God hath ordained in his Church to convey unto me this Remission and to perform the Condition on which it is promised My believing the Rising again of my Body should make me watchful against all things that may keep it from being in a fit condition to rise to Glory and to practice all such Vertues as may prepare it for that Heavenly Condition to which I expect it should be raised And my believing the Life Everlasting should make me diligent to employ my short moment of Time here that my Everlasting Life hereafter may be a Life of Joy and not of Misery And thus from all the Articles of the Creed I am to draw Motives to strengthen me in all Christian Practice to which end my learning and believing of them is designed And till I do this I cannot rationally pretend to make good what I promised when I was baptized namely To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And without this I think my self unfit to partake of the Lord's Supper I now proceed to Obedience which you have frequently taught me is the second Head of my Christian Profession and that it has the Ten Commandments for its Rule and of these as well as of the Creed I ought to have a convenient Knowledge both as to the Words and Meaning before I come to the Lord's Table Because the keeping of God's Commandments is one part of that Vow which I have broken and come thither to renew And first I have been Catechised That in eaâ—h Commandment there is something required and something forbidden so that I may be guilty of transgressing it either by doing what I ought not to do or by leaving undone what I ought to do As to the things forbidden by the First Commandment I have learned that they are chiefly Atheism or the Denial of God's Being and the multiplying and serving of false Gods as also the not serving the only true God aright And of this last I look upon my self to become egregiously guilty when I suffer any thing to share with God in my Worship of him and when I am guilty of Hypocrisie Irreligion Indevotion Lukewarmness Heresie Schism Apostasie Infidelity Presumption Despair Carnal Security Pride Disobedience Impatience and Murmuring and wilful Ignorance of his Word And I have been taught That by this same Commandment it is required of me to acknowledge but One God and to have him for my God and to love fear obey and trust in him above all others and to serve him truly all the days of my life And as to the things forbidden in the Second Commandment I doubt not but they are The appointing of any kind of Image for Religious Worship the representing of God by a visible likeness of any thing the worshipping of Creatures the neglect of the Worship of the True God or the worshipping him after a false manner And the Duties enjoined in this Commandment are to worship the only True God according to his own Prescription to worship him both in my Body and Spirit to bear a due regard to all the Parts of his Worship as Prayer the Word and Sacraments to come to them with suitable Preparation and to yield a due Veneration to all Places Times Persons and Things rightly set apart for God's Worship And to such as thus worship him he hath promised Mercy and Kindness but has threatned to be a severe Punisher of them that do otherwise In the Third Commandment I am forbidden all irreverent Thoughts of God all Blasphemy or dishonourable mention of his Name all Perjury or Breach of lawful Oaths all occasioning the Name of God and True Religion to be blasphemed And on the other side I am enjoyned to think and speak reverently of God's Name and Attributes to glorifie him in his Holy Word and Ordinances to use his Name with Reverence in taking Religious Oaths to obâ—â—â—â—â— such Oaths with an holy Care and Conscience and to glorifie his Name by a pious Conversation The Fourth Commandment requires me to keep holy or to sanctifie all such days which are separated from a Common to a Religious use After God had in six days finished the Works of the first Creation he sanctified the Seventh Day and commanded his People to sanctifie it But after the Resurrection of Christ instead of the Seventh Day from the beginning of the Creation the First Day of the Week was hallowed and called emphatically the Lords-day And the Observation of it has been the universal practice of the Christian Church And I think my self bound to spend this day in an especial attendance on God's Service such as Prayer Preaching Participation of the Sacrament Relieving the Poor Meditating upon the Works of Creation and Redemption c. And on this day I have been taught that I am forbidden all Worldly Undertakings and Employments vain Sports and Recreations and all actions but those of Piety Mercy Necessity and Decency Now these four first Commandments respect my Duty toward God and the six that follow regard my Neighbour and my self And the first of these six which is the Fift of the Ten Commandments may be called the Commandment of Relations For it teaches me first my Duty to my Natural Parents and that I am to honour them Which implieth that I am to fear reverence succour and obey them It secondly teacheth me my Duty to my Political Parents namely the King and all in lawful Authoritâ— under him Whom also I am to honour and obey It thirdly teaches me my Duty to my Ecclesiastical Parents Spiritual Pastor and Teachers And it likewise binds me to carry my self lowly and reverently to all my betters In short I have been taught that this Commandment doth concern all the mutual Duties among all sorts and degrees of Inferiours and Superiours from the King to the Master of a Cottage And there is an especial Promise annexed to this Precept to encourage all to obey it in performing their respective Duties one to another In the Sixth Commandment which concerns Man's life all those things are forbidden me which any way tend to the injury of the same as Hatred causless and revengeful Anger contrivance of Man's Death occasions of and actual and wilful Murder And at the same time this Commandment requires me as far as I am able to preserve the life of Man and that I sustain it with Food and Raiment that I prudently avoid all Dangers and conscientiously fly from all such Vices whereby Humane Life is hazarded and which are destructive both of the Body and Soul of him that commits them Such as Drunkenness Uncleanness c. In the Seventh Commandment which concerns a chaste Conservation I am forbidden all acts of Adultery and Fornication together with unlawful Marriage And likewise all such Thoughts Looks Attire and Words as prompt and inveigle to Uncleanness I have further been taught that by this Commandment all such things are forbidden as may occasion any of these as Idleness Excess in Eating and Drinking
that would make him a Client to the Saints and a constant Votary to the Blessed Virgin and his Guardian Spirit He that is well grounded in the Doctrine of the Second Commandment will never be induced to believe that the Image is to be adored with the same Worship that is due to what is worshipped He will be wary of admitting any bodily representations of the Holy Trinity and look jealously upon all the Doctrine of Image worship which he sees to be vindicated with a few remote and suspicious Distinctions devised by the Fathers of that Doctrine on purpose to maintain its Credit He that is throughly instructed in the Doctrine of the Third Commandment and hath thence been taught to tremble at and reverence the Holy Name of the Almighty will never be induced to believe that frequent Cursing and Swearing if customary is Venial or a Sin which is pardonable in its own Nature and for which the Favour of God cannot be forfeited That equivocating in Oaths is â—awful That our most Solemn Oaths may be dispensed with That the dreadful Name of God may be used in the unwarrantable exorcization of the Creatures That Understanding and Devotion are not necessarily required to our Invocations upon God He that has been throughly informed of the mind of its eternal Author in the Fourth Commandment will never give up himself to a Religion that prefers a Mans Day before Gods or a Saints Day before the Lords Which would alter the Institution of God himself as was designed by Pope Silvester who decreed that Thursday should be kept for the Lords Day He that hath well learned the Fifth Commandment must do great Violence to his Understanding before he can chuse to be of a Religion that loves to drink the Blood of princes That absolves Subjects from their Allegiance to their Lawful Sovereign That gives Power to a Vicar to depose Princes at Pleasure That Arms Subjects with Power to murther their King The like may be said of all the Precepts of the Royal Law of God which is the most perfect Rule of our Obedience and which we are Taught to violate so soon as we have given up our selves to Popery and to the Service of the Roman Moloch And though these are Mysteries which the Romish Seducers carefully conceal and sometime zealously inveigh against while they are compassing easie Proselytes with whom they deal in the most specious Pretences yet they have no sooner deluded them to give up their Names to Popery and thereupon to shake Hands with all liberty of judging for themselves than by degrees they let them know what is to be done And if they startle at doing what is commanded them this is presently censured for a Relick of their Old Heresie and that there was something wanting in their Conversion which cannot be supplied but by acting throughly all the most horrible Injunctions of their New Faith And by the same means of being well Catechised in the Lords Prayer a Man will be able to apprehend and reject the many Errors Popery would impose upon him in that high concern For thereby he will clearly perceive that Prayer ought be made to God only and that none to can share with him in that or any other part of Divine and Religious Worship And that for this reason he ought not to embrace a Religion which enjoyns him to pray unto Saints and Angels and that too not only to have them intercede to God for him but also to help him in his Necessities and to deliver him both in Bodily and Ghostly Dangers And that this may not be thought the fault of Rosaries Hours and Books of private Devotions for which the Church of Rome is accountable as having confirmed them by her Authority it is also the Tenor of her publick Service as is plainly to be seen in the Collects Hymns and Litanies of that Breviary which was restored by the Council of Trent and authorised by several Popes and which is at this day in uncontroulable use through all the Papal Dominions And we might also observe the like concerning the Doctrine of the Sacraments in which whosoever is once fully instructed according to the Catechism of this Church will quickly discern the Abuses thereinto introduced by Popery To mention no more than what belongs to the Author of a Sacrament which our Catechism asserts and which is an undeniablle Truth to be only Christ And therefore all those things are to be excluded the number of Sacraments that are not of his immediate and clear appointment And that Orders Penance Confirmation Marriage Extream Unction all Romish Sacraments are not of Christ's Institution is easily discernable to Men but slenderly versed in the Holy Bible and therefore not to be received for the Sacraments of Christ but Inventions of those who teach for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. Now by these imperfect intimations we may safely infer That those who have had their Foundation in Religion surely laid according to the publickly allowed Catechism of this Church must have other Ends to serve than those of Religion and drive other projects than Gods Honour and their own Salvation who forsake her Communion for that of Rome But to return What ever hath unhappily contributed to our Revolting to the one hand or the other from the Established Religion of this Church there is none that will deny but that the lack of a plain and solid Catechising has had therein a very large share And therefore we may conlude That the careful practice of that will be a chief means to restore Union and Peace the Omission whereof hath occasioned the contrary And indeed Catechising seems the only proper way not only to strengthen those that do stand but to raise up those that are faln if we consider how ineffectual all other ways have proved which have been managed to this end Which now come to be surveyed CHAP. VIII The Methods used for our reclaiming surveyed proving ineffectual c. AND here we need not be told how Indulgence and Clemency Acts of Amnesty and Grace have been so far unable so much as to work us up to a good Humour that like fresh Pastures to unruly Beasts they have only served to strengthen us for a sturdier resistance Nor need we be told of making Converts with the Churches Patrimony for though by this means some may be invited to bear the Ark of God yet they do it but like the Philistins Kine who were still lowing after the Calves they had left behind them It needs not be demonstrated that our frowardness and opiniastrè are not to be cured by such Methods But that which I would chiefly take notice of is that Disputation and Preaching which out of an agreeableness that they are generally thought to bear to our distempers and the powerfulness of their management have obtained a Name to be the only proper remedies But the continuance of the Malady is a convincing Argument that these are not so proper for
Exaltation namely Resurrection Ascension and Glorification in Heaven ARTICLE V. The third day he rose again from the dead Tho' being a Christian I need no Proof of Christ's rising from the Dead yet to confirm my belief of so eminent an Article God has given me the Testimony of Angels of the Men that guarded the Sepulcher the many Apparitions of Christ after he was risen the Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles the Miracles done by them in his Name So that I have just ground to believe and profess That the Body of Christ saw no Corruption as did the Bodies of the Patriarchs And because it was impossible he should be holden of the Power of Death I do believe that he did really rise again and that the very same Body and Soul of our Saviour which were separated by Death were by his own Divine Power reunited in his Resurrection And as to the time when he arose I have been taught and do believe That it was the Third day after his Death which hapned to be the First day of the Week Which Day we celebrate in memory of his Resurrection and which has immemorially been called The Lord's Day ARTICLE VI. He ascended into Heaven and sitteth c. I believe That Christ ascended by the same Power he rose And that this was no other Power than that of his own Divinity by which as an High-Priest of good things to come he once ascended visibly and locally into the Heaven of Heavens as the High-Priest once every Year entred into the Holy of Holies And the End of his Ascension was I believe to prepare a place for Believers and to receive them to it that where he is they might be also After Christ's Ascension into Heaven he took his Place at the Right-Hand of God Not that I think God who is a most absolute Spirit hath either Right or Left Hand but that this is spoken after the manner of Men who place those whom they will most honour upon their Right-hand And from Christ's being thus placed in Heaven I collect That he there took up his Abode in a State of Majesty and Power to shew that he was above all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and that he is exalted to be the King of Saints and Judge of Sinners the Prince of our Salvation and High-Priest of our Profession and that in him there was an Union of the Regal Power and Priestly Office when he sat down at the Right-hand of the Father Almighty So that by the former he is perfectly able to subdue all his Enemies and by the latter he doth ever intercede for and eternally save those that are his ARTICLE VII From thence he shall come to judge c. As I believe that Christ redeemed me by his death and passion and that by his Ascension he is become my Advocate and Intercessor with God so I believe that he shall come the second time from Heaven with great Glory to judge the World For besides the particular Judgment that passeth upon every Man immediately upon his Death when the departed Soul is set at God's Tribunal and examined of all its Thoughts Words and Actions I say besides this particular Judgment I believe their shall be a general Judgment when all shall be judged as well the Quick that shall be alive at that day as the Dead who shall then be raised up And that this last Judgment Christ himself as a Supream Judge shall pass the final Sentence and that the Saints as Assessors shall pass their Sentence of Approbation I believe too That I and all Men shall be judged of all things done in the Body whether Good or Evil And that upon the pronouncing of the Sentence the truly penitent shall pass to an Estate of Eternal Happiness and finally the Impenitent to an Estate of Eternal Misery ARTICLE VIII I believe in the Holy Ghost Having briefly declared what my Faith is in God the Father and God the Son I am next to declare what I believe concerning God the Holy Ghost And first I believe That without Faith in the Holy Ghost I cannot believe in God the Father nor in his Son as my Lord. For no Man can call God Father but by the Holy Ghost nor can any Man say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Whom I believe to be the Third Person in the Divine Being and therefore True God And that as he proceedeth from the Father and the Son which I believe he doth he is a Person distinct from both The Spirit in whom I believe is called Holy because in himself he is without all Pollution and sin and because he is the Author of all Holiness in me and all who truly believe in him So that all my Holiness is but a Ray or Effusion of the Holy Ghost which doth furnish my Heart with spiritual and saving Graces by the Work of Sanctification ARTICLE IX I believe the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints After this plain Account given by me of the Articles which concern the Blessed Trinity I will now give the like Account of those that follow which respect such only as truly believe in and obey and Worship the Trinity in Unity and who are here called the Church Which I plainly take to signifie all those whom Christ hath called out of the World to be his peculiar People Over whom he hath a Sovereign Authority in regard of which they willingly and chearfully pay him Homage and obey his Law and Ordinances For by Church I have been taught to understand the Corporation and General Family of all true Believers which Family truly deserves to be called Holy in respect of its Head which is Christ who is Holy in himself and whose Holiness is imputed to all sincere Believers And who through the Grace given to them do labour study and endeavour to be Holy And the Church in this familiar acception I believe is Universal as well as Holy and that there are in all the Quarters of the World those who by Baptism are admitted into it and so made Members of Christ's Mystical Body who are guided by his Spirit nourished by the Word and Sacrament and who are obedient to the Rule and Government of the Bishops and Pastors lawfully called to their Offices And of this Society of Believers which constitute the Church some are in a state of War continually fighting against their own and Christ's Enemies but yet in daily expectation of Triumph and a Crown And these are called the Church Militant which is on Earth And some are in a state of Peace for having fought the good Fight of Faith and finished their Warfare they are entred into their Master's Joy And these make the Church Triumphant which is crowned in Heaven Now these I hold are not two divers Churches but the same Church under a different State and Condition For I believe the Church to be essentially but one And as Christ's Mystical Body the Church
has an Vnion with Him as being the Head of it so I believe there is a Common Vnion among the Members both those that are glorified in Heaven and those that in some degree are sanctified on Earth And this is called the Communion of Saints and is the first Priviledge of the Christian Church And by vertue of this all true Christians communicate in all Offices of Piety and Charity in doing good to one anothers Bodies and Souls And this they do upon the account that they have in common One God one Christ one Spirit one Lord one Faith one Baptism one Hope ARTICLE X. The Forgiveness of Sins As the Communion of Saints genuinely ariseth from the Nature of the Vniversal Church so Pardon of Sins follows from both For none shall have their Sins forgiven but those who live and die in the Communion of the Church For unless I abide in this Ark I shall certainly perish Now Sin as I have been instructed is of two sorts the one Original which is the sin of my Nature the other Actual which is the sin of my Conversation The former I brought with me into the World the latter I commit while I live therein And both these sorts of sin deserve Eternal Death and can only be pardon'd by the Merits of Christ For sin being a Transgression of the Law of God it can only be forgiven by him whose Law it transgresseth For Remission of sins is the second Priviledge of the Church which is preached to all in the Name of Christ and sealed in Baptism wherein I believe my Original Sin is presently pardon'd and that my Actual Sins committed after Baptism shall be pardon'd if I truly repent me of the same Now this my Belief of the Forgiveness of Sins supposes that I believe That God graciously and freely without any Desert on Man's part gave his Son to die for the World and That for the sake of his meritorious Death he remits the Fault absolves from the Guilt and acquits from Punishment all truly penitent and believing Sinners And I do further believe That he imputes to them the Obedience of his own Son and his Righteousness and by means thereof accounts them just in his sight I believe That all who are justified and thus acquitted have Holiness in some degree according to the Condition of this Life Which Holiness tho' it cannot altogether discharge them from sin yet it doth not suffer it to reign over them So that a justified Person is not under its Dominion nor yields himself a Vassal to it but resists its Commands and makes it die daily And for the greater security of the Forgiveness of sins God hath committed to his Ministers an indispensible Power and Charge to preach Faith and Repentance as the Condition of this Forgiveness He hath likewise appointed them to pray and intercede and also to baptize for the Forgiveness of sins and to administer the Lord's Supper in memory of that Blood which was shed for the Remission of Sins And indeed all that God hath left in the Hand and Power of his Ministers especially tends to make Men capable of receiving what they believe namely the Remission of sins ARTICLE XI The Resurrection of the Body It was the Hope of the Fathers under the Old Testament as well as it is of Christians under the New That there shall be a Resurrection both of the Just and Unjust And if it were otherwise Christians of all Men would be most miserable and all that I have learn'd and you have taught me concerning Christianity would be in vain But I firmly and truly believe That my Mortal Body shall be raised from the Corruption of the Grave by Vertue of the Resurrection of Christ And this my Belief is founded upon the Power and good Pleasure of God who both can and will raise from the dead the very same Body that died ARTICLE XII The Life everlasting The Enjoyment of Everlasting Life is the last Christian Privilege and that which crowns the rest And I have learned to understand by this Life the Enjoyment of all true Happiness in Soul and Body For I believe that the Faculties of the Souls of just Persons shall be perfectly enlightned and sanctified and that their Bodies shall live after the manner of Spirits and be exceedingly glorified And opposite to this Life everlasting I believe there is an everlasting Death which is the Portion of the Wicked And that as Life everlasting consists in the Fruition so I believe everlasting Death consists in the Loss of God's Presence and all other Comforts and is the enduring of the sting of Conscience and Torments of Hell for ever But as my believing all the Articles of the Christian Faith as they are summ'd up in that which is called the Apostles Creed supposes that I am to learn not only the Words but likewise the Sense of the Creed so it also implies that I should live like them that do believe for otherwise my consenting to the Truth of the Articles will stand me in no stead And therefore not medling with remote and learned Inferences I will draw such from each Article as are near and familiar short and edifying As for Example From my believing that God created me I infer I am bound to be obedient and subject to him By my believing that Christ redeemed me I think it my Duty to yield up my self to him as his Purchase and to be wholly disposed by him and employed only in his Service My believing Christ's Conception by the Holy Ghost and his Birth of the Virgin should make me diligent to fit my Heart for the Holy Ghost to overshadow and for Christ to be born in it My belief of Christ's Crucifixion should teach me to crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and to destroy the Body of sin My belief of his Death and Burial should make me content to die for the sake of Truth being assured that if I suffer for Christ I shall also reign with him It should also keep me from being disheartned by Death seeing that Christ by dying hath taken away the Stinâ— of Death which is Sin and maâ— it an Entrance into Life My bâ—lieving the Resurrection of Chrisâ— should make me actually rise froâ— Sin to a New Life and utterlâ— to forsake my Sins as Christ diâ— the Grave to which after â— was once risen from it he returned no more My believinâ— Christ's Ascension and sitting â— the Right-hand of God shoulâ— teach me to set my Affections oâ— things above and not on thing on the Earth The believing Judgment to come should makâ— me careful so to walk as that may not be condemned in iâ— My believing the Holy Catholick Church and Communion oâ— Saints should render me mightâ— circumspect to preserve Charity which is the Bond of Peace and to avoid all things destructive oâ— Catholick Unity The Remission of sins which I believe should make me highly to esteem all those Ways and Means which
kept so long for this speaks it your want of Will and not of Power and that it was not your Weakness but something else that moved you to leave the Road wherein you had walked so long a time with ease and safety XC Use makes hard things easie the chief if not onely difficulty in Holiness is want of practice and a being accustom'd to the contrary The ways of Gods Commandments neither waste the Spirits nor gall the Feet of those who use constantly to walk in them Let the like serious and holy Thoughts possess your Soul for the future that you have the day of receiving and continue to co-operate with that Grace God gives you at the Sacrament and I see not why your whole Life may not be all of the same piece and your Conversation continue as vertuous and well-govern'd after as it was at the time you came to the Holy Communion from which I will no longer stay you than with this hearty Wish That when you come thither to renew your Covenant in Vows and Purposes of better Obedience God may vouchsafe to assist you with his Grace and to strengthen you with his Power that you may pay the Vows you then make unto him and that by Virtue of the heavenly Nourishment you there receive you may grow up in Grace and Holiness till at last you come to be a perfect man in Christ Amen THE Communicants Assistant BEING A COLLECTION OF DEVOTIONS To that purpose A Prayer before communicating WHY should I O God who by innumerable wayes have offended thee why should I dare to come to thy Table which none ought to approach but obedient Children and faithful Servants But seeing thy fatherly Goodness this day doth invite me to receive the blessed Pledges of my Peace and Reconciliation with thee and seeing thy well-beloved Son whose Death I now with all Thankfulness commemorate doth call unto him those and only those who travail and are heavy laden to whom the remembrance of their Sins is grievous and the burthen of them is intolerable Finding my self in this number I know thou wilt not reject me Raise O raise up my Heart and Spirit unto thee Strengthen my Faith and help my Infirmities Grant me power to perform and to persevere in all those good things thou now requirest at my hands and grant that the whole course of my Life may be answerable to the present purposes of my Heart and bring me at last to the enjoyment of those Blessings which at this thy holy Table thou art pleased to propound unto me Amen O My God raise up my Thoughts unto thee increase my Faith Hope and Charity warm my Heart with the divine Fire of thy Love purifie my Conscience with the Spirit of Sanctification Grant this day I may with full affiance in thee receive the Pledges of thy Goodness and the Seals of that Covenant which thou hast graciously contracted with me by the Mediation of thy Son my Saviour O My God save and deliver me from all my Offences and at the end of my Life receive me into thy heavenly Kingdom to the accomplishment of all those things which are represented at thy holy Table Let my future Conversation be as one of thy Sheep living in thy Church an Example of Peaceableness Charity Humility Patience and Justice Give me a firm reliance upon thy Promises a holy zeal for thy Worship and a sincere obedience to all thy Commands Fill my Heart with spiritual Joy keep me from the immoderate Cares of the World and among all disquiets here give me that Peace which the World can neither give nor take away from me For forgiveness of Sins FOrgive me my Sins O Lord forgive me the Sins of my Youth and the Sins of mine Age the Sins of my Soul and the Sins of my Body my secret and my whispering Sins my presumptuous and my crying Sins the Sins that I have done to please my self and the Sins that I have done to please others Forgive me my wanton and idle Sins forgive me my serious and deliberate Sins forgive me those Sins I know and those Sins which I know not the Sins which I have striven so long to hide from others that at last they are even hid from mine own Memory Forgive them O Lord forgive them all and of thy great Goodness let me be absolved from all mine Offences Amen PRAYERS FOR The several things required of those who come to the Lords Supper 1. To repent them truly of their former Sins A Prayer for true Repentance TO thee O God all Hearts are open all desires known and from thee no Secrets are hid so that if I would I cannot conceal my Sins from thee And now that I confess my Sins unto thee it is not to inform thy infinite Knowledge but to obey thy gracious Pleasure and to make me capable of that forgiveness promised to all who confess their Sins With a sorrowfull Heart therefore I confess my Sins unto thee I accuse my self here before thee of innumerable wicked thoughts and desires which I have conceived form'd and foster'd in my Heart of infinite corrupt and evil Words that I have utter'd with my Tongue of many naughty and ungodly Deeds which I have wrought with my Hands by all which I have provoked most justly thy Wrath and Indignation against me but it is thy Nature and Property always to have mercy and to forgive the Sins of them that are penitent Grant me therefore Holy Father the Grace of true repentance create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Grant I may truly lament my Sins whose burden is intollerable and whose remembrance is so grievous unto me And for the future inable me to cease from evil and learn to do well to cast away the Works of Darkness and to put on the Armour of Light and to bring forth Fruits of Repentance in amendment of Life to the Praise and Glory of thy Grace in Jesus Christ my blessed Redeemer 2. Stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life A Prayer for Perseverance in good Purposes GRant O God that I may bring the good Purposes with which this day I come to thy Holy Table Grant I may bring them to good effect I know I am light and unconstant turn'd with every blast diverted by every allurement and ready to yield to every Temptation But do thou O God who art the same Yesterday to Day and for ever do thou graciously impart some of thy unchangeableness to establish my Understanding in Truth and to keep it from the Snares of all seducing Spirits that I may not be led away with the Errours of those who are cunning to deceive Fix my irresolute and wavering Will and cause it faithfully to adhere unto that which is good Let neither the Flatteries of the World nor of my own Heart so far work upon my Affections as to draw me from that intire Obedience which I resolve from this day forward to
themselves descended of those Old Gnosticks who were so pestilential to the Primitive Church being notoriously addicted to Blaspheme rail at and speak evil of the things they know not and in a peculiar manner are gifted with Maliciousness Avarice Schismaticalness Rebellion and Contumacy According to their description in St. Jude 10.11.12 c. And the want of having been duly acquainted with the true grounds of Religion is one main reason why they are in that Divine Science such Smatterers and half-witted whereof there is small hopes ever to have them cured but by a full Institution in those Elements which are undeniably requisite to sound Knowledge But Catechising is not only necessary upon the account of a regular entrance and encrease of Knowledge in Religion but also to give us a clear intuition of those particular Truths whereof we cannot be ignoranâ—â—ut with the peril of our eternal Happiness For notwithstanding that all things necessary to Salvation are clear and plain in Scripture yet the Scripture it self is so spacious a Field that even a wary Traveller may therein lose himself And besides this the things necessary to be known by us in order to our future Welfare are in Sacred Writ so often mingled with things that are otherwise that it exceeds the generality of Capacities to find them out and rightly to sever Those that are idle as the most are in this Study will not take pains and those that are ignorant have not the ability to distinguish collect and reduce such necessary Points to their respective Chapters And yet till such Points be plainly digested into several Heads many at least the the illiterate Multitude will unavoidably want a competent Knowledge of what is necessary both to their Temporal and Immortal Happiness Now that the gathering of these necessary Truths into Sums and Models is the proper Work of Catchism is visible in all those Systems which have ever born that Name And of this Truth our own Church-Catechism yields a sufficient Testimony In which all things that concern Faith Practice Prayer and Doctrine are collected into such short and plain Sums that the weakness of no Mans Wit can either hinder altogether the Knowledge or excuse the utter ignorance of things necessary to Salvation For whosoever with a mind free from Prejudice shall impartially peruse the Church Catechism he therein may observe all saving Truths reduced to such short but full Heads that the weak are not left to the hazardous nor the slothful to the laborious re-search thereof in Holy Scriptures CHAP. VII Catechising the most sutable means to heal the Distempers of this Church Seveveral Propositions to be supposed A short digression concerning our Disorders BUT we will yet suppose that all which hitherto has been delivered ought to receive no better estimation than meer ordinary Discourse and that we are to proceed upon a new Ground and examine the necessity of Catechising in respect of the present Temper and Disposition or indeed rather Distempers and Disorders of this Church and People And in order unto this it will not be altogether impertinent and useless a little to consider what our present Disorders are And in the First Place we cannot but observe that our Declension both from the Design and Rule of the Gospel â—s not conspicuous only in those grand Debauchees who grow weary of the Name of Christ or profess it only to disgrace it But also in those who seem strict and severe in performing all the Formal and Exteriour part of Discipleship Even those I mean who are zealous Hearers of Christs Word and constant Communicants at his Table not professing Devotion to any other For even these are content as occasion serves to abandon that Purity Continence Meekness Humility Candor Mercifulness and other instances of a sweet Nature so vehemently urged by our Divine Law-giver and which are the genuine result of true Christian Principles for that one Law of sordid Interest brutal Passion and churlish Self-preservation although they cannot but acknowledge that all these are totally opposite to the true Spirit of Christianity And besides professed Politicians there are others who seem to look upon Religion as a meer Engine of State and a thing that is as tractable for Battery as Defence And who notwithstanding their contrary Pretences live as if they regarded not what Christ chiefly aimed at by his Incarnation Death and Resurrection And how that he gave himself for us both in his Birth and Death to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of Good Works And that he rose from the dead to bless us in turning every one of us from our Iniquities And that the main design of our inspired Christianity is the entire Reformation of our Lives and to make us as good as our Profession But besides this sort of Nominal Christians there is another which are so far transported with the opinion of that Union which they fancy already to enjoy with Christ that they dream to be in present Possession of that Vision which is peculiar to the future State And they are so dazled with the supposititious Glory of their Spiritual Perfection that they contemn the means ordained to make them truly perfect because they fancy they have arrived at it already And with these may be joyned all such who are so closely addicted to their own Opinions that they think it a matter of Conscience Piety and Religion to oppose and condemn whosoever are not of their Mind and Perswasion Since whose rise we have been under a sensible decay of Charity and as a natural consequent thereof an encrease of wickedness But if these ingross not all the occasions of our Disorders there is another sort of People who will fill up their measure Those I mean who pervert the plainest Scriptures to such a meaning as doth best help to carry on their Designs And what is yet worse who make it matter of Conscience to assert that Sense of the Text which they have perversely mistaâ—en And this deifying our own Interpretations and tyrannically enforcing â—hem upon others This restraining of the Word of God from that Latitude and Generality and the Understandings of Men from that liberty wherein Christ and his Apostles left them is and hath been the only Fountain of all the Schisms of the Church and that which makes them Immortal The common Incentaries of Christendom and that which â—ears into pieces not the Coat but the â—owels and Members of Christ Ridente â—urcâ nec dolente Judaeo Take away these Walls of Separation and all will quickly be one Take away the damning of Men for not subscribing to the Words of Men as the Words of God require of Christians only to believe Christ and to call no Man Master but him only Let those leave claiming Infalibility who have no Title to it and let them that in their Words disclaim it disclaim it likewise in their Actions In a word take away tyranny in
And by this short account of what the Godfathers and Godmothers do for the Infant in Baptism it is easie to apprehend that none need withdraw from this Pious Work for the supposed Difficulty of its Discharge And therefore those who rightly understand this Suretiship and yet refuse it they may be thought rather to want Charity than Power and that they are unwilling and not unable to perform it Nor doth it less reflect upon their deportment who turn this pious Custom into an idle Ceremony by privately devolving upon the Parents what they publickly undertook for their children which doth at once frustrate and contradict the intendment of the Ohurch and delude the Congregation of God's people But it may be further objected That the Vow of Baptism being made by others renders the Performance and Observation thereof by the Child a thing of constraint and not of election for the baptized when grown up doth not follow his own choice but his Sureties and allows of what was at Baptism promised in his behalf not out of willingness but pre-engagement all which is oppposite to the genuine Nature of a Vow And in Answer to this Objection it will be convenient to observe That the Vow and Promise made by Sureties in Baptism is not absolute for in an absolute sense no man can undertake for another But the Vow is conditional and the Child when come to age must either own it or forfeit the benefits of Baptism And as those who are married being Minors when come to mature years may chuse whether the Marriage shall be ratified or rescinded So it is in the power of the Baptized at years of discretion to acknowledge or renounce the Vow of Baptism If he allow of and consent to what at holy Baptism was vowed in his Name which is still supposed at the making of the Vow then he is bound actually to believe and do it But if he disclaim it which is in his power then he disowns all Interest and Priviledge in Christ with all the benefits of that Society into which by Baptism he became incorporate The Catechism teacheth us out of the Creed to believe That God the Son hath redeemed all mankind which cannot be true say many because he died only for the Elect. But they would have no reason to impugn the Churches Doctrine in this particular if those Scriptures were impartially considered by them Ezek. 18.23 32. S. Joh. 3.16 Heb. 2.9 Rom. 1.4 5. S. Joh. 4.42 1 Tim. 4.10 S. Joh. 1.7 2 S. Pet. 3.9 whereon this Position is founded A few of which are here barely quoted in the Margin on purpose to shew the ground of the Churches Doctrine and to guide those to the Topicks of their confutation who gainsay this I believe in God the Son who hath redeemed me and all mankind That his death was both sufficient and intentional to save all mankind but is effectual and efficacious for none but true Believers is a distinction which being wisely and soberly understood would remove that clashing which some fancy there is betwixt the Catechism and the Seventeenth Article of the Church Many other Scruples brought against this excellent Catechism are purposely omitted because they will easily be obviated in its intended Exposition Besides I have bound my self to observe the Laws of an Essay which I must unavoidably violate if I should venture upon all such Enlargements as the Subject would naturally endure I had rather be censured for having said too little than too much Deus dedit his quoque finem THE CONCLUSION WE have hitherto examin'd the Age and Advantages of Catechising and found it to stand above the imputation of being either Novel or Superfluous So that the only remaining Enquiry concerns its Practice And this will exact no long disquisition seeing every Station of men are therein so perfunctory and negligent Now as in a common Contagion no less care must be had of the sound than infirm and the cure of single persons is required to the removal of the Epidemical Disease So remissness in Catechising being become a common Malady it behoves every one to look after amendment to the end that the Church may be healed of all those Distempers faln upon her through lack of Catechising and which if not prevented with a timely interposition thereof will effect that destruction which they threaten and prognosticate And if we look into the persons who are capable herein to be delinquent they may be reduced either to such as the Church has ordained to administer or receive this Sovereign Medicine The former are the Clergy in the whole denomination for he among them who excepts deceives both himself and the Church And notwithstanding that the Clergy in Sacred Writ bear divers appellations importing the Dignity Power Holiness Excellency Care Tenderness Discretion and Incommunity of their Functions yet there is no Title wherein they are more concerned than that of Catechist For it doth first more immediately relate to that Errand on which from the beginning they were sent into the world Go teach c. And next unto the want and supply of those over whom God hath made them Overseers And while they own themselves to be the Churches Ministers they should take care to serve her in her own way For since that was left for paths of their own and more oyl and labour has been spent in arguing than in teaching the Principles of Christianity it is sadly visible how Religion has thriven among us For from endeavouring to support Christianity with Buttresses of our own captious and malitious Enemies take occasion to conclude that it cannot stand without them The superstructure seems to be the proper matter of our care where we believe the Ground-work lies immoveable And blessed be the Author and Finisher of our Faith that he has founded it upon a Rock and maketh it so strong that the Gates of Hell the strength and subtilty of her greatest Enemies can never be able to prevail against it Were we to deal with open Adversaries of the Faith Jew Mahometan Pagan the Ancient Fathers have shewn us an excellent way of procedure but having to do with Professors whose evil manners have corrupted their Understanding not the proving of the verity of the Christian Religion but the enforcement of its Practice seems to be the only necessary prescription But without being decisive or stinting the spirit of any man I hope it may be lawful to wish that the Clergy out of a true sense of what they are enjoyn'd and bound to obey by the 59th Canon would return to the good old way of Catechising for since this was shoulder'd out by Sermoning the people have been possessed wâ—â—h strange Whimsies in Religion and hurried on by the Spirit of Schism and Sedition into all manner of Villanies A learned and pious Bishop of this Church doth as I am told in his own Person and Cathedral perform this Office A few such leading Examples would soon raise the sunk Esteem of Catechising and vindicate it from being thought a Drudgery fit only for children and Curates And I humbly conjecture that there is no Clergy-man need think it any lessening of his Greatness and Learning to be seen teaching God's People after the manner of the Holy Apostles and Primitive Bishops Our Ancestors who knew something as well as we were not ignorant of the necessity and benefit of what is now most affectionately recommended when Queen Elizabeth made it her 44th Injunction and King James his command That afternoon-Lectures should be converted into Explanations of some necessary Rudiments of the Catechism out of a prudent fore-sight that this would be more advantageous to the People than some ex tempore irruptions or enlarging a few contrived Breviates upon desultory Texts The Laity are the next sort that herein can he faulty to whose attentive thoughts I would most earnestly recommend first the serious perusal of the Rubrick adjoyned to the Catechism together with the 59th Canon Next the examination of their knowledge in Religion that by that former they may know their Duty and by the latter their want of being catechised And by both be induced to embrace what to their own damage and the Churches affliction they have undutifully neglected FINIS THE CONTENTS The Introduction Fol. 1. CHAP. I. OF Catechising It s Name Use Secular and Religious p. 5. CHAP. II. The Age of Catechism The Institution of Adam's and Abraham's Family The Schools of the Prophets The continual use of Catchising among the Jews particularly after the Erection of the Synagogues Their Benefit thereby p. 9. CHAP. III. Catechising in times of the Apostles Evidences thereof in St. Pauls Epistles The Contents of their Catechism p. 25. CHAP. IV. The Apostles Catechists in several Provinces The Declension and Restauration of Catechising Catechists Styled Exorcists c. p. 32. CHAP. V. The Antiquity of Catechism probable upon the account of its convenience In respest of the Object Method of Instruction p. 35. CHAP. VI. Catechism necessary in respect of the encrease and advancement of Spiritual Knowledge To have a distinct Understanding of things necessary to Salvation c. p. 39. CHAP. VII Catechising the most sutable means to heal the Distempers of this Church Several Propositions to be supposed A short digression concerning our Disorders p. 42. CHAP. VIII The Methods used for our reclaiming surveyed proving ineffectual p. 57. CHAP. IX The Just Matter and Subject of Controversie in Religion examined How by Catechising and not Dispute we are therein in to be reconciled p. 62. CHAP. X. Disputation unfit for the capacity of the generality of Dissenters Catechising proper c. Reasons against Disputes p. 68. CHAP. XI Preaching what it is the several ways thereof used by the Church What kind of Preaching among the Old Jews and Primitive Christians The Homilies considered p. 80. CHAP. XII Preaching insufficient to restore our Dissentions Catechising proper for that purpose c. A Scruple removed p. 92. CHAP. XIII The Benefits of Catechizing 1. In respect of the Civil State 2. The Clergy 3. The People The Mischiefs of private Schools Objections against the constant practice of Catechizing removed p. 99. CHAP. XIV The Church-Catechism to be preferr'd before others for its Authority Usefulness Accomplishment Contents c. p. 102. CHAP. XV. An Account of some Objections usually brought against the Church-Catechism 115 The Conclusion p. 135