the heart and the want of this consideration was declared to be the cause why Israel sinned so grievously For they say the Lord hath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not Ezek. 9 9. Psal. 10.11 therefore the land is full of blood and the city full of perversness What a child would doe in the eye of his Father and a Pupil before his Tutor and a Wife in the presence of her Husband and a Servant in the sight of his master let us alwaies doe the same for we are made a spectacle to God to Angels and to men we are alwaies in the sight and presence of the All-seeing and Almighty God who also is to us a Father and a Guardian a Husband and a Lord. Prayers and Devotions according to the religion and purposes of the foregoing Considerations I. For grace to spend our time well O Eternal God who from all eternity doest behold and love thy own glories and perfections infinite and hast created me to doe the work of God after the manner of men and to serve thee in this generation and according to my capacities give me thy grace that I may be a curious and prudent spender of my time so as I may best prevent or resist all temptation and be profitable to the Christian Common-wealth and by discharging all my duty may glorifie thy Name Take from me all slothfulness and give me a diligent and an active spirit and wisdom to choose my imployment that I may doe works proportionable to my person and to the dignity of a Christian and may fill up all the spaces of my time with actions of religion and charity that when the Devil assaults me he may not finde me idle and my dearest Lord at his sudden coming may finde me busie in lawful necessary and pious actions improving my talent intrusted to me by thee my Lord that I may enter into the joy of my Lord to partake of his eternal felicities even for thy mercy sake and for my dearest Saviours sake Amen ¶ Here follows the devotion of ordinary daies for the right imploiment of those portions of time which every day must allow for religion The first prayers in the Morning as sâ—â—n as we are dressed ¶ Humbly and reverently compose your self with heart lift up to God and your head bowed and meekely kneeling upon your knees say the Lords Prayer after which use the following Collects or as many of them as you shall choose Our Father which art in Heaven c. I. An act of adoration being the song that the Angels sing in Heaven HOly Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Heaven and Earth Angels and Men the Aire and the Sea give glory and honour and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne who liveth for ever and ever Rev. 11.17 All the blessed spirits and souls of the righteous cast their crowns before the throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever 5.10.13 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev 15.3 Great and marvellous are thy works O Lord God Almighty Just and true are thy waies thou King of Saints Thy wisdome is infinite thy mercies are glorious and I am not worthy O Lord to appear in thy presence before whom the Angels hide their faces O Holy and eternal Jesus Lamb of God who wert slain from the beginning of the world thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every nation and hast made us unto our GOD Kings and priests and we shall reigne with thee for ever Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Amen II. An act of thanksgiving being the song of David for the Morning Sâ—ng praises unto the Lord O ye saints of his and give thanks to him for a remembrance of his holiness For his wrath indureth but the twinkling of an eye and in his pleasure is life heaviness may indure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Thou Lord hast preserved me this night from the violence of the spirits of darkness from all sad casualties and evil accidents from the wrath which I have every day deserved thou hast brought my soul out of hell thou hast kept my life from them that go down into the pit thou hast shewed me marvellous great kindness and hast blessed me for ever the greatness of thy glory reacheth unto the heavens and thy truth unto the clouds Therefore shal every good man sing of thy praise without ceasing O my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Alleluâ—ah III. An act of oblation or presenting our selves to God for the day MOst Holy and Eternal God Lord and Soveraigne of all the creatures I humbly present to thy divine Majesty my self my soul and body my thoughts and my words my actions and intentions my passions and my sufferings to be disposed by thee to thy glory to be blessed by thy providence to be guided by thy counsel to be sanctified by thy Spirit and afterwards that my body and soul may be received into glory for nothing can perish which is under thy custody and the enemy of souls cannot devour what is thy portion nor take it out of thy hands This day O Lord and all the daies of my life I dedicate to thy honour and the actions of my calling to the uses of grace and the religion of all my daies to be united 〈◊〉 the merits and intercession of my holy Saviour Jesus that in him and for him I may be pardoned and accepted Amen IV. An act of repentance or contrition FOr as for me I am not worthy to be called thy servant much lesse am I worthy to be thy son for I am the vilest of sinners and the worst of men a lover of the things of the world and a despiser of the things of God proud and envious lustfulâ— and intemperate greedy of sin and impatient of reproof desirouâ— to seem holy and negligent of being so transported with interest fool'd with presumption and false principles disturbed with anger with a peevish and unmortified spirit and disordered by a whole body of sin and death Lord pardon all my sins for my sweetest Saviours sake thou who didst die for me Holy Jesus save me and deliver me reserve not my sinnes to be punished in the day of wrath and eternal vengeance but wash away my sins and blot them out of thy remembrance and purifie my soul with the waters of repentance and the blood of the crosse that for what is past thy wrath may not come out against me and for the time to come I may never provoke thee to anger or to jealousie O just and dear God be pitiful and gracious to thy servant Amen V. The Prayer or Petition BLesse me gracious God in my calling to such
the Lamb. Grant this O Lamb of God for the honour of thy mercies and the glory of thy name O most merciful Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Amen III. BLessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus who hath sent his Angels and kept me this day from the destruction that walketh at noon and the arrow that flieth by dry and hath given me his Spirit to restrain me from those evils to which my own weaknesses and my evil habits and my unquie◠enemies would easily betray me Blessed and for ever hallowed be thy name for that never ceasing showre of blessing by which I live and am content and blessed and provided for in all necessities and set forward in my duty and way to heaven * Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Amen Holy is our God Holy is the Almighty Holy is the Immortal Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth have mercy upon me Ejaculations and short meditations to be used in the Night when we wake Stand in awe and sin not commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still I will lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only makest me to dwell in safety O Father of Spirits and the God of all flesh have mercy and pity upon all sick and dying Christians and receive the souls which thou hast redeemed returning unto thee Blessed are they that dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem where there is no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God does lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof And there shall be no night there and they need no candle for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever Rev. 21.23 Meditate on Jacobs wrastling with the Angel all night be thou also importunate with God for a blessing and give not over till he hath blessed thee Meditate on the Angel passing over the children of Israel and destroying the Egyptians for disobedience and opression Pray for the grace of obedience and charity and for the divine protection Meditate on the Angel who destroyed in a night the whole army of the Assyrians for fornication Call to minde the sins of thy youth the sins of thy bed and say with David My reins chasten me in the night season and my soul refuseth comfort Pray for pardon and the grace of chastity Meditate on the agonies of Christ in the garden his sadnes and affliction all that night and thank and adore him for his love that made him suffer so much for thee and hate thy sins which made it necessary for the Son of God to suffer so much Meditate on the four last things 1. The certainty of death 2. The terrors of the day of Judgment 3. The joyes of Heaven 4. The pains of Hell and the eternity of both Thinke upon all thy friends which are gone before thee and pray that God would grant to thee to meet them in a joyful resurrection The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hastning unto the coming of the day of God 2 Pet. 3.10 11. Lord in mercy remember thy servant in the day of judgement Thou shalt answer for me O Lord my God In thee O Lord have I trusted let me never be confounded Amen I Desire the Christian Reader to observe that all these offices or forms of Prayer if they should be used every day would not spend above an hour and a half but because some of them are double and so but one of them to be used in one day it is much lesse and by affording to God one hour in 24 thou mayest have the comforts and rewards of devotion But he that thinks this is too much either is very busie in the world or very carelesse of heaven However I have parted the Prayers into smaller portions that he may use which and how many he please in any one of the forms Ad Sect. 2◠A Prayer for holy intention in the beginning and pursuit of any considerable action as Study Preaching c. O Eternall God who hast made all things for man and man for thy glory sanctifie my body and soul my thoughts and my intentions my words and actions that whatsoever I shall think or speak or doe may be by me designed to the glorification of thy Name and by thy blessing it may be effective and successful in the work of God according as it can be capable Lord turn my necessities into virtue the works of nature into the works of grace by making them orderly regular temperate subordinate and profitable to ends beyond their own proper efficacy and let no pride or self-seeking no covetousness or revenge no impure mixture or unhandsome purposes no little ends and low imaginations pollute my spirit and unhallow any of my words and actions but let my body be a servant of my spirit and both body and spirit servants of Jesus that doing all things for thy glory here I may be partaker of thy glory hereafter through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Ad Sect. 3. A Prayer meditating and referring to the Divine presence ¶ This Prayer is specially to be used in temptation to private sins O Almighty God infinite and eternal thou fillest all things with my presence thou art every where by thy essence and by thy power in heaven by Glory in holy places by thy grace and favour in the hearts of thy servants by thy Spirit in the consciences of all men by thy testimony and observation of us Teach me to walk alwaies as in thy presence to fear thy Majestie to reverence thy wisdom and omniscience that I may never dare to commit any undecency in the eye of my Lord and my Judge but that I may with so much care and reverence demean my self that my Judge may not be my accuser but my advocate that I expressing the belief of thy presence here by careful walking may feel the effects of it in the participation of eternal glory through Jesus Christ. Amen CHAP. II. Of Christian Sobriety Sect. I. Of sobriety in the general sense CHristian Religion in all its moral parts is nothing else but the Law of Nature and great Reason complying with the great necessities of all the world and promoting the great profit of all relations and carrying us through all accidents of variety of chances to that end which God hath from eternal ages purposed for all that live according to it and which he hath revealed in Jesus Christ and according to the Apostles Arithmetick hath but these three
will be as tempting with the windiness of a violent fast as with the flesh of an ordinary meal But a daily substraction of the nourishment will introduce a lesse busie habit of body and that will prove the more effectual remedy Chi digiuna altro ben non faâ— spâ—ragna il pane al infernova See Chap. 2. Sect. 2 3. 8. fasting alone will not cure this Devil though it helps much towards it but it must not therefore be neglected but assisted by all the proper instruments of remedy against this unclean spirit and what it is unable to doe alone in company with other instruments and Gods blessing upon them it may effect 9. All fasting for whatsoever end it be undertaken must be done without any opinion of the necessity of the thing it self without censuring others with all humility in order to the proper end and just as a man takes physick of which no man hath reason to be proud and no man thinks it necessary but because he is in sickness or in danger and disposition to it 10. All fasts ordained by lawful authority are to be observed in order to the same purposes to which they are enjoyned and to be accompanied with actions of the same nature just as it is in private fasts for there is no other difference but that in publick our Superiours choose for us what in private we doe for our selves 11. Fasts ordained by lawful authority are not to be neglected because alone they cannot doe the thing in order to which they were enjoyned It may be one day of Humiliation will not obtain the blessing or alone kill the lust yet it must not be despised if it can doe any thing towards it An act of Fasting is an act of self-denial and though it doe not produce the habiâ— yet it is a good act 12. When a principal end why a Fast is publickly prescribed is obtained by some other instrument in a particular person as if the spirit of Fornication be cured by the rite of Marriage or by a gift of chastity yet that person so eased is not freed from the Fasts of the Church by that alone if those fasts can prudently serve any other end of Religion as that of prayer or repentance or mortification of some other appetite for when it is instrumental to any and of the Spirit it is freed from superstition and then we must have some other reason to quit us from the Obligation or that alone will not doe it 13. When the Fast publickly commanded by reason of some indisposition in the particular person cannot operate to the end of the Commandment yet the avoiding offence and the complying with publick order is reason enough to make the obedience to be necessary For he that is otherwise disobliged as when the reason of the Law ceases as to his particular yet remains still obliged if he cannot doe otherwise without scandal but this is an obligation of charity not of justice 14. All fasting is to be used with prudence and charity for there is no end to which fasting serves but may be obtained by other instruments and therefore it must at no hand be made an instrument of scruple or become an enemy to our health or be imposed upon persons that are sick or aged or to whom it is in any sense uncharitable such as are wearied Travellers or to whom in the whâ—le kinde of it it is uselesse such as are Women with childe poor people and little children But in these cases the Church hath made provision and inserted caution into her Laws and they are to be reduced to practise according to custome and the sentence of prudent persons with great latitude and without niceness and curiosity having this in our first care that we secure our virtue and next that we secure our health that we may the beter exercise the labours of virtue lest out of too much austerity we bring our selves to that condition * S. Basil Monast Constit. cap. 5. Cassian coll 21. cap. 22 Nè per causaÌ„ necessitatis eò impingâ—mus ut voluptatibus serviamus that it be necessary to be indulgent to softnesse ease and extreme tendernesse 15. Let not intemperance be the Prologue or the Epilogue to your fast lest the fast be so farre from taking off any thing of the sin that it be an occasion to increase it and therefore when the fast is done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naâ— be carefull that no supervening act of gluttony or excessive drinking unhallow the religion of the passed day but eat temperately according to the proportion of other meals lest gluttony keep either of the gates to abstinence The benefits of Fasting He that undertakes to enumerate the benefits of fasting may in the next page also reckon all the benefits of physick for fasting is not to be commended as a duty bâ—t as an instrument and in that sense no Man can reprove it or undervalue it but he that knows neither spiritual arts nor spiritual necessities but by the doctors of the Church it is called the nourishment of prayer the restraint of lust the wings of the soul the diet of Angels the instrument of humility and self-denial the purification of the Spirit and the paleness and maigâ—enesse of visage which is consequent to the daily fast of great mortifiers is by Saint Basil said to be the mark in the Forehead which the Angel observed when he signed the Saintâ— in the forehead to escape the wrath of God The soul that is greatly vexed which goeth stooping and feeble and the eyes that fail Baruch â— v. 18. and the hungry soul shall give thee praise and righteousness O Lord. SECT VI. O keeping Festivals and daies holy to the Lord particularly the Lords day TRue naturall Religion that which was common to all Nations and Ages did principally relye upon four great propositions 1. That there is one God 2. That God is nothing of those things which we see 3. That God takes care of all things below governs all the World 4. That he is the Great Creator of all things without himself and according to these were fram'd the four first precepts of the Decalogue In the first the Unitie of the Godhead is expresly affirmed In the second his invisibility and immateâ—iality In the third is affirmed God's government and providence by avenging them that swear falsly by his Name by which also his Omniscience is declared In the fourth Commandement he proclaims himself the Maker of Heaven and Earth for in memorie of God's rest from the work of six daies the seventh was hallowed into a Sabbath and the keeping it was a confessing GOD to bee the great Maker of Heaven and Earth and consequently to this it alâ—o was a confâ—ssion of his goodness his Omnipotence and his Wisdom all which were written with a Sun-beam in the great book of the Creature So long as the Law of the Sabbath was bound upon God's
the glory of pardoning all my sins and I may reap the fruit of all thy mercies and all thy graces of thy patience and long-suffering even to live a holy life here and to reign with thee for ever through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Ad Sect. 6. Special devotions to be used upon the Lords-day and the great Festvals of Christians In the Morning recite the following form of Thanksgiving upon the special Festivals adding the commēoration of the speciall blessings according to the following prayers adding such prayers as you shall choose out of the foregoing Devotions 2. Besides the ordinary publick duties of the day if you retire into your closet to read and meditate after you have performed that duty say the song of Saint Ambrose commonly called the Te Deum or We praise thee c. then adde the prayers for particular graces which are at the end of the former Chapters such and as many of them as shall fit your present needs and affections ending with the Lords prayer This form of devotion may for variety be indifferently used at other times A form of thanksgiving with a recital of publick and private blessings To be used upon easter-Easter-day Whit-sunday Ascension day and all sundayes of the yeare but the middle part of it may be reserved for the more solemn Festivals and the other used upon the ordinary as every mans affections or leisure shall determine 1. Ex Liturgia S. Basilii magna ex parte O Eternal Essence Lord God Father Almighty maker of all things in Heaven and Earth it is a good thing to give thanks to thee O Lord and to pay to thee all reverence worship and devotion from a clean and prepared heart and with an humble spirit to present a living and reasonable sacrifice to thy holiness and Majesty for thou hast given unto us the knowledge of thy truth and who is able to declare thy greatness and to recount all thy mervellous works which thou hast done in all the generations of the world O Great Lord and Governour of all things Lord and Creator of all things visible and invisible who sittest upon the throne of thy glory and beholdest the secrets of the lowest abysse and darkness thou art without beginning uncircumscribed incomprehensible unalterable and seated for ever unmoveable in thy own essentiall happiness and tranquillity Thou art the Father of our Lord JESUS CHRIST who is Our Deerest and most Gracious Saviour our hope the wisdom of the Father the image of thy goodness the Word eternal and the brightness of thy person the power of God from eternal ages the true light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the World the Redemption of Man and the Sanctification of our Spirits By whom the holy Ghost descended upon the Church the holy Spirit of truth the seal of adoption the earnest of the inheritance of the Saints the first fruits of everlasting felicity the life-giving power the fountain of sanctification the comfort of the Church the ease of the afflicted the support of the weak the wealth of the poor the teacher of the doubtfull scrupulous and ignorant the anchor of the fearfull the infinite reward of all faithfull souls by whom all reasonable understanding creatures serve thee and send up a never-ceasing and a never-rejected sacrifice of prayer and praises and adoration All Angels and Archangels all thrones and Dominions all Principalities and Powers the Cherubims with many eyes and the Seraphims covered with wings from the terror and amazement of thy brightest glory These and all the powers of Heaven do perpetually sing praises and never-ceasing Hymns and eternall Anthems to the glory of the eternall God the Almighty Father of Men and Angels Holy is our God Holy is the Almighty Holy is the Immortal Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory Amen With these holy and blessed Spirits I also thy servant O thou great lover of souls though I be unworthy to offer praise to such a Majesty yet out of my bounden duty humbly offer up my heart and voice to joyn in this blessed quire and confess the glories of the Lord. * For thou art holy and of thy greatness there is no end and in thy justice and goodness thou hast measured out to us all thy works Thou madest man out of the earth and didst form him after thine own image thou didst place him in a garden of pleasure and gavest him laws of righteousness to be to him a seed of immortality O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he hath done for the children of men For when man sinned and listned to the whispers of a tempting spirit and refused to hear the voice of God thou didst throw him out from Paradise and sentest him to till the Earth but yet left not his condition without remedy but didst provide for him the salvation of a new birth and by the blood of thy Son didst redeem and pay the price to thine own justice for thine own creature lest the work of thine owne hands should perish O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. For thou O Lord in every age didst send testimonies from Heaven blessings and Prophets and fruitfull seasons and preachers of righteousness and miracles of power and mercy thou spakest by thy Prophets and saidst I will help by one that is mighty and in the fulness of time spakest to us by thy Son by whom thou didst make both the Worlds who by the word of his power sustains all things in Heaven and Earth who thought it no robery to be equall to the Father who being before all time was pleased to be born in time to converse with men to be incarnate of a holy Virgin he emptied himself of all his glories took on him the form of a servant in all things being made like unto us in a soul of passions and discourse in a body of humility and sorrow but in all things innocent and in all things afflicted and suffered death for us that we by him might live and be partakers of his nature and his glories of his body and of his Spirit of blessings of earth and of the immortal felicities in Heaven O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. For thou O holy and immortal God O sweetest Saviour Jesus wert made under the Law to condemn sin in the flesh thou who knewest no sin wert made sin for us thou gavest to us righteous Commandements and madest known to us all thy Fathers will thou didst redeem us from our vain conversation and from the vanity of Idols false principles and foolish confidences and broughtest us to the knowledge of the true and onely God and our Father and hast made us to thy self a peculiar people of thy own purchase a royall Priest-hood a holy Nation Thou hast washed our soules in the Laver of Regeneration the Sacrament of
that I also may dwell in the heart of my dearest Lord which was opened for me with a spear and love An act of contrition Lord thou shalt finde my heartfull of cares and worldly desires cheated with love of riches and neglect of holy things proud and unmortified false and crafty to deceive it self intricated and intāgled with difficult cases of conscience with knots which my own wildness and inconsideration and impatience have tied and shuffled together O my dearest Lord if thou canst behold such an impure seat behold the place to which thou art invited is full of passion and prejudice evill principles and evill habits peevish and disobedient lustfull and intemperate and full of sad remembrances that I have often provoked to jealousie and to anger thee my God my dearest Saviour him that dyed for me him that suffered torments for me that is infinitely good to me and infinitely good and perfect in himself This O dearest Saviour is a sad truth and I am heartily ashamed and truly sorrowfull for it and do deeply hate all my sins and am full of indignation against my self for so unworthy so careless so continued so great a folly and humbly beg of thee to increase my sorrow and my care and my hatred against sin and make my love to thee swell up to a great grace and then to glory and immensity An act of Faith This indeed is my condition But I know O blessed Jesus that thou didst take upon thee my nature that thou mightest suffer for my sins and thou didst suffer to deliver me from them and from thy Fathers wrath and I was delivered from this wrath that I might serve thee in holiness righteousness all my daies Lord I am sure thou didst the great work of Redemption for me and all mankinde as that I am alive This is my hope the strength of my spirit my joy and my confidence and do thou never let the spirit of unbelief enter into me and take me from this Rock Here I will dwell for I have a delight therein Here I will live and here I desire to die The Petition Therefore O blessed Jesu who art my Saviour and my God whose body is my food and thy righteousness is my robe thou art the Priest and the Sacrifice the Master of the feast and the feast it self the Physician of my soul the light of my eyes the purifier of my stains enter into my heart and cast out from thence all impurities all the remains of the Old man and grant I may partake of this holy Sacrament with much reverence and holy relish and great effect receiving hence the communication of thy holy body and blood for the establishment of an unreproveable faith of an unfained love for the fulness of wisdom for the healing my soul for the blessing and preservation of my body for the taking out the sting of temporall death and for the assurance of a holy resurrection for the ejection of all evill from within me and the fulfilling all thy righteous Commandements and to procure for me a mercy and a fair reception at the day of judgement through thy mercies O holy and ever blessed Saviour Jesus Amen Here also may be added the prayer after receiving the cup. * Ejaculations to be said before or at the receiving the holy Sacrament Like as the Hart desireth the water brooks so longeth my soul after thee O God My soul is a thirst for God yea even for the living God when shall I come before the presence of God O Lord my God great are thy wonderous works which thou hast done like as be also thy thoughts which are to us-ward and yet there is no man that ordereth them unto thee O send out thy light and thy truth that they may lead me and bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy dwelling And that I may go unto the Altar of God even unto the God of my joy and gladness and with my heart will I give thanks to thee O God my God I will wash my hands in innocency O Lord and so will I go to thine altar that I may shew the voice of thanks-giving and tell of all thy wonderous works Examine me O Lord and prove me try out my reins and my heart For thy loving kindness is now and ever before my eyes and I will walk in thy truth Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me thou hast anointed my head with oil and my cup shall be full But thy loving loving kindness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever This is the bread that cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him and hath eternall life abiding in him and I will raise him up at the last day Lord whether shall we go but to thee thou hast the words of eternall life If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink The bread which we break is it not the communication of the body of Christ and the cup which we drink is it not the communication of the blood of Christ What are those wounds in thy hands They are those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends Zech 13.6 Immediately before the receiving say Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof But do thou speak the word onely and thy servant shall be he led Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew thy praise O God make speed to save me O Lord make hast to help me Come Lord Jesus come quickly After receiving the consecrated and blessed bread say O tast and see how gracious the Lord is blessed is the man that trusteth in him * The beasts do lack and suffer hunger but they which seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good Lord what am I that my Saviour should become my food that the Son of God should be the meat of Worms of dust and ashes of a sinner of him that was his enemy But this thou hast done to me because thou art infinitely good wonderfully gracious and lovest to bless every one of us in turning us from the evill of our wayes Enter into me blessed Jesus let no root of bitterness spring up in my heart but be thou Lord of all my faculties O let me feed on thee by faith and grow up by the increase of God to a perfect man in Christ Jesus Amen Lord I believe help mine unbelief Glory be to God the Father Son c. After the receiving the cup of blessing It is finished Blessed be the mercies of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. O blessed and eternall high Priest let the sacrifice of the Cross which thou didst once offer for the sins of the whole World and which thou doest now and always represent in
Heaven to thy Father by thy never ceasing intercession and which this day hath been exhibited on thy holy Table Sacramentally obtain mercy and peace faith and charity safety and establishment to thy holy Church which thou hast founded upon a Rock the Rock of a holy Faith and let not the gates of Hell prevail against her nor the enemy of mankinde take any soul out of thy hand whom thou hast purchased with thy blood and sanctified by thy Spirit Preserve all thy people from Heresie and division of spirit from scandal and the spirit of delusion from sacriledge and hurtfull persecutions Thou O blessed Jesus didst die for us keep me for ever in holy living from sin and sinfull shame in the communion of thy Church and thy Church in safety and grace in truth and peace unto thy second coming Amen Dearest Jesu since thou art pleased to enter into me O be jealous of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth suffer no unclean spirit or unholy thought to come near thy dwelling lest it defile the ground where thy holy feet have trod O teach me so to walk that I may never disrepute the honour of my Religion nor stain the holy Robe which thou hast now put upon my soul nor break my holy Vows which I have made and thou hast sealed nor lose my right of inheritance my privilege of being coheir with Jesus into the hope of which I have now further entred but be thou pleased to love me with the love of a Father and a Brother and a husband and a Lord and make me to serve thee in the communion of Saints in receiving the Sacrament in the practise of all holy vertues in the imitation of thy life and conformity to thy sufferings that I having now put on the Lord Jesus may marry his love and his enmities may desire his glory may obey his laws and be united to his Spirit and in the day of the LORD I may be found having on the Wedding Garment and bearing in my body and soul the marks of the LORD JESUS that I may enter into the joy of my LORD and partake of his glories for ever and ever Amen Ejaculations to be used any time that day after the solemnity is ended LOrd if I had lived innocently I could not have deserved to receive the crums that fall from thy Table How great is thy mercy who hast feasted me with the Bread of Virgins with the Wine of Angels with Manna from Heaven O when shall I pass from this dark glass from this veil of Sacraments to the vision of thy eternal clarity from eating thy body to beholding thy face in thy eternal Kingdom Let not my sins crucifie the Lord of life again Let it never be said concerning me the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the Table O that I might love thee as well as ever any creature lov'd thee Let me think nothing but thee desire nothing but thee enjoy nothing but thee O Jesus be a Jesus unto me Thou art all things unto me Let nothing ever please me but what savors of thee and thy miraculous sweetness Blessed be the mercies of our Lord who of God is made unto me Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Amen THE END A CATALOGUE of some Books Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Ivie-lane London A Parahphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament by Henry Hammond D. D. in sol The Practical Catechisme with all other English Treatises of Henry Hammond D. D. in two volumes in 4 o. Dissertationes quatuor quibus Episcopatus Jura ex S. Scripturis Primaeva Antiquitate adstruuntur contra santentiam D. Blondelli aliorum Authore Henrico Hammond in 4 o. A Letter of Resolution of six Quaeries in 12 o. Of Schisme A Defence of the Church of England against the Exceptions of the Romanists in 12 o. Of Fundamentals in a notion referring to Practise by H. Hammond D. D. in 12 o The names of several Treatises and Sermons written by Jer. Taylor D. D. viz. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Course of Sermons for all the Sundayes of the Year together with a Discourse of the Divine Institution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministerial in sol 2. Episcopacy asserted in 4 o. 3. The History of the Life and death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ 2 d Edit in sol 4 The Lib. of Prophesying in 4 o. 5. An Apology for authorized and Set-forms of Liturgie in 4 o. 6. A Discourse of Baptisme its institution and efficacy upon all Believers in 4 o. 7. The Rule and Exercises of holy living in 12 o 8. The Rule and Exercises of holy dying in 12 o. 9. A Short Catechisme for institution of young persons in the Christian Religion in 12 o. 9 The Real Presence and Spirituall of CHRIST in the Blessed Sacrament proved against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation in 8 o. Certamen Râ—ligioâ—â—re or a Conference between the late King of England and the are Lord Marquis of Worcester concerning Religion at Ragland Castle Together with a Vindication of the Protestant Cause by Chr. Cartwright in 4 o. The Psalter of David with Titles and Collects according to the matter of each Psalm by the Right honorable Chr. Hatton in 12 o. Boareâ—gâ—s and Barnabas or Judgment and Mercy for wounded and afflicted souls in several Seliloquies by Francis Quarles in 12 o. The life of Faith in dead Tires by Chr. Hudson in 12 o. Motives for Prayer upon the seven dayes of the Week by Sir Richard Baker Knight in 12 o. The Guide unto True Blessedness or a Body of the Doctrine of the Scriptures directing man to the saving knowledge of God by Sam. Crook in 12 o. Six excellent Sermons upon several occasions preached by Edward Willan Vicar of Heane in 4 o. The Dipper dipt or the Anabaptists duck'd and plung'd over head and ears by Daniel Featly D.D. in 4 o. Hâ—rmes Theologus or a Divine Mercury new descants upon old Records by Theoph. Wodnote in 12 o. Philosophical Elements concerning Government and Civil society by Thomas Hobbs of Malmesbury in 12 o. An Essay upon Statius or the five first books of Publ. Papinius Statius his Thebais by Tho. Stephans School-master in S â—amonds bury 8 o. Nemenclatura Brevis anglo-Latina Graeca in usum Scolae Westmonasteâ—â—â—nsisâ—pâ—r F Gregory in 8 o. Grammatiâ—â—s Graecae Enchiâ—â—dâ—on in usum Scholae Colligialis Wigorniae in 8 o. A Discourse of Holy Love by Sir Geo Strode Knight in 12 o. The Saints Honey-Comb full of Divine Truths by Rich. Govâ— Preacher of Henâ—on S Gâ—oâ—ge in Soâ—â—cisethshire in 8 o. Devotions digested into several Discourses and Meditations upon the Lords most Holy Prayer Together with additional Exercitations upon Baptism The Lords Supper Heresies Blasphemy The Creatures Sin The souls pantings after God The Mercies of God The souls complaint of its absence from God by Peter Samwaies Fellow lately resident in Trinity College Cambridge in 12 o. Of the Division between the English and Romish Church upon Reformation by Hen Fern D D in 12 o. Directions for the profitable reading of the Scriptures by John whit M. A. in 8 o. The Exemplary Lives and Memorable Act. of 9. the most worthy women of the world 3 Jewes 3 Gentiles 3 Christians by Tho. Heywood in 4 o. The Saints Legacies or a Collection of premises out of the Word of God in 12 o. Judicium Vniversitatis Oxoniensis de Solemn Leg. â—â—dere Juramento Negativo c. in 8 o. Certain Sermons and Letters of Defence and Resolution to some of the late Controversaries of our times by Jasper Mayn D. D. in 4 o. Janua Linguarum Referta sive omnium Scientiarum Linguarum seminarium Auctore Cl. Viro J. A. Cemenio in 8 o. A Tratise concerning Divine providence very seasonable for all Ages by Tho. Morton Bishop of Duresme in 8 o. Animadversions upon M r Hobbs his Leviathan with some Observations upon Sir Walter Rawleighs History of the World by Alex. Râ—sse in 12 Fifty Sermons preached by that learned and reverend Divine John Donne in sol Wits-Common-wealth in 12 The Banquet of Jests new and old in 12 o. Balzâ—cs Letters the fourth part in 8 o. Quarles Virgin Widow a Play in 4 o. Solomons Recantation in 4 o. by Francis Quarles Amesii Antisynodalia in 12 o. Christs Commination against Scandalizers by John Tombes in 12 o. Dr. Stuart's Answer to Fountains Letter in 4 o. A Tract of Fortification with 22 brasse cuts in 4 o. D r Griffiths Sermon preached at S. Pauls in 4 o Blessed birth-day printed at Oxford in 8 o. A Discourse of the state Ecclesiastical in 4 o. An Account of the Church Catholick where it was before the Reformation by Edward Boughâ—n D. D. in 4 o. An Advertisement to the Jury-men of England touching Witches written by the Author of the Observations upon M r. Hobbs Leviathan in 4 o Episcopacy and presbytery considered by Hen. Fern D. D. in 4 o. A Sermon preached at the Isle of Wiâ—ht before His Majesty by Hen. Fern. D.D. in 4 o. The Commoners Liberty or the English-mans Birth-right in 4 o. An Expedient for composing Differences in Religion in 4 o. A Treatise of Self-denial in 4 o. The holy Life and Death of the late Viâ—countesse Falkland in 12 o. Certain Considerations of present Concernment Touching the Reformed Church of England by Henry Fern in 12 o. Englands Faithfull Reprover and Monitour in 12 o. Newly published The grand Conspiracy of the Members against the Minde of Jewes against their King As it hath been delivered in four Sermons by John Allington B. D. in 12 o The Quakers wild Questions obiected against the Ministers of the Gospel many sacred acts and offices of Religion with brief answers therunto Together with a Discourse of the holy Spirit his workings and impressions on the souls of men by R. Sherlock B. D. in 8 o. White Salt or a sober correction of a mad world By John Shaman B. D. a discontinuer in 12 o. The Matching of the Magistrates Authority and the Christians true liberty in matters of Religion By William Iyford B.D. and late Minister of Sherboâ—n in Dors. in 4 o.
case is so with us that we are reduced to that Religion which no man can forbid which we can keep in the midst of a persecution by which the Martyrs in the daies of our Fathers went to Heaven that by which we can be servants of God and receive the Spirit of Christ and make use of his comforts and live in his love and in charity with all men and they that doe so cannot perish My Lord I have now described some general lines and features of that Religion which I have more particularly set down in the following pages in which I have neither served nor desserved the interest of any party of Christians as they are divided by uncharitable names from the rest of their brethren and no man will have reason to be angry with me for refusing to mingle in his unnecessary or vitious quarrels especially while I study to doe him good by conducting him in the narrow way to Heaven without intricating him in the Labyrinths and wilde turnings of Questions and uncertain talkings I have told what men ought to doe and by what means they may be assisted and in most cases I have also told them why and yet with as much quickness as I could think necessary to establish a Rule and not to ingage in Homily or Discourse In the use of which Rules although they are plain useful and fitted for the best and worst understandings and for the needs of all men yet I shall desire the Reader to proceed with the following advises 1. They that will with profit make use of the proper instruments of virtue must so live as if they were alwaies under the Physicians hand For the Counsels of Religion are not to be applied to the distempers of the soul as men use to take Hellebore but they must dwell together with the Spirit of a man and be twisted about his understanding for ever They must be used like nourishment that is by a daily care and meditation not like a single medicine and upon the actual pressure of a present necessity For counsels and wise discourses applied to an actuall distemper at the best are but like strong smels to an Epileptick person sometimes they may raise him but they never cure him The following rules if they be made familiar to our natures and the thoughts of every day may make Virtue and Religion become easie and habitual but when the temptation is present and hath already seised upon some portions of our consent we are not so apt to be counsell'd and we finde no gust or relish in the Precept the Lessons are the same but the Instrument is unstrung or out of tune 2. In using the instruments of virtue we must be curious to distinguish instruments from duties and prudent advices from necessary injunctions and if by any other means the duty can be secured let there be no scruples stirred concerning any other helps onely if they can in that case strengthen and secure the duty or helpe towards perseverance let them serve in that station in which they can be placed For there are some persons in whom the Spirit of God hath breathed so bright a flame of love that they doe all their acts of virtue by perfect choice and without objection and their zeal is warmer then that it will be allayed by temptation and to such persons mortification by Philosophical instruments as fasting sackcloth and other rudenesses to the body is wholly uselesse It is alwaies a more uncertain means to acquire any virtue or secure any duty and if love hath filled all the corners of our soul it alone is able to doe all the work of God 3. Be not nice in stating the obligations of Religion but where the duty is necessary and the means very reasonable in it self dispute not too busily whether in all Circumstances it can fit thy particular but super totam materiam upon the whole make use of it For it is a good signe of a great Religion and no imprudence when we have sufficiently considered the substance of affairs then to be easie humble obedient apt and credulous in the circumstances which are appointed to us in particular by our spiritual Guides or in general by all wise men in cases not unlike He that gives Alms does best not alwaies to consider the minutes and strict measures of his ability but to give freely incuriously and abundantly A man must not weigh grains in the accounts of his repentance but for a great sin have a great sorrow and a great severity and in this take the ordinary advices though it may be a lesse rigour might not be insufficient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Arithmetical measures especially of our own proportioning are but arguments of want of Love and of forwardness in Religion or else are instruments of scruple and then become dangerous Use the rule heartily and enough and there will be no harm in thy errour if any should happen 4. If thou intendest heartily to serve God and avoid sin in any one instance refuse not the hardest and most severe advice that is prescribed in order to it though possibly it be a stranger to thee for whatsoever it be custome will make it easie 5. When many instruments for the obtaining any virtue or restraining any vice are propounded observe which of them fits thy person or the circumstances of thy need and use it rather then the other that by this means thou may'st be engaged to watch and use spiritual arts and observation about thy soule Concerning the managing of which as the interest is greater so the necessities are more and the cases more intricate and the accidents and dangers greater and more importunate and there is greater skill required then in the securing an estate or restoring health to an infirm body I wish all men in the world did heartily beleive so much of this as is true it would very much help to doe the work of God Thus My Lord I have made bold by your hand to reach out this little scroll of cautions to all those who by seeing your honour'd name set before my Book shall by the faireness of such a Frontispice be invited to look into it I must confesse it cannot but look like a design in me to borrow your name and beg your Patronage to my book that if there be no other worth in it yet at least it may have the splendor and warmth of a burning-glasse w th borrowing a flame from the Eye of Heaven shines burns by the rayes of the Sun its patron I will not quit my self from the suspicion for I cannot pretend it to be a present either of it self fit to be offer'd to such a personage or any part of a just return but I humbly desire you would own it for an acknowledgment of those great endearments and noblest usages you have past upon me But so men in their Religion give a piece of Gum or the fat of a cheap Lamb in Sacrifice
from his beloved and much valued mare Phorbante Plutarch de Curiosit More prudent and severe was that of Sir Thomas More who being sent for by the King when he was at his prayers in publick returned answer he would attend him when he had first performed his service to the KING of Kings And it did honour to Rusticus that when Letters from Caesar were given to him he refused to open them till the Philosopher had done his Lecture In honoring God and doing his work put forth all thy strength for of that time only thou mayest be most confident that it is gained which is prudently and zealously spent in Gods service 19. When the Clock strikes or however else you shall measure the day it is good to say a short ejaculation every hour that the parts and returns of devotion may be the measure of your time and doe so also in all the breaches of thy sleep that those spaces which have in them no direct business of the world may be filled with religion 20 If by thus doing you have not secured your time by an early and forehanded care 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Procop. 2. Vandal yet be sure by a timely diligence to redeem the time that is to be pious and religious in such instances in which formerly you have sinned and to bestow your time especially upon such graces the contrary whereof you have formerly practised doing actions of chastity and temperance with as great a zeal and earnestness as you did once act your uncleanness and then by all arts to watch against your present and future dangers from day to day securing your standing this is properly to redeem your time that is to buy your security of it at the rate of any labour and â—â—nest arts 1 Cor. 7.5 21. Let him that is most busied set apart some solemn time every year in which for the time quitting all wordly business he may attend wholly to fasting and prayer and the dressing of his soul by confessions meditations and attendances upon God that he may make up his accounts renew his vows make amends for his carelessenesse and retire back again from whence levity and the vanities of the world or the opportunity of temptations or the distraction of secular affairs have carried him 22. In this we shall be much assisted and we shall finde the work more easie if before we sleep every night * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag Cam. we examine the actions of the past day with a particular scrutiny if there have been any accident extraordinary as long discourse a Feast much business variety of company If nothing but common hath happened the lesse examination will suffice only let us take care that we sleep not without such a recollection of the actions of the day as may represent any thing that is remarkable and great either to be the matter of sorrow or thanksgiving for other things a general care is proportionable 23. Let all these things be done prudently and moderately not with scruple and vexation For these are good advantages but the particulars are not divine commandements and therefore are to be used as shall be found expedient to every ones condition For provided that our duâ—â— be secured for the degrees and for the instruments every man is permitted to himself and the conduct of such who shall be appointed to him He is happy that can secure every hour to a sober or a pious imployment but the duty consists not scrupulously in minutes and half hours but in greater portions of time provided that no minute be imployed in sin and the great portions of our time be spent in sober imployment and all the appointed daies and some portions of every day be allowed for Religion In all the lesser parts of time we are left to our own elections and prudent management and to the consideration of the great degrees and differences of glory that are laid up in Heaven for us according to the degrees of our care and piety and diligence The benefits of this exercise This exercise besides that it hath influence upon our whole lives it hath a special efficacy for the preventing of 1. Beggerly sins that is those sins which idleness and beggery usually betray men to such as are lying flattery stealing and dissimulation 2. It is a proper antidote against carnal sins and such as proceed from fulness of bread and emptiness of imployment 3. It is a great instrument of preventing the smallest sins irregularities of our life which usually creep upon idle disimployed and curious persons 4. It not only teaches us to avoid evil but ingages us upon doing good as the proper business of all our daies 5. It prepares us so against sudden changes that we shall not easily be surprised at the sudden coming of the day of the Lord For he that is curious of his time will not easily be unready and unfurnished SECT II. The second general instrument of holy Living Purity of intention THat we should intend and designe Gods glory in every action we doe whether it be natural or chosen is expressed by S. Paul 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink doe all to the glory of God Which rule when we observe every action of nature becomes religious and every meal is an act of worship and shall have its reward in its proportion as well as an act of prayer Blessed be that goodness and grace of God which out of infinite desire to glorifie and save mankind would make the very works of nature capable of becoming acts of virtue that all our life time we may doe him service This grace is so excellent that it sanctifies the most common action of our life and yet so necessary that without it the very best actions of our devotion are imperfect and vitious For he that prayes out of custome or gives almes for praise or fasts to be accounted religious is but a Pharisee in his devotion and a begger in his alms and an hypocrite in his fast But a holy end sanctifies all these and all other actions which can be made holy and gives distinction to them and procures acceptance For as to know the end distinguishes a Man from a Beast so to chuse a good end distinguishes him from an evil man Hezekiah repeated his good deeds upon his sick bed and obtained favour of God but the Pharisee was accounted insolent for doing the same thing because this man did it to upbraid his brother the other to obtain a mercy of God * Atticus eximiè si coenat lautus habetur Si Rutilus demens Iuven Sat 11. Zacharias question'd with the Angel about his message and was made speechlesse for his incredulity but the blessed Virgin Mary questioned too and was blamelesse for she did it to enquire after the manner of the thing but he did not believe the thing it self He doubted of Gods power or the truth of the messenger but she
no impure thoughts pollute that soul which God hath sanctified no unclean words pollute that tongue which God hath commanded to be an Organ of his praises no unholy and unchaste action rend the vail of that Temple where the holy JESUS hath been pleased to enter and hath chosen for his habitation but seal up all my senses from all vain objects and let them be intirely possessed with Religion and fortified with prudence watchfulness and mortification that I possessing my vessel in holiness may lay it down with a holy hope and receive it again in a joyful resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer for the love of God to be said by Virgins and Widows professed or resolved so to live and may be used by any one O Holy and purest Jesus who wert pleased to espouse every holy soul and joyn it to thee with a holy union and mysterious instruments of religious society and communications O fill my soul with Religion and desires holy as the thoughts of Cherubim passionate beyond the love of women that I may love thee as much as ever any creature loved thee even with all my soul and all my faculties and all the degrees of every faculty let me know no loves but those of duty and charity obedience and devotion that I may for ever run after thee who art the King of Virgins and with whom whole kingdoms are in love and for whose sake Queens have died and at whose feet Kings with joy have laid their Crowns and Scepters My soul is thine O dearest Jesu thou art my Lord and hast bound up my eyes and heart from all strange affections give me for my dowry purity and humility modesty and devotion charity and patience and at last bring me into the Bride-chamber to partake of the felicities and to lie in the bosome of the Bride-groom to eternal ages O holy and sweetest Saviour Jesus Amen A Prayer to be said by married persons in behalf of themselves and each other O Eternal and gracious Father who hast consecrated the holy estate of marriage to become mysterious and to represent the union of Christ and his church let thy holy Spirit so guide me in the doing the duties of this state that it may not became a sin unto me nor that liberty which thou hast hallowed by the holy Jesus become an occasion of licentiousness by my own weakness and sensuality and doe thou forgive all those irregularities and too sensual applications which may have in any degree discomposed my spirit and the severity of a Christian. Let me in all accidents and circumstances be severe in my duty towards thee affectionate and dear to my Wife or Husband a guide and good example to my family and in all quietness sobriety prudence and peace a follower of those holy pairs who have served thee with godliness and a good testimony and the blessings of the eternal God blessings of the right hand and of the left be upon the body and soul of thy servant my Wife or Husband and abide upon her or him till the end of a holy and happy life and grant that both of us may live together for ever in the embraces of the holy and eternal Jesus our Lord and saviour Amen A prayer for the grace of Humility O Holy and most gracious Master and Saviour Jesus who by thy example and by thy precept by the practise of a whole life and frequent discourses didst command us to be meek and humble in imitation of thy incomparable sweetness and great humility be pleased to give me the grace as thou hast given me the commandment enable me to doe whatsoever thou commandest and command whatsoever thou pleasest O mortifie in me all proud thoughts and vain opinions of my self let me return to thee acknowledgment and the fruits of all those good things thou hast given me that by confessing I am wholly in debt to thee for them I may not boast my self for what I have received and for what I am highly accountable and for what is my own teach me to be ashamed and humbled it being nothing but sin and misery weakness and uncleanness Let me go before my brethren in nothing but in striving to doe them honour and thee glory never to seek my own praise never to delight in it when it is offered that despising my self I may be accepted by thee in the honours with which thou shalt crown thy humble and despised servants for Jesus his sake in the kingdome of eternal glory Amen Acts of Humility and Modesty by way of prayer and meditation I. Lord I know that my spirit is light and thorny my body is brutish and exposed to sickness I am constant to folly and inconstant in holy purposes My labours are vain and fruitless my fortune full of change and trouble seldom pleasing never perfect My wisdom is holly being ignorant even of the parts and passions of my own body and what am I O Lord before thee but a miserable person hugely in debt not able to pay II. Lord I am nothing and I have nothing of my self I am lesse then the least of all thy mercies III. What was I before my birth First nothing and then uncleanness What during my childehood weakness and folly What in my youth folly still and passion lust and wildness What in my whole life a great sinner a deceived and an abused person Lord pity me for it is thy goodness that I am kept from confusion and amazement when I consider the misery and shame of my person and the defilements of my nature IV. Lord what am I and Lord what art thou What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou so regardest him V. How can Man be justified with God or how can he be clean that is born of a Woman Behold even to the Moon and it shineth not yea the Starres are not pure in his sight How much lesse Man that is a Worm and the son of Man which is a Worm Job 25. A Prayer for a contented spirit and the grace of moderation and patience O Almighty God Father and Lord of all the creatures who hast disposed al things and all chances so as may best glorifie thy wisdom and serve the ends of thy justice and magnifie thy mercy by secret and undiscernible waies bringing good out of evil I most humbly beseech thee to give me wisdome from above that I may adore thee and admire thy waies and footsteps which are in the great Deep and not to be searched out teach me to submit to thy providence in all things to be content in all changes of person and condition to be temperate in prosperity and to read my duty in the lines of thy mercy and in adversity to be meek patient and resigned and to look through the cloud that I may wait for the consolation of the Lord and the day of redemption in the mean time doing my duty with an
edification of thy spirit in the waies of holy living and esteem that time well accounted for that is prudently and affectionately imployed in hearing or reading good books and pious discourses ever remembring that God by hearing us speak to him in prayer obliges us to hear him speak to us in his word by what instrument soever it be conveyed SECT V. Of Fasting FAsting if it be considered in it self without relation to spiritual ends is a duty no where enjoyned or counselled But Christianity hath to doe with it as it may be made an instrument of the Spirit by subduing the lusts of the flesh or removing any hindrances of religion And it hath been practised by all ages of the Church and advised in order to three ministeries 1. To Prayer 2. To Mortification of bodily lusts 3. To Repentance and is to be practised according to the following measures Rules for Christian Fasting 1. Fasting in order to prayer is to be measured by the proportions of the times of prayer that is it ought to be a totall fast from all things during the solemnity unlesse a probable necessity intervene Thus the Jews eat nothing upon the Sabbath-daies till their great offices were performed that is about the sixth hour and S. Peter used it as an argument that the Apostles in Pentecost were not drunk because it was but the third hour of the day of such a day in which it was not lawful to eat or drink till the sixth hour and the Jews were offended at the Disciples for plucking the ears of corn upon the Sabbath early in the morning because it was before the time in which by their customs they esteemed it lawfull to break their fast In imitation of this custom and in prosecution of the reason of it the Christian Church hath religiously observed fasting before the holy Communion and the more devout persons though without any obligation at all refused to eat or drink till they had finished their morning devotions and further yet upon daies of publick humiliation which are designed to be spent wholly in Devotion and for the averting Gods judgments if they were imminent fasting is commanded together with prayer commanded I say by the Church to this end that the Spirit might be clearer and more Angelical when it is quitted in some proportions from the loads of flesh 2. Fasting when it is in order to Prayer must be a total abstinence from all meat or else an abatement of the quantity for the help which fasting does to prayer cannot be served by changing flesh into flesh or milk-meats into dry diet but by turning much into little or little into none at all during the time of solemn and extraordinary prayer 3. Fasting as it is instrumental to Prayer must be attended with other aids of the like virtue and efficacy such as are removing for the time all worldly care and secular businesses and therefore our blessed Saviour enfolds these parts within the same caution Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this world and that day overtake you unawares To which add alms Jeâ—unium sine eleemâ—syna lampas sine oleo S. August for upon the wings of fasting and alms holy prayer infallibly mounts up to Heaven 4. When Fasting is intended to serve the duty of Repentance it is then best chosen when it is short sharp and afflictive that is either a total abstinence from all nourishment according as we shall appoint or be appointed during such a time as is separate for the solemnity and attendance upon the imployment or if we shall extend our feverity beyond the solemn daies and keep our anger against our sin as we are to keep our sorrow that is alwaies in a readiness and often to be called upon then to refuse a pleasant morsel to abstain from the bread of our desires and only to take wholsome and lesse pleasing nourishment vexing our appetite by the refusing a lawful satisfaction since in its petulancy and luxury it preyed upon an unlawfull 5. Fasting designed for repentance must be ever joyned with an extreme care that we fast from sin for there is no greater folly or undecency in the world then to commit that for which I am now judging and condemning my self This is the best fast and the other may serve to promote the interest of this by increasing the disaffection to it and multiplying arguments against it 6. He that fasts for repentance must during that solemnity abstain from all bodily delights and the sensuality of all his senses and his appetites for a man must not when he mourns in his fast be merry in his sport weep at dinner and laugh all day after haue a silence in his kitchin and musick in his chamber judge the stomack and feast the other senses I deny not but a man may in a single instance punish a particular sin with a proper instrument If a man have offended in his palate he may choose to fast only if he have sinned in soâ—tness and in his touch he may choose to lie hard or work hard and use sharp inflictions but although this Discipline be proper and particular yet because the sorrow is of the whole man no sense must rejoice or be with any study or purpose feasted and entertained softly This rule is intended to relate to the solemn daies appointed for repentance publickly or privately besides which in the whole course of our life even in the midst of our most festival and freer joyes we may sprincle some single instances and acts of self-condemning or punishing as to refuse a pleasant morsel or a delicious draught with a tacit remembrance of the sin that now returns to displease my spirit and though these actions be single there is no undecency in them because a man may abate of his ordinary liberty and bold freedom with great prudence so he does it without singularity in himself or trouble to others but he may not abate of his solemn sorrow that may be caution but this would be softness effeminacy and undecency 7. When fasting is an act of mortification that is is intended to subdue a bodily lust as the spirit of fornication or the fondness of strong and impatient appetites it must not be a sudden sharp and violent fast but a state of fasting a dyet of fasting a daily lessening our portion of meat and drink and a choosing such a course dyet which may make the least preparation for the lusts of the body He that fasts three daies without food Digiuna assat chi mal mangia will weaken other parts more then the ministers of fornication and when the meals return as usually they also will be served assoon as any In the mean time they will be supplied and made active by the accidental heat that comes with such violent fastings for this is a kind of aerial Devil the Prince that rules in the air is the Devil of fornication and he
to satisfie whom we have injur'd and to forgive them who have injur'd us without thoughts of resuming the quarrel when the solemnity is over for that is but to rake the embers in light and phantastick ashes it must be quenched and a holy flame enkindled no fires must be at all but the fires of love and zeal and the altar of incense will send up a sweet perfume and make atonement for us 7. When the day of the feast is come lay aside all cares and impertinencies of the World and remember that this is thy Souls day a day of traffique and entercourse with Heaven Arise early in the morning 1. Give God thanks for the approach of so great a blessing 2. Confess thy own unworthiness to admit so Divine a Guest 3 Then remember and deplore thy sins which have made thee so unworthy 4. Then confess Gods goodness and take sanctuary there and upon him place thy hopes 5. And invite him to thee with renewed acts of love of holy desire of hatred of his enemy sin 6. Make oblation of thy self wholy to be disposed by him to the obedience of him to his providence and possession and pray him to enter and dwell there for ever And after this with joy and holy fear and the forwardness of love address thy self to the receiving of him to whom by whom and for whom all faiths and all hope and all love in the whole Catholick Church both in Heaven and Earth is designed him whom Kings and Queens and whole Kingdomes are inlove with and count it the greatest honour in the World that their Crowns and Scepters are laid at his holy feet 8. When the holy man stands at the Table of blessing and ministers the rite of consecration then do as the Angels do who behold and love and wonder that the Son of God should become food to the souls of his servants that he who cannot suffer any change of â—essening should be broken into pieces enter into the body to support and nourish the spirit and yet at the same time remain in Heaven while he descends to thee upon Earth that he who hath essential felicity should become miserable and dye for thee and then give himself to thee for ever to redeem thee from sin and misery that by his wounds he should procure health to thee by his affronts he should entitle thee to glory by his death he should bring thee to life and by becoming a man he should make thee partaker of the Divine nature These are such glories that although they are made so obvious that each eye may behold them yet they are also so deep that no thought can fathome them But so it hath pleased him to make these mysteries to be sensible because the excellency and depth of the mercy is not intelligible that while we are ravished and comprehended within the infiniteness of so vast and mysterious a mercy yet we may be as sure of it as of that thing we see and feel smell and taste but yet is so great that we cannot understand it 9. These holy mysteries are offered to our senses but not to be placed under our feet they are sensible but not common and therefore as the weakness of the Elements adds wonder to the excellency of the Sacrament so let our reverence and venerable usages of them adde honour to the Elements and acknowledge the glory of he mysterie and the Divinity of the mercy Let us receive the consecrated Elements with all devotion and humility of body and spirits and do this honour to it that it be the first food we eat and the first beverage we drink that day unless it be in case of sickness or other great necessity and that your body and soul both be prepared to its reception with abstinence from secular pleasures Disâ—â—diâ—e alia is Qums tuliâ— hâ—stemaÌ„ gaudia necâ—e Venuâ— that you may better have attended fastings and preparatory prayers For if ever it be seasonable to observe the counsell of Saint Paul that married person by consent should abstain foâ— a time that they may attend to solemn Religion it is now It was not by Saint Paul nor the after ages of the Church called a duty so to do but it is most reasonable that the more solemn actions of Religion should be attended to without the mixture of any thing that may discompose the minde and make it more secular or less religious 10. In the act of receiving exercise acts of Faith with much confidence and resignation believing it not to be common bread and wine but holy in their use holy in their signification holy in their change and holy in their effect and believe if thou art a worthy Communicant thou dost as verily receive Christs body and blood to all effects and purposes of the spirit Cruci haremus sanguinem sugimus inâ—er ipsa Redemptoriâ— nostri vulnera figimus linguam Cyprian de caena Dom. as thou doest receive the blessed elements into thy mouth that thou puttest thy finger to his hand and thy hand into his side and thy lips into his fontinel of blood sucking life from his heart and yet if thou doest communicate unworthily thou eatest and drinkest Christ to thy danger and death and destruction Dispute not concerning the secret of the mystery and the nicety of the manner of Christs presence it is sufficient to thee that Christ shall be present to thy soul as an instrument of grace a pledge of the resurrection as the earnest of glory and immortality and a meanes of many intermediall blessings even all such as are necessary for thee and are in order to thy salvation and to make all this good to thee there is nothing necessary on thy part but a holy life and a true belief of all the sayings of Christ amongst which indefinitely assent to the words of institution and beleive that Christ in the holy Sacrament gives thee his body and his blood He that believes not this is not a Christian He that believes so much needs not to enquire further nor to intangle his faith by disbelieving his sense 11. Fail not this solemnity according to the custom of pious devout people to make an offering to God for the uses of religion the poor according to thy ability For when Christ feasts his body let us also feast our fellow members who have right to the same promises and are partakers of the same Sacrament and partners of the same hope and cared for under the same providence and descended from the same common parents and whose Father God is and Christ is their Elder brother If thou chancest to communicate where this holy custom is not observed publickly supply that want by thy private charity but offer it to God at his holy Table at least by thy private designing it there 11. When you have received pray and give thanks Pray for all estates of men for they also have an interest in the body
unwearied diligence and an undisturbed resolution having no fondness for the vanities or possessions of this World but laying up my hopes in Heaven and the rewards of holy living and being strengthned with the Spirit in the inner man through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. III. Of Christian Justice IUstice is by the Christian Religion enjoyed in all its parts by these two propositions in Scripture Whatsoever ye would that men should doe to you even so doe to them This is the measure of communicative â—ustice or of that justice which supposes exchange of things profitable for things profitable that is I supply your need you may supply mine as I doe a benefit to you I may receive one by you and because every man may be injured by another therefore his security shall depend upon mine if he will not not let me be safe he shall not be safe himself only the manner of his being punished is upon great reason both by God and all the World taken from particulars and committed to a publick dis-interested person who will doe justice without passion both to him and to me If he refuses to doe me advantage he shall receive none when his needs require it And thus God gave necessities to men that all men might need and several abilities to several persons that each mâ—n might help to supply the publick needs and by joyning to fill up all wants they may be knit together by justice as the parts of the world are by nature and he hath made us all obnoxious to injuries and made every little thing strong enough to doe us hurt by some instrument or other and hath given us all a sufficient stock of self-love and desire of self preservation to be as the chain to tie together all the parts of society and to restrain us from doing violence lest we be violently dealt withall our selves The other part of justice is commonly called distributive and is commanded in this rule Rom. 13.7 Render to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custome to whome custome fear to whom fear honour to whom honour Owe no man any thing but to love one another This justice is distinguished from the first because the obligation depends not upon contract or express bargain but passes upon us by virtue of some command of God or our Superiour by nature or by grace by piety or religion by trust or by office 2 Pet. 4.10 according to that Commandment As every man hath received the gift so let him minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God And as the first considers an equality of persons in respect of the contract or particular necessity this supposes a difference of persons and no particular bargains but such necessary entercourses as by the Laws of God or man are introduced But I shall reduce all the particulars of both kindes to these four heads 1. Obedience 2. Provision 3. Negotiation 4. Restitution SECT I. Of Obedience to our Superiours OUr Superiours are set over us in affairs of the World or the affairs of the Soul and things pertaining to Religion and are called accordingly Ecclesiastical or Civil Towards whom our duty is tâ—uâ— generally described in the New Testament â—or Temporal or Civil Governours the Commands are these Rom. 13.8 Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and Let every soul be subject to the higher powers For there is no power but of God 〈◊〉 3. â— The powers that be are obtained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God Pet. â— 13 and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation and Put them in minde to be subâ—ect to principalities powers to obey Magistrates â— and Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and the praise of them that doe well For Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Governours thus we are commanded Heb. â—3 17 Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls Pâ—â—â—l 2 29. as they that must give an account and Hold such in reputation and To this end did I write that I might know the proof of you whether ye be obedient in all things said S. Paul to the Church of Corinth 2 Cor. 2.2 Our duty is reducible to practise by the following Rules Acts and duties of Obedience to all our Superiours 1. We must obey all humane laws appointed and constituted by lawful Authority that is of the supreme power according to the constitution of the place in which we live all laws I mean which are not against the law of God 2. In obedience to humane laws we must observe the letter of the Law where we can without doing violence to the reason of the Law and the intention of the Law-giver but where they crosse each other the charity of the Law is to be preferred before its discipline and the reason of it before the letter 3. If the general reason of the Law ceases in our particular and a contrary reason rises upon us we are to procure dispensation or leave to omit the observation of it in such circumstances if there be any persons or office appointed for granting it but if there be none or if it is not easily to be had or not without an inconvenience greater then the good of the observation of the Law in our particular we are despensed withall in the nature of the thing without further processe or trouble 4. As long as the Law is obligatory so long our obedience is due and he that begins a contrary custom without reason sins but he that breaks the Law when the custom is entred and fixed is excused because it is supposed Moâ—◠〈◊〉 odâ—oâ—â—runâ—â—ir potâ—staâ—â—m suam Lâ—gâ—â— mâ—â—â— sâ— vâ—â—nâ— Plaut 〈…〉 the legislative power consents when by not punishing it suffers disobedience to grow up to a custom 5. Obedience to humane laws must be for conscience sake that is because in such obedience publick order and charity and benefit is concerned and because the Law of God commands us therefore we must make a conscience in keeping the just Lawes of Superiours 〈…〉 5. câ—ap 7. and although the matter before the making of the Law was indifferent yet now the obedience is not indifferent but next to the Laws of God we are to obey the laws of all our Superiours who the more publick they are the first they are to be in the order of obedience 6. Submit to the punishment and censure of the Laws and seek not to reverse their judgment by opposing but by submitting or flying or silence to passe through it or by it as we can and although from inferiour Judges we may appeal where the Law permits us yet we must sit down and rest in the judgment