00A.03 Cogitations for about the Midday time
Cogitations for about the Midday time As the body is now enlightened on all sides with light so see that thy mind may be. As God gives thee thus plentifully this corporeal light, so pray him that he will give thee the spiritual light. Think that as the sun is now most clear, so shall our bodies be in the day of judgement. As now the sun is come to the highest, and therefore will begin to draw downward, so is there nothing in the world so perfect and glorious, which, when it is at the full, will not decrease, and so wear away. When you come Home again, Pray:
There is nothing, O Lord, more like to thy holy nature than a quiet mind; thou hast called us out of the troublesome disquietness of the world, into thy quiet rest and peace, which the world cannot give, being such a peace as passes all men’s understanding. Houses are ordained for us, that we might get into them from the injury of weather, from the cruelty of beasts, from disquietness of people, and from the toils of the world. O gracious Father, grant that through thy great mercy my body may enter into this house from outward actions, but so that it may become willing and obedient to the soul, and make no resistance there against; that in soul and body I may have a godly quietness, and peace to praise thee. Amen. Peace be to this house, and to all that dwell in the same.
Occasions to meditate
Think what a return, and how joyful a return, it will be to come to our eternal, most quiet, and most happy home; then all grief will be gone away; whatsoever here is pleasant and joyful, the same is nothing, but a very shadow in comparison, &c. At the Sun’s going Down, Pray:
Oh! how unhappy are they, O Lord, on whom thy sun goes down, and gives no light! I mean, thy grace, which is always clear as the midday. The midday is dark night unto them which depart from thee, in thee there never is night, but always daylight most clear. This corporeal sun has his courses, now up, now down; but thou, dear Lord, if we love thee, art always one. Oh! that this block and veil of sin were taken away from me, that the air might be always clear day in my mind.
Occasions to meditate
Think that as we are not sorry when the sun goes down, because we know it will rise again, even so let us not sorrow for death wherethrough the soul and body part asunder, for they shall soon return, and come together again. So long as the sun is up, wild beasts keep their dens, foxes their burrows, owls their holes, &c.; but when the sun is down, then they come abroad; so wicked men and hypocrites keep their dens in the gospel time; but it being taken away, then they swarm out of their holes like bees, as this day teaches. When the Candles are lighted, Pray:
Most thick and dark clouds do cover our minds, except thy light, O Lord, dispels them. Thy sun, O most wise Worker, is as it were a firebrand to the world; thy wisdom, whereby light comes both to soul and body, is a firebrand (a torch, editor) to the spiritual world. After day, when the night comes, thou hast given for the remedy of darkness, a candle; after sin, for the remedy of ignorance, thou hast given thy doctrine, which thy dear Son has brought unto us. Oh! thou, who art the Author and Master of all truth, make us to see by both the lights, so that the dimness of our minds may be driven quite away: lift upon us thy joy in our hearts. Thy word is a lantern to my feet, and a light unto my paths.
Occasions to meditate
Think that the knowledge and wisdom that God has given unto us by candles this night, whereby we see those things in this night of our bodies, which are expedient for us, make us to wish much more for this doctrine of God; and when we get it, to esteem and diligently embrace it the more, that as all would be horror without candles so there is nothing but there confusion, where God’s word takes not place. When you Undress yourself, Pray: This our life and weak-knit body, by reason of sin, will be dissolved by little and little, and so shall be restored to the earth whence it was taken, then will be an end of this vanity, which by our foolishness we have wrought to ourselves. O, most merciful Father, so do thou untie, unloose, and loose me, (for thou hast knit me together,) that I may perceive myself to be made unready and dissolved, and so may remember both of whom I was made, and also whither I go, lest I be taken unprepared to thy tribunal and judgment-seat.
Occasions to meditate
Put off the old man, with his lusts and concupiscence;--be content, with Joseph, to put off thy prison-apparel, that thou may put on new;othink that we willingly put off our garments, which in the morning we shall put on again; and therefore as after the night of the world, we shall receive our bodies again, let us not unwillingly put them off when God by death shall call. When you Enter into your Bed, Pray: The day now ended, men give themselves to rest in the night, and so, this night finished, we shall rest in death. Nothing is more like this life than every day; nothing is more like death than sleep; nothing more like to our grave than our bed. O Lord, our Keeper and Defender, grant that I now, lying down to rest, being unable to keep myself, may be preserved from the crafts and assaults of the wicked enemy; and grant further, that when I have run the race of this life, thou would of thy mercy call me unto thyself, that I may always live and watch with it’s thee. Now, good God, give me to take my rest in thee, and bring to pass that thy gracious goodness may be, even in sleep, before mine eyes; that when sleeping, I be not absent from thee, but may have my dreams to draw me unto thee, and so both soul and body may be kept pure and holy for ever. I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest.
Occasion, to meditate
Think that as this troublesome day is now past, and night is come, and so rest, bed, and pleasant sleep, which makes the most excellent princes and poorest peasants alike; even so after the tumults, troubles, temptations, and tempests of this life, they that believe in Christ have prepared for them a heaven and rest, most pleasant and joyful. As you are not afraid to enter into your bed, and to dispose yourself to sleep; so be not afraid to die, but rather prepare yourself for it; think that now you are nearer your end by one day’s journey, than you were in the morning. When you feel Sleep to be Coming, Pray:
O Lord Jesus Christ, my Watchman and Keeper, take me to thy care; grant that while my body is sleeping my mind may watch in thee, and be made joyful by some sight of that celestial and heavenly life wherein thou art the King and Prince, together with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Thy angels and holy souls are most happy citizens. Oh! purify my soul, keep clean my body, that in both I may please thee, sleeping and waking, for ever. Amen. A most fruitful prayer for the dispersed Church of Christ, very necessary to be used by the godly in these days of affliction
O most omnipotent, magnificent, and glorious God and Father of all consolation; we here assembled do not presume to present and prostrate ourselves before thy mercy-seat in respect of our own worthiness and righteousness, which are altogether polluted and defiled; but in the merits, righteousness, and worthiness of thy only Son Jesus Christ; whom thou hast given unto us as a most pure and precious garment to cover our pollution and filthiness withal, that we might appear holy and justified in thy sight through him. Wherefore in obedience to thy commandments, and confiding in thy promises, contained in thy holy word, that thou wilt accept and grant our prayers presented unto thee in the favour of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, either for ourselves or for the necessity of thy saints and congregation; we here, congregated together, do with one mouth and mind most humbly beseech thee, not only to pardon and forgive us all our sins, negligences, ignorances, and iniquities, which we, from time to time, incessantly do commit against thy divine majesty, in word, deed, and thoughtosuch is the infirmity of our corrupted nature; but also that it would please thee, O benign Father, to be favourable and merciful unto thy poor afflicted church and congregation, dispersed throughout the whole world, which in these days of iniquity are oppressed, injured, despised, persecuted, and afflicted for the testimony of thy word, and for obedience to thy laws. And especially, O Lord and Father, we humbly beseech thee to extend thy mercy and favourable countenance upon all those that are imprisoned or condemned for the cause of thy gospel, whom thou hast chosen for thee, and made worthy to glorify thy name. That it may please thee to give them such constancy as thou hast given to thy saints and martyrs in time past, willingly to shed their blood for the testimony of thy word; or else mightily to deliver them from the tyranny of their enemies, as thou delivered the condemned Daniel from the lions, and the persecuted Peter out of prisons to the exaltation of thy glory, and the rejoicing of thy church.
Furthermore, most beneficent Father, we humbly beseech thee to stretch forth thy mighty arm unto the protection and defence of those that are exiled for the testimony of thy verity, because they would not bend their backs, and incline their necks under the yoke of antichrist, and be polluted with the execrable idolatries and blasphemous superstitions of the ungodly. That it would please thee not only to feed them in strange countries, but also to prepare a resting place for them, as thou hast done from time to time for thine elect in all ages; whereby they may unite themselves together in the sincere ministration of thy word and sacraments, to their singular edification. And in due time restore them home again to their land, to celebrate thy praises, promote thy gospel, and edify thy desolate congregation. And also, O Lord, thou who hast said, thou wilt not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, be merciful, we beseech thee, unto all those who, through fear and weakness, have denied thee, by dissimulation and hypocrisy. That it may please thee to strengthen their weak knees, (thou who art the strength of them that stand,) and to lift up their feeble hands, that their little smoke may increase into a great flame, and their bruised reed into a mighty oak, able to abide all the blustering blasts and stormy tempests of adversity; that the ungodly may no longer triumph over their fate, which, as they think, they have utterly quenched and subduedostir up thy strength in them, O Lord, and behold them with that merciful eye wherewith thou did behold Peter, that they, rising by repentance, may become the constant confessors of thy word, and the sanctified members of thy church to the end; that when as by thy providence thou purposes to lay thy cross upon them, they do no more seek unlawful means to avoid the same, but most willingly be contented with patience to take it up and follow thee, in what sort soever it shall please thee to lay the same upon their shoulders, either by death, imprisonment, or exile; and that it will please thee not to tempt them above their power, but to give them grace utterly to despair of their own strength, and wholly to depend upon thy mercy. On the other side, O Lord God, thou righteous Judge, let not the ungodly, the enemies of thy truth, continually triumph over us, as they do at this day; let not thine heritage become a reproach and common laughing-stock unto the impudent and wicked papists, who, by all possible means, seek the utter destruction of thy little flock, by shedding the blood of thy saints for the testimony of the word; seeking by most devilish and damnable practices to subvert thy truth. Confound there, O God, and all their wicked counsels, and let them be taken in the same pit they have dug for others; that it may be universally known that there is no counsel nor force that can prevail against the Lord our God. Break, O Lord, the horns of those bloody bulls of Bashan; pull down those high mountains that elevate themselves against thee; and root up the rotten race of the ungodly, that they being consumed in the fire of thine indignation, thine exiled church may, in their own land, find place of habitation.
O Lord, deliver our land, which thou hast given us for a portion to possess in this life, from the invasion and subduing of strangers. Truth it is we cannot deny, but that our sins have justly deserved this great plague, now imminent (threatening; the nation had great cause at that time to fear lest it should be brought under the yoke of Spain, editor) and approaching, even to be given over into the hands and subjection of that proud and brutish nation, that neither know thee nor fear thee, and to serve them in bodily captivity who have refused to serve thee in a spiritual liberty. Yet, Lord, forasmuch as we are assuredly persuaded by thy holy word, that thine anger does not last for ever towards those that earnestly repent, but instead of vengeance thou dost show mercy, we most penitently beseech thee to remove this thy great indignation bent towards us, and give not over our land, our cities, towns and cattle, our goods, possessions and tithes, our wives, children, and our own lives, into the subjection of strangers. But rather, O Lord, expel them from our land, subvert their counsels, dissipate their devices, and deliver us from their tyranny, as thou delivered Samaria from cruel Benhadad, and Jerusalem from blasphemous Sennacherib.
Give us, O Lord, such princes and rulers, such magistrates and governors, as will advance thy glory, erect thy gospel, suppress idolatry, banish all papistry, and execute justice and equity. Water again, O Lord, the vine of England with the moisture of thy holy word, lest it utterly perish and wither away. Build up again the decayed walls of thy new Jerusalem; thy congregation in this land, lest the ungodly attribute our confusion, not unto our sins, as the truth is, but unto our profession in religion.
Remember, O Lord, that we are a parcel of thy portion, thy flock, the inheritors of thy kingdom, the sheep of thy pasture, and the members of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Deal with us therefore according to the multitude of thy mercies, that all nations, kindreds, and languages, may celebrate thy praises in the restoring of thy ruined church to perfection again. for it is thy work, O Lord, and not man’s, and from thee do we with patience look for the same, and not from the fleshly arm of man, and therefore to thee only is due all dominion, power, and thanksgiving, now in our days and for evermore. Amen.