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VI.

without intermission or impediment, doth concur SERM. with all our actions; so may that breathing of soul, which preserveth our spiritual life, and ventilateth that holy flame within us, well conspire with all other occupations b. For devotion is of a nature so spiritual, so subtile, and penetrant, that no matter can exclude or obstruct it. Our minds are so exceedingly nimble and active, that no business can hold pace with them, or exhaust their attention and activity. We can never be so fully possessed by any employment, but that divers vacuities of time do intercur, wherein our thoughts and affections will be diverted to other matters. As a covetous man, whatever beside he is doing, will be carking about his bags and treasures; an ambitious man will be devising on his plots and projects; a voluptuous man will have his mind in his dishes; a lascivious man will be doting on his amours; a studious man will be musing on his notions; every man, according to his Vid. Chrys. particular inclination, will lard his business and be- Annam, sprinkle all his actions with cares and wishes tending to the enjoyment of what he most esteemeth and affecteth so may a good Christian, through all his undertakings, wind in devout reflections and pious motions of soul toward the chief object of his mind and affection. Most businesses have wide gaps, all have some chinks, at which devotion may slip in. Be we never so urgently set or closely intent upon any work, (be we feeding, be we travelling, be we trading, be we studying,) nothing yet can forbid, but that we may together wedge in a thought con

• Μνημονευτέον γὰρ Θεοῦ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀναπνευστέον· καὶ εἰ οἷόν τε τοῦτο εἰπεῖν, μηδὲ ἄλλο τι ἢ τοῦτο πρακτέον. Naz. Or. 33.

Orat. v. in

tom. v. p. 78, 79.

VI.

SERM. cerning God's goodness, and bolt forth a word of praise for it; but that we may reflect on our sins, and spend a penitential sigh on them; but that we may descry our need of God's help, and despatch a brief petition for it: a God be praised, a Lord have mercy, a God bless, or God help me, will nowise interrupt or disturb our proceedings. As worldly cares and desires do often intrude and creep into our devotions, distracting and defiling them; so may spiritual thoughts and holy affections insinuate themselves into, and hallow our secular transactions. This practice is very possible, and it is no less expedient for that if our employments be not thus seasoned, they can have no true life or savour in them; they will in themselves be dead and putrid, they will be foul and noisome, or at least flat and insipid

unto us.

There are some other good meanings of this precept, according to which holy scripture (backed with good reason) obligeth us to observe it: but those, (together with the general inducements to the practice of this duty,) that I may not further now trespass on your patience, I shall reserve to another opportunity.

· Εἰπὲ κατὰ διάνοιαν, Ελέησόν με, ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἀπήρτισταί σου ἡ εὐχή. Chrys. ibid.

SERMON VII.

OF THE DUTY OF PRAYER.

1 THESS. v. 17.

Pray without ceasing.

WHAT the prayer here enjoined by St. Paul SERM.

doth import, and how by it universally all sorts of VII. devotion should be understood, we did formerly discourse. How also according to divers senses (grounded in holy scripture, and enforced by good reason) we may perform this duty incessantly, we did then declare; five such senses we did mention and prosecute: I shall now add two or three more, and press them.

VI. Praying then incessantly may imply, that we do appoint certain times conveniently distant for the practice of devotion, and carefully observe them. To keep the Jews in a constant exercise of divine worship, God did constitute a sacrifice, which was called Tamidh, (ʼn diatartòs Ovoía,) the continual sa- Dan. viii. crifice. And as that sacrifice, being constantly Heb. xiii. 5 offered at set times, was thence denominated conti- Neli. x. 33. nual; so may we, by punctually observing fit returns of devotion, be said to pray incessantly.

And great reason there is that we should do so. For we know that all persons, who would not lead a loose and slattering life, but design with good as

11.

SERM. surance and advantage to prosecute an orderly course VII. of action, are wont to distribute their time into seve

ral parcels; assigning some part thereof to the necessary refection of their bodies, some to the convenient relaxation of their minds, some to the despatch of their ordinary affairs, some also to familiar conversation, and interchanging good offices with their friends; considering, that otherwise they shall be uncertain, and unstable in all their ways. And in this distribution of time devotion surely should not lack its share it rather justly claimeth the choicest portion to be allotted thereto, as being incomparably the noblest part of our duty, and mainest concernment of our lives. The feeding our souls and nourishing our spiritual life, the refreshing our spirits with those no less pleasant than wholesome exercises, the driving on our correspondence and commerce with heaven, the improving our friendship and interest with God, are affairs which above all others do best deserve, and most need being secured. They must not therefore be left at random, to be done by the by, as it hitteth by chance, or as the fancy taketh us. If we do not depute vacant seasons, and fix periodical returns for devotion, engaging ourselves by firm resolution, and inuring our minds by constant usage to the strict observance of them, secluding from them, as from sacred enclosures, all other businesses; we shall often be dangerously tempted to neglect it, we shall be commonly listless to it, prone to defer it, easily seduced

a Cur ipsi aliquid forensibus negotiis, aliquid desideriis amicorum, aliquid rationibus domesticis, aliquid curæ corporis, nonnihil voluptati quotidie damus? Quint. i. 12.

VII.

from it by the encroachment of other affairs, or en- SERM. ticement of other pleasures. It is requisite that our souls also (no less than our bodies) should have their meals, settled at such intervals as the maintenance of their life, their health, their strength and vigour do require; that they may not perish or languish for want of timely repasts; that a good appetite may duly spring up, prompting and instigating to them; that a sound temper and robust constitution of soul may be preserved by them.

Prayers are the bulwarks of piety and good conscience, the which ought to be placed so as to flank and relieve one another, together with the inter

jacent spaces of our life; that the enemy (the sin Heb. xii. 1. ‹ which doth so easily beset us) may not come on between, or at any time assault us, without a force sufficiently near to reach and repel him.

In determining these seasons and measures of time according to just proportion, honest prudence (weighing the several conditions, capacities, and circumstances of each person) must arbitrate. For some difference is to be made between a merchant and a monk, between those who follow a court, and those who reside in a cloister or a college. Some men having great encumbrances of business and duty by necessity imposed on them, which consume much of their time, and engage their thoughts; of them in reason, neither so frequent recourses to, nor so long continuance in prayer can be demanded, as from those who enjoy more abundant leisure, and freer scope of thoughts. But some fit times all may and must allow, which no avocation of business, no distraction of care should purloin from them.

Certain seasons and periods of this kind nature

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