Directions How to Live Well

William Perkins, et al., A Garden of Spiritual Flowers:

Directions How to Live Well

In the Morning awake with God; and before all other things, offer up unto him thy morning Sacrifice of Prayer: wherein remember, First, to give hearty thanks unto him for all his mercies bodily and spiritual; and namely, for thy late preservation: Secondly, make an humble Confession of thy sins, with earnest desire of pardon: Thirdly, ask such necessaries as are requisite for thy soul and body, with fervent request to be relieved in them: and namely, desire his blessing upon thy labours in thy calling in the day to come.

In what place soever thou art, let this persuasion abide in thine heart, that thou art before the living God: and let the remembrance hereof strike thine heart with awe & reverence, and make thee afraid to sin.

Make Conscience of idle, vain, unhonest, & ungodly thoughts: for these are the seeds and beginnings of actual sin in word and deed.

Have a special care to avoid those sins which thou findest thy Nature most prone unto; and eschew those provocations which were wont most to prevail against thee.

Follow with faithfulness and diligence thy lawful particular Calling in which thou art placed.

Think evermore thy present estate and condition to be the best estate for thee, whatsoever it be; because it is of the good providence of God.

Look well to thy carriage in company, that thou do no hurt by word or example; nor take any from others; but endeavour rather to do good.

Use civil honesty towards all men: good Conscience, and good Manners must go together.

If at any time against thy purpose thou be over-taken with any sin, lie not in it, but speedily recover thyself by repentance.

When any good motion or affection doth arise in thine heart, suffer it not to pass away, but feed it by reading, meditating, or praying.

Esteem of every present day, as of the day of thy death: and therefore live now, even as though thou wert now dying: and do those good duties every day, which thou wouldest do, if this were thy dying day.

At the end of the day, before thou lie down in thy Bed, call to mind how thou hast spent the day that is passed: thy misdoings repent, and praise God for assisting thee with his grace in the duties which thou hast performed.

Sleep not at night, before thou hast commended thyself by prayer into the hands of God: for thou knowest not whether (fallen asleep) thou shalt rise again alive.

Let prayer be the Key to open the Morning: and the Bar to shut in the Evening.

Walk as the Children of Light.

As the just live by Faith; so the just live the life of Faith. Now they live the life of Grace; one day they shall live the life of Glory.