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
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
deny'st me deny me not a broken and a contrite heart O that my head were waters and my eyes fountains of tears that I might weep much and love much having much to be forgiven Lord hear me help me save me for thy own gratious promise sake for thy own tender mercies sake for the merits and sufferings of Iesus thy beloved in whom thou hast made Penitents accepted Amen Amen Q. Having repented of the violations of your Baptismal Vow shew me how you will renew it A. I shall doe it after this manner I have sinned O Lord God I have sinned and done evil in thy sight but I repent I turn to thee I confess and forsake my wickedness and am sorry for my sins It grieves me O most amiable Goodness it grieves me that ever I offended thee With all my heart O my God do I now renew the Sacred vow which alas alas I have so often violated O Lord God I do for the future Renounce the devil that Arch-rebel against thee with all his Apostate-Angels I renounce all his worship all his impious suggestions delusions and temptations for which he is called the tempter and all the ways of consulting him which ungodly men have taken I renounce all his works all those sins of the Spirit all pride and malice and envy all treachery and lying revenge and cruelty all tempting others to Sin hatred to Holiness and Apostasie which are his daily practice and are truly diabolical I utterly renounce O Lord God the pomps and vanity of this wicked world all covetous desires of honour riches and pleasure all sinfull excesses in things lawfull I renounce Lord all evil customs all evil companions all that is vain or wicked in the world all that friendship with the world which is enmity with thee all things that may alienate my heart from thee I renounce O Lord God all worldly comforts and possessions all my natural relations and my own life whenever they stand in competition with my duty to thee I utterly renounce O Lord God all the sinfull lusts of the flesh all the inordinate desires of my own corrupt nature of my own carnal mind which is enmity with thee I Renounce Lord all fleshly lusts which war against thee and against my own Soul all sloth and idleness and intemperance and lasciviouâ—ness all filthiness of flesh and spirit which render us unclean in thy sight O Lord God I utterly Renounce all things that may any way displease thee from them all let it be thy good pleasure to deliver me I know Lord that Sin is the utmost abomination to thy purity the most audacious outrage to thy Adorable Majesty the perfect contradiction to thy Deity and therefore I utterly renounce and abhor it I know Lord that Sin exposes us to all the Vials of thy wrath and to vengeance eternal I know it sets the Sinner at the extremest distance and opposition and defiance to thee and therefore I utterly renounce and abhor it I know Lord I cannot love thee but I must hate evil and therefore I renounce and detest it Turn thou me O Lord God and so shall I be turned Turn O Lord the whole stream of my affections from sensual love to the love of thee O my God let thy heavenly love be the constant byass of my Soul O may it be the natural spring and weight of my heart that it may always move towards thee Thy love O my God shall hereafter be the sole rule and guide of my life I will love thee and love whatever thou lovest and hate whatever thou hatest I will believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith and I will keep thy Holy Will and Commandments and waâ—â— in the same all the days of my life All this O my God I own my self bound to believe and doe and though of my self I am impotent to all good yet by thy help I will perform it and I heartily thank thee O heavenly Father who out of mere compassion to my Soul hast call'd me to this state of salvation through Iesus Christ our Lord. Glory be to thee O Lord who hast indulg'd me this opportunity of repentance Glory be to thee who hast wrought in me this Will to renew my Baptismal vow O my God I humbly I earnestly pray unto thee to give me continual supplies of thy grace that I may continue in thy love unto my lives end that being faithfull to death I may receive the Crown of life O Lord God I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments My heart is empty and disengag'd and longs for thee my heart is entirely devoted to thee Enter O my God possess it with thy gratious presence and fill it with thy love Lord for thy tender mercies sake restore me to thy favour to all the graces and privileges of my Baptism of which I have been spoil'd by my sins Lord make me a living member of thy Church the mystical body of thy Son O my God unite me inseparably to Christ my Head and from thence let his gratious influences be ever streaming into my soul Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son But I return with the Prodigal O let thy paternal bowels yearn on me and gratiously receive me Lord send thy Spirit of Adoption into my heart to instill true filial affections that I may again be own'd by thee for thy Child and call thee Father and share in the blessings of thy Children and at last become an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven O heavenly Father accept my imperfect repentance compassionate my infirmities forgive my wickedness purifie my uncleanness strengthen my weakness fix my unstableness and let thy love ever rule in my heart through the merits and sufferings and love of the Son of thy love in whom thou art always infinitely pleas'd Amen This Office may be us'd in times of devout Retirement or on the Lord's day or in Affliction or Sickness but especially before the Holy Eucharist Q. Rehearse the Articles of your Belief A. I. I Believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth II. And in Iesus Christ his onely Son our Lord III. Who was Conceived by the Holy Ghost Born of the Uirgin Mary IV. Suffered under Pontius Pilate was Crucified Dead and Buried He descended into Hell V. The third day He rose again from the Dead VI. He ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty VII From thence he shall come to iudge the quick and the dead VIII I believe in the Holy Ghost IX The Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints X. The Forgiveness of Sins XI The resurrection of the body
and the wants of all faithful People which I 〈◊〉 up in the words of thy own beloved Son Our Father which art in Heaven c. After the like manner you may pray at night Evening Prayer Glory be to thee O Lord for my preservation and for all the Blessings of the day past for which all love all praise be to thee Father forgive me all the sins I have this day committed either in thought or word or deed either against thee or against my neighbor for the sake of Iesus my Saviour Amen Amen It grieves me O merciful God that I should daily offend thee But I repent O pitty and pardon me for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen Amen O my God keep and protect and bless me this night and preserve me from sin and danger for the sake of Iesus Amen Amen Lord refresh me this night with seasonable sleep that I may rise the next morning more fit and able to serve thee in my Calling for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen Amen I believe in God the Father c. All love all glory be to thee our God the Father who c. as in the Morning I desire thee O Lord God O Heavenly Father who art the Giver of all goodness to send thy Grace unto me and to my Wife and Children to my Husband and Children Father and Mother Brethren and Sisters Kindred and Friends Master and Mistris you must name these Relations according as you stand related and to all people that we may worship thee serve thee and obey thee as we ought to do And I pray unto thee that thou would'st send us all things that be needful both for our souls and bodies and that thou wilt be merciful unto us and forgive us our sins and that it will please thee to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily and that thou wilt keep us from all sin and wickedness and from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death And this I trust thou wilt do of thy meecy and goodness through our Lord Iesus Christ. Amen Lord so be it Lord hear me help me pardon my failings supply all my wants and the wants of all for whom I pray which I sum up in the words of thy own beloved Son Our Father which art in Heaven c. As you are going to bed say I will lay me down in peace and take my rest for it is thou Lord only that makest me dwell in safety Psal. 4.9 As you began the day so end it with glorifying God and when you are in bed say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God blessed for evermore All praise all love be to thee I earnestly beg of God to make you sensible your selves and to give you grace to make your Children and Servants sensible also how Necessary and Happy and Heavenly a Duty Prayer is and how many exceeding great precious Promises God has made to those that devoutly pray to him and if you are thus sensible you will not content your selves with Morning and Evening Prayer onely but you will be desirous if you have Opportunity to retire about Mid-day for a few Minutes that you may imitate the Devotion of Holy David and of Daniel and pray three times a day Dan. 6.10 and that you may not want a help for Noon tide Prayer the Catechism shall supply you Prayer at Noon At evening and at morning and at noon-day will I pray and that instantly Lord hear my voice Psal. 55.19 Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen All love all glory be to thee O God the Father who hast first loved us and hast given thy beloved Son to die for our Sins and to rise again for our Iustification Have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences Wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen O Lord God who seest I am not able of my self to walk in thy Commandments and to serve thee be pleased to help and strengthen me by thy special Grace that I may daily and sincerely perform my duty towards thee and my duty towards my neighbor for the sake of Iesus my Saviour Amen O my God give me grace to believe in thee and to love thee with all my heart with all my mind with all my soul and with all my strength to worship thee to give thee thanks to put my whole trust in thee to call upon thee to honor thy holy Name and thy Word and to serve thee truly all the days of my life for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen O my God give me grace to love my neighbor as my self to do to all men as I would they should do to me to love honor and succor my Father and Mother this clause must be left out if your Father and Mother be dead to honor and obey the King and all that are put in Authority under him to submit my self to all my Governors Teachers Spiritual Pastors and Masters to order my sâ—â—f lowly and reverently to all my betters to hurt no body by word or deed to be true and just in all my dealing to bear no malice nor hatred in my heart to keep my hands from picking and stealing and my tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering to keep my body in temperance soberness and chastity not to covet or desire other mens goods but to learn and labor truly to get mine own living and to do my duty in that state of life unto which it has pleased thee to call me for the sake of Iesus thy Beloved Amen Lord hear me help me pardon my failings supply all my wants which I sum up in the words of thy Beloved Son Our Father which art in Heaven c. Instead of these two last Prayers you may sometimes say the Ten Commandments which you may turn into a very good Prayer by saying after every one Lord have mercy upon me and incline my heart to keep this Law Where you not onely beg pardon for the sins you have committed against each Commandment but you also beg Grace to keep it At the end of them you may say Lord have mercy upon me and write all these thy Laws in my heart I beseech thee And so conclude with the Lords Prayer Do not think that this Practice of Prayer will be too hard or too long for young persons or for labouring people for if you cannot say them all say as much as you can or if you are at Day Labour or have not time or convenience to say them offer up to God two or three hearty Ejaculations in their place But
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
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
XII And the life everlasting Amen Q. What dost thou chiefly learn in these Articles of thy belief A. First I learn to believe in God the Father who hath made me and all the world Secondly in God the Son who hath redeemed me and all mankind Thirdly In God the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth me and all the Elect people of God Q. What is the method of the Creed A. The Creed teaches me to believe in God and to believe his Church Q. How in God A. It teaches me to believe in God with respect to his Unity and then to the Trinity of Persons in that Unity Father Son and holy Ghost Q. How does it teach you to believe the Church A. It teaches me to believe the Church with regard to its two different states either Militant below or Triumphant above Q. How are the Articles of the Creed Motives of Love A. Every Article includes a Blessing as well as a Mystery and is as proper to excite our Love as to engage our Faith Q. Give me such a Paraphrase on the Creed that throughout the whole your Faith may work by Love A. I shall doe it to the best of my power in such Instructive and Pathetical Aspirations as follow I Believe My Lord and my God with a full free and firm assent I believe all the Articles of my Creed because thou hast revealed them I know thou art infallible Truth and canst not thou art infinite Love and wilt not deceive me Glory be to thee With all my heart O my God do I love and praise thee who art so infinitely amiable in thy self and so full of love to us that all I can know or believe of thee excites me to love thee Lord daily increase my Faith make it active and fruitfull that I may believe and love thee as entirely as becomes one entirely devoted to thee In God I believe O my God that thou art One and that there is no other God besides thee thou art that One infinite and independent Being that One onely true God whom all Men and all Angels are to Adore All glory be to thee O Lord God help me to love and to praise thee with God-like affections and a sutable Devotion I believe O my God that in the Unity of thy Godhead there is a Trinity of Persons I believe in thee O Father Son and Holy Ghost in whose Name I was baptized to whose Service I am religiously devoted All glory be to thee I believe I admire I love I praise I adore thee O most blessed and glorious Trinity God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost for being the joint Authours of our Salvation All glory be to thee O sacred and dreadfull and mysterious Trinity though I cannot conceive thee yet let me daily experiment thy goodness Let thy Grace O Lord Iesus let thy Love O God the Father let thy Communications O Holy Spirit be ever with me The Father I believe and love and praise thee O my God the first Person in the most Adorable Trinity the Fountain of the Godhead the Eternal Father of thy coeternal Son Jesus my Saviour Glory be to thee O God the Father for so loving the world as to give thy onely begotten Son to redeem us Glory be to thee O Heavenly Father for first loving us and giving the dearest thing thou hadst for us O help me to love again and to think nothing too dear for thee Almighty I believe O my God that thou art a Spirit most pure and holy and infinite in all perfections in Power and Knowledge and Goodness that thou art Eternal Immutable and Omnipresent all love all glory be to thee I believe O Lord that thou art most wise and just most happy and glorious and all-sufficient most gratious and mercifull and tender and benign and liberal and beneficent all love all glory be to thee I believe thy Divine Nature O my God to be in all respects amiable to be Amiableness it self to be Love it self and therefore I love I admire I praise and fear and adore thee Thou Lord art my Hope my Trust my Life my Joy my Glory my God my All my Love Maker of Heaven and Earth I believe that thou O Father Almighty didst create Heaven and Earth the whole World and all things in it visible and invisible out of nothing and by thy Word onely All glory be to thee I believe O thou great Creatour that thy Divine Love made thee communicate Being to thy Creatures that thou lovest all things and hatest nothing thou hast made Glory be to thee I believe O God that thou art the sole Lord and Proprietour of all things thou hast made that all things do necessarily depend on thee that 't is in thee onely we live and move and have our Being All Love all Glory be to thee I believe O thou Communicative Goodness that thou dost preserve and sustain and protect and bless all things thou hast made sutably to the Natures thou hast given them All Love all Glory be to thee I believe O mighty Wisedom that thou dost most sweetly order and govern and dispose all things even the most minute even the very sins of men to conspire in thy Glory O do thou conduct my whole life steer every motion of my soul towards the great End of our Creation to love and to glorifie thee I believe O Lord that thy Love was more illustrious in the Creation of Man than in all the rest of the visible World thou wert pleased to make him in thy own Image and after thy own divine likeness All Love all Glory be to thee Thou Lord didst make Man for thy self and all things visible for Man Thou designedst all creatures for his use and didst subject them to his Dominion the very Angels thou didst charge to keep him in all his ways All Love all Glory be to thee Thy Works O Lord are wonderfull and amiable I love and admire and praise thy Universal Providence over the whole World the perpetual flux of thy Goodness on every Creature All glory be to thee I love and praise thee O my God for all the particular vouchsafements of thy love to me for all thy deliverances and blessings either to my body or to my soul known or unknown for all that I do not remember or did not consider All Love all Glory be to thee The longer I live O my God the more reason I have to love thee because every day supplies me with fresh experiments and new motives of thy manifold love to me and therefore all Love all Glory be to thee And in Iesus I believe in thee O Jesus and I rejoice in that dear Name which is so full
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
wherein I have offended thee and grieve for my offences that I may bewail all my commissions of sin all my omissions of duty Teach me O Lord by this thy Law which is the rule of Love and of all my Actions to examine not onely my several sins but also all their several aggravations whether they have been wilfull or known or frequent or obstinate or habitual or ensnaring to others that Love may shed the more tears and in some measure proportion my contrition to my guilt 8. Glory be to thee O Lord God who givest us Christians higher obligations to keep thy Commands than thou didst to the Jews they had onely the memory of their temporal deliverance out of the Land of Egypt and the House of Bondage set before them we are deliver'd out of spiritual Egypt from the bondage of Sin the power of Satan and the torments of Hell O give us grace to exceed them as much in our love and thanksgiving and obedience as we do in our blessings 9. Glory be to thee O great Iehovah who to constrain us to love and obey thee art pleas'd to honour every faithfull Soul with a near and intimate propriety in thy self and gratiously to declare I am the Lord thy God O mercifull Lord what is it possible for me to desire more than to have thee for my God If thou be my God the relation ought to be mutual and I must be thy Servant Lord be thou mine and I will be for ever thine My Beloved is mine and I am his My God my Father my Friend my Love whatever is thine I will love and particularly thy Law will I love for teaching me to love thee thy Law I will highly esteem and diligently read and study thy Law shall be daily my delight my consellour and my meditation O my good God keep me always thine and let nothing ever divorce me from thy love Q. You have laid down proper rules for interpreting the Commandments shew me now how they are divided A. Into two sorts or Tables suitable to the two respects they have to God and to our Neighbour Q. Begin with the first Table and shew me the number and order of the Commands which it contains A. It contains the four first Commands which relate to God and teach us the Worship of God even that reverential Love we are to pay to God which naturally arises from a true sense of his infinite both goodness and greatness This Worship of God is either inward or outward The inward Worship being that of the Heart is the nobler of the two and this together with the right object of our worship is taught in the First Commandment as the foundation of all the rest The outward is compris'd in the three following which teach us the regulation of God's Worship in reference to our Gestures in the Second to our Tongues in the Third to our Time in the Fourth Q. Which are the duties of the Second Table A. They are the six remaining Commands which do all relate to our Neighbour of which I shall speak in their due place Q. What have you farther to observe of the Commandments in general A. 'T is observable that those which refer to God are put first to teach us that the love of God is the chief and original Command and ought chiefly to be studied and to teach us also that all the duties of the Second Table must yield to the First whenever they stand in any competition Q. Go over all the Ten Commandments in particular and shew me how they are all the genuine fruits and effects of Divine Love exercis'd either in doing good or eschewing evil A. I shall gladly doe it and as distinctly as possibly I can taking every Commandment apart The First Commandment O thou who onely art Iehovah if thou be my God and if I truly love thee I can never suffer any creature to be thy Rival or to share my heart with thee I can have no other God no other Love but onely thee O infinite Goodness thou onely art amiable whatever is amiable besides thee is no farther amiable than it bears some impressions on it of thy amiableness and therefore all Love all Glory be to thee alone O my God O my Love instill into my Soul so entire reverential a Love of thee that I may love nothing but for thy sake or in subordination to thy Love O Love give me grace to study thy Knowledge that the more I know thee the more I may love thee O my God O my Love do thou create in me a stedfast Faith in the veracity a lively Hope in the Promises a firm trust in the Power a confident reliance on the Goodness and a satisfactory acquiescence in the All-sufficiency of thee my Beloved O my God O my Love do thou create in me an ardent desire of the presence an heavenly delight in the fruition of thee my Beloved O my God O my Love fill my heart with Thanksgiving for the Blessings Praise of the Excellence Adoration of the Majesty Zeal for the Glory of thee my Beloved O my God O my Love fill my heart with a true Repentance for offending with a constant fear of provoking thee my Beloved O my God O my Love fill my heart with an affective Devotion in Prayer and with a profound Humility in ascribing all Honour to thee my Beloved O my God O my Love create in me a sincere Obedience to all the commands a submissive Patience under all the chastisements an absolute Resignation to all the disposals of thee my Beloved 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 let me ever be seeking occasions to excite all I can to adore and love thee 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 self-love and inordinate love of things below All wilfull and affected ignorance All Atheism or having no God and Polytheism or having more Gods than one All Heresie Apostasie and Infidelity All presumption and despair distrust and carnal security All voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels Reliance on the creature or recourse to evil spirits All unthankfulness and irreligion lukewarmness and indifference All impenitence and disregard of divine wrath All indevotion and pride disobedience impatience and murmuring All the least tendencies to any of these Impieties From all these and the like
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
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
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
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
Devil I know Lord the Sin lies in yielding to the Temptation O my God if thou for trial of my Love lead me into any great Temptation and let me continue under it thy Will Lord be done not mine O let thy paternal tenderness limit and controul the Tempter O let thy All-sufficient Grace restrain my consent and keep me always on my guard watching and praying and let me at last be more than Conquerour I am content Lord to be tried and assaulted so I be not wicked though it be grievous for those that Love thee to be tempted to offend thee But deliver us from evil O Father of mercy if thou thinkest fit to lead me into Temptation deliver me from the Evil to which I am tempted Deliver me from the Evil of Sin and the Evil of Punishment from the evil one from the evil World and from my own evil Heart and from all suggestions to Evil for all that is Evil is most hateful to thee who art infinite goodness and most destructive of thy Love And therefore from all that is Evil O Almighty Lord defend me For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever I adore and Love thee O Jesu who by concluding this Prayer with a Doxology hast taught us that the right end of our Prayers should be the Glory of God that we should be ever careful to mix Praise with our Prayers and to be as zealous to give thanks for what we receive as to Pray for what we want To thee O Lord God do we pray on thee only we rely and depend for acceptance to thee only we offer up our Praises for thine is the Kingdom and Sovereign Right to dispose of all things thine is the Power Almighty to relieve and bless us thine is the Glory All the Communications of thy Goodness as they flow from thee return to thee again in Sacrifices of Love of Praise and Adoration Amen For the sake O Heavenly Father of thy beloved in whom all thy Promises are Amen and who is himself the Amen the faithful and true Witness of thy Love to us Hear me and pardon my wandrings and coldness and help me to sum up and enforce my whole Prayer all my own wants and all the wants of those I pray for in a hearty and fervent and comprehensive Amen Q. How many Sacraments hath Christ ordained in his Church A. Two only as generally necessary to Salvation that is to say Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Glory be to thee O Crucified Love out of thy Wounded Side flowed Water and Blood the two Sacraments which thou hast Ordained in thy Church Baptism and the Supper of the Lord the one to initiate the other to confirm us in our Christianity Glory be to thee O Lord who having Ordained two Sacraments only and made them Generally necessary to Salvation art yet pleased to have Mercy rather than Sacrifice in cases where they cannot be had and where a surprise of Death may prevent their Administration thou dost supply the want of them by thy merciful acceptation of those persons who earnestly desire and who are disposed to receive them O blessed Jesu the greater thy Compassion is to those sincere persons who want thy Sacraments by reason of their infelicity not their choice the greater will be thy indignation against those who wilfully neglect or contemn what thy Adorable Love has ordained to be throughout thy whole Church used and revered from which neglect and contempt of thy Love good Lord deliver me Q. What meanest thou by this word Sacrament A. I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof Q. How many parts are there in a Sacrament A. Two the outward visible sign and the inward spiritual grace Glory be to thee O tenderest Love who to stoop to our weak and gross apprehension hast in the two Sacraments made an Outward and visible and familiar thing to be the sign and memorial and representation of an Inward and invisible Mysterious and Spiritual Grace Glory be to thee O bountiful Love for Ordaining and Giving us the Holy Sacraments thou thy self only art the Author and Fountain of Grace and thou only hast the right of instituting the conveyances of thy own Grace all Love all Glory be to thee Glory be to thee O mighty Love who hast elevated these obvious and outward signs to an efficacy far above their Natures not only to signifie but to be happy Means and instruments to convey thy Grace to us to be Seals and Pledâ—es to confirm and 〈◊〉 to us the Communications of thy Love that our sight may assist our Faith that if with due preparation we receive them both parts of the Sacrament will go together as certainly as we receive the Outward and Visible sign so certainly shall we receive the Inward and invisible Grace for which all Love all Glory be to thee Q. What is the outward visible sign or form in Baptism A. Water wherein the person is baptized In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Q. What is the inward and spiritual grace A. A death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness for being by nature born in sin and the children of wrath we are hereby made the children of grace Q. What is required of persons to be baptized A. Repentance whereby they forsake sin and faith whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacrament Q. Why then are infants baptized when by reason of their tender age they cannot perform them A. Because they promise them both by their sureties which promise when they come to age themselves are bound to perform Glory be to thee O Lover of Souls it was by thy preventing Love that I was Baptized with the outward sign Water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost That I should believe in the most Holy Trinity that I should depend on the gracious assistances and live wholly devoted to the three most adorable Persons that it should be my chief care to Love and Glorifie that tri-une Love the Author of my Salvation Glory be to thee O Jesu who by Water that washes away the filth of the Body dost represent to my Faith thy invisible Grace in Baptism which spiritually washes and cleanses the Soul Glory be to thee O blessed Lord who in Baptism savest us not by the outward washing but by the inward purifying Grace accompanied with a sincere Vow and â—â—â—pulation of a good Conscience towards God by which thy propitious Love brought me into thy Church the spiritual Ark to save me from perishing in the Deluge of Sin which overwhelms the
generality of the World and therefore all Love all Glory be to thee Glory be to thee O all-powerful Love by whose inviâ—â—ble Grace we in Baptism die to sin to all carnal Affections renouncing and detesting them all and resolving to take no more pleasure in them than dead persons do in the comforts of life O may I ever thus die to Sin Glory be to thee O Jesu who from our death to Sin in our Baptism dost raise us to a new Life and dost breath into us the breath of Love 'T is in this Laver of regeneration we are born again by Water and the Spirit by a new Birth unto righâ—eoâ—â—ness that as the natural Birth propagated sin our spiritual Birth should propagate Grace for which all Love all Glory be to thee Glory be to thee O most indulgent Love who in our Baptism dost give us the holy spirit of Love to be the principle of new Life and of Love in us to infuse into our Souls a supernatural habitual Grace and ability to obey and love thee for which all Love all Glory be to thee Glory be to thee O compassionate Love who when we were conceived and Born in Sin of sinful Parents when we sprang from a root wholly corrupt and were all Children of Wrath hast in our Baptism made us Children of thy own Heavenly Father by Adoption and Grace When we were Heirs of Hell hast made us Heirs of Heaven even joynt Heirs with thy one self of thy own Glory for which with all the powers of my Soul I adore and love thee I know O dearest Lord that I am thine no longer than I Love thee I can no longer feel the saving efficacy of my Baptism than I am faithful to my Vow I there made no longer than I am a Penitent no longer am I Christian if I name the name of Christ I am to depart from Iniquity O do thou give me the Grace of True Repentance for all my Sin for my original Impurity and for all my actual Transgressions that I may abhor and â—â—rsake them all wound my Soul with a most affectionate sorrow for all the Injuries and Affronts and dishonours I have offered to infinite Love Glory be to thee O most liberal Jesu for all those exceeding great and pretious Promises of Pardon and Grace and Glory which thou hast made to us Christians in the Sacrament of Baptism O may I ever stedfastly believe O may I ever passionately Love may I ever firmly rely on thy superabundant Love in all these Promises for which I will ever adore and love thee Glory be to thee O sweetest Love who in my infancy didst admit me to holy Baptism who by thy preventing Grace when I was a little Child didst receive me into the evangelical Covenant didst take me up into the arms of thy Mercy and bless me Glory be to thee who didst early dedicate me to thy self to prepossess me by thy Love before the World should seize and defise me Ah Gratious Lord how long how often have I polluted my self by my Sins But I repent and deplore all those Pollutions and I consecrate my self to thee againâ—t O thou most reconcileable Love pardon and accept me and restore me to thy Love O let the intenseness of my future Love not only Love for the time to come but retrieve all the Love I have lost Glory be to thee O tenderest Jesu who when by reason of my Infancy I could not promise to repent and believe for my self didst mercifully accept of the promise of my Sureties who promisâ—â— both for me as thou didst accept for good to the Paralytick the charitable intentions of those that brought him to thee and of the Faith of the Woman of Canaan for the Cure of her Daughter for which merciful acceptance all Love all Glory be to thee O my God my Lord the promise which was made by my Sureties for me I acknowledg that as soon as I came to a competent Age I was bâ—â—â—d my self to perform and I own and renew my Obligation I promise O my Lord with all the force of my Soul to Love thee O do thou ever keep me true to my own promise â—â—ce thou art ever â—â—alterably true to thine for which I will ever adore and love thee Q. Why was the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ordained A. For the continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of the death of Christ and of the benefits which we receive thereby Q. What is the outward part or sign of the Lords Supper A. Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received Q. What is the inward part or thing signified A. The body and blood of Christ which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lords Supper Q. What are the benefits where-we are partakers thereby A. The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the body and bloud of Christ as our bodies are by the bread and wine Q. What is required of them who come to the Lords Supper A. To examin themselves whether they repent them truly of their former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new life have a lively faith in Gods mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his death and be in charity with all men Glory be to thee O crucified Love who at thy last Supper didst ordain the Holy Eucharist the Sacrament and Feast of Love It was for the continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of thy death O blessed Jesu and of the Benefits we receive thereby that thou wast pleased to ordain this sacred and awful Rite all Love all Glory be to thee Ah dearest Lord how little sensible is he of thy Love in dying for us who can ever forget thee Ah wo is me that ever a Sinner should forget his Saviour and yet alas how prone are we to do it Glory be to thee O Gracious Jesu who to help our memories and to impress thy Love deep on our Souls hast instituted the blessed Sacrament and commanded us Do this in remembrance of me O Jesu let the Propitiatory Sacrifice of thy Death which thou didst offer upon the Cross for the Sins of the whole World and particularly for my Sins be ever fresh in my remembrance O blessed Saviour let that mighty Salvation thy Love has wrought for us never slip out of my mind but especially let my remmbrance of thee in the Holy Sacrament be always most lively and affecting O Jesu if I love thee truly I shall be sure to frequent thy Altar that I may often remember all the wonderful Loves of my Crucified Redeemer I know O my Lord and my God that a bare remembrance of thee is not enough O do thou therefore fix in me such a remembranâ—e of thee as is suitable to the infinite Love I am to remember Work in me all the holy and heavenly affections as become the remembrance of a Crucified
Saviour Glory be to thee O adorable Jesus who under the outward and visible part the Breâ—d and Wine things obvious and easily prepared both which thou hast commanded to be received dost communicate to our Souls the Mystery of divine Love the inward and invisible Grace thy own most blessed Body and Blood which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in thy Supâ—eâ— for which all Love all Glory be to thee O God incarnate how thou canst give us thy Flesh to eat and thy Blood to drink How thy Flesh is Meat indeed and thy Blood is Drink indeed How he that eateth thy Flesh and drinketh thy Blood dwelleth in thee and thou in him How he shall live by thee and shall be raised up by thee to Life Eternal How thou who art in Heaven art present on the Altar I can by no means explain but I firmly believe it all because thou hast said it and I firmly rely on thy Love and on thy Omnipotence to make good thy Word though the manner of doing it I cannot comprehend I believe O Crucified Lord that the Bread which we break in the Celebration of the Holy Mysteries is the Communication of thy Body and the Cup of Blessing which we bless is the Communication of thy Blood and that thou dost as effectually and really conveigh thy Body and Blood to our Souls by the Bread and Wine as thou didst thy holy Spirit by thy Breath to thy Disciples for which all Love all Glory be to thee Lord what need I labour in vain to search out the manner of thy mysterious presence in the Sacrament when my Love assures me thou art there All the faithful who approach thee with prepared hearts they well know thou art there they feel the Vertue of Divine Love going out of thee to heal their infirmities and to enflame their affections for which all Love all Glory be to thee O Holy Jesu when at thy Altar I see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out O Teach me to discern thy Body there O let those Sacred and Significant actions create in me a most lively Remembrance of thy Sufferings how thy most blessed Body was scourged and wounded and bruised and tormented how thy most pretious Blood was shed for my sins and set all my powers on work to Love thee and to celebrate thy Love in thus dying for me Glory be to thee O Jesu who didst institute the Holy Eucharist in both Kinds and hast Commanded both to be received both the Bread and the Wine both thy Body broken and thy Blood shed thy Love O Lord has given me both and both are equally Significative and Productive of thy Love I do as much Thirst after the one as I Hunger after the other I equally want both and it would be grievous to my Love to be deprived of either Ah Lord who is there that truely Loves thee when thou givest him two distinct Pledges of thy Love can be content with one only what Lover can endure to have one half of thy Love withheld from him And therefore all Love all Glory be to thee for giving both O my Lord and my God do thou so dispose my heart to be thy Guest at thy Holy Table that I may feel all the sweet influences of Love Crucified the Strengthning and Refreshing of my soul as our Bodies are by the Bread and Wine for which I will ever Adore and Love thee O merciful Jesu let that immortal food which in the Holy Eucharist thou vouchsaâ—est me instil into my weak and languishing soul new supplies of Grace new Life new Love new Vigour and new Resolution that I may never more faint or droop or tire in my duty O Crucified Love raise in me fresh ardours of Love and Consolation that it may be henceforth the greatest torment I can endure ever to offend thee that it may be my greatest delight to please thee O amiable Jesu when I devoutly receive the outward Elements as sure as I receive them I receive thee I receive the Pledges of thy Love to quicken mine O Indulge me though but for a moment one Beatisick foretast of the deliciousness of thy Love that in the strength of that deliciousness I may perseveringly love thee Glory be to thee my Lord and my God who hast now given me an invitation to thy Heavenly Feast All Love all Glory be to thee Lord give me Grace that I may approach thy awful Mystery with Penitential preparation and with a heart sully disposed to love thee O my God my Judge give me Grace I most humbly beseech thee to Eâ—amine my whole life past by the Rule of thy Commandments before I presume to Eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup give me Grace sadly to reflect on and deplore all my provocations lest coming to the Holy Eucharist impenitent and unprepared I receive Vnworthily and Eat and drink my own damnation O thou Great Searcher of Hearts thou knowest all the Load of Impiety and Guilt under which I lie O Help me so Impartially to Judge and Condemn my self so humbly to Repent and beg Pardon that I may not be Condemned at thy Tribunal when I shall appear there at the last day that I may be set at thy Right Hand amongst thy Lovers Lord give me Grace to search every secret of my Heart to leave no sin if possible unrepented of â—ill my Eyes full of Tears of Love that with those Tears I may lament all the Indignities I have offered thy Love But alas alas after the most strict examinatinon we can make who can number his impieties who can tell how oft he offendeth Lord therefore cleanse me from my secret faults which in general I renounce and bewail O my God thou who alone changest the Heart O be thou pleased to change 〈◊〉 change my aversion to thee into an intire Lâ—ve of thee O give me a filial Repentance that with a Broken and Contrite Heart I may Grieve and Mourn and Repent for all my â—ormâ—r sins and may for ever forsake them and return to my Obedience Let thy Love O my God so perfectly exhaust my soul that I may for the future stedfastly â—urpose to leâ—d a new life that I may renew my Baptismal Vow that I may hereafter live as a sworn Votary to thy Love O Heavenly Father settle in my soul a Livelâ— Faith in thy Mercy through Christ a steddy belief of all thy Love to sinners and an affectionate Reliance on the Merits and Mediation of thy Crucified Son of my being Accepted in the Beloved for whom I will ever Adore and Love thee O my Crucified God thou Soveraign Inflammative of Love let the Remembrance of thy Death set all the powers of my Soul on work that I may desire and pant after thee that I may Admire and Adore thee that I may