SECTION XIII.

OF OUR DEDICATING THE MORNING TO GOD.

GOD commanded the children of Israel, "The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord," Exod. xxiii. 19. God would not only have the first-fruits, but the first of the first-fruits; if there were any ripe sooner than others, God called for them. Which instructs us that we must not only give God the first-fruits of the day, but the earliest time in the morning, which is the first of the first-fruits of the day. This was the practice of holy Job in the behalf of his children: he "sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all," Job i. 5, 6. As it is God's due, so it is our duty, to dedicate the morning, the first and best of every day, to God. David says unto God, "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning: in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up," Psa. v. 3. the morning is a good friend to the muses, so it is a great friend to the graces; as the morning is the best studying time, so I judge the morning to be the best praying time. So Bildad speaks unto Job, "If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes," Job viii. 5. In strictness of translation it may thus be rendered, "If thou wouldest seek unto God in the morning;" or, "If thou wouldest morning God;" be with him early in the morning, which is the first part or beginning of the day, then pour out thy heart unto God in prayer. It was the ancient custom to seek God early in the morning. And the very

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heathens, by the light of nature, took this course in their profane and superstitious worship. Herodotus relates, that the Persian magi addressed themselves early in the morning to pray. And the primitive Christians were wondered at by the heathen for their early devotions. Pliny, in an epistle to the emperor Trajan, and Tertullian, in his apologetics for the Christians, speak of the assemblies of the Christians before day-break, to pray and call upon the name of God. And there has been, and still is, a superstitious abuse of this among the papists, who call their morning prayers their matins, because they begin early in the morning. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," says our Saviour, Matt. vi. 33. First in time, not only principally, but in the first place; seek it early in the morning; put it not behind to the latter end of the day, or in the latter end of your employments. It is best every day to begin with God. It is the advice of a reverend man, "If more necessary duties call you not away, let secret prayer by yourself alone, or with your chamber-fellow, or both, go before the common prayers of the family; and delay it not causelessly, but, if possible, let it be first before any other work of the day; yet be not formal and superstitious to your hours, as if God had absolutely tied you to such a time." That hour is best for one, that may not be fit for another. Private prayer is most seasonable unto most, as soon as they are up and clothed; to others, some other hour may be freer and fitter. And those that have not more necessary duties, may do well to pray at all convenient opportunities.

SECTION XIV.

OF RETIRING OURSELVES IN THE MORNING TO PRAY AND TO GIVE THANKS.

It is good to retire ourselves into our closets every morning betimes, to pray and give thanks unto the Lord. Here you may give thanks unto God for all benefits received in general, and particularly for those you have received the night past, and at that instant, that you may season the action with some new relish. But more especially when the Lord has vouchsafed you any special, and, perhaps, unexpected favour, it does not beseem you, as vain worldlings, to scorn every one to whom the Lord has not opened the hand of his bounty so wide as to your selves; but rather in an humble sense of your unworthiness, and admiration of God's goodness, to retire yourselves early, and pour out your hearts in prayer and thanksgiving before the Lord.

So when the Lord has given you special testimonies of his presence and favour, and revealed his love unto you more fully than ordinarily, it is a fit time for you to enter into your closets, there privately, and so the more freely, to open your hearts unto the Lord, and to confirm your acquaintance with your beloved, to endear yourself unto Jesus Christ, and to cast yourselves into his embracements. The Lord, by the prophet Ezekiel, speaking to the church of Israel, says, "I passed by thee, and thy time was the time of love," Ezek. xvi. 8. So a Christian should be watchful to observe the Lord passing by, and presenting himself, and take notice of the times of love, and then it will be his wisdom to spend some time in private prayer, meditation, and thanksgiving;

and to that end I commend the morning as the fittest time for this purpose. If we are frequent in this course, we shall grow more in favour with the Lord; whereas, when the Lord daily expresseth love and kindness to us, if we should show ourselves unkind and regardless of his love, this were the way to make him more strange unto us. And, indeed, the reason why we have no more communion with Christ, for the most part, is because we give him no better entertainment when he comes. A man of dignity, if he comes to visit a friend at his house, in the morning, and hears that he is yet in his bed, and will not rise to keep him company, or perceives that every small trifle keeps him out of sight, will not be an ordinary guest at that house. Now, God is said to visit us every morning; that is, as soon as the day breaks, or the sun is up, God is visiting. "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him, and visit him every morning," Job vii. 17, 18. Our visits are usually in the afternoon; it is an extraordinary thing to visit one in the forenoon, especially very early in the morning. God's visits are extraordinary; he visits in the morning, and visits every morning; as often as the morning returneth, so often does he come and visit us. God visits us, as one says, in a morning, as a shepherd visits his flock, lest any should be hurt or strayed away. As sure as the sun rises, or the morning comes, so God visits us with mercies; therefore his mercies are said to be renewed every morning, Lam. iii. 23.

SECTION XV.

OF THANKSGIVING.

THIS is very necessary to be performed every morning, considering the benefits we receive continually from the hand of God. We should not be like the clouds, that obscure the sun that raised them, but let us rather imitate the looking-glass, which returns the image presented it.

In the time of the law, it was commanded that the fire on the altar should never go out, but be a!ways kept burning. By that same fire, Philo says, thankfulness was signified; for as the fire still ascendeth upwards, so thankfulness lifteth up our hearts, and makes them ascend unto God: and it is fit that the Divine benefits should never be forgotten, as the fire of the altar was never to be extinguished. It well becometh the righteous to be thankful, Psa. xxxiii. 1. We are apt to like any habit, any dressing, any fashion or gesture, that makes us graceful and comely in the places where we are. Now, praise, says the psalmist, is a comely thing, Psa. xxxiii. 1; it renders us lovely and amiable, both in the eyes of God and man; whereas unthankfulness, on the other side, like some sordid disguise, or like some ugly blemish upon the body, makes us monstrous and deformed in the eyes of the beholders.

The creatures teach us the duty of thankfulness. The air draws us up vapours out of the earth; and when it hath turned the vapours into showers, it poureth them into the earth again, and moisteneth its dry ground. The earth has seed cast into her bosom; she keeps it not long, but she returns it back again with profit to the husbandmen; interest