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A64109 The rule and exercises of holy living. In which are described the means and instruments of obtaining every vertue, and the remedies against every vice, and considerations serving to the resisting all temptations. Together with prayers containing the whole duty of a Christian, and the parts of devotion fitted to all occasions, and furnish'd for all necessities. Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667.; Vaughan, Robert, engraver. 1650 (1650) Wing T371; ESTC R203748 252,635 440

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be express'd in all our actions and the light of thy countenance be upon us in all our sufferings that we may delight in the service and in the mercies of God for ever Amen O gracious Father and merciful God if it be thy wil say unto the destroying Angel it is enough and though we are not better then our brethren who are smitten with the rod of God but much worse yet may it please thee even because thou art good and because we are timerous and sinful not yet fitted for our appearance to set thy mark upon our foreheads that the Angel thy Minister of thy justice may passe over us and hurt us not let thy hand cover thy servants and hide us in the clefts of the rock in the wounds of the holy Jesus from the present anger that is gone out against us that though we walk thorough the valley of the shadow of death we may fear no evil and suf●er none and those whom thou hast smitten with thy rod support with thy staff and visit them with thy mercies and salvation through Jesus Christ. Amen 8. For all women with childe and for unborn children O Lord God who art the Father of them that trust in thee and shewest mercy to a thousand generations of them that fear thee have mercy upon all women great with childe * be pleased to give them a joyful a safe deliverance let thy grace preserve the fruit of their wombs and conduct them to the holy Sacrament of Baptisme that they being regenerated by thy Spirit and adopted into thy family and the portion and duty of Sons may live to the glory of God to the comfort of their parents and friends to the edification of the Christian Common-wealth and the salvation of their own souls thorough Jesus Christ. Amen 9. For all estates of Men and Women in the Christian Church O Holy God King Eternal out of the infinite st●re-houses of thy grace and mercy give unto all Virgins chastity and a religious spirit to all persons dedicated to thee and to religion continence and meekness an active zeal and an unwearied spirit to all married paires faith and holinesse to widows and fatherless and all that are oppressed ●hy pa●ronage comfort and defence to all Christian women simplicity and mod●s●y humility and chastity p●tience a●d charity give unto the poor to all ●hat are robbed and spoiled of their goods a competent suppor● and a contented spirit and a treasure in heaven hereafter give unto prisoners and captives to them that toil in the mines and row in ●he gall●es strength of body and of spirit liberty and redemption comfort and restitution to all that travel by land thy Angel for their guide and a holy and prosperous return to all that travel by sea freedom from Pirates and shipwrack and bring them to the Haven where they would be to distressed and scrupulous consciences to melancholy and disconsolate persons to all that are afflicted with evil and unclean spirits give a light from heaven great grace and proportionable comforts and ●imely deliverance give them patience and resignation let their sorrows be changed into grace and comfort and let the s●orm waft them certainly to the regions of rest and glory Lord God of Mercy give to thy Martyrs Confessors and all thy persecuted constancy and prudence boldness and hope a full faith and a never failing charity To all who are condemned to death do thou minister comfort a strong a quiet and a resigned spirit take from them the fear of death and all remaining affections to sin and all imperfections of duty and cause them to dye full of grace full of hope and give to all faithfull and particularly to them who have recommended themselves to the prayers of thy unworthy servant a supply of all their needs temporal and spiritual and according to their several states and necessities rest and peace pardon and refreshment and shew us all a mercy in the day of judgment Amen Give O Lord to the Magistrates equity sinceritie courage and prudence that they may protect the good defend religion and punish the wrong doers Give to the Nobility wisdom valour and loyalty To Merchants justice and faithfulnesse to all Artificers and Labourers truth and honesty to our enemies forgivenesse and brotherly kindnesse Preserve to us the Heavens and the Ayre in healthful influence and disposition the Earth in plenty the kingdom in peace and good government our marriages in peace and sweetnesse and innocence of society thy people from famine and pestilence our houses from burning and robbery our persons from being burnt alive from banishment and prison from Widowhood destitution from violence of pains and passions from tempests and earth-quakes from inundation of waters from rebellion and invasion from impatience and inordinate cares from tediousnes of spirit and despair from murder and all violent accursed and unusual deaths from the surprize of sudden and violent accidents from passionate and unreasonable fears from all thy wrath and from all our sins good Lord deliver and preserve thy servants for ever Amen Represse the violence of all implacable warring and tyrant Nations bring home unto thy fold all that are gone astray call into the Church all strangers increase the number and holinesse of thy own people bring infants to ripenesse of age and reason confirm all baptized people with thy grace and with thy Spirit instruct the Novices and new Christians let a great grace and merciful providence bring youthful persons safely and holily through the indiscretions and passions and temptations of their younger years those whom thou hast or shalt permit to live to the age of a man give competent strength and wisdom take from them covetousnesse and churlishnesse pride and impatience fill them full of devotion and charity repentance and sobriety holy thoughts and longing desires after Heaven and heavenly things give them a holy and a blessed death and to us all a joyful resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Ad. Sect. 10. The manner of using these devotions by way of preparation to the receiving the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper The just prepararion to this holy Feast consisting principally in a holy life and consequently in the repetition of the acts of all vertues and especially of Faith Repentance Charity and Thanksgiving to the exercise of these four graces let the person that intends to communicate in the times set apart for his preparation and devotion for the exercise of his faith recite the prayer or Letany of the passion For the exercise of Repentance the form of confession of sins with the prayer annexed And for the graces of thanksgiving and charity let him use the special formes of prayer above described or if a lesse time can be allotted for preparatory devotion the two first will be the more proper as containing in them all the personal duty of the communicant To which upon the morning of that holy solemnity let him adde A
such modesty and decency of treating each other that they never force themselves into high and violent lusts with arts and misbecoming devices alwayes remembring that those mixtures are most innocent which are most simple and most natural most orderly and most safe 4. It is a duty of matrimonial chastity to be restrained and temperate in the use of their lawful pleasures concerning which although no universal Rule can antecedently be given to all persons any more then to all bodies one proportion of meat and drink yet married persons are to estimate the degree of their license according to the following proportions * 1. That it be moderate so as to consist with health * 2. That it be so order'd as not to be too expensive of time that precious opportunity of working out our salvation * 3. That when duty is demanded it be alwayes payed so far as is in our powers and election according to the foregoing measures * That it be with a temperate affection without violent transporting desires or too sensuall applications Concerning which a man is to make judgement by proportion to other actions and the severities of his religion and the sentences of sober and wise persons For it is a sad truth that many married persons thinking that the floodgates of liberty are set wide open without measures or restraints so they sail in that channel have felt the final rewards of intemperance and lust by their unlawful using of lawful permissions Onely let each of them be temperate and both of them be modest Socrates was wont to say that those women to whom Nature had not been indulgent in good features and colours should make it up themselves with excellent manners and those who were beautiful and comely should be careful that so fair a body be not polluted with unhandsome usages To which Plutarch addes that a wife if she be unhandsome should consider how extreamly ugly she should be if she wanted modesty but if she be handsome let her think how gracious that beauty would be if she superads chastity 5. Married persons by consent are to abstain from their mutual entertainments at solemn times of devotion not as a duty of it self necessary but as being the most proper act of purity which in their condition they can present to God and being a good advantage for attending their preparation to the solemn duty and their demeanour in it It is S. Pauls counsel that by consent for a time they should abstain that they may give themselves to fasting and prayer And though when Christians did receive the holy Communion every day it is certain they did not abstain but had children yet when the Communion was more seldom they did with religon abstain from the marriage-bed during the time of their solemn preparatory devotions as anciently they did from eating and drinking till the solemnity of the day was past 6. It were well if married persons would in their penitential prayers and in their general confessions suspect themselves and accordingingly a●k a general pardon for all their undecencies and more passionate applications of themselves in the offices of marriage that what is lawful and honourable in its kinde may not be sullied with imperfect circumstances or if it be it may be made clean again by the interruption and recallings of such a repentance of which such uncertain parts of action are capable But because of all the dangers of a Christian none more pressing and troublesome then the temptations to lust no enemy more dangerous then that of the ●lesh no accounts greater then what we have to reckon for at the audit of Conc●piscence therefore it concerns all that would be safe from this death to arme themselves by the following rules to prevent or to cure all the wounds of our flesh made by the poysoned arrows of Lust. Remedies against uncleannesse 1. When a temptation of Iust assaults thee do not resist it by heaping up arguments against it and disputing with it considering its offers and its danger but ●●ie from it that is think not at all of it lay aside all consideration concerning it and turn away from it by any severe and laudable thought or businesse S. Hierome very wittily reproves the Gentile superstition who pictured the Virgin Deityes armed with a sheild and lance as if chastity could not be defended without war and direct contention No this enemy is to be treated otherwise If you hear it speak though but to dispute with it it ruines you and the very arguments you go about to answer leave a relish upon the tongue A man may be burned if he goes neer the fire though but to quench his house and by handling pitch though but to draw it from your cloths you defile your ●ingers 2 Avoid idlenesse and fill up all the spaces of thy time with severe and usefull imployment for lust usually creepes in at those emptinesses where the soul is unimployed and the body is at ease For no easy healthfull and idle person was ever chast if he could be tempted But of all imployments bodily labour is most usefull and of greatest benefit for the driving away this Devill 3 Give no entertainment to the beginnings the first motions secret whispers of the spirit of impurity For if you totally suppress it it dyes if you permit the furnace to breath its smoke and flame out at any vent it will rage to the consumption of the whole This cockatrice is soonest crushed in the shell but if it growes it turns to a serpent and a Dragon and a Devill 4 Corporal mortification and hard usages of our body hath by all ages of the Church bin an approv d remedy against the spirit of fornication A spare diet and a thin course table seldome refreshment frequent fasts not violent and interrupted with returns to ordinary feeding but constantly little unpleasant of wholesome but sparing nourishment For by such cutting off the provisions of victual wee shall weaken the strengths of our Enemy To which if we adde lyings upon the ground painfull postures in prayer reciting our devotions with our armes extended at full length like Moses praying against Amalek o● our blessed SAVIOUR hanging upon his painful bed of sorrowes the Crosse and if the lust be upon us and sharply tempting by inflicting any smart to overthrow the strongest passion by the most violent paine we shall finde great ease for the present and the resolution and apt sufferance against the future danger And this was Saint Pauls remedy I bring my body under he used some rudenesses towards it But it was a great noblenesse of chastity which S. Hierome reports of a Son of the King of Nicomedia who being tempted upon flowers and a perfum'd bed with a soft violence but yet tyed down to the temptation and sollicited with circumstances of Asian Luxury by an impure Curresan least the easinesse of his posture should abuse him spit out his tongue into
table hereafter at the Eternal supper of the Lamb to sing an Allelujah to God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen For Chastity to be said especially by unmarried persons ALmighty God our most holy and eternal Father who art of pure eyes and canst behold no uncleannesse let thy gracious and holy Spirit descend upon thy servant and reprove the spirit of Fornication and Uncleannesse and cast him out that my body may be a holy Temple and my soul a Sanctuary to entertain the Prince of purities the holy and eternal Spirit of God O let 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 watchfulnesse 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 for whose sake Queens have dyed 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 stranger affections give me for my dowry purity and humility modes●y and devotion charity and patience at last bring me into the Bride-chamber to partake of the felicities and to lye 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 become a sin unto me nor that liberty which thou hast hallowed by the holy Jesus become an occasion of licentiousnesse by my own weaknesse and sensuality and do 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 quietnesse sobriety prudence and peace a follower of those holy pairs who have served thee with godlinesse 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 sweetnesse and great humility be pleased to give me the grace as thou hast given me the commandment enable me to do 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 the acknowledgement and the sruits 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 asham d and humbled it being nothing but sin and misery weaknesse uncleannesse Let me go before my brethren in nothing but in striving to do 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 despised servants for Jesus's sake in the kingdom of eternal glory Amen Acts of Humility and modesty by way of prayer and meditation 1. Lord I know that my spirit is light and thorny my body is bruitish and expos'd to sicknesse I am constant to folly and inconstant in holy purposes My labours are vain and fruitlesse my fortune full of change and trouble seldome pleasing never perfect My wisdom is folly 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 2. Lord I am nothing and I have nothing of my self I am lesse then the least of all thy mercies 3. What was I before my birth First nothing and then uncleannesse What during my childehood weaknesse and folly What in my youth folly still and passion lust and wildenesse What in my whole life a great sinner a deceived and an abused person Lord pity me for it is thy goodnesse that I am kept from confusion and amazement when I consider the misery and shame of my person and the defilements of my nature 4. Lord what am I and Lord what art thou What is man that thou art mindeful of him and the son of Man that thou so regardest him 5. 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 Stars are not pure in his sight How much lesse Man that is a Worm and the son of Man which is a Worm Iob 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 all 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 undiscernable wayes bringing good out of evil
against it and presently broke it and then I tyed my self up with vows then was tempted and then I yielded by little little till I was willingly lost again and my vows fell of● like cords of vanity Miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin And yet O Lord I have another heap of sins to be unloaded My secrets sins O Lord are innumerable sins I noted not sins that I willingly neglected sins that I acted upon willfull ignorance and voluntary mispersuasion sins that I have forgot and sins which a diligent and a watchful spirit might have prevented but I would not Lord I am confounded with the multitude of them and the horrour of their remembrance though I consider them nakedly in their direct appearances without the deformity of their unhandsome and aggravating circumstances but so dressed they are a sight too ugly an instance of amazement infinite in degrees and insufferable in their load And yet thou hast spared me all this while and hast not thrown me into Hell where I have deserved to have been long since and even now to have been shut up to an eternity of torments with insupportable amazement fearing the revelation of thy day Miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin Thou shalt answer for me O Lord my God Thou that Prayest for me shalt be my Iudge The Prayer Thou hast prepared for me a more healthful sorrow O deny not thy servant when he begs sorrow of thee Give me a deep contrition for my sins a hearty detestation and loathing of them hating them worse then death with torments Give me grace intirely presently and for ever to forsake them to walk with care and prudence with fear and watchfulnesse all my dayes to doe all my duty with diligence and charity with zeal and a never fainting spirit to redeem the time to trust upon thy mercies to make use of all the instruments of grace to work out my salvation with fear and trembling that thou mayest have the glory of pardoning all my sins and I may reap the fruit of all thy mercies and al 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 dev●tions to be used upon the Lords-day and the great Festivalls Of Christians In the Morning recite the following forme of Thanksgiving upon the special Festivalls adding the commemoration of the special blessing according to the following prayers adding such prayers as you shall choose out of the foreg●ing Devotions 2. Besides the ordinary and 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 S. Ambrose commonly called the Te Deum or We praise thee c then add 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 forme of thanksgiving with a recital of publick and private blessings To be used upon Easter-day Whit-sunday Ascension-day and all Sundayes of the year 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 I. Ex Liturgiâ S. Basilii magnâ 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 holinesse and Majesty for thou hast given unto us the knowledge of thy truth and who is able to declare thy greatnesse and to recount all thy marvellous 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 darknesse thou art without beginning uncircumscribed incomprehensible unalterable and seated for ever unmoveable in thy own essential happinesse and tranquillity Thou art the Father of our Lord JESU SCHRIST who is Our Dearest and most Gracious Saviour our hope the wisdom of the Father the image of thy goodnesse the Word eternal and the brightnesse of thy person the power of God from eternal ages the true light that lightneth 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 doubtful scrupulous and ignorant the anchor of the fearful the infinite reward of all faithful souls by whom all reasonable and 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 Cherubins with many eyes and the Seraphin● 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 eternal Anthems to the glory of the eternal 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 confesse the glories of the Lord. * For thou art holy and of thy greatnesse there is no end and in thy justice and goodnesse 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 righteousnesse to be to him a seed of immortality O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse 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 nor his condition without remedy but didst provide