kindles flames for it 's dearest friends Therefore whosoever when he should rest from sin busieth himselfe in the dead and fruitlesse workes of wickednesse and renouncing all piety lusts after such things as will bring him into eternall destruction and everlasting flames justly deserves to die and perish with the damned because when he might have enjoyed a pious rest he laboured to run headlong to his own destruction His Soliloquy MY soul how hast thou prophaned that day thy God hath sanctified How hast thou encroach'd on that which heaven hath set apart If thy impatience cannot act a Sabbath twelve hours what happinesse canst thou expect in a perpetuall Sabbath Is sixe dayes too little for thy selfe and two hours too much for thy God O my soule how dost thou prize temporalls beyond eternalls Is it equall that God who gave thee a body and sixe dayes to provide for it should demand one day of of thee and be denied it How liberall a receiver art thou and how miserable a Requiter But know my soule his Sabbaths are the Apple of his eye He that hath power to vindicate the breach of it hath threatned judgements to the breaker of it The God of mercy that hath mitigated the rigour of it for charity sake will not diminish the honour of it for prophanesse sake sorget not then my soule to remember his Sabbaths and remember not to forget his judgements lest he forget to remember thee in Mercy What thou hast neglected bewaile with conâ—â—ition â—nd what thou hast repenâ—ed forsake with resolution and what thou hast resolved strengthen with devotion His Prayer O Eternall just and all discerning Judge in thy selfe glorious in thy Son gracious who â—â—yest without a witnesse and condemnest without a jury O! I confesse my very actions have betrayed me thy word hath brought in evidence against me my own conscience hath witnessed against me and thy judgement hath past sentence against me And what have I now to plead but mine owne misery and whether should that misery flee but to the God of mercy And since O Lord the way to mercy is to leave my selfe I here disclaim all interest in my selfe and utterly renounce my selfe I that was created for thy glory have dishonoured thy Name I that was made for thy service have prophaned thy Sabbaths I have sleighted thy Ordinances and turned my back upon thy Sanctuary I have neglected thy Sacraments abused thy Word despis'd thy Ministers and despis'd their ministery I have come into thy Courts with an unprovided heart and have drawn near with uncircumcised lips And Lord I know thou art a jealous God and most severe against all such as violate thy Rest The glory of thy Name is pretious to thee and thine honour is as the Apple of thine eye But thou O God that art the God of Hosts hast published and declared thy selfe the Lord of mercy The constitution of thy Sabbath was a work of time but Lord thy mercy is from all eternity I that have broke thy Sabbaths do here present thee with a broken heart thy hand is not shortned that thou canst not heale noâ— thy ear deafned that thou canst not hear Stâ—etch forth thy hand O God and heal my wounds Bow down thine eare O Lord and heare my Prayers Alter the fabrick of my sinfull heart and make it tender of thy glory Make me ambitious of thy service and let thy Sabbaths be my whole delight Give me a holy reverence of thy Word that it may prove a light to my steps and a Lanthorn to my feet Endue my heart with Charity and Faith that I may finde a comfort in thy Sacraments Blesse thou the Ministers of thy sacred Word and make them holy in their lives sound in their doctrine laborious in their callings Preserve the universall Church in these distracted times give her peace unity uniformity purge her of all Schisme error and superstition Let the Kings daughter be all glorious within and let thine eyes take pleasure in her beauty that being honor'd here to be a member of her Militant I may bee glorified with her triumphant The Censorious mans Crimination I Know there is much of the seed of the Serpent in him by his very lookes if his words betray'd him not He hath eaten the Egge of the Cockâ—trice and surely he remaineth in the state of perdition He is not within the Covenant and abideth in the Gall of bitternesse His studied Prayers show him to be a high Malignant and his Jesu worship concludes him popishly affected He comes not to our private meetings nor contributes a penny to the cause He cries up learning and the book of Common-prayer and takes no armes to hasten Reformation He feares God for his owne ends for the spirit of Antichrist is in him His eyes are full of Adulteries and goes a whoring after his owne inventions He can hear an oath from his superiours without reproof and the heathenish Gods named without spitting in his face Wherefore my soule detesteth him and I will have no conversation with him for what fellowship hath light with darknesse or the pure in heart with the unclean Sometimes he is a Publican somtimes a Pharisee and alwayes an Hypocrite He railes against the Altar as loud as we and yet he cringes and makes an Idol of the name of Jesus he is quick-sighted to the infirmities of the Saints and in his heart rejoyceth at our failings he honours not a preaching ministery and too much leans to a Church-government hee paints devotton on his face whilst pride is stampt within his heart he places sanctity in the walls of a Steeple-house and adores the Sacrament with his popish knee His Religion is a Weathercock and turns brest to every blast of wind With the pure he seems pure and with the wicked he will joyne in fellowship A sober language is in his mouth but the poyson of Aspes is under his tongue His workes conduce not to edification nor are the motions of his heart sanctified He adores great ones for preferment and speaks too partially of authority He is a Laodicean in his faith a Nicolaitane in his workes a Pharisee in his disguise a rank Papist in his heart and I thanke my God I am not as this man His Commination BUt stay my soule take heed whilst thou judgest another lest God judge thee how com'st thou so expert in anothers heart being so often deceived in thy own A Saul to day may prove a Paul to morrow Take heed whilst thou wouldst seem religious thou appear not uncharitable and whilst thou judgest man thou be not judg'd of God who saith Iudge not lest ye be judged Mat. 7. 1. Iohn 7. 24. Iudge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgement Rom. 14. 10. But why dost thou judge thy brother or why dost thou set at naught thy brother We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ 1 Cor 4. 5. Iudge nothing before the time untill the Lord
as the merit of thy renowned Actions and let thy memory entaile it to succeeding Generations Make thy owne game and if thy conscience correct thee check thy saucy Conscience till shee stand as mute as metamorphos'd Niobe Feare not the frownes of Princes or the imperious hands of various Fortune Thou art too bright for the one to obscure and too great for the other to cry downe His Verdict BUt harke my soule I heare a voice that thunders in mine eare I will change their glory into shame Hos. 4. 7. Psal. 49. 20. Man that is born in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Prov. 25. 27. It is not good for to eate too much boney so for men to search their own glory is not glory Jer. 9. 23. Thus saith the Lord Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth mee that I am the Lord Gal. 5. 26. Let us not bee desirous of vain-glory c. His Proofes St. August The vain glory of the world is a deceitfull sweetness an unfruitfull labour a perpetuall fear a dangerous bravery begun without providence and finished not without repentance S. Greg. He that makes transitory honour the reward of a good worke sets eternall glory at low rate His Soliloquie VAin-glory is a Froth which blowne off discovers a great want of measure Canst thou O my soul be guilty of such an emptinesse and not bee challeng'd Canst thou appeare in the searching eye of heaven and not expect to be cast away deceive not thy self O my soul nor flatter thy self with thy own greatnesse Search thy self to the bottome and thou shalt find enough to humble thee Dost thou glory in the favour of a Prince The frown of a Prince determines it Dost thou glory in thy strength A poor Ague betrayes it Dost thou glory in thy wealth the hand of a thiefe extinguishes it Dost thou glory in thy friends One cloud of adversity darkens it Dost thou glory in thy parts thy own pride obscures it Behold my soul how like a Bubble thou appearest and with a sigh break into sorrow the gate of heaven is strait canst thou hope to enter without breaking The Bubble that would passe the Floodgates must first dissolve My soule melt then in tears and empty thy self of all thy vanity and thou shalt find divine repletion evaporate in thy Devotion and thou shalt recruit thy greatnesse to eternall Glory His Prayer ANd can I choose O God but tremble at thy judgements or can my stony heart not stand amazed at thy threatnings It is thy voice O God and thou hast spoken it It is thy voice O God and I have heard 〈◊〉 Hadst thou so dealt by me as thou didst by Babels proud King and driven me from the sons of Men thou hadst but done according to thy righteousnesse and rewarded mee according to my deservings What couldst thou see in mee lesse worthy of thy vengeance then in him the example of thy justice Or Lord wherein am I more uncapable of thy indignation There is nothing in me to move thy mercy but in misery Thy goodness is thy selfe and hath no ground but what proceedeth from it self yet have I sinned against that goodnesse and have thereby heaped up wrath against the day of wrath that insomuch had not thy Grace abounded with my sin I had long since bin confounded in my sin and swallowed up in the gulph of thy displeasure But Lord thou takest no delight to punish with thee is no respect of persons thou takest no pleasure in the confusion of thy creature but rejoycest rather in the conversion of a sinner Convert mee therefore O God I shall be then converted make me sensible of my own corruptions that I may see the vilenesse of my own condition Pull downe the pride of my ambitious heart humble mee thou O God and I shall bee humbled Weane mee from the thirst of transitory honour and let my whole delight bee to glory in thee Touch thou my conscience with the feare of thy name that in all my actions I may fear to offend thee endue me O Lord with the spirit of meeknesse and teach me to overcome evill with a patient heart moderate and curb the exorbitances of my passion and give me temperate use of all thy creatures Replenish my heart with the graces of thy Spirit that in al my ways I may be acceptable in thy sight In all conditions give me a contented minde and upon all occasions grant me a gratefull heart that honouring thee here in the Church militant before men I may be glorified hereafter in the Church triumphant before thee Angels where filled with true glory according to the measure of grace thou shalt be pleased to give me here I may with Angels and Archangels praise thy Name for ever and ever The Oppressors Plea I Seeke but what 's my owne by Law It was his owne free Act and Deed The execution lies ◠for goods or body and goods or body I will have or else my money What if his beggerly children pine or his proud wife perish They perish at their own charge not mine and what is that to mee I must be paid or he lie by it untill I have my utmost farthing or his bones The Law is just and good and being ruled by that how can my faire proceedings bee unjust What 's thirty in the hundred to a man of Trade Are we born to thrum Caps or pick straws and sell our livelihood for a few teares and a whining face I thanke God they move mee not so much as a howling Dog at midnight I 'le give no day if heaven it selfe would bee security I must have present money or his bones The Commodities were good enough as wares went then and had he had but a thriving wit with the necessary help of a good merchantable Conscience hee might have gained perchance as much as now hee lost but howsoever gaine or not gaine I must have my mony Two tedious Termes my dearest gold hath laine in his unprofitable hands The cost of Suit hath made me bleed above a score of Royals besides my Interest travel half pints and bribes all which does but encrease my beggerly defendants damages and sets him deeper on my score but right 's right and I will have my money or his bones Fifteen shillings in the pound composition I le hang first Come tell not mee of a good Conscience a good conscience is no parcell of my Trade it hath made more Bankrupts then all the loose wives in the universall City My conscience is no foole It tells mee that my owne 's my owne and that a well-cramm'd bagge is no deceitfull friend but will stick close to mee when all my friends forsake mee If to gaine a good Estate out of nothing and to
Sabbaths I have doted too much on the pleasures of this world and like a Droane have fed upon the hony of Bees If thou O God shouldst be extreme to search my wayes with too severe an eye thou couldst not choose but whet thy indignation and powre the vialls of thy wrath upon me look therefore not upon my sins O Lord but through the merits of my Saviour who hath made a full satisfaction for all my sins what through my weaknesse I have fail'd to doe the fulnesse of his sufferings hath most exactly done In him O God in whom thou art well pleased and for his sake bee gracious to my sin Alter my heart and make it willing to please thee that in my life I may adorne my profession Give me a care and a conscience in my calling and grant thy blessing to the lawfull labours of my hand Let the fidelity of my vocation improve my Talent that I may enter into my Masters joy Rouze up the dulnesse and deadnesse of my heart and quench those flames of lust within mee Assist mee O God in the redemption of my time and deliver my soule from the evilnesse of my dayes Let thy Providence accompany my moderate endeavours and let all my employments depend upon thy Providence that when the labours of this sinfull world shall cease I may feel and enjoy the benefit of a good conscience and obtain the rest of new Jerusalem in the Eternity of glory The proud mans Ostentation I 'Le make him feel the weight of displeasure and teach him to repent his saucy boldnesse How dare his basenesse once presume to breath so near my person much more to take my name into his dunghill mouth me thinks the lustre of my sparkling eye might have had the power to astonish him into good manners and sent him backe to cast his minde into a fair Petition humbly presented with his trembling hand But thus to presse into my presence to presse so neer my face and then to speake and speake to me as if I were his equall is more then sufferable The way to be contemn'd is to digest contempt but he that would be honour'd by the vulgar must wisely keep a distance A countenance that 's reserv'd breeds fear and observation but affability and too easie an accesse makes fooles too bold and reputation cheap What price I set upon my owne deserts instructs opinion how to prize me That which base ignorance miscalls thy pride is but a conscious knowledge of thy merits dejected soules craven'd with their own distrusts are the worlds Footballs to be kickt and spurnd but brave and true heroick spirits that know the strength of their owne worth shall baffold basenesse and presumption into a reverentiall silenâ—e and spiâ—e of envie flourish in an honourable repute Come then my soule advance thy noble thy ubâ—imer thoughts and prize thy â—elf according to thoâ—e parts which all may wonder at â—ew imitate but none can equall Let not the insolent affronts of vassals interrupt thy Peace nor seem one scruple lesse then what thou art Be thou thy selfe respect thy selfe receive thou honour from thy selfe Rejoyce thy self in thy self and prize thy selfe for thy selfe Like Cesar admit no equall and like Pompey acknowledge no superiour Be covetous of thine owne Honour and hold anothers glory as thy injury Renounce humilitie as an Heresie in reputation and meeknesse as the worst disease of a true-bred noble Spirit Disparage worth in all but in thy selfe and make anothers infamy a foyl to magnifie thy glory Let such as have no reason to be proud be humbled of necessity and let them that have no parts to value be despondent But as for thee thy Cards are good and having skill enough to play thy hopefull Game vie boldly conquer and triumph His Desolation BUt stay my soule the Trump is yet unturn'd boast not too soon nor call it a faire day till night the turning of a hand may make such alterations in thy flattering fortunes that all thy glorious expectations may chance to end in losse and unsuspected ruine That God which thrust that Babylonian Prince from his Imperiall Throne to graze with beasts hath said The Lord will destroy the house of the proud Prov. 15. 25. Prov. 11. When pride cometh then cometh shame but with the lowly is wisedome Ier. 11. 15. Heare ye and give eare and be not proud for the Lord hath spoken Esay 2. 12. The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up and he shall be brought low Prov. 16. 5. Every one that is proud in heart is abomination to the Lord St. James God rejecteth the proud and giveth grace to the simple His Proofs Isidor Hispal Pride made Satan fall from the highest heaven therefore they that pride themselvs in their virtues imitate the Devill and fall more dangerously because they aspire and climbe to the highest pitch from whence is the greatest fall Greg. Mor. Pride grows stronger in the root whilst it braves it selfe with presumptuous advances yet the higher it climbes the lower it fals for he that heightens himselfe by his owne pride is alwaies destroyed by the judgement of God His Soliloquy HOw wert thou muffled O my soule How were thine eies blinded with the corruption of thine owne heart When I beheld my selfe by my own light I seem'd a glorious thing My sunne knew no eclipse and all my imperfections were gilded over with vain-glory But now the day-spring from above hath shind upon my heart and the diviner light hath driven away those foggy mists I finde my selfe another thing My Diamonds are all turn'd Pebbles and my glory is turnd to shame O my deceived soule how great a darknesse was thy light The thing that seemd so glorious and sparkled in the night by day appeares but rotten wood and that bright Glow-worme that in darknesse out shined the Chrysolue is by this new-found light no better then a crawling worm How inseparable O my soule is pride and fâ—lly which like Hippocrates twins still live and die together It blinds the eye befools the judgement knows no superiours hates equals disdaines inferiours the wisemans scorne and the fooles Idoll Renounce it O my soule lest thy God renounce thee He that hath threatned to resist the proud hath promised to give grace to the humble and what true Repentance speaks free mercy heares and crownes His Prayer O God the fountain of all true Glory and the giver of all free grace whose Name is onely honourable and whose workes are onely glorious that shewest thy wayes to be meek and takest compassion upon an humble spirit that hatest the presence of a lofty eye and destroyest the proud in the imaginations of their hearts vouchsate O Lord thy gracious eare and hear the sighing of a contrite heart I know O God the quality of my sin can look for nothing but the extremity of thy wrath I know the
crookednesse of my condition can expect nothing but the Fornace of thy indignation I know the insolence of my corrupted nature can hope for nothing but the execution of thy judgements Yet Lord I know withall thou art a gracious God of evill repenting thee and slow to wrath I know thy nature and property is to shew compassion apt to conceive but readier to forgive I know thou takest no pleasure in destruction of a sinner but rather that hee should repent and live In confidence and full assurance whereof I am here prostrate on my bended knees and with an humbleheart Nor doe I presse into thy holy presence trusting in my own merits lest thou shouldest deale by me as I have dealt by others but being encouraged by thy gracious invitation and heavy laden with the burthen of my sinnes I come to thee O God who art the refuge of a wounded soule and the Sanctuary of a broken spirit Forgive O God forgive me what is past recalling and make me circumspect for the time to come Open mine eyes that I may see how vaine a thing I am and how polluted from my very birth Give me an insight of my owne corruptions that I may truly know and loath my selfe Take from me all vaine-glory and self love and make me carelesse of the worlds applause Endue me with an humble heart and take this haughty spirit from me Give me a true diâ—covery of my owne merits that I may truely fear and trembâ—e at thy judgements Let not the worlds contempt deject me nor the disrespects of man dismay me Take from mee O God a scornfull eye and curb my tongue that speaks presumptuous things Plant in my heart a brotherly love and cherish in me a charitable affection Possesse my my soule with patience O God and establish my heart in the feare of thy name that being humbled before thee in the meeknesse of my spirit I may be exalted by thee through the freenesse of thy Grace and crowned with thee in the Kingdome of Glory The Covetous Mans care BEleive me the Times aâ—e hard and dangerous Charity is grown cold and friends uncomfortable an empty Purse is full of sorrow and hollow Bags make a heavy heart Poverty is a civill Pestilence which frights away both friends and kindred and leaves us to a Lord have mercy upon us It is a sicknes very catching and infectious and more commonly abhord then cured The best Antidote against it is Angelico and Providence and the best Cordiall is Aurum potabile Gold-taking fasting is an approved soveraigne Debts are all humours and turne at last to dangerous obstructions Lending is a meer consumption of the radicall humour and if consumed brings a patient to nothing Let others trust to Courtiers promises to friends performances to Princes favours Give me a Toy call'd Gold give me a thing call'd Mony O blessed Mammon how extreamly sweet is thy all-commanding presence to my thriving soule In banishment thou art my deare companion In captivity thou art my precious ransome In trouble and vexation thou art my dainty rest In sicknes thou art my health In griefe my only joy in all extremity my only trust Vertue must vaile to thee Nay Grace it self not relisht with thy sweetnes would even displeas the righteous palates of the sons of men Come then my soul advise contrive project Go compasse Sea and Land leave no exploit untryed no path untrod no time unspent afford thine eyes no sleep thy head no rest Neglect thy ravenous belly uncloath thy backe deceive betray sweare and forsweare to compasse such a friend If thou be base in birth 't will make thee honorable If weak in power it will make thee formidable Are thy friends few It will make them numerous Is thy cause bad It wiâ—l make thee Advocates True wisedom is an excellent help in case it bend this way and learning is a gentile Ornament if not too chargeable yet by your leave they are but estates for term of life But everlasting Gold if well advantag'd will not onely blesse thy daâ—es but thy surviving children from generation to gâ—neration Come come et others fill their brâ—ines with deare bought wit turn their pence inâ—o expenceâ—ull charity and store their bosomes with unprofitable pâ—ety let them lose all to save their â—maginary consciences and begger themâ—elves at home to be thought honest abroad Fill thou thy â—aggâ—s and barnes and ay up for many yeâ—rs and take thy rest His Proofs BUt O my soule what follows wounds my heart and strikes me on my knees Thou foole this night will I take thy soul from thee Luk. 12 20. Matth. 6. 24. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon Job 20. 15. He hath swallowed down riches and he shall vomit them up again God shall cast them out of his belly Prov. 15. 17. He that is greedy of gaine troubles his own house but he that hateth gifts shall live 2 Pet. 2. 3. Through covetousnesse they shall with feigned woâ—ds make merchandize of you whose judgement now of a long time lingâ—eth not and whose damnation slumbreth not Nilus in Paraenes Woe to the covetous for his riches forsake him and hell fire takes him Augustine O thou covetous man why dost thou treasure up such hidden mischiefe why dost thou dote on the Image of the King stamped on coine and hatest the Image of God that shines in men Augustine The riches which thou treasurest up are lost those thou charitably bestowest are truly thine His Soliloquy VVHat thinkst thou now my soule If the judgement of holy men may not inform thee let the judgements of thy angry God enâ—orce thee Weigh thy owne carnall effections with the sacred Oracles of heaven and light and darknesse are not more contrary What thou approvest thy God condemnes What thou desirest thy God forbids Now my soul if Mammon be God follow him if God be God adhere to him Thou canst not serve God and Mammon If thy conscience feele the hook nibble no longer Many sinnes leave thee in the way this followes thee to thy lives end the root of evill the canker of all goodnesse It blinds Justice poysons Charity strangles Conscience beslaveâ— the affections betrayes friendship breaks all relations It is a root of the Devils owne planting pluck it up Think not that a pleasure which God hath threatned nor that a blessing which heaven hath cursed Devoure not that which thou or thy heire must vomit up Be no longer possest with such a Devill but cast him out and if he be too strong weaken him by Fasting and exorcize him by Prayer His Prayer O God that art the fulnesse of all riches and the magazeen of all treasure in the enjoyment of whose favour the smalest morsell is a rich inheritance and the coursest poulse is a large portion without whose blessing the greatest plenty enriches not and the highest diet nourishes not How have I an earthworm and no man fixt my whole heart upon this transitory world and neglected
in the gap betwixt this kingdom and thy judgements that being all members of that Body wherof thou Christ art head we may all joyn in humiliation for our sinnes and in the propagation of thy honour here and bee made partakers of thy glory in the kingdom of glory The Presumptuous mans Felicities TEll bauling Babes of Bugbeares to fright them into quietnesse or terrify youth with old wives fables to keep their wilde affections in awe Such Toyes may work upon their timerous apprehensions when wholsom precepts fayl and finde no audience in their youthfull cares Tell not me of Hell Devils or of damned soules to enforce mee from those pleasures which they nick-name Sinne What tell ye me of Law my soule is sensible of Evangelicall precepts without the needlesse and uncorrected thunder of the killing Letter or the terrible paraphrase of roaring Boanarges the tediousnesse of whose language still determines in damnation wherein I apprehend God farre more mercifull then his Ministers T is true I have not led my life according to the pharisaicall Square of their opinions neither have I found judgements according to their Prophecies whereby I must conclude that God is wonderfully mercifull or they wonderfully mistaken How often have they thundred torment against my voluptuous life and yet I feele no pain How bitterly have they threatned shame against the vaunts of my vain-glory yet finde I honour How fiercely have they preacht destruction against my cruelty and yet I live What plagues against my swearing yet not infected What diseases against my drunkennesse and yet sound What danger against procrastination yet how often hath God been found upon the death-bed What damnation to Hypocrites yet who more safe What stripes to the ignorant yet who more Scotfree What poverty to the slothfull yet themselvs prosper What fals to the proud yet they stand surest What curses to the covetous yet who richer What judgements to the lascivious yet who more pleasure What vengeance to the prophane the censorious the revengefull yet none live more unscourg'd Who deeper branded then the Lyar yet who more favourd Who more threatend then the presumptuous yet who lesse punisht Thus are wee foold and kept in awe with the strict fancies of those Pulpit-men whose opinions have no ground but what they gaine from popularity Thus are wee frighted from the liberty of Nature by the politick Chimeraes of Religion whereby wee are necessitated to the observing of those Lawes whereof wee finde a greater necessity of breaking His Anathemaes BUt stay my soule there is a voyce that darts into my troubled thoughts which saith Because thou hast not kept my Lawes all the curses in this Book shall overtake thee till thou be destroyed Deut. 29 Deut. 29. 27 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the land to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this Book 2 Chron. 34. 24 Thus saith the Lord behold I will bring evill upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof even all the curses that are written in the book Deut. 28. 15 But if thou wilt not hearken unto the voyce of the Lord thy God to observe and doe all his commandements and his statues which I command thee this day all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee His Proofs Bernard It is certain thou must die and uncertaine when how or where seeing death is alwayes at thy heeles Thou must if thou bee wise alwayes be ready to die Bernard To commit a sin is an humane frailty to persist in it is a divelish obstinacy Bernard There are some who hope in the Lord but yet in vaine because they onely smooth and flatter themselves that God is mercifull but repent not of their sin such confidence is vain and foolish and leads to destruction His Soliloquy PResumption is a sin wherby we depend upon Gods mercies without any warrant from Gods Word It is as great a sin O my soule to hope for Gods mercy without Repentance as to distrust Gods mercy upon Repentance In the first thou wrongst his justice In the last his mercy O my presumptuous soule let not thy prosperity in sinning encourage thee to sinne lest climbing without warrant into his mercy thou fall without mercy into his judgement Be not deceived a long Peace makes a bloody Warre and the abuse of continued mercies makes a sharpe judgement Patience when slighted turnes to fury but ill-requited starts to vengeance Thinke not that thy uupunisht sin is hidden from the eye of heaven or that Gods judgements will delay for ever The stalled Oxe that wallowes in his plenty and waxes wanton with ease is not farre from slaughter The Ephod O mydesperate soule is long a filling but once being full the leaden cover must goe on and then it hurries on the wings of the wind Advise thee then and whilst the Lampe of thy prosperity lasts provide thee for the evill day which being come repentance will bee out of date and all thy prayers will finde no eare His Prayer GRatious God whose mercy is unsearchable and whose goodnesse is unspeakable I the unthankfull object of thy continued favours and therefore the miserable subject of thy continuall wrath humbly present myself-made misery before thy sacred Majestie Lord when I look upon the horridnesse of my sin shame strikes me dumbe But when I turne mine eie upon the infinitenesse of thy mercy I am emboldned to pour forth my soule before thee as in the one finding matter for confusion so in the other arguments for compassion Lord I have sinned grievously but my Saviour hath satisfied abundantly I have trepassed continually but he hath suffered once for all Thou hast numbred my transgressions by the haires of my head but his mercies are innumerable like the starres of the skie My sinnes in greatnesse are like the mountaines of the earth but his mercy is greater then the heavens Oh if his mercy were not greater then my sins my sins were impardonable for his therefore and thy mercies sake cover my sins and pardon my transgressions make my head a fountain of teares and accept my contrition O thou Well-spring of all mercy strengthen my resolution that for the time to come I may detest all sin Encrease a holy anger in me that I may revenge my selfe upon my selfe for displeasing so gracious a Father Fill my heart with a feare of thy judgements and sweeten my thoughts with the meditation of thy mercies Go forwards O my God and perfect thy own work in mee and take the glory of thy own free goodnesse furnish my mouth with the prayses of thy name and replenish my tongue with continuall thanksgiving Thou hast promised pardon to those that repent behold I repent Lord quicken my Repentance Thou mightst have made me a terrible example of thy justice and struck me into hell in the heigth of my presumption but thou hast made me capable of thy mercies and an object of thy commiseration for thou art a gracious God of long-suffering and slow to anger thy name is wonderfull and thy mercies incomprehensible Thou art onely worthy to be praised Let all the people praise thee O God O let all the people praise thee Let Angels and Archangels praise thee Let the Congregations of Saints praise thee let thy works prayse thee let every thing that breathes prayse thee for ever and for ever Amen FINIS