A Christian's Journal OR Brief Directions FOR DEVOTION AND CONVERSATION Brevis Praedicatio longa Comminatio Actio perpetua Denique quid verbis opus est spectemur agendo LONDON Printed for the Author and sold by R. Bentley in Russel-street 1684. TO THE Right Honourable The LADY PHILIPPA MOHVN Baroness of Oakhampton Madam I Humbly present to your Ladyship these few Gleanings which I have gather'd and ty'd up into this little Sheaf I am not asham'd to acknowledge that much of it is none of my own In Divinity all men must be Borrowers and no man knows more than what is Reveal'd the Ambition of Discovery has been one of the chiefest grounds of those many Heresies and Schisms with which the World is at this day over-run and the Church divided And to me 't is no great wonder when men dispute Wisdom with their Maker when soaring Wits will not stoop and submit to the plain Truths of the Gospel but think themselves able to correct Scripture and find out more New and Easie wayes to Heaven than our blessed Saviour or his Apostles have ever inform'd the World of that so many Wander and Miscarry You have here Madam set down the thoughts of several Learned Divines upon the same Subject Various Rules from divers Hands directing our Practice and yet all of them so Weighty as I doubt not but your Ladyship will confess few of them could have well been omitted You will find men of different Opinions here All consenting to further Holyness of Life It is the mischief Madam of our Days that men are too much of a Party in Religion and regard not so much what is said as who is the Preacher So that 't is as dangerous to quote Charnock or Owen in the Pulppit as Mead or Sanderson in a Meeting This Madam is one Reason why I conceal Mens names that the Reader may be no way byass'd by them And I have indeavour'd so to mingle different Parties that 't will not be very easie to discern the Bishop from the Doctor or the Coat from the Cassock that so men that are set upon Quarrels may Fight in the dark where 't is odds they mistake their man And this Madam is the only excuse I have for hiding my self in the Croud of your Admirers among whom you have not Madam A more Real humble Servant Covent Garden Sept. 15. 1683. Errata P. 31. l. 13. for a r. as P. 51. l. 5 6. r. Imaginations P. 54. l. 20. No Comma after Containing P. 74. l. 5. for your r. Our P. 86. l. 1. blot out the. P. 89. l. 9. for to r. by P. 95. l. 18. r. with P. 100. l. 18. r. delight most P. 121. l. 7. for thy r. the. P. 134. l. 2. for all r. ill P. 139. l. 6. for Neither r. Never P. 180. l. 14. No Comma after in P. 243. l. 13. r. bring us that P. 246. l. 17. for bat r. that P. 258. l. 5. no Comma after best P. 280. penult for knowest r. knewest CAP. I. Introduction Sect. 1. THE best way to please God the nearest and readiest way to Heaven and to get a chearful Heart in the mean time till we come thither is to walk with God in all Uprightness to live by Faith which is to frame our Life according to the Will of God revealed in his Word This God commands to Abraham Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walk thou before me and be thou upright This is commended to us by a Cloud of Examples of Enoch Noah Job David Zacharias c. Then a Man is said to walk with God when he daily goes on to repent of his Sins past when he believes in Christ for Pardon and believes his Word for Direction when he sets God before him and walks always as in his presence not after the Flesh but Spirit not to the will of Man but God Sect. 2. Everyday is a little Life bound with the Night and Morning as with Birth and Death one Day is the Brief of the whole and the whole but a Day repeated A good Christian first turns himself to God by Prayer alone then with his Family then to his Calling to his Society Eating and drinking and at Night returns ro his rest in all these walking Godly Soberly and Righteously This is the sum of Life and of the ensuing Manual wherein Directions are offered for each of these particulars which may not be without their use especially to such who are not better provided How to begin each Day IN the Morning when you awake accustom your self to think on God or something in order to his Service let thy fist thoughts be for Him who made the Night for Rest and the Day for Travel who has given thee rest preserved thee while thou slept and renews his loving kindness to thee every morning thankfully acknowledge the Mercies thou hast received and earnestly pray for those thou standest in need of Prayer is the best Key to open the Morning and the surest Bar to shut up all at Night A Heart early perfumed with Gods presence will savour of him all the day after Arise as early as the necessity of thy Body or Mind will permit according to the Example of our Blessed Saviour Joh. 8.2 Matth. 1.35 This Practice will be for the Health of thy Body for the advantage of thy Spiritual and Temporal estate hereby thou wilt have the day before thee and gain the fitest season and large Portions of time for the exercise of Religion and works of thy Calling besides thou wilt be more able and active for any employment Too much Sleep hurts the Brain dulls the Wit impairs the Memory and makes a man more slothful like the Drunkard who becomes more dry through excess The time betwixt your waking and arising may profitably be employed in occasional Meditation While your Body is dressing not with effeminate Curiosity nor yet with rude Neglect let your Mind address her self to her ensuing Task bethink what is to be done and in what order and because every day thou shalt surely be assaulted by the World the Flesh and the Devil fail not to put on thy Spiritual Armour prescribed Ephes 6. from the 12. to 18. that thou mayest be able to resist Consider what temptations thy Business or Company are most likely to lay thee open to the day following and Arm thy self with Resolution against them And again what occasions of doing Service to God or Good to thy Neighbour are most likely to present themselves and resolve to embrace them And Lastly thou may'st consider thy self with thy Equals either in Estate Age or other Circumstances what are thy particular failings what thy Natural Infirmities what those things are in thy Words Actions Behaviour and whole manner of Life which diminish thy Reputation and make thee less than thy Equals and what thy aims and ends are with the Rules of Life thou hast set thy self This is likewise a fit time to call to mind what
from my Mother's Womb and thy long-suffering Patience and Compassion that never fail that I have not been long ago consumed swallowed up or swept away with some extraordinary Judgment for those many gross and heinous Sins of my Life my whole Nature is deformed with Original corruption my whole Life my whole Life abounding with the fruits thereof all manner of actual Transgressions My Vnderstanding is full of Blindness Vanity and Infidelity my Conscience Dead and Remorsless my Heart Hard and Impenitent my Affections Disorderly and Violent Vnruly and Masterless my Appetite Sensual and Brutish I have no ability to any good Duty no restraint or moderation in Sinning against thee Yea if I do any Good I am apt to blemish it with Self-love and Hypocrisie if I abstain from any Evil it is many times rather from the Act than from the Love of it I ought to have lived as under covenant with thee but wretch that I am I have broken my Vow falsified my Faith and violated the everlasting Covenant What Commandment of thine is there O Lord I have not transgressed What Grace I have not abused What Curse I have not deserved When I view the wretched course of my Life and consider my weighty and crying Sins what Lord can I say And what confusion should cover me Here confess to God thy secret Sins with the Circumstances of Time Place Person and Manner c. In how many things have I Sinned against Knowledge against Conscience against Light and against many Vows and Promises of better Obedience I have no colour of excuse nothing to plead with thee in defence of my many and heinous Sins if I dispute I must lay my hand upon my mouth and learn to abhor my self in Dust and Ashes for Lord for these my Sins I stand here guilty of thy Curse with all the Miseries of this Life and that to come But O blessed Lord thou art he that Justifies the ungodly and hast sent thy Son to die for Sinners and hast made a general Offer and invited all to come unto Christ that they may be sav'd whosoever will every very one that thirsteth yea and hast most graciously promised John 6.37 That him that cometh shall not in any wise be repulsed or cast out John 3.16,17 Luke 2.10 and that whosoever believeth shall not perish that thou wilt not despise a broken heart Rev. 22.17 John 7.37 John 6.40 2 Cor. 5.20 John 3.23 Nay Lord it is thy Will Desire and Command that I should believe on the Name of thy Son that so I may be saved 1 John 5.10 And thy Word of Truth saith That whosoever believeth not maketh thee a Lyar. O Father of Mercies I am bold in the name of Christ to come unto thee and by the hand of Faith to lay hold upon thy Promises yet feeling my own weakness I beseech thee strengthen my unbelief and what assurance I cannot have by my Faith weakly embracing thee let me have from thy self embracing me who art mighty to save Thou did'st inable thy Servant Jacob to lay hold on thee and not let thee go till thou had'st blessed him Lord give me the same Strength the same Courage and the same Success I beseech thee O Lord who despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart nor desirest the death of a penitent Sinner but delightest by thy Goodness to Reign where Sins have most abounded to pardon and forgive me all my Sins and to wash away the unâ—…leanness of them by that precious Blood of Sprinkling which Christ Jesus my Saviour hath shed I hope for me And seeing he has born the burden of the Curse due for my Transgressions deliver me O Lord both from my Sins and those Judgments which hang over my head as due unto me for the same bury them in the Burial of Christ that they may never have power to rise up against me to shame me in this life or condemn me in that to come And I beseech thee O Lord not only to pardon the Guilt of my Sins but to purge my heart by thy holy Spirit from the Dross of my natural Corruptions that I may feel thy Spirit more and more killing my sins in the power and practise thereof especially my special Sins and Corruptions Let my Flesh be Crucified with its Affections and Lusts And let me find the power of Christ's death mortifying my corruptions and the power of his Resurrection raising me up to newness of life Arm me O Lord with the Furniture of thy Grace and write thy Laws in my inward parts that I may not only be thy Soldier but thy Servant and Subject Set up the Scepter of thy Kingdom in my Conscience subdue my heart to the obedience of thy Commands win my Affections to the Love of thy Statutes conform my Life to the Rule of thy Righteousness and transform me daily more and more into thy Image Bless all the Means of Grace unto me and me with a heart sanctified and set upon the Means for the increase of Grace let thy holy Word be my chief Treasure thy Statutes my Counsellors thy Promises my Comforters thy Sacraments my Delicates thy Sabbaths my best Daies and thy Servants my dearest Companions Renew daily with me the Covenant of thy Peace and now this morning let thy Spirit from Heaven Seal me a new Patent of Mercy that being to meet with thee in the ways and works of this day I may be sure to find thee as a reconciled Father not as an offended Judge As thou do'st add Days unto my Life so good Lord add Repentance and amendment unto my Days and bestow a supply upon me of all those Graces which thou knowest to be wanting in me and necessary for me with an increase of all those Gifts wherewith thou hast already indowed me Give unto me such Spiritual Eye-sight that I may see thee in thy Word and Works Let me live in thy sight and not without thee as the Gentiles do O let me not be cast out of thy presence as Cain nor run against thee as Balaam but walk with thee as Enoch Noah and Abraham in all my ways taking knowledge of thy Presence Promises and Providences Bless me O Lord this day in the Duties of my Calling preserve me from all fraudulent oppressing greedy Courses Draw my Affections from the Love of this World fix my heart upon things above if things succeed according to my mind make me thankful to thee which hast given the Blessing if any Cross comes make me patient and careful to profit by the Chastisement good Lord do thou bless me with such a portion of Health Peace Prosperity and every good thing as may inable and make me Chearful in Duty And because the daily occasions of danger to my Soul are infinite teach me to keep my Heart with all diligence to make a Covenant with my Eyes to keep my mouth as with a Bridle for the avoiding all filthy communication to use
Rules we are to observe in our Apparel That they be for Health Honesty Comliness that we go rather with the lowest than highest of our Place and Quality That the Fashion be neither Strange Immodest Singular Ridiculous nor we the first in it That neither the making nor wearing savour of Pride Lightness Curiosity Lasciviousness Prodigality Covetousness but such as becomes Holiness Wisdom and Honesty following the Example of those of our own Rank that are most Sober and Discreet Directions for Closet Devotion And first for Reading HAving thus begun the Day that thou mayst walk with God the remainder of it it will be needful first to renew thy peace with God and then keep it To this end as soon as thou art ready if unavoidable necessity hinder not retire to thy Closet and there in a more solemn manner offer thy morning Sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving according to the Command Matth. 6.6 And that these may be the better performed prepare thy self by Reading and Meditation for though these be distinct Exercises yet are they most properly joyned together since they mutually help and assist each other That day is lost whereof some time is not improved in searching Gods Holy Word those Divine Monuments other Books thou mayst turn over out of choice this thou must read out of Duty Luke 16.29 They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them And John 5.39 Search the Scriptures And Deuteronomy 31.11 Thou shalt read this Law before all Israel that they may hear it that they may learn and fear the Lord God and keep and observe all the words of this Law So also the 6. and the 61. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy Heart and thou shalt rehearse them continually to thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou tarriest in thy House and as thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and risest up Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand and they shall be as Frontlets between thine Eyes also thou shalt write them upon the Posts of thy House and upon thy Gates First therefore when you read this Word lift up your Heart to God for his Leave and Blessing for the Spirit of Understanding and Wisdome that your Mind may be more inlightned and your Heart more strengthen'd with Grace by it for this Word is Spiritual and contains the hidden things of God in a Mystery in which respect 't is a Sealed Book to those that have not the help of the Holy Spirit Then you read the Word aright indeed when you have the same frame of Heart as the Holy Pen-men had in the Writing of it Read the Word with Hunger and Thirst after Knowledge and growth in Grace and as the means ordained of God for this end Read it with a Reverend and Humble with a tractable and honest Heart trembling at the Judgments against Sinners rejoycing at the Promises made to the Penitent willing and resolving to obey the Commands This is the best help and Art of Memory for exceeding Joys Griefs Hatred and Desires c. do leave the deepest impressions upon us we do not soon forget the Sicknesses and Pains we have gone through and the shortest Wit can remember where he laid his Gold Compare your ways with the Word bring them to the Rule see how they and that agree be thankful for any Conformity humbled and grieved for any Failing fly to Christ to make your Peace and resolve to look better to your ways for the time to come Advise about and resolve upon the means to bring all into practice especially those Duties which are laid before thee in thy present reading Observe the very expressions of Scripture for they are very useful in Prayer and do often carry a secret Emphasis in them that will greatly comfort and affect the Heart that considers them In reading still keep Jesus in thine Eye as the End Scope and Substance of all the Scripture in whom they all are Yea and Amen Meditate on and strive to find out the meaning and mind of God in each particular Scripture and to prevent mistake and wresting of Scripture to your hurt get first a clear knowledge of the Grounds and Principles of Christian Religion and indeavour to frame your Life according to the more easie and known Scriptures Secondly Be much in hearing the Word read in Publick and Interpreted by a Learned and Faithful Minister Let not God's publick Ordinances be either condemned or neglected for the sake of Reading Prayer or any other private Duty This will rather bring a Curse than a Blessing And Lastly as above Cherish an humble and honest Heart resolved to obey when you know God's Will Joh. 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God There is not in the World such another Book as this Book of God no Word of like Authority Holiness Wisdom true Eloquence Power and Eternity no Book that aims at Gods Glory and the Salvation of Mans Soul like this It discovers our misery by sin with the perfect Remedy it propounds perfect Happiness to us and affords the Means to attain it 'T is mighty through God to prepare for Grace 't is the immortal Seed to beget us unto Christ the Milk and strong Meat to nourish us up in him and the only Physick to recover the Soul from all Spiritual Diseases By it Christ giveth light to the Blind hearing to the Deaf speech to the Dumb strength to the Weak health to the Sick yea by it he doth cast out Devils and raise Men from the Death of Sin This is that Book alone that contains all the rich Legacies bequeath'd us by our dying Saviour 'T is his last Will and Testament Sealed with his own Blood Heb. 9.15 This is the Magna Charta or Great Statute Book of the Kingdom of Heaven containing in it all the mighty Priviledges and Immunities of Gods Children 'T is the Hammer the Fire the Sword the Plow the Seed the usual Instrument the Holy Ghost makes use of to build up pull down to plant purge and cleanse by it we have an Inheritance among them that believe and are Sanctify'd and Presented to God without spot or wrinkle In short 't is the Perfect Rule of Faith and Manners Let any Man but seriously and impartially consider the Precepts contained in the word of God he shall assuredly find the best Direction in the World for all kind of Moral and Divine Wisdom There are not in all the other Books of Morality together so sound deep certain and evident Instructions of Wisdome yet most strictly joyned with Innocency and Godliness as in this one Book Of Prayer PRayer is a Religious representing of our Will and pouring out our Hearts before God 't is the Souls Pulse and shews the state of the Heart If Spiritual Life be weak in us our Prayers will be so too We do not pray to God that
that State wherein he is and wherein he is well As Birds and Fishes are often by noise and stirring driven from the Places in which they were safe into the Snares of the Fowler The fourth when he invites a man to those things which are above his strength The fifth when under pretence of some Good he draws a man into Danger and under pretence of Virtue perswades a man to some Vice The sixth is a Peace and Cessation from Temptation the most dangerous subtlety of all for from hence springs Sloth Pride Contempt of our Brethren Hardness of Heart c. A man may resist Temptation three ways First he resists that consents not The Tempter is overcome if he overcome not Secondly he resists Temptations that flies from and shuns Them Thirdly he resists which beats them back and makes opposition With the shunning Temptation we must joyn Indignation not vouchsafing to look after or harken to the Devil what ever he offers contemning and scorning when he offers that which is infinitely less worth and even nothing in comparison of God's Love Here is the great Point of Wisdom and Spiritual skill so fervently to love God so closely to cleave to him so diligently to employ one's self to do his pleasure to preserve and defend Virtue and to be so immovably fix'd in these Exercises that the Darts of Temptation may not touch us A temptation is best beaten back by its own Weapon Now every Virtue does so as often as in the Temptation its Beauty and pretiousness is seriously thought upon for by such Meditations both the Sins that do Tempt us and and the thoughts that proceed from them are always weakned and sometimes vanish into nothing as Darkness flies away when Light approaches for the only reason that Vice and the Profits and Pleasures thereof seem in the hour of Temptation to have some Excellency and be of some Value and Worth is because at the time the Law and Light of Virtue is hid from our Eyes either through Ignorance or Negligence as rotten Wood and the Scales of Fishes do shine in the Night because the light of the Sun and other lights are wanting Of Self-Examination THE necessity of this self-reflexion appears from this double consideration the danger of the neglect and the great benefit of the Practice of this Duty The neglect of it makes a man a stranger to himself A very dangerous fault yet very easily run into through the Love of Sin and ones self it throws a man every moment upon a thousand unexpected dangers and who can tell how wicked he shall be that does not know how bad he is And when once God shall awaken a mans Conscience and tear off the covering wherewith Sloth and Security have muffled it when by some notable Judgment or Sickness he shall quicken in a Man the remembrance of his former Iniquities and summon him to Death and Judgment when he shall see his Sins set in order before him and large Rolls of Indictments written against him full of his Sins and Woes within and without Oh! in what a maze in what a miserable condition is such a Person As to the benefit that comes by this Practice Hereby a man shall come to the knowledge of himself and his present Estate shall see what Graces he has and what those are he most wants It will discover the whole temper of his Soul and shew him what evil Affections are strongest in him and in what things he is most apt to Sin what Graces are weakest in him what most useful for him that he may the more earnestly implore them And besides this particular knowledge will bring forth these three blessed effects Watchfulness and Tenderness of Conscience He that is acquainted with the State of his Body and knows what is hurtful what is healthful and what the danger of a Surfeit or any other Distemper is will be very wary of his Diet and course of Life Nature teaches this and surely Grace is a better Instructer He that has taken thorough notice of the great Distempers of his Heart how suddenly he is transported with Passion how quickly intic'd by every Temptation to practice any evil that had seen how ugly and fearful the face of Sin is when presented in its true shape and stript of all its lying Pleasures and Profits and accompany'd only with God's hatred and Curse that has found what it is to venture upon Sin what the loss of Gods Favour the joy of the Holy Ghost the peace and quiet of a good Conscience is blame not that man if he be afraid to Sin Humility He that often beholds himself in the unspotted Glass of Gods Law will not be very forward to fall in love with his own beauty When a man sits down to try himself by the Law of God he finds therein all perfections of Holiness commanded but not the thousand part of it in himself he reads long Catalogues of Sins forbidden upon pain of Gods eternal displeasure and in his own Conscience he finds the Guilt of all or most of those Transgressions When he scans his best Works he finds they fall short of that Faith Zeal Sincerity and perfect Charity wherein they ought to have been perform'd he finds that he has little whereof to be proud much whereof to be ashamed So that what ever others may think of him he knows so much evil and so little good by himself that he cannot have high thoughts of himself Let him be despised reviled or reproached as base and vile it is no Corrosive to him he abhors himself more than any other can despise him and is more Vile in his own Esteem than he can be in theirs True Peace and Comfort He that often calls himself to a strict Account that Judges himself for his Transgressions weeping over them with godly Sorrow never ceasing till pardon be obtain'd this man alone possesses his Heart in peace and comfort and can with great quietness and resolution expect the approach of all Adversity nothing can put such a man to much fear or trouble neither Adversity nor Sickness nor Death nor Judgment it self This is the benefit of this Exercise and yet how great a shame it is to consider our neglect and carelesness who seek to know All things but our Selves Our minds are like our Eyes we can turn neither of them inward Oh! therefore for the furture let us take all opportunities that shall be offer'd we are not at all times alike dispos'd for this Exercise there are special occasions that fit us for it many times one sad accident or other turns home our thoughts to our Selves and makes us see what we are in other men The loss of a dear Friend the sound of a Passing-bell the sight of a Dying man have a strange Virtue many times to compose a disorder'd Heart Sometimes a Sermon has set us to rights and sent us home quicken'd with much holy Affection sometimes a Fit of natural Melancholy and