Love The Peace of Sinners how much move Sue and thirst intreat lament and grieve For all the Crimes in which they live And wait and seek and call again And long to save them from their Pain My Memory 's like a searce of Lawn Alas It keeps things gross and lets the purer pass Which makes me loath my self so vile O base repute 〈◊〉 better starve then eat such empty fruit Yet dear Lord let me ne're Confounded be Since all my Hope is plac'd in thee True Joys alone contentment do inspire Iâ—rich content and make our Courage higher The true fear of God desire and love Must in the height of all their rapture move For content alone 's a dead and silent Stone The real lite of Bliss is Glory reigning on a Throâ—e O let me in a lively manner see Dear Jesus Eternal Joys in thee Inable me to Praiâ—e thy Majesty with all my might Whose Grace and Favour is Sweet yea Infinite O let me Love thee since thy Divine care Hast promised me a share in thy Kingdom fair 'A Sea that 's bounded in a Finite Shore ' Is better far because it is no more ' Should Waters endlesly exceed the Skies They 'd drown the World and all what e'er we prize ' Had the bright Sun been Infinite the Flame ' Had burnt the World and quite consum'd the same ' That Flame would yield no splendor to the Sight ' 'T would be but Darkness tho 't were Infinite ' One Star made Infinite would all exclude ' An Earth made Infinite could ne'er be view'd ' But all being bounded for each others sake ' He bounding all did all most useful make ' And which is best in profit and delight ' Tho not in bulk he made all Infinite ' He in his Wisdom did their use extend ' By all to all the World from end to end ' In all things all things Service do to all ' And thus a Sand is endless tho but small ' And every thing is truly Infinite ' In its relation deep and exquisite ' O Lord be thou within me to strengthen me ' Without me to keep me ' About me to protect me ' Beneath me to uphold me ' Before me to direct me ' Behind me to reduce me ' Round about me to defend me O Lord I beseech thee give me a longing Affection after the Pleasures of thy Holy Spirit because they are noble and will advance my Soul to Eternal Happiness make me often Contemplate the Joys of Heaven the hopes of which is the Joy and Comfort of my Soul. A short Discourse of the Mortality of the BODY and Immortality and Excellency of the SOUL Isaiah 26. 19. Thy dead Men shall live together with my dead Body shall they arise Awake and Sing ye that dwell in Dust For thy dew is as the dew of Herbs and the Earth shall cast out the dead Glory be to God on high and on Earth Peace Good will towards Men. Hallelujah 1. FIRST and above all let us consider how short and uncertain our lives are which are subject to a Thousand Frailties and Casualties and to Death every moment insomuch that our whole life is but short and troublesome and as a Wind that passeth away and cometh â—ot again which is evidently declared by the various â—nstances of the Mortality of Frail and Mortal Man That our very sleeping and waking is but a kind of living and dying nay Morning and Evening is but 〈◊〉 a Embâ—em of the representation of Death and the â—esurrection For God hath given every Man but a short time to be upon Earth so that upon the well â—encâ—ing it our well being in Eternity depends Whereâ—ore Divines say that every Hour or our Life after â—e are capable of receiving Laws and knowledge â—f Good and Evil we must give an Account how â—e spend our Time to the Judge of Men and Angels Therefore we must remember we have a great Work to do many Enemies to Conquer many Evils to preâ—ent many Dangers to go through many Necessities â—o serve much Good to do many Friends to support many Poor to relief besides the Needs of Nature and Relation our Private and Publick Cares so that God hath given every Man Work enough to do that there is no room for Idleness and yet there is room for Devotion Wherefore he spends his Time and Wealth well that imploys it in the Service of God by setting a part a great Portion of it for Religion and the Necessity of Mens Souls by filling up all the spaces of his Time with Devotion and by taking from Sleep to imploy in this Exercise Secondly Let him consider that hath but little â—leasure that he ought to set a part some solemn Time for the Venerable Worship of God Thrice in the Year at least tho he buy it at the rate of any Labour and Honest Art for the quiting of Worldly Business let him attend wholly to Fasting and Prayer in the dressing up of his Soul by Confession Meditation and deep Humiliation that he may make up his Accounts renew his Vows and improve his Time to the Glory of God and his own Souls good Seeing that we know not the Day of our Death we ought with all Care and Diligence to prepare for it that if it be our Lot to die Young we may also die Innocent before the Sweetness of our Souls are defloured that we may attain this favour of God that our Souls have suffered a less Imprisonment by being speedily freed form the load of the Body For at Death our Souls are equal to the Angels and Heirs of Eternity For it is observed by some that after the time that a Child is Conceived he never ceaseth to be to all Eternity so that if he dies Young or Old hâ— hath still an Immortal Soul and laid down his Bodâ— only for a time as that which was the Instrumenâ— of his Trouble and Sorrow for he will certainly havâ— a more noble Being after Death than he hath here Seeing these things are so let us endeavour to stamp Religion on our Souls that God may deliver us from Unrighteous dealings may we therefore always havâ— an Ear open to hear the just Complaints of the Poor and a Heart full of pitty to support them for the Soul must have the Prehemency over the Body because it is more Noble and infinitly more to be valu'd than the Body for the Body is to turn to Dust within a little time but in the mean while it is nourished by sleep which refreshes it and revives the Spirit Wherefore it is said of sleep it 's a kind of Death and whatsoever we take from sleep we add to Life Thirdly Wherefore be saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Ephes 5. 14. Arise thou sleepy Soul call upon thy God Jonah 1. 6. suffer it not to be drowsy or sleeppy when it stands upon the briâ—ks of Eternity
that carries her towards God in general If she be not preoccupy'd â—nd transported with some Passions or other but the â—oul can by no means be the formal or physical Cause of the heat which is in our Bodies for it is impossible to conceive that a Spirit should produce heat yet â—y their Virtue and Operation they make the Body move by Empire and by Will and yet this the Soul is â—aid to do out of it self but whatsoever is done in us Physically is done by the act of our Body and its Life for there is in us a material principle of vegetaâ—ion or a vegetative Life which the Soul doth not â—ause so there is likewise a certain kind of acts of â—eeing of Hearing of Tasting of Smelling of â—ouching of Self-moving or of Sensibility in the â—ody in which the Soul hath not any part to which â—â—e doth not Influence any thing and to which she â—ath not so much as a Sentiment 3. To think and know is the Life of Spirits who â—eceives Being from the first of Beings or the prinâ—â—ple of Beings the Great Almighty from whom â—â—ery thing that is receiveth without ceasing its â—eing by a perpetual and never interrupted Communiâ—n of the Supreame Essence by reason that he is the â—rinciple of Life or the Essential and Original of â—ife It must needs be that every thing that Lives â—eceives continually a Life from him by a like Inâ—â—uence and by a like Communication of Life and by â—onsequence every thing that thinks and knows â—hinks and knows by him since to think and know the Life of Spirits This is the solid Metaphysick â—f St. Augustin and the Theology of others who â—ith agreeeble to the Scriptures that an Angel and Man differ without doubt for an Angel is a Spirit â—hich God makes tryal off out of the Body and â—hose Thoughts and Affections he hath not subjected to the dispositions of a Body and a Man is a Spiritâ— which God makes tryal off in the Body to which he subjects it before he Crowns it with Eternity But the Soul of Man if God had not disposed of it after that manner would have had no need of a Body wherefore the Union of Souls with Bodies is a hard and difficult Empire which God doth exercise over them and which if his Majesty would not sweeten the rigoâ—â— and difficulty of it by the Pleasures of agreeable Sentiments which he hath annexed to the Acts and Operations of Souls in Bodies It could not be a tryal but a Misery nay the Fathers maintain that if God should not Spiritualize Bodies that is to say take away from Souls the dependance which their present State gives them upon Bodies they could not have so firm a hope of being raised again as now they have because he would not put the Just Souls whose approved Fidelity deserves to be Crowned into Bodies that should constrain them and which enslaved their Thoughts which is what Spiritualized Bodies cannot bear because Spiritualization of Bodies will consist in this precisely that they should no longer exercise an Empire over the Souls and that they should be no longer a Charge an Obstacle and an Incumbrance to them for the Body cannot in any manner act upon the Soul so as to Illuminate it or Affect it Physically or Immediately by it self for the Body cannot subject the Soul to be United to it nor can the Soul be willing to submit to the Body which humbleth and constraineth it It is therefore God the Author of universal Nature that is the Immediate and Efficient Principle and Cause of the Union of Souls and Bodies for his Wisdom acteth as universal Cause in the whole frame of Nature 't is evident then that none but God alone can give the Soul the Sentiments and Ideas which she hath from the occasion of the Impressions which are made upon the Body for 't is the Author of Nature which enlightens us by the Ideas which we receive upon the occasion of the Impression of exterior Objects and who affectionates to the Conversation of the Body by the agreeable or disagreeable Sentiments which he gives us to make us know by way of instinct that which is profitable or hurtful for the Converâ—ation of our Bodies and of Humane Species This action he joyns to that by which he moves our Bodies when our Thoughts and Wills require it and is properly the action by the which he Unites our Bodies to our Souls and our Souls to our Bodies This is the active or actual Union which the Schools call the Unitive action of God which is joyned to the Immutable Decree and Will by the which he hath determined to continue it so long as the structure of the Body shall subsist and makes in the Soul and in the Body that Estate of Union which is called Passive and Formal Union and this the Almighty doth by the Essential act of his Supreame Nature for his Essence and Nature is infinitly pleased to act thus continually esteeming it his Pleasure and his Glory by which also he is the occasional Cause of all the Eneffable Pleâ—sure of Holy Souls and so much the rather because the Analogy of the Divine conduct Inspires us to acknowledges an occasional Cause of all our Joy and Fâ—â—icity As there is an occasional Cause of the Torments of the Reprobates for each of these he is pleased to make tryal off in the Body by their Obedience or Disobedience annext to each of which is Felicity or Misery for these shall go into Life Eternal but the Wicked into endless burnings 4 Our Body is a Structure full of Harmony whereby all the Parts are United to one common Center which is the Brain wrapt up in Membranes and distributed and divided into divers Compartments proper to receive and retain the Traces and Impressions which the Divine Image shall inâ—amp upon it We say also that the Soul is â—â—n the Body but we take care not to conceive it For all that as truly and properly contain'd in the Body it is United to the Body but we may not conceive her as poured into and mingled with the Body or as adjusted to its extent by a co-extention and immediation of Greatness of Figure or of Substance but they have the greatest part of their Thoughts and of their Ideas and of all their Sentiments of Pleasure and of Pain by the occasion of their Body because they act upon the Body by the action of the Will which removes them and moves them in the manner as have been already said The Learned say that they are no otherways in the Body therefore every thing we conceive beyond this will be false contradictory and extreamly dubious That which we call good Sense and Judgment is nothing but the Power and Faculty which the Soul hath to Order and Regulate our Thoughts to suspend and stay them that she may consider and maintain their Connexion and Dependence But she is said sometimes to loose this Faculty
from the dismal Thoughts that 't is impossible to acquire the good so much wished for for we should not be afflicted penetrated and overwhelm'd with the Privation of good if we did not Love it which made St. Augustin say That the Eternal Dispair of the Reprobates in Hell is a true Love of the Sovereign good but this being a nicity that concerns us not we may not with saifty dive into it or amuse our selves about it but strive to be Cloathed with the true Love of God whereby we are sure we may be qualified to enjoy the full Bliss of Heaven the true hopes of which fills every Holy Soul with exceeding Joy even such reviving Joy as may give him some small glimmerings even in this Life of what hereafter will undoubtedly be his Portion in those Glorious Regions above where every true Penitent will be a Favorite of that great tremendious King who is the searcher of every Heart and observer of every Action here and the Infinite rewarder of every Virtue hereafter To him therefore be Glory and Praise Might Majesty and Dominion ascribed by us â—nd all the whole Creation now and for ever A Recapitulation of the moral consequences drawn from what have been established concerning our Souls and for the Conviction of our Duties and the Condemnation of Disorder NO Man of Reason can believe that Ingratitude is an Ornament to Nature or that Injustice Meâ—s a reward nor that Treachery is a Virtue or an Honest and Commendable Quality nor on the contrary that Justice Fidelity and Gratitude are things Condemnable and Wicked Men make Laws according to their Fancy they make themselves Obey'd for fear of Punishment when they have the Power in their Hands But it 's remarkable that Men who make Laws cannot make themselves Obey'd nor be Beloved or Beleived when they act things disagreeable For Unjust and Tyrannical Laws People pay only an exterior Obedience to their Commands but the Heart and the Spirit cries out and demandâ— Justice from him whom all Men naturally feel over their Heads as a Protector of Justice and an avengeâ— of Oppression and Unjust Authority We sometime receive Unjust Laws but we do not believe them to be Just for all that but as to the natural Laws oâ— Duty and Consciences all Men receive them and be lieve by an invincible Determination of a Superioâ— Light which equally perswades them alike for Natural Light convinces us with invincible force and this is an Infallible Character of Natural Light. Conscience is then in us undoubtedly Natural and as certain as it is an Essential Companion of our Nature and a Propriety inseparable from our Soul From hence arises in us by the help of Grace all Moraâ— and Christian Virtues because it is impossible to conceive that Corporeal Nature can be the subject oâ— Magnanimity of Justice of Fidelity of Continencâ— and of Truth for a Corporeal Nature alone cannoâ— have the Light of Order or of Duty or the Inclination or Determination of Duty or the Pleasure oâ— Performance or the Pain of the Violation of Duty for Duty Order and Justice have no Bodies they arâ— things totally Spiritual and Intelligible and there fore without the assistance of the Soul cannot havâ— the Idea or the Sentiment of them because it is by the Soul that they are Ingrafted and poured into ouâ— Corporeal Nature God having assembled togetheâ— both these in one single whole not as one but acting by this Indubitable Method God have prescribed by reason of their dependance one upon another or to say better the Union betwixt each other and are all animated with one and the same Influence of Divine Life and marked with one and the same resemblance and equally Impelled by the same Love of Duty For which reason we are obliged to Love and to Accomplish all the extents of Justice of Truth of Charity and of Civility and of Mutual or Reciprocal respect towards all Men upon the consideration that this Life is short and troublesome and all things in it are frail and perishable and the noblest Pleasures in it are essentially false as well as empty they leave the Heart even during this Life Sick and Famished and if not retired from before Death they will leave the Soul Eternally deceived by a cruel Privation and an insupportable desolation of regret For the best injoyments of this Life are a perpetual alternativeness of real Cares and Torments all things here being but false shadows of Repose and lucid Intervals of Reason a Theater of Eternal Mutations a Chain interlinked with short and transitory Felicities and long and durable Miseries a vehement and impetuous Whirl-wind of Hurry and Ambition which after having much tormented and agitated the Body and Soul having raised a Thousand snares in the Heart and Spirit it disappears into Air and Smoak for so it is that this Life doth not exercise it self but upon the false and perishable Objects of Time and â—s deceitful and deceiving Oeconomy whereas the nâ—ture Life exercises it self upon Objects wholly True and wholly Solid because the future Life is â—ut as it were one Day all Uniformity for there very Holy Soul will Eternally be United to eversting Triumphs and Felicities for there every Soul â—ill be Essentially Living infinite Happy and Joyous no here it have been exercised in Trouble in the future Life it shall rest in Glory and endless Felicities as the Apostle saith Such as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor Heart conceived 2 Cor. 12. 4. Much less can the feeble Eloquence of Man express by any description that his Idea or Sentiment can conceive to put into Method to declare or so much as describe Our Soul is said to commence when it goes out of the Body That which we call time is taken either by relation to the duration of the abode of every Soul in its Body or by relation to the duration of the whole present Oeconomy of the visible World destined to the Tryal of the Souls in the Bodys and in whatsoever signification we take Time in opposition to Eternity it signifies precisely a State of Instability of Change and Vicissitude i. e. a State which ought to have an end for these are two things which enter Essentially into the Idea which is called Time Vicissitude and End the space of the duration that our Souls are in our Bodies is called Time for these two Reasons First because it is to have an end And Secondly because in the interim so long as it endures it holds us exposed to a Thousand Chainges and Vicissitudes and which is to be lamented that Vicissitude of being obnoxious to pass from Good to Evil from Virtue to Sin to Crimes or Vice but on the contrary Eternity is Immutable and an Interminable State and Order of things As much as Time includes Instability and End so much does Eternity excludes both Time speaks Changeâ— and End Eternity speaks the Being always the same and never ending Thus as our
again 2 Sam. 14 41. Then let not the place of thy Death trouble thee for the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Death lost her Sting in the Side of our Saviour The Day of Death is the Day of Jubilee and frees us from all these Evils God kisseth the Righteous in their Deaths and as it were sucks in those Souls which he breathed into them Deut. 34. 15. It is certain that the Soul so soon as it is separated from the Body is presented to God and receives an irrevocable Doom either of Woe or Weal Those that Honour me I will Honour saith the Lord 1 Sam. 2. 30. Blessed and happy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no Power but they shall be Precious with God and Christ and shall Reign with him The Angels which kept not their first Estate he hath reserved in everlasting Chains of Darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day Iude 6. The Joy of our Heart is ceased and the Crown is fallen from our Head Lam. 5. 15 16. In the Days of his Flesh when he had offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong Crying and Tears unto him that was able to save him from Death and was heard in that he feared Heb. 5. 7. The Heavens shall be opened and those everlasting Doors shall be lift up that the King of Glory may go forth with his Angels to Judge the World and return back again with his Saints when he hath Judged it In the Day of Judgment a good Conscience will stand us in more stead than a Mint of Treasure therefore with St. Ierome let us make it our business That whether we Eat or Drink or whatsoever we do we may think we hear the last Trumpet sounding in our Ears saying Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment let us therefore appeal from the Bar of Gods Justice to the Bowels of his Mercy beseeching him in that Day to deal with the Souls of his Servants not as a severe Judge but as a Merciful Jesus Amen Prayers for the Sick. O Lord look down from Heaven behold visit and relieve this thy Servant look upon him with the Eyes of Mercy give him Comfort and sure Confidence in thee defend him from the Danger of the Enemy and keep him in perpetuaâ—â— Peace and Safety through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen HEar us Almighty and most Merciful God and Saviour extend thy accustomed Goodness tâ— this thy Servant who is grieved with Sickness Sanctifie we beseech thee this thy Fatherly Correction to him that the sense of his Weakness may adâ—â— Strength to his Faith and Seriousness to his Repentance that if it shall be thy good Pleasure to restore him to his former Health he may lead thâ— residue of his Life in thy Fear and to thy Glory or give him Grace so to take this thy Heavenly visiâ—tation that after this painful Life ended he may dwell with thee in Life everlasting through Jesuâ— Christ our Lord. Amen O Father of Mercyes and God of all Consolation lay no more upon him or her therâ— thou wilt inable him to bear with Patience Courage and Contentment either asswage his Painâ— or increase his Patience bless all those means thaâ— have been or shall be used for his recovery eitheâ— shorten his Sickness or else give him Grace anâ— Strength to bear it deliver him from the bitteâ— Pangs of Eternal Death and from the Gates of Helâ— take from him the Sting of his Consciences and thâ— extremity of Sickness Anguish or Agony that 〈◊〉 withdraw his mind from thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen DEliver him from all Dangers and Distress from Pain and Punishment Bodily and Ghostly and from all the Sins and Misdeeds which by the Maâ—ice of the Devil or his own Frailty he have at any time committed against thee That it may please thee not to lay to his Charge what in Concupiscence of the Eye Pride of Life Vanity or Superfluity he hath committed against thee That it may please thee not to lay to his Charge what in the Fierceness of his Wroth or in the eagerness of an Angry Spirit he hath committed against thee That it may please thee not to lay to his Charge what in Vain and Idle Words in the Looseness and Slipperiness of the Tongue he hath committed against thee That it may please thee to make him Partaker of all the Mercies and Promises in Christ Jesus That it may please the to vouchsafe his Soul the Estate of Joy Bliss and Happiness with all thy blessed Saints in thy Heavenly Kingdom That it may please thee to give him Peace and a part in the blessed Resurrection of Life and Glory we commend his Soul into thy Hands beseeching thee that it may be pretious â—n thy sight O let not the Blood of Christ that was â—shed for all Men be spilt in vain to any but let it be effectual to the Salvation of every Soul for thy own Bowels and Compassion sake Amen IN the midst of Life we are in Death Of whom then may we seek for Succor but of thee O Lord Who for our Sins are most justly displeased with us yet O Lord most Holy O God most Mighty O Holy and most Merciful Father deliver us not over to the bitter Pains of Eternal Death Thou knowest Lord the Secrets of our Hearts O shut not up against us the Ears of thy Mercy but spare us O Lord most Holy O Saviour most mighty O Immortal and mosâ— Merciful Redeemour Thou most Worthy Judge Eternal suffer us not in our last Hour for any Pains of Death to fall from thee though he hath Sinned yet he seeketh thee and thou Lord never failest them that seek thee Let not the Guiltiness of a Sinneâ— more prevail to condemn than the Gracious Goodness of a most Merciful Father to Aquit and to Pardon O let not the Unrighteousness of Man make thâ— Goodness of God of none effect O Lord no not so remember not the Unkindnesess of this thy Child so as thereby thou forgottest the Compassion and Kindness of a Father Do not so think on our Sins that thou thereby forget thine own Nature and Property which is always to have Mercy and Forgive Do not so remember our Sins that thou thereby remember not thy own Name which is Jesus a most Loving and Kind Saviour Lord is thy Life in our Life hath not sufficiently appeared yet let not thy Death lose the full Power and Effecacy thereof Suffer not O Lord in both so great a price to perish lose not that O Lord which thou hast redeemed since thou comest to redeem that which was lost that which was so dear to thee to redeem suffer not to be lost as a thing of no Value OH Most Merciful and Blessed Saviour have Mercy upon the Soul of this thy Servant remember not his Ignorance nor the Sins of his Youth but according to thy great Mercies remember him in the Mercies
some of the Nerves which hinders the motion from being continued in the Part affected of the Body as far as the Brain which is the Seat and Organ of the Senses because the impression have some palpable let or hindereance and cannot be carried or arrive through the exterior Senses of the Brain which are called Internal But our Souls Naturally like other-Created Spirits ought not to have any dependance upon our Bodies for to have the Ideas of things they ought only to have immediately dependance upon God and by Consequence ought only to have Union with him but this Supreame Spirit having been pleased for the reasons we have said and for many others which we conceive and for more yet apparently perhaps which we do not conceive that our Souls should have their Thoughts and their Sentiments their Desires and Affections upon the occasion of the Body to the end that they should be a continual Subject of Victory and Meritorious Exercise by the assistance of Divine Grace which is of it self Victorious over the Impure delectation of Concupiscence whereof it invincibly suspends the Charm by the Heavenly and inward Taste which it gives us of God of our Duty and of Eternal Happiness for Divine Grace causes 〈◊〉 to love Order and Duty in spight of our selves making us sensible that we owe to God an infinite â—â—ve of Complacency wholly disinteressed and wholly pure for which we ought to love his Eternal and Sovereign Beauty with all the strength and motions 〈◊〉 our Hearts for this alone will convey to us true â—â—â—asure for this will furnish us with Order Truth and Justice which will undoubtedly prevent all Irregularity Which Order is to be beloved by all Spiâ—its and all upright Hearts in all the Parts of the World for this have some affinity to the Sovereign Beauty of Nature and of the Supreame Essence who â—s the Lively and Eternal Source of Order Equity and Duty the Eternal and Substantial Truth which do not discover it self but by Rays by degrees escaping â—ut from God clearing the obscure Clouds of our disorderly Desires that we may Love and Adore our Sovereign Creator who gives us the weak glimmering of his Ineffable Beauty in that Virtue and Duty which he causes us to Love which is as it were the Charm of the Supreame Being For all that we love in the abstracted Idea of our Duties or in the real Charms of the Creatures is nothing but the Splendor and the Rays or the Shadow of that Charm of Sovereign Beauty and Perfection which Gloriously shines â—n the Supreame Nature from whose Beams it is that Nature Commences equally in us the love of Complacency and the love of Union that we may be filled with Contentment with Pleasure and Love Truth Justice and Equity and all other Graces and Virtues whom we love invincibly under the Ideas and under the Names of Truth of Justice of Beauty of Virtue of Duty or of Equity which shine in all Places of the World and makes it self seen loved and adored invincibly by all Hearts in all Ages for these all preceed from the glimmering and glances of Gods Original Beauty which is so amicable by it self that as Corrupt as we are we cannot hinder our selves from loving it because it flows from the Sovereign Nature of God. 2. The Soul of Man have no Power of giving iâ— self neither the Idea nor Knowledge nor Sentiment of any particular thing but it is God who hath alâ— Perfections dwelling in him that Instructs and Inlightens the Souls of Men for his Majesty alone is the Life of every thing that Lives and the Light of every thing that is Enlightned who gives us all the Sentiments and all the Ideas which we receive or have from the occasion of our particular Bodies and from others which environ us Tho to clear this point 〈◊〉 be obscure and difficult and yet is very Important and Necessary in Order to make us comprehend our dependance upon God who is alone the All-knowing Being by himself as he is an existent Being by himself For it 's God alone who hath Essentially of himself and by himself his Eternal and Subsistent Idea by which he can distinctly see all things possible present and to come The Created Spirits who are not Thinking Beings of themselves much less Spirits knowing by themselves or in themselves the things which are exterior to them and therefore they have need to receive the Ideas of particular things from God that they may have a knowledge of them For if they had the Idea of one sole particular thing out of themselves there would not be any Idea which they might not have neither would the Soul of Man have been Ignorant of any thing if she had had a Power by her self to Form and Idea of the least thing but by Consequence would have had the Idea of all things But since of her self 〈◊〉 cannot form any one Idea by Consequence she cannâ—â— form many For to imagine she could would be no sensical and trivial Our poor Soul goes gropâ—â—â— through all the Bodies who environs it searching 〈◊〉 a Pleasure and Contentment which should satisfie iâ—â— but no Pleasure nor Treasure can give the Soul trâ—â— satisfaction but God who is the alone Sovereiâ— Pleasure which makes the Soul thus search after hiâ—â— and him allone it is we ought to regard with all oâ—â— Strength Might and Motion seeing his Majesty râ—gards our Soul by all the Rays of his Infinite Essenâ—â— For his Wisdom it is who is our Satisfaction our 〈◊〉 and Contentment yea our Sovereign Felicity Oâ— Bodies then are but as it were our Souls burden at best but a House upon the Road of Eternity Wheâ—â— fore we ought to seek for a lively Idea of our dâ—peâ—â—dance upon this Supreame Being and upon all Divine Attributes that we may the better appreheâ—â— his Sovereign Perfection whose Nature is Supream and yet is graciously pleased to operate continual in us and rules over us in all our ways and in divers operations Our Souls do not make the digsâ—ion in us the Circulation of the Blood the Natuâ—â— and pureâ—y Animal Respiration in us the Soul beiâ—â— altogether Spiritual have no Power to act this waâ— but there is nothing which we certainly know bâ—â— the Soul is the active cause and principle of it which she have gain'd the Empire either to do not do as she pleases we may therefore reflect up her Faculty which she have of thinking of willinâ—â— and determining her self which are the two oâ— active Faculties that we know in her for the othâ—â— passive and receptive Faculties of which she haâ— essentially the Empire as well as the certainty of thâ— double Faculty and of all the Acts that preceeâ— there from and we may see that she suspends 〈…〉 Thoughts and her Reasonings puts them by determâ—â—â— and applies them as she pleases to new Matters which always present themselves and thus she is Mistress of â—â—er Will without the motion
Garland or a Jewel to a â—agnificent Benefactor Therefore we had need to be â—ry choice in the mixture of our Flowers and cuâ—â—ous in the enammel of so rare a Present that it may â—ove to us a Royal Diadem to adorn our Souls for 〈◊〉 Therefore to let any dirt or blemish be in it â—ould be inconsistent to our Felicity Therefore â—ight and clear apprehensions Divine and Ardent â—ffections are highly necessary to this Compleatment â—eing upon the sincerity of the affections and intenons depends the Honour of the Work it concerns every one therefore to cleans his Heart from all Impurity and Insincerity that his whole Man may be an acceptable Present to God that his infinite Immensity may graciously accept him and all his Works for his Wisdom never rejected the sincere but endews them with inward and outward Ornaments such as an infinite clesiâ—e and delight in Goodness enabling them always to Love his Eternal Majesty with an infinite Love and Deiight greatly Thirsting to be fully satisfied with him and him only for the Soul is to Noble a thing to be satisfied with any thing less than his Transcendent Majesty whose Goodness extends to all even to the Unthankful But he is most the Friend of those who delight most in him for infinite Love and eternal Blessedness are near ally'd for all Delight springs from the satisfaction of violent desires for which cause when the desire is forgotten the Delights are abated The coming of a Crownâ— and the Joy of a Kingdom is far more quick and powerful in the surprize and novelty of the Glory than the length of its continuance The greateâ— part of our Eternal Happiness consist in a greatfuâ— recognition not only of our Joys to come but oâ—â— Benefits already received True contentment is thâ— full satisfaction of a knowing Mind i. e. a long habiâ— of solid Repose after much Study and serious Consiâ—â—deration or a free and easie Mind attended with Pleaâ—sure that naturally ariseth from ones present Condâ—tion yet to be content without a true Cause is tâ—â— fit down in our Imperfections and to seek all onâ— Bliss in ones self alone and as it were to scorn aâ— other Objects which is in it self a high piece of Pride that renders a Man good for nothing but makes him Arrogant and Presumptious in the midst of his Blindâ—ness whereby he leads a living Death by shuting uâ— his Soul in a Grave in that it tramples under Foâ—â— the Essence of his Soul which in Truth turns his Fâ—licity to Malevolence and Misery or in other Word Disorder and Confusion Therefore Man is an unwelcome Creature to himself till he can delight in his present Condition provided his Condition be such as is pleasing in the sight of God for this must be the Condition that can make our pleasure exquisite For otherways we shall be tormented with the contriety of our desires The happiness of a contented Spirit consists not only in the fruition of its Bliss but in the Fruits and Effects it produceth in our Lives which makes every Virtuous Man truly Great within and Glorious in his retirements Magnanimity and Content are very near aly'd they spring from the same Parents but are of several Features Fortitude and Patience are Kindred too to this incomparable Virtue for these fill a Man with true Pleasure and great Treasure which makes him Magnanimous and truly Great not in his own Thoughts but in the sight of God The Magnanimous Soul is always awake the whole Globe of Earth is but a Nut-shel in comparison of his Injoyments for God alone is his Sovereign delight and Supreame complacency So that nothing is great if compared to a Magnanimous Soul but the Sovereign Lord of all Worlds But Man divided from God is a weak and inconsiderable Creature But every Soul united to God is a Transcendent and Celestial thing for God is its Life its Greatness and its Power its Blessedness and Perfection for he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 20. His Omnipresence and Eternity fills the Holy Soul and makes it able to contain all heights and depths and lenghts and breadths whatsoever In a Word it 's the desire of every such Soul to be filled with the fulness of God. Magnanimous desires are the Natural results of a Magnanimous Capacity the desire of being like God of knowing Good and Evil. But in a grosser sence this was the destruction of the Old World Not that it is Unlawful to desire to be like God but to aspire to the Perfection in a forbidden way by Disobedience and following our own Inventions by seeking to the Creatures in opposition to the great Creator A Magnanimous Soul if we respect its Capacity is an immovable Sphere of Power and Knowledge far greater than all Worlds by its Virtue and Power that it passeth through all things the Centre of the Earth and through all existencies and allsuch Creatures as these he counteth but Vanity and Trifles in comparison of his true Object the great Almighty whose Transcendent Goodness desendeth in full Showers upon all Men by his communitive Goodness which is freely extended to every Man. The Seven last WORDS our Saviour spoke upon the Cross I. FATHER forgive them for they know not what they do O Lord forgive me wherein I have forgot thy Presepts and done that which is Evil. To the good Thief II. This Day shalt thou be with me in Paridise O God say to my Soul in the Day when thou takest it from my Body This Day shall thou be with me in Heaven III. Woman behold thy Son. In Futurity let me behold the Vision of Bliss IV. Eli Eli lama sabachthani that is to say My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Forsake me not in my greatest Afflictions V. I thirst Grant that I may thirst for thee the Fountain of Living Waters VI. Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Receive my Soul when it is returning unto thee VII It is finished Finish my Course with Joy and grant O Jesus that I may be worthily qualified to receive that sweet Voice of thine Welcome to the Kingdom prepared by my Father Meditation for the Sick. THEY that Glory in their Ancestors in the Nobleness of their Birth and Blood must make their Beds in the dark and acknowledge Corruption for their Father and the Worm for their Mother and Sister they that are already Dead and crumble away to make room from us that must come after them are secluded from Men but live with Angels Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. 19. What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death Psal 89. 48. Our Bodies shall return to the Earth from whence they were taken but our Spirit shall return to God that gave it Eccl. 12. 7. It is appointed for all Men once to die Heb. 9. 26. We must needs dye and are as Water spilt upon the Ground that cannot be gathered up