THE PRENTICES PRACTISE IN Godliness, and his true freedom. Divided into ten Chapters. Written by B. P.  PROVERBS 17.2. 
A discreet Servant shall have more rule than the Sons that have no wisdom, and shall have like heritage with the Brethren.   printer's device. Framed device of a fleur-de-lis with In Domino confido. McKerrow number 269. 
LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes, for john Bach, and are to be sold at his shop in Pope's head Palace. 1608.   

TO THE RELIGIOVSly disposed and virtuous young men, the Apprentices of the City of London, all happiness both in this life and in the life to come.  
PYthagoras the Philosopher expressing the double course of man's life by the letter Y, intimateth that which our Saviour Christ hath more plainly set down concerning the double way; whereof one hath a straight passage and narrow gate at the first, which few do embrace; but in the end thereof, there is great comfort and rest, for it guideth the passenger unto eternal happiness and salvation: The other is wide and spacious at the beginning, whereby many travail, but in the end they find great trouble and straightness, for it leadeth unto everlasting woe and destruction. Both these ways are set before our eyes as life and death; for we may not be idle, but of necessity must walk, seeing our life is a pilgrimage, and choose either to travel the narrow way unto life, or to run the broad way unto death. The way of life, is a religious profession, a virtuous and conscionable carriage, when we give unto God, that which is Gods; and to Cesar, our Magistrates and Masters, that which belongeth unto them. The gate of this way is narrow, and the passage straight: for the liberties of flesh and blood must be restrained, our affections bridled, and the whole man captivated under the yoke of the obedience of jesus Christ, as also such whom we are to obey & serve under him. The way of death, is a sinful and licentious life, when we serve sin and Satan, and make no conscience of obedience neither towards god not man. The gate of this way in the beginning is broad, and the passage easy, giving liberty & full head to our youthy affections and lusts of the flesh, but the end is utter perdition and straightness. Wherefore let every young man, beholding these two ways, choose that which leadeth unto eternal life in heaven, by a sanctified life for a time on earth, walking sincerely with him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. To this end I have penned this ensuing. Tractate, which, well-beloved Brethren, I have commended unto your favourable acceptance, that therein you might see which is the narrow way, the way of life, & learn how to travel therein, neither let that devilish proverb, a young Saint an old Devil, direct your course, but endeavour being young to be Saints of God, & to dedicate your youth to him and his service only, who undoubtedly will give you constancy to persevere, that you may become Old Saints on earth, and at last a joyful end, that you may be Blessed Saints in heaven, & live with him for evermore: to whose gracious & merciful protection, in the mean time I commend you all. Amen.  
Your ever loving Brother, B. P.   

The Epistle to the Reader.  
CHristian and Charitable Reader, many are the discouragements that the children of God receive at the hands of wicked men, in this iron and declining age of the world, from the sincere embracing of the Gospel, or showing forth the fruits of sanctification, in this crooked and sinful generation, but much more from publishing any holy Treatise, tending to this purpose: to omit the books that are written, not of virtue and verity, but of vileness and vanity, which many offer now a days, as so many Sacrifices to the devil (by the which as with so many cups of poison, he infecteth the hearts of million of people) what great delight the enemy of mankind taketh herein, he that can see any thing, may easily discern by the cursed instruments which he raiseth up from time to time; as his children the Papists, whom we had thought (long again) had been dead in their nests, yet now like serpents having cast their coats, begin to lift up their heads out of their holes winth fresh and new coloured heresy, and with their poisoned pens (as a holy man of God saith) have defiled not ink and paper, but heaven and earth with their detestable and satanical wickedness. But to let them sink in their sin, till they come to the bottom of hell, which is of old for them prepared; who sees not the whole world is rocked asleep in the cradle of security, wallowing in their sins like fishes in the sea? so that we may take up that complaint which the Lord proclaimed from heaven in the days of Hosea, saying, The Lord hath a controversy with the world, because there is no truth, mercy, nor knowledge of God, but by swearing, and lying, and stealing, and whoring they break out, and blood toucheth blood: and being thus frozen in their dregs, having made a league with death, & a covenant with hell itself, they are of the same mind with these people of whom we spoke, saying, Yet let no man rebuke or reprove another: for the people are as they that rebuke the Priest; not only despising instruction, and refusing admonition, but they murmur at Moses and Aron, and are ready to stone Caleb and joshua, the two Captains of the Lords host, and we are become their enemies for telling them the truth. Howbeit, when the eyes of merciful men are set upon them, & labouring to save their souls from being condemned with the world, beseeching them to break up the fallow ground of their hearts that the Lord might rain righteousness upon them, they are ready to give them Steuens reward for his sweet Apology, 
Acts 7.  and though they have not the authority of the Magistrate, yet with the unruly evil of the tongue, they assemble themselves (as the Prophet jeremy speaketh) saying; Come, let us smite them: but how, with swords or staves? no surely, but with the cursed weapon of the tongue, according to the custom of all wicked men from time to time, with reproachings & revilings, & with their venomous arrows, as much as in them lies, to shut and pierce thorough the hearts of the Saints of God, with that odious and damnable name of Hypocrite and dissembler, so that we may say with the Prophet jeremy: We are in derision daily, every one mocketh us: and as he saith else where; Woe is me that my mother hath borne me a contentious man, whomall the world hateth. Yea surely so far may we be from stirring one another up in this kind, that we may weep and sigh in secret, as divers of the Saints of God have done, & wish with this Prophet, Oh that my head were full of water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, 
jer. 9.1.2.  that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a cottage of wayfaring men! Yea surely if the will of the Lord were, we could wish with the Prophet, that we had the wings of a Dove, that we might fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, that we might be out of the reach & rage of the wicked men; but such is the zeal of the glory of God, wherewith his children are inflamed, & such is the nature of faith, wherewith their hearts are touched, together with the large promises wherewith they are alured, that in despite of devils or men, they have always made conscience of this duty. Hence it is, that in the scriptures we have so many examples of this kind. It was Peter's commission that when he was converted, he must strengthen his brethren. The woman of Samaria, when Christ came to her conscience she hideth it not under a bushel, but runneth into the city with open proclamation, saying to her neighbours: Come, see a man that told me all that ever I did. Yea we find that this hath always been so precisely observed that the children of God have never neglected it in the time of greatest affliction that ever they did undergo; only two shall suffice in stead of many: whereof the first is in the Lamentations, where the Church speaketh after this manner: Have you no regard all you that pass by this way, 
Lament. 1 12.  to behold and see where there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce wrath? Wherein we see the perpetuity of the love of the children of God towards their Brethren, that even when they were at death's door they called upon their neighbours to make use of the judgements of God. Answerable to this, is that famous example of the Thief on the Cross, who notwithstanding the dolour and pain wherein he languished, yet perceiving the desperate and fearful estate of his fellow that he was in, sharply reproveth him, and useth divers arguments and reasons to move him to lay hold of the Saviour of the world as he had done before he died. These examples no doubt together with the reasons above specified, moved this new convert (being also unportuned by divers of his acquaintance) to publish this little Treatise, as a fruit of his thankfulness, like David that would not offer a sacrifice of that which cost him nothing; and yet hath (as it seemeth to me) some blush or resemblance, with that zeal wherewith the holy Prophet David was inflamed, when having received special benefits from the Lord, he hath these words: 
Psalm. 66.  Oh come hither all you that fear God, and I will tell you what the Lord hath done for my soul: making open proclamation as it were upon the Theatre of the world, or as he speaketh, when having felt that sweetness, of the which this author had a taste, he laboureth presently to impart it to others, saying, taste and see how gracious the Lord is, 
Psalm. 34.  blessed is the man that trusteth in him; ever using a borrowed speech familiar to our senses, taken from the fashion of Merchants, who having brought some rare and costly commodity from beyond the seas, are wont to permit a taste, and give a sight, to the end the buyer may be the more induced to accept of the same. And truly this is the practice of this new converted Prentice, who having lain a long time sleeping in security, esteeming highly of the things of this vain world, till it pleased the Lord in mercy to look upon him the scales falling from his eyes, 
Cant. 2.8.  so that he perceived the Lord coming unto him, skipping over hills, and leaping over mountains (meaning his sins, as may appear by that we read in Rom 8. as one awaked out of a dream, he marveled and rejoiced greatly at his wonderful deliverance, and being desirous to make many partakers of his happiness, he taketh his pen and writeth this little Treatise and Labour of love, consisting in (four) special heads, as appeareth in the first leaf of this book, concerning the manner of it you are not to expect much painted eloquence, filled phrases, figures, allusions, which have little use more then to tickle the ears; but even with all humility and meekness, out of his own experience, wisheth comfort by the comfort wherewith he was comforted, of God. Hear I remember part of a story in Samuel, where it is thus written: 
1 Sam. 17.8  And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke unto than and was very angry with David, and said, why comest thou down hither, & with whom hast thou left the sheep? I know thy pride & the malice of thine heart., etc. Even so I fear me, there be many Eliab's signior to the young servant of God David, that will not only impute this work to pride of heart, but will ask, With whom hast thou left thy sheep? that is, how he hath discharged his duty to his master, judging it a matter unlawful for him to meddle withal, because he shall offer injury to his master in the practice hereof. For answer whereunto, we are to observe a difference according to the nature and quality of the place and calling; Some service perhaps will warrant that, which others do utterly deny them: for art thou an artificer and of an occupation? thou hast not this liberty without extraordinary allowance of thy master. On the contrary, is he a trades man, and using traffic? then the most and chiefest of his business is in receiving and delivering of commodities, in the which much vacant time is idly spent: and happy are you, and blest of God, that have such a servant; you may be sure to be well & faithfully dealt withal in the charge committed unto him, when others are wickedly abused. But if this suffice not, know you that he had extraordinary allowance of his kind and favourable master. Moreover, I am of that privity and acquaintance with him, that I may protest in the sight of God, and before men, that this virtuous Prentice, and sanctified young man, hath used of his own virtuous disposition, to rise two or three hours in the morning, before he was employed in his master's affairs, which as it was a thing commendable, proceeding from a good inclination: so surely now is it much more praise worthy, being found in the way of righteousness, because the teachers thereof are highly to be commended, so that we are not always to reprove and contemn servants in this kind, lest in so doing we give a hard censure of David himself, (of whom we spoke even now.) But happily you will reply and say, that David came in zeal of God's glory, to take the shame from Israel, which was much dishonoured by the uncircumcised Philistine, a fearful, great and huge monster. In nature I answer that, Goliath never blasphemed the Lord of hosts more than we, nor ever had more fingers and toes of deformity, I mean Papists and Atheists, which are in indeed the weapons & natural lives of our spiritual Goliath, so that the cause then of both being not much unlike, the answer that followeth shall not unfitly be applied, though not in the same measure of grace, wisdom and modesty, yet in the same nature of zeal, truth and sincerity: answer with him in the 29. verse: Grave Fathers, masters and superiors, what have I done, is there not cause? But if this Apology seem unsufficient, observe with me briefly the benefit that cometh hereby, and the fault considered will easily be wiped away. In the first place than it bringeth a comfort to the Church of God, when they shall see the prophecies fulfilled, and those promises performed which long since was declared to fall out in the latter age of the world, 
Esay. 11.9.  that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, 
joel. 8.  as the sea is covered with with waters. Again, Your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams & your young men shall see visions. 
Psalm. 8.  And also upon the servants will I power out my spirit. Again, Out of the mouth of Babes hast thou ordained strength, because of their enemies. Notwithstanding these prophecies, I grant, chief fulfilled at the coming of Christ, yet in respect of the perpetuity of it, it is to remain until the number of the elect be accomplished; yea, and we that are now living have seen the extraordinary power and operation of it, if we consider since the time of Luther, how the Angel flying from the midst of heaven, 
Revel. 14.6  having an everlasting Gospel in his mouth to preach to the nations that dwell upon the earth, saying with a loud voice: Fear GOD, give glory to him: an unspeakable and peculiar favour of GOD, as our Saviour Christ sayeth; Blessed are the eyes that see those things which you see, and the ears that hear those things which you hear; being the only means to bring us into the favour of God and men, that it may be said of us, 
Cant. 6.9.  as it was of his own spouse: Who is this that loeketh forth as the morning, fair as the Moon, pure as the Sun, terrible as an army with banners? Yea than we shall be precious to the Lord, who so toucheth us, toucheth the apple of his eye, and he will say to our enemies: 
Cant. 3.5  I charge you O you daughters of jerusalem, by the Roe, & by the Hinds of the field, that you stir not up nor waken my beloved until she please. Yea then shall we be set as a seal upon his heart, and as a signet upon his arm: for love is stronger than death: jealousy is cruel as the grave, the coals thereof are fiery coals, and a vehement flame: much water cannot quen●r love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love the world would greatly contemn it. 
Cant. 8.1  Secondly, it much advanceth, declareth, and setteth forth the power of the Gospel; when men are made of Lions, Lambs, their natures being changed, that they come willingly in the day of assembly, the love of God constraining them and the blessing of God upon them, causing their sons to be as the plants growing up in their youths, & their daughters as the corner stones graven aft r the manner of Apelles, etc. So that other nations being our judges are forced to say of us: 
Psal. 144.7  Happy are the people that are in such a case, yea blessed are the people whose God is the Lord jehova. Thirdly, it is exceeding comfortable; and no less honourable to the grave fathers, and faithful learned preachers of our age, when they shall see the blessing of God upon their labours, & their children which they have begotten into the faith by the word of truth: 
Psalm. 127  like arrows in the hand of the strong man, and are not ashamed to speak before their enemies in the gate. So that they have no need of the approbation of men, or letters of recommendations their Epistles being written not with ink & paper, but in the hearts of their children, and shineth in the world to the praise and glory of God.  
Lastly a notable motive & provocation to incite and stir up the minds of those that are too slack and negligent in this kind, and may also be used as a whetstone to sharpen and set an edge upon finer wits, that so all the members of Christ both learned and unlearned, may meet and join foot to foot, and shoulder to shoulder, opposing themselves against their great & common adversary, and being directed by one spirit, may utter their voices both by prayer & by preaching, that we may cause the kingdom of Antichrist to fall down like the walls of jericho; that so, if it be the Lords will, we that are now living may see that with the eyes of our bodies, which Saint john saw so long since with the eyes of his spirit, and so with holy rejoicing and gladness of heart, we may say with blessed Saint john; It is fallen, it is fallen, great Babylon, and is become a cage of unclean birds. Now if any shall ask of me, who are you, and what is your name, whose judgement the reader should so much reverence? In this behalf, I answer: If I were one of learning and estimation, perhaps I might carry thee away not using any great reason or demonstration. On the contrary, if of no note and quality, thou wouldst hardly be brought to embrace it, though I bring strong and forcible arguments and reasons. I refer thee therefore to the book itself, which is able to commend itself, to the conscience of any indifferent reader, whose ears being sanctified trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat. Only this I will say with the Aapostle james; 
job. 34.3.  Have not the faith in respect of persons: and then I dare assure myself the Lord shall have glory, and his chinldrens comfort. The which upon the knees of my soul, I crave of his goodness, and that he will increase in the hearts of his Saints saving faith, and with faith virtue, and with virtue, knowledge, and with knowledge temperance, and with temperance patience, and with patience godliness, and with godliness brotherly kindness, and with brotherly kindness love, that you may make your calling and election sure, so that you may never fall.  
By him that prayeth daily for the peace of Zion, and longeth to see jerusalem in her perfect beauty.  
T. R.   

The contents of the Chapters following in this Book.  

CHAP. 1. Of God's graces and benefits, in free mercy bestowed upon man, that thereby he may be moved to serve his divine majesty. fol. 1. 2. 3.  
CHAP. 2. Of the infinite and unspeakable benefit of Christ's death, & m●ns great ingratitude notwithstanding, which all things whatsoever in their kind condemn. fol. 4.5.6.  
CHAP. 3. Of the most miserable estate of the Reprobate both in this world and in the world to come, as also of the most blessed & happy condition, here and hence, of those who fear God. fol. 11. 12.  
CHAP. 4. Of man's foolish and fearful delay of prayer and true repentance, till the uncertain hour of death and sudden departure. fol. 19 20.  
CHAP. 5. Of God's manifold and good means to bring us to repentance and reconciliation with him, if we have any spark of grace in us, 28.  
CHAP. 6. Of three excellent means of good government. fol. 38. 39  
CHAP. 7. Of the good means to awake us out of the sleep of sin, and to quicken us to a new conversation. fol. 47. 48.  
CHAP. 8. Of man's lamentable frailty and weakness ever to be suspected, and the desire he should have to be reconciled with God in Christ. fol. 53. 54.  
CHAP. 9 Of true repentance & the notable benefit thereof fol. 59 60.  
CHAP. 10. of the excellent good, and profit of afflictions to Gods true children. fol. 67.  
Lastly, two prayers annexed to be said in a private family both morning and evening.   
 printer's device. Ornament of a lion's face over a shield and two owls. McKerrow number 215Β.   

The Prentices practise in godliness, and his true freedom.  

CHAP. 1.  
IT was a notable saying (my dear and well-beloved brethren in Christ) whosoever was the Author, That there is nothing great on earth but Man, and nothing great in man but his soul; and therefore as all creatures admire and serve, and benefit man the wonder of the world; so should man himself also admire and tender, and seek the behoof & advancement of his soul the wonder of wonders: for this is our glory, our crown, our perfection, our very life; save this and save all.  
But I know not how it comes to pass: This which should be our chief and only care, the most part of men cast behind their backs; and they that are taken to husband other matters well and prudently, in this are so unthrifty and ill husbands, that they set all at six and seven, and suffer that only precious thing (which overballanceth the whole world) to go to irrecoverable wrack and ruin.  
So that the Lords prophets of our time, have even as just cause as ever jeremy had, to take up that sad complaint: 
jer. 12.  The earth is fallen to utter desolation, for that there is no man that considereth in his heart, no man that pondereth aright his own estate: jere. 12. But Atheism and profaneness, and secure licentiousness, have gotten such sway, that scarce any man believes God to be God, scarce any man thinks he hath a soul to save, they laugh, they make merry, they feast, they frolic, they sing care away all the day long, as if heaven were but a dream, hell but a fable, the soul an idle title of a thing which is not, and themselves sent hither to no other end but to sport and play, and follow the lusts and vanities of their wicked hearts. The Lord hath planted us in a good soil, he hath put fresh earth about us, he hath pruned us, and set a ditch and a wall to encircle & fence us, and now he longeth for the first ripe fruits, and we are all become like the summer gatherings, there is not a cluster to present unto him. And therefore many a time ere this, but that some good vinedresser hath entreated we may stand yet one year longer, there had been set to us a hatchet & a fire (an unquenchable fire) the just reward of such unprofitable trees, as do but cumber the ground wherein they grow.  
O my brethren, that we would be once but so wise as to see our folly, & the fearful danger we stand in by means thereof. Hath God created us in his own Image, that we should thus vilely & continually deface his glorious likeness? Hath Christ redeemed us from the power of the Devil with no less price than his own heart blood, that voluntarily we should cast ourselves into the bondage of Satan? Hath he by offering up himself for us, purged us from sin, that we should afresh run headlong to uncleanness? Hath he therefore made us heirs of heaven, that through our own default we should be firebrands of hell? Hath he therefore saved our souls, that we should negligently & wilfully cast away souls and bodies for ever.  
Where is our zeal to Godward? where is our reverent fear of his majesty? where is our Christianity? where is our faith and godliness? where is our thanks we give to the Lord for his so innumerable benefits? where is our service & obedience we yield to our Lord jesus Christ for his saving health? nay where is our very reason wherein we differ from bruit beasts, who by nature are lead to desire and follow things profitable to them, & to shun the hurtful: and yet we having the direction of reason, & the illumination of grace beside, have no desire of everlasting profit, nor fear of endless destruction?  
What if God should instantly send forth the decree of his wrath upon us to root us out of the Land of the living, and would receive no intercession or atonement for us, as he threatened his own people when they had provoked him to wrath, that though Noah, job and Daniel should beg for them, yet he would not hear them, nor should his affection be towards such a people?  
Oh my brethren, if this should be to us, it had been good for us we had never been borne, yea the unreasonable beasts and senseless creatures, the most ugly things of nature were in happier case than we: for they have no reckoning to make when their life is gone out of them, or their substance dissolved, but then beginneth our woeful audit, than our debts and arrearages shallbe produced against us, then shall we hear that heavy sentence, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into utter darkness, whence he shall not come out till he have paid the uttermost farthing. But the Lord in mercy hath yet spared us (though it be not long since that he made the grave to open his widest mouth upon us) it is yet called to day, his eye is yet ready to pity us, & his ears are open to hear us; let us not harden our hearts and provoke him as we have done with our wickedness and impenitency, but let us both sound and suddenly convert to him, and he will receive us & embrace us, and his fierce wrath shall be turned from us. Oh how well it becomes a man (saith the wise Hebrew) when he is reproved, 
Eccles. 20 4.  to show repentance, for so shall he escape wilful sin. Consider what I say, & the Lord give you and me understanding in all things.  
And now let us enter into some larger discourse of this matter, that we may the better see our vanity and folly in going on in our sins, and putting off our repentance and conversion (as we do) from day to day, and from time to time, to the high displeasure of almighty God, and the fearful hazarding of our own salvation. And because I speak to such as are (many) of liberal education, & (all) of good capacity, and apprehension, I will tie myself to some order in the handling hereof, not that I would seem to take scholarship upon me, which I do freely confess I have not, but for that I have in other matters found the profit of order, both to the writer, and to him that readeth.  
First therefore I beseech you, as you love and tender your own souls (which I do now love also, ever since I began to love mine own) consider with me not slightly, but even with a deep & earnest thought, the tremblable estate of a man unconverted, and the dangerous inconveniences we run into, by our impenitency and obstinate persisting in our wicked ways. And I trust (by the cooperation of God's grace) though every inconvenience severally cannot move us, yet all of them jointly together shall affect our hearts and stir us up to some more care & conscience of being that which we would be called.   

CHAP. 2.  
Almighty GOD, in the creation assigned to every thing in the world some particular end, and impressed in their nature, an appetite and desire to that end continually, as to the very point and scope of their being: As we see birds make their nests, and breed up their young: beasts skuffle for their fodder & pastorage: Fishes float up and down the rivers; Trees bear fruit; Flowers send forth sweet odours, herbs their secret virtues; Fire aspires upward with all his might; Earth hath no rest till it come into his proper region: Waters post upon the neck one of another, to the bosom of the main; Air pusheth itself into every open voidnes under heaven. This is clear in our own observation, and experience: and shall we think that man (the most noble creature) (for whose coming all this pomp and show was set in order, as for their Lord and King) was made in vain, and had not his peculiar end appointed him also proportionally to the nobleness of his quality and condition? Yes doubtless, that God that can never err nor oversee in his works, allotted unto man the worship and service of his maker in this world, and the enjoying of the same his maker's glory for ever in the world to come, as his main object and aiming point, whereto he ought to tend and refer himself all his days.  
Now for man to serve from this end, and to serve the Devil, the world and his sensual lusts; and being made for heaven, to follow the direct line that leads to hell, is to show himself more base and degenerate, than the most base and brutish creatures in the world, and to be condemned & cried out upon by them continually: for they keep to this day without digression, their proper ends and assignments, enjoined them by their maker in the creation: only man is irregular, man alone powers out himself, into all kind of riot and disorder.  
Oh my brethren turn again, and consider sadly of this point; Shall the little Bee and the Emmet so carefully do Gods work, and fulfil the task which he hath set them? shall the senseless stone, being forced to mount upward against his inclination, sink and descend again as fast, till it come to the centre which is his home and end? and shall man (the Image of God) run bias from his end, and do every other thing more than the work prescribed unto him? shall they (silly reasonless things) keep a direct course without any voluntary swerving, and yet have no tutor or remembrancer? And shall we even wilfully stray and vary, having our own hearts filled full of understanding & judgement, & being so many ways called upon, and pulled by the sleeve, as it were, beside? 
Gen 6.  Shall God take joy of all other creatures, & only repent that he made man? what a shame of shames is this to us? we read in the prone and groveling faces of beasts that they were made but for the earth upon which they poor: And do we not likewise in our own erect and lofty countenances, that our end is heaven, and heavenly things, as our upright shape, and high-raised looks tend thitherward continually. But what shall I say? 
* james 4.  to him that knoweth to do well, and doth it not, to him it is sin, yea fin with a witness.  
Again, where as man having by his wilful fall and disobedience lost those excellent powers and privileges, wherewith at the first he was endued; and enthralled himself for ever to sin, death and hell; as it was forethreatned he should, if he did taste of the forbidden tree: it pleased the Lord, out of his unutterable love to his choicest piece of workmanship, to send his own everlasting Son out of his bosom to pay down the inestimable ransom of his innocent blood for him; & in stead of the earthly paradise which he had lost, to give him heaven (the seat of his own Majesty, and the habitation of this Angels and purest spirits) for his inheritance, conditionally, that for his freedom and bounty he should serve the same his Lord in holiness & righteousness before him all the days of his life.  
And surely if any Alien being by endenization made a member of the same body with the natural children and inheritable to the common liberties and commodities, do willingly acknowledge himself bound and answerable to the public laws of that country wherein he is denized; much more ought we that are foreigners and slaves by birth, being enfranchised and made free denizens of heaven, and fellow citizens with the Saints of God; much more (I say) ought we in lieu of this so beneficial legitimation to conform ourselves to the obedience of the heavenly laws, and ready to execute the most just charges which our God and king hath imposed upon us. Ignorance of these laws, none of us can pretend; both because they are so short, and compendious (for God delivered them at first but in ten words, and our Saviour hath since abridged those ten into two, comprising notwithstanding in that Epitome the very end of all law and equity) and also because we of all places of the land are by God's ministers, the pastors of our souls, so plainly and carefully taught them from time to time, as afterward shall be showed.  
Now then for us (the premises weighed) to carry ourselves towards this most gracious Lord in such a disloyal fashion, to shake off the yoke of his precepts, and kick all his commandments aside one after another, when they lie in the way of our profit or our pleasure, and to go on with a bold face and a high hand, multiplying sin upon sin, without any mind of turning to better ways, till we be wrapped with age, or pined with sickness, or worn out with sin, that even sin herself casts us off, as unserviceable: what rebellion or ingratitude can there be comparable to this? O my brethren, is this to serve God in holiness and righteousness, not one, but all the days of our life, from the first to the last? Is this the state of life we hope to go to heaven in? have the unsanctified any title of the inheritance of the Saints? or the children of the Devil, to the blessed freedom of the Sons of God? Is their part in the salvation of Christ, that daily and hourly crucify him afresh, & in a jolly scoffing bravery, deride his passion, as if his back were broad enough to bear all their filth?  
Do we look that the Lord should perform the grant when we fail in the condition? is not our breach of covenant with him a frustrating of his indentment with us? Believe it my brethren, believe it, whilst we remain in our sins, the Lords grant remains void; we cannot claim the benefit of one drop of Christ's blood, nor of the least part of his merits: the shaken sword of the Cherubin hangeth over us, we stand banished from the paradise of God's favour, and liable to the severest penalty of those his laws which we have violated; only so long as that penalty is not inflicted, so long doth the Lord expect if at any time we will renew our covenant by repentance, and so escape out of the snare of the Devil, of whom we are holden captive to do his pleasure.  
Moreover, when we were sprinkled in the holy Laver of Baptism (which is as it were the womb of the Church) where our regeneration or new birth was first set a foot, we vowed a vow to God, which ought of all Christians to be most holily observed; that we would perfect that new birth of ours every day more and more by believing his word, obeying his commandments, mortifying our flesh, compressing our lusts, resisting the devil, renouncing the world & fight manfully under his banner against all opposition, that finally having finished our course we might receive the crown of life, which he hath promised to them that continue faithful unto the death.  
Now our impenitency & weltering in sin, is not only a not fostering, but a very kill of our spiritual nature in the first seed or kernel; a breaking of our vow to God; nay a very denying of God and his word, an abject yielding us to his and our enemies, a cowardly running away from the spiritual battle at the first stroke striking; a wilful losing of our immortal garland, and an occasion to make Christ (the great captain and finisher of our faith) utterly to cashier us out of his band, as having in us no sparkle of that generosity and brave-mindednes, which ought to be in such as wear his colours, and bear arms under his standard.  
The wisdom of the world is, to retain to the strongest part: and methinks we having been bred up under the world's wing, should by this time have taken out that point of wisdom, and retain to God's side: for his is the strongest and surest side. O my brethren, look back to your Baptism, and learn to amend. Let not the royal Character which God hath set upon us by the ministry of his Church be any longer thus vilely blurred and defaced by our enormous sins. Let us not break our vow to God, lest he bind fast his curse to us: Leave not the Lord of hosts, to whom we have given our names, and those powerful legions of his blessed Angels (our confederates and guarders in his quarrel) to join with the Devil, whom we have defied, & with the world, & sin and the flesh, (a sort of cowardly rebels) which will themselves cut our throats when we least suspect them. But let us newdeep ourselves in the water of contrition, and that will fetch again the primitive colour, which was put upon us in the day of our Baptism.  
Over and beside all this, whereas the patience and bountifulness, and long suffering of our God, in sparing us so many years, and waiting for our amendment (though in the mean time we force him to complain that he is pressed under our sins as a cart is pressed under a hard load of sheaves) I say, whereas this gracious patience of his should lead us to repentance; we by continuing in sin, do abuse his patience, and heap up greater wrath upon our heads, against the day of wrath, and declaration of the just judgement of God, which will suddenly overtake us. God is provoked (saith the Psalmist) every day: here is forbearance: but what followeth? 2. if a man will not turn (after all Gods waiting) them he will whet his sword, & bend his bow, & make ready his arrows against such provokers.  
When we see wrath in a man's face, it is an argument that he will strike, & we are wont to shun & give back from him. Let us take heed, God's face looks very angrily, we have dared him so long, and put him so to it, that he cannot hold his fingers, he must needs break out into blows: And the blows of his anger are no light stripes, but even deaths wounds, as all the Land from Dan to Beersheba, will bear witness.  
O than my Brethren, if this Lion roar, who will not tremble & crouch before him? if he knit his brows that measureth heaven with his span and weigheth the mountains in a balance, & cleaveth the rocks with his voice, who dares look him in the face, who shall be able to abide his frowns? were we as huge and strong as Behemoth or Leviathan, he will spurn us as a chip, and trample us under his feet as the mire in the streets, if we incense his majesty, or stir up his wrath and jealousy against us. 
Apoc.  The Kings, and great men, and stout Captains and Warriors, hide themselves in caves, and in holes of the earth from the fear of the Lord when he riseth up to be avenged of sinners.  
O what shall the shrub in the wilderness do, when the Oaks of Bashan, and the Cedars of Libanus are thus shaken! how dare such silly worms and grasshoppers as we, confront the almighty, and provoke him yearly & hourly with new and new sins, (never once renewing our repentance) at the blasting of the breath of whose displeasure the hills melt, and the foundations of the world shake and are removed? Though he have worn one rod of pestilence to the stumps upon us, and thrown it by, standing and looking at our behaviour after it, he can call for another and another if our great hearts be not come down, & repentance & a change appearing in our lives; or he hath famine swords wild beasts, bedlam waters, treasures of snow and hail, lightnings, thunderbolts etc. or he hath fevers, palsies, gouts, choliks, cankers wolves, tympanies, etc. to scourge presumptuous sinners that will not be warned: his store house is never unfurnished with rods, and scorpions too, if we put him to it. Surely my Brethren we are transformed with Nebuchadnezar into beasts, and the hearts and understandings of men taken from us, if this consideration move us not to abominate our sins, and cease from our provocations, wherewith we have provoked this God of anger against us, especially when he hath put up so many abuses and villainies of ours all our life hitherto, we justly deserving every moment to be rooted out, and he being able many thousand ways to have executed the sentence of our destruction upon us.   

CHAP. 3.  
THat which hath been said in the former chapter, might suffice to work in us a mind of repentance, and a change of life, if we carried in every of our breasts a meek and docible heart; but because the greater number (which far exceeds the better) have their essential part of a harder kind of temper, we must beat upon them with more strokes, & prosecute this matter with further declaration.  
As the well-doing of a man after he is reconciled to God, fills him full of inward peace and comfort and makes him cheerful and confident in all the cumbers and evils of life; so it is the property of sin to discomfort and torment the sinner, to wound his conscience, to fill his soul full of terror and perplexity, and to aggravate every little outward adversity. 
Isay.  There is no peace saith my God, to the wicked; but terror and trembling is in all their life. They are possessed with a spirit of unrest, and held in in bondage under every oppression of their own conceits. 
For as they that fear God, need fear nothing so they that fear not him can not choose but fear all things.  * The ungodly fly (saith Solomon) when none pursueth him, but the righteous is confident as a Lion. And Moses in Leuit. amongst other evils threatened to the transgressors of God's commandments allegeth this: The wagging of a leaf shall make them afraid, they shall flee as if a sword did chase them, and they shall fall no man pursuing them. And else where directing his speech to the same men: The Lord (saith he) shall give thee a trembling heart, and dazzling eyes, and sorrow of mind; Thy life shall hang before thee, and thou shalt fear both night and day, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: In the morning thou shalt say, would God it were evening, & at evening thou shalt say, would God it were morning: for the fear of thine heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes, which thou shalt see.  
A miserable state of all those men of reprobate minds, which have sold themselves to work wickedness upon the earth, and cast the fear of the Lord behind them; they dread even the safest things, and the more they offend the more they fear, their whole life is a butchery of themselves, and all their days as the days of a prisoner that is condemned. They think every little crack to be the voice of ruin, and every idle sound, the forerunner of destruction. The beams of their chambers seem to deceive them, and the walls and rafters to lay hold upon them, their own shadow is suspected to betray them and the stones of the street to conspire against them; wheresoever they go they think they are descried, and Gods executions are out to take them, as a man that is far in debt, thinks in every window stands a creditor to observe him, and almost every one he meets to be a Sergeant to arrest him.  
There lodgeth in the midst of them a domestical fury, which eftsoons breaketh off their beginning rest, and scourgeth them (as one speaketh) with silent lashes, which are not heard of the nearest about them. If they be not yet punished, they look that they shall be. If they be, the present feeling of evil induceth still fear of worse, when one peril is past, they think another is behind; and when that is escaped yet a greater is to come: so still the first fear is inherited by the second, and the second by the third, and one by another, that they cannot recover any sparkle of confidence, nor promise themselves one minute of security.  
What they deserve, that they expect ever, and to expect pain, is many times more painful then to endure pain; every thing is against them, for they are against themselves; whatsoever is spoken or read, they fear it is spoken and read of them: when any thing is faulted, their own fault presently comes in their way. Every nod and wink they imagine, notes something concerning them, they are their own accuser, their own witness, their own judge, their own hangman, they find no place to fly unto, for their conscience still pursueth them, & themselves of themselves are wounded and thrust thorough. Ask of the days of old, and they will speak it, & the years of passed generations, and they will confirm it, that those terrors & discomforts are the fruits of sin: inquire of Cain, Balthasar, Saul, judas, Nero, julian, and they will all cry with one voice, that the pangs, prickings, unrests, and frights appropriate to all wicked impenitent persons, are (as it were) certain flashes of the flames of hell fire. But what need we raise up such a cloud of ancient deceased witnesses to confirm the point we have in hand? speak any wicked man amongst us (and let his tongue be a true ambassador) whether he feel not in himself some measure of this forlornnes, whether his heart be not often as cold as a stone in his belly, & all his strength as water powered out upon the earth. And though he strengthen himself and strive never so to expel from his mind this uncheerefulnes and dastardly faintness, borrowing many times of the body the solace & delight of some counterfeit pleasures, whereby he may seem to have some peace (like the sick man, who in his sleep feeleth not his pain) yet after that short and sour mingled sweetness he returns to the chain of his old bondage, & his wont gripings seize afresh upon him.  
O my brethren, this biting memory of sin, this worm of conscience which will not be bribed, this pale hartlesnes that seizeth upon us when the offence is committed, makes the most obdurate sinner sometimes to relent and condemn his own doings; and to say to himself, Sure, to do well is far better.  
This makes the most impudent adulterer to think sometimes the chaste married bed to yield more contented rest, than the wanton couch of the strange woman.  
This makes the drunkard sometimes to think the moderate use of God's creatures with thanksgiving, to be much better both for body and soul, than his vain and beastly excesses.  
This makes the murderer and furious man sometimes to prefer peace and gentleness before the bloody hand or the quarreling tongue.  
This makes the spiteful wretch, to think him that loveth and benefiteth another, to be more blessed and beloved of God, than he that with a lowering brow plotteth and practiseth for his neighbour's hurt.  
This makes the deceitful tradesman to think sometimes one well gotten groat in truth and conscience, to be greater riches than many pounds of wicked thrift.  
This makes the covetous oppressor to think sometimes the liberal Almoner and good housekeeper to be more acceptable to God & makes then the greedy churl that makes the poor offer to his box, and wrings pence out of the hirelings wages.  
O why should we delight in evil when the Authors themselves are displeased at it, and assure us that upon the reckoning there is nothing but terror and discomfort to be gained by it?  
And why should we not love well doing, when the very enemies thereof commend it? as being the ground of a quiet conscience, and that is like a continual feast, where there is mirth and cheer all the day long. O my brethren, it is the inward pureness of the heart that never makes us change colour: it is innocency that never galls the mind, never pricks the inward parts: it is seasonable repentance that breeds that internal glee, which is a certain taste of the future felicity, and a beginning of the joys of heaven in us, and that which maketh us feel incredible pleasures amidst the most grievous troubles & miseries of this life.  
Once (saith a godly writer) man was in paradise: Now paradise is in man, and that is the joy of a good conscience: which makes him confident and secure and resolute at all times; so that though the heaven should melt, and the earth be removed, yet he is unshaken, for he knoweth in whom he hath believed, and if the Lord be God, he shall not miscarry.  
wouldst thou have this security, this peace, this boldness? wouldst thou live this blessed life? wouldst thou be without frights, without checks, without prickings in thy heart? then fly from sin, abandon all that may offend the Majesty of GOD, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, seek the Lord, call upon him, trust in him, thank him, swear not by his sacred name; profane not his sabbaths, kill not, quarrel not, hate not in thy heart, let not the sun go down upon thy wrath; defile not thy body through lust; cozen not, oppress not, slander not, covet not another man's, labour to say truly both now and to your lives end, that thou mayst say with the blessed Apostle, 
Acts. 24.  I have endeavoured to walk in all good conscience always, both towards God and towards men; and that same peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ jesus.  
But if you let go the rains to your old licentiousness, and be more wicked to day, than yesterday, & to morrow, then to day; if you say to the good motions of God's spirit, as the false friend in Solomon to his neighbour, Go, and come again to morrow: or as Festus to Paul, when I have a convenient time, I will hear further of you: and so pass along your days in all jollity & voidnes of care (your things seeming to be in peace because the strong man hath full possession of all) yet when the lease of your life shall be expired, and the parting hour is come upon you, than your sin which slept before the door, shall start up & lie heavy upon your soul and conscience; and then howsoever the Lord may have suffered you to thrive, and grow great in the world, yet you shall find that it is not your soft beds, nor your precious waters, nor your sweet music, nor your pleasant company, nor your sealed bags, nor your rich purchases nor your statutes and evidences can ease your mind, or buy you this peace, this blessing, this inestimable treasure, which a religious life might have purchased before.  
Beyond all this, whilst we remain impenitent, GOD heareth not our prayers. 
Psal. 66.  If I incline my heart to any wickedness, the Lord will not hear me: 
Prou. 15.  the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord, nay their very prayer is turned into sin. And what comfort can we look for in the troubles and dangers incident to our life, when that which should be our refuge & shelter to resort to, increaseth our danger, and in stead of bearing of the storm, falls down like a ruinous house upon our heads? we are beside out of the compass of Christ's intercession, he excepts worldings & wicked ones by name out or his prayers: And if he will not plead our cause, who dares speak for us? if we be out of his protection, where is our assurance? any desperate villainy, may strike his dagger to our heart: the Devil may tear us in pieces, and carry us to hell, there is none to secure us.  
Moreover whilst we take part with sin against God, all the creatures take God's part against us: the horse hath his heels ready to strike out our breath, the bull hath his horns ready to gore us, the boar his tusks to haunch us, the dog his fangs to pull out our throats, the tiles over our heads are priest to brain us, the fly in our cup to choke us, our own knife is ready to glance into our flesh, every thing else is ready to work mischief to us, every little job under our feet to give us a bruising fall, and they do only wait while the word be given them, and they will instantly accomplish their charge.  
Besides, so long as we continue to work evil in the sight of the Lord and do not turn unto him with all our hearts, and think upon his commandments to do them, nothing shall be successful unto us; 
Mal. 2.2.  God will curse our blessings, & our ways shall not prosper, we shall be cursed in the city, and cursed in the field; cursed shall our basket be & our dough; cursed shall be the fruit of our body, 
Deut. 28  and the fruit of our land; and the increase of our cattle; cursed shall we be when we go our, and cursed also when we come in.  
The Lord shall send upon us cursing, and trouble, and shame, in all that we set our hand to do.  
Mark yet further how particularly the Lord goeth on with his threatenings. Thou shalt betrothe a wife, and another man shall lie with her, thou shalt build a house, & shalt not dwell therein, thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shall not eat the fruit thereof.  
The stranger that is among you shall climb up above on high, & thou shalt come beneath allow, he shall be thy head, and thou shalt be the tail. Thou shalt be contemned in thine own country.  
Thou shalt never but suffer wrong & violence always, so that thou shalt be even mad for the sight which thine eyes shall see: things shall go so cross notwithstanding all thy providence and industry, that it shall make thee at thy wits end to think of it.  
O my Brethren who would continue in sin one hour longer, that seethe himself hemmed in on every side with so many curses and judgements, as it were so many armies of the Lord fight directly against him? who would lay his eyes together, before he had made his peace with God, and once for ever bid defiance to his former sins? who would live this wretched life full of vexation and terror, and cursing; forlorn of God and his creatures, & destitute of all succours, without any care to redress it, till he be come to shake hands with it, when he may presently redress it by present reconciliation with God; when by casting off sin in this hour, he may in this hour cast off all these curses and miseries accompanying sin, and so both live a blessed life all his time, and close up his days with a blessed death, which shall be the beginning of eternal life? what foolish body wouldly forty or fifty years mortally languishing of some disease, refusing to be cured all his best time and seeking help only in his last worst time, when the cure is doubt full, by reason nature is decayed, or if he recover, yet he cannot enjoy his health above a day or a week, or a month, and then give over life & all? But ten thousand times worse infatuated are they that would lie the whole age of a man in a mortal languishment of soul (as it were bedrid by reason of sin) and never take the physic of repentance, till they lie gasping for breath, when it is uncertain whether they shall then have leisure to repent, or if they repent, whether it will be of force and able to fetch life in the soul being so far gone in that desperate consumption: or if they recover and live the true life, (which rarely happens) they live in a sort too late both to themselves and others.   

CHAP. 4.  
THey have ever proved unprofitable in religion that have held too much of that truantly rule the way to well doing is never too late. 
Eccles.  Therefore Solomon calls upon young men to remember their Creator in their young days, as if well doing were never too soon. 
Heb. 3.13.  And the Apostle exhorteth the Hebrues to call one upon another, to turn to God. whilst it is called to day; not to make it a morrows work: his reason is Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. See here then one main danger of dwelling in our sins, and putting off our amendment from one day to another: the longer we continue in sin, the more we are hardened in sin, so that at length we cannot repent, no though we seek it with tears, as Esau did. It is as easy to temper the flint stone between our fingers, and to make it soft and pliable for sealing; as to supple our stony hearts, and fit them to receive the impression of grace: you think you can repent when you will, and apprehend the mercies of God when your own leisure serves you; but you are deceived, it is not in man to order his ways, nor to return into the right path, being misled. Sin is cunning and will make you believe you may come and go without entanglement or restraint; especially whilst you have day light enough before you. But trust not this fleering jahel, for if you use to turn in to sleep in her tent, and taste of her milk and butter which she can set in a Lordly dish, she will (when you suspect least) nail your head to the ground, that it shall be impossible to get lose from her. 
judg. 16.  This Dalila hath a crew of Philistines ready in a corner, when she hath shorn the locks of your strength upon her lap, to come upon you and bind you with fetters, and put out your eyes, that you shall neither have power to start, nor yet see the means to make an escape.  
In your youth she will teach you to excuse your mistread, with, It is the time: and when that excuse is out of fashion by reason of more years pulled over your heads, than she will reach you another Apology, It hath been my custom, and I cannot lean it: and then followeth hardness of heart that you cannot repent (the greatest judgement that God bringeth upon a man or woman in this world) for then we are past hope, God hath decreed our destruction, and all the prayers and suffrages of the faithful (which are of great force) will do us no good. God will answer as he did to jeremy: Do not entreat no for them, 
jer. 7.16. & 14.11.  make no intercession to do them good, for I will in no wise hear you, I have thrust them out of my sight, & I have decreed to destroy them. Yet you may prevent this judgement: yet your custom of evil is not so strong but you may break it: yet you may cast off a little and a little by good custom, that which you have got at times by evil custom: yet your hearts are tender & flexible, defer not the new moulding of them, till they be grown perverse and incorrigible; lay hold of offered grace, whilst the accepted time & the day of salvation lasts Remember, he that promiseth mercy to the penitent, hath not promised repentance to the presumer upon mercy, nor one day of life to the delayer of repentance.  
But you are young and healthy: what then? therefore you are not like to die? do not lambs skins come to be sold as well as sheeps skins? Do we not see and hear, where ever we go, that men and women die, that were neither sick nor old? we may say we will go to morrow to such a place, to see such a commodity, to receive such a sum of money, to make merry etc. and yet before this next evening may hear that voice; Fool, to prevent thy bargainings, thy talk, thy merriments etc. this night before the morrow, thy soul shall be taken from thee. Ask but that one street which leadeth from the City to the common judgement hall, how many times her stones have been bestained with the reeking gore of murdered men, since the beginning of this last term; and tell me whether life be so sure a thing when so many sound bodies have groaned their last in a peaceable well governed City, within the compass of one term, and the limits of one street: and how knowest thou whether thy time be not as short as theirs seeing (as I said afore) not only wicked men upon earth but all the Devils in hell, & all the creatures in the world are armed against thee, whilst thou remainest impenitent and weltrest in thy sins.  
Thou knowest how short warning 
Esay. 38.1.  Ezekias had: Put thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. 
Numb. 20.25.  And Aron: Bring Aron and Eleazar his son up into mount Hor, and cause him to put off his garments, and put them upon his son, and then he shall die immediately upon the top of the mount. What if the like warning were given thee? where is thy repentance then become? where are thy good purposes for hereafter? Then thou wilt cry out; if I had known my time had been so short, 
Ifs at death's approach vain & foolish.  I would long ere this have reform my ways: If it were now to begin my life, I would take another course. In what sanctimony and uprightness would I walk before God & man? O that the Lord would spare me a little before I go away from hence, and be no more seen! O that he would allow me but one month or one weeks respite to bewail my sins and sue for mercy! Wouldst thou then be a new man? be so now; Wouldst thou then seek God's favour? seek it now. Wouldst thou then amend all faults? amend them now. Why dost thou not prevent those ifs and conditions, which will then be but foolish thoughts? why dost thou not that this day, nay day by day all thy life long, which thou wouldst do at such an extremity seeing thou knowest not which will be thy last day? why dost thou not doubt all thy days & endeavour to be such a one all thy life, as thou wouldst be at the point of death?  
But put case thou knewest thy life would be lengthened out to some forty or fifty years more, and that thou wert assured not to die the utmost expiration of those years: be like then thou wouldst nothing but follow thy lusts the while, and think the last year soon enough to reform thee. But blind fools they are, that are thus conceited: if thou canst not with the straining of all thy sinews pull up a young tree of two or three years planting, how wilt thou hope to pull it up, when the spurs of the roots are fastened deep on every side, and the boughs are like to the covering of a tent over thy head? Assay to root out but one vice now, whilst it is fresh and green and thou shalt find it a matter of some pains and difficulty: and will it be easier, thinkest thou, seven years hence, when the custom of it is grown to a habit or as it were another nature, and the generation thereof multiplied to an hundred & to a thousand?  
Say a man were now to carry a basket of stones from London Bridge to Islington, & setting forward about the stoops with the basket on his shoulder, feeling the weight thereof to pinch and wring him, should presently (like a true lover of his ease) set it down again till another time, and every day the while, come and put in more stones, till it were heap full and running over; would you think the basket would be lighter at last for these daily additions, or this man likelier to carry it through then, being grown rusty with many years sloth, when it made him shrug to stand under it in the beginning, while his strength was fresh? No, no my dear brethren) the longer we continue in sin the fuller and heavier grows the basket, and the unweldier we grow that must be the porters.  
Come, come, up with it, carry it you must, and it will never be lighter, nor you better able to bear it, than you be at this present; strain yourselves for a furlong or two, though it sit uneasy at first, you shall find it lighter after a little use. Better smart once, then ache ever; set about it & despair not of the success, by consideration of the difficulty: pray God both humbly and continually to impart unto you his holy spirit, and to shed it out in your hearts, through jesus Christ, that you may compress your own affections, and by his strength overcome all impediments, & walk more in all holy obedience before him only be not your own foe, feed not that same humour of lingering, let not lose the rains to your corrupt affections, which cry still, a little more sleep, a little more slumber: For the holy Ghost doth not assist cowards and sluggards, & such as fit idly with their arms folded together; but those that labour and endeavour earnestly to tame their natural wickedness, and to cross the swing of their lusts, those he deemeth worthy his aid, and they in him, shall be more than conquerors. Set your hand to God's hand, & the work will be nothing. The violent and resolute, that break thorough all opposition, they and no other take heaven by main force.  
But say that the blackmoor could change his skin, and the Leopard his spots, and that you having learned all days of your life to do evil, could at the last repent and do well; yet what an unthankful & unbeseeming thing were it to spend your youthful days in the pleasures of the world, & the service of the Devil, & then to bring your crooked & worn days to offer to the Lord? To call the Devil and the world to the feast and full dishes, and let God stand at door waiting (among the beggars) for the reversion & scraps? The Lord himself is driven to complain of this base measure by his Prophet: When ye bring the blind for sacrifices, you say it is not evil, and when ye bring the lame and sick, ye say it is good enough for God. Offer it now to thy Prince; will he be content with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts? Repent and be ashamed of this ingratitude, play not the harlots with God: let none have the maidenhead of your youth, but your dear Lord & husband: Let none enjoy the flower and beauty of your time, but he that bought you with his precious blood; you are his, give him his own, let him have it new and fair, not when it is mangled & misused that one cannot but blush in the presenting of it. Cast yourselves into his embracement in your youth & health whilst you have something to commend you, & his arms are open to receive you; stay not looking for a better match, this is the best that ever you shall light on; take it whilst it is offered, you shall never repent you of your early bestowing. Hereafter perhaps God will hold you unworthy of his love, as heretofore you held him unworthy of yours; and scorn you in your old age and sickness, as you set not by him in your health and youth. The five virgins for lingering but one hour and that in their youth and prime, were shut out of the marriage chamber, and had this answer to their knocking, I know you not, you are no friends nor guests of mine. And shall we think the Lord will open unto us, and give us a cheerful welcome, lingering not hours but years, and prostituting our virginity and prime to the world & the Devil, God's sworn enemies? Yet the the door is open, you may fill your lamps with oil, and be wise by their harms. But if you put it to hereafter, the gates will be shut, and all your knocking will be but so many fruitless strokes, rebounding upon your own hearts.  
Lastly, whilst we lie soaking in sin and return every day to our old vomit; we do pile up more and more wood for our own burning. I mean, we do increase our accounts against that fiery day of wrath, which will come upon as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a noise, and the element shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be consumed; then shall all the thoughts of our hearts be discovered, and an account required of every idle word that we have spoken; So strict shall that judgement be. Where will the ungodly and sinner appear, when the righteous shall scarce be saved? whither will they turn them when they shall see the Lamb turned into a Lion, their Saviour their judge, and their judge their witness, against whose testimony, there is no excepting; they will wish mountains lay on them to keep them from that meeting: what will these differers of repentance being prevented and cast behind by their own negligence, answer for themselves in that great appearance, before the awful Majesty that sits upon the throne? with what confusion and shame shall they stand, when he shall say unto them, I sent you into the world to do my will, and you have done your own wills? I allowed you time and means to repent, you despised both time & means and repent not: I gave you many good motions in your hearts to make you return unto me: and you put me off still after so long waiting, with, What we will amend; Did you think I would pardon you at last? How could you then in common gratitude displease so gracious a Lord? Did you think I would not pardon you? what madness besotted you that you durst offend me without hope of pardon? I will now verify my words which I spoke by my messengers, which I sent unto you; Because you have hardened your hearts against me, you shall not enter into my rest: Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels.  
O how shall these impenitent lingerers than take on, howling and raving, and cursing the day of their nativity, that the air shall be even crazed with their hideous and ghastly clamours! And what a comfort will it be to the godly, both young men and young maids that have have served God betimes, and takem pains to mortify their lusts, to see the Lord at length proceed in justice against the careless wicked ones, which have lived in all pleasures and ease in this life, when they themselves have been afflicted and maligned and derided, for the profession of the Gospel of jesus Christ?  
O my Brethren and Sisters, when the Lord in that day shall have done to you all the good that he hath promised, and shall have made you Kings and Queens to reign with him and his royal Son for ever then it shall be no grief nor offence of mind unto you, that you have not powered out yourselves into all excess of riot & committed sin with greediness, as the profane and ungodly do. Then it shall not repent you that you have consecrated the flower of your youth to GOD, who is so bountiful a rewarder of them that seek him. What hurt shall it be then unto you that you have shunned this lust, & that folly: this vice and that wantonness, which you might have committed, & whereunto you have been tempted▪ what need you then stomach at it that you have been termed modest fools and precisians, and such other names of disgrace by the godless multitude, whom you see damned by a just sentence, & haled away to endless torments before your face? where they shall beg that one of you may be sent to dip but the tip of your finger in water, to cool their tongue in the midst of the flames, & shall not obtain it; who would not rather mourn for his sins now, and forsake them now, and change his course now, though it be with some unease and wrestling at the first, then to wish he had done so afterward when it is too late? and to lament and roar in that remediless horror and despair for ever: bearing a part in that doleful morning and evening music of the wicked in Hell, We have wearied ourselves in the ways of wickedness and destruction, 
Wisd. 5.  and we have gone thorough dangerous paths, but we have not known the way of the Lord. What hath pride profited us, or what benefit hath the pomp of riches brought us? All these things are passed away with a shadow, and as a post that rideth mainly by: we have had the righteous in derision, and in a parable of reproach: We fools thought their life madness, and their end without honour: But lo, they are counted among the children of GOD, and their portion is among the Saints. So have we erred in our imaginations, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us. Now we know, when it hurts us to know; now we understand, when ignorance were a blessing. To conclude this Chapterr and this first part of my Treatise, whatsoever you have been in the years past, be new men now, I will not give you respite till next year, nor next month, nor next morrow, but even this day, this night, this hour in which thou art admonished, amend: remember the name of the Lord is I AM for ever; and he likes notthen that are always, I will be, repentance is never too soon, so long as the sin is gone before.  
Youth is the Spring, Age is the Harvest: in one we sow, in the other we reap, if in our youth we sow the seed of virtue and obedience, we shall in our age reap the fruits of joy, peace and perseverance to everlasting life, if the tars of vice and licentiousness, it will be hard if ever the harvest be other than unprofitable bundles, which will but kindle the unquenceable fire of hell upon our heads. Let your creation, or your redemption or vow in Baptism, or the power and patience of the Lord, or the terrors of conscience, or Gods rejecting of our prayers, or Christ's denying you his intercession, or the fight of the creatures against you, or the Lords curse upon your blessings; or the hardening of your hearts by custom of sin, or the uncertainty of your death, or the difficulty of late repentance, or the base & unbeseeming measure offered to God, or the increasing of your accounts, or the strictness of the last judgement, or hell fire itself, or all these together, rouse and startle you from your bed of sloth, and cause you to reform your lives renounce the world & worldly wickedness, and to honour the Lord your God, or ever he take is light from you, & or ever your feet stumble in the dark mountains, lest while you look for the light he turn it into the blackness of the shadow of death. But if you will not hear me that give you seasonable warning, my very heart shall mourn in secret for your stubbornness, & mine eyes shall weep and rain down tears, because the Lord's people are sold unto sin, & the children of my mother are carried captive to destruction.    

THE SECOND PART.  

CHAP. 5.  
HAVING spoken of the mischiefs & dangers which we stand liable to, so long as we are unconverted; Consider with me next the means which the Lord hath ordained for our conversion; that if we have a mind of returning we may make use of them and not negligently pass them over without any fruit, as our fashion hath been in former times. Almighty GOD hath given us first our life & being in this world, he hath made us men, 
God's benefits.  and breathed in us a reasonable soul, whereas when the clay was in his hand, he might have moulded us into any other shape; hath given us our senses, & distributed all our limbs, according to their proper and several functions: he hath put all the creatures in subjection under our feet: so that from the glorious Sun in the firmament to the little Emmet that creepeth upon the dust, every thing doth us service. He hath preserved us hitherto all our life long from innumerable dangers, whereinto others have fallen, and whereinto we had fallen if his gracious hand had not upholden us: And (which passeth all this) he hath by the death and sufferings of his own Son redeemed us from the mouth of hell, into which else we every mother's son of us irrecoverably were fallen. Now saith the Apostle, this bountifulness of God leadeth us to repentance. Therefore hath he bestowed all these benefits upon us, and promised many more, thereby to stir us up to abandon vicious life, and to betake ourselves to his holy & blessed service. Try me faith the Lord, 
Mal. 3.10.  whether I will not open the windows of heaven & power you out blessings without measure if you will return unto me.  
O my Brethren, if your hearts be not savage, how can it be but this kindness of so great a Majesty, should bind us to him for ever? what beastly ingratitude is it to turn so many comforts and good things, as he hath given us (that we might be the better able to serve him) to the dishonour and injury of so loving a giver by using them to serve us in sin? our dogs are not so ungrateful to their masters; the Lions and Bears have showed more courtesy & thankfulness to their benefactors. That he hath spread our table with full dishes, and made our cup to overflow; that he hath allowed us warm clothing by day, and a well feathered nest to couch in at night, & bodily health to make these things sweeter and better tasted to us, are bounties that we can never deserve while we live with all the obedience we are able to perform. But that GOD for man should become man, and that God for man should die in the flesh, and sustain so many shameful indignities and intolerable pains in accomplishing the work of our redemption; this only, this wholly & this more than all things doth challenge unto it even by special desert, all our life, all our labour, all our service and all our love. That a man frankly giveth his goods to another, is a token of no small bounty; but to bestow his own life for another, and that not for friends but for enemies, as the Son of God did, when he died for us, it is an incomparable and an unconceivable bounty, the Angels of heaven do wonder at it, and desire, (as Peter saith) contivally to behold and look into it: and surely if this bounty and graciousness of our God, cannot win us to cleanse our ways and forsake our sins, all the dews of grace are quite and clean dried up in our hearts, and there is no hope that any thing will win us. But it will fall out by us, as Esdras in his second book and 9 chapter gravely denounceth against some like us. Such as in their life have received benefits from the Lord, and have not regarded to know him; but have abhorred his law whilst they were yet in liberty, and when they had yet leisure of amendment, and would not understand, but despised it: they must be taught after death by pain what it is, to recompense evil for good.  
Another good means to bring us to repentance is, the consideration of God's judgements executed upon sinners in all ages, whom God hath made examples for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come. The Angels for one sin were thrown out of heaven. Adam for one sin cast out of Paradise, and all his posterity after him condemned to perpetual misery. Lot's wife for one sin turned into a pillar of salt. Moses and Aaron for one sin debarred from entering the Land of Canaan. Michael for one sin plagued with barrenness. The whole tribe of Benjamin for one sin rooted out. Threescore & ten thousand Israelites for one sin of David's, in three days consumed with pestilence. Ananias & Sapphira for one struck dead in the place. And yet thou after many thousand sins, criest still God is merciful, and presumest that thy part in that mercy will be as great as the thieves upon the Cross. God is merciful, I deny it not: So the Physician is skilful, and yet gives over his patiented sometimes, because he sees him to be incurable. If thou be damned, it is not because the Lord wants mercy, but because by deferring repentance thy heart is deadened, and thou art past recovery. Tell me not of the thief upon the Cross, for of two thieves one was damned. It was a miracle, and miracles were no miracles if they were common. All the Scriptures thorough there is not one such another example to be found: and therefore for thee presumptuously to go on in thy sins upon this shadow of hope, is all one, as if some good fellow should hope his horse would speak English, because once Balaams' Ass uttered plainly the language of Moab. Surely these be they that destroy themselves with the works of their own hands (as Solomon saith) calling iniquity unto them both with hands & words, & when they think they have a friend of it, they come to nought.  
But what should I speak of ancient judgements, when those that have been executed at our own doors, have not wrought upon our hearts? To omit all other, what are we the better for that dreadful pestilence so lately amongst us, when Death like a merciless tyrant thrust all out of doors both old and young before him, as if he would take possession of our houses one after another, till he had seized the whole City into his own use? O my brethren, those that be not blind may see, there is not one sin less this year, than was the last. In the Church there is as much carelessness and contempt of God's word: In the streets as much pride: In the shops as much lying and swearing: In the Taverns as much drunkenness and excess (notwithstanding his majesties act of restraint) In other places as much filthiness, and as little conscience and devotion as ever there was before, so that the Lord may complain of us as he did of old: I have smitten them, and they have not sorrowed; I have corrected them for amendment, and they are worse and worse. The Lord grant we be not cast off (as a father casts off his unthrifty son, when no means will reclaim him) and that the removing of his plague from us (seeing we are not bettered by it) be not a kind of cruel pity: and a giving us up to our own hearts lust till our iniquity be full, that we may then fall by an utter destruction, chastening in the mean time the countries round about us, as having some hope: of their turning and amendment.  
Let us therefore with all speed humble ourselves under God's mighty hand, and make a godly use of his judgements that every little chastisement of his may drive us to a loathing & forsaking of our former evil ways; that we may stand in awe and not sin: for our God is a jealous God, and a consuming fire, so shall he smell a savour of rest, and receive an atonement for the land; so shall the light of his countenance be lifted up upon us, and so shall it go well with us and with our children after us in their generations.  

The word preached Gods Ministers.  Another very direct means to this end, is the preaching of God's word & the voice of his Prophets & ministers, rising up early, & premonishing us of our danger, & showing us the way wherein we should walk. Therefore the Lord when he sent the Prophet jeremy to the people of Israel and juda, he bade him proclaim a fast, and tell them what he had threatened against them: 
jer. 36.  Because (saith the Lord) it may be when they hear the evil that I purpose to bring upon them, they will return from their wickedness, and so by that means I may forgive them their sins, and receive them to favour. This is the manna that came down from heaven, this is the immortal seed by which so many are borne to God. How great cause have we to bless the Lord that it hath pleased him so to dispose of us, that we should be borne and bred in such a time, and among such a people, as profess the faith of jesus Christ, and are daily taught and instructed both to believe and live accordingly? Our Fathers longed to see these days, and could not see them; we fear no burning nor imprisonment for professing the doctrine of Christ, we need not cross the seas to seek instruction, we may in a blessed freedom of mind and body approach to God's altars, and sit at the feet of the Lords Prophets, and hear those heavenly comforts and directions from their mouths. Never was London so well supplied with godly reverend Ministers, since the first stone of her walls was laid, then in this very day. The Lord jesus continue and increase the number.  
But what account make we of these means? we can content ourselves to sit an hour in the Church to hear God's word taught, not for conscience but for fashion, as our deeds make plain. For where almost is he or she that hath left any one dear sin this seven years, though twice seven years they have heard it condemned? nay, (which is strange) upon the monday we commit those very sins which upon the Sabbath day before were to our faces most particularly reproved, which were enough to discourage utterly those men of God in the work of their ministery, they taking such pains, watching for us, when we sleep, studying and spending their spirits to bring us to repentance, and we (like wretches) making small account of it, and profiting little in godliness by it: but that the Lord hath said, his word shall never go forth in vain; but either it shall lift us up higher to his courts in heaven, or sink us down deeper into the pit of hell. And the labours of his Ministers shall be as highly rewarded for leaving the graceless ones without excuse, as for converting a weak soul from going astray.  
A Servant when he is commanded to do any thing by his Master, will fear to look his Master in the face, or to come in his way if he neglect it, and do it not. How dare we then having sat in the Church, and there heard (out of the Pulpit the seat of God's Oracles) sin forbidden, repentance enjoined, our negligence taxed, not once, but continually from time to time, with precept upon precept, line upon line: I say, how dare we press so boldly without any awe or reverence into the presence of God (the great Master of all Masters in the world) Sabbath after Sabbath, and yet guilty to ourselves in the mean time of so great disobedience? unless we come thither in an insolent fashion to stout and outface the Lord; or to laugh in our sleeves at his weakness that will be borne in hand with a cunning semblance, and as well pleased as if the deed were performed.  
O my brethren, tremble to dally in this sort with the Almighty: if he speak, let his servants hear: if he command, defer not to do it: receive it not as the word of man, but as it is indeed the word of God. Pray aforehand that you may feel the virtue and power of it in your heart, renewing and changing your wills and affections: let the feet of them be beautiful that bring this tidings of peace and good things unto you: They are the Ambassadors of the everliving God, and disposers of his secrets: they are our Fathers in Christ, by whom we are new begotten to eternal life. The Lord hath given them power out of his word to pronounce his sentence, so that what they bind on earth is bound in heaven: and what they lose on earth is loosed in heaven. Let us have them in singular love & reverence for their works sake. The contempt of their persons is a notable policy of the devil, to make their teaching be contemned also. Let us show our thankfulness to God for them, in obeying those things which they command us in his name. They have called upon us long enough for amendment; let them now have cause to commend us that we have amended. Let our hearing be at length a joy to them, lest their sorrow be hereafter a witness against us: One jonah converted Niniveh, what a shame is it to us that so many jonahs' should do no good in London?  
Another means to set us forward in the way of repentance, 
Good books & conference.  is the reading of good books, & mutual conference, and exhortation one of another. These do both after one sort bob us continually on the elbow, and even importune us to well doing, and would work some good effect if we were not negligent & careless in the using of them. But so it is, how much time do we spend idly in doing nothing, or unthriftily in doing nought, never taking a good book in our hands all the week long, though we have choice of many, and our trades will bear it; or if we begin, it grows irksome strait before we have turned one leaf over; or if we have the patience to go thorough to the end (slightly enough;) we cast it in a corner to be moulded and moth-eaten, and are as much the better as he that hath looked in a glass is, after his back is turned: because we do not stir up and whet our remembrance by a second more advised reading, esteeming our old books as old friends, which must ever now and then be visited, that acquaintance may be renewed and not lost.  
So for our mutual exhorting one another, how unequally have we performed it? sparing them too much with whom we are inward; and reproving them too tartly whom we like not so well: and perhaps thinking scorn to be admonished ourselves by any. How many times when we have met together for our comforts, and to the edifying one of another in godliness, have we burst out into profane and idle talk, letting our mouth lose to all vanity, that should have uttered gracious words, giving proof of the inward sanctification of our hearts: so sly is the devil (the perpetual enemy of all good things) when we go about to diminish his kingdom; to rob us from ourselves, and divert our best thoughts another way. I speak this the rather, that all those that are the professors of the Gospel, might use these means here after with more care and conscience, lest they be overreached by this slight of Satan: and set a watch before their mouth, and keep the door of their lips, that they give no example of lightness or vanity to them that are new converts, nor unto any other: but carrying themselves as patterns unto them, in word, in conversation, in faith, in spirit, in love and in pureness, that even those that are backwardest in religion, may be drawn by their integrity to repentance from the corruptions of the world. For virtue shows so well in whomsoever it is, that it stirs up a marvelous love and desire of it in them that behold it.  
But if neither God's benefits, nor his judgements, nor his word, nor godly books, nor the good counsel and admonition and examples of our brethren (who are more careful of our salvation than we ourselves) will prevail with us, let the shortness and uncertainty of our own life make us look about us. For what is our life but a vapour, a flower, a flash, a shadow, a dream, vanity, nothing? Have you ever observed the bubbles which boys blow up in a shell of sope-water, how some being swollen to a determinate quantity, break immediately in the shell? some the wind whisleth up aloft into the air, and are dissolved there: some fly allow by ground, till at length they dash against the ground, and come to nothing. Such things are men and women, when you see a thousand of them walking the streets, imagine you see a thousand bells or bubbles of water wandering up and down: some a high above all their fellows (as the gale favours them) some in a lower region, and with a thought as high as the highest: some beneath that lownes, and some as low as the pavement. Now stand still a little and mark them, and you shall see some times one striking out another, sometimes ten, or twenty, or thirty popping out of themselves, and instantly so many more (some of the highest, some of the lowest, some of the mean ones one amongst another) so that anon you cannot see one of the old men or bubbles left, but all are new men or new bubbles (call them which you will, for all is one) blown up in the places of the former.  
If this be our best firmness, if our metal be thus full of flaws, if our life be but a moment, and yet upon that moment depends eternity of weal or woe in the life to come: who would not take opportunity by the foretop, and make hay (as the saying is) while the sun shines? who would put off his amendment till to morrow, when he knows not what a day may bring forth? Man knoweth not his end (saith the wisest among men) but even as the fishes be taken with the hook, and the birds be suddenly entrapped with the snate, so are the children of men prevented with the evil day when it comes upon them suddenly.  
When the tree falleth, whether toward the North or South, there it lieth: and in the same state you die, you shall be judged. Learn therefore to number your days, and consider seriously of your latter end, that you may repent betimes, for that is wisdom; and depart from evil, for that is understanding. Or if you scorn all other schoolmasters, learn of the devil one rule of policy; He knowing his time to be short, will do what mischief he can, you knowing your time to be short, do you what good you can.   

CHAP. 6  
THere remains yet three other means, which I cannot overpass without making mention of them.  
The first is the care of masters, 
Godly careful Masters.  and the discipline of a well governed house, which may set strait the manners of a young man, and restrain him from those vices, whereto by reason of his age, or the corruption of the place, he is inclined: For the proverb holdeth for the most part true; LIKE MASTER, LIKE man.. If Abraham fear God, his servants and household will be religious. If Herod scorn Christ, his captains & courtiers will deride him also. In the History of the Apostles Acts, when any householder was converted to the faith of Christ, you shall find it said; The man believed and all his household, showing, that as they were swayed before of an Idolatrous master, to superstition: so now they are swayed by a Christian master to the true worship and service of God.  
Here therefore I think it not amiss to show the duty of a Master in some measure as God shall enable me; not that I would take upon me to teach my elders and betters (yet let none disdain to learn of young ones, seeing even our cradle sometimes may teach us wisdom; for out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hath the Lord ordained strength) but to the end that we that are yet servants and prentices may know how to carry and behave ourselves, when it shall please the Lord, to lay such a charge upon us.  
First, (my Brethren) when the Lord shall call us to this weighty charge, that we come to be rulers of families, and that we keep servants, it behoveth us, nay, we are bound in duty to God, to have as great a care of their salvation as of our own, and to see they do their faithful service to God, as we will look that they should faithfully serve us: For assuredly that servant that is not faithful to GOD, can never be faithful to his master; but he that serves GOD with a good conscience, will serve his master with a good conscience. The awe & presence of his master to overeie and chide him needs not, for his own heart will check him, 
They do best serve their Masters, that have learned first to serve God.  and the fear of God will keep him from untrustiness. You may find a kind of pickthank officiousness in servants of another making; but there is no service like his that serves man for conscience toward God.  
And beside our duty to God, and desire of faithful service to ourselves, the care we should have of our children's godly education, that they be not corrupted, should double our care to keep godly servants: for the liberal disposition of a child is easily spilled with the lewd manners of a servant. Hence it cometh that almost their first words are ribaldry and fearful oaths, and that they learn to blaspheme God before they can plainly speak GOD; yea sometime they prove twofold more the children of Satan then their Tutors were: For a new vessel will keep the tatch of the first seasoning a long time after.  
Cause them therefore to frequent the holy exercise of religion, as Preaching, catechizing, Prayer, Sacraments etc. Bring them with you, where they may be instructed in the ways of the Lord to do righteousness, especially on the Sabbath day: because that is a day appointed and set apart of God himself for his worship and service, wherein he will have our servant as free as ourselves, and to the end we may prepare them the better to the sanctifying of the Lords day, we are to call them up betimes in the morning, to prayer, wherein first we are to thank the Lord, for all his mercies to such unworthy wretches, and namely for the rest and preservation the night past: Then to beseech his Majesty that he would so prepare and fit our hearts to the profitable retaining of his most holy and blessed word, and so direct the mouths of his ministers that day in the uttering of it, that it may be a comfortable savour of life and salvation to us, and not a savour of death unto destruction.  
And having ended this duty by 7. in the morning, we may if we will directly go where there shall be a Sermon until eight so coming home we are to go to our own Parish Church, both in the forenoon, and in the afternoon; and after that to some Lecture as there be divers (blessed be GOD) in divers parts of the City. And having thus spent the day till six at night, we are not to content ourselves there, thinking we have done by this time a work of supererogation; but to come directly from the Lecture to our houses, and call our servants together, to prayers to almighty God, that it would please his Majesty to give a blessing upon that which we have heard, that we may avoid the sins, execute the good duties, fear the threatenings, and lay up the comforts from the mouth of his ministers plainly showed and laid down unto us. And having ended prayers for that instant, we are to examine every one of them particularly what lessons they have learned at Church, and what uses they were taught of those lessons: and having done that, to give them a general exhortation, encouraging them to go forward in godliness, which hath promises of this life, and of that which is to come, and so to make an end for that time, with singing a Psalm of thanksgiving.  
NOW as we are to perform these duties on the Sabbath day, so we have our duties to perform on the week days also: For it is not enough for any man to give his family victuals, and provision one day in the week, and let them fast all the rest of the week after, for so he should soon make a lean household; but we must deal with our servants in Spiritual things, as we deal with them in Corporal things; that is, as we allow them meat and drink sufficiently all the week days, and on the Sabbath day they have extraordinary dishes: So although we have been careful to pray and instruct them in religion on the Sabbath day: yet we must look we do our duties in the week days also, although not like unto the Sabbath: for the Lord doth not require it at our hands. This discipline and good order if we would carefully enure our Prentices to, seven or eight years together till their first youth (the age which is set upon the very pinnacle of temptations) be passed over, methinks it were enough to kill all the weeds of vices in them, & to make even Atheists religious, and grow into a habit of sanctimony and godliness.  
Here I think it needful for every one of us, (as we are yet servants) to know our duties also; that we may demean ourselves, agreeably to our present condition.  

servants duty.  First then we are to follow the counsel of the Apostle, to be obedient unto our bodily masters with fear and trembling, because they be (in their places) unto us as God, God hath set them over us in his own stead; and therefore we ought not only to carry a reverend estimation of them, counting them worthy of all honour, but to perform our duty and service unto them, not to the eye as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God himself singly and from the heart, labouring continually to please them, and submitting ourselves to them in all things, as the holy Ghost commandeth. But this must not be understood absolutely, but with an exception; So they be lawful things. For if a master command his servant to speak a lie, or to swear his commodities cost so much, when they cost much less, or to break the Lords Sabbath; in such a case we ought rather to obey God then man: but in all just and lawful impositions (not crossing their royal commandment) we are to conform ourselves in all duty and obedience to them, yea not only to the good and courteous, but even to the froward & sour. For this is thankworthy, saith Saint Peter, if a servant for conscience toward GOD endure smart, suffering wrongfully. But it is a great fault in us that are servants, that if correction be given us (though with justice and discretion) we will say most commonly we deserve it not. This is not the saying of the holy Ghost: For (saith he) what praise is it for a servant to be buffeted for his faults? but and if ye fault not, and yet suffer hard usage and take it patiently, then is there thank with God. And herein what better satisfaction or quieting of our minds can we desire, than the example of our Saviour himself, who never sinned, neither was there guile found in his mouth, yet he was reviled, and reviled not again, he suffered beyond all degrees of patience, & opened not his mouth; but committed revenge to him that judgeth righteously, even to God his Father: So ought we (my Brethren) when our masters be out of reason, and offer us extreme measure, to put it up and endure it patiently, knowing that they also have a master in Heaven, who beholdeth with an equal eye both us and them; and not to answer, Sir I deserve it not: For if correction should not be given to the most of us till we confess we deserve it, it should never be given us.  
Hear I cannot keep silence, but I must needs make known how good and gracious the Lord hath showed himself in this case to me his most unworthy servant, and the rather to cause all other Prentices to think themselves not miserable but most happy, when the Lord hath set over them such matters, as give them deserved correction with wisdom & discretion: For certainly (my Brethren) had not I had such a master, (whose care and diligence hath been so great over me, in restraining me from that scope & liberty, which my wretched and untamed nature did desire) it had been better a thousand times I had never been borne: For my bringing up from my childhood, until the time I came to my master, was most miserable and wretched, by reason of my sins and the ignorance wherein I lived, as the case of too too many is in these days: yea and since I came to be a Prentice (until of late time) my life was most odious and abominable both in the sight of GOD and man.. But blessed be the name of the Lord, who hath given me a good master, to hold me back, that I could not be so wicked as I would, and hath now also in some measure opened mine eyes, (which have been a long time kept shut) that I might see how to wind my feet out of the snare of Satan.  
Therefore my dear Brethren (unto all those I speak that desire to be partakers of the heavenly joys in the life to come) show yourselves obedient to your masters, and submit yourselves under the yoke, yea although it be irksome to the flesh: for you know nor the great profit and reward that cometh thereby.  

Ungodliness of Prentices.  But certainly (in grief I speak it) Prentices for the most part were never so lewdly and so wickedly given, never so vain and so licentious, never so full of scoffing and derision, never so insolent and contemptuous of God and good men, as they be in these days. For we are so apt to be corrupted, and (being corrupted) to corrupt, partly by reason of our nature, and partly of the place, that unless our Masters be the more circumspect in bringing of us up, the souls of many thousand Prentices will be required at their hands; impunity boldening us in sin, and sin deceitfully hardening our hearts, that all thought of repentance is put away from us; or if any shall friendly remember us, his best thank is a mock for his labour. When inquisition shall be made for blood of souls, I would every one could stand forth, & say, Not guilty, but the Prentices themselves. But I fear greatly that the Masters will be to blame in that day also, and be put to their shifts for a currant answer, when they shall find none.  
For (without offence to any man, I will speak a little) where is that Master almost that questions with his servants about any religion at all? It may be sometimes he will send them to Church; but when they return, what doth he ask them of their learning or profiting there? unless perhaps once at the hundreds end he vouchsafe to know the chapter and verse of the Text, which (between the Church-door and home) even a Parrot would be taught to pronounce. Let him send any of his people of some worldly business, and he will be sure to ask him how he sped, and nothing will he leave unasked to understand the effect of the errand he sent him about: but for God's business and soul matters be they performed negligently, or not done at all, it mattereth not; he is sure no account will be required of any such thing all the time of his prenticeship. And this is the reason that servants depart as ignorant after they have served seven or eight years service, as they were when they came first (not of their trades) I mean of that which is more worth than all the trades in the world. For a man shall profit much to know God. The true knowledge of God will bring more sound profit in one day to a man, than the best trade in London will do in seven years. For godliness is profitable unto all things (saith the Apostle) as having the blessings of this life, and of that which is to come.  
Howbeit, some there be in London that I know (and more I doubt not that I know not) which use good orders in their houses, to the general good of their families (and I desire the Lord to increase their number) But a hundred to one never spent any time with their servants, in the exercises of religion, no not so much as to call them to prayers either morning or evening once in a year, whereas they are bound (in duty to God) to do it every morning & evening; and although there were no commandment from God, nor precedent in this kind, yet very necessity and the sloth of youth should constrain us; & surely if masters would care as they should, to train up their households in the fear of god, & in the practice of good things it could not be that London should harbour so many ungodly Prentices, or that divers men should complain (as they do) of servants lewdness, that they cannot thrive in the world; for they have good means of getting, but is spent they cannot tell how so soon as it is gotten: Alas, how can it be any otherwise? if their servants be not taught the fear of GOD, and to keep a good conscience, how is it possible that ever they should have any true service at their hands?  
But some will say again, this is not so: for by experience I can speak this of a truth, that for mine own part I never instructed my folks in all my life in any religion at all: No, I never heard them so much as to read a chapter, and yet I thank God, he hath blessed me with good servants. For I find my riches to increase, and I thrive well, and therefore it is not the bringing of them up in religion, that makes a man come forward in the world; but if his fortune be good, wealth with come on.  
Fortune? no, no, it is the great handy work of GOD in some men's servants, that hunger and thirst after righteousness, and seek more for salvation then their masters be aware of, (or else their poor souls might be cast away and perish for ever) and than who knows not that such a man thrives for his servants sake, as Laban did for jacobs', and as Potiphar did for joseph's? Or it may be, GOD casts his blessings into thy lap (even against all means) to stir thee up to greater thankfulness and care to serve him afterwards, or else to leave thee the more unexcusable in his great judgement for not performing such duty and service.  
And therefore let none cast surmises of excuse to colour or shift out the matter any longer, but wherein it appeareth to your own consciences, you have been negligent, make amends with more care hereafter: ask not which of your neighbours doth thus and thus, and if they do it not, you mean not to begin. But resolve you with joshua, let others take what course they will, I and my house will serve the Lord. Let your people see you going before them in the practice of every good thing, and in the abhorring and avoiding of evil, so shall they first fear to do that which you hate, and at length fall in love with that which you practise. It shall get you more authority and respect with them here, and increase the blessedness of your own souls another day, that you have been the means (through the blessing of God) to save your poor prentices souls also.  
And here I shall desire my worshipful masters of this City (to whose sight this little handful of papers may come) not to take offence at any thing I have spoken out of zeal and hearty meaning, nor to impute it to arrogancy in me, that I have intermeddled in their offices (From which proud sin (I thank my God) I am free) but if it be just that I have said, and agreeable to God's word, that they will not disdain to do it, it shall not only be no disparagement, but praise and honour to them, comfort to other of God's children, and joy to the Angels, in heaven, that by their religious care, their servants are made Gods servants with them, and there is such a towardly and hopeful succession to stand up after them, that as the Thessalonians were examples of godliness to those of Macedonia: so Londoners at length may be like examples of piety & religiousness to all the neighbour towns of Great Britain also.   

CHAP. 7.  
THe next good means to waken us out of the sleep of sin, and to quicken us to a new conversation, is the sweet consolation and joy which God giveth us in our souls and consciences of his service, after we have once made our peace with him by sound and seasonable repentance. This is the peace that passeth all understanding; this is the earnest of our inheritance; this is a present taste or say of the joys of the life to come. I know my words seem to the carnal and unregenerate a feigned thing, as the women's report of Christ's resurrection did at first to the Disciples; but if thou wouldst do as they did, never leave till in thine own person thou hast tried out the truth of this matter, thou shouldest feel within thee such a paradise of sweetness, as thou thyself were not able to utter. Thou shouldest see with what comfortable cheer Christ would offer himself unto thee; with what delicates he would refresh thy soul; what secret affections he would inspire into thee; and with how pleasant a cup of love he would make thee merry, if thou wouldst follow his paths, forsaking the by-ways of sin and worldly vanities. The least drop of this divine sweetness, would utterly distaste unto thee all the pleasures of sin, that even the remembrance of them would be irksome and unsavoury.  
For mine own part, I have had experience of this which I say. For (to my shame I speak it) I have been as lewd and as wicked a fellow as ever thou hast been whosoever thou art: and one that hath made as small conscience of sinning against God as ever thou hast done, either in swearing, or lying, or profaning the Lords Sabbath, or in deriding the dear Saints and servants of God. Nay, what vice would I have left unpractised, if I might have come to the knowledge of it? what pleasure, or vanity, or abomination can be named, whereof I would not have had, not a dram or sip, but a drunken carouse, if the Lord by good means had not restrained me from such effusion of beastliness? It irketh me to think in what a fearful state I lived at that time: for had not God been very merciful unto me, the earth might have opened, and swallowed me up quick for rebelling against his great Majesty, being Lord of heaven and earth: but such was his goodness to spare me, and such was his patience, to wait for my repentance: for ever magnified be his holy name therefore.  
For this cause, when once it pleased his Majesty (in some measure) to give me a sight and feeling of my sins, through the preaching of his word (which I had a long time heard in vain before) as also by means of some of my Brethren in Christ jesus, stirring me up continually with such like admonitions as I do now stir up thee, I consulted not with flesh & blood, but presently set myself to resist my former evil inclinations, resolving and endeavouring every day to change the tenor of my life, and to serve God in better manner than ever I had done before, giving small regard what the companions of my lewdness, and other of the profane multitude did say of me, nor what deriding terms they bestowed upon men: for I saw no other way but either I must be a hellhound, or be called a Puritan. And therefore I chose rather to suffer reproach with the children of God, and to abide the name of hypocrite and dissembler, etc. then to be a varlet with every varlet, or accounted an honest fellow amongst the profane. And so continuing in this course, and framing myself to live more & more in the fear of God, shaking off my old sins, I felt in myself in short time such a sweet and comfortable change, and such internal heavenly joy of God's service, that I would not have exchanged it again for all the choicest delights of the world heaped at once upon my heart. And surely, my Brother, if thou wouldst once enter into this resolution (as I have done) turning from dead works to serve the living God; thou shouldest see what a banquet of celestial delicates he would set before thee, and how plentifully he would power forth the wine of his consolations unto thee, that thou mightest say, as judith did in another case: I will drink now freely O my Lord; 
judith 12.18.  because my heart is merry this day more than ever it was in all my life before. Only for this shalt thou feel sorrow, that thou hadst not sooner embraced the means of thy conversion, that the sooner thou mightst have been partaker of this divine joy, and these souls ravishing comforts.  
The last means I will speak of, is, the consideration of the joys of heaven, whereof the joy of God's children here is but a little drop or spark: that heaven the consummation, perfection, or everlasting wellhead of all pleasures that can be seen, named or conceived: seen, named, or conceived, said I? nay, no eye hath seen, no ear hath heard, no thought hath ever comprehended the joy, the pleasure the felicity, the glory which GOD hath laid up in the life eternal for them that serve him, with an upright heart in this world. The Scriptures do sometimes resemble heaven to a Paradise or pleasant field; sometimes they describe it by a goodly City; sometimes by a King's Court; but what are these but worldly descriptions of that which passeth all the world? Go out into the most delightful parts of the Country, view the fair hills, the flowery valleys, the crystal fountains, the clear rivers, sweet woods goodly plains, variety of fruits, melody of birds etc. and all this is nothing to it. Go into the City, survey the stately gates, firm walls, beautiful edifices, neat streets, rich household stuff, all the desirable things in the warehouses and Chests of Merchants, Goldsmiths, jewellers. etc. and all these are nothing to it. Go into the Court, note the multitude of suitors, train of attendants; magnificent feasts, pompous service, musical Instruments fair Ladies, glistering Courtiers, masks, revels all the pleasures of a King; and all these are nothing to it. Let the best wit in the world bestow his utmost skill to set out all the delights and pleasures of the sons of men in their liveliest colours, yet all his expense of oratory will scarce give you a glimpse of this. Rack your own thoughts upon the tenters, shape out in your conceit a thousand forms of pleasure, yet all these are scarce a shadow of it. And think what a kind of bliss that is which passeth all companion, all utterance, all conceit of the wisest human heart. Neither is this for a day, or a month, or for term of years, but an everlasting state of blessedness, undeterminable so long as God is God, and that is world without end; we want a word to express it. And shall we let slip such a booty through our negligence, or wilfulness, or sloth, or inconsiderateness?  
If we do carelessly overgo but a good bargain in our ordinary trades, which might yield us a few crowns profit, how doth it vex and chafe us afterward? and do we think such a loss as this will be borne with ease if we once overgo it, when it might erst have been had for so little timely pains? Believe me, my Brother, the only loss of heaven to a soul able to apprehend the loss, is a sufficient hell, if the Lord had appointed no other torment for evil doers.  
Come, come, stand no longer in thine own light, see thy good, and take it. Why wilt thou let slip the opportunity which nothing in the world can purchase thee again? Why shouldest thou not even in this hour change thy life, and make an end of wilful sinning against the Lord? Is it for that thou art loath to forego thy old delights, thy pleasant companions, and boon societies? alas, what are those sliding base delights to the  and noble delights I spoke of even now? or thy earthly fellowships, to the society of Angels and heavenly spirits? Is it for that the ways of godliness are hard and painful, and laborious? Is not the enjoying of a Kingdom a good salve for that sore? surely if all the pains and labours of all men in the world were laid upon thy shoulders; if all thy life were nothing but weeping and lamentation like Ezekiels' book: nay, if thou shouldest for a time endure hell fire itself, that afterward when Christ cometh in his glory, thou mightst be reckoned among his Saints, and enjoy the heritage of his chosen children; yet were not all thy pains and sufferings worthy to be balanced with the participation of such an infinite & unspeakable weight of glory. But to the unwilling every thing is an excuse. For the service of God is easy, & his yoke is sweet. I will run the way of thy commandments (saith the kingly Prophet) when thou shalt enlarge my heart. And again; My delight is in thy commandments: yea they are the joy and rejoicing of my heart.  
What dost thou fear lest thou shouldst fall away again after thou hast been once enlightened, that there can be no more renewing by repentance; & so thy last end should be worse than thy beginning? care thou by making thine election sure by good works, pray unto the Lord for his strength and assistance, and fear not this fear, for it will be as impossible for thee (being once regenerate and made the child of GOD) to fall finally away from godliness, as it was for jeremy to hold his peace (notwithstanding his resolution of silence) when the word of the Lord was as fire or gunpowder in his heart.  
Dost thou doubt whether God will perform his promise? then never take upon thee the name of a Christian, he renders vengeance to the ungodly, why should we doubt whether he will recompense and reward weldoers? Thou shalt hear thousands complain of the falsehood and faithlessness of the world, whom thou trustest; if any have complained of God's slackness, God hath driven him out of his own proof anon after to recant, and to say with the Prophet, This is my weakness.  
Dost thou fear the reproach of nicknames and ignominious terms, which the new converted children of GOD do always light on? art thou so without heart, and so very a coward, to be blown from thy profession with the breath of a profane mouth? hadst thou rather keep credit with the world and the Devil by weltering in sin, then serve GOD after the way which is counted discreditfull by the godless of the world? A generous horse though twenty curs come out barking and snarling at his heels, as he trotteth along the street, keepeth on his pace without so much as looking back at them. So when these barkers of God's servants, and deriders of religion and good things, step forth against thee, to hinder thee in thy course of a new conversation; let the height of thy mind disdain to regard them, or take notice of them; think they are but the Devils ban dogs, hissed on by him to make thee break thy pace in the ways of godliness; and therefore so much the more courageously go on, that they may see how much they are despised.  
If all this cannot move us, we have hard and foolish hearts; and I can say no more but we may go forward in our sotted course, till we reap the fruit of our over weening. But I hope better things of you (my brethren) and such things as accompany the fear of God and salvation, though I thus speak: Suffer not (I beseech you for Christ jesus sake) my hope to be in vain.    

THE THIRD PART.  

CHAP. 8  
HERE methinks I hear some say, whose wills and affections the Lord hath begun to renew and change, whom yet Satan would wrap about with the cords of their own frailty; I would feign repent, but I cannot: my faith is so weak, and my heart so hard that I cannot be sorry for my sins as I would.  
This is a sweet saying (my Brethren:) For what can a man have more then to feel his wants? for otherwise how should we hunger & thirst after righteousness: and undoubtedly, he that hungers thus shall be satisfied, for the Lord that knoweth what we want better than we ourselves, looks not so much to the outward show of repentance, as to the inward affections of the heart, which are as actions in his sight: and though our faith and repentance be but weak, yet let us know this assuredly, that the Lord looketh more on the quality, then on the quantity. Is a weak faith no faith, is a weak repentance no repentance? nay,  
The desire of reconciliation with God in Christ (saith a godly writer of our time) is reconciliation itself: the desire to believe is faith indeed: and the desire to repent (in a touched heart) is repentance itself, not in the own nature, but in God's acceptation: For if we being touched thoroughly for our sins, do desire to have them pardoned and to be at one with GOD; GOD accepts us as reconciled. Only our desire of reconciliation must not be a flash but constant & continued. Secondly, earnest & serious, though not always alike, yet at sometimes so, that we may say with the Prophet David; My soul desireth thee, O Lord, as the thirsty land desireth rain, or the chased Hart the rivers of water. Thirdly, it must be in a touched heart: for when a man is touched in conscience, the heart is cast down. (and as much as it can) it withdraws itself from GOD: For this cause if then there be any spiritual motions whereby the heart is lift up unto GOD, they are without doubt from the spirit of God. So then, though as yet thou want firm and lively grace, yet art thou not altogether void of grace, if thou canst unsainedly desire it, thy desire is the seed, conception or bud of that which thou wantest. Now is the spring time of the engrafted word, or the immortal seed cast into the furrows of thy heart; wait but a while, using the good means to this end appointed, and thou shalt see the leaves, blossoms, and fruit will shortly follow after. Thus far he.  
As for that which the devil or thine own flesh shall suggest to move thee to despair of God's mercy, that GOD in justice cannot receive such a rebel wretch as thou hast been, aggravating every of thy least sins, and telling thee it is in vain to repent: thou mayest easily beat back that temptation. 'tis true, GOD is not so merciful, to use injustice, so he is not so just to be unmerciful: He hath suffered mighty and marvelous men to err, that we by their example might have comfort, and not despair of grace and pardon. In holy Scripture who is more commended than King David, who was both a King & a Prophet, a man after Gods own heart, and of whose stock the Messias came? But into how many and grievous crimes sell so worthy a man? yet hearing Nathan pronounce the fearful threatenings of God, cried out, I have sinned, and Nathan said; But the Lord hath put away thy sins, thou shalt not die. Hast thou sinned with David? repent with David, and thou shalt with David find mercy: What should I tell thee of our first parents, of Manasses, of Zacheus, of Mary Magdalen, of Peter, of Paul, of the Thief on the cross? all which had been most grievous sinners upon earth; all which are now most glorious Saints in heaven: For where sin aboundeth, there grace superaboundeth; and therefore let not the multitude nor the magnitude of thy sins dismay thee, seeing the mercy of that Lord to whom thou turnest, is above all: though thy sins were as red as scarlet, yet he will make them as white as snow; and though they were of purple hue, yet he will make them as white as the purest wool of the fleece. There cannot be a deeper die then scarlet, it is a thing unpossible with men to bring a scarlet into whit; yet the Lord saith, if we will but talk and come to any reason with him, he will make our sins though never so deep ingraind in any scarlet or bloody colur, to turn white and pure, as innocency itself.  
Read the book of jonah thorough, and there you shall see the propensity of God's nature to show mercy, lively set forth: And therefore a Father affirmeth the offence of judas to be greater in despairing of mercy, than in betraying the Son of God, and Cain to have stirred God to anger, more through desperation of pardon then by the murder of his brother Abel: many which nailed Christ to the cross, being converted, and believing in him, obtained pardon and are made examples to man, that he ought in no wise to distrust the remission of his wickedness, seeing the murder of the Lord of glory is forgiven to the penitent.  
Turn then unto him, and a present pardon is made ready, which shall be signed the first hour of thy repentance. When therefore thou feelest in thy heart a sorrow for sin, and a fervent desire to serve God, cherish it, and take the opportunity of the first motion: Enter presently into thy chamber, or into some other secret place, and there falling on thy knees beseech the Lord, that as he hath given thee a detestation of sin, and a mind of godliness, so it may please him to perfect the good begun by him: to accept thy will, and pardon thy many wants and weakness, in & for the all-sufficient merits of Christ jesus: to give thee grace that thou mayest go on mourning continually for thy sins; and yet withal to rejoice in his sweet mercies: to put his fear into thy heart, that thou mayest never more departed from him: and so to enkindle thy zeal, that the fire thereof may burn up and consume every day more and more thy carnal desires and natural corruptions. Continue this course of praying, both mornings and evenings at the least: but if thou canst oftener, it is the better: For, pray continually, saith the Apostle: meaning thou shouldest have always good meditations in thy mind: & when thou goest to pray, strive to pray in the spirit, framing thy petitions according to the feeling of thine own wants, or God's mercies towards thee (not that I disallow of set prayers, for I reverence the godly authors and users of them) but because he that hath the gift of extemporal praying, is not so easily carried away with vain distractions which Satan prompts unto him, (his mind and understanding being wholly bend to the matter in hand) as commonly they be that pray in the book of another man's conceiving. And if thou feel thyself somewhat duller sometimes, sound forth thy voice withal, it will help much to the awaking of thy devotion, as by mine own experience I have many times found. But take heed as near as thou canst, that thy prayers be out of the hearing of others, lest thou get the imputation of hypocrisy, and cause thy good to be evil spoken of.  
And for the further increasing of thy knowledge, use every morning after prayers to read a chapter of the old or new Testament, and another at night likewise before prayers, & thou shalt find it by the blessing of GOD in short time to have cleared thine understanding very much, and dispelled the mists of thy former ignorance. Also let me wish thee to read sometimes carefully and advisedly the 28 chapter of Deuteronomy, and the 26 of Leviticus, because they be parts of Scripture, which (if we mark them well) will help much to contain us in the doing of our duties. When thou art tempted to any sin, carry not in the place, but go do something else, till the temptation be slacked. Undertake no weighty business of thine own or thy masters, but with prayer before, that God would guide and & speed thee in it. Think not that thy praying will lose thee thy opportunity: For time is never lost in praying unto him that doth command the time.  
Whatsoever hath been unto thee an occasion of sin, shun it as thou wouldst shun a most mortal danger. Think no place to be without a witness of thy doings: for a great part of wickedness is left undone, if some body be by when one is about to commit it. Frequent the company of the godly, and avoid the conversation of the wicked and profane: for continual conversation is of great force, not only to make us embrace the virtues, but oftentimes also, even against our wills to imitate the vices of our companions. Hence it cometh, that we are always taken for such as those are, with whom we do ordinarily converse, according to the proverb, 
His nature in his mate is shown,  
Who cannot by himself be known.   
Meditate often of death, of the miseries of this life, of the resurrection, the judgement, and the joys of the life to come: rather suffer evil then do evil to any; but neither speak evil, nor listen to evil speakers. Fall not easily at odds with any, but continue at odds with none. Fellow thy God and saviours example, in doing well unto all men, and endeavour to be like him in loving thine enemies. Finally, whatsoever things be of good report, or honest example, those things think on and do, and the God of peace shall be with thee for ever.  
These things howsoever they seem unpleasant, and abhorring from our nature, especially in our young years; yet if the Lord once infuse his grace into our hearts, and renew our affections by the working of his spirit, they will seem sweet and easy, and delightful; and we shall take more pleasure in doing of them, then in any worldly or bodily exercise whatsoever. All the matter is at first, after a little use, all difficulty vanisheth. At the first leaping into the water, middle high, one feels intolerable cold, ready to take away the breath, but by that time he hath waded in further up to the neck, it seems to be of a milder temper. So religion and God's service seems harsh and tedious at the first entry into it, but by that time we have been a while enured to the practice of it, all other things are unsavoury to us, and only in this there is heavenly delectation. To conclude this chapter; remember that our feeling of the want of grace, is a good step to the obtaining of grace: Our desire to repent, is the seed or kernel of repentance; and being cherished, will at length bear ripe fruits of a sanctified conversation. That, howsoever the devil and our own flesh move us to doubting, yet God willeth not the death of a sinner, that doth from the bottom of his heart turn unto him: nor shall our repentance be in vain (so it be true) though our sins were as many (for number) as the drops of rain, and as bloody (for their quality) as scarlet is red. God's mercy is a rich mercy, and his pardon is absolute, without limitation or exception. Finally, that hearty and continual prayer, and such simple rules & directions as I have set down out of mine own observation & experience, will prove good helps to the new Proselytes, for the beginning and perfiting of their repentance.   

CHAP. 9  
IF any ask how he shall know whether his repentance be true or no; I answer, by the change which eftsoones he shall feel wrought in his whole man; which is in a word the forsaking his former sins wherein he delighted, and delighting in those good things which before he despised. Without this change there is no repentance. Well we may flatter ourselves, and talk of repentance; but we are yet in our sins, and the Lords decree is still in force against us. Well then, wilt thou be, not almost a Christian as King Agrippa, but a true Israelite indeed, like Nathaniel in whom was no guile? renounce all thy old sins, and receive in their places the virtues opposite to them, and this shall seal up to thy conscience that thy sins are forgiven for his name's sake.  
Hast thou been a swearer? from henceforth fear the glorious and fearful name of the Lord, & think not of it but with singular reverence; because his own mouth hath said it, He will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.  
Answer me not, as one did not long since being reproved for this sin, I am no such great swearer, as you would make me; It is but seldom that I swear by GOD, and by such & such great oaths: for commonly the greatest oaths that I swear is but by my faith or troth, and that I make account to be no such great matter, and I pray GOD you never do worse, and then you shall do well enough.  
But make thou conscience of an oath aswell little as great: for the Apostle alloweth of no oath at all; Swear not all (saith he) neither by heaven nor by earth, nor any oath, lest you fall into condemnation. But (as our Saviour saith) let your yea be yea, & your nay nay; for whatsoever is more is of the Devil  
O but saith one, the world is so full of unbelief, that except I swear, men will not believe me, yea & nay is nothing now a days to sell my commodities by, if I swear not I shall not sell.  
Why is that, but because thou hast never made conscience of a lie, but added an oath, two or three sometimes to make a lie go currant? and peradventure thy customers sometimes knowing that thou swearest falsely, cannot believe thee another time though thou swear truly. But if thou wouldst sell thy wares, take the counsel of the Apostle, who willeth us to cast off lying, and every one of us to speak truth to his neighbour, forasmuch as we are members one of another: and so by using thy tongue to speak truth, thou shalt be believed sooner upon thy bare word, then upon thy many protestations and oaths. Carnal men will sooner suspect thy swearing, than thy plain saying, because they (though they be such as carry a form of civil honesty) will notwithstanding not stick to swear a lie themselves to win some advantage by, and by their own fashion they judge of thine. So then swearing is a sin clothed neither with pleasure nor profit: for what pleasure is there in a profane frothy word, spewed out of the wicked abundance of the heart? or what profit, when the thundering out of six or seven oaths one after another will not sell a yard of stuff or a pound weight of thy commodities? so little account is made of them. Besides, in much swearing is oft forswearing, as it is seen too often in our shops every day: For let a man come into some shops to cheapen a commodity & they will swear that they cannot afford it at such a price, and that they will keep it seven years before they will sell it so, and yet let their customers back be no sooner turned to be gone, but presently he is called again, and his money taken, which before was refused with so many oaths.  
If Servants will thus burden their consciences for their master's profit, (& many against their master's wills) what will they do for themselves? who shall let them then to swear away all faith, truth and conscience for ever? to swear their souls to the Devil, that they shall never repent; and to swear a plague into their houses, which shall consume the very timber and stones of it? O my Brethren tremble at this provoking sin: tremble to bring the great and holy name of the Lord for a witness to your base twelve penny lies: tremble to deal so saucily with the omnipotent Majesty that can send a deadly thunderbolt to strike you presently thorough, in the place where you stand. Bear with a vehement speech, when it proceeds out of a love more vehement: For your precious soul's sake, leave off this profitless and pleasurelesse sin: let this be the first sin thou fightest against, and when thou hast got the victory of this, the rest of thy conquest will be the easier.  
Hast thou been a profaner of the Sabbath, and one that hath made no conscience of going to Church longer than thy master's eye hath been upon thee; and when thou hast been there, hast made small account of that which hath been taught, but either hast been talking, or sleeping, or idly, or wickedly thinking? etc. Henceforth frequent more duly the the holy sanctuary and house of prayer; prepare thyself aforehand that thou mayest reap profit of the things which thou shalt hear; intent more reverently and devoutly to God's worship: rob not the Lord of the day which he hath consecrated to the glory of his great name: he requireth but the seventh, six are ours, and shall we not afford him one?  
If a Father having called his children together should tell them: It is so, that I have cast up my accounts, and I find my estate to be worth seven thousand pound, six of which seven thousand I am content presently to part with among you, and the one thousand see you use as thriftily and carefully to my behoof, as you would the six thousand to your own. What ingratitude & unreverence were it to so bountiful a Father, for these children having gotten the seven thousand pound into their hands, to turn all to their own use and advantage, never respecting their kind Father's good, nor his charge unto them, or at the most so carelessly, that it may appear there is but little religion of their vow in them? The Lord who is our heavenly Father hath given us six days to do our business and affairs in, and only one day he hath reserved to himself, appointing us to bestow it in his worship and service, because that day is his delight, (as the Prophet saith:) what negligence, what impiety, what contempt can be greater, then for us to spend the whole week in following our pleasures or our drudgeries, & when the holy Sabbath comes, to intrude into our heavenly father's right, and consume that also in the carnal works, or covetous projects, or ordinary exercises of the week before; what intolerable avarice is it, or sacrilege rather, having so bountiful allowance from our heavenly father, not to be content, unless we may seize his peculiar reservation into our hands also? This is right to have thousands of sheep pasturing upon our own downs, and yet to kill the poor man's only Lamb, that slept in his bosom, for the provision of our house.  
But here some will say, it is true, we must lay away all work on the Sabbath day, but yet to sell and take money for wares in the shop before and after service, is no great work, and therefore as good do that as stand idle.  
No, I deny it: for as the proverb goeth amongst us, Thou hadst better be idle, then ill occupied; so they were better stand still then vent their commodities: they be both sins, but selling of ware is the greater, how little soever: for a man may aswell take 40. pounds that day as one penny: For God's commandment is broken in both. In the 16 of Exodus GOD condemneth the Israelits for purposing to gather Manna on the Sabbath day: what easier work could there be then this? nay moreover it was to be done between five and six a clock in the morning, when they might have served GOD all the day after: and they needed not to have gone far for it neither, but only come forth of their doors and stoop to take it up. But (mark) when they came forth they found nothing.  
Here is a good lesson for us to learn, that as they went out to gather Manna on the Sabbath day, and found nothing: so the gains that is gotten by selling wares on the Sabbath day is, just nothing, howsoever men are blinded and think the contrary, for GOD'S curse eats it up, and more too.  
I grant we are not tied to so strict an observation of the Sabbath in every respect as the jews were: yet thus far the moral part of the precept doth oblige us to the world's end, namely, to do no works on that day, but works of holiness, or of mere necessity: but men now a days make no bones to step over any of God's laws, when they be in the way of their profit: and yet they will be good Christians too.  
We remember that day to pamper our bellies with good cheer and fine clothes, and to take our pleasure, we remember to keep a right Epicures Sabbath: but to hear God's word taught, to lay our petitions in common together in our Churches, and to call our families together when we come home, that we may be the better for that we have heard, which is the right christians Sabbath; this we remember, utterly to forget.  
I am persuaded there is more wickedness committed both by Prentices and others on the Lords day, then on any three days in the week beside, and the reason is, because men for the most part will see that their servants shall follow the business of their trades all the week, but upon God's day they are careless of them, and suffer them to do what they list themselves. That is the day of their recreation: For as Solomon saith, it is a pastime to a fool to do evil.  
When they should walk to the Lecture, for the recreation of their souls, the masters are walked to their gardens or the fields for their bodily pleasure; and the servants to the Tavern or to some place of greater corruption to the endangering of their souls: so the word preached to them in the day time before, is no better than the seed that fell upon stony ground, because for want of due rehearsal afterward (which is as it were the depth of earth) it withereth away and comes to nothing, like seed cast away upon the rock where it cannot take root.  
And in this point the irreligiousness of Prentices doth far exceed the negligence of masters: For it is too apparent that many servants would seldom or never come to Church at all, if it were not more for displeasing their masters on earth, then for displeasing their master in heaven: For let masters upon occasion be from home a month or two, and all that time if his servants come to Church in the forenoon only, they think they are meetly well in the fashion: but commonly you shall not see them there either forenoon or afternoon: and their reason is, their master's absence is the time of their liberty, and they may not suffer such good days to slip away without fruit. If you ask them how they will answer it to their masters at their coming home? they will tell you, they hope their master's knowledge goeth but by his eye. If you ask them how they will answer it to GOD, that seethe and judgeth the most secret works? they make a pish at that, or give you some gross flout for recompense. But let such know that poverty and shame belongs unto them for refusing instruction, and they that think now the Lords day, (though it were a month long to fly away as one minute in their pleasures, shall hereafter think one minute too lag, and pass by as slowly as a whole year in their pains.  
But here some may reply, Will you not allow us to recreate ourselves at any time? If you say yes: then I pray what day have we that be prentices to take our recreation in but the Sunday? For all the week we are kept so strait that we cannot so much as get out to speak with any friend. And as for keeping our Church duly, howsoever others be negligent, yet it is well known in our parish that we never almost miss one Sunday in the year, but we are always at Church with the first, and never go into the fields or to any merriment until evening prayer be done, and then I hope the matter is not so heinous as you make it.  
Surely if you were such diligent goers to Church, as you say you are, it could not be but you should hear at sometime or other that you ought not to profane or misspend one hour of the Sabbath, where you make it lawful to spend half the afternoon in merriment and pleasure. But it may be you are asleep when you should hear that; or else you take it to be but the word of a mortal man, and the authority thereof to vanish with the speaking. But a day will come when you shall know it was the eternal truth of the GOD of heaven, which his ministers delivered; and when it will cut your heart to remember that you did hear such a Preacher in such a year, in such a month, in such a day▪ and in such a Church, denounce the fearful judgements of God against such a sin which you did use, and wherein (for a little pleasures sake) you did obstinately continue to your own damnation.  
To conclude, hast thou been a drunkard? now learn sobriety: hast thou been intemperate? now embrace chastity: hast thou been malicious? show charity: proud? be humble. Finally, whatsoever vice thou hast addicted thyself to, recline now to the contrary side. That which thou dost, do it with all thy power in the present time, even in this day of salvation: For time being once past, can never be recalled; and to trust upon time to come is as much as if we should trust upon a broken staff, the splinters whereof will run into our hand; or venture to pass so dangerous a gulse as damnation, with a tottering plank (delay I mean) which hath tilted so many thousands into hell before us.    

THE FOURTH PART.  

CHAP. 10.  
HAVING showed the inestimable love and mercy of GOD to repentant sinners, that do truly forsake their former wickedness, I think it necessary in the last place (as the Lord will enable me) to show the good & profit of afflictions to God's children, to the end they may not be discomforted or shrink back at the sight of them.  

Eccles. 2.1.  My son, (saith the Son of Syrach) if thou come into the service of GOD, stand fast in righteousness and fear, and prepare thy soul to tentation, and shrink not when thou art troubled, but wait patiently upon God. And it is a sealed truth which the Apostle hath delivered, All that will live godly in Christ jesus shall suffer persecution, in one kind or other, more or less. It is their portion and ever hath been; Christ jesus himself the author of our faith was not exempted, and the servant is not above his Lord.  
If then afflictions must needs be undergone, let us labour to undergo them willingly, which must be undergone of necessity. I know there is a certain tenderness in our nature, which with reproaches and ill turns is so pressed and wrung, that there is scarce any man to be found so wise or courageous, but when he feels the pricks and stings thereof piercing him, is oftentimes half in the mind to give over his course of godliness, and turn from the way of virtue. No affliction or vexation for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous, saith the Apostle, but afterward it bringeth forth the quiet fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. Let us not dwell then upon the present feeling, but look further into the sweet effects and end of our troubles, & thence gather comfort & strength against them.  
This made the Apostle break out, My Brethren, count it for an exceeding joy, when ye fall into divers temptations; because they are pledges of God's love, trials of our faith, and breeders of patience, experience and hope, which never makes ashamed. Art thou entered into a course of religion and sanctification? art thou jealous for the Lord of Hosts? and dost thou meet with oppositions and stumbling blocks in thy way? be not dismayed, was it not told thee before, the way to heaven lay by the cross? It is a sure sign thou art in the path that leads thither. Art thou skoffed at by worldlings & profane people, 
job. 21.14.  men or women? (for I know divers such persons of both sexes, that being not content to live in ignorance themselves, without any desire to know the way of the Lord, do deride and point at those that seek instruction?) Let the clearness of thy conscience, and thy holy desire and endeavour to the best things, be as a brazen wall, and a strong tower against these evils: let them know that the Lord hateth those that sit in the seat of the scornful: 
Psalm. 1.  and though they please themselves well enough the while, yet it shall not be well with them at the last day: 
Esay. 3.10  For the reward of their own hands shall be given them.  
Hast thou a master that entreats thee hardly for thy well doing and thy righteous professions sake? know that the Lord hath set such a master over thee for thine everlasting good, to try thy constancy, or to make thee more fervent in thy prayers, or to diminish thy love of the world, or for an example of patience, or an instance of comfort to others in like case. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, saith our Saviour Christ. 
Apoc. 3.19.  Whosoever be the instrument, the chastening is Christ's; see that thou do thy duty unto thy master, to the uttermost of thy power though he be never so moody, even as if he were another Moses, the mildest man upon the earth; that the name of God & his doctrine be not evil spoken of. Assure thyself he shall be no harder to thee then the Lord shall see good and expedient for thee: for we see some men want neither power nor will, who sometimes in their sudden anger would kill their servants; but then the Lord manifests his providence towards his children, in restraining them from those outrages, which in that madding passion, they are incited to. Pray unto the Lord, to turn thy master's heart, that he may have a feeling of his sins, that so he may come to repentance; and in the mean time, overcome thou his evil with goodness and the Lord will either unexpectedly alter his will and affections, or allow thee such other secret joys as shall overbalance all thy griefs and discomforts.  
If then thou wilt go to heaven thou seest the journey thither lies not in plain ways; thou must go thorough good report and bad, derisions and scorns, and molestations: but the end of the journey is a sufficient recompense for all cumbers and inconveniences of the way; the pains are light and momentany, the weight of glory to which they bring us, is unspeakable and everlasting.  
So long as thou wast of the world, the world loved her own; now that thou hast forsaken and bid defiance to her, she takes thee for an enemy, & loads thee with hatred, disdain, infamy, slander and all manner of contempt. No matter, all this (& worse) shall work to the best to them that love God, when the softness and delicacy and ease of worldlings, shall be their own destruction.  
All the holy men of old time, all the chief lights of the Church, all those that now walk in long white robes with palms of victory in their hands, yea he that Saint john saw in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, whose face did shine as the Sun in his strength, even he also hath begun to us in this bitter cup; and shall we shrink to pledge them, when there are but a few small drops left for us to sip off?  
If carnal men suffer so much to satisfy their lusts, to get riches or dignities, to feed themselves with a little smoke of vain glory, or to taste some sleight pleasure which brings repentance at her heels. If they fear not the waves of the sea, nor the flames of fire, nor the cross of men, to attain these; shall we be so without all heart, or so nice that we will not abide a scoff, or a reproachful word, to attain those solid, substantial and eternal pleasures and good things; in comparison of which, all the honours, riches, commodities, allurements & sweetness of the world, are to be esteemed not only toys and trifles, but very dregs and dross & refuse, not worth the taking up? No, no, when we have once resolutely vowed ourselves to God's service, GOD putteth another spirit into us, and a generous heart, (that though we be sometimes moved with these oppositions) yet we are never so far oppressed by them as to forsake our righteousness, or cast our lot in amongst sinners; but in the midst of them our eye is so fixed upon the end of our race, and the heavenly garland reserved for such as persevere and hold on, that shrewd words serve as a good gale of wind, and shrewd deeds as a violent stream to carry us the more swift towards the port where we would be.  
Thus having finished this small Treatise, I would beseech you (as the Apostle saith) to suffer these few lines of exhortations, 
Ephes. 6.  and that you faint not in your afflictions; but be strong in the Lord, putting on the whole armour of GOD, that ye may be able to stand against all the assaults of the Devil, having your loins girt about with verity, and having on the breast plate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; and above all take the shield of faith, wherewith ye may quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit which is the word of GOD, that being thus armed with these spiritual weapons, ye may be able to wrestle against principalities and powers, and against our spiritual enemies the governors of the darkness of this world.  
Now the Lord from heaven rain down his grace into our hearts, and strengthen us with might in the inner man, that we may stand fast, and encourage one another against all the bents of worldly adversity, that being rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length, depth, and height, and know the love of Christ, which passeth all knowledge, that we may be filled with all fullness of God. Unto him therefore (that is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we can ask or think) be all praise, glory, majesty, dominion and power, throughout all gerations both now and for evermore, Amen.    

A Morning Prayer to be used in private families.  
O LORD, our God, and heavenly Father, we thy unworthy children do here come into thy most holy & heavenly presence, to give thee praise and glory, for all thy great mercies and manifold blessings towards us: especially for that thou hast preserved us this night passed from all the dangers and fears thereof, hast given us quiet rest to our bodies, & brought us now safely to the beginning of this day, and dost now a fresh renew all thy mercies upon us, as the Eagle reneweth her bill, giving us all things abundantly to enjoy; as food, raiment, health, peace, liberty, & freedom from many miseries, diseases, casualties, & calamities which we are subject unto in this life, every minute of an hour: and not only so, but also for vouchsafing unto us many good things, not only for necessity, but even for delight also. But above all (dear Father) we praise thy name for the blessings of a better life, specially for thy most holy word and sacraments, and all the good we enjoy thereby; for the continuance of the Gospel amongst us; for the death of thy Son & all that happiness which we have thereby; also because thou hast chosen us to life before we were, and that of thy mere goodness, and undeserved savour towards us, and hast called us in thine appointed time, justified us by thy grace, sanctified us by thy Spirit, & adopted us to be thine own children, & heirs apparent to the great crown. O Lord open our eyes every day more & more, to see & consider of thy great and marvelous love to us in all these things; that by the due consideration thereof, our hearts may be drawn yet nearer unto thee, even more to love thee, fear thee, and obey thee: that as thou art enlarged towards us in mercy, so we may be enlarged towards thee in thanksgiving: and as thou dost abound towards us in goodness so we may abound towards thee in obedience and love. And sith (dear Father) thou art never weary of doing us good, notwithstanding all our unworthiness and naughtiness: therefore let the consideration of thy great mercy and fatherly kindness towards us even as it were force our hearts, and compel us to come into thy most glorious presence with new songs of thanksgiving in our mouths. We pray thee (O most merciful God) to forgive us all our unthankfulness, unkindness, profaneness, & great abusing of thy mercies, and specially our abuse and contempt of thy Gospel, together with all other the sins of our life, which we confess are innumerable, and more than can be reckoned up, both in omission of good things and commission of evil. We most humbly entreat thee to set them all over to the reckoning which thy son Christ hath made up for them upon his cross, and never to lay any of them to our charge, but freely forget all, and forgive all; Nail down all our sins and iniquities to the Cross of Christ, bury them in his death, bathe them in his blood, hide them in his wounds, let them never rise up in judgement against us. Set us free of the miseries that are upon us for sin, and keep back the judgements to come, both of soul, body, goods, and good name. Be reconciled unto us in thy dear Son, concerning all matters past, not once remembering or repeating unto us our old and abominable iniquities; but accept us as righteous in him, imputing his righteousness to us, and our sins to him. Let his righteousness satisfy thy justice for all our unrighteousness, his obedience for our disobedience, his perfection for our imperfection. Moreover, we humbly beseech thy good majesty to give us the true sight and feeling of our manifold sins, that we may not be blinded in them through delight, or hardened in them through custom as the reprobates are: but that we may be even weary of them, and much grieved for them labouring and striving by all possible means to get out of them. Good Father touch our hearts with true repentance for all sin. Let us not take any delight or pleasure in any sin: but howsoever we fall through frailty (as we fall often) yet let us never fall finally, let us never lie down in sin, nor continue in sin; but let us get upon our feet again, and turn to thee with all our hearts, and seek thee whilst thou mayest be found, and whilst thou dost offer grace & mercy unto us. O Lord increase in us that true and lively faith whereby we may lay sure hold on thy Son Christ, and rest upon his merits altogether. Give us faith assuredly to believe all the great and precious promises made in the Gospel, and strengthen us from above to walk and abound in all true & sound fruits of faith. Let us walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Let us feel the power of thy Son's death killing sin in our mortal bodies, and the power of his resurrection, raising us up to newness of life. Let us grow daily in the sanctification of the spirit, and the mortification of the flesh. Let us live holily, justly, and soberly in this present evil world, showing forth the virtues of thee in all our particular actions; that we may adorn our most holy profession, and shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and froward generation amongst whom we live, being gainful to all by our lives and conversations, and offensive to none. To this end we pray thee fill us with thy spirit and all spiritual graces; as love, wisdom, patience, contentment, meekness, humility, temperancy, chastity, kindness and affability: and stir us up to use prayer and watchfulness, reading and meditation in thy law, and all other good means whereby we may grow and abound in all heavenly virtues. Bless us in the use of the means, from day to day; make us such as thou wouldst have us to be, and such as we desire to be, working in us both will and deed, purpose and power. For thou O Lord art all in all, thou wilt have mercy upon whom thou wilt have mercy, & whom thou wilt thou hardenest. Have mercy upon us therefore (dear Father) and never leave us to ourselves, nor to our own wills, lusts, and desires, but assist us with thy good spirit, that we may continue to the end in a righteous course; that so at length we may be received into glory, and be partatakers of that immortal crown which thou hast laid up for all that love thee and truly call upon thee.  
Further, we entreat thee, O heavenly father, to give us all things necessary for this life: as food, raiment, health, peace, liberty, and such freedom from those manifold miseries which we lie open unto every day, as thou seest meet. Bless unto us all the means which thou hast put into our hands, for the sustenance of this frail life. Bless our stock & store, corn, and cattle, trades and occupations, and all the works of our hands: for thy blessing only maketh rich, and it bringeth no sorrows with it. Give us therefore such a competency and sufficiency of these outward blessings as thou in thy heavenvly wisdom seest most needful for us. Moreover, we humbly beseech thee, (most loving Father) in great mercy to look down from heaven upon thy whole Church, and every member of it. Be favourable unto Sten, and build up the walls of jerusalem. Behold with the eye of pity, the great ruins and desolations of thy Church. heal up the wounds, and make up the breaches thereof in all Nations. Regard it as thine own flock, tender it as thine own family, dress it as thine own vinyeard love it as thine own spouse. Think thoughts of peace to it, and always look upon it in deep compassion. Bless it with thy grace, guide it with thy spirit, and defend it always with thy mighty power: scatter the devices, confounded the counsels, & overthrow the forces of all that fight against it. Specially we entreat thee, dear father, to set thyself against that Antichrist of Rome, that man of perdition which setteth himself against thee, and against all thy people. In thine appointed time we pray thee give him a deadly down fall. Beat down all his power and authority daily more and more: give free passage to thy Gospel in all kingdoms, that Babylon may fall and never rise up again. The more the favourites & adherents of Rome labour to uphold their idolatrous kingdom, the more let it fall down, even as Dagon before the presence of thine Ark. power down the vials of the fullness of thy wrath upon the kingdom of the Beast, and let their riches, wealth, credit and authority, dry up every day more and more, as the river Euphrates. Let it pity thee, O Father, to see thine own spouse sit as a deformed and forlorn woman here below weeping and mourning with hair about her neck, having lost all her beauty and comeliness: cheer her up (dear Father) glad her with the joy of thy countenance, and so deck her and trim her up that thou mayest delight in her, as a Bridegroom in his Bride. Specially we in treat thee to have mercy upon th● Church in this land: intent good unto us and not evil: give us not over into the hands of the cruel Spaniard, as our sins have deserved. Scatter we pray thee, O Lord, the devices & break the plots of all such as have plotted the overthrow and utter subversion of this Church and common wealth. Bless this Church more & more, with the continuance of true Religion amongst us. For thy great names sake and infinite mercy's sake deal graciously and favourably with us and our posterity. Turn from us that vengeance which is due to us for our sins. For thou seest how iniquity prevaileth and the wicked go away with the goal. Atheism overspreadeth every where, and Popery seemeth to get a head again. Now therefore (dear Father) we most humbly beseech thee to take order speedily for the remedying and repressing of these manifold disorders, and grievous enormities that are amongst us. Be entreated of thy poor children to be good to this English nation. Hear the cries of thine elect: hear the mourning of them that mourn in Zion. Let the cries of thy children cry down all the cries of the sins of the land, and be reconciled unto us in the multitude of thy compassions: that so thou mayest still continue a most merciful protector of this thine English vineyard. We pray thee (good Father) show special mercy to our most Noble and gracious K. james thine anointed servant: bless him, and keep him in all his ways. Bless his government unto us. Let thine Angels encamp about him, and let thy holy hand be always over him, keep him from treasons, and deliver him from the treacheries of his enemies: give him to see what belongeth unto his peace, and give him a heart earnestly bend to set upon the practice of the same: give him all graces necessary for his peace, and necessary for his salvation: continue his government peaceable and prosperous amongst us: and as thou hast made him the breath of our nostrils, and a gracious instrument for the saving of many thousand souls, so let his own soul be saved in the day of thy Son Christ. Bless his majesties most honourable privy Counsellors, and give such good success unto all their Counsels and policies in matters of state, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Bless all the Nobility, work in them a care to glorify thy name in their places, make them faithful to thee, and faithful to the Land. Direct with thy good spirit all such as bear the sword of justice, that they may draw it out to punish the wicked, and to defend the godly, & that they may with all good care and conscience discharge the duties of their places. Increase the number of faithful & zealous Ministers in this Church. Send thy Gospel to those places where it is not, & bless it where it is. Remember them in thy mercy, O Lord, that are under any cross or affliction whatsoever: be comfortable unto them heal up their wounds, bind up their sores, put all their tears into thy bottle, and make their bed in all their sorrows, and put such a good end to all their troubles that they may redound to thy glory, and the furtherance of their own salvation. In the mean time give them patience and constancy to bear whatsoever it shall please thy merciful hand to lay upon them. Last of all, in a word we pray thee bless Magistracy, Ministry & Commonalty. Bless all thy people do good to all that are true and upright in their hearts. And so (dear father) we do commit & commend ourselves, our souls & bodies, into thy hands, for this day and the rest of our life, praying thee to take care and charge of us; keep us from all evil, watch over us for our good, let thine Angels encamp about us, let thy holy hand be over us, and keep us in all our ways, that we may live to thy praise and glory here in earth, keeping faith and a good conscience in all our actions; that after this life we may be crowned of thee for ever in thy kingdom. Grant these things (good father) to us here present, and to all thine absent; praying thee in special favour to remember our friends and kinsfolks in the flesh, all our good neighbours and well-willers, and all those for whom we are bound to pray by nature, by deserts, or any duty whatsoever, for jesus Christ's sake our only Mediator; to whom with thee and the holy Ghost, be given all praise and glory, both now and for evermore. Amen.   

An Evening prayer to be used in private families.  
O Eternal GOD, and most loving & dear Father, we thy unworthy children, do here fall down at the foot of thy great majesty, acknowledging from our hearts, that we are altogether unworthy to come near thee or to look towards thee: because thou art a God of infinite glory, and we are most vile, and abominable sinners, such as were conceived and borne in sin and corruption, such as have inherited our father's corruptions, and also have actually transgressed all thy holy statutes and laws, both in thought, words, & deeds, before we knew thee: & since, secretly and openly, with ourselves and with others, our particular sins are more than can be numbered: for who knoweth how often he offendeth? But this we must needs confess against ourselves, that our hearts are full of pride, covetousness, and the love of this world, full of wrath, anger, and impatiency, full of lying, dissembling, and deceiving, full of vanity, hardness, and profaneness, full of infidelity, distrust, and self-love, full of lust, uncleanness, and all abominable desires: yea our hearts are the very sinks of sin, & dunghills of all filthiness. And besides all this, we do omit the good things we should do: for there are in us great wants of faith, of love, of zeal, of patience, of contentment, & of every good grace; so as thou hast just cause to proceed to sentence of judgement against us, as most damnable transgressors of all thy holy commandments: yea such as are sunk in our rebellions, and have many times & often committed high treason against thy majesty, & therefore thou mayest justly cast us all down into hell fire, there to be tormented with Satan, and his Angels for ever. And we have nothing to except against thy majesty for so doing: sith therein thou shouldest deal with us but according to equity, and our just deserts. Wherefore dear father we do appeal from thy justice to thy mercy, most humbly entreating thee to have mercy upon us, and freely to forgive us all our sins past whatsoever, both new and old, secret and open, known and unknown, and that for jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator. And we pray thee touch our hearts with true grief, and unfeigned repentance for them, that they may be a matter of continual sorrow, and heart-smart unto us, so as nothing may grieve us more than this, that we have offended thee being our special friend and father. Give us therefore (dear Father) every day more and more sight and feeling of our sins, with true humiliation under the same. Give us also that true and lively faith, whereby we may lay sure hold onthy Son Christ, and all his merits, aplying the same to our own souls; so as we may stand fully persuaded that whatsoever he hath done upon the cross, he hath done for us particularly as well as for others. Give us faith (good Father) constantly to believe all the sweet promises of the gospel, touching remission of sin, and eternal life, made in thy Son Christ. O Lord increase our faith, that we may altogether rest upon thy promises, which are all, yea, and Amen Yea, that we may settle ourselves, and all that we have wholly upon them: both our souls, bodies, goods, name, wives children, & our whole estate, knowing that all things depend upon thy promises, power, and providence, & that thy word doth support & bear up the whole order of nature. More over, we entreat thee, O Lord, to strengthen us from above to walk in every good way, and to bring forth the fruits of true faith in all our particular actions, studying to please thee in all things and to be fruitful in good works, that we may show forth unto all men by our good conversation whose children we are: and that we may adorn and beautify our most holy profession by walking in a Christian course, and in all the sound fruits and practice of godliness, and true religion. To this end we pray thee sanctify our hearts by thy spirit yet more and more: sanctify our souls and bodies, and all our corrupt natural faculties, as reason, understanding, will, and affections, so as they may be fitted for thy worship and service, taking a delight and pleasure therein. Stir us up to use prayer; watchfulness, reading and meditation in thy law, and all other good means whereby we may profit in grace and goodness from day to day. Bless us in the use of the means, that we may daily die to sin, and live to righteousness: draw us yet nearer unto thee: help us against our monifold wants. Amend our great imperfections, renew us inwardly more and more, repair the ruins of our hearts, aid us against the remnants of sin. Enlarge our hearts to run the way of thy Commandments, direct all our steps in thy word, let none iniquity have dominion over us. Assist us against our special infirmities, and master sins, that we may get the victory over them all, to thy glory, and the great peace and comfort of our own consciences. Strengthen us, good father, by thy grace and holy spirit, against the common corruptions of the world, as pride, whoredom, covetousness, contempt of thy Gospel, swearing, lying, dissembling, and deceiving. O dear Father, let us not be over come of these filthy vices, nor any other sinful pleasures, and fond delights, wherewith thousands are carried headlong to destruction. Arm our souls against all the temptations of this world, the flesh and the Devil: that we may overcome them all through thy help, and keep on the right way to life, that we may live in thy fear, and die in thy favour, that our last days may be our best days, and that we may end in great peace of conscience. Furthermore, dear Father, we entreat thee not only for ourselves, but for all our good brethren thy dear children scattered over the face of the whole earth, most humbly beseeching thee to bless them all, to cheer them up, and glad them with the joy of thy countenance both now and always. Guide them all in thy fear, and keep them from evil, that they may praise thy name. In these dangerous days, and declining times, we pray thee, O Lord, raise up nursing fathers and nursing mothers unto thy Church. Raise up also faithful Pastors, that thy cause may be carried forward, truth may prevail, Religion may prosper, thy name only may be set up in the earth, thy sons kingdom advanced, and thy will accomplished. Set thyself against all adversary power, especially that of Rome, Antichrist, Idolatry, and Atheism: curse and cross all their counsels, frustrate their devices, scatter their forces, overthrow their armies. When they are most wise, let them be most foolish: when they are most strong, let them be most weak. Let them know that there is no wisdom nor counsel, power nor policy against thee the Lord of Hosts. Let them know that Israel hath a God, & that thou which art called jehovah art the only ruler over all the world. Arise therefore O most mighty God, and maintain thine own cause against all thine enemies, smite thorough all their loins, and bow down their backs, yea let them all be confounded, and turned backward that bear ill will unto Zion. Let the patiented abiding of the righteous be joy: and let the wicked be disappointed of their hope. But of all favour, we entreat thee O Lord, to show special mercy to thy Church in this Land wherein we live. Continue thy Gospel amongst us yet with greater success, purge thy house daily more & more, take away all things that offend. Let this Nation still be a place where thy name may be called upon, and an harbour for thy Saints. Show mercy to our posterity, dear Father, and have care of them, that thy Gospel may be left unto them as a most holy inheritance. Defend us against foreign invasion, keep out Idolatry and Popery from amongst us. Turn from us those plagues which our sins cry for. For the sins of this Land are exceeding great, horrible, and outrageous, & give thee just cause to make us spectacles of thy vengeance to all Nations; that by how much the more thou hast lifted us up in great mercy, and long peace by so much the more thou shouldest press us down in great wrath & long war. Therefore dear Father, we most humbly entreat thee, for thy great names sake, and for thy infinite mercy's sake, that thou wouldst be reconciled to this land, and discharge it of all the horrible sins thereof. Drown them O Lord in thy infinite mercy through Christ, as it were in a bottomless gulf, that they may never rise up in judgement against us. For although our sins be exceeding many, and fearful, yet thy mercy is far greater. For thou art infinite in mercy, but we cannot be infinite in sinning. Give us not over into the hands of the Idolaters, lest they should blaspheme thy name, and say, Where is their God in whom they trusted? But rather, dear father, take us into thine own hands, and correct us according to thy wisdom: for with thee is mercy, & deep compassion. Moreover, we most hearty beseech thy good Majesty to bless our most gracious King james, and to show much mercy to him in all things. Guide him in thy fear, and keep him in all his ways, working in his soul unfeigned sorrow for sin, true faith in the promises, & a great care to please thee in all things, and to discharge the duty of his high place, in all zeal of thy glory, and faithfulness towards thy Majesty: that as thou hast crowned him here in earth, so he (spending his days, here below in thy fear) may after this life be crowned of thee for ever in the Heavens. We beseech thee also to bless his majesties most honourable privy Counsellors. Counsel them from above, let them take advice of thee in all things: that they may both consult, and resolve of such courses as may be most for thy glory, the good of the Church, & the peace of this our Commonwealth. Bless the Nobility, and all the Magistrates in the Land, giving them all grace to execute judgement and justice, and to maintain truth and equity. Bless all the faithful Ministers of the Gospel, increase the number of them, inincrease thy gifts in them: and so bless all their labours in their several places and congregations, that they all may be instruments of thy hand to enlarge thy sons kingdom, and to win many unto thee. Comfort the comfortless with all needful comforts. Forget none of thine that are in trouble: but as their afflictions are, so let the joys and comforts of thy spirit be unto them: and so sanctify unto all thine, their afflictions and troubles, that they may tend to thy glory, and their own good. Give us thankful hearts for all thy mercies, both spiritual and corporal: for thou art very merciful unto us in the things of this life, and infinitely more merciful in the things of a better life. Let us deeply ponder and weigh all thy particular favours towards us: that by the due consideration thereof, our hearts may be gained yet nearer unto thee, and that therefore we may both love and obey thee, because thou art so kind and loving unto us: that even thy love towards us, may draw our love towards thee, and that because mercy is with thee, thou mayest be feared. Grant these things good Father, and all other needful graces for our souls or bodies, or any of thine thorough out the whole world, for jesus Christ's sake, in whose name we further call upon thee as he hath taught us in his Gospel, saying; Our Father which art in Heaven. etc.  
FINIS.