of the Synagogue would not in this particular be singular and therefore are apt to believe * Mat. 14 26. that the Hymn which he sung before he went out to the Mount of Olives was the great Hallel But if it were not the same it was doubtless some Laud to the Almighty as for all his Benefits so particularly for his Sacraments And this is highly worth consideration that when Jesus sung this Hymn it was the Eve to his cruel and unparallel'd Tragedy that the Man of Sorrows who all his life long did eat the bread of affliction and quench his thirst with his tears having the Cross in view sung an Hymn 'T was a dismal and affrighting Evening But God gives the good man songs in the night while the sinner is astonish'd with the Terrors of a disturb'd Conscience And as this Joy agrees to the Custom of the Synagogue and our Master's practice so it properly corresponds with the intention of the Institution For tho Thanksgiving be but a part of the Office yet because the denomination is given from that which is most eminent the whole Service is called the Eucharist by the ‡ 1 Cor. 10.16 Apostle because ‖ Cabasil Expos Liturg. cap. 52. when we communicate we have greater cause to rejoice than to supplicate For when we are made partakers of these Mysteries we have received many more favours than we want For of the things that we want some we cannot yet attain unto as the incorruptibility of our bodies and our translation to Heaven Some we have forfeited by our frequent Relapses as the Gifts of the Holy Ghost our Health and our Riches So that were we as pious as we ought there would be even in this world no need of supplications all our Offerings would be Eucharists and Praises But our sloth and our negligence are the causes of our needs Do we beg Remission of our sins Was not that given us in Baptism And how came we but by our own fault to need it again Do we want Heaven Does not the Scripture tell us the Kingdom of Heaven is within us And were we not made Sons of God in the Laver of Regeneration And if Sons then Heirs Why then do we so pray Because we have forfeited that Estate and deserve to be disinherited and to be made of Sons Servants And do we want Temporal Blessings We should first seek the Kingdom of God and all these Things would be added When we are fit to communicate with God our Wants are inconsiderable and our greatest Employment in the duties of Religion is to celebrate his Condescention to admire his Goodness and Patience and to adore his Majesty and therefore the Hymn which the Ancients sung at the Celebration of these Mysteries was by some called ‖ Dionys Ar. Eccl Hier. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Eucharist because it comprehended in it self the commemoration of those holy Gifts that descend from God and seemed to include all the particulars of that Office nor did the Primitive * Constit Ap. li. 5. c. 13. Just M. apol 2. c. Church ever receive this Blessed Sacrament but they had their Psalms and Forms of Thanksgiving for if every worldly Blessing deserved its Remembrance and an acknowledgment how much more were they bound to praise God for spiritual Blessings in heavenly places and to this day the ‡ Olear Itiner li. 5. p. 279. Armenian Church think they cannot communicate aright unless they have not only vocal but Instrumental Musick and they plead for the usage that while our Blessed Saviour prayed in the Mountain the Angels came down and entertain'd him with such sort of Musick and tho this be an ungrounded Tradition yet Antiquity was agreed that the Angels were present at the Celebration of this Sacrifice and that when the o Gr. Nyss To. 1. p. 957. Church sung Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth the Seraphim sung with them and that they attended on these Representations of our Saviour as they did upon his Person For it was also an ‖ Hippolyt in Ps 42. apud Theodorit dialog 2. Euseb Epist ad Constant Imp. in act Conc. Nic. 2. act 6. Col. 493. Jul. Firmic p. 48. Ambros de his qui initiant c. 7. c. undisputed tradition among them That when the great Conqueror of Death and Hell was ascending to His Father's Right Hand the Holy Angels which attended him on Earth followed him with Songs of Praise and Triumph and spake to their Brethren the Angels in Heaven in the Words of the inspired Psalmist Ps 24.7 c. according to the Translation of the Septuagint then in use Lift up your gates O ye Princes and be ye life up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in To which the Heavenly Angels sollicitous to enquire who it was that came with so much Authority to demand the opening of the Gates of that Palace because no man to that day had ever entered into the Holy of Holies answered Who is this King of Glory To whom the return was presently made It is the Lord strong and mighty even the Lord mighty in Battel and after that all the Heavenly Host joined Consort and did sing with one Voice Lift up your heads O ye Princes and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in And if those bright Spirits were so transported at the sight of the victorious Jesus should not my Soul be much more engaged to break out into Exclamations and Rejoicings and to imitate the Harmony of the admiring Angels And for this Reason when the Church at Easter had remembred the Resurrection of Christ and strengthned themselves with the Sacrament that they might be able to walk in his steps every day between that Festival and VVhitsuntide was a day of rejoicing every day of the fifty was a Sunday say ‖ Tert. de coron c. 3. Ambr. in Luc. li. 8. c. 17. Marx. Taurin Homil. 61. the Fathers nor did they on any of those days so much as stoop to kneel at their Prayers nor do we in our Church ever fast the Eves of the Feasts that then happen * Except before Ascention day only in this interval we humble our selves in the Rogation Week which was introduc't upon extraordinary occasion and necessity or rather as I think was transferred to this season from some other time of the Year And so sensible was the Church of the infinite Benificence of God that in the fourth and fifth Centuries several Monasteries were erected societies of devout Persons whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men who never slept because some or other of the Fraternity was always in the House of God singing his Praises and celebrating his Bounty But why should I want the Encouragements to adore my Redeemer which Angels and Saints afford me The Heathens guided only by the Dictates of Nature entertained every little secular
the Doctrine of the Book of God obliging them to learn the Psalter and the Epistles of St. Paul without book while we think that study unworthy of our selves or our posterity We plead it 's true as St. Caesarius of Arles says the difficulty of learning the Rules of Faith and Holy Life without book especially if we cannot read But if the most ignorant and unlearned can find out a way to remember a prophane or lewd Song or Story will their ignorance excuse them if they have not learnt the Precepts of the Gospel Men have wit and memory enough to attain without reading to that which the Devil teaches them for their destruction But when they are to receive from the mouth of their blessed Saviour the Laws that will make them eternally happy then they plead ignorance But whatever others do or my self have heretofore practis'd I profess for the future that I will love thy Law And do thou think upon me O Lord according to thy word wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust Thou hast given me thy Holy Scriptures that through them I might have hope in all capacities and in all distresses of mind body or estate For tho I read there that Lucifer sinn'd himself beyond the hopes of Redemption and that there is a sin against the Holy Ghost that cannot be pardon'd and a sin unto death that is not to be pray'd for yet the state of sinful men is declared to be different from that of the fallen Angels And what these particular Transgressions are and wherein they consist is not plainly revealed in those Oracles that no man might despair of mercy but withal that every man might beware of the smallest sin as if it were of the greatest magnitude the deepest dye and most dismal consequences From this Book also I learn That at what time soever a sinner repents and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive For who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect since it is God who justifies and who is he that condemns since Christ hath died and is risen again and sitteth at the right hand of God to make intercession for us Lord be merciful to my former sin for my neglect hath been great and keep me stedfast to my duty for the remainder of my life that tho I cannot see my God yet I may every day hear him and converse with him in his word and being inlightned thereby may learn to depart from evil The Collect. For the 2d Sunday in Advent BLessed Lord who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning grant that I may in such wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of thy Holy Word I may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed Hope of Everlasting Life which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen CHAP. IX Of Christian Love WHen I have thus adorn'd my soul with saving knowledg my next employment is strictly to examine my practise and what degrees of divine love I have attained to now I better feel what that love is in my heart than I can describe it with my tongue For when I am in the Palace of divine Love I am in St Paul's Third Heaven where tho the Apostle without doubt saw ravishing sights and such as were worth dying for and heard admirable discourses such as the King of Glory entertains his favorite Angels with yet he assures us he heard and saw * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 12.4 what could not be uttered or described But as it is said of Heaven tho it does not appear what we shall be yet we have a glorious character of that City given us in Holy Writ so it may be said of Christian Love Great things are spoken of it and such as render it venerable in the eyes of all wise and discerning persons For 1. It is a complication * Aug. de C. D. l. 15. c. 22. Nihil aliud virtus est quà m or do amoris Id. de C. D. l. 14. c. 7. Amor inhians habere quod amatur cupiditas est idem habens eóque fruens laetitia est c. of all Vertues When it longs for what it affects it is desire and when it enjoys it it is gladness when it flies what it abominates it is fear and when it falls into the hands of its enemies it is sadness says St. Austin and * 1 Cor. 13. a greater than St. Austin hath told me That Love is the most comprehensive Vertue For Charity suffers long and then it is meekness it is kind and then it is courtesie it envies not and so it is peaceableness it vaunteth not it self and so it is modesty it is not puft up and so it is humility it doth not behave it self unseemly and then it is called decency seeketh not her own and then it is publick-spiritedness is not easily provok'd and then it is patience thinketh no evil and so it is simplicity and innocence rejoiceth in the truth and so it is verity and spiritual gladness beareth all things and so it is Christian fortitude believeth all things and so it is faith hopeth all things and so it is assurance endureth all things and then it is magnanimity and it never fails and so it is perseverance it purifies more than the flames of Martyrdom and is a better Alms than the world dispos'd of to charitable uses it enlightens more than all reading and all contemplation and it makes a man a Christian while Knowledg and Miracles only make him a Prodigy In a word it is all Philosophy and all Religion and he alone truly knows how to live who knows how to love Nay it is Heaven upon Earth says the devout Poet For We know not what they do above But that they sing and that they love Nay it is God himself * 1 John 4.8 For he that loves not knows not God for God is Love ' Who is able to describe the beauties of Holy Love says St. Clement * Ep ad Corinth p. 63 64. The height to which it carries us is unsearchable it unites us to God and it covers a multitude of sins it is the bond of Union and the bane of Schism and Divisions and without it nothing can please God It was nothing but Love that brought down Jesus from Heaven to shed his Blood for us and nothing but Love that can carry us thither whence he came down on Earth 2. Love is the only Original of all our satisfactions in this Life it sweetens all sufferings and makes difficulties easie for it subdues whatever opposes it True Love is a flame enkindled in the mind by our holy Saviour which preys upon and destroys all secular and carnal affections its eye is fixt on Heaven and its wings spread toward that bright Palace and thither it endeavours with unwearied speed to fly because that is
to others against those sins which his own Conscience testifies himself hath been guilty of 'T is an exemplary story if it be true that Epiphanius relates of Origen * Haeres 64. p. 228. that after his fall returning to Jerusalem he was defired to preach which Office he addressing himself to occasionally lights upon that passage of the * Ps 50.16 17. Psalmist Unto the ungodly saith God why dost thou preach my Law and take my covenant into thy mouth whereas thou hatest to be reformed and hast cast my words behind thee Which passage as soon as he had read he could not but call to mind his former Apostacy whereupon he sate down and wept and the whole Congregation wept with him and that was all the Sermon they had for that day Who O my Soul dares speak evil of that Priest who spends all his Time and Strength in the service of that God whom he acknowledges and who will not reverence that Clergy-man who busies himself in visiting the sick in instructing the ignorant in reclaiming the profligate in comforting the disconsolate in diligent Preaching and Catechizing and in a reverent Administration of the Sacraments There is a natural Veneration and Respect that all men pay to that which is truly Religious but when he who instructs others never preaches to himself this casts an odium on Christianity that is not easily defac't for a wicked Priest at the Altar is worse than Judas for when Judas kist and then betrayed our Blessed Saviour tho the action was as he intended it abominable yet as God applied it it became the Instrument of the World's Happiness but when the vicious Priest approaches God's Table and puts the Body of Jesus into his own Lips and the hands of his people he prophanes the tremendous Sacrament he affronts the Majesty of God he does no good to himself or others but much harm he eats and drinks Damnation to himself and gives a very evil Example to his Neighbours and what Power can bring any good out of so much Wickedness And yet to sin like Judas is to be a vile and notorious Transgressor and the case of that Traytor is an affrighting Example our Holy Redeemer had given him his Body and Blood tho he knew he would betray him that he might attempt all methods to reclaim him to soften his hard Heart by Kindness and Condescention and to secure him from the Temptations of Satan by arming him with the power of God and the Grace that is conveyed with those Mysteries but Judas was the first Instance that the Holy Sacrament which the Son of God instituted for the Consolation and Welfare of his Servants may become the occasion of Condemnation to those who receive it unworthily and that the Devil may enter into that Man's mind whose Body hath received the Lord Jesus and how impudently wicked doth such a Wretch grow of a sudden for when our Master had declared that one of his Family would be that Traytor who should deliver him into the Hand of the High-priest * Luk. 22.21 When the rest of the Innocent Apostles were struck dumb with Astonishment Judas took the hardiness to ask him the Question Thus he who is not better'd by the means of Grace insensibly grows worse and hardly can a Miracle save such a resolute sinner And what dismal Lamentations what complication of Woes are sufficient to mourn the state of such a Priest for * Vid Hieron Ep. ad Heliodor to 1. p. 4. m. who shall make attonement for him whose Office it is to intercede for others ' The Soul of a Priest says * Lib. 6. de Sacerdot p. 44 46 c. St. Chrysostome should be bright and more untainted than the Rays of the Sun lest the Spirit of God be forc't to desert him and that he may be able to say Now it is no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me for like that great Light that rules the day he should enlighten the World and warm it with the Ardors of Divine Love for when the Priest stands at the Altar the Angels attend him and all the Heavenly Powers mix their Voices with his and all the Space round the Altar is filled with the Blessed Spirits who honour him that is there represented and incircle his Body as Guards do a Prince Nay so great is the Honour that is done to a good Priest when he administers in Holy Things that he stands in Gods stead for as God offer'd up his only Begotten Son for the Redemption of the World So doth the Priest at the Altar make a Commemoration of that one perfect and intire Sacrifice and Oblation of our Holy Saviour for the sins of Mankind and was it ever known that any man durst play the Devil in the likeness of God To meet Satan in the Habit of an Angel is not unusual but to see an Angel of God as Priests are called and truly are to be a real Fiend is abominable When therefore thou considerest this dost not thou tremble O my Soul when thou consecratest this Tremendous Sacrament And oughtest thou not to practice the deepest Reverence and to demean thy self humbly and decently because of the Angels who attend thee and because of God whom thou representest Great is the Honour which God gives his Priests and great is their Charge and who is sufficient for these Things A prayer for the Priest before he goes to consecrate out of St. Chrys Liturgy 'TO minister to Thee O thou King of Glory in Holy Offices is a great and terrible undertaking and such as is dreadful to the powers of Heaven but thou acted by thine unspeakeable and Infinite Love becamest our High-priest and being Lord of all things deputed'st men to the Ministry of this Sacrifice Look down upon me a sinful and unfruitful servant of thine cleanse me from an evil Conscience and prepare me by the Powers of thy Holy Spirit to stand before thy Holy Table and to minister thy sacred and uncorrupted body and thy precious Blood turn not thy Face away from me nor reprobate me from the number of thy Children Lord remember me when thou art in thy Kingdom Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under the polluted roof of my Soul but as thou wert pleased to lye down in the Manger among the Beasts and to sit at Meat in the House of Simon the Leper and to receive the Harlot a like sinner to my self when she came unto thee so vouchsafe to make thy entrance into my unreasonable Mind and into my defiled Body which is dead as well as Leprous and as thou didst not abominate the mouth of the Harlot when she kist thy unpolluted Feet so O Lord my God do not despise and abominate me a sinner Pardon blot out and forgive all my sins which I have committed either willingly or unwillingly whether they are sins of Knowledg or Ignorance whether in Deed or in Word or in
made in despight of all the Opposition of the Scribes and Pharisees his implacable Enemies And where O my Soul shouldst thou wish thy self a place but among the Train of this Omnipotent Victor Thou hast been by him raised from a sad estate from being dead in sins and trespasses and whom shouldst thou Love and accompany but thy best Friend I will follow him therefore into the High-priest's Palace and to the Judgment-seat of Pilate I will go with him to Mount Calvary and there I will dye with him but first I will view his Triumphs and admire his Grandeur I will first accompany him to the Jewish Temple and then to the Christian Altar that is to the Cross on which he was Offered as a Lamb without spot and blemish From the East came the Sun of Righteousness to Jerusalem for on that side of the City lay Bethany and rejoyced like a Giant to run his course tho he foresaw he should suffer a dismal Eclipse and in this also he might be likened to the Sun that he appeared greater and shone brighter than ordinary just before his setting 'T was required by the Mosaical Law that every Male should appear at Jerusalem three times a Year nor would Jesus be tho he was exempted from those attendances for thus it behoved him to fulfil all righteousness and in this he was so punctual that the best account which the Christian World hath how long our Savior lived appears from the Evangelists recording how many Passovers he kept The past years of his Life he went up to the House of God in a State of Privacy but now he resolves to approach the City like a Prince that is like himself But where is the Ceremony of this Royal Parade Where is the Gilt Chariot Where the Purple Robes Where are the Armed Lifeguards and where the Retinue of Nobles Is the King of Israel no better equip't than with an Ass and that Ass borrowed Are his most Eminent Courtiers but Twelve poor Galileans most of which were Fishermen and one a Publican And hath he no other Followers but the Multitude the Dregs of the People 'T is no Wonder that at this sight all the People were moved Never was Prince in Exile worse attended And can this be the King of the Jews Is this the Messiah But remember O my soul that all this was Prophecy and no word of God is ever unfulfilled his Poverty was a sign to the Shepherds to know him by at his Birth and the same sign is given to the Holy City at his Death Zech. 9.9 and she is called upon to rejoice and to shout for joy because her King comes to her a just Prince and one that brings Salvation but he comes in a state of Humility riding upon an Ass and a Colt the Fole of an Ass and must God falsifie his Word to comply with our impertinent notions of Greatness And is not the Condescention an Emblem of his Meekness He came into the world to conquer not by the Sword but by the Cross not by fighting but by dying and does not this Ass denote his Contempt of the World and the lowliness of his Mind How mild and good and how benign he should be even to his worst Adversaries Besides it was necessary his first coming into the World should be distinguish't from his second coming to Judgment Nor was this but an addition to his Honour that the first Confessors of the Christian Religion were not many mighty not many wise not the Kings or the Generals or the Philosophers of the World but a few abject and contemptible men rude and unassisted ill-clad and unlearned and yet they converted the World But this is not all see something that compleats the Wonder for could there be a greater instance of my Blessed Saviours Divinity than this That notwithstanding the wariness of the Roman Garison who to secure the Imperial Title to Judea were ready to take Fire upon the notice of a new Kings Arrival as a Competitor of the Government notwithstanding all the Spite Malice and Cunning of the Pharisees Jesus makes this Triumphant Entry preaches in the Temple casts out the Buyers and Sellers and works many Miracles without any disturbance this was certainly the Finger of God and a Specimen of the Divine Power Be not therefore scandalized O my soul this poor Saviour is the Son of God and the Redeemer of the World and his Poverty is his Churches Patrimony and this is the Day which many Kings and Prophets have long'd for but never could see joyn thy self therefore to the Company and sing thy Hosannahs also to the Lord of Life and Glory 'T is shameful to slight thy Saviour when the Multitude admires him Of the People some followed Jesus from Bethany while others met him from Jerusalem both joining together in one Company of which some went before him others followod the Messiah who rode in the midst of them under whom they spread their Garments in they way as was the Custom of many Nations when they entertained their Princes and strowed Flowers and Leaves for so were Monarchs also treated at their Entrance into any City the People meeting them and carrying Lawrel and Roses in their Hands and covering the streets with them by which they testified their acknowledgment and submission to their Sovereigns Authority and probably the Jews coming immediately from Mount Olivet carryed Olive-Branches in their hands as other Nations used to do on such solemnities Emblems of Peace and Union between a Prince and his Subjects and signs how ready great Persons should be to forgive Injuries after which manner they also carried Palms as a good Omen of Victory And all this was done at this time to denote that the true Messiah the King of the Jews was now come to his own City of Jerusalem a Meek and a Compassionate Saviour and ready to triumph over the powers of darkness and all the other Enemies of Mankind To him therefore the people sung their Hosannahs wishing him all happiness and themselves all happy in him Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ' Most acceptable is his Person most welcome is his Reign and Kingdom Hosannah in the highest Let our Shouts reach Heaven 'T is the God who dwells there whom we praise and may that God whose Throne is there make us eternally happy in this Son of his Love Peace in Heaven Glory in the highest the Messiah is come and our Fears are at an end And who would not joyn in Consort to this Heavenly Song 'T is one of the Anthems of the Angels and some of the Entertainment which God's Palace will afford us The joy ought to dilate my soul tho it did not swell my Saviour and this also was another argument that he was the Son of God and the Lord of Glory that this extraordinary reception did not transport him but with the same evenness of temper he enjoys all the various dispensations of
Truth and Reality and not in Appearance so his Humiliation should be attended not by imaginary but by real Witnesses Moses came from his unknown Grave and Elias from the place whither his fiery Chariot had driven him to accompany Jesus on the Holy Mount whence probably they went into Paradise together Moses the great Lawgiver and Elias the representative of the Prophets the one a Man of the meekest Temper the other a Man of the warmest Zeal to assure the World that this Jesus was he of whom Moses and the Prophets spake the Lamb of God and the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah That neither Elias nor Moses nor any other of the Ancient Wondrous Men were deputed to be the Messiah but only the Lord of Glory the Prince of the World and that he came not to destroy the Law which Moses gave and Elias vindicated but to fulfil it Moses and Elias were present with Jesus two of his most immediate Representatives with the great Redeemer both wrought stupendious Miracles both fasted forty days and nights and both convers'd with God in the Mount in the days of their Flesh Nor canst thou O my Soul imagine that these great Persons had this interview without some Conversation and it is very remarkable that they discours'd not of the ineffable Union of the Holy Trinity nor of the Orders of the Holy Angels they discours'd not of the Songs of the Saints nor of the Employment of the Seraphim of the hidden Decrees or the Laws of Providence but of the Sufferings of Jesus at Jerusalem of that very Article of the Christian Faith at which the Apostles were so startled The Holy Redeemer of the World had resolved to carry the Marks of his sufferings with him his Scars and his Wounds when he ascended into Heaven and therefore it could not be absurd for those who dwelt there to discourse of them for they also were Partakers of the Benefits of his Crucifixion Peter as soon as he did awake being all heat had presently forgot the place of his Nativity and of his Residence no longer did he think upon his Wife and Family his Trade and Interests the Mountain with such Company was preserable to all the World in his Opinion and he thought it better to be there than in the Palace of Princes and because he imagin'd that that Holy Society could not subsist without some accomodations he was for having Three Tabernacles built there as if glorified bodies needed earthly Conveniences But his Devotion made Compensation for his Ignorance and his Master construed it as it was a well-meant mistake tho what the Apostle wisht the Piety of succeeding Ages perform'd The devout Mother of the Great Constantine St. Helena built on that Mountain a beautiful Temple to which were added Two Monasteries and so the Tabernacles were erected tho not for the use of the Persons that were concern'd in the Transfiguration for they needed them not but for the benefit of those who were to imitate the meekness and humility of Moses the mortifications and zeal of Elias and the Patience and Obedience of the Holy Jesus And this Piety was a greater Honour to the Church than all that the Apostle could project could have been to himself or that Triumvirate of blessed Persons for irregular and misguided zeal commonly loses its reward as it happened to the Apostle for immediately upon this Proposal Moses and Elias retired to their proper stations and left our Holy Saviour alone And this also had its just reason for presently thereupon came a Voice from Heaven to confirm the Apostles in the belief of their Master telling them that he was the beloved of God and that they ought to hear and to obey him Now had not the Prophets retired there might have been some ground for mistake but when Jesus was alone the voice out of the Cloud could never deceive them This was the most sensible and publick demonstration that a Company of men were capable of and thus begun our Redeemers Glorification on Earth This Transaction was for a while concealed even from our Masters blessed Mother and his brethren to assure us that it would have been of no advantage to the Holy Virgin to have born him had she not believed in him nor to his Kindred to be allyed to him had they not been his Disciples because it is Grace not Nature that makes a Christian but now that Priviledg is conferr'd on all mankind on us of the Gentile World that were without God and without hope that we might be no longer strangers forreigners but fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God God forbid therefore that I should desire to know any thing but Jesus Christ and him Crucified it is the Theme of Angels and Glorified Saints and how can I distrust such a Saviour who in his deepest Humiliation was crown'd with so much Honour This Consideration strengthens my Faith and secures my hope of Everlasting Life For why should I despair while my Saviour is my Friend and hath promis'd to be so till I renounce and forsake him and what should incline me to be so brutish since without him every thing is miserable and in his Company under his Influences a Wilderness is as the Garden of God And how should I long for his Company in Heaven for if while he was here on Earth the Place where he resided was from his occasional residence called Holy as Tabor is called the Holy Mount what preference ought I to give in my Opinion my Esteem my Love to the place of his fixt residence To see him at his Fathers Right Hand is a sight would engage a man to be a Martyr to enjoy it there are Moses and Elias and all the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets there are Peter James and John and all the Glorious Company of the Apostles there is the Noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors and what should hinder but that I a poor Sinner may make one of that blessed Society and sing the Praises of my Saviour with them to Eternity The Collect. HOly Jesus who by thy Humiliation didst not so much debase thy Divinity as magnifie our humane Nature and who in thy lowest State and Condition wert always glorious Grant me thy Grace that I may sequester my self from the World may pray often and fervently and be made partaker of thy influences reveal thy self unto me O my holy Saviour and incline my heart to accept of thee as my Priest my Prophet and my King that I may here enjoy in Hope and Expectation in imitation and wish the society of Saints and of the King of Glory and hereafter may be happy in the Vision of what I now long for and may for ever remain with thee my Blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen Another O Most Glorious Saviour incomprehensible in thine Essence incomparable in thine Attributes and wonderfully Gracious in thy Dispensations to sinners how great is thy goodness and how great is thy