I thinke it meete as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance Seeing I know that the time is at hand that I must lay down this my tabernacle I will endevour therefore that ye allso may be able to haue remembrance of these things after my departure Pet. 2.1.13.14.15 The lord will perfect that which concerneth me Psal 138.8 THE COUNSELL AND ADMONITION OF HENRY MASSINGBERD Esq TO HIS CHILDREN PSAL. 111. 10. PROV 9.10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome a good understanding have all they that doe thereafter PROV 4.7 Wisdome is a speciall thing therefore get wisdome and above all thy gettings get understanding TIT. 1.15 To the pure all things are pure but to the corrupt all things are corrupted There may be both good and evill produced from all earthly things for that Every pot hath two handles Char. of Wisd LONDON Printed by A.M. Anno Domini 1656. I haue not sate with vaine persons neither will I goe in with dissemblers Psal 26 4. Wee ought to aske and knocke and seeke and pray His constant guidance in his perfect way How vile a shape doth beare this bone When th'perewigg of flesh is gone Learne from this dryed bone and parched skull The body 's foule blest soules are beauty full THE Counsell and Admonition OF Henry Massingberd Esq TO HIS Children SCRIPTURES ROM 15.14 I Trust you will admonish one another in the fear of God 1 Thes 5.12 13. Love them that admonish you and be at peace among your selves 2 Thes 3.15 Count him not an enemy that offends but admonish him Jer. 42.19 Know certainly that I have admonished you this day Exod. 18.19 Hearken now unto my voice I will give thee counsell and God shall be with thee Job 21.16 The counsell of the wicked is far from me Psal 1.1 2. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsell of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornfull but his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night Psal 16.7 I will blesse the Lord who hath given me counsell And 73.24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsell and then receive me to glory Prov. 8.9 They are all plain to him that understandeth and right to them that finde knowledge Psal 31.15 My times are in thy hands O God Job 10.20 Are not my dayes few Job 14.1 Man is of few dayes Eccles 1.4 One generation goeth and another cometh Gen. 27. â— I know not the day of my death Eccl. 3.2 There is a time to be born and a time to die Eph. 6.1 Children obey your parents Phil. 4.17 I desire fruit that may a bound to your accompt Joh. 14.3 That where I am ye may be also 2 Sam. 122.3 I shall go to him he shall not return to me Eph. 4.5 6. One Lord one faith one baptisme one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Math. 6.10 Thy kingdome come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Job 14.14 All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait untill my change come Joh. 9.4 I must work the work of him that sent me to day the night cometh when no man can work Amos 4.12 Prepare to meet thy God O Israel Eccl. 11.3 Where the tree falleth there it lies Matth. 25.3 They that were foolish took their lampes and no oyl with them Heb. 3.7 8. Wherefore as the holy Ghost saith to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Mark 13.37 What I say unto you I say unto all Watch. Prov. 4.1 Hear ye children the instruction of a father and attend to know understanding Isa 38.19 The father to the children shall make known thy truth Prov. 22.6 Train up a childe in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Gen. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to doe justice Psal 133. Prov. 1.7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisedom and instruction And ver 8. My sonne hear thou the instruction of thy father and despise not the law of thy mother Joh. 15.17 These things I command you that you love one another And 13.34 A new commandement I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another 1 Joh. 4.24 He that loveth God loveth his brother also 1 Pet. 1.22 See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently Acts 7.27 Ye are brethren why doe ye wrong one another Job 1.21 The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. 1 Tim. 6.17 Trust not in uncertain riches Eccl. 5.13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the Sunne namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt Matth. 6.20 Lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven Rev. 8.13 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the world nor the things of this world Phil. 3.15 As many as be perfect be thus minded James 1.27 Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherles and the widow with some relief in their afflictions and to keep himself unspotted from this world Joh. 5.39 Search the Scriptures Matth. 22.19 You erre not knowing the Scriptures Psal 127.5 Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it Heb. 11.6 He that comes to God must beleeve that he is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seck him Eccl 2.26 For God giveth to men that is good in his sight wisdome knowledge joy Psal 30.1 I will extoll thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up And 68.4 Sing unto God sing praises to his Name extoll him that rideth upon the heavens Psal 39 5. Man at his best estate is altogether vanity 1 Sam. 2.7 The Lord bringeth low and lifteth up Psal 18.2 The Lord is my rock and my fortresse my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust Ver. 30. As for God his way is perfect the word of the Lord is tried he is a buckler to all those that trust in him Luk. 2.14 Glory to God on high on earth peace Joh. 14.23 But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and truth Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart and saveth those that be of a contrite spirit And 51.17 A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Mal. 3.3 Offer to God the sacrifice of righteousnesse Psal 116.17 I will offer unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord. Job 4.7 Who ever perished being innocent And
severall Mothers yet let your love and unity be one in faith and truth and the One eternall God will undoubtedly give you the incomprehensible blessing both of temporall and eternall peace and will strongly fortifie you against any dejection at the deprivement of any temporall blessings whilest you truly consider the uncertainty of them the difficulty in well using of them and the danger if abused and that nothing is worthy our serious thoughts but what accompanies us to our eternall habitation and goeth with us to that admirable perfect and happy estate we shall most certainly arrive unto if we wean our selves from these worldly impediments that here deface and clogge our souls and only endeavour and esteem that good which tends to the good of our eternity The inward endowments of the minde are by far more excellent than the outward adornments of the body therefore let the bottome and foundation of all thy endeavours be laid in pure and undefiled religion truly grounded upon the sacred Scriptures rightly understood Sint cast a deliciae meae scripturae tuae nec faller in eis O Deus meus nec fallam ex eis August Confess For except the Lord build the house the workmen labour but in vain We must all acknowledge and beleeve a most sacred heavenly Deity for whosoever come to almighty God aright fitting for his mercifull and saving acceptance must first know and beleeve that he is and that he is the rewarder of them that serve him True religion consisteth in the knowledge of God and of our selves for it is a relative action between both the office thereof is to extoll God to the utmost of our power and to beat down man as utterly lost and then to furnish him with means to rise again to make him feel his misery and his weaknesse to the end he may put his whole confidence in God alone Religion should knit and unite us to the author and principall cause of our good and re-unite us to our first cause and root where if we continue firm we are thereby preserved in our perfection and contray if we separate we instantly faint and languish True Religion doth make us give all honour to almighty God and receive all benefit to our selves Glory be to God on high and peace with men on earth Almighty God must be served with our hearts and spirits it is the service answerable to his nature he is a spirit then worship him in purity of spirit this he requireth and it pleaseth him the Father desireth such worshippers the most acceptable sacrifice unto his sacred Majesty is a pure free and humble heart this he will not despise A pure heart is a sacrifice to God an innocent soul an innocent life A holy man is a true sacrifice to God his body is his Temple his soul is his a Image his affections are his b offrings his solemne sacrifice is to imitate serve and implore him God is rich and therefore giveth unto us poor and therefore aske Although all true worship be from the inward spirit yet neverthelesse we must not contemn or disdain outward and publick service which must be an assistant to the inward truth by observing ceremonies orders and customs with moderation without vanity ambition hypocrisie or covetousnes as they may and doe tend to the advancement of true devotion in us alwaies remembring that God will be served in spirit and what is performed by us otherwise is rather for our selves then for God for humane respects and formall observances then divine verity which rather belongs to manners and customs then the thing it self Our vowes and prayers to almighty God should be alwaies with this submission Thy will be done O Lord and not mine Tua voluntas Domine mea sit mea voluntas tuam semper sequatur optimè ci concordet saith a pious and ancient Father Take great heed of asking any thing against the determination of his revealed will his will is that we ought to fit our selves to receive We must think speak and deal with almighty God as if all the world did behold us and live and converse with the world as if God did behold us We must take great care not upon any slight occasion or cursorily to use the most sacred Name of God but with premeditation obediently and reverently to speak and use it his Name is holy and all honour is for ever due unto it The divine providence being well learned by us doth administer sufficient upholding comfort in all the chances and changes of this life We are most thankfully to acknowledge and submit to this providence which disposeth all things to the best to them that truly and obediently acknowledge it without which a Sparrow falls not and with whom our hairs are numbred this is the staff of life the blessed stay of comfort on which we safely rest in all the passages of our pilgrimage this inward spirit works quite contrary to the outward man it makes us truly say Thy will be done O God and not mine and not only say so but heartily and thankfully rejoyce that so it is knowing that it is best and only good for us this clears thy soul of grief and trouble and fills thy heart with joy and gladnes knowing that is done which is only good for thee and that thy will is not done for had it been against divine providence it would have produced thy utter ruine and destruction therefore for ever blesse that most gracious providence that hath avoided it Be diligent to finde out the good of necessity it is a sweet herbe but growes not in every garden it is an especiall branch of true wisdome and teacheth to take every thing by the right end the righteous and the wicked the wise and the foolish the true contented and discontented doe all the same things but not after the same manner not with the same apprehension understanding and judgment neither intending or conducing to the same end and purpose and therefore the operation in them is not the same but quite contrary Nothing in this world is perfect therefore there is both good and evill a right and a wrong use of them the first tending to true joy and comfort the latter to sorrow and discontent Correction upon search discovereth sinne and moveth to repentance and prevention Not to rejoyce after serious thoughts at the chastisements of Gods providence is a very evill signe of a wicked heart we must be truly sorrowfull for sinne which is the only cause of correction not for the correction for the cause of the disease not for the cure Before I was corrected I went astray but now have I learned thy word O blessed and sweet correction that leads and holds us in the way to eternall happinesse if correction bring thee not comfort with resolution by the gracious assistance of almighty God and joy in amendment search narrowly thy wayes for it is greatly to be feared they lead thee to eternall death
you and abound they will make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Ver. 9. But he that lacketh these things is blinde 1 Joh. â— 15 Love not the world nor the things of the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Prov. 14.14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own wayes and a good man shall be satufied from himself Psal 34. from the 10th to the end The young Lyons doe lack and suffer hunger but they that fear the Lord shall not want any thing that is good Come my children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desirech life and loveth many dayes that he may see good Keep thy tongue from evill and thy lippes that they speake no guâ—l Depart from evill and doe good seek peace and ensue it The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their cry The face of the Lord is against them that doe evill to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all He keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken Evill shall slay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate The Lord redeemeth the souls of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate Prov. 14.15 16. The simple beleeveth every word but the prudent man looketh well to his goings A wise man feareth and departeth from evill but the fool rageth and is confident Eccl. 12.13 Fear God and keep his Commandements for this is the whole duty of man Ver. 14. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill NOw we have by the mercy of God obtained a fruitfull plantation in this promised Land let us plant in it good and wholesome fruit for men do not gather grapes of thorns nor figgs of thistles Here we may proceed in the sixth Age of our Life and third ascent of our Manhood under the notion of constant Action and hereby our duty is by all means to endeavour the good of all the heavens lead us to this by shining upon all without hopes of gain or requitall shewing thereby the duty of a good man to his neighbour to be constantly conversant in some good employment of the body minde or both is a very lively branch of true vertue which keeps a man unvanquished and is not subject to pleasures and hath its reward in it self Vertue doth alone bring forth solid joy and only enables a man to bear all the changes and chances of this life with comfort and doe you rightly consider all the branches that proceed from this root and you will finde that they are firmly united with linkes unseparable as all the branches of a tree have but one root to nourish them so all the Vertues have but one principall foundation which is the doing all things out of true obedience to the service and commands of almighty God therefore is true Vertue most highly to be aspired unto Wisdome is a true branch of it which makes a man rightly to understand the nature use and property of all things and counteth nothing evill but vice which it is alwaies sufficiently fortified against and cannot enter there Teach mee o lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keepe it vnto the end Psal 119.33 Take heede of wasting time for when it 's spent There 's noe redemption from the great Judgment Vaine wretched pride beholde within thy sight Is death or dayes falce pleasure or delight My dayly dying freinds that take theire flight At highest noone bid mee remember night where vertue and honesty dwelleth if injury be the sufferance of some evill and a wise man cannot suffer evill then there is no evill that appertains to a wise man every injury is a diminution of him to whom it is offered and no man may receive injury without some detriment either in good-Name body or goods but a wise man can loose nothing he hath all his goods inclosed with the enjoyment of true vertue as for other things he useth them as borrowed and what man is so much moved at the losse of what is not his own but if injury can attempt nothing which is proper to a wise man because the whole is conserved by his vertue it must follow that a wise man cannot be injured because he sets not his heart upon earthly things as if they were his own knowing that the possession of all those things that abound externally is slippery and un-assured plant then plentifully in the vineyard of Vertue and be thou a flourishing branch of this blessed root so thou shalt relieve others with thy pleasant fruits without diminishing of thy own store and plenty prosperity shall not puff thee up nor adversity deject thee true goods are never subject to moth rust and canker neither can thieves break through and steal them heavenly riches shall have a heavenly reward and earthly changes cannot approach their dwelling Wisdome will advise thee to be very carefull how thou dost ingage thy self either by word or action especially amongst a croud with a multituâ—e in a warre a civill warre against a Prince a present power rather fly such a flame if any conveniency will permit avoid the fire while fury is fierce let it passe thee for violent things are seldome permanent I cannot shew you a certain way to avoid the dangers that time and chance may bring upon you or upon your country in your generations for outward things true vertue and inward treasure must secure you it must be wisdome that heavenly gift obtained by true and hearty prayer and humble obedience that must guide your feet in the way of peace that peace which the world the flesh the devill cannot deprive us of which the God of Heaven grant us all for his mercies sake Amen Into thy hands I commit my spirit thou hast redeemed it or lord God of truth Psal 31.5 If wee a blest Creatoure and a saviour haue Our duty is to worke and faith to craue Vnto my mother earth I am now gon Vntill the morning resurrection As quickly as the Sand falls to his place Soe sudden is the change of humane race Gen. 2.8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed Ver. 15. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dresse it and to keep it Prov. 20.18 Every purpose is established by counsell and with good advice make warre And 24.6 For by wise
mortality Divine dreames are most happy entertainments of rest thereby the sleeping of the body may be the waking of the soul Therefore thus My slumbring brain foretells the night Me safely guard thou God of might Let not my sinnes that raging swell My blessed tutelar expell But let thy works that once were good Have from thy grace their daily food Let not my sinnes black as the night Eclipse the lustre of thy light Thou art my everlasting yeares Where thou art nought but day appears Thou to whom both day and night Make an individuall light Guard we from that secret power That would thee and thine devour Let no dreames my head infest But such as will me wake more blest While I doe rest my soul advance My sleep let be a holy trance That waking I may rise from rest With sacred thoughts and knowledge blest And with as active vigour runne Therein as doth the nimble Sunne Death seems a sleep O make me tell How sleep and death doe paralell And joy as much to lay my head In grave as in perfumed bed But Lord both sleeping and awake My soul into thy arms re-take And though it be since thence it came Polluted with my bodies shame Yet doe not Lord thy own decline Thou art our God and we are thine And thus assur'd behold I lie Securely or to wake or die Here I a Pilgrim can but call At every stage must rest or fall O come that hour when thou shalt please Which is my everlasting ease And then convert beyond all measure My soul into thy perfect pleasure Amen Reason DOst ' reason why when youth and strength is past In foul transgression ' gainst thy Makers Lawes That fainting age when life is near at last Should obtain pardon is there any cause Though true repentance never be too late It 's rarely true that's of so short a date And if not true then woe unto thy sinne It 's no repentance then of least accept Great need of penitence so soon as sinne So soon as wearied wombe her charge hath left Then we that would true comfort have in death Had need prevent betime repent with breath The ten Ages MY little Infant patient be and still In Childhood meeknesse must command thy will Youth be thou temperate and let man-hood be Acted in prudence and humility Man-hood is made for labour and as health Is gain'd by constant action so in health True fortitude in man-hood claims a part And watchfullnesse is ground for every art True justice and sound judgment merit praise That we in wisdome may conclude our dayes The Metaphor WHo enters first a new Plantation Must wander yet oppose temptation And passing Jordan must suppresse the flood Of wickednesse and must protect the good Next chastly he must labour a Plantation Planting good fruit fit for a habitation Then be must nourish and preserve the same Least wilde devouring beasts destroy the frame Then make good Laws which right to all doe give Whose execution maketh for to live Humility IN marriage and in single life it 's best under thy fortune or estate to live So thou command'st it not it thee and rest is never sound where men and women give Themselves to thoughts of vain ambition and would themselves and children raise up high They are deluded by the vain tradition that it is good for it is bad and nigh To sad destruction thus we see full oft that pinnacles and lofty topps are torne And fond conceits of soaring high aloft are alwayes ruin'd vexed and forlorne With those that waver tost with every winde who on true providence unsetled be Whose miseries are form'd of every kinde but peace is hand-maid to humility BLest is the man whom God doth teach his precepts secretly To whom his sacred arm doth reach beyond false sophistry To whom dark silence learned hath from the eternall grace The perfect walk in sacred path which sinne doth not deface To whom true mercy doth confute the vanities of men Who doe contend in much dispute how God to serve and when This precious pearl who hath obtain'd and this selected stone The perfect way hath cleerly gain'd To serve the holy one Why Sinne is forbidden and Righteousnesse commanded THe true reason why almighty God is offended with sinne is not because thereby we wound his sacred person but because thereby we destroy our selves by unfitting us and making our selves uncapeable of his mercy prepared for the works of his own hands whereby onely is our salvation So his commands of obebience to his sacred Laws is not out of any gain or benefit to himself but from his willingnesse and desire of our eternall life and that therein his saving mercy may be sufficient for our salvation so then the whole benefit of avoiding evill and doing good is principally and chiefly to our selves Psal 50.9 10 11 12. I will take no bullock out of thy house nor hee-Goat out of thy foldes for all the beasts of the forest are mine and so are the cattell upon a thousand hills I know all the fowles upon the mountains and the wilde beasts of the field are in my sight If I be hungry I will not tell it thee for the whole world is mine and all that is therein The chief drift and end of all divine instruction is to admonish and lead us to upright holinesse in life and conversation which is the certain path of eternall peace THrice blest is he whose Name is writ above That doeth good though gaining infamy Requiteth evill turns with hearty love And wreaks not what befalls him outwardly Whose worth is in himself and onely blisse In his pure conscience that doth nought amisse That planteth treasure in his spotlesse soule And vertuous life his treasure doth esteeme That doth his passions master and controule And yet true Lordly manlinesse doth deeme That from this world himself hath clearly quit Counts nought his own but what dwells in his spirit So when his spirit from this vain world doth flit It takes all with it whatsoever was dear Unto it self passing in quiet flit As kindly ripened corn dropps from the ear And heeding nought what idle folk doe say He takes his own and stilly goes away D. MORE The Life and Death of E.M. AS by the fruit the Tree is plainly known So by thy Vertues are thy Parents shown Persons of quality knowledge and estate Thereby more fit true duty to relate To God their Countrey and to each degree That Adams off-spring are by pedigree Thy Infancy thy Child-hood and thy years Well nigh till Twenty one was without fears Of marriage-troubles whence thou took thy flight To Governours and Parents great delight With whose consent whose charge and pious care Into like pious family you were Planted by marriage where did grow like he That bore like fruit that well appear'd in thee Thy first-born Childe from accident unknown Abortive was or was an Embryon Nine more thou hadst into the Church baptiz'd
infectinn save least sinnes doe cry and crying have Affectedness Affectednesse in carriage needs must gain esteem of shallow idlenesse and vain Sobernesse A sober carriage if apparell sute speak grounds of wisdome gain a good repute Creature Take heed the Creatures have not cause to cry at thy misusing them and cruelty Earth Possesse so much of Earth from more refrain then thou canst order to eternall gain Rest What helps not hinders what doth not assist is enemy to thy eternall rest The minde To write or speak more to affect the minde then guide the soul is folly unrefin'd Teaching If minde and soul be from a sacred word both joy'd and taught such teaching is from God Good and Evill Ill 's onely ill and good is onely good their consequences must be understood Gettings Is ought worth sinfull getting when we see our seeming comforts scarce last seventy Vain joy Be not too jocund when the Sunne doth shine for suddenly it 's noon and must decline Comfort In all transactions underneath the Sunne hence is true comfort that God's will done Good life While we walk worthy of our Makers praise our peace is sound in good or evill dayes Vpright Walking Who laden much with earth can walk upright with lesser load may surely walk more streight The Way Thrice happy want and grief and low degree you are the living way appointed me History By History learn how to act thy part and wisely know thy predecessors Art Nothing new What hath been is and what is may be done Wisdome saith Nothing 's new under the Sunne Practice To read the story and thereof to speake without the practick part shews judgment weak Nature Thy own corrupted nature's sure to blame then what suits most therewith is most the same Reason Our cursed sinnes doth reason so deface that ancient custome much usurpes her place Custome When without pains we leave accustom'd sinne Then Leper change thy spots and More thy skinne Friends unkinde If Friends prove foes and since it must be so be linkt no faster then thou maist let goe Friends death Death thou hast parted us but we shall meet beyond thy power each others blisse to greet Imployments Though worldly businesse us divide a farre yet in Gods service we united are Affronts Give no offence passe by affronts for why it's wisdoms counsell wise men passe them by Anger Anger is open to the greatest harme it armes thy foes and doth thy self disarm Law Doe right to all without Law or offence thy common Law let be good conscience Suites Sue not at Law untill thou 'st throughly tri'de to get but near thy right all wayes beside Judgment If thou be call'd thy judgment for to give remember God that judgeth right doth live Family He that a wife or family controuls ought last to feed their bodies first their souls Exact living From truest principles of filiall love are all the motions of the holy Dove Devotion In daily duties and devotion due be constant fervent and thy words but few Sabboth Make not the Sabboth shortest of the seaven but strictly keep it morning noon and even Publike Fasts or Feasts In publike duties publike fasts or feasts for publike presidents keep them at least Private Fasts When thou as is most fit set'st dayes apart to humble thee doe it with all thy heart Change In all the change that to this life is due change onely Adam old for Adam new Sacraments The blessed Sacraments ought for to move thy soul to tears of thanks in truest love Attending the Word By sacred preaching the true heavenly Word is offer'd us felt heard and understood Duty To all the creatures severall rights it 's fit to give their due as we will answer it Love to God Convert thy soul and see thou doe not move for hope or fear but serve in truest love Meditation Our duty to our God I 'le not relate Heavens joyes hells torments see thou meditate Prayer In prayer prostrate thy most humble spirit in true obedience that 's thy Saviours merit Sudden The sudden act and what is rashly done hath penitence for his companion Tumults Avoid all tumults for their usual spring is pride and envy and a height in sinne Company Take heed of company keep watchfull eyes there 's fewest friends the most are enemies Feare Fear not too much what may the body harme but love our God and trust his mighty arme Evill dayes For evill dayes when worldly friends afford nor peace nor comfort have it in the Lord. Good dayes Those dayes are good and onely good begins when we abound in love subdue our sinnes Beliefe Belief is that for which we ought to pray for sacred guidance in a holy way Reading the Scriptures In reading Scriptures least understanding erre craveth ' holy Ghost for thy interpreter Authors In humane authours so much multiplied the truth of all by holy Writ is tried God With filiall fear we must our souls prepare before we speak his Name for whom we are Souls In studying of souls know it 's not given to self to know it self within a prison Bodies Thy bodie 's mortall life 's but like a breath then walk prepared for a joyfull death Family Consider those allotted to thy charge thy bond 's more great their liberty more large Friends If thou hast found a friend beyond a brother blesse God therefore thou'lt hardly finde another Enemies Of all thy foes take heed of smiling jeast the hypocrite of all is deadliest Occasions In businesse and occasions that depend upon this life consider well the end Reward The innocent and humble minde regard with due respect consider and reward Punishment The childe the simple and the haughty minde are fit for punishments of severall kinde Writing Speak well but better write writings from farre Arts. The perfect use of Arts are helps to call back our pure nature lost in Adhm's fall Recreations Use recreations to refresh the minde and better it for use of every kinde Callings Callings are call'd of God that we therein may with us others to his Kingdome bring Removings In all removals amongst humane race thou' rt still as near to thy eternall place Slander If envy smite thee with his lying tongue works before words confute both old and young Troubles In all the troubles that our works doe merit our comfort is the Father Sonne and Spirit Advice In all my counsell the just summe is this crave wisdome of our God the gift is his The Resolve BUt centre me and fix my soul aright in true obedience to my Makers will Let me converted be as is most right in perfect service as true beauty will Then let his pleasure cast me to those snares of worldly torments minde and body both What ever work it be in peace or warres it 's his imployment triall of my troth It is my safest way the onely path of his blest pleasure onely leading right To my eternall blisse therein his wrath due for my sinnes is covered from my
I will appoint over them four kindes saith the Lord The Sword to slay the Doggs to tear in pieces and the Fowles of the Heaven and the Beasts of the Earth to devour and to destroy 2 Sam. 17.14 For the Lord had determined or appointed to destroy the good counsell of A hithophell that he might bring evill upon Absolon 2 Chron. 33 8. Neither will I make the foot of Israell to remove any more out of the Land which I have appointed for your fathers so that they take heed and doe all that I have appointed them Job 7.3 Painfull nights have been appointed me And 14.5 Are not his dayes determined the number of his moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot passe Ver. 14. All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait untill my change come O preserve thou those that are appointed to die Micha 6.9 Hear the rodd and who hath appointed it Job 7.1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth and are not his dayes as the dayes of an hireling Dan. 8.19 And he said Behold I will shew thee what shall be in the last wrath for in the end of the time appointed it shall come Dan. 10.1 But the time appointed was long c. wherefore wait thou the pleasure and appointment of God patiently and rejoyce in all conditions to wait his will And Chap. 11. Ver. 27. And both those Kings hearts shall be to doe mischief and they shall talke of deceit at one table but it shall not availe for yet the end shall be at the time appointed at the time appointed he shall return for there is a time appointed Ver. 29 35. Acts 17.26 And hath made of one blood all man-kindeto dwell on all the face of the earth and hath assigned the times which were ordained before and the bounds of their habitation Job 16.22 For the years accompted come and I shall goe the way whence I shall not return 2 Sam. 7.12 And when thy dayes be fullfilled thou shalt sleep with thy fathers Deut 31.14 Then the Lord said to Moses Behold thy dayes are come that thou must die III. Comfort Take comfort from this that the will of God is the best for us and that we our selves know not what is the best for us and therefore we may well rejoyce that his will is done and not ours save onely when it suites with his in Christ which is surely best for us Numb 27.16 God is the Lord of the spirits of all flesh Deut. 8.3 Therefore he humbled thee and made thee hungry and fed thee with Man which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers know it that he might teach thee that man liveth not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live Eccl. 7.2 Who knowes what 's good for a man in this life in the number of the dayes of the life of his vanity seeing he maketh them as a shadow Jer. 42.6 Whether it be good or evill we will obey the voice of the Lord God to whom we send thee that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God Psal 39.5 Surely every man in his best estate is altogether vanity therefore let us say with joy as Matth. 6.10 Thy will be done O God in earth as it is in Heaven And with our blessed Saviour Mat. 26.42 O my Father if this cup may not passe from me but that I must drink it thy will be done Let us with David Psal 143.10 desire our God to teach us his will and then with him Psal 40.8 let us delight to doe it for our God is good and his mercy endures for ever Selah IV. Comfort Take comfort in Sicknesse because the will of God is there n done which is for the best for us and let it be the joy of our souls in all conditions that his will is done in Jesus Christ for ever Amen Psal 115.3 Our God is in Heaven he doth whatsoever he will Job 30.4 None knowes the secrets of God Who hath ascended up into Heaven and descended who hath gathered the winde in his fist who hath bound the waters in a garment who hath established all the ends of the world what is his Name or what is his sonnes Name if thou canst tell Phil. 4 1â— Let us be carefull with St Paul to learn in whatsoever state or condition we are to be therewith content both to be full and to be hungry to abound and to want for we may doe all things through the help of God our Saviour Matth. 4.34 Let us truly say with our blessed Saviour My meat is to doe the will of him that sent me and finish his work Say with the Apostle Acts 21.14 The will of the Lord be done And as Eph. 4.7 Be not unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is and sing with melody in your hearts to the Lord. And say with Job Job 5.17 Blessed is the man whom God correcteth therefore refuse not thou the chastening of the Almighty Prov 3 1â— For the Lord correcteth him whom he loveth even as the father doth the childe in whom he delighteth Onely thus pray in true love to thy God and Saviour and with an humble and a contrite heart Jer. 10.24 O Lord correct me but with judgement not in thine anger least thou bring me to nothing Then examine thy soul and be sure God will by his Spirit reveal to thee and will conclude of thee as he did to his people whom he had corrected Jer. 30.11 I am with thee to save thee though I utterly destroy all the nations where I have scattered thee yet will I not utterly destroy thee but I will correct thee by judgement and not utterly cut thee off And Jer. 46.28 Fear thou not O Jacob my servant saith the Lord for I am with thee and I will utterly destroy all the nations whether I have driven thee but I will not destroy thee but correct thee by judgement and not utterly cut thee off Therefore blesse our good God in and for all the conditions of thy pilgrimage and say with David Psal 143. Hear my prayer O Lord give ear to my supplication in thy faithfullnesse answer me and in thy righteousnesse and enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified For the enemy viz. sinne and Satan hath persecuted my soul he hath smitten my life down to the ground He hath made me to dwell in darknesse as those that have been long dead therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me and my heart within me is desolate I remember the dayes of old I meditate on all thy works I muse on the works of thy hands I stretch out my hands unto thee my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land Selah Hear me speedily O Lord my spirit faileth hide not thy face from me least I be like to
them that goe down into the pit Cause me to hear thy loving kindenesse in the morning for in thee doe I trust cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto thee Deliver me O Lord from my enemies viz. from my sinnes I fly unto thee to hide me teach me to doe thy will for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightnesse Quicken me O Lord for thy Names sake for thy righteousnesse sake bring my soul out of trouble And of thy mercy cut off my enemies viz my sinnes and destroy all them that afflict my soul for I am thy servant I will rejoyce to work in thy vineyard O my creatour and in the strength of thy mercies will attend thy call to rest as thy most obedient servant Amen V. Comfort Take comfort in a constant thirsting to be dissolved and to be with Christ as his servants are who be already dissolved if almighty God in Christ Jesus were so pleased Read Gerrards Meditations Though death as to us is bitter yet in from pag. 268 unto pag. 302. our trust on almighty God in Christ it is sweet For who keepâ—th his word shall never see death Joh. 8.51 The misery of a Christian dieth but not the Christian man we lose not our friends at their death but they goe before us to the place of our enjoyment of them in Christ Jesus for ever as we may well beleeve Luk. 2.29 Simeon saith Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace And Phil. 1.23 The Apostle desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Rev. 7.9 The elect have robes in token of innocency and palms in their hands in token of victory therein are all tears wiped away from our eyes Ver. 17. And therein is no mourning nor grief nor any cry heard but rest from labour Chap. 21. v. 4. and 14.15 Our blessed Saviour shews the great benefit of being dissolved when his Disciples were sad at it he said Joh. 14.28 If ye loved me ye would rejoyce rather Phil. 1.21 Death is gain The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to his Sonne therefore rejoyce in thy true belief to goe to that judgement For Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne that who so beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Matth. 18.14 Neither is it the will of our Father that one of the little ones should perish Ver. 11. Our Saviour came to save that which was lost He takes away the sinnes of the world He died for the sinnes of the world He hath a gracious call for us as Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you He maketh intercession for us and hath blotted out the hand-writing which was against us Joh. 5.24 He that heareth his word and believeth on him that sent him hath life everlasting and shall not come into condemnation O my Saviour I beleeve yet help thou my unbelief and increase thou my faith Eph. 5.29 30. That I may truly and as I ought beleeve my self to be and be a member of thy body of thy flesh and of thy bones O my Saviour in the power of thy might and as thou diedst to save sinners make me holy is thou the Lord my God art holy The dayes of my pilgrimage are few and evill My conversation is in Heaven and I desire to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living When shall I appear before thy face O God As the Hart panteth after the fountain of water so doth my heart after thee O God At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore I shall be abundantly satisfied with the plentifullnesse of thy house and thou shalt give me to drink of the brook of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of life and in thy light shall we see light Thou O Lord art the portion of my inheritance and my exceeding great reward Thou shalt of thy free love to sinners shewed in Jesus Christ cover me with the garment of salvation and cloathe me with the white robe of righteousnesse where there is no hunger nor thirst nor scorching Sunne Of the fruit of the vine shall I drink in thy Kingdome for thy words are spirit and life therefore shall death be swallowed up in victory and thou O Saviour shalt for thy free merit in the blessed mercy of our eternall Father wipe away all tears from my eyes for ever for thou art my all-sufficient Lord God While we live we cannot hope to cease from sinne but when we die we hope to sinne no more which consideration doth administer great comfort in the remembrance and appearance of death to those that are truly weary of sinning against their God VI. The first Comfort in the pangs and passages of Death First Because the will of God is therein done in Jesus Christ which is certainly the best for us It is appointed to all men once to die and after that comes the judgment Heb. 9.27 2 Cor. 4.14 Knowing that he which hath raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus therefore we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed daily Ver. 17. For our light afflictions which are but for a moment causeth unto us a farre more excellent and an eternall weight of glory while we look not on the things that are seen but on the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporall but the things which are not seen are eternall Read Gerrards Meditations p. 109. praying for a blessed departure out of this life and a blessed resurrection unto life ever lasting And Read the fift Chapter of the 2d Cor. in which is admirable comfort in the passages of death that we may be present with the Lord. Jam. 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptations for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Then present thy sould a true devotary unto our most gracious Father in Jesus Christ and say with David Psal 31.5 Into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth Ps 71.23 My lips will rejoyce when I sing unto thee and my soul which thou hast delivered And rejoyce with Paul Gal. 3.13 saying Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law when he was made a curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree Then gathering thy spirit freeing thy soul of worldly thougths say in faith and true repentance in full assurance that our good God is all-sufficient and that his mercy endures for ever and that in Jesus thy Saviour he hath elected and adopted thee his sonne Come Lord Jesus my most dear Saviour come quickly Amen VII A second Comfort in the passages of Death Take
thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name for thou only art holy and all Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest Psal 112.6 The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance A fifteenth Comfort in Death We may well rejoyce at Gods gracious messenger of Death because it is the wiping of all tears from our eyes and the finall end of all our troubles and sorrows the world the flesh the devill shall no more oppresse distract and hurt us with their distractions delusions and deceits Eccl. 4.1 So I turned and considered all the oppressions that are wrought under the Sunne and behold the tears of the oppressed and none comforteth them Ver. 2. Wherefore I praise the dead which now are dead above the living which are yet alive Hos 13.14 Hear what comfort our loving God gives us I will redeem them from the power of the grave I will deliver them from death O death I will be thy destruction repentance is bid from mine eyes A sixteenth Comfort in Death Rejoyce Because it is the imitating of our Saviours passion as farre as we are able that we may see his glory Matth. 10.38 He that taketh not his crosse and followeth after me is not worthy of me And Chap. 16. ver 24. If any man will follow me let him forsake himself and take up his crosse and follow me And somewhat more Luk 9.23 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his crosse daily and follow me And Chap. 14. ver 27. Whosoever beareth not his crosse and cometh after me cannot be my Disciple 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also raigne with him if we deny him he also will deny us Joh. 17.24 Father I will that they which thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world Matth. 10.24 The Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord it is enough for the Disciple to be as his Master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Belzebub how much more them of his houshold A seventeenth Comfort in Death It is our freedome from sinne death and hell and all our enemies The day of death saith Solomon is better then the day of birth therefore is that day a day of rejoycing to us St Paul desireth to be dissolved and to be with Christ and saith it is the best of all Rom. 6.7 He that is dead is freed from sinne Ver. 11. Likewise think ye also that ye are dead to sinne but are alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. An eighteenth Comfort in Death It is our taking possession of the fullnesse of rest in the communion of Saints in the love of the eternall God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and therein peace for ever therefore rejoyce Lazarus is said to be presently carried into Abrahams bosome where most sure he had immediate possession in a high degree of eternall peace Gerrards Meditat. p. 25. Death is the beginning of a holy life Isa 57.1 2. The righteous perisheth and no man considereth it in heart and mercifull men are taken away and no man understandeth that the righteous is taken away from the evill to come Peace shall come they shall rest in their beds every one that walketh before him Matth. 11.28 29. Hear our gracious Saviour Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Take my yoak on you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall finde rest unto your souls 2 Thes 1.7 And to you which are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall shew himself from Heaven with his mighty Angels And if then surely also from our severall changes till then Heb. 4.3 9. For we which have beleeved doe enter into rest There remains therefore a rest for the people of God for he that is entred into his rest hath also ceased from his own works as God did from his let us study to enter into that rest Job 3.12 13. Why did the knees prevent me and why did I such the breasts for so should I now have lyen and been quiet I should have slept then and have been at rest A nineteenth Comfort in Death Jesus Christ is in Death and Life to us gain and causeth death to be to us advantage the end of unexpressible evils the beginning of unexpressible and eternall joy Phil. 1.21 For Christ is to me both in life and death advantage All the miseries of Lazarus end in his death and his eternall joyes begin in Abrahams bosome Our Saviour Jesus entred by the gate of death into his glory and thereby hath prepared joyes 2 Cor. 2.9 such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive for them that love him Isa 35.10 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with praise and everlasting joyes shall be upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladnesse and sorrow and mourning shall flee away A twentieth Comfort in Death Doubt not of the all-sufficient love of God to thee in his Sonne Jesus He that gave thee a body when thou hadst none can give thee a heavenly body so soon as thou art at liberty from this of earth and will most certainly dispose of thee in Jesus as of his servants which is the best for thee His power and his will is sufficient to give thee joyes beyond thy thoughts Have thou true faith and true belief that God is and that he is the rewarder of them that seek him Give him thy whole soul and spirit and humbly crave the assistance of the eternall God that he will for his Sonne Christ Jesus his sake fully and freely enable thee to give to the Sacred Trinity in Unity three Persons but one Almighty God Father Sonne and holy Ghost all honour glory and praise as his most obedient servant for ever And say with true faith and love O gracious Father Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven And in thy most free and gracious love to a poor sinner in Jesus Christ thy only Sonne my Saviour doe thou compell my unworthy and corrupted will to doe unto thy most Sacred Majesty true and perfect service Doe thou O blessed Father for thy free goodnesse sake convert me wholly into that service for thou art my only Lord God and I am thy servant so come Lord Jesus come quickly and receive my spirit Amen Amen Matth. 19.26 With God all things are possible Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walk before me and be thou perfect Chap. 15. ver 1. Fear not I am thy buckler and thy exceeding great reward Psal 50.7 Hear O my people and I will speake hear O Israell and I
eternity To incorruptible felicity And though our call doth nature oft prevent Yet when shee 's let alone she fairly deales And though she fixt to warmed life be sent To fit our death yet see how oft she steales To us her warnings as with dimmed sight And theumy eyes instead of bright and cleare To make us see our death for want of light And let us know there 's no long being here Again she warnes by some decay in Teeth Or by a haire that turnes to Lilly white Or by some shaking Palsie which all seeth Or feeble knees or paines by day or night Or hands benum'd or hearing almost lost Or smelling gone which should refresh the braine Or relishing in taste whose choicest gust Is to prepare her guests to entertaine Of all her warnings the true meaning is To let us know shee 'le shortly lead us home And leave us in our woe or in our blisse As we to her have good or evill done As earthly pilgrims while she did sojourne And form her self according to our will With us in houses underneath the Sunne Obediently performing good or ill Then cheer my soul and doe not fear to live Nor will to die but take unto thy guard Securest diligence which doth alwayes give Assurance of hope and due reward In power of the merit of our Jesus And love of God shew'd in his onely Sonne By which dear love he never failes to ease us When earthly joyes and earthly friends are gone Then are we freed to all Eternity From sinne and death and hell and surely then Into true love we shall converted be Unto our God which Heaven is Amen The Offring I Will offer to my onely Good an humble and a contrite heart and my joyfull submission unto his dispose and pleasure for ever I will offer unto his most blessed Majesty his own most gracious love to the works of his own hands I will also offer the blessed conception birth life passion and merit of his sacred Sonne my Saviour Jesus in whom I beleeve O my Eternall Good helpe my unbeliefe and for thy mercy sake give and rightly perfect in me true and saving knowledge and assurance in the infinite mercy of thee my onely Good shewed by thy gracious reconcilement unto me in and through Jesus Christ I will most humbly offer a most willing heart humbly begging of my Eternall Good the blessed guidance of his sacred Spirit to conform and leade my weake and timorous belief aright and to satisfie settle and confirm it in his truth I will also offer unto his gracious goodnesse my most humble and joyfull submissive obedience unto the direction and commands of his most gracious Spirit which I humbly crave may be so powerfull and strong in me that the influence and advantage which the world flesh and devill have against me by reason of my sinne and corruption may not in the least sort be able to move or draw me from yeelding and giving all willing and joyfull submission and obedience thereto but that I may perfectly as I am wholly the creature of my Creator be converted into his perfect will and service and therein rest in perfect joy and peace for ever and this for his onely mercy and goodnesse sake Amen Therefore thus Faine would I have a Royall Sacrifice Worth the presentment to my sacred Good Faine would I finde the Pearle of precious price That by my Saviour so was understood I trust it was with which I 'le here commence An humble soul fram'd of obedience For sure all earthly things are much too vaine Too much corrupted by the fall of man Too much rebellion doth this earth sustaine Too much oppression underneath the Sunne Too little worth they are my Good did make And give me these what need he then retake So is the will and deed to work aright His onely gift but in another sense For outward gifts are unto all alike But holy will and deed arise from hence From God's free love on souls by sacred Spirit As new-born babes prepared to inherit Wherefore my Sacrifice is onely this An humble heart a broken contrite soule Cause me to know it is my onely blisse My onely happinesse without controle To doe thy will make me fit instrument I 'me thine and not my own I 'me full content Belief I do believe that Almighty God is and that he is the rewarder of all them that diligently seeke him I do believe he hath incomprehensible mercy and justice towards all the works of his own hands I do believe that they shall come from all quarters of the world and sit down at his Eternall Table and receive of his infinite bounty I do believe that Almighty God is perfect goodnesse and mercy and justice it self and whoever feareth him and worketh righteousnesse shall be accepted of him I do believe he is the Creator and disposer of all things and this after a manner wholly incomprehensible to mortality I do believe his own beeing and proceeding is onely from himself and is to mortality likewise incomprehensible I do also believe the Apostles Creed concerning the sacred Trinity the Confession of Athanasius and the Confirmation thereof by the Reformed Church of England whereof the providence of my good Creator hath made me a member but in these I must espcially say Good Lord help my unbelief and guide and hold me by thy good and unresistible power in thy blessed service for ever Amen I do believe that with almighty God all things are possible and that his gracious mercy is above all his works And therefore Jesus Christ may be and I believe but Lord help and direct aright my unbelief that he is his onely begotten Sonne and yet conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary that he suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried and descended into hell and the third day rose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven and siâ—teth there on the right hand of God the Father almighty from whence he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead I do believe there is a selected number of Saints in this world which may be comprehended by the holy Catholick Church and that they shall have an eternall communion and fellowship together after this life and that they shall have all their sinnes freely forgiven them and also shall rise together in eternall life at the generall resurrection of which number I believe and trust my self with ot ers more to be for which free and incomprehensible grace I desire with all Saints to give everlasting praise and thanks and to doe everlasting most perfect service unto my good Creator forever Amen I doe also believe in the Holy Ghost and that this sacred Spirit is proceeding from the sacred Deity of the Father and the Sonne which being sent to command and take possession of our souls for the use as it were of the sacred God head we are thereby made fit workers and labourers
natures say That youth the aged should obey And doe them reverence But now fond youth condemns the wise And fools do wisdomes Laws despise By force and negligence The strongest hand doth call it right To cut down all with force might Their rage and will subdueth And if they call the evill good The truth must so be understood Or else their rage reneweth Eve What Husband then it seems the world Is topsie turvey tost and hurld And worst hath best subdued Adam Yes Wife it is decaid and old Truth and devotion 's very cold And soon will be renued Eve Renued or made new my Deare How shall I understand thee here Shall thee and I' gaine meete Shall we in ancient Paradice And in our blessed innocence Each other kindely greete Shall all the sinnes of us and ours Which truth and justice thus devours Be pardoned and forgiven Adam In part but how to tell none can It 's not the act of mortall man But the free gift of Heaven A Prayer O Eternall ever-living and all-sufficient Lord God who art the God of the spirits of all flesh to whom the grave is open from whom there is no covering for destruction I am thy poor wretched and unworthy servant and by reason of my sinne lesse then the least of all thy mercies unworthy so much as to think upon thee or to take thy blessed Name within my corrupted lips much more unworthy am I to have liberty to call upon thy sacred Majesty and to ask those things that I stand in need of with this gracious assurance that thou wilt give me those things that are best for me though I ask them not of thee and though I ask them so unworthily that thou maist justly refuse to give me them because I ask them of thee so unworthily so that I may with humble boldnesse pray Lord give me what is onely best for me though I ask it not and give me not what is evill for me though I ask it but thou art from everlasting to everlasting holy and just and good and thy mercies are above all thy works wherefore I come unto thee not in my own merits but in the merits of thy onely Sonne my onely Saviour Jesus Christ the righteous in whom I believe Lord help my unbelief humbly desiring thy sacred Majesty for his sake and for thy own goodnesse sake towards the works of thine own hands to pardon and passe by all my sinnes actuall and originall to blot them out of thy book of remembrance and to set them so behinde thy back that thou maist never call me to account for them either in this world to my shame or in the world to come to my utter condemnation Give me grace and strength to return unto thee O my God as the prodigall sonne to his father acknowledging my self unworthy to be called thy sonne or servant and give me I humbly pray wisdome which is about thy throne for all wisdome is from thy gracious gift that so I may rightly understand earthly things from heavenly things time from eternity and graciously give me the will and deed to lay up my treasure in Heaven and not on earth And I most humbly crave of thy sacred goodnesse the unresistible power of thy holy Spirit that thereby I may be built up and made perfect to every good work to the true and perfect serving of thee my good God and to the working righteousnesse as thy elected Saints by the powerfull and unresistible guidance of the holy Spirit doe and ought to doe both for and in their time and their eternity And O my good God because many are the controversies and disputes concerning thee thy word thy truth amongst poor mortality to the great destruction fear and trouble of thy poor willing and desiring servants Let thy sacred Spirit O my God speak the truth of thy will and of my duty to my conscience and then give me grace and strength to follow my conscience in the sacred way of thy holy Spirit that so I may keep a good conscience towards thee my God and towards men And I humbly pray that thy gracious Spirit may also reveale unto my soule what righteousnesse and what unrighteousnesse is what is truth and what is error what is the perfect duty of thy servant in all the passage of his pilgrimage under the Sunne and what is not the duty of thy servant to doe that so I may not onely perform unto thy sacred Majesty my present duty in thy blessed service but that I may doe it knowingly willingly and wittingly and that I may not only avoid all the appearances of evill but that I may doe it also knowingly willingly and wittingly as becomes the most faithfull and perfect servant of my Creator O give unto thy servant a discerning spirit inable him perfectly O my God to know good from evill and then give him grace and strength to doe the good and avoid the evill as becomes thy most blessed servants And give unto me thy servant O my good God a true principle of due obedient love in all my devotions and undertakings whatsoever towards thee my good God And for thy mercies sake teach me thy statutes and hide not thy precepts from me lead me in the way that I should goe and hold me in the living path of thy most joyfull servants Search my heart O God and try my wayes for there are wayes of iniquity in me and lead me in the way everlasting Let me have here in this life O my good God that and that only which may most perfect and fit me in soule and body for thy eternall and most sacred service Let the daily presidents of mortality O my good God move me to true repentance give me to know O my eternall Creator that I am no better then my parents but as they are returned with their bodies to the grave and their souls to thee the God that gave them so it must be with me Give me to know O Eternity that here is no abiding place here is no continuing dwelling give me grace and strength our good God to seek and finde one to come eternall in the Heavens Give thy servant O my gracious God true love to thee my God for thy own sake to my neighbour for thy Commandement sake and all for obedience sake unto thy blessed Majesty Give me to see O thou my only Good the blessed marks of thy sweet corrections both upon my body and soule in this life those glorious impressions by which thou sealest to thy self thy beloved children in whom thy soul delighteth O my most gracious God although I be most unworthy to be by thy good grace accounted such a childe such delight so beloved yet for thy own goodnesse sake let thy blessed seale of thy fatherly impression be upon me even what thou wilt for I assuredly know thou wilt with my most needfull saving Crosse give thy servant most needfull and saving strength to bear it