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
Father c. Evening Prayer O Lord God Almighty the Great and Supream Being before whom the Blessed and Glorious Angels cover their faces thou art a God terrible in Wrath and Vengeance against all obstinate wicked men but infinite in Mercy and endless in Compassion to all poor sinners that with unfeigned Repentance truly turn unto thee thou keepest Covenant and Mercy for ever for all who desire to fear thy great Name and walk humbly before thee I Vile Earth and Ashes miserable Creature laden with Sin might justly fear to lift up my Eyes to Heaven but since thou art so far from despising and driving from thee a Weak and Vile Sinful Wretch as I am that thou callest and drawest such unto thee I am bold to approach the Throne of thy Grace in the name of thy dear Son my Lord Jesus Christ whom thou hast given for Sinners not only a Saviour but also an Advocate and Intercessor to put up our Suits and make our Prayers accepted Through him Lord admit me into thy Presence and hold forth unto me the Golden Scepter of thy Grace let not thy Power dismay but strengthen my Weakness thy Glory not confound but cover my Vileness thy Purity not pursue but purge my Wickedness I can plead nothing but Misery in my self to make way unto thy Mercy from thee alone must all motives unto compassion be drawn I beseech thee O Lord be not ashamed of my Poverty be not weary of my Importunity but as the Sense of my misery leads me unto thee so let the Pity and Commiseration of the same incline thy Merciful Heart towards me I brought with me a World of Sin into this thy World I have derived from my first Parents not only the Guilt of their Sin but also the Corruption of their Nature that Leprosy of Adam cleaves unto me and has overspread all the Powers and Parts both of Soul and Body darkening and misleading my Vnderstanding benumming and abusing my Conscience inthralling and hardening my Will disturbing and disordering my Affections and making my Bodily Senses and Members either as Porters to let in Sin or as Instruments to execute it And from this cursed Root have sprung all those Actual Transgressions which in Imitation of Adam's Sin I have committed and multiply'd against thy Majesty by breaking every one of thy Commands in Thought Word and Deed even from the beginning of my life unto this present time So that there is scarce any Sin but I have been guilty of it one time of my life or other nay this very day how miserably have I departed from thee how frequently and sadly have I backslid in what Liberty have I allow'd my self how heedlessly have I conversed I have walked at a meer peradventure with thee my God And here O Lord I desire to confess with shame unto thee not only the Sin of this Day but those great and notorious Offences of all my sinful life past with all those heinous Circumstances whereby my Sins have been made out of measure sinful as the abuse of thy Patience the quenching thy Spirit despising thy Gospel unthankfulness for thy Mercies unfaithfulness in thy Covenant These and many more are the Mischiefs with which my Nature is blemished my Life filled my Conscience hardned and thy heavy Wrath most justly deserved yet because thou hast out of thy free Grace given thy Son Jesus Christ the Lord a means of Propitiation in whom thou reconcilest the World to thy self I humbly beg of thee through him Grace and Pardon O let his sufferings satisfie thy Justice for all my Sins and procure favour and forgiveness from thee let thy Christ be my Jesus to save and deliver me from wrath to come And whereas thou hast not only promised to deal thus with me but commanded me to believe that promise of thine Lord I desire to obey thy Command and Seal to thy Truth yet privy to the weakness of my Faith I pray thee help my unbelief Behold not my Iniquities O Lord as a severe Judge to be avenged of them but as a Sovereign Physician to cure and heal them Shew me my Pollutions by Sin in the Glass of thy World and by the Lamp thereof help me to search and know how wicked I am that Judging and condemning my self I may avoid thy Judgment and heavy Sentence and may so hate abhor and be avenged of my self as that I may avoid thy Wrath and Punishment O let Sin be as bitter to me in the attempting as in the repenting at leastwise more bitter in the repenting than ever it was sweet in the committing Grant me thy Grace to overcome my special Lusts at least alwaies to strive against them Subdue my proud haughty and vain Thoughts and straiten my crooked and distorted Affections Let me look on the Pleasures and Profits of life not only as thy liberal allowances unto me but also as Satan's Baits avoiding all excess and abuse and using them with thankfulness moderation and as things that must shortly leave me or I them Let me not value Pleasure Honor Profit Ease or any thing whatsoever at so high a rate as for the love thereof to make shipwrack of a good Conscience Let me measure my self not by what others Judge me or I feel my self to be but by that I desire and labour to be Teach me to keep a diligent account of what I receive from thee remembring there will be a day of Reckoning and grant me so to manage and employ thy Talents that thou mayest receive thy own with advantage Let my whole Life be a preparation to Death And the Meditation of Death the Rule of my Life Vnto my old and gray head O Lord forsake me not and let thy Fear keep me from forsaking thee let me be amongst those that are planted in thy House and flourish in thy Courts who bring forth most fruit in their old age Help me often to consider the danger I stand in through the Multitude Power and Subtilty of my Spiritual Enemies And to my Faith in thee let me always joyn Fear not only of Satan with whom I am continually to Fight but also of the slippery paths of this sinful World and the Frailty and Treachery of my deceitful Heart and Sinful Nature ever running after Satan's allurements and conspiring with him my utter ruin Let me ever remember how Satan shews only the fair side of Sin and chooses the fittest Instruments to deceive and knows how to sute his Temptation and also of the Scourges which follow after Sin the bitter Fruits thereof how it unfits me for any Service makes me miserable what ever my condition be And how thou wilt most certainly make those that belong to thee to feel the smart thereof especially if it be against Conscience Lord let me never forget Satan's deadly malice against thy best Servants how few of them have ever escaped to the end of their lives without some grievous Wounds Let me not O Lord be drowsy
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
owne Designs under pretence for Religion Liberty Restitution of Laws Reformation of Cabals and evil Counsellors Ministers of State c. If the Supremacy be invaded the lapses of the Former Magistrate must be inculcated with the greatest advantage What is wanting in reality must be supply'd with Calumny He must hire mercenary Jesuits or other Divines to cry up his ayms in the Churches that so the Poison may insinuate more generally into all the parts If success awaits his enterprises he must urge it to Authenticate his Cause He ought to change with the times If he find reason to impose Oaths let them be of such ambiguity as may furnish with a Sense obliging to the Design and yet so soft as the People may not feel the smart Necessity of State is a very competent Apology for the worst of Actions He must wave all Relations both Sacred and Civil and Swim to his Design tho' in a Sea of Blood A general Innovation contributes much to the growth and security of Usurpation He supposes that men are not rightly and safely to be wrought upon and bow'd to the Bent of his will otherwise than by Fear and therefore he indeavours by all means possible to have every man obnoxious low and in streights His Maximes are Cadant amici dummodo inimici intercidant as the Triumviri sold the lives of their Friends for the death of their Enemies If once a Fire seize upon his Fortune he will extinguish it not with Water but with Ruin Men are to be deceiv'd with Oaths With such corrupt and pernicious Arts and Positions as these and others of the same Impression whereof as in all other things the evil are more in number than the good and sound a man may be more speedy and compendious in the promoting his Fortune But it is in Life as in Ways the shortest way is commonly the foulest and surely the fairest way is not much about Men ought therefore in the pursuit of Fortune to set before their Eyes not only that general Map of the whole World That All things are Vanity and Vexation of Spirit But also that more particular Card and Description That Being without Well being is a Curse and that all Virtue is most rewarded and all Wickedness is most Punish'd in its self Of Recreation and Pleasure IT is one chief point of Wisdom to know how to temper our Pleasures and Sorrows Events will Vary if We continue the same it matters not Let us learn then by a just survey to know the due and lawful bounds of Pleasure and then neither to go beyond nor remove them Be acquainted with the Quality of Pleasure and the Measure many have lost themselves in a Lawful delight through excess Could we settle in our selves a right estimation of that wherein we delight and resolve every thing into it's first matter there would be more danger of contempt than overjoy What is the Human Body whose beauty we so admire but the same Earth we tread upon What those precious Mettals we Worship but Veins of the Earth better colour'd and if we look to their end we shall see Laughter end in Tears and Death and Conscience scourging with a long smart for a short pleasure In Recreations we are to observe all due Circumstances they must be Decent becoming our Person Place and Calling They must be seasonable at such times as are allotted and allow'd by God unto them Pleasures must ever give place to Duties and none of our Business must be lost for Sport They ought to be taken as Physick or at least as Wine our Love and Affections must not fix and fasten upon them for then they will not only consume too much of our time but our Hearts will be unsetled and our Affections wean'd from Religious Exercises When our sports come to that excess that we tempt others and hunt and long for Opportunities when we sit up till midnight and spend half days then we have spoil'd the sport 'T is no longer a Recreation but a Sin All our Recreations must be without Scandal neither using such before others at which they have any Scruple or any unseemly lightness Vanity or Passion in them Our Recreations ought not to be too costly not only considering how many empty Bowels and naked Backs how many distressed Members of the same Body cry to us even with tears of Blood for Relief and compassion from our abundance but the great and exact Account we must e're long give of every Farthing how we got it how we spent it with what Warrant we kept it A good man ought not for Recreation sake to consort himself with evil Company Epheâ— 5. Nothing causes more Friendly acquaintance and Familiarity nothing sooner breeds likeness of Manners and conditions than agreement and communion in the same Delights From liking the Pleasure we come to like our Companion in it and from affecting the Man we come at last to affect his Manners Recreation is to be used as a Liberal Exercise and not as a sordid Trade Gameing is an inordinate Course which God never appointed nor blest to get Wealth and so is no better nay rather worse than common Theft in that being committed by mutual agreement the loser becomes accessory to the Theft of the Winner and is as well as he not only a Robber of himself but of his Family making both sad and poor because the Dice turn up an unlucky Chance In all our Recreations we must take care that we forget not God and be not lovers of Pleasure more than lovers of Him Isa 5.12 2 Tim. 3.4 And then when our Pleasures exclude not the presence of God nor the fruition of him when we have his Blessing on them and use them without dotage as in God from God and to God we are safe Evening Exercises HAving thus walk'd with God from Morning untill Night it remains that we conclude the Day with him Evening therefore being now come no Tradesman should be more careful to clear his Shop-board and shut up his Windows than we should be to shut up our Thoughts and clear our Minds That man shall live miserably who like a Camel lies down under his burden Before therefore thou goest to thy rest retire thy self a little and having finish'd thy course of Reading sit down and take a strict view of thy whole carriage the day past look back and call Orderly to thy mind the several places and companies thou hast been in the day past and how thou hast carry'd thy self in each examining thy self by thy Thoughts and Affections by thy Words and Actions For instance calling thy self to account say Thus much time was spent this day in such a place Did any Lie drop from me there Any corrupt unsavory rash and unsuitable Discourse Did no unruly Passion break out Were my Affections holy and humble and my heart chast and pure My Behaviour Wise and Courteous becoming my Place and Person while I was there Thus thou
may'st run through the whole Day In the next place consider your Religious Duties and carriage in them Your Calling and how you have perform'd the Duties belonging to that your Relations and carriage to them As a Husband Wife Parent Child Master Servant Your particular Corruptions and the Sins you are most inclin'd to together with your Temptations and how you have behaved your self in reference to them Your Talents whether you have wasted and mispent or improv'd and employ'd them for the end they were given Your Providences what they have been and how you have and ought to have carry'd your self under them In short whether you have lived by Faith that is have fram'd your Life according to the revealed Will of God the Object of Faith and whether you have been constant to your own Rules Having thus examin'd your self Reform that which you find amiss Rejoice or be griev'd as you find you have done well or ill and renew and confirm your peace with God committing thy Spirit Soul and Body thy Relations Name and Substance to his Tuition by Prayer and Thanksgiving who alone can keep thee in safety By this daily examination of our Selves we gain these two great Advantages First Our Repentance will hereby be more particular not only of clamorous and more crying Sins but multitudes of other particulars every branch and circumstance of every Action every Word Thought and Affection many Sins which otherwise would have been forgot will by this means be brought to remembrance and repented of by us And again when ever Death seizes us we shall have but one day of our whole Life to Account for The Christian Exercise taken out of a Learned Divine TO keep the Heart in ure with God is the highest Task of a Christian Good motions are not frequent but the constancy of good Disposition is rare and hard This work must be continual or else speedeth not If this Field be not Till'd every day it will run out into Thistles The evening is the fittest for this work when retir'd into our Selves we chearfully and constantly both look up to God and into our Hearts as we have to do with both To God in Thanksgiving then in Request It shall be therefore expedient for the Soul duly to recount to it self all the specialities of God's favour A confused thanks savours of carelesness and neither doth affect us nor win acceptance above Bethink your self then of all these External Inferior Earthly Graces and Favours That your Being Breathing Life Motion Reason is from him and that he hath given you a more noble Nature than the rest of the Creatures excellent Faculties of the Mind perfection of Senses soundness of Body competency of Estate seemliness of Condition fitness of Calling preservation from Dangers rescue out of Miseries kindness of Friends carefulness of Education honesty of Reputation liberty of Recreations quietness of Life opportunity of Well-doing protection of Angels Then rise higher to your Spiritual Favours tho here on Earth and strive to raise your Affections with your Thoughts Bless God that you were born in the light of the Gospel for your Profession of the Truth for the Honour of your Vocation for your incorporating into the Church for the priviledge of the Sacraments the free use of the Scriptures the Communion of Saints the benefit of their Prayers the aid of their Counsel the example of their Lives the pleasure of their Conversion for the beginnings of Regeneration any footsteps of Faith Hope Love Zeal Patience Humility Peace Joy for any desire of more Then let your Soul mount highest of all into her Heaven and acknowledge those Celestial Graces of her Election to Glory Redemption from shame and Death of the Intercession of our Saviour of the preparation of her place and there let her stay a while upon the Meditation of her future Joyes This done the way is made for your Requests Sue now to your God as for Grace to answer these Mercies so to see wherein you have not answer'd them From him therefore cast your Eyes down upon your self and as some careful Justice doth a suspected Felon so do you strictly examin your heart of what you have done that Day of what you should have done Inquire whether your thoughts have been sequesterd to God Strangers to the World fix'd on Heaven whether Just Charitable Lowly Pure Christian whether your Senses have been holily guided neither to let in temptations nor to let out Sins whether your Speeches have not been Offensive Vain Rash Indiscreet Unsavory Unedifying whether your Actions have been warrantable expedient comely profitable whether you have perform'd the particular Dutyes of the day in your Awaking Refreshing Calling Company Pleasures then see if you have been negligent in watching your Heart expence of your time exercises of Devotion performance of good Works resistance of temtation good use of Examples and compare your present State with your former look Jealously whether your Soul hath gain'd or lost lost ought of the heat of her Love tenderness of Conscience fear to Offend strength of Virtue gain'd more increase of Grace more assurance of Glory And when you find Alas who cannot but find either Holiness decay'd or Evil done or Good omitted cast down your Eyes strike your Breasts humble your Soul and sigh to him whom you have Offended sue for Pardon as for Life heartily yearningly injoyn your self careful amendment redouble your holy Resolutions strike hands with God in a new Covenant my soul for your safety Rules for the Night THERE 's not a moment of our time our own The Night brings it's Duties as well as the Day This is a proper Season for Meditation and Prayer as appears by the many Instances we have in Scripture Both of David Psal 42.8 The Lord will command his loving kindness in the Day-time and in the Night his Songs shall be with me and my Prayer unto the God of my life Isa 6.9 Cant. 3.1 And of the Church But 't is then especially our Duty when we are under any heavy and sore Affliction in deep Humiliation or in Suits of great Importance which we would solicite with the greatest earnestness and importunity Colos 4.2 1 Pet. 4.7 2 Sam. 12.16 Est 4.3 1 Kings 2.27 Joel 1.13 In such Cases it has been an ancient Custom for the Servants of God to abstain from their ordinary Sleep that so they might watch unto Prayer As to Dreams tho they are not much to be regarded in respect of any guess can be made by them yet we are not utterly to neglect them because we may gain thereby some knowledge of the temperature of our Body our natural dispositions and the Sins to which we are most inclin'd according to that saying The Night shall teach me what I am the Day what I should be Of Sleep IT is as impossible to give a constant and certain Rule for Sleep as to prescribe the measure of Meats and Drinks Tho we may as well