but serviceable with them In Heb. 13. 15. We are exhorted to offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is the fruit of our Lips giving thanks to his Name But the Apostle immediately adds To do good and communicate forget not for with such Sacrifice God is well-pleased He intimates the former is required and due but we must not satisfy our selves with that alone but he requires also another Sacrifice even that of good Works and offices of Charity All the good that we have power and opportunity to do for our Neighbour relating to his Soul or his Body his Reputation or Estate we must be ready charitably to perform and this is to be always done in the best way to serve his Interest we must not only regard our own Advantage Thus should all the several Callings Offices and Dignities of Men be managed And thus may all Men express their Thankfulness to God for his benefits in the Business of their worldly Callings thus they may consecrate these and make them religious Thus I have also finisht the Second thing propos'd Now to conclude that we may the better excite our selves to these things Let us further consider at our leisure The greatness of God to whom we are beholden together with our own meanness He that gives us all we have is a Being infinite and perfect he is eternally happy in the enjoyment of himself has no need of any of his Creatures nor can have any advantage from them Yet has he taken care of us continually he watches over us every moment to defend us from mischief to supply our wants to protect our enjoyments and to support our frail Lives Justly may we say with the Psalmist Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou visitest him Let us assure our selves too that the best way to preserve the Benefits we enjoy is to use them rightly and to be duly thankful for them Let us reckon also that this must needs be necessary to the acceptance and success of our Prayers for such things as we want to use well and be thankful for what we have already obtained Lastly Let us consider that a thankful frame of Mind such as is sensible of God's Mercies that which sees its own advantages and thinks upon the good things which it enjoys That uses them as God requires with Wisdom and Reason and a good Conscience such a one keeps the Soul always easy and calm always chearful and contented such a Person fully enjoys what he has and tastes the sweetness of it Whereas he who murmurs and complains who is never satisfied nor contented is always unhappy He who pores only upon his wants and what he desires who is impatient under every affliction and cross and abuses himself and his enjoyments in guilty excesses such a man can never feel any rest or quiet in his Mind he is always troubled and uneasy He imbitters his Pallate so that he cannot rightly relish any good thing he has is a burden to himself and indeed does severely punish upon himself his own Iniquity and Ingratitude Lt us then in every thing give thanks and say To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Thanks and Praise for ever and ever Amen THE PRAYER ALmighty and most Gracious God thou art good and doest good thou art abundant in Goodness We thine unworthy Servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving kindness which thou hast graciously shewn to us and to all Men. We bless thee for our Creation O Lord for that thou hast made us little lower than the Angels and crowned us with honour and dignity and for that thou hast plentifully furnisht this World with good things for our Use We own O Lord with all thankfulness that thou hast hitherto preserved us thou hast taken care of us ever since we came from our Mothers Womb. Thou hast defended us from innumerable Evils which always compass us about Thou hast given us all that we have enjoy'd of the good things of this World for they are thine and thou dost dispose of them as seemeth good to thee and by thy Blessing upon thy Gifts have they been sufficient to support and comfort our mortal Life But above all we bless we praise thee we magnify thee for thy inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ and for the hopes that we have of obtaining everlasting glory and happiness by the vertue of his Merits and by the guidance of thy good Spirit O Lord give us we beseech thee a due and deep sense of all thy Mercies make our Hearts unfeignedly thankful make us ready to acknowledge that we are less than the least of thy Mercies that in all thou givest thou owest us nothing Make us humbly sensible and ashamed of all our transgressions against thee of our base and ungrateful returns to thy Mercies That instead of winning us to love and serve thee they have encouraged us to transgress and have been used in rebellion against thee O Lord of thy infinite Mercy pardon all our past unthankfulness And let thy Grace make us set our selves for the future to shew forth thy praise not only with our Lips but in our Lives by giving up our selves to thy Service and by walking before thee in Holiness and Righteousness all our Days O Lord make us to go in the Path of thy Commandments And from thy mercy and goodness let us learn to shew mercy and to do good according to our power and opportunity communicating to the Necessities of others which is a Sacrifice well-pleasing unto thee And do thou O Lord continue the exercises of thy goodness to us till thou hast made us perfectly and compleatly happy in the enjoyment of thy self We humbly implore thy Mercy and Favour for all Mankind Oh that thy way may be made known upon Earth and thy saving Health among all Nations that the People may praise thee O God yea that all the People may praise thee Bless we pray thee thy Church and defend it from all Spiritual and Temporal Enemies Remove out of it all false Doctrin Heresy and Schism Envy Hatred Malice and all Uncharitableness hardness of Heart and contempt of thy Word and Commandments We intreat thee graciously to watch over that Part of it which thou hast planted amongst us defend it from secret Attempts and Plots and from open Violence from all the Enemies of thy true Religion establisht among us and make it we pray thee a glorious Church in the eminent Gifts and Vertues of the Members of it Bless our King and Queen and all that are put in Authority under them with great Wisdom and Understanding with a Zeal for thy Glory and the Subject's Well-fare Teach those that are Subjects each in their several Places to do their own Business and to study submission and quietness We humbly recommend to
and Service before the Things of the World When our Lord was dead and his Disciples were now come to Galilee according to his Appointment to meet him there while they staid there Peter returned to his Trade of Fishing and drew the rest of the Disciples who had been of that Employment to join with him After they had had a Night of fruitless Labour Jesus in in the Morning presents himself to them and as they were eating in his presence he propounds this Question to Peter in Verse 15. Now he had reason to single out Peter to this Examination because it was he that had made the motion of this return to their worldly Business and had drawn the others to it after he had separated them to be Fishers of Men. And since this was plainly the occasion of the Question we may most reasonably interpret it to intimate a Rebuke of that Apostle for this return to his Trade and what our Lord replies to Peter's Answer to his Question does sufficiently justify and even require this Interpretation of it for he says to him three times Feed my Lambs or my Sheep which was as much as to say to him Shew thy Love to me if thou hast it by betaking thy self intirely and industriously to the Office of an Apostle and leave this worldly Trade and Business from which I have called thee This then is without doubt the meaning of this Place The Question of our Lord intimates that he required of St. Peter that he should love him more than worldly Gains more than his Trade and the Business that he had called him from and should accordingly apply himself to that Service of him which he had called him to This then is a standing Law and Rule and Universally obliging That we love God more than the Things of the World And if so it is we may be sure a necessary condition to be performed for our partaking of the Things above If God requires us to prefer them we cannot but without ground expect that he will ever bestow them upon us unless we do so He has not made this Law only to dispense with it but to guide us to our Happiness thereby if we will obey it or to condemn us to misery if we will not 2. To encourage our selves thus to prefer the Things above we may consider that if we do so we shall certainly obtain them We shall not set our Hearts upon them in vain God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek them Heb. 11. 6. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality God will give eternal Life the Apostle assures us Rom. 2. 7. In this course we shall be sure not to run in vain nor to labour in vain It pleases God that we despise the present Allurements and good things of this World in comparison to the matchless Blessings of his Love Therefore Moses is commended for having done so when he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt and chose rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a Season Heb. 11. 25 26. This renders any that do it the peculiar Favourites of Heaven as is plainly intimated Heb. 11. 16. where 't is said of some They desired a better Country even an Heavenly therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God He thought fit he was pleased to own a peculiar relation to such Persons he was willing to be called their God that is to be their God and it is added in the same Verse He hath prepared for them a City Since Heaven was that they chiefly desired he intended them for Heaven 3. Lastly It may be another encouragement to what the Apostle here requires That if we do thus prefer the Things above God will provide and bestow a competent Portion of the Things of this World If we value and seek most the Things of this World we may through God's displeasure miss of them For his over-ruling Providence disposes of all things and he can frustrate all our Designs if we displease him and make us low and poor and mean notwithstanding all our Endeavours to be otherwise and displease him we certainly do if we do not esteem and seek Him and his Love before all other things But if we do this we shall become as was said before the peculiar Favourites of his Love And if for this he will be our God it may be certainly concluded that we shall not want any of his Creatures If he will give the greater he will not with-hold the less he will not let such Persons want any manner of thing that is good for them And this indeed is what our Saviour has expresly promised Mat. 6. 33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you By these things he means those he had been speaking of before not the superfluous Riches of this World not the great Dignities and Honours of it which things are but an useless Burden and not at all necessary to our Happiness but Meat and Drink and Cloathing and the necessary Accommodations of this present Life These things the Care of Providence will certainly provide for us if we love God with all our Heart and live according to a high esteem and value for his Favour and Love And thus we may see that to mind and prefer the things above is the surest and the shortest way to Happiness both in this Life and the next and more than this I hope need not be said to move us to it THE PRAYER O Most blessed and glorious God the only perfect and all-sufficient Being Thou art O Lord thine own Infinite and Eternal Happiness and thou givest being and happiness to all thy Creatures thy infinite Goodness delights in our well-fare and thou hatest nothing that thou hast made We adore thee O Lord we bless thee we praise thee we magnifie thee we give thee thanks for thy great and glorious Goodness and for the bounteous Exercises of it to the Sons of Men. We thank thee that thou hast given us such a Being as we have and hast made us so capable of happiness That we have Bodies and Senses suited to this very rich and plentiful World about us and capable to take delight in the good things here and for that the Earth is full of thy Goodness But we praise thee yet more for the Spirit in Man whereby we are capable of a rational and spiritual and so a most Honourable and Angelical Delight in the Objects of our Senses that we can please our selves with their beauty order wonderful contrivance and subserviency to each other and that we are capable to see upon them the impresses and marks of thy glorious Wisdom of thy mighty Power of thy infinite Fulness of thy Majesty and Glory And we thank thee O Lord most of all for
my behaviour here this short Life has an influence upon the Eternal one If I have lived well and well used the Talents I was entrusted with here I shall enjoy better and more lasting good things there I may justly content my self to be denyed any of these things below if the wise disposer sees fit to do so since better things to full satisfaction are reserved for me But if I live wickedly I must expect that alittle time will put an end for ever to all my present ease and prosperity I must part with all my lov'd Enjoyments and bid a farewell to all mirth and pleasure All my portion of good is in this World and I can enjoy it no longer than while this short and transitory Life lasts It is but a small portion of good then that falls to my share if this be all I must have And it was not worth the being born to be exposed to so many evils to bear so many afflictions to feel the wrackings of so many violent passions as this mortal Life and vale of Tears are acquainted with for the sake of enjoying so little good so short and small a felicity And besides my pleasant Circumstances here will quickly end in Torments and Miseries that will continue for ever Let us I say think much of that other World and divert our thoughts from this That so our affections may be disengaged and we may not be entangled with the Charms and Allurements of this World to our everlasting perdition And having got our selves at liberty from those fatal snares and fetters let us earnestly apply our selves to prepare for and secure a happy State in the Life to come This ought to be our greatest care in this World and employ the most of our endeavours In every other care and endeavour this should be minded and should direct them We should so pursue this World as at the same time to pursue a better and so enjoy this World as that we at the same time may hope for a better Ought we not to be most concerned that we may be happy there where we must be longest Let us behave our selves always in this World as going out of this and going into another where we shall abide and stay Shall we be carefull about a few days to come of this Life and not much rather be solicitous what shall become of us to all Eternity Now to secure our happiness hereafter we must endeavour to make our peace with God to regain his favour by repenting truly of our former Sins by stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life by devoting our selves to Jesus Christ to be followers of him with whom the Father was well-pleased We must then deny all angodliness and worldly Lusts and live soberly righteously and godly in this present World We must cease to do evil and learn to do well and follow after holiness without which no man can see God no man can be admitted into that presence of God which makes Heaven Let us endeavour to grow reconciled to a very serious and religious Life to become acquainted with and to relish the joys and pleasures of devotion and communion with God To delight in him in meditating on his Nature and Works in praising adoring and worshipping of him Which things will be the great entertainment and happiness of Heaven and therefore till we are suited to such things till we can find the highest pleasure in them and in all acts of Vertue till we can satisfie our selves in such things even with the want of many worldly Enjoyments we are not fit for Heaven nor can be happy in another World But thus to prepare our selves for and secure a happy State hereafter is the best use we can possibly put this our mean Life to And though this Life be so short and transitory we shall have time enough for the securing a better if we do not cheat our selves of it by unnecessary delays and if we apply our selves diligently to this matter And how great an Improvement of our present Life is this How great a gain How much to advantage To employ this Life for the gaining a happy one hereafter is as if a man should lay out Pebbles for Pearls should exchange Dirt for Gold and short liv'd Sparkles for lasting and glorious Stars 'T is to lay out Earth for Heaven to spend time for the purchase of Eternity to use the Creatures so as to make them bring us to God to labour for a very few days that we may enjoy an Eternal rest to deny our selves in a few things and for a little while that we may ere long enjoy full satisfactions everlasting pleasures This is truly and greatly to redeem our time This if we do we shall not regret that our time on Earth was so short and transitory THE PRAYER O Eternal and Almighty God thou art always the same and thy years do not fail thou art the same yesterday and to day and for ever without Variableness or shadow of Change It is upon thee O Lord and thy unchangeable Power that all things else do depend in their Beings and in all their Operations thou fillest Heaven and Earth and thou workest all in all All thy Works praise thee O God and thy Saints bless thee The invisible Things of thee are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even thy Eternal power and Godhead And we O Lord are amongst the number of those whom thou hast Created and dost preserve thou in thy due time didst bring us into Being at our Birth and by thee we are hitherto sustained It is thou that supportest our frail Natures that they fall not into the Dust by thy careful Providence over us we have escaped many Dangers we have got through the weakness of Infancy and the Heedlesness of Childhood by thy Blessing has our Food nourisht and our Cloaths warmed us for we live not by these things alone but by the Word which proceeds out of the mouth of God We are in thy Hands then O thou the Sovereign Arbiter of Life and Death when ever thou pleasest we return to the Dust from whence we were Created We acknowledge it is of thy Mercy that we are not consumed and because thy Compassions fail not And we are afraid when we think how easily thou canst crush and destroy us how frail our Life is and how short and Transitory how little a distance we are from Eternity and how exposed our Lives are how many Evils and Dangers compass us about and how small a Matter is able to put an end to our Days These things when we consider them make us look upon our selves as always just at the brink of the Grave and Eternity And while we have liv'd careless of our Duty to thee while we have liv'd in Rebellion against thee we have been upon the brink of Hell and in continual Danger of falling into it Had thy wrath been kindled against us but for a