Call not to mind the rebellions of my flesh, and remember not, O God, the vanities of my youth: inflame my heart with the love of thy presence, and relish my meditations with the pleasure of thy sweetness. Let not the consitleration of thy justice overwhelm me in despair, nor the meditation on thy mercy persuade me to presume. Sanctify my will by the wisdom of thy Spirit, that I may desire thee as the chiefest good: quicken my desires with a fervent zeal, that I may seek my Creator in the days of my youth: teach me to seek thee according to thy will, and then be formed according to thy promise, that living in me here by thy grace, I may hereafter reign with thee in thy glory.

THE HYPOCRITE.

HIS PREVARICATION.

Be

THERE is no stuff to make a cloak of like religion! nothing so fashionable, nothing so profitable: it is a livery wherein a wise man may serve two masters, God and the world, and make a gainful service by either. I serve both, and in both, myself, by prevaricating with both. fore man, none serves his God with more severe devotion; for which, among the best of men, I work my own ends, and serve myself. In private I serve the world, not with so strict devotion, but with more delight; where, fulfilling of her servants' lusts, I work my end, and serve myself. The house of prayer who more frequents than I?

In all Christian duties who more forward than I? I fast with those that fast, that I may eat with those that eat: I mourn with those that mourn: no hand more open to the cause than mine, and in their families none prays longer and with louder zeal. Thus, when the opinion of a holy life hath cried the goodness of my conscience up, my trade can lack no custom, my wares can want no price, my words can need no credit, my actions can lack no praise. If I am covetous, it is interpreted providence; if miserable, it is counted temperance; if melancholy, it is construed godly sorrow; if merry, it is voted spiritual joy; if I be rich, it is thought the blessing of a godly life; if poor, supposed the fruit of conscionable dealing; if I be well spoken of, it is the merit of holy conversation; if ill, it is the malice of malignants. Thus I sail with every wind, and have my end in all conditions. This cloak in summer keeps me cool, in winter warm, and hides the nasty bag of all my secret lusts. Under this cloak I walk in public, fairly, with applause; and in private, sin securely without offence, and officiate wisely without discovery. I compass sea and land to make a proselyte, and no sooner made, but he makes me. At a fast I cry Geneva, and at a feast I cry Rome! If I be poor, I counterfeit abundance to save my credit; if rich, I dissemble poverty to save charges. I'most frequent schismatical lectures, which I find most profitable; from whence learning to divulge and maintain new doctrines, they maintain me in suppers thrice a week. I use the help. of a lie, sometimes as a religious stratagem, to uphold the Gospel; and I colour oppression, with God's judgment executed upon the wicked.

Charity I hold an extraordinary duty, therefore not ordinarily to be performed. What I openly reprove abroad for my own profit, that I secretly act at home, for my own pleasure.

But stay, I see a hand-writing, in my heart, which damps my soul; 'tis charactered in these sad words,

The congregation of the hypocrites shall be desolate. Job, xv. 34.

The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. Job,

xv. 5.

The hypocrites in heart heap up wrath; they die in their youth, and their life is amongst the unclean. Job, xxxvi. 13, 14.

An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour; but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. Psal. xi. 9.

Woe be to you hypocrites. Matth. xxiii. 13. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Luke, xii. I.

HIS SOLILOQUY.

How like a living sepulchre did. I appear! without, beautified with gold and rich invention; within, nothing but a loathed corruption. So long as this fair sepulchre was closed, it passed for a curious monument of the builder's art; but being opened by these spiritual keys, 'tis nothing but a receptacle of offensive putrefaction. In what a nasty dungeon hast thou, my soul, so long remained unstifled! How wert thou wedded to thy own corruptions, that couldst endure thy unsayoury filthiness! The world loved me, because I

seemed good; God hated me, because he knew me to be wicked. I had no friend but myself, and that friend was my bosom enemy. O my soul, is there water enough in Jordan to cleanse thee? Hath Gilead balm enough to heal thy superannuated sores? I have sinned; I am convinced; I am convicted. God's mercy is above dimensions, when sinners have not sinned beyond repentance. Art thou, my soul, truly penitent for thy sin? Thou hast free interest in his mercy. Fall then, my soul, before his mercy-seat; and he will crown thy penitence with his pardon.

HIS PRAYER.

O GOD, before the brightness of whose all-discerning eye the secrets of my heart appear; before whose clear omniscience the very entrails of my soul lie open; who art a God of righteousness and truth, and lovest uprightness in the inward parts; how can I choose but fear to thrust into thy glorious presence, or move my sinful lips to call upon that name, which I so often have dishonoured, and made a cloak to hide the baseness of my close trangressions; Lord, when I look into the progress of my filthy life, my guilty conscience calls me to so strict account, and reflects to me so large an inventory of my presumptuous sins, that I commit a greater sin in thinking them more infinite than thy mercy. But, Lord, thy mercies have no date, nor is thy goodness circumscribed. The gates of thy compassion are always open to a broken heart, and promise entertainment to a contrite spirit. The burden of my sins is grievous, and the remembrance of my hy

pocrisy is intolerable. I have sinned against thy majesty with a high hand, but I repent me from the bottom of an humble heart. As thou hast therefore given me sorrow for my sins, so crown that gift in the freeness of remission. Be fully reconciled to me, through the all-sufficient merits of thy Son, my Saviour; and seal in my afflicted heart the full assurance of thy gracious favour. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let me praise thee with a single heart; cleanse thou my inward parts, O God, and purify the closet of my polluted soul. Fix thou my heart, O thou Searcher of all secrets, and keep my affections wholly to thee. Remove from me all bye and base respects, that I may serve thee with an upright spirit. Take not the word of truth out of my mouth, nor give me over to deceitful lips. Give me an inward reverence of thy Majesty, that I may openly confess thee in the truth of my sincerity. Be thou the only object and end of all my actions, and let thy honour be my great reward. Let not the hopes of filthy lucre, or the praise of men, incline me to thee; neither let the pleasures of the world, nor the fears of any loss, entice me from thee. Keep from me those judg ments my hypocrisy hath deserved, and strengthen my resolution to abhor my former life. Give me strength, O God, to serve thee with a perfect heart, in the newness of life, that I may be delivered from the old man, and the snares of death. Then shall I praise thee with my entire affections, and glorify thy name for ever and ever.