Presence O Blessed Jesu and for the powerful Influence of thy Spirit manifest therin even before thy Manifestation to the World Help me O Lord so to correspond with Thee in thy gracious Visitations as to discharge all the Offices of Lov Friendship and Christian Piety incumbent on me toward all Relations that I also may be a Joy unto thy Servants and they such unto Me as Thou art unto us all And let the voice of thy Salutation sounded in mine Ears by the Ministry of thy Word make me Blessed in believing that there shal be a Performanre of those things which were told us from the Lord as wel concerning the second Coming to judg the World as hath already been of thy first Coming to redeem it §. 8. O my dear Redeemer who in making choice of this Holy Virgin to be thy Happy Mother hast regarded the low Estate of thy 〈◊〉 preferring that before all the outward Pomp and Grandeur wherwith we are too fondly taken to giv us an instructiv Instance that Humility is the Fountain and Fore-runner of Honor for behold from thenceforth all Generations do call 〈◊〉 Blessed My Soul doth magnify the Lord For He that is Mighty hath don great things and Holy is his Name He hath shewed strength with his Arm when He put down the mighty from their Seats and exalted them of low degree to help his Servant Israel in remembrance of his Mercy Lord since the Poor and Lowly in heart are so acceptabl in thine Eys teach me to lov Retirement and delight in Devotion as this Elect Virgin did and make me truly content and happy in the lowest degree wherin thy Providence shal think fit to place me And since thou art graciously inclined to fill the hungry 〈◊〉 good things let her Faith in relying on God's ancient Promises of Mercy which he spake to our Fathers to Abraham and to his Seed for ever her Wisdom in treasuring up all thy Sacred tho Mysterious Verities her constant Obedience to thy revealed Will her exemplary Humility amidst all thy Graces conferr'd upon her and that Spirit of Prais and Thanksgiving wherwith she rejoiced in God her Savior added to her modest Chastity and holy Fear replenish and adorn my Soul and Life in all Estates and Conditions for thy Mercy is on them that fear Thee from Generation to Generation §. 9. O thou Day spring from on high who throu the tender Mercy of our God hast visited us to giv Light to them that 〈◊〉 in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death to guide our Feet in the way of Peace Blessed be the Lord God of Israel For he hath visited and redeemed his Peopl and hath raised up an horn of Salvation for us in the house of his Servant David Lord grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies may serv Thee without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before Thee all the days of our Life till we acquire the saving 〈◊〉 of thy Salvation given unto thy Peopl by the Remission of their Sins §. 10. Holy Jesu With what Wisdom didst thou delay thine Incarnation so long With what Mercy no longer Thou didst defer it so long that the Scriptures fore-going it might testify of Thee according to that saying In the Volume of the Book it is written of Me to the end all holy Souls in the sundry Ages and Nations of the World might be filled with Expectations Desires of Thy Coming in the Flesh and confirmed in their Faith by the Prophecies accordingly fulfilled Yet wouldst thou not delay it longer that the Over-flowings of thy Lov in the Fulness of Time might satisfy all holy Longings with the Accomplishment of thy wonderful Incarnation in order to our compleat Redemtion I prais and magnify thy Name For the exceeding Riches of thy Grace and Wisdom treasured up in this thy mysterious and sacred Dispensation Beseeching thee that as Thou art the 〈◊〉 of all Nations so to render thy self altogether lovly in mine eys O vouchsafe to com into my Soul in the fulness of thy Compassion for the Pardon of my Sins in the fulness of thy Grace to subdu my Lusts and in the fulness of thy Power to strengthen me in resisting Temtations as thou camest in the fulness of thy Lov to redeem me from their malevolent Influence §. 11. O Blessed Jesu who didst endure nine Months Confinement in thy Mother's Womb til the days were accomplished that she should be delivered that beginning at the Root of our Nature thou mightest throuly cleans its Original Corruption I magnify thy Sacred Name For thy patient Conformity to thine own Laws of Nature attending till her ordinary Time and Method should open the doors of the Matrix for thy Releas Lord moderat that Impatience wherwith we usualy crave any expected Good and that Eagerness of mind which precipitats us into irregular Courses to evade whatsoever we fancy uneasy or troublsom And when I am reduced to any great Strait enabl me with a contented Patience and humbl Resignation to wait on Thee my best Aid and Exemplar for Deliverance in thy good time §. 12. When as his Mother Mary being espoused to Joseph was found with Child before they came together and that just man not willing to make her a public Exampl was minded to put her away privily the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Dream saying Joseph thou Son of David fear not to take Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost and she shal bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shal save his Peepl from their Sins I celebrat thy saving Name For fulfilling that which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet saying Behold a Uirgin shal be with Child and shal bring forth a Son and they shal call his Name Emmanuel Evidence thy self O Jesus to be God with Us. in making us tender of our Neighbor's Reputation and instead of judging rashly according to appearance let us rather follow the Dictats of thy Grace if not from the immediat Direction of thy Holy Spirit yet according to the charitabl Prescriptions of thy Holy Word §. 13. Then Joseph being raised from Sleep did as the Angel of the Lord had bidden him laying aside all the unkind Determinations of his mistaken Jealousy I prais and magnify thy Name O God For that steddy Faith and perfect Resignation wherwith this thy Servant entertained the Intimation of thy Divine Will who was not disobedient to the hevenly Vision but readily submitted to the Authority of the Message without disputing the Truth or Possibility of the Mystery therin revealed Lord render me more inclinabl to employ my Talent in a hearty Obedience to thine express Commands than spend my Time in the fruitless Disquisition of those unaccountabl 〈◊〉 which thou hast been pleased to reveal from Heven And let his unparallel'd Abstinence who took unto him his Wife and yet
knew her not til she had brought forth her first-born Son not only so shame all mine inordinat Affections and engage me to abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against my Soul as to keep under my Body and bring it into Subjection but withall heighten our Esteem and Emulation of the transcendent Chastity and conjugal Lov of that immaculat Pair whom the King of Heven thought fit to honor and entrust with the Birth and Breeding of his own Son who was not so styled her First-born as to imply there ever was any other succeeding Fruit of her Womb the Mother of God being worthily believed an Eternal Virgin as wel In and After as Before the Bringing forth of that Son whose Name they called JESUS according to the mystical Import of that abstruse Prophecy in the 44th Chapter of Ezekiel This Gate shal be shut it shal not be open'd and no man shal enter in by it becaus the Lord the God of Israel hath enter'd in by it therefore it shal be shut §. 14. O Dear Jesus who in the same Act of assuming our Humanity 〈◊〉 also evidence thy Divinity being as well conceived by the H. Ghost as born of a Virgin I adore thine Eternal God-head For thy great Wisdom and Care in the Discovery and Confirmation of this sublime Mystery of thy Hypostatical Union which thou didst not only transact in Secret by the Message of the Angel Gabriel the Overshadowing of the H. Ghost and the Conception of the Virgin Mary but hast openly ratified by the Report of those Shepherds that had seen a Vision of Angels by the Brightness of the Star which appeared in the Hevens and by the Deportment of the Wise men whom it conducted from the East to Jerusalem by the Testimony of Simeon and Anna in the Templ and that of thy Precursor John the Baptist in the Wilderness All publick and unquestionable Arguments as well to confirm as exhibit the Truth and Import of the Annunciation made in privat to the devout Virgin that this first Step towards the Great Act of our Redemtion being alike Glorious within and without might appear worthy to be received of All with full Assurance and contemplated by All with infinit Gratitude and Delight O my dear and gracious Redeemer whose Humanity and Divinity are inseperably united in Thee are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg being filled with the Fulness of God Grant throu the Dispensation of thy Grace that the same Godhead which dwelleth in Thee bodily may spiritualy abide in Me that as thy Body is united to thy Soul and both unto God so my Body may be incorporat with thine and my Soul enflamed with such a degree of thy Lov as shal be an Earnest of our ever-lasting Union Fill me with great and reverent Apprehensions of that inexpressibl Honor wherunto we are advanced in Our Union with the Deity in regard it is the End and Effect of Thine and let this Consideration disentangl me from all things here below that living the Life of God from which the whol World is alienated by Sin I may enter into an Hevenly Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ for ever Amen Cap. II. Of His Nativity §. 1. O Thou King of Kings and Lord of Lords who dost dispose and turn the hearts of Earthly Monarchs as it seemeth best to thy Godly Wisdom making that 〈◊〉 which went out from Cesar Augustus that verse 1 all the World should be tared subservient to thy Celestial Decree long before Cyrenius was Governor of Syria revealed by thy H. Prophets touching the place where Christ should be born for in Obedience to the Imperial Edict All went to be tared 〈◊〉 one into his own City and Joseph went up from Galilee out of the City Nazareth into Judea unto the City of David which is called Betl 〈◊〉 to be tared with Mary his espoused wife then great with Child in such a juncture of time that 〈◊〉 they were there the days were accomplished that she should be delivered I prais and magnify thy H. Name For thy over-ruling Wisdom and Providence in making those Occurrences which seem contingent and arbitrary to human Reason instrumental to carry on the good purpos of thy Divine Will so that what the Prophet Micah had fore-told as the Chief Priests and Scribes themselves did readily explain and apply it may at this day serv for the Direction and Establishment of our Faith in the tru 〈◊〉 Lord let that admirabl Concent and Harmony between thy Old and New Testament which is evident in this and many other singular Instances of thy Truth and Power be effectual to convince the obstinat Jews convert the unbelieving Gentils and bring All Mankind to the Obedience of Faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. §. 2. O thou most High Possessor of Heven and Earth who didst humbl thy self to be wrapped in Swadling 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 in a Manger becaus there was no 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 having made choice of a poor Virgin for thy Mother and a mean Carpenter to pass for thy reputed Father both being destitute not only of a numerous Train of Attendants and such like Marks of Worldly Pomp and Grandeur but even of ordinary Conveniences I prais thy Glorious Name For thus taking upon Thee the form of a Servant that thou mightest heal the Error of our Ignorance and Ambition Let the continual memory of this thy blessed Exampl giv an effectual Check to the Vanity of my Mind for the utter extirpation of all the Pride or Avarice incident to my Nature And having dispossessed all sensual Thoughts and beastly Appetits of that Room which entirely belongs to Thee be thou pleased to accept of my poor Heart as thou didst of that homely Stabl to reside in supplying their place with such unfeigned Humility as may render me cheerfully contented in all Estates Lord impart needful Consolation to the Poor a sanctified Poverty of Spirit to the Rich and the abundant Riches of thy Grace to All. §. 3. There being in 〈◊〉 saine Country Shepherds abiding in the field keeping Watch over their Flock by night the Angel of the Lord came upon them and said unto them Fear not for behold I bring you glad Tidings of great Joy which shal be to all Peepl 〈◊〉 unto You is born this day in the City of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord I magnify thy Sacred Name For this admirabl mixture of Humility and Glory wherwith thou O Christ hast beautified and signalized thy Coming into the World for the Ministry of an Angel to proclaim thy Birth is no less Glorious and Sublime than to be an Inmate with the Beasts of the Stabl seems base and mean in our Eys Lord since thou hast vouchsafed to direct thy winged Herald to those vigilant Cottagers that the Poor and Simpl might hav as much Occasion to shew forth thy Prais as the great and Learned I cannot but admire and heartily desire to imitat
Corruptions to renounce no new Nature to put on and yet didst permit thy Fore-skin to be circumcised that we might learn therby to put away all 〈◊〉 and superfluity of 〈◊〉 tiness I prais thy H. Name For this Visibl Sign of that 〈◊〉 Grace we stand in need of Let this thine Infant-Wound O J su circumcise our Hearts purify our Hands and 〈◊〉 our whol Man blameless and undefiled And since there is a Fountain open'd to the Hous of David for Sin and for Uncleanness let the Blood of Christ who throu the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 offer'd himself without Spot to God 〈◊〉 our Conscience from dead Works to 〈◊〉 the living God that being 〈◊〉 from all 〈◊〉 of Flesh and Spirit 〈◊〉 may perfect Holiness in thy Fear To this end I beseech thee mortify the Deeds of my Body cut off the Occasions of Sin and disappoint the Temtations most apt to betray me 〈◊〉 for He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is 〈◊〉 in the Flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose Prais is not of Men but of God §. 6. O my Soul Who could imagin so small privat an Action in a Country so remote and an Age so long past should be of such marvellous Concernment to thee and evry Family in the Earth besides I prais and magnify thy Name O Christ for that 〈◊〉 Wisdom and Goodness wherwith thou hast enlarged my Joys in making all thine Actions conduciv to the Benefit and Instruction of the whol World Grant me Grace I beseech thee so to use those Faculties wherwith thou hast enabled me to reflect on and consider Objects so far distant in Time and Place that duly weighing the great Confequence and wide Concernment of evry Thought Word and Deed enrolled in the Volum of Eternity I may becom the more cautious of ordering my Conversation aright til Divine Lov Entire Obedience and Uniform Devotion compleat my Life in this World and prepare a delightful Spectacl for God Angels and Just Men made perfect in the next Cap. IV. Of His Epiphany §. 1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of verse 1 〈◊〉 in the days of Herod the King 〈◊〉 there came Wise men from the East to Jerusalem saying Where is he that is born King of the 〈◊〉 for we 〈◊〉 seén his Star in the East and are com to worship him I prais and magnify thy Name O thou Wisdom of the Father for the gracious and 〈◊〉 Influence of the Eastern 〈◊〉 whose Appearance and Motion being wholy 〈◊〉 did attract the Eys engage the Faith and guide the Feet of these Learned Sages in Quest of Thee In deed they are the only Wise men who use their Learning to find out Heven Lord as thou didst illuminat their Souls by a diviner Light to discern the Benefit and Design of that created Star so be thou graciously pleased to accompany the hevenly Oracls of thy Word with such a convincing Power and Demonstration of thy Spirit as shal be effectual to bring in the Fulness of the Gentils to whom thou hast extended the Scepter of thy Mercy as well as to the Jews having made both one and broken down the middl Wall of Partition between us §. 2. O Blessed Jesu who didst withdraw the Conduct of that Star as soon as the Wise men were com to Jerusalem leaving them to be informed by the ordinary Ministry of the chief Priests and Scribes of the Peépl whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gathered together demanding of them where Christ should be born they said unto him In Bethlehem of Iudea for thus it is written of 〈◊〉 Prophet And thou Bethlehem in the land of Iuda art not the least among the Princes of Iuda for out of 〈◊〉 shal com a a Governor that shal rule my Peépl Israel I prais thy H. Name For the seasonabl Use of Miracls and the transcendent Excellency of the Means of Grace It is unreasonabl to look for Manna when we are once enter'd into the Land of Promise Reclaim therfore I beseech thee all pervers and ignorant Schismaticks from that gross presumtion of temting Thee for new Lights and needless Revelations now thy Will is so expresly revealed in thy Word and let the Priests Lips to whom thou hast committed the ordinary Dispensation of thine Oracls always preserv sufficient knowledg to direct thy peepl in the way of Salvation by that more sure Word of Prophecy which was of old written for our Instruction and is to this day a standing Record taken from the mouths of those holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the H. Ghost And as thou didst lead these honorabl Pilgrims by the Conduct of a Star to the Means of Grace and by the ordinary Preaching and Explanation of thy Word unto thy Self making both those Methods useful in their respectiv places so let thine ancient Miracls confirm and quicken us in the Use of such ordinary Means as are adapted to these later Times for the Light of thy glorious Gospel is as much more instructiv than the obscurer Language of a Star as the shining Splendor of the Day outvies the gloomy Shades of Night this being no less powerful to draw Men from all Quarters of the Earth to thy Worship than that was to invite these few from the East §. 3. The 〈◊〉 men having received so full and plain an Answer from the Priests in the 〈◊〉 of a Truth which neither their fear of Herod nor their own Enmity was abl to suppress continu their Progress toward Bethlehem nothing discoraged either with the disappearing of their Oriental Guide or by the Troubl which the bold and open Declaration of their Embassy had given Herod and all Ierusalem with him I magnify thy Sacred Name O Christ For this their Exemplary Corage and Resolution Be thou the delightful Object and Answer of all mine Enquiries the sole End and Recompence of all my Travel and let my Soul depend on Thee in the greatest destitution of all Outward Helps and Encoragements that those Obstacls which the World is apt to cast in my way being furmounted by a firm purpos of Mind to follow Thee I may throu a du Use of thine Ordinances be brought out of the Maze of Error and Ignorance 〈◊〉 the Knowledg of thy Truth and walk in the right way to thy saving Presence §. 4. O H. Jesu who to reward the Faith and Zeal of these devout Pilgrims didst not only signify to them the Birth of the Messiah in general but conduct them also to Jerusalem and at last when they departed thence attend them even to Bethlehem by the Star which they saw in the East that went before them til it came and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the yong Child was to their great joy I bless and prais thy Name For being found of them that seek Thee according to thy faithful Promise I
the using §. 8. O Lord of the Univers All the Nations of the Earth are thy Fields wheron thou requirest thine Apostls and Ministers to lift up their Eys and lock and they are white already to Hatvest I giv Thee Thanks and Prais Becaus he that reapeth 〈◊〉 Wages and gathereth Fruit unto Life Eternal As my fleshly Eys behold the fields of Corn before my face Lord enabl me to view other fields far more excellent and glorious with the Ey of Faith even all the Cities and Kingdoms of the World ready to be gathered into thy Barn And let the hopes of such desirable Wages engage my utmost Industry to further the Welfare of Souls for which we upon whom the Ends of the World are com hav abundant Encoragement for other men labored and we are enter'd upon their labors whatsoever Christ our Lord and his H. Apostls hav don or suffer'd for the Promulgation of the Gospel redounding to our Advantage and Instruction be it improvabl either to our own Soul's health or to make us Instrumental for the Salvation of others So that in us that Saying provs tru One 〈◊〉 and another reapeth and the Benefit is so equally conveyed throu out all the Members of Christ's Body the Church in all Ages That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoyce together §. 9. When the Samaritans went out of the City and were com unto him upon their Request that he would tarry with them he abode there two days I adore thy saving Name O Jesus For this thy gracious Condescension and the powerful Effect of thy Presence among them many mo having believed becaus of thy Word who said unto the Woman Now we believ not because of thy Saying for we 〈◊〉 heard him our selvs and know that this is indeed the Christ the Savior of the World Tho thy Spous O Christ which is the Church of the Living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth by the Catholick Profession of thy Gospel givs so rational an Invitation to the Apostat World as is persuasiv enough to win many Proselyts to enter into the Communion of Saints upon a general Conviction yet when throu the personal Experiment and Participation of thy Saving Ordinances they are once enl ghtned and hav tasted of the hevenly Gift the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to com they no longer rely upon the bare Credit of thy Church but are established in the Faith by the full persuasion of their own Conscience Let me not therefore at any time content my self with hearing the Operations of thy Grace or the Demonstration of thy Power reported at second hand but make my personal Address to the Ministry of thy Word and Sacraments that having heard Thee my self my Soul also may know experimentally that Thou art indeed The CHRIST the Savior of the World Cap. IX Of His Departure into Galilee and his Reception there §. 1. NOw after two days he departed thence and went into Galilee not directly unto his own City Nazareth for Iesus himself testified that a Prophet hath no honor in his own Country but He came again into Cana of Galilee where he had made the Water Wine I prais and magnify thy Name O my Gracious Redeemer for this prudential Dispensation of thy Ministry not brooking to mis-spend thy Doctrin and Miracls upon such as would render them useless by their Neglect or Dis-esteem but directing the Labors of thy Lov to those who by having du Regard therunto were most likely to reverence thy Person and reap the intended Benefit of thy marvellous Works for when thou wast com into Galilee the Galileans of those parts received thee having seen all the things that thou hadst don at Ierusalem for they also were there at the Feast Lord let not any prejudice of Familiarity which commonly breeds Contemt or Envy which unreasonably surmiseth the Advancement of our Equals or Acquaintance insupportabl or foolish Custom which is apt to set an higher valu upon any forein unknown Commodity than on the more useful Product of our own Growth and Neighborhood hinder my paying the du Respect or making a religious Improvement of those Gifts and Graces wherwith thou shalt think fit to qualify any of my Country-men or fellow-Citizens to do good in his Generation And render I beseech thee the manifest Evidences of thy Grace no less effectual at this day to creat in me that Esteem and Reverence which is du to Thee in thy Members than the supernatural Operations of thy Power exhibited before their Eys in former times were available to prepare a way for thine honorabl Reception among the Galileans that receiving those who bear thine Image as wel with a glad Heart as a cheerful Aspect thou mayst think or make me worthy of thy beätifick Presence for ever Cap. X. Of His Healing the Son of a certain Nobl-man §. 1. WHen a certain Noblman whose Son was sick at Capernaum heard that Iesus was com out of Iudea into Galilee he went unto him and besought him that He would com down and heal his Son for he was at the point of Death Then said Iesus unto him Except ye see Signs and Wonders ye 〈◊〉 not believ wherin He did only delay not deny the desired Answer to his Request reflecting on the gross Infidelity of his Countrymen together with the great End for which his Miracls were wrought for as soon as the Nobl man repeated his Petition in these Tearms Sir com down ere my Child dy the Holy Iesus made him this gracious Reply Go thy way thy Son 〈◊〉 I prais thy Sacred Name Becaus the man believed the word that thou O Iesus hadst spoken unto him wherof he gav an evident Demonstration in that he went his way as fully satisfied and contented in the Assurance of thy Goodness and Power Let not I beseech thee the transitory Affairs of this decaying Body take up all my Thoughts but make me deeply affected with the future State and Eternal Concernments of my diseased Soul I confess my Hope is weak my Charity faint and heartless and my Faith welnigh dead without those Works by which it should be made perfect Lord com down and heal my spiritual Infirmities say unto me Thy Soul liveth with that Word of Power which is abl to revive all its faculties to their du Use and Vigor And tho thou defer to grant the Request of my Lips yet wil I 〈◊〉 make my Prayer unto Thee and wil look up until thou hav Mercy upon me §. 2. His Servants that met him as he was going down having told him Thy 〈◊〉 liveth hr enquired of them the 〈◊〉 when he began to amend and they said unto him Yesterday at 〈◊〉 seventh hour the Fever 〈◊〉 him So the Father knew it was at the same hour in which 〈◊〉 had said unto him Thy Son liveth I prais and magnify thy Name O Christ For this exact Notice of the punctual Execution of