Bondage I. Thou shalt have none other Gods but me II. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness 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 III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain IV. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day Six days shalt thou labour and doe all that thou hast to doe but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt doe no manner of work thou and thy Son and thy Daughter thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant thy Cattel and the stranger that is within thy Gates For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it V. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee VI. Thou shalt doe no Murther VII Thou shalt not commit Adultery VIII Thou shalt not Steal IX Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's House thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's Wife nor his Servant nor his Maid nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any thing that is his Q. What dost thou chiefly learn by these Commandments A. I learn two things my duty towards God and my duty towards my Neighbour Q. What is thy duty towards God A. My duty towards God is I. II. To believe in him to fear him and to love him with all my heart with all my mind with all my Soul and with all my strength to worship him to give him thanks to put my whole trust in him to call upon him III. To honour his holy Name and his Word IV. And to serve him truly all the days of my life Q. What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour A. My duty towards my Neighbour is To love him as my self and to doe to all men as I would they should doe to me V. To love honour and succour my Father and Mother To honour and obey the King and all that are put in Authority under him To submit my self to all my Governours Teachers spiritual Pastours and Masters To order my self lowly and reverently to all my betters VI. To hurt no body by word or deed VII To be true and just in all my dealings VIII To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart IX To keep my hands from picking and stealing X. And my tongue from evil-speaking lying and slandering XI To keep my body in temperance soberness and chastity XII Not to covet and desire other mens goods but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living and to doe my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me Q. You have shew'd me how the Creed presents to us the Motives shew me next how the Ten Commandments contain the Fruits or Effects of Divine love A. Jesus our Love the great Prophet of Love has given us this trial of our love If ye love me keep my Commandments Q. Are there not some general Rules very usefull to be observ'd in expounding the Commandments A. Divine Love does suggest to us the best Rules and is the best Expositour to teach us the full importance of every Command Q. Shew me how A. The Love of God does necessarily include these two things a tenderness to please and a fearfulness to offend our Beloved and this Love will be a sure guide to us in both the affirmative and the negative part of each Command Q. Express this more distinctly A. I shall doe it in these following Particulars 1. O my God when in any of thy Commands a duty is enjoin'd Love tells me the contrary evil is forbidden when any evil is forbidden Love tells me the contrary duty is enjoin'd O do thou daily increase my love to good and my antipathy to evil 2. Though thy Commands and Prohibitions O Lord are in general terms yet let thy love direct my particular practice and teach me that in one general are imply'd all the kinds and degrees and occasions and incitements and approaches and allowances relating to that good or evil which are also commanded or forbidden and give me grace to pursue or to fly them 3. O my God keep my love always watchfull and on its guard that in thy negative Precepts I may continually resist evil keep my love warm with an habitual zeal that in all thy affirmative Precepts I may lay hold on all seasons and opportunities of doing good 4. Let thy love O thou that onely art worthy to be belov'd make me carefull to persuade and engage others to love thee and to keep thy Commands as well as my self 5. None can love thee O Lord and endeavour to keep thy holy Commands but his daily failings in his duty his frequent involuntary and unavoidable slips and surreptions and wandrings afflict and humble him the infirmities of lapst nature create him a kind of perpetual martyrdom because he can love thee no more because he can so little serve thee But thou O most compassionate Father in thy Covenant of Grace dost require sincerity not perfection and therefore I praise and love thee O my God though I cannot love and obey thee as much as I desire I will doe it as much as I am able I will to the utmost of my power keep all thy Commandments with my whole heart and to the end O accept of my imperfect duty and supply all the defects of it by the merits and love and obedience of Jesus thy Beloved 6. Glory be to thee O thou supreme Law-giver for delivering these Commands to sinfull men they are the words which thou thy self O great Iehovah didst speak O let me ever have an awfull regard for every word thou hast spoken O let me ever love thee for speaking them and for giving us the Laws of Love 7. Glory be to thee O Lord God who to make every one of us sensible of our obligation hast given all thy Commands in the second Person and by saying Thou hast spoken in particular to every Soul that every Soul might love and obey thee Glory be to thee O my God who in this short abstract in these Ten Commandments hast compris'd the full extent of our Duty all the effects of Divine Love Teach me O Lord to examine my Love by thy Commands that I may know how to please thee that I may know
more than rudely describe it It is the general inclination and tendency of the whole man of all his heart and soul and strength of all his powers and affections and of the utmost strength of them all to God as his chief and onely and perfect and infinite Good Q. Is this love of God taught in the Catechism A. The Catechism having in the entrance of it presented to our choice the happiness of a Christian does throughout all the remaining parts of it instruct us in the duties of a Christian by which that happiness is to be attain'd which are all sum'd up in the love of God which is here most methodically taught Q. In what method does the Catechism teach the love of God A. In a method so excellent and natural that if by God's help I can but faithfully observe it I shall not fail of the love of God Q. Explain this method to me A. It teaches me how the love of God is produc'd how practis'd and how preserved Q. Shew me more distinctly in what parts of the Catechism each of these particulars is coucht A. If I seriously desire the love God I must first expell all contrary loves out of my heart and then consider the motives and causes that excite it the former is taught in the Vow of Baptism the latter in the Creed When divine love is once produc'd my next care is to put it in practice and that is by bringing forth the fruits or effects of Love which are all contain'd in the Ten Commandments When the love of God is produc'd in my heart and is set on work my last concern is to preserve and ensure and quicken it It is preserv'd by Prayer the pattern of which is the Lord's Prayer It is ensured to us by the Sacraments which are the Pledges of Love and more particularly it is quickned by the Holy Eucharist which is the feast of Love So that the plain order of the Catechism teaches me the rise the progress and the perfection of Divine love which God of his great mercy give me grace to follow Q. I beseech God to give you the grace you pray for that you may prosecute this method with your heart as well as with your words A. It is the full purpose of my Soul so to doe and I trust in God I shall doe it Q. You are to begin with the vow you made at your Baptism Tell me What did your Godfathers and Godmothers then for you A. They did promise and vow three things in my name First That I should renounce the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked World and all the sinfull lusts of the flesh Secondly That I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And thirdly That I should keep God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my life Q. Dost thou not think thou art bound to believe and to doe as they have promised for thee A. Yes verily and by God's help so I will and I heartily thank our Heavenly Father that he hath call'd me to this state of Salvation through Iesus Christ our Saviour And I pray unto God to give me his grace that I may continue in the same unto my lives end Q. The promises of faith and obedience which you made in your baptism will be mention'd in their proper places when you come to the Creed and to the Decalogue that which now lies before you is to shew how your Abrenunciation is preparatory to the love of God A. As all particular graces are but the love of God varied by different instances and relations so all particular sins are nothing but concupiscence or the love of one Creature or other in competition with or opposition to the love of God Now all the Creatures on which we set our love are reducible to these three the Devil the World and the Flesh and my heart must be emptied of these impure Loves before it is capable of entertaining the pure love of God Q. If you are conscious to your self that you have entertained these impure Loves and have violated your baptismal Vow and have in your heart renounc'd God instead of renouncing his Enemies what must you doe to recover that favour of God you have lost and to be deliver'd from the wrath to come A. I must throughly repent of all the breaches of my vow and I must seriously renew it Q. Express your repentance for breaking it A. I express it thus O Lord God with shame and sorrow and confusion of Face I confess and acknowledge thy infinite mercy and goodness to me my infinite vileness and ingratitude to thee Thou Lord infinitely good and gratious wast pleas'd out of thy own free mercy first to love me to excite me to love again glory be to thee Thou Lord didst vouchsafe of a miserable Sinner to make me a Member of my Saviour thy own Child and an Heir of Heaven glory be to thee I infinitely wicked and unworthy have despis'd and rejected and forfeited all the inestimable Blessings to which I was intitled by my Baptism Lord have mercy upon me Woe is me wretch that I am I have cut my self off by my sins from being a true Member of Christ's Mystical Body and from all the gratious influences I might have deriv'd from my union to him Lord have mercy upon me Woe is me wretch that I am I have by my numerous provocations lost that holy Spirit of Adoption whereby I might become thy Child O God and call thee Father and am become a Child of wrath Lord have mercy upon me Woe is me wretch that I am I have by my own willfull impiety disclaimed my being an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven and am become an Heir to the Kingdom of Darkness Lord have mercy upon me Woe is me I have easily yielded to the temptations of Satan and have wrought the works of my Father the Devil Lord have mercy upon me Woe is me I have greedily coveted and pursued the pomps and vanity of this wicked World Lord have mercy upon me Woe is me I have often indulg'd the sinfull lusts of the Flesh Lord have mercy upon me Woe is me I have lov'd all things which thou Lord hatest and am my self become odious in thy sight Lord have mercy upon me Woe is me I have neither believ'd in thee O my God nor obey'd thee nor lov'd thee as I ought and as I solemnly vow'd I would Lord have mercy upon me O Lord God most gratious and reconcileable Pitty and pardon me I lament O Lord God my detestable impiety for having so long and so often and so obstinately offended thee In the bitterness of my Soul O Father of mercy I bewail and abhor my unworthiness and the hardness of my heart that has despis'd the riches of thy goodness and forbearance and long-suffering which should have lead me to repentance O Lord God whatever thou
my heart shall ever be jealous of thy Name I can have no true love no real concern for thee if I do not to the utmost of my power assert and vindicate the Name of my Beloved whenever I hear it dishonour'd O my God O my Love fix in my Soul an habitual pure intention of thy glory in all my actions that whether I eat or drink or whatever I doe I may doe all to the glory of my Beloved Oaths O my God O my Love fill me with a religious awe of Oaths in which the honour of thy beloved Name is so highly concern'd I know O great Iehovah that in an Oath I solemnly invoke thee as a Witness to attest the truth of what I swear as a Judge to punish me if I swear falsly Far be it from me O Lord God ever to swear and in swearing to invoke thee unless upon inducements lawfull and important when thy Glory the Command of my Superiours the visible good of my Neighbour the ending of strife or my own Innocence obliges me to it O Lord God whenever I am duly call'd to an Assertory Oath grant I may swear in truth in righteousness and in judgment Whatever lawfâ—â—â— Promissory Oaths I â—â—ke Lord give me grace 〈◊〉 iously to perform them though to my own hinâ—â—ance Uows The glory of thy most beloved Name O great Iehovah next to the truth of our Oaths we invoke thee to attest is câ—â—cern'd in the sincerity of those Vows we oâ—â—er thee â—o accept O do thou therefore create in me a serious sense of the religiousness of Vows that my Vows may not dishonour thee O my God O my Love whenever I voluntarily vow a Vow to thee give me grace to vow with all the due caution I can that I may vow those things onely which are lawfull and acceptable to thee and which thou hast put in my power that I may vow with deliberation and ghostly advice and on weighty and considerable occasions onely and with a design of glory and thankfulness and love to thee O my God O my Love give me grace faithfully to perform all the Vows I make to thee especially my Baptismal Vow and all my repeated Vows of amendment in which I have so often vow'd to glorify and love thy Name O my God O my Love let thy All-powerfull Love abound in my heart and in the hearts of all that profess thy name that in all these and in all other possible instances of thy Love our Souls may be continually employed to praise and to love thee O my God O my Love who is there that knows thy great thy beloved Name can ever in the least dishonour it O my God O my Love I renounce and detest and bewail as odious and offensive to thee as directly opposite to thy love and to thy glory All taking of thâ— Name in vain All use of it on trivial occasions and without holy awe All abuse of it in impious Jests in Charms or Curses or Imprecations or telling Fortunes or exploratory Lots all irreverent thoughts of thy Name profaneness and blasphemy All denying thee by my works or refusing publickly to confess thee when call'd to it or tamely enduring to hear thee dishonour'd All heathenish or customary or rash Oaths or swearing in ordinary communication or by any Creature All breaking of lawfull Oaths Perjury false-swearing and invoking thee O God of truth to attest a lye sins most destructive to publick Faith and Society and to our own Souls and most dishonourable and hatefull to thee All hasty or unlawfull or superstitious or impossible Vows all breaking those that are regularly made All the least tendencies to any of these impieties From all these and the like hatefull violations of thy Love and from that vengeance they justly deserve O my God O my Love deliver me and deliver all faithfull People O great Iehovah thou art jealous for thy glorious and beloved Name and without a particular and serious repentance thou wilt not hold him guiltless that taketh it in vain thou wilt pour on him the vials of thy wrath thy wrath eternal and yet thy ever blessed Name is alas alas daily hourly blasphemed O Apostate Infamous World wherein Infinite Goodness is so oft blasphem'd were not thy Name Love O Lord as well as Iehovah thou hadst long agoe aveng'd thy self of the blasphemous World with a vengeance worthy of God Glory be to thee O Long-suffering Love for thy forbearance efficacious of its self to convert the whole World did the World but seriously consider it O Almighty Love thou canst as easily diffuse thy Love over the World as thou didst at first diffuse Light O let thy Fear and thy Love so universally affect the Age that thy great and beloved Name may be universally ador'd and lov'd The Fourth Commandment Glory be to thee O my God O my Love who in compassion to humane weakness which is not capable of an uninterrupted contemplation of thee such as the Saints have above hast appointed a solemn day on purpose for thy remembrance Glory be to thee O my God my Love for proportioning a seventh part of our time to thy self and liberally indulging the remainder to our own use O my God O my Love let me ever esteem it my privilege and my happiness to have a day of rest set apart for thy service and the concerns of my own Soul to have a day free from distractions disengaged from the World wherein I have nothing to doe but to praise and to love thee Lord grant that I may not onely on thy day give thee due worship my self but may give rest and leisure also to my Family to all under my charge to serve thee also to indulge ease to my very Beasts since good men are mercifull even to them Glory be to thee O blessed Spirit who on the first day of the week didst descend in miraculous gifts and graces on the Apostles O descend upon me that I may be always in the spirit on the Lord's day O my God O my Love give me grace on thy day to worship thee in my Closet and in the Congregation to spend it in doing good in works of necessity devotion and charity in prayer and praise and meditation O let it ever be to me a day sacred to Divine Love a day of heavenly rest and refreshment Thou O my God O my Love didst ordain the Jewdaical Sabbath as a shadow of the true Gospel-sabbath O may I every day keep an Evangelical Sabbath and rest from my sins which are my own works while I live here and may I celebrate an eternal Sabbath with thee in Heaven hereafter O my God O my Love for the like purposes of Piety and of thy Glory give me grace to sanctify the Feasts
if you can get time and convenience say them all and I dare assure you that all the three Forms of Prayer which I commend to you will not in all take up a quarter of an hour and certainly that Person has very little sense of his Duty very little concern for his immortal Soul very little Honour for God or value for Heaven who will not spend one quarter of an hour in the space of four and twenty hours in the Service of God and the Salvation of his own Soul I do by all means exhort you to give your Servants a few Minutes leisure at Noon to Pray after your Example and to use your Children to do the same for they will soon be able to say the Lords Prayer and two or three Ejaculations and teach them to say these at Noon as well as at Morning and at Night and 't is incredible to think how much good this Practice will do them and what great comfort you your selves will reap from the early Devotion of your Children To further this Devotion in your Children instead of Idle Tales and Songs which pollute their Souls and when they come to be serious will cost them great pains to unlearn You must teach them short Psalms by heart which will exercise their Memories and Piety both together and as you teach the Psalms to your Children I exhort you to learn them your selves You cannot imagine the great benefit of learning Psalms by heart for when you are under any Temptation or are in any Affliction or when you lye waking in the Night or when you are Sick these Psalms will come into your mind and the Devout repeating them will yield you most seasonable Consolations The very Common People in the first and purest Ages of the Church were so sensible of the Spiritual advantages of learning Psalms that they learn'd the whole Psalter by heart and sang or said the Psalms in their Shops and at the Plow insomuch that St. Iames makes it the proper expression of Christian mirth Iamâ— 5.13 If any be merry let him sâ—â—g Psalms This is the way to store your own and your Childrens minds with Ejaculations or short Prayers for all Occasions which I advise both Old and Young to accustom themselves to because it is the true way of Praying without ceasing and it is a kind of Prayer most easie and may be used at any time of the day or in any place and is one of the most efficacious means in the World to keep us in Gods favour 〈◊〉 is of all things most desirable Ejaculations At going out or coming in Lord bless my going out and my coming in from this time forth for evermore Psal. 121.8 At Meals Lord grant that whether I eat or drink or whatever I do I may do all to thy Glory 1 Cor. 10.31 At Work Prosper thou the work of my hands O Lord O prosper thou my handy work Psal. 90.17 In the Shop or Market Lord give me grace to use this World so as not to abuse it 1 Cor. 7.31 Lord grant that I may never go beyond or defraud my brother in any matter for thou art the Avenger of all such 1 Thess. 4.6 In temptation or danger O God make speed to save me O Lord make haste to help me At any time of the day Wherever I am whatever I do Thou Lord seest me O keep me in thy fear all the day long Prov. 23.17 Lord give me grace to keep always a conscience void of offence towards thee and towards men Acts 24.16 Lord teach me so to number my days that I may apply my heart to Wisdom Psal. 90.12 O let my mouth be filled with thy Praise that I may sing of thy Glory and Honor all the day long Psal. 71.7 All love all glory be to thee O God who didst first love me Unto him that lov'd us and wash'd us from our â—â—ns in his own Blood be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen Rev. 1.5 O blessed Spirit shed abroad the love of God in my heart Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me Praise his holy Name Psal. 103.1 Praise the Lord O my soul while I live will I praise the Lord yea as long as I have any being I will sing Praises unto my God Psal. 146.1 You that have Families I do further exhort that besides your private Prayers you would offer up to God a Morning and Evening Sacrifice in your Families and that every one of you would take up the Holy Resolution of Ioshua As for me and my House we will serve the Lord Iosh. 24.15 And the Prayers I advise you to use are taken out of the Common Prayer as being most familiar and of greatest Authority withall If any of your Family are gone abroad to their Work before the rest can be ready call that little Congregation about you that is at home and you that are present pray for those that are absent and by this means those that are absent upon necessary Employments will share in the blessings for which you pray Morning Prayer for a Family Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer O God the Father of Heaven have mercy upon us miserable sinners O God the Son Redeemer of the World have mercy upon us miserable sinners O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have mercy upon us miserable sinners O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity three Persons and one God have mercy upon us miserable sinners O Lord we beseech thee mercifully hear our Prayers and spare all those who confess their sins unto thee that they whose consciences by sin are accused by thy merciful pardon may be absolved through Christ our Lord. Amen Almighty God who seest that we have no power of our selves to help our selves we give thee humble thanks for thy preservation of us this day past or this night past and for all the blessings thou daily vouchsafest us and we beseech thee to keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen Almighty God whose Kingdom is everlasting and power Infinite have mercy upon the whole Church and so rule the heart of thy chosen Servant James our King and Governor that he knowing whose Minister he is may above all things seek thy Honor and Glory and that we and all his Subjects duly considering whose Authority he hath may faithfully serve honor and humbly obey him in thee and for thee according to thy blessed Word and Ordinance through Iesus Christ our Lord who liveth and reigneth ever one God World without end Amen Unto thy gracious mercy and protection O Lord do we commit our selves this day or this night and all our
AN EXPOSITION ON THE Church-Catechism OR THE PRACTICE OF Divine Love COMPOSED For the Diocese of Bath Wells LONDON Printed for Charles Brome at the West-end of St. Paul's and William Clarke in Winchester 1685 Imprimatur Io. Battely RR mo P. D no. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris domesticis Ex Aedibus Lamb. Aug. 9. 1685. To the Inhabitants within the Diocese of Bath and Wells THOMAS their Unworthy Bishop wisheth the Knowledge and the Love of God Dearly Beloved in our Lord THE Church has provided this short Catechism or Instruction to be learn'd of every person before he be brought to be Confirm'd by the Bishop wherein she teaches all things that a Christian ought to know and believe for his Soul's health and she has enjoyn'd All Fathers and Mothers Masters and Dames to cause their Children and Servants and Prentices to come to the Church at the time appointed and obediently to hear and be ordered by the Curate untill such time as they have learn'd all that is here appointed to be learn'd How seasonable and necessary this Injunction is in these days our wofull experience does sufficiently convince us when we reflect on the gross Ignorance and Irreligion of persons in those places where Catechizing is neglâ—cted which all sober Christians do sadly deplore Since then the Providence of God who is wont to glorifie his strength in the weakness of the Instruments he uses has caught me up from among the meanest Herdmen into the Pastoral Throne and has been pleased to commit you to my care The Love I ought to pay to the chief Shepherd obliges me to feed all his Lambs and his Sheep that belong to my flock and according to my poor abilities to teach them the Knowledge and the Love of God and how they may make them both their daily study and practice One thing onely I most earnestly beg of you all whether old or young that ye would help me to save your own Souls that ye would learn and seriously consider again and again the terms on which your Salvation is to be had As for you who have Families I beseech you to instill into your Children and Servants their Duty both by your Teaching and your Example In good earnest it is less cruel and unnatural to deny them Bread for their mortal Bodies than saving Knowledge for their immortal Souls Ye that are Fathers or Masters I exhort you to tread in the steps of Abraham the Father of the faithfull and the friend of God and like him to command your Children and Housholds to keep the way of the Lord. Ye that are Mothers or Mistresses I exhort you to imitate that unfeigned Faith which dwelt in young Timothy's Grandmother Lois and his Mother Eunice who taught him from a Child to know the Holy Scriptures which were able to make him wise to Salvation and like them to bring up your Children and Servants in the nurture and admonition of the Lord I passionately exhort and beseech you all of either Sex never to cease your conscientious zeal for their instruction till you bring them to Confirmation To renew their Baptismal vow To make open profession of their Christianity To discharge their Godfathers and Godmothers To receive the solemn Benediction of the Bishop To share in the publick Intercessions of the Church and to partake of all the Graces of God's Holy Spirit implor'd on their behalf that God who has begun a good work in them may perfect it till the day of Christ and that I my self at that dreadfull day may render an account of you with joy How much the Catechism of our Church may conduce to so desirable an end you will in some measure judge by the following Explication as imperfect as it is and which by God's gratious assistence I have so contriv'd that at one and the same time it may both inform your understanding and raise your affections and that it might the better sute with every ones leisure and infirmities it is Pen'd in short Forms of Devotion to be us'd in whole or in part in separate Collects or Ejaculations or occasionally as your Spiritual necessities shall require God of his infinite mercy bless the whole to his own Glory and to your Edification through Iesus the Beloved Amen Amen AN EXPOSITION ON THE Church-Catechism c. Question WHAT is your Name Answer N. or M. Q. Why do you answer by that Name rather than by your Sirname A. Because it is my Christian Name and was given me when I was made a Christian and puts me in mind both of the Happiness and duty of a Christian. Q. Where do you learn the Happiness and the Duty of a Christian A. The very next answer teaches me the Happiness and all the rest of the Catechism the Duty of a Christian. Q. Who gave you this Name A. My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism wherein I was made a Member of Christ the Child of God and an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven Q. Shew me from hence the Happiness of a Christian. A. The Happiness of a good Christian is altogether unutterable he is one who has Christ for his Head God for his Father and Heaven with all its joys and glories which are all eternal for his Inheritance Q. Shew me on the contrary the condition of a bad Christian. A. The misery of a bad Christian is altogether insupportable He has Christ for his Enemy the Devil for his Father and Hell with all its miseries and torments and despair which are all eternal for his Doom Q. Which of these Conditions do you chuse A. I adore the goodness of God who has set before me life and death blessing and cursing and in great compassion to my Soul has bid me chuse life and with all my heart I chuse life even life eternal Q. Are there not many in the World that chuse death A. It is too too visible there are such is the extreme madness and folly of obstinate Sinners that they chuse the Service of the Devil before the Service of God and Hell before Heaven the damnation of such men is wholly from themselves and having chosen death even death eternal it is most just with God to give them their choice Q. Blessed be God who has given you grace to make a right choice Tell me what you must doe to obtain that which you have chosen life eternal A. All that I am to doe is reduc'd to one word onely and that is Love This is the first and the great Command which comprehends all others the proper Evangelical Grace and eternal Truth has assured me This doe and thou shalt live So that if I truly love God I shall live beloved by God to all eternity Q. Tell me wherein the love of God doth consist A. The love of God is a grace rather to be felt than defin'd So that I can doe no
Greatness and make them signal instruments of thy Glory and examples of thy Love O my God give grace to me and all my fellow-subjects next to thy own infinite self to love and honour to fear and obey our Sovereign Lord the King thy own Vicegerent for Conscience sake and for thy own sake who hast placed Him over us O may we ever faithfully render Him his due tribute O may we ever pray for His prosperity sacrifice our fortunes and our lives in His defence and be always ready rather to suffer than resist Glory be to thee O Lord who hast ordained Pastours and hast given them the Power of the Keys to be our Ecclesiastical Parents to watch over our Souls to instruct us in saving Knowledge to guide us by their Examples to pray for and to bless us to administer spiritual discipline in thy Church and to manage all the conveyances of thy Divine Love O my God for thy Love's sake let me ever honour and love the Ministers of thy Love the Ambassadours thou dost send in thy stead to beseech us sinners to be reconciled to thee to offer thy Enemies conditions of Love of love eternal O may I ever hear them attentively practise their heavenly doctrine imitate their holy examples pay them their dues and revere their censures O my God for the sake of thy love grant I may ever love and provide for my Servants servant and may treat them like Brethren let me never exact from them immoderate work O may I always give them just wages and equitable commands and good example and mercifull correction Grant Lord I may daily allow them time for their prayers indulge them due refreshments and may take care of their souls and persuade them to love thee remembring that I also have a Master in Heaven Give me grace O my God for the sake of thy Love to honour and love and obey my Master and Mistress and to serve him her with diligence and faithfulness and readiness to please and to pray for him her them and whatever I doe to doe heartily as to thee O Lord and not to him her them O my God let thy love incline me to love and to honour all whom thou hast any way made my superiours sutably to their quality or age or gifts or learning or wisedom or gravity or goodness O my God grant that for thy sake I may ever love and honour all that are or have been instruments of thy love to me in doing me good O may I reverence my teachers be gratefull to my benefactours and may I have always a peculiar respect to my particular Pastour O my God let thy love engage me to love those whom thou hast obliged to love me to shew constancy and fidelity and sympathy and love and communicativeness to my Friend to be affectionate to my Brethren and Sisters to be kind and affable to my Equals condescending to my Inferiours to be all the possible ways I can universally helpfull and obliging and loving to all O my God O my Love let thy All-powerfull Love abound in my heart and in the hearts of all that profess thy Name that in all these and in all other possible instances of duty our lives may be continually employed to love thee and for thy sake to love our Neighbour and to excite our Neighbour to love thee The several Forms which contain the Duties of Parent and Child of Master and Servant c. are to be used by every one according as may sute with his Circumstances or as he stands in any of those Relations O my God O my Love I renounce and derest and bewaâ—l as odious and offensive to thee as directly opposite to thy love and the love of my neighbour for thy sake All dishonour to our Superiours in either despising them speaking evil of them or in irreverent behaviour All unnaturalness to Children All undutifulness or stubbornness or disobedience or disrespect to Parents All rebelling or reviling or murmuring against the King or against his Ministers All defrauding undervaluing or rejecting lawfull Pastours All Schism and contempt of their regular censures All falseness or negligence or refractariness to Masters or Mistresses All rudeness ingratitude treachery want of brotherly love and unfaithfulness All the least tendencies to any of these impieties From all these and the like hatefull violatious of thy love and of the love of my neighbour and from the vengeance they justly deserve O my God O my Love deliver me and all faithfull people O my God O my Love I earnestly pray that thy love and the love of our neighbour may so prevail over our hearts that we may sadly lament and abhor all these abominations and may never more provoke thee Glory be to thee O Lord who to teach us the importance of this duty of subjection hast placed it the first of all the second Table of all that relate to our neighbour and hast made it the first Commandment with a promise to every soul that conscientiously keeps it that thy days shall be â—â—ng in the â—and which the Lord thy God giveth thee Who would not love and obey thee O my God and for thy sake his Superiours when thou hast promised to reward our Duty with a long happy life here or if thou seest it best for us and to take us away from the evil to come by living a long tract of Holiness in a little time and at last by prolonging our bliss to all eternity in Heaven for which gratious promise all love all glory be to thee The Sixth Commandment O my God O my Love I renounce and detest and bewail as odious and offensive to thee as directly opposite to thy love and to the love of my neighbour for thy sake All duels and unlawfull War All doing hurt to the body and life of my neighbour directly by wounding or murthering him Indirectly by contriving or employing others to harm him All the ways of procuring Abortion All malice and envy hatred and revenge contention and cruelty All injury and violence all rash causeless immoderate or implacable anger or contumelious speaking and reviling All wilfull vexing grieving or disquieting him All threatning ill-wishes or curses All needless endangering our selves and self-murther All murthering of Souls by encouraging ensuaring tempting commanding them to sin All the least tendencies to any of these impieties From all these and the like c. O my God O my Love let thy unwearied and tender love to me make my love unwearied and tender to my neighbour and zealous to procure promote and preserve his health and safety and happiness and life that he may be the better able to serve and to love thee O my God O my Love make me like thy own self all meekness and benignity