GReat art thou O Lord , and exceedingly to be praised ; Psal. 145.3 . & 147.5 . great is thy power , and thy wisdom is infinite . And yet man presumes to praise thee , being a piece of thy Creation ; poor man , that bears about him ( now ) Mortality ; that bears about this sad Remembrancer of his sin , and this inherent witnesse : that thou O God resistest the proud . Jam. 4.6 . Yet man desires to praise thee , as a piece of thy Creation . And this his delight to praise thee also floweth from thee : because Thou madest him for thee , and his heart is restlesse , until it repose in Thee .

Teach me therefore now O Lord this my duty towards Thee : And which ought to precede , That , to call upon Thee ; or that , to give praise unto Thee . And again ; which is first ; To know thee ; or , to call upon Thee . — But , who is he , that calls upon Thee , and doth not first know thee ? for so he may addresse his prayers to something else instead of thee — And yet , call we not also upon thee , that thou wouldest vouchsafe to let us know thee ? Rom. 10.14 . Psal. 22.26 . Mat. 7.7 . — But again 't is said . How shall they call on him , on whom they have not believed ? And how shall they believe without a Preacher ? And : They shall praise the Lord , that [ first ] seek after him . For they that seek , shall finde him . And they that finde , shall praise , Him . — Let me then first seek thee O Lord , by calling upon thee ; and call upon thee from believing in thee , because unto us also hast thou been preached . My faith therefore now calleth upon Thee O Lord : thy gift which thou hast inspired into me , by the great mystery of the Incarnation of thy Son , and by the ministery of thy Preachers of it .

YEt how may I call upon , or invoke , my God ; my God , and my Lord ? Since to invoke him , is to call him into me . And what Mansion within me , where my God may reside ? God within me , that made Heaven and Earth ? Is there then , O Lord my God , any room so spacious in me , that can receive thee ? Nay : can the vast Globe of Heaven and Earth , things that thou hast made , and me a small point within their womb , can these , in any wise , receive thee ? — Or is it so , that since nothing that is , could Be , without thee ; therefore whatever is , must needs receive thee ? Since then I also am in Being ; what need I intreat thy accesse into me , who therefore am , because thou art in me ? Who am not yet a thing so low and remote as Hell , or the Grave ; and yet thou art present there . For If I go down into Hell , Thou art there also . Psal. 139.7 . Therefore I should not be , O my God , not be at all : but only by thy being in me . Or rather , I should not be , but by being in thee ; of whom , and by whom , and in whom , Rom. 11.36 . all things be . 'T is so , Lord ; even so . Whether then may I invoke thee , seeing I am already in thee ? Or , from whence thou draw-near unto me ? For whither can I retire , beyond the utmost limit of Heaven and Earth , to invite from thence my God into me ? Who hath said : I fill the Heaven and the Earth . Jer. 23.24 .

BUt do the Heavens and Earth , thus filled by thee , therefore contain thee ? Or dost thou replenish these , and yet overflow ; because they cannot wholly receive thee ? And where then dost thou effund ( these vessells running over ) the remainder of thy self ? — Or hast thou no need of any thing at all to contain thee ; who , thy self , conteinest all things ? For , in thy filling them , thou dost also contain them ; and they are full of Thee by being received into thee . For , the vessels , that are replenished with thee , add to thy fluxure no consistency ; because thou art not shed at all , when they are broken : and , when thou art powred out upon us , thou art not spilled , Act. 2.18 . but we are conserved ; nor thou dissipated , but we , by thee , recollected , and kept from effusion .

But thou , who thus fillest all things , fillest thou each with all thy self ? Or , they not capable of thee wholly , do they only receive some part ? and then , do they all receive the same , or several parts of thee ? The greater taking more , the lesser a lesse ? And is there then , some part of thee greater , and some lesse , Or , Art thou every where totally , yet , no where totally , received .

O What art thou therefore , my God ? What ( can I say ) art thou , but the Lord God ? For who is God , Ps. 18.31 . but the Lord ? or who is God , save our God ? O Thou , most highest , most good ; most potent , most omnipotent ; most mercifull , and most just ; most present , and most retired ; the fairest , and the strongest ; stable , and yet not comprehensible ; unchangeable , and yet all-changing ; never new , nor never old ; and all-renewing ; only withering and bringing to nothing , the proud and gallant , before they are aware . Alwayes in action ; and alwayes in repose ; still gathering , and nothing lacking ; supporting , filling , and over-spreading all things ; their Father , nurse , and accomplisher ; still in chase of what is possest . A lover , without affection ; jealous , without fearing a rival ; repenting thee , without any sorrow ; angry , yet still most calmly serene ; changing oft thy works , never thy designe ; finding , and receiving again , what was never lost ; never needy , yet fond of gain ; not covering , yet exacting use ; men supererogate unto thee , that thou becomest their debter , and yet who hath any thing not thine ? Thou payest debts , yet owest nothing ; forgivest them , and losest nothing .

And what is all this that I say O my God ; my life ; my sacred , sweet-delight ? or what amounts it unto , that any one saith , when he assayes to speak of thee ? and yet wo to them , who , in thy praise , are silent ; though , in it , they are no more then mute , who are most eloquent . ‖ ‖ Or ; Whereln the very dumb say somthing , and such as say most , say nothing .

YEt suffer me , thy justice laid aside , to speak unto thy mercy ; Gen. 18.27 . me dust and ashes ; yet suffer me to speak , being it is unto the mercies of my God I speak , and not to Man , so apt to scoffe at me ( and perhaps thou also for the present l●●●liest at me , Psal. 25.16 . but in good time thou wilt return and pitty me ) And what is it , I would first utter unto thee O Lord my God ; but that my silliness cannot tell how , or whence I first came hither ; into this dying life , shall I call it ? or living death ? I cannot tell . And behold then , immediatly the comforts of thy compassionating mercies * attended me ( as I have been told by the Parents of my flesh , out of whose substance thou fashionedst me in thy good appointed time , long before the dawning of this my memory ) and * cherished that my helpless age with the soft nourishment of a Womans milk . Neither was it the Providence of my Mother or Nurses ; that stored their swelling breasts therewith , but thou it was , that , in those Cisterns , preparedst an agreeable food for that my tender age , according to thin● ordinance , and the riches of thy bounty , descending to the meanest Original of things . And thou gavest also * to me , to desire that only , which thou then gavest me ; and also * to those who nursed me as willingly to bestow on me , what thou didst first bestow on them . For they , by a heavenly-guided affection , took a delight to impart unto me , what they abounded with from thee ; and it was also good for them , that I received this good from them : which indeed was not from , but by , them only : for from thee , O God , are all good things , Psal. 62.1 . and from my God cometh my universal salvation ; as I have well-learned since , by the multiplyed expressions of so many blessings heaped upon me , internal and external , all confessing thee their Author . For , then , I had only the skill , how to suck ; to be still , when my flesh was satisfyed ; and to cry , when it was offended ; and nothing more than this . But afterward came-on smiles and laughter , first when I was asleep , then when awake : ( for this hath been told me of my self ; and I likewise discover it in the infancy of others , though I remember it not in mine own ) .