Mature Determinations deep Notions holy and pious Counsels for the Teaching and Carrying on of thy Flock That we may be as precious Jewels to inrich the World Communicate unto us the Sublime Mysteries of Divine Revelation That our Lips may drop the Words of Life And that our Tongues may be as a Tree of Life whose leaves are Medicinable Give unto us the Light of Divine Knowledge in the Purity of Divine Truth Inrich us in all Knowledg in all Utterance and in all Workman ship Inlighten our Eyes that we may see quite through the Depths of Divinity Reveal unto us by thy Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God Give us leave to plow with thy Heifer and we shall find out the Riddls Great is the Mystrey of Godliness Who is sufficient for these things Attract our Minds by thy Spirit that our Flight may be high and we shall sing more sweetly Suffer not the Sun to go down over the Prophets let it not be dark over their Heads Fill us with the Spirit of God in Wisdom in Understanding in Knowledg and in Workmanship that we may undeceive many Make us Pastors according to thy own Heart that we may feed thy People with Wisdom and Understanding Furnish us with all the Requisites that should belong to Gospel Ministers So qualifie us with Ability and Integrity that Envy her self may be forced to confess that we are Workmen that need not be ashamed Suffer us not to be as Clouds without Rain like empty Clouds that deceive thirsty Souls Bless our Labours to great Meassures To whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed Who hath believed our Report Shall the Trumpet beblown and the People not affraid Shall the Lyons roar and the Beasts of the Forrest not tremble Cloath us with a great deal of Mind that we may distil many wholsom Notions and rectified Apprehensions into the Minds of Men. That we may bring Truth which is so far absent home into Mens Bosomes That we may use both the Harp and the Arrows that our Speech be sweet and piercing That we may feast the hungry Ears with Delicious Dainties Give unto us the Tongue of the Learned that we may speak a Word in due season The Grace of God and the mighty Spirit of Jesus work in us that we may be inabled to instruct the Weak to confute the Obstinate to reclaim the Erroneous to confirm the Faithful and to comfort the Dejected and Disconsolate Make us happy Instruments of much Glory unto thy Name and of much good unto thy People Suffer not the Fruits of our Understanding to fail Give a Blessing to our Endeavours Paul may plant and Apollo may water but thou onely givest the Increase Except the Lord build the House they labour but in vain that build it except the Lord keep the City the Watchman watcheth but in vain Cause our Words which we speak from thee to be as Goads and Nails fasten'd by the Masters of the Assembly Suffer not our Knowledg to be without Zeal nor our Zeal with out Knowledg Make us not onely Voices crying but Lights shining That we may not onely be Trees of Knowledg but Trees of Life in the Paradise of our God Give unto us to know the Misteries of of the Kingdom of God Teach us to find much of the Treasure hid in the Field Make us useful and successful That we may gather many under the Triumphing Wings of Jesus Inable us to unmask and unvail Heavenly Truths that each eye may see their Beauty That we may set such a lustrre upon the Pearl of Price and so present Divinity in her graceful Jewels that every one may be inamour'd with her That we may lead Affection by the hand and with a sweet facility slide some Divine Truths into the Hearts of our Hearers Grant that in all things we may approve our selves as Ministers of God That our Lights may so shine before Men that they may see our Good Works and glorifie thee our Father which art in Heaven Suffer us not to be Strangers to that Holiness We press upon others Make us feed by Doctrine and feed by Example Suffer not the Salt to lose its Savour Suffer not the Curse to come upon us like Priest like People Suffer us not to pull down with one hand what we build with another lest the Sons of Levi cause the Offering of the Lord to be had in abomination Dead Files causeth the Ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking Savour so doth a little Folly he that is in reputation for Wisdom and Honour therefore stay our steps in thy Paths that our feet slide not That the Purity of Divine Truths may be unfolded in our hearts and lives We have our Treasure in Earthen Vessels purifie and cleanse them lest thy Word have a tincture of our Uncleanness That we may not sound the Lords Trumpet with a Stinking Breath Cloath us with Righteousness the Garments of Praise and the Saints shall shout for joy Grant that we may Credit the Gospel with Examplary Conversation That our Lives as well as Doctrine may continually teach Lessons of Faith Knowledg Temperance Patience Brotherly Kindness and Charity That there may be seen whatsoever things are true lovely pure vertuous or praise worthy That every one of us may be as a Torch on a Hill to inlighten all about us Make us as Wise as Serpents but as Innocent as Doves They who are call'd to the Work give them Grace to work in their Callings that we may be true Servants and Friends of God That we may lay up and lay out O Lord help us that we may live above the Dependance and Gratuities of this vain World That our Aim may be higher than the Eating of a Piece of Bread That we may be free from the Blood of all Men give us Grace to warn all Men and to teach every Man in all Wisdom that we may present our Flocks acceptable before Christ Whilst our Tongues run at the service of the Altar God forbid that our Eyes should squint at the Fat of the Sacrifice Grant that we may not seek our selves but thee Let our Endeavours be rather for the profit than the pleasure of the People Strengthen us to live above Discouragements yea above Incouragements That we may chiefly mind our Duty and depend upon thee as our onely but our sure Reward Give us a strong and clear sense of what we speak Let nothing come out of our Mouths but what is to good purpose Suffer not the Stars of the Church to shed black and malignant Influences Suffer not our Trumpets to give an uncertain Sound then who shall prepare themselves for the Battle Make us all of one right mind that we may speak the same thing that there may be no Divisions among us that we may be perfectly joyn'd together in the same Mind and Judgment That we may all always be in Conjunction with Truth That we may
stop us in our Career of Sin Promises from Mount Gerizzim to allure us into the paths of life The Examples of Holy Men to guide us that we may follow the Foot-steps of the Flock and thy Holy Spirit attending upon these and many other Assistances in our Course to Heaven but we hate to be reform'd and make all our Returns in Ingratitude Altho thou hast made out unto us thy Wisdom Holiness Greatness and Goodness Mercy and Long Suffering Power and Justice And altho thou hast proclaimed Free Grace unto all those that are a willing People in the day of thy Power but Tribulation and Wrath unto the Disobedient And notwithstanding the Divine Authority that unlimited Supremacy that thou hast over us and notwithstanding the Righteousness of thy Scepter yet we have so degenerated from Reason and apostatized from all Ingenuity that we have not kept the way of the Lord but wickedly departed from our God We are like to the Wild Ass that snuffeth up the VVind at her pleasure in her occasion who can turn her away In the height of our Prosperity we say with Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice but in her Month they 'll find her So Extremities and Death-Bed Pangs will seize us the time is coming that we must fall into the hands of the Living God Thou hast given us space to repent but we have not found the place of Repentance We have had line upon line precept upon precept Thou hast hearken'd and heard no man speak aright saying What have I done Every one turn'd to his course as the Horse rusheth into the Battle carelesly fearlesly and desperately the Stork of the Heavens knoweth her appointed time the Turtle the Swallow and the Crane know the time of their coming but we have not known the Judgments of the Lord. Those Irrational Creatures know by instinct of Nature to avoid such intemperate Weather as would be destructive to them yet we notwithstanding many Warnings have not flown from the wrath to come We have wrestled with thy patience and urged thee to swear in thy wrath that we shall never enter into thy rest Well may we be compared to Children sitting in the Market-place calling one unto another and saying We have piped unto ye but ye have not danced we have mourn'd unto ye but ye have not wept We have been inflexible to Promises and Threatnings Neither th'acute Demonstrations of Terror not the Ponderous Inductions of Interest have prevailed with us Thou hast many times beat up for Voluntiers amongst us and hast proclaimed the Priviledges Prerogatives Graces and Comforts that belong to thy Followers but we have turned our backs And thou hast warn'd us to flee from the wrath to come yet we have come in the very face of that wrath which thou hast warn'd us to flee The Trumpets have sounded and the Lions have roared upon us and yet we have hardened our hearts We have made thee to serve with our sins as tho thou wert bound to indure our abominations We have offered Violence to thy Law and have made such large Breaches in our Duty as tho thou wert forc'd to abide our Contempt We have been Professors of Piety but Practisers of Iniquity How little have we advanced in Religion The Faith of Christians have been in our Mouths but the works of Infidels in our Hearts We have been meer Promisers of Obedience We have betray'd our Lord Jesus with a Kiss Our Actions Religious have been meerly Theatrical and done in Subornation to some other Interest Our Goodness is but like the Morning Dew VVe have delighted more in the Theatre than in the Closet VVe have often bound our selves unto thee but we have forfeited our Indentures That which we have verbally detested we have actually embraced We have look'd Heaven-ward in our Profession but Hell-ward in our Conversation VVe have covenanted against Sin yet we have sin'd against Covenant We have been rather Superficial than Fundamental Christians The Heathen give real honour to counterfeit gods but we give a counterfeit honour to the true God Our Devotion to God our Love to our Brethren 't is a Measuring Cast hard to determine which is the Colder but both ready to faint and fall down dead We have put on the Sheep's Coat upon the Wolfs Back the Velvet Plaister of Profession upon the Stinking Ulcer of Corruption Our Righteousness is so imperfect that it can claim no Blessing and our Wickedness so great that it deserves nothing but Cursing We have the Spots and Tokens of the Plague of Plagues we sin and see it not therefore neither care nor fear nor repent nor amend Our Spot is not the Spot of thy People We have hired thy Plagues as Israel did the King of Assur Our Sins are envenomed with many hainous and hellish Circumstances We despise thy Authority we break righteous Laws we contemn precious Promises we give more credence to Satanical suggestions than we do to the Infallible Word of God We weave the VVeb of our own Woe and spin the Cords of our own Thraldom and every Sin breaketh the Sacred Covenant between Christ and our souls Thou mayst justly pronounce Lo-ruhamah against us We have been Traitors to our own Peace We have daily multipli'd our own Calamities Our own Inventions have intwined us and bewray'd us into many troubles and inclosed us in a Den of Thraldoms We day by day alarm Divine Justice We have cause to fear there are many in Hell cursing our Examples We know not how many we have infected with the plague that is upon us If thou should'st lay Judgement to the Line and Righteousness to the Plumb-line thou mayst righteously make thy Wrath to smoke against us We have provoked thee to feed us with Wormwood and to give us Gall to drink Our Sins have laid us most naked to thy Wrath. We have ripen'd our selves for Vengeance It s unspeakable forbearance that thy fury is not kindl'd and broke out into a Flame against us That the Water-flood hath not over-flown us that the Deep hath not swallow'd us up that the Pit hath not shut her mouth upon us GRATVLATION LEt our never ceasing Praises wait upon thee our God because thy wrath is not kindl'd and broke out into a Flame against us We are the Living Monuments of thy Mercy Thy Patience suspendeth Judgment If thou shouldst with-draw thy Patience and Long-suffering we should drop into Hell It s unspeakable Mercy that we are not invelopp'd in the revenging Flames of Hell Altho thou hast not look'd upon our Sins approvingly yet patiently If thou hadst but the Patience of Men and Angels we should spend it one day thou couldst not hold thy tongue and hands one hour The life of our Souls is wrapp'd up in the life of Grace All Sacrifice is too little for a sweet savour all Fatness is too little for a Burn'd Offering How low should we fall in adoration of thy Grace and how high should
with the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit in the Inner Man then we shall be more than Conquerors One Deep calleth to another the depth of our Weakness to the depth of thy Strength the depth of our Folly to the depth of thy Wisdom the depth of our Poverty to the depth of thy Riches the depth of our Miseries to the depth of thy Mercies Suffer not thy Displeasure to kindle and break out into a Flame against us Turn from us that Wrath that as a just recompence of our Provocations are due unto us Spare us according to the multitude of thy Mercies Lord Jesus thou art the hope of Israel with the Lord there is mercy and with thee there is plenteous redemption Let thy Obedience recompence our Obstinacy thy Abstinence our Superfluity thy Meekness and Patience our Pride Irefulness and Enmity Let thy Charity recompence our Malice thy Devotion our Dulness Love our unkindness thy holy and precious Death our wretched sinful Lives But forasmuch as thou resistest the Proud but giveâ—â— Grace to the Humble thou fillest the Hungry with good things but the Rich thou sendest empty away Therefore empty us of our Laodicean Riches discover our Spiritual Poverty and set home to our Consciences the weight and danger of our Sins Suffer not our Consciences to let us be quiet until they have drawn us before thee in all Humility and Brokenness of Spirit in Bitterness as one is in Bitterness for the loss of their First-born and confessing our selves loathing the Persons as well as the Actions With Detestation and Self-abhorrency and with indeclinable Resolves of Amendment of Life In regard there must be a Resurrection of our Actions as well as of our Persons if our Sins rise not again in this World to bring us to shame and confusion of face and unfeigned and sincere Repentance they will rise again in the World to come and be as so many Ghosts and Devils and torment us for ever and ever We had better judge our selves than put God to judge us Therefore O God by thy powerful voice raise our Sins that are graved in oblivion and set them in order before us that we may break them down by repentance Thou canst teach us to gather Grapes of Thorns and Figgs of Thistles because all things are possible unto thee There is no Evil so great but thou canst bring good out of it We turn Gold into Dross but thou canst turn Dross into Gold again Therefore be intreated thou Almighty One that in regard we are such miserable Sinners that our Sins may make us humble for humility is in the sight of God of great price And in regard we are so evil that we may be more charitable in judging of others let our own unworthiness hang so in our light that we may not be too busie in medling with others And in regard we are such great Debtors to Divine Justice that we may be more charitable in forgiving others That we may take heed of taking our Brother by the Throat lest thou call us to an account and cast us into prison until we have paid the utmost farthing And in regard we are such notorious Criminals that we may adore the light of the glory of God that shineth in the face of Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of his grace And in regard we have spent so much time in rebellion and yet thou art ready to shew mercy that therefore we may look upon our selves in future as persons ingaged to walk before thee in righteousness and holiness all our days Spiritualize our Affections every day more and more Irradiate our Souls with high apprehensions and so elevate us unto thy self where true Riches are to be had We stand as poor Beggars without but in consideration how thou feedest thy people with delicacies in the perfection of righteousness peace and joy O God we have heard with our ears and our Fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou dost in Heaven and Earth O Lord arise help and deliver us for thine honour Bring us out of the Land of Egypt and out of the house of Bondage that thou maist feed us with Manna from Heaven and that we may offer unto God acceptable Sacrifices Make out unto us that thou art our God and we thy peculiar people That we may live in absolute resignation subjection and love unto thee Discover unto us the things beyond the World that our Affections may be taken off from the World The wise man trusteth in his wisdom the strong man in his strength and the rich man in his riches The ship-wrack'd man catcheth hold on what is next him Adam ship-wrack'd us all and we are floating in a Deluge of Calamity Man is born unto trouble as the Sparks flie up ward and in this wretcheduess we naturally catch hold on something Self-preservation being a clear Dictate of Nature But our ignorance and misapprehension make us to catch at deceitful things that fill every one that trust in them with disappointment some on Honour some on Pleasure some on Riches And here they abide until God shew them a more excellent way What ever the Objects of our Souls are we shall not desert them until better Objects be discovered unto us Altho it be an unsatisfied satisfaction that we enjoy by any sublunary thing yet when we know of no better we hold fast by what we have Therefore we pray for some Discoveries of that glory that shall afterward be revealed of those never-dying comforts for our never-dying souls 'T is but an unquiet quiet and a restless rest that we enjoy from the Creature We pray for the Contentment above the World which is better than the World without that Contentment Ever since thou dravest out the Man we have been seeking rest but have found none As Noah's Dove could find no rest for the sole of her foot until she return'd into the Ark again neither is there any rest for us until we return and center in our God Now when we turn our faces towards thee for we know not what to do but our Eyes are towards thee take us into the Ark of the Covenant We are very much foil'd with walking after the sight of our own eyes and desires of our own hearts take us into thy protection that we may lay us down in peace for thou makest thy people to dwell in safety Embrace us in the arms of thy mercy Hide us under the Covert of thy Wings cover us with the Canopy of thy Love that we may feel thy Power supporting us and thy Goodness supplying us That we may rejoyce in thee as our Treasure and rest in thee as our Center In this far Countrey we thought to have met with great matters when we ran away from thee but we find nothing but Husks which Swine feed upon and gladly we would fill our Bellies with them but cannot Here is no soul-suitable nor soul-satisfying good