they refuse to hear thefe, neither will they believe though one fhould arife from the dead to preach unto them. Matt. $2.29. 5. Reading the Holy Scriptures is a Duty exprefly * commanded us, and is called in Scripture [Preach-Deu. 31. 13: ing:] All other Preaching is the Effect of humane Luke 24.45. Skill and Industry, and although of great Benefit, Acts 15. 21. yet it is but an Ecclefiaftical Ordinance; the Law of Revel. 1. 3. God concerning Preaching being expreffed in the 2 Tim 3.16. Matter of Reading the Scriptures, and Hearing that Word of God which is, and as it is there defcribed. But this Duty is reduced to Practice in the following Rules. Rules for Hearing or Reading the Word of God. 1. Set apart fome Portion of thy Time, according to the Opportunities of thy Calling and neceffary Employment, for the Reading of Holy Scripture; and if it be poffible, every Day read or hear fome of it read: You are fure that Book teaches all Truth, commands all Holinefs, and promifes all Happiness. 2. When it is in your Power to chufe, accustom yourself to fuch Portions which are most plain and certain Duty, and which contain the Story of the Life and Death of our Bleffed Saviour. Read the Gofpels, the Pfalms of David; and efpecially thofe Portions of Scripture which by the Wisdom of the Church are appointed to be publickly read upon Sundays and Holy-Days, viz. the Epiftles and Gofpels. In the Choice of any other Portions you may advise with a Spiritual Guide, that you may spend your Time with most Profit. 3. Fail not diligently to attend to the Reading of Holy Scriptures upon thofe Days wherein it is most publickly and folemnly read in Churches; for at fuch Times, befides the learning our Duty, we obtain a Bleffing along with it, it becoming to us upon thofe Days a Part of the Solemn Divine Worship. 4. When the Word of God is read or preached to you, be fure you be of a ready Heart and Mind, P 3 free free from worldly Cares and Thoughts, diligent to hear, careful to mark, ftudious to remember, and defirous to practise all that is commanded, and to live according to it. Do not hear for any other End but to become better in your Life, and to be inftructed in every good Work, and to encrease in the Love and Service of God, 5. Beg of God by Prayer that he would give you the Spirit of Obedience and Profit, and that he would by his Spirit write the Word in your Heart, and that you describe it in your Life. To which Purpose ferve yourself of fome affectionate Ejaculations to that Purpofe, before and after this Duty. Concerning fpiritual Books and ordinary Sermons, 6. Let not a Prejudice to any Man's Perfon hinder thee from receiving Good by his Doctrine, if it be according to Godliness; but (if Occafion offer it, or efpecially if Duty prefent it to thee, that is, if it be preached in that Affembly where thou art bound to be prefent) accept the Word preached as a Meffage from God, and the Minifter as his Angel in that Miniftration. 7. Confider and remark the Doctrine that is re prefented to thee in any Difcourfe; and if the Prea cher adds accidental Advantages, any thing to comply with thy Weaknefs, or to put thy Spirit into Acti on, or holy Refolution, remember it and make Ufe of it. But if the Preacher be a weak Perfon, yet the Text is the Doctrine thou art to remember: That contains all thy Duty, it is worth thy Attendance to hear that fpoken often, and renewed upon thy Thoughts: And tho' thou beeft a learned Man, yet the fame thing which thou knowest already, if fpoken by another, may be made active by that Application. I can better be comforted by my own Confideration, if another Hand applies them, than if I do it myfelf; because the Word of God does not work as a natural Agent, but as a Divine Instrument: It does does not prevail by the Force of Deduction and artificial Difcourfings only, but chiefly by way of Bleffing in the Ordinance, and in the Miniftry of an appointed Perfon. At least obey the publick Order, and reverence the Conftitution, and give good Example of Humility, Charity and Obedience. g. When Scriptures are read, you are only to enquire with Diligence and Modefty into the Meaning of the Spirit: But if Homilies or Sermons be made upon the Words of Scripture, you are to confider whether all that be fpoken be conformable to the Scriptures. For although you may practise for humane Reasons, and humane Arguments miniftred from the Preacher's Art; yet you must practise nothing but the Command of God, nothing but the Doctrine of Scrip. ture, that is, the Text. 9. Ufe the Advice of fome fpiritual or other prudent Man, for the Choice of fuch spiritual Books which may be of Ufe and Benefit for the Edification of thy Spirit in the Ways of Holy Living; and esteem that Time well accounted for, that is prudently and affectionately employed in hearing or reading good Books and pious Difcourfes; ever remembring that God, by hearing us fpeak to him in Prayer, obliges us to hear him fpeak to us in his Word, by what Inftrument foever it be conveyed. SECT. V. Of Fafting. FAfting, if it be confidered in itfelf without relation to fpiritual Ends, is a Duty no where enjoined or counfelled. But Chriftianity hath to do with it as it may be made an Inftrument of the Spirit by fubduing the Lufts of the Flesh, or removing any Hindrances of Religion. And it hath been practifed by all Ages of the Church, and advifed in Order to three Minifteries; 1. To Prayer; 2. To Mortification of bodily Lufts; 3. To Repentance: And it is to be practifed according to the following Measures. P 4 Rules Rules for Chriftian Fafting. 1. Fafting in Order to Prayer is to be measured by the Proportions of the Times of Prayer; that is, it ought to be a total Faft from all things during the Solemnity, (unlefs a probable Neceffity intervene.) Thus the Jews ate nothing upon the Sabbath-Days till their great Offices were performed, that is, about the fixth Hour; and S. Peter ufed it as an Argument, that the Apoftles in Pentecoft were not drunk, because it was but the third Hour of the Day, of fuch a Day in which it was not lawful to eat or drink till the fixth Hour: And the Jews were offended at the Dif ciples for plucking the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath early in the Morning, because it was before the Time in which by their Cuftoms they efteemed it lawful to break their Faft. In Imitation of this Custom, and in Profecution of the Reafon of it, the Chriftian Church hath religiously obferved Fafting before the Holy Communion; and the more devout Perfons (though without any Obligation at all) refufed to eat or drink till they had finifhed their Morning Devotions: And farther yet upon Days of Publick Humiliation, which are defigned to be fpent wholly in Devotion, and for the averting God's Judgments, (if they were imminent) Fafting is commanded together with Prayer; commanded (I fay) by the Church to this End, that the Spirit might be clearer and more Angelical when it is quitted in fome Proportions from the Loads of Flefh. 2. Fafting, when it is in Order to Prayer, muft be a total Abftinence from all Meat, or else an Abatement of the Quantity: For the Help which Fafting does to Prayer, cannot be ferved by changing Flesh into Fifh, or Milk-Meats into Dry-Diet ; but by turning much into little, or little into none at all, during the Time of Solemn and Extraordinary Prayer. 3. Fafting, as it is inftrumental to Prayer, must be attended with other Aids of the like Vertue and Efficacy; fuch as are removing for the Time all worldly Cares and fecular Bufineffes; and therefore our Blef fed > fed Saviour enfolds these Parts within the fame Caution. [Take heed left your Hearts be over-charged with Jejunium fine Surfeiting and Drunkenness, and the Cares of this World, eleemofyna and that Day overtake you unawares.] To which add lampas fine Alms; for upon the Wings of Fafting and Alms Holy Prayer infallibly mounts up to Heaven. 4. When Fafting is intended to ferve the Duty of Repentance, it is then beft chofen when it is fhort, fharp, and effective; that is, either a total Abstinence from all Nourishment (according as we fhall appoint, or be appointed) during fuch a Time as is feparate for the Solemnity and Attendance upon the Employment: Or if we fhall extend our Severity beyond the Solemn Days, and keep our Anger against our Sin, as we are to keep our Sorrow, that is, always in Readiness, and often be called upon; then to refufe a pleasant Morfel, to abstain from the Bread of our Defires, and only to take wholfome and lefs pleafing Nourishment vexing our Appetite by the refufing a lawful Satisfaction, fince in its Petulancy and Luxury it prey'd upon an unlawful. 5. Fafting defigned for Repentance must be ever joyned with an extream Care that we faft from Sin: for there is no greater Folly or Undecency in the World, than to commit that for which I am now judging and condemning myself. This is the beft Faft, and the other may ferve to promote the Interest of this, by encreafing the Difaffection to it, and multiplying Arguments against it. 6. He that fafts for Repentance muft, during that Solemnity, abftain from all bodily Delights, and the Senfuality of all his Senfes and his Appetites: For a Man muft not, when he mourns in his Faft, be merry in his Sport; weep at Dinner, and laugh all Day after; have a Silence in his Kitchin, and Mufick in his Chamber; judge the Stomach, and feast the other Senfes. I deny not but a Man may in a fingle Inftance punish a particular Sin with a proper Inftrument. If a Man have offended in his Palate, he may chufe to fast only; if he have finned in Softnefs and in his Touch, he may chufe to lie hard, or work hard, and ufe fharp In flictions: |