every day Luke xvi 19 24. Think how many want what you waste Remember their end is destruction whose God is their Belly Phil. iii. 19. Take heed of being bewitched with the love of strong drink Wine is a mocker strong drink is raging whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise Prov. xx 1. Remember what it did to Noah Gen. ix 21. And then be not content with meer Temperance in which it may be when you have done all you can some Heathens have out-stripped you but mix your meals with good discourse own God in bodily provisions beg his blessing on them and seriously bless him for them Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do let all be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. x. 31. 11. Be moderate in Recreations subordinate them to the great ends of your Life and see they be lawful and sâ—asonable Two Rules * Mr. Whateâ—â—y Redemption of Time an Eminent Divine gives about Recreations among others specially worth our notice 1. Never allow your selves any Recreation till you be come to some degree of weariness in some pious or honest employment Begin not the day with Recreation 2. Spend no more time in Recreation any day than you spend in the private or secret duties of Religion And this Rule though to some it may seem severe he thinks sufficiently warranted by that of our Saviour Mat. vi 33. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness I add Take heed of passion and the lâ—ss of Time Remember Recreation is no Mans business God hath not placed us in the World as Leviathan in the Sea to play therein We must but sip not drink of these dangerous sweets tanquam canis ad nilum a lap and away Take them as that we need not as that we love When once Recreations begin to inveigle our affections though in themselves they be never so lawful it is time to lay them aside 12. Every day rejoice with trembling Mix a humbling sense of our own sins with a thankful sense of Gods mercies Indulge not a sullen sorrow neither let our Joy degenerate into frothiness and levity Maintain an evenness of spirit between the immoderate carefulness of such as are swallowed up of over-much sorrow and the carnal jâ—llity of such as on light occasions are transported into ravishment or on greater ones forget the causes they have not to be puffed up but to be humbled rather When God gives you the greatest mercies think how little you deserve and when he exerciseth you with the greatest afflictions think he is before hand with you both in what he hath bestowed upon you what he offers to you and what he hath laid up for you 13. Let no day pass without some serious heart-affecting thoughts of your last day Pray Lord teach me so to number my days as to apply my heart unto wisdom Psal xc v. 12. One being asked what Philosophy was gave it this definition Philosophia est meditatio mortis and undoubtedly the thorow consideration of Death has a large place in the Christian Philosophy The Gospel Doctrine is Ars moriendi the Art of Dying viz. in and to the Lord. And how unpleasant soever this study may seem to corrupt nature there is none more necessary for us than it Serious thoughts of Death are very powerful to convince of the evil of sin of the vanity of the World of the excellency of Grace and the wisdom of laying up Treasure in Heaven O! did men think as they ought of their latter end they would not raise such a dust as they do in the World for applause and preferment there would not be such pride and pomp such bribery and oppression such luxury and sensuality among professed Christians as there is Serious thoughts of Death would be one of the most effectual cures of Hypocrisie in the World for who would very much care what men say or think of him that considers how soon he must lye buried out of their sight and forgotten by them as if he had never been When Hypocrites see they must die it makes them in earnest and if they had been so in time they had been sincere Who would trifle with God that knows and considers how soon he must be at his Bar It were impossible for men to live as they do did they but once every day seriously think they must die this thought would either reform them or torment them And that sinners seem to be aware of whence because they have no mind of either they do all they can to put Death out of their thoughts 14 Observe and improve the Methods of Providence and Grace every day and record your Experiences for future guidance and encouragement It is a great point of spiritual wisdom to notice aright Gods dealings in his Providence with our selves and others so as to make just Inferences therefrom and none but such And also to observe the secret approaches of the Divine goodness to our Souls in the way of gracious influence from the Spirit of Holiness Whatever God does in the ways of common providence or special grace he expects we should regard and consider and improve it when sin finds our selves or others out we should lye thereby warned how we meddle with that which Experience assures us will cost us dear when Obedience is rewarded we are to observe it for our encouragement to walk in such ways as God owns and in what ways we have found God approaching our Souls with the influences of special grace and spiritual consolation we are to be excited still to wait on him therein 15. Let no special opportunity of furthering your Salvation glorifying God or benefiting your Neighbour slip you unobserved or unimproved This is to redeem time Every hour of every day is to be made the best of but some are capable of a special improvement like a fair Wind to a Mariner or a fair day when we are at harvest-work if we let this slip such another may not come Post est occasio calva It may be now Christ stands at thy door in the person of a poor Beggar send him not away without an Alms see Mat. xxv at the latter end Perhaps a poor ignorant sinner is by providence cast into thy Family or thou meetest with such a one upon the Road or thou hast him upon a sick-bed willing to hearken to instruction O do thy utmost to save a Soul from Death and cover the multitude of sins Jam. v. 20. It may be thou art light into the Company of debauched Sensualists profane Ranters Infidel Scoffers now give a proof of thy loyalty and fidelity to thy great Lord and Master Perhaps thou art under a Cross and thou feelest thy heart sensible and tender now set to confessing thy sins and making supplication for the Life of thy Soul now thou hast a Sabbath a Market-day for Heaven store thy self with Soul-provision sic de caeteris 18. Share in the sufferings of the
who make no conscience of Relative duties of diligence in their Callings or of justice in their dealings who know not how to govern either their Souls or their Bodies by the Rules of Religion or the Laws of Sobriety what can we think of all these but that they are evidently the Sons of Death They are in a sad and miserable condition they live at random and must die at a venture for there can be no grounded assurance to such of an eternal well-being Such as these make a hard shift to please themselves in the course but will undoubtedly fool themselves in the issue of their Life they will one day wish they had not lived at all rather than to have lived thus A Life void of care commonly ends in a Death void of hope As ever therefore you would die the death of the righteous see that you live the life of the righteous and then and not otherwise your last end shall be like his Numb xxiii 10. Infer II. If we must be in the fear of the Lord every day much more on the Lords day We have shewn you how you must in a sound sense make every day a Sabbath by working for God and resting in him and diligent preparing for an eternal Sabbatism with him but you are not to pretend this in excuse for your neglect of sanctifying strictly the Christian Sabbath the first day of the week the day which the Lord hath made Psal cxviii 24. in which he calleth us to rejoyce and be glad In which we celebrate the memorial of our Lord's Resurrection and consequently of the whole work of our Redemption by him If we must walk with God every day much more on this day to which a special blessing is annexed and on which we have special advantages for the service of God and the salvation of our Souls The cavils of any against the strict observation of the Lord's day are easily answered by any one that observeth the dependence of the Life of practical Religion hereupon I will be bold to say it The power of Religion lives or dies according as Sabbath-sanctification is kept up or let fall in Churches Families or Souls Of other days you are to consecrate a part to Religious exercises Acts of Devotion and Worship but this day is wholly to be taken up therein Only God indulgeth us in works of true necessity and obligeth us to acts of Charity thereon giving mercy the preference even to Sacrifice I will here briefly heap together a few Directions for Sabbath-sanctification 1. Discern your obligntion to it in point of duty and value it as your Priviledge That God have a seventh part of our time for his Solemn Worship is the kernel of the fourth Commandment and of perpetual obligation and seems to have been a part of Gods Law to Adam even in the state of Innocence God appointed and blessed the seventh day of the week before Christ's coming in the flesh for a weekly Sabbath in commemoration of the worldly Creation and added a Law of Ceremonious Rest to the Jews as a part of their Paedagogy and a shadow of things to come now done away Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week and after his Ascension on that day poured forth his Spirit on his Apostles to qualifie them to declare his Will to Man-kind in all things concerning Salvation They held and setled Church Assemblies on the first day of the week and called it by way of approbation The Lords day Rev. i. 10. And the Vniversal Church as far as appears from Church History without the least contradiction till our times see Dr. Young's Dies Dominica and Mr. Baxter's Divine Appointment of the Lords-day kept this day and no other as the day of stated weekly Solemnities and God was with them and owned and honoured their Assemblies with his gracious presence And therefore it seems the effect of strange weakness or intolerable perverseness for any now in these last days to question what the Universal Church hath so long on so good reason practised The Lords-day as the Christian-Sabbath I take to have been instituted by Christ if not while personally on Earth yet by his Spirit in his Apostles And as an attentive Reader of the Scriptures may there discern clear intimations of this so the current practice of the Christian Church in all times and places doth fully confirm it Nor ought we to esteem it any other than a very great Priviledge that we may have a day in seven to study the Works and Word of God to praise his holy Name to worship him in the Assemblies of his Saints to learn his Will for our Salvation A holy Soul must needs reckon it self in the Confines of Heaven while thus employed and bless himself that he may sometimes retire thus from the World and enjoy a holy freedom for spiritual delights and gladsome preparations for Eternal Joy 2. Prepare for this blessed day before it come Think of it and long for it every day but especially the Evening before rid your hands in good time of worldly business and your hearts of worldly cares Read pray meditate catechise your Families call your selves and yours to an account of what you and they heard the Lords-day before and if it may be get to bed sooner that night than you use to do of other nights that so you may be under no temptation to snore away that precious morning on which our Lord in testimony of the accomplishment of our Redemption rose so very early 3. Be sure to be up as early on the Lords-day morning as is consistent with your fitness for the blessed Employments of it And let the thoughts of Redeeming Love season your hearts at first awaking 4. Redeem time that you may add something to your daily Devotions both in Family and Closet and not be put to cut them short 5. Go with the first to Publick Assemblies but go with hearts prepared and behave your selves there with Reverence Attention and Affection Pray in prayer hear as for the Life of your Souls and praise God with joy and alacrity stay the Blessing and rush not into or out of Church Assemblies in a rude and hasty manner Consider God's Angels are there 1 Cor. xi 10. and view your behaviour nay the God of Angels he looks on 6. After Publick Worship retire to examine how you have behaved your selves there Call to mind what you have heard digest it by prayer and meditation and when you have opportunity fix it on your hearts and memories by conferring of it especially with your inferiours Children and Servants whom you may command thereto 7. Watch Sabbath time in the Intervals of it especially at Meals that they run not waste Quicken your selves and others to thankfulness and joy with the serious mention of Redeeming Love Take heed of vain talk and idle unprofitable musings Let the variety of holy employments maintain your delight in them 8. Close the day in
employment of our whole time And here I shall lay down the Reasons and Motives that are proper to enforce this Practice upon us and perswade us to it 3. I shall conclude with some Inferences and Practical Remarks upon the whole 1. To open to you this being in the Fear of the Lord all the day long And this I shall do by laying before you the several parts of your daily duty that so you may be directed in the orderly performance of it Many neglect the great business of Christianity because they do not well understand what it is or if they know something of it in general yet their notions are but confused and they know not how to place and order their duties For your help in this I shall lay before you the following Scheme of good employments for every day which whosoever Prudently Sincerely Cheerfully and Constantly observes does in some good measure come up to this Divine Rule of being in the fear of the Lord all the day long 1. If you will be in the fear of the Lord all the day long you must see that the fear of the Lord be in you Look well that a principle of Grace and Regeneration be wrought in your Soul A dead man cannot work or walk you must make the tree good or the fruit will be naught A graceless Soul cannot do a gracious action much less is it to be expected that he should engage and persist in a course of holiness How many in a pang of Conviction and under present fears of Death and Hell resolve that they will lead new lives they will be drunk no more they will leave their loose Companions they will Pray and Read and Hear and do no body knows what But their goodness is but like a morning Cloud and early Dew that soon passeth away they dream of leading new lives without getting new hearts Whereas if you will to purpose reform your lives you must begin with your hearts Get a deep sense of sin see your need of Christ cry to God for Pardon and Grace be restless till you feel your Souls possest with the Spirit of a holy Life Light and Love till you be made partakers of a Divine Nature new creatures in whom all old things are passed away and all things are become new A new heart is virtually a new life inasmuch as it will certainly produce it whereas a seeming new Life while the old unsanctified heart with its unmortified Lusis remains is but a dead Image a painted carkass a thing that as it does not live so it cannot last 2. Begin every day with God When I awake saith the holy Psalmist I am still with thee Psal 139. 18. Labour that your first thoughts may be of God and Christ and Heaven Use your Souls upon their first release from the Fetters of sleep to work towards God in thankful acknowledgments and deep admirations of his goodness with very humbling reflections on your own frailty and vileness Say Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou visitest him Psal viii 4. Lift up a Prayer for protection from sin and danger throughout the new day God is pleased to give you Think how many have passed the night in Pain and Misery and how many Souls may be this night gone into Eternity while you have slept sweetly and safely and bless God for his mercy to you and labour to make a wise and holy improvement of it Good thoughts at our first waking season our hearts for all day 3. Waste no time in needless sleep or waking sloth How many that are horribly afraid to die yet make no matter of giving away a vast proportion and that of the very best the flower of their time to deaths Image and Brother Sleep O think how many are suing out obtaining their pardon and making sure their Salvation while you lie Sleeping and Snoring and have not you Souls as well as they Have not you as much need of Christ and Grace and Heaven as they Remember excessive Sleep is neither good for Body nor Soul All cannot do with the like measure of Sleep but there are very few but might do with a great deal less than they do And of those that are not guilty of indulging the Body in this respect how many more are there that abridge themselves for the World than that do it for God and their Souls And is the World a better Master think you than God and Christ And is Gold a better purchase than Grace And then when you are awake slugg not as many do turning upon their beds like a door upon its hinges much less contrive not mischief upon your Beds let not contemplative wickedness find that time to steal into your hearts But shake off sloath and as soon as true necessity will give leave be stirring Remember morning hours are the cream of time more precious than the filings of Gold or dust of Pearl therefore throw them not away 4. Be not long in dressing and lose not even that time but think of some apparel for the Soul Be not like the gaudy Butter-flies and gay Peacocks of our days that spend their best hours between the Comb and the Glass and so their Bodies be but fine care not how filthy their Souls are Remember Cloaths came in to cover that nakedness of which sin had made us ashamed and therefore they should be a constant memorial to us of the fall of our first Parents and ours in them and to be proud of them or to make a great deal of stir and do about them is very foolish and absurd as well as wicked Count that fashion of apparel the best that being sufficient for Warmth and Decency truly so called requires least time in putting on To spend an hour every morning in Tricking and Trimming the Body and to think half an hour for Reading and Prayer too much is to me no very good sign than he or she whose ordinary practice is such is a real hearty Christian. And you whose apparel is really Grave and Decent the time that is spent in putting it on let it not be wholly taken up in that but let your minds be employed in suitable Meditations Think of putting oâ— the Lord Jesus Christ he is the only cloathing for your Souls that the shame of your nakedness may not appear You would be ashamed to go naked into the Company of your Neighbours O be ashamed of sin which is the Souls nakedness While you are dressing think what Temptations you are like to meet with in the day and labour to fence against them forelay the employments of the day meditate on some Scripture promise or the like 5. Go not out of your Chamber or Lodging Room without urgent necessity till you have offered up your morning Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise unto God He that is to travel among Thieves had need go armed Origen Complains that that day he
burnt Incense to the Idol he went out without Prayer It 's ill going into infectious places fasting and it 's dangerous going into an infectious World prayerless Truly I cannot but look upon him as an unreasonably bold man that dares go out into the World without Prayer Dost thou know but Death may meet thee before thou comest in again Dost thou know but God may leave thee to do that that shall bring upon thee an infamous death and everlasting damnation Take heed to thy self therefore and go not out till thou hast prayed But then see also that thou pray in Faith and with Fervency Do not content thy self to have said a few words by rote that thou callest a Prayer but pray with understanding and pray with Feeling and Affection Confess thy sins both of Nature and Life and beg of God the Pardon of them for Christ's sake be earnest for Grace and Sanctification for guidance and direction to lead a holy Life and Support and Comfort that thou maist die in Peace Pray for the Church of Christ yea for the Heathen World for the Land of thy Nativity especially for the Continuance and Success of the Gospel therein Pray also for thy Relations for thy Friends yea and for thy Enemies And remember with thy Confessions and Prayers to join Praises and Thanksgivings adore the Divine Excellencies and Perfections and acknowledge thankfully the Favours and Benefits you receive from his hand Express an hearty sense of Creating Preserving and Redeeming Love Recount the personal family and publick mercies you have received or shared in and as you have the Use and Comfort so let God have the Praise and Glory of them If thou be Weak and Ignorant get some one that is able and willing to instruct thee Pray as thou canst make use of some good form till thou canst do better but take heed of formality and resting in the work done narrowly watch and observe thy heart thou givest God nothing if thou givest him not thy Heart 6. Join reading of the holy Scriptures and when time will permit especially on the Lords days the choicest practical Books with your morning Devotions For daily reading the Scriptures it is of absolute necessity and no more to be omitted than Prayer it self It is the Word of God you have Christ's command to search the Scriptures Joh. v. 39. It is the Godly man's Character that his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night Psal i. 2. It is the food of your Souls without daily supplies whereof you will famish Read with deliberation with intention of mind labour to understand what you read and to feel it read it as God's Word and above all bring to it a serious resolution of practising what you read Obj. But I cannot read Sol. The more shame for you if you be grown up and have your Eye-sight If you cannot read do your best to learn and that speedily If there were Lands to be settled upon all that could read the Conveyances of them we should see people learn apace will you do more for Pelf than for your Souls However till you can read or such of you as having been able to read may now be disabled through blindness or weakness of sight c. Get others to read to you and attend to the Word read with your utmost diligence as for your Life If you refuse this Counsel Remember when you come to die or when your ignorance and folly shall have thrust you into Hell that you were warned of the time when you would cry out Oh! how have I hated instruction and refused to be reformed For good Books I shall only say we have great choice of them and you will do well to redeem what time you can for the reading of them especially where there is seldom or sorry Preaching and age or sickness keeps any from the Publick Assemblies God is pleased to bless these to be the means of much good to many Souls Only take heed of erroneous Books of Antinomians Quakers Papists c. And of opposing private reading to hearing of the Word publickly Preached For my part I would hear the weakest Minister supposing him a true Minister that ever spake with a Tongue rather than stay at home to read the best Book that ever was written For God says Faith cometh by hearing Rom. x. 17. And though he can work Faith by reading and it may be hoped will do where people are deprived of opportunities of hearing yet that is not to be expected where they are slighted And here for the sake of beginners in Religion who are oft imposed upon to the loss of their time and the danger of their Souls by ill chosen Books I will venture to name a very few and those not bulky which I take to be exceeding sound and I will add a few hints how you may read them to best purpose I will name but these eight 1. The Assemblies Confession and Catechisms with the proofs at large lately reprinted in Octavo 2. Mr. Daniel Burgess 's four little Tracts Call to sinners Questions c. Twelves 3. Showers Reflections on Time and Eternity Twelves 4. Joseph Alleins Alarm to the Vnconverted Octavo 5. Richard Alleins Vindication of Godliness three parts Octavo 6. Steel 's Trades-mans Calling Octavo 7. Ford 's Practical use of Infant Baptism Octavo 8. Doolittel on the Lord's Supper two parts Twelves I would have you read these Books in the order I have named them one at once always continuing the joint reading of the Scriptures with and before all Books of humane composure read one thorow yea I would advise thrice over before you begin another with a Pen or Pencil mark weighty and affecting passages and at leisure write some of them out if you can write else read them the oftner over Now to such as are grown Christians I commend to you A Discourse concerning Old Age tending to the Instruction Caution and Comfort of aged People By Rich. Steel Minister of the Gospel And A Word to the Aged by Will. Bridge Minister of the Gospel Begin and end every reading with Prayer to God for his blessing and interline what you read with frequent pauses of Prayer and Meditation set your self heartily and speedily to the practice of every Duty and Direction you meet with and depend on God by Faith for Assistance and Acceptance thorow Christ These few Books thus read will yield you more comfort in a dying hour than Kings will then be able to fetch from their Crowns Misers from their Bags or hypocritical dogmatists from all their aiery speculations contentious wranglings or haughty and confident tho' empty and groundless pretensions and expectations 7. When you go out into tht World be watchful against it Remember you walk among snares consider what variety of Temptations you are daily exposed unto and be upon your guard especially look well 1. When you are alone to your Thoughts O