time thou fhouldest be well, and fometimes it is his Will, that thou fhouldeft be fick; if when thou art well, the Will of God is very acceptable, but when thou art fick it is fo diguftful, that thou complaineft of it, then thou art not right in Heart. Why? because thou wilt not direct thy Will to God's, but would'ft have his Will bend to thine, Illa recta eft, fed tu es curvus, His Will is ftraight, but thou art crooked, Thy Will is to be corrected to his, and not his to be crooked to thine, and then thou wilt have a right Heart. Art thou well as to all worldly Things? Blefs God who fo comforts thee: Art thou afflicted any Ways? Bless him notwithstanding, that he proves and amends thee. Then wilt thou have a right Heart, and be able to fay with the Pfalmift, I will blefs the Lord at all Times, bis Praife fhall be in my Mouth continually. He only hath his Heart fet aright towards God, who defires fincerely that God's Will fhould be done, rather than his own. Thus he.

And indeed this one Leffon (which we therefore ought often to repeat as I have done) is the Sum of all the Commandments; it is the Compendium of all Virtues, the Epitome of the holy Writings; the Eafe of all our Cares; the Solace of all our Afflictions; the very Top of Divine Love; the very Depth of Humility; the highest Pitch of Piety; it is all that is excellent, because it makes us the perfect Friend of God. There is a strange Story that Leontius tells, concerning John, the Patriarch of Alexandria, to whom a

Citizen

Citizen brought a Sum of Money to be difpofed to charitable Ufes, adding that it was all he had, and defiring him only to let him have his Prayers, for an only Son of his who was at Sea, that God would keep him fafe. The good Father took it, and prayed earnestly for the young Man; but about thirty Days after he dyed, and the rich Ship alfo was foundered in the Sea, but the Goods faved; when the News of this arrived, it almoft broke the Citizens Heart, nor could he be relieved by all the Comforts which the Patriarch gave him. At length he thought one Night,that he faw in his Dream this very Patriarch ftanding by him, and faying, why doft thou grieve and torment thy felf in this Fafhion? Didft thou not defire me to ask of God that thy Son might be fafe? Behold, now he is fafe indeed, and placed out of all Danger of mifcarrying: Believe it, if he had come to thee, he had been loft; and if thou hadst not been fo charitable to the Poor, all thy Goods had been lost also, together with the Ship. Arife, therefore, and give God Thanks, that thy Son is fafe, and that all the reft is not caft away. When he awaked he was abundantly fatisfied with thefe Thoughts, and went to the Patriarch, telling him what had happened, and giving Thanks to God, whom he acknowledged to be a kind Father, when he doth what we would yet have done, as well as when he doth what we defire.

According to this Pattern, and the Senfe of this Story, let us govern our felves, and fubmit our Defires to an higher Wifdom, and then we

Ff4

fhall

fhall never be difcontented; we shall believe that it is well done, whatfoever happens; and that if it had been otherwife, it might have been worse, tho' we perhaps cannot difcern it. Let us not defire too paffionately any thing but what is, for fear we fhould fall into a more troublesome Condition, as a Punishment of our Discontent, with that which was easy and peaceable; God always grants the Defires of good Men one way or other, if not just as they wish-' ed, yet fo as they would have wifhed, if they were as well acquainted with what is fit, as he himself is: In fuch Thoughts as thefe, we must repofe and fettle our felves. We may tumble up and down, if we please in our own unquiet Defires, but Reft we shall have none, till we fix our felves in an unmoveable Refolution, to acquiefce in that Will, which can neither err, nor be envious. That great Happiness, he, in his infinite Goodness, beftows upon us all, whose Will it is, that we should be contented with fuch things as we have, and therefore will not deny us the Grace fo to be.

PRAYER XV.

God, with whom is Fulness of Joy, and at whofe right Hand are Pleafures for evermore; I thank thee with all my Soul, that I draw nigh unto thee, and that thou haft repre

may

fented

fented thy felf fo gracious unto us, as not to af fright us from thee, but to invite us to approach unto thee with the chearful Affections of Love and Hope and Foy in thee. It is an infinite Favour I am fenfible, that I am admitted into thy Prefence, and if I had nothing else to thank Thee for, I ought to rejoice and be glad in this, that I may open my Heart unto Thee, and eafe my Soul of all its Cares and Fears and troublefome Defires, into thy Bofom, and there reft in delightful Thoughts of thy Love and good Will towards me, which I ought to value more than all the World.

I thank thee, O Lord, for this happy Leifure wherein I may bave Recourfe unto thee, and that I have any Heart to make Use of it, and am not quite a Stranger to all Converfe with Thee. I am much beholden to Thee, that my Head is not fo full of other Business, nor my Heart So much in Love with the Things of this Life, as to divert my Mind from the Happiness which I tafte in thefe Addreffes to Thee, and in the Meditation of thy ineftimable Kindness, which when I have thought of to all Eternity, I shall never come to the Bottom of it. For it is as great as thy felf; who art infinite in Power and in Wisdom, and in Bounty, fecattering thy Bleffings in various Manners, not only upon me, but upon all thy

Creatures.

O that my Mind was more fedfaftly fixed in fweet Contemplations of it, till my Heart was perfectly fatisfied in it, and filled with fuch Peace

and

and Foy, and Comfort, as might make any Condition of Life, not only tolerable, but eafy to me. Poffefs me at least with fuch a Senfe of Thee, and of thy abundant Mercy towards me, as may root out of me all thofe covetous Defires, which are difpleafing to Thee, and injurious to my own Tranquillity, give me a foft and tender Heart, fenfible of the leaft of thy Favours, as greater than I deferve, and especially make me fu apprehenfive of heavenly things, that the Taste of them, may affwage all inordinate Appetites after other Enjoyments, as little and inconfiderable, in compare with thofe which thou haft blessed me withal: Endue me with that noble and generous Difpofition, that I may not only efchew all finful Courfes, but whatfoever is indecent and unbecoming one, who bath fuch glorious Hopes in another World: Help me to honour my Religion, by giving thee perpetual Thanks, and Speaking good of thy Name at all Times; and whatsoever Temptations I may meet withal to Murmuring and Complaints, preferve me in fuch a fettled Belief of thy fatherly Love, that I may never be guilty of fo great Ungratitude to it, as to repine at any Condition into which thou shalt be pleafed to difpofe me: Rectify my Mind and Will and fet them fo ftraight toward Thee, that they may always lye even with thy wife Will, and chearfully follow it, whetherfoever thou shalt lead me.

I ought not, I know, to distrust thy Wisdom and Goodness, who hast declared that thou wilt continue thy loving Kindness to them that

know