but thou wilt see that Den and Cave of Uncleaness the deeps of Filth that is in thy own Heart which will cause Gods Mercy to be amazing and thee restless until thou be partaker of it by thy gaining of Achsach thou wilt see the things that are spiritually discern'd Take one Word of Advice how to go about this great Work and God speed thee well When thou readest that God is the Omnipotent Lord of all Glory and Majesty make way through thy Thoughts and Considerations to thy Vnderstanding and entertain the Notion there and let it be an Inhabitant with thee as Solomon saith concerning the Fear of God I say of the Knowledg of him Hold it fast and grow old therein This will make thee reverence Him his Name will be great in thy sight and when thou readest He 's the great Benefactor of Mankind c. Observe the former Method in bringing the Notion home this will exceedingly greaten thy Respect and increase thy Love to him And when thou readest That we have prophaned our Affections which are due onely to God by setting them upon unworthy things and that our Adulteries are between our Breasts Consider thou art the Man that hath promised to forsake the Devil the World and the Flesh and thy self only to thy great Lord to love him with all thy Heart and Mind and Soul and finding thy self guilty if thou have not an harden'd Whore's fore-head thou must blush and be confoundedly ashamed and acknowledg it Justice to be put away And when thou readest That we have continually lived in contempt of God and in the transgression of his Commands breaking his bands in sunder laying the Reins of our Loyalty upon the Neck of licentious liberty Consider then what it is for the so much obliged Creature to rebel against so great and good Creator Redeemer Sustainer and Preserver and reckon thy self in the throng of such Malefactors then thou canst not be keep'd from judging and abhorring thy self and thus apprehending of the Soul of the Letter taking Kirjath-sepher thou wilt find so much within the Word which is Divine that will rightly humble thee when thou comest to Gratulation so much sweetness in Mercy and so much Comfort in Grace that will take and hold thee that as Death is swallowed up in Victory that thy Miserable Wretchedness is swallowd up in Divine Bounty And when thou hast taken Kirjath-sepher and obtained Achsach thou wilt find that every good and perfect Gift cometh from the Father of Lights and that thou wantest nothing that he hath not for thee that he delighteth himself in shewing Mercy and doing Good this will incourage thee to lift up thy head upon the account of thy Redeemer and with boldness ask Relief And when thou hast taken Kirjath-sepher and injoy'd Achsach thou wilt see the State of the Church her Ruins and Wants and what is needful for her Also the Duty of Ministers what Blessing we want upon the Word Preached also the Deplorable State of Unregenerate Men and the Flashes of Hell Fire that irresistibly invade the Wounded Soul and see others in outward Troubles bleeding by the Arrows of Gods Fury and squeez'd in the Press of Adversity then thou wilt as Elihu feel thy self full of Matter the Spirit within thee will constrain thee When thou art seriously and divinely concern'd forget not thy Director NICO PEARSON ON THE AUTHOR AND HIS Elaborate Work WHil'st the dull clods of worse informed Earth Stifle the Spirit in its very birth See here the more refined mould aspire To Heaven which made it in the Flaming fire Of Ardent zeal to Praise and Pray to him That first endew'd the glorious Seraphim With Love like his he would not be alone But shews the way to others to that Throne Whose Monarch blesseth all but yet commands His Creatures Prayers to force it from his hands And shew'd the piercing Author to dispence Methods to take even Heaven by violence Which if by his Direction we attain He hath the trouble and we have the gain G. H. THE RAPTURES OF A Flaming Spirit ADORATION ETernally Blessed Incomprehensible most Mighty and most Glorious Lord our God The high and lofty One who inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy who dwelleth in the high and holy Place The Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all Things Visible and Invisible Heaven is thy Throne Earth is thy Foot-stool Thou art incircled with Millions of Angels cloathed with Glory and Honour deck'd with Majesty and Excellency and arrayed with Beauty and Splendor Before thee the glorious Angels cover their Faces not being able to behold so glorious a Majesty Thy Throne is Inestimable thy Glory Incomprehensible beforâ— thee the Host of Angels stand with trembling The First Cause of Things the Foundation of the Universe the Infinite Invisible and onely Wise God Thou hast no partner in thy Supream Soveraignty Thou even thou art Lord alone Who dwellest in the Splendors of that inaccessible Light unto which no mortal eye can approach Who with a powerful hand keepest an undisturb'd Order in all thy Affairs The Invisible Divinity that cannot be comprehended within the scanty compass of a Created Mind We thy poor Creatures with all Reverence desire to lift up our dim eyes to discover some of the light of thy Perfections to enkindle in our dull Souls some Devotion Nothing can be added unto thee to make thee more excellent Thou art eternal and infinite in Being and Perfection who consistest of thy self alone without participation from others being absolute endless and without all limitation of Perfection who derivest from thy own incomprehensible Infiniteness certain limited Natures and Perfections to Creatures which Natures and Perfections in Creatures are nothing else but little Particles and Participations of that Bottomless Sea of Infiniteness that is in thy Self whereunto they all are to be referr'd and reduced as the Beam to the Sun or as the Brook to the Spring Thou art Alpha and Omega and beside thee there is no God The Omnipotent Lord of all Glory and Majesty more high than all that can be imagined and conceived and all that can be understood and consider'd with any Created Understanding More high and precious than all that can be beloved enjoy'd or desired for the Infiniteness of thy Greatness doth far pass and exceed all this for thou art to all Creatures Incomprehensible no Understanding can reach unto thee nor Imagination nor Reason nor any other Vertue created can comprehend thee Thou hast thy Existence from thy Self and not from another such a Being as in comparison of thee nothing else hath a being Who hast no Succession always the same Thou our God art the Cause of Causes and the Being of Beings and in every Degree unspeakable and incomprehensible How can we express thy Noble Acts or speak out all thy Praise Thy Name alone is excellent Thou incomparably exceedest our best conceptions of thee Thou holdest back the Face of thy Throne and
's God that bringeth down the high and exalteth the low That drieth up the Green Tree and that causeth the Dry Tree to flourish God is Judg he setteth up one and pulleth down another Thou art the great Rewarder and Punisher of Good and Evil. Thou fillest Heaven and Earth with thy presence Thou art acquainted with all our ways and ponderest all our goings Thou sittest upon the Thrones in the Heavens and from thence beholdest the bottomless places There is not any Creature that is not manifest in thy sight All things are naked before thine Eyes with whom we have to do He that planted the Ear shall he not hear and he that formed the Eye shall he not see Thou discoverest Deep things out of Darkness and bringeth to Light the Shadow of Death Thou declarest the things that are past and for to come and revealeth the steps of hidden things No thought escapeth thee neither is any word hidden from thee The ways of good men and the goodness of their ways and the ways of evil men and the evil of their ways are not hidden from thee The Lord is in his Holy Temple the Lords Throne is in Heaven his Eyes behold his Eye lids try the Children of Men. Thou searchest the Heart thou triest the Reins that thou may'st give unto every Man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings Thou watchest over the Wicked to pluck them up and to destroy them but thou watchest over the Righteous to build them and to plant We own thy absolute Soveraignty over us and although thou art girded with Strength and who can say What doest thou Yet thou doest nothing but what is equal and right Thy ways are always full of righteousness tho not always full of clearness to mortals Thou art righteous in all thy Ways and just in all thy Judgments As thou art known to be King of Nations by thy works of Providence abroad in the World so thou art known to be the King of Saints because the Scepter of thy Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteousness Thou lovest Righteousness and Judgment and takest pleasure in Uprightness All the Works of the Lord are good he giveth every one in season and when need is so that a man need not say this is worse than that for in due time all thy doings will prove worthy of praise Our God one day will bring forth all the grounds of all his Dispensations towards Man and all the Proceedings with him in such a demonstrative and undeniable Consonancy even to the very Reason of Man that every Mouth shall be stopped It s far from thee to do wickedness it s far from the Almighty to commit iniquity Thy Counsels of old are Faithfulness and Truth Thou sittest upon the Throne of Holiness To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth Righteousness and Judgment are the Habitations of thy Throne Thou keepest the Paths of Judgment According to thy Name O Lord so are thy praises to the ends of the Earth thy right hand is full of Righteousness Thou exercisest Loving Kindness Righteousness and Judgment in the Earth for thou excellest therein They that honour thee thou wilt honour but they that despise thee shall be but lightly esteemed The righteousness of the Upright shall deliver them but the Wicked shall be caught in their own naughtiness The Lord loveth the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence his Soul hateth The Lord is known by the Judgment that he executeth the wicked is snar'd in the work of his own hands The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity He that will not bow to thy Scepter of Mercy shall be crushed in pieces by the Rod of thy Wrath. With thee is terrible Majesty Thou canst shew thy strength at all times and who may with-stand the power of thine Arm. At thy wrath the Earth shall tremble the wicked shall not be able to abide thine Indignation Thou who build'st the World can'st easily destroy the wicked Thou art wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath harden'd himself against thee and prosper'd The Pillars of Heaven tremble and are astonish'd at thy reproof Thro the greatness of thy power shall thy enemies submit unto thee We adore thy righteousness O God when thou punishest the wicked because they trample upon thy most righteous Edicts When thou judgest 't is not out of Soveraignty but Justice Thou never did'st command Man to do any thing but what was conducible to his own happiness Thou madest the World for Man thou madest Man to obey thee and the reason thou commanded'st Man to serve thee was that thereby he might be eternally blessed If we had walk'd in thy Counsels they had before this time led us out from under the Curse we are now labouring under One day in thy Courts is better than a thousand elsewhere It 's better to be a Door-keeper in the House of God than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness We taste and relish the joys of Heaven when we contemplate thy Attributes which are the Notifications of thy Nature so far as is knowable The Demonstrations that thou hast given of thy self in thy Attributes is sufficient if we did but rightly consider to make us both fear and love thee Thy Holiness Justice and Power well consider'd would put a Bridle in our Jaws to keep us from rushing into Sin as a Horse rusheth into the Battle And thy Mercy Truth Goodness and Sufficiency well learn'd is enough to make us love thee and to be a willing people in the day of thy Power Confession of Sin OUR Guilt flasheth in our Faces wo unto us for we have sinned We have not kept the way of the Lord but perfidiously departed from our God In the greatness of our Folly we have gone astray We have Prophan'd our Affections which are due onely to God by setting them upon base and contemptible Objects The Spirit of Fornication is in the midst of us According to the multitude of the Fruit we have increased the Altars according to the goodness of our Land we have made the Images We have gone a Whoring after our own Inventions Sin like a strong Byass hath drawn our hearts from God We have run after other Lovers our Adulteries are between our Breasts We have tempted Temptation to deceive us How hotly we have follow'd the Chase of our own Delusions We are guilty of the two Old Evils we have snatch'd at the Shadow but let go the Substance VVe have forsaken the Fountains of Living Water and have hewn unto our selves broken Cisterns that hold no VVater Instead of trusting in God that giveth good things we have trusted in the good things that God hath sent Instead of rejoycing in God that giveth us Blessings we rejoyce in the Blessings that God hath given We have gaz'd upon the brightness but consider'd not the britleness We have
Earth Vice braves it with a bolden'd Face Sin is in its Power Corruption is upon its Throne Take away the Covering that covereth the face of all People For the CHVRCH WE have had a long Summer but small Harvest Increase the precious Sons of Sion Call thy Sons from far and thy Daughters from the ends of the Earth that they may be called by thy Name Let all the Nations of the Heathen become the Kingdom of the Lord Christ Take in the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the Utmost Parts of the Earth forthy Possession Let all the People praise thee O God yea let all the People praise thee Cause all the Kindred of the Nations to worship before thee and lead them in the Paths of Righteousness for thy Names sake Cast thy Net into the Seas and gather of all Kinds That the Sun of the Gospel may rise to such an Altitude that it may inlighten every Dark Corner of the Earth That the World that is geneâ—ally ruled by the Malicious Prince of Darkness may now receive and obey thy Holy Laws in the Beauty and Harmony of Holiness Search thy Sheep and seek them out as a Shepard seeketh out his Flock in the Day that he is among his Sheep and deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark Day Feed them upon Lebanon by the Rivers that they may lie them down in peace Seek that which is Lost Bring again that which is Driven away Bind up that which is Broken and strengthen that which is Sick Cause thy saving health to be known among all Nations Pull down the Strong Holds of Satan build up the Walls of Jerusalem and gather together the Out-casts of Israel Lamentable are the breaches and ruins of thy Church scarce one stone left upon another Thou art the Owner thereof and able enough therefore repair it Thy Vineyard looks very wild and instead of Grapes it bringeth forth Wild Grapes Oh prune it and fence it cleanse away the Impurity Sinfulness and Defilements of it Suffer no Root of Schism Slip of Error or Fruit of Disobedience to grow in thy Garden Cause the North Wind to arise and the South Wind to blow that the Spices may flow out Adorn the Profession of Religion with an Accession of a Blessing That the Sun of Righteousness may inliven the Church to a higher pregnancy That the Innate Power of the Gospel may prove so Victorious that Paganism Mahumatism Judaism Atheism and Papism may melt under the powerful Influences of it Oh feed thy Flock and fold them Thou who commandest the Clouds from above and openest the Windows of Heaven remember and refresh thine Inheritance with Showers of Divine Favour least it prove like a Heath in the Desart Open the Coelestial Casements and showre down Gospel Blessings If our Root be not Rottenness Heavenly Waterings and Influences will make it sprout forth into Fruits of Obedience Send down the spirit of Obedience and Fidelity that the adored Commands of our aimiable Redeemer may be obeyed Reform those parts of thy Church that are dark'ned and defiled Cast down that Tyranny Heresie and Schism which keepeth out Truth Holiness and Peace that Truth may triumph over Errour That the Streams of Truth in the Banks of Unity may make glad the City of God That Right may be restored Worth prized Vertue honoured Vice degraded and Honesty and Godliness encouraged Set Bounds to our Passions by Reason to our Errors by Truth to our Seditions by Laws to our Schisms by Charity that the Church may be as a City at Unity in it self Cause the Fire of Divine Love to burn up and consume all Roughness Hatred and Cruelty that a Willing and Peaceful Obedience may be-calm the World That Ephraim may not envy Judah nor Judah vex Ephraim Shew thy Compassions unto them who are upon the Mountains of Gilboa where there are no Dews and in Egypt where there are no Showres thou art sufficient for them Shew Pity and Favour unto them who are tossed to and fro upon the Main of Ignorance with every Wind of Doctrine Bring them under a powerful Spiritual Teaching from the Heart to the Heart from the Conscience to the Conscience from Experience to Experience Especially favour this Part of thy Church in this Kingdom that it may be a Paradise of Pleasure the Garden of God that the Valleys may be like Eden the Hills like Lebanon the Springs like Pisgah and the Rivers like Jordan and the Defence thereof the Lord Jehovah Cause thy Spirit as a mighty East Wind to disperse the Locusts That our Nation may be as a Field which the Lord hath blessed For the KING IN a most Eminent Manner give Demonstrations of thy Favour unto our Most Dread Soveraign Lord CHARLES by thy Grace of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith and in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil in these His Majesties Realms and Dominions Supream Head and Governour Let him be precious in thy Sight Watch over him for Good Cause all Designs that are against him to prove abortive Make his Enemies to be as Dagon was before the Ark fallen down and broken in pieces having neither Heads to plot nor Hands to fight against Him As thou hast placed him on high above us make thy Blessings suitable to his Exaltation and Dignity Let not the Sun of his Prosperity decline but when his Course is finished here below he may ascend into the Unchangeable Glory and be cloathed upon and be a Star of the First Magnitude ever shining in the Heaven of Heavens For the Ministers of the GOSPEL PLace in every one of us an Over-flowing Fountain that we may not onely be constant but abundant in the Work of the Lord. That we may be a Means to mollifie their hard Hearts and bespeak their Love to God Let us be more and more under the Influences and rich Pourings of thy Spirit Make ut Masters of great Judgment and Experience in Soul Affairs That we may weild the Weapons of our Warfare which are not Carnal to the beating down of every high and towring Imagination that shall exalt themselves against the Kingdom of our Lord Christ That with sweet Insinuations and a holy Importunity we may compel them to come in that thy House may be filled and thy Feast furnished with Guests Inspire us with Zeal and Industry That we may partake of the Fountain of Wisdom and drink of the River of Knowledg that in us may be the Vein of Understanding Impregnate us with Divine Notions in such abundance that we may have teeming Wombs to inrich the World Adorn and Beautifie us with such a Brightness of Wisdom and Understanding that we may sparkle with ravishing heat of Love and Piety That the Divine Image may fairly be reflected on us that it may shine brightly in the Faces of Others Fill us with Prudence and Advice Mould many and Wise Resolutions