of the sea with sustenance conuenient and agréeing with their nature we beséech thée to accept at our hands this sacrifice of thankesgiuing offered vp vnto thée for thy manifold benefits and among all other for that thou hast hitherto prospered vs in our busines and labour which thou hast not made frustrate and vnfruitefull but with due measure and weight of profit aduantage hast let it passe out of our hands And we beséech thée O father that as thou hast hitherto bene the ouerséer of all our studies and trauels making them fruitefull and beneficiall vnto vs so it would please thée to continue still thine accustomed bountifulnes and to giue vs grace that for the same we may offer vnto thée not onlie the calues of our lips but also of our hearts through Christ Iesus our onlie sauiour and redéemer Amen The seuenth Blossome conteining A petition to be said at the putting off of our apparell GRant O gratious God thou giuer and preseruer of all creatures that as we put off this our apparell and cast it from vs so we may also thy grace helping and assisting vs put off the old man euen the man of sinne that clogged with the lesse vice and clothed with the more vertue we may be found fit for thée whensoeuer it shall please thée to call vs out of this world thorough Iesus Christ our sauiour Amen The eight Blossome conteining A petition vnto God at our going to take naturall rest HEauenlie God which art so prouident and watchfull for the health and preseruation of thy children that they want nothing necessarie for the supportation and maintenance of this their transitorie life not houses to harbour in not garments to put on not foode wherewith to be nourished finallie nothing whatsoeuer it is that they stand in neede of whiles they leade their liues in this transitorie tabernacle we beseech thée that as thou hast let this daie passe luckilie ouer our heads safelie defending vs from all dangers and giuing vs the fruits of our labours least our working should be waste so it would please thée in like measure of mercie and peize of compassion to be our watchman this present night and euerie night so long as our bodies and soules remaine coupled in this vale of vilenes and miserie Also O father we heartilie beséech thée that although darkenes dimme the eies of our bodie wherby the vse of our externall and outward sight is made frustrate and voide yet the eies of our mind may still be broade waking and open continuallie looking for that comfortable comming of thy Christ in glorie that we may be in a readinesse when the trumpet soundeth Arise ye dead and come to iudgement which whether it be in the euening at midnight at the cock-crowing or at the dawning of the daie none can tell no not the Angels But whensoeuer it is O Lord so kéepe vs waking that when thou cōmest our lamps may be found burning Graunt this most mercifull father for thy sons sake Iesus Christ the righteous to whome with thée and the holie Ghost thrée persons and one omnipotent almightie euerlasting and onlie wise God be all laud praise honour dominion and glorie now and for euer Amen The ninth Blossome conteining A petition for a godlie life OPen our cies O Lord that we may behold the woonderfull secrets of thy lawe and therin as in a steele glasse discerne and sée our owne weakenes and by our weakenes our wickednes and by them both our accursednes O procure thou the pleasant comforts and consolations conteined in thy Gospell to sound the verie deapth and bottome of our soules by the plummet of a true and liuelie faith in Christ Iesus Graunt also we beséech thee that our drie and stonie harts by the swéete dewes and showres of thy heauenlie grace dropping downe and soking therinto may be so moistened and softened that like good ground they may euer be yéelding forth plentifull and pleasant fruits to the glorifieng of thy most holie name the supplanting of sin and the aduancement of vertue through the death and bloudshead of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ Amen The tenth Blossome conteining A petition to be said in time of health being a thankesgiuing vnto God for that good blessing WE knowe O mercifull father that a rotten trée can not fructifie no more can the bodie of man diseased take anie pleasure in the vse of thy creatures at leastwise verie little if anie at all For as the morning deaw or waterie clouds falling vpon the field moisteneth the ground and maketh it fruitefull and pleasant euen so health and soundnes possessing euerie limme maketh the whole bodie and all the members of the same apt and able for anie exercise By the benefit whereof we purueie for our selues all such necessaries as are requisite for this our fraile life Knowing this most mercifull father we referre it vnto thy goodnes praising and magnifieng thée for the same and humblie beséeching thee to continue it in vs and to giue vs grace that we abuse it not anie manner of waie Graunt this O bountifull God for Iesus sake Amen The eleuenth Blossome conteining A petition in forme of a confession to be said in the time of sicknesse or otherwise when the partie diseased seemeth to be in danger ALmightie and most mercifull father the punisher of sinne and the iust rewarder of iniquitie I confesse vnto thée that the multitude of my transgressions and the lothsomnes of my life cannot but déepelie displease thy diuine Maiestie and deseruedlie crie out for vengeance against me yea vengeance to death for my misdéedes craue no better reward I knowe that sinne is such a filthie and ouglie thing in thy sight that who soeuer are stained and defiled therwith are euen an abhomination vnto thee for thou being the God of righteousnes delightest not in wickednes neither canst take anie pleasure in iniquitie I confesse that for sinne thou hast sent manie strange and terrible punishments vpon diuers people The olde world in the fulnes of their offences were ouerwhelmed with water from heauen to their vtter destruction The Sodomites were burned and their neighbours about them euen with fire and brimstone for the filthines of their offences The Aegyptians a people obstinate and rebellious and alwaies setting shoulder against the Prophets were rewarded for their misdeédes with most horrible plagues in the heate of thine indignation Yea the Israelits a people peculiarlie chosen to serue theé at what time they sinned greéuouslie and displesed thy diuine Maiestie turning by the manifoldnesse of their transgressions thy mercie into furie thy clemencie into anger thy long suffering into reuengement they felt the smart of thy rod not wrathfullie confounding them as castawaies but louinglie correcting them like children So most mercifull father hoping that in the bloud of Christ Iesus I am adopted into the number of thy children albeit my misdeédes are so manie that they far passe the sands in the seas or the
to the earth out of whose bowels he sprang The like lawe of necessitie tooke hold of mother Eue of Caine Abel Sheth and the issue of him and his to the daies of Noah who notwithstanding his preseruation in the Arke from the generall floud went the waie of his predecessors hauing liued the space of nine hundred and fiftie yeares 5 Abraham the father of the faithfull so named by the holie Ghost and after him all the Patriarches yea Moses that good man at whose intercession God spared the wicked Iewes manie a time and withdrew the whip of his vengeance wherewith he was purposed to smite them euen he and the rest Enoch onelie excepted who after his assumption was no more séene among men had but their time beyond which they might not by anie dispensation passe so that we sée euen in them notwithstanding their excellencie the waie of all flesh which is naturall death manifestlie expressed 6 It were more laborious and cumbersome than necessarie and requisite to adde anie more examples in so plain vndoubted an argument Considering then that these men being longer liuers than the rest paide tribute vnto Cesar it is verie vnlikelie that anie inferiour vnto them in all respects should be exempted from the discharge of so due a debt 7 This waie of all flesh walked Samson notwithstanding his wonderfull strength diuers waies declared Salomon for all his wisdome the brute whereof together with his magnificence and roialtie caused him to be renowmed far and néere so that neither the one were his fortitude and might incomparable yea so rare and strange as that the Lion of all beastes the valiantest was in his handling as weake as a Lambe nor the other were his knowledge so profound and heauenlie as that the signification of no secret was too high for his wit could adde one daie one houre no not so much as one minute to the length of their life no more than it is in mans power to put one cubite to his stature or to make one heare white or blacke 8 The conclusion therefore is euident that there is one waie of all flesh and that is death chance it either on land by sicknes on sea by drowning in battell by the sword chance it either by fire or famine by pestilence or other maladie chance it either sléeping or waking eating or drinking riding or running laughing or wéeping the common and ordinarie ende is death and all is but death be the meanes neuer so diuers This considered and aduisedlie thought vpon there were no better bridle to raine in the coltish nature of man and to restraine him from the filthie custome of sinne wherevpon dependeth eternall death and damnation for this is the footepath to felicitie The ninth Chapter 1 A dead coarse compared to a looking glasse and the necessarie doctrine therevpon depending 2 Of two differing waies deciphered by the letter Y. 3 The testimonie of Christ touching these two waies 4 Who they be that walke in the wide waie of wickednes and of the preposterous course of the world 5 That no man hath the power to reforme himselfe 6 Necessarie considerations for true Christians 7 Of such as hauing gone astraie in the wrong waie retired and drewe backe into the right and of one that would not be persuaded to tread in crooked pathes 8 Of such as walked in the wide waie of wickednes and of their wofull case 9 An exhortation how we ought to walke 1 THe waie of all flesh remembred as it is rehearsed the hearts of men by litle and litle must néeds growe into a misliking of sinne For as to haue a looking glasse before thy face and therin to take a view of thy phisiognomie is a present and readie waie to make thée sée anie blemish wart speckle freckle mole staine spot or wrinkle in thy countenance and to amend and reforme it if it be not naturall and brought euen from the verie cradle so to consider in a dead coarse the state of thine owne bodie when thou shalt be called if thou be touched with anie care of conscience should not onlie put into thy minde the remembrance of death but also the cause of the same which is sinne for that men die and returne to earth from whence they came the cause is sinne onlie wherewith if the nature of man had not ben corrupted his state had bene heauenlie diuine angelike immortall 2 This common and vsuall waie of all flesh is an entrance vnto two other waies beside which waies there is no third to be looked for These two waies as they differ in description as they varie in compas as they are vnlike in proportion so the walkers in these two waies are contrarie in disposition diuers in qualitie nothing like inclined These two waies manie hundred yeares past were signified and set foorth by a prophane Philosopher in a letter of the crosse rowe namelie Y wherein we may sée with what wisedome that heathen man weighed the waies of worldlings cutting his letter in two parts the one toward the left hand broade ample large and wide because of the multitudes which it receiueth the other toward the right narrowe and streight for that they are but few in number which treade in it and yet roome enough remaining and more indéede than is like to be occupied the more to be lamented 3 Of these two waies spake he in whome the thrée principall and soueraigne callings were crowned I meane Christ King Priest and Prophet For he tendering from time to time the sicklie soule of man and séeing by the mysterie of his diuinitie the manifold miseries wherein he was wrapped like a fish in a net besides the danger of damnation whereinto he was like had not the grace of God preuented him deseruedlie to runne did not onlie by preaching but also by working miracles séeke to laie a plaister to his festered sore but he refused the helping hand of the Physician the more pitie he had so little grace This Christ the expresse image of his father noted these two waies no doubt to singular purpose when he gaue vs this lesson worthie the learning saieng Enter in at the narowe waie for wide is the waie and broade is the gate that leadeth to destruction and manie they be that walke in it but narowe is the waie and streight is the gate that leadeth to life and few they be that go in at it because it is the footepath to felicitie 4 In this wide waie walke the wicked whome no counsell no admonition no preaching no teaching no denouncing of Gods iudgements can reuoke whose happines and felicitie séemeth vnto them so much the more perfect as they excéede in heaping sinne vpon sinne and make no conscience of their inordinate liuing naie who is in better case who in greater credite who more supported than he that glorieth in his filthines and counteth it no shame to beare about him euen in his forhead the notes markes and prints of his
abhominations How farre these swine are from the footepath to felicitie anie man may iudge 5 It is not to be spoken for the truth trieth it selfe that these men sit in the shadowe of death and though they séeme to haue their heauen in this life yet doubtles both their féete are in hell mouth and their bodies and soules are like to followe one daie except the wonderfull grace of God and his vnspeakeable mercie worke in them a strange and vnthought vpon alteration For no man of himselfe can streighten his crookednes plaine his roughnes soften his hardnes swéeten his sowrenes tame his wildnes refourme his wickednes cleanse his filthines supplie his vnperfectnes this is the worke of Gods spirit the aide and assistance whereof we must séeke by praier and inuocation before we can treade the footepath to felicitie 6 Now séeing that we are subiect vnto falling and not able to stand vnlesse the Lord staie vs moreouer for that the waie of the King and the begger in respect of this life is all one Againe séeing we haue a daie of resurrection when we all shall receiue as we haue deserued paine in hell or ioie in heauen were it not madnes naie were it not desperatenes in vs the cogitation of these things with a number more neglected to runne on still with full raine in wickednes to become slaues to sinne to serue Sathan to fight against God to adnihilate or make of none effect the merits of Christs passion to minister occasion to the Angels of mourning to gréeue the holie Ghost to buffet and wound thine owne soule to throwe thy selfe wilfullie into destruction I thinke yes what is thine opinion 7 Well fare the prodigall childe for he wandering in this wrong waie and being touched in conscience and taught that he was not right retired and came home with a sorrowfull song and lamentable outcrie Father I haue sinned Well fare Marie Magdalene for she trauelling in this bypath of perdition and inwardlie called to a reformation of her filthie life for she was a gréeuous sinner submitted her selfe fell on the ground stooped knéeled vpon her knées washed the féete of Iesus with her teares and wiped them with the heares of her head Well fare the poore and contemned Publicane for he in the heauines of his hart lamented that euer he ranne at randon in this crooked waie he thumped his breast with his fistes and from the verie bottome of his heart cried out for mercie saieng O Lord haue mercie vpon me a sinner Well fare the Niniuites for they hauing gone astraie like lost shéepe and walking in the waie of sinners which is the waie of death heard the Prophet Ionas ringing vnto them the alarum bell of repentance and being reuoked from their wickednes escaped threatened destruction Well fare Ioseph that paterne of integritie and vprightnes for he would not in anie wise walke with the wife of Potiphar in the waie of wantonnes her alluring lookes her flattering enticements her proffered violence her instant and importunate temptations notwithstanding These with millians more may teach and instruct such as tender the saluation of their owne soules that it is better to treade the streight and narrowe path of vertue and innocencie which leadeth vnto life though it séeme vnpleasant and troublesome than to wander in the wide waie of wickednes which tendeth vnto eternall death though it be most delectable and fragrant for this is no footepath to felicitie 8 But wo worth that cruell cutthrote whose maister hauing forgiuen him a great debt euen the summe of ten thousand talents arrested his fellowseruant for a debt of an hundred pence cruellie cast him in prison and would not release him till he had discharged the whole summe which was but fiue and twentie shillings This fellowe walked in the waie of wickednes and therefore he is condemned vnto death eternall Wo vnto that graceles and dissembling sonne who being commanded of his father to go and worke in his Uineyard answered that he would and yet went not but spent the time otherwise vnthriftilie this man walked in the waie of disobedience which is sinne and therefore is in danger of eternall death Wo vnto those merciles husbandmen vnto whome the trauelling housholder hauing let out his Uineyard and requiring the increase of the fame by his seruants whome he had sent to that purpose was not onlie withstoode in his message but had not onelie his seruants but also his onelie sonne the heire of all his lands kéeping possession abused beaten and killed These husbandmen for their crueltie and vniust dealing shall abie at the daie of iudgement and as they walked in the waie of death so death euen euerlasting death shall be their portion Wo vnto those vnthankefull and careles worldlings who being solemnelie inuited and bidden to that great supper in the Gospell excused themselues by the necessitie of their weightie affaires and refused to come for they in so doing neglected their owne soules health therby most wilfullie ran in danger of eternall death Wo vnto him that being vngarnished with a wedding garment durst notwithstanding sit downe at the banket for he in so doing did highlie offend the maister of the feast and by his presumption ranne in danger of death and damnation Wo vnto that yong man whom Christ by his owne mouth taught how to become perfect namelie by selling all that he had and giuing it vnto the poore which doctrine séeming bitter vnto him and too sharp for his digestion he departed too too heauie and sorrowfull as very loth to pay so deare for heauenlie treasure This rich Gentleman would not pay so hie a price for the discipline of Christ and therefore was so much the further off from life and saluation by how much he was nearer vnto death and condemnation Wo vnto that couetous foole who hauing his hart set vpon his halfepenie inlarged his barnes to receiue his plentifull crop singing swéetelie to his soule Be merrie and take thine ease thou hast wealth enough for manie yeares not mistrusting or doubting anie thing that the diuels were agréed that same night to fetch his soule away And thus he wretched worldling walked in the way of death and destruction Wo vnto the vncleane beastlie Gergesens among whom Christ working manie miracles was so farre from any curteous intertainment that he was desired for the safetie of their swine to depart from their coasts thus preferring their hogs before their souls health they wilfullie walked the way of death and vtter desolation not passing a point for the footepath to felicitie 9 The Scripture abounding with such examples teacheth vs the danger of walking in darkenesse and sitting in the shadowe of death And therefore néeding no better schoolemaister vnto Christ let vs be content to learne in them the wholsome lessons of life which if we print in the tables of our hart kéepe grauen in memorie as in a marble stone to imitate and followe them to be ruled
out of his reckoning booke Why then should I hang downe my head as though confusion were the portion of mine inheritance To them that loue God all things turne to good This his visitation is but a preparatiue to further felicitie which in due time he will reueale to me his seruant when he hath taken sufficient proofe and experience of my patience which I beséech him to establish and confirme that the possession of eternitie may be the reward of my sufferance Wherefore O most mercifull father if it be thine appointment as thy determinations are secret and hidden from the heart of man that this my sicknes and trouble be vnto death O then gratiouslie heare my supplication and let the voice of my crie enter into thine cares Giue me not ouer in my distresse and weakenesse when Sathan is most busie to spoile me but stand thou like an inuincible Giant on my right hand let the wings of thine almightines ouershadowe me euen vntill my last gaspe Moreouer graunt most mercifull father that at the separation and dissolution of my soule and bodie I may still continue thine my bodie turning into dust whence it tooke first substance and my soule possessing heauen whence it receiued bring O Lord send me a toifull resurrection at the date of iudgement and let me be numbred among the lambes whome thou hast chosen to be ioint-heires with thée of thine owne happines in heauenlie ioies O Lord heare my praier and let my crie come vnto thee Lord haue mercie vpon me Christ haue mercie vpon me O holie Ghost be my comforter O blessed Trinitie receiue my soule into the place of glorie Amen The twelfe Blossome conteining A petition to be said at the houre of death ouer the partie visited and lieng speechlesse O Eternall God the welspring of life and the treasure of true and euerlasting riches thou God of the quicke and the dead thou which hast appointed euerie man a mansion in this earthlie pilgrimage and placed vs here as tenants at thy pleasure to remoue and depart when it is thy will to call vs. thou euen thou which ridest vpon the wings of the winde whose seate is the heauen of heauens whose footstoole is the earth whose messengers are the Angels and celestiall hoast O bow downe thine cies of pitie looke vpon vs. O thou glorie of Sion thou beautie of Hierusalem thou Alpha and Omega thou which art incomprehensible the first person of the holie Trinitie open thy gratious eares and heare the petitions of vs thy seruants O heare vs and that betimes thou sauer of soules whiles breath is in the nostrels of this thy diseased and sicke creature for after this life it is too late to make intercession Thou hast chastened him O Lord inwardlie and outwardlie his strength is turned into weakenes his health into sicknes his flesh consumeth his limines are lame his eiesight waxeth dimme his spéech is stopped all his senses are numined his hart panteth life and death struggle within him and wrestle for superioritie He lieth in pangs he is past hope of recouerie to our iudgement he refuseth sustenance he can take no rest O looke vpon him thou comfort of Israell and deliuer Ioseph out of this prison O Lord haue mercie vpon him O God make him strong to endure this sharpe and bitter conflict Let not the terrour of death the torinent of his sicknes the losse of life or departing from anie transitorie pleasure withdrawe his heart from thée but as thou didst create it and powredst it into his bodie so vouchsafe to reserue it for thy selfe that thou maist be glorifiedin it both now and héereafter when it shall please thee to raise it vp with the rest of the bodie in the last resurrection Behold Lord he is not able to praie for himselfe thy hand is so heauie vpon him at this present he can not so much as lift vp a limme thou hast whipped him so sore he is past hope of health in the eies of man thou hast made such déepe furrowes vpon his backe he is spéechlesse because thou hast taken awaie the vse of his tongue lo Lord he lifteth vp his eies vnto heauen notwithstanding all these infirmities weakenesses O remember him forgiue him his sins remit and blot out of thy reckoning booke the ten thousand talents which he oweth thée He is not able to testifie the inward sorowe of his heart conceiued for sinne so sharpe and seueare is thy present visitation which iustlie and deseruedlie thou hast laid vpon him and surelie though thou didst punish him more rigorouslie yet thou art not accusable of iniustice For iust art thou O Lord in all thy workes and righteous in all thy iudgements But yet Lord we beséech thée to asswage the heate of thy wrath which if it burne still and continue vnquenched alas who shall be able to abide it Behold Lord how lowe he is brought all his bones are out of course which waie so euer he is turned he féeleth nothing but anguish no rest no ease no quietnes can he take such is the weight of thine anger against him for the instruction of vs that are aliue and here present at his visitation that we may learne thereby to detest sinne which is the cause of thy displeasure and to amend least a worse thing happen vnto vs. O Lord we beséech thée to consider our supplications and to accept the praiers which we powre out in thy presence in the behalfe of this our diseased brother And louing Lord if it be thy will to take him hence O then we beséech thee to shorten his time to end his lingering sicknes and so to deliuer him from all earthlie trouble But if it be thy pleasure to raise him vp being thus cast downe and to quicken strengthen him whome thy hand hath driuen almost to deathes dore then at the intercession of vs thy seruants hasten his time of recouerie and restore him vnto health and soundnes We praie for him O Lord not knowing the secrets of thy counsell which is vnchangeable deale with him as it pleaseth thée thine he is to order and dispose For thou art the potter and he but a lumpe of claie vnto thée we commit his soule and bodie thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen for thine is the kingdome the power and the glorie for euer and euer Amen The thirteenth Blossome conteining 1 Gods vniuersall gouernement 2 That he annointeth Kings and Queenes and why 3 A petition vnto him in the behalfe of our gratious Queene Elizabeth 4 His mercie in preseruing her in time of tribulation 5 A praier for the continuance of her good estate 6 Against the enimies of the truth either to be conuerted or confounded 7 The Church of God and the Commonwealth two sisters 8 The death of Christ a full ransome for all our sinnes 9 Requestes to be dailie made of euerie true Christian. 1 O Gratious Lord and most mercifull father we acknowledge
vnderstanding kéepe companie 23 Be desirous of the feare of the Lord for it is the beginning of wisedome and vnderstanding 24 Be a wise sonne so shalt thou make thy fathers heart glad and driue awaie heauines from thy mother 25 Be a worshipper of the Lord thy God and in the daie of thine hunger he will refresh thée 26 Be thou painefull and laborious in thy trade and occupation so shalt thou atteine to be rich 27 Be iust and righteous in thy life and conuersation so shalt thou haue a good report 28 Be warned at the mouth of the wise despise not the counsell of such as haue experience 29 Be diligent in doing thy dutie and towards such as are thy betters vse reuerence 30 Be a moderate spender so shalt thou be thriftie for prodigalitie bringeth pouertie 31 Be earnest in a quarell of equitie and whiles thou liuest be neuer ashamed of the truth 32 Be zealous in religion and righteousnesse rebuke the offender that he may amend 33 Be patient in the time of trouble so shalt thou receiue a garland of glorie at the last 34 Be worldlie wise according to honestie and in all thy dealings haue an vpright conscience 35 Be painefull in thy life whiles thou art strong and healthfull so shalt thou be counted wise 36 Be rich in vertue and poore in vice with such riches God is glorified and with such pouertie he is honoured 37 Be mercifull to the néedie and from such as lacke turne not thy face least God be displeased 38 Be a harbourer of the succourles and let thine hands be open to the refreshing of the néedie 39 Be plentifull in good workes and where occasion is ministred leaue a testimonie of compassion 40 Be sparing in spéech laughter for a babbler is abhorred of such as be sober and wise The third Honicombe yeelding most whoalsome exhortations to vertue and vertuous life 41 BE mercifull so shalt thou do thy selfe a benefite for who so hurteth his neighbour is a Tyrant 42 Be liberall in giuing so shalt thou haue plentie for he that watereth shall be watered also himselfe 43 Be a sercher after good things so shalt thou finde fauour for who so séeketh after mischiefe it shall happen vnto him 44 Be a louer of correction so shalt thou loue knowledge for he that hateth to be reproued is a foole 45 Be true in thy talk and speake that which is right for a false witnesse deceiueth by his lieng 46 Be iust and righteous so shall no aduersitie happen vnto thée but the vngodlie shall be filled with miserie 47 Be a wise sonne and hearken to thy fathers warning least being scornefull thou be reproued 48 Be sure to kéepe thy mouth so shalt thou kéepe thy life for who so rashlie openeth his lips destroieth himselfe 49 Be righteous and thou shalt abhorre lies whereas the vngodlie shameth himselfe and is put to silence 50 Be innocent and harmelesse in thy waâ—eâ— for vngodlinesse ouerthroweth drowneth the sinner 51 Be righteous if thou wilt excell and loue wisedome if thou wilt be honourable and worshipfull 52 Be a walker in the waie of righteousnes for therein is life but in the contrarie is death and destruction 53 Be vertuous and thou shalt leaue vnto thy children an euerlasting inheritance and riches that shall neuer rust 54 Be plentifull in thine almes and God shall increase thy store and giue thée his blessing abundantlie 55 Be faithfullie occupied in the feare of the Lord and thou shalt walke vprightlie before him all thy life long 56 Be contented with a little in righteousnes for that is better than great rents wrongfullie gotten 57 Be content to commit thy workes vnto the Lord so shall that prosper which thou deuisest and intendest 58 Be righteous in thy tong and sober in thy talke for such are pleasant vnto Kings and great estates 59 Be obedient and loiall so shalt thou be in fauour and thine order of liuing shall be a good example vnto others 60 Be carefull to do thy duetie and haue a single eie ouer the charge committed vnto thine hand The fourth Honicombe yeelding most wholesome exhortations to vertue and vertuous life 61 BE humble and lowlie in the whole course of thy life let the lawe of the Lord be the rule to guide thy goings 62 Be readie to do thy friend good in the daies of his distresse for in so doing thou sauest his life 63 Be comforted in thy heauinesse with the counsell of thy neighbour cast not awaie all hope 64 Be to other as thou wouldst haue other be to thée that is iust louing fauourable gentle and courteous 65 Be in thy youth mindfull of thine age and laie vp in thy yong yeares to kéepe thée when thou art old 66 Be merrie of hart for that maketh a lustie age but a sorrowfull mind drieth vp the bones 67 Be wise and vse few words embrace vnderstanding make much of knowledge and science 68 Be a searcher after vertue and an enimie to vice so shalt thou finde perfect blessednesse in the end 69 Be merrie with them that be merrie and mourne with them that mourne yet excéede not measure 70 Be carefull ouer thy charge so shalt thou get double credit and encrease in fauour 71 Be discréet in thy talke communication and in thy behauior be mild humble courteous 72 Be pitifull to the distressed succour such as be afflicted and to the néedie reach out thine hand 73 Be to thy friend in aduersitie a present helpe that in thy necessitie he may make retribution 74 Be true and trustie in thy vocation and in all thy dealings set Gods feare before thy face 75 Be content with thine estate and breake not beyond thy tedder for in so doing thou wantest wisedome 76 Be gentle and courteous in spéech for a smooth tongue purchaseth fauor among the people 77 Be liberall and lend laie not vp thy treasure and sée thy brother lacke but giue of thy goodes to the néedie 78 Be obedient to thy parents to thy betters giue reuerence liue within lawe and loialtie 79 Be circumspect and warie in all thy busines and attempt nothing without aduisement 80 Be gealous ouer thine honest name least thou bring thy selfe to shame among the people The fift Honicombe yeelding most whoalsome exhortations to vertue and vertuous life 81 BE néere to thy selfe in the time of néede least such as be wise laugh thée to scorne and make thée a byword 82 Be faithfull to thy friend in all his affaires for therevpon dependeth thine estimation and credit 83 Be a companion with honest women but of wanton minions beware for they are the verie dores of death 84 Be modest at the table least they that sit by séeing thine intemperance abhorre thée 85 Be sparing at wine for too much drinking therof inféebleth the wit and weakeneth the memorie 86 Be louing and carefull ouer thy wife for to vse her hardlie and not like a husband is the next
the calling of a Christian Hast thou not béene obstinate of life rebellious and disobedient casting behinde thée the commandements of thy parents 3 Hast thou not béene a breaker of the holie Sabboth which God himselfe sanctified for the imitation of all men that with circumcised harts they should celebrate and solemnize the same Hast thou not applied that daie seuered to holie exercises to vaine pastimes for thine owne pleasure and recreation yea hast thou not spent it in beastlie behauiour as in Epicurisme bellie cheare sensualitie Gentilisme and otherwise than the precise vocation of a well reformed Christian requireth Hast thou not bene maliciouslie minded enuious mercilesse vncharitable couetous an extortioner a briber a â—surer a violent oppresser a defrauder of the poore a gréedie gatherer all which with thousands the like enormities tend to the violating of the lawe of God 4 Hast thou not bene wanton lewd lecherous bawdie in speach and communication a defiler of thy vessell an adulterus person led into sundrie lusts and concupiscences a tempter of maidens and wiues to naughtines an allurer of yong damsels to the violating of their virginitie a singer of light songs and sonets a teller of tales and stories of loue and what loue is a nice danser and such like all which tend to the peruerting of honestie and are as it were bellowes to blowe and kindle the fire of fleshlie lust and concupiscence Hast thou not bene a priuie pilferer an open â—reaâ—er a robber a theefe an vsurper of that which is not thine owne a challenger of another mans right a false dealer a seeker after filthie lucre and a shamelesse slaunderer which is a kinde of stealth most detestable Hast thou not coueted this and that as thou hast bene caried awaie with the violence of thy desires knowing that although it might make for thy profite yet it could not but turne to the damage of thy brother 5 Hast thou offended in these cases or art thou cleare If thou haue so walked that thy conscience can pleade faultles vngiltie betwixt thée and thine innocencie then maist thou boldlie beléeue that the grace of God is thy guide and gouernour then maist thou be assured that thou art in the verie footepath to felicitie passing into the land of promise Hierusalem the Lords citie not built with hands as subiect to ruine and corruption but eternall and euerlasting The fourth Chapter 1 None is voide of sinne no not one all haue transgressed and gone astraie 2 The mercie of God the cause of mans restitution after his fall 3 To what end Christ suffered torments in this world 4 None is able to fulfill the commandements of God and that God hath a regard to our infirmities 5 What he must do that would liue eternallie BUT alas what is he that hath not offended Is there anie man that is able to stand in triall of his innocencie 1 Our parents sinne stained vs and their transgression was deliuered to vs by line all descent how then can we comming of vnrighteous parents be inculpable and blamelesse children Truth it is A corrupt trée bringeth forth corrupt fruite and pitch defileth them that touch it 2 Neuerthelesse the mercie of God was such after the fall of Adam and Eue in Paradise that in the bloud of his sonne shed vpon the crosse in the open face of the world he wrought his restitution and placed him in the hope of saluation from whence before he fell 3 This did he to the end that by his death the force of sinne being broken and the power of Sathan crushed we might no longer wallowe in the mire of filthines like swine but reare vp our selues to heauen there to haue our harts fixed where he sitteth in whome the fulnes of our felicitie is reposed 4 And though the lawe of the Lord be so vpright and iust and our nature so corrupt and defiled that we haue no abilitie nor power of our selues to fulfill the commandements for we haue not so much as the least sparkle of sufficiencie in this consideration such is our pronenesse to do amisse yet the Lord God is so louing vnto vs that he holdeth himselfe contented with our weake working of his will for his sonnes sake in whome our want is supplied 5 Who so therefore is desirous to taste of the fruite of the trée of life and to drinke of the pleasant running riuers of rest who so I saie longeth after true happines and faine would sée good daies let him endeuour to the vttermost of his might to tame and bridle his wandering desires which if they be not brought vnder and constrained to grone vnder the yoke of subiection he shall haue his mind so bent vpon transitorie vanities and his wilso wedded to this wicked world that the light of his vnderstanding being put out he shall neuer finde the footepath of faith leading the high waie to heauen In this respect therefore let vs learne what is to be done The fift Chapter 1 The looking glasse of Gods word and the effects of the same 2 The dignitie of man in comparison of al other creatures 3 His state in the first Adam and his state in the second 4 The assaultes of Sathan notwithstanding our redemption and what we must do in temptation 5 Our duties towards God for his gratious giftes and benefites in prosperitie 1 THOU that wouldst treade the footepath to felicitie must take into thy hands the looking glasse of Gods word where thou shalt see in thy selfe all the staines and blemishes of sinne and shalt likewise finde in a readines swéete water to wash them awaie and to cleanse thée from all such filthines and pollusion 2 There thou shalt sée the dignitie of man in comparison of all other creatures he onelie being indued with reason and all other liuing things beside lead by lust Consider of this excellent blessing be thankfull for it and giue God the glorie This is the footepath to felicitie 3 Againe let this be thy dailie meditation that through the fall of the first Adam thou becamest a castawaie but by the death of the second Adam thine attonement in his bloudshed being accomplished thou wast receiued againe into fauour Consider of this excellent blessing be thankefull for it and giue God the glorie This is the footepath to felicitie 4 And though thy redemption be wrought by and through the innocent passion of Christ yet Sathan thy cankered enimie is assaulting thée afresh with newe traines and snares séeking to vndermine thée praie God to fortifie thy faith cast out thine anchor on the firme land of constancie crie for helpe at his hand whose helpe is in a readines repose all thy hope in him that hath care of thy safetie and is of power to confound thy ghostlie enimie Consider of this excellent blessing be thankefull for it and giue God the glorie This is the footepath to felicitie 5 If thou be crowned with the graces and gifts of God either corporall or
and guided by them to square and frame the whole course of our life by their rule we shall not onelie not walk in the wais of the wicked to eate with them in hel fire the bread of affliction and to drinke the dregs of torments but we shall tread in the footepath of the godlie at last enter into the Common wealth of Israel the kingdome of heauen which God grant Amen The tenth Chapter 1 Of waies the sundrie kinds 2 Of the way of life opened by authoritie of Scripture 3 A lesson how to be perfect and vpright 4 The safetie of such as walke in the Lords way 5 The benefites flowing from this way 6 The mischiefe folowing the transgression of Adam and Eue. 7 Notable mens names remembred who walked in Gods way and of the eternitie of the word 8 The excellencie of the Lords way set forth by similitudes 9 Peters boldnesse in venturing to tread the Lords way without the staffe of faith 10 Of ten leapers and the thankefull Samaritane 11 That we of England are like to the Gaderens 12 Of Marie Magdalene Ioanna and Susanna and what we may learne of them 13 What we must doe if we meane to walke in the Lords way and of the merchant and the husbandman by way of example 14 Of Nichodemus who sought the way of the Lord by night 15 Of the pretiousnesse of our soules 16 The way of the Lord and the waies of the world are quite contrarie 17 How they differ is proued by things that vtterlie disagree 18 All creatures couet places correspondent to their nature of the Salamander and the Hydra with an application of this doctrine 19 The immortalitie of the soule and a lesson for all Christians to learne 20 A praier or request that it would please God to guide our feete in his way 1 THere is a waie for the birds in the aire a waie for the beasts in the field a waie for the wormes in the earth a waie for the fish in the sea There is a waie for the winde a waie for the raine a waie for the sunne a waie for the moone There is a waie from the East a waie from the West a waie from the North a waie from the South There is a crooked waie a streight waie a rough waie and a plaine waie There is a sandie waie a stonie waie a soft waie and a hard waie There is a waie aboue a waie beneath a waie before a waie behinde a waie on the right hand and a waie on the left There is an open waie a secret waie a darke waie a bright waie There is a waie to hell a waie to heauen a waie to death and a waie to life Of this last waie I meane to open the commoditie and so to make a conclusion 2 The waie to life euerlasting is the waie wherein we all should walke it is the safe waie for the soule to saue it from all annoiances all other waies this onelie excepted are dangerous to enter for they are darke lanes as it were leading to the dungeon of death The excellencie of this way is such as that it cannot be described For it is the way of God euen his owne way established in righteousnesse and perfection And therefore the Prophet verie notablie speaking of this matter hath this worthie sentence My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my waies your waies saith the Lord. As if he should say your thoughts are vncleane corrupt earthie vile vnpure vnperfect sinfull abominable wicked variable momentanie vncertaine wauering for they are ingendered in your hearts which are nothing else but a sinkehole of sinfulnesse a dunghill of naughtinesse a puddle of filthinesse a lake of vncleannesse and what is worst that is your heart As for your waies they are no better Thus by an antithesis or opposition the Lord teacheth vs what his waies are euen the waies of truth righteousnesse puritie and perfection wherein who soeuer walketh no doubt he is in the high way to heauen and treadeth the footepath to felicitie 3 Abraham being nintie nine yeares old was instructed and taught how to become perfect the Lord appearing vnto him and giuing him his lesson in that behalf I am God all sufficient walke before me that is kéepe thée within the compasse of my paths wander not this way or that way but walke in one way euen my way and be thou vpright There was no meanes either for Abraham or anie other holie man to vse wherby to attaine and come to vprightnesse but onlie the walking in the way of the Lord as we may sée prooued confirmed in this place by Gods owne mouth How preposterouslie therefore they goe to woorke which séeke sinisterlie and indirectlie to recouer perfection and vprightnesse some building vpon traditions of men some vpon custome some vpon ceremonies some vpon Paule some vpon Apollo some vpon Cephas some vpon good woorkes some vpon merits some vpon pardons some vpon indulgences some vpon pilgrimages some vpon professions all which to be but sand Christ the rocke refused a blind man may discerne For is this to walke in the waie of the Lord nothing lesse 4 This waie of the Lord is the waie of beautie peace saith Salomon it is the waie of holinesse saith Esaie it is the waie of streightnesse éeuennesse plainnesse and smoothnesse saie Ose and Ieremie in this waie whosoeuer walketh the moone shall not hurt him by night nor the sunne annoie him by day the pestilence shall not touch him the arrowes of the hunter shall not wound him he shall not stumble nor hit his foot against a stone the Lord will ouershadowe him with the shield of safetie the Lord will be his defence his buckler his speare against all his enimies no lightning from aboue no earthquake beneath no consuming fire on this side no raging sea on that no element no planet finallie no creature shall do him anie harme This honor will the Lord vouchsafe all such as walke in his waie which is the waie of life the high waie to heauen and the footepath to felicitie 5 Dauid oppressed with the crueltie of his enimies and fearing great dangers calleth vnto God for succour His petition consisting of manie partes whereof some concerne himselfe othersome his aduersaries this is one thing which he craueth at the hands of his maker Make thy waie plaine before my face saith that good man Giuing vs to vnderstand that by walking in the waie of the Lord we haue our felicitie fulfilled as by the contrarie the measure of our confusion and cursednes is made vp Yea to walke in the waie of the Lord is the rule to make our crooked waies streight the plainer to make our rugged waies smooth the lanthorne to make our darke waies bright and lightsome according to that saieng of the Prouerbewriter The waie of the righteous shineth as the light that shineth more and more vnto the perfect daie This is the waie of wisdome and
torment no losse no damage no wrong no iniurie no anguish no not death it selfe were it neuer so terrible For if the merchant man for lucres sake and increase of commoditie aduentureth life and goods vpon the sea enduring all tempests that arise and suffering euen the woorst lucke that maie light vpon him with a contented mind in hope to obteine the fruite and profit of his trauell if the husbandman repineth not to tarie the time of the yeare after his painful plowing his diligent sowing and other his necessarie labours with sweating browes and bedewed lims susteined then gathereth into his barnes the pleatifull crop of his ground shall we thinke much to suffer for Christs sake for the truths sake for safe conscience sake for our souls sake temporall paines and momentanie troubles knowing that these are preparatiues to life euerlasting that we can not walke in Gods waie vnlesse we yeeld our neckes to beare his yoke 14 Fondlie plaid Nichodemus that great lawier and ruler among the Iewes his part in comming to seeke the waie of the Lord by night For hée preferring his worldlie reputation and countenance before the knowledge of Gods kingdome and being ashamed to be seene in the day time to haue recourfe vnto so contemned a person as Christ prooued himselfe to be as he was euen a louer of himselfe a popular fellowe that is such a one as esteemed more of his worship and credit than of the doctrine of truth Wherein he declared his infancie and grosse ignorance touching regeneration his great learning knowledge and experience in other points naught auailing Thus weé seé that for one furtherance and help to leade vs to the waie of the Lord and to bring vs to the footepath of felicitie there are twentie yea and twice twentie hinderances and lets which lie like blockes ouer which there is no leaping vnlesse the Lord put vnder his hand and lift vs ouer them 15 Now therefore for somuch as there is but one waie vnto life euerlasting but manie waies vnto death and condemnation requisite it is that we which are placed in this world as in a wildernesse and haue a pilgrimage to walke should first and principallie haue as they saie an eie to the maine chance that is should haue a singular regard to the safetie of our soules the pretiousnesse wherof Christ commended vnto vs when he said what will it profit a man to gaine all the world and to lose his soule Meaning indeéd thereby that all the pompe the riches the treasure the pleasure and whatsoeuer belongeth to this life are nothing counteruailable or equiualent to the soule the excellencie whereof if there were none other proofe to confirme it is sufficientlie set forth by the rich ransome that was paid for it to redeéme it out of captiuitie and thraldome I meane the pretious bloud of Iesus Christ. 16 Setting aside therfore all by-waies which leade vnto death it standeth vs vpon if we tender our saluation to seéke the waie of the Lord whiles it may be found The maner how is declared before at large euen by denieng our selues and forsaking the world with whom whosoeuer doth acquaint himselfe vnpossible it is that heé should once set foote in the waie of the Lord. For the waies of the Lord are good and righteous altogither as saith the Psalmewriter the whole world is set vpon mischiefe and villanie saith the Apostle So that betwene the waies of the Lord and the waies of the world there is no affinitie no likenesse no equalitie naie there is a flat opposition and contrarietie 17 Is it possible that the lambe and the woolfe the spider and the flie the falcon and the feasant the hound and the hare the peacocke and the snake the cat and the mouse the owle and the nightingale the iuie and the oke the vinetreé and the colewort or what else is of contrarie inclination should agreé together the one not spoile the other The waies of the Lord the waies of the world are much more at variance For fire being hot and drie is not a greater enimie vnto water that is cold and moist life being sensible quickening and pleasant is not a more mortal foe vnto death that is senslesse ouglie and dreadfull blacke being darke and dim is not more contrarie vnto white that is lightsome and bright Christ being perfection it selfe is not more contrarie vnto Antichrist the child of perdition heauen aboue is not more vnlike to hell belowe finallie the triumphs of celestiall Sion are not more differing from the torments of the infernall lake than the waies of the Lord which are pure and cleane and the waies of the world which are filthie and lothsome 18 We seé that euerie thing coueteth a place to liue in agreéable to their nature The fish in the riuer the beast in the medowe the bird in the aire the worme in the earth Experience teacheth vs no lesse and reason proueth it to be true Wherevpon it is recorded in monuments of memorie that the Salamander and the Hydra two mortall enimies and creatures of contrarie qualitie encountring vpon the land did so wound one another that they were well nigh destroied The Salamander desirous to recouer himselfe left off fighting and flew into the fire which restored vnto him his former strength the Hydra séeing this retired in like maner and lept into the water where he recouered all the force that he had lost and thus they both by betaking themselues to their naturall places preserued their liues which otherwise had béene in hazard 19 These creatures and diuerse other maie teach vs wit For séeing that we haue no continuing citie here but looke for one to come is it not our partes to direct our steps thitherward considering that we are not like vnto beasts birds fishes worines serpents or anie vnreasonable thing but immortall like our maker whose image we beare about vs It were vantage for vs to meditate herevpon and to haue our minds aboue not raking like dunghill cocks for a barlie corne in mucke but like eagles lifting our selues aloft with the wings of faith 20 And thus much touching the waie of all flesh which is death the waies of the world which are sinfull and lead vnto hell the waies of the Lord which conduct vs vnto the footepath of felicitie and so to life euerlasting In which waie being the right waie the true waie the perfect waie the certaine waie the pure waie the cleane waie the vndefiled waie the Lord giue vs grace to walke whiles we liue and drawe breath in this our earthlie tabernacle that we maie when we are called out of the same treade the footepath to felicitie enter in at the glorious gate of heauenlie Hierusalem and there enioie our appointed mansions not made with hands but established by the word of eternitie to whome be all dominion power and maiestie Amen A looking glasse for the Christian Reader conteining summarilie the substance of all the doctrines
deliuered before at large A Listning eare that loues to learne how to amend that is amisse By grace diuine shall haue the choice of that which good healthfull is Resist the force and strength of sinne with spirituall artillerie Absteine froÌ„ noisome lusts This is the footepath to felicitie Haue alwaies in rememberance Christ Iesus crucifide to death And let the same thy comfort be till vtter gaspe of life and breath Meeke minded be all pride detest and learne of Christ humilitie Forbeare thy furious foe This is the footepath to felicitie Lament the lacke of faith and truth which lies forsaken and forlorne Exhort to peace where it doth want and of the needie thinke no scorne Make much of such as pleasure take in fostring loue and charitie In such is hope of grace This is the footepath to felicitie Nothing so much doth like the Lord as louing of his heauenlie lawe Giue eare therto and from the same let no alurement thee withdrawe An vpright life delight to leade thy lust keepe in captiuitie By vertue honour seeke This is the footepath to felicitie Reuolt not from the word of truth but euen to death the same professe And make account that thy reward will be eternall happinesse Hell is the hire of euerie one that is to truth an enimie A true beleeuer die This is the footepath to felicitie Marke what reposed is in heauen for such as do their maisters will Free libertie from thraldoms yoke and blessed Angels food their fill Lord lighten thou our mistie eâ—â—s that we may loue the veritie Extend to vs thy spirit This is the footepath to felicitie Make vs to ioie in nothing more than in thy word procuring peace I meane thy Gospell full of grace the loue whereof O Lord increase New harts new minds create in vs and make vs like thy maiestie Good like thy selfe so shall we finde the footepath to felicitie Amen FINIS A Guide to Godlinesse diuided into three speciall branches namelie Confession Petition Thanksgiuing and their seuerall blossomes A Christian treatise and no lesse sweete and comfortable than necessarie and profitable to be read both for common and priuate vse c. BY ABRAHAM FLEMING 1. Timoth. 4 8. Godlines is profitable vnto all things which hath the promise of the life present and of that which is to come ¶ Printed at London by Henrie Denham dwelling in Pater noster rowe at the signe of the Starre 1581. A Preface to the true Christian Reader AMong all the meanes which God hath ordeined to bring man to the state of blessednes I finde praier to be pretious profitable and necessarie Pretious because it is the incense which we are commanded to burne vnto the Lord in the sanctuarie of our harts pretious I saie because thereby we obteine at the hands of God whatsoeuer tendeth to the good estate of the soule and yet once againe pretious because the Lord God at the ascending thereof vp into heauen stretcheth foorth his bountifull hand and largelie bestoweth vpon vs whatsoeuer is beneficiall for our mortall bodies Profitable because it procureth vnto vs the ministration of all maner commodities behoofull for this life For it is the onlie instrument which we are commanded by Christ in the Gospell to vse if we stand in neede of anie thing either temporall or spirituall during our pilgrimage in this life as the verie words of our sauiour seeme to import in this sense saieng Whatsoeuer ye aske of the father in my name it shall be giuen you Againe Aske and ye shal haue as if he said If ye aske not ye are worthie to want because you neglect the vse of the precept Now who is so ignorant but knoweth that the asking which Christ meaneth is praier For to aske of God is not to aske after the maner of men with a kind of carnal and corruptible affection the end where of is to staie the force of concupiscence or desire and the obteining of that which is required but it is an inward secret heauenlie by we are so farre from profiting that of our selues we should waxe worse and worse 3 For the more light of knowledge is shewed the blinder would we remaine the greater obedience is taught the frowarder and stubberner would we become if thou by the mightie working of thy holie spirit shouldest not cause it to be fruitefull And although we haue this naturall corruption in common with the whole rotten race of Adam yet we confesse that in vs it hath budded and shot forth so much more than in others as we haue had mo meanes to kill it and to cause it to wither than others haue had 4 Where first of all the gratious offer of the treasure of thy holie Gospell vnto vs maketh vs guiltie manie waies For where passing by manie other nations thou hast trusted our nation withall yet with a number of vs it hath found as small entertainment and felt as great resistance as amongst them at whose gates it neuer knocked For a great portion of the land partlie neuer yéelding themselues to the obedience thereof and partlie falling from it after they had once yéelded stand proudelie as it were at the staues end with thée The rest which make profession of their submission vnto it do it not accordinglie For first there bée heapes of our people which either through a déepe rooted affection and loue to Popish religion or through a wicked opinion which they nourish of embracing the truth set foorth are so nousled blinded and misled as that they still abide in an vtter ignorance of the truth it selfe in such fort that although there be no want of preaching yet they are as rawe in the knowledge of the true seruice of thée as they were expert before in the seruice of the diuell 5 And where knowledge is to anie such sufficiencie as is requisite for the inheritors of the kingdome of heauen there is it for a great part ioined with such hypocrisie as maketh them more detestable before thée which searchest the verie reines than if they had still continued in their ignorance Now for the remnant of vs which through grace haue trulie and faithfullie beleeued it is with so great weakenes of faith and so small reformation of manners that our glorious profession of the Gospell supported and borne out with so small shewe of good fruites which the excellencie therof doth require maketh not onelie the enimies to condemne vs but our selues to suspect one another whether we belong vnto thée or no. 6 Wherein O Lord we acknowledge that to be our great and horrible sinne that being put in trust with this vnspeakeable treasure of thy holie Gospell and preferred before our neighbors professors about vs yet we are in thankefull obedience vnto thee behinde them all first in knowledge last in zeale before them in the doctrine of thy holie Gospell behinde them in the discipline of the same 7 The yoke of the slauerie of our bodies which the Popish religion
that we feéling our selues inwardlie before thy iudgement seate discharged and our consciences towards theé released may be swallowed vp with an vnfeined loue toward thy heauenlie Maiestie and towards our brethren for thy sake 5 Make sinne to die in vs dailie more and more that we may hate detest and vtterlie abhorre all sinne and wickednes in all men but especiallie in our selues that we may stronglie through thy holie spirit set our selues in open warre and defiance against all sin and wickednes that we please not our selues in our sinnes but streightlie examining sinne by the iust rule of thy holie lawes we may vtterlie from the bottome of our hearts condemne euen the least sinne in our selues hauing our whole ioie comfort and consolation vpon those things which be agreéable to thy blessed will 6 Giue vs grace alwaies to be afraide to do anie thing contrarie to thy good pleasure and from the bottome of our hearts to examine and trie our thoughts before thy presence that they be vpright and vnfeined not hypocriticall in outward shew onlie and appearance but that euen all corners of our hearts being opened and disclosed before theé we may euen as though it were openlie before the face of the whole world bring them in shewe knowing that a double hart is detestable in thy sight 7 O Lord direct and guide our feéte that we may walke alwaies as before thine eies not onelie before the eies of man being more carefull to walke circumspectlie in this respect that we haue theé to be a viewer of our doings a thousand fold more than the eies of man that thus we may walke as becommeth thy children not onlie in outward shew but also in sinceritie of hart abhorring euen the least sinne in our selues striuing resisting and fighting against sinne not delighting our selues in sinne nor nourishing the same in our breast but earnestlie embracing and studiouslie seéking after those things which be pleasant in thine eies 8 O good Lord make vs constant and firme harted that neither the feare of man nor losse of goods life lands possessions or friendes drawe vs awaie from theé to do anie the least thing contrarie to thy will and pleasure neither the fauour or friendship of man nor yet the flattering enticements of this world nor the vaine promotions of the same do moue vs anie whit from the true and endles ioie delight pleasure which we ought to haue in those things which be agreéable to thy will and the constant performance of the same but that alwaies to the end of our life we may continue in thy pathes growing and increasing from faith to faith from strength to strength till at the length we shall come to thy euerlasting rest Amen T. C. The second Branch of Petition The first Blossome conteining A praier to God at our vprising in the morning O Bountifull GOD which among all other thine aboundant blessings hast giuen vs the bright daie and Sunne shine to be the guide and gouernour of all our doings we beseéch theé that as thou art the father of light and hast sent light among vs not onlie the light of the cleére daie but also the light of thy glorious Gospell so thou wouldest direct all that we go about in light that we may shew our selues children of light in applieng our labour and occupieng both our minds and bodies in the workes of light that when the daie of retribution shall come when thou wilt reward euerie one according to the measure of their merits we maie enter into that light whose brightnes shall neuer be darkened there to liue with him who is the light of the world Iesus Christ the righteous to whome with theé and the holie Ghost be all laud praise honour and glorie for euermore Amen The second blossome conteining A petition to be said at the putting on of our clothes O Eternall and most mercifull Father we beseéch theé as thou hast giuen vs clothes to couer our bodies to hide our nakednes to preserue our corporall health so to decke and beautifie our soules with the riches of thy true knowledge which is the summe and substance of all perfect happines through Iesus Christ our sauiour Amen The third Blossome conteining A petition to be said at the washing of our hands GRant O mercifull sauiour that as with this water the filth and vncleannes of our bodilie members are washed and scowred so our inward soules may by the dailie remembrance and vertue of thy bloudie death and passion be purged from all sinne and iniquitie that both bodie and soule being voide of blemish we maie come the neérer vnto theé in perfection Amen The fourth Blossome conteining A petition to God at our going abroade about our worldlie businesse O Gratious God which sanctifiest the hearts of thy chosen seruants and circumcisest their thoughts in so much that they become wholie acceptable vnto theé and are altogether cleansed from carnalitie and corruption we beseéch theé so to pitch the tents of thy protection and prouidence about vs this present daie that all things whatsoeuer we purpose may by thy gratious guiding be so disposed and prospered that our hearts be not carried awaie with the cares of this world as hauing little hope in thine all sufficiencie and bountifulnes O Lord so season vs with the salt not of vnsauourinesse least we be throwne out vpon the dunghill of reprobation and so troden vnder foote as out-casts of none account but with the salt of sinceritie and righteousnes so powder our spirits that whatsoeuer we take in hand this present daie may be so furthered helped forward and prospered by thy goodnes that we thereby may reape sufficient commoditie none offended or discontented either with vs or our labour nor thou by anie meanes dishonoured but highlie praised and glorified both in vs and in our doings according to the saieng of thy sonne in the holie Gospell Let your light so shine before men that they seéing your good workes may glorifie your father which is in heauen This O Lord and all other graces necessarie grant vnto vs for thy sonnes sake our onlie mediatour and aduocate Amen The fift Blossome conteining A petition to be said when we are at worke and about our businesse PRosper O Lord by the presence assistance of thy grace the businesse which we haue in hand Put into our minds to do it faithfullie and rather for conscience sake than couetousnes Further our affaires we beséech thée of thine infinite goodnes giue our labours prosperous happie successe and graunt vs grace to glorifie thée in thy blessings Amen The sixt Blossome conteining A petition vnto God at the leauing off from our labour whether it be of bodie or minde ALmightie God and most mercifull father which cloathest the lillies of the field with such roialtie as Salomon when he sat vpon the throne of his maiestie neuer possessed which feedest the birds of the aire the beasts of the land and the fish
most bountifull and gratious God thou hast giuen vs the vse of all these things and made vs possessours of the same we hartilie beséech thée to instill and let drop into the furrowes of our hearts the acceptable deaw of thankefulnes wherewith our entrailes being throughlie moistened and made souple we may remember and thinke vpon thy tender loue and more than fatherlie kindnesse and in thy gifts giue thée glorie and magnifie thy name with the sound of our tongues and the consent of our hearts 9 For alas what are we miserable and beggerlie wretches that haue nothing by inheritance but sinne and wickednes What are we able to giue considering that we haue nothing but that which we haue receiued in respect wherof our owne wretchednes bewraieth it selfe and our continuall neede and nakednes is manifest Onelie this thou requirest euen the sacrifice of praise and thankesgiuing which is the thing that we are commanded to paie vnto thée For recompense thou requirest none since that whatsoeuer thou giuest thou giuest fréelie without looking for reward 10 Wherfore most mercifull father and déere God make vs thankefull receiuers of thy benefites and that we may giue a testimonie of our thankefulnes loose and vntwist the strings of our tongues and open the pipes of our hearts that they both may sound foorth thy most magnificent maiestie and praise thée to whome perpetuall praise belongeth Graunt this necessarie petition most bountifull God for the merits of thy sonne Christ Iesus our onlie mediatour and aduocate Amen The second Blossome conteining A thankesgiuing for the benefit of our creation WE praise and magnifie thée O eternall GOD for thy great mercie in that it hath pleased thée among all the workes of thine hands to make vs the most excellent and noblest examples of thy iustice wisedome and goodnes We glorifie thée also for that immortall essence the principall part of our nature euen our reasonable soule which although it be not properlie comprehended in place yet is it resident in cur bodies and there dwelleth as in a mansion house not onelie to minister life to all the members and parts of our bodies and to make the instruments thereof méete and fitlie seruing for the actions wherevnto they are apointed but also to beare the chiefe office in the gouernement of our life and that not onlie about the duties incident and belonging to this earthlie and transitorie life but also to stir and quicken vs vp to the seruice and worship of thée our most mercifull Creator And as we praise thée for creating vs like to thine owne image not onlie in the outward frame of our bodies wherin thy glorie doth appeare but also in the inward shape of the soule which is the proper seate of thy likenesse so do we magnifie thée for all the graces and blessings wherewith it hath pleased thée to beautifie adorne and enrich the one and the other Beséeching thée to voutsafe vs the direction of thy spirit that we may during the time of our iournie in the wildernesse of this world emploie and vse them to that principall end whereto they were bestowed vpon vs namelie to the benefite of our brethren and the setting foorth of thine eternall glorie through Iesus Christ our onlie mediator and aduocate Amen The third Blossome conteining A thankesgiuing for the benefite of our election GLorie and praise be giuen to thée O Lord in that thou hast vouchsafed to call and elect vs a peculiar and chosen people vnto thy selfe and to reckon vs in the lot of thine inheritance being ordeined to saluation whereas contrariwise a great number are appointed to condemnation Which gratious gift of thine eternall election we referre not to anie worthines in vs or to anie merits of workes that we are able to do but onlie to the méere mercy and bountifull liberalitie of thée our maker who adoptest some into the hope of euerlasting life and iudgest othersome to eternall death which mysterie is laid vp in the height of thy heauenlie wisedome far aboue the reach of our reason and vnderstanding that according to thy will and pleasure thou mightest be honoured Like thankes be giuen vnto thée O most mercifull Father for that thou hast not onlie called vs vnto this glorious estate of grace but hast so assigned the same vnto vs that the certaintie of the effect thereof is not in suspense or doubtfull For it hath pleased thée of thine incomprehensible goodnes to binde vs together one with another in Christ our head we being his mysticall members and to knit vs vnto thy selfe with a knot vnpossible to be loosed For this thine vnspeakeable mercie we praise and magnifie thée and thy sonne Iesus Christ our tender mediatour and aduocate Amen The fourth Blossome conteining A thankesgiuing for the benefite of our redemption WE giue thée most hartie thanks for all thy good gifts O eternall GOD of thy great goodnesse testified vnto vs euen from the beginning of the world to this present houre and speciallie for the performance of thy promise made vnto our forefathers the Patriarches and their generations but accomplished to vs vpon whome the ends of the world approch knowing that the noblenes and excellencie of our creation would so little profit vs considering our fall in the person of Adam that it would rather turne to our greater shame such is thy iustice who deniest vs when we be defiled and corrupted with sinne to be thy handieworke And therefore we cannot sufficientlie extoll thy bottomles bountie in tendering our decaied state that when we were danmed dead and lost in our selues didst send downe from heauen thy déerelie and onlie begotten sonne to take our nature vpon him and to die for our redemption that in him we might séeke for righteousnes deliuerance life and saluation according to the testimonie of thy seruant Peter teaching vs that there is none other name vnder heauen giuen vnto men wherein they must be saued By which name of Iesus he was not vnaduisedlie called or by chance and aduenture nor yet by the will of men but brought euen from heauen by an Angell the publisher of thy decrée with a reason also giuen because he was sent to saue the people from their sins Unto thée therefore O God the father our Creator and O Christ the sonne our redéemer be all honor and praise for euer and euer Amen The fift Blossome conteining A thankesgiuing vnto Christ for the benefite of our reconciliation MOst hartie thankes be giuen vnto thée O tender sauiour of our soules who being the immaculate and vnspotted Lambe of God the father wast well content to be charged with our offences that we might taste the sweete fruites of thine innocencie and didst most willinglie offer vp thy bodie an oblation vnto thy father after that definitiue sentence pronounced in the Consistorie had passed against thée in iudgement that we the children of wrath out-casts from the Common wealth of Israell strangers from the couenant enimies vnto
God might by the diuine vertue of thy death and passion be reconciled and escape the penaltie of the lawe to the curse whereof sinne had made vs subiect but thou by thy sufferings hast set vs at libertie and deliuered vs from danger of damnation We cannot imagine how to extoll thy mercie sufficientlie in taking vpon thée a worke of such difficultie euen the appeasing of thy fathers wrath kindled against vs in whome the glorious image of our Creator was shamefullie defaced Thy bowels of compassion and tender loue excéede all comparison For the manifold torments which thou in thy mortall bodie didst suffer in the presence of most vniust Iudges are assured warrants of thy tendernes ouer vs whome to set frée from punishment thou gauest thine owne déere and most swéete soule to be a satisfactorie oblation vpon the which all our filth of sinne might be cast and so cease as not imputable vnto vs anie more thereby reconciling vs vnto thy father and sealing the same attonement with thy pretious heart bloud To thée therefore be honour and praise for euermore Amen The sixt Blossome conteining A thankesgiuing for the benefite of our iustification LAude and praise be giuen vnto thée O eternall God who hast vouchsafed to adopt vs into the number of thy chosen children not for anie of our merits but for thy mercie sake the curse of the lawe taking force by sinne notwithstanding And we extoll thy goodnes O most bountifull father for that thou hast of thy frée grace for Iesus sake in whome thou art delighted staied the execution of thy wrath and vengeance against vs who haue prouoked thée to indignation by our manifold sinnes and wickednes which had vtterlie excluded and shut vs out of the gates of thy good will did it not please thée at the intercession of thy beloued sonne to receiue vs into fauour and to reckon vs for righteous by the remission of our sinnes and the imputation of thy sonnes righteousnes We haue so lead our life since the first time that thy hand planted vs in this world as that the whole race which we haue runne hath bene a kind of continuall kindling of thy furie to consume vs and yet O vnmeasurable mercie thou hast so pitied our weakenesses that thou hast and doest iustifie vs that is to saie acquite vs that were accused from all filthines and that by the mediation of thy sonne Iesus Christ not by allowance of our innocencie but by imputation of his righteousnes that in him we which in our selues are iudged vnrighteous might be counted righteous To thée therefore O most louing father and to Iesus Christ thy sonne be all honour and glorie Amen The seuenth Blossome conteining A thankesgiuing for the gift of our sanctification ALmightie God which from time to time hast sanctified thy people and purged their harts from the prophane imaginations of idolatrous and heathenish vnbeléeuers that they might be a holie heritage a peculiar people vnto thee zealous of good workes and addicted vnto the deuout seruice of thée we praise and magnifie thy goodnes in that it hath pleased thée to sequester vs from the number of the pagan people who are altogether ignorant of thée and thy diuine worship and hast opened the eies of our vnderstandings and sanctified them by the visitation and presence of thy holie spirit whereby we haue atteined to the knowledge of thy truth and the mysteries reuealed in the same Which sanctification as thou hast vouchsafed to begin in vs so we most humblie beséech thée to continue euen to the end tearme of our life that the old leauen of maliciousnes being quite cleanfed awaie we may be changed into new dowe to serue thée in holines and righteousnes which is the end of our election O holie Ghost which didst descend in the similitude of a doue and in the likenes of clouen tongues ouershadowe vs we beséech thée and take vp thy dwelling in our harts that whatsoeuer we saie thinke or do may lauour and tast of sanctification so shall we for this and all other thy good graces as we are bound by dutie praise and glorifie thée for euer and euer Amen The eight Blossome conteining A thankesgiuing for our preseruation OMnipotent God most mightie in word and déede which hatest nothing that thy holie hands haue created we praise and magnifie thée for all thy benefites bestowed vpon vs from our infancie vntill this our present age for caring and prouiding for vs all necessaries conuenient and agréeable to this our mortall life we thanke thée for our health wealth and libertie our peace quietnes tranquillitie our children offspring and affinitie all which are thy blessings not due to vs by desert but bestowed vpon vs of thy goodnes and frée will And as we glorifie thee for these thy temporall benefits so we magnifie thee and extoll thy most holie name for the rich treasure of thy word and Gospell for thy holie sacraments and other gifts powred vpon thy Church and congregation of whome we confesse our selues to be members and thy son Christ Iesus the principall and supreme head in whome béeing knit together like liuelie stones we make one spirituall building erected to the honour of thy most blessed name We giue thée thankes also O mercifull father for thy patience thy long sufferance and forbearing to punish vs dailie offending against thy diuine maiestie for the preaching of thy word to call vs home vnto thée by repentance and to a reformed life for defending vs from bodilie dangers at home and abroade by water and land in companie and alone whereas manie a one doth miscarrie as we sée and by due proofe are able to testifie For some are drowned some hanged some burned some boiled some dismembred some murthered one this waie another that waie destroied in strange forme and fashion by fire by water by weapon by famine by sicknesse and other casualties some suddenlie some lingeringlie some infamouslie and diuers diuerslie as they are eating as they are drinking as they are dansing as they are cursing as they are forswearing as they are sleeping as they are waking some betraied of their counterfet friends some insnard of their malicious enimies some falling into the hands of théeues on land some assaulted of pirats on sea and manie by manifold meanes ouertaken with diuers dangers oftentimes denouncing extremitie of death From the which perils for that it hath pleased thée of thine infinite clemencie to preserue and saue vs from our verie cradle wherewith we might haue bene ouerthrowne and so spéedilie dispatched had not thy holie hand ouershadowed vs and compassed vs round about being wrapped in our swathling cloutes we giue thée most hartie thankes and praise thy blessed name with pure vndefiled lips Accept our seruice receiue our sacrifice euen the eleuation and lifting vp of our hands and harts vnto thée the oblation of thanksgiuing presented vnto thy diuine Maiestie for thine innumerable graces and blessings
the messenger of death but a wise man will pacifie him The heart of man purposeth his waie but the Lord doth direct his steps Uiolence and tyrannie are the ruine of a Realme but mercie vpholdeth the Kings throne Upbraide not thy better with contumelious talke least thou heape hot coles vpon thine owne head Without counsell thoughtes come to naught but in the multitude of counsellers is stedfastnesse Wisedome resteth in the heart of him that hath vnderstanding and is vnknowne in the minds of fooles Yeald to the magistrate dutifulnes and with thine equall vse courtesie Yong or old rich or poore strong or weake thou art not thine owne but Gods who made thée Zacheus the Publicane offering to make restitution if he had done anie man wrong teacheth the rich of this world what their duties should be Zerubbabell shall laie the highest stone of the spirituall temple his hands haue laid the foundation of the same The third sententious sequence of the A B C deliuering diuers doctrines of vertue and vice to be folowed and auoided A Sound heart is the life of the flesh but enuie is the rotting of the bones A faithfull witnes deliuereth soules but a deceiuer speaketh lies An angrie man stirreth vp strife but he that is slowe to wrath appeaseth strife Better is a dinner of gréene hearbes where loue is than a stalled oxe hatred therewith Better is a litrie with the feare of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therwith Better is a drie morsell if peace be with it than an house full of sacrifices with strife Childrens children are the crowne of the elders and the glorie of the children are their fathers Contemne not anie that is in authoritie for that is the readie waie to runne into Gods wrath Chasten thy sonne whiles there is hope and let not thy soule spare for his murmurings Diuers weights are an abhomination vnto the Lord and deceiptfull balances are not good Depart from the foolish man when thou perceiuest not in him the lips of knowledge Destruction shall light vpon them that imagine euill but to such as thinke on good things shall be mercie and truth Enter not into lawe with a rich man for it is in him to peruert equitie and right Exercise thy selfe in that which is honest so shall no shame followe there vpon Exempt thy selfe from the companie of wanton women for they leade thée the waie to hell Foolishnesse is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction shall driue it awaie Frowardnesse is the token of a foole and inconstancie is a signe of little trust Followe not the counsell of the wicked least thou be partaker of their punishment Giue admonition to the wise and he will be the wiser teach a righteous man and he will increase in learning Good vnderstanding maketh acceptable but the waie of the disobedient is hated Grudge not to giue of thine abundance to him that is néedie least God be angrie He that mocketh the poore reprocheth him that made him and he that reioiceth at destruction shall not escape vnpunished He that is slowe vnto anger is better than the mightie man and he that ruleth his owne mind is better than he that winneth a citie How much better is it to get wisedome than gold and to get vnderstanding is more to be desired than siluer In the mouth of the foolish is the boasting of pride but the lips of the wise will beware of such It is a great abhomination when Kings are wicked for a Kings feare should be vpholden with righteousnes If thou sinitest a scornefull person the ignorant shall take better héede and if thou reprouest one that hath vnderstanding he will be the wiser Kéepe thy selfe from strife for therein consisteth a mans honour but they that haue pleasure in bralling are fooles euerie one Kings ought to be feared as the roaring of a Lion who so prouoketh him vnto anger offendeth against his owne soule Kindle not contention betwéene neighbour and neighbour for the Lord will roote such out of the land Laie no priuie wait wickedlie vpon the house of the righteous and disquiet not his resting place Let not thy wrath and gelousie moue thée to follow the wicked and vngodlie Like as the cold of snowe in the haruest so is a faithfull messenger to them that send him for he refresheth his maisters minde Make not thy boast of to morrowe for thou knowest not what may happen to daie Manie there be that séeke the princes fauour but euerie mans iudgment commeth from the Lord. Mercie in a King is like a pearle of great value in a golden crowne O happie is the land that hath such a King Nourture thy sonne with correction and thou shalt be at rest yea he shall do thée good at thine hart Neuer trust a flatterer with anie secret for such a one can not kéepe counsell Notwithstanding thou be poore and yet hast wisedome thou shalt be had in reuerence One poore man oppressing another by violence is like a continuall raine that destroieth the fruit Oppresse not the fatherlesse and widowe for the Lord himselfe will take vengeance Ouercome euill with good so shall the Lord blesse thée in all thy procéedings Put thou nothing vnto the word of the Lord least he reprooue thée and thou be found a lier Plentie bringeth lothsomnes and forgetfulnes of God O well is he that kéepeth measure Pitch not thy tents among the wicked least thou be ouerthrowne in their destruction Quéenes and Kings are to be feared of their subiects O well is he whose heart is obedient Quench the wrath of thine aduersarie with patience so shall his anger asswage Quicklie reforme thy selfe if thou haue offended and excuse not the thing wherin thou hast done amisse Riches and honour wait vppon wisedome yea excellent goodes and righteousnesse Receiue knowledge before siluer and vnderstanding before the finest gold Remoue from thée all malice and enuie for the heart of the froward is a tormenting hell Some men are rich though they haue nothing againe some men are poore hauing great riches Séeke wisdome in thy youth so shalt thou be honoured in thine age Set aside all slouthfulnesse and walke vprightlie in thy vocation and calling The lawe is a well of life vnto the wise that it may kéepe him from the snares of death The righteous eateth and is satisfied but the bellie of the vngodlie hath neuer enough The poore is hated euen of his owne neighbours but the rich hath manie friends Uisit thy friend in the time of his aduersitie so shalt thou shew thy faithfulnesse Uaine are all things vnder the Sunne onelie the word of God lasteth for euer Unto the counsell of the wise let thine eares be open but flée the conuersation of the wicked When it goeth well with the righteous the citie is merrie and when the vngodlie perish there is gladnesse Wéepe ouer the sinnes which thou hast committed and praie to God penitentlie for pardon Where pride is
esteemed otherwise we shall seeme to preferre the shell before the kernell the barke before the pith the shadowe before the substance yea most absurdlie we shall refuse wheate for chaffe pure gold for drosse cleere wine for dregs and in conclusion repent our want of grace It were behoofull therefore for vs first and principallie to see to our mind which is chiefest part of our essence and being that the same after some serious studie and contemplation desiring to be refreshed be not fed with fond fansies fables dotages imaginations dreames I cannot tell what idle and vnfruitefull discourses which kindle the affections and set the flesh a gogge but rather with holie exercises and godlie meditations such as are and may be prouided for the purpose to reuiue the spirit and quicken the new man if the partie be gratiouslie affected Thou hast heere therefore presented vnto thine hand good Reader a plant of pleasure bearing fourteene seuerall flowers called by the name of holie Hymnes and spirituall Songs to reade at thy leasure for thy recreation and not so much for thy recreation as for thy profit which I haue put partlie in rythme and partlie in prose for the satisfaction of sundrie Readers desires some beeing addicted to this and some delighted in that kind of writing I would to God it were in me to frame my wit to the will of the well disposed in all points I haue done what I could the Lord knoweth what I would his name be praised for all whose glorie to seeke and set foorth I beseech him giue vs all grace so shall the faithfull reioice and clap their hands but shame shall fall vpon the reprobat force them to hang downe their heads Abraham Fleming A Plant of Pleasure bearing fourteene seuerall Flowres ¶ The first Flowre called a holie Hymne conteining 1 A petition vnto God for the remission of sinnes 2 A description of Gods greatnesse 3 Of his habitation and that he seeth all things A. 1 AS the Sunne is the soule and life of the world so is thy word O God the comfort of my heart Be gratious fauourable vnto me thy seruant that I may be freé from the malice of mine enimies Reward me not according to my deseruings O Lord for I am full of sinne and in me there is no righteousnesse According to thy louing kindnesse therefore O mercifull father blot mine offences out of thy register and pardon me Haue mercie on me O founteine of all mercie cleanse me from the corruption of sinne and wash me with the water of thy word Am not I a reasonable creature indued with knowledge and vnderstanding O Lord to whom should I then come but to theé 2 Men beasts fishes and foules they are the works of thine hands by the vertue of thy word they were created and made From the rising of the Sunne to the going downe of the same I will continue in the contemplation and view of thy greatnes Lighten the eies of my hart O Lord that they may seé the mightines of thy maiestie in thy creatures Endlesse is thy glorie and thy power is incomprehensible wonderfull art thou in thy iudgments Maruellous things are wrought by thine omnipotent hand day by day the eies of all people are witnesses of thy power 3 In heauen is thy dwelling place from whence thou beholdest the commings in and the goings out of all men Nothing is hidden from thine eies O Lord the brightnesse of thy maiestie can not be absent Giue me grace O God to leade my life in the loue of thy lawe so shall I not miscarrie The second Flowre called a spirituall Song conteining 1 A commemoration or remembrance of the benefites of Christes death and passion 2 A petition for thankefulnesse 3 A confession of Gods greatnesse and almightinesse B. 1 AL people praise the Lord with faithfull heart and voice Be bold to magnifie his name and therein to reioice Remember well the worke which he for vs hath wrought And laud his name accordinglie in word in deed and thought Hell gates he hath shut vp in spite of Sathans power And saued the soules of sinfull men from torments sharpe and sower Most mightie is his arme his greatnesse hath none end From force of foes that vs assault all his he doth defend 2 Lord lighten thou our hearts that we may praise thy power Eternallie which flourisheth and worketh euerie hower 3 Most mightie is thy word thy maiestie surmounts In glorie none so excellent as scriptures cast accounts No Prince nor Potentate may once with thee compare Giue vs thy grace no lesse to learne O Lord with Christian care The third Flowre called a holie Hymne conteining 1 A request for assistance against our aduersaries 2 A confession of our vilenesse by reason of sinne 3 A petition for true mortification and regeneration 4 Of the pretiousnesse of mans soule R. 1 ACcording to thine vnmeasurable mercies O God heare my praier and let thine eares be open to the crie of my complaint Be my sauiour and deliuerer from danger and distresse bridle thou the desperatenesse of mine aduersarie that he do me no mischefe Rebuke them O Lord that go about to raise reproches against me chastise them that they may seé wherein they haue offended As for me I will withstand them in their maliciousnesse for I hope thou wilt arme me with the spirit of fortitude and patience Holie one of Israell heare the supplication of me thy seruant and in the time of necessitie assist me 2 A worme and no man I confesse my selfe to be yea more vile and contemptible than anie vnreasonable creature for sinne hath sâ—oong my soule My heart is defiled with a thousand corrupt cogitations yea the thoughts which are hidden in my heart are not so infinite as they are wicked From mine infancie and cradle I haue bene blemished with sinne and as for righteousnes or iustice there is none in mine entrailes Lord I am so ouerwhelmed in sinne and iniquitie that I stand in continuall feare of thy punishment Oh giue me grace to repent Euening and morning I call my sinnes to memorie and they are more in number than the haires of my head yet O Lord be mercifull 3 Make me a new creature by the inspiration of thy sanctifieng spirit and let mine inward man be circumcised with the razour of mortification Increase in me godlie desires and let all carnall concupiscences be quite quenched in me that I may long after nothing but the loue of thy lawe 4 Nothing is more pretious in thy sight O Lord than the soule of man O let not sinne preuaile against it Grant me thy grace euen to the last houre of my life that I may haue in heauen mine inheritance purchased by Christ his death and passion Amen The fourth Flowre called a Spirituall Song conteining 1 A glorifieng of God 2 An exhortation to praise him 3 A repetition of certaine properties in him 4 A protestation or vow of Christian
Christ our Lord Amen The 3. Plant. ¶ Grace before Supper REason requireth and dutie demandeth that in partaking of these good creatures of God we vse a Christian reuerence haue before our eies the feare of his diuine Maiestie which we beséech thée O God to vouchsafe vs for his sake in whome thou art best pleased Iesus Christ our sauiour Amen The 4. Plant. ¶ Grace after Supper A Thankefull hart which is the sacrifice that thou requirest O Lord graunt vnto vs thy seruants nourished and fed at this present by thy prouidence Open our mouthes that we may sound foorth thy praise and also with one consent glorifie thy diuine Maiestie saieng Blessed be thou O eternall God in all thy gifts and extolled in all thy workes All glorie honour power and dominion be ascribed vnto thée world without end Amen The 5. Plant. ¶ Grace before Dinner HEre we sée most manifest and apparant signes of Gods loue and fatherlie care ouer vs who dailie féedeth our mortall bodies with nourishment conuenient and agréeable to our nature Let vs therefore soberlie receiue them as preseruatiues against hunger and forget not to magnifie his goodnes which so mercifullie and fauourablie tendereth our weakenesse through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen The 6. Plant. ¶ Grace after Dinner ALl praise and thankes be giuen vnto thée O God omnipotent which hast fed vs not onlie this daie but the whole tearme of our life We bring vnto thée the bullocks of our lips beséeching thée to accept our oblation of thankefulnesse offered and presented vnto thée for thine vnmeasurable and vndeserued bountifulnesse This we do O Lord in his name who for our sakes became accursed Iesus the righteous who with thée and the holie Ghost be euermore glorified Amen The 7. Plant. ¶ Grace before Dinner MOst gratious God the giuer of all good giftes without whome nothing is nourishable be it neuer so delicate we beséech thée that these thy creatures procéeding from thine almightie prouidence and set vpon this table for our sustenance may turne into wholesome substance of flesh and bloud in our bodies And because manie times euen thy good creatures through our intemperance turne into poison and by our owne abuse bréede sundrie diseases graunt we beséech thée that we may moderatelie eate and drinke that which is dailie ministred vnto vs for our reléefe and giue thée continuall thankes for these and all other thy benefits through Christ our Lord Amen The 8. Plant. ¶ Grace after Dinner FAther euerlasting continuall thankes and praise be ascribed vnto thée which from our creation and first comming into the world euen till this present daie houre hast giuen vs all things necessarie for our bodies grant we beséech thée that as we haue receiued corporall food and sustenance from thy hands so we may be faithfull and true partakers of the spirituall Manna whereby our soules are susteined to euerlasting life through Iesus Christ our Sauiour Amen The 9. Plant. ¶ Grace before Dinner LOrd God whose dailie hand deth feed the beast the foule and fish Vouchsafe to blesse and sanctifie this boord and euerie dish That as we touch taste the things proceeding from thy grace Our bodies to susteine and feed our flesh in euerie place So we may yeeld thee thanks therfore and giue thy name the praise Which doth deserue of all the world extold to be alwaies Amen The 10. Plant. ¶ Grace after Dinner ETernall God thy name be blest which doest vs dailie feed And soule and bodie satisfiest when as they stand in need The bodie by the staffe of bread which giueth strength and power The soule with sweetnesse of thy word and gospell euerie hower Thy holie name perpetuallie be magnified therefore As hath ben since the world began and shal be euermore Amen The 11. Plant. ¶ Grace before Supper MOst gratious God which cloathest the Lillies of the field with beautie far aboue the roialtie of Salomon and féedest the little Sparrowes which fall not to the ground without thy prouidence be present we beséech thee at this table and season with the salt of thy blessing these thy creatures that in receiuing them as becommeth Christians we may also be sanctified and in all our eatings drinkings euermore remember to confesse and acknowledge thée in thy benefites from whome all good things procéede for the succour of thy seruants and receiue them according to the rule of true Christianitie through Christ our Lord onlie Sauiour So be it The 12. Plant. ¶ Grace after Supper IN so much as it hath pleased thée O mercifull father to call vs to the communicating and partaking of thy creatures and by them hast refreshed vs at this present we giue thée hartie thankes for this thy bountifull liberalitie beséeching thée to kindle in vs a Christian care and compassion of them that are in necessitie that we considering their poore and succourlesse estate may with pitifull eies tender their pouertie and with charitable hands reléeue them in miserie alwaies remembring that whatsoeuer is done to thy néedie and naked members thou doest accompt it done to thine owne bodie Graunt this O gratious God for Iesus Christes sake thy sonne our sauiour Amen The 13. Plant. ¶ Grace before Supper NO grace the gluton nor his gests amid their deintie fare Vouchsaft to shew to Lazarus a begger poore and bare Their seruice was superfluous their meate was ouermutch Poore Lazarus who scarse could go or stand without a crutch Lay begging at the gluttons gatâ— some crumbes for his releefe But none there was that of his case were toucht with anie greefe His dog laie licking of his limmes the botches biles and blaines And with his tong did seeke a meane and waie t' asswage his paines This deede of pitie in the dog condemneth such as saue All for themselues and for the poore and needie nothing haue God grant that we may not be such as this rich glutton was Least we with him in pit of Hell crie out wo and alas From thence the Lord deliuer vs and guide vs by his grace That when we die in earth in heuen we may possesse a place The 14. Plant. ¶ Grace after Supper GOod Zache enterteining Christ became a ioifull man His soule to feede on foode of life with faith and hope began Then called he to streight account his thoughts his words deeds His conscience and his life misseled and thus in speech proceeds â—ord if I haue done anie man 〈◊〉 turne or offred wrong Or causd the poore to make coÌ„plaint with sobs and sighings strong Lo restitution I will make and fourfold them reward With readie purpose so to do â—o 〈◊〉 and hart prepard 〈◊〉 Zaches speech ponder it