{αβγδ}.  
THe Night once come, which lamp implies,  
do not presume to close thine eyes,  
Till thou dost on Conscience look,  
Who here presents thee with a book:  
red, in thy Closet search thy sin,  
Conscience stands to shut thee in:  
Where, whilst thou dost thy God implore,  
She her own self shall keep the door.  
What she here speaks is Heathen greek  
To old-Law-men, but those who seek  
God as they ought, by gospel, shall  
find it her new original.  
add onely this Construction to it,  
do it Exactly, or never do it.   


TRIA●● 〈◇〉 CONSCIENCE In a Quotidian Exercise.  
by T. R.  
London, Printed for I. Benson. 1639.    

trial of Conscience.  
IN A Quotidian Exercise.  
Who shall set scourges over my thoughts? or the Discipline of wisdom over my Heart? Ecclus. 22.  
Lord, thou knowest my downe-sitting, and my uprising, thou understandest my thoughts long before: Thou art about my path and my bed, and spiest out all my ways. Psa. 139  
Written by THO. RILEY.  
LONDON: Printed by J. oaks, for John Benson, and are to be sold at his shop in St. Dunstans Church-yard. 1639.   

To the Right Honourable Lady, the countess of D. &c.  
Most pious Lady:  
that's all the Title I shall bee bold with at this time; your Religion in my eyes being a more glorious attribute than your Courtly Honours: I am glad your Request( though I wish it bad been a Command) hath prevented my slackness, and turned my Present into a Debt, and my Gift into a Duty: GOD knows with what joy I red your faire Letter, when I perceived Your holy desire to bee instructed by Writing concerning the daily trial of Conscience, which before wee past over in a short Discourse, which is but conceit and thought made audible by Words; whereas the during Character is both thought and word made visible and permanent. I would to God( so much I tender my souls good) that I were always thus employed, upon condition I could bee always thus happily prevented in the unforced desires of a devout soul. So little cause your honour had to compliment a fear of trouble in my task, which is above merit rewarded in the very employment, especially since your goodness hath condescended to request, where your greatness might command. he that in this would not serve you, would forfeit the Title of Servant to his God; who put it into your soul, to put Your Conscience into a Quotidian trial: a great mystery in Divinity, every heart does not conceive it, every eye cannot see it; or both these being yielded, every hand cannot skill to put that in action, which the heart has in speculation. Concerning which incomparable help to all Devotion, I could relate unto you what admirable and Divine eulogies it has been crwoned within the circled of all Ages, ever since the Patriarch walked out into the Fields to meditate, even to this colder time of, at the best lukewarm Religion; by what, and how many glorious Luminaries of the Church, nay, the very Sophies and Philosophers it hath been set upon a hill conspicuous to all the World, had the World not lost her old Eye-sight: But the rare Opinion your Honour professes to have entertained of it at my first Discourse, saves all this Labour, and I shall hereafter rank your admiration of it amongst the choicest Arguments, both of its use& glory: both being exceeding ample; the use because of its necessity to Man; the glory by reason of our familiarity with God: Abraham being from hence especially styled Gods Friend. We see, that speaking after the manner of men, time has derived unto us a proverb, viz. that even reckonings make long Friends. GOD has caught the World, or would do in her own Dialect: For this EXAMINATION being derived from a Latin word that signifies the Tongue of the Scales, is nothing else but a just and even trial of the Conscience( by that weight which Law exacts, and that Allowance which Gospel permits) every Day in the Sight of GOD, that all Accounts of the soul may be even before the Image of Death, that is, sleep seize on us in a figure: So that let GOD please, to call when he pleases, no Minuite shall find us in security, all our accounts are made, and writ in the blood of a Mediator, all is even, because he has paid all, and thus GOD and wee are Friends for all our inequality: Thus with Enoch wee walk with GOD here, till it please him to translate us to a better place. This is the trial in general, and a happy soul it is wheresoever this gracious Guest shall make abode: wherefore to make some little, but constant preparation, Ile onely do as much for the Stranger, as the Shunanite did for the waifaring Prophet, provide a Table, a stool, and a Candlestick, the one for his repast, the other for his repose, the last for his late and early Sections and Devotions, that is, by way of Introduction set down three general Requisites necessary to bee observed of all those who intend to reap a blessing by this exercise.   

trial of Conscience.  

The first Section.  
THe first is, that this trial bee not undertaken with any reluctancy, as a burden or task of compelled piety, but with alacrity rather, and as a great gift and privilege from Almighty God towards an exercised soul, that whereas most in the World run on, not considering what debts and trespasses they owe for unto their God, who takes a Note-booke of every dayes transgressions, till the sum amounts above the power of payment; yet we have been made so happy, as to have this duty revealed for its excellent use, there's one blessing, and to have both an earnest of some, and a promise of more power, upon our Prayers, to perform what's revealed, there's another. Wherefore resolve, by Gods assistance, to go on constantly and cheerfully, or else better not begin at all.  
This is the first, the second follows it, even in its own nature: namely this.   

The second Section.  
THe second is, that this Holy Exercise being thus begun, we beware that we gather all day for our account at night, referring every blessing received, and every sin, so much as in an observed thought committed, to its proper place against evening, that the accounts may be the more full, expediate, and easy: As for example, as soon as I find I have done, or spoken, or thought any thing amiss, though amongst a Million of multitudes, let me bee sure to speak inwardly to my soul in this, or the like winged ejaculation: Well, this word, or this thought, since( O Lord) it has pleased thee to discover it unto me, shal, I hope, cost me many a bitter sigh at my night-accompts, before I dare to close my eyes: A very thought will do it, even at any work of our Calling; though I confess more or less should bee set apart, according as God has blessed us with opportunity, that Devotion neither turn sloth, as the superstitious Cloister hath made it, nor a Ceremony of our security, as the Libertine would have it, nor Tyranny, as the fearful weak Christian makes it: for in true Devotion all works of our calling and family-affaires may be diligently observed, and yet our acts of Piety nevertheless neglected; nay, the more observed: with our moderate care God sanctifies the works of our relative estate, wherein God has put us, as an extraordinary prevention of temptations, and as the great ammunition in this and all other spiritual employments: because that besides the Prayer of works, as the Wise man says, Prov. 14.10. The soul knows its own bitterness, and a stranger shall not meddle with her joy: That is, a good soul, as it feels many things for her sins, and yet complains not unto the World, but unto God, who is able to comfort, by sighs and groans which cannot be uttered; even then perchance, when the aspect looks cheerfully upon all society; so in her joys conceived quietly for mercy received, shee can sand up thankes to God, when the world thinks shee is about a more inferior employment, and so as the heart works in secret, God sees in secret, and will, though not upon our merit, yet upon his own free promise, reward us openly: this is intimated in that of Job: Job 4. So I received a thing secretly, and as some Translations read it, My ear received the veins of his Whisper: And this is the second preparatory.   

The third Section.  
THe third makes all complete, and is nothing but a constant and settled course of Temperance& Moderation: take away this, and we ruin all religious courses for ever, because the life of all pious actions is constancy and perseverance in practise, which are acts of settled and undisturbed reason: how then shall any religious duty bee performed, when intemperance has stolen away both our reason& memory, so that either wee quiter omit it,& so lie down in our beds( in Davids phrase) like sheep and Beasts in Hell, or else huddle it over so perfunctorily, that the action makes not so much for our good, as the manner of it doubles our condemnation. Men may think what they please, but God is not mocked, neither has he, says Solomon, any pleasure in fools: Nor is the intemperance I here exclude onely in fare, as meats and drinks, but equally of customary passions, not regulated by enlightened Reason, as excessive mirth, immoderate sorrow, fond over-flowing and toyish love, unreasonable austerity, and morose behaviour, though the best and most divine courses of Devotion may consist with the casual unfortunate acts of these affections, yet with their customs and habits they cannot; to this I add the intemperance of the Tongue, especially in joculary and slight discourse, where many a vain word flies out unregarded. Now if I must give account for every idle word at the day of Judgement, as Truth itself says wee shall, unless I make the account even here in the day of Indulgence, how is it possible, that if I make light of these words, but either I must be forced to omit the account, by reason of the infinite number, which is desperate, or else tear and wound my Conscience every day by a most tedious and sufferable examination of this one particular? which by consequence through the infirmity of the flesh, policy of the devil, without special mercy and aid of God, may bring an universal loathing and hate upon the whole duty, which would be a misery in the end above all expressions miserable: No marvel then that St. James concludes so roundly in his first Chapter, If any man seems to bee devout or religious amongst you, and yet bridle not his Tongue, all that mans devotion and religion is vain. And this with help of your devout Comment may suffice for the preparatory to this great duty: I will now, God willing, in all plainness show you the duty itself.  
Examination, or daily trial of the Conscience, that's the name, and in effect is but casting up accounts with God, and providing that the books of our Consciences here agree with that register that God daily takes above: a task easy enough to that soul on whom God hath bestowed a true faith in a Saviour, for his Treasure expends all, no cost at all to us, Christ gives the coin, the hand of Faith, onely numbers it, and delivers it to whom it is due. This is the ordinary course of living in a continual peace, though compassed with all outward crosses and miseries in the World; for to a good heart, so long as it can nestle in the bosom of eternity, and like that beloved Disciple, lean upon the breast of her Master Jesus, all is well, though it fall out to be the very night of treason and passion: at which time truly this duty is thought by some Divines to have been manifested in a most exact and extraordinary Example: You know when our Lord was set at meate, that sad night in which he was betrayed, and  told his Disciples that notwithstanding all his divine acts of Love, giving his flesh for their food, and blood for their drink, yet one of his own Disciples should betray him: every one, even Iscariot, but in hypocrisy, began first to ask his own Conscience, and then Christ, who knew more of them than their own souls, Lord is it I? Matth. 26. As if every one, except Judas, had said in order; Lord, I know, that although I know nothing by myself, yet am I not thereby justified, and therefore having examined my Conscience concerning this thy prophesy, that one of us shall betray thee, albeit I find all clear and free from the least intention of so foul a Treason, yet since thou only knowst what may enter into mans base heart, if thou keep not out all our temptations; I beseech thee spare me not, if I be the man, name me, show me, as a most hideous Monster of ingratitude; such a sin deserves a shane above the age and sufferance of mortality: therefore, dear Master, since my Conscience cannot tell me of my sin, thou art greater than my Conscience, and knowest all things: oh tell me whether I am that sinful wretch or no.  
I would to God every Lords Supper had been thus eaten, and all Consciences examined beyond their own knowledge, by an appeal unto Christ, concerning their very secret and unknown sins, before they eat of that Bread, and drink of that cup: but we go further, and prescribe this course, after all Suppers, because all may be our last, before wee dare take any rest, more or less, as health and other importances shall unfeignedly permit; and to say concerning all thoughts, words, and actions: Ah Lord, thou hast prophesied in thy Word, that there are some amongst us wicked men, though never so much blessed by thee, who having left thee the Creator, have set their hearts upon the Creature, profit, pleasures, honours, humours, bellies, Lord is it I? Others, that in the superstitious vanities of their mind have set up Idols to worship 'em, and who serve thee after their own wills, not thy Rules, who rely on Angels and Saints, and their own arm for help: Lord is it I? Come thou sayest there are who take thy name in vain, by horrid oaths, blasphemies, ●estings upon sacred Writ, mistakes of Ministers, infirmities of the Prophets, in their ●●unction of Preaching and Reading the holy Word: Lord is it I? Others, who neglect their works of calling upon Dayes of working, and yet profane the dayes of rest by working unlawful things; by idleness, by lawless and unpermitted Recreations, by not frequenting the public place of holy worship on the Lords Day, and other holy times appointed; by slighting of Common Prayer, unreverent and careless behaviour unconformable Gestures in the time of Divine Service, by having itching ears at Sermons, and censuring all, more than practising any: by neglect of the Lords Work upon the Lords Day; some by Judaizing nicety; some by Heathen profaneness; some there be that are guilty of all these things, Lord is it I? If it be, Lord speak to my soul in the Revelation of thy Love, that it my return an Answer in the confession of her own unworthiness, that I may repent ever before I sin, because I know all sins of all degrees would bee mine without thy gracious prevention.  
And thus, as I have shewed you in the first Table of the Decalogue, so you ought to proceed in the second, and examine all transgressions of unrighteousness and falsehood against our Brother, of excess and lust, distemperance against our own persons, immediately taking this Caveat, That you always reduce the first motion of any sin you have committed, to that Commandement which forbids the last act: as if thou hast fallen into that vile sin of unadvised wrath: Nay, if but inward rank or& malice of the heart, ask pardon as for murder: if but a lascivious glance has past the whole day; ask mercy as for Adultery; for God can never bee enough glorified, nor man too abased before God: All inward and close murmurings against any superior, or the Dictates of lawful Authority, all proud speaking and boasting of our own worth, must bee referred to the breaches of the first Commandement, and so of the rest: and then after all these Lords is it I, thy Conscience doubtless will often answer, as Christ did to Iscariot, Thou hast said it, confess and amend. Now for the better performance of this rare exercise, I'll set down these few Conditions.   

The first Section.  
FIrst, it must be done ENTIRELY, totally, not by peece-meales; some peculiar minuits must bee set apart, wherein this work may bee entirely attended on, and because many living under the authority of ill-hour'd Masters, cannot be masters of their own time, 'tis safest to set that time apart, which immediately precedes our time of rest, and then make our bodies by this holy and Divine service, a true Temple unto the God of Israel: And this once begun, Davids vow must bee every day every mans resolution: I will not suffer my eyes to sleep, nor eyelids to slumber; no, not the Temples of my head to take any rest, until I find a place for the Temple of the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob: The heart may and must treasure up against night all the day long true and impartial notes: but this must be the entire time for the general accounts, and conferring Gods books and our own together, so wee shall quickly by Gods help, see every thing that is amiss in us, and what wee find extraordinary evil, learn to have an extraordinary sorrow for it, and an extraordinary care over it; that although it chance not to be quiter removed, yet every day may be sensible, or at least be hopeful of some abatement.  
This is the first, that it be done entirely, without interruption, at some peculiar destined season.   

The second Section.  
THE second requires, that besides this, it also bee performed accurately, exactly; not slightly, nor carelessly, but as that royal Prophet used to do it: Behold, O Lord, how I labour in my Prayer, and am vexed; vexed, because after all my care and diligence, I find such imperfections even in my Prayers: And in the 77. psalm, verse 6. At night I commune and discourse with my own heart, and examine or search out my Spirit, or( as the word will bear it) and sweep my Spirit: No wet finger work, no slight business, no perfunctory employment, no Exercise by the By: but attention, privacy, meditation, deep study, recollection, examination, cleansing( as with a broom) all, so much as filth and Dust in every angle of the heart, though it be never so tedious, and the stirred dust fly up in our very eyes and nostrils: and yet there are some ways of allaying this dust so far, as it shall not fly so high as to hurt that eye that discovers it; as wee see in our daily experience, a little water sprinkled will so unite so many of the little bodies together, that at length they grow so heavy, that they cannot ascend at all, but are swept out with pollutions of a greater size: if wee sweep softly, commune with your hearts, and bee quiet, Psal. 4. 'tis just so with the soul in this case: the devil, like his juggling vassals, would fain bee raising of mists, even from that which wee are sweeping out; but wee must know that all he raises is on purpose to over-perplexe us at the sight of our own pollutions: and therefore keep but this dust from flying upwards, and all is well: a little blood or water out of our Saviours side will do it, and keep all so low, that nothing shall rise up, either to shane or trouble us: This being a special Caveat about this second Condition, that we take not so severely an exact account, that it should tend to dejection, or threaten a desperation: No, before ever wee look upon the sin that pollutes us, as we are Christians, let us bee provided of some of the immaculate lambs blood, that has cleansed us from the Tyranny and condemning power of all sin: so that if wee discover most high& heinous offences in our souls, let the sight bee cause not of a sullen acedy, and lazy disconsolation, but of a quick and lively remorse, rather a while Contemplating the greatness and glory of that mercy which has promised to pardon so great a sin, and so great a number upon a true Repentance; not that man may dare to presume, but that man should not dare to despair, and that all sins should produce a pious humiliation, but never any impious Dejection, there being no sin in all the World more dangerous to man, nor more derogatory from the glory of a God Saviour, than Desperation for any sin whatsoever. The devil often nicknames ungodly sorrow, and desperate thoughts by the faire Title of Mortification and Humility: but both grossly false, because Mortification always works by Faith: Humility submits in hope and love, but Desperation has lost all Faith and Hope: and surely unreligious Melancholy is directly opposite to Love, and Hope and Faith altogether: And therefore I add a third Condition of a high and mysterious consequence.   

The third Section.  
THe third is, that all bee done affectionately, feelingly, with a lively sense both of godly joy for mercies received, and godly sorrow for sins detected; that all our fears may bee of Love, and all our Loves seasoned with filial Reverence, all our joys, joys of sacred tears, and all our sighs and sorrowings issues of joy: like good natured and pious children, who having fallen into any offence against indulgent Parents, are sad and sure of pardon together; nay, the certainty of the one, increases the dolour of the other, because to good souls offence is greater torment than punishment: so lovely is mercy to a penitent, and yet so foul is sin to a religiously sad delinquent, because the abuse of Clemency in a Judge, aggravates the laws transgression above the act of the Peccant: wherefore take this as a mystery in this rare Art of daily trial: It may and will doubtless fall out, that upon often practise of this duty, the nature of our dayes may differ; and that upon some accounts wee may, as wee shall always, both more or less, find more mercies bestowed than sins committed, so powerful may grace by the gift of God bee: other times the sins may appear far above positive particular mercies, for that of preservation is continual: if the first fall out, as our own souls can onely testify, then joy triumphs; if the last, then sorrow has got the Day. Wherefore have a care never to perform one without the other; if joy for mercies begin, let Religious sorrow for the very imperfections of thy good actions conclude the Meditation, for fear joy alone grow either proud or wanton, or daring: If sorrow for a multitude of fallings, before the Meditation cease, raise thy soul up with contemplation of that joy which ought to be in a sinner, though never so sinful, because of a Saviour, for fear grief grow desperate, and dishonour the infinite mercy of thy JESUS, and destroy thy peace here, and thy whole person hereafter. Let this bee retained as a Mystery, when thou interest into thy privacies: but this is onely in particular, now for the general, since Christ has made Mercy exalt itself against Justice, joy must be heir, and at last have a double portion: Every thing here, though it must bee done strictly and exactly, yet always cheerfully: David in the 77. psalm calls this Exercise his Song, as if it had been his chief Recreation, and indeed so it is: And although the devil may while trouble us, and our flesh loathe it, yet at length length it will appear to a well practised soul, a very sacred pastime, and continual Jubilee, and every day shall bee as that awful time at which they receive the Sacrament, a serious holiday: for the truth is, so long as Faith is strong in the Breast of any Christian, the very sight of our sins, the most ugly things in the World have a kind of comfort: If as Nature had bestowed two eyes upon us, one to be cast upon a Saviour to love him, as the other upon the sin to loathe it: and as great a comfort it will be to see every day so many of our sins by this trial apprehended, and condemned; and slain by Mortification; as it was for the Israelites, before they slept to see all their black egyptian enemies lie dead upon the shore: however, if for trial sake it please God to permit a spiritual desertion to lie upon us, let us be quiet, still waiting for the gift of God in patience: for who are wee that God should bestow so great a blessing and spiritual joy upon us? And above all things, in such a cause defer not spiritual counsel one minuite: God works powerfully and miraculously in the accepted ways of his own Ordinance: and I would to God every one would know this: the very ignorance of it being so great and undiscerned a sin: in such cases, the 103. psalm is of admirable use, and so is the 51: In one word, mercies must be so rejoiced in, that they double our industry in pleasing their Author; sins must bee so lamented in Faith, that the grief shall double both our experience of mercy, and caution of future transgression, which cannot bee, unless wee loathe our sins at height in opposition to Gods purity, and cry out with Job: Since my eye has seen thee, I repented and abhor myself, and repent in Ashes: that is, Works of mortification, hardness, want of delicacy, slender and course fare, watchfulness for a while, and the like, and in all constancy: that's the fourth condition: all the act in general must bee done constantly, no omission. Those who serve God, God loves them to the end; and they who continue to love God, serve him to the end: If seven times fall, seven times rise again: nay, if seventy seven times, seventy thousand times, as often repent, and be sure to continue thy trial, and care over all thy actions, remembering the bar at which thou art to arraign thyself, before Night shall give thee rest; a little day of Judgement: so doubtless by the implored mercy of God, our continual surveying of Gods mercies, and our own sins constantly every day, cannot choose but raise in us most admirable love towards the one, and most just hatred of the other, that wee shall arrive to an excellent temper of the soul, which wee shall manifest in Devotion to our God, in love to every man in Temperance and Chastity, and Sobriety to our own souls and bodies. What an inutterable blessing is it, that Heaven should be thus on earth, and that every day wee should have so free access, and familiar intercourse with the King of Heaven and Earth? burn, and not consume, like Moses his chapel in the Bush: for otherwise our God is a consuming fire.   

The fift Section.  
THe last Condition follows, without which, Constancy may chance not to do so much as shee ought; and this is Aptitude, all must bee done fitly, conveniently, proportionably, or we lose a great part of the blessing: The meaning is this: No man we know, but as all have all, has some peculiar reigning imperfection, the Darling 'vice, and the tie of all the rest: some have it in thoughts,& musings of vainglory, and Castles in the air. Others in their words, oft swearing, jesting slanders, filthy discourse, &c. Others in gross Actions of several sorts: Now whatsoever it be, if thy hearts impartial experience shall( after Prayer to God how to find it, since the devil so strives to conceal it) once find by custom and self-love what& which it is; then must the heart at time of trial take a double survey of all her particulars, lay a double weight of sorrows Mortification upon all her Extravagances, set a double watch over all her by-paths, avoiding every occasion that has heretofore but tended unto any of her acts; and the more noted occasions, it were not amiss to take a peculiar Catalogue of them, by some Characters onely known unto ourselves, that wee may meet with all her baits,& assure ourselves, dissolve this knot, and you loosen every sin in the body. bosom sins are the very life of all the rest, take them away, and it is easy to remove the other, with this great promise, that this being but one exercise of a thousand, though truly, I think the best, wee lay no virtue or efficacy upon the exercise, but all upon the co-operating Grace, and blessing of God. And thus I have shew'd you briefly and plainly how the trial must bee done: I must now show you what must be done, and the several parts of this Exercise, and all too with the same brevity.   

The first Section.  
FIrst then, though particular order may be free, I should prescribe that the whole course and order of the Devotion from the beginning to the end might completely bee agreed upon before ever the knee were bended: after this, having set ourselves not in the lazy posture of one knee, and a columnary elbow, but to such a position, that might with its own reverence strike the Master with a thought of what he is about, a Publican prostration, a humble eye, a sadly serious Aspect, a beaten breast, deep but quiet groans, still and lowly voice; all this even Nature would dictate to a Heathen. After this let the Prayer begin with a grateful rehearsal of Gods mercies, under which name reckon his Judgments also, which his wisdom and love has chastised thee by, or tried thy love to him by laying them on those who have relations of love unto thee, as the soul has treasured the store up from time to time in particular for those of that day, even to that liberty of prayer: and because none may bee omitted, let Jesus bee mentioned one for all; for from eternal Election to eternal glory all is Jesus; so desiring God for his sake to make us really thankful for them to him, and his bounty to continue thē to us, according to his own will. The first part, which I call the Eucharist, or giving of thankes, is discharged sufficiently.   

The second Section.  
THe second part, let it be Confession of sins in general, from the first to the last of this day wherein we have lived, for herein is Gods mercy wonderfully magnified, and our own vileness mightily aggravated, that notwithstanding all Gods favours, yet we have ungraciously rebelled, and yet notwithstanding all our rebellions, God has not left off to bee gracious: in that wee see him afford us time and power to pray for pardon: so after particular enumeration, with dolour of heart, after the manner afore prescribed, let us with a catholic Confession of known and unknown, not without particular Contrition, for our noted sins of omission, as well as for our reigning and bosom enormities committed, desire God to take his own way in chastising of us here, that we may be saved hereafter; and so for Christ Jesus his sake to sand the Comforter into our hearts both with peace and power; peace of Conscience, as touching what wee have done, and power never to do the same again, upon the allurements or threats of the whole world.   

The second Section.  
THis second part thus concluded, the third may fitly be entred by transition, of magnifying the mercy of God, in permitting us by the intercession of Iesus to pray for one another, and promising to hear our Supplications powred out entirely for our Brethren; nay, to bless us for doing that; for which God gives us both will and power to do it: Oh the depth of such a mercy!   

The third Section.  
THis third part then I'll call Intercession, which must contain a brief, but passionate desire unto Almighty God: first, to glorify his own name, in the ways of his own Will upon all flesh, though never so unpleasant to carnal Reason. Secondly, to have mercy upon all men, and to multiply means of effectual conversion to all ungodly men, whether within, or without the pale of the Church. Thirdly, and in especial manner, to bless the universal Church, to hear the groans of the Saints, and to come quickly, and to prepare every heart for his coming: meane-while( which is the fourth part) to bless, amongst other Christian kingdoms, that wherein wee enjoy freedom of Religion, and therein to pray for the Lords Annoynted, the queen, the blood royal: likewise for all persons, of all sorts, in all places, that all may receive their measure of Grace, and serve God accordingly in their several Callings: and in particular to desire God to bestow a double portion upon all our friends, and all those who have relation unto us in the bond of blood, affinity, or acquaintance. Fiftly, to labour for a blessing upon our enemies, and so the more earnestly to solicit God, the more averse wee find perchance our Hearts from our Tongues; and yet beware not to leave, but even with tears to ask, till we find some flamme of Charity in our souls, asking forgivnesse that wee find so little; for without this, all the Exercise is nothing: for this part is the very touch-stone of all true prayers, the very trial of the trial: many a thousand will pray exceeding well till they come to this, which they either omit, or perform it perfunctorily and deceitfully, with reservations and distinctions, and so all their prayers turn into sin, and their own curse: a thing, I am afraid, which is a Canker in most Mens and Womens Devotions, who otherwise carry a great esteem and famed of Piety: for seeing we are to conclude with the Lords Prayer, wherein wee pray God( the phrase doubtless was put so by the Spirit on purpose) to forgive us our Trespasses, as wee forgive them that trespass against us; if then wee retain the least ill will, the least swelling of heart, the least motions of revenge, or disdain, or neglect: it is our own prayer, that God would do the like by us; oh the horror and stupidity of such Devotion, curse, and damme ourselves, for the least wrath of God reserved, excludes from Heaven, as well as his whole displeasure. I would to God all would lay this to heart; for assure ourselves, the Prophet speaks true, The Lord is not mocked. sixthly, because sins of combination and society are the greatest sins, as wherein, like the devil, wee turn Tempters, and as much as lies in us, strive to damme others also: For this cause I would have a peculiar remembrance of those, whom at any time wee have caused to sin either by Temptation or scandal; and a desiring of God that he would bless us with sacred opportunities, whereby wee might confess our sins to one another, least the heart of one should be hardened, because it perceives not the heart of the other softened, especially when the tempted and seduced person has an opinion of the Tempters Piety or Knowledge, there the Tempter commits a double sin, if he imparts not at first opportunity, his remorse and repentance which God has bestowed upon him: and although some may pretend equality of transgression because of ones consent to the others allurement, or in two alike, willing to a fact: yet take this as a Rule, that one always is in Gods esteem unequal, and in Nature it cannot bee, but that either temptation, or at least mention, must set one transgressor foremost; nay, in the penitence both are bound, who have sinned by society, to esteem themselves each as first in the breach of Gods Law, at least co-equals: This is a Mystery. Seventhly, there must be supplication made for all afflicted people, whether in mind, or body, or estate: especially for those who suffer for the Testimony of a good Conscience, as likewise for those who groan under a bad one: which would bee the necessary doom of every man living, did not God in mercy interpose the wounded body of a just Mediator betwixt our sins and us. Lastly, though God permits Charity a higher place, yet Humility accepts of this for our own persons, wherein according to that power of utterance, which God shall bestow upon the soul, wee are to implore most earnestly, but briefly, first that God would glorify himself in us, whether by life or death, and onely so far grant our former Petitions, as they shall stand in conformity to his sacred will and pleasure: but withall, that since Iesus has suffered the just for the unjust, God would be pleased to glorify himself in mercy, and for our Saviours sake, to grant us a lively Faith, by virtue of which wee may sincerely lament our sins, by whose power wee may indeed be thankful for his mercies, most unfeignedly careful to grow in piety and saving knowledge: and that all this might happily bee effected, pray unto God uncessantly for his grace and protection this Night, or this Day, and a daily competency of his earthly blessings, so far forth, that wee may attend upon Gods work without Distraction, still referring all to Divine pleasure, and beseeching God, that whatsoever in these our sinful prayers, through unworthiness we have not dared, or ignorance been able to ask, or through any imperfection or sin have either mistak't or omitted, his mercy would bee pleased to grant those things, to pardon that unworthiness, and sin, and ignorance, and make up that imperfection, for his sake who is his wisdom, our merit, and righteousness, and the perfection of all things, Jesus Christ, the righteous, to whom, with the father,& holy Spirit, three Persons, one God, be all glory and power for ever. So desiring God that wee may have leave to shut up our sinful prayers, with that perfect form which our Saviour taught us: Let us conclude all with the Lords prayer, and so compose ourselves to rest, having committed all to Christ, as unto a faithful Redeemer; Morning must do as much for the night, as the night did for the day.   

THus the prescription of the whole duty being finished, Ile suppose Your Honour, Madam, in the faire Hopes of those Prayers, which I promise to sand to Heaven every Day for Your success, a happy Proficient in this Rare Exercise; and hereupon I dare prophesy of two temptations that will seize upon you: for satan being as it were thus rejected, and daily exorcis'd by these Acts of Devotions, and therefore mad to see a soul out of his reach, tempts back again at Distance, with all his force and policy: Two extremes are his fatal baits. First,( which lightly is the most impious) he'll persuade to a kind of horror in the Exercise, and consequently a loathing of it; so that perchance a double fear may seize upon you; one if You omit it, suggesting that You have lost Your former Love; another, if you perform, suggesting that the sinners prayers are vain, and that you superstitiously worship God in a way that he has not required: but now observe it, and you shall find both false: for first, I have shewed that this Exercise must be entered upon as a privilege, not an injunction, because it is neither our power nor merit that we can perform so rare a work, but the indulgence of God our Father. Secondly, that our sins appear so plain to God; so much the better, so long as Man presumes not, the Mercies of God are the more magnified: Nor is there any fear of Superstition, since God has commanded the Duty and the manner both: both which God hath done partly by explicit command, partly by implicit in all those places where he commands us to walk circumspectly, to try our ways, to call to remembrance our misdeeds and his mercies, to search our spirits, to Examine our hearts: This is the very duty Consonant to the Text, and the manner not repugnant; so that prayer to God for cheerfulness in his service, and humility, will lay the devil by Gods assistance, as soon as it is raised. Wherefore the next time bee appears, it shall be in quiter contrary shape, and so set a work his e cond extreme, which tends as much to Presumption, as the other to Desperation: The Suggestions are these, that You are exceeding happy in the practise, that GOD is Your Debtor for this supererogation,& that all Men are Your inferiors, because scarce one so holy as Your self, that this Exercise hath some inherent rare quality, and the like: but all this also is quickly answered, if you remember that it is the gift and power of GOD, not your own, that ever you performed, or so much as thought upon so sacred an Exercise, and yet that the Exercise is not to bee idolised, because of itself it works nothing, merits nothing, thing, moves nothing; onely as GOD blesses his own Instrument, which any Exercise may do as well as this, if God please; onely this is a Duty drawn in conformity to his revealed Will, which makes God bless it the better; not for the exercises sake, but for Christs sake, in whose Name wee pray; To which it is not dissonant, and yet consonant to the fate of man; so then selfe-denial, or one thought of original impurity, dashes this Cockatrice in the egg. This I thought good to forewarn your soul of, because I would fore-arme it: I shal pray to God, that any of my Labours may advantage Your Honour in Your course of Religion; and so rest, with a pious ambition of being still thus employed.  
Your Honours in all due observance. T. R.   
FINIS.   

Imprimatur  
Sa. Baker: Ex aedibus Londin. Octob. 4. 1638. modo intra trees Menses proximè sequentes.