for Every Day in the Week i
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JOHN WESLEY'S SPIRITUALITY:
A COLLECTION OF FORMS OF PRAYER
FOR EVERY DAY IN THE WEEK
(first printed in 1733) PREFACE The intention of the collector of these prayers was, First, to have forms of prayer for every day in the week, each of which contained something of deprecation, petition, thanksgiving, and intercession.
Secondly, to have such forms for those days which the Christian Church has ever judged peculiarly proper for religious rejoicing, as contained little of deprecation, but were explicit and large in acts of love and thanksgiving. Thirdly, to have such for those days which from the age of the Apostles have been set apart for religious mourning, as contained little of thanksgiving, but were full and express in acts of contrition and humiliation. Fourthly, to have intercessions every day for all those whom our own Church directs us to remember in our prayers. And, Fifthly, to comprise in the course of petitions for the week the whole scheme of our Christian duty.
Whoever follows the direction of our excellent Church, in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, by keeping close to that sense of them which the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops have delivered to succeeding generations, will easily see that the whole system of Christian duty is reducible to these five heads:
First: The renouncing ourselves. [f any man will come after me, let him renounce himself, and follow me. (Matthew 16:24) This implies (1) a thorough conviction that we are not our own; that we are not the proprietors of ourselves, or anything we enjoy; that we have no right to dispose of our goods, bodies, souls, or any of the actions or passions of them; (2) a solemn resolution to act suitably to this conviction: not to live to ourselves; not to pursue our own desires, not to please ourselves; nor to suffer our own will to be any principle of action to us. dul:
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Secondly: Such a renunciation of ourselves naturally leads to the devoting of ourselves to God. As this implies (1) a thorough conviction that we are God's; that He is the proprietor of all we are, and all we have; and that not only by right of creation, but of purchase; for He died for all, and therefore died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him that died for them; (2) a solemn resolution to act suitably to this conviction: to live unto God; to render unto God the things which are God's, even all we are, and all we have; to glorify Him in our bodies, and in our spirits, with all the powers and all the strength of each; and to make his will our sole principle of action.
Thirdly: Self-denial is the immediate consequence of this. For whosoever has determined to live no longer to the desires of men, but to the Will of God, will soon find that he cannot be true to his purpose without denying himself, and taking up his cross daily. He will daily feel some desire which this one principle of action, the will of God, does not require him to indulge. In this, therefore, he must e1ther deny himself, or so far deny the faith. He will daily meet with some means of drawing nearer to God, which are unpleasing to flesh and blood. In this, therefore, he must either take up his cross, or so far renounce his Master.
Fourthly: By a constant exercise of self-denial, the true follower of Christ continually advances in mortification. He is more and more dead to the world, and the things of the world, till at length he can say, with that perfect disciple of his Lord (Marquis de Renty), "I desire nothing but God," or, with Saint Paul, J am crucified unto the world; I am dead with Christ; I live not, but Christ liveth in me.
Fifthly: Christ liveth in me. This is the fulfilling of the law, the last stage of Christian holiness: This maketh the man of God perfect.
He that being dead to the world is alive to God; the desire of whose soul is unto his name; who has given Him his whole heart; who delights in Him, and in nothing else but what tends to Him; who, for his sake, burns with love to all mankind; who neither thinks, speaks, nor acts, but to fulfill his will, is on the last round of the ladder to heaven: Grace hath had its full work upon his soul: The next step he takes is into glory.
May the God of glory give unto us who have not already attained this, neither are already perfect, to do this one thing; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are be-
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fore, to press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus!
May He so enlighten our eyes that we may reckon all things but loss Sor the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord; and so stablish our hearts that we may rejoice to suffer the loss of all things, and count them but dung, that we may win Christ!
SUNDAY EVENING
General Questions which a serious Christian may propose to himself before be begins bis Evening Devotions 1. With what degree of attention and fervor did I use my morning prayers, public or private?
2. Have I done anything without a present, or at least a previous, perception of its direct or remote tendency to the glory of God?
3. Did I in the morning consider what particular virtue I was to exercise, and what business I had to do, in the day?
4. Have I been zealous to undertake, and active in doing, what good I could?
5. Have I interested myself any further in the affairs of others than charity required?
6. Have I, before I visited or was visited, considered how I might thereby give or receive improvement?
7. Have I mentioned any failing or fault of any man, when it was not necessary for the good of another?
8. Have I unnecessarily grieved anyone by word or deed?
9. Have I before or in every action considered how it might be a means of improving in the virtue of the day?
Particular Questions relative to the Love of God 1. Have I set apart some of this day to think upon his perfections and mercies?
2. Have I labored to make this day a day of heavenly rest, sacred to divine love?
3. Have I employed those parts of it in works of necessity and mercy which were not employed in prayer, reading, and meditation? a2
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O My Father, my God, I am in your hand; and may I rejoice above all things in being so. Do with me what seems good in your sight; only let me love you with all my mind, soul, and strength.
I magnify you for granting me to be born in your Church, and of religious parents; for washing me in your baptism, and instructing me in your doctrine of truth and holiness; for sustaining me by your gracious providence, and guiding me by your blessed Spirit; for admitting me, with the rest of my Christian brethren, to wait on you at your public worship; and for so often feeding my soul with your most precious body and blood, those pledges of love and sure conveyances of strength and comfort. Oh, be gracious unto all of us, whom you have this day (or at any time) admitted to your holy table.
Strengthen our hearts in your ways against all our temptations, and make us more than conquerors in your love.
O my Father, my God, deliver me, I beseech you, from all violent passions: I know how greatly obstructive these are of both the knowledge and the love of you. Oh, let none of them find a way into my heart, but let me ever possess my soul in meekness.
O my God, I desire to fear them more than death; let me not serve these cruel tyrants, but do you reign in my breast; let me be ever your servant, and love you with all my heart.
Deliver me, O God, from too intense an application to even necessary business. I know how this dissipates my thoughts from the one end of all my business, and impairs that lively perception I would ever retain of your standing at my right hand. I know the narrowness of my heart, and that an eager attention to earthly things leaves it no room for the things of heaven. Oh, teach me to go through all my employments with so truly disengaged a heart that I may still see you in all things, and see you therein as continually looking upon me, and searching my reins; and that I may never impair that liberty of spirit which is necessary for the love of you.
Deliver me, O God, from a slothful mind, from all lukewarmness, and all dejection of spirit. I know these cannot but deaden my love to you; mercifully free my heart from them, and give me a lively, zealous, active, and cheerful spirit, that I may vigorously perform whatever you command, thankfully suffer whatever you choose for me, and be ever ardent to obey in all things your holy love.
Deliver me, O God, from all idolatrous love of any creature. I know infinite numbers have been lost to you by loving those creatures for their own sake, which you permit, nay, even command, to
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love subordinately to you. Preserve me, I beseech you, from all such blind affection; be a guard to all my desires, that they fix on no creature any farther than the love of it tends to build me up in the love of you. You require me to love you with all my heart: Undertake for me, I beseech you, and be my security, that I may never open my heart to anything but out of love to you.
Above all, deliver me, O my God, from all idolatrous self-love.
I know, O God (blessed be your infinite mercy for giving me this knowledge) that this is the root of all evil. I know you made me not to do my own will but yours. I know the very corruption of the devil is the having of a will contrary to yours. Oh, be my helper against this most dangerous of all idols, that I may both discern all its subtleties and withstand all its force.
O you who have commanded me to renounce myself, give me strength, and I will obey your command.
My choice and desire is to love myself, as all other creatures, in and for you. Oh let your almighty arm so stablish, strengthen, and settle me that you may ever be the ground and pillar of all my love.
By this love of you, my God, may my soul be fixed against its natural inconstancy; by this may it be reduced to an entire indifference as to all things else, and simply desire what is pleasing in your sight.
May this holy flame ever warm my breast, that I may serve you with all my might; and let it consume in my heart all selfish desires, that I may in all things regard not myself but you.
O my God, let your glorious name be duly honored and loved by all the creatures you have made. Let your infinite goodness and greatness be ever adored by all angels and men. May your Church, the Catholic seminary of divine love, be protected from all the powers of darkness. Oh, vouchsafe to all who call themselves by your name one short glimpse of your goodness. May they once taste and see how gracious you are, that all things else may be tasteless to them; that their desires may be always flying up toward you, that they may render to you love, and praise, and obedience, pure and cheerful, constant and zealous, universal and uniform, like that the holy angels render to you in heaven.
Send forth your blessed Spirit into the midst of these sinful nations, and make us a holy people: Stir up the heart of our Sovereign, of the Royal Family, of the Clergy, the Nobility, and of all whom you have set over us, that they may be happy instruments in your hand of promoting this good work. Be gracious to the Universities, to the Gentry and Commons of this land: And comfort all that are in afflic-
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tion; let the trial of their faith work patience in them, and perfect them in hope and love.
Bless my father, &c., my friends and relations, and all that belong to this family; all that have been instrumental to my good, by their assistance, advice, example, or writing; and all that do not pray for themselves.
Change the hearts of my enemies, and give me grace to forgive them, even as you for Christ's sake forgive us.
O Shepherd of Israel, vouchsafe to receive me this night and ever into your protection; accept my poor services, and pardon the sinfulness of these and all my holy duties. Oh, let it be your good pleasure shortly to put a period to sin and misery, to infirmity and death, to complete the number of your elect, and to hasten your kingdom; that we, and all that wait for your salvation, may eternally love and praise you, O God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, throughout all ages, world without end. Our Father, &c.
MONDAY MORNING
General Questions, which may be used every Morning.
Did I think of God first and last?
Have I examined myself how I behaved since last night's retirement?
Am I resolved to do all the good I can this day, and to be diligent in the business of my calling?
O God, who are the giver of all good gifts, I your unworthy servant entirely desire to praise your name for all the expressions of your bounty toward me. Blessed be your love for giving your Son to die for our sins, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
Blessed be your love for all the temporal benefits which you have with a liberal hand poured out upon me; for my health and strength, food and raiment, and all other necessaries with which you have provided your sinful servant. I also bless you that, after all my refusals of your grace, you still have patience with me, have preserved me this night, and given me yet another day to renew and perfect my repentance. Pardon, good Lord, all my former sins, and make me every day more zealous and diligent to improve every opportunity of building
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up my soul in your faith, and love, and obedience. Make yourself always present to my mind, and let your love fill and rule my soul, in all those places, and companies, and employments to which you call me this day. In all my passage through this world, suffer not my heart to be set upon it; but always fix my single eye and my undivided affections on the prize of my high calling. This one thing let me do; let me so press toward this as to make all things else minister unto it; and be careful so to use them as thereby to fit my soul for that pure bliss which you have prepared for those that love you.
O you who are good and do good, who extend your loving-kindness to all mankind, the work of your hands, your image, capable of knowing and loving you eternally: Suffer me to exclude none, O
Lord, from my charity, who are the objects of your mercy; but let me treat all my neighbors with that tender love which is due to your servants and to your children. You have required this mark of my love to you: Oh, let no temptation expose me to ingratitude, or make me forfeit your loving-kindness, which is better than life itself. But grant that I may assist all my brethren with my prayers, where I cannot reach them with actual services. Make me zealous to embrace all occasions that may administer to their happiness, by assisting the needy, protecting the oppressed, instructing the ignorant, confirming the wavering, exhorting the good, and reproving the wicked. Let me look upon the failings of my neighbor as if they were my own, that I may be grieved for them, that I may never reveal them but when charity requires, and then with tenderness and compassion. Let your love to me, O blessed Savior, be the pattern of my love to him. You thought nothing too dear to part with, to rescue me from eternal misery: Oh, let me think nothing too dear to part with to set forward the everlasting good of my fellow Christians. They are members of your body; therefore I will cherish them. You have redeemed them with an inestimable price; assisted by your Holy Spirit, therefore, I will endeavor to recover them from a state of destruction; that thus adorning your holy Gospel, by doing good according to my power, I may at last be received into the endearments of your eternal love, and sing everlasting praise unto the Lamb that was slain and sits on the throne forever.
Extend, I humbly beseech thee, your mercy to all men, and let them become your faithful servants. Let all Christians live up to the holy religion they profess; especially these sinful nations. Be entreated for us, good Lord; be glorified by our reformation, and not by our
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destruction. Turn us, and so shall we be turned: Oh, be favorable to your people; give us grace to put a period to our provocations, and do put a period to our punishment. Defend our Church from schism, heresy, and sacrilege, and the King from all treasons and conspiracies. Bless
all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with apostolical graces, exemplary lives, and sound doctrine. Grant to the Council wisdom from above, to all Magistrates integrity and zeal, to the Universities quietness and industry, and to the Gentry and Commons pious and peaceable and loyal hearts.
Preserve my parents, my brothers and sisters, my friends and relations, and all mankind, in their souls and bodies. Forgive my enemies, and in your due time make them kindly affected toward me.
Have mercy on all who are afflicted in mind, body, or estate; give them patience under their sufferings, and a happy tissue out of all their afflictions.
O grant that we, with those who are already dead in your faith and fear, may together partake of a joyful resurrection, through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.
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A SCHEME OF SELF-EXAMINATION
Used by the First Methodists in Oxford Sunday—Love of God and Simplicity:
Means of which are, Prayer and Meditation 1. Have I been simple and recollected in everything I said or did?
Have I (a) been simple in everything, that is, looked upon God, my Good, my Pattern, my one Desire, my Disposer, Parent of Good; acted wholly for him; bounded my views with the present action or hour? (b) Recollected? that is, has this simple view been distinct and uninterrupted? Have I, in order to keep it so, used the signs agreed upon with my friends, wherever I was? Have I done anything without a previous perception of its being the will of God? or without a perception of its being an exercise or a means of the virtue of the day?
Have I said anything without it?
2. Have I prayed with fervor? at going in and out of church? in the church? morning and evening in private? Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with my friends, at rising? before lying down? on Saturday noon? all the time I am engaged in exterior work in private? before I go into the place of public or private prayer, for help therein?
Have I, wherever I was, gone to church morning and evening, unless for necessary mercy? and spent from one hour to three in private?
Have I, in private prayer, frequently stopped short and observed what fervor? Have I repeated it over and over, till I adverted to every word? Have I at the beginning of every prayer or paragraph owned
I cannot pray? Have I paused before I concluded in his name, and adverted to my Savior now interceding for me at the right hand of God, and offering up these prayers?
3. Have I duly used ejaculations? that is, have I every hour prayed for humility, faith, hope, love, and the particular virtue of the day? considered with whom I was the last hour, what I did, and how? with regard to recollection, love of man, humility, self-denial, resig-
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nation, and thankfulness? considered the next hour in the same respects, offered up all I do to my Redeemer, begged his assistance in every particular, and commended my soul to his keeping? Have I done this deliberately, not in haste, seriously, not doing anything else the while, and fervently as I could?
4. Have I duly prayed for the virtue of the day? that is, have I prayed for it at going out and coming in? deliberately, seriously, fervently?
5. Have I used a Collect at nine, twelve, and three? and grace before and after eating? aloud at my own room? deliberately, seriously, fervently?
6. Have I duly meditated? every day, unless for necessary mercy, (a) From six, &c., to prayers? (b) From four to five? What was particular in the providence of this day? How ought the virtue of the day to have been exerted upon it? How did it fall short? (Here faults.)
(c) On Sunday, from six to seven, with Kempis? from three to four on redemption, or God's attributes? Wednesday and Friday, from twelve to one, on the Passion? after ending a book, on what I had marked in it?
Monday—Love of Man 1. Have I been zealous to do, and active in doing, good? that is,
Have I embraced every probable opportunity of doing good, and preventing, removing, or lessening evil? Have I pursued it with my might? Have I thought anything too dear to part with, to serve my neighbor? Have I spent an hour at least every day in speaking to someone or other? Have I given anyone up till he expressly renounced me? Have I, before I spoke to any, learned, as far as I could, his temper, way of thinking, past life, and peculiar hindrances, internal and external? fixed the point to be aimed at? then the means to it? Have I in speaking proposed the motives, then the difficulties, then balanced them, then exhorted him to consider both calmly and deeply, and to pray earnestly for help? Have I in speaking to a stranger explained what religion is not? (not negative, not external;) and what it is? (a recovery of the image of God;) searched at what step in it he stops, and what makes him stop there? exhorted and directed him? Have I persuaded all I could to attend public prayers, sermons, and sacraments, and in general to obey the laws of the Church Catholic, the Church of England, the State, the University, and their re-
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spective Colleges? Have I, when taxed with any act of obedience, avowed it, and turned the attack with sweetness and firmness? Have
I disputed upon any practical point, unless it was to be practiced just then? Have I in disputing, (i.) Desired him to define the terms of the question; to limit it; what he grants, what denies? (ii.) Delayed speaking my opinion? let him explain and prove his? then insinuated and pressed objections? Have I after every visit asked him who went with me, "Did I say anything wrong?" Have I when anyone asked advice directed and exhorted him with all my power?
2. Have I rejoiced with and for my neighbor in virtue or pleasure? grieved with him in pain, for him in sin?
3. Have I received his infirmities with pity, not anger?
4. Have I thought or spoke unkindly of or to him? Have I revealed any evil of anyone, unless it was necessary to some particular good I had in view? Have I then done it with all the tenderness of phrase and manner consistent with that end? Have I anyway appeared to approve them that did otherwise?
5. Has goodwill been, and appeared to be, the spring of all my actions toward others?
6. Have I duly used intercession? Before, after, speaking to any?
For my friends on Sunday? For my pupils on Monday? For those who have particularly desired it, on Wednesday and Friday? For the family in which I am, every day?