like himself went spotless hence A sacrafice to Innocence Which now does ride Trampling upon Herod's pride Passing from their fontinels of clay To heaven a milky and a bloody way All their tears and groans are dead And they to rest and glory fled Lord who wert pleas'd so many Babes should fall Whilst each sword hop'd that every of the All Was the desired King make us to be In Innocence like them in Glory thee Amen Upon the Epiphany and the three Wise men of the East coming to worship Jesus A Comet dangling in the air Presag'd the ruin both of Death and Sin And told the wise man of a King The King of Glory and the Sun Of Righteousness who then begun To draw towards that blessed Hemisphere They from the farthest East this new And unknown light pursue Till they appear In this blest Infant-King's propitious eye And pay their homage to his Royalty Persia might then the rising Sun adore It was Idolatry no more Great God they gave to thee Myrrhe Frankincense and Gold But Lord with what shall we Present our selves before thy Majesty Whom thou redeem'dst when we were sold W'have nothing but our selves and scarce that neither Vile dirt and clay Yet it is soft and may Impression take Accept it Lord and say this thou hadst rather Stamp it and on this sordid metal make Thy holy image and it shall out-shine The beauty of the golden Mine Amen A Meditation of the Four last things  Death For the time of Lent especially Judgment Heaven Hell A Meditation of Death DEath the old Serpent's Son Thou hadst a sting once like thy Sire That carried Hell and ever-burning fire But those black days are done Thy foolish spite buried thy sting In the profound and wide Wound of our Saviour's side And now thou art become a tame and harmless thing A thing we dare not fear Since we hear That our triumphant God to punish thee For the affront thou didst him on the Tree Hath snatcht the Keys of Hell out of thy hand And made thee stand A Porter to the gate of Life thy mortal enemy O thou who art that Gate command that he May when we die And thither flee Let us into the Courts of Heaven through thee Allelujah The Prayer MY Soul doth pant tow'rds thee My God Source of eternal life Flesh fights with meâ—… Oh end the strife And part us that in peace I may Unclay My wearied spirit and take My flight to thy eternal Spring Where for his sake Who is my King I may wash all my tears away That day Thou Conqueror of Death Glorious Triumpher o're the Grave Whose holy breath Was spent to save Lost Mankind make me to be styl'd Thy Child And take me when I die And go unto my dust my Soul Above the sky With Saints enroll That in thy arms for ever I May lie Amen Of the day of Judgment GReat Judge of all how we vile wretches quake Our guilty bones do ake Our marrow freezes when we think Of the consuming fire Of thine ire And horrid phials thou shalt make The wicked drink When thou the wine-press of thy wrath shalt tread With feet of lead Sinful rebellious clay what unknown place Shall hide it from thy face When earth shall vanish from thy sight The Heavens that never err'd But Observ'd Thy laws shall from thy presence take their flight And kill'd with glory their bright eyes stark dead Start from their head Lord how shall we Thy enemies endure to see So bright so killing Majesty Mercy dear Saviour thy Judgment-seat We dare not Lord intreat We are condemn'd already there Mercy vouchsafe one look Of life Lord we can read thy saving Jesus here And in his Name our own Salvation see Lord set us free The book of sun Is cross'd within Our debts are paid by thee Mercy Of Heaven O Beautious God uncircumscribed Treasure Of an eternal pleasure Thy Throne is seated far Above the highest Star Where thou prepar'st a glorious place Within the brightness of thy face For every spirit To inherit That builds his hopes on thy merit And loves thee with an holy Charity What ravish'd heart Scraphick tongue or eyes Clear as the morning's rise Can speak or think or see That bright Eternity Where the great King 's transparent Throne Is of an intire Jasper stone There the eye O' th' Chrysolite And a skie Of Diamonds Rubies Chrysoprase And above all the holy Face Makes an Eternal Clarity When thou thy Jewels up dost bind that day Remember us we pray That where the Beryll lies And the Crystal 'bove the skies There thou may'st appoint us place Within the brightness of thy face And our Soul In the Scrowl Of life and blissfulness enrowl That we may praise thee to eternity Allelujah Of Hell HOrrid darkness sad and sore And an eternal Night Groans and shrieks and thousand more In the want of glorious light Every corner hath a Snake In the accursed lake Seas of fire beds of snow Are the best delights below A Viper from the fire Is his hire That knows not moments from Eternity Glorious God of Day and Night Spring of Eternal Light Allelujahs Hymns and Psalms And Coronets of Palms Fill thy people ever more O mighty God Let not thy bruising rod Crush our loins with an eternal pressure O let thy mercy be the measure For if thou keepest wrath in store We all shall die And none be left to glorifie Thy Name and tell How thou hast sav'd our Souls from Hell Mercy On the Conversion of St. Paul FUll of wrath his threatning breath Belching nought but chains and death Saul was arrested in his way By a voice and a light That if a thousand days Should join rays To beautifie one day It would not shew so glorious and so bright On his amazed eyes it night did fling That day might break within And by those beams of Faith Make him of a child of wrath Become a vessel full of glory Lord curb us in our dark and sinful way We humbly pray When we down horrid precipices run With seet that thirst to be undone That this may be our story Allelujah On the Purification of the Blessed Virgin PUre and spotless was the Maid That to the Temple came A pair of Turtle-doves she paid Although she brought the Lamb. Pure and spotless though she were Her body chast and her Soul fair She to the Temple went To be purifi'd And try'd That she was spotless and obedient O make us to follow so blest Precedent And purifie our Souls for we Are cloath'd with sin and misery From our Conception One Imperfection And a continued state of sin Hath fullied all our faculties within We present our Souls to thee Full of need and misery And for Redemption a Lamb The purest whitest that e're came A Sacrifice to thee Even he that bled upon the Tree On Good-Friday THE Lamb is eaten and is yet again Preparing to be slain The cup
him to reign over them Quest. What Promises hath Jesus Christ made us in the Gospel Answ. He hath promised to give us all that we need in this life That every thing shall work together for our good That he will be with us in tribulation and persecution He hath promised his Graces and his holy Spirit to enable us to do our duty and if we make use of these Graces he hath promised to give us more He hath promised to forgive us our sins to hear our prayers to take the sting of death from us to keep our souls in safe custody after death and in his due time to raise our bodies from the grave and to joyn them to our Souls and to give us eternal life and joys that shall never cease Quest. How is Jesus Christ able to do all this for us Answ. When he had suffered death and was buried three days God raised him up again and gave him all power in Heaven and Earth made him head of the Church Lord of Men and Angels and the judge of the quick and dead Quest. By what means doth Jesus Christ our Lord convey all these Blessings to us Answ. Jesus Christ had three Offices and in all he was Mediator between God and man He is our Prophet our Priest and our King Quest. What was his Office as he was a Phophet Answ. This Office he finished on earth beginning when he was thirty years old to â—…each the Gospel of the Kingdom Faith and Repentance Quest. When began his Priestly Office and wherein does it consist Answ. It began at his death for he was himself the Priest and the Sacrifice offering himself upon the Altar of the Cross for the sins of all the World Quest. Did his Priestly Office then cease Answ. No He is a Priest for ever that is unto the end of the world and represents the same Sacrifice to God in Heaven interceding and praying continually for us in the virtue of that sacrifice by which he obtains relief of all our necessities Quest. What doth Christ in Heaven pray for on our behalf Answ. That our sins may be pardoned our infirmities pitied our necessities relieved our persons defended our temptations overcome that we may be reconciled to God and be saved Quest. How is Jesus Christ also our King Answ. When he arose from his grave and had for forty days together conversed with his Disciples shewing himself alive by many infallible tokens he ascended into Heaven and there sits at the right hand of God all things being made subject to him Angels and Men and Devils Heaven and Earth the Elements and all the Creatures and over all he reigns comforting and defending his elect subduing the power of the Devil taking out the sting of Death and making all to serve the Glory of God and to turn to the good of his Elect. Quest. How long must his Kingdom last Answ. Till Christ hath brought all his enemies under his feet that is till the day of judgment in which Day shall be performed the greatest acts of his Kingly power for then he shall quite conquer Death triumph over the Devils throw his enemies into Hell-fire and carry all his Elect to never-ceasing glories and then he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all Quest. How is Christ a Mediator in all these Offices Answ. A Mediator signifies one that stands between God and us As Christ is a Prophet so he taught us his Father's will and ties us to obedience As he is a Priest he is our Redeemer having paid a price for us even his most precious blood and our Advocate pleading for us and mediating our Pardon and Salvaon As he is a King so he is our Lord our Patron and our Judge yet it is the Kingdom of a Mediator that is in order to the world to come but then to determine and end And in all these he hath made a Covenant between God and us of an everlasting interest Quest. What is the Covenant which Jusus Christ our Mediator hath made between God and us Answ. That God will write his Laws in our hearts and will pardon us and defend us and raise us up again at the last day and give us an inheritance in his Kingdom Quest. To what Conditions hath he bound us on our parts Answ. Faith and Repentance Quest. When do we enter into this Covenant Answ. In our Baptism and at our ripe years when we understand the secrets of the kingdom of Christ and undertake willingly what in our names was undertaken for us in our infancy Quest. What is the Covenant of Faith which we enter into in Baptism Answ. We promise to believe that Jesus Christ is the Messias or he that was to come into the world That he is the Anointed of the Lord or the Lord 's Christ That he is the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin Mary That he is God incarnate or God manifested in the flesh That he is the Mediator between God and Man That he died for us upon the Cross and rose again the third day and ascended into Heaven and shall be there till the day of Judgment that then he shall be our Judge in the mean time he is the King of the world and head of the Church Quest. What is the Covenant of Repentance Answ. We promise to leave all our sins and with a hearty and sincere endeavour to give up our will and affections to Christ and do what he hath commanded according to our power and weakness Quest. How if we fail of this Promise through infirmity and commit sin Answ. Still we are within the Covenant of Repentance that is within the promise of pardon and possibility of returning from dead works and mortifying our lusts and though this be done after the manner of men that is in weakness and with some failings yet our endeavour must be hearty and constant and diligent and our watchfulness and prayers for pardon must be lasting and persevering Quest. What Ministeries hath Christ appointed to help us in this duty Answ. The Ministery of the Word and Secraments which he will accompany with his Grace and his Spirit Quest. What is a Sacrament Answ. An outward Ceremony ordained by Christ to be a sign and a means of conveying his grace unto us Quest. How many Sacraments are ordained by Christ Answ. Two Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. Quest. What is Baptism Answ. An outward washing of the Body in Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost in which we are buried with Christ in his death after a Sacramental manner and
of the world Make me amiable for ever in his eyes and very dear to him Unite his heart to me in the dearest union of love and holiness and mine to him in all sweetness and charity and compliance Keep from me all morosity and ungentleness all sullenness and harshness of disposition all pride and vanity all discontentedness aud unreasonableness of passion and humonr and make me humble and obedient charitable and loving patient and contented useful and observant that we may delight in each other according to thy blessed word and Ordinance and both of us may rejoyce in thee having our portion in the love and service of God for ever and ever IV. O Blessed Father never suffer any mistakes or discontent any distrustfulness or sorrow any trifling arrests of fancy or unhandsom accident to cause any unkindness between us but let us so dearly love so affectionately observe so religiously attend to each other's good and content that we may always please thee and by this learn and practise our duty and greatest love to thee and become mutual helps to each other in the way of Godliness that when we have received the blessings of a married life the comforts of society the endearments of a holy and great affection and the dowry of blessed Children we may for ever dwell together in the embraces of thy love and glories feasting in the Marriage-supper of the Lamb to eternal ages through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Amen A Prayer for a holy and a happy Death O Eternal and Holy Jesus who by death hast overcome death and by thy passion hast taken out its sting and made it to become one of the gates of Heaven and an entrance to felicity have mercy upon me now and at the hour of my death let thy grace accompany me all the days of my life that I may by a holy conversation and an habitual performance of my duty wait for the coming of our Lord and be ready to enter with thee at whatsoever hour thou shalt come Lord let not my death be in any sense unprovided nor untimely nor hasty but after the manner of men having in it nothing extraordinary but an extraordiry piety and the manifestation of a great and miraculous mercy Let my sense and my understanding be preserved intire till the last of my days and grant that I may die the death of the righteous free from debt and deadly sin having first discharged all my obligations of justice leaving none miserable and unprovided in my departure but be thou the portion of all my friends and relatives and let thy blessing descend upon their heads and abide there till they shall meet me in the bosom of our Lord. Preserve me ever in the communion and peace of the Church and bless my Death-bed with the opportunity of a holy and a spiritual Guide with the assistance and guard of Angels with the reception of the holy Sacrament with patience and dereliction of my own desires with a strong faith and a firm and humbled hope with just measures of repentance and great treasures of charity to thee my God and to all the world that my Soul in the arms of the holy Jesus may be deposited with safety and joy there to expect the revelation of thy day and then to partake the glories of thy Kingdom O eternal and holy Jesus Amen A GUIDE FOR THE PENITENT OR A Model drawn up for the help of a Devout Soul wounded with Sin Tertull. Peccator omnium Notarum Et nulli Rei nisi poenitentiae natus LONDON Printed by J. Grover for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXVII TO THE Christian Reader AMong the so troublesome multitude of Books and the no less troublesome scarcity of good ones I have no reason to think this little Piece will much increase the number of the one or not serve to balance the trouble of the other but I rather hope it may be acceptable and useful if either the great Eminence of the Author or the Argument it self or else the small bulk which are things that use to render works of this kind considerable be sufficient either to recommend or excuse it For the necessity of the argument may recommend it not to most Readers only but very many Writers too And without doubt many of those who have been ambitious to put themselves into the number of Authors by publishing their abortive labours will need the Rules and Offices of this Manual when their Conscience shall cite them to Repentance and to ask God forgiveness for nourishing Faction and sowing the seeds of Discord and venting their crude Notions to others trouble and their own shame For such men in the use of this little Enchiridion may find more comfort and do thimselves and the Age more right than in that small harvest of reputation their own voluminous labours could bring in which are now very fitly preferred from the Closet to the more worthy ministeries of the Shop ond Kitchin But the most Reverend Author to whose learned Piety thou owest these following assistances who in the sweetness and mildness of these lines has expressed the features and lineaments of his own candid serene Soul did not address them for his own use in that kind For that he was of the Highest Order of our Church he did not owe to his Interest which advances some nor to his Money which prefers commonly too many but wholly to his Vertues and his Learning and those other eminent Graces that made his Example as great in the Church as was his Dignity And this little Book is a great instance of his Humility and Charity which he does in some kind still exercise though he be now gone to receive his reward for them and as he used to look into the necessities of indigent persons to relieve them with his hand so in this Portuise he descends to converse with the weaknesses and solitariness of humble Penitents directing and improving their Devotions and instigating their Repentance and preparing a constant store-house of relief for them by his Pen. And now if a person so eminent in Grace so innocent in Life needed such Exercises as this for what thou receivest here know Courteous Reader it comes from his Counsel and from his daily Experience and Practise too consider whether thou thy self art not concerned to bring thy actions and life to as severe a scrutiny and a repentance as operative If thou joynest with me in Opinion here is a Directory ready at hand but if not thou needest it so much the more For our Sins the less impression they make on our Memory the deeper they make on our Conscience and he is in some cases the most guilty who presumes he is wholly innocent Retract therefore that conceit and betake â—…hy self to thy Closet and the practice of â—…his Book and God bless it to thy benefit and his own glory A GUIDE FOR THE PENITENT Remembrances concerning the Examination of your
am unprofitable yet I am thy Servant And here upon my bended Knees I humbly beg of thee that I may live and die so Lord hear my Prayers and let my cry come unto thee Lord pardon my Prayers and let not my coldness and wanderings and infinite unworthiness turn them into sin Lord hear my Prayers and let my cry come unto thee Amen Amen FESTIVAL HYMNS Celebrating the Mysteries and chief Festivals of the Year according to the manner of the Ancient Church fitted to the fancy and devotion of the younger and pious persons Apt for memory and to be joined to their other Prayers Hymns for Advent or the Weeks immediately before the Birth of our Blessed Saviour I. WHen Lord O when shall we Our Dear Salvation see Arise arise Our fainting eyes Have long'd all night and 't was a long one too Man never yet could say He saw more than one day One day of Eden's seven The guilry hour there blasted with the breath Of sin and death Hath ever since worn a nocturnal hue But thou hast given us hopes that we At length another day shall see Wherein each vile neglected place Gilt with the aspect of thy face Shall be like that the porch gate of heaven How long dear God how long See how the Nations throng All humane kind Knit and combin'd Into one body look for the their Head Pity our multitude Lord we are vile and rude Headless and senseless without thee Of al things but the want of thy blestface O haste apace And thy bright self to this our body wed That through the influx of thy power Each part that er'st confusion wore May put on order and appear Spruce as the childhood of the year When thou to it shalt so united be Amen The second Hymn forAdvent or Christ's coming to Jerusalem in triumph LOrd come away Why dost thou stay Thy rode is ready and thy paths made straight With longing expectation wait The Consecration of thy beautious feet Ride on triumphantly behold we lay Our lusts and proud wills in thy way Hosanna welcome to our hearts Lord here Thou hast a Temple too and full as dear As that of Sion and as full of sin Nothing but Thieves and robbers dwell therein Enter and chase them forth and clense the floor Crucifie them that they may never more Profane that holy place Where thou hast chose to set thy face And then if our stiff tongues shall be Mute in the praises of thy Deity The stones out of the Temple wall Shall cry aloud and call Hosanna and thy glorious footsteps greet Amen Hymns for Christmas-day I. MYsterious truth that the self-same should be A Lamb a Shepherd and a Lion too Yet such was he Whom first the sheperds knew When they themselves became Sheep to the Shepherd-Lamb Shepherd of Men and Angels Lamb of God Lion of Judah by these titles keep The Wolf from thy indangered Sheep Bring all the world unto thy Fold Let Jews and Gentiles hither come In numbers great that can't be told And call thy Lambs that wander home Glory be to God on high All glories be to th' glorious Deity The second Hymn being a Dialogue between three Shepherds WHere is this Blessed Babe That hath made All the world so full of joy And expectation That glorious boy That Crowns each Nation With a triumphant wreath of blessedness Where should he be but in the throng And among His Angel-Ministers that sing And take wing Just as may Echo to his Voice And rejoyce When wing and tongue and all May so procure their happiness But he hath other Waiters now A poor Cow An Ox and Mule stand and behold And wonder That a stable should enfold Him that can thunder Chorus O what a gracious God have we How good How great even as our misery The third Hymn Of Christ's Birth in an Inn. THE blessed Virgin travail'd without pain And lodged in an Inn A glorious Star the sign But of a greater guest than ever came that way For there he lay That is the God of Night and Day And over all the pow'rs of Heaven doth reign It was the time of great Augustus Tax And then he comes That pays all sums Even the whole price of lost Humanity And sets us free From the ungodly Empirie Of Sin and Satan and of Death O make our hearts blest God thy lodging-place And in our brest Be pleas'd to rest For thou lov'st Temples better than an Inn And cause that sin May not profane the Deity within And fully o're the ornaments of Grace Amen A Hymn for Christmas-day A Wake my Soul and come away Put on thy best array Lest if thou longer stay Thou lost some minutes of so blest a day Go run and bid good morrow to the Sun Welcome his safe return to Capricorn And that great morn Wherein a God was born Whose Story none can tell But he whose every word 's a Miracle To day Almightiness grew weak The World it self was mute And could not speak That Jacob's Star which made the Sun To dazzle if he durst look on Now mantled o're in Bethlehem's night Borrow'd a Star to shew him light He that begirt each Zone To whom both Poles are one Who grasp'd the Zodiack in 's hand And made it move or stand Is now by Nature Man By stature but a Span Eternity is now grown short A King is born without a Court The Water thirsts the Fountain's dry And Life being born made apt to die Chorus Then let our praises emulate and vie With his Humility Since he 's exil'd from skies That we might rise From low estate of men Let 's sing him up agen Each man wind up's heart To bear a part In that Angelick Quire and show His glory high as he was low Let 's sing t'wards men good will and Charity Peace upon Earth Glory to God on high Hallelujah Hallelujah A Hymn upon St. John's day This day We sing The friend of our eternal King Who in his bosom lay And kept the Keys Of his profound and glorious Mysteries Which to the world dispensed by his hand Made it stand Fix'd in amazement to behold that light Which came From the throne of the Lamb To invite Our wretched eyes which nothing else could see But fire and sword hunger and miserie T' anticipate by their ravish't sight The beauty of Celestial delight Mysterious God regard me when I pray And when this load of clay Shall fall away O let thy gracious hand conduct me up Where on the Lamb 's rich viands I may sup And in this last supper I May with thy friend in thy sweet bosom lie For ever in Eternity Allelujah Upon the day of the holy Innocents MOurnful Judah shreeks and cries At the obsequies Of their Babes that cry More that they lose the paps than that they die He that came with life to all Brings the Babes a funeral To redeem from slaughter him Who did redeem us all from sin They
is easy to make them good Protestants unless they be abus'd with prejudice and suck venom with their milk they cannot leave our Communion till they have reason to reprove our Doctrine There is therefore in the following pages a Compendium of what we are to Believe what to do and what to Desire It is indeed very little but it is enough to begin with and will serve all persons so long as they need milk and not strong meat And he that hath given the following Assistances to thee desires to be even a door-keeper in God's House and to be a servant of the meanest of God's servants and thinks it a worthy employment to teach the most ignorant and make them to know Christ though but in the first rudiments of a holy Institution This only he affirms that there is a more solid comfort and material support to a Christian spirit in one article of Faith in one period of the Lord's Prayer in one Holy Lesson than in all the disputes of impertinent people who take more pains to prove there is a Purgatory than to perswade men to avoid Hell And that a plain Catechism can more instruct a Soul than the whole day's prate which some daily spit forth to bid them get Christ and persecute his Servants Christian Religion is admirable for its wisdom for its simplicity and he that presents the following Papers to thee designs to teach thee as the Church was taught in the early days of the Apostles to believe the Christian Faith and to understand it to represent plain Rules of good Life to describe easie Forms of Prayer to bring into your Assemblies Hymns of Glorification and Thanksgiving and Psalms of Prayer By these easy paths they lead Christ's little ones into the Fold of their great Bishop and if by this any service be done to God any ministery to the Soul of a Child or an ignorant Woman it is hoped that God will accept it and it is reward enough if by my Ministery God will bring it to pass that any Soul shall be instructed and brought into that state of good things that it shall rejoyce for ever But do thou pray for him that desires this to thee and endeavours it Jer. Taylor CREDENDA OR What is to be Believed A SHORT CATECHISM For the Institution of young persons in the Christian Religion Quest. IN what does true Religion consist Answ. In the knowledge of the one true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ and in the worshipping and serving them Quest. What doest thou believe concerning God Answ. 1. That there is is a God 2. That he is One 3. Eternal 4. Almighty 5. That he hath made all the world 6. That he knows all things 7. That he is a Spirit not of any shape or figure or parts or body 8. That he is present in all places 9. That his seat is in Heaven and he governs all the world so that nothing happens without his order and leave 10. That he is the Fountain of Justice 11. Of Mercy 12. of Bounty or Goodness 13. That he is unalterably happy and infinitely perfect 14. That no evil can come near him 15. And he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Quest. What other Mystery is revealed concerning God Answ. That God being one in Nature is also three in Person expressed in Scripture by the names of Father Son and Holy Spirit The first Person being known to us by the name of The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The second Person is called The son and the Word of the Father The third is The Spirit and promise of the Father And these are Three and One after a secret manner which we must believe but cannot understand Quest. What is this God to us Answ. He is our Creator and Father and therefore he is our Lord and we are his Creatures his Sons and his Servants Quest. Wherefore did God create and make us Answ. That we might do him honour and service and receive from him infinite felicities Quest. How did God make man Answ. By the Power of his word out of the slime of the Earth and he breathed into him the breath of life Quest. Was man good or bad when God made him Answ. Man was made pure and innocent Quest. How then did man become sinful and miserable Answ. By listening to the whispers of a tempting spirit and breaking an easy Commandment which God gave him as the first tryal of his obedience Quest. What evils and chages followed this Sin Answ. Adam who was the first man and the first sinner did both for himself and his posterity fall into the state of death of sickness and misfortunes and disorder both of Body and Soul we were thrown out of Paradise and lost our Immortality Quest. Was man left in these evils without Remedy Answ. No but God pitying his creature promised That of the seed of the Woman he would raise up a Saviour and Redeemer who should restore us to God's favour and to the felicity which we lost Quest. How did God perform the promise Answ. By sending Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature to die for our sins to become our Lord and the Author of holiness and life and Salvation to mankind Quest. Who is Jesus Christ Answ. He is the Son of God the Second Person of the holy Trinity equal with the Fathe rtrue God without beginning of life or end of daies Quest. How then could he be our Redeemer and the promised seed of the Woman Answ. The Son of God in the fulness of time by the miracles of his Mercy took upon him Humane nature and united it after a wonderful manner to his Godhead so that he was both God and Man He was born of a Virgin who conceived him not by any natural means but by the power of the holy Ghost and was called Jesus Christ and his Mother's name was Mary of the seed of Abraham of the family of David And all these things came to pass when Augustus Caesar was Lord of the Roman Empire Quest. How did Jesus Christ work this promised Redemption for us Answ. By his holy and humble life and his obedient dying a painful death for us upon the Cross. Quest. What benefits do we receive by the life and death of Jesus Christ Answ. We are instructed by his Doctrine encouraged by his excellent Example we are reconciled to God by his death He hath given us an excellent Law and glorious Promises and himself hath received power to make good all those Promises to his Servants and fearfully to destroy them that will not have
are made partakers of Christ's Death and of his Resurrection teaching us that we should rise from the death of Sin to the life of Righteousness Quest. VVhat is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Answ. A ceremony of eating Bread and drinking Wine being blessed and consecrated by God's Minister in publick Assemblies in remembrance of Christ's Death and Passion Quest. What benefits are done unto us by this Sacrament Answ. Our Souls are nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ our Bodies are sealed to a Blessed Resurrection and to Immortality our Infirmities are strengthned our Graces encreased our Pardon made more certain and when we present our selves to God having received Christ's Body within us we are sure to be accepted and all the good prayers we make to God for our selves and others are sure to be heard Quest. Who are fit to receive this Sacrament Answ. None but baptized Christians and such as repent of their Sins and heartily purpose to lead a good Life Quest. What other Ministeries hath Christ ordained in his Church to help us and to bring so many great purposes to pass Answ. Jesus Christ hath appointed Ministers and Embassadors of his own to preach his word to us to pray for us to exhort and to reprove to comfort and instruct to restore and reconcile us if we be overtaken in a fault to visit the sick to separato the vile from the precious to administer the Sacraments and to watch for the good of our Souls Quest. What are we tied to perform towards them Answ. To pay them honour and maintenance to obey them in all things according to the Gospel and to order our selves so that they may give account of our Souls with chearfulness and joy Quest. Which are the Commandments and Laws of Jesus Christ Answ. They are many but easy holy but very pleasant to all good minds to such as desire to live well in this world and in the world to come and they are set down in the Sermons of our Blessed Lord and of his Apostles but especially in the 5 6 7. Chapters of S. Matthew AN EXPOSITION OF The Apostles Creed I Believe in God I Believe that there is a God who is one true supreme and alone infinitely wise just good free eternal immense and blessed and in him alone we are to put our trust The Father Almighty I believe that he is 1. the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and 2. of all that believe in him whom he hath begotten by his Word and adopted to the inheritance of Sons and because he is our Father he will do us all that good to which we are created and designed by Grace and because he is Almighty he is able to perform it all and therefore we may safely believe in him and relie upon him Maker of Heaven Earth He made the Sun and the Moon the Stars and all the Regions of Glory he made the Air the Earth and the Water and all that live in them he made Angels and Men and he who made them does and he only can preserve them in the same being and thrust them forwards to a better He that preserves them does also govern them and intends they should minister to his Glory and therefore we are to do worship and obedience to him in all that we can and that he hath commanded And in Jesus Christ I also believe in Jesus Christ who is and is called a Saviour and the Anointed of the Lord promised to the Patriarchs whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power to become the Great Prophet and declarer of his Father's Will to all the world telling us how God will be worshipped and served he is anointed to be the Mediator of the New Covenant and our High-Priest reconciling us to his Father by the Sacrifice of himself and to be the Great King of all the world And by this Article we are Christians who serve and worship God the Father through Jesus Christ. His only Son Jesus Christ is the Son of God he alone of him alone For God by his Holy Spirit caused him to be born of a Virgin by his power he raised him from the dead and gave him a new Birth or being in the Body he gave him all power and all excellency And beyond all this he is the express Image of his person the brightness of his glory equal to God beloved before the beginning of the world of a nature perfectly Divine very God by essence and very Man by assumption as God all one in nature with the Father and as Man one Person in himself Our Lord Jesus Christ God's only Son is the Heir of all things and persons in his Father's house All Angels and Men are his servants and all the Creatures obey him We are to believe in him and by Faith in him onely and in his name we shall be saved Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost I believe that Jesus Christ was not begotten of a Man nor born by natural means but that a Divine Power from God God 's Holy Spirit did overshadow the Virgin-Mother of Christ and made her in a wonderful manner to conceive Jesus in her womb and by this his admirable manner of being conceived he was the Son of God alone and no Man was his Father Born of the Virgin Mary Though God was his Father and he begat him by the power of the Holy Ghost and caused him miraculously to begin in the womb of his Mother yet from her he also derived his humane Nature and by his Mother he was of the Family of King David and called the Son of Man his Mother being a holy person not chosen to this great honour for her wealth or beauty but by the good will of God and because she was of rare exemplar modesty and humility and she received the honour of being a Mother to the Son of God and ever a Virgin and all generations shall call her blessed Suffered under Pontius Pilate After that Jesus passed through the state of Infancy and Childhood being subject to his Parents and working in an humble Trade to serve his own and his Mother 's needs he grew to the estate of a man he began to preach at the age of thirty years and having for about three years and a half Preached the Gospel and taught us his Father's will having spoken the Gospel of his Kingdom and revealed to us the secrets of Eternal life and Resurrection of the Dead Regeneration and Renewing by the Holy Spirit perfect Remission of sins and Eternal Judgment at last that he might reconcile the world to his Father he
became a Sacrifice for all our sins and suffered himself to be taken by the malicious Jews and put to a painful and shameful death they being envious at him for the number of his Disciples and the reputation of his person the innocence of his life the mightiness of his Miracles and the power of his Doctrine and this Death he suffered when Pontius Pilate was Governour of Judea Was crucified Jesus Christ being taken by the Rulers of the Jews bound and derided buffeted and spit upon accused weakly and persecuted violently at last wanting matter and pretences to condemn him they asked him of his person and office and because he affirmed that great Truth which all the world of good men long'd for that he was the Messias and designed to sit on the right hand of the Majesty on high they resolved to call it Blasphemy and delivered him over to Pilate and by importunity and threats forced him against his Conscience to give him up to be scourged and then to be Crucified The Souldiers therefore mocking him with a Robe and Reed and pressing a Crown of thorns upon his head led him to the place of his death compelling him to bear his Cross to which they presently nail'd him on which for three hours he hanged in extreme torture being a sad spectacle of the most afflicted and the most innocent person of the whole world Dead When the Holy Jesus was wearied with tortures and he knew all things were now fulfilled and his Father's wrath appeased towards Mankind his Father pitying his innocent Son groaning under such intolerable miseries hastned his Death and Jesus commending his Spirit into the hands of his Father cried with a loud voice bowed his head and died and by his death sealed all the Doctrines and Revelations which he first taught the world and then confirmed by his Bloud He was consecrated our merciful High-Priest and by a feeling of our miseries and temptations became able to help them that are tempted and for these his sufferings was exalted to the highest Throne and seat of the right hand of God and hath shewn that to Heaven there is no surer way than suffering for his Name and hath taught us willingly to suffer for his sake what himself hath already suffered for ours He reconciled us to God by his Death led us to God drew us to himself redeemed us from all iniquity purchased us for his Father and for ever made us his servants and redeemed ones that we being dead unto sin might live unto God And this Death being so highly beneficial to us he hath appointed means to apply to us and to represent to God for us in the Holy Sacrament of his last Supper And upon all these considerations that Cross which was a smart and shame to our Lord is honour to us and as it turned to his Glory so also to our Spiritual advantages And Buried That he might suffer every thing of humane nature he was by the care of his Friends and Disciples by the leave of Pilate taken from the Cross and embalmed as the manner of the Jews was to bury and wrapp'd linnen and buried in a new grave hewn out of a Rock And this was the last and lowest step of his Humiliation He descended into Hell That is He went down into the lower parts of the earth as himself called it into the heart of the earth by which phrase the Scripture understands the state of Separation or of Souls severed from their Bodies By this his descending to the land of darkness where all things are forgotten he sanctified the state of Death Separation that none of his servants might ever after fear the jaws of Death and Hell whither he went not to suffer torment because he finished all that upon the Cross but to triumph over the gates of Hell to verifie his Death and the event of his sufferings and to break the iron bars of those lower prisons that they may open and shut hereafter only at his command The third day he rose again from the Dead After our Lord Jesus had abode in the grave the remaining part of the day of his Passion and all the next day early in the morning upon the third day by the power of God he was raised from Death and Hell to Light and Life never to return to death any more and is become the first-born from the dead the first-fruits of them that slept and although he was put to death in the flesh yet now being quickned in the Spirit he lives for ever And as we all die in Adam so in Christ we all shall be made alive but every man in his own order Christ is the first and we if we follow him in the Regeneration shall also follow him in the Resurrection He ascended into Heaven When our dearest Lord was risen from the Grave he conversed with his Disciples for forty days together often shewing himself alive by infallible proofs and once to five hundred of his Disciples at once appearing Having spoken to them fully concerning the affairs of the Kingdom and the Promise of the Father leaving them some few things in charge for the present he solemnly gave them his Blessing and in the presence of his Apostles was taken up into Heaven by a bright Cloud and the Ministery of Angels being gone before us to prepare a place for us above all Heavens in the presence of his Father and at the foot of the Throne of God From which glorious presence we cannot be kept by the change of Death and the powers of the Grave nor the depth of Hell nor the height of Heaven but Christ being lifted up shall draw all his Servants unto him And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty I believe that Jesus Christ sitteth in Heaven above all Principalities and Powers being exalted above every Name that is named in Heaven and Earth that is above every creature above and below all things being put under his feet That he is always in the presence of his Father interceding for us and governs all things in Heaven and Earth that he may defend his Church and adorn her with his Spirit and procure and effect her eternal Salvation There he sits and reigns as King and intercedes as our High-Priest He is a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which God made and not man the Author and Finisher of our Faith the Captain of our Confession the great Apostle of our Religion the Great Bishop of our Souls the Head of the Church and the Lord of Heaven and Earth And therefore to him we are to pay Dvino Worship Service and Obedience and we must believe in him
and exact of them to be faithful and diligent 16. In your Servants suffer any offence against your self rather than against God endure not that they should swear or lie or steal or be wanton or curse each other or be railers or slanderers or tell-tales or sowers of dissention in the family or amongst neighbours 17. In all your entercourse with your neighbours in the day let your affairs be wholly matter of business or civility and always managed with Justice and Charity never let it be matter of curiosity or enquiry into the actions of others always without censuring or rash judgment without backbiting slandering or detraction Do it not your self neither converse with them that do He or she that loves tale-bearers shall never be beloved or be innocent 18. Before dinner and supper as often as it is convenient or can be had let the publick Prayers of the Church or some parts of them be said publickly in the family and let as many be present as you can The same rule is also to be observed for Sundays and Holy-days for their going to Church Let no servant be always detained but relieved and provided for by changes 19. Let your meal be temperate and wholesom according to your quality and the season begun and ended with Prayer and be sure that in the course of your meal and before you rise you recollect your self and send your heart up to God with some holy and short Ejaculation remembring your duty fearing to offend or desiring and sighing after the eternal Supper of the Lamb. 20. After meal use what innocent refreshment you please to refresh your mind or body with these measures 1. Let it not be too expensive of time 2. Let it not hinder your devotion nor your business 3. Let it be always without violence or passion 4. Let it not then wholly take you up when you are at it but let your heart retire with some holy thoughts and sober recollections lest your mind be seized upon by it and your affections carried off from better things secure your affections for God and sober and severe imployment Here you may be refreshed but take heed you neither dwell here nor sin here It is better never to use recreation than at any time to sin by it But you may use recreation and avoid sin and that 's the best temper But if you cannot do both be more careful of your Soul than of your refreshment and that 's the best security But then in what you use to sin carefully avoid it and change your refreshment for some other instance in which you can be more innocent 21. Entertain no long discourse with any but if you can bring in something to season it with Religion as God must be in all your thoughts so if it be possible let him be in all your discourses at least let him be at one end of it and when you can speak of him be sure you forget not to think of him 22. Towards the declining of the day be sure to retire to your private devotions Read meditate and pray In which I propound to you this method On the Lord's day meditate of the glories of the Creation of the works of God and all his benefits to mankind and to you in particular Then let your devotion be humbly upon your knees to say over the 8 th and 9 th Psalms and sometimes the 104 th with proper Collects which you shall find or get adding the form of Thanksgiving which is in the Rule of Holy Living pag. 378. in the manner as is there directed or some other of your own chusing Meditate on Monday on 1. Death Tuesday 2. Judgment Wednesday 3. Heaven Thursday 4. Hell Saying your usual Prayers and adding some Ejaculations or short sayings of your own according to the matter of your devotion On Friday recollect your sins that you have done that week and all your life-time and let your devotion be to recite humbly and devoutly some penitential Litanies whereof you may serve your self in the Rule of Holy Living pag. 373. On Saturday at the serne time meditate on the Passion of our blessed Saviour and all the mysteries of our Redemption which you may do and pray together by using the forms made to that purpose in the Rule of Holy Living pag. 391. in all your devotions begin and end with the Lord's Prayer Upon these two days and Sunday you may chuse some partions out of The Life of Christ to read and help your meditation proper to the mysteries you are appointed to meditate or any other devout books 23. Read not much at a time but meditate as much as your time and capacity and disposition will give you leave ever remembring that little reading and much thinking little speaking and much hearing frequent and short prayers and great devotion is the best way to be wise to be holy to be devout 24. before you go to bed bethink your self of the day past if nothing extraordinary hath hapned your Conscience is the sooner examined but if you have had any difference or disagreeing with any one or a great feast or great company or a great joy or a great sorrow then recollect your self with the more diligence ask pardon for what is amiss give God thanks for what was good If you have omitted any duty make amends next day and yet if nothing be found that was amiss be humbled still and thankful and pray God for pardon if any thing be amiss that you know not of If all these things be in your offices for your last prayers be sure to apply them according to what you find in your examination but if they be not supply them with short ejaculations before you begin your last prayers or at the end of them Remember also and be sure to take notice of all the mercies and deliverances of your self and your Relatives that day 25. As you are going to bed as often as you can conveniently or that you are not hindred by company meditate of death and the preparations to your grave When you lie down close your eyes with a short prayer commit your self into the hands of your faithful Creator and when you have done trust him with your self as you must do when you are dying 26. If you awake in the night fill up the intervals or spaces of your not sleeping by holy thoughts and aspirations and remember the sins of your youth and sometimes remember your dead and that you shall die and pray to God to send to you and all mankind a mercy in the day of Judgment 27. Upon the Holy-days observe the same Rules only let the matter of your meditations be according to the mystery of the day As upon Christmas-day meditate on the Birth of our Blessed Saviour and read the Story and Considerations which are in The Life of Christ and to your ordinary devotions of every day add the prayer which is fitted to the mystery which you shall
Flatter not the rich neither do thou willingly or lightly appear before great Personages Never be partaker with the persecutors It is easier and safer and more pleasant to live in obedience than to be at our own disposing Always yield to others when there is cause for that is no shame but honour but it is a shame to stand stiff in a foolish or weak argument on resolution The talk of worldly affairs hindereth much although recounted with a fair intention we speak wllingly but seldom return to silence TUESDAY the Third Decad WAtch and pray lest your time pass without profit or fruit But devout discourses do greatly further our spiritual progress if persons of one mind and spirit be gathered together in God We should enjoy more peace if we did not busie our selves with the words and deeds of other men which appertain not to our charge He that esteem's his progress in Religion to consist in exteriour Observances his devotion will quickly be at an end but to free your selves of passions is to lay the axe to the root of the tree and the true way of peace It is good that we sometimes be contradicted and ill thought of and that we always bear it well even when we deserve to be well spoken of Perfect peace and security cannot be had in this world All the Saints have profited by tribulations and they that could not bear temptations became reprobates and fell from God Think not all is well within when all is well without or that thy being pleas'd is a sign that God is pleas'd but suspect every thing that is prosperous unless it promotes Piety and Charity and Humility Do no evil for no interest and to please no man for no friendship and for no fear God regards not how much we do but from how much it proceeds He does much that loves much Patiently suffer that from others which thou canst not mend in them until God please to do it for thee and remember that thou mend thy self since thou art so willing others should not offend in any thing Every man's vertue is best seen in adversity and temptation WEDNESDAY The fourth Decad. BEgin every day to repent not that thou shouldst at all defer it or stand at the door but because all that is past ought to seem little to thee becanse it is so in it self begin the next day with the same zeal and the same fear and the same humility as if thou hadst never begun before A little omission of any usual exercise of piety cannot happen to thee without some loss and considerable detriment even though it be upon a considerable cause Be not slow in common and usual acts of Piety and Devotion and quick and prompt at singularities but having first done what thou art bound to proceed to counsels and perfections and the extraordinaries of Religion as you see cause He that desires much to hear news is never void of passions and secular desires and adherences to the world Complain not too much of hinderances of Devotion If thou let men alone they will let thee alone and if you desire not to converse with them let them know it and they will not desire to converse with thee Draw not to thy self the affairs of others neither involve thy self in the suits and parties of great Personages Know that if any trouble happen to thee it is what thou hast deserved and therefore brought upon thy self But if any comfort come to thee it is a gift of God and what thou didst not deserve And remember that oftentimes when thy body complains of trouble it is not so much the greatness of trouble as littleness of thy spirit that makes thee to complain He that knows how to suffer any thing for God that desires heartily the Will of God may be done in him that studies to please others rather than himself to do the will of his Superior not his own that chuseth the least portion and is not greedy for the biggest that takes the lowest place and does not murmur secretly he is in the best condition and state of things Let no man despair of mercy or success so long as he hath life and health Every man must pass through fire and water before he can come to refreshment THURSDAY The fifth Decad. SOon may a man lose that by negligence which hath by much labour a long time and a mighty grace scarcely been obtain'd And what shall become of us before night who are weary so early in the morning Wo be to that man who would be at rest even when he hath scarcely a foot-step of holiness appearing in his conversation So think and so do as if thou wert to die to day and at night to give an account of thy whole life Beg not a long life but a good one for length of days often times prolongs the evil and augments the guilt It were well if that little time we live we would live well Entertain the same opinions and thoughts of thy sin and of thy present state as thou wilt in the day of sorrow Thou wilt then think thy self very miserable and very foolish for neglecting one hour and one day of thy Salvation Think so now and thou wilt be more provident of thy time and of thy talent For there will a time come when every careless man shall desire the respite of one hour for Prayer and Repentance and I know not who will grant it Happy is he that so lives that in the day of death he rejoyces and is not amazed He that would die comfortably may serve his ends by first procuring to himself a contempt of the would a fervent desire of growing in grace love of discipline a laborious repentance a prompt obedience self-denial and toleration of every cross accident for the love of Christ and a tender Charity While thou art well thou maiesâ—… do much good if thou wilt but whenâ—… thou art sick neither thou nor I can tel what thou shalt be able to do It is noâ—… very much nor very good Few meâ—â— mend with sickness as there are but fewâ—… who by travel and a wandering life become devout Be not troubled nor faint in theâ—… labours of mortification and the austerities of Repentance for in Hell one hour is more intollerable than a hundred years in the house of Repentance and try for if thou canst not endure God punishing thy follies gently for a while to amend thee how wilt thou endure his vengeance for ever to undo thee In thy Prayers wait for God and think not every hearty Prayer can procure every thing thou askest Those things which the Saints did not obtain without many prayers and much labour and showrs of tears and a long protracted watchfulness and industry do thou expect also in its own time and by its usual measures Do thou valiantly and hope confidently and wait patiently and thou shalt find thou wilt not be deceived Be careful thou dost not speak
Religion Lord have mercy c. Remember not O Lord our uncharitable behaviour â—…towards those with whom we have conversed our jealousies and suspitions our evil surmisings and evil reportings the breach of our promises to men and the breach of all our holy vows made to thee our God Lord have mercy c. Remember not O Lord how often we have omitted the several parts and actions of our duty for our sins of Omission are infinite and we have not sought after the Righteousness of God but have rested in carelesness and forgetfulness in a false peace and a silent Conscience Lord have mercy c. O most gracious Lord enter not into judgment with thy servants lest we be consumed in thy wrath and just displeasure from which Good Lord deliver us and preserve thy servants for ever II. For Deliverance from Evils FRom gross ignorance and stupid negligence from a wandring head and a trifling spirit from the violence and rule of passion from a servile will and a commanding lust from all intemperance inordination and irregularity whatsoever Good Lord deliver and preserve thy servants for ever From a covetous mind and greedy desires from lustful thoughts and a wanton eye from rebellious members and the pride and vanity of spirit from false opinions and ignorant confidences Good Lord deliver c. From improvidence and prodigality from envy and the spirit of slander from idleness and sensuality from presumption and despair from sinful actions and all vitious habits Good Lord deliver c. From fierceness of rage and hastiness of spirit from clamorous and reproachful language from peevish anger and inhumane malice from the spirit of contention and hasty and indiscreet zeal Good Lord deliver c. From a schismatical and heretical spirit from tyranny and tumults from sedition and factions from envying the Grace of God in our Brother from impenitence and hardness of heart from obstinacy and apostasie from delighting in sin and hating God and good men Good Lord deliver c. From fornication and adultery from unnatural desires and unnatural hatreds from gluttony and drunkenness from loving and believing lyes and taking pleasure in the remembrances of evil things from delighting in our Neighbour's misery and procuring it from upbraiding others and hating reproof of our selves Good Lord deliver c. From impudence and shame from contempt and scorn from oppression and cruelty from a pitiless and unrelenting spirit from a churlish behaviour and undecent usages of our selves or others Good Lord deliver c. From famine and pestilence from noisome and infectious deseases from sharp and intolerable pains from impatience and tediousness of spirit from a state of temptation and hardened consciences Good Lord deliver c. From banishment and prison from widowhood and want from violence of pains and passions from tempests and earthquakes from the rage of fire and water from Rebellion and Treason from fretfulness and inordinate cares from murmuring against God and disobedience to the Divine Commandment Good Lord deliver c. From delaying our repâ—…ntance and persevering in sin from false principles and prejudices from unâ—…hankfulness and irreligion from seducing others and being abused our selves from the malice and craftiness of the Devil and the deceit and lyings of the World Good Lord deliver c. From wounds and murther from precipices and falls from fracture of bones and dislocation of joynts from dismembring our bodies and all infatuation of our Souls from folly and madness from uncertainty of mind and state and from a certainty of sinning Good Lord deliver c. From Thunder and lightning from phantasms Spectres and illusions of the night from sudden and great Changes from the snares of wealth and the contempt of beggery and extreme poverty from being made an example and a warning to others by suffering sad judgments our selves Good Lord deliver c. From condemning others and justifying our selves from misspending our time and abusing thy Grace from calling good evil and evil good from consenting to folly and tempting others Good Lord deliver c. From excess in speaking and peevish silence from looser laughing and immoderate weeping from giving evil example to others or following any our selves from giving or receiving scandal from the horrible sentence of endless death and damnation Good Lord deliver c. From cursing and swearing from uncharitable chiding and easiness to believe evil from the evil spirit that walketh at noon and the arrow that flieth in darkness from the Angel of wrath and perishing in popular diseases Good Lord deliver c. From the want of a Spiritual Guide from a famine of the Word and Sacramants from hurtful persecution and from taking part with persecutors Good Lord deliver c. From drowning or being burnt alive from sleepless nights and contentious days from a melancholick and a confused spirit from violent fears and the loss of reason from a vitious life and a sudden and unprovided death Good Lord deliver c. From relying upon vain fancies and false foundations from an evil and an amazed Conscience from sinning near the end of our life and from despairing in the day of our death Good Lord deliver c. From hypocrisie and wilfulness from self-love and vain ambition from curiosity and carelesnes from being tempted in the days of our weakness from the prevailing of the flesh and grieving the Spirit from all thy wrath and from all our sins Good Lord deliver c. III. For gifts and graces HEar our Prayer O Lord and consider our desire hearken unto us for thy truth and righteousness sake O hide not thy face from us neither cast away thy servants in displeasure Give unto us the spirit of Prayer frequent and fervent holy and persevering an unreprovableâ—… Faith a just and an humble Hope and a never-failing Charity Hear our Prayers O Lord and consider our desire Give unto us true humility a meek and a quiet spirit a loving and a friendly a holy and a useful conversation bearing the burthens of our neighbours denying our selves and studying to benefit others and to please thee in all things Hear our Prayers c Give us a prudent and a sober a just and a sincere a temperate and a religious spirit a great contempt of the world a love of holy things and a longing after Heaven and the instruments and paths that lead thither Hear our Prayers c Grant us to be thankful to our Bene factors righteous in performing promises loving to our relatives careful of our charges to be gentle and easie to be intreated slow to anger and fully instructed and readily prepared for every good work Hear our Prayers c. Give us a peaceable spirit and a peaceable life free from debt and deadly sin grace to abstain from appearances of evil and to do nothing but what is of good report to confess Christ and his holy Religion by a holy and obedient life and a mind ready to die for him when he shall
humbly patiently charitably and diligently served thee change this robe into the shining garment of immortality my confusion into glory my folly to perfect knowledge my weaknesses and dishonours to the strength and beauties of the Sons of God V. IN the mean time use what means thou pleasest to conform me to the image of thy holy Son that I may be gentle to others and severe to my self that I may sit down in the lowest place striving to go before my brother in nothing but in doing him and the honour staying for my glory till thou shalt please in the day of recompences to reflect light from thy face and admit me to behold thy glories Grant this for Jesus Christ's sake who humbled himself to the death and shame of the Cross and is now exalted unto glory Unto him with thee O Father be glory and praise for ever and ever Amen For Monday A Prayer against Covetousness I. O Almighty God eternal Treasure of all good things thou fillest all things with plenteousness Thou clothest the lilies of the field and fecdest the young ravens that call upon thee Thou art all-sufficient in thy self and all-sufficient to us Let thy providence be my store-house my dispensation of temporal things the limit of my labour my own necessity the measures of my desire but never let my desires of this world be greedy nor my labour immoderate nor my care vexatious and distracting but prudent moderate holy subordinate to thy Will the measure thou hast appointed for me II. TEach me O God to despise the world to labour for the true riches to seek the Kingdom of Heaven and its Righteousness to be content with what thou providest to be in this world like a stranger with affections set upon Heaven labouring for and longing after the possessions of thy Kingdom but never suffer my affections to dwell below but give me a heart compassionate to the poor liberal to the needy open and free in all my communications without base ends or greedy designs or unworthy arts of gain but let my strife be to gain thy favour to obtain the blessedness of doing good to others and giving to them that want and the blessedness of receiving from thee pardon and support grace and holiness perseverance and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. For Tuesday A Prayer against Lust. I. O Eternal Purity thou art brighter than the Sun purer than the Angels and the Heavens are not clean in thy sight with mercy behold thy servant apt to be tempted with every object and to be overcome by every enemy I cannot O God stand in the day of battel and danger unless thou coverest me with thy shield and hidest me under thy wings The fiery darts of the Devil are ready to consume me unless the dew of thy grace for ever descend upon me Thou didst make me after thine image be pleased to preserve me so pure and spotless chast and clean that my body may be a holy Temple and my Soul a Sanctuary to entertain thy divinest Spirit the Spirit of love and holiness the Prince of Purities II. REprove in me the spirit of Fornication and Uncleanness and fill my Soul with holy fires that no strange fire may come into the Temple of my body where thou hast chosen to dwell O cast out all those unclean spirits which have unhallowed the place where thy holy feet have trod pardon all my hurtful thoughts all my impurities that I who am a member of Christ may not become the member of an harlot nor the slave of the Devil nor a servant of lust and unworthy desires but do thou purifie my love and let me seek the things that are above hating the garments spotted with the flesh never any more grieving the holy spirit by filthy inclinations with impure and phantastick thoughts but let my thoughts be holy my Soul pure my body chast and healthful my spirit severe devout and religious every day more and more that at the day of our appearing I may be presented to God washed and cleansed pure and spotless by the blood of the holy Lamb through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen For Wednesday A Prayer against Gluttony and Drunkenness I. O Almighty Father of Men and Angels who hast of thy great bounty provided plentifully for all mankind to support his state to relieve his necessities to refresh his sorrows to recreate his labours that he may praise thee and rejoice in thy mercies and bounty be thou gracious unto thy servant yet more and suffer me not by my folly to change thy bounty into sin thy grace into wantonness Give me the spirit of temperance and sobriety that I may use thy creatures in the same measures and to the same purposes which thou hast designed so as may best enable me to serve thee but not to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Let me not as Esau prefer meat before a blessing but subdue my appetite subjecting it to reason and the grace of God being content with what is moderate and useful and easie to be obtained taking it in due time receiving it thankfully making it to minister to my body that my body may be a good instrument of the Soul and the Soul a Servant of thy Divine Majesty for ever and ever II. PArdon O God in whatsoever I have offended thee by meat and drink and pleasures and never let my body any more be oppressed with loads of sloth and delicacies or my Soul drowned in Seas of wine or strong drink but let my appetites be changed into spiritual desires that I may hunger after the food of Angels and thirst for the wine of elect Souls and may account it meat and drink and pleasure to do thy will O God Lord let me eat and drink so that my food may not become a temptation or a sin or a disease but grant that with so much caution and prudence I may watch over my appetite that I may in the strength of thy mercies and refreshments in the light of thy countenance and in the paths of thy Commandments walk before thee all the days of my life acceptable ot thee in Jesus Christ ever advancing his honour and being filled with his Spirit that I may at last partake of his glory through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For Thursday A Prayer against Envy I. O Most gracious Father thou Spring of an eternal Charity who hast so loved mankind that thou didst open thy bosom and send thy holy Son to convey thy mercies to us and thou didst create Angels and Men that thou mightest have objects to whom thou mightest communicate thy goodness Give me grace to follow so glorious a precedent that I may never envy the prosperity of any one but rejoyce to honor him whom thou honourest to love him whom thou lovest to commend the vertuous to discern the precious from the vile giving honour to whom honour belongs that I may go to Heaven in the
Conscience I. YOU are to consider the Necessity of this Duty For if we take care that the Rooms which we eat or sleep in should be kept clean you cannot but think that the cleansing of the Soul is a Concernment infinitely beyond it and for doing this there is no other way left but to search out every corner of it and to cast out every Sin with every unclean thought that hath defiled it II. You are to remember that there is a great Measure of Discretion to be used in the Performance of this so that you may neither omit it when your own heart may tell you that there is something amiss in you which must be look'd after nor on the other side over-scrupulously pursue it when you are not conscious to your self of any notable Failings but such as are incident to humane frailty for if you do not wilfully pass over any of your greater Offences but confess particularly and repent seriously of them God will more easily pass by your lesser Infirmities being such as the Holy Prophet despaired of finding out when he so sadly complained Who can tell how oft he offendeth III. That though it may not only seem but be impossible to you to recollect every failing and that your scrupulous endeavouring of it may rather prove a torture to the Conscience than an Ease to it yet you are so far to exercise an Inquisition upon your self as by observing these lesser particulars though it be but in gross you may the better discover what the corruption of your Nature sways you to and having discovered it you are bound to strive to subdue it by degrees and what you cannot for the present overcome humbly to ask pardon for IV. That though it be the Duty of every day not to let the Sun go down upon any Sin that you have committed without examining of the Merits of it yet there are times when this ought to be more punctually and solemnly done especially at such times as you set apart for humbling your Soul with Fasting or for preparing your self for the devout Receiving of the Sacrament V. For the Manner of Ordering this Examination several Methods have been prescribed some by dividing the subject Matter of it into Thoughts Words and Deeds others as sins are differenced by their several Objects either as being immediately sins against God or against your Neighbour or against your own Soul Others advise to set God's holy Commandments before you and to examine by that Rule what you have done amiss But in the chice of this you may free your self from all Perplexity by taking his advice whom you shall chuse to be your Spiritual Guide And the Duty it self being once resolved upon the Mode of doing may easily be found out Advice Concerning Confession I. THat besides this Examination of your Conscience which may be done in secret between God and your own Soul there is great use of Holy Confession which though it be not generally in all Cases and peremptorily commanded as if without it no Salvation could possibly be had yet you are advised by the Church under whose discipline you live that before you are to receive the Holy Sacrament or when you are visited with any dangerous sickness if you find any one particular sin or more that lies heavy upon you to disburthen your self of it into the Bosom of your Confessor who not only stands between God and you to pray for you but hath the power of the Keys committed to him upon your true Repentance to Absolve you in Christ's Name from those sins which you have confessed to him II. You are to remember that you bring along with you to Confession not only unfeigned Sorrow and Remorse of Conscience for sins past but settled Resolutions for the time to come never to offend in the same kind again for without this Confession is but a mere Pageant and rather a mockery of God than any effectual means to reconcile you to him III. That having made choice of such a Confessor who is every way qualified that you may trust your Soul with him you are advised plainly and sincerely to open your heart to him and that laying aside all consideration of any personal weakness in him you are to look upon him only as he is a Trustee from God and commissioned by him as his Ministerial Deputy to hear and judge and absolve you IV. That the Manner of your Confession be in an humble posture on your knees as being made to God rather than man and for the Matter of it let it be severe and serious but yet so as it may be without any inordinate Anxiety and unnecessary Scruples which serve only to entangle the Soul and instead of setting you free which is the benefit to be looked for by Confession perplex you the more V. That for the frequency of doing this you are to consult with your own necessities and as your Physician is not sent for upon every small diftemper which your own care may rectifie so neither are you obliged upon every failing to be over-scrupulous or to think it a point of Necessity presently to confess it For the Confessor cannot be always present but your God is to whom if you apply your self with Prayers and Penitence confessing in his ears alone whatever you have done amiss and stedfastly believing that through the merits of your Saviour they shall never be imputed to you you may be confident that your Absolution is at that time sealed in Heaven but the comfortable declaration of it you are to look for from the Priest Advice concerning Devout Receiving the Holy and Blessed Sacrament I. YOU are first to consider seriously the Infinite love of your Saviour who not only offered himself for you as a Sacrifice upon the Cross but that this might never be forgotten by you left the blessed memory of it in his holy Sacrament which as often as you devoutly and faithfully receive you are effectually made Partaker of all the merits of his precious Death and Passion II. That for the frequency of doing this if your own Conscience doth not speak home to you you refer your self to your Spiritual Guide who knowing the Temper of your Soul and how you stand disposed may best direct you Only I shall add this that the oftener you apply your self to do it your life will be the purer your heart the chearfuller and the better armed against all Temptations III. That three times in the year at least especially on those solemn Festivals observed by all Christians who have not utterly cast off Obedience to the Church and order in their Devotions you lay aside all excuses and every Sin that then besets you and seriously prepare your self for so great a Blessing IV. That as soon as you wake that Morning and the sooner you awake the better sign it is that your mind is set upon it you rouse your self up with a fervent expectation of Receiving that day the Bread that