into Egypt to return into thy countrey to be subject to thy parents to be baptized by John to be afflicted with a forty days fast and thrice to be tempted of the Devil to be wearied with journeys and macerated by hunger and thirst and watchings to be tired with preaching to weep for compassion to be rejected of the Jews and frequently abused by them Thy Passion approaching thou vouchsafedst to be heavy and exceeding sorrowful to pray not onely with bended knees but thrice to fall upon thy face to be in a bitter Agony and to sweat drops of bloud to be betrayed by Judas with a deceitful kiss to be apprehended by the Jews and bound as a thief to be left desolate and alone for all thy Disciples forsook thee and fled To be led to Annas the High-priest first and there to be buffeted to be sent by him bound to Caiaphas and there to be many ways derided to be brought before the council of the Jews and there to be falsely accused and condemned to have thy face polluted with spittings to be provok'd by manifold reproâ—ches to be scorned and blasphemed and again smitten on the face and buffeted to be delivered bound unto Pilate and before him vehemently accused unto death and by him to be sent unto Herod and there to be calumniated and set at nought by him and his men of war to be arrayed in white and sent back unto Pilate by his command to be bound to a pillar and cruelly scourged unto bloud to be by him condemned and delivered up to the souldiers to be crucified by whom thou wast mockt with a purple garment and pierced with a Crown of thorns derided with a Reed in stead of a Regal sceptre and with bowing of knees named in contempt The King of the Jews again the third time bespatter'd with spittle and buffeted and beaten with a Reed on thy head laden with the weight of thy Cross and led away to the place of thy Passion there again stript naked of thy garments and profered to drink Gall mingled with Myrrh At last thou wast extended on the Cross thy hands and feet transfixed with nails crucified amongst thieves numbred amongst transgressours blasphemed both by them that stood by and by them that passed by and in the extremity of thy sufferings criedst out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Thy head bowed down thou didst give up the ghost and thy Side was pierced by a Souldier whence issued both water and bloud Taken down from the Cross and buried by Joseph the third day thou didst rise again and appear to thy disciples The fortieth day thou ascendedst into Heaven and sitting on the right hand of God the Father thou didst send down the promise of the Holy Ghost upon thy blessed Apostles and Disciples and shalt come again to Judgment to render to all men according to their works done in the body whether they be good or whether they be evil O Blessed Lord Jesus by all these thy most sacred Sufferings by thy bitter death and most precious bloud shed for us and by all things foretold of thee and fulfill'd by thee vouchsafe in great mercy to deliver me a sordid sinner with all my friends and enemies parents brothers sisters all that are poor and desolate tempted and afflicted bound and imprison'd with all Christian people From all our tribulations and distresses from the snares of the Devil from the bonds and chains of our Sins and from all evils both of Soul and body good Lord deliver save and defend us All our imaginations and actions vouchsafe so to dispose and order that they may be acceptable unto thee fill us with thy grace and with holy peace and with all vertue and grant us herein to persevere even unto death that making a good end of this present life thou mayst bring us to eternal life in thy celestial Kingdom where thou livest and reignest CHAP. VI. Saint Gregorie 's Praiers upon the Passion of Christ I. I Adore thee Holy Lord Jesus hanging upon the Cross and bearing on thy venerable head a Crown of Thorns and I humbly beg by thy Cross to be delivered from the destroying Angel II. I Adore thee Holy Lord Jesus Christ expanded on the Cross with five great wounds in thy nailed hands and feet and pierced side and I humbly beg that thy dire and gastly wounds may be a healing remedy to my sin-sick Soul III. I Adore thee Holy Lord Jesus panting under the sad weight of the sins of the world and I humbly beg by that unconceivable bitterness of sorrow thy innocent Soul suffered in that moment when it left the body have mercy upon my Soul in the memert of her departure hence IV. I Adore thee Holy Lord Jesus laid in the Sepulchre and anointed with Myrrh and Aloes and I humbly beg that thy death may be the life of my Soul V. O Save Holy Jesus the good Shepherd who laid down his life for his Sheep save and preserve the righteous call home the wicked justifie the penitent have mercy upon all true believers and upon me a miserable sinner Amen CHAP. VII The Form of Praier used by our Lord upon the Cross viz. the XXII Psalm paraphrased Verse 1. MY God my God So prayed my dear Redeemer hanging upon the Cross the gemination of his words expressing both the great Devotion and also the bitter Anguish of his Soul look upon me imploring divine commiseration and assistence in the sufferings of his humane nature why hast thou forsaken me That 's the height of sorrow and suffering to be therein forsaken as if the personall union of his divine and humane nature were dissolved and art so far from my health not affording the least mitigation of my tormenting pains or consolation therein and from the words of my complaint or the voice of my roaring for with strong crying and tears I offer up my prayers and supplications a Heb. 5.7 2. O my God I will never cease to call thee so though now thine indignation for the sins of the world lieth heavy upon me so that though I cry in the day-time in the which I suffer the torments of crucifixion yet thou hearest not so as to deliver me from them and in the night-season also when I was in a bitter agony sweating drops of bloud under the pressure of the Sins of men and thy wrath for them in both seasons and sad sufferings I take no rest no ease of my Soul's sorrows no cessation of my bodily torments 3. And thou continuest holy just and faithfull in all thy promises of mercy to the miserable or thou dwellest in thy holy one in this holy and innocent body of mine though nailed to the cross So we reade God was in Christ reconciling the world b 2 Cor. 5.19 O thou worship of Israel who hast so often delivered thy people and been made both the subject matter of their prayers and praises and onely object of
Body the Church 19. But be not thou far from me O Lord so as to leave me altogether destitute of consolation in my present distresses nor yet to leave me buried in the grave to see corruption with other men and not to rise again till 〈◊〉 generall Resurrection thou art 〈◊〉 succour 'T is thy promise of succour I rely upon haste thee to help me finishing my Sufferings by Death and the Redemption of the world by my Resurrection from death to life 20. Deliver my soul from the sword from that death which by the sword and violence of wicked men is inflicted and my darling or dear and onely one Such was the Soul of Christ dear because innocent and free from Sin and the onely one that is absolutely so such is the Church of Christ dear unto him without spot and onely one as united in its Members from the power of the dog from such who without reason bark and devour August or from the power of Hell which greedily devours like a dog all that descend into it Lyra. 21. Save me from the lion's mouth out of the jaws of the Devill which are open ever to swallow up all departing Souls into death eternall But by thy assistence I shall overcome the tyrant and swallow up Death in victory thou hast heard me also answered my prayers by thy deliverance of me from amongst the horns of the unicorns such as lifted up the horn of pride and fierceness against me and extolled themselves August as if there were none like them And thus far saith Cassiodore our Lord expostulates his Sufferings by way of Prayer The fruit of his Passion followeth which is in generall the Glory of God's name 22. I will declare thy name thy might and thy Majesty thy greatness and thy goodness in my Passion and Resurrection especially manifested unto my brethren to my Apostle and Disciples and they to others Fâ—â— the word was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them theâ— heard him f Heb. 2.2 3. in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee publickly and in the Temple of the Lord where every man speaks of his honour 23. O praise the Lord ye that fear him Ye that have any respect to thâ— worship of the Lord lift up you voice in the congregation and both with Priest and people praise the Lord magnify him all ye of the seed of Jacob and fear him all ye of the seed of Israel even all whom he hath chosen to be his people whether Jews or Gentiles So they are distinguished Ye men of Israel and ye that fear the Lord i. e. from amongst the Gentiles g Act. 13.16 To both even to all you it appertains to praise the Lord for the Redemption of the world by his Son Jesus Christ who although he was despicable in the eyes of men yet is far otherwise in the eyes of the Lord for 24. He hath not despised nor abhorred the low estate of the poor Though born in a poor condition lived a poor life more poor yet in his death being stripped naked of all even to a little linen to cover his nakedness destitute of what the poorest enjoy a buriall-place for he was buried in a stranger's sepul chre yet not despised but highly exalted having a Name given above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow Nor hath He ever despised his brethren the Members of his body who conform to his poverty by being poor in spirit humble and meek he hath not hid his face from him either through neglect or scorn as too usually men doe to the poor but when he called unto him he heard him as not presuming in himself but depending upon God 25. My praise is of thee or in thee For God the Son is praised in the Father and the Father in the Son in the great congregation both of the Church militant here below and triumphant above And that thy praise may be perfected in and by me my vows will I perform The vows of our Blessed Lord were to offer up his Soul a Sacrifice for Sin and to give his holy Body and Bloud to be the food of devout Souls in the Blessed Eucharist and this to be publickly performed even in the sight of them that fear him And onely for such is that Blessed Feast prepared not for the proud stubborn and disobedient but for 26. The poor The humble and penitent Souls and such as have abjured the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked world such shall eat and be satisfied because they hungred and thirsted after righteousness they that seek after the Lord in all humility and devotion shall praise him because he is found of them that seek him and sheweth himself to such as distrust him not your heart shall live for ever The life of your heart is the joy thereof which is both begot and maintained unto perpetuity by the Bread of life He that eateth this bread shall live for ever h Jeh 6.51 27. All the ends of the world The inhabitants of the utmost corners of the earth shall remember themselves in the remembrance and adoration of their Creatour and Redeemer and be turned unto the Lord from the service of the creature to the worship of God over all Blessed for ever Such so great and unspeakable is the efficacy of our Saviour's Passion as that thereby the sacred beams of Grace and Truth are displayed over all the world insomuch that all the kindreds of the nations of what tribe family nation sect or condition soever shall worship before him fall down before his footstool and adore him as the great Redeemer of the world and Prince of the holy Catholick Church 28. For the Kingdom is the Lord's Or Dominion over all the people of the earth is given to the Lord Christ who hath a Name written on his vesture and on his thigh King of kings and Lord of lords i Rev. 19.16 and he is the Governour among the people even all true Christian people among whom and over whom he sways his Scepter of righteousness by his Holy Word and by his Holy Spirit 29. All such as be fat upon earth spiritually fat or grown in Grace and Holiness temporally fat abounding in wealth and power the Princes and Potentates of the earth saith the Chaldee Paraphr have eaten and worshipped adoring the Lord for that he feeds them with his Divine Gifts and Graces 30. All they who goe down into the dust whose bodies are buried in the grave shall kneel before him prostrate themselves unto him who vouchsafed to give himself both Soul and Body a Ransom for their Sins for being all dead in Sin no man hath quickened his own soul That was and is effected onely by the meritorious Death of the Lord of Life And such as are quickened even 31. My seed whose Life in grace is the fruit and issue of my Death of which seed it is said When thou
shalt make his Soul an offering for Sin he shall see his seed k Isa 53.10 even the fruits of his Passion devout Believers who shall serve him or keep his holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of their life they shall be counted unto the Lord for a generation being regenerated by Water and the Holy Ghost in Baptism whereby they are made Members of Christ Children of God and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven 32. They shall come being admitted into the glorious Communion of his blessed Saints and the Heavens both above and below both the Church Triumphant and Militant shall declare his righteousness His Mercies promised and performed in the Redemption of the world shall be proclaimed to all succeeding generations to a people that shall be born new born in and through all the Ages of the Church whom the Lord hath made his own peculiar people whose mouths are filled with his praise for ever saying Glory be to God the Father As it was in the beginning In the Greek Liturgy the people pray in the words of the Thief upon the Cross Lord remember us in thy Kingdom The Priest answers God be mindful of every one of us in his Kingdom both now and always for ever and ever Amen In the Mozarabick Liturgy I. By the wood of a Tree was Adam banished out of Paradise and from the Tree of wood the Cross the Thief that was crucified with our Lord ascended into Paradise The one by eating the forbidden Fruit transgrest the Law of his Maker the other confessed Christ in his Crucifixion to be the Lord of Heaven saying Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom II. Grant unto us O Lord the Repentance of the Thief upon the Cross and grant that we may with the like Faith call upon thee our Lord of great and much mercy saying Lord remember us in thy Kingdom III. Lord thou hast made us in the image of thine ineffable Glory which we have much defaced by the black marks of our many Falls have mercy upon the work of thine hands sanctify us of thy great goodness and restore us to our much-desired Country the celestial Paradise Lord remember us in thy Kingdom CHAP. VIII Meditations and Praiers preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday-night or Sunday-morning before I. THOU art now invited O my Soul to such a Banquet as Heaven and Earth affords not the like 'T is the precious Body and Bloud of thy dear Redeemer which he first gave to be the price of thy Redemption and now gives again to be thy food and nourishment Teach me O Lord by thy Holy Spirit Out of St. Ambrose to understand and believe and ever to conceive and speak of those great and wonderful Mysteries and this day to receive the same with that Faith and Esteem Humility and Contrition holy Desires and Resolutions Reverence and Devotion as may please thee and conduce to my Soul's Salvation Empty my heart of all vain idle wandring Thoughts and of all filthy and unfruitfull Lusts Take from me this Heart of stone and give me an heart of flesh a soft and melting heart to fear thee love thee honour thee delight in thee and so to follow thee that I may be for ever happy in the enjoyment of thee II. O Holy crucified Jesus Out of St. Aug. Man ca. 11. I humbly beg by that sacred effusion of thy most precious Blead give unto thy Servant the effusion of Tears with compunction of spirit when I approach thine Altar to partake of that celestial Sacrament worthy of all Reverence and the most inflamed Devotion which thou O Lord God didst institute and command to be received in commemoration of thine infinite Love in dying for us and for the reparations of our manifold infirmities and daily failings Grant me Blessed Lord Out of T. Aquin. not onely to receive that Sacrament in the outward Elements but in the virtue and power thereof not Bread and Wine alone but the Body and Bloud of my Jesus to the Remission of all my Sins and to all other the Benefits of his Death and Passion for me III. The whole need not a Physician Out of T. Aquin. but they that are sick And such am I a diseased sin-sick Soul and as sick I now go to my Physician as a Sinner to the Redeemer of fallen Man as miserable to the Father of Mercy as unclean to the fountain of Purity as poor and needy to the Lord of all Bounty as blind and ignorant to the Brightness and splendour of Spirits as infirm and weak to the Strength of Israel And oh that it may please thee to enlighten my Darkness to heal all my Infirmities to inrich my Poverty to strengthen my Weakness to wash away all my Uncleanness and by the Communion of thy precious Body and Bloud to cleanse me from all Filthiness both of flesh and spirit that I may perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. IV. Thou didst offer up thy self Out of Tho. a Kempis Blessed Jesus even thy whole self upon the Altar of the Cross a Sacrifice for my Sins no Member of thy Body not tormented no Power of thy Soul not sacrificed no Drop of thy Bloud not shed for me a miserable Sinner 'T is therefore most just and meet and my bounden Duty that I should offer up my self my whole self to thee and to thy service for I am not mine own being bought with a price and such a price as transcends the value of all that the whole Heavens and Earth afford beside Whatever I offer unto thee O Lord though it be all that I do enjoy in the world with my Praiers for all it will not be accepted without the offering of my self for 't is not mine but me not all that is without me but all that is within me thou requirest as the price of thy self to be enjoyed Receive me O Lord in the devout Participation of thy most holy Body and Bloud whereunto I am now invited Guard me O Lord with the pious custody and strong defence of thy holy Angels invisibly present and assistent in the transaction of those tremend Mysteries of Godliness and Salvation that the enemies of all that is holy and good may be thence driven back with shame and confusion In all the holy Actions of that sacred celestial Service make me sensible of the sweetness of thy presence with me that I may taste and see how gracious the Lord is a Psal 34.8 be satisfied with the plenteousness of thy house and drink of thy pleasures as out of a river For with thee is the Well of life and in thy light shall we see light b Psal 36.8 9. O send out thy light and thy truth that they may lead me and bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling and that I may goe unto the Altar of God even the God of my joy and gladness and upon the
THE PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN Divided into FOUR PARTS I. The Practice of Self-examination and a Form of Confession fitted thereunto the Lord's Praier and Penitential Psalms paraphrased with Meditations and Praiers to be made partakers of Christ's Merits II. Directions Meditations and Praiers in order to the worthy Receiving of the Holy Communion of the Body and Bloud of Christ III. Meditations with Psalms for the Hours of Praier the ordinary Actions of Day and Night with other Religious Considerations and Concerns IV. Meditations with Psalms upon the Four 〈◊〉 things 1. Death 2. Judgment 3. Hell 4. Heaâ—â—â— The Third and Fourth Parts make the Second Volume formerly called the Second Part. By R. SHERLOCK D. D. Rector of Winwick Omne tempus in quo de Deo non cogitas hoc te computa perdidisse LONDON Printed by E. Flesher for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty at the Angel in Amen-corner MDCLXXVII To the Parishioners of Winwick in Lancashire Good People THE Cure of your Souls being by 〈◊〉 Divine Providence incumbent upon Me very unfit to undergoe so great a Chaâ— especially considering the Liberty which 〈◊〉 men do now assume in the way of Religion In the discharge of my Duty though 〈◊〉 not say I have been so prudent and diâ—â—gent as the high and holy nature of my Funâ—â—â—â— requires yet you know I have not omitteâ— frequently to put you in mind which is on principal part of my Office of the whoâ— Will of God in the carefull observancâ— whereof the Health of your Souls consisteth The Contents of God's revealed Will being delivered and disporsed through thâ— whole Body of Holy Scriptures are collected and summed up into general Heads by the Church of Christ in her Catechism thâ— which though by a strange Fanatick humouâ— it be slighted and even derided yet contains all things both of Faith and Fact necessary to Salvation being rightly clearly â—nd fully understood Did you therefore rightly understand â—nd seriously consider wherein your Soul's Health and Edification chiefly consists you â—ould be better pleased with the frequency â—f Catechizing and be more versed in those â—ssentials of Religion then in the hearing 〈◊〉 many Sermons which are of less concernâ—â—â— have not spared my Pains in Preaching â—or my Purse in the maintenance of others â— assist me herein But by long experience it is evident that Sermons what through â—he Variety severall Modes and Methods on â—he one hand and what through the great abuse thereof on the other have not that â—nfluence upon the minds of men as becometh â—ound Doctrine but have too much sway with men of itching ears who heap to â—hemselves Teachers after their own â—usts who upon Pretence of going on to â—erfection goe off the Foundation wax â—ain in their imaginations and their fooâ—â—sh hearts are darkned whilst they conceit â—hemselves enlightned And therefore for your more ready easy and constant instruction I have committed to writing and made publick the Summary of Christian Doctrine in the Church-Catechism paraphrased And because Doctrine without Practice is but a Body of Religion without a Soul to quicken it I have here added a Summary of Christian Practice in the insuing Rules of Self-examination which will equally discover unto you your Sins and Miscarriages past and serve for a Guide to direct you in the future ordering of all the Actions of your lives in the ways of Godliness In both which Summaries I have endeavoured to be both brief and plain delivering onely what I conceive generally necessary to Salvation and expressing the same in the most easy way to be understood as knowing that multitude of words various acute and quaint affected expressions especially in the Essentials of Religion though they may more please do not so much profit nay they do really rather distract then instruct the minds of most For it is not the rattling of the Leaves but the Fruits of the Tree of knowledge that feed the Soul to life eternall The Praiers prescribed upon any the insuing considerations are not by way of one long continued Oration without intermission but divided into severall shorter Praiers and this because 1. The heat of holy Zeal is hereby better maintained and kept flaming in the Soul whilst the ending of one Praier and beginning another adds new fervour to the Soul's Devotion 2. Long Praiers do tire the spirits clog the memory distract the mind and damp that celestiall fervour which is the life of all holy and acceptable Praiers 3. Such are all those Praiers which are truly the Praiers of God's Holy Spirit and stand upon record in Holy Writ they are all divided and cut short into so many distinct Verses as into so many several shorter Praiers 4. Thus Christ has commanded us to pray Matt. 6.7 8 9. And according to this patern the Praiers of Christ's Church even for the length thereof are generally framed My primary intention in the insuing Discourse was chiefly to direct you for the worthy Receiving of the Holy Communion of the Body and Bloud of Christ whereunto a through Self-examination is absolutely necessary And being desired to inlarge my Meditations upon that Blessed Sacrament I have therefore now divided the former Edition into Two Parts the First of Self-examination and the Second of the Holy Communion Wherein I must necessarily tell you that since the Danger of unworthy Receiving is equivalent with the Benefit of the worthy it therefore concerns every one of you that hath any sense and sincere care of his Soul's health as strictly to examine himself before he eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup as he believes he shall be examined before the great Tribunal of Heaven and accordingly to purge and purify his Soul by Confession Contrition and all the sacred Acts and Offices of true Repentance the practice whereof is in the following Leaves delivered Of the other Two Parts of the Practical Christian mentioned in the general Title-page you will have a farther account in the Preface thereunto I shall not farther enlarge this Epistle more then to pray that God may be pleased to assist you by his Divine grace carefully to observe such useful Instructions as be herein given you not vainly jangling and talking of Religion but according to the Covenant you have made with your God to keep his holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the days of your life remembring who it is that has said it If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments Matt. 19.17 And that you may observe the one as the way to the other is and shall be the constant Praier of Your respective Pastour Ric. Sherlock A TABLE of the Chapters CHAP. I. Of the great necessity of Self-examination CHAP. II. The Rule of Self-examination by the Vow in Baptism CHAP. III. The Rule of Self-examination by the Creed or by the Second part of the Vow in Baptism To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith CHAP. IV. The Rule of
Self-examination by the Decalogue or by the Third part of the Vow in Baptism To keep God's Holy Will and Commandments c. CHAP. V. The Examination of Religious actions CHAP. VI. The Examination of Repentance CHAP. VII Considerations with Directions in the Confession of Sin CHAP. VIII A Form of Confession of Sin fitted to the Rules of Self-examination whereunto every one may adde or substract as he finds himself guilty or not guilty CHAP. IX An ancient Form of Confession extant Biblioth Patrum CHAP. X. The Lord's Praier paraphrased CHAP. XI The Seven Penitential Psalms paraphrased CHAP. XII Meditations and Praiers to be partakers of the Merits of what our Blessed Redeemer hath done and suffered for us Pag. 195. l. 26. for Christ's number read this number p. 200. l. 27. for his read this THE PRACTICAL Christian PART I. CHAP. I. Of the great necessity of SELF-EXAMINATION 1. WHosoever believes as a Christian his Soul to be immortall being either entitled to everlasting Joy through Faith and Obedience to the Gospell of Christ or liable to eternall Woe through Disobedience and Misbelief a Joh. 5.28 29. must be very stupid and sottish if he do not frequently examine himself b Psal 4.4 2 Cor. 13.5 Gal. 6.4 whether he may reasonably conclude â—he is in the state of Grace and Salvation or of Sin and of Death the wages whereof c Rom. 6.23 2. That every man should know himself is such a fundamentall principle of true wisedom that wise men of old affirmed Nosce teipsum to be a command immediately derived to the sons of men by a voice from Hea ven as being absolutely necessary to the right guidance of all the actions of humane life upon earth 3. The reasonable Soul were it not debauched by the sensuall appetite and distracted by the hurry of exorbitant desires could not but often remember her self examine and call to mind the Authour and End of her Being the immortality and dignity of her nature what is her errand into this world and how she shall subsist in the world to come what is her chiefest Good and wherein her perfection and felicity consists which cannot be to eat and drink and sleep purchase lands build houses satisfy the lusts of the flesh swell with pride of life She would consider that she is stampt after the Image of God and her Happiness consists in the knowledge love and enjoyment of the Divine Majesty and in the imitation and representation according to her modell of the Perfections of the Godhead But alas vain man being in honour hath no understanding considers not the honour of his being after the Image of his Maker but receives his Divine immortall Soul in vain whilst he follows the sway of his sensuall irrationall appetite and is compared to the beasts that perish d Psal 49.12 4. And well it were for all such inconsiderate and imprudent persons if their Souls were as perishing and mortall as those which animate the beasts of the field But â—o their eternall sorrow 't is far otherwise for there is an account to be given by every man of his immortal Soul and of the Image of God stamped thereupon viz. how this blessed Image hath been either defaced or kept undefiled how it hath been obscured or how shined how deformed or how beautified through all the actions of each man's life For God will bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill * Eccles. 12.14 Rom. 2.16 and 14.10 2 Cor. 5.10 5. Upon every man's Examination both in his particular and in the generall Judgment depends his everlasting well-being or undoing for ever each man's condition then shall be unchangeable whether it be of glory or misery They that have done good shall go into everlasting life and they that have done evill into everlasting fire f Matth. 25.46 6. Since this great Triall then shall be upon life and death eternall 't wil be wisely done to try beforehand Such is the advice of the wise Siracides Before judgment examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy g Ecclus. 18.20 To examine accuse judge and condemn thy self in this life may through the merits of Christ acquit thee in the life to come So saith the Apostle If we would judge our selves we should not be judged h 1 Cor. 11.31 7. Now then sinfull man delay not to pass judgment upon thy self remember that the Great Judge himself hath said it I will reprove thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done i Psal 50.21 Be wise then and prevent this sad and dismall reproof by setting in order before thy self all the Sins of thy life And to this Triall of thy self these following particulars do necessarily concur 1. A Tribunall must be erected and this is not to be without thee but within thee even in thine own heart k 1 Joh. 3.20 21. 2. The Judge to sit upon this Seat of judicature must be thy Reason guided by the Law of the most High wherein beware of a misunderstanding and wresting of the letter of the Law to pass any unjust and partiall sentence upon thy self for that may undoe thee for ever l 2 Pet. 3.16 3. The Witnesses to be produc'd against thee are the Conscience bearing witness and the thoughts the mean while accusing or excusing one another and thus shall it be also in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus m Rom. 2.15 16. 4. The Executioners that stand ready to seize the Criminall are Fear and terrour and an horrible dread overwhelming the Soul n Phil. 2.12 Psal 55.5 These do ever attend 5. Self-condemnation which is an unfeigned and sad acknowledgment to have incurred the dismall Sentence of condemnation to death eternall To prevent which 6. Execution must be done and the bloud of the guilty Soul must be shed 'T is not to be believ'd or hoped that a black diseased Soul should recover its health and beauty after the Image of God except she bleed plentifully bleed in the tears of Compunction and godly sorrow bleed in the Confession of her Sins with an abhorrence of them for the filthiness guilt and danger contracted by them so as for the future to renounce and abjure them for ever 8. Thus to examine judge and condemn thy self is the same Christian duty which is called Repentance without the practice whereof our Lord positively affirms that we are all undone for ever saying Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish o Luk. 13.3 5. And he saith the same words again at the same time and in the same Text recorded 1. to enforce the great necessity of Repentance against all carnall careless self-conceited and seduced persons 2. to manifest his great goodness who would not have any to perish but that all should come to Repentance p 2 Pet. 3.9 9.
infamous reports 4. As to your spiritual Fathers 1 Tim. 3.1 13. Luk. 10.16 the Bishops and Pastors of Christ's Church have you not despised their Calling but honoured them according to their respective degrees and stations in the Church of Christ 1 Tim. 5.17 Heb. 13.17 Ecclus. 7.29 Have you not slighted and disobeyed those commands and admonitions which God by them hath given you Have you not denied or diminished their dues or payed them grudgingly Joh. 10.4 5. 2 Tim. 4.3 4. Have you not forsaken your lawful Pastor to follow after factious Preachers or such who more tickle your itching ears which is the issue of a corrupt heart Prov. 29.1 Isa 29.21 and the high rode to errour and falshood Have you not been angry when told of your faults or put in mind of the errours of your waies and refused to return and amend thereupon 5. Have you been respective and lowly in your demeanour to all your Superiours whether in age or office learning and judgment temporal estate and preferment Rom. 12.10 2 Tim. 2.20 1 Pet. 2.17 giving to each the honour due to their respective conditions and this though you have no dependence upon them nor hopes to receive any benefits from them 6. Have you been meek gentle courteous and affable unto all men as becomes the Spirit of a true Christian not high and haughty Tit. 3.3 churlish and distasteful in your carriage towards any slighting undervaluing scorning your equals if not your betters in some respects However the truly humble good Christian esteems others better then himself Phil. 2.3 7. If you have any persons under your command as a Master of a Family Eph. 6.9 have you not been over-harsh and rigorous towards any of your Servants 1 Sam. 12.3 nor defrauded them of their wages and have you preserved them to your power from the wrongs of others and have you taken care what in you lies for the good of their Souls viz. that they be Catechized in the principles of Religion Gen. 18.19 Jos 24.15 and duly frequent the publick Worship of God both in Church and family 8. If you be a Servant examine Eph. 6.5 Tit. 2.9 10. have you been obedient to your Master in all his lawful commands just and true in the managing his business so that he hath suffered no loss either by your carelesness or dishonesty and hath your carriage towards him been submissive and meek not answering again when provoked by hard language 9. In a word have you obeyed that admonition of S. Paul which is the more full meaning of this 5. Commandment Rom. 13.7 8. Render therefore to all men their due tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour Owe no man any thing but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law The Sixth Commandment Thou shalt do no murther Examination by the Sixth Commandment THere are several degrees of Murther in this Law prohibited and though you have not been guilty thereof by bloud-shed yet examine 1. Have you not been guilty of immoderate Anger Matt. 5.21 22. been peevish and disquieted at trifles at slight miscarriages of others and inconsiderable accidents about you 2. Hath not your anger swelled into wrath and fury Pro. 27.3 4. Eph. 4.31 Jam 1.19 Matt. 5.22 1 Pet. 3.9 Matt. 5.40 nor been drawn out into hatred and malice nor broken out into bitter and opprobrious language rendring evil for evil and railing for railing brawling and quarrelling for any offence going to law upon petty and small occasions of trespass 3. Ps 37.1 Rom 13.13 Have you not envied the good parts and endowments or the wealth and preferments or the flourishing estate of others in any respect though they may be wicked and unworthy 4. Lev. 19.18 Matt. 5.38 Have ye harboured no secret grudge in your heart towards any person nor entertained any secret thoughts and desires of revenge 5. Prov. 24.17 Rom. 12.15 Have you not secretly rejoyced at the losses crosses disgraces or death of any 6. Have you no way impaired the health either of the Souls or bodies of others either by hurting maiming Exod. 21.22 c. wounding any person in body or tempting them to sin Matt. 18.6 Gal. 5.26 to the ruine of their Souls or provoking their spirits or neglecting to perform the Christian duties of Charity both corporal and spiritual unto them 7. Hath your demeanour been with all meekness and humility Matt. 11.29 Eph. 4.32 being loving kind tender-hearted pitiful peaceful and easie to be entreated with the several qualifications of true Christian charity 1 Cor. 13.1 c. without which no true Christianity 8. Have you not impaired your own health by surfeiting drunkenness uncleanness or giving way to any unruly lusts passions and desires even against your reason and judgment Prov. 21.16 The Seventh Commandment Thou shalt not commit adultery Examination by the Seventh Commandment THe Christian Vertues in this Law commanded are Chastity and Temperance the one being not to be preserved without the other and of both these there are several degrees the transgression of each of which is to be here examined And First Concerning Chastity because the uncleanness of the heart is as vile before God as any act of that kind before man examine Matt. 5.28 1. Have you not pleased your fancy with loose and wanton imaginations nor suffered unchast thoughts so long to dwell in your heart till by the corrupt bent of its concupiscence they have grown into unruly lusts and have you endeavoured to subdue those lusts Col. 3.5 and not suffered them to break out either 1. Eph. 4.29 into any filthy communication scurrilous and obscene speeches 2. into any sinful solicitations and temptations of others to commit uncleanness with you Matt 5.29 30. by the wantonness of the eyes hands tongue 2. Have you not gazed upon any person Matt. 5.8 till your eyes have betrayed your heart secretly to lust and sinfully to enjoy them And as to the acts of corporal uncleanness they are of such a loathsome nature Eph. 5.3 as not fit to be once named amongst Christians your own Conscience will be your best guide for your examination in such particulars wherein consider and seriously weigh the aggravating circumstances of Time Place Person the unruliness of your lust against all the laws of God and Nature right Reason and holy Religion consider the inconsistency of every such deed of darkness with the purity of your profession 1 Cor. 6.15 c. Eph. 5.5 and your relation of being a member of Christ a child of God and an heir of Heaven Upon the consideration of this let this Memento of that one Father have a deep impression upon your Soul That in every lust of uncleanness as the unlawfull flame thereof goes up into Heaven so the filthy stench thereof
more out of malice then matter more out of pride or covetousness or for revenge then for righteousness sake God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner I have envied the persons and flourishing estates of others Envy of such or such their parts or endowments of such for their wealth and preferments of such for their credit and esteem I have desired and pursued mine own worldly ends and interests though in the loss ruine and death of others God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner I have many ways The inferiour degrees of Murther as to the Bodies of others and in many respects impaired the health of others the bodily health of such and such by fighting maiming wounding and by not relieving the wants and necessities of the poor and indigent by not assisting and helping to the best of my power the sick and the soar the wounded and distressed and such as are in captivity and bondage I have also too much contributed to the ruine of other mens Souls as to the Souls of others both by silence consenting and not reproving by not instructing admonishing and exhorting others as opportunity has been offered and my duty required and by my lewd example and wanton behaviour incouraging nay tempting and alluring others to run with me to the same excess of Drunkenness Uncleanness uncharitable Censures and I have been pleased and delighted to hear of the disgrace loss and death of others I have been extreamly wanting in all those several kinds of Christian Charity as to both both corporal and spiritual whereby the good estate of my neighbours is preserved both in respect of their Souls and Bodies I have not been so kind so loving so courteous so pitiful so tender-hearted so compassionate so gentle and easie to be intreated as becomes a true disciple of Christ my Saviour Deliver me from bloud-guiltiness O my God even from all these and from all the several kinds and degrees of bloud-guiltiness good Lord deliver me and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness But how should I rightly love my neighbour as my self Towards our selves since I have not loved my self aright but have gone the way to destroy my self by my intemperance in meats and drinks and by my incontinence and wantonness by my impatience and over-much solicitude of mind for temporal things and in a word for want of prudence and sober guidance of my unruly passions and desires I am gone astray like a sheep that is lost O seek thy servant for I do not forget thy Commandments I have not possest my vessel in holiness and honour Sins against the Seventh Commandment Wanton imaginations as the Temple of God should be I have entertained many loose and wanton Imaginations the which I have not forthwith cast out of my heart but have suffered them to dwell there till they have grown into unruly unlawful Lusts Vnclean lusts I have not endeavoured to subdue those lusts but have suffered them to break out into filthy Communication obscene talk Filthy talk sinful solicitations of others by the wantonness of my eyes hands unseemly gestures rude Actions Actions more particularly such and such with such and such persons at such and such a time in such and such a place after such a shameless manner and behaviour I am unclean unclean unclean O wash me in the fountain of thy inexhaustible mercy through faith in the bloud of Christ wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin I have not mortified my body Neglect of fasting for the subduing of carnal lusts by Fasting and Abstinence making no conscience of severall Days and times devoted thereunto I have fomented my lusts Intemperance in Meats and drinks by giving too much way and sway to my rebellious appetite even to Drunkenness and Gluttony at such a time with such company wherein I have been too forward my self to drink to excess and to tempt others to the like excess Even the whole course of my life has been a trade of Intemperance in meats and drinks and though I have reapt the bitter fruits of such improvidence by having my heart thereby estranged from thee my God by the slight and negligent performance of holy duties by wasting my time my talent giving ill example impairing the health both of my Soul and body yet have I still continued to be daily guilty of such Intemperance and follie God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner I have been too loose In Apparel costly garish and flaunting in my Attire to intice and allure the eyes of lovers to gain an empty respect from others making garments given to cover my nakedness and the shame of my nature to be the instruments of pride and wantonness God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner I have been both immoderate and unseasonable in the use of Recreations In Recreations misspending too much of that precious time in toys and vanities which was lent me onely to work out the eternal Salvation of my Soul My sins have taken such hold upon me that I am not able to look up yea they are more in number then the hairs of my head and my heart doth fail me when I think thereupon O let it be thy pleasure to deliver me make haste to help me O Lord. I have been an improvident and unjust Steward of thy temporal blessings Sins against the Eighth Commandment Improvidence Prodigality Injustice prodigally and sinfully wasting my estate by drinking gaming feasting sloth and negligence in the duties of my Calling I have been guilty of defrauding and over-reaching such and such in buying and selling in purloyning in oppressing in borrowing and not paying again in lending upon usury and for unjust gain By many undue means I have interverted to my own use and detained what of right belonged to others neither have I made restitution or given satisfaction for such and such wrongs and unjust dealings I have not been so charitable to the poor Vncharitableness so pitiful to the afflicted so compassionate to the sick nor so open-handed to relieve the wanting and necessitous as my ability and opportunity and their sad condition have required When such and such persons at such or such a time have called to me for relief I have turned the deaf ear and given them harsh language in stead of an Alms. I have been unlike thee my God in all respects for I have been uncharitable and unjust O deal not with me after my sins neither reward me after mine iniquities but according to the multitude of thy mercies think upon me O God for thy goodness through Christ my Saviour I have not been so studious and diligent to understand and speak the truth at all times as I might have been Sins against the Ninth Commandment neither have I had that Christian courage always to speak what I have known to be truth Denying of the Truth or to run
not the death of a sinner how long wilt thou delay to hear help and heal my Soul 4. Return O Lord from the rigour of Justice to the sweetness of Mercy deliver my soul from the bands and fetters of her sins and from under the power of Satan and save me from thy wrath and from everlasting damnation good Lord deliver me for thy mercie 's sake wherein is my onely trust through the merits of my Saviour 5. For in death whether spiritual in sin or corporal for sin there is no remembrance of thee either by confessing our sins unto thee or imploring mercy from thee and who will give thee thanks in the pit None sure do praise thy Name in the grave of death which is the dwelling-place of silence and oblivion much less in the pit of hell where thy great Name is not praised but blasphemed rather 6. I am weary of my groanings having long laboured under the heavy burthen of my sins every night wash I my bed both in the night when I should sleep and in the day Or in the night and obscurity of my sins I wash with the tears of compunction the bed of my Conscience Tho. Aquin. when I go to rest I water my couch with my tears Even all the places of my ease rest and refreshment are bedewed with tears of compunction and godly sorrow 7. Mine eye wherein my exteriour beauty chiefly consists is consumed with grief the inward sorrow of my Soul thereby emptying it self and worn away because of all mine enemies because my ghostly enemies daily prevail against me by my consent to their suggestions and temptations unto wickedness But being resolved to avoid all occasions of such temptations therefore 8. Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity For the future I must leave the society of all such as do not onely work wickedness but also tempt others to sin with them for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping He hath put my tears into his bottle and it concerns me therefore to separate my self from the company and counsel of the ungodly O how audible and effectual is the voice of weeping for therefore 9. The Lord hath heard my petition graciously accepted and answered my desires in the pardon of mine offences and the Lord will receive my prayer when I thus humble my self under his mighty hand And then 9. All my enemies shall be confounded they shall be frustrated in their designs and enterprises against my Soul and soar vexed when all their contrivances fail them they shall be turned back from their farther assaults of my innocence and put to shame suddenly Even before their intentions be put in execution their plots shall be blasted when the Lord vouchsafes to hear the voice of my weeping And O that I could so weep and bewail my sins that the Lord may hear in Heaven and be merciful unto me and heal my Soul to glorifie his Name Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be Amen Psalm XXXII Verse 1. BLessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven as to the guilt contracted and whose sin is covered that it appear not to his punishment Or whose original pollution is washed away in the Laver of Baptism and his actual transgressions covered with the robes of Christ's merits 2. Blessed is the man He is blessed in Hope though not in Fruition to whom the Lord imputeth not his iniquity to his eternal separation from the presence of God But of such an one it is required that he be sincere in his Repentance and in whose spirit there is no guile no hypocrisie or deceit in his Repentance but he turneth unto the Lord with all his heart and this too from all the errours of his ways 3. Whilst I kept silence covering and not confessing my sins or Whilst I filently considered with my self the multitude and hainousness of my transgressions my bones consumed away the strength and support of my Soul failed me through my daily complaining not as I ought to complain in the confession of my sins for therein I have kept silence but through the secret murmurs of my troubled conscience and fear of the just judgments of God 4. Day and night thy hand is heavy upon me My daily practice and continuance in my sins makes every day more heavy the hand of Divine justice for the fear whereof my moisture is like the drought in summer The sap of grace and vigour of the Spirit languisheth and the verdure of my Devotion is dried up even as the fruits of the earth are parched by the Sun 's hot beams in the height of Summer And now being sensible of this my sad condition 5. I will acknowledge my sin unto thee both my sins of Omission and mine iniquity my sins of Commission have I not hid but laid them all open before thee purging my Conscience from the venom of them by Confession And this I firmly resolved with my self to doe 6. I said I will confess my sins unto the Lord accusing my self that thou O Lord mayst excuse me condemning my self that thou mayst acquit me discovering my nakedness and shame that thou maist cover me with the robes of thy mercy through the merits of my Saviour and so thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin being confessed bewailed and forsaken 7. For this thy great mercy in pardoning offences sincerely repented shall every one that is godly pray unto thee that he may be cleansed from his sins for there is no man so godly that sinneth not but therefore godly because thou art gracious both in forgiving the wickedness of his sins and strengthning him with grace to abjure them And he that is thus godly will not neglect those blessed opportunitles of Prayer in the time when thou maist be found ready and propense to hear and forgive and that 's the time of this present life wherein there are great water-flouds of temptations and troubles but they shall not come nigh him The Prayer of the godly is a strong Bulwark and thus he prayeth in the time of trouble 8. Thou art my biding-place Under the sacred wings of thy merciful protection is my refuge in the midst of the greatest tribulation thou shalt preserve me from trouble like Noah and his family in the Ark when the rest of the world perished by water thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance Being on all sides delivered and preserved from the flouds of many waters I will sing praises unto thy great Name for the same The answer of God to a true Peititent 9. I will inform thee and teach thee outwardly by my Word and inwardly by my Spirit the way of true wisedom which is both to know God and know thy self wherein thou shalt go what good is to be done and what evil to be left undone and I will guide thee with mine eye have a constant eye upon
throughly sanctified let thy loving Spirit the Spirit of love and verity lead me forth in the straight direct way that leads into the land of righteousness That 's the promised Land the celestial Canaan where alone is perfect everlasting righteousness in the blissful presence of the God of righteousness 11. Quicken me O Lord who am dull and dead-hearted and faint in the way towards the land of the living for thy name's sake which I invoke and adore and for thy righteousness sake not for mine which is little and good for little bring my soul out of trouble delivering me from whatever disturbs the peace of my Soul and hinders her progress in the way to Heaven 12. And of thy goodness slay mine enemies Mortifie in me all unruly lusts and passions that rebell against Reason and Religion and destroy all them that vex my soul by exciting and fomenting the flesh against the spirit the sensual against her rational faculties that the whole may be obedient unto thee for I am thy servant Created Redeemed not to serve my own lusts and exorbitant passions but to be Sanctified or devoted wholly to serve thee in holiness and righteousness before thee all the days of my life And so shall my Soul praise thee with joyfull lips and say Glory be to the Father As it was in the beginning I. O most just and merciful God who being by Sin offended art by true Repentance appeased be propitious to the Prayers of thy faithful people and in great mercy turn away from us those scourges of thy wrath which our sins have justly deserved through Jesus Christ our Lord. II. Remember not Lord our offences nor the offences of our fore-fathers neither take thou vengeance of our sins but spare us good Lord spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud and be not angry with us for ever III. O God whose nature and property it is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble Petitions and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us for the honour of Jesus Christ our Mediatour and Advocate Amen CHAP. XII Meditations and Prayers to be partakers of the Merits of what our Blessed Redeemer hath done and suffered for us O Most Holy and ever-Blessed Jesus The Incarnation of the Son of God who vouchsafedst for the redemption of mankind to be made Man by the blessed merits of thy mysterious Incarnation grant me to become one Spirit with thee who becamest one flesh with me Thou Blessed Lord Nativity wert miraculously born of a pure immaculate Virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing her grant me by the same power of the most High to possess a pure virgin Soul in a pure and chast body and to be fruitful in all good works Holy Jesus Circumcision who vouchsafedst to be circumcised the eighth day and made obedient to the Law for man grant unto me I humbly beg the true circumcision of the Spirit that my heart and all my members may be mortified from all carnal and worldly lusts and whatever hinders my regular obedience to thy most holy Laws By the merits and mysteries of thy Baptism in the river Jordan Baptism wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sins whereby I have unhallowed those sacred and saving waters of my Baptism and perjuriously broken my Vow and Promise made therein Holy Jesus Fasting who didst fast forty days and forty nights forgive me the manifold acts of Gluttony and Drunkenness Riot and Excess whereof I have been guilty and by the virtue and power of thy miraculous Fast grant me the mastery over my rebellious appetite to live soberly that I may also live righteously and godly in this present world Holy Jesus Temptation who being fasting wast tempted of the Devil and overcamest him grant me by the influences of thy Blessed Spirit so devoutly to intend the holy duties of Fasting and Prayer that by the power of thy victory over the Devil I may have strength and power to triumph over the Devil the world and the flesh and to continue thy faithful servant and souldier to my life's end Holy Jesus Doctrine and Example who being inaugurated in thy Prophetical office by Baptism and confirmed by the vanquishment of the Devil wentest about preaching the Gospel doing good healing all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases amongst the people being by thy doctrine and example the Way and the Truth that leads unto Life grant me to believe aright all thy Revelations to obey all thy Commands to walk in thy steps and so to follow thee the Light of the world that I walk not in darkness but may have the light of life Holy Jesus He is conspir'd against and betrayed who didst condescend to have thy precious life conspired against by the Jews and to be betrayed and sold by one of thine own Disciples for a vile price deliver me from the conspiracies of all mine enemies ghostly and bodily and specially from the treachery and corruption of mine own deceitful heart and from the rebellion of my flesh which for vile things and of no value daily betray my Soul into the hands and under the power and bondage of Sin and Satan the great enemies of my life in Grace and Glory Holy Jesus His Agonie in the Garden who didst begin thy last and bitter passion in a Garden where thy innocent Soul was sorrowful even unto death sanctifie I beseech thee all my natural infirmities and passions comfort me in all my troubles and disquietudes of mind and make me sensible with godly sorrow of that heavy wrath and curse for Sin which thou sufferedst and I deserved Holy Jesus Bloudy swear who didst prostrate thy self upon the cold earth sweating drops of bloud under the pressure of our sins and out of a sad apprehension of thy ensuing sufferings offering up strong â—â—ies with tears unto him that is able to save O that my heart might inwardly bleed tears of compassion and of compunction and vent it self by such fervent and effectuall prayers with tears of devotion as to be heard in Heaven and healed of all my sinfull infirmities Holy Jesus Submission to the will of God who with all sweetness of patience and submission didst give up thy self wholly to the will of thy Heavenly Father endue me with the same spirit of lowliness and meckness patience and contentedness in all conditions submitting to the good will of my God both in prosperity and adversity health and sickness life and death Holy Jesus Apprehension who didst yield thy self to be apprehended when thou mightest escape and to be bound as a Malefactour being clearer then an Angel of light O let not my Soul be feised by any infernal Fiends to eternal horrour in the other world But out of the sangs and clutches of all the
conveyances of sense are the thickest to the unspeakable torment of thine innocent body The sorrows and sufferings of thy Soul were far greater The sufferings of his Soul being like melting wax molten in the fiery furnace of God's wrath for the sins of the world till the fulness of thy sufferings being accomplished thou commendedst thy spirit into the hands of God All this Sorrow and Suffering Grief and Torment of thine I believe verily was for me and for my sins there being nothing in thee the spotless Son of a spotless Virgin to grieve or sorrow or suffer for O sweetest Saviour save and deliver me from all my sins whether of knowledge or ignorance of wilfulness or negligence of omission or commission of thought desire word or deed confessed or not confessed before thee wash them all away in thy precious bloud shed for me nail them to thy Cross which were the cause of thy Crucifixion hide them in thy wounds who wast wounded for my transgressions and write those wounds of thine in my heart not with ink but with the bloud which was shed forme that in and by those characters of bloud I may reade and learn to die unto sin and live onely unto thee who diedst for me cleaving stedfastly unto thee whose whole self wast so fast nailed to the Cross for me By thy Cross and Passion both in Soul and Body cleanse me from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit crucifie this corruptible flesh of mine with all the inordinate affections and unruly lusts thereof that being conformed to thy Death I may be partaker of thy Resurrection that suffering with thee here I may reign with thee hereafter where thou livest THE SECOND PART OF THE PRACTICAL Christian Being Considerations Meditations and Prayers in order to the worthy Receiving the HOLY COMMUNION of the Body and Bloud of CHRIST The Second Edition revised and augmented Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Luk. 12.43 LONDON Printed for R. Royston 1677. A TABLE of the Chapters CHAP. I. Of the two general Christian Duties required in order to the Holy Communion of the Body and Bloud of Christ CHAP. II. Meditations and Praiers preparatory to the Holy Communion the Week before CHAP. III. Meditations and Praiers for the Friday especially before the Communion CHAP. IV. Saint Augustine 's Recommendation of the Passion of Christ unto God the Father CHAP. V. Saint Ambrose 's Commemâ—ration of our Saviour's Passion CHAP. VI. Saint Gregory 's Praiers upon the Passion of Christ CHAP. VII The Form of Praier used by our Lord upon the Cross viz. the XXII Psalm paraphrased CHAP. VIII Meditations and Praiers preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday-night or Sunday-morning before CHAP. IX Meditations upon your going to Church with some short Directions for your demeanour in the House and in the Service of God CHAP. X. Meditations and Praiers at the Blessed Sacrament CHAP. XI Psalms of praise and thanksgiving after the Holy Communion THE PRACTICAL Christian PART II. CHAP. I. Of the two general Christian Duties required in order to the Holy Communion of the Body and Bloud of CHRIST 1. THE Blessed Eucharist or Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is of all the Mysteries of godliness the most comprehensive and applicatory to the Soul 's eternall Happiness 'T is amongst all Christian Duties of highest dignity and greatest concern 'T is both the Food and the Medicine the Life and the Health the Strength and Defence the Peace Joy and Delight of the truly Religious Soul 'T is the most effectual means of the nearest Union and Communion with Christ in this life attainable 'T is expresly so called the Communion of the Body of Christ and the Communion of the Bloud of Christ a 1 Cor. 10.16 which Doctrine we are taught as one of the Principles of our Religion The Body and Bloud of Christ is verily and indeed taken and received of the faithfull in the Lord's Supper b Church Catech. 2. In the right and reverent Administration with the devout and worthy Participation of this Sacramental Body of Christ we are incorporated into his holy Mystical Body So saith our Lord himself He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him c Joh. 6.56 And such is also the Doctrine of the Church of Christ If with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive the Holy Sacrament we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ and drink his bloud we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we be one with Christ and Christ with us we obtain remission of our Sins and all other the Benfits of his Passion d Comm. office 3. Hence then it follows that whoever owns the name of a Christian and understands aright what it is to be truly so and not in vain so called must acknowledge these two general Duties to be incumbent upon him 1. Not to neglect any opportunity of Receiving this Blessed Sacrament 2. To use all possible means with his utmost endeavours to receive the same worthily I. As to the First whoso slights or neglects to come being invited to the Holy Communion either 1. He rightly understands not the Holy Religion he professeth or 2. His Religion is no other but a bare Profession something that perhaps employs his Tongue and strikes upon his Ears to hear and talk about it but never entred the deep of his Heart truly to believe and practise it * Matt. 15.8 There be too many such persons God wot that talk much of Religion yea many that talk loudly of Communion with Christ and are seemingly zealous in the external performance of several Christian Duties especially in the frequency of long and loud Praiers but if the many wild extravagancies of such performances did not lay them open yet their general neglect of this Sacrament which is the life and quintessence of all Christian offices and the infallible witness of true Christianity discovers the hypocrisy of such seeming Zelots that with the old Pharisees they draw nigh unto God with their mouth and honour him with their lips but their heart is not whole with him neither are they stedfast in his covenant f Isa 29.13 Psal 78.36 37. Which is farther evident in that 3. Such persons make no conscience of Sin which is the transgression of the Law of Christ He commands saying Take eat Drink ye all of this Doe this in remembrance of me Shew forth the Lord's death till he come Come unto me all ye that are weary Ho every one that thirsteth come g Matt. 26.27 28. Luk. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 25 26. Matt. 11.28 Isa 55.1 Not to come to that Blessed Sacrament being invited is to disobey all these and several more positive commands of God which being also frequently read heard preached and pressed upon the consciences of men by their consciencious Ministers and yet still slighted and disobeyed will undoubtedly incur if not prevented
which being plainly fully and yet very briefly taught in our Church-Catechism to be therefore ignorant of these things which every Child is bound to learn and say is another Species of an unworthy Communicant 3. He discerns not this Sacramental Body of the Lord who prepares not himself to receive the same with all reverence and godly fear t Heb. 12.28 with hands washed in innocency v Psal 26.6 and into a pure and clean heart x Isa 1.16 Psal 24.4 into a Soul cleansed from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit y 2 Cor. 7.1 and perfumed as was our Lord's crucified Body with the sweet odours of Humility and Compunction of Love and Devotion of Obedience and Charity And hereunto all the parts and kinds of true Repentance do necessarily concur for there can be no cleanness of hands no purity of heart if the naturally stiff and proud heart be not first humbled and its stifness broken with godly sorrow for sin and its filthiness washed off with the devout tears of true Penitence through Faith in the bloud of Christ And he that receives Christ's Holy Body and Bloud into his Soul not first emptied of all his Sins by holy Faith and all the sacred offices of true Repentance doth with Judas betray his Master into the hands of his enemies even those very enemies which crucified him for those were our Sins And therefore 't is said of such unworthy Receivers that they are guilty of the Body and Bloud of Christ To avoid such a horrid Sin 1 Cor. 11.27 and Damnation following the same v. 29. betwixt both Verses 't is commanded v. 28. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat Self-examination as 't is in the former Leaves prescribed to be practised is the first and the greatest Duty and requires the most of spiritual labour care and industry of all that is required to the worthy Receiving of the Holy Communion And this because 't is not onely necessary in it self but necessarily conducing to the sincere performance of all the other Religious Duties commanded Our Repentance in all its parts our Humiliation and godly Sorrow for sin our holy Purposes and Resolves of amendment our Faith our Hope our Charity must be examined that they be sincere and without hypocrisy And therefore it is that this Duty is commanded by the Apostle as if it were alone sufficient when sincerely performed to make us acceptable Guests at the Lord's Table saying Let a man examine himself and so let him eat And indeed this so great so necessary a Duty is as greatly extolled and withall pretended unto by most men especially such as talk much of their Religion but practise little 'T is generally the pretence and the plea of such who cry up Self-examination to cry down the Sacerdotal power and function to withdraw themselves from under the guidance and examination of their respective Pastours whose Instructions being not received or observed but so far forth as to every man seemeth good in his own eyes is the great reason why this grand Duty is so generally neglected or negligently performed The which is manifest 1. From the numerous company of those who make no conscience of coming to the Holy Communion when invited 'T is not possible that men otherwise prudent as to their worldly concerns should yet be so sottish so retchless so stupidly careless of their eternal health and happiness did they ever seriously examine and consider the state and condition of their Souls But whilst they know not themselves in their spiritual wants weakness and wickedness how can they have any desire much lesse a delight to come to the fountain of mercy truth and holiness z Wisedom 2 21 22. Matt. 5.6 'T is the reason 2. Why many persons having received the Sacrament but feeling no virtue no efficacy no power of grace no consolation flowing from these celestral Mysteries of Salvation have therefore afterwards slighted and neglected the same For whilst their ignorances and errours whether in opinion or practice for want of due Examination appeared not unto them that Sun of Righteousness shined not into their hearts who appears not but through the windows and the openings of broken hearts and displayed consciences a Wised 5.6 And besides such is the corrupt nature of all finfulness and vice that if the leaven thereof be not narrowly searched out and abandoned it will sour the Bread of life and make it without any tast of sweetness to the Soul b 1 Cor. 5.7 8. 'T is the reason 3. Why many persons have by the receiving of that Blessed Sacrament been more hardened in their sins and in the errours of their ways For errours in judgment and offences in conversation which are the soars and diseases of the Soul being not searched to the bottom and salved by Repentance and the acknowledgement of the Truth c 2 Tim. 2.25 do change the spiritual food and nourishment of the Soul into the poison thereof whereby what was ordained unto life is found unto death d Rom. 7.10 CHAP. II. Meditations and Praiers preparatory to the Holy Communion the Week before THE truly sincere good Christian whose Faith is not in Fancy or Opinion or Presumption or consisting in word and tongue alone but in deed and in truth who desires truly to serve God and to honour and obey him with his whole heart and through his whole life every such qualified Christian will as soon as he hath notice given by his Pastour of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to be administred seriously apply himself to the great work of fitting preparing and ordering his Soul for the joyfull and devout entertainment of his Blessed Redeemer thereinto In order to such a Blessed work 't will be very usefull and advantageous the whole Week foregoing to adde to your daily Praiers and Meditations these or the like following Collects with the Psalms ensuing I. Almighty God our heavenly Father who of thy tender mercy didst give thine onely Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our Redemption and hast commanded us to continue a perpetual memory of that his precious Death untill his comiong again Hear me O mercifull Father I most humbly beseech thee and grant that I may with that right Understandingâ— true Faith sincere Repentance deep Humility and fervent Charity receive the Sacrament of my dear Saviour's Death accoridng to his institution and command that I may be made partaker of all the benefits of his Passion to the justification sanctification and eternal Salvation of my Soul through the same Jesus Christ II. I will not presume to approach thine Altar O Lord trusting in mine own Righteousness but in thy manifold and great Mercies I am not worthy to gather up the crums that fall from thy Table for I am an unclean creature to whom the Childrens bread belongs not having too often returned to my old Sins as the dog to his vomit But
year as a day of Fasting and Abstinence and it was ever observed as such since our Lord died upon the Friday through all the Ages of the Church untill these last and worst of days wherein the evil spirit of contradiction against the Religious practices of Christ's Church doth so rage as amongst many others to cry down all Times and Days devoted to the Service of God except what they call the Sabbath-day the which under the Gospel is neither properly so called nor rightly observed by such as truly understand not the IV. Commandment but misinterpret the sound meaning of the Spirit by the killing Letter of the Law 3. All orthodox and understanding good Christians in stead of a Jewish Sabbath observe as festival and holy the Christian Sunday because the Sun of Righteousness arose upon that day from death to life and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel in which respect 't is frequently in Holy Scripture called the Lord's day 4. And there is the like reason for the observance of Friday as fasting in commemoration of Christ's Passion as there is for Sunday as festival in commemoration of his Resurrection Nor is this obscurely but plainly enough commanded by our Lord himself But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them and then shall they fast in those days a Luk. 5.35 These words are both 1. a positive command to all the Disciples of Christ they shall fast and also 2. the days whereon they shall fast are prescribed in those days whereon the Bridegroom was taken away from them which are the Fridays of the year whereon our Lord the Bridegroom and Head of his Church was taken off by a bitter death upon the Cross It is therefore but meet and just that all true Members of this Head should fast and pray and be humbled for their Sins on that day especially whereon the Son of God so sadly suffered and sorrowed for the Sins of the world Friday Meditations I. Part of LXIX Psalm paraphrased Verse 13. LORD I make my praier unto thee in an acceptable time Now is the acceptable time now is the day of Salvation even the day whereon for us men and for our Salvation the Blessed Son of God was crucified unto death 14. Hear me O God in the multitude of thy mercies against the multitude of my Sins which require a multitude of mercies to pardon them even in the truth of thy Salvation which on this day was so dearly purchased with the precious Bloud of the Son of God as a Lamb without spot 15. Take me out of the mire of all my sinfull pollutions and of all exorbitant lusts both secular and sensual that I sink not under the weight and pressure of them O let mâ— be delivered from them that hate me meaning chiefly the Devil and his angels and all the enemies of my Soul and out of the deep waters the rising waves of my unruly Passions and the waters of Trouble and Affliction which issue thence 16. Let not the water-floud of iniquity which overflows the face of the earth drown me with the rest of evill-doers neither let the deep swallow me up the deep abyss of Death the wages of Sin and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me so as that I arise not out of the gulph of Sin and Death to the life of Grace and Glory 17. Hear me O Lord for thy loâ—â—â— kindness is comfortable T is the 〈◊〉 and fountain life and soul of 〈◊〉 consolation at all times and in 〈◊〉 conditions both prosperous and adverse turn thee unto me not for any worth that is in me to attract thy loving-kindness but according to the multitude of thy mercies which are ever manifested to all them who truly turn unto thee 18. Hide not thy face from thy servant as angry and displeased for the alienations of my heart from thee and negligence in thy service for I am in trouble troubled for my Sins and frequent back-slidings and the sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise O haste thee and hear me For if thou make as though thou hearest not I shall be like them that goe down into the pit 19. Draw nigh unto my Soal and save it who for the Salvation of my Soul didst this day humble thy self unto death even the cursed death of the Cross by the Merits and efficacy of which Cross and Passion O deliver me from all mine offences because of mine enemies that they triumph not in my confusion II. Meditations out of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. LIII Verse 4. SVrely he hath born our griefs and carried our serrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed 6. All we like sheep have gone astray and God hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all In the Sufferings of thy Saviour O my Soul thou maiest see as in a glass thine own Deformities and Sins The Great Lord over all Blessed for ever to be reproached reviled scorned contemned and numbred amongst the transgressours discovers thy false and uncharitable Judging Censuring Condemning Evil-speaking Lying and Slandering Railing and Reviling of others The blessed Face of Jesus besmeared with Spittle doth remember thee of all thy unclean Lusts and of all the filthy Communication that has proceeded out of thy mouth His blessed Mouth embittered with Gall and Vinegar doth mind thee of thy Effeminacy and Luxury Drunkenness and Gluttony and his Whipping of thy Stubbornness and Disobedience to the Laws of Heaven The King of Glory to wear a Crown of Thorns and for his Robes of Majesty onely a little Linen to cover his nakedness declares the iniquity of thy Pride and Vain-glory the folly of Gay cloathing and all thy vain and foolish affectation of the Pomps and Vanities of this sinfull World That Crown of Thorns beaten into his Temples with a Reed and much rage discovers the offensive nature of immoderate Cares of the world with the sharp and piercing Vexations issuing thence which eat up the Consolation of the heart and all true sincere Devotion of the spirit O sweetest Jesu let all my Sins be done away through thy Sufferings which did both represent and satisfy for them Let thy Wounds be a Salve for my Sin-wounded Soul and by thy Stripes let her be healed of all her Distempers Let thy Bonds discharge that Bond of malediction and woe wherein my Sins have enwrapt my Soul and let my Obligation to punishment be cancelled by thy Cross Let thy Pains deliver me from the Pains of Hell and thy Labours procure my Rest with the Saints in Heaven Let thy Sorrows purchase the Joys and thy Griefs the Pleasures of thy right hand Let thy Captivity be my Redemption thy Humiliation my Exaltation
their divine adoration and worship 4. Our fathers after the flesh the Patriarchs and Prophets of old hoped in thee and when they did so when sincerely and without hypocrisie they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them as from the Egyptian bondage and Babylonian captivity and from all their enemies on every side figuring thereby the great deliverance and redemption of mankind by my present Sufferings for their Sins 5. They called upon thee as the onely anchour of their hope amidst the raging waves of worldly tribulations and were holpen either supported in their distresses or delivered from them they put their trust in thee and were not confounded or frustrated in their expectation of a sure and seasonable succour and defence 6. But as for me who now call upon thee in distress I am a worm framed of the dunghill nature of Adam by the supernaturall operation of the Holy Ghost upon my Virgin-Mother without any carnall lust or copulation as the worm hath its being out of the dung of the earth without any mutuall coition by the sole heat of the Sun and no man not made man after the same manner with others and as a worm that is trodden on and despised so am I a very scorn of men who have spitten on me reviled reproached derided whipped buffeted and in all respects used me as the outcast of the people who have judged me more unfit to live then Barabbas a thief a rebell and a murtherer 7. All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out their lips and shake their heads So we reade And they that passed by reviled him wagging their heads saying He saved others himself he cannot save c Matt. 27.39 42. saying in derision 8. He trusted in God that he would deliver him let him deliver him if he will have him So saith the sad story of our Saviour's suffering d Matt. 27.43 Thus have they rewarded me evill for good and hatred for my good will But though I be thus evill intreated by sinfull men yet thou Lord 9. Thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb 'T was by thee alone for none but a supernaturall Divine power could effect it that I was both made man and born of a woman thou wast my hope when I hanged yet upon my mother's breasts my refuge my support in my infancy as Man who art my Father from all eternity as God 10. I have been left unto thee ever since I was born my Humane nature being united unto the Person of the Son of God from the first moment of my conception thou art my God even from my mother's womb when I was conceived without any other father but thy power sanctifying the Virgin-womb of my mother and have ever since lived and am now ready to die in obedience to thy most holy will 11. O goe not from me by withdrawing thy Divine assistence for trouble is hard at hand the inveterate malice of my persecuting enemies and my tormenting pains bespeak my near-approaching death and there is none to help me in that bitter agonie besides thee O Lord for vain is the help of man and the nearest of my friends and followers have also now forsaken me and fled in whose room 12. Many oxen are come about me people who have cast off the yoke of Obedience to God's most holy Laws being luxuriant in their opinions and licencious in their conversation by such I was apprehended hurried away hooted at and reviled falsly accused and cried down by their loud clamours against me fat bulls of Basan the High-priests rich and fat men of the world swoln with their pomp and wealth armed with power like unto horned bulls close me in on every side By their counsels and conspiracies votes and suffrages they have so enfettered me that there was no way left to escape their rage and malice 13. They gape upon me with their mouths some falsely accusing some ironically deriding some maliciously reproaching some unjustly censuring and condemning me and all crying out Crucify him crucify him as it were a ramping and a roaring lion greedily and fiercely yelling over his prey so eagerly do they thirst after the bloud of my Soul and that now is in their power for 14. I am poured out like water so is my Bloud poured out of all my veins flowing from my nailed Hands and Feet pierced Side and from my Head crowned with thorns which eat into my temples And may this precious bloud like water wash off the pollutions of my Soul soften the hardness moisten the driness and make fertil the barren ground of my Heart to be capable of the great benefits my dear Redeemer purchased with his Bloud all my bones are out of joint through the violent distension of my Members on the Cross and yet far greater are the sufferings of my Soul for my heart also in the midst of my body is even like melting wax even molten in the fiery furnace of God's wrath for the Sins of the world whose indignation like fire consumes and eats up all consolation within me 15. My strength is dried up like a potsheard That radicall humour which supplies the strength of the body is exhausted through the effusion of my Bloud and dislocation of my bodily Members and my tongue cleaveth to my gums through the drought pain and weakness of my tortured Body and thou shalt bring me into the dust of death By my Death and Buriall in the dust of the earth my Sufferings will be compleated And this cannot be avoided 16. For many dogs persons who bark and devour not out of conscience or love of the Truth but out of custom and malice such are come about me they encompass me to rend and tear in pieces both my good name liberty and life it self the councill of the wicked layeth siege against me So we reade The chief priests and elders took counsell against Jesus to put him to death * Matt. 27.1 and this both shamefull and painfull for 17. They pierced my hands and my feet Through the palms of my Hands and the plants of my Feet places fullest of nerves and most capable of sense have they nailed me to the Cross but first with the greatest violence and to the utmost extent my Arms and Legs were expanded so that I may tell all my bones for they start through my flesh through the violent distension thereof and this to the great astonishment of all that behold my torments for they stand staring and looking upon me The tormenting punishment renders me so misshapen distorted and deformed as makes all the spectatours gaze and wonder But 't is more with bodily then spirituall eyes They see not neither do they understand me aright though I thus suffer for their sins 18. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture So did the Souldiers with the garment of our Lord 's naturall Body and so do Hereticks and Schismaticks with his mysticall