your direction if you have no Books on this Subject yet read seriously the Office for the Communion in the Common Prayer and you may find very great assistance from it It 's very fit also to consult with your Minister especially the first time you receive Assure your selves it 's a very hainous sin to live one year after another in the neglect of this weighty Duty and argues a very great contempt of our Saviour's Authority and of his infinite love and kindness Before I leave speaking of your Duty to God let me beseech you carefully to abstain from that common hainous sin of Swearing A most sensless piece of wickedness that brings neither pleasure nor profit along with it When you are called before the Magistrate in weighty Cases you may lawfully swear Heb. 6. 16. but take great care to swear the Truth and nothing but the Truth for otherwise you call the true God to witness a Lie and do even call for his vengeance upon your selves In your ordinary communication avoid all manner of swearing either by the sacred Name of God or by any Creature Matth. 5. 34. Jam. 5. 12. Use not such Expressions As you hope to be sav'd As you hope for mercy with others the like which are great Oaths though frequently used upon every slight occasion Do not so much as rashly and carelesly mention the holy Name of God or Christ but let your inward Reverence be manifested in your outward Expressions And to this I may fitly joyn as earnest Caution against the sin of Cursing in which the Name of God is often dishonoured when men wish that God's Curse may light upon others sometimes on their very Children and nearest Relations sometimes on their Neighbours and sometimes on their Cattel Some profane wretches wish damnation to those they quarrel with yea even to themselves And how common is it to hear Men in their wrath wish the Pox or Plague or Hanging to their Neighbour or bidding the Devil take them Indeed they themselves seem to be possest by him whilst they vent this Language of Hell and do take the ready way to bring all manner of Curses both on their own Soul and Body Psal. 109. 17 18. This wicked Custom proceeds both from the want of the true fear of God in Men's Hearts and also from want of Kindness and Charity to one another of which I am next to speak a few words Next to the love of God above all the loving of our Neighbours as our selves is the great Duty of a Christian as our Saviour teaches in that same place Matth. 22. 39 40. And Love is said to be the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13. 8 9 10. Nothing more becomes a Disciple of Jesus Christ than to live in love and charity with all Men doing all the good we can to others but doing no manner of evil to any Read 1 Cor. 13. This is most frequently and strictly commanded in the Gospel and made the very badge and character of a Christian Joh. 13. 34 35. This makes us most like to our blessed Lord and Master who went about continually doing good both to the Souls and Bodies of Men even to the very worst of Men and his most bitter Enemies did he shew great charity and kindness And herein let us study to be like him to the utmost of our power If we have true love for all Men we shall then easily and readily perform all those Duties which we owe to them in the several places and relations wherein we stand of which I must not here go about to give a particular account But in general Husbands and Wives ought most entirely to love each other and study to render one another's Lives happy here and their Souls hereafter For if they live in discord and wrath they have an Hell upon Earth whilst they live and have reason to expect the eternal torments of Hell when they die Parents ought to love their Children and take due care of them both as to Soul and Body and Children ought to honour and obey their Parents and relieve them if they stand in need Masters must be gentle and kind toward their Servants and Servants must be faithful and obedient to their Masters even to the froward and severe Subjects must yield obedience to all the lawful Commands of their Rulers and patiently submit to what Punishments they inflict and upon no Pretence whatever may they rebel against them â—oâ— it is most expresly forbidden in Scripture and damnation threatned to those that are guilty Rom. 13. 1 2. And commonly Treason and Rebellion bring nothing but ruin and misery in this World as well as the next The People ought to esteem and love their Ministers to follow their godly Admonitions and Examples and afford them due Maintenance In brief we must carefully abstain from doing any injury to any Man of what rank or condition soever either in his Soul or Body his Estate or good Name but must be ever ready to do all manner of good to all Men according to our ability and opportunity And hereby we are to shew that we love our Neighbours as our selves by dealing with all Men so truly and justly so mercifully and kindly as we desire to be dealt with our selves This is the great Rule of the Gospel Matt. 7. 12. And by this Rule ought we to govern our selves in all our carriage toward others both in buying and selling and in our whole Conversation This is a very plain and easie Rule to walk by and is most just and equal and very large and comprehensive so that if a Man will honestly and faithfully attend to it he need not go far to seek for direction how to behave himself in most Cases that may happen betwixt him and his Neighbour Would I be reviled and slandered cheated and cozened beaten and hurt or any other way abus'd if not then let me not use another at this rate Would I be despis'd or derided for my faults or for my poverty and misfortune Would I not rather in reason desire to be kindly instructed assisted and relieved Thus then let me deal with my Neigbour and according to my power with meekness and true kindness instruct the ignorant reclaim the vicious and erroneous comfort the sad relieve the oppressed feed the hungry and clothe the naked Even those that are of a mean condition must be ready to help such as are in greater want than themselves The Man that lives by his Labour is not wholly excused from works of Charity Eph. 4. 28. The Widow's Mite is very acceptable to God and a cup of cold water shall not lose it's reward A willing charitable mind it is that God chiefly looks at and calls for and this the poorest may have if it be not their own fault And our Charity and Kindness is not only to be shewn to our Friends but to our very Enemies themselves We may not render evil for evil but must study to
of Perfections If we believe that Je 〈…〉 Christ is the Son of God and the Redeemer of mankind who died for us and rose again and ascended to Heaven and will thence come to judge the quick and the dead and will grant to all penitent and obedient Believers the forgiveness of their sins and everlasting life but will sentence the wicked to everlasting misery Our belief of this must lead us to true Repentance and amendment of Life and to an humble dependence on the mercies of God and the merits of Christ for Pardon and Salvation And if we believe that it is the Office of the Holy Ghost to sanctifie us and all the elect People of God then ought we to pray to God for his holy Spirit and we must comply with his good motions and submit to his working upon our Souls that he may sanctifie us and make us holy that so we may be living members of Christ's Holy Catholick Church And in this Church are we bound to continue that so in the Communion of Saints we may enjoy the benefit of the Word Sacraments and Prayer by which means the Holy Ghost works Grace in us and encreases the same till it be perfected in eternal Glory to which good Men shall be advanced both in Soul and Body at the Resurrection as their Souls made entrance upon it presently after their death Thus you see how a right Belief leads a Man to holiness of Life And therefore in holy Scripture do we find so much mention made of Faith or of believing in God and in Christ. This in many places is highly extolled and most strictly required of us as the very summ of our Duty insomuch that we are often said to be justified or pardoned on account of our Faith and to be saved by Faith and all this chiefly as I suppose because true Faith produces Obedience and makes a Man become an humble and sincere Disciple of Jesus Christ and so makes us fit for the mercies of God in and through our Blessed Saviour But when faith does not bring forth the fruit of Holiness and good Works it 's of no value with God nor will stand us in any stead as you may see at large in the second Chapter of St. James to name no other places Wherefore you know we are engag'd by our Baptism not only to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith but also to keep God's Commandments which I am to speak of next Now these Commandments are also plainly contained in the Holy Scriptures and therefore there is still more Reason why you should diligently read and study the same that you may know the Will of God and do it And all that is to be done by us I reckon is contained in the Ten Commandments as they are explained to us and urged upon us both by the Prophets in the Old Testament and by our Saviour and his Apostles in the New Especially in our Saviour's Sermon in the Mount in the fifth sixth and seventh Chapters of St. Matthew And therefore often read over these three Chapters There you will find what manner of persons the Disciples of Jesus ought to be even like their Master of an humble lowly Spirit meek and gentle pure and peaceable merciful and patient and the like Such as these he pronounces blessed in the beginning of that heavenly Sermon and these alone are they whom he will make most blessed with himself for ever But if you would have the summ of your Duty to God and to your Neighbour as required by the Ten Commandments briefly represented take it in the very words of our Church Catechism My duty towards God is to believe in him to fear him 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 to honour his holy Name and his Word and to serve him truly all the days of my life My duty towards my Neighbour is to love him as my self and to do to all men as I would they should do to me 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 Pâ—stours and Masters To order my self lowly and reverently to all my betters To hurt no body by word or deed To be true and just in all my dealings To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart To keep my hands from picking and stealing my tongue from evil-speaking lying and slandering To keep my body in temperance soberness and chastity Not to covet and desire other mens goods but to learn and labour truly to get my own living and to do my duty in that state of life into which it shall please God to call me Here you have your Duty in a little room which you may easily keep in memory but especially beg of God to write his Laws in your heart that you may freely and chearfully obey them in your Life and Conversation And for your further assistance I shall a little enlarge upon the chief of these Duties especially the love of God and your Neighbour and so conclude with some short and general Directions for the guiding of your steps more readily and constantly in the ways of Holiness all the days of your Life To love God with all our Heart and Soul is the first and great Commandment as our Saviour himself teacheth us Matth. 22. 37 38. This makes us more easily to obey all the rest of his Commands For if we truly love God we shall be very fearful to offend him and very careful to please him in all our ways And then do we truly love God with all our Heart when we love him more than all other things in the World more than Riches Pleasures Honours Friends or any other Enjoyments yea more than our very Lives so that we will part with all rather than lose the favour of God in which we account our happiness chiefly to consist This I take to be the very Essence of Religion and 't is that without which our Saviour tells us we cannot be his Disciples Matth. 10. 37 38. But when once we are got to this blessed temper we shall find it no very hard matter to deny our selves and take up our Cross and follow our Lord and Master both in well-doing and in patient suffering Wherefore let us earnestly beg of God by his holy Spirit to work this love in our Hearts And to our Prayers let us add our own diligent Endeavours and especially let us be much in thinking of all the goodness and loving-kindness of God manifested to us and to all the World Let us consider what he has done for us already both for Soul and Body and what he has promised to do in the Life to come And never let our Hearts be at rest till they
are entirely fixed upon the ever-blessed God as our chiefest good and only satisfying Portion And let us earnestly seek his favour through the Lord Jesus the Mediatour who came into the World on purpose to bring us into a state of Friendship with God that we might love him and be loved of him and live with him for ever in love and joy But alway remember that obedience to God is the only sure evidence of true saving Love He that loves God will hate and abhor sin and wickedness Let the Son pretend what love and honour he will to his Father he does not truly love him except he use all due care to please him And if you do thus sincerely love God as your Father then may you always comfortably trust in him and depend upon him which is another great Duty and brings great peace and quiet to our minds Isa. 26. 3 4. Whilst you live in obedience ro God's commands you have a sure interest in his Promises and may safely rely upon his good Providence for the performance of them Wherefore whatever your wants your dangers or sufferings are do not distrust the Providence of God but wait patiently and do your own duty and be assured God in his good time will succour and relieve you he will direct comfort and strengthen you Let all the experience you have hitherto had of his loving-kindness engage you to trust in him as long as you live And take great care that you never murmur nor repine against God under any affliction whatever when you meet with the heaviest crosses and disappointments or lose your dearest Relations and Friends say with holy Job The Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Beseech God to teach you that excellent Lesson of Contentment in all Estates Phil. 4. 11 12 13. Though you may be low and poor in the World yet consider you have always cause to be thankful but never any reason to complain God knows what condition is best for us and let us leave it to him to chuse what we shall have We that deserve nothing but wrath and misery ought to acknowledg the great goodness of God that we are on this side Hell It is if the Lord's mercies that we are not utterly consumed and that we do enjoy any measure of comfort Think how poor the Lord Jesus was for our sakes who had not where to lay his Head and was ministred to by the substance of others and in the same mean Condition did the holy Apostles live Your low Condition frees you from a great many snares and temptations and from a great many cares and sorrows that rich People meet with If you but truly love God and have a treasure in Heaven you are very rich though you have neither Gold nor Silver Fear not but God will give you and yours Food and Raiment and having that let us be content and thankful Yea let us put the very worst that we should starve to Death for want of Bread which not one of a thousand does in times of Peace and Plenty yet if our Souls be fit for Heaven and carried thither we shall have no cause to complain of the manner of our Death I have heen a little the larger upon this for the sake of poor People who are too apt to be discontent and to murmur at their Condition though alas they commonly bring themselves into it or make it much worse by their own careless and loose lives as was before mention'd And yet before I proceed to the Duty you owe to your Neighbour let me in a few words direct you as to the Worship of God in Prayers and Praises This is a duty most frequently enjoyn'd in Scripture and practised by all good Men and the very Light of Nature may direct us to it We have daily need of God's mercy and do daily taste of it and therefore are we taught to pray continually and in everything to give thanks To God alone must we offer up our Prayers and Praises in the Name of Jesus Christ as he himself teacheth us Matt. 4. 10. Joh. 16. 23. We must not pray to Angels or Saints nor make use of them as our Mediatours for this is the peculiar Office of Christ who died for us and is now interceeding at the right hand of God 1 Tim. 2. 5. Heb. 7. 25. Wherefore we mean sinful Creatures must always come to God in the Name of Christ and for his sake alone hope for the favour of God the pardon of our Sins the acceptance of our Persons and Services and the Salvation of our Souls And our Saviour teacheth us to worship God in a pure and Spiritual manner with our Hearts and Souls because he is a Spirit and searches the hearts of Men Joh 4. 23. Wherefore by no means may we make any Image or Picture of God nor may we give Religious Worship to an Image which is directly contrary to the second Commandment Neither may we frame in our minds any bodily shape or likeness of God when we pray to him but must conceive of him as a most pure and glorious Spirit most powerful and wise and good who fills the whole World with his Presence and is always near to us though not to be seen with bodily Eyes and hears our Prayers and knows our wants and is both able and willing to help us Our Saviour hath commanded us to pray in private when we are alone Matth. 6. 6. And there he taught his Disciples how to pray and hath given us that most excellent Form which we call the Lord's Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven c. which by the way may assure us that Forms of Prayer are very lawful And the Lords Prayer may both serve for a Pattern to direct us in all our Prayers and also is it self most fit to be used and joyned to our other Prayers But it is not proper to use the Belief and the ten Commandments for Prayers as the manner is of poor ignorant People though we ought often to think of them or rehearse them for the quickning of our Faith and the guiding of our Lives Upon all occasions in all our troubles and distresses let us be much in Prayer to God and still seek to him for mercy and comfort who is always nigh to them that call upon him in truth and sincerity Would the poor Man seek as earnestly to God for relief as he does to his rich Neighbour he would find it the surest course to have his wants supplied And let us also frequently be lifting up our Hearts to God in Thanksgiving and Praise for all his mercies and favours which he bestows upon us Thus may even the poorest Man have his mind often employ'd when he is at his Work in the Shop or in the Field or when he is walking in the way or sailing on the Seas which would not hinder but further his Labours and make them more easie and
follow his wholsom Counsel and desire his Prayers to God for you I know in large Parishes Ministers are not able to have a particular knowledge of every Person but yet all that know the worth of Souls and the price that was paid for them will be ready to give attendance to the meanest of their People that shall apply themselves to them for Advice and Comfort and will be glad of all opportunities to promote the Honour and Interest of their Saviour and the good of precious Souls committed to their Care And thus have I as plainly and as fully as I well could in so little room directed you in that holy way which leads to eternal Glory and have shewn you what great Reason you have to walk in that way and to continue therein to the end As to those who desire larger Directions next to the holy Scriptures which I beseeeh you to read frequently with humility and seriousness especially the New Testament next to them I shall referr you only to that pious and most useful Book The whole Duty of Man And heartily I wish that every poor Family in the Kingdom was furnished with one of those Books together with a Bible and Common Prayer Book which might all be purchased for much less than five Shillings and therefore it 's great pity they should be any where wanting Though alas I know there are many Families of poor People where none of them can read and so Books to them are useless Great Charity therefore it would be for rich Landlords and Gentlemen to see that the Children of their poor Tenants and Neighbours be put out to School and then to bestow at least Bibles upon them that the knowledge of God and Religion may be promoted amongst them which would make greatly for the good and welfare both of Church and State For though Brain-sick Opinions and false Principles may make Men proud and head-strong and troublesome to their Governours yet solid Knowledge and sincere Godliness will make Men humble and meek quiet and peaceable obedient to Magistrates and Ministers full of Charity to their Neighbours and ready to every good Work And I am sure an increase of this truly Religious Temper would be one of the greatest Blessings that can be bestow'd upon this Earth and would settle Kingdoms and Churches Towns and Families in Peace and Concord which almost every where are divided amongst themselves as well as against one another And by such blessed effects of true Religion something of Heaven would be brought down upon Earth and our Souls would be well fitted for Heaven when we are called off from this Earth into those happy Regions above where there is nothing else but Peace and Holiness and Love and Joy And may it please God to bless these plain and short Instructions for the enlightning of any minds with that Wisdom from above which is thus pure and peaceable then shall I obtain my Design and have great cause to be thankful And that the Reader may joyn with me in these Wishes I have annexed hereto a Prayer for Grace to lead an Holy Life And if he will but add diligent endeavours to frequent and servent Prayers neither his Labour nor mine will be in vain through the Grace and Blessing of Almighty God from whom comes every good and perfect Gift to whom be given all Honour and Glory both now and for ever Amen A PRAYER Chiefly for the assistance of God's grace in order to the leading an Holy Life O Most holy and ever blessed Lord God I do humbly cast down my self before thee acknowledging and lamenting my own sinfulness and earnestly begging thy grace and mercy through the Lord Jesus our only Mediatour and Advocate I confess O God I am a vile sinner polluted from the very Womb but since I came to the use of my Reason I have defiled my self with many wilful and hainous transgressions I have sadly neglected thy Service and dishonoured thy Name and have been greatly wanting in those Duties which I owe to thee my God to my Neighbour and to my own Soul and have not lived in such a godly righteous charitable and sober manner as I ought to have done But have often acted contrary to my own Reason and Conscience and to the plain Precepts of thy Word and contrary to my own Promises and Vows for better Obedience O Lord give me a clear sight of my sins and such a deep sense of the evil of my ways that my Heart may be truly humbled and broken in the remembrance thereof And for the Lord Jesus sake who died for Sinners be merciful to me O Father of Mercies pardon all my Iniquities and let them not be remembred against me to my Condemnation either in this World or that to come Nor is it only Pardon that I beg but most earnestly I beseech thee by thy Holy Spirit to sanctifie me both in Body and Soul that being made pure and holy on Heart and Life I may serve thee diligently all my days on Earth and so may enjoy thee for ever in Heaven I am fully convinced that it is both my duty and my happiness to fear and serve thee the great and glorious God who hast made me and redeemed me and hitherto graciously preserved me I acknowledge thy Service to be perfect freedom and all thy Laws to be holy just and good Wherefore I desire utterly to renounce and forsake every evil way and most entirely devote my self to serve and please thee in newness of Life But thou O Lord knowest the weakness and corruption of my Nature and how by evil customs I have made my self more prone to sin more backward to that which is good O do thou throughly change my Nature by thy Grace that I may hate and abhor all wickedness and take delight in the ways of Piety and Holiness Let no unmortified just remain in my Soul but do thou purifie and cleanse me from Pride and Covetousness from Envy and Malice and from all impure and sensual affections and desires and enrich me with all the Graces of thy holy Spirit Give me such a clear knowledge of thy infinite goodness and of all thy glorious perfections that I may ever humbly admire and adore thee and love thee with all my Heart and Soul and cleave to thee as my only portion preferring thy favour before all the enjoyments of this World Help me always firmly to trust in thee and freely to leave all my Affairs to thy wise and gracious Providence absolutely resigning my Will to thy holy Will in all things Make me truly thankful for all thy mercies and patient under afflictions By thy teaching let me learn to be content in all Estates and Conditions And good God suffer me not in the greatest difficulties and dangers to distrust thy mercies or take any unlawful course for my Relief I beg from thee my daily Bread and beseech thee to give me an Heart well satisfied with what thou seest