bodily Sufferings O almighty Love were intolerable but yet thy inward were far greater I grieve I love I melt all o'er when I hear thee on the Cross crying out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Ah sinfull Wretch that I am how infinite and unconceivable were the inward Dolours and Agonies thou didst undergo for us Sinners when thou didst tread the Winepress of thy Father's wrath alone when it pleas'd thy own most beloved Father to bruise thee and to put thee to grief when the iniquities of the whole World were laid on thee and my numerous sins increast thy load and heightned thy torment when thy own Deity withdrew all consolation from thee when God offended by our sins did afflict thee in the day of his fierce anger no sufferings no love was ever like unto thine for me no grief no love but thy own should exceed mine for thee For whom O unutterable goodness didst thou suffer the extreme bitterness oâ— sorrow but for the vilest of all thy Creatures sinfull man and for me one of the worst of Sinners and therefore I praise and love thee For what end didst thou suffer O most ardent Charity but to save Sinners from all things that were destructive the Curse of the Law the Terrours of Death the Tyranny of Sin the Powers of Darkness and Torments Eternal to purchase for us all things conducible to our Happiness Pardon and Grace Consolation and Acceptance and the everlasting Joys and Glories of the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore I praise and love thee Out of what motive didst thou suffer O boundless Benignity but out of thy own preventing love free mercy and pure compassion and therefore I praise and love thee When no other Sacrifice could attone thy Father's Anger O thou the beloved Son of God and reconcile Divine Justice and Mercy together but the Sacrifice of God incarnate who as man was to die and to suffer in our stead as God was to merit and make satisfaction for our sins 't was then that thou O God the Son didst become Man the very meanest of Men didst take upon thee the form of a Servant and didst on the Cross shew us the mystery and the Miracle of Love God crucified for Sinners and Sinners redeem'd by the bloud of God O thou propitious Wonder God incarnate on the Cross by what Names shall I adore thee all are too short too scanty to express thee Love onely nothing but Love will reach thee thou art Love O Jesu thou art all love O tenderest O sweetest O purest O dearest Love soften sweeten refine love me into all Love like thee By the love of thy Cross O Jesu I live in that I will onely glory that above all things will I study that before all things will I value by the love of thy Cross I will take up my Cross daily and follow thee I will persecute and torment and crucify my sinfull Affections and Lusts which persecuted tormented and crucify'd thee and if thy love calls me to it I will suffer on the Cross for thee as thou hast done for me How illustrious and amiable were thy Graces amidst all thy Sufferings O thou afflicted Jesu I admire and I love thy profound Humility unwearied Patience Lamb-like Meekness immaculate Innocence invincible Courage absolute Resignation compassionate love of Souls and perfect Charity to thy Enemies O my Love I cannot love thee but I must desire above all things to be like my Beloved O give me grace to tread in thy steps and conform me to thy Divine Image that the more I grow like thee the more I may love thee and the more I may be lov'd by thee And Buried He descended into Hell I believe O crucified Lord that thou wast really dead and that there was a separation of thy Body and Soul That thy side was mortally wounded and pierced with a Spear on the Cross and thy sacred Body was buried to assure us of thy death All love all glory be to thee I believe O pierced O wounded Love that thy Soul in the state of separation did descend into Hell to vanquish Death and all the Spirits of darkness in their own Dominions and therefore I adore and love thee Glory be to thee O thou great Champion of Love who didst for our sakes singly encounter all our ghostly Enemies who didst thy self taste of death that thou mightst take away the sting of death who didst wrestle with principalities and powers and all the force of Hell that we might share in thy Victory for which wonderfull Salvation I will always praise and love thee The third day he rose again from the dead I believe O Almighty Love that according to the Types and Prophecies which went before of thee and according to thy own infallible predictions thou didst by thy own power rise from the dead the third day All love all glory be to thee Glory be to thee who didst lie so long in the Grave to undergo the full condition of the dead and to convince all the world thou wert dead and didst rise so soon that thou mightst not see corruption or retard our joy All love all glory be to thee He ascended into Heaven I believe O Victorious Love that thou after thy conquest over Death and Hell didst ascend in triumph to Heaven that thou mightst prepare Mansions for us and from thencâ— as Conquerour bestow the gifts of thy conquest on us and above all the gift of thy Holy Spirit that thou mightst enter into the Holy of Holies as our great High-priest to present to thy Father the sweet-smelling Sacrifice of his crucified Son the sole propitiation for Sinners and therefore all Love all glory be to thee Glory be to thee O Jesu who didst leave the world and ascend to Heaven about the 33 d year of thy age to teach us in the prime of our years to despise this world when we are best able to enjoy it and to reserve our full vigour for Heaven and for thy Love O thou whom my Soul loveth since thou hast left the world what was there ever in it worthy of our Love O let all my affections ascend after thee and never return to the earth more for whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none â—pon earth that I desire in comparison of thee And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty I believe O Triumphant Love that thou now sittest in full and peacefull possession of bliss and at the right hand of God that thy humane Nature is exalted to the most honourable place in Heaven where thou sittest on thy throne of glory ador'd by Angels and interceding for Sinners and therefore all love all glory be to thee Glory be
we may all praise and love thee O my God amidst the deplorable divisions of thy Church O let me never widen its breaches but give me catholick Charity to all that are baptis'd in thy Name and catholick Communion with all Christians in desire O deliver me from the Sins and Errours from the Schisms and Heresies of the Age. O give me grace to pray daily for the peace of thy Church and earnestly to seek it and to excite all I can to praise and to love thee I believe O most holy Jesu that thy Saints here below have communion with thy Saints above that they pray for us while we celebrate their memories congratulate their bliss give thanks for their labours of love and imitate their examples for which all love all glory be to thee I believe O gratious Redeemer that thy Saints here on Earth have Communion with the holy Angels above that they are ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation and watch over us and we give thanks to thee for their protection and emulate their incessant praises and ready obedience for which all love all glory be to thee I believe O my Lord and my God that the Saints in this life have Communion with the three Persons of the most adorable Trinity in the same most benign influences of love in which all three conspire for which all love all glory be to thee O Father Son and Holy Ghost world without end Glory be to thee O Goodness infinitely diffusive for all the Graces and blessings in which the Saints communicate for breathing thy love as the very Soul into thy mystical Body that all that believe in thee may love one another and all join in loving thee The Forgiveness of Sins I believe O my God that none can forgive Sins but thou alone and that in thy Church forgiveness is always to be had and for so inestimable a blessing all love all glory be to thee I believe O thou lover of Souls that without true repentance we cannot hope for pardon that our repentance is at the best imperfect that it is out of thy mere mercy O heavenly Father and for the merits and passion of thy crucified Son that thou dost accept our imperfect repentance and art pleas'd to forgive us and therefore all love all glory be to thee Glory be to thee O most adorable Trinity for thy infinite love in our forgiveness Glory be to thee O Father forgiving O Son propitiating O Holy Ghost purifying I miserable sinner who sigh and pant and languish for thy forgiveness and to be at peace with thee praise and adore and love that most sweet and liberal and tender and amiable mercy that delights in forgiving sinners The Resurrection of the Body I believe O victorious Jesu that by the virtue of thy Resurrection all the dead shall rise bad as well as good all love all glory be to thee by whom death is swallowed up in victory I believe O Almighty Jesu that by thy power all shall rise with the same bodies they had on earth that thou wilt recollect their scattered dust into the same form again that our Souls shall be re-united to our Bodies that we shall be judged both in Body and Soul for the sins committed by both that the Bodies of the wicked shall be fitted for torment and the Bodies of the Saints chang'd in quality and made glorify'd Bodies immortal and incorruptible fitted for heaven and eternally to love and enjoy thee for which glorious vouchsafement I will always praise and love thee And the Life everlasting I believe O great Judge of Heaven and Earth that after all the Quick and Dead have appear'd before thy Judgment-seat then the most just and unrepealable Sentence shall pass and be executed to all eternity joyfull onely to those that love thee and therefore all love all glory be to thee I believe O righteous Jesu that the wicked shall be set on thy left hand and be damn'd to Hell to be tormented with everlasting and unconceivable anguish and despair by the Devil and his Angels and their own Conscience both in Soul and Body in the lake of fire and brimstone from which there never can be any redemption O just reward of those that do not love thee O mercifull Jesu how desirous art thou that we should be happy in loving thee when thou hast created Hell on purpose to deter us from hating thee and Heaven to compell us to love thee and therefore all love all glory be to thee I believe O my Lord and my God that the righteous shall be rewarded with joys unspeakable and full of glory with the beatifick Vision and love of thy self in Heaven with a happiness of Body and Soul which shall be in all respects most perfect eternal and unchangeable that they shall never sorrow nor sin more which is all the free gift of thy infinite love O heavenly Father and the purchase of thy bloud O God incarnate for which I will ever to the utmost of my power adore and love thee O boundless love when shall I love thee in heaven without either coldness or interruption which alas too often seise me here below When O my God O when shall I have the transporting vision of thy most amiable goodness that I may unalterably love thee that I may never more offend thee O thou whom my Soul loveth I would not desire heaven but because thou art there for thou makest heaven wherever thou art I would not O Jesu desire life everlasting but that I may there everlastingly love thee O inexhaustible love do thou eternally breath love into me that my love to thee may be eternally increasing and tending towards infinity since a love less than infinite is not worthy of thee Amen O thou great authour and finisher of our Faith do thou daily increase my Faith and heighten my love O grant that in holy ardours of love to love crucify'd my love may at last ascend to the region of love that I may have nothing to doe to all eternity but to praise and to love thee Amen O infinite Love Amen Amen This Office may be divided into several parts and used on the Lord's days or on Holy-days especially on the great Festivals of Christmas Easter Pentecost in Lent also and particularly on Good-friday and before the reception of the blessed Sacrament as is most sutable to the occasion or to the state temper and disposition of every devout Soul Q. You said your Godfathers and Godmothers did promise for you that you should keep God's Commandments Tell me how many there be A. Ten. Q. Which be they A. The same which God spake in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus saying I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of
AN EXPOSITION ON THE Church-Catechism OR THE PRACTICE OF Divine Love COMPOSED For the Diocese of Bath Wells LONDON Printed for Charles Brome at the West-end of St. Paul's and William Clarke in Winchester 1685 Imprimatur Io. Battely RR mo P. D no. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris domesticis Ex Aedibus Lamb. Aug. 9. 1685. To the Inhabitants within the Diocese of Bath and Wells THOMAS their Unworthy Bishop wisheth the Knowledge and the Love of God Dearly Beloved in our Lord THE Church has provided this short Catechism or Instruction to be learn'd of every person before he be brought to be Confirm'd by the Bishop wherein she teaches all things that a Christian ought to know and believe for his Soul's health and she has enjoyn'd All Fathers and Mothers Masters and Dames to cause their Children and Servants and Prentices to come to the Church at the time appointed and obediently to hear and be ordered by the Curate untill such time as they have learn'd all that is here appointed to be learn'd How seasonable and necessary this Injunction is in these days our wofull experience does sufficiently convince us when we reflect on the gross Ignorance and Irreligion of persons in those places where Catechizing is neglâ—cted which all sober Christians do sadly deplore Since then the Providence of God who is wont to glorifie his strength in the weakness of the Instruments he uses has caught me up from among the meanest Herdmen into the Pastoral Throne and has been pleased to commit you to my care The Love I ought to pay to the chief Shepherd obliges me to feed all his Lambs and his Sheep that belong to my flock and according to my poor abilities to teach them the Knowledge and the Love of God and how they may make them both their daily study and practice One thing onely I most earnestly beg of you all whether old or young that ye would help me to save your own Souls that ye would learn and seriously consider again and again the terms on which your Salvation is to be had As for you who have Families I beseech you to instill into your Children and Servants their Duty both by your Teaching and your Example In good earnest it is less cruel and unnatural to deny them Bread for their mortal Bodies than saving Knowledge for their immortal Souls Ye that are Fathers or Masters I exhort you to tread in the steps of Abraham the Father of the faithfull and the friend of God and like him to command your Children and Housholds to keep the way of the Lord. Ye that are Mothers or Mistresses I exhort you to imitate that unfeigned Faith which dwelt in young Timothy's Grandmother Lois and his Mother Eunice who taught him from a Child to know the Holy Scriptures which were able to make him wise to Salvation and like them to bring up your Children and Servants in the nurture and admonition of the Lord I passionately exhort and beseech you all of either Sex never to cease your conscientious zeal for their instruction till you bring them to Confirmation To renew their Baptismal vow To make open profession of their Christianity To discharge their Godfathers and Godmothers To receive the solemn Benediction of the Bishop To share in the publick Intercessions of the Church and to partake of all the Graces of God's Holy Spirit implor'd on their behalf that God who has begun a good work in them may perfect it till the day of Christ and that I my self at that dreadfull day may render an account of you with joy How much the Catechism of our Church may conduce to so desirable an end you will in some measure judge by the following Explication as imperfect as it is and which by God's gratious assistence I have so contriv'd that at one and the same time it may both inform your understanding and raise your affections and that it might the better sute with every ones leisure and infirmities it is Pen'd in short Forms of Devotion to be us'd in whole or in part in separate Collects or Ejaculations or occasionally as your Spiritual necessities shall require God of his infinite mercy bless the whole to his own Glory and to your Edification through Iesus the Beloved Amen Amen AN EXPOSITION ON THE Church-Catechism c. Question WHAT is your Name Answer N. or M. Q. Why do you answer by that Name rather than by your Sirname A. Because it is my Christian Name and was given me when I was made a Christian and puts me in mind both of the Happiness and duty of a Christian. Q. Where do you learn the Happiness and the Duty of a Christian A. The very next answer teaches me the Happiness and all the rest of the Catechism the Duty of a Christian. Q. Who gave you this Name A. My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism wherein I was made a Member of Christ the Child of God and an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven Q. Shew me from hence the Happiness of a Christian. A. The Happiness of a good Christian is altogether unutterable he is one who has Christ for his Head God for his Father and Heaven with all its joys and glories which are all eternal for his Inheritance Q. Shew me on the contrary the condition of a bad Christian. A. The misery of a bad Christian is altogether insupportable He has Christ for his Enemy the Devil for his Father and Hell with all its miseries and torments and despair which are all eternal for his Doom Q. Which of these Conditions do you chuse A. I adore the goodness of God who has set before me life and death blessing and cursing and in great compassion to my Soul has bid me chuse life and with all my heart I chuse life even life eternal Q. Are there not many in the World that chuse death A. It is too too visible there are such is the extreme madness and folly of obstinate Sinners that they chuse the Service of the Devil before the Service of God and Hell before Heaven the damnation of such men is wholly from themselves and having chosen death even death eternal it is most just with God to give them their choice Q. Blessed be God who has given you grace to make a right choice Tell me what you must doe to obtain that which you have chosen life eternal A. All that I am to doe is reduc'd to one word onely and that is Love This is the first and the great Command which comprehends all others the proper Evangelical Grace and eternal Truth has assured me This doe and thou shalt live So that if I truly love God I shall live beloved by God to all eternity Q. Tell me wherein the love of God doth consist A. The love of God is a grace rather to be felt than defin'd So that I can doe no
World Heavenly-mindedness gratious Condescention ardent Zeal for thy Father's Glory and unbounded Love and that for the sake of that dearest Love which inclined thee to become incarnate for me Under Pontius Pilate I believe O my Lord and my God that though thou didst suffer all thy life long yet thy greatest sufferings were under the Roman Governour of Iudea Pontius Pilate I believe all those mighty sufferings but am as little able to express the greatness of them as I am the greatness of thy love which mov'd thee to suffer All I can doe is to love and to praise thee How great were thy sufferings O Saviour of the World when the very apprehension of them made thy Soul very heavy exceeding sorrowfull even to death made thee offer up prayers with strong crying and tears that if it were thy Father's will the Cup might pass from thee threw thee into an agony and bloudy sweat insomuch that there was an Angel sent from Heaven on purpose to strengthen thee O thou agonising Love impress on my heart so tender a sense of thy sufferings for me that I may agonise with thee that I may feel all thy sorrows that though I cannot sweat bloud like thee I may dissolve into tears for thee that I may love and suffer with thee throughout every part of thy Passion O suffering Jesus when my Meditations follow thee from the Garden to Mount Calvary I grieve and I love all the way I grieve and I love when I see thee O Incarnate God who couldst command more than twelve legions of Angels for thy rescue out of love to Sinners and in particular to me one of the vilest of all that number humbling thy self to be apprehended and bound by the rude Souldiers as a Malefactour I grieve and I love when I see thee O gratious Lord for my sake betray'd by the treacherous kiss of Iudas deny'd by Peter and forsaken of all thy Disciples I grieve and I love when I see thee O spotless innocence out of love to me dragg'd to Annas and Caiaphas the High-priest when I see thee accus'd by â—alse Witnesses arraign'd and condemn'd I grieve and I love when I see thee O divine Majesty out of love to me spit upon and blindfolded and buffeted and mockt sent to Pilate an Infidel Judge then to wicked Herod who with his men of war set thee at naught array'd thee in a white Robe of Mockery and sent thee again to Pilate I grieve and I love O injur'd Goodness when I see thee though declar'd innocent by the very Traytour Iudas who out of horrour for his Crime went and hang'd himself though declar'd innocent by Pilate himself the Judge to whom thine Enemies appeal'd yet worried to death by the clamours of the Rabble that cry'd out Crucify Crucify when I see Barabbas a Traytour and a Murtherer preferr'd before thee I grieve and I love when I see thee O lover of Souls for my sake most unjustly given up into the hands of infidel Souldiers to be stript naked and tied to a Pillar and scourg'd to see the Plowers plowing on thy back and making long furrows I grieve and I love O King of Heaven when I see thee out of love to me humbling thy self to be array'd in Purple with a Reed in thy hand when I see thee crown'd with Thorns to multiply thy torments when I see thee mockt by barbarous Wretches with their bended knee and with hail King of the Iews I grieve and I love when I see thee O Lord God whom the Angels worship spit upon again and buffeted and for my sake made the exâ—treme scorn and contempt and sport of thy insolent and insulting Enemies and though still declar'd innocent by Pilate yet surrender'd to the unrelenting Cruelty of the multitude to be crucified My Lord my God my Saviour with all my heart I love and adore thy infinite love and benignity to Sinners with all my heart I lament and detest the hatred and outrage of Sinners to thee Was crucifyed I grieve and I love O sorrowfull Jesus when I see thee for my sake opprest with the weight of thy own Cross till thy tender Body quite spent with sufferings sank under it I grieve and I love O thou great Martyr of Love when for my sake I see thy virgin Body stript naked thy Hands and thy Feet nail'd to the Cross when I see thee crucified between two Thieves and numbred with the Transgressours when I see Gall given thee to eat and Vinegar to drink I grieve and I love when I see thee O incarnate Deity hanging on the Cross and for my sake by thy own People in the height of thy anguish derided reproacht and blasphem'd with wagging of their heads mockt by the Souldiers and by the impenitent Thief I grieve and I love when I see thee O God blessed for evermore O Fountain of all blessing hang bleeding on the Cross and made a curse for me How does my indignation swell against the injustice and ingratitude and inhumanity of the Iews who could thus cruelly treat so unreproachable an Innocence so amiable a Charity so compassionate a Saviour Alas alas it was the Sinner O Love incarnate rather than the Jew that betray'd and derided and blasphemed and tortur'd and crucify'd thee the sins of lapst mankind and particularly my sins they were thy Tormentours and therefore from my heart I bewail detest and abjure them My Lord and my God instill penitential love into my Soul that I may grieve for my sins which griev'd thee that I may love thee for suffering for us Sinners who occasion'd all thy griefs O may I always love thee O may I never grieve thee more Dead I grieve and I love O bleeding Love when I see thee on the Cross quite spent with pain and anguish when I see thee in thy dying pangs commending thy Spirit into the hands of thy heavenly Father bowing thy head and giving up the Ghost Thou O Lord of life didst for us Sinners humble thy self to death even to the death of the Cross a death of utmost shame and ignominy and of torment insupportable all love all glory be to thee Was ever any sorrow O crucify'd Lord like that sorrow my sins created thee Was ever any love O outrag'd Mercy like that love thou didst shew in dying for Sinners All the frame of Nature O dying Saviour fell into convulsions at the crucifixion of their great Creatour The Sun was darkned the veil of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom the Earth quak't the Rocks clave asunder the Bodies of dead Saints rose out of their Graves insomuch that the Centurion and infidel Souldiers acknowledg'd thee to be the Son of God thou wast lovely and glorious and adorable in thy lowest humiliation all love all praise be to thee Thy
profess thy Name that in all these and all other possible instances of duty our lives may be continually employ'd to love thee and for thy sake to love our neighbour and to excite our neighbour to love thee The Ninth Commandment O my God O my Love I renounce as p. 52. All manner of bearing false Witness against my Neighbour All false accusations or glosses or pleadings or testimonies or sentences in Courts of Judicature by concealing or overspeaking or perverting right and truth All things prejudicial or destructive to my neighbours good name All censoriousness and slander detraction and calumny forc'd consequences or invidious reflexions All scoffing or exposing the infirmities of others All whispering and tale-bearing or raising of evil reports suspicions or jealousies and all evil-speaking All equivocations and dissembling flattery and lying All the least tendencies to any of these injurious falshoods From all these and the like hatefull violations of thy love and of the love c. as page 52. O my God O my Love who dost love truth and dost hate a lie as perfectly Diabolical instill into my Soul an unalterable love of truth that nothing may tempt me to deviate from an intire veracity in my whole conversation or become a liar which thy Soul abhors O Lord give me grace ever to speak the truth and let my heart and my tongue always go together O my God give me grace to be tender of my neighbour's good name since I cannot love him if I take that from him which I know to be most dear to him Grant O my God for the sake of thy own love that I may be always ready to vindicate my neighbour's good name on all occasions that I may judge the best and speak well of him and conceal or excuse his infirmities that I may be impatient to hear slow to believe and unwilling to propagate evil reports that I may put candid interpretations on his actions since the more he is defamed the less able he is to serve thee the less credit he has to perswade others to love thee O my God O my love let thy c. as page 51. The Tenth Commandment O my God O my Love I renounce as p. 51. All the inordinate desire of what is my neighbour's All coveting his House or Wife or Servant or Maid or Ox or Ass or any thing that is his All discontentedness with my worldly condition and worldly solicitude All covetousness or repining at the happiness of others All taking pleasure in sin or complacence in past impurities All the first motions all the least tendencies to concupiscence From all these and the like hatefull c. as p. 52. O my God O my Love thou art the great searcher of hearts and dost not onely require outward acts of duty but the inward disposition of the heart the heart is the chief sacrifice thou requirest the heart is the proper seat of thy love and my heart I wholly devote to thee O my God create in me a clean heart that the fountain of action being clean the streams may run clean also Give me a heart O thou who onely canst change the heart entirely turn'd to thee that may suppress and resist all the first springings of Lust before they shoot up into consent approbation and desire before lust conceiving brings forth sin Lord make me contented and thankfull and well-pleased with that portion thy providential love has allotted me and to acquiesce in thy choice as best for me O great Lord of hearts lodge my neighbour in my heart next to my self let all my desires be for his good and let it be the subject of my joy and praise and love to see thy love liberal to him to see him abounding in thy blessings O my God my love what can a Soul enamour'd of thee ever desire but thee O let the world never more have place in my heart all my affections I withdraw from that to fix on thee Forgive me O my God if I am unmeasurably ambitious it is onely of thy favour forgive me if I am unsatiably covetous it is onely of thy fruition forgive me if I am perpetually discontented it is onely because I cannot love thee more O unconceivable happiness of Heaven where my Ambition shall rest on a Throne where my Covetousness shall be filled with the â—eartifick Vision and where I shall be eternally satisfied with love O my God O my Love let thy c. as page 51. Q. My good child know this that thou art not able to do these things of thy self nor to walk in the Commandments of God and to serve him without his special grace which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent Prayer Let me hear therefore if thou canst say the Lords Prayer A. Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen Q. What desirest thou of God in this prayer A. I desire my Lord God our heavenly Father who is the giver of all goodness to send his grace unto me and to all people that we may worship him serve him and obey him as we ought to do And I pray unto God that he will send us all things that be needful both for our souls and bodies And that he will be merciful unto us and forgive us our sins and that it will please him to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily and that he will keep us from all sin and wickedness and from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death And this I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness through our Lord Iesus Christ. And therefore I say Amen So be it O infinite Lord it is my duty and my happiness to love thee but alas my own sad experience teaches me how little able I am to love Ah Lord there is a dark cloud of Ignorance spread over my Soul that intercepts thy beams I cannot clearly see I cannot fully know how lovely thou art Ah Lord when ever any gleams of thy loveliness break in upon my Spirit and attract my will a crowd of strange Loves importune and tempt me to wander after them Since O my God I can of my self neither know nor love thee since I cannot by my own strength do those things thou requirest nor walk in thy Commandments nor serve thee nor think so much as one good thought whither can I fly but only to thy free and unbounded love Thou art my hope my help and my salvation thou only canst teach and enable me to know and to love thy own goodness By thy special Grace
Saviour Glory be to thee O adorable Jesus who under the outward and visible part the Breâ—d and Wine things obvious and easily prepared both which thou hast commanded to be received dost communicate to our Souls the Mystery of divine Love the inward and invisible Grace thy own most blessed Body and Blood which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in thy Supâ—eâ— for which all Love all Glory be to thee O God incarnate how thou canst give us thy Flesh to eat and thy Blood to drink How thy Flesh is Meat indeed and thy Blood is Drink indeed How he that eateth thy Flesh and drinketh thy Blood dwelleth in thee and thou in him How he shall live by thee and shall be raised up by thee to Life Eternal How thou who art in Heaven art present on the Altar I can by no means explain but I firmly believe it all because thou hast said it and I firmly rely on thy Love and on thy Omnipotence to make good thy Word though the manner of doing it I cannot comprehend I believe O Crucified Lord that the Bread which we break in the Celebration of the Holy Mysteries is the Communication of thy Body and the Cup of Blessing which we bless is the Communication of thy Blood and that thou dost as effectually and really conveigh thy Body and Blood to our Souls by the Bread and Wine as thou didst thy holy Spirit by thy Breath to thy Disciples for which all Love all Glory be to thee Lord what need I labour in vain to search out the manner of thy mysterious presence in the Sacrament when my Love assures me thou art there All the faithful who approach thee with prepared hearts they well know thou art there they feel the Vertue of Divine Love going out of thee to heal their infirmities and to enflame their affections for which all Love all Glory be to thee O Holy Jesu when at thy Altar I see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out O Teach me to discern thy Body there O let those Sacred and Significant actions create in me a most lively Remembrance of thy Sufferings how thy most blessed Body was scourged and wounded and bruised and tormented how thy most pretious Blood was shed for my sins and set all my powers on work to Love thee and to celebrate thy Love in thus dying for me Glory be to thee O Jesu who didst institute the Holy Eucharist in both Kinds and hast Commanded both to be received both the Bread and the Wine both thy Body broken and thy Blood shed thy Love O Lord has given me both and both are equally Significative and Productive of thy Love I do as much Thirst after the one as I Hunger after the other I equally want both and it would be grievous to my Love to be deprived of either Ah Lord who is there that truely Loves thee when thou givest him two distinct Pledges of thy Love can be content with one only what Lover can endure to have one half of thy Love withheld from him And therefore all Love all Glory be to thee for giving both O my Lord and my God do thou so dispose my heart to be thy Guest at thy Holy Table that I may feel all the sweet influences of Love Crucified the Strengthning and Refreshing of my soul as our Bodies are by the Bread and Wine for which I will ever Adore and Love thee O merciful Jesu let that immortal food which in the Holy Eucharist thou vouchsaâ—est me instil into my weak and languishing soul new supplies of Grace new Life new Love new Vigour and new Resolution that I may never more faint or droop or tire in my duty O Crucified Love raise in me fresh ardours of Love and Consolation that it may be henceforth the greatest torment I can endure ever to offend thee that it may be my greatest delight to please thee O amiable Jesu when I devoutly receive the outward Elements as sure as I receive them I receive thee I receive the Pledges of thy Love to quicken mine O Indulge me though but for a moment one Beatisick foretast of the deliciousness of thy Love that in the strength of that deliciousness I may perseveringly love thee Glory be to thee my Lord and my God who hast now given me an invitation to thy Heavenly Feast All Love all Glory be to thee Lord give me Grace that I may approach thy awful Mystery with Penitential preparation and with a heart sully disposed to love thee O my God my Judge give me Grace I most humbly beseech thee to Eâ—amine my whole life past by the Rule of thy Commandments before I presume to Eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup give me Grace sadly to reflect on and deplore all my provocations lest coming to the Holy Eucharist impenitent and unprepared I receive Vnworthily and Eat and drink my own damnation O thou Great Searcher of Hearts thou knowest all the Load of Impiety and Guilt under which I lie O Help me so Impartially to Judge and Condemn my self so humbly to Repent and beg Pardon that I may not be Condemned at thy Tribunal when I shall appear there at the last day that I may be set at thy Right Hand amongst thy Lovers Lord give me Grace to search every secret of my Heart to leave no sin if possible unrepented of â—ill my Eyes full of Tears of Love that with those Tears I may lament all the Indignities I have offered thy Love But alas alas after the most strict examinatinon we can make who can number his impieties who can tell how oft he offendeth Lord therefore cleanse me from my secret faults which in general I renounce and bewail O my God thou who alone changest the Heart O be thou pleased to change 〈◊〉 change my aversion to thee into an intire Lâ—ve of thee O give me a filial Repentance that with a Broken and Contrite Heart I may Grieve and Mourn and Repent for all my â—ormâ—r sins and may for ever forsake them and return to my Obedience Let thy Love O my God so perfectly exhaust my soul that I may for the future stedfastly â—urpose to leâ—d a new life that I may renew my Baptismal Vow that I may hereafter live as a sworn Votary to thy Love O Heavenly Father settle in my soul a Livelâ— Faith in thy Mercy through Christ a steddy belief of all thy Love to sinners and an affectionate Reliance on the Merits and Mediation of thy Crucified Son of my being Accepted in the Beloved for whom I will ever Adore and Love thee O my Crucified God thou Soveraign Inflammative of Love let the Remembrance of thy Death set all the powers of my Soul on work that I may desire and pant after thee that I may Admire and Adore thee that I may
other discreet and learned Minister of Gods Word and desire him to teach them their Duty in private and they that thus sincerely seek the Law at the Priests mouth shall find that the Priests Lips do preserve Knowledge and shall not go away without a Blessing To God the Father who first loved us and made us accepted in the Beloved to God the Son who loved us and wash'd us from our Sins in his own Blood To God the Holy Ghost who sheds the Love of God abroad in our Hearts be all Love and all Glory for time and for eternity Amen FINIS To the poor Inhabitants within the Diocess of Bath and Wells THOMAS their unworthy Bishop wisheth the knowledge and the love of God Dearly beloved in our Lord THe Catechism truly teaches all Christians that they are not able of themselves to do those things they have vow'd in their Baptism to do namely To walk in the Commandments of God and to serve him without his special Grace oâ— favorable Assistance and this they are to learn at all times to call upon God for by diligent Prayer How good and seasonable this advice is you will all see if you consider what helpless and needy Creatures the very best of Men are Alas our weakness is very great our wants are very many our dependance on God for all things all our lives long is entire and absolute and necessary and there is no way in the World to gain help and supplies from God but by Prayer so that it is as easie and as possible to preserve a natural Life without daily Bread as a Christian Life without daily Prayer It was for this reason that our Saviour himself took a particular care to teach his Disciples to pray Luke 11.1 and it is for the same reason and in imitation of our Heavenly Master that I have joyn'd these directions for Prayer to the Catechism Sure I am the Zeal I ought to have for your Salvation can suggest to me nothing more conducing to the good of your Souls than to exhort and beseech you all of either Sex to learn how to Pray This is the first general Request I shall make to you and I am the more earnest in it because my own sad experience has taught me how strangely ignorant common People usually are of this duty insomuch that some never Pray at all pretending they were never taught or that their memories are bad or that they are not Book-learn'd or that they want mony to buy a Book and by this means they live and die rather like Beasts than Men nay their condition is much worse than that of Beasts for the misery of a Beast doth end at death but the misery of a wicked man does then begin and will endure to all Eternity To prevent then as much as lies in me the damnation of those Souls which God has committed to my care and to cure that lamentable ignorance and forgetfulness of God which is the cause of the damnation of so very many I do not only incessantly pray for you my self but I beg of you all to pray for your selves and I beseech you to read the following Instructions or if you cannot read your selves to get some honest charitable Neighbors to read them often to you that you may remember them and God of his great mercy reward the Charity of such Neighbors If any of you either by your own negligence or by the negligence of your Parents or for want of Catechising in your Parish are wholly ignorant of your duty though it be a most shameful and dangerous thing for one who calls himself a Christian to know nothing of Christ or Christianity yet if you are willing to learn and beg paâ—don of God for your wilful ignorance hitherto and will sincerely do your endeavor to get saving Knowledge and heartily pray to God to assist you you shall find that the very entrance of Gods word giveth light that it giveth understanding unto the simple Psal. 119.130 I must warn you before-hand that corrupt Nature will be very busie in hindering the learning of your duty and thoughts will arise in your mind that the task will be too hard and too tedious for you to undertake but I faithfully promise you to impose no hard or tedious task on you but such as you your selves shall confess to be very complying with your Infirmities for our most compassionate Saviour teaches me to say no more to you then you can bear Iohn 16.11 All I shall exhort you to is to learn your Catechism which you may do by degrees If you learn but a line or two in a day you will by Gods blessing in a very short time learn it all over and you will rejoice and thank God for the sudden and happy progress you have made God forbid you should ever think your selves too old to learn to serve God and to be saved both which are taught in the Catechism and therefore the Catechism is of necessity to be learned For how can you go to Heaven if you never learn'd the way thither How can you be sav'd if you do not know your Saviour 'T is a great Error to think that the Catechism was made for Children only for all Christians are equally concern'd in those saving Truths which are there taught and the Doctrine delivered in the Catechism is as proper for the study and as necessary for the salvation of a great Doctor as of a weak Christian or a young Child But you will be the more encouraged to learn your Catechism when you see how excellent a help it will be to Prayer for it will at the same time further your Knowledge and your Devotion both together and the Prayers I intend to commend to you are chiefly the very Answers in the Catechism which being daily repeated will be the better fix'd in your memory and you cannot imagine any advice for Prayer can be more easie and familiar than that which directs you to turn your very Catechism into Prayers You are by this time I hope satisfied that the Duty to which I exhort you is no hard task and yet I will endeavor by Gods assistance to make it more easie by putting you into an easie method to attain it If you are wholly ignorant of your Catochism let it be your first care to learn such Ejaculations such short Prayers as these and say them often and heartily Lord have mercy upon me Christ have mercy upon me Lord have mercy upon me Lord pardon all my wilful ignorance and gross â—arelessness of my duty for the sake of Iesus my Saviour Amen O my God assist me in the learning of my Duty Lord help me to know and to love thee Lord pity me Lord save me Father forgive me Glory be to thee O Lord who hast hitherto spared me O that I might at last learn to glorifie and love and serve thee Such short Prayers as these you may easily get by heart and the method
and the wants of all faithful People which I 〈◊〉 up in the words of thy own beloved Son Our Father which art in Heaven c. After the like manner you may pray at night Evening Prayer Glory be to thee O Lord for my preservation and for all the Blessings of the day past for which all love all praise be to thee Father forgive me all the sins I have this day committed either in thought or word or deed either against thee or against my neighbor for the sake of Iesus my Saviour Amen Amen It grieves me O merciful God that I should daily offend thee But I repent O pitty and pardon me for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen Amen O my God keep and protect and bless me this night and preserve me from sin and danger for the sake of Iesus Amen Amen Lord refresh me this night with seasonable sleep that I may rise the next morning more fit and able to serve thee in my Calling for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen Amen I believe in God the Father c. All love all glory be to thee our God the Father who c. as in the Morning I desire thee O Lord God O Heavenly Father who art the Giver of all goodness to send thy Grace unto me and to my Wife and Children to my Husband and Children Father and Mother Brethren and Sisters Kindred and Friends Master and Mistris you must name these Relations according as you stand related and to all people that we may worship thee serve thee and obey thee as we ought to do And I pray unto thee that thou would'st send us all things that be needful both for our souls and bodies and that thou wilt be merciful unto us and forgive us our sins and that it will please thee to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily and that thou wilt keep us from all sin and wickedness and from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death And this I trust thou wilt do of thy meecy and goodness through our Lord Iesus Christ. Amen Lord so be it Lord hear me help me pardon my failings supply all my wants and the wants of all for whom I pray which I sum up in the words of thy own beloved Son Our Father which art in Heaven c. As you are going to bed say I will lay me down in peace and take my rest for it is thou Lord only that makest me dwell in safety Psal. 4.9 As you began the day so end it with glorifying God and when you are in bed say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God blessed for evermore All praise all love be to thee I earnestly beg of God to make you sensible your selves and to give you grace to make your Children and Servants sensible also how Necessary and Happy and Heavenly a Duty Prayer is and how many exceeding great precious Promises God has made to those that devoutly pray to him and if you are thus sensible you will not content your selves with Morning and Evening Prayer onely but you will be desirous if you have Opportunity to retire about Mid-day for a few Minutes that you may imitate the Devotion of Holy David and of Daniel and pray three times a day Dan. 6.10 and that you may not want a help for Noon tide Prayer the Catechism shall supply you Prayer at Noon At evening and at morning and at noon-day will I pray and that instantly Lord hear my voice Psal. 55.19 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 world without end Amen All love all glory be to thee O God the Father who hast first loved us and hast given thy beloved Son to die for our Sins and to rise again for our Iustification Have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences Wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen O Lord God who seest I am not able of my self to walk in thy Commandments and to serve thee be pleased to help and strengthen me by thy special Grace that I may daily and sincerely perform my duty towards thee and my duty towards my neighbor for the sake of Iesus my Saviour Amen O my God give me grace to believe in thee and to love thee with all my heart with all my mind with all my soul and with all my strength to worship thee to give thee thanks to put my whole trust in thee to call upon thee to honor thy holy Name and thy Word and to serve thee truly all the days of my life for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen O my God give me grace to love my neighbor as my self to do to all men as I would they should do to me to love honor and succor my Father and Mother this clause must be left out if your Father and Mother be dead to honor and obey the King and all that are put in Authority under him to submit my self to all my Governors Teachers Spiritual Pastors and Masters to order my sâ—â—f lowly and reverently to all my betters to hurt no body by word or deed to be true and just in all my dealing to bear no malice nor hatred in my heart to keep my hands from picking and stealing and my tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering to keep my body in temperance soberness and chastity not to covet or desire other mens goods but to learn and labor truly to get mine own living and to do my duty in that state of life unto which it has pleased thee to call me for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen Lord hear me help me pardon my failings supply all my wants which I sum up in the words of thy Beloved Son Our Father which art in Heaven c. Instead of these two last Prayers you may sometimes say the Ten Commandments which you may turn into a very good Prayer by saying after every one Lord have mercy upon me and incline my heart to keep this Law Where you not onely beg pardon for the sins you have committed against each Commandment but you also beg Grace to keep it At the end of them you may say Lord have mercy upon me and write all these thy Laws in my heart I beseech thee And so conclude with the Lords Prayer Do not think that this Practice of Prayer will be too hard or too long for young persons or for labouring people for if you cannot say them all say as much as you can or if you are at Day Labour or have not time or convenience to say them offer up to God two or three hearty Ejaculations in their place But