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from sorrows: he must cease to be, that he may begin to be happy. He was then happy, not for that he was not; a mere privation of being can be no other than the worst of evils: but, for that God took him: the God with whom he walked so long upon earth, takes him away from the earth to himself, for eternity. Here below, though he walked with God; yet, withal, he conversed with sinful men; whose wickedness could not but, many a time, vex his righteous soul: now, he is freed from all those spiritual annoyances; enjoying only the glorious presence and vision of the Divine Majesty, the blessed angels and the saints, co-partners of the same immortality. There can be no doubt, but that the souls of his holy predecessors, Adam, Abel, Seth, returned to the God, that gave them: but, had not Enoch been blessed with a peculiar conveyance to his glory, it had not been said, that God took him were only the spirit of Enoch yielded up in the way of an ordinary death, the man had not been taken; now, whole Enoch, body and soul is translated to a heavenly life; Ecclus. xliv. 16. His father Jared and his son Methuselah went to God, in the common way of men; by a separation of the spirit from the flesh: but, for him, God took him; and clothed him living, with immortality. I find none but him and Elijah, that were thus fetched to their heaven. It will be happy for us, if we may pass in the common road to blessedness. O God, give me to walk close and constantly with thee, and what end thou pleasest let my body pass through all the degrees of corruption, so that my soul may be immediately glorious.

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VOL. VIII.

THE BREATHINGS

OF

THE DEVOUT SOUL.

BY JOSEPH, BISHOP OF NORWICH.

P 2

THE BREATHINGS

OF

THE DEVOUT SOUL.

I.

BLESSED Lord God, thou callest me to obedience; and fain would I follow thee: but what good can this wretched heart of mine be capable of, except thou put it there? Thou knowest I cannot so much as wish to think well, without thee. I have strong powers to offend thee: my sins are my own: but whence should I have any inclination to good, but from thee; who art only, and all good? Lord, work me to what thou requirest; and then, require what thou wilt.

II.

Lord God, whither need I go to seek thee? Thou art so with me, as that I cannot move but in thee. I look up to heaven there I know thy Majesty most manifests itself; but, withal, I know, that, being here, thou art never out of thy heaven, for it is thy presence only that makes heaven. Oh, give me to enjoy thee, in this lowest region of thy heavenly habitation and, as, in respect of my natural being, I live and move in thee; so, let me not live and move spiritually, but with thee and to thee.

III.

Whither now, O whither do ye rove, O my thoughts? Can ye hope to find rest, in any of these sublunary contentments? Alas, how can they yield any stay to you, that have no settlement in themselves? Is there not enough in the Infinite Good to take you up; but that ye will be wandering after earthly vanities? O my Lord, how justly mightest thou cast me off with scorn, for casting any affective glances upon so base a rival! Truly, Lord, I am ashamed of this my hateful inconstancy but it is thou only, that must remedy it. O thou, that art the Father of Mercies, pity my wildness and weak distractions. Take thou my heart to thee: it is thine own: keep it with thee: tie it close to thee, by the cords of love; that it may not so much as cast down an eye upon this wretched and perishing world.

IV.

Lord, I confess, to my shame, thou art a great loser by me: for, besides my not improving of thy favours, I have not kept even-reckonings with thee: I have not justly tallied up by thy inestimable benefits. Thy very Privative Mercies are both without and beyond my account; for every evil, that I am free from, is a new blessing from thee: that I am out of bondage, that I am out of pain and misery, that I am out of the dominion of sin, out of the tyranny of Satan, out of the agonies of an afflicted soul, out of the torments of hell; Lord, how unspeakable mercies are these! yet, when did I bless thee for any of them? Thy Positive Bounties I can feel; but with a benumbed and imperfect sense. Lord, do thou enlarge and intenerate my heart: make me truly sensible, as of my good received, so of my escaped evils; and take thou to thyself the glory of

them both.

V.

Ah, my Lord God, what heats and colds do I feel in my soul! Sometimes, I find myself so vigorous in grace, that no thought of doubt dare shew itself; and, methinks, I durst challenge my hellish enemies: another while, I feel myself so dejected and heartless, as if I had no interest in the God of my Salvation, nor never had received any certain pledges of his favour. What shall I say to this various disposition? Whether, Lord, is it my wretchedness to suffer myself to be robbed of thee, for the time, by temptation? or, whether is this the course of thy proceedings, in the dispensation of thy graces, to the sons of men; that thou wilt have the breathings of thy Spirit, as where, so how, and when thou pleasest? Surely, O my God, if I did not know thee constant to thine everlasting mercies, I should be utterly disheartened with these sad intervals: now, when my sense fails I make use of my faith; and am no less sure of thee, even when I feel thee not, than when I find the clearest evidences of thy gracious presence. Lord, shine upon me with the light of thy countenance, if it may be, always; but, whenever that is clouded, strengthen thou my faith: so shall I be safe, even when I am comfortless.

VI.

me,

O my God, I am justly ashamed to think what favours I have received from thee, and what poor returns I have made to thee. Truly, Lord, I must needs say, thou hast thought nothing either in earth or in heaven too good for me: and I, on the other side, have grudged thee that weak and worthless obedience, which thou hast required of me. Alas, what plea

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