is rouling or stirring it can neither receive nor reflect well the Image of the Sun so a Soul in continual action cannot receive the impressions of Grace the beams of the glorious Jesus nor the likeness of our great God Thou raging and rouling Sea hold thy self then still and hust stop thy Surges to be the Looking-glass of the Heavens to the intent all those matchless and illustrious lights may penetrate thee and paint themselves in thee How can the knowledge of God said St. Basil enter into a Soul taken up with a crowd of carnal thoughts It ought to be master of its time and its self to be presented to God Pharaoh knew this well since he told the Israelites What ye say come and let us sacrifice to our God proceeds from that ye are Idle Certain I am God does not love slothful People and how should he love idle Lives that will take account of every idle word But yet neither does he love People over busie Martha Martha says he Thou art cumbered and troubled about many things Thy Sister Mary has chosen the good Part. She did not labour about Evil things but too many things She did even good works in doing what she did she served our Lord she prepared him meat and drink If there could be excess in these holy Employments when they hinder us from approaching often enough to the Throne of Grace what must we believe touching the imployments of the World what people will be excluded from the sacred feast of our Saviour Why those men of Business one of whom forsooth bought a yoke of Oxen and will go to try them another has purchased an House and he must needs go see it a third is contracted to a Wife and he will wed her Such Persons will find the Gate shut and barr'd they come not time neither will they find any one to open unto theâ— It will be said to them as it was to others go ye wâ—kers of Nothing I know you not Let us not say the such a way I must go to day to morrow another must do such a thing and finish such an affair afterwaâ— I will think upon God! O my Soul Thy great concernâ—â— to set thee well with thy God 't is to consult him often about the Disposition wherein he is with thee 't is to sollicite his mercy and implore the succours of his Grace 't is to pay him thy just Homages and place all thy inteâ—est in him It is the one thing necessary choose then thâ— good part which shall not be taken away from thee Thiâ— one thing I do forgetting those things which are behinâ— and reaching forth unto those things which are before 〈◊〉 press toward the Mark. Let not therefore the Indevout Person come with his Objection from the multiplicity of his Affairs the most busie steal their moments for Pleasure and whâ— can't they then for a Duty Let no one oppose us with the goodness and innocence of particular Imployments nothing is innocent that renders us culpable before God in estranging us from him But what shall we say of those Persons who create to themselves affairs of vast and mighty importance in the due setting of a Tower or accurate scituation of a Spot who consult their Glass an hundred times to place every thing in its proper order who imploy the best part of their lives in-these Idle Businesses and amidst all this find scarce a minute to consecrate to Devotion I say that these Women are to render an account of all and of the time which they have so miserably squander'd away and of their Beauty whereof they have made so bad a use and of the unjust Division they have made betwixt God and their own Idol seeing they have given all their Hours to the Service of this and to God only some moments of unadvised and hasty Devotion Meditation Wretched Soul how miserable art thou to be obliged to serve perpetually a Body that renders thee nothing but evil for all the good that thou hast done it Thou travellest after many things Thou runnest from one end of the World to the other Thou venturest upon the Tempests of the Sea thou exposest thy self to their fury Thy Body is burnt by the heats of the Sun From Icy Climates thou passest into the Torrid Zone For whole years thou sail'st upon the mouth of Abysses to seek Riches Gold Silver precious Stones and all manner of Delicates If thou dost not do this thou dost somewhat else which is no better and thou sustain'st as great Labours and which are no less vain and all for a Body that is Dust and must return to Dust True it is that to take care of thy Body is a Yoak that God has laid upon thee but thou thy self makest this Yoak infinitely more weighty The Body would be content with a very little if thou would'st serve it as it should be served and by consequence it would rob thee of but a little time but thou givest it all What blindness and what fury is this Whaâ— will return to thee of all thy Labours Thâ— Body for which thou takest so much pains will carry nothing away with it of these Riches which thou amassest for it except a winding-sheet an herse-cloth and perchance will have and hold a short while five or six feet of Earth O my Soul it 's of thee thoâ— ought'st to think and for thee thou ought'st to provide Thou art a Queen and thou becomest a Slave Thou should'st be served and lo thou servest Thou neglectest to gather the true Riches together and therefore thou art poor blind and naked I counsel thee then to get Gold Rayments and Nourishment of him who saith Every one that thirsteth come ye to the Waters buy Wine and Milk without Mony and without price Prayer MAke me O my God to know that thou art the sovereign Good the only good worthy alone to be sought after and worthy alone to be loved that I may no longer run after the vain Shadows of Greatness and Glory Make me to know the true Goods so as I may bestow all my Love and Care upon them So as I may no more make the principal workings of my thoughts to respect worldly Employments So as I may keep my Body under as a Slave that hath an inclination to rebell but that I may serve thee as a Master whose inclinations are ever favourable unto me Let me with assurance first of all seek thy Kingdom and thy Righteousness and then all the rest shall be added unto me Suffer no Ingratitude nor Distrust in my Soul Nor let it doubt of the Goodness of him who has given so many marks of his Care and Tenderness over it How can it fear O my God that thou wilt let it want any thing thou who feedest the young Ravens that cry unto thee and the Lions Whelps that lay them down in their Dens It labours about this Life as if it were to be Eternal and it
I may be then punisht for a thousand crimes I never committed So that it will be useless to me not to find in my life either Paricides or Sacrileges or Adulteries or Idolatries or Apostasies since that I might have the seeds of them in my heart and might have fallen into them if I had been tempted and pusht on that awayes I must therefore give up mine Account before God O my heart canst thou answer for thy self Thou art profoundly and it may be desperately wicked who knows thee Canst thou say with a perfect confidence Although I saw the beauty of Bathskeba I would never fall into the snares of Incontinence with David If I were tempted as Solomon I would never become an Idolater as he did If I saw present death I would never deny my Master with St. Peter If these pillars were shook and broken what assurance canst thou have of resisting these winds nay Hurricanes of Temptation thou who art but a broked Reed And if I must be judged for all the crimes I could commit what will become of me what shall I do whither shall I turn my self since till this present minute I cannot give an account of the sins which I have commited Think thus for thy comfort O my Soul that if thou art capable of thy self to fall into sins of surprize and to yield to unforeseen Temptations by the strength of that Grace which is and God will preserve in thee thou art on the other side capable to lift thy self up again to break out and weep bitterly so as if God looks upon the sins as commited which thou might'st have commited if thou had'st bin tempted to commit them he considers them also as effaced by Repentance which he would thou had'st if thou had'st commited them though this does not hinder thee from working out thy Salvation with Fear and Trembling Fear that piercing and severe Eye which sees and punishes thy sins to come as well as the present which knows and abominates those evil dispositions of thy heart thou art not accquainted withal as well as the sins thou wottest of Choak the buds of thy Vices lest they come to bring forth bitter branches and be imputed to thee though they should bring forth nothing Endeavour in thy self to have Dispositions to all good works and habits of all the Vertues And in doing this although God Almighty's Providence does not present thee with means to exert and exercise those Vertues yet his goodness will judge thee according as thou would'st have done had'st thou had the means If thou art poor and out of a condition to give Alms the Judge will not fail to say I was an hungry and thou gavest me meat thirsty and thou gavest me drink naked and thou cloathedst me yes says he thou hast done it because thou would'st have done it if it had been in thy power Prayer THE more I think of thee O my God the more I find thy Judgments incomprehensible and thy Ways past finding out I stand in infinite arrears to thy goodness but I owe thee infinitely more than I see and the benefits that are hid from me surpass those which are known to me for thy mercy hath depths which it is impossible to sound I ought to look upon as so many goods all the evils I am saved by thee from seeing I am but a weak Mortal and a thousand enemies that continually are justling me would give me a thousand assaults and a thousand times wholly seize upon me were it not for thy protecting me and preventing them But above all into the number of Obligations I ought to put that which I have to thy Sovereign goodness the infinite number of sins which I might have but have not committed For I may thank the World for the seeds of all those crimes and those seeds had sprouted first and grown up to the height of the Cedars of Libanus if thy good Grace had not choak'd them I am environed with Temptations and there is not one of them but is allyed to some motion of my concupiscence insomuch that if thy Grace were not a Bridle to my heart that tames and breaks it it would fling out every moment and take its full swing in dissoluteness So I acknowledge O my God St. Augustin that to thee I owe all the good I have and all the evil I have not I owe to thee the Remission of all the sins I have commited because thou hast pardoned them and I look upon as pardoned all those I have not commited because thy Grace hath prevented my committing them This teaches me in what manner I ought to understand that which thou hast told me O my Saviour To whom little is forgiven the same loveth little This was to discover the proud Pharisee to whom thou spakest the source of his Indevotion and his little love He believ'd he had less obligation to thy Mercy because having committed fewer sins as he thought he believ'd he owed thee much less As for me I say to whom lesser is forgiven the same loveth more Yes O my God I have more obligation for the sins which thou hast prevented my committing than for those thou hast remitted me It is a much greater good to render a man invulnerable than to cure him of the Wounds he has received it is better never to fall into the Fire and Water than to be drawn out thence with the peril of continuing there And it is more happy alwayes to be well than to recover of a sickness But above all since it is a great unhappiness to have offended thee O God 't is a much greater blessing to have bin preserved from sin by thy Grace than to re-enter into favour after having violated thy most sacred Majesty O my Redeemer deliver me then from all iniquity to come prevent me in all my misdoings dry up the source of my crimes root every ill disposition out of my heart dispose me to all the Vertues that I may be judg'd in thy sight to have fulfill'd all Righteousness that I may be rewarded even for the good works I had not done because I had an intention to do them CHAP. III. Other Considerations upon this Truth That the pleasures of sense nor in their Vse nor in their Abuse agree with the spirit of Christianity and Devotion THE Pleasures of the World are for the senses or for the imaginations Now these faculties are corporeal and consequently all their pleasures are corporeal too this is enough to teach those that would follow the mind of the Gospel that they cannot lawfully seek them For the Gospel of our Lord Christ leads Men to neglect and contemn that Body And therefore it speaks of it with so much Slight According to the style of the Holy Ghost The Body is but Dust and Ashes an earthly Tabernacle an House of Clay destroyed by Worms a Flower that cometh forth and is cut down a River that runneth apace a Shadow which disappears a
and are lift up so high This Drunkenness causes them to make a thousand Trips and false Steps their Footings are ever awry and oblique like those of drunken Men they have a great Conceit of their own Wisdom Prudence and Strength all this fails 'em sometimes they reel stagger and at last fall for Pride comes before Ruin Examine thy self O my Soul see if thou hast not a tincture of this Evil and if thou be not inebriated with the Thought of thy own Righteousness and thy own Merit Alas if thou denyest it thou knowest thy self ill This is a great Pride the belief of having none for it is to believe thou art worth as much as thou esteemest thy self but there is no Man but esteems himself more than he is really worth Thou wilt say to me perhaps thou hast an ill Opinion of thy self but be assured O my Soul thou dost not contemn thy self so much as thou art contemptible If thou contemn thy self thou makest a Merit of that Contempt so as there is Pride affix'd to the Contempt thou hast of thy self The other Vice which is the Gluttony of the Soul is no less dangerous View those Men that devour that are continually laying violent hands on the Prey and never say It is enough those ambitious and covetous Persons who suck up the Substance of the Poor who eat up Gods People like bread or who at least labour with an unconceivable desire to enrich and aggrandize themselves who go to seek the utmost bounds of the World and yet put no end to their desires who can mount up to the highest pinacle of greatness yet cannot fill the abyss of their Ambition Have a care O my Soul of running into these excesses for he who hungers after Silver will never be satisfied with Silver Quench the fire of thy Avarice for if thou furnish it with food thou wilt nourish it it will devour thy entrails and peradventure cause such a Flame as will consume both thee and thy Neighbours I must not then neglect corporal fasting but the principal one is Humility that will guard me from the Drunkenness of Pride and a contentment of Mind that will make me despise superfluous things so as I shall be content with those which are necessary This is the true Sobriety of the Soul these two vertues walk hand in hand together Be thou humble O my Soul and thou wilt be content with thy Fortune know how little thou art worth and thou wilt be persuaded thou hast more than thou deservest Prayer O Lord make me to know my self that I am nothing It is certain that I am nothing but yet I cannot confess it My mouth says it yet my heart doth not agree thereto and I always feel within me the Devil of Pride that sollicites me and says to me in a low Voice senseless as thou art why speakest thou of thy self with so much scorn If thou dost not esteem thy self who shall esteem thee Are men oblig'd to have a better Opinion of thee than thou hast of thy self since thou must needs know thy self better than they can know thee if I humble my self before thee O Lord it is because I look upon this as of no consequence by reason of the enormous disproportion there is betwixt thee and me But with men I keep to great measures I try to deceive them and to give them a vast Opinion of my self I strive to keep up my rank to be valued and I can suffer no slight or contempt O mercifull Jesus who didst humble thy self even to death inspire thy Humility into me and recover me from being overwhelmed with my Pride so that being persuaded I deserve nothing I may be evermore content with all thou bestowest upon me that Godliness and content of mind may be my great gain so I have as much food and cloathing as is sufficient CHAP. XI Of the rash Judgment which is made of Devout People I HAVE done with the Directions I thought necessary to help Devotion but before I conclude I believe there is some Consolation due to truly Devout Persons of whom so bad a Judgment is made in the World Some put them all into the rank of Hypocrites These are our false Devoto's say the profane who observe forms so exactly who are careful to be at all pious Ordinances who lend so great an attention to a Sermon who pray and communicate with so many visible marks of Devotion we are never the less good Christians for our little Affectation we have what 's solid in piety and they the appearance only It must be confest Hypocrisie doth a great deal of harm to Devotion I do not deny there are falsely devout People there 's hardly any veil wherewith evil Consciences cover themselves more ordinarily than with this of Godliness But because some Hypocrites there be is it necessary there are none others Because we find counterfeit Diamonds can none find true and effective ones because there are false and foolish fires is there then no true light Some indeed believe they have found out a good remedy against this mischief they affect an apparent Indevotion for having some zeal at the bottom they imagine 't is necessary to affect a Way and an Air of indifference to avoid the Accusation of Hypocrisie but this is to avoid one evil by a greater and being reduc'd to the necessity either of committing a Crime or of being the occasion of one we are to determine on the latter We are commanded to make the light of our good Works to shine before men and to edifie our â—eighbours by our good Examples Unhappiness thereâ—ore attends them who put their Candle under a bushel â—ut to speak the truth I believe those that so strenuâ—usly endeavour to hide their Devotion do not hide my great thing from us they have little enough within When a Chamber is fill'd with fire the light appears thorough the Windows Piety is a fire that casts its flame through all our vertues tho never so much care be â—aken to conceal it If the heart be full of godly zeal it will appear upon the Tongue in the Hands and even in the Eyes True no affectation is to be us'd God hates those pompous and vain-glorious Pieties which expose ' emselves at the corners of Streets and which wholly consist in the liftings up of the hands the â—ouling of the Eyes and a wan and deadish Visage Devotions the more secret they are the better But how easie is it to distinguish Sincerity from affectation If these prophane Judges did but know themselves a little they would not confound a modest Piety and sage Devotion which shines only thorough the veil of a profound Humility with a Devotion made up of Grimaces The Life Conversation and Manners are the best touch-stone to know the Sincerity of Devotion If the devout Person is Covetous Ambitious one that grows rich at the expence of the Poor or that is vindicative I agree we may put
meanness of my own Strength or to speak better my Weakness and my Nothing I aim at great things for I aim at becoming one with my God I would become like him I would renew his Image in me I would cleanse my Heart so corrupt with Sin I would rebuild this great House which Sin and the Devil have brought to ruin I would ascend the Throne I wou'd become King and Priest to God my Father Alas my Soul where in thy self wilt thou find strength to do such great things thou who art only Darkness Weakness and Pollution If thou had'st no other Enemy to engage with but the Devil how wilt thou vanquish that red Dragon which hath seven Heads and ten Horns That wicked Serpent at the beginning poysoned our first Parents with the breath of his Mouth And now he infects all the Sources where we drink he lays his Snares in all our Paths and more especially he never makes greater Endeavours to destroy us than when we make ours to unite us to God by Prayer and Devotion then he stirs up all the Fantomes of our Imagination to carry us out from God's Presence He raises the Waves of our Passions and Concupiscence to keep us from that safe Harbour And truly 't is his Interest to do thus for thou never fightest him O my Soul with more Success than by Prayer when fervent and devout so that he mingles Heaven and Earth together to distract thee and instill into thee Sentiments of Coldness Do notflatter thy self if thou dost not see the Enemy with thy fleshly Eyes yet he shoots his fiery Darts at thee he speaks with thee he attacks thee he tempts thee by the mouth of thy Lust which never fails him and has made a League with him But still O my Soul lose no Courage if thou canst do nothing of thy self thou canst do all things through thy Saviour who strengthens thee Watch be sober persevere lay this evil Spirit and drive him far from thee Resist the Devil and he will flee from you He presses upon none but those that give back Prayer AND thou O Lord Jesus my Redeemer the great Spirit of Light oppose thy self for me to this Spirit of Darkness Let the Lion of the Tribe of Juda break the Jaw-bones of that roaring Lion that turns upon me to devour me Let the holy Seed of the Woman break this Serpent's head give me Antidotes against his Poyson Let thy Grace heal the Wounds which his Bitings and Stings have made in my Soul Vphold me in all the Difficulties which that dangerous Enemy makes me meet with in my Spiritual Exercises When I enter into my Closet or thy Temple be like a brazen Wall about me to defend me from the Access of Evil Spirits So as under the Wings of thy Protection and Love I may live during these Moments in a clear and calm Air in a profound Peace by favour whereof I may consecrate to thee all my Thoughts my Will my Heart my Vnderstanding and my Imagination and nothing may withdraw me from thee CHAP. V. The fifth general Direction to help Devotion To have God always before our Eyes THis is a Remedy for most Mischiefs but 't is particularly so against Indevotion I shall say by and by that the Faithful ought to have their hours of Devotion wherein to retrace expresly the Idea's of the Divinity in their Mind and awaken it to remember his Benefits and Graces But this is not what I mean at present I speak of that continual and as it were habitual Thought of God which is never to be abandoned 'T is a delicate and most spiritual Meditation which comes a cross to rob our worldly Affairs of those Moments which it consecrates to Heaven 'T is a sublime Operation of an Understanding illuminated by the light of Grace that finds God all in all that mixeth him in all our Actions and spieth him out in all Objects 'T is an act of the Soul whereby amid humane Affairs it turns without Violence to God-ward thorough an Habit it has acquir'd It makes all things to be as so many Ladders to scale Heaven and all Objects to put one in mind of God An Artificer while he is working a Traveller in his Journey a Scholar in his Study will find means to sanctifie what each does in causing God to intervene by pious Reflections Let the Lamb follow thee O faithful Soul whithersoever thou goest that thou may'st be able one day to follow him whither he shall go If thou art lying down in thy Bed think on the Tomb of thy Saviour who for thy Salvation was pleased to enter into the Chambers of Death Art thou near falling on sleep think on Christ whose eyes were shut by the sleep of Death An Infant just born will recall to thee the thought of thy Lord's Abasement and Humility in his Birth An unhappy Person that suffers for his fins will bring thee to think on Jesus who suffered for thine One that asks an Alms will ask it for Christ his sake or will tell thee that he became poor that thou might'st be rich In a word out of all things 't is easie for thee to extract an Occasion to think on thy God What shall I say of the Objects of Nature that put thee in mind of him almost against thy Will If thou risest betimes thou canst not see the Sun rising without thinking on him that has made this work and without being reminded of the Sun of thy Soul who pours forth the gleams of his Grace into thy Heart to disperse thence all Darkness The Woods the Rivers the Mountains the Feilds cover'd with harvest Corn the Trees Fruits Flowers all in short will entertain and complement thee with thy God For the Heavens declare the Glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy Work The Flyes and Worms themselves speak this since we see the Divinity showing in them For as St Austin says well this worker in such a manner appears great in great things that he does not appear lesss great in the least of his works We are therefore to form an Habit to our selves of thinking on God even while we do every thing and this will be the true way of doing well what we do and engaging God to do it with us Now there are some Employments which take not the Soul intirely up A workman at his work or a woman in such concerns as are ordinary to that Sex will roul about in their Imagination a thousand Chimerical designs wander up and down every where and think of an hundred things successively But what is it restrains 'em from giving up to God that part of their Soul and Attention which they deduct from their other work why will they not think of their Redeemer of the Obligarions they have to him and the Acknowledgement and Recollection which they rather owe to him than to a vain chat and conversation they have had some where or other or some adventure
such an one in the rank of counterfeits But if the Life in all respects be unreprovable 't is a Sin worthy of all the flames in Hell to judge that the Devotion is feign'd 't is a sort of Sin against the Holy Ghost like to that which the Pharisees were guilty of against our Saviour in accusing him that he did through the help of the Devil what he did by the Finger and Spirit of God These prophane men do the same thing to the evil spirit of Hypocrisie they attribute the immediate works of God's Spirit But say some tho these same devouts appear regular in their Life it 's because they ave the Address Dexterity and Knack not to discover their impurities the love of their Reputation engaging 'em to use such Precautions as hinder the publick from taking notice of their crimes But is not this to violate all sorts of Rights to invade even those of God himself to undertake to see into the Heart Is it not to violate the asâ—lums of Secresie to judge boldly of what doth not appear to the World Is it not to goe against all the rules of good Sense to judge a man is wicked because he appears to be good To conclude I say if we were to declare for the Hypocrite or the prophane Libertine the latter is to be banisht rather than the former The Hypocrite at least has the moity of a Christian tho he hath but the least part his Externals make to Edification and his false Godliness may enkindle what is true But the Libertine hath it neither within nor without he offends God scandalizes his Neighbour he undoes others as well as himself I shut up all then with counselling our devout Person to affect nothing yet to take heed of hiding his Devotion under the Veil of Indifference for the satisfaction of Libertines to be an exact Frequenter of holy Assemblies to hear with Attention to pray with Ardour not to dispense himself from the external Actions of Humility but without being excessively given to Appearances After this let him set himself above the Judgment of indevout People God who sees the sincerity of his Heart will reward him and punish those rash Judges most severely Meditation WHat Extravagance is it to fear more the rash Judgment of Men than the just Judgment of God! yet my own Heart reproaches me with this Sin How oft have I found my self inclined to do Good and yet have been stopt by a â—neaking Shame I avoid making my self remarkable for Singularity and therefore generally I follow the Crowd How oft have I been willing to speak of good things and yet lent an eat to Conversations either vain or sinful I have not only lent 'em an ear but I have mix'd my self with them How frequently have I met with prophane People whose Words I detested so full of Profaneness and Blasphemy yet I suffer'd and approv'd them by my Silence How many times have I happened to condemn certain sorts of Pleasures â—ntirely and yet to suffer my self to be ingaged in them not daring to say No. Oh most pernicious Torrent of Custom who can have Strength enough to resist thee Wilt thou never be dried up Never till thou shalt have drawn in the children of Eve into that vast and perillous Sea where even those are scarce able to save themselves who pass over it upon the Wood of the Cross of Jesus Christ Alas O my Soul if thou follow the Crowd thou wilt perish with it though thou goest to Hell with Company thou wilt be never the less damn'd the Society and Multitude of the Unhappy does not diminish their Pains therefore hunt not after the Approbation and Praise of Men at the expence of thy own Salvation and Conscience 't is too dear buying Wind and Smoak What signifies it what Men think of thee so God who seeth thy Heart judges well of thee In this World Sins carry their own Reward and illustrious Vices are praised but comfort thy self in the assurance Another World will come wherein every one will have his due Then the rash Judgments of Men will be null'd by the righteous Judgment of God The Lord Jesus Christ will confess thee before his Father and the Holy Angels he will say to thee Enter thou good and faithful Servant into the Joy of thy Lord. In the Presence of Heaven and Earth Angels and Men he will rebuke those rash People who are always violating that Commandment of Equity Judge not that ye be not judged Seek then O my Soul seek to be approved of God walk uprightly before him be not a slave to Custom conform not thy self to the Manners of this wicked World think constantly on him in whose Sight thou walkest and will be the Rewarder of thy Labours and the Avenger of the Offences and Trespasses thou shalt commit Keep thy self from the Society of prophane People that thou may'st not be infected with their Contagion and since thou canst not overcome their ill Habits by thy good Example take heed lest their bad Example does not surmount thy good Habits of Virtue Prayer O MY Blessed Redeemer come to my help The Stream carries me away the Torrent hurries me I do swim I make endeavours but am carried on and engage my self more and more in the flood of Corruption which runs through the world I condemn the vanity of Words and Actions and ill Customs which are at a distance from Christian Modesty Simplicity Sobriety and Purity Nevertheless I let my self loose to them Take me by the right hand O Lord Jesus conduct me by thy good Spirit in this rugged and difficult path The World is a dangerous Sea it is always beaten with Tempests and no calm is seen there It is full of Shelves and Rocks famous for a prodigious number of Shipwracks O Lord Jesus be thou my Pilot be thou my North-star in this perillous Navigation that I may escape so many abysses which continually open their gaping mouth upon me Shine upon me in this darksome night that I may not wander and that leaving on one hand the paths so beaten and so frequented by Worldlings I may walk in the High-Way as forsaken and untrod as I perceive it is that I may walk in the Ways of Godliness Righteousness and Devotion which thou hast markt out to me that by those good roads I may advance perpetually in leaving the World and Sin behind me that I may press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in thee and that I may at last arrive at that blessed place at that Haven where I shall be under Covert from all storms at that Haven where I shall see thy face in Righteousness where I shall be filled with thy Resemblance where I shall see thee without end where I shall possess thee without ever being satisfied and where I shall be happy to all Eternity THE END