This family, which I have said to be in number about thirty, were a
part of them his kindred, and the rest chosen to be of a temper fit
to be moulded into a devout life; and all of them were for their
dispositions serviceable, and quiet, and humble, and free from
scandal. Having thus fitted himself for his family, he did, about the
year 1630, betake himself to a constant and methodical service of God;
and it was in this manner:--He, being accompanied with most of his
family, did himself use to read the common prayers--for he was a
Deacon--every day, at the appointed hours of ten and four, in the
Parish-Church, which was very near his house, and which he had both
repaired and adorned; for it was fallen into a great ruin, by reason
of a depopulation of the village before Mr. Farrer bought the manor.
And he did also constantly read the Matins every morning at the hour
of six, either in the Church, or in an Oratory, which was within his
own house. And many of the family did there continue with him after
the prayers were ended, and there they spent some hours in singing
Hymns, or Anthems, sometimes in the Church, and often to an organ in
the Oratory. And there they sometimes betook themselves to meditate,
or to pray privately, or to read a part of the New Testament to
themselves, or to continue their praying or reading the Psalms; and in
case the Psalms were not always read in the day, then Mr. Farrer,
and others of the congregation, did at night, at the ringing of
a watch-bell, repair to the Church or Oratory, and there betake
themselves to prayers and lauding God, and reading the Psalms that
had not been read in the day: and when these, or any part of the
congregation, grew weary or faint, the watch-bell was rung, sometimes
before, and sometimes after midnight; and then another part of the
family rose, and maintained the watch, sometimes by praying, or
singing lauds to God, or reading the Psalms; and when, after some
hours, they also grew weary or faint, then they rung the watch-bell
and were also relieved by some of the former, or by a new part of
the society, which continued their devotions--as hath been
mentioned--until morning. And it is to be noted, that in this
continued serving of God, the Psalter or the whole Book of Psalms, was
in every four and twenty hours sung or read over, from the first to
the last verse: and this was done as constantly as the sun runs his
circle every day about the world, and then begins again the same
instant that it ended.
[Sidenote: Mr. Farrer's Death]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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