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
for the Enjoyment of a God to discipline its Thoughts To be choice in the Motions of my Will To make the Body know its original distance from the Soul To resist the Faction of Hell To be always on its Guard when it converses with its frail and treacherous Fellow-creatures To be a wise Steward of Time To have a mean Opinion of my self and this flowing State To keep close and constant correspondence with Heaven by frequent Prayer and Praise and holy Hungrings and Thirstings after the Beatifick Vision And in a word to use its utmost skill and all possible care to file and burnish and enrobe my Soul with all those beauteous Fruits of the Spirit which are the ground-work of the Happiness of a Man That so it may be conquer'd throughout endless Ages by the Brightness and Love of God and obtain a Place among the innumerable the eternal and inconceivably glorious Conquerors and Kings and Priests of God With this Hope return to thy Rest O my Soul The Lord guide the Lord strengthen thee and bring thee to the Haven where thou would'st be Amen for Christ his Sake A Practical Directory CHAP. I. Modestly defending clearly explaining and affectionately pressing the regular use of this New Method of Daily Devotion IT being very fitting that the Reasonableness of a Daily Method of Devotion which professes to be entirely new after so many Volumes of this Nature should be demonstrated It being likewise as fitting that those who mean well tho' they know little should not only be furnished with suitable helps to Devotion but also with a clear Explanation of pious helps by any person who offers them such Assistance that they may not pray only with Chearfulness and Affection but also with that clear Understanding which is a valuable Gift of the Spirit and recommendation of our Addresses to God as well as the other two And lastly it being very fitting that the faint hands and hearts should be animated and lifted up which the best dispos'd persons may sometimes stand in need of I have thought fit by the Adviee of some good Christians and my own Commiseration of the Ignorance of some illiterate and mine own and others Sluggishness now I have by God's Blessing finished this small part of a large Body of Devotions to add a practical Directory wherein by God's help I shall I. Give a short and clear Account concerning daily growth in Grace II. I shall consider how Closet-Devotion contributes to it III. What Method of daily Closet-Devotion contributes most liberally to it therein shewing the Reasonableness of this new Method of Devotion in general IV. I shall lay open the Structure of each particular Office and the Reasonableness of it V. I shall add two or three necessary Cautions VI. I shall conlude with some suitable Practical Exhortations CHAP. II. Of Daily Growth in Grace SInce the Real Christian 's daily Religion of the end is to grow in Grace 't is necessary in the first place to speak something concerning Growth in Grace I will therefore first shew what Growth in Grace is and secondly how a Man may know whether he grows in Grace Grace is any Degree of Beauty and Strength of Soul which is more than natural There are Degrees of Knowledge and Liberty of Will which we enjoy by Nature and are essential to the bare existence of a Nature which is partly spiritual These Degrees are the Gift of God and such as our Souls cannot lose unless they cease to be In short they are such Degrees of Light and Liberty which are consistent with a spiritual Nature's being in a state of Vncreatur'dness tho' not of Vncreatedness Now the Death of Adam and Devils not consisting in a cessation from being but a deprivation of so much Light and vigorous Rectitude of Will as is necessary to make a spiritual Creature happy Man may be and is born with certain Portions of Light and Vigour of Will which we call natural and are the issue of God's bare willing our Existence and yet nevertheless be in a state of Damnation Consequently this being consistent with the Enmity of God who will'd by an eternal Decree whether we will or no our Existence and the Existence of all spiritual Natures to be eternal but not to be eternally happy by an unconditional Decree of the same extent that which is eminently call'd the Grace of God is his Tender to us by and thro' Christ of that more than natural Degree of Light and Rectitude of Will whereby a Man is plac'd in a state of Evangelical Fitness for the eternal Complacency of God in the said Nature improv'd This Complacency of God in the said Nature improv'd arising from the said Degrees of Knowledge and Rectitude of Will is that real Immortality which Lucifer lost in Heaven and Adam forfeited in Paradise Hence 't is that both the General Capableness of human Nature's receiving this degree of Light and Liberty by Christ and also the more wise and industrious individual Partakers of the said redeemable Nature their Acquisition thereof are both call'd Grace because 't is extraordinary Compassion and Gift a greater than the Gift of a Creator only the Gift of such a degree of Light is call'd Illumination because the former degree of Light is Darkness in comparison with this and the latter degree of Scope of Will is call'd the Liberty of the Sons of God because the narrow degree of its natural Scope is a Prison when compar'd with supernatural Scope For a Devil and a meer natural Man have both of them some degrees of Knowledge and Scope and consequently of Light and Liberty otherwise they would cease to be susceptible of a Hell for 't is Heaven discern'd in themselves according to their primitive Capacity that causes that Anguish and Envy which arises from their Reflection on their foolish and ungrateful abuse of Opportunity So then a state of Grace as 't is us'd in the New Testament is a state of supernatural Light in the Soul of Man together with at least as much Rectitude of Will as is necessary to recover the Favour of God Now growth in this Grace is as essential to the flourishing Condition of the Divine supernatural Life of a Christian Soul during its continuance here it being an Human Soul's state of Adolescence as growth in heighth and bulk of Body is essential to the thriving Condition of the Animal Life till the Body has commenc'd Manhood And this growth in Grace is the Soul 's encreasing in Faith Magnanimity Heavenly-mindedness Humility Purity Charity and all such-like Divine Principles and internal Habits that are proper to regenerate Souls and are exerted in the external Exercises of forgiving Injuries prudent Provision for our Bodies and Dependents oral Prayer and Praise and the like external Subjects of the Gospel-Precepts From this account of Growth in Grace we may easily know secondly when we grow in Grace For since Grace is a state of universal Rectitude of Soul
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
case of a Man's sinning and repenting in a circle but never repenting so as not to repent of his deceitful Repentance and perhaps sometimes to charge our selves with the Faults we never committed as if those Faults which the best Men stand actually guilty of were not sufficient with the help of Thought to make them humble enough Therefore I suppose the reason of this Division of the Evening Offices will be obvious to the meanest Capacities at first sight For a right Judgment to be made between Mortal Sins and Sins of Infirmity I refer the Reader to the Reverend Doctor Lucas's incomparable Treatise concerning Religious Perfection The Office of Abstraction so call'd from its abstracting or taking the Mind off from Objects of external Sensation explains and exhorts for it self and therefore I will be frugal of my room and desist from making Remarks CHAP. IV. Necessary Cautions BUt notwithstanding all that I have said concerning the Composure of these New Offices the Ignorance of some and the Censoriousness of others will still oblige me to declare that the Design of this Tract is not to give a New Account either of the Nature of Devotion in general or to propose any new sorts of Devotion but to offer a more Convenient Method of Ordinary Closet-Piety of the Means A Contrivance of this Nature is not the Result of deep Learning or an acute Philosophical Genius but of the honest Principles of Simplicity of Heart and Christian Prudence which consists in a regular Appointment of the modal Process and Seasons of external Duties Since therefore 't is a Discovery that cannot make the Author more valuable in the World I do not see how any charitable Christian can impute the Author's Publication of this Treatise to a Principle of Desire of Fame or Self-conceit or any other secular Emulation whatever Weakness he may be conscious of to himself Neither am I so bigotted to my own Method as to detract from the Labours of others I own my Soul and my Book to be a Debtor to many Books of Common Methods in a great measure This Method is not asserted here to be Matter of Duty when known If the Reasons already given for the Conveniency of it cannot prevail with the Reader to make a Trial which a wary Christian in a Matter of this Moment should not methinks deny I have done my part and can be content with the secret Approbation of my own and my Friends Experience after an Intimacy with both Methods As for the Forms themselves they were not compos'd to confine my self or any others to the use of them but however 't was convenient to compose some for a more lively Explication of the Method which may be observ'd without adhering to them wholly or in part as to the Expression This I think may resolve all Cavils at any Expressions of Address if I use them improperly to thee I don't use them so to God! Thou may'st add or contract as Conscience directs and yet gain benefit by the Book too Our Method of Closet-Devotion should ordinarily be exact for the Solemnity of the Employment requires it but our Expressions need not be so in this Exercise in case our Affections be but clean and polite and therefore constant Forms of Expression are no less needless in private upon the account of God's consciousness to our meaning than they are needful in publick where the Invisibleness of our Hearts may make those hasty Expressions improper for their Obscurity or Abuse and therefore culpable to Men be the Thoughts which they are intended to represent never so grateful to the Searcher of Hearts And farther tho' we must not habitually neglect the Worship of our Tongue in private yet sometimes when as 't is oft with devout Persons the Workings of our Mind soar above Expression Mental Prayer alone is no omission but rather the more laudable But when 't is otherwise and we are dry of sprightly Ideas at Seasons of Address an affecting Form of Scripture-Expressions may do well to be at hand since they may in part assist the drowsie Soul tho' they may not wholly satisfie the Person whose Mind is awaken'd and enlarg'd by them CHAP. V. Suitable Advice and Exhortations LEt me now Dear Christian in the Behalf of thy Soul entreat thee to use thy diligence in turning thy Heart to God if it be possible never venture to omit the solemn Duty of thy Closet but be a constant Attendant on the King of Heaven and be sure before you venture to speak consider and compose thy Mind to an awful Frame and bend thy Body thrice down to the ground in Honour to the Blessed Trinity 2. In a Morning meditate on God and let his Excellency and Mercies force thee to say It is a good thing to tell of God's Loving Kindness in the Morning and of his Veracity in the night Season Let this be thy Employment which is the Employment of Angels and Stars innumerable Shall every thing but Devils and damn'd Men praise God and Man who is a redeemable Sinner neglect to give Thanks for his unspeakable Gift his own his eternal his begotten his only Son The dull and dumb Ass knows how to reproach silence on such a Theme for he knows his Owner as well at his Crib Certainly were thy Soul clad with that Gratitude which is the Purple of Angels certainly didst thou feel God enlarging thy Soul certainly were thy Powers within ' girt ready for Eternity the bent of thy Soul this way would be so irresistible that thou could'st never refrain not only from venting thy Praise but also dedicating thy whole Man daily to God Withstand the Violence of all Charms but those of Gratitude which the glorious Inhabitants above can't resist The splendid Prospect of a Christian and his vigorous sense of the Love of Christ constrains him to praise God and God-man Incessant Hallelujahs for Ghostly Victories and incessant Dedication and Resignation of himself to the Supreme Monarch of all the Glorify'd Universes will be the Everlasting Royalty and Priesthood of a Christian and is the End of his being made at first and of his being ransom'd and sanctify'd after he had been uncreatur'd Let all Souls therefore laud the Lord Let those praise the Lord whom he has redeem'd 3. Remember I beseech thee thâ— great Worth of eternal Happiness and if it be possible never fail oâ— securing thy self some retiremenâ— in the heat of the Day lest the heat of worldly Business burn and lay waste that Heart which was intended to glow and to be solac'd with the Love of God Now it is thaâ— the World is too apt to sway thâ— best unless they habit themselveâ— to the exercise of Vigilance Now we had need fly to our Closets for sanctuary that we may be convinc'd that Man the meer Natural Man disquiets himself in vain and searches after Fulness and Satisfaction in those Honours and Possessions which prove in the end but Wombs of Vexation of Spirit