The country-curate's advice to his parishioners, in four parts I. Directs us, how to serve God on the Lord's day, II. On the week day, III. How to discharge our duty in our several relations, as husband and wife, parents and children, masters and servants, IV. How to prepare for death / by H.C.

CHAP. XI. Evening Exercise. (Book 11)

THE Day thus happily sliding away, draws on the Night-season, and there remains an Evening Exercise in order to even out Accompts with the great Father of the Fa∣mily, concerning our days labour in his Vine∣yard.

Before therefore you take your repose at night, look over your days work, search back into every hour of the day, humble your selves, and be heartily sorry for your mis∣carriage; bless God if you have received any good: Put these Questions to your Soul ere you betake your self to your rest.

First, How did I ly down or rise up, was God in my thoughts or no?

Secondly, How did I put up my Prayers in my Closet, did they proceed from my Heart, or Lip only? Have I gone this day with Joy into the House of Good, have I heard

••he Word, and treasured it up in my Heart? Have not I aimed more at the information ••f my judgment, than at the warming of my ••ffections? was it curiosity or piety that led ••he thither? have I gathered my thoughts ••ogether in the publick Prayers of the Church, ••nd have my heart and desires gone along with the Supplications which the Minister of God put up to Heaven? Have not I thought ••f my Farm, Trade, and Oxen, while I have ••een repeating after him? Have I read in pri∣••ate, have I called my Family together, read ••o them, instructed them, made them give ••e an account of what they did remember? When I received the holy Sacrament, were ••y thoughts fixed on the Cross of Christ, ••nd were my Soul affected with the great ••ystery of God's Love, and did I meditate ••n the Word as soon as I left the Church? ••as not the World in my Heart as soon as ••e word was out of the Minister's? Did not ••eat and drink at Table more to please my ••ppetite than to repair the decayed strength ••f my nature? Was my Discourse holy at ••••e Table, when I craved a Blessing? was ••ot my mind more intent on the meat before ••e than on the God above me? have not I ••een intemperate at my Meals, and eat and ••rank more than nature required? have I af∣••••r Dinner set my Servants to read, and did

I pray for them and with them. Have not •• this day been guilty of some crying Sin, fo•• which God might justly punish me as he di•• the Fool in the Gospel, with Death, &c.

If upon enquiry you find you have mad•• any progress in Vertue, got ground of Satan and mastered your Corruptions; give Go•• the Glory, by whose Grace you overcam•• them, and return him thanks in this follow¦ing Prayer.

PRaise the Lord, O my Soul, yea, let all th•••• is within me praise•• his holy name: praise be the Lord from the rising up of the Sun unto th•• going down of the same: thou art my God, an•• I will praise thee, thou art my God, and I wi•••• bless thee, who hast preserved me this day from falling into Sin, and hast kept me from t•••• power of the evil one; for my Soul is this d•••• escaped as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowle•• the Snare is broken and I am delivered: my he•• standeth in the name of the Lord, who hath ma•••• Heaven and Earth.

But if upon enquiry you find, that yo•• have been guilty of many Frailties and Imper¦fections, if you have not been so devout 〈◊〉〈◊〉 you ought to have been in your Prayers: a••¦fect your Soul with the sense of your Sin i•• this following Prayer.

AH frail, weak and wicked Wretch, art thou not ashamed to remain still in thy wonted negligences and tepidities, to sing the same sinful Song after so many Vows, Promises and purposes of better Obedience? wallowest thou still in the same mire, and lyest thou still snort∣ing in the same Bed of Sensuality? O horrid in∣gratitude, if thou wert now summoned to give up thy just accounts, what couldst thou answer for so much time mis-spent, so many inspirations neg∣lected, and so many Graces abused? thou ap∣proachest nearer Death and Eternity, but recoilest backward in religious Piety and Perfection; wilt thou still lye sleeping in this dangerous Lethargy? is this the grateful and dutiful Service thou ren∣derest thy Creator, for having afforded thee all convenient means to repent, for having so pati∣ently expected thy Conversion and amendment?

Alas, my Confounded Soul, what will become of thee, what course wilt thou steer, and when and how wilt thou begin? Ah sinful Wretch, prodigal Child, disloyal Friend, sue to thy Physician, re∣turn to thy Father, repent thee of thy Disloyalty, request Pardon, Grace and Love; resolve to re∣pent for what is past, and amend for the time to come; and from this moment consecrate the re∣mainder of thy Life to his Service. And now, O my Lord, as thou hast given me Grace to frame this Resolution; so give me strength and courage to put it in execution.

But if upon Inquiry, you find you have greatly broken the Sabbath-day, neglected his publick Worship, relapsed into some crying Sin, which without God's great Mer∣cy will bring upon you speedy Death and Damnation; affect your Soul with this Prayer.

O My good God, Father of all Comfort and Compassion, Creatour of Heaven and Earth, and Redeemer of my poor Soul! behold here a poor Worm prostrate at the feet of thy Divine Majesty, humbly craving pardon for all the Iniquities and Impurities that I have com∣mitted against thy Divine Majesty from my Youth up until now; especially those that I have this day committed against thee (such a Sin espe∣cially;) most justly provoking thy wrathful In∣dignation against me: the remembrance of them breeds an extreme Shame, Fear, and Sorrow in my now sensible, penitent Soul. Shame, for having left an infinite Good, to embrace an empty, fa∣ding nothing: Fear, for having forsaken the Light of Heaven, and the Life of Aeternity▪ to remain in aeternal Death and Darkness: Sor∣row, for having offended thee, my God, wh•• art so loving and liberal unto me.

Oh, that my Heart could rend asunder, with true Contrition and Compunction; and my Eyes

dissolve into a flood of Tears; for having been disloyal to so faithful a Friend, and disobedient to so free-hearted a Father! Mercy, dear Fa∣ther, to thy prodigal Child; Mercy, dear Lord, to thy sinful Servant: Pardon my past Faults, pity my present Follies, protect my fu∣ture Frailties; that with a clean, quiet, con∣tented Soul, I may strive to please and praise thee all my Life long hereafter, and, in the end, die happily in thy Favour and Friendship.

O my Crucified Jesu! my only Hope and Refuge: bathe me in thy Blood, beautifie me with thy Merits, bless me with thy Grace, by the Tears that issued out of thy Eyes, by the Prayers that came from thy Mouth, by the Blood that gushed from thy Wounds and Heart; by all the Pains of thy Body, and Pangs of thy Soul, by all the Mercies of thy Divinity, and Merits of thy Humanity, by all that is dear and near unto thee in Heaven and Earth. Cleanse, quiet, clothe, comfort, content my sick, sinful, weak and wretched Soul.

O thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the World, take away the world of sins that is in me. O thou that wert my Saviour upon Earth, be thou my Advocate in Heaven, plead∣ing and interceding, that none of these Evils my sins have deserved, may fall upon my head.

Forget and forgive all the Crimes, Ingrati∣tudes and Impurities of my Life past, and in

particular, whatsoever through my carelessness have escaped my memory, and whatsoever my dreadful Judge may in the rigour of his Justice lay to my charge, that at the end of my days I may receive the end of my hopes, the Salva∣tion of my precious and immortal Soul. Grant this, O Lord, for Jesu Christ his sake, Amen.

Then fail not to add to this, this usual Prayer for the Evening.

Before thou goest to bed, be sure to offer unto God thine Evening Sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving. This was shadowed out unto us under the Law, where the Lord re∣quired his Evening Sacrifice, as well as the Morning: therefore much more doth he re∣quire it of us under the Gospel. And truly if thou liest down in thy sins unrepented of, thou mightest haply awaken with Hell-flames about thy Ears. Thou mayst better and safe∣lier sleep with a Serpent in thy Bosom, than with a Sin upon thy Soul; the one can only punish thee temporally, the other torments thee aeternally. Before ever then thou suffer the Temples of thy head to take any rest; beg, O Christian Brother, not only Pardon of thy Sins, but his Protection from all Dan∣gers: which you may do in this following Prayer.

ALmighty and Everlasting God, I yield thee most humble and hearty thanks, for that thou hast vouchsafed me of thy great Mercy and Goodness, to preserve me this day from all evil, and I also beseech thee, for thy bitter Death and Passion, most mercifully to forgive me, a wretched Sinner, all my Offences, which I have this day committed by thought, word, or deed; and hereafter to preserve and keep me from all danger, as well of Body as of Soul; to the end I may rise again in Health, to praise thy glori∣ous Name, and joyfully to serve thee with a clean Body, and chaste Heart.

Whilst thou art going to bed, exercise thy Mind with these holy and heavenly Me∣ditations. As thou art pulling off thy clothes, think how it will not be long before thou be stripped of all, and go out of the World, as naked as thou camest; as Job excellently expresseth it, Naked came I, &c.

And when thou art laid upon thy bed to take thy Repose, let it mind thee of thy Grave, thy Sheets of thy Shroud, and thy Sleep of thy Death, which indeed is the sha∣dow of it; and labour to fall asleep with the sweet Meditation of it; and to that end, while thou art awake, exercise thy Mind with these or such like Meditations.

Beg of Christ, That you might imitate him in his Death, which you may do in these short Prayers.

1. Jesus died patiently. (Book 1)

O my Soul, how ill have we imitated our sweet Saviour in our Life and Manners; let us at least strive to imitate him in his Death, by taking patiently whatsoever Cross and Affliction he shall lay upon us, following chearfully to Mount Calvary.

O my Saviour, though my Soul be not forced out of my Body by such a violent Death as thine; yet imprint, I beseech thee, in my Soul such sweet Thoughts and Affections as thou didst feel when thou didst die for my sake.

2. Jesus dyed willingly. (Book 2)

O my God, give me health or sickness, life or death; give me what thou pleasest, not my will, but thy will be done.

O my Saviour, thou being God's innocent Son, dyedst in the flower of thine Age, and shall I de∣sire long Life, who am a Sinner, a Rebel, a Cri∣minal? I yield, Lord, I yield and submit to Death's Summons. Farewel, Earth; farewel, World; farewel, this Vale of tears and miseries; Heaven is my happier home, Paradise is much more pleasant and agreeable, and Death is my way to it.

3. Jesus prayed for strength and courage in the agony of death. (Book 3)

O my Jesu, when my Glass shall be almost run out, when my Senses fail me, when my Strength decays, and my Breath almost spent; O do not thou forsake me, Dear Jesu, when all things else shall leave and abandon me.

Thou art graciously pleased, Compassionate Creator, to take pity on the Fowls of the air, and the Beasts of the Earth, and to succour them in time of n••••d. O refuse not thy favours to a Soul stampt with thy Sacred Image and resem∣blance; but pity me, succour me, comfort me, and protect me from the hands of the Enemy.

4. Jesus dying pardoned his Enemies, and pray'd for them.

O my sweet Saviour, in honour of this thy fervent Charity, I pray forgive all them that have offended me in my whole Life time; it now heartily grieves me that ever I hated them, and were they here present, how humbly would I em∣brace them, and beg their Pardon. Give them, O my God, thy Grace in this World, and thy Glory in the next.

Thus have I finished my imperfect Piece. And, O my God, as I began it by thy Goodness,

so I end it with thy praise. Let not the weak∣ness and simplicity of the Agent be the Readers discouragement: but, O my Heavenly Father, give me thy Grace to live up to these Rules, lest whilst I preach and write to others, I my self be∣come a Cast-away.

FINIS.