Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

often we transgress the Bounds of our Duty, and how backward we are to cross our fleshly Appetites, it is very happy we have such a solemn Season stated for Recollection and the Exercise of Repentance; when the Command of our Superiors, and the Provision of fit Means to assist us, and the Practice of devout Christians in all Ages, call loudly upon us to reform our Lives. For that which is a Duty at all Times, when our Follies make it necessary, cannot be less so when we are required to give outward Proofs and Demonstrations of it.

Q. How does it become a devout Christian to spend his Time during the whole Season of Lent?

A. Some Part ought to be spent in Fasting; more in Abstinence, according to the Circumstances of his Health, and outward Condition in the World; and this with a Design to deny and punish himself, and to express his Humiliation before God for his past Transgressions. The Ornament of Attire may be laid aside, as improper to express the Sense of Mourners, and the Frequency of receiving and paying Visits may be interrupted, as unseasonable when our Minds are oppressed with Sorrow. Public Assemblies for Pleasure and Diversion should be avoided, as Enemies to that seriousness we now profess. Our Retirements should be filled with reading pious Discourses, and with frequent Prayer, and with examining the State of our Minds. The Public Devotion should be constantly attended, and those instructing Exhortations from the Pulpit, which are so so generally established in many Churches in this Season. We should be liberal in our Alms, and very ready to employ ourselves in all Opportunities of relieving either the temporal or spiritual Wants of our Neighbours. And we should frequently exercise ourselves in the Meditation of divine Subjects, the best Means to make all Discourses from the Press and the Pulpit, effectual to our Salvation.

Q. What do you mean by Meditation in a religious Sense?

A. Such a serious Application of the Mind to the Consideration of any divine Subject, whether any Mystery of the Gospel Institution, or any Truth and Virtue of the Christian Religion, as may dispose it firmly to believe and embrace it, and stir up all the Faculties of the Soul to a vigorous prosecution of it. And it is this exercise of the Will and Affections that distinguishes Meditation from what we call Study.

Q. How ought we to prepare ourselves for the Exercise of this Duty?

A. By remembering that we are in the Presence of God, who knoweth all our Thoughts, and searcheth out all our Ways; that we are unworthy, by reason of our Sins, to present ourselves before him; and that we are incapable, without his Assistance, to think any Thing that is good; and therefore, adoring his infinite Majesty with profound Reverence, we should humbly beg his Aid and Help, so to enlighten our Understandings, and to influence our Wills, that the present action may tend to his Glory, and the Good of our own Souls.

Q. How is the Understanding exercised in Meditation?

4. In setting the subject of our Meditation in such a Light, as may excite the Will and Affections to pursue and embrace it. If it concerns our Saviour's Life or Death, it considers the Dignity of his Person upon whose Account the Action was performed; the End for which it was done; the Place and Circumstances, the Fruits and Effects of it. If the Subject relates to any Virtue of a Christian Life, it considers the Nature of the Duty, and wherein it consists; who are properly the Objects of it; the Obligations there are from Reason and Revelation to practise it; the Temptations that chiefly seduce from it, and those particular instances whereby the Virtue may be exercised; and the great Advantages that

accrue to us, both in this Life and the next, by the diligent Performance of it.

Q. How are the Will and Affections exercised in this Duty?

A. In chusing and pursuing what by the Understanding is represented as good and advantageous to us; and in shunning and avoiding what is represented as evil and destructive to our Happiness. In order hereunto, firm Purposes are formed of governing our Lives, with such a Prospect for the Time to come; the Use of the best Means is resolved upon, and we are determined when, and upon what Occasions, we will put such a Virtue in Practice, or imitate such an Action; in what Places, and in what Company, we will stand upon our Guard, lest we be surprised by such a Vice. From hence we proceed to exercise ourselves in holy Affections; as in Love and Desire of what is good; in Hatred and Detestation of what is evil; in Sorrow, Shame, and Self-abhorrence for having transgressed in any Particular, in Praise and Thanksgiving, for having been enabled, in any tolerable Measure, to have done our Duty; in Adoration and Imitation, in Faith, in Hope, and Charity, and in Resignation of ourselves to God.

Q. What are the blessed Fruits of holy Meditation?

A. It has an universal Influence upon the whole Life of a Christian, and is an admirable Instrument to quicken our Progress in all the Graces of God's Holy Spirit. It illuminates our Understandings with the Knowledge of our Duty, and stores our Memories with all such Arguments as are proper to excite us to the Performance of it. The Voice of Conscience is, by this Means, attended to, and we can never make any considerable Breaches upon it without being alarmed with severe Reproaches. It wings our Prayers with Reverence and Devotion, and increases our Importunity, by impressing a lively Sense of the Necessity and Importance of those Things we beg of God. It habituates our

Minds to spiritual Objects, and raises them above the perishing Things of this Life. It strengthens our holy Purposes, arms us against Temptations, and inflames all the Faculties of our Souls with earnest Desires of attaining and enjoying our chiefest Good.

Q. How ought we to conclude our Meditation?

4. By begging God to affect our Minds with a constant Sense of our Duty in all the Particulars of it; chiefly that he would enable us to perform those Resolutions we have made of advancing in Piety and Virtue; that he would not leave us to ourselves, but to assist us with his Grace, that what we perceive and know to be our Duty, we may faithfully fulfil all the Days of our Life.

THE PRAYERS.

Y

I.

giveness of our

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art For Foralways more ready to hear than we to and are pray, wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Sins. pour down upon me the Abundance of thy Mercy, forgiving me those Things whereof my Conscience is afraid, and giving me those good Things which I am not worthy to ask, but through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

II.

Comforts of Grace,

GRANT, I beseech thee, Almighty God, that I, For the who for my evil Deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the Comfort of thy Grace may mercifully be relieved through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

III.

ALMIGHTY God, give me Grace to use
Abstinence during this Season, dedicated to
Exercise of Repentance, that my Flesh

BB

such For Abstithe nence and may tion.

Mortifica

For the
Medita-

tion of

Things.

be subdued to the Spirit, and my Mind left free to approach thee with Ardour and Fervency of Affection. Inure me by Self-denial to bring my Body into Subjection, and to punish all those Excesses I have been guilty of in the Use of thy Creatures. Let my Retirement from the World make me see the Vanity and Emptiness of it, and teach me to relish the Pleasures of spiritual Enjoyments. Let me spend those solitary Hours in the improving my Christian Knowledge, and do thou open my Eyes that I may see the wondrous Things of thy Law. Make me heartily to bewail my Sins, and do thou work in me that godly Sorrow not to be repented of. Grant that I may sincerely examine the State of my own Mind, and do thou search, and try me, and lead me into the Way everlasting: That perceiving how bitter a Thing it is to depart from the living God, I may no longer continue at a Distance from the Fountain of all Joy and Happiness; but that, by confessing and forsaking my Sins, I may be entirely converted unto thee, and that they may be blotted out, when the Times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord through Jesus Christ my only Saviour. Amen.

IV.

ALMIGHTY God, who art the supreme Happiness of a rational Creature, whom to know is heavenly eternal Life; fix my Thoughts, my Hopes, and my Desires upon Heaven and heavenly Things; let me remember thee upon my Bed, and meditate on thee in the Night-watches. Grant that I may so consider thy Precepts, that I may understand the Measures of my Duty, and govern all my Actions by those Rules thou hast prescribed me; may so apply thy Promises, that I may adore that infinite Goodness, that hath prepared such glorious Rewards for those that love thee, and never forfeit my Title to them by consenting to any known Iniquity; may so recollect my Infirmities, that I may watch against

« AnteriorContinua »