of heaven and earth and in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord which was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontins Pilate was crucified dead and buried He descended into hell The third day he rose againe from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead I beleeve in the holy Ghost The holy Catholick Church The Communion of Saints The forgivenesse of sins The Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Amen Quest What doest thou chiefly learn in these Artieles Ans. First I learn to beleeve in God who made me and all the world Secondly in God the Son who redeemed me and all Mankind Thirdly in God the holy Ghost who sanctifieth me and all the elect people of God Quest What else art thou bound to beleeve Ans. All other holy truths as they shall be administred to me especially all the promises of the Gospel to be relyed upon the commands to be obeyed Quest The second condition of the Gospel is to repent and what is that repentance Ans. After a hearty sorrow for and an humble acknowledgement of my sins a total departure from them Quest But are there no sinnes which may consist with this state of Gospel-repentance Ans. Yes Sins committed in ignorance through infirmity or by supprise in a sudden temptation if we be truly humbled for them and constantly strive against them Quest What sinnes are not consistent with that estate Ans. All wilfull and deliberate courses of sinning and a customary continuing in any known wickedness Quest The third condition of the Gospel of Christ being to obey his Commandments among which are accounted the Ten Commandments and what are they 1. THou shalt have no other Gods but me 2 Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likenesse of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my Commandments 3. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain For the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vain 4. Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath-Sabbath-day six dayes shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt do no manner of work thou and thy son and thy daughter thy man-servant and thy maid-servant thy cattell and the stranger that is within thy gates For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea all that in them is and rested the seventh day and hallowed it 5. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 6. Thou shalt do no murther 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery 8. Thou shalt not steal 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his servant nor his maid nor his oxe nor his asse nor any thing that is his Quest Are there not other Commandments of Christ besides these which are properly the precepts of the Gospel Ans. Yes many which may be observed by diligent hearing the Gospel preached and reading the books of the New Testament which together with the former Commandments are reduced to these three principal heads Quest What are they Ans. To live Godly Righteously and Soberly The first respects my duties to God The second to men The third to my self Quest what is it to live godly in such duties as respect God Ans. To perform to him all that worship and service that is due unto him publickly and privately Quest What duties art thou bound to perform to him publickly Ans. To joyn with the Congregation in the frequent receiving the holy Sacrament in the publick prayers and in hearing the Word of God read and preached And in all these behaving my self with such reverence of body and mind as befits the presence of so great a Majesty Quest What is that private worship which thou art bound as a Christian to perform to God Ans. To offer up unto him the daily sacrifice of prayer and praise giving him the exercise of the affections of my heart and all other parts and faculties of my soul and body to honour him with my substance in the maintenance of his worship and relieving the poor and to serve him truly all the dayes of my life Quest What is it to live righteously in respect of our duties to men Ans. To yeeld all honour and obedience to the civil Magistrate to submit my self to all my teachers spiritual Pastors and Masters to love honour and succour my Father Mother to be civil and respective to all my betters To invade no mans rights or dues nor to advantage my self by anothers losse and in all things both in word and deed to do to all men as I would they should do unto me Quest What is it to live soberly as to thy self Ans. Not to minde high things above my degree but to behave my self contentedly in my present condition to be temperate in eating and drinking to be chaste in all my desires and actions and to keep my soul and body undefiled members of Christ and as becomes the temple of the holy Ghost Quest For asmuch as no man can do any thing without the grace of God which he must continually call for by diligent prayer What therefore are the words of the Lords Prayer Ans. Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name thy Kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen Quest But is God to be sought by no prayers but this Ans. Yes Here let the Master enquire into the childes progresse in the preceding Forms or some other of that kinde according to its capacity 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 3. 5. Eph. 2. 5. 8. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 18 Rom. 3. 24. Iohn 10. 28. 1 Ioh. 2. 25 Tit. 1. 2. 1 Thes. 5. 9 1 Tim. 2. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 9. Ezâ—. 18. 31. John 3. 15. Luke 13. 3. 1 Iohn 1. 9. Heb. 5. 9. 1 Thes. 2. 8. Ioh. 5. 47. Acts 8. 37. Ioâ—. 8. 31. 1 Cor. 8. 4.
Thanksgiving O merciful Father after all thy mecies to me in the whole course of my life my soul hath this day further seen and tasted how good the Lord is in many significations of mercie and loving kindness to me I bless thee O Lord for the great work of mercie in Iesus Christ For that I have a time to repent me of those sins for which I might even now have been suffering in an eternal punishment I praise thee that I am not roating in a torment languishing in a disease pining in a prison nor a poor vagrant nor a disconsolate captive But on the contrary O my Lord thou hast given me a residence a protâ—ction a plenty a sound mind an healthful body and liberty But most especially that thou hast offered me sweet testimonies of thy present grace and a blessed hope of future glory Now O my Lord for every of these and for all other the blessed evidences of thy love and goodness to me I do from my soul acknowledg thy mercie and bless praise and magnity thy great and glorious Name for ever and ever And O Lord keep me this night under the same protection and let the mercy of my God so preserve me that neither sin nor danger may make me miserable through the might of Iesus Christ my ever blessed Saviour Amen Vse the same intercession that is set for the Morning Service THE Largest Forme FOR Private Exercise Morning PRAYER When thou addressest thy self to thy morning service first frame thy mind to meditate of the glorious excellencies and presence of God and worship him in this or the like manner Our Father which art c. O Most glorious and incomprehensible Lord God of heaven and earth whose immense essence and infinite perfections no tongue can express nor heart conceive Before whose Dreadful Majesty the holy Angels vaile their faces and the glorified Spirits cast their crowns Thou O Lord art only worthy to receive Glory Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Therefore being sensible of my miserable nothing poverty and dependency and admiring thy absolute and infinite excellencies do throw my self my soul and body at the foot of thy Majesty and do adore and worship thy divine presence acknowledging that blessing honour and power is due unto thee for ever and ever Amen A Confession O Lord my God who art a God of purity and holiness and hatest the wayes of iniquity Though thou hast sentenced sin to a wages of death and an eternal punishment and hast declared a dislike of all wicked persons and their performances yet O Lord wretch that I am I have not ceased to do evill in thy sight and to depart from all thy holy wayes For I have yeelded my self too much to satisfy the vanity of my corrupt mind and my unholy lusts not considering their inconsistencie with the Kingdom of Christ I have inclined my affections desires and designes too much to present enjoyments and suffered my heart to be betrayed by them to a forgetfulness or thee and departure from thee O Lord I have either altogether omitted the duties of thy service and worship or performed them too loosely and subordinately or with too much hypocrisie or confidence in them I confesse I have every way lived unanswerably to the infinite mercies and strict commandments of the Gospel too much neglecting the great salvation and the excellencies of the peace of Christ O Lord my God when I consider the iniquities I have committed in my mind with evill thoughts in my tongue in sinfull words and how much all parts and faculties have concurred as instruments of sin how I have offended against the motions of thy Spirit and my own purposes against all thy lawes and all thy providences in all my actions and employments and in every part of my life my sins become an heavy burthen too heavy for me to bear Here open thy soul to God in particulars so that for them and all other my sins I have justly deserved thy wrath and indignation to afflict me in this life with signal punishments and in the life to come with eternall torments Petition for Pardon But O Lord my God give me a true and sincere repentance such as thou shalt please to accept in Christ O teach mine eyes to weep my heart to break my soul to mourn for all my sins O let my understanding alwayes perceive and be convinced of their filthinesse and deadliness even as when thou beholdest sinnes to punish them or as when thou requiredst the blood of my Saviour to satisfie thy justice for them Lord help me to purpose against them and truly to depart from them as if the shame and unprofitablenesse the curse and the hell of them were alwayes before me And O Lord I beseech thee for thy tender mercies and bowels of compassion sake who canst not delight in the death of a sinner to pitty my poor soul lying under the burthen of my sins O my dear Iesus let these wounds of my soul be healed by thy stripes and the divine justice that I have offended be satisfied by thy dear sufferings And since thou hast paid a price for my sins and still intercedest for the pardon of them O deliver me from the guilt and burthen of them an unpeaceable conscience and a miserable eternity the just wages of them Through the merits of my dear Iesus my Lord and Saviour Amen Petition for Grace O my most gracious God I being sensible of my spiritual poverty and inabilitie to understand desire or think of the things of my peace without thy assistance do beseech thee in thy tender mercies not to leave my soule to the guidance of my sinful nature nor to give me over to my own vile affections but rather grant me power through thy holy Spirit to crucify my lusts and to deny my self in all things that are inconsistent with thee O strengthen me to encounter with the temptations of the world and let not the seeming satisfactions of any outward enjoyment betray my soul to forget thee or to decline my obedience to thee Lord grant me the compleat armour of thy grace that I may alwayes prevent the wiles of the devil and overcome the powers and rulers of darkness in their temptations Give me a disposedness in all parts and faculties of soul and body to exercise their offices in obedience to Christ Enlighten my understanding to mind heavenly things draw my will after thee and command all my affections to thee Fill me O Lord with every grace of the Gospel whose exercise thou requirest of me as a disciple of Christ O make me able to live godly to thee in all parts of thy worship righteously to men by the strict rules of justice and soberly to my self in all temperance and chastity Lord make me humble sincere meek patient and peaceable and give me strength to obey the whole will of Christ in all his
commaudments That having run the race that is set before me I may obtain through thy undeserved mercie in Christ the perfect peace of thy presence for evermore Amen The Thanksgiving O Lord of Glory and Power whose eye of providence runneth through the world to guide govern and provide for all things in whom alone I live move and have my being and from whom I have received whatsoever comfort I enjoy O Lord my soul acknowledgeth thou hast done gracious things for me and hast given me a large portion of thy fatherly mercies every way I blesse thee that when thou formedst me in my mothers womb I received no signal defect in body or mind and that thou hast since kept them both from all fearful changes and deformities And that when the sentence of death was upon me in the common fall of Mankinde Lord thou gavest me thy dear Son to redeem my soul to a possibility of life I thank thee for every grace and good work that may evidence thy Spirit in me and for that I have not committed every grosse wickednesse to which nature and temptation have made me subject I praise thy Name O Lord for all the comforts I enjoy that concern this life my health peace liberty friends and livelihood and for the safety of my soul and body this night under the protection of thy sweet providence Keep me this day by the same fatherly goodnesse secure me from all sad accidents that attend upon my frail estate and most especially keep me from all offences to thy divine Majesty O let no temptation prevaile upon me nor let my soul give way to any occasion of evill Give me grace to perform to thee all that thou hast commanded me and all the good thou hast put in my power O let me so live this day as if this night following were to be my last sleep and to morrow the last judgement Through the might of Jesus Christ my Saviour Amen The intercâ—ssions are put after the evening prayer being to be used both after morning and evening exercises Evening PRAYER The addresse to God by way of worship in the morning Prayer the supplicant if he please may now use also Our Father which art in heaven c. The Confession MOst glorious Lord God that inhabitest eternity and art cloathed with Majesty and power I that am but dust and ashes and thy poor creature desire to fall low at the footstool of thy Glories magnifying thine excellencies and acknowledging my unworthiness to lift up mine eyes to heaven against which I have sinned or to appeal to those mercies which I have so much neglected and abused For Lord when I consider my self I am nothing but a masse of corruption and sin to which I have made all the faculties of my soul and members of my body which were created for good works and thy glory to become instrumental And all those excellent lawes which thou hast set before me to be the rule of my obedience I have both lightly regarded and wilfully transgressed in the whole course of my life Such O Lord as concern thy self and thy immediate worship I have either altogether omitted or carelesly perform'd in my dealings with men I have not so strictly as I should observed that rule of Christ to do to all men as I would they should do unto me neither have I been so carefull to observe the holy lawes of Christ concerning my self as I should in a temperate chaste and sober conversation And as I have contracted a heavie burthen upon my soul by the sinfulnesse of my whole life so have I this day in particular added much to my former wretched account For I have not restrained my thoughts from vain imaginations nor set a strict watch before the door of my lips to prevent sinful and impertinent discourses Lord I have been too dull remiss in thy service too negligent in the duties of my calling too carelesse of the opportunities of doing good to others And though thou hast given me this day as another day of grace yet I have made in it little ot no progress in the way of my salvation that shouldest thou deal with me according to the carriage of my soul this day before thee thou mightest justly deny me another day of mercie and leave me to my selfe and to the said wages of my sins for evermore For Pardon But O Lord my God whose mercies are over all thy works and hast graciously promised to forgive and to accept a poor penitent soul returning to thee in sorrow and true repentance have mercie upon me have mercie upon me O hide not thy face from me nor cast thy servant away in thy displeasure Remember not my sins and offences but think thou upon me according to thy great goodnesse And though I come to thee with a weak faith and an imperfect sorrow even with such a repentance as ought to be repented of yet Lord accept of me for I come in the plea of my Saviours blood that satisfied thy justice for all my sins Deny me not therefore O Lord the benefits of his blessed death and passion let my soul have a portion in the rich price of that blood by which I may have peace and reconciliation with thee my God for evermore Amen For Grace O merciful Father in the humble sense of my own insufficiencie not only not to do but not to think of any thing in concernment to my salvation without thy grace I do humbly beseech thee in thy tender compassions to help me with thy divine assistance that I may be able to live conformably to the example of Christ and the strict holinesse of the Gospel O convince my judgement that there is no peace nor profit in the wayes of sin and incline my will and ingage all my affections to the pursuit of spirituall things as the chiefest good Let not O Lord my carnal lusts and affections nor any thing that is desirable in the vaine world nor the policie of the devil deceive my soul to neglect my dutie to Christ or the things of my eternal peace Lord make me sincere and exemplarie in thy worship and service diligent in my calling and just in all my actions make me charitable to my power to all that want me and strictly sober chaste and temperate in my self and in the use of all thy creatures Lord help me to be such as I may please thee in all thy wayes and as I may comfortably appeare before thee when I come to death or judgement Through the might of Iesus Christ my blessed Saviour Amen Thanksgiving O Glorious Lord who art my good God and gracious Father thou hast from time to time given me large expressions of thy love and goodnesse even when for my rebellions against thee and forgetfulnes of thee I might before this time have been cast off from thy protection and made a spectacle of thy justice to others in some signal punishments O Lord how great