this Art did Paphnutius teach Thais the Harlot after her Conversion and St. Bernard reports the same of St. Malachias I have read of others that while they have been in company of their Neighbors have in their Minds offered no less then One hundred and three Prayers to Allmighty God and accordingly Macarius advised the Man that ask'd him how he should Pray to repeat very frequently such words as these in his Mind Have Mercy upon me O Lord as thou wilt and think'st most convenient In the Lives of the Fathers there is mention made of one Moses that Pray'd Fifty times a day of one Paulus that Prayed Three hundred times and of a Virgin that did so Seven hundred times others have gone farther and lifted up their hearts to Heaven a Thousand times a day as St. Clara. These Prayers were only short Ejaculations used upon all occasions effects of this Praying Frame and whatever they undertook they began with a Prayer and while they were busy in the Works of their Calling still some Holy Aspirations came from them and if they were reading the Bible at the end of every Verse their Souls breath'd after God and in few words beg'd some Blessing at his hand to which purpose St. Ephrem gives this excellent Rule Whether you work or are going to lie down whether you stand still or are in a Journey whether you eat or drink whether you are going to sleep or are awaking take heed you do not forget to Pray whether you are at Church or at home or in the field whether you feed sheep or build houses whether you are at a Feast or otherwise engaged still Pray and Converse with God These short Ejaculatory Prayers are by St. Austin justly call'd Arrows whereby Gods heart is wounded and our hearts are rais'd into reciprocal love to God These are the Prayers which Tertullian calls Prayers without a Train or retinue of Words And Isack the Anchorete in Cassian pure Offerings Sacrifices with Marrow in them These are the Works or Attempts of our Spiritual Bow as Justinian phrases them Darts and Arrows levell'd against the Enemy Fiery Desires of the heart and the Wishes of Importunate Supplications which are shot up to Heaven wound a great way off fly with great swiftness keep the Enemy from coming too near and sometimes at one stroke enervate his Temptations when he approaches for seeing the presence of God in these Ejaculations he is struck with horror and departs And this Rule I earnestly entreat my Reader to think of and put in practice Christian What difficulty is there in 't before any honest attempt or enterprise to say in thy Mind Lord establish thou the work of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish thou it or if it may not tend to thy Glory keep it from prospering and let it not succeed according to my desires If thy design be honest and lawful Why shouldst thou be loth to recommend thy endeavors to the conduct of Providence try it and thou wilt find what comfort it will yield in the end When thou hearest the Clock strike let thy Mind immediately mount up to Heaven and say Lord so teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom When dressing thy self Cloth my soul with salvation and deck me with white raiments that the shame of my nakedness may not appear When washing thy hands and face Bathe my soul in the Blood of Jesus and wash my heart from all Iniquity When walking O Lord cause me to walk in the way of thy Testimonies and let me not wander from thy Commandments When in Company O when will that Joyful Day come that my soul shall be gathered to the innumerable Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect When Writing Lord put thy Laws in my heart and write them upon my mind When Reading O make me to understand the way of thy Precepts so shall I talk of thy wondrous Works When Rising O let me awake unto Righteousness and arise from the dead that Christ may give me light When lying down O cause me to lie down in the green pastures of thy Mercy lead me beside the still waters of thy Comforts and restore my Soul When kindling a Fire O shed abroad thy love in my heart and raise such flames within as may burn up all my dross and all my filth When lighting a Candle O give me the spirit of Wisdom and Understanding and enlighten mine Eyes that I may see what the hope of thy calling is and what the riches of thy Grace are When Eating or Drinking O let it be my Meat and Drink to do thy Will feed me with the Bread which came down from Heaven and give me to drink of that Water whereof whoever drinks shall never thirst again When Riding out O Thou that ridest upon the wings of the Wind shew thy self conquer my Corruptions and trample all my Sins under thy feet When taking the Air Come Holy Spirit blow upon my Garden that the Spices may flow out make my mind calm serene and quiet breathe upon me and revive me with the light of thy Countenance When Visiting a sick Neighbour O do thou make all his Bed in his sickness and give me Grace to speak a word in season to him and cause all thy Goodness to pass before him When beholding Trees and Plants and Flowers Lord how wonderful are all thy Works in Wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches O make me as a Tree planted by the Rivers of Water which may bring forth its fruit in due season When going to speak to a Great Man Over-awe me with thy presence Lord that I may not comply with any Evil but may fear Thee more than Men. When going by Water O satisfie my Soul with the Fatness of thy House and make me to drink of the River of thy Pleasures When Buying or Selling Lord prevail with me to keep a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward Man When standing in thy Shop How amiable are thy Tabernacles Lord God of Hosts O let me ever love the Habitation of thy House and the place where thine Honour dwelleth When hearing thy Neighbour Curse or Swear O Lord lay not this sin to his charge Father forgive him for he knows not what he doth When hearing any good of thy Friend or Acquaintance O let him grow in Grace and go on from Virtue to Virtue and make him fruitful in every good word and work When seeing any one that 's Blind or Lame or Dumb O Lord make these distressed Creatures amends for these defects some other way make the Eye of their Faith the quicker their inward Man stronger and their Hope more lively and visit them more powerfully with thy Salvation When looking upon a
with Bathsheba while Solomon was busie in building the Temple his Women could not seduce his Heart while Sampson was fighting with the Philistines Dalilah could not entice him so here while you are busie in these Exercises you cannot be taken Captive by the Devil There are indeed men that are worthy of their Hire but then they are Labourers not Loiterers and though Christ promised refreshment yet it is to those alone who have tired themselves with Working and take their Masters Yoak upon them and learn to exercise themselves as he did Mat. 11. 28. These Exercises will make you capable of being admitted to a very great intimacy and friendship with the Infinite Majesty of Heaven The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him saith the Man that had found it by experience Psal. 25. 14. Through these Exercises the Soul comes to be defecated from her dross from carnal Lusts and Affections and is made fit company for the Deity for so enamoured is God with these Exercises that the Soul that runs in this Race is in a capacity of drinking of the Rivers of Gods Pleasures O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Ps. 31. 19. Gods Goodness is a Treasure inexhaustible a Subject so full of Charms that the more a man thinks of it the more he may the thoughts of it put the Soul into a kind of Fever for the more she drinks of this living water of life the more she may other Arts and Sciences a man may bring to perfection and see the utmost of them but Gods Goodness there is no coming to the top of it the Soul that contemplates it this hour sees in it new Mysteries the next and he that is ravished with the contemplation of it to day is ready to loose his Reason in the admiration of it to morrow It is a Fountain of Life which sends forth a thousand Streams and yet is as full as ever It is the hiding place of a Holy Soul and the Scripture means nothing else by Gods Banquetting-House but his Goodness This enriches the Soul beyond all the Wealth that the World boasts of and I know not what name to give to its Influences for like the heat of Fire they can only be felt but cannot be painted It is the sweetest Labyrinth for a Man of Thoughts to loose himself in and the more a man is lost in it the greater pleasure he feels and lies softer than the Sybarite upon his Bed of Roses Humane Tongue is not able to describe it and the safest way is to stand amazed at it and to say nothing silence being the truest sign of admiration Not one in an hundred knows what it means and nothing but a Beam of Heaven let into the Mind can give the Soul any lively apprehensions of it It is a thing that affects the whole Body as well as the Soul and if the Soul feels what it is its ready to wish for more Souls and Bodies to participate of the satisfaction Thousands feed upon this goodness yet have no sense of it and were all men sensible of it there is not one would go to Hell or turn Proctor for the Devil If it be seen clearly it charms and the Understanding that beholds it without a Glass and with open face must protest it is the sweetest and most reviving Cordial imaginable This lively sense of his Goodness the Almighty vouchsafes to those that thus exercise themselves unto Godliness for these are the men that fear him The Lord is their Shepherd and they shall not want they shall not want a friend in adversity when Lovers and Friends are put far from them and their acquaintance into darkness God will be their Friend when they have no person to advise or to consult with or to make their complaints to he will guide them by his Counsel when their Flesh and their Heart faileth and all Creatures fail them God will be their Strength and their Portion for ever He 'll hear their cry they shall unbosome themselves unto him and he 'll bow down his Ears to them tell their wandrings put their tears in his Bottle and write all their sighs and groans in his Book What a comfort is it to have a Bosom-friend here on Earth to whom we can speak our Minds who'll bear the Burthen with us and compassionate and pity us and to whom we can unlock and open the very inside of our Hearts But then what a comfort must it be to have God for my Friend whom I can have recourse too in all my Necessities make my moan to and tell him how my Heart is griev'd who will not laugh at my Calamity nor mock when my fear comes whose Bowels yearn over me who will advise me for the best bid me lay my wearied head in his Bosom direct me to the breasts of consolation from which I may suck life and vigour deal sincerely with me act for me speak for me and contrive my good and be concerned for me as if my Necessities were his own Such honour have all his Saints so kind so good so wonderfully kind is God to all such as exercise themselves unto Godliness they shall want nothing that 's necessary either for Soul or Body Their Souls shall be fed with the Promises of the Gospel guided by the Eternal Spirit provided for from the Store-house of Grace and Mercy nay their Bodies shall never want and God will either bless their Industry and Labours of their Callings as he did S t Paul's diligence 2 Thess. 3 8. or turn the Hearts of other men towards them who shall relieve them assist them receive them and redress their Grievances as he did in the Case of Onesimus Philem. v. 12. or send an Angel from Heaven to feed them as he did Elijah 1 Reg. 19. 5. Nay suppose that it should be expedient for Gods Glory that they suffer want of Necessaries yet even then they shall not want Grace to support them Courage to bear up under it Joy to keep their Heads above Water and Resolution to trust in him though the Lord should kill them as we see 2 Cor. 12. 9 Alas What can they want while God supports them God! that Horn of Plenty that Ocean of Goodness that Sea of Kindness that Perfection of Beauty that comprehensive Light that inexhaustible Fountain of Bliss that Centre of Happiness that Rock of Ages that Spring of Comfort that Treasure of Beatitude that Store-house of Provision whose Years do not fail whose Munificence never decays who can never be Poor whose Liberality is infinite who Gives before Men Ask who is Present when he seems to be Absent whose Love no Rhetorick can explain whose Riches the Tongues of Angels cannot reach and you may as well say that Solomon in all his Glory was in Want as think that they whose Shepheard God is can be in Want They want no other Shepheard but him no other Comforter
your more frequent Exercise and to this purpose it will be conveient to speak something of the time and occasion when this Exercise is most proper 2. how it must be managed and 3. what it is that makes it necessary 1. Of the time and occasion when this Exercise may be most proper and here the best Rule to go by is the Scripture and the Examples of Saints and these will inform us that it is proper at any time and the oftner the better but particularly I. When we lie under some Temporal Afflictions whether that Affliction consist in losses or in the malice hatred or ill-will of Men or in some other crosses and disappointments that may befal us in this World In such cases David ever had recourse to this Exercise as we see Ps. 69. 10. 11. and acknowledged the justice of God confessed God did him no wrong in suffering such troubles to seize upon him pray'd for mitigation of his misery or for deliverance and he fasted on purpose that his Prayers might be more piercing The same thing he did when his Child lay sick 2 Sam. 12. 16. He besought God for the Child and fasted and lay all night upon the Earth Fasting is an acknowledgement of our vileness and he that abstains from Meat and Drink upon a Religious account confesses that he hath deserved to be starved to death and it is natural for Mankind to believe that such humiliations and abasements are prevalent with the Deity II. When any of our Friends or Relations or Neighbours fall into more than ordinary trouble our compassion and tenderness to their disconsolate estate is best expressed by fasting and supplications and in this also David's example is remarkable who went so far in his charity as to fast even for seeming friends but real enemies Psal. 35. 13. But as for me when they were sick my cloathing was Sackcloth I humbled my Soul with fasting and my Prayer returned into my own Bosom i. e. was answered and heard and they were deliver'd Selfishness hath so prevailed in the age we live in that we think it scarce worth the trouble of a Fast to procure God's mercy for our selves much less for others Good Lord What an unbelieving World is this Men believe not that God will work any mighty work upon their fasting and therefore slight it Heretofore men believ'd it and saw wonders and God blessed them and was entreated not only for them but for their Neighbours and Relations too III. When we would be rid of any inordinate Lust or Affection Fasting in these cases weakning the Body weakens such Lusts and Affections too which have too great dependence upon the body and are more vigorous as the Body is pamper'd and gratified and what Christ says of that evil spirit Matt. 17. 21. may be most truly applied to such Lusts This kind goes not out but by Fasting and Prayer These Lusts are certainly enemies to our Souls for they war against them in S t Peter's Phrase 1 Pet. 2. 11. and as a General that means to take a strong Town cuts off their Provision and will not suffer any Corn or other Commodities to be carried thither whence it comes to pass that the enemy must necessarily at last yield himself so inordinate Lusts must be starved out and if you bring a famine upon them you take away their strength and deprive them of their courage and briskness said Moses in Ruffinus for what is stronger than a Lion yet let him want his Food and he becomes as weak as the feeblest Animal IV. When we stand in need of Grace or of some Virtuous Habit or of Conquest of some particular temptation In this case Abstinence is exceeding profitable not that our empty stomacks do in their own nature contribute towards it but the Abstinence fits us for seriousness that seriousness for earnestness that earnestness for Gods favour And therefore it was that the Angel told Daniel Dan. 10. 12. From the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand and to chasten thy self before thy God thy words were heard to shew that fasting fits the Soul for fervent Prayer and God denies nothing to such intercessions Jam. 5. 16. and indeed where men can so esteem the Grace of God as to take pains for it Gods arms are ever open to them for what the Heathens observed long ago holds true still To the industrious God denies nothing Nothing discovers our esteem of a thing so much as our contentedness to undergo some hardship for it and while we deny our Bodies often the satisfaction they crave they learn by degrees to be more obedient to Faith and Reason and consequently are less impediments to those Graces which require a Soul that can live above sence and sublunary objects Hence David to learn contentedness in adversity though exceeding dry yet would not drink the water that his Grandees fetcht for him from the Well of Bethlehem 2 Sam. 23. 16. and in imitation of him some in the Primitive Church to learn chearfulness in want when they have almost longed for a certain sort of Food and have got it yet have been unwilling to taste of it though their appetite was eager after it and for this very reason I think it was that the Pythagoreans used to sit down at a Table full of the greatest dainties and varieties and with coming stomacks too and in the mid'st of their hunger and greediness after Meat rise from Table and forbear eating or cause all to be taken away and continue fasting and all to learn self-conquest and to get their Souls more raised above the World V. When we undertake any great Work or Office it 's very fit to consecrate it with a Fast. So Christ entered upon his Office of Prophet with Fasting Mat. 4. 1 2. and S t Paul and Barnabas when ordain'd to be Preachers of the Word began that tremendous Work with Fasting and prayer Act. 13. 3. a thing so decent that the very Heathens have seen the necessity of it which was the reason why those that were going to consult the Oracle were obliged to fast and those that were to be admitted to Sacrifice or Minister to the Aegyptian Isis were commanded to fast ten days and those that were to be Priests of Jupiter were ordered to abstain from all Flesh and things that were heated by fire and they among the Indian Philosophers that were initiated into the Service or Worship of the Sun durst drink neither Wine nor eat any Flesh and Amphiaraus laid it down as a Rule that those that came to receive and give the true and clear meaning of the Oracles must debar themselves of all Food one whole day and three days besides of Wine VI. When the Church of God is groaning under persecution or some other grievous oppression This obliged the man of desires the Prophet Daniel to retire frequently seeing the Temple and City of Jerusalem lie desolate and in