bind my Conscience without any dispensation to sanctifie the Morning and Evening of every day with that service to chuse other times of the day by the example of other holy men as Christian prudence zeal and opportunity shall give me and to intermix my lawfull employments with frequent recourses to God in pious ejaculations Quest What are the offences against the calling upon Gods name in prayer in this holy worship Answ. As all omissions of the duty and neglect of invocation upon God are chargeable as sins so all taking his holy name in vain by useless unsanctified interpositions of it in our vain discourses by blasphemies and bold expressions of God by cursings imprecations and by all kinds of unnecessary and customary swearing not onely by the names of God but by any thing else are offences against God and contrary to this Gospel-duty Quest Together with private prayer you mentioned private fasting as a christian duty fitly â—onjoyned with prayer the one being sanctified by the other And doest thou suppose thou art obliged to perform such a servâ—ce to God Ans. Yes by the care our Saviour takes for the more religious performance of it and other frequent expressions of the exercise of it by holy persons in the Gospel Quest But being a duty which ever stands in relation or becomes instrumental to some other holy office and ought to be designed by religious persons for various ends as holy occasions will be administred Which be the chief ends and opportunities for the exercise of the duty of private fasting Ans. These three especially First to excite a zeal and fervencie in prayer in pursuit of some remarkable blessing Secondly to assist the soul in the work of repentance and humiliation for sin Thirdly to mortify the lust of nature and to assist the spiritual part against the contentions of the flesh Quest Now the times and repetitions of this service of private fasting being left to christian prudence and piety How often ought a Christian to return to this service Ans. The more frequently the more acceptably to God Therefore it is religion to undertake it as often as the ends of the duty shall occurre Quest But besides this may not a more punctual advice be given of general concernment Ans. Yes forâ—â—much as the life of the best Christian is full of frailties and defects it is expedient that the return of this duty be certain and determinate and that some day or days in the week be set apart for a more strict and severe examination of life and repentance heightned with the holy exercise of fasting Quest Whether after all these exercises and severities of a christian life will recreations be allowed to be consistent with the holy yoke of Christ Ans. Yes if they be innocent and sinlesse short and transient not scandalous not expensive of time nor such as shall indanger a temptation to lose zeal in devotion or hinder the holy offices of serving God in their chosen periods Quest Having served God thus far thou hast made good progress in this condition of the Gospel yet still is there a further process to be made and that is as thou saydst by serving God with the exercise of thy talent to the good of others And what is the command of the Gospel and thy duty therein Ans. To be charitable merciful and affectionately studious and active to advance the good of all men in whatsoever capacity of help God by his goodnesse hath put me Quest An example of such a course of living the conversation of our holy Master hath presented to us in whose steps we must walk if ever we expect to be members of his Kingdom here or hereafter But because the actions of this service of God bâ— as various as the necessities of men What method wilt thou take to guide thy conscience therein Ans. To help and assist them that want me first as to my spiritual Secondly as to my temporal capacity Quest Instance in some partiticulars that may direct thee to the understanding of all the parts of serving God by relieving others as to thy spiritual capacity Ans. To admonish some inconsiderate sinner and to endeavour to recover him from the errour of his way to go to some ignorant understanding to instruct some doubtful spirit to counsell and confirm some drooping afflicted soul to comfort and many such like which are called the spiritual Almes Quâ—st Blessed employments and acceptable services to God Yet the Commands of Christ to serve God with thy temporal capacity are more frequent and forcible and crowned with greater promises of reward What are the actions of that service Ans. All supplies whatsoever to my brothers present necessity want and my Saviours enumeration of some principal of them in the description of the accounts that must be given at the last day will help me to the understanding of all the other holy exercises of christian charity Quest It is true those acts of mercy have the honour to be mentioned by our Saviour as the rule of his sentence of absolution or condemnatiou to mankind And what are they Ans. To relieve the hungry and thirsty to entertain the destitute stranger to clothe the naked to visit and help poor prisoners and sick persons and all other actions of mercy and doing good that hold proportion with these Quest O rich souls that have laid down their present interests at the foot of Christ and made advantage of their earthly enjoyments to prepare a foundation for the time to come Now because there cannot be a punctual designment what proportion of every mans estate may be sufficient for the discharge of this duty to Christ What is the safest rule herein Ans. That my almes be liberal and plentifully distributed beyond the result of a consultation with flesh and blood or the examination of worldly prudence Considering what vain expenses of pride revenge and unnecessary luxuries my carnal part would judge fit to be allowed for the satisfaction of my lusts and were now more nobly and religiously expended in the service of God Again considering what accidental losses by casualty deceits of men extraordinary charges and many other disimprovements I have patiently borne and otherwise provided for which if I had begun to choose to have served God with I might easily have been tempted to thoughts of utter undoing had I so bestowed them Quest What other considerations may be added to move thee to enlarge thy heart and hand in this service besides the bare injunction of it by Christ as a Gospel-duty Ans. That almes are acts of purest generosity and most rational noblenesse in themselves and have a blessing beyond other noble actions that the very disbursements are gains and the securing of an immutable estate and reall treasure That
such as may signify decency and order alwayes considering the infinite majesty of that God with whom I have to do in those holy actions Quest But is not the pious regard of the circumstance of time conducing to the discharge of thy duty to God in the publick worship Ans. Yes I am bound in conscience to keep holy to the Lord his day in all religious exercises and not to prophane it either with secular or sinful employments to observe publick fasts for such reasons as Authority shall order them and all other dayes set apart for the service of God propounding such religious ends to my self for which they were first instituted and commanded Q. What sins are committed against the publick worshâ—p of God which thou oughtest to beware of besides the ordinary breaches of the duties you have mentioned Ans. Many dangerous enterprises that tend necessarily to the impairing eradicating the same as first all attempting by power or seducement to hinder the peaceable assembling of Gods servants together in those holy services Secondly all defacing despising or especially destroying the publick places of Gods worship the preservation of which were alwayes accounted great significations of Religion in a Nation Thirdly all acts that tend to the destruction of the publick ministery it being essentially necessary to the execution of the offices of the publick worship and without which no national profession was ever yet preserved Now the acts that will certainly ruine a publick ministery and by necessary consequence the publick worship are these First the disgracing oppressing and ejecting their persons from their places in any present period of time Secondly the cutting off all possibility of having such a publick Ministry for the future and that will be effected by these attempts 1. By disallowing or prohibiting all means of succession by which an outward designation to ministeriall offices is to be continued and by which a Ministry hath to this day been preserved 2. By taking away all means of education to the knowledge of the tongues arts and sciences by which understandings are prepared by labour and industry to acquire gifts for finding out the mysteries of Religion and to be able to instruct exhort and convince extraordinâ—ry gifts being ceased after the first planting of the Church Lastly by laying hold upon and taking away the demeans by which a present Ministry is maintained and a future perpetuated the most infallible and certain method of destroying them In these two last lay the project of Julian the subtillest enemy of the Church of Christ when he attempted the overthrow of Christian Religion which acts of his were accounted most dangerous persecutions of the Church I oblige my self therefore not to do any act by my self nor to adhere to the act of any other that shall in any of these things impair the publick worship of my gracious God CHAP. V. Quest NOw because it s not enough to a godly life to yeeld conformity to the publick worshâ—p but thou art bound to enlarge thy obedience to the Gospel by thy private performances of holy services to God What doth the Gospel require of thee respectively in order thereto Answ. A giving up the exercises of all the parts and faculties of my soul and body to the obedience of Christ especially the affections of my heart which being rightly ordered by the law of the Gospel will infallibly carry the whole man to the service of God 2. Constantly serving God with private prayers and fasting 3. Honouring him and obeying the Gospel by the use of my particular talent to the good of others Quest Now because the offices of the whole man as you said are guided by the disposition of the heart and its affections It is expedient you know what those affections are and their duties to God What therefore are they Answ. These four especially Love Hope Fear and Joy Quest It is well ordered that thou hast put love to God in the first place which is so necessarily and eminently requisite to a soul in a true Gospel-state that all other services without it are nothing and under its larger notion they are all comprehended What is the command of Christ and thy duty as to that affection Answ. To love God with all my heart Soul mind and strength to love nothing that is unlawfull and so inconsistent with him and to love all other things that are lawfull in subordinatioâ— to him Quest How may I best serv God with my affection of hope Answ. Clearly to resign my self to a confidence in Gods promises living in them above all prosperous enjoyments and possessing my soul with patience in all dangers and adversities hoping that as God hath fore-ordained and called me to them he will also justifie me in them and glorify me after them Quest How may the Gospel be obeyed and God served by the exercise of thy affection of fear Answ. When in all inward motions and outward temptations to sin I represent the divine presence to my thoughts before which I stand and against which I must offend if I consent Quest Lastly when is the passion of joy made serviceable to God Answ. When I rejoyce in the Lord and in all spirituall comforts abandoning all pleasure in sin and removing a too much delight and over value of any present lawfull enjoyment whatsoever Quest Having thus done thou hast presented to God the best sacrifice thou hast which is thy heart and by that thy self yet is not that enough for in the next place as thou saidest God must be served with private prayers And how hath the Gospel obliged thee to that duty Answ. By absolute and indispensable commands and by most gratious promises of Gods acceptance of them and answering them unto me Quest It s true nor hath he for any other service given clearer injunctions or directions havâ—ng made a pattern of words himself and intimated severall kinds of prayers for our Christian exercâ—ses And what are they Answ. These four as S Paul enumerates them Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks Quest What holy offices do those four sorts direct thee to Answ. The first signifies the acknowledgement of my sins and an humble suit for the pardon of them The second petitioning for all spirituall and temporal supplies especially for the assistancies of Gods grace and spirit The third an interceding for Gods mercy and blessing upon all mankind the Church in generall all governours relatives enemies and persons whatsoever The last signifies an expressing my thankfulnesse to God for all his blessings to my self and others Quest The Gospel being very severe and importunate in requiring the frequency of this duty even to uncessancy How mayest thou best discharge thy duty to God as to that obligation Answ. To
commaudments That having run the race that is set before me I may obtain through thy undeserved mercie in Christ the perfect peace of thy presence for evermore Amen The Thanksgiving O Lord of Glory and Power whose eye of providence runneth through the world to guide govern and provide for all things in whom alone I live move and have my being and from whom I have received whatsoever comfort I enjoy O Lord my soul acknowledgeth thou hast done gracious things for me and hast given me a large portion of thy fatherly mercies every way I blesse thee that when thou formedst me in my mothers womb I received no signal defect in body or mind and that thou hast since kept them both from all fearful changes and deformities And that when the sentence of death was upon me in the common fall of Mankinde Lord thou gavest me thy dear Son to redeem my soul to a possibility of life I thank thee for every grace and good work that may evidence thy Spirit in me and for that I have not committed every grosse wickednesse to which nature and temptation have made me subject I praise thy Name O Lord for all the comforts I enjoy that concern this life my health peace liberty friends and livelihood and for the safety of my soul and body this night under the protection of thy sweet providence Keep me this day by the same fatherly goodnesse secure me from all sad accidents that attend upon my frail estate and most especially keep me from all offences to thy divine Majesty O let no temptation prevaile upon me nor let my soul give way to any occasion of evill Give me grace to perform to thee all that thou hast commanded me and all the good thou hast put in my power O let me so live this day as if this night following were to be my last sleep and to morrow the last judgement Through the might of Jesus Christ my Saviour Amen The intercâ—ssions are put after the evening prayer being to be used both after morning and evening exercises Evening PRAYER The addresse to God by way of worship in the morning Prayer the supplicant if he please may now use also Our Father which art in heaven c. The Confession MOst glorious Lord God that inhabitest eternity and art cloathed with Majesty and power I that am but dust and ashes and thy poor creature desire to fall low at the footstool of thy Glories magnifying thine excellencies and acknowledging my unworthiness to lift up mine eyes to heaven against which I have sinned or to appeal to those mercies which I have so much neglected and abused For Lord when I consider my self I am nothing but a masse of corruption and sin to which I have made all the faculties of my soul and members of my body which were created for good works and thy glory to become instrumental And all those excellent lawes which thou hast set before me to be the rule of my obedience I have both lightly regarded and wilfully transgressed in the whole course of my life Such O Lord as concern thy self and thy immediate worship I have either altogether omitted or carelesly perform'd in my dealings with men I have not so strictly as I should observed that rule of Christ to do to all men as I would they should do unto me neither have I been so carefull to observe the holy lawes of Christ concerning my self as I should in a temperate chaste and sober conversation And as I have contracted a heavie burthen upon my soul by the sinfulnesse of my whole life so have I this day in particular added much to my former wretched account For I have not restrained my thoughts from vain imaginations nor set a strict watch before the door of my lips to prevent sinful and impertinent discourses Lord I have been too dull remiss in thy service too negligent in the duties of my calling too carelesse of the opportunities of doing good to others And though thou hast given me this day as another day of grace yet I have made in it little ot no progress in the way of my salvation that shouldest thou deal with me according to the carriage of my soul this day before thee thou mightest justly deny me another day of mercie and leave me to my selfe and to the said wages of my sins for evermore For Pardon But O Lord my God whose mercies are over all thy works and hast graciously promised to forgive and to accept a poor penitent soul returning to thee in sorrow and true repentance have mercie upon me have mercie upon me O hide not thy face from me nor cast thy servant away in thy displeasure Remember not my sins and offences but think thou upon me according to thy great goodnesse And though I come to thee with a weak faith and an imperfect sorrow even with such a repentance as ought to be repented of yet Lord accept of me for I come in the plea of my Saviours blood that satisfied thy justice for all my sins Deny me not therefore O Lord the benefits of his blessed death and passion let my soul have a portion in the rich price of that blood by which I may have peace and reconciliation with thee my God for evermore Amen For Grace O merciful Father in the humble sense of my own insufficiencie not only not to do but not to think of any thing in concernment to my salvation without thy grace I do humbly beseech thee in thy tender compassions to help me with thy divine assistance that I may be able to live conformably to the example of Christ and the strict holinesse of the Gospel O convince my judgement that there is no peace nor profit in the wayes of sin and incline my will and ingage all my affections to the pursuit of spirituall things as the chiefest good Let not O Lord my carnal lusts and affections nor any thing that is desirable in the vaine world nor the policie of the devil deceive my soul to neglect my dutie to Christ or the things of my eternal peace Lord make me sincere and exemplarie in thy worship and service diligent in my calling and just in all my actions make me charitable to my power to all that want me and strictly sober chaste and temperate in my self and in the use of all thy creatures Lord help me to be such as I may please thee in all thy wayes and as I may comfortably appeare before thee when I come to death or judgement Through the might of Iesus Christ my blessed Saviour Amen Thanksgiving O Glorious Lord who art my good God and gracious Father thou hast from time to time given me large expressions of thy love and goodnesse even when for my rebellions against thee and forgetfulnes of thee I might before this time have been cast off from thy protection and made a spectacle of thy justice to others in some signal punishments O Lord how great
of heaven and earth and in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord which was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontins Pilate was crucified dead and buried He descended into hell The third day he rose againe from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead I beleeve in the holy Ghost The holy Catholick Church The Communion of Saints The forgivenesse of sins The Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Amen Quest What doest thou chiefly learn in these Artieles Ans. First I learn to beleeve in God who made me and all the world Secondly in God the Son who redeemed me and all Mankind Thirdly in God the holy Ghost who sanctifieth me and all the elect people of God Quest What else art thou bound to beleeve Ans. All other holy truths as they shall be administred to me especially all the promises of the Gospel to be relyed upon the commands to be obeyed Quest The second condition of the Gospel is to repent and what is that repentance Ans. After a hearty sorrow for and an humble acknowledgement of my sins a total departure from them Quest But are there no sinnes which may consist with this state of Gospel-repentance Ans. Yes Sins committed in ignorance through infirmity or by supprise in a sudden temptation if we be truly humbled for them and constantly strive against them Quest What sinnes are not consistent with that estate Ans. All wilfull and deliberate courses of sinning and a customary continuing in any known wickedness Quest The third condition of the Gospel of Christ being to obey his Commandments among which are accounted the Ten Commandments and what are they 1. THou shalt have no other Gods but me 2 Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likenesse of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my Commandments 3. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain For the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vain 4. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day six dayes shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt do no manner of work thou and thy son and thy daughter thy man-servant and thy maid-servant thy cattell and the stranger that is within thy gates For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea all that in them is and rested the seventh day and hallowed it 5. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 6. Thou shalt do no murther 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery 8. Thou shalt not steal 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his servant nor his maid nor his oxe nor his asse nor any thing that is his Quest Are there not other Commandments of Christ besides these which are properly the precepts of the Gospel Ans. Yes many which may be observed by diligent hearing the Gospel preached and reading the books of the New Testament which together with the former Commandments are reduced to these three principal heads Quest What are they Ans. To live Godly Righteously and Soberly The first respects my duties to God The second to men The third to my self Quest what is it to live godly in such duties as respect God Ans. To perform to him all that worship and service that is due unto him publickly and privately Quest What duties art thou bound to perform to him publickly Ans. To joyn with the Congregation in the frequent receiving the holy Sacrament in the publick prayers and in hearing the Word of God read and preached And in all these behaving my self with such reverence of body and mind as befits the presence of so great a Majesty Quest What is that private worship which thou art bound as a Christian to perform to God Ans. To offer up unto him the daily sacrifice of prayer and praise giving him the exercise of the affections of my heart and all other parts and faculties of my soul and body to honour him with my substance in the maintenance of his worship and relieving the poor and to serve him truly all the dayes of my life Quest What is it to live righteously in respect of our duties to men Ans. To yeeld all honour and obedience to the civil Magistrate to submit my self to all my teachers spiritual Pastors and Masters to love honour and succour my Father Mother to be civil and respective to all my betters To invade no mans rights or dues nor to advantage my self by anothers losse and in all things both in word and deed to do to all men as I would they should do unto me Quest What is it to live soberly as to thy self Ans. Not to minde high things above my degree but to behave my self contentedly in my present condition to be temperate in eating and drinking to be chaste in all my desires and actions and to keep my soul and body undefiled members of Christ and as becomes the temple of the holy Ghost Quest For asmuch as no man can do any thing without the grace of God which he must continually call for by diligent prayer What therefore are the words of the Lords Prayer Ans. Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name thy Kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen Quest But is God to be sought by no prayers but this Ans. Yes Here let the Master enquire into the childes progresse in the preceding Forms or some other of that kinde according to its capacity 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 3. 5. Eph. 2. 5. 8. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 18 Rom. 3. 24. Iohn 10. 28. 1 Ioh. 2. 25 Tit. 1. 2. 1 Thes. 5. 9 1 Tim. 2. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 9. Ezâ—. 18. 31. John 3. 15. Luke 13. 3. 1 Iohn 1. 9. Heb. 5. 9. 1 Thes. 2. 8. Ioh. 5. 47. Acts 8. 37. Ioâ—. 8. 31. 1 Cor. 8. 4.