Love The Peace of Sinners how much move Sue and thirst intreat lament and grieve For all the Crimes in which they live And wait and seek and call again And long to save them from their Pain My Memory 's like a searce of Lawn Alas It keeps things gross and lets the purer pass Which makes me loath my self so vile O base repute 〈◊〉 better starve then eat such empty fruit Yet dear Lord let me ne're Confounded be Since all my Hope is plac'd in thee True Joys alone contentment do inspire Iâ—rich content and make our Courage higher The true fear of God desire and love Must in the height of all their rapture move For content alone 's a dead and silent Stone The real lite of Bliss is Glory reigning on a Throâ—e O let me in a lively manner see Dear Jesus Eternal Joys in thee Inable me to Praiâ—e thy Majesty with all my might Whose Grace and Favour is Sweet yea Infinite O let me Love thee since thy Divine care Hast promised me a share in thy Kingdom fair 'A Sea that 's bounded in a Finite Shore ' Is better far because it is no more ' Should Waters endlesly exceed the Skies They 'd drown the World and all what e'er we prize ' Had the bright Sun been Infinite the Flame ' Had burnt the World and quite consum'd the same ' That Flame would yield no splendor to the Sight ' 'T would be but Darkness tho 't were Infinite ' One Star made Infinite would all exclude ' An Earth made Infinite could ne'er be view'd ' But all being bounded for each others sake ' He bounding all did all most useful make ' And which is best in profit and delight ' Tho not in bulk he made all Infinite ' He in his Wisdom did their use extend ' By all to all the World from end to end ' In all things all things Service do to all ' And thus a Sand is endless tho but small ' And every thing is truly Infinite ' In its relation deep and exquisite ' O Lord be thou within me to strengthen me ' Without me to keep me ' About me to protect me ' Beneath me to uphold me ' Before me to direct me ' Behind me to reduce me ' Round about me to defend me O Lord I beseech thee give me a longing Affection after the Pleasures of thy Holy Spirit because they are noble and will advance my Soul to Eternal Happiness make me often Contemplate the Joys of Heaven the hopes of which is the Joy and Comfort of my Soul. A short Discourse of the Mortality of the BODY and Immortality and Excellency of the SOUL Isaiah 26. 19. Thy dead Men shall live together with my dead Body shall they arise Awake and Sing ye that dwell in Dust For thy dew is as the dew of Herbs and the Earth shall cast out the dead Glory be to God on high and on Earth Peace Good will towards Men. Hallelujah 1. FIRST and above all let us consider how short and uncertain our lives are which are subject to a Thousand Frailties and Casualties and to Death every moment insomuch that our whole life is but short and troublesome and as a Wind that passeth away and cometh â—ot again which is evidently declared by the various â—nstances of the Mortality of Frail and Mortal Man That our very sleeping and waking is but a kind of living and dying nay Morning and Evening is but 〈◊〉 a Embâ—em of the representation of Death and the â—esurrection For God hath given every Man but a short time to be upon Earth so that upon the well â—encâ—ing it our well being in Eternity depends Whereâ—ore Divines say that every Hour or our Life after â—e are capable of receiving Laws and knowledge â—f Good and Evil we must give an Account how â—e spend our Time to the Judge of Men and Angels Therefore we must remember we have a great Work to do many Enemies to Conquer many Evils to preâ—ent many Dangers to go through many Necessities â—o serve much Good to do many Friends to support many Poor to relief besides the Needs of Nature and Relation our Private and Publick Cares so that God hath given every Man Work enough to do that there is no room for Idleness and yet there is room for Devotion Wherefore he spends his Time and Wealth well that imploys it in the Service of God by setting a part a great Portion of it for Religion and the Necessity of Mens Souls by filling up all the spaces of his Time with Devotion and by taking from Sleep to imploy in this Exercise Secondly Let him consider that hath but little â—leasure that he ought to set a part some solemn Time for the Venerable Worship of God Thrice in the Year at least tho he buy it at the rate of any Labour and Honest Art for the quiting of Worldly Business let him attend wholly to Fasting and Prayer in the dressing up of his Soul by Confession Meditation and deep Humiliation that he may make up his Accounts renew his Vows and improve his Time to the Glory of God and his own Souls good Seeing that we know not the Day of our Death we ought with all Care and Diligence to prepare for it that if it be our Lot to die Young we may also die Innocent before the Sweetness of our Souls are defloured that we may attain this favour of God that our Souls have suffered a less Imprisonment by being speedily freed form the load of the Body For at Death our Souls are equal to the Angels and Heirs of Eternity For it is observed by some that after the time that a Child is Conceived he never ceaseth to be to all Eternity so that if he dies Young or Old hâ— hath still an Immortal Soul and laid down his Bodâ— only for a time as that which was the Instrumenâ— of his Trouble and Sorrow for he will certainly havâ— a more noble Being after Death than he hath here Seeing these things are so let us endeavour to stamp Religion on our Souls that God may deliver us from Unrighteous dealings may we therefore always havâ— an Ear open to hear the just Complaints of the Poor and a Heart full of pitty to support them for the Soul must have the Prehemency over the Body because it is more Noble and infinitly more to be valu'd than the Body for the Body is to turn to Dust within a little time but in the mean while it is nourished by sleep which refreshes it and revives the Spirit Wherefore it is said of sleep it 's a kind of Death and whatsoever we take from sleep we add to Life Thirdly Wherefore be saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Ephes 5. 14. Arise thou sleepy Soul call upon thy God Jonah 1. 6. suffer it not to be drowsy or sleeppy when it stands upon the briâ—ks of Eternity
some of the Nerves which hinders the motion from being continued in the Part affected of the Body as far as the Brain which is the Seat and Organ of the Senses because the impression have some palpable let or hindereance and cannot be carried or arrive through the exterior Senses of the Brain which are called Internal But our Souls Naturally like other-Created Spirits ought not to have any dependance upon our Bodies for to have the Ideas of things they ought only to have immediately dependance upon God and by Consequence ought only to have Union with him but this Supreame Spirit having been pleased for the reasons we have said and for many others which we conceive and for more yet apparently perhaps which we do not conceive that our Souls should have their Thoughts and their Sentiments their Desires and Affections upon the occasion of the Body to the end that they should be a continual Subject of Victory and Meritorious Exercise by the assistance of Divine Grace which is of it self Victorious over the Impure delectation of Concupiscence whereof it invincibly suspends the Charm by the Heavenly and inward Taste which it gives us of God of our Duty and of Eternal Happiness for Divine Grace causes 〈◊〉 to love Order and Duty in spight of our selves making us sensible that we owe to God an infinite â—â—ve of Complacency wholly disinteressed and wholly pure for which we ought to love his Eternal and Sovereign Beauty with all the strength and motions 〈◊〉 our Hearts for this alone will convey to us true â—â—â—asure for this will furnish us with Order Truth and Justice which will undoubtedly prevent all Irregularity Which Order is to be beloved by all Spiâ—its and all upright Hearts in all the Parts of the World for this have some affinity to the Sovereign Beauty of Nature and of the Supreame Essence who â—s the Lively and Eternal Source of Order Equity and Duty the Eternal and Substantial Truth which do not discover it self but by Rays by degrees escaping â—ut from God clearing the obscure Clouds of our disorderly Desires that we may Love and Adore our Sovereign Creator who gives us the weak glimmering of his Ineffable Beauty in that Virtue and Duty which he causes us to Love which is as it were the Charm of the Supreame Being For all that we love in the abstracted Idea of our Duties or in the real Charms of the Creatures is nothing but the Splendor and the Rays or the Shadow of that Charm of Sovereign Beauty and Perfection which Gloriously shines â—n the Supreame Nature from whose Beams it is that Nature Commences equally in us the love of Complacency and the love of Union that we may be filled with Contentment with Pleasure and Love Truth Justice and Equity and all other Graces and Virtues whom we love invincibly under the Ideas and under the Names of Truth of Justice of Beauty of Virtue of Duty or of Equity which shine in all Places of the World and makes it self seen loved and adored invincibly by all Hearts in all Ages for these all preceed from the glimmering and glances of Gods Original Beauty which is so amicable by it self that as Corrupt as we are we cannot hinder our selves from loving it because it flows from the Sovereign Nature of God. 2. The Soul of Man have no Power of giving iâ— self neither the Idea nor Knowledge nor Sentiment of any particular thing but it is God who hath alâ— Perfections dwelling in him that Instructs and Inlightens the Souls of Men for his Majesty alone is the Life of every thing that Lives and the Light of every thing that is Enlightned who gives us all the Sentiments and all the Ideas which we receive or have from the occasion of our particular Bodies and from others which environ us Tho to clear this point 〈◊〉 be obscure and difficult and yet is very Important and Necessary in Order to make us comprehend our dependance upon God who is alone the All-knowing Being by himself as he is an existent Being by himself For it 's God alone who hath Essentially of himself and by himself his Eternal and Subsistent Idea by which he can distinctly see all things possible present and to come The Created Spirits who are not Thinking Beings of themselves much less Spirits knowing by themselves or in themselves the things which are exterior to them and therefore they have need to receive the Ideas of particular things from God that they may have a knowledge of them For if they had the Idea of one sole particular thing out of themselves there would not be any Idea which they might not have neither would the Soul of Man have been Ignorant of any thing if she had had a Power by her self to Form and Idea of the least thing but by Consequence would have had the Idea of all things But since of her self 〈◊〉 cannot form any one Idea by Consequence she cannâ—â— form many For to imagine she could would be no sensical and trivial Our poor Soul goes gropâ—â—â— through all the Bodies who environs it searching 〈◊〉 a Pleasure and Contentment which should satisfie iâ—â— but no Pleasure nor Treasure can give the Soul trâ—â— satisfaction but God who is the alone Sovereiâ— Pleasure which makes the Soul thus search after hiâ—â— and him allone it is we ought to regard with all oâ—â— Strength Might and Motion seeing his Majesty râ—gards our Soul by all the Rays of his Infinite Essenâ—â— For his Wisdom it is who is our Satisfaction our 〈◊〉 and Contentment yea our Sovereign Felicity Oâ— Bodies then are but as it were our Souls burden at best but a House upon the Road of Eternity Wheâ—â— fore we ought to seek for a lively Idea of our dâ—peâ—â—dance upon this Supreame Being and upon all Divine Attributes that we may the better appreheâ—â— his Sovereign Perfection whose Nature is Supream and yet is graciously pleased to operate continual in us and rules over us in all our ways and in divers operations Our Souls do not make the digsâ—ion in us the Circulation of the Blood the Natuâ—â— and pureâ—y Animal Respiration in us the Soul beiâ—â— altogether Spiritual have no Power to act this waâ— but there is nothing which we certainly know bâ—â— the Soul is the active cause and principle of it which she have gain'd the Empire either to do not do as she pleases we may therefore reflect up her Faculty which she have of thinking of willinâ—â— and determining her self which are the two oâ— active Faculties that we know in her for the othâ—â— passive and receptive Faculties of which she haâ— essentially the Empire as well as the certainty of thâ— double Faculty and of all the Acts that preceeâ— there from and we may see that she suspends 〈…〉 Thoughts and her Reasonings puts them by determâ—â—â— and applies them as she pleases to new Matters which always present themselves and thus she is Mistress of â—â—er Will without the motion
Hand To serve and chear thy frailty up command Indulge thy weary Flesh with new supplies And change of Garments of the purest die Refresh thy limbs annoy'd with sweat and toil With costly Baths thy Head with precious Oyl What e'er thy Hand endeavours that may gain Contentment spair not either cost or pain For there is no Hand to work no Power to save No Wisdom to contrive within the Grave I find the swift not always win the prize Nor strength of Arm the Battel nor the Wise Grow rich in Fortune nor the Men of skill In favour all as Time and Fortune will â—en knowing not their time as Fishes are â—ar'd in the Net Birds tangled in the snare So be the Sons of Men surpriz'd with fears When mischief falls upon them unawares This Wisdom have I seen beneath the Sky Which wisely weigh'd deserves the Wiseman's Eye â—ut when I set my busie Heart to know â—isdom and Heavens strange workings here below For Night and Day my studys did deny Sleep to my Eye-lids slumber to my Eye Striving to note each action under Heaven Endeavouring to observe and have given My Soul to God in due Obedience having Sought for true spiritual Wealth worth keeping But the poor fruitless labours of deluded Man Are vainly spent being short as a span Or seeming pleasures serves to requite Long leagues of travel for one drops delight Of airy froth how are ye forc'd to borrow Strong gales of hope to sail through Seas of Sorrow Why do we thus afflict our labouring Souls With dregs of Wormwood and carouse full Bowls Of boyling Anguish to what hopeful end Dâ—oyl we our craizy Bodies and expend Our sorrow wasted Spirits to acquire A good not worth a breath of our desire A good whose fulsome sweetness clogs and cloys The Soul but never lasts nor satisfies How poor an Object pleases and how soon That pleasure finds an end how quickly noon How quickly Night and what to Day we prize Above our Souls to morrow we despise Beneath a trifle what in former times We own'd as Virtues now we tax as Crimes Tell me my Soul What would'st thou buy Go in and Cheapen let thy curious Eye Make her choice they will present thy view With numerous Joys buy something that 's new The Wiseman's Eyes are in his Head they stand Like Watchmen in the Tower to guard the Land. At length I cast my serious Eyes upon My painful Work and what my Hands had done And there I find my Hearts delight was all my gains My pleasure was the portion of my pains I gave my Eyes what e're my Heart requir'd I denied my Soul no Mirth my Spirit desir'd All sorts of Musick the Spirits delights had I To please my Spiritual Ear was beauties to my Eyes Yet knowledge then affords my Soul no rest My roving Thoughts tried Mirth and was possest Of all the pleasures Earth could lend yet I Found Mirth and Pleasure all but Vanity I laugh'd at laughter as a toyish antick And counted all Earths pleasure no less than frantick Since Hearts that wisely foolish do incline To costly fare and frolick Cups of Wine For in those pleasures I find but little solid good To Crown the short liv'd Days of Flesh and Blood Tho some build great magnifick Palaces and fraim Vast buildings to the glory of their name Planting Vineyards whose plump clusters might Make them fruitful Orchards for their delight Rejoycing their Souls with Earthly treasures With curious Gardens to refresh their pleasures Yet true Wisdom can discern but little real good Mistaken Earth so much admiring stood What profit hath my Wisdom then thought I The height of Wisdom hath her Vanity The foolish bauble and the learned bays Are both forgotten in succeding Days Impartial Death shall Cloath the dying Eyes Both of the Ignorant and also of the Wise Therefore I hated life for from the events Of humane actions flows many discontents Then slighted I all that my Hand had done In seeking happiness beneath the Sun For what I did I cannot call my own â—nothers Hand must reap what mine has sown Who knows if my surviver is to be A Wiseman or a Fool However 't is he Must spend with ease what I have earn'd with pain And Souls vexation this is all so vain For which my Soul thus fool'd with vain persuits Of blossom happiness that bears no Fruits Some Men there be whose elaborate gains The fruits of lawful cares and prudent pains Descend to those who know not pains nor art This is a sore vanity and afflicts the Heart For what reward hath Man of all his droyl His Evening trouble and his Morning toyl His Hearts vexation and his griefs that run Through all his labours underneath the Sun. ' I view'd the Chair of Judgment where I saw ' Instead of righteousness a perverted Law. ' I view'd the Courts of Equity and spy'd ' Corruption there and Justice wrap'd aside ' Oh! then thought I the of Judge Heaven shall do ' Right to the Wicked and the Righteous too Then puzzel'd in my Thoughts I thus advis'd Heaven suffers mortals to be exercis'd In their own miseries that they may see They are yet not much more happy than the Bee They substance of Flesh tho not the same Yet dust to dust both must turn from whence they came Which rightly way'd it seems the better choice For Man to suck his labours and rejoyce Since flashly troubles doth all things so unframe That Earths Content doth scarce deserve the name Considering this what can we advise Since we berefit of Wisdom labouring to be Wise Alas is it not enough that we poor Farmers pay Quit-rent to Nature at the very Day And at our dying Hour bequeath to thee Our whole substance for a Legacy I mus'd again and found when pains had crackt The harder shell to some heroick act Pale envy strikes the kernel with taxation Oh this is vanity and the Souls vexation Thus pausing Contemplation shew'd mine Eye A new prospect of humane vanity When the droyling Hand thinks nothing can supply The greedy wants of his insatiate Eye He robs himself not knows for whose relief This is a vanity and a wounding grief Woe to the Man whom danger meets alone For there 's no Arm to help him but his own But if some help put in a timely stroak The Cord that 's three-fold is not quickly broke If eithers feeble Shoulders be betray'd To a sad burden there 's a mutual aid To be a poor Wise Child is judg'd a thing More honourable than to be a vain King. My Soul to what a strange disguis'd good Art thou bewitch'd oh how hath Flesh and Blood Betray'd thee to a happiness that brings No comfort but from transitory things Are not the shady Bowers of Death more sweet Than the scorching Sunshine where we Hourly meet Fresh evils like a Temes whose deluded breath Tickles our Fancies till we laugh to Death When thou hast bound thee to
so weighty a conclusion 〈◊〉 may return to this most certain and most compendious way to her own Happiness which is to be acquired by bearing Afflâ—ction patiently and endeavouring to overcome whatever tempts her during the time of this her Pilgrimage â—ith a careful preparing of her self for her future Condition by such Noble Actions and Heroick Qualifications of Mind as shall render her most welcome to her own Country which belief and â—uâ—pose 〈…〉 in an utter in câ—pacity of eâ—ther 〈…〉 at nothing but what is not in the Power of Mâ—n to confirm upon her with Câ—urage she â—ets upon the main Work and being still more â—aithful to her self and to that light that asiâ—â—s her at lasts she tasts the Fruites of her Future Harveâ—â— and does more then presage that great Happiness that is accrewing to her and quits her from the troubles and anxieties of this preâ—â—nt World stays with it in Tranquility and Content 〈◊〉 at last leaves it with Joy. Therefore let us furâ—â—er consider that the Soul has Four Qualities beâ—â—use her Faculties are Fourfold The First is Unâ—erstanding The Second is the Will The Third 〈◊〉 the Memory The Fourth is the Affections 〈◊〉 Heart which is the principle Seat of the Rational 〈◊〉 The Mind is the inward Act. The Thoughts 〈◊〉 the Mind the Fountain of Counsel the soul of Life 〈◊〉 understand by the Mind and live by the Soul. 〈…〉 A Deceision or a Demonstration of the Mutual and Reciprocal Relation betwixt the Soul and the Body 1. THE true Love of God raises the Soul to the highest Perfection the purest and fullest Love shall wear always the weightiest Crown of Gloâ—y Where this Love is if it meet with hard Precepts it desolves it into sweet promises and fills the Heart with the shining Beauty of Soul ravishing delights by Divine Respiration giving it true Repose causing the Delights and Pleasures to be as Capacious as the Soul that lovely Creature of God whom his Majesty is always pleased to fill with an Ineffable Pleasure in perpetually extending their Knowledge of Intellection by Consequences and Lights always New which they draw from their Light and their Knowledge always acquired they always find something to be discovered in the Immense Spaces of Truth they always find some-Shing to be enlightned with of the Perfection of the aupream Essence which they always see all entire and ill exposed to their Eyes and which they never knew so perfectly but that there always remains something further to be known and discovered they always Drink of this Lively and Eternal Spring and are always a Thirst they drein from thence every moment by a full and entire Knowledge of the intuitive Vision but they always find it full and inexhaustable to Reason and Intellection which they always make a further Progress into and further still find something to be known in the Fountain of its infinite Incomprehensibility The Reprobate Souls do also find by the exercise of their reasonings a Thousand and a Thousand New dispairs in their State of Reprobation and Misery The Prophets say they always remain awake to the End they may always see their Misery and Woe which does express the exercise of the active Faculty in Unhappy Souls which proves that all Souls have out of the Body the exercise of the Faculties of Perceiving of Imagining and of Recollecting which they do not exercise here but dependent upon the Body For thus we say without difficulty that they may compare one thing with another that they Conceive the Nature of Bodies by pure Intellection by which they form Universal Notions from whence they draw Consequences and frame Ideas but these Ideas do not cause us to Believe that the Body and the Soul can be united like two Liquors or like two Metalls which are melted one with the other which are made either by an Unctuous or Viscous Humor which binds the Parts of them together nor by Nails Pegs and Joynts We may not imagine here any thing material for we are to cut off every thing that presents it self Corporeal to our Spirits for we are to conceive precisely only a mutual and necessary Dependance in such a manner as God has directed and disposed which is the way to conceive the manner how our Souls are in our Bodies as well as we are capable to comprehend They are not in us by a Local and Corporeal Circumscription they are not there as Liquor is in a Vessel or as a Bird is in the Nest or Cage or as the Body is in the Air which environs it but they are in us as God is in the World in which we must conceive him as saith St. Augustin Much more containing than contained for we may remember that tho the Nature of the Soul is a Spiritual Nature which doth as Essentially exclude Local extention and by Consequence all sorts of Ideas of Local Presence such as we commonly conceive under Corporeal Images of Immediation of Preportions and of Coextention of Substances as it doth Essentially include the Grounds and the Acts of the knowing Faculty Bodies have their proper Fashion of being within Places and Spirits have theirs likewise there is nothing of likeness betwixt one and the other for to think otherways were to subvert and destroy both Corporeal and Spiritual Nature for it is with the manner how the Soul is in the Body as it is with the Soul it self We cannot comprehend it as oft as we conceive it by Imagination what Corporeal Image so ever we make of it or under what material Form soever we may conceive of it for the manner how the Soul is in the Body is altogether as Spiritual as is the Substance of the Soul if it be demanded after this in what Part of the Body the Soul is or whether she is in all the Body the Question will be difficult to resolve However the Learned say that all the Soul is in all the Body and all of it in the Essential and Integral Parts of it as God is in all the World and in all the Parts of the World not by that Co-extension and Local Chimerical Presence which gross Spirits do imagine but by the intimate Presence of his Essence Essentially operating in all the World. We must say the same of the Soul that it is in all the Body by relation of its dependance and activity but this does not hinder but that we may say she is more properly and more particularly in the Brain since it is by that Part that the action of the Soul upon the Body immediately Commences and that all the actions of the Body upon the Soul terminâ—tes wholly in that Part as it sensibly appears by that which interrupts and suspends the action of the Soul upon the Body and the action of the Body upon the Soul for as often as it happens that the action of the Body upon the Soul is interrupted it is because there is some relaxation or some obstruction in
that carries her towards God in general If she be not preoccupy'd â—nd transported with some Passions or other but the â—oul can by no means be the formal or physical Cause of the heat which is in our Bodies for it is impossible to conceive that a Spirit should produce heat yet â—y their Virtue and Operation they make the Body move by Empire and by Will and yet this the Soul is â—aid to do out of it self but whatsoever is done in us Physically is done by the act of our Body and its Life for there is in us a material principle of vegetaâ—ion or a vegetative Life which the Soul doth not â—ause so there is likewise a certain kind of acts of â—eeing of Hearing of Tasting of Smelling of â—ouching of Self-moving or of Sensibility in the â—ody in which the Soul hath not any part to which â—â—e doth not Influence any thing and to which she â—ath not so much as a Sentiment 3. To think and know is the Life of Spirits who â—eceives Being from the first of Beings or the prinâ—â—ple of Beings the Great Almighty from whom â—â—ery thing that is receiveth without ceasing its â—eing by a perpetual and never interrupted Communiâ—n of the Supreame Essence by reason that he is the â—rinciple of Life or the Essential and Original of â—ife It must needs be that every thing that Lives â—eceives continually a Life from him by a like Inâ—â—uence and by a like Communication of Life and by â—onsequence every thing that thinks and knows â—hinks and knows by him since to think and know the Life of Spirits This is the solid Metaphysick â—f St. Augustin and the Theology of others who â—ith agreeeble to the Scriptures that an Angel and Man differ without doubt for an Angel is a Spirit â—hich God makes tryal off out of the Body and â—hose Thoughts and Affections he hath not subjected to the dispositions of a Body and a Man is a Spiritâ— which God makes tryal off in the Body to which he subjects it before he Crowns it with Eternity But the Soul of Man if God had not disposed of it after that manner would have had no need of a Body wherefore the Union of Souls with Bodies is a hard and difficult Empire which God doth exercise over them and which if his Majesty would not sweeten the rigoâ—â— and difficulty of it by the Pleasures of agreeable Sentiments which he hath annexed to the Acts and Operations of Souls in Bodies It could not be a tryal but a Misery nay the Fathers maintain that if God should not Spiritualize Bodies that is to say take away from Souls the dependance which their present State gives them upon Bodies they could not have so firm a hope of being raised again as now they have because he would not put the Just Souls whose approved Fidelity deserves to be Crowned into Bodies that should constrain them and which enslaved their Thoughts which is what Spiritualized Bodies cannot bear because Spiritualization of Bodies will consist in this precisely that they should no longer exercise an Empire over the Souls and that they should be no longer a Charge an Obstacle and an Incumbrance to them for the Body cannot in any manner act upon the Soul so as to Illuminate it or Affect it Physically or Immediately by it self for the Body cannot subject the Soul to be United to it nor can the Soul be willing to submit to the Body which humbleth and constraineth it It is therefore God the Author of universal Nature that is the Immediate and Efficient Principle and Cause of the Union of Souls and Bodies for his Wisdom acteth as universal Cause in the whole frame of Nature 't is evident then that none but God alone can give the Soul the Sentiments and Ideas which she hath from the occasion of the Impressions which are made upon the Body for 't is the Author of Nature which enlightens us by the Ideas which we receive upon the occasion of the Impression of exterior Objects and who affectionates to the Conversation of the Body by the agreeable or disagreeable Sentiments which he gives us to make us know by way of instinct that which is profitable or hurtful for the Converâ—ation of our Bodies and of Humane Species This action he joyns to that by which he moves our Bodies when our Thoughts and Wills require it and is properly the action by the which he Unites our Bodies to our Souls and our Souls to our Bodies This is the active or actual Union which the Schools call the Unitive action of God which is joyned to the Immutable Decree and Will by the which he hath determined to continue it so long as the structure of the Body shall subsist and makes in the Soul and in the Body that Estate of Union which is called Passive and Formal Union and this the Almighty doth by the Essential act of his Supreame Nature for his Essence and Nature is infinitly pleased to act thus continually esteeming it his Pleasure and his Glory by which also he is the occasional Cause of all the Eneffable Pleâ—sure of Holy Souls and so much the rather because the Analogy of the Divine conduct Inspires us to acknowledges an occasional Cause of all our Joy and Fâ—â—icity As there is an occasional Cause of the Torments of the Reprobates for each of these he is pleased to make tryal off in the Body by their Obedience or Disobedience annext to each of which is Felicity or Misery for these shall go into Life Eternal but the Wicked into endless burnings 4 Our Body is a Structure full of Harmony whereby all the Parts are United to one common Center which is the Brain wrapt up in Membranes and distributed and divided into divers Compartments proper to receive and retain the Traces and Impressions which the Divine Image shall inâ—amp upon it We say also that the Soul is â—â—n the Body but we take care not to conceive it For all that as truly and properly contain'd in the Body it is United to the Body but we may not conceive her as poured into and mingled with the Body or as adjusted to its extent by a co-extention and immediation of Greatness of Figure or of Substance but they have the greatest part of their Thoughts and of their Ideas and of all their Sentiments of Pleasure and of Pain by the occasion of their Body because they act upon the Body by the action of the Will which removes them and moves them in the manner as have been already said The Learned say that they are no otherways in the Body therefore every thing we conceive beyond this will be false contradictory and extreamly dubious That which we call good Sense and Judgment is nothing but the Power and Faculty which the Soul hath to Order and Regulate our Thoughts to suspend and stay them that she may consider and maintain their Connexion and Dependence But she is said sometimes to loose this Faculty
present State in the Body is Time so our future State out of the Bodâ— is Eternity the due consideration of which ought to Penetrate us and cause a General and Universaâ— Change in our Ideas that now in time we may sâ— prepare for Eternity that we may be Eternally happy when Time shall be no more Now of these twâ— States the one appears infinitly Precious and Essential and the other infinitly despisable We ought therefore earnestly to endeavour to render our selves worthy of being rewarded by him to whom the secrets of all Hearts are at present unclosed and now immediately relate our selves to him by our Confession of our dependance upon his Supereminent excellency over us and over all the World that we may â—â—el indubitably the Pleasures and Delights which he contains for his Goodness is ready to discover the Charms and Beauty of his Sovereign Nature to all â—ho desire to be united to him by shewing Love and Charity to all their Christian Brethren that when God â—hall make up his Jewels they may be found worthy of â—eward at the end of the present Oeconomy when his Mâ—jesty shall put an end to the Vicissitudes of Time when â—e shall fix all things in an immutable and an eternal Orâ—er when he will give a beginning to the New World â—nd when he will re-establish all the Bodies and reâ—nite every Soul to that Body which she animated â—pring this present life this will â—e do who calls â—â—mself the Resurrection and the Life the first born â—mongst the dead the Father of Ages to come he 〈◊〉 whom we are all raised up again in a Mistery and â—â— a Figure and will undoubtedly raise us effectually 〈◊〉 the last Day For then we shall be even in our â—odies like Angels disfranchised from the businesses â—d the inclinations which we have upon the occaons of the Body St. Paul also teaches us that our â—odies shall be Spiritualized and we may upon this â—â—inciple decide with certainty that the re-union of â—odies doth not at all change the Foundation of that â—â—ate of the Soul out of the Body the manner and â—â—â— cumstances whereof we have been illustrating â—r when our Bodies shall be Spiritualized by the â—surrection they shall be no more a charge to the 〈◊〉 tho the Learned say That the Nature of our â—dies shall not be chainged so as to become knowâ—â— Natures or cease to be extended Substances but that the Body shall be no more an obstacle oâ— hinderance in any thing to the Soul but our Bodies will serve to do Honour and Glory to the God of Nature Our Bodies after they are raised will have a perfect and sovereign agility that is to say an intire indifference for all sorts of motion which will cause them without any resistance to be carried every where whether the Souls would have them for then they will have neither Levity nor Gravity but will be aâ—â— light as the Air and as swift as a Thought thâ— Bodies of themselves have not either lightness 〈◊〉 weight so as to ascend or descend but being afters they are raised from the Grave Spiritualized theâ— will by the Almighty Power be able to do this wheâ— our Bodies shall be replaced with our Souls and ouâ— whole Man will be replaced in a much purer structure than ever it was at first before it was defile by Sin. From whence we may see the excellenâ—â— train of the Divine System of Religion which without doubt clear and certain that the Universâ—â— Resurrection will be a Circumstance of that Glorious Solemnity of Justice which God will make at thâ— consummation of Ages for the consecration of hâ— Eternal Temple for the overture and commencâ—ment of his Immortal Reign for the solemn Coronation of his Royal Majesty and for the compleat Trâ—â—umph of Man-God for the justification of his Prâ—vidence and the full Declaration and Maâ—â—festatio of his Glorious Will at the end of this preseâ—â— Oeconomy of Time. The Scripture speaks of Hoâ—Souls as if they had the Pleasure of walking on thâ— Globes of the Heavens and to be in the midst of thâ— Stars to walk upon the Sun and the Moon after tâ—â— manner of Spirits it accommodates it self to oâ— ross manner of speaking and of conceiving tâ— most Spiritual things under Corporeal forms whicâ— may be called a clear distinct Idea of the visibâ—â— World which God gives to Just Souls they waâ— after their manner upon the Arches of Heaven they are capable of being at the same time at both the Poles of the World they are said to fill its whole extent they are in both the Hemispheres Their Horizon is not at all a limited Horizon which never permits us to see here but a little portion of the Universe it is not bounded But by the bounds of Nature We do not at present see these Heavenly Bodies but only these parts of them which reflects the light upon us We do not see the Sun the Moon the Stars and the Terraqueous Globe of the Earth and the Seas but only one side of them But the pure Souls immediately â—nlightned by God as they are they see at the same â—ime the whole Globe of the Sun all the Face of the Moon both the Hemispheres of the Earth there is â—o Antipodes to them they all see at one view all the â—air prospects of Nature and all the beautiful Table of â—he visible World for besides that their Knowledg universal in this respect so it is not at all successive â—ut all full and clear at once so that they see all things least by reflection by which we compare one â—hing with the other to observe diversities and sinâ—â—arities by which we pass on from that we know that we do not as yet know which may be called â—e proper species of reasoning which brings into the â—orld all the Arts and Sciences as proper means to tend Knowledge as is an effort and agitation of â—hought but this is to be understood of the preâ—â—â— Life But what we spake before we spake of 〈◊〉 future Life i. e. of pure Souls made Glorious by Majesty on high who presides over all our Knowâ—â—ge and over all our Sentiments and causes them us in spite of us and all this by the assistance of 〈◊〉 admirable and illuminating Wisdom which are 〈◊〉 Essâ—ntial Character and Attributes of that which 〈◊〉 call Divinity or Supreame Nature so that a reâ—â—e and an attentive Man cannot be ignorant of 〈◊〉 excellent Truths by the assistance of the provident Wisdom of our great Creator for he it is that teaches us that the Luminous Body of the Sun with the Firmament shews perpetually his Glory every thing sympathysing with each other in the mistaken Miseries which Men call good till their Spiritual Eyes are open and they see they are deluded by great mistake when the sensation by which one Man doth see and understand an other is made with a confus'd sentiment of Pleasure and with a certain agreement which
Garland or a Jewel to a â—agnificent Benefactor Therefore we had need to be â—ry choice in the mixture of our Flowers and cuâ—â—ous in the enammel of so rare a Present that it may â—ove to us a Royal Diadem to adorn our Souls for 〈◊〉 Therefore to let any dirt or blemish be in it â—ould be inconsistent to our Felicity Therefore â—ight and clear apprehensions Divine and Ardent â—ffections are highly necessary to this Compleatment â—eing upon the sincerity of the affections and intenons depends the Honour of the Work it concerns every one therefore to cleans his Heart from all Impurity and Insincerity that his whole Man may be an acceptable Present to God that his infinite Immensity may graciously accept him and all his Works for his Wisdom never rejected the sincere but endews them with inward and outward Ornaments such as an infinite clesiâ—e and delight in Goodness enabling them always to Love his Eternal Majesty with an infinite Love and Deiight greatly Thirsting to be fully satisfied with him and him only for the Soul is to Noble a thing to be satisfied with any thing less than his Transcendent Majesty whose Goodness extends to all even to the Unthankful But he is most the Friend of those who delight most in him for infinite Love and eternal Blessedness are near ally'd for all Delight springs from the satisfaction of violent desires for which cause when the desire is forgotten the Delights are abated The coming of a Crownâ— and the Joy of a Kingdom is far more quick and powerful in the surprize and novelty of the Glory than the length of its continuance The greateâ— part of our Eternal Happiness consist in a greatfuâ— recognition not only of our Joys to come but oâ—â— Benefits already received True contentment is thâ— full satisfaction of a knowing Mind i. e. a long habiâ— of solid Repose after much Study and serious Consiâ—â—deration or a free and easie Mind attended with Pleaâ—sure that naturally ariseth from ones present Condâ—tion yet to be content without a true Cause is tâ—â— fit down in our Imperfections and to seek all onâ— Bliss in ones self alone and as it were to scorn aâ— other Objects which is in it self a high piece of Pride that renders a Man good for nothing but makes him Arrogant and Presumptious in the midst of his Blindâ—ness whereby he leads a living Death by shuting uâ— his Soul in a Grave in that it tramples under Foâ—â— the Essence of his Soul which in Truth turns his Fâ—licity to Malevolence and Misery or in other Word Disorder and Confusion Therefore Man is an unwelcome Creature to himself till he can delight in his present Condition provided his Condition be such as is pleasing in the sight of God for this must be the Condition that can make our pleasure exquisite For otherways we shall be tormented with the contriety of our desires The happiness of a contented Spirit consists not only in the fruition of its Bliss but in the Fruits and Effects it produceth in our Lives which makes every Virtuous Man truly Great within and Glorious in his retirements Magnanimity and Content are very near aly'd they spring from the same Parents but are of several Features Fortitude and Patience are Kindred too to this incomparable Virtue for these fill a Man with true Pleasure and great Treasure which makes him Magnanimous and truly Great not in his own Thoughts but in the sight of God The Magnanimous Soul is always awake the whole Globe of Earth is but a Nut-shel in comparison of his Injoyments for God alone is his Sovereign delight and Supreame complacency So that nothing is great if compared to a Magnanimous Soul but the Sovereign Lord of all Worlds But Man divided from God is a weak and inconsiderable Creature But every Soul united to God is a Transcendent and Celestial thing for God is its Life its Greatness and its Power its Blessedness and Perfection for he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 20. His Omnipresence and Eternity fills the Holy Soul and makes it able to contain all heights and depths and lenghts and breadths whatsoever In a Word it 's the desire of every such Soul to be filled with the fulness of God. Magnanimous desires are the Natural results of a Magnanimous Capacity the desire of being like God of knowing Good and Evil. But in a grosser sence this was the destruction of the Old World Not that it is Unlawful to desire to be like God but to aspire to the Perfection in a forbidden way by Disobedience and following our own Inventions by seeking to the Creatures in opposition to the great Creator A Magnanimous Soul if we respect its Capacity is an immovable Sphere of Power and Knowledge far greater than all Worlds by its Virtue and Power that it passeth through all things the Centre of the Earth and through all existencies and allsuch Creatures as these he counteth but Vanity and Trifles in comparison of his true Object the great Almighty whose Transcendent Goodness desendeth in full Showers upon all Men by his communitive Goodness which is freely extended to every Man. The Seven last WORDS our Saviour spoke upon the Cross I. FATHER forgive them for they know not what they do O Lord forgive me wherein I have forgot thy Presepts and done that which is Evil. To the good Thief II. This Day shalt thou be with me in Paridise O God say to my Soul in the Day when thou takest it from my Body This Day shall thou be with me in Heaven III. Woman behold thy Son. In Futurity let me behold the Vision of Bliss IV. Eli Eli lama sabachthani that is to say My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Forsake me not in my greatest Afflictions V. I thirst Grant that I may thirst for thee the Fountain of Living Waters VI. Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Receive my Soul when it is returning unto thee VII It is finished Finish my Course with Joy and grant O Jesus that I may be worthily qualified to receive that sweet Voice of thine Welcome to the Kingdom prepared by my Father Meditation for the Sick. THEY that Glory in their Ancestors in the Nobleness of their Birth and Blood must make their Beds in the dark and acknowledge Corruption for their Father and the Worm for their Mother and Sister they that are already Dead and crumble away to make room from us that must come after them are secluded from Men but live with Angels Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. 19. What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death Psal 89. 48. Our Bodies shall return to the Earth from whence they were taken but our Spirit shall return to God that gave it Eccl. 12. 7. It is appointed for all Men once to die Heb. 9. 26. We must needs dye and are as Water spilt upon the Ground that cannot be gathered up
Noble to learâ— to wait for thy Kingdom cause them to imâ—ploy their Wealth and Power in Piety for Religioâ— and Charity for the Poor let them not loosâ— their Courage in thee O King of Kings for any diffiâ—culties they meet with in their way but increase theiâ— Faith and support their Hope that they may go oâ— cheerfully in their Duty firmly trusting in thee withâ—out being removed from the Hope of a Blessed acceâ—â—tance and a sure Reward O make them diligent 〈◊〉 all their indeavours by removing all lets and hinderances of Piety cause them Religiously to trust in thy never failling Goodness which will rather work a Miracle which thy Power can do Then forsake or slight thy Servants which thy Goodness cannot let the firm assurance of this support them in every Centre of their Lives that they may always dedicate themselves to thy Service striving to be beneficial to the Poor that so at â—ength both Poor and Rich may meet together in the Kingdom of Glory to Praise the Eternal King for ever and ever Amen A Charitable Prayer for the Conversion of all Hereticks O Thou all-knowing Being have Mercy upon the Church of Rome bless her with the choicest and â—he richest of thy Blessings power on her a double Portion of thy Spirit illuminate her with thy Truth â—urge out of her all Errors Heresie and Superstition â—nd whatsoever is contrary to Truth make her such â—s she once was a Pure Spotless and Holy Church â—â—ee her from all those Abominations which now she 〈◊〉 involved in illuminate her once again with the â—right Beams of thy pure Truth that she may see â—er Errors and forsake them and cleave only to thee 〈◊〉 God that she may become such as thou canst not â—huse but love and be delighted with take from her â—hatsoever displeaseth thee make her Pure Spotless â—nd Innocent full of Charity and good Fruits free â—er from all those Superstitions and Corruptions she â—ave of late imbrac'd With her be merciful to all â—ther Churches which differ from the Ancient Truth â—ake us all one Sheepfold under one Shepherd Christ â—â—sus that we may all give thee Honor and Praise is most justly due compleat that Promise of giving thy Son the Heathen for his Heritage and the utmost parts of the Earth for his Possessions Bless the King 's Most Excellent Majesty JAMES by thy Grace of Great Brittain and Ireland Supream Governor bind up his Soul in the Bundle of Life give him a long and prosperous Reign with abundance of Peace and Plenty and when at length it shall please thee to gather him to his Fathers Crown him with Immortal Glory And with him bless his Queen with Queen Dowager their Royal Highnesses William and Mary the Prince and Princeses of Orange and the Princess Anne of Denmark make them Instruments of much Good to the Church of England and these Nations and give them a Crown of Immortal Glory in thy Heavenly Kingdom Bless all the Nobility the Judges and the Gentry with the whole Commonalty of these Nations give them all True Faith and Fear to thee their God Loyalty to our Gracious Sovereign and Brotherly Love and Charity one towards another and Bless with the choicest of thy Blessings the Clergy of this Nation the Most Reverend the Arch-Bishops and the Right Reverend the Bishops with all Priests and Deacons Grant we beseech thee that thy Grace may illustriously appear in them that by the Holiness of their Lives and the Soundness of their Doctrine they may bring many Souls to the Obedience of our Most Holy Faith and because no Man's Greatness or Wisdom can secure him from the Grave We beg thee bless all Schools and Nurseries of Piety and Learning especially the two Universities of our Land that from thence may proceed Men able and willing to tell Judah of her Sins and Israel of her Transgressions and be mindful oâ— those who suffer Affliction with Joseph comfort all those who in this transitory Life are in Trouble Sorrow Need Sickness or any other Calamity supporâ— them under and give them a happy Issue out of alâ— their Troubles bind up their Souls Wounds and fiâ—â— their Spirits with Joy and Gladness be with all those that are going through the Valley of the Shadow of Death let thy Holy Angels conduct them safe to thy Eternal Kingdom let the Blood of Jesus bespeak their Peace with thee appoint those blessed Spirits to bring their Souls safe into Bliss and Glory make us all we pray thee mindful of our Departure that from thenceforth we may be for ever happy Mean time make us all truly thankful to thee for all Spiritual and Temporal Mercy to us for the blessed Use of thy Word and Sacraments for Food and Nourishment and for all the Blessings we daily injoy Health Peace and Liberty for all the Conveniencies of this Life and for the Means and Hopes of a better O impress in our Minds the lovely Idea of thy Majesty that we may seek to worship and adore thee according to thy excellent Greatness who art infinitely worthy of all Praise Honour and Glory O inlarge our Souls to pay thee such Praises as may be in some degree worthy of thee or at least such as thou wilt be graciously pleased to accept These Mercies we beg of thee for Jesus Christ's sake To whom with thee O Father and the Eternal Spirit be all Honour Glory Power and Praise Might Majesty and Dominion now henceforth and for ever Hallelujah O Lord I beseech thee to magnify thy Power in my Preservation that my feeble Knees fains not preserve me from all unconstancy and deceitfulness of Heart that I may be presented to thee pure and unblamable Be not wroth with us very sore neither remember our Iniquities for ever but cause thy Face to shine upon thy Sanctuary which is in danger of being desolate Give Ease to those that are in Pain Supplies to all that are in Want. Give presumptious Sinners a deep Sense of their Sins and a true Sight of thy Mercies to all that are in despair that they may â—ot cast away their Confidence in thee nor place it any where but in thee Abhor them not nor cast them away in displeasure but wean all our hearts from the love of this World and dispose of us as thy all-wise Counsel have determined but câ—use us to set our Affections above where thou O King of Glory seteth at the Right Hand of thy Father to interceed for us that all our Weaknesses may be pitied our Sins pardoned our Graces strengthened and our Souls eternally saved In all our Pains of Body and Agonies of Spirit give us thy refreshing Comforts endew us with Patience and Courage Fortitude and a full measure of Faith to bear to undergo and to overcome Look with Compassion upon all poor Creatures that draw near the approaches of Death open the Gates of thy everlasting Mercy to them and receive them to thy Favour cause Death to be to them a Joyful Gate of Glory and an Entrance into everlasting Bliss for thine own bowels and compassion sake Amen A Prayer for a Member of the Church of England O Lord take not off thy afflicting hand till I am reformed and my Sins consumed suffer me never to receive the least check against nor disaffection to the True Religion Established in the Church of England Let me return an humble denial to all that shall propose such an unreasonable Question to me but if my denial will not suffice in this case give me courage rather to part from my Life than to forsake my Faith and if my case be so happy give me Grace with chearfulness to pray for my Persecutors though dying by their Cruelty that I may deeply impress constancy and true courage in the hearts of all my Spectators that we all may sacrifice our Wills to God before our Bodies and both whenever it shall please him to require them at our hands assist us in the doing this by the powerful Operations of thy Divine Grace which we beseech thee always plentifully to supply us with for thy Mercy sake Amen O Lord have Mercy upon our Parents let thâ— Souls be bound up in the bundle of Life grant them Grace to live a quiet and peaceable just and honest Life here that when they come tâ— die they may live with thee and thy Christ in thâ— Heavenly Kingdom Look not upon their Merit but pardon their Offences for thy Bowels anâ— Compassions sake to whom be all Honour and Glorâ— World without end Amen A Prayer at receiving the Holy Sacrament O Lord and Heavenly Father we thy humble Seâ—â—vants beseech thy Fatherly Goodness to looâ— down from Heaven thy Holy Habitation thâ— Throne of thy Glory with an Eye of Pitty and Compassion upon us thy Servants let not our Sins hindeâ— our Prayers from ascending up unto thee or prevenâ— thy Mercies coming down upon us but come we pray thee and Sanctifie these Souls and Bodies oâ— ours and make them fit Habitations for thy Holy Spirit to dwell in and come Sanctifie these thy Creatures to the end for which we receive them that the receiving the Blessed Sacrament may be unto us for the Conformation of our Faith for the Strengthning our Hope and for the Pardoning of all our Sins and for the increase of all thy Graces in us that the Palâ—ate of our Souls may be so changed thereby that we may relish nothing besides thee but Hunger and Thirst after this Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation till we change this place of Misery to enjoy thy Presence in thy Heavenly Kingdom for ever and ever Amen FINIS ERRATA PAge 1. line 6. for whose read what p. 7. l. 21. r. the Judge of p. 24. l. 2. r. nor repine p. 70. l. 29. 〈◊〉 exclude
thy God by Vow Defer not payment but perform it thou Discharge thy Bonds for Heaven takes no delight In those that violate the Faith they plight For better 't is thy Vows were never made Then having promis'd payment never paid Let not thy Lips insnare thee plead not thou Before thy Angel 't was too rash a Vow 'T is not the Pills of treasur'd wealth sustain Thy drooping Spirits this is all so vain Oft have I seen increasing riches grow To their great mad Owners overthrow Vexing their Souls with Care and then repay Unprosperous pains with grief and melts away His wealth is fled and when he shall transfer it Upon his Heir there 's nothing to Inherit Look how he came into the World the same He shall go out as naked as he came Of what his labouring Heart have brought about This dying Hand shall carry nothing out This is a wounding grief that as he came In every point he shall return the same What profit can his Souls afflictions find That toils for Air and travels for the Wind. This is an evil that happiness now and then Beneath the Sun amongst the Kings of Men Then eat and drink and reap what pains have Got to Crown thy Days which thy Creator gave 'T is all the portion some will have Who study not for happiness in the Grave But hark my Soul the Morning Bell invites Thy early paces to a new delight Away away the Holy Saints Bell rings Put on thy Robes and Oyl thy secret wings Call home thy Heart and bid thy Thoughts surcease To be thy Thoughts go bind them to the Peace Take good Security or if such fail Commit them to the All commanding Jayl And thy cram'd Bags there to lie close and fast Until thy Heavenly atoning Vows are past Confine thy rambling pleasures to the trust Of vacant Hours and let thy Wisdom thirst Banish all Worldly passions with their base born Sir From thy delectable Courts that Wisdom may come in Leave all thy servil Fancies in the vail Mount thou the secret Hill and there bewail Thy dying Isaac whose free gift may be A living Pledge 'twixt thy God and thee Take thou no Care Heaven will supply Their craving Thirst with Bottles from thy Eye Better it is to be Funeral Guest Then find the welcoms of a frolick Feast For he that fears the Almighty shall Out-wear his evils or find no evil at all Wisdom affords more strength more fortifies The undejected courage of the Wise Yet is there none beneath the Crystial Skies So just in Actions or in words so Wise That doth always good or hath not been Sometimes poluted with the stains of Sins What God hath setled in a crooked State No industry of Man can make it strait Since then the Righteous Man's recompence is such Be not too Wise nor Righteous over much Let not thy Flesh suggest thee or advise Thee to be Wicked or too Unwise Why should thy too much Righteousness betray Thy danger'd Life and make thy Life a prey At passions Language stop thy gentel Ear Lest if thy Servant Curse thee thou should'st hear For oftentimes thy Heart will let thee see That others have been likewise Curs'd by thee This Wisdom by my travel I attain'd And in my Thoughts conceiv'd that I had gain'd I gave my studious Heart to watch and pry Into the bosom of Philosophy I laboured to give my self to fly the Art Of falshood and the Madness of the Heart For whom Heaven favours shall decline Sins gates But the Incorrigible shall be taken by her baits But whether shall these to what strange Religion fly To find Content and baulk that hidious vanity Which haunts this buble Earth and makes thee still A slave to thy preverse infatuated Will. All this I have by thee observ'd and given My Heart to not each action under Heaven There was a time when the oppressers Arm Oppress'd his Neighbour to the oppressers harm With floods of bitterness since none of these Nor all can Crown our labours nor appease Our raging Hearts Oh! my deceiv'd Soul Where wilt thou take thy Peace who shall controul Our unbounded Thoughts to sweeten out This span of frailty plung'd and orb'd about The threatning Firmements but as a breath Darts down and dashes at the doors of death Since Waxen-wing'd Honour is not void Of danger whether arm'd or injoy'd Since Hearts rejoycing profit have no fruit But care both in fruition and in persuit Since laughter is but Madness and high Diet Oft ruins our Health and breeds us great disquiet Since humane Wisdom is but humane trouble And double knowledge makes our sorrow double Since what we have but lights our wish to more And in the height of plenty makes us poor And what we have not too to apt to crave Even dispossess of what we have A good repute is sweeter far Than breaths of Aromatick Oyntments are And that sad Day wherein we drew our breath Is not so happy as the Day of death For here we are but quickly forgot Blaze for a season but continue not Tho foolish flatteries entertain Our Souls with Joy but all that Joy is vain For if both Heaven and Earth should undertake To extract the best from Mankind and to make One perfect happy Man and thou art he Thy finite fortunes still would disagree Man in whose frame the Great Three-One advis'd And with a studious Hand Epitomiz'd The large Volumes and perfect Story Of all his Works the manuel of his 〈…〉 With fear and wonder in whose sovereign Eye He breath'd the flames of awful Majesty Man a poor shiftless transitory thing Born without Sword or Shield not having wing To fly from threatning dangers not to arm Or graple with those numerous evils that swarm About this new born frailty wrapt aside From fair Obedience to Rebellious Pride How is that Power that was bred and born The Earths Commander now become the scorn Of Dunghil passions Shipwrack'd with the gust Of every factious and inferiour Lust How is the Sun-bright Honour of his name Eclpis'd how is his Glory Cloath'd with shame What means that great Creating Power to frame This spacious Universe Was not his name Glorious enough without a Witness Why Did that corrected twilight of his Eye Unmuzle darkness and with Morning light Redeem the Day from new baptiz'd Night There is an evil which my observing Eye Hath taken notice of beneath the Skye Man's wealth can't instruct him to withstand The augry stroak of the Almighties Hand Since the increase of wealth procur'd by pain Preserv'd with fears with sorrow lost again Increaseth grief in the possessors Breast What vantage than have Man to be possess'd Who knows what 's good for Man in this dull balze Of life is swift his shaddow flying Days Or who can tell when his short Hour is run The events of all his toyl beneath the Sun The Worlds surviving Lamps do not affright The pleasing slumbers of his peaceful Night
by Day They Curse that Traytor Life and Limb Tho Curse themselves in Curfing him The Thief and Slanderer are almost the same The one steals my Goods the other my good Name The one lives in Scorn the other dies in Shame But from these dark som Clouds Good Lord deliver us Let them not interpose betwixt thy Glory and us For thou alone art our Creator in whom we trust Some trust too much in their doing well In seeking Heaven they find the flames of Hell But the pure of Heart have Power to refuse Being endow'd with Wisdom the Evil and Good to chuse He that gives Wisdom to refuse Inspires the Art which to chuse ' In thee O King my pensive Soul respires ' Thou art the fulness of my choice desires ' Thou art that Sacred Spring whose Waters burst ' In streams to him that seeks with Holy Thirst ' Thrice happy Man Thrice happy Thirst to bring The fainting Soul to so sweet a Spring God is just what his deep Counsel wild His Prophets told and justice hath fulfill'd But Man the Child of ruin to avoid Less dangers by a greater is destroy'd Whose Spring is like a Flower for a Days delight At Noon we flourish and we fade at Night If Plants be cropt because their Fruits are small Think you to Thrive that bears no Fruit all But who so Fruitful is and worthy to Drink this Shall be receiv'd unto Eternal Bliss Such cannot Dye the Sacred Nine deny All Souls that merits Fame shall ever Dye For these must survive for their self clos'd Eyes That now lie slumbering in the dust shall rise The highest Heavens have Decreed to Bless The Fruitful Souls and with a fair success For that they built their Bliss not on the blaze of Glory Nor seated their Happiness in things transitory O Lord how great is the Power of thy Hand Glorious is thy Name in every Land Great God Unlimited are thy Confines And assistest Man in his good Designs Thy Mercies like the dew of Hermon Hill Or like the Oyntment dropping downward still Thy Love is boundless thou art apt and free To turn to Man when Man returns to thee â— Sacred Subject of a Meditation Thy Works are full of Admiration Thy Judgments all are just severe and sure They quite cut off or else by lancing Cure. ' My Faith not Merits hath assur'd thee mine Thy Love not my Desert hath made me thine Unworthy I whose drousie Soul rejected Thy precious Favours and secure neglected Thy glorious Presence how am I become A Bride befitting so Divine a Groom ' It is no Merit no Desert of mine Thy Love thy Love alone hath made me thine Since then the bounty of thy dear Election Have styl'd me thine Oh let the sweet reflection ' Of thy Illustrious Beams my Soul inspire ' And with thy Spirit inflame my hot Desire ' Unite our Souls oh let thy secret rest ' Make a perpetual home within my Breast ' Instruct me so that I may gain the skill 'To suit my Service to thy secret Will. Then shall my Soul that suffers through dispite Of Error and rude Ignorance have right Then shall my Soul injoy within this Breast A Holy Sabboth of Eternal rest And my dearest Spouse shall Seal me on his Heart So sure that envious Earth may never part Our joyn'd Souls let not the World remove My chast Desires from so chast a Love. ' All you that wish the bountiful encrease ' Of dearest Pleasures and Divinest Peace ' I charge you all if ought my charge may move ' Your tender Hearts not to disturb my Love ' Vex not his gentle Spirit nor bereave ' Him of his Joys that is so apt to grieve That he may teach his living Plants to thrive And such as are a dying to revive He walks about such tender Plants To smell their Odours and supply their wants That he may leave his secret Spirit in their Breast As Earnest of an Everlasting rest To thy Creatour hast my Soul and let thy Sacreâ— Vows Plight Holy Contracts with so sweet a Spouse His Left Hand 's full of Treasure and his Right Of Peace and Honor and unknown Delight Then shall it please our gracious Lord To Crown with Audience his suppliants Word O Glory chace Disloyal Thoughts let not thiâ— World allure My chast Desires from a Spouse so pure He 'l endow my ardent Soul with sweetness and inspire With Heavenly ravishment my rapt Desires O let all times be prosperous and all places Be Witness to our undefil'd imbraces Sure is the Knot that true Religion ties And Love that 's rightly grounded never dies ' If Error lead not my dull Thoughts amiss ' My genius tells me where my true Love is ' He 's busie labouring in the flowry Banks ' Inspiring Sweetness and receiving Thanks ' Watering those Plants whose tender Root are dry ' And Pruning such whose Crests aspire too high ' Transplanting Grafting Reaping from some ' And covering others that are newly come Then take from each to make one perfect Grace Yet would my Love out-shine that borrow'd Face So perfect are his Graces so Divine So full of Heaven are those fair looks of thine O Sacred Symetry O rare Connexion Of many Perfects to make one Perfection O let my Lips like a perpetual Story Divulge thy Graces and declare thy Glory Hear comes a Critick close thy Page Thou art no Subject for this Age Thou hast no Guilt that does require That thou should'st lurk nor yet retire Thou hast no Lustre of thy own But what 's deriv'd from Heaven alone Fear not thy Heaven instructed Page Will either please or teach the Age For the Wise with ease shall riddle out Which is the voice of Wonder which of Doubt For God sends an Angel to protect As well from Evil as to Good direct O thou the beginning and the end before whom Things past and present and things to come Are all alike O prosper my Designs And let thy Spirit inrich my feeble Lines Rejoyce my Soul and give my Pen the Art Wisely to move and me an understanding Heart Earthly Glories are scarce worth craving to obtain They are Happinesses that must be lost again Gasp not for Honour wish no blazing Glory For these will perish in an Ages Story Nor yet for Power Power may be carv'd To Fools as well as thee that hast deserv'd Thirst not for Lands nor Mony wish for none For Wealth is neither lasting nor our own Riches are fair Inticements to deceive us They flatter while we live and dying leave us What fit of Madness makes us love them thus We leave our lives and pleasure leaveth us Pleasure is fleeting still and makes no stay It lends a smile or twain and steals away The pleasures of this World soon abate They are lively emblems of our own Estate Which like a Banquet at a Funeral show But sweeten Grief and serve to flatter Woe How slight a
but prefer the care of the Soul before all the World for it is more to be valued than Ten Thousand Worlds Wherefore take heed to your selves and be Wise in time before it is to late for though you know not what the Soul is because you see it not neither can you feel it yet it is a Particle which came from Heaven and when it goes out of the Body it goes to God to Live for ever it sleeps not neither doth it die for it is Immortal and of an Immortal Nature and so impossible to be destroy'd for we have our Saviours own Word for it when he saith Ye cannot kill the Soul St. Luke 12. 4. and when he saith My Father is the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob St. Matt. 22. 32. whereby he plainly shews that the Soul which is the nobler part of Man tho it be taken from the Body is alive for saith he My Father is the God of the living and not of the dead as dead but of the living that are dead So that thâ— Souls of all departed people are alive for althougâ— their Bodies are crumbled to Dust from whence theâ— were taken their Souls are with God that gave them or in some place of Gods appointment according 〈◊〉 their lives have been Because God have prepared maâ— Mansions for us St. John 14. 2. and as we have improved our Talent so shall our Station be St. Paâ—â— also saith That one Star differeth from another Star 〈◊〉 Glory and since these things are so let us not loâ— a Minutes time but improve it to the Glory of Goâ— and our own Souls Good and begg of him to giâ—â— us a Heart inflamed with Love and winged wiâ—â— Duty that we may give up our Souls totally to hâ—â— Adorable Majesty that he may dwell in the Throâ—â— of our Souls for ever And after this Life we may 〈◊〉 admitted to the Vision of Bliss and have free Inteâ—course with all Holy Souls in those beautious Regions Fourthly 'T is evident that Spirits fill no rooâ— tho they could see all things which point is veâ—â— dubious and unsertain for that Holy Souls can behoâ—â— the visible Actions of Mortal Men to us is altogethâ—â— uncertain tho we doubt not but they do behold whaâ—soever is Acted in those Regions where they dweâ— in those Infinite Dimensions or Heavenly Habitations tho they are inriched with Liberty and made brigâ—â— by Knowledge derived from the Illustrous and Illumâ—nated Power of the Omnipotent God who is infinitâ— Communicative to be Good and to do Good to 〈◊〉 Mankind and hath made the Soul of Man on purpoâ—â— that it might see him in his Kingly Country wheâ— St. Paul saith We shall be like him for we shall 〈◊〉 him as he is not as we now behold him darkly througâ— a Vail in deep Obscurity but Face to Face in Unvaâ—â—ed Glory And if the Eye of the Body that was maâ—â— for the World being so little a Ball of Earth aâ—â— Water can take in all and see the visible World i. e. â—hat part of it on which the sight of the Eye can be â—resent much more is the Soul able to see and be preâ—ent with all that is Divine and Eternal tho the Soul 〈◊〉 unhappily divided from God is a weak and inâ—onsiderable Creature but when United to God 't is 〈◊〉 Transcendant and Celestial Thing God being its Life â—reatness and Power for as the Apostle saith he â—hat is ioyned to the Lord is one Spirit for his Omniâ—resence and Eternity fills the Soul and makes it able 〈◊〉 contain all hights and depths and all things may â—e in it as it were by Thoughts and Intellections and Magnanimous desires are the Natural result of such 〈◊〉 Magnanimous Capacity Such a Soul then in respect â—f its Capacity is an Immovable Sphere of Power and â—nowledge and by imagination is able to pass â—â—rough the Centre of the Earth and through all â—xistencies for it is most Capacious and Swift Comâ—and it then by thought to go into India and sooner â—â—en thou canst bid it it will be there not as passing â—â—om Place to Place but by Thought and Immaginaâ—on suddenly in a moment as you may send it to â—eaven by the slight of a Thought as you may at any â—â—me command it to fly tho not by the assistance of â—ings in a Bodyly manner but after the manner that â—ouls pass from Place to Place not locally but after â—e manner of Spirits For the Soul of Man is said to 〈◊〉 an Immutable Essence his Power of Reasoning is â—ive even when 't is quiet and the Body unactive â—is one and the same for Nature in all Men tho not â—r Indeuments of it self equally inclined to Great â—ransendent Things tho in most Men 't is misguided â—â—ffled and suppressed but where it has the common â—ssistances that God has prepared for it it is a Miracuâ—â—us Creature and of near alliance to the Divine Maâ—sty For a Man being Wise and Holy his Soul is 〈◊〉 it were in the Heavenly World and it 's no trivial â—â—jury can make him contend being Liberal and Magnanimous he is prone to do Heroical Things and to make himself Venerable to his very Adversary being averse to all Wroth Clamour and Anger scarcely in any thing being defective and becomes a great Man by contemning Danger having an Infinite felicity in his Dayly view and may justly strengthen himself in the hopes of Divine assistance knowing the Infinite value of his Soul and believing the Blessedness that is in reserve for it by reason of the greatness of interiour Bliss and is therefore environed with the bright Beams of his own injoyments and always beggeth of God that as Sin hath abounded so may Grace superabound that all Souls may receive the Blessed advantages of the Divine Forgiveness that all may have the Blessed Assistance of Grace to lead us into all Virtues which are themselves our Aids to bring us to Glory For these acquire good Habits and infuseâ— Grace causing us to incline to the secret Study of Felicity that we may be even now possessed with sincere and pure delights for Godliness is a kind of God-likeness a Divine Habit or Frame of Soul that may fitly be accounted the fulness of the Stature of the inward Man. For 't is an Inclination to be like God to please him and injoy him and he may be said to be God-like that is High and Serious in all his Thoughts Humble and Condescending in all his Actions full of Love and good Will to all the Creatures and bright in the Knowledge of all their Nature Covering all the Treasures of God and Breaths after the Joys of Heaven Recollecting all his broken and scattered Thoughts nothing less than the Wisdom of God will please the God-like Man for God-likeness is the comment of Amity betwixt God and Man Eternity and Immensity are the Sphere of his Activity and are often frequented and filled With his
midâ—â— of our greatest Imâ—perfections and 〈◊〉 â—ins as 〈◊〉 was in the 〈◊〉 and fulnesâ— of the Spiâ—it gâ—eat Wisdom perfect Life and most admirable Virtue Wherefore be contâ—â—teâ— with all Thingâ— that shall happen â—â—to you and seekâ— after the Spirit of Peace which will make you shinâ— like Angels or the 〈◊〉 above and in so doing you will not fear Death 〈◊〉 â—â—ther fear a dishonest Action and think Im patience far worse than any Disease Be ready to do Goâ—d to the destrâ—yers of your Famâ—â— for the reâ—ards of 〈◊〉 doing is very certain and do testifie that you have a most noâ—le Soul within you which is a Particle of the Divine Râ—ys Forthly Dress up your Souls that they may be fit to appear before the Majesty of Heaven for you can die but once and if you do not die well you will Perish undoubtely for ever And yet there is no Wise or Good Man to Perish for God have ordained an expedient help for all Men that they should not Perish for he gives us Pardon for our past Offences and Grace to prevent us for the future even the due disposition of his Holy Spirit that we may delight in that which his Majesty delights in that is true Virtue and Wâ—sdom which will cause us to injoy the Blessings that God sends us and to bear patiently with Meekness our Calamities which our own Sins have brought upon us may we thâ—refore consider this Day is only ours for we are dead to yesterday and we are not Born to too morrow these considerations will make us to bear Poverty with Nobleness Patience and Meekâ—ess and not blame the Providence of God for placing us in a low Fâ—rtune but in all Troubles and sad Accidents let us take Sanctuary in Religion and by Innocency cast Anchor for our Souls to keep them from Shipwrack though they be not kept from Storms By these means we may fill our Cup full of pure and unmingled Joys for no Wise Mâ—n did ever describe Fâ—licity without Virtue no Good Mâ—n did ever think Virtue to depend upon the Variâ—ty of good or bad Fortune 't is no Evil to be Poor but to be Virtuous and Impatient therefore be Patient under Afflâ—ctions and begg God to give thee a happy deliâ—erence out of them and be content with Poverty for that adds Lustre to thy Person and may make thy Virtue more excellent if thou improve it wisely for there is but 〈◊〉 things that we feel is so bad as that we fear Many eminent Scholars have been eminently Poor some by choice and more by chance and the invincible decrees of Providence wherefore the Rich may support the Poor by his Wealth and perhaps the Poor may instruct the Rich in Learning and Experience for it may be observed no Man had all Excellency and Felicity in this one Person or Power Therefore there is but few Wise and Good Men that would change Conditions entirely with any Man in the World for though some there are that would desire the Wealth of one Man added to himself or the Power of another and the Learning of a third yet still he would receive these in his own Person because he loves that best and therefore esteems that most tho we desire the Wealthy to Inrich us the Powerful to Protect us and the Witty to Delight us Let us consider that in the Fortune of a Prince there is not the course Robes of Beggary but there is infinite Cares Fears and Dangers therefore the State of Affliction is a School of Virtue wherein there is the Exercise of Wisdom the Tryal of Patience and the wining a Crown for this may be said to be the Gate of Glory Fifthly Therefore we may not expect to be better treated than the Apostles and Saints nay than the Son of the Eternal God the Heir of both the Worlds Affliction is oftentime the occasions of Temporal advantages as well as Spiritual and if we imploy our Grace and Reason well it will deliver us from extream Necessitys and if you will not otherwise be Cured If you improve your time wâ—ll God will deliver you in his due time if it be for his Glory and your Good for his Power can Sanctifie Poverty to you and make it become as necessary as Riches for tho Poverty makes a Man dispised and contemptable and exposed to a Thousand Insolencies of evil Persons and leaves tâ—em defenceless yet it may make them look up to God and trust more firmly in him the Rock of their Strength who will most certainly deliver them from the cruelty of all Wicked Persons Wherefore it is said of Poverty that it is the Sister of a good Mind the Parent of sober Councel the Nurse of all Virtue and this is really true a great Estate has great Croses and a mean Fortune has small ones for Riches often bread a Disease in the Souls of them that long after them and admire them with too much egarness when they have them for Riches are great dangers to the Sâ—ul not only of them that covet them but alâ—â— to most that have them wherefore let us trust in Châ—ist â—ho have promised that we should have sufficient for this Life who have said that his Father takes care for us and we are sure that he knows all his Fathers Counsels and Kindnesses towards us for if 〈◊〉 Wisdom gives but a very little he will make it 〈◊〉 a great way for if he sends thee but course Diet he wiâ—l 〈◊〉 it and make it Healthful to thee and can cure aâ—l the Anguish of thy Poverty by giving thee 〈◊〉 and the Grace of Contentment for the Grace 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 you of Providence and yet the Grace of God feeds and supports the Spirit even in the want 〈◊〉 Providence And if a thin Table be apt to infeeble the Body or Spirit of one used to feed better yet the cheerfulness of the Spirit that is â—â—essed with dew from above will make a thin a Table become a delicacy If the Mâ—n be but as well Taught as he is Feed by Learning the Duty when he receives the Reward Poverty is therefore in some sense eligible and to be preferred before Riches but in all senses it is very tolerable Sixthly But to return to a further inquiry into the Excellency of the Soul let us consider the various speculations that the Soul of Man is capable of entertaining her self withal and we shall see that there is none of greater moment or closer concernment to her than this of her own Immortality and independance on this Terestial Body for hereby not only the intricacies and perplexities of Providences are made more easie and smooth to her and she becomes able by unraveling this clue from end to end to pass and repass safe through this Labyrinth wherein many both anxious and careless Spirits have lost themselves But also which toucheth her own Interest more particularly being once raised to the Knowledge and Beâ—lief of Good and Evil
from the dismal Thoughts that 't is impossible to acquire the good so much wished for for we should not be afflicted penetrated and overwhelm'd with the Privation of good if we did not Love it which made St. Augustin say That the Eternal Dispair of the Reprobates in Hell is a true Love of the Sovereign good but this being a nicity that concerns us not we may not with saifty dive into it or amuse our selves about it but strive to be Cloathed with the true Love of God whereby we are sure we may be qualified to enjoy the full Bliss of Heaven the true hopes of which fills every Holy Soul with exceeding Joy even such reviving Joy as may give him some small glimmerings even in this Life of what hereafter will undoubtedly be his Portion in those Glorious Regions above where every true Penitent will be a Favorite of that great tremendious King who is the searcher of every Heart and observer of every Action here and the Infinite rewarder of every Virtue hereafter To him therefore be Glory and Praise Might Majesty and Dominion ascribed by us â—nd all the whole Creation now and for ever A Recapitulation of the moral consequences drawn from what have been established concerning our Souls and for the Conviction of our Duties and the Condemnation of Disorder NO Man of Reason can believe that Ingratitude is an Ornament to Nature or that Injustice Meâ—s a reward nor that Treachery is a Virtue or an Honest and Commendable Quality nor on the contrary that Justice Fidelity and Gratitude are things Condemnable and Wicked Men make Laws according to their Fancy they make themselves Obey'd for fear of Punishment when they have the Power in their Hands But it 's remarkable that Men who make Laws cannot make themselves Obey'd nor be Beloved or Beleived when they act things disagreeable For Unjust and Tyrannical Laws People pay only an exterior Obedience to their Commands but the Heart and the Spirit cries out and demandâ— Justice from him whom all Men naturally feel over their Heads as a Protector of Justice and an avengeâ— of Oppression and Unjust Authority We sometime receive Unjust Laws but we do not believe them to be Just for all that but as to the natural Laws oâ— Duty and Consciences all Men receive them and be lieve by an invincible Determination of a Superioâ— Light which equally perswades them alike for Natural Light convinces us with invincible force and this is an Infallible Character of Natural Light. Conscience is then in us undoubtedly Natural and as certain as it is an Essential Companion of our Nature and a Propriety inseparable from our Soul From hence arises in us by the help of Grace all Moraâ— and Christian Virtues because it is impossible to conceive that Corporeal Nature can be the subject oâ— Magnanimity of Justice of Fidelity of Continencâ— and of Truth for a Corporeal Nature alone cannoâ— have the Light of Order or of Duty or the Inclination or Determination of Duty or the Pleasure oâ— Performance or the Pain of the Violation of Duty for Duty Order and Justice have no Bodies they arâ— things totally Spiritual and Intelligible and there fore without the assistance of the Soul cannot havâ— the Idea or the Sentiment of them because it is by the Soul that they are Ingrafted and poured into ouâ— Corporeal Nature God having assembled togetheâ— both these in one single whole not as one but acting by this Indubitable Method God have prescribed by reason of their dependance one upon another or to say better the Union betwixt each other and are all animated with one and the same Influence of Divine Life and marked with one and the same resemblance and equally Impelled by the same Love of Duty For which reason we are obliged to Love and to Accomplish all the extents of Justice of Truth of Charity and of Civility and of Mutual or Reciprocal respect towards all Men upon the consideration that this Life is short and troublesome and all things in it are frail and perishable and the noblest Pleasures in it are essentially false as well as empty they leave the Heart even during this Life Sick and Famished and if not retired from before Death they will leave the Soul Eternally deceived by a cruel Privation and an insupportable desolation of regret For the best injoyments of this Life are a perpetual alternativeness of real Cares and Torments all things here being but false shadows of Repose and lucid Intervals of Reason a Theater of Eternal Mutations a Chain interlinked with short and transitory Felicities and long and durable Miseries a vehement and impetuous Whirl-wind of Hurry and Ambition which after having much tormented and agitated the Body and Soul having raised a Thousand snares in the Heart and Spirit it disappears into Air and Smoak for so it is that this Life doth not exercise it self but upon the false and perishable Objects of Time and â—s deceitful and deceiving Oeconomy whereas the nâ—ture Life exercises it self upon Objects wholly True and wholly Solid because the future Life is â—ut as it were one Day all Uniformity for there very Holy Soul will Eternally be United to eversting Triumphs and Felicities for there every Soul â—ill be Essentially Living infinite Happy and Joyous no here it have been exercised in Trouble in the future Life it shall rest in Glory and endless Felicities as the Apostle saith Such as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor Heart conceived 2 Cor. 12. 4. Much less can the feeble Eloquence of Man express by any description that his Idea or Sentiment can conceive to put into Method to declare or so much as describe Our Soul is said to commence when it goes out of the Body That which we call time is taken either by relation to the duration of the abode of every Soul in its Body or by relation to the duration of the whole present Oeconomy of the visible World destined to the Tryal of the Souls in the Bodys and in whatsoever signification we take Time in opposition to Eternity it signifies precisely a State of Instability of Change and Vicissitude i. e. a State which ought to have an end for these are two things which enter Essentially into the Idea which is called Time Vicissitude and End the space of the duration that our Souls are in our Bodies is called Time for these two Reasons First because it is to have an end And Secondly because in the interim so long as it endures it holds us exposed to a Thousand Chainges and Vicissitudes and which is to be lamented that Vicissitude of being obnoxious to pass from Good to Evil from Virtue to Sin to Crimes or Vice but on the contrary Eternity is Immutable and an Interminable State and Order of things As much as Time includes Instability and End so much does Eternity excludes both Time speaks Changeâ— and End Eternity speaks the Being always the same and never ending Thus as our
carries a desire of being united to him and which makes one Man pleased with another that is called sympathy And when on the contrary this sensation is made with confused sentiments oâ— disagreement and straingeness that is called antipathy And this is the general Idea of sensation which are the Knowledges that we have by the determination of present Objects by which we are able to chuse to do Acts free and voluntary tho there is 〈◊〉 distinction to be made betwixt free Acts and voluâ—â—tary Acts for every thing that is free is voluntary but every thing that is voluntary is not free but no thing is voluntary in us but what is made by the determination of the Will for this is a necessary and iâ—â—vincible motion of our Souls towards God causing 〈◊〉 invincibly to love Good in general with a full deteâ—mination of our Mind and Will by the which also wâ—â— shun Evil and every thing that hurts and afflicts 〈◊〉 and we persue some times one particular Good thaâ— an other as they more or less immediately concerâ— us for Liberty is always accompanied with the Wilâ— Now Liberty is precisely that Empire which we haâ— of being able to determine our selves which to chuâ—â— and which to refuse when the Objects are presentâ— to the perceptive faculty of the Soul. We mâ— easily shut our Eyes and not let that reflective Lig â— to enter in from the superficies of the Object whiâ—â— Ingraves it in our Retina But yet we cannot hind â— the Impression of Light if once it be entred into 〈◊〉 Eyes nor that ordor of savor if they have affected those Nerves which are proper to carry the Impression of them to the Brain But our Soul cannot see the Objects in those passages of the Brain nor the species as in Pictures as we have endeavoured to â—llustrate in our former presuppositions This is a thing which we know by an indubitable sentiment We may then presuppose that it is not all these Taâ—les whereon the Soul sees the Object she being formally knowing having in her self a lively representation or an inward sentiment of the Objects which â—â—ders themselves present by the material Impression â—hich is received in the Body by the assistance of the â—ctive faculty of Thinking which is sometimes calâ—â—d the faculty of Reasoning for by these the Obâ—cts which strike the Senses are lively represented tobe passive or the active faculty of the Thinking Soul â—hich come from the diversity of the temperament â—nd from the material Structure and Harmony of the â—ody by which the Understanding the Judgement â—d the Memory with all the other Natural Qualiâ—â— receives advantage to act every one its part â—hen occasion shall present in its proper season for â—e Soul is inclined to all great and transcendant â—â—ings The Mind is sometimes said to be the Soul â—â—erting its Power into Heroick Actions wherefore great Soul is Magnanimous in effect i. e. when our â—nd is applied to mighty Objects and such a one said to be the Son of Eternal Power and the Friend infinite Goodness a Man whose inward State is raculous and his Complexion Divine because he lights in the Celestial way of true Bliss he turns his â—mporeal Riches into Obligations by wining Souls God and thus gaining the Affections of the â—se For to be rich in the Hearts and Affections Good People can be no deformity and every such â—n is as it were his own end while he considers it 〈◊〉 for nothing is more conducive to the 〈…〉 Honour of the Holy Man than to be bountiful and munificient for this proves true Riches to his own Soul and puts a double lustre upon that noble Jewel for this beautifies it and makes it truly aimable and Praise worthy all these being shut up in Goodness For these Men make themselves truly great by Enriching others for the Eccho of their Works are sweet and pleasing in the Ears of all that are surrounded with them and may be said to be like the Sun in the Rays of his Glory and Reigns like a King by the sole Power of Virtue and thus beautifies their Religion for these delight in the felicity of all that accost them and thus puts Embroiderie on Religion by the chearfulness of their Spirits and the Heroick Actions of their Souls and thus carries a Light wherâ—ever they go and attracts the esteemâ— of every Good Person so that these Men move in a Sphere of Wonders their Lives are a continuaâ— strem of Miracles for they are always sacrificing their Persons and Possessions to the benefit of thâ— World. Benifits and Blessings are their Life-guard foâ— that they live Holy and Temperate and strive to iâ—â—mediate the Wisdom of Angels whose guardian Shâ— is never wanting to their assistance so that their iâ—ward House is a Habitation of Joy and Felicity anâ— so brightens their outward behaviour that almost aâ— their Actions yields a spectacle of Contentment 〈◊〉 every beholder There is a generous confidence dcoursed in all their Actions and some glimps of Heâ—ven in all their Behaviour Therefore a Life beautifie with Virtues is the greatest Gift that can be give to Man. For the return of it in Holy Actions is aâ—ceptable to God For when all things shall be râ—vealed the Life of these secret Persons shall perfect appear in all their perfections May we therefore careful to adorn our Persons and Palaces with thâ— kind of Riches seeing they are so Delectable aâ— Pleasant For these Men have a Love within the Souls that is willing to impart all these incomprehensible Treasures and Glories to every Soul for such a Mind and such Affections must Perfume and Eâ—rich our Sacrifices For the Greatness and Goodness of our Souls consists in such inlargements for a Will inlarged with an infinite Fancy is a prodigious depth of Goodness for infinite Desires and Intentions of pleasing God are real Objects to his Eye for such a Soul being all Love would do Millons of things for â—ts Object For infinite Love puts an infinite value on the Gift wherefore it must needs be Magnificence to give a Gift of infinite value and infinite valuable every Good and Pious Action in the Eyes of him who have told us that no Thought or Action shall â—emain uncovered but every Thought Word and Action shall be seen clearly by all for ever And all â—hall be admired for their inward Piety and Holiness â—nd every discovery of Virtue in one shall be an occasion of Joy in each other so that every secret Virâ—e that have been long concealed but only to those â—ho have enjoyed the benefit of it shall be a new â—ause of Eternal Joy to all when in Heaven it shall clearly discovered For our Actions in passing pass ot away but in the Sphere of our Life abideth for 〈◊〉 so that a Good Man's Life all at once is a Myerious Object interwoven with many Thoughts â—ccurrences and Transactions and ought to be preâ—â—ted to God like a Ring a
and Glories of thy Kingdom Thou O Lord hast opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers let the Everlasting Gates be opened and receive his Soul let the Angels who Rejoyce at the Conversion of a Sinner Triumph â—nd be Exalted in his Deliverance and Salvation make him partaker of the Benefits of thy Holy Incarnation Life and Sanctity Passion and Death Resurrection and Assension and of all the Prayers of the Church of the Joy of the Elect and all the Fruits of the Blessed Communion of Saints and daily add to the number of thy beatified Servants such as shall be saved that thy coming may be hastned and the expectation of the Saints may be fulfiled and the Glory of thee our Lord Jesus be advanced all the whole Church Singing Praises to the Honour of thy Holy Name who Livest and Reignest ever one God World without end Amen OH Most Merciful Jesu who didst die to redeem us from Death and Damnation have Mercy upon this thy Servant whom thy Hand has visited with Sickness of thy Goodness be pleased to forgive him all his Sins and Seal his hopes of Glory with the refreshments of thy Holy Spirit Lord give him Strength and Confidence in thee asswage his Pain repel the assaults of his Gostly Enemies by thy Mercies and a Guard of Holy Angels preserve him in the Unity of the Church keep his Senses intire his Understanding right give him a great measure of Contrition true Faith a well grounded Hope and abundance of Charity give him a quiet and a joyful departure let thy Ministring Spirits conveigh his Soul to the Mansions of Peace and Rest there with certainty to expect a joyful Resurrection to the fulness of Joy at thy right Hand where there is pleasure for evermore Amen A Prayer for a Penitent O Thou who still remainest the same Richfulness in thy self and the same bright Glory to all the Blessed have Mercy upon me and all Mankind in the 〈◊〉 and full Pardon and forgiveness of all our Sins that ever we have committed from our Infancy to this present Moment and indue us with thy preventing and assisting Grace that we never fall into those Sins of the which we have Repented but fill us with thy Holy Spirit that we may increase in all Goodness in the Spirit of Might of Wisdom and Counsel Knowledge Piety and thy Holy Fear that we may do all such good Works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in by the assisting Power and Might of thy Holy Strength which we beseech thee constantly to afford us to our last Breath that when we shall breathe out our Souls they may be received instantly to Glory And this we begg for thy sake who didst begin to Bleed and Suffer for our Sin even thee O Blessed Jesus who tookest that Heavenly Name thy Blessed purpose to Proclaim Oh! may we bow our Heartâ— and Knee bright King of Names to Glorious thee who thus beginest our Bliss thus carriedest on our Happiness to thee all Praise be paid O Great Misterious Three for ever Live and ever be Obeyed Beloved Adored by Men and Angels all abroad Hallelujah O Lord make us eminent Examples of Perfect Christianity and kindle in our Hearts Zealous Emulations of thy Grace that here immitating thy Life O Christ we may be constant in the Truth to our last Breath that in our Mouths there may not at any time be found a lie that we may be worthy to be presented without spot before thy Throne O God and thou maiest exalt us to thy Kingdom and there admit us to tast of thosâ— Glorious Joys which incurcel thy Blessed Thronâ— above to which we are Intituled by the Suffering oâ— Christ our Lord. Oh give us true Repentance that wâ— may not fail of attaining of them though I have noâ— been strong enough to be perfectly Innocent Yet makâ— me Humble enough to be truly Penitent make mâ— Heartily sorry that ever I have done amiss and never again dare to do that for which I am sorry but perpetually Watch and Change my Thoughts to more diligent and concerning Cares how to redeem my mispent Time with Sighs and Tears and Prayers and prepare our Understanding to assent to thy Truths and our Wills to follow thy Divine Inspirations that thou O God maiest fill our Memories with innumerable Mercies and our whole Souls with the Glory of his adorable Atributes that thy Blessed Spirit may come and breathe thy spacious Odor into our Hearts in these dull Regions here beneath to fill our Souls with thy sweet Grace and Inspire us to give all possible Glory to that secret Three One ever Living Sovereign Lord as at the first still may be Beloved Praised Feared and Adored Hallelujah O Lord open the Eyes of our Understanding and shew us thy clear and supernatural Light even 〈◊〉 thou didst to the Apostles together with the whole Army of Martyrs that we may confidently â—ffirm to others what we know so Infallibily cerâ—ain our selves And be pleased to infuse into all â—â—ens Hearts the fulness of thine own Divine Charity that every one may instruct his Family and with Courage and Patience overcome their Oppressors that being thus Illuminated with a pure and clear â—â—ight and inflamed with the ferver of Grace â—hey may mightily shew forth thy Glory and Conâ—ert many Souls to thee that thy Grace may run â—nd be Glorious over all the World and thy Holy â—pirit be aimable in the Hearts of every Creature â—hat all dulness may be removed from them and they â—nay with swift Glances understand the sweet Will 〈◊〉 their Divine Master that they may Daily more and â—ore increase in Virtue and be inebriated with thy â—eavenly Wine and filled with an Heroick Spirit â—â—at may keep alive in their Hearts the Primitive Grace Grant this O God who art still the same and with an equal Spirit Governs the World replenish us all we beseech thee with the Holy Ghost which warms without scorching and shines without dimâ—ess and inlightens without consuming Kindle in every one of our Hearts this Holy Spirit of Meekness Peace and Unity that all the World may know that we belong to thee That exercising those Virtues of Meekness Long Suffering Patience Contentedness and Charity thou maiest difuse thy Holy Joy into our Breast that may fill our Hearts with Strength and undaunted Courage that may duly qualify us to ascend to those satisfing Joys above where all our Faculties shall be exercised in Adoring and Worshiping thee O Lord our God who wilt fill our Souls full of Joy and Ravish our Hearts with overflowing Pleasures and make us ever give Glory to Father Son and Holy Ghost the undivided Three One equal Glory one same Praise from henceforth and for ever be Hallelujah A Prayer for the Rich and Noble O Lord I beseech thee make the Great and Honourable become Good and Just O suffer them never to consent nor combine with the Counsel of the Wicked but teach the Rich and