of God sustains our Life and mercifully allows us space to repent that by well employing the time he lends us we may wisely provide for our own Eternity Wisely then thou actest O my Soul when thou settest apart some time every day wherein to meditate on God and his Word and works by which thou maist be sitted for a happy Eternity Consider then further the Divine Providence and say within thy self Thus do we depend O Lord on thee and happy we are in that dependance did we but know our own true interest We and our whole concerns are deposited with God and where can we find a better hand to ensure them Is he not wise enough to chuse safely for us who disposes all nature in such admirable order Has he not power to go through with his purpose who commands the will of men and Angels Wants he perhaps an inclination to favour us who desires our felicity more than our own Hearts do He feeds the Fowls of the Air and cloaths the Lillies of the Field Without his Providence not a Sparrow falls to the ground and shall we mistrust his care for his Children Under his Government we have liv'd all this while and can we now suspect hee 'l forsake us He has shown his bounty in extraordinary favours and will he deny us his lesser blessings He has freely bestow'd upon us his dearest Son how shall he not with him freely give us all things else All that are useful to carry us on our way and bring us at length to his Eternal Rest If our necessities be the effects of our folly we must not presume that he will maintain us in our sins Rather we should strive to moderate our appetites and correct our vices that have bred these miseries But if our wants be innocent and pressing he will sooner do a miracle than break his word This he has often solemnly engag'd and often made good by his Providence Ask but the former ages and they will tell you the wonders which he wrought in them in favour to his faithful Servants He multiplied the Oyl in the Poor Widows cruse and fed his banisht Prophet by a Raven He dryed the Sea into a Path for his People and melted the Rocks into streams of Water to quench their thirst He made his Angels Stewards of their Provision and nourisht them in the Wilderness with the Bread of Heaven Still O my God thy Eternal Charity retains the same affections for those that rely on thee Still thy all-seeing Wisdom governs the World with the same immense unalterable goodness Nay surely now the streams of thy Mercy run more strong and have wrought to themselves a larger channel Since thou broughtest down the Waters from above the Heavens and openedst in thine own Body a Spring of Life A Spring of Joy and Bliss to revive our Hearts and overslow them with a torrent of everlasting Pleasures MEDITATION III. LEt us sit down in Peace O my Soul and rest secure in the bosom of Providence Let us not disturb the order of those mercies which our God has design'd us in his eternal Councels Every accident may be turn'd into vertue and every vertue is a step towards our glorious end If our affairs succeed let us praise our great Benefactor and think what he will give us hereafter who does so favour us here if they miscary let us yield to the will of Heaven and learn by our crosses in this world to love the other Whatever happens to us this ought to be our constant rule to provide for the other life and be contented with the present Shall we not patiently accept a little evil from him that has given us much good Shall the being without some one thing that we need not more sensibly affect us than the having all that we need Ingrateful wretches the common benefits that we all enjoy deserve the thanksgiving of a whole life the air we breath in the bright Sun that shines on us the water and the bounteous earth that do so faithfully serve us the exercise of our senses and the use of our wits if not in excellency at least to some degree All these things O Lord thou generally affordest both to the good and to the bad and for the least of these none can praise thee enough What shall we say then can we yet with any justice complain because some few perhaps are more prosperous than we should we not rather look down on the many below us and be thankful to see our selves more favoured than they should we not do well my Soul to reckon over the several miseries of mankind and bless our God that has so farr preferr'd us Had we some desperate Canker breeding on our face or noisom Leprosie spreading over our skin these we must all confess are incident to our nature and much more than these is due to our sins what would we then give to be as we now are how gladly would we exchange them for a moderate affliction It is but to interpret our worst condition well and we shall sind motives enow to excite our gratitude to God It is but interpreting our best condition frowardly and we shall imagine defects enow to make us think our selves miserable My Soul do thou alwayes adore the wisdom of God and leave it to him as he pleases to rule his own world All his works shall certainly praise him and his Saints shall bless him He scatters these temporal things with a seeming negligence as trifles of so little importance that they signifie not either love or hatred Nothing but Heaven is indeed considerable nothing but Eternity deserves our esteem But if we could understand the secret character of the divine Decrees we should read in each syllable a perfect Harmony PETITIONS TEach me I pray Thee O thou the blest Enlightner of our minds teach me to expound thy actions alwayes in a fair sense alwayes to believe they are well becoming thy infinite perfections and therefore adorable Suffer me not to follow my own fancy in doing this lest I create to my self a voluntary misery Lord let all thy dispensations design favour and good to me and let me understand that they do so then shall I heartily praise thee for them of what nature soever they be Let me interpret the afflictions which thou sendest as meant to correct and not to destroy me to prevent some sin or teach me the practice of some vertue and that when I shall need crosses no longer thou wilt then remove them In the mean while O gracious Lord I beseech thee to give me Patience according to my burden inable me to wait thy time of deliverance without prescribing limits to thee and without contracting either a froward discontented Spirit or a mean and dejected one Make me Lord to rejoyce that my lot is in thy hands while I see thy Mercy favourably chusing for me And willingly I say do thou dispose of my condition here as it
Soul could love thee without limits as thou art infinitely amiable O my Beloved let my thoughts embrace thee all this night while others sleep let wakeful thoughts refresh me by presenting Thee to my mind Let me think how kind thou art how unspeakably good Do thou Lord rest this night in my heart and inspire it with the pure flames of divine Love. Hymn 8. LEt earthy minds court what they please And gain what e're they court For me I find but little ease In all their gayest sport Be Thou alone but with my heart My God my only bliss I shall not murmure at my part Nor envy their success They talk of pleasure talk of gain None must their humour cross But well I know their pleasure's pain Their greatest profit loss Let them talk on and have not we Our gains our pleasures too Pleasures that spring more sweet and free Gains that more fully flow Nay well endur'd our very pains To us a pleasure are And all our losses turn to gains If hopes may have their share And sure they may such hopes as chear The Heaven espoused brest Hopes that so strangely charm us here What will they be possest All Glory to the Sacred Three All Honour Power and Praise As 't was at first still may it be Beyond the end of Dayes Amen For Thursday Morning MEDITATION I. THe good and wise Creator of the world made man at first after his own similitude He form'd a noble Spirit within him and endow'd it with righteousness and true holiness He gave him dominion over the creatures with which he would plentifully stock the Air Earth and Sea He gave to man a perfect dominion over himself and made him able to govern his appetites and passions He made him sole Lord of a beauteous Paradise which Gods own hand had planted Man was to have spent a few pleasant years on Earth and then to have been translated to the Heaven of Heavens But all these priviledges did the foolish creature loose by doing one guilty and needless act by eating of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil and therein disobeying the Law of his just Creator Unhappy man has now forfeited all good and exposed himself to the invasion of every misery By this one sinful act according to the tenour of the Covenant our first Parents ruin'd themselves and all their posterity with them From thenceforth our bodies were doom'd to dissolution and condemn'd to return to the dust from whence they were taken From thenceforth brutish and sensual appetites became rebellious against the laws of right reason and the understanding is so blinded with partiality to sence that it is not able to find out those Laws The mind of man is destitute of its moral excellency and the glorious Image of God is defac'd The Apostate spirit that tempted to the sin has infected our nature with his own resemblance Thus are we wretches become liable to all those sicknesses and pains that infest our bodies and thus to those violent Passions and disorders which distemper and torment our minds By this sin the favour of our God was forfeited and we are all by nature the children of his wrath We are exposed to the tyranny of the Devils while we live and lyable to partake in their torments when we dye But when our great guilt had provok'd the divine anger against us our great misery at the same time moved his compassion He pityed the poor creature undone by its own folly and resolved to find help for it by his Wisdom His infinite goodness pityed the many thousands of Souls which one rash act of the first Parents had undone and when they might expect to hear from his Justice an irreversible sentence of Condemnation then did his wonderful mercy condescend to comfort them by making the first promise of a mighty Saviour A Saviour that should conquer him who now had the power of death and who is become ruler in the Children of disobedience For thou O adorable Son of God Son coeternal and equal with the Father Thou didst undertake to redeem us by an amazing way which will be the eternal wonder of all thy most inteligent creatures Blessed Son of God thou didst undertake our help when it was not in the power of any creature to help us Thou didst undertake to ransom us from our misery while the fallen Angels were left subject to theirs In the fulness of time O kind Redeemer thou didst according to that promise descend into this miserable world And while here thou wentest about doing good and diffusing the light of thy saving instructions By taking the humane nature into a personal union thou didst put thy self into subjection under the law and by thy spotless life and patient death thou hast satisfied all the demands of the Law for us so that believing in Thee we are righteous by thy life and our sins are attoned for by thy precious death Thy death upon the cross was our great sacrifice for sin and sufficient at once offering of thy self to take it away Thou hast by thy meritorious life purchased for us all our forfeited good and by thy propitiatory death removed our desert of evil By that death thou didst go again out of this world and art now ascended to the right hand of the Father there thou ever livest to make intercession for us and to dispence the purchases of thy life and death Hymn 9. LOng had the world in gloomy shades Of Ignorance and Sin Benighted sate whilst Hells dark Prince Had tyraniz'd therein Weak Reasons twinkling Tapers long Contended with the night And Prophets strove the shades to chase With beams of borrow'd light But all in vain alas 'till He The Son of righteousness At length with healing beams arose To cure the worlds distress He rose and with his presence brought A bright and glorious day Infernal spirits and their dark works Before him fled away They that in errors fatal chains The captiv'd world had led Were by the mighty Prince of peace His conquer'd Captives made Thus came he whom all Nations had In great desire of old Whose coming faithful Prophesies To Israel long foretold And now ye Nations of the Earth Know and revere your King Gladly submit to him who does Your great Salvation bring Ye Nations of the Earth rejoyce And all your voices raise The wondrous faithfulness and love Of your great God to praise Glory to God the Father give And to the Gracious Son And Holy Ghost henceforth as long As time his course shall run Amen MEDITATION II. LOrd what a happy change has thy coming made in the world what glorious effects have every where been the consequents of it Narrow was once the gate and strait the path to bliss and so cover'd with the mists of Ignorance that but few could find it The whole earth then corrupted their way before God and wickedness increased as fast as people multiplyed Then did but eight persons among a
seek after Thee PETITIONS I Therefore do most humbly and constantly seek after thee my God. For all good I fly to Thee the Father of Lights and giver of every good and perfect gift And at this time Lord I ask of Thee that thou would'st alwaies possess my heart with an awful reverence of thy great Name Chase away all levity and carlesness of spirit from me by putting thy fear into my inward parts Humble my too proud and wilful spirit to a ready submission to thy will in all things Make me I pray Thee so to stand in aw of thee and of thy Judgments that I may not dare to sin Those Judgments thou hast often executed on obstinate and impenitent sinners let them be often call'd to my mind let the thoughts of them meet and antidote the temptations to sin Make my fear of them prevent my feeling the like Still O Lord let a lively sensible Conscience cry out aloud when I am tempted and say Dare you commit this evil and sin against God Dare you commit this evil and run upon the fire of divine Vengeance Are you not afraid to provoke his wrath to plunge you into everlasting torments By thy Judgments in the world thou O Lord expectest that the inhabitants thereof should be moved to learn righteousness Grant Lord that I may alwaies do so that so thy Judgments on others may prove mercies to me And let also thy abundant goodness and mercy shown to the penitent and faithful win me to repent and trust in Thee the merciful and Gracious God. Thus prevent me I beseech Thee from being overawed by the terrors of the Lord. Suffer not the Enemy of my Soul to drive me into despair because I am a Sinner dispose me to lay hold of the mercy offer'd by the Redeemer make me to believe and find that humble and penitent Sinners have an Advocate with the Father the righteous Jesus the Christ That he who suffer'd on Earth for our sins is gone to Heaven to make intercession and to plead that satisfaction in the behalf of those that apply themselves to him for his help Incourage me to a steady practice and further pursuit of Holiness by the favours thou hast shown to good men by assurance that I shall be assisted therein and that thou wilt hereafter if not in this life abundantly reward it Thus Lord let it please thee by my hopes and fears which are the great swayers of our natures here to counterpoise my propensity downwards to this earth to keep me in a constant tendency upwards lift me out of the dirt of this world into a happy converse with thee all my dayes Hymn 6. FAin would my thoughts fly up to thee Thy peace sweet Lord to find But when I offer still the world Layes clogs upon my mind Sometimes I climb a little way And thence look down below How nothing there do all things seem Which here make such a show Then round about I turn my eyes To feast my hungry sight I meet with Heaven in every thing In every thing delight I see thy wisdom ruling all And it with joy admire I see my self amidst such hopes As set my heart on fire When I have thus triumpht a while And think to build my nest Some cross conceits come fluttering by And interrupt my rest Then to the earth again I fall And from my low dust cry 'T was not in my wing Lord but thine That I got up so high And now my God whether I rise Or still lye down in dust Both I submit to thy blest Will In both on Thee I trust Guide thou my way who art thy self My Everlasting End That every step or swift or slow Still to thy self may tend To Father Son and Holy Ghost One Consubstantial Three All highest Praise all humblest thanks Now and for ever be Amen For Wednesday Morning MEDITATION I. COme my Soul let us adore the God that governs us him who is absolute King of Heaven and Earth He sees at once the whole frame of all things and thoroughly comprehends their various natures To every Creature he appoints a fit Office and guides all their motions in a perfect order till he has wrought out his glorious design and that he may finish the world in a beauteous close His councels are deep and his particular wayes may be beyond our reach yet all his wayes are wise and just and merciful And if all things come alike to all now yet he will punish wilful sinners with eternal miseries hereafter and bless his servants with eternal happiness Why then do you laugh and rejoyce unhappy wretches who tire your selves in the wayes of sin wayes they are indeed that seem smooth at first but lead to danger and end in ruine Why do you boast your pleasant life who lye asleep in the arms of Death Awake poor Souls and shake off the golden dreams that delude your crazy heads with empty fancies Awake and fill your eyes with penitent tears sadly reflect on the real miseries to which your sins have exposed you Consider whither alas will your Souls be hurry'd when in cold despair you sigh away your last faint breath they shall fly amaz'd from the sight of Heaven and hide their guilty selves in eternal darkness there they shall dwell with intolerable pains wailing and lamenting for ever their understanding shall sit as in a deep dungeon and think on nothing but its own calamities their will shall be heightned to a madness of desire and perpetually wrackt with despair of obtaining their memory shall serve but to renew their sorrows and their whole Souls be drown'd in a Sea of bitterness there every vice shall have its proper torment prodigiously bred out of its own corruption The Lascivious shall burn with unquenchable sires perpetually flaming in the rage of their own lusts the Glutton and Drunkard shall vainly sigh for a drop of water to cool their tongues the furious Cholerick shall rage like mad Dogs to their own only vexation the spiteful Envious shall have thoughts that only gnaw and torment their own minds the desires of the Covetous shall be as thorns in a mans sides the haughty Proud shall be thrown down to the lowest contempt shall be loaded with utter disdain the Slothful shall miserably deplore their lost time and languish with grief for their stupid negligence But O what horrid pangs shall seize them all and wound and pierce the very center of their Souls anguish and trouble shall infect all the whole spirit when they shall see themselves deprived of the bright and blissful Vision of God! when their offended God shall despise and reject them as if they were not his creatures shall cast them away as offensive to his sight and he that made them will not save them will shew them no mercy When they shall see themselves eternally banisht from the sweet and gracious presence of Jesus that he will not be their Saviour because they would not
great many thousands find favour with God to be saved from an universal deluge In several populous Cities before this floud could well be forgotten there could not ten righteous persons be found for whose sake they might be spar'd from destruction Then the rayes of divine light were communicated but to a few particular persons Only Abraham found favour with God to have a numerous seed and that his seed should be heirs of a Covenant of Promise I will be thy God said the Almighty to him and the God of thy seed after thee Accordingly he that was the God of Abraham took also particular care of Isaac and Jacob and he gave his Statutes and Judgments to the Children of Israel but did not deal so with any other Nation But since thy coming O glorious Messiah light is come into the world and the way of Salvation has been made known to all men unclouded light has come wlth thee no more opprest with ceremonial veils which therefore has diffused it self into the dark corners of the Earth and spread it self to the ends of the World. The Day-spring from on high has visited our distant region and on us has the Sun of righteousness kindly arose The Christian Church thanks be to thy Love Dear Lord has included within its pale a great many Nations It has had thousands that with a strong and generous love have run swiftly after Thee in the way of thy counsels nay millions with a fair degree of hope have walked constantly towards thee in the way of thy Commands Whence O my God could this strange improvement come but from the infinite Merits of the Redeemers death Hence it was that when he had ended his holy Life he ascended to Heaven and gave gifts to men He gave largely of his Spirit to his chosen Apostles and sent them out to preach his Word and dispence his appointed Sacraments He gave them the gift of Tongues that they might Preach to all Nations and the gift of working Miracles to confirm their Doctrines By his Spirits cooperating with these and succeeding their endeavours they every where propagated the Faith and Love of Jesus Our kind Lord before he ascended into Heaven appointed the use of two sacred Rites in his Church to assist the Faith of those who did not see his Person that they might notwithstanding believe and in believing be blessed Lest mankind should be so ungrateful as to forget him he has left us memorials of his tender love By these he shews us his bloody Death and Passion and makes himself present to those that believe and love and these by the powerful working of his Holy Spirit have confirm'd many Disciples in their most holy Faith Many they have possest with a holy fervour and courage to do and suffer great things for the name of Jesus O blest Memorials of my Saviours love and faithful seals of all his promises whereby what he has done for us is represented and what he has purchas'd is applyed to us If I forget to sing of you let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth If I forget to meditate on you let my head forfeit its power to think MEDITATION III. WHere O thou boundless Ocean of Immense charity where will thy overslowing streams stay their course we and our ingratitude basely strive to oppose Thee but nothing can resist thy Almighty Goodness Thou didst come to thine own People and they received Thee not yet thou didst not forsake the kind design of thy coming When the Impiety of man was treacherously plotting to betray and murder Thee then didst thou mercifully consult about means to convey thy saving blessings to the world When they were resolving to bruise and kill thy sacred Body thou wast contriving how we might best reap advantage from thy Passion and Death Thy love we see was desirous to do more than dye for us having contrived moreover a way to live in us The Lord Jesus on the same night when he was betray'd took Bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take Eat this is my Body which was broken for you this do in remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the Cup after Supper saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for the remission of the sins of many Drink ye all of it and do this as oft as you Drink it in remembrance of me Thus has our wise Lord found an excellent way to make even our flesh assist the Spirit in us He has contrived by sensible things to make us move towards heavenly by those things which are wont to draw and fasten us to this earth When he distributed the Bread and Wine to his Disciples he gave them an interest in his abundant graces and merits And thus is he ready to bestow himself still upon those that believe and are desirous to partake of him He has commanded the celebration of this Holy Supper to be continu'd in the Christian Church to the end of the world And that not only to keep alive a thankful remembrance of his Death but also to confirm his gracious Promises to them that believe on him To the happy Soul then that with faith and thankfulness does thus commemorate the dying Love of our Saviour this Holy Supper is a Feast of fat things and of Wine on the lees well refined Jesus Christ himself will come and Sup with such and be willing to make his constant abode with them His Promise assures his Presence with them while they are here on Earth and that they shall when they go hence be taken up to be where he is O Praise the Lord ye Nations of the Earth all praise and admire his wisdom and love His Love that so industriously seeks our happiness and his Wisdom that finds such excellent means to accomplish it Praise him that is the sole fountain of spiritual Blessings and who alone has right to ordain the means of conveying them for that he has instituted a few means and those easie to be observed and made them the conveyances of all the riches of his Grace Give hearty thanks to the kind Redeemer for this Institution and express your thankfulness by coming to this his Supper Come to it to remember his propitiatory Death and to receive Jesus Christ who offers himself to you Come to partake of the important purchases of his Death and to devote your selves entirely to him who has so lov'd you Come all ye People of the wide world and let us adore the God that feeds us With himself our kind Saviour will feed us and with his Sacred Flesh his sacred Flesh is meat indeed and his Blood is drink indeed Our first Parents eat of the forbidden tree and incurr'd for themselves and their posterity an eternal Death We are invited to a Feast of spiritual Food which whosoever eateth shall live for ever With these dainties will divine love nourish us up to immortal
Spirit of Adoption Blessed be thou O Eternal Father God of abundant and infinite goodness for this unspeakable kindness of sending thy Spirit into our miserable and wicked World a Spirit so suited to our necessities and able to bring many of us to glory This Lord was thy free gift with respect to us unworthy Creatures Mankind did not could not deserve it of thee it ought therefore to be the more marvellous in our eyes And we may justly wonder not only at thy Bounty but at thy Patience too herein for Mankind had highly forfeited this Mercy and it was directly contrary to his Deserts Thou didst send thy Spirit for our good and advantage after that the ungrateful World had abused and put to Death thy Son. Blessed be thou O Dear Redeemer whose Blood and Death purchased for us this incomparable gift and whose powerful Intercession in Heaven obtain'd it Blessed be thy merciful Providence O Jesu who when thou hadst finisht thy great work on Earth didst ascend into Heaven to draw our minds even thither after thee Blessed be thy Infinite Goodness who when thou hadst taught us the words of Eternal Life sentest down the Holy Ghost to make us observe them and raise up our Affections to that glorious Kingdom whither thou art gone before us that where Thou our happiness art our hearts as they should may also be Blessing and Praise be to the Holy Spirit himself who though proceeding from the Father and the Son is equal in nature and glory whose free goodness it was to give himself to our forlorn World He is both the Giver and the Gift from the great Love wherewith he loved us Thus are we beholden to the ever blessed Trinity not only for excellent and supernatural Graces but also for his Presence who is the cause and Author of all Grace And they to whom this Spirit is given have not only the Streams but the Fountain of living Waters in whom therefore they must needs be springing up even unto Eternal Life PETITIONS O Merciful Lord who hast loved us from the beginning be graciously pleased to love us unto the end Pity the unhappy state of fallen Mankind which neither Nature nor Law could bring to any perfection Send out thy Spirit O Lord and we shall be created again unto good Works and from our nothing of sin be raised to a Life of Holiness O send out thy Spirit and renew the face of the Earth and then our weeds and thorns shall be turn'd into a Paradise O cure our World in thy due time of all those distempers in the spirits of men that make us miserable confus'd and unquiet Deliver us from the spirit of Prophaneness and Infidelity from the spirit of Errour Heresie and Schism Deliver us from the spirit of Pride and Avarice from the spirit of Anger Sloth and Envy Deliver us from the spirit of Drunkenness and Gluttony from the spirit of Lust and Wantonness and Impurity Deliver us O God from every evil spirit and vouchsafe to give us the Graces of thy good Spirit that Order and Peace may flourish in the World and Mankind may not hate nor fear nor persecute one another O may the Christian Church which thou hast wonderfully begun and with many wonders yet continued in the World may it go on still to the end of time and make it Lord to encrease and multiply till every Nation speak in their own language the wonderful Works of God. O blessed Spirit the Church thou hast been pleased to establish vouchsafe alwayes to govern Alwayes keep it free from Usurpation and Tyranny in the Governours and from Contention Unruliness and spiritual Pride in those that should be govern'd That it may alwayes be in a fit posture to receive the Influences of thy Grace and may with those heavenly dews be as a fruitful Field Which things we humbly implore through the Merits of Jesus Christ Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. COme my Soul and adore our God that sanctifies us implore his Grace to make thee able and then adore him Him who from the Father and the Son eternally proceeds and with the Father and the Son must be equally worship'd and glorified In thy Name O Lord together with that of the Father and the Son we are by divine appointment Baptized and so directed to believe in thee Thou art therefore a distinct Person in that Adorable Trinity which is the one eternal God Thou dost make the for the Saints with the Father and therefore art not only the power of the Father Thy coming O Lord into this World did depend upon the departure of the Son therefore I believe thou art distinct from the Son. I believe O Lord thou wast manifestly distinguisht from the Father and the Son when at the Baptism of our Saviour thou didst descend upon him in the likeness of a Dove when at the same time there was a voice from the Father saying This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased Thou art O Lord not a created Person but with the Father and Son art God blessed for evermore By thee was our Saviour conceived in the Womb of a Virgin and therefore was her Birth called the Son of God. Thy dwelling in one of us converts a poor Creature into a Sacred Temple therefore we ought to adore thee as God And I humbly adore thee as the most high eternal God as of the same Nature Attributes and Operations with the Father and the Son. I adore thee as having inseparable from thy Nature an infinite essential and original Holiness as God. And it is peculiarly and especially thy Undertaking or Office to make us poor sinners holy therefore I adore thee under the glorious Title of Holy Spirit It was thou O Lord that didst speak to the World by all the holy Prophets that have been since the Beginning And thus it came to pass that all the holy Scripture was given to us by the inspiration of God. Thou art the Author and Finisher of our Faith by an internal illumination of our Minds Thereby thou inclinest us to the obedience of Faith and to give our assent to those Divine Truths which our carnal corrupted natures would reject as foolishness By thee it is that we are renewed in all the faculties of our Souls and our Affections and Will are made conform'd unto the will of God. Thou dost infuse into us the breath of Life and bring us forth in our second Birth in which birth we become the Children of God and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven By thee are all sincere Christians baptized into one Body even the Mystical Body of Christ and it is thy Testimony alone that comfortably assures to any of them their Adoption In order to these great things it is thy kind office to sanctifie and set apart
have a good or a bad Eternity and that every action tends towards the one or the other Thus kept in awe thou wilt be careful not to sin and encourag'd by the reward thou wilt strive to do well Then maist thou look up with humble confidence in our God how low soever thy afflictions depress thee Thou may'st look up to the eternal Mountains and feed thy hungry desires with this sweet hope the day will come when out of this dark world we shall joyfully ascend to that beauteous light The day will come and cannot be far off when we shall rest for ever in the bosom of Bliss MEDITATION III. HAppiest of all O Lord are they whose very business is thy sacred Service Who not only bestow an interrupted glance but steadily fix their Eyes on Thee Who are devoted to the happy Service of the Sanctuary and night and day dwell in thy presence Who not engag'd in the cares and tumults of the World spend their time in Retirement and Devotion If the Sun rise it finds them at their Masters work and when it sets leaves them at the same sweet task Every place is a Church to such consecrated Souls and every day a holy Sabbath Every object is an occasion of Piety and every accident an exercise of Vertue Do they behold the beauteous Stars they presently adore their great Creator Do they look down on the fruitful Earth they instantly begin to praise his Bounty Let War or Peace do what they will and the inconstant World reel up and down they pass through all with a ferene mind and smoothly go on their regular course looking still up to that glorious Life above and entertaining this present in hope and labour to attain it When they depart sometimes from their proper center and forsake a while their belov'd retirement 't is to approach and give light to others and enflame some cold or lukewarm hearts While they are abroad they are still with Thee and nothing can divide them from thy dear Presence When they return still Devout and Innocent thou receivest them as familiar Friends and freely admit'st them to thy secret Sweetness Thou givest them a tast from thine own full board and overflowest their hearts with the Wine of gladness Often they feel a little beam from Heaven strike gently and fill their breasts with light often that gentle light is kindled into a flame and chastly burns with pure desires Desires that still mount up and aim at Thee the supernatural center of all their hopes Oh happy state of the Reverend Clergy who empty of the World are full of God! Such shall seldom fall and quickly rise and make swift Advances in the way to Heaven They shall live in purity and dye with confidence and go to sing among the Quires of Angels PETITIONS O Gracious and eternal Wisdom and Goodness who seest and pitiest the infirmities of our nature surrounded on every side with the worst of dangers tentations to folly O guide my steps in thy safe way order every chance to prevent my falling and still lead me on towards a happy end Give me the eye and wing of an Eagle to see my danger at a distance and fly swiftly away from it If I needs must engage my Enemy and there be no means left to escape the Encounter strengthen me O Lord with thy all-powerful Grace to persevere with courage to break through all that offers to divert or stop the advance of my love to thee alone strengthen me that I may never be wanting in my fidelity to thee Convince me O blessed God into this firm judgment and make my Memory faithfully retain it whatever my Senses say to deceive me or the World to obscure so beauteous a truth That thy self alone art our chiefest good and the sight of thy glory our supream felicity Give me O thou dispenser of all things give me in this World neither poverty nor riches but feed me with food convenient for me lest perhaps being full I be allur'd to deny thee and say Who is the Lord or compell'd by want do flatter or steal or forswear the name of my God. Whatever my lot be assist me by thy Grace to submit my Will intirely to thine Assist me so to improve the Talents which thy Providence assigns me that at the great day of Account I may be receiv'd with those precious words Well done good and faithful Servant enter thou into thy Masters joy Through the Merits of Jesus Christ the Mediator Glory be to c. Amen For Saturday Evening MEDITATION I. WHY do we still pursue this World and so eagerly seek its fond enjoyments A world of vanity and false deceits a world of misery and many sad disasters whose Crosses are solid and Comforts empty whose Sorrows are permanent and Delights pass quickly away A World where the innocent are often condemn'd with shame and the bold guilty acquitted with applause Where sometimes the wicked are advanc'd to honour and the vertuous are opprest with disgrace Where Friends soon fall off and Kindred forget and every one minds his own private Interest Yet are we taken with this crooked World and blindly court its ugly painted face We make some sordid Passion Mistress of our heart and neglect the pure and amiable love of Jesus whose goodness to us gives all we have whose Perfections in himself are more than we can conceive Thou art O glorious Jesu the Beauty of Angels and the everlasting Joy of all thy Saints Thou art the Heaven of Heaven it self and in thy sight alone is the fulness of Bliss All this thou art and infinitely more and yet alas how few esteem thee The World we dearly know too often has deceiv'd us and our rashness takes no care not to be undone again Thou never O Jesu hast fail'd our hope and our dulness fears to rely on thee The World distracts and embroils our spirits and wretched we delight in our misery Thou alwaies O Jesu fill'st our hearts with peace and senseless we are weary of thy happiness The World calls and we faint in eager following it thou call'st and we are still reliev'd by thee Yet is our Nature so ingratefully perverse we run after that which tires and abandon that which refreshes Sometimes our lips speak gloriously of thee O thou living Fountain of eternal Bliss Some happy times we relish thy sweetness and decry aloud the poysons of the World. But we are soon entic'd by its gilded Cup and easily forsake the Waters of Life MEDITATION II. ALL this is true and yet the World is lov'd and our nature inclines to affect its vanities 'T is lov'd and so it justly deserves to be did we understand its real value Our Life indeed seems trivial and mean and all things about us look troublesom and dangerous Yet O my God is their consequence excellent in this that they are our onely way of coming to thee This World and this alone is the Womb that breeds us
Glory and invite all the World to sing thy deserved Praises Inspire our he arts O Lord with such loving wishes as these Praise our Lord O you holy Angels Praise him O you happy Saints Let the Faithful Souls departed from this Life by his Grace ever praise him Let all the living on Earth who subsist by his mercy praise him Let one Gone-â—â—â—ion after another carry on the Duty of praise till Generations shall be no more and say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen For Sunday Evening MEDITATION I. O Sin how hast thou disturbed and confounded this our miserable World. Before Sin entred nothing but Happiness dwelt here Sin has disordered the Nature of Mankind and of every thing else The Righteous Vengeance of God has laid a deserved Curse upon the whole Creation Now is unhappy man born to trouble as the sparks of Fire are to fly upward Poor Mankind this is not the place of thy rest because thy Sin has defil'd it Thou art liable to receive hurt and trouble from all things here below and thou canst never be happy till thou art translated into Heaven Heaven only is the Place of true and lasting Joy the place of ease and secure rest Who will give my weary Soul the wings of a Dove that I may fly away and be at rest That I may leave this dangerous dark uncomfortable vexatious world That I may fly away from the troubles of this Life and be at rest Dear Lord with Thee Here we alas are forced to utter many a deep Sigh to bear with grief the burthen of weighty Miseries Often we encounter chances that endanger us and divert our progress in the way of Bliss Often we are assaulted with temptations that overcome us and set us back in the accounts of Eternity How many times O my Soul have we plainly concluded that this Earth affords no real Joy. When we have observed by our own experience or by the carriage of others that the enjoyment never preforms that which the expectation promises How many times have we fully agreed that Heaven alone is the place of Happiness When we have found all places and conditions here encombred with Vanity and Vexation Yet these false allurements do again and again deceive us and seduce our Hearts to dote on folly We have found that which glitter'd like Gold to be but dross and yet we are caught again with something else that glisters Thus do we foolish and unconstant Creatures forget our wisest resolves and the mean-while we neglect our true felicity My Soul to be Wise and Happy thou must only Thirst and Sigh after thy God He is the living Fountain of the true Rivers of Pleasures Thou must despise all other delights and set thy affections entirely on the joyes which the blisseful enjoyment of him affords Nothing can ever satisfie thy desires but He and he alone can do this O then seek nothing so much as him seek nothing be sure that stands in competition with him To seek him is to save thy self for thou shalt find him but by seeking other things in neglect of him thou wilt lose him and thy self and them Nothing but labour disquiet and unrest will attend thy seeking other things and the enjoyment of them will not render thee free from those MEDITATION II. IF my Gracious God afford me but the Innocence of the Dove I shall need none of its Wings If my Soul Lord be fill'd with thy mild Spirit Heaven it self will dwell in my Heart 'T is on the proud thou lookest afar off but inclinest thine Ear to the humble and meek Those who delight in the Peace of a contented mind and limit their thoughts to their own little Sphear Who never intermedle with the actions of others unless where Justice or Charity to men or Piety to God does ingage them Whose lov'd employment is to sit in silence and meditate on the Happiness that they expect hereafter To contemplate the joyes of Saints and Angels and the blissful Face of our Glorified Jesus O how secure and sweetly do they sleep who go to bed with a quiet Conscience Who after a day of honest painful industry in a course of just and pious living lay down their wearied Heads in Peace and safely rest in the Bosom of Providence If they awake their Conscience Comforts them in the Dark and bids them not fear the shadow of Death No nor even Death it self but confidently look up and long for the dawn of that Eternal day that succeeds it This too my Soul should be our care to note and censure and correct our selves To strive for Mastery over our passions that molest us and dismiss from our thoughts what does no way concern us Are not our own occasions business enough to fill as much time as this Life deserves Does not the other at least deserve every Minute of leisure that we can spare from this Let then the worldly men pursue their fancied liberties and say and do as they think fit What 's that to Thee my Soul who shalt not answer for others unless thou some way make their faults thine own Thy pity may grieve and thy charity endeavour but if they will not hear follow thou thy God. Follow the way that leads to Truth follow the Truth that leads to Life Follow the steps of thy beloved Jesus who alone is the Way the Truth and the Life Follow his Holiness in what he did follow his Patience in what he suffer'd Follow him that calls thee with a thousand bounteous Promises kindly condescending to invite when he might only command and who will crown those that follow him with unconceiveable Rewards Follow thy faithful Lord O my Soul to the end and thou maist be sure in the end to enjoy him for ever MEDITATION III. LEarn of me sayes our kind and wise Master for I am meek and humble of Heart and you shall find rest to your Souls Thou Lord were 't wondrously meek a glorious pattern of Humility and Patience And in that meekness and Patience didst alwaies possess a well-composed Soul. A mind regular in all it's motions alwaies easie to it's self and alwaies ready to do the will of him that sent Thee Meekness of Spirit is indeed to us the Heaven of this Life but the Heaven of Heavens O Lord is above with Thee Meekness may qualifie our miseries here and make the tedious time of this Life pass the gentlier away It fortifies the composed Spirit to bear the present burdens But to be fully happy we must stay till hereafter when all burden shall be removed till thy Mercy bring us to our last great end That Glorious end for which our Souls are made and all things else to serve them in their way It is not to sport away our time in Pleasures that thou O Lord hast plac'd us here on Earth 'T
I sound Live glorious King of Heaven By all thy Heaven ador'd Live gracious Saviour of the World Our chief and only Lord. Live and for ever may Thy Throne establisht be For ever may all all Hearts and Tongues Sing Hymns of Praise to thee Amen MEDITATION II. BEhold our faithful Lord has remembred his word He has raised up in the World the long expected Prophet like Moses and put his word in his mouth and he has kindly and sufficiently taught us Light with him is come into the World to lead us through the Wilderness of Life into the true Canaan that is above Admirable wert thou O Lord in thy merciful Promise but infinitely more in thy wonderful performance Thou didst not depute an Angel to supply the place of a Redeemer nor entrust so great a work to the management of a Seraphim but didst thy self bow the Heavens and come down and with thine own blest hands work our Redemption Thy self didst take upon thee our frail Nature and vouchsafe to be born of a humble Virgin condescending to the weaknesses of a Child a Child whose Parents were poor and of no esteem in the World. So did he make himself of no reputation He did not decline the mean entertainment of a Stable O how unfit was that for the Birth of the King of Heaven He contented himself with a Manger instead of a convenient Cradle and with the homely uneasie lodging of a Bed of Straw refusing the soft Accommodations of the Rich to undergoe the inconveniences of a poor Stranger Thus Lord at the cost of thy own ease hast thou instructed us to despise the World. Only the faithful Joseph stood waiting on thee and provided as he was able for his helpless Family Onely thy pious Mother dearly embrac't thee and wrapt thy tender Limbs in little clouts Wonder O Heavens at this Ye Angels who had seen before many wonders for this surpasses all besides Be amazed O Earth and let every Creature there humbly bow the head and knee Bow all and adore this incomprehensible Mystery the Word was made Flesh and dwelt with us But most of all we who are most concern'd the guilty Children of sinful Adam let us bow down our faces to the low dust and all prostrate adore so unspeakable a mercy Behold my Soul thus low my Saviour stoopt for me to check the aspiring pride of my corrupted Nature Behold thus low he stoopt to take me from the ground and raise me to the felicities of his own Kingdom Rise willingly with him my Soul from base sensuality leave the low Earth with thy desires and seek a better Countrey so shall this God not be asham'd to be call'd thy God. Lift up thy Voice too with Joy O my Soul and sing Hosanna to the new-born Jesus With blessed Angels celebrate his gloriously humble birth and say Glory be to God on high for peace on earth and good will towards men Lift up thy Voice aloud O my Soul lift up your Voices all ye his Saints and joyn the Praises of the Church to the Hymns of Heaven MEDITATION III. REjoyce all you the faithful Nations of the Earth when ye hear the sweet Name of our dear Redeemer Rejoyce and with your bended knees and hearts adore the Blessed Jesus He is the Son of the ever-living God equally participating the glories of his Father He is that great Messias whom the Prophets foretold and all the ancient Saints so long expected At length in the fullness of time he came to visit in person our miserable world He came with his hands full of Miracles and every Miracle was full of Mercy full of miraculous good will to an unkind ungrateful world He made the crooked become strait and the lame to walk and leap for joy He opened the ears of the deaf to hear and gave sight to them that were born blind Happy they in the season of their relief who could then hear the Instructions of the Eternal Wisdom and could see thee the Blessed Saviour of the World He loosned the Tongues of the dumb to speak sure their first exercise was his deserved Praise He cleans'd the Leprous by the word of his mouth and heal'd their Diseases who did but touch his Garment To the Poor he revealed the rich treasures of his Gospel and taught the simple the Mysteries of his Kingdom He cast out Devils by his awful command and forc'd them to confess and adore his Person He rais'd the dead from the very Grave to Life the dead that was four dayes buried and was corrupting Nay even himself being slain for us on the Cross and his Tomb made fast and secur'd with a guard he rais'd again by his own victorious power and carried up our nature into the highest Heavens All these stupendious signs O glorious Jesu were done by the hand of thy Almighty mercy to witness thy truth with the Seal of Heaven and endear thy Precepts with obliging Miracles that thus strongly engag'd we might believe on thee and obey thee to the Eternal Salvation of our own Souls PETITIONS O Kind and Merciful Jesu thou didst when on Earth go about doing good as thou didst purposely come hither to do good Thou hast not lost thy goodness we believe since thou art gone to Heaven O let us find that thou hast not still exercise thy goodness and thy power O God in kind and beneficial Miracles O may it please thee to soften many stony hearts into a tender sence of thy great Goodness and their own Duty Raise our dead spirits from this heavy Earth to dwell with thee in the Land of the Living to mind and love Spiritual and Immortal things Open thou our Eyes that we may behold the wondrous things in thy Law strengthen our feeble faculties O Lord by thy all-sufficient grace that we may steadily run the race which shall be set before us strengthen us to encounter successfully all the Enemies of our Salvation that we do not run in vain nor labour in vain Thus Lord let our experience teach us to admire thy bounteous Power that we may daily sing the wonders of thy grace towards our selves and when our dayes shall be exchanged for Eternity let us eternally sing the wonders of thy Glory Whenever thou doest any of these kind things for us open thou our dumb Lips that our Mouths may shew forth thy Praise Glory be to c. For Tuesday Evening MEDITATION I. GOod God how extreamly ungrateful are Mankind How strangely insensible of our manifest Duty Every Creature performs its Duties but we who alone are made capable to understand and know ours Every Creature lives by rule but we who have reasonable Souls to direct our actions We O Lord are most beholden to thee of all the lower Creation and we alone of all prove rebellious against thee The other Creatures live by thy wise rules and so do serve and attain their particular ends And thus does every Creature reach its true dignity and
thy goodness as to esteem thy commands the necessary rules of Soul-saving love to account that thou hast required nothing of us but what is necessary and highly conducing to the Salvation of our Souls Let me not be so dangerously foolish as in any thing to think my self wise in contradiction to the Precepts and Dictates of thy Word O may thy Holy Will dear Lord therein reveal'd be all my rule and thy Gracious Hand my constant guide Order thou my steps in thy Word let no iniquity have dominion over me Hold up my goings that my footsteps do not slide Quicken O Lord I pray the too frequent slackness of my obedience by the example of the Creatures about me who yield thee a constant and unrelucting obedience and by a firm belief and apprehension of those great and glorious rewards which thou hast prepared for such as serve Thee fashion my Spirit to a humble submission and conformity to thy will. Make me exactly observe what thou prescribest how bitter soever it may tast to Flesh and Blood Make me alwaies readily submit to every dispensation of thy Providence though for the present it may be grievous And Lord since thy wisdom knows our infirmities I pray thee lay upon me at no time more burden than I shall be able to bear let not my circumstances be attended with temptations either that are so violent or so lasting as to overcome me Since thy goodness delights in our relief assist me against the difficulties of Duty Lord help me so to do all the work thou givest for thou alone canst help me as that I may at last attain thy Eternal rewards through the Merits of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen Hymn 20. BLessed O Lord be thy wise grace That governs all our day And to the night assigns its place To rest us in our way If works the labouring hand impair Or thoughts the studious mind Both are consider'd by thy care Both fit refreshment find Fit to relieve the present state Fit to prepare the next While we are taught to meditate This plain and useful Text. As every Night layes down our head And Morning opes our eyes So shall the dust be once our bed And so we hope to rise To rise and see that beauteous light Spring from those eyes of thine Not to be checkt by any night But clear for ever shine That thou maist hope my Soul to view That lasting blissful light Take heed thy present work thou do And use thy rest aright All glory to the Sacred Three One ever-living Lord As at the first still may he be Belov'd Obey'd Ador'd Amen For Wednesday Morning MEDITATION I. LET them neglect thy Praises O Lord who never consider thy Mercies Let them be silent to thee O gracious God whose Mouths are full of themselves But as for me who subsist by thy gifts and thankfully acknowledge the riches of thy goodness my heart shall continually Meditate on thee and my Lips shall delight to sing thy glory All my Life long will I Praise my God and lift up my hands to his holy Throne Blessed for ever be thy Name O Jesu and blessed be the sweetness of thy Wisdom whose infinite Charity has vouchsaf't our Earth such excellent Rules to guide it to Heaven Thou hast taught us that happy Skill of finding our lives by a generous losing them to follow thee Thou hast taught us to love our true selves best by wisely hating our mistaken selves Thou hast taught us to trample this world under our feet and use it as a step to climb up to the next From thee we learn those glorious Mysteries that exalt our Faith so high above Reason From thee we derive those Heroick Counsels that raise our Souls so far above nature from thee alone and from thy School of grace we learn all that we know and receive power for all that we do How long alas might we have wander'd here in the midst of Darkness and Error had not thy love and pity O merciful Lord brought down thy very self to become our light Never should we else have learnt to deny our selves and take up our Cross and follow thee Never should we have known that great secret of Peace to forgive our Enemies and do good to those who despitefully use us On the unsatisfying things of this low Earth should we blindly have set our whole Affections if thou hadst not told us of the Kingdom of Heaven and bid us lay up our treasures there We had alwayes chose the deceitful and pernicious wayes of sin if thou hadst not terrified us to fear thy wrath by declaring the miseries that attend them We should ever have neglected thy good Commands and lost the happiness of a religious life if thou hadst not invited us to obey thy Commands and proposed to us the felicities that will attend our doing so O what hast thou promised Gracious Lord to the meek and poor in Spirit O what hast thou promised to the Weepers here to those that hunger and thirst after Holiness How many Joyes has thy bounty prepar'd for the lovers of Mercy and makers of Peace How many Blessings for the pure of Heart and those who with Patience bear their Crosses Thus hast thou Lord kindly shown us our end and suggested the true way to attain it Thou hast given us such blessed directions as tend to make our Life here more sweet and to lead us hereafter to everlasting Felicity Hymn 21. MY God had I my breath from thee This Power to speak and sing And shall my Voice and shall my Song Praise any but their King My God had I my Soul from thee This Power to judge and chuse And shall my brain and shall my will Their best to thee refuse Hast thou reveal'd the wayes that lead To Happiness above And shall I let my wandering feet From thy blest Paths remove Alas not this alone or that Hast thou bestow'd on me But all I have and all I hope I have and hope from thee And more I have and more I hope Than I can speak or think Thy Blessings first refresh then fill Then overflow the brink But though my Voice and Fancy be Too low to reach thy Praise Yet both shall strain thy glorious Name High as they can to raise Glory to thee Immortal God One great Coequal Three As at the first beginning was May now and ever be Amen MEDITATION II. NEver will we cease to exalt thy Goodness O gracious Jesu since thou never ceasest to oblige us with new Blessings Thy generous Charity could not be thus satisfi'd to have only spoken to us the words of Life it was not enough for thy excessive Love that thy heavenly Sermons told us our duty but thou would'st moreover urge and provoke our Obedience by the sweet enforcement of thine own Example Thou didst forbid thy followers to affect Superfluities and accordingly thine own Provision was a few Barly Loves Thou didst command the rich to give
Inhabitants of Jerusalem shall look on me whom they have pierced and mourn But O you holy Prophets what was the dismal cause that shed the blood of this spotless Lamb He had they quickly answer done no Iniquity neither was guile found in his mouth He was cut off from the land of the living For the transgression of the people was he stricken He hath poured out his soul to death and he was number'd with the Transgressors He bore the sins of many and made intercession for the Transgressours All we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our sins The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Thou wert for us O Lord obedient to the Death even the cursed Death of the Cross wherefore God also has highly exalted thee and given thee a name above every name Live glorious Jesu and reign for ever eternal King of Heaven and Earth may all thy Blessed above perpetually adore thee and all thy Servants here continually praise thee PETITIONS O Most blessed and adorable Jesu who ha st graciously vindicated our Nature from the Contempt and Tyranny of the Devil by taking it into a personal Union with thy Godhead I earnestly beseech thee deliver me in my person from the dominion of that my great adversary let not the Prince of Darkness rule in me as a Child of Disobedience Make me always a watchful Enemy against any thing that may debase my Nature which thou hast so much honoured To hate all sensual and devilish sins abstain from all appearance of evil and not willingly enslave my self to any base Lusts Make me Lord duly to adore thee as God who art Lord of Heaven and Earth and teach me to imitate thee in the excellent pattern thou hast set us of a holy harmless and beneficent Man. Thou did'st take upon thee O blessed Jesu our innocent Infirmities to bestow on us thy perfections to cure us of our guilty Infirmities Heal me then I pray thee O thou great Physician of Souls and as thou wert free from sin make me so O cleanse me from all unrighteousness Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Let every step thou took'st in the working of our Redemption which thy Servants have recorded in thy Life and Actions to be consider'd by us men be often and alwayes profitably consider'd by me Let each have some good influence upon my Heart and Life and by thy powerful Grace tend to the healing my sinfulness and the fitting me for eternal Happiness Heal me O Lord and advance me in Holiness by the Mystery of thy holy Incarnation instruct me by the meanness of thy humble Birth Heal and save me by the precious blood of thy Circumcision When thou took'st upon thee the sweet and ever blessed name of Jesus a name signifying thy kind design which was the saving thy people from their sins Strengthen my Faith in thee O Lord by thy wondrous Miracles confirm my Hope and inflame my Love by thy kind and meritorious Passion Help me by the joyes of thy victorious Resurrection and the Triumph of thy glorious Ascension So effectually rule me here O Lord that I may always obey thy Grace and do thou so favour me hereafter that I may enjoy thy Glory Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. LEt us be willing to learn of the Blessed Jesus and he will teach us his waies let us follow him who is the light of the world He that followeth him shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of Life The Law and its Types were given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Lift up thy Voice O Jerusalem and be not afraid say to the Cities of Judah Behold your God Behold the Lord your God is come with a strong hand his Reward is with him and his Work before him He is come to bring Redemption to all the world and Graciously offers it first to you his People But ye deny'd the Holy One and the Just and desir'd a Murtherer to be granted to you Heark with how sweet and elegant a Compassion thy kind Redeemer complains of thy ingratitude O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto Thee How often would I have gathered thy Children together as a Hen gathereth her brood under her wings and ye would not Heark with how tender and charitable a reproof thy Lord unwillingly withdraws from thee his favour O hadst thou known in this thy day the things that belong to thy Peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes Hearken once more and if his kindness cannot move thy Love he will try how his anger can work upon thy Fear Hearken then and tremble at those terrible threatnings with which thy Provident Lord forewarns thee of thy danger O Daughter of my People gird thee with Sackcloath and wallow thy self in Ashes make thee mourning as for an only Son most bitter Lamentation For the daies shall come upon thee when thy Enemies shall cast a Trench about thee they shall compass thee round and keep thee in on every side They shall lay thee even with the ground and thy Children in thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another Thy People shall fall by the edge of the Sword and shall be led away captive into all Nations They shall abide many daies without a King and without a Prince they shall mourn without Sacrifice or Altar And Jerusalem shall be troden down by the Gentiles till the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled But O how long Lord Holy and Merciful how long Wilt thou be angry with them for ever Hast thou not said he that scatters Israel will gather them again and keep them as a Shepherd does his flock When thou wilt remember thy ancient Promises O Lord and resolve to save the remnant of thy once lov'd Israel When thou wilt take away the veil from before their Eyes that they may see thy Truth and embrace it Take away the hardness from their stony Hearts that they again may be thy People and thou again their God Then shall they lay aside the Garment of Mourning and put on the brightness which comes from Thee They shall celebrate the Jubilee of this their greatest deliverance and every one sing in that day of Joy Come let us ascend to the Mountain of our Lord to the house of the God of Jacob he will teach us of his wayes and we will walk in his paths As it was our wickedness to go astray from our God so now return'd let us seek him ten times more Too late have we believed on thee O thou ancient Truth too late have we lov'd thee O
Persons for the Duty of the Sacred Ministry By whose Ministry thou dost perfect the Saints and build up the Body of Christ to the end of the World. MEDITATION II. BLessed for ever be thy Name O Holy Spirit and blessed be the bounty of thy Goodness When the Eternal Father by creating the World had declar'd himself and his Almighty Power When the Uncreated Word by redeeming Mankind had reveal'd himself and his infinite Wisdom When now there remain'd but one seal more to be open'd of the Book of Divine Mysteries Behold a strange condescendence to our weak nature the Invisible Spirit Visibly appears He descends from Heaven in the shape of a Dove and gently alights upon the Prince of Peace Again he descends in the likeness of Fire and miraculously sits on the Heads of his Disciples Mingling thus together in one blest compound those chief ingredients of excellent vertue Mildness to allay the heat of Zeal and Zeal to quicken the indifferency of Mildness Innocence to adorn the light of Knowledge and Knowledge to direct the Simplicity of Innocence O Blest adorable Teacher Who can instruct like the Spirit of God He needs no years to finish his course but with a swift and efficacious touch consummates all things He entred the Soul of a young delighter in Musick and presently sanctified him into a composer of Psalms He took a poor Shepherd from following the Flock and immediately rais'd him to the degree of a Prophet He by one Lesson perfected the Disciples and polisht rude Fishermen into eloquent Preachers He toucht the Heart of a persecuting Pharisee and instantly chang'd him into a Glorious Apostle There is none O Lord can resist thy efficacious Grace but it accomplishes whatsoever thou intendest And the most Stubborn refusers thou makest to become a willing People in the day of thy Power All this thou hast done O Infinite Goodness and all the good that we doe is wrought by thee By thee is every condition sanctified to us in this mutable World and we are inabled through all to walk steadily towards our Eternal Rest By Thee our Souls are comforted on our beds of Sickness and thou alone fittest us for the Mansions of Glory If in the Church there be any Wisdom or Knowledge if any real Sanctity or decent Order if any Faith of the Mysteries of Religion if any Hope of Everlasting Salvation If any Love of God as our Sovereign bliss if any mutual Charity of one towards another If any Miracles have been wrought to convert unbelievers and to confirm the weak in Faith against the violence of Persecution All these things flow from thy free Grace O thou boundless Ocean of Eternal Mercies All flows from thee and all our little streams ought to return in tribute to thy Bounty Blessed be thy Name O Holy Spirit of God who dividest thy Gifts to every one as thou pleasest and workest all in all MEDITATION III. STill my Soul continue thy Meditations on this adorable Person and humbly present thy further acknowledgments and praises to him who is the Eternal Love of the Father and the Son and the Glorious Finisher of the Sacred Mystery To him the quickening Spirit of regenerate Souls in whom they live and move and have their Being To him the sovereign Balsom of our wounds and only comfort of all our Sorrows To him our refuge in this place of Banishment and faithful guide in this wandring Pilgrimage To him the Sacred pledge of our free adoption and ensuring Seal of our Eternal Salvation What do we say of Thee O Adorable Spirit of God! What do we say when we utter such words as these We say what we can in our low capacity but alas how short of thy unspeakable excellencies O that we had the tongues of Glorified Saints and of Angels O that we had thine own Miraculous Tongues Those which sate flaming on the Heads of the Apostles and made them speak thy wonders in every language Still all our praises would be poor and narrow still infinitely less than thy infinite perfections But if we cannot speak as our God deserves shall we therefore hold our Peace which God forbids Wo be to them O Lord who are silent of thee and spend the breath thou givest them on any but thy self When we have tried our best endeavours and taken a measure of our own defects when our own Hearts can conceive no more and our tongues have exprest their utmost we will then call upon all others to praise thee who have been beholden to thy infinite Bounty and say Praise the Eternal Spirit O all you Quires of rejoicing Angels for his early Grace confirm'd you in Glory Praise him ye Reverend Patriarchs whose wayes he govern'd and by particular Providence led you to felicity Praise him ye Ancient Prophets whose Souls he inspir'd to teach his chosen People the Mind of Heaven Praise him you glorious company of the Apostles whose Persons he empowered to be Embassadours of Peace between Heaven and Earth Praise him you the Noble Army of generous Martyrs whose Spirits he encouraged and gave you the Victory over the terrours of Death Praise him ye Blessed Confessours whose lives he sanctified and gave you Victory over the World and your selves Praise him ye Holy Virgins whose Souls he espoused and consecrated your chast Bodies into Temples for himself Praise him O thou the Blessed Virgin-Mother of our Lord by whom the Worlds Redeemer was conceiv'd in thy Womb Praise him all you the faithful departed this Life whose hope he sustains of a Glorious Resurrection of your Bodies Praise him all ye that make up the Holy Church throughout all the World bless him and magnifie him for ever Praise him in the Power and freedom of his Grace praise him for the Eternity and greatness of his Glory Praise him O my Soul for his Mercies to thee Praise him for his goodness to all the World. Praise him on the choicest Instrument that of the Heart Praise him in the fittest Place the publick assemby of his Saints PETITIONS O Kindle in my Heart holy Lord thy divine fire that I may offer to thee the hallow'd incense of Praise O thou who openest the mouths of the Dumb and makest the Tongues of Children eloquent inspire thy devoted Servant if not with expressions suitable to thy self at least with such as are profitable to me Such as may instruct me what I ought to do and such as may move me to do what I say Come holy Spirit who art the free dispenser of all Grace visit my poor Heart and replenish it with thy Sacred inspirations Refuse not O Lord to hear me now I call upon Thee and make me still hear Thee when thou callest upon me do thou by thy mighty operations in my Soul establish such an interest in me as may alwayes dispose me to so advantageous a duty Illuminate my understanding inflame my affections and sanctifie all the powers of my Soul and Body that I may know
conspire with it against us Sometimes surprizing our unwary negligence sometimes defeating even our strongest resolves Not that they can compell our wills unless we yield or make the least wound without our consent Much less prevail against the power of Heaven and frustrate the purpose of the Almighty Wisdom Whose Mercy has us'd more arts to save us than the craft of Vice can invent to destroy us Such a Redemption so miraculously wrought such holy Sacraments so often repeated Such glorious promises so faithfully assur'd and which revives our hope so easily attain'd O infinite goodness how generous is thy Love how liberally extended over all the World Thou invites t little Children to come to thee and the lame and the blind to sit down at thy Feast None are shut out of Heaven but such as will not go in none made unhappy but those who care not to be otherwise Chear then thy self my Heart and let no fears molest thee nor even Death it self abate thy courage Death is a passage that was alwayes short and our Saviours death has made it safe to them that follow him in their lives By the practice of the Saints it is grown familiar and by their happy success become desirable Lose not then thy hope in so glorious an enterprize where Eternity is at stake and Heaven is the reward That Heaven for which the Ancient Hermits sought devout retirement in the Deserts That Heaven for which the holy Confessors spent all their time and innumerable Martyrs laid down their dearest lives That Heaven where Millions of Angels continually sing and all the blessed make one Quire That Heaven where the adored Jesus eternally Reigns and the Immortal Deity shines bright for ever That very Heaven is promis'd to thee my Soul that blest Eternity thou art commanded to hope for Raise now thy head and see those beauteous Prospects that ravish the Hearts of all their beholders Yonder far above the Stars is thy Saviours Kingdom yonder we must dwell when we leave this Earth Yonder must our Souls remove to rest when the stroak of Death shall divide them from their Bodies And when the Almighty Power shall joyn them again yonder must we live with our God for ever PETITIONS O Most Gracious and Bountiful King of Saints It was by thy sufficient grace afforded to them that any of thy Saints were able to do much good and to suffer much evil for thy sake They acknowledg'd it was not they that did any good but it was Christ that lived in them O Lord to whom then should we go but unto thee for assistance to follow those that have been Followers of Thee To thee O Lord we must address our selves and to Thee alone for thou alone art the Dispenser of that Grace we need And we thank thee thou hast given us such assurance of thy good will in taking our nature and dying for us that we know not nor need desire one more tender than thou and more ready to help us O Lord direct us we Pray to find the footsteps of thy Flock and inable us to follow the blessed track that we may come at last to the happy rest thou givest them Pity O Lord the Infirmities of thy Servants and quicken our slowness by the example of thy Saints What we see they have done for the love of Jesus let us be ambitious to do what they patiently suffer'd let us neither sinfully decline nor undergo with murmuring and discontent Make us especially O Lord to remember what thou hast done and suffer'd to set before our selves thy bright example the light of which directed them And make us mindful too of what thou promisest and what they have gain'd by following thee that their Names according to thy Promise are written in the Book of Life and they shall be exalted to sit with thee on thy high Throne O Bounteous Lord the only Author of all we have the only object of all we hope As thou hast prepared a Heaven for us O may thy grace prepare us for it O make us live the Life of the Just and let our last end be like theirs that we may dye the death of the Just and live for ever in that blest Society and in that blest Society may for ever sing thy Praise and say To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen Hymn 34. TEll me ye glorious Stars that shine About the Lambs Caelestial throne How from such bodies once as mine Are you to this great brightness grown Hark with one Voice they thus reply This to the Lambs desert is due His humble Death rais'd him so high And us his faithful Followers too With one Voice this too they will say Our Lord taught us the happy Skill By his bright steps to guide our way And follow his best Followers still As we saw they had set their mind And rul'd their course we order'd ours This State alone we both design'd And up towa'rds this strein'd all our powers Taught by wise Temperance we abstain'd From Earths low Joyes for greater goods And slighting little drops we gain'd Full sweet and everlasting Floods Well arm'd with Fortitude we bare All lesser evils worse to flye And mortal-death we durst out-dare That we might not for ever dye Strict Justice we observ'd by giving To every one their utmost due That all in peace and order living All freely might this Heaven pursue But Prudence govern'd all the rest Prudence that made us still apply That which was fittest and was best To advance greatest Charity On these swift golden wheels of Grace That Loves bright fiery Chariot bear We all arriv'd at this bright place O follow us and do not fear O certain Truths O blest Attesters O that all yet on Earth might prove Of both these things such strong digesters That both these things might feed their love Him who hath made us all for this Him who hath made himself our waâ—… Him that will lead us in 't to Bliss May all men Praise and all obey Amen Devotions FOR THE Holy-dayes The Second Part. FOR THE FEASTS OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR For the Morning MEDITATION I. COme let us ascend to the house of our Lord and celebrate this day with a holy Joy imploring his Mercy in all we need and blessing his Bounty for all we have He is our God and we are his People Created by his goodness to be happy for ever He is our Redeemer and we his Purchase restor'd by his Death to a forfeited Happiness to day let us adore our God that Redeem'd us Praise our Lord all you Nations of the Earth Praise him with the Voice of Joy and of Thanksgiving Praise him with the well-tun'd strings of your Hearts Praise him with the sweetest Instrument a chearful Obedience Let every one that pretends to felicity sing immortal
do thee faithful Service I own O Lord the Justice and Equity of being so obliged I account it my Interest to be intirely thine I am saved by being Devoted to thee and honour'd in admission to thy Service It is the greatest Preferment I can attain to serve him who is Lord of Heaven and Prince of the Kings of the Earth Thy Service O Lord is perfect Freedom and they have great Peace that love thy Law There are no riches comparable to thy rewards nor any Pleasures so sweet as thy Consolations I am asham'd O Lord and have great reason to be so for that I have liv'd no more suitable to such a Devoted State That I have presum'd to dispose of my self so much according to the devices and desires of of my own heart I have often wander'd from the safe and pleasant Path of thy Commandments and often stept into the dangerous uneasie wayes of sin I have greatly disparaged my self hereby in thy sight and in the sight of thy Holy Angels O it is fit that thou and they who have seen my sins should see my repentance that have seen me most basely breaking my Covenant with my God should see me heartily renewing again so just a Covenant I thank thy Love Dear Jesu for 't is by what thou hast done for us that our Repentance may be accepted I thank thee O gracious Saviour for Instituting thy Supper for the Renewal and Confirmation of our Baptismal Covenant that thou hast commanded us at that to reinforce our resolutions and that thou art ready to confirm them by thy Grace It is Lord the sincere desire of my Soul never to revolt from Thee any more I believe there is no greater happiness than to be a firm Confederate with the faithful Jesus By which I shall become a Temple to the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Light and Love the Spirit of Grace and Glory Now Lord that I have had a fresh sight of thy Love and have sate under thy Shadow with Delight thy blessed Name shall be deeply engraven in my heart I will allow no affection but the Love of Jesus and all my powers and all their motions shall be subject to that I will say to all the Vanities of the world Be gone I have no room in my heart for you whom I cannot love too little I will reserve it all for my Saviour whom I can never love too much I will say to those Temptations that would draw me into sin cease your base Solicitations for I cannot willingly grieve my loving Saviour If it be difficult to serve him I will steadily conflict with those difficulties If it will cost me the loss of all worldly Conveniencies I will gladly forsake all to adhere to him If it expose my Life I will let that goe rather than deny my loving Lord. Now that I have receiv'd the Blessed Jesus at his Supper and thou Lord art come to make thy abode with me I will study to give thee such kind Entertainment as may please thee and keep thee with me I will indeavour in my thoughts words and actions to set alwayes before thee what I think will be acceptable I will watch against every thing that is impure and would be offensive to thy holy sight I will often retire from the World to converse with thee Worldly cares and business shall not keep me from thy Company I have been praising thee O Lord in thy House and at thy Table but I have not praised thee enough And who can praise thee enough for what I there saw for what I there received Oh! how low are my Conceptions of thy Love how vastly below it are all my words I will try O Lord what my deeds can do in praising thee and every part of my Life shall endeavour thy honour Thus Lord I may and ought to resolve but my Practice depends entirely on thy Grace PETITIONS O Lord our kind and gracious Redeemer Thou art exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins I beseech thee O Lord as thou hast enabled me to repent and to confess the folly of my backsliding heart do thou graciously give me thy pardon Forgive me O Lord that I have been so false to former Vows and have so often contradicted my Covenants with thee O deal not with me as I deserve cast me not away from thy presence take not thy Holy Spirit from me I have been weakly striving against my sins and could not so far conquer them as I would And therefore Lord I came to thy Table to receive greater strength against them O let such a vertue come from thy Death at this Remembrance of it as may lay all my sins utterly dead and let the Influence of that power so remain as that they may never revive that I may never be hinder'd in my Duty by any sin easily besetting me that I may serve and please thee in all purity heavenly-mindedness integrity in Charity Humility and Contentedness in whatever condition it shall please thee to place me Enable me perfectly to overcome my Passions and keep them all subject to the Laws of thy Love. Let thy Love which is represented in this Sacrament so deeply affect me that I may delight to think and to speak of it and may endeavour as far as I can to imitate it Keep me mindful of my Vows make my Endeavours successful and my Obedience perfect and compleat in all things So possess me with the Love of thee my kind Redeemer as to make me ardently desirous of seeing thee face to face Refine me at length by that holy fire from all the dross of my Corruptions and to such a degree of holiness and purity that I may be fit to fly away from this World to the Habitation of thy Holiness and Glory Amen Hymn 24. DO I resolve an easie life With plenty stor'd and free from strife When my dear Lord thy days and nights Were past in poverty and fights Do I design a gentle Death Just singing out my aged Breath When my Love cruel tortures tore Thy dear Soul out all drown'd in gore Oh no our Christian Sacrifice Acting in a sweet disguise My Saviours Passion o're again Shall all such fond Conceits restrain This must keep lively in my mind How I ought still to be resign'd This humble pattern should destroy My sensual Grief and worldly Joy. Are Sufferings Ills No Goodness chose His and our way to Bliss through those Are Pleasures Goods No Wisdom scorn'd Their dalliance and has us forewarn'd This Lord this make my Song to be At least whene're I meet with thee Thee its glad ground so oft repeating As may prevent my Souls forgetting Jesu thus arm'd no terrours shall E're make my vertuous Courage fall No flatteries here my blest hopes drown Since thy sad Cross led to thy Crown O live for ever glorious Lord Live by all Heaven and Earth ador'd May both their joyful praises give They
who can see we who believe Praise to the glorious Three in One Let Time ascribe till Time be done Then let the work continued be By an endless Eternity Amen For Friday Morning MEDITATION I. COme let us glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom is our Life and Health and Resurrection Shall we rejoyce my Soul to day Shall we not rather mourn at the Funeral of our dear Redeemer Such O my Lord was the Excess of thy Goodness to derive joyes for us from thine own Sorrows Thou forbad'st thy followers to weep for thee and reserved'st to thy self alone the shame and grief Thou invitest all the World to glory in thy Cross and command'st us to delight in the memory of thy Passion Sing then all you dear-bought Nations of the Earth sing Hymns of Glory to the holy Jesus Sing every one who pretends to Felicity sing immortal praises to the God of our Salvation To him who for us endur'd so much scorn and patiently receiv'd so many Injuries To him who for us sweat drops of Blood and drank off the dreggs of his Father's wrath To the Eternal Lord of Heaven and Earth who for us was slain by the hands of the wicked who for us was led away as a Sheep to the slaughter and as a meek Lamb opened not his Mouth Whither O my God did thy Compassion carry thee how did thy Charity too far prevail with thee Was it not enough to become Man for us but thou must expose thy self to all our Miseries Was it not enough to labour all thy life but thou must suffer for us even the pains of Death No gracious Lord thy Mercy still observ'd some wants in our condition as yet unsupply'd Thou saw'st our too much fondness of Life needed thy parting with it to reconcile us to Death Thou saw'st our fear of Sufferings could no way be abated but by freely undergoing them in thine own person Thou saw'st our Souls so deeply stain'd with Guilt that without thy Blood we could have no Remission O Blessed Jesu whose Grace alone begins and perfects all our hopes How are we bound to praise thy Love how infinitely oblig'd to adore thy goodness At any rate thou would'st still go on to heal our weak and wounded Nature Even at the price of thine own dear Blood thou would'st accomplish for us the purchase of Heaven Hymn 25. TUne now your selves my Heart-strings high Let us alost our Voices raise That our loud Song may reach the Skie And there present to thee our Praise To thee Blest Jesu who cam'st down From those bright Sphears of Joy above To purchase us a dear-bought Crown And wooe our Souls to ' espouse thy Love. Long had the World in darkness sate 'Till thou and thy all-glorious Light Began to dawn from Heavens fair Gate And with thy Beams dispel their Night We too alas still there had stood As common Slaves in the same shade But Mercy came and with his Blood Our general Ransome freely paid Not all the Spite of all the Jews Nor Death it self could him remove Still he his blest design pursues And gives his Life to crown our Love. And now my Lord my God my all What shall I most in thee admire That power which made the World and shall The World again dissolve with fire Oh no thy strange Humility Thy Wounds thy Pains thy Cross thy Death These shall alone my wonder be My Health my Joy my Staff my Breath To thee Great God! to thee alone Three Persons in one Deity As former Ages still have done All Glory now and ever be Amen MEDITATION II. AWake my Soul and speedily prepare thy richest Sacrifice of humble Praise Awake and summon all thy thoughts to make haste and adore our great Redeemer To him let us reverently go and offer our devout hearts at his sacred Feet Thither let us fly from the Troubles of the World with him let us dwell among the Mercies of Heaven Under the shade of that happy Tree let us fix our abode A Tree of safe defence and delicious fruit Let us remember every passage of our Saviour's Love and desire that none may escape our thanks Let us compassionate every stroke of his Death and one by one salute his sacred Wounds Blest be the Hands that wrought so many Miracles and were bor'd with cruel Nails Blest be the Feet that so often travell'd for us and at last were unmercifully fastened to the Cross Blest be the Head which was crowned with Thorns the Head that so industriously studied our Happiness Blest be the Heart which was pierc'd with a Spear the Heart that so passionately lov'd our peace Blest be the entire person of our Crucifi'd Lord and may all our powers joyn in his praise In thy eternal praise O gracious Jesu and the ravishing thoughts of thy incomparable Sweetness O what excess of Kindness was this what strange extremity of Love and Pity The Lord is sold that the Slave may be free the innocent condemn'd that the guilty may be sav'd The Physician is sick that the Patient may be cur'd and he who was God dies that man may live Tell me my Soul when first thou hast well consider'd and lookt about among all we know tell me Who ever wisht us so much good Who ever lov'd us with so much tenderness What have our nearest Friends done for us or even our Parents in comparison of this Charity No less than the Son of God came down to redeem us no less than his own dear Life was the price he paid for us What can the favour of the whole World promise us compar'd to this miraculous Bounty No less than the joyes of Angels are become our hope no less than the Kingdom of Heaven is made our Inheritance MEDITATION III. TO thee O God we owe our selves for making us after thine own Image To thee O Lord we owe more than our selves for redeeming us with the Death of thine onely Son. Nor were our Ruines so soon repair'd as at first our Being was easily produc'd Thy Power to Create us said but one word and immediately we became a living Soul But thy Wisdom to Redeem us both spake much and wrought more and suffer'd most of all To redeem us he humbled himself to this low World and all the infirmities of our miserable Nature He patiently endur'd hunger and thirst and the malicious affronts of enraged Enemies How many times did he hazard his life to sustain with Courage the Truths of Heaven how many Tears did he tenderly weep in compassion of his blind ungrateful Country how many drops of Blood did he shed in the doleful Garden and on the bitter Cross the Cross where after three long hours of grief and shame and intolerable pains he meekly bow'd his fainting Head and in an Agony of Prayer yielded up the Ghost So sets the glorious Sun in a sad Cloud and leaves our Earth in darkness and disorder but goes to shine immediately in