O my God by thy particular assistance by the strength of thy Love I can do all things O let thy Grace ever enlighten and enflame me let it ever prevent and accompany and follow me let it ever excite and encrease and support thy love in my heart O let it ever work in me both to will and to do of thy good pleasure I know Lord that thy Grace and all other blessings I must learn at all times to call for by diligent Prayer and I adore and love thy infinite Benignity to sinners in indulging us the privilege the honour the happiness to pray to thee to pour out our souls to breath out our desires to present our wants and to unbosom our griefs at thy Throne of love I praise and I love thee O sovereign Love for not only permitting us miserable Wretches to pray to thee but also for giving us all imaginable encouragement to so important and divine a Duty I adore and love thee O munificent goodness for inviting for commanding us to pray I adore and love thee for pouring out thy holy spirit of grace and supplication on us to help our Infirmities to assist us in praying to make intercessions for us with Sighs and Groans that cannot be uttered with the utmost ardours of a penitential and indigent love I adore and love thee for giving us so many glorious promises of hearing our Prayers so many firm assurances of a gracious acceptance O thou great Prophet of Divine Love who as if thy invitation and command and assistance and promise were not enough to move us to pray hast condescended to teach us this duty thy self and to give us a perfect pattern of Prayer for which I adore and love thee Glory be to thee O blessed Master of Devotion who in dictating a form of Prayer and enjoyning us to use it hast complied with our weakness and warned us not to relie on rash and unpremeditated Effusions who in dictating a short form hast taught us to avoid vain repetitions or thinking we shall be heard for much spâ—aking and to measure our Prayers rather by their fervency than length That Prayer which was composed by thy own self O God that hearest Prayer we are sure is most divine and excellent and perfect like its Author and most agreeable and acceptable to thee for which I adore and love thee O Blessed Jesus the only beloved of God thou best understandest the language of Love and in that language thou hast taught us to pray and whenever we pray in that language we have an humble confidence thy heavenly Father will hear us who with the words of his own beloved Son will ever be well pleased and therefore I adore and love thee Thou O heavenly Guide of our Devotion and our Love by teaching us to pray hast shewed us that Prayer is our treasury where all Blessings are kept our Armoury where all our strength and weapons are stored the only great preservative and the very vital heat of Divine Love Give me grace therefore to call on thee at all times by diligent Prayer O the unspeakable misery of those who either totally neglect the duty of Prayer or else prophane it by drawing near to God with their lips when their hearts are far removed from him whose Prayers being void of all Devotion and concern are turned into fresh sins How deservedly shall he have God for his Enemy who would not beg pardon of a most reconcileable Father How deservedly shall he suffer eternal wrath who thought Heaven not worth the asking O my God let me daily offer up to thee my morning and evening Sacrifice in private and in publick too if my circumstances permit and as near as I can let me omit no opportunities of praying or of praising thee O my God may I ever keep my self in thy Love by praying in the holy Ghost and by praying without ceasing since I incessantly want the succours of thy Love Ah Lord I know my Devotion has daily many unavoidable and necessary interruptions and I cannot always be actually praying all I can do is to beg of thy Love to keep my heart always in an habitual disposition to Devotion and in mindfulness of thy divine presence that I may perpetuate my Prayer by frequent Ejaculations O my God as thy infinite Love is ever-streaming in Blessings on me O set my Soul be ever breathing Love to thee O my God to Prayer whereby I address to thee give me grace to add the daily reading and meditation of thy word whereby thou art pleased to converse with me It is thy abundant Love to us O Lord that thou indulgest us thy word in our own mother Tongue that from those dear Volumes of thy Love every devout Lover may daily and on all occasions supply proper fewel to his Love for which all Love all Glory be to thee I adore and love thee O heavenly Oracle of Love for contriving this Prayer in that admirable method that thou hast withal taught us all the requisites of an acceptable Prayer thou in the Preface hast taught us how to Pray In the Petitions for what to Pray and in the Conclusion what ought to be the end of our Prayers for which I adore and love thee Father Glory be to Thee O Jesu who hast taught us to whom to direct our Prayers to God only since he only is Omniscient to know and all-sufficient to succour all our necessities Glory be to thee who hast taught us for whose sake only we can hope to be heard even for thy own O blessed Jesus for it is through thy alone Mediation that we sinners can call God Father or have access to his Throne Glory be to thee O beloved Jesu who in teaching us to call God Father hast taught us to pray with the affections of a Child with Reverential Love and Reliance on the Paternal care and benignity and love of our Heavenly Father Our Father Glory be to thee O Lord who in teaching me to call God Our Father has taught me not to confine my Charity to my self but to pray also with the affections of a Brother to all mankind who are children by Creation to all Christians who are children by Adoption of the same Heavenly Father O give me that Brotherly kindness to them all that I may beg the same blessings for them as for my self and earnestly pray that they may all share with me in thy Fatherly Love Which art in Heaven Glory be to thee O thou beloved of the Father who in teaching us to pray to Our Father in Heaven hast taught me the infinite distance between God and us and to pray with the Humility of a supplicant with that awe that becomes a frail Creature a miserable Sinner before his Creator and his Judge O
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
take Heavenly delight in thy Gracious Presence that with Praise and Thansgiving with Jubilation and Triumph I may receive thee into my Heart there I will have Love only Love always Love to entertain thee Lord when I present my self and my Love as all the Gift I have to offer at thy Altar next to my Love to thee and for the sake of thy infinite Love to me which I there remember give me Grace to love my Neighbour and to be in Charity wiâ—h all men and to walk in Love as thou hast loved us and hast given thy self for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour for which all Love all Glory be to thee O most Reconcileable Jesu in this Memorial of thy Sufferings I see how thou didst forgive me and didst love me when I was thy Enemy O for thy dearest Love to me give me Love to forgive all my Enemies and to be at peace with the world as I desire to be Loved and Forgiven and to be at peace with thee All that have any way injured me O my God I freely forgive for thy sake O do thou also forgive them incline them to Brotherly Charity and let them at last feel the comfort of that Reconciliation thou didst make upon the Cross for which I will ever Adore and Love thee O my God if I have wronged or injured my Neigbour O give me Grace to beg his pardon and as I have opportunity to make him satisfaction and restitution according to my power O crucified Love whenever I see thee in any of thy poor Members Hungry or Naked or in Distress O let the Remembrance of thy Love in Dying for me engage me to contribute all I can to thy relief O may I ever be liberal in my Alms to thee who wert so liberal of thy inestimable Blood for me It is very adviseable that persons before they Communicate should read over the whole Communion-Office or at least the exhortations there which they will find to contain very proper and plain and excellent Instructions It were much to be wish'd that people would make more use of their Common Prayer Books than they do and apply the Prayers they meet with there to their own particular conditions for the Book is always at hand and the Prayers are most safe and familiar and devout and the more they affect us in our Closet the more they will affect us in the Congregation and well meaning souls will reap great spiritual advantage from this practice For example an humble poor Christian who it may be has no other Book but his Common Prayer Book and who intends to come to the Holy Communion may learn to turn the Communion-Office to his own private use after this manner Almighty God unto whom all hearts be open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid cleanse the thoughts of my heart by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit that I may perfectly love thee and worthily magnifie thy Holy Name through Christ our Lord. Amen I give most humble and hearty thanks to thee O God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ both God and man who did humble himself even to the death upon the Cross for us miserable sinners who lay in darkness and the shadow of death that he might make us the Children of God and exalt us to everlasting Life Glory be to thee O Jesus our master and only Saviour who to the end that we should always remember thy exceeding great Love in thus dying for us and the innumerable benefits which by thy precious Blood-sheding thou hast obtained to us hast Instituted and Ordained Holy Mysteries as Pledges of thy Love and for a continual remembrance of thy Death to our great endless Comfort To thee therefore O blessed Saviour with the Father and the Holy Ghost I will give as I am most bounden continual thanks I submit my self wholly to thy Holy Will and Pleasure and will study to serve thee in true Holiness and Righteousness all the days of my Life Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Maker of all things Judg of all men I acknowledg and bewail my manifold sins c. I lift up my heart unto thee O Lord I give thanks unto thee O Lord our God it is meet and right so to do it is very meet right and my bounden duty that I should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty everlasting God But chiefly am I bound to praise thee for giving thy only Son Jesus to dye for my Sins and to rise a-again for my Justification Therefore with Angels and Archangels and with all the Company of Heaven I laud and magnifie c. I do not presume to come to thy Table O merciful Lord trusting in my own righteousness c. Glory be to God on high and on earth Peace good will towards men I praise thee c. To these as you see occasion you may add many very good Prayers short and plain and pertinent to your purpose which you may collect out of the Common Prayer and which will much further your Devotion such as these O Lord who never â—ailest to help and govern them whom thou doest bring up in thy stedfast Fear and Love keep me I beseech thee under the protection of thy good Providence and make me to have a perpetual Fear and Love of thy Holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen O God who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass Mans understanding pour into my heart such Love toward thee that I loving thee above all things may obtain thy promises which exceed all that I can desire through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Lord of all power and migâ—t who art the Author and Giver of all gooâ— things graft in my Heart the Love of thy Name encrease in me true Religion nourish me with all goodness and of thy great mercy keep me in the same through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen O Lord who hast taught me that all my doings without Charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into my Heart that most excellent gift of Charity the very bond of Peace and of all Vertues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee Grant this for thy only Son Jesus Christs sake Amen Almighty God who hast given thy only Son to be unto us both a Sacrifice for Sin and also an example of Godly life give me grace that I may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable Benefit and also daily endeavour my self to follow the blessed steps of his most holy Life through the same Jesus Christ our Lord Amen They that are ignorant or that cannot read should go to their Parish Priest or to some
other discreet and learned Minister of Gods Word and desire him to teach them their Duty in private and they that thus sincerely seek the Law at the Priests mouth shall find that the Priests Lips do preserve Knowledge and shall not go away without a Blessing To God the Father who first loved us and made us accepted in the Beloved to God the Son who loved us and wash'd us from our Sins in his own Blood To God the Holy Ghost who sheds the Love of God abroad in our Hearts be all Love and all Glory for time and for eternity Amen FINIS To the poor Inhabitants within the Diocess of Bath and Wells THOMAS their unworthy Bishop wisheth the knowledge and the love of God Dearly beloved in our Lord THe Catechism truly teaches all Christians that they are not able of themselves to do those things they have vow'd in their Baptism to do namely To walk in the Commandments of God and to serve him without his special Grace oâ— favorable Assistance and this they are to learn at all times to call upon God for by diligent Prayer How good and seasonable this advice is you will all see if you consider what helpless and needy Creatures the very best of Men are Alas our weakness is very great our wants are very many our dependance on God for all things all our lives long is entire and absolute and necessary and there is no way in the World to gain help and supplies from God but by Prayer so that it is as easie and as possible to preserve a natural Life without daily Bread as a Christian Life without daily Prayer It was for this reason that our Saviour himself took a particular care to teach his Disciples to pray Luke 11.1 and it is for the same reason and in imitation of our Heavenly Master that I have joyn'd these directions for Prayer to the Catechism Sure I am the Zeal I ought to have for your Salvation can suggest to me nothing more conducing to the good of your Souls than to exhort and beseech you all of either Sex to learn how to Pray This is the first general Request I shall make to you and I am the more earnest in it because my own sad experience has taught me how strangely ignorant common People usually are of this duty insomuch that some never Pray at all pretending they were never taught or that their memories are bad or that they are not Book-learn'd or that they want mony to buy a Book and by this means they live and die rather like Beasts than Men nay their condition is much worse than that of Beasts for the misery of a Beast doth end at death but the misery of a wicked man does then begin and will endure to all Eternity To prevent then as much as lies in me the damnation of those Souls which God has committed to my care and to cure that lamentable ignorance and forgetfulness of God which is the cause of the damnation of so very many I do not only incessantly pray for you my self but I beg of you all to pray for your selves and I beseech you to read the following Instructions or if you cannot read your selves to get some honest charitable Neighbors to read them often to you that you may remember them and God of his great mercy reward the Charity of such Neighbors If any of you either by your own negligence or by the negligence of your Parents or for want of Catechising in your Parish are wholly ignorant of your duty though it be a most shameful and dangerous thing for one who calls himself a Christian to know nothing of Christ or Christianity yet if you are willing to learn and beg paâ—don of God for your wilful ignorance hitherto and will sincerely do your endeavor to get saving Knowledge and heartily pray to God to assist you you shall find that the very entrance of Gods word giveth light that it giveth understanding unto the simple Psal. 119.130 I must warn you before-hand that corrupt Nature will be very busie in hindering the learning of your duty and thoughts will arise in your mind that the task will be too hard and too tedious for you to undertake but I faithfully promise you to impose no hard or tedious task on you but such as you your selves shall confess to be very complying with your Infirmities for our most compassionate Saviour teaches me to say no more to you then you can bear Iohn 16.11 All I shall exhort you to is to learn your Catechism which you may do by degrees If you learn but a line or two in a day you will by Gods blessing in a very short time learn it all over and you will rejoice and thank God for the sudden and happy progress you have made God forbid you should ever think your selves too old to learn to serve God and to be saved both which are taught in the Catechism and therefore the Catechism is of necessity to be learned For how can you go to Heaven if you never learn'd the way thither How can you be sav'd if you do not know your Saviour 'T is a great Error to think that the Catechism was made for Children only for all Christians are equally concern'd in those saving Truths which are there taught and the Doctrine delivered in the Catechism is as proper for the study and as necessary for the salvation of a great Doctor as of a weak Christian or a young Child But you will be the more encouraged to learn your Catechism when you see how excellent a help it will be to Prayer for it will at the same time further your Knowledge and your Devotion both together and the Prayers I intend to commend to you are chiefly the very Answers in the Catechism which being daily repeated will be the better fix'd in your memory and you cannot imagine any advice for Prayer can be more easie and familiar than that which directs you to turn your very Catechism into Prayers You are by this time I hope satisfied that the Duty to which I exhort you is no hard task and yet I will endeavor by Gods assistance to make it more easie by putting you into an easie method to attain it If you are wholly ignorant of your Catochism let it be your first care to learn such Ejaculations such short Prayers as these and say them often and heartily Lord have mercy upon me Christ have mercy upon me Lord have mercy upon me Lord pardon all my wilful ignorance and gross â—arelessness of my duty for the sake of Iesus my Saviour Amen O my God assist me in the learning of my Duty Lord help me to know and to love thee Lord pity me Lord save me Father forgive me Glory be to thee O Lord who hast hitherto spared me O that I might at last learn to glorifie and love and serve thee Such short Prayers as these you may easily get by heart and the method