of the world the executioners of my life I have been immoderate and excessive in every thing which is contrary to thy pleasure without having other bound than an imbicility to advance farther My memory Lord is not sufficient to comprehend and enumerate such a multitude of crimes and I now have more bashfulnesse to nominate them than I had shame to act them Also Lord what need the trouble to recount them seeing they present themselves they oppose themselves against me accusing and confounding me seeing that the least but lately committed is sufficient for my damnation without the trouble to search after the past which serve not but for astonishment how the nature of man could invent and commit so many mischiefs Behold them Lord they fail not to passe into my remembrance and as an heavy burthen presse me so sore that I am ready to yield to give my self up to dispayre and to lose my self Lord I cannot so much as deny them I have committed them they were acted in thy sight in thy presence with a feeble fearful and astonish't voyce I acknowledge them and am vanquish't the fear that I have beholding their great number hath frozen my heart and appaled my countenance And on the contrary considering the rigour and strictnesse of thy judgments my sense fails me and I attend nothing but the hour of punishment I will willingly lye down instantly half quick in my grave and in expiring draw the earth over me to the intent I may remove my self from before thy Justice so much do I dread that thy hand will wax heavy against me to destroy me I am like the poor Publican who durst not lift up his eyes towards thee I dare not so much as entertain any imagination of remission for a criminal so culpable I dispayre to avoid them even as undergoing the exemplar-punishment of my abominable practises The depravity of my manners renders the severity of thy censures sharp against me and I know that no man hath place in thy eternal felicity but those that are clensed from sin who are not fullyed with the spots of iniquity who have submitted and dedicated to thy service their hearts and their toungs as for me I have done quite otherwise Neverthelesse Lord thou wilt not bruise in thine indignation those whom thou hast created after thine own Image Thou wilt not precipitate into the gulf and forsake abandoned to the roring Lyon those who are graffed and regenerated in that great Mediatour in the grand Saviour of the world On the contrary Good God! Thou hast commanded us to pray to thee in his name Thou hast promised to hear us in his name Thou hast assured us that when our sins are as red as vermillion nevertheless thou wilt make them as white as wool seeing we have recourse to that Treasure of our Justification to that only Redeemer to that only Authour of our salvation Now O Saviour of the world O Precious Stone O Spirit of my Spirits I embrace thee I discharge the burthen of my sins upon thee I ease my self upon thee Thou art purposly descended here below thou art clothed with out flesh thou hast made thy self man to the intent that I might be able to speak to thee Thou hast stretc'h forth thy limbs on the Crosse thou hast shed thy blood thou haft seen it distil from thy wounds all vermillion to heal my mortal sores to dround my sinnes to cloath me again with innocence Thou hast suffered death to give me the life Thou hast made thy self the oblation and most immaculate offering to take upon thy self the pains which I have meritted Thou hast yielded thy self captive to set me at liberty of immortal thou hast made thy self mortal to the intent that of mortal to render me immortal Thy vertue ever flourisheth that never waxeth old display it over me approach touch my sins and they shall dissolve away as wax before the beames of thy Sun they cannot remain near thee thy sight shall be their flight thy presence their dissipation Thou shalt efface their steps and their straglings Thy hand can bruise the gate of hell thy hand can lift me up into the heavens and make me to ascend by the ladder that appeared to Jacob Lord I cannot sufficiently comprehend thy infinite goodnesse towards persons so vile and unworthy If I contemplate the excellence of thy Divinity in thy descent unto the earth or whether I consider them to whom thou art come I admire the Grandure of thy charity and farther Ruminating thereon I call to mind the happinesse of thy humane condition The Creatour of heaven and of earth The Omnipotent who is not displeas'd but with man is descended for man and made himself man is come to save him from the torture of the fire and the horrors of hell and hath taken his forme the Physitian is hasted to the succour of the diseased the Master to ransome the slaves the streight path presents it self to the straglers Life offers it self to the carcasses enclosed under the Tombs the Shepheard is descended from the top of the mountain to seek the straying sheep He hath again lifted them up on high and enclos'd them in his Fold The Hen hath gathered her chickings under her breast hath made a shield with her wings to protect them from the Ravenous Kite Now good God drive far from me those doubts which Satan goes about to frame in me assure me comfort my spirit fortifie my faith redouble it's strength make her to vanquish all fears all the dispayres which he would suggest unto her Enable her to repel all allutements and assaults of all his temptations She must not longer be affraid she may not longer tremble hell can have nothing against me seeing thine only Sonne hath taken my sinnes upon him because he hath wash't me with his pure blood after it hath pleas'd thee to allow on mine account the value of his satisfaction If thou art pleas'd Lord to proceed with me according to my deserts I should be far distant from any such happinesse my salvation would be desperate There was never any contention with so much disproportion the weapons are too unequal my fault is extreame so is thy Justice But Lord thy mercy is infinite thy goodness surpasseth my mallice Thou coverest my faults with the body of thy Son by his merit thou hast satisfied thy Justice Thou hast given me life there thou concervest me I hold of thy clemency Lord Thou hast spoken by the mouth of thy Prophets that thou art nigh to such as are of a broken heart and that thou deliverest such which have contrite spirits Lord thou contemnest not the afflicted thou hidest not thy face from them forget not then my oppression forget not my afflictions which are violent and permanent forget not the sorrowes of my heart which are augmented Lord my Soul is consumed even to the dust my belly cleaves to the earth Hear then my God myclamour and my supplication and
MANS MASTER-PIECE OR The best Improvement of the worst Condition In the exercise of A Christian Duty On six Considerable Actions Viz. 1. The Contempt of the World 2. The Judgment of Gods against the wicked c. 3. Meditations on Repentance 4. Meditations on the Holy Supper 5. Medita on afflictions and Martyrdom 6. With a Meditation for one that is sick By P. T. K t. Luke 16.13 We cannot serve God and Mammon LONDON Printed for Joseph Barber at the Lamb and Samuel Speed at the Printing-Press in Saint Pauls Church-yard 1658. ON THE EFFIGIES Of the most accomplisht LADY Dame ELIANOR TEMPLE REceive this Lovely Lady in the Roome Of the lost Author it cann't misbecome Her worth her Person Since all must admit Her constant Practice is the same he writ Different in Nation Time Sex yet agree In Vertues of vast magnitude Souls Sympathy Souls be n't confin'd our sad defeat at Babel Wants influence on Those nor is it able Confusion of Tongues T'obstruct or Termiante such Notions Blest-Births proceeding from the pur'st Motions Of the Bright Dove th' Adore Like sweet Lutes plac'd at distance touch but This And a Harmonious-murmur Ecchoed is Soone by 's Confederate No vertue being Exempt From her fair practice of The World's Contempt P. T. Another on the EFFIGIES THe Graver did his part ingeniously Mixing with curious Art much industry Yet both fall short of what is Natural Than Infinitely of that 's Spiritual How is' t then possible for my dull Pen To trace divine lines not conceiv'd by men Her High-born soul disdaining sorded clay Illustrates that Person Crowns our day Many her Noble Graces yet most High In what surmounts them all HUMILITY Flourish then in my lines as thou art sure To fix on Syon and shine evermore P. T. Another on the EFFIGIES THis stately frame containes a gallant soul Whose praise whose fame extends beyond each pole Perfumes the earth with rich with fragrant scent In whose bles't birth A Treasure vast was lent To unworthy Mortals Who her enjoyes of Heaven is favoured Like my best choice Angels are figured Her Mother fed on flowers when she bred One like a Seraphim accomplished A blessed Geneus questionlesse is she At whose approach grim Demons quickly flee Since Spirits have conformity with Her Haunt me each night Dear Dear Familiar Peter Temple To the most PERFECT PATTERN AND PATRONESSE Of Vertue and Piety The LADY ELIANOR TEMPLE The Glorious Consequences of a Gracious Conversation be multiplied My Joy PRovidence that most Potent Byas of Mundaine affaires inclining our actions as well the swarthy lesse-commendable as most splendid to a more prosperous end than our crooked our oblique designes directs them That ever watchful all-piercing eye I say extracting indifferently its glory out of all our enterprises When I possibly was solicitous of lesse-profitable discourses French in that Feminine-language fixes my roving eye on Le Mispris du Monde this suddenly swells my drooping soul with just indignation to contemne what had too oft too treacherously deceived disappointed and finally disserted my fairest ambition Thus converting my intended divertion to an inestimable treasure This providence I say together with the delightful raptures the satisfactions if not benefit I enjoy'd in the perusal first and after in aiding this stranger to lisp to stammer our native tong ue who in his own had so aptly pourtraied the sober conceptions of my heart that you my Dear might the more readily apprehend his worth thereby at worst entertaining and deluding as with a no-lesse faithful than chearful and comfortable companion the sad solitudes of otherwise tedious minutes And lastly my matchlesse moity you being constantly the most worthy object of my most immaculate inclinations To you therefore as well out of yours and the Authors vertuous sympathy as your interest in what is mine does this Essay most properly appertain which neverthelesse like a prodigal spring you may without exhausting your proper store hereby with some advantage communicate to the Common-Wealth of Piety To you I say does this Alien now a Denizon addresse himself fully satisfied of your civil reception of persons of lesse merit Imagine then you beheld him in his native purity yet without Patron or Protector more than his innocent vertue ombellish't with such splendid lineaments so fluently uttering that harmonious dialect of Canaan in such enchanting numbers such soul-charming straines such bemoaning such languishing accents that whether you remark the subject substance design elegant stile or apt delivery he is of more than ordinary consideration and no other than a product of divinity since lesse than the inspirations of the Spirit of peace and joy could not breath such fragrant aires such ejaculations But I may not ally nor disparage his native value with my imperfect commendations 't is sufficient to passe him currant that he bears your excellent image and exact proportion on his wealthy-Ore And by the permission of your fair but frail sex whom you surpasse as well in that rich that glittering Jewel that illustrates your amiable person your gracious and therefore glorious soul as in your most exquisite outward frame and cimetry your body that stately structure of the divine Architect its most lovely Cabinet by your imploying and improving those minutes in the contemplation and exercise of vertue which others prodigally lavish and trifle out in a too passionate pursuite of the vainest extravagancies of the Authors Nation yet now dearest though your strict severity scarce permits you to imitate the most decent fashions of your all bright all dazling sex be you in this as in the other perfections of your life entirely consisting as by long and happy experience I am confirm'd in an unwearied exercise of vertue and an imbred and implacable aversion to vice be I say not onely their Phair their Mirrour for present for future generations to regulate to adorne their illustrious soules by in your Contempt of the World but herein my Dearest give them the Mode the Garb of the new Hierusalem converting their Romantick diversions to Divine and World-contemning Contemplations exchanging their delights to sacrifices marching ever before them as a Noble Heroesse a brave Conductresse of the lovely Troop of silver Swannes in that innocent vialactia of piety that tends to a blessed eternity that when the bodies gilt shall varnish and fall off you may together exalt your all-charming voyces in chanting forth Hallelujahs to him who was pleas'd to direct and strengthen my weake hands to cleave wood for his Sanctuary and to adde my might to the treasure of those graces that adorn thine incomparable person attribute only what disgusts to me who should want confidence to intrude this on the World but under your Banner whose peculiar Function and constant Custome it is to palliate to extenuate to cover the frequent infirmities of the hand that presents them not as directions to but as a character rather of your spotlesse conversation neverthelesse imprecating hereby
CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD WE having now a long time in vain pursued the shadow that flyes from us and hasted after the Dreames and Imaginations of the World which we could never attain Are our selves wandred from the path of our Felicity stooping toward the earth notwithstanding it behoveth us that our Passion transport us not ever into obscurity Let us then break off our slumbering and rouze our selves up regarding the perilous bancks of our Sea and the false visions of our night If we farther grope in the dark and creep into corners to redouble our obscurity if our spirits continue to embrace the impure Mud of this gloomy earth it is to be more than feared that the infection of this pestilent aire altogether converts our glimmering into blindnesse and our stupidity into a continual lethargy of Ignorance The strength of the Poyson which the world vomits against us is subtile and peirsing in one instant charming our spirits inchanting our sense depriving us of Reason and renâ—â—ing us lost This World treats us as the Torpille with the other Fishes The Cramp-fish she breaths upon them she freezes them she stiffens them she lulls them asleep and then devoures them Her touch deprives us of sense as that of the Leopard the Scorpion The blast of her mouth is not lesse fatal to us than that of the Basalisk who rends the soundest hearts by the sweetnesse of her sofisticated beauty she deprives us of our time to the intent to make us plunge our selves to the bottome of her designes and compels us to accept of apparances instead of truths and to cause us to straggle and steere irregularly even unto shipwrack But we may not for ever stageer and float at the mercy of all these blasts it behoves us to fix our sliding steps and to sustain our stomacks with some wholsome nourishment We are created to aspire above the Sunne and Moon the earth is too base to be our end 't is requisite we have an object more rich more high Our spirits may not ever be fixt and anchored within this body It behoveth that she languish after that she raise her self up to a more soveraign station toward a more absolute felicity Let us then rend off the muffer that hood-winks our eyes and contemplate on the condition wherein we are to the end we may observe how we runne with the multitude to our destruction it will be a considerable task to kindle the lamp to enlighten our obscurity and direct our selves safely to the end we straggle not more in the Desarts of the World We shall have obtain'd no small advantage when we have chast away those clouds which obscure the Sunne and leaves us like flowers langnishing in the shadow when we shall call to mind the traiterous hooks of false delights when we shall have discovered the otion of our designs and projects which render us slaves to those things were created for us and for our use O how happily shall that houre be employed in which we shall discover how the flesh precipitates the soul how it's desires stifle it how it constraines that divine part to cast away it 's Scepter to render it self abject to offend it's dignity and to be subservient to corruptible things Instead whereof she without ceasing ought to raise her self up toward heaven where her inheritance is and whether all her designes should tend Assuredly this day shall be blessed for us wherein having chast away all those follies which possesse and master our spirits and in which having received force to surmount and vanquish all our passions we shall call to mind that our repose is in a higher Region than the earth That this world should not serve us for other than a passage to mount up to heaven that it ought to be our way not our end That whil'st we sojourn here we should ever elevate our thoughts on high toward him who disposeth the ever moving heaven and governs the erting courses of the wandring Starres who sustaineth the earth without trouble and containes in his hands the seasons the ages and winds as servants to his will Our conscience and the care of our safety oblidge us the sound of his omnipotent voice which ecchoes dayly here below advertiseth us crying that it is time to think of it and presseth us unto it But our designs shrivel in the bud these Divine seeds so soon as they begin to spring in our soules and we are so feeble that those motions which we direct towards heaven are check't in an instant They appear a little and are suddenly dissipated vanishing like lightning Let us then consider a little with our selves let us free our feet from this subtile laborinth let us for some time disassociate our spirits from the body let us go out of our selves let us for a while abandon the man and so retiring we shall evidently behold the confusion of those designs and the deformity of those councels that possesse humanity Behold he embraceth more than he can retain his greedinesse is uncapable of moderation he engageth in more businesse than he can perfect It 's a perpetual motion without stay without end His desires follow him and produce each other abandoning one gulf he enters another The World alluminates him one designe as another is extinguisht He is ever clam'd and choak't up and resembles those unconstant leaves who as oft shift place as the aire changes the wind One hope enchants him which afterward proves vain and in the instant he throwes himself upon another which incontinently vanisheth away in a dreame Fr. Pro. His counters are found lyars there is without ceasing a misreckoning in his Cipher The impetuossity of one passion assaults him and suddenly he is transported with a new desire We are ever giddy-headed alwayes troubled continually pensive and that under a hope of an uncertain and perishing good for the price of a handful of winde for a mortal thing which every moment slideth and slippeth out of his hands for the obtaining of that which cannot stop the hasty flight of his yeares which cannot prolong his life one breath nor can it prevent that his songs be not changed into Plaints his dayes into darknesse his pleasures into sorrowes O how much more expedient were it for him that this violence and desire would employ it self upon the contempt of what he so ardently embraceth and that instead of his groveling on the earth dazled with it's vain splendor he would erect his face toward that sacred source whence springs his life There should he draw waters more than sufficient to satisfie the thirst of his scorch't throat and having his eares ravish't with the harmony of the pleasant murmuring of that purling streame no path should seem rough to him The fruitful Rivers of this Divine Fountaine dilating over him and by an ample Deluge happily choaking all those cares that would approach him The truth ever by him would dispell all imaginations that would torment him
and that nothing is wanting unto them but see not that they are blind and naked that they possesse nought but things transitory and that they are far from residing in the Courts of the Lord and to have an everlasting habitation within the holy place of his Palace ☜ 'T is then enough to have lived for riches for glory for delights Let us live for our selves for our souls let 's recollect our cogitations for our advantage let 's stand firm and fall no more principally let 's coragiously pursue our marke Let 's not proceed as those who commence their course eagerly and slack in running preserving our selves from the same Billowes from the same waves that at other times have overwhelmed us Considering that relapses are more fatall than diseases that desires interrupted encrease and augment by their intervals Let 's Rally our forces Reassemble our spirits let 's mortifie our Passions and render our selves parties against them chasing away these adversaries to our repose These are but slender and frivolous gins and cords that bind us to them and in the interim we budge not from their company not otherwise than if they had enchained us Shall we not more cheerefully smell to a heap of flowers than to stinking weeds to grasp lillyes than thistles to be confederate to heaven then to earth what difference 'twixt peace and war betwixt the love of God and this of the world life and death between that which is above the heaven where there is nothing not stable and the earth on which there is nothing but inconstancy To what intent follow we the world so violently and eagerly since we are but bladders which burst with the least pricking which hourely threatens us with death where our feet dayly descend into the grave that time carryes away our yeares which returne not any more and leaves nought but a miserable sound of our name and after a few dayes incontinently defaces our trace upon the earth so that it shall not otherwise be known than that of an Eagle in the ayre and of a ship in the waves why do we not rather addresse our vowes unto that high place which is durable for ever than on this Empire of the world which shall burne to pieces and take end Know we not that in that great day which will rather make it self seen ☜ than fore-seen that these Rocks and these lofty hills shall dissolve That Jordan Ganges Euphrates and the Nile and all the other Rivers which Purle and Roul so proudly on a gilded sand shall dry up and that the great Otian the Father and nourisher of men shall become a flame with all his troopes who now divide with such swiftnesse his Billowes with their gliding finns Concive we not that the Sun shall suffer an eternal Eclips that that day shall be overcast the heaven shall cover his face the ayr shall change and stifle so many birds that beat it now so pleasantly with their wings That this all that seemes firme in its course shall be shivered in a moment shall be reverst Pell-Mell shall be consum'd and Reduc't to smoke So then let 's acknowledge out Error let 's not more abase our spirits to these mortall things let 's give the earth a bill of divorce let 's not breath any thing more but what 's eternal Let 's consider we are contrary to Rivers who arise from small streames of water and wax proud the farther they are from their spring Let 's immitate the flame which advances and ascends continually upwards as the Iron toucht with the Adamant which ever regardes the North. We have countenances erected towards heaven thither let us ellevate our cogitations Their infinite incredible Mervills will ravish our serious and solid spirits in the contemplation of the Almighty who in one twinkling of an eye causes the whole Universs to tremble who governs all the world and conducts it by his providence From thence we shall receive what is necessary to entertaine the rest of our dayes 'T is of this moone whereon depends the flux and Reflux of Humane affayres The Otian swells it self and is Iritated at her will This great Pilot who hath drawn men alive out of the bowels of fishes shall supply us with shipping convenient to passe the Seas of this world without perishing ☜ He causes us continually to behold his face to the intent that by the light of his Divine splendour we may guide our selves with all assurance He will crack the chaines by which the world fastens us to the earth he will cause that we escape her sorrows and free us from her Precipices He will give us a reward greater than our wish He will make us live content both in businesse and leasure in our Houses and in our Armies in the country and in the throng of the Court. And drawing our spirits by the power of his own upon the high Olimpus and will cause us with a steedy eye to behold these humane plaines on the which these worldlings follow their besotted Passions and these fields which serve them at Amphitheaters and stages to act their bloody Tragidyes Go to then Let us dash against the earth all our designes all our delights and if hitherto we have continued stupid let 's now being prick't forward by divine fury disdain this world and for the love of the Omnipotent cause that which pleased us more than him be the object of our indignation In the contempt of these vanities pure and innocent desires are produc't which will chase away all these shadowes and illusions that torment us In the contempt of these dreames we shall enter into an affection to the holy Scriptures the most certain the most prosound guide the Sun least overshadow'd with clouds least eclip'st the most resplendent star of all stars and in the light whereof we shall be ravish't with a desire to embrace the truth which we shall finde in these sacred volumes in this elegant text in these rich phrases so eloquent so pure so clear and which neverthelesse are to worldlings characters unknown and which they cannot conceive although one touch the letters and put their fingers on the syllables and shew them how they ought to be assembled and so retiring our selves from evils and approaching to vertue flying Hell and embracing Paradise our spirits shall incline all it's actions to that which is to its satisfaction and salvation it shall make war againt the body shall render it captive and subdue it he shall ever bear his greatest wealth about him he shall know the use of it during the rest of his dayes he shall lend himself onely to the World and shall not give himself but to God who is our Shepheard our Sheep-hook and our support who holdeth firme the Mountaines by his force and who is girded with strength 'T is necessary then that henceforward God be he alone to whom we addresse our vowes 'T is then expedient that our spirits and our pens
that we know that none can sojourne in the Tabernacle of of the Lord Psal 15. none can inhabit the place of his holinesse who regulates not his steps according to his divine Ordinances In the Country of the Gadarens the man who had an unclean spirit which inhabited not but in Desarts â—nâ— Sepulâ—hres which broke all the cords all the chaines which restrain'd him who roared without intermission and gash't himself with stones when afarre off he beheld the Saviour of the World he ranne and prostrated himselfe at his feet and we who are not cram'd and stuf't with Devils who have not our abiding in Cavernes and who do not dismember our selves with rage and fury we I say who apprehend the verity of the Gospel who have the knowledge of God shall we fly before him when he approacheth us shall we stop our eares at his voice to lance and destroy our selves in vice Let 's awake our selves from our drowsinesse and render our selves capable of our proper good The men of Nineve reformed themselves at the preaching of Jonah The Queen of the South travelled from the extremities of the earth to heare the Wisdome of Solomon There is in the Gospel greater than Jonas greater than Solomon there is the Spirit of God who talketh to us who excites us to retire from our sinnes who hastens who threatens us Let us submit our selves then to God let 's approach him let 's remark our offences let 's lament weep and purifie our hearts let 's humble our selves under his powerful hand to the intent that he may secure us from the Devil who encompasseth us to devoure us Let 's abandon our transgressions and submit our neeks under the just government of the Omnipotent acknowledging him the stedfast Wall against which who knocketh breaketh himself Let 's lift up our tyred hands Heb. 12.12 and our dislocated knees and adore him who hath formed both the heaven and earth the Seas and all Fountaines of waters and not longer abase our selves as the impious as unregardful of his glory which we should elevate more high than the heavens if there remaines in us any recentment of his graces whil'st his favourable hand continues on us for our good whereof he has been more Prodigal than Liberal Let 's offer instantly our bodies a living sacrifice let 's spread out our hands before his wrath by prayers and amendment of life dreading his vengeance or ever it irrevocably destroy and overwhelme us which if we omit we hasten our deaths we ate the hang-men of our own soules if we longer attend Luk. 13.25 the gate of Gods mercy shall be for ever closed against us and in the day wherein we shall behold Abraham Isaac and Jacob with all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God wherein we shall see set at the Table of God his children who shall come from the East and from the West from the North and from the South we shall be miserably cast into darknesse 'T is long since God having endured our manners expecting our repentance he hath not hitherto corrected us but with the chastisements of a Father but if still we are insensible of these stripes and of our offences we shall constraine him to punish us with the Sword of extermination and give us up unto the power of the Executioners of his Justice Long patience contemn'd Heb. 2.1 draweth rigour without pity If what was pronounc't by Angels was firme and every transgression and disobedience hath received a just reward how shall we escape if we neglect the judgment of God so often declared against the children of iniquity would we be of the cockle and straw which shall be cast into the fire would we be of those cursed ones Mat. 13.49 who by the Angels shall be separated from the just to be cast into the Furnace Of those evil servants who shall be punish't with many stripes of those Reprobates who shall be overtaken with sudden destruction of those plants of offence who shall be devoured with consuming flames Would we be of those of whom Jeremiah complaines in these terms They know the way of the Lord Jerem. 5. but themselves have broken the yoke and the bonds Therefore are they slain by the Lyon of the Forrest the Wolfe of the Evening hath wasted them and the Leopard watcheth against their Cities whosoever cometh out shall be torn in pieces for their offences are multiply'd and their rebelloins are increased How shall I pardon thee for this saith the Lord thy children have forsaken me I have fed them to the full and they have committed adultery and are gone in Troops into Harlots houses shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation God is not idle in Heaven He contemplates on what is done here below He is there seated as a Judge to punish iniquity and when he reaches his hand highest 't is but to give the heavier stroak Why tarry we Rom. 2.5 if by the hardnesse of our hearts without repentance we heap up wrath against the day of the just judgment of God who rendreth honour immortality life eternal to them who with patience and well-doing seek his glory and who giveth tribulation and anguish to every soul of man who rebelleth against him and followeth iniquity If God spared not the Angels who had sinned 2 Pet. 2.4 and at once drowned the whole World except eight persons If he have given so many testimonies of his rigour on them who live in impiety what waite we for since 't is recorded in so many passages of the Gospel that we shall be more severely handled than Sodom and Gomorrah which were burn'd and reduc'd into a heap of sinders Seeing then that it is said 2 Thes 1.8 that God shall exercise vengeance with flames of fire against those who serve him not and are disobedient to his will Would we swallow the cup of the wrath of God even to the dregges would we dry up and exhaust to the very bottome the treasures of his patience Go to then since our malady is yet capable of Remedy Let us tear out those motes that are in our eyes let us reconcile our selves to God who stretcheth out his armes to us remembring that his children are not born of blood nor of the will of the flesh John 1.13 nor of the unsatiable desires of man but are born of God are born of prudence of charity wisdom and vertue Let 's not tarry longer fearing that he should rain fire and brimstone upon us and that he chase us not as cursed gates into eternal fire prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25.41 Instantly detesting our crimes abjuring our vices our sinnes and offences let us cast and prostrate our selves at the feet of God let 's raise our voices suing for our pardon redoubling our petitions submitting our selves entirely to his pleasure otherwise the tempest will
innocence be agreeable to thee Lord I would present my selfe at thy feet I struggle I move that way but instantly the horrour of my offences restrain me My enormities cannot endure thy sight nor my transgressions sustaine thy presence Neverthelesse my God repentance serves as a plaster to my wounds confession is the remedy of my distemper 'T is requisite then that I manifest and publish my iniquity before thee Lord I have not stir'd up and awakned thy displeasure by a small bruit rashly committed I have belched out torrents of corruption and am turned unto detestable insolencyes I am become a Magazine of vice a spout and sinke of filthynesse my conscience is so hardned my offences are so monstrous my night is so gloomy that my obscurity is uncapable of other comparison that hath preceded it The multitude of my crimes surpasse the number of the sand It appears that the name onely of Christian remains to me My eyes have had nothing more agreeable than the shadow they have trod under foot the torch and light whose brightnesse should be so precious unto them and these Infidels who should onely bewaile my offences have lamented none but worldly losses I have pursued my laciviousnesse I have yielded and submitted to their inclinations despising thy precepts I have continually stumbled at the same stone I have without intermissiō audatiously impudently advanc't my browes against my neighbours I have been deafe to thy voyce I gave way to the temptations of the Devil who vanquisheth me by the assistance of my own hands My wishes have been insatiable my desires boundlesse and bottomlesse my tongue not true and my hands have delivered into thy power weapons for my proper destruction Rom. 3.10 and have drawn down chastisements upon my own head My throat is an open sepulchre under my lips is the venome of Aspes my mouth is full of curses my feet swift to evil destruction and misery are in my wayes and I have been ignorant of the paths of thy peace thy fear hath not been in my sight I am that figtree planted in the vineyard Liv. 13.6 thou camest thither after so many yeares seeking fruit and finding none I do nought but unprofitably cumber the ground I am of those Rotten trees who merrit to be cut down and cast into the fire Mat. 7.19 I am of the number who have received thy seed into stony ground into thorney places My words are ever idle and unprofitable Mat. 12.35 and I alwayes exhaust evil things out of the bad treasure of my heart I approach thee with my mouth I honour thee with my lips but my heart is far from thee I am of those feined hypocrites whose repentance is nought but prevarication Esay 29.3 of those Pharisees whose only vertue is in their countenance who are adorn'd with Hypocrisiy not Faith True whited Sepulchers shining and glittering without but fil'd with bones with ordure with iniquity I have not ranged my self under thy wings Mat. 23.37 as thou assemblest thy little ones I have not pluck't the beame out of my eyes Mat. 5.37 my discourse have been fraught with blasphemyes insteed of simply yea and no. I have not given to those that ask me neither have I lent to such who would have borrowed I have not rendred my self a worthy childe to thee my Father who causest thy Sun to rise upon the good and upon the wicked thy Raine to descend on the just and on the unjust I have not affected my enemyes neither have I blest those who curse me I have not done good to them who hate me nor prayed for those who persecute me Lord I am of those Goats who have contemned thee who have disdained thy little ones in the person of whom Thou would'st be cherish't I have not quenched their thirst the gate of my house hath been closed against them and I have not been so much as enclined to aswage their griefs Lord I am convinc't of such a multitude of crimes I am so overwhelmed with iniquities and those numberlesse vices wherewith I have lived from the houre of my nativity which I have followed which I have served after such a manner accuse me that they present no other thing to me but a shrou'd Coffin an obscure monument hideous and dreadfull Lord when I behold the Myrror of thy Law when I read thy volume I find my self smitten with so many Gangrens that they make me afraid and even terrible to my selfe and with bloody and hearty groans I accuse my impiety I acknowledge the Grandure of thine indignation stir'd up by the multitude of my offences and confesse I deserve to beare the punishment of my demerits if thy great mercy remove not the severity of thy Justice Lord thou holdest in abomination the workers of iniquity thy countenance is set against them thy day is mighty it 's strong it 's terrible saith Joel and none can sustaine it Joel 2.11 Also my God I stoope at the onely sound of thy voyce I start I tremble with feare I am a party against my self I condemn my offences I detest them Luk. 13.1 I acknowledge that the Gallaleans whose blood Pilate mixt with their Sacrifices were not so eulpable as my self That the eighteene upon whom the Tower of Shiloe fell had not committed so many abominations I acknowledge that I cannot beare thy sight alone I confesse thou hold'st in thy hands the power of the windes that with one onely blast thou canst cause me to disappeare that if thou pleasest only to move a little ayre against me I should be no more but my God my soul is plung'd in anguish sorrow wherein it flotes altogether fil'd with bitterness it is bruis'd under the violence of a million of remoreses that agitate it I am altogether wan altogether trembling altogether feeble I am abated and turn'd earth and my heart is pierc't through with assaults sighing for anguish and makes me swerve testifying her regrets Lord thou hast chosen me before thou compassest the foundation of the earth before thou fixed the mountaines and stretched out the heavens Lord encline thine eare to my complaints open thine eyes to my desolations manifest not thy power against a shadow against a withering herbe languishing and dryed Lord all the perfections of thy Angels are but imperfect before thee all the splendour of the Sun to thee is but obscurity Thou findest nothing pure nothing firme in them How much more then in me who am form'd of dust who live on mud and am ever mixt with ordure Lord from the Cedars of Lebanon even to the least wilde plant some parke of thy Divinity shines all thy creatures beare thy marke and thy Character on their fronts My God I am likewise the workmanship of thy holy hands display then over me some rayes of thy grace Lord I am lost in the Otian of my offences I am drown'd in their waves Preserve me then from ship-wracke I
transgression upon transgression thou multipliest the acts of clemency Be not then My God inexorable to my fault pursue me not unto extremity The Nurse forbears not to give the breast to her child because it disturbs her repose and sleep Thou art to me more than a Fosterer be not then deaf to my plaints and deny not the milk and the sweetnesse of thy grace to thy infant whom thou hast imbellish't for an high designe and whom thou hast redeem'd with the life of thy onely Son I have forfeited thy grace my God but thou never losest thy goodnesse behold me in thy clemency not in thy justice my hopes survives in thee alone swallow my transgressions in thy compassions and the fruit shall remain to thy glory Lord my braines dissolve into teares my haires are full of ashes my visage heavy my eyes are hollow sunk and dull But Lord if my teares can render thee more gentle if they can move thee to extinguish the flames of my crimes set open the Fountaines of my weeping and cause me to bathe in the waters of my penitence untill that by the merits of the Saviour of the world thou hast overturned my transgression and impure desires under the power of thy compassion Lord I am nothing but Rottennesse and Corruption But the very ashes of a rich substance want not their value I am ransom'd by the stripes of thy Sonne I am cleansed by his blood I speak to thee by hismouth be mindful then of that sweet smelling sacrifice which Jesus Christ offered on the Crosse and do me the honour I may participate in the Triumph of his perfect and compleat Ministry Thou promisedst to Abraham not to destroy Sodom if so be that there thou couldst finde ten just persons and I Lord Gen. 15.36 I am holy I am enclosed I am a member of the just one without spot of one just justifying who hath swallowed my transgressions in the Ocean of his merits of one Just who is the light from whence I borrow the rayes of splendor Of one Just who hath cherish't me in his bosome and who makes me to draw the breath of his mouth Accept then the offerings my God of my humble acknowledgment which I bring to thy Altars with all the zeal and devotion whereof I am capable Psal 51. I beseech thee with the Psalmist David O God have pity upon me according to thy loving kindnesse according to the multitude of thy compassions efface my offences wash me from mine iniquity and purge me from my sinne I acknowledge my transgressions and my faults are ever before thee I have sinned against thee purge me with bysop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow Turn thy face away from mine iniquities O God create in me a clean heart and a stedfast spirit east me not away from thy presence neither take from me the Spirit of thy holinesse Restore me to the gladnesse of thy salvation open may lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Lord cause thy graces to abide with me conduct and lead me in thy wholsom paths by a divine inspiration touch to the quick my spirit and my sense and fill me with an ardure to thy service Open my lips which my transgressions have closed make to spring in me piety integrity the love of my neighbours modesty and that my vices after having so long time abused thy creature may in conclusion quit and surrender the place to a blessed to a reformed estate Effect it that my very countenance may answer for me that one may read in my eyes and voice the integrity of my intentions Enable me that I may fructifie as Trees planted by the streames of waters Enable me to walk worthily as it is requisite before thee increasing in all sweet savour and declaring that I am a member of thy Church instructed in thy Gospel and that thy Word dwelleth in me Lord thou hast unto this day conserved me thou hast born me upon thy wings Enable me then to be obedient to thy Voice that I may keep thy Covenant and that I may be of the Kingdome of thy Priests and of thy holy Nation Engrave thy holy Ordinances in my spirit cause my eares to resound the sweet and gratious ayres of thy Word Bring to passe that my tongue may sing a perperual song and be an eccho to thy heavenly voice and for the time to come I may ever addresse most ardent supplications not idle drowsy words unto thee then when as carried away with a Designe or Slumber and that I speak and understand not my self Establish my heart in thy fear retain my inclinations in obedience to thine fill my soul with charity which is the Complement of the Law the establishment of grace the preparative to glory which as the influence of the Sunne enables me with a vertue to fructifie and increase Lord receive me into thy favours wholly blot out my sinne temper and aslwage the scaldings of my wounds Encamp thy Angels round about me dispel and scatter all evil farre from me Be thou my Guide through the perisous straights of the World and the turbulent stormes of the violence of my passions suffer me not to daâ—h against the rocks of this Sea of the world and under the conduct of thy Holy Spirit cause me to arive at the Port of thy salvarion and cast anchor in the midst of thine Love me my God to the intent I may love thee that I may seek thee serve thee pray to thee that I may give thee glory and honour for ever A Meditation upon the Holy Supper UP then my Soul continue not longer buried in the delights and vanities of the World Arise awake thee rouze thy self and lend an attentive ear to the sacred voice of the well-beloved Sonne of God who invites thee to take place at his feast to sit down to the Banquet of eternal life Arise recollect all thy strength and lift thy self up toward this Fountain of light who by his Sunne illustrates all the Starres of heaven and illuminates all the parts and corners of the earth He is the only Physician on whom depends all thy deliverance He is the onely Authour of grace who can conserve thee against darknesse against hell he onely is Omnipotent who can carry thee for ever into heaven Up then my Soul prostrate thy self before him fortifie thy zeal follow thy God who calleth thee to participate of that great divine mystery which he hath instituted and ordained in his Church which is the Sacrament of his body of which one must take part to obtain eternal life The Sacrament of his body by the which he is united unto thee to convey thee into his glory whereby he removeth he abolisheth he effaceth all that is in thee of sin of cursing and of death and there replanteth his grace his life and his felicity All whatever he has brought from heaven all the grace which is
infused into him all the treasure of those merits which he acquir'd on the Crosse is conferred on thee by the communion of this holy Sacrament of his Supper which is the Fountain of spiritual sweetnesse by the which God nourisheth sustaineth and conserveth the life he hath confer'd on us in Baptisme and hath united us unto himself making â—s as saith Saint Paul flesh of his flesh bones of his bones and members of his proper body But my God all times are ever present with thee thou mindest not the past nor attendest the future Thou watchest over my cogitations thou art the Judge of my intentions nothing is hid from thee all things to thee are naked and entirely manifest my heart is fast closed in my breast but my bosome is not other than glasse in thy sight and thou beholdest Lord that the fervour of my faith is as it were quite extinct that my brow hath neither sincerity nor candor that I take not repose but under the branches cracking with fruits of iniquity and that my soul is more defil'd than the mire of which my body is form'd I cannot then great God approach thy holy Table till I have in thy presence with a true resentment and entire affection without hypocrisie and with an open and free heart confessed my shame acknowledging thy glory Lord I am oppressed with fear and astonishment I humble my self at thy feet I poure forth in thy sight all my offences which appeal my countenance I accuse I blame and condemne my ingratitude and my failings I acknowledge I am the most infirme the most abject of all thy creatures the very scorn of the earth and the most vile and detestable of all that the heaven covers I have suffered my self to be carried away with the deceitful delusions and enticements of the world I am quite over-spread with foul and filthy scales which â—â—â—ke me stumble into precipices and inâ—â—ead that thou hast opened my mouth to the end I should exalt thee and hast given me the knowledge of thy truth to declare it on the earth I am ever backward to that which concerne thy glory and my salvation Lord thou mayest dart thy lightning from heaven thou canst consume and over-whelme me with thy storms but I am nothing and in punishing me thou losest thy labour and thy thunder thou art the Omnipotent God from all eternity and I a fraile man yet the work of thy hands as thou art powerful in thy wrath so art thou Omnipotent in thy clemency Rend not him then who is humbled I am thine now thou canst have no delight in my Funerals I am a great sinner but thou art yet greater in thy mercies thou holdest the lives of men in thy hands 't is thy mouth which pronounces their absolution have pity then on me my God by the infinite number of thy compassions blot out my innumerable iniquities and save by thy grace him whom thou mayst damne in thy justice deliver him who is ransom'd by the precious blood of thy Sonne of thy Sonne who all glittering and resplendent with glory hath so far humbled himself as to be cloathed with our flesh to raise up the mud and refuse of the earth toward the Throne of thy Grandure Cause Lord that my Repentance and Confession may be to thee sweet sacrifices agreeable and of pleasant odour I knock at the gate let it not be closed seeing thou art merciful with thee the word and effect are the same grant me pardon from deserved punishment and mollifie the hardnesse of my heart which is in thy power Lord in times past thou drewest out and deliverest thy people from the fetters of Egypt thou hast divided the Red Sea and formed a Rampart of waters against the waters continue then thy goodnesse towards thine own Deliver me Lord Deliver me immediately by the merits of thy Sonne from the servitude of mine iniquities under the bondage whereof with anguish I emplore thy succours Bow down thy greatnesse over me display upon my soul the rayes of thy holy Spirit and enlighten me with the lustre of thy divinity to the end that I may meditate and fully comprehend how the body of Jesus Christ my Saviour is given and broken for thine elect and his blood spil't on the Crosse is made mine by the communion of thy holy Sacrament I am unable of my self to raise me up from this miserable earth to a subject so High and Excellent But Lord Thou hast cleft the obscurity thence to draw out light Thy divine eye enlightens the darknesse touch my spirit with thy brightnesse as thou didst that of Saint Paul render me uncapable and untractable to the vanities of the World and clear-sighted in the inestimable treasures of thy Gospel Assure my faith establish my faith Lord stay it upon thy promises fortifie me mightly according to the riches of thy divinity so that Christ may abide in me and that I may comprehend with the Saints his love and greatresse Ephes 3.16 which passeth all understanding That we who when enemies having been reconciled by the death of the Saviour of the World may now much rather being justiâ—ed by his blond Rom. 5.10 Shall I be preserved from thine ire Regulate Lord the disordred affections and appetites of my heart mundifie the impure cogitations of my spirit cleanse all the pollutions of my lips and wrench my sins in the blood of thy Son to the intent I may present my self pure at thy Table Grant that my understanding may comprehend Thee that my heart may affect Thee my soul adore Thee and that all my powers and faculties may render and yield thee the obedience which is thy due Father of glory grant me the spirit of wisdome enlighten my eyes Eph. 1.18 to the end I may apprehend what is the excellency of thy Son whom thou hast caused to sit at thy right hand in the heâ—venly places and whom thou hast prefer'd to all principalities and powers and above every name which is invoked not onely in this world but likewise in that which is to come Give eare to me Thou onely object of the Angels through thy Sonne Jesus Christ our Lord who liveth and reigneth in unity with Thee and thy holy Spirit for ever and ever Lord after having formed the light after having stretched out the heavens with thy hands separated the earth from the flood and finishest the creation of such a multitude of starres of so many creeping things of such a variety of Fowles who have a being to thy Glory Thou tookest dust thou embellished it and formed man subjecting the earth under his feet giving him dominion over the fishes of the Sea and over the Fowles of the Ayre And this man good God instead of lifting up without ceasing his vowes to thy honour and praise and to possesse with joy eternally the delights of Eden hath open'd his mouth against thee and contrary to thy expresse command and menaces hath tasted the fruit
of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil and with his rebellious throat hath swallowed at once the Apple and Death He hath swallowed the leprosie which hath corrupted the masse of all his blood and the poyson which hath penetrated through all the members issues of his body This Lord this fountaine which hath continued corrupt in all it's streames this is the gloomy and black cloud whence distills not one drop not infected 'T is Lord this cursed rebellion which hath constrained the heavens ever bright and serene before to conspire and confederate against man and to poure forth upon him deluges of blood and universal scourges to extirpate and exterminate the Posterity of this Ancestor 'T is this rebellion which hath caused man to totter from his first estate rendred him a slave of sinne and a prey of that roaring Lyon who graspeth his throat with his foot So soon as the prohibition was made sinne followed and by sinne we have all received a Decree of condemnation But great God thou hast rais'd up and restored thine through thy mercy Thou hast destroyed that cursed spirit who would glut himself with the blood of our entrals and hast born us upon thy wings as an Eagle his Ayry Thou hast brought back and renddred in a flourishing condition our soules who were languishing and abased unto death The deluge of our vices hath drawn a deluge of plagues upon us but the deluge of thy Compassions hath swallowed the deluge of these Maledictions Thou hast cleansed these streames of iniquity in a sorce perpetually flowing into life Thou hast healed these leprosies with a vermillion blood and corrected and abated the force of these poysons by a heavenly Antidote By the offence of one alone death reigned over men and by the merit of onely one men shall reigne unto life The transgression of Adam is fallen upon all to condemnation and the justice of Christ justifying is come also upon all to justification Many by the disobedience of one alone Rom. 5.17 were rendred sinners and by the obedience of one alone many are rendred just To the intent that as sinne reigned unto death grace should also reign unto eternal life 'T is Lord that which Thou hast so often foretold to our Fathers by the mouths of thy Prophets who have declared on the earth that thy Sonne should bear our sorrowes that he should charge on himself our afflictions that he should be pierced for our offences and bruised for our iniquities Thou hast caused all our out-rages to fall upon him and the wounds are come on him for the Transgressions of thy people As a Lamb is led to the slaughter neither hath he opened his lips Dan. 9.26 he is set as an oblation for the transgressions of them who have known him is cut off not for himself but for us Oh admirable Architect of the World who hast stretched out the heavens sustained the massive foundations of the earth and commanded the waters of the Ocean to distill gently through the veines of the Rocks for the nourishment of men Oh holy streame of our felicity the strength of our Might that the graces of thy divine goodnesse are singular the effect of thy providence marveilous in the conservation of men in having prepared for us by thy mercy this conciliation before the foundation of the World and from the beginning having prefigured this sacrifice by the Tree of life in the Terrestrial Paradise afterwards by the Paschal Lamb by the Manna by the loaves of propitiation by the bread which the Angel brought to the Prophet Eliah in the strength whereof it is said that he went even unto the Mountain to have instructed us that so much blood of Bulls and Goats which was spilt before thee and the ashes of an Heifer wherewith they besprinkled the unclean were prefigurations of that juslifying blood which was requisite to be poured on the earth to blot out our transgressions And lastly Lord after having often spoken to our Ancestors by thy Prophets Heb. 17. Thou wouldst speak to our fathers face to face by thy Son who is the brightnesse of thy glory who as the snow tumbling from heaven scattering it self to whiten our plaines so is he descended from on high to publish peace from the rising to the setting of the Sunne and to save those who were fallen among the precipices for for the punishment due to their offences The woman the first seduc'd sees her self a thousand times happier she did see her self a Virgin-Mother containing in her womb the Saviour of the World Oh happy day that thou art Remarkable among us for having first beheld and having first caused us to see the well-beloved Son of God the Father and the Redeemer of the faithful And you bright Services that you are precious having given growth to the body who hath suffered for our sinnes and who since is risen with so much glory And thou earth thou art happy to have nourish't within thy bosome and seen to march upon thy face the Saviour of the World The Sages conducted by the Star hasted to prostrate themselves at thy feet thy Angel in giving advice to the Shepherds and the multitude of the heavenly Host leaping for joy lifted up their voyces to thy honour saying Glory be to God on High in Earth peace good will toward men Acts 5.3 Then Lord he whom thou hast raised up by thy right hand for a Prince and Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sinnes appeared in the flesh that so the flesh might live and by his humanity thy Clemency might approach us which before was with-drawn Thou hast sent him as a Bright Sun to enlighten all the compasse of the Earth He appeared cloathed with humane flesh but all repleat and all shining with Divinity The Power of His Vertue was manifest to the eyes of all the people The most impetuous stormes and billowes of the Ocean gave way unto the sole power of His word The tempestuous whiâ—le-whinds which troubled the serenity of the aire gave truce to their whistlings roarings at the only waging of his hand and acknowledg'd that they ought him respect and silence and that all things should be prepared to receive His Commands Men captiv'd under the power of the Devil were enlarged with the onely glance of His eye The most inveterate maladies departed at the only touch of His garment and the bodies mouldering under the obscurity of the Coffin rose again at his voyce in the Tombe His life was nothing but an open Book of Doctrine with a multitude of miracles and favours toward men The limits of his Course were so pleasant they were so bright with the beames of his compassion so glittering with his triumphs over the enemy of men The History is therein so rich that the excesse takes away and obstructs the description And that the world as saith his Beloved Apostle is not sufficient to contain that which might
be written John 21.25 Also Lord He came to stifle by the impetuosity of his power and by the grandure of his merit our cursed enemy and to cut off the streame of the course of his puissance flying through the world He came as a great Royal Eagle from the heighth of heaven to descend on the earth and in favour of his own to scatter with the onely ayre of his vigerous clapping of his wings all the strength of Satan unworthy of his encounter He came as the Evening and close of our miseries and dawning of our felicity as the bright Sunne of men to comfort and strengthen them by his wholsome and pleasant influence He came as the morning which chaseth away the night and advanceth declaring the returne of the light as the holy Columbe of the world the solid pillar of the heavens the lively image of his charity and the divine foot-steps which giveth life And finally my God thy Christ our Saviour being upon the point to die would that the last act of his life should be the institution of the Holy Sacrament of his body which he celebrated in the company of his Apostles declaring unto them that all they who firmly believe in him shall have remission of their sinnes in the effusion of this blood and shall for ever possesse the Kingdome of heaven and to conferre on us an infallible assurance he elected for a seal and witnesse of his last will bread and wine to the intent that the faithful by these signes should be ascertained of the treasures which are acquired for them by his bounty But my Great God 'T is now that we must commemorate the excellent Sermon made to the Disciples for to instruct them and to render them capable of the participation of this Holy Sacrament 'T is here expedient to call to mind the words of him which thou pronounc't with thy voyce in the Mountain in the hearing of Saint Peter Saint James and Saint John this is my well-beloved Sonne hear him Jon. 6.53 He then said Verily verily â—â—â—y unto you that if you eat not the flesh of the Son of man and drink not this blood you shall have no life in your selves he who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life eternal and I will raise him up at the last day For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed he who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him As the Father who is living hath sent me and I live by the Father So he who eateth me Shall live also by me That is the bread which descended from heaven not as your fathers have eaten Manna and are dead who eateth this bread shall live for ever He spake these things in the Synagogue teaching in Capernaum But knowing that many of his Disciples found this saying hard he added doth this offend you what will you do then if you shall behold the Sonne of man astend there where he was at the beginning 'T is the Spirit that quickens the flesh is unprofitable the words which I speak to you are spirit and life And after he had finish't these instructions he made them partakers of his Holy Supper even as he hath declared by the hand of his blessed Apostle In the night wherein he was betray'd He took bread and having given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me Likewise also after Supper he took the Cup saying this Cup is the New Testament of my blood do this in remembrance of me For how often and whensoever you shall eat of this bread and drink of this Cup you shall shew forth my death even untill I come And in the end Lord his incomprehensible Charity and which exceeds all admiration having conducted him to the hour wherein by his death he would redeem our lives he became the saving hand which broke and opposed the blow and received the smart of the other members And be who was able as a Thunder-clap of heaven to overturne under his Tempest the highest Mountaines who could as a whirle-poole swallow all in an instant that opposed this power and as a whirle-wind sweep away all that was on the earth He said I who by the force of his Arme with one small motion can destroy all humane soules and with one onely glance of his Eye arme a million of Angels and overthrow under his feet the heaven and the earth submitted himself to the rage and brutishnesse of his people adopted above all people the first-born among men and whom thou defendest as the Apple of thine eye He permitted them to extend his members on the Crosse to wash our sins in his blood and in that flood which the Iron made to issue from his body And thus great God Thine only Son gave his life a ransome for us and delivered us from the curse of the law which had so long time held us slaves to sin He offer'd his body in sacrifice and by that holy oblation acquir'd for us the gifts and the fulnesse of his graces wherein the blessed shall eternally rejoyce 'T is this Christ who is worthy to take the Book of life Apoc. 5.9 and to open the seals thereof 'T is he who is the Lambe Apoc. 5.12 who meriteth to receive power strength Honour and Praise His death was the sacrifice of sacrifices the accomplishment and consummation of all ceremonyes which have been from the beginning of the world This is the sacrifice without renewing whereby the wrath of God is forever appeas'd his justice satisfied and the transgressions of men effac't 'T is that bright shining sacrifice in comparison whereof the foregoing were but obscure shadowes This is the only sacrifice full of Majesty which is alone the object of all sacrifices offered in time-past by all people adoring the true God All that which the oblations of Aaron and of our fathers have had of Propitiation and of sweet Odour were anticipated on the fulnesse of grace and on the infinite merit of this sacrifice so often made in all foregoing ages This is the eternal sacrifice fill'd with lively splendour which darts his Rayes and confers his Balme upon his to render them a sweet Odour before thee my God This is the sacrifice which hath placed them on the sacred seat of the Church and hath carryed them into the glorious Temple of the legitimate Spouse of Christ all Glittering with Divinity 'T is my God this sacrifice which hath conferred thy love on me which without intermission I observe to shine in the flames of my own wretchednesse and hath acquired for me the infinite Grandure of thy compassion which I have ever beheld firme in the glances of my extreame afflictions Also my God there was nothing but the puissant and victorious hand of thy Sonne which could sever the cords and the entangling which held us bound in the snares of
end that the sharp Sword of thy Word may sever and reverse the deepest and profoundest roots of my infidelity and that the divine light of thy Gospel which hath enlightned thy Church from the Apostles even to this day may dissipate the thick darknesse which overwhelmes me Grant me that I may serve thee in holinesse and righteousnesse that I may furnish my memory with the beauty of thy divine power enlighten the gloominesse and obscurity which environes me prepare my feet to the path of peace and my mouth to pronounce thy praise and permit not that I be surpriz'd with any evil slumbers and that I sleep not unto death Raise up my Soul Lord by the fervour of devotion to a constant meditation on heavenly things conserve me as he whose name is written in thy book of life as he who is ransom'd with the blood of the Saviour of the World is destined to be a vessel of honour in thine house Unite my spirit by continual meditations to them of thine elect to the intent that being endowed with thy graces I may serve thee for a pleasant habitation as a fair Jerusalem In Conclusion Lord to thee I recommend my Soul and my Body my Councels and Cogitations my Words and Actions the conduct of all my Wayes the Course and End of my life A Discourse of Afflictions and Martyrdome THe Children of God are marked with a different Character from the rest of the Citizens of the Earth God hath assigned them for portion here below Poverty Ignominy the losse of kindred maladies and the most insufferable kinds of deaths but happy are these afflictions tending to salvation blessed these chastisements which are to correct not to destroy Praised be God who by these stroakes prevents the celerity of our gangrenes who hath recourse to absitions to preserve our lives and applies the lance to the inflammations of our ulcers untill the venome ceases to prevail Those whom he corrects not are such whom he disdaines to amend those are the children of the World who have their Paradise on earth not in heaven Their wealth often exceeds their wishes their honour surmounts their desires but the season of their delight fades in an instant and that of their calamity is eternal The Fatherly hand afflicteth not them daily they are only buffetted by the enemy of men which cometh too late and in recompence he tormenteth them for ever Let us then call to mind that it 's fore-told in the Gospel that we are destined to suffer griefs to support out-rages and be cut off from the world and that we are commanded to comfort our selves in these tribulations and to skip for joy in the midst of our torments for asmuch as our reward is great in heaven If we suffer our selves to be transported by heavinesse beyond measure 't is to be suspected that afflictions will overcome us give us over to despair as unworthy the consolations which are presented to us by the hand of God and of the certain promises which he hath left us by writing in his Word Let us raise up our soules then above all the things of this World Direct our cogitations to remember the state of our lives and on the remedies which God hath bestowed on us to solace our sorrowes and calamities of a truth our prosperity the sweetnesse of content ordinarily passeth in a little space and giveth place to afflictions who march on with a hideous and frightful visage Our life is nothing but a motion if one day be pleasant another renders it self unsupportable and that we enjoy of content never continues constant But since this is the condition in which it pleaseth God we should live we must not adde our bloody hands to tear our wounds and become unjust in respect of what remaines for the regreat of what we have lost It 's folly to take on ones self the punishment of his infelicity to stay upon the part offended and to look upon the worst side of our lives Let 's not then more imbitter our evils by our impatience neither hereafter render our greene wounds and emotions mortal stroakes and incurable ulcers Let 's cast behind us that pusilanimity which ever puts us to flight causing us to cast forth cries equal to the measure that the Ocean is irritated and raised up against us and hinders us from sustaining the storm without being appall'd Let 's fortifie our hearts let 's fill them with assurance to the intent that contemplating with a confident brow the miseries of the world not to apprehend their approach to sustain them with a couragious aspect and encounter them with valour Let 's approach afflictions to understand them and by the way resolve our selves to constancy The Souldier is unworthy of that name who trembles so soon as he beholds an enemy and perswades himself that already their Sword is at his throat and he is marveilous feeble who is afraid at the only appearance of afflictions Their view cannot offend us and their endeavours if we please may be rendered successelesse Why then make we any difficulty to enter into the lists against them since their wounds ought to harden us constantly to suffer their assaults Those who are nourisht in the shade dread the ardure of the Sun and not those that are accustomed to it Children are apprehensive and fear to behold their blood and not old Souldiers who have of 't seen it as it were continually to distill and flow from their wounds Few new afflictions can present themselves we already have beheld and sustained the most of them if they be great and confiderable the more danger and peril the more glory What delight to rend off the scales which would forme themselves against the brightnesse of our eyes what satisfaction to prevent those discords which would trouble our harmony Up then let us learn to accustome our selves to all diversity and inequality of life and to receive every thing of the saving hand of God And as the Superiour part of the aire which is nearest to the heavens is never darkned with clouds nor agitated with thunders so our soules ever elevated above these passions should never be shamefully overturned under griefs and sadnesse but so much as is necessary to bring her to repentance Let us not precipitate our selves desperately as mad men after our affections enduring with all our heart the adversity of the world ever calling to mind that as the divine benedictions which we shall one day enjoy are setled in a continued and happy rank so also these mortal things are tossed by an infinite number of blustres and totter and incline sometimes to one side sometimes to another It is familiar in the croud and throng of a battel to take ones fortune upon the Ocean to be beaten with stormes upon the earth with diverse afflictions The Pilate for having been preserved from so many tempests cannot longer dread Ship-wrack The Souldier for the frequency and assiduity of peril contemns
we shall blesse our lives and magnifie our miseries Fear not then the wolves who have power but over the wooll but fear God who hath puissance over our â—ouls Let 's fear God who saith that he â—ho taketh not his Crosse and cometh â—ot after him is not worthy of him who foretold Mat. 13.13 Mat. 10.33 that we shall be hated for â—is Names sake but he who shall ensure to the end he shall be saved who saith that he who shall deny me before â—â—en him shall I deny before my heavenly Father If after having received the cognizance of the truth we abandon Christ there remaines no other sacrifice for our sinnes but a horrible expectation of the judgment of God and a servent and violent fire that must devoure his adversaries if any man had contemn'd the Law of Moses he died without mercy upon the testimony of two or three Deut. 19.15 how much more rigorously shall he be punisht who hath abandon'd the Sonne of God and the Blood of his Covenant to him belongeth vengeance It is a terrible thing to fall into the hand of the living God Go to then let 's take felicity as St. Paul in our infirmities rendering our bonds celebrous and manifest let 's rejoyce for that our names are written in the heavens let 's watch let 's be firm in the Faith fortifying our selves 2 Cor. 12.10 that our light may shine before men Phil. 1. and 13. to the intent that they may glorifie the mighty God of Jacob 1 Cor. 16.13 who is our strength and our retreat Declaring that oppression that persecution Mat. 5.16 that the perill and the sword cannot separate us from the love of Christ Rom. 8.54 shewing that neither death nor life nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come can separate us from the love of the Saviour of the world who hath given his life for all 2 Cor. 5.15 to the intent that they who live may not longer live to themselves but to him who is dead and who is risen again for them Let 's be without reproach and harmlesse children of God Irreprehensible in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation among whom we shine as lights who hold forth before them the word of life Phil. 2.15 we are the children of God Heires of God Co-heires with Christ let 's endure then with him let 's dye for him to the intent we may be glorified with him And esteem with St. Paul that the sufferings of this present life are not comparable to the glory to come Mat. 7.25 After that we have built on the Rock if the Rain descend the torrents encrease and the winds bluster we shall not fail to abide firm and stedfast as the mountaine of Syon let 's persist in one same spirit let 's strive together all with the same courage for the faith of the Gospel Phil. 1.27 without being at all dismayed by our adversaties and not being never so little removed from the love of Christ whom God hath Soveraignly raised up to whom he hath given a name Phil. 2.9 which is above every name to the end that at the name of Jesus every knee might bow of them who are in heaven and in the earth and under the earth and that every tongue shall confesse that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father The Kingdome of heaven is that Precious Pearle to acquire which the Merchant sold all his substance it 's his rich stone for the which we ought â—o cast our selves hood-winck't into the Jawes of death for the which we must alwayes direct our countenance right toward heaven and contemn and neglect the sultery heatâ— and the stormes the sword and thâ— fire and for the which men must trample underfoot the Pride of alâ— the thunderings of men Not regarding then things visible which are for a time but the invisible 2 Cor. 4.17 which are eternal Our light affliction which doth passe away produceâ— in us an eternal weight of excellent glory 2 Cor. 5.1 If our earthly habitations are destroyed we have a heavenly dwelling which is not of humane structure How many of the faithful oâ— whom the earth is not worthy have wandred in Desarts and Cavernes 〈◊〉 cloathed with skins of sheep or of Goats afflicted tormented Heb. 11.37 and in conclusion are stoned sawed scorch't and burnt at a gentle fire not regarding to be extended with torments to thâ— intent to obtain a better life The request made to God by Elias 〈◊〉 is it not enough Rom. 11.3 Lord they have slain thy Prophets Demolisht thinâ— Altars I onely remain and they hunt to take away my life Saint Paul foretold what should befall him saith he not I am ready not onely to be bound but also to dye in Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus Act. 21.13 It 's then most certain that all they who will live according to piety in Jesus Christ shall suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 It is certain that the faithful shall have afflictions in great number Psal 34. but the Lord shall deliver them We are in the Furnace 1 Pet. 4.12 2 Cor. 1.5 but the Spirit of God shall rest upon us The sufferings of Christ shall abound in us and so also shall his consolation Men augment our torments and he will multiplie his graces and at the end of the race our afflictions shall determine and our souls shall dance with perpetual consolations These are the promises of God this is his Word The Holy and the Just the Omnipotent and Eternal appearing to Saint John having his aspect like the Sun when he shineth in his full strength Rev. 1.16 holding the seaven stars in his hand and his voice was like the noise of mighty waters hath pronounced it with his mouth you shall have sufferings the Devil shall cast you into prison to the intent you may be terrified but be thou faithful even unto death and I will give thee a Crown of life He who overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death Rev. 2.10 To him who overcometh I will give him to eat of the Tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God To him who overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and to him will I give a white stone Rev. 2.7 and on the stone a new name written which name none shall know Rev. 2.17 Rev. 2.26 but him who receives it To him who overcometh and shall keep my sayings even to the end to him will I give puissance over the Nations and will give him the morning star Who overcometh shall be cloathed with white vestments and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life Rev. 3.5 but will confesse it before my Father and before his Angels Rev 3.10 Who overcometh him will I ordain a Columb in the
the only vertue whereof shal fix establish this handful of earth higher than the heavens I already perceive the rayes of his divine grace which begin to shine over my soul I feel in my self the assistance of his holy Spirit Away then all worldly cares get you behind me be packing and approach no more You are nothing but corrupt water but rottennesse then infection in respect of those heavenly beauties of those odorifferous and fragrant flowers which cast forth so sweet a sent which surpriseth my spirit and ravisheth me in the contemplation of them But good God pain and torment cuts off my speech whilst I implore thee consider my malady which reinforces it self which redoubles its violence It appears to me that my feavour is obstinate to revenge on my flesh and on my bones the offences committed against thee the heat stifles me the chilnesse causeth the members of my feeble carcasse to shiver to sustain and endure a thousand torments I can do no more but sighth and bemoan my self I languish all wounded quite undone and my vigour hourely wasts and decayes I am thirsty my mouth is dry I can find nothing that can quench my infinite drought my feavour takes away from me the relish of every thing all liquors seem bitter all food is against stomach their very sight is nautious not so much as the thought I swallow my spittle instead of all nourishment Alas Lord I well perceive what will become of me I cannot longer resist the assaults of so many evils all the succours of the earth are too feeble to heal me my countenance droops its extinct my members begin to feel the rigour of death I tosse and tumble up and down I stretch my self and am no more I court a little repose a little sleep but it flyes me I can obtaine none Alas formerly my repose descended and dropt so pleasantly into my eyes The night was accustomed to bury all my cares to give truce to my labours to enclose all my torments in a grateful slumber I ever adjourn'd my trouble untill the day untill the Sun came to open mine eyes But now Lord I cannot with great difficulty close my eyes to slumber but instantly I waken my self affrighted with the terrour of a thousand dreams with a thousand horrible visions which appear before me successively The silence of the night which was so agreeable to me at present redoubles my horrours my eye-lids are inclined to watch perpetually my infirmity increases dayly its rigour and violence recovers new force every moment and oppresseth me the more it gains upon me Lord thou hast made adversity as saith the Prophet Amos thou hast created it as saith Isaiah and nothing comes upon us but by thy just providence as Job hath acknowledged in the extremity of his affliction Alas my God thy judgments are perfect I feel the effects of thy fury the weight of thine Arme I submit and render my self to thy mercy cure not my evil by another apply not remedies more sharp than the distemper have pity on my sufferings At least Lord prevent that the tediousnesse of my pain discompose not offend not nor overturn my spirit continue my judgment to me to the intent that I may employ that little time which remaines to meditate and consider thy graces and to beg my pardon Lord thou hast caused waters to flow out of the rock and to refresh thy people in the Desart cause to spring out of my faith a fountain to refresh my scaldings and to give intermission to my evils to the end that my soul fil'd with a divine zeal may wholly raise up her self to heaven and civert from this carcasse the sense of its miseries Lord Lord approach thee near to me my voyce cannot convey my sorrowes even to thy eares and so my miseries shall surpasse my plaints Lord from thy Royal Palace from thy holy and sacred Throne thou considerest all that is acted here below Alas incline thy countenance to my aid assistance redouble not more the extremities of my feavour augment not my sufferings I understand good God that by the destruction of this carcasse my Soul must enter into its felicity but cause what remains to dissolve easily cause that my natural faculties diminish by degrees and that my Soul may depart gently and from the midst of this bed she may fly to thee Lord my breath is so short my infirmity is so violent my dissolution is so near that I behold nothing but the shadow of my Coffin and the depth of my grave which attends me My half dead body makes me utter interrupted speeches my words vanish in my mouth and willing to continue my complaints I cannot make an end Alas good God I fear that my voyce will forsake me strengthen me for awhile or at least be so gracious that in my Soul I may acknowledge my faults and obtain thy pardon Grant me that the short time I have to live may be nothing else but a penitence for my sinnes and a meditation of thy goodnesse that I may not delight but in the sound of thy voice that thy holy volume may be in lieu of a pillow that my heart that my spirit may breath forth and contemplate thy praises Lord my distemper is so violent that it suffocates me yet notwithstanding it oppresseth me not so much as the vast number of my sinnes which I observe hasting before me and the punishment that followes I tremble when I turn my eyes toward thee great God revenger of iniquities which enlightneth and pierceth through the shadowes and remarkest the tracts of all my offences Thou beholdest my conscience without any vail without ornament all my cognitations are open to thee the past and present are both alike before thee thou readest during the course of my life the train of my offences that I have committed thou beholdest thy enemy in my habitation thou findest him inclosed in my bosome My voyce should ever sound in thy eares it ought incessantly to cause thy praises to eccho upon the earth on the contrary my mouth hath ever been open to blasphemies closed to thy Word Thou hast given me a spirit to know thee a heart to adore thee hands to stretch forth to the support and relief of my neighbour I am revolted from thee I have despised the afflicted and have avoided the path of the poor and needy fearing their ran-counter I have avoided their company as if I had dreaded to behold them When thy heaven hath thundred I have stopt my eares I have rendred my self deaf When thy Sun hath cast forth his beames upon me I have made my self blind when thou hast sought after me I have fled away when thou hast called me I have not answered when thou hast corrected I have been hardned at thy stroakes Inlieu of sacrifising my life for thine honour I have continually betrayed thy service I am abandoned to vices I have serv'd riches the follies and vanities
forbear to aggravate my torments regard my afflictions and my travel and forgive me all my offences Lord I suffer in my groanings I mingle my Couch with my tears I am pierc't with afflictions on the bed of languishing The earth is not capable to deliver me out of this extremity The heavens alone have the glory of the medicines that are requisite for me Make hast then to come to my deliverance my God who doth dayly comfort me in my distresse and shelter me in all my stormes Lord I am afflicted that I cannot depart more than that I cannot live But good God who hast freed from death the great Shepheard of the flock by the blood of the perpetual Covenant turn thy compallionate countenance towards my torment and cause it to shine upon me in joy and in salvation Lord thou hast instructed me to understand my end and what is the wretchednesse of my dayes But good God since thou hast ordain'd that I must die cause me to depart in thee that Imay live again I have sinned my God I have displeased thee I have a thousand and a thousand times every day provoked thy fury but thou art the God of my deliverance I am washt I am sanctifi'd I am justified by thy grace in the name of Jesus Christ who hath taken my sorrowes upon him and charged my offences upon himself I am a fellow-Citizen of the Saints of thy Houshold I am built upon the foundation of the Prophets and the Apostles Pardon then my sinnes Lord in the name of thy well-beloved Son correct me not in thy displeasure neither chasten me in thy fury have mercy on me that am destitute of strength I beseech thee my God in the bitternesse of my Soul in the words of the Propher David Lord heare my request and make my supplication come unto thee Hide not thy face from me in the time that I am in calamity encline thine ear unto me in the day that I cry unto thee hast thee to answer me for my bones are dryed as an hearth and they cleave to my flesh by reason of my groaning and my time vanisheth away like smoke and as a shadow which passeth away and as for me I am become withered as the grasse Lord I said once again with David Eternal reprove me not in thine indignation thine arrowes have pierc't me and thy hand hath overwhelm'd me there is no entire part in my flesh there is no rest in my bones by reason of my sinne for mine iniquities are gone over my head and are too weighty as â—n heavy burthen above my strength I am bowed down and swerve beyond measure I am weakned and bruised more and more Lord all my desires are before thee and my afflictions are not hid from thee Forsake me not my God be not far from me hast thee and help me All my hope is in thy mercy Lord thou hast spoken by the mouth of thy Prophet Esay I have heard thee in an acceptable season and succoured thee in the day of salvation My God now behold the agreeable time see now the day of salvation Be thou now Lord my Rock and my Fortresse be thou my Deliverer and sure Retrait The snares of death hath surpriz'd me destruction hath environ'd me but I lift up my self to thee my God hearken to my supplication from thy holy place and let my cry enter into thine ears Give me by thy free mercy the wages and entire reward notwithstanding that I entred not into thy Vineyard till at the close of the day shew me thy sight give me life eternal after this fleeting languishing and cransitory life and assure me of heaven to the intent that the grave swallow me not up for ever Grant me my God that when the Saviour of the World shall appear I may appear with him in glory Grant me that I may accompany that infinite number of thine which shall be before the Throne cloathed in long white Robes holding Palms in their hands and that I sing with a loud voyce with them salvation is of our God who is set upon the Throne and of the Lamb. Wash my garment and cleanse it in his innocent blood to the end that I may eternally serve thee in his holy Temple wherein I shall never suffer hunger nor thirst that I be no more molested nor distemper'd with the Sun nor with the Winter nor with miseries my tears and my pains wip't away with thy hand O Lord I am at the last gasp of my life in the agony and shadow of death to thee I direct my latest vowes my last words All my actions have not been better than vanity in respect hereof Good God arme not thy self with vengeance against me I render to thee my penitent Soul deploring languishing which savours of nought but earth and dust to which this carcasse shall be incontinently reduc't I oppose my cryes my tears my requests my plaints and my groans against my condemnation and my fall Let the confession of my mouth the contrition of my heart cause thy Sword to tumble out of thy hands let my gasping move thy goodnesse magnifie not thy power and might against a languishing attenuated immoveable carcasse against withered grasse laid on the earth expecting nought but to be driven away by the smallest blast I am at my end I neither have more power nor heart to offend thee but I may still serve thee to publish thy elemency the foundation of my hope and thy bounty the spring of my life I am thine from the Cradle thou hast sanctified me I have been redeem'd and ransom'd by the blood of thy Son who died innocent to give life to the guilty by the blood of thy Son who must open to me the door of felicity I have my recourse to him I beseech thee in his Name It is not reasonable that my sinnes should violate me in so holy a Sanctuary Rouse thee good God a rise speedily the extremity of my affliction will not admit any delay to the end that these sinnes be not too powerful for me hearken to my prayers give me strength to prevail against these billowes that drive me off from the heavenly shoar hast thee to absolve me preserve in thy hands my Soul lest it remain a prey drive these sins our of thy presence which are the work of thine enemy and Lord pardon me that am the work of thine hands Lord I render praise for that thou hast made me capable to participate of the heritage of Saints in thy light for that thou hast delivered me from the power of darknesse and hast transported me to the Kingdome of thy well-beloved Son in whom I have deliverance and remission from my sins Lord I perceive the establishment of thine assistance I feel my self replenish't with thy Holy Spirit who effaces my transgressions and ravisheth my Soul even unto heaven to shew him the inheritance which the mercy of thy Son hath bestowed on me in thy presence O good God! how blessed shall I be to hear from thy Holy Spirit that the last of my dayes shall be the first of my repose that I am not farther from my satisfaction than the length of the last groan of my life I am approaching Lord to thy Throne of grace with assurance to obtain mercy by the vertue of my High Priest who hath compassion on my infirmities I am coming to behold thee face to face whereas now I discern thee but darkly as in a mirrour I am quitting these miseries for a fulness of delight from these dolors into the Mountain of Syon from this Militant to the Triumphant Jerusalem from this World to the City of the living God I voluntarily cease to live on the Earth to survive in heaven I contentedly part with this wretched life for that which is most happy I chearfully quit my self to follow thee I abandon this carcasse and render my Soul into thy hands FINIS