The Sacred Diary, Section 15 – Section 17
SECT. XV. Of Preparation to Prayer.
BEfore we enter upon Prayer, or Thanſgiving, it is very requiſite, that there be firſt a Preparation of our Hearts to this holy Exerciſe; doing herein as Muſicians, who uſe to temper and tune their Lute, Viol, or other Inſtrument, before they play upon it. Before thou prayeſt, prepare thy ſelf, Ecclus. 18.23.leſt thou be as one that tempteth God, ſaith the Son of Syrach. In our Saviour's platform of Prayer, the Petitions are not ſet down abruptly, but a ſolemn Preface is prefixed, like a fair Porch to a beautiful Houſe, to teach us to ſet our Affections in due order, before we draw nigh to ſpeak unto the Lord. God hath alſo expreſly commanded: Be not raſh with thy Mouth, nor let thine Heart be haſty to utter a thing before God, Eccleſ. 5.2. It is a dangerous thing to babble out unadviſed and undigeſted words in his Ears. Prayer and other holy Duties call for holy Preparation. I will waſh mine Hands in Innocency, and ſo will I compaſs thine Altar, O Lord, was David's reſolution, Pſal. 26.6. Joh ſent and ſanctified his Children, that is, he ſent ſolemnly to his Children to prepare themſelves, warning them not to come to the Sacrifice except they were fanctified. So Samuel ſaid to the Elders of Bethlehem, Sanctifie your ſelves, and come with me to the Sacrifice, 1 Sam. 16.5. This Sanctifying was a preparing of themſelves, was a fitting of themſelves, that they might be ready for the Sacrifice. The very Heathen had this Notion, they would not admit any to come to their Religious Services, unleſs they were prepared, therefore they had one that cried out to the People, when they came to Sacrifice, All ye that are unclean and prophane; go far away from theſe Sacrifices. Prepare your felves unto Prayer, by conſidering the Greatneſs and Majeſty of that God to whom you go to ſpeak in Prayer: For this Conſideration will teach you, with what great Humility and Reverence it behoveth ſuch miſerable Creatures, to ſpeak unto a Lord of ſo great Majeſty, as Almighty God is, concerning a matter of ſo great importance as is your own Salvation. How cloſe ſhut ought ye to have the gates of your Underſtanding and Will at the time of Prayer, from the cares and thoughts of the World, and open unto God alone, that in caſe he come to enter therein, he be not driven back again, finding the Gates ſhut againſt him, or the Lodging-Chambers taken up and peſtered with other Gueſts!
And to this end you may pray to be prepared and enabled to Pray, in this, or the like manner:
Almighty God, I beſeech thee, be pleaſed to prepare my Heart, and quicken mine Affections in this holy ſervice of calling upon Thy Name. Make me to conſider, that Thou into whoſe Preſence I am come, and have to do, art a God clothed with Glory and Majeſty, and that I am Duſt and Aſhes, and a moſt vile and unworthy Sinner. I beſeech Thee poſſeſs me with an amfal reverence of Thy Glorious Majeſty, that I may watch over my Thoughts, and have regard to my good behaviour before Thee, leſt my preſumption, and want of due reſpect to Thy Majeſty, ſhould turn my Prayers into Sin. Give me a lively ſence of my own Wants, and a clear apprehenſion of thoſe Bleſſings I have received from Thee, and of thoſe Mercies which in Thy Word Thou haſt promiſed to beſtow, that I may be furniſhed with matter both for Requeſt and Thankfulneſs; and may be able to pour out my Soul abundantly before Thee. Let Thy Spirit of Supplication ſanctifie my Thoughts, guide my Tongue, and help mine Infirmities. Give me faith in Thy Promiſes, that I may come boldly unto the Throne of Thy Grace, and let me find it is good to draw near to Thee (my God) in Prayer. Let the end of my praying be Thy Glory, and make me as ready to give thanks for Bleſſings obtained, as to be earneſt for Mercies I ſtand in need of.
With this Preparation mayeſt thou draw near to God in the Morning, imploring God for the aſſiſtance and ſuccour of his Grace, whereby thou mayſt the better beſtow the day following in his Service: And be earneſt with God in thy Preparation, to inſtruct thee how to do thy Duty therein, and to direct thee to ſpeak unto him in Prayer with ſuch Attention and Devotion, with ſuch recollection and cloſeneſs of Mind, and with ſuch A we and Reverence, as is to be uſed before ſo great a Majeſty; and withal, entreat him that thou mayſt ſo ſpend that portion of time in this exerciſe of Prayer, that in the end thou mayſt ariſe from the ſame with new force and ſtrength, to do all ſuch things as appertain to his Service.
And that thou mayſt the better fit thy ſelf for thy Morning-prayer, go to Bed with the thoughts of it over Night; like thoſe that intend to bake Unleavened Bread the next Day, do uſe to lay the Leaven over Night. So may a Chriſtian over Night, think on what he will recommend unto God the next Morning, and aſſoon as he awaketh, buſie his Mind about it, before any other thing do enter therein; that ſo his Heart having endited a good Matter, his Tongue may be as the Pen of a ready Writer.
And for as much as the Prayers of the Righteous are acceptable with God, you ſhall do well to conſider in your Prayers both Morning and Evening, what a number of God's faithful People, both Men and Women, in this World, be at this time at the Throne of Grace, humbly confeſſing their Sins to the Lord, and craving Pardon for them, and begging ſuch Graces and Bleſſings as are needful for them; with which Perſons you ought to joyn your ſelves, that the preſent ſweet remembrance of them, may be a Spur to your Devotion, cauſing you to perſevere in this holy exerciſe of Prayer. Moreover, whenſoever you ſhall find your ſelves cold and remiſs in this Duty, you may be aſhamed, and check your ſelves by the example of ſo many Pious and Devout Perſons, which with ſo good carefulneſs and diligence, have continued ſo long a time in this exerciſe of Prayer without ceaſing, dayly offering up their Bodies and Souls unto God in Sacrifice.
SECT. XVI. Of Reading the holy Scriptures.
AFter Preparation followeth Reading; which ought not to be done lightly, nor paſſed over in haſte, but with great deliberation and attention, applying thereunto your Underſtanding to conceive ſuch things as you reade, and chiefly your Affections to taſte thoſe things which you underſtand. Before you pray in the Morning, firſt reade a Chapter, or ſome ſelect portion of Scripture out of the Word of God; and when thou comeſt to any place that may enflame thine Affections, and raiſe thy Devotion, thou ſhalt do well to ſtay and pauſe a little upon it, and to make there (as it were) a ſtation in thinking upon that matter which thou haſt read, and in making ſome ſhort Prayer upon it: according to the Counſel of St. Bernard, ſaying, It is requiſite oftentimes to gather and procure a little Spirit and Devotion out of the matters that we reade, and to break off the courſe of our reading with ſome kind of Prayer, by means whereof we may lift up our Hearts unto the Lord, and talk with him according as the ſence and matter of ſuch things as we reade do require.
Here let me Advertiſe, Let not thy Reading be very long, leſt it take up too much time, which ought otherwiſe to be employed: For as St. Auguſtine ſaith, It is good both to reade and pray, if we can doth both the one and the other. After thou haſt read a while, think with thy ſelf how many choice things thou canſt pick out of it.
Conſider what holy Counſels and Exhortations to a godly Life. What Threatnings againſt ſuch Sins. What dreadful examples of God's Judgments upon ſuch and ſuch Sinners. What Bleſſings and Rewards God promiſeth to ſuch Graces and Vertues. What wonderful Deliverances God hath wrought for his Church in Times paſt, and what ſingular Bleſſings he hath beſtowed upon his faithful Servants. Bring home theſe things to thine Heart; and do not reade them as matters of Hiſtorical Diſcourſe, but as ſo many Epiſtles ſent down to thee from God out of Heaven; and reade them with that Reverence, as if God himſelf ſtood by, and ſpake theſe words unto thee. It is written of a certain devout and godly Biſhop, that he would always reade the holy Scriptures kneeling upon his Knees. And whatſoever thou thus readeſt, let it be either to confirm thy Faith, or encreaſe thy Repentance.
SECT. XVII. Of Meditation, and the fitteſt Seaſon for it.
WHatſoever the thing be that we are to meditate up on, Granat. Meditat.whether of the Life and Paſſion of our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt, or of any other thing that may be figured by Imagination; as of Death, the Day of Judgment, of Heaven, or Hell, we may then repreſent every one of theſe matters in our Imagination in ſuch manner as it paſſed, as if in the very ſame place where we are, all the ſame paſſed before us in our preſence. This manner of meditating ſerveth to this end, that by means of ſuch a repreſentation of theſe things, we may have the more lively conſideration and feeling of them in us. Imaginary Meditation is commonly a great help to keep in the mind more cloſely recollected, by cauſing it to attend to her Work, after the manner of Bees, which work their Hony-comb within their own Hives.
Some commend the Morning as the fitteſt time to buſie our minds in holy Meditations, for theſe Reaſons:
1. Becauſe they find it was the Practice of David, that Man of Meditations: Pſal. 139.18. ſaith he unto God, When I awake, I am ſtill with thee. That is, when I awake in the Morning, I am taken up with Meditations of God. Divine Meditations were daily David's waking and firſt Thoughts.
2. Becauſe then the Mind, a Man's intellectual and cogitative Faculty, is freſh, and more free from the hurrying buſineſſes of the World, which fall out every Day, and are apt to diſtract the mind in this holy Duty.
3. Becauſe if the Mind be firſt ſeaſoned with holy Meditations, it tends much to keep both Mind and Converſation in an holy frame, all the day after; for oftentimes what a Man's firſt thoughts are, they become his frequent thoughts on that Day. If a Man begins the Day with vain, worldly, or revengeful Thoughts, they are apt to lodg in his Heart all the Day long; ſuch thoughts are intruding and abiding Gueſts.
4. Becauſe God reſtoreth to us his Mercies every Morning, new Mercies do attend us every Morning; and theſe renewed Mercies ſhould oblige us to renew our Thoughts and Meditations on God, every Morning.
Thou mayſt here Meditate on Jeſus Chriſt, who is called the Hind of the Morning.] He is ſhadowed by the Hind with reſpect unto his Sufferings, for he was hunted as an Hind with Hounds, with Blood-hounds, with the Hell-hounds of this World, the worſt of wicked Men. Therefore it is obſervable, that in the XXII Pſalm, which is throughout a Prophecy of Chriſt, (the firſt words being ſpoken near to his Death, as he hung upon the Croſs, My God, my God, why haſt thou forſaken me?) The Title of that Pſalm is, To the chief Muſician upon Aijeleh Sahar, that is, The Hind of the Morning. It is uſual for Hunters, to ſingle out that ſpecial Deer, Hart, or Hind, early in the Morning, when they intend to hunt that Day; ſignifying that Jeſus Chriſt was an Hind hunted, not only very fiercely, but very early by wicked Men to Death.