is a Brand of originall fire raked up in the Embers of flesh and blood uncoverd by a naturall inclination blown by corrupt communication quencht with fasting and humiliation It is raked up in the best uncovered in the most and blown in thee O my lustfull soule O turn thy eare from the pleadings of Nature and make a Covenant with thine eyes Let not the language of Dâ—lilah inchant thee lest the hands of the Philistims surprize thee Review thy past pleasures with the charge and paines thou hadst to compasse them and shew me where 's thy pennyworth Foresee what punishments are prepar'd to meet thee and tell mee what 's thy purchase Thou hast batterd away thy God for a lust sold thy Eternity for a Trifle If this bargain may not bee râ—cald by teares dissolve thee O my soule into a Spring of waters If not to bee reverst with price reduce thy whole estate into a Sack cloth and an Ash tub Thou whose â—iver hath scorcht in the flames of lust humble thy heart in the ashes of Repentance and as with Esau thou hast sold thy Birthright for Broth so with Jacob wrestle by prayer till thou get a blessing His Prayer O God before whose face the Angels are impure before whose clear omniscience all Actions appear to whom the very secrets of the hearts are open I here acknowledge to thy glory and my shame the filthinesse and vile impurity of my nature Lord I was filthy in my very conception and in filthines my mothers wombe enclosed me brought forth in filthinesse and filthy in my very innocency filthy in the motions of my flesh and filthy in the apprehensions of my soul my words all cloath'd with filthinesse and in all my actions filthy and unclean in my inclination filthy and in the whole course of my life nothing but a continued filthinesse Wash me O God and make me clean cleanse me from the filthinesse of my corruption Purge me O Lord with Hyssop and create a clean heart within me Correct the vagrant motions of my flesh and quench the fiery darts of Satan Let not the Law of my corrupted members rule mee O let concupiscence have no dominion over me Give me courage to fight against my lusts and give my weaknesse strength to overcâ—me make sharpe my sword against this body of sinne but most against my Dalilah my bosome sin Deliver me from the tyranny of temptation or give me power to subdue it Confine the liberty of my wanton appetite and give me temperance in a sober diet Grant me a heart to strive with thee in Prayer and hopefull patience to attend thy leisure Keep me from the habit of an idle life and close mine eares against corrupt communication Set thou a watch before my lips that all my words may savour of sobriety Preserve me from the vanity and pride of life that I may walke blamelesse in my conversation Protect me from the fellowship of the unclean anâ— from all such as are of evill report Let thy grace O God be sufficient for me to protect my sâ—ule from the buffetings of Sataâ— Make me industrious and diligent in my calling lest the enemy get advantage over mee In all my temptations let mee have recourse to thee Be thou my refuge when I call upon thee Forgive O God the sinnes of my youth O pardon the multitudes of my secret sinnes Encrease my hatred to my former life and strengthen my resolution for the time future Hear me O God and let the words of my mouth be alwaies acceptable to thee O God my strength and my Redeemer The Sabbath-breakers Prophanation THe glittering Prince that sits upon his regall and imperiall Throne and the ignoble Peasant that sleeps within his sordid house of Thatch are both alike to God An Ivory Temple and a Church of Clay are priz'd alike by him The flesh of Buls and the perfumes of My he and â—assia smoak his Altars with an equall pleasure And does he make such difference of dayes Is he that was so weary of the New-Moones so taken with the Sun to tie his Sabbath to that only day The tenth in tithes is any one in ten and why the seventh day not any one in seven We sanctifie the day the day not us But are we Jewes Are we still bound to keepe a legall Sabbath in the strictnesse of the Letter Have the Gentiles no priviledge by vertue of Messiahs comming or has the Evangelicall Sabbath no immunities The service done the day 's discharged my libertie restored And if I meet my profits or my pleasurer then I 'le give them entertainment If businesse call me to account I dare afford a carefull eare Or if my sports invite me I 'le entertaine them with a cheerfull heart I 'le goe to Mattens with as much devotion as my neighbour I 'le make as low obeysance and as just responds as any but as soon as Evensong 's ended my Church-devotion and my Psalter shall sanetifie my Pue till the next Sabbath call Were it no more for an old custome sake then for the good I finde in Sabbaths that Ceremony might as well be spared It is a day of Rest And what 's a Rest A relaxation from the toile of labour And what is labour but a painfull exercise of the fraile body But where the exercise admits no toile there Relaxation makes no Rest What labour is it for the worldly man to compasse Sea and Land to accomplish his desires What labour is it for the impatient lover to measure Hellespont with his widened armes to hasten his delâ—ght What labour for the youth to number musick with their sprightly paces Where pleasure 's reconcil'd to labour labour is but an active rest Why should the Sabbath then a day of rest divorce thee from those delights that make thy Rest Afflict their soules that please my rest shall be what most conduces to my hearts delight Two houres will vent more prayers then I shal need the rest remaines for pleasure His extirpation COnscience why start'st thou A judgement strikes me from the mouth of heaven and saith Whosoever doth any worke on my Sabbath his soule shall be cut off Exod. 31. 14. Exod. 20. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day six dayes shalt thou labour and doe all that thou hast to do but the seventh day c. Exod. 31. 14. Ye shall keep my Sabbath for it is holy unto you Exod. 31. 13. Verily my Sabbaths thou shalt keep for this is a sign betwixt me and you throughout your Generations Luke 23. 56. And they returned and prepared spices and oyntments and rested on the Sabbath day according to the Commandement His Proofs Gregor. Wee ought upon the Lords day to rest from bodily labour and wholly to addict our selves to prayers that whatsoever hath been done amisse the weeke before may upon the day of our Lords resurrection be expiated and purged by fervent prayers Cyr. Alex. Sin is the storehouse of death and misery it
as the merit of thy renowned Actions and let thy memory entaile it to succeeding Generations Make thy owne game and if thy conscience correct thee check thy saucy Conscience till shee stand as mute as metamorphos'd Niobe Feare not the frownes of Princes or the imperious hands of various Fortune Thou art too bright for the one to obscure and too great for the other to cry downe His Verdict BUt harke my soule I heare a voice that thunders in mine eare I will change their glory into shame Hos. 4. 7. Psal. 49. 20. Man that is born in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Prov. 25. 27. It is not good for to eate too much boney so for men to search their own glory is not glory Jer. 9. 23. Thus saith the Lord Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth mee that I am the Lord Gal. 5. 26. Let us not bee desirous of vain-glory c. His Proofes St. August The vain glory of the world is a deceitfull sweetness an unfruitfull labour a perpetuall fear a dangerous bravery begun without providence and finished not without repentance S. Greg. He that makes transitory honour the reward of a good worke sets eternall glory at low rate His Soliloquie VAin-glory is a Froth which blowne off discovers a great want of measure Canst thou O my soul be guilty of such an emptinesse and not bee challeng'd Canst thou appeare in the searching eye of heaven and not expect to be cast away deceive not thy self O my soul nor flatter thy self with thy own greatnesse Search thy self to the bottome and thou shalt find enough to humble thee Dost thou glory in the favour of a Prince The frown of a Prince determines it Dost thou glory in thy strength A poor Ague betrayes it Dost thou glory in thy wealth the hand of a thiefe extinguishes it Dost thou glory in thy friends One cloud of adversity darkens it Dost thou glory in thy parts thy own pride obscures it Behold my soul how like a Bubble thou appearest and with a sigh break into sorrow the gate of heaven is strait canst thou hope to enter without breaking The Bubble that would passe the Floodgates must first dissolve My soule melt then in tears and empty thy self of all thy vanity and thou shalt find divine repletion evaporate in thy Devotion and thou shalt recruit thy greatnesse to eternall Glory His Prayer ANd can I choose O God but tremble at thy judgements or can my stony heart not stand amazed at thy threatnings It is thy voice O God and thou hast spoken it It is thy voice O God and I have heard 〈◊〉 Hadst thou so dealt by me as thou didst by Babels proud King and driven me from the sons of Men thou hadst but done according to thy righteousnesse and rewarded mee according to my deservings What couldst thou see in mee lesse worthy of thy vengeance then in him the example of thy justice Or Lord wherein am I more uncapable of thy indignation There is nothing in me to move thy mercy but in misery Thy goodness is thy selfe and hath no ground but what proceedeth from it self yet have I sinned against that goodnesse and have thereby heaped up wrath against the day of wrath that insomuch had not thy Grace abounded with my sin I had long since bin confounded in my sin and swallowed up in the gulph of thy displeasure But Lord thou takest no delight to punish with thee is no respect of persons thou takest no pleasure in the confusion of thy creature but rejoycest rather in the conversion of a sinner Convert mee therefore O God I shall be then converted make me sensible of my own corruptions that I may see the vilenesse of my own condition Pull downe the pride of my ambitious heart humble mee thou O God and I shall bee humbled Weane mee from the thirst of transitory honour and let my whole delight bee to glory in thee Touch thou my conscience with the feare of thy name that in all my actions I may fear to offend thee endue me O Lord with the spirit of meeknesse and teach me to overcome evill with a patient heart moderate and curb the exorbitances of my passion and give me temperate use of all thy creatures Replenish my heart with the graces of thy Spirit that in al my ways I may be acceptable in thy sight In all conditions give me a contented minde and upon all occasions grant me a gratefull heart that honouring thee here in the Church militant before men I may be glorified hereafter in the Church triumphant before thee Angels where filled with true glory according to the measure of grace thou shalt be pleased to give me here I may with Angels and Archangels praise thy Name for ever and ever The Oppressors Plea I Seeke but what 's my owne by Law It was his owne free Act and Deed The execution lies ◠for goods or body and goods or body I will have or else my money What if his beggerly children pine or his proud wife perish They perish at their own charge not mine and what is that to mee I must be paid or he lie by it untill I have my utmost farthing or his bones The Law is just and good and being ruled by that how can my faire proceedings bee unjust What 's thirty in the hundred to a man of Trade Are we born to thrum Caps or pick straws and sell our livelihood for a few teares and a whining face I thanke God they move mee not so much as a howling Dog at midnight I 'le give no day if heaven it selfe would bee security I must have present money or his bones The Commodities were good enough as wares went then and had he had but a thriving wit with the necessary help of a good merchantable Conscience hee might have gained perchance as much as now hee lost but howsoever gaine or not gaine I must have my mony Two tedious Termes my dearest gold hath laine in his unprofitable hands The cost of Suit hath made me bleed above a score of Royals besides my Interest travel half pints and bribes all which does but encrease my beggerly defendants damages and sets him deeper on my score but right 's right and I will have my money or his bones Fifteen shillings in the pound composition I le hang first Come tell not mee of a good Conscience a good conscience is no parcell of my Trade it hath made more Bankrupts then all the loose wives in the universall City My conscience is no foole It tells mee that my owne 's my owne and that a well-cramm'd bagge is no deceitfull friend but will stick close to mee when all my friends forsake mee If to gaine a good Estate out of nothing and to
for this no day designed but At what time soever If my unseasonable heart should seek him now the work would bee too serious for so green a seeker My thoughts are yet unsetled my fancy yet too too gamesome my judgment yet unsound my Will unsanctified to seeke him with an unprepared heart is the high way not to find him or to find him with unsetled resolution is the next way to lose him and indeed it wants but little of profanenesse to bee unseasonably religious What is once to bee done is long to bee deliberated Let the boyling pleasures of the rebellious flesh evaporate a little and let me draine my boggy soul from those corrupted inbred humors of collapsed nature and when the tender blossomes of my youthfull vanity shall begin to fade my setled understanding will begin to knot my solid judgement will begin to ripen my rightly guided will be resolved both what to seek and when to find and how to prize till then my tender youth in her pursuit will bee disturb'd with every blast of honour diverted with every fâ—ash of pleasure misled by Counsell turned back with feare puzled with doubt interrupted by passion withdrawne with prosperity and discourag'd with adversity His Repulse TAke heed my soule when thou hast lost thy self in thy journey how wilt thou finde thy God at thy journeys end Whom thou hast lost by too long delay thou wilt hardly find with too late a diligence Take time while time shall serve that day may come wherein Thou shalt seek the Lord but shalt not finde him Hos. 5. 6. Esay 55. 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while ne is neare Heb. 12. 17. Hee found no place for repentance though he sought it with tears carefully Thou fool this night will I take thy soule from thee Revel. 2. 21. I gave her a space to repent but shee repented not Behold therefore I will cast her His Proofs Greg. lib. Mor. Seek God whilst thou canst not see him for when thou seest him thou canst not find him seek him by hope and thou shalt finde him by faith In the day of grace hee is invisible but neare in the day of judgement he is visible but far off Ber. Ser. 24. If we would not seâ—k God in vaine lâ—t us seek him in truth often and constantly let us not seeke another in stead of him nor any other thing with him nor for any other thing leave him His Soliloquie O My soul thou hast sought wealth and hast either not found it or cares with it thou hast sought for pleasure and hast found it but no comfort in it Thou soughtest honour and hast found it and perchance fallen with it Thou soughtest friendship and hast found it false society and hast found it vaine And yet thy God the fountaine of all wealth pleasure honour friendship and society thou hast slighted as a toy not worth the finding Be wise my soule and blush at thy own folly Set thy desires on the right objâ—ct Seek wisdom and thou shalt find knowledge and wealth and honour and length of days Seek heaven and earth shall seek thee and deferre not thy Inquest lest thou lose thy opportunity to day thou maist find him whom to morrow thou mayst seek with teares and misse Yesterday is too late to morrow is uncertain to day is onely thine I but my soule I feare my too long delay hath made this day too late fear not my soul he that has given thee his Grace to day will forget thy neglect of yesterday seek him therefore by true repentance and thou shalt finde him in thy Prayer His Prayer O God that like thy precious Word art hid to none but who are lost and yet art found by all that seek thee with an upright heart cast downe thy gracious eye upon a lost sheep of Israel strayed through the vanity of his unbridled youth and wandred in the wildernesse of his own invention Lord I have too much delighted in mine own ways and have put the evil day too far from me I have wallowed in the pleasures of this deceitfull world which perish in the using have neglected thee my God at whose right hand are pleasures for â—vermore I have drawn on iniquity as with cart-ropes and have committed evill with greedinesse I have quencht the motions of thy good spirit and have delayed to seek thee by true and unfained repentance In stead of seeking thee whom I have lost I have withdrawne my self from thy presence when thou hast sought me It were but justice therefore in thee to stop thine eares at my petitions or turn my Prayers as sin into my bosome But Lord thou art a gracious God and full of pity and unwearyed compassion and thy loving kindnes is from generation to generation Lord in not seeking thee I have utterly lost my self and if thou find me not I am lost for ever and if thou find me thou canst not but find me in my sins and then thou find'st me to my owne destruction How miserable O Lord is my condition How necessary is my confusion that have neglected to seek thee and therefore am afraid to bee found of thee But Lord if thou look upon the all-sufficient merits of thy Son thy justice will bee no loser in shewing mercy upon a sinner In his name therefore I present my self before thee in his merits I make my humble approach unto thee in his name I offer up my feeble Prayers for his merits grant me my petitions Call not to minde the rebellions of my flesh and remember not O God the vanities of my youth Inflame my heart with the love of thy presence and relish my meditations with the pleasure of thy sweetnesse Let not the consideration of thy justice overwhelm me in despaire nor the meditation of thy mercy perswade mee to presume Sanctifie my will by the wifdome of thy Spirit that I may desire thee as the chiefest good Quicken my desires with a fervent zeale that I may seeke my Creator in the dayes of my youth â—each mee to seeke thee according to thy will and then bee found according to thy promise that living in mee here by thy grace I may hereafter raign with thee in glory The Hypocrites prevarication THere is no such stuffe to make a cloake on as Religion nothing so fashionable nothing so profitable it is a Livery wherein a wise man may serve two Masters God and the world and make a gainefull service by either I serve both and in both my selfe in prevaricating with both Before man none serves his God with more severe devotion for which among the best of men I work my own ends and serve my self In private I serve the world not with so strict devotion but with more delight where fulfilling of her servants lusts I work my end and serve my self The house of Prayer who more frequents then I in all Christian duties who more forward then I I fast
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