I am sure I am as good as God has made mee and I can make my self no better so I cannot And as for serving God I am sure I go to Church as well as the best in the Parish though I bee not so fine and I make no question if I had better cloathes but I should doe God as much credit as another man though I say it And as for doing Gods will I befhrew mee I leave that to them that are booke-learn'd and can doe it more wisely I beleeve the Vicar of our Parish can doe it and has done it too as well as any within five miles of his head and what need I trouble my selfe to doe what is so well done already I hope hee being so good a Churchman and so great a Schollard and can speake Latine too would not leave that to so simple a man as I. It is enough for mee to know that God is a good man and that the ten Commandements are the best prayers in all the book unlesse it be the Creede And that I must love my neighbour as well as he loves mee and for all other Quilicoms they shall never trouble my braines an grace a God Let mee goe a sundayes and serve God obey the King God blesse him doe no man no wrong say the Lords Prayer every morning and evening follow my worke give a Noble to the poore at my death and then say Lord have mercy upon mee go away like a Lambe I make no question but I shall deserve heaven as well as hee that weares a gayer coate But yet I am not so ingrant neither nor have not gone so often to Church but I know Christ died for mee too as well as for any other man I 'de bee sorry else and that next to our Vicar I shall goe to heaven when a I am dead as soone as another nay more I know there bee two Sacraments bread and wine and but two though the Papists say there be six or seven and that I verily beleeve I shall be saved by those Sacraments and that I love God above all or else 't were pity of my life and that when I am dead and rotten as our Vicar told mee I shall rise again and be the same man I was But for that hee must excuse mee till I have better sartifaction for all his learning hee cannot make me such a fool unlesse he shew me a better reason for 't then yet he has done His Award BUt one thing hee told mee now I think on 't troubles me woundly namely that God is my Master all which I confesse and that I must do his will whether I know how to doe it or no or else it will goe ill with me I le read it he said out of Gods Bible and I shall remember the words so long as I have a day to live which are these Hee that knoweth not his masters will and doth things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes Luke 12. 48. 1 Cor. 14. 20. Brethren be not children in understanding howbeit in malice be ye children but in understanding be men His Proofs 1 Cor. 15. 34. Awake to righteousnesse and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God I speak it to your shame Ephes 4. 18. Walk not in the vanity of your minds having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the Ignorance which is in you because of the blindnesse of your hearts Levit. 5. 17. And if a soule sin and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the Commandments of the Lord though be wisâ— it not yet is hee guilty and shall beare his iniquity 2 Thes. 1. 7 8. The Lord Jesus shall bee revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God Greg. Mag. Moral It is good to know much and to live well but if we cannot attain both it is better to desire piety then wisdome for knowledge makes no man happy nor doth blessednesse consist in intellectuals The onely brave thing is a religious life Just Mart. Resp. ad orthod. To sin against knowledge is so much the greater offence then an ignorant trespasse by how much the crime which is capable of no excuse is more hainous then the fault which admits a tolerable plea His Soliloquie HOw wel it had been for thee O my soule if I had bookelarnd Alas I cannot read and what I heare I cannot understand I cannot profit as I should and therefore cannot be as good as I would for which I am right sorry That I cannot serve as wel as my betters hath bin often a great griefe to mee and that I have beene so ignorant in good things hath been a great heart-breaking unto mee I can say no prayers for want of knowledge to read but Our Father and the Creed But the comfort is God knows my heart but I trust in God Our Father being made by Christ himselfe will be enough for mee that know not how to make a better I endeavour to doe all our Vicar bids me and when I receive the Communion I truly forgive all the world for a fortnight after or such a matter but then some old injury makes mee forget my selfe but I cannot help it an my life should lie on t O my ingrant soule what shall I doe to bee saved All that I can say is Lord have mercy upon me and all that I can doe is but to doe my good will and that I le doe with all my heart and say my prayers too as well as God will give me leave an grace a God His Prayer O God the Father of heaven have mercy upon me miserable sinner I am as I must needs confesse a sinfull man as my forefathers were before mee I have heard many Sermons and have had many good lessons from the mouths of painfull Ministers but through the dulnesse of my understanding and for want of learning I have not profited so much as else I should have done spare me therefore O God spare me whom thou hast redeemed with thy pretious blood and bee not angry for ever I must confesse the painfulnesse of my calling and the heavinesse of my own nature hath taken from mee the delight of hearing thy Word and the ignorance of learning which I was never brought up to hath kept me from reading it that insomuch in stead of growing better I feare I have grown worse and worse and have bin so far from doing thy will that I doe not understand what thy will is very well But thou O mercifull God that didst reveale thy self to poore Shepherds and Fishermen that had no more learning then I have mercy upon me for Jesus Christ his sake Thou that hast promised to instruct the simple and to lead the ignorant into thy way be good and mercifull to mee I beseech thee Thou that drawest the needy out of the dust and the poore
of daring insolence Let them be drawne like Calves pâ—epar'd for slaughter and bow tâ—eâ—r servile necks to sharp destruction let them submit their slavish bosomes to be trod and trâ—mpled under â—oot for every pleasure My Eagle spirit flies a higher pitch and like ambitious Phaeton climbes into the fiery Chariot and drawne with fury scorne revenge and honor rambles through all the Spheares and brings with it confusion and combustion my reeking sword shall vindicate my reputation and rectifie the injuries of my honorable name and quench it selfe in plenteous streames of blood Come tell not mee of Charity conscience â—r transgression My Charity reflects upon my self begins at home and guides by the justice of my passion is bound to labour for an honourable satisfaction My conscience is blood-proofe and I can broach a life with my illustrious weapon with as little â—eluctation as kill a Flea that â—ucks my blood without Commission and I can drinke a health in blood upon my bended knee to reputation His Retaliation BUt hark my soule I heare a languishing a dying voyce cry up to heaven for vengeance It cries aloud and thunders in my startling eare I tremble and my shiveâ—ing bones are filled with hoâ—ror â—t cries again â—mâ— and heare what heaven replies All that take up the sword shall perish by the sword Mâ—tâ—h 26. 52. Levit. 10. 18. Thou shalt not avenge or bear any grudge against the Children of my people but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe I am the Lord Deut. 32. 35. To me belongeth vengeance and recompence Ezek. 25. 12 13. Because that Edom hath delt against the house of Iudah by taking vengeance and hath greatly offended and revenged himselfe upon them Therefore thus saith the Lord God I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom and will cut off man and beast from it Matth 5. 39. Resist not evill but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek turn to him the other also His Proofs Tertull. What 's the difference between one that doth an injury and another that outragiously suffers it except that the one it first and the other second in the oâ—ence but both are guilty of mutuall injuâ—y in the sight of God who forbids every sinne and condemnes the offender Tertull. How can we honour God if we revenge our selves Gloss. Every man is a murtherer and shall be punished as Cain was if he doe as Cain did either assault his brother with violence or pursue him with hatred His Soliloquy REvenge is an Act of the Irasâ—â—ble affections deliberated with malice and executed without mercy How often O my soule hast thou cursed thy selfe in the perfectest of Prayers How often hast thou turn'd the spirituall body of thy Saviour into thy damnation Can the Sun rise to thy comfort that hath so often set in thy wrath So long as thy wrath is kindled against thy brother so long is the wrath of God burning against thee O wouldst thou offer a pleasing sacrâ— fice to heaven Goe first and be reconciled to thy brother I but who shall right thy honour then Is thy honour wrong'd Forgive and it is vindicated I but this kinde of heart-swelling câ—n brook no Powltesse but revenge Take heed my soule the remedy is worse then the disease If thy intricate distemper transcend thy power make choyce of a Physitian that can purge that humour that foments thy malady Rely upon him submit thy will to his directions he hath a tender heart a skilfull hand a watchfull eye that makes thy welfare the price of all thy paines expecting no reward no fee but prayses and Thanksgiving His Prayer O God that art the God of peace and the lover of unity and concord that dost command all those that seek forgivenesse to forgive that hatest the froward heart but shewest mercy to the meek in spirit With what a face can I appeare before thy mercy-seat or with what countenance can I lift up these hands thus stained with my brothers blood How can my lips that daily breathe revenge against my brother presume to own thee as my father or expect from thee thy blessing as thy childe If thou forgive my trespasses O God as I forgive my trespassers in what a miserable estate am I that in my very prayers condemn my selfe and doe not only limit thy compassion by my uncharitablenesse but draw thy judgements on my head for my rebellion That heart O God which thou requirest as a holy present is become a spring of malice These hands which I advance are ready instruments of base revenge My thoughts that should be sanctified are full of blood and how to compasse evill against my brother is my continuall meditation The course of all my life is wilfull disobedience and my whole pleasure Lord is to displease thee My conscience hath accused me and the voyce of blood hath cryed against me But Lord the blood of Jesus cryes louder then the blood of Abell and thy mercy is farre more infinite then my sinne The blood that was shed by me cryes for vengeance but the blood that was shed for me sues for mercy Lord heare the language oâ— this blood and by the merits of this voyce be reconciled unto me That time which cannot be recalled O give me power to redeem and in the meane time a setled resolution to reform Suppresse the violence of my head-strong passion and establish a meek spirit within me Let the sight of my own vilenesse take from me the sense of all disgrace and let the Crown of my reputation be thy honour Possesse my heart with a desire of unity and concord and give me patience to endure what my impenitence hath deserved â— Breath into my soule the spirit of love and direct my affeâ—â—ions to their right object turn all my anger against that sinne that hath provoked thee and give me holy revenge that I may exercise it against my selfe Grant that I may love thee for thy selfe my selfe in thee and my neighbour as my selfe Assist me O God that I may subdue all evill in my selfe and suffer patiently all evill as a punishment from thee Give me a mercifull heart O God make it â—low to wrath and ready to forgive Preserve me from the act of evill that I may be delivered from the feare of evill that living here in charity with men I may receive that sentence of Come ye blessed in the kingdom of glory The secure mans Triumph SO now my soule thy happinesse is entaild and thy illustrious nâ—me shall live in thy succeeding Generations Thy dwelling is establish'd in the fat of all the land thou hast what mortall heart can wish and wantest nothing but immortalitie The best of all the land is thine and thou art planted in the best of Lands A land whose Constitutions make the best of Government which Government is strengthened with the best of Laws which Lawes are executed by the best of Princes whose Prince whose Lawes whose Government whose land
in the gap betwixt this kingdom and thy judgements that being all members of that Body wherof thou Christ art head we may all joyn in humiliation for our sinnes and in the propagation of thy honour here and bee made partakers of thy glory in the kingdom of glory The Presumptuous mans Felicities TEll bauling Babes of Bugbeares to fright them into quietnesse or terrify youth with old wives fables to keep their wilde affections in awe Such Toyes may work upon their timerous apprehensions when wholsom precepts fayl and finde no audience in their youthfull cares Tell not me of Hell Devils or of damned soules to enforce mee from those pleasures which they nick-name Sinne What tell ye me of Law my soule is sensible of Evangelicall precepts without the needlesse and uncorrected thunder of the killing Letter or the terrible paraphrase of roaring Boanarges the tediousnesse of whose language still determines in damnation wherein I apprehend God farre more mercifull then his Ministers T is true I have not led my life according to the pharisaicall Square of their opinions neither have I found judgements according to their Prophecies whereby I must conclude that God is wonderfully mercifull or they wonderfully mistaken How often have they thundred torment against my voluptuous life and yet I feele no pain How bitterly have they threatned shame against the vaunts of my vain-glory yet finde I honour How fiercely have they preacht destruction against my cruelty and yet I live What plagues against my swearing yet not infected What diseases against my drunkennesse and yet sound What danger against procrastination yet how often hath God been found upon the death-bed What damnation to Hypocrites yet who more safe What stripes to the ignorant yet who more Scotfree What poverty to the slothfull yet themselvs prosper What fals to the proud yet they stand surest What curses to the covetous yet who richer What judgements to the lascivious yet who more pleasure What vengeance to the prophane the censorious the revengefull yet none live more unscourg'd Who deeper branded then the Lyar yet who more favourd Who more threatend then the presumptuous yet who lesse punisht Thus are wee foold and kept in awe with the strict fancies of those Pulpit-men whose opinions have no ground but what they gaine from popularity Thus are wee frighted from the liberty of Nature by the politick Chimeraes of Religion whereby wee are necessitated to the observing of those Lawes whereof wee finde a greater necessity of breaking His Anathemaes BUt stay my soule there is a voyce that darts into my troubled thoughts which saith Because thou hast not kept my Lawes all the curses in this Book shall overtake thee till thou be destroyed Deut. 29 Deut. 29. 27 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the land to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this Book 2 Chron. 34. 24 Thus saith the Lord behold I will bring evill upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof even all the curses that are written in the book Deut. 28. 15 But if thou wilt not hearken unto the voyce of the Lord thy God to observe and doe all his commandements and his statues which I command thee this day all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee His Proofs Bernard It is certain thou must die and uncertaine when how or where seeing death is alwayes at thy heeles Thou must if thou bee wise alwayes be ready to die Bernard To commit a sin is an humane frailty to persist in it is a divelish obstinacy Bernard There are some who hope in the Lord but yet in vaine because they onely smooth and flatter themselves that God is mercifull but repent not of their sin such confidence is vain and foolish and leads to destruction His Soliloquy PResumption is a sin wherby we depend upon Gods mercies without any warrant from Gods Word It is as great a sin O my soule to hope for Gods mercy without Repentance as to distrust Gods mercy upon Repentance In the first thou wrongst his justice In the last his mercy O my presumptuous soule let not thy prosperity in sinning encourage thee to sinne lest climbing without warrant into his mercy thou fall without mercy into his judgement Be not deceived a long Peace makes a bloody Warre and the abuse of continued mercies makes a sharpe judgement Patience when slighted turnes to fury but ill-requited starts to vengeance Thinke not that thy uupunisht sin is hidden from the eye of heaven or that Gods judgements will delay for ever The stalled Oxe that wallowes in his plenty and waxes wanton with ease is not farre from slaughter The Ephod O mydesperate soule is long a filling but once being full the leaden cover must goe on and then it hurries on the wings of the wind Advise thee then and whilst the Lampe of thy prosperity lasts provide thee for the evill day which being come repentance will bee out of date and all thy prayers will finde no eare His Prayer GRatious God whose mercy is unsearchable and whose goodnesse is unspeakable I the unthankfull object of thy continued favours and therefore the miserable subject of thy continuall wrath humbly present myself-made misery before thy sacred Majestie Lord when I look upon the horridnesse of my sin shame strikes me dumbe But when I turne mine eie upon the infinitenesse of thy mercy I am emboldned to pour forth my soule before thee as in the one finding matter for confusion so in the other arguments for compassion Lord I have sinned grievously but my Saviour hath satisfied abundantly I have trepassed continually but he hath suffered once for all Thou hast numbred my transgressions by the haires of my head but his mercies are innumerable like the starres of the skie My sinnes in greatnesse are like the mountaines of the earth but his mercy is greater then the heavens Oh if his mercy were not greater then my sins my sins were impardonable for his therefore and thy mercies sake cover my sins and pardon my transgressions make my head a fountain of teares and accept my contrition O thou Well-spring of all mercy strengthen my resolution that for the time to come I may detest all sin Encrease a holy anger in me that I may revenge my selfe upon my selfe for displeasing so gracious a Father Fill my heart with a feare of thy judgements and sweeten my thoughts with the meditation of thy mercies Go forwards O my God and perfect thy own work in mee and take the glory of thy own free goodnesse furnish my mouth with the prayses of thy name and replenish my tongue with continuall thanksgiving Thou hast promised pardon to those that repent behold I repent Lord quicken my Repentance Thou mightst have made me a terrible example of thy justice and struck me into hell in the heigth of my presumption but thou hast made me capable of thy mercies and an object of thy commiseration for thou art a gracious God of long-suffering and slow to anger thy name is wonderfull and thy mercies incomprehensible Thou art onely worthy to be praised Let all the people praise thee O God O let all the people praise thee Let Angels and Archangels praise thee Let the Congregations of Saints praise thee let thy works prayse thee let every thing that breathes prayse thee for ever and for ever Amen FINIS