many as soon as the Word is out of the Minister's Mouth to have the World in theirs The main Questions as soon as gone out of the Church are usually these What News do you hear How does Corn sell What a Crop have you upon the ground Such a Person has he not the best Corn in the Parish Poor barren Souls empty of Grace surely or your Discourses would be more savoury more seasonable more Heavenly Have you no better things to employ your Heads and Tongues about Ask rather what good Word you have heard to day How are we to provide for Eternity How strait is the Gate and narrow the Path that leadeth unto Life and how few there be that find it And alas how miserable shall I be if I miss thereof The Devil is always upon his Watch ever busy and labours continually to furnish Peoples Hearts with frothy and vain Discourse by that means to hinder the efficacy of the word and the good of many a poor Soul But alas The fourth Commandment tyes up the tongue as well as the hands Isai 51.13 not speaking thy own words The tongue is there commanded to rest from talking of Worldly matters as well as the hand from servile and Worldly Works How blame-blame-worthy then are they who make the Lord's Day a Day of reckoning with Workmen and Servants a Day of idle talk about their Pleasures Profits or other matters As soon as you are come home before you refresh your Body enter into your Closet offer up this or such like Prayer I Do humbly and heartily thank thee O Lord Heavenly Father for that wholesome Doctrine and comfortable Instruction which this Morning I have heard out of thy holy word by the mouth of thy faithful Servant and I do heartily beseech thee that passing by my Sins and Infirmities of hearing thou wouldst so imprint the same in my memory and bless it unto me that I may believe it with my heart and practise it in my Life and Conversation Good Lord Let not the sweetness and savouriness of any bodily food which I am to receive of thy bounty put the relish and remembrance of thy Heavenly word out of my mind but grant that in feeding my Body I may feed my Soul by holy Meditation of the things I have heard and together with my bodily sustenance may call to mind the food that never perisheth And as it is thy will that I should use thy good Creatures with Wisdom and Sobriety every day So give me Grace this day especially to do so that they may not make me the more unfit to partake of the spiritual food thou hast prepared for me to the glory of thy name and the good of thy Saints and my own eternal welfare and Salvation through Jesus Christ my only Redeemer and Advocate Having finished your Prayer in the Closet depart to your Company and the necessary refreshment of your Body which this Day was not appointed to abridge you off While you are at Dinner appear chearful eating your meal in singleness of heart rejoice before God but let not your joy be by any means wanton idle vain intemperate At Dinner observe these few Rules 1. Beware of making the Lord's Day a time of Feasting your Neighbours For though it be lawful upon this day to make such Provision as shall be convenient for your own Family and for the relief of the Poor yet to make solemn Feasts upon it as is the custom of too too many whereby Servants are kept from publick Ordinances and our selves and Guests are more indisposed to the Duties of God's worship and service must needs be unlawful for though we be not forbidden upon the Lord's Day to kindle a fire for the dressing of meat yet we must take heed that we make not such a flame as shall kindle the fire of God's wrath against us 2. When you are set down to Dinner having begged God's Blessing on the food eat no more than will fit and enable you comfortably and lively to serve God If temperance be required in our Meals on the Week Day as Luke 21.34 much more on the Lord's Day Many fill their Bellies so full on this day that they are fit only to lay their drowsie heads on the Devil's Pillow of sloth and not at all in a capacity of repairing again to a spiritual repast in the House of God and to partake of his Heavenly Viands 3. Talk of God's Word sitting down and rising up Let your Hearts be heavenly and your Discourse savoury seasoned with Grace a Table without some good Discourse differs but little from a Manger One of the Fathers wrote this of the Primitive Christians that they were so holy in their Talk at the Table that one would have thought they had been at a Sermon rather than at a Supper And Luther has a large Book in Folio of the pious Expressions he used at his Table that indeed was his Pulpit where he read many profitable Lectures When therefore thou art at a full Table consider God's Mercy in feeding thee while there are so many Lazarus's that would be glad of the Crumbs that fall from the rich Man's table When thou eatest thy Bread with a good Appetite say thus to thy self If the bread be thus savory to an hungry Body how sweet how savory is that which comes down from Heaven to an hungry Soul and then pray O God give me evermore of this bread 4. Forget not God's Servants but invite the Poor to Dinner with thee that day The poor ye have always with you saith Christ and why have we this Memento think you But we should exert our Charity according to their Indigence and Necessity If we belong to Christ we are to relieve the oppressed clothe the naked and feed the hungry himself will do it though he works a Miracle for it Flesh and blood is not prone hereunto and therefore such munificence must needs argue a better and higher Principle than ordinary For as when we see the bank of a River and the ground next to it wet alone we gather that the River hath overflown there but when we see the furthest and remotest ground wet also then we know that the Rain hath done that so when we see a Man doing good to his rich Neighbors and Friends we think this proceeds but from good Nature in him but when we see him doing good also to strangers and unknown persons when feeding the poor and needy ones then we may well believe there is more than good Nature in that Man it is more than probable the Gift of Grace is there After you have eaten and drank I have now allayed the importunate craving of mine Appetite and my body is satisfied with material Food but nothing can satisfie my Soul but to behold the presence of God in Righteousness Therefore Dinner being over either respect the Word heard that day and read the Scripture or some other good Book and call your own Heart
THE Country-Curate's ADVICE TO HIS Parishioners In Four PARTS I. Directs us how to serve God on the Lord's Day II. On the Week Day III. How to discharge our Duty in our several Relations as Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants IV. How to prepare for Death By H. C. LONDON Printed by T. W. for J. Robinson at the Golden Lyon in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1693. TO THE READER REligion is the grand employment of our Lives the main design and biass of our rational Natures the important work and task that Heaven hath set us and calls for our greatest vigour and vivacity to attend it and though perhaps it may suffer some diminution from the meanness of the Person who treats of it Yet it is not to be denied that its own intrinsick worth and native excellency are sufficient to render it most acceptable to all intelligent Minds and unprejudiced Understandings I pretend not to any high strain of Eloquence or high flown Rhetorications for if I were Master of a very fluent Oratory yet should I at this time wave it and study plainness the Station I am in a Curate the Persons I write unto not Courtiers but Country-men oblige me to it My Office is to present my Reader with a Portraicture of Practical Religion especially as it hath an aspect to the Duties which constitute our Devotion Here it is not proper to be quaint and florid but to make Impression on Mens Hearts and bring the Deity into their Souls This I have attempted to accomplish in the ensuing Sheets though I most frankly acknowledge how feeble and languid my Enterprize hath been Among the plain Directions which I have given towards the Consummating of a Religious Life I have placed those which respect the Lord's Day in the Front of all and with good reason seeing this sacred time is the Queen and Empress of all the Days in the Week and hath a just precedency of them by our Saviour's Institution and the practice of his holy Apostles Religion commenceth here he that begins not with the right Celebration of this Day will be extreamly defective in all the other acts of Devotion and Religion This therefore in the first place I most passionately recommend to all Votaries of Christianity that they would concern themselves in the due Observation of this Divine Time and accordingly I here offer them such Rules as will be a certain conduct to them and fully instruct them how to behave themselves in all the Portions of that Sacred Day If this attempt be favoured and incouraged by the Religious Reader I shall be animated then to aspire to a further degree of consulting his Spiritual advantage by committing to the Press those other Directions which I have prepared for the guidance of pious Minds in the grand business of Religion In the interim I bid such adieu and incessantly implore the Tri-une Deity That these my weak endeavours may prove Auspicious H. C. THE CONTENTS of this BOOK Chap. I. THE Preparation for the Lord's Day upon Saturday Eve Chap. II. Of Awaking with God upon the Sunday Morning Chap. III. Closet-Prayer and the Preparations to it Chap. IV. Of Family-Duty ere we go to God's House Chap. V. Of the great Obligation that lies upon every one of us to worship God in publick Chap. VI. Of going to our Parish-Church Chap. VII The Souls Soliloquy as it walks to God's House and behaviour there Chap. VIII Of our behaviour at Church when the Minister is come unto it Chap. IX Of our due behaviour between Morning and Evening Service Chap. X. Of resorting to the Evening Sacrifice CHAP. I. Of Saturday's Eve Devotion I Shall wave all the Opinions I have read concerning the beginning of the Sabbath because I would not here enter into a Controversy with any Man The Sentiments of Men are various yet how different soever they may be otherwise sure I am all agree in this That a due Preparation the Even before will be a great help to perform the Duties of the Day following The Primitive Christians used to spend the greatest part of Saturday Night in Fasting Watching and Prayer to fit them for the Duty of the subsequent Day from whence I suppose our Church borrows the Custom of reading the Collect for the Sunday upon the Eve foregoing Nay so zealous were they in God's Service that upon the ringing of the Bell to Church the Plowman used to leave the Plow and the Tradesman his Shop to join with the Minister in publick Prayers for a Blessing on the Sabbath Which Devotion of theirs because this our degenerate Age is for the most part strangely averse to and very few if any will have recourse to the House of God there to perform their duty Let them repair to their private Oratory Let them enter into their Closets Let Conscience there call an Audit in their Breasts and both impartially judge the actions of the Week past and how the Case stands at present between God and their Souls Beg O beg of God Dear Christian to give thee a true sight and sense of all thy Sins which thou maist do in this following Prayer O Father of Light and God of Love grant me true Light true Love and true Wisdom that I may clearly discern what doth please or displease thy Divine Majesty most earnestly desiring even from my very Soul to detest the one and embrace the other Illuminate the Eyes of my Vnderstanding that I may truly see my Sins and Imperfections strengthen my Memory that I may duly confess them and rectify my Will that I may resolutely amend them Return O my Soul to thy Self and to thy God Lament Repent Amend The Spirit indeed is willing but the Flesh is weak therefore turn thou me O Lord and I shall be turned Convert thou me and I shall be converted Further me I humbly beseech thee with thy continual help that in all my Works begun continued and ended in thee I may glorify thy holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen Questions to be put to our selves every Saturday Night 1. How have I this Week kept my Heart Have I been diligent in putting away evil thoughts of sundry sorts and have I kept my mind exercised with good and holy Meditations Have I thought humbly of my self Charitably of my Neighbour and reverently of my Maker and Redeemer 2. How have I this Week kept the Door of my Lips Have not I uttered many idle vain and unprofitable words Have I spoke of my Neighbour with that Love and Charity as I would have others speak of me Have I had that compassion of others defects as of my own 3. What aim had I in all my actions Have I done them so purely for the Love of God as I ought or had I any Worldly respect in the doing of them 4. How have I kept my Senses this Week Have not mine Eyes gazed upon wanton objects Have
name thereby through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen You may also add this Prayer O Lord Holiness becometh thy House and dutifulness becometh me to go into thy Courts and wait upon thee and this is the great day of thy Service thou that hast given me to see the light of this day make me careful to do the duty of it timely to present my self unto thee and reverently to behave my self before thee that when I go hence I may return with fruit and favour from thee for Jesus Christ's sake Amen When you go to receive the Sacrament use this Prayer O Thou in whose Temple every man speaks of thine honour whose Glory no mortal man can sufficiently express whose Goodness no tongue is able to display whose Holiness transcends all the perfections we see here below overaw my Spirit when I go with the multitude to the House of God with the Voice of Joy and Praise O let me consider that it is the All-seeing God in whose presence I stand and that holy Angels are sent to observe my Devotion Give me sober Thoughts holy Affections devout Postures steadiness of Mind ardent Desires modest Looks and a grave Behaviour especially now I am going to receive the Sacrament Now let all that is within me turn into holy breathings banish from me all undecent thoughts and if thou dost not think fit to free me from temptations before they come give me Grace vigorously to resist them that I may show my Zeal to thy Glory by my abhorrence of all imaginations that exalt themselves against the obedience of Christ Jesus Amen CHAP. IV. Of Family-Duty ere we go to God's House AFter thou hast fitted thy Self for Church thy next care must be carefully and conscientiously to perform Family-Duties Jos 24.15 Let others do what they will I and my House saith he will serve the Lord. In order to the performance of which duty take along with you these following Rules 1. See that your Servants and Children waste not away the Morning in sleep and idleness 2. Cause them to join together in Prayer reading or any other Godly Exercise Gen. 18.19 3. Make them accompany you to Church command their Bodies though you cannot their Souls 4. Inform your selves and them what a great and glorious Majesty and Master you are to serve a God so glorious that the very Angels vail and cover their Faces not being able to behold the brightness of his Glory And if this lowly Reverence be performed by them who are in such nearness to God what posture is low enough for us who in comparison of those Heavenly Spirits are viler than the ground we tread on 5. Make them sensible what poor Worms and wretched Creatures they are Dust and Ashes their Hearts full of Putrefaction and a sink of Sin and therefore ought to come crawling crouching and trembling to the Throne of Grace 6. Examine what Preparation they have made for the Sabbath whether they have not spent more time and care to dress their Body for the Eye of Man than to deck their Soul for the Eye of God Whether they have prayed in private for a blessing on God's Ordinance 7. Inform them seriously of the great work they go about what a weighty work it is how that their Weeks Works are but toys and trifles in comparison of it What are Sheep Oxen or Shops to Grace Christ and Heaven Exhort them all to be careful and serious in God's work in Soul-Salvation-Work and therefore they ought to prepare themselves with all their might Remember the Fourth Commandment binds you to look to all within your care both Man-Servant and Maid-Servant c. Whosoever rides them unnecessary Journeys on that day the groans of the tired Beast will rise up in judgment against them and condemn them for breaking God's Command As Motives hereunto consider 1. That it is God in a Family not Man only that maketh it to prosper so that if thou wouldest have it go well with thy Family then oughtest thou to set up the worship of God in it The Lord blessed the House of Obed-Edom for the Arks sake so God will bless thy House if the Ark that is his worship be there Wouldst thou have thy Family flourish set up the worship of God in it Let no wicked Person remain in thine House He that will not pray and join in the worship of God with thee Let him not eat with thee Make Joshua's resolution As for me and my House we will serve the Lord. 2. Remember you must be accountable to God for those Souls he hath committed to your charge you ought therefore to take care that they be trained up in the fear of the Lord. See that none of your Family be given to any Vice viz. Swearing Drinking Lying or the like Make choice of such Servants as fear God chuse for him somewhat and not altogether for your self Enquire in the first place whether they will submit to his word if not let them not come under thy roof As thou wouldst not have the Devils Company in thine House so do not entertain any of his Friends and Servants but rather let it be an Harbour and Habitation of God's Children for so shalt thou be blessed You know that God blessed Laban for Jacob's sake so may you likewise expect a Blessing if you entertain such in your House A Family-Prayer before we go to Church O Lord encrease our Faith and by thy holy Spirit prepare our hearts to pray as we ought and for Christ's sake accept this Morning Sacrifice of Prayer though weak and imperfect which in his Name and by his Mediation and Intercession we offer up to Thee We humbly and heartily acknowledge thy infinite Wisdom tender Love and Fatherly Goodness towards us thy unworthy Servants most vile and wretched Sinners in that it hath pleased thee not only to give us a liberal allowance of time to do our own Works and follow our own Callings and Recreations for the health of our Bodies and the necessities of this present Life but also to appoint us one day in seven to attend upon thee do thy Work and fit our selves to keep with thee an Everlasting Sabbath in the highest Heavens We know O Lord that we are bound in Conscience to serve and worship thee every day of the Week and every day to set apart some time for Spiritual and Heavenly Exercises yea and when we are in Earthly business to carry Heavenly minds about with us yet it hath pleased thee further to allow us one day in seven to attend wholly upon thee and more throughly to acquaint our selves with thee with thy ways and with our sinful and deceitful hearts to wean them from the Love of this World and set them upon Heavenly Joys And now O Lord as thou hast given us a day to serve thee fit and prepare every Soul to worship thee as we ought To this end give us the assistance of thy holy Spirit that we
of this Soliloquy O my Soul Let Vzza's Death make thee careful how thou enters irreverently into God's House If we be so careful to come with clean Apparel before an Earthly Prince much more should we with clean Hearts and Souls approach our Heavenly King A Prince may not regard how his Servants go in his Kitchen but when they come into his Presence-Chamber he expects they should look to their Carriage and Words God indeed O my Soul expects more honour in our religious acts than in the ordinary actions of our Lives for in the first we directly design his honour and service and if we do not perform them seriously the greater is our Sin Think then O my Soul how choice God was in the Law about all things relating to his Worship the Tabernacle and Temple must be of the best Wood the purest Gold and the finest Linnen The Persons must be without blemish Lev. 2.17 the Sacrifice must be perfect without spot the best of the Flock the best of the Beasts the fat that covereth the inwards And what O my Soul dost thou think was the substance of these shadows but this that God will be served by holy Men in the purest and holiest manner and that we must be exact both as to our Persons and Performances Great Persons are impatient of contempt and affronts especially when offered to them in their own Houses God will sooner overlook thy forgetfulness of him in thy Trade or Travels than in the Tabernacle When thou drawest nigh to him he will be Sanctified either by thee or upon thee if thou refusest to give him glory in thy Service believe me he will get himself Glory by thy Sufferings His worship is his Presence his Face and look for his Fury if thou darest him to his Face The Waters of the Sanctuary are like the Waters given to a suspected Wife if Innocent they witness her Honesty and made her Fruitful though Barren before But if guilty they caused the Belly to swell and the thighs to rot If thou makest Godliness thy business in the Ordinances of God it will make thee fruitful if barren of good Works but if thou beest formal and perfunctory and goest thy round in religious Duties never minding the true end of them nor thy Carriage in them thy Prayer will be an abomination the word a savour of Death unto Death and the Sacrament a Seal of thy Damnation When thou comest at the Church-Door say Surely the Lord is in this place how dreadful is this place It is no other but the House of God the Gate of Heaven When you enter into the Church O my Soul where ever thou art thou art under God's Eye and therefore shouldest thou be no where prophane but now thou art in his Church thou art in his immediate Presence How holy oughtest thou to be How devout thy Behaviour We read Exod. 25.37 Moses was commanded to light up seven Lamps in his Tabernacle the place of his publick worship and why seven Lamps What was the substance of these shadows in short this that nothing shall escape his notice He seeth what uprightness and seriousness there is in thy Prayers and performances whether thou art Praying Reading Hearing or Singing and after what manner thou dost them whether slothfully or diligently His Eye is always upon thee and his Eye-lids try thy actions to reward or punish them When you view the Baptisterion or Font. Give hearty thanks unto God for your Christendom that by Holy-Baptism he hath called you to a state of Grace and Salvation through Jesus Christ and humbly beseech him that you may continue in the same to your Lives end For if you Apostatize you are guilty of an horrid Sin and must answer for it at the great and terrible day of Judgment It was a custom in the primitive times that such as were Baptized did wear a white Stole a Ceremony to signify the purity of Life the Baptized was to lead Eliodophorus after his Baptism turning a Persecutor of the Church Marilla the Minister that Baptized him in an holy indignation brought forth in publick the white Stole saying This do I keep against thy coming to Judgment to testify thy Apostasy from Christ So be thou assured O Christian that the Water with which the Minister by whom the people before whom thou wert Baptized shall rise up against thee in Judgment if thou dost not walk in newness of Life When you behold the Eleemosynary or Poor's Box. How much am I bound to the good Providence of my Heavenly Father who hath raised my condition in this World to be in the number of those that abound not of them that want since 't is more blessed to give than to receive When you view the Communion-Table say What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits I have received at his hands I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. When you view the Pulpit Remember how many good Lessons you have received thence the which not being carefully practised will rise up in judgment against you in the great Day of your Tryal resolve therefore for the future to be a doer of the word not hearer only deceiving your own Soul When you view the Church-Bible upon the Desk Remember that this is the Book of Life the sacred Code the Divine Volume the infallible Oracle of Heaven and that you are obliged to consult it with all manner of Devotion and to inform your selves thence what is the will and pleasure of the great Ruler of the World When you have meditated a while on these objects fall down on your Knees in your Pew and offer up this or such like Prayers O Lord my God! There is no mortal Man worthy to stand at thy Door much less to appear in thy Presence yet how oft have I presumed to approach to thee without that preparedness of heart without that dejection of Soul without that true and holy reverence which becometh thy Child Pardon O Lord I beseech thee pardon my irreverence in so sacred a place and distractions in my Prayers and give me grace to demean my self so reverently and zealously now I am in thy House and Service that my Prayers may come up before thee as incense and the lifting up my hands as a Morning Sacrifice Grant this for Jesus Christ's sake Amen Or OPen my Mouth my Lord and Maker to bless and praise thy Divine Majesty Cleanse my heart from all curious noxious and destructive thoughts enlighten my understanding to know thee my will to obey thee settle my attention excite my Devotion to praise thee That I may worthily reverently religiously perform this Morning-Sacrifice of Prayer through the virtue of those most pure and perfect Praises which thou O Jesu my Redeemer offeredst up on Earth to thy Eternal Father Mine may be now acceptable in thy sight Amen CHAP. VIII Of our behaviour at Church when the Minister is come unto it
endeavour by your own good Works to let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your Works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven As thou art putting on thy Apparel remember some of them were at first given as coverings of shame being the effect of Sin and that they are made of the Excrements and Offals of dead Beasts so that thou hast very little cause to be proud of them Nay indeed thou hast great cause to be humbled at the sight thereof seeing the richest Apparel are but the fine covers of the foulest shame Therefore as thou art Cloathing thy Body endeavour to Cloth thy Soul with Christ's Righteousness as with a Garment Lest while thou art richly apparelled in the sight of Men thy Soul be found to walk naked in the sight of God Before thou betakest thy Self to thy Closet breath forth thy Soul to God at thy first awaking in this or the like short Ejaculation O Lord God as thou hast awakened my Body from last Nights sleep so by thy Grace awaken my Soul from the Lethargy of Sin that at the general Resurrection I may arise to Eternal Glory Amen CHAP. III. Of Closet-Prayer and the Preparations to it HAving thus fitted thy Self for thy Closet before thou prayest take the wise Man's Counsel Ecclus 18.5.23 Prepare thy Self and be not as one that tempteth God Now for thy better preparation observe these few Rules 1. You are to remember when you settle your self in Prayer you then place your self in the presence of God whose Eyes indeed are upon all Men but in a more especial manner upon those that call upon him in Prayer 2. The consideration of his presence is to put you in mind with what humble reverence both of Soul and Body you ought to appear before so great a Majesty 3. Lay aside all wrath and malice against your Neighbour I will saith the Apostle that men lift up holy hands without wrath 1 Tim. 2.8 St. Hierom confesseth this of himself that when he was angry he durst not enter into the Church but totum animo corpore contremuisse He trembled very much both in Body and Mind The Spouse of Christ is compared to a Dove which some say is sine felle without Gall. The very Heathens when they offered Sacrifice threw the Gall of the Beast away and wilt thou offer to God the Gall of wrath bitterness and revenge with the Sacrifice of Prayer 4. Banish all Worldly thoughts out of your Heart Our Saviour when he taught us to pray by the Preface to the Petitions telleth us where our affections in Prayer should be viz. in Heaven Our Father which art in Heaven Therefore before you begin to pray you are to resolve within your self seriously to intend the Duty you are about that your heart may not wander but go along with your Prayers Or if through weakness it happens to stray to call it back again and ask Pardon for it in some such Prayer as this Lord strengthen me and restrain me and lay not this weakness to my charge Having entred thy Oratory propose these few Questions to thy Soul and engage thy self to an Answer O my Soul Wherefore art thou now retired into this place What is thy design What are thy Pretensions Where is thy God whom thou comest to treat with Is he present Doth he hear thee Is he merciful Will he help thee What is the business thou art to negotiate Is it the saving thy Soul or the satisfaction of Earthly desires What words wilt thou use to move God to hear thee What humble Gesture What profound Reverence Dost thou know who thou art before Is not Gods Eye upon all to observe Head and Heart Lip and Life Darest thou suffer thy thoughts then to wander Will he be pleased with that Sacrifice he hath accursed of drawing nigh to him with our Lips when our Hearts are far from him Answer thy self briefly to every one of these Interrogatories as thy own Conscience dictates to thee for by this Discourse made to thy self thou shalt be better prepared to discourse with God Having thus prepared thy self for Prayer thou maist then fall down on thy Knees and to thy ordinary Prayers which must not on this Day by any means be omitted add these following Heads of Prayers suitable in some measure to the solemnity of the Day 1. You are to pray for the Minister that God would give him the door of utterance that he may open his mouth boldly to publish the mysteries of the Gospel that he may speak the word truly sincerely powerfully and profitably delivering that which is sutable and seasonable to your condition 2. You are to pray for your selves that he would banish out of your Head all wandring worldly thoughts which may distract your minds in the hearing of the word and so choak that Heavenly Seed make it Fruitless and that he would give unto you as attention to hearken so Understanding to conceive Wisdom to apply Judgment to discern Faith to believe Memory to retain and Grace to practise what you shall hear So that the word may prove unto you not a Savour of Death unto Death but of Life unto Life all which you may do in this following Prayer O Lord God from whom alone are the Preparations of the heart the day is now come which being holy unto thee I am to spend in thy more solemn Worship many Sins there are by me not duly repented of which may justly bring upon me a Curse instead of a Blessing especially my crying Sins Here mention thy particular Sins which thou hast found thy Self guilty of and also the Sins committed by thee the last Week that may make my Prayer an Abomination to thee Accept O Lord this my Confession and at least desired sorrow for them turn my heart from them for the future and through the blood of my Saviour so remove the guilt of them that they may not hinder good things from me Let the effusions of thy Grace both upon me and all the Congregations of thy People be ever plentiful Let my heart be fixed that no vain or worldly thoughts harbour there while I am in thy House Quicken me with thy holy Spirit that I may draw near unto thee with a true Heart that I may be fervent in Spirit serving thee and that receiving thy word with an honest and good heart I may understand and keep it and bring forth fruit with patience and to perfection Remember thou thy Servants which are to dispence thy mysteries unto thy People and especially him upon whose teaching I wait Pardon their Sins and Frailties open their Mouths guide their Minds and Tongues that they may deliver thy truths in the demonstration of thy Spirit and let thy Work so prosper in their hands that they may both save themselves and them that hear them that both may be built up in our most holy Faith to the perfecting thy Church and Eternal Glory of thy