Mature Determinations deep Notions holy and pious Counsels for the Teaching and Carrying on of thy Flock That we may be as precious Jewels to inrich the World Communicate unto us the Sublime Mysteries of Divine Revelation That our Lips may drop the Words of Life And that our Tongues may be as a Tree of Life whose leaves are Medicinable Give unto us the Light of Divine Knowledge in the Purity of Divine Truth Inrich us in all Knowledg in all Utterance and in all Workman ship Inlighten our Eyes that we may see quite through the Depths of Divinity Reveal unto us by thy Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God Give us leave to plow with thy Heifer and we shall find out the Riddls Great is the Mystrey of Godliness Who is sufficient for these things Attract our Minds by thy Spirit that our Flight may be high and we shall sing more sweetly Suffer not the Sun to go down over the Prophets let it not be dark over their Heads Fill us with the Spirit of God in Wisdom in Understanding in Knowledg and in Workmanship that we may undeceive many Make us Pastors according to thy own Heart that we may feed thy People with Wisdom and Understanding Furnish us with all the Requisites that should belong to Gospel Ministers So qualifie us with Ability and Integrity that Envy her self may be forced to confess that we are Workmen that need not be ashamed Suffer us not to be as Clouds without Rain like empty Clouds that deceive thirsty Souls Bless our Labours to great Meassures To whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed Who hath believed our Report Shall the Trumpet beblown and the People not affraid Shall the Lyons roar and the Beasts of the Forrest not tremble Cloath us with a great deal of Mind that we may distil many wholsom Notions and rectified Apprehensions into the Minds of Men. That we may bring Truth which is so far absent home into Mens Bosomes That we may use both the Harp and the Arrows that our Speech be sweet and piercing That we may feast the hungry Ears with Delicious Dainties Give unto us the Tongue of the Learned that we may speak a Word in due season The Grace of God and the mighty Spirit of Jesus work in us that we may be inabled to instruct the Weak to confute the Obstinate to reclaim the Erroneous to confirm the Faithful and to comfort the Dejected and Disconsolate Make us happy Instruments of much Glory unto thy Name and of much good unto thy People Suffer not the Fruits of our Understanding to fail Give a Blessing to our Endeavours Paul may plant and Apollo may water but thou onely givest the Increase Except the Lord build the House they labour but in vain that build it except the Lord keep the City the Watchman watcheth but in vain Cause our Words which we speak from thee to be as Goads and Nails fasten'd by the Masters of the Assembly Suffer not our Knowledg to be without Zeal nor our Zeal with out Knowledg Make us not onely Voices crying but Lights shining That we may not onely be Trees of Knowledg but Trees of Life in the Paradise of our God Give unto us to know the Misteries of of the Kingdom of God Teach us to find much of the Treasure hid in the Field Make us useful and successful That we may gather many under the Triumphing Wings of Jesus Inable us to unmask and unvail Heavenly Truths that each eye may see their Beauty That we may set such a lustrre upon the Pearl of Price and so present Divinity in her graceful Jewels that every one may be inamour'd with her That we may lead Affection by the hand and with a sweet facility slide some Divine Truths into the Hearts of our Hearers Grant that in all things we may approve our selves as Ministers of God That our Lights may so shine before Men that they may see our Good Works and glorifie thee our Father which art in Heaven Suffer us not to be Strangers to that Holiness We press upon others Make us feed by Doctrine and feed by Example Suffer not the Salt to lose its Savour Suffer not the Curse to come upon us like Priest like People Suffer us not to pull down with one hand what we build with another lest the Sons of Levi cause the Offering of the Lord to be had in abomination Dead Files causeth the Ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking Savour so doth a little Folly he that is in reputation for Wisdom and Honour therefore stay our steps in thy Paths that our feet slide not That the Purity of Divine Truths may be unfolded in our hearts and lives We have our Treasure in Earthen Vessels purifie and cleanse them lest thy Word have a tincture of our Uncleanness That we may not sound the Lords Trumpet with a Stinking Breath Cloath us with Righteousness the Garments of Praise and the Saints shall shout for joy Grant that we may Credit the Gospel with Examplary Conversation That our Lives as well as Doctrine may continually teach Lessons of Faith Knowledg Temperance Patience Brotherly Kindness and Charity That there may be seen whatsoever things are true lovely pure vertuous or praise worthy That every one of us may be as a Torch on a Hill to inlighten all about us Make us as Wise as Serpents but as Innocent as Doves They who are call'd to the Work give them Grace to work in their Callings that we may be true Servants and Friends of God That we may lay up and lay out O Lord help us that we may live above the Dependance and Gratuities of this vain World That our Aim may be higher than the Eating of a Piece of Bread That we may be free from the Blood of all Men give us Grace to warn all Men and to teach every Man in all Wisdom that we may present our Flocks acceptable before Christ Whilst our Tongues run at the service of the Altar God forbid that our Eyes should squint at the Fat of the Sacrifice Grant that we may not seek our selves but thee Let our Endeavours be rather for the profit than the pleasure of the People Strengthen us to live above Discouragements yea above Incouragements That we may chiefly mind our Duty and depend upon thee as our onely but our sure Reward Give us a strong and clear sense of what we speak Let nothing come out of our Mouths but what is to good purpose Suffer not the Stars of the Church to shed black and malignant Influences Suffer not our Trumpets to give an uncertain Sound then who shall prepare themselves for the Battle Make us all of one right mind that we may speak the same thing that there may be no Divisions among us that we may be perfectly joyn'd together in the same Mind and Judgment That we may all always be in Conjunction with Truth That we may
who worship Idols How lamentable it is to go into a Church when the Minister is at Prayer and the People about him scarce one of them shewing any Respect Reverence Affection or Devotion their eyes wandering from one part of the Congregation to another the Men adjusting of their Hair or Peruque and the other Sex their Ornaments some whispering others in intolerable Postures yet will observe their times to give their Responds and speak to God when they do not think of him These are they that God complaineth of That draw near unto him with their lipps when their hearts are far from him I plead not for outward Postures and Gestures yet I am sure if the heart be rightly affected it commandeth the Body When the Mind is fill'd with what concerneth us in the performance of this Duty we are far from notifying other Trifles How many there are that think they have performed their Duty of Prayer when they have rabbl'd over a many words altho they have no more sense or knowledg of what they say then Parrots have I have read of one Bolus an Actor upon a Stage in the Representation of Grief he feign'd a Weeping but at the very time he remembred the death of his onely Daughter then he weep'd in earnest I wish that our ordinary Actors when they say daily We have left undone those things that we ought to have done and done those things which we ought not to have done and that there is no health in us c. The words are good and above exception as indeed in my Judgment is all the Liturgy of the Church of England I wish that they that daily use it did but feel the weight of the words and that their Understandings did go along with their Tongues and remember what they speak is true they would be sorrowful indeed When we say We have left undone those things that we ought to have done We say in effect we have not paid that Fear Adoration Reverence Honour Praise Love Obedience c. that is due from us to God nor that Love Pity Charity and Mercy that is due to our Neighbours And when we say That we have done those things that we ought not to have done that is we have made unto our selves other Gods that we have imagined Security in transitory things prophaned the Name of God and his Saboths that our lives have been disorderly in Disobedience Cruelty Incontinency Rapine Perfidiousness and Coveteousness and when we say There is no health in us We own that our Brain is the Forge of Wickedness our Eyes full of Adultery our Tongues unruly Evils full of deadly Poison our Throats open Sepulchres our Hearts deceitful above measure and desperately wicked yea all our Members the Instruments of Iniquity Now if our Consiciences were but as ready as active as Nathan was to David and tell us yea convince every one of us that thou art the Man that hath contracted all this guilt and art so wretched and God darting in some beams of Divine light as he commonly doth when we wait upon him in sincerity this would make us turn our formalities into realities I must say I have had many times a warm heart full of Devotion in reading the Common Prayer by fetching and binding my Understanding to the sense of the words I own their Zeal and Piety that were the Compilers of it but think it 's impossible to perswade me that they ever intended to blind and oblige Gifted Men so to it as not to exercise their Indowments Neither do I find that the Governours of our Church pretend to it It was a sweet Admonition of St. Paul to the Corinthians Neither to give offence to the Jew nor to the Gentile nor to the Church of God God knoweth my endeavors are for Love Peace and Unity I have been very careful in my Studies not to write any thing that could give just offence If any thing in this Epistle seem to be too severe and that there are too many grating Reflections so far as I know my own heart the Arrows I have shot I sent them with a good will not for ruin but remedy Why shall I not meet with a Candid Interpretation But if otherwise I determine to be purely passive and receive all the Scorn Contempt or what else can come with an indeclinable acquiescence in the Will of God that will e'r long discover the secrets of all hearts In the interim I doubt not but these my labours and endeavours will be a Guide and Assistance to many that are hungering and thirsting after Righteousness that are inquiring Where Christ feedeth and where his Flocks rest at Noon day That wait for Wisdom as they that watch for the Morning But let no one speak to God by mine or any other Directions except the heart speak the words and the words the heart And that you may so do I 'll but open one Text of Scripture and conclude this It is in Joshua 15. 16. And Caleb said He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher and taketh it to him will I give Achsach my Daughter to Wife This Kirjath-sepher was a City in Canaan that held out after that the Israelites had got possession of the Land Caleb seeing it to be very desirable and most necessary for them propoundeth his Daughter Achsach which was very beautiful and worthy as a Reward to any one that should take Kirjath-sepher What chiefly concerneth me to open to you is What this Kirjath-sepher and Achsach and how to apply them in a Spiritual Sense Kirjath-sepher signifieth the Strong-hold of the Letter and Achsach the Rending of the Vail so whosoever smiteth and taketh the Strong-hold of the Letter of the Scriptures or any other Divine Truths shall have the Rending of the Vail That is Whosoever shall find out the spiritual Meaning of the things written in Scripture or else-where that are Divine shall have the Vail rent that is between us and the things that are spiritually discerned and we shall see into the beauty of Holiness Reader Consider the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life Whoever depends upon the External Performances of Outward Ordinances or the Historical Knowledge of Christ for their Salvation will surely meet with such disappointment that death instead of life will be their portion Therefore whatever thou dost gain Kirjath-sepher there lieth all the Treasure then Achsach will surely be thine that Vail which covereth thy Face whilst thou art a Stranger to the Life of Grace shall be rent and thou wilt see that which will make thee cry out Psal 84. 1 2 10. How aimable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts My Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord. One day in thy Courts is better then a Thousand else where c. And the Vail that covereth thy Face shall not only be rent but the Vail that covereth thy Heart thou wilt not only see of the Divine Excellencies that are in God and a Pisgah's Prospect
that offereth Salvation to our Souls be a means to bring our Souls to Salvation Let the Word be transforming that we may be assimulated into Christ's likeness Cause our Affections to receive a Touch from the Word that they may be stirr'd up kindled and inflamed thereby That thy Message unto us may engage us to become a willing People in the day of thy Power Cause the Word to be quick and powerful quicker than a two-edged Sword so quick as to quicken us to every good duty and so powerful to subdue the Old Man of Sin Make it of such force as to make a Division between us and our best beloved Sins That the Sword of the Spirit may cut us off from the Wild Olive of Nature That we may not onely be acquainted with the Grace of Truth but the Truth of Grace Cause the Dew to fall with the Manna That the Dews of Hermon may fall upon the Hill of Sion That we may bring forth Fruits as the Vines of Engedi Cause thy Doctrine to drop as the Rain to distil as the Dew as the small Rain upon the tender Herb and as the Dew upon the Grass Drive the Birds from the Sacrifice When we draw nigh unto thee in Duty draw nigh unto us in Mercy Let not them that wait upon thee be ashamed Open the Doors of our Hearts that the King of Glory may enter Put a holy Fear into our Hearts that we may attend upon thee with Reverence That we may not receive it as the word of a sinful mortal Man but as indeed and in truth it is the Word of an Immortal God Cause the Word to be as a Bank to hinder the Inundation of our Sins Order our steps in thy Word that Iniquity may not have Dominion over us Make the Word to be as a Flaming Sword to keep us from the forbiden Fruit That it may be as a Curb to keep us from the stray of Offence That we may observe to do what the Lord commandeth us not turning to the right hand nor the left That it may be as a Rudder to steer us in our right Course Ingrave thy Counsels on the Frontispiece of our Hearts and cause them to be evermore in an applicative practice That we may grow by the sincere Milk of the Word That as the Bee gathers the Flowers and carrieth them home to the Hive and worketh them into Honey and liveth upon it in times of need so help us that we may gather the precious Truths out of thy holy Word and carry them home unto the Hive of our Hearts and work them into Grace and live upon it in a time of Trial. Lay hold on our Hearts by thy Omnipotent Grace Cause the Influences of thy Grace irresistibly to ingage us to do thy will That the manifestation of thy Grace may be as Showers to parched Grass that our drooping Souls that hang their Wings may revive and leap for joy That the Efflux of Life and power from God may beget in us true and lively Faith That Love may be enticed out of our selves to God Cause Heavenly Ordinances to leave Fruitful Influences That we may not onely enjoy the Gospel of Peace but the Peace of the Gospel We desire to sun our selves in the Light of thy Countenance Cause the Word like the Sun Beams not onely to enlighten us but heat and inliven us Let it be Honey in the Mouth Melody in the Ear and a Jubile in the Heart We see thy Foot-steps in the Creatures but we wait to see thy Face in the Ordinances Ordinances are the Pool of Bethesda that onely heal when the Spirit moveth the Waters The Gospel is the Pen but the Holy Ghost is the Guider of it Suffer not the Tree of Life to be too far from the Tree of Knowledg Cause Divine Truths to be manifested in the Purity of our Hearts and Lives That every Gale of Divinity may drive us nearer to the Haven of Felicity That we may not be all for Speculation but Sensation to taste how good the Lord is Open the Passage between our Heads and our Hearts Convey some warm sprinklings of thy Benediction into our inward parts Suffer not any of us to be like Gideon's dry Fleece Let not the Thirsty Souls that wait for thee as the Rain return like the Troops of Tema with their Heads covered For Vnregenerate Men. IN mercy remember the rebellious Children that take counsel but not of thee and cover but not with the covering of thy Spirit that they may add Sin unto Sin Whose Hearts are harden'd from thy Fear Sin at the first was the cause of Ignorance now Ignorance is the cause of Sin In the greatness of their Folly they go astray Who never peep'd out of the Bondage of Sensual Lust They rebel against the Light they know not the ways thereof neither will they come into these Paths Who walk after the vanity of their Minds having their Understanding darken'd being alienated from the Life of God thro the Ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their Hearts who being past feeling have given themselves over to work all Uncleanness with greediness Their god is their Belly their glory is their shame who mind Earthy things There is a Bridle in their Jaws which causeth them to err Lord pity them for they cannot pity themselves In provoking thee they provoke their own damnation Thou Being of Beings have mercy upon them Interrupt the Process of their Extravagances As they tread the paths of Death let them see the drawn Sword of thy Displeasure As they journey on in their Sins cause a Light to shine from Heaven Amaze them with the apprehensions of their woful and wretched Estate Suffer them not to breath quietly until they find the Fountain opened for Sin and for Uncleanness Set home unto their Consciences the weight and danger of their Sins That Conscience may be as a Scorpion in the Bosom Send the Fiery Serpents to sting and wound them that they may look after the Brazen Serpent A wake them out of their Mortal Lethargy Bring them out of the Womb of Natural Blindness that they may be born again altho they be Old Thou who at first caus'd Light to shine out of Darkness say Let there be Light and there shall be Light That the Day-spring from on high may visit them that sit in Darkness in the shadow of Death Cause the Day to dawn and the Day Star to arise in their Hearts Turn the Shadow of Death into the Morning Let the Spirit of Conviction come upon them and a wake them as a Man that is a waked out of his Sleep Our corrupt Nature is the most inexpugnable Fort in the World Cause the Dead to hear thy Voice and live Of those Stones raise up Children to Abraham Mollifie their hard Hearts that are not penetrable when the Arrows of Conviction are shot against them Cause Hell to enter into them that they may not enter