withstand not thy tender of that Peace which is a Pearl of such great Price Verily Verily my Lord and my God now I may and ought and will laud and address thee tho' it be with Trembling and Confusion For as Dread belongs unto Creatures and Sinners so doth Confidence belong unto the Immaculate the Eternal and only Begotten Son of God CLASS II. Expressions of Praise both by way of Recital and Address 1. GLory therefore be to God Condescension to his Creatures Grace and Mercy Peace and Purgation Redemption and Forgiveness to me a Sinner May the Good God who pardoneth Iniquity Transgression and Sin accept the Incense of a lowly Heart 2. Great is the Lord and marvellous worthy to be prais'd there there are no bounds of his Greatness 3. He is Wonderful in Counsel Mighty in Working Glorious in Holiness Fearful in Praises He dwells in inaccessible Light The Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him His Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom His Dominion lasteth longer than Ages Ten thousand times ten thousand and Thousands of thousands of Glorious Spirits are the awful Retinue of the Lord God 4. The Heavens declare the Glory of God the Firmament shews his Handy-work One Day tells another and one Night certiâ—â—es another 5. Thou Lord in the beginning didst lay the Corner-stone of the Earth when the Morning-Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy All the Beasts of the Forest are thine and so are the Cattel on a thousand Hills 6. Fearfully and Wonderfully hast thou made Man and O that my Soul did ponder it well Thine Eyes did see my Substance when I was yet imperfect and in thy Everlasting Book were all my Members written Day after Day were they a fashioning To this Day are they preserv'd by thy hand 7. Every Morning thy Loving Kindness is renew'd I laid me down and slept and rose again for the Lord sustain'd me O how dear are thy Counsels unto me O God O how great is the summ of them * Here particular Mercies may be inserted 8. How should I count them They are more in number than I can conceive Whenever I awake they are present with me Have I not for this reason remembred thee on my Bed and thought upon thee when I was waking Now do I sing and always will sing of thy Mercies betimes in the Morning even unto thee O my strength for thou art my Refuge and my mercifuâ— God CLASS IV. The Dedicatory THis Day I dedicate my self Spirit Soul and Body to thy Spirit Honour and Service and do resign all my Care and Concerns to the Direction and Influence of thy Providence and am dispos'd chearfully to embrace all the Dispensations of thy Fatherly Goodness Thus will I by thy Grace and Assistance throughout my whole Life wait upon thee in Holiness that I may at last behold thy Power and Glory everlasting 2. I hate and abhor all my past evil ways and from the depth of my Soul do renounce mine own Wickedness * Here you may confess your Constitution Sin or other Sins O that I may obtain Victory over my whole Body of Sin and live Then shall Jesus be my Jesus indeed and say Soul Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee and at the Great Day declare before Angels and Saints and Devils and the Desperate Thy monstrous iniquities are blotted out They shall not be thy ruine Thou shalt live for I dy'd for the penitent 3. Hence 't is O Lord that my Soul hangs upon thee To this purpose with extreme Thirst of Soul I seek thy Strength and thy Face O therefore do thou who delight'st not in the Desolation but divine Resurrection of Humane Spirits chear and replenish me with the Light of thy Countenance for without thee we must needs be desolate CLASS V. Acts of Daily Petition for God's Protection and Blessing LORD I have dedicated my Judgment to thee O shew me the way that I should walk in I lift up my Soul unto thee Lord sanctifie it I have devoted my Spirit Lord separate the Light from the Darkness thereof and refine it with the fiery Baptism of the Holy Ghost that thy Will may be the Magnet of mine Lord I beseech thee set a Watch over my Heart and Lips that my Words and Meditations may please thee 2. O that all my Actions and Intentions and Discourses may be begun and govern'd and ended in thy Fear so shall the Lord prosper my Handy-work so shall my Studies thrive under his Blessing and all my Resolutions be establish'd O that the Disposals of my Heavenly Father be they grateful or ungrateful to Flesh and Blood may find their Ends answer'd by my Demeanor under and use of them 3. Arm me I beseech thee with the Armour of God that no presumptuous Sin may ever again get the Dominion over me Array my Soul with a competent Conformity of Mind to the Image of thy Son that I may grow in Grace and heavenly Experience that so this and every remaining Day of my short stay here may be reflected on with less Sorrow and more spiritual Joy in the Lord than the foregoing O may thy Loving Spirit lead me in the ways of Evangelical Righteousness so shall the Land of Righteousness be mine Inheritance and the God of Righteousness my Portion for ever CLASS VI. A Catholick Conclusion LOrd I beseech thee of thine infinite Compassion over-look my numerous Infirmities accept of this imperfect Sacrifice and of the following Expression of my Delight in the Joys of the Church Triumphant and of my Commiseration of all the Perils Straits and Necessities of thy Israel Militant here on Earth in the powerful Name and Words of thine only Son and Man's only Saviour JESUS CHRIST Our Father c. Noon-Office OF VIGILANCE AND CHARITY CLASS I. Vigilance excited by Expressions of a sense of Man's and the World's Vanity 1. VAnity of Vanities all is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit 2. God made Man upright little lower than the Angels and plac'd all sublunary Things under him But Man hath sought out many foolish Inventions and lets some Creature or other lord it over his Heart tho' they were all put under his feet 3. For the Lord look'd down from Heaven on the Children of Men to see if there were any seeking after God But oh how are they gone out of the way Destruction and Vnhappiness is in their ways The way to Reconciliation and Glory they neither see nor seek 4. Nay the humble Soul and his Care for Eternity is had in derision by them numerous are those Wretches which combine with the disorderly Tendencies of Birth and the Princes of Darkness to pluck him from his God CLASS II. Expressions of Trust in God and Holy Resolution 1. BUt my Soul shall not run any more after Idols neither shall their Scoffs make me draw back for I will seek the Kingdom of God and Christ and the Righteousness thereof 2. Seek seek I say O
the Dedicatory of the Third Class and dedicates it self without the least reserve to God's Spirit whose Temples St. Paul hath told us good Christians are This Custom obliges us daily to remember our Baptismal Vow and 'till we have renounc'd this I do not see why this may not be an ordinary practise For our Baptismal Vow is not made the less Obligatory by our neglect of the laudable practise of the daily recognition of it Therefore I desire the Reader to say daily This Day I again dedicate c. This being done it immediately resigns it self to Providence which is another essential part of Gratitude to God And now it says I am thine O save me 't is but fitting that the Soul being wholly God's it should quite abandon the World the Flesh and the Devil as it does in the Second Section of this Class and long for the Victory over its predominant Constitution-Corruptions which is the main Victory of a Christian And because he is suppos'd the Night before to have made his Peace with God a prudent Glance upon this need not hinder but rather enhance its Gratitude by the consideration of his Compassion and Long-suffering with such noisom Creatures The third and last Section is a modest Dependance upon God for his Grace And indeed if we can rely on God for our Bodies much more should we for our Souls In the Fourth Class the Soul having discharg'd its part of Gratitude to God assumes the Boldness of Petition for spiritual Favours and vents its holy trembling and solicitude to perform its Vows The Fifth Class minds us that the Lord's Prayer is a sufficient joining of the Will with the Choir of Heaven in their Praises of the Divine Majesty and an expression of our sympathy with all who are yet left in a state of Trial and therefore 't is call'd a Catholick i. e. an universal Conclusion we do thereby extend our Benevolence to all Creatures that are actually happy or still capable of Happiness and make them Partners of our Petitionary Addresses II. Of the Noon-Office IN the midst of the Day the Soul is surrounded with Temptations and most in danger of being plung'd in the mean Solicitudes and Thoughts of this Life and therefore I cannot but think that at this time Exercises of Vigilance are a very necessary Antidote against the Infections of Darkness This first Part may be us'd before Dinner And lest the pleasing of Sense should abate our Expectation of the noble Enjoyment of Heaven we have allotted a Gratulatory Office to raise our Affections upwards and because the use of Food does naturally suggest to serious and wise Men the close social Dependence of all God's Works one upon the other which Consideration is a great Friend to Charity We have also allotted for after-Dinner an Office of Intercession for the Church Militant In the Office of Vigilance the Soul first complains of the unsatisfactoriness of all earthly Things and in the second Section strives to enlarge it self and reach after God Himself who is a real and really Noble Enjoyment and more than commensurate to the Capacity of a spiritual Nature after this in the other Class Sect. 1. to bring it self to a firm habit of Seriousness through the consideration of the difficulty of being sav'd and the greatness of natural Weakness and the vastness of the Strength and Number of its Enemies it earnestly prays for the Power of being acceptably obedient unto death And because our Saviour has assur'd us that if we seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof all things shall be added to us and that God best knows whether Plenty or Poverty Honour or Dishonour in this World be best one for this another for that Person and one at one time and another at another time for the same Christian and therefore that we should equally be prepar'd for both the Soul does not trouble it self to make particular Prayers in the Dark for temporal Uncertainties but goes the next Class to acquaint God particularly with what it unfeignedly desires by turning the great Sermon on the Mount into a Prayer because it knows that Poverty of Spirit and Purity of Heart and the other Dispositions therein inculcated are absolutely necessary for a Man that would be eternally happy Different Circumstances of Life here may be of a very different Nature to different Persons but these are certain and necessary for every wise Petitioner he that gets these and he only is a true Favourite of Heaven Tho' 't is unlawful to Worship Angels yet 't is a great part of Charity which teaches to Rejoice with them that Rejoice to gratulate them and their happy state and helps very much towards the sublimating the Affections In the Intercessive Part of Charity I have offer'd a very long Prayer for the Clergy being very well satisfy'd that if the Laity were mov'd by our great Defects to pray as affectionately and constantly for us as they slight and rail against us not considering that our Office is still as Venerable as ever God would restore Christian Discipline some way or other and raise up many Faithful Pastors amongst us tho' it were at the expence of a second miraculous effusion of his Spirit Good Lord encrease our Faith in the use of this Prayer Of the Structure of the Evening Office The End of the Day being ordinarily the time of the greatest leisure the good Christian takes an opportunity to converse with himself and to see whether he has kept himself unspotted from the World in the pursuit of his Business Perhaps it may be thought improper to use Prayer of such a length daily before this Exercise but if we consider that the Falshood or Soundness of Internal Peace depends upon the right management of this Exercise and what a Mystery of Treachery our Hearts are a Man can never too solemnly set about it or think himself above the need of a peculiar Assistance from God in it 'T is an easie thing to know whether we are externally innocent but not so easie to know according to the true Rules of daily Growth in Grace already laid down whether or no we are in a growing or improving state of Grace which is an internal Habit. The observance of the said Two Rules after we have compar'd our Carriage and examin'd from Hour to Hour with the Sermon on the Mount is the usefullest way of examining our selves that I can prescribe This Method will be tedious to those who are not us'd to abstract themselves but by use it will grow as familiar and compendious as 't is certain and safe The abuse of the same General or Particular Confession of Sins howsoever the Day has been spent is very obvious to Men of but very little Judgment it making Confession it self to be slightly us'd nay sometimes sinful when Men are taught to live always in a tepid state by making the same Confession to our Lives end which can be only proper in
Grace that I have not to my Knowledge boldly provok'd thee in any respect this day for to thy Grace alone is this Honour due I know nothing of my self yet am I not hereby justify'd 'T is thy Sentence must make or undo me for ever O God thou art greater than our Hearts and knowest all things if therefore my State is still dangerous if any pestilential Habit still cleaves to my Soul if any Mortal Act or Word or Thought hath escap'd my Memory in my Examination enlighten me I beseech thee and suggest it to my remembrance that I may mingle my Tears with thy Mercy and Christ his Blood before I dare to slumber O suffer me not to lean on a delusive Peace But if it be otherwise praised be thy Goodness as for all thy Mercies so especially for this Gift of Innocence Keep me from being high-minded on this or any other account and give me true Sobriety of Mind that I may not through Giddiness and future Neglects fall after all from Favour 3. Glory be to thy Grace and the Merits of Christ that those many latent Deficiencies from thy Law which cleave even to the sanctified in this state will not shut me out of thy Kingdom may by degrees be lessen'd more and more here and will be wholly remov'd hereafter O cleanse me from all my secret Faults be they blotted out by the Blood of thy Son and grant that by great Advances in Grace an entrance may be vouchsaf'd me into the glorious Kingdom of God 4. With this comfortable Faith I rely this Night on thy Providence for convenient Repose and Defence both of Mind and Body In the Name of Christ I beseech thee do thou accept this imperfect Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise in his comprehensive Form I also crave pardon for the Wandrings and Imperfections thereof and do testifie my Charity to thy Creation Our Father c. THE Midnight Office OF ABSTRACTION 1. O My Soul now thou art secret unto Men but thou art not so unto God nor for all that thou knowest unto many good and bad Angels who often behold thee as well as thy Creator when thou neither seest nor thinkest of them Now therefore that thy Eyes are bound by the Darkness of the Night let thy Mind also be turn'd inwards by the profound silence of thy internal Powers that the Darkness of external Sense may encrease the Vigour of my intellectual Sight 2. Commune now with thine own Spirit O search and see whether it be fit for Communion with God which may be easily known if thou know'st whether Light or Darkness be the predominant Principle therein Call to remembrance thy Sins call to remembrance the Mercies of God dive deep into thy self and then say if thou canst that there is not something in the centre of thy Frame which is not perishable like the Efforts of thy Blood Do not be like the captive Multitude of Sense who thro' neglect of Abstraction are a secret to themselves Turn thy Nature over and over in thy Thoughts and especially view the better part thereof and observe wherein thou hast defac'd or improv'd it 3. Think 'till thou art thoroughly convinc'd and when thou art so do thou frequently consider that thou carry'st Immortality in Embrio always within thee 'T is true the Soul rather believes than sees whilst 't is thus imprison'd in the Womb. But when its Mortal Part is ripe for the Grave which may be long before even the Autumn of Man's life 't will make its entrance upon the immortal Stage 4. Think therefore of thy great Change in time before thou art forc'd to launch into the Ocean of Eternity lest the unexpected and unprepar'd-for sight of the invisible World surprize thee with another-guess Dread than that which the Faithful do find then Remember that the State of Man here on Earth is like the old Probationary State of Fallen Angels before they degenerated into Devils and like the State which all the Impenitent who are gone before thee once enjoy'd a State of Time and Opportunity a State of Work and Preparation for that State which is unalterable But the State of Saints and Fiends the State of Loyal and Apostate Angels the State of Angels and Men who have been acquitted and condemn'd before the last Tribunal is a State of exact Judgment Reward and Eternity 5. Then be thy Recompence Glory or Vengeance it will never expire there will be no escape from the one or loss of the other it will indeed have a beginning but its end will never be found Since therefore Eternity will find and keep thee such as Time leaves thee and Eternity is inestimable how canst thou value Time at too high a Rate Let the Time past suffice thee to have serv'd Pride Envy and Concupiscence Now be thou entirely a Servant of Christ and a Subject of Divine Zeal and Charity that an ample Prospect of Heaven may ennoble and enlarge thee 6. Make the Agonies of the Tormented in Hell and the Joys of the Bless'd above familiar to the Mind by Meditation that it may supplant the inchanting intimacy which sense will otherwise find in thy Soul as it does mostly in the Souls of the MANY Fancy thy Spirit to be taking leave of this Cottage of Flesh for this Custom tends greatly to the purgation of the Heart and the weaning of thy Affections from all its darling Idols It makes bare the Vanity of the World stabs the Love of an Earthly Life to the Heart and cherishes divine Love in the Soul Awake therefore O my Soul strive to be cloath'd with new Strength and to regain Paradise Meditate and abstract thy self whilst Sense is tame and quiet and does not hinder the orderly Peace of the Mind check every wanton Sally of Imagination be-aw'd with a sense of the Divine Omnipresence prostrate thy Thoughts of thy self and consider and say Great was the Rebellion and the Overthrow of the Apostate Inhabitants of Heaven Great was and is their Envy against us and the Fall of all Mankind in Adam Great is the Mercy of our affronted God and the Redemption that is tender'd by the Lord Jesus Great is our Blindness and Obstinacy deep and strong are our ill Habits mighty indeed are our Ghostly Enemies Mightier and more are the Angels that are for us wonderful is the Courtesie powerful are the strivings of the supreme Spirit with Man Sharp is the Edge of Conscience even sharper than a Two edged Sword and so great is the Peace of a good Man that it alone might satisfie and every one but himself is a stranger to his Joy Amazingly great is the change of Death so terrible also is the Day of the Lord and the Universal Judgment of Angels and Men. Who can dwell in Everlasting Burnings Are we stronger than God Who can conceive the Pleasures of Heaven What Mortal hath ever feasted upon God 7. And cannot all this provoke that aspiring Principle within me which was made
and is divided into several Parts of Purity Charity and the like according to the different Relations wherein we stand plac'd with respect ro the Creator and his Creation and which do severally display themselves in our Lives at those Seasons which Divine Providence allows for each 'T is not a Christian's business to be solicitous as to his particular external Exercises provided they be lawful and laudable in the Judgment of the Gospel and those be preferr'd if two or more such stand in competition which Providence and the Gospel prefer but his solicitude must be vigorously to exercise and improve within himself during every exercise of Vertue the particular part of universal Grace which is the Blood and Life of a renew'd Soul that is peculiar to and mostly ornamental of every present external Exercise Hence it is that a poor honest Mechanick Christian may thrive as much in Grace in his Shop as a Priest by the daily use of the Altar provided he prefers his honest Work before the Sacrament because Providence has so preferr'd it in him Tho receiving the Sacrament as to the external Solemnity of it and the intrinsick Worth of the Exercise it self is more preferrible to him and all pious Souls in it self when it does not stand in competition with that degree of secular Industry which Justice and moderate Care for a Family requires Hence also it comes to pass that as the thriving Mechanick Christian is better every Sunday or Sacrament-Day than he was the Day before because that intentness of Spirit which is the peculiar ornamental internal Exercise of the conjoin'd Worship both of Soul and Body especially when offer'd with the Memorials of the Mediator's Passion exceeds the degree of his contented submission and heavenly-mindedness which is the greatest internal Ornament of a Christian then during his last external Exercise of his secular Calling So also the next Day after the said Sunday or last Sacrament-Day if he thrives he is better than he was then because his Heavenly-mindedness during the Exercise of his secular Calling exceeds the intent Fervour of his Spirit during his last Exercise of the most solemn Worship on the last Lord's Day if Allowances in the Examination be made for the different Natures of both the external Exercises For though one external Exercise has more Religious Splendour in it self than another yet the Religious internal Splendour of the Spirit of a Christian may be diffusing it self with a daily encrease both of extent and power under both alike in case they are all us'd in their Seasons and those that are the more immediately Charitable and Religious are heartily preferr'd all Opportunities Wherefore a Christian that would daily know whether or no he grows in Grace either first considers daily the Chain of his lawful external Exercises the day past and then considers what particular Concomitant Divine Tempers of Mind are the peculiar ornamental Tempers of a Christian during each Exercise and after that takes the height of its advance in each Divine Temper during each Exercise and so by deep abstraction of Thought sees whether the progress of the Soul in the different Divine Temper which is ornamental of each subsequent Exercise exceeded its progress in the particular internal Divine Temper of each foregoing different Exercise In which procedure of practical Abstraction it always also compares the proportionable or disproportionable Advantages and Disadvantages of Divine Assistance Temptations Place Time State of Body and the different Natures of the external Exercises and the like Or secondly the Soul takes an account of its Carriage at different times during similar Exercises and compares the different Improvements of the similar Tempers of each similar or like Exercises at different times with the Circumstances of Assistance and Temptation and the like during each time of Exercise This in short seems to me to be what St. Peter exhorts us to when he exhorts the Christians to grow in Grace and to give all diligence to add to our Faith Vertue c. for if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barnen nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But he that lacketh these things is blind From which latter Words 't is evident the Apostle does not suppose any Man in a State of Grace who has not all these Vertues always ready within him to be elicited and vigorously exerted at different Times A Man must have the Seeds of Grace within him to be in an infant-state of Grace and must be growing in all if he is a real thriving adult Christian But the Contents of this Chapter may he clearly discuss'd if God grant me Life in a particular Discourse concerning Birth May this suffice for the present purpose CHAP. III. Of Closet-Devotion's furtherance of daily Growth in Grace and the Reasonableness of the Method of this New daily Method of Devotion in general WHatever external Exercises of Religion may be only Providentially or tho' constantly yet but at some set Times necessary I presume 't is agreed by all That the Exercises of the United Devotion of our Hearts and Tongues with reverent Postures of Body in our Closets if Health and opportunity of Retirement will allow it is constantly the daily Duty of a Christian be he in the state of Infancy or Perfection He that wholly omits the Duty of Prayer and Piety lives without God He that omits it in secret is a Pharisee perhaps worse in a Congregation He that performs but always performs it only in his Mind is to be commended so far for doing that which in a lower or higher Degree is the perpetual Duty and Employ of a wakeful Christian whose continual sense of God's Presence and Goodness join'd with God's Grace and Spirit is the very Sôul of a supernatural Life But nevertheless he cannot be commended for forgetting that he is a compounded Creature and I cannot but think it my Duty Friendly to inform him That as humble Gestures of Body without a sprightly Awe of God in the Mind are the Skeleton of not real Worship since 't is not only imperfect but lifeless So the bare elation of the Soul to God if it be never accompany'd with Reverence of Body is not the compleat Worship of a Man Why should we part the Body and Spirit which God has join'd together Dost thou not believe the Resurrection of the Body If God designs to glorifie thy Body to all eternity i. e in case thou hallow it by the Purity of thy Soul why shouldst thou deny it the Honour of joining sometimes with thy Soul to do all the Honour it can to thy God Or dost thou think that thy solitary mental Homage is equal to the Homage of a simple Spirit who darest to refuse solemnly sometimes according to St. Paul's Exhortation to present and bow thy Body before God whilst thou canst present it a living Sacrifice on Earth By this united Devotion of Spirit Soul
and Body in our Closets we make our Senses do Obeisance to Faith and give an irresistible Evidence of our sense of God's Omnipresence to our own Consciences By this we keep our Souls intent on the other World and we see how far the things of the World do and how far they do not make deep Impression on our Affections But because the happy Tryal of the constant Observance of this Religious Practice recommends it more than the Tongue even of an Angel can I resign those who neglect it to the Discipline of that Mighty Spirit of God whose methods of bringing Souls to God surpass our comprehension and will proceed to shew what method makes this Religious Exercise contribute most to a Soul's growth in Grace And since I have given a Specimen of the most advantagious daily Method of Ordinary Devotion that I know of this may be done as well as I can do it by a clear and brief Representation of the Reasonableness of this Method in general As for the Seasons of the Day the Three first of them were the set Seasons of those two great Masters of Address to God DAVID and DANIEL and the Fourth Season sometimes is mention'd by the former of them and was famous in the Infancy of the Christian Religion The different Natures of the several Parts of Addresses to God and those particular holy Tempers of Soul that are peculiarly ornamental of each Part and the Propriety of each Part to the Season herein allotted for it together with the Reasons of the different Structures of each Office shall God willing be laid open in the next Chapter Wherefore the only thing which remains to be accounted for in the defence of the General Structure of the whole Daily Office is our allotment of a distinct Season foâ— each principal different Part of Address to God It is agreed by all devout Persons be the Nature of our Address to God what it will That Humility an awful Sense of God and Faith are necessary Recommendations of it because these are general Essential Ingredients of all acceptable Address to God and therefore peculiar to none accordingly I took particular care to contrive that a Vein of these run thro' every one of the Offices 'T is I presume also agreed that Petitionary Penitential Eucharistical and Intercessive Addresses to God have each of them besides those already-mention'd Qualifications that are common to them all their certain peculiar ornamental holy Tempers of Spirit which differ very much with respect to the natural Modifications of Sense which attend them tho' as they are sanctify'd they all conspire to the same end as Grief for our Sins a sense of our Wants and a joyful sweet sense of God's Mercies and the like Consequently these different postures or Spirit with respect to the different Modifications of Soul wherewith they are necessarily attended in this state tho' they are very reconcilable at different times or at the same time in very low degrees since as they are sanctify'd they carry on the same end and are but the same universal holy Frame of Spirit differently modifying the Soul at different Seasons upon different Occasions cannot be all together at the same time each in their Zenith or immediately in succession so The consequence of which is that those different parts of pious Addresses to God which require the said different holy Tempers of Mind cannot be all so solemnly perform'â— together as at different Seasons oâ— the Day tho' every part may bâ— implicitely in each and yet each Office require the vigorous exertion of but one holy Modification of Soul Wherefore whereas the usual Method of using every sort of Devotion thrice a day distinctly and explicitely either makes the solemn use of each part of Address wholly impracticable which betrays into Lukewarmness or else makes it impracticable without a great deal of time and trouble to change so many different Postures of Soul immediately one after another which inconvenience induce Tediousness and often betrays in to frequent omission of Closet Devotion to God On the contrary the Method of Distinction iâ— this Book makes Devotion be more pleasantly and intently perform'd in all its parts and with less expence of Time and hinderance of our social Duties For the Soul by this means agit quod agit does what it does to the purpose because it has but one posture of Soul at a time to provide and yet by the use of the Lord's Prayer which of it self is a compleat Office of mix'd Devotion it uses all together every Season with due Reverence though not with the utmost heighth of every Passion Thus in all the inspir'd Psalms be they Penitential or Eucharistical or of any other kind 't is easie to observe that though here and there a sprinkling of some other part of Devotion be incidently inserted yet the solemn use of it require but one reigning Cardinal Posture of Soul CHAP. IV. A View of the particular Structure of every Office OUr Sprightliness after the Refreshment of sound and temperate Sleep being a lively Image of the future Resurrection of our Bodies and naturally disposing our Minds to be brisk and chearful I could not but think the Morning the properest time for the pleasant Exercise of Religious Gratitude This Office is divided into Five Classes The First is preparatory to the due Exercise of Gratitude The two First Sections may be us'd before any Address to God it being only an Acknowledgment of the Apostacy of our Nature and our unworthiness to approach to God in order to engage us to Reverence and Humility in our Addresses and also a Remembrance of our Saviour's purchasing the Favour of Access and a Capableness of Regeneration in order to maintain within us a modest Faith and Confidence But the Third Section must be appropriated to this Office it being an express Resolution to praise God from the Consideration of our Liberty under the Gospel and Obligation thereto and especially upon the account of Christ's shedding his Blood for us which being here mention'd by the way of Eminence it is not mention'd in the next Class This Second Class begins with Glory therefore putting in execution what was resolv'd upon before By Recital is meant speaking of God in the Third Person HE and by address in the Second as THOV The former is almost as frequent in the Psalter as the latter The Second Section Commemorates God's Infinite and Incomprehensibleness in general the Third His Attributes and splendid Attendance the Fourth the Beauty and Order of the Inanimate Worlds the Fifth and Sixth the Works of Creation and Providence and particularly the Preservation of Human Nature by Birth which is a very Instructive Subject to the Thoughtful and excites wonderful Thoughts of God for our last Night's particular Preservation At last the Soul perceiving God's Mercies too many to be numbred concludes in an holy Amaze Therefore the Soul after oral Gratitude prostrates the Body to the Ground and uses