yet how free, how full, are thy Promifes to the truly Penitent? How full of sweetness, and love, are all thy Gracious Engagements to thofe that will have no more to do with Idols, that will cleave to thee alone, that will renounce themfelves, and follow thee? O my Lord, these thy Promifes are my refuge; were it not for thefe deSperation would be my Portion. I do in fome meafure fee my folly; I fee what a Gracious, Tender, Patient, Long-fuffering God I have offended; I See how my Soul bath leaned on broken reeds, what a fandy foundation I have trusted to, how the World bath beguiled me, how I have fhunned thy company, been glad when God hath been farthest from my Thoughts, rejoiced when I have been leaft of all reflecting on thy goodness. I have nothing to plead for my felf, I have no apology to make, the greatest Charity cannot excuse my Mifdemeanours; I have had Light, and darken'd it; Convictions, and fmothered them; Knowledge and abused it; Reafon, and perverted it; heard thy Word, and fcorned it; enjoyed the means of Grace, and continued blind and bardunder them. Thy Mercy is my Sanctuary, I am weary of my burthen, I loath my Tranfgreffions, I am willing to be rid of them, I defire to abhor them; but though I am thus willing, my Flesh is weak, my Understanding dark, my Will dull, my Affections to Goodness faint, my Refolutions inconftant. Come, O my Lord, come down into my Soul, come quickly, Othou great Preferver of men! Teach me to anfwer all the reafons of Flesh and Blond, against a ferious Converfion; Arm me with Arguments to beat down my carnalIntereft, furnish

me with Motives to a truly Heavenly Life; Motives which may break thro' all the Devil's Suggeftions; Motives which may invalidate and weaken the prophane motions of my Lufts. Come down, thou Sun of Righteoufness, thou mighty Star of Jacob, difpel the Clouds, and Mifts, which are upon my Reafon; clear the Eyes of my Understanding, and enable me to fee the Arts of Sin, the Wiles of the Devil, the Snares of the World, the Stratagems of the Flesh, and all the mischief that's plotted against my Soul, by my Spiritual Enemies. Convince me throughly, that to follow thee is my greatest Intereft, that to refift thefe Enemies is my greatest fafety, that to watch against the fe charms is my greatest felicity. O let me apprehend Sin, as it is the greatest evil, let it appear very terrible to my Mind; reprefent unto me Heaven, and thy Love, and all that thou haft done for me, in fuch lively colours, that neither Death, nor Life, neither good Report, nor evil Report, may feparate me from thy Love. O let thy kindness, and the benefits of thy Son's Death, and Paffion, and Refurrection, appear to me in fuch Characters, that I may long to be filled with all the fulness of God. The Spirit is perfect Light, and there is no darkness with him: Olet that Glorious Light diffipate that Gloominess, thofe Fogs, that Confufedness, that is in my intellectual part; make me conceive clearly, and diftinctly what I must do to inherit Eternal Life, and how I must carry my felf to God and Man. Give me fuch a fight of thy Glory, as may lift me up above the World, and engage me to have my converfation in Heaven. Bow my Will, to conform in

tirely to thy Will; I would not be mine fo much as thine. Come, Lord, and take the Government of my Soul into thy hand! I have too long fuffered my felf to be guided by merciless Tyrants: Art thou not my Mafter, my Prince, my Father? Thou hast the greatest right to rule me. Incline my Will unto thy Teftimonies, and not to Covetousness; when my Will would wander from thy Precepts, cross it, and put a stop to it, that it may not go beyond the limits of thy Late O heal my Affections, they banker too muth after this Earth; O make them in love with Heaven; chide them for deferting their highest and their chiefest Good; Let my Hatred pitch upon no other Object, but Sin; Let my Love be carried out after nothing so much as thee And if I love any thing befides, let me love it only for thy fake. Let my hopes be fixed upon Immortality, engross thou my Defires, let

**fear none but thee, let my chief Delight be in thy Ways and Ordinances, ftrengthen my ReSolutions, O deliver me from that Guiltinefs I' have so long been guilty of; Make my purpofes firm, let them be as the Mountains of God, which can never be moved, let nothing be able to weaken my god intentions, give me courage. to fight the good fight: O Lord, in thy ftrength I'll refift, by thy power I will conquer. My heart hath locked thee out; O knock again, and if it will not yield, break open the door, and let all my corruptions vanish at thy prefence. O Lord, I beg no Riches, no Honours, no Prefer ments; If I have but Food and Raiment, I will learn therewith to be contented; it's thy Ff2

Grace,

Grace I want; establish me with thy free Spirit; Give me Spiritual Wisdom, even that Wif dom which makes me wife unto Salvation. Thou art nigh unto them that call upon thee, yea, unto all fuch as call upon the faithfully: O caft me not away from thy Prefence, I am thine, O fave me, order my steps according to thy Word; when I read it, let me read it with that attention, as to obferve and take notice of what thou doft Command; when I hear it, let me hear it, as if it were the last time that ever I should hear it: Let thy Oracles make deeper impressions on me than ever; dafh all thofe evasions and excufes I used to alledge, when I have had no mind to obey thee; Let the good motions of thy Spirit. prevail: O that there should be fuch difficulty in conquering a poor Sinner! O that God should be forced to carefs me to be my Happiness! O that Heaven fhould attract me no more! O that God should need to send out Messengers, to intreat me to come to the Supper of the Lamb! Lord, take away this dulnefs, make me mount up with wings as Eagles, let me not be able to go out of thy Prefence, till I have fully and unfeignedly refolved to give up my felf to thy Ser

Vice.

Ofefu, the Light of the World, who enlightneft every Man that comes into the World, where thou dwelleft, there Mercy dwells; O dwell in my Soul, and Mercy and Truth will kifs each other: Teach me to hate my felf not only for the burt I have done to my felf, but for the Injuries and Indignities I have offered thee; I was a horrid Monfler, thou, by thy Death, madeft me

A

a pleasant spectacle in the fight of Heaven; I lay in the mire and pit, thou didst advance me into thy Father's Bofom; I lay trembling under the jaws of the hellish Dragon, thou gavest me a place in the Heart of God; I was unworthy of thy Gracious Afpect, and thou haft made me capable of being embraced by the great and terrible God; I lay in a Dungeon, thou didst promote me to a Throne; thou hast done that for me, which I durft not have hoped or wished for: It had been enough to have delivered me from Hell, but that would not content thee, except I were raifed above the Heavens, and above Angels too: It had been favour enough, when my condition was fo defperate, if thou hadst purchafed for me a fufpenfion, or forbearance of thy Father's Anger, but thou didst go further, and didft purchase me a pardon too; and not fatisfied with that, thou didst incline thy Father's Love to me; and as if that had not been enough thou didst procure me Gifts, and Blessings too, and not only Bleffings in general, but the greateft Bleffings imaginable, even thine own Kingdom, and thine own Heritage. How unworthy have I lived of this incomprehenfible Love? O that I might not be able to reflect upon my Life without Indignation! Thou art the Way, the Truth, and the Life; direct me, and I'll ftrive to enter in at the ftrait Gate, purifie my Spirit, wash my Soul with thy Blood, that's the Eyefalve which will make me fee, that's the Medicine which will cure my blindness: O cleanfe me, and I shall be whiter than Snow; O thou inexhaufted Fountain of Goodness, let me not go

away