Sacred principles, services, and soliloquies or, a manual of devotions made up of three parts: I. The grounds of Christian religion, and the doctrine of the Church of England, as differing from the now-Roman. II. Daily, and weekly formes of prayers fortified with Holy Scriptures, meditations and rules to keep the soule from the common roads of sin, and carry it on in a mortified course. III. Seven charges to conscience, delivering (if not the whole body) the main limbs of divinity, which is the art not of disputing, but living well.

Sunday-Soliloquie. The Nobility of Piety: OR, A Soliloquie Discovering to the Soul, How much Sin sets Her be∣low, and besides Her self, and gives Ten deadly Wounds to her Life and Honour.

O My Soule! Thou art Spi∣rit a 1.1, thy Body is Flesh. Wilt thou then make Flesh of thy Spirit? Feeding on corrupt lusts, turnes it into the basest Flesh b 1.2. That of the Body is Naturall and good; but this of the Soul, unnaturall, and ill c 1.3. O! Doe not make thy selfe a Monster, whom God hath made his most Goodly creature d 1.4! He that did so Dignifie thee in thy Begining, did it to Glorifie thee in the End. But Carnality makes thee fall off, from thy Dignity; and short, of thy Glory e 1.5. With it, God will not

owne thee for his f 1.6, and then, tremble to think who will take thee! O! Doe not commit so grosse on Apostacy! Maintaine Primitive Spirit in thee, if thou hast sense of honour, or welfare; If it be lost by lust, let Grace make a Recovery g 1.7.

O My Soule! The Immortall piece of Man h 1.8, why is the Mortall i 1.9 part preferred before thee? The Body will die, thou canst not k 1.10. Canst thou not die, and carest not how to live? Hath that which will die (must die) all thy care? What a folly is this, to preferre a Lease to a Perpetuity? a Moment to Eternitie! The Satisfactions of a Body, to the Salvation of a Soule! Nay, by Seeking for it, an unreasonable Welfare to bring on both an Eternall ruine! For so the Immortall is made damna∣bly Mortall, l 1.11, and dies to blisse; and the Mortall, Miserably m 1.12, Immortall ever living in woe! Be wiser and better O my Soule to thee and it! Doe thou so waite on God, and let it so wait on thee, in his Service, that when thou shalt be rewarded, it may share with thee, in his Salvation! By thee let it be made Immortall in Glory n 1.13! Be not thou by it, Immortall in Misery! For

thy own sake suffer not this; For thy o 1.14 Bodies sake do that. If thou dost love it indeed, Promote it to Heaven (to raise it from a Grave to a Throne, is a friendly Promotion!) But doe not kill thy selfe for love of it! O what a Murder is this? O what a Murderer art thou p 1.15? My Soul! if thou beest Murdered of eternall Life, the Body is both q 1.16 Quarrel and Sword, but thy selfe (wretched Spirit!) thy selfe art the Murderer r 1.17! O do not commit so Horrid an Homi∣cide; look to thy Body as thy Life, and fight against Sensuality, as for Eternity!

3. O my Soul! The Noble part of Humane nature; Remember thy No∣bility! To love Earth, and Earthly things, is infinitely below thee! Thy Mind and Will (thy Armes) are made to imbrace the Soveraign Truth, and Goodnesse of Heaven! Set thy Foot (O my Soul!) Set thy Foot upon Earth s 1.18 Thy Foot? yea let thy Servant and Subject, (the Body) set Foot on it. It doth by Nature set it Foot, to teach thee, not to set thy Heart upon it t 1.19! O my Soul! if thou dost, thou art not a Sinner more against Grace, than very Nature; and art not lesse a Prodigie

to Earth, than Heaven! O thou Noble of the Almighties Making, be not so base a Creature of the Devills u 1.20, as by him to be made at once a Miscreant, and the Abomination of the World.

4. O my Soul! Gods Image is in thee! What then doth the Similitude of Beast upon thee? Why doth not Reason, but Sense governe thee v 1.21? Why doth not Rationall will, but Brutish Appetite rule thee? This is to out∣doe the Devill in thy undoing! He took Shape of a Serpent for an ill turn, and time; and thou appearest, and con∣tinuest in thy bestiall Shape. Nay, not the Figure of Beast, but the very Forme is in thee! Ʋnreasonable Creature that thou art, worse then the Brute that hath no Ʋnderstanding, because with Reason, and against it. My Soul! Heaven hath in it neither Beastly Bodies, nor Soules w 1.22! And therefore, Act like Man, Appear like God, if thou wouldst be there. If then x 1.23 Deform'd by Wick∣ed Spirit, be Transform'd y 1.24 by Holy one. Child of God, Maintaine thy Fa∣thers likenesse, that thou maist inherit his happinesse! Acts of Lust, and Bru∣tishnesse z 1.25 blot it out of thee, and thee out of Heaven!

5. O my Soul! Thou art the Spouse of God, no Creature is thy Match, or Mate, (Thy Creatour is thy Husband. * 1.26) Where then is thy Honour, if the World have thy Love, and Earth thy Embraces? O thou that hatest Adulte∣ry with Man, how darest thou be Adulteresse a 1.27 to God? May not a Strumpet-Body stand in thy sight? and must a Whorish b 1.28 heart lie in thy Bo∣some? Must not Man Court thee, and shall the Devil Wooe thee? Is thy Bed Clean, and God's Defiled? Instead of thy Lord, thy Slave (the World) ta∣ken into his Bed? What is Gods Bed, but Mans Heart? Setting it on other then him, but Strumpetting c 1.29 his Bed * 1.30. And the Baser the good which steales Affections from him, the more Abo∣nable the Whorishnesse? O thou Be∣loved above all Creatures d 1.31 that hast God for thy Husband, Heaven for t••y Dower, and Earth for thy Service! Let not Hell be thy Pander, to take the World for thy Love, have not lesse in thy Heart, then thy God, and his Heaven!

6. O my Soul! Thou art the Bodies, Lord! Take then her Homage. Let her serve thee, not undoe thee! Doe

thou Act Gods Will, and let it exe∣cute thine e 1.32. But do not thou its; (the Will of thy Handmaid, the Lust of the Flesh;) Let not Her Senses wooe thee to Vanities; To doe pleasure to the Body, bring not Paine on the Soul: Make not thy Body, thy God f 1.33, lest thou make thy Self a Devill; Damn'd for ever for not doing thy duty better to Almighty God, and thy Selfe. O my Soul! An Angels Peere g 1.34, make not thy self a Devills Fellow h 1.35! Sell not thy Lordship for Slavery and Misery to Boot. If thou be not Lord, but serve thy Servant, never Earth saw, none but Hell will harbour such a Slave!

7. O My Soule! Thou art Sove∣raigne * 1.36 in Man. Under God Supreme, over all that is in him! Wilt thou be thy Subjects Subject? Shall the Law of the Members, be the Minds Law? * 1.37 The Senses are thy handmaids, (O thou Princess of Heaven!) Shall they be the Chiefe Commanders of thy Life? Wilt thou only move, goe, run, refuse, chuse, (as they Command?) O what a basnesse is this, to be so unworthy to thy Maker and Nature? And yet say (O my Soule!) Speak out of Conscience, and

say; Is not Sense the great Leader,, and Appetite l 1.38 the Ruler of thy Life? whilest Reason and Diviner Ʋnderstand∣ing Lackie after their Desires, and the Members are mere Drudges for them? O my Soule! The Soveraigne of God, be not so much Subject to the Devill, as to be led at his lust m 1.39, by the Lure of Sense, to satisfie the Flesh against Gods Law, and thy Reason! To a life which he himselfe (though most wick∣ed) doth not lead; For though Spiri∣tuall wickednesse abound in him n 1.40, the Bodily is below him. If thou wi••t be so base, be not more then the Devill.

8. O My Soule! Thou Free-borne Child of Eternity, Heire of Immensity, Daughter of Him who is beyond all bounds of Time and Being! The Body, is but thy Prison. Thou art shut up in * 1.41 Walls of mud within the Gates of sense, why then dost thou delight in a Prison before thy Palace? And chuse a Bodily restraint before a Spirits p 1.42 Liberty? Is it blisse to be in bondage? Are Chaines of Iron better then Gold? Fetters, before Freedome? Even Earth is but a Gaole to Heaven q 1.43! What a Little ease then doth the Spirit finde in so little a spot of Earth! O doe not destroy

thy Spirituall Liberty r 1.44, by a Bodily Li∣centiousnesse! Love not thy Gaole be∣fore thy Delivery; lest thou be cast into that Gaole, whence none is Delive∣red s 1.45. It's just with God (most just) that the Soule which chuseth the De∣vills Chaine before Gods Liberty, should have the Devils Prison for Gods Palace. And be his slave in Hell for ever, that would not for a time, be Gods servant on Earth. Dove of God, fly to Heaven: * 1.46 Belime not thy Spiritual wings in slime, and mud. Doe not Crow-like, feed on Carrion, and like a blind Beetle place thy blisse in dirt. Sell not thy Selfe to buy a Gaole, when thou givest a Palace for the Purchase, and thy selfe to the bargaine, t 1.47 and hast nothing but Shac∣kles, and Tortures to boot!

9. O My Soule! Thou art Gods Jewel u 1.48, the Body, thy Casket! Why then dost thou prefer her good to thy welfare? Must the jewell be burnt to Save the Casket from the Fire? Nay, * 1.49 it's not so much. It is at once to Fire casket and jewel (to cast both together into Hel Fire) Sardanapalus-like, with all his bundles and heaps of worldly Trea∣sures, to make up one funerall pile, and perish together for ever, (Body and

Soule!) O Bright Diamond of Heaven, * 1.50 (Sparke of the Divinity) Ray of Di∣vinest Glory, Set in the foile of Flesh, for a Time, till taken up, and kept in Gods owne Cabinet for ever,) what dost thou on the Devills Finger! Why dost thou doe him, honour, and worke x 1.51 What dost thou under the Bodies Foot?

O my Soule, looke better to thy selfe! Burne the Casket if need be, to Save the Jewell (the Body to save the Soule!) So Holy Martyrs z 1.52 did. But not the Jewel to save the Casket (the Soule to save the Body) that fil∣thy Epicures doe * 1.53: And thy end (O my Soule) be a Saints, not an Epi∣cures!

10. O My Soule! The Purchase of Christ a 1.54. Bought with no lesse then Gods owne Bloud (the Bloud of the Son of God!) Why dost thou Sell that so cheap b 1.55 which cost thy Saviour so Deare? For the World (which is No∣thing c 1.56) for vanity which is lesse d 1.57? For a litle of that vanity, which is lesse yet, then what is lesse, then that no∣thing e 1.58.

Why hath that which cost more f 1.59 then Ten Thousand worlds are worth, least

of thy care and cost! If thy Body be Sick, thou wilt have Physick; if wound∣ed, Salve; if naked, Cloths; if hungry, bread; no rate, no paine, is spared for it: But the pretious Soule may lie Sick of Sin g 1.60, wounded by guilt h 1.61, stript of innocence i 1.62, starv'd for grace k 1.63; and nothing is given or done, to helpe it. For my Soul! What is Gods price for his helpe but mans Labour? Two mites worth of paines * 1.64 is all (thy * 1.65 owne and thy Bodies) and yet thou wilt bate one, if not keep both from him? Wouldst thou lose a life that wilt not quit a state, an honour, a friendship for him? Dost thou give him thy Soul that wilt not leave a bad custome, or base lust to serve him?

But O my Soule, no more of these neglects! I charge thee, by thy Hea∣venly Birth and Parentage, by thy Im∣mortall Substance, and Durance; by thy Pretious Ransome, the Deare Bloud of God: Value thy welfare more, Seek the Bodies lesse; thinke not Gods price too great (mans Labour) for his happinesse; when the Son of God thought not his Sweat too much, his Bloud for the Price! O thou deare and Pretious Peice and Purchase of Divinest

Architect, and device, Detect this Serpentine Policy of the Devill, who, because he once got Eternity for an Apple, thinkes to Tempt away thy Salvation for nothing! And therefore would have thee all for the Body, that nothing may be done for the Salvation of the Soul! Dear one, thou wast not Ransom'd, be not Ruin'd for nothing!

And now, O my Soul! Spirituall, Immortall, Intellectuall; The lively Image, The Dear Spouse of God; Lord Paramount, and Soveraigne Power in Man; The Free and High-borne Child, and Heire of Eternity, Delight, and Darling-Gemme of Heaven, Most pre∣cious Purchase and Inheritance of the Sonne of God; Doe not, O doe not abuse, and lose thy selfe in Bodily Sensualities, and for Half a satisfaction, (scarce to the half of Man) and but a Moment on Earth, sell away Salva∣tion in full, of Soul and Body in Hea∣ven for ever. For,

What shall it profit a man to gaine the whole World, and lose his owne * 1.66 Soul? or,

What shall a man give in exchange for his Soul.

The Summe of this Soliloquie is,

• ...The Soule is Spirit, Sinne turnes it Flesh.
• ...The Soule is Immortall, Sin makes it Die.
• ...The Soule is Noble, Sinne makes it Base.
• ...The Soule is Lord, Sinne makes it Slave.
• ...The Soule is Soveraigne, Sin makes it Subject.
• ...The Soule is God-like, Sinne make it Beast.
• ...The Soule is Gods Spouse, Sin makes it Strumpet.
• ...The Soule is Gods Jewell, Sinne casts it in Fire.
• ...The Soule is Free-borne, Sinne keeps it in Prison.
• ...The Soule is Gods Purchase, Sinne m••kes it away,

Animadversion to the Devout Reader, Touching the second and third Soliloquies.

IF some things in them seeme to be set more sutable for a Court, then Cotage; and possible, in setled, then troubled times: (as supposing a greatnesse which thou (perhaps) hast not, and requiring a Church-Duty, which thou canst not doe:) thou dost not guesse amisse at the Au∣thors aime; nor doth he thinke thee to move and make thy Scruple amisse. For removall of which, (that no barre may be from him betwixt thee, and thy Bene∣fit) receive this satisfaction for both.

1. What is not proper, may be profi∣table for thee, and (if not directly) con∣cerne thee by consequent. If the Great be disputed out of all their Excuses and Customes, which are pleaded and practi∣sed, to the neglect, or injury of Gods Private, or Publique Service; the mean, are thereby concluded (if so faulty) to fail their Duty without all Apologie o•• Plea.

2. What is not possible, doth not concern thee: And what is unjustifiable, should

be impossible. Such is sometimes the Pub∣lick * 1.67 use of Religion in the Church. Take heed of the Principle (as both false and perrilous) that whatsoever is in the Church, thou must be at it: So in Aegypt, thou mightest Worship a Cro∣codile, and at Rome must goe to Masse. If without Sinne then I cannot, I must * 1.68 not goe. So to Separate, is not to be a Separatist, nor can such absence be im∣pious. Provided that the Judgement of Sinne, and the Service be right, and hate * 1.69 (not love) of Schisme make the Sepa∣ration.

Thus caution'd, thou maist read even those Soliloquies without Scruples; and for the rest, there is no cause of any, as fit (without Dispute) for all. Nor dost thou more in this, then in Reading King. Davids Psalmes, or Saint Austins Soli∣loquies, * 1.70 wherein all things are profitable; though not pertinent to every one. For one particular Soliloquie will no more fit every Soul, then one Shoe any Foot. So then, where it fits thy Soul, make it thy Soliloquie; where it doth not, thy Hi∣story.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Heb. 12. 23.
• b 1.2

  Rom. 7. 5 Rom. 8. 6.
• c 1.3

  Rom. 8. 7.
• d 1.4

  Gen. 1. 26. Psal. 8. 5
• e 1.5

  Psal. 49. 12.
• f 1.6

  Jer. 2. 21.
• g 1.7

  Eph. 4. 15
• h 1.8

  Mat. 22. 32.
• i 1.9

  Gen. 4. 19
• k 1.10

  Eccles. 12 7
• l 1.11

  Ezek. 18. 4
• m 1.12

  Isa. 66. 24.
• n 1.13

  Job. 6. 29.
• o 1.14

  Mark. 9. 48.
• p 1.15

  Pro. 6. 32 & 8. 38.
• q 1.16

  Rom. 13. 14. Gal. 5. 21.
• r 1.17

  Hos. 13. 9
• s 1.18

  Psal. 8.
• t 1.19

  Psal. 62. 10.
• u 1.20

  Joh. 8. 44
• v 1.21

  Psal. 49. 12.
• w 1.22

  Apoc. 21 27.
• x 1.23

  Ephes. 4. 24.
• y 1.24

  Ro. 12. 2.
• z 1.25

  1 Joh. 2. 16 Ephes. 5. 5.
• * 1.26

  Isa. 54. 5
• a 1.27

  Jam. 4. 4.
• b 1.28

  Ezek. 6. 9
• c 1.29

  Ezek. 16. 30.
• * 1.30

  Consen∣sisti, in cor∣de tuo, con∣cubuisti. Aug.
• d 1.31

  Prov. 8. 31.
• e 1.32

  Rom. 6. 19.
• f 1.33

  Phil. 3. 19.
• g 1.34

  Psal. 8. 5.
• h 1.35

  Joh. 6. 70
• * 1.36

  i Rom. 6. 12. & 23.
• * 1.37

  Rom. 6. 23
• l 1.38

  Rom. 8. 1
• m 1.39

  Tim. 2. 26.
• n 1.40

  Ephes. 6. 12.
• * 1.41

  o 1 Cor. 4. 2. 4.
• p 1.42

  Rom. 8. 21.
• q 1.43

  Rom. 8. 23.
• r 1.44

  Rom. 6. 16. Tit. 3. 2.
• s 1.45

  Mat. 5. 25.
• * 1.46

  Spiritus quisque ales est Tert. Cant. 2. 14 Amor tem∣poralium, viseus Spi∣ritualium.
• t 1.47

  Mat. 16. 26.
• u 1.48

  Mal. 3. 17.
• * 1.49

  w Mat. 5. 30.
• * 1.50

  Divinae particulam aurae.
• x 1.51

  Joh. 8. 44.
• z 1.52

  Dan. 3. 28. Heb. 11. 34.
• * 1.53

  Luk. 12. 19.
• a 1.54

  Act. 20. 28. 1 Pet. 1. 19
• b 1.55

  Isa. 55. 2.
• c 1.56

  Pro. 23. 5▪
• d 1.57

  Psa. 39. 7. Eccl. 1. 2.
• e 1.58

  Isa. 40. 17
• f 1.59

  1 Tim. 2. 6.
• g 1.60

  Psa. 41. 4
• h 1.61

  Pro. 78. 14.
• i 1.62

  Ezek. 16. 22.
• k 1.63

  Amos 8. 11.
• * 1.64

  Due mi∣••uta carc & anima. Ber.
• * 1.65

  l Isa. 55. 2
• * 1.66

  Mat. 16. 27
• * 1.67

  Id possumus quod jure possunus.
• * 1.68

  1 Cor. 10. 20. 21.
• * 1.69

  2 Cor. 6. 17.
• * 1.70

  Psal. 42.