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
serious enquiring Thought whether they are in Favour with God or not Whether the Almighty be to them a Friend or an Enemy That never did set themselves down seriously to examine into this Matter or that would continue the enquiry till they came to a well-grounded Determination concerning their State And do such indeed desire an Interest in the Love of God Are there not also many that take no care to please God who follow their own Inclinations without any regard to his Will and Laws and so do daily affront and displease him And and are these concern'd for an Interest in his Favour These that live in gainful or pleasant Sins and will not be persuaded to leave them for the Favour of God Or they that live in the habitual constant Practice of the most needless Sins such as Swearing Cursing Backbiting Slandering or in the most mischievous and hurtful Sins such as Intemperance and Prodigality and will not leave them for the Favour of God Are they concern'd for an Interest in that How many besides are there that put off this Concern and Care and bid it stand by till they have accomplisht some other Designs Do they not think that they may accomplish Designs which will be of Advantage to them without the Favour and Blessing of God upon them Do they not think those Designs more necessary and advantagious to them than that And is not this to slight and undervalue that To account it but a needless or an indifferent thing Thus it is but too evident that a great many neglect this Blessedness And by these things we may understand our selves if we will compare them with our own Carriage and may see whether we have been in this Folly or not And indeed it may hereby appear that the best of us may charge our selves with having been too deep in it that we have followed the things which are seen too much and the unseen things too little We have loved and sought the Creature more than the Creator But we must not observe this without making our selves sensible of the Guilt and Folly of it and Resolutions to be careful for the future that we may avoid it Let this then be the Matter of our Shame and Sorrow Let us consider how we must needs have offended God herein That we have been guilty of the Idolatry of the Heart in loving and seeking more the things of this World than the enjoyment of God that we have been herein very ungrateful to his Creating Goodness in despising and neglecting that Happiness which he made us capable to enjoy that we have despised the Blood and Death of the Redeemer whereby an Attonement has been made for our Sins and Salvation purchast for us at a costly Rate even the Salvation which herein we have neglected Let us own then that we have greatly sinned so far as we have been guilty in this Matter and have deserved the most terrible Punishment We have deserved that God should put us off with any thing rather than his Love while we have been seeking any thing more than that We deserve to feel the everlasting Terrors of his Anger if we despise his Love and may reckon it an amazing Instance of his Mercy and Patience that we are yet spared and have time to recollect and amend our selves Let us confess our Sin and resolve to amend it Let us by frequent consideration of the Necessity the Usefulness the Happiness of God's Favour bring our selves to have a mighty esteem and value for it and raise in our selves the most earnest desires and longings after it Let us readily put far away from us all things that will forfeit and lose the Favour of God Let us be diligent and industrious in our Duty in doing the things that will please him And then let us ask for this and we shall receive it Let us seek and we shall find let us knock and this full Treasury of Blessings shall be opened to us THE PRAYER INfinite and Almighty Lord our God Thou art he who hast made the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and all that is in them Thou art the Fountain Good and the sufficiency of every Creature in Heaven and Earth We acknowledge O Lord it is in thee that we live move and have our Being and all our fresh Springs are in thee Thou art an Infinite Good and after all thy Communications to thy Creatures dost remain the same In thee still does all Fulness dwell To thee O Lord do we poor and miserable Creatures make our humble Addresses Thou alone hast the words of Eternal Life Thou only canst make us happy In thy Favour is Life even Eternal Life and thy loving kindness extends beyond the bounds of our present mortal Life Oh Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us and bless and be merciful unto us Enlighten our darkness strengthen our weakness sanctisy our unholy and polluted Natures communicate of thy fulness to the supply of all our wants that we may rejoice in thy Goodness and always live to thy Glory Lord we humble and abase our selves before thee for that we have heretofore so little valued thy Favour or concern'd our selves to enjoy it We foolish Creatures have been ready to prefer any thing before it we have valued the gratifying of impertment and unreasonable desires the getting a little worldly Gain the enjoying a little sensual Pleasure above the matchless Blessings of thy Love We have not believed thy Goodness nor been able to trust thy Favour and Love to take care of and provide for us Thus are we exceeding guilty and while we remain thus estranged from thee we can never be happy We beseech thee O Lord deal not with us after our Sins neither reward us according our to our Iniquities When we humbly confess our Sins do thou graciously forgive them and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness Make us for the future to value thy Love above all things and therefore to set our selves with great care to do those things that are well-pleasing in thy sight and to avoid whatever is offensive to the pure Eyes of thy Glory Let us be sensible that it is only the pure in Heart that can see thee and therefore be industrious to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in thy Fear Lord we give thanks for thy Forbearance and Patience towards us that thou hast not yet cut us off and sent us to Eternal misery that we have yet Means of Grace and Hopes of Glory Let thy Goodness and Forbearance lead us effectually to unfeigned Repentance and end in a full remission of all our Sins Transform us into thy likeness by the renewing of our Minds and let the light of thy Countenance beautify and adorn us Love us into loveliness Oh thou Almighty Love that thou mayest then delight in us and we as we ought may have our chief delight in thee We pray thee
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
that it is kindly and exactly suited to our Natures and so is altogether fit to promote all our true Interests and our Happiness To comply with this is our Wisdom and Honour it is Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones it has length of days and good repute and Wealth and Peace to reward us with In keeping thy Commands there is great reward Blessed then are the undefiled in the Way who walk in the Law of the Lord. It is good for us to keep thy Precepts they are sweeter than Honey and the Honey Comb and more to be desired then Gold yea then much fine Gold they best adorn and accomplish us they are the Happiness of our Souls as well as of our Bodies they rectifie and compose the Mind they give us Peace and Strength within great Peace they have which Love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Then shall we never have occasion to be ashamed when we have respect unto all thy Commandments Thou art good O Lord and dost good O do thou teach us thy Statutes O that our Ways were directed to observe them Lord make us as early as we can to remember thee our Creator to remember and turn unto thee to consider and know and do the Duties which we owe to thee as such We have gone astray like lost Sheep Oh seek thou thy Servants and save us that we do not forget thy Commandments That we may never forget them or thee we pray thee to write thy Law in our Hearts and to put thy fear in our inward Parts for thy fear is a good Principle of this Wisdom of good and vertuous Living Make us to reverence thy Greatness and Glory which is so bright in all thy Works and so wonderful in the Creation of our selves for we Lord are fearfully and wonderfully made Make us sensible of thy continual Presence with us that thou dost thereby continue our Beings and observe our Actions we depend upon thee while we provoke thee we are in thy hand at all times to do with us whatsoever thou pleasest thou who art our Creator art the Supream and invincible Disposer of us O let us stand in awe that we may not sin against thee Make us concern'd to please thee who art the Fountain of our Beings and the bestower of all our Good that thou mayst delight in us to do us good and that we may according to thy Design in making us be happy O Lord forgive us we pray thee all our past wandrings from thee forgive us all our sins of negligence and ignorance and endue us we beseech thee with the Grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend our Lives according to thy Holy word Be reconciled to us by the Blood of thy Son Jesus through Faith in which we humbly seek thy Favour We pray thee turn from us all those Evils that we most righteously have deserved in time past and grant us hereafter to serve and please thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our Life Lord let us be planted in thy House and abide in the Communion of thy Church and there flourish like the Palm Tree and if we live to old Age let us be even then fruitful in good Works to thy Praise and Glory We make our humble Supplications to thee O Lord for all Men. Let the Earth be filled with Knowledge of the Lord as Waters cover the Sea Prosper thy Church and give it great encrease of all Grace and give it in thy due time Tranquillity and Peace deliver it from intestine Disturbance and outward Enemies We humbly implore thy mercy upon these Kingdoms in General Lord grant that all things well-pleasing to thee may flourish and abound among us and do thou by thy Almighty Providence watch over us and direct our publick Affairs for our good Particularly we pray for our most Gracious King and Queen Grant them in Health and Wealth long to live strengthen them to vanquish and overcome all their Enemies Teach us and all their Subjects duely to consider whose Authority they have and so to serve honour and humbly obey them in thee and for thee according to thy most Blessed word and Ordinance that so they may be the Ministers of God to us for good Do good to all amongst us beyond what we can ask or think Let thy Blessing upon the words which we have this Day heard make it to dwell and take root in us and bring forth Fruit even to an hundred fold And let the same Gracious mercy which has blest us this Day with things necessary for Life and Godliness watch over us this Night and give us safe and comfortable Rest and if it shall please thee to add still to our Lives make us steady and persevering in well-doing to the end of our Days all which we humbly crave in the Name of Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Our Father c. OF A Death-Bed Repentance SHEWING How unreasonable it is for any Man to rely upon it Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Numb 23. vers 10. Latter Part. Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his BAlaam a famous Sorcerer and Fortune-teller among the Midianites was sent for by Balak King of Moab to curse Israel when they were upon his Borders The Messengers came to him with this Complement from the King For I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed and he whom thou cursest is cursed Chap. 22. vers 6. Such an esteem had he raised of himself among the ignorant Heathens And very fain would the wicked wretch have done that which Balak desired for the sake of the wages of Iniquity which he loved This appears by his seeking of enchantments against Israel as he several times did as the 1st verse of the 24th Chapter intimates but it pleased God constantly to over-rule and hinder him And when he sought to utter his direful and mischievous Charms which before perhaps could blast the Fruits of the Earth and cause Thunder and Lightning and raise an Hurricane and throw down Buildings He can now do nothing of all this but the Spirit of God constrains him to utter only things honourable and favourable of Israel In a deep sence which this possest him with of the favour of God to that People and being so far enlightned for the present though against his Will as to understand that they should be happy not only in this Life but also in that to come if they would keep the Commandments of their God he therefore concludes his first Parable or sententious and prophetick Speech concerning them in the words of our Text Let
said on this Subject 1. Let us with great Thankfulness acknowledge to the Creatour what he has made us and praise him for his Bounty towards us Let us consider and own it is God that hath made us and not we our selves It is one part of thankfulness to acknowledge the Benefits we have received Let us own this and endeavour to render to God all that which is due from us for it To shew forth his praise not only with our lips but in our lives by giving up our selves to his service Let each of us heartily say within himself Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits We may hereupon very justly thus expostulate with and admonish our selves Have I a power to think and shall my Thoughts neglect the excellent Being that gave it me Should he be seldom in my Thoughts by whom I constantly think How base and ungrateful a Character of a man is this That God is not in all his thoughts Am I capable of Knowledge and shall it not be my greatest Ambition to know him that made me so to know the most excellent of all Beings that I might thereby be inabled to render him the Homage that belongs to him Have I a Will to chuse good and shall I fix my choice on any thing before him Shall I not cleave to him by it who is the chiefest Good and who gave me this power for that Purpose Should I not always say it to him as the full Sense of my Soul Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I can desire besides thee Shall I not pay him the Homage of my Affections from whom I have them and the reason that I have wherewith to guide them I ought to love him above all things to fear him alone to entettain my Hope with the pleasing expectations of enjoying him I should be angry only with that which provokes his Anger and hate what he hates and forbids Thus ought we to admonish our selves upon this Foundation and to resolve accordingly Thus should we endeavour to honour him who hath crowned us with such Dignity and Honour 2. What has been said concerning the Excellency of our Souls should make all men prefer them before their Bodies and chiefly regard them The Soul of Man is plainly the chief and most important part of him as it is a Spirit and Immortal This ought then to have the chief Dominion in us All the Appetites and Passions of the Inferior Body ought to be subject to the Faculties of the Mind We should not suffer our Senses or the desires of the Flesh to force Objects and Thoughts upon the Mind but make it rather to chuse its own employment upon consideration and advice of our Judgment and Reason How much Folly and Sin would such a Course prevent And it highly becomes and concerns us to give this as absolute a Dominion in us as we can that it may not be clogg'd or biassed by particular Temper or Constitution The Obedience to Temper is a most effectual Hinderance both of Wisdom and Religion No man can govern himself well that does not set his Reason above his Constitution and make his Temper subject to the Rules of that and of Religion I confess that in some cases some severity towards the Body may be necessary to this purpose and a great deal of Self-denial and Mortification may be requisite to the bringing our selves to this But let us observe what our Saviour says to this Case If thy right hand says he offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to be cast into Hell Fire We were better wrong the Flesh if that must be than to endanger the Spirit and a little hurt the Body than damn the Soul To bring our selves to this State of the Bodies absolute and compleat subjection to the Mind is of so great use and advantage as that 't is worth all that it can cost us For so we shall become free and easy in all our Actions We shall possess and enjoy our own Souls we shall will to do what we should and shall do it the more readily and do it the better and the more perfectly Thus shall a man have the greatest Comfort in his Actions He shall exercise the brighter vertues and obtain by them the more praise and favour with God and Man Let us prefer our Souls above our Bodies and chiefly mind the Interests of them We should make the Interests of the Body stand by when they come into competition with those of the Soul We should govern our selves in all things as far as this can be done with a chief regard of these It were but just and fitting and due to our selves that we govern our selves so in what we chuse to love or hate in what we pursue or avoid and that it be the grand business of our Lives to promote the advantage of our Immortal Souls 3. Let us be greatly ambitious of those Divine and high Qualifications that we have been made capable to possess since we may be wise and holy just and good faithful and prudent let us earnestly endeavour to be so To be endowed with these Vertues is to put on the greatest excellency and worth The Scripture very justly says The righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour These Vertues in truth are the greatest and the most becoming Ornaments These make the brightest and most lasting Beauty such as Angels love and God himself takes delight in These will encrease and not fade or decay with Time and will last to Eternity These are the truest and the most useful Riches they do in a sense deliver the Soul from Hell and entitle it to everlasting Blessedness These are not uncertain Riches but are such a sure and durable Possession as Moth and Rust cannot corrupt nor can Thieves break through to and steal them These in the Exercises of them in good Works do lay up a treasure in Heaven Let it be consider'd that as we are capable of these Vertues we are also capable of being the Subjects of the contrary Vices And that if we are not vertuous and holy we must needs be vicious and impious He that is not just and true in his dealings must be unjust and persidious He that is not merciful and good must be hard-hearted and cruel And as we are acceptable and lovely to God by those Vertues in us so we are odious and detestable with these Vices The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but he loveth him that followeth after Righteousness The pure Angels abhor Sinners and do not care to be near them to see what is so odious and offensive as the sins of men are to them As Holiness and Vertue do exalt and honour and become us so does
we hew out to our selves broken cisterns that can hold no water and forsake Thee the Fountain of living waters In thee alone is true content and full satisfaction to be found O Lord as sensible of this our very guilty and very dangerous Errour we desire for the future to return unto thee to esteem thee our chiefest Good and to desire thee above all things Our Hearts are now ready to say each of us for our selves Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name We desire O Lord to praise and to honour thee with all the excellent Faculties and Powers that thou hast given us We devote our Reason and Understanding to thee to learn and meditate on thy glorious Excellencies thy wonderful works and the instances of thy obliging Goodness We devote all the power of our Wills to thee to chuse thee to fix upon thee as our chief Good to submit to thy will as the rule and law of ours We devote our Affections to love thee above all things to fear and reverence thee to hope and trust in thee to hate what thou hatest and love what thou dost love We devote all our Members unto thee to be governed by thy wise and righteous Laws We desire O Lord we purpose to love and serve thee the Eternal Infinite and most Bounteous Good with all our Heart and Soul and Strength O Lord strengthen we pray thee and confirm our too feeble and wavering Resolutions Create thou us again in Christ Jesus unto good works Let us not live estranged from thee whom we are made capable to enjoy both here and hereafter Make us in love with Holiness and Vertue as the health and rectitude of our Minds as our brightest and most advantageous Ornaments and the most useful and most durable Riches Renew in us most loving Father thy decayed Image and create us to righteousness and true holiness Learn us to see thy glorious Perfections in the visible things about us to make a religious Use of all that we enjoy in this World in loving thee for what is Good praising thee for what is Excellent in them and giving thee Thanks for whatever we enjoy of them We humbly recommend to thy infinite Mercies all Estates and Conditions of Men O Lord lover of Souls pity those that sit in darkness and bless them with the Knowledge of thee and of thy Christ whom to know is Life everlasting rescue them from their miserable Bondage under the Enemy of Mankind and bring them into the Kingdom of thy Son We pray thee bless and defend the Christian Church let the Gifts and Graces of thy good Spirit be abundantly poured out upon it purge it from all things displeasing to thee and give it peace and great enlargement Be merciful to that Part of it which thou hast planted amongst us in these Nations Water it plenteously with the Dew of thy Heavenly Blessing make it fruitful in all good Works and a Praise in the Earth We pray thee bless our King and Queen and all subordinate Magistrates and those that are the Ministers of thy holy Word and Sacraments make them all in their several Places and Stations useful to the promoting Piety and Vertue amongst us And make all those that are under them peaceable and obedient teachable and submissive to their Laws and godly Counsels Grant that we may all lead peaceable and quiet lives in all Godliness and Honesty Visit and relieve all those that are in any Trouble or Affliction Bless our Relations requite our Friends and Benefactors and forgive our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and turn their Hearts Finally O Father of Mercies we give thee Thanks for all thy Care of our Immortal Souls for all that thou hast done for their Happiness and Well-fare We pray thee bless to our spiritual Advantage those Ordinances of thine which we have this Day been partakers of Give us leave to commit our selves to thy Protection for this Night and reward our trust in thee with safe and comfortable Rest that being well refresh'd we may return the next Morning chearfully to our several Businesses and Duties and do thou accept us in all we pray through Jesus Christ in whose Name we present our selves and all our poor Services unto thee and in whose most comprehensive Words we conclude these our imperfect Prayers saying Our Father c. OF Vain Thoughts OR INCONSIDERATION With the Mischiefs and Remedies Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Psalm 119. 113. I hate Vain Thoughts but thy Law do I love OUR Care and Endeavour to live well must begin within us or it will prove vain and ineffectual We must keep the Heart with all diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life Solomon says Prov. 4. 23. According to which our Saviour teaches us That out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and out of the good or evil treasure there proceed good or evilactions We must then take notice what our Thoughts are if we would have our Life good and not neglect them as Men too commonly do and this is what the Psalmist plainly intimates in these Words I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love I shall not trouble you with long Criticizing upon the words lest I should be guilty my self of what I intend to discourse against It shall suffice to observe for the justifying of our translation that the Original word here translated Thoughts is used with that significancy in other places of Scripture Particularly 1 Kings 18. 21 Where it seems to signify unsetled and irresolute Thoughts such as could not determine them to a fixed and steady Obedience to the Truth and in Job 4. 13. where it signifies such Thoughts as the roving Imaginations of the Night are wont to be employed in In both these places it signifies such as are not well guided nor directed And by reason of this use of the word in those places I doubt not but it is very fitly done that our Translators have added the word Vain in the Text to determine and signify what sort of Thoughts the Psalmist meant by the use of the word here I shall therefore understand this Text according to the import of the word Vain in our Language and shall represent it as signifying thus much I hate all idle roving and useless Thoughts such as are not considerate and designed and directed to some good and worthy purpose all inconsiderate Thinking As there are a great many idle impertinent words spoken among Mankind many very useless and unprofitable conversations and as there are especially in the briskness and activity of Childhood and Youth a great many very idle and trifling actions done by
How easy and calm a condition may that Man's mind be in at all times who has this assurance Further we must reckon that this consideration exceedingly heightens the sweetness of every good we enjoy To consider this is the Favour of Heaven to me I receive this Enjoyment from the peculiar Love of God to me The enjoyment of that which is the Fruit of a Man 's own Pains and Labour adds much to the Pleasure of the Enjoyment But the Favour of God and his Blessing contributes much more When I can say This that I now have proceeds from that special Favour of Heaven which takes care of me 4. Lastly The peculiar Favour of God gives to those whom he so loves an assured and safe Right and Title to the Everlasting Blessedness which is to come They are the certain Heirs of Heaven The Love of the Father is promised to them that believe in Christ And this Love has promised to give them Eternal Life His Love will never cease blessing them till it has made them perfectly Blessed Till it has cured all their Imperfections has supplied all their Wants has removed from them all Evil and set them safe in perfect Bliss This is the Condition of the Future Blessedness which they are designed for No desirable Thing shall be wanting there neither shall any evil encumber it And this shall be the Rich and Bounteous and Everlasting Portion of those whom God loves They may expect that the good Work of Sanctification which is begun in them shall be perfected unto the Day of Jesus Christ That the Lord Jesus will keep them from every Evil work and preserve them to his Heavenly Kingdom And how comfortably must a Man spend his Days under this joyful Expectation Every thing here may mind him of his Home the happy Canaan above The good things here may tell him of better there and when any of these please he can say How much more pleasant are the things which are there The Griefs on Earth may put him in mind of the Joys of Heaven and when any thing troubles him here he can consider there is no such trouble there The Mutation of Earthly things may call to his Mind the Stability and Durableness of the Heavenly and this may comfort when the other vexes him How pleasantly does he spend his Days that is all his Life long travelling towards Heaven It does not trouble him to perceive his Time waste and spend its self apace His Heart and Affections are removed to Heaven already and he is glad that Time makes haste to remove his Person thither too He is glad to think that it is continually doing so He knows that whenever Time shall commit him to Eternity he shall go from lower degrees of Happiness to higher from that which suffers some Interruptions here at least as to the Sense and Enjoyment of it to that which shall never know any Interruptions The Light of God's Countenance may have some Intervals of Darkness now mingled with it but then it shall shine bright upon him for ever and make a continually happy Day of Glory He goes from a mixed Happiness to a pure and perfect one He does not go naked out of the World but well provided for in another since God will there be his everlasting Portion and exceeding great Reward Now I have done the Proof of this Truth That the Favour of God is the most desirable Good and the enjoyment of that the best Spring and Fountain of our Happiness and Comfort I have dwelt long upon this as I said the Discourse would chiefly be employed in it and may I think be excused for staying long among so many pleasant Thoughts as the Love of God suggests Application I shall say but little now for Application of these things because I intend the following Discourse to be Applicatory of this For the present let us reflect a little upon what has been said And do not these things which have been said of the Love of God naturally lead us to condemn both in our selves or others all the neglect there is among us of so matchless a Benefit Is it not a wonderful thing that Mankind should neglect the Love of God That it should be common and general among Men to have little or no Concern for an Interest in that And yet it is thus with the World The Psalmist here does not say There be many that say Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Alas the Many follow other Goods and neglect this They spend their Labour for that which is not Bread and their Mony for that which will not profit and neglect the true Felicity There is nothing so little minded in the World as the securing an Interest in the Love of God There are many guilty of this that do not observe it in themselves Let us see then who must be charged with this Folly that so we may discover what there is of it in our selves Some look upon the Love of God as a thing that will come of its self without any seeking or endeavours after it and it is a very cheap thing in their Opinion of it They have such an Opinion of the Goodness of God that they think he cannot be affronted or displeased but will love them however they carry themselves towards him They think he will love them tho they do not much care for his Love tho they never seek tho they continually forfeit and despise it They think indeed that he will cast Pearls before Swine Many really do not value the Love of God they do not consider the Necessity and Worth of it They have God himself very little in their Thoughts and so they do not know or they consider not the Importance of an Interest in his Love They do not consider that an Over-ruling Providence mingles its self with all things That they have all they enjoy from him That they must be Beholden to him for an Happy Life on Earth and they banish utterly from their Thoughts all concern and care about the Life to come Is not any thing preferr'd by a great many before this that comes in competition with it Do they not value a little unprofitabl Gain a little foolish Pleasure a little slippery Honour and the most transient Gratisications of their desires of any sort more than the Love of an Infinite Eternal God Do not men commonly expect their Happiness from the things of this World from what they can see or taste or feel Are not sensible things most sensible to the dull and carnal Minds of Men How little Charm or Invitation has this thin invisible Blessing with it to a great many They forget that the things which are not seen are Eternal That Spiritu-things are the greatest and the most considerable Spiritual things are as nothing to them they have not the Senses of their Minds exercised to discern such things And further Are there not many that never had a
Degree and are useful and necessary to us in our present State and we may enjoy them with delight and give God Thanks for them But still we must prefer the things above to these below Spiritual Things to Material the better and nobler things to those that are worse and of a meaner Nature It shall be the Business of this Discourse by God's Assistance to explain or express to you more largely and particularly the Import and Meaning of the Apostle's exhortation here And then to urge our Obedience to it with a few proper Motives And thus will this Discourse as it was intended be very Applicatory of that which goes before it Explication In the first Place I shall shew you how we ought to mind and apply our selves to the things above With how much Concern and Care we should seek the Favour of God the matchless Blessings of his Love and the enjoyment of him therein This I shall represent to you under these three Heads 1. The Things above must have the Preference of our Judgments We must esteem and value them before all other 2. They must have the Preference of our Wills and Affections We must chuse and love them desire and delight in them more than in any other 3. They must have the Preference of our Actions and Course of Life We should seek and pursue them more than all other things I shall particularly insist and enlarge my Discourse upon each of these severally for the better Illustration of them 1. Those things ought to have the Preference of our Judgments We should esteem and value them as the best things We must account God our Chiefest Good and the enjoyment of him in his Love the highest Felicity This should be the setled and fixed Judgment of our Souls a Conclusion deliberately and firmly made The Apostle who gives this Direction in our present Text expresses thus concerning himself when he says Phil. 3. 8. I count all things but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him that is That I may through him have an Interest in God and in the Blessings of his peculiar Love This has been the constant Practice and State of all good and rectified Souls Thy loving kindness is better than life says David Psal 63. 3. More to be desired are thy Commandments than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than the Hony and the Hony-comb Psal 19. This preference and esteem of things above is several times exprest by Solomon in the words which he puts into the Mouth of a Holy Soul in his Book of Canticles in Chap. 1. Verse 2. She says to Christ Thy Love is better than Wine The expressions and exercises of thy Favour are better far and more chearing and refreshing to the Mind than the richest Wines are to the faint and thirsty Body Again she says Chap. 2. 3. As the Apple Tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons He is to be preferred before all other Yea she says in plain Terms Chap. 5. 10. He is the chiefest among Ten thousand These are all of them the expressions of such Souls as mind the things above rather than those below and prefer Spiritual Objects before Sensual God must have the Ascendant in our Souls He who truly is the Chiefest Good must be accounted so We must believe him the Center and Source of all Goodness the Fountain and Giver of all that which is in the Creatures And that he has not given away from himself what he has communicated to them but is still an inexhaustible Fulness of Good That in him does all desirable Fulness dwell and that he alone is able to afford full Content and Happiness to the Soul of Man We must account it a much happier State to enjoy the things above than the things below Much better to be vertuous and good than rich and great to enjoy the Favour of God than the Esteem of Men. And if we have the greatest value and esteem for the things above we shall value all other things according to the relation which they bear to them Those things which have a subserviency to them and are means of attaining them will be valued next to them and will for their sakes be in great esteem too Such are Prayer Hearing the Word of God Reading and Meditating on it and the Attendance upon Sacraments And again Those things which are contrary and opposite to these which hinder the enjoyment of them will not be lookt upon as Indifferent they will be accounted very evil things and be absolutely rejected from all esteem with us Such are all manner of Sins and Wickednesses Thus must the things above have the Preference of our Judgments 2. They must also have the Preference of our Wills and Affections We must chuse them before all other things love desire and delight most in them When those things are proposed described and offered to us we must not regard them with indifferent and careless Minds Our Souls must be moved towards them in chusing accepting and desiring above all things to be Partakers of them This also has been the Temper of good Souls as the Expressions that have fallen from such do abundantly declare The Holy Author of Psal 73. says to God Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I can desire besides thee The Spouse in the Canticles says Cant. 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the Kisses of his Mouth That which I chiefly desire is to receive the expressions of thy matchless Love And in Verse 4. she says We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy Love more than Wine If we can enjoy thy Favour Oh Jesus lover of Souls This is that we most value This is all we care for This is that will be most pleasing to us Ardent Desires after God the Psalmist expresses Psal 42. 1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God! If we are not assured of an Interest in the peculiar Love of God we should most earnestly and incessantly desire this We should make it the chief subject and matter of our Prayers The want of this should not be satisfied and madeup with any thing else Let us never say to our selves upon the mostplentiful Enjoyment of these things as that Man whom our Saviour describes Luke 12. who said Soul take thine ease because thou hast Goods laid up for many years Our Souls must take no Ease nor ever be at Rest till we have Goods laid up for Eternity God must be the only Center of our Hopes and Aims We should love him with a transcendent Love Nothing should grieve or trouble us so much as what does damp our Hopes of Heaven nothing so much transport and please as what does raise and promote and confirm them If we have been
that thou hast been pleased to make us capable to know and meditate on thy Self to chuse and love thee to desire and enjoy thee who art an Infinite Eternal Good and in whose presence is fulness of Joy Oh how ready should our Hearts be at all times to say Whom have we in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that we can desire besides thee But alas we are degenerated we are fallen from our Original Excellency we are sunk into Sensuality we need to be put in mind and told wherein our true Happiness lies and to be excited urged and exhorted to pursue it We hover here below and seldom have any thoughts or desires moving upwards the objects of Sense detain us with them and we feed on Husks among Beasts we stay and abide upon the lowest and the smallest part of our Happiness Lord we are miserable we are undone and shall perish for ever if thy pity do not rescue us from the Love of these low Things Oh Pardon our guilty and heal our distempered Souls Discover thy self to us and make us love thee shed abroad thy Love abundantly in our Hearts Make us to rise by the Creature to the Creator Guide us by the streams to thee the Fountain of their Goodness and make us as we ought to love thee above all things Let us be governed by thy Love in the whole course of our lives and readily deny our selves to please thee and keep thy Commandments Let us firmly believe the glorious Things which thou hast prepared for them that love thee and draw our Hearts after them to endeavour that our Treasure may be in Heaven in Immutable things And direct us we pray thee so to pass through things Temporal as that we finally lose not the things Eternal Have mercy O Lord upon all Mankind Let the Earth be filled with Knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the Sea and all Men be directed and led in the way to true Happiness Give to all Nations Unity Peace and Concord Pour down an abundant measure of thy Spirit upon thy Church that the Gospel may run and be glorified from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same Let them prosper that love it and let not the Gates of Hell ever prevail against it We pray especially for that part of it which thou hast graciously placed in these Nations and hitherto wonderfully detended Lord make it a very fruitful Vineyard and purge out of it all that is contrary to true Doctrin and Godliness Bless we pray thee our Gracious King and Queen and the Royal Family with all Spiritual and Eternal Blessings and give them long and happy Possession of the Throne of these Kingdoms to thy Glory and our Comfort Bless all in Authority under them help them truly and indifferently to administer Justice to the punishment of Wickedness and Vice and to the maintainance of thy true Religion and Vertue Give grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops and Curates that they may both by their Life and Doctrin honour thee and guide thy People committed to them in the way of Blessedness Let all the Subjects of this Realm be subject to thee in Loyalty and Subjection and due Obedience to those that are over them in Church and State and let Piety Love Righteousness and Peace and Truth abound among us We commend to thy Fatherly goodness all that are in any Distress and Affliction all our Friends and Relations we pray for our Enemies do for all beyond what we are able to ask or think We humbly ask a comfortable and safe rest this Night and that it may please thee to make the out-goings of the Morning to rejoice Let thy word which we have heard this Day guide our Conversations and let us bring forth in them the Fruits of the Spirit let not the Cares of this World or the Deceitfulness of Riches choke the Word and render it unfruitful but grant we may live to the Glory of thy Name and to the Peace and Salvation of our own Souls by Jesus Christ in whose most comprehensive words we sum up our Requests saying OVR Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen THE Necessity of Obedience TO THE COMMANDS of GOD Proved and Stated Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Mat. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven HOW common a thing is it among those that have heard the glad Tidings of the Gospel for Men to take up a presumptuous reliance upon the Merits of Jesus Christ with neglect of Obedience to the Commands of God! Some of the most profligate and careless Sinners will hope to be saved And if one ask them how They will say by the Merits of Jesus Christ Many indulge themselves in their darling Sins and yet hope to be saved by the Merits of Christ And most certain it is that the Doctrins of some Teachers give occasion to this presumption They occasion Men to think there is nothing necessary to their Salvation but strong Believing and so to endeavour nothing but that and to rely upon the Righteousness of Christ so as to neglect all Endeavour after any Righteousness of their own And this Error and Delusion where it obtains does often prove able to harden a Man against the most earnest Exhortations to leave his Sins yea and even against the most plain Rebukes of Providence for them and to frustrate all other Means of Grace and Conversion whatever It is therefore of great Importance to remove it out of the way and this I shall endeavour by discoursing on these words of our Saviour which if they had been well considered together with many other plain Scriptures it had prevented the entertainment of such Imaginations in the Minds of Men. He had been in a long Discourse enforcing many of the Commands of the Moral Law And now towards the close of this Discourse he begins in this Verse to tell them of what importance and necessity it was to them to practise what he had taught He plainly teaches that no belief in him would avail them any thing if they did not together with it keep the Commands of God Not every one says he that saith to me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven
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
that he commands That we resign and submit our selves entirely to his disposing Providence who is rightful Owner and just Disposer of all things That we praise and acknowledge those glorious Perfections which are daily exercised to our Comfort and Advantage and give him Thanks for all the good things that we enjoy since it is he that freely bestows them What can be more equitable and more agreeing to right reason than these things Again That the things which are made to be our Duty in our carriage towards Men are all highly reasonable and just does sufficiently appear in that these two are the Fundamental Rules of that Duty Namely That we do to others as we would they should do unto us and that we love our Neighbour as our selves What can be more agreeing to reason and more satisfactory to a Man 's own Mind than to give my Neighbour what in his Circumstances I my self might desire or than to love him as my self who is my Fellow-Creature and in all Points like my self How reasonable is it for me to shew mercy who need mercy For me to be ready to do good and perform all manner of kind Offices to my Neighbour when I must needs desire that others should be so disposed towards me How ready should I be to forgive who must often need forgiveness How reasonable is it that I should be honest and faithful to others when I desire them to be so towards me A little sober Consideration would make it evidently appear concerning every instance of Duty towards our Neighbour that it is most highly reasonable and just And when a Man apprehends and considers this thing he will perform his Duty with an entire satisfaction And it must please him to think that in what he has done he has paid a just Debt to Almighty God he has render'd what was due to him to think he has acted as becomes his Reason and so as he must needs be justified by the Wisdom and Consciences of his Neighbours in his carriage towards them He finds in himself what David said Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commands he sees he has no reason to be ashamed of his Actions but they are such as he can justify and applaud himself for and certainly there can be nothing more pleasant to a Man than the just applauses of himself 3. The Dignity and Nobleness of good Actions does render it very pleasant to do well and therefore also proves that it is so He that lives well lives up to the highest and most noble capacities of his Nature In pious and vertuous Actions alone do we greatly excel the Beasts that perish not in any sensual Pleasures or Enjoyments They have Senses as well as we and as many and can delight in the Objects of them and have perhaps as many delights of that kind as we But they cannot be pious or wise they cannot be vertuous or good because they do not know or chuse their own Actions In these things the religious Man excels them and advances himself truly above them and he only among Men does in any considerable measure excel them Further so far as we become Religious we are already here on Earth become like the Angels which are in Heaven He that lives religiously is employed as they are and conforms himself to them as our Saviour does plainly intimate when he bids us pray that the Will of God may be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven The Psalmist says of the Angels They perform the Commandments of God they hearken to the voice of his word Psal 103. 20. The pious Man then that carefully performs his Duty towards God joins himself to that noble Company he is a Fellow-Citizen of the Saints or holy Ones which may mean the Angels And of the Houshold of God as the Apostle speaks Eph. 2. 19. I am thy Fellow-Servant said an Angel to St. John And Fellow-Servant of the Prophets and of them which keep the Sayings of this Book Rev. 22. 9. When we worship and praise God we join with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Company of Heaven When we pay him a profound Reverence and come before him with a godly Fear we do as they who are represented as covering their Faces in their solemn Addresses to him When we are concern'd and endeavouring to promote his Glory in the World this is what they constantly endeavour When we combat the Temptations that assault our selves and set our selves against the works of the Devil in others we are on the same side with Michael and his Angels are join'd and taking part with those bright Hosts against the Devil and his Angels And this surely is greatly to our Honour And there is a further Dignity and Excellence in a good and vertuous Life and that is it is conformity to the Ever-blessed God himself And therefore when any are made righteous and holy they are said to be renewed after his Image and Likeness Eph. 4. 24. When we best perform our Duties to Men then we do best imitate and most resemble the most excellent and perfect Being When we are merciful 't is as our Father in Heaven is merciful When we return good for evil 't is to do like him who is good to the Unthankful and the Evil. When we are sincere and true just and righteous in all our behaviour this is to resemble him who is a God of Truth and without Iniquity When we patiently bear with the Infirmities of others this is a noble imitation of his long-sufferings with us all When we forgive those that injure us this is as he does who is a God forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin When we set our selves to do all the Offices of kindness that we can to be beneficial to Mankind in our several Stations this is a very Honourable Imitation of his abundant Goodness Upon these accounts a good and vertuous Life is truly great and honourable and noble This puts upon a Man the greatest worth and value that he can attain to this is his best accomplishment and as it raises him in the esteem of God so it renders him truly deserving the respect and esteem of Men and is that which does best deserve it Hence it is said The Righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour Prov. 12. 26. Now though it were very unreasonable that the Sense of this should make any Man Proud and Disdainful of his Neighbour whom he thinks not to be so good as himself when in all this he has nothing but what he receiv'd and it was the free Grace of God that made him to differ and in becoming Proud he ceases to be the good Man Yet a thankful humble Sense of this a Man may have and the Thoughts of it may afford him a great deal of Delight and Pleasure To think the Creatour made the Humane Nature at first but little lower than the Angels and Crown'd it with Honour and Dignity
guilty Conscience which are far worse things than any outward Afflictions and certainly much more intolerable than all the Labours or Self-denials of Religion Guilt when a Man is sensible of it is a very heavy and uneasy Burden Solomon very justly says A wounded Spirit who can bear When a Man's Conscience tells him he has plaid the Fool he has deserved the Hatred of God and the Contempt of Man he has needlesly and madly hurt his own Body impair'd his Estate and blasted his Reputation he has made the Almighty God and the Supream Disposer his just Enemy that he has forfeited his Life and all that he enjoys and delights in to Divine Justice that Vengeance hovers continually over his Head that he may justly fear every Black Cloud to be charged with it that evil haunts and pursues him every where that he is always as it were on the brink of the Bottomless Pit that he hangs over the Everlasting Flames but by the slender and weak Thread of this mortal Life These Thoughts will imbitter his strongest Pleasures and spoil the Comfort and Joy of the greatest Prosperity And these Terrors he is exposed to continually who will not live well We must often feel these or take pains to be Religious It costs the foolish Sinner a great deal of Labour and Endeavour to divert these Thoughts when with less labour he might prevent the Sins that occasion them and notwithstanding all his Endeavour they will have their times to invade and afflict him 3. Without taking Pains to be Religious the Sinner must endure the everlasting Torments of Hell Is it not then apparently wiser to bear the taking Pains to be Religious than to bear those Torments The Difficulty of Religion will abate and grow less but those Torments will never abate He that thinks the Rules of Religion such an ungrateful Confinement will certainly account that Eternal Prison a worse if ever he comes there He that will not deny himself at all now for the conveniency of Serving God and for the doing of his Duty shall be denied all Comfort and Satisfaction there for ever He that will not mortify his Sins must die himself for them a miserable and eternal Death And must needs bring himself at last to that for there is no Middle Way between the Broad and the Narrow One nor a Middle State at the End between Happiness and Misery And is it not easie now to determine between these Two things where to fix our Choice Whether we will endure the short Labours of Religion or be condemned to dwell with everlasting Burnings This is a Third Argument 4. Lastly Our Saviour in the Text affords us another with which I shall conclude and that is We shall find Rest to our Souls This shall be the blissful Reward of our taking up the Yoke of Christ This Labour in Religion brings to Rest when that in Sin brings to Torment and Trouble The First and present Fruit and Reward of it is Rest and Peace within a happy Freedom from tormenting Passions from craving and unruly Lusts and unquiet Appetites Freedom from the Fears of Death and Damnation And then Religion has the Hopes of Rest to come for there remains a Rest for the People of God A Rest even from the present Labours of Religion We shall have an Eternal Rest for a few Moments Labour and Striving He that endures to the end of a short Life the same shall be saved To him that overcomes says our Saviour will I give to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am sate down with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3. 21. Here is a Promise of Safety Honour and Rest for ever of a glorious honourable and happy Rest Thus if we will but be so wise as to endeavour the avoiding everlasting Misery we shall be rewarded with everlasting Happiness The PRAYER MOst Great and most glorious God excellent in thy Nature and wonderful in thy Works in Wisdom hast thou made them all Every Creature was perfect in its kind and fit for all the Uses and Operations that would become it and that thou didst intend it for And thou O Lord madest Man a rational Creature with an immortal Spirit in him as he was therein fitted for great and noble Actions so thou didst intend him for Actions suitable to the Dignity of such a Nature thou didst intend him to know and adore thee to love and praise thee to do good to practice Justice to exercise faithfulness and truth to make a spiritual and religious use of the Things of this World and to do thy Will on Earth as the blessed Angels do it in Heaven Oh Lord with what great grief and shame do we look back upon our Original excellency when alas we have wretchedly lost it and from being made by thee but little lower than the Angels we have made our selves more vile than the Beasts that perish instead of living like Angels we are become earthly sensual and devilish Oh how unfit are we now how unable to do any thing that is good We cannot so much as think a good Thought or speak a good Word or perform a good Action We cannot do what we were made for We cannot answer our honourable End but do degrade and debase our selves by living far below it And that is become now difficult to us and unpleasant which before was easy and pleasant It was originally natural to us to be vertuous and Pious it was as Meat and Drink to be doing our Fathers Will but now our disorder'd Faculties naturally do ill We must endeavour to do Good and cannot without thy Grace attain to it This Grace therefore O Lord we humbly seek we earnestly implore in the Name of Jesus Christ And we thank thee for the leave we have to seek for the hopes to attain it As a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth those that seek him And if earthly Parents know how to give good Gifts to their Children much rather do we believe that thou our heavenly Father wilt give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Oh grant us the constant influence and assistance of thy good Spirit Let us never yield to any Difficulty of performing our Duty but earnestly strive to enter in at the strait Gate Quicken our Endeavours with the hopes of Assistance Strengthen them with the expectation of a glorious Reward and continue them to persevere to the end by the Assurance that we shall hereafter be Partakers of everlasting Rest Let us never be a weary of well-doing but stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord as knowing that our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord We humbly thank thee O Lord for the Liberty of approaching thy Sanctuary and of using thy Ordinances do thou we pray thee give them a mighty Efficacy and Power upon us While we thus wait on the Lord let us renew our Strength and with fresh Vigour