O Holy Spirit the Comforter in all afflictions and sufferings giving ability to bear them internal peace and spiritual joy in them and who art the author of a constant lively hope and confidence in God Have mercy on us O Holy Spirit who distributest and dividest thy gifts and graces variously to every one according to thy good pleasure Have mercy on us The Spirit of wisdome and understanding the Spirit of knowledge and truth the Spirit of counsel and fortitude Have mercy on us The Spirit of sobriety chastity and temperance the Spirit of modesty patience and prayer Have mercy on us The Spirit of humility benignity and meekness the Spirit of compunction sanctification and the fear of God the Spirit of peace and love Have mercy on us O Holy Spirit the discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart and reproving the World of sin of justice and of judgment Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Holy Spirit Be merciful and hear us O Holy Spirit From all temptations and deceits of the Devil from all sin and every evil Spirit Deliver us O Holy Spirit From all filthiness and uncleanness of soul and body from the Spirit of fornication from the Spirit of anger strife contention and envy and all uncharitableness Deliver us O holy Spirit From all presumption and despair from opposing the known truth from hardness of heart and final impenitency Deliver us O holy Spirit By thy eternal procession from the Father and the Son by the miraculous conception of the Son of God by thy operation by thy descent upon our Saviour at his Baptisme and by thy sitting upon his Apostles Deliver us O holy Spirit In the day of Judgment Deliver us O holy Spirit We Sinners beseech Thee to hear us O holy Spirit That thou would'st spare us That thou wouldst keep us from blaspheming thee O Holy Ghost and from doing any contumely to the Spirit of Grace We sinners beseech Thee c. That we may never quench grieve or neglect this Holy Spirit but may prepare our hearts for thy holy inspirations and may diligently hearken to discover and obey thy godly motions which lead us to all perfection We sinners beseech Thee c. That remembring how we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost we may take heed of violating them and that as we live by the Spirit we may walk in the Spirit and fulfil no more the lusts of the flesh but by the Spirit mortify the deeds thereof so that sowing in the Spirit we may of the Spirit reap life eternal We sinners beseech Thee c. That thou wouldst vouchsafe to stir up and cherish in us poverty of Spirit and enkindle in us a hunger and thirst after Justice that we may be peaceable and worthy to be called the Sons of God We sinners beseech Thee c. That thou wouldest infuse into us perfect charity and mercy and that we may constantly and manfully endure persecution for Justice sake We sinners beseech Thee c. That thou would'st vouchasafe us to continue unto the end in faith hope and charity and that we may be careful to keep the unity of the Spirit that is in all thy servants in the bond of peace We sinners beseech Thee c. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Pour on us the holy Spirit O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Send us the promised Spirit from the Father O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Grant us the Spirit of Peace Our Father which art Heaven c. Create in us clean hearts O God And renew right Spirits in our Bowels Cast us not away from thy face O Lord And take not thy holy Spirit from us Restore unto us the joy of thy Salvation And confirm us with thy principal Spirit The Grace of thy Holy Spirit Enlighten our senses and hearts O Lord hear our Prayers And let our cry come unto thee Let us pray O Holy Ghost the Comforter we commend to thee our souls and bodies the beginning and the end of our lives give us grace to be heartily sorry for our sins for the love of God and to do true penance for them that we may be perfectly purified from them before we depart hence out of this mortal body Of our selves O Lord we are corrupt and blind in our affections and desires if we rely on our own judgments easily seduced into error easily overcome by temptation Wherefore to thee O Holy Spirit we wholly offer and commit the guidance of our Souls defend and keep us thy servants from all evil teach and illuminate our minds strengthen our weak Spirits against inordinate pusillanimity and superfluous scruples of conscience and keep us humble that we fall not into presumption Give us a right faith unmovable hope and perfect charity that we may sweetly delight in thee and every-where fulfil thy will and pleasure who livest and reignest with the Father and Son one God world without end Amen O Eternal God who didst send thy Holy Spirit upon thy Church and didst promise that he should abide with it for ever let the same Spirit lead us to all truth defend us from all sin enrich us with his gifts refresh us with his comforts and rule in our hearts for ever And grant O bountiful Lord the Doner of every good and perfect gift that we may prepare our hearts for his holy inspirations may diligently hearken to clearly discover believe and obey his godly motions may never quench never grieve this Holy Spirit but living in him may by him be sealed to the day of redemption through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord who liveth and reigneth world without end Amen O Blessed Spirit the Almighty Paraclete the communication bond and union of the Father and Son the conduit conveying to us all that we receive from the Father and the Son The dear pledge and token of our absent Lord until his blessed return by whose power all things are enlivened which do truly live and whose delight is to reside and converse in the hearts of the simple which thou vouchsafest to consecrate as Temples to thy self Come gracious Spirit have mercy upon us descend from heaven into our hearts waiting for thy comfort and so fit us for thine own self that through the multitude of thy compassions our meanness may be accepted of thy greatness and our weakness of thy strength Sanctify the temples of our bodies and consecrate them for thy own habitation Make glad with thy presence our Souls that long after thee make ready a mansion fit for thy self adorn thy bride-chamber furnish thy resting place with the variety of thy own gifts and graces drive out from thence whatsoever is old and fading renew in us thy own workman-ship with beauty incorruptible for ever convey into us heavenly light heat and motion that having tasted of the heavenly gift and the powers of the
just judgments We sinners c. That we may chastise our bodies and bring them into subjection and that we may no more live after the flesh but by the spirit mortify the deeds thereof We sinners c. That we may voluntarily forbear the pleasures and customes of this life to the end that we may give our selves without interruption to the painful exercises of penance We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That we may bewail our sins in sackcloth and ashes and humble our Souls before thee in watchings and prayers weeping and mourning night-exercises and solitude We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That taking revenge on our selves we may break off our sins by fastings and abstain from things grateful and pleasant to our senses We sinners beseech Thee c. That we may readily expose our selves to contempt and disgrace from men thereby to take revenge upon our pride and wickedness against thee We sinners c. That to the glory of thy name and shame and confusion of our own faces we may confess our sins to the Ministers thou hast appointed that we may more easily obtain pardon from thee We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That we may freely confess to our neighbours the wrong we have done them and humbly beg pardon of them restore what we have wrongfully taken or withheld from them and make reparation for any losses thereby to escape thy just revenge upon us We sinners c. That we may freely forgive others trespasses against us or any satisfactions due from them to us whereby we may have hope that thou wilt forgive ours against thee We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That we may break off our sins by alms and our transgressions by shewing mercy to the poor that we feed the hungry cloath the naked visit the sick forgive our enemies and shew mercy to all whereby we may the more easily obtain mercy from thee We sinners c. That putting on the whole armour of God we may hereafter be able to stand against all the wiles of the Devil We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That we may bring forth fruits worthy of Penance in due season and that we may work out our Salvation with fear and trembling We sinners beseech Thee to hear us That thou wouldst be pleased to afflict and purge us here and spare us eternally hereafter We sinners c. That going with confidence unto the throne of Grace we may obtain mercy and find it in an acceptable time We sinners beseech Thee to hear us O Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world Spare us good Lord. O Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world Hear us good Lord. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Have mercy upon us O Christ hear us _____ O Christ hearken to us Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Our Father c. A Psalm O Lord deal not with us according to our sins Nor reward us according to our iniquities O Lord remember not our former transgressions Let thy mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low Help us O Lord our Saviour And for the glory of thy Name deliver us and be merciful to our transgressions Cleanse us O Lord from our secret sins And keep us from other mens sins Remember not our offences O Lord nor the offences of our Fore-fathers Neither take thou vengeance on our sins Deliver not our Souls to the devouring Beast And forget not the Souls of thy poor servants for ever O Lord turn away thy face from our sins And blot out all our iniquities Restore unto us the joy of thy Salvation And establish us with thy principal Spirit O Lord hear our Prayers And let our cry come unto thee O Benigne c. Or This. O Lord correct us not in thine anger neither chastise us in thy fury We acknowledge our iniquities against our selves unto thee O Lord that thou may'st forgive the hainousness of our sins O Lord all our desire is before thee and our sighing is not hid from thee Have mercy-upon us O Lord according to thy great mercy And according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out all our transgressions Thou shalt arise O Lord and have mercy upon us for it is time to have mercy upon us yea the time is come If thou shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who can stand Enter not into judgment with thy servants O Lord for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified O Benigne c. Let us pray A Collect. MOst gracious God the Fountain of all mercy and blessing who desirest not the death of a sinner nor despisest the tears of the penitent favourably receive this our confession and effectually move our hearts to a true contrition that being pardoned the evils we have presumed to do we may be delivered from the evils we deserve to suffer and assisted by thy grace may bestow the short remainder of our days in a more perfect denial of our corrupt inclinations and more constant attendance to thy glorious promises thro our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who with Thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth one God world without end Amen A Collect. O Benigne Lord pour we beseech thee thy grace into our hearts that we restraining our sins by voluntary chastisements may rather be afflicted with some temporal sufferings than deputed to eternal punishments thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen LITANIES for the Sick and those that are Dying O God the Father of heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the world Have c. O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O Father of Mercies and God of all Consolation who comfortest us in all our tribulations who sufferest us not to be tempted above that which we are able to bear but with the temptation givest strength that we may be able to sustain Have mercy on us Who chastisest and scourgest those whom thou lovest who judgest and correctest us with weaknesses and sickness and death it self that we may not be condemned with the world Have mercy on us Who breathedst into man newly made after thy own Image the breath of life Have mercy on us Who madest not death nor delightest in the destruction of the living who plantedst in the midst of Paradise the Tree of life against the death of the body Have c. Who after our first Parents had contracted the guilt of death opposedst the seed of the Woman against the malice of the Serpent Have mercy upon us Who createdst Herbs growing out of the earth and innumerable other remedies for the use and necessity of man Have mercy on us Who turnest man to destruction and sayest Return ye children of men who woundest and healest strikest and bindest up with thy hand killest and makest alive
more punctually in Mat. 7.13 14. Strait the Gate narrow the way and few that find it Few that enter in at it But that may be meant in comparison of Heathens and Infidels No. Matt. 22.14 Of those that are called i. e. of Christians few chosen To which add what is said by the Apostle 1. Cor. 1. Not many wife after the flesh not many mighty not many noble chosen And particularly concerning rich men by reason of the many partly temptations partly secular cares thereof what is said by our Lord Matt. 19.23 Verily I say unto you a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdome of God An easier matter for a Camel to go through a Needle 's eye which yet with God is a thing possible 4. The Messias his first coming into the world for judgment as well as for mercy and to require a more diligent observance of God's Commandments than was yeilded in former ages In which Observance Consider 5. 1. The necessity that we attain Salvation of not living in the custome and habit of any one great or mortal sin whatever and the certain damnation that is from them if unquitted before our death 1. Cor. 6.9 Eph. 5.5 6. Digr How habits may be discerned Chiefly by the frequency facility and much delight taken in the Acts. 2. Some Reluctance to sin which is in all men from nature less or more and so long as notwithstanding this we act it no sufficient ground of hoping pardon §. 5. Par. 2. Digr An Explication of the seventh Chapter to the Romans That it must necessarily be understood either as describing the condition of a person as yet irregenerate and so as yet out of the State of Salvation One that is awakened indeed by the knowledge of the Law either written or that of nature but yet hath received no ability from Grace to keep it In whom therefore is a striving between the sensitive appetite and reason or the mind their mind necessarily by reason of the Light and Law of Nature or of the Law written being not quite darkned in the Soul dictating contrary to their practice So that they may rightly be said to follow their lusts with some unwillingness and against their mind But in this strife either reason the better part is not exactly rectified and consentient to the law of God or of Nature as appears in those Heathens who seem to have followed it yet have not been excused from sin or else at least no power they have to shake off the bands of their lusts and follow their Reason when right being destitute of grace See Rom. 8.7 8. So every one hath less or more Rom. 2.15 an inward man warring against the law of his members by which mind also he serves i. e. delights in the law of God consenting unto it that it is good and so hating that evil which the tyranny and power of the habit of sin ruling in him forceth him still to practice which are the Expressions in this Chapter Such was her case in the Tragedy Video meliora proboque Such the Heathens Rom. 2.15 Such the Jews Rom. 10.2 2.17 18. Such St. Paul's when a Pharisee Act. 22.3 Gal. 1.14 Rom. 8.3 And this Interpretation seems more proper to the place than to expound it of the State of the Regenerate as may be seen by comparing the contradictions between some passages in this 7th Chapter and others in the 5th 6th and 8th Chapters where the State of the Regenerate is described as the contradiction between Rom. 7. chap. 14. ver and 8. chap. 9. ver between 7.24 and 7.6.6.6 between 7.23.7.5 and 8.2 3 4. 5.15 6.2.14 between 7.25.18 and 6.13.12.1 and therefore these Texts speak not of the same but several persons §. 5. Par. 3. Or if this Chapter be understood as describing the State of the Regenerate it must be explained as speaking only of lesser sins of Infirmity which all the Regenerate less or more remain still liable to or of Concupiscence still remaining as St. Austine expounds it but this Concupiscence not consented-to as to the committing of any great or mortal Sin See St. Austine Contraduas Epistolas Pelagii 1. l. 10. ch In Jo. Tract 41. De Tempore Serm. 43. For there is indeed a strife in the Regenerate also and this not only between their appetite and reason but between their appetite or flesh and the spirit of Grace and this sometimes to the doing evil what they would not and to the committing of sins of Infirmity See Jam. 3 2. 1. Jo. 1.8 Gal. 5.17 in the reform'd Translation so that ye cannot do but the Original is so that ye do not do the things that ye would Sometimes and most frequently to the doing good so as according to the Spirit they would not that is to have their actions mixt with some imperfection and faultiness See Jam. 3.2 1. Jo. 1.8 Either peccant in the Substance or in some Circumstance or in some mixture of a contrary velleity Gal. 5.17 But the Expressions of this Chapter may not be applied to the Regenerate's committing or consenting to any greater sin whilst they remain Regenerate and still in the friendship and favour of God or have any more than sins of only totally unavoidable Infirmity This Digression I have made to prevent the patronizing of your faults under the imagined like failings of an Apostle But that if you find the law in your members so powerful as to produce your commission of or consent to any greater sin you may as suspecting such a condition not good make all hast to change it till you resemble the Apostle not in the 7th Chap. Rom. but in the 8th ver 2 c. 3. Not doing evil no service rewardable Where remember these Texts Matt. 25.41 42. Depart from me ye Cursed the Reason For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat naked and ye cloathed me not c. Matt. 3.10 Every Tree which not only bringeth evil or none but bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cast into the Fire Matt 25.24 c. Then he which had received the one Talent came and said Lord loe there thou hast what is thine His Lord answered Thou slothful servant c. Take the talent from him and cast the unprofitable servant into outward durkness 6. 1. The necessity for salvation of an universal and sincere obedience though every way perfect in this life it cannot be to God's Commandments in the habitual and diligent practice of holy Duties and good works which are required of you Digr Of the Reward its being promised to good works 2. No Acceptance of the Will in omission of the Deed when faisible 3. The Danger of sins of omission 4. The Hypocrisy of partial Holiness 7. To make our good works acceptable there must be innocency from other sins 8. The inutility also as for attaining eternal life of good works as of loving giving alms c. where mutual lending to be paid again Or of acts of
some Vocations and among these commonly of those more wealthy and less corporally laborious of those less necessary and ministring to pleasures and of those generally wherein the flesh and the world i. e sensuality gain or converse have more scope to tempt us For true wisdome doth discern those persons here in most peril as to their future i. e. eternal estate who are here most prospering e contra pitties the Wealthy's honor and ease envies the Poor's labour and contempt Digr 2. Of great caution to be used concerning Studies and all intellectual and speculative imployments and of their special hindrance of devotion more than other Vocations do if not discreetly used because in them those faculties are busily employed which in others are in part at least left vacant and free to attend upon God And because some of them by the near alliance they seem to have to devotion as when the Brain is imployed in the study of Divinity do seem priviledged hereby to intrench upon the times sequestred for it and to pass in our account instead of Prayer whenas yet the subtle speculations of the Intellect in these matters have little or no effect upon the Will or to the producing of those acts of love wherein consists the life of Prayer and whilst charitas adificat scientia inflat Lastly Because much imployment of the Brain is apt to molest us more with distractions and extravagations in our Devotions The Acceptableness of a Confident reliance on God's Providence for Necessaries 6. For all necessaries much relying on and trusting to God's Providence which though in the way of working many times to exercise Faith it is much disguised yet evidently appears in the effect to those who not only speak of it but try and also need it Extended to all men not only to Christians to Beasts Psal 104.21.27 36.6 Matt. 6.26 not only to men and nothing so small wherein it hath not a hand For men extended to hairs their number and colour matt 10.33 5.36 for Beasts to the life and death of a Sparrow to the cloathing of a Grass and the beauty of a Flower Matt. 10.19 6.29 30 Yet far more particularly as I may so say in its effects watching over the necessities of God's own servants as to whom this paterfamilias hath a nearer relation and that not only of their Body but of the Soul much more for the supplying in all honest and pious attempts its indigencies and any thing wanting either in the Will to effect or in the Vnderstanding to direct And of this providence every one according to his greater service may so much more presume Only provided that as Deus non deficit in necessariis so they should not expect that he should in this world to his children whose inheritance is in the next abundare in superfluis nor secondly That they should in any thing tempt his Providence by their duty viciously neglected which they are to perform still in obedience to his Precept though not in distrust to his Provision For all justice it is that he who provideth for the growth of a hair should suffer him who doth not labour to want what to eat 7. Retaining a resign'd indifferency in all things whether for increasing or also for conserving what you have 8. Not entertaining any long or great designments present or future Digr Of the danger and needlessness of Worldly Cares §. 20. 6. Of Meat and Drink 1. Avoiding full Dyet frequent Repasts Feasts c. especially strong drinks hurting the Brain and Vnderstanding heightning and disordering your Passions Eph. 5.18 therefore expresly forbidden by God to the Priest in the time of attendance on him Lev. 10.9 And all Christians are now in some manner God's Priests Rev. 5.10 But on the contrary in a spare Dyet and the disuse of strong drink the Passions become much more moderate all concupiscential loves and affections much abated the judgment much more clear serene and circumspect the thoughts more grave sober and serious our words fewer and better weighed the person more humble and tractable the heart more tender and melting and fitlier prepared for prayers sighings and tears the Motions of the Holy Spirit more vigorous and sooner hearkned to and its Consolations more frequent when the body and flesh with which it wageth a perpetual war Gal. 5.17 is rendred by a competent abstinence poor and low which also is seen in Beasts made tame gentle and manageable by nothing so soon as hunger and withdrawing their food 2. For the better preserving of Temperance refusing invitations and entertainments abroad not making them at home 3. Not long sitting at Meals sitting down later or rising from table sooner than others 4. Not eating between set Meals 5. Eating at your Meals alone 6. Eating a set proportion a divided portion when in company 7. Indifferent as to your dyet or chusing the meanest and forbearing delicacies which besides the mortification of your senses and appetite herein much conduceth to a necessary temperance we being less apt to exceed in that wherein we take less goust and pleasure Not making your meat or drink the subject of your Discourse or finding fault at that time with the ill Cookery of it things that savour of sensuality Often calling to mind the usual mean fare of our Lord and his Disciples Corn-ears Barley-bread Fish an Honey-comb Water Matt. 12.1 Jo. 6.9 Luk. 24.41 Jo. 21.9 Matt. 7.10 Jo. 4.7 and the all-satiating refection promised in heaven to those who mortify their flesh here and often saying with the Pharisee's Guest Blessed are they that shall eat bread in the Kingdome dome of God Luk. 14 15. Matt. 8.11 Matt. 26.29 And blessed are they that are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb Rev. 19.9 And of your present perishing food God shall destroy both the Belly and the Meats Jo. 6.27 1. Cor. 6.13 8. Taking great care because then is greatest danger of your Conversation at and presently after meals by reason of the Flesh new armed as it were with provision for its fighting against the Spirit Concupiscence strengthned the Spirits refreshed and inclined to mirth and this to talkativeness and discourse the Brain less or more heated and so not making so perfect a judgment of things engaged in company by the same refreshment of the same Inclinations 9. Not being too solicitous of preserving your Health Knowing that upon this pretence usually the flesh obtains all her lusts and desires arms its self against the Spirit and we fearing to lose our health by withdrawing some necessaries do often hazard the losing it by excess and forego the benefit of the most profitable mortification that this life affords the taming of our flesh But indeed death being to all those who continue in God's service and their duty the beginning of their happiness and true life we ought in all things to have more regard to the bettering than the lengthning of our life here seeing that a long life is
by most no otherwise to be wished but as they presume that it may be better than the present And that we have but little reason to presume of this if to to make it longer we omit some of the chiefest means to make it better For such abstinences therefore as we do suspect may some way impair health the best way is to guide our selves by experience rather than by our own or others prognostications and fears and with some courage at first to make trial of such hard-ships and since health is not destroyed in a moment to continue them so long till nature complains and that not if at the very first there appear some reluctance but if after some reasonable time of tryal she sinketh under them of which nature will mind us soon enough when she cannot support our rigors and which do what we can against her will even force so much supply from us as is necessary for her preservation And if in such good purposes in subduing our flesh we should make some oversight yet is it no further accountable for than it is discernable and then it is soon enough to change our custome specially if disallowed by those whose judgment in this matter we have reason to yeild to or also are obliged to obey in a due submission to which their Injunctions instead of our Flesh we are to mortify which is a harder thing our Will 10. Keeping a perpetual guard and watch upon your self more for this vertue of Temperance than any other the mischiefes of which transgressed are so many and yet the occasions thereof by reason of our Bodies necessary daily repairs returning daily nor can we quite cut off and dismiss them as we can do in most other temptations to Sin which the Holy Father St. Austine in his Confessions observed and complained of long ago I therefore saith He placed among the same temptations am striving every day against this concupiscence in eating and in drinking For 't is no such thing which I can resolve to cut off at once and touch no more as I could do concerning other things Therefore are the reins of the Throat to be held with a moderate hand between relaxation and restraint And who is he O Lord who is not sometimes transported beyond the lists of necessity Whoever he be a great one he is let him magnify thy Name Nor Secondly In the use of them to which we are frequently necessitated can we perfectly discern in our dyet the true limits of too little enough and too much which thing caused a second Complaint of the same pious Father Many times it becomes uncertain saith He whether it is the necessary care of my Body that requires such a supply or the voluptuous deceit of my lust that procures such a maintenance from me and the unhappy Soul grows glad in such an uncertainty and thence prepares the protection of an excuse rejoicing that it appears not what is an exact proportion for the welfare of the Body that under the cloak of health it may cover the matter of delight Nor is there any way of receiving these cures of our wants without a tempting pleasure joined with it The Father's third Observation and trouble For Whilst I am passing from the trouble of emptiness to the rest of fulness my Concupiscence layeth a snare for me For this passage it self is a pleasure nor is there any other way to pass to it but this to which necessity forceth me And thus whereas health only is the true cause of eating and drinking yet there accompanies it as its hand-maid a perilous jucundity and goust which most what endeavors also to step before it that for the Pleasures sake I should do what I pretend or also desire to do only for Health's sake Nor are both of these content with the same allowance That which is sufficient for health being too little for delight Digr 1. Of the great Benefit from constant spare-diet Fasting c and much practised by Holy Men for the many advantages received by it There never wanting an occasion thereof whilst the Flesh any way rebelleth against the Spirit i.e. whilst we live By which also is gained a considerable time whilst others are thus diverted for solitude reading and prayer whilst otherwise as much time also after our meat vacant from other imployments is required for digestion of our food as for receiving it To say nothing here of some part of God's provision by Fasting spared for those who perhaps more need it Digr 2. Of God's Providence for our health and sustaining the Body as he pleaseth with the same power he made it upon any oversight our zeal to his better service may unwittingly make therein Where Of the Happiness of Old Age. Digr 3. Of the happiness of long life and old age which is ordinarily the effect of temperance It s happiness I say if it be guided by reason and make use of those helps conducing to Salvation which God hath abundantly afforded it For our first days are days in comparison of our last as it were of no account full of ignorance and unexperience cosened with toys and false shews divided between folly and sin we in it with our first Father trying good and evil to our ruine But the person who hath through these fallacies attained to old age is in his last days by the long tract of time and a different truer survey of things long perused by the certainly known approach of our death and suddain departure hence invited and if true reason be followed inclined to be prudent penitent patient easily contemning and slighting what others as yet admire and not desiring what he doth or doth not possess devout and much taken up with the nobler thoughts of Eternity Again is By reason of the decays of nature and of concupiscence of the senses and appetite when God seems as it were to have drawn the Curtain between us and temptation and shut out all those enticements to offend him with which our youth is molested freed from the sins of the flesh and sensuality Is by reason of the many cheats and deceits of the world experienced by him the transitoriness of its pleasures mutability of friendships hazards and frequent cadencies from wealth and honors is I say taken no more with its flatteries and waineth himself from it as not being indeed what once it made shew of And by reason of its eyes now turned from him another way and despising his autumn and its former court-ships withdrawn from him is necessitated to more recollection and solitude and dwelling at home Is again By reason of death and his departure from hence naked and stript of all most certainly at hand disswaded from Covetousness and hoarding any more of the world's goods and invited to all works of bounty and charity and dispersing of his substance so that in reason a covetous old man should be a Monster and By reason also of his approaching passage to Eternity
and going into another life strongly invited to devotion and the making some acquaintanec beforehand with God and Heaven Is By reason of Sin 's appearing now no more unto him with a painted face but in its own natural colours and deformity after the Instruments of it decayed and goustless the pleasures spent and only a sting of conscience and fear of punishment left behind Is I say much more flexible to repentance of it and having a much greater aversion from it Is By reason of many Infirmities and diseases within contempts and affronts abroad inured also to much patience and necessitated to great mortifications So that if we measure the happiness of this life by attaining the end of our Creation the serving of God in Holiness Innocence and Vertue we find cross to the Poet That pessima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi prima venit Subit hinc prudens pia docta Senectus Nor is the former virgour of the Body in youth so desirable as the imperfections of the Soul to be loathed nor would any wise man were it in his power be content to forego all the improvements of the one to have repaired to him all the decays of the other 'T is true indeed that the more miserable and blind and molested with temptations the days of our youth are the greater miracle and more estimable is a Holy young man and such happy in his death also when it prevents old age Ne forte malitia mutaret intellectum But yet he also by arriving to old age only if persevering is to be pronounced much happier as accumulating his reward and glories in heaven by his good works so much longer multiplied here §. 21. 7. Of Sleep 1. Not indulging your self much Sleep considering that if we may number our life by the full enjoyment and use of our sensitive and rational faculties we no longer truly live than we are awake and that it is in our power so much to lengthen our life as we shorten our sleep at least that so much of it only is beneficial to us as men and as Christians wherein we are awake to perform those duties here for which we live and to be rich in good works and execute the end of our Creation Considering also the strict account which must be made of time and the shortness of that time after which no man to all eternity can work the least thing to better his condition Lastly considering That watching and abridging sleep very much tames the flesh and in the deficiency or less activity of our Spirits produceth much what the same effects upon it as Fasting renders us less disposed to vain mirth and jollity and more inclined to silence gravity recollection c. much Activity being seldome innocent And Piety as to much secular entertainments and affairs resembles an holy Somnolency 2. Measuring your rest and sleep by time not satiety and then breaking it off with violence Sleep and Lust will not be treated with This time by no means to exceed Eight hours i. e. the third part of your life More than which he that spends in sleep unjustly complains of want of time especially if for Prayer our most important business Holy men have limited it for whole Societies within the Seventh And those in a higher degree temperate have contracted sleep I mean always such a proportion thereof as satifies nature for an undrowsy dispatch of our dayly business to yet fewer hours for themselves to Five Four or perhaps less for less sleep is necessary as our dyet is more temperate and fasting best remedies its excesses and by this means adds some hours each day to our life our life i. e. that short time which we are allowed here on earth to purchase for our selves a happy Eternity Sleep also as it is shortned after some practice becomes more profound and hath in depth what it wants in length and so also is freer from troublesome and foolish dreams To a moderate and equal Diet may be also added a hard bed for the same effect we being not so apt to exceed in that which supplies our necessities without delight 3. Beginning the time allotted for your rest as soon as you conveniently can in the evening that in those morning and best hours which the world abroad usually bestows on their repose you may enjoy the more freedome for your negociations with God not importuned with company or secular Business As going to bed at Nine or Eight at night and rising in the morning at Five Four or Three if in the Summer-season 4. Repelling secular thoughts and praying when in bed you are indisposed to rest or sleep which is perhaps to some by reason of our weakness and dis-affection to Spiritual matters the best art they can use to fall asleep quickly 1. Pet. 4.7 Col. 4.2 Psal 6.6 4.4 5. In the morning not keeping your bed longer than sleeping for fear of evil thoughts As also composing your self in bed with all decency and modesty as being in the presence of and beheld by God and his Holy Angels 6. Watching sometimes on nights to Prayer and Devotion tho you make some repairs of sleep for it in the day The less distraction of sense by variety of objects the silence of midnight and terror of darkness much helping devotion And most leisure then from business therefore night-devotions much used by our Lord by his Apostles by David and other Saints See Luk. 6.12 Mar. 1.35 Matt. 14.23.25 Act. 16.25 2. Cor. 6.5 11.27 Luk. 2.37 Act. 12.12 comp 6. Psal 63.6 7.3 16.7 119.62.148 Esa 26.9 Luk. 12.37 38. Matt. 13.37 Act. 20.31 Eph. 6.18 Performing this half-clothed upon your bed rather than omit it 7. The later your serious conversion to God happens to be using so much the more diligence these ways in redeeming so much former lost time §. 22. 8. Of Recreation and Vacancy from Employment 1. Not indulging your self much time of leisure and vacancy from business and no way predisposed of In desiderio est omnis otiosus 2. Easing tediousness with variety and change of labours Digr 1. Of the many dangers from Idleness and non-imployment Digr 2. The benefit of diligently following some constant Vocation by which all Sin is excluded §. 23. 9. Of Company and secular Converse 1. Not seeking acquaintance no way necessary to us nourishing idleness and the neglect of our Vocation a temptation to make visits and go much abroad an occasion of entertainments vain expence and intemperance and as many times an effect so a cause of ambition and desire to be known whereby we subject our selves to new obligations and laws I mean of secular Civilities pretended to belong to the duty of friendship not well consistent with those laws of God to which we owe an indispensable observance Ungrateful Friendship that to please a less Friend offends a greater 2. Abstaining from much conversation and frequenting of company Cavete ab hominibus for you will get no good by them
to do well And this dedicating and consecrating of such our service to God with a Vow and the greater firmness and resolution of mind wherewith such duty is performed the offering of the tree it self as well as the fruit the will it self and the freedome wherewith God hath endowed it as well as its action this internal voluntarily contracted necessity of well doing doth as the Schoolmen observe set a much higher value on such action and render it of a far greater merit and worth with God As also the same Vows do more strongly fortify the mind against future temptations whilst it suffers not that to re-enter so easily again into deliberation which it hath already put out of its power and our former lusts or also Satan despairing as it were now to be heard makes no more assaults But these Vows or Resolutions at first are to be made only for a short time and so that with some tolerable penalty you may redeem your former liberty by obliging your self only either to do such an Act or suffer such a Mortification So often fast a meal say so many Prayers give so much Alms c. Which Penances if you do indispensably exact of your self when relaxing good Resolves you will wonder to see how small a forfeiture many times breaks-of the custome of a fault from which neither Hell could affright nor Heaven allure But at the first take heed of making any absolute and perpetual engagement for performing things that are of more perfection least Satan tempt you beyond your power of resistance when as you have not as yet gotten a perfect command over your will nor sate down first as our Lord adviseth you Luk. 14.28 c. to consult your strength whether you have forces enough to conquer your Enemy and materials enough to finish your Building and least you thus render the doing of that a sin to you which before was innocent at least and by your soaring higher than your weak wings will yet carry you you fall below your former Station and inherit a Curse from our Lord instead of a Blessing Let not thine heart be hasty saith the wise-man Eccl. 5.2.4 5. to utter any thing before God i. e. by way of promise in matters not of necessary Duty For God hath no pleasure in fools and thou must pay that which thou hast vowed Therefore better it is that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay Which in the first verse he calls a Sacrifice of Fools But a Vow releasable toties quoties upon a forfeiture especially for new beginners in a course of Piety cures all this §. 32. 18. Imposing voluntary Mortifications 1. Imposing voluntary Mortifications on your self and that for many ends 1. For a Sin committed or Duty omitted 1. To mind you more of such a sin and to help to dispose you to that contrition and affliction of spirit which is required for it and which whenever it is sincere and true doth also produce some of these external penitencies of the Body in some degree 2. To appease upon the sight of these humiliations testifying your sorrow God's present or future wrath towards it and to divert his eternal judgments and prevent also his temporal many times very heavy ones for greater sins and these judgments inflicted on sinners penitent and already reconciled See 2. Sam. 12.10 Deut. 3.25 26. 2. Chron. 16.7 8 9. 20.37 35.22 23. 2. King 20.17 18. comp 2. Chron. 32.31 c. 1. Cor. 11.30 2. Sam. 24.13 1. King 21.2 2. Chron. 33.12 Jo. 3.10 comp 7. 2. Chron. 34.17 Jer. 26.19 3. And to deter your self by these your sufferings for the past from committing the like sin for the future Thus not laying hold only on God's mercy to Sin but voluntarily siding and taking part with his justice against it not wishing or thinking fit that so much wickedness should be altogether gratis and painless remitted but for the honor of the divine justice vehemently desiring and adjudging your self to undergo some proportion of sufferings for them 2. For bringing your flesh customarily severely and hardly used to yield more facile obedience to the Spirit for the present or for the future in things of duty and times of need for he only startles not when afflictions come who doth praeoccupare tela fortunae and whose body suffers from himself what the world can threaten to it 3. For obtaining from God the gift of any spiritual Grace or temporal favour Esra 8.21 Hester 4.16 For obtaining his resolutions of our consultations doubts c. For which divine favours these rigorous Mortifications excellently prepare us and are with him most forcible 4 For obtaining the pardon of other mens Sins to whom we have relation and of whose punishments also we may and are likely to partake or relief of their miseries Psal 35.13 14. or supply of their necessities 2. In the several ways and manners of Mortifications guiding your self rather by the Example of Holy men who by the practice thereof have arrived to great Piety and from Experience recommended them than by your own Judgment which experience shews many things to operate much contrary to our former opination 3. Ingaging if need be to others your performance of these voluntary Penances and of your Vows and paying to them your forfeitures c. 4. Often melting and softening of your heart with sighs and tears Act. 20.19.31 Phil. 3 18. 2. Tim. 1.4 This is a great benefit that accrews to us from afflictions and crosses Digr The benefit of tears upon the Soul and of not restraining but cherishing the effluxes of our Compassion for our selves or for others The many several kinds of them all profitable §. 33. A Catalogue of several Mortifications A Catalogue of several sorts of Mortifications c. Digr Whereof in respect of several persons some have much greater effects than others and are also by them more willingly entertained and therefore it seems not amiss to hint some variety Humiliations of the Body by so many Meals fasting Harder cloathing as sack-cloth Lodging as lying on the ground on boards on ashes on straw In their cloaths to be the readier for rising and for their Devotions and to save the time of dressing and undressing 2. Sam. 12.16 Going bare-foot 2. Sam. 15.30 None or short Recreations Abridging the hours of rest Sleeping in our cloaths or in a seat not bed to be readier for imposed duties Punishing the Body with scourges weights hard labours c. Denying our selves for a time of what we find the occasion of a former Sin Crossing indifferent desires to learn our Sense obedience Enjoining our selves so much solitude and retirement The abstaining from such company Silence for such a time Such a proportion of alms Sending Alms abroad to Religious to the poor desiring their prayers for you in relation to such necessities as press you Sickness Persecution c. Reading so many Chapters in the Scriptures or other pious Books Meditating
eschewing evil follows the Third Viz. The positive Sanctity that God our Creator requireth of and in us consisting in the Practice of all Holy Duties and Christian Virtues Of these First In diligently doing all good we can Secondly In patiently suffering all evil together with the means to procure and preserve these Virtues For the former The practising all Holy Duties and doing Good The Duties required of a Christian are threefold 1. Towards your self Duties Moral 2. Towards your Neighbour Civil 3. Towards God Religious Living 1. Soberly 2. Righteously 3. Holily The three grand Duties mentioned in our Lord's Sermon 1. Fasting Matt. 6.16 2. Alms 6.1 3. Prayer 6.5 In the prosecution of which so far as the former Counsels are subservient to the promoting of them I shall refer you to them and forbear here a repetition §. 38. 1. To your Self 1. Then The Duties I have chosen more specially to recommend to you concerning your self and which may prepare you for the Duty you are charged with to your Neighbour and Service you owe unto God For the third depends on the second He that loveth not his Brother how can he love God 1. Jo. 4.20 And the second again depends on the first whilst your Neighbour is to be loved only as your self Matt. 22.39 are these 1. The purity and sanctification of Body By §. 39. 1. Temperance and Sobriety in Food in Apparel Lodging modest Deportment c. For the better attaining of some perfection in which Virtue I must refer you to review the former Counsels concerning diet sleep recreation sensual pleasures the avoiding usual and former occasions of sinning in § 17.20.21.22.26 Digr 1. Of the great influence the several treatment of the Body hath upon the Soul and all its actions Therefore much care to be spent upon a right government of It by him who aspires to any Holiness or Virtue Digr 2. Of the Vices opposite §. 40. n. 1. 2. Chastity where I remit you to what hath been said before of the Gift of Continency § 17. n. 4. Digr 1. Of its Contraries Adultery Fornication Self-pollution and Vncleanness unlawful and unnatural Lusts §. 40. n. 2. Of which it may be observed That with no other Passion men are so strongly assaulted as with lusts and sensual loves Therefore Hos 4.11 It is said to take away the heart No Passion that so much increaseth the desire of it the more we descend to a particular cogitation and discussion of it So that it is not to be conquered by wrestling with it but by running away from it None that in its acts so captivates and incarnates the Soul and restrains its liberty of reasoning or thinking of any thing else Therefore God in pitty to man hath provided him a lawful remedy thereof by Marriage But yet still left him under under great restraints confining him to one single person and most severely prohibiting the satiating thereof in any other way either with any other person or by himself And such sins great varieties of which are left in man's power we find above most other faults exceedingly aggravated both for the great offence they give to God's own Holiness and Purity and for the great dishonour and defilement they bring to the bodies of such persons whom he first created after his own Image and since hath made Members of the Body of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost and from the beginning hath cast a natural shame and modesty upon him as to the committing of these more than of any other Crimes And such carnal sins we also find beyond almost any other pursued with most severe judgments For all which I must recommend these Texts and Passages of Holy Scripture to your serious meditation §. 40. n. 3. 1. That amongst the works of the Flesh these sins of Vncleanness are usually set in the Front See Gal. 5.19 The works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness c. Again Col. 3.5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth that is Fornication Vncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence c. After which in the second place Vers 8. follow Anger wrath malice evil speaking or blaspemy Again 1. Cor. 6.9 Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind c shall inherit the kingdome of God Rom. 1.29 Being filled with all unrighteousness Fornication See the like 1. Cor. 5.10 11. 1. Pet. 4.3 2. Pet. 2.10 Still you see these sins as the greatest darlings of the flesh lead the whole band And these sins of Lust are they with which the Gentiles every where stand principally charged before the Light of the Gospel shone amongst them See Rom. 1.25 26 27. 1. Thess 4 5. Eph. 4.19 and which are ordinarily linked together with that of Idolatry See 1. Cor. 5.10 11. 6 9. Rev. 22.15 being a usual companion of their Idol-feasts or with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether this be taken for the coveting of persons as some understand it or of riches which is said to be Idolatry too Eph. 5.3.5 Col. 3.5 These two Harlots and Money being the two great Idols in this lower world the one or the other of which steal away mens hearts §. 40. n. 4. 2. That in these Scriptures See 1. Thess 4.3.7 8. And 1. Cor. 6. from the 13. verse to the end These Vices of Carnal Lusts are aggravated as peculiarly opposite to a certain Holiness which ought to be in the Body as well as in the Soul of all those who profess themselves Members of Christ or Members of that chast Virgin as the Apostle calls her 2. Cor. 11.2 his Spouse the Church whom he bought and purchased to himself with his own blood and life and whom he cherisheth as the same flesh and bone Eph. 5.29 30. c. and as the same Spirit 1. Cor. 6.17 with himself and for whom now is our Body as well as the Soul and the Lord for it 1. Cor. 6.13 Therefore is this Holiness of the Body both conjugal and virginal as well as of the Spirit often mentioned by the Apostle 1. Thess 4.4 This is the Will of God saith he your Sanctisication that ye should abstain from Fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel i. e. his Body See 1. Sam. 21.5 in sanctification and honour not in Lusts of Concupiscence For ver 8. God hath called us not to Vncleanness but unto Holiness And 1. Cor. 6.20 compared with Eph. 5.29 c. to the end Ye are bought with a price to be the Spouse of our Lord therefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's his Members now not yours according to 1. Cor. 7.4 The wife hath not power of her own Body No more then hath Christ's Wife or Spouse but the husband Ibid. vers 34. The Virgin saith he careth for the things of the Lord how she may please him that she
may be holy both in Body and Spirit which is a transcendent Holiness of the Body beyond the Conjugal And 2. Cor. 7.1 after the Apostle had spoken of their being God's Temples in the 6th Chapter Wherefore saith he let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit so perfecting Holiness And more expresly Flee Fornication saith he 1. Cor. 6.18 Why For every other sin that a man doth is without the Body i. e. without any proper infamy to the Body or giving the power and honour thereof to another besides our Lord Christ but he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own Body i. e. in degrading it to so base an alliance as to become the same with that vile creature with which it sinneth Therefore Eph. 5.3 4. the Apostle also peculiarly concerning this sin or any filthy discourse tending to it giveth charge that it should not be once named among such as will go for Saints But Fornication saith he and all Vncleanness or Coveteousness let it not be once named among you as becometh Saints Nor filthiness or foolish talking which are not convenient or which greatly mis-become such as you see the same phrase Rom. 1.28 And as God cast a special shame upon man in the committing of this Sin so in receiving him again after his fall into a new covenant of his Grace made with Abraham the Father of the faithful he caused the Seal thereof to be set particularly on those parts in a circumcision of them which were the instruments of Lust. In Rom. 1.26 c. We find God to abandon those who had otherwise much displeased him in their following Idols c whenas God hath left such manifest testimonies in all his creatures of himself were to the greatest disgrace and dishonour of humane nature that could be called there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in Apocal. 22.15 The Practisers of one Species thereof as if it did utterly depose us from our man-hood are called by the name of Dogs which see also in Deut. 23.18 and Phil. 3.2 for the Gnosticks stood guilty of such impurities And Job 36.14 This is pronounced as a Curse upon a Hypocrite that Vita eorum is inter effeminatos §. 40. n. 5. 3. The wrath also of God towards those Sins above others appears every where in these holy Writings most evident by whose revenge we may most rightly measure the greatness of these faults by many made so natural and excusable In 1. Thess 4.6 the Apostle warns the Thessalonians to abstain from the Fornication of the Gentiles Because the Lord saith he is the avenger of all such And Heb. 13.4 Marriage is honourable and the Bed undefiled But Whore-mongers and Adulterers God will judge And in detestation of such unlawful Lusts the Lord appointed Deut. 23.2 That a Bastard should not enter into the Congregation of the Lord until his tenth Generation And for these sins it was that God in the sacred Story inflicted those fearful Judgments to which none other can be compared For these that he drowned the world and washed away its pollution with the Flood Gen. 6.1 2. For these that he rained flaming Brimstone on Sodome and Gomorrah and purified their Land with Fire For these that all those mighty Nations were destroyed out of Canaan and their Land given to the Children of Israel See Levit. Chap. 18. Where after great variety of these sins rehearsed it follows Vers 27. For all these abominations for this name God gives to these Sins for their loathsomness have the men of the Land done that were before you and the Land is defiled and therefore in the Verse following this defiled Land is said to have spued out the inhabitants thereof For such Sin that Twenty three Thousand of the Children of Israel also fell in one day at Baal-peor before they entred Canaan See 1. Cor. 10.8 For such Sin that all the Tribe of Benjamin was cut off except only Six hundred men Judg. 20. I need not mention the Wars and Slaughter that followed upon David's Adultery and the ten Tribes rent from Solomon as a Judgment upon his being seduced to the Toleration of Idolatry by his Lusts and unlawful Marriages This is enough to shew that these Sins tho seeming most excusable and natural to Man are most abominable and loathsome to God especially since the new Contract that is made between Us and our Lord and since our Bodies are become the Temples of the Holy Ghost Which Temples 1. Cor. 3.17 saith the Apostle Whoso defileth him will God destroy §. 41. 3. Humility 2. The Purity and Sanctification of the Soul By 3. Humility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Mortification of your Reason opposite to all self-conceit of your own perfections and especially that of your Holiness and Mortifications pride hypocrisy ambition envy wrath contentions of Argument disobedience to Superiors curiosity of Science Schism Heresy and what other Vices proceed from high-mindedness §. 42. Of its Opposites 1. Rational Pride of Wit and Judgment 2. Spiritual Pride of Purity and Holiness 3. Anger against Vice aggravating of other mens faults when as Charity covereth them 1. Pet. 4.8 and beareth and hopeth all things 1. Cor. 13.7 and considereth her self lest she also be so tempted Gal. 6.1 4. Anger against Error and contending vehemently to convince those that oppose us for truth when as the wrath of man c. Jam. 1.20 And the wisdome from above is gentle c. Jam. 3.17 And the man of God should not strive 2. Tim. 2.24 And God only in his good time may reveal and convince but ordinarily we cannot Phil. 3.15 2. Tim. 2.25 To prevent which anger not easily engaging your self in every discourse nor engaged contradicting Him with whom you contest in every thing that he saith amiss but only for a very necessary Truth nor seeking any way to exasperate his Spirit or to provoke him to speak something against his conscience or to disparage and shame him §. 43. The means to attain and preserve such Humility and avoid such Pride 1. Often comparing yours with the recorded lives of former Saints or of some persons living who are very eminent in holiness but carefully avoiding any comparison with others inferior 2. Often considering 1 the great imperfection of your holy duties 2 and the good in such imperfection proceeding totally from God we being rather moved than moving as to it 3. Never judging your self by the good opinion others have of you to whom we naturally hide our weaknesses and faults shew our perfections and vertues 4. Often meditating on any singular deformities or infirmities in your body or imbecility of any faculty of your soul fancy memory elocution of any great sins or disgraces of yours past or present or considering what a one you use to be in the times of desolation and the withdrawings of God's Spirit 5. Often comparing your sins with theirs who without like mercy shewed or means for their salvation offered
the patterns of all prayer and praise for the passion of love many times holily dotes and useth to be exorbitant and unjudicial 45. Of several other ways of enlarging prayer As using the repetition of Psalms got by heart in them these being the chief stock and treasure of devotion of which whoso is well provided can never be barren or at a stand in them Meditating upon the several parts one after another of the Lord's Prayer Creed Ten Commandments Jo. 17. c. Any Psalm or Hymn Magnif Benedict Te Deum Staying upon every part so long as your imagination suggests any acceptable matter and exercising several acts of devotion as Confession Petition Praise c. according to the subject Or staying only a short set time on every one and so running through many such prayers c. at once Or staying only one respiration upon every substantial word this only to cause you to say it with more attention and devotion Taking some other place of Scripture which are not Prayers as our Saviour's Sermon the later ends of St. Paul ' s Epistles turning precepts and commands into requests Making a swift cursory over some of the Psalms and offering up what petitions and Confessions concern you Good Lord we have so many wants Spiritual and Temporal to petition thee for so many sins especially those wherein we still offend thee to ask thy pardon for so many Benefits Spiritual and Temporal to thank thee for So much wisdome mercy and justice seen in all thy works to praise thee for so many temptations and dangers from which to beg thy preservation So many businesses of our own or our Friends wherein to ask thy counsel or happily dispatched to return thee thanks So many designs of some good wherein to beg thy necessary assistance So many ways of promoting thy Glory the end of our Creation wherein to offer thee our poor service So many snares and inticements to sin to resolve against and resolutions to reiterate and further strengthen So many Relatives Spiritual and Temporal and their necessities to intercede to Thee for And will any one when he kneels down before thee say he finds nothing to say to thee or knows not how to continue prayer This will be a strange excuse of neglecting this holy duty when Thou shalt cast up our Accounts Nay what moment of our life is there wherein some or other of these do not call on us for prayer §. 128. Particularizing in our Prayers 46. Making your prayers in whatever kind Confessions or Petitions Thanksgivings or Resignations very particular and circumstantial So punctual in confessing your sins as if at the opening of the books at the last day those only of them should be found cancelled which you had often and freely confessed to him And so punctual in confessing his benefits as if the non-acknowledgment of any one received would stop the receit of any more thereafter or that those also you had should be retracted when they ceased to be commemorated 47. Laying open before him your innermost bowels communicating with him as with a friend all your counsels and purposes which will make you entertain none but good discovering to him again and again all his gifts mercies deliverances bemoaning your self to him of all your infirmities opening unto him all your wants with that particularity as if he knew nothing of them The one will make you more sensible of his goodness the other of your need of his help Reciting to and minding him of all his promises as if he had forgot them for this is as more prevalent with God so more profitable to the Soul making you to put greater confidence in them So in your petitions for any grace As for temperance c. with your prayers joyn the motives such as may conduce to breed it in you or perswade you to practice it For any necessity with your prayers joyn the motives which may incline God to grant it for these will enflame you more passionately to ask it Jer. 10.1 Jer. 32.24 Act. 22.19 20. Esa 37.14 48. Amongst many particulars singling out some more eminent sins benefits wants for which you shall more constantly beg pardon give thanks petition c. 49. Keeping a Catalogue of all your greater sins Of all God's greater and more special benefits and favors still adding to them what shall happen hereafter at set times more solemnly to be reviewed and confessed unto him 50. So likewise keeping a collection of all the Offices and eminent actions and passions of our Saviour and of the Holy Spirit in order to your Salvation to be more punctually enumerated at some times in more solemn doxologies unto them §. 129. Colloquies to be used in Prayer 51. Using in Prayer frequent Prosopopeia's Colloquies Solliloquies whereof there are five more usual 1. God speaking i. e. the Promises and Threats mentioned in Scripture unto you 2. Our Saviour Christ speaking unto you according to what he hath said in the Gospel 3. You speaking to your own Soul Ps 44. 4. Speaking to God the Father 5. Speaking to your Saviour by your imagination set before you in some such familiar posture in the Gospel as much animates your addresses These will serve much to strengthen your faith and your endeavors by thus assuming another person and being abstracted from your self We thus speaking things not so easily thought on when we act only our own persons counselling more impartially comforting more powerfully c. See Kemp. 3. l. To these Colloquies may be added sometimes those with the Creatures to praise God with us Psal 103.20 Psal 148. To submit to his Kingdome c. with us Psal 4.2 c. and those expostulations with the vain or wicked world with our flesh with our spiritual enemies with our former sins c. Wisd 5.8 1. Cor. 15.55 Psal 119.115 9.6 139.19 Mic. 7.8 Psal 118.13 4.2 §. 130. Scripture expressions 52. In all your spiritual exercises using rather scripture expressions sanctified by the Holy Spirit that spake in holy men Accepted with God and answered with blessings breeding also in your more confidence In using these changing universals into particulars instead of our we us I me c. for we are more passionate for our selves §. 131. Advantages to Prayer 53. Using when you can those advantages your Prayers receive 1. From the communion of other Saints in publick Assemblies where is your worship of God more openly profest and so he by you more glorified See Heb. 10.25 a greater promise of God's presence Matt. 18.20 a greater presence of the Angels 1. Cor. 11.10 in religious assemblies 1 1. From publick Assembles and Communion of Saints your common prayers as forces united whilst every one in the plural prays for all more powerful Graces and spiritual favours more ordinarily then bestowed Act. 2.1 4.41 13.2 1. Cor. 14.24 25.30 2. Chron. 20.14 add to these the presence of the Priest and of some men of greater sanctity more favourably heard
is the Blood of this Covenant See Exod. 24. ch Heb. 8.7 c. Heb. 10.29 12.24 comp Luk. 22.20 This Holy Ceremony being a Sacrament a Seal an Obsignation of the pardoning all former offences between the parties that were at difference and of our reconciliation with God and admittance to the hopes and lawful enjoynments of all his Blessings spiritual corporal temporal eternal Rom. 4.11 Matt. 26.28 §. 151. 4. Eucharistical 4. Being the Christians Eucharistical Sacrifice answering the Jews peace or thank-offering 1. By which Rite we commemorating Christ through whom all blessings descend to us Eph. 2.18 3.12.21 Jo. 14.13 Eph. 3 4.6 Col. 3.17 Rom. 1.8 Heb. 13.15 unto the father do bless and give him thanks for all persons and things c. 2. Then by eating and partaking of which as the Jews and also Idolaters by eating of theirs therefore the eating of the Heathens Sacrifices was always most strictly forbid the Israelites Exod. 34.15 Numb 25.2 Psal 106.18 Ezech. 18.6 we are admitted as it were to the table of our God to eat of his bread Lev. 11.6 3.11 and to amity communion fellowship with him 1. Cor. 10.14 to 22. 3. By partaking and eating of which Sacrifice being the Body and Blood of Christ we are admitted also to communion with the Son and mystically incorporated into him who is the second Adam from Heaven 1. Cor. 15. made members of his body flesh of his flesh c. and this not in a metaphor but in a great mystery Eph. 5.32 And then from being partakers of the Body become also partakers of the Spirit of Christ 1. Cor. 6.17 and see the Spirit specially conferred in the Eucharist 1. Cor. 12 13. and by it eternal life conveyed to us c. Jo. 6.58 comp 63. by which relation he becomes now obliged to nourish and cherish us c Eph. 5.30 and from partaking of the nature and spirit of this second Adam the heir of all things Heb. 1.2 Col. 1.16 become now Sons of God also as he Heirs of Eternal life as he c. as by the first Adam we were of eternal death See 1. Cor. 12 13. Eph. 4.24.5.29 c. 1. Cor. 6.19.15.17.19 Jo. 17.21.23 4.14.6.56 57. comp 1. Cor. 10.17 18 24. 4. By eating and partaking of which one bread we also become one bread amongst our selves 1. Cor. 10.17 and have Communion with all the Saints of God and partake both of the glory and benefit and service in their prayers charity sufferings c. of all the rest of the members of Christ's Body and of all the family of God as well that in heaven as that upon earth Eph. 3.15 Heb. 12.23 Col. 7.20 Eph. 2.19 Phil. 3.20 §. 152. The Christians Passover 5. Being the Christians Passover answering to and at the same time instituted instead of the Israelites Paschal Lamb the Christians breaking bread and cup of blessing or thanksgiving for these two are all one 1. Cor. 10.16 being like theirs then at that solemnity we giving thanks also at the celebration of it as they then for that in Aegypt for our everlasting redemption by the sprinkling upon us of the blood of the Lamb of God from Satan and the destroying Angel 1. Cor. 5.7 §. 153. Our duty of homage for the use of God's Creatures 6. The Christians Oblation of bread and wine and anciently other fruits or as now alms of money instead of them presented now upon God's table tho this charity far more punctually and plentifully observed in the primitive times being answerable to those customes under the law of bringing to the Lord at the Passover the first fruits Levit. 23.10.14.16 By which Oblation we acknowledging him the Lord and Doner of all good things and praising him for all the good works of the Creation do sanctify for the future the use of his Creatures do procure the continuance and increase of them to us See Deut. 16.19 1. Cor. 10.16 and all this only through Jesus Christ By whom being the natural Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 we now begin to have a new right our former being lost in Adam's fall to the Creatures before unclean unto us and defiled also with sin 1. Tim. 4.3 Rom. 14.14 Tit. 1.15 Psal 8.7 Luk. 11.41 but now sanctified through God's Word Prayer Thanksgiving and giving Alms of them done especially now at the Eucharist whilst to the unclean all things remain still unclean 1. Cor. 7.14 But then besides all those former benefits of the Creation these Symbols are at this time more specially set forth for a thankful remembrance unto God for the precious death of Christ and all other benefits of our Redemption 1. Cor. 3.21 comp 23. §. 154. The Symbol of our Resurrection and Immortality 7. Being the Christians Viaticum answering to the fruit of the Tree of life in Paradise and to the Manna and Rock-water in the Wilderness which were types of it 1. Cor. 10.2 3 4. 12 13. The particular nourishment instituted since our ejection out of Paradise for the prèserving of the Body and Soul unto everlasting life and for a particular pledge and assurance of our Resurrection Hence by Conc. Nicen. called Symbola Resurrectionis and hence that form used generally in the Church Custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam See Jo. 6.32.35.40 c. For the Son the second Adam that is a quickning Spirit 1. Cor. 15.45 hath life in himself Jo. 5.26 and therefore he that eateth him also liveth by him Jo. 6.57 §. 155. The Symbol of our Christianity 8. Being instituted for a perpetually sensible Anniversary or Memorial unto us of our Saviour's passion and donation then of himself for and also to us so to confirm our faith and hope in him and love to him and our belief of our being all united together in and amongst our selves thereby to take away all differences and encrease our love one to another As likewise for a perpetual publick external mark of the Christian profession to distinguish them from all other sects and false religions 9. Finally to summe up what is said Being the chief means worthily received of obtaining remission of sins increase of the Spirit any particular spiritual or temporal blessing or deliverances for our selves or for others All these being to be obtained only through Christ Jo. 11.46 who is in the Eucharist offered as our own to God the Father by us this given i. e. to the Father for you Luk. 22.19 And again who is in the Eucharist by the Father and by himself given to us with all the privileges that belong unto him for with him are freely given us all things else Rom. 8.29 According to the which the primitive times observed a powerful efficacy in the Sacrament for working many wonderful mercies and deliverances to God's servants Again as impetratory for mercies so this Cup of Blessing 1. Cor. 10.16 which the Priest blesseth This Cup of Salvation Psal 116.12.13.17 being the most special thanksgiving most acceptable and well pleasing
Governour and the Holy Ghost ever illuminating and sanctifying the members thereof With which Church was always established the same Covenant of Grace in Christ the same Sacraments for the substance the same way of Salvation under the same precepts through the like obedience and sufferings upon the same promises and threats of the same rewards and punishments See Heb. 11. Hence ever since the fall we find in the sacred Story as one Generation the Children of Works and born after the flesh as Cain Lamech Cam Canaan Aegypt Babylon c. so another the Children of Faith first Abel Martyr then Seth Father of the whole Race Enos Enoch Noah Shem Abraham to whom the Gospel was more fully preached and the Covenant of Faith published 430 years before the promulgation of the Law c. See all these things prosecuted at large in the forementioned Discourse §. 185. The Love and Power of the Father and the Son VII HEADS for Meditation on the several Offices and Benefits to MANKIND of the HOLY-GHOST The Holy-Ghost the Eternal Spirit of God The intimate Communion and Love of the Father and the Son the Finger of God the Strength and Power of the Father as the Son is the Wisdome of the Father the omnipotent worker of all that which the Father decrees and which the Son the word of the Father commands §. 186. The Spirit of Promise The Holy-Ghost the Holy Spirit of Promise who as the Son was a long time the Promise of the Father to this lower world so after the exhibition of our Saviour this Holy Spirit was a further promise unto it both of the Father and of the Son and at last upon the departure of the Son came down from heaven to abide and dwell with us here on earth in our Lord's absence until his second coming who as the Son was sent by the Father into the world to glorify the Father and to teach men what he had received and heard from the Father so the Holy Spirit descended to glorify the Son and to teach and bring to our remembrance to confirm and bear witness here on earth to all things that were taught and heard and received from the Son who was here pleased not only to be cohabitant with us but an inhabitant within us and vouchsafed to lodge in our persons as the Son did before to dwell in our nature making these our Bodies now the Temples of the Holy-Ghost By whom also both the Father and the Son do dwell with us and in us who put the last hand unto the great affair of our Salvation finishing the internal work thereof upon us in our Sanctification as our Saviour did before the external for us in our Redemption §. 187. The Spirit of Regeneration The Holy Ghost the Spirit of Regeneration who by his unspeakable power doth work the strange work of our second Nativity who is the seed of God by whom we are new Creatures by whom we are begotten and born again born of God and made partakers of the Divine Nature and Sons of God who is the heavenly principle derived into us from the second Adam Lord from Heaven conveying into our Soul Holiness and into our Body Immortality and Life as the flesh we received from the first Adam conveyed unto us sin and death Who being the same Spirit in us that also is in Christ is the bond of that mystical union between Jesus the Head and us the members and between us and all other fellow-members making all Christians but one and the same Body of the same temper of the same inclinations of one heart and one mind amongst our selves and with the head as being all actuated and moved by one and the same Spirit §. 188. The Spirit of Illumination The Holy-Ghost conveying its gracious Influences and Effects both into our Souls and into our Bodies Into our Souls both in our Vnderstanding and Memory and in our Will and Affections In our Vnderstanding and Memory The Spirit of Illumination who being the Spirit of God and knowing all the deep things of God as a man's Spirit doth the things of a man when as we by Adam's fall do remain miserably blinded and darkned in our Vnderstanding doth reveal unto us all the supernatural mysteries of our Redemption and Salvation and produceth in us a lively faith and credence of things not seen who beareth witness within us to all the doctrine of Christ to the truth of the Gospel and to all the promises and threats thereof by whom it is that we call Jesus Lord who is the Spirit of Truth to guide us into all Truth by whose unction we know all things beneficial to us and are every one taught of God from whom those who are his more diligent and worthy servants receive manifold revelations visions illuminations both in things of spiritual and temporal concernment both for their own edification and the edification of others knowledge of the mysteries of Religion and of the deeper sence of the word of God knowledge of things to come of the secrets of the heart of things done in absence and at the remotest distance The word of Wisdome and Counsel the gift of Eloquence and powerful perswasion Wisdome in Offices and Governments The Holy Spirit distributing unto men these several Gifts as seemeth good unto him and fit for the work wherein he imploys them And all our science being much perfecter and directed to nobler ends when this conferred by the Holy Spirit §. 189. The Spirit of Love Toward God The Holy Ghost in our Will and Affections the Spirit of Love Of Love first toward God and also towards our Neighbour Towards God who doth inflame us with an impatient love of God and things Divine who according to the promise under the Gospel writeth all God's laws in our heart and inclineth our will to obey his Commandments no more out of constraint and fear but out of choice and affection who dictateth to us all our acceptable prayers to and acceptable praises of God and leadeth the greater proficients in God's service into a perfect contemplation of and union with him Elevating them with rapts and extasies and consuming the Soul with the flames of Divine Love §. 190. Towards our Brethren The Holy-Ghost the Spirit of love to our Neighbour Who doth enflame us with a most ardent love towards our Brethren whose blessed fruits are love peace long-suffering gentleness goodness meekness by whom the Saints are rendred kind not envying not vaunting themselves above others not seeking their own not easily provoked thinking no evil bearing all things believing all things hoping all things enduring all things Who teacheth us to keep our Saviour's new Commandment of Love and bestoweth on us this most excellent gift of Charity §. 191. The Spirit of Corporal Parity and Mortification The Holy-Ghost conferring its gracious effects and influences as on the Soul so on the Body In it The Spirit of Mortification and Chastity Who continually warreth against
the flesh and delighteth in the severest afflicting and subduing thereof especially taketh pleasure in its Purity and Chastity and eminently opposeth all uncleanness and those risings of Concupiscence which sin first discovered in our first Parents Who also continually warreth against this world opposing the vain shews of this present life with the representation to the eye of Faith of the Glories of that to come Who also fighteth against Satan and being stronger than he hath cast him out and possessed his house from whose gracious descent upon our Saviour's ascension this evil Spirit hath suffered a great restraint of his former delusions by his Oracles being silenced and Idolatry destroyed §. 192. The Internal Intercessor and Advocate The Holy-Ghost the Paraclete our Intercessor and Advocate here on earth within us to the Father and as the Son is in heaven with God Who helpeth our Infirmities not knowing what we ought to pray for and maketh intercession within us for us with groans that cannot be uttered Who maketh intercessions according to the will of God because he knoweth the deep things of God and God that searcheth the heart knoweth the secret mind of this Spirit Who crieth in our hearts Abba Father and teacheth us to pray by which Spirit all our Prayers must be offered as they are offered through the Son that we may find any access unto the Father Who abiding here on earth with us is the effectual Reconciler and maker of our peace for any sins which we commit whether against the Father or the Son But when we sin against him also and make him depart from us we are desolate since there is no person any more left that can acceptably sue or make request for our pardon without this Spirit §. 193. The Internal Comforter The Holy-Ghost the Comforter whose Divine presence rendreth all sufferings not only supportable but pleasant that which is contrary to the flesh being so much the more grateful to the Spirit who graciously doth afford in all mortifications and sufferings sufficient ability internal peace and spiritual joy who freeing us from the former spirit of fear is the author of a lively constant hope and confidence in God whereby we always rejoyce in and long and wait for that blessed day of our Consummation and the appearance of our Saviour that so we may enter into the joy of our Lord. §. 194. The Spirit of Obsignation and Vnction The Holy-Ghost the Spirit of Vnction and Obsignation an Vnction and a nointing from the holy one whereby we are consecrated unto God as the Lord Jesus was and made Kings and Priests hereafter to reign under Him and to serve Him in his heavenly Temple who is the Seal of God upon us that we are already his adopted Sons and shall be Heirs of all his rich Promises in their due season who is the Earnest of his Covenant made with us and first fruits of the plentiful Harvest to come by whom we have now a foretast of those heavenly Gifts and of the good word and promise of God and of the power of Christ's Kingdome and of the world to come §. 195. The Spirit of Miracles and wonderful Works The Holy-Ghost the Spirit of Power and Might of all miraculous and wonderful Works over all the Creatures and over all the Works of Nature which at first he made Spiritual and Corporal over Satan and all his instruments expelling them and confining them at pleasure over all infirmities and diseases Who only doth great wonders upon the earth above and contrary to the course of Nature healeth the sick enlighteneth the blind strengthneth the lame restoreth the withered multiplyeth food raiseth the dead freeth the possessed cureth the wounded Soul and broken Spirit sanctifieth perverse inclinations to testify to men the power and presence of God amongst them §. 196. The Internal Seed of Immortality The Holy Ghost the Seed of Immortality in our corruptible Bodies and a fountain in us springing up unto eternal life By whose virtue and efficacy It being here sown in shame will hereafter spring up glorious weak shall come up in power natural shall come up spiritual and angelical Who dwelling in this our flesh will never forsake it until as it did raise the Body of Christ our Head from the Dead so it shall have raised up the Body of us his Members and until these Bodies also by the virtue of this Spirit shall ascend like unto his and be caught up in the Clouds to meet him Until this our vile Body shall be made like unto his glorious Body and until as we now bear the image of the earthly Adam so we shall bear the image of the heavenly into which we shall be changed by the Spirit of the Lord from Glory to Glory till with the Angels and Saints the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs we be all made one in God and God all in all To whom be given all Glory unto all Eternity Amen FINIS LITANIES The LITANY to the Sacred Trinity O God the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the World Have c. O God the Holy-Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son Have mercy on us O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity three Persons and one God Have mercy on us Holy Holy Holy Lord God Omnipotent which art which wast and art to come Have mercy on us Who manifested'st thy Name I am that I am to Moses whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain and the whole Earth is filled with thy Majesty Have mercy on us Everlasting King Immortal Invisible who inhabitest that Light unto which no man can approach great in counsel and mighty in work and of whose wisdome there is no end Have mercy on us Who only dost great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number who workest all things according to the purpose of thy will and madest all things for thy self Have mercy on us One God and Father of us all who art above all and thro all and in us all from whom by whom and in whom are all things in whom we live and have our Being Have mercy on us Who hast disposed all things in number weight and measure who madest heaven and earth and all things therein who createdst the earth by thy power and the universe by thy wisdome Have mercy on us The Lord forming light and creating darkness making peace and creating evil in whose hands is the life of every living thing and the breath of all flesh Have c. The Lord that searchest the heart and triest the reins who quicknest the dead and callest those things that are not as if they were whose eyes are brighter than the Sun beholding all the ways of men Have mercy on us On whom the eyes of all wait and thou givest their meat in due season who openest thy hand and fillest with thy blessing every living thing Have mercy on us Who executest judgment for the oppressed who givest food to the hungry