Directions for Daily Holy Living, by D. Burgess Minister of the Gospel.  
D. 1. LImit your sleeping hours. Let them not be as many as brutish Sense demandeth. Let Reason fit their number to your Health and Labour. Your Motion is not by the Rule of Religion, if your Rest be not so, Psa. 139.18. I awake, that I may be still with thee. So, some Learned red it.  
D. 2. Consecrate your waking thoughts. Let your God have those first Fruits. He always Loved the first of all things. The first Fruits, and first Born, under the Law, were his. Present Him with these, every morning. Thoughts are inward Speeches. Let God hear Himself first spoken of by you, still. It will argue that He is your Beloved, and it will make Him more so. Love makes Thoughtful; and Thoughtfulness makes Love. A Potter is known by his Vessels, and a Heart by its Thoughts; and of all Thoughts, by its first in the morning, and last at night. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord! Psal. 5.3.  
D. 3. Regulate your Bodily Dresses. Long Dresses bewray large Consciences, if no worse. He that duly prefers his Soul above his Body, would rather go like the wild Indians, than dress like some Londoners. The Hebrew word Beged, signifies clothing and Covenant-breaking. God seems to have taught thereby, that the clothes on our backs should humble us for the sin of our first Parents and Persons. But if they do not so; and if outward Adorning be that which employs our early hour, and severe thoughts, it will be dearly paid for in our dying hours, with tormenting thoughts, 1 Pet. 3.3. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning.  
D. 4. Time well your Closet and Family Worship. They be not the same things in season, and out of season. Let the Word be red; one verse rather than none; and Prayer be made; the shortest, rather than none; both by yourselves alone, and with your Families. If it may be, worship first by yourselves. But, needlessly tie not yourselves, being God hath not bound you unto such and such hours. Still do, as you verily think is most for Edification, Mat. 6.6. Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father. Josh. 24.15. As for me and my House, we will s●●●e the Lord.  
D. 5. sanctify your worldly Business. Nothing is your Business, but that which God your Master sets you about. Dare not then do any thing, but that whereto you can entitle Him. Nor dare you to do it for any other chief end, but to please Him. When you do WHAT He sets you, and supremely BECAUSE He sets it, and wills that you do it; knowing and hoping for his Direction in it, and Blessing of it; you then sanctify it: Then HOLINESS TO THE LORD is written upon it, whatever it be, 1 Cor. 10.31. Whether ye Eat or Drink, or WHATSOEVER ye do, do all to the glory of God.  
D. 6. Moderate your Pains in your Callings. Pains must be; Sweat, is required. But by Reason and Religion they must be measured. God's Laws be all Just and Good. Drones that will not work must not eat. He that is a sluggard in his work, is branded as Brother of the Prodigal waster, Prov. 18.9. Drudges, of whose Labour there is no end, and who bereave their Souls of good; who use themselves worse than God allows Oxen to be used; Treading out the Corn, and muzzling themselves; these are branded by the Spirit of God, as inconsiderate, absurd, and self-destroying fools, Eccles. 4.8. Diligent hands have the promise of being made rich: That is, Hands that be neither Drones nor Drudges, Prov. 10.4. The hand of the diligent maketh rich.  
D. 7. Strengthen your guards against your strongest Enemies. Sin, is our Enemy; even One and All. God hates nothing but sin; and man can be hurt by nothing but sin. Sin's name is Legion; for it is many. And of the many, there is some one or other in every man, that has more power than all the rest. That gives strength unto all the rest. And, being mortified, all the rest are mortified. There be also beside that KING-sin in their Souls, some kind of PEER-sins, which, of all, next unto the KING-sin, are by far the most dangerous. The KING-sin is( alway or mostly) your Temperamental sin; the sin of your Constitution. The PEER-sins, be the Radical ones, of Sensuality, Unbelief, hypocrisy; and the way-laying ones, whereunto Temptations will every day meet us in our Company and Business. You can never have any but a false Peace, till you can say, as Psal. 18.23. I am upright before the Lord, I keep myself from my own iniquity. Doctor Bates, his little Book upon that Text is a Light and Lamp, a Rod, and a Staff.  
D. 8. Govern your Thoughts and your Words. Let not your Minds or Tongues be unbridled, and run whither they will. You are in your Shops and your Business very often, alone; Reverence your Conscience, and dare not in the presence of God's Vicegerent to suffer a sinful or useless self discourse. But talk with yourselves of great and good Subjects, and with designs of great and good Effects upon your hearts by them. When you are in company, consider your Tongue's need of Government: All its words be Meat or Poison to your Hearers, and yourselves: They do still holily make for Edification, or subserviently for Recreation, or contrarily for Corruption, Pro. 24.9. The THOUGHT of foolishness is sin, Mat. 12.36. Of every idle WORD that men shall speak, they shall give account in the day of judgement.  
D. 9. Preserve the Prerogative of your King. I mean, of your Love. Your Love of God, of Angels, of Men: That is your Principal Grace; your Prince. Keep that Prince on horse-back; let that ride, and reign, and rule you in all you do. Let not any thing lower, move and sway you more, in any of your ways. Remember still it is Love that is the highest improvement of our Faculties, the End of all other Graces, the Excellency in all other Graces. For this is the Word of God given, for this is the Spirit given, for this was his Son given, that we might Love! Never please yourselves therefore with any Quality or any external Duty, without Love, internal Love, animating, enlivening, exalting it, Rom. 13.10. Love is the fulfilling of the Law.  
D. 10. Value highly your Time. Do so really, in more than empty pretence. And do so apparently also. Apparently unto your own Conscience, Family, Friends, Neighbours. Tell all in the Language of practise, you account them as the worst of Thieves, who rob you of your Time. Say as Mr. Fowler, My Time and Strength is God's, and he shall have it. And, as Mr. Calvin, Christ shall not find me idle. Esteem every small moiety of Time, as you do of Gold. Expend none at all, of it, but in mowing and whetting your Sithe; in very Duty, and necessary Recreation. Buy a great deal of it; I mean, part with much vain pleasure, secular profit, fools fav●●● and kindness, and good men's too sometimes, to save your Time. To save it from doing of evil, and from doing of lesser good, when you may do greater. That is indeed, as we are bid, Eph. 5.16. To Redeem the Time.  
D. 11. Exercise Christian Temperance in all your Meals. Brutes, are more temperate in use of food, than many men. And, may I not say, that some unregenerate men are more temperate, than here and there a well reputed Christian appears? This is a shane. Excess in Meat and Drink, is not the least fruitful sin against Body or Soul. To be abstemious and sparing for healths sake, is to be as wise as Brute creatures, and some men graceless. Abstinence, for Conscience sake; of love to God& Christ, to our own Souls and others; of faithfulness unto our Baptismal Engagement; this is Christian Temperance, Ezek. 16.49. Behold this was the sin of Sodom, Pride, fullness of BREAD, and abundance of IDLENESS was in her. Sin came in by eating; remember then Prov. 23.2. Put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to Appetite. And, Be not desirous of Dainties; for they are deceitful meat. Rom. 8.13. If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.  
D. 12. Hasten your Recoveries out of your wilful sins. For sins of unavoidable Infirmity, God threatens not Eternal Plagues, or Temporal Judgments on you. Sincere and constant Humiliation for them, is indeed necessary and natural, to Lovers of God and Christ. But sins that are not of common and insuperable Infirmity, they make fearful breaches of your peace with God, and sore wounds in your Souls. They sadly lessen God's Love of Complacence in you, and your Love and all graces towards God. When you fall into these, dare not to lye one minute in them; Lament them presently, Confess them presently to God, and( if need be) unto man also. Repent, rent your hearts for them, and rent them also from them, without delay. Cry for the Balm of Christ's blood to be presently dropped into your wounds; and for the clean water of his Spirit to be presently poured on you. Cry mightily for Pardon of them, and Assistance against them. Every minutes delay may cost you so many days, weeks& months dolor& anguish. Chosen delays may make so many Spira's of you, for ought I know, Psa. 32.3. While I kept silence, i.e. would not confess my sin, my bones waxed old, i.e. I suffered dearly.  
D. 13. Examine strictly your Relative Duty. Often say, What Subject am I? What Fellow-Subject? What Observer of Magistrates and Ministers? What Friend am I? How do I carry it toward my Enemies? For a Christian can be no one's Enemy! as far as he is a Christian, he cannot. What Husband or Wife am I? What Parent or Child am I? What Master or Servant am I? What Superior, what Inferior, what Equal am I? Sincerity or hypocrisy, is, for the most part, specially seen in these things, 2 Pet. 3.11. What manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversations and Godlinesses. Psal. 119.6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments.  
D. 14. Repeat every Evening your double use of the WORD and PRAYER. I mean in your Closet and Family. Dare not for the gain of a Kingdom to omit it, of choice. Nor to perform it without greatest Seriousness, Willingness and Thankfulness. Psal. 55.17. Evening and Morning, and at Noon will I pray and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice.  
D. 15. Repair every days Losses, and be chary of every days Gains. I mean your extraordinary ones. The Womb of one day brings forth huge Hindrances of Duty to God, to yourselves, and to your Families. Ill Persons or Things obstruct your Solemnities. When they do so, consider and consult, and strain hard to make it up the next day. red, Pray, Meditate, &c. so much the more. Another day brings forth huge Helps. A Lecture, a Fast, or public Thanksgiving, a Funeral Sermon, a meeting with some Servants of God of extraordinary Talents; apt to Teach, and forward so to do. When such a day comes, lay up, and lock up your Spiritual Gains. roast what you take, as Solomon speaks; keep, feed on it, enjoy it. Eph. 5.16. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. John second Epistle ver. 8. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things that we have wrought, but may receive a full reward.  
D. 16. Improve both of the Holy Sacraments. Most lamentably these are neglected among us! The God of all Grace, that hath condescended to extremity in the ordaining of them, awaken Ministers and People to better use of them! On Gods part they are Signs and Seils, on our part they are Bonds and Badges. Baptism and he Lords Supper, are the utmost confirmations God giveth us of his Promise to be our God; and the utmost we give of our Engagement to be his. Forget not this, nor vainly remember it. pled with God for your Souls, his Signed, Sealed Promises unto you; to the expulsion of Distrust. And pled with your Souls for God, your Sacramental Bonds given unto him, and Badges of being his put upon you; to the Conquest of Disobedience. Sacramental Obligation is the chief Store-house and Magazine to draw armor from, in an Hour of Temptation. There is none like it. Rom. 6.1, 2, 3. What shall we say then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid, How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were Baptized into Jesus Christ, were Baptized into his death? 1 Pet. 3.21. The like figure whereunto, even Baptism, doth also now save us,( not the putting away of the filth of the Flesh; but the answer of a good Conscience toward God) by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 10.16, and 21. The Cup of Blessing which we bless, is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ? The Bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ? Ye cannot drink the Cup of the Lord, and the Cup of Devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lords Table, and of the Table of Devils.  
D. 17. Hear yourselves daily your Catechism. I mean, the Summary of Religion, unto which you have attained. There be several set down in Mr. Burgess's Three Questions Resolved. I advice all, once a day to go over that which they have Learned, and can Remember. Let grown Christians ask and answer themselves, how they do in their Hearts BELIEVE each Article of the Apostles Creed; how they PRAY each Petition of the Lords Prayer; how they PRACTISE each Commandment of both Tables; how they are ENCOURAGED and ENGAGED unto all three; unto the Life of Holy Faith, Prayer and practise, I mean, by their Holy Baptism and the Lords Table. Rom. 2.21. Thou which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Psal. 4.4. Commune with your own Heart. Psal. 16.7. My Reins instruct me.  
D. 18. Command your last Thoughts to be fit to be your last. When you compose you to sleep, suppose that you may die in that sleep. And if so, the God unto whom you must go in that death, is fit to be thought of in the entrance to it. If not, it will be sweet in the Morning to review last thoughts of him at Night. Yea, and those Thoughts of Faith and Love, and Trust, at Night, will be generative of more of the same Spirit and Goodness in the Morning. Psal. 63.6. I remember thee on my Bed, and meditate of thee in the Night Watches.  He that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and Approved of Men, Rom. 14.18.  

London, Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside, near Mercers Chapel. 1690: 54.