Father Almighty though thou fillest all places yet thy Glory is most manifested in Heaven and there thy Majesty does most Illustriously dwell and to thy Throne there are we to lift up our hearts when we Pray O let my soul fly up to thee when I pray in Heavenly Thoughts and Desires and Love O let me savour nothing of the earth whenever I treat with thee in Heaven Glory be to thee O Gratious Lord who in the Petitions of thy most Divine Prayer hast taught us for what we are to Pray for all blessings Temporal and Eternal for all things lawful and acording to thy will Glory be to thee O Jesu who in ranking the Petitions for Spiritual blessings first hast taught us to seek Heaven in the first place grant Lord that I may always beg thy blessings in their due order that I may pray for blessings Spiritual with holy violence with importunity and resolution not to be denyed as being the proper ingredients of thy Love and absolutely necessary to my eternal welfare and for Temporal with Indifference and Resignation to thy will since I may Love thee and be eternally happy without them Hallowed be thy Name O Lord God may Thy Name thy own Glorious and Amiable self have a Love and Honour separate and incommunicable May thy infinite Goodness and Greatness be for ever by all Men and all Angels Confest and Admired and Adored and Magnified both in Private and Publick in our Hearts our Mouths and our Lives All Creatures share in thy Goodness O God O let all Creatures help us to Glorifie thy Name O may every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Thy Kingdom come O thou King of Kings may Thy Kingdom of Grace the Church Militant the Catholick Seminary of Divine Love come to its utmost Evangelical perfection in this life O may thy Gospel Lord be dayly propagated Unbelieving Nations Converted and the number of thy Saints augmented Grant O Lord God that thy true Religion thy Word thy Conveyances of Grace all the Holy Institutions Laws and Governours fixt by thee in thy Spiritual Kingdom may be Loved and Honoured and Obeyed and that thy faithful Subjects may be protected against all the malice of wicked men or the powers of darkness O my God let it be thy good Pleasure to put a period to sin and misery to infirmity and death to compleat the number of thine Elect and to hasten thy Kingdom of Glory that s and all that wait for thy Salvation may in the Church Triumphant eternally Love and I Praise thee Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven O my God thy Will and thy Commands are most Holy Iust and Good and condescending to our weakness and by no means grievous O give me Grace Conscientiously to observe them Thy blessed Angels O Lord always behold thy Face in Heaven They have the Beatifick Vision of thy incomparable Amiableness they cannot but unalterably choose thee they must needs to their utmost capacity Praise and Love thee they cannot possibly offend thee they ever perfectly obey thee and are always upon the Wing at thy Command Lord give me Grace in imitation of the blessed spirits above to set thee always before me O six my serious Contemplation on thee Ravish my soul with a lively sense of thy infinite Amâ—ableness O vouchsafe me one short glimps of thy Goodness O may I once tast and see how Gratious Thou art that all things besides thee may be tastless to me that my desires may be always flying up towards thee that I may render thee Love and Praise and Obedience Pure and Chearful Constant and Zealous Universal and Uniform like that the Holy Angels render thee in Heaven Give us this day our dayly Bread Glory be to thee O Heavenly Benefactor who openest thy hand and fillest all things living with plenteousness O let it be thy good pleasure to give me and all the wait on thy Beneficent Love our food in due season Give us Bread and all that is comprehended by it Health Food Raiment and all the necessaries of Life Give us O Heavenly Father Dayly Bread nothing to gratifie our Luxury but such a competence as thy Divine wisdom sees fittest for us Give us O bountiful Creatour Dayly Bread this day Teach us to live without covetous anxiety for to morrow with a fiducial dependance on thy Fatherly Goodness and to be content and thankful for the present portion thy Love has indulged us O merciful Lord give us Our Bread that which is our own Bread by honest Labour or a lawful Title and grant that we may never eat the Bread of Idleness or of deceit Do Thou Lord Give us our Bread for unless thou givest it we cannot have it and together with our Bread give us thy blessing otherwise our very Bread will not nourish us Above all O Lord God give us the Bread of Life the Bread that came down from Heaven the Body and Blood of thy most Blessed Son to feed our Souls to Life eternal Blessed Jesus O that it might be my meat as it was thine to do the will of thy Heavenly Father And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us For thy own inâ—inite mercies sake and for the Merits of the Son of thy Love Forgive me and all penitent sinners Our trespasses our sins Known or Secret of Omission or Commission which are the vast debts we owe to thy vindictive justice Forgive us O Lord as we forgive all them even our greatest Enemies that tâ—â—esâ—â—ss against us their trespasses which are infinitely inconsiderable in comparison of our trespasses against thee Glory be to thee O Lord who to teach us Charity hast made our forgiveness the condition of obtaining Thine O Easie O Gratious condition of Pardon who would not forgive his Brother a few pence in this Life to have ten Thousand Talents forgiven in the next O let my love Lord learn from thine not only to forgive my Enemies but to be Zealous also to do them good And lead us not into temptation O Lord God thou seest how our Ghostly Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil are every moment soliciting inticing alluring or tempting us to evil O be merciful to us save and help and deliver us Thou seest O my God how infirm I am and how ready my own deceitful heart is to surrender it self to the Tempter and I know that Satan cannot tempt me without thy permission O lead me not if it be thy good pleasure suffer me not to fall into violent or lasting Temptations that may endanger my perseverance I know O heavenly Father that to be tempted is no sin for thy own beloved Son God incarnate was tempted to the most horrid of all Sins to fall down and worship the very
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
bodily Sufferings O almighty Love were intolerable but yet thy inward were far greater I grieve I love I melt all o'er when I hear thee on the Cross crying out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Ah sinfull Wretch that I am how infinite and unconceivable were the inward Dolours and Agonies thou didst undergo for us Sinners when thou didst tread the Winepress of thy Father's wrath alone when it pleas'd thy own most beloved Father to bruise thee and to put thee to grief when the iniquities of the whole World were laid on thee and my numerous sins increast thy load and heightned thy torment when thy own Deity withdrew all consolation from thee when God offended by our sins did afflict thee in the day of his fierce anger no sufferings no love was ever like unto thine for me no grief no love but thy own should exceed mine for thee For whom O unutterable goodness didst thou suffer the extreme bitterness oâ— sorrow but for the vilest of all thy Creatures sinfull man and for me one of the worst of Sinners and therefore I praise and love thee For what end didst thou suffer O most ardent Charity but to save Sinners from all things that were destructive the Curse of the Law the Terrours of Death the Tyranny of Sin the Powers of Darkness and Torments Eternal to purchase for us all things conducible to our Happiness Pardon and Grace Consolation and Acceptance and the everlasting Joys and Glories of the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore I praise and love thee Out of what motive didst thou suffer O boundless Benignity but out of thy own preventing love free mercy and pure compassion and therefore I praise and love thee When no other Sacrifice could attone thy Father's Anger O thou the beloved Son of God and reconcile Divine Justice and Mercy together but the Sacrifice of God incarnate who as man was to die and to suffer in our stead as God was to merit and make satisfaction for our sins 't was then that thou O God the Son didst become Man the very meanest of Men didst take upon thee the form of a Servant and didst on the Cross shew us the mystery and the Miracle of Love God crucified for Sinners and Sinners redeem'd by the bloud of God O thou propitious Wonder God incarnate on the Cross by what Names shall I adore thee all are too short too scanty to express thee Love onely nothing but Love will reach thee thou art Love O Jesu thou art all love O tenderest O sweetest O purest O dearest Love soften sweeten refine love me into all Love like thee By the love of thy Cross O Jesu I live in that I will onely glory that above all things will I study that before all things will I value by the love of thy Cross I will take up my Cross daily and follow thee I will persecute and torment and crucify my sinfull Affections and Lusts which persecuted tormented and crucify'd thee and if thy love calls me to it I will suffer on the Cross for thee as thou hast done for me How illustrious and amiable were thy Graces amidst all thy Sufferings O thou afflicted Jesu I admire and I love thy profound Humility unwearied Patience Lamb-like Meekness immaculate Innocence invincible Courage absolute Resignation compassionate love of Souls and perfect Charity to thy Enemies O my Love I cannot love thee but I must desire above all things to be like my Beloved O give me grace to tread in thy steps and conform me to thy Divine Image that the more I grow like thee the more I may love thee and the more I may be lov'd by thee And Buried He descended into Hell I believe O crucified Lord that thou wast really dead and that there was a separation of thy Body and Soul That thy side was mortally wounded and pierced with a Spear on the Cross and thy sacred Body was buried to assure us of thy death All love all glory be to thee I believe O pierced O wounded Love that thy Soul in the state of separation did descend into Hell to vanquish Death and all the Spirits of darkness in their own Dominions and therefore I adore and love thee Glory be to thee O thou great Champion of Love who didst for our sakes singly encounter all our ghostly Enemies who didst thy self taste of death that thou mightst take away the sting of death who didst wrestle with principalities and powers and all the force of Hell that we might share in thy Victory for which wonderfull Salvation I will always praise and love thee The third day he rose again from the dead I believe O Almighty Love that according to the Types and Prophecies which went before of thee and according to thy own infallible predictions thou didst by thy own power rise from the dead the third day All love all glory be to thee Glory be to thee who didst lie so long in the Grave to undergo the full condition of the dead and to convince all the world thou wert dead and didst rise so soon that thou mightst not see corruption or retard our joy All love all glory be to thee He ascended into Heaven I believe O Victorious Love that thou after thy conquest over Death and Hell didst ascend in triumph to Heaven that thou mightst prepare Mansions for us and from thencâ— as Conquerour bestow the gifts of thy conquest on us and above all the gift of thy Holy Spirit that thou mightst enter into the Holy of Holies as our great High-priest to present to thy Father the sweet-smelling Sacrifice of his crucified Son the sole propitiation for Sinners and therefore all Love all glory be to thee Glory be to thee O Jesu who didst leave the world and ascend to Heaven about the 33 d year of thy age to teach us in the prime of our years to despise this world when we are best able to enjoy it and to reserve our full vigour for Heaven and for thy Love O thou whom my Soul loveth since thou hast left the world what was there ever in it worthy of our Love O let all my affections ascend after thee and never return to the earth more for whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none â—pon earth that I desire in comparison of thee And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty I believe O Triumphant Love that thou now sittest in full and peacefull possession of bliss and at the right hand of God that thy humane Nature is exalted to the most honourable place in Heaven where thou sittest on thy throne of glory ador'd by Angels and interceding for Sinners and therefore all love all glory be to thee Glory be
profess thy Name that in all these and all other possible instances of duty our lives may be continually employ'd to love thee and for thy sake to love our neighbour and to excite our neighbour to love thee The Ninth Commandment O my God O my Love I renounce as p. 52. All manner of bearing false Witness against my Neighbour All false accusations or glosses or pleadings or testimonies or sentences in Courts of Judicature by concealing or overspeaking or perverting right and truth All things prejudicial or destructive to my neighbours good name All censoriousness and slander detraction and calumny forc'd consequences or invidious reflexions All scoffing or exposing the infirmities of others All whispering and tale-bearing or raising of evil reports suspicions or jealousies and all evil-speaking All equivocations and dissembling flattery and lying All the least tendencies to any of these injurious falshoods From all these and the like hatefull violations of thy love and of the love c. as page 52. O my God O my Love who dost love truth and dost hate a lie as perfectly Diabolical instill into my Soul an unalterable love of truth that nothing may tempt me to deviate from an intire veracity in my whole conversation or become a liar which thy Soul abhors O Lord give me grace ever to speak the truth and let my heart and my tongue always go together O my God give me grace to be tender of my neighbour's good name since I cannot love him if I take that from him which I know to be most dear to him Grant O my God for the sake of thy own love that I may be always ready to vindicate my neighbour's good name on all occasions that I may judge the best and speak well of him and conceal or excuse his infirmities that I may be impatient to hear slow to believe and unwilling to propagate evil reports that I may put candid interpretations on his actions since the more he is defamed the less able he is to serve thee the less credit he has to perswade others to love thee O my God O my love let thy c. as page 51. The Tenth Commandment O my God O my Love I renounce as p. 51. All the inordinate desire of what is my neighbour's All coveting his House or Wife or Servant or Maid or Ox or Ass or any thing that is his All discontentedness with my worldly condition and worldly solicitude All covetousness or repining at the happiness of others All taking pleasure in sin or complacence in past impurities All the first motions all the least tendencies to concupiscence From all these and the like hatefull c. as p. 52. O my God O my Love thou art the great searcher of hearts and dost not onely require outward acts of duty but the inward disposition of the heart the heart is the chief sacrifice thou requirest the heart is the proper seat of thy love and my heart I wholly devote to thee O my God create in me a clean heart that the fountain of action being clean the streams may run clean also Give me a heart O thou who onely canst change the heart entirely turn'd to thee that may suppress and resist all the first springings of Lust before they shoot up into consent approbation and desire before lust conceiving brings forth sin Lord make me contented and thankfull and well-pleased with that portion thy providential love has allotted me and to acquiesce in thy choice as best for me O great Lord of hearts lodge my neighbour in my heart next to my self let all my desires be for his good and let it be the subject of my joy and praise and love to see thy love liberal to him to see him abounding in thy blessings O my God my love what can a Soul enamour'd of thee ever desire but thee O let the world never more have place in my heart all my affections I withdraw from that to fix on thee Forgive me O my God if I am unmeasurably ambitious it is onely of thy favour forgive me if I am unsatiably covetous it is onely of thy fruition forgive me if I am perpetually discontented it is onely because I cannot love thee more O unconceivable happiness of Heaven where my Ambition shall rest on a Throne where my Covetousness shall be filled with the â—eartifick Vision and where I shall be eternally satisfied with love O my God O my Love let thy c. as page 51. Q. My good child know this that thou art not able to do these things of thy self nor to walk in the Commandments of God and to serve him without his special grace which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent Prayer Let me hear therefore if thou canst say the Lords Prayer A. 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 And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen Q. What desirest thou of God in this prayer A. I desire my Lord God our heavenly Father who is the giver of all goodness to send his grace unto me and to all people that we may worship him serve him and obey him as we ought to do And I pray unto God that he will send us all things that be needful both for our souls and bodies And that he will be merciful unto us and forgive us our sins and that it will please him to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily and that he will keep us from all sin and wickedness and from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death And this I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness through our Lord Iesus Christ. And therefore I say Amen So be it O infinite Lord it is my duty and my happiness to love thee but alas my own sad experience teaches me how little able I am to love Ah Lord there is a dark cloud of Ignorance spread over my Soul that intercepts thy beams I cannot clearly see I cannot fully know how lovely thou art Ah Lord when ever any gleams of thy loveliness break in upon my Spirit and attract my will a crowd of strange Loves importune and tempt me to wander after them Since O my God I can of my self neither know nor love thee since I cannot by my own strength do those things thou requirest nor walk in thy Commandments nor serve thee nor think so much as one good thought whither can I fly but only to thy free and unbounded love Thou art my hope my help and my salvation thou only canst teach and enable me to know and to love thy own goodness By thy special Grace