laboriously wicked and for a profitable iniquity think it no loss to be thrivingly damn'd Are there not nobler wayes of living then by losing our names and Souls at once Is infidelity a preservative against misery and must we build our supports on the ruines of our faith Piety makes no man poorer nor does religion robbe us of our enjoyments but makes them sweeter Our contentments are not lessened but enlarged and lengthned by adoring the Giver nor is he the further from but the neerer to a blessing that begins with Heaven and preferres his Saviour before the World Designes thus founded are not ever unfortunate and he that plots for his Soul as well as his body shall learne a policy will bafle the World and non-plus its wisest Generations when after all his losses he shall finde a reward richer then all the revenues of the Earth together And yet so insensible are we O Lord both of thy Glory and our own felicity that we can entertaine any thing with more pleasure then the thoughts of an eternity we can spend the allowance of our time in sin and sacrifice even all our yeares to vice but count a moment too long too much to be employed in thy service we can dwell and drown our selves in pleasures and think a few spare minutes a faire gift of time for our devotion The treasures of the world are a poore gaine for the Morgage of a Soul and the losse of thy favour even the richest enjoyments of this life are but wretched contentments without Thee Do thou therefore elevate our Souls and withdraw them from these beggerly elements to purer and more celestiall addresses let thy Kingdome be not our refuge onely but our choice and the perfect resolution of our souls to despise the flatteries of the world for that glory which nothing but our sins can deprive us of And as thou hast made us for thy self O Lord inable us to continue so that as we have received all that we have from thy bounty we may sacrifice all our desires to thy glory knowing that as nothing in this life can make us happy without thee so nothing can make him miserable that hath Thy Kingdome for his Inheritance A Prayer O Lord who inhabitest Eternity Thou art Exalted above all Principalities and powers Saints and Seraphims are ravished with thy Glory Angels and Archangels adore thy Greatnesse Holinesse and Honour waite upon Thy Throne the Scepter of thy Kingdome is an everlasting Scepter Thou lovest Righteousnesse and hatest iniquity and therefore they that come before Thee must worship Thee in Spirit and in Truth if they would be either heard or received of Thee Wee confess we are not worthy to appeare in Thy Presence that can present unto Thee no other offering than Sinfull and deformed Soules which deserve no longer to be accounted thine having lost that purity and likenesse which made them so We are not worthy to receive any more tenders of Mercy that have so often despised it nor to see what is the riches of thy Love that have so unworthily preferred the trifles of this Life before the treasures of thy Grace Thou mad'st it the end of our Creation that we should Glorifie Thee but we of all thy Creatures have least performed it That time which we should have employed in adorning and devoting our lives to thy Worship which is our most rationall and religious service have we Sacrificed to sinne and the pleasures of the World Thou art so infinitely Good that thou desirest but unfaigned Sorrow for sinne to excuse it and yet so miserable and deeply guilty are we that we cannot bring so much as humble and contrite Spirits to plead for our selves Thou didst so love the World that Thou sentest thy Son to dye for it But we have so lov'd the World that we have despised Heaven and our Saviour rejected the Holy One whom Thou hast sent and by our unworthy lives dishonoured that happy Name whereby we are called Thine and intitled to thy Kingdome But though our sinnes cry aloud for punishment yet the voyce of thine owne mercy and Our Saviours blood begs more powerfully for Pardon O Let His Sufferings be our reconciliation his punishment for sin our freedome from it let the bitternesse of thy wrath on Him be turn'd into the sweetnesse of thy love to us that his crosse may be our triumph and the merits of his passion the purchase of our peace and grant that having obtained mercy we may walk accordingly that being bought for heaven we may no more sell our selves to sin nor prefer a few moments of pleasure before an eternity of joy Make us to consider those Divine ties that bind us to serve Thee the infinit and abundant testimonies of thy love which invite our gratitude and that happinesse which is the reward of them that seek Thee O let not the motions of sinne be more powerfull in us than the obligations of thy grace nor the pleasures of this life of more value to us than the joyes that are to come But make us to walke cheerfully in that way which thou hast set before us that our temptations may but strengthen us more that neither the crosses nor yet the pleasures of this life may be able to deject or drowne our piety but that in whatsoever condition wee are we may be still found crowned and triumphing in faith O thou infinite Goodness teach us to a dore Thee with our whole heart and to conforme our lives unto thy law with a perfect constancy Make us to consider that exceeding weight of glory which thou hast promised to those that strive to conquer the world for thy sake O let those joyes which are so much above our thoughts be ever in them let our inability to comprehend the happinesse of thy kingdome heighten the piety of our Ambition after it more that the greater thy goodnesse is the greater may our desire after it be the greater thy love the greater our obedience and the lesser our deserts the greater our humility Make us to see the litle use but the great vanity of this world that so the pleasures of it may not steale away our hearts from the contemplation of a better but that our lives may be a perfect and perpetuall sacrifice of obedience ever pleasing in thy eyes O let thy service be ever most delightfull to us that we may labour to improove our selves before Thee by our inward and onely desires after thee that whatever defects attend our actions this may be inseparable in us even to feare thy name That so leading holy lives here we may lead happy and heavenly lives hereafter and being filled with Righteousnesse we may be filled with glory and possesse joyes unspeakable for evermore A Poenitentiall Prayer THe flesh evermore rebelleth against the spirit in me O my God and the infirmities of my nature are too strong for me of my self to conquer Behold how my frailties fight against my soul and have
wounded me before thee O shall my sins be stronger then thy grace and the errours of my life more powerfull then thy law The pious incense of a contrite spirit is a sacrifice thou dost not usally despise and O that I could exhale my selfe in showres and drop away my soul in teares that my iniquities could fly away in sighs and the guilt of my life be wip't off in religious streams Pitty my irregularities O Lord and forgive my crimes how long shall I groan under the bondage of sin and weary thee too with the burden of my corruptions Thou delight'st to pardon sin and shall mine remaine Thou desirest not the death of thy creatures and shall I be forsaken I cannot live without Thee nor enjoy the comfort of my very being till thou revive me 't is better I had not beene than that I should lose Thee and 't is better I should be no more for ever then not regain and find Thee Return O thou comfort of my soule and fill me with thy love Purge the stains and wash away the blemishes of my life by thine own blood renew quicken my spirit with the joyes of Thine Sanctifie my will with a pleasing obedience unto thine let the merits of my Saviour's righteousness beautifie my soule cloathing me with innocence and purity of heart here and everlasting immortality in thy kingdome hereafter A Prayer of Thanksgiving MY deare and glorious Maker what shall I render unto Thee for all thy mercies There hath not a moment of my life past by without being made happy to me by some token of thy love Thou didst purifie my birth by Baptism I was no sooner come into the world but thou didst seale me for Heaven taking away the guilt which no innocency but that of Jesus could conceal or pardon and abolishing those characters of sin and death which were so inseparably imprinted on my nature that no law but that of thy spirit could wipe away and having brought mee into the bosome of thine owne Spouse and plac't me amongst thy children hast fed me with continuall mercies and meanes of grace that I might see there hath been no defect in thy goodness but my acknowledgments nor in thy promises but my performances And indeed my God I cannot looke upon these obligations without horrour for my ingratitude nor remember these pretious testimonies of thy love without a religious confusion of soul for my great neglect and forgetfullnesse of thee Nor can I plead an excuse in the weakenesse of nature onely for those sins I have been too willing a comitter of And yet my God behold how thou hast loved me sending thy son to reconcile me to thy selfe that I might find access unto thy Throne and inherit the joyes of thy kingdom Behold how thou hast loved me in reprieving me from that wrath my sins have long ago deserved and as if thou didst not or wouldst not take notice of my crimes hast made me an object of thy care and an example of thy love abounding in perpetuall dispensations of mercy to my soul I will therfore sacrifice my selfe O Lord in prayses to thy name and in the memory of thy goodnesse keep an everlasting Jubilee in my soul thou hast shewn me the way unto thy Selfe and that in Thee onely are hid all the treasures of my happinesse I will be no longer then a servant to the world and bestow the nobler addresses of my soul on perishing and empty nothings and for a poor fugitive drop here below lose Thee the ocean of bliss and glory And that I may despise the flatteries of the world O Lord do thou inspire me with desires after Thee only and inable me to do something for thy sake who hast don somuch to make me happy that so my life may be a sacrifice of obedience ever pleasing in thy eyes The Index Meditations on Eccles 12. v. 1. Remember now thy Creatour in the dayes of thy Youth Fol. 1. Gen. 12. v. 8. And the Lord God Planted a Garden East-ward in Eden 5 1 Kings 10. v. 18. Moreover the King made a great throne of Ivory and over-laid it with the best Gold 9. 1 Kings 19.9 And He came thither unto a Cave and lodged there 11 Job 11.10 In all this did not Job sin with his Lips 14 Canticles 2.1 I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lillie of the Valleys 17 Gen. 28.12 And he dreamed and behold a Ladder set upon the Earth c. 19 Prov. 18.14 But a wounded Spirit who can beare 23 Eccles 12.13 Feare God and keep his Commandements c. 27 Luke 10.25 And a certaine Lawyer stood up and Tempted him saying Master What shall I do c. 31 Matth. 15.28 And He said unto her O woman great is thy faith 35 Joh. 20.11 And she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher 39 John 11.35 Jesus wept 42 Joh. 12.2 But Lazarus was one of those that sate at the Table with Him 45 Joh. 13.23 Now there was Leaning on Jesus Bosome one of his Disciples whom Jesus loved 48 Matth. 16.26 For what is a man profited if he gaine the whole world and lose c. 51 Matth. 5. v. 8. Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see God 56 Matth. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt Thou canst make me cleane 60 Matth. 24.39 And knew not untill the flood came and took them all away 64 Luke 7.5 For He Loved our Nation and hath built us a Synagogue 67 Luke 9.57 Lord I will follow Thee wheresoever Thou goest 71 Matth. 9.38 Pray yee therefore the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth more labourers into his Harvest 75 Matth. 2.10 And when they saw the Star they rejoyced with exceeding c. 78 Philip. 4.12 I know both how to abound and to suffer need 81 Luke 19.9 This day is Salvation come to this house 85 Matth. 13.43 Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun c. 89 Luke 18.11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed thus God I thank thee c. 93 Rom. c. 6. v. 21. For the end of those things is Death 96 Luke c. 15. v. 10. There is joy in the presence of the Angells of God over one sinner that repenteth 101 Matth. c. 6. v. 33. But seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousnesse and all these things shall be added unto you 104 A Prayer 111 A Penitentiall Prayer 114 A Prayer of Thanksgiving 119 FINIS
little dreaming of their deaths are shipwrackt in their very houses in the midst of their pleasures being fatally suprized by a terrible and unwelcome guest So righteous art Thou O Lord and infinitely pure that thy Justice though it may seeme to winke at yet will not pardon impenitence nor passe by the resolv'd impieties of wilfull transgressours and yet so infinitely good that thou never heightenest thy punishments but when men do their iniquities nor are thy judgments epidemicall but when sin is so Thou that desirest not the death of a sinner wouldst not have destroyed so many even all had not their transgressions been so universally prodigious that they came up in a cry together to pull downe thy justice And though thou hast since out of the greatnesse of thy love and compassion promised a security from the same yet not from all punishment Let the memory therefore of those that perisht by thy wrath for their neglect remind us of our duty and thy glory that so the examples of thy judgments upon others may teach us by a lively repentance to prevent our owne Luke Chap. 7. v. 5. For he loveth our nation and hath built us a Synagogue BEhold the character of a good Magistrate one that might well be styled the father of his country though a Roman whose patronage so eminently extended itselfe over both and the best part of their commonwealth This man was Cheife not onely in place but in piety too all Judea could not match him which since it lost its freedome was not wont to find or enjoy the happinesse of such Rulers and had they not hated Idolatry they would have worshipped this lover of their nation Herod indeed did re-build their Temple but it was more for feare then love 't was not out of piety but policy the better to get the crowne 't was his ambition not his devotion that founded that stately edifice not somuch out of zeale to God or his countrey as out of pure religion of becoming King Such is the Sanctity of the world which makes Gods Honour not the foundation but a passage to their owne turnes religion into a footstool for ambition and makes heavenly pretensions a stair-case to iniquity The Centurion here was a benefactor to the Nation out of pure zeal and if not of their religion yet a great freind to it whose charity not content to shew it selfe in the management of their civill interests only so nobly employed its power for the good of their souls and Church Unlike the Rulers of the world whose Religion it is to have none at all and are such lovers of sacred Foundations that instead of laying new they are the onely new fashion Templers that dare fight for to ruine the old and defend their pulling down Piety is lovely even in the meanest but in Kings and governours it carries a splendour like those rayes that surround the head of a pictur'd Saint Pyramids whose proud-reach dares justle the clouds and make them stumble in their race Piles of Alablaster carv'd to various shapes and pictures lively as the dead and the more like because both breathlesse Tombes of marble Vaults of brass are but poor monuments worthlesse conservatours to that building without hands wherein deceased Piety eternally shall live The Centurion here by building Synagogues rais'd a structure to his owne memory that hath out lasted them and the Jewes ravish't with such unwonted favours in a Ruler to expresse their Gratitude run in streames to Jesus and petition him to heal his Son pressing him with an argument of great force with them for He hath loved our Nation and built us a Synagogue Such honour have all they that Honour Thee O Lord whose zeale for thy Glory seldome returnes empty to themselves the meanest offering to thy Altar is not onely accepted but rewarded too and they that make it their Ambition to exalt thy Name shall not have theirs forgotten Let not those that knew Thee not be more passionate for thy Glory then we whose very Profession ought to adorne our Religion whose bodies ought to become Temples fit to entertaine thy Spirit the spirit of Holinesse of Love Thou wilt now no more be worshipt in Synagogues but more spirituall Assemblies Teach us therefore to turne our souls into Sanctuaries and to raise up our thoughts in more lively addresses that we may not so much endeavour to obtaine the worlds time by a moral fame as by the Sacrifice of obedience the Righteousnesse of eternity Luke Chap. 9. v. 57. Lord I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest IT was the best resolution he ever made nor can any blame him for his boldnesse when it was his glory to have been an intruder he might have gone on long and farre enough and not have met with such heavenly Company Was it his Confidence or his Love to Jesus that put him on See with how pious an importunity he accosts him whom perhaps he had never seen nor known before but by his Miracles onely and that life which so astonish't the eyes of the world could not but attract his and his heart too and therefore thinking it no presumption to use all meanes of bettering himselfe nor willing to lose so fair an opportunity of becoming happy ambitious of an admission all in raptures without any other Complement then an humble earnestnesse salutes Him Lord c. Nor could our Saviour's poverty stop or weaken his resolve or discourage his intention being not onely Content but Ambitious to share even in the miseries of so good a Master in whose very wants he should find a felicity beyond all the enjoyments of the earth Is not this Man a president for the whole world He that will not follow Jesus out of love yet let him not for shame suffer a Jew or Publican to out-step and strip him too Are the joyes of an everlasting Blisse of so poor a value that they are not worth the coming to or shal we think any step too weary that brings us to happinesse Were the way to heaven but strewed with roses or a thousand pleasures to revive the flesh the sensualist would turne a constant walker there and be the formost in those pathes the rich Man cannot follow Jesus for his pretious Luggage with which because he cannot without it he will not stirre The Epicure will not be of a Religion that prescribes him temperance for although perhaps he might make a shift to pray he cannot tell how to fast The way to heaven is too narrow for Ambition whose lofty port loves not to be strained in its passage but must have a road wide as the world or Hell can make him wherein his traine of sinfull glories may follow him in a breast together So difficult a thing it is to leave the world even for heaven and strive against the blandishments of sense for an invaluable blisse as if all our hopes all our happinesse were lap 't and tied up in the Concernments of this