cross art thou to that design For which we had our birth Us who were made in Heaven to shine Thou bow'st down to thy Earth Nay to thy Hell for thither sink All that to thee submit Thou strew'st some flowers on the brink To drown us in the pit World take away thy tinsel wares That dazle here our eyes Let us go up above the Stars Where all our treasure lies The way we know our dearest Lord Himself is gone before And has engag'd his faithful word To open us the door But O my God! reach down thy hand And take us up to thee That we about thy Throne may stand And all thy glories see All Glory to the sacred Three One ever living Lord As at the first still may he be Belov'd Obey'd Ador'd Amen For Monday Morning MEDITATION I. IT is highly fit and just that all Mankind do adore their Maker The great God form'd our bodies out of the Earth and gave us the Spirit in man which bears his likeness a Soul that all created nature cannot sill nor any thing that is below his own Immensity He has freely bestowed on us all the rest of his Creatures which are fitted to serve and delight our bodies But he has moreover design'd us for his glorious Kingdom that we might dwell with him in perfect bliss All the Creatures he has made the great God has alwayes under his observing eye so long as they continue in being All things are open and naked to his Omniscience Though his Throne of State be establisht above and the splendours of his glory shine only on the Blessed that are there yet his unlimited Eye looks down to this lower World and beholds all the wayes of the Children of Adam If we go out he marks our steps and when we retire our shut Closet cannot exclude him while we are alone he minds all the vain and roving imaginations that we have he observes too the end that we aim at in all the Studies which we apply our selves to When we converse with others He observes our deportment and the good or ill we do to them or our selves In our Devotions he takes notice of our carriage and regards with what attention and affection we make our Prayers All the day long he considers how we spend our time and the darkest night conceals not our works from him If we deceive our Neighbour He spies the fraud and hears the least whisper of a slandering tongue If we in secret oppress the Poor or by private alms relieve their wants If in our hearts we murmur at the Rich or live contented with our little portion Whate're we do He perfectly sees us where e're we are He is sure to be with us He that made the Eye shall not he see and shall it be said that he cannot hear who formed the Ear But O thou Sovereign Lord of Heaven why dost thou stoop thus low thy glorious Eye What canst thou find that here does deserve thy view among the trifles of this empty world It is not thy own satisfaction that thou seekest herein but thy design is our advantage Thou appearest still ready to punish our sins that the fear of thy rod may prevent our miseries Sure O my God thy favours must be sweet since even thy threatnings have so much mercy And I must be worse than blind if I venture to be wicked in the face of Heaven Thou dost also Lord graciously stand by us to see us work that thine awful Eye may quicken our diligence thou art still at hand to relieve our wants When all thy work my Soul is done in the sight of him thou servest this may justly encourage thee this may make thee hope that the Labours and Sufferings of thy love shall not go unrewarded Happy we who have our God so near us if our pious Lives keep us near to him Hymn 3. WAke now my soul and humbly hear What thy mild Lord commands Each word of his will charm thine ear Each word will guide thy hands Hark how his sweet and tender care Complies with our weak minds What er'e our State and temper are Still some sit work he finds They that are merry let them sing And let the sad hearts pray Let those still ply their chearful wing And these their sober way So mounts the early chirping Lark Still upwards to the Skies So sits the Turtle in the dark Among her groans and cries And yet the Lark and yet the Dove Both sing though several parts And so should we how er'e we move With light or heavy hearts Or rather both should both assay And their cross notes unite Both grief and joy should sing and pray Since both such hopes invite Hopes that all present sorrow heal All present joy transcend Hopes to possess and taste and feel Delights that ne're will end All glory to the sacred Three All honour power and praise As at the first may ever be Beyond the end of days Amen MEDITATION II. MY God since Thou art never absent from us we will endeavour to be alwaies present with thee Often will we go up to thy Throne above and there contemplate and admire thy glory We will often wait upon thee in thy house and there adore and praise thy mercy Every where will we seek to meet thee and every where delight to find Thee My soul let it be thy endeavour to walk with God in all the parts of thy conversation and take heed that thou walk humbly with thy God. Gracious God we will spread all our wants before thee and offer all our Petitions unto thee Thou dost willingly incline a favourable ear to the Prayers that come from an upright and fervent heart Thou art a rewarder of those that diligently seek Thee Our God loves to hear us treat of Heaven as if we made it the main business of our lives to get thither All other things we must ask with submission to Him since we do not know what of them is absolutely good for our selves But his Eternal Joys we may beg without restraint we may urge and press for his assistance to gain them Heaven is the thing we may wish for if for any thing without resignation We may pray for it with great fervency and perseverance and he will not account us too importunate O wise and gracious Lord whatsoever thou dost thy love intends it for the good of thy servents If thou dost sometimes defer to grant our requests it is only in charity to us to make us repeat them It is that we may more sensibly feel our own poverty and be more strongly convinc't of our dependance on Thee That we may practise our Hope and exercise our Faith and Patience while we long expect and may practise the higher gratitude when we receive at last It is that we may learn this sure and happy skill of working in our souls the Vertues that we desire For those very desires by being often renew'd do at length
end of our being Hymn 15. A Wake my Soul rise from this Bed Of dull and sluggish Earth Quickly arise lift up thy head And see thy Lords new birth Once did he come O Blessed He Born of a Virgin-womb Lo now he comes and still for thee Sprung from a Virgin-tomb See thy Lord rises fresh and bright Incircled round with Stars Which all from him receive their light And from his glorious Scars And thus as he his Progress makes Up to his Heaven again Each risen Saint his Musick takes And follows in his train Thus all together they ascend 'Till at Heavens gate they come Where wondering Angels do attend To bid them welcome home The Angels know again their King And soon his Call obey All the glad Quires come forth to sing And crown with mirth the day Come thou my Soul let us rejoyce Us too our consort bring Up to high Heaven let 's lift our voice And with the Angels sing Glory and Honour Power and Praise To the mysterious Three As at the first beginning was May now and ever be Amen MEDITATION II. RAise thy head O my Soul and look up and behold the Glory of thy Crucified Saviour He that was dead and laid in the Grave low enough to prove himself Man He is risen again and ascended into Heaven and is in exaltation high enough to prove himself God. He arose and made the light his Garment and commanded the Clouds to be the Chariot of his Triumph The gates of Heaven obeyed their Lord and the everlasting Doors opened to the King of Glory Enter bright King thy glorious Palace attended with thy shining Angels enter with the glad train of thy new delivered Captives the first Fruits of thy Victory and the earnests of more Enter and repossess thy ancient Throne and reign eternally at the right hand of thy Father May every Knee bow low at thy exalted Name and every Tongue confess thy Glory May all created Nature adore thy Power and the Church of thy Redeemed exult in thy goodness Whom have we in Heaven but thee O Lord who didst expresly go thither to make way for thy followers What have we on Earth that yields us any comfort and delight but our hope by following thee to arrive at last where thou art gone before us And worth our while O Lord it is to follow thee in the greatest labour of doing well and in patience under the greatest Adversities since the end of all is that where thou art we shall be We shall be there and shall be like thee for we shall see thee as thou art We shall be exalted and glorify'd and rest from our labours O glorious Jesu our Strength and our Joy and the immortal Life of all our Souls Thou art worthy to be the principal Subject of our Studies and the daily entertainment of our most serious thoughts MEDITATION III. WHat mighty cause O God hast thou given poor Mankind to rejoyce and praise thee in that thou hast raised our Saviour from the Grave He died for our sins and rose again for our Justification In this we see a full satisfaction made for our sins by his death Hereby he ever lives to make intercession for us sinners O let all the World rejoyce in the Victory and Triumph of our Lord over all the Enemies of our Salvation I bless thee O my Saviour for thy Death and I praise and adore thee for thy Resurrection The one a work of infinite condescending Mercy the other of infinite Power And now my Soul how art thou conformable to thy kind Lord if when he is risen thou lye dead in trespasses and sins If thou be not risen with Christ to a new and spiritual Life certainly thou art none of his Will he not draw all his own thus after him Will he suffer any of them to lye entangled in earthly desires If he has not drawn thy heart from the World and from thy self and made thee value him most and delight to run the way of his Commandments thou hast no part in him And if thou be risen with Christ thou should'st seek those things which are above Why should our Hearts dwell on Earth when the best Treasure of our Hearts is return'd to Heaven Since our glorified Jesus is ascended above to prepare us a place in his own Kingdom A place of rest and secure peace where we shall see and praise and adore him for ever a place of joy and everlasting fruition where we shall love and possess and delight in him for ever O happy we and our poor Souls if once admitted to that blissfull Vision If once those heavenly Portals unfold their Gates and let us in to the joyes of our Lord how will our Spirits be ravisht within themselves to reflect on the fullness of their own Beatitude How shall we all rejoyce in one anothers felicity but infinitely more in the infinitely greater felicity of God. O Heaven towards thee it is meet that we frequently lift up craving eyes and with out-stretcht hands reach at thy Glories It is fit that with languishing Hearts we often say When O when shall we behold that incomparable light with which our exalted Saviour is cloathed as with a Garment That Glory which illuminates the eyes of Angels and eternally renews the youth of immortalized Saints That light is thy very self O Lord our God whom we shall there see face to face whom we shall there know as we are known In thy light we shall see light PETITIONS O Divine Immense Original Light shine thou perpetually in our eyes that thy brightness may for ever darken all the false lustre of this World. O light that delightest to diffuse and communicate thy self shed so many of thy powerful Beams into our Hearts as that thy heat may burn up all other desires Make us burn continually with the pure Love of thee and let that resining fire purge us from the love of this World. Let thy light shine in our Hearts and be a guide to our wayes till we be call'd from this vale of darkness into the glorious presence of the living God To see him that made the Heavens and the Earth and gave to all things their Lustre and Beauty To see him that first gave us our Being then govern'd us in our way and brought us to so bless'd an end Mean while O glorious Jesu who art the foundation and finisher of all our hopes do thou make us entertain our life with the comfort of this hope and our hope with the assurance of thy promises Let thy Triumphs and Glories ever shine in our eyes to animate our Labours and comfort our Sufferings Let them confirm our Faith in this comfortable point That if we are thy faithful followers in this Life we shall hereafter be partakers in thy Glory Make us also Lord every day more perfectly understand our own great Duty and thy infinite Love. Make us especially on this thy Day meditate the advancement of thy
Tribes of the Earth be blessed in him Hast thou not said thy self O glorious Jesu If I be lifted up I will draw all men after me Hast thou not given thy Disciples express Commission to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature When wilt thou again O infinite Charity choose out burning and shining Lights and send them forth over all the World and send them not alone lest they faint by the way or miscarry in the end If thou wilt go with them thy self and guide them by thy Grace and crown their Labours with thy powerful Blessing Oh then what mighty works would be done by them Then shall the humble Vallies be rais'd up and the stubborn Mountains be brought low So shall the crooked paths be made direct and the rough wayes smooth and plain So shall the Glory of God be every where reveal'd and all Flesh shall joyfully see it together the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the bright face of Jesus Christ Happy the times when this shall come to pass happy the eyes that shall see these times Come glorious days wherein that Sun shall shine which enlightens all at once both the Hemisphears PETITIONS REmember O God the Father God of everlasting Truth thy dear Engagements to the Son Remember O God the Son who art the Author and Finisher of our Faith thy gracious Promises to the World. Come holy Jesu in a plentiful effusion of thy Spirit upon us and make that glorious day of Gospel light which we greatly desire and thy Promises give us leave to expect Come and in the largest sence maintain thy Title and be effectively the Saviour of the universal World. Visit O Lord thine own House first and throughly redress what thou findest amiss Make our Lives holy as thou hast made our Faith and let all that name thy Name depart from Iniquity O thou who art the Author of Peace and lover of Concord who did'st so often repeat the Command that thy Disciples should love one another Inspire we beseech thee thy whole Church with a Spirit of Truth Unity and Concord Bring thou into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived Convince us all that the wrath and fury of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God and hasten the time when there shall be no hurting nor destroying in all thy holy Mountain Kindle O Lord in the hearts of Kings and the great Ones of the World an heroick Spirit to advance thy Glory Inflame the hearts of Prelates and the Priests of thy Church with a generous Zeal for the Conversion of Souls Convince them all it is the End and Duty of their places to endeavour the improving of Mankind in vertue and Religion and direct them to the use of such just and gentle means as are suitable to the End and agreeable to thy Word Send forth thy saving light O Lord into the dark corners of the World and bring them from the power of Satan into the Kingdom of God. Remember thy great Love which thou hast shown and the Mercies which seem yet promised to the Jews Let every people bow their Knees to thy great Name Oh blessed Jesu and all Tongues confess thy Greatness Make all to receive thy Truth in the love of it and mix it with Faith that it may become an engrafted Word able to save their Souls These things we crave for the honour of our Advocate and onely Mediator Jesus the Christ Amen Hymn 30. JEsu whose Grace directs thy Priests To keep alive by solemn Feasts The memory of thy great Love O may we here so pass thy days That they at last our Souls may raise To that long Feast with thee above To that long day of sacred Rest Whereon our happy Souls shall feast On thy celestial Joyes and thee Our Bodies too thy Love shall raise Thy self to see and sing thy praise In a blest Immortality Jesu behold three Kings from far Led to thy Cradle by a Star Bring gifts to thee their greater King O guide us by thy Light that we May find thy lov'd Face and to thee Our selves may for thy Tribute bring O thou the pure and spotless Lamb Who to the Temple humbly came Appointed legal Rites to pay Make our proud Heart and stubborn Will Thine and thy Churche's Law fulfill Whate're relucting Natures say Jesu who on the fatal Wood Pourd'st forth thy life's last drop of Blood For us nail'd to a shamefull Cross O! may we bless thy Love and be Ready dear Lord to bear for thee All present grief or pain or loss Dear Lord who by thine own Love slain By thine own Powe'r took'st Life again And from the Sepulcher did'st rise O may thy Death our Spir'its revive And at our Death a new Life give A lasting Life that never dies Jesu who to thy Heaven again Returnd'st in Triumph there to reign Of Men and Angels mighty King O may our parting Souls take flight Up to that Land of Joy and Light And there with Angels ever sing All Glory to the Sacred Three One undivided Deity All honour blessing power and praise O may thy blessed Name shine bright Crown'd with those Beams of beauteous light It s own eternal glorious Rays Amen FOR THE FEASTS OF THE HOLY GHOST For the Morning MEDITATION I. LOrd we are forced to admire the sweet and natural conduct with which thy Providence governs the Children of men Leading them on from one degree to another 'till thou hast brought them up to their highest perfection Thou puttest them to learn in the School of Virtue and disposest their Capacities into several forms In the first Ages when the World was young thou gavest them for their guide the Book of Nature there thy divine Assistance helpt them to read some few plain Lessons of their Duty to thee They saw this admirable frame of Creatures and as far as these could argue they could conclude Sure there is a God the cause of all things certainly there is a Providence that disposes of all things He must be very powerful that made so vast a World and exceeding wise that contriv'd such excellent works He must be goodness it self that did all this for us and we ingrateful Wretches if we will do nothing for him Thus far some few could say and very few could do with those slender Assistances which they then enjoy'd Afterward thou gavest thy People a written Rule which train'd them up in a set form of Discipline which grew and spread into a publick Religion and which was uniformly profest by a whole Nation They had some weak conceit of the Kingdom of Heaven and some imperfect means to bring them thither But for those high supernatural Mysteries that so gloriously exalt the Christian Faith they all alas were blind or in the dark and dangerously exposed to the effects of their own Ignorance wanting those clear Instructious to know their end and those powerful Motives to love
glorious Dear Lord are the effects of thy Grace How shameful the instances of our folly and weakness PETITIONS OBlessed Jesu who art a Prince and Saviour whose kindness it is to give repentance and remission of sin Bestow I beseech thee on me such a hearty Contrition for all the wandring steps that I have made from my Duty as to fit me to receive thy Pardon And then Pardon O Meek Redeemer what my passions have done and what my weakness has omitted Let a sence that thou my God art reconcil'd to me give me this night a sweet repose as in the arms of thy tender Mercy Make me too hereafter O Lord if I shall live after this night more carefully watch my self that my few dayes do not slide unprofitably away and especially that they be not spent in sin Make me every day retire to study thee and my self My self that I may know and correct my many Infirmities and Thee that I may adore thy infinite Perfections And to thy Perfections O Lord and the strength from them communicated unto me make me ascribe all the good that I am able to do Let me alwayes say as I ought This is not I but Christ that liveth in me Make me also the more attentively obsequious to the steady guidance of thy Grace and grant I may never want it while the time of my warfare and pilgrimage continues Instruct me I beseech thee O thou who art the best of Teachers in these great and wise truths that the things of this world are of very little import since its joys and griefs will last but a very little while and that the future state does infinitely concern me where the Life and Death are for ever Fix my heart O Sovereign Goodness I pray thee on thy self alone Let me not be good only by halves since there is a glorious Heaven prepared that is worth all our labours Prevent by the power and prevalence of thy grace in me my mingling so much as formerly thy pure Grace with my corrupted Nature Deliver me O Lord from the Temptations of this world and mercifully save me from the wrath to come that dreadful wrath which we so justly fear and which many condemned wretches do already irrecoverably feel Hymn 22. AND do we then believe There is a world to come Where all this world shall summon'd be To take their final doom Is there a Heaven indeed To crown the Innocent Is there a Hell and horrid Pains The Wicked to torment Are these Eternal too And never to have end Shall never those Delights decay These Sorrows never mend Good God is all this true And sure most true it is And yet we live as if there were Nothing so false as this O quicken Lord our Faith Of these great Joyes and Fears And make the last dayes Trumpet be Still sounding in our Ears Still may this glorious hope Shine bright before our eyes We shall go up at last to meet Our Jesus in the Skies Come Jesu come and take Our banisht Souls to thee Come quickly Lord that in thy light Our eyes thy light may see Glory to Thee great God One Coeternal Three As at the first beginning was May now and ever be Amen For Thursday Morning MEDITATION I. HE who made the Sun to enlighten our steps in the Pilgrimage of this short Life has he ordain'd no guide to conduct our Souls in the difficult way to our eternal home Yes he sent his Son a bright light into the world by whose Directions we may find our Happiness He who feeds the Ravens when they call upon him has he not provided Bread for his Children He has and still his Mercy furnishes means to perform whatever his Justice commands The Son of God himself became incarnate and took the humane nature into a Personal Union Thus it was consecrated by him to become the Instrument wherewith he would accomplish our Redemption He was sacrificed for us upon the Cross that so he might become food to our Faith And that food he gives with the Sacramental Bread and Wine to every the meanest meet receiver Though he be now exalted to the right Hand of God and his Glorified Body shall suffer Death no more Yet the believing Soul that comes to this Supper finds him really present and does partake of his Body and Blood. The Lord of love has espoused to himself an Holy Church and promis'd it his presence to the end of the World He has made her all Glorious within the Saints are the excellent of the Earth With these he is present at the celebration of his worship and feeds them with his own Crucified Body at his Supper O Souls redeem'd by the Blood of Jesus and nourisht with his Sacred Body why melt you not away in Tears of Joy for being so regarded by the King of Heaven What hast thou promised O Gracious and Faithful Lord to him that receives Thee with an Humble Love All that is contain'd in those sweet and mystick words He dwells in me and I in him O Blessed Words if once my Soul can say He dwells in me and I in him He is my Refuge in all Temptations He is my Comfort in all Distresses He is my Security against all mine Enemies He dwells in me and I in him What can an infinite bounty give greater than it self and what can an empty Creature receive better than the Alsufficient God Blessed O Jesu are they who discern Thee under the Veils of Bread and Wine Blessed are the Souls prepar'd by Faith and Love to receive Thee at this Sacred Supper Blessed yet more is that devout Heart that desires thy second coming into the World that longs to see thy immediate self and to see thee in thy Glory O thou Lord of Grace and Glory our chiefest Joy and best Portion in the land of the living what hast thou prepared for thy Servants to give them hereafter when thy bounty is so liberal to them here What dost thou reserve in thy Kingdom who givest us thy self in this place of Banishment How will thy open vision transport our Souls when our dark Faith yields us now such delight O my ador'd Redeemer my Soul longs for the Happy Day when I shall see thy Face without a Veil When I shall be able to endure the beams of thy Glory shining out upon me in their full brightness And my weakness will not need as now to converse with Thee with Clouds and Shadows interpos'd My Soul seek thy Saviour now and thou shalt find him hereafter receive him thus veil'd and thou shalt enjoy him in his Glory Take these things that he offers Thee with a thankful Heart and humble Faith and then they shall prove sure pledges that Christ himself will be ever thine Hymn 23. WIth all the Pow'rs my poor Soul hath Of Humble Love and Loyal Faith I come Dear Lord and worship Thee Whom too much love bow'd low for me Down busie Sense Discourses dye And all
love and constantly do the things that belong to my Everlasting Peace Till my understanding with the Knowledge of such Truths as may fix it on thee the Eternal Verity Inure my will to embrace such objects as may unite them to Thee the Sovereign goodness O suffer me not obstinately to persist in any known wickedness nor maliciously to impugn any know Truth Grant I may never be deceiv'd by any false spirit nor be overcome by the vicious suggestions of Flesh and Blood. In all my doubts do thou direct me into the way of thy Truth in all my weakness grant me the assistance of thy Grace Help me devoutly and most thankfully to commemorate thy Descent to this World in the likeness of fiery Tongues which sate on each head of thy Disciples and fitted them to preach the Gospel to every Nation And let it so encrease the holy fervour of my Heart that my Life may attest by all fruits of Grace the same Spirit 's still abiding with me To the Glory of thee O God the Holy Spirit who with the Father and the Son livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen Hymn 32. COme mild and Holy Dove Descend into our Breast Do thou in us make us in thee For ever dwell and rest Come and spread o're our heads Thy soft all-cherishing wing That in its shade we safe may sit And to Thee Praises sing To thee who giv'st us Life Our better Life of Grace Who giv'st us Breath and Strength and Speed To run and win our Race If by the way we faint Thou reachest forth thy hand If our own weakness makes us fall Thou mak'st our weakness stand When we are sliding back Thou dost our danger stop When we again alas are fall'n Again thou tak'st us up Else there we still must lye And still sink lower down Our hope to rise is all from thee Our ruin's all our own O my Ingrateful Soul What shall our dulness do For him that does all this for us Only our Love to wooe We 'l Love thee then Dear Lord But thou must give that Love We 'l humbly beg it of thy grace But thou our Prayers must move O hear thine own self speak For thou in us dost Pray Thou canst as quickly grant as ask Thy grace knows no delay Glory to Thee O Lord One Coeternal Three To Father Son and Holy Ghost One equal Glory be Amen FOR THE FEASTS OF THE SAINTS For the Morning MEDITATION I. TEll me you eager Lovers of this present World what is it you aim at in all your pretences You weary your Bodies with restless labour and afflict your Minds with perpetual care day and night you are still perplext still busily plotting to compass your ends Tell me what are those ends you so long have sought and I will tell you what you soon will find while they are many they but distract your thoughts and often engage them to quarrel among themselves One end and one alone is the way to true and lasting Peace and on that one must all the rest depend It is true perhaps you will say and by that rule we guide our Lives whatever we undertake our ultimate design is only to be happy It is to be happy that we strive to be great and enrich our selves by defrauding others It is to be happy that we run after Pleasures and covet to have in every thing our own proud will But you alas mistake your Happiness and foolishly seek it where 't is not to be found As silly Children think to catch the Sun when they see it setting at so near a distance they travail on and tire themselves in vain for the thing they seek is in another World Just so we foolish Mortals commonly judge and are just so deceived when we think to meet with Heaven upon Earth This World alas has now no Paradise but all its Fruits are mixt with Weeds and Thorns all dangerously mixed with occasions of sin all sprinkled over with the bitterness of sorrow What did we ever passionately love but still in the end it made us repent Nay the best end was heartily to repent and learn by our falling to tread more sure It is not then here that we must seek our happiness and yet it is happiness that we all must seek Happy are thy Saints O Lord who wisely chose their end and constantly pursu'd the means to attain it Come let us adore the King of Saints Hymn 33. AWake my Soul chase from thine eyes This drowsie sloth and quickly rise Get up and to thy work apace No less than Kingdoms are prepar'd And endless bliss for their reward Who finish well this short Life's race 'T is not so poor a thing to be Servants to Heaven Dear Lord and thee As this mistaken World believes Not even here where oft the wise Are most expos'd to Injuries And Vertue poor and friendless grieves Sometimes thy hand lets gently fall A little drop that sweetens all The present bitter of our Cup O what hereafter shall we be When we shall have whole draughts of thee Fill'd to the brim and drink them up Say happy Souls whose thirst now meets The fresh and living stream of sweets Which ever spring from that blest throne Did you not find this true even here Do you not find it truer there Now Heave'ns strong Joyes are all your own Oh yes the sweets we taste exceed All we can say or you can read They satisfie and never cloy On Earth our Cup was sweet but mixt Here all is pure refin'd and fixt All highest Quintessence of Joy. Here in Heave'ns splendid Court have we Our blest abode and ever see The kind and radiant face of Love Whose Beams make us with Glory shine Our glad hearts warm with Love divine And these our Tongues with Praises move Hear'st thou my Soul what glorious things The Church of Heave'n in triumph sings Of their Seraphick life above Chear thy saint hopes and bid them live All these thy God to thee will give If thou embrace his bounteous Love. Great God of rich Rewards who thus Hast crown'd thy Saints and wilt crown us As we do both to thee belong O may we both together sing Eternal praise to thee our King In one Eternal thankful Song Amen MEDITATION II. IF thus our Nature tends to Happiness there is sure some Happiness to content our Nature Sure the All-wise Creator has provided means to satisfie the Appetites which himself has made Doubt not my Soul the Bounty of thy Lord but turn all thy fear on thine unworthiness and yet correct that fear again that it do not degenerate into despair by consisidering the worthiness of our kind Mediator Look up then and see a rich delicious Land that flows with sweeter Streams than Milk and Hony Look up and see a glorious City incomparably braver than the splendid Courts of Kings Behold the blessed Angels shining on their Thrones and all the holy Saints triumphing with
his Honour may it cause many to have serious and affectionate thoughts of Religious matters may it promote a true and ardent Love to God in the World which will be proportionably attended with Love foâ— our Neighbour may none through Envy or dislike of a few small particulars when they must needs approve the greatest part of it be so guilty as to oppose and hinder its usefulness so preferring the advancement of their private Opinions before the service of Religion in general for promoting the Life and Power of which it is design'd and fitted Let all know I constantly endeavour that it may be a small thing to me to be judg'd by mans judgment which is oft mistaken both in approving and condemning And there is one even the great God who will be the final Judge of us all to whom I am chiefly concern'd to approve my self To him be Glory from us all for ever and ever Amen Devotions FOR Every Day IN THE WEEK The First Part. For Sunday Morning MEDITATION I. WElcome blest Day wherein the Sun of Righteousness arose and chased away the clouds of fear Welcome thou art to my Soul thou Birth-day of our hopes a day of joy and publick refreshment a day of Holiness and solemn Devotion a day of rest and universal Jubilee Welcome to us and our dark World for the healing saving light thou bringest May thy radiant Name shine bright for ever May all the Earth be enlightened with thy beams and every frozen Heart dissolve and sing May all the Generations to come entertain thee with reverence and employ thee in the praise and worship of the Lamb who is the Light of thee This is the Day which our Lord has made let us be glad and rejoyce therein This is the day that he has sanctified to himself and call'd by his own most holy Name Hark O my Soul dost thou not hear the King of Heaven invite thee into his presence He graciously bids thee to suspend the mean Employments of this World to lay aside thy corroding earthly Cares He calls thee to the honour of Communion with himself to spend a day in his most delightful service he desires to entertain thee with unspeakable Joyes in his House of Prayer to feast thee with spiritual Dainties that afford strength and pleasure to the Mind Worthy art thou O Lord of all our time worthy to receive the Praises of all thy Creatures Every moment of our life is bound to bless thee since every moment subsists by thy Goodness Shall others labour so much for Vanity and shall we not rest for the service of our God Shall we employ the whole week on our selves and not offer in gratitude one Day to Thee To thee who bestowest on us all we have and wilt give us hereafter more than we can now receive or hope for A day spent in thy Courts O Lord I will prefer to a thousand that engage me in any other places I will go to the House of my God to the Assembly of his Saints Know ye all the Nations of the world it is the Lord who is the only true God. It is he that hath made us and not we our selves Let us enter into his Gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise Come let us adore our Glorified Saviour Hymn 1. BEhold we come Dear Lord to thee And bow before thy Throne We come to offer on our Knee Our Vows to thee alone Whate're we have whate're we are Thy Bounty freely gave Thou dost us here in mercy spare And wilt hereafter save But O can all our Store afford No better gists for thee Thus we confess thy riches Lord And thus our Poverty 'T is not our Tongue or Knee can pay The mighty debt we ow Far more we should than we can say Far lower should we bow Come then my Soul bring all thy pow'rs And grieve thou hast no more Bring ev'ry day thy choicest hours And thy Great God adore But above all prepare thy heart On this his own blest day In it 's sweet taâ—k to bear thy part And sing and love and pray Glory to Thee Eternal Lord Thrice blessed three in one Thy name at all times be ador'd Till time it self be done Amen MEDITATION II. WHen the Harvest Sun provides a Cloud and seems to rest his wearied beams He seeks not to save the journey of his light he only spares the Reapers head Much less O Lord dost thou who mad'st the Sun seek by the reserve of a day to procure thine own repose Thou hast not commanded the business of the World to cease for one day in seven for that thou art tyred with over-ruling it to thine own glory Thou who createdst all things by a word of thy mouth and sustainest them all in thy hand without feeling any weight Who governest the whole World without any perplexity of thoughts and always remainest the same unchangeable fulness It is not to encrease thine own Eternity that thou takest a portion of our time It is not to receive any advantage to thy self that thou requirest this dayes Worship of us Thy Goodness does friendly bear the Name of the day but thou kindly intendest for us all the profit of it That the wearied hands may be relieved with rest and be enabled to lift themselves up to thee That the ignorant Minds may be taught thy Truth and learn the way to everlasting Happiness That the guilty Consciences may humbly confess their sins and receive an assured Pardon from Thee who hast promised to revive the spirit of the humble and the Heart of the contrite That in this our militant State we may ask and receive of thee grace sufficient for us That all may speak to Thee by Prayer and hear thy Voice by the mouth of their Pastors That the Love-prepared Souls may approach thy bounteous Table and may feast and confirm their Faith and Hopes with that delicious banquet O blessed Lord what excellent and sit means has thy wisdom invented to fit us for and bring us to thy self How well are thy sacred Ordinances suited to our necessities To enlighten our dark Minds to melt our hard Hearts to quicken and consecrate our Affections Thou strengthenest our Faith by thy Word and Sacraments and improvest our Charity both to Thee and one another by our publick Assemblies while we all meet together for the same blest end and by mutual requests and praises encrease our fervours Happy thrice happy are we O merciful God! whom thy Providence favours with these blessings We that may freely resort to thy holy Sanctuary and there sing aloud thy Praises for these great mercies MEDITATION III. COme let us lay aside the cares of this World and take into our Minds the Joys of Heaven Let us empty our Heads of all other Thoughts and prepare that upper Room to entertain our God. Retire we from the many distractions of this Life and recollect and closely unite the forces of our Soul. That
we may apply them to the earnest pursuit of our one necessary work the securing to our selves the Kingdom of Heaven Why should we spend all our daies about trifles and our labour for that which will not profit Earthly riches profit not in the day of wrath my Soul seek Heavenly Treasures Seek thou lasting and substantial Joys while others dote on and pursue those flitting shadows sensual Pleasures Seek thou the sacred Knowledge of thy God and Jesus the Christ whom he sent into the World whom to know is Life Eternal Miserable are they O Lord who study all things else and neglect this Sacred Science though their skill can number the Stars and trace out the wayes of the Planets Miserable are they who gather great possessions who heap up Gold and Silver but get no interest in thee Miserable are they who enjoy all that this World can afford to please but have no enjoyment of thee To know thee is to be truly wise and is the highest Learning To have thee my God and Portion is to be exceeding rich to contemplate and enjoy thee is a Heaven of Pleasure I determine to value no other Knowledge but that of Jesus the Christ and him crucified I account all things but loss and dung that I may win Christ and may have Communion with the Father and the Son through the Spirit PETITIONS WIth fervent desires O Lord and a panting Soul I am going to thy house O maintain I pray thee such desires after thy self and fulfil them while I am waiting where thou appointest Draw nigh to us who are drawing near to thee Make us sitly to perform our Duty Open thou our Lips and our Mouths shall shew forth thy praise Open thou our eyes O Blessed Lord that we may see the beauty of thy Commands how Wise and Sweet in themselves they are how Necessary and Beneficial to us While they improve our felicity here and fit us for that which will be hereafter Send forth thy beams of spreading light O thou that art the morning Star and lead us to thy Holy Hill. Send forth thy Truth O increated Wisdom and bring us to thy Blessed Tabernacle Guide thou our Lives O Gracious Lord in the waies of thy Precepts that by observing faithfully those excellent rules we may all every where be happy O Glorious Jesu in whom we live and without whom we dye mortifie in us by thy Spirit all sensual desires and quicken our Hearts with thy Holy Love that we may no longer have a high esteem for the Vanities of this world but may place our affections entirely on thee Show us thy glorious self O Jesu in thee we shall behold all we can wish Only so much we beg to conceive of thy Majesty as may move our Hearts to seek thee Only so much discovery we ask as may conform us to thy likeness If we may not know thee clearly now let us know at least so far as to make us long to know further If we cannot perfectly love thee in this Life let us love so much as that we may desire to love more So let us know and Love thee here O thou the Soveraign bliss of our Souls that we may hereafter know thee better and Love thee more for ever to our Eternal Bliss and thy Eternal Glory thereby Glory be to the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen For Sunday Evening MEDITATION I. LEt them O Lord seek other delights who expect no felicity from thee Let them fill up their time with other employments and wast the remainder of this Holy day who think thy rewards not worth their labour As for me my Souls chief content shall be to meditate on the Glories prepar'd for thy Servants above So will I meditate on them as often as the daies of sacred leisure do return that my Heart shall be firmly set upon those Glories And all the few years that I live shall spend themselves to purchase that one Eternal Sabbath which thy Saints shall celebrate in Heaven A Day that is whose brightness knows no night nor ever fears the least eclipse Whose chearful brow no cloud o're-casts nor does any Storm ever molest the passage of its raies But it still shines on serene and clear and fills with splendor all the spacious Palace That ever-living day needs not the fading lustre of our Sun nor the borrow'd Silver of the Moon The Sun that is risen there is the Lamb and the light that shines is the Glory of God. O how Beauteous Truths are said of thee thou City of the King of Heaven Thy Walls are rais'd with precious stones and every Gate is one Rich Pearl Thy Mansions are built with choicest Jewels and the pavement of thy Streets is transparent Gold. Along in the midst of thee runs a Chrystal River perpetually flowing from the Throne of God. There all along those pleasant banks does most deliciously grow the Tree of Life A Tree which can heal all wounds with its balmy Leaves and make immortal all those who eat and taste its pleasant Fruit. Thus is the Holy City built thus is the New Jerusalem like a Bride in every part adorn'd O Blest and Glorious City how Free how Rich how Secure and Happy are thy glad Inhabitants Every Head in thee wears a Royal Crown and every Hand a Palm of Victory Every Eye overflows with joy and every Tongue with Psalms of Praise Behold O my Soul the Inheritance that we seek and where can we find more Riches to invite us Behold the felicities to which our exalted Saviour calls us Consider what Mansions he is gone to prepare Where can we meet with such pleasures to entertain us Can thy Sences present to thy Knowledge a place on Earth like this Surely they cannot Banish then my Soul all worldly vain desires Let none of them hereafter molest thy Peace Look not at the transitory things which are seen but at the Eternal which are not And so receive some glimpse of this Heaven to encourage and quicken thy Travel towards it MEDITATION II. BLest be thy Gracious Wisdom O Lord that so mercifully condescends to the mean and low capacities of our present mortal State. Under these veils thou hidest these glorious misteries which are too high and Spiritual for our Flesh and Blood to us it cannot yet appear what we shall be But after this manner hast thou revealed thy sublime rewards to allure and captivate us with things that of this world are most admired Scepters and Crowns thou know'st are apt to win the Hearts of us thy Children Children alas we are too truly in sacred Knowledge O that we were such in Love and Duty My Soul if these imperfect shadows of the future bliss do transport and please so many men should not the real substance sweetly delight thee What is a drop of Water to the boundless Ocean or a grain of dust to
creatures besides Make me to see emptiness and vanity in all things else to account that all is vanity of vanities but only the Love of God and enjoyment of him Let me when I find this world ordain'd by thee to breed and widen only and not fill my capacity let me make this use of all thy Creatures here to raise and heighten my desires of thy infinite self in thy Eternity O God be thou to me my God and my All and make me nothing in mine own eyes Be thou my whole everlasting delight and let nothing else be any thing to me but thy self so draw my heart to thee so engross I beseech thee all my affections as to famish all the helpless Idols of my soul which in my state of darkness and enmity to thee I have so fondly ador'd Pity Oh pity gracious Lord according to thy infinite compassion my miserable distance from thee Thy hands have made me and fashioned me thou hast made me capable to enjoy thee thou hast given a capacity too large to receive satisfaction from any thing but thy self Oh regard with favour the work of thy hands say to my soul thou art my salvation and say it so Lord as to make me hear thy powerful word can open the deaf ear And through my ear Lord reach my heart quicken my stupid soul put a new life into me so make me gladly follow thee that by following I may find thee and having found may never lose thy sight again never turn away my eyes from thee never grow estranged again nor lose thy blissful acquaintance Never let any thing but thy Eternal self be the prevailing ruling Joy of my heart Grant these requests or I am undone Grant these requests for the love of thy only Son our Mediator and Advocate Amen Hymn 4. LOrd who shall dwell above with thee There on thy holy Hill Who shall those glorious prospects see That Heaven with gladness fill Those happy souls who prize that life Above the bravest here Whose greatest hope whose eagerest strife Is once to settle there They use this world but value that That they supreamly love They travel through this present state But place their home above Lord who are they that thus chuse thee But those thou first didst chuse To whom thou gav'st thy grace most free Thy grace not to refuse We of our selves can nothing do But all on thee depend Thine is the work and wages too Thine both the way and end O make us still our work attend And wee 'l not doubt our pay We will not fear a blessed end If thou but guide our way Glory to Thee O Bounteous Lord Who giv'st to all things breath Glory to thee Eternal Word Who sav'st us by thy death Glory O Blessed Spirit to Thee Who fill'st our hearts with love Glory to all the Mystick three Who reign one God above Amen For Tuesday Morning MEDITATION I. FRom thee O Lord we derive our being and from the same Goodness our Continuance to be if thou but withdrawest thy hand for one single moment we instantly return to our first nothing Thou art without Cause or Maker as thou art without beginning and hast thy dependance upon none else we have but a derived being only borrow'd worth we have nothing which we have not received nothing but our Sins is entirely our own which we have reason to be asham'd of Should we presume at any time O Lord to divide thy Grace and proudly challenge any share to our selves thy mighty Truth stands up against us and our own infirmities may plainly confute us Shouldst thou severely examine our Hearts and ask who works all their actions in them surely we must needs bow down our hâ—â—ds and from our low Dust humbly say Nothing are we O Lord but what thou hast made us nothing have we but what thou hast given us Not unto us then O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be Glory When we have applied our utmost cares and us'd all the diligence that lies in our power what can we do but look up to thee and second all our endeavours with Prayers for thy Blessing And when we implore thy gracious Mercy what can we do but submit our hopes and expect the event from thy free goodness If thou denyest what we wish who can compell thy will or call in question thy Decrees Are we not all thy Creatures O Gracious God! and as helpless Children hanging at the Breast of thy Providence Are we not all as clay in thy hands to frame us into vessels of what use thou pleasest Behold we confess O Lord in thee we live in thee we move and have our being All our sufficiency proceeds from thee and all our success depends on thy favour Others may tell us the way that we should go but thou alone canst enable us to walk in it And they that tell us our way must be first taught it by thee And they must be moved by thee to act that Charity and so at last all is resolv'd into thee We know further O Lord and thou thy self hast taught us that unless thou defend the City the Guard watches it in vain We acknowledge and our own experience tells us that unless thou reach forth thy hand we are presently in danger of sinking Every moment of our day subsists by thee From all our Enemies thy Providence defends us and covers our Head in the day of danger Thou sendest in thy Grace to relieve our weakness and so disappointest the temptations that threaten to undo us O my Soul be thou ready to adore thy God that preserves thee Has he watcht over thee all this night for good has he renewed his mercies this morning does he bestow on thee all thy daies and the comforts they bring Then be asham'd to think much of spending one half hour in his service Hymn 5. COme let 's adore the Gracious hand That brought us to this light That gave his Angels strict Command To be our Guard this Night When we laid down our weary head And Sleep seal'd up our Eye They stood and watch't about our bed To let no harm come nigh Now we are up they still go on And guide us through the day They never leave their Charge alone Whate're besets our way And O my Soul how many snares Ly spread before our feet In all our joyes in all our cares Some danger still we meet Sometimes the Sin does us o'retake And on our weakness win Sometimes our selves our ruine make And we o'retake the sin O save us Lord from all those darts That seek our Souls to slay Save us from us and our false Hearts Lest we our selves betray Save us O Lord to thee we cry From whom all blessings Spring We on thy Grace alone rely Alone thy Glory sing Glory to thee Eternal Lord Thrice blessed three in one Thy Name at all times be ador'd Till time it self be done Amen MEDITATION II. THe Almighty Power
under the Banner of thee our Crucified Saviour that we may withstand the shock of all Temptations and conquer the Assaults of all our spiritual Enemies And make us watch as well as pray lest we enter into temptation that so we may be delivered from evil So guide and govern us dear Lord by thy great Wisdom and Love that nothing may be able to separate us from the love of thee our Glorious Redeemer who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen Hymn 12. AND now my Soul canst thou forget That thy whole life is one long debt Of love to him who on a Tree Paid back the Flesh he took for thee Lo how the Streams of precious Blood Flow from five wounds into one Flood With these he washes all thy stains And buys thy ease with his own pains Thy Cross dear Lord does clearly now That doubt of former Ages show It was this wood should make the Throne Fit for a more than Solomon Large Throne of Love royally spread With purple of too rich a red Strange costly price thus to make good It s own esteem with its Kings blood Jesu best plant of Paradise To thee our hopes lift up our eyes O may aloft thy branches shoot And fill the Nations with thy fruit O may all reap from thy increase The just more strength the Sinner peace While our half-withered hearts and we Engraft our selves and grow on thee Live O for ever live and reign Blest Lamb whom thine own love has slain And may thy lost sheep live to be True lovers of thy Cross and thee All Glory to the sacred Three One undivided Deity As it has been in Ages gone May now and ever still be done Amen For Saturday Morning MEDITATION I. A Wake all ye Powers of my Soul and come pay your homage to the Prince of our Salvation cast your unworthy selves at his sacred feet and renew your vows of following his steps He triumpht over death in his own body and will enable us to conquer it in ours He chang'd the corrupted government of the world and establisht a new and holy Law that as we were Vassals to sin before we might now become the free subjects of Grace Let us live and dye in his blest Obedience and let no temptation ever separate us from him who if we resist will make us overcome and when we have overcome will crown us with peace Come let us adore our victorious Redeemer Thou hast O Lord triumpht over all thy enemies and ours but we alas are yet conversing in the midst of our enemies Prostrate before Thee we will confess our misery To how many dangers is our life expos'd with how many tentations are we round besieged tentations in meat tentations in drink tentations in conversing tentations in solitude tentations in business tentations in leisure tentations in riches tentations in poverty all our wayes are strew'd with snares and even our Sences conspire against us Whither O my God shall our poor Souls go encompast with a body so frail and a world so corrupt Whither but to thee the justifier of sinners and to thy grace the sustainer of the weak Thy Grace instructs us what we ought to do and breeds in us the will to endeavour what we know Thy Grace inables us to perform our resolves and when all is done thy Grace must give success We that of our selves can do nothing may through Christ strengthning us be able to do all things and gain the sentence of approbation that shall be pronounc'd upon his steadfast followers Well done good and faithfull Servants enter you into your Masters Joy. Hymn 13. LOrd we again lift up our eyes And leave our sluggish beds But why we wake or why we rise Comes seldom in our heads Is it to sweat and toyl for wealth Or sport our time away That thou preserv'st us still in health And giv'st us this new day No no unskilful Soul not so Be not deceiv'd with toyes Thy Lords commands more wisely go And aim at higher joyes They bid us wake to seek new grace And some fresh vertue gain They call us up to mend our pace 'Till we the prize attain That glorious Prize for which all run Who wisely spend their breath Who when this weary life is done Are sure of rest in death Not such a rest as here we prove Disturb'd with cares and fears But endless joy and peace and love Unmixt with grief and tears Glory to Thee O bounteous Lord Who giv'st to all things breath Glory to Thee Eternal Word Who sav'st us by thy Death Glory O blessed Spirit to Thee Who fill'st our Souls with Love Glory to all the mystick Three Who reign one God above Amen MEDITATION II. LOrd with what admirable Wisdom dost thou govern the world and order the several conditions of Men thy wise Providence orders some to be poor and appoints them their task of innocent work Thy Providence is pleased to make others rich and give them leisure for their better improvements Thou hast made both poor and rich to be some way needful to one another that all may live in love and unity and apply themselves to mutual assistance Happy are they O Lord who have so much employment that there remains no room for idle thoughts Happy are they who have so little business that they want not space to attend their Souls Happy yet more are they who in the midst of their work can think sometimes of the wages above whom nothing diverts from that chief concern of seeking to make their Election sure But while their backs are bow'd down with labour they freely can raise up their minds to Heaven And while they are ty'd to their Beds with sickness can yet move on towards their Eternal rest Often they rejoyce with themselves alone and silently say in their contented hearts Here we alas are narrowly confin'd and our time entertain'd with trivial affairs But hereafter we expect an unbounded enlargement and the same glorious office with the blessed Angels Here we are subject to a thousand miseries and the most prosperous life is vain and short but hereafter we expect an infinity of Joy and the solid Pleasures of Heaven for ever We too my Soul let us Pray to be guided in the middle Path and take care that we decline to no vicious extream to avoid the stormy sea of too much business and the dead water of a slothful life lest we be cast away by forgetting God or become corrupted by neglecting our selves Sometimes at least recollect thy thoughts how much soever thy condition distracts thee In all thy works remember thy last end when thou must bid a long farewel to all this World Remember that dreadful Day of the Universal Judgment when thou must give an account for every idle word Remember the Joyes prepar'd for the Innocent and the miseries that attend the wicked Remember how nearly it concerns thee to
and brings us forth to see thy light This is alone the proper Machine wherein thy hand has set our Lives to learn the art of managing it right and wind up our selves to thy glorious Heaven O that we had that happy skill how soon would every thing help forward to advance us Whether we eat or drink or whatever else an innocent hand can undertake if we regard our faithful end and order all to the improvement of our minds They instantly change their secular name and deservedly are preferr'd to become religious Riches themselves and imperious Honour have not so perverse and fixt a malice but a prudent use converts them to Piety and makes them fit instruments of highest Bliss Our very delights O the goodness of our God! may be temper'd with so wise an alloy that his mercy accounts them as parts of our Duty and fails not to give them their full reward while they are entertain'd for the health of our Bodies or the just refreshment of our wearied spirits and both our Bodies and Spirits constantly apply'd to gain new degrees of the love of Heaven Thus gracious Lord every moment of our lives may still be climbing up towards thee thus may we still proceed in thy service even then when we most of all serve our selves And then indeed it is we best serve our selves when we are busiest in what we call thy service Thou sweetly vouchsafest to stile that thy glory which in very truth is nothing but our interest Thou kindly complain'st we dishonour thy Name when we onely mischief our own Souls MEDITATION III. THis Life indeed is the way we must walk but this alone cannot bring us to our end E're we arrive at our appointed home we must be led through the Gates of Death where we shall absolutely be stript of all we have and carry nothing with us but what we are Where we not only must quit the whole World but leave behind us even part of our selves Hast thou my Soul seen some Neighbour dye and dost thou remember those circumstances of Sorrow We are sure the Case e're long will be our own and are not sure but it may be very soon Have we our selves been dangerously sick and do we remember the thoughts we had then How we resolv'd to correct our Passions and strive against the vices that particularly endanger us It will come to this again and no reprieve shall be found to stay one single Minute the hand of Death But he immediately will seize upon us and bear us away to the Region of spirits there to be rang'd in our proper place as the course of our Life has qualified us here Nor is this all to expire and dye and dwell for a time in a state of Separation We must expect another day a day of publick accounts and restitution of all things When the Arch-Angel shall sound his Trumpet and proclaim aloud this universal summons Arise you dead and come to Judgment arise appear befor the Throne of God. Then shall the little heaps of Dust immediately awake and every Soul put on again her proper Body Immediately all the Children of Adam shall be gather'd together from Heaven and Hell and every corner of the Earth There they must stand and all attend their doom but O with how sad and fatal a difference The Just shall look up with a chearful confidence and in their new white robes triumph and sing Alleluja let us rejoice for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Bride has prepar'd her self Let us rejoice for the Kingdom of the World is made our Lords and his Christs and he shall Reign for ever and ever Let us rejoice for now our Redeemer is nigh behold he comes quickly and his reward is with him Come come Lord Jesu thou long desire of our Hearts come quickly thou full delight of our Souls Come and declare to all the world thy Glory come and reward before all the World thy Servants Lo where aloft he comes in Power and Majesty attended with a train of innumerable Angels Behold where he sits enthron'd on the Wings of Cherubims and takes at once a view of all mankind Soon he commands his Angels to sever his sheep and gather them together on his Right hand First then to them he turns his glorious Face and shines upon them and saies these ravishing words Come ye blessed of my Father possess the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World. O the joyes their Souls shall feel when those Heavenly Words sound in their Ears Joyes that the wit of man cannot conceive joyes that the Tongues of Angels cannot express Let it suffice themselves shall tast their own felicity and feed on its sweetness for ever But O with what dejected Eyes and trembling Hearts shall the wicked stand expecting their Judge What shall they do when where-ever they look their griev'd Eye can meet with nothing but what will cause despair Above the offended Judge ready to condemn them below the bottomless Pit gaping to devour them Within the worm of Conscience gnawing their Bowels and round about them all the world is in flames What shall they do when that terrible voice shall strike them suddenly down to the bottom of Hell Go you accursed into everlasting Fire prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels The day of man is past when Sinners did what they pleas'd and God seem'd to hold his Peace 'T is now the day of God when his wrath shall speak in thunder and Sinners shall suffer what their wickedness deserves Then shall they sink immediately into the Pit of Sorrow and dwell in darkness and torments for ever While the just shall go up in Joy and Triumph and Reign with our Lord in his Kingdom for ever Thus shall the whole Creation be finally dispos'd and Mercy and Justice divide the world O my Soul who now art here below and read'st these dreadful Truths as things afar off Know thou shalt be present and see them with thine Eyes and be thy self concern'd for all Eternity Know as thou livest thou art sure to die and as thou diest thou art sure to be judged Think what a sad condition it will be to find thy self on the wrong hand Think what then thou would'st give to have repented in time think what thou would'st give for a little time to repent Think on these things and now heartily repent while yet a moment of time is left thee Improve this moment about the necessary work because thou canst not be assur'd of the Succession of another Watch now thy self continually and continually pray for we know not the Hour when the Son of man will come PETITIONS O Son of God and Man who camest in Mercy to save O bring the same Mercy with Thee when thou comest to Judge us In the mean while assist me by thy heavenly Grace to stand perpetually with my accounts prepared that I may die in the Peace of God and Communion of
his Church and go to live with him and that part of his Holy Church which is triumphant O Blessed Jesu King of Clemency and great rewarder of every little Grace Thou who by all we can do pretendest no gain but bestowest on us all that thy self hast done Instruct my gratitude to consecrate all to Thee since all by thy bounty will redound to thy self O Thou who tookst upon Thee all our frailty to bestow on us thine own perfections teach me to prize the joyes of Heaven and part with all things else to purchase Thee O let not the flatteries of worldly pleasures any more delude me nor any superfluous cares perplex my mind O may my chief delight be to think of thee all my study to come to the enjoyment of thee Let the shortness and vexation of all worldly enjoyments so disparage them to my Apprehensions that they may become less tempting to me and take the less hold of my heart Make me thankfully sensible of thy mercy and kindness to Mankind in mixing this worlds enjoyments with so much trouble and inconvenience since we cannot attain thee the Heaven of Heavens if we do not fix our selves intirely upon thee Nor can we do this if we are or may be satisfied with any thing beside thy glorious self Thus has thy wisdom fitly qualified this life the present dark womb of our Souls so that by its own uneasiness it will with thy blessing the more easily dispose them for a happy birth into thy blessed Eternity Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with the Father and the Holy Ghost together is worshipped and glorified Amen Hymn 14. LOrd what a pleasant life were this If all did well their parts If all did one another love Sincerely with their hearts No Suits of Law no noise of War Our quiet minds would fright No fear to lose no care to keep What justly is our right No envious thought no slandoring tongue Would e're disturb our peace We should help them and they help us And all unkindness cease But the All-wise chose other Laws And thought it better so He made the World and sure he knows What 's best with it to do 'T is for our good that all this ill Is suffer'd here below 'T is to correct those dangerous sweets That else would Poyson grow So storms are rais'd to clear the air And chase dull clouds away So weeds grow up to cure our wounds And all our pains allay How often Lord do we mistake When we our Plots design Rule thou hereafter thine own world Only thy self be mine Or rather Lord let me be thine Else I am not mine own Give me thy self or take thou me Undone if left alone To thee great God of Heaven and Earth Each knee for ever bow May all thy Blessed sing above And we adore below Amen Devotions FOR Every Day IN THE WEEK The Second Part. For Sunday Morning MEDITATION I. SIng to our Lord a Psalm of Joy sing Praises to the God of our Salvation Sing with a loud and chearful Voice sing with a glad and thankful Heart Say to the weak of spirit Be strong say to the staggering Faith Be stedfast say to the sorrowful Be of good comfort Tell all the World this Soul-reviving truth and may their Hearts leap within them to hear it Tell them the Lord of life is risen again and has cloath'd himself with immortal glory He made the Angels Messengers of his Victory and vouchsaf't even himself to bring us the happy news How many wayes did thy condescending mercy invent O thou wise contriver of all our happiness to convince thy followers into this blest belief and settle in their Hearts a firm ground of hope Thou appearedst to the holy Women in their return from thy Sepulcher and openedst their eyes to know and adore thee Thou didst purposely overtake in their Journey two of thy Disciples that were discoursing of Thee and make their hearts burn within them by thy Discourse whilst thou didst kindly expound to them the things that related to thee in all the Scriptures and which by thee had been fulfill'd Thou didst show thy self on the Shore to thy Disciples labouring at Sea to intimate that they must now leave that fishing to become Fishers of Men They labour'd all night in vain without the Blessing of their Master Jesus Thou didst show thy self to them and tell them plainly who thou wert by the kind known token of a beneficial Miracle When the doors of the House were shut thou who hadst insensibly come in didst appear to give them peace and satisfaction to satisfie them of thy Resurrection from the dead and of thy continued tender Love to them How didst thou condescend to eat before them and invite them to touch thy Body How didst thou sweetly provoke the incredulous Thomas to thrust his hand into thy wounded side And thou hast taken occasion from his hardness to believe to facilitate the Faith of thy Church in after Ages We bless Thee O Lord who has so order'd the Duties of our Faith that the true reports of Sense may help us in some of them and do contradict us in none How often O gracious Lord in those blessed forty dayes did thy Charity cast to meet with thy Disciples that thou mightest teach them still some excellent truth and imprint still deeper thy Love in their Hearts Discoursing perpetually of the Kingdom of Heaven and establishing proper means to bring us thither At last when all thy glorious task was perfectly finisht and thy hour of departing from this Earth did approach Thou didst tenderly gather thy Children about thee and in their full sight goe up into Heaven leaving thy dearest Blessing on their heads and promising a kind Comforter in thy absence O how adoreable are thy Counsels O Lord How strangely endearing the wayes of thy Love Say now my Soul is not this evidence clear enough to answer all our darkest Doubts Is not this hope abundantly sufficient to sweeten all our bitterest Sorrows What though we mourn and be afflicted here and sigh under the Miseries of the world for a time we may be sure that our Tears shall one day be turn'd into Joy and that Joy none shall be able to take from us What though our Bodies be crumbled into dust and that dust should be blown about over the face of the whole Earth Yet we undoubtedly know that our Redeemer lives and shall appear in brightness at the last Great Day He shall appear in the midst of all the numerous Hosts of Angels and before him shall be brought all Nations Then with these Eyes which now read of him we shall see him we shall see him in whom we have so long believed we shall find him whom we have so often sought In our full and final Redemption we shall find him a faithful and mighty Redeemer We shall possess him whom our Souls have loved and be united to him for ever who is the only
sit and grateful sense of thy Mercies that the people every where with one consent may confess and praise thee that one Generation may praise thy name to another and thankully talk of all thy wonderous Mercies O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of men O make our senses subject to our reason and our reason intirely obedient to Thee Make us alwaies in using thy Creatures to take their service as admonition and obligation to mind our Duty to thy self Teach thou us that all things in this world ought to praise Thee by the Tongues and Hearts of men whom thou hast not only made capable to know their goodness but hast also given leave to enjoy their usefulness O make the whole Creation conspire to thine Honour and all that depend on Thee join together in thy Praise Mercifully carry on the whole Creation to its end Order thy Creatures about us to attain their end in serving us and so order us that we may attain ours in glorifying and enjoying Thee Glory be to the Father c. For Monday Evening MEDITATION I. MY God in every thing I see thy hand in every passage thy wise and gracious Providence Thou wisely governest the House thou hast built and preventest with thy Mercies all our wants Thou callest us up early in the morning and givest us light by the beams of the Sun that we may every one labour in his proper work and so fill up the little place appointed for us in this World Doing that service to Thee and that good to Mankind which thou our great Lord and Master dost require And thou providest also a rest for our weary Evening and favourest our sleep with a shady darkness to refresh our bodies in the Peace of Night and save the waste of our decaying Spirits Again thou awakest our drowsie eyes and biddest us return to our daily task Thus has thy Wisdom mixed our Life and beauteously interwoven it with rest and work whose mutual change sweeten each other and both prepare us for our greatest duty That of finishing here the work of our Salvation to rest hereafter in thy Holy place In like manner thy wise Providence O Lord has appointed that after a little time of toil and trouble death should call thy Saints away to a state of rest Thou dost not we thank thee oblige us to conflict with the difficulties and evils of this Life till the day of retribution comes Thou soon callest us to a place where the wicked cease from troubling and our subtle adversary the Devil from tempting us Where our own appetites and passions shall strive no more against our Reason and Conscience Where our Innocence shall be no longer assaulted or endanger'd by the threatnings or allurements of this World Our Souls are enlarged to a spacious liberty being let out from this prison of the Body and go to dwell in the region of Spirits While our Bodies quietly rest in their silent grave till they rise again to Immortal Glory And thou hast design'd O Lord that they shall awake again from the sleep of Death and rise even from the bed of the Grave And then indeed there comes a Morning which shall never be succeeded by an Evening a waking time for the body after which it shall sleep no more It rises indeed to work again but that work never tires it any more that work is sweeter than the rest it leaves There needs no interruption of that work to sweeten it which is eternally pleasant and delightful MEDITATION II. LOrd how does thy bounty give us all things else with a large and open hand Our Fields at once are cover'd with Corn and our Trees bow under the weight of their Fruit. At once thou fillest our Magazines with plenty and sendest us whole showers of other blessings Only our time thou distillest by drops and never givest us two moments at once But takest away one while thou lendest another to teach us to prize so precious a Jewel That we may learn to value every hour and not childishly spend them upon trifles Much less maliciously murther whole daies in pursuing a course of Sin and Shame It was thy Mercy too O Gracious God to disperse by parcels our portion of time That the succeeding day may learn to grow wise and correct its faults by experience of the past Else if our being were all at once as it shall be in the next the Eternal Life our Sins would have here no power to be repented and then alas how desperate were we We who are born in the way to Misery and unless we change can never be happy We who so often wilfully go astray and unless we return must perish for ever Thou hast appointed our time O Soveraign Lord beyond which we cannot pass When thou takest away our breath we die we return to the dust and our place here shall know us again no more for ever Thou commandest the grave to dispense with none but indifferently to seize us all alike That all alike may provide for the fatal hour of death and none may be undone with mistaken hopes Thou tellest us plainly we must dye but kindly concealest the time and place that every where we may stand upon our guard and every moment expect thy coming MEDITATION III. WHy do we so much bemoan our selves and complain for the necessity of dying Seems it so hard a fate to tread the path which all our Ancestors have gone before us Adam the first of men and Abraham the Friend of God David the man after Gods own Heart and the Blessed Mary Virgin-Mother of our Lord. All these have paid their debt to Nature and subscribed to the Law of universal Mortality Yea Jesus Christ himself the Eternal Son of God expir'd on the Cross and went to his Glory through the Gates of Death And shall our fond self-love so blindly flatter us as to make us wish an exemption from this common fate Should we not be glad that a troublesome Life will have an end and rejoice to get out of danger into safety from a stormy Sea to a quiet Harbour This Life is so encombred with evils that we have reason to be thankful it will not last alwayes and rather to wish than complain that it may not last long If we die in Old age Death should be very welcome to us after a long and tedious voyage If in our Youth we die it prevents a thousand calamites a thousand dangers of ruining our Souls What need we be possest with fear at thinking how many kinds of Death there are we are sure there is but one for us Dying is an act to be done but once and if it be once well done we are happy for ever Our dayes perhaps are too few to grow rich in or to satisfie the ambition of a haughty Spirit But to be taught the Love of God and the Meek and Humble Life of Jesus requires
I sound Live glorious King of Heaven By all thy Heaven ador'd Live gracious Saviour of the World Our chief and only Lord. Live and for ever may Thy Throne establisht be For ever may all all Hearts and Tongues Sing Hymns of Praise to thee Amen MEDITATION II. BEhold our faithful Lord has remembred his word He has raised up in the World the long expected Prophet like Moses and put his word in his mouth and he has kindly and sufficiently taught us Light with him is come into the World to lead us through the Wilderness of Life into the true Canaan that is above Admirable wert thou O Lord in thy merciful Promise but infinitely more in thy wonderful performance Thou didst not depute an Angel to supply the place of a Redeemer nor entrust so great a work to the management of a Seraphim but didst thy self bow the Heavens and come down and with thine own blest hands work our Redemption Thy self didst take upon thee our frail Nature and vouchsafe to be born of a humble Virgin condescending to the weaknesses of a Child a Child whose Parents were poor and of no esteem in the World. So did he make himself of no reputation He did not decline the mean entertainment of a Stable O how unfit was that for the Birth of the King of Heaven He contented himself with a Manger instead of a convenient Cradle and with the homely uneasie lodging of a Bed of Straw refusing the soft Accommodations of the Rich to undergoe the inconveniences of a poor Stranger Thus Lord at the cost of thy own ease hast thou instructed us to despise the World. Only the faithful Joseph stood waiting on thee and provided as he was able for his helpless Family Onely thy pious Mother dearly embrac't thee and wrapt thy tender Limbs in little clouts Wonder O Heavens at this Ye Angels who had seen before many wonders for this surpasses all besides Be amazed O Earth and let every Creature there humbly bow the head and knee Bow all and adore this incomprehensible Mystery the Word was made Flesh and dwelt with us But most of all we who are most concern'd the guilty Children of sinful Adam let us bow down our faces to the low dust and all prostrate adore so unspeakable a mercy Behold my Soul thus low my Saviour stoopt for me to check the aspiring pride of my corrupted Nature Behold thus low he stoopt to take me from the ground and raise me to the felicities of his own Kingdom Rise willingly with him my Soul from base sensuality leave the low Earth with thy desires and seek a better Countrey so shall this God not be asham'd to be call'd thy God. Lift up thy Voice too with Joy O my Soul and sing Hosanna to the new-born Jesus With blessed Angels celebrate his gloriously humble birth and say Glory be to God on high for peace on earth and good will towards men Lift up thy Voice aloud O my Soul lift up your Voices all ye his Saints and joyn the Praises of the Church to the Hymns of Heaven MEDITATION III. REjoyce all you the faithful Nations of the Earth when ye hear the sweet Name of our dear Redeemer Rejoyce and with your bended knees and hearts adore the Blessed Jesus He is the Son of the ever-living God equally participating the glories of his Father He is that great Messias whom the Prophets foretold and all the ancient Saints so long expected At length in the fullness of time he came to visit in person our miserable world He came with his hands full of Miracles and every Miracle was full of Mercy full of miraculous good will to an unkind ungrateful world He made the crooked become strait and the lame to walk and leap for joy He opened the ears of the deaf to hear and gave sight to them that were born blind Happy they in the season of their relief who could then hear the Instructions of the Eternal Wisdom and could see thee the Blessed Saviour of the World He loosned the Tongues of the dumb to speak sure their first exercise was his deserved Praise He cleans'd the Leprous by the word of his mouth and heal'd their Diseases who did but touch his Garment To the Poor he revealed the rich treasures of his Gospel and taught the simple the Mysteries of his Kingdom He cast out Devils by his awful command and forc'd them to confess and adore his Person He rais'd the dead from the very Grave to Life the dead that was four dayes buried and was corrupting Nay even himself being slain for us on the Cross and his Tomb made fast and secur'd with a guard he rais'd again by his own victorious power and carried up our nature into the highest Heavens All these stupendious signs O glorious Jesu were done by the hand of thy Almighty mercy to witness thy truth with the Seal of Heaven and endear thy Precepts with obliging Miracles that thus strongly engag'd we might believe on thee and obey thee to the Eternal Salvation of our own Souls PETITIONS O Kind and Merciful Jesu thou didst when on Earth go about doing good as thou didst purposely come hither to do good Thou hast not lost thy goodness we believe since thou art gone to Heaven O let us find that thou hast not still exercise thy goodness and thy power O God in kind and beneficial Miracles O may it please thee to soften many stony hearts into a tender sence of thy great Goodness and their own Duty Raise our dead spirits from this heavy Earth to dwell with thee in the Land of the Living to mind and love Spiritual and Immortal things Open thou our Eyes that we may behold the wondrous things in thy Law strengthen our feeble faculties O Lord by thy all-sufficient grace that we may steadily run the race which shall be set before us strengthen us to encounter successfully all the Enemies of our Salvation that we do not run in vain nor labour in vain Thus Lord let our experience teach us to admire thy bounteous Power that we may daily sing the wonders of thy grace towards our selves and when our dayes shall be exchanged for Eternity let us eternally sing the wonders of thy Glory Whenever thou doest any of these kind things for us open thou our dumb Lips that our Mouths may shew forth thy Praise Glory be to c. For Tuesday Evening MEDITATION I. GOod God how extreamly ungrateful are Mankind How strangely insensible of our manifest Duty Every Creature performs its Duties but we who alone are made capable to understand and know ours Every Creature lives by rule but we who have reasonable Souls to direct our actions We O Lord are most beholden to thee of all the lower Creation and we alone of all prove rebellious against thee The other Creatures live by thy wise rules and so do serve and attain their particular ends And thus does every Creature reach its true dignity and
honour while Man basely falls far below his in neglecting the rules of that Law which thou hast given to be his direction The Sun observes his place of rising and sets exactly at his appointed time The Sun stands still if thou commandest and goes back to obey thy will and yet the Sun pretends to no reward nor looks to be placed in a higher Heaven But we who expect the performance of glorious Promises we forget and neglect the Law of our God a Law that brings great rewards with the observance of it in this Life and is followed by greater in the next Thy Law O Lord written in our Hearts perfects our corrupted natures by restoring to us thy glorious Image in righteousness and true holiness Thy Law fills the dark mind with chearing light and makes the simple truly wise Thy Law raises the will to its true Liberty and frees it from the fetters of sin It tames the unruly Passions and Appetites of the flesh and settles a happy Peace within us If we are so wise and happy as not to be discouraged from observing it by the little difficulty which attends it at first our steady perseverance in well doing will find it easie and incomparably pleasant Thy Laws will dispose us to pass with comfort through the various circumstances of this Life and they will also prepare us to enter at the end of it into the pure mansions of Heaven For our kind Lord has prepared unspeakable Happiness to reward them with who love Him and keep his Commands Thy bounteous goodness O Lord will reward us for the performance of our Duty thou wilt reward us for doing what is good for our selves Thy Laws are all Holy and Just and Good and thy Rewards are unconceivable and Eternal Joyes O what Blindness and Folly possesses the sinful world who neglect and refuse so great advantages MEDITATION II. Does it become Mankind for whom Christ died to neglect his sacred Laws Shall we say of him who has done so much for us he shall not reign over us shall we neglect so Gracious a Saviour whose only design is to draw us to his love Shall we neglect so generous a love whose only design is to make us Happy Yet O Lord how are thy just Commands neglected in the World How few are there that demonstrate they love Thee by keeping them And indeed to say the World generally neglect to keep thy Commands is too mild a reproof for us who in many instances directly contradict them What thou forbiddest we eagerly pursue as if our kind Saviour had therein envied us some great advantage And whatever thou commandest we are forward still to do the contrary as if the thing thou requirest were hurtful We boldly converse with temptation and sin which thy Charity advises us to fly like Death We timerously dread the incurring any worldly losses or the displeasure of men when thou commandest us to proceed with undaunted courage And we do not stand in aw of the Wrath of Almighty God nor fear the loss of our own Souls when thou threatnest us with them to restrain us from Sin. We greedily pursue the little vanities of this World which thou forbiddest us to set our affections upon and are by them too easily drawn into Sin But the greater goods of a better world we slight and will not suffer our selves to be allured by them to Holiness We govern our actions by our own wild fancies and expect that thy Providence should comply with our Humours We would have Thee relieve us when we list and Rain and Shine as we think fit Thus is our rude perverseness O Lord apt in every thing to go contrary to Thee MEDITATION III. IT was not alone to make the day that thou O Lord didst make a Glorious Sun. But to teach us these pious Lessons too and write them plain as its own Beams That so should our light shine forth to others and direct them to glorifie God So should our Charity warm their coldness and quicken them to an active Zeal for his Honour So when they say we are under a cloud of Adversity we should like the Sun be really above it And though to the sight of men we may be eclips'd by disadvantageous circumstances and may seem quite extinguisht in a Night of Sorrow and Affliction Still we should shine to our selves and God and still go on in the waies of light Though we become small and despised in the Eye of the World yet we should not forsake thy Law. So shall we after the vicissitudes of bright and dark of fair weather and foul which we must expect to meet with in this World enjoy an Eternal bright and serene day Not like the Sun that every Night goes down and must at last be put quite out When we have finisht here our course and seem to set to this dark Earth we hope to rise and set no more but shine perpetually in a brighter Heaven And this sweet Hope my Soul may justly allay the grief of thy present Afflictions Thy rest and Comfort meet with many interruptions now but let not them interrupt thy Faith and Holiness and hereafter thou shalt enjoy an endless unmixed rest and felicity I am the Resurrection and the Life sayes the Son of God who was dead and is now alive and lives for evermore He that believes in me though he be dead shall live and every one that lives and believes in me shall not dye for ever O praise our Lord all you blessed Saints who are advanced from the transient mutable Light of this World to the durable Glory of the other My Soul be thou a steadfast follower of them as they were of Christ and thou canst not fail to attain the same Glory O praise our Gracious Lord and bounteous Master ye Glorious Angels whose bright felicity began so early Stars that arose in the Morning of the World and still through the goodness of God retain an unchanged Lustre shining perpetually near the Throne of God as the top and Master-piece of all his works Let all Mankind with them praise the Lord for our excellent work and for our Glorious Wages That our God did make us but little lower than them at first and when we are become a great deal lower by following our own inventions does concern himself to recover us from our fall and raise us by degrees to their bright and Happy Society O Praise our Lord all you his Works bless him and magnifie him for ever PETITIONS O Infinite Wisdom and Goodness Teach I pray Thee and convince my Soul of the great Excellency and Wisdom of thy incomparable Laws Make me to esteem all thy Commandments concerning all things to be right to consent unto thy Law that it is good to delight in it in the inward man and regulate my whole Conversation thereby So shall I walk by the best rule the rule that certainly leads to Happiness Lord make me to have such apprehensions of
thy goodness as to esteem thy commands the necessary rules of Soul-saving love to account that thou hast required nothing of us but what is necessary and highly conducing to the Salvation of our Souls Let me not be so dangerously foolish as in any thing to think my self wise in contradiction to the Precepts and Dictates of thy Word O may thy Holy Will dear Lord therein reveal'd be all my rule and thy Gracious Hand my constant guide Order thou my steps in thy Word let no iniquity have dominion over me Hold up my goings that my footsteps do not slide Quicken O Lord I pray the too frequent slackness of my obedience by the example of the Creatures about me who yield thee a constant and unrelucting obedience and by a firm belief and apprehension of those great and glorious rewards which thou hast prepared for such as serve Thee fashion my Spirit to a humble submission and conformity to thy will. Make me exactly observe what thou prescribest how bitter soever it may tast to Flesh and Blood Make me alwaies readily submit to every dispensation of thy Providence though for the present it may be grievous And Lord since thy wisdom knows our infirmities I pray thee lay upon me at no time more burden than I shall be able to bear let not my circumstances be attended with temptations either that are so violent or so lasting as to overcome me Since thy goodness delights in our relief assist me against the difficulties of Duty Lord help me so to do all the work thou givest for thou alone canst help me as that I may at last attain thy Eternal rewards through the Merits of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen Hymn 20. BLessed O Lord be thy wise grace That governs all our day And to the night assigns its place To rest us in our way If works the labouring hand impair Or thoughts the studious mind Both are consider'd by thy care Both fit refreshment find Fit to relieve the present state Fit to prepare the next While we are taught to meditate This plain and useful Text. As every Night layes down our head And Morning opes our eyes So shall the dust be once our bed And so we hope to rise To rise and see that beauteous light Spring from those eyes of thine Not to be checkt by any night But clear for ever shine That thou maist hope my Soul to view That lasting blissful light Take heed thy present work thou do And use thy rest aright All glory to the Sacred Three One ever-living Lord As at the first still may he be Belov'd Obey'd Ador'd Amen For Wednesday Morning MEDITATION I. LET them neglect thy Praises O Lord who never consider thy Mercies Let them be silent to thee O gracious God whose Mouths are full of themselves But as for me who subsist by thy gifts and thankfully acknowledge the riches of thy goodness my heart shall continually Meditate on thee and my Lips shall delight to sing thy glory All my Life long will I Praise my God and lift up my hands to his holy Throne Blessed for ever be thy Name O Jesu and blessed be the sweetness of thy Wisdom whose infinite Charity has vouchsaf't our Earth such excellent Rules to guide it to Heaven Thou hast taught us that happy Skill of finding our lives by a generous losing them to follow thee Thou hast taught us to love our true selves best by wisely hating our mistaken selves Thou hast taught us to trample this world under our feet and use it as a step to climb up to the next From thee we learn those glorious Mysteries that exalt our Faith so high above Reason From thee we derive those Heroick Counsels that raise our Souls so far above nature from thee alone and from thy School of grace we learn all that we know and receive power for all that we do How long alas might we have wander'd here in the midst of Darkness and Error had not thy love and pity O merciful Lord brought down thy very self to become our light Never should we else have learnt to deny our selves and take up our Cross and follow thee Never should we have known that great secret of Peace to forgive our Enemies and do good to those who despitefully use us On the unsatisfying things of this low Earth should we blindly have set our whole Affections if thou hadst not told us of the Kingdom of Heaven and bid us lay up our treasures there We had alwayes chose the deceitful and pernicious wayes of sin if thou hadst not terrified us to fear thy wrath by declaring the miseries that attend them We should ever have neglected thy good Commands and lost the happiness of a religious life if thou hadst not invited us to obey thy Commands and proposed to us the felicities that will attend our doing so O what hast thou promised Gracious Lord to the meek and poor in Spirit O what hast thou promised to the Weepers here to those that hunger and thirst after Holiness How many Joyes has thy bounty prepar'd for the lovers of Mercy and makers of Peace How many Blessings for the pure of Heart and those who with Patience bear their Crosses Thus hast thou Lord kindly shown us our end and suggested the true way to attain it Thou hast given us such blessed directions as tend to make our Life here more sweet and to lead us hereafter to everlasting Felicity Hymn 21. MY God had I my breath from thee This Power to speak and sing And shall my Voice and shall my Song Praise any but their King My God had I my Soul from thee This Power to judge and chuse And shall my brain and shall my will Their best to thee refuse Hast thou reveal'd the wayes that lead To Happiness above And shall I let my wandering feet From thy blest Paths remove Alas not this alone or that Hast thou bestow'd on me But all I have and all I hope I have and hope from thee And more I have and more I hope Than I can speak or think Thy Blessings first refresh then fill Then overflow the brink But though my Voice and Fancy be Too low to reach thy Praise Yet both shall strain thy glorious Name High as they can to raise Glory to thee Immortal God One great Coequal Three As at the first beginning was May now and ever be Amen MEDITATION II. NEver will we cease to exalt thy Goodness O gracious Jesu since thou never ceasest to oblige us with new Blessings Thy generous Charity could not be thus satisfi'd to have only spoken to us the words of Life it was not enough for thy excessive Love that thy heavenly Sermons told us our duty but thou would'st moreover urge and provoke our Obedience by the sweet enforcement of thine own Example Thou didst forbid thy followers to affect Superfluities and accordingly thine own Provision was a few Barly Loves Thou didst command the rich to give
Alms with chearfulness so thou wentest about doing good and didst often relieve those that were not able to requite thee Thou hast commanded us not to fear them which can kill the Body and yielded up thine own to the death upon the Cross to do the will of him that sent thee thou wast obedient even unto death Thou hast commanded Subjection to Parents and practised it hast said Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and wrought a Miracle to pay a Tribute Thou injoynest us Mercy and Compassion and who ever exprest more than thy self Thou didst not only weep in Sympathy with the Affliction of thy Friends but also over the hard and stubborn Jerusalem that had killed thy Prophets and was ready to kill thee Thou enjoynest us to love our fiercest Enemies and thy dying breath pray'd for thy Crucifiers Thy perfect Soul did not need as our weak Natures do the outward Forms and Discipline of Religion yet thou didst conform to the observance of the common appointed Feasts and assist in the publick Duties at the Temple Thou didst watch and pray with so fervent a Zeal that thy Practice was perfectly equal to thy Precepts This Life and even Death it self our merciful Lord undertook to mark out for us the way to Heaven To beat it plain by his own sacred Steps and render our passage thither easie and secure Shall we not then O my Soul rejoycingly follow that path which we see our Saviour trod before us Which we see though spread all over with Thorns yet carried him directly to the Glories of Paradise Shall we not confidently rely on so gracious a Leader who promises if we faint to look back and relieve us MEDITATION III. MAY every Age sing Praises to our God and all Generations adore his Providence From the Beginning his Mercy has still laid means to raise us to those blessed Objects which are above our Nature At first he created Adam with all necessary knowledge and then taught the Patriarchs to inform their Families Afterwards he made use of the Angels to bring us his Commands and often inspir'd the Prophets to declare his Will. When he had done all this it was not enough to bring untoward Man to his true end What did he then to save the perishing World O strange Excess of divine Goodness He sent even his own beloved Son to dwell among us and teach us the way of Salvation the sacred Art of training up our Souls for Heaven and fitting them for the blissful Union with himself But O! thou King of glorious Sweetness whose flowing Tongue dropt Milk and Hony We were alas not happy to behold thy Person nor our Ears worthy to hear thy Voice Yet e're we were born thou hadst us in thy thoughts and didst provide a sufficient method to supply that defect selecting a number of choice Disciples and thorowly instructing them in thy heavenly Doctrine that they might keep alive the memory of thee and witness to all Nations thy stupendious works Thou didst verifie their Mission with the Power of Miracles and enflame their hearts with the fire of the Holy Spirit Over all the World they proclaim'd thy Law and undauntedly preach'd the Crucified Saviour and God. Deep in the Breasts of the Faithful did they write thy Gospel and seal it before their eyes with their own Blood. Their Successors deposited the same precious Treasure in the common Magazine of the Church The Church has been maintain'd by the mighty power of God so that the Gates of Hell have not prevail'd against her Thus is the Catholick Faith descended on us and thus shall continue to the end of the World. Blessed be thy power O Lord that has wrought such Miracles to confirm thy Truth and enclined our hearts to believe it How many Souls are miserably seduced by the Corruptions of the latter Ages and revolted to a mixture of Paganism with Christianity while we by thy good Providence are led in the right way to Happiness We are taught to direct our Homage where we cannot sin nor fail in doing it to one God by one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus the Man who also is God. How many Nations lie miserably involv'd in the darkness of Barbarism and Unbelief while we enjoy a clear noon-day and safely walk in the light of Truth O infinite Goodness who freely choosest to pour forth thy Blessings on us who are unworthy of the least Mercies As 't is from thee alone that we receive these favours to thee alone we will return our Praises PETITIONS O Christ the all-seeing Wisdom of the Eternal Father and Soveraign King of Men and Angels who from thy glorious Throne didst descend on our Earth familiarly to teach us the Oracles of Heaven O write thy sacred Instructions deep in the Table of our Hearts and suffer not at any time our Passions to break them Make us still study thee our heavenly Master and continually admire the excellent Beauty of thy Law. Let us be transform'd into an inward agreement to it by the renovation of our Minds that all our infirmities may be cured all our defects supply'd and our thoughts and words and actions conform'd to the dictates of right Reason Let thy excellent Example O Lord alwayes shine bright before our eyes and never be forgotten by us O put it often into our Hearts to reflect and say How would our Master have behaved himself in the Circumstances that we are in And what thou hast done we pray thee enable us to do Reach forth thy powerfull hand and strengthen us with thy Grace that nothing may divert us from following thee In the dangerous Labyrinth of this World and the whole course of our Pilgrimage here Lord let thy heavenly Dictates be our Map and thy holy Life our Guide And that we may be the more surely conducted to the Folds of Bliss do thou dear Lord send us Pastours after thine own Heart O illuminate all that thy Providence calls to the Sacred Office with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word possess them with a fervent Zeal to promote thy Glory and the Salvation of our Souls Give them great prudence that they may know how to manage our folly and perverseness so as notwithstanding them to do us good Make them O Lord good Examples to the Flock in Self-denial Meekness Contempt of the World in due subjection to Magistrates and Charity to all their Neighbours that they may save themselves and those that hear them And make us O Lord to encourage them by all means in their good Work to esteem them highly in love for their works sake to receive the Instructions and submit to the Reproofs which thou sendest by them Grant these things O Lord who art the great Shepherd of Shepherds and of our Souls for thine own honour Glory be to c. Amen For Wednesday Evening MEDITATION I. WEll we are now so much nearer our Grave and all the world is older
Crucified Redeemer I cannot question the love of the Father to Mankind God the Father it appears did so love the world as that he gave his only begotten Son to dye for them God the Son I see is willing that many should be partakers in his Death since he has Instituted this Blessed Sacrament and Invites all men to it With Angels then and Archangels and all the glorious host of Heaven I Praise and admire the Love of God the Father and God the Son I Praise and adore the ever blessed Trinity for the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ And I come O Saviour to take and eat thy Body which was broken for me I come joyfully to drink that Cup which is the New Testament in thy Blood which Blood thou hast shed for the remission of the sins of many and invited all believing Souls to partake of I desire I long to partake of this my necessary Food I desire I long to receive these incomparable dainties As the Hart pants after the water-brooks so thirsteth my Soul after thee O Christ I will open my mouth wide O Lord for thy fullness can suffice my largest desires When O my Soul thou seest the Holy Bread broken and the Consecrated Wine apart from it say I remember thy sufferings O crucified Love and that bitter passion which ended in Death it self I call to mind how thy Blessed Body was scourg'd and bruised How thy Sacred Head was prick't with the sharp Thorns How thy Hands which had wrought many a kind Miracle were bored through and torn with great Nails How thy Feet which had carryed Thee about to do good were now by ungrateful men nail'd to the Cross How thy tender Heart was pierc't by the Souldiers Spear and at these wounds thy Blood and thy Life forsook Thee I must grieve and I must love O thou great Martyr of Love when I consider all this was undergone for me I must needs detest my self and abhor my Sins when I consider thou wast made a curse for me My numerous Sins increas'd thy heavy load my Sins were some of the procuring causes of thy bitter Death With a broken and contrite Heart I deeply lament my past transgressions and resolve that from henceforth every Sin shall be very odious to me I resolve to sight against it with all possible care and industry and will not allow any known Sin to be quiet in me When the Bread and Wine my Soul are by Christs Ministers given to thee say These kind Lord are thy Instruments of conveyance and they make over to me the Blessings of the New Covenant Welcome dear signs of my Saviours presence Welcome sure pledges of his love and of my Happiness Open ye everlasting doors of my Heart and let this King of Glory enter in Welcome dear Lord to my poor Soul and sit thou as sovereign of my Heart I shall be very happy under thy Dominion and very safe under thy protection My Beloved is mine and I am his I will live to my Love that dyed for me When the Bread and Wine are given to others in thy sight thou must look upon them as members of Jesus Christ Thou must look with love upon those whom he loves and resolve to practise all the kindness to them that thou canst Conclude the solemnity with hearty Joy and Thankfulness and say What shall I render unto the Lord for all his Benefits O matchless love of God to a poor Sinner O Love beyond Degree O Love that passes Knowledge I can never sufficiently show my self grateful Yet bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his Holy Name Praise him who graciously forgiveth all thy Sins and justifies thee freely by his Grace Praise him who healeth all thy diseases Study to make as liberal returns to thy Lord as thou canst for thy Lord has dealt very bountifully with Thee PETITIONS O Lord thou art the great searcher of Hearts and thou know'st us altogether O assist my serious examinations of my self that I may overlook no secret Sin. Thou Lord know'st how to influence and turn our Hearts even as pleaseth thee O prepare my Heart according to thine own will to draw nigh to thee Breath O Divine Spirit upon my Soul and then the grateful odours of my Grace will flow forth O Lord I would with all due affections commemorate and receive my Saviour and I earnestly desire that every Grace may renew its strength Let every Grace O Lord be so improv'd as that I may bring forth more fruit in doing well and may more steadily resist the assaults of all temptation to evil Lord I believe help thou my unbelief and fill me with all Joy and Peace in believing Inflame my Heart with a more ardent Charity let my love be stronger than Death let me be rooted and grounded in love Make me to mind more the things above and despise the things below to be more patient in adversity and more humble and fruitful in prosperity To be strictly just and honest in a deceitful World and charitable to those that injure me and set themselves against me Increase in me the Love of all thy Commands and the hatred of every Sin. O God the Father our Creatour and Sovereign Lord regard I beseech Thee thy Son's death which we shall now commemorate before Thee remember how well he pleased thee in all things and when I am united to him regard me with favour too When I partake of his Sacrifice accept it as a propitiation for my Sins and pardon for his sake all my transgressions O Spotless Lamb of God once slain for us Sinners on the Cross have Mercy upon me O Christ hear me and be my powerful Advocate with the Heavenly Father Solicite by thy merits his Mercy for my poor Soul. Offer thy sacred Body before his Throne and turn away the wrath that my sins have deserved If thou wilt O Eternal Merciful God one God in three persons do all these kind things for me for the sake and merits of the Redeemer and out of thy great love to Souls then since I can never have given thee praises enow grant that I may ever live to praise Thee Glory be to the Father c. Amen For Thursday Evening MEDITATION I. HAst thou my Soul been Feasting at the Table of the Lord Has he given thee himself and his rich blessings What thou hast done signifies the renewal of that Covenant that was made in Baptism between the Lord and Thee Thou hast in coming to this Feast profest thy self a Christian and declar'd a resolution to live and dye so Thou hast pretended to account nothing so precious to thee as thy Saviour and that no other Lord but he shall have dominion over thee The Loving Jesus must now have full possession of thy Heart and thou maist not be govern'd by the love of this World. Thou hast bound thy self my Soul to be the Servant of Jesus Christ
Spirit of Adoption Blessed be thou O Eternal Father God of abundant and infinite goodness for this unspeakable kindness of sending thy Spirit into our miserable and wicked World a Spirit so suited to our necessities and able to bring many of us to glory This Lord was thy free gift with respect to us unworthy Creatures Mankind did not could not deserve it of thee it ought therefore to be the more marvellous in our eyes And we may justly wonder not only at thy Bounty but at thy Patience too herein for Mankind had highly forfeited this Mercy and it was directly contrary to his Deserts Thou didst send thy Spirit for our good and advantage after that the ungrateful World had abused and put to Death thy Son. Blessed be thou O Dear Redeemer whose Blood and Death purchased for us this incomparable gift and whose powerful Intercession in Heaven obtain'd it Blessed be thy merciful Providence O Jesu who when thou hadst finisht thy great work on Earth didst ascend into Heaven to draw our minds even thither after thee Blessed be thy Infinite Goodness who when thou hadst taught us the words of Eternal Life sentest down the Holy Ghost to make us observe them and raise up our Affections to that glorious Kingdom whither thou art gone before us that where Thou our happiness art our hearts as they should may also be Blessing and Praise be to the Holy Spirit himself who though proceeding from the Father and the Son is equal in nature and glory whose free goodness it was to give himself to our forlorn World He is both the Giver and the Gift from the great Love wherewith he loved us Thus are we beholden to the ever blessed Trinity not only for excellent and supernatural Graces but also for his Presence who is the cause and Author of all Grace And they to whom this Spirit is given have not only the Streams but the Fountain of living Waters in whom therefore they must needs be springing up even unto Eternal Life PETITIONS O Merciful Lord who hast loved us from the beginning be graciously pleased to love us unto the end Pity the unhappy state of fallen Mankind which neither Nature nor Law could bring to any perfection Send out thy Spirit O Lord and we shall be created again unto good Works and from our nothing of sin be raised to a Life of Holiness O send out thy Spirit and renew the face of the Earth and then our weeds and thorns shall be turn'd into a Paradise O cure our World in thy due time of all those distempers in the spirits of men that make us miserable confus'd and unquiet Deliver us from the spirit of Prophaneness and Infidelity from the spirit of Errour Heresie and Schism Deliver us from the spirit of Pride and Avarice from the spirit of Anger Sloth and Envy Deliver us from the spirit of Drunkenness and Gluttony from the spirit of Lust and Wantonness and Impurity Deliver us O God from every evil spirit and vouchsafe to give us the Graces of thy good Spirit that Order and Peace may flourish in the World and Mankind may not hate nor fear nor persecute one another O may the Christian Church which thou hast wonderfully begun and with many wonders yet continued in the World may it go on still to the end of time and make it Lord to encrease and multiply till every Nation speak in their own language the wonderful Works of God. O blessed Spirit the Church thou hast been pleased to establish vouchsafe alwayes to govern Alwayes keep it free from Usurpation and Tyranny in the Governours and from Contention Unruliness and spiritual Pride in those that should be govern'd That it may alwayes be in a fit posture to receive the Influences of thy Grace and may with those heavenly dews be as a fruitful Field Which things we humbly implore through the Merits of Jesus Christ Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. COme my Soul and adore our God that sanctifies us implore his Grace to make thee able and then adore him Him who from the Father and the Son eternally proceeds and with the Father and the Son must be equally worship'd and glorified In thy Name O Lord together with that of the Father and the Son we are by divine appointment Baptized and so directed to believe in thee Thou art therefore a distinct Person in that Adorable Trinity which is the one eternal God Thou dost make the for the Saints with the Father and therefore art not only the power of the Father Thy coming O Lord into this World did depend upon the departure of the Son therefore I believe thou art distinct from the Son. I believe O Lord thou wast manifestly distinguisht from the Father and the Son when at the Baptism of our Saviour thou didst descend upon him in the likeness of a Dove when at the same time there was a voice from the Father saying This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased Thou art O Lord not a created Person but with the Father and Son art God blessed for evermore By thee was our Saviour conceived in the Womb of a Virgin and therefore was her Birth called the Son of God. Thy dwelling in one of us converts a poor Creature into a Sacred Temple therefore we ought to adore thee as God And I humbly adore thee as the most high eternal God as of the same Nature Attributes and Operations with the Father and the Son. I adore thee as having inseparable from thy Nature an infinite essential and original Holiness as God. And it is peculiarly and especially thy Undertaking or Office to make us poor sinners holy therefore I adore thee under the glorious Title of Holy Spirit It was thou O Lord that didst speak to the World by all the holy Prophets that have been since the Beginning And thus it came to pass that all the holy Scripture was given to us by the inspiration of God. Thou art the Author and Finisher of our Faith by an internal illumination of our Minds Thereby thou inclinest us to the obedience of Faith and to give our assent to those Divine Truths which our carnal corrupted natures would reject as foolishness By thee it is that we are renewed in all the faculties of our Souls and our Affections and Will are made conform'd unto the will of God. Thou dost infuse into us the breath of Life and bring us forth in our second Birth in which birth we become the Children of God and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven By thee are all sincere Christians baptized into one Body even the Mystical Body of Christ and it is thy Testimony alone that comfortably assures to any of them their Adoption In order to these great things it is thy kind office to sanctifie and set apart
Persons for the Duty of the Sacred Ministry By whose Ministry thou dost perfect the Saints and build up the Body of Christ to the end of the World. MEDITATION II. BLessed for ever be thy Name O Holy Spirit and blessed be the bounty of thy Goodness When the Eternal Father by creating the World had declar'd himself and his Almighty Power When the Uncreated Word by redeeming Mankind had reveal'd himself and his infinite Wisdom When now there remain'd but one seal more to be open'd of the Book of Divine Mysteries Behold a strange condescendence to our weak nature the Invisible Spirit Visibly appears He descends from Heaven in the shape of a Dove and gently alights upon the Prince of Peace Again he descends in the likeness of Fire and miraculously sits on the Heads of his Disciples Mingling thus together in one blest compound those chief ingredients of excellent vertue Mildness to allay the heat of Zeal and Zeal to quicken the indifferency of Mildness Innocence to adorn the light of Knowledge and Knowledge to direct the Simplicity of Innocence O Blest adorable Teacher Who can instruct like the Spirit of God He needs no years to finish his course but with a swift and efficacious touch consummates all things He entred the Soul of a young delighter in Musick and presently sanctified him into a composer of Psalms He took a poor Shepherd from following the Flock and immediately rais'd him to the degree of a Prophet He by one Lesson perfected the Disciples and polisht rude Fishermen into eloquent Preachers He toucht the Heart of a persecuting Pharisee and instantly chang'd him into a Glorious Apostle There is none O Lord can resist thy efficacious Grace but it accomplishes whatsoever thou intendest And the most Stubborn refusers thou makest to become a willing People in the day of thy Power All this thou hast done O Infinite Goodness and all the good that we doe is wrought by thee By thee is every condition sanctified to us in this mutable World and we are inabled through all to walk steadily towards our Eternal Rest By Thee our Souls are comforted on our beds of Sickness and thou alone fittest us for the Mansions of Glory If in the Church there be any Wisdom or Knowledge if any real Sanctity or decent Order if any Faith of the Mysteries of Religion if any Hope of Everlasting Salvation If any Love of God as our Sovereign bliss if any mutual Charity of one towards another If any Miracles have been wrought to convert unbelievers and to confirm the weak in Faith against the violence of Persecution All these things flow from thy free Grace O thou boundless Ocean of Eternal Mercies All flows from thee and all our little streams ought to return in tribute to thy Bounty Blessed be thy Name O Holy Spirit of God who dividest thy Gifts to every one as thou pleasest and workest all in all MEDITATION III. STill my Soul continue thy Meditations on this adorable Person and humbly present thy further acknowledgments and praises to him who is the Eternal Love of the Father and the Son and the Glorious Finisher of the Sacred Mystery To him the quickening Spirit of regenerate Souls in whom they live and move and have their Being To him the sovereign Balsom of our wounds and only comfort of all our Sorrows To him our refuge in this place of Banishment and faithful guide in this wandring Pilgrimage To him the Sacred pledge of our free adoption and ensuring Seal of our Eternal Salvation What do we say of Thee O Adorable Spirit of God! What do we say when we utter such words as these We say what we can in our low capacity but alas how short of thy unspeakable excellencies O that we had the tongues of Glorified Saints and of Angels O that we had thine own Miraculous Tongues Those which sate flaming on the Heads of the Apostles and made them speak thy wonders in every language Still all our praises would be poor and narrow still infinitely less than thy infinite perfections But if we cannot speak as our God deserves shall we therefore hold our Peace which God forbids Wo be to them O Lord who are silent of thee and spend the breath thou givest them on any but thy self When we have tried our best endeavours and taken a measure of our own defects when our own Hearts can conceive no more and our tongues have exprest their utmost we will then call upon all others to praise thee who have been beholden to thy infinite Bounty and say Praise the Eternal Spirit O all you Quires of rejoicing Angels for his early Grace confirm'd you in Glory Praise him ye Reverend Patriarchs whose wayes he govern'd and by particular Providence led you to felicity Praise him ye Ancient Prophets whose Souls he inspir'd to teach his chosen People the Mind of Heaven Praise him you glorious company of the Apostles whose Persons he empowered to be Embassadours of Peace between Heaven and Earth Praise him you the Noble Army of generous Martyrs whose Spirits he encouraged and gave you the Victory over the terrours of Death Praise him ye Blessed Confessours whose lives he sanctified and gave you Victory over the World and your selves Praise him ye Holy Virgins whose Souls he espoused and consecrated your chast Bodies into Temples for himself Praise him O thou the Blessed Virgin-Mother of our Lord by whom the Worlds Redeemer was conceiv'd in thy Womb Praise him all you the faithful departed this Life whose hope he sustains of a Glorious Resurrection of your Bodies Praise him all ye that make up the Holy Church throughout all the World bless him and magnifie him for ever Praise him in the Power and freedom of his Grace praise him for the Eternity and greatness of his Glory Praise him O my Soul for his Mercies to thee Praise him for his goodness to all the World. Praise him on the choicest Instrument that of the Heart Praise him in the fittest Place the publick assemby of his Saints PETITIONS O Kindle in my Heart holy Lord thy divine fire that I may offer to thee the hallow'd incense of Praise O thou who openest the mouths of the Dumb and makest the Tongues of Children eloquent inspire thy devoted Servant if not with expressions suitable to thy self at least with such as are profitable to me Such as may instruct me what I ought to do and such as may move me to do what I say Come holy Spirit who art the free dispenser of all Grace visit my poor Heart and replenish it with thy Sacred inspirations Refuse not O Lord to hear me now I call upon Thee and make me still hear Thee when thou callest upon me do thou by thy mighty operations in my Soul establish such an interest in me as may alwayes dispose me to so advantageous a duty Illuminate my understanding inflame my affections and sanctifie all the powers of my Soul and Body that I may know
conspire with it against us Sometimes surprizing our unwary negligence sometimes defeating even our strongest resolves Not that they can compell our wills unless we yield or make the least wound without our consent Much less prevail against the power of Heaven and frustrate the purpose of the Almighty Wisdom Whose Mercy has us'd more arts to save us than the craft of Vice can invent to destroy us Such a Redemption so miraculously wrought such holy Sacraments so often repeated Such glorious promises so faithfully assur'd and which revives our hope so easily attain'd O infinite goodness how generous is thy Love how liberally extended over all the World Thou invites t little Children to come to thee and the lame and the blind to sit down at thy Feast None are shut out of Heaven but such as will not go in none made unhappy but those who care not to be otherwise Chear then thy self my Heart and let no fears molest thee nor even Death it self abate thy courage Death is a passage that was alwayes short and our Saviours death has made it safe to them that follow him in their lives By the practice of the Saints it is grown familiar and by their happy success become desirable Lose not then thy hope in so glorious an enterprize where Eternity is at stake and Heaven is the reward That Heaven for which the Ancient Hermits sought devout retirement in the Deserts That Heaven for which the holy Confessors spent all their time and innumerable Martyrs laid down their dearest lives That Heaven where Millions of Angels continually sing and all the blessed make one Quire That Heaven where the adored Jesus eternally Reigns and the Immortal Deity shines bright for ever That very Heaven is promis'd to thee my Soul that blest Eternity thou art commanded to hope for Raise now thy head and see those beauteous Prospects that ravish the Hearts of all their beholders Yonder far above the Stars is thy Saviours Kingdom yonder we must dwell when we leave this Earth Yonder must our Souls remove to rest when the stroak of Death shall divide them from their Bodies And when the Almighty Power shall joyn them again yonder must we live with our God for ever PETITIONS O Most Gracious and Bountiful King of Saints It was by thy sufficient grace afforded to them that any of thy Saints were able to do much good and to suffer much evil for thy sake They acknowledg'd it was not they that did any good but it was Christ that lived in them O Lord to whom then should we go but unto thee for assistance to follow those that have been Followers of Thee To thee O Lord we must address our selves and to Thee alone for thou alone art the Dispenser of that Grace we need And we thank thee thou hast given us such assurance of thy good will in taking our nature and dying for us that we know not nor need desire one more tender than thou and more ready to help us O Lord direct us we Pray to find the footsteps of thy Flock and inable us to follow the blessed track that we may come at last to the happy rest thou givest them Pity O Lord the Infirmities of thy Servants and quicken our slowness by the example of thy Saints What we see they have done for the love of Jesus let us be ambitious to do what they patiently suffer'd let us neither sinfully decline nor undergo with murmuring and discontent Make us especially O Lord to remember what thou hast done and suffer'd to set before our selves thy bright example the light of which directed them And make us mindful too of what thou promisest and what they have gain'd by following thee that their Names according to thy Promise are written in the Book of Life and they shall be exalted to sit with thee on thy high Throne O Bounteous Lord the only Author of all we have the only object of all we hope As thou hast prepared a Heaven for us O may thy grace prepare us for it O make us live the Life of the Just and let our last end be like theirs that we may dye the death of the Just and live for ever in that blest Society and in that blest Society may for ever sing thy Praise and say To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen Hymn 34. TEll me ye glorious Stars that shine About the Lambs Caelestial throne How from such bodies once as mine Are you to this great brightness grown Hark with one Voice they thus reply This to the Lambs desert is due His humble Death rais'd him so high And us his faithful Followers too With one Voice this too they will say Our Lord taught us the happy Skill By his bright steps to guide our way And follow his best Followers still As we saw they had set their mind And rul'd their course we order'd ours This State alone we both design'd And up towa'rds this strein'd all our powers Taught by wise Temperance we abstain'd From Earths low Joyes for greater goods And slighting little drops we gain'd Full sweet and everlasting Floods Well arm'd with Fortitude we bare All lesser evils worse to flye And mortal-death we durst out-dare That we might not for ever dye Strict Justice we observ'd by giving To every one their utmost due That all in peace and order living All freely might this Heaven pursue But Prudence govern'd all the rest Prudence that made us still apply That which was fittest and was best To advance greatest Charity On these swift golden wheels of Grace That Loves bright fiery Chariot bear We all arriv'd at this bright place O follow us and do not fear O certain Truths O blest Attesters O that all yet on Earth might prove Of both these things such strong digesters That both these things might feed their love Him who hath made us all for this Him who hath made himself our waâ—… Him that will lead us in 't to Bliss May all men Praise and all obey Amen Devotions FOR THE Holy-dayes The Second Part. FOR THE FEASTS OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR For the Morning MEDITATION I. COme let us ascend to the house of our Lord and celebrate this day with a holy Joy imploring his Mercy in all we need and blessing his Bounty for all we have He is our God and we are his People Created by his goodness to be happy for ever He is our Redeemer and we his Purchase restor'd by his Death to a forfeited Happiness to day let us adore our God that Redeem'd us Praise our Lord all you Nations of the Earth Praise him with the Voice of Joy and of Thanksgiving Praise him with the well-tun'd strings of your Hearts Praise him with the sweetest Instrument a chearful Obedience Let every one that pretends to felicity sing immortal
away And into Joy turns all our Grief Come thou bright Sun shoot home thy darts Pierce to the Center of our Hearts And make our living Faith love thee Without thy Grace without thy Light Our strength is weakness our day night And we can neither move nor see Lord wash our sinful stains away Water from Heaven our barren Clay Our many mortal Bruises heal To thy sweet Yoke our stiff Necks bow Warm with thy fire our Hearts of Snow And soon our wandring feet repeal O grant thy Faithful dearest Lord Whose only hope is thy sure Word The saving gifts of thy good Spirit Grant us in Life t' obey thy Grace Grant us at Death to see thy Face And Heave'ns Eternal Joyes inherit All Glory to the Sacred Three One ever-living Deity All Power ascribe and Bliss and Praise As at the first when time begun May the same Homage still be done While time does last when time decayes Amen MEDITATION II. HOw glorious O Lord is thy Grace over all the World How admirable are the influences of thy Spirit They who through dulness so slowly understood the often repeated Lessons of their divine Master now when the Spirit descended upon them did with the first swift glance see through all and no mystery could pose nor errour deceive them They who through fear forsook their Lord and fled away from the danger of being his now do rejoice in suffering for his Name and neither Life nor Death can forbid them to confess him They who knew only their Mother tongue and that no better than as simple Fishermen now speak to every Nation in their several language and with their powerful Eloquence ravish their Hearts They who after our Saviours resurrection shut fast the doors for fear of the Jews now in the open Streets and publick Synagogues confidently proclaim the Name of Jesus These were new bottles sill'd with new Wine wine that made them quite forget their former selves Wine that exalted them into a generous Spirit of despising all things for the love of Jesus Wine that in the midst of Racks and Prisons made them often break forth into that sweet extasie no joy like the pain of suffering for Jesus no Life like the death endur'd for his Love. O were there now such tongues of fire to kindle in the world those divine flames O were there now such Hearts in the world to receive the holy sparks that fall from Heaven The Apostle Peter preach't but one Sermon and immediately there were converted to Thee three thousand Souls he preach't again and wrought but one Miracle and five thousand more were added to the Church Thus every day they encreas'd in number and which was better their number encreas'd in Vertue They were all inebriated with the same heavenly Wine and all fill'd with the same Heroick Spirit They sold all they had and brought the price and laid it down at the Apostles feet they liv'd in an Innocent community and call'd nothing their own even in their will and understanding they were all united Every one had enough and that is to be rich none had too much and that is to be free free from the cares that perplex the wealthy free from the temptations that wait on superfluity Hadst thou been there my Soul to have seen the flaming ardour of those first converts it would have made thee utterly asham'd of all sloath and coldness You may easily suppose you might have heard them saying such passionate words as these from a mixture of grief and love Ah dearest Lord why were we not so happy as to be converted by thee while thou livedst amongst us Why not to entertain Salvation when thou broughtest it to our homes and didst preferre our little Nation before all the World Unhappy we in our neglect and perverseness which were the causes of our insidelity We lookt on thy many kind miracles O Lord and did not see them Before our Eyes thou didst give sight to the Blind and our Souls were dark with Sin and prejudice Thou didst cleanse the Leprous and heal all manner of Diseases thou didst raise the Dead and cast out Devils with a Word Yet we alas how many of us blasphem'd thy Name how many conspir'd with thy Bloody Crucifiers We cryed out among the tumultuous rabble Away with him away with him crucifie him crucifie him for we knew thee not then to be the Lord of Glory Blessed be thy holy Spirit who has opened our Eyes and made us see through the veil that eclips'd thy lustre Now we believe thee the Messias we expected now we acknowledge thee the King of Israel MEDITATION III. PRoceed my Soul a little further to meditate on the mighty works of the Holy Spirit and with their greatness admire his power and with their goodness his bounty and Love. When Lord thou didst descend into our wretched World then was that Word of thy faithful Prophet fulfill'd The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid the Calf and the Young Lion and the Fatling shall be together and even a little Child shall lead them They who in the day of our Saviours Passion fiercely persecuted him like Lions and Wolves thou didst easily convert many of them into innocent Sheep and join them with the rest of his harmless Flock Those that were covetous as Wolves thy powerful Grace made them liberal those that were fierce and proud as Lions it made humble and meek Those that had been intemperate as Swine were made sober and they that were lustful as Goats became chast They were all join'd together in the bonds of pure Charity and submitted to the government of the meek and poor Apostles Then was the worship of God not a burden but a delight not a diversion but a business to the ardent love thou didst inspire The Disciples continued daily in the Apostles Doctrine humbly attending to their saving instructions Daily they broke the holy Bread and celebrated the appointed Supper of our Lord inflaming thereby their love to him and confirming their holy Faith and resolutions Daily they assembled to unite their Prayers being fill'd with the Spirit of Grace and Supplications Thus they obey'd thy dictates and thus they encreas'd in the measure of thy Gifts and the strength of thy Graces Such were the fervours of those happy times and Oh how Happy were our times had we those fervours too But our times alas are become miserable by Schisms and heresies and the darkness that covers a great part of the World Ours are become miserable by the defect of Charity and by the scandalous examples of too many Christians Many are scandalous in the Principles which they profess to the disparagement of our Lord's instructions and many others in their vicious Conversations which disparage his wise and pure Precepts Too many alas there are of these yet the Gates of Hell can never prevail against the Power of God Still the same Spirit visits the World and
Truths thy Will to follow his divine Inspirations Thy Memory to treasure up his sacred Instructions and all thy Powers to acknowledge his glorious Attributes The blessed Spirit will not only visit but dwell in thee if thou entertain and obey him as he justly requires He will never forsake thee unless thou chase him away but will guide and comfort thee with his holy Inspirations Resolve then that the Flesh shall deceive thee no more nor draw thee to disoblige the Holy Spirit If the Flesh grow bold and insolently demand How can you live without sinful Liberties Hear thou the Spirit and he will tell thee they are base Slaves that serve sensual Lusts and the Service of God is the only true Freedom If the Flesh alleadge What joy is there in suffering Ills or doing contrary to our own Inclinations Hearken to the Spirit who will tell thee the Cross of Christ is sweet and nothing is so glorious as the conquest of our selves If the Flesh insist What do you see or hear or exercise any sense in but the things of this World Regard the Spirit rather who will enter his protest and make every devout Soul subscribe this Truth I see the vanity of this World and its vexations and meet in every thing danger and falshood Say then according to the dictates of the Spirit Away Flesh and Blood with your foolish Inclinations away deceitful World with thy bewitching Vanities You were onely created to serve me in the way to my Father's house and to set me down at my journey's end Away with all your fond deluding dreams be banish'd for ever from my awakened Soul. MEDITATION III. HAppy were we O God could we be still thinking on thee and could we raise our thoughts into desires to be with thee Happy were we could we alwayes feel those fervours of which sometimes thou inspir'st a little spark If that spark were kindled into a Fire and that Fire blown up into a continual Flame But we alas are hot and cold by fits and which is worse our cold fit is the longer Some few half hours we spend in Prayer and many whole dayes in Vanity and Idleness Sometimes we bestow a little on the poor and often throw a great deal away on our Passions Sometimes we deny and mortifie our selves but far more often obey our sensual Appetites Sometimes we follow thy Grace and are drawn by it to do one good Work but we are again seduc'd by our Nature to a thousand Iniquities and then we resist and grieve the Holy Spirit Thus we confess to thee O Lord our God who perfectly seest every corner of our hearts Thus we confess to thee not that thou maist know us but that we may know our selves and thou maist cure us To thee Lord I may go on confessing for many are the Graces I want and none can give them but thy Bounty Many are the sins and miseries thy poor Creature is exposed to and none can deliver me but thy Providence Such an occasion often endangers me and such a Temptation too often overcomes me My own infirmities are too strong for me and my ill customs prevail against me Every day I resolve to amend and every day I break my resolutions Often am I unhappily engag'd and blindly running on in the wayes of Death and then I need thy Grace O Lord to check my desperate speed and to make me stay and look before me To shew me the horrid downfall into that bottomless Pit where impenitent sinners are swallow'd up for ever To strike my too regardless Soul with fear and trembling at the dreadful sight of so sad a ruine I need thy powerful Grace O Lord to turn my eyes from the allurements of sin to a safer Prospect To make me sensibly Meditate on the Peace and Pleasure and great advantage of a Pious Life To make me look steadily on this and well consider it and besides to look through and see beyond it To make me delight in the hope it enjoyes a hope of Joyes that are unconceivable and glorious Joyes which none O Lord but thou canst give and none but thou canst make us capable to receive O Lord all our Springs are in thee and all our Happiness depends on thee In thee our Sorrows have a Comforter to allay them our Sins an Advocate to plead against them In thee our Ignorances have a guide to direct them and all our Frailties a God to relieve them To thee therefore we will continually address our selves and rely only upon thy care and conduct To thee we will with humble confidence direct our Petitions who promisest to help the Infirmity of our Prayers we will not doubt the graciousness or bounty of thy goodness but hope thou wilt grant whatever thy Word gives us leave to ask And above all things we will seek thy self being assur'd that the Holy Spirit shall be given to them that ask him PETITIONS O God the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son have mercy upon me miserable sinner O God of infinite compassion and comforter of penitent minds have mercy upon me sorrowfull sinner I lament O Lord and beseech thee to pardon my sins past and to prevent the repetition of my sins and follies for the future Cure me O thou great Physician of Souls cure me of all my sinful distempers Cure me of this aguish intermitting Piety and fix it in an even constant Holiness O make me use Religion as my regular Diet and not only as a single Medicine in a pressing necessity So shall my Soul be possest of a sound health and disposed for a long even an everlasting Life Come to all thy servants O blessed Spirit of Faith and govern our Lives with thy holy Maxims subdue our Sense to the dictates of Reason and perfect our Reason with the Mysteries of Religion Teach us to love and fear what we see not now but what we are sure will be our Bliss or Misery hereafter Shew us the narrow way which leads to Life which few without thee can find or follow Guide on thy Church in the middle path of Vertue that we never decline to any vicious extream Let not our Faith grow wild with superfluous branches nor be stript into a naked fruitless trunk Let not our hope swell up to a rash presumption nor shrink away into a faint despair Let not our Charity be cool'd into a faint indifferency nor heated into a furious Zeal Give us O Gracious Lord the free Beginner and Finisher of all good actions give us a right Spirit to guide our intentions that we may constantly aim at our true end give us a holy Spirit to sanctifie our affections that what we rightly design we may piously pursue give us an heroick Spirit to confirm our Hearts that what we piously endeavour we may couragiously atchieve Grant these things O Lord for thine own Glory to whom all Glory is due for ever Amen Hymn 38. COme my vain thoughts that
wandring At every toy which passes by sly Still spending so your strength in vain While what you wish you ne're can gain Come my fond Soul who sure must be Quite tir'd with all this Life can see This Life where little can be seen But reigning misery and sin And cheating Images of Good Most valu'd when least understood Which yet to our pursuits are coy As they prove vain when we enjoy Come let the wings of thy desire Fond man to nobler things aspire Implore the Spirits kind gales and He To nobler things will carry thee Let warm Devotions Holy Fire And Love Divine thy Breast inspire So shalt thou Heavens true Pleasures tast And grow more sit for Heaven at last Seek thou no more abroad thy rest Seek it at home in thine own Breast Let but thy mind from guilt be clear Then seek for all thy Comfort there With thy self and thy gracious God Delight to make thy chief abode In him repose secure and free And no mischance can trouble thee Should Death it self thy walls assail Still thou art safe and canst not fail Still is thy Soul thine own and she To a new House remov'd shall be New and Eternal there above All built and furnisht with pure Love There shall this dark mud-wall of thine Repair'd the brightest Stars out-shine Great Spirit of Love and Source of Peace Our Praise of thee shall never cease To thee the Father and the Son Eternal Homage shall be done Amen FOR THE FEASTS OF THE SAINTS For the Morning MEDITATION I. GReat is the Majesty of the King we serve and rich the splendour of his Courts where the humble Saints all shine as the light and rejoyce in uninterrupted felicity Come let us that call our selves by his Name humbly adore the King of Saints let us meet in Peace and Love which are highly pleasing to him and joyn our Hearts and Voices into one glad Song And which of his wondrous works shall we make our Theam which shall be the worthy subject of our Contemplation and Praise Shall we admire the mighty Conquerours of this World or any of the Great ones whom the World applands Shall we admire the men of deep or universal Learning or those that manage all their worldly Affairs with a dexterous and successful wisdom Oh no there are greater things than these to employ our Admiration those blessed Spirits who bravely overcame themselves and that led in triumph their own Passions those who renounc'd the greatness of this World to be rid of its incumbrances and that they might with more ease and speed prepare themselves for a better Those who learned Jesus Christ so as to imitate him well and were so wise as to work out their Salvation those who from mean and poor on Earth from reproacht and despis'd are advanced to be bright Courtiers in the Kingdom of Heaven and honour'd by the King of Saints Rejoyce thou my Soul who feelest these miseries here and often complainest of the dangers of this Life Rejoyce at their glad delivery from all these sorrows and heartily congratulate their secure Felicity Rejoyce and with thy best instructed thoughts admire the exquisite Wisdom of the divine Providence who from such low beginnings can raise so great effects making every step thrust connaturally on the next Behold a little Seed that is buried in the Earth shoot gently out its tender leaves and nourisht on with the Clouds and Sun climb up by degrees into a tall stalk there it displayes its full blown hope and crowns its own head with a silver Lilly. Such is the progress of immortal Souls even those who shine now among the highest Seraphims At first shut up in their Mothers womb where they lye confin'd close Prisoners in the dark thence they come forth to see and hear and slowly begin to walk and speak next they advance to understand and discourse then learn to â—â—ve with the wings of Grace till they get up even beyond themselves and believe above their own nature at last the kindly hand of Death gives them a stroak and they instantly become like the glorious Angels Instantly their dark and narrow knowledge unfolds it self and spreads into a clear and spacious view where they at once shall see all the glories of Heaven at once possess and for ever enjoy them Thus from the humble seed of Grace connaturally spring the flowers of Glory and from this Life 's green stem of Hope grow just on the top the Lillies of Paradice Lillies that never fade but still shine on and fill the Heavens with beauteous sweetness Lillies that even Solomon in all his glory was not array'd like one of these Sing then my Soul his Praise who planted water'd and encreas'd these beauteous Flowers But still among thy Hymns thou must mingle resolves to imitate whatsoever thou findest good in their Lives This is the Praise most delightful to him whose kindness desires the Conversion of a Sinner Learn but of them to be Humble and Meek and submit all thy Wishes to the Will of Heaven to govern thy Senses by the rule of Reason and thy Reason by the dictates of Religion to design thy whole Life in order to thy End and establish for thy end the Bliss of Eternity These holy Lessons let thy Life transcribe and then the King will accept thy Praises Hymn 39. WAke all my Hopes lift up your Eyes And crown your heads with Mirth See how they shine beyond the Skies Who once dwelt on our Earth Peace busie thoughts away vain cares That clog us here below Let us go up above the Sphears And with those Orders bow Bow low to Heave'ns Eternal King Whose bounteous goodness 't is That makes the happy Orders sing And fills the place with Bliss With glorious Angels Heirs of Light The high-born Sons of Fire Whose Heats burn chast whose Flames shine bright All Joy yet all Desire With Holy Saints who long in hope On this Life 's green Stem sate But gain'd at length the beauteous top Of Heaven's resplendent State. With great Apostles of the Lamb Who brought that early ray Which from our Sun reflected came And made our first fair day With generous Martyrs whose strong hearts Bravely rejoyc'd to prove How weak pale Death are all thy darts Compar'd to those of Love. With steadfast Confessors who dy'd A Death too Love did give Whilst their own Flesh they crucifie'd To make the Spirit live With beauteous Virgins whose chast Vows Renounc'd all fond desires Who wisely chose our Lord their Spouse And burnt with his pure fires With all the happy Spirits above Who make that glorious ring About the sparkling Throne of Love And there for ever sing To some low place of that bright Quire While loftier notes they raise Let this thy little wreath aspire And joyn their Crowns of Praise All Glory to the Sacred Three One ever-living Lord As at the first still may he be Belov'd Obey'd Ador'd Amen MEDITATION II. THou art our
to adore thee the kind Saviour of us all who with the Father and the Spirit art one God blessed for ever Glory be to c. Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. ALL things do live to thee O Lord thou sole preserver of universal nature the blessed Saints rejoice in thy glory and our imperfect Souls are here sustain'd in hope We know that thou wilt bring us to the Grave which is the house appointed for all the living and from thence thou wilt raise us again to an universal Judgment and then dispose of us to our Eternal Portion O happy they whom our Lord shall honour on that day of his solemn triumph and rising from his seat of Judgment go gloriously before them and with these sweet and gracious words invite them to follow him Come you blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. The reward of your labours I will give you I my self will be your reward you have firmly believ'd you have readily obey'd you have constantly suffer'd Come enter now into your Masters joy They that are careful my Soul to dye the death of the righteous will with them be thus caress'd at the day of judgement Now thou hast pass'd another day another step towards thy long home thou hast seen the Sun a few hours more and this day is gone and lost in its own night But hast thou lost it too and made no use of it while it shin'd then let the dew of thy penitent tears for shame lament its departure Thou art nearer thy death but no more prepar'd for it if thou hast made no advance towards perfection Examine thy self to know the truth and ask thy self these useful Questions Am I grown devout as the Saints of God were Am I chaste temperate and resign'd as they yet Do I despise now the World with a Zeal like theirs and value Heaven at the same high rate with them Would I give all I have just now to be there And part with Life it self just now to go thither Has the consideration of their blissful reward brought me to a full resolution to aim at the highest imitation of them At least have I learnt to humble my self and check the vanity of my proud conceits To mourn and blush at my own many Infirmities when I consider their excellent Lives and Vertues If thou canst not equal my Soul such glorious patterns yet let it be thy hearts desire to do it and what they really did do thou really wish to do MEDITATION II. LET us humble our selves we that are yet in this low state but not grow faint at the sight of others so far before us Rather let us quicken our sloth by considering their swift pace and encourage our fears with their happy success We who profess the Religion of all these Saints who liv'd and dy'd Members of the same Church with us We who partake of the same holy Sacraments and eat the same celestial Food who may partake of the same holy and powerful Spirit if we diligently seek and readily receive him Why should we fear but that one day we may shine above and rejoyce together with the glorified Saints Are we not all redeem'd by the same rich price and the same eternal Crowns propos'd to us all Are we not bred in the same Apostolick Faith and taught of God by his appointed Ministers The Lessons I see and Teacher is the same but the hand is dull and the Instrument out of tune They liv'd in a dangerous World like this and were ty'd to Bodies frail as ours But by a constant vigilance they overcame the World and subdu'd those Bodies to the service of their Minds They overcame with a joyful Heart and we thus congratulate the Triumph of their victories They overcame but not by their own strong hand and now they triumph but 't is by the bounty of their God. Chear then thy self my Soul and raise thy Head and open thy bosom to the hopes of Heaven Fear not our God has a blessing too for us if we have a love and obedience for him If we delight in the wayes of Piety and diligently attend the Offices of Devotion If we refrain from the liberties of the World and curb the loose suggestions of the Flesh If we can look on Gold and Honour and their flaming beams not dazle our Eyes if we perform with them the part of faithful Servants we shall surely with them have the portion of Children MEDITATION III. PRecious in thy sight O Lord is the death of thy Saints which finishes thy greatest Work the perfecting of Souls whom thou esteemest as the Jewels of Heaven and choicely gatherest into thine own Treasury Precious to themselves O Lord is the death of thy Saints which takes off the dusky cover that hides their brightness which shapes and polishes them to a beauteous lustre and sets them as Stars round about thy Throne Precious O Lord to us is the death of thy Saints from whence we are furnisht with such means of Vertue Some teach us courage to encounter dangers and not for fear make shipwrack of our Conscience Others by their Example instruct us to converse with meekness and patiently bear neglects and injuries From some we may learn how to use this world wisely and make it serve us in our way to the next From others we may learn how more generously to despise it and pass our dayes in Peace and Prayer By all with thy blessing we may learn this best of arts to live and dye like Saints and do this in the best of methods thy glorious Example O gracious Lord whose Love still looks about and searches every way to save us sinners who camest thy self bright Sun of Glory to enlighten our darkness and warm our frozen Hearts Who with thy fruitful Beams still kindlest others to burn as Tapers in thy Church's hand and by their near proportionate distance stand fit to shine into every corner of our lives We will ever bless thy Name for all these Mercies and take care to pass by not one with Ingratitude We will not consider in vain the Crown at the Race's end and sit down lazily in the shades of ease nor keep in vain the memory of thy Saints without endeavouring to imitate them which would be to the reproach of our unprofitable lives We will strain all our Powers and pursue to the mark for the glorious prize that is set before us Still with our utmost speed we will follow them whose travel ended in so sweet a rest PETITIONS O God of infinite adorable Goodness who after thy faithful Servants had spent their day of life in a course of steady and laborious Piety and Vertue did'st graciously close their Evening with a comfortable death and give them instead of this an eternal day of Glory O grant to us below we beseech thee so to imitate thy Saints in the wise bestowing our allotted time on our Earth that we may follow them in their happy passage out of this World and be admitted with them to thy everlasting Glories in the other When our Life's last day O Lord begins to fall and bids us hasten to prepare for night then send thy willing Angels to watch about us and suffer not the Enemy to disturb our passage Send them to receive in peace our departing Souls and to bear them safely to thy presence Then O thou dear Redeemer of the World and sovereign King of Life and Death thou who despisest not the Tears of the Penitent nor turnest away from the sighs of the Afflicted Thou who preservest all that rely on thee and fulfillest their desires that long to be with thee Do thou hear our cries and pardon our sins and graciously deliver us from all our fears Call us to thy self with thine own blest Voice Call us O dearest Jesu in thine own sweet words Say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World. Then will our happy Souls immediately obey and go forth with gladness to meet their Lord and Love to live with him and behold his Glory and partake of his Happiness and sing his Praise These things O Lord we humbly expect from the merit of thy humble Death and the power of thy glorious Exaltation O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World have mercy upon us have mercy upon us and grant us thy eternal peace Amen Hymn 40. TOO hasty night forbear our Praise And our yet young beginning Hope Set to encrease on these blest dayes So faint and dull requires more scope Night will not hear but sullen flies And summons all the World to sleep Commands us close our Books and Eyes What we have gain'd content to keep O happy Saints this broken rate Our slowness bids to ply its wings While your unwearied active state Does alwaies wake and alwaies sings Yet eve'n our state your School too was And those your now unweary'd Laies By such a change of sing and pause Here among us you learn'd to raise Here you thus often too took breath And yet have climb'd those hills of light O may your good success bequeath A Hope to reach that glorious height Though now our Notes be short and few Our rests too frequent are and long If we but keep in tune with you We shall at last sing your glad Song If with our utmost humble powers We here our daily Praye'rs attend These poor Devotions shall like yours There in a nightless fervour end Glory O Lord to thee alone Be here below as there above O may thy joyes Great Three in One Ever attract and Crown our Love. Amen FINIS ERRATA These few mistakes of the Press the Courteous Reader is desir'd to Pardon and Correct PAge 6. line 7. for talk read task p. 17. l. 20. f. beautified r. beatified p. 28. l. â—8 f. seel r. feel p. 72. r. Hymn 7. p. 96 f. Son r. Sun. p. 204. l. 6. f. potion r. portion p. 282. last l. r. thus acting p. 302. first l. of the Hymn r. ' T is not for us p. 319. l. 7. f. adventures r. adventurers p. 358. r. H. 31. p. 442 443. 445 446. at the top f. Even r. Morn p. 452. l. 17. f. fire r. flame
King too O Blessed Jesu and we alas thy unprofitable subjects we cannot praise thee like those thine own bright Quires above yet will humbly offer our little tribute And while with thy present goodness to us we consider thy great bounty to them the glorious hopes which we from thence conceive give our praises the more spritely accents O praise our Lord we are constrain'd to say all the powers of our Souls praise the immortal King of Saints and Angels Praise him as the Author of all their Graces praise him as the Finisher of all their Glories Praise him for the mighty Hosts of Angels whom he sets about us for the guard of our lives that they may safely keep us in all our wayes and conduct our Souls at last to their eternal home Praise him for the consecrated company of Apostles to whom he reveal'd the Mysteries of his Kingdom that they might teach us too those heavenly truths and shew us the same blest way to felicity Praise him for the generous fortitude of Martyrs whom he strengthned with courage to resist even to death that we might learn of them to hold fast our Faith and rather lose this Life than hazard the other Praise him for the eminent sanctity of Confessors whose whole design was a course of Heroick Vertue That we might raise our minds from our usual lazy slight and with a quick and active wing mount up towards Heaven Praise him for the Angelical purity of those Virgins whose Hearts he so inflam'd with his Divine Charity that they would admit no such desires as would bring upon them other cares besides those of pleasing himself alone And pray him to possess thee too with such a fervent love to him the spouse of Souls as may make thee regard with great indifferency even the best of this worlds goods Praise him for the excellent holiness of all his Saints whose lives he has moulded into so various shapes that every sort of ours might be readily furnisht with a pattern cut out and fitted for it self O praise our Lord all you powers of my Soul praise the Immortal King of Saints and Angels Praise every Person of the Sacred Deity for every person has concurr'd in these glorious works say Blessed for ever be the Eternal Father who has fixt his Angels in so high a Happiness Triumph bright Angels on your radiant Thrones and shine continually in the presence of your God Blessed for ever be the Eternal Son whose love has exalted weeds of Earth to be flowers of Paradise There as they shall Eternally grow and shine their lustre shall alwayes redound to his Glory Blessed for ever be the Eternal Spirit whose Grace prepares the Saints for Glory where every happy Saint rejoices in his own felicity and every one in the felicity of all Blessed for ever be the Undivided Trinity whose sight alone is the Heaven of Heavens O sing his praise all you the Citizens of Heaven sing all together your everlasting Hymns MEDITATION III. WHo are we born here below in the Dust and still kept down with the thoughts of this World Lord who are we that our polluted hands dare offer to thee the Incense of praise We who so often disobey thy commands and so seldom lament for our many follies Yet is praise from us thy undoubted due and we cannot neglect it without omitting our duty But because our praises alone are too low to reach the deserts of thy wondrous nature and perfect works we will in our hearty wishes call upon those to do it who are better able to praise thee O praise our Lord you pure unblemisht Angels praise him ye mighty ever-active flames Praise our Lord all you the Spirits of Just men made perfect now you are free from the heavy clogs of mortal bodies And thus they do look up my Soul and see the innumerable multitude of triumphing Spirits See how they stand all cloath'd in white robes with palms in their hands and with golden Crowns on their Heads Behold the glorious Angels fall down before the Throne and prostrate adore him that lives for ever Behold the blessed Saints lay their Crowns at his feet and on their faces adore him that lives for ever Heark how they fill that spacious temple with their Hymns while night and day they continually sing Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come Hallelujah Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Hallelujah Glorious art thou in creating all things glorious in preserving them in every moment of their being Glorious in governing them their several wayes glorious in appointing them their proper ends Glorious in rewarding thy Servants above their hopes glorious in punishing Sinners below their demerits Glorious art thou O Lord in all thy works but infinitely more in thine own self-blessed Essence Thus they rejoice above thus they triumph and may their joy and triumph last for ever While we who live below may as faithful Ecchoes to their praises repeat every day these few short Ends of their Seraphick Hymns Salvation to our God that sits on the Throne and the Lamb that redeem'd us with his Blood Hallelujah Blessing Honour Glory and Power be to him that sits on the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Hallelujah PETITIONS O Most Glorious and Gracious God we are all so beholden to thy abundant goodness that we owe thee the utmost praises our Hearts and Lives can render O do thou excite us to endeavour and assist us to succed in the discharge of this mighty debt Open our lips that our mouths may shew forth thy praise bestow upon us every divine Grace that our lives may shew forth the vertues of him that has called us from the dark to his glorious Kingdom Make us inure our selves by degrees to thankful acknowledgments and praises in this place of our banishment that we may at length be fit to sing the lofty songs of the celestial Zion O let us see thy goodness still preparing us for the blessedness of Heaven sanctifying every condition to the promoting our growth in Grace which as it will raise our hopes of the future Glory will proportionably raise our praises O let thy love dear Lord at length be pleased to take us to the fellowship of those joyes and glories which so raise the thankful praises of the happy Spirits above Bring us to that perfect state where no defect shall weaken us to that happy place where nothing shall divert us from seeing enjoying loving and praising thee for ever Grant O most merciful Saviour that as thy Blessed do without ceasing pray for thy Church below we may be ready devoutly to praise thee for them And help us Lord so to commemorate those excellent Graces and good works by which they adorn'd our holy profession as to be excited thereby and directed to practise the same Till we all meet before thy glorious Throne with one Heart and Consent