made thee to have thought there was no God then thy God manifested himself to thee when he would have had thee taken pleasure in the vaine delights of this wicked world then thy dear father having a watchfull eye and a carefull minde over thee sent a heavy dulnes into all the powers of thy soul body inforcing thee as it were to leave those earthly vanishes because neither soul nor body could take delight in those things which others call pleasures by reason of thy exceeding heavy dulness Then dost thou my soul think that a most severe punishment on thee from thy father when thou sawest others injoy the blessings of thy God with great contentment Then in the height of this distemper wert thou my soul almost brought to the pit of despair When as the enemy pictur'd before the eyes of thy soul the sad appearance of the anger of thy God and still he persisting in his pernicious temptations bid thee leave his service telling thee it was to no purpose to be so carefull to serve him for thy prayers were not heard thy tears not regarded thy heaviness not removed and if Gods word be true he hears all that cals upon him and removeth from them their griefs Thus subtly delt my enemy with me thinking to havein wrapt me in his hidden nets of most pernicious temptations First making me to think my God was angry then that he heard not my prayers and that his word was falfe thus by consequence faine would he have made me to have doubted of thy being O my eternall and ever-being Father By these snares would he have bereft me of the hope I had in thy word by which I was brought to know thee Thy creatures teach us I acknowledge O Lord to know that there is a God but they cannot teach us to know how to come to this God or how to finde comfort in thee our God 't is onely thy word can declare to us what thou art and thy spirit it is that must assure us that this word is thine It was thy selfe O Lord who art able to performe what thou hast decreed that hast brought this flinty heart of mine to the knowledge of thee My Lord I must needs confess thy powerfull working in framing this heart of mine to the belief of thy word and thee for before thy spirit mollified this heart of mine thy word was to it like water gliding over the hardest marble no whit entring or piercing the same My gracious Lord thy divine Majesty in all the changes and chances of my life hath had a most peculiar care of me for now hast thou taught me to know that those temptations and those perplexities in which my soul was in have been all disposed for the good and happiness of my Soul Now thou makest me to know that thy word is true and that our grief doth work for our good for though our temptations be never so great thou canst and wilt deliver thy children It was thy Majesty that kept me from doubting of thy being it was thy fatherly goodnes that stupified the powers of my Soul and Body with that heavy dulness not because thou wouldest punish me for my sins no! thou didst teach me to know that my gracious Saviour had already indur'd the punishment that my sins deserv'd My Lord thy Majesty did not lay that dejection on me proceeding from thy justice but thy mercy For my God! I must confess to thee that which thou then didst know for then I did love the world more then I loved thee and because thou wouldst have me love the pleasure that should never end thou madst me to take no pleasure in these delights which never end but in sorrow That heaviness was then a bitter pill to purge my Soul from the grosse humours of earthly love that afterwards she may be made more fit and apt to receive the sweet blisse of thine everlasting love This thy love to me kept me from falling into the miserable pit of despaire thy loving kindnesse it was that moved thee to let that word of comfort with which thou sustainest thy servant St. Paul sound ever in my ears That thy grace should be sufficient for me without which grace of thine I not having sufficient strength of my self should have fallen into the gulf of everlasting misery Thy love likewise kept me constant to thee and thy service kept me from doing or saying that in my dispairing thoughts that had not been fit for thy servant to doe or utter Thy unwearied love and great wisdome it was that sent those tryals and temptations to me in my youth that thou mightest sanctifie my youth to thy service and make me carelesse of those pleasures that my young years were too much addicted to For if thy Majesty had suffered me to have run on to have taken pleasure in those vanities till I had been in wrapt in them and had set my whole delight in those vanishing pleasures Then had it been more hard and grievous to me to have left them But thou O my Lord didst deal more graciously with me for before I knew what pleasures meant thou took'st from me the love of pleasure for which great mercy of thine I render thee most hearty thanks My Lord When I consider of these thine infinite mercies I cannot chuse but admire thy goodness and admiring say unto thy heavenly Majesty O Lord what am I that thou shouldest have such a peculiar care of me I am not worthy to be in thy thoughts much more unworthy to be belov'd of thee yet it doth evidently appear that thou dost love me in that thou takest off from me the love of the world for my Lord-unless thou lovest me thou wouldest not have cared for my love and I know that it was in love that thou weanedst me from the world because that I should love thee alone and not the world The Angels Joy YOu blessed Angels by my Father are we honoured to have you for our attendance Sure your lovely faces could not but look sad when my Saviour suffered for methinks it was a sad sight to behold your loving Lord hang tormented on a cursed tree and for those too whose sins caused his torment and then for you to hear him cry out in the bitterness of his Soul My God my God Why hast thou forsaken mee Methinks it should have so incens'd your wrath against us poor mortall creatures that you should have petitioned to your All-powerfull Lord that all humane flesh should have suffered endlesse torment seeing they had so justly deserved it rather then your righteous Lord should have dyed But whether my Soul in the deep consideration of the undeserved suffering of thy righteous Saviour dost thou run Shall the Angels which are our attendants be grieved at our happinesse My Soul wrong not those blessed spirits with such vain thoughts for God was not pleased nor his wrath appeased towards us till that time Oh sad time yet
I my deserts consider My judgement thus I must deliver Into the pit and dungeon deep Where Satan is adjudg'd to keep Where fire and brimstone raging be Where pain abides perpetually Into this place of misery There should I goe when that I dye Go leave thy thoughts thy own thoughts leave And from thy God answer receive From that fierce place of misery Thee for to save the Lord did die And though no sin he did commit He of his goodnesse thought it fit To take thy sins and quit them all And bid thee then no more to fall And tells thee thou needs not to fear For why of thee he takes the care And that on earth while thou dost live For tendance on thee he will give His Angels charge thee to protect And be the guard of his Elect His mercy is the onely reason We are secur'd from Satans Treason Felicity I Am my Gods and he doth let me see In hima true and sweet felicity Those springs of joy that rise still fresh in me Proceed my dear sweet heavenly Prince from thee On sudden Death IF thou in hast shalt send for me Great God to live in Heaven with thee Though to some minds it sodain be It is not sodain unto me Heaven LOrd thou dost bring a heaven with thee Then where I am a heaven must be For thou art ever Lord with mee The Giver engaged to the Receiver THou saist thou art ingag'd to me For what I give when I 'm to thee Thou dost accept a gift that 's poor For it I have ten thousand more The Sun Beames THy blessings like the Sunbeams bee Reaching from heaven to earth on me Like a rich Canopy they show Spreading from Heaven doth round me flow 'T is not abundance rich makes me But a sufficiency from thee To my Brother ELiza saies when as she dies Shee 'l banish tears from all your eyes Unlesse for envy you will weep That you could not her blest soul keep From her eternall blisse and joy Tolive with yours in earths annoy When you have brought me to my grave Then tell the world t is what I 'de have Yee need not say you left me dead But say I am laid in my bed Where I shall safely lye and sleep For heavens great Emperor doth me keep 'Mong Kings and Princes that attend Till to our glory we ascend What I Love GIve me a Soule give me a Spirit That flyes from earth heaven to inherit But those that grovell here below What! I love them I 'le not do so The onely bound MY boundlesse spirits bounded be in thee For bounded by no other can they be The Christians happinesse GOds high Spirit shall thee direct His Angels shall thee still protect They shal thee guard while thou dost sleep They from all evill shall thee keep So thou no evill needs to fear Because of thee God takes the care The Retribution IF thou art pleas'd to have my heart Accept it Lord from me Sith thou dost chuse it for thy part I give it none but thee Mine eyes to thee I doe present Accept them now of me For thou unto me hast them lent They doe belong to thee Thus heart and eyes and all are thine That doe belong to me Before I knew that they were mine They were all made by thee Gods Commands easie MY Lord how easie is thy will Do as I would be done unto Thy holy Law I then fulfill And give the Lord his praises due Why should I to another doe What I would not have done to me All praises to thee Lord is due For all we have proceeds from thee Praise GLory to my gracious Lord Who to my wishes doth accord While here I live I must thee praise For as in Heaven I spend my dayes For nought doth here my soul annoy But I possesse a Heaven of Joy And when from this blisse thou'le take me In glorious Heaven my soul shall be The Companion WHo doth an heavenly Muse injoy Regards not this vain worlds annoy Nor can they ever be alone Heavens Muse is there Companion Vpon the losse of my Brother WHen losse of ought would thee torment Cry 't is thy will Lord I 'me content My love must not divided be 'Twixt Earth and Heaven thou 'lt have me see My brother from me thou hast tane But yet content I must remaine A Brother and a friend was he But much more thou wilt be to me When thoughts of absence moves a tear Thy will is that I should forbear He went not but by thy decree And I must not displeased be On the Sun AT height of noon it cannot be That I can fix mine eyes on thee But when at setting I am bold With setled eyes thee too behold Converter of Atheistick thought Thou wert to me when as I sought A remedy against that sin Which I too deep was falling in Some one above thee must make thee Thou govern'd by a God must be Being told she was proud MY body it must surely dye Off to be proud then what have I. Yet proud if they will have me be My high-borne soule it is of thee But Lord my Soul is none of mine Shall I be proud of what is thine As being thine from pride I 'me free It is enough I 'me freed by thee My pleasing Life SWeet quiet sweet obscurity Here in this life best pleaseth me Till from earth's thrall I shall be free To live in glorious blisse with thee When from earths tumults I am free To contemplate great God on thee A heaven of blisse in thee I see How can this life but pleasing be Nothing of thee merit I can But yet when free from thrall of man I can thee serve with heart more free Then from that thraldome still keep me To a Lady unfaithfull Madam THe Prince of heaven being in love with you Did to his glorious Kingdom bid Adieu The heaven he was awhile content to leave To see if you would his chast love receive You did belong to him when he you sent Into the world but you from him soon went And his chast love so pleasing and so sweet You left your wanton Paramour to meet With his unlawfull love you pleas'd your selfe Fye Madam leave him he is but an Elf. See what your dear sweet Prince hath done for you 'T is very strange but yet t is vety true When he did see you wantonize with them Who were professed enemies to him He then with his fierce enemy did fight To reingain you as his ancient right He lost his royal bloud to purchase you How can you then but to this Prince prove true Can you a Coward love and stain your name By being false unto this Prince of fame Your want onlovers actions hate the light And you 'r asham'd to act them in our sight Then here I le tell you if you know not it All your actions and vain thoughts unfit Your true and lawfull Lord doth straight espie He
not I have enough God is my lot I would hear God now praised bee For his great blessings giv'n to me You 'ave bils of thanks oft sent to you For earthly blessings and they 'r due Shall not then heavenly blessings be More priz'd then earth they shall by mee This Bill of thanks to you I send What though it be not rarely penn'd 'T is the intention of my heart That I in it to you impart It is not onely sent to thee But Preachers all praise God for me I with a Trumpet could proclaime Praises to the God of fame For teaching me to know his name All people for me doe the same Being in paine LOrd if my sin produce my paine Pray let me never sin againe For pain is grievous unto me And sin is hatefull unto thee Let me not do what troubleth thee And thou 'lt not send what grieve shall me But if my patience Lord thou tryest If I will bear what thou applyest To cure the malady of sin Cease not my pain but send't again For pain I rather would endure Then grieve thine eyes of light so pure That our most secret thoughts doe spie And wanton glances of the eye For which thou sendest punishments Or else corrects with sapience Being taken with a sudden pain on the Day appointed for God's publick Service LEt not this pain Lord deter me From publick offering praise to thee Though private prayers may pleasing bee From others and as well from me But publick blessings thou giv'st me And publick praise I 'de offer thee Thou teâ—st me if I will confess Thee before men thou'lt do no lesse For me before thine Angels bright And thy great Father in his light In private I may serve thee here But that to men doth not appeare I then in publick will serve thee Whiles here thou givest me liberty And not depend on charity To think I doe belong to thee The Antidote THis Antidote will cure your fear The God of heaven for you takes care They cannot fear that live above Their fear is cured by their love My Satisfaction I Am content with this earths fate Cause I am borne for higher state Sweet quiet here I wish no more I 'de have my glory kept in store Yet I have on those Robes of glory Of which I oft have read the story That pure refined souls doe wear Living in regions free from care For with the eye of faith I see My selfe sweet Prince as I 'me in thee And with thee I doe live above Because we live where we doe love But Oh my God! when shall it be that the dark Lanthorne of Faith shall be swallowed up in the bright mantle of sweet fruition Being called a Stoick NOt as a Stoick I 'me exempt from care But as a Christian I would all things beare Nor that I blinded am and nothing see No I see all but take all patiently Gods Prerogative LOrd shall I grudge at thy just will Or shall I question thy great skill And think the world thou dost not rule As thou art wont peace silly fool Without his rule it cannot stand All things are done at his command Doe not then grudge at what he doth Nor in thy heart have any ruth Gainst them who now do rule the Land They have no power but from his hand The earth is his and he plucks down Who him displease and gives the Crowne To others if they him obey They shall still rule if not then they Shall be destroyed with his frown And to their foes hee 'l give their Crown Then let me Lord my selfe submit To what thy wisdom seeth fit Sith no authority can be But what appointed is by thee My Mansion ELiza for doe you not care She lives in heaven free from earths feare Her ' bidings in those regions be Her converse with the Deity Mans unkindnesse my Benefit LOrd what a courtesie doth man to me When he 's unkind he drives me straight to thee Where I my deer sweet Prince do ever finde Carefull for me contenting pleasing kinde Then let them be as liketh them to me ' I le not complain sith I can come to thee Who art my joy my love my crown my peace In whom my joys abound and still increase My Second Part. I Did withdraw me from the stage Of this vain world in my best age Thinking for heaven thou hadst bedrest So I retired for my rest But thou a Prophet hadst me made Unto my selfe when I had said Another part I here must play Before I went from hence away A wife thou choo'st out for my part Which I misliked in my heart And thought wedded to none to bee Great Prince of Heaven and earth but thee But thou that hadst ordain'd that part Foundst ' out a means to turne my heart Because my Lord thou 'lt have me see We happy in that life may be But then on thee we must depend For thou alone that blisse canst send For should our Husbands love fixt be Upon some others not on thee Heavens Prince will never thee forsake But still his darling will thee make And should hee of thee carelesse bee Heavens Prince he will more carefull bee He from the earth wil raise thy heart That thou content maist act that part The Resurrection WHy should I be afraid to dye Or let my body in earth lye In that sase bed I 'me laid to sleep When others in their closets weep It is to me a quiet night And next day brings the wished light That makes for me eternall day My body there feels no decay And when I waken I shall finde All things well pleasing to my minde Youth beauty spirit now present Themselves for that days Ornament With Robes more bright then are the beams That from her pleasing Sun here streams Decay they say they never will For they were made with exact skill To adorne the bodies that ascend And on the Deity attend Now shall I see my Princely peer That I on earth did hold so deer And with him still converse shall I Who would not now let their soul fly Seing there 's no fear of decay Fools that think death a dismall day Fearfull Vncertainty OH you that know not when you dye Whither your Souls to heaven shall fly Or wander in the dismall shade No wonder though you be afraid Would you not wear black hellish weeds Avoid then wicked sinfull deeds Do actions that are just and right If you would live in heavenly light Do you think peace you can enjoy That others with your deeds annoy No! what you unto others doe Assure your selves shall fall on you And if good councell now you slight Look in Hells mouth and be affright Avoid betimes that hellish fume Which all your pleasures will consume To Generall Cromwell THe Sword of God doth ever well I' th hand of vertue O Cromwel But why doe I complain of thee ' Cause thou' rt the rod that scourgeth mee But if a good
heavenly art and built up fit for a Temple for thy divine greatnesse to inhabite these thoughts fill me with a pleasing contentment But when the consideration of my vile condition in which by my too much yeelding to please my earthly companion comes into my minde I then hate my selfe for I have thereby made my self subject to all painfull diseases yea to mortality by my intemperance for how justly might I have pleas'd my selfe in the lawfull and temperate use of all thy other creatures and could not a whole world of pleasures content us but we must take that one forbidden My God! I am to my selfe a hatefull creature how much more must I needs be to thee whose eyes can behold no impurity but my dear Father look not now on me as I have cloath'd my self but look on me as new arrai'd by thy blessed Son the King of Saints And to settle the disturbed motion of my mind send downe a beam from thy glorious divinity that might so inlighten the eyes of my Soul that I might now behold my selfe as cloathed with thy self for thou wert pleas'd to cloath thy divine nature with my mortality that my mortall nature might be made immortall by being joyned to thy divinity My great God! these thoughts will not onely take off my hatred from my self but I fear if it be possible make me too much love and admire my selfe but it cannot be for that bright beame from thee makes me see my selfe not but in thee and with these thoughts hast thou so rais'd my Soul beyond what it was that I see my self cloath'd with the bright white robes of thy pure innocence for thou knowest no sin I now look on my selfe as sacred and on this flesh as immortall onely because it hath spoâ—ted it selfe with sin after thou hadst made it purer then the common earth therefore in the earth must it be laid again to be purified till it be fit to be new built up a glorious structure for her divine companion Then wilt thou take us both up into thy glorious habitation where we shall not be capable of doing any thing that shall any more cause us to part from our selves or thee I once immortall was Lord made by thee I that bliss lost But I againe it see Restor'd with more great Prince of Saints to me The Contempt of the World MY Gracious God! Doe I offend thee if I contemn the world I finde thy blest Apostle counting all but dung in respect of the knowledge of thee then by his example I hope I offend thee not but yet when I consider it is thy workman-ship which is most excellent and thou hast given it to the sons of men I cannot but call my thoughts in question with some suspition of fear of offending thee for my dear God! I confess that what I see most desired by people for themselves or for others is to me most displeasing and distastefull My powerfull God! if I doe not offend thee in it still keep me in this minde if I doe root out as it is my daily prayer this contempt and all things else that within me disliketh the pure eyes of thy divine Majesty My Lord Somewhat to clear my selfe to the world that I doe not offend in this point for thou knowest my heart I doe not contemn any thing in it as thinking meanly of it as thou hadst made it My great God! thou madest all things good at the beginning but since the making of them the perfection of all things is much changed Our sins altered the purity of all things in the world then as it is made sordid by our sins I distaste those odde things I see pleasing to the most But my Lord This may draw me into another inconvenience and make some thinke I thinke better of my selfe then of others for distasting those things sullyed with sin But I know thou wilt answer for me that I confess to thee that by nature I am sinfull addicted to love those things soyled by our sins so that it doth not make me think well of my self but it makes me love and admire thee the more when I see thy abundant mercy to me in giving me a minde so contrary to the most for I doubt not but thou hast made many in the world as happy as thou hast made me in giving them such a minde For my deare Father What do they atchieve when they attaine that here which they desire a few conveniences accompanied with ten thousand troubles fears and distastefull cares for I have often heard some express how happy they should be but for such and such inconveniences when I having food and raiment sufficient and possesse a heaven of felicity in thee am happy without a But. The Royal Gods MY Lord With what a Title hast thou honored the Kings of the earth I have said yee are Gods and the Children of the most high Thou hast given them that Title their desires pretended too to be Gods and to be of their race they that knew not thee my great God! nor from what true immortall race they sprung yet would have the world think them to be of divine linage and themselves to be gods And shall not wee who know from whom and by whom Kings reigne think our Princes to be as they are stil'd by that great King who set them to reigne for him God forbid but that we should so think of them and they of themselves He is the great God of the world and hath set them as lesser Gods under him to governe and protect that people over which he hath plac'st them The people must then honor their King as a God under him not observe or adore him above him and hee must esteem himselfe as a God â—ooâ— if he be of that great immortall race he will not degenerate but will be like to him He will be like a fiery pillar in the night of ignorance and darknesse to direct them which way they shall walk and as a cloud in the day of persecution to keep them from the pursuing adversary he will my God with thee hide them under his wings and they shall be safe under his protection hee will be just too punishing those who seek the destruction of thine and his people His bowels of mercy will be extended and he will not punish according to their deserts and rather then destruction shall shall come to thine and their people they will follow the example of that renowned Prince thy first-born Son they will with him a while leave their glory and take up with him an humble deportment and cry with him Thy will be done not mine They thus imitating thee their great patterne shall be blessedt by thee with eternall renown and crowned by thee in immortal glory but first thou hast said They must dye like men The Rule MY Lord What an infallible rule hast thou left us to know whether we be thine or no for if the preaching of
the Gospel of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ be to us foolishnesse and as a thing we delight not in we may justly feare we are to perish but if it be esteem'd by us the power and excellent wisdom of God which delights our hearts we may be confident we shall be sav'd for the preaching of the Gospel is to them that perish foolishnesse but to us that are saved it is the power of God 1 Cor. 1. 18. PSALME 119. 165. The Soules Peace MY great God! how often dost thou make us to see and by experience to know the truth of thy most sacred Word 't is great peace indeed that they possesse who love thy law thou keepest them in such secure and pleasant pavillions that nothing shall ofiend them they must speak to thy praise whom thou hast blest and if I have been thought too mean to speake in the praise of an earthly King My God I cannot but confess my self too mean too ignorant to speak off and in the praise of the Majesty of Heaven But Oh thou greatest and highest Ruler of all the Great on earth under whose feet lye all their crownes of Majesty Thou hast told us thou art to respector of persons but thou acceptest of the prayers and praises of thy meanest creatures Then must my Soul speak to the praise of thy Sacred Majesty for the peace that thou hast given mee since the time that thou hast taught mee to love thy Law thou hast made me to delight in the multitude of peace thou hast given me peace in thee thy blessed Son set me at peace with thee and I have such a peace in thee that all the oppsition of the world cannot take from me I am at peace with thy servants I am sure they will not hurt me I am at peace with thy creatures for thou hast made the stones and beasts af the field to be at league with them that feare thy name I passe by thy creatures and thorow them without fear for they are at peace with me But canst thou my Soul say thou thus possessest a happy peace withall No I cannot for then they that have sought to disturbe my peace by their odd untruths will tell me I said not true for I have seen and felt their Arrows of uncivill war strike against my heart But my God thou hast so strongly arm'd it that their arrows have recoyl'd back and not pierc'd my heart How can I chuse then most blessed and sweet finger of Israel but speak in thy own words Great peace and rest shall all such have As doe thy Statutes Love No danger shall their quiet state Impaire or once remove The Support MY Lord When in my young years the consideration of thy infinite mercies had penetrated my heart I confess there was with it an earnest desire in me to doe or suffer something whereby I might manifestâ—â— my love to thy Majesty for those great unexpressable favours that thou hast deigned to bestow on me thy unworthy servant But then had I no other thoughts in me but that if the contrary Religion which then too much abounded had prevail'd I then might have offered up my life in flames with devotion to manifest my love to thee But now thou hast turn'd the tide and art pleas'd to suffer two great powers to rise both professing to maintain the truth of our Religion so that now thou hast taken off my thoughts for suffering so for thy sake but thou hast put me on another My Lord â— I will not say worse for me for whatsoever is done by thee with me or by me I am confident it is the best and fittest for me though death to some spirits be easier to bear then reproachfull speeches And I confesse with impatience heretofore did my unruly Spirit detest reproachfull words and thought a religious death far better For my Lord thou knowest what reproaches and slanderous speeches they are subject to that professe thy name or declare thy mercies to them But let them now speak and in their speech declare their little love to thee my Lord and their malice and spite to thy children thou shalt set my spirit beyond the reach of their contempt where with a holy contempt with thee I shall laugh such fools to scorne And now I dare not say I am an ignorant woman and unfit to write for if thou wilt declare thy goodness and thy mercy by weak and contemptible means who can resist thy will My gracious God I will be now so farre from being unwilling to doe it that I will not rest till I have done it for in all ages thou wilt not leave thy selfe without a witnesse of thy mercy and goodnesse to thy children and therefore I will send out my words to speak thy praise and as thou hast made them comfort to some troubled mindes so I wish they may be to more when they shall see the truth of thy mercifull dealing with me and how thou hast made me so happy in this world as my heart can wish for thou hast given me my hearts desire and hast fulfil'd the request of my lipps for there is not that thing in the world that I can desire more then what thou hast given to me For long since my Lord when thou hadst given me sence to see that no earthly thing though never so excellent or pleasing could give us a perfect contentment then made I my prayer to thy divine Majesty that thou wouldst be pleased to give me that which the world could not give and though I confesse I did then think it was unpossible ever to possesse a true content in this world yet my dear Father I must now aske thee pardon for those misdoubting thoughts for I have seen thou canst give us a joy and a true content beyond the expression of our souls in this world for when we possesse thee with and in thy creatures we injoy a felicity that fils our hearts with an unexspressable delight My Lord when thou art pleased to manifest thy selfe unto our souls thou bringest all that can be desired Death that to some natures the mention of it is bitter to thine thou mak'st it a pleasing companion and with paine thou makest them pleas'd and happy and for the bitter speeches of the world which thy children must heare thou mak'st us to forget or contemne them I must confesse to thy honour my great King that thou makest me not to remember the bitternesse of this life thou answering me with such joyes in my heart and thus wilt thou at length my gracious God blesse all thy children that with an upright minde and a sincere heart doe earnestly seek their happinesse alone in thee and not from the world PSALME 85. 10. The Perfume IN thee most blessed Prince are those two excellent ingredients mix'd which yeeld so sweet a sent to the world that no corrupted aire of our unsavoury enemy is able to disperse Thy most blessed body the sweetest and truest
live with thee but what talke I leaving the world to come to live with thee Thou art come into â—he world to live with mee and in me But my great Lord where in me shall I finde thee hast thou inâ—hron'd thy selfe in my heart give me then thy assistâ—nce that no proud imagination for my own greatnes may arise to disinthrone thee and make the distaste that habitation but be thou in my heart ever attended by sweet humility and humble obedience Let all the members of my body be imployed in thy service Let my hands administer to thy Saints and not stretcht out to covetousnesse Let my feet be swift to run in â—he wayes of thy commandements and not to shed inâ—ocent blood or if in my head thou hast taken up thy seat there let humility attend on thee too or I shall fear thou wilt goe from me for thou resistest the proud but though thou beest high and instabitest eternity yet thou O great Prince will dwell with the humble Then in my head and in all that belong to it doe thou finde humble obedience that there I might retaine thee Let not mine eyes have any proud look nor be windows to lett in vanity but let them be ever looking to the hils from whence cometh my salvation Let not my tongue which thou hast given me to serve thee be imployed to back-bite or defame any the least of thy children or any one for how know I who are thine or who not but let my tongue be ever speaking to thy praise and glory and let the words of mouth be accprable in thy sight nor let mine ears listen to any idle or unseemly discourse that may displease thy divine Majesty and let my nostrils be ever filled with the sweet savour that comes from thy heavenly garments So if all the faculties of my body be imployed by my Soul humbly to serve thee I shall live and expresse a glorying heart because I know this body is thâ— Temple of the Deity Then where I am a Heaven must be For thou dost bring a Heaven with thee The true Object of Love MY Lord When thou wert pleas'd to take my thoughts quite off from the world I was directed to regard that place where thou bidst us cease from man for wherein is he to be accounted of for his breath is in his nostrils yet he a creature after thine owne image and the excellentest of all thy workman ship or earth yet this rare creature his love his hatred not to be regarded for thou canst in an instant take away that thin fume of life and then what power hath he to love or hate My Lord He is indeed a most contemptible creature in respect of thee But when my Soul enters into the consideration of thy greatnesse and deep abisse of thy endlesse power and mercy My Soul is struck dumbe and knows not what to say but silence giving me opportunity to consider of thy infinite love to me power forme beauty and excellency in and about thee my Soul is wounded with a deep affection towards thee and love cannot will not be silent And now my great and powerfull God was it not enough for thee to make so great and beautifull a structure for me and for all men but when I had run from thee by my disobedience into the territories and tormenting arms of my enemy for thee O most glorious Prince of eternall blisse to leave thy Kingdome where thou wert attended by a multitude of bright Angels and blessed Saints which continually sing thy praises with their heavenly voices for thee to leave such transcendent delights to take on thee my frail flesh and come to me and subject thy selfe to all the contempts that an insulting enemy could impose had not this been enough to have manifested an unanswerable love to so contemptible a creature but thou My dear Prince I who wouldest set a perfect patterne of humility and love for all that were thine to follow for love to mâ—e thou wert content to dye and the most painfull and ignominious death that could be inflicted on the meanest person Thou who wert serv'd by all the world was pleas'd thus to serve for me and to dye to save me from eternall death and before I knew into what tormenting habitation I had plung'd my selfe by my rebellion thou wert pleas'd to declare to me how thou hadst redeem'd me out of those most cruel inthralments by thy willingly yeelding to dye for me for none could have power O great Prince of Heaven and earth to have taken away thy life hadst thou not laid it downe of thine owne accord thou wert please to tell me too though I live here among thy enemies and mine yet I should not be afraid of them for they can but kill my body and that too not without thy leave for none can take thy children out of thy hand unlesse thou art pleas'd to deliver them into the hand of their persecutors and by that fiery Chariot to convey us to that immortall Kingdome which thou hast promised to those that beleeve on thee where we shall receive from thy hand the beautifull Crowne of our eternall glory O my God! Who can chuse but be ravisht with thy unfadom'd mercy and unexpressable love to thy poor yet by thee inriched creatures My dear Prince What shall I doe to let all the world know what engagements my Soul hath to thee I do wish it were in my power as in my desires that all the world may sing Halalujahs to thee for the saving of my Soul from that cruel adversary and for the glory that thou wilt invest her in and that they would sing publick praises unto thee for thy mercies to themselves too would thaâ— were their imployment then should not thy service be so much slighted nor thy name so much dishonoured nor thy servants so much contemn'd But Let them sing praises to thy name Whom thou hast blest And kept their Souls from endlesse paine And plac'st in rest Thou hast me kept from hellish paine And plac'st in rest How can I chuse but praise thy name When I 'me so blest Rom. 12. 1. MY Lord I cannot plead ignorance for I must confesse I have often read it and knew that I was to offer up my self a living sacrifice to thy Majesty and to give my selfe wholly to thy disposing and not to have any sequestred thoughts from thee dedicated to mine own ends in either my actions words or thoughts but my dear Father I now plainly see the necessity of entring â—nto thy Courts to hear thee most gracious Prince speake to us by thy Embassadors And I nor any other ought to say what should I go thither to hear a man tell me but what I knew before But my Lord thy Ordinances are powerful and thou workest more effectually on our hearts for the most part by the preaching of thy word from them then by our own reading and study and now I begin to suspect