merciful, O God, unto me! Have mercy on me, O thou Son of David!, I cannot, O Lord, expect the children's bread, yet suffer me to lick the crumbs that fall beneath their table. I, that have so oft abused the greatest of thy blessings, am not worthy of the meanest of thy favours. Look, look upon me according to the goodness of thy mercy, and not according to the greatness of my offences. Give me, O God, a sober heart, and a lawful moderation in the enjoyment of thy creatures. Reclaim my appetite from unseasonable delights, lest I turn thy blessings into a curse. In all my dejections, be thou my comfort, and let my rejoicing be only in thee. Propose to mine eyes the evilness of my days, and make me careful to redeem my time. Wean me from the pleasure of vain society, and let my companions be such as fear thee. Forgive all such as have been partners in my sin, and turn their hearts to the obedience of thy laws. Open their ears to the reproofs of the wise, and make them powerful in reformation. Allay that lust which my intemperance hath inflamed, and cleanse my affections with the grace of thy good Spirit; make me thankful for the strength of my body, that I may for the time to come return it to the advantage of thy glory.

65

THE SWEARER.

HIS APOLOGY.

WILL Boanarges never cease?' and will these plague-denouncers never leave to thunder judgments in my trembling ear? Nothing but plagues? nothing but judgments! nothing but damnation! What have I done to make my case desperate ? and what have they not done to make my soul despair? Have I set up false gods like the Egyptians or have I bowed before them like the Israelites? Have I violated the Sabbath like the libertines? or, like cursed Ham, have I discovered my father's nakedness? Have I embrued my hands in blood like Barabbas? or like Absalom defiled my father's bed? Have I like Jacob supplanted my elder brother? or like Ahab intruded into Nabal's vineyard? Have I borne false witness like the wanton elders? or like David covet-. ed Uriah's wife? Have I not given tithes of all I have? or hath my purse been hidebound to my hungry brother? Hath not my life been blameless before men? And my demeanour unreprovable before the world? Have I not hated vice with a perfect hatred? and countenanced virtue with a due respect? What mean these strict observers of my life, to ransack every action, to carp at every word, and with their sharp censorious tongues to sentence every frailty with damnation? Is there no allowance to humanity? no grains to flesh and blood? Are we all angels? Has mortality no privilege to supersede it from the utmost punish

ment of a little necessary frailty? Come, come, my soul, let not these judgment-thunderers fright thee: let not these qualms of their exuberant zeal disturb thee. Thou hast not cursed like Shimei, nor railed like Rabshekah, nor lied like Ananias, nor slandered like thy accusers. They that censure thy gnats, swallow their own camels. What if the luxuriant style of thy discourse do chance to strike upon an obvious oath, art thou straight hurried into the bosom of a plague? What if the custom of a harmless oath should captivate thy heedless tongue, can nothing under sudden judgment seize upon thee? What if another's diffidence should force thy earnest lips into a hasty oath, in confirmation of a suffering truth, must thou be straightways branded with damnation? Was Joseph marked for everlasting death for swearing by the life of Egypt's king? Was Peter, when he so denied his master, straight damned for swearing?

Oh, flatter not thyself, my soul! nor turn thou advocate to so high a sin: make not the slips of saints a precedent for thee to fall.

If the rebukes of flesh may not prevail, hear then the threatening of the Spirit, which saith The plague shall not depart from the house of the swearer.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Exod. xx. 7. And every one that sweareth shall be cut off. Zach. v. 3.

Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his foot

stool; but let your communication be Yea, yeaNay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Matth. v. 34.

Because of swearing the land mourneth. Jer. xxiii. 10.

HIS SOLILOQUY.

Он, what a judgment is here! How terrible! How full of execution! The plague! the extract of all diseases! none so mortal; none so comfortless. It makes our house a prison, our friends strangers; no comfort but in the expectation of the month's end. Ay, but this judgment excludes that comfort too! "The plague shall never depart from the house of the swearer." What, never? Death will give it a period. No, but it shall be entailed upon his house, his family. O detestable, O destructive sin! that leaves a cross upon the doors of generations, and lays whole families upon the dust; a sin, whereto neither profit incites, nor pleasure allures, nor necessity compels, nor inclination of nature persuades; a mere voluntary; begun with a malignant imitation, and continued with an habitual presumption. Consider, O my soul, every oath hath been a nail to wound that Saviour, whose blood (O mercy above expression !) must save thee. Be sensible of thy actions and his sufferings. Abhor thyself in dust and ashes, and magnify his mercy that hath turned this judgment from thee. Go, wash those wounds which thou hast made, with tears; and humble thyself with prayer, and true repentance.

HIS PRAYER.

ETERNAL and omnipotent God! before whose glorious name angels and archangels bow, and hide their faces; to which the blessed spirits, and saints of thy triumphant church, sing forth perpetual hallelujahs! I, a poor child of disobedient Adam, do here make bold to take that holy name into my sin-polluted lips. I have heinously sinned, O God, against thee, and against it; I have disparaged it in my thoughts, dishonoured it in my words, profaned it in my actions; and I know thou art a jealous God, and a consuming fire; as faithful in thy promises, so, fearful in thy judg ments. I therefore fly from the dreadful name of Jehovah, which I have abused, to that gracious name of Jesus, wherein thou art well pleased. In that most sacred name, O God, I fall before thee; and for his beloved sake, O Lord, I come unto thee. Cleanse thou my heart, O God, and then my tongue shall praise thee. Wash thou my soul, O Lord, and then my lips shall bless thee. Work in my heart a fear of thy displeasure, and give me an awful reverence of thy name. Set thou a watch before my lips, that I offend not with my tongue. Let no motives entice me to be an instrument of thy dishonour; and let thy attributes be precious in mine eyes. Teach me the way of thy precepts, O Lord, and make me sensible of all my offences. Let not my sinful custom in sinning against thy name, take from my guilty soul the sense of my sin. Give me a respect unto all thy commandments, but especially