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they may put them in Practice. None ought to be furprised if they find fome difficulty at the Beginning, in making Ufe of them: The first Attempts in any Thing that is excellent, are always attended with Labour and Pains; but if Men will be perfuaded to persevere in them for a Seafon, with fome Degree of Refolution, Custom and the Grace of God will quickly make them eafy and pleasant.

I. RISING. As foon as thou wakeft from Sleep, dedicate thy firft Thoughts to God, whofe Providence has preferved you from the Dangers of the past Night; adore his Goodness, and exprefs your Thankfulness in fome fhort Ejaculations; exercise your Love and Affection towards him, or any other Virtue your Thoughts fhall fuggest to you: And in order that the devout Soul may be provided with fit Materials for this Purpose, I cannot but advise the getting of the Three Hymns without Book, for Morning, Evening, and Midnight, which are added at the End of this Treatife, among the Devotions.

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Trouble of charging your Memory will be quickly paft, the daily repeating of them will make you perfect in them, but the good Fruit of them will abide with you all your Days, Ufe yourself to a conftant Hour of Rifing, and continue in your Bed no longer than you have offered up your firft Thoughts to God: This will prevent Laziness, and hinder vain, C

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loofe, and extravagant Thoughts, which will be ready to rife in our Minds, when we amufe ourfelves in Bed long awake. In Dreffing yourself, you may reflect upon the true End of Clothing: which was, to preferve Modesty and Health, to distinguish Quality and Sex; which will be useful to guard you from Vanity and Pride. And in all thofe Actions that relate to Dreffing, let no Lightness or Immodesty ever appear: Remember to reverence yourself.

II. MORNING PRAYER. You must be fure never to omit your Morning Devotions; however preffing and urgent your Bufinefs may be. I will fuggeft to you the Method of it, in that Part of this Treatife which relates to the Means of Religion. We cannot reasonably expect the Bleffing of God upon our temporal Affairs, if we do not beg it of him with entire Submiffion to his Will and Pleasure; neither can our fpiritual Affairs fucceed, without the Affiftance and Direction of his Grace, which we must always implore by fervent and diligent Prayer. When we are retired from our Devotions, we should entertain ourselves with reading fome Portion of the holy Scriptures; and befides, if we feed our Minds with perufing fome good Book, though for a Quarter of an Hour, we fhall receive great Profit and Advantage from it; the Subject will be apt to occur to our Thoughts

Thoughts in those Minutes of the Day when we are most at Leisure, especially if we have digested what we read by serious Meditation. It will be also very proper to confider with thyfelf, what Opportunities may present of ferving God that Day, and what Temptations may offer to offend him; that you may be prepared, by a fixed Refolution, to embrace the one, and to avoid and thun the other. They who govern a Family, muft charge themselves with it as their Duty, to call them together every Morning to worship God. They are answerable for the Souls of thofe that are under their Care, either Children or Servants: And this Practice is the best Method to make them dutiful and obedient, and ferviceable in their different Stations.

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III. PUBLIC PRAYER. Those whom the Providence of God has intrufted with a great Command of their Time, cannot better employ it, than by attending daily the Service of the Church, fo admirably contrived to nourish the Devotion of all her Children; and indeed the Nature of their Circumftances feems to require it from them. And there are very few much involved in worldly Affairs, but fpend more Time than that requires in Diverfion or vain Amusements; fo that if the Men of Bufinefs were as intent upon working out their Salvation as they are upon

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heaping up Riches, and growing Great, they would certainly fo contrive their Affairs, as frequently to dedicate half an Hour in four and twenty, to the public Service of God. A Mind thoroughly warmed with the Love of God, need not be preffed to this Duty; it is the Delight of fuch to dwell in his Courts, to be thankful unto him, and to speak of his good Name.

IV. BUSINESS, or our Calling. Take Care to difcharge all the particular Duties of that Eftate and Condition wherein the Providence of God has placed you, with Juftice and Industry, and wifely to manage your Time, of which you must one Day give a strict Ac

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If you are under the Neceffity of working. for your Living, blefs God that he has by this Means fecured you from Idlenefs, the Root of all Evil: And of what Nature foever your Employment is, exercise it with Justice and Fidelity. If a plentiful Fortune has fet you above any Calling, remember it is your Bufinefs to manage your Eftate to the best Advantage; to govern your Family with Prudence and Piety; to administer Juftice in your Country diligently and impartially; and to attend to the public Affairs of the Nation: with a firm Refolution, in all your Proceedings, to aim at the Good and Welfare of the Church and State. You must

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not confume your Time in impertinent Vifits, and in trifling Converfations, and in continual Diverfions, or in unaccountable Sloth; for Mirth and doing Nothing was never defigned for the Bufinefs of Life. Unhappy is that Man whose whole Employment is Gaming and Debauchery, and ftudies only for fome new Diverfion.

In whatever Condition you are, fome Employment may be found out, ufeful either to yourself or your Neighbour. And in the Labour either of Body or Mind, prescribe to yourself a Distribution of your Time, for every Thing you have to do every Day; and obferve exactly the Regulation you have pitched upon: By this Means Time will never lie upon your Hands, and you will be delivered from many Temptations of offending God.

Before you begin your Work, or any other of your Actions, offer them to God, if you defign they fhould be acceptable to him. O my God! it is to comply with the Order of thy Providence, and to obey thy holy Will, that I engage in my worldly Affairs; make them ferviceable to my Subfiftence and thy Glory, and to the Salvation of my own Soul. During your Work, frequently raife up your Mind to God, to renew the Intention you have of pleafing him; and take Care that Vanity and Curiofity, and Self-love, or a Regard to Men only, or fome other evil Intention, does not

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