is a Brand of originall fire raked up in the Embers of flesh and blood uncoverd by a naturall inclination blown by corrupt communication quencht with fasting and humiliation It is raked up in the best uncovered in the most and blown in thee O my lustfull soule O turn thy eare from the pleadings of Nature and make a Covenant with thine eyes Let not the language of Dâ—lilah inchant thee lest the hands of the Philistims surprize thee Review thy past pleasures with the charge and paines thou hadst to compasse them and shew me where 's thy pennyworth Foresee what punishments are prepar'd to meet thee and tell mee what 's thy purchase Thou hast batterd away thy God for a lust sold thy Eternity for a Trifle If this bargain may not bee râ—cald by teares dissolve thee O my soule into a Spring of waters If not to bee reverst with price reduce thy whole estate into a Sack cloth and an Ash tub Thou whose â—iver hath scorcht in the flames of lust humble thy heart in the ashes of Repentance and as with Esau thou hast sold thy Birthright for Broth so with Jacob wrestle by prayer till thou get a blessing His Prayer O God before whose face the Angels are impure before whose clear omniscience all Actions appear to whom the very secrets of the hearts are open I here acknowledge to thy glory and my shame the filthinesse and vile impurity of my nature Lord I was filthy in my very conception and in filthines my mothers wombe enclosed me brought forth in filthinesse and filthy in my very innocency filthy in the motions of my flesh and filthy in the apprehensions of my soul my words all cloath'd with filthinesse and in all my actions filthy and unclean in my inclination filthy and in the whole course of my life nothing but a continued filthinesse Wash me O God and make me clean cleanse me from the filthinesse of my corruption Purge me O Lord with Hyssop and create a clean heart within me Correct the vagrant motions of my flesh and quench the fiery darts of Satan Let not the Law of my corrupted members rule mee O let concupiscence have no dominion over me Give me courage to fight against my lusts and give my weaknesse strength to overcâ—me make sharpe my sword against this body of sinne but most against my Dalilah my bosome sin Deliver me from the tyranny of temptation or give me power to subdue it Confine the liberty of my wanton appetite and give me temperance in a sober diet Grant me a heart to strive with thee in Prayer and hopefull patience to attend thy leisure Keep me from the habit of an idle life and close mine eares against corrupt communication Set thou a watch before my lips that all my words may savour of sobriety Preserve me from the vanity and pride of life that I may walke blamelesse in my conversation Protect me from the fellowship of the unclean anâ— from all such as are of evill report Let thy grace O God be sufficient for me to protect my sâ—ule from the buffetings of Sataâ— Make me industrious and diligent in my calling lest the enemy get advantage over mee In all my temptations let mee have recourse to thee Be thou my refuge when I call upon thee Forgive O God the sinnes of my youth O pardon the multitudes of my secret sinnes Encrease my hatred to my former life and strengthen my resolution for the time future Hear me O God and let the words of my mouth be alwaies acceptable to thee O God my strength and my Redeemer The Sabbath-breakers Prophanation THe glittering Prince that sits upon his regall and imperiall Throne and the ignoble Peasant that sleeps within his sordid house of Thatch are both alike to God An Ivory Temple and a Church of Clay are priz'd alike by him The flesh of Buls and the perfumes of My he and â—assia smoak his Altars with an equall pleasure And does he make such difference of dayes Is he that was so weary of the New-Moones so taken with the Sun to tie his Sabbath to that only day The tenth in tithes is any one in ten and why the seventh day not any one in seven We sanctifie the day the day not us But are we Jewes Are we still bound to keepe a legall Sabbath in the strictnesse of the Letter Have the Gentiles no priviledge by vertue of Messiahs comming or has the Evangelicall Sabbath no immunities The service done the day 's discharged my libertie restored And if I meet my profits or my pleasurer then I 'le give them entertainment If businesse call me to account I dare afford a carefull eare Or if my sports invite me I 'le entertaine them with a cheerfull heart I 'le goe to Mattens with as much devotion as my neighbour I 'le make as low obeysance and as just responds as any but as soon as Evensong 's ended my Church-devotion and my Psalter shall sanetifie my Pue till the next Sabbath call Were it no more for an old custome sake then for the good I finde in Sabbaths that Ceremony might as well be spared It is a day of Rest And what 's a Rest A relaxation from the toile of labour And what is labour but a painfull exercise of the fraile body But where the exercise admits no toile there Relaxation makes no Rest What labour is it for the worldly man to compasse Sea and Land to accomplish his desires What labour is it for the impatient lover to measure Hellespont with his widened armes to hasten his delâ—ght What labour for the youth to number musick with their sprightly paces Where pleasure 's reconcil'd to labour labour is but an active rest Why should the Sabbath then a day of rest divorce thee from those delights that make thy Rest Afflict their soules that please my rest shall be what most conduces to my hearts delight Two houres will vent more prayers then I shal need the rest remaines for pleasure His extirpation COnscience why start'st thou A judgement strikes me from the mouth of heaven and saith Whosoever doth any worke on my Sabbath his soule shall be cut off Exod. 31. 14. Exod. 20. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day six dayes shalt thou labour and doe all that thou hast to do but the seventh day c. Exod. 31. 14. Ye shall keep my Sabbath for it is holy unto you Exod. 31. 13. Verily my Sabbaths thou shalt keep for this is a sign betwixt me and you throughout your Generations Luke 23. 56. And they returned and prepared spices and oyntments and rested on the Sabbath day according to the Commandement His Proofs Gregor. Wee ought upon the Lords day to rest from bodily labour and wholly to addict our selves to prayers that whatsoever hath been done amisse the weeke before may upon the day of our Lords resurrection be expiated and purged by fervent prayers Cyr. Alex. Sin is the storehouse of death and misery it
kindles flames for it 's dearest friends Therefore whosoever when he should rest from sin busieth himselfe in the dead and fruitlesse workes of wickednesse and renouncing all piety lusts after such things as will bring him into eternall destruction and everlasting flames justly deserves to die and perish with the damned because when he might have enjoyed a pious rest he laboured to run headlong to his own destruction His Soliloquy MY soul how hast thou prophaned that day thy God hath sanctified How hast thou encroach'd on that which heaven hath set apart If thy impatience cannot act a Sabbath twelve hours what happinesse canst thou expect in a perpetuall Sabbath Is sixe dayes too little for thy selfe and two hours too much for thy God O my soule how dost thou prize temporalls beyond eternalls Is it equall that God who gave thee a body and sixe dayes to provide for it should demand one day of of thee and be denied it How liberall a receiver art thou and how miserable a Requiter But know my soule his Sabbaths are the Apple of his eye He that hath power to vindicate the breach of it hath threatned judgements to the breaker of it The God of mercy that hath mitigated the rigour of it for charity sake will not diminish the honour of it for prophanesse sake sorget not then my soule to remember his Sabbaths and remember not to forget his judgements lest he forget to remember thee in Mercy What thou hast neglected bewaile with conâ—â—ition â—nd what thou hast repenâ—ed forsake with resolution and what thou hast resolved strengthen with devotion His Prayer O Eternall just and all discerning Judge in thy selfe glorious in thy Son gracious who â—â—yest without a witnesse and condemnest without a jury O! I confesse my very actions have betrayed me thy word hath brought in evidence against me my own conscience hath witnessed against me and thy judgement hath past sentence against me And what have I now to plead but mine owne misery and whether should that misery flee but to the God of mercy And since O Lord the way to mercy is to leave my selfe I here disclaim all interest in my selfe and utterly renounce my selfe I that was created for thy glory have dishonoured thy Name I that was made for thy service have prophaned thy Sabbaths I have sleighted thy Ordinances and turned my back upon thy Sanctuary I have neglected thy Sacraments abused thy Word despis'd thy Ministers and despis'd their ministery I have come into thy Courts with an unprovided heart and have drawn near with uncircumcised lips And Lord I know thou art a jealous God and most severe against all such as violate thy Rest The glory of thy Name is pretious to thee and thine honour is as the Apple of thine eye But thou O God that art the God of Hosts hast published and declared thy selfe the Lord of mercy The constitution of thy Sabbath was a work of time but Lord thy mercy is from all eternity I that have broke thy Sabbaths do here present thee with a broken heart thy hand is not shortned that thou canst not heale noâ— thy ear deafned that thou canst not hear Stâ—etch forth thy hand O God and heal my wounds Bow down thine eare O Lord and heare my Prayers Alter the fabrick of my sinfull heart and make it tender of thy glory Make me ambitious of thy service and let thy Sabbaths be my whole delight Give me a holy reverence of thy Word that it may prove a light to my steps and a Lanthorn to my feet Endue my heart with Charity and Faith that I may finde a comfort in thy Sacraments Blesse thou the Ministers of thy sacred Word and make them holy in their lives sound in their doctrine laborious in their callings Preserve the universall Church in these distracted times give her peace unity uniformity purge her of all Schisme error and superstition Let the Kings daughter be all glorious within and let thine eyes take pleasure in her beauty that being honor'd here to be a member of her Militant I may bee glorified with her triumphant The Censorious mans Crimination I Know there is much of the seed of the Serpent in him by his very lookes if his words betray'd him not He hath eaten the Egge of the Cockâ—trice and surely he remaineth in the state of perdition He is not within the Covenant and abideth in the Gall of bitternesse His studied Prayers show him to be a high Malignant and his Jesu worship concludes him popishly affected He comes not to our private meetings nor contributes a penny to the cause He cries up learning and the book of Common-prayer and takes no armes to hasten Reformation He feares God for his owne ends for the spirit of Antichrist is in him His eyes are full of Adulteries and goes a whoring after his owne inventions He can hear an oath from his superiours without reproof and the heathenish Gods named without spitting in his face Wherefore my soule detesteth him and I will have no conversation with him for what fellowship hath light with darknesse or the pure in heart with the unclean Sometimes he is a Publican somtimes a Pharisee and alwayes an Hypocrite He railes against the Altar as loud as we and yet he cringes and makes an Idol of the name of Jesus he is quick-sighted to the infirmities of the Saints and in his heart rejoyceth at our failings he honours not a preaching ministery and too much leans to a Church-government hee paints devotton on his face whilst pride is stampt within his heart he places sanctity in the walls of a Steeple-house and adores the Sacrament with his popish knee His Religion is a Weathercock and turns brest to every blast of wind With the pure he seems pure and with the wicked he will joyne in fellowship A sober language is in his mouth but the poyson of Aspes is under his tongue His workes conduce not to edification nor are the motions of his heart sanctified He adores great ones for preferment and speaks too partially of authority He is a Laodicean in his faith a Nicolaitane in his workes a Pharisee in his disguise a rank Papist in his heart and I thanke my God I am not as this man His Commination BUt stay my soule take heed whilst thou judgest another lest God judge thee how com'st thou so expert in anothers heart being so often deceived in thy own A Saul to day may prove a Paul to morrow Take heed whilst thou wouldst seem religious thou appear not uncharitable and whilst thou judgest man thou be not judg'd of God who saith Iudge not lest ye be judged Mat. 7. 1. Iohn 7. 24. Iudge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgement Rom. 14. 10. But why dost thou judge thy brother or why dost thou set at naught thy brother We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ 1 Cor 4. 5. Iudge nothing before the time untill the Lord
as the merit of thy renowned Actions and let thy memory entaile it to succeeding Generations Make thy owne game and if thy conscience correct thee check thy saucy Conscience till shee stand as mute as metamorphos'd Niobe Feare not the frownes of Princes or the imperious hands of various Fortune Thou art too bright for the one to obscure and too great for the other to cry downe His Verdict BUt harke my soule I heare a voice that thunders in mine eare I will change their glory into shame Hos. 4. 7. Psal. 49. 20. Man that is born in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Prov. 25. 27. It is not good for to eate too much boney so for men to search their own glory is not glory Jer. 9. 23. Thus saith the Lord Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth mee that I am the Lord Gal. 5. 26. Let us not bee desirous of vain-glory c. His Proofes St. August The vain glory of the world is a deceitfull sweetness an unfruitfull labour a perpetuall fear a dangerous bravery begun without providence and finished not without repentance S. Greg. He that makes transitory honour the reward of a good worke sets eternall glory at low rate His Soliloquie VAin-glory is a Froth which blowne off discovers a great want of measure Canst thou O my soul be guilty of such an emptinesse and not bee challeng'd Canst thou appeare in the searching eye of heaven and not expect to be cast away deceive not thy self O my soul nor flatter thy self with thy own greatnesse Search thy self to the bottome and thou shalt find enough to humble thee Dost thou glory in the favour of a Prince The frown of a Prince determines it Dost thou glory in thy strength A poor Ague betrayes it Dost thou glory in thy wealth the hand of a thiefe extinguishes it Dost thou glory in thy friends One cloud of adversity darkens it Dost thou glory in thy parts thy own pride obscures it Behold my soul how like a Bubble thou appearest and with a sigh break into sorrow the gate of heaven is strait canst thou hope to enter without breaking The Bubble that would passe the Floodgates must first dissolve My soule melt then in tears and empty thy self of all thy vanity and thou shalt find divine repletion evaporate in thy Devotion and thou shalt recruit thy greatnesse to eternall Glory His Prayer ANd can I choose O God but tremble at thy judgements or can my stony heart not stand amazed at thy threatnings It is thy voice O God and thou hast spoken it It is thy voice O God and I have heard 〈◊〉 Hadst thou so dealt by me as thou didst by Babels proud King and driven me from the sons of Men thou hadst but done according to thy righteousnesse and rewarded mee according to my deservings What couldst thou see in mee lesse worthy of thy vengeance then in him the example of thy justice Or Lord wherein am I more uncapable of thy indignation There is nothing in me to move thy mercy but in misery Thy goodness is thy selfe and hath no ground but what proceedeth from it self yet have I sinned against that goodnesse and have thereby heaped up wrath against the day of wrath that insomuch had not thy Grace abounded with my sin I had long since bin confounded in my sin and swallowed up in the gulph of thy displeasure But Lord thou takest no delight to punish with thee is no respect of persons thou takest no pleasure in the confusion of thy creature but rejoycest rather in the conversion of a sinner Convert mee therefore O God I shall be then converted make me sensible of my own corruptions that I may see the vilenesse of my own condition Pull downe the pride of my ambitious heart humble mee thou O God and I shall bee humbled Weane mee from the thirst of transitory honour and let my whole delight bee to glory in thee Touch thou my conscience with the feare of thy name that in all my actions I may fear to offend thee endue me O Lord with the spirit of meeknesse and teach me to overcome evill with a patient heart moderate and curb the exorbitances of my passion and give me temperate use of all thy creatures Replenish my heart with the graces of thy Spirit that in al my ways I may be acceptable in thy sight In all conditions give me a contented minde and upon all occasions grant me a gratefull heart that honouring thee here in the Church militant before men I may be glorified hereafter in the Church triumphant before thee Angels where filled with true glory according to the measure of grace thou shalt be pleased to give me here I may with Angels and Archangels praise thy Name for ever and ever The Oppressors Plea I Seeke but what 's my owne by Law It was his owne free Act and Deed The execution lies ◠for goods or body and goods or body I will have or else my money What if his beggerly children pine or his proud wife perish They perish at their own charge not mine and what is that to mee I must be paid or he lie by it untill I have my utmost farthing or his bones The Law is just and good and being ruled by that how can my faire proceedings bee unjust What 's thirty in the hundred to a man of Trade Are we born to thrum Caps or pick straws and sell our livelihood for a few teares and a whining face I thanke God they move mee not so much as a howling Dog at midnight I 'le give no day if heaven it selfe would bee security I must have present money or his bones The Commodities were good enough as wares went then and had he had but a thriving wit with the necessary help of a good merchantable Conscience hee might have gained perchance as much as now hee lost but howsoever gaine or not gaine I must have my mony Two tedious Termes my dearest gold hath laine in his unprofitable hands The cost of Suit hath made me bleed above a score of Royals besides my Interest travel half pints and bribes all which does but encrease my beggerly defendants damages and sets him deeper on my score but right 's right and I will have my money or his bones Fifteen shillings in the pound composition I le hang first Come tell not mee of a good Conscience a good conscience is no parcell of my Trade it hath made more Bankrupts then all the loose wives in the universall City My conscience is no foole It tells mee that my owne 's my owne and that a well-cramm'd bagge is no deceitfull friend but will stick close to mee when all my friends forsake mee If to gaine a good Estate out of nothing and to
for this no day designed but At what time soever If my unseasonable heart should seek him now the work would bee too serious for so green a seeker My thoughts are yet unsetled my fancy yet too too gamesome my judgment yet unsound my Will unsanctified to seeke him with an unprepared heart is the high way not to find him or to find him with unsetled resolution is the next way to lose him and indeed it wants but little of profanenesse to bee unseasonably religious What is once to bee done is long to bee deliberated Let the boyling pleasures of the rebellious flesh evaporate a little and let me draine my boggy soul from those corrupted inbred humors of collapsed nature and when the tender blossomes of my youthfull vanity shall begin to fade my setled understanding will begin to knot my solid judgement will begin to ripen my rightly guided will be resolved both what to seek and when to find and how to prize till then my tender youth in her pursuit will bee disturb'd with every blast of honour diverted with every fâ—ash of pleasure misled by Counsell turned back with feare puzled with doubt interrupted by passion withdrawne with prosperity and discourag'd with adversity His Repulse TAke heed my soule when thou hast lost thy self in thy journey how wilt thou finde thy God at thy journeys end Whom thou hast lost by too long delay thou wilt hardly find with too late a diligence Take time while time shall serve that day may come wherein Thou shalt seek the Lord but shalt not finde him Hos. 5. 6. Esay 55. 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while ne is neare Heb. 12. 17. Hee found no place for repentance though he sought it with tears carefully Thou fool this night will I take thy soule from thee Revel. 2. 21. I gave her a space to repent but shee repented not Behold therefore I will cast her His Proofs Greg. lib. Mor. Seek God whilst thou canst not see him for when thou seest him thou canst not find him seek him by hope and thou shalt finde him by faith In the day of grace hee is invisible but neare in the day of judgement he is visible but far off Ber. Ser. 24. If we would not seâ—k God in vaine lâ—t us seek him in truth often and constantly let us not seeke another in stead of him nor any other thing with him nor for any other thing leave him His Soliloquie O My soul thou hast sought wealth and hast either not found it or cares with it thou hast sought for pleasure and hast found it but no comfort in it Thou soughtest honour and hast found it and perchance fallen with it Thou soughtest friendship and hast found it false society and hast found it vaine And yet thy God the fountaine of all wealth pleasure honour friendship and society thou hast slighted as a toy not worth the finding Be wise my soule and blush at thy own folly Set thy desires on the right objâ—ct Seek wisdom and thou shalt find knowledge and wealth and honour and length of days Seek heaven and earth shall seek thee and deferre not thy Inquest lest thou lose thy opportunity to day thou maist find him whom to morrow thou mayst seek with teares and misse Yesterday is too late to morrow is uncertain to day is onely thine I but my soule I feare my too long delay hath made this day too late fear not my soul he that has given thee his Grace to day will forget thy neglect of yesterday seek him therefore by true repentance and thou shalt finde him in thy Prayer His Prayer O God that like thy precious Word art hid to none but who are lost and yet art found by all that seek thee with an upright heart cast downe thy gracious eye upon a lost sheep of Israel strayed through the vanity of his unbridled youth and wandred in the wildernesse of his own invention Lord I have too much delighted in mine own ways and have put the evil day too far from me I have wallowed in the pleasures of this deceitfull world which perish in the using have neglected thee my God at whose right hand are pleasures for â—vermore I have drawn on iniquity as with cart-ropes and have committed evill with greedinesse I have quencht the motions of thy good spirit and have delayed to seek thee by true and unfained repentance In stead of seeking thee whom I have lost I have withdrawne my self from thy presence when thou hast sought me It were but justice therefore in thee to stop thine eares at my petitions or turn my Prayers as sin into my bosome But Lord thou art a gracious God and full of pity and unwearyed compassion and thy loving kindnes is from generation to generation Lord in not seeking thee I have utterly lost my self and if thou find me not I am lost for ever and if thou find me thou canst not but find me in my sins and then thou find'st me to my owne destruction How miserable O Lord is my condition How necessary is my confusion that have neglected to seek thee and therefore am afraid to bee found of thee But Lord if thou look upon the all-sufficient merits of thy Son thy justice will bee no loser in shewing mercy upon a sinner In his name therefore I present my self before thee in his merits I make my humble approach unto thee in his name I offer up my feeble Prayers for his merits grant me my petitions Call not to minde the rebellions of my flesh and remember not O God the vanities of my youth Inflame my heart with the love of thy presence and relish my meditations with the pleasure of thy sweetnesse Let not the consideration of thy justice overwhelm me in despaire nor the meditation of thy mercy perswade mee to presume Sanctifie my will by the wifdome of thy Spirit that I may desire thee as the chiefest good Quicken my desires with a fervent zeale that I may seeke my Creator in the dayes of my youth â—each mee to seeke thee according to thy will and then bee found according to thy promise that living in mee here by thy grace I may hereafter raign with thee in glory The Hypocrites prevarication THere is no such stuffe to make a cloake on as Religion nothing so fashionable nothing so profitable it is a Livery wherein a wise man may serve two Masters God and the world and make a gainefull service by either I serve both and in both my selfe in prevaricating with both Before man none serves his God with more severe devotion for which among the best of men I work my own ends and serve my self In private I serve the world not with so strict devotion but with more delight where fulfilling of her servants lusts I work my end and serve my self The house of Prayer who more frequents then I in all Christian duties who more forward then I I fast
out of the dunghill give me the knowledge of thy will and teach me how to serve thee Take from me the drowzinesse of my heart open mine eyes that I may see the truth and mine eares that I may understand thy Word and strengthen my memory that I may lay it up in my heart and shew it in my life and vocation to thy glory and my comfort and the comfort of my friends Lord write thy wil in my heart that when I know it I may doe it willingly O teach mee what thy pleasure is that I may doe my best to performe it Give mee faith to lay hold of Christ who died for me that after I am dead I may arise againe and live with him Give me a good heart that I may deale honestly with all men and do as I would be done to Blesse me in my calling and prosper the labour of my hands that I may have enough to feed me and cloath me and to give to the poore Mend all that is amisse in mee and expect from me according to the measure thou hast given mee Forgive mee all my sins and make mee willing to please thee that living a good life I may make a gratious death and so at last I may come to heaven and live for ever for Jesus Christ his sake Amen The slothfull mans slumber O What a world of Curses the eating of the forbidden fruit hath brought upon mankind and unavoidably entail'd upon the sons of men Among all which no one appeares to mee more terrible and full of sorrow and bewraying greater wrath then that insufferable that horrible punishment of labour and to purchase Bread with so extreame a price as sweat But O what hap what happinesse have they whose dying Parents have procured a quiet fortune for their unmolested Children and conveigh'd descended rents to their succeeding heirs whose easie and contented lives may sit and suck the sweetnesse of their cumberless estates and with their folded hands enjoy the delicates of this toilsome world How blessed how delicious are those easie morsells that can finde the way to my soft palat and then attend upon the wanton leasure of my silken slumbers without the painfull practise of my bosome-folded hands or sad contrivement of my studious and contracted Brows Why should I tire my tender youth and torture out my groaning dayes in toyle and travell and discompose the happy peace of my harmonious thoughts with painfull grinding in the common mill of dull mortality Why should I rob my craving eyelids of their delightfull rest to cark and care and purvey for that Bread which every work-abhorring vagabond can finde of Almes at every good mans doore Why should I leave the warm protection of my care-beguiling Doune to play the droyling drudge for daily food when the young empty Ravens that have no hands to worke nor providence but heaven can call and be supplyed The pale fac'd Lilly and the blushing Rose neither spinnes nor sows yet Princely Solomon was never robed with so much glory And shall I then afflict my body and beslave my heaven-born soule to purchase Rags to cloath my nakednesse Is my condition worse then Sheep ordain'd for slaughter that crop the springing grasse cloath'd warme in soft Arrayment purchas'd without their Providence or pains Or shall the Pamper'd Beast that shines with fatnesse and grows wanton through his carefull Groomes indulgence find better measure at the worlds too partiall hands then I Come come let those take pains that love to leave their names inrol'd in memorablemonuments of parchment the day has grief enough without my helpe and let To morrowes shoulders beare to morrows burthens BUt stay my soule O stay thy rash resolves take heed whilst thou avoid the punishment of sin labour thou meet not the reward of idlenesse a judgement The idle foule shall suffer hunger Prov. 19. 15. Eccles. 10. 18. By much slothfulnes the building decayeth and through idlenesse of the hands the house droppeth thorough Exod. 16. 49. Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodome pride fulnesse of Bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters neither did shee strengthen the hand of the poore and needy Prov. 6. 6 7 8. Go to the Pismire O sluggard behold her wayes and be wise For she having no guide governour nor ruler prepareth her meat in Summer and gathereth her food in harvest His Proofes Nilus in Paraenes Idlenesse is the wombe or fountain of all wickednesse for it consumes and wasts the riches and vertues which we have already and disinables us to get those we have not Nilus in Paraen Woe be to the idle soule for he shall hunger after that which his riot consumed His Soliloquy HOw presumptuously hast thou my soul transgrest the expresse Commandement of thy God! How hast thou dasht thy self against his judgements How hath thy undeserving hand usurpt thy diet and wearest on thy back the wages of the painefull soule Art thou not condemned to Rags to Famine by him whose law commanded thee to labour And yet thou pamper'st up thy sides with stollen food and yet thou deck'st thy wanton body with unearn'd ornaments whiles they that spend their daily strength in their commanded callings whose labour gives them interest in them want Bread to feed and Rags to cloath them Thou art no young Raven my soule no Lilly Where ability to labour is there providence meets action and crowns it He that forbids to cark for to morrow denies Bread to the Idlenesse of to day Consider O my soule thy owne delinquency and let imployment make thee capable of thy Gods protection The Bird that sits is a faire mark for the Fowler while they that use the wing escape the danger follow thy calling and heaven will follow thee with his Blessing What thou hast formerly omitted present repentance may redeeme and what judgements God hath threatned early Petitions may avert His Prayer MOst great and most glorious God who for the sin of our first parents hast condemned our fraile bodies to the punishment of labour and hast commanded every one a Calling and a Trade of life that hatest idlenesse as the root of evill and threatnest poverty to the slothfull hand I thy poore suppliant convicted by thy judgments and conscious of my own transgression fly from my self to Thee and humbly appeale from the high Tribunall of thy Justice and seek for refuge in the Sanctuary of thy Mercy Lord I have led a life displeasing to thee and have been a scandall to my profession I have slighted those Blessings which thy goodnesse hath promised to a conscionable calling and have swallowed downe the Bread of idlenesse I have impaired the Talent thou gavest me and have lost the opportunity of doing much goodâ— I have filled my heart with idle imaginations and have laid my selfe open to the lusts of the fleshâ— I have abused thy favours in the misexpending of my precious time and have taken no delight in thy