him who on a Tree Paid back the Flesh he took for thee Lo how the Streams of precious Blood Flow from five wounds into one Flood With these he washes all thy stains And buys thy ease with his own pains Thy Cross dear Lord does clearly now That doubt of former Ages show It was this wood should make the Throne Fit for a more than Solomon Large Throne of Love royally spread With purple of too rich a red Strange costly price thus to make good It s own esteem with its Kings blood Jesu best plant of Paradise To thee our hopes lift up our eyes O may aloft thy branches shoot And fill the Nations with thy fruit O may all reap from thy increase The just more strength the Sinner peace While our half-withered hearts and we Engraft our selves and grow on thee Live O for ever live and reign Blest Lamb whom thine own love has slain And may thy lost sheep live to be True lovers of thy Cross and thee All Glory to the sacred Three One undivided Deity As it has been in Ages gone May now and ever still be done Amen For Saturday Morning MEDITATION I. A Wake all ye Powers of my Soul and come pay your homage to the Prince of our Salvation cast your unworthy selves at his sacred feet and renew your vows of following his steps He triumpht over death in his own body and will enable us to conquer it in ours He chang'd the corrupted government of the world and establisht a new and holy Law that as we were Vassals to sin before we might now become the free subjects of Grace Let us live and dye in his blest Obedience and let no temptation ever separate us from him who if we resist will make us overcome and when we have overcome will crown us with peace Come let us adore our victorious Redeemer Thou hast O Lord triumpht over all thy enemies and ours but we alas are yet conversing in the midst of our enemies Prostrate before Thee we will confess our misery To how many dangers is our life expos'd with how many tentations are we round besieged tentations in meat tentations in drink tentations in conversing tentations in solitude tentations in business tentations in leisure tentations in riches tentations in poverty all our wayes are strew'd with snares and even our Sences conspire against us Whither O my God shall our poor Souls go encompast with a body so frail and a world so corrupt Whither but to thee the justifier of sinners and to thy grace the sustainer of the weak Thy Grace instructs us what we ought to do and breeds in us the will to endeavour what we know Thy Grace inables us to perform our resolves and when all is done thy Grace must give success We that of our selves can do nothing may through Christ strengthning us be able to do all things and gain the sentence of approbation that shall be pronounc'd upon his steadfast followers Well done good and faithfull Servants enter you into your Masters Joy. Hymn 13. LOrd we again lift up our eyes And leave our sluggish beds But why we wake or why we rise Comes seldom in our heads Is it to sweat and toyl for wealth Or sport our time away That thou preserv'st us still in health And giv'st us this new day No no unskilful Soul not so Be not deceiv'd with toyes Thy Lords commands more wisely go And aim at higher joyes They bid us wake to seek new grace And some fresh vertue gain They call us up to mend our pace 'Till we the prize attain That glorious Prize for which all run Who wisely spend their breath Who when this weary life is done Are sure of rest in death Not such a rest as here we prove Disturb'd with cares and fears But endless joy and peace and love Unmixt with grief and tears Glory to Thee O bounteous Lord Who giv'st to all things breath Glory to Thee Eternal Word Who sav'st us by thy Death Glory O blessed Spirit to Thee Who fill'st our Souls with Love Glory to all the mystick Three Who reign one God above Amen MEDITATION II. LOrd with what admirable Wisdom dost thou govern the world and order the several conditions of Men thy wise Providence orders some to be poor and appoints them their task of innocent work Thy Providence is pleased to make others rich and give them leisure for their better improvements Thou hast made both poor and rich to be some way needful to one another that all may live in love and unity and apply themselves to mutual assistance Happy are they O Lord who have so much employment that there remains no room for idle thoughts Happy are they who have so little business that they want not space to attend their Souls Happy yet more are they who in the midst of their work can think sometimes of the wages above whom nothing diverts from that chief concern of seeking to make their Election sure But while their backs are bow'd down with labour they freely can raise up their minds to Heaven And while they are ty'd to their Beds with sickness can yet move on towards their Eternal rest Often they rejoyce with themselves alone and silently say in their contented hearts Here we alas are narrowly confin'd and our time entertain'd with trivial affairs But hereafter we expect an unbounded enlargement and the same glorious office with the blessed Angels Here we are subject to a thousand miseries and the most prosperous life is vain and short but hereafter we expect an infinity of Joy and the solid Pleasures of Heaven for ever We too my Soul let us Pray to be guided in the middle Path and take care that we decline to no vicious extream to avoid the stormy sea of too much business and the dead water of a slothful life lest we be cast away by forgetting God or become corrupted by neglecting our selves Sometimes at least recollect thy thoughts how much soever thy condition distracts thee In all thy works remember thy last end when thou must bid a long farewel to all this World Remember that dreadful Day of the Universal Judgment when thou must give an account for every idle word Remember the Joyes prepar'd for the Innocent and the miseries that attend the wicked Remember how nearly it concerns thee to
have a good or a bad Eternity and that every action tends towards the one or the other Thus kept in awe thou wilt be careful not to sin and encourag'd by the reward thou wilt strive to do well Then maist thou look up with humble confidence in our God how low soever thy afflictions depress thee Thou may'st look up to the eternal Mountains and feed thy hungry desires with this sweet hope the day will come when out of this dark world we shall joyfully ascend to that beauteous light The day will come and cannot be far off when we shall rest for ever in the bosom of Bliss MEDITATION III. HAppiest of all O Lord are they whose very business is thy sacred Service Who not only bestow an interrupted glance but steadily fix their Eyes on Thee Who are devoted to the happy Service of the Sanctuary and night and day dwell in thy presence Who not engag'd in the cares and tumults of the World spend their time in Retirement and Devotion If the Sun rise it finds them at their Masters work and when it sets leaves them at the same sweet task Every place is a Church to such consecrated Souls and every day a holy Sabbath Every object is an occasion of Piety and every accident an exercise of Vertue Do they behold the beauteous Stars they presently adore their great Creator Do they look down on the fruitful Earth they instantly begin to praise his Bounty Let War or Peace do what they will and the inconstant World reel up and down they pass through all with a ferene mind and smoothly go on their regular course looking still up to that glorious Life above and entertaining this present in hope and labour to attain it When they depart sometimes from their proper center and forsake a while their belov'd retirement 't is to approach and give light to others and enflame some cold or lukewarm hearts While they are abroad they are still with Thee and nothing can divide them from thy dear Presence When they return still Devout and Innocent thou receivest them as familiar Friends and freely admit'st them to thy secret Sweetness Thou givest them a tast from thine own full board and overflowest their hearts with the Wine of gladness Often they feel a little beam from Heaven strike gently and fill their breasts with light often that gentle light is kindled into a flame and chastly burns with pure desires Desires that still mount up and aim at Thee the supernatural center of all their hopes Oh happy state of the Reverend Clergy who empty of the World are full of God! Such shall seldom fall and quickly rise and make swift Advances in the way to Heaven They shall live in purity and dye with confidence and go to sing among the Quires of Angels PETITIONS O Gracious and eternal Wisdom and Goodness who seest and pitiest the infirmities of our nature surrounded on every side with the worst of dangers tentations to folly O guide my steps in thy safe way order every chance to prevent my falling and still lead me on towards a happy end Give me the eye and wing of an Eagle to see my danger at a distance and fly swiftly away from it If I needs must engage my Enemy and there be no means left to escape the Encounter strengthen me O Lord with thy all-powerful Grace to persevere with courage to break through all that offers to divert or stop the advance of my love to thee alone strengthen me that I may never be wanting in my fidelity to thee Convince me O blessed God into this firm judgment and make my Memory faithfully retain it whatever my Senses say to deceive me or the World to obscure so beauteous a truth That thy self alone art our chiefest good and the sight of thy glory our supream felicity Give me O thou dispenser of all things give me in this World neither poverty nor riches but feed me with food convenient for me lest perhaps being full I be allur'd to deny thee and say Who is the Lord or compell'd by want do flatter or steal or forswear the name of my God. Whatever my lot be assist me by thy Grace to submit my Will intirely to thine Assist me so to improve the Talents which thy Providence assigns me that at the great day of Account I may be receiv'd with those precious words Well done good and faithful Servant enter thou into thy Masters joy Through the Merits of Jesus Christ the Mediator Glory be to c. Amen For Saturday Evening MEDITATION I. WHY do we still pursue this World and so eagerly seek its fond enjoyments A world of vanity and false deceits a world of misery and many sad disasters whose Crosses are solid and Comforts empty whose Sorrows are permanent and Delights pass quickly away A World where the innocent are often condemn'd with shame and the bold guilty acquitted with applause Where sometimes the wicked are advanc'd to honour and the vertuous are opprest with disgrace Where Friends soon fall off and Kindred forget and every one minds his own private Interest Yet are we taken with this crooked World and blindly court its ugly painted face We make some sordid Passion Mistress of our heart and neglect the pure and amiable love of Jesus whose goodness to us gives all we have whose Perfections in himself are more than we can conceive Thou art O glorious Jesu the Beauty of Angels and the everlasting Joy of all thy Saints Thou art the Heaven of Heaven it self and in thy sight alone is the fulness of Bliss All this thou art and infinitely more and yet alas how few esteem thee The World we dearly know too often has deceiv'd us and our rashness takes no care not to be undone again Thou never O Jesu hast fail'd our hope and our dulness fears to rely on thee The World distracts and embroils our spirits and wretched we delight in our misery Thou alwaies O Jesu fill'st our hearts with peace and senseless we are weary of thy happiness The World calls and we faint in eager following it thou call'st and we are still reliev'd by thee Yet is our Nature so ingratefully perverse we run after that which tires and abandon that which refreshes Sometimes our lips speak gloriously of thee O thou living Fountain of eternal Bliss Some happy times we relish thy sweetness and decry aloud the poysons of the World. But we are soon entic'd by its gilded Cup and easily forsake the Waters of Life MEDITATION II. ALL this is true and yet the World is lov'd and our nature inclines to affect its vanities 'T is lov'd and so it justly deserves to be did we understand its real value Our Life indeed seems trivial and mean and all things about us look troublesom and dangerous Yet O my God is their consequence excellent in this that they are our onely way of coming to thee This World and this alone is the Womb that breeds us
Glory and invite all the World to sing thy deserved Praises Inspire our he arts O Lord with such loving wishes as these Praise our Lord O you holy Angels Praise him O you happy Saints Let the Faithful Souls departed from this Life by his Grace ever praise him Let all the living on Earth who subsist by his mercy praise him Let one Gone-â—â—â—ion after another carry on the Duty of praise till Generations shall be no more and say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen For Sunday Evening MEDITATION I. O Sin how hast thou disturbed and confounded this our miserable World. Before Sin entred nothing but Happiness dwelt here Sin has disordered the Nature of Mankind and of every thing else The Righteous Vengeance of God has laid a deserved Curse upon the whole Creation Now is unhappy man born to trouble as the sparks of Fire are to fly upward Poor Mankind this is not the place of thy rest because thy Sin has defil'd it Thou art liable to receive hurt and trouble from all things here below and thou canst never be happy till thou art translated into Heaven Heaven only is the Place of true and lasting Joy the place of ease and secure rest Who will give my weary Soul the wings of a Dove that I may fly away and be at rest That I may leave this dangerous dark uncomfortable vexatious world That I may fly away from the troubles of this Life and be at rest Dear Lord with Thee Here we alas are forced to utter many a deep Sigh to bear with grief the burthen of weighty Miseries Often we encounter chances that endanger us and divert our progress in the way of Bliss Often we are assaulted with temptations that overcome us and set us back in the accounts of Eternity How many times O my Soul have we plainly concluded that this Earth affords no real Joy. When we have observed by our own experience or by the carriage of others that the enjoyment never preforms that which the expectation promises How many times have we fully agreed that Heaven alone is the place of Happiness When we have found all places and conditions here encombred with Vanity and Vexation Yet these false allurements do again and again deceive us and seduce our Hearts to dote on folly We have found that which glitter'd like Gold to be but dross and yet we are caught again with something else that glisters Thus do we foolish and unconstant Creatures forget our wisest resolves and the mean-while we neglect our true felicity My Soul to be Wise and Happy thou must only Thirst and Sigh after thy God He is the living Fountain of the true Rivers of Pleasures Thou must despise all other delights and set thy affections entirely on the joyes which the blisseful enjoyment of him affords Nothing can ever satisfie thy desires but He and he alone can do this O then seek nothing so much as him seek nothing be sure that stands in competition with him To seek him is to save thy self for thou shalt find him but by seeking other things in neglect of him thou wilt lose him and thy self and them Nothing but labour disquiet and unrest will attend thy seeking other things and the enjoyment of them will not render thee free from those MEDITATION II. IF my Gracious God afford me but the Innocence of the Dove I shall need none of its Wings If my Soul Lord be fill'd with thy mild Spirit Heaven it self will dwell in my Heart 'T is on the proud thou lookest afar off but inclinest thine Ear to the humble and meek Those who delight in the Peace of a contented mind and limit their thoughts to their own little Sphear Who never intermedle with the actions of others unless where Justice or Charity to men or Piety to God does ingage them Whose lov'd employment is to sit in silence and meditate on the Happiness that they expect hereafter To contemplate the joyes of Saints and Angels and the blissful Face of our Glorified Jesus O how secure and sweetly do they sleep who go to bed with a quiet Conscience Who after a day of honest painful industry in a course of just and pious living lay down their wearied Heads in Peace and safely rest in the Bosom of Providence If they awake their Conscience Comforts them in the Dark and bids them not fear the shadow of Death No nor even Death it self but confidently look up and long for the dawn of that Eternal day that succeeds it This too my Soul should be our care to note and censure and correct our selves To strive for Mastery over our passions that molest us and dismiss from our thoughts what does no way concern us Are not our own occasions business enough to fill as much time as this Life deserves Does not the other at least deserve every Minute of leisure that we can spare from this Let then the worldly men pursue their fancied liberties and say and do as they think fit What 's that to Thee my Soul who shalt not answer for others unless thou some way make their faults thine own Thy pity may grieve and thy charity endeavour but if they will not hear follow thou thy God. Follow the way that leads to Truth follow the Truth that leads to Life Follow the steps of thy beloved Jesus who alone is the Way the Truth and the Life Follow his Holiness in what he did follow his Patience in what he suffer'd Follow him that calls thee with a thousand bounteous Promises kindly condescending to invite when he might only command and who will crown those that follow him with unconceiveable Rewards Follow thy faithful Lord O my Soul to the end and thou maist be sure in the end to enjoy him for ever MEDITATION III. LEarn of me sayes our kind and wise Master for I am meek and humble of Heart and you shall find rest to your Souls Thou Lord were 't wondrously meek a glorious pattern of Humility and Patience And in that meekness and Patience didst alwaies possess a well-composed Soul. A mind regular in all it's motions alwaies easie to it's self and alwaies ready to do the will of him that sent Thee Meekness of Spirit is indeed to us the Heaven of this Life but the Heaven of Heavens O Lord is above with Thee Meekness may qualifie our miseries here and make the tedious time of this Life pass the gentlier away It fortifies the composed Spirit to bear the present burdens But to be fully happy we must stay till hereafter when all burden shall be removed till thy Mercy bring us to our last great end That Glorious end for which our Souls are made and all things else to serve them in their way It is not to sport away our time in Pleasures that thou O Lord hast plac'd us here on Earth 'T
is not to gain a fair estate that thy kindness still prolongs our daies But to do good to our selves and others and to glorifie thee in a wise improvement and regular use of thy Creatures To encrease every day our longing desires of beholding thee in thine own bright self By the goodness of thy Creatures we should be inflamed with greater longings towards thee because thou hast all that goodness in thy self By the defect and insufficiency of the Creatures we should increase our desire of thy self because thou hast that goodness which they want PETITIONS O Thou who art the victorious Conquerer of Sin and Death We weak Combatants beseech thee to assist us in our dangerous Warfare Assist us against the Rebellions of our Passions still thou quickly all the tumults which the occurrences of this World begin to raise in our Souls O thou the Fountain as well as Pattern of Meekness possess our Souls with this excellent vertue that our minds may never be discompos'd that our Tongues may not break forth into violent expressions nor our Hands into any rash injurious actions Let us be calm and regular within however irregular and full of confusion the World be without us O thou blessed Spirit the onely sure Comforter the benign refresher of distressed spirits grant us thy Joyes and Consolations to relieve us in this tedious Pilgrimage Let our Souls feel onely the sweet impulses of divine Hope and Charity O glorious and chiefest Good whose infinite sweetness provokes and satisfies all our Appetites May my entire Affections delight in Thee above all the vain enjoyments of the World Above all Praise and empty Honour above all Beauty and fading Pleasure above Health and all deceitfull Riches above all Power and subtlest Knowledge above even all that thy own Bounty can give and whatever is not thy very self O may my wearied Soul repose in thee the home and centre of eternal Rest May I forget my self to think on thee and fill my Memory with the wonders of thy Love That infinite Love which when my thoughts consider not as they ought alas but as I am able the Goods or Ills of this World lose their Names and yield not either relish or distast O my adored Jesu let me love thee alwayes because from Eternity thou hast loved me Let me love thee above all Creatures because thou hast loved Mankind more than any besides O let me love thee onely gracious God! because thou alone deservest all my Heart Alwayes and onely let me love thee dear Lord since alwayes my hope is onely in thee Amen Hymn 16. DEar Jesu when when shall it be That I no more shall break with thee When will this War of Passions cease And let my Soul enjoy thy Peace Here I repent and sin again Now I revive and now am slain Slain with the same unhappy dart Which O! too often wounds my Heart When dearest Lord when shall I be A Garden seal'd to all but thee No more expos'd no more undone But live and grow to thee alone 'T is not alas on this low Earth That such pure flowers can find a birth Only they spring above the skies Where none can live till here he dies Then let me die that I may go And dwell where those bright Lilies grow Where those blest plants of Glory rise And make a safer Paradise No dangerous fruit no tempting Eve No crafty Serpent to deceive But we like Gods indeed shall be O let me die that life to see Thus sayes my Song but does my Heart Join with the words and sing its part Am I so thorow-wise to choose The other World and this refuse Why should I not what do I find That fully here contents my mind What is this meat and drink and sleep That such poor things from Heaven should keep What is this Honour or great place Or bag of Money or fair Face What 's all the World that thus we should Still long to live with flesh and blood Fear not my Soul stand to the word Which thou hast sung to thy dear Lord Let but thy love be firm and true And with more heat thy wish renew O may this dying life make haste To die into true life at last No hope have I to live before But then to live and die no more Great ever-living God! to thee In Essence One in Persons Three May all thy works their Tribute bring And every Age thy Glory sing Amen For Monday Morning MEDITATION I. COme let us Meditate the Praises of our God and joyfully recite his divine Perfections His Being is of himself alone and no dependance his eternal Essence knows His Knowledge fathoms the vast extent of all things and with his Power he commands and disposes them as he pleases His Goodness is supreamly Infinite and all his glorious Attributes transcendently adorable Come let us Meditate the Praises of our God and joyfully recite his divine Perfections He is the source of all Felicity eternally full of his own unchangeable Bliss before time began he was and when the Sun must lose its light his bright day will remain the same for ever The Heaven of Heavens is the Palace of his Glory and all created nature the subject of his Dominion In his Presence the brightest Seraphims cover their Faces and all the blessed Spirits bow down their Heads to his Foot-stool It is the lov'd Imployment of those Spirits to sing aloud the eminent Prerogatives of their God and ours let us then stretch our utmost thoughts to exalt the divine Greatness But O most glorious and dreadful Deity how dare we Wretches undertake thy Praise How dare our sin-polluted Lips pronounce thy Name or where shall we seek expressions fit for thee All we can say is nothing to thy unspeakable Excellencies all we can think but a faint shadow of thy unconceivable Beauties Even the Voice of Angels is too low to reach thy worth and their highest Strains fall infinitely short of Thee Only in this shall thy Servants rejoyce and all the Powers of our Souls be glad that thy self alone art thy full Praise that all thy Works meerly in what they are do Praise thee Thou hast magnified thy self in making the Creatures The boundless Ocean of Being would not contain his Streams but overflow'd upon pure nothing and out of nothing a beauteous World appear'd Be to thy self O great Creator thine own glory as thou hast made all things for thy self Live our great God eternally encompast with the beams of thine own inaccessible light Live our ador'd Creator and reign for ever on the Throne of thine own immortal Kingdom Hymn 17. OBserve my Soul how every thing Consents to serve our bounteous King Each Creature double tribute payes Sings first its part and then obeys Birds Natures chief and sweetest Quire Him with their chearful notes admire Chanting out every day their Lauds While the glad grove their Song applauds And though their Voices lower be Yet Streams have too
their Melody All night all day they warbling run They never pause but still sing on All the fine Flowers that guild the Spring To this Praise their still Musick bring If kind Heaven bless them thankful they Will smell more sweet and look more gay Only Mankind can scarce afford This easie homage to our Lord We on whom his large bounty flows Gives all we have yet nothing owes Awake for shame my sluggish Heart Rouse thee and gladly sing thy part Learn of these birds and beasts and flowers How thou shouldst use thy nobler powers Invite whole nature to thine aid Since it was he whole nature made Joyn all in one Eternal Song Who to one Author all belong Say Live for ever glorious Lord Live by all thy great works ador'd Thou one in three and three in one All we thrice bow to Thee alone Amen MEDITATION II. TOo Glorious art Thou O Lord in thy self and thy direct Ray shines too bright for our Eyes Yet we may venture to Praise Thee in thy Works and Contemplate Thee at least reflected from thy Creatures In them we may safely behold our Almighty Maker and freely admire the Magnificence of our God Heaven and Earth are full of his greatness Heaven and Earth were created by his Power From him did all the Hosts of Angels receive their Being from him they have the honour to worship in his presence He kindled warmth and brightness in the Sun and beauteously garnisht the Firmament with Stars He spread the Air and stor'd it with flocks of Birds He gather'd the Waters and replenisht them with shoals of Fishes He establisht the Earth on a firm Foundation and richly adorn'd it with innumerable Varieties Every Element is fill'd with his Blessings and all the World with his liberal Miracles He spake the word and they were made he commands and they are still preserv'd He governs their motions in perfect order and distributes to each his proper Office contriving the whole into one vast Machin a spacious Theater of his own unlimited Greatness O Glorious Architect of universal Nature who disposest all things in number weight and measure How does thy Wisdom engage us to admire Thee How does thy Goodness oblige us to love Thee How does thy Greatness and Supream Excellency command us to reverence and stand in awe of Thee Not for themselves alone O gracious God did thy hand produce those happy Spirits above but partly to receive in charge thy little Flock and watch them in this Wilderness till thou gatherest them to folds of Bliss Not for themselves at all O Bounteous Lord were the rest of this huge Creation fram'd but to sustain our Lives in the way and carry us on to our Eternal home O my Soul do thou first Praise him for thy self and the excellent Powers that he has given thee and employ all thy Powers in his excellent Service Praise him next for all his Gifts but infinitely above all still value the Giver Let every Blessing be a motive of thy gratitude and every Creature a step of approach towards God So wilt thou faithfully observe their end and happily arrive at thine own Thou wilt use them only to sustain and comfort thee a little here and they will not hinder thy Souls preparation for Heaven And when thou art become full ripe for thy translation hence the kind Angels shall conduct thee into the divine Presence MEDITATION III. HOW admirable is thy Name O Lord over all the Earth How wise and gracious the Counsels of thy Providence After thou hadst thus prepar'd the World as a House ready furnish'd for a Man to Inhabit thy mighty hand fram'd our Bodies of the dust and built them in a shape of use and beauty Thou didst breath into us the Spirit of Life and fit us with faculties proportion'd to our end Thou gav'st us a Soul to govern our Bodies and reason to command in our Soul Thou didst reveal a Law for the Improvement of our reason and inablest us by thy grace to observe that Law Thou madest us Lords over all thy Creatures but little inferiour to thy glorious Angels Thou compellest whole Nature to serve us without reward and invitest us to love thee for our own happiness Thou designedst us an age of pure delights in that sweet and fruitful Garden where having led a long and pleasant Life thou promisedst to transplant us to thine own Paradise All this thou didst O glorious God the full Possessor of universal Bliss not for any need thou hadst of us or the least advantage thou couldst derive from our being All this thou didst O Infinite Goodness the liberal bestower of all that we possess not for any merit alas of ours or for the least motive we could offer to induce thee but for thine own excessive Charity and the meer inclination of thine own rich nature that empty we might receive of thy fullness and be partakers of thy overflowing bounty So sheds the generous Sun his beams and freely scatters them on every side guilding all the World with his beauteous light and kindly cherishing it with his fruitful heat And so dost thou and infinitely more O thou God of infinite more Perfection So we confess thou dost to us but we what return have we made to Thee have we considered well the end of our being and faithfully comply'd with thy purpose to save us Ah wretched we we neglect thy Holy Rules and govern our actions by chance and humour We quite forget our God that made us and fill our heads with thoughts that undo us This is the only praise thou expectest from us and the whole honour thou requirest of thy Creatures That by observing the orders thou appointest here in this lower region of motion and change we may all grow up to be happy hereafter in that state of permanency and Eternal rest above PETITIONS O Lord the Merciful and Gracious God I poor Sinner humbly beseech Thee to pardon all my past ingratitude all my neglect and forgetfulness of Thee and mercifully do thou direct my time to come Teach me wherein I have done amiss and have omitted my Duty and inable me to practise a sincere Repentance and amendment Teach every passage of my yet remaining Life to express the acknowledgements due to thee and to thy Mercies O Infinite and perfect Being make me to know and adore Thee to ascribe all excellency and perfection to Thee So guide thou my thoughts and words that neither of them may at any time impute what is unworthy of thee Make me ever humbly to adore thy infinite fulness of Being a fulness underived independant and unchangable Make me often to think and fully believe that there is none besides Thee like unto Thee and alwaies to ascribe unsearchable greatness Give me too O bounteous Lord I pray among thy other gifts a large sense of thy Immense liberality to Mankind that I may fitly acknowledge and praise thy bounteous Mercy Give to all mankind a
mean to spend the most of their life Do they project their Mansion Seat in a Country through which they only pass as Travellers No more my Soul should we build our best hopes on the sandy Foundation of this perishable Earth where sure we are that we cannot stay long and are not sure we may have leave to stay but a very little while We must then use this transitory Life as Pilgrims returning to their beloved Home that we may take only what our Journey requires and not think of settling in a forreign Countrey but wisely forecast our Treasures so as to be happy there where we must alwayes be Let us use this World as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passes away Use it so as to gain thereby the next in reward for our using this well So shall this short Time end in a happy Eternity MEDITATION II. NOW thou hast found thy happy end and found it the onely good that lasts for ever study O my Soul to know still more and still more to value those immortal joyes Strive for so glorious a prize with thy whole force with the utmost endeavours of all thy Faculties Purchase at any rate that blest Inheritance and wisely neglect before that any thing else any thing that would divert thee from thy holy course or but retard the speed of thy Advance For though the lowest degree of Happiness in the Mansions above be happy enough where every satisfied Vessel is fill'd to the brim yet to enlarge our Capacity to the least nigher degree deserves the busiest diligence of our whole life Shall the industrious Bee endure no rest but fly and sing and labour all day Shall the unwearied Ant be running up and down to fetch and carry a few grains of Corn And we for whom all Nature so faithfully works and tires it self in a perpetual Motion for whom the tender Providence of God commands even his Angels to watch continually for whom the ador'd Jesus came down from Heaven and spent a whole life in continual labours Shall we sleep on in a drowsie Sloth and not stir a finger to help our selves Awake my Soul and chide thy sluggish thoughts and let their stupid folly plainly know we have a store to provide as well as 〈◊〉 and infinitely richer than their poor hoard We have a work to do as well as Bees and that which is infinitely sweeter than all their honey What can so nobly enrich an immortal Soul as still to be gathering a stock for Eternity What can so highly delight one that every day improves as daily to see the encrease of his hope O blessed hope thou shalt be my chief delight and the onely Treasure I covet to lay up Thou art the quickning Life of all my Actions and the sweet allay of all my Sufferings So shall I never refuse any the meanest labour while I look to receive such glorious Wages So shall I never repine at any temporal loss while I hope to gain such Eternal Rewards MEDITATION III. BUt O! 't is not so much our sloath undoes us as the imprudent choice in applying our Diligence Many alas take pains enough many perplex themselves too much See how the busie toylers of the world are chain'd perpetually like slaves to their work How early they rise and go late to sleep and eat the Bread of Care and Sorrow See how the hardy Souldiers follow their Prince through a thousand difficulties to meet with dangers See how the venturous Mariners expose their lives over stormy Seas barbarous Nations And why is all this poor ill-advised wretches but to fetch perhaps a little Fish or Spice To gain a few Pence or some petty Honour which others often share in more than your selves O Gracious Lord how easie are thy commands how cheap hast thou made the purchase of Heaven Half these pains would make us excellent Saints half these Sufferings would place us in thy account among the Martyrs were they devoutly undertaken for thee and the higher enjoyment of thy Glorious Promises Thou dost not bid us freeze under the Polar Star nor burn in the heats of the torrid Zone But proposest a sweet and gentle rule and such as our Nature it self would choose did not our passions strangely mislead us and the World about us distract our reason Thou biddest us but wisely love our selves and attend above all things our own true happiness Thou bid'st us value even this world as much as it deserves since 't is the School that breeds us up for the other Only we are forbidden to be wilful fools and prefer a short Vanity before Eternal felicity O the mild Government of the King of Heaven his will we can do whatever else we are doing This we can do even while we sit still and only move our Thoughts towards thee Yet take care my Soul that this sweetness of thy Lord be never abused to a◠wanton neglect But strive still to love thy Lord so much the more as by any means thou discoverest more the excess of his love PETITIONS O Thou the Eternal being who changest not and yet art the cause and end of all our changes Who still remainest the same rich fulness in thy self the same bright Glory to all thy Blessed Make me sensible of my approaching change of the dissolution that will call me away from this present world And make me regard this world as a place of Pilgrimage as having here no enduring City Teach me also O Lord the Immortality of my Soul and convince me that I must dwell for ever in another world so make me endeavour to have thee the Eternal God for my Everlasting Portion and spend this short time in diligent striving to reach the Blissful Enjoyment of Thee Suffer me not O God to take up my rest on Earth to be ever unconcern'd about Eternity whatever my condition be here When I see with what unwearied diligence the wretched adventures for all sorts of Vanity do round about me pursue their vain designs let this Lord be taken as a very just reproach for my negligence in the pursuit of better things Make me asham'd to see any others more concern'd for the applause of men than I am for the favour and approbation of God To see others more eager of the transient pleasures of this World than I for the lasting delights of Heaven Preserve me O Gracious Lord from the many dangers which on all sides assault me now to divert or hinder my progress towards Heaven O keep my mind ever dispos'd to receive thy Holy inspirations that being alwayes strongly and pleasantly carried forward by thy Holy Spirit I may at last happily arrive at the Heavenly Jerusalem For the sake of Jesus Christ the Mediatour Amen Hymn 28. MY Soul what 's all this world to thee This world of sin and woe Where only sense can tast its sweets And those unwholsome too Truth is thy food truth thy delight Which cannot here be free Thy
mind was born to know and love What this life ne're can see Malicious world how dost thou lay And cover thy false Baits Here those of pleasure there of gain Each for our ruine waits Unhappy we it is our fault 'T is we our Life abuse The world presents a furnisht Shop And we the tools misuse So have I seen a little Child If Nurse but turn her Eye In stead of haft take hold o' th' blade And cut it self and cry This little Child alas am I Self-will'd Self-wounded too But Lord turn not thy face away Lest I my self undoe O make me still so use this world That I the other gain O make me so the other love That this its end attain It s end to breed up Souls for Heave'n Then be it self new drest No more corruption no more change But one perpetual rest To Father Son and Holy Ghost The undivided Three One equal Glory one same Praise Now and for ever be Amen Devotions FOR THE Holy-dayes The First Part. FOR THE FEASTS OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR For the Morning MEDITATION I. BRing to our Lord all you his Servants bring to our Lord the Sacrifice of Praise Bring to our Lord all you Nations of the Earth bring Hymns of Glory to his great Name at the Name of Jesus let every knee bow of things in Heaven and things on Earth and let his whole Church Militant and Triumphant gladly adore our God that Redeem'd us Come now and hear you that fear our Lord and I will tell you what he has done for my Soul Hear and I will tell you what he has done for yours and the wonders of his bounty towards all the World. When we lay asleep in the shades of nothing his mighty hand awak'd us into Being Not that of Stones or Plants or Beasts o're which he has made us absolute Lords but an accomplisht Body he has given us and an immortal Spirit and has made us little inferiour to his glorious Angels He printed on our Souls his own similitude and promised to our Obedience that we should partake of his own felicity He endu'd us with Appetites to live well and happily and furnisht us with means to satisfie those Appetites Creating a World furnish'd with excellent Creatures to serve us while we abode on Earth and providing a Heaven of Bliss to glorifie us when we remov'd hence Thus didst thou favour us O Infinite Goodness But we what return did we make thee Blush O my Soul for shame at so strange a weakness and weep for grief at so extream an Ingratitude We childishly preferr'd a trivial Apple before the Law of our God and the safety of our own Lives We fondly embrac'd a little needless Satisfaction before the Pleasures of Paradise and the eternal Joyes of Heaven Behold the unhappy source of all our Miseries which still encreas'd its streams as they went farther on 'Till they exacted at last a deluge of Justice to drown their deluge of Iniquity And here alas had been an end of Man a sad and fatal end of the whole World had not our wise Creator foreseen the danger and in time prevented the extremity of the ruine reserving for himself a few choice Plants to replenish the Earth with more hopeful Fruit Yet they quickly grew wild and brought forth sour Grapes and their Childrens teeth were set on edge Quickly they aspir'd to an intollerable Pride of fortifying their wickedness against the power of Heaven Justice was now provok'd to a second deluge and to bring again a Cloud over the Earth but Mercy discover'd a bow in the Cloud and our faithful God remembred his Promise allaying their Punishment with a milder Sentence and only scattering them from the place of their Conspiracy which yet his Providence turn'd into a Blessing by making it an occasion of Peopling the World. Still their rebellious Nature disobey'd again and neither fear'd his Judgments nor valued his Mercies but with a graceless emulation they propagated sin as far as his Goodness propagated Mankind Then he selected a private Family and increas'd and govern'd them with a particular tenderness giving them a Law by the hands of Angels and engaging their Obedience by a thousand favours But they neglected too their God and Heaven and fell in love with the wayes of Death When thou hadst thus O dearest Lord used many Remedies and our Disease was beyond their power to cure when the light of Nature proved too weak a guide and the general Flood too mild a correction when the Miracles of Moses could not soften their Hearts nor the Law of Angels bring any to perfection when all was reduc'd to this desperate State and no imaginable hope was left to recover us Behold the Eternal Wisdom finds a strange Expedient the last and highest Instance of Almighty Love Himself he resolves to cloath with our Flesh and come down among us and dye to Redeem us Wonder O my Soul at the Mercies of our Lord how infinitely do they transcend even the utmost that we could have wished Wonder at the admirable Providence of his Councels that they are so exactly fitted to their great design Had our Saviour been less than God we could never have believed the sublime Mysteries of his Heavenly Doctrine Had he been other than Man we must needs have wanted the powerful motive of his holy Example Had he been only God he could never have suffer'd the least of those Afflictions which he so gloriously overcame Had he been meerly Man he could never have overcome those Infinite Afflictions which he so patiently endur'd In thee O blessed Saviour the two Natures of God and Man were so mysteriously united without either change or confusion that they made in thee but one Person one Mediator and Lord. Hymn 29. JEsu who from thy Fathers Throne To this low vale of Tears cam'st down In our poor nature humbly drest Oh may the charms of that sweet love Draw up our Souls to thee above And six them there on thee to rest Jesu who wert with Joy Conceiv'd With Joy wert born while no pain griev'd Thy Blessed Mothers Virgin-womb O may we breed and bring thee forth In our glad hearts for all is Mirth Where thou kind Lord art pleas'd to come Jesu whose high and humble Birth In Heaven the Angels and on Earth The faithful Shepherds gladly sing O may our Hymns which here run low Shoot up aloft and fruitful grow In that more warm Eternal Spring Jesu how soon didst thou begin To bleed and suffer for our sin Cut by the Circumcising Knife O may thy grace by making good Our Souls just cause ' gainst flesh and blood Cut off for us that dange'rous strife Jesu who took'st that heave'nly Name Thy blessed Purpose to proclaim Of saving self-destroy'd Mankind O may we bowe our Heart and knee Bright King of Names to Glorious thee And thy hid sweetness ever find Jesu who thus began'st our Bliss Thus carry'edst on our happiness To thee
Tribes of the Earth be blessed in him Hast thou not said thy self O glorious Jesu If I be lifted up I will draw all men after me Hast thou not given thy Disciples express Commission to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature When wilt thou again O infinite Charity choose out burning and shining Lights and send them forth over all the World and send them not alone lest they faint by the way or miscarry in the end If thou wilt go with them thy self and guide them by thy Grace and crown their Labours with thy powerful Blessing Oh then what mighty works would be done by them Then shall the humble Vallies be rais'd up and the stubborn Mountains be brought low So shall the crooked paths be made direct and the rough wayes smooth and plain So shall the Glory of God be every where reveal'd and all Flesh shall joyfully see it together the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the bright face of Jesus Christ Happy the times when this shall come to pass happy the eyes that shall see these times Come glorious days wherein that Sun shall shine which enlightens all at once both the Hemisphears PETITIONS REmember O God the Father God of everlasting Truth thy dear Engagements to the Son Remember O God the Son who art the Author and Finisher of our Faith thy gracious Promises to the World. Come holy Jesu in a plentiful effusion of thy Spirit upon us and make that glorious day of Gospel light which we greatly desire and thy Promises give us leave to expect Come and in the largest sence maintain thy Title and be effectively the Saviour of the universal World. Visit O Lord thine own House first and throughly redress what thou findest amiss Make our Lives holy as thou hast made our Faith and let all that name thy Name depart from Iniquity O thou who art the Author of Peace and lover of Concord who did'st so often repeat the Command that thy Disciples should love one another Inspire we beseech thee thy whole Church with a Spirit of Truth Unity and Concord Bring thou into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived Convince us all that the wrath and fury of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God and hasten the time when there shall be no hurting nor destroying in all thy holy Mountain Kindle O Lord in the hearts of Kings and the great Ones of the World an heroick Spirit to advance thy Glory Inflame the hearts of Prelates and the Priests of thy Church with a generous Zeal for the Conversion of Souls Convince them all it is the End and Duty of their places to endeavour the improving of Mankind in vertue and Religion and direct them to the use of such just and gentle means as are suitable to the End and agreeable to thy Word Send forth thy saving light O Lord into the dark corners of the World and bring them from the power of Satan into the Kingdom of God. Remember thy great Love which thou hast shown and the Mercies which seem yet promised to the Jews Let every people bow their Knees to thy great Name Oh blessed Jesu and all Tongues confess thy Greatness Make all to receive thy Truth in the love of it and mix it with Faith that it may become an engrafted Word able to save their Souls These things we crave for the honour of our Advocate and onely Mediator Jesus the Christ Amen Hymn 30. JEsu whose Grace directs thy Priests To keep alive by solemn Feasts The memory of thy great Love O may we here so pass thy days That they at last our Souls may raise To that long Feast with thee above To that long day of sacred Rest Whereon our happy Souls shall feast On thy celestial Joyes and thee Our Bodies too thy Love shall raise Thy self to see and sing thy praise In a blest Immortality Jesu behold three Kings from far Led to thy Cradle by a Star Bring gifts to thee their greater King O guide us by thy Light that we May find thy lov'd Face and to thee Our selves may for thy Tribute bring O thou the pure and spotless Lamb Who to the Temple humbly came Appointed legal Rites to pay Make our proud Heart and stubborn Will Thine and thy Churche's Law fulfill Whate're relucting Natures say Jesu who on the fatal Wood Pourd'st forth thy life's last drop of Blood For us nail'd to a shamefull Cross O! may we bless thy Love and be Ready dear Lord to bear for thee All present grief or pain or loss Dear Lord who by thine own Love slain By thine own Powe'r took'st Life again And from the Sepulcher did'st rise O may thy Death our Spir'its revive And at our Death a new Life give A lasting Life that never dies Jesu who to thy Heaven again Returnd'st in Triumph there to reign Of Men and Angels mighty King O may our parting Souls take flight Up to that Land of Joy and Light And there with Angels ever sing All Glory to the Sacred Three One undivided Deity All honour blessing power and praise O may thy blessed Name shine bright Crown'd with those Beams of beauteous light It s own eternal glorious Rays Amen FOR THE FEASTS OF THE HOLY GHOST For the Morning MEDITATION I. LOrd we are forced to admire the sweet and natural conduct with which thy Providence governs the Children of men Leading them on from one degree to another 'till thou hast brought them up to their highest perfection Thou puttest them to learn in the School of Virtue and disposest their Capacities into several forms In the first Ages when the World was young thou gavest them for their guide the Book of Nature there thy divine Assistance helpt them to read some few plain Lessons of their Duty to thee They saw this admirable frame of Creatures and as far as these could argue they could conclude Sure there is a God the cause of all things certainly there is a Providence that disposes of all things He must be very powerful that made so vast a World and exceeding wise that contriv'd such excellent works He must be goodness it self that did all this for us and we ingrateful Wretches if we will do nothing for him Thus far some few could say and very few could do with those slender Assistances which they then enjoy'd Afterward thou gavest thy People a written Rule which train'd them up in a set form of Discipline which grew and spread into a publick Religion and which was uniformly profest by a whole Nation They had some weak conceit of the Kingdom of Heaven and some imperfect means to bring them thither But for those high supernatural Mysteries that so gloriously exalt the Christian Faith they all alas were blind or in the dark and dangerously exposed to the effects of their own Ignorance wanting those clear Instructious to know their end and those powerful Motives to love
Spirit of Adoption Blessed be thou O Eternal Father God of abundant and infinite goodness for this unspeakable kindness of sending thy Spirit into our miserable and wicked World a Spirit so suited to our necessities and able to bring many of us to glory This Lord was thy free gift with respect to us unworthy Creatures Mankind did not could not deserve it of thee it ought therefore to be the more marvellous in our eyes And we may justly wonder not only at thy Bounty but at thy Patience too herein for Mankind had highly forfeited this Mercy and it was directly contrary to his Deserts Thou didst send thy Spirit for our good and advantage after that the ungrateful World had abused and put to Death thy Son. Blessed be thou O Dear Redeemer whose Blood and Death purchased for us this incomparable gift and whose powerful Intercession in Heaven obtain'd it Blessed be thy merciful Providence O Jesu who when thou hadst finisht thy great work on Earth didst ascend into Heaven to draw our minds even thither after thee Blessed be thy Infinite Goodness who when thou hadst taught us the words of Eternal Life sentest down the Holy Ghost to make us observe them and raise up our Affections to that glorious Kingdom whither thou art gone before us that where Thou our happiness art our hearts as they should may also be Blessing and Praise be to the Holy Spirit himself who though proceeding from the Father and the Son is equal in nature and glory whose free goodness it was to give himself to our forlorn World He is both the Giver and the Gift from the great Love wherewith he loved us Thus are we beholden to the ever blessed Trinity not only for excellent and supernatural Graces but also for his Presence who is the cause and Author of all Grace And they to whom this Spirit is given have not only the Streams but the Fountain of living Waters in whom therefore they must needs be springing up even unto Eternal Life PETITIONS O Merciful Lord who hast loved us from the beginning be graciously pleased to love us unto the end Pity the unhappy state of fallen Mankind which neither Nature nor Law could bring to any perfection Send out thy Spirit O Lord and we shall be created again unto good Works and from our nothing of sin be raised to a Life of Holiness O send out thy Spirit and renew the face of the Earth and then our weeds and thorns shall be turn'd into a Paradise O cure our World in thy due time of all those distempers in the spirits of men that make us miserable confus'd and unquiet Deliver us from the spirit of Prophaneness and Infidelity from the spirit of Errour Heresie and Schism Deliver us from the spirit of Pride and Avarice from the spirit of Anger Sloth and Envy Deliver us from the spirit of Drunkenness and Gluttony from the spirit of Lust and Wantonness and Impurity Deliver us O God from every evil spirit and vouchsafe to give us the Graces of thy good Spirit that Order and Peace may flourish in the World and Mankind may not hate nor fear nor persecute one another O may the Christian Church which thou hast wonderfully begun and with many wonders yet continued in the World may it go on still to the end of time and make it Lord to encrease and multiply till every Nation speak in their own language the wonderful Works of God. O blessed Spirit the Church thou hast been pleased to establish vouchsafe alwayes to govern Alwayes keep it free from Usurpation and Tyranny in the Governours and from Contention Unruliness and spiritual Pride in those that should be govern'd That it may alwayes be in a fit posture to receive the Influences of thy Grace and may with those heavenly dews be as a fruitful Field Which things we humbly implore through the Merits of Jesus Christ Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. COme my Soul and adore our God that sanctifies us implore his Grace to make thee able and then adore him Him who from the Father and the Son eternally proceeds and with the Father and the Son must be equally worship'd and glorified In thy Name O Lord together with that of the Father and the Son we are by divine appointment Baptized and so directed to believe in thee Thou art therefore a distinct Person in that Adorable Trinity which is the one eternal God Thou dost make the for the Saints with the Father and therefore art not only the power of the Father Thy coming O Lord into this World did depend upon the departure of the Son therefore I believe thou art distinct from the Son. I believe O Lord thou wast manifestly distinguisht from the Father and the Son when at the Baptism of our Saviour thou didst descend upon him in the likeness of a Dove when at the same time there was a voice from the Father saying This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased Thou art O Lord not a created Person but with the Father and Son art God blessed for evermore By thee was our Saviour conceived in the Womb of a Virgin and therefore was her Birth called the Son of God. Thy dwelling in one of us converts a poor Creature into a Sacred Temple therefore we ought to adore thee as God And I humbly adore thee as the most high eternal God as of the same Nature Attributes and Operations with the Father and the Son. I adore thee as having inseparable from thy Nature an infinite essential and original Holiness as God. And it is peculiarly and especially thy Undertaking or Office to make us poor sinners holy therefore I adore thee under the glorious Title of Holy Spirit It was thou O Lord that didst speak to the World by all the holy Prophets that have been since the Beginning And thus it came to pass that all the holy Scripture was given to us by the inspiration of God. Thou art the Author and Finisher of our Faith by an internal illumination of our Minds Thereby thou inclinest us to the obedience of Faith and to give our assent to those Divine Truths which our carnal corrupted natures would reject as foolishness By thee it is that we are renewed in all the faculties of our Souls and our Affections and Will are made conform'd unto the will of God. Thou dost infuse into us the breath of Life and bring us forth in our second Birth in which birth we become the Children of God and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven By thee are all sincere Christians baptized into one Body even the Mystical Body of Christ and it is thy Testimony alone that comfortably assures to any of them their Adoption In order to these great things it is thy kind office to sanctifie and set apart
Persons for the Duty of the Sacred Ministry By whose Ministry thou dost perfect the Saints and build up the Body of Christ to the end of the World. MEDITATION II. BLessed for ever be thy Name O Holy Spirit and blessed be the bounty of thy Goodness When the Eternal Father by creating the World had declar'd himself and his Almighty Power When the Uncreated Word by redeeming Mankind had reveal'd himself and his infinite Wisdom When now there remain'd but one seal more to be open'd of the Book of Divine Mysteries Behold a strange condescendence to our weak nature the Invisible Spirit Visibly appears He descends from Heaven in the shape of a Dove and gently alights upon the Prince of Peace Again he descends in the likeness of Fire and miraculously sits on the Heads of his Disciples Mingling thus together in one blest compound those chief ingredients of excellent vertue Mildness to allay the heat of Zeal and Zeal to quicken the indifferency of Mildness Innocence to adorn the light of Knowledge and Knowledge to direct the Simplicity of Innocence O Blest adorable Teacher Who can instruct like the Spirit of God He needs no years to finish his course but with a swift and efficacious touch consummates all things He entred the Soul of a young delighter in Musick and presently sanctified him into a composer of Psalms He took a poor Shepherd from following the Flock and immediately rais'd him to the degree of a Prophet He by one Lesson perfected the Disciples and polisht rude Fishermen into eloquent Preachers He toucht the Heart of a persecuting Pharisee and instantly chang'd him into a Glorious Apostle There is none O Lord can resist thy efficacious Grace but it accomplishes whatsoever thou intendest And the most Stubborn refusers thou makest to become a willing People in the day of thy Power All this thou hast done O Infinite Goodness and all the good that we doe is wrought by thee By thee is every condition sanctified to us in this mutable World and we are inabled through all to walk steadily towards our Eternal Rest By Thee our Souls are comforted on our beds of Sickness and thou alone fittest us for the Mansions of Glory If in the Church there be any Wisdom or Knowledge if any real Sanctity or decent Order if any Faith of the Mysteries of Religion if any Hope of Everlasting Salvation If any Love of God as our Sovereign bliss if any mutual Charity of one towards another If any Miracles have been wrought to convert unbelievers and to confirm the weak in Faith against the violence of Persecution All these things flow from thy free Grace O thou boundless Ocean of Eternal Mercies All flows from thee and all our little streams ought to return in tribute to thy Bounty Blessed be thy Name O Holy Spirit of God who dividest thy Gifts to every one as thou pleasest and workest all in all MEDITATION III. STill my Soul continue thy Meditations on this adorable Person and humbly present thy further acknowledgments and praises to him who is the Eternal Love of the Father and the Son and the Glorious Finisher of the Sacred Mystery To him the quickening Spirit of regenerate Souls in whom they live and move and have their Being To him the sovereign Balsom of our wounds and only comfort of all our Sorrows To him our refuge in this place of Banishment and faithful guide in this wandring Pilgrimage To him the Sacred pledge of our free adoption and ensuring Seal of our Eternal Salvation What do we say of Thee O Adorable Spirit of God! What do we say when we utter such words as these We say what we can in our low capacity but alas how short of thy unspeakable excellencies O that we had the tongues of Glorified Saints and of Angels O that we had thine own Miraculous Tongues Those which sate flaming on the Heads of the Apostles and made them speak thy wonders in every language Still all our praises would be poor and narrow still infinitely less than thy infinite perfections But if we cannot speak as our God deserves shall we therefore hold our Peace which God forbids Wo be to them O Lord who are silent of thee and spend the breath thou givest them on any but thy self When we have tried our best endeavours and taken a measure of our own defects when our own Hearts can conceive no more and our tongues have exprest their utmost we will then call upon all others to praise thee who have been beholden to thy infinite Bounty and say Praise the Eternal Spirit O all you Quires of rejoicing Angels for his early Grace confirm'd you in Glory Praise him ye Reverend Patriarchs whose wayes he govern'd and by particular Providence led you to felicity Praise him ye Ancient Prophets whose Souls he inspir'd to teach his chosen People the Mind of Heaven Praise him you glorious company of the Apostles whose Persons he empowered to be Embassadours of Peace between Heaven and Earth Praise him you the Noble Army of generous Martyrs whose Spirits he encouraged and gave you the Victory over the terrours of Death Praise him ye Blessed Confessours whose lives he sanctified and gave you Victory over the World and your selves Praise him ye Holy Virgins whose Souls he espoused and consecrated your chast Bodies into Temples for himself Praise him O thou the Blessed Virgin-Mother of our Lord by whom the Worlds Redeemer was conceiv'd in thy Womb Praise him all you the faithful departed this Life whose hope he sustains of a Glorious Resurrection of your Bodies Praise him all ye that make up the Holy Church throughout all the World bless him and magnifie him for ever Praise him in the Power and freedom of his Grace praise him for the Eternity and greatness of his Glory Praise him O my Soul for his Mercies to thee Praise him for his goodness to all the World. Praise him on the choicest Instrument that of the Heart Praise him in the fittest Place the publick assemby of his Saints PETITIONS O Kindle in my Heart holy Lord thy divine fire that I may offer to thee the hallow'd incense of Praise O thou who openest the mouths of the Dumb and makest the Tongues of Children eloquent inspire thy devoted Servant if not with expressions suitable to thy self at least with such as are profitable to me Such as may instruct me what I ought to do and such as may move me to do what I say Come holy Spirit who art the free dispenser of all Grace visit my poor Heart and replenish it with thy Sacred inspirations Refuse not O Lord to hear me now I call upon Thee and make me still hear Thee when thou callest upon me do thou by thy mighty operations in my Soul establish such an interest in me as may alwayes dispose me to so advantageous a duty Illuminate my understanding inflame my affections and sanctifie all the powers of my Soul and Body that I may know
love and constantly do the things that belong to my Everlasting Peace Till my understanding with the Knowledge of such Truths as may fix it on thee the Eternal Verity Inure my will to embrace such objects as may unite them to Thee the Sovereign goodness O suffer me not obstinately to persist in any known wickedness nor maliciously to impugn any know Truth Grant I may never be deceiv'd by any false spirit nor be overcome by the vicious suggestions of Flesh and Blood. In all my doubts do thou direct me into the way of thy Truth in all my weakness grant me the assistance of thy Grace Help me devoutly and most thankfully to commemorate thy Descent to this World in the likeness of fiery Tongues which sate on each head of thy Disciples and fitted them to preach the Gospel to every Nation And let it so encrease the holy fervour of my Heart that my Life may attest by all fruits of Grace the same Spirit 's still abiding with me To the Glory of thee O God the Holy Spirit who with the Father and the Son livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen Hymn 32. COme mild and Holy Dove Descend into our Breast Do thou in us make us in thee For ever dwell and rest Come and spread o're our heads Thy soft all-cherishing wing That in its shade we safe may sit And to Thee Praises sing To thee who giv'st us Life Our better Life of Grace Who giv'st us Breath and Strength and Speed To run and win our Race If by the way we faint Thou reachest forth thy hand If our own weakness makes us fall Thou mak'st our weakness stand When we are sliding back Thou dost our danger stop When we again alas are fall'n Again thou tak'st us up Else there we still must lye And still sink lower down Our hope to rise is all from thee Our ruin's all our own O my Ingrateful Soul What shall our dulness do For him that does all this for us Only our Love to wooe We 'l Love thee then Dear Lord But thou must give that Love We 'l humbly beg it of thy grace But thou our Prayers must move O hear thine own self speak For thou in us dost Pray Thou canst as quickly grant as ask Thy grace knows no delay Glory to Thee O Lord One Coeternal Three To Father Son and Holy Ghost One equal Glory be Amen FOR THE FEASTS OF THE SAINTS For the Morning MEDITATION I. TEll me you eager Lovers of this present World what is it you aim at in all your pretences You weary your Bodies with restless labour and afflict your Minds with perpetual care day and night you are still perplext still busily plotting to compass your ends Tell me what are those ends you so long have sought and I will tell you what you soon will find while they are many they but distract your thoughts and often engage them to quarrel among themselves One end and one alone is the way to true and lasting Peace and on that one must all the rest depend It is true perhaps you will say and by that rule we guide our Lives whatever we undertake our ultimate design is only to be happy It is to be happy that we strive to be great and enrich our selves by defrauding others It is to be happy that we run after Pleasures and covet to have in every thing our own proud will But you alas mistake your Happiness and foolishly seek it where 't is not to be found As silly Children think to catch the Sun when they see it setting at so near a distance they travail on and tire themselves in vain for the thing they seek is in another World Just so we foolish Mortals commonly judge and are just so deceived when we think to meet with Heaven upon Earth This World alas has now no Paradise but all its Fruits are mixt with Weeds and Thorns all dangerously mixed with occasions of sin all sprinkled over with the bitterness of sorrow What did we ever passionately love but still in the end it made us repent Nay the best end was heartily to repent and learn by our falling to tread more sure It is not then here that we must seek our happiness and yet it is happiness that we all must seek Happy are thy Saints O Lord who wisely chose their end and constantly pursu'd the means to attain it Come let us adore the King of Saints Hymn 33. AWake my Soul chase from thine eyes This drowsie sloth and quickly rise Get up and to thy work apace No less than Kingdoms are prepar'd And endless bliss for their reward Who finish well this short Life's race 'T is not so poor a thing to be Servants to Heaven Dear Lord and thee As this mistaken World believes Not even here where oft the wise Are most expos'd to Injuries And Vertue poor and friendless grieves Sometimes thy hand lets gently fall A little drop that sweetens all The present bitter of our Cup O what hereafter shall we be When we shall have whole draughts of thee Fill'd to the brim and drink them up Say happy Souls whose thirst now meets The fresh and living stream of sweets Which ever spring from that blest throne Did you not find this true even here Do you not find it truer there Now Heave'ns strong Joyes are all your own Oh yes the sweets we taste exceed All we can say or you can read They satisfie and never cloy On Earth our Cup was sweet but mixt Here all is pure refin'd and fixt All highest Quintessence of Joy. Here in Heave'ns splendid Court have we Our blest abode and ever see The kind and radiant face of Love Whose Beams make us with Glory shine Our glad hearts warm with Love divine And these our Tongues with Praises move Hear'st thou my Soul what glorious things The Church of Heave'n in triumph sings Of their Seraphick life above Chear thy saint hopes and bid them live All these thy God to thee will give If thou embrace his bounteous Love. Great God of rich Rewards who thus Hast crown'd thy Saints and wilt crown us As we do both to thee belong O may we both together sing Eternal praise to thee our King In one Eternal thankful Song Amen MEDITATION II. IF thus our Nature tends to Happiness there is sure some Happiness to content our Nature Sure the All-wise Creator has provided means to satisfie the Appetites which himself has made Doubt not my Soul the Bounty of thy Lord but turn all thy fear on thine unworthiness and yet correct that fear again that it do not degenerate into despair by consisidering the worthiness of our kind Mediator Look up then and see a rich delicious Land that flows with sweeter Streams than Milk and Hony Look up and see a glorious City incomparably braver than the splendid Courts of Kings Behold the blessed Angels shining on their Thrones and all the holy Saints triumphing with
their Hymns Great is the Clemency of our gracious Sovereign to pardon the offences of repenting Sinners Great is the bounty of our glorious Lord to Crown with Rewards his faithful Servants Thousands of Saints attend in his presence and Millions of Angels wait on his Throne all beauteously rang'd in perfect order all joyfully singing the praises of their Creator But look up yet higher O my Soul in thy Contemplations and see the glorified Humanity of thy dear Redeemer that blessed Jesus who died for us on the Cross and now invites us to partake his Crown See and rejoyce in those eternal honours which Heaven and Earth justly pay to their King. Look up once more and if thou could'st look infinitely higher and humbly admire the unconceivable Mystery Wonder now and adore the Sovereign Deity essentially full of his own blest Light full and overflowing into all his Creatures which shine but as little Beams deriv'd from him Bow low thy Head and Knees to him before whom the Seraphims cover their Faces Bow low a humble Heart to him before whom all the happy Saints cast down their Crowns When thou hast seen all this my Soul and staid and dwelt a while among these pleasing wonders then turn thine Eye down towards this Earth again and see the petty things that are wont to entertain our minds What is a name of Honour and a momentary pleasure compar'd to the Bliss of an eternal Paradise What is a bag of Money or a fair Estate if counterballanc'd with the Treasures of Heaven How narrow there do our greatest Kingdoms seem how small a Circle the whole Globe of Earth Cities and Towns appear like little Hills and the busie World but as a Swarm of Ants running up and down and justling one another and making all this stir for a few grains of Corn. O Heaven let me again lift up my Eyes to thee and take a fuller view of that glorious Prospect There I will stand and fix my steady sight till I have lookt my self into this firm judgment All that the most prosperous fortune can here possess or even the largest Fancy possibly imagine all is an idle Dream to those real Joyes an absolute Nothing to that solid Felicity Oh how glorious is the Kingdom of Heaven where our Lord reigns in the midst of his Saints MEDITATION III. IT is true there is I see a glorious State prepar'd above for the Spirits of just men made perfect But how shall we poor dust and ashes and laden too with the burthen of our sins how shall we hope to ascend those higher Regions or obtain a portion in that holy Land Fear not my Soul but send up thy Sighs and Prayers to the gracious King of Saints Seek to him and he will guide thee by his Counsel till he has brought thee also safe to his Glory If thou would'st know what makes the bright Angels so happy his Word will tell thee that they readily obey their Creator If thou would'st know what rais'd the blessed Saints to that high Felicity which they now enjoy it will be told thee They faithfully lov'd their Redeemer and follow'd the Dictates of Love till it brought them thither If thou would'st know what bred in those happy Creatures the excellent Vertues that are thus rewarded if thou could'st hear their acknowledgements thou would'st find them often repeating such as these Blessed for ever be the Grace of our God which alone has wrought all our works in us Blessed for ever be the Bounty of our Lord which first freely gave to us and then as bounteously Crown'd those his own gifts O you blest Saints who are now arriv'd at the quiet Mansions of eternal Joy Rejoyce ye in the King of Saints eternally rejoyce and sing for ever the wondrous mercies of our Lord His blessed hand has wip'd away all tears from your eyes and now you no more shall weep you shall no more complain Now the sad Evening of sorrow is over with you and the day of eternal joy is come Now you no longer shall sigh to be deliver'd out of this dark and tedious Prison but shall dwell for ever in that glorious Light the light which ever springs from the face of God. And fear thou not my Soul though now thou dwellest below and art yet sighing under the weight of Flesh and Blood fear not to ascend at last to this place of joy and take thy happy seat among those joyfull Quires since they once liv'd in this same Vale of Tears and were set to strive with the same unruly passions He that made them overcome can as easily strengthen thee he that has crown'd their victories will as surely glorifie thine Fear not for the way is smoother than the Adversary of thy Soul would make thee believe and the time of thy Warfare perhaps is shorter than even thou thy self art disposed to desire Take the direction of thy Saviour's Word and the direction of the Saints Example to know and love but thine own true Interest which sure can be thought no very hard task And do this but whilest you live which you seldom think too long and this being well done you have no more to do but to rise and sing and rejoyce with them PETITIONS TO thee O Gracious King of Saints and to thy mild Throne we direct our Eyes and Prayers To thee whose Love we know stands ready to meet our wishes will we humbly represent our fears and wants and both alas O Lord will be many while we remain below in this miserable World Often therefore must we make our Addresses to thee till thy Goodness and Mercy shall take us to thy self And when we come to possess thee in Heaven we shall want nothing and dwelling so near thee we shall fear nothing But pity us now O Lord who are lanched on a tempestuous Sea and are so variously toss'd with our passions and lusts that we cannot steer as we should any certain course Pity us who are so blinded by the mists of Ignorance that we know not to what Port we should direct our course to find a harbour of rest Shine thou upon us O Lord with thy beauteous Light and convince us throughly that there is a better World than this a happier People than any that we know here that we may at length begin our course thitherward and be all the while preparing our selves for that blessed Company Behold us O Lord struggling in this Sea of Storms and guide us safely through all our dangers Save us O thou whose power the winds and the Sea obey save us O merciful Lord or else we perish Save us who call on theee in our distresses save us for whom thy immortal Self wert pleas'd to die and graciously receive us into thine own blest arms for thou art O Lord the Haven of our Repose bring us to thy self and our Souls shall be safe Deliver us from that sad and deplorable end which thy Justice has prepar'd for the
that relish it and thoroughly digest it 's strong nourishment to them that feed on it as often as their daily bread We shall be hereafter like the Angels in Heaven Those that now set their Affections on things above shall be hereafter like the Angels in Heaven And what O dearest Lord are those blest Angels but Spirits that know and love and delight for ever Such O my soul we shall be if we follow now the Instructions of our Saviour We shall lead that sweet life and be and live like the Angels in Heaven We shall know all that is true and love all that is good and delight in that Knowledge and Love for ever No ignorance shall darken us nor errour deceive us for we shall be like the Angels in Heaven No Cares shall perplex us nor Crosses afflict us for we shall be like the Angels in Heaven Our joyes shall be full and pure and everlasting for we shall be like the Angels in Heaven Chear thee my Soul and bless thy bounteous Lord by whom thou shalt be exalted to that dignity Comfort thy self and raise thy hopes yet gloriously higher raise them to the expectation of more than thou canst conceive for so much yet more is intended for thee so much more is included in those wonderful words We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is PETITIONS O Blessed Jesu whose Sacred Body was laid in a Sepulcher after thou hadst finisht in it the work of our Redemption Make me so frequently to renew in my Mind the memory of thy Death and burial as may put me upon a serious preparation for my own Since thou didst not design to abide long on this Earth let not my Heart be set on any condition here make me to grow daily less affected to this transitory life and more in love with thy eternal joyes Give me O thou that art the only giver of repentance a truly penitent Heart for all my past neglects of thee Deliver me O Lord from the punishments my Sins deserve and deliver me from the Sins which deserve those Punishments Make thy self O my ador'd Redeemer the Master-wish of my Heart the scope and end of all my time Wherever I am in this unconstant World and whatever business entertains my hand still let my inward eye look up towards thee and fix it's sight on thy glorious face Soon as I awake let me look up towards thee and when I rise first bow my knees to thee Help me often in the day to call in my thoughts to thee and when I go to rest close up mine Eyes in Thee Suffer me not O Lord to be any longer distracted about many things from thee who art the one thing Necessary but gather me up from the World into my self and then take me up from my self into thee there to be ravisht with thy kind embraces there to be feasted with the Antipasts of Heaven So shall my time be govern'd by thy Grace and my Eternity be crown'd with thy Glory Grant these things the purchases of thy precious blood O Lord for thine own Eternal Honour and Glory Amen Hymn 36. LOrd now the time returns For weary man to rest And lay aside those pains and cares With which our day 's opprest Or rather change our thoughts To more concerning cares How to redeem our mispent time With sighs and tears and prayer's How to provide for Heaven That place of rest and peace Where our full joyes shall never wain Our pleasures never cease Blest be thy Love dear Lord That taught us this sweet way Only to love thee for thy self And for that Love obey O thou our Souls chief hope We to thy Mercy fly In ev'ry place thou canst protect And all we need supply Whether we wake or sleep To thee we both resign By Night we see as well as Day If thy light on us shine Whether we live or dye Both we submit to thee In Death we live as well as Life If thine in Death we be Glory to Thee Great God One Coeternal three To Father Son and Holy Ghost Eternal Glory be Amen FOR THE FEASTS OF THE HOLY GHOST For the Morning MEDITATION I. COnsider now my Soul the Mercies of thy God consider the wonders he has wrought for the Children of Men The Eternal Father created us of nothing and set us in the way to everlasting Happiness the Eternal Son came down from Heaven to seek and restore us again to it when we had lost our selves the Eternal Spirit sends his Grace to sanctifie us and gives strength to walk that holy way Thus every Person of the Sacred Trinity has freely contributed his peculiar Blessing and all together as one co-infinite Goodness have graciously agreed to compleat our Felicity But O Ingrateful we was it not enough to receive of our God all we have and are was it not enough that the Son of God should come down and live here to teach us and dye to redeem us was not all this enough to make us Love And Love is all he aim'd at and Love is all we needed We will confess to thee O Lord our miserable condition and to the Praise of thy necessary merciful relief Such alas was the corruption of our nature and so many and so strong the Temptations round about us that without this thy last miraculous favour of sending the Holy Ghost to guide and quicken us we should still have remain'd in our old dull pace slow to understand and slower to obey We should have quite forgotten our God that made us and neglected the service of our Lord that bought us had not thy fulness been furnisht with one Blessing more and thy goodness ready to bestow it on thy poor Creatures hadst thou not providently reserv'd a better Blessing than the dew of the Clouds and fatness of the Earth better than Plenty of Corn and Wine or the multitude of Posterity or Dominion over our Brethren These were the great Rewards of the old Law but behold far greater than these are here Divine Refreshments from the Heaven of Heavens and the rare delicious fruits of the Holy Ghost Meekness and Peace and Joy diffus'd in our Breasts Strength and undaunted Courage kindled in our Hearts The strong and sweet Ardours of Divine Love that make every Duty in our way delightful and every Cross tolerable A thousand sweet Embraces of the Spouse of Souls a thousand dear Pledges of his everlasting Love These are the great Rewards of the Law of Grace and are given to prepare us for the Kingdom of Glory Hymn 37. COme Holy Spirit send down those beams Which gently flow in silent Streams From thy bright Throne in Heaven above Come thou Enricher of the Poor And bounteous source of all our Store Come fill our Souls with thy pure Love. Come thou our Souls delicious Guest The weary'd Pilgrims sweetest Rest The injur'd Suffe'rers best relief Come thou our Passions cool allay Whose Comfort wipes all tears
to adore thee the kind Saviour of us all who with the Father and the Spirit art one God blessed for ever Glory be to c. Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. ALL things do live to thee O Lord thou sole preserver of universal nature the blessed Saints rejoice in thy glory and our imperfect Souls are here sustain'd in hope We know that thou wilt bring us to the Grave which is the house appointed for all the living and from thence thou wilt raise us again to an universal Judgment and then dispose of us to our Eternal Portion O happy they whom our Lord shall honour on that day of his solemn triumph and rising from his seat of Judgment go gloriously before them and with these sweet and gracious words invite them to follow him Come you blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. The reward of your labours I will give you I my self will be your reward you have firmly believ'd you have readily obey'd you have constantly suffer'd Come enter now into your Masters joy They that are careful my Soul to dye the death of the righteous will with them be thus caress'd at the day of judgement Now thou hast pass'd another day another step towards thy long home thou hast seen the Sun a few hours more and this day is gone and lost in its own night But hast thou lost it too and made no use of it while it shin'd then let the dew of thy penitent tears for shame lament its departure Thou art nearer thy death but no more prepar'd for it if thou hast made no advance towards perfection Examine thy self to know the truth and ask thy self these useful Questions Am I grown devout as the Saints of God were Am I chaste temperate and resign'd as they yet Do I despise now the World with a Zeal like theirs and value Heaven at the same high rate with them Would I give all I have just now to be there And part with Life it self just now to go thither Has the consideration of their blissful reward brought me to a full resolution to aim at the highest imitation of them At least have I learnt to humble my self and check the vanity of my proud conceits To mourn and blush at my own many Infirmities when I consider their excellent Lives and Vertues If thou canst not equal my Soul such glorious patterns yet let it be thy hearts desire to do it and what they really did do thou really wish to do MEDITATION II. LET us humble our selves we that are yet in this low state but not grow faint at the sight of others so far before us Rather let us quicken our sloth by considering their swift pace and encourage our fears with their happy success We who profess the Religion of all these Saints who liv'd and dy'd Members of the same Church with us We who partake of the same holy Sacraments and eat the same celestial Food who may partake of the same holy and powerful Spirit if we diligently seek and readily receive him Why should we fear but that one day we may shine above and rejoyce together with the glorified Saints Are we not all redeem'd by the same rich price and the same eternal Crowns propos'd to us all Are we not bred in the same Apostolick Faith and taught of God by his appointed Ministers The Lessons I see and Teacher is the same but the hand is dull and the Instrument out of tune They liv'd in a dangerous World like this and were ty'd to Bodies frail as ours But by a constant vigilance they overcame the World and subdu'd those Bodies to the service of their Minds They overcame with a joyful Heart and we thus congratulate the Triumph of their victories They overcame but not by their own strong hand and now they triumph but 't is by the bounty of their God. Chear then thy self my Soul and raise thy Head and open thy bosom to the hopes of Heaven Fear not our God has a blessing too for us if we have a love and obedience for him If we delight in the wayes of Piety and diligently attend the Offices of Devotion If we refrain from the liberties of the World and curb the loose suggestions of the Flesh If we can look on Gold and Honour and their flaming beams not dazle our Eyes if we perform with them the part of faithful Servants we shall surely with them have the portion of Children MEDITATION III. PRecious in thy sight O Lord is the death of thy Saints which finishes thy greatest Work the perfecting of Souls whom thou esteemest as the Jewels of Heaven and choicely gatherest into thine own Treasury Precious to themselves O Lord is the death of thy Saints which takes off the dusky cover that hides their brightness which shapes and polishes them to a beauteous lustre and sets them as Stars round about thy Throne Precious O Lord to us is the death of thy Saints from whence we are furnisht with such means of Vertue Some teach us courage to encounter dangers and not for fear make shipwrack of our Conscience Others by their Example instruct us to converse with meekness and patiently bear neglects and injuries From some we may learn how to use this world wisely and make it serve us in our way to the next From others we may learn how more generously to despise it and pass our dayes in Peace and Prayer By all with thy blessing we may learn this best of arts to live and dye like Saints and do this in the best of methods thy glorious Example O gracious Lord whose Love still looks about and searches every way to save us sinners who camest thy self bright Sun of Glory to enlighten our darkness and warm our frozen Hearts Who with thy fruitful Beams still kindlest others to burn as Tapers in thy Church's hand and by their near proportionate distance stand fit to shine into every corner of our lives We will ever bless thy Name for all these Mercies and take care to pass by not one with Ingratitude We will not consider in vain the Crown at the Race's end and sit down lazily in the shades of ease nor keep in vain the memory of thy Saints without endeavouring to imitate them which would be to the reproach of our unprofitable lives We will strain all our Powers and pursue to the mark for the glorious prize that is set before us Still with our utmost speed we will follow them whose travel ended in so sweet a rest PETITIONS O God of infinite adorable Goodness who after thy faithful Servants had spent their day of life in a course of steady and laborious Piety and Vertue did'st graciously close their Evening with a comfortable death and give them instead of this an eternal day of Glory O grant to us below we beseech thee so to imitate thy Saints in the wise bestowing our allotted time on our Earth that we may follow them in their happy passage out of this World and be admitted with them to thy everlasting Glories in the other When our Life's last day O Lord begins to fall and bids us hasten to prepare for night then send thy willing Angels to watch about us and suffer not the Enemy to disturb our passage Send them to receive in peace our departing Souls and to bear them safely to thy presence Then O thou dear Redeemer of the World and sovereign King of Life and Death thou who despisest not the Tears of the Penitent nor turnest away from the sighs of the Afflicted Thou who preservest all that rely on thee and fulfillest their desires that long to be with thee Do thou hear our cries and pardon our sins and graciously deliver us from all our fears Call us to thy self with thine own blest Voice Call us O dearest Jesu in thine own sweet words Say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World. Then will our happy Souls immediately obey and go forth with gladness to meet their Lord and Love to live with him and behold his Glory and partake of his Happiness and sing his Praise These things O Lord we humbly expect from the merit of thy humble Death and the power of thy glorious Exaltation O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World have mercy upon us have mercy upon us and grant us thy eternal peace Amen Hymn 40. TOO hasty night forbear our Praise And our yet young beginning Hope Set to encrease on these blest dayes So faint and dull requires more scope Night will not hear but sullen flies And summons all the World to sleep Commands us close our Books and Eyes What we have gain'd content to keep O happy Saints this broken rate Our slowness bids to ply its wings While your unwearied active state Does alwaies wake and alwaies sings Yet eve'n our state your School too was And those your now unweary'd Laies By such a change of sing and pause Here among us you learn'd to raise Here you thus often too took breath And yet have climb'd those hills of light O may your good success bequeath A Hope to reach that glorious height Though now our Notes be short and few Our rests too frequent are and long If we but keep in tune with you We shall at last sing your glad Song If with our utmost humble powers We here our daily Praye'rs attend These poor Devotions shall like yours There in a nightless fervour end Glory O Lord to thee alone Be here below as there above O may thy joyes Great Three in One Ever attract and Crown our Love. Amen FINIS ERRATA These few mistakes of the Press the Courteous Reader is desir'd to Pardon and Correct PAge 6. line 7. for talk read task p. 17. l. 20. f. beautified r. beatified p. 28. l. â—8 f. seel r. feel p. 72. r. Hymn 7. p. 96 f. Son r. Sun. p. 204. l. 6. f. potion r. portion p. 282. last l. r. thus acting p. 302. first l. of the Hymn r. ' T is not for us p. 319. l. 7. f. adventures r. adventurers p. 358. r. H. 31. p. 442 443. 445 446. at the top f. Even r. Morn p. 452. l. 17. f. fire r. flame
sit and grateful sense of thy Mercies that the people every where with one consent may confess and praise thee that one Generation may praise thy name to another and thankully talk of all thy wonderous Mercies O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of men O make our senses subject to our reason and our reason intirely obedient to Thee Make us alwaies in using thy Creatures to take their service as admonition and obligation to mind our Duty to thy self Teach thou us that all things in this world ought to praise Thee by the Tongues and Hearts of men whom thou hast not only made capable to know their goodness but hast also given leave to enjoy their usefulness O make the whole Creation conspire to thine Honour and all that depend on Thee join together in thy Praise Mercifully carry on the whole Creation to its end Order thy Creatures about us to attain their end in serving us and so order us that we may attain ours in glorifying and enjoying Thee Glory be to the Father c. For Monday Evening MEDITATION I. MY God in every thing I see thy hand in every passage thy wise and gracious Providence Thou wisely governest the House thou hast built and preventest with thy Mercies all our wants Thou callest us up early in the morning and givest us light by the beams of the Sun that we may every one labour in his proper work and so fill up the little place appointed for us in this World Doing that service to Thee and that good to Mankind which thou our great Lord and Master dost require And thou providest also a rest for our weary Evening and favourest our sleep with a shady darkness to refresh our bodies in the Peace of Night and save the waste of our decaying Spirits Again thou awakest our drowsie eyes and biddest us return to our daily task Thus has thy Wisdom mixed our Life and beauteously interwoven it with rest and work whose mutual change sweeten each other and both prepare us for our greatest duty That of finishing here the work of our Salvation to rest hereafter in thy Holy place In like manner thy wise Providence O Lord has appointed that after a little time of toil and trouble death should call thy Saints away to a state of rest Thou dost not we thank thee oblige us to conflict with the difficulties and evils of this Life till the day of retribution comes Thou soon callest us to a place where the wicked cease from troubling and our subtle adversary the Devil from tempting us Where our own appetites and passions shall strive no more against our Reason and Conscience Where our Innocence shall be no longer assaulted or endanger'd by the threatnings or allurements of this World Our Souls are enlarged to a spacious liberty being let out from this prison of the Body and go to dwell in the region of Spirits While our Bodies quietly rest in their silent grave till they rise again to Immortal Glory And thou hast design'd O Lord that they shall awake again from the sleep of Death and rise even from the bed of the Grave And then indeed there comes a Morning which shall never be succeeded by an Evening a waking time for the body after which it shall sleep no more It rises indeed to work again but that work never tires it any more that work is sweeter than the rest it leaves There needs no interruption of that work to sweeten it which is eternally pleasant and delightful MEDITATION II. LOrd how does thy bounty give us all things else with a large and open hand Our Fields at once are cover'd with Corn and our Trees bow under the weight of their Fruit. At once thou fillest our Magazines with plenty and sendest us whole showers of other blessings Only our time thou distillest by drops and never givest us two moments at once But takest away one while thou lendest another to teach us to prize so precious a Jewel That we may learn to value every hour and not childishly spend them upon trifles Much less maliciously murther whole daies in pursuing a course of Sin and Shame It was thy Mercy too O Gracious God to disperse by parcels our portion of time That the succeeding day may learn to grow wise and correct its faults by experience of the past Else if our being were all at once as it shall be in the next the Eternal Life our Sins would have here no power to be repented and then alas how desperate were we We who are born in the way to Misery and unless we change can never be happy We who so often wilfully go astray and unless we return must perish for ever Thou hast appointed our time O Soveraign Lord beyond which we cannot pass When thou takest away our breath we die we return to the dust and our place here shall know us again no more for ever Thou commandest the grave to dispense with none but indifferently to seize us all alike That all alike may provide for the fatal hour of death and none may be undone with mistaken hopes Thou tellest us plainly we must dye but kindly concealest the time and place that every where we may stand upon our guard and every moment expect thy coming MEDITATION III. WHy do we so much bemoan our selves and complain for the necessity of dying Seems it so hard a fate to tread the path which all our Ancestors have gone before us Adam the first of men and Abraham the Friend of God David the man after Gods own Heart and the Blessed Mary Virgin-Mother of our Lord. All these have paid their debt to Nature and subscribed to the Law of universal Mortality Yea Jesus Christ himself the Eternal Son of God expir'd on the Cross and went to his Glory through the Gates of Death And shall our fond self-love so blindly flatter us as to make us wish an exemption from this common fate Should we not be glad that a troublesome Life will have an end and rejoice to get out of danger into safety from a stormy Sea to a quiet Harbour This Life is so encombred with evils that we have reason to be thankful it will not last alwayes and rather to wish than complain that it may not last long If we die in Old age Death should be very welcome to us after a long and tedious voyage If in our Youth we die it prevents a thousand calamites a thousand dangers of ruining our Souls What need we be possest with fear at thinking how many kinds of Death there are we are sure there is but one for us Dying is an act to be done but once and if it be once well done we are happy for ever Our dayes perhaps are too few to grow rich in or to satisfie the ambition of a haughty Spirit But to be taught the Love of God and the Meek and Humble Life of Jesus requires
not so much the number of years as the faithful endeavours and prayers of a pious Mind Would we bestow on the improvement of our Souls the time we vainly trifle away our day would be short enough and not seem tedious and yet would be long enough to finish our appointed task And what O Glorious Lord is our business here but to trim our Lamps and await thy coming To sow the Immortal seed of Hope and expect to receive the happy encrease It is no matter how late the fruit be gather'd if still it go on in growing better No matter how soon it fall from the Tree if it be not blown down before 't is ripe PETITIONS O Thou most just but secret Providence who governest all things by the Counsel of thine own Will whose powerful hand can wound and heal lead down to the Grave and bring back again Behold to thee we bow our heads and freely submit our dearest concerns Strike as thou pleasest our Health our Lives we cannot be safer than at thy dispose Onely these few requests we humbly make which O! may thy Clemency vouchsafe to hear Cut us not off in the midst of our folly nor suffer us to expire impenitent and with our sins unpardon'd But make us Lord first ready for thy self and then take us to thy self in thine own fit time Thou dost frequently O Lord put us in mind of our own and the World's last end by burying every day in the dark silent Grave of Night Sweeten we humbly beseech thee and render familiar to our expectation those terrible Periods of time by our constant due use of night and sleep Grant that our yielding so often and so easily at the Summons of our drowsie humours to suspend a while the operations of the whole man may teach our Souls to reflect themselves into a more reasonable willingness when ever thou callest to leave our Bodies in the Bed of dust and pass into the state of their own perfect and ever-waking Activity and Bliss Do thou Lord in whose indulgent hands are both our Time and our Eternity whose Providence gives every minute of our Life and governs the fatal period of our Death make us every Evening still provide to pass with comfort that important hour Make us still balance our accounts for Heaven and strive to encrease our Treasure with thee That if we rise no more to our acquaintance here we may joyfully waken among thy blessed Angels there to unite our Hymns with theirs and joyn all together in one full Quire. Amen Hymn 18. NOw O my Soul the day is gone Which in the morn was thine It 's emptied Glass no more shall run It 's Sun no longer shine 'T is true alas the day is gone O were it onely so Is it not lost as well as done Cast up thy Counts and know Art thou got so much nearer Heaven As nearer to the Grave Has thy Hearts grief a fitness given Sin 's pardon to receive From what base Vice hast thou refrain'd To break the course of sin Or what new Vertue hast thou gain'd To make thee rich within Their time is well bestow'd on those Who well their time bestow Whose main concern still forward goes Whose hopes still riper grow Who when the warning Clocks proclaim Another hour is past Have the wise art to set their aim And thoughts upon their last This sad Life's last and happiest hour Which brings them to their home Where they shall sing and bless the power That made them thither come O my dear Lord of Life and Death The ever-living King Since thou dost give to all their breath May all thy Glory sing Glory and Honour Power and Praise To the mysterious Three As at the first beginning was May now and ever be Amen For Tuesday Morning MEDITATION I. BE thou eternally adored O God of our Salvation and may thy Praises be sung by thy Servants for ever When our first Parents had disobey'd thy Precepts to the ruine of themselves and their whole Posterity thy wondrous mercy did immediately provide a remedy Thou didst provide and promise a powerfull Redeemer Thou didst commit the helping us to him that is able to save to the uttermost A Redeemer that could conquer Sin and Death and crush the Serpents head who drew us into misery A Redeemer that could fully repair the breaches our sin had made and render our condition better than before That could satisfie for our sins by his Death and merit the Beginning and Perfection of happiness for us in our present Holiness and future Glory He can enlighten our eyes with a clearer view of those excellent Truths that belong to our peace can support our feeble Nature with a stronger Grace to carry us on safely through all Encounters till we arrive at the Land of Rest and be received for ever into the glorious Kingdom O Blessed Jesu our Strength our Guide who knowest and dost pity our weak Capacities and in thy tender care hast so contrived the way to our happiness that nothing can undoe us but our own perverseness nothing but the wilful love of Sin and Death How easie hast thou made the way to Heaven how light is the burthen thou lay'st on thy followers It is but to believe in thee the God of Truth but to love thee our greatest Benefactor but to desire earnestly the seeing thee that thou requirest and doing thus we are sure to possess an Eternity of Joy. Eternal Praises be given to the admirable wisdom of God who knows how to bring good out of evil Eternal praises to that infinite Goodness which graciously condescended to do this Let all the admiring World join together in this and say O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Goodness of God! How unsearchable are his Attributes and his wayes how much past finding out Man guiltily threw away the happiness his God had given him God takes occasion thence to give him greater He not only restores us to our first degree but makes even our fall rebound us to a greater height This is the Love of God the Father to Mankind This is the Love of Jesus the Christ this is the love of the eternal Spirit of Love. Hymn 19. LET others take their course And sing what name they please Let Wealth or Beauty be their Theam Such empty Sounds as these For me I 'l ne'r admire A lump of burnisht Clay Howe're it shines it is but dust And shall to dust decay Sweet Jesus is the Name My Song shall still adore Sweet Jesus is the Charming word That does my life restore When I am dead in grief Or which is worse in Sin I call on Jesus and he hears And I to live begin Wherefore at this bright Name Behold thus low I bow And thus again yet is all this Much less than what I owe. Down then down both my knees Still lower to the ground While with mine Eyes and Voice lift up Aloud these lines