ye have robbed me even this whole Nation And now that this is applicable to us under the Gospel and that we have the same divine Right and Support herein is clearly evident in 1 Cor. 1.13 14. Do ye not know that they who minister about holy things live of the Sacrifice and they who wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar Even so hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel And the reason hereof is plain in verse 12. If we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great matter if we shall reap your worldly things And further to add a few more Scripture Testimonies for a general Reformation Ought not every Parent and head of a Family to resolve with Joshua c. 24.15 As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. And with holy David That only they who fear the Lord shall dwell in his House that a Lyar shall not dwell in his sight that the ungodly shall be far from him and that he will not know a wicked Person And with Solomon To train up their Children in the way they should go that when they are old they may not depart from it Prov. 22.6 And for effecting all this use good Conversation Reading and Praying with thy Family and constantly resort to God's House of Prayer with all Reverence Devotion Humility and Piety behaving thy self in all decently orderly according to the most excellent Rules of our establish'd Church wherein hold ye fast the Profession of your Faith without wavering not forsaking the assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is For thus God hath shewed thee Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and walk humbly with thy God Mic. 6.8 Thus I draw to a conclusion proceeding to the remaining Rules of our Meditation As O taste then my Soul and see how good the Lord my strength is 8. The Taste of our Meditation Chuse now to go to the House of Mourning rather than the House of Feasting Is not one day in the Lords Courts better than a thousand And who would not rather be a Door-keeper in the House of his God than to dwell in Tents of Ungodliness Yea wouldst thou not chuse rather Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season But O how amiable are thy Dwellings thou Lord of Hosts My Soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord my Heart and my Flesh rejoyce in the living God Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be always praising thee Blessed is the Man whose strength is in thee in whose Heart are thy ways who going through the vale of Misery use it for a Well and the Pools are filled with Water they will go from strength to strength and unto the God of Gods appeareth every one of them in Sion But O my vileness and corruption 9. The Complaint the Wish the Confession behold I was born in sin and in iniquity did my Mother conceive me My Nature is wholly tainted and defil'd I am all over wounds and bruises and putrifying Sores I have too long liv'd in Ungodliness I have Eyes to pluck out and hands to cut off I have too many bewitching Darlings to part with and I am overwhelm'd with evil pester'd with infections cover'd with guiltiness and surrounded with charming and violent Temptations O would to God I had never known these Would I had begun the real renouncing of them sooner Would I had endeavour'd after a more early Innocence and more timely performance of my Vows and Duty But yet O Lord thou wilt not cast me off uttely thou only canst raise me and make me clean Tho' my horrible guiltiness makes me tremble to approach thee yet where shall my polluted Soul be washt if not in the Fountain which thou hast open'd for sin and for uncleanness tho the Flesh is weak yet the Spirit is ready and willing and tho' after all my best Righteousnesses will be but as filthy Rags and when I have done my utmost I must still acknowledge my self an unprofitable Servant Yet say the word only O my God I will be thou clean O Lord God of Hosts hear my Prayer hearken O God of Jacob 10. The Petition and Enforcement have mercy upon me O Lord after thy great Goodness and according to the multitude of thy Mercies do away mine Offences Accept of my infirm Faith and Repentance and grant me the application of my Saviour's Merits and unsinning Obedience then and thus alone can I be presented pure and unblameable and unreproveable in thy sight This O Lord I believe upon my sincere Repentance this thou hast promis'd and thus hast thou receiv'd returning Sinners yea thus hast thou met the Prodigal Sons Why dost thou doubt then O my Soul 11. Lastly the Assurance Confidence and Thanksgiving Why art thou so full of heaviness and so disquieted within me Put thy trust in God for he is thy Helper and the strength of thy Salvation thou art secure and happy in the Divine Word thy Conversion Humility Contrition thy Love and Devotion are accepted the guilt of thy sin is wash'd away in thy Saviour's Blood and the power thereof subdu'd by his grace Thy loathsom Issues are already stanched and thy Sicknesses will not be unto death but to the glory of God's Mercy in pardoning to the glory of his grace in purifying so polluted a Wretch Christ is thy ransom the Holy Spirit thy guide and the Almighty Father thy qeconciled Friend and Protector Fear not then my Soul only sin no more beware both of Presumption and Despair and in an holy awe and reverence endeavour to sight manfully under Christ's Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and to continue his faithful Souldier and Servant unto thy lives end For the Lord God is thy Light and Defence the Lord will give Grace and Worship and no good thing will he with-hold from them that live a godly Life O sing Praises sing Praises unto our God sing Praises to our King and Saviour O sing ye Praises with understanding While I live will I praise the Lord yea as long as I have any breath I will sing Praises unto my God Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Now thus have I briefly gone thro' the Rules laid down by the Godly and Learned Bishop Hall in his Art of Divine Meditation whereto as also to the pious Dr. Horneck 's Great Law of Consideration I refer the Readers for your complete Instruction in this useful excellent and necessary Duty which ransacks our deep and false hearts weans us from the World finds out and expels our secret Enemies which prevents temptations chears up our Solitariness tempers our
New Prayers AND MEDITATIONS WITH Pious Exhortations FOR Fast-Days Pursuant to their MAJESTIES King WILLIAM and Queen MARY'S Injunctions to Suppress Irreligion and Prophaneness By Tho. Watts Vicar of Orpington and St. Mary Crey in KENT Except ye Repent ye shall all likewise Perish Luke 13.3 5. LONDON Printed for John Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Corn-Hill 1692. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO HIS Ever Honoured Friend the Reverend William Asheton D.D. Rector of Beckenham Reverend and worthy Sir YOur late Approbation of my good and zealous design herein however meanly manag'd by so young helpless and unqualify'd an Author emboldens me to this Publication under your Name which has so well merited of the Christian Church That I cannot but find Protection hereby from the Insolencies and Affronts of Scorn and Prejudice and from all the open Injuries of unjust Censure and uncharitableness Though Pride Worldliness and Hypocrisie may still prove irrefragable and constantly undermine the Plain-dealer Yet alass this Grievance is nothing to that common Infidelity Prophaneness and Irreligion uncontroulably revelling in this confused Age and impudently confronting every thing Just and sacred doing all possible despight to God and his Church This intolerable madness with those many-headed Monsters every where rending Christs seamless Coat cry aloud for speedy suppression or woful vengeance upon a stupid People which latter nothing surely can now prevent but either an Universal Reformation and unanimous Piety or a due execution of Primitive Discipline which the Gospel authorises which our more Zealous and Godly Forefathers exercised under the hottest Persecutions which the Greek Church has all along maintain'd under Turkish Bondage and which alass our holy Establish'd Church could not thus long have only wish'd and annually hop'd for in vain were not here more fatal and general Corruptions and more daring Impiety than any where else as consequently more dreadful will be our Desolation which nothing certainly but Gods infinite mercy through the merits of our gracious Redeemer hearkening to the Prayers and Tears of some faithful Sons of Abraham amongst us hath hitherto delayed Now therefore since only gentle perswasion remains since we are to preach in Season and of Season to Rebuke and Exhort and not wilfully to neglect any means of informing our selves or instructing others And since we must be careful of mistakes and resolvedly honest not to concel any part of our Duty from our Flocks And since it is high time for the Priests the Ministers of the Lord to weep between the Porch and the Altar and to say Spare thy People O Lord and give not thine Heritage to reproach Who can blame me for or how can I excuse my self from such poor endeavours as my double charge and circumstances can allow which otherwise perhaps might produce something more correct and elaborate and thus far more useful c. However give me leave Sir thus to attend you as my Gamaliel and in an humble tho faint imitation and even in as great a distance as your noble endowments and excellent Abilities have set me thus to presume upon admiration of your Zeal and vigilance your Piety and goodness your publick Spirited Charity and Justice your profound Judgment and Prudence and your constant meekness and affability so well know to the World in your many Beneficial Writings and Conversation at home and abroad This without Compliment or flattery which can't be here and which has always been far from my Temper I shall only mention and thus beg your favourable acceptance hereof in Testimony of those many condescending favours bestow'd upon your unworthy and ever Obliged Humble Servant Thomas Watts Orpington Jan. 23. 1692. THE PREFACE TO HIS Beloved Friends AND PARISHIONERS Grace Peace and Love be multiplyed for ever My Friends and Brethren THis small Treatise I present you with now as a seasonable New years gift desiring your candid acceptance and serious perusal hereof and most humbly beseeching our Heavenly Father so to influence us all with the graces of his holy Spirit that we may see our Errors amend our lives daily and both know and do the things which belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes For sudden Desolation or impending Ruin may fall upon us and however Death which is appointed once for all Men will be our infallible Lot and then we shall be past doing our selves any good for in the Grace no Man remembreth God or giveth him thanks in the Pit and after Death follows certain judgment and then we shall have nothing to do but see our selves either sav'd or damn'd to all Eternity Wherefore as we value either and as we believe we have immortal Souls within us which will once be separated from our Bodies and be united to them again in the general Resurrection at the great aad last Assize of all Mankind So we should be careful of our behaviour in this Life and constantly endeavour our utmust Conformity to the will of our Almighty Creator and Redeemer Which all of us must needs in some measure understand and which not the meanest Capacity among us can plead invincible ignorance of and no other is in the least excusable especially under this clear shining Light of the Gospel and the frequent due Administration of Gods Holy Word and Sacraments in the Communion of a visible Church which we have all been long miraculously blessed with insomuch that we above will People in the Earth have the greatest inducements and obligations both upon the safe Principle of our truest Interests and upon the nobler divine Principle of Love and gratitude to worship and obey our mereiful Lord to glorifie his holy Name before the World in an universal and ready performance of our Religious Duties and thus to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling Yet alass how lukewarm yea how cold and indifferent are the generality of us herein Even to a downright Prophaneness Irreligion in some and a Supine Neglect and Stupidity in others and a superficial careless observance hereof in most How do we thus obstinately or idly contemn and disregard the common means of grace and Salvation ordain'd by our Lord himself in his Church Militant here Wherein to be short all such are most eminently sinful and guilty whom the learned Doctor Sherlock most piously and rationally confutes and instructs in his Practical Discourse of Religions Assemblies a Book worthy the Perusal of every Christian out of which I shall crave leave to enumerate them Aâ—â—l Those who wholly or for the most part absent themselves from the Publick Assemblies of Christians and these are of three sorts First Those who forsake Religious Assemblies out of Prophaneness for want of a due Sense of any Religion or in contempt of it II. Those who forsake Religious Assemblies for want of a due sense of the necessity and advantage of Publick Worship who do not go to Church because they think they can Worship God as well at home in their Closets or Families
depraved Will lay thy self prostrate before the Throne of Grace cry mightily to God for Pardon and Mercy and begin now to wash off thy filthiness in the Tears of Penitence fly to the laver of Regeneration and pray for divine help in the due knowledge and performance hereof and for this end consider my Soul what is this Repentance is it not a Sorrow for sin A due sense and acknowledgment with an utter abhorrence of all Impiety 2. The descrip and division and an entire Reformation of Life Is it not a Mourning in a more doleful manner than was heretofore signifyed by the external signs of Sackcloth and Ashes And is it not a weeping an inward roaring disquietness and grief with stronger crying and Tears then can be express'd by rending the Hair and Garments and besmearing the Face For this is a rending of the Heart afflicting the Mind and Soul creating such a troubled Spirit such a broken and contrite Heart as God may not despise and thus true and sincere Repentance consists of these three Parts Confession Contrition and firm Resolution of Amendment with actual Deeds of a new and throughly Reformed Life O set about this then betimes and view thy necessary Obligations and Incouragements hereto do not the Commands of thy Creator and Redeemer at all move thee 3. The Causes Does not Love Justice and Gratitude compell thee to this Duty Will not the experienc'd Abomination and Odiousness the ridiculous Folly and Vanity the sordid irksome drudgery the manifest Evils Mischiefs and dangers and even the self-punishment of sin force thee to Repent Or may not the most benigh and bountiful Offers of heavenly Grace and assistance the assured hopes of Gods favour here and glory hereafter or the inevitable privation of these in insuportable Misery and an Eternity of Torments drive thee to work out thy own Salvation with fear and Trembling Oh will neither the greatest benefits the most earnest invitations and charming Inducements on the one hand nor the dreaded displeasures certain Vengeance and Terrours of the Lord on the other perswade thee Or dost thou not remember thy Baptismal Vows and repeated Promises and Resolutions with thy manifold breaches thereof adding the worse of Perjury Rebellion and Treachery to the black and dismal Catalogue of thine innumerable transgressions But further do not Nature and Conscience check and inform thee Do not the invisible Motions and secret whisperings of the Blessed Spirit instruct and reprove thee And do not the sacred Ordinances of God and his Church whereof thou art a sworn Member or the ordinary visible means of Grace and Salvation in the solemn Administration of God's holy Word Rites and Sacraments remind thee of all And do not thus thy lawful Pastors and Teachers those Stewards of the unfathomable Mysteries and Embassadors of Heaven cry aloud lift up their Voices like Trumpets and call frequently upon thee to turn from thy Evil Ways and live Enough enough I groan under the intolerable weight of sin my bones are broken my heart is contrite my Spirit Heavy my flesh 4. The Effects my wounds stink and are corrupt I am abominable and loathsome I abhor my self in dust and ashes in great bitterness and anguish I cry unto the Lord I call upon my blessed Physician for ease comfort and freedom for help and Pardon I loath the mire which I have been long wallowing in I run with horrour and amazement from the fatal Precipice which I was tumbling down I have laid hold upon the Horns of the Altar and fled to the Sanctuary and now methinks I am almost rap'd up into the third Heaven I am risen from death I am flying in Ahrahams Bosom I admire and love the Life of the Saints and I long to be triumphant with them above Since now my God thou hast mercifully cleansed and heal'd me thou hast purg'd me with Hyssop thou hast wash'd me and made me whiter than Snow yea thou hast made me hear of joy and gladness in turning thy Face from my misdeeds blotting out my Transgressions with thy Blood nailing them to thy Cross and renewing in me a clean Heart and a right Spirit therefore will I rejoice in thy Salvation I will love thy gracious Precepts and in love will I ever obey thy holy good and just Laws O stablish me with thy free Spirit that I may teach thy Ways unto the Wicked and Sinners shall be converted unto thee O satisfie me with the Pleasures of thy House let me dwell in thy Temple and wait at thine Altar yea thus let me live that I may never be disappointed of my hope O come Lord Jesus come quickly and let thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven But Lord what is Man that thou shouldest be thus mindful of him 5. The Subjects and Adjuncts or the Son of Man that thou shouldest so regard him Man whom thou didst make after thine own Image didst indow with Innocence seat in paradise and gavest him Dominion over all the works of thy hands yet Man who so soon fell and was so wretchedly tempted to a fatal sin by the miserable Serpent Man who thus brought the Devil sin Death and Hell with all Temporal and Eternal Curses and Plagues upon himself Yet Man whom thou hast prodigiously thro' meer Compassion and infinite loving kindness redeem'd O Father by the Incarnation and Blood of thine own eternal and only begotten Son and Man of whom thou requirest no more than Faith and Repentance and a godly righteous sober living according to thy most reasonable and upright Laws which alone can render him happy both here and hereafter For is not Godliness O my Soul profitable unto all things having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come and yet O Man why dost thou sin why dost thou remain still disobedient and prove the only Rebel of the whole Creation Dost thou not know that God is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity Dost thou not see the Devil prevailing upon the weakness of thy Flesh alluring thee with Worldly Vanities enslaving and fettering thee only to secure thy Soul and Body for his eternal Torments dost thou not perceive thy barbarous Ingratitude in making thy dear Saviour bleed afresh by thy blasphemy prophaneness irreligion by thy Covetousness uncharitableness oppression cruelty prodigality worldly-mindedness by thy Luciferian pride arrogance presumption hypocrise Schism Heresie Ambition Lust Rage Intemperance with all the Brutal Vices Diabolical Villanies and innumerable wilful Transgressions daily and impenitently perpetrated in the World Why dost thou not cast off this old Man Why dost thou not seek to be renewed O seek to the Lord to heal thee of these Ulcers and to expell these torturing Feavers hast thou not the means before thee canst thou not fast and pray without which this kind goeth not forth canst thou not abstain and mortify and bring thy Body in Subjection to thy Soul canst thou not deny