is a Brand of originall fire raked up in the Embers of flesh and blood uncoverd by a naturall inclination blown by corrupt communication quencht with fasting and humiliation It is raked up in the best uncovered in the most and blown in thee O my lustfull soule O turn thy eare from the pleadings of Nature and make a Covenant with thine eyes Let not the language of Dâ—lilah inchant thee lest the hands of the Philistims surprize thee Review thy past pleasures with the charge and paines thou hadst to compasse them and shew me where 's thy pennyworth Foresee what punishments are prepar'd to meet thee and tell mee what 's thy purchase Thou hast batterd away thy God for a lust sold thy Eternity for a Trifle If this bargain may not bee râ—cald by teares dissolve thee O my soule into a Spring of waters If not to bee reverst with price reduce thy whole estate into a Sack cloth and an Ash tub Thou whose â—iver hath scorcht in the flames of lust humble thy heart in the ashes of Repentance and as with Esau thou hast sold thy Birthright for Broth so with Jacob wrestle by prayer till thou get a blessing His Prayer O God before whose face the Angels are impure before whose clear omniscience all Actions appear to whom the very secrets of the hearts are open I here acknowledge to thy glory and my shame the filthinesse and vile impurity of my nature Lord I was filthy in my very conception and in filthines my mothers wombe enclosed me brought forth in filthinesse and filthy in my very innocency filthy in the motions of my flesh and filthy in the apprehensions of my soul my words all cloath'd with filthinesse and in all my actions filthy and unclean in my inclination filthy and in the whole course of my life nothing but a continued filthinesse Wash me O God and make me clean cleanse me from the filthinesse of my corruption Purge me O Lord with Hyssop and create a clean heart within me Correct the vagrant motions of my flesh and quench the fiery darts of Satan Let not the Law of my corrupted members rule mee O let concupiscence have no dominion over me Give me courage to fight against my lusts and give my weaknesse strength to overcâ—me make sharpe my sword against this body of sinne but most against my Dalilah my bosome sin Deliver me from the tyranny of temptation or give me power to subdue it Confine the liberty of my wanton appetite and give me temperance in a sober diet Grant me a heart to strive with thee in Prayer and hopefull patience to attend thy leisure Keep me from the habit of an idle life and close mine eares against corrupt communication Set thou a watch before my lips that all my words may savour of sobriety Preserve me from the vanity and pride of life that I may walke blamelesse in my conversation Protect me from the fellowship of the unclean anâ— from all such as are of evill report Let thy grace O God be sufficient for me to protect my sâ—ule from the buffetings of Sataâ— Make me industrious and diligent in my calling lest the enemy get advantage over mee In all my temptations let mee have recourse to thee Be thou my refuge when I call upon thee Forgive O God the sinnes of my youth O pardon the multitudes of my secret sinnes Encrease my hatred to my former life and strengthen my resolution for the time future Hear me O God and let the words of my mouth be alwaies acceptable to thee O God my strength and my Redeemer The Sabbath-breakers Prophanation THe glittering Prince that sits upon his regall and imperiall Throne and the ignoble Peasant that sleeps within his sordid house of Thatch are both alike to God An Ivory Temple and a Church of Clay are priz'd alike by him The flesh of Buls and the perfumes of My he and â—assia smoak his Altars with an equall pleasure And does he make such difference of dayes Is he that was so weary of the New-Moones so taken with the Sun to tie his Sabbath to that only day The tenth in tithes is any one in ten and why the seventh day not any one in seven We sanctifie the day the day not us But are we Jewes Are we still bound to keepe a legall Sabbath in the strictnesse of the Letter Have the Gentiles no priviledge by vertue of Messiahs comming or has the Evangelicall Sabbath no immunities The service done the day 's discharged my libertie restored And if I meet my profits or my pleasurer then I 'le give them entertainment If businesse call me to account I dare afford a carefull eare Or if my sports invite me I 'le entertaine them with a cheerfull heart I 'le goe to Mattens with as much devotion as my neighbour I 'le make as low obeysance and as just responds as any but as soon as Evensong 's ended my Church-devotion and my Psalter shall sanetifie my Pue till the next Sabbath call Were it no more for an old custome sake then for the good I finde in Sabbaths that Ceremony might as well be spared It is a day of Rest And what 's a Rest A relaxation from the toile of labour And what is labour but a painfull exercise of the fraile body But where the exercise admits no toile there Relaxation makes no Rest What labour is it for the worldly man to compasse Sea and Land to accomplish his desires What labour is it for the impatient lover to measure Hellespont with his widened armes to hasten his delâ—ght What labour for the youth to number musick with their sprightly paces Where pleasure 's reconcil'd to labour labour is but an active rest Why should the Sabbath then a day of rest divorce thee from those delights that make thy Rest Afflict their soules that please my rest shall be what most conduces to my hearts delight Two houres will vent more prayers then I shal need the rest remaines for pleasure His extirpation COnscience why start'st thou A judgement strikes me from the mouth of heaven and saith Whosoever doth any worke on my Sabbath his soule shall be cut off Exod. 31. 14. Exod. 20. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day six dayes shalt thou labour and doe all that thou hast to do but the seventh day c. Exod. 31. 14. Ye shall keep my Sabbath for it is holy unto you Exod. 31. 13. Verily my Sabbaths thou shalt keep for this is a sign betwixt me and you throughout your Generations Luke 23. 56. And they returned and prepared spices and oyntments and rested on the Sabbath day according to the Commandement His Proofs Gregor. Wee ought upon the Lords day to rest from bodily labour and wholly to addict our selves to prayers that whatsoever hath been done amisse the weeke before may upon the day of our Lords resurrection be expiated and purged by fervent prayers Cyr. Alex. Sin is the storehouse of death and misery it
for this no day designed but At what time soever If my unseasonable heart should seek him now the work would bee too serious for so green a seeker My thoughts are yet unsetled my fancy yet too too gamesome my judgment yet unsound my Will unsanctified to seeke him with an unprepared heart is the high way not to find him or to find him with unsetled resolution is the next way to lose him and indeed it wants but little of profanenesse to bee unseasonably religious What is once to bee done is long to bee deliberated Let the boyling pleasures of the rebellious flesh evaporate a little and let me draine my boggy soul from those corrupted inbred humors of collapsed nature and when the tender blossomes of my youthfull vanity shall begin to fade my setled understanding will begin to knot my solid judgement will begin to ripen my rightly guided will be resolved both what to seek and when to find and how to prize till then my tender youth in her pursuit will bee disturb'd with every blast of honour diverted with every fâ—ash of pleasure misled by Counsell turned back with feare puzled with doubt interrupted by passion withdrawne with prosperity and discourag'd with adversity His Repulse TAke heed my soule when thou hast lost thy self in thy journey how wilt thou finde thy God at thy journeys end Whom thou hast lost by too long delay thou wilt hardly find with too late a diligence Take time while time shall serve that day may come wherein Thou shalt seek the Lord but shalt not finde him Hos. 5. 6. Esay 55. 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while ne is neare Heb. 12. 17. Hee found no place for repentance though he sought it with tears carefully Thou fool this night will I take thy soule from thee Revel. 2. 21. I gave her a space to repent but shee repented not Behold therefore I will cast her His Proofs Greg. lib. Mor. Seek God whilst thou canst not see him for when thou seest him thou canst not find him seek him by hope and thou shalt finde him by faith In the day of grace hee is invisible but neare in the day of judgement he is visible but far off Ber. Ser. 24. If we would not seâ—k God in vaine lâ—t us seek him in truth often and constantly let us not seeke another in stead of him nor any other thing with him nor for any other thing leave him His Soliloquie O My soul thou hast sought wealth and hast either not found it or cares with it thou hast sought for pleasure and hast found it but no comfort in it Thou soughtest honour and hast found it and perchance fallen with it Thou soughtest friendship and hast found it false society and hast found it vaine And yet thy God the fountaine of all wealth pleasure honour friendship and society thou hast slighted as a toy not worth the finding Be wise my soule and blush at thy own folly Set thy desires on the right objâ—ct Seek wisdom and thou shalt find knowledge and wealth and honour and length of days Seek heaven and earth shall seek thee and deferre not thy Inquest lest thou lose thy opportunity to day thou maist find him whom to morrow thou mayst seek with teares and misse Yesterday is too late to morrow is uncertain to day is onely thine I but my soule I feare my too long delay hath made this day too late fear not my soul he that has given thee his Grace to day will forget thy neglect of yesterday seek him therefore by true repentance and thou shalt finde him in thy Prayer His Prayer O God that like thy precious Word art hid to none but who are lost and yet art found by all that seek thee with an upright heart cast downe thy gracious eye upon a lost sheep of Israel strayed through the vanity of his unbridled youth and wandred in the wildernesse of his own invention Lord I have too much delighted in mine own ways and have put the evil day too far from me I have wallowed in the pleasures of this deceitfull world which perish in the using have neglected thee my God at whose right hand are pleasures for â—vermore I have drawn on iniquity as with cart-ropes and have committed evill with greedinesse I have quencht the motions of thy good spirit and have delayed to seek thee by true and unfained repentance In stead of seeking thee whom I have lost I have withdrawne my self from thy presence when thou hast sought me It were but justice therefore in thee to stop thine eares at my petitions or turn my Prayers as sin into my bosome But Lord thou art a gracious God and full of pity and unwearyed compassion and thy loving kindnes is from generation to generation Lord in not seeking thee I have utterly lost my self and if thou find me not I am lost for ever and if thou find me thou canst not but find me in my sins and then thou find'st me to my owne destruction How miserable O Lord is my condition How necessary is my confusion that have neglected to seek thee and therefore am afraid to bee found of thee But Lord if thou look upon the all-sufficient merits of thy Son thy justice will bee no loser in shewing mercy upon a sinner In his name therefore I present my self before thee in his merits I make my humble approach unto thee in his name I offer up my feeble Prayers for his merits grant me my petitions Call not to minde the rebellions of my flesh and remember not O God the vanities of my youth Inflame my heart with the love of thy presence and relish my meditations with the pleasure of thy sweetnesse Let not the consideration of thy justice overwhelm me in despaire nor the meditation of thy mercy perswade mee to presume Sanctifie my will by the wifdome of thy Spirit that I may desire thee as the chiefest good Quicken my desires with a fervent zeale that I may seeke my Creator in the dayes of my youth â—each mee to seeke thee according to thy will and then bee found according to thy promise that living in mee here by thy grace I may hereafter raign with thee in glory The Hypocrites prevarication THere is no such stuffe to make a cloake on as Religion nothing so fashionable nothing so profitable it is a Livery wherein a wise man may serve two Masters God and the world and make a gainefull service by either I serve both and in both my selfe in prevaricating with both Before man none serves his God with more severe devotion for which among the best of men I work my own ends and serve my self In private I serve the world not with so strict devotion but with more delight where fulfilling of her servants lusts I work my end and serve my self The house of Prayer who more frequents then I in all Christian duties who more forward then I I fast
both in this globe of earth and the orbe of heaven His Soliloquy HOw sweet a feast is till the reckoning come A fair day ends often in a cold night and the road that 's pleasant ends in Hell If worldly pleasures had the promise of continuance prosperity were some comfort but in this necessary vicissitude of good and evill the prolonging of adversity sharpens it It is no common thing my soule to enjoy two heavens Dives found it in the present Lazarus in the future Hath thy encrease met with no damage thy reputation with no scandall thy pleasure with no crosse thy prosperity with no adversity Presume not Gods checks are symptomes of his mercy but his silence is the Harbinger of a judgement Be circumspect and provident my soule Hast thou a faire Summer provide for a hard Winter The worlds River ebbes alone it flowes not Hee that goes merrily with the stream must hale up Flatter thy selfe therefore no longer in thy prosperous sin O my deluded soule but be truly sensible of thy own presumption Look seriously into thy approaching danger and humble thy self with true contrition If thou procure sowre Herbs God will provide his Passeover His Prayer HOw weake is man O God when thou forsakest him How foolish are his Counsels when he plots without thee How wild his progresse when he wanders from thee How miserable till he returne unto thee How his wit failes How his wisedome falters How his wealth melts How his providence is befool'd and how his soule beslav'd Thou strik'st off the Chariot wheeles of his Inventions and he is perplext Thou confoundest the Babel of his imaginations and he is troubled Thou crossest his designes that he may feare thee and thou stopst him in his wayes that he may know thee How mercifull art thou O God and in thy very judgements Lord how gracious Thou mightst have struck me into the lowest pit as easily as on these bended knees and yet been justified in my confusion But thou hast threatned like a gentle father as loth to punish thy ungracious childe Thou knowest the crooked thoughts of man are vaine still turning point to their contrivers ruine Thou saw'st me wandring in the maze of death whilst I with violence pursued my owne destruction But thou hast warn'd me by thy sacred Word and took me off that I might live to praise thee Thou art my confidence O God Thou art the rock the rocke of my salvation Thy Word shall be my guide for all thy paths are Mercy and Truth Lord when I look upon my former worldlinesse I utterly abhorre my conversation strengthen mee with thy assistance that I may lead a new life make me more and more sensible of my own condition and perfect thou the good worke thou hast begun in me In all my designes be thou my Counsellour that I may prosper in my undertakings In all my actions be thou my guide that I may keep the path of thy Cōmandements Let all my own devises come to nought lest I presume upon the arme of flesh let not my wealth encrease without thy blessing lest I be fatted up against the day of slaughter Have thou a hand in all my just imployments then prosper thou the worke of my hands O prosper thou my handy-worke That little I enjoy confirme it to me and make it mine who have no interest in it till thou owne me as thy Child Then shall my soule rejoyce in thy favours and magnifie thy name for all thy mercies Then shall my lips proclaim thy loving kindnesse and sing thy praises for ever and ever The lascivious mans Heaven CAn flesh and blood bee so unnaturall to forget the Lawes of Nature Can blowing youth immure it selfe within the Icey walls of Vestall Chastity Can lusty diet and mollicious rest bring forth no other fruits but faint desires rigid thoughts and Phlegmatick conceits should we be stocks and stones and having active souls turne altogether passives Must we turne Ancherites and spend our dayes in Caves and Hermitages and smother up our pretious hours in cloysterd folly and recluse devotion Can rosy cheeks can ruby lips can snowy brests and sparkling eyes present their beauties and perfections to the sprightly view of young mortality and must we stand like Statues without sense or motion Can strict Religion impose such cruell tasks and even impossible commands upon the raging thoughts of her unhappy votaries as to withstand and contradict the instinct and very principles of Nature Can faire-pretending Piety be so barbarous to condemn us to the flames of our affections and make us Martyrs to our own desires Is 't not enough to conquer the rebellious actions of imperious flesh but wee must manacle her hands darken her eyes nay worse restrain the freedom of her very thoughts Can full perfection be expected here Or can our work bee perfect in this vale of imperfection This were a life for Angels but a task too hard for frail for transitory man Come come wee are but men but flesh and blood and our born frailties cannot grapple with such potent tyranny What Nature and Necessity requires us to doe is veniall being done Come strive no more against so strong a stream but take thy fill of beauty solace thy wanton heart with amorous contemplations cloathe all thy words with courtly Rhetorick and soften thy lips with Dialects of Love Surfet thy selfe with pleasure and melt thy passion into warm delights Walk into Natures universall Bower and pick what Flower does most surprize thine eye drink of all waters but bee tied to none Spare neither cost nor paines to compasse thy Desires Enjoy varieties emparadise thy soule in fresh Delights The change of pleasure makes thy pleasure double Ravish thy senses with perpetuall choyce and glut thy soule with all the delicates of Love BUt hold there is a voyce that whispers in my troubled eare a voyce that blanks my thoughts and stops the course of my resolves a voyce that chils the bosom of my soul and fils me with amazement Hark They which doe such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Gal. 5. 21. Exodus 20 14 Thou shalt not commit Adultery Matthew 5. 28. Whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart Rom. 13. 13 Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting nor in drunkennesse nor in chambering nor in wantonnesse 1 Peter 2. 11. Abstain from fleshly lusts which warre against the soule His Proofes Nilus in Paraen Woe be to the fornicator and adulterer for his garment is defiled and spotted and the heavenly Bridegroom casts him out from his chast nuptials A world of presumptuous and haynous offences do arise and spring from the filthy fountain of adulterous lust whereby the gate of heaven is shut and poore man excluded from God S Gregor. Mor. Hence the flesh lives in sensuall delights for a moment but the immortall soule perisheth for ever His Soliloquy LUst
kindles flames for it 's dearest friends Therefore whosoever when he should rest from sin busieth himselfe in the dead and fruitlesse workes of wickednesse and renouncing all piety lusts after such things as will bring him into eternall destruction and everlasting flames justly deserves to die and perish with the damned because when he might have enjoyed a pious rest he laboured to run headlong to his own destruction His Soliloquy MY soul how hast thou prophaned that day thy God hath sanctified How hast thou encroach'd on that which heaven hath set apart If thy impatience cannot act a Sabbath twelve hours what happinesse canst thou expect in a perpetuall Sabbath Is sixe dayes too little for thy selfe and two hours too much for thy God O my soule how dost thou prize temporalls beyond eternalls Is it equall that God who gave thee a body and sixe dayes to provide for it should demand one day of of thee and be denied it How liberall a receiver art thou and how miserable a Requiter But know my soule his Sabbaths are the Apple of his eye He that hath power to vindicate the breach of it hath threatned judgements to the breaker of it The God of mercy that hath mitigated the rigour of it for charity sake will not diminish the honour of it for prophanesse sake sorget not then my soule to remember his Sabbaths and remember not to forget his judgements lest he forget to remember thee in Mercy What thou hast neglected bewaile with conâ—â—ition â—nd what thou hast repenâ—ed forsake with resolution and what thou hast resolved strengthen with devotion His Prayer O Eternall just and all discerning Judge in thy selfe glorious in thy Son gracious who â—â—yest without a witnesse and condemnest without a jury O! I confesse my very actions have betrayed me thy word hath brought in evidence against me my own conscience hath witnessed against me and thy judgement hath past sentence against me And what have I now to plead but mine owne misery and whether should that misery flee but to the God of mercy And since O Lord the way to mercy is to leave my selfe I here disclaim all interest in my selfe and utterly renounce my selfe I that was created for thy glory have dishonoured thy Name I that was made for thy service have prophaned thy Sabbaths I have sleighted thy Ordinances and turned my back upon thy Sanctuary I have neglected thy Sacraments abused thy Word despis'd thy Ministers and despis'd their ministery I have come into thy Courts with an unprovided heart and have drawn near with uncircumcised lips And Lord I know thou art a jealous God and most severe against all such as violate thy Rest The glory of thy Name is pretious to thee and thine honour is as the Apple of thine eye But thou O God that art the God of Hosts hast published and declared thy selfe the Lord of mercy The constitution of thy Sabbath was a work of time but Lord thy mercy is from all eternity I that have broke thy Sabbaths do here present thee with a broken heart thy hand is not shortned that thou canst not heale noâ— thy ear deafned that thou canst not hear Stâ—etch forth thy hand O God and heal my wounds Bow down thine eare O Lord and heare my Prayers Alter the fabrick of my sinfull heart and make it tender of thy glory Make me ambitious of thy service and let thy Sabbaths be my whole delight Give me a holy reverence of thy Word that it may prove a light to my steps and a Lanthorn to my feet Endue my heart with Charity and Faith that I may finde a comfort in thy Sacraments Blesse thou the Ministers of thy sacred Word and make them holy in their lives sound in their doctrine laborious in their callings Preserve the universall Church in these distracted times give her peace unity uniformity purge her of all Schisme error and superstition Let the Kings daughter be all glorious within and let thine eyes take pleasure in her beauty that being honor'd here to be a member of her Militant I may bee glorified with her triumphant The Censorious mans Crimination I Know there is much of the seed of the Serpent in him by his very lookes if his words betray'd him not He hath eaten the Egge of the Cockâ—trice and surely he remaineth in the state of perdition He is not within the Covenant and abideth in the Gall of bitternesse His studied Prayers show him to be a high Malignant and his Jesu worship concludes him popishly affected He comes not to our private meetings nor contributes a penny to the cause He cries up learning and the book of Common-prayer and takes no armes to hasten Reformation He feares God for his owne ends for the spirit of Antichrist is in him His eyes are full of Adulteries and goes a whoring after his owne inventions He can hear an oath from his superiours without reproof and the heathenish Gods named without spitting in his face Wherefore my soule detesteth him and I will have no conversation with him for what fellowship hath light with darknesse or the pure in heart with the unclean Sometimes he is a Publican somtimes a Pharisee and alwayes an Hypocrite He railes against the Altar as loud as we and yet he cringes and makes an Idol of the name of Jesus he is quick-sighted to the infirmities of the Saints and in his heart rejoyceth at our failings he honours not a preaching ministery and too much leans to a Church-government hee paints devotton on his face whilst pride is stampt within his heart he places sanctity in the walls of a Steeple-house and adores the Sacrament with his popish knee His Religion is a Weathercock and turns brest to every blast of wind With the pure he seems pure and with the wicked he will joyne in fellowship A sober language is in his mouth but the poyson of Aspes is under his tongue His workes conduce not to edification nor are the motions of his heart sanctified He adores great ones for preferment and speaks too partially of authority He is a Laodicean in his faith a Nicolaitane in his workes a Pharisee in his disguise a rank Papist in his heart and I thanke my God I am not as this man His Commination BUt stay my soule take heed whilst thou judgest another lest God judge thee how com'st thou so expert in anothers heart being so often deceived in thy own A Saul to day may prove a Paul to morrow Take heed whilst thou wouldst seem religious thou appear not uncharitable and whilst thou judgest man thou be not judg'd of God who saith Iudge not lest ye be judged Mat. 7. 1. Iohn 7. 24. Iudge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgement Rom. 14. 10. But why dost thou judge thy brother or why dost thou set at naught thy brother We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ 1 Cor 4. 5. Iudge nothing before the time untill the Lord