divers manner of being of one and the same substance and Diviâ— Essence Consider the Divine Essence as tâ— Fountain and Principle not as the Causâ— of the Deity so it is the first person conder it as begotten of the Father so it is tâ— second person consider it as breathed for or proceeding from the Father and the Sâ— so it is the third person begetting and pâ—ceeding respects not the Divine Natuâ— but Person the Divine Nature of the Goâ— head is not begotten doth not proceed but the Divine person of the Son is begâ—ten and the Divine Person of the Hoâ— Ghost proceedeth These Three are 〈◊〉 One in Nature Essence Will Conseâ— Virtue what the One doth the Other do also Yet how in that most simple sinâ— Essence there be several subsistences of Persoâ— truly subsisting three in one and one in thâ—â— differing but not divided several yet tâ— same all one for their Nature all distinâ— for their Persons is a Mystery rather Reveâ— ently to be believed and adored than Curiously searched into Of the Creation GOD in the Beginning of Time by the Word of his Power in Six Dayes made all things of nothing for himself and â—ll very good He made the First Day Heaven and Light The Second The Firmaments The Third Earth Grass Plants and Trees The Fourth Sun Moon and Stars The Fifth Fish and Fowl The Sixth Beasts Creeping Things and Man Thus in three Dayes the Parts or Body of the World was gradually laid As The First Day He made â—he Highest Heavens and came down so low â—s Light The Second lower The Firmaments and the Ayr. The Third lowest of All He separates Earth and Water In three Dayes more and in the same order they are finished For on the Fourth Day The Heavens which were made the First Day are decked with Sun Moon and Stars The Fifth Day the Firmaments which were made the Second Day are fill'd with Fish and Fowl The Sixth Day the Earth which was made the Third Day is Replenished with Beasts and Man He provided for his Irrational and Rational Creatures Habitations and Food before he made them fills the Earth with plants and nourishment before he broughâ— them into it abundantly furnished with aâ— things for necessity and delight He first produced a Rude undigested formless Mass and out of it drew the 〈◊〉 Elements by fetching one contrary out oâ— another as Light out of Darkness Thâ— Firmament out of Emptiness dry Earth out of Water Then the compounded Boâ— dies out of the same Elements At first the confused Heap Then things without Life as Light Firmament dry Land Seasâ— Then things that had Life but no Sense a Grass Herbs Trees Then things thaâ— had Life and Sense but no Reason as Fowâ— Fish Birds Beasts Creeping Things lastly those that had Life Sense and Reason as Man the Perfection and Compendium of all In simple Bodies he began with thâ— most perfect but in mixt Bodies with things more Imperfect Of Providence PROVIDENCE is the constant Influence of the Divine Being upon the whoâ— Creation preserving and upholding the several Beings and Faculties of all his Creatures perpetuating their several kinds bâ— a continual Succession providing theâ—â— agreeable Provision permitting directing and governing their several Motions and Actions to the great end of his own Glory and other ends of their Creation subordiâ—ate to that End It reaches to Insensible (y) Ps 135.7 and 147.18 and 148.8 Mat. 6.30 and Irrational Creatures (z) Psal 36.6 and 104.21 27. and 147.9 Mat. 10.29 â—s more concern'd for Man for whom next to his own Glory â—e made all things (a) Gen. 1.28 Regards Manages and over-rules all things in the World (b) Psa 97.1 and 103.19 Ec. 5.8 Dan. 4.35 â—nd all the Actions of men in â—t whether Natural (c) Act. 17.28 Casual (d) Exod. 21.12.13 1 Sam. 9.16 and 14.42.2 Ch. â—8 33 Ps 16.33 and 18.18 Joh. 1.7 Act. 1.26 Good (e) Ezr. 7.27 Jo. 15.15 or Evil (f) 2 Ch. 10.15 Ez. 14. â— 2 Th. 2.11 Of the Angels ANGELS are Intellectual Spirits created by God good but â—utable (g) Job 4.18 the first day (h) Job 38.7 â—o do his pleasure The good Angels are secur'd from falling â—y Gods unchangeable Decree â—nd Christ their Head (i) 1 Tim. 5 21. Col. 1.20 Eph. 3.15 They â—ave degrees and orders aâ—ong them (k) Col. 1.16 readily execute â—e Will of God especially in praising of him and attending upon his Servants (l) Ps 91.11.12 Mat. 18.10 Heb. 1.14 The Evil Angels were and continued good it 's suppos'd until the seventh day (m) Ge. 1.31 Iâ— their fall they had a Ring leader call'd the Devil Satan the greaâ— Dragon the old Serpent Belzebub thâ— Prince of Devils Ever since their fall they have been Enemies to all Good and promoteâ— of all Evil. Their malice is a gainst all mankind especially those that are most like God (n) Ge. 3.15 Joh. 1.6 c. Zac. 3.1 Re. 12.10.17 their power is limited by him (o) 1 Ki 22.22 Job 1.12 and 2.6 Mat. 8.31 greater over the wicâ—ed than the good (p) Ma. 12.29 2 Tim. 2.26 1 Joh. 4.4 Theâ— present punishment is loss 〈◊〉 Heaven which they see other enjoy utter despair of eveâ— being happy fearful expectation of the dregs of Gods wraâ— for ever which shall coâ—pleat it (q) Mat. 8.29 and 25.4 2 Pet. 2.4 Of Man by Creation MAn was made 1. With Deliberation Consultation and Advice of the Blessed Trinity (r) Ge. 1.26 by God the Father (Å¿) Job 10.8 Psal 100.3 Son (t) Col. 1.16 and Holy-Ghost (u) Job 33.4 none ought to be proud of their Comliness or despise others for their defects or dissatisfied with their own all are Gods workmanship 2. The last work of the last Day as a Compendium of the whole and for whom he found the World furnished to his Hand But hath no reason to boast of his Antiquity the meanest Creature was made before him 3. Out of Paradise shewing he had it not by Birth-right as his natural possession his Country is elsewhere God did him no wrong to dispossess him when he sinned A Land-lord turns out his Tenant that pays not his Rent 4. Of Dust or Red-Earth shewing 1. Gods absolute Authority and Soveraignty as the Potter over the Clay (w) Ro. 9.21 2. Our worthlessness and fitness to be rejected who regards a Clod of Earth 3. The groundless nature of Pride considering the meanness and baseness of our original we 're made of that upon which every Creature may set his Foot and lay his dung which we should always remember especially in our Addresses to our Maker Behold now I have taken upon me to speak who am but Dust and Ashes (x) Gen. 18.27 4. Our frailty and mortality Dust in our original nourishment motion dissolution (y) Job 4.19 5. The power and Wisdom of our Creator who made such
Isa 53.9 Matt. 12.40 â—o sanctifie our Burial to â—weeten and perfume the Grave to us that in the strong Holds and Fortress of Death He might overcome and loose the Sorrows and Bonds of Death (r) Acts 2.24 1 Cor. 15.55 c. V. He Descended into Hell the third Day hâ— Arose again from the Dead Christ so humbled Himself that he was deprived of his Natural Life in the Estate of the Dead and under the Power of Death for Three Days that it might appear he was truly Dead but no longer that his Body might not seâ— Corruption (s) Matt. 12.40 17.23 John 2.19 Acts 2.31 He arose the third Day being the First Day of the Week for our Justification and quickening iâ— Grace as our Head as a Pledge and Means of our Resurrection as an Evidence Divine Justice was fully satisfied the Deâ— paid in that the Judge released him out oâ— Prison VI. He ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty Having continued upon Earth forty Day after his Resurrection to assure his Disciple of it and instruct them in all things pertaining to their Preaching the Gospel Having finished his Work on Earth over come and Triumphed over His and our Enemies Before many Witnesses he was â—isibly taken up into Heaven where in â—ur Nature and as our Head he is Advanâ—ed by the Father to the Height of all Majesty Power Dominion Honour Digâ—ity and Glory next unto Himself Haâ—ing Authority to Rule as King over all â—â—ings in Heaven and Earth making Conâ—nual Intercession for us that for his Pleâ—ary Satisfaction all his Members Persons â—nd Services may be accepted of God who â—eing the Father Almighty is both Willing â—nd Able to grant the same VII From Thence He shall Come to Judge the â—ick and the Dead At the last Day He â—all Descend from Heaven in great Power â—â—d Glory when He shall sit upon his â—hrone and all then alive and that Dyed â—efore shall be summon'd and stand before â—im and be Judged by the Law of Nature â—d Covenant of Grace When Sentence â—all be pronounced of Absolution to the â—â—ghteous first then of Conâ—mnation upon the Wickâ— (t) Mat. 25.41 c. VIII I Believe in the Holy Ghost Or Holy â—irit who proceedeth or is as it were â—â—eathed forth from the Father and the Son Who Inspired the Prophets and Apâ— stles works in us and assists us in thâ— which is good IX The Holy Catholick Church the Communiâ— of Saints I Believe that Christ hath a Sâ—ctified People Dispersed through and â—â—parated from the Rest of the World stylâ— the Catholick General or Universal Churâ—â— Called out of an Estate of Sin and Miseâ—â— into an Estate of Grace and Salvation aâ—â— Engaged to Holiness in Heart and Lifâ— Being that Body whereof Christ is tâ— Head Militant on Earth Triumphant Heaven X. The Forgiveness of Sins I believe theâ— is Pardon to be obtained Reconciliatiâ— to an offended God and Satisfaction maâ— to a Just God a Discharge from the Gâ— of all Sin Acquittance from the Challeâ— of the Law and Constituting us Righted before God through the Undertaking aâ— Merits of our Redeemer for all who Râ—pent forsake their Sins Believe in him aâ— thankfully subject themselves to all the Pâ—cepts of the Gospel XI The Resurrection of the Body I Belieâ— that at the Day of Judgment there shâ—â— be a general Resurrection both of the Jâ— â—â—d Unjust Their Bodies raised up and united to their Souls 1. The Just the Spirit of Christ and by virtue of Resurrection their Union with him as â—â—eir Head and as their Merciful Saviour â—â—d Redeemer Their Bodies shall be raiâ—â— Spiritual Incorruptible and like unto 〈◊〉 Glorious Body out of their Beds of â—â—st with great Joy and Triumph to be â—own'd with Everlasting Glory and shall â—â—ne as the Sun in the Firmament 2. The â—dies of the Wicked shall be raised in dishoâ—ur by him as an offended Judge and all come forth as out of their Prisons â—th great Fear and Trembling Horrour â—â—d Astonishment as so many Malefactors 〈◊〉 Execution as so many ugly loathsom â—rcasses to look upon Their Faces gaâ—ering Blackness and Darkness They shall â—ise to Everlasting Shame and Confusion of â—â—ce as well as to Everlasting Condemnation â—â—d Torment XII And the Life Everlasting I Believe there a future State after this Life of Endless appiness or Misery according to mens â—â—oce here of Good or Evil Life or Death â—hich God hath set before them either to â—â—turn and live or go on and perish everâ—stingly Amen I thereby acknowledge and â—â—fess stedfastly to believe the undoubâ— Truth and Certainty of this Creed in â—â—neral and of every Article thereof in â—â—ticular and to live answerable to this â—â—lief The Ten Commandments THey are a perfect Platform Summaâ— or Abridgement of the Law of Natâ— or Moral Law at first writ on Man's Heaâ— expounded by the Prophets and Apostâ— and are divided into Two Tables The 1 â—â—spects our Duty immediately to God whâ—â— to be worshipped for the true God in wâ—â— manner how we are to use and honâ—â— his Name the set Time of his publick Wâ—â—ship The Summ of this Table is Thou shâ—â— love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart 〈◊〉 with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind I 2 respects our neighbour his Honour a Dignity Life Chastity Wealth good Naâ—â— Propriety The Summ of this is Thou shâ—â— love thy Neighbour as thy self or whatsoeâ—â—â— you would that Men should do you do you e ven so to them this is the Law and the â—â—phets (v) Matt. 7.12 and 22 37 39. For understanding Them we must â—â—serve 1 The Law is Spiritual read the Powers of the Soul as well as Action of the Body 2 Where any Duty is â—â—manded the contrary Sin is forbidden 〈◊〉 where any Sin is forbidden the contraâ—â— Duty is commanded 93. In all Duties â—â—manded and Sins forbdden all of the â—e kind together with all the Causes â—â—ans Occasions Appearances Provocatiâ—â— thereunto are also commanded and forâ—â—en 4 What 's forbidden and comâ—â—ded our selves we ought to endeavour â—ay be avoided and eprformed by others Thou is used in every PRecept shewâ—â— God speaks to All and to all alike to â—â—y one in particular as if he named him Name â—he Preface contains the Reasons of our â—â—ing them â—s 1. His Surpeam Soveraignty over I am the Lord so we owe him all â—â—dience as we are his Creatures and Subâ—â— His Interest and Propreity inus Thy 〈◊〉 particular Engagern ent and Enâ—â—ment In such a manner as to none â—â—rs by taking us into Covenant a â—â—al Relationto himvelf His redeeming and delivering us out â—â—hraldom Which brought thee out of â—â—nd of Egypt A Place h of Servitude 〈◊〉 by how much Sin is worse than Suffering the Devil and his Angels power aâ—â—malice surpasses Pharaoh's and his Taâ—â— masters everlasting Troments in Hell â—â—ceed Temproal pains in the Brick-kill Fâ—nace
universal Refuge But the goodly price of a Death-Bed-Repentance at which God is prized by most even then when Religion is at the lowest is rejected with Indignation and the Everlasting State purchased by it may be sadly called an Aceldama a Field of Blood It 's in vain to ask whether God cannot save a Man after a vitious life since his own Will seems to restrain his Power that he will not save men without a recovery to Holiness He is Holy Just and True as well as Mercifull The same word that informs us He is mercifull and gracious likewise tells us He will by no means clear the guilty (m) Ex. 34.6 7. That if we live after the flesh we shall die (n) Rom. 8.13 That He cannot lye nor deny Himself I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord wherefore turn your selves and live (o) Ez. 18.34 Implying except we turn to him his Mercy will do us no good What Reason have we to expect it which we have used to evil purposes and his dishonour that he should work Miracles for us while we despise the means Cause the Sun to stand still for us because we have trifled away our day Turn Stones into Bread for us who have been slothful and are ready to perish That he should stand ready for us with that grace at last which we have so long refused and rejected God is as peremptory for the Time and Season as for the Duty it self There 's a Time when he will not be found nor accept our Offering The Day of Grace lasteth not so long as the Day of his Patience The fruitless Fig-tree stood still in the Vineyard uncut down but presently withered away under that fatal Curse Never fruit grow on thee more (p) Matt. 21.12 Though he will pardon the Infirmities of the sincere yet there 's a certain Period set for the return of Sinners beyond which all their Industry is ineffectual (q) Gen. 6.3 Isa 6.9 10. Ez. 24.13 Rom. 11.8 Rev. 22.11 Jerusalem neglected the day of her Visitation and the things of her Peace were irrevocably hid from her Eyes Esau found no place of Repentance in his Father though he sought it carefully with Tears The foolish Virgins saw and were troubled that they wanted oil and endeavoured after it but too late the door was shut and no knocking powerfull enough for their admission The design of the Parable of the Vineyard (r) Matt. 20.1 c. so grosly abus'd where those that went into it at the last hour were rewarded equally with those that bore the burden and heat of the day was to teach the Jews that though God had chose them first to be his People yet at the Eleventh hour i e. in Gospel Times or end of the World He would call in accept of and reward the Gentiles as largely as they notwithstanding their repining and murmuring at this his Grace and Mercy the Reward being to all of Grace and not of Debt At least it 's no Advantage or Encouragement to those that are early call'd upon and ingaged yet refuse and delay coming in till old Age Adjourn their serving God to their going out of the World for those that went in at the Eleventh hour a time rather to discharge than admit Servants were not call'd before but found standing idle because no man had hired them And for the Thief upon the Cross that hath stole away so many Souls for the Devil it 's a bare Example Lu. 23.33 c. not confirm'd by any Premise It 's a fingle Example without a parallel in the whole Word of God It 's an extraordinary Example ranked among the Miracles Christ wrought when he left the World It 's an Example impertinently alledg'd to warrant delay in us who have the sound of the Gospel continually in our Ears yet wretchedly cheat our selves of the Remedy of our miserable Condition by adjourning the use of it to a late and uncertain Futurity which seldom or never succeeds well Vain Men to conclude an Vniversal Law from one single Instance a personal Grace and Privilege extended to that one Person that stood close to that Sacrifice that was offering it self up to God when the Conqueror was Triumphing over Principalities and Powers and making a shew of them openly upon the Cross Col. 2.15 and displaying the Power of the dying Mediator to forgive Sins in his lowest Humiliation The Scriptures that are an History of more than Five Thousand years have but this one Instance of one accepted upon a Death-Bed-Repentance and in that such an extraordinary Conjunction of Circumstances as will never fall out again No man professing Christianity hath any Reason to expect to fare as this Thief did till Christ come into the World and suffer again and that between two Thieves and he be alive at that time and place where he suffers and be one of the Thieves and the good one too exercising so many Acts of a true Repentance and lively Faith in Christ when probably first preached to him when he saw him in so despicable a state amidst insulting Infidels under all the Infamy and Misery of a shamefull and painfull Death and nothing to make such a greatness as he ascribed to him probable which will never be They dreadfully mistake themselves that crowd up Repentance into so narrow a Room as a Sick-Bed when men have scarce time to reckon up all the particular Duties that make it up That imagine the Tree that hath been always Barren should bring forth good Fruit now it is a cutting down That a man should live a life of Holiness when he is just a dying That a weak infirm Person of disabled disturbed faculties should build that in Three days which others notwithstanding all their Abilities and Diligence find hard enough to do in Forty years That those who have had the knowledge of God and been call'd upon all their lives to give up themselves to him should be accepted when they pour out to him instead of the generous Spirits of life the Lees and Dregs of it When the Blood cools in the Veins and the Spirits are ready to stand still the Season of the Pleasures of Sin are over and a man is no longer to live where they are to cast himself upon Religion when there 's nothing else to vie with it when all things else fail That he must take us in at Night though he hath in vain stretched out his hand to us all the day long As if this state were prepared only for a Stage for Men to act their Vices and Exorbitances upon and then God should remove them to Heaven that have but just begun to acknowledge him by some weak Devotion extorted even out of Necessity and given the Bulk of their Time to Sin That have sacrificed the Male of their Flock to Lust and even with impious Designs kept the corrupt thing for him That the easie Yoak the
a Curious piece out of such indisposed mean materials The Woman was made of Man so of the same dust mould and model of a reasonable immortal Soul stampt with the same Image of God In the same Spiritual Condition Subject to the same Lord bound to the same Law Capable of the same Felicity and by Sin liable to the same Punishment The Happiness of his Estate consisted in his Being 1. Made after the Image and likeness of God in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness Enjoying uninterrupted Peace and Communion with him 2. In Paradise a Place of God's own planting So delightfull as is set out by it not only the pleasantest goodliest places on Earth tho' the whole Earth was Garden-like in Comparison of what it is now (z) Gen. 13.10 Isa 51.3 but Heaven it self (a) Luc. 23.43 Rev. 2.7 3. Made Ruler over all the Creatures (b) Gen. 1.26 Psal 8.6 who submitted to him to be Governed and Ruled by him at his pleasure (c) Ge. 2.19 20. In this Estate God Entered with him into a Covenant of Works i. e. God's gracious Agreement with Adam as the Head of and all his Posterity to give them Eternal Life and Happiness upon Condition of Personal Perfect Perpetual Obedience by that strength wherewith God had endowed Him in his Creation to which he left him This Covenant was 1 an Act of Condescension Grace and Favour not of Debt for God as Creator might have dealt with him only in a way of Soveraignty and required obedience without promising a Reward which Adam could not have expected by perfect obedience having but done his Duty 2. an Agreement with him that he should obey the Moral Law written in his Heart which was the general Rule of his obedience and the positive Law of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil thou shalt not Eat which was the special Trial of it 3. with all his posterity which appears from the miserable Event of Adam's breaking this Covenant both as to the guilt filth and punishment (d) Psal 51.5 John 3.5 c. Rom. 5.12 c. 1 Cor. 15.21 c. Eph. 2.3 And by God's usual way or course in all other Covenants i. e. To take in Head and Members Root and Branch The second Adam and his Posterity (e) Gen. 3.15 Noâ— ah (f) Gen. 9.9 Abraham (g) Gen. 17.7 8. David (h) 2 Sam. 7.16 Israel (i) Isa 59.21 Acts 2.39 Their Seed and their Seeds seed 4. To give them Eternal Life or the continuance of them in that good Estate under the Threatning of Death for Disobedience was promised Life for Obedience assured and confirmed by the Treâ— of Life The Tree of Knowledge was so called noâ— from the Nature of the Tree but fault of Eating In respect of 1 God's Command Things are therefore Good or Evil because he allows or forbids them 2. The Event oâ— Eating Thereby he should experimentally know to his sorrow Good by the loss of it and Evil by the feeling of it Eating of it self was not Morally or Intrinsecally Evil only in respect of God's prohibition which was for 1. Clearer Discovery of his Absolute Soveraignty over Man and Trial of his Obedience and Subjection Whether he would obey meerly because God commanded 2. Greater Aggravation of Man's Sin if he should offend in so small a matter so easie to be obey'd Especially having Liberty to Eat of all the Trees else So directly against God's Authority by doing that which was to be forborn meerly because He had forbidden it Of the Fall of Man OUR First Parents being left to the freedom of their own Will through the Temptation of Satan Sinned in Eating the Forbidden Fruit. And thereby lost their Innocency Paradise Communion with and the Favour of God brought a Curse upon the Earth became Slaves of Satan lay under the Curse of the Law Died the same day they sinned In their 1. Souls Dead spiritually to all good 2. Bodies In Respect of the Desert guilt sentence and inevitable Necessity of Dying Contracted Dead in Law as a Condemned man is before Execution They then became Mortal Dissolving by degrees Liable to the Symptoms and Harbingers of Death 3. Bodies and Souls being then under the Arrest of God's Justice Wrath and Curse liable to Eternal Death the Wages of Sin (k) Rom. 6.23 The Hainousness of the Sin appears by confidering 1. The Person that sinned Adam an Innocent Happy Publick Person 2. Against whom the great Creator and Soveraign of all the World 3. The Time when the same Day as supposed He was created and commanded 4. The Place where in Paradise where God familiarly conversed and entered into Covenant with him where no Sin Sorrow or Want was 5. The Penalty threatned upon the Breach and the Promise implied 6. The great Ease and Facility of keeping it In it was Incredulity Diffidence Pride Ambition vain Curiosity Ingratitude Idolatry Contempt of God's Word and Soveraignty Rebellion Murther Intemperance Theft Discontent with their present Condition assenting to false Witness unworthy Accusations against God the Transgression of the whole Law of Nature Adam being the Root Representative and Head of all Mankind being in his loins the Guilt Corruption and Defilement of this Sin is imputed and convey'd to all his Posterity descending from him by ordinary generation and is called Original Sin because 1. We have it from our first Parents the Original of all Mankind 2. 'T is in us from our Original as soon as we have a Being 3. 'T is the Original of all other Sins Of Man's Recovery ALL Mankind being fallen into an Estate of Sin and Misery by the Breach of the First Covenant and unable to help themselves God out of his meer Love Mercy and Compassion for recovering and restoring us to his Favour makes another Covenant with us through a Mediator wherein he promises us Grace Glory and all good things and obliges us to Repentance and Faith 1. Repentance i. e. A sincere Sorrow for and forsaking of all our Sins Or a thorough Change of our Mind and Purpose of Heart and Life from Evil to Good 2. Faith i. e. Such an unfeigned Belief of all that God hath revealed as engages us to a sincere Endeavour to do all that he hath commanded Firmly to rely on all his Promises and faithfully to obey all his Commands Or an Acceptance of our Mediator as he is offered unto us in the Gospel as our Priest Prophet and King not only to Satisfie and Intercede with God but to Teach and Guide Rule and Govern us This Mediator is the Second Person in the Trinity who being true God became true Man by taking upon him our Nature God and Man united in One Person That so having Interest in both he might be a a fit Mediator or middle Person to reconcile and bring together God to Man and Man to God whom Sin had separated The God-head did not assume a Humane Person for then
upon him as Children on a Father 1 With Filial Affections of Reverence Love Submission Gratitude dependance on his All-sufficiency and willingness to help Fatherly Goodness and Compassion and our Interest therein towards us that he loves us as his Children who is more ready to hear us than any Earthly Parent their dearest Off-spring (z) Lu. 11.13 and persorms all the parts of a Father in a higher and more excellent Degree as far as Heaven is above Earth 2 With an Universal Charity for others He being a common Father by Creation Regeneration Provision to all his Children That they all pray for us and that it 's our bounden Duty to pray for them as well as for our selves As the word Our minds us of that Relation between us and them so Father of that Relation between him and us Both express our Faith and total plenary Reliance on him as ours and without whom we can hope for nothing Which art in Heaven Not that he is excluded from Earth or included in Heaven or any place who filleth all (a) Jer. 23.24 whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain (b) 1 King 8 27. But there 1 is his Throne (c) Isa 66.1 where he Rules and Over-rules all things in Heaven and Earth and from thence sends down his Mercies and Judgments 2. He more eminently manifests and communicates his Love Goodness and Glory So it teaches us to draw near unto him with 1 all Holy Reverence and Humility because of his excellent Majesty so high above us we wretched Creatures being as Worms crawling upon the Earth and he sitting in great Majesty in the highest Heavens (d) Eccl. 5.2 2 Holy Confidence he being both ready and able to do all things whatsoever he will for us (e) Ps 115.3 3 Zeal and Fervency with our Hearts and our Hands lifted up unto God in the Heavens (f) La. 3.41 Hallowed be thy Name Here acknowledging the inability and indisposition that is in us and all Men to honour God aright we pray that God would Glorifie and Magnifie himself in the World by directing and disposing all things for his own Glory and remove whatsoever hinders it That as he is glorious in himself he may be declared known and owned so by all Men. Incline and inable us and all Men to acknowledge and highly esteem him his Attributes Ordinances Word and Works and to glorifie him in Thought Word and Deed by confessing and forsaking our Sins which rob him of his Glory by admiring and adoring him in his glorious Perfections by believing loving obeying his Word attending on him in his Ordinances magnifying him in his Works using his Creatures for his Glory sincere Endeavours to promote it preferring it before our own Interest Thy Kingdom come By Kingdom is meant not so much that Universal Soveraignty which as Creator he exercises over all his Creatures disposing them all to their proper Ends for his own Glory as King of Nations (g) Ps 95.3 as his special governing ruling his Church and all things for the good of it as King of Saints (h) Re. 15.3 so that acknowledging our selves and all Mankind to be by Nature under the Dominion of Sin and Satan we here Pray that his Kingdom 1 of Power and Providence may be manifested and made apparent that all things are guided by him That he would govern all Creatures both in the Natural course of things and in the Civil and Domestical Government of Men as may best serve his own Glory and his Churche's good 2 Of Grace may be erected the exercise of his Spiritual Regal Power in our Hearts advanced and enlarged the Power of Sin whereby Satan hath Dominion may be subdued and destroyed in us and others all the world over That he would set up his Throne Reign in our Hearts bring us into intire Allegiance unto himself 3 Of Glory may be hast'ned when all his Subjects shall be Crowned all his and their Enemies vanquished Thy Will be done Here acknowledging our inability and unwillingness to know and do his Will our proneness to repine and murmur against it we Pray as to the will of his 1 Providence or that which he doth with us and to us that our selves and others may patiently submit to it chearfully comply with it and thankfully accept of it 2 Precept or that which he requires of us that our selves and others may have all blindness weakness indisposedness and perversness taken away and may be inclin'd inabled and made willing to know and understand obey and do it on Earth as it is in Heaven by Saints and Angels voluntarily and chearfully without Constraint or Repugnancy readily and speedily without delay sincerely without Hypocrisie Zealously without Indifferency Impartially without Reservation Constantly without Intermission Give us this Day our daily Bread Wherein we acknowledge 1 We have forfeited our Right unto and deserve not the least Crum of Bread nor can procure it or be refreshed by it without him whatsoever or whosoever be the Instruments to convey it he gives it us and blesses it to us else it becomes unholy polluted Bread hurtful to us 2 Our daily dependance on his fatherly Care and Providence without being over-solicitous for to morrow or superfluities desiring for our selves and others only a daily Allowance of necessaries agreeable to our nature charge and station as he sees meet for us with our purpose every day in the use of Lawful means and by Thankfulness for what we have commiting our ways to him to seek at his Hands that we may enjoy them as gifts of his Fatherly love a sanctified use of and Contentment with our Allowance without Envying others Plenty seeing God gives to whom and what he will 3 That we must possess and use every Creature as from God and to him Else our own Prayers will condemn us if we be beholden to Satan any unlawful means for Bread or use the good things we ask against the Giver of them 4 That God's Children ought not to desire other Mens Bread That none Eat their own Bread but They our Bread is that which comes to us by his Blessing on our Honest Endeavours so that God nor Man can Implead us for it That 's woful Bread which comes not from Him And forgive us our Trespasses We Here Pray That God for his Mercy for his Son's sake would Pardon all our Sins and afford us the Conditions Evidences and Effects of it i.e. Faith and Repentance and keep us from whatsoever may obstruct the same As we forgive them that Trespass against us Which is 1 A prevalent Argument to press him to Pardon us we plead notfrom Merit but from the Model of God's Mercy and Grace in us which being Infinitely Inferiour to that in him yet disposing us to forgive may both move his Compassion towards us and assure us of it If we wretched Creatures can forgive others much more will the Father of Mercies forgive us 2 A
Service of Christ into the Communion of Saints Keep them from the Loss or Injury of any Sence or Member from every sad Accident from Evil Temptations or Examples prevailing upon them from being useless unprofitable or vitious that they prove not a Curse but a Blessing and Comfort to us and others and attain what thou hast promised to those that Honour and Obey thee and their Parents and not provoke thee to visit the Iniquity of their Fathers upon them Give us grace to carry our selves so as we may be able with Confidence so leave our Fatherless Children with thee and bid them trust in Thee O thou that hast sent forth thine Angels for Ministring Spirits to the Heirs of Salvation give them Charge over us and them for Preservation and Safety thorough Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Childrens Duties LOve and Honour your Parents in your Thoughts Speeches and Behaviour be they never so mean in the World or Understanding though you cannot as Rich Wise or Religious you must as Parents Think not contemptuously of them speak not dishonourably irreverently saucily to them or of them Deride not their failings or miscarriages but conceal lament cover them Bear with their Infirmities of Mind and Body when old Age makes them Troublesome to others let them not be so to you Carefully lay up all their wholsome Precepts Imitate them in all that 's good while they live and when they are dead Remember what Grief of Mind your Miscarriages will be to them and how much your Happiness will be theirs Make not their lives miserable by undoing your selves Bear with them when froward and twice Children as they did with you when you were theirs Murmur not but willingly and thankfully be instructed and reprehended by them Obey them in all lawfull things Chearfully submit to any labour they injoyn you or Correction they lay upon you Be content with their Allowance and Provision for you and disposal of you Marry not without their Consent Children are so much their Parents Goods and Possessions that they cannot without a kind of Theft give away themselves without their Approbation that have a Right in them If they be in want relieve and maintain them and that not as Servants or Inferiours but Superiours See they fare as well or better than our selves Though you got not your Riches by them you can never requite them for what you have received of them Pray and do what in you lies for their Health and Life Peace and Comfort Remember how much you owe them for all their Cares and Fears their Cost for you and pains with you Be far from those who imbrue their Souls in bloody Wishes for their Parent 's Death Though they wish them in Heaven it 's not so much that they may have Ease and Rest at their Journey 's End as because they must needs take Death in the way If long Life be promised as a Reward for honouring Parents such may expect untimely Death as a Punishment on the contrary Reverence Kindness and loving Respects to them never went unrecompensed even in this Life Their Prayer MOst Merciful and Heavenly Father who Invitest little Children to come unto Thee and lovest those that do O take me into the Arms of thy Mercy and Bless me who am dedicated to thee in Baptism Make me always mindful of my Vow and Promise to forsake the Devil and all his works to believe in thee and to serve thee to be Dutiful Obedient and Thankful to my Parents and Instructers Humble Reverent and Meek to my Superiors gentle sober and Temperate all my Dayes Keep and defend me from all Evil lead me into all Good Bless me and my Parents O my Heavenly Father The longer I live the better let me be Let me increase in Wisdom and Stature and favour with thee and men to the Glory of thy great Name the Delight of my Relations my own Happiness in this World and that which is to come thorough Jesus Christ in whose Holy Name and Words I further Pray Our Father which art in Heaven c. Another MOst Gracious and Merciful Father who madest preservest and providest all Necessaries for me Pardon whatever I have done amiss and grant I may do so no more Give me Grace to obey Thee and my Parents to be helpful and a Comfort to them Keep me from slighting of them Irreverence Undutifulness Disobedience to them Let me never forget or slightly Remember my many Bonds and Obligations of Duty Obedience and Thankfulness to them their Sorrows Pains and Care for me that I may never make their Hearts sad or bring down their grey hairs with Sorrow to the Grave Increase the Number of their Dayes and thy Graces in them to thy Glory in their Generation Watch over us for good all our Dayes through Jesus Christ who hath Taught me when I Pray to say Our Father which art in Heaven c. The Masters Duties LEt your first Care be to admit none into your Service but such as will serve God with you (y) Ps 101.4 c. A wicked Person is a dangerous Infection in a Family Disobedience is from Irreligion There can be no true Fidelity and Subjection but out of Conscience Keep your Servants from Evil Company and from being Temptations to one another Watch over them for their good Encourage the Obedient Rebuke convince admonish the Contrary so as their own Consciences may Condemn them without Bitterness Reviling Sharpness which oftner hardens than Reforms Defend and Protect them in doing their Duty Bear them not out in wronging any but right them when they are wronged Refuse not their just Apologies Hearken to and Redress their Grievances (z) Job 31.13 Deny not necessary wholsom sufficient Food and Rayment if the Contract be so Physick Lodging Wages Think not much of maintaining them when by Providence disabled from serving you Oppress them not with too much Labour Let your Commands be lawful feasable necessary convenient that they may Obey with chearfulness Your Reproofs and Admonitions short plain material prudent sober private seasonable familiar with good Advice according to their different Tempers when it 's most like to do good and to convince them of it with such winning Mildness and Concern as they may see you 're more ingag'd for their welfare than themselves Rule with Wisdom and Discretion Love Gentleness Tenderness not Rigour and Severity Looking on them not as Slaves but fellow Pilgrims fellow-Servants fellow-Christians and Brethren (a) Phil. 1. Knowing you have also a Master in Heaven (b) Ep. 6.9 Col. 4.1 An austere Master makes Eye-Servants his Person hated his Business neglected No Servant will do his Duty except out of Conscience or Love to his Master Fairness sweetens Advice and purchases Love without which there can be no true Fidelity and Respect Constraint is for Extremity when all other ways fail Let your Corrections be prudent moderate unpassionate joyn'd with Instruction proportionable to the Person 's
Temper and hainousness of the Crime Forgive them often in things not sinful Take not notice of every small Offence Passion makes Severity look like Revenge Reforms not but provokes and exasperates Be rather lov'd than fear'd a Master than a Tyrant a Lion in thy Family Let your Dominion be that of the Soul over the Body not for its hurt but help advantage edification guidance and instruction Reward allure them praise them openly reprehend them secretly Be chearful and pleasant with them that they may love not avoid or be weary of your Company Have a great care of your Carriage Nothing will please from one whose Person is distasted Give them good Example by a Prudent Pious Honest unblameable Conversation which much tends to the bettering of them and maintaining your Respect Esteem Authority over them Betray not your Natural weaknesses by Passion or Imprudent words and deeds Command your selves if you expect they should obey you Suffer not that in your selves which you discountenance in Them Conscience of our own Crimes Choaks the Accuser and not like to amend the Offender An Inferior cannot but stoop in Heart to that Superior in whom God's Image appears The heaviest work is made light by seasonable enjoyning it As much as possible settle a constant order in your Family and of your Business that every ordinary work may know its Time and Confusion and Distraction may not shut out or hinder Godliness which is much furthered and made easie by skill and foresight Be in your Family as a Prophet to Teach and Instruct them as a King to govern and take care of them as a Priest to offer up the daily Sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving with and for them Always Remembring who hath committed them to your Charge and that at your Hands it will be Required His Morning Prayer with his Family MOst Holy and Infinitely glorious Lord God who art in thy self a Consuming Fire but in thy Son a Reconciled Father We desire in all Humility to Prostrate our Souls before thee acknowledging our selves far less than the least of all thy Mercies unworthy to breath in thy Air to tread upon thy Earth to lift up our eyes to Heaven to have any thing to do with thee in a way of Grace and Mercy Thou hast nourished and brought us up and we have Rebelled against thee Requited thee Evil for Good and Hatred for thy good will It 's a wonder of thy Patience and Forbearance that we are alive before thee Praying unto thee and Praising of thee and not spending a sad Eternity in that place of Torment from whence there is no Redemption O glorifie thy Mercy in the Pardoning and Saving of us and not thy Justice in our Destruction Justifie us freely by thy Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ and sanctifie us by thy Holy Spirit Let the time past of our lives be too too much that we have been so Careless in serving thee and saving our Souls for the Time to come let us work out our Salvation with fear and trembling and give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure And in our several Relations and Places give us Grace to behave our selves as becomes thy Children and Servants with Care and Conscience and Soberness of Mind as having thy Law writ upon our Hearts and thy fear always before our Eyes and a sence of thine Omniscience and Omnipresence that thine Eye runs too and fro through the whole Earth that thou art the Witness and wilt be the Judge of all our Thoughts Words and Actions And seeing thou hast been pleased to Encourage us to our Duty by many great and precious Promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in thy fear Let this be our great Care notwithstanding all Temptations that we never leave thee nor forsake thee and this our great Comfort in all Conditions that thou hast said thou wilt never leave us nor forsake us Let us not be weary of well-doing knowing in due season we shall reap if we faint not Let the End of our Dayes be often at the End of our Thoughts Give us Grace so to live now as we shall wish we had done when we come to Die that then we may be able to Reflect upon a well-spent life and on good Grounds to resign up our Souls into thy Hands as into the hands of a Faithful Creator and Merciful Redeemer Remember all Mankind in much Mercy Send thy Gospel where it is not Preached make it very successful where it is Pardon our Crying Sins in these Three Nations Reform our wicked Lives Continue our forfeited Mercies prevent our deserved Judgments Let our Soveraign and all our Magistrates be Terrors to Evil Doers Incouragers of those that do well Make the Ministers of thy Gospel faithful painful religious their labours successful Let all our Relations be related to thy self and all thine afflicted Servants relieved by thee according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies We Praise thee for our last Night's Preservation and Refreshment and for all the Instances of thy Goodness to us all our Dayes Go along with us this Day Bless us in all our ways preserve us from all Evil especially from the Evil of Sin Work in us a greater Care of pleasing and fear of offending thee that living this Day and all our Dayes in thy fear we may dye in thy favour thorough thy Son who hath taught us when we Pray to say Our Father c. His Evening Prayer with his Family ETernally Blessed and Infinitely glorious Lord God the great and terrible Majesty of Heaven and Earth at whose Dreadful Appearance all Impenitent Sinners shall e'er long in vain call to the Rocks and the Mountains to cover them for fear of thy Wrath and for the glory of thy Power So often as we come into thy Presence we have abundant Cause to be covered with Shame and Confusion of face for the vileness and sinfulness of our Natures Hearts and Lives We are by Nature Children of Wrath and by our Lives Children of Disobedience have broken all thy Holy Laws in Thought Word or Deed so that it were Righteous with thee to make us miserable in this World and that which is to come But O deal not with us according to the multitude and hainousness of our Provocations but according to the multitude and tenderness of thine own Compassions for thy Goodness sake Remember us O Lord. And for the Time to come make us to amend our Lives according to thy Word Enlighten our dark Understandings subdue our Wills and Affections wholly to thy self Let us know and do the things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes Let us chearfully perform what thou requirest of us and patiently bear what at any time thou shalt lay upon us Be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord for as much as we know our labour shall not
the Poor who are your Care and Charge your Coffer is their Treasury Succor most where least means to support or possibility to Requite Let more Grace and Need challenge your favour before private Obligations Stay not till provoked or necessitated by others to Works of Charity but consult and contrive the most proper and effectual ways for it And upon the first suggestion of a fitting Occasion freely comply with it preventing being asked exceedingly inlarges a kindness An ingenious man may pay dear for it when put to buy it with Solicitation To be liberal on all good Occasions is your Duty and may of Right and Justice be required of you For your Encouragement God is pleased to stile them Gifts and Loans which he engages to requite But they are Rent Tributes Debts upon the due Payment of which you hold your Possessions and upon the neglect or non-payment you forfeit your Right to them When there 's any good Occasion offered for your Bounty that 's the Time of paying your Rent your Tribute and God requires it of you Indeed the Help we afford any man is given to our own Flesh And 't is the common Interest of all Mankind to unite all their Endeavours in chasing away the Troubles and Discomforts of Humane Life To remove the Thorns and Briers that are upon the Face of the Earth and to turn it into a Paradise And think not a few Scraps will serve the Poor while you heap up for your Children and fare deliciously every day It 's part of a good Steward to see all in the Family liberally provided for He 's a Niggard to himself that scants his Beneficence to those whose very cold Water shall not go unrewarded He that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly 'T is basely sordid not to remember his Servants by more than a mean Distribution who loads us daily with his Benefits With what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again Inconsiderate men that let fall only a few drops of Charity upon famished Poverty God gives them Hundreds by the year and they carry single Pence in their Pockets or Farthings to buy off the Clamours of Conscience or to be seen of Men. Hypocritical Alms is gilded Coin and shall be nailed to the Post of Derision and pronounced base in the Day of Judgment by him who values our Affections more than Gifts The Common Friend as well as Father of all Men is not so partial to provide Pomps and Luxuries for some while he leaves others destitute of the necessary supports of life Though he hath not dispensed so immediately to the Poor he gives them Bills of Assignment upon the Plenty of the Rich a Right to be supply'd by them And it 's much better to want than with hold from the Owner This Honour and Happiness is not every one's to have God his Debtor who saith to every Charitable Person If that Poor Man or Woman owe thee any thing set it on my Account I have writ it with mine own Hand He that hath pity upon the Poor lendeth unto the Lord (l) Pr. 19 17. I will repay it When we are dead and gone our Posterity gather wealth buried in the ground of Piety or cast upon the Water of Adversity Alms never wasted any man's Estate to himself or his but encreased and secured it I never met with any that could say he was the Poorer nay not the Richer for it but that such Distributions like our Saviour's Loaves among the four Thousand leaves behind them more Baskets of Fragments for their Heirs to give away than their Principal was in quantity which the Father so expended Do good to your selves saith the Italian Proverb 't will be better for you to have the Poor follow your dead Corps with their Acknowledgments of your Charity than to have the Town talk that you left Thousands behind you in your Chest A Gift to the Poor is a Loan to a sure Pay-Master a Child's Portion put into God's Hand to keep for it He will enquire for your Children that he may shew Kindness to them for your sake O their cruel Hard-heartedness that will rather suffer the Temple of God to be ruined than supported by necessary Portions It shall be e'er-long upbraided to them by their Judge that himself was hungry and they gave him no meat who gave his Body and Blood to feed them and quench their Thirst Denied a Rag to cover his Nakedness who would have cloathed their Souls with the Robe of his Righteousness that they might not be naked in that Day This is it he takes so tenderly that his Brethren for whom he died whom he lodges in his Bosome the Partners of his Spirit and Coheirs of his Inheritance should be denied Relief and suffered to go away ashamed unpitied It 's a sufficient Reward to relieve any of his Members yea Christ himself who observes every hand stretched out to his Relief and will at last make no difference between the good Usage he receives in his Natural and Mystical Body and punish with as much Severity those that persecute him in the Poor as that nailed him to the Cross Their Payer ALmighty Lord God the great Proprietor and Soveraign of the World unto whom all the Inhabitants of the Earth are as nothing less than nothing and Vanity Thy Service is perfect Freedom and in keeping thy Commands is great Reward In all Humility I bow down my Soul before thee in the Sence of that Infinite Distance that is between thy Blessed Majesty and thy worthless unworthy Creature Thou art the great God and I a despicable Creature and so thou mayest justly despise me thou art a Holy God and I a sinfull Creature and so thou may'st justly condemn me But O glorifie the Freeness of thy Grace in pardoning all my Sins and the Power of thy Grace in turning me wholly to thy self and inabling me to serve thee faithfully all my Days with a Holy Indifferency as to the things of this Life and a hearty Endeavour to secure Heaven let nothing divert me from making that not only my Refuge but my Choice and to improve to thy Glory what I have received from thy Bounty Let me contemn whatsoever is vile and honour those that fear thee Let my delight be with the Saints and those that excell in Virtue Keep me from the Snares Temptations and Dangers of Riches from having my good things my Portion in this life Amidst the Affairs of it let me reserve the Zeal and Fervour of my Affections for thy self And labour not for the Meat that perisheth but for that which endureth to Eternal life so use the World that I may enjoy thee my God and so pass thorough things Temporal that I lose not the Joys that are Eternal Make me a faithfull Dispenser of what thou hast committed to me and ever mindfull of my great Account that whilst others shall be surpriz'd with Horror and Astonishment for their mis-improving Earthly things I
with undaunted undismayed Courage and Constancy under all the Uneasinesses of a rugged way Lift up the Hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble Knees Let the weak say I am strong and the lame Man leap as an Hart (e) Heb. 12.10 Isa 35.3 c. These are the Days of Conflict and Conquest that admit not of Repose untill the Evening when he that hath been eminently good chearfully patient constant and couragious under great Disadvantages and Discouragements shall be proportionably rewarded When all Distempers and the Causes of them shall be wholly removed No more Hospitals nor Diseases No more seeking for or need of Cure or Remedy when the Mountebank's Stage shall be pulled down and all Physicians of no value The Doctor and Apothecary consulted no more They shall give over acting Experiments upon afflicted Mortals And the great Physician of Soul and Body who himself took our Infirmities and bare our Sicknesses (f) Mat. 8.17 perfected his undertaken Cure And God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things that disturbed them are passed away (g) Rev. 21.4 The thoughts the belief of this is the chief Refuge and Delight of all true Christian Sufferers Whilst this Cordial is next their Hearts they are healthfull secure and satisfied The Comfort of that day heals and redresses all their Wounds their Wrongs their Injuries Asswages and allays all their Pains and Perplexities expells all melancholy Thoughts banishes all Sadness from their Hearts stills all their Murmurings and Complaints stifles innumerable Sighs stops Rivers of unprofitable Tears from flowing from the Afflicted raises the Minds of the Miserable and Unfortunate supports and refreshes the Spirit of Heaviness makes the Cross of Christ a light Burden As being both consistent with his love and the Effects of it influential upon their Happiness Prayers for the Sick O Thou great Creator and Wise Disposer of all things in whose Hands are our lives and breath and all our ways in all Humility we prostrate our Souls before thee acknowledging it of thy Infinite Mercy and Goodness that we have access unto thee and may find acceptance with thee in and through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for his sake pardon all our Sins and receive us into thy Favour In much Mercy and tender Compassion O thou that delightest not in the Miseries of thy Creatures regard this thine afflicted Servant Thou woundest and thy Hands make whole thou bringest down to the Grave and raisest up again Direct to proper means we humbly beseech thee and accompany those used for his health with thy Blessing Speak the Word and thy Servant shall be healed If it may stand with thy good Pleasure let him not die but live and declare the Works of the Lord However fit him for whatsoever thou hast designed for him Give him a true Sence of and Repentance for all his Sins and a well-grounded Faith in our great Redeemer of Souls Sanctifie this thy fatherly Visitation to him let the sickness of his Body tend to the health and good of his Soul Mitigate his Pains increase his Patience Give him a quiet contented resigned Spirit unto thy blessed Will Lay no more upon him than thou wilt inable him to bear let thy Grace be sufficient for him In the multitude of his thoughts within him let thy Comforts delight his Soul When his Body returns to the Earth as it was let his Spirit return unto God that gave it and be glorified together with thy self thorough Jesus Christ our Lord in whose Blessed Name and Words we further pray Our Father c. Another ALmighty and most Mercifull Father the God of the Spirits of all Flesh thou sendest forth thy Breath and we live thou recallest it and we die and return to our dust O pardon unto us we humbly intreat thee our unthankfulness for our former health and all thy Mercies that we have made so little use of the same for thy Glory Give us grace for the future to be more sensible of more fruitfull under them In particular look with an eye of favour on this thy suffering Servant Let thy Power appear in his weakness strengthen him on his Bed of languishing make all his Bed in his sickness Rebuke remove his Distempers in love to his Soul deliver him from the Pit of Corruption and cast all his sins behind thy Back Let not his sickness be unto Death but thy Glory if it may stand with thy good pleasure but if thou hast otherwise determin'd fit and prepare him for thy self As his outward Man decays let his in ward Man be renewed day by day Take him not hence untill thou hast made him meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in life Give him an easie and comfortable Passage out of this Vale of Misery and receive him to the Eternal enjoyment of thy self in Heaven And give all of us grace in Health to provide and prepare for sickness in our most prosperous and best Estate to consider how frail we are in a full perswasion of thy unerring Providence over us and Infinite love towards us let us resign our selves intirely unto thee resolving by thy gracious Assistance to rest satisfied with thy Appointment That we may rejoyce in hope of that Immortal Life and Happiness when thou shalt wipe away all Tears from our Eyes and there shall be no more Death neither Sorrow nor Crying nor any more Pain but that after Death hath parted us we may meet together and acknowledge with Eternal Praises thy wise and mercifull Providence which by ways contrary to our desires hath brought us to endless and undisturbed Rest through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thy blessed Majesty and Holy Spirit be all Honour Glory and Praise now and for ever Amen Another EVer blessed Lord the Father of Mercies and God of all Consolation who art not willing any should perish but that all should come to Repentance We praise and adore thee for thy Patience forbearance and goodness to us all our days that we have enjoyed so much Health and Ease Peace and Plenty so many Mercies to sweeten our Passage through this Vale of Tears O forgive our Ingratitude for our Abuse of thy Bounty and Kindness to us and be at Peace with us in and through our Lord and Saviour and for the time to come give us grace to carry our selves well-pleasing in thy sight In particular we now recommend unto thee this thy Servant beseeching it may please thee to restore him unto Health unto thee no Cure is difficult no Case desperate but all things possible O command create Deliverance direct to sutable means and super-add thy Blessing to them O spare him that he may recover strength before he goes hence and be no more But however thou dealest with him let it be in love and mercy unto him pardon all his Sins
is over Think how Damned Souls would Hear and Pray if they might with you be tryed again and how unfit unbecoming a Careless a Drowzy Body dull Affections dead Services are for the living God Compose your selves with all Reverence as considering with whom you have to do and for what Beware of a wandring Eye and Mind or slighting what you Hear Be seriously imploy'd all the Time And while others are quarrelling with the Imperfections of the Speaker or Congregation be laying up the Word in your Heart Be Reverent Solemn and Serious in every Duty be sure your Heart be in them In Confession Humiliation Petition Thanksgiving Singing when the Word is Read or Preacht whether Commands Promises Threatnings Calls Invitations be answerably Affected with them as if you heard God speaking from Heaven Haste not away while the Minister is pronouncing the Blessing but hope desire and believe it shall Descend upon you Leave not the Assembly until you have lift up your Heart for Pardon and a Blessing upon the Ordinance to your self and all present In these or the like words A short Prayer I Adore and Magnifie thee O merciful Father for this opportunity of hearing from and waiting upon thee O pardon whatever thou hast seen amiss in us and let the Fruit of it be unto Holiness and the end Everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen After your Attendance in Publick with that Concern and seriousness the work requires and deserves let not your self loose the rest of the Day to secular Diversions and Concerns and thereby choke and stifle those good Instructions and devout Affections that have been raised and excited in you Let your Diet be moderate lest it make you drowzy and your Hearts Heavenly at it your Discourse savoury seasoned with Grace suitable to the Company and the Day in the chearful Remembrance of the love of your Redeemer the special work of the Day being to Celebrate the Memorial of his Resurrection and the whole work of our Redemption by him we ought to speak as much as possible of it under a sence of our Natural misery and in stirring up lively Apprehensions of Infinite Condescending Goodness in the special exercise of Faith and Love and Joyful Praises Having spent as much of the Day as you can in Publick Worship and in Reading the Word and ruminating upon it Review the Duties Mercies and Miscarriages of the Day Call over what you have Heard and Read and urge it upon your Heart Beg the Divine Blessing and Assistance for the Advantage and Improvement of it and Pardon for your failings Bless God for any Enlargement or Good received Recommend your self unto him for the Ensuing Night and let your last Thoughts be in the thankful joyful sence of the Mercies you have and hope for and the goodness of God in your Mediator Confidently trust your self and yours in his Hand longing for your nearer approach unto him and full Enjoyment of him in Glory Morning Prayer on the Lord's Day MOst Holy and Infinitely glorious Lord God Thou art greatly to be feared in the Assembly of thy Saints and to be had in Reverence by all that draw nigh unto Thee It 's an Infinite Condescention in thy Majesty to suffer such a despicable Worm as I am to come before Thee to wait upon Thee to speak unto Thee to have any thing to do with Thee in a way of Grace and Mercy Had'st thou dealt with me according to my Deserts and Rewarded me after mine Iniquities I had been long ago in that place of Torment where Prayer and the means of Grace could do me no good at all O Pardon my abuse of thy Mercies mispending my Time Prophaning thy Sabbaths Polluting thine Ordinances the unworthy Returns I have made unto Thee for all thy Benefits which might justly cause thee to withdraw thy self from me and thy Blessing from thine Ordinances Make me truly sensible of the worth of the Opportunity thou this Day puts into my hand for the good of my Immortal Soul let it not be as a prize put into the hand of a Fool that hath no heart to use it Help me to make a wise a right Improvement of the same for the Glory of Thy Name and for the preparing my self for my Eternal Rest Let my Thoughts this Day be much upon it and upon that wonderful love in my Redemption Take away my Heart of Stone that 's so insensible of my own Vileness and thy abundant Goodness and give me a Heart of Flesh write thy Laws upon it put thy Fear within me that I may never depart from Thee Let not thy Sabbaths nor thine Ordinances be continued in vain unto me but let me grow in Grace under all the means of Grace I enjoy The older I grow the better let me be the nearer I come to my end let me be the fitter for thy self Let me love the Habitation of thy House and the place where thine Honour Dwelleth and Esteem one Day in thy Courts better than a Thousand elsewhere and that I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness Let it be my Meat and Drink the Joy and Rejoycing of my Soul to do thy Will and to be Imployed in thy Service Visit the dark Corners of the Earth with the light of thy glorious Gospel and let all that enjoy it walk worthy of it Make our Soveraign and all our Superiors thy faithful Subjects and Servants Let thy Priests be Cloathed with Righteousness and thy Saints shout for Joy Be in all our Solemn Assemblies Accompany thine own Institutions with thine own Blessing Make thy Word in the mouths of thy Ministers very effectual for turning many unto Righteousness Be with me this Day let my Confessions of Sin Increase my Hatred against it my Praises and Thanksgivings be the Inward sense of my Soul Let my Conversing with Heavenly things have an Influence upon me for the bettering of me Go along with me into the Assembly of thy Servants unite and compose my Thoughts in thy Presence let me attend upon thee without Distraction Let me Consider thou hast an Eye upon me at all Times especially when I draw nigh unto Thee in the way of thy Worship Let me Pray unto Thee in Spirit and Truth because thou art a Spirit and requirest so to be worshipped Give me a Hearing Ear a seeing Eye an understanding Heart Let me hear thy Word as thy Word as that Word by which I shall be Judged and which is able to save my Soul by believing and obeying of it through Jesus Christ in whose Holy Name and Words I further Pray Our Father which art in Heaven c. Evening Prayer on the Lord's Day MOst great and Infinitely glorious Lord God who hast Exalted thy self far above the Heavens and above the Praises and Apprehensions of the best of thy Creatures Unto thee be all possible Praise Honour and Glory for what thou art in thy self
and unto all thy Creatures for thy Infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness so apparent in Creating Preserving of Providing for them That the Heavens Declare thy Glory and the Firmaments shew thy Handywork that the Eyes of all wait upon Thee and that thou openest thy hand and fillest them with Good that thou hast not left thy self without witness where thy Gospel is not Preached in that thou doest them good and sendest them Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons and fills their Hearts with Food and Gladness But what shall I render unto thee for thy unspeakable goodness to Mankind not only in making us capable of serving and enjoying thee but in providing for us a Saviour to Reconcile and Renew us when we had forfeited thy favour which was our Happiness and lost thine Image which was our Excellency and Glory That so many have enjoy'd thy Gospel and been translated out of the Kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of thy Dear Son That I live in a place where thy Gospel is Preached the way to Heaven so clearly Revealed where I have so many opportunities of hearing from thee of waiting upon thee that this Day I have enjoyed the means of being Happy with Thee for ever O accompany the same with thy Blessing to that End Let me live the Sermons that I hear the Ordinances I enjoy the Duties I am Imployed in Let my Thoughts be much upon that Happy state where I shall offend thee and my self no more but Reap my Redeemer's Purchase for those that sincerely serve Thee Look in much Mercy upon all Mankind Say Behold me Behold me to the People that have not known thee that have not call'd upon thy Name Let all the Ends of the Earth see the Salvation of our God Encrease the number of true Believers daily add to thy Church such as shall be saved Forgive the crying Sins of these Three Nations turn us unto thee by a speedy and unfeigned Repentance and Reformation that Iniquity may not be our Ruine Compose our Differences make up our Breaches heal our Divisions Endue our Severaign with all necessary qualifications for his present and future Happiness Let none of our Magistrates bear the Sword in vain but be faithful to that Trust committed to them Remove not thy Candlestick let not our Teachers be driven into Corners let their Doctrine be pure and their Lives exemplary for the good of Souls accompany their Endeavours with thy Blessing Bring unto my Remembrance that part of thy Word I have Read or Heard this Day let me hide it in my heart that I may not dare to Sin against thee As I am one day nearer my End let me be so much nearer keeping an Eternal Sabbath with thee in Heaven Smell a sweet savour from the sincere services of thy Servants Return gracious Answers to their Prayers Pardon what thou hast seen amiss in me and them this Day through Jesus Christ who hath taught us to Pray Our Father c. Directions as to Prayer STir up in your Souls the most lively Apprehensions Reverence Faith and Love as to him before whom you are going to Appear and upon what terms he is engaged and hath resolved to Answer or deny you Be throughly sensible of your Sins and wants and of the worth of those Mercies you are going to ask Come always in the Humility that becomes a worthless Condemned Sinner and in the belief and boldness that becomes a Son a Member of Christ Disclaim all worthiness of your own but be as Confident in every lawful Request as if you saw your Crucified Mediator interceding for you with his and your Father Pray with Understanding Attention Abhorrence of your Sins a deep sence of your Necessities a holy Confidence of Assistance and Audience through your Redeemer God's merciful Nature and gracious Promises with holy and lively Affections with Charity a Heart filled with good will to all your very Enemies with uprightness and sincerity Beware you love not Sin but resolve to leave it when you Pray against it that you truely Desire and Endeavour for the Grace and Mercy you ask and ask not for that you would not have Keep your Heart all the while in a reverent serious fervent frame as if God's Glory was visible to your Bodily Eye Suffer it not to wander grow Remiss Cold Formal It 's said of Luther that he used such Reverence and Humility as in the presence of Almighty God but such fervency and Faith as if he had been talking with his Friend he that asks with a doubting listless mind begs for nothing but to be denied Make your Prayers your Rule all your Duties are there set down what you are bound to do for the doing whereof you beg the Divine assistance God loves to Bless and Reward Industry but not to support Idleness As we must ask of God what we need so we must labour for all we ask by the Use and Improvement of what we have He that would Pray with Effect must live with Care and Piety Directions as to Reading and Hearing the Word AWefully Remember that the Scriptures are the Word of God full of many gratious Promises Encouragements and Supports the Doctrine of unseen things and of the greatest Mercies the Rule by which you must live and be Judged Therefore Read and Meditate upon it with Humility Reverence Love and great Delight Submission and a full Resolution to obey it If â—ny thing seem Difficult or Improbable â—uestion not suspect not it but your own â—gnorance and Understanding and Pray â—hat the Spirit which Indited it may expound 〈◊〉 to you Before you go to Hear Pray for the Minister the Congregation and your selves for the Divine Assistance and Blessing Lay side all worldly Cares and Thoughts all â—thiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with Meekness the Ingrafted Word which is able to save your Souls Come not with an Irreverent Careless unbelieving Heart as if it were a light matter that â—ittle concern'd you but with Faith Love and Reverence with a deep an â—wakened sence of its unspeakable weight â—ecessity Consequence and Concernment to you Come on purpose to get Direction and Strength against your particular failing Hear with Attentive willing humble Honest Teachable Hearts and Applicatioâ— of it to your selves with a design to Profiâ— with Resolution to obey all that shall bâ— Commanded you of God As new boâ—â— Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that you may grow thereby Despise it no in the plainness of it Hear not to Censure or Cavil but to be taught and Ruled Suâ—fer not vain Thoughts or drowzy careles Negligence to hinder your Attention Chieâ—ly mark the drift and design of the Discoursâ— and those things that are of the greate weight and concernment to your selves When you come Home Meditate oâ— what you have heard Lament a stupiâ— careless unbelieving Heart Pray over an endeavour to practise what you have learn Reason and Plead with your own Heart and let
are restless and distracted Horrours and Regrets of Conscience rouls and works within and draws the dismal Picture of their own Guilt in dreadfull Colours Then are the proud Boasts of the Atheists and Debauche's quell'd and baffled by the King of Terrors The very thoughts of whose approach surprises them with fear and consternation whilst good men insult over it The guilty Prisoner dreads every Noise and trembles when the door opens for fear of his deserved doom whilst the Innocent upon the same Account is both calm and joyfull expecting deliverance The Divine Majesty sitteth or abideth at the sick Man's Beds-head saith a Jewish Writer on Psal 41.3 The Lord will strengthen him upon the Bed of languishing thou wilt make all his Bed in his Sickness Guilt makes us shy of a holy Presence kindles the Sparks of Hell in our Souls and renders Death terrible indeed while a Sabboth of Rest Ensues Innocence and a well-spent life makes the Righteous as bold as a Lyon to receive Death with open Arms for its sting is taken away to Hug and Embrace the Promises afar off as actually Existent and present as a man doth his Intimate Friend who hath been long absent in another Country Remember now O Lord I beseech Thee how I have walked before Thee in Truth and with a perfect Heart and have done that which is good in Thy sight (q) Is 38.3 VI. Lay up and secure every day something against your last i. e. The Comfort of a well-spent life and provisions sutable and proper to the Necessities of that great Day of Expence a strong active well tryed Faith a deep large exercised Repentance a mind well furnished with wise Considerations an unconstrained Charity a firm Hope a profound Submission to the Will of God a well grounded Expectance of a Blessed Eternity And this not only by overcoming and despising the world accustoming your self to suffer Injuries and Affronts Losses and cross Accidents in it a delight in by Conversing with God and Heavenly things getting sweeter Thoughts of it than of the most prosperous state on Earth But by considering with what Arguments then to fortifie your Soul what graces and defences are requisite to render Death easie safe and happy And more particularly by daily assiduous fervent address to God to be with you stand by you assist you at that Time to resist and subdue the Assaults of Satan to strengthen you against Impatience and Infidelity to quicken you to Diligence and sincere Endeavours for obtaining what you pray for else you play the Hypocrite with and mock God Common Acquaintance will not do it 's not enough to say we have eaten and drunk in thy presence (r) Luk. 13.26 There must be frequent Interviews a spiritual Intimacy between Him and us He that hath had an intire Conversation with God cannot fear to go to him No marvel they Tremble that know him not or know that he will not know Them Had the Fiery Chariot fetched away Elijah unlooked for we had doubted of the favour of his Translation Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man (s) Luk. 21.36 VII Put not the Evil day far from you Familiarize Death unto your Soul by frequent Meditation of it Look not upon it at a distance but even at the door let the Thoughts of it dwell with you O how soon how suddenly will winged Time rush into Eternity Our Lord comes not only in a Day but in an Hour we think not of (t) Mat. 24.44.50 and none but He could ever say Mine Hour is not yet come We are not sure to be further from our Grave on our Feet than on our Sick Bed Serve up a Skeleton at your Table walk upon Mount Calvarie Present to your Soul a frequent view of the Black Scene you go through when you go off the Stage Be still stooping down and looking into your Sepulchre Fancy you see a Grave gaping for you your crazy Tabernacle falling upon your Head your Breath growing Cold your Eye-strings breaking The vitall Lamp just spent and ready to go out How fast Time is Eating you out of Possession of all here Such Thoughts will not only cool our passionate fondness to Earthly things make us sober and indifferent in their use and habitually ready to part with them but take off the Horror of the Apprehensions and approach of Death we shall find it not a Stranger but an intimate Acquaintance an expected Friend we shall make no more of it than of going through a dark Entry to our Father of falling into the Arms and Embraces of our Mother and Sister No guest comes unlookt for to him that keeps a Constant Table A little warning serves a Tenant that 's provided for who is often thinking of a Remove VIII By all means strengthen and confirm your Belief in the Promises of This and another Life Live walk by Faith and not by Sight Dwell on the Believing Thoughts of Everlasting glory and Inure your self to the daily Exercise of the Imployment of it of Love and Joy and chearful Praising God which will much prepare incline dispose you to be There Converse chiefly with those that shall be your Companions for ever A Stranger Rejoyces when he meets with his own Countrey men In your Pilgrimage enjoy as much as you can of Heaven which begins Here let your Treasure your Heart your Conversation be in it Think what others are Enjoying whil'st you are Here and what a life it will be to see and enjoy the Blessed God your glorified Redeemer To be perfectly taken up in the full fruition thereof among Saints and Angels in the new Jerusalem O Could we but realize that how would our Hearts be affected and ravished with the prelibation and foresight of it as Marriners in a Tempest at Sea when by a Perspective-glass they discern their Harbour afar off how do they Rejoyce Embrace and make towards it 'T is utterly the fault of Christians when they see the Earth Cut out among its Possessors to measure Themselves by the standard of the World and value their Estates by the Creatures Rate-Book so they are always poor whil'st they Inventory what Goods they have not what they Hope for and expect for then they could see no end of their Riches That they have their Portion to Receive when all the Treasures of this World shall be exhausted Enter upon their Estate when the Inhabitants of it shall become Bankrupts turn'd out of all and have nothing to look for but Wrath and Vengeance They exceedingly wrong their Souls and hinder Themselves from a willingness to be with God in spending their days in doubts and drooping worldly Dulness and neglecting so much the Graces and Work of Heaven IX Review daily your Heart and Life by a solemn Scrutiny Summon your self before the Bar of Conscience Reckon for your