is better then life it self Ps. 63. 2. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there 's none upon earth thaâ—… desire in comparison of thee Ps. 73. 24. Anthem Above the Stars my Saviour dwels I love I care for nothing else Dear Saviour raise my duller eyne To see some of thy beams divine And wondering let me often say Come Lord Jesu come away O fit me for thy coming and then make no long tarrying O my God Psal. 40. 21. and in the mean time Give me Grace to continue in the number of those that wait and long for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 13. 4. Such a short Morning task will quickly set us at liberty for our daily occasions but when publick Prayer time comes on let us listen to the Bells that invite us to God's House the place of his special presence Whither let us not come without due Preparation and before we enter in let us look to our feet our affections that bring us in and admonish our selves not to offer the sacrifice of fools in God's house For while we are there we are made a spectacle to God to Angels and to Men. Therefore we should hoc agere and use such good heed reverâ—…nce attention and devotion that we may end with a blessing and so go out better then we came in 5. After our return from publick Service a few hours well spent may produce a chearful heart all day and a sweet rest at night Especially if we begin or end the night with a short Scrutiny and examination of our selves what we have done well in the day time to thank God for it and what we have done ill to ask pardon and resolve by the grace of God to do better next day After our Scrutiny when we draw neer toward bed-time let us remember the affinitie betwixt Death and Sleep how soon one may be chang'd into the other That will oblige us to take order that as the body is to rest so the soul also may rest upon her proper pillow the Peace of God that passeth all understanding and rely upon the custody of Him that neither slumbers nor sleeps This being done doubt not but if we live a sweet sleep shall render us chearful and vigorous the next day and if we be carried from the bed to the grave as perhaps we may thence God will raise us to a better life and change our vile bodies to the likenesse of his glorious Body and from our mother-Mother-earth bring us to our Heavenly Father whom none can see and not be everlastingly happy A few daies thus ordered may be an Introduction to all the rest according to this good Beginning But what 's all the rest Who knows what the rest of our Dayes may prove whether few or none Live well a few dayes and your life will be at an end as the Emperour Antoninus was wont to say The longest life is but a few daies Few and evil saith the Patriarch Jacob of his for with us good daies are prosperous daies all other are counted evil daies or nights of affliction rather then dayes Put all together Dayes and Nights Good and Evil they will all be quickly ended and we shall begin our Eternitie Le ts every day strive to make that happy Ab hoc momento pendet Aeternitas MORE PARTICVLAR ADVICE for times of Retirement Meditation and Devotion I. The need we have of several holy retirements 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christianity is the conformitie of a Christian unto Christ saith Gregory Nyssen in Profess Chr He is the pattern and the way and the Truth and the Life The Rule of all our actions we have from Him who is the word of God and the Son of God whom by a voice from Heaven at his Baptism God commanded us to hear and obey Now will a little care and a little time be sufficient to fit us for the knowledg and practice of all this Will there not be need of several returns to our reading and studying and soliloquies and meditations how to facilitate these duties Must we not watch and mistrust our selves and be our own Remembrancers to keep us close to our task For that which sets us on work and hath most power to draw us one way or other is not any external thing it is rather in our own Apprehensions and Affections Thence is the Rhetorick that prevailes with us and hath all the Instruments and Operations of the Body and Mind at her command To compasse and effect this all the Helps and all the Vigilance that can be used will prove little enough For whatsoever is our talk and speculation and intention I doubt not but in the practice we do all of us find it a difficult matter to disintangle our selves from those natural or habitual and bosome sins that are apt to enâ—…are and enthrall us again if our best endeavours provide not for good heed and ready use of the compleat armour of a Christian. Nay if Sin could be avoided with ease yet there are so many Circumstances or Requisites that go to the piecing up of good Actions that the best of men need not be loth or ashamed to be made virtuous by the Book our Practice easily running counter to our Theory and some things as easily perswading us to slack that pace of which we were once as confident as we were fully resolved And no wonder For we have in us somewhat of the Beast as well as of the Man and are not so ready to hear Reason and Religion as to be lead by some Senses To which we may adde that when we are not endangered by inward frailties and corruptions we may have cause enough to fear danger from the contagion of commerce without us Therefore in the close of our Secessions and Retirements we should often pray that when we venter abroad we may be delivered not onely from our selves and our own inclinations but from our friends and enemies and oppositions and temptations of all sorts And we should as often admonish our selves that we walk upon snares and may suddenly and dangerously be surprized in our greatest security To say nothing that the World which at the best is but our Inne may by some accident be quickly turned to our Hospital and we thence summoned to the last and highest Tribunal before we are well advised of it II. The Frequency and Constancy of this holy Employment THis holy retirement that I plead for should be put in practice at least twice or thrice every day least the mind insensibly begin to flag and sink for want of such a help and support As we see our Clocks and Watches though we wind them up in the morning yet they will fail in their motion if we do not wind them up at night again And after
very well one for every severall Day of thâ—… Weeke And they may help on the Worke 〈◊〉 our Repentance if we will so often use thâ—… words of those pious Men that made them with their spirit And all the helps in thaâ—… worke are as necessary as they will be advanâ—… tageous For We are charged often and seriously to reâ—…member how we have provoked the Lorâ—… our God to wrath more then once Deu. 9 7 8â—… And the Lord our God is a consuming fireâ—… and a jealous God Deut 4. 24. Thereforâ—… humble thy selfe greatly For the vengeanâ—… of the ungodly is Fire and Wormes Ecclus. 7â—… 17. And if the righteous scarcely be saved where will the ungodly and sinner appeare 1 Pet 4. 18. The Meditation of these places of holâ—… Writ were enough to fright the Impenitenâ—… and make them long to be better acquainteâ—… with Penitentiall Psalmes Then may they heare more comfortablâ—… words For If wee confesse our fins God is faithfuâ—… and just to forgive us our sins 1 Joh. 1. 9. Noâ—… is not the voice of the Gospell only Solomon could put us in that hope long before thâ—… Gospel was sully revealed He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Prov. 28. 13. And others before him have said the like It was God's mercy ever of old Hos. 14. 2 3 4. Hos. 6. 1 2. But we must lay hold on it while it is called to day Hebr. 3. 13 15. There is a long night coming when nothing can be done John 9. 4. And there is no relying or boasting of the little day of our life Prov. 27. 1. We know not how soon the Sun may set for ever upon us and we be conveyed out of the way into our everlasting House Eccles 12. 5. Therefore let us not put off from Day to Day to turne to the Lord. For suddainly his wrath may breake forth and in our security we may be destroyed and so perish in the day of Vengeance Ecclus 5. 7. But God is never so ready to punish as he is to pardon The Royall Prophet that had experience of that mercy tells us that when but he resolved to confes his transgressions unto the Lord the Lord forgave the iniquity of his Sin Psal. 32. 5. And if we would have it confirmed by the Evangelicall Prophet he could tell us God is so mercifull that upon our resolution before we call he will answer and while we are yet speaking He will heare Isay 65. 24. How then can they think to escape that neglect so great Salvation Hebr. 2. 3. After this so needfull and gainfull a Service of Confession As our Church doth so we should do well to addresse our selves to another Confession that of Praise and Thanksgiving In imitation of the Invitatory Psalme and the Te Deum and the like Hymnes in publicke we should have somewhat ready for that purpose in private Such as what now followes XV. A Morning Devotion framed according to St Basil's direction Constitut. Monast. c. 1 and the rare Patterne of the sweet Singer of Israel in many Psalmes PRaise the Lord O my Soul While I live will I praise the Lord yea as long as I have any being will I sing praises unto my God Psal. 146. 1. As long as I live will I magnify him on this manner and lift up my hands in his Name Ps. 63. 5. Every day will I give thanks unto Him and praise his Name for ever and ever Ps. 145. 2. Every day with all readines and thankfulnes of heart I will worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord my God my Maker Psal. 95. 6. By whom I was fearfully and wonderfully made Psal. 139 13 14. My soul cannot but be affected with that curious workmanship even to astonishment and amazement To consider how there is not the least bone or member in my body but tooke along with it an apparent stamp and impression of Divine Power and Wisdome While my whole Body to say nothing of the rate Faculties of the Soule was so cunningly and secretly wrought and embroidered with veines sinewes arteries and other incomparable varieties of necessary parts that as they were first framed and molded secretly in my Mothers wombe so they are not now all of them exposed to the view of every eye but show themselves onely by the use that is made of them Such are the wonders of my Creation How shall I then be able to expresse or conceive how mercifully and freely I was redeemed with a costly and mighty salvation 1 Cor 6. 20. Luc 1. 69. and by no lesse Providence and Goodnes miraculously preserved in fad and perilous times unto this day Therefore shall the first Fruits of every Day be Hâ—…s and the first opening of my mouth the serving and blessing of his holy Name My hearty Prayers and Praises shall come daily before Him like the Incense Psal. 141. 2. ascen ding upward and seasoning and sweetening my thoughts here for the whole day In this manner and for ever Praise the Lord O my Soule and all that is within mee praise his holy Name Praise the Lord O my Soule and forget not all his Benefits Ps 103. 1. c. Which forgiveth all thy sinnes thy great sinnes and healeth all thy Infirmities thy manifold infirmities Which satisfieth thy Body and Soule with variety of good things and so often after a sweet and quiet sleep reneweth thy strength in the Morning and returneth thee to thy Friends and thy own imployments Young and lusty as an Eagle v. 5. that appeares in her fresh plumes vigorous and youthfull againe For this shall my mouth every morning be filled with thy praise O Lord and my Soule make her boast of Thee Ps. 34. 2 3. For this I will remember Thee in my Bed and when I awake Ps. 71. 7. And upon all opportunities sing of thy Honour and Glory all the day long So shall my Soule be more and more satisfied as it were with marrow and fatnes while I thus endeavour to praise Thee with joyfull lips Ps 63. 5. Here we may tender a particular recognition of some speciall mercy and favour showed to us or ours After which we may take others into our Confession of Praise And O that all others might joyn with me in the close of my thankful acknowledgments O that they would praise the Lord with me and let us magnify his Name together Psal ' 34. 3. Though not in the same place yet with the same heart and affection bearing a part in the Angels and our Churches Hymne Glory be to God on high and in earth Peace good will towards men We praise Thee O God we blesse Thee we worship Thee We laud and magnifie thy glorious name evermore praising Thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy glory Glory be to Thee O Lord most high O that men would thus praise the Lord for his goodnesse
heart commonly If worldly thoughts fall to the ground better will ascend into the place of them But when we mount them into the highest place down go the other I say this must be added at fit times For otherwise wordly thoughts and businesses and recreations too have their time when they are necessarie and must not be omitted Neither are we alwayes alike disposed for heavenly employment Nor will the object it selfe indeed be gazed upon long by us And in this Advise where the wise man saith prae omni custodià keep thy heart above all keeping Prae omni is so farre from excluding all other thoughts and employments that it rather implies many more but it puts the Superlative upon this above them all The heart may have her times of other serious entertainments or lawfull Recreation But she must have her time of Privacie and Retirednesse from them all 1. Both because the devout heart is the spouse of Christ and as St Bernard speakes Christ doth not love to come to his spouse in the presence of a multitude At least he will not knock every day at that heart where there is so much other businesse that there is no leasure to let him in 2. And then againe because whensoever the Soul would mount her selfe to heavenly speculations if she be surprised with worldly affaires she is like a bird that hath her feathers limed Intangled in them she is not able to use so much as her naturall strength to elevate her selfe In both these regards there are seasons wherein she must be retired to God and Her selfe And this is the third of those meanes and preservatives that may be used for the keeping of the heart 4. After all these We have no other care unlesse it be this How there may be a continuall supply of good thoughts and Meditations to busie and strengthen the heart upon all occasions And such a supply there may be in the daily perusall of two great Bookes upon which all other are but Commentaries the Booke of the Scriptures and the Booke of the Creatures The Royall Prophet made the Nineteenth Psalme in speculation of them Both. The first part of it begins with the Creation The heavens declare the glory of God The second part from the 7. verse is of the Scriptures The Law of the Lord is a perfect law And so Both those Bookes are there commended to us 1. Whereof That of the Scriptures is absolutely necessary as a Rule and Patterne to them that want a guide or light it selfe to the blinde Therefore we are advised to meditate in that Day and Night Psal. 1. 2. And the other of the Creatures must not be neglected because they were created indeed to that end to serve our weake apprehension of God as so many Spectacles not to looke upon them and stay there but thorough them to looke upon God Himselfe And so we may understand that obscure place in the Preacher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is He hath given the heart of man a whole world of matter for Meditation so large that no man shall ever fully goe through it and find out all the workes of God though he spend all his life time in that studie from the beginning of it to to the end Eecles 3. 11. Out of all which plenty we might every day select something to praepossesse that roome in the heart which otherwise vaine and perhaps worse then vaine fancies will incroach upon If we delight in rarities we might every day pick out some of those reall wonders which God himselfe the God of wonder and the God of Nature hath abundantly afforded to entertaine our speculation Whether we look up to Heaven or downe to Earth whether we looke to other Creatures or to our selves into our bodies or into our soules there is matter enough of wonder and meditation to keep our hearts in the feare and live of God XXXV The Close and Fruit of these last Meditations VVE have seene that the Heart may and should be kept above all keeping We have seen what Meanes and Helps there are for the keeping of it Let us therefore so keep it as our onely treasure which whosoever hath lost hath nothing else to lose or keepe We are carefull enough that the Bodie and Apparrell and every thing else about us be neat and cleanly kept and repaired When are we so forgetfull as to leave the body one day without meat and drinke and sleepe and attendance Let us do as much for the Heart and Soule which is worthy of farre more Let her be Lodged in a roome worthy of Her Let Her be Fed with her own proper food Let her be reposed upon her owne pillow that passeth all understanding To keep it thus is to follow the counsell of the wise man and to prove wiser then He was But to imploy so pretious an Instrument to any base use is the Act of a man that hath lost his wits I will say more It is no better then Sacriledge that a Soule which hath been offered to God as a reasonable sacrifice should after that be made an organ of sensualitie and a Cage for Devils No better did I say Nay it is farre worse For it is not onely the withholding of a Vessel consecrated to the service of God but it is an Attempt upon the Image of God Himselfe The Heart here being the Soul and the Soule a Character of the Divinity And therefore not to be prostituted to publick infections but kept pure and safe above all keeping Our answer to all Attempts against it being that which was our first answer in Baptisme Abrenuncio I for sake them all We undertooke that once and failed of it Let us now resolve and do it And that we may be inabled to doe it Let it be our humble prayer that God would create a new Heart within us and then give us strength to keep it as we ought And to the same end ‑ that He would give us grace to lay sure hold upon the Prime and Superiour Meanes and keepe close unto Him the living God out of whom indeed are the issues of Life XXXVI Instructions for those times wherein we are called to the Church HAving hitherto endeavoured to fit the Heart and Soul for more private devotions and entertainments we may now take the like care to prepare her for times of Divine and Publick Service with the Congregation both for the further confirming of her self and the clearer example to others And if we mean to be so serious in this high employment as the happy exercise and the most happy consequence of it doth require good reason there is that first our Preparation to the Sanctuary then our Demeanour there as in Gods House should exceed all other As the Shekel and measure of the Sanctuary was double to the ordinary measure He that dwels in Heaven hath an especial eye upon that place above all other not only to defend it but to observe our carriage
thanks with the best member that I have XXXVII A second Task in this Preparation AFter this first care in our Preparation a second would be to inflame our hearts with the love of that holy place and that holy work to which it is fit we should come with ready and chearful minds And that may best be done by borrowing some Light and Heat from those servants of God that have excelled in that kind and especially from the Royal Psalmist by meditation upon these or the like streins of his or theirs wherein we shall see that they accounted this place the Joy of their Glory the desire of their eyes and that whereupon they set their minds Ezek. 24. 25. One thing I have desired of the Lord which I will require that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the fair beauty of the Lord and to visit his Temple Psal. 27. 4. O Lord I have loved the habitation of thy House and the place where thine Honour dwels When shall I come to appear before the presence of my God Ps. 42. 2. O how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of Hosts My Soul hath a desire to enter into the Courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh rejoyce in the living God Psal. 84. 2. I will offer in thy dwelling an oblation with great gladnes Ps. 27. 7. My lips will be saine when I sing unto thee so will my Soul Ps. 71. 23. Give thanks O Israel to the Lord in the Congregation from the ground of the Heart Ps. 68. 26. XXXVIII Our passage toward the Church and our entrance into it AS we passe by the graves in the Church-yard or other Dormitories we may when we are alone and can do it without seeming Affection and Hypocrisie put our selves in mind of our Mortality and the hope of a joyful Resurrection out of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are God's Storehouses for the Bodies of his Servants that have their Souls in Paradise or rather His Paradise his Garden set with Beds of those flowers that shall bud out again in the great Day of our general Spring In like manner as we cast our eye upon the Font and Pulpit we may sometime recall the memory of that solemn vow that we openly undertook at our first Initiation into the Church and of those many Sermons that have often rubbed the remembrance of that with little appearance of successe in our practise But we must never forget to come in and out and do all in the Church with that decent and reverend behaviour of our selves that is due to a place of Gods more especiall presence and our more peculiar service unto Him Whereupon Jacob called his Bethel a place of dread and the Jewes stiled theirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Palace or place of Majesty where they conceived God sitting between the Cherubim as upon a throne of state and the Christians called theirs in the same sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence we had our Kirk and Church All these names putting us in mind of that which was the very letter of the Law that we should reverence Gods Sanctuary Levit. 19. 30. Though in it self it was no peculiar Act of Law but rather the Dictate of Reason that God should be approached to and served in the compleatest kind of service with all inward and outward reverence that is fitting for us The Holy and Princely Prophet carried this thought along with him when he went to Gods House and how doth he expresse it We will go into thy Tabernacle and fall low on our knees before thy Foot-stool that is before the Ark. Psal. 132. 7. And in other words of his we invite our selves every morning to the same duty in ô Venite adoremus O come let us worship and bow down that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and kneel before the Lord our Maker Psal. 95. 6. i. e. before him that made body and soul joyn'd them both together and will expect they should both be joyn'd together in his service Our Invitatory Psalm calls for it by the example of Holy David in the Tabernacle That his example prevailed with the Jewes we see it in Solomon's time For as soon as they had a Temple we find them all the whole congregation bowing themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshipping 2 Chron. 7. 3. Nehem. 8. 6. And who knows not that it was a custome of the Jewish Church when they were abroad to pray towards the Temple and when they were in the Temple to worship towards the Altar The first we see in Daniel's practice Dan. 6. 10. The other confirmed by good K Hezekiah's command Incurvate vos coram Altari hoc 4 Reg. 18. 22. If the Christian Church hath the like Practice before the holy Table it is no more bowing to the Table then K David or K Hezekiah's adoration before the Altar was adoring the Altar in those dayes or man's kneeling before his seat is kneeling to his seat 2 Chron. 29. 29 30. And if the Christians Reverence was more then that of the Jewes good reason for it we have more ingagements that call for more respect and might cast us lower before his Footâ—… stool that first bowed the Heavens and descended as low as earth that hemight raise us as high as Heaven then in his agonie bowed again and fell on his face to pray for us that now think it much to stoop a little in the Church when we come to pray for our selves Mat. 26. 39 The glorious Saints above they do it they bow when they addresse themselves before Him In the fourth of the Revelation you may see them falling down and worshipping and casting their Crownes before the Throne Rev. 4. 10. They that pretend to be cunning in the Revelation think they could tell us best who they are whether Caelestial Spirits or the Reverend Fathers of the Church that go there under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elders or Priests Whosoever they are they are such whose example we had better follow here then defer it till we think to see them in Heaven But if they will continue as stiff in the knees as they are in the neck I must tell them the very Devils did it Marc. 3. 11. They bowed before our Saviour when he was in the state of his humility shall we be loth to do it when he is in his state of glory Surely he that commanded us not to bow to idols did not mean but we should bow down to himself Yet if we doubt of his meaning let us learn what that means in the Psalmist Give the Lord honour due to his name worship the Lord with holy worship Holy worship will have the heart and due Honour will have the lowest submissive expression of bodily Service which is no more then our bounden Duty to God and the one will easily follow the other
maiest chearfully go through the works of thy Calling In this manner and for ever praise the Lord O my soul. And O that all others would joyn with me to magnifie the Lord together as it was that holy Prophets earnest wish O that we might all praise Him In the Angels and Churches Hymne O that we might with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Company of Heaven laud and magnifie Thy Holy Name O Blessed Lord. Evermore Honouring and Praising Thee Evermore Worshiping and Glorifiing Thy Blessed Name For all Thy great Mercies rejoycing in Thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts which was and which is and which is to come Heaven and Earth are full of Thy Glory Glory be to Thee O Lord most High And let all in Heaven and Earth say Amen Amen Halelujah After the Hymn if you are not inclinable to sleep then that the better use may be made of your last Prayers and Meditations concerning the wonders of our Creation Preservation and Divine Omni-present Assistance I will furnish you with a short Paraphrastical Exposition of those Verses of the 139 Psalm which I commended to you before as fit for the time A Paraphrastical Exposition of some Uerses in the 139 Psalme 1. O Lord thou knowest me as well as if thou had'st made a narrow search and strict examination of all my inward parts Thou art privy to my times of Rest and Retirement and after them thou seest how I fit my self for employment and how I demean my self in it Thou observest my intimate and familiar thoughts and inclinations and intentions long before they are actually mine 2. Thou art no stranger to my labour in the day or my repose sleep and dreames in the night Thou art throughly acquainted will all my recreations and all my best and worst actions and all my faillures or more perfect proceedings in the whole course of my life 3. There is not a word at my tongues end but thou can'st discern it wholely and infallibly before it come óut Thou hast no need that I should express it unto Thee for Thou Lord knowest it better then I doe And as well do'st Thou know and observe what care I use not only in the governing of my thoughts and deeds but also in the bridleing and regulating of my Tongue which I keep not in with good heed besides the hedge of my Teeth which is my Monitor to warn me of it all my Religion will prove vain and of no esteem in thy pure eyes who art the great Judge and rewarder of all 4. Thou do'st compass me as close on every side as a City is beset in the straitest siege I can stirre as little from thy Presence as if thou had'st laid thy hands upon me to hold me fast 5. This Thy knowledge of me and of all my thoughts words and deedes is so high above my capacity that I can neither comprehend it nor hinder it nor be concealed from it 6. For whether can I goe to hide my self from thy knowledge of me How can I be secured from thy dreadfull omnipresence that frights thine enemies or deprived of thy comfortable omnipresence which is the unspeakable defence of thy servants 7. 8. If I could mount my self as high as Heaven or couch my self as low as Hell If I were as nimble and swift as Light it self which is like the wings of the morning and could be conveyed in a moment from East to West land disposed of in the most remotest parts of the Sea 9. Even there must I expect to be led by Thy hand and no other but Thy gratious conduct could be my guide 10. If I should think to hide my self in some dark corner the darkest night would not therein differ from the clearest day 11. For to Thee the glorious Fountain of Light the day and night the clearest and the darkest places are all one 12. And the abstrusest and most secret parts about me my very Reines the seat of Affections and Original Inclinations to sinne lie all open and naked to thy view who did'st cover me with flesh and compact me with bones and sinewes in a secret place in my Mothers womb 13. So that if there were no other cause yet for my very Creation alone I am bound with all thankfulness to admire and blesse and praise thy holy Name My soul cannot but be affected with that strange and curious workmanship even to astonishment and amazement 14. For there is not so much as the least bone or member of my body but takes along with it an apparent stamp and impression of thy divine Power and Wisdom while my body it self to say nothing of the rare faculties of the soul was so cunningly and secretly wrought and imbroidered with Veines and Sinewes Arteries and other incomparable varieties of necessary parts which as they were first framed and moulded secretly in my Mothers womb so are they not now all of them exposed to the view of every eye but shew themselves only by the use that 's made of them 15. All this frame and substance of the body lay open and naked to thy all-seeing eye while it was yet an imperfect Embryo under the hand of thy mighty power and unsearchable wisdom that lap'd up all the several parts rowling and winding them up together as orderly and exactly to their compleat number as if they had been all Registered in a Book with directions how and in what method they should be placed 16. All this seemed to be so punctually contrived before they had their right frame and fashion that they might be day by day moulded and ordered by a strict and insensible way of growing to perfection 17. O how dear and pretious should all these things that belong to thy Creation and Providence be in my sight that seem in my poor apprehension as the effect of much thought advice and contrivance in the variety of so many several parts and wayes that I should be never able to recollect the summe of them 18. Should I venter upon it with my poor Arithmetick I were as good settle my self to number the sand of the Sea In various meditation of them I may lull my self a sleep and yet when I awake return to Thee again in a fresh way of Rapture and Admiration of thy wonderful works And if this were my employment every day and constant entertainment of my thoughts every night Yet were it too impossible for me in the course of my whole life to comprehend A TABLE Containing The Heads and Chapters In this Book General advice more briefly set down for their sakes that have much other business pag. 1. Ejaculations to be used in the Morning when we are awake p. 1. Ejaculations to be used when we are retired into our Closets p. 2. A short Sermon taken cheifly out of the First and Last words of Ecclesiastes p. 2. A Short Set Form of Devotion to be used before we leave our Closets p. 4. Advice concerning our
they that have looked into the shortnes and misery of our life could never find any comparison low enough They that call it Vanity in the Abstract when they think better upon it will rather call it Vanity of Vanities the Abstract of that Eccles. 1. They that expresse it by a Day when they find it proves not alwaies so long will rather correct their expression by a shadow of that day or if that be too much umbra declinata My dayes are like a shadow declining saith holy David Ps. 102. 11. For alas to make our Life a whole day is to fit the comparison to them that live to their full Age. But what if they dye in the Noon-time of their day what if they dye in the morn of their Age what if the Sun set suddainly upon them as soon as it is up Jer. 15. 9. Nay what if Death enter into the very chambers of the Womb and cut off the thread of their life before they see light Can their life be expressed by a Day No a shadow and a shadow declining is little enough for that So soon do some bury their Day and never restore it so soon doth their Sun set and never rise again before it climbe the half ascent of Nature and so brittle we are all of us like the vessels of the Potter That Pot goes first that gets the first blow not that which was first made Such be our Bodies at the best Houses of Clay Jsb. 4. 19. 2 Cor. 5. 1. every day mouldring away and ready to fall And so weak that even Meat and Drink the very staffe of life the props of this ruinouâ—… house do as often prove the occasion of falling as any thing else But when the best course is taken we cannot say our Life is like a Body which though it be never so swift may have some obstacles withoâ—…t to hinder it in the speed It is like a shadow that cannot be stayed by any outward resistance or any thing within us The Sun onely it is that lends it to us and takes it along with him in his swift motion though many times so sliety that we cannot perceive it For who seeth the shadow as it passeth along upon the Diall yet stay but a while and who cannot see that it is passed So it is with us whether we move or rest wake or sleep take notice of it or let it alone our shadow still walks on till it meet with the shadow of Death Whence it comes to passe many a time that like those which are asleep in a Ship that is beaten along with a lofty wind we are brought into our Haven before we ever dreamed of measuring so much as half the way And so before the time we expected we are laid up in the Treasury of Nature in the Dormitory of many Saints whence there is no return to our former mansions Those places of former acquaintance will know us no more For when we dye we are like water poured out that cannot be gathered up again 2 Sam. 14 14. When we are laid asleep in the grave we have taken up our lodging there as in domo aeternâ Eccles. 12. 5. No thought of removing while the world continues XVIII A view of our frailty taken from the consideration of our first Materials THat what we have said of the Duty and Hazard of every Day may take the deeper impression somewhat may be added concerning our first Principles in the Day of our Creation Of all the Elements God then made choice of the Earth to be our matter and of all sorts of Earth He derived Man and his Name too from the basest slimy contemptible part of the Earth That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which gives the name to Adam or Man The Aegyptian darknes had light enough to discover this truth unto us For hence it was that in their Natalitia they had a custome to make them a Posie of Herbes and those stinking herbes such as grow in their fenny and foggy places to show the Affinity we have with Mire and Clay the morish and baser parts of the Earth from whence we begin the top of our Pedegree The Earth is a Principle low enough and base enough but we must goe lower Man that is borne of a woman falls short of what Adam borrowed of the Earth The horror of that is not fit to be uttered Nor can I thinke of speaking so little but that it may quickly seem to be too much Such is the Mold wherein we are cast that come after Adam And so much cause our holy Mother the Church hath to direct us in our Te Deum every day to give humble thankes to our Blessed Saviour that for our sakes he would not abhorre even the Virgin 's wombe Man either wayes considered in his Originall from the Earth or from a Woman is a subject too meane to detaine us any longer We will rather looke a while upon the Misery that waits upon him which had so fearfull a beginning as may presage no rare sequel of his story while he is in this House of Clay this foule Prison and stinking Sepulchre of the body In the view of this Misery first we may look upon the shortnes of Man's time here So short it proves to many that they never come alive into the world For the Mother or the Midwife is now and then a Man-slayer in the birth And the question being but of a weake vessell of the mother I meane as well as of the child that which is borne must sometimes be hindred from being borne alive lest she that promiseth a Birth and Life to another make way for her owne funerall A child that hath but a weake thread of life to hold by when he is delivered of his Mother For that is to him as dangerous an escape as she hath in being delivered of him After this hazard is he likely to hold out that is thus born of a woman For we say the woman is the surer side Then is he marked out for an issue of the weakeâ—… vessell And so when he is newly born he is presented to the world more naked infirm ignorant and destitute of help then any other creature He 's born with a faculty of nothing but weeping Wherein he showes enough of the woman But for any other ability there is no Creature but goes beyond him in his birth Which I speak not of living and sensible creatures only For the very trees that have a far inferior degree of life have better clothed and armed their young issue that proceed from them against all injuries then any woman ever will set out one that is born of her It is no wonder if all children come into the world crying that have so much reason to complain of their sad condition And yet would you think it We can quickly forget our Principles and as soon as we are grown up be as brisk and jolly and proud and busie in the world
Redemptione Regeneratione Catechismo Vocatione Patientia tua Compunctione meâ Preventione tua Curatione Parentibus bonis Magistris doctis Benefactoribus Amicis Domesticis fidelibus Beneficiis quae accepi Siquid benè egi Consolatione praesenti Fiducia futura Donis Naturae Fortunae Gratiae Omnibus qui mihi Scriptis Concionibus profuerunt Precibus Colloquiis Reprehensione Exemplis Jnjuriis Liberatione à Periculo Ab Insania Inquietudine Sanitate Mentis Corporis Statu competenti Hisce omnibus omnibusque aliis Cognitis vel Incognitis Quae Recordor vel obliviscor Confiteor tibi confitebor Benedico benedicam Gratias ago Gratias agam Omnibus diebus Vitae meae Haec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 graecè paulò alitèr se habet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aliud gratissimae devotissimae Animae Sacrificium Eucharisticum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what if I should not deliver this in Latine or Greek which two languages the learned Bishop was commonly wont to use in his Closet and to whom all usefull languages were as familiar as his own tongue Methinks I should speak a little English in love to my Countrymen and to let them see how easily by the help of some linguist and the use of their Bibles they might partake of some of these and other-like Devotions to the great benefit of themselves and their Interpreters and all their Friends Blessed be God the Creator Preserver and Governour of all things Whose Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome and his Dominion from Generation to generation Dan. 4. 3. He is the blessed and only Potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords Who only hath Immortlity dwelling in a light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6. 15. And though He hath his dwelling so high yet he humbles Himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and Earth Psal. 113. 5. Takeing the Wise in their own craftiness Job 5. 13. Pulling down the Mighty from their seats and exalting them of low degree Filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich empty away Luke 1. 52. Lord what is man that thou hast such respect unto him and the Son of man that Thou dost so regard him Psal. 144. 3. Blessed be the God of the Spirits of all flesh Numb 16. 22. In whom we live and move and have our being Act. 17. 23. Who would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2. 4. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9 For his thoughts are not our thoughts nor our wayes His wayes Isai. 55. 8. He being God and not man i. e. As God exceeds man so doe His mercies exceed the mercyes of man Hos. 11. 9. O that men wonld therefore praise the Lord for his goodness And offer unto him the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and tell out His works with gladness Psal. 107. 21. O give thanks unto the Lord For He is gratious and his Mercy endureth for ever Psal. 106. 1. Who can express the noble acts of the Lord but who would not desire to express them It 's good to keep close the secrets of a King but it 's Honorable to declare the works of God Tobit 12. 11. Let 's all be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to Him Apoc. 19. 7. As for my soul It shall be satisfied as it were with marrow and fatness Psal. 63. 6. Therefore let my mouth be filled wirh thy praise that I may sing of thy glory and honor All the day long Psal. 71. 7. This is the happiness of the 4 Creatures in the Revelation They rest not day nor night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Apoc. 4. 8. I draw toward the end of my task You have seen the good Bishop's Domesticall Devotions I will now let you see the like before His going out of Town and then how He closed up the day and prepared for Night Oratio peregrè profecturi Qui puerum Abrahae ductu Angeli Qui magorum iter ductu Stellae Qui Petrum fluctuantem Qui Paulum navigantem Adesto Domine mihi Dirige mihi viam Conduc Deduc Reduc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Monita Meditationes Praeparatoriae in Vespertinâ ad Deum Elevatione mentis In Bello Cantus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad agendum accōmodatus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quo palantes revocantur sic Mens humana ut manè excitanda ita ad vesperū quasi Anacletico ad se Ducemque suū revocanda Per Scrutinium Inquisitionem vel examen sui Preces Gratiarum Actiones 1. Scrutinium Inquisitio vel Examen Aug. Vir bonus praeponit scire infirmitatem suam magis quam scire fundamenta terrae fastigia coeli Illa verò scientia infirmitatis suae non paratur absque inquisitione diligenti sine qua coecus plerumque est animus atque in propriis nihil videt Cicero Multae sunt in animo latebrae multique recessus Seneca Deprehendas te oportet antequam emendes Ignotum ulcus in deterius abit curatione destituitur Jer. 17. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cor profundum est tortuosum Homo vetus mille involucris obtegitur Itaque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Attende Tibi ipsi Hoc autem maximè inquirendum Quid hodie Egeris Dixeris Legeris Scripseris quod deceat Christianum Sacerdotem Patrem c. confirmet fidem obedientiam augeat Scientiam vel Regimen animi corporis operetur Salutem tuum aliorum Deum ipsum videmus singulos primae Creationis dies non aliter claudentem quà m per recognitionem operum cujusque diei Et vidit quod bona essent Gen. 1. Cicero Cato diurni negotii à se rationem exigebat Pythagoras etiam Ausonius ex Pythag. Nec prius in dulcem declinent lumina somnū Omnia quam longi repetiveris acta die Rex David exacto die meditabatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In hoc Areopagitico nocturno Examine Vide ne Patronum te ostendas peccatorum sed judicem Et in tribunali mentis Tuae dic Dic cum dolore indignatione Iniquitatem meum agnosco Domine Psal. 51. O! Quis dabit menti meae flagella Quae peccatis meis non parcant Ecclus. 23. 2. ' El 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11 31 Oratio est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dormientiū custos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vigilantiū fidueia Gr. Nys Neque eum tutum arbitramur qui non fueric Orationis armis praesidioque munitus Rectè igitur Rab. J. de poenitentiâ non in crastinum differendâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Ecce spes fructus salutis falsa tibi erit in aeternum nisi animam tuam etiam hac nocte eripueris Et hujusmodi examen si per aliquot dies