comforts then His Sentence COnsider O my soule and know that the day will come and after that another wherein for all these things God will bring thee to judgment Eccles. 11. 9. Prov. 14. â—3 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heavinesse Eccles. 2. 2. I said in my heart Goe to now I will prove thee with mirth and therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this also is vanity I said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doth it St. James Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter Eccles. 7. 4. The heart of the wise man is in the house of mourning but the heart of fooles is in the house of mirth His Proofes Isid. in Synonymis Pleasure is an inclination to the unlawful objects of a corrupted mind allured with a momentary sweetnes Hugo Sensuality is an immoderate indulgence of the flesh a sweet poyson a strong plague a dangerous potion which effeminates the body and enerves the soule Cass. Lib. 4. Ep. They are more sensible of the burthen of affliction that are most taken with the pleasures of the flesh His Soliloquy VVHat hast thou now to say O my soule why this judgment seconded with divine proofes backt with the harmony of holy men should not proceed against thee Dally no longer with thy owne salvation nor flatter thy owne corruption Remember the wages of flesh are sin and the wages of sinne death God hath threatned it whose judgements are terrible God hath witnessed it whose words are Truth Consider then my soul and let not momentarie pleasures flatter thee into eternity of torments How many that have trod thy steps are now roaring in the flames of hell and yet thou triflest away the time of thy repentance O my poor deluded soul presume no longer repent to day lest to morow come too late Or couldst thou ravell out thy dayes beyond Methusalem tell me alas what will eternity be the shorter for the deduction of a thousand yeers Be wisely provident therefore O my soul and bid vanity the common sorceresse of the world farewell life and death are yet before thee Chuse life and the God of life will seal thy choice Prostrate thy self before him who delights not in the death of a sinner and present thy petitions to him who can deny thee nothing in the name of a Saviour His Prayer O God in the beauty of whose holinesse is the true joy of those that love thee the full happinesse of those that fear thee and the onely rest of those that prize thee In respect of which the transitory pleasures of the world are lesse then nothing in comparison of which the greatest wisdom of the world is folly and the glory of the earth but drosse and dung How dare my boldnesse thus presume to presse into thy glorious presence What can my prayers expect but thy just wrath and heavie indignation O what return can the tainted breath of my polluted lips deserve but to bee bound hand and foot and cast into the flames of Hell But Lord the merits of my Saviour are greater then the offences of a sinner and the sweetnesse of thy mercy exceeds the sharpnesse of my misery The horrour of thy judgments have seized upon me and I languish through the sense of thy displeasure I have forsaken thee the rest of my distressed soule and set my affections upon the vanity of the deceitfull world I have taken pleasure in my foolishnesse and have vaunted my self in mine iniquity I have flattered my soule with the hony of delights whereby I am made sensible of the stink of my affliction wherefore I loath and utterly abhor my self and from the bottom of my heart repent in dust ashes Behold O Lord I am impure and vile and have wallowed in the puddle of mine own Corruptions The Sword of thy displeasure is drawn out against me and what shal I plead O thou preserver of mankind Make me a new Creature O my God and destroy the Old man within me Remove my affections from the love of transitory things that I may run the way of thy Commandements Turne away mine eyes from beholding vanity and make thy testimonies my whole delight Give mee strength to discern the emptiness of the creature and inebriate my heart with the fulness of thy joyes Bee thou my portion O God at whose right hand stand pleasures for ever more Be thou my refuge and my shield and suffer mee not to sinke under the corruptions of my heart let not the house of mirth beguile me but give me a sense of the evil to come Accept the free-will offerings of my mouth and grant my petitions for the honour of thy Name then will I magnifie thy mercies O God and praise thy name for ever and ever The Vain-glorious mans vaunt VVHat tell'st thou me of Conscience or a pious life They are good trades for a leaden spirit that can stand bent at every frown and want the braines to make a higher Fortune or courage to atchieve that honour which might glorifie their names and write their memories in the Chronicles of Fame 'T is true Humility is a needfull gift in those that have no quality to exercise their pride and patience is a necessary grace to keep the world in peace and him that hath it in a whole skin and often proves a vertue born of meer necessity And civil honesty is a fair pretence for him that hath not wit to act the Knave and makes a man capable of a little higher stile then Foole And blushing modesty is a pretty innocent quality and serves to vindicate an easie nature from the imputation of an il-breeding These are inferiour Graces that have got a good opinion in the dull wisdome of the world and appeare like water among the elements to moderate the body Politique and keep it from combustion nor doe they come into the work of honour Virtue consists in Action and the reward of action is Glory Glory is the great soule of the little world and is the Crowne of all sublime attempts and the point whereto the crooked wayes of policy are all concentrick Honour consults not with a pious life Let those that are ambitious of a Religious reputation abjure all honorable Titles and let their dough-bak'd spirits take a pride in suf-ferance the Anvile of all injuries and bee thankfully baffled into a quiet pilgrimage Rapes murthers treasons dispossessions riots are veniall things to men of honour and oft co-incident in high pursuits Had my dull Conscience stood upon such nice points that little honour I have wonne had glorified some other arme and left me begging Morsells at his Princely gates Come come my soule Id factum juvat quod fieri non licet Fear not to doe what crownes thee being done Ride on with thy Honour and create a name to live with faire Eternity Enjoy thy purchas'd Glory
I Will sing of Iudgment and Mercy Ps 101 1. BOANERGES BARNABAS Or Iudgment Mercy for afflicted Soules Printed for R Lowndes at the Vnicorne on Ludgat hill ouer against Bell Sauage 1646 BOANARGES AND BARNABAS OR Judgement and Mercy for afflicted Soules Consisting of Meditations Soliloquies and Prayers By FRANCIS QUARLES London Printed by Rich. Cotes for Richard Royston and Richard Lownes and are to bee sold at the Vnicorn on Ludgate-hill over against Bel savage 1646. TO My most Gracious SOVERAIGN King CHARLES SIR I Beleeve you to bee such Patron of Vertue that if this Treatise had the least probability of cherishing Vice my Conscience durst not admit a thought of this Dedication to your Majesty But my own Reason seconded by better approbations assures mee these Disquisitions and Prayers are like to beget grace in those where it was not and confirm it where it was And being so usefull I dare not doubt your Patronage of this child which survives a Father whose utmost abilities were till death darkened that great light in his soule sacrificed to your service But if I could question your willing protection of it I might strengthen my Petition for it by an unquestionable commendation of the Authors publisht Meditations in most of which even those of Poetry begun in his youth there are such tinctures of Piety and Pictures of devout Passions as gain'd him much love and many Noble Friends One of that number which is not to bee numbred was the Religious Learned Peaceable Humble Bishop of Armagh whom I beseech God to blesse and make your Majesty and him in these bad sad times instruments of Good to this distracted distemper'd Church and State This is my unfained Prayer and I doubt not but all that wish well to Sion will seale it with their Amen Your Majesties Poor and most Faithfull Subject RICHARD ROYSTON The Preface Reader IT is thought fit to say this little and but this little of the Author and his Book He was for I speake to those that are strangers to his extraction breeding a branch of a deserving family and the son of a worthy father his education was in the Universities and Innes of Court but his inclination was rather to divine studyes then the law This appears in most of his publisht books which are many but I thinke in none more then this which was finisht with his life Wherein the Reader may behold according to the arguments undertaken by the Author what passions and in what degrees those passions have possest his soul and whether grace have yet allayed or expel'd them those that are inconsistible with vertue from the strong hold of his affections Such this Treatise is being such I commend it to the Reader and this wish with it that those many too many writers who mistake malice for zeal and being transported speak evill of government and meddle with things they understand not Iud 8 10. forgetting there is such sinnes as sedition and heresie sins which Saint Paul Gal. 5. 20. 21 parallels with murther and witchcraft would change their disputes into devout meditations such as these be in which the pious man shall see vertue adorned with beautifull language and vice so presented as 't is not like to infect the minde nor corrupt the conscience The method the arguments the stile all speak M. Quarles the Author of the Book and the book speaks his commendations so much that I need not commend it but I do thee to God Farewell The Table Meditation I. The Sensuall mans Solace Pag. 9. His Sentence 12 His Proofs 13 His Soliloquie 14 His Prayer 16 Meditation II. The Vain-glorious mans Vaunt c. 19 Meditation III. The Oppressors Plea c. 29 Meditation IV. The Drunkards Jubile c. 40 Meditation V. The Swearers Apologie c. 50 Meditation VI The Procrastinatâ—rs Remora's c. 60 Meditation VII The Hypocrites Prevarication c. 70 Meditation VIII The ignorant mans Faultering c. 80 Meditation IX The Slothfull mans slumber c. 90 Meditation X. The proud mans Ostentation c. 109 Meditation XI The Covetous mans Care c. 119 Meditation XII The Self-lovers Self-fraud c. 130 Meditation XIII The Worldly mans Verdour c. 141 Meditation XIIII The Lascivious mans Heaven c. 151 Meditation XV The Sabbath-breakers Profanation c. 161 Meditation XVI The Censorious mans Crimination c. 172 Meditation XVII The Liers fallacies c. 182 Meditation XVIII The Revengeful mans rage c. 193 Meditation XIX The Secure mans Triumph c. 204 Meditation XX The Presumptuous mans Felicities c. 215 The sensuall Mans solace COme let 's be merry and rejoyce our souls in frolick and in fresh delights Let 's skrue our pamper'd hearts a pitch beyond the reach of dulbrowd sorrow Let 's passe the slow-pac'd time in melancholy-charming mirth and take the advantage of our youthfull dayes Let 's banish care to the dead Sea of Phlegmatick old age Let a deep sigh be high Treason and let a solemne looke bee adjudg'd a Crime too great for Pardon My serious studies shall bee to draw mirth into a Body to analyse laughter and to paraphrase upon the various Texts of all delights My recreations shall bee to still pleasure into a Quintessence to reduce Beautie to her first principles and to extract a perfect innocence from the milk-white Doves of Venus Why should I spend my precious minutes in the sullen and dejected shades of sadnesse or ravell out my short liv'd dayes in solemn and heart-breaking Care Houres have Eagles wings and when their hasty flight shall put a period to our numbred dayes the world is gone with us and all our forgotten joyes are left to be enjoyed by the succeeding generations and we are snatcht we know not how we know not whither and wrapt in the dark bosome of eternall night Come then my soule be wise make use of that which gone is past recalling and lost is past redemption Eate thy bread with a merry heart and gulp down care in frolique cups of liberall wine Beguile the tedious nights with dalliance and steepe thy stupid senses in unctious in delightfull sports 'T is all the portion that this transitory world can give thee Let Musick Voices Masques and midnight Revels and all that melancholy wisdome censures vaine bee thy delights And let thy care-abjuring soul cleare up and sweeten the short dayes of thy consuming youth Follow the ways of thy owne heart and take the freedome of thy sweet desires Leave not delight untryed and spare no cost to heighten up thy lusts Take pleasure in the choice of pleasures and please thy curious eyes with all varieties to satisfie thy soule in all things which thy heart desires I but my soule when those evill dayes shall come wherein thy wasting pleasures shall present their Items to thy bedrid view when all diseases and the evils of age shall muster up their Forces in thy crazie bones where be thy
accusers They that censure thy gnats swallow their own camels what if the luxuriant stile of thy discourse doe chance to strike upon an obvious Oath art thou straight hurried into the bosome of a Plague What if the custome of a harmlesse oath should captivate thy heedlesse tongue can nothing under sudden judgment seiz upon the what if anothers diffidence should force thy earnest lips into a hasty oath in confirmation of a suffering truth must thou be straight ways branded with damnation was Ioseph mark'd for everlasting death for swearing by the life of Egypts King was Peter when he so denyed his master straight damn'd for swearing and forswearing O flatter not thy self my soul nor turn thou Advocate to so high a sin Make not the slops of Saints a precedent for thee to fall His Arraignment IF the rebukes of flesh may not prevail heare then the threatening of the Spirit which saith The Plague shalt not depart from the house of the swearer Exod. 20. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vain Zach. 5. 3. And every one that sweareth shal be 〈◊〉 off Swear not at all neither by heaven for it is Gods throne nor by the earth for it is his foot stoole But let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more then these commeth of evill Mat. 5. 34. Jer. 23. 10. Because of swearing the Land mourneth His Proofes Aug. in Ser. The murtherer killeth the body of his brother but the swearer murthers his own soule Aug. in Psal. 88. It 's well that God hath forbidden man to sweare lest by custome of swearing in as much as wee are apt to mistake we commit perjury there 's none but God can safely sweare because there 's no other but may be deceived August de Mendacio I say unto you Sweare not at all lest by swearing ye come to a facility of swearing from a facility to a custome and from a custome ye fell into perjury His Soliloquie OWhat a judgement is here How terrible How full of Execution The Plague the extract of all diseases none so mortall none so comfortlesse It makes our house a Prison our friends strangers No comfort but in the expectation of the moneths end I but this judgement excludes that comfort too The plague shal ne'r depart from the house of the swearer What never death will give it a period No but it shall bee intail'd upon his house his family O detestable O destructive sin that leaves a Crosse upon the dores of Generations and layes whole families upon the dust A fin whereto neither profit incites nor pleasure allures nor necessity compels nor inclination of nature perswades a meer voluntary begun with a malignant imitation and continued with an habituall presumption Consider O my soul every Oath hath been a naile to wound that Saviour whose blood O mercy above expression must save thee Be sensible of thy Actions and his sufferings Abhor thy self in dust and ashes and magnifie his mercy that hath turn'd this judgment from thee Goe wash those wounds which thou hast made with teares and humble thy self with prayer true repentance His Prayer ETernall and omnipotent God before whose glorious name Angels and Archangels bow and hide their faces to which the blessed Spirits and Saints of thy triumphant church sing forth perpetuall Hallelujah's I a poor Sprig of disobedient Adam doe here make bold to take that holy name into my sin-polluted lips I have hainously sinned O God against thee and against it I have disparaged it in my thoughts dishonoured it in my words profaned it in my actions and I know thou art a jealous God and a consuming fire as faithfull in thy promises so fearfull in thy judgements I therefore fly from the dreadfufll Name of Jehovah which I have abused to that gracious name of Jesus wherein thou art well pleased in that most sacred name O God I fall before thee and for his beloved sake O Lord I come unto thee Cleanse thou my heart O God and then my tongue shall praise thee Wash thou my soule O Lord and then my lips shall blesse thee Work in my heart a feare of thy displeasure and give me an awfull reverence of thy Name Set thou a watch before my lips that I offend not with my tongue Let no respects intice me to be an instrument of thy dishonour and let thy attributes be precious in mine eyes teach me the way of thy Precepts O Lord and make me sensible of all my offences let not my sinful custome in finning against thy Name take from my guilty soule the sense of my sin Give mee a respect unto all thy Commandements but especially preserve me from the danger of this my bosome sin Mollifie my heart at the rebukes of thy servants and strike into my inward parts a feare of thy judgements Let all my communication bee order'd as in thy presence and let the words of my mouth bee governed by thy Spirit Avert those judgments from me which thy Word hath threatned and my sin hath deserved and strengthen my resolution for the time to come Work in me a true godly sorow that it may bring forth in me a newnesse of life Sanctifie my thoughts with the continual meditation of thy Commandements and mortifie those passions which provoke mee to offend thee Let not the examples of others induce me to this sin nor let the frailties of my flesh seek figleaves to cover it Seal in my heart the full assurance of thy reconciliation and look upon me in the bowells of compassion that crowning my weak desires with thy all-sufficient power I may escape this judgement which thy justice hath threatned here and obtaine that happinesse thy mercy hath promised hereafter The Procrastinators Remora's TEll me no more of fasting prayer and death they fill my thoughts with dumps of Melancholy These are no subjects for a youthful ear no contemplation for an active soul Let them whom sullen Age hath weaned from aery pleasures whom wayward fortunâ— hath condemn'd to sighs and groanes whom sad diseases have beslaved to drugs and diets let them consume the remnant of their wretched dayes in dull devotion Let them afflict their aking soules with the untunable discourses of mortality Let them contemplate on evill dayes and read sharp Lectures of their own experience For me my bones are full of unctious marrow and my blood of sprightly youth My faire and free estate secures me from the feares of fortunes frowne My strength of constitution hath the power to grapple with sorrow sicknesse nay the very pangs of death and overcome 'T is true God must bee sought What impious tongue dare be so basely bold to contradict so known a truth and by repentance too What strange impiety dare deny it Or what presumptuous lips dare disavow it But there 's a time for all things yet none pâ—efixt
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
excuse as well as make the lie Had Caesar Scipio or Alexander been regulated by such strict Divinity their names had been as silent as their dust A lie is but a faire put off the sanctuary of a secret the riddle of a lover the stratagem of a Souldier the policy of a Statesman and a salve for many desperate sores His Flames BUt hark my soule there 's something rounds mine eare and calls my language to a recâ—ntation The Lord hath spoken it Liers shall have their part in the lake which burâ—eth with fire and brimstone Revel. 21. 8. Exod. 20. Thou shalt not raise a false report Levit. 19. 11. Ye shall not deal falsely neither lie one to another Prov. 12. 22. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord but they that deal truely are his delight Prov. 19. 5. He that speaketh lies shall not escape Ephes. 4. 5. Put away lying and every one speak truth with his neighbour for we are members one of another Revel. 21. 27. There shall in no wise enter into the new Ierusalem any thing that worketh abomination or that maketh a lie His Proofes S. Augustine Whosoever thinkes there is any kind of lie that is not a sin shamefully deceives himself mistaking a lying or cousening knave for a square or honest man Gregor. Eschew and avoid all falshood though sometimes certain kind of untruths are lesse sinfull as to tell a lie to save a mans life yet because the Scripture saith The lyer slayeth his own soul and God will destroy them that tell a lie therefore religious and honest men should alwayes avoid even the best sort of lies neither ought another mans life be secured by our falsehood or lying lest we destroy our owne soule in labouring to secure another mans life His Soliloquy WHat a child O my soule hath thy false bosome harbâ—rd And what reward can thy indulgence expect from such a father What blessing canst thou hope for from heaven that pleadest for the son of the devill and crucifyest the Son of God God is the Father of truth To secure thy estate thou deniest the truth by framing oâ— a lie To save thy brothers life thou opposest the truth in justifying a lie Now tell me O my soul art thou worthy the name of a Christian that denyest and opposest the nature of Christ Art thou worthy of Christ that preferrest thy estate or thy brothers life before him O my unrighteous soule canst thou hold thy brother worthy of death for giving thee the lie and thy selfe guiltlesse that makest a lie 〈◊〉 but in some cases truth destroyes thy life a lie preserves it My soule was God thy Creator then make not the devill thy preserver Wilt thou despair to trust him with thy life that gave it and make him thy Protector that seeks to destroy it Reforme thee and repent thee O my soul hold not thy life on such conditions but trust thee to the hands that made thee His Prayer O God that art the God of truth whose word is truth that hatest lying lips and abominatest the deceitfull tongue that banishest thy presence all such as love or make a ly and lovest truth and requirest uprightnesse in the inward parts I the most wretched of the sonnes of men and most unworthy to be called thy son make bold to cast my sinfullâ— eies to heaven Lord I have sinned against heaven and against truth and have turned thy grace into a lie I have renounced the wayes of righteousnesse and harbour'd much iniquity within me which hath turned thy wrath against me I have transgrest against the checks of my own conscience and have vaunted of my transgression which way soever I turne mine eye I see no object but shame and confusion Lord when I look upon my selfe I finde nothing there but fuell for thy wrath and matter for thine indignation and my condemnation And when I cast mine eyes to heaven I there behold an angry God and a severe revenger But Lord at thy right hand I see a Saviour and a sweet Redeemer I see thy wounded Son cloathd in my flesh and bearing mine infirmities and interceding for my numerous transgressions for which my soule doth magnifie thee O God and my spirit rejoyceth in him my Saviour Lord when thou lookest upon the vast score of my offences turne thine eyes upon the infinite merits of his satisfaction O when thy justice calls to mind my sinnes let not thy mercy forget his sufferings Wash mee O wash me in his blood and thou shalt see me cloathed in his righteousnesse Let him that is all in all to me be all in all for me make him to me sanctification justification and redemption Inspire my heart with the spirit of thy truth and preserve me from the deceitfulnesse of a double tongue Give me an inward confidence to relie upon thy fatherly providence that neither fear may deterre me nor any advantage may turne me from the wayes of thy truth Let not the specious goodnesse of the end encourage me to the unlawfulnesse of the meanes but let thy Word be the warrant to all my actions Guide my footsteps that I may walke uprightly and quicken my conscience that it may reprove my failings Cause me to feel the burthen of this my habituall sin that comming to thee by a true and serious repentance my sins may obtaine a full and a gratious forgivenesse Give me a heart to make a Covenant with my lips that both my heart and tongue being sanctified by thy Spirit may be both united in truth by thy mercy and magnifie thy name for ever and for ever The revengefull mans rage O What a Julip to my scorching soul is the delicious blood of my Offendâ—r and how it cooles the burning Fâ—ver of my boyling veynes It is the Quintessence of pleasures the height of satisfaction and the very marrow of all delight to bathe and paddle in the blood of such whose bold affronts have turn'd my wounded patâ—ence into fury How full of sweetnesse was his death who dying was reveng'd upon three thousand enemies How sweetly did the younger brothers blood allay the soul-consuming flame of the elder who took more pleasure in his last breath then heaven dâ—d in his first Sacrifice Yet had not heaven to demned his action nature hâ—d found an Advocate for his passion What sturdy spirit hath the power to rule his sufferâ—ng thoughts or curbe the headstrong â—uâ—y of his Irascible affections Or who but fooles that cannot taste anjnjury can moderate their high-bred spirits and stop their passion in her full carrier Let heavy Cynicks they whose leaden soules are taught by stupid reason to stand bent at every wrong that can digest an injury more easily then a complement that can protest against the Lawes of nature and cry all naturall affection downe let them be Andirons for the inâ—urious world to worke a Heat upon let them finde shoulders to receive the paineful stripes of peevish Mortalâ—s and to bear the wrongs