know thee and are shown Both by thy words and works what should be done Our selves we yet improve not as we ought By what thy Workings and thy Word have taught But both Self-love and Vanity have share Ev'n in our Actions that most pious are We Counsel we Relieve Write Preach and Pray That Honour Gain or Pleasure bring it may To our own Persons and would little care How wicked and unhappy others are Had we our aims and still might them possess Amid'st our Sins and their unhappiness Ev'n I my self who love a better mind Do in my self so much corruption find That I confess received Injuries More mov'd me to reprove Impieties Than mine own goodness and that from my sin My best performances did first begin For which let pardon Lord vouchsafed be And more sincere hereafter make thou me For this may peradventure be the cause We preach thy Gospel and pronounce thy Laws And write without effect ev'n this that our Corruption makes the means to want the power It might have had Else 't is because we hide Thy Love and have that saving Grace deny'd Which thou to all extendest and which none Shall want who striveth to lay hold thereon To help amend these faults now I have said What I believe thy Spirit hath convey'd Into my heart If I have err'd in ought Let me oh Lord by thee be better taught If truth I speak let other men from hence Partakers be of my Intelligence Make me and them thy love so fully view That we in our affections may be true And give us Grace the truth of them to show In doing well the Duties which we owe. Amen A Metrical Paraphrase Upon the CREED SInce it befits that I account should give What way unto Salvation I believe Of my profession here the sum I gather First I confess a Faith in God the Father In God who without Helper or Partaker Was of himself the Worlds Almighty Maker And first gave Time his being who gave birth To all the Creatures both of Heaven and Earth Our everlasting welfare doth consist In his great mercies and in Iesus Christ The second person of that Three in one The Father's equal and his only Son That ever-blessed and incarnate Word Which our Redeemer is our life Our Lord For when by Sathans guile we were deceived Christ was that means of help which was conceived Yea when we were in danger to be lost Conceived for us by the Holy Ghost And that we might not ever be forlorn For our eternal safety he was Born Born as a Man that Man might not miscarry Even of the substance of the Uirgin Mary And loe a greater mercy and a wonder He that can make All suffer suffered under The Jewish spite which all the world revile at And Cruel tyrannies of Pontius Pilate In him do I believe who was envied Who with extreamest hate was Crucified Who being life it self to make assured Our souls of safety was both dead and buried And that no servile fear in us might dwell To conquer He descended into Hell Where no infernal Power had power to lay Command upon him but on the third day The force of Death and Hell he did constrain And so in Triumph He arose again Yea the Almighty power advanc'd his head Aswel above all things as from the dead Then that from thence gifts might o men be given With glory He ascended into Heaven Where that supream and everlasting throne Which was prepar'd he clim'd aid sitteth on That blessed feat where he shall make abode To plead for us at the right hand of God And no where should he be enthroned rather Than there for he is God as is the Father And therefore with an equal love delight I To praise and serve them both as one Almighty Yet in their office there 's a difference And I believe that Jesus Christ from thence Shall in the great and universal doom Return and that with Angels He shall come To question such as at his Empire grudge Even those who have presumed him to judge And that black day shall be so Catholick As I believe not only that the quick To that assise shall all be summoned But he will both adjudge them and the dead Moreover in the Godhead I conceive Another Person in whom I believe For all my hope of blessedness were lost If I believ'd not it the Holy Ghost And though vain Schismaticks through pride and folly Contemn her power I do believe the holy Chast Spouse of Christ for whom so many search By marks uncertain the true Catholick Church I do believe God keep us in this union That there shall be forever the Communion Of Gods Elect and that he still acquaints His Children in the fellowship of Saints Though damned be Mans natural condition By grace in Christ I look for the remission Of all my foul misdeeds for there begins Deaths end which is the punishment of sins Moreover I the Sadduces infection Abhor and do believe the Resurrection Yea though I turn to dust yet through God I Expect a glorious rising of the body And that exempted from the cares here rife I shall enjoy perfection and the life That is not subject unto change or wasting But ever-blessed and for ever-lasting This is my Faith which that it fail not when It most should steed me let God say Amen To whom that he so much vouchsafe we may Thus as a member of his Church I pray A Metrical Paraphrase Upon the LORD'S PRAYER LOrd at thy Mercy-seat our selves we gather To do our duties unto thee Our Father To whom all praise all honour should be given For thou art that great God which art in Heaven Thou by thy wisdom rul'st the worlds whole frame For ever therefore Hallowed be thy Name Let never more delayes divide us from Thy glories view but let Thy Kingdom come Let thy commands opposed be by none But thy good pleasure and Thy will done And let our promptness to obey be even The very same in earth as 't is in heaven Then for our selves O Lord we also pray Thou wouldst be pleased to Give us this day That food of life wherewith our souls are fed Contented raiment and our daily bread With needful thing do thou relieve us And of thy mercy pitty And forgive us All our misdeeds in him whom thou didst please To take in offering for our trespasses And for as much O Lord as we believe Thou so wilt pardon us as we forgive Let that love teach us wherewith thou acquaints us To pardon all them that trespass against us And though sometime thou find'st we have forgot This Love or thee yet help And lead us not Through Soul or bodies want to desperation Nor let abundance drive into temptation Let not the soul of any true Believer Fall in the time of tryal But deliver Yea save him from the malice of the Devil And both in life and death keep us from evil Thus pray we Lord And but of thee from whom Can this be had For thine is the Kingdom The world is of thy works the graven story To thee belongs the power and the glory And this thy happiness hath ending never But shall remain for ever and for ever This we confess and will confess agen Till we shall say eternally Amen Thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and upon thy Gates Deut. 6. 9. FINIS Job 33. 14. See Pro. 30. 8 9.
of us not only Guilty stand Of being breakers of this first Command By serving Gods beside and more than him Who from Death Sin and Hell did us redeem But either we neglect him also quite Or practise works to him so opposite That into worse impieties we fall Than such as yet confess no God at all For by distrust self-love backsliding fear Inconstancy Presumption fruitless Care Impatience Grudging Frowardness or Pride With other such our God we have deny'd More oft than once and oftner fear we shall Into this error through our frailty fall This Law in some degree is also broke Unless we to our powers due care have took To Shun each cause of breaking it The Chief Is Ignorance the ground of misbelief The next is to be oft and willingly Among Professors of Idolatry The Third is Servile fear which many ways The Heart unto Idolatry betrays The last not least is when the sway we give To any Lust or Sin For thus believe Such men to gain the full of their delight Will change their God or leave Religion quite Yea they who hate at first so gross a Sin Are by the Devil this way hooked in This Meditation here had found an end But that there are some others who offend Against this Law in such a high Degree As that they must not quite unmention'd be The truest God confessed is by them Their only God They serve and honour him In outward shew and if believe we may What they themselves have pleased been to say They love him too But either they mistake him Or by their own Invention so new Make him That though they speak him by a gracious Name The goodness of his nature they defame By making him the Authour to have bin And cause original of every Sin For in affirming that the fall of Man And Sin and Death from Gods meer will began They say no less although they praise him much For being good to them and some few such To say of these I am no whit afraid As of old Idol-Makers hath been said Their God and they are like for on their Will They ground their practices which must be still Supposed Just and some perchance of them Would be as cruel as they fancy him But that their Finite Natures cannot reach The Tyranies which they of him do preach Let us of such impieties beware What we conceive of God let us have care And not with foolish Hereticks suppose By teaching common truths and making shows Of holy piety to keep Gods eye From seeing when we wrong his Majesty For if he be displeas'd with such as make Good Creatures of his Godhead to partake How much more cause have they his wrath to fear Who make him worse than his worst Creatures are And that prime Attribute have overthrown By which he chiefly to be God is known For none are bound to serve him by this Law But such as he did out of bondage draw For if he drew not all then some there be Who though they have a God ours is not he At least in such a manner as may give These Unbelievers courage to believe Their God they say did some unhappy make To shew his power and for his Glorys sake My God is he who pittied their Estates Whom these do fancy hopeless Reprobates An Issue leaving out of that temptation In which they lying to their Just damnation And for the day of wrath no sinners made But such as do abuse the Grace they had Their God is he who forc'd mankind to fall And mine is he who did Redeem us all My sweet Redeemer so my heart incline That I may always keep this Law of thine Amen Commandment II. Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any Graven image c. Superstition here is free If her Idols rais'd may be And with Zeal the same pursues If will worship she may use When she should obey or hear Sacrifice she doth prepare Such Religion to profess Is but irreligeousness And for that presumptions vain Many Israelites were slain Command II. Let every Hand and Heart refrain An Image of our God to fain THree thousand suffered by their brethrens hand For offering violence to this Command And for committing of the same offence The Sword hath been in action ever since Some where or other to the devastation Of many a powerful and renowned Nation For to adore one Godhead and no moe Save him to whom such Duty all men owe Sufficeth not unless our adoration Be such as may obtain his approbation A forged worship meriteth a Rod As truly as a falsified God And such as do their own Religion frame Serve but their Fancies though God bear the name When humane wit had fool'd away the notion Of Gods true Being and of true Devotion She calling to remembrance that each Creature Had in it some impression of his nature Did blindly seek him by that couz'ning light And lost at last the knowledge of him quite For some did make him Figures like their own Some like to beasts and some like forms unknown Then by degrees the Devil screwed in To seem a God and made the foulest Sin Thought pious worship For though vile it be To picture him whose form we cannot see And to ascribe to him imperfect features Who gave their bodies to the fairest Creatures And in whose Essence all perfections are Yet in their wickedness they staid not there By wicked Ceremonies they invited The world to think the Godhead was delighted With hellish actions for their living seed In horrid wise to death did often bleed As acceptable offerings murtherous hands Were thought the Actors of his just Commands And drunken Riots with lascivious Games Seem'd holy Duties and had holy Names Nor did the Gentiles only thus misdo But many Jews and many Christians too The self same sins in Essence did commit Though with new Vizzards they had covered it For how much better are their Festivals Then Bacchanalian Riots in whose Halls And Parlours are assembled in the stead Of those poor Souls whom Charity should feed A Rout of Roaring Ruffins who are there For nothing but to drink or game and swear Except it be that they might soon undo Those fools which do abuse Gods bounty so Mens follies make them frequently to err And then they Vice for Vertue do prefer Their Superstition makes them think amiss Of God And then their service of him is Accordingly devis'd they favour not That worship which their wit hath not begot They fear him Tyrant-like and dream that he Is pleas'd with such like works as Tyrants be For Carnal wisdom cannot be content Unless it may be suffered to invent The Scoenes which make her Stage Religion seem To Superarrogate in her esteem Some tho' they Scoff Idolatry are hardly brought To serve a God of whom they have not thought A circumscribed Form to which they may Address themselves in that corporeal way Which they affect and therefore up they rear Such Calves
is arriv'd at this contentedness And if to get this Grace our mind we set By Gods assistance we may compass it In that degree whereby attain we may To what we call perfection of the way But flesh and blood no further can aspire Until that Kingdom comes which we desire Strive what thou mayst affections to withdraw According to the straightness of this Law Thy Neighbours wife desire not then from him Though kind wise rich chast good fair she seem For most who have this way their longings gain'd Instead of Blessings Curses have obtain'd By coveting the goods to others due The beggary of many doth ensue And Servants gotten by anothers wrong Are seldom gainful to such Masters long Because by being lawlesly possest They either prove unfaithful or unblest But he that with his own remains content Shall gain much Bliss and many sins prevent That which doth give occasion to transgress Against this Law is want of watchfulness To heed the baits which our betrayer lays In every object and in all our ways The want of meditating in our thought What inconveniences are dayly brought On such as make no covenants with their eyes Nor bound these longings which in them arise For such as this way do their best endeavour May stumble but they shall not fall for ever Lord in my self I could not find the Will Much less the Power Thy statutes to fulfil But I now feel my heart to entertain A willingness Oh! be it not in vain Thy Grace alone renew'd this Will in me And I a worker now desire to be Who may if thou enable to proceed Improve my willingness unto the Deed Deny it not Oh God! but from this day Ev'n to the latest moment of my stay Vouchsafe unto me thy assisting Grace That I may run a warrantable Race And keep this Law and all thy Laws entire In work in word and also in desire Amen The Epilogue CHRIST IESVS Who is made vnto us Wisedome Rightousnesse Sanctification Redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30 the whole World lieth in Wickednesse 1. Ioh. 5. 19 Rom. 7. 24. O Wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from y e body of this death Behold the Lambe of GOD which taketh away y e sin of y e world Ioh. 1 29 Deliuer him from going down to the pit I haue found a ransome Iob. 33. 24. Rom. 6. 23. the Wages of sinne is Death ii Timo. 2. 26. That they may recouer themselues out of y e snare of the deuil who are taken captiue by him at his will Though no flesh this Law obey In it self In Christ it may Though it frighteth us for sin Yet our peace it ushers in And in us prepareth place For the saving Law of Grace When this Grace hath taught to Love Hardest works will easy prove And that sin we shall abhor Which we doted on before THE Epilogue The Law from God 's meer love proceeds Though strict it seems and Terror breeds NOW having well observ'd this glorious Law A Creature cloath'd with Majesty and awe Methinks the Body of it seems to me Compos'd of such essential parts to be That he may find who rightly from them shall All as but one each one of them as all And that who ever breaks or keepeth one Observes or breaketh all in what is done As will appear to him who well attends How ev'ry Precept on the rest depends He cannot possibly or love or fear One God aright who willfully doth err In Idol worshippings in vainly using God's holy Name In holy Times abusing Or in permitting so perverse a nature As to abuse Himself or any Creature Belonging to this God with such a mind As may Contentment in such evils find And what is of this Law averr'd we may In ev'ry other Precept boldly say Moreover I conceive it cannot be Of less impossibility that he Who gives the Creature ev'ry way his right Should in his heart his good Creator slight Or actually offend him without sense And sorrow for so hainous an offence He that right Conscience makes to keep one Law Of breaking all the other stands in awe He that his Parents honours as he ought Can never favour Murther in his thought Or thirst for Vengeance never will his eyes Or heart or members act Adulterys No due from any Creature will he take He dares of none conceive receive or speak Untruths or slanders He will never crave Or by a secret longing wish to have What may not be desir'd Nor ought commit Which his profession may not ill befit But penitence will smite him for the deed And in his heart a faithful sorrow breed Much less will he grow wilfully to blame In Prophanation of Gods Days his Name His Worship or his Essence For in one Well doing all good Dutys will be done And this which from one Law is here exprest May really be said of all the rest The like we may as doubtlesly averr Of them who ' gainst one Law perversly err Begin at which you please they so are chain'd All sins are in the breach of one contain'd One wickedness contracts another still And that another either to fulfill Or hide the first until all guilt comes in And wheels him round the cursed Orbe of Sin. For what hath he to bar him from the rest Who but in one hath wilfully transgrest What other sin would he have left undone Which might have hindred his beloved one Or if perpetually he do not act All wickedness and ev'ry filthy Fact Why is it so unless perchance because His finite Nature cannot break all Laws At once in Act Nor his desires extend To ev'ry thing wherein he might offend For ev'ry sacred Law is in his Will Inclusively at least infringed still And Guiltiness would actually appear If power and fit occasions present were For as the Laws fair Body is compos'd Of portions qualified and dispos'd In such a manner that we plainly see The perfect Essence of the whole to be In ev'ry part so likewise hath our Sin An ugle Body and each Limb therein Containeth whether it be great or small Essentially the perfect Guilt of all And by this Body Death a means hath found To give to all Mankind a mortal wound But prais'd be God his Grace provided hath A Light a Guard an Armour and a Path By which we may be quite delivered from The Body of this Death and also come To walk the way of life which else had bin For ever barr'd against us by our sin The Lamb of God by whom we do possess Redemption Wisdom Justice Holiness With ev'ry matchless token of his Love The Guilt of that transgression doth remove Which woundeth first our Nature and from him We have a cure for ev'ry actual Crime He hath fulfilled what we could not keep He gives us power to walk who could not creep He paid the price of that which we had bought He got our Pardon e're the same we sought He bore the stripes