Sir Joseph Copâ—ley Baâ—â— Without holiness no man shall see the lord Heb 12 14 Sold by R Sollers at the kings Armes Bible in St Pauls C yard F. H. Van Houe Sculp THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS WRITTEN By the Author of the Whole Duty of MAN c. To which is Added HOLY DEUOLIONS UPON Several Occasions Fitted to the Main Uses of A Christian Life 1. Chron. 16.29 Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord The Fourth Impression LONDON Printed for Benjamin Crayle at the Lamb in Fleetstreet next White-Fryers-Gate 1684. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. OF the Nature of Holiness page 7. CHAP. II. Of the Rule of Holiness 11 CHAP. III. Motives and inducements to the practice of Holiness 48 Sect. 1. The noble pattern of Holiness 49 Sect. 2. Holiness the condition of future happiness 74 Sect. 3. Holiness the onely safe way to escape the wrath to come 82 Sect. 4. Holiness the main designe of the Gospel and the end of all Christs sufferings 87 Sect. 5. Holiness the most proper and effectual means for obtaining length of days 91 Sect. 6. Holiness that which makes men honourable Vice rendering men mean and ignoble 96 Sect. 7. Holiness attended with the most solid and real Pleasures 106 Sect. 8. Holiness accompanied with peace 114 Sect. 9. Holiness the best evidence of true Wisdom and real Worth and Courage 119 Sect. 10. Holiness universally profitable and above all things most advantageous 124 CHAP. IV. Frivolous Cavils and Objections removed 142 THE INTRODUCTION MAN in his original condition when he first came out of the hands of his Maker was a very noble and venerable Creature adorned with many peculiar excellencies and as the Psalmist observes Onely made a little lower than glorious Angels But of all his perfections Holiness as it was the principal and most oriental so did it also give a beauty and lustre to the rest It made his Authority and Power lovely and desirable his Wisdom and Knowledge venerable and every other attribute which without this is terrible and dreadful to be comely and praise-worthy This was that single perfection that raised Man above the beasts that perish and made him Heavens great favourite and darling which if it had been carefully preserved had undoubtedly secured our first Parents in Paradise and prevented that dreadful calamity that hath seized upon their Posterity But alas how are we fallen from Heaven to Earth from a Paradise of pure pleasures to a miserable and painful Prison We have lost that divine Image that was impressed upon Man in his primitive state which indeed compleated and alone preserved its beauty and comeliness and with it have also lost every thing that did then contribute to make us happy and are now become vile and abominable and as miserable as we were formerly happy How much a serious view of that primitive felicity Man in his innocent state enjoyed would contribute to plant in us a holy life I know not but I am sure it could not but mightily inhaunce the value of Holiness and make it lovely and desirable That man that reflects upon the dismal miseries he is exposed to in this lapsed estate to what an infinite number of inexpressible evils of insupportable pains he lies upon how he is hurried from a state of perfect bliss to a woful hell of extream torments How exceedingly amazing is this The very Poet could say Miserum est suisse heatum But God knows this is out very seldom and if ever but faintly reflected upon we are to our sharow become contented slaves and satisfied to bear Fetters and Chains we continually live in the midst of all evil never enjoy a moments solace or comfort notwithstanding of which like mad-men we are content with our state and like the Sow take pleasure to puddle in the mire And although that same diffusive and boundless goodness that first breathed in us the breath of life and framed us in his own likeness and image again pitied us in our low estate and provided the most valuable and Soveraign remedie to recover us from this mortal disease though he has procured a compleat Ransom to liberate us from the insupportable slavery and tyranny of sin has offered to restore our former beautie to repossess us of that happiness we had lost and to make us again Favourites and Freemen yet how insolently have we rejected this kinde offer how impiously have we cut those cords of love asunder and refuse to be healed 'T is indeed matter of great sadness to consider the lofty and intolerable affronts that are now cast upon Holiness how men are arrived at that pitch of impietie to scorn and deride Religion which former ages were at some pains to advance as if Holiness were inconsistent with the principles of Generosity and onely becoming mean and morose spirits How transcendent a folly and madness this is will easily appear by what I shall afterwards lay down Methinks the naked representation of Holiness should be motive enough if not to court it yet to engage men to correct their unreasonable prejudices they entertain against it and even force its greatest Antagonists to become its Advocates But alas vice hath cast such a dark shadow upon mens Judgements that they are become as unfit Judges of its beauty as blind men are of colours otherwise we might yet expect to see contemned Vertue much more in vogue than ever Vice was To excite our desires Scripture has represented it under the most comely dress has discovered its beauty and excellencie and recommended it by the most endearing motives which are apt to work both upon our hope and fear Vpon our hope by proposing an infinitely valuable reward to the righteous besides the present advantages that attend it Vpon our fear by opening to our view the powers of the world to come and discovering the insupportable misery that the damned suffer day and night so that if men would but so far actuate their Reason as soberly to consult their own interest and happiness I doubt not but this alone should be motive enough to excite them to the practise of Holiness and scare them from those ways of sin that lead down to the chambers of death It would make one would think the greatest Sensualist to relinquish the momentary pleasures he enjoys here to be possest of those eternal joys that the pure in spirit shall reap in the Kingdom of their Father and the most hardned and impregnable sinner tremble to think of dwelling with devouring flames Now the onely infallible way to attain those coelestial felicities and to evite the miserable consequences of vice and those pains and tortures that it exposeth its votaries to is to abandon every lust be it never so impetuous and to cleanse our selves as the Apostle adviseth us from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God For the better directing our present
to be ministred unto but to minister And to correct the insolent pride and ambition of his followers how did he stoop to wash his Disciples feet a most admirable evidence of his lowliness of spirit And now since our great Lord and Master did so wonderfully debase himself to the form of a Servant since in all his actions he did manifest that he was meek and lowly how prodigiously incongruous is it for those who profess themselves to be his Disciples to be proud and lofty I confess Humility is a grace well becoming our state as creatures we are but dependent beings having life and motion and all those endowments we are proud of from the Father of spirits from whom every good giâ—â— cometh The fresh communications of his love we constantly participate of are freely bestowed which he may therefore when he thinks fit with an equal freedom and ease remove without being guilty of injuring us Humility is that peculiar grace that qualifies and fits us to receive the divine aid and assistance as the Apostle St. James tells us he gives grace to the humble Upon which account we may with the Wise man well conclude Better is it to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud Prov. 16.19 I doubt not but every considering man will finde his own Reason suggest a sufficient store of arguments to confute the imperious assaults of Pride and Ambition but methinks none can more powerfully prevail with ingenuous spirits than the consideration of Christ's humility with this how effectually may he repel every temptation to pride by saying Was my Master lowly of spirit and does it become me to be proud Thirdly Christ is also set forth as our Pattern in his sufferings If when ye do well saith the Apostle and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God for even hitherto were ye called for Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps c. 1 Pet. 2.20 21. c. Heb. 12.1 2. His patience under his sufferings was very admirable for although he was flouted and contemned by his unworthy creatures was exposed to the base outrages of scandalous sinners was made a spectacle set at nought spit upon and smitten by unworthy worms whom with a word he could have easily dashed into nothing in a word though he endured all that malice could invent suffered the worst of temporal evils and became obedient to the cursed death of the cross yet notwithstanding how patiently did he endure the contradiction of sinners how entirely did he submit to his Fathers Will Although he was extreamly sensible of the weight of his sufferings yet he did not in the least evidence any revengeful mind in the midst of his extream tortures but sweetly recommended his soul into his Fathers hands And now can any motive more effectually convince us to suffer patiently But God knows how much we set at nought this president fain would we enjoy a continual prosperity a life of ease without the least mixture or allay of trouble When we meet with any thing that imbitters our condition like the murmuring Israelites we fret and repine and our spirits begin to boil with rage and discontent we cannot endure to have our pleasures impaired but Jonah-like we are discontented and ready to say we do well to be angry we aggravate the most minute trouble with imagined circumstances and are ready to say Come behold and see if there be any affliction like mine And although we are assured that our repinings cannot remove or lighten our burthen cannot give us the least ease or relief yet we never rest till those puddled streams be stirred up Our grumblings are almost inseparable concomitants of our sufferings and if our Father smite us we begin to accuse his love and tenderness notwithstanding he hath instructed us that whom he loveth he chasteneth If we meet with reproaches our revenge is on the wing the least affront kindles this unsanctified fire No arguments can tame our Fury no president proves effectual to form our Souls to true patience If we drink of the waters of Marah we complain of their bitterness like foolish Children think we are hardly dealt with And although impatience enflames rather than allays the distemper though it augments the degrees of our trouble and disenables us to bear the stroke of Adversity yet we will not be perswaded to a calm and quiet submission to the Divine Will Though impatience exasperates the pain yet we think we do well to be angry If we meet with injuries our appetite of revenge is stirred up flesh and bloud we say cannot endure such affronts we imagine it stains our Reputation and Honour in the world and is degenerous and servile Thus do we sew Fig-leaves to cover our nakedness but the all-seeing God knows that all these repinings are arrows directed against his Providence otherwise we should with the Royal Psalmist say I will not open my mouth for thou didst it To this impregnable Fortress he had his recourse when causlesly cursed and reviled by Shimei it was this that silenced old Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good he durst not quarrel at the message but quietly he submits There is a secret Providence which doth over-rule the most terrible accidents and is not accountable to humane Reason All those calamities and sufferings we undergo are ordered by infinite Counsel and in repining at such dispensations we indirectly blame Almighty Goodness and Wisdome Is it fit and congruous that God should take measures from men in his Oeconomy of the World is it reasonable that the whole course of things should be put out of order to satisfie every private mans humor can there be any greater madness than to prescribe rules of Government to infinite Wisdom Why then are we dissatisfied with our adverse state why do we repine and complain If we did indeed compare our Mercies with our Sufferings our Receipts with our Merits or our Condition with that of some others we could not but be convinced of our folly but we still pore upon the sore all our thoughts are taken up and in exercise about our affliction if we would deal rationally let us view the sufferings of our blessed Redeemer and see if we dare make a contrary conclusion to that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh let us arm our selves likewise with the same mind He suffered patiently and calmly for us and it is but reasonable that Servants imitate their Master and suffer the disasters they meet with with the same mind that he did that being thus made conform to our head we may be also partakers with him of his joy 'T is indeed an unchild-like behaviour to quarrel at the dispensations of our Heavenly Father Alas all we merit by our sins is stripes and chastisements and it is
inquisition I shall first briefly represent the nature of true Holiness and shew the beauty and excellencie of it Secondly I shall discourse of its rule and more parricularly discover the several branches of Holiness Thirdly I shall propound several motives and inducements to engage blen to the practise of Holiness and indeed this is what I chiefly intend to insist upon Fourthly I shall remove all those Cavils and Objections that are urged against Holiness And Lastly conclude with some short Reflections and Inferences CHAP. I. Of the nature of Holiness I Intend not here to descend to the consideration of every particular branch of Holiness but to discourse of it in the general as it is the combination of all Christian vertues and as it is thus considered I need not I think in the description of it accurately study all those Logical rules Philosophers require in a good definition For may part it fully enough satisfies me to know that holiness is a conformity to the Divine Law and a hearty and sincere compliance with those original dictates of humane nature and the Commands revealed in sacred Writ So long as Man remained obedient to the Laws of his Maker his holiness was untainted and his Beauty and primitive congenite comeliness continued but by his woeful apostacy he lost that noble embellishment of his nature which did indeed give a grace to all his other accomplishments and is now become ugly and deformed Holiness and purity of Spirit are different words but of the same signification and are promiscuously used in Scripture to express the same thing Opposite to which are Sin and Vncleanness Sin being that which contaminates the Soul and robs it of that beauty which formerly did of right belong to it Although 't is not one particular good action that denominates a man holy yet every wilful aberration from and transgression of the Law constitutes man a sinner and makes him liable to the demerit of the offence Whosoever theresore intends to perfect holiness must according to the Apostle's advice cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit abstain from every appearance of evil and sincerely endeavour to perform all good actions In a word Holiness in its general notion is the comprehensive sum of the moral Law and may be very aptly described to be a ceasing from evil and doing good which in this lapsed estate consists in the sincerity of our intentions and actions and shall be perfected when mortality is swallowed up of life when those imperfections and spots that attend our natural state shall be quite removed and done away So long as our souls actuate their impure bodies sins and infirmities will cleave to the best an absolute innocence and perfect holiness is reserved for that state where all things are become new But yet so far as the frailty of our nature and the imperfection of our present state will suffer we ought sincerely to study to walk as it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth in all the Commandments of God blameless the general course and tenour of our lives should correspond and keep a conformity with the divine precepts which as I shall just now shew are the rule of holiness Almighty God who well considers the nature of man does not esteem men to be either vicious or holy from the performance of some particular acts There is not a just man who liveth and sinneth not It is the peculiar motto of our Lord Christ That he did no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth But the imperfect obedience of good men who in the general course of their life sincerely study an universal conformity and respect to the divine Laws is esteemed by him who judgeth righteously to be sufficient in order to our acceptance with him upon the account of the merits and perfect obedience of our blessed Saviour The wise God who considers the frailties and imperfections that attend our present state expects not more from us than we are able to perform He is not so rigorous a Lord to require Brick where there is no Straw the terms of the Gospel are accommodated to our capacities and onely require a holiness which is possible for the Creature to attain at least it exacts and expects no more but that we endeavour sincerely and unfeignedly to obey all those precepts he has enjoyned that we habituate our selves to perform good actions that the general propension and inclination of our wills and appetites be towards the doing of what is imposed upon us and abstaining from all kind of evil By what hath been said it may appear that holiness consists not in Speculation but in Practice 'T is not the knowledge of duty but the actual performance of it that entitles men to be holy and that too not superficially or in a good mode and rarely performed but sincerely and throughout the whole course of our lives For men to know their duty and not perform it is to inhaunce their own misery and to secure to themselves double stripes and to perform some good actions and abstain from the grosser pollutions of the world and yet to be vicious in the general course of their lives this is such a holiness that will never profit any man The rule of holiness to which we must heartily study an actual conformity does not dispense no not with the commission of the least sin nor omission of the smallest duty But because general descriptions of things are frequently overlooked I shall not think it unnecessary to descend to a more particular survey and consider Holiness in its several branches as they are plainly described by the Christian rule of Holiness CHAP. II. Of the Rule of Holiness Although the whole Canon of Scripture is useful to instruct us in our duty yet because many things if not approved yet dispensed with under the old dispensation are now quite antiquated and abrogated I shall therefore at present confine my discourse to the Gospel Oeconomy and by the rule discover wherein the Nature of true Holiness and undefiled Religion before God consists I am a little confident it will not be expected I should prove that the New Testament is of Divine Authority and consequently an infallible rule to direct us in the way of holiness the numerous late Discourses which have excellently well performed this task against the prodigiously prophane Atheists this impure age hath to its lasting reproach hatched makes me without the least fear of censure supersede this undertaking I shall take it then for granted it being acknowledged by all rational men that the Gospel is the great and certain Standard whereby we may truly judge of any man's holiness and never doubt to conclude that he who in the general course and tenour of his life walks contrary to the Rule can lay no claim plead no interest to the title of Holiness this being no other thing as I have already shewed but a combination of those vertues the Gospel-precepts enjoyn
loathsome diseases is attended with a prodigious multitude of temporal evils Prov. 23.22 and threatned with lasting eternal torments hereafter Hence our Royal Master fails not to exhort his Disciples to Take heed to themselves lest at any time they be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness Luke 21.34 And one of his blessed Apostles tells us that Drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.10 And indeed daily experience puts it beyond all doubt that those ignoble sins naturally tend to impoverish men and fully verifie the wise mans prediction That the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty Prov. 23.21 But passing those vertues that concern our Bodies I come now to consider those that adorn our Souls and I shall confine my discourse to those which are the peculiar graces of Christians and which the Christian rule does more particularly recommend Such as Humility Meekness Contentment and Self-denial If we enquire narrowly into the Lives of Heathen Philosophers we shall finde their pride and vain-glory stained the best of their actions Self-denial was a vertue never taught in their Schools and for Contentment the rules they prescribed were but ineffectual to recommend it But the Gospel couples our Duty and Interest together it commands Humility and recommends its advantages and alluring attractives It discovers the dangers that attend Pride and the great folly of being vain of Beauty Strength Wit Riches Honours or Preferments Of all these I may use the Apostle's phrase 'T is not expedient doubtless for men to glory 2 Cor. 12.7 Are not these the free gifts of Divine goodness and what can be more unreasonable than for dependent creatures to be proud Humility is indeed so amiable so endearing dearing a quaâ—ity and so noble an embelishment of our nature that where this is wanting all other advantages are little regarded and not onely men but the great God also resists the proud it being a vice which besides Christianity Morality also condemns as universally unbecoming to Humane nature and that which not onely disturbs ones self but also disquiets whole societies But God gives grace to the humble he takes such persons into favour as being more pliable to receive the impress of his love And as a humble so also a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price And can there be a more convincing motive than this to recommend meekness to Christians And indeed we cannot pretend to be the Disciples of holy Jesus if we refuse to learn that lesson he hath copied out to us Matth. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart Although a calm and quiet spirit is a reward to it self as every vertue is yet it wants not a claim to a temporal felicity also Matth. 5.5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth These be the persons to whom by right of promise this stately Fabrick of earth belongs And if we now view that unpleasant vice of Anger opposite to it this will yet adde more to its lustre and help to recommend it the more effectually Anger being such an unpleasant humour that it makes those men it possesses unfit for humane society it being not unfitly defined by the Poet to be a short madness which indeed agrees very well with the Wise mans verdict of it Eccl. Anger rests in the bosom of fools If then men would but compare the calm and happy serenity of Meekness with that inward and outward trouble and disquietment that is the effect of Anger they could not but esteem the one and declaim against the other In the next place our Christian rule recommends Contentment as the most precious Jewel in the Saints Diadem 't is that noble ingredient that makes the most bitter cup sweet and pleasant it renders things otherwise unsavory and burthensome to be indeed relishing and easie This is it that seasons the meanest meal makes a dish of herbs a feast and a cup of cold water please the palate This is that vertue which makes men in the midst of storms represent a calm and in the saddest circumstances to sing sweetly He who has learned St. Paul's lesson how to want and how to abound is not discomposed either by Prosperity or Adversity but in both cases can behave himself like a man in reason This is it which is inseparably connected with Godliness is the same thing expressed by different names This is a vertue so lovely and desirable attended with so many advantages that we have all imaginable encouragements to hearken to the Apostles advice Heb. 13.5 Be content with such things as ye have and in the evil day to heed that advice Christ gives his Disciples to possess our souls with patience But how disquieting and tormenting are its contraries Ambition makes men restless in raising their own value and esteem above others it prompts them to be always in dislike with their own present condition the least advancement of others above them gnaws and torments their spirits and oftentimes hurries them headlong to the greatest dangers Murmuring is a most fretting evil a most painful distemper a sin attended with the most dangerous consequents and which imbittereth the happiest state of life here Envy is a vice nothing less criminal attended with as dismal effects as any as the Apostle St. James tells Jam. 3.16 Where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work And lastly Covetousness is so mean and ignoble a vice that I think although it were not as the Apostle describes it the root of all evil yet gallant spirits should dislike it as being base and contemptible In the last place the Gospel recommends Self-denial as the Christians peculiar Character If any man says our Master Christ will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me And this precept he backs with the most powerful incitement For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it Mat. 16.24 25. I doubt not but flesh and bloud will cry out as once Christ's own Disciples did in another case This is a hard saying who can bear it 'T is indeed no small matter to bring down the carnal part of man to submit to the loss of Relations Interest and Life But since the advantage and danger of both cases is so clearly revealed what fools will men prove if to gain this life they lose the recompence of a better rewad As the rule of Holiness does thus instruct us in those duties that concern our selves so it also teacheth us how to carry towards others And in the first place it recommends the Royal Law of love as the spring and source of all other duties Rom. 13.9 If there be any other commandment 't is briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self This for its excellency and comprehensiveness is said to be the fulfilling of the Law as those
as the wise man tells us An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning but the end thereof shall not be blessed Prov. 20.21 Thirdly The Christian rule is a most compendious and compleat directory to men in every station and place Parents and Children Masters and Servants Husband and Wife may from hence learn their duty As it gives no encouragement to Tyrants so neither does it allow Rebellion in Subjects but condemns it as a sin heinous and unnatural But I cannot stand to enlarge upon every particular duty onely I shall infer that from the accomplishment of those duties enjoyned by the Christian rule is formed that Holiness I would fain perswade men to follow To put a close to this Chapter it will not I think be amiss to shew that the Christian rule of Holiness is the most noble and most excellent that was ever extant that it far excels the Schemes of Morality drawn by the best and most celebrated Masters of Pagan Philosophy and is more comprehensive and effectual to form men to true Holiness than the Mosaical Law I confess the Heathen Religion does not in the least deserve to be compared with the Christian no more I may say much less than the light of the dimmest Candle should be compared with the Sun in its brightness when all mists and clouds are dispelled It were indeed too great an honour to name the Alcoran with the New Testament the one being corrupt and imperfect the other pure and perfect in its tendency designing to make men truely vertuous and holy If we view the rules which the best and most refined Moralists prescribed we shall finde much Brass amongst their Gold many things exceedingly faulty which instead of forbidding encouraged many foul Vices Thus concerning piety towards God what unbecoming thoughts did they entertain of him They changed as the Apostle to the Romans observes the glory of an incorruptible God into an Image made like corruptible man Rom. 1.23 and in those moral duties that concerned themselves and others it were easie to shew how miserably they failed The famous Peripatetick pleaded for the revenging of Injuries The divine Plato allowed the community of Wives The strict Stoicks patronized the lawfulness of Self-murther and thus professing themselves to be wise they became fools And yet to the shame of Christians how conspicuous was the moral gallantry of the Romans how famous and glorious are they esteemed for their Justice and Constancy in friendship by all succeeding ages their vertue did conquer respect and esteem from their Enemies and made them beloved by those who fear'd their power And here I cannot but take notice of St. Augustin's commendation of the old Romans Because God says he would not bestow Heaven upon the Romans they being Pagans he bestowed the Empire of the world upon them because they were vertuous And yet the best rules those Illustrious Heroes and Law-givers taught are not comparable to the Laws of Christianity upon these three accounts First the Pagan Law is deficient in many things and many particular Laws mightily tend to the promoting of vice their Law-givers being ignorant of the introduction of sin never made any precepts against the first motions to forbidden objects Secondly those good Laws they taught are more clearly revealed in the Gospel Which hath brought life and immortality to light As the Gospel commands onely such things that are good and forbids onely vice so it more conspicuously manifests what is good that we may do it and what is evil that we may evite it The good Laws that Epaminondas in Thebes Lycurgus in Lacedemon and Aristides in Athens taught are in the Gospel-Oeconomy more excellently confirmed and we are now undoubtedly secured that we do well in observing what is commanded and in abstaining from what is prohibited which Numa Pompilius Marcus Antonius and all the Law-givers either of Greece or Rome could never be fully ascertained of Thirdly we have better encouragements and inducements to obey the Gospel-precepts than any other Religion prescribes The best motive to virtue amongst the Heathens was that vertue is a reward to it self that it is the means to be celebrated by after-ages and such-like which were but insignificant encouragements if compared with the eternal and unspeakably glorious reward which Christianity holds forth and those severe threatnings by which it secures its Laws of which I shall speak anon As for the Mosaical Law which next to the Christian is the most exact and incomparable there are three reasons why it is not to be compared with it being so far exceeded by the Gospel First the Mosaical dispensation is not unfitly called by the great Apostle A law of a carnal commandment Heb. 7.16 and A law which made nothing perfect v. 19. but the Gospel which is there called the bringing in of a better hope is more spiritual and refined and Jesus is said to be a surety of a better covenant v. 22. So that we may argue as the Apostle in the 11th verse of that cited Chapter doth If therefore perfection were by the Levitical Priesthood for under it the people received the Law what further need was there that another Priest should arise I confess the legal Sacrifices did shadow forth the satisfaction of Christs but yet I make no doubt but we may now understand the intent and meaning of all those Types much better than they could Secondly the Ceremonial Law as it was very burthensome so did it chiefly tend to make the observers thereof externally righteous and did not so strongly enforce the purifying of the heart As for the Moral Law the Christian rule as it does as strictly enjoyn it so it does much more powerfully excite men to the performance of it promising not a temporal but aâ— eternal reward Thirdly the Mosaical dispensation did indulge many practices which the Christian rule justly condemns such as Polygamy and Divorce and several Marriages allowed by no other Law and indeed the whole contexture of the Jewish Religion seems to be onely calculate as it did well correspond with the humour and genius of that people and could not therefore be a general Law agreeing with and well attemperate to the inclinations and humours of all Nations as the Christian rule is Any man that shall compare the Jewish Religion with the Christian shall be easily convinced that this does more effectually conduce to the purifying of us from all filthiness both of the flesh and of the spirit than the former and that of all the Schemes of Religion that ever were published none does deserve to be parallel'd with Christianity nor can adopt to them that noble character the great Apostle gives of the Gospel Rom. 1.16 That it is the power of God to salvation CHAP. III. Motives and inducements to the practice of Holiness AS the naked proposal and representation of an excellent and beautiful object is motive enough to excite our love and draw out our affections to it so methinks
Holiness which of all things is the most noble most excellent and the most lovely should even abstracted from the considerations of its utility and advantages conquer our esteem But God knows how much our depraved natures in this lapsed estate stand in need of encouragements to excite us to our duty and I wish common experience did not make it too certain that all motives are little enough to form us to Holiness In the former Chapters I have onely laid a foundation to this for I thought it fit to tell men what I understand by Holiness before I should excite them to it In this dark age of the world we want not instances God knows too many of mens too frequent mistaking vice for vertue to prevent which errour it was thought necessary to shew men their duty and having done this the next thing I proposed was to lay down several motives and inducements to engage men to the practise of Holiness founded solely upon this that all those endearing arguments that prevail with us to perform any duty or action relating to our secular concerns do more powerfully oblige us to be holy This is I confess a subject which for its nobleness deserves a better judgement a more clear wit and a more enlivened and quick fancy to handle it than I can pretend to yet if I can but prevail with others to perfect what I have begun I shall not think I have much mis-employ'd my time in writing this Discourse This Chapter is like to be somewhat disproportionable to the rest in length it being at first the onely designed subject to be discoursed on I shall therefore divide it into several Sections SECT 1. The Noble Pattern of Holiness The great inclination of Mankinde to Imitation gave ground I doubt not to that old Maxime Plus docent exempla quà m praecepta our depraved natures are very apt to contemn Precepts and to court forbidden objects The tye of a Commandment is become by our increased guilt too weak to binde us to our duty is made as light of as Sampson made of those ropes with which he was bound before his locks were cut But O what a secret and powerful influence have Examples on the spirits of men I have seen Servants and Children who have contemned Commands yet shamed to their duty by the Example of their Masters and Parents The courage and valour of a Captain proves frequently more powerful to inspirit inferiour Souldiers than the most forcible injunctions and helps to make even cowards stout whileas a timerous Commander disheartens the bravest Souldiers and by his flight will make them who feared no danger turn their backs Common experience makes it past doubt that the patrociny and example of great men is enough to render any thing fashionable We daily have proofs of this before our eyes nay so powerful do examples sometimes prove that not onely the silly modes and gestures of men have been imitated but also their natural imperfections as Nero's wry Neck was at Rome It is the Poets observation Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis Vpon which account I heartily wish the Nobles and Great men of this age would illustrate Holiness by their Examples and I doubt not but contemned Holiness should be as fashionable as they have now made Vice by their patrociny In sacred Writ we read that when the Rulers of Judah and Israel were religious and examples of Vertue that the whole people imitated their footsteps and worshipped the Lord God of their Fathers But when the Rulers became patrons of Vice then the whole people sacrificed in the high places and worshipped their Calves at Dan and Bethel It is indeed a case that well deserves to be regretted with flouds of tears that the footsteps of those who transgress should prove more efficacious and effectual and have a greater influence on men than the presidents of good men but more lamentable is it that despised vertue lies like the contemned ashes on the level and has so few to raise up its esteem by their examples And now seeing Examples have so much force methinks I hear the Captain of our salvation saying as Abimeleck said to the men that were with him Judg. 9.48 Make haste and do as I have done Christ Jesus hath by his example taught us our duty 1 Pet. 1.15 16. As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be ye holy as I am holy Upon which account we are seriously exhorted in Scripture to look unto Jesus and to walk as he walked and can any consideration more abundantly serve to inspirit and excite us to live holy than this Methinks our having so brave an example should provoke us to follow his footsteps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth There are two chief reasons that greatly prevail with us to imitate other examples First the dignity and greatness of the person Secondly Interest and advantage Now both these motives should most powerfully prevail with us to make Christ the copy of our lives For first if we consider the dignity and worth of his person is he not the Son of the living God who in the days of his humiliation thought it no robbery to be called equal with God He was not a person of a mean and low extraction how meanly soever he lived here but one of extraordinary worth who by partaking of humane nature elevated it to the highest degree of honour He was not onely the chiefest among stten thousands but the delight of Heaven and Earth before whom the Princes of the Earth must appear and the great men to give him an account of their works And as for Interest I shall afterwards make it plain that we in nothing more cross our advantage than in walking contrary to Christ But alas how little are we moved by this noble president to minde Holiness how seldom do we express in our actions the vertues of our spiritual King although there is nothing more rational more equitable and just than to follow his footsteps who hath called us to his Kingdom and Glory nothing more honourable nor can advance our happiness more than to be conform to the image of Christ yet in opposition to the most endearing encouragements we have as much set at nought his example as Herod and his men of war did his person Luke 23.11 Alas what tears are sufficient to express and set forth this exceeding great madness and insolency Methinks I hear our blessed Prince speaking thus in his own vindication Ye unwise and foolish sons of men how long will ye prefer imperfect and ignoble patterns to one that is every whit perfect and compleat In your secular concerns ye judge more rationally prove a thousand times wiser for who amongst you does not make diligent enquiry for the most exact pattern that ye may conform what ye designe according to it but in matters of everlasting moment
how careless how negligent and foolish do ye prove If I had not been held forth as the most desirable copy as a pattern most accommodate to your state your case had been more tolerable but since you can pretend no rational excuse for your rejecting of me Behold ye despisers wonder and perish I confess our blessed Prince performed many extraordinary and miraculous actions which could have no other author but one invested with omnipotency and although we cannot are not required to set Christ as our president in these as likewise in many other special actions he performed as his fasting forty days c. yet even these we are called to admire and must in so far imitate as they were expressions of his great charity and kindness to men and of his trust and dependancy upon his Heavenly Father But as for those moral actions he performed we are extreamly culpable if we do not make him our pattern if we walk not as he walked And it is sure the most unaccountable thing that can be to profess our selves to be his Disciples and to despise the lessons he hath copied out to us The whole life of Christ being one continued lecture of Holiness presents to our view a large field to discourse upon but my intended brevity will not allow me to mention all those particular actions and vertues of his which we ought to imitate I shall therefore contract my discourse to those more remarkable instances wherein we should industriously endeavour to imitate the holy Jesus in his spirit and actions and sure there cannot be a more powerful motive to form us to holiness than his most excellent life which is a pattern absolutely perfect and designed as a fair copy after which we should write In the first place our blessed Leader for so he is called Isa 55.4 hath by his precept as well as his practice enjoyned us to learn meekness and humility of him Mat. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart Throughout the whole course of his life he did evidence a spirit full of calmness and quietness If we trace his foorsteps from the Cradle to the Cross we shall not fined him either by his words or actions discovering the least expression of wrath or revenge but the most admirable disposition of gentleness and meekness even then when his insulting Enemies endeavoured to cast upon him the most ignominious affronts We read Numb 12.3 of Moses his great meekness but how was he once and again transported with passion but never did our meek Jesus by the most insufferable abuses he received ever discover a discomposed spirit Isa 53.7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth He did indeed frequently meet with extraordinary provocations to anger but yet how sweet were his reproofs when the Samaritans refused to receive him Luke 9.53 he did not treat them with contumelious speeches nor revenge himself upon them although he could have done it with ease but being desired by his exasperated Disciples to call for fire from Heaven to consume them he rebuked their revengeful motion with The Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them It would be too prolix a business to instance the several examples of his Gentleness and Meekness only let us view the last scene of his life where we shall behold lively instances to confirm this When he did finde his three Disciples whom he had commanded to watch sleeping he did not upbraid them for their negligence but gently asks them What could not ye watch with me one hour and when he was treacherously accoasted by his own Disciple who became leader to a great multitude who came out with Swords and Staves to apprehend him with what astonishing mildness did he entertain this Traytor who had the impudence to betray him with a kiss Friend wherefore art thou come Mat. 26.50 or as another of the Evangelists expresseth it Judas betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss This was all the hard language he treated him with And after he was apprehended with what horrid contumelies and affronts did his barbarous Enemies entertain him they did spit in his face and buffet him the highest affronts imaginable they stripped him of his ordinary cloaths and put upon him a fools robe and a Crown of Thorns and being thus disguised they expose him to the mockery and contempt of the Spectators Notwithstanding of all which he opened not his mouth but with a most sedate and serene temper he received all these abuses as the Apostle Peter expresseth it 1 Pet. 2.23 When he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Meekness I confess is so noble a vertue accompanied with so many admirable and charming advantages that it needs as one would think but few words to recommend it to men but no argument is like to prevail more with generous mindes than the example of so excellent and perfect a Pattern Sure I am it is the most unaccountable thing imaginable for the Disciples of so meek a Master to be of a disposition and temper quite opposite to his But as his meekness so is his humility also recommended to our imitation As he was of a meek so also of a lowly spirit His first appearance upon earth was but mean and despicable he was born as the Scripture informs us in a low estate more fit for the meanest of his Disciples than for so great a Prince He was not brought forth in some stately Palace nor born in a Chamber curiously deckt but in a vile Stable where the bruit beasts had their residence Nay after he had discovered himself by his Illustrious works to be a great Prophet the true Messiah who enlightneth every one that cometh into the world yet how humbly did he walk his Companions he did chuse were but mean Fishermen his Occupation and Employment was no ways honourable and his Revenues were but small as he himself did testifie The foxes have holes and the birds of the air nests but the Son of man hath not where he may lay his head Although his descent and extraction was incomparably great yet he rather endeavoured to conceal than to brag of it and so humble was he that he chose rather to attribute the praise of his admired works to his Father than take the honour of them to himself Joh. 8.28 I do nothing of my self but as my Father hath taught me I speak these things He was not ambitious of Rule and Government but modestly refused to be a Ruler and Judge Nay when the multitude thought to make him a King he shunned their society by an invisible removal it being quite contrary to his designe in coming into the world as he tells us Matth. 20.28 he came not
of the Lords mercy that we are not consumed sure many who have offended less have been justly sent to everlasting burnings do now dwell with devouring flames and why should a living man complain it were certainly more rational to be humbled for the evil that occasioned the rod that our present misery may not be the prelude to more lasting torments Nay there is nothing that more offends God that is more contrary to the pattern set before us than to murmur and repine let us therefore study to bear the resemblance of our eldest Brother that our Heavenly Father may acknowledge us for his Children In the next place Christ's obedience to the Will of his Father is set forth as our president and can any thing more powerfully perswade us to obedience than his example which not onely discovers our duty but also inspirits and enables us to perform it If the marvelous pattern of Christ's entire obedience does not form our wills to do what God enjoyns I scarce know any argument that will prove â—ffectual And now how serious was our Lord Christ in dispatching that business his Father intrusted him with The work that his Father gave him to do he finished it Joh. 17.4 and he testifieth of himself That he did always those things that pleased his Father Joh. 8.29 and that he might more emphatically express this he tells us Joh. 4.34 My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work and indeed in that he so entirely resigned the whole power of his Will to his Father Not my will but thy will be done we have the most unquestionable proof of his perfect obedience He was as the great Apostle tells us Obedient to the death of the Cross submitted to the most dreadful sufferings that he might instruct us to keep his commandments even as he kept his Fathers commandments Joh. 15.10 and that the same mind be in us that was in him But God knows how little we regard either his Precepts or Examples for although our great Master has made his obedience our rule yet how ready are we to despise it if in the least it cross our humors or carnal interest Alas little do we consider that obedience is essentially necessary in order to our supream happiness and that torments as severe and intolerable as they are lasting are the lot of the disobedient It were to be wished that the rebellious posterity of Adam would but seriously ponder what they will be able to say in the great day of Audit Sure I am the whole Contexture and Harmony of the divine Precepts and Doctrines are equitable and just and therefore call for our hearty compliance with them The wise God never issued out any Command which could not be obeyed He is not like the Aegyptian Task-masters to require Brick while there is no Straw Nay indeed our duty and interest are coupled together so closely that if we disobey and rebel we may thank our selves for the misery we have chosen And as his obedience is set before us for imitation so is his Love Charity and Compassion also His whole life was spent in doing good to men how transcendent is his love in pitying us in our degenerate and forlorn estate when we were at odds with Heaven and incapable to help our selves then even then did he commiserate our case and by his own Blood reconciled us to the Father It is the greatest demonstration of love imaginable for a man to lay down his life for his friend Joh. 15.13 and yet more wonderful was the love of our Redeemer in passing through so many cruel sufferings for us who were but Rebels and Enemies O how should the remembrance of his boundless compassions transport and ravish us with love how strange is it that the highest endearments of Love have not inflamed our spirits and made Love mutual and reciprocal Love is a most excellent affection of a noble original by which we resemble the best of beings the great God being by the beloved Disciple described to be Love and indeed well does this description sute with his dealings with men But alas how unlike are we to God in this there is scarce any duty more frequently inculcated by our Saviour than Love John 15.12 This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you and yet how little efficacy has either his precept or example with us Blessed Redeemer how unworthy do impure Earth-worms require thy love thou hast not been wanting to conquer our affections and to inflame our frozen hearts with love to thee and to our Neighbours also Thy life and Death comprehend the most endearing arguments imaginable and yet well maist thou ask us as once thou didst Peter Love you me but God knows there are but a very few who can unfeignedly say as this Disciple did Lord thou knowest that I love thee We can remember all thy sorrows without tears and look upon thy agonies with an unconcerned eye We can view thee in the Garden when grief and pain made thee sweat drops of bloud and behold thee as thou stoodst accused as a Malefactor before Pilate as thou wert contemned scourged and derided by impure worms and most spitefully represented in a fools habit we can ascend Mount Calvary and contemplate thee as enduring the most shameful death of the Cross and hanging betwixt two Thieves and all this time have Adamantine hearts which receive no impression Blessed Redeemer come touch these hearts of ours that they may be overcome with love that our wills and affections may be perfectly moulded according to thy pleasure Sure if we had any sparks of Generosity or common Ingenuity we could not thus despise so much love The very Publicans who were reputed the worst of men yet loved those that loved them And it hath even in the most degenerate times been reckoned the highest baseness to contemn Benefactors yet more brutish are we become than these and may very fitly be ranked in a Category inferior to that of bruits For the Ass as sacred Writ tells us knoweth his masters crib and the Ox his owner Isa 1.3 The very beasts in their own manner express a kinde of love to their Benefactors and yet although our Redeemer hath made our peace by his blood on the Cross and hath reversed that sentence of Damnation passed upon us although he hath endured the greatest dishonour and pain imaginable that we might be delivered from the wrath to come yet this unparallel'd kindness the greatest endearment of love hath not had the kindly effect to quicken our dead and benummed hearts but like a lifeless carcass we remain insensible without the least return of love And indeed it can scarce be well expected that the example of his love to us should engage us to love one another since it hath produced so little love in us to himself But however I need not take much pains to prove that hereby we demonstrate
our selves to be of all men the most ungrate and justly liable to the severest punishment ever inflicted upon the greatest criminal It would be too prolix to enumerate the several instances wherein Christ is set forth as our Pattern sure I am he hath by his example taught us the exercise of all vertues and I may say as himself said in another case If we know these things happy are we if we do them To sum up this Section it will not be amiss to obviate an Objection which is indeed but very trivial although it be too commonly urged the Objection is How is it possible for men to conform to Christ and be holy as he is holy Ans I have already told that it is not expected that we should imitate our blessed Redeemer in all and every of those actions he performed but in all those moral duties which he hath enjoyned by his righteous precepts and encouraged us by his example to perform these we must by no means neglect and to manifest the possibility of doing these we may satisfie our selves by viewing the pious and devout lives of primitive Christians It is a great mistake to think we are commanded to a rigorous and strict conversation which cannot be attained the faithful in former ages have run the same race that is set before us they have fully enough cleared the possibility of our duty Wherefore seeing we also as the Apostle argues are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us Heb. 12.1 For shame let us rather imitate the excellent holiness of primitive Christians than the impure practices of those who are strangers from the sacred Covenant O the perfect love and imitable kindness of the first professors of the Gospel what purity what integrity and innocence appeared in their lives how ravishing and splendent were their vertues and graces their Patience in suffering their Courage and Magnanimity in death their Temperance and Moderation their Charity and Compassion their Equality and Justice and their Contempt of this World and all earthly concerns for the sake and honour of their Master These were the vertues they were adorned with which made the Heathen world who hated the Doctrine they professed yet esteem and reverence them Bonus vir Cajus Sejus nisi Christianus SECT 2. Holiness the condition of future Happiness The desire of Happiness is so natural to all that partake of humane nature that it can no more be separate from it than heat can be from fire 'T is true the mistakes concerning happiness are as numerous as dangerous every one in this corrupt state is apt to frame a happiness which best suits his inclinations but yet there is no man so devoid of reason who doth not desire to be happy although indeed there be but a few who make use of the right means to attain to true felicity Daily experience puts it beyond doubt that a carnal and fictitious felicity is by the unwise sons of men pursued with the most indefatigable pains and industry possible Now how strange to amazement is it to think that men should be so sedulous in hunting after a fancied felicity and yet so negligent so careless and unconcerned about a real happiness which is both satisfying and lasting But not to digress that which I am now to urge is since happiness is that which excites men to perform any thing chearfully in order to the attaining of it how mightily should the expectation of a future felicity induce them to the practice of Holiness for betwixt the two our blessed Saviour has made an inseparable connexion Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God and indeed it is the height of folly and madness for impure wretches to expect they shall be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints of light for as the Apostle tells us There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Rev. 21.27 Holiness is the established condition of happiness Heb. 12.14 Without holiness no man shall see God Hence is it that all the promises concerning our future felicity are onely made to those men who purifie themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and the great design of them is to encourage us to Holiness upon which account St. Paul draws a very pressing inference 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises of which he spake in the foregoing Chapter let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God There is nothing more certain than that onely holy souls are in a capacity of participating of that future felicity and these may without the least charge of presumption claim an interest in it But for those vitious wretches who are wholly polluted who have devoted themselves to commit sin with greediness and take pleasure in doing evil how utterly incapable are they if they continue such to dwell in his presence who is not a God that taketh pleasure in wickedness And now seeing there is such an inseparable connexion between Happiness and Holiness it cannot be amiss if we take a short view of the excellency of this coelestial felicity that it may more plainly appear what a notable encouragement and motive it is to holiness There be two things that forcibly recommend the excellency of that future state of bliss First A perfect freedom and immunity from all evils And Secondly a perpetual enjoyment of the chief good First it is a blessedness wholly exempt from evils whether of sense or loss 't is a happiness attended with no inconveniencies nor dismal circumstances as the happiest state here is we now walk in the midst of perplexing doubts and fears temptations increase our inquietudes and dangers our continual fears our complaints are by far more numerous than our joys nay what is our whole life but a scene where sorrow and fears act their parts Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of evil But our future blessedness quite excludes all those evils there is nothing admitted to imbitter that pleasant state Rev. 21.4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away The holy soul shall then no more complain of any dolorous hours the heavenly Jerusalem is a place unacquainted with every thing that is uneasie and troublesome And yet this is but the least part of the Saints felicity for as they shall enjoy a perfect freedom from evil so shall they also be advanced to the fullest fruition of that God where all the streams of goodness do finally empty themselves Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God Matth. 5.8 They shall see him not as now through a Glass
lost his pristine purity and subjugated himself to the cruel tyranny and dominion of sin in this deplorable state being utterly unable to help himself our blessed Lord redeemed us from our captivity by offering up himself a ransom to satisfie divine Justice and all this that we might walk in newness of life And now what ingratitude is it to despise so much love Sure If he that despised Moses law died without mercy of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing Heb. 10.28 29. He must certainly be of a very base and disingenous spirit who takes pleasure in sin when he considers how dearly Christ paid for it Hath he been at so much pains undergone such dismal sufferings to purchase our peace and will we notwithstanding frustrate his designe how strange to astonishment is this that men should prefer captivity to freedom Alas is it not enough that our blessed Master was so barbarously and despitefully used by the Jews and Roman Souldiers but must we be also Actors in the Tragedy and by our sins crucifie him again Did he not die that we might live and shall we spend our life in offering despite unto him Strange that so much madness should lodg in the breasts of any into whom God hath breathed the breath of life I might here also adde that it is a contemning and offering of the greatest despite to the Holy Spirit to despise Holiness for upon this account is the third person of the blessed Trinity called the Holy Ghost because his peculiar office is to enable us to perform holy actions now if we continue in our rebellion if we reject the offers of grace and the internal motions of the Spirit to Holiness we do hereby become guilty of quenching the Spirit of God and offering despite unto him which is so horrid a piece of villany that Heaven threatens it with the severest torments SECT 5. Holiness the most proper and effectual means for attaining length of days Of all outward and temporal blessings length of days hath justly the precedency since without this all others can afford little or no comfort The possession and enjoyment of other mercies can bestow no satisfaction to men lying on their beds of languishing nay there is no comfort be it never so great but men would willingly quit with to acquire this Now since this is above all things so universally desired it cannot but very much enhance the value of Holiness to demonstrate that there is nothing so proper nor more effectual to procure length of days than this In order to my proving of this I shall first make it plain from Scripture that length of days is due to holy men by vertue of the many true and faithful promises and secondly I shall appeal to common experience to determine the case First there is nothing more evidently asserted in Scripture than that Holiness hath the promise of length of days annexed to it Prov. 3.1 2. My son forget not my law but let thine heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life shall they adde unto thee This encouraging motive is pressed very effectually by Moses in his exhortation to obedience Deut. 4.40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments which I command thee this day that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee and that thou maist prolong thy days upon the earth Upon this account we also finde that there are many promises of this nature to obedient Children Exod. 20.12 Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And as Righteousness tendeth to life as the Wise man observes so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death Prov. 11.19 There is nothing more evident from Scripture than that sin hath a natural tendency to shorten mens lives nay the great God who is serious in his threatnings hath assured us it is so upon which account we may well conclude with the Wise man Prov. 10.27 The years of the wicked shall be shortned The whole tenour of the Scripture abounds with many such promises and threatnings and the thing is so plain that I need not stand to transcribe many texts But besides Scripture this truth is also plainly attested by common experience for if we examine who are the men who for ordinary are most obnoxious to diseases and live shortest we shall finde it true enough that the vitious are the men who live not out half their days Prov. 23.29 30. Who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath wounds without cause they that tarry long at the wine c. Holiness is repugnant and inconsistent with excess which naturally puts a period to the lives of men It forbids all manner of vice which leads down to the chambers of death and keeps men within due bounds in their eating and drinking Before mankind had corrupted themselves by their notorious and impudent vitiousness we read of their great length of days but the increase of sin multiplied diseases which hurry men to untimely deaths I deny not but the great Lord and Master of the Universe may for holy and wise ends known unto himself cut short the lives of the righteous yet surely if we consult either Experience or Reason we shall finde it certain beyond doubt that vertuous men enjoy for ordinary far the longest lives Some good men may be naturally of a brittle constitution yet how strangely has their life been protracted by their moderation and sobriety and how many strong men have had their days shortened by their intemperance and excess Indeed he that considers this well shall finde that Holiness is the most effectual means to promote long life both upon a moral and natural account Upon a moral account long life is the reward which the divine promises do secure to such men and on the contrary wickedness is threatned with shortness of days Upon a natural account the fire doth not more naturally produce heat than Holiness does procure health and length of days and there is nothing more evident than that the most of vices have a physical efficacy in the shortning of humane life That this is the necessary product and genuine effect of intemperance and lasciviousness needs no other argument to prove it but the daily examples of multitudes whom those sins have hurried to their graves And truly there is not any vice which does not like fire in mens bosoms torture and consume them and so disorders and discomposes them that they even neglect the necessary means of their health See Period of Humane life pag. 111 124 Edit 2. SECT 6. Holiness that which makes men honourable vice rendering men mean and ignoble Honour is an ornament so noble and venerable that he is but very sottish if not quite bruitish who doth not
blood can attest the evils and mischiefs of War much more pathetically than words can express How sweet and acceptable would Peace a word always sounding sweetly be to them Now the Apostle St. James hath given us a brief but unquestionably true account of the real causes of Wars and Fightings Jam. 4.1 From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members From these sinful causes have all the disorders and jars in Kingdoms and private Societies had their real I speak not of their pretended original How impetuous are the lusts of turbulent spirits like the raging waves of the Sea they are still in motion casting forth filth and dirt Ambition is so unquiet and restless a passion that no man is ignorant what desolations it hath wrought in the earth How many famous Kingdoms hath it ruined and destroyed what inquietudes and disorders are occasioned by discontentment All these are things so evident that I need not enlarge upon them but how repugnant are these vices to Holiness and can it be rationally imagined that their genuine and proper effects can be more reconcilable with it I confess Religion hath too frequently been pretended as a Cloak to dover the greatest Villanies Confusions and Rebellions but sure I am nothing imaginable contains a greater contradiction than to say these impieties have a warrant from the sacred Laws of the Gospel the combination of which is the rule of Holiness as I have formerly explained Is not Christ called the Prince of Peace and the Gospel the Gospel of Peace And it is certain if men would be ruled by the Laws of so peaceable a Prince they should be of a calm and quiet spirit then should we indeed see Righteousness and Peace kissing each other When ever therefore we read in ancient prophesies of the great peace that shall be in the Messiahs reign we must thereby understand that the nature of the Gospel and its precepts are such that if men would conform their lives to them there should be an universal Peace How strictly are all the causes of Envy Contention Ambition and Rebellion prohibited and sure if these causes were removed their effect should have no place Then should the Bow be broken and the Spear cut in sunder Swords should be turned into Plough-shares and the Instruments of War into more necessary uses War should cease unto the ends of the earth and Peace should be within each wall By this it is apparent how much holiness conduceth to the establishment of publick peace But that which I would more especially take notice of is the internal serenity and calmness of Conscience which is the onely effect of holiness and truly upon this account there is no peace to the wicked I might here appeal to every mans breast whether Holiness does not calm and quiet the Consciences of men whileas a natural horrour results from the commission of vice more heavy than the severest lashes ever inflicted by Tityus or Rhadamanthus What unspeakable peace and ease does attend holiness of life there is no jar nor contention no check of Conscience nor wound of spirit to disturb the inward repose of the Righteous but that remorse that results from the commission of sin even after men have acquired what they sinfully lusted after is like that hand-writing Dan. 5.5 which made the stout heart Belshazzer to tremble and his knees to smite one against another It troubles the thoughts of the most daring sinner and makes him a terrour to himself There is no imaginable torment that can equal the terrours of an awakened guilty Conscience it hath put men to chuse strangling and death rather than life all which is fully verified by the Word of truth The spirit of a man can sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear O the secret pangs and fears that possess the spirits of wicked men the severe checks and lashes of Conscience that seize upon transgressors which all imaginable divertisements cannot quite stifle and suppress All the attendance of the most dear Relations cannot give ease and comfort to them How dismal and inconsolable was Spira's condition how amazing are the very thoughts of those gnawings and horrours of Conscience he suffered The fears and apprehensions of a future misery mar all the joy and mirth of carnal men In their most flourishing state it continually haunts them and so fills them with horror and inquietude that they cannot quietly enjoy themselves Whilst the Soul acts within the Body it cannot but present those horrid and disquieting reflections Hi sunt qui trepidant ad omnia fulgor a pallent These are the men who in the midst of outward felicity are amazed with tormenting fears which cannot be eradicated but by a sincere repentance But the holy Soul in the extremity of outward troubles enjoys an internal calmness and quiet of minde the very Pagan who could not be beyond doubt assured of the certainty of a future reward could yet say Hic murus ahenaeus esto Nil conscire sibi nulla palescere culpa But the Word of truth hath made this more unquestionably sure Psal 119.165 Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them SECT 9. Holiness the best evidence of true Wisdom and real Worth and Courage Wisdom and Courage having their rise and source from nobler Principles than external helps have therefore in all Ages been esteemed excellent and venerable vertues and much preferable to those others which depend upon external advantages Wisdom is as the Wise man speaks the principal thing Prov. 4.7 It is that vertue which in a peculiar manner raiseth the Humane nature above that of Bruits who act without consideration and counsel And Courage is that which subdueth that ignoble passion of fear which hindreth men from attempting actions praise-worthy Hence it is that to be called a Fool or Coward are such reproachful denominations that nothing imaginable is more shameful That Holiness is an infallible evidence of true Wisdom is more plain than it can be doubted In sacred Writ Wisdom and Religion are used as convertible terms as words expressing the same thing And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that is understanding Job 28.28 Hence the impious and wicked are frequently called Fools and men void of understanding and wisdom And however this prophane Age of ours hath accounted those men great Wits who have cast off all Religion and who Burleseque Scripture who think it the greatest folly to be kept in awe by the fears of future danger and to be kept in thraldom by the apprehension of an invisible being yet men who consider things aright have in all ages accounted those Atheists both fools and mad-men Fools in condemning that which all wise men have assented to But 't is no wonder since sin is that which overclouds and stupifies the judgment and deprives them
expedient to secure the obedience of Subjects And I confess I know not how that man can be a true Subject to his earthly Prince who stands not to offend the God of Heaven I know some who have pretended to much Holiness have been the greatest villains but this proves not that the rule of Holiness gives a Supersedeas or allowance to any to disobey Authority Art thou a Parent the rule of Holiness to which holy men conform will instruct thee to be gentle and tender to thy Children and not to provoke them to wrath which is the onely thing that lessens their affection Art thou a Childe it will teach thee to reverence and honour thy parents in doing of which thou entitlest thy self to the promise annexed to the fifth Commandment In a word it is profitable to make all manner of Relations live in quietness and peace and to bestow mutual offices of love upon each other It instructs men to be faithful in every calling and employment and certainly the good man is to be trusted far rather than the wicked for Religion lays an awe and restraint upon the one but the other pretends no such motive to engage him to fidelity especially if he may deceive and not be noticed To this purpose Plutarch hath a notable saying Pietate saith he Nat. Deor. lib. 1. sublata fides etiam Societas humanae generis una excellentissima virtus justitia tollitur There are several things useful for some men but altogether unprofitable for others but Holiness is equally profitable for all there are none exempt from tasting its utility but those who exclude themselves by a vitious conversation Secondly Holiness is attended with all outward blessings and wants not a claim to a temporal felicity Matth. 6.33 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you The promise of inheriting the Earth by which all temporal felicity is meant is made to the meek Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth And indeed we finde this blessing even promised to the posterity of those that fear the Lord Psal 25.13 And to put this beyond all doubt we finde the Psalmist repeating this five times in one Psalm Psal 37.9 11 22 29 34. And the great Apostle tells us that it is Godliness that hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 The God of Heaven hath also assured us that he will withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly Upon this account well might Wisdom say Prov. 8.18 Riches and honour are with me a plain instance of which we have in Solomon who because of his asking Wisdom to govern his Subjects when he might as freely have ask'd Riches and Honour he receives this answer from God I have also given thee both riches and honour 1 King 3.13 But however this discriminating providence doth not so discernedly appear here yet there is no man but can attest Vice hath impoverished thousands there being several sins that have a natural tendency to poverty By means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread Prov. 6.26 The like we may truely enough say of several other sins I have seen saith the Psalmist the wicked great in power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found Psal 37.35 36. I confess good men may be reduced to great wants may be destitute of necessary provisions nay how frequently is this the lot of the most excellent and gallant Souls yet this may be safely said That a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked But then those things that best deserve the name of riches because of their enriching the Soul which being more excellent than the Body must upon that account be of greater value than these things that onely respect the Body these are onely peculiar to holy men and such are the graces of the Holy Spirit the combination of Christian vertues the price of which is above that of Rubies These are riches which are of a more lasting nature than those which the ignoble of the world call riches they are not subject to the casualties which Gold and Silver and precious Stones are which upon that account cannot be called a mans own as Pagan Moralists have largely and excellently confirmed And if we will not dispute with God and contest his determination we shall finde one single vertue receiving a more ample commendation than ever riches did 1 Pet. 3.4 The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price Although the holy and devout Soul may be reduced to our Savours straits not to have where to lay his head yet how can he be said to be poor since he possesses him who is All The most adverse chances that befal such a Soul cannot denominate it poor there is a Crown and Princely Inheritance which belongs to it Nay besides that glorious reversion we have express promises that such Souls shall not be altogether destitute of necessaries to sustain and support them in this their pilgrimage I have already shewed that Honour and Pleasures are the attendants of Holiness What in the world is more glorious than for a man to conquer those lusts and inordinate appetites that seek the mastery over him what pleasure is able to contest with those ravishing joys which result from a holy conversation There is nothing imaginable that so exhilarates and revives men as a calm and quiet Conscience But I pass this In the next place I come to shew that the enjoyment of all other blessings can never profit that man that wants Holiness This is plainly attested by our Saviour saying What hath a man profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul To have an affluence of temporal mercies cannot so much as contribute to a present felicity where the forementioned qualification is lacking Outward favours not attended and chained with real Holiness contribute onely to enhance the misery of their possessor they being proper fewel to increase the flame of inquietude and restlesness but unfit to allay it The greatest plenty of riches cannot satisfie the covetous minde which like the Grave cries Give give The whole world could not satisfie Alexander's insatiable ambition but as the Poet speaks Aestuat infoelix angusto limite mundi 'T is indeed impossible for a man to enjoy that earthly felicity he designs if he want Holiness For suppose he be possessed of it yet the secret acknowledgement of a superiour power impairs the delights that do arise from such a state and makes him in the height of his fancied felicity startle and quake Conscience upon the apprehension of guilt and the vengeance due to it recoils upon the sinner and disturbs his quiet enjoyment of the
evermore the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort How precious are thy promises to us-wards how great is the sum of them Thou renewest thy favours continually and art still pouring upon us innumerable benefits of which this is not the least that thou givest us leave to come into thy Presence to call thee Father and to make known our requests to thee by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving We accept O Lord with all thankfulness this thy great Grace and Loving kindness to us and are here again prostrate before thee this Evening to acknowledge thy goodness in making us such excellent Creatures capable to know thee and acknowledge thee and love thee and by being made like thee to be Eternally happy with thee Blessed be thy Name that we are now alive and that we have lived so long in health and strength and peace and plenty of all good things whereas our Eyes might have been consumed with grief our Bones sore vexed and we might have mingled our Drink with continual weeping We are bound unto thee for the free use of our understandings for the good inclinations we find in our will for any devout affections which are stirring in our Hearts for all the advantages we have had by our educations good company and holy Examples and more especially for the Illuminations of the Holy Ghost by thy blessed Gospel the breathings of it frequently into our Spirits the importunities thou hast used to draw us to thee and the great and precious promises whereby thy love in Christ Jesus constrains us to resign our selves entirely to the Obedience of thy Precepts We ought likwise to admire and praise thee for thy Goodness to all thy Creatures who live daily upon thy bountious allowance The eyes of all wait on thee and thou givest them their Food in due season thou diffusest thy blessings in several Streams to every one of them according to their needs That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good We give thee the Glory of thy plentiful provision thou hast made for them and more particularly admire thy great liberality to the Children of men under whose Feet thou hast put in subjection all Sheep and Oxen yea and the Beasts of the field the Fowl of the Air and the Fish of the Sea and whatsoever passeth through the Paths of the Waters O Lord we praise thee for thy Goodness to those who praise thee not themselves Be thou adored and acknowledged in thy bounty which bestows so many blessings unasked and unsought and continues them notwithstanding abundance of provocations and most high Offences that they have given to thy merciful kindness And let thy Goodness to thy Church be never forgotten by us which thou hast in all Ages Protected and defended in a marvelous manner propagating the Gospel of our Saviour confounding its opposers and spreading it by the power of the Holy Ghost over the face of the Earth We thank thee for thy singular favor to these Countries wherein we live to whom these glad tydings of Salvation have reached and who have long enjoyed a more glorious light than many other places and been delivered from the Darkness of Popish superstition and from sundry attempts that have been made to bereave us of this Happiness and are again setled after many Confusions in a peaceable enjoyment of thy true Religion which thou hast also continued to us though we have not brought forth Fruit worthy of the Gospel of thy Grace O that all thy undeserved Goodness may have this effect upon us to make us heartily love thee and devoutly worship thee and zealously obey thee and stedfastly trust and hope in thee for ever That by a careful improvement of the knowledge of thee our God and our Lord Jesus Christ by whom thou hast given us all things that pertain unto life and goodness we may still enjoy this inestimable treasure and all thy love to us may at last be finished in those eternal Joys which he hath promised to the Faithful And as we have been taught exhorted and encouraged this day out of thy holy word and have likewise publickly acknowledged our obligations to thee and made profession of Love and Gratitude and Durifulness to thy Divine Majesty So help us all the Week following openly to testifie the Truth and Honesty of our Hearts in all this by a blameless conversation in all Humility Meekness Temperance Righteousness Charity and Peace with all them that call on the Lord out of a pure Heart Bless our Soveraign the defender of the Faith we profess and all imploy'd under him in their several Offices that they may be Instruments of continuing to us these Holy opportunities with all other good things that may make these Kingdoms happy O that all our friends may be thine and if we have any Enemies Father forgive them comfort and support the Sick the Needy and all other distressed persons with an immoveable belief of thy wise and good Providence to which give them Grace patiently and obediently to resign themselves And when all our senses this Night shall be bound up with sleep be thou O Lord our keeper and after the refreshment of that repose and this Holy rest from our Labours raise us in the Morning to return unto them with cheerful minds and ready wills Praising still and Magnifying thy multiplied Mercies to us in Christ Jesus by whom we present our selves and petitions to thee saying farther as he hath taught us Our Father c. A Prayer for a Family on any Morning O Most holy most glorious and eternal Lord God we thy poor and unworthy Servants in all humility of Soul and Body and unfeigned acknowledgements of our duty prostrate our selves before the throne of thy Mercy praising magnifying thy Fatherly goodness for the abundance of thy blessings and for the multitude of thy Mercies heaped upon us beseeching thee for Christ his sake to be merciful to all our sins committed against thy Divine Majestie upon the consideration of which we confess we are not worthy to appear in thy presence much less to ask a blessing at thy hands for by reason of our corrupt Nature in us derived from our first Parents our inclinations have been prone to commit all manner of sin and wickedness against thy Goodness Thy Laws and Precepts we have broken both in thought word and deed out of our hearts proceed evil and wicked imaginations which defile the soul and body Yet O Lord thou art our Creator thou hast sent thy dear Son Jesus Christ to die for us and thy Holy Spirit to sanctifie us and many are the benefits and blessings which thou hast bestowed upon us and which by thy goodness we enjoy both of soul and body and therefore by the Testimony of our own Consciences we stand convicted and the thoughts of our great sins and transgressions do much astonish us What shall we say therefore or wherein shall we open
may further my Salvation Keep me O Lord in my old age forsake me not when I am gray-headed And whensoever it shall please thee to cast me upon my sick bed grant that I may take my sickness patiently and at the last gasp let not either sin or Satan take such hold upon me that I depart this life with cryings and screechings and words of despair but that believing thy word and yielding to thine ordinance my last hour may be my best hour and I may say with the Psalmist Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth Pardon O Lord my misspending the time my unprofitableness my unthankfulness for thy goodness Supply what is wanting in me through the fire of compunction make me at all hours to seem a living sacrifice in thy sight Continue towards me thy love and make me to love thee again Without thee alas I die but when I think on thee I revive again To thee therefore be ascribed all honour and glory world without end Our Father c. A Prayer before the receiving of the Sacrament O Most gracious and merciful Lord God thou hast called all those that are weary and heavy laden with their sins to come unto thee and hast promised to ease and refresh them thou hast invited all those that hunger and thirst after thy Kingdom and the righteousness thereof to come to thy Table to tast of thy supper and hast promised that thou wilt satisfy them in assurance therefore of these promises I come to thee blessed Lord Jesus beseeching thee to ease me to refresh me to satisfy me with thy mercy for my Soul hungers and thirsts after thee and thy Salvation I confess and acknowledge that my daily sins have made me unworthy of my daily Bread much more of this Manna this Bread of Life that came down from Heaven I confess O Lord I am not prepared according to the preparation of thy sanctuary yet for as much as this day I have set my Heart to seek to thee thou O God be merciful unto me and though I cannot bring with me a clean Heart for who can say his Heart is clean yet behold O Lord I bring with me a contrite Heart and a broken Spirit despise not O God this Sacrifice As for the sins that I have committed against thee binde them up in one bundle and cast them into the bottomless Sea of thy mercy bury them in thy Wounds and wash them away in the blood of that immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus and for the time to come sprinkle my conscience with the same blood that being cleansed from dead works I may serve thee the Living God in righteousness and true holiness all the days of my life That so this blessed Sacrament may be a means to quiet my conscience to increase my Faith to inflame my Charity to amend my life to save my Soul and to assure me that I am of the number of those blessed ones who shall eat at thy Table and be called to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb. Grant this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake in whose Name and words I conclude these my imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught me Our Father c. A Prayer after the receiving of the Sacrament O Most gracious God from whose bountie every good and perfect gist is derived I and all that is within me praise and magnify thy holy Name for all thy mercies and favours which from time to time thou hast bestowed upon me But especially I thank thee for Jesus Christ thy Son the fountain and foundation of all blessings and benefits that thou hast sent him into the World to take our nature upon him and to die for us and that thou hast fed me who am unworthy of the least of thy favours with the precious merits of his death and passion Blessed Lord God thou hast been pleased this day to set thy Seal to the Pardon and forgiveness of all my sins Oh let me not lose it again by unthankfulness or relapsing into my old sins from which thou hast purged me lest my last end be worse than my beginning But if hereafter I shall be tempted by the Devil allured by the World or provoked by my own flesh then set before mine eyes by the remembrance of thy Spirit how dear the expiation of my sins cost my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ even the effusion of his most precious and holy blood that in the contemplation of his death and application of his most bitter passion I may die daily unto sin and so may shew forth the Lords death till he come and bring his reward with him I may receive the Crown of Righteousness which he hath purchased and prepared for all those that love and expect the day of his appearing with the precious price of his incorruptible blood And whereas I have this day renewed my covenant with thee my God in vows and purposes of better obedience assist me by thy grace and strengthen me by thy power that I may pay the Vows which I have made unto thee and that by vertue of thy heavenly nourishment I may grow up in grace and godliness till at last I come to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus Preserve and maintain always this thine Ordinance that it may be a note and a badge of my publick profession and give unto all of us that have been partakers of thy body and blood one heart and one mind in the unity of Spirit for the worthy and reverend receiving of the same whensoever we shall come to thy holy Table again And for this thy mercy towards me do I yield unto thee all praise and glory and power and might and majesty through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose most blessed Name and words I further pray Our Father c. Another Prayer before the Sacrament DEpart from me Luk. 5.8 for I am a sinful man O Lord. I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof For the house of my Soul which thou hast made a fit Temple for thy holy Spirit to inhabit in I have defaced and defiled with all manner of pollutions and abominations It is become a den of ravenous Beasts and a cage of unclean Birds and every corner so crowded with filthiness that thou wilt not find where to lay thy head Luk. 9.58 But thou O Lord which despisest not a penitent sinner but hast promised to dwell with the humble and contrite Spirit I beseech thee cast me not away from thy presence but cast out all profaneness and uncleanness out of my Heart and remove every thing that may offend the pure Eyes of thy glory and the holiness of thy presence and then O Lord vouchsafe to come and enter in and dwell there and abide with me for ever Behold O Lord I am before thee in my sins Zach. 3.1 clothed with filthy garments and Satan standing at my right hand accusing
dejections of spirit keep me from charging thee foolishly Bestow upon me a chearful spirit by an humble hope in thee and by referring my self wholly to thee Endue me with such wisdom and uprightness that I may neither neglect my duty nor suspect thy gracious acceptance of me Give me an hearty zeal to do the best that I am able and a setled perswasion that thou requirest no more of me Defend me O my gracious God from dishonouring thee and my Religion by distrusting thy goodness and calling thy loving kindness in question towards those that are sincerely bent to please thee Remove all troublesome imaginations from me and give me a clear understanding of thee and of my self or when I am in darkness and confusion of thoughts grant me so much light and judgment as not to conclude my self forsaken by thee but to reflect upon thy long-continued favours to me and many deliverances of me that so I may resolve still to hope in thee to bear my present trouble patiently and to resign my will absolutely to thy good pleasure And good Lord enable me to look beyond these clouds to that blessed state whither my Saviour is gone in which there is no darkness at all and in an humble hope of coming to the same place where he is to content my self with any condition whilst I am here so far remote from that Region of light and glorie Hear me most loving and merciful Father I most humbly beseech thee Pity my great dulness and deadness of heart Strengthen my weak and feeble endeavours support my fainting spirit and cause it humbly to hope in thee for ever Confirm and establish every good thought desire and purpose which thou hast wrought in me perfect that which thou hast begun make me to grow in wisdom faith love and willing obedience conduct me hereafter so evenly and steadily so peaceably and quietly so cheerfully and sincerely in thy ways that I may Glorifie thee whilst I live by encouraging others to accompany me in thy service and when I come to die may resign my Soul unto thee with an undisturbed mind and in an holy hope also of a joyful resurrection of the body at the great day of the Lord Jesus to whom be glory and dominion for ever Amen The Prayer for a Woman with Child MOst merciful and gracious God who wilt not turn away thine ear from those that call upon thee in sincerity and truth look down with an Eye of pity and compassion upon thy unworthy Servant I must confess my sins are very great and so is my danger which is at hand my pains to come will be grievous and my life is now most uncertain Assure me I beseech thee of the forgiveness of all my sins mitigate my fear and sorrows strengthen me with the comforts of thy Spirit confirm me in the faith of my Saviour and bless all good means appointed for my comfort that in due time I may be a joyful Mother and see the fruit of my Body safe sound and perfect without blemish or deformitie O Lord I know not how soon my travel will steal on me when I must fight that battle of Life and Death one drop of thy mercy hath soveraign power to cure all the Wounds of those sorrows shed therefore O holy Father that drop of grace upon me in that minute when I am to encounter with so stern an adversary strengthen me with patience bless me that I perish not bless the work of my Midwife let not the Child yet unborn the Babe in my womb be punished for mine offences but give it growth give it flourishing and form and when the time is come that thou wilt call it out of this close House of flesh where it now inhabiteth to dwell in the open World sanctifie thy Creature make it by Baptism a member of thy Church a Lamb of thy flock and direct it in the ways of Godliness to its lives end And all through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose blessed words I continue to pray Our Father c. A Thanksgiving by the Woman after safe deliverance to be used when she is able MY Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour He hath given me my Hearts desire and not denied me the request of my lips Children are his heritage and the fruit of the Womb is his reward Glory be to thee O Lord God eternal who hast now delivered me from the great pains and peril of Child-birth who hast taken away my reproach and made me an instrument to increase thy Kingdom It is in thy power to strike death into my Womb but thou hast given me a double life all mine anguishes thou hast sweetned with gladness Continue thy mercies and favours to me thy servant put strength into my bloud bloud into my Veins and courage into mine Heart that my lips may render thee deserved thanks Thou that art the Father of love and life look upon this mine Infant which thou hast given me preserve it in health quicken it with grace crown it with long life that it may grow up to be a servant in thy houshold Send the Father of it and me much comfort by it that it may be a staff to our old age Bless it with store of friends in this World and be thou the chief friend to it for evermore and for the better growth in godliness feed it with the Milk of thy Word defend it from all dangers and all enemies Bodily and Ghostly And whereas it is written that the great red Dragon stood before the Woman which was ready to be delivered that he might devour her Child when she had brought it forth so guard me and regard this my birth that Satan rule not nor reign within us but deliver us still out of his Jaws as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler Let thy blessing O Lord be upon me and my Children strongly to help keep and defend us from this time forth for evermore Amen A Prayer to be used by one that is sick O Eternal and most merciful Father look down I beseech thee upon thy poor servant who is punished and afflicted in Body with the smart of my pain and sickness and who is also troubled with the fear of thy heavy displeasure for my many sins and iniquities wherewith I have provoked thy holy Majesty in the time of my health I confess that of very faithfulness and goodness to me thou hast laid this scourge upon me to the end that by the stripes of my flesh my Spirit might be healed and saved in the day of the Lord Jesus I valued not the benefit of health as I should have done and therefore thou hast made me sensible of it by the want of it in prosperitie I remembred not the afflictions of my Brethren and therefore thou hast afflicted me like unto them I was in a kind of Spiritual lethargy till thou didst awake me with the stroke of thy