resolutions and devout affections which I now feel in my heart Keep them alive by the powerfull assistences of thy Holy Spirit of which Thou hast given me an assurance in thy precious Promises and in these sacred Pledges of thy Loving-kindness For which I again most humbly thank Thee and desire I may never forget how much I am indebted to Thee but be still praising Thee and saying I will extoll Thee my God O King of Heaven and I will bless thy Name for ever and ever Every day will I bless Thee and I will praise thy Name for ever and ever While I live will I praise the Lord I will sing praises to my God while I have any being My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever Amen While others are Communicating you may say Preserve us all O Lord pure and acceptable Sacrifices unto Thee that we may be all presented spotless before the presence of thy glory with exceeding joy Or this As we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one Bread and have drunk of the same Cup so help us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and to love one another with a pure heart fervently Or this Rom. 5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant us to be like-minded one towards another after the example of Christ Jesus That we may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ This may be added Let all the people praise Thee O God let all the people praise Thee From the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same let the Name of our Lord be praised Blessed be the Name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Vpon Christmas day and seven days after you may adde this to your other Devotions More particularly I now remember O Lord thy stupendious Love in sending thy Son so unexpectedly to visit us when the World thought not of Thee but were Strangers or rather Enemies unto Thee Blessed be the Lord who hath so highly honoured our Nature as to dwell among us and to appear in the likeness of sinfull Flesh Preserve in me such a remembrance of it that I may never dishonour Him nor my self by consenting to any filthiness either of the flesh or spirit but alway behave my self sutably to the relation I have unto Him in righteousness and holiness before Him all the days of my life Amen V pon Easter day and seven days after I bless Thee O Lord who hast fulfilled thy promise unto our Saviour that Thou wouldst not leave his Soul in hell nor suffer thy Holy one to see Corruption Blessed be God who hath thereby confirmed our Faith in the Promises He hath made to us This is the day or time the Lord hath made I will rejoyce and be glad in it This is the day when my Saviour was begotten again from the dead and thereby hath begotten us again unto a lively hope of immortal Life This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes The Lord hath shewed us light even the light of Life I will offer to Him therefore perpetually the Sacrifice of righteousness together with these Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving for his Mercy towards us which I see by this endureth for ever Vpon Ascention day and seven days after Blessed be God that I see Jesus who was humbled a while and made lower then the Angels for the suffering of death crowned now with glory and honour Lift up my heart O Blessed Jesus to that high and holy place where Thou art exalted and keep it fixed there That setting my affections on things above where Thou art at God's right hand I may never doe any thing that is unworthy of my Christian Profession but have my Conversation in Heaven from whence I expect Thee O Blessed Jesus who hast told us Thou art onely gone before to prepare a place for us Where Thou art O Blessed Lord there let me be also And at last change this vile body that it may be fashioned like unto thy glorious Body according to the working whereby Thou art able even to subdue all things unto thy self Vpon Whitsunday and six days after I rejoyce in the comfort Thou hast brought us O Holy Spirit of Grace I rejoyce to hear as Thou hast testified by the wonderfull Gifts bestowed on the Apostles that my Dearest Saviour is alive and that He lives for evermore and will never cease his Love to us till we be there where He is O inspire me more and more with thy heavenly Grace that being stedfast in this Faith I may bring forth all the fruits of the Spirit and not onely resist but overcome all Temptations in my way to Heaven Guide me by thy Counsel strengthen me with thy Might support me with thy Comforts in all necessities streights and dangers that I may at last safely arrive at eternal glory Amen Vpon the Feast of Trinity onely Adored be the incomprehensible Majesty of the Eternal undivided Trinity in whose Name I was baptized and whom I humbly worship with praises and thanksgivings saying Blessed be thy Name O God the Father Almighty the Creatour of Heaven and Earth in whom we all live and move and have our being And blessed be the Eternal Son of the Father our Saviour and Redeemer the Prince of Peace who hath purchased an eternal Redemption for us And blessed be the Holy Ghost the Comforter who inspires me with good thoughts pious desires and godly resolutions and will conduct me I hope unto everlasting Life Amen CHAP. VII Meditations and Prayers afterward IF there be more time left before all have communicated as there is generally on these great Festivals and where many receive upon other days you may spend it in Meditating as well as you are able upon the Ends for which this Sacrament was ordained Turn to the Third Chapter of this Book and there reade them in order I. Saying to your self when you think that you have now solemnly owned your self to be a Christian c. O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant I am sensible that I am not my own for I am bought with a great price and therefore ought to glorify God in my body and in my spirit which are God's And Good Lord assist me as becomes one who names the Name of Christ to depart from all iniquity II. And when you think of the next thing how thankfull you ought to be to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost you may easily turn those words you reade there into a Thanksgiving or have some such short Ejaculation as this What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me especially for this that He hath not spared his own Son but delivered him up for us all III. To which you may give an
Sermon on the Mount recorded in the V. VI. and VII Chapters of Saint Matthew Reade these at least once a week VIII Then follow the Acts of the Apostles which abundantly declare their authority by whose Ministry we have received the Gospel and bid us attend to their Instructions which are left us in their Epistles as the words of men divinely inspired And in these content your selves with those parts of them which are most easy and plain and of general use and concernment and meddle not presently with those which are hard and obscure and which relate to some particular cases which now are not so well known as to make their sense apparent to every one For it is a very ill sign when you stand puzzling your selves about some dark passages in the Apostolical Writings when there are plain ones in abundance to exercise your thoughts I will direct you to some that will be fittest for your Meditation In the Epistle to the Romans reade often the XII and XIII Chapters with the XIII of the first to the Corinthians the IV. V. VI. to the Ephesians III. and IV. to the Colossians IV. and V. of the first to the Thessalonians and to omit others the I. II. X. XI XII XIII of the Epistle to the Hebrews the whole Epistles of Saint James and of Saint Peter And when you reade them let it be with a design to grow better rather then more knowing And then think you grow better when you are made more humble more sensible of God's love and your own undeservings more thankfull more meek and patient more submissive to God's Providence and to your Governours whether civil or spiritual private or publick IX When you are thus disposed by these and such like Christian Vertues you may venture to reade the harder parts of Scripture and not be in danger to wrest them as those doe who are settled upon no principles to your own destruction For then you will not be forward to frame a sense of those places out of your own head but confess your ignorance and look upon them as containing things not necessary to be known for all necessary things are plainly set down and perhaps some of those very things about which you trouble your selves are else-where delivered in clearer words As you may be satisfied if you take the next opportunity to consult with those whose lips are to preserve knowledge Which is the best way to be resolved in such cases X. As for other good Books besides the Scripture you may find some time to reade them And the less you have on other days spend the Lord's days and other Holy days the more seriously in this work When I would advise you to reade V. VI. and VII of Saint Matthew with some part of the Whole Duty of Man And when you have made some proficiency in knowledg reade Dr. Hammond's PRACTICAL CATECHISM where you will find that Sermon of Christ's upon the Mount expounded XI But whatsoever godly Book you reade whether the Holy Scriptures or any other be sure you indeavour to come away bettered by the reading of them For if you get no good by them that very thing will incline you at last to slight and neglect them as many do we see the hearing of good Sermons because they do not perceive that they or others are at all the better for them but after much hearing there is little doeing of God's will But this the Scripture it self foretold and hath exactly described such people as are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. III. 5 6 7. and intended hereby to breed in every one of us a due caution least we be of that unprofitable number Which you must prevent by being more serious attentive and diligent in reading holy Books for that end for which they were writ and hearing Sermons not for fashion sake but that you may be taught or remembred of your Duty and excited or directed to doe it with greater care and constancy XII And if you meet with the very same thing over and over again either in reading or hearing do not therefore nauseate it or grow weary of it or pass it by hastily and carelesly But rather look upon it as a very usefull Truth of which you have great need because it comes so often in your way and thankfully acknowledging that God is very kind to you in putting you so frequently in mind of that which is so necessary to your Salvation give the greater heed to it and ponder it with such seriousness as a thing of that moment deserves CHAP. XVI A necessary qualification to receive benefit by all this IF every one had so much Humility and such a hearty desire to be truly good wrought in their Souls betime they would reade and hear God's word to better purpose I. Therefore Parents should above all things instill this into their Children very early how necessary it is and how much it becomes them to be humble and that by no means they grow conceited of their own parts or understanding but be desirous to learn of every one with simplicity and meekness without any other design but to know their Duty II. This we may be sure would dispose them to receive benefit by the Holy Scriptures and by all other good instructions For it is the very qualification which Christ requires to make a person fit to be one of his Disciples that He first become like a little Child XVIII Matth. 3. There is no good to be done upon him in Christ's School unless he first learn to be humble subject to his Teachers simple hearted and without guile contented with a little heartily in love with those that take care of him And when he is thus freed from pride ambition desire of Riches or any thing else but onely of Knowledge as little Children naturally are till the seeds of those vices be stirred up in them by others he will be a fit soil to receive Christ's heavenly Doctrine III. And doubtless he had reason to say it who told this Nation long ago that it is for want of acquainting Childhood and Youth with such plain Rules as this which the Scripture it self delivers for our right understanding it that the Scripture either seems obscure and difficult to them or that they mistake it where it seems evident IV. For when they grow to mens estate or are engaged in worldly buisiness or come to honour before they be acquainted with the Holy Scripture and especially these plain directions which it gives us for our profiting by it one of these three things is the consequence of it The seeming difficulty of the Scripture either makes them to seek for other Rules which they apprehend more easy or 2. not to care for any Rule of Faith at all or else 3. to transform this which God hath given for the renewing his image in them into the nature of their corrupt affections V. Let this
A help to Communicants Ingredere ut Proficias A BOOK FOR BEGINNERS Or a Help to Young Communicants THAT They may be fitted for the Holy Communion and receive it with profit By S. Patrick D. P. Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty 1680. To the READER THere is no Advice more wholesome or more necessary then that of Solomon in the conclusion of his Meditations upon the Vanity of all things under the Sun Remember thy CREATOR in the days of thy youth Which may serve in stead of a Preface to this little Book especially if I change one word and make it run thus Remember thy SAVIOUR in the days of thy youth Be sensible that is how much thou art indebted to Him and do not forget it but carry this always in thy mind that as thou didst receive thy being from Him so thou art bought with a great price and therefore ought'st to glorify God with Body and Soul which are His. 1 Cor. VI. 20. And doe this betime in thy best days before thou art tainted and corrupted by Vice and wickedness Into which dangerous ways if thou art so unhappy as to have entred be advised and leave them presently Betake thy self without any delay to the service of God and let no buisiness much less any vain pleasure hinder thee from acquainting thy self with the Duty thou owest Him or from performing it seriously Particularly that duty which He hath commanded thee to doe in Remembrance of Him The Nature the Necessity and the Ends of which together with the manner of doing it I lay before thee in the following pages Wherein I shall treat onely of such things as are most easy and obvious to every capacity hoping by God's blessing they will be usefull to such as will set themselves to consider them They that would have larger Instructions and Helps may find them in the Christian Sacrifice CHAP. I. Of the Duty WHEN God's Minister declares as he is required to do that he intends on such a day to administer the most comfortable Sacrament of Christ's Body and Bloud and invites you to it beseeching you to dispose your selves religiously and devoutly for it you must consider that it is your duty to prepare your selves to come and partake of so great a Blessing and not to think it enough that you have been present at Divine Service and heard the Sermon and then may turn your back on the Table of the Lord. Which is a very great disrespect to Him and forgetfulness of Him and cannot be excused so easily as mens naughty hearts incline them to believe For though God's Goodness is such that He prefers works of Mercy to your Neighbours before Sacrifice to Himself when one of them must be omitted yet He doth not make the same allowance for your Worldly buisiness which well may be let alone till another time much less for your vain Pleasures or Recreations which never ought to hinder or put by this or any other holy Duty in the season proper for it Come therefore as oft as you are invited and when God's Minister after Sermon ended goes up to the Holy Table to prepare this Heavenly food for you that is to consecrate Bread broken and Wine poured out that it may represent the Death of Christ to you and to give it you saying Take eat and drink this in remembrance of Christ do you stay in God's House and draw near unto his Table and thankfully receive it from him for that end for which he gives it in commemoration of Christ's Death and Passion upon the Cross for your sake It is the duty of God's Minister to set the Bread and Wine apart to present them unto God to break the one and pour out the other to bless them and to give them unto you And then it is your duty to look upon this Bread and Wine thus blessed as representing Christ unto you and accordingly to receive them not as mere Bread and Wine but as things deputed by Christ to be in stead of His Body and Bloud and to communicate them to worthy Receivers CHAP. II. Of the Necessity of this Duty TO doe thus you are ingaged First by the express Commandment of our Lord Christ which you find four times recorded in the New Testament by the three first Evangelists Saint Matthew XXVI 26 27. Saint Mark XIV 22 23. Saint Luke XXII 19 20 and by Saint Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians XI 23 24 25. All which places especially the last you will doe well to reade seriously And then consider Secondly that there is the greater regard to be had to this Commandment Doe this in remembrance of me which Saint Paul saith he received of the Lord because it was his last and dying Commandment in the night when He was betrayed just before the day of his Passion We are wont in other cases to be inclined to remember and carefully perform the last desire of a dying Friend and therefore what other account can we give of it if we live in a neglect of this Duty so solemnly enjoyned but that we are strangers or at best very cold in our love to Him which you had need to quicken because Thirdly your care in this Duty will be a means to make you observe the rest of his Commandments better which now alas are little regarded because little or no regard is had to this last Commandment which our Lord seems to have added when He left the world for the security of all the other that He had delivered before For the doing this hath a mighty power in it to stir up the love of Christ in our hearts And the love of Christ constraineth us as S. Paul teaches 2 Cor. V. 14 15. because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead And that He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto Him that died for them and rose again Doe this therefore in remembrance of Him which is such an efficacious means to make you always doe well Yea more then this Lastly it will be a means to make you observe his Commandments with love and delight which if they be wanting your Obedience will be little worth For without Love all that you doe will not be acceptable to Christ and unless you delight in what you doe it will not be acceptable to your selves But neither of these will be wanting if you religiously frequent this Holy Sacrament where He is represented to you as desirous to save you though it were by dying for you saying when this was first propounded to Him Lo I come I delight to doe thy will O God How can you then refrain when you think of this from expressing the same affection and the same joy when it is so much easier for you to doe God's will then it was for Him to suffer such things as he did in obedience to it CHAP. III. Of the Ends
Answer when you think of the Third thing your Fidelity to him saying I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Judgments I have inclined my heart to perform thy Statutes always even unto the end CXIX Psal 106.112 It is reasonable that whatsoever I doe in word or deed I should doe all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by Him III. Coloss 17. IV. And when you think lastly of having Communion with Him say What greater Happiness can I wish then to be one with Christ and to be made partaker with Him in the Merits of his Death whereby I am sure that I shall partake with Him in the glory of his Resurrection By this I know that I dwell in Him and He in me because He hath given me of his Spirit O make me Blessed Lord more and more one with Thee by making me more perfectly of the same mind spirit and disposition with Thee A Prayer at home on that day If you be by such means as these duly affected with our Saviour's Love towards you the remembrance of it will not presently slip out of your mind nor will you be willing to part with it And while it continues there it will make all your Christian Duty easy and delightfull and it will be a hard matter to persuade you to offend Him Do not fail therefore to endeavour to preserve it by affecting your heart again with such thoughts as these repeating some time or other on that day the foregoing Meditations and adding this Prayer I can never thank Thee enough O Father of mercies and God of all comfort for the innumerable benefits I have received from thy bounty And therefore ought to take all opportunities to bless Thee and to speak good of thy Name especially now that I have newly tasted how gracious Thou art in giving thy onely Son our Saviour Jesus Christ not onely to die for us but also to be our spiritual food and sustenance in that Sacrament which I have this day received When I think onely what a kindness it is that I have my daily bread and never want things convenient for the support and comfort of this present life I find that I am indebted to Thee upon that account exceedingly above all that I can express But that Thou art pleased to admit me to thy own Table and there entertain me with the blessed hope of being with my Saviour where He is and rejoycing with Him for ever Lord how much doth it surpass the highest of my thoughts and with what delight and satisfaction ought it to fill my heart Possess me I beseech Thee most mercifull Father with such a lively sense of this Love that I may never forget how happy I am in being so nearly related to Christ Jesus But always account it such an honour to be one of his Servants that I may constantly and chearfully obey Him and delight in this and all other Duties of a Christian life It is a great favour I ought to be sensible that I may have the liberty alway to resort unto Him as my most gracious Lord and Master and enjoy Him not onely in the publick Offices of Religion but here at home in these private addresses unto Him 0 that by all such means I may grow more like Him and carry away such a resemblance of his Holiness Goodness Humility Meekness and Patience that every body may see I have been with Jesus O that there may be such a pious sense of his Love and such devout affections towards Him left in my heart that I may not content my self merely with my daily Prayers much less with these present expressions of Love to Him but it may he my constant care every day to approve my self unto Him so faithfully in all well-doing that I may not be afraid to appear again before Him at the next invitation I have to his Table And let the hearts of all those who have this day devoutly attended on thy service be joyfull and glad in Thee Help us all to keep our selves pure and undefiled and to walk so steddily in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost that others seeing our good conversation in Christ may be in love with Religion and glorify Thee our heavenly Father Have mercy also as we have this day most humbly prayed upon the whole Church And so rule the heart of thy chosen Servant CHARLES our King and Governour that in all his thoughts words and works he may ever seek thy honour and glory and study to preserve thy people committed to his charge in wealth peace and godliness And grant also unto all them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ's Religion that they may eschew those things that are contrary to their Profession and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same for thy dear Sons sake Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen If this seem too long here follows a shorter I prostrate my self here again before Thee O Lord of Heaven and Earth to bless and praise Thee for all thy Mercies towards me especially for those which Thou hast this day bestowed on me I would not be so ungratefull as presently to forget such a wonderfull Grace as Thou hast vouchsafed me but desire most earnestly to have a lasting remembrance of it in my heart provoking me to love and to good works And for that end I now renew my humble supplications unto Thee that Thou wilt constantly excite and assist me by thy Holy Spirit to walk worthy of my high and heavenly calling in Christ Jesus by such a sober righteous and godly life adorning his Doctrine in all things that He may own me for his good and faithfull Servant at that great Day when we shall see Him not in these shadows and figures of Him but face to face And have mercy upon thy whole Church Whose Prayers I beseech Thee to hear for every Member of the same more especially for our Sovereign and all that are in authority under him that by their pious care and watchfulness thy Church may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. VIII Directions for a godly Life sutable to this holy Communion I. TAKE some time every day to call to mind how much you stand engaged to our Saviour Christ first by your Baptismal Vow secondly by your solemn Ratification of it at your Confirmation and thirdly by your renewing it lately at the Holy Communion when you professed how much you were indebted to Him both upon the account of his offering Himself upon the Cross for you and of his giving Himself there again to you II. If these three come into your mind as soon as you awake in the morning it will be a great security to you And to make your self more sensible of your obligation you may begin the day with this Reflection I am not my own but the Lord
up the principal things they observe carefully in their hearts that they may find them there upon occasion VIII For which end Masters and Mistresses should take care their Servants may have time to go to Church or rather they should see them go and bring them thither saying with the holy men of God I and my house will serve the Lord. IX And if they would help them to learn some short Prayer by heart besides the Lord's Prayer it would be a means to possess them with a sense of their Duty and to make them more confident of God's gracious assistence in the doing of it Instruct them at least after you have read to them their Duty to God and their Duty to their Neighbour to say Lord have mercy upon me and write all these thy Laws in my heart I beseech Thee and this Collect O God whose Blessed Son was manifested that He might destroy the works of the Devil and make us the sons of God and heirs of eternal life Grant me I beseech Thee that having this hope I may purify my self even as He is pure that when He shall appear again with power and great glory I may be made like unto Him in his eternal and glorious Kingdom where with Thee O Father and Thee O Holy Ghost He liveth and reigneth ever one God world without end Amen X. There is reason Masters and Mistresses should be at this pains with their Servants who cannot reade if they consider how much better Servants they will be to them when they are become the Servants of God and that they themselves have a Master in Heaven who expects they should not merely use their Bodies well but look also after their Souls so far at least as to help them to the means of Christian Instruction This is a thing indeed much neglected and if their work be but well done some Masters and Mistresses concern themselves no farther But such persons plainly declare that they love themselves better then God else they would not be satisfied till God's work was done also and carried on together with their own CHAP. XV. Directions to those that can reade I. AS for those who are able to reade I need not sure advise them to use that ability but onely to use it well avoiding vain and idle especially all filthy Books and being conversant in those that are good and profitable such as will improve their minds in usefull knowledg or excite in them devout affections towards God or direct them in the practice of Justice and Mercy of Temperance and Chastity and of all other Christian Vertues II. But above all other Books acquaint your selves with the Holy Scriptures which Timothy S. Paul says had known from a child and were able to make him wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. III. 15. Which is a high commendation of the Old Scriptures and a great incouragement to study those Holy Books from whence we may reap the greater benefit now that we have the New Scriptures added to them which contain the Faith in Christ Jesus which the Apostle speaks of You do but pretend to love God which you acknowledge is a part of the Duty you owe Him if you do not seek after his mind and will which is onely to be found in the Holy Scriptures III. And of all other parts of the Scripture I have observed young people delight as it is natural to doe in reading the Historical Books of the Old Testament Which truly are writ with such a spirit of Piety as is to be found in no other History designing visibly these two things First to instill into the people a belief of Divine Providence which governs all things and presides not onely over Nations but particular Persons who therefore ought to have God in all their thoughts to whom all events are ascribed by the holy History And secondly to nurse them up in a sense of the difference of Good and Evil the former of which always received remarkable testimonies of God's Favour and the other was ever attended with the effects of his severe Displeasure IV. Do not think therefore that you have profitably read these Books unless you come away from the reading of them more sensible of these two things and more affected with them Possessed that is with a more lively apprehension of God's overruling Power and Providence whereby all things are disposed and therefore resolved to commit your selves unto Him in well-doing and to make that difference between Good and Evil that He doth resting satisfied with what He is pleased to order when you have taken care to order your selves so as to avoid what He hates and to follow that which He loves V. But above all other Books of the Old Testament the Psalms are of most general use and therefore ordered by our Church to be read over publickly once every month Some of which you would doe well to get by heart that you may say them upon all occasions as anciently they were wont to doe nothing being more ordinary then to hear the Husbandman chanting them as he followed the Plow the Seaman as he sate at the Helm the Waterman at his Oar the Weaver at his Loom the good Houswife at her Spindle or her Wheel nay the poor Ditcher sang them at his Spade and the very Children in the streets In short they suckt these in with their Mothers milk and from their very infancy as soon as they could learn any thing were taught a smattering of them before they could speak perfectly such a love they had to the sweet Musick of these Holy Songs VI. The very first of which will put you in mind of your Duty and of the Happiness it will bring you if you doe it faithfully Let that therefore and the rest that are of most general use and relate not merely to David's present condition or to some publick calamity be read most frequently and pondered most seriously Such are the VIII XV. XIX XXXIII XXXIV CIII CIV CXIX CXXXIX CXLV with many other which every one may observe for his own use particularly the VII Penitential Psalms which are most proper when you are in a sad afflicted condition or bewail any Sin you have committed to which they may be also applied They are the VI. XXXII XXXVIII LI. CII CXXX CXLIII VII But when all this is done you must chiefly reade the Books of the New Testament or Covenant made with us in Jesus Christ to which the Books of the Old Testament refer you as the perfection of that Knowledg which was but obscurely delivered by them And first the Holy Gospels which mostly contain the History of our Saviour's Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascention in all which principally observe the mighty power of God giving Testimony unto Him and declaring Him to be the Son of God Whom therefore you are bound to obey and in order thereunto study what his Will is which is most fully delivered in the
Lesson therefore as He advises of becoming like little Children throughly be planted in the hearts of Children and then Knowledg in other parts of Scripture will grow up with them and Faith thus planted in humility while their hearts are tender and easy to be wrought on by this plain and familiar Precept will take deep root and increase more and more as they do in strength and stature For though at the first their Faith be but as a grain of Mustard-seed yet having in the Spring time got the start of Pride and desire of worldly wealth or greatness it will afterward flourish in all heavenly knowledge and fructify in every good word and work VI. And above all other pieces of Humility it is absolutely necessary that Children be brought up to a great reverence of God's Ministers and a high opinion of their Calling Place and Persons If Parents or Guardians would teach them to honour them as their spiritual Fathers and to look upon them as men appointed by God to take care of their best part their immortal Souls and to bring Divine blessings to them If they would tell them Children these are the men by whom you are baptized and made Christians by these you must therefore be instructed and confirmed also in Religion and assured more and more of God's blessing it would have a mighty effect upon them and dispose them for all the good they may hereafter reape by them Whereas those words of reproach or undervaluing which they now daily hear must needs have the quite contrary effect or at least for want of such Admonitions and frequent inculcating the respect honour and esteem which is due to God's Ministers they mind so little what they say that when they become capable of it they receive no benefit by them A short Prayer tor the Morning ALmighty God and most mercifull Father I most humbly bow down my self before Thee to worship thy Divine Majesty by whom I was brought into the world and have been preserved and provided for all my life long and now this last night blessed be thy Goodness protected from all Dangers and raised up in health and safety to see the light of another day I thank Thee O Lord for these and all the rest of thy Mercies especially for thy singular Love in Christ Jesus beseeching Thee to awaken and preserve in me such a lively sense thereof that I may never prove ungratefull to Him but constantly doe Him all faithfull service Particularly this day I earnestly implore the assistence of his Holy Spirit to inable me to keep those Vows that are upon me not to follow nor be led by worldly and carnal Lusts but to obey thy holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the days of my life Help me Good Lord in my place and condition to perform my Duty towards Thee and towards my Neighbour with such care fidelity and chearfulness that I may with some confidence present my self again before Thee in the Evening and comfortably hope for thy continued good Providence over me To which I humbly recommend thy Church and Houshold beseeching Thee to keep it in thy true Religion and to defend it evermore by thy mighty Power through Jesus Christ our Lord. In whose most blessed Name and words I still beseech Thee to be mercifull to me and to all thy people saying Our Father c. A short Prayer for the Evening I Thank Thee O Lord of Heaven and Earth that by thy mercifull Providence I am here prostrate again before Thee not onely in health and safety of body but in integrity of heart I hope and with sincere purposes to continue always thy faithfull Servant Pardon O most mercifull Father whatsoever I have done or omitted this day contrary to my resolutions and obligations Pitty my great weaknesses and accept of my honest endeavours to keep a good Conscience void of offence towards Thee and towards Man Which that I may doe every day better and better vouchsafe me the assistence of thy special Grace to strengthen me in the performance of all my Duty That where I have been wont to slip I may be more watchfull and where I have been negligent I may use the greater diligence and so continue thy Child a lively Member of Christ and an Inheritour of thy heavenly Kingdom And hear the Prayers of thy whole Church which have been made this day for every member of the same especially for our Sovereign Lord the KING for all that minister under him in holy or civil things for all that are distressed in mind body or estate beseeching Thee to dispense thy Graces and Blessings to every one of them sutable to their several necessities And be my mercifull Protectour all this night and after a refreshing Rest raise me up again in the morning with a thankfull heart to Thee for thy care over me fully resolved continually to mortify all my evil and corrupt Affections and daily to proceed in all Vertue and Godliness of living through Jesus Christ our Saviour In whose Name and words I commend my self to thy mercy saying Our Father c. A Prayer for one of riper years before the receiving of Baptism O Lord the Creatour of the World and Redeemer of Mankind I fall down before Thee to acknowledge that I am thine and to beseech Thee though I have offended Thee to receive me into thy service again Pardon good Lord all the Follies of my Childhood with all the Sins Negligences and Ignorances of my riper years Let them all be done away in that Fountaïn which Thou hast set open for us to wash in and be clean I desire to be admitted thither and intend there to devote my self intirely to Thee renouncing the Devil the World and the Flesh and resolving obediently to keep thy holy will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the days of my life Vouchsafe me O Lord the assistence of thy Holy Spirit that I may both seriously make and faithfully keep those holy Vows and Promises Preserve in me a perpetual remembrance of them that I may never by any Sin lose so great a Grace as Thou intendest to bestow upon me but always continue a lively Member of Christ and an Heir of his heavenly Kingdom To which I beseech Thee at last to bring me through the Merits of Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer for one that intends to be Confirmed O Most Blessed God by whose grace I was called into a state of Salvation when I was Baptized and from whom cometh every good thought desire and purpose which I have since felt in my heart Assist me I beseech Thee in the new dedication which I am going to make of my self unto Thee whose I am and resolve to be to the end of my days Fill me O Lord with such a lively sense of the honour Thou doest me in admitting me into thy Service that I may give up my self not onely with the full but with the most chearfull consent of my heart to believe and doe whatsoever Thou wouldst have me And then be pleased to confirm me in thy Grace and to strengthen me with might by thy Holy Spirit in the inner man that I may ever discern and chuse and follow those things which are acceptable in thy sight Arm me good Lord against all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil with a will stedfastly resolved never to yield to any of them but to persist faithfully in the performance of my Vow which was made in my name when I was baptized and which I now intend with my own mouth to ratify openly before 〈◊〉 Church Whose devout Prayers I beseech Thee to hear for me through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer after Confirmation ALmighty and everliving God who hast vouchsafed to regenerate me by Water and the Holy Ghost and also 〈◊〉 farther certified me 〈…〉 the hands of thy Minister lately laid on me of thy Favour and gracious Goodness towards me Accept I most humbly beseech Thee of my hearty thanks for such great and undeserved Benefits and continue in me those good thoughts desires and purposes which I found then in my heart to persist in faithfull Obedience to Thee for ever For which end be pleased daily to impart unto me more and more of the Holy Spirit to preserve me in thy fear and love and to inable me to doe all the rest of my Duty not onely towards Thee but towards my Neighbour Especially to those by whom as thy Stewards thy heavenly Mysteries are conveyed to us that reverently attending to their Instructions and receiving their godly Admonitions and obediently following their Guidance and direction I may be finally owned for one of thy good and faithfull Servants at that Day when the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls shall appear again to our Salvation To Him with Thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be eternal praises Amen They that need Prayers for other particular occasions may be furnished in a Book called the Devout Christian c. THE END The Contents Chap. I. Of the Duty pag. 1. Chap. II. Of the Necessity of this Duty p. 7. Chap. III. Of the Ends for which it was instituted p. 14. Chap. IV. Of Preparation for it p. 23. Chap. V. A Prayer for that morning when you intend to receive Which may be used any time before p. 39. Chap. VI. The manner of Receiving p. 46. Chap. VII Meditations and Prayers afterward p. 81. Chap. VIII Directions for a godly Life sutable to this holy Communion p. 99. Chap. IX Touching Doubts and Scruples p. 114. Chap. X. Directions in case of frequent Relapses into Sin p. 127. Chap. XI The Duties of Children p. 138. Chap. XII The Dutier of Servants p. 147. Chap. XIII Advices to all Young persons p. 158. Chap. XIV Directions about them that cannot reade p. 168. Chap. XV. Directions to those that can reade p. 179. Chap. XVI A necessary qualification to receive benefit by all this p. 203. A short Prayer for the Morning p. 213. A short Prayer for the Evening p. 216. A Prayer for one of riper years before the receiving of Baptism p. 221. A Prayer for one that intends to be Confirmed p. 224. A Prayer after Confirmation p. 227. The End