The Christian-man's calling: or, A treatise of making religion ones business. Wherein the nature…

Prepare to meet thy God, O Christian; betake thy self to thy chamber on the Saturday night, confess and bewail thine unthankfulness for, and unfruitfulness under the Ordinances of God; shame and condemn thy self for thy sins; entreat God to prepare thy heart for, and assist it in thy Religious performances; spend some time in consideration of the infinite Majesty, Holiness, Jealousy and Goodness of that God, with whom thou art to have to do in sacred duties; ponder the weight and importance of his holy Ordinances, how ⟨p. 348⟩they concern thy salvation or damnation, thine everlasting life or death; how certainly they will either further thine unchangeable welfare, or increase thine endless woe; meditate on the shortness of the time thou hast to enjoy Sabbaths in, how near thy life may be to an end, how speedily, and how easily God may take down thine earthly Tabernacle, how there is no working, no labouring, no striving in the other World, to which thou art hastening, and continue musing and blowing, till the fire burneth; thou canst not think the good thou mayest gain by such fore-thoughts, how pleasant and profitable a Lords Day would be to thee, after such a preparation. The oven of thine heart thus baked in (as it were) over night, would be easily heated the next morning; the fire so well raked up when thou wentest to bed, would be the sooner kindled when thou shouldst rise: If thou wouldst thus leave thine heart with God on the Saturday night, thou shouldst find it with him in the Lords Day morning.

Prepare to meet thy God, O Christian; betake thy self to thy chamber on the Saturday night, confess and bewail thine unthankfulness for, and unfruitfulness under the Ordinances of God; shame and condemn thy self for thy sins; entreat God to prepare thy heart for, and assist it in thy Religious performances; spend some time in consideration of the infinite Majestie, Holiness, Jealousie and Goodness of that God, with whom thou art to have to do in sacred duties; ponder the weight and importance of his holy Ordinances, how ⟨p. 348⟩they concern thy salvation or damnation, thine everlasting life or death; how certainly they will either further thine unchangeable welfare, or encrease thine endless wo; meditate on the shortness of the time thou hast to enjoy Sabbaths in, how near thy life may be to an end, how speedily, and how easily God may take down thine earthly Tabernacle, how there is no working, no labouring, no striving in the other World, to which thou art hastning, and continue musing and blowing, till the fire burneth; thou canst not think the good thou mayest gain by such fore-thoughts, how pleasant and profitable a Lords Day would be to thee, after such a preparation. The oven of thine heart thus baked in (as it were) over night, would be easily heated the next morning; the fire so well raked up when thou wentest to bed, would be the sooner kindled when thou shouldst rise: If thou wouldst thus leave thine heart with God on the Saturday night, thou shouldst finde it with him in the Lords Day morning.