Meditations and Motives for Prayer Upon the Seven Days of the Week

LONDON Printed for Richard Royston and Francis Eglesfeild 1642

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON THE SVNDAY.

TIme as a Tyrant, useth us as it list; and we as in bondage use time as we can: but we cannot use it whole & entire; but as we are fain to break it into pieces: and where the great parts of Time are proper for great actions; and the smaller for trifles: we so crossly use the matter, that the greater parts of it, as Moneths, and Yeares, and Ages we employ in trifles; and only the small pieces, as Days, and Houres, and Moments are the times we allow for matters of moment: and it were well if we would but allow them whole and entire; but in using them we break them in pieces too: for in our great work which is the service of God; the work for which we came into the world: who is there that spends a whole hour, much less a whole day, and breaks it not into many shivers of worldly thoughts? And say, we break time into Weekes: yet can we afford a whole week to the service of God? Alas no! we must break the week again into seven days, and then perhaps of those seven we will profess at least to allow God one, but the other six we look to keep for ourselves: and indeed it is the great goodness and bounty of God, that six days of the week he allows us to do our own work; and reserves but the seventh to do him service; and should we not be very unthankful? yea indeed most unreasonable, to grudge at this division? O my soul be thou so far from grudging at it, as be content, besides God's one day, to afford him part of thy own six: of which, if thou have not perhaps commandment, yet thou hast example: for so did David, as he saith himself, Evening, and Morning, and at Noone, I will praise thee: and this upon a week day, no doubt; how much more then may we well think upon the Sabbath day? Certainly so much more, as there is more reason: for though every particular day of the week have Motives for serving of God proper to it self and not common to any other; yet the Sabbath hath more than all of them put together: for first the Sabbath we now keep, was in the revolution of time the first day that ever God made: and of which it hath been properly said, This is the day that God hath made: as if he challenged the making of no day but this: and though he made it for our use, yet more for his own Glory; and have we not special reason then to glorify God this day? It is the work for which the day was made, it is the work for which ourselves were made, and therefore to do both the day and ourselves right; what can we do, what should we do this day, but glorify God? This day God made light; for without light it had not been a day: and if God have begun his Days with the work of light; shall I begin my days with the works of darkness? No my soul, but let this be thy prayer this day, that God will so guide thee by the light of his holy Spirit, that thou mayst this day neither walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scorners: but that all thy delight may be in the Law of the Lord, & that in his Law thou mayest exercise thyself both Day and Night: but this day (O my soul) especially; for this is a day of Rest, in which thou must do no manner of work: No works, but of necessity to thyself, or of mercy to thy neighbor, or of piety to God; for these are works that break not thy Rest, but bring the rest; works that thou mightest do, though thou wert an Angel; or rather works thou must do to come to be as Angels.

But shall nothing then be allowed this day for Recreation of the Body? nothing for refreshing the spirits after six days labor? Yes my soul, this is included in the works of necessity for ourselves, at least it is as the quail sent to the Israelites in the Wilderness: no fault in using them, if no abuse in using them. O then, vouchsafe O God, so to bless me with grace this day that though I spend it not all in only devotion, yet I may spend it all only devoutly; that whether I eat or drink, or whatsoever I do else, either for necessity or recreation, it may all be done to the glory of thy holy Name. If God had intended no other resting upon this day, but only resting from sin; if not as well recreation of the Body, as devotion of the mind; he would never have enjoined the Sabbath to beasts, which are not capable of devotion; but as God's resting was a cessation from his work of creation: so Mans resting must be a cessation from his works of labor; and so the end of the Sabbath will be man's ease and recreation: which made Christ say, The Sabbath was made for man: but the celebration of that end must be his holiness and devotion; which made God say, Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day; and then we may infer, as far as the end of the Sabbath is man's ease and recreation; so far Prayer is the Allelujah for it: and as far as the celebration of that end is holiness and devotion, so far Prayer is the Hosanna for it: and thus Prayer so necessary for keeping the Lord's day, that without Prayer indeed it cannot be truly kept.

This day which was at first made a day of labor, is now made a day of rest: But alas! O Lord, what good is it to have rest in my Body, if I have not rest also as well in my soul? and what rest can I have in my soul, if thou keep me not from falling this day into sin? for where sin is, there will never be be but unquietness of conscience: and where the conscience is unquiet, what rest can the soul have? O therefore suffer me not O God, to fall this day into any sin; but so uphold me by the grace of thy holy Spirit, that as thou hast made this day a day of rest to my body: so thou mayest make it also a day of rest to my soul; that neither any vani • ies of the world may allure me: nor any temptations of Satan may disturb me, but that I may enjoy the like calm of quietness in all my spirits, as Christ made upon the waters, when he rebuked the winds.

But seeing this day was once a day of labor: how comes it now to be a day of rest? Indeed upon most just occasion. It was a day of labor whilst we were under the Law; but now that we are under the Gospel, it is a day of rest. If the Law could have brought us to rest, the old Sabbath had continued still: but seeing there could be no perfect rest, but by the Gospel, it was therefore necessary the old Sabbath should be abolished, but that there must be a Sabbath still, for so much of the Law continues still, that one day of the seven must still be kept holy to the Lord. The first Sabbath was a resting from God's work of Creation, but this Sabbath is a resting from Christ's work of Redemption: for though upon the Cross he pronounced Consummatum est; as though his work had then been finished: yet that was spoken but in regard of his work upon earth: the full consummatum est, was not until this day that he rose again from the dead: for if he had only died, and had not risen again; though perhaps we had been Redeemed, yet we had not been justified; for, as he died for our sins; so he rose again for our Justification. O then my soul, if this day were the finishing of thy Redemption, by Christ's rising from the dead, do thou also arise this day from dead works to newness of life, that so thou mayest be capable of Christ's Redemption, partaker of Christ's Resurrection; and then thou shalt find that true rest in his justification, which neither troubles of the world, nor temptations of Satan shall ever be able to disquiet. This Sabbath under the Law was the last day of the week: because it was given then as a reward for our labors: but under the Gospel it is the first day of the week; because it is given now as an Encouragement to our labors. Or is it perhaps that this which was at first a day labor, is now made a Sabbath, and a day of rest: because being the first day that God made, it is thereby Primogenitus dierum, the first-borne of all days: and so by right of Primogeniture, ought to have the greatest blessing amongst all days: and what is the greatest blessing to a day, but to be a Sabbath? it had not indeed possession of the benefit of Primogeniture till Christ vouchsafed to rise this day from the dead; and to make it, as it were his second birth-day; but then in honor thereof, He who is Primogenitus omnium Creaturarum, the firstborn of all Creatures: brought this Primogenitum omnium Dierum, this first-borne of all Days in possession of its Primogeniture: and so of a day of labor, it is become a Sabbath, and a day of rest. Indeed this day had many great things done in it, as it were pleading for it before it could recover its right of Primogeniture, to be a Sabbath: For first, upon this day Christ was borne of the Virgin Mary: enough of itself to have made a Sabbath, and yet for all that the old Sabbath stood firm still. Then upon this day Christ was baptized in Jordan, when a voice was heard from heaven, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this also enough to have made a Sabbath; and yet for all that the old Sabbath stood firm still. Then upon this day Christ did his first miracle of turning water into wine, at a Marrriage in Cana; and this also enough to have made a Sabbath: and yet for all that the old Sabbath stood firm still; But when upon this day, Christ rose again from the dead, and that there rose with him, many Saints that slept; and appeared in the holy City; then the old Sabbath could hold the place no longer, but yielded up all right of a Sabbath to this day; which from that time hath had a new Name given it, to be called as Saint John calls it, The Lord's Day. O then my soul, if this day, by so many rights be become our Sabbath, shall we be so ungrateful, as not to do it the right of a Sabbath? If it be now the Lord's day, shall we take it from him, and make it the worlds day? shall the Jews keep the Sabbath of the Law with so strict observance, by which they expect but a temporal rest; and shall not I keep the Sabbath of the Gospel with a stricter observance, by which I expect an eternal rest? Doth the memory of my creation deserve a great Sabbath? and doth not the memory of my Redemption deserve as great a Sabbath? Alas! What had my Creation been, if I had not been Redeemed? I know I was created, to the end I should serve God: but I was Redeemed to the end I should be able to serve him: and is not that as worthy of a Sabbath which makes me able to serve him, as that which requires me to serve him, and makes me not able? but though I cannot say, I was not created able, yet I may truly say: I am Redeemed to be more able: for as without Christ, we can do nothing: so through him we can do all things. O my soul! if it be justly said, Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, may it not be as justly said, Remember thy Redeemer in the youth of thy days? and what is this first day of the week, but as it were the youth of the week? and so of thy days: for as the days of the week go on, so thy age goes on: and if thou remember not in this youth of thy days, when thy memory is fresh, how wilt thou remember him in the days of thy age, when the memory naturally grows forgetful? O my soul, if thou keep not this day holy, if thou keep not thyself holy this day, in which God requires holiness of thee, and to do his works, what hope is there of thy holiness in other days, in which a liberty is left thee to do thine own works? God expects holiness at our hands, in all days; for he saith, Be ye holy as I am holy: which is to be holy continually: yet he appoints us no day to be holy in by name, but only this, that we may know it to be a holiness, in which he takes more pleasure, than in any other: All other duties of piety we may perform in any day, but this piety in none but this day; for it is, I may say, a piety personal to the day; that if we perform it not in this, we cannot in any other: we must tarry till the day come about again: and who can be sure to live till the next Sabbath? and is it not a grievous thing to commit a fault, which we are not sure we shall ever live to amend? I say not, that to be holy on other days, is opus supererogationis, more than we need to be: but this I may truly say, that not to be holy this day, is opus extremae derogationis; infinitely less than we ought to do: for we derogate extremely from that devotion to God, which human imbecility, as weak as it is, is able to perform. The holiness of this day, to that of other days, ought to be as Cumulus ad granum, a whole sheaf of corn to a single ear: holiness in all days, but in this day all holiness. The Israelites, to make the walls Jericho fall down, went once about it every day, but the eighth day six times about it. O my soul, the Sabbath we now keep, is that eighth day: that if we will have the walls of our sinful Jericho to fall down, we must go six times as much about it, as in any other day. Remember the poor man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day: and what is it to gather sticks, but to spend the Sabbath in vanities and trifles? yet that man for his gathering sticks was censured by God's own mouth to be put to death. For it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God: and though in every sin we commit, we may justly be said to fall into his hands: yet most properly in this, seeing this is a day which he hath chosen to himself; and in which above all other days he looks to be glorified. O therefore, vouchsafe (O God) so to sanctify this day to me, and me unto this day, that I may neither fell timber this day; (which is to busy myself about great worldly matters) nor yet gather sticks this day, (which is to spend it in trifles) but that wholly abandoning all worldly business, I may dedicate it to thee only, and only to thy service. Indeed to keep a day holy, is to keep it so wholly, without any mixture at all of worldly affairs; for as a little leaven soureth the whole lump: so any profaneness corrupts the purity of a true holiness. As therefore Tradesmen keep their shops open all the week long, but shut them up upon the Sabbath day, and suffer not any customers to repair unto them: so upon the Sabbath day, we must shut up the shops of our hearts, and not suffer any worldly or profane cares to have access, but reserve them wholly to God, and to his service. For (O my soul) when we be once in the careere of a worldly course, and have run already six stages, if then we make not a stop by keeping a Sabbath; we shall run ourselves out of breath, and there will be no returning for the Spirit of Grace. Shall our ears stand listening all the week long, to the idle talk of vain men, and shall they not listen this day to that which God himself shall say unto us by the mouth of his Prophets? shall our tongues be employed so long together, in making bargains for our worldly benefits, and shall they not be employed this day in performing the bargain we have made with God for our souls benefit? shall our feet go so many wearisome journeys, and never be weary, to the Courts of Princes: and shall they not this day go a Sabbaths day journey, to the Temple of God? shall the Church doors which stood shut before, stand open now, to let us in? shall the bells which stood silent before, send forth now voices, and call us to come, and shall we not be moved by so great invitations to so holy a work? Do not the very clothes we put on this day, seem to put us in mind before whom we are to present ourselves; and shall we not present ourselves before him, when we have made us ready to do it? O blessed God, clothe me with thy grace, and with the merits of thy Son Christ Jesus; for these only are the clothes that can make me worthy to present myself before thee: let thy holy Word and Spirit be ringing in my heart; for these only are the bells, whose sound can be effectual to call me to thee.

It is observed in the course of Nature, that six days we may live without eating anything; but to fast seven days together, is commonly mortal: and so it is in the course of the Spirit: six days we may follow our worldly vocations; and all that time we may be justly said to fast from feeding the spirit, and yet no perishing to the soul; but if we continue fasting the seventh day, if this day we keep not a Sabbath, both to rest our bodies, and to feast our souls, we shall be in great hazard of a spiritual death; at least exceedingly enfeeble our spiritual life: and indeed having kept the soul fasting so long, there is great reason this day to make it a feast: and as the use is in feasts to sit long; so in making this feast for the soul, all the day long may be little enough. But O gracious God, as I cannot keep this feast to thy Glory without thy Grace: so I cannot have thy Grace without thy gift; and therefore vouchsafe O God, of thy free Mercy, so to furnish me with the Graces of thy holy Spirit, that whilst I nourish my body, I may cherish my soul, and not only continue my spiritual life, but may increase in spiritual strength; the better to serve thee all the days of my life.

The Heathen dedicated this day to the Sun; wherein, though they erred in the matter, yet they erred not in the name: for it must indeed be dedicated to the Sun, but to the Sun of Righteousness. Not to the visible Sun, which is but a mortal creature, as we ourselves are: but to the Sun that is immortal, and invisible. O therefore my soul, do thou amend this error of the Heathen, and dedicate this day to the Sun, but to the Sun, in whose light thou shalt see light: to the Sun that lighteth everyone that cometh into the world: to the Sun that hath placed his Tabernacle in the visible Sun; and which shining upon thee, will dispel all clouds of fear, all mists of perturbation, and will bring thee the peace of a quiet conscience, the rest of a perfect Sabbath.

But shall we so dedicate this day to the Son, that we shall dedicate no day to the Father? Shall we so remember our Redeemer, that we shall forget our Creator? No my soul: but this day may fitly serve for both: for a memorial of our creation, in honor of the Father, as it is a seventh day: and for a memorial of our Redemption, in honor of the Son, as it is this seventh day.

It was in this day, in the revolution of time that Christ rose again from the dead, and by his Resurrection wrought our Justification, & a power besides for us also in our time to rise again: and is not this a benefit worthy of a Sabbath? worthy of a day of purpose to meditate upon it? O then my soul, let this be thy prayer this day: that as Christ this day rose from death: so thou this day mayst rise to newness of life: that when thy day shall come to rise from the dead, and to come before the great Judge of the quick, and the dead, thou mayst then also rise in the Judgment; and be one of those to whom it shall be said, Come ye Blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you.

It was upon this day in the Revolution of time, that the holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in fiery tongues, enabling them with all good Graces of the Spirit: and is not this a benefit worthy of a Sabbath? worthy of a day apart, to meditate upon it? O then my soul, let this be thy prayer this day, that Christ would send down his holy Spirit upon thee, to fill thee with a fiery zeal of devotion, and to work in thee a true sanctification, that when thy day of trial shall come, the day of separating the sheep from the goats, thou mayst be found worthy to stand in the congregation of the Righteous, and mayst find the benefit of this Prayer, for which we are beholding to this day; and but for this day, could never have made; By thy glorious Resurrection: and by the coming of the holy Ghost: good Lord deliver us.

But what is this rest of the Sabbath, so much spoken off, to be such a blessing to us? Is it only to be idle, to sit still, and do nothing? Can doing nothing Glorify God? No my soul, the true rest of the Sabbath is a perpetual motion: we must be still going, but not our own ways; we must be still speaking, but not our own words: as Christ himself did for our Example: He went not his own way when he said to his Father, Not as I will, but as thou wilt: He spake not his own words, when he continued in Prayer to his Father, sometimes whole nights together, returning, as it were a Sabbaths night labor, for a Sabbaths days rest; which we also should do, though it be more than we can do: more than we can do indeed of ourselves; but not more than we can do by his assistance, through whom we can do all things.

But is not this that which Christ reprehended in the Pharisees? may we not as well offend in making too long Prayers, as in making too short? No my soul, that which he reprehended in the Pharisees, was not multa precatio, but multa locutio, not much praying, but much babbling; for if the words we use in praying be but Nascentia in labris, it is but babbling; but if they be Nascentia in cord, it is then praying; if we draw near to God with our lips, and our hearts be far from him, this is but babbling: but if the heart ascend up to God, together with the voice, this is true Praying. O then vouchsafe O God, to assist me with thy grace in Praying; that my tongue, and my heart may make but one suppliant: that whilst my tongue speaks nothing but what my heart endites, my heart may endite nothing but what thy holy Spirit dictates: that so without any wandering cogitations of the flesh, without any sinful suggestions of the world or Satan, my prayers may ascend up to thee, with the sweet savor of a Sabbaths sacrifice, and be acceptable unto thee.

There is a difference may be observed between Prayers of this day, and prayers that are proper for other days; for those are properly Hosanna's, Petitions to God for blessings to be obtained, but the prayers of this day are properly Hallelujahs; thanksgiving to God for a blessing already had: for this day God gives us a temporary rest, which is but a Type of the eternal rest, he will give us hereafter. O then grant me O God, so to use the rest of this Sabbath, that I may come to the rest of the eternal Sabbath; grant me so to sing an Hallelujah for the rest thou givest now to my body, that I may sing at last the Hallelujah of Angels for the rest thou wilt give to my body and soul: a rest that shall never rest from singing and saying; Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabbath: Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON THE MVNDAY.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON MVNDAY.

This is now the first of those days, of which God said, Six days thou shalt labor and do all that thou hast to do: so it is a day of labor, and not to be spent, in nihil agendo, in doing nothing: and it is a day for doing all we have to do: and therefore not to be spent in aliud agendo; but specially not in male agendo, in doing of evil: for certainly doing of evil is no part at all of all we have to do: and to do this, to be doing, and not do amiss, to be going, and not go astray, this O my soul, is a hard task; and this is the task we are now enjoined. And if the task be hard for performance, have we not the more need to look about us for assistance? O therefore, thou great God to whom nothing is impossible; to whom even impossible things are easy; vouchsafe to assist me in this work I am about, that entering into it by thine ordinance, I may be conducted in it by thy governance: and that I may cheerfully go on in the course of my vocation, without either anxiety or diversion.

The labor of this day makes the labor of the days that follow, to be none at all, at least so easy, that it hath given occasion of the saying, Dimidium facti, qui been coepit, habet: A work well begun is half done: if then this days labor make a good beginning, and a good beginning make so great a progress, how can we think, but that the labor of this day will be well bestowed? It is said, Aurora amica Musis, that the morning is a friend to the Muses; and what is this first day, but as it were, the morning of the week? and therefore, if we labor not this day, we make a division between the Muses, and their friend; and then we cannot look to have the Muses our friend; we cannot indeed look to have God our friend, if we begin not our labor with alacrity and cheerfulness. Not to labor this day, is to make the day it self to labor: and seeing sufficient for the day, is the labor thereof; should we not do ill to add more labor to it? and then we add more labor to the day, when we labor in the day: For, qui non est hodie, cras minus aptus erit: He that is idle today, will be more tomorrow, and so more and more till it come at last to the most: that as at first we had no will to labor; so at last we shall have no ability to labor: and then of necessity, as now of choice, we shall be servants to idleness, the greatest labor of all.

Seeing then the beginning of every work, is for the most part, the hardest part: and no good beginning can be made, if God be not the principal actor in it: For if the Lord build not the City, the builders labor but in vain. Therefore, O thou that art the Alpha and Omega; the beginner and finisher of all good things; vouchsafe to be present at this beginning of my work, in this beginning of the days of my work: that being in thee, and to thee intended and begun, it may by thee, and through thee, be finished, and have a happy issue.

But what are the works we are to do this day? Are they not works for necessities, and works for ornament? for so bountiful a Lord is God unto us, that he allows us to do works, as well for ornament as necessity. When Adam made him clothes of fig-leaves to cover his nakedness; this was a work of necessity: but when Hester attired her self in her rich apparel; this was a work of ornament, and both these works allowed of God. But when we labor for necessities, we must not labor for superfluities; when we work for ornament, we must not work for vanity; and this is a hard moderation to be observed, and whereof perhaps vain man is of himself scarce capable. Here therefore is God's assistance specially to be sought, and how to be sought, but only by Prayer? for though Prayer be not the very work we have to do this day, yet prayer must be the preface to the work, or it will never be well done. For (O my soul) if we begin not our work with Hosanna, we shall never finish with Hallelujah; if we begin it not with Prayer, we shall hardly ever end it with Thanksgiving. O therefore thou great Moderator of all things, vouchsafe so to moderate me in supplying necessities, that I may content myself without seeking superfluities: so moderate me in supplying of ornaments, that I may content myself without seeking after vanities.

Now that we have had a whole day of rest, we may well be contented to have six days of labor; for one of rest for six of labor is no uncomfortable proportion. And indeed the rest we have had, hath been but to make us the fitter to labor; for labor is the thing we are borne to in this world. Alas! the rest we have now, is but a laboring to rest; Laborare ut non laboremus; our rest will never be perfect till it come to be eternal; and will never be eternal till we come to be with him who inhabiteth eternity; and till then, O my soul, thou must be contented to labor: and to do it, not only with patience, seeing it must be done, but with cheerfulness, seeing there will be a reward for it being done: for as God loveth a cheerful giver, so he loveth a cheerful laborer; and where patience perhaps may be out of constraint, cheerfulness cannot but be out of obedience; and who knows not, that obedience is better, and to God more acceptable than any Sacrifice?

When we hear it said, Six days thou shalt labor, we may do well to meditate upon the cause, why it was said; for if we had not sinned, it had never been said: If there had been no sin, there should have been no labor; but now labor is enjoined us as a penance for our sins: and this penance we must do, or else incur a greater punishment: but though the day be dedicate to labor, yet the labor of the day we may dedicate to God: so of the penance, we shall make a sacrifice, and then labor will no longer be laborious to us, being so employed. But if we think of the six days of labor, to make so many Sabbaths of rest; and so to shift off labor altogether: as God knows too many do, spending all their time in idleness; or which is worse, in vanity: alas! we shall do it but in our own wrong: for when we look to enter into our true rest; and that there shall be no more labor for us to take, we shall have the like answer made to us, as Abraham made to Dives, Son, thou hast received thy goods in thy life time, thou hast taken thine ease in days that were ordained for labor; and thou canst not have all Sabbath, both then and now, both there and here: and seeing thou hast made a Sabbath to thyself which God never made, thou hast forfeited the Sabbath which he had provided; and which is worse, where thy penance before had been but weeping for thy sins, it will be now weeping for thy torment, and gnashing of teeth.

The Heathen dedicated this day to the Moon; committing therein, besides the impiety, a most gross absurdity; for what can be more absurd, than to dedicate a day of labor to the Moon, whose Empire is but only in the night, when all labor is done? But thou, O my soul, follow not this folly of the heathen, but content thyself with God's dedication of the day, and dedicate it to labor: but then labor not for things that are under the Moon, which are as variable, and as subject to change as the Moon it self is: but labor for things that are above the Sun; that thou mayst be out of danger of this saying, What remains to a man of all his labor; that he labors under the Sun?

It was upon this day in the revolution of time, that God made heaven, the glorious mansion of blessed spirits, and will there not be a place there for thee also, O my soul, if thou place thy labors as God hath ordained them? But canst thou look for rest in heaven, until thou hast labored first on earth? and is not this a good motive to make thee labor to come to heaven: to think that heaven was this day prepared for thy coming to it? Can any labor be grievous that is taken to so glorious an intent? No my soul, but as God this day hath made Heaven ready for us: so let us this day make ourselves ready for heaven; For alas, else we do not answer God, in the intent of his works, and were it not a grievous thing, that when God doth all he can to make us happy, we should do all we can to make ourselves miserable? and we shall do so indeed, if we cross God in his ordinance, and labor not these six days, as he appoints us: of which this now is but the first: and O my soul, if thou shouldst faint now at thy first setting out; now that thou art fresh, and hast had a whole day of rest, what hope is there thou shouldst be able, to hold out the other days of labor that are remaining? Think not therefore of the labor of the day, but think of the recompense of the labor, and this thought will certainly keep thee in heart. We are all of us very ready to labor for earth, of which we have enough already; and shall hereafter have too much, but we are very unready to labor for heaven: of which we have as yet nothing, and can never have enough: And can there be a greater folly than this, to labor for that, we shall have without labor: and not to labor for that which without labor we shall never have? O therefore my soul, leave laboring for earth: and let thy labor be for heaven, and though thou shalt not have another Sabbath presently, yet thou shalt presently have another time of rest; thou shalt have a whole night, which will plentifully serve to refresh thy wearied limbs, though after never so hard labor: and indeed the harder thy labor is in the day, the sweeter thy rest will be in the night: and hath not God then dealt most graciously with us, who enjoins us indeed to labor six days, but it is to make our rest the sweeter in the nights? O then my soul, be thankful to him for both: both for thy labor in the day, and for thy rest in the night, and pray unto him, that as they be both of them for thy comfort, so they may be both of them to his Glory; Pray unto him that he will first give thee a will to labor, for where the mind is willing, all labor is easy: and then that he will give thee an ability to labor: for though the spirit be willing, yet the flesh is weak: and lastly, that he will give a blessing to thy labors; that being not vain, they may not be in vain, but have a happy and successful issue: for without his blessing all labor is but lost that is taken, all courses but frustrate that are undertaken.

And yet (O my soul) thou hast not done, this is not yet all thou hast to do: for is it enough to labor, and do works, and to have patience? No my soul, for all this the Church of Ephesus did, to which the Angel acknowledged, I know thy labor, and thy works, and thy patience; and how for my Names sake thou hast labored, and hast not fainted; and yet he had somewhat against her, because she had left her first love. Take heed therefore O my soul, that this be not thy case, for there is no trusting to labor, nor to works: the first love is all, and what is this first love, but to love God first, and before all? to labor, not for ourselves, but for him, to work, not for our own profit, but for his Glory, to labor, not only for his Names sake, which that Church did; but only for his Names sake, which that Church did not; and no fitter time to show this first love, than this first day; which O my soul, if thou shalt do this day, thou shalt make a good days work; and there shall be given thee to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. O therefore most gracious God, make me so to show my first love, by continuing my labor this first day, in works of piety: that after this, and the rest that follow, I may rest from my labors, and my works may follow me, that I may follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON TVESDAY.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON TVESDAY.

THis O my soul, is thy second day of labor: the first perhaps thou hast well employed in the course of thy vocation: but is it enough to pass one day well, if thou hold not on thy course in the rest that follow? Is it enough to have made a good beginning, if thou now give over, before thou come at the ending? Remember how it is said: He that continueth to the end, he only shall be saved. But what speak I to thee of continuance: being so weak and feeble a creature as thou art? soon weary (God knows) of doing anything: and of nothing sooner than of well-doing: but soonest of all, if there be labor required to the doing it: for then human imbecility seems to claim a privilege, to give over at any time. And there will be no help for this, but only by prayer: & prayer to him who is Antiquus dierum, the ancient of days: in whom there is no change, nor shadow of change. O therefore, thou Great and Gracious God, as thou hast begun this good work in me, to labor one day already, in the course of my vocation: so give me a constant resolution to persevere, and to hold out my labor this day also; that the fruit of my labors may come to some maturity: and that adding one days labor to another, I may bear a part in that song of thy Saints, Day by day we magnify thee; and we praise thy Name, ever world without end. Alas my soul, if thou shouldst not continue thy labor this day also, thou wouldst lose the benefit of all thy former days labor, for God will take thee as he finds thee: he accepts thee not for what thou hast done, but for what thou doest: and if thou hast done well, and dost not continue, it had been as good thou hadst never begun. The day before thou didst but plough the ground, this is the day wherein to sow it: and canst thou have any benefit of thy Ploughing: if thou give over, and do not sow it? If God had given over his works of creation at the second day; though there had indeed been an Heaven and an Earth: yet the heavens had been without Stars; and the earth without man or beast: and so my soul it would be with thee, if thou shouldest now give over, and not continue thy labor. What good is it to have a foundation laid, if there be no walls reared? and this O my soul, is the day for rearing the walls. What benefit of a work, of which there is no use? and what use can be of it, if only begun, and then given over? Did not Moses strike the Rock twice, before there came any water forth: and canst thou look to have water come forth with striking it but once? Had Lot been ere the better for coming safe out of Sodom, if he had not been constant on his way till he came to Zoar? Was Lots wife ere the better for escaping the fire of Sodom when having escaped that fire, she burned with longing to be looking back: and was thereby made an example of folly, and inconstancy to all posterity? & so my soul it would be with thee, if having passed thy first days station, thou shouldst look back, before thou come at thy Zoar, which is the end of thy labor. What though thou hast done one days better work, than our first Parent Adam, who continued not in innocence the first day he was made? Is it enough to do better than he that did so ill? so ill, that it hath tainted the whole world with illness to this day: and even thee also, O my soul, as well as others: that if thou now give over, and continue not thy labor, thou mayst truly say, it is long of him. But if thou have taken hurt by his fault, at least take warning by his example; and if thou find thyself to faint, and not able to hold out two days together, then have recourse to Prayer, for prayer will add new vigor to thy spirits, and not suffer a good beginning to break off in the middle. I therefore once again make my prayer unto thee, most Gracious God, that thou wilt continue thy favor to me this day: that I may continue my labor this day: and that no enticements of the world, no suggestions of Satan may divert me from the good course I have begun: but that as I go from day today, so I may grow from strength to strength, until I come to the fullness of a perfect man in Christ Jesus.

It is said, He that provides not for his family is worse than an infidel: and he is like to provide but ill for his family, who having labored one day, should the very next day turn loyterer, and give over his labor. And it is not perhaps for nothing, that when God saith, Six days thou shalt labor, and do all that thou hast to do; it seems spoken in such a manner, that it may be doubted whether he require it of us as a commandment; or only but allow it to us as a liberty: but in which sense soever it be spoken, we shall certainly not do, as we ought to do, if we continue not to labor the whole six days together; for if it be spoken as requiring it; then in not laboring we shall break a kind of commandment; and if it be spoken, as only allowing it, then in not laboring we shall seem to slight the bounty of God, as refusing to make use of that portion of time, which he affords us. O therefore vouchsafe O God, to indue me with a spirit of constancy, that I may hold out the six days of labor, with a settled resolution, and specially, that I may add this second days labor to the former, lest if that day should go without a fellow, it may haply be in danger of the Woe pronounced by Solomon, Woe to one that is alone.

It seems that God makes it a journey for us of six days, to go from one Sabbath to another: and a journey cannot be performed without labor: if therefore we let any of the six days pass without labor, we shall never come kindly to the next Sabbath: either something will be forgotten that should have been remembered; or something left undone that should have been done: or something or other will be wanting, that should make the Sabbath be welcome to us when it comes. O therefore take from me O God, the spirit of idleness, and the spirit of slumber, that I be not like a ship that is calmed, and cannot stir, but that by the gale of thy free Spirit, I may be able to use both sails and oars, to attain the blessed part of that Sabbath, which will amply make amends for more than the six days labor put upon us.

It is observed in the works of God's Creation, that of his work which he made the second day, it is not said, that he saw it was good, as though there were something in the second day that made his works not appear so good, as in the other days: Was it perhaps, that of his work of the second day, God said not, He saw it was good, because the second is the number of Division, which is never good, and least of all with God, who is unity it self? Or was it, that of the works he made, the second day, he said not, he saw they were good, because perhaps that day he made the Angels, of whom some were not good; not that he made them not good, but that he saw they would not continue good: and perhaps did not continue good that very day in which they were made, to give God time to say, they were good: how ever it were, seeing of his work of the second day, God said not, He saw it was good; it behooves us to be the more watchful over our works of this second day, that God may neither see in them the evil of Apostasy, as in the Angels: nor the evil of division, as in the number; to hinder him from saying, they are good; but that he may see in them a constancy in our honest labors, and a perseverance in our holy endeavors; the only things that can move God to say, he sees them to be good: and when he sees them to be good, to know them to be his own works in us. For alas, if he should look upon our works as they are in themselves, and as they are wrought by us, he would see nothing in them, but even the Apostasy of the Angels, and the evil of Division, at least nothing of which he could justly say, he sees it to be good; but as it is wrought in us by his holy Spirit.

Was it not upon this day in the revolution of time, that God made the tree of Good and Evil; the bait with which our first Parents were caught? and is it not a bait as like to catch us as it did them, if we take not the better heed? and is it not then a good motive, to make us take the better heed to our ways this day: to remember that this day, was laid the first bait that drew our first Parents, and in them us into sin? a bait indeed, by God, but for our trial: but made by Satan a bait of temptation. O merciful God, so divert mine eyes this day from seeing of vanity, that I may spend this day in the course of my vocation; and not be drawn by any bait to transgress thy commandments.

It was upon this day in the revolution of time that God made the Earth to bring forth fruit; herbs and trees according to their kind; and shall the earth this day bring forth fruit for the use of man, and shall I bring forth no fruit this day for the service of God? Am not I made of a better mold than the earth; at least of the the best mold of the earth? and shall the worse mold bring forth fruit; and the better none, or none that shall attain to ripeness and maturity? for what maturity can there be in one days labor, when there are six days labor required to do it? O therefore, thou great God, who being thyself most perfect, indeed perfection it self, givest all thy creatures a perfection in their kind: vouchsafe so to shine upon me with the beams of thy grace, that they may bring forth in me the fruits of good living, and fruits that may grow up to perfect ripeness; which is then done, when they be wholly addressed to the Glory of thy Name: for though the day it self I dedicate to labor, yet the labor of the day I dedicate to thee; to whom be all Honor and Glory forever, and ever. Amen.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON WEDNESDAY.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON WEDNESDAY.

THis O my soul, is the third of thy days of labor; and if thou have well spent the two former, in the course of thy vocation, are they not an encouragement to thee, to continue thy labor this day also? For dost thou not find thyself as fresh now, as at the first? or rather so much fresher, as exercise is able to make more able? Indeed to labor in well doing never wearies a willing mind; but rather adds new vigor to it, as seeming to prompt it to continue by its own example. But O my soul, as there be many encouragements for thee to continue thy labor, so there is a powerful Orator stands ready to dissuade thee from it: the Orator that persuaded our first Parent Eve, that darkness was light: and therefore will not stick to persuade thee, that idleness is labor: and though he be laying his battery against thee continually and every day; yet this third day, I have great cause to doubt his violence more than before; First, because this was the method he held in tempting of Christ, to keep his strongest temptation for the third; for then he shown him all the Kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and made him a promise of them, but only to fall down and worship him; that this day most properly we may make this Prayer, By thy fasting and temptation, good Lord deliver us: And is he not like to hold the same course with me? For doth he not offer me all the ease and pleasures of the world, if I will but this third day give over, and forbear to labor? and doth he not fortify his tempting of me, as he did of Christ, with a text of Scripture, There is nothing better to a man under the Sun, than to eat, and drink, and be merry; And by this Text seeks to withdraw me from labor? But, O my soul, it is happy for thee, that as Christ had his Text, so thou hast thine in readiness to answer him: Six days thou shalt labor, and do all that thou hast to do: And I may the rather fear, he will use more violence in assaulting me this day, then in the former, because this is the third day, and makes up the number of three: a number that Satan cannot abide of any; whether it be that three being the first perfect number, is therefore the most hateful to him, as being an enemy to all perfection: or whether it be, that it puts him in mind of the blessed Trinity, a mystery he cannot think of with any patience: and puts him perhaps into as great a passion, as when he said to Christ, Art thou come to torment us before the time? And now O my soul, if this third day be so hateful to Satan; if the number of three, be so formidable to him, thou mayst do well to take advantage of his fear, and to make this thy prayer this day; O Holy, Blessed, and Glorious Trinity, three Persons, and one God, vouchsafe to defend me this third day, from all the assaults of Satan, that neither his batteries may enforce me, nor his flatteries may entice me to to give over laboring in the course of my vocation, but that according to thy holy Ordinance, I may labor this day, and do all that I have to do, in spite of all his stratagems and devises. For, O my soul, if thy former days labor have been easy to thee; why shouldst thou now offer to give them over? and if they have been hard and difficult; yet consider thou art going to a Sabbath; follow the example of Christ, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the Cross, and set light by the labors of a painful and afflicted life. But O blessed Savior, it is not enough to have thy example, if we have not also thy assistance. O therefore vouchsafe to assist me with grace, and endue me with a spirit of perseverance: one drop of thy patience infused into me, will like the drop of honey to Jonathan, be of force sufficient to refresh my spirits, and to put new vigor into my soul.

Although all the six days be days of labor; yet this third day especially, and more than any other, and therefore this day hath always been designed to sackcloth, and ashes: and if, O my soul, thou endure not to labor this day, which is the easiest part of thy penance: how wilt thou endure to put on sackcloth and ashes this day, which is so much a harder part? and yet as hard a part as it is, it must be done: and O merciful God, make me so to do penance this day, in sackcloth and ashes; in the Sackcloth of patience, and in the ashes of contrition, that I may never come to do penance in the fire that is unquenchable, and leaves no ashes; Alas, no place for contrition.

There are indeed three things that are commonly reputed to be the parts of perfect holiness; thoughts, and words, and actions; and he that continues to labor in God's service this third day, may well be thought to have attained these three degrees: but if he stand idle this third day, and do not labor, he will be found guilty, at least in one of them, and then his service will never be accepted. O therefore vouchsafe O God, so to sanctify all the thoughts of my Heart, and all the words of my mouth, and all the actions of my life, that I may be admitted this third day, a laborer in thy vineyard; and this, O my soul, will be as great a happiness, as when Saint Paul was wrapped up into the third Heaven.

It was upon this day, in the revolution of time, that God made the Stars, the Sun, and the Moon: but alas, O Lord, what avails it me that thou hast set stars of light in the heavens, if thou set not as well also stars of grace in my heart? they may give light to my bodily eyes; but only these to the eyes of my soul: and seeing I live by my soul, and not by my body, be pleased O God, as thou didst upon this day, furnish heaven with stars of light, so this day to furnish my soul with stars of grace, and with stars of all magnitudes: with some of patience, with some of fear, with some of devotion, but above all, with the two great stars of faith and perseverance: that I may persevere and continue my labor to serve thee this third day; not doubting but this day ended, will call up another: and so continue calling, till they bring me at last to that true Sabbath, where there shall be no more stars of different magnitude, but all shall be only one great star of love and charity.

A single cord is of no great strength, and a double cord, of not much greater, but a threefold cord is not easily broken: O therefore my soul, continue thy labor this third day also: that so thou mayst make thee a threefold cord of devotion, of piety, and perseverance: and then neither the world, nor Satan shall be able to break it. If I should say Holy, to God, once and twice, and not the third time also; I should come short in the Angels song; and how then could I look for an Angels reward? O therefore my soul, continue to say Holy this third day also; which is to exercise thyself in holy endeavors, that so thou mayst bear a part in the Angels song; or rather mayst act that which the Angels do but sing: and not be frustrate of thy expectation. Did God make the Sun to give us light this day, with a meaning we should stand idle this day? Alas, idleness needs no light: and therefore, see. God made us light this day, we may be sure he looks we should labor this day, and not stand idle. O therefore my soul, do not frustrate God's ordinance; make not the Sun to stand idle, by thy standing idle, but while it is called today, employ thyself in honest labor; that the Sun may see thee make use of its light; and that God may see thee make use of his creatures, to the purpose for which he made them; lest otherwise they may justly be taken from thee, as not worthy to have them, that dost not use them, or not use them as they ought. If God have given us the comfortable gift of light this day, shall we not in gratefulness give him thanks this day? and the best kind of thanks for the benefits of his creatures, is to make benefit of his creatures; and then we make benefit of light, when we do the works of light, and stand not idle: But know my soul withal, that all labor is but idleness, if it be not joined with prayer, and with thanksgiving.

It was upon this day in the revolution of time, that the wretched Judas made a bargain with the wicked Jews for selling of Christ; and ought not the remembrance of this be a good motive to us to stand upon our watch, that we commit no sin this day, lest we be taken to join with Judas in selling of Christ? Indeed in every sin we commit, if we sell not Christ to the Jews, at least we sell our souls to Satan.

If it be examined in true construction, this third day may well be counted the first day; for what day could there be before there was a Sun? and there was no Sun till this third day; if then O my soul thou hast labored heretofore, before, it was day; wilt thou not labor now when the Sun is up, and it is broad day light? But then as thou laborest in thy worldly vocation: so be not idle in thy spiritual calling: no my soul, but so labor in both thy callings, that thou mayst be found worthy to be chosen for thy labor; for it is a fearful thing, to be of their number, of whom it is said, Many are called, but few are chosen.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON THVRSDAY.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON THVRSDAY.

THis, O my soul, is the fourth of thy six days of labor: and so one half of thy labor is now past, and perhaps the hardest half: for the former days were spent, in laboring I may say, up hill; labor increased upon thee before, but will now every day abate, that very speedily now thou wilt come within sight of thy races end: and therefore no time now to faint. No my soul, but go cheerfully on; for alacrity lightens labors; and then only is a work hard to be wrought, when the mind must be wrought as well as the work.

But alas, my soul, why do I call upon thee to be willing; as though it were in thy own power, to will what thou wouldest? Thy will I know is free, but thou hast not power to use that freedom, without the assistance of a higher power. O therefore thou great God, who only hast power over the freedom of my will, vouchsafe by the operation of thy Spirit, so to incline my heart that my will may be conformable to thy will: and that no reluctancy of the flesh may obicem ponere, to divert my soul. If my soul were free, and alone by it self, it would perhaps have power over the freedom of my will: but being in this prison of my body, it is drawn oftentimes to be willing against its will: that I know not which to call its will, whether that which of it self it would, and doth not; or that which of it self it doth, and would not. But thou O God, be pleased to reconcile this difference: make my will and my actions to agree in one: and both of them to concur with thy pleasure, that I may have nothing in me of my own, but all of thine; not my own will, but thy will; not my own ways, but thy ways; not my own thoughts, but thy thoughts; that thy Image, which hath been long defaced in me, may now at length be renewed: that all things may be done away, and new come in their place, till there come to be a new Heaven, and new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness; for then, and not till then, will my soul have a freedom of will, and a power over it.

Christ bids us knock, and it shall be opened unto us, but he tells us not how often we must knock before it shall be opened to us: if therefore we have knocked three days already, and it be not yet opened to us; yet let us not give over knocking: it may be this fourth day is the time it will be opened to us. To give over our labor now, were to make frustrate all the former days labors. For it is an undoubted truth, if ever piety be rewarded, it is long of perseverance. Indeed this fourth days labor hath a special influence of virtue in it; it makes, I may say, a quadrature of piety; in which every side is a front: and is thereby the complement of all the former days labors: and without which their labors are abortives, and imperfect births. What was Sampson the better for three times withstanding the enticements of Delilah, when the fourth time he yielded, and discovered where his strength lay? No more shall we be the better for three days holding on our honest courses, if now this fourth day we give over, and turn our strength into weakness, by turning our labor into idleness.

But what is all this to keep my soul from fainting, in this fourth days labor? it is not words will do it, it must be something that is real: see then my soul, I have that to offer thee, which is truly real; the Body and Blood of Christ; of wh • ch, upon this very day, in the revolution of time, he instituted his blessed Sacrament: for though to my body it be bread and wine, yet to my soul, it is his body and his blood: and can there be a fitter day to meditate upon this mystery, than the day upon which it was first ordained? And will not this food be a sufficient cordial to keep thee from fainting in this fourth days labor? Yes, my soul, though thou wert dead, yet would this revive thee, and put new life into thee. But then remember, he that will not labor must not eat: if therefore thou continue not thy labor this day, as he hath appointed, thou must not look to eat this food, which upon this day he appointed to be eaten: for this is a food that must be eaten worthily; and none worthy to eat it that doth not labor. O therefore my soul, that thou mayst not faint, be sure to ear it, and that thou mayest eat it, be sure to labor and by this means, all differences will indifferently be composed; thou my soul, shalt be preserved, and God's holy Name shall also be glorified.

But if this be not a sufficient cordial to keep thee from fainting: then add another to it; the cordial of Christ's Ascension: for upon this very day, in the revolution of time, did Christ ascend up into heaven; and ascended in that very body, which he had given thee before to eat; and if by eating it thou makest thyself one body with him; shalt not thou also in thy body ascend up thither, where he himself is? But though thou canst not stand gazing this day to see him ascend, as the Apostles did, yet thou mayst this day meditate upon the benefit of his ascending; and this cannot choose but be a perfect cordial to keep thee from fainting: and indeed this is the day, in which most properly we may say, By thy precious Body and Blood, and by thy glorious Ascension, good Lord deliver us.

O therefore, most gracious God, enable me so to labor this day; that I may be worthy to eat thy body: and make me so to eat it, that I may be incorporate into it; and may thereby be made capable of the benefit of thy Ascension. But till I have the benefit of ascending up in body: make me at least to ascend up in soul; that as thou by ascending hast taken possession for both; so my soul, by ascending, may take possession for my body: that as they are joined together here in these six days of labor: so they may be joined there in the rest hereafter of an eternal Sabbath.

It was upon this day, in the revolution of time, that God made the fishes of the Sea, and fowls of the air: the first living creatures that ever he made: and if God have labored this day, to make creatures to do us service, shall not we continue our labor this day to do him service? And it is not only that this day made his first living creatures; but that he hath made them such, that they had no part in provoking God to bring the great deluge upon the earth: and art not thou jealous of this, O my soul, that fishes should be more pleasing to God than thyself, and such as thou art? O then, not only continue thy labor this day, but let thy labors be such, they may not provoke God to bring any new destruction upon the world, but that when the wicked shall perish in their sins, by the angry hand of God, yet thy works, like fishes, may escape the fury of his wrath, and may swim securely in the Ocean of his mercy. And now my soul, thou mayst justly conclude, O great and gracious God, as thou hast safely brought me to the beginning of this day, so vouchsafe to to bring me safely to the ending; and let the meditations of my heart this day, be first of the great mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ: and then of the great benefit of his Acension into heaven: and lastly of the wonderful creatures, thou didst this day make in the sea; the small fishes, in number innumerable; the great whales, in magnitude incredible; and all for the use of man, and to be under his Dominion; that our labor this day may be chiefly to praise thee for thy goodness, and for the wonderful works which thou hast done for the children of men.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON FRIDAY

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON FRIDAY.

THis is now our fifth day of labor, and after this but one day of labor more, and then our Sabbath. And as a workman hath his heart well lightened, when the greatest part of his work is done, and only some small part remains: and as a mariner rejoiceth, when after long tossing with storms and tempests, he comes to descry the land, and specially his desired haven: so is it this day with us: we may justly now rejoice, seeing after four days of incessant labor, we come this day (I may say) within sight of our Sabbath, which is the haven of our rest: and by this reckoning, we should now be singing of Hallelujahs, and songs of joy. But O my soul, our case is far otherwise, for all the labors of the days past are nothing, compared to the labor of this day: and as for the Sabbath that is talked of, what Sabbath can I look to have, when the Lord of the Sabbath, was this day himself so cruelly handled! I have had a most grievous nigt of it, to see him in whom was all my hope, brought now himself almost to despair; and yet I shall have a more grievous day of it, to see the Lord of my life, be put himself to a cruel death: and now my soul, what can my labor do? All I could have done, had been but to oppose his adversaries: & perhaps to have stricken off one of their ears: and this would have done no good: for he would presently have healed it again. Yet I might have followed him to see the end, as Peter did: but so perhaps I might have denied him, as Peter did: yet I should hope O Lord, thou wouldest afford me the like grace as thou didst to Peter; to make me presently go out and weep bitterly. But alas, this weeping would be for myself; and I have now cause to weep for another: one infinitely more deer unto me, than I am myself; and of such worth, that it were better the whole world should perish, than one hair of his head should be diminished. And can I remember it then without weeping; that this man of more worth than the world was this day held of no worth in the world; alas, was rejected; alas, was despised, and was made a public spectacle to the world, of infinite woe and infamy: and have I not cause then to turn the labor of this day into lamenting? but where to find lamentations to serve my turn this day I know not: alas, the lamentations of Jeremy are far too short to express my sorrow: to have my head be made a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night, bears no proportion with the greatness of my grief; O ye rocks, why do you not cleave asunder to see this day? and the rocks indeed did cleave asunder at it: and veil of the Temple rent in twain, from the top to the bottom. O ye heavens, why are ye not astonished at this sight? and the heavens indeed were astonished at it: for the Sun was darkened from the sixth hour to the ninth: and why was the Sun darkened, but because the Sun of Righteousness was eclipsed? Why was the veil of the Temple rent, but because his body was rent, that was indeed the true Temple, in which all holiness was dwelling bodily? And is not this a case, that deserves lamenting? O my soul, if I should lament this day, as the case of the day deserves to be lamented; it might justly be said to be a day of labor indeed.

But seeing thou canst never lament enough, let thy labor now be turned into thanking; for why did Christ suffer all these indignities? why was he punished, that was no delinquent? was it by the error of the Judge, upon the suggestion of false witnesses? No, God knows, it was his own voluntary act; for he knew, we could not be healed but by his stripes: he knew we could not be saved, but by his death: and such was his compassion and pity towards us, that for our sakes, he took a burden upon him, which no shoulders but his were able to bear. He paid a debt for us, which we were never able to have paid ourselves: he bore a penalty for us, which we were never able to have borne ourselves: he performed a justice for us which we were never able to have performed ourselves: And who were we, that for us he should take such burdens upon him? For good men perhaps, one may be gotten to die, but we, alas, were all grievous sinners. For friends perhaps one may be drawn to suffer much; but we, God knows, were all his enemies: and doth not such kindness then deserve thanks at our hands, in the highest degree? O my soul, if I should labor to thank him this day, as his love shown me this day deseives to be thanked; it might justly be said to be a day of labor indeed.

But seeing with all thy labor, thou art never able to thank him enough; let thy labor now be turned into magnifying; for having done these great things for me, how can I speak of him in a lower style than to say, Thou art the King of glory O Christ, thou art the everlasting Son of the Father: when thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgins womb: when thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou diddest open the Kingdom of heaven to all believers; and therefore day by day we magnify thee; and we worship thy Name, ever world without end.

But seeing with all my labor I can never magnify him, as he deserves: my labor now shall be turned into praying; that, O gracious God, thou wilt be pleased, to make me truly sensible of these inestimable favors, sensible from what I am redeemed, and sensible by whom I am redeemed, and sensible to what I am redeemed: for I am redeemed, not only from the worst captivity, but from that which is worse than captivity, from the thralldom of Satan, and from everlasting death: and I am redeemed by him, who incurred thy displeasure, to procure my reconcilement: by him who exinanivit seipsum, emptied himself, that of his fullness we might all receive: and I am redeemed to the end I might serve thee without fear, without servile fear indeed, but yet in fear & holiness all the days of my life. And now my soul put all these labors together; lamenting, and thanking, & magnifying, & praying, and all of them to be done this day, & then say, if this day may not justly be said to be a day of labor? a day indeed of so great labor, that if my Sabbath come not the sooner, I shall never be able to hold out from fainting. But O merciful God, when my own strength fails, be thou pleased to assist me with the strength of thy grace, that I may lament his suffering with a hearty contrition, that I may thank him for his sufferings, with an humble acknowledgement, that I may magnify his sufferings, with songs of extolling, and that I may pray for them all, with a true devotion: and being thus assisted, I shall come to my Sabbath time enough; and before any fit of fainting take hold upon me. For O my soul, though these indeed be great labors, yet we may well be contented to take them this day, seeing we are beholding to this day for a Prayer, which but for this day we could never have made: By thy Cross and Passion, by thy precious Death and Burial, Good Lord deliver us.

And yet these are not all the labors of the day neither; for it was upon this day, in the revolution of time, that God made the beasts of the earth, and last of all made man; whether it were he made him last, as his perfectest work: for this hath hitherto been God's manner, to proceed from the less to the more perfect; and therefore of his second days work, it is not said, He saw it was good: because his work of the second day was not perfected till the third day; and in God's language, nothing is good that is not perfect: or whether it were that he would not make man till he had first made all things else, that he might have no pretence of wanting anything in excuse of his sin: or whether it were, that he reserved man for his last work, before he rested himself: that being made so lately, he might have entered into his rest at the shortest distance: and is there not in all these considerations, very just occasion to move us this day to labor? O my soul, if our first parent. Adam had labored but this one day; Alas, but a small part of this one day in serving of God; how happy had he been? how happy had we all been? for if once he had gotten a Sabbath over his head; if he had but once entered into God's rest: he had then been safe forever, against all temptations of the world, and Satan. For this (we may conceive) had been the like confirmation to him in grace, as was to the holy Angels at the fall of Lucifer. This Satan knew well, and therefore made hast to get between him and home; and taking advantage of his idleness, before he knew what labor meant, he quickly brought him to his fall. And is there not in this again another consideration, to make us consecrate this day to labor? For why did Adam fall, but because he did not labor? if he had not stood gazing upon the forbidden fruit, if he had notspent his time idly, in parley with the Serpent, he might have stood still in his estate of uprightness, & never perhaps have been put to other labor, than walking with God.

And now my soul, let these considerations be laid together, that this was the day in which man was made; this the day in which man fell; this the day in which man was redeemed; and then say, if these three make not a strong cord to draw us (if anything will draw us) this day to labor? We use to celebrate our birth-day with some extraordinary solemnity: and shall we use no solemnity upon this day, which is the general birthday of all mankind? We use when we are fallen, to labor to rise again; and shall we not labor to rise this day, in which we took our fall? Is it not fit, when we are redeemed, to do some act to show that we are freed? and in all these considerations, what so fit as prayer? the greatest solemnity we can use to celebrate our birth day. The fittest labor we can take, to help us to rise; the best act we can do to express our liberty. O then my soul, labor this day: but let thy labor be with Prayer; that this day thou mayst do works of piety worthy of thy creation; works of humility in remembrance of thy fall; and works of charity in acknowledgement of thy redemption. And if any man think, that prayer is but an easy labor, and not enough for this day; let him remember Christ's praying in the garden, which was so laborious to him, that it brought him into a sweat of very blood. O then vouchsafe O God, to endue me with a spirit of fervent prayer, that may draw all blood of profaneness out of my veins; that all the meditations of my heart, and all my actions this day may wholly be directed by thee, & wholly be directed to thee, to thee O God, who only canst make my labors light unto me; and only canst endite my prayers for me: only my soul remember, that this is the day, semper acerbus, semper honoratus: to which we are beholding for a prayer, which but for this day we could never have said, By thy agony and bitter Passion, by thy precious death and burial, good Lord deliver us.

Jacob told Pharaoh, that few and evil were the days of his Pilgrimage: and took no notice of any good day he had ever had; and how then come we to have a good day, amongst our much worse and fewer than his were? and if we have not a good day, why do we call it good Friday? can that be a good day, which took our only good away? can that day be good, which deprived us of him that was only good? May we not rather call it one of Jacob's evil days; or, one of Jacob's accursed days, than to call it a good day? No my soul, just cause to call it a good day, that was the cause of all good days to us; though not to him: or therefore to him also, because to us: but justest cause to call it Good Friday, which was the cause of our good Sunday; for if it had not been for this Friday, the next Sunday could have been no Sabbath; for if he had not died now, he could not have risen then; seeing he was not to rise, till the third day after his death: and if he had not risen then, it had not been then a Sabbath: seeing it was his rising only that made it a Sabbath. If therefore our Sabbath be good, then is this Friday good, which prepared it to be a Sabbath. And by this appears a reason of the different reckoning of the day of Christ's death, and the day of his birth: for the death of Christ is remembered to us by the day of the week, and nor of the Moneth; but the birth of Christ, is remembered to us, by the day of the Moneth, and not of the Weeke, and this because the day of his death reserres to the Sabbath; and that being Sunday, this of necessity must be Friday: what day of the Moneth soever: but the day of his birth hath no day of the week to regulate it of necessity, and therefore it is left to the Moneth at large, moveable as concerning the week, fixed only as concerning the month.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON SATVRDAY.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER UPON SATVRDAY.

THis, O my soul, is my last day of labor; and if I can hold out now, but this one day more, I shall then be free from all danger of fainting forever hereafter. Alas, if I should fail now in extremo actu, in the last stage of my labor, it would utterly make frustrate all my former days labors. For though there be a prize set for them that run, yet not till they come to the end of the race: and till we can say with Saint Paul, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course; we have no right to say with him, There is a crown of righteousness laid up for me, which the righteous Judge will give me at the last day. Be not therefore too confident my soul, for how many have gone cheerfully on, a great part of the race, and yet have given over before they came to the end? Did not Saul do so, a man chosen by God himself, to be a King of Israel? Did not Judas do so, a man chosen by Christ himself to be an Apostle? and who am I, that I should presume of myself not to fail; when Arietes gregis, such great ones as these have failed? No my soul, I presume not, but yet I have a confidence; and not a confidence neither, but with fear; a confidence of persisting, but yet with fear of not persisting; for as God saith; I will never leave thee nor forsake thee; which makes me confident: so Saint Peter saith, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; which makes me fearful. But seeing it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in thee only, O God, that showest mercy: O therefore thou great God, in whose hand is the strength of the hills, and thy days never fail; vouchsafe to assist me so with thy grace, that my strength may not fail me in going up this hill of my last days labor; but that my six days of labor being ended with patience; I may enter into thy rest with joy, there to rest with thee, and with all blessed Saints forever.

But although the labor of this day, as being the last, must needs be the least; yet it may be thought greatest: as the last mile of a journey seems commonly the longest: whether it be that the body, wearied with the former labor, is less able to endure the present: or whether it be that the minds anticipating, makes any delay to appear tedious; that it seems the greatest labor of this day, is rightly to estimate the labor of the day: and to hold the scales even between fancy and judgment: at least to take care that fancy overweigh not judgment, but that knowing this labor to be the last, and to be concluded with a Sabbath, we may the more cheerfully go on, and continue it at least with patience.

But this day was once a day of rest: and how comes it now to be a day of labor? it was indeed a day of rest under the Law, but now under the Gospel, it is a day of labor. As long as the Father kept all power in his own hands; so long it was a day of rest; but now that he hath given power to the Son to say: All power is given me in heaven, and in earth: Now it is become a day of labor, for the Son must have his Sabbath too: and as the Father, a Sabbath for his work of creation: so the Son, a Sabbath for his work of redemption: and seeing there cannot be two Sabbaths within the compass of seven days, therefore the old was to be abolished that the new might take place; and being no longer a Sabbath, a day of rest, it follows of necessity to be a day of labor.

And a day of labor indeed, it is justly become: for after that the Jews had this day sat watching the Sepulcher where Christ lay buried: a heavy work for a Sabbath days rest: and that this day the Disciples of Christ had sat mourning for his departure; a sad solemnizing of a Sabbath days feast; and that this day Christ himself was descended into hell; a doleful place for a Sabbath days triumph; was it fit for this day to continue its being a Sabbath any longer: when so many sad and mournful works were of all hands done in it? Certainly we may justly think that this day was then the very funeral of the old Sabbath: and that it then gave place for a new to succeed, which is the Sabbath we now celebrate: and thus, as this day which was before a working day, is now become a Sabbath: so that day which was before a Sabbath, is now become a day of labor.

And what then is the labor we have to do this day? What my soul, but the same which the two Mary's did, when Christ lay buried in his grave: to provide spices and sweet odors to embalm his body: for is it enough to fit weeping and mourning for the dead; a thing which doth them no good: and not rather to do something which may be for the ornament at least, if not for their comfort? And what then are the Spices we should prepare? O my soul, the true spices to embalm Christ's body, are mortification, and repentance, faith, and charity, and humility, and he that comes with these spices, and seeks to embalm Christ's body in the grave, shall hear an Angel say unto him: He is risen, he is not here: and well may say, he is not there indeed, for he is risen already in their hearts that thus seek: him: & though they know him not, & take him perhaps but for a gardner, as Mary did, yet is he the very true Christ & such a gardner, that will plant in our hearts the sweet flowers of peace and joy; & then the spices we bring to embalm Christ dead, shall serve to embalm ourselves alive: for being now alive in Christ, by the virtue of his resurrection, we shall be made partakers of his Ascension, which is the last step of all our labors: when for our embalming him with spices, we shall be embalmed by him with immortality; and have the fruition of an eternal Sabbath. But seeing, O blessed Savior, I cannot have these spices for embalming of thee, unless thou first make them to be growing in me; O vouchsafe so to garden and dress my barren heart, with seeds of grace, that it may bring forth in me the fruits of patience, of charity, and of a lively faith: to the embalming not only of my body, but of my soul: & not only in this life, but in the life that is to come.

But though this day be no longer a Sabbath day; yet it is a preparation of the Sabbath still, and retains something of its former quality; and if preparatives be of good use in the Physic of our bodies: they are certainly of no less use in the Physic of our souls: and we shall never indeed come kindly to our Sabbath, if we make not preparation for it the day before. And we may know how necessary a preparation is to us for the Sabbath, if we consider how necessary it was for the Lord of the Sabbath, for therefore came John the Baptist to be a preparative for Christ, his doctrine was only Praeparate: Repent and amend your lives, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand: but though John the Baptist could preach repentance, yet John the Baptist could not give repentance; this was a work for the Lord of the Sabbath himself. O therefore most blessed Savior vouchsafe to do that for me which John the Baptist could not do; give me true repentance, and love, and charity towards all men, that when I come and look for my Sabbath, I may not be like the foolish Virgins, who came without oil in their lamps: and being unprepared, were shut out of doors: but that I may hear thee say, Euge bone serve, Well done good servant, thoucomest prepared, and therefore enter into my rest.

But seeing there can be no entering into this rest, no coming to this Sabbath; but after these six days of labor; which is after all the days of our life, it may not unfitly be here inquired, what should make us to be loath to die; which is nothing but a parting of the soul from the body? O my soul, and must not this be needs a heavy parting? yes, God knows most heavy indeed, but though we all find it to be so; yet who can tell the reason, why it is so? Is it that the soul hath certain faculties, which she cannot use but by bodily organs: and these organs, she will want, if parted from the body; and therefore is not willing to leave the body? Or is it, that while the soul is in the body, she can pretend the frailty of the body in excuse of her sin: and this pretence she will be to seek of, if parted from the body; and therefore is unwilling to leave the body? Or is it that the body is Domicilium animae, the house and dwelling of the soul: and if she be put out of this house, she knows not where to have another; and therefore is not willing to leave the body? Or is it that the soul is so wedded to the body, that though it be to go to her Sabbath; yet she is not willing to go and leave the body behind her? Indeed how unkind soever the body be to the soul, yet the soul is to the body a most constant friend, and never leaves it, if she be not thrust out of doors by force. Or is it that naturally we fear nothing so much as violence: and it must be a great violence to separate them, whom God hath joined together: & must needs be grievous to us, that are God's creatures, to be seised on by death, that is none of his creatures? Or is it that death is the executing of that sentence of God upon us for our sin, Morte morieris, Thou shalt die the death, and because we know not how far that sentence extendeth, we are therefore afraid of coming to it? Or is it that nothing is so fearful as to fall into the hands of an enemy: and of all enemies the most terrible is death: which is therefore called The King of Terrors, and how then can we choose but be afraid to die? Or is it perhaps, that because the soul cannot remember it had any being before it came into the body, it doubts whether it shall have any being, if it go out of the body; and therefore to preserve her being, desires to stay in the body still? Or is it, that while the soul and body are united, they can be a help and comfort to one another; but once divided, the soul is sure to be subject to that woe of Solomon; Vae soli: Woe to one that is alone: and therefore is not willing to be without the body? Or is it, that while the soul is in the body, it is in state of capacity to repent: and so long is not questioned about eating the forbidden fruit; but so soon as it it parted from the body, it is presently carried to the bar of trial: and because she is fearful to make her account, she is therefore afraid to be parted from the body? Or is it that none would be willing to change a certain estate, for a state uncertain; and because we know what it is to live; but know not what it is to be dead, we are therefore loath to change life for death? Or is it that while we live, we have the company of reasonable creatures; but once dead, no company but of worms: and because such company is loathsome to us, we cannot choose but be loath to die? Or is it, that the pleasures of the body, are all our joy: and because these pleasures are by death taken from us, it makes us to be most unwilling to die? Or is it perhaps, that it is not so much the soul that fears death, as the whole living creature; and because everything desires to continue its being: and this our being is by death dissolved, we cannot therefore choose but be loath to to die? Or is it, lastly, that the soul by contagion of this earthy body, is so besotted upon the earth, and earthly things, that nothing is so grievous to it, as to leave them; and leave them it must, if parted from the body; and therefore is not willing to leave the body? but alas what poor reasons are these, or if there be any better than these, to make us be loath to die; which is in effect, to make us be loath to go to our Sabbath? For seeing we cannot go to our Sabbath with soul and body both together: why should we think much to go to it with them asunder? Is it not worth rejoicing, to have the soul go to God, though the body stay behind? must not their parting be as their meeting was? and was not the body made of earth, and made at first without a soul, and then God breathed a soul into it? and is it not just, that the soul should return to God that gave it: and the body return to the earth, of which it was made? It was the privilege of only Christ's body, to enter into his glory, without seeing corruption: it is sufficient for us, that though our bodies see corruptiō, yet that corruption shall put on incorruption: and then we shall enter entire, both with body and soul, into our Sabbath. Although therefore there may be reasons to a natural man of some color, to make him be loath to die; yet to a man that knows the mysteries of Christian Religion, and specially to a man regenerate, and that looks with the eye of faith, they are easily discerned to be palpable errors, at least of ignorance, at best of of infirmity. Wherefore O my soul, be not dazzled, nor deluded with these colors, but count it a happiness to go to thy Sabbath at any time: and the sooner the better: for then thou shalt have no more days of labor: and be not afraid of parting from the body: for once parted, thou my soul, shalt presently have a Sabbath of joy; and thy body shall have a Sabbath of rest, and that rest to continue, till it hear the voice; Arise thou that sleep, and God shall give thee light, and then that rest shall be turned into joy too: for as God at first brought the soul to the body, so he will bring at last the body to the soul, when they shall meet again with the greater joy; and shall be free from all fear of ever being parted from one another anymore; but as they have passed these six days of labor together, so the seventh day they shall enjoy their Sabbath together, and shall no more need to remember, to keep holy the Sabbath day; seeing there shall be then no other days to hazard the forgetting it: but as with God, so with us, a thousand years, or rather indeed eternity, shall be but as one day, only (my soul) be careful to come prepared to make thy account, and then thou mayst be sure of a quietus est: be careful to work well these six days of labor, and then thou canst not doubt of having a Sabbath; yet not for thy works sake, nor for thy labors sake; but for his mercies sake, that is the Lord God of Sabbath; and for his merits sake, that is Lord of the Sabbath.

But O my soul, is it enough, that we be not loath to die any day? Is there not rather cause we should be glad to die every day? seeing each day hath peculiar motives to win us to it? For if we die upon the Monday, we may be glad, because this being the first of our six days of labor, by dying now, we escape the labors of all the days following: If we die upon the Tuesday, we may be glad, because dying now we give over working before the heat of the day; this being yet but as the morning of the week. If we die upon the Wednesday, we may be glad, because to die now, is but as the taking of a bait in the midst of a journey: all our life being as a travelling between two Sabbaths. If we die upon the Thursday, we may be glad, because we may take our Viaticum with us, the body and blood of Christ, which was this day given, and is only able to refresh us after our labors: if we die upon the Friday, we may be glad, because we shall die upon the same day that Christ died, and so imitate him in the time of his death, though we cannot in the innocence. If we die upon the Saturday, we may be glad, because having now finished our six days of labor, we are ready for entering into our rest, and have our works to follow us: if we die upon the Sunday, we may be most glad of all, because to die now, is but to shift our Sabbath; to put off an old, and put on a new; to leave a temporary Sabbath here on earth, for a Sabbath which is eternal in the heavens. But though these or any like reasons may be thought but idle thoughts, and no better than dreams: yet one sound reason we are sure there is, to make us glad to die any day; and it is the same which Saint Paul discovered in himself, when he said, Cupio dissolvi, I desire to be dissolved: and why to be dissolved? indeed for a very good reason, & esse cum Christo, that he might be with Christ: for though Christ have made us a promise to be with us always to the end of the world, yet it serves not our turn, that he be with us, if we be not with him; and be with him as Saint Paul desired to be, we cannot, unless we go the same way, as he went, the way of death; and then if death be the way to bring us to Christ; and but by death we cannot be with him: have we not just cause to alter our salutation of death, from saying, O mors quam amara, O death how bitter thou art! to saying, O mors quam jucunda, O death how pleasing thou art! and entertain it with acclamations of joy, as a most welcome guest, at least as a harbinger to a most comfortable host: with whom we shall sit at his Table, in his Fathers Kingdom: and where there shall be no more distinction of days; but all shall be one entire day; and that day a Sabbath; and that Sabbath, though it have a morning, yet shall have no evening: because time shall be no more: but as death shall then be swallowed up of victory, so time shall then be swallowed up of eternity.