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
with those that fast that I may eat with those that eat I mourne with those that mourne No hand more open to the Cause then mine and in their families none prayes longer and with louder zeale Thus when the opinion of a holy life hath cryed the goodnesse of my Conscience up my trade can lack no custome my wares can want no price my words can need no credit my actions can lack no praise If I am covetous it is interpreted providence if miserable it is counted temperance if melancholy it is construed godly sorrow if merry it is voted spirituall joy if I bee rich 't is thought the blessing of a godly life if poor supposed the fruit of conscionable dealing if I be well spoken of it is the merit of holy conversation if ill it is the malice of Malignants thus I sail with every winde and have my end in all conditions This Cloake in Summer keepes mee cool in winter warm and hides the nasty Bag of all my secret lusts Under this Cloake I walk in publik fairly with applause and in private sin-securely without offence and officiate wisely without discovery I compasse sea and land to make a Proselyte and no sooner made but hee makes me At a Fast I cry Geneva and at a Feast I cry Rome If I be poor I counterfeit abundance to save my credit if rich I dissemble poverty to save charges I most frequent Schismaticall Lectures which I find most profitable from whence learning to divulge and maintaine new doctrines they maintaine mee in suppers thrice a weeke I use the help of a lie sometimes as a Religious stratagem to uphold the Gospel and I colour oppression with Gods judgement executed upon the wicked Charity I hold an extraordinary duty therefore not ordinarily to be performed What I openly reprove abroad for my own profit that I secretly act at home for my owne pleasure His Woe BUt stay I see a handwriting in my heart damps my soul 't is charactered in these sad words Woe be to you hypocrites Mat. 23. 13. The triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the bypocrite is but for a moment Job 20. 5. Job 15. 34. The congregation of the hypocrites shall be desolate Psal. 11. 9. An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor but through knowledge shall the just be delivered Luke 12. 1. Beware of the leaven of the Phariscâ—s which is hypocrisie Job 36. 13. The hypocrites in heart heape up wrath they die in their youth and their life is amongst the unclean His Proofes Salvian de Gubern Dei l. 4. The hypocrites love not those thing they professe and what they pretend in words they disclaime in practise their sin is the more damnable because ushered in with pretence of piety having the greater guilt because it obtaines a goodly repute Hieron. Ep. Endeavour rather to be then to beâ— thought holy for what profits iâ— thee to be thought to be what thâ—â— art not and that man doubles hiâ— guilt who is not so holy as the world thinks him and counterfeitâ— that holinesse which he hath not His Soliloquie HOw like a living Sepulcher did I appeare without beautified with gold and rich inventions within nothing but a loathed corruption so long as this fair Sepulcher was clos'd it past for a curious Monument of the Builders Art but being opened by these spirituall Keyes 't is nothing but a Receptaâ—le of offensive putrefaction In what a nasty dungeon hast thou my soule so long remain'd unstifled How wer 't thou wedded to thy owne corruptions that couldst endure thy unsavoury filthinesse The world hated me because I seemed good God hated mee because I onely seemed good I had no friend but my self and this friend was my bosome enemy O my soul is there water enough in Iordan to clense thee Hath Gilead Balme enough to heale thy superannuated sores I have sinned I am convinced I am convicted Gods mercy is above Dimensions when sinners have not sinned beyond repentance art thou my soule truly penitent for thy sin Thou hast free interest in his mercy fall then my soule before his Mercy seat and he will crown thy penitence with his pardon His Prayer O God! before the brightnes of whose All-discerning eye the secrets of my hearts appeare before whose cleare omniscience the very entralls of my soul lie open who art a God of righteousnesse and truth and lovest uprightnesse in the inward parts How can I chuse but feare to thrust into thy glorious presence or move my sinfull lips to call upon that Name which I so often have dishonoured and made a Cloake to hide the basenesse of my close transgressions Lord when I look into the progresse of my filthy life my guilty conscience calls mee to so strict account and reflects to mee so large an Inventory of my presumptuous sins that I commit a greater sinne in thinking them more infinite then thy mercy But Lord thy mercies have no date nor is thy goodnesse circumscribed The gates of thy compassion are alwayes open to a broken heart and promise entertainment to a contrite spirit the burthen of my sinnes is grievous and the remembrance of my hypocrisie is intolerable I have sinned against thy Majesty with a high hand but I repent mee from the bottome of an humble heart As thou hast therefore given mee sorrow for my sinnes so crowne that gift in the freenesse of remission Bee fully reconcil'd to me through the all-sufficient merits of thy Sonne my Saviour and seal in my afflicted heart the full assurance of thy gratious favour Be thou exalted O God above the heavens and let mee praise thee with a single heart cleanse thou my inward parts O God and purifie the closet of my polluted soul fix thou my heart O thou searcher of all secrets and keep my affections wholly to thee Remove from mee all by and base respects that I may serve thee with an upright spirit take not the word of trueth out of my mouth nor give me over to deceitfull lips Give mee an inward reverence of thy Majesty that I might openly confesse thee in the truth of my sincerity Be thou the only object and end of all my actions and let thy honour be my great reward Let not the hopes of filthy lucre or the praise of men incline mee to thee neither let the pleasures of the world nor the feares of any losse entice me from thee Keep from mee those judgements my hypocrisie hath deserved and strengthen my resolution to abhorre my former life Give mee strength O God to serve thee with a perfect heart in the newnesse of life that I may bee dellvered from the old man and the snares of death then shall I praise thee with my entire affections glorifie thy name for ever and eâ—r The Ignorant mans faltering YOu tell mee and you tell me that I must be a good man and serve God and doe his will and so I doe for ought I know
I am sure I am as good as God has made mee and I can make my self no better so I cannot And as for serving God I am sure I go to Church as well as the best in the Parish though I bee not so fine and I make no question if I had better cloathes but I should doe God as much credit as another man though I say it And as for doing Gods will I befhrew mee I leave that to them that are booke-learn'd and can doe it more wisely I beleeve the Vicar of our Parish can doe it and has done it too as well as any within five miles of his head and what need I trouble my selfe to doe what is so well done already I hope hee being so good a Churchman and so great a Schollard and can speake Latine too would not leave that to so simple a man as I. It is enough for mee to know that God is a good man and that the ten Commandements are the best prayers in all the book unlesse it be the Creede And that I must love my neighbour as well as he loves mee and for all other Quilicoms they shall never trouble my braines an grace a God Let mee goe a sundayes and serve God obey the King God blesse him doe no man no wrong say the Lords Prayer every morning and evening follow my worke give a Noble to the poore at my death and then say Lord have mercy upon mee go away like a Lambe I make no question but I shall deserve heaven as well as hee that weares a gayer coate But yet I am not so ingrant neither nor have not gone so often to Church but I know Christ died for mee too as well as for any other man I 'de bee sorry else and that next to our Vicar I shall goe to heaven when a I am dead as soone as another nay more I know there bee two Sacraments bread and wine and but two though the Papists say there be six or seven and that I verily beleeve I shall be saved by those Sacraments and that I love God above all or else 't were pity of my life and that when I am dead and rotten as our Vicar told mee I shall rise again and be the same man I was But for that hee must excuse mee till I have better sartifaction for all his learning hee cannot make me such a fool unlesse he shew me a better reason for 't then yet he has done His Award BUt one thing hee told mee now I think on 't troubles me woundly namely that God is my Master all which I confesse and that I must do his will whether I know how to doe it or no or else it will goe ill with me I le read it he said out of Gods Bible and I shall remember the words so long as I have a day to live which are these Hee that knoweth not his masters will and doth things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes Luke 12. 48. 1 Cor. 14. 20. Brethren be not children in understanding howbeit in malice be ye children but in understanding be men His Proofs 1 Cor. 15. 34. Awake to righteousnesse and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God I speak it to your shame Ephes 4. 18. Walk not in the vanity of your minds having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the Ignorance which is in you because of the blindnesse of your hearts Levit. 5. 17. And if a soule sin and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the Commandments of the Lord though be wisâ— it not yet is hee guilty and shall beare his iniquity 2 Thes. 1. 7 8. The Lord Jesus shall bee revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God Greg. Mag. Moral It is good to know much and to live well but if we cannot attain both it is better to desire piety then wisdome for knowledge makes no man happy nor doth blessednesse consist in intellectuals The onely brave thing is a religious life Just Mart. Resp. ad orthod. To sin against knowledge is so much the greater offence then an ignorant trespasse by how much the crime which is capable of no excuse is more hainous then the fault which admits a tolerable plea His Soliloquie HOw wel it had been for thee O my soule if I had bookelarnd Alas I cannot read and what I heare I cannot understand I cannot profit as I should and therefore cannot be as good as I would for which I am right sorry That I cannot serve as wel as my betters hath bin often a great griefe to mee and that I have beene so ignorant in good things hath been a great heart-breaking unto mee I can say no prayers for want of knowledge to read but Our Father and the Creed But the comfort is God knows my heart but I trust in God Our Father being made by Christ himselfe will be enough for mee that know not how to make a better I endeavour to doe all our Vicar bids me and when I receive the Communion I truly forgive all the world for a fortnight after or such a matter but then some old injury makes mee forget my selfe but I cannot help it an my life should lie on t O my ingrant soule what shall I doe to bee saved All that I can say is Lord have mercy upon me and all that I can doe is but to doe my good will and that I le doe with all my heart and say my prayers too as well as God will give me leave an grace a God His Prayer O God the Father of heaven have mercy upon me miserable sinner I am as I must needs confesse a sinfull man as my forefathers were before mee I have heard many Sermons and have had many good lessons from the mouths of painfull Ministers but through the dulnesse of my understanding and for want of learning I have not profited so much as else I should have done spare me therefore O God spare me whom thou hast redeemed with thy pretious blood and bee not angry for ever I must confesse the painfulnesse of my calling and the heavinesse of my own nature hath taken from mee the delight of hearing thy Word and the ignorance of learning which I was never brought up to hath kept me from reading it that insomuch in stead of growing better I feare I have grown worse and worse and have bin so far from doing thy will that I doe not understand what thy will is very well But thou O mercifull God that didst reveale thy self to poore Shepherds and Fishermen that had no more learning then I have mercy upon me for Jesus Christ his sake Thou that hast promised to instruct the simple and to lead the ignorant into thy way be good and mercifull to mee I beseech thee Thou that drawest the needy out of the dust and the poore
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
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