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
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
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
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
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
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
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
persevering duty to all families visited with the rod of God give consolation and a holy use of the affliction and a speedy deliverance to us all pardon and holiness and life eternal through Jesus Christ Amen The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communication of the Holy Spirit be with us all for ever Amen A short Prayer to be said every Morning I. O Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the God of mercy and comfort with reverence and fear with humble confidence and strong desires I approach to the throne of Grace begging of thee mercy and protection pardon and Salvation O my God I am a sinner but sorrowful and repenting Thou art justly offended at me but yet thou art my Lord and my Father merciful and gracious Be pleased to blot all my sins out of thy remembrance and heal my Soul that I may never any more sin against thee Lord open my eyes that I may see my own infirmities and watch against them and my own follies that I may amend them and be pleased to give me perfect understanding in the way of godliness that I may walk in it all the days of my pilgrimage Give me a spirit diligent in the works of my calling chearful and zealous in Religion fervent and frequent in my prayers charitable and useful in my Conversation Give me a healthful and a chast body a pure and a holy Soul a sanctified and an humble spirit and let my body and Soul and spirit be preserved unblameable to the coming of the Lord Jesus Amen II. BLessed by thy Name O God and blessed be thy Mercies who hast preserved me this night from sin and sorrow from sad chances and a violent death from the malice of the Devil and the evil effects of my own corrupted nature and infirmity The out-goings of the Morning and Evening shall praise thee and thy Servants shall rejoyce in giving thee praise for the operation of thy hands Let thy providence and care watch over me this day and all my whole life that I may never sin against thee by idleness or folly by evil company or private sins by word or deed by thought or desire and let the imployment of my day leave no sorrow or the remembrance of an evil conscience at night but let it be holy and profitable blessed and always innocent that when the days of my short abode are done and the shadow is departed I may die in thy fear and favour and rest in a holy hope and at last return to the joys of a blessed Resurrection through Jesus Christ in whose name and in whose words in behalf of my self and all my friends and all thy Servants I humbly and heartily pray Our Father c. A Prayer for the Evening ETernal God Almighty Father of Men and Angels by whose care and providence I am preserved and blessed comforted and assisted I humbly beg of thee to pardon the sins and follies of this day the weaknesses of my services and the strength of my passions the rashness of my words and the vanity and evil of my actions O just and dear God how long shall I confess my sins and pray against them and yet fall under them O let it be so no more let me never return to the follies of which I am ashamed which bring sorrow and death and thy displeasure worse than death Give me a command over my evil inclinations and a perfect hatred of sin and a love to thee above all the desires of this world Be pleased to bless and preserve me this night from all sin and all violence of Chance and the malice of the spirits of darkness Watch over me in my sleep and whether I sleep or wake let me be thy servant Be thou first and last in all my thoughts and the guide and continual assistance of all my actions Preserve my body pardon the sin of my Soul and sanctifie my spirit Let me always live holily and justly and soberly and when I die receive my Soul into thine hands O holy and ever blessed Jesus that I may lie in thy bosom and long for thy coming and hear thy blessed Sentence at Doomsday and behold thy face and live in thy Kingdom singing praises to God for ever and ever Amen Our Father c. For Sunday A Prayer against Pride I. OEternal God merciful and glorious thou art exalted far above all heavens thy Throne O God is glory and thy Scepter is righteousness thy Will is holiness and thy Wisdom the great foundation of Empire and Government I adore thy Majesty and rejoyce in thy Mercy and revere thy Power and confess all glory and dignity and honour to be thine alone and theirs to whom thou shalt impart any ray of thy Majesty or reflexion of thy honour but as for me I am a worm and no man vile dust and ashes the son of corruption and the heir of rottenness seized upon by folly a lump of ignorance and sin and shame and death What art thou O Lord The great God of Heaven and Earth the Fountain of Holiness and Perfection infinite But what am I So ignorant that I know not what so poor that I have nothing of my own so miserable that I am the heir of sorrow and death and so sinful that I am encompassed with shame and grief II. AND yet O my God I am proud proud of my shame glorying in my sin boasting my infirmities for this is all that I have of my own save only that I have multiplied my miseries by vile actions every day dishonouring the work of thy hands my understanding is too confident my affections rebellious my will refractory and disobedient and yet I know thou resistest the proud and didst cast the morning Stars the Angels from Heaven into chains of darkness when they grew giddy and proud walking upon the battlements of Heaven beholding the glorious Regions that were above them III. THou O God who givest grace to the humble do something also for the proud man make me humble and obedient Take from me the spirit of pride and hautiness ambition and self-flattery confidence and gaiety teach me to think well and to expound all things fairly of my brother to love his worthiness to delight in his praises to excuse his errours to give thee thanks for his graces to rejoyce in all the good that he receives and ever to believe and speak better things of him than of my self IV. O Teach me to love to be concealed and little esteem'd let me be truly humbled and heartily ashamed of my sin and folly teach me to bear reproaches evenly for I have deserved them to refuse all honours done unto me because I have not deserved them to return all to thee for it is thine alone to suffer reproof thankfully to amend all my faults speedily and do thou invest my Soul with the humble robe of my meek Master and Saviour Jesus and when I have
Express Acts of Contrition may follow FOR I am grieved O my God I am grieved passionately heartily grieved that ever I offended thee That I the work of thy hands have sinned against thee my Maker That I the price of thy Blood have sinned against thee my Jesus who hadst so much love for me as to be content to die for me That I the chosen Temple of thy Holy Spirit have sinned against him who sanctified me For this I grieve and mourn and my heart is wounded within me And having done all this yet I have not done for still I am grieved grieved that I can grieve no more that my Head is not a continual Spring and mine Eyes Fountains of Tears Wo is me wretch as I am that I who have been so easie so forward so eager to sin should not be so untoward so heavy so unable to repent Wo is me that I should be still so drowsie so dead asleep in sin that I should not be yet awake and sensible of the condition I am in O that I had died before my unworthy Soul had given way to those strst sins which hath drawn so foul a Train after them But O my God though I cannot wait on thee among the Innocent yet deny me not a room among the Penitent Remember O my God that though Ahab had sold himself to work wickedness yet because he Prayed and Fasted and humbled himself before thee thou hadst so much regard even of this outward Penitence of his as to promise not to bring the evil upon him in his days But Lord if my heart deceives me not I do not only outwardly and seemingly but really and cordially Repent And therefore for the evil that I have deserved O my God rather let the punishment light upon me in this world than in the next Rather let me perform the Penance of my Tears here than reserve it for that sad time when a whole Sea of Tears will do no good And having said all this if my Repentance be yet imperfect as I know it cannot but want many grains if weighed in this just balance let the bitter Sufferings of thy dear Son Jesus be cast into the Scale and then I shall not fear if thou enter into Judgment with me But of my self O God I am utterly unable and which way to satisfie thee I know not I dare not say so much as the Servant in the Gospel did Master have patience with me and I will pay thee all But rather Master have patience with me for I can pay thee nothing at all unless thy bounty be so great as to give it me to pay thee I can Fast from a meal sometimes though it be with much ado and I can Pray though coldly enough and if the fit and qualm of my Devotion holds out longer I can strain for a Tear or two to sprinkle upon my dry Devotions But should I fast my self into Air and Emptiness and weep my self into Water should I tear the skin from this sinsul Flesh of mine I should never be able to satisfie for the least of those Millions of Millions of sins which through the several moments of my life either ignorantly or knowingly weakly or wilfully I have sinned against thee What I have transgressed against others I am not only sorry for but ready as far as my power will reach to satisfie But for my sins against thee my God I must lay my hand upon my mouth for ever for I have nothing to return or answer But the comfort is and blessed shall be my Soul if rightly I lay hold on it that it is thou O my blessed Jesu who hast satisfied for me one drop of whose blood is enough to satisfie for the sins of a thousand worlds And this being so will thy offended Eather be so rigorous as to require the same payment again Especially will he require it of me a poor a broken and a bankrupt Sinner Canst thou exact the utmost farthing of him who hath not a mite of his own to pay thee The Transition which the Penitent makes from the Acts of Contrition to the Acts of Resolution for amendment of life without which all sorrow for Sin is in vain BUT because by thy infinite Mercy O my God thou hast satisfied for me already shall I therefore fold my Arms and sit down and do nothing towards it Or which is worse shall I go on Shall I continue in my Sins that Grace may abound Now God forbid No I here resolve rather to die the Death than ever wilfully to sin against thee more I do here resolve utterly to avoid the temptations and approaches towards those former sins which have hitherto so miserably betrayed me I do here resolve thy holy Spirit assisting me upon all the duties of a new life to be hereafter more wary in my ways and more constant to good resolutions to love thee above all the pleasures and interests of this life and sadly to consider what an infinite loser I should be if to gain all that my corrupt heart desires I should lose thee If after all this I should be so miserably forgetful both of my self and thee as shamefully to relapse into any of those sins which I have now repented of I do here once more resolve to abhor and loath my self for it and not to let my Conscience sleep or admit of any rest till I have with bitter tears and a sharp reiterated Repentance obtained my pardon Having thus far made his Resolution the Penitent betakes himself to Prayer AND now O thou great Searcher of all Hearts who seest that I am of my self weak and mutable and no better than a Reed shaken with the wind O shew thy strength in my weakness fasten and confirm me in these good purposes and so bind them with Cords unto thine Altar that I may never start from thee more or be any longer of that Herd whose good resolutions are as a dream in the night or if they last longer they are but as the next morning dew and as soon vanish away O give me the Resolution of thy Servant Joshua I and my house will serve the Lord. O give me the Heart of thy Servant David who so passionately makes his Protestations I will take no wicked thing in hand I hate the sins of unfaithfulness there shall no such cleave unto me I will walk in my house with a perfect heart I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Judgements Lord I am not able to think one of these good thoughts without thee much less to resolve upon them But I who without thee am able to do nothing may venture to say as thine Apostles did that in thee I am able to do all things Lord give me the strength to do what thou requirest and then require of me what thou pleasest Amen After these Resolutions the Penitent prepares himself with an humble Soul and bended knees to beg Pardon O The God of
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 full and mixt And must be drunk Wormwood and Gall To this are draughts to beguile care withall Yet the Decree is fixt Doubled knees and groans and cries Prayers and sighs and flowing eyes Could not intreat His sad Soul sunk Under the heavy pressure of our sin The pains of Death and Hell About him dwell His Fathers burning wrath did make His very heart like melting wax to sweat Rivers of Blood Through the pure strainer of his skin His boyling body stood Bubling all o're As if the wretched whole were but one door To let in pain and grief And turn out all relief O thou who for our sake Didst drink up This bitter Cup Remember us we pray In thy day When down The strugling throats of wicked men The dregs of thy just fury shall be thrown Oh then Let thy unbounded mercy think On us for whom Thou underwent'st this heavy doom And give us of the Well of Life to drink Amen On the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin A Winged Harbinger from bright Heav'n flown Bespeaks a lodging-room For the mighty King of Love The spotless structure of a Virgin-womb O're-shadow'd with the wings of the blest Dove For he was travelling to earth But did desire to lay By the way That he might shift his cloaths and be A perfect man as well as we How good a God have we who for our sake To save us from the burning lake Did change the order of Creation At first he made Man like himself in his own Image now In the more blessed reparation The Heaven's bow Eternity took the measure of a span And said Let us make our self like Man And not from Man the Woman take But from the Woman Man Allelujah we adore His Name whose goodness hath no store Allelujah Easter-day WHat glorious light How bright a Sun after so sad a night Does now begin to dawn Bless'd were those eyes That did behold This Sun when he did first unfold His glorious beams and now begin to rise It was the holy tender Sex That saw the first ray Saint Peter and the other had the reflex The second glimpse o' th' day Innocence had the first and he That fled and then did penance next did see The glorious Sun of Righteousness In his new dress Of triumph immortality and bliss O dearest God preserve our Souls In holy innocence Or if we do amiss Make us to rise again to th' life of Grace face That we may live with thee and see thy glorious The Crown of holy Penitence Allelujah On the Day of Ascension HE is risen higher not set Indeed a cloud Did with his leave make bold to shrowd The Sun of Glory from Mouut Olivet At Pentecost hee'I shew himself again When every ray shall be a tongue To speak all comforts and inspire Our Souls with their coelestial fire That we the Saints among May sing and love and reign Amen On the Feast of Pentecost or Whitsunday TOngues of fire from Heaven descend With a mighty rushing wind To blow it up and make A living fire Of heavenly Charity and pure desire Where they their residence should take On the Apostles sacred heads they sit Who now like Beacons do proclaim and tell Th' invasion of the host of Hell And give men warning to defend Themselves from the inraged brunt of it Lord let the flames of holy Charity And all her gifts and graces slide Into our hearts and there abide That thus refined we may soar above With it unto the element of Love Even unto thee dear Spirit And there eternal peace and rest inherit Amen Penitential Hymns I. LOrd I have sinn'd and the black number swells To such a dismal sum That should my stony heart and eyes And this whole sinful trunk a flood become And run to tears their drops could not suffice To count my score Much less to pay But thou my God hast blood in store And art the Patron of the poor Yet since the Balsame of thy blood Although it can will do no good Unless the wounds be cleans'd with tears before Thou in whose sweet but pensive face Laughter could never steal a place Teach but my heart and eyes To melt away And then one drop of Balsam will suffice Amen II. GReat God and just how canst thou see Dear God our misery And not in mercy set us free Poor miserable man how wert thou born Weak as the dewy jewels of the Morn Wrapt up in tender dust Guarded with sins and lust Who like Court-flatterers wait To serve themselves in thy unhappy fate Wealth is a snare and poverty brings in Inlets for theft paving the way for sin Each perfum'd vanity doth gently breath Sin in thy Soul and whispers it to death Our faults like ulcerated sores do go O're the sound flesh and do corrupt that too Lord we are sick spotted with sin Thick as a crusty Leper's skin Like Naaman bid us wash yet let it be In streams of blood that flow from thee Then will we sing Touch'd by the heavenly Dove 's bright wing Hallelujabs Psalms and Praise To God the Lord of night and days Ever good and ever just Ever high who ever must Thus be sung is still the same Eternal praises crown his Name Amen A Prayer for Charity FUll of Mercy full of Love Look upon us from above Thou who taught'st the blind man's night To entertain a double light Thine and the day's and that thine too The Lame away his Crutches threw The parched crust of Leprosie Return'd unto its infancy The Dumb amazed was to hear His own unchain'd tongue strike his ear Thy powerful mercy did even chase The Devil from his usurp'd place Where thou thy self should'st dwell not he O let thy love our pattern be Let thy Mercy teach one Brother To forgive and love another That copying thy Mercy here Thy Goodness may hereafter rear Our Souls unto thy glory when Our Dust shall cease to be with â—…en Amen The End John 17.3 1 John 2. 23. Deut. 6. 2. Exod. 20. 2 3. Rev. 1.4 Psal. 90. 2. 1 Tim. 1. 17. Gen. 1. 1. Exod. 20. 11. Heb. 3. 4. Isa. 40. 12. Job 42. 2 3. Psal. 139. 1 c. Psal. 147. 5. Exod. 34. 6 7. 1 Tim. 6. 1 16. John 4. 24 1 King 8. 27. Amos 3. 6. Psal. 139. 1 9. Acts 7. 48 49. PS 2. 4. 103. 16. 115. 3. Isa. 11. 4. 44. 6. Job 9.4 c. Deut. 32. 39. Gen. 18. 25. Deut. 32.4 Exod 34. 7. Psal. 103. 8. 25. 8. 86. 5. Psal. 51. 2 Jam. 1.17 Heb. 11.6 Mat. 28.19 Joh. 14. 16 26. 15. 26. 1 Cor. 12. 4 5 6. 2 Cor. 13 13. 1 John 5. 7. 1 John 1. 18. 3. 16. Luke 24. 49. Acts 1. 4. 3. 33. Colos. 1. 16. Acts 1. 7. 24. 1 Cor. 8. 6. 1 Cor. 6. 18. Gal. 1. 4. Phil. 2. 22. Dan. 2. 47. Zach. 4. 14. 14. 9. Mat. 11. 25. Psal. 145. 10 11. Acts 14. 15. Gen.