Sermons & Devotionals by Lewis Bayly
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 34 - The Practice of Piety at Evening.
At evening when the due time of repairing to rest approaches, call together again all thy family; read a chapter in the same manner that was prescribed in the morning; then, in a holy imitation of our Lord and his disciples, sing a psalm: but in singing of psalms, either after supper, or at any othe... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 74 - The Soul's Soliloquy, ravished in contemplation of the Passion of our Lord.
What hadst thou done, O my sweet Saviour, and ever-blessed Redeemer, that thou wast thus betrayed of Judas, sold of the Jews, apprehended as a malefactor, and led bound as a lamb to the slaughter? What evil hadst thou committed, that thou shouldst be thus openly arraigned, accused falsely, and unjus... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 55 - Of the Means whereby thou mayest become a worthy Receiver.
These means are duties of two sorts; the former respecting God, the latter, our neighbour. Those which respect God are three-First, Sound knowledge; secondly, True faith; thirdly, Unfeigned repentance. That which respecteth our neighbour is but one, sincere charity. (1.) Of sound Knowledge, requisit... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 35 - Evening Prayer for a Family.
O eternal God and most gracious Father, we thine unworthy servants here assembled, do cast down ourselves at the footstool of thy grace, acknowledging that we have inherited our fathers' corruption, and actually in thought, word, and deed, transgressed all thy holy commandments, so that in us natura... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 56 - Of the Second sort of Duties which a worthy Communicant is to perform
Of the Second sort of Duties which a worthy Communicant is to perform at the receiving of the Lord's Supper, called Meditation. This exercise of spiritual meditation consists in divers points. First, When the sermon is ended and the banquet of the Lord's Supper begins to be celebrated, meditate with... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 57 - A sweet Soliloquy to be said between the Consecration and Sacrament.
Is it true indeed, that God will dwell on earth? Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens are not able to contain thee; how much more unable is the soul of such a sinful caitiff as I am to receive thee? But seeing it is thy blessed pleasure to come thus to sup with me, and to dwell in me, I cann... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 58 - Duties After Communion.
1. Of the Duties which we are to perform after receiving the holy Communion, called Action or Practice. The duty which we are to perform after the receiving of the Lord's Supper is called action or practice, without which all the rest will minister to us no comfort. The action consists of two sorts ... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 59 - The Practice of Piety in Glorifying God in the Time of Sickness or Death
As soon as thou perceivest thyself to be visited with any sickness, meditate with thyself: 1. That "misery cometh not forth of the dust; neither doth affliction spring out of the earth." Sickness comes not by hap or chance (as the Philistines supposed that their mice and emrods came, 1 Sam. vi. 9), ... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 60 - A Prayer when one begins to be sick.
O most righteous Judge, yet in Jesus Christ my gracious Father! I, wretched sinner, do here return unto thee, though driven with pain and sickness, like the prodigal child with want and hunger. I acknowledge that this sickness and pain comes not by blind chance or fortune, but by thy divine providen... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 36 - Meditations of the True Manner of Practising Piety on the Sabbath-Day.
Almighty God will have himself worshipped, not only in a private manner by private persons and families, but also in a more public sort, of all the godly joined together in a visible church; that by this means he may be known not only to be the God and Lord of every Singular person, but also of the ... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 37 - Ten Reasons demonstrating the Commandment of the Sabbath to be moral.
1. Because all the reasons of this commandment are moral and perpetual; and God has bound us to the obedience of this commandment with more forcible reasons than to any of the rest-First, because he foresaw that irreligious men would either more carelessly neglect, or more boldly break this commandm... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 38 - The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Consecration of the Sabbath's Rest Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things-First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our sp... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 39 - A Morning Prayer for the Sabbath-day.
O Lord most high, O God eternal, all whose works are glorious, and whose thoughts are very deep: there can be no better thing, than to praise thy name, and to declare thy loving-kindness in the morning, on thy holy and blessed Sabbath day! For it is thy will and commandment, that we should sanctify ... Read More
Lewis Bayly
Practice of Piety 40 - Duties in the Holy Assembly.
Things to be meditated on as thou goest to the Church. 1. That thou art going to the court of the Lord, and to speak with the great God by prayer; and to hear his majesty speak unto thee by his word; and to receive his blessing on thy soul, and thy honest labour, in the six days past. 2. Say with th... Read More
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Lewis Bayly (born perhaps at Carmarthen, Wales, perhaps near Biggar, Scotland, year unknown; died at Bangor, Wales, October 26, 1631) was an Anglican bishop. He was educated at Oxford, became vicar of Evesham, Worcestershire, and probably in 1604 became rector of St. Matthew's Church, Friday street, London.
He was then chaplain to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (died 1612), later chaplain to King James I, who, in 1616, appointed him bishop of Bangor. He was an ardent Puritan.
Bayly's fame rests on his book The Practice of Piety, directing a Christian how to walk that he may please God (date of first edition unknown; 3d edition, London, 1613). It reached its 74th edition in 1821 and has been translated into French, German, Italian, Polish, Romansh, Welsh, and into the language of the Massachusetts Indians. It was one of the two books which John Bunyan's wife brought with her and it was by reading it that Bunyan was first spiritually awakened.