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O Most glorious and gracious Lord God, who art fit to be feared, and worthy to be loved, grant that I may not only serve thee out of filial Reverence, and sense of Duty, but also and chiefly out of most passionate Affection and Delight, walking in thy ways as well as learning them, and doing
thy Will as well as knowing it, from a principle of entire and true Love, and of full and absolute Choice. Grant that whether I am born unto Trouble and Care, or to eat and reap the Fruit of others Pains, both by my own and others Labours, my Repose may be after∣wards more sweet and nourishing, and my Enjoyments more solid, as my Endeavours successful, while I have Religion, though not Riches, and that which with Content is great Gain, notwithstanding the short∣ness and loss of worldly Treasures.
If I partake of the true Vine, and of the travel of his Soul, who was full as God, and made full as Man, that of his fulness we might receive and feast for evermore, then how well shall it be with me here? How much better hereafter? Come what can come I shall have com∣fort enough in this World, and a Crown in the next: Nay, I shall be a Crown to my dear Bridegroom, a Glory to my Redeemer, as the wise Spouse is to her Husband; for in this, good and true is the Word of the Lord which he hath spoken (not only in the Literal, but also in the Spiritual sense) and so shall his Work be; as to the Head, so to the Members. He will make the Church Christ's Wife, and she shall be a Vine as well as he, and so great a Bearer, as that she hall cover and adorn all the sides of his House, and bring him clusters of Eshcol, Grapes of Sion, Loads of Comfort and Satisfactions, Tokens of Plenty and Delight, for having trodden the Wine Press alone.
And then, O beloved Husbandman! when thou shalt visit this Vine, and behold the Off-spring which thou hast brought her with transports of Joy and Contentation, O! then look upon me and mine, and see us grafted into the right Olive, though we be sprung from that which is wild by nature, that we may grow up as Plants of thy own planting, and flourish round about thy Table: For this hath God promised unto thee, O Christ! and we beseech thee to make it good unto us, by making us thy Children. O Lord! how should we praise, honour, and serve thee? Were we, like David, such Olive Trees as might be fixed in thy House, and framed into more holy Uses, to be farther instrumental to thy Glory? Behold a greater than Solomon is here to make us fit to attend thy Oracles, and with the Cherubs to be near thy Mercy Seat. Dear God! prepare us for such high places there, however thou cut and strike us here, that we might be the better for∣med, and wrought out of the World's glory, for our own, into thine, even by the beauty of Holiness, that New Jerusalem that comes down from above. Then shall we admire the good of Sanctity, and wish the good of thy People all the days of our life, and rejoyce in the happiness of thy Chosen all the days of Eternity: For as we are Blest in serving thee out of thy House and Sanctuary, so we hope to be Blessed with thee in thy holy Hill of Sion, where we shall see the glo∣rious Harvest of all Ages, the eternal Happiness of our Generations, and the never-fading Peace of thy chosen Israel. AMEN.