not aw'd me nor has the love of thee moved me nor thy great and precious promises prevailed upon me but I have broke through all to gratifie my own vile affections Ah how have I wandered from the paths of Truth and Life here repeat the sins of the day past And now O holy and just God what shall I say unto thee shall I lye down in my wickedness and either through despair of thy mercy or presumption upon it continue to commit it Ah no! for then if Death surprize me and what reason have I to fear it may I must be miserable for ever everlasting remorse of Conscience and everlasting burnings in the company of Devils must be my portion for ever therefore O God thou God of mercy I come to thee though ashamed and confounded though my guilt will not suffer me to look up towards thee I come to weep to condemn my self before thee O hear me thou that delightest not in the death but the conversion of a sinner O hear me thou that hast given thine own Son to be a Propitiation for our sins O thou that delightest to hear Prayers and forgive the Penitent have mercy upon me pardon and deliver me from my sins make me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me and O never suffer me to be at rest 'till I have subdued my corruptions and rooted out every habitual sin 'till I feel the power of Religion in and change of my heart and reformation of my life and find the Kingdom of Heaven established within me in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost And here O my God I once more dedicate my self to thee and vow a perpetual War against those Lusts by which I have been thus wretchedly misled and betrayed into the paths of darkness and death Here particularly resolve against that sin or sins which thou hast been guilty of the day past or finds thy self most prone too And thou O God by whose mighty power the blind received their sight the lame walked the Lepers were cleansed and the dead raised O thou who didst call quicken by thy grace the Gentiles when dead in trespasses and sins vouchsafe me the assistance of the same Spirit that I may continue stedfast and unmovable in these Resolutions and abound more and more in the works of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. An Evening private Prayer when upon Examination of the past day your Conscience acquits you from wilful wickedness O Gracious God and heavenly Father I thy poor Servant frail of my self and lying open to many Temptations do bless and praise thy Name that thou hast preserved me this day from presumptuous sin beseeching thee to blot out the remembrance of whatever has formerly displeased thee in my life past and pardon the defects and infirmities of my present state strengthen my faith increase my hope and let my breast be more and more inflam'd with a Divine love and O may my love abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that I may approve the things that are excellent and may be sincere and without offence 'till the day of Christ being filled with all the fruits of Righteousness through Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of thee my God Preserve and bless me in my honest Labours let me never want things necessary for me and mine nor moderation humility and thankfulness in the use of them Keep me in safety and refresh me with sleep this night and when I awake let my thoughts be upon thee and upon the happiness of those that fear thee and trust in thee so shall I abide in thy love unto my lives end and be at last carried from this state of labour and watchfulness and trial into one of peace and security and triumph which grant O merciful Father for thy dear Son's sake Amen Amen And so much for your daily Devotion where for the circumstances of Time and Persons you may alter what agrees not with your condition and business if so be you are careful not to wholly omit the Duties of Family and private Prayer which you are as a Christian obliged to and is the surest way to make you happy here and hereafter SECT I. Of the Lords Day FOR your profitable Observation and hollowing the Lord's Day Exod. 28.8 9 10 11. Neh. 13.19 Isa 50.13 Acts. 27.7 20.7 1 Cor. 16. Rev. 1.10 Psal 118 24. Ezek 23.38 Amos 8.4 it will be of great use so to contrive your Affairs on Saturday that you may have as little as possible of them to perform on the Lord's Day CHAP. II. A Morning Prayer for the Lord's Day WE adore and worship thee O God the Creator of Heaven and Earth for thou speakest the word and all things were made thou commandedst and they were created in thee we live and move and have our being and when thou pleasest we die and return again unto our dust blessed be thy Name that thou hast made us rational Creatures and hast continued us in the Land of the living to this day and blessed be thou the God of Hope because thou hast so loved the World when dead in trespasses and sins and in a state of enmity against thee that thou gavest thy only begotten Son to the end that all that believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life Lord we believe help thou our unbelief we believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God we believe that the words he spoke are the words of everlasting Life we believe that he died for our sins that we might escape the wrath due to them we believe that he rose again for our justification that he might be a Prince and Saviour to all those who believe and obey him And now O Lord let this Faith we beseech thee have its due influence upon our hearts and lives that the grace of God which bringeth Salvation and hath appeared unto all men teach us to deny ungodliness and worldy Lusts and to live righteously soberly and godlily in this present world looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus Particularly assist us we beseech thee in the duties of the day that we may offer up unto thee pure and fervent Prayers and praise thee with unspeakable joy and gratitude Make us to hear thy Word with a holy fear and devout thirst and grant that we may be not only hearers but doers of thy Word that so being quickned by thy Word and Spirit we may be cleansed from our guilt by the Blood of Jesus and be made partakers of his Resurrection and Kingdom through the same our dear Lord and Saviour Amen After your Morning Prayer such business as can't be dispensed with as milking and ordering of Cattel must be done but no more at which Imployments you may sing Psalms have good thoughts or discourse with those with you After which let all get ready for Church and
thy Servant O blessed Jesus thy Disciple and Follower O be thou my Prince and my Saviour be thou my strength and my glory and let me rejoyce always in thy Salvation I desire to imitate thee O holy Jesus and especially thy boundless Charity I forgive O let me find forgiveness from the mercy of God I am ready to do all the good I can for any one of my fellow Members and I am sorry I can do no more I will weep I will pray for all that are in distress and I will feed and clothe and comfort them as I can O accept then the mite of thy poor servant and remember me in the day of Judgment Grant O God according to the riches of thy glory that all we who receive the Sacrament this day may be strengthned by the might of thy Spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith that we being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that we may be filled with all the fulness of God Nor for our selves only do I bow my knees unto thee thou Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named but also for the whole Catholick Church O let the same presence and powerâ— of thy Spirit be amongst all those who believe in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours build them up in their holy faith unite them in humility and love remove all the scandals and obstacles of righteousness that are in the midst of thy Church and support and protect it against all the Adversaries of the Cross and all the Enemies of holiness and vertue Let thy Son Jesus be glorified in the blameless and exemplary Lives of all that profess his Name let profaneness be put to confusion and Here sie and Errour be rooted out and let all with one mind and one mouth glorifie thee O God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Amen O thou in whose hands are the hearts of Kings guide we beseech thee theirs whom thou hast set over us in thy faith and fear give them wisdom to rule this great People that under them we may live peaceable and quiet lives in all godliness and honesty and Lord possess all their Subjects with a due sense of their Authority and of the benefits we all reap from them that we may dutifully obey them and cheerfully contribute all we can to the maintainance and support of Law and Justice in this Realm that Righteousness and Peace may through thy blessing flourish amongst us and our Children after us through Jesus Christ our Lord. O merciful God and Saviour cause all them that sleep in sin to awake cause them to arise from the dead and let Christ give them light O thou God of tender mercies and compassions hearken to the voice of them that mourn break not the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax but bring forth righteousness unto victory O God who art the God of the fatherless and widow and judge of the oppressed and the Saviour of the meek and poor and distressed upon the earth visit with thy grace and salvation all that are in necessity or tribulation and hear them when they cry unto thee for succour O Lord our Defence O bless my Family and all my Relations possess them with the fear of God and Charity towards one another and make them all love the Lord Jesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be glory for ever O my God never suffer me to forget thy love or the love of Jesus never suffer me to break my holy Vows but strengthen me that I may always endeavour to walk as my Lord walked and may ever abide in him and he in me that I may be safe through thy protection and grace and when he who is my life shall appear I also may appear with him in glory Amen Amen Go home with a cheerful gravity and spend the remaining part of the day according to the Rule for the Lord's day only be more strictly careful to keep up a holy frame of mind and not by worldly thoughts and light discourse grieve the holy Spirit but improve every good inclination by Prayer that it may grow into practise and endeavour your good Resolutions by meditation and foreseeing what temptations may assault you to provide against them do not go abroad but spend that day in devotion reading and praying with your Family Of behaviour at Baptism and Marriage WHen you are present at the Baptising of Children attend to what is said let it put you in mind of what you vowed your self and think how well you have performed it joyn with great seriousness in Prayer with the Minister for the Child that it may live sutable to this dedication and enjoy the priviledges of the same If you are a Surety think your self obliged to take care that the Child learn what you undertook for it for that was the reason of God-fathers and God-mothers especially if the Parents die or are careless worldlings otherwise refuse being a Surety if you think you cannot Also at Marriages Churchings and the like avoid all vain behaviour but joyn in the Service with Reverence and Devotion and make particular applications to your self how you have performed your own duty when the Bannes are bid pray that the marriage may be to the glory of God These are some short Directions for your duty to God I shall now add some for your duty to your Neighbours CHAP. IV. The Country Man's Duty towards his Neighbour SECT I. To his Minister FIrst for your behaviour to your Minister be very just in paying Tithes and other Dues to him Duty to Ministers Mal. 2.7 Isa 30.20 Hebr. 13.17 1 Tim. 5.17 1 Cor. 6.7 9.7 8 9 11 13 14. Rom. 15 27. Gal. 6.6 Matth. 10.41 10.14 15. Luke 10.16 1 Cor. 4.1 1 Thess 12.13 and that in obedience to God who has taught us by his holy Apostle That they who wait at the Altar that is do the duty of a Minister should live by the Altar and if they minister to us spiritual things we ought to minister to them in temporal things for by attending the Ministry they are made incapable of gaining a livelyhood by other means Secondly Be very respectful in your behaviour to him never speaking rudely but believe in honouring your Minister you please God and let not any personal failing make you neglect your Duty for 't is not his person only but chiefly his office you must respect him for and God will reward you for it Supposing the worst that he has faults consider that he as well as you is liable to the same infirmities and temptations nay more for Satan is vigilant to ensnare him because by it he hopes to do more mischief either by
blessing such Maids need not fear getting an honest Service and are fitted to make good Wives when their Parents think fit be especially careful to prevent fondness in your Daughters and Maids and often set before them the monstrous deformity of an immodest Woman and the great Beauty and Prudence of a chast modest humble Maid As your Daughter ought not to marry without your consent so do not constrain her where she has an aversion nor cross her Affection too much if the Man is sober and honest While at your work in the House or Field be often saying some profitable thing causing your Children to repeat what they have learnt by heart and instead of idle Ballads let them learn Psalms to sing at their work so shall your House be a little Temple of God and a Blessing accompany all your Labour and make you both happy and contented here and dispose you for Eternal Happiness in the World to come which is so great a Hope that nothing but sad Experience could make one think it possible that they that pretend to believe the Truth of Eternal Glory and Happiness can be so miserably negligent in the pursuit of and endeavours after it Having in the fore-going Directions often Exhorted you to think of God and entertain holy Meditations and Ejaculations at your work I will here give you some few Examples not to use in a set formal manner but for the direction and quickning to inlarge as your Devotion directs Meditations and Ejaculations proper for several Occasions IN a Morning when you find your Cattle well or have hopes of seasonable Weather admire God's goodness and look not on these Blessings as the Course of Nature or what you have a right to but as the immediate gift of God and as if they were newly bestowed on you and say in your heart Lord I thank thee for all thy gifts it is thy bounty that first gave them and the same bounty preserve them O give me grace to use them to thy glory that I may never abuse them to sin or vanity to dishonour thee or hurt my Neighbour but be a faithful Steward of all those Talents committed to my charge that so I may find Mercy in the Day of our Lord. If your Cattle is sick or die or the Weather unseasonable consider it is the Mercy of God that you lose not all or that you had not such losses sooner for should he withdraw his protection you might be by the malice of the Devil who hates all those that serve God reduced to the condition of Job and let such Accidents convince you of the great necessity of God's Blessing and how vain all your labour or care is without it not being able to cause a fair day when you want it or restore a poor Beast to health here you may thus meditate Lord thy will be done giving or taking what thou hast given thy Name be blest I thank thee for all thy past Mercies and submit to my present losses sanctifie them to my profit my sins deserve worse punishments whatever thou recallest let it not be any degree of grace or thy favour for so long as I am thy reconcil'd Child I cannot be miserable but without thy love I am most wretched could I possess the whole World for what shall it profit to gain the whole World and lose my Soul When you begin a new work dedicate it to God and say Lord I desire to do all to thy glory all for thy love and in obedience to thy will bless this my labour that it may prosper and grant that I may first seek thy Kingdom and its Righteousness and have such a portion of Temporal Blessings as thou seest best for me If you are sick or in pain look on it as sent from God and submit to it saying Lord keep me from sin the worst of evils the more the Outward man is afflicted the more I beg thy grace to support my Spirit with Faith and Patience When you hear talk of Wars and Trouble in Church or State or are sad at the thoughts of Divisions among Christians Remember that God is infinite in goodness wisdom and power and will bring good out of all When you find your self affected with these Thoughts retire to pray for your fellow Creatures or at least at your work sometimes lift up your heart to God to pray that he would enlighten all Mankind that they may both believe and obey the Gospel that he would unite the Divisions among Christians and reform whatever he found amiss in their Belief and Practice that all Christian People might have a true Christian Spirit a Spirit of Love and Charity proving their Discipleship by their Love to one another that so God might be worshipped in Spirit and Truth to his glory and their salvation When you lye under any Temptations say to this effect Lord let thy power be magnified in my weakness suffer me not to be tempted above my strength take away the Temptation or enable me to resist and overcome it Before you read the holy Scripture pray that God would assist you with his enlightning grace that so your Faith may rest not on the Wisdom of Men but on the Power of God that you may rightly understand and faithfully practise what you know that so obeying the Commands you may inherit the Promises of the Gospel and that the steadfast belief of God's Word may be your Comfort and Support against all Temptations of the World the Devil or your own Corruptions Before you go into company or before you reprove or advise any think how you may do most good and best please God say Lord be present with me sanctifie my Heart and Tongue which I dedicate to thee and give me both courage and wisdom to speak in due season for thy glory and my Neighbours good and let thy Spirit both assist me and supply my defects by its powerful working on the heart of my Neighbour As you sow your Ground you may from thence draw a Meditation of Death and Resurrection of the necessity of grace and good works for as you must do your part to manure the Grounds and sow the Seed and you expect seasonable Weather to make it bring forth so must you do your endeavours to prepare your heart to receive the grace of God and by Prayer to procure his blessed Spirit by which aid alone you are enabled to do the will of God Lord as without thy blessing all my labour is in vain so if thy grace does not assist me I am all weakness O pity thy poor Creature the work of thy hands and both sow the Seed of true Faith in my heart and water it with thy grace that it may bring forth the Fruits of a Holy Life When you see Harvest getting in you may meditate to this effect O Lord grant that I may be as a fruitful Field ready for Harvest that so when Death or Judgment comes I may rejoyce and not mourn that my work being done I shall ever rest not only from labour but from sin and be perfect in loving and serving God If you hear profane People talk or are tempted to doubt in any point of Faith say Lord I believe help my unbelief I believe and am sure that thy Word is most true and that my doubts are only the effects of my own weakness Lord I believe whatever thou hast revealed I renounce all my Errours and beg thou wilt either pardon my ignorant Mistakes or give me light to discover and forsake them thy Word is perfect I believe and desire to obey it If you see any in a mean or miserable condition think of God's goodness to you and say Who is it that made me to differ and what have I that I have not received and if I have received it why do I glory as if I had not received it let my Brother's misery make me thankful to God and charitable to him that he be not tempted to envy my Prosperity If you find your self inclined to discontent say Lord it is enough for me that I may but love thee and be loved by thee Shall I complain of an ill Nights lodging in an Inn when I shall soon be at my Fathers House and have there as large a share of glory and happiness as my Soul is capable of How can I be more honourable than to be a Child of God who is Lord of Heaven and Earth How can I be richer than to have peace here and glory hereafter Let me instead of murmuring admire the great goodness of my heavenly Father and rejoice in my Neighbour's Happiness for in Heaven no one envies another but is made more happy by the Felicity of the rest FINIS
affection not in a formal careless manner Do not grudge the time you give to God for he can and will repay you nor think it longer then it is The Devotion here prescribed both publick and private will not take up half an hour You or your Wife must also take care that your Children must say every own their Prayers which you must teach them early When they can say the words of some short Prayer instruct them in the meaning of it the same do for those Servants that are ignorant For others put them in mind of their Duty and encourage them in doing it This done cheerfully begin your days labour every one imploying themselves in what belongs to their places which the more diligent they are in the more acceptable it will be to God 1 Thess 4.11 12. 2 Thess 3.11 12. Prov. 18.19 21.17 28.19 6.9 10 11. Ephes 4.28 At the beginning of your Work dedicate it to God in some such Ejaculation as this O Lord thy most wise Providence has placed me in this state to eat my bread in the swet of my brows I believe it is best for me because it is thy will for thou art a loving Father to all that obey thee and wilt do what is best for them I submit to thy good pleasure desiring thou shouldst choose for me I rejoyce in my Labour and that I have health and limbs to perform it I will be as diligent and do it as I am able in all things endeavouring perfection for in so doing I am faithful to my Calling and shall best please thee and advance my own happiness I desire to do all things for the love of my God and in obedience to thy Commands I dedicate all to thy glory which ought to be the end of all I do Or you may meditate on the Example of Christ who submitted to work at a mean Trade Shall I not rather submit to his Will and rejoyce in his Dispensation and do my duty cheerfully and as perfectly as I can for his Honour O Lord Jesus let the Merit of thy Humiliation sanctifie my labour and suffer not the business of my hands to indispose my heart for the acts of thy Worship and Service suffer me not to indulge my Body by ease and slothfulness but use that strength and health thou hast given me to thy glory and honest provision for my Family You may also some times sing such Psalms as you have by heart or entertain your self with any other pious thoughts or if you work with your Servants or Children or honest Neighbours put them on singing Psalms or some good Discourse to encourage one the other in the Service of Almighty God Would you but be perswaded to try this method with devout and honest Minds you cannot imagine how it would sweeten your Labour making you cheerful and content though poor and God would comfort and direct you with his holy Spirit whose delight is in the Man of an humble heart And thus to have all Places sound with God's praise would make a sort of Heaven on Earth and fit us for the Employment of Heaven it self Besides It will much farther your labour for when one that has no farther aim then profit and pleasure is tempted to murmur at every disappointment and seeks for diversion in riotous Company and merry Meetings which instead of mending his Condition makes it worse the honest poor Man's design in his labour is to please God he works in obedience to his Commands and so endures patiently all the inconveniency of cold and heat weariness and pain with humble submission to his Providence offers his Sufferings to God as endured for his sake for though they are not altogether voluntary certainly it is more acceptable cheerfully and willingly to submit to those Troubles allotted us by God then enduring any other of our own choosing for a poor Man works to pay his Rent because it is just and he has promised so to do He looks on his Wife and Children or Servants as those for whom he is obliged to take care in obedience to God as well as by the ties of Nature and is the more careful that he may by his Industry gain time both for himself and them to serve God and be better able to breed his Children to reading or such other learning as is necessary for those honest Imployments he designs them for These and the like Considerations are sufficient to make a good Man cheerful and diligent in his Labour I am sure they are much more powerful than any that either Covetousness or Pride can produce and if all the honest Man's pains does not succeed as to the World it is only for the trial of his Patience and submission to God which will be rewarded a thousand fold in heavenly glory and it may be to his Posterity in the world after his Decease When you come home to Dinner 1 Tim. 4.4 5. 1. Cor. 10.13 Col. 3.17 Eccles 10.17 1 Cor 9.27 Prov. 23.20 21. Luke 21.34 with reverence say Grace and eat your Meat with a cheerful thankful heart considering your own unworthiness of the least of God's Mercies and his bounty in supplying your Necessities Be not intemperate in your Meat and Drink but use both to support your health and strength not to impair them If you have Children let one of them read a Chapter or Psalm and the next day another Child every one taking their turns this will take up so little time that it can be no ways inconvenient and it is only want of love to Piety that can occasion their not doing it for besides that you will keep your Childrens reading and see how they improve It will increase both your and their Knowledge in the Scripture Of singing Psalms Ephes 5.18 19. Col. 3.16 Jam. 5.13 Psal 119.97 Matth. 12.35 15.19 20. Psal 119.59 which you must above all things attend and observe as containing the whole Will of God both what you are to believe and do and what you are to avoid and by which you must be judged at the last day When Dinner is done return Thanks with Devotion and a sense that all you have is from the gift of God go to your Labour as in the Morning and support your self in it by singing Psalms good Thoughts Meditations and the like Neither would I by any means be understood to forbid innocent and cheerful Discourse nor what is useful to your Business for the Service of God was not designed to be our burthen but for our comfort and support in all Conditions In the Evening or some time before you go to bed be sure to forecast time for your Devotion your Family reading a Chapter in the Bible or small part of a Catechism with its Explication then say a short Prayer this that follows or what you like better An Evening Family PRAYER O Almighty God the Father of Mercies and the Fountain of all good Gifts for from thee
repeated repeating the Answers aloud in the Liturgy and other places may be of use to incite your Affection and keep you more wakeful and besides it makes a joyful and harmonious Melody when both the Minister and the People are thus united in the Service of God Then follows the Psalms which are read standing by reason the greatest of them are either Prayers to or Praises of God and Commemorations of his deliverance of his Church and People to excite our Faith and Confidence in him who also will deliver us in like manner if we faithfully serve him There are also Declarations of God's Judgment to the wicked to warn us to forsake our sins if we will escape the like Punishments You must not apply those Curses you meet with in the Psalms to your private or publick Enemies but only to the irreconcileable Enemies of God that is the Devil since we are not sure but the most wicked man may repent and be reconciled to God we must not pray for the Destruction but Conversion of all that are in a possibility of it Next comes the Chapters which you must hear with the greatest reverence and attention you can remembring 't is the Word of God by which you must be judged at the last Day What you hear apply it to your self as if it was spoken purposely for you If any thing is commanded think Do I do this If any thing is forbid Am I not guilty And so practise accordingly What you find too hard for your Understanding either humbly pass over praying to God that you may not be ignorant of any necessary Truth or else as soon as you have opportunity ask your Minister Above all things never dare to make that evil use of God's Word to remember it only to use profanely in idle Jests which is a great sin nor by misapplying or forcing any part of it to excuse any sinful practice but take it altogether as the Rule of your Faith and Life and do not think the examples of any holy Man or Woman in Scripture will excuse your wilful committing the like sins the use of which is to keep from despair those who have already committed such Crimes and repent and amend as they did not to encourage sin in those who sin wilfully who presuming on the grace of repentance God may perhaps withhold that grace as a just punishment for the abuse of his mercy So that what you are most particularly to observe is the Commands and Prohibitions of the Gospel and frame your Life according to those Rules You are to stand up at the Creed which is a short Summary of all the Christian Faith in token that you confess the same Faith and are ready to lay down your Life rather then renounce it Then follows the Prayers and Litany which you must attend unto with as much devotion as you can endeavouring to keep out all thoughts And do not think you spend too much time in Intercessions that is in praying for others as the Church your Governours those in Affliction and the like for publick Prayer is most proper for the Publick that is for all men it being impossible by any such Prayers to suit to all the particular wants to private Persons But besides Prayers for the Publick are not without great Advantages to our selves for every honest man finds the benefit of good Governours peaceable times seasonable weather and the like And surely can he be said to love his Neighbour as himself who grudges a little time to pray that God would deliver him out of those Evils he suffers either outward or inward Did all Mankind love God and one another as they ought to do 't would make a sort of Heaven on Earth there would be no such thing as Misery in the World Therefore to be sure whatever contributes to this must likewise contribute not only to the publick but every particular person's good The second Service or part of Communion Service used on Sundays and Holy days is to mind us of the ancient Custom of celebrating the Holy Sacrament and though now the coldness of some and unfitness of others makes so frequent a Communion hardly practicable especially in small Country Towns yet a devout Soul may live in a constant habitual preparation and desire of it which will help much to preserve a spiritual life and love of God You are not to say the Commandments as a Prayer though you continue on your knees which is only to be more ready to make that excellent request after every Commandment which is a short Prayer to implore forgiveness for any past Transgression you have been guilty of and the assistance of God's holy Spirit to enable you to keep them more Perfect for the time to come All the Prayers ended which an honest mind will not think long and is a good sign of our love to God when we are not wearied with his Service that you may joyn with greater devotion in singing Psalms it will be of good use to practice them often at home as I have advised Observe the same reverence and devotion in joyning with the Minister in his Prayer before Sermon that you may reap the more profit by the Sermon Be not prejudiced against the Minister but the weaker the Preacher is the more earnest let your Prayers be that the Power and Spirit of God may supply his defects Of hearing God's Word Luke 8.18 Eccl. 5.1 Luk. 10.16 Joh. 8.47 1 Joh. 4.1 Isa 8.20 Gal. 1.8 James 1.22 2 Thess 2.13 Rom. 10.14 15. Hebr. 2.1 God gives not gifts alike to all so that in some measure you murmur against God in despising his Servants and an honest heart cannot fail by the worst Sermons to benefit something and God will reward the meek and humble hearer and as plentifully water with his Spirit the Seed sown though with some Chaff as the more excellent Discourses when received into a proud heart If your Minister divides his Sermon endeavour to remember the head of each division and turn down a Text of Scripture to each head which will serve to recal the rest into your memory when you come to repeat to or examine your Children and Servants at home But especially do what you can to remember the Uses and Application to practice I could wish that some such method might be generally used especially in a plain Auditory for as the meanest want most instruction so most Congregations are made up by the greater part of these But if your Minister takes another method and goes on in one Discourse rest content with his choice endeavouring to carry away as many useful directions as your memory will retain which the more you use the better it will be if you continue a like care and diligence Sermon and Service being ended in a short Prayer desire God's blessing on his Ordinance and thank him for the opportunity he has given you to serve him Depart to your home with a cheerful heart and