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
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
out of the dunghill give me the knowledge of thy will and teach me how to serve thee Take from me the drowzinesse of my heart open mine eyes that I may see the truth and mine eares that I may understand thy Word and strengthen my memory that I may lay it up in my heart and shew it in my life and vocation to thy glory and my comfort and the comfort of my friends Lord write thy wil in my heart that when I know it I may doe it willingly O teach mee what thy pleasure is that I may doe my best to performe it Give mee faith to lay hold of Christ who died for me that after I am dead I may arise againe and live with him Give me a good heart that I may deale honestly with all men and do as I would be done to Blesse me in my calling and prosper the labour of my hands that I may have enough to feed me and cloath me and to give to the poore Mend all that is amisse in mee and expect from me according to the measure thou hast given mee Forgive mee all my sins and make mee willing to please thee that living a good life I may make a gratious death and so at last I may come to heaven and live for ever for Jesus Christ his sake Amen The slothfull mans slumber O What a world of Curses the eating of the forbidden fruit hath brought upon mankind and unavoidably entail'd upon the sons of men Among all which no one appeares to mee more terrible and full of sorrow and bewraying greater wrath then that insufferable that horrible punishment of labour and to purchase Bread with so extreame a price as sweat But O what hap what happinesse have they whose dying Parents have procured a quiet fortune for their unmolested Children and conveigh'd descended rents to their succeeding heirs whose easie and contented lives may sit and suck the sweetnesse of their cumberless estates and with their folded hands enjoy the delicates of this toilsome world How blessed how delicious are those easie morsells that can finde the way to my soft palat and then attend upon the wanton leasure of my silken slumbers without the painfull practise of my bosome-folded hands or sad contrivement of my studious and contracted Brows Why should I tire my tender youth and torture out my groaning dayes in toyle and travell and discompose the happy peace of my harmonious thoughts with painfull grinding in the common mill of dull mortality Why should I rob my craving eyelids of their delightfull rest to cark and care and purvey for that Bread which every work-abhorring vagabond can finde of Almes at every good mans doore Why should I leave the warm protection of my care-beguiling Doune to play the droyling drudge for daily food when the young empty Ravens that have no hands to worke nor providence but heaven can call and be supplyed The pale fac'd Lilly and the blushing Rose neither spinnes nor sows yet Princely Solomon was never robed with so much glory And shall I then afflict my body and beslave my heaven-born soule to purchase Rags to cloath my nakednesse Is my condition worse then Sheep ordain'd for slaughter that crop the springing grasse cloath'd warme in soft Arrayment purchas'd without their Providence or pains Or shall the Pamper'd Beast that shines with fatnesse and grows wanton through his carefull Groomes indulgence find better measure at the worlds too partiall hands then I Come come let those take pains that love to leave their names inrol'd in memorablemonuments of parchment the day has grief enough without my helpe and let To morrowes shoulders beare to morrows burthens BUt stay my soule O stay thy rash resolves take heed whilst thou avoid the punishment of sin labour thou meet not the reward of idlenesse a judgement The idle foule shall suffer hunger Prov. 19. 15. Eccles. 10. 18. By much slothfulnes the building decayeth and through idlenesse of the hands the house droppeth thorough Exod. 16. 49. Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodome pride fulnesse of Bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters neither did shee strengthen the hand of the poore and needy Prov. 6. 6 7 8. Go to the Pismire O sluggard behold her wayes and be wise For she having no guide governour nor ruler prepareth her meat in Summer and gathereth her food in harvest His Proofes Nilus in Paraenes Idlenesse is the wombe or fountain of all wickednesse for it consumes and wasts the riches and vertues which we have already and disinables us to get those we have not Nilus in Paraen Woe be to the idle soule for he shall hunger after that which his riot consumed His Soliloquy HOw presumptuously hast thou my soul transgrest the expresse Commandement of thy God! How hast thou dasht thy self against his judgements How hath thy undeserving hand usurpt thy diet and wearest on thy back the wages of the painefull soule Art thou not condemned to Rags to Famine by him whose law commanded thee to labour And yet thou pamper'st up thy sides with stollen food and yet thou deck'st thy wanton body with unearn'd ornaments whiles they that spend their daily strength in their commanded callings whose labour gives them interest in them want Bread to feed and Rags to cloath them Thou art no young Raven my soule no Lilly Where ability to labour is there providence meets action and crowns it He that forbids to cark for to morrow denies Bread to the Idlenesse of to day Consider O my soule thy owne delinquency and let imployment make thee capable of thy Gods protection The Bird that sits is a faire mark for the Fowler while they that use the wing escape the danger follow thy calling and heaven will follow thee with his Blessing What thou hast formerly omitted present repentance may redeeme and what judgements God hath threatned early Petitions may avert His Prayer MOst great and most glorious God who for the sin of our first parents hast condemned our fraile bodies to the punishment of labour and hast commanded every one a Calling and a Trade of life that hatest idlenesse as the root of evill and threatnest poverty to the slothfull hand I thy poore suppliant convicted by thy judgments and conscious of my own transgression fly from my self to Thee and humbly appeale from the high Tribunall of thy Justice and seek for refuge in the Sanctuary of thy Mercy Lord I have led a life displeasing to thee and have been a scandall to my profession I have slighted those Blessings which thy goodnesse hath promised to a conscionable calling and have swallowed downe the Bread of idlenesse I have impaired the Talent thou gavest me and have lost the opportunity of doing much goodâ— I have filled my heart with idle imaginations and have laid my selfe open to the lusts of the fleshâ— I have abused thy favours in the misexpending of my precious time and have taken no delight in thy
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