Lemmata MEDITATIONUM OR, The Contents of a few Religious MEDITATIONS. Given as Directive and Incentive to that invaluable DUTY.  
By Philo-Jesus Philo-Carolus.  Psal. 11.148. 
Mine eyes prevent the Night-watches, that I might meditate in thy word.  Psal. 139.18. 
When I awake, I am still with Thee.  
DUBLIN; To be sold by Joseph Wild, Bookseller in Castlestreet. 1672.   

IMPRIMATUR  
Mich: De  Rmo in Christo Patri, ae Domino, Dno Michaeli, Archiepiscopo Dubliniensi; nec non summo Hibernie Cancellario è sacris.   

To my EXCELLENT MOTHER, Grace and joy in the Holy Ghost be multiplied.  
My Dearest Mother,  
THese Papers were long written for my own peculiar use, and laid abbout the shelves of my study; in a dress, whose hue they yet retain: and indeed so sensible I am, of the unfitness of such Youth as mine, to appear in Print, that were I not under the Press myself, I would not suffer my Soliloquy's, ever to come under it; and the rather, because intending them purely for my own service in their draught, I expended my whole industry in getting affections, and neglected that accuracy in the contexture of my Expressions, which otherwise I had taken. Renewing the Copy, is a Task, that I (a poor Day-labourer) can by no means set on; and sigh I comply with those, who think this worthy to be sent abroad, a necessity is laid upon me to send it as ' 'tis. You know, I never affected taudry fashions in my own Garb, nor indeed do I in my Books; and I have a satisfaction to myself, in that those judicious Christians, who got it out of my hands, esteem it as clad (at the least) decently. A very aged and learned Doctor, (an eminent Dignitary of this Church of Ireland,) whom I never yet saw, save once, and that but on an occasion, which gave me no more than a half-hours Discourse with him, 
Dr. W.S.  hath in an affectionate Letter to me these very words: In these Papers I now with many thanks send you, you have made choice of acceptable words, choice arguments, and superexcellently expressed; no language ever better. You have spoken your own thoughts by God's words; so that no enemy, not the Devil himself, can say, but that you have said as well as may be, though among the English, Theology is cultivated in most of its parts, beyond what is found among Foreigners; yet, I think, the Papists outgo us in Devotionary Books. We are forced to English and alter some of theirs, to make them 〈◊〉, Thomas de Kempis, Bellarmine, Parsons, etc. But so far as you have gone, you have outgone them: they have spoken holily, and very usefully; but what you utter is Bible all, & your thoughts are apples of silver, are placed in pictures of gold. Your last Book, (i. e. a sheet of Christ's satisfaction I sent him, acquainted me with that argument, better than I was before; but this hath gone deeper into my heart, I have taken this with me, when I went to God, and like Hezekiah's Roll, I spread some of these Papers before me; and if like him, I did not weep sore, I have the more reason to grieve, that I did not so grieve. Had I been younger, and my eyes better, I would have Transcribed, if not all, yet some of these so pious Meditations. But if my Head be not laid, before they come out in Print, I shall with the first get one of the Books. The good God bless your holy endeavours with suitable success, etc. My honoured good Mother, this (with like encouragements,) hath emboldened me to present you thus publicly, what I thought to have done in my own Handwriting It is true, the excellent Mr. Rob: Bo●l's occasional reflections, were put into my hand, more than a year agone, by a Lady happy in a near relation to that truly honourable, both Gentleman, and Christian; and I had thoughts of presenting you the fruits of my ploughing with his heifer, but they being catcht from me by a Friend, who liked them too well or too ill to restore them, I had not till now, any Essay of a Subject and language proper to send you. The illustrious Gentleman I last named, hath very praise-worthily set upon the reducing of both Philosophy and Divinity, from airy, opinionative, and talkative, to solid, experimental, and demonstrative. As for Philosophy, (though I rejoice in his, and the Royal Societies labours for it, (if I had brains, I have nor time nor affection to the extreme studies thereof: but as for Divinity, I should have a thousand joys, if this, or any endeavour of mine, should make for its reclaiming from controversial to practical, in any one soul; for sure I am, the exercise of my heart, in pouring out such Soliloquies to the Lord in my Closet, stand me in much more stead, than a thousand Disputes about that Mint and Cummin, which slays the general regard of the weighty things of the Law, in Great Britain and Ireland. But to so mean a Present, why preface I so many words? I will end with only congratulating myself this, That whereas the glory of some Children is only their Fathers, mine, is my Mother too; for as I glory in having a Father, who is able better to serve the Faith and Joy of Christians; so I do in having a Mother, who ere now has, and I am sure will again encourage by her kindest acceptance, the weak endeavours of. My gracious Dearest Mother,  
Your very affectionate Son, and obedient Servant, Philo-Jesus, Philo-Carolus.   

AN EPISTLE TO THE READER  
LOng before the World was perplexed with unprofitable Subtleties in Philosophy, and destructive Controversies in Divinity, Solomon complained of multiplicity of Books; But surely, not of such as were designed to mend the World, and were likely to answer the end of the Authors, for he wrote much himself of Beasts, Fowls, creeping things, and Fishes, and of Trees, from the Cedar in Lebanon to the Hyssop that springeth out of the Wall; moreover beside these books of natural Philosophy, his books which belong to the Canon are a considerable part of the Hagiographa; If that which is written be upright, even words of truth, and delightfully composed, or contrived for efficacy, like the words of the wise, which are as Goads and nails fastened by the Nailers of Assemblies, no man of Solomon's mind will complain. Books are faulty, it must be acknowledged; many of them so faulty, either as unsound, or profane, or ridiculously senseless, that they are more fit for Fuel, than the Library of any man: But were all such condemned to the flame executed; it cannot be expected that any one of the surviving books in all its parts should find Catholic accptance, nor indeed that any one, except the mysteries of the Holy Ghost, should please all men of unquestionable fidelity, and skill to peruse it; yet, Reader, Allow it to be said of this book, (vot as peculiar to it) If it be impartially read, and rightly understood, according to the intendment of the Author, it will commend itself. The words and phrase where figurative and Tragical, require not a profound judgement to discern the meaning, unto such as are well acquainted with the Author, and able to judge of his excellent endowments, it is a sufficient commendation of this book, that though it bear not his name he will own it; yet because it will come to the hands of divers strangers, especially in this City, to them much may be said concerning it, and him. Samuel says of the virtuous woman, Many have done well, but thou excellest them all. Reader, if thou art apt to take offence, perhaps thou wilt now take off thine eye, and close the Book, lest it follow in the next line. After the same manner may be spoken of the Author of this Book. But discreet persons being better pleased with a just Title to a good character, than to find it upon record; The Friends of the Author, although they know his mind is enriched far beyond the ordinary rate of men of his years, and that he made good improvement of his time, while he was exercised in this work, which he offers to thy service, will forbear giving him this Encomium; yet without offering any violence to his modesty, or the credit of former Publishers of their soliloquies, it may be said, that among all the Discourses of this kind, imparted to the world, a more pure Scriptural stile is not to be found. That spirit of Atheism and blasphemy, that haunts the Wits of our times, displays itself most impudently, in quibbling and drolling upon the Bible, making a mock of all that is sober and Sacred; depreciating, debasing, and (what in them lies,) debauching the very lip and language of the Holy Spirit himself.  
This Author's innocent abuse of Scripture, is so far from countenancing, that it rather shames and condemns that licentious and abominable practice: Nor can we admit of the most useful allusions, without that harmless, (nay helpful and advantageous) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or abuse here practised; Wherein the words, are indeed used to another, but yet to an Holy end & purpose, besides that for which they were at first instituted and intended; The author, (not playing with that Edge-tool, but) endeavouring only, to cut with both sides of that two edged-sword.  
The Beautiful Captive, was to have her head shaved, and her nails, (not pared, but) made to grow, and the shaving her head, was the readiest way, to make her nails to grow, Deut. 21.12. All means were to be used, to make her ugly and deformed, (It is a shame for a Woman, to be shorn or shaved, 1 Cor. 11.6.) So to take off an Israelites affection from her; Let it be so still, with all humane Wit and learning, that Divine truth alone, may be fair and lovely, but when the former of these, is no Enemy, no Competitrix, no Rival, but an Handmaid to the latter, then let both grow together, until the Harvest, yea let both Run together, and be Glorified. It is hoped, that the Candid Reader, will understand things up otherwise, then is intended by the pious Author; as when he saith of Meditation, that it hath told him, all that ever he did, yea and all that ever his God did also, undoubtedly his meaning is, that so far as he knoweth aright either his own or his Gods do, he is beholding for it, to self reflection, and Meditation: what he has written with a Sober, and unprejudiced mind, and of all the profit which thou shalt receive, give the glory to God, and thou wilt please the author, and also  
Thine to serve in any Office of love, Thomas Harrison. Daniel Rolls.   

READER,  
BEfore thou turnest to the following pages, I could wish for thy regards to these few particulars.  
1. Though my youth, and sins, and sufferings therein, make my acquaintance with Books much narrower than I could desire, yet on that acquaintance I have, I dare humbly to give it thee as my opinion, that our modern writers have very much departed from this way of Insinuating Piety, by religious meditations and soliloquies, in which, the fathers and ancient Hero's of divinity were very happy, and have been for some centuries very serviceable.  
2. I should (for reasons seventy seven) think that this Age were to be dealt with, in it; much more congruously, than in those other more insisted on; of the regular of which, I cannot think of one, which might not receive full great advantages from this; from this I say, which with the catechetical one, I pray God revive among us. Let ancient records come out of their dust, and they shall bear me witness, that there was never age from Christ to our own, which stood in more need of reductives from an Airy professional, I know not what, called religion, unto devotional and Practical Piety, the power of Godliness! At this the following essay drives, the good Lord succeed it.  
3. Sith the joint Justice and clemency of Magistrates, the preaching and writing of Minister s, the unparallelled Judgements of the great God on us, (these late Years,) have been all too little to keep Cities, Towns, Villages, or very families, from bandying into factions, and men's baiting each other with the epithets of Praelatist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Independent, Anabaptist, Arminian, Antinomian, Legalist, and who can tell how many like; I have thought it as vain to interest myself in the contentions of any, so very proper to commend the Practics of Piety to all, in such a way as this, which some judicious believe will offend none. I cannot think, but that there is of Israel, in each of those Parties: and my hearts desire and prayer to God for them is, that they may be saved. As far as I know my heart, I suffer these sheets to go abroad to serve the faith and joy of each of them: let them all forgive me this wrong, I confess myself,  
The worst Servant of Christ, P P.   

ERRATA.  
IN the Epistle to the Reader; Pag. 15 For Nailers, read Masters of Assemblies. P. 16. for Tragical read Tropical, for Samuel read Lemuel in the Epistle to the Reader.   

1. A Soliloquy with Soliloquy itself.  
OH Meditation! I see thee, and now I will leave my 
(a) Joh. 4.28, 29.  water-pots, and go call all mankind to come and see the Duty that told me all that ever I did; ay, and that my God ever did. 
(b) Lu. 11.27.  Blessed is the womb of that Grace, that bears thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. 
(c) Mat. 5.6.  Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with thee! 
(d) Mat. 2.18.  The fair Rachel of piety, may cry out her eyes, for children, and holy seed, and break her heart, because they are not, if she be not impregnated by theel 
(e) Psa. 113.9.  Thou makest barren Graces to keep house, and to be the joyful mothers of children. Thou sufferest no 
(f) Psal. 105.44.  man, nor devil to do them harm, thou rebukest the Prince of darkness for their sakes. They that will be 
(g) 1 Ti. 6.9.  rich in thee, will not fall into many temptations! for by thee, one Grace will chase a 
(h) Deu. 32.30.  thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight! Thy 
(i) Job 13.11.  Excellency makes them afraid, and thy dread falls upon them! Thou 
(k) Plal. 104.32.  lookest on earthy affections, and they tremble! thou touchest the hills of corruption, and they smoke! In thy Name I have cast out devils! and over thee the 
(l) Mat. 16.18.  gates of hell cannot prevail! Thou art, as it were, an Emmanuel, God with us! In thee grace and peace do live, move, and have their being! Thou rainest down manna, and givest Angels food to them whose soul 
(m) Psa. 107.18.  abhorreth all manner of meat, and draws near to the gates of death! If thy 
(n) Psa. 11.3.  foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Thou deliverest in 
(o) Job 5.19, 26.  six, yea seven troubles! in spiritual famine from death, and war from the sword! Thou hast made a 
(p) Job 1.10.  hedge about piety, about her house, and all that she has, on every side! thou blessest the work of her hands! 
(q) Pro. 29.18.  Where there is none of thy vision, the people perish; but in thy light we see light! Thou 
(r) Mat. 7.5.  castest out the motes out of thy own eye, and seest clearly to cast out the beams of ours! Thou 
(s) Luk. 1.76, 79.  shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou goest before the face of the Lord, to prepare his way! thou givest light to them who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death! 
(t) Job 28.13.  Man knoweth not thy price, neither is it found in the I and of the living. The 
(u) Job 29.13, 15, 16.  blessing of him that was ready to perish, has come on thee a thousand times 1 for thou art eyes to the blind, and legs to the lame! a Father to the poor; and that which thou knowest not, thou searchest out Thou 
(x) Job 35.11.  teachest us more than the beasts of the earth, & makest us wiser than the fowls of heaven! I 
(y) Psal. 119.93.  will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me! and sure I am of those who follow thee. 
(z) Psa. 73.5.  They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued as other men. To what 
(a) Isa. 1.11.  purpose is the multitude of our sacrifices without thee? without thee the 
(b) Am. 5.18.  day of the Lord is darkness, and not light! I have said, That without thee it 
(c) Mal. 3.14.  is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance? Faith comes not by 
(d) Ro. 10.17.  hearing, without thee; yea, without thee, the 
(e) Mat. 21.13.  House of prayer is a den of thiefs! thiefs that break through and steal, duty and comfort! Hope, without thee 
(f) Ro. 5.5.  maketh ashamed; and Repentance, without thee, is to 
(g) 2 Co 7.10.  be repent of! Without thee, sin doth 
(h) Heb. 12.1.  easily beset us! and methinks thou art the in-door 
(i) Zec. 13.1.  fountain, opened for sin, and for uncleaness! without thee, the whole 
(k) Isa. 1.5.  Head of piety is sick, and the whole heart is faint! Thou art the Apothecary to the 
(l) Mar. 9.12.  physician of souls! There is no 
(m) Jer. 8.22.  Balm in the Gilead of the Gospel; and there's no physician there without thee! Duties without thee, are physicians 
(n) Job 13.4.  of no value! 'tis thou 
(o) 2 Co 7.1.  perfectest holiness in the fear of God 'Tis impossible to serve thee 
(p) Mat. 24.  and mammon! Thy two 
(q) Mar. 12.42.  mites, make such a farthing, which I had rather present the Lord with, than with 
(r) Mie. 6.7.  thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil! 
(s) Luk. 7.22, 23.  Blessed is he, whosoever is not offended in thee, who makest the blind to see, the lame to walk, the leper to be cleansed, the deaf to hear, the very dead to be raised! 
(t) Psal. 22.1.  Oh my Soliloquy! my Soliloquy! why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me? 
(u) Can. 1.6.  Tell me, oh Meditation, thou whom my soul loveth, why should I be, as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? 
(x) Psa. 42.2.  As the Hart pants after the water-brooks; so panteth my soul after thee! My soul thirsteth for thee, in this desert land, 
(y) De. 32.10.  and howling wilderness, to lead me about, and instruct me! 
(z) Ex. 28.36.  'Tis thou only that canst grave like the engraving of a signet, on the plate of my heart, holiness to the Lord! 
(a) Goe 3.13.  For really, without thee, the serpents will beguile me, and I shall eat! 
(b) Goe 4.13.  and my sin will be greater than I can bear, as Cain said. At every fools bidding, my own and all, 
(c) Job 2.9.  I shall curse God, and die, if thou stand not by me! What are my gifts, graces, duties, etc. without thee? 
(d) Job 4.21.  Doth not their excellency which is in them, go away, and they die without wisdom? 
(e) Job 5.14.  Don't they meet in darkness in the daytime? and grope in noonday, as in the night? 'Twas ever well, when thou and I 
(f) Psa. 55.14.  took sweet council together, and walked unto the House of the Lord in company. 
(g) Isa. 1.24.  Ah! I will ease me of my Adversaries, and be avenged of those enemies, which keep thee and me apart! 
(h) Isa. 1.22.  Let not thy silver be mixed with dross, nor thy wine with water, and thou shalt be preferred to my chiefest joy! 
(i) Psal. 137.1, 6.  While I sit down by the rivers of Babylon, and weep in the remembrance of Zion, Thou, oh Soliloquy! 
(k) Psa. 139.3.  thou shalt compass my path, and my lying down: Thou shalt be acquainted with all my ways, 
(l) Can. 1.13.  Thou shalt be to me as a bundle of myrrh, and lie betwixt my breasts all the night long! 
(m) Can. 4.16.  Thou shalt blow upon my garden, and make the spices to flow forth, that Jehovah Jesus may come in, and eat his pleasant fruit. 
(n) Psa. 119.127.  So will I love thy commands above gold, yea, above fine gold! 
(o) Goe 2.24.  I will leave father, and mother, and wife too, and cleave to thee. Amen and Amen.   

2. A Soliloquy with God, of Created things.  
OH my God 
(p) Heb. 4.13.  There is no creature which is not manifest in thy sight! But alas! that there is any such thing as a creature, or that there ever was such a work as Creation, is hardly manifest to mine. 
(q) 2 Co 5.17.  It cost thee a second creation of me, to make me believe the first! For that the world was made by Christ, I never believed, 'tis I was made by him too: And it may well be faid, 
(r) Eph. 3.9.  Thou hast created all things by Christ Jesus, since the very Faith, of all things being created, is by him also; it being impossible, that man should rightly know himself 
(s) Gal. 6.15.  to be any creature, till he is a new one! They are not many thousands of years past, since there was no being, but thy own; nor indeed is there any now, whose name is, Jam, or is not rather a Nothing, than a Being, besides thy own! but as if when thou created'st ours, thou hadst annihilated thy own, and thou hadst ceased to be, scon after we began to be; how art thou as sar out of mind, as out of sight, with me, for the most part? How rarely, and faintly, do I say, 
(t) Job 19.25.  I know that my Redeemer, or my Creator either liveth! So difficult it is to weak Faith to believe thee the Maker of heaven and earth, that I am put hard to it, many times, to think thee the Maker of that little spot and clod of earth that I carry about me. I am so bad at remembering thee, the world's Creator, that I have much ado to remember thee, my very own. But did 
(u) Eccles. 12.1.  I not live, move, and have 
(x) Act. 17.28.  my Being in thee, the fault would be less heinous, and monstrous. Thou art nigher to me, than I am to myself; and I have as perpetually, and necessarily, thy upholding, as my own subsisting: so that did I not forget myself, I could not possibly forget thee: Nay, and did I not forget all things, 'twere impossible but I must remember their Maker, being all bear thy superscription; yea, and aloud say of thee, It is he that hath made us, 
Psal. 37 17.  and not we ourselves. 
(z) 1 Ti. 4.4.  Every creature of God, is good to teach me, were I but good to learn; it's being a creature, and God being its Creator! But, oh my God I neither learn of creatures, to honour their Creator; nor of the Creator, to scorn creatures! I can very seldom see, either thee as thou art in thyself; or them as they are in themselves. I converse much with both, and yet but little, because I converse with thee without thy Attributes, and with them without theirs; not viewing them as insufficient, or thee as alsufficient. 
(a) Isa. 54.5.  If thou my Maker, (as the prophet speaks) art my husband, and jealousy be the rage of a man himself; sure it concerns me, to look better to my ways, than to go a whoring after the idols of my foolish imagination. I find to my woe, I converse mostly with nothings, not with thee the Creator, or thy creatures; but with the idols and creatures of my own corrupt fancy. For as there is no such God. as I but too oft conceive thee: so there are no such-creatures, as I oft conceive them to be. There is no God less than omnipotent; there are no creatures more than nullipotent. I am making an idol, not worshipping thee, when I contemplate of thee otherwise, than of an Albeing God and I am setting my 
(b) Pro. 23.5.  eyes on that which is not, when I am meditating of them, as any other, than as very Nothings, as to subsistence, without thy providence, as they were to existence, without thy creation. There were variableness with thee indeed, and more than shadow of turning, if thou wert not as Albeing a God now, as before thou madest all beings: and sure if I, and all thy other creatures, were more than Nothings; and if thou wert not-the very Being of our beings, thou couldst not so be. Teach me then, oh my God teach me to have all creatures manifest in my sight, and thee the Creator also! Show me manifestly, That thou Art as really, and to Faith as apparently, the Albeing God and Good, as thou wast before the world began; and that all thy creatures Being's, consist in being Nothing without thee now, as before they ever were manifest to me. Oh my God how thou hast made Nothings, but very Nothings! not one Being, that has any Being's more, without that which it derives from thy providence, than it had without that, which it drew from thy creation. Not being, without thee, is as essential to a creature, as being by thee. For could it be any thing without thee, its name would be I am, 
(c) Isa. 40.6.  and it must be a God. And woe is me, if I deny the Unity of the Godhead, as oft as I think of created Being's, without the thought of their not Being, it being not possible that thou shouldst be, I Am: if there be any beside thee, or if there be any thing beside thee, which is not a Nothing without thee! Every creature declares by its experience, that God is its 
(d) 1 Co. 15.28.  All in All; and God works all its works, in it, and for it. Lord make my soul (the worst of thy creatures) to make thee it's All in All; the Being of its being, and of all other beings, neither conceiving of thee as less than All things, or of the world, more than a Nothing. I may lose it, and lose nothing; but were it so, that I could save my soul, and lose thee, I should lose my All. I may gain a world, and gain just nothing; but could I gain thee with the very loss of my soul, I should gain all things! For, sure I am, gain is of Good only, etc. 
(e) Mat. 19.7.  There is none Good but God; thyself, oh my God, who dost truly say to thy creatures all, without me ye can do nothing.   

3. A Soliloquy with the Soul, of the same Argument.  
I Will now go to my soul, I will consider her ways, and be wise. Come now, and let us reason together, oh my soul! If I should ask that, which was once God's Question, From whence connest thou? I doubt you must return, that which was once the devil's Answer; 
(f) Job 2.2.  From going to and fro in the earth. The earth, which he hath 
(g) Job 38.6.  hanged on nothing, and charged you to lay no stress upon, while you keep in this my 
(h) Co. 4.7.  earthen Vessel, your life, indeed, must be on earth; but 
(i) Phil. 3.20.  your conversation in heaven. I would that you so use the world, as not abusing it, or yourself! You are both poor enough, and you know who bids you, wrong not the poor, because the Lord is their Maker. If you tell me, That God pronounced all that he made 
(k) Goe 1.31.  very good: I must tell you, So it was, and so it is, for God's ends with it. But whether it be not as very ill for your ends with it, is a doubt; He intended all for his own glory: for which 'tis good and fit, if you intent it for yours, you will find it much otherwise; because though 
(l) i Co. 1.27.  God has chose, even the foolish things of the world, to manifest his wisdom with: you must choose the wise ones of a better world; to manifest yours. God that so loved the world, as you know, bids you not to love it, as you are not ignorant of; for the earth he has given into the hands of the sons of men, but 'tis himself he gives to the Son of God: And because he resolved to satisfy them, that they should, and could have no more, he calls himself their 
(m) Ps 16.5. La. 3.24.  portion and godliness, with content in itself, their great gain; pearl of price, and one thing necessary. Oh my soul! The mighty Lord who humbles himself to behold the things that are done in earth, calls thee to look up to him in heaven, making the earth thy footstool, as well as his own. Knowing the emptiness of the earth, and of the fullness thereof; knowing the creature not only subject to vanity, but altogether lighter; knowing all made things to be but nothing, he charges thee to trust in none of their vanities. I hope for salvation from none of their hills, but to say of all creatures, as he of all men; 
(n) Psa. 14.3.  There is none that doth good, no not one. Ponder it then, oh my soul! though thyself art a very nothing; and if it be worth my while to lose thee, to gain the world, yet sure, it were a hard bargain to lose thy God for ten thousand worlds: yea observe, whoever parts with God, parts with him for nothing, though it be to save himself, and all he has. And do but think how heinously God must needs take it, That of Nothings themselves, any thing should be thought too much to part with, for him who is our All. What thinkest thou, oh my soul! of Popish doctrines of Merit? we ourselves are but Nothings, without God; our services are less, and are incapable of being greater than ourselves. Our God is our All, if we give him any thing that's good, we must give him his own goodness; and 'tis a prodigious way of meriting, to give any one his own. Take heed to yourself of this leaven, and know, You have, and are nothing, but what is Gods own. I adjure thee by the living God, That thou for ever seek him, as no less than thy All; that thou tell him, That though every thing he made answers his Ends, 'tis He only, that made every thing, can answer thine. That thou say plainly, That unless he be all things, he is a poor God: All he has beside himself, being very Nothing to thy wants and desires, and such as leaves thee in straits, in the very 
(o) Job 20.22.  fullness of its sufficiency. Thou knowest, oh my soul! that wherever in a Duty, Prayer, etc. he gives in of himself, to a poor Nothing spirit, 'tis 
(p) Job 3.17.  there the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.   

4. A Soliloquy with God, about Piety.  
OH my God even 
(q) Job 4.8.  as I have seen, They that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same: 
(r) & 20.  They are destroyed from morning to evening, they perish for ever, none regarding it, Were it of necessary choice, I vow I had rather have the very devil my Guest, than 
(s) Ro. 7.17.  the sin that dwelleth in me; and have Satan my Tyrant, than sin my King. Other evils are drones, it is sin 
(t) 1 Co. 15.56.  which is the sting of all. Make me any thing what thou pleasest, besides 
(u) Isa. 45.99  a striver with my Maker, the 
(x) Deu 32.33.  wine of which contention, is the poison of dragons, and venom of asps. Oh my God I read that 
(y) 2 Ti 4.3.  godliness is profitable unto all things; if so, it must be profitable to sin itself; I mean, the finding, driving, and keeping it out, and profitable to itself, in maintaining, feeding, and clothing itself well. 
(z) 2. iT 6.6.  With content herein. I am told 'tis great gain, and I protest I believe it, because as thou dost 
(a) Psa. 4.3.  set a part him that is godly, for thyself: so he that is godly, sets apart thee for himself. Methinks it is a strange question, 
(b) Ex. 15.11.  who is like unto thee— Glorious in holiness? Lord, I would ask thee, Who has any glory or holiness, but is just like thee? and that with a likeness of participation and representation. Were I asked, to whom I would liken God, I would answer (in both those ways) to every Saint on earth. For, 
(c) Joh. 5.22.  as the Father judgeth no man; so neither do they, but commit all judgement to God the Son: As 
(d) Goe 18.25.  the Judge of the whole earth doth right, 
(e) 1 Pe. 1.17.  so do they, and that 
(f) Phil. 2.15.  without respect of persons, their own, or others! The same mind is in them, that was in God our Saviour; and I may boldly say of Saints wills-deliberate 
(g) Ro. 9.19.  who hath resisted his will? To will, just as God wills, is 
(h) Ro. 7.18.  present with them: Thou choosest them, and they choose thee; and they are a choosing, as well as 
(i) 1 Pe 2.9. Luke 10.42.  a chosen, Generation: Among their affections, there is not one (habitual) Non conformist. The very love of God 
(k) 1 Jo. 4.16.  dwells in them; their love and Gods has one object: and 'tis no other than that God hates, which they hate! if God loves his enemy, they 
(l) Mat. 5.14.  do so to: if he hates themselves, they will do so too: Their way is to follow and imitate God, and nothing satisfies them, but his 
(m) Ps. 17.15.  likeness: They never think they have done like themselves, save when they have done like Christ Jesus. They make the very graven image, and likeness of him that is above, in their conversation here below on the earth. Their very eating, drinking, and sleeping bears the image and superscription of Christ on it; and if any word or deed be not conformed to his likeness, seasoned with justice, like salt, they disown and renounce it, and would not have it imputed by God unto them, for the whole earth. I may then call Saints, 
(n) i Co 11.7.  the image and glory of God, the express image and likeness of him! O my God, my God Let this likeness of thine be mine; and let not my heart or life be disfigured by my corruptions and temptations, which 
(o) Mat. 6.7.  use vain repetitions, as the heathen do, thinking that they shall be heard for their much speaking, against thy likeness. Scatter my proud 
(p) Lu. 1.51, 52.  lusts, pull down the mighty ones from their seats, exalt my likeness to thee, which is of so low degree: Hear me, oh my God what I say,  I give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids. 
(q) Job 6.8, 9  Oh that might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy my unlikene ss to himself; and that he would let lose his hand, and cut it off!   

5. A Soliloquy with Piety itself.  

(r) Pro. 10.26.  AS vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes: so is a sluggish heart, to them that send it towards thee. Oh piety! 
(s) Pro. 13.7.  There is, that maketh himself rich without thee, yet hath nothing! There is, that maketh himself poor with thee, yet hath great riches. 
(t) Psal. 9.10.  They that know thy Name, will put their trust in thee; for thou hast not forsaken them, that seek thee! They that seek thee early, will find thee; and they that find thee, never lose their way. If God himself make me happy without thee, he must make me happy without happiness. 
(u) Mat 8.8.  I am not worthy indeed, that thou shouldst come under my roof! because in my house, there are many mansions of thy implacable enemies, because too too often I have 
(x) Mat 7.6.  given thy sacred things to dogs, and thy pearl to swine. I have killed the counsels and rebukes that were thy prophets, and stoned the Ambassadors that were sent unto me! I have sometimes betrayed thee with a kiss, and calling thee Lord, done thee disservice! Sometimes, I have hid thy Talon in a Napkin, and otherwhile sacrificed to thee, with the strange fire of blind zeal, fire prepared by the devil and his angels! I have seen thee a stranger, and not took thee in! Naked, and clothed thee not, so much as with the garment of praise! Sick and in prison hast thou been, and I not visited thee! Nay, I have cried with the rabble, 
(y) Lu. 23.21.  Crucify him, crucify him! I will 
(z) Psal. 38.18.  declare my iniquity, and I will be sorry for my sin. I will now count all things but dung that I may win thee! Though thou slayest me, I will put my trust in thee, and the loftiness of my looks to thee, shall never be humbled! Open, oh piety! open thou my lips, and my mouth shall speak forth thy praise! in thee I'll 
(a) Act. 17.28.  live, move, and have my being! I'll lust after no other beauty, thy 
(b) Pro. 5.19.  breasts shall satisfy me at all times, and I'll be ravished always with thy love! I'll fight the devil, and wrestle with God for thee!   

6. A Soliloquy with God about his Law.  
OH my God, my God 
(c) Psa. 2.1. Job 21.1.  Why do the Heathen rage! and the people of the earth set themselves against the Lord, and his Christ: Why say they to thee, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways? Why cant they abide Christ's Gospel 
(d) Mal. 3.2.  coming, and endure that he should appear? Does 
(e) Heb. 7.19.  thy Law make nothing perfect? yes it does. It makes the world 
(f) Psa 139.2.  hate thee, with a perfect hatred, and count thee its enemy! Thy Law which binds the Kings of their lusts, in chains, and their Nobles in fetters of iron; 
(g) Psa. 135 8.  which smites the first born of their Egypt, and dasheth their little ones against the stones, makes them say to the whole Trinity, 
(h) Mat 25.  Depart ye cursed, and call to the devil, 
(i) Jud. 9.11.  as all the trees to the Bramble, Come thou and reign over us! Oh my God, 
(k) Ro. 7.7.  I had not known my own sin, or other men's, but by the Law; for the sake of which 
(l) Gal. 3.29.  Schoolmaster, the whole world is out of love with thy School, 
(m) Mat 5.19.  Had Christ made an end of the Law. I see none would have been offended in him; but I see now, his first Sermon has made him thousands of rebels. But till the Fifth chapter of Matthew be blotted out, there's no hope of their return: They will still pray, That 
(n) Mat 6.9, 10, 13.  their Father which is in hell, his name may be hallowed; That his kingdom? may come, and his will be done, in earth as 'tis in hell; That his may be the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. But oh my God were 
(o) Job 6.25.  right words forcible, and would arguing reprove, there were some hope! For, alas! alas hast thou not made it 
(p) Jam 1.29.  perfect liberty, as perfect law? And have not the 
(q) Ro. 8 21.  sons of God a glorious liberty, whom God restrains from nothing, but 
(r) Joh. 8.32.  slavery; and exacts nothing from, but to 
(s) Mat. 5.4.  be like himself! Lord, Thou hast commanded nothing that I know of, but the 
(t) Ex. 20.  having no other God beside thee, and what hurt is in this, there is no other to have! And if we make an idol, that is, a Nothing, what true pleasure is theré in serving such a Lie, any more than in making it? If it be 
(u) Mal. 3.14.  vain to serve any God, sure 'tis so, to serve a vain one, as a 
(x) Phi. 3.19.  Belly, and the other gods of this world! Oh my God in taking humane nature on me, I have took on me 
(y) Phi. 2.7.  the form of a servant; and his servant I am, to whom 
(z) Ro. 6.16.  I obey: could I find a better Master, I would not say as David, 
(a) Psa. 116.10.  I am thy servant, I am thy servant! I would say of this thy Law, 'Tis a hard saying, who can bear it? Nay, I would 
(b) psal. 2.3.  break this Bond in sunder, and cast this cord behind my back, if I could! But seeing 
(c) Isa. 44.6  thou art God, and there is none besides thee. If this Law be a 
(d) Mat 11.30.  yoke, I'll say it, 'tis an easy one; and if any burden, light enough in conscience, a burden that I would not be without for my head, and a yoke, I had rather lose my neck, than lose it. If there be any 
(e) 2 Co 4.17.  weight in it, it is a weight of glory; and if at any time it seem 
(f) Heb 12.11.  grievous, I am sure it does seem so only, but afterwards bringeth forth the peaceable fruit, which undeceives us. I am sure, as many as have known the good of it, have took joyfully the 
(g) Heb 10.34.  spoiling of all other goods for it. If it mar any mirth, how comes 
(h) Psal. 16.11.  fullness of joy into thy presence? If it check pleasures, how flourish they so at thy right hand? Sure enough, this Law is in full force there: if it confine a man, David took an ill course to walk 
(i) Psal. 119 45.  at liberty, when he chose to live by it, for that end: and they err, who call thy service perfect freedom; if it makes valour flat, how come 
(k) pro. 2 8.  the righteous to be bold as lions? and they that violate it, to flee, when none pursue! Oh my God I do confess, I am 
(l) Jam. 1.18.  a double-minded man, and therefore unstable in my ways: I see that within me, which tastes thy Law as 
(m) Mat 27.34.  vinegar and gall; but I have also that in me, which says to thy Law, Thy 
(n) Can 4.11.  lips, oh my spouse! drop as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. I have that, which says to thy Law, 
(o) 1 Sa. 17.43.  Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves! And I have that which rejoins; yes, 'tis a dog, for the love of Christ beat it out. I have that indeliberateness, which upon the devils, 
(p) Mat 3.9.  all these things I will give thee; will give the Law a repulse: and I have that deliberacy, which if it might have 
(q) Nu. 22.18.  a house full of gold and silver, will not go beyond the word of thy Law, to do more or less. I have that which resents 
(r) Mic. 4.  the best of thy Laws, as a briar; and the most upright, as a thorn hedge. And I have that, which in the 
(s) Mal. 3.7.  day or night, when it makes up its jewels, maketh 
(t) Job 28.18.  no mention of coral, or pearls, Ophirs gold, or the precious Sardonyx, but calls thy Law its 
(u) Isa. 58.15.  delight, the ornament of Grace, 
(x) Pro. 3.22.  life to my soul, and grace to my neck: and this I can truly aver, 
(y) Psa. 139.21, 23.  I hate the men, and things, that hate thy Law, I am grieved with those that rise up against it! I hate them with perfect hatred, and I count them my enemies. When thy righteous Law 
(z) Psal. 341.5.  smites me, it is a kindness; when it reproves me, 'tis an excellent oil. It breaks not my head with thoughts, how to break its own; but my heart with cares, how to get a plaster from Christ! For though I can't 
(a) Pro. 18.14.  bear an unbroken spirit, neither can I bear a wounded one! Some imagine, that the voice of thy Law is nothing, but Cursed be every one! But me thinks I hear all thy Laws, saying with one mouth, 
(b) Goe 1.26.  Come let us make man in our own image! and their design seems to me, to be 
(c) Tit. 2 14.  the redeeming us from all iniquity, purifying us as a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Oh my God none ever perished by the Law falling on them, but by their own 
(d) Mat 4.44.  falling first, on the Law; 'tis we break it, and ourselves in it. If none are its 
(e) Joh. 15.14.  friends, but such as do whatsoever it commands, I must stand out! But if 
(f) Ro. 13.10.  love unto, be the fulfilling of the Law, sure I am one, such a one as ' 'tis. Though 
(g) Luk 2.1.  Augustus like, it tax the whole world, and meet not with any that pays it, so slender tribute of obedience, as my rebellious heart: Yet this, oh my God, 
(h) Psa. 38.18.  I declare, I will declare my iniquity, and I will be sorry for my sin! For I must needs say of thy Law, as 
(i) Joh. 19.4, 6.  Pilate of thy Son, I see no salt in him! I will pray, That all its 
(k) Heb. 10.13.  enemies within me, may be made its footstool, and that it may 
(l) Judas 14.15.  come into me, with ten thousand of its arguments, to execute judgement upon all, and convince all ungodly lusts of their hard speeches against it! and that now he may 
(m) Re. 2.27.  rule them with a rod of iron! For really, 
(n) Ro. 3 19  the way of peace they have not known, except by fight against it. Oh my God let thy Law take away 
(o) Joh. 15.2.  every branch that beareth fruit, let it purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! It hath of 
(p) Mat 4.24.  old healed sick people, taken with divers diseases and torments; those that were possessed with devils, those which were lunatic, and had the palsy! And sure its 
(q) Nu. 11.23.  hand is not shortened, that it cannot save! It has of old, led souls into the 
(r) Can. 2.4, 5.  Banqueting house of the Gospel, staying them with its flagons, and comforting them with its apples, when they have been sick of love to God, and hatred to their sins! Other 
(s) Isa 3.12.  Icaders cause poor souls to err. But, oh my God, let this 
(t) Luk 1.79.  Guide lead my feet into the way of peace!   

7. A Soliloquy with God about his Promises.  
LOrd, when I turn to thy promises, I am ready to ask my soul; 
(u) Pro 23.5.  Wilt thou set thine eyes on that which is not? as if thy mouth spoke vanity, and thy right hand, were a right hand of lies! 
(x) Psa. 104.8.  Promises from God, think I, 
(y) Joh. 3 9  how can these things be? 
(z) Psa. 113.9.  He humbles himself indeed, to behold the things that are done in heaven! But he won't humble them so low, as to bring them to us on earth to, will he? 
(a) Mat. 16.19.  Whomsoever thou bindest to thy service on earth, to them art thou bound, for rewarding each one in heaven? Lord, 
(b) Isa. 53.1.  who can believe this report? and to whom is this Arm of the Lord revealed? 
(c) Pro. 19 4.  Every one is a friend to him that giveth gifts; 
(d) Jam 1.17.  and if so good & perfect gifts, come down from thee, oh my God Why is not every power of my soul, thy friend? 
(e) Pro. 18.16.  A man's gift maketh room for him, won't God's do so too? 'Tis good advice, 
(f) Mar. 13.5.  Take heed lest any man deceive you! But what, am I afraid God will deceive me too? 
(g) Psa. 119.86.  I hy commandments are faithful, and are not 
(h) Ro. 4.16.  thy promises sure? Are they called exceeding great, because they exceed belief and credibility? 
(i) 2 re. 1.4.  and precious, because too good to be true? Are their Yea and 
(k) 2 Co 1 20.  Amen changeable into Nay, nay? and must my faith, 
(l) Jam. 2. 19  as the devils, believe and tremble, while it does so? Shall I, oh my God shall I think it not 
(m) Herald 6 18.17.16.  impossible for thee to lie, because my own incredulousness, has made thee swear? Do men's oaths put an end to strife, 
(n) Luk 1.37.  and shall not thine? Must I be jealous, that thy Word is the more infirm, because firmed by an oath? Oh foolish brute, 
(o) Gal. 3.1.  who hath bewitched me? Oh my God, my God 
(p) Acts 2.39.  thy promises to me and my children, are to them that are afar off from believing them! We make 
(q) Mat 22.5.  light of them, and go every one our ways; one to his Book, another to his play: A fit of sickness, a storm at Sea, etc. will make me cry. 
(r) Mat 14 18.  Bring them hither to me; but alas even then, 
(s) Mat 22.14.  though many are called, few are chosen; they cannot answer me satisfactorily, 
(t) Job 9 30.  one of a thousand. Nav, sometimes 
(u) Psa. 14.3.  there's none that does me good, no not one. Though they have all 
(x) Joh 10.30.  one Father, and in truth, they and their Father are one; For my very life, I can't 
(y) Psal. 61.31.  trust in them at all times, an least not securely; For some times, in my thirst, they have given me 
(z) Joh 19.29.  vinegar to drink, the conditions frightening me more, than the grace comforting. But oh my God, thou knowest, I wish I were 
(a) Mat 25.43, 44  sick, so they might visit me: and in prison, so they might but minister to me! for they have instructed many, 
(b) Job 4.3, 4.  and have strengthened weak hands! They have upholdem him that was falling, and strengthened feeble knees. Dying souls have set down under their shadow, 
(c) Can 2.3.  and their fruit has been sweet to their taste! From thy promises, oh my God, I have known those who have 
(d) Can 5.1.  gathered myrrh, and spice; honey and honeycomb, wine and milk, when they had been 
(c) Lam 3.15, 17.  filled with bitterness, and made drunk with wormwood: when their souls had been removed from peace, and they had forgot prosperity! 
(f) Psal. 30.6.  In my prosperity I would say indeed, I should never be moved, and confidently bid 
(g) Luk 12.19.  my soul, take more ease than now it dares, as having Goods laid up for many years; yea, for eternity, I would remove 
(h) Ec. 11.10.  sorrow from my heart, could I but undoubtingly say of thy promises. That 
(i) Joh 17.4, 6, 10.  I have finished the world they gave me to do! Can I but boldly tell thee, oh my God, That thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them! But alas, as oft as these are not my 
(k) Psal. 33.1, 2.  shield, my glory, and the lifter up of my head. Lord, how are they increased that trouble me; many are they that rise up against me; many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. By night on 
(l) Can. 3.1.  my bed, when I seek the particular promises, which I have chose for my joy, when I seek them, and find them not: When 
(m) Can 5.6.  I open my heart to them, and they withdraw themselves, and be gone, when 
(n) Pro. 1.28.  I seek them early too, and can't find them, though my coneeits before had been high, 
(o) Oba 1.3, 4.  though I had exalted myself as the Eagle, and set my nest among the Stars, how am I brought down in a momenr? How are my 
(p) 〈◊〉 2.7.  lofty looks humbled, and my haughtiness brought low? My own former comforts 
(q) Job 30.10, 15.  abhor me: They flee from me, and spare not to spit in my face! Terrors are turned upon me, they pursue my soul as the wind, and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. For why? 'tis very true, in all thy Laws and Threaten, 
(r) Psal. 34.8.  I see the Lord is good, but 'tis in the promises, that I taste and see; he is good, I can safely say, all thy words are sweet, but 'tis of thy 
(s) Psa. 119.103.  promises, that I dare cry out, Oh how sweet are thy words to my taste: All their sweetness is lasting, not only giving my soul a feast, but a continual one; and that a physical, not a diseasegendring one. It doth good, and that like a medicine, it's honey purges, as well as pleases. Were it sweet 
(t) Job 20.12.  as sin, only in the mouth, I could not give it a good word. Oh my God, the 
(u) Pro. 9.17.  stolen waters of it, which my heart in musing takes secretly away; the bread of it, that I eat in secret places, I can't say, How sweet they are; 
(x) 1 Co 15.41.  there is one glory of the Sun, another of the Moon, that gives light, and heat too, and life, this only light. There is one glory of thy commanding word, that Moon rules in the night we are in, throughout our life, in this dark world. There is another glory of thy promising word, that Sun gives light and life to poor souls, and makes 
(y) 2 Co 5.6.  us present with the Lord, even while we are absent: And really 
(z) Mat 9.15.  the children of the Bride-chamber can t mourn, while in thy promises they have the Bridegroom with them. When they sit at any time in the dark, and see no light; lo, thy promises do make both 
(a) Josh 10.12.  the Sun aforesaid, to stand still, upon their Gibeon; and the Moon in their valley of Ajalon, till the faces of their enemies are clothed with 
(b) Psa. 83.16.  shame, and the crown of their faith flourisheth on their own heads. 
(c) Mat. 2.20.  The Herod's which seek the lives of my poor Infant-Graces and Comforts, oh my God, they are never stone dead. I can never say, They which sought my children's lives, are dead: No, they make, and I am sure, they keep war 
(d) Rev 17.14.  with my Lambs. Thy very promises 
(e) Psal. 46.9.  can't make their wars to cease; but they can 
(f) Psal. 68.30.  and do scatter them that delight in war? and that which they help me do, makes me say experimentally, 
(g) Ex. 15.39.  The Lord is a Man of War. But, oh my God, my God, How to put on this armour, 'tis rare that I can tell! Though thy promises be 
(h) Ro. 13.12.  armour of Light, yet sure 'tis such dazzling light, that I can't tell how to wind and turn it. From whence it comes to pass, that I am daily 
(i) Leu. 26.25.  delivered over into the hands of sin and sorrow, doubt and fear, and all enemies; and didst thou not, as an every days Emanuel, rid me out, and lead my 
(k) Re. 7.23.  captive, the sorrows of hell would not only compass me, but swallow me up, and I should be, not as my 
(l) 1 Isa 15.29.  Saviour was, rejected of men, and a man of sorrows, but rejected of God, 
(m) Isa. 53 3.  and a man of sorrows. How oft, oh my God, do I hear that voice, 
(n) Luk 12.20.  This night thy soul shall be required of thee! How oft am I afraid, to 
(o) Pro. 6.4.  give sleep to my eyes, evenwhen I have much ado to keep it from them? How few nights in a week can I sleep, as do 
(p) 1 Th. 5.6.  athers? for they rest from their labours, which I can't; 
(q) Psa. 40.12.  innumerable evils compass me about, my iniquities take hold of me, so that I am not able to look up, or lie down! my conscience itself reviles me, saying, 
(r) Psa. 42.3.  Where is now thy God? I am 
(s) Psa. 29.9.  dumb to my friends, because they can't remove my stroke: Nay, I live, 
(u) 2 Co 6.10.  though as sorrowful, yet as always rejoicing, in my worst fits, being sure of this, 
(x) La. 3.  I am a living man. And 'tis meet for the 
(y) Isa. 38.10.  living, to praise thee, not complain of thee. But, oh my God, my God, I pray thee for time to come, let that word of Truth, by which 〈…〉 
(z) Jam 1.18.  begat'st me, and of a stone dead imp, madest me a child to Abraham. Feed my 
(a) 1 Pe 2.2.  Baby graces and comforts with its sincere milks, and be within me a word of Life. Amen, Amen.   

8. A Soliloquy with God, about his Threaten.  
OH my God, I have thought, That 'tis not for indisturbed Professors, 
(b) Pro. 31.4, 5, 6, 7.  to drink too much of the wine of the promises; and that lest they drink, and forget the Law, its direction and ob igation! I have judged the strong drink of thy promises to belong to him, that is ready to perish, and their wines, to them that are of feeble hearts, that they may drink, and not forget, but redress their poverty by Christ's wealth, and consider, That in him they shall feel their misery no more. Now, thou knowest, I am one of that wretched number of men, who are settled on their lees, and that (too often) say, 
(c) Zep. 1.12.  The Lord will not do good, 
(d) Deu 24.19.  neither will he do evil! Oh my God, thou knowest, I have blest myself in my heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart! I have not been 
(e) Jer. 48.11.  emptied from vessel to vessel, neither have I gone into the swift captivity of the Gospel: My taste has remained in me, and my scent has not been changed, so settled have I been on my lees! Oh my God, I need, that word of thine, which is quick and powerful, 
(f) Heb. 4.12.  sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit! I need some of its faithful 
(g) Pro. 27.6.  wounds, which will do me infinitely more good, than all the 
(h) Pro. 28.23.  deceitful kisses. which my presumption will never be able to fasten, on thy sweetest promises! Oh correct me with them, withhold them not from my soul; for if thou beatest me with them, I sha' not die! Whatever the minds of others are, Lord, thou shalt beat me with thy 
(i) Pro. 23.13, 14.  rod of threaten, and deliver my soul from the hell of self-liking, and self-applauding. I dare not say to thy richest promises, 
(k) Job 6.22, 23.  bring unto me, or give me reward of your rich substance! or deliver me from the enemy's hand, redeem me from the hand of the Almighty; without first saying to thy threaten, O ye just statutes, upon my hardness of heart, and all my wicked lusts, 
(l) Psal. 11.6.  rain ye fire, brimstone, and horrible tempest! Bring upon them, that shut out my peace, 
(m) 2 Pe 1.  a swift destruction; for I am sure, before such their destruction, the heart of man will be haughty! O Lord, without this passing through the fire of thy threaten, I find, when I do my best, my hope is cut off, and my trust is but 
(n) Job 〈…〉  a spider's web! Thy justice conspicuous, in thy treats, being as needful to keep me from presumption, as the mercy in thy promises, to keep me from despair! Oh my God, I love thy book the better for thy threats, because I find, they are the harbingers of the promises, and Laws to the world. The world cries out, 
(o) Joh. 6.6.  They are hard say, who can bear them? I esteem them soft, and gentle, in every thing, saving their objects, to whom they are denounced; and they are 
(p) Ro. 2.5.  heart-hearted indeed. Thou, oh my God, their author, art a God 
(q) Ex. 34.6.  of grace, thy end in giving them is 
(r) 2 Ti. 1.9.  gracious; their effects on honest hearts, are gracious; but to the hardhearted, all things are hard: It's true, they bruise but 
(s) Gen 3.15.  a sinner's heel, even while they bruise sins head; if they do give us stripes, those stripes are gifts, for with them, we are 
(t) Isa. 53.5.  healed; they never cutting open any more than an orifice, for the oil of thy promises to come in at! I know for the grace of the promises lips, and the 
(u) Can 1.2.  savour of their good ointment, the virgins, foolish as well as wise, love them and follow them! But, oh my God, thou 
(x) Mat. 25.12.  knowest thy holy promises will not give that which is holy unto dogs, or dogged snarlers at thy righteous treats; they won't cast their pearls unto swine! 
(y) Mat 7.6, 7.  They may ask, and conceit it is given them; they may seek and fancy they find divine puri ie and peace, but a lie is in their right hand, 
(z) Eccls 4.12.  and their three fold cords of ignorance, error, and pride are easily broken, sometimes with man's, but ever with God's judgement; which hath made me choose 
(a) Heb 11.25.  rather to suffer the humiliations and break of thy threats, than to enjoy such kind of pleasures of heaven itself, as are but for a season. Oh my God, I find within me, that which is sweetly drawn to thee, with the 
(b) Hos. 11.4.  cords of a man, and the bands of love: But I also find within me, that which were not 
(c) Jer. 23.19.  thy word. A hammer, it could never beat any good into me. If thou only 
(d) Can 1.5.  drawest thy spiritual part with thy promises, it will run after thee! but my carnal part is not made willing to stoop, but in the 
(e) Psal. 110.  power of thy forcive Threats. 
(f) Mar 16.16.  He that believes shall be saved, will animate the Law of my mind; but 'tis he that believes not, shall be damned, that will break in pieces 
(g) Ro. 7.23.  the Law of my Members. I thank thee, oh my God, for such 
(h) Zec 2.5.  a wall of Fire, round about my graces and duties! The Law is a defence, and the promises are 
(i) Eccls 7.12.  a defence against the weakness of Grace! But these Threats are the defence, against the strength of corruption: Ten Laws, and ten promises, won't 
(k) Deu 32.30.  chase a thousand lusts; but Two of these will put ten thousand to flight. Oh my God, Thy promises do lead many, but thy Threaten 
(l) 2 Co 10.5.  drive every thought, to the obedience of thy Son, 
(m) Lu. 19.27.  even those that would not, that he should reign over them. These rods of iron, rule those my Rebels, whose 
(n) 1 Sa 15.23.  rebellion is as the sin of witchcrast; they are the rod, which with the staff of thy Laws and Promises, do exceedingly 
(o) Psa. 23.4.  comfort me. If I say, That I (the chief of sinners) have no sin, I deceive myself: and if I say, whilst I have sin, 
(p) 1 Jo 1.8.  I am so whole, as not to need the Lancet of thy Threaten, sure the Truth is not in me. 
(q) 2 Ti 3, 16.  All thy Scripture is profitable, I will never except the threatening part. 
(r) Psal 19.9, 10, 11.  Thy judgements, David sates, are to be desired above gold, and are sweeter than honey: By them, not only thy enemies, but thy Friends are warned and in keeping them, as the apple of ones eyes, there is great reward. Lord, I find this true of thy Threaten, which as 
(s) Ro. 7.12.  thy Law are holy, just and good: and as 
(t) 2 Pe 1.4.  thy promises are exceeding great and precious, and so let them ever be to my soul: Amen, Amen, and Amen.   

To my own SOUL.  
THE Horse, 
(u) Job 39.19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.  whose neck is clothed with very thunder,  
Whose nostrils sparkle fire,  
Hates valleys, would run higher; Counting it a wonder,  
That armed men, and fears themselves affright  
His Rider, sword, and spear, and shield,  
To him with fury steeled,  
Are very play-games, he treads on so light:  
He cannot feel the ground  
He paws upon; and then the sound,  
The Trumpets sound exeites him more  
To scorn them, shan he did before.  
The thunder does but whistle in his ears,  
He noses the Heaven itself, & appears  
Affected with the scent, and sight of war,  
Until he feels what its sad issues are.  
Thus thou, my Soul, bearing  
Thy neck of brass,  
Thy heart of Adamant;  
And the rocks none understand,  
Look'st Heaven in the face,  
While fire and brimstone's raining down upon thee:  
Nor shakest thou at all,  
As if pride being thy wall,  
It could not make its threatened hell light on thee:  
Nay, (what's prodigious!) the more God's thundering Cannons roar  
To thee, deaf adder, thou the more by far, Slightest his war!  
God give thee ears to hear his Trumpet sounds,  
They'll make thee haste to Christ, his Blood, and Wounds.  
Amen. So be it.   

10. A Soliloquy with God of worldly Friends.  
OH my God, (the greater includes the less) 
(t) See Rom. 8 31.  he that has the best Friend, has all friends. Methinks when he bids me 
(u) Pro 22.24.  make no friendship with an angry man, doth almost bid me, Make none with any man! For indeed, though 
(x) Eccls 7.11.  anger rests not, save in the bosom of Fools, yet it finds too easy an impress into the bosom of 
(y) Pro. 15.1.  the Wisest! Though thou my God be'st 
(z) Joel 2.13.  slow to anger, they are few of thy servants who are so: insomuch, That Solomon must be understood of Duty, what should be; not of Certainty, what is, when he says, That 
(a) Pro. 17.17.  a friend loves at all times. Brethren, 
(b) Zec. 13.6.  there are, that one would think, were born for adversity indeed; the giving it to us, not the taking us from it. Nay, and (such is the height of pride) few give their hearty friendship on other their terms, than what the common Saviour gives his upon; every familiar saying implicitly to us, 
(c) Joh 15.14.  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you! and if we won't make them our Gods, they'll make themselves our Devils: if we shall 
(d) Esth 3.5, 6.  be Mordecai's, they'll be Haman's 
(e) Pro. 19.4.  Wealth, 'tis true, makes many friends; and when goods increase, they are increased, but 'tis to eat them; and when they are 
(f) Ecc 5.11.  eat up, many friends will not make wealth. 
(g) Mat 11.5.  the poor shall have the Gospel preached to them, and be turned off with a 
(h) 2 Ti 4.8.  God will provide: but for any glad tidings out of the worldly friends charity, they must not expect it, but sit down, and content them with 
(i) 1 Ti. 6.6.  the gain of their own Gospel! Godliness, which is indeed so 
(k) 1 Ti 4.8, 18.  profitable to all things, that their friend's unkindness is matter of pure notice, no resent. Oh my God, I have seen precious friends take much more joyfully 
(l) Heb. 10.34.  the spoiling of their friends, than the spending of a pittance of their goods. I have seen them in a corrupt sense, 
(m) 1 Th' 5.21.  hold fast that which is good; and making what goodness they have laid out, as fleeting 
(n) Hos. 6.4.  as Judah's, a very morning cloud, and early dew. Sure if there be any faith in mortals, it is less than a very grain of mustard seed, which is the 
(p) Mat 13.33,  least of all seeds, though when it's grown up into high professions, etc. it is the greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree: so that silly deluded men, (hastening to snares as very birds,) come build most strange nests, and lodge in the confidence of its branches. It seems from men's practices, to be of the same certainty. 
(q) Ro. 3.4.  God is true, and that every man is a liar, and experience manifests it, That to trust to man, is but to make 
(r) Isa. 28.15.  lies our refuge, and 
(s) Jer. 13.25.  trust in falsehood: For out of the 
(t) Jam. 3.10, 12  same mouth proceedeth both blessing and cursing; and out of the same heart sweet and bitter. Oh my God, when in distress one shall call aloud to his friend, (as 
(u) 1 Ki 18.27, 29.  the Baaelites to Baal (either he is taking a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must not be awaked: There's neither voice, nor any to answer or regard, if otherwise; yet the friend can't shut up the sea of sorrows 
(x) Job 38.8, 11, 31.  with doors, or say to one's calamity, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further; he cannot bind the sweet influences of the Pleyades, or lose the bonds of Orion. My friend is 
(y) Psal 23.1.  my shepherd, (my friend in Court) therefore I shall not want, is a Logic in its argument unsound; in its experiment unsafe! No mortal 
(a) Can 4.4.  neck is like the tower of David, builded for an Armoury, hnng with 
(z) Psal 35 2.  Bucklers and Shields, against all assaults: Nay, there's none but what may need our help, while we seek its. 
(b) Mat 25.8.  If our lamps be gone out, it's vain to say to friends, Give us of your oil. 
(c) Joh. 3.27.  Christ says, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from Heaven; much less can he give any thing, except he receive it from heaven. Whence it came to pass not unfrequently, 
(d) Ro. 7.19, 17.  That as the evil our friends would not do us, that they do: So the good they would do us, that they do not; or if they do do it, it is no more they that do it, but God by them. Help me then, oh my God, and teach me for Jesus sake, 
(e) Mat 2.25.  to render to friends the things that are of friends; and unto thee, oh my God, the things that are thine. Make me know, that the flesh of my friends is 
(f) Isa. 40.6.  grass, as well as other men's; and though their love comes up like a flower, it's obnoxious to be cut, or trod down like grass, 
(g) Mat 6.30.  which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven: Be thou my friend, who changest not, but lovest to the end; yea, world without end, 
(h) Rev 2.10.  who art faithful to the Death, and givest thy friends a crown of Life; whose love neither death can strike, 
(i) Ro: 3.38, 39  nor life consume, nor angels stop in the way, nor principalities 
(k) Ro. 13.2.  and powers resist to any, but their own damnation; nor things present cross, nor things to come annoy, nor height pull down, nor depth swallow up, nor any other creature do any other injury unto. Oh my God, make me know, men 
(l) Jam. 1.8.  are double-winded, and their love is unstable in all its ways, 
(m) Herald 12.15.  any root of bitterness may spring up, and trouble it; the rust of money 
(n) Mat 6.19.  may corrupt it; thiefs may break in and steal it! An unbridled tongue may ride over it, and spoil it! Oh make me sell all I have to get thy love; thy love which is an inheritance 
(o) 1 Pe 1.4, 5.  incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven, kept through my faith indeed, but by thy power, unto salvation! Make me know, good Lord, That all the friends on earth, can't make one 
(p) Mat. 5.36.  hair of my head white or black; nor by 
(q) Mat 6.27.  taking ever so much thought, add one cubit to my stature! when sick or sorrowful, there's not one to whom I can say, 
(r) Mat. 8.2, 7.  If thou wilt thou canst make me clean and whole! nor can a soul of them say, I will come and heal thee. 
(s) Job 7.38.  But oh my God, he that believeth in thee, though he were dead, yet should he live! Thou canst 
(t) Ezo 37.6.  lay sinews upon dry bones, cover them with flesh, and breath in life! 'Tis but a word, 
(u) Heb 11.3.  and a world with thee! 
(x) Ecc 1.15.  that which is crooked, thou canst make straight; and that which is wanting, thou canst number it. My God, my God, I beseech thee put away my lovers and friends from me, and 
(y) Job 19.13.  let my acquaintance be estranged from that intimacy and perpetuity of converse with them, which hinders my communion with thee! Though of all things below, they are the sweetest, they cannot 
(z) Pro 30, 8.  feed me with food convenient for me; though I am greatly prone to put 
(a) Pro. 25.19.  confidence in them, I find that confidence in them in time of trouble, is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint. Though they have 
(b) Eph 4.28.  stole away too too much of my affection already. Oh my God, let them steal no more! Enable me to 
(c) Luk 14.26.  hate my very father, as much as is requisite, to come a friend to thee! Be thou my whole acquaintance, and let me be ever with thee! either in delights, or desires! Let me be a 
(d) Psal 119.23.  companion of all them that love thee; but let my communion be with, and my strong confidence be in thee, who art never better known than trusted! Amen, my God and Saviour, Amen, Amen!   

10. A Soliloquy with God, of the Holy Scriptures.  
BLessed God 
(x) Job 6.25.  how forcible are right words, thine I am sure are Right, because thine! and right forcible, because they are such 
(y) Jer. 23.29.  hammers as break the very Rocks of my heart! such a fire as pierces into my inmost depths, and reaches the dross, 
(z) 1 Co 2.9.  which no Eye hath seen, or ear heard. Such Monitors, as whoever won't hear, 
(a) Luk 16.31.  would not believe, if one came from the dead! Such as 
(b) Psal. 119.9.  cleanse the ways of even young men themselves, so hard to be reclaimed, that David cries out astonishedly, Wherewithal shall a man young, cleanse his ways! Of very stocks and stones, thy word 
(c) Mat. 3.9.  has raised up children to Abraham! It is 
(d) Isa. 43.1.  the arm of God; yea, and very sword too! God the Father's arm, God the Son's 
(e) 1 Co 4.20.  power, God the 
(f) Eph 6.17.  Spirits sword! Oh my God, 
(g) Pre. 15.23.  words spoken in season, how good are they? but when are thine out of season? When 
(h) 1 Pe 2.2.  we are babes, they are milk, 
(i) Pro 16.24.  sweet and nourishing! When grown, they are strong meat, making us go in thy ways without weariness; yea, 
(k) Psal. 19.5.  run without fainting; when in bitterness of sin and sorrow, they are honey, pleasant and purgative too! When in doubts, they are Counsellors! when fainting, 
(l) Can 2.5.  they are flagons of soul-reviving cordials, and apples of comfort! When quite dead, and the spirit gone, 
(m) Jo. 6. 6●.  the words which thou sayest, they are spirit, and they are life. 
(n) Jam 1.18.  We are begotten by thy holy word, 
(o) psa. 119.93  as many as are born of God We are fed by the same, and no better fed than taught neither. O my God, there is not a 
(p) Psa. 119 105.  word in my tongue, but thou knowest it altogether. Oh would to Christ, there may not be a 
(q) Psal. 139.4.  word in thy Book, but I may know it altogether. 
(r) Jam 1.5.  Praised be thy holy Name, thou dost not say; If any man want wisdom, that then he shall straight be damned for a fool; but sayest, That then he should ask it of thee! Lord, I ask of thee that 
(s) 2 Ti. 3.15.  wisdom to salvation, which thy word alone is able to give me. I observe, That all worldly wise without this, are 
(t) Mat. 10.16.  as harmless as serpents; as wise as doves without hearts: they are wise to do evil in the form of godliness, but to do good as good, they have 
(u) Jer. 4.22.  none; the least knowledge. What are all humane Authors, that I should take knowledge 
(x) Psal. 144.3.  of them? Or the most Learned, that I should make account of them? 
(y) Isa. 55.8, 9  Their words are not as thy words; nor their notions as thy notions! As the heavens are high above the earth: so are thy words high above their words; & thy notions above theirs! Methinks of all the Books in my Study, it is my Bible only which can use the mighty Lords own words. 
(z) Isa. 45.22.  Look unto me, and be ye saved! All the ends of the earth, 
(a) Pro. 8.18, 20, 21, 14.  riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and honours lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of Judgement. That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and I will fill their treasures! Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength. Other Books, I confess, with their much 
(b) Pro. 7.21.  fair speech, do cause me to yield, with the flattering of their lips they force me: But when they draw me from thy Book, oh my Book, I find my going after them, is just a mere ox's going to the slaughter, and a fools to the correction of the stocks. Other books 
(c) Pro. 25.14.  boast in Title pages, of false gifts, and are mere clouds, and wind without rain; but thine gives good and 
(d) Jam 1.17.  perfect gifts, coming down from the Father of lights. 
(e) Pro. 23.35.  They have stricken me with reproofs, and 〈◊〉 was not sick; they have beaten me with inculked rebukes, and my conscience felt it not; but in thy word, the 
(f) Mar. 26.75.  Cocks crow so loud, that they will make one go out of ●●n, 
(g) Luk 22, 62.  and weep bitterly, that one can go out no further. The word 
(h) Mal. 3.2.  is a Refiners fire, and suffers some cleansing inside and out! Theirs maketh Scribes and Pharisees, painted sepulchers, but no 
(i) Joh. 1.49.  true Israelites, in whom there is no guile; 
(k) Isa. 5.12.  the harp and the viol are in their feasts, the tabret and pipe of the excellency of man's wisdom, pleasing words, and tinkling cymbals. But thy Book gives 
(l) Can. 15.1.  the myrrh with spice; the honey with the honeycomb; the wine with milk. Oh my God, thou hast made great 
(m) Psal 136.8, 9  lights in thy word, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, of precepts, promises, and providences; else would this world be 
(n) Joh 10.21, 22  a land of darkness, and the shadow of death: A land of darkness, as hell's darkness itself, of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light would be as darkness. Some deal with thy word, as 
(o) Ru. 1.14, 16.  Orpah with Naomi, go some part of the way with her, kiss her, and then leave her. But oh! may my soul (as Ruth's) cleave to it, and for ever say, Wither thou goest, I will go; where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy ways shall be my ways, and thy God shall be my God. 
(p) psal. 145.10, 11, 12, 14, 15.  All thy works do praise thee, O Lord, and thy Saints do bless thee! they speak sweetly of the glory of thy Kingdom, and talk of thy power; but 'tis thy word makes known to the sons of men, thy mighty Acts of Creation and Redemption, and the glorious Majesty of thy Kingdom! 'Tis thy word upholds all them that fall; and raises up those that be bowed down! Out of thy word thou givest the best meat to them, whose eyes wait upon thee. Thy gracious providences often make me cry out, 
(q) psal. 136.1, 10, 15, 16,  O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! But 'tis thy Word only makes me add, His mercy endureth for ever. For why? 'Tis by thy Word that thou smitest Egyptian lusts in their firstborn! and overthrowest reigning sins, and their hosts of snares and temptations, in the Sea of thy grace, red with the Blood Royal of thy Son! 'Tis by thy Word thou leadest thy people through the valley of sin and sorrow, into the heavenly Canaan! 'Tis thy Word, that in the wilderness of this world, 
(r) Psa. 105.41  opens very rocks that waters gush out! yea, 
(s) Psal. 107.35  that turns my part of this wilderness into a standing pool of mercies; and my dry ground into water springs.   

11. A Soliloquy with the Soul, about its sloth.  
O My soul! my soul! 
(z) Pro. 2.6, 16.  'Tis in thy own conceit, That such a sluggard as thou, is wiser than seven men, that can render a reason. Dost think it enough, as 
(a) Mat. 9.20.  the woman with the bloody Flux, only to come behind Christ, and touch the hem of his garment? Hers was a Flux of Blood; thine of such sins, as made a Flux of Christ's Blood! Her disease but of Twelve years, thine of almost twice twelve, for thou wast conceived in it! 
(b) Mat 9.21.  As she said of Christ, darest thou say of Christian Religion; If I may but touch its garment, I shall be whole? If not, why standest thou idle? hath not God sent thee to hotter work. 
(c) Mar. 6.8, 9, 7.  Is this like a Disciple of Christ, to be projecting for scrip, bread, money in thy purse, and two coats? and not be caring for power of thy unclean spirit, and being shod with the sandals of the Gospel? Art thou my soul, the Bethlehem wherein Christ is born? or the Sodom wherein pride, idleness, and fullness of bread reigns? 
(d) Pro 21.25.  The desire of the slothful Christian to be saved, damns him, because his hands refuse to abound in the work of the lord 
(e) Mat. 19.20.  All these things have I kept from my youth up, was the word of an hypoorite, and very likely an Apostate! 'Tis another diligence 
(f) 2 Pe 1.10.  ensures Election, and secures from falling? Be not 
(g) Jam 1.22. Jam. 1.21.  deceived, oh my soul, with vain words! It is the doing Christian only, that undoes not himself! A man's own words are not (as God's) able to save his soul! Salvation must be 
(h) Phillip 2.12.  worked, not talked out! Examine thyself, prove thyself, oh my soul! for knowest thou not, that great industry is in thee, 
(i) 2 Go 13.5.  except thou be'st a reprobate! Not to do well, or 
(k) Gal 6.  to be weary of well doing, is a manifest token of God's being weary of thee, and thy being so of him! and every such 
(l) Heb. 10.38.  drawing back, finally persisted in, is to perdition! ' Tell not me there is a lion, or singularity in the way; a lion of censoriousness in the streets, I shall be bit! Thou must be so, but who can help it? If Christ 
(m) Mal 10, 16, 25.  will send forth his Disciples in the midst of lions and wolves, 'tis so much the better for you, if you are bit sound, you will be the more like your Master! 
(n) Heb 10.  The sacrifice of thy fame, the offering, the burnt-offering of it, on this account, is such as God will not despise! but has pleasure in: Men indeed, and of repute, for piety, too many won't endure 
(o) 2 Ti 4.3.  sound doctrine! much less convincing conversation! But God will have us do more 
(p) Mat 5.47.  than others, either do, or allow us to do! Oh my soul, look right before thee, Were it not better that men should say to thee and thy graces, Why do ye more than others, by way of accusation, than that Christ, when he comes, should say, What do ye more than others, by way of condemnation. Christ, 
(q) Mat 7.29. Read the four Evangelists.  thy Doctor, teaches not as the Scribes, but as one having authority, Don't thou live as the Scribes, but as one having activity! Christ thy Saviour did and suffered nothing, but miracles for thee, double miracles, to wit, because he did them, and because he did them for thee! and wilt thou stick to do more than ordinary for him! Hear, oh my soul! not merely 
(r) Mat 9.13.  the whole in sin, but the sick in grace, do need the physician! For Jesus came not only that his souls should have life, but that they 
(s) Joh. 10.10.  should have it more abundantly! If thou art not purged to bring forth more fruit, 'tis dubious whether thou art yet engrafted in him, 
(t) Joh. 15.2.  or bearest any! David confidently says, God's right 
(u) See Psal. 63 8.  hand upheld him! but when was that, not when he ran from God; no, nor when he sat still neither; no, nor when he followed God ordinarily neither, but when his very soul followed hard after God. Solomon says, 
(x) Pro 1.16.  That the feet of some run to evil. 'Tis pity that good should be gone unto a slower pace; and know thou my soul, If hell be mostly 
(y) Psal. 119.32. Can. 1.4 Heb. 12.1.  run unto, 'tis a shame but to go to heaven! and thou wast best look to it too; for I mistake, if there be any way to heaven, besides 
(z) See 1 Cor. 9.24.  the Race one! in which itself, be confident, every Runniug won't obtain! Beware of a false gallop. Methinks S. Peter makes 
(a) 2 Pe 1.8.  abounding in grace, and daily addition, the only security against substraction. St. Paul contends for 
(b) 2 Co 8.7.  abounding in every particular grace, I am sure one degree of abounding would not serve his turn neither; Abound 
(c) 1 Th. 4.1.  says he) more and more; nay, and he was for 
(d) 1 Co 15.58.  abounding always too: Youth and old age, prosperity and adversity, etc. still abound. And really all but need, sigh now I remember it, what ever a man hath, and abounds not in, goes for nothing with him who is to be our Judge. From him 
(e) Mat. 25, 29.  saith he) that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath. If so, as 
(f) 1 Ti 5.17.  the Elders must labour, in the word and Doctrine, I protest thou and thy neighbours were best labour hard, in the word and practice of it. 'Tis true, they 
(g) Re. 14.13.  who do rest from their religious labours, have their works follow them; but if they don't follow them too, and cast them at the bar of God, far from that rest. Say not, oh my soul, the wind blows in thy face, set heavenward! 'Tis only a 
(h) Pro. 20.4.  sluggard, that will not blow, by reason of the cold! He that observes the wind (of any opposition) well he may scatter, he will never sow, in the whole seedtime of grace: and he that does but so much 
(i) Eccls 11.4, Pro. 20.4,  as regard the clouds, that drop down scuds of temporal inconveniences, he may dream of reaping in the harvest of glory; but there he may be, and have nothing; no, not a drop itself to cool his tongue. I tell thee, oh my soul, hindrances of thy pious diligence, numberless thou mayst make, not one canst thou find made to thy hand. Thou liest, when thou sayest, 
(k) Pro. 22.13.  There's a lion in the way without! The lion that will by't thee, I mean, for why? 
(l) 1 Pet 5.8.  Satan is a lion, that if but resisted faithfully, will not by't thee at all, unless his flight, and leaving thee to sin alone, will by't thee! The lion, if any be, is in the den of thy brutish sluggish heart, whose lusts, indeed, are roaring lions, ever seeking what gracious motions they may devour! No man stands idle, but he who stands for idleness; and I may boldly say it (as of every wicked Agent, so) of every one wickedly inactive, (who 
(m) Ro. 9.19.  hath resisted his will? Even we poor potsherds, have 
(n) Ro. 9.21.  power over the dab of clay, called ourselves, to make freely one action unto the honour, and another to the dishonour of our Christian names! God gives us, would we but give ourselves 
(o) Phi 2.13.  to will, and to do: We have his, could we get but our own good pleasure. 
(p) Pro. 19.15.  The deep sleep, in which we can't work, 'tis slothfulness casts us into that; the 
(q) Pro. 15.19.  nettles and thorns that make irksome our work, are also its product. Oh my soul, let not idleness 
(r) Pro. 24.30, 31.  hinge thee on thy bed, and give thy hand to thy bosom, 
(s) Pro 26.14, 15.  and then thou shalt find it no more grievous, to set thy hand to God's plough, than to put it to thy mouth, even with thy necessary food. Methinks the Author of the Epistle to the 
(t) See Heb. 6.12.  Hebrews, makes Believers and slothful Professors nothing a kin, his But is so adversative; and I protest, 'tis enough to make thy betters in sacred industry shake again, to once Con Solomon's Observation. Slothfulness not only confuses the materials of one that is going 
(u) Ecc 10.18.  to build, but it even decays that which is ever so well built up already; Nay, and though it be built, ay, and possessed too; though it bea house, a furnished house, yet idleness will make it untenantable! My soul, my soul I though thou wert built up; ay, and Christ inhabited thee; thou must not lend, but give; not some, but all diligence to secure his House, and Hold.   

12. A Soliloquy with Pride.  
OH pride, pride! 
(x) Job 9.30, 31  If I mash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, yet dost thou plunge me in the ditch, and make my own clothes to abhor me! 
(y) Hos. 13.8.  Thou meetest every gift and grace I have, as a Bear that is bereft of her whelps, and dost rend the very cawl of their hearts. 
(z) Goe 49.7.  Cursed be thy anger, for it is fierce; and thy wrath, for it is cruel! Thou hast smitten all God's friends on the cheekbone, nor art thou 
(a) Psa. 3.6, 7.  afraid of ten thousand of God's threaten, which have set themselves ●ound thee! Who 
(b) Job 41.2, 14 21, 26, 28, 29, 33.  can put an hook into thy nose? or bore thy jaw through with a thorn? Who can open the doors of thy face? thy teeth are terrible round about? Thy breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out at thy mouth! The word of God, that lays at thee, cannot hold! the spear, the dart, for the Habergion! God's arrows make thee not fly, thou countest his darts as stubble! Upon earth here is not thy like, thou art made without fear. 
(c) Psal. 55.21.  Thy words are smother than butter, but war is in thy heart! They are softer than ●yl, yet are they drawn swords! Thy voice, oh pride, is 
(d) Goe 27.22.  Jacob's voice, but thy hands are the hands of Esau. 
(e) Job 13.7.  If thou dost speak for God, 'tis wickedly! and if thou dost talk for him, 'tis deceitfully; as Job said of his friends. 
(f) Psa. 45.8.  All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes and Cassia! but they are fearfully 
(g) Judas 23.  spotted by the flesh, if looked into! Gifts, which are 
(h) Job 1 14, 15  thy oxen, thou keepest ever ploughing; lusts, which are thy asses, thou keepest feeding, till the righteous God send his Executioners of Justice, to take both, and slay them, with the sword of vengeance. 
(i) ● Ti 6.6.  Thy godliness is no gain, nor is it profitable to any thing 
(l) 2 Ti 3.5.  with its form, but to gnaw out the heart of the power. 
(l) Heb. 5.7.  The strongest cries of thy prayers are but idle clamorousnesses, and stark sin; it's 
(m) Psal 109.7.  strength is just as its length, but for a 
(n) Mat. 23.14.  pretence! 
(o) Mat. 21.13.  Thy House of prayers is but a Den of thiefs, lying in wait for the curse of being well spoken of by all men! 
(p) Jam 2.18.  Thou showest thy faith by thy works! I'll say it is a faith of miracles, which 
(q) Mat. 17.20.  if one have of it no more than a grain of mustard seed, one shall throw away mountains of the convictions of God on ones soul. 
(r) Heb. 11.33.  'Tis a faith that subdues Kingdoms indeed! For I call God to witness, it subdues the Kingdom of Christ 
(s) Ro. 14.23.  in the Gospel. 
(t) Luk. 7.50.  'Tis a faith, that whatever is of it is sin: 'tis a saving faith with the vengeance; for I confess, it saves itself, though it 
(u) 1 Ti 1.19.  make Shipwreck of a good Conscience! 
(x) 1 Jo 4.28.  Thy love 〈◊〉 Pride is so perfect, that it casts out all fear of the Lord! 
(y) Exo. 20.  and shows kindness to thousands of those both men and things, which love thee, and keep thy Commands! But 'tis true, for God's Statutes, which are thy 
(z) Mat 5.44.  enemies; thou canst not love them: and for God's Attributes, which despitefully use thee, thou canst not pray for them. Thou dost indeed, oh Pride 
(a) Col. 3.2.  set thy Affections on those things which are above, and (to use thy own hearts dialect.) 
(b) Psal. 113.6.  thou dost humble thyself, to behold the things that are done in heaven! But, having said in thy heart, That 
(c) Isa. 45.22.  Thou art God, and there is none beside thee; 'tis the plainest thing of ten thousand, 
(d) Psal. 53.3.  that every of thy affections is gone back to thyself, they are altogether become filthy, there is none that doth good, no not one. 
(e) Psa. 57.4.  Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, and they are deaf adders. Let God 
(f) Job 2.11.  but touch their bone or their flesh, they will curse him to his face. 
(g) Ex. 1.12.  And the more they shall be afflicted, the more they will grow. Let Religion ask them for water, they will 
(h) Jud 5.25. 26, 27.  give her milk, and butter promises in gay professions; but they will put their hands to the mail and their right hands to the devil's hammer; with the hammer they will smite piety, and smite off its head; when they have pierced through its Temples! 
(i) Job 10.14, 12, 13.  They break down godliness with breach upon breach; and rush upon it as a Giant, they take it by the neck, and shake it to pieces, and set it up for their mark. Oh pride, I do not wonder that God hates even the very 
(k) Pro 6.17.  look of thee! For I am sure, thou and all thy father's house, do hate God with a 
(l) Psal 139.  perfect hatred, & count him your enemy! Thy natural language is, 
(m) Eze 21.26, 27.  Remove God's diadem, take off his Crown, overturn, overturn, overturn him! I have sworn by myself, that unto me every knee shall bow. Oh pride, pride! 
(n) Jer. 13.27.  I have seen thine Idolatries, thy Adulteries, and thy Neighing; the lewdness of thy spiritual whoredom, and all thy abominations. 
(o) Hab. 2.16.  The cup of the Lords right hand be turned upon thee, and a shameful spewing be on all thy glory, in my heart and life! 
(p) ●●. 3. 17, 18, 24.  The Lord smite the crown of thy head with a scab, and discover thy secret parts! The Lord take away the bravery of thy tinkling ornaments! In stead of thy sweet smells, let there be in my soul the stink of my own corruption! In stead of thy girdles, a being rend and broken in spirit! In stead of thy well set hair, baldness! In stead of thy stomachers, a girding of sackcloth, and burning by the 
(q) Heb 11.34.  fire of his spirit, In stead of thy beauty! How joyfully could I take the spoiling of rhy Goods! Have thy 
(r) Mat. 5.29, 40.  right eyes bored out, and thy right hands cut off! and not only have thy cloak, but thy coat also took away! God fire out thy 
(s) Lu. 9.58.  Foxes out of their holes, and thy unclean birds out of their nests, that the Son of Man, and Saviour of men, may have where to lay his head, within my 
(t) Eph. 3.17.  heart! May thy Sun, thy Moon, and thy stars be darkened. 
(u) Eccls 12.2, 3, 6, 1.  May the keepers of thy House Tremble, and thy strong men bow themselves, may thy silver cords be loosed, and thy golden bowls be broken; may evil days come on thee, and such wherein my Soul may say, I have no pleasure in thee. 
(x) Job 4.9.  By the blast of God, mayst thou perish, by the breath of his nostrils mayst thou be consumed 
(y) Rev 2.13.  I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is, in the hearts and manners of men! I know thou 
(z) 2 Pe 2.1.  bringest in damnable Heresies, even denying the Lord that bought me! Thou 
(a) Heb. 13.9.  carriest men away with divers and strange doctrines; thou makest the morality of the earth, 
(b) Jam 3.15.  earthly, sensual, devilish. Cursed be the 
(c) Luk 11.27.  womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. 
(d) Psal. 137.9.  Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones! 
(e) Job 20.9.  May the eye of God, which hath seen thee in my heart & ways, never see thee more, nor those places know thee any more! Mayest thou, oh pride, 
(f) Psal. 132.18.  be clothed with shame; and upon all the graces of God, that are thy enemies, may the Crown flourish, so even so.  

(g) Psal. 130.6.  My soul shall wait for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning; I say, more than they that watch for the morning! Amen, Amen, Amen.   

13. A Soliloquy with the soul about Hypocrisy.  
MY soul, my soul! It is said 
(h) Eccls 6.7.  All the labour of man is for his mouth. But who had thought, this could have been true of his religious labour? For really, though 
(i) Josh. 1.8.  the Law ought not to departed out of a man's mouth; so neither aught it to enter in, save 
(k) Mat. 12.34.  out of the heart's abundance. Eliphaz advises 
(l) Job 22.22.  Job, to lay up God's word in his heart, not his mouth: 
(m) Pro 3.1. Prov. 4.23.  and Solomon thought no cabinet so proper to keep divine Commands in, as it: Nay, God himself chooses the Tables of the heart, 
(n) Jer. 31.33.  for to write his Laws in; which makes me conclude, A man may keep his mouth and tongue richly, and yet never keep 
(o) Pro. 21.23.  his soul from troubles: and this, because I know, whatever entereth in at the mouth, (if it find no place in the heart) it goes into 
(p) Mat 15.18.  the belly of hidden lusts, and is cast out into their draught. The things of God which proceed out of the mouth, when they proceed not forth out of the heart, they defile the man. So little a praise is it, to be a man of pure lips, if no more; and especially if that of the 
(q) Isa. 29.  wise man be true, to wit, that though 
(r) Pro. 14.23.  in all labour there be profit, yet lip labour has a direct tendency to poverty! Oh my soul! 
(s) Pro. 11.9.  Solomon tells thee, That the Hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour. I tell thee more, even that he destroys himself: for though he has 
(t) Pro. 7.14, 9, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.  Peace offerings with him, and every day pays his vows; yet he goes forth, in the black and dark angels of his soul, to meet the Devil, diligently to find him, though he decks his bed with covering of religious Tapestry, with carved works and fine linen of profession, though he perfumes his bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon; yet he takes his fill of spiritual whoredom, and solaces himself with atheistical loves, while the good conscience is not at home, but is turned out of doors with a bag of money, not to come home till the day appointed, even that of Death and Judgement! If of any soul alive, this, oh my soul, is true of the hypocritical one, He feedeth on ashes, a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, 
(u) Isa. 44.20.  Is there not a lie in my right hand. 
(x) Pro 12.15.  For the way of such a fool is right in his own eyes: And Christ himself does not deny, but he has his reward. 
(y) Mat. 6.2. Mat. 6.4 Mat. 6.7 Mat. 6.6 Mar. 6.31, 32,  He does his alms to the devil in secret; and that father of his, who seethe him in secret, himself rewards him openly! Though when he prays to God, he uses as vain repetitions as the Heathens do; yet when he prays to the devil, and wishes for devilish things, he keeps in the closet of privacy, and shuts all the doors, at which men may see in. He takes no thought, saving, What shall I do to eat Christ's flesh, or drink his blood, or  me with the garment of his Righteousness. (For after all these things do true Israelites seek) but he seeks first the titular Kingdom of God, and the professional Righteousness thereof, and thinks all these things shall be added. He takes no care for to morrow, but lets that care for itself! Sufficient he thinks, unto the Day of Judgement, if to any day, is the evil thereof. His love, I can't say, is without dissimulation, but sure 
(z) Mat 5.44.  love he does his enemies, God's Laws; bless he does them, though they curse him; and pray for God's promises, though they despitefully use him, and give him no one drop of comfort! He's even almostas perfect as his father, which is inHell, is perfect. This indeed, oh my soul! 
(a) Mat 7.11, 9, 10, 9, 10.  I observe; that being evil, the hypocrite knows how to give good gifts: and though when his friend asks of him for bread, what he gives him, in respect of himself, be no more than a stone, and he takes no more in it; yet to his friend 'tis good bread. Though the Truths he delivers, be to himself serpents, that sometimes sting his soul, yet, as he delivers them, they are fish. What is 
(b) 2 Co 4.2.  handling the Word of God deceitfully, if this be not? to wit, Taking it 
(c) Deu 30.14.  very nigh one, even into ones mouth, and yet not so much as know it, any otherwise than God knows the proud, to wit, 
(d) Psal 138.6.  afar off; to be not a hearer only, but a talker too, and yet not a 
(e) Jam 1.22.  doer of the Word; to do with it many wonderful works, by it to 
(f) Mat 7.22.  cast out devils, and nevertheless (as the Pharisees and Scribes) 
(g) Mar 7.13.  making that of none effect to ones self. Oh my soul! for the love of God let not the Word of God 
(h) Psa 119.103  be sweet to thy mouth, and not to thy taste! 
(i) 1 Th' 5, 26.  Kiss it with no Judas-like but with a holy kiss. 
(k) Mat 13.57.  As 'tis said of a prophet, he is not without honour, save in his own country: so may it be said of the Word, it is not without honour, save in its own proper Region, that of the heart. 
(l) Deu 4.9.  Oh keep thy heart and it, more dear than thy heart's blood, with all diligence; 
(m) Psa 45.1.  Let thy heart indite good matters of it. 
(n) Pro 15.13. Pro. 15.15.  A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance! Let thy heart's mirth in it, be that which sets thy cheerful countenance on it! 'Tis a heart, a heart, a heart I tell thee, a merry heart with it, which hath a continual Feast for the Lord, and from the Lord. In the Word, God opens his heart; to the Word, open thy heart, even the hidden man of thy heart. Oh my soul, 
(o) 1 poe 3.4.  I charge thee before God, who has quickened thee, and before Jesus Christ, who never made or will endure rotten professions; that thou take not the oil 
(q) Psa. 104.15  of the Word, to make thy face to shine without the wine of the Word, to make thy very heart glad in the lord 
(r) Jam 3.5.  The tongue is a little member, don't think that God intended it for the Seat and Dwelling house of his great Law. 
(s) Pro. 16.1.  The answer of the tongue, is indeed from the Lord, but when? When the preparations of the heart in man, be so to 
(t) pro. 15.7.  the tongue, is the dispenser, and should be the disperser of holy knowledge! But the heart, my soul, the heart 'tis, that has the good 
(u) Mat 6.21.  treasure; and as 'tis true, where the treasure is, there the heart will be: so really, where the heart is, there the 
(x) Mat 12.35.  treasure will be, good or bad. O my soul, better is a little in the heart, 
(y) Pro. 15.16.  with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure of God's word in thy mouth, and the trouble of thy tongue therewith. He, 
(z) Heb 11.4.  who being dead, yet speaks of spiritual life, is infinitely far from that speech, which 
(a) Ca 411.  Christ Jesus calls comely; and yet, if he were not, the wise man tells us, Excellent speech 
(b) Pro. 17.7.  becomes not a fool. O my soul, my soul! Take thou 
(c) Mat 10.19.  then no thought, how or what thou shalt speak of God, or his ways, 
(d) Mat 12.35.  but out of the good treasure of thy heart. Let it ever be given unto thee, what thou shalt say. 
(e) Mal. 2.6.  Let the Law of Truth be in thy lips, 
(f) Psal. 15.2.  and speak the truth in thine heart. The way to be without offence, is to be sincere, and make clean the insides of the vessels, 
(g) Phillip 1.10.  the Kingdom of God is not in word!   

14. A Soliloquy with God, complaining of vile Affections.  
OH my God, my God 
(h) Job 19.23, 24.  oh that thy words were now written in the Book of my heart! Oh that they were printed in my conscience! That they were engraven with an iron pen, and lead, in the rock of my heart for ever. But alas, 
(i) Psal. 1.6.  I am afraid of ten thousands of vile affections, which have beset themselves round about me; not only to keep me from holy wisdom, that 
(k) Pro. 6.25.  I lust not after her beauty in my heart, nor let her take me with her eyelids; that I am not ravished with one 
(l) Can 4.9.  of her eyes, and one chain of her neck, 
(m) Job 29.22.  but to make me mock at her sear, and not be affrightned, nor turn back from her swords, to say, among her trumpets, Ha', ha'; to scorn the thunder of her captains, and their shouting! Nay, and as if they themselves were not enough, they say to all temptations, 
(n) Pro 1.11, 12, Pro. 1.17.  Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for all the Laws of God that ever come here; Let us swallow them up alive, as the grave; and whole, as those that go down to the pit. O my God, are not all thy nets spread in vain, in the sight of such Birds, as my worldly affections: who say of heavenly-mindedness 
(o) Ecc 2.2.  that it is mad: and of self-denial, what doth it? who taunt at my conscience, saying, 
(p) Can 5.9.  What is thy beloved more than another beloved? O my God I confess it 'tis but just on me; 
(q) Isa. 1.2.  I have nourished and brought up these children of Belial, and now they rebel against me, domineering over my heart, (the womb that bore them, and the dugs that gave them suck,) so that 
(r) Ro. 7.15.  that which she allows not, she does: that which she would, she does not, and does what she hates. And verily, oh my God, these 
(s) 1 Co 1.27.  foolish things confound the wise within me: these weak, confound the things that are mighty! 
(t) Eccls 4.1.  I have considered all the oppressions that are done under the Sun; but, oh my God, I know none like those done by my vile affections, 
(u) Isa. 3.15.  which beat thy good Teachings to pieces, and grind the faces of my poor convictions, which fence up my way, that I cannot pass from them, and set darkness about all my paths, which make me ever and anon grumble. 
(x) Psal 73.13.  I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency! to wit, while they say to my graces and comforts, 
(y) Jer. 13.18.  Humble yourselves, sit down, for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory! Oh my God, my God 'tis through these that 
(z) Jer. 12.2, 3.  thou so often art near in my mouth, and far from my reins! but oh thou that knowest me, seest me, and tryest my reins; thou knowest that I pray thee, for the love of Christ, to pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. For alas! alas! 
(a) Isa. 57.20.  they are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt! the winds and the seas will obey me, assoon as they; and the worst of it is, 
(b) Pro 29.12.  That my Rulers, my judgement and conscience, do but too often hearken to their lies, and then all their servants, my will, memory, and all other powers are wicked; and so wicked, as that if any good seed get into me, 
(c) Job 14.2.  it comes up like a flower, and is cut down; it flees as a shadow, and continues not. My God, I fear at my yery heart, 
(d) 2 C●● 26. 2●.  That (as Vzziah) I shall be a leper to my death, and dwell in a several house, severed from the near access to thee, and thy holiness, which my heart pants for! because really I am 
(e) Job 2.6.  in the hand of these devils, only thou savest my life! of which itself I am woefully afraid, when many times 
(f) Psa. 46.9.  they make my very warfare with them to cease; they break my spiritual bows, and cut my spears in sunder, and burn the Chariots of God in the fire! Their cursed peace being 
(g) Isa. 48, 18.19.  all the while as a River, and their unrighteousness numerous and boisterous, as the waves of the sea! Their ungodly seed as the sand, and their offspring as the gravel thereof. Oh my God, if whosoever 
(h) Luk 14.11.  exalts himself, shall be abased, sure I should hope these corrupt affections were to be brought down; for sure they exalt themselves above thy own Majesty. When I sometimes query with them, methinks the sum of their answer is, what was said of old, These 
(i) Isa. 48.5.  and these things mine idol hath done, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them; They are steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the works of sin and vanity. They are 
(k) Eph 6.10, 11, 17.  strong in the Devil, and the power of his might, putting on his whole armour, that they may be able to stand against the very sword of the spirit, the Word of God. O my God, 
(l) 2 Ti 3.16.17  I find they are notable for doctrine for reproof, for corrections, for instruction in unrighteousness, that the child of disobedience may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all evil works: they subtly 
(m) 'tis 2.12, 13  teach to deny all spiritual Godliness and Grace, and to live indeed unsoberly, unrighteously, and ungodly in this present world, looking for that hope which makes ashamed! They 
(n) Jam 1.21.  lay apart all spivituality, and godly sineerity, and receive with proud desperateness the devices of Satan, the least of which, is— enough to damn humane souls! To do evil, and to communicate it, they 
(o) Heb 13.16.  forget not; for with such sacrifices, the god of this world is well pleased: and indeed, the Devil is not so 
(p) Heb 6.10.  unrighteous to them, as to forget their labour of love to him: No, he gives them day by day 
(q) Mat 6.  their daily bread, 
(r) Pro 30.8.  and feeds them with food convenient for them, crying, 
(s) Eze. 13.10, 13.  Peace, peace, where there is either none, or but such, as thou, oh my God, wilt rend with a stormy wind, in thy fury, and consume withan overflowing shower in thine anger! and verily, as these vile affections 
(t) Psal. 109.18.  have clothed themselves with cursing, as a garment, so let it come into their bowels like water, and into their bones like oil. Through them, oh my God, through them, oft have 
(u) Jer. 12.7.  I forsaken my house; ay, my tower, (for so is thy Name) I have left my heritage, for so is thy Word, and given Christ, the dearly beloved of my soul, into the hands of his enemies, I have!— 
(x) Jer. 11.20.  But, oh Lord of Hosts, that judgest righteously, that tryest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee have I revealed my cause! Amen, oh Jesus, Amen, for thy Name sake. Amen, Amen.   

15. A Soliloquy with God against self.  
O My God myself has 
(y) Mat 18.15, 16, 17.  trespassed against me; (and thee too!) I have gone, and told it its fault between it and me! It has not heard me, nor have I gained it! I have took with me two, nay three witnesses, the Three that bear record in heaven, and it has refused to hear them! What shall I do, but count it a heathen, and a Publican? I profess, were not Jesus a friend 
(z) Mat 11.19.  to publicans and sinners, all the manners 
(a) Mat 12.31.  of its sin and blasphemy, could not be forgotten! Is not 
(b) Job 22.5.  its wickedness great, and its iniquities infinite? Oh my God, what soul 
(c) Job 34.7, 8.  is like it, it drinks up scorning like water, it goes in company with the workers of iniquity, 
(d) Psal. 1.1, 2.  and walks with wicked lusts! It walks in the counsel of the ungodly, it stands in the way of sinners, it sits in the seat of the scornful: its delight is great in the law of its members, and in that law doth it meditate day and night! 
(e) Pro. 17.1.  Better to it is a dry morsel of temporal loss, and dung, and carnal quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices to God, with striving to be holy! It 
(f) Ecc. 10.20. Mat. 9.20.  curses the King of Heaven in its thought, and thy rich grace in its Bed chamber; and this issue of its mad blood, has been more than of Twelve years. Among them that are used by the Devil, to devour me, there hath not risen an agent greater than self; For, oh my God, thou knowest, from 
(g) Goe 1.1, 2, 3.  the beginning wherein thou createdst the little of heaven within me, or from the very time wherein thou saidst, Let there be light, and there was light within me, thou knowest it has been this myself, which has made me without form, and (as it were) void: and has put darkness on the face of my soul, making it, as if the spirit of God had never moved on the face of it. O Lord, this self is 
(h) Jud.  the Samson, which with its Ass' jaws, has slain many thousands of thy spirits motions and convictions in me. It is the Herod which seeks the life; nay, it is the Judas which betrays, and the Pontius Pilate which condemns, and the Jew which crucifies Christ within me: it is the 
(i) Ex. 1.11, 24.  Pharaoh which oppresses my graces with Task masters, and makes their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of vile service. 
(k) Phillip 3.19:  The end of which, is destruction; the God of which, is the belly; the glory of which, is shame; the nature 
(l) Jam. 3.15.  earthly, sensual, devilish, foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, malicious, envious, 
(m) 'tis 3.3, 4.  hateful, and hating the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man. O God, this self, which 
(n) Hos 12.1.  so feeds on the wind, and follows the East wind, increasing lies and desolations, what a 
(o) Job. 10.22.  land of darkness as darkness itself, does it make my heart; a place of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as the darkness. Lord, if I know my heart at all, sure 
(p) Job 42.6.  I do abhor this self, and desire to repent in dust and ashes! Though all its pleas and arguments are 
(q) Pro. 30.26, 27, 30.  a feeble folk, yet make they their houses so, in the rocks of my heart, that I can't for my life get them out: though its lusts have no King reigning in my heart, (as I know of,) yet so they go forth all of them by bands, that I'll say it, I cannot dissipate them as I would: for, they are as a lion, the strongest among beasts, and which turns not away for any. O my God Selves 
(r) Isa. 1.13, 14.  vain oblations, and its incense, are an abomination to me! its appointed feasts my soul hates, they are a trouble to me, I am weary to bear them! 
(s) Pro. 23.3.  I am not desirous of its dainties, I know they are most deceitful meat. But alas, I too oft eat its 
(t) pro. 9.17.  bread in secret places; and though I know, its wine is a mocker, and its strong drink is raging, 
(u) Pro 20 1.  and whosoever is deceived thereby, is not wise; yet (woe is me) 
(x) Pro; 23.31, 32.  when it is red, when it gives its colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, how do I forget, that at last 'twill by't like a serpent, and sting like an adder? Oh Lord my God When shall I be able (as my Love did) to 
(y) phillip 2, 7, 8.  make myself of no repute, and humble and empty myself? Oh that to morrows 
(z) Ep. 4.26.  Sun might go down upon my wrath against self! for, of a truth, in selfishness dwells all the fullness of Antichrist, and that bodily; and 'tis complete in it, which is 
(a) Col 2.9.  the head of the Devil's principality and power! 
(b) 1 Th' 2.3.  It's exhortation is of deceit, uncleaness, and guile. It's lust opposes and 
(c) 2 Th' 2, 3.  exaltsit self, above all that is called God, or is worshipped, that it may sit in the Temple of God, showing itself, that it is God. Its rise and progress is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders. Oh my God, if 
(d) 1 Ti 1.51.  Christ came not into the world to save selfishsinners (of whom I am chief,) 
(e) 1 Co 15.17.  my faith is vain; and as I live in, I shall die in my sins. But through him strengthening me, I hope I shall (as Paul 
(f) Acts 28.5.  spoke of this viper, though it fasten about me, I hope I shall both pluck out my selfish 
(g) Mat ●5. 29, 30  eye, and cast it from me too: chop off my selfish hands, and cast them from me also; yea, and throw out my selfish holiness itself, unto the dogs. I hope to see the 
(h) Job 31.22.  are mof all self, fall from its shoulderblade, and broken from the bone; broken in pieces 
(i) psal 89 10.  as Rahab; and served as the Midianites, as Sisera; as Jabin, at the brook of Kison. If not, piety must say within me, 
(k) Jer. 10.20.  my Tabernacles are spoiled my cords are broken: there is none to stretch forth my Tent any more, and to set up my curtains! and, woe is me, I must say to the power of godliness (if any live in me) 
(l) 2 Ki 20.1.  set thy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live; for sure I am, selfishness wipes out spirituality of obedience, as a man 
(m) 2 Ki 21.13.  wipes out a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down: Nebuchadneuzar like, it makes a decree, that every power of the powers of the soul, that shall 
(n) Dan 3.5, 6.  hear the sound of its cornets, flutes, and harps, shall fall down, and worship the golden images that it sets up; and if any grace withstand, it must be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace of rage and malice! (like the woman in the Revelation) it is 
(o) Rev 18.21.  arrayed in purple, and scarlet-coloured pretences, decked with gold, precious stone, and pearl, in its professions, and hath in its hand a golden cup, like a sacred chalice; but it is full of abominations and filthiness of its fornications: upon its forehead should be wrote, Mystery, Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the heart and life! wherefore thou, oh my God, send thou the Angel of the Covenant, 
(p) Rev 18.21.  the mighty Angel indeed; and by his holy spirit, let him take up thy word, like a great millstone, and cast this Babylon into the sea, and let it be found no more at all in my soul, or any of its ways! As 
(q) Exo 15, 4, 5.  Pharaoh's chariots, and his host, were cast into the sea, and his chosen captains drowned in the red sea; so let the deeps cover my my selfishness, and all its Egyptian crew, let them sink into the bottom, as a stone! Amen, my God, Amen.   

17. A Soliloquy with my Soul, about its evidences for Divine Love.  
OH my soul, my soul! 
(r) Pro. 24.24, 25.  He that saith to the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse! Shall nations abhor him? I prithee, He that saith to his wicked self, Thou art righteous, shall not God curse him too? shall not Saints also abhor him? 
(s) Psal. 39.1.  Take heed then to thy ways, that thou sin not with thy tongue! Keep the mouth of thy very heart also, with a bridle, while thy wicked lusts are before thee. 
(t) Job 12.6.  The tabernacles of them who rob, and take from God's promises their comforts which they give them not, do prosper for a while; but the wealth of evidences for heaven, 
(u) Pro 13.11.  got by vanity, will be diminished; when they that gather them by laborious consulting the conditions of Gospel promises, shall increase. The devil's beasts do not know 
(x) Isa. 1.3.  their Owner; nor his Asses their Master's crib. Without are dogs, which neither ken their being dogs, but dream themselves God's children; nor believe themselves without divine favour, but conceit them wrapped up in the bowels of it. Thousands, I am out of doubt, thousands of Christ's 
(y) Mat 25.33, 37, 44.  sheep, think they are goats; but thousands of thousands among Satan's goats, think they are sheep! Many, in whom Christ is, think 
(z) 2 Co 13.5.  they are Reprobates; but more, who are Reprobates, think that Christ is in them! Oh my soul! my soul! If I myself, 
(a) Gal. 1.8.  or an angel from heaven, do preach to thee any other Gospel, or salvation on any other Terms, than what are delivered in Christ's own, hold it accursed; He that doth 
(b) Joh ●● 21.  the truth, cometh to that light,  his deeds can be made manifest, that they are of God. 
(c) pro. 18.17.  It being first in thy own cause, thou shouldst seem just, God, thy very near Neighbour, will be sure come search thee out. He leads corrupt 
(d) Job 12.17.  self-counsellers away spoiled, and makes partial Judges of themselves, fools: and believe me, the 
(e) Mat. 24.35.  heaven of presumptions making, shall pass away, but his works will not pass away. 
(f) pro. 20.6.  Most men, and especially the worst, will proclaim every one his own righteousness; but, a faithful friend to God, who canfind for all that? My soul, I am sure thou hast those within thee, which 
(g) Isa. 30.10.  say to thy Seers, see not: and to the Prophets, prophesy not right things, speak unto us smooth things; but for the love of Christ, don't let them make 
(h) Isa. 28.15.  thee make lies thy refuge, and undersalshood hid thyself. God has written to thee excellent things in counsel and in knowledge, 
(i) pro. 22.20, 21.  that he might make thee not guests, but know, not the probability, but certainty of the words of Truth. 
(k) Pro. 3.5, 6.  Lean thou not then to thy own understanding, but in all thy ways acknowledge them. 
(l) Job 38.2, 3.  Don't darken counsel by words without knowledge. Gird up now thy loins, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me! Hath thine eye seen God, 
(m) Job 42.6, 7.  so as that thou abhorrest thyself in dust and ashes? Are all thy springs in God? and 
(n) Psal 121.1, 2  dost thou lift up thy eyes to no other hills, for thy salvation? Dost find, that 'tis indeed his 
(o) Psal. 104.28, 29.  opening his hand, that fills thee with good; and 'tis his hiding his face that troubles thee? Art thou sure of this? Dost verily believe 
(p) Psal. 84.11.  that God is the Sun, who gives thee all thy light, without any efficiency of thy lower Moon and Stars? and that he is the only shield in life and death? Is he in good earnest thy love, 
(q) Isal 119.16.  delight, desire, and joy, and hope? Hast thou said (as he says) to all other gods, Ye shall die? Is 
(r) Psal. 97.10.  he Lord of lords, God of hosts, I am that I am, wonderful, Counsellor and mighty God, 
See the whole Law & Gospel.  Holy, Faithful, and True, in thy inmost reins? Is his Son God-man, crucified under his Father's wrath, satisfactoriously, meritoriously, and victoriously dying, rising, triumphing, and interceding at his Father's right hand, thy life, light, bread, raiment, ark, City of Refuge, Priest, Prophet, King? Is God the 
(s) Joh. 14.18.  holy Spirit, thy Enlightner, Quickener, Convincer, Converter, Comforter? Is thy being shapen in sin, and conceived in 
(t) Psal 51.3, 5.  iniquity, ever before thee? Dost. set thy secret sins before thee, thy 
(u) Psal 90.8.  hidden ones in the light of thy countenance? Dost smell them stink, ready to choke thee, bowing thee, ready to break thee, and killing thee all the day long? Tell me, is the Law the delight of thy eyes, and dost keep it in them? Dost make it a light to they feet, as well as thy brains? Canst say without lying, thou hast not a 
(x) 2 Co 1.9.  comfort in all the world, but it springs from one or other of the Lord's promises? Does his threatening 
(j) Isa. ult. 2, 3.  word make thee tremble? Dost live by sense as a horse; by carnal reason, as a man; or by faith as a Christian? Has thy faith any 
(z) Acts 26.18.  eyes, do they see God, heaven, helf, death, and Judgement, every day, every duty, every time, of seriousness; and that as real, certain, indisputable things? 
(a) Jer. 6.10.  Has thy faith any ears, can it and does it hear the voice 
(b) Job 35.10.  of God, in his Word and providential works, that which natural men do no more hear, than stocks and stones? Don't thy natural 
(c) Eze 12.2.  ears hear the Minister speak a great deal, while thy spiritual ears don't hear God speaking one word of it? Don't lie, but tell me, Hast ears for God's mouth, as thou hast for men? Has thy faith 
(d) Psal 135.  a nose, one that smells myrrh, aloes, cinnamon in every Truth, and every good notion, practice, and person, together with fire and brimstone in every sin, though sweetened with profit, pleasure, honour, love of Kings themselves? What manner 
(e) Psal 34 8.  of Taste has thy faith? Does secret converse with God, in bed, at board, on horseback, in closet, etc. Does converse with thyself, and Christ's members (as such)? Do duties of all kinds, such as most exclude thy own carnal ease, and men's carnal peace and fayour? Do these taste indeed, and in good earnest, so well 
(f) Psal 119.103.  as honey to thy 
(g) 1 Pe 2.3.  ? Do they affect thee with so palpable a pleasure and sweetness? And lastly, for God's sake tell me, what feeling is thy faith of? Can't it let thee go without its robes about thee, but straight feel the sterming wind of God's wrath, and scorching Sun shine of his fury? and that as plain, as thy naked body would feel a December frost, or March wind, on a hill? Is God thy All, art thou all Gods, and that in secret sober sadness? Canst vow and protest to Father, Son, and Spirir, that thy heart labours after, and can't, and won't be satisfied without 
(h) 2 Co 13 14.  the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God the Father, and the communion of God the Spirit? If so, Go in peace, and the God of peace be with thee. Amen, Lord Jesus, Amen, Amen.   

17. A Soliloquy with the World.  
OH World, World! 
(i) Joh. 8.48.  Say I not well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Nay rather, is not thy name 
(k) Mar 5 9  legion, and art thou not many abaddon's, and Apollyons? I am sure thou hast oft caught Saints themselves, and they have been 
(l) Luk 8. 29, 33.  bound with thy chains and fetters, breaking God's holy bonds. And as for unregenerate Swine, into whom thou interest, and art not soon dispossessed, thou hurriest them down into the lake, where they are clothed with fire and brimstone! The Devil had less specious 
(m) Ge 3.  apples of old, to delude eye with, than thy apples of gold in pictures of silver be. If that serpent did not eat and feed men with thy dust, we might triumph over him; oh Serpent, where is thy sting? 
(n) Joh 8.44.  oh Devil, where is thy victory? He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the Truth; and wast not thou a like apostate, of whom God said, Thou wast very good, and by and by 
(o) Goe 1.31. Gen. 3.17.  cursed thee! that once barest good fruit for the use of man's body, now nothing but thorns and thistles, at least husks, for soul and body? I'll say't, 
(p) Jud 6.  Thou keptest not thy first estate, but art now reserved to the judgement of the great Day! And I'll vow my judgement is, that if I done't in the mean time drownthee in the 
(q) Rev 12.15.  flood of my penitential tears, and burn thee out of my soul with the fire of my love and zeal, for a better world, the flood cast out of thy mouth will swallow me up, and I shall find the God of this world a consuming fire! For if any Devil 
(r) Heb 2.15.  has the power of death, I dare say 'tis the world, to whose 
(s) Eph 6.12.  principalities and powers, mankind so conforms its life! 'Tis the world makes every 
(t) Luk 22.3, 5.  Judas in it, and we betray not Christ to our lusts, till that enter into us, and covenant with us: Nor keep we back any thing from him, till this 
(u) Act 5.30.  Satan fills our hearts, to oppose the Holy Ghost! Thou, oh world, art the Satan that standest ever at our right hands, to resist us! and I vow, I think 
(x) 2 Changed 10.10.  thy little finger thicker, than the loins of all the Devils in hell. If the Saints must judge 
(y) 1 Co 6.2.  the world, and the things of the world, I doubt not but they will judge them the worst enemies, next to lusts after them. If they resist the Devil, he will fly from them; but the earth abideth for ever a Tempter, and its Herod's which seek the life of Christ within us, will never be dead. We may choose, whether we will give any place to the Devil, or no; but the world must have our backs, on which it makes (but too often) very long furrows: and our bellies, in which it leaves its Idol-gods. Of all its clothes, how few there be that won't be found naked, and uncovered with Christ's Garments. I cannot think without horror, and surely did it poison as many bellies as souls, it would have few to feed. Oh world, world! Miserable are thy men, and miserable the servants, 
(z) 2 Changed 9.7.  which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom, though with that pleasure, of which the world is not worthy. I assure 
(a) Ecc. 1.8.  thee, my eye is satisfied with seeing thee; and my ear with hearing thee! The Devil brags of thy 
(b) Mat 4.9.  All these things; but God calls thy things, things which are not: and if that damned Ghost did not think my soul worth a thousand of thee, he would scarce be so busy with me, to give my soul in exchange for thee. I know by my experience, 
(d) Jer. 2.13.  thy cisterns are broken, and can hold no water. My comforts in eating and drinking, do tell thy bread and wine, as 
(e) See 2 Gen. 45. Mat. 7.10.  Joseph his Brethren, It was not you, but God, that sent me hither. My God knows. I pity as many as gather their grapes from thy thorns; and hold them children, who take their figs from thy thistles. Thy 
(f) Mar 11.20.  fig trees are cursed, and dried up from the roots. Till Christ's blessing return, they are the roots of all evil. I confess thou hast 
(g) Luk 12.19.  much goods laid up for many years; but hang thee and them too, thou hast none for eternity. 
(h) Job 14.11.  As waters fail from the sea, and the flood dries up: so thy Goods lie down, and rife no more. As oft as I have 
(i) Psal. 37.25.  seen the righteous forsaken by thee, I never saw them so more brutish, than 
(k) Psal 104.21.  the beasts of the wilderness, as to beg bread from thee. A man may possess all thy things, and yet not so much as have any thing to 
(l) 2 Co 6.10.  possess. One blessing of God's makes rich. Ten thousand of thine can't so do! For thee and thy followers are reserved to the Day of Destruction; and in the interim, even that which is wanting, cannot be numbered; and that which is, is besides vexation, no more than vanity. Oh world, world! I protest 'tis Jesus that must feed me with food convenient for me, and  me too; thy daily bread without his will starve me. 
(m) Mat 13.44, 46, 52.  If the Kingdom of heaven be treasure, thou art a dunghill: If a pearl, thou a cherry-stone. Go, get thee and offer thy accursed things to thy achan's; money, and change of raiment to Gehezies; fat  to thy saul's; thy Dalilahs to thy sampson's; preferments to thy Balaams; and thy pre-eminence to thy Diotrephes! Lay thy suares in Mizpah, and spread nets in Tabor; use thy laws and menaces, thou shalt make no Demas of me. I have seen thee smite the Body of Religion with 
(n) Job 2.7.  sore boils, from the sole of its feet to thy crown! I have seen thee shaving many poor Christians, till their spiritual strength has gone from them, and they have 
(o) Jud. 16, 17.  become weak, and been like other men! When I myself have oft been going about my God's service. Oh world, world! how hast thou 
(p) Nu. 22.22, 24.  (as the Angel to Balaam) stood as an adversary in my way, against me? and made as it were a wall on this side, and a wall on that! 
(q) Jud. 14.9.  How rarely have I found honey in thy carcases? How often venom in thy sweets? God 
(r) Job 35.10.  deliver me from the songs that thou givest in the height. Better is a Dinner of herbs, where the love of my God is, than all thy stalled oxen, and thy love therewith! 
(s) Pro. 15.17.  Thy goodness is as a morning dew, and as an early cloud, it passes away: but of thy temptations, one generation passes, and another still comes! Thy men are every one a Jannes and Jambres: Thy things are all Sampson's Foxes, with Firebrands to destroy piety.  
Yet will I be just, oh world! Fleire give the Devil his due, I do acknowledge it is my sin that has made thee thus thy enemy! it is my own fault I am hurt by thee; and therefore say I now well to my own heart, my polluted heart, Thou art a Samarita, and hast a Devil.   

18. A Soliloquy with the Lord, of the weakness of Grace.  
OH my God, my God I read in thy word that he is 
(a) Psal 41.1, 2, 3.  blessed, who considereth the poor, that thou wilt deliver him in time of trouble: That thou wilt preserve him, and keep him alive, and make him blessed on earth! That thou wilt not deliver him over into the hand of his enemies: That thou wilt strengthen him on the bed of languishing, and make his bed in his sickness! Oh my God, how oft has my faith considered all my poor distressed comforts and hopes? How oft has the blessing of them, when they have been ready to perish, come on my faith? Now therefore, oh my God Deliver my faith in time of trouble, preserve it and keep it alive; bless it, and deliver it not over to the hands of its enemies! Strengthen it on the bed of its languishment, and make all its bed, on thy promises, in its sickness! As with a sword in its bones, my lusts do reproach it, while they daily say to it, 
(b) Psal 42.10.  Where is now thy God? peace and joy, its 
(c) Psal 38.11, 12.  lovers and friends stand aloof from its sore; and hope and trust, its very kinsmen, stand afar off. They that seek after its life, lay snares for it; and they that seek its hurt, speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long! Oh my God, its 
(d) Isa. 1.5.  whole head is sick, its whole heart is faint, 
(e) Pro. 24.11.  it faints in the day of prosperity, its strength is so small. It is not with it, as in the days of its 
(f) Job 4, 5, 6, 19  first Love, when the Secret of God was upon its Tabernacle; when the Almighty was yet with it, and its children (of Repentance, Zeal, and Heavenly mindedness, etc.) were about it! When it washed its steps with butter, and every rock itself poured it out rivers of oil! when its root was spread out by the waters of Divine Love, and the dew lay all night on its branches! Now 
(g) Jer. 15.9.  she that hath born seven languishes, she has given up the ghost, her Sun is gone down, while 'tis yet day. My faith, oh my God, now 
(h) Isa. 59.10.  gropes for the wall, like the blind; gropes as if it had no eyes, stumbles at noon day, as in the night! My hope lays its 
(i) 1 Ki. 23.30.  carcase in its own grave, & mourns over him, saying, Alas my brother! Oh my God, what shall I do! All my graces seem to have said to thee as 
(k) Exo 10.29.  Moses to Pharaoh, We will see thy face no more. All their 
(l) Gen 48.10.  eyes are as Israel's, dim, they cannot see: their ears are shortened, that they cannot hear thee: and their arms, that they cannot lay hold on thine. Their leanness rising up in them, bears witness against them. 
(m) Job 17.18.  Their breath is corrupt, their days are extinct, the graves are ready to them. If their Offspring of Duties be multiplied, oh my God, 
(n) Job 27.14.  it is for the sword of my vile corruptions; 
(o) Jer. 15.3.  to their sword, to slay: to their dogs, to tear: to their fowls and beasts, to devour and destroy. Those very duties, that e'er while were 
(p) Lam 4.5.  brought up in scarlet, in the very blood of Jesus, how do they embrace even dunghills of rotten, stinking Formality, etc. the skin of which being broken, becomes loathsome. 
(q) Job 7.5.  The hand of faith has offended my lusts, 
(r) Mat. 18.8, 9  and they have cut it off! The eye of faith has offended them, and they have plucked it out! My hope has offended them, and they have made it ashamed! They have tied millstones about the necks of all my souls graces, and thrown them into the depths of Distrust! But oh my God, my God though the 
(s) Gen 49.23, 24.  Archers have sorely grieved them, and shot at them, wilt thou yet return their bow to its strength, and shall the arms of their hands be made strong, by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob? From whom is the shepherd and stone of Israel. 
(t) Hos. 13.9, 14.  Though they have destroyed themselves, in Thee is their help! Ransom thou them from the power of the grave, and redeem them from death! Say to their death, that thou wilt be its plagues; and to their graves, that thou wilt be their destruction! So shall the very dead praise thee, and those that have gone down to the pit, remember thy Name! Nor shall my lusts, my 
(u) Eccls 9.4.  living dogs, be better than my graces, though dead Lions I Redeem, oh my God, 
(x) Psal 103.4.  Redeem their life from Destruction! And, for Christ's love, 
(y) Psal 66.9.  hold thou their souls (as well as mine) in life! Without thee, oh Jesus, my life, my food, my raiment, my All; without thee, what is the life of my grace? it is even a 
(z) Jam 4.14.  vapour that appears, and but appears for a time, and but a little time, and vanishes away: 
(a) Job 24.22.  No man is sure of their life; no, though 
(b) Job 2.4.  all that a man hath he would give for their life! But, oh by thee, in whom my grace's life is hid, may it 
(c) Luk 21.28.  lift up its head, and may its salvation draw nigh! The winds and seas obey thee, make thou the 
(d) Rev 20.13.  sea of my corruptions to give up its dead! So shall my love for thee be stronger than death, and my jealousy 
(e) Can 8.7, 8.  for thy glory, be cruel to them, as the grave; the coals thereof shall be coals of fire, which have a most vehement flame. No waters shall quench, or floods drown it, though the devil would give all the substance of this great house of the world for it, it should utterly be contemned.   

19 A Soliloquy of vain Thoughts.  
OH my soul, my soul! Thy thoughts are thy 
(a) Gen 49.3, 4.  Reubens, thy firstborn, thy might, the beginning of thy strength, the excellency and power, if good: but if unstable as water, thou canst not excel. Paul says, That 
(b) 1 Co 13.11.  when he was a child, he thought as a child: when a man, he thought as a man. But verily, when I was a child, I thought as a beast; when a man, I thought as a child. The mighty God 
(c) Psal 139.2.  understands thy thoughts afar off. Oh that thou wouldst understand them better, far and near! For solemnly I tell thee, that though 
(d) Heb 4.13.  all things are naked and open before the God, with whom I have to do, yet are they secret sins which he is said to set before him, and hidden ones that he puts in the 
(e) Psa 9.7.  light of his countenance! Though he be justly called 
(f) Heb 12.23.  Judge of all, yet particularly and chief he is said, Coming to judge 
(g) Ro. 2.16.  the secrets of men! Of every idle word, an account must be given; but 
(h) Mat 12.36, 37.  of every idle thought, which produces millions of them, what account can be given? If (in my sense) I was to be justified by my words, I should scarce hope well! But alas, if a man offend not 
(i) Jam. 3.2, 6, 8.  in word, yet if he does in thought, he is no perfect man. Add hereto, that the tongue is no such fire, no such world of iniquity, no such untamable and unruly member; but the heart is by thousands, and by ten thousands, worse! 
(k) Ecc 10.14.  Fools indeed cannot rule their words, but the wisest cannot rule their thoughts. David protests he hated vain thoughts, but never once boasts of a conquest over them. Besides, what are our words? They are even a vapour which appear for a little while, and vanish away! Evil thoughts are a sin that dwelleth in us, and tell me, oh my soul, oh tell me, 
(l) Jer. 4.14.  how long shall they lodge within thee They have lodged in thee so long already, that they have begot a hundred monsters, opinionative, affectional, and practical. I protest in God's presence, to thy face, 
(m) Ecc 4.1.  I have considered many of the oppressions that are done under the Sun; and like to that of thine own, by evil thoughts, I know not any. My God alone does know, what I would give, to have my thoughts taught 
(n) 'tis 2.5.  young women's duty, to be discreet, chaste, and keepers at home; good, obedient to the dictates of my own conscience, that the word of God might not be blasphemed: to be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, and patience: to be in behaviour as becometh holiness. But alas, alas! 
(o) Job 2.2.  their feet abide not in their home; like the devil, they are mostly going to and fro in earth: they are very 
(p) Gen 49.21. Pro. 22 6.  Naphtalis, Hinds let lose, and they love to wander. Let me train them, ever so much, in the way wherein they should go; 
Psal 90.9. Mark 14.20.  yet instantly they will departed from it. If any good be thrown in upon them, yet it passes away like a Tale that is told! but rarely falls a seed of evil, but it takes root, and bears, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred fold. As for all foregoing good inclinations, and purposes, they make them as grass upon 
(q) Psal 129.6. Hos. 4.11. Rom. 11.8.  the house tops, which withers before it grows up. In a word, there is much of whoredom, and wine, and new wine in them, which utterly take away the heart, and infuse a spirit of flumber: The form of Godliness, they sometimes feed, even 
(r) Luk 15.22, 23.  with the fatted calf, and cloth with the best robe, putting rings on its fingers, and tinkling ornaments about its feet too. But for the power of Godliness, they serve it, as Samuel did Agar, they hue it in pieces. As for the object of Devotion, the Holy God, ah my soul, my soul! How abominates he vain thoughts, he removes his way far from them, he 
(s) Pro. 5.8. Pro. 4.15. See Pro 6.16, 17, 18  will not come nigh the door of their house; he, be sure of it, avoids their mansions, passes not by it, turns from it, and passes away. Every vain thought is a virtual Gergesen, beseeching Christ to get him gone out of the region of the heart; and ordinarily, a few serve to send him going. As for the heart itself (the subject of Devotion) vain thoughts, take the Kingdom of Grace out of it, and very reason too, in a great measure, they drive it from Saints, yea, from men: They make its dwelling with 
(t) Dan 4.31, 32. Hos. 12, 1.  beasts of the field, they make it to eat the grass with carnal oxen; with Ephraim to feed on the wind, and follow after the Eastwind; yea, they sometimes turn the children 
(u) Mat 3.9.  of Abraham into stones, obdurate and insensible. As for acts of Devotion, 
(x) Hos. 13.3.  Prayer, Meditation, etc. Vain thoughts make them, First, to be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew; as the chaff driven with the whirlwind, out of the floor; and as the smoke out of the chimney, which leave no sign behind them. And Secondly, to be mere 
(y) Jud. 12, 13.  clouds without water; trees whose fruit whither, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots: raging waves of a sea of hypocrisy, foaming out the souls shame: they make them grievous to us, and odious to God. As for the means of Devotion, holy Meditation alone, holy conference with Christians, holy use of God's Word, and good Books. Oh my soul, sadly dost thou know, how vain thoughts make one 
(z) Rev 3.16.  spew them out of one's mouth, or at least taste no more in them, than in the white of eggs. Thou knowest, vain thoughts make the heart (like the Leviathans) firm as a stone; yea, hard as a piece of the nether millstone; and then let God's Books, or his Saints, or both say to us (as Job to his friends) 
(a) Job 27.11.  I will teach you by the hand of God, that which is with the Almighty, will I not conceal; Yet they will be utterly contemned, and be to us Physicians of no value. As for the Opposites and Contraries of Devotion, Pride, earthlymindedness, Atheism itself; vain thoughts are those, which took them out of the 
(b) Psal 22.9, 10. Psal. 25 13.  womb; upon vain thoughts they were cast from the very breasts; and vain thoughts were their Gods, even from the belly. Vain thoughts make them to dwell at ease, and to lift up their heads above the heads of Humility, Heavenlymindedness, and practical piety. All things methinks, of every sort, says to vain thoughts, You are our 
(c) Psal. 142.5.  refuge, and our hiding-place: You are the hills, whence cometh our help? They will not in truth, my soul! they will 
(d) Psal 3.5. Hos. 13.8.  not be afraid of ten thousands of Sermons, which set themselves against them: They will lie down, and sleep, and awake, while vain thoughts sustain them, Sermons, Conferences, etc. would meet every of thy sins, and rend the cawl of their hearts. They would make their strong holds like 
(e) Nah 3.12.  figtrees, with the first ripe figs; if they were but shaken, they would fall. Were it not, that 
(f) Psal 125.2.  as the mountains stand round about Jerusalem: so vain thoughts stand so about my corruptions, that the means of Grace can't have full reach of them. Would my God but cast down my 
(g) 2 Co 10.5. Rev. 18 2. Psal. 10.4.  imaginations, and bring my thoughts into captivity, and the obedience of Jesus, then should my heart be no longer the habitation of Devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird! But hear, oh my soul, if God be in all thy thoughts, vanity and sin will be in all thy best words and deeds! For the love of Christ, go cry to thy God, and say, 
(h) Pro, 6.2.  Thou art snared with the thoughts of thy heart! Beg him for Christ's sake, that their root may be dried up, and they may bear no more fruit; yea, though they should bring forth, 
Hos. 9.16.  that he would stay even the beloved fruit of their womb, and dash their little ones against the stones. Now consider this, oh ye the poor beginnings of grace and comfort within me, least vain thoughts 
(i) Psal 50.22.  tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you.   

20. A Soliloquy of idle words.  

(a) Gen 15.5.  LOok now toward Heaven, oh my soul, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them! Lift up thine eyes, 
(b) Gen 13.14, 16.  look abroad from the place where thou art, Northward, and Southward; Eastward, and Westward. if thou canst tell the stars, and count the dust of the earth, then may thy 
(c) Job 6.25. Mar. 7.18.  words also be numbered; words, of which there's not one, but is very forcible, whether right or no: for though (but too oft) thou makest the words of God of none effect in one sense, God will never make thine of none effect in another, but will by them, 
(d) Mat 12.37.  or justify, or condemn thee. 
(e) Jam 3.10.  Out of every of thy so many words, a blessing or curse is sure to proceed; and woe be to thee, if God make thee an offender, for a word unrepented of. For as every unsanctified tongue, so every vain word thereof, is itself a world of iniquity; yea, behold 'tis 
(f) Psal. 51.5.  shapen in iniquity, and in sin doth the heart conceive it. 'Tis by nature a 
(g) Eph 2.3.  child of wrath, even as other works of disobedience; 'tis of its 
(h) Joh 8.44. Joh. 8.48. Luke 10.17.  father the Devil, and the works of its father it will do, damn itself, and its corrupted hearers. Say I not well to every of thy idle words then, Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Devils, without all peradventure, they are; and oh would God, thou couldst now go, say, Lord, these devils are subject to me in thy Name. If 
(i) 1 Joh 3.8.  such as commit sin, be of the devil, I am certain they are his genuine seed and issue; for why, 
(k) Ro. 3.23.  sin dwelleth in them, and they are carnal, sold under sin, they lay on thee weights, and make actual sins easily beset thee. Yea farther, oh my soul, thy idle words have not only sinned all of them, and come short of the 
(l) Ro. 7.13, 14.  glory of God; but they have made many to be sinful through them, who else had not known the sins imparted to them. In a word, idle words (the plague of their plagues is,) they become 
(m) 1 Jo 2.2.  propitiations for sin, and not for ones own only, but the whole companies. God's (word is indeed the 
(n) Psal 119.105. Read Isa. ●. 8. Phil. 2.16.  light to our feet, and the (due) lantern to our paths! But the very truth is, there's (a kind of ignis fatuus) a false light, sparkling out of ones own words, which generally does lead our feet, and chalk out our paths. Nor have evil communications a little influence on like manners: every word of ours, is ordinarily a word of life, in a sense, God rarely holding our hearts, when once 
(o) Psal. 12.4. Psal. 2.  our lips are our own, and our hands ever breaking his bonds asunder, and casting his cords behind us, assoon as his 
(p) Josh 1.8.  Law is departed out of our mouths. Nor yet, oh my soul, mayest thou think, that thy tongue or thy words are sufficient lodgings for Divine Love, they are but for walks, to move and appear in. Thy honour to God, though it be but barren, without the fruit, and the calves of thy lips, yet these oblations are odious to the very soul of God, when they are not offered from out the very soul of man. Though stinking breath argues rotten lungs, and I am out of doubt, thou art most impure, if thy speech be not seasoned with salt; yet this I utterly set at naught, unless thou have 
(q) Col 4.6. Mat. 9 5  salt in thyself also. The cleaner thou sweepest before the 
(r) Mic. 7.5.  doors of thy mouth, oh my soul, sweep so much the cleaner before the doors of thy heart too, and within its chambers; otherwise, thy 
(s) Psal 57.8.  tongue will be indeed thy glory, but no more than thy vain glory. Add whereto, 
(t) Mar. 3.24, 25.  that the Kingdom of God cannot stand in humane souls, wherein the heart and tongue stand divided against each other. The practical impieties of an hypocrite, 
(u) Job 29.17.  will break his own jaws, and pluck the spoils of Grace out of his teeth. If his tongue break not its own word, his hands will. Being evil, he may speak great things, but not good to himself, who speaks them, nor very likely to be good to others, coming through so polluted lips as his. But, oh my soul, David says, The words of the Lord are pure words: And his son tells thee, The 
(x) Psal 12.6.  words of the pure are 
(y) Pro. 15.26.  pleasant words. Oh count thou them only pleasant, which are pure; and them pure, which are godly. Christ, who in one sense 
(z) Mat 10.19.  forbids thee, in another commands thee, to take thought how, and what thou shalt speak. 
(a) Ecc. 5.1.  Be not rash with thy mouth, says Solomon: Be 
(b) Jam 1.19.  slow with it, says James. 
(c) 1 Co 14.19.  Five words with understanding one's self, and with edifyingness to others, are better than ten thousand without the same, says Paul. The wisest of men declares it, That acceptable words he did not find, without 
(d) Ecc 12.10.  seeking them out. The most godly of men professes, it cost him good 
(e) Psal. 39.1.  heed to keep sin out of his tongue, and sometimes 'twas a bridle only, which could rule it. A blessed prophet mentions 
(f) Mic 7.5.  doors of the mouth, and calls for Porters to keep them to. Were it an easy thing, graciously to open those doors, Why prayed 
(g) Psal. 51.15.  David so urgently to God, to open his for him? Were it easy to keep them duly shut; one chapter in St. James his Epistle, would swarm with errors. Though one love pureness of heart, 'tis not the natural gift, but the supernatural 
(h) Pro 22.11.  grace of ones lips, for which the King of Heaven will become our friend. In the multitude of words uttered by the best, if there be not a multitude, yet neither is there any 
(i) Pro. 10.19.  want of sin. Thy sad and woeful experience tells thee, Thou art apt to 
(k) Exo 23.2.  follow those multitudes to do evil. Wherefore do this now, oh my soul, and deliver thyself, go humble thyself to God and give not sleep to thine eyes, 
(l) Pro. 6.3, 4, 2  or slumber to thy eyelids, till thou hast confessed it to him, that thou hast been snared with the words of thy mouth, and taken by the words of thy mouth, which had they been savoury and sound, they had been 
(m) Pro 8.11, 19  better than rubies, and their fruit better than gold; yea, fine gold: but being corrupt, 
(n) Psal 58.4.  their poison is like the poison of a serpent; and when best painted, they are but stinking sepulchers. Go, and beseech the Christ of God, to give thee a 
(o) Luk 21.15. Rom. 15.6. 1 Cor. 13.1.  mouth and wisdom; wisdom with my heart, and mouth also, to glorify him all the day long; to make his Word the rule and mould, wherein to cast mine. Would God, oh my soul, the tongue of men and Angels were but one; and the praises of God were as incessantly sung aloud on earth, as in heaven! Would God there were no such things, as tongues devising 
(p) Psal 52.2.  mischiefs, and like sharp razors, working deceitfully! Would God there were no tongues of the beast, save in the mouths of beasts! and 
(q) Psal 49.3.  the meditation of humane hearts, were so of understanding, that the mouth of the whole world would be of wisdom! Would God iniquity were more than tongue-tied, even rooted out; and the words of men, 
Psal. 12.7. Mat. 12.34.  would become as the words of God, pure words, tried in the furnace purified seven times! But seeing so it (sadly) is, that out of the abundance of my heart's wickedness, my tongue is hasty to speak. And seeing in the 
(r) Job 20.12. Pro. 10.14 Mal. 2.7.  mouths of the most, wickedness is sweet, and holiness bitter as gall: seeing the mouths of fools are near destroying themselves, and others too: Seeing God will also require his Law at thy mouth; and Christ Jesus owns not those for his, whose lips are not as 
(s) Can 3.8, 11.  thread of scarlet, and speech comely; whose lips drop not as the honey comb; and under whose tongues there's not honey and milk. 
See Can 5.13.  I charge thee, oh my soul, before God, and the elect Angels, that thou slack not prayer, till thou hear God saying to me; All days of thy life, I will be with thee, and with thy mouth, and 
(t) Exo 4.12.  teach thee what thou shalt say.   

21. A Soliloquy of evil Company.  
CUrse ill company, oh my 
(a) Psal 103.1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  soul, and all that is within me, curse its wicked name! Curse it, oh my soul, and forget not all its injuries! which sets afoot all thy iniquities, and strengthens all thy diseases, which reduces thy spiritual life to destruction, and crowns thee with the thorns of its loving kindness! which fills thy mouth with evil things, 
(b) Isa. 65.4.  & broth of abominable things! 
(c) Psal. 103.12.  As far as the East is from the West, so far hath it removed the thoughts of my God, and my Christ from me. Even when I remember it, 
(d) Job 21.6.  I am afraid, and trembling takes hold on me. For it hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong in grace, have been slain by the wiles of it. Satan's agents are subtle spirits, and his ministers a 
(e) Psal 105.4. Psal. 76.7. Psal. 76 1, 2, 3.  flaming fire! They, even they are to be feared, and who can stand not guilty, or at least not accessary in their sight? In evil company. Satan is well known, his name is great in evil company, in evil company also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in evil companies. There breaks he the arrows of the Almighty, the shield of Faith, the sword of the Spirit, and the whole armour of God. Oh my soul, 
(f) Psa. 1.1.  'tis bad walking in the counsel of the ungodly; 'tis worse standing in the way of sinners, and to sit in the feat of the scornful is worst of all; unlikely to dwell in God's holy Hill, is that man, in whose eyes a vile person is not contemned. Of evil company, 
(g) Job 42.5, 6.  I had long heard, by the hearing of the ear; but when my eye saw it, and by sad experience I felt it, I abhorred it, and myself for no more abhorring it, in dust and ashes. 
(h) Psal 149.8.  For it binds the motions of the holy Spirit in chains; and the Dictates of conscience in fetters of iron: and it works with 
(i) 2 Th' 2.10.  such deceivableness of unrighteousness, in them that perish by it, that few who 
(k) Pro. 2.19.  go in unto it, return again, nor take hold such of the paths of life. Thy good company be to me, but as a very lovely 
(l) Eze. 33.32.  song, of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well upon an instrument. Though I hear their words, and either do them not, or not as I ought; Yet alas, in evil company all things are said, and done too, unto edification! They build one up in vanity, and sinful-mindedness; and the 
(m) 2 Co 10.4, 5.  weapons of their warfare, I will say it, are (though carnal) yet mighty, through the Devil without, and devilish Justs within, to the pulling down of the strongest holds of Grace, and casting down holy apprehensions, and every divine thing, that exalts itself against the works of Satan. True it is, evil company cannot enjoin or enforce: yet 
(n) Phillip 9, 10.  as Paul did Philemon) for love's sake, it will beseech us to entertain again, those very sins which we have renounced. Satan cannot force, but shrewdly can he tempt; and I much mistake, if evil company be not the very brightness, and 
(o) Heb 1.3, 13. Pro. 2.27.  express image of his person: Nay, and methinks, I hear the Devil saying to all company, Sat you at my right hand, and I will make some of your enemies my foot stool. Deep, oh my soul, deep is the ditch, and narrow is the pit of evil company; and it is almost 
(p) Heb 8 4.  impossible for those, who are once so darkened, as to taste their hellish gifts, and be made partakers of the damned Ghost, who is never more an Abaddon and Apolluon, than in evil company, ever again to return savingly, to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. 
(q) Rev 2.13.  I know the works of such as dwell in evil company, even where Satan's seat is; they hold fast Satan's name, and deny not his service. No wonder that Elihu cries out, 
(r) Job 34.7, 8.  What man is like Job, if once he goes so much, as in company with workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men? David said once to Abigail, 
(s) 1 Sa. 25.32, 33.  Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me. Blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou! But alas! How oft have I said, Cursed be my own sin in unnecessary visits and resorts! cursed be their advices, and cursed their ways. It was a true report which I had heard in my minority and childhood, of the Acts and madness of evil company; howbeit, 
(t) 2 Changed 9.5, 6, 7  I believed not their words, who told me thereof, till my eyes had seen it. And behold, oh my soul, my soul, and all that is within me, Behold, the one half was not told me, the sin of evil company, and its infectiousness exceed the fame thereof! Cursed are their men, and cursed their servants, which stand continually about them, and hear their folly. 
Psal. 24 7.9.  Open the gates of the house, and of the heart to evil company, and without the least doubt, the Prince of darkness shall come in; and when he comes, shall find or make the heart empty, swept and garnished for his use. Egypt was no house of Bondage, comparable 
(u) Exo 20.1.  to that of Egyptian Company: nor is ever the Lord's flock so carried away captive, as when they are carried by their own heedlessness or worse, into the Synagogue of Satan: for these captivities 
(x) Jer. 13.17.  weep thou, oh my soul, in secret places, my eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears! 'Tis evil company, oh my soul, that deceives its neighbour, 
(y) Pro 26.19, 18, 25, 26.  throws firebrands, arrows and death, and saith, Am not I in sport. Oh when it speaks fair, believe it not, there are seven abominations in its heart! Their hate is covered with deceit: may their wickedness be shown before the whole Congregation of God. In a worse sense than Paul's, We are made of the filth of the world, when we have fellowship with those who are so. 
(z) Mat 11.19. 2 Cor. 6.14.  Christ was a friend indeed, to Publicans and sinners, and so may we. Though he held company, he held no communion with them, nor may we. His company with them, was to reform them. woe to us, if our company-keeping with men evil, be not to make them good, and with a care, they make not us evil. Had the Prince of this world any thing in him to catch him by? nothing at all. woe then to us, who have so much for him to catch us by, if we make so bold as he, in some cases: 
(a) Psal. 119.63.  David was companion to all them who feared God, and kept his precepts; in order to which, he took a very good (and it may be the only) course, when he resolved, that he would not know 
(b) Psal 101.4.  a wicked person. If I will imitate my God, 
(c) Psal. 7.11.  who is angry with all wicked every day, I must be angry every day with my wicked self, and beware of my own company; and why not as well of all wicked company. 
(d) Pro. 15.9.  A wicked man is loathsome to God, why should he be lovely to me; or how can he, if I am like God in my affections? Had the Lord Christ thought it impossible for me, to converse with worldly men, without holding communion with them, I am persuaded he would have 
(e) Joh. 17.15.  prayed the Father, to have taken me out of the world; which sigh he has not, I resolve to sojourn (if providence will require me) in 
(f) Psal 120.5.  Mesech; and have my habitation in Kedar: But to put away 
(g) Psal 119.119.  all the wicked like dross, to beware of devils very much, but of men, more, and put a wide difference between men and brethren. And now, 
Acts 15 13.  oh my soul, to confirm thy faith, and animate thy zeal, herein I charge thee before the Trinity, and the elect Angels, to con well Two Texts, which have flaming swords to keep thee out of ill company: The one is Gen. 3.15. The other Rev. 22.11. All between remember, but these repeat thou every morn, noon, and night. Amen.   

22. A Soliloquy with God of my Soul.  
LOrd! 
(a) Psal 119.79. Psal 139.14.  thy hands have made me, and fashioned me: But nor 1, nor my parents know how! I am fearfully and wonderfully made, in the very 
(b) Isa. 40.6.  grass-plat of my flesh; and even such 
(c) Psal. 139.6.  knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain it. But as for my spiritual substance, 
(d) Heb 10.34. Heb. 12.9.  my better and enduring substance, my spirit, whereof thou art the immediate Father, how that lives, moves, and has its being; what it is, how it-acts, how it lives, man knows not; it 
(e) Job 28.21, 23.  is hid from the eyes of all living, God only understands the way thereof, and knows the place thereof. Though it dwell in a clod of earth, and a few drops of blood, all the world to it is as nothing, as a 
(f) Isa. 40.15, 17.  drop of a bucket, and the small dust of the balance, less than nothing and vanity; it takes up the Isles as a very little thing. Oh my God, my body is not so little a a thing to the whole world, as the whole world is to my soul: fewer such bodies would fill the world, than such worlds would fill my soul. Thou hast but little in saying, The world is mine, and the fullness thereof; than thou magnifiest thyself, when thou sayest, 
(g) Eze. 18, 4.  All souls are mine, souls, 
(h) Heb 11, 38.  of whom the world is not worthy. I have read of the ends of the earth, and 
(i) Psal. 135.7.  I have seen an end of all perfection herein. But the capacity of my soul, I find exceeding broad, so broad, that nothing less than what 
(k) Jer. 13.24.  sills Heaven and earth too, can fill it; and if thou, oh my God, wilt fill it when 'tis 
(l) Luk. 1.53.  hungry, with good things, thou must fill it with no worse, nor less, than the fullness of God. The 
(m) Lu. 58.  heel's of the earth may contain foxes, and the world's nests may hold unclean birds; nay, each of them possibly may say, 
(n) Psal 132.14.  This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell, for I have desired it! But alas, my soul hath not where to lay its head herein! Thy 
(o) Psal. 15.1.  tabernacle, oh my God, thy holy hill, thy House not made with hands is the least it can dwell in! The whole Earth is not a livelihood for one soul, without thee; nor were Heaven itself tenantable, did not thy presence make it a Court. Thou didst once bid man 
(p) Goe 1.28.  replenish the earth, but never the earth replenish man, whose soul thou knowest, 
(q) Pro. 30.15.  and makest one of those things which are never satisfied; and say not 'tis enough, till it has as much more than the World, as the 
(r) Gen 3.14.  Creator is than the Creation. Oh my God, I find that my soul cannot go upon its belly, and eat dust: if thou thyself wouldst tell me of the Kingdoms of the earth, 
(s) Mat 4.9.  All these things will I give thee for thy portion, it would utterly be 
(t) Can 8.7.  contemned. I find my soul is opinionated, that 'tis a substance of more value, than many sparrows, and will not be put off with a this-years nest, nor with 
(u) Luk 12.19.  goods laid up for many years neither, no lease for less than eternity: No inheritance besides an 
(x) 1 Pe 1.4.  incorruptible, and in no place but heaven will satisfy it, much less at all gratify it. If thou shouldst bid it go seek a happiness, it would return. Lord, 
(y) Joh 6.68.  to whom shall I go, thou hast the words of eternal life! it would say, Lord, every of thy 
(z) 1 Ti 4.4.  creatures is good, and nothing to be refused for a servant; but I will call none upon earth master, while I breath. 
(a) Joh 18.36.  Had Christ's Kingdom been merely of this World, I would never have fought for him so much as now I have and will, though I am driven out of the World. But the very truth is, 
(b) Joh 3.16.  God has so loved the World, that I will never love it. I read in thy holy Book of many things lost; of but two (that I think of) won. Solomon mentions 
(c) Pro. 11.30. Phil. 3.8.  winning of souls: St. Paul, winning of Christ; let me win but those Two, and let Ziba take all for me; I cannot be exceedingly angered, or pleased 
(d) Jon. 4.6, 7, 10. Isa. 5.10  with the gourds, which come in a night, and perish in a night. Oh my God, I find, that whereas Christ's soul was made an offering for sin, most men make their souls an offering to sin: But my soul (mindful of its primitive glory, and likeness to God) declares its 
(e) Ro. 1.18. Job 20.9.  Wrath against all sin, offers itself to thee; and resolves if thou wilt not, yet sin shall not have it; it will not serve sin, or abide by its crib. Nor will it humble and 
(f) Psal. 113.6.  abase itself to behold (amorously) the things that are on earth. In comparison of God, it 
(g) Job 42.6.  abhors itself; in comparison of itself, it abhors the gain of the whole World. The World, whose 
(h) Mic. 6 10.  scanty measure is an abomination to it; and to all of whose Treasures, the Heavenborn 
(i) Joh. 8.23.  Spirit saith, not infrequently, (as Jesus to the Jews) Ye are from beneath, I am from above: Ye are of this World, I am not of this World; Adding, that 
(k) Mat 5.18.  Heaven and Earth shall pass away; but not a jod or tittle of its substance shall pass away. 
(l) Hab. 3.17.  Though the figtree blossom not, nor fruit be in the vines. Though the labour of the Olive fail, and the fields yield no meat: Though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls: Though Moab reproach, and Ammon revile, 
Zeph. 2 8.  my spirit can sustain its infirmity, and through Christ prosper too; but without him, enjoyments are torments, and gains losses. Wherefore surely, oh my God, I may say of humane souls, That man knoweth not the price: and it is so far from being 
(m) Pro 28.13.  found in the land of the living, that with infinite justice and prudence we may all cry out, What shall we give in exchange?   

23. A Soliloquy with God, of Evidences for Heaven.  
OH my God, I cannot but ever and anon break out into such a Quaery of Heaven, as Abraham put to thee of Canaan; Lord God, How shall I know, 
(a) Goe 15.8.  That I shall inherit it. I thank thee, O Lord, I do not yet hear thee say of it to me, as of that Canaan to Moses, I have caused thee 
(b) Deu 34.14.  to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither: But nor yet do I hear thee say, (so plainly as I would) Fear not, it is my good pleasure to give thee 
(c) Luk 12.33.  the Kingdom. Many seek to enter in, and are not able: Thousands not only say and read, but cry Lord, Lord, Open, and yet are shut out. Some get so far, that they be not far from 
(d) Mat 7.22.  thy Kingdom, and yet never reach it. Nay, the children of the Kingdom themselves, (Christ tells me) 
(e) Mat 8.12.  are cast into outer darkness, the most part of them; and if so, Lord, what cause have I to say to my soul, as 
(f) Rutilio 3.1.  Naomi to Ruth, Shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? Of that soul, oh my God, so forgetful am I, that oft it checks me (as 
(g) Jud 16.13, 15.  Dalilah her Samson) Hitherto hast thou mocked me, and told me lies; How canst thou say I love thee, and thy heart is not with me. When it reflects on the madnesses of my heart and life, it fears thou wilt one day say of me, as Achish 
(h) 1 Sa. 29.15.  of David, Have I need of mad men? Shall this fellow come into my house? 
(i) Heb. 4.1.  It doth not infrequently alarm me in the being left us of entering into God's rest, we should come short of it: For 
(k) 1 Pe 4.12.  if the righteous scarcely be saved, Where shall we appear? Solomon says, Blessed is the man that fears always. Oh my God, Let me not serve thee therefore without fear of myself. 
(l) Psal 118.6.  David said, He would not fear what man could do unto him, but sure he meant of other men: he feared his own heart, when he cried, Keep, yea, 
(m) Psa. 119.13 Pro. 29 25.  keep back thy servant from presumptuous fins. Indeed the fear of other men, bringeth a snare, as Solomon says; but the fearlesness of ones self brings a million. The counsel is divine not to fear other men, who 
(n) Mat 10.28.  can kill our body, and no more. But 'tis also as divine, that a man should fear himself, who is not only able, but prone by sin, and by disobedience, to destroy both soul and body in hell. Oh my God, Help me to attend Moses' advice, 
(o) Deu 4.9. Joh. 13.13.  to take heed to myself, and keep my soul diligently. I find, That in every Prayer and Conference, wherein I do not so do, I must cry out to my Lord and Master, as Josiah to his servants, when shot by the Archers, 
(p) 2 Changed 35.23.  Have me away, for I am sore wounded, and that in my grace and peace too. As Martha of Lazarus to Christ, I oft say of my faith and hope, to my care of my evidences for Heaven. Oh divine ears, hadst 
(q) Joh 11.21.  thou been here, my faith and hope had not died; and indeed when that is absent, whatever my labour is in Duties, in the end I must say, as Simon to Jesus, Master, 
(r) Luk 5.5.  We have toiled all night, and have taken nothing. Wherefore, oh my Blessed God and Bounteous, Grant thou, that when thy holy Spirit 
(s) Mat 5.41.  compels me to go one mile with him, in securing my title to glory, I may go with him twain. Oh let my conscience be ever telling me, like to what Michol told David, If thou save not 
(t) 1 Sa 19.11.  thy life to night, (by ensuring thy evidences,) to morrow thou wilt be slain. With sins, sorrows, and temptations. If at any time. I call the proud, 
Mal. 3.15.  happy (as Malachi says;) and say in a but seeming prosperity of grace, that I shall never be moved. Oh my God, let thy good Spirit take me off, as the King 
(u) 2 Ki. 18.19, 20.  of Assyria did Hezekiah, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel, and I have strength. O my God, say to me of the host of my corruptions, my pride, folly, etc. as once thou didst to Gideon! Arise, 
(x) Jud 7.5.  Get thee down to the host, for I have delivered it into thy hand. Help me, oh Lord, incorruptly to say to Jesus of his Redemption-work, 
(y) Rutilio 2.12.  as Boaz to Ruth; The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou hast caused me trust; and to vow unto him, as Ittai to David, As the Lord liveth, and as my Lord Jesus liveth, (as the living Father liveth, and Jesus liveth by the Father) surely in what place my Lord, (the King of Saints) shall be, 
(z) 2 Sa. 15.21.  Whether in death or life, even there will thy servant be. Help me, oh my God to set my Jesus 
(a) Can. 8.6.  as a seal on my heart and arm, with a love strong as death, with jealousy of all rivals, cruel as the grave. Give me to write on this World, and the glory of it, 
(b) Dan 5.27.  TEKEL, Thou are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting of any good for my soul. 
(c) Col. 3.1. Job 23.2.  Let my affections be on things above, my comforts in heaven, and my hopes on high. Let me know, oh my God, where I may find thee in all distresses, and let me come even to thy seat! When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I, 
(d) Psa 61.2. Ps. 119.139. Job 32.12.  Order my steps in thy Word, let not any iniquity have Dominion over me in health, or distrust in sickness: in both let me esteem thy Word above my necessary food or physic! And so, oh my God, of my evidences for heaven, 
(e) Mat 10.20.  it shall not be I myself that speak, but thy Spirit in me. Amen, my God, Amen and Amen.   

Whiles this Piece lay at the Press, it pleased GOD to visit the Author with the Small Pox, and gave him a Recovery full of Extraordinary Providences; of which (upon his Friend's request) he hath annexed his Meditations.  
24. A Soliloquy with God, after Recovery from a Sore Disease.  
OH my God I am sure I can say, 
(a) Mat 25.36.  I was sick, and thou visitest me! Oh that in the Day of Judgement, thou mayst say likewise to me, I was sick, and thou visitedst me! I read of thy own people, that once 
(b) Isa. 42.25.  they had a fire about them, yet they knew it not; nay, and it burned them, yet they laid it not to heart! Sure I am, I had my Disease about me, and I knew it not: nay, and it broke out on me, and never entered into my heart what it was, till by thy providence 'twas made known to me. So unable was I to do thy work; 
(c) Psal. 103.3. , to heal all my diseases myself, that in St. Paul's sense, and another too, I might and still must say, 
(d) 1 Co 4.4.  I know nothing of myself. 
(e) Psal. 39.12.  When with this rebuke thou didst correct me, for my iniquities, thou madest my beauty to consume away like a moth, but in such measure, did thy grace correct me, that I may use the great Apostle's words; 
(f) 1 Co 1.27.  When I was weak, then was I strong; for all the while 
(g) Psal. 73.26.  my flesh failed, my heart never failed: and whiles my disease changed, and my sores much destroyed my skin. 
(h) Isa. 1.5.  neither was my head sick, nor my heart faint. 
(i) Job 7.5.4.  When my flesh was ●●ath'd with scabs and botches, my skin broken, and become loathsome through thy grace, oh my God, I was not full of tosssings to and fro, I had yet then itself 
(k) Pro 24.33, 34.  a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, till my ease came to me, as one that travelled, and my victory of my Disease, as an armed man. My body did, (oh may my soul so too) 
(l) Jam. 1.21.  quickly lay aside all the filthiness and superfluity of its naughtiness; and by thy blessing, receive that temper which saved my soul from leaving it! it suddenly laid aside every weight, 
(m) Heb 12.1.  and the Disease which did so easily beset it, by thy commission; all my distempers 
(n) 2 Sa. 18.7.  dealt as gently with me, as if th●●, oh my God, hadst charged them of me, as David charged Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, of Absalon; Deal gently with the young man; and at thy word of command, they departed from doing me evil; oh may they now do me good! For 
(o) Psal. 119.67.  before I was afflicted, I went astray, and so I am afraid to my heart, I shall after it. 
(p) Hos. 5.15.  If in my affliction, I sought thee early, what I shall do out of it, I am very jealous: for thousands call to thee, 
(q) Psal 41.3.  to make all their bed in their sickness, who commune not with thee, on bed or up, in their health. Thousands cry to Christ Jesus, to 
(r) Mat. 2.17.  take their infirmities, and bear their sickness, who yet sacrifice their strength and health to the Prince of Devils, and live not to God. But in thee, oh my God, do I trust for good! I will not suspect that thou hast so cured my body, as to have killed my soul: this were to say to the whole Trinity, (as Job to his Friends, 
Job 13.14. ) Ye are all Physicians of no value. There is, oh my God, 
(s) Jer. 8.22.  aBa In in Gilead, and a Physician there, for healthy as well as sick Israelites. Oh let me have both! for Lord, I appeal to him himself, who said, That 
(t) Mat 9.12.  the whole need not a Physician, but the sick: if I don't need thee now I am whole, as much as when I was sick. When I was sick did I say? Alas, alas! Though my scabs be pretty well off, and sores competently up again, I am (thou knowest oh Lord) nothing but spiritual wounds, and bruises, 
(u) Isa. 1.9. Can. 2.5.  and putrifying sores! I am still sick of all things, save of love to thee; nor do I find, that this rod of thy late correction, hath driven so far from me, as I could wish. 
(x) Pro 22.15.  Folly, the seminary of all Diseases, that not only is in, but bound up in my my heart pit. Blessed God, I am not of them, on whom thy rod is not! but sigh thy 
(y) Job 21.9.  rod without thy reproof, gives no wisdom that I know of, oh lend me the latter, or I lose the comfort of the former! If thou dost not spare thy 
(z) Pro. 29.15.  rod, yet if thou deniest thy counsel, I shall conclude myself a hated son, or a reprobate 
(a) Heb ● 8. Pa. 48.10.  bastard. I read, affliction is called a furnace; Lord, if it be so, heat it as hot as 
(b) Dan 3.19.  Nebuchadnezar's, seven times hotter, and in with me into it, rather than let the 
(c) Jer. 6.29.  bellows be burnt, the lead consumed of the fire, the founder melt in vain, and my wickedness not be plucked away. Help me, oh my God, that I despise not, or misimprove this, or any of thy 
(d) Job 5.17.  chastisements; for that is a mere kill 
(e) Mat 23.37.  of thy prophets, and stoning them that are sent to me! yea, 'tis a very saying, Who is the Lord, that I should fear him? All the sicknesses and the sorrows, that I improve not to 
(f) Mat 3 2, 8.  repentance and amendment of life, methinks in my reflections they bring me down, this thy dismal word, of old pronounced, 
(g) Gen 3.16.  I will greatly multiply thy sorrow! But verily, oh my God, when one of thy chastifements 
(h) Deu 32.30.  chases a thousand of my corruptions; and two puts ten thousand to flight: There be three that bear record in heaven, how unfeignedly I conclude, That affliction with 
(i) Jo. 6.6.  contentment is great gain! I cannot say of all my Visitations, 
(k) Job: 17.12.  as Christ of the Elect, Those that thou gavest me, I have saved, and none is lost; but yet sure I am, some of my afflictions there be, which when they have done all, cannot say, 
(l) Luk. 17.10.  We are unprofitable servants; for of one and another, oh my God thou knowest, that 
(m) Mat 1.20.  that which has been conceived in them, has been of the Holy Ghost. My perils by sea, that made me cry, 
(n) Mat 8.25, 27 1 Cor. 3.21.  Lord save, or I perish, through thy grace, made the wind and seas of my own tempestuous affections, more obedient to my conscience, ever since, in my deliberacies. But alas, of any man alive, I cannot glory in myself! 
(o) Gen 47.9.  Few and evil (like Jacob's days) have all my improves of thy corrections been; and though in this sickness I hear a voice 
(p) Mat. 19.21.  of Christ, Come and follow me; and in the many singular providentials of it, I see a blessed plenty of thy goodnesses too, I fear I shall not 
(q) Joh. 6.12.  gather up the fragments, so that nothing be lost. But, oh thou that hast sweetly 
(r) Phillip 3.21.  changed, and art yet changing my vile body. Let this sickness be unto the death of many a corruption, and let my soul be 
(s) 2 Co 3.18.  changed into the image of thy Son from glory to glory. Let not my pride, and security, and forgetfulness of my God, like Lazarus, come out of their 
(t) Joh. 11.39.  graves, after they have been in for a few days, and have stunk in my nostrils! If thy Spirit help me not strongly to believe in thee, though all my sins were dead, 
Joh. 11.25. Joh. 10.10,  yet they would live, they would stand up from the dead, and unbelief would give them life! Unbelief, which when it comes, it comes that all sins may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. How oft, oh my God, do I methinks hear this unbelief say of all sins (as Christ of him whom he loved) Our friends sleep, but I go that I may awake them out of sleep. Through faith, 
(u) Heb 11.33.  oh Lord, give me to subdue Kingdoms; yea, the world of oppositions to my duty, in improving this my Recovery! I mean, this thy 
(x) Eze. 37.6.  laying sinews upon me, bringing flesh upon me, covering me again with skin, and putting (as it were) a new life into me. Forbidden good God, that the show of my 
(y) Isa. 3.9.  countenance should cry against me, and 
(z) Job. 31.38. Pro. 17.8. Pro. 17.17.  the furrows thereof complain of me, for unthankfulness to thee. Let this thy gift of my new life, be to me (as Solomon says all gifts are) a precious stone! Whither soever it turns, let it prosper to my faith, hope, and charity. He tells me, a friend loves atall times; I know no such friend but thyself; nor any brother born for adversity, but the Saints elder Brother. He says, the 
(a) Pro. 18.14.  Spirit will bear infirmities. But oh, if he mean not by the upholding of thy Spirit, my experience contradicts him! Wherefore thou, oh Triune God, art my God, and early will I seek thee, because thy loving kindness is my life, and 
(b) Psal. 63.3. Psal. 54 6.  better than my life, I will bless thee while I live, and I will lift up my hands in thy Name, I will sacrifice unto thee. 
(c) Psal. 4.12.  Thy Vows are upon me, oh God, and I will render praises! 
(d) Psal. 119.11.  Thy word will I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against thee! Every day will 
(e) Psal. 145.2.  I bless thee, and I will praise thy Name for ever and ever. 
(f) Psal 146.2.  While I live will I praise the Lord, I will sing praises to my God, while I have any being! and in this Quaery I will live and die. 
(g) Psal 116.12  What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits? Oh my God, the very word of the Devil I will verify, and all that I have will I give thee for my life: Nay, and I will use his Words also to thee, of all that ever I shall have in this world, or in the world to come. 
(i) Mat. 4.9.  All these things will I give thee. Amen, my God, Amen, Amen.  
FINIS.