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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	heaven_n	kingdom_n	trespass_n	2,438	5	11.3281	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80798	Captivity improved to spiritual purposes. Or spiritual directions, given to prisoners of all sorts whether debtors or malefactors Principally designed for the use of those who are prisoners in those prisons which are under the jurisdiction of the city of London, as Newgate, Ludgate, the Counters, &c. Though also applyable to others under the like circumstances else where. To which are annexed directions to those who have their maintenance and education at the publick charge, as in Christ-Church hospital, or cure, as in St. Bartholomew's and St. Thomas's, or reducement to a more thrifty course of life, as in Bridewel, or have been happily restored to their former sense[ ] as in Bethleem, alias Bedlam.	Cressy, Edmund.	1675 (1675)	Wing C6889A; ESTC R230962	54,833	136

many other fraudulent arts and knavish compositions but God is not mocked Conscience will not hereafter be stifled and though we endeavour to Lull it a sleep now it will awake hereafter and torment us and when we have our Liberty the checks of it will be more anxious than the troubles of Imprisonment or if it be seared here it will be uneasie enough hereafter And the more drowned in security we are here the more affrighting will be our amazement hereafter If they will not now then they shall howl and weep their riches shall corrupt their Garments shall be Moth eaten their Gold and Silver shall be Cankered but the rust of them shall be a witness against them and shall eat their Flesh as it Were fire by all their fraudulent compositions and unrighteous conveyances and unjust detention of what is not their own they have but heaped up treasure against the last day but a very sad treasure indeed They have heaped up treasure against the day of wrath and the Revelation of the righteous judgment of God And now it remains that I conclude this Chapter with some office of Devotion not thereby to exclude the office of the Church which is very suitable not to publick only but also private Devotions but though the general exigencies of Christian votaries are provided for therein yet it did not become the Fathers of our Church to descend so low as to all minute circumstances of private Christians and therefore the most obedient sons of the Church have not thought it any wa● inconsistent with their high esteem for the Liturgy to compose new Prayers for some particular occasions as appears by the Printed labours in this kind as of divers others so particularly of the Right Reverend and Learned Bishop Andrews Bishop Hall Bishop Taylour and of the now living and no less Learned than conformable the Incomparable Doctor Patrick From whom I have borrowed this ensuing Prayer and because I have charity to think that Prisoners may find company in so good an exercise I have here and in other parts of the Book where I have transcribed such patterns of Devotion from others changed the Singular into the Plural which Singular they may replace again if they please when they pray solitary or retain the Plural still as Christians do in the Lords prayer when they use it in their Closets and with this Prayer of our Lord I have concluded this and think proper to conclude with it our other Devotion A Prayer to be used by Prisoners for Debt transcribed out of Dr. Patrick 's Devout Christian O GOD who art present to us in in all places and hast regard to the sighs and groans of the miserable who humbly implore thy pity and compassion towards them Vouchsafe to look graciously upon us thy afflicted Servants in this place which is most desolate and comfortless unless the light of thy countenance shine upon us We confess that we have too much abused the Liberty which we formerly enjoyed and not so carefully as we ought improved those happy opportunities which were put into our hands Many ways we are sensible we have offended thy Divine Majesty for which we are heartily sorry and acknowledg our selves infinitely indebted to thy goodness that we are not plunged into the depth of misery to bewail our sins in the bottomless pit We thank thee O Lord with all our Souls that we are not shut up into the place of utter darkness and that we have any hopes to obtain the redemption which is in Christ Jesus in whose name we beseech thee to pardon us and to sanctifie the streights wherein we lye to the freeing of our Souls from the bond of all iniquity and the restoring of us to the glorious Liberty of thy children Help us seriously to follow the direction of thy providence in this restraint and now that we are so much alone by our selves to descend into our own hearts to search and try our ways and unfeignedly to turn to thee our God Enlarge our spirits more than ever now that our bodies are confined in fervent prayer for thy divine grace and in chearful thanks givings for the innumerable benefits that we have received from thy divine bounty and in tender pity and commiseration of the sad condition of all distressed people and be pleased to touch the hearts of our Creditours also with a sense of our miseries incline them to accept of what we are able to pay and make us willing to satisfie them to the utmost of our power In the mean time bestow us on the blessing of a contented spirit help us patiently to endure the inconveniences of this place and preserve us from the danger of those temptations which we meet with in it especially from seeking a remedy of our sorrows in the pleasures and intemperance of evil company or any profane mirth whatsoever Be thou our comfort O God and our exceeding joy and the full satisfaction of our Souls in all conditions and when thou art pleased to deliver us from this place and restore us again to our desired freedom O Lord make us ever mindful of the Vows wherein we are now forward to bind our selves dispose our hearts to be sensibly affected with those mercies which we have formerly little regarded that we may never forget to praise thee even for the benefit of a sweeter air than now we enjoy to acknowledge thee in the night season upon our beds and to thank thee for the coursest food and especially that we may rejoyce to go again into the great congregation to praise thee with the most ardent love for all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus Preserve in us also a grateful remembrance of the kindness of our friends and neighbours especially of those persons to whom we stand particularly indebted when by their charity we shall be released and whatever loss they sustain by our poverty good Lord make it up abundantly to them and theirs out of thy rich grace and mercy requite their love with plenty and prosperity in this world and give them the reward of eternal life glory in the world to come through Christ Jesus our Lord in whose name and words we further pray Our 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 and the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen CHAP. II. Instructions for such Malefactours as have committed such crimes the punishment whereof is some publick shame or corporal infliction or any other punishment below that of death Applyable in great measure to the condition of those that are in Bridewel FRom Debtors I proceed in the next place according to my promised method to Malefactors and as soon as ever I

sedateness of their Spirits and in the peace of their consciences and in their mastery over those inordinacies of Soul which often transport men into phrensy Love nothing passionately but God and those Divine beauties though they may transport will never distract the Soul Submit to the dis●●●s●tions of God concerning you and think that condition best which his providence hath allotted you and you need never fear that discontent will crack your brain Keep a conscience clear in all things for nothing is so distracting as guilt nothing more sedate then uprightness and integrity In Religion study not the things that are mysterious but the things that are necessary Deep enquiries have often distracted the acutest brains but plain truths never discomposed the most illiterate understanding Believe the Trinity to be a mystery incomprehensible and let it continue so Acknowledge the decrees of God to be unsearchable and pry not into them too curiously Resign your self to the guidance of the Spirit and be content to be ignorant of the manner of its operations and if this you do you will be as wise as God requires you should be more Religious then some men that count themselves more wise then you and more composed in your Spirit then those that distract themselves with mysterious enquiries And this is my second direction to this sort of People to avoid violent passions and nice speculations Thirdly My third direction shall be that when men have recovered the use of their reason they would employ the exercise of it about the best things the service of God the good of mankind and the discreet guidance of their own lives and conversations And surely God in his providence will preserve that reason sound and entire that is employed to so Divine purposes In these generous employments there are many things ennobling to our reason nothing disturbing or distracting To serve God and submit our will to his to hope in his goodness and depend upon his mercy are things easie to be understood and require not an acute brain to perform them But the disputes about God and Religion lead men into endless mazes and Meanders To do as we would be done by requires no great skill and cunning but the methods of Craft and deceit may soon puzzle the shrewdest understanding for the paths of righteousness are plain and easie but the contrivances of the wicked are many of them very distracting And then for those duties which concern the Regulation of our affections there are none of them have any tendency in them to disturb our Spirits but all proper to compose them Anger and impatience enrage the heart but meekness will compose and settle it Thirst of revenge boyls up the blood to unnatural heats but Christian forgiveness makes us at peace within our selves and with others Anxious care and desponding thoughts are very often productive of Phrensy but nothing so proper to quiet and allay all the fluctuations of our minds as Faith and Hope and those other graces that are nearly allied to these If God of his mercy restore our reason in gratitude we are bound to employ it in his service and this is also the best course to preserve the soundness and integrity of it for God will bless that reason that is employed in the exercises of Religion and the duties of Religion naturally tend to the improving and preserving of it The last duty that I shall recommend to them is to pity them that are in the like condition to that wherein they heretofore were to aid them at present with the assistance of their prayers and hereafter their Hospital with the bounty of their purse if God shall enable them to do so To do good and to communicate forget not saith the Apostle for with such sacrifices God is well pleased but our charity is most suitable when it is extended to those who are under those miseries which heretofore were ours Israel must not grieve the stranger because they were strangers in Egypt The believing Hebrews to whom the Apostle writes must remember those that are in bonds as being bound with them and them that suffer adversity as being themselves also in the body And those that have wanted their senses should remember those that want them still remember them always in their prayers and when they shall be able in the largeness of their bounty too I add not further to this Chapter but only the usual conclusion of the rest a Prayer A PRAYER O LORD we desire to return unto thee all possible praise and thanks for all thy mercies bestowed upon us more particularly for that great mercy of restoring us to our former senses We beseech thee teach us to employ our reason in the service of God and the duties of religion to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and to study the things of our peace Subdue in us all disturbing passions and inordinate affections which are contrary to our peace and contrary to thy Gospel Root out of our souls sensual love and restless ambition and all pride and haughtiness of spirit and teach us to regulate our desires according to the rules of reason and religion Preserve our reason which thou hast restored and restore it to those that want it pity their dark and disconsolate condition allay their fears answer their doubts and subdue their distempers and speak peace and health to them and make us truly thankful to God who hath made it to be better with us than it is with them And as thou hast relieved our bodily distempers so heal all our spiritual diseases Make us every day more and more to be religious towards our God just and charitable towards our Neighbours and sober and temperate in our chast and Christian usage of our own bodies Fill us with the fruits of the spirit goodness and meekness and faith and hope and patience and long-suffering and all other Graces here and the fulness of thy glory hereafter through Jesus Christ our Lord. In whose name c. The Close HItherto from the beginning to the ending of this Treatise I have walked in a path untroden by others before me But all along have sincerely aimed at the spiritual good of those that have come under the directions of my Pen. It is very meet that in this as in all other actions the main end that I propound to my self should be the hohour of God and the good of Souls but r●●●er that I have also designed to testifie my duty and respects to the Court of Aldermen whose Stipendiary I am and to the Worshipful Governours of the several places mentioned in this discourse and if they will permit these books to be distributed among the people under their charge I shall pray for a blessing from God upon what I have writ and the● shall read and direct them to pray for their Governours and Patrons and Benefactours in the short form following A PRAYER O LORD the giver of every good and perfect gift we return unto thee the tribute of praise and thanksgiving for all the priviledges and advantages reached out to us by the hands of our Patrons and Benefactours We beseech thee give us Grace to walk worthy of all these thy mercies and their favours and restore unto them into their bosomes a hundered fold for all their Christian charity and bounty Granting them in this life all the blessings of thy Grace and favour and in the world to come life and immortality through Jesus Christ our Lord who hath taught us to pray saying Our 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 and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen THE CONTENTS Of the several Chapters of this Treatise Chap. 1. Directions suitable to those who are Prisoners for Debt which may be applyable to the condition of such as are Prisoners in Ludgate the Fleet or either of the Counters or Newgate as it is the County Prison for Debt Pag. 1. Ch. 2. Instructions for such Malefactors as have committed such crimes the punishment whereof is some publick shame or corporal infliction or any other punishment below that of death Applyable in great measure to the condition of those that are in Bridewel p. 28. Ch. 3. Directions for those that are Tried and Cast for their Lives but have them spared by the mercy of the King or the Bench. p. 45. Ch. 4. Considerations suited to the condition of such Malefactors as are actually under the sentence of condemnation for death p. 60. Ch. 5. Instructions suited to the condition of those who have their Education in the Hospital of Christ-Church p. 77. Ch. 6. Instructions proper for such for whose care Provision is made in the Hospital of S. Bartholomew near Smithfield and S. Thomas the Apostle in Southwark p. 94. Ch. 7. Instructions for those that have been restored to their senses in the Hospital of Bethleem p. 110. FINIS The Reader is desired before he proceed to peruse this Book to mend with his Pen these following mistakes which are not wholly chargeable upon the Printer but in part upon the Copy which was in some places interlined and in others not very fairly writ mispointings and smaller Errata's I have not here noted but such as pervert the sense of which the first is the Grossest and in that as well as the rest the Reader hath the very Pages and Lines noted Pag. 2. l. 9. for Creditors read Chapmen p. 4. l. 26. for we r. be p. 8. l. 27. for Learning r. hearing p. 15. l. 25. after world insert then p. 29. l. last for side r. size p. 31. l. 28. for Heb. 3. 1. r. Heb. 3. 13. p. 37. l. 16. for Devils r. Devil p. 39. l. 9. after are blot out with l. 26. for reach r. reak p. 41. l. 3. after themselves blot out they are p. 49. l. 16. after these blot out as p. 55. l. 19. for Counts r. Courts p. 80. l. 2. for reports r. reporters p. 93. l. 20. blot out in and insert old p. 95. l. 16. for Authority both by r. both by the Authority

they shall give a very dreadful account for all those mercies that they have abused here and therefore very little reason have they that are righteous to murmur at those afflictions which shall so soon end or to envy to the wicked those mercies for which they must give so sad a reckoning Secondly When good men suffer under that Imprisonment which is the result rather of their misfortune then their 〈◊〉 they have little reason to complain as if they suffered more then they did deserve for how innocent soever we may be before men there is no man but is guilty before God He that punisheth a man of upright intentions and just purposes meerly because he cannot pay the Debt which he hath contracted and which he desires if he could to satisfie is cruel and unmerciful and as he hath shown Iudgment without mercy so there is a time coming wherein he shall want the mercy himself which he denied to others and as he hath shown no mercy to others so in his Case also mercy shall rejoyce against Iudgment St. Iam. 2. 13. But whatsoever may be said of the prosecutor God is not unjust to punish those that are sinners against him by the hands of those that are more sinful then themselves nay very frequent it is for God to correct the sins of those that belong to him by the hands of those that are more unrighteous than they Thus the sins of Israel are punished by the Caldeans of David by Saul of Ioseph by his wicked Brethren and in these cases they that afflict shall bear their sin because they have used severity to those that have not deserved it at their hands but those that are afflicted have no reason to repine at the Justice of God as if he were unrighteous to make use of wicked men as his Rod and his Scourge and the Instruments of his displeasure against them for their particular transgressions committed against him Thirdly Another consideration to allay the impatience of such mens spirits may be this that those very miseries which they groan under are sent by God with designs of love and mercy the afflictions of their Bodies are sent as Physick to their Souls and the sufferings of one as improvements of the other To this import are those many assertions in Scripture that all things work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8. 28. That our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. and while our outward man perisheth our inward man is renewed day by day ver 16. of the same Chapter And therefore it would be spiritual prudence to convert our murmurings into spiritual cautions and holy diligence how we may improve all our sufferings to so great and to so spiritual purposes which if we should do we shall have no reason to grieve that we have suffered so much but much reason to rejoyce that these our sufferings have proved unto us so happy an opportunity of enhancing our Crown of glory Thirdly A third duty which I shall direct such Prisoners to is to pray to God for an happy deliverance out of their troubles but with the reserve of a quiet submission unto his Will if he shall see the continuance under their afflictions more fit for them Both parts of this duty are recommended in the example of our Saviour before cited When he was to dye he prayed for the averting of that bitter Cup but when he perceived that God had determined otherwise concerning it he declares his desire to submit rather to the Will of God than choose his own Prayer is a proper remedy against all sorts of afflictions If any man be afflicted let him pray James 5. 13. and as God hath made it our duty to pray so he hath made it his particular style that he is a God learning prayer And if he be attentive to any prayers more than others he is so to the prayers of the afflicted This is more than once asserted in the 102. Psalm He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer ver 17. He hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuary from Heaven did the Lord behold the Earth to hear the groanings of the Prisoners to loose those that are appointed to dye ver 19. 20. Our poverty is the time of our destitution from men and though the rich hath many friends the poor is forsaken of his Neighbours but that which discommends us to men most potently recommends us to God who in divers places of Scripture hath made it his most peculiar stile that he is a Father to the Fatherless a Husband to the Widow adjutor in opportunitatibus a ready help in time of trouble and therefore it is not only our duty that we should but our priviledge and advantage that we may cast our care upon him who careth for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. Among all these duties it is not only allowable but very commendable for those that are Prisoners to endeavour their liberty by all just and prudent methods such as are receiving such supplies as they can get from their more wealthy friends accepting of such contributions as they may have from the charity of merciful and well minded men the offering of such compositions as the meanness of their circumstances will enable them to make and such honest methods as these For our endeavours are very consistent with Gods Providence and our diligence with his blessing and so far is our dependence upon God from discouraging our industry that it is rather proper to promote it for God hears not the prayers of the Lazy but sends an answer to our Petitions in his blessing upon our Diligence But above all things we must be careful that our streights prove not our temptations that our trouble put us not upon any indirect courses to deliver us from it for he that thus endeavours to draw his foot out of the snare doth but by fluttering intangle himself the faster and change not his trouble but his Prosecutour and as man hath been his adversary hitherto so makes God to be so for the time to come and discharges himself from the first rank of men to whom I designed these directions and hath placed himself into the second that of ungodly Debtors And so men may be upon a double account either First with reference to the beginning of their troubles when they fall into these streights by their own profuseness or prodigality or Luxury or negligence or ill husbandry or secondly with reference to the means that they use to extricate themselves out of their troubles as fraudulent compositions or unrighteous arts or unjust concealment of that estate with which they might pay their Debts or any other such ungodly Methods as these The Directions suitable to such as these may be First That they would not appropriate to themselves any of those promises which the Scripture give

wrath against the day of wrath and the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God who will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and Honour and immortality eternal life but to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Those that are thus Transported they have Captivity for their punishment and in that Captivity they may discern something of the severity of God towards them but not greater severity then God hath heretofore shewed towards sinners and in the same kind of punishment too that of slavery Manasseh sinned against God and his punishment was he was taken Captive by the Captains of the Kings of Assyria and as such bound in Chains and carried to Babylon Zedekiah sinned against God and for his sin he was exposed first to the scorn of Nebuchadnezzar in his bondage and then in his cruelty in the loss of his eyes and what was dearer to him then his eyes his Children And it is no more then what was threatned by Moses to rebellious Israel Deut. 28. 68. Ye shall be sould to your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen and no man shall buy you that is when they should commit iniquity with greediness their sins would make them so vile in the eyes of God that he would sell them into the hands of their enemies for Slaves and Drudges and their enemies should count them so vile too that they could not think them worth the buying So that that bondage which God inflicted sometimes upon Kings and Princes nay frequently upon his own People too when they sinned against him and departed from him by their transgressions ought not to be repined against by Malefactors as it were too severe a punishment upon them by the hand of God for their transgression but contrari wise they ought to be thankful to the mercy of God that he hath spared their Lives and thereby given a space for repentance which if they consider it aright is a mercy of very great value and of so great value that their gratitude for life ought to overballance those murmurings which they usually entertain upon account of the sufferings of it of this opinion was Jeremiah when he and his Nation were under the like circumstances in Captivity in a strange Country Wherefore says he should a living man complain a man for the Punishment of his sin Lament 3. 39. in which sentence there are almost as many Arguments as words and every one of those Arguments suitable to the Subject now in hand God is the Creator of all things man his Creature why therefore should man complain when he is afflicted The clay against the Potter the workmanship against the maker man that is but dust and ashes against God the Lord of all his Soverainty will bear him out if he disposes of his Creatures as he in his wisdom thinks most fit therefore they ought not to complain especially when they consider that they are sinful men and that their afflictions are but the punishment of their sins No great wonder if upright Job complain that he is afflicted more then the scorners Jeremiah then those that deal treacherously holy Daniel and righteous Shadrack Meshack and Abednego then their accusers and tormentors but unjust it is that sinners complain under their just and deserved punishment when they reap but the very fruit of their doings More it would become them to acknowledge that God is just and righteous in all that he does and in all the corrections which he does inflict and that he has punished them less then their iniquties deserve and then in ●ustice he might have done if he had been extream to mark what is done amiss and therefore that they ought to be humbled and accept of the Punishment of their iniquities and bear the indignation of the Lord because they have sinned against him Especially considering that he hath given them a Portion among those that are living God had not been unrighteous if he had taken away the sinner in the midst of his sins and then as the Tree fell so it wouldly as death left them so Judgment would find them and as they died in the Commission of sin so they would rise hereafter to the inflictions of wrath but God hath been merciful in that he hath given them a life though a life very full of misery to repent in a space though that space surrounded with many afflictions to make their peace with God This Goodness of God ought to lead them to repentance in order to which end let them Secondly Live under a constant sense of Gods omnipresence and that wheresoever they go and into whatsoever parts of the World they are sent by Banishment Gods eye follows them He fills the Heaven and the earth and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him his greatness is unsearchable so that there is no flying from his presence nor can any man hide himself in secret places that God should not see him They may fly their Country but they cannot fly from the presence of God if in a strange Land they retain the sins of England thither the Vengeance of God can follow them there the Justice of God can find them out prove their Plague and their scourge there as well as here but if in a forreign Country they repent of their sins committed here Gods Grace is as near to them there as here his mercy is over all his works and his goodness reaches to the utmost corners of the earth And though their Fathers see them not and their Friends know not their condition yet God is as present to them there as here and is ready to receive the Prayer of the Captive the petition of the stranger the supplication of the Banished and to grant his pardon to the poorest most afflicted Penitents At the Sessions some are found not guilty by their Jury or obtain the benefit of their Clergy or the gracious pardon of the King which if they consider it aright is a mercy very highly valuable and as it is the happiness of these men that they have their Lives and Liberties so it is their disadvantage that their Liberty is attended with the disgrace of having once held up their hand and how to improve this dishonour to spiritual advantage they have been taught in the forecited Chapter and together with those directions let them take these directions that follow First Now that they are free from the Tribunal of man that they would endeavour to set all accounts right between them and God For very possible it may be that an offender may be either free or guilty to a lesser degree in these counts below but perfectly guilty in that court above Here some things are accounted felonies some petty larcenies some deserve only by the law