[Page] THE GOLDEN GROVE, OR, A MANUALL OF Daily Prayers and Letanies, Fitted to the dayes of the Week. Containing a short Summary of What is to be Believed, Practised, Desired. ALSO FESTIVAL HYMNS, According to the manner of The Ancient Church.
Composed for the Use of the Devont, especially of Younger Persons; By the Author of The Great Exemplar.
London, Printed by J. F. for R. Royston, at the Angel in Ivie-lane. 1655.
TO The Pious and Devout READER.
IN this sad declension of Religion, the Seers who are appointed to be the Watchmen of the Church, cannot but observe that the Supplanters and Underminers are gone out, and are digging down the Foundations: and having destroy'd all publick Forms of Ecclesiastical Government, discountenanc'd an excellent Liturgie, taken off the hinges of Unity, disgrac'd the Articles of Religion, polluted publick Assemblies, taken away all cognisance [Page] of Schism, by mingling all Sects, and giving countenance to that, against which all Power ought to stand upon their guard. There is now nothing left, but that we take care that men be Christians: For concerning the Ornament and Advantages of Religion, we cannot make that provision we desire; Incertis de salute, de gloriâ minimè certandum: For since they who have seen Jerusalem in prosperity, and have forgotten the order of the Morning and Evening Sacrifice, and the beauty of the Temple, will be tempted to neglect so excellent a ministration, & their assembling themselves together for peace, and holy Offices, and be content with any thing that is brought to [Page] them, though it be but the husks and acorns of Prodigals and Swine, so they may enjoy their Lands and their Money with it; we must now take care that the young men who were born in the Captivity, may be taught how to worship the God of Israel after the manner of their fore-fathers, till it shall please God that Religion shall return into the Land, and dwell safely and grow pr [...]sperously.
But never did the excellency of Episcopall Government appeare so demonstratively and conspicuously as now: Under their conduct and order we had a Church so united, so orderly, so govern'd, a Religion so setled, Articles so true, sufficient, and [Page] confess'd, Canons so prudent and so obey'd, Devotions so regular and constant, Sacraments so adorn'd and ministred, Churches so beauteous and religious, Circumstances of Religion so grave and prudent, so useful and apt for edification, that the enemies of our Church, who serve the Pope in all things, and Jesus Christ in some, who dare transgress an Institution and Ordinance of Christ, but dare not break a Canon of the Pope, did despair of prevailing against Us and Truth, and knew no hopes but by setting their faces against us to destroy this Government, and then they knew they should triumph without any enemy: So Balaam the son of Bosor was [Page] sent for, to curse the people of the Lord, in hope that the son of Zippor might prevail against them that had long prospered under the conduct of Moses and Aaron.
But now in stead of this excellency of Condition and Constitution of Religion, the people are fallen under the harrows and saws of impertinent and ignorant Preachers, who think all Religion is a Sermon, and all Sermons ought to be libels against Truth and old Governours, and expound Chapters that the meaning may never be understood, and pray, that they may be thought able to talk, but not to hold their peace, they casting not to obtain any thing but [Page] Wealth and Victory, Power and Plunder; and the people have reap'd the fruits apt to grow upon such Crabstocks: they grow idle and false, hypccrites and careless, they deny themselves nothing that is pleasant, they despise Religion, forget Government; and some never think of Heaven; and they that do, think to go thither in such paths which all the ages of the Church did give men warning of, lest they fhould that way go to the Devil.
But when men have try'd all that they can, it is to be suppos'd they will return to the excel ency and advantages of the Christian Religion, as it is taught by the Church of England; for by [Page] destroying it, no end can be serv'd but of Sin and Folly, Faction, and Death eternal. For besides that, no Church that is enemy to this, does worship God in that truth of Propositions, in that unblameable and pious Liturgie, and in preaching the necessities of holy life, so much as the Church of England does; besides this (I say) it cannot be persecuted by any Governour that understands his own interest, unless he be first abus'd by false Preachers, and then prefers his secret opinion before his publick Advantage. For no Church in the World is so great a friend to Loyalty and Obedience, as she, and her Sisters of the same perswasion. They that [Page] hate Bishops have destroy'd Monarchy, and they that would erect an Ecclesiastical Monarchy, must consequently subject the Temporal to it. And both one and the other would be Supreme in Consciences; and they that govern there, with an opinion that in all things they ought to be attended to, will let their Prince govern others, so long as he will be rul'd by them: And certainly, for a Prince to persecute the Protestant Religion, is as if a Physician should endevour to destroy all Medicaments, and Fathers kill their Sons, and the Master of Ceremonies destroy all Formalities and Courtships; and as if the Pope should root out all the Ecclesiastick [Page] State. Nothing so combines with Government, if it be of Gods appointment, as the Religion of the Church of England, because nothing does more adhere to the Word of God, and disregard the crafty advantages of the world. If any man shall not decline to try his Title by the Word of God, it is certain there is not in the world a better guard for it, then the true Protestant Religion, as it is taught in our Church. But let things be as it please God; it is certain, that in that day when Truth gets her Victory, in that day we shall prevail against all Gods enemies and ours, not in the purchases and perquisites of the world, but in the rewards [Page] and returns of Holiness and Patience, and Faith and Charity; for by these we worship God, and against this interest we cannot serve any thing else.
In the mean time we must by all means secure the foundation, and take care that Religion may be convey'd in all its material parts, the same as it was, but by new and permitted instruments. For let us secure that our young men be good Christians, it is easie to make them good Protestants, unless they be abus'd with prejudice, and suck venome with their milk; they cannot leave our Communion, till they have reason to reprove our Doctrine.
There is therefore in the following [Page] pages a Compendium of what we are to Believe, what to Do, and what to Desire; It is indeed very little, but it is enough to begin with, and will serve all persons so long as they need milk, and not strong meat. And he that hath given the following Assistances to thee, desires to be even a door-keeper in Gods House, and to be a servant of the meanest of Gods servants, and thinks it a worthy imployment to teach the most ignorant, and make them to know Christ [...] though but in the first rudiments of a holy Institution. This onely he affirms, That there is more solid comfort and material support to a Christian spirit in one Article of Faith, in [Page] one period of the Lords Prayer, in one holy Lesson, then in all the disputes of impertinent people, who take more pains to prove there is a Purgatory, then to perswade men to avoid Hell: And that a plain Catechism can more instruct a soul, then the whole dayes prate which some daily spit forth, to bid men get Christ, and persecute his Servants.
Christian Religion is admirable for its wisdome, for its simplicity; and he that presents the following papers to thee, designs to teach thee as the Church was taught in the early dayes of the Apostles. To believe the Christian Faith, and to understand it; to represent plain Rules [Page] of Good Life; to describe easie Formes of Prayer; to bring into your Assemblies Hymnes of Glorification and Thanksgiving, and Psalms of Prayer. By these easie paths they lead Christs little ones into the Fold of their great Bishop; and if by this any service be done to God, any ministery to the Soul of a Childe or an ignorant Woman, it is hoped that God will accept it: and it is reward enough, if by my Ministery GOD will bring it to passe, that any Soul shall be instructed, and brought into that state of good things, that it shall rejoyce for ever.
[Page] But do thou pray for him that desires this to thee, and endevours it.
ERRATA.
Page 87. 1.2. for me r. us, ibid. f. me r. us, ibid. 1.3. f. me r. us, ib. 1.5. f. me r. us, ibid. f. me r. us, ibid 1.6. f. my r. our.
CREDENDA: OR, What is to be Believed.
Let this Truth be confessed and remain for ever, That they who are well instructed, easily become good men.
A. SHORT CATECHISM FOR The institution of young persons IN THE Christian Religion.
QUESTION.
IN what does true Religion consist?
ANSWER.
In the knowledge of the one, true John 17.3. 1 John 2.23. [...]od, and whom he hath sent, Jesus [...]hrist, and in the worshipping and [...]rving them.
Quest. What dost thou believe con [...]rning God?
Answ. That there is a God: Deut. 6.2. Exod. 20.2, 3. Revel. 1.4. Psal 90.2. 1 Tim. 1.17. Gen. 1.1. [...]. That he is one. 3. Eternal, 4. Al [...]ighty: 5. That he hath made all [...]he world: 6. That he knows all [Page 4] things: 7. That he is a Spirit; not Exod. 20.11. Heb. 3.4. Isa. 40.12. Job 42.2, 3. Psa. 139.1, &c. Psa. 147.5. Exod. 34.6, 7. 1 Tim. 6.15, 16 John 4.24. 1 Kings 8.27. Amos 3.6. Psa. 139.8, 9. Acts 7.48, 49. 1 sal. 2.4. & 103.19. & [...]5.3. Isa. 41. 4 & 44.6. Job 94, &c. Deut. 32.39. Gen. 18.25. Deut. 32.4. Exod. 43.7. Psa 103. 8. & 25.8. & 86.5. Psal. 50.12. Jam. 1.17 Heb. 11.6. of any shape or figure, or parts, or body: 8. That he is present is all places: 9. That his seat is in Heaven, and he governs all the world, so that nothing happens without his order and leave: 10. That he is the Fountain of Justice, 11. of Mercy, 12. of Bounty or Goodness: 13. That he is unalterably happy, and infinitely perfect: 14. That no evil can come near him: 15. And he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Quest. What other Mystery is revealed concerning God?
Ans. That God being one in nature, Matth. 28.19. Joh. 14.16.26. & 15.26. 1 Cor. 12. 4, 5, 6. 2 Cor. 13.13. 1 John 5.7. 1 Joh. 1. & v. 18. & 3.16. Luke 24 49. Acts 1.4. & 2.33. is also three in Person; expressed in Scripture by the names of [ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.] The first Person being known to us by the name of [ The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.] The second Person is called [ The Son, and the Word of the Father.] The third is [ The Spirit and Promise of the Father:] and these are Three and One after a secret [Page 5] manner, which we must believe, but cannot understand.
Quest. What is this God to us?
Ans. He is our Creator and Father, Coloss. 1.16. Acts 17.24. 1 Cor. 8.6. & 1 Cor, 6.18. Gal. 1.4. Phil. 2.22. Dao. 2.47. Zech. 4.14. & 14.9. Matth. 11.25. and therefore he is our Lord; and we are his Creatures, his Sons, and his Servants.
Quest. Wherefore did God create and make us?
Ans. That we might do him honour Psal. 145.10. 11. Acts 14:15. and service, and receive from him infinite felicities.
Quest. How did God make man?
Ans. By the power of his Word, Gen. 2.7. out of the slime of the earth, and he breathed into him the breath of life.
Quest. Was man good or bad, when God made him?
Ans. Man was made pure and innocent. Eccles. 7.29. Ecclus. 15.14.
Quest. How then did man become sinful and miserable?
Ans. By listening to the whispers of a tempting spirit, and breaking Gen. 3. per tot. an easie Commandment, which God gave him as the first tryal of his obedience.
[Page 6] Quest. What evils and change followed this sin?
Ans. Adam, who was the first man and the first sinner, did both for himself and his posterity, fall into Rom. 5. 12. & 3. 23. & 6. 20. Ephes. 2. 3. the state of death, of sickness, and misfortunes, & disorder both of body and soul: we were thrown out of Paradise, and lost our Immortality.
Quest. Was man left in these evill without remedy?
Ans. No. But God pitying his creature, promised, That of the seed of the woman, he would raise up a Gen. 3. 15. Gal. 4. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 20. John 3. 16. Heb. 2. 14, 15, &c. Saviour and Redeemer, who should restore us to Gods favour, and to the felicity which we lost.
Quest. How did God perform the promise?
Ans. By sending Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, to dye John 8. 25, 28. Heb. 2. 9. & 16. 17, 18. Luke 1. 74, 75. for our sins, to become our Lord and the Author of holiness, and life, and salvation to mankinde.
Quest. Who is Jesus Christ? Isa. 9. 6. 1 Tim. 3. 16. 1 John 5. 20. Isa. 35. 4, 5. Joh. 1. 2. & 18. & Joh. 8. 5, 8. Rev. 1. 8. Heb. 13. 8. & 1. 8. Phil. 2. 6. Rom. 9. 5.
Ans. He is the Son of God, the second Person of the holy Trinity, equal with the Father, true God without beginning of life, or end of days.
[Page 7] Quest. How then could he be our Redeemer, and the promised seed of the woman?
Ans. The Son of God in the fulness Gal. 4. 4. Rom. 1. 3. Acts 2. 30. & 3 32. & 3. 22. Heb. 1. 1. & 2. 11. Acts 13. 23. Deut. 18. 15 Matth. 1. 18. of time, by the miracles of his Mercy, took upon him humane Nature, and united it after a wonderful manner to his Godhead; so that he was both God and Man: He was born of a Virgin, who conceived him not by any natural means, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, and was called Jesus Christ, and his Matth. 1. 21 Luke 2. 4, 5, &c. Mothers name was Mary, of the seed of Abraham, of the family of King David; and all these things came to passe when Augustus Caesar was Lord of the Roman Empire.
Quest. How did Jesus Christ work this promised Redemption for us?
Ans. By his holy and humble life, and his obedient dying a painful Heb. 2. 9, 10. death for us upon the Cross.
Quest. What benefits do we receive by the life and death of Jesus Christ?
Ans. We are instructed by his Doctrine, encouraged by his excellent [Page 8] Example, we are reconciled to Reade the 3 d and 4 th and the 5 th Chapters to the Hebr. Eph. 2.13, 14, 15. Luke 19.27. & 24.46, 47. God by his Death; He hath given us an excellent Law, and glorious Promises, and himself hath received power to make good all those Promises to his servants, and fearfully to destroy them that will not have him to reign over them.
Quest. What Promises hath Jesus Christ made us in the Gospel?
Ans. He hath promised to give Mat. 6.25, &c. Rom. 8.28. John 13.33. Acts 14.22. 2 Cor. 1.4. Mar. 4. 11, 12. & 11.20, 21. Joh 6 44, 45. 2 Pet. 1.3, 4. Matth. 15.59. Acts 2.38. & 3.19. Luke 187. Matth. 7.7. Coloss. 2.13. 1 Cor. 15 54. 55, 57. Rev. 14.13. 1 Cor. 15.22. 1 Cor 6 14. 2 Cor. 4.14. Joh. 6.40. us all that we need in this life; That every thing shall work together for our good; That he will be with us in tribulation and persecution; He hath promised his Graces and his holy Spirit to enable us to do our duty; and if we make use of these graces, he hath promised to give us more; He hath promised to forgive us our sins; to hear our prayers; to take the sting of death from us; to keep our souls in safe custody after death; and in his due time to raise our bodies from the grave, and to joyn them to our souls, and to give us eternal life, and joyes that shall never [...]ease.
Quest. How is Jesus Christ able to do all this for us?
[Page 9] Ans. When he had suffered death, Mat. 28.6. & 18. Phil. 2.9, &c. Heb. 2.9. & 5.9. & 1.8. Tit. 2.13, 14. Eph. 3.14, 15, 20. 1 Cor. 11.3. Ephes. 5.23. Coloss. 2.10. Acts 10.42. 2 Tim. 4.1. & 8, 17.31 1 Pet. 4.5. and was buried three dayes, God raised him up again, and gave him all power in heaven and earth, made him Head of the Church, Lord of Men and Angels, and the Judge of the Quick and Dead.
Quest. By what means doth Jesus Christ our Lord convey all these blessings to us?
Ans. Jesus Christ had three Offices, 1 Tim. 2.5. Heb. 8.6. & 9.15. & 12.24. and in all he was Mediator between God and Man; He is our Prophet, our Priest, and our King.
Quest. What was his Office as he was a Prophet?
Ans. This Office he finished on John 1.18. Luke 3.23. John 5.43. Luke 24 19. Acts 3.23, &c. earth; beginning when he was thirty years old to preach the Gospel of the Kingdome, Faith and Repentance.
Quest. When began his Priestly Office, and wherein does it consist?
Ans. It began at his death; for he Heb. 5.5, 7, 8, &c. Heb. 7. per totum. was himself the Priest and the Sacrifice, offering himself upon the Altar of the Cross for the sins of all the world.
[Page 10] Quest. Did his Priestly Office the [...] cease?
Ans. No: he is a Priest for ever; Heb. 7. 24, 25. that is, unto the end of the world, and represents the same Sacrifice to God in heaven, interceding and praying continually for us, in the virtue of that Sacrifice, by which he obtains relief of all our necessities.
Quest. What doth Christ in heaven pray for on our behalf?
Ans. That our sins may be pardoned, Rom. 8.33, 34. our infirmities pitied, our necessities relieved, our persons defended, our temptations overcome, 1 John 2.1. Heb. 4.14, 15, 16. that we may be reconciled to God, and be saved.
Quest. How is Jesus Christ also our King?
Ans. When he arose from his grave, and had for forty dayes together conversed with his Disciples, shewing himself alive by many infallible tokens, he ascended into heaven, Heb. 1.3, 8. Psal. 110.1. 1 Thess. 1.10. Acts 1.3. Luke 24.51. & 1.33. [...] Pet. 3.23. and there sits at the right hand of God; all things being made subject to him, Angels, and Men, and Devils, Heaven and Earth, the Elements, and all the Creatures; and [Page 11] [...]ver all he reigns, comforting and [...]efending his Elect, subduing the [...]ower of the Devil, taking out the [...]ting of death, and making all to [...]erve the glory of God, and to turn to the good of his Elect.
Quest. How long must his Kingdome last?
Ans. Till Christ hath brought all his enemies under his feet, that is, Psal. 110.1. till the day of Judgement: in which 1 Cor. 15.24, 25, 28. day shall be performed the greatest acts of his Kingly power; for then he shall quite conquer Death, triumph over the Devils, throw his Matth. 25.34, 41. enemies into Hell-fire, and carry all his Elect to never-ceasing glories; and then he shall deliver up the Kingdome to his Father, that God may be all in all.
Quest. How is Christ a Mediator in all these Offices?
Ans. A Mediator signifies one that stands between God and us. As Christ is a Prophet, so he taught us Gal. 3.20. his Fathers will, and tyes us to obedience: As he is a Priest, he is our Heb. 8.6. & 9.15. & 12.24. Redeemer, having paid a price for us, even his most precious blood, and our Advocate pleading for us, and [Page 12] mediating our Pardon and Salvation: As he is a King, so he is our Lord, our Patron, and our Judge; yet it is the Kingdome of a Mediator, 1 Cor. 15.24. that is, in order to the world to come, but then to determine and end. And in all these, he hath made a Covenant between God and us of an everlasting interest.
Quest. What is the Covenant which Jesus Christ our Mediator hath made between God and us?
Ans. That God will write his Laws in our hearts, and will pardon [...]b. 8.6. & 10. & 13. Heb. 10.16. & 12.24. Jer. 31.31. us, and defend us, and raise us up again at the last day, and give us an inheritance in his Kingdome.
Quest. To what Conditions hath he bound us on our part? Mark 16.16. Mat. 4.17. Acts [...].37. & 2.31.
Ans. Faith, and Repentance.
Quest. When do we enter into this Covenant?
Ans. In our Baptism, and at our ripe years, when we understand the secrets of the Kingdome of Christ, Acts 2.38, 41. & 3.19. and undertake willingly what in our names was undertaken for us in our infancy.
Quest. What is the Covenant of Faith which we enter into in Baptism?
[Page 13] Ans. We promise to believe that 1 John 2.9. Mat. 16.16. & 1.18. Jesus Christ is the Messias, or he that was to come into the world; That he is the Anointed of the Lord, or the Lords Christ; That he is the Son of God, and the Son of the Virgin Mary; That he is God incarnate, or God manifested in the flesh; 1 Tim. 3 16. Rom. 14.9. Acts 1.9. & 3.21. & 17.31. Rev. 1.5. & 17.14. That he is the Mediator between God and Man; That he died for us upon the Cross, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven, and shall be there till the day of Judgement, that then he shall be our Judge; In the mean time he is the King of the World, and Head of the Church.
Quest. What is the Covenant of Repentance?
Ans. We promise to leave all our Luke 1.75. Tit. 2.11, 12. sins, and with a hearty and sincere endevour to give up our will and affections 1 Pet. 2.1, 2, 3. 2 Pet, 1.4, &c. Heb. 12.1, 2. to Christ, and do what he hath commanded (according to our power and weakness.)
Quest. How if we fail of this Promise through infirmity, and commit sins?
Ans. Still we are within the Covenant of Repentance, that is, within [Page 14] the promise of pardon, and possibility 1 John 2.12. & 5.16, 17. Gal. 6.1. & 5.24, 25. of returning from dead works, and mortifying our lusts; and though this be done after the manner of men that is, in weakness, and with some failings, yet our endevour must be hearty, and constant, and diligent, and our watchfulness and prayers for pardon, must be lasting and persevering.
Quest. What Ministeries hath Christ appointed to help us in this duty?
Ans. The Ministery of the Word Rom. 10.15. Eph. 2.20. & 4.11, 12. 1 Cor. 12.28. 2 Cor. 5.20. Mat. 28.20. & Sacraments, which he will accompany with his Grace and his Spirit.
Quest. What is a Sacrament?
Ans. An outward Ceremony ordained by Christ, to be a sign and a means of conveying his grace unto us.
Quest. How many Sacraments are ordained by Christ?
Ans. Two: Baptism, and the Supper Mat. 28.19. & 26.26. 1 Cor. 11.24. of our Lord.
Quest. What is Baptism?
Ans. An outward Gal. 3.27.—Eph. 5.26. 1 Cor. 12.13.—Col. 2.11, 12. Rom. 6.4.—Acts 2.38. John 3.5.—Acts 22.16. Tit. 3.5.—Heb. 10.22. 1 Pet. 3.21. washing of the body in water, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: in which we [Page 15] are buried with Christ in his death, after a Sacramental manner, and are made partakers of Christs death, and of his Resurrection, teaching us, That we should rise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness.
Quest. What is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper?
Ans. A Ceremony of eating bread 1 Cor. 11.23, 24, 25. Matt. 26.26. Mark 14.22. Luke 22.19. and drinking Wine, being blessed or consecrated by Gods Minister in publick Assemblies, in remembrance of Christs death and Passion.
Quest. What benefits are done unto us by this Sacrament?
Ans. Our souls are nourished by the body and blood of Christ; our 1 Cor. 10.16. Mat. 26.28. bodies are sealed to a blessed Resurrection, and to Immortality; our infirmities are strengthned, our graces increased, our pardon made more certain, and when we present our selves to God, having received Christs body within us, we are sure to be accepted, and all the good prayers we make to God for our selves & others are sure to be heard.
Quest. Who are fit to receive this Sacrament?
[Page 16] Ans. None but baptized Christians, and such as repent of their 1 Cor. 11.27, 28, 29. sins, and heartily purpose to lead a good life.
Quest. What other Ministeries hath Christ ordained in his Church, to help us, and to bring so many great purposes to pass?
Ans. Jesus Christ hath appointed Ministers and Embassadors of his 2 Cor. 5 18. Acts 20.28. 1 Pet. 5.2. Gal. 1.6. James 5.14. own to preach his Word to us, to pray for us, to exhort and to reprove, to comfort and instruct, to restore and reconcile us, if we be overtaken in a fault, to visit the sick, to separate the vile from the precious, to administer the Sacraments, and to watch for the good of our souls.
Quest. What are we tied to perform towards them?
Ans. To pay them honour and maintenance, to obey them in all things according to the Gospel, and Gal. 6.6. 1 Tim. 5.17. Heb. 13.17. to order our selves so, that they may give account of our souls with chearfulness and joy.
Quest. Which are the Commandments and Laws of Jesus Christ?
Ans. They are many, but easie; holy, but very pleasant to all good [Page 17] [...]indes, to such as desire to live well Reade also Rom. 12. Eph. 5. & 6. Chap. 1 Thess. 5 [...] this world, and in the world to [...]ome: and they are set down in [...]he Sermons of our blessed Lord, [...]nd of his Apostles; but especially [...]n the 5. 6. 7. Chapters of S. Mat [...]hew.
AN EXPOSITION OF The Apostles CREED.
I believe in God,
I Believe that there is a God who Luke 6.35. Deut. 10.17. & 6.4. Mark 12.29, 32. 1 Cor. 8.4. John 17.3. 1 Thest. 1.9. Psal. 90.2. & 93.2. & 77.13. & 95.3. & 147.5. Rom. 16.17. 1 Tim. 1.17. 2 Chron. 19.7. Psa. 119. 137. 1 Chron. 16.34. Psal. 34.8. & 135.6. Exod. 33.19. 1 Tim, 1.11. is one, true, supreme and alone, infinitely wise, just, good free, eternal, immense, and blessed, and in him alone we are to put our trust.
The Father Almighty,
I believe that he is (1.) The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and John 8.58. Rom. 8.29, 32. 1 Cor. 8.6. & 15.24. Mat. 24.36. Heb. 2.11. 1 Pet. 1.23. Gal. 4.4. (2.) of all that believe in him, whom he hath begotten by his Word, and adopted to the inheritance of Sons: and because he is our Father, he will do us all that good to which we are created and designed by grace; and because he is Almighty, he is able to perform it all; and therefore we may safely believe in him, and relie upon him.
Maker of Heaven and Earth.
He made the Sun and the Moon, Isa. 65.17. & 66.12. Acts 4.24. the Stars, and all the regions of glory; he made the Air, the Earth, and the Water, and all that live in them; he made Angels and Men, and he Psal. 36.7, 8. Mat. [...].26. & 10.29, 30. who made them does, and he onely can preserve them in the same beeing, and thrust them forwards to a better; he that preserves them, does also govern them, and intends they [Page 20] should minister to his glory: and Rev. 14.7. Mat. 4.10. therefore we are to do worship and obedience to him in all that we can and that he hath commanded.
And in Jesus Christ,
I also believe in Jesus Christ, who is, and is called a Saviour, and the Anointed Mat. 1.20. John 3.34. Anointed of the Lord, promised to the Patriarchs, whom God anointed Acts 10.28. & 3.22, 23. Heb. 12.24. & 1.8. & 6.7, 21. with the Holy Spirit, and with power to become the Great Prophe [...], and declarer of his Fathers Will to all the world, telling us how God will be worshipped and served; he is anointed to be the Mediator of the Rev. 1.5. New Covenant, and our High-Priest, reconciling us to his Father by the Sacrifice of himself; and to be the Great King of all the world: Acts 11.26. & 26.28. 1 Pet. 4.16. and by this Article we are Christians, who serve and worship God the Father through Jesus Christ.
His onely Son
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Luke 1.32. Rom. 1.3, 4. 1 Joh. 5.9, &c. & 4.15. & 5.5. he alone, of him alone: for God by his holy Spirit caused him to be [Page 21] born of a Virgin: by his power he John 1.11. Col. 1.17, 18, 15. Heb. 1.5.3. Phil. 2.6. John 3.35. & 5.19. Col. 2.9, 10. John 17.24. [...]ised him from the Dead, and gave [...]im a new birth, or beeing in the bo [...]y: he gave him all power, and all [...]xcellency; and beyond all this, he [...] the express Image of his person, [...]he brightness of his glory, equal to God, beloved before the beginning of [...]he world, of a nature perfectly Di [...]ine; very God by essence, and very Man by assumption; as God, all one [...]n nature with the Father; and as Man, one Person in Himself.
Our Lord.
Jesus Christ, Gods onely Son, is Ma [...]. 28.18. Acts 2.36. Psa. 2.6, 7, &c. 1 Cor. 8.6. Heb. 1.6, 14, 15. 1 Pet. 1.21. the Heir of all things and persons in his Fathers house: All Angels and Men are his servants, and all the Creatures obey him; we are to believe in him, and by Faith in him onely, and in his Name we shall be saved.
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
I believe that Jesus Christ was [Page 22] not begotten of a Man, nor born by Luke 1.35. Gal. 4.4. Luke 1.32. natural means, but that a Divine Power from God [Gods Holy Spirit] did overshadow the Virgin-Mother of Christ, and made her in a wonderful manner to conceive Jesus in her womb; and by this his admirable manner of being conceived, he was the Son of God alone, and no man was his Father.
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Though God was his Father, and he begat him by the power of the Luke 1.26, &c. Mat. 1.18. Holy Ghost, and caused him miraculously to begin in the womb of his Mother, yet from her he also derived his humane Nature, and by his Mother he was of the Family of King David, and called the Son of Man, his Mother being a holy person, not chosen to this great honour for her wealth or beauty, but by the good will of God, and because she Luke 1.45, 48. was of a rare exemplar modesty and humility: and she received the honour of being a Mother to the Son Mat. 1.25. of God, and ever a Virgin, and all generations shall call her blessed.
Suffered under Pontius Pilate:
After that Jesus passed through [...]he state of Infancy and Childhood, [...]eing subject to his Parents, and Luke 2.51, 52. & 3.23. working in an humble Trade to serve [...]is own and his Mothers needs, he [...]rew to the state of a man, he began to preach at the age of Thirty years, and having for about three years and a half preached the [...]pel, and taught us his Fathers will, having spoken the Gospel of his Kingdome, and revealed to us the John 3.4, &c. Acts 13.39. Mat. 25.31, 32. secrets of Eternal life, and Resurrection of the Dead, Regeneration, and Renewing by the Holy Spirit, Perfect Remission of sins, and Eternal Judgement: at last, that he might [...]cile the world to his Father, he became a Sacrifice for all our sins, and suffered himself to be taken by the Luke 22.63. John 18.4, 12, &c. Mat. 26. malicious Jews, and put to a painful and shameful death; they being envious at him for the number of his Disciples, and the reputation of his person, the innocence of his [Page 24] life, the mightiness of his Miracles, and the power of his Doctrine: and this death he suffered when Pontius Pilate was Governour of Judea.
Was Crucified,
Jesus Christ being taken by the Mat. 27. Mark 15. Luke 23. John 19. Rulers of the Jews, bound, and derided, buffeted, and spit upon, accused weakly, and persecuted violently; at last, wanting matter and pretences to condemn him, they asked him of his Person and Office; and because he affirmed that great Truth, which all the world of good men long'd for, that he was the Messias, and designed to sit at the right hand of the Majesty on high, they resolved to call it Blasphemy, and delivered him over to Pilate, and by importunity and threats, forced him against his Conscience, to give him up to be scourged, and then to be Crucified. The Souldiers therefore mocking him with a robe and a reed, and pressing a Crown of Thorns upon his head, led him to the place of his death; compelling him to bear his Cross, to which they presently [Page 25] [...]il'd him; on which for three [...]urs he hang'd in extreme torture, [...]ing a sad spectacle of the most af [...]cted, and the most innocent pern of the whole world.
Dead
When the Holy Jesus was weari [...] with tortures, and he knew all [...]ings were now fulfilled, and his [...]thers wrath appeased towards [...]ankinde: His Father pitying his Ibidem. [...]nocent Son groaning under such [...]tolerable miseries, hastened his [...]ath; and Jesus commending his [...]irit into the hands of his Father, [...]ied with a loud voice, bowed his John 18.37. [...]ad, and died; and by his death [...]aled all the Doctrines and Revela [...]ons Phil. 2.8. which he first taught the [...]orld, and then confirmed by his [...]ood: he was consecrated our mer [...]ful High-Priest, and by a feeling Col. 1.20. [...]f our miseries and temptations, be [...]me able to help them that are tempt [...]: Isa. 53.10. and for these his sufferings, was [...]alted to the highest Throne, and Heb. 7 25. & 9.12. & 2.17, 18. & 4.5. [...]eat of the right hand of God; [...]nd hath shewn, that to heaven there [Page 26] is no surer way then suffering for his Luke 23.46. Joh. 10.17, 18. 12.32. & 11.51. name; and hath taught us willingly to suffer for his sake, what himself hath already suffered for ours: He reconciled us to God by his death, Eph. 2.13, 14. Heb. 2.10. led us to God, drew us to himself, redeemed us from all iniquity, purchased us for his Father, and for ever made us his servants and redeemed Col. 1.21, 22. ones, that we being dead unto sin, might live unto God: And this Tit. 2.14. death being so highly beneficial to us, he hath appointed means to apply Joh. 6.51. to us, and to represent to God for us in the Holy Sacrament of his 1 Pet. 2.24. & 4.13. last Supper. And upon all these considerations, that Cross which was a smart and shame to our Lord, 2 Tim. 2.11. Gal. 6.14. is honour to us, and as it turned to his glory, so also to our spiritual advantages.
And Buried.
That he might suffer every thing of humane nature, he was by the care of his friends and disciples, by the leave of Pilate, taken from the Mat. 27 57, &c. Cross, and embalmed (as the manner of the Jews was to bury) and [Page 27] wrapt in linnen, and buried in a [...]ew grave, hewn out of a Rock; [...]nd this was the last and lowest step of his humiliation.
He descended into Hell.
That is, He went down into the Eph. 4.9. [...]ower parts of the earth, or (as himself Mat. 12.40. Acts 2.27. called it) into the heart of the [...]arth; by which phrase the [...]ture understands the state of sepa [...]ation, or of souls severed from their [...]odies: by this his descending to the land of darkness, where all things Hos. 13.14. [...]re forgotten, he sanctified the state of death and separation, that none of his servants might ever after fear 1 Cor. 15. 54, &c. Rev. 20.13, 14. the jawes of Death and Hell; whither he went, not to suffer torment (because he finished all that upon the Cross) but to triumph over the Mat. 16.18. gates of hell, to verifie his death, and the event of his sufferings, and to break the iron barres of those Rev. 1.17, 18. lower Prisons, that they may open and shut hereafter onely at his command.
The third day he rose again from the Dead.
After our Lord Jesus had abode Mark 16.1. Acts 10.40. in the grave, the remaining part of the day of his Passion, and all the next day, early in the morning upon the third day, by the power of God, he was raised from death and Rom. 14.9. Acts 5.30, &c. hell, to light and life, never to return to death any more, and is become Col. 1.18. Mat. 28.1. the first-born from the dead, the first-fruits of them that slept; and although he was put to death 1 Pet 3.18. & 1.3. Eph. 1.17. in the flesh, yet now being quickned in the Spirit, he lives for ever; and as we all die in Adam, so in Christ 1 Cor. 15.20, &c. we all shall be made alive; but every man in his own order: Christ is the first, and we, if we follow him in the Regeneration, shall also follow him in the Resurrection.
He ascended into Heaven,
When our dearest Lord was risen Luke 24.45, 50. from the grave, he conversed with his disciples for forty days together, [Page 29] often shewing himself alive by infallible Mat. 21.17. Joh. 20. & 21. proofs, and once to five hundred of his disciples, at one appearing: having spoken to them fully Acts 1.9. concerning the affairs of the Kingdome, and the Promise of the Father; leaving them some few things in charge for the present, he solemnly 1 Cor. 15.6. gave them his blessing, and in the prefence of his Apostles, was taken 45. up into heaven, by a bright Cloud, and the ministery of Angels, being 47. gone before us to prepare a place for Heb. 6.19. us above all heavens, in the presence of his Father, and at the foot of the Throne of God; from which Rom. 8.38, 39. 1 Joh. 3.2. glorious presence we cannot be kept by the change of death, and the powers of the grave, nor the depth of hell, nor the height of heaven, but Christ being lifted up, shall draw all his servants unto him.
And sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.
I believe that Jesus Christ sitteth in Heaven above all Principalities Phil. 2.8, 9, &c. [Page 30] and powers, being exalted above every Name that is named in heaven [...]ph. 1.17, 22. and earth, that is, above every creature above and below; all things being put under his feet: he is alwayes in the presence of his Father, interceding for us, and governs Rom. 8.34. Heb. 7.27. 2 Pet. 1.4. all things in heaven and earth, that he may defend his Church, and adorn her with his Spirit, and procure and effect her eternal salvation: There he sits and reigns as King, and intercedes as our High-Priest; He is a minister of the Sanctuary, and of the true Tabernacle which God made and not man, the Author an [...] Heb. 12.2. Finisher of our Faith, the captain of our Confession, the great Apostle of our Religion, the great Bishop of our souls, the Head of the Church, and the Lord of heaven and earth: and therefore to him we are to pay Divine 1 Pet. 1.20, 21. H [...]b. 1.6. Worship, Service and Obedience, and we must believe in him, and in God by him, and relie entirely on the mercies of God through Jesus Christ.
From thence he shall come
In the Clouds, shining, and adorned John 14.3. Mat. 24.30. with the glory of his Father, attended by millions of bright Angels, with the voyce of an Archangel, and a shout of all the heavenly 1 The [...] 4.16. Army, the Trump of God; and every eye shall see him, and they that pierced his hands and his Rev. 1.7. Acts 1.11. 2 Tim. 4.1. feet shall behold his Majesty, his Terror, and his Glory; and all the families of the earth shall tremble at his presence; and the powers of heaven shall be shaken, and the whole earth and sea shall be broken in pieces and and confusion: for then he shall come to put an end to this world, and
To judge the Quick and Dead.
For the Father judgeth no man, but John 5.22, 23. 1 Thess. 4. 16, 17. hath given all judgement to the Son; and at this day of Judgement, the Lord Jesus shall sit in the Aire in a glorious Throne; and the Angels [Page 32] having gathered together Gods Elect Mat. 25.32. from the four Corners of the world, and all the kindreds of the earth being brought before the Judgement-feat, shall have the Records of their Conscience laid open; that is, all that ever they thought, or spake, or did, shall be brought to their memory, to convince the wicked of the Justice of the Judge in passing the fearful Sentence upon them, and to glorifie the mercies of God towards his Redeemed ones: and then the righteous Judge shall condemn the wicked to the portion of Devils for ever, to a state of torments, Mat. 25.34, &c. the second, and eternal, and intolerable death; and the godly being placed on his right hand, shall hear the blessed Sentence of Absolution, and shall be led by Christ to the participation of the glories of his Fathers Kingdome for ever and ever.
Amen.
I believe in the Holy Ghost [or] the Holy Spirit.
Who is the third person of the holy, [Page 33] [...]ndivided, everblessed Trinity, which [...] worship, and adore, and admire, [...]ut look upon with wonder, and am [...]ot in a capacity to understand. I [...]elieve that the Holy Spirit, into whose name, as of the Father and the Mat. 28.19. [...]on, I was baptized, is the heavenly Author, the Captain, Joh. 15.26.—Acts 15.32. 16.13.— & 3.33. 6. 45.—2.4. 7.16, 17.—13.1, 2, 3. 5. 37.—20.28. the Teacher, and the Witness of all the Truths of the Gospel: That as the Father sent the Son; so the Son from heaven sent the Holy Spirit to lead the Church into all Truth; to assist us in all Temptations, Luke 12. 12. and to help us in the purchase Joh. 17.37. 14.16. 16.13, 8. of all Vertue. This Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and our Lord Jesus received him from his Father, and sent him into the world, who receiving the things of Christ, and declaring the same excellent doctrines, speaks whatsoever he hath heard from him; and instructed the Mat. 10.10. Eph 1 17. & 3.16. Apostles, and builds the Church, and produces Faith, and confirms our Hope, and increases Charity: and this Holy Spirit our blessed Lord 1 Cor. 2.10, 11, 12. Rom. 8.14, 15, 16. hath left with his Church for ever, by which all the servants of God are [Page 34] enabled to do all things necessary t [...] Rom. 14.17. & 15.13, 19. Salvation, which by the force of Nature they cannot do: and we spea [...] 1 Thess. 1.6. by the Spirit, and work by the Spirit, when by his assistances any wa [...] imparted to us, we speak or do an [...] thing of our duty. He it is wh [...] inlightens our Understandings, [...] our Will, orders and commands our Affections; he comfo [...] our sorrows, supports our spirits i [...] trouble, and enables us by Promis [...] and Confidences, and Gifts, to [...]suff for the Lord Jesus and the Gospel [...] and all these things God the Fath [...] does for us by his Son, and the So [...] by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit by all means within and without, which are operative upon, and proportionable to the nature of reasonable creatures. This is he wh [...] works Miracles, gives the gifts of [...] Prophesie and of interpretation, that teaches us what, and how t [...] pray; that gives us Zeal and holy Desires; who sanctifies children i [...] Baptism, and confirms them with his grace in Confirmation, and reproves the world, and consecrates Bishops, and all the Ministers of the Gospel, [Page 35] and absolves the penitent, & blesses [...]he obedient, and comforts the sick, and excommunicates the refractary, and makes intercession for the Saints, that is, the Church, and those whom he hath blessed, appointed and sanctified to these purposes, do all these Ministeries, by his Authority, and his Commandment, and his Aids. This is he that testifies to our Spirits that we are the sons of God, and that makes us to cry, Abba Father, that is, who inspires into us such humble confidences of our being accepted in our hearty and constant endevours to please God, that we can with chearfulness and joy call God our Father, and expect and hope for the portion of sons both here and hereafter, and in the certainty of this hope, to work out our salvation with fear and reverence, with trembling and joy, with distrust of our selves, and mighty confidence in God. By this holy and ever-blessed Spirit, several persons in the Church, and every man in his proportion, receives the gifts of Wisdome, and utterance, and Knowledge, and Interpretation, [Page 36] and Prophecy, and Healing, and Government, and discerning of Spirits, and Faith, and Tongues, and whatsoever can be necessary for the Church in several ages and periods, for her beginning, for her continuance, for her in prosperity, and for her in persecution. This is the great Promise of the Father, and it is the Luke 24.49. & 4.18. Acts 2.33, 38. gift of God which he will give to all them that ask him, and who live piously and chastely, and are persons fit to entertain so Divine a Grace. This Holy Spirit God gives to some Eph. 4.7, 30. more, to some less, according as they are capable. They who obey his 1 Cor. 3.16. Motions, and love his Presence, and improve his Gifts, shall have him Eph. 1.13. yet more abundantly: but they that grieve the holy Spirit, shall lose that Acts 7.51. which they have: and they that extinguish him, belong not to Christ, Rom. 1.14. but are in the state of reprobation: and they that blaspheme this holy Spirit, 1 Thess. 5.19. and call him the Spirit of the Devil, or the Spirit of Error, or folly, or do malicious despites to him, that is, they who on purpose considering and choosing, do him hurt by word or by deed (so far as [Page 37] ies [...] in them) shall for ever be separated Mark 3.29. from the presence of God and of Christ, and shall never be forgiven in this world, nor in the world to come. Lastly, this holy Spirit seals us to the day of Redemption; that is, God gives us his Holy Spirit as a testimony that he will raise us 2 Cor. 1.22. & 5.5. again at the last day, and give us a portion in the glories of his Kingdome, in the inheritance of our Lord Jesus.
The holy Catholick Church,
I believe that there is, and ought to be a visible Company of men, professing the service and discipline, 1 Tim. 3.15. that is, the Religion of the Gospel, who agree together in the belief of all the Truths of God revealed by Jesus Christ, and in confession of the Articles of this Creed, and agree together in praying and praising Eph. 3.21. God through Jesus Christ; to reade and hear the Scriptures read and expounded; Heb. 2.12. 10.24. to provoke each other to love and to good works; to advance the honour of Christ, and to propagate his Faith and Worship. I [Page 38] believe this to be a Holy Church, 1 Cor. 14.26, &c. Spirituall, and not Civill and Secular, but sanctified by their Profession, and the solemn Rites of it, professing holiness, and separating from Mat. 18.17, 18. the evil manners of heathens and wicked persons, by their Laws and Acts 12.5. 1 Cor. 14.14. Institutions. And this Church is Catholick, that is, it is not confin'd to the Nation of the Jews, as was the old Religion; but it is gathered out of all Nations, and is not of a differing Faith in differing places, but alwayes did, doth, and ever Gal. 1.8, 9. shall profess the Faith which the Apostles preached, and which is contained in this Creed; which whosoever believes, is a Catholick and a Col. 2.8, 9. Heb. 13.8.9. Christian, and he that believes not, is neither. This Catholick Church I believe, that is, I believe whatsoever all good Christians in all ages, and in all places did confess to be the Catholick and Apostolick Faith.
The Communion of Saints,
That is, the Communion of all Christians: because by reason of their holy Faith, they are called [Page 39] Saints in Scripture; as being begotten Acts 26.10. 9.13, 32, 41. 1 Cor. 6. 11. & 1.2. Mat. 22.14. by God into a lively Faith, and cleansed by Believing: and by this Faith, and the profession of a holy life in obedience to Jesus Christ, they are separated from the world, called to the knowledge of the truth, justified before God, and indued with the holy Spirit of Grace, foreknown from the beginning of the world, and predestinated by God to be made conformable to the image of 1 Pet. 1.2, 14, 15, 16. 2 Pet. 3.11. his Son, here in holiness of life, hereafter in a life of glory; and they who are Saints in their belief and profession, must be so also in their practise and conversation, that so they may make their calling and election sure, lest they be Saints onely in name and title, in their profession and institution, and not in manners & holiness of living, that is, lest they be so before men, and not before God. I believe that all people who desire the benefit of the Gospel, are bound to have a fellowship and society Mat. 18.17, 18 with these Saints, and communicate with them in their holy things, in their Faith, and in their Heb. 10.25. Hope, and in their Sacraments, and [Page 40] in their Prayers, and in their publick 1 Cor. 11.23, &c. Assemblies, and in their Government: and must do to them all the acts of Charity and mutuall help Eph. 4.13. 5.6, 7, 21. 6.18. which they can and are required to: and without this Communion of Saints, and a conjunction with them who believe in God through Jesus Phil. 2.4. & 1.27. Christ, there is no salvation to be expected: which Communion must be kept in inward things alwayes, Rom. 16.16, 17. 1 Joh. 3.18. 1 Pet. 1.22. and by all persons, and testified by outward acts alwayes, when it is possible, and may be done upon just and holy conditions.
The forgiveness of sins,
I believe that all the sins I committed before I came to the knowledge of the Truth, and all the slips Rom. 3.28. Acts 2.38. 13.38. of humane infirmity, against which we heartily pray, and watch and labour, and all the evil habits, of which we repent so timely and effectually, 1 Joh. 2.1, 2, 12. Gal. 6.1. Joh. 20.23. Mark 16.16. 2 Pet. 1. 5, &c. Eph. 1.13. that we obtain their contrary graces, and live in them, are fully remitted by the blood of Christ: which forgiveness we obtain by Faith and Repentance, and therefore are not justified [Page 41] by the Righteousness of Works, 1 Pet. 1.15, 16, 17, 18. Jam. 2.17, 20, &c. 1 Joh. 3.21, &c. Heb. 12.14, 15, 16. [...]d by the Righteousness of Faith: [...]d we are preserved in the state of [...]rgivenest or justification by the [...]utis of a lively Faith, and a timely active Repentance.
The Resurrection of the body,
I believe that at the last day all [...]hey whose sins are forgiven, and who [...]ived and dyed in the Communion of Saints, and in whom the holy Spirit did dwell, shall rise from their graves, 1 Cor. 15.29, &c. their dead bones shall live, and be clothed with flesh and skin and their bodies together with their souls shall enter into the portion of a new Mat. 22.31. life: and that this body shall no more see corruption, but shall rise to Rom. 8.11, [...]. an excellent condition: it shall be Spiritual, Powerful, Immortal and Joh. 6.39. Phil. 3.20. Glorious, like unto his glorious body, who shall then be our Judge, is now our Advocate, our Saviour, 2 Cor. 5.1. and our Lord.
And the life Everlasting.
I believe that they who have their [Page 42] part in this Resurrection shall m [...] the Lord in the Air, and when th [...] blessed Sentence is pronounc'd upo [...] them, they shall for ever be with th [...] Lord in joyes unspeakable, and fu [...] 1 Thess. 4.17. of glory: God shall wipe all tea [...] Rev. 21.4. from their eyes; there shall be [...] fear or sorrow, no mourning o [...] Rev. 22.5. death, a friend shall never go away from thence, and an enemy shall never enter; there shall be fulne [...] Mat. 25.34. without want, light eternal brighte [...] then the Sun; day, and no night; joy, and no weeping; difference i [...] degree, and yet all full; there is lo [...] without dissimulation, excellency without envy, multitudes without confusion, musick without discord; there the Understandings are rich, the Will is satisfied, the Affections are all love, and all joy, and they shall reign with God and Christ for ever and ever.
Amen.
This is the Catholick Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
The Rule of Faith is wholly one, unalterable, never to be mended, never changed; to wit, I believe in God, &c. This Law of Faith remaining in other things you may encrease and grow.
This is the Faith which in few words is given to Novices: These few words are known to all the faithful; [Page 44] that by believing they may b [...] subject to God; by this subjectio [...] they may live well; by living w [...] they may purifie their hearts; an [...] with pure hearts they may [reli [...] and] understand what they do believe.
This Creed is the Badge or Cognisance, by which the Faithful are discerned from Unbelievers.
This short and perfect Confession of this Catholick Creed, which was consigned by the Sentences of twelve Apostles, is so perfect a celestial Armour, that all the Opinions of Hereticks may by this alone, as with a sword, be cut in pieces.
AGENDA: OR, Things to be done.
THE DIARY: OR, RULE to spend each Day religiously.
§. 1.
[...]. SUppose every day to be a day of business: for your whole life is a race, [...]nd a battel; a merchandise, and a jour [...]ey. Every day propound to your self [...] Rosary or a Chaplet of good Works, to [...]resent to God at night.
[Page 48]2. Rise as soon as your health and other occasions shall permit; but it is good to be as regular as you can, and as early. Remember, he that rises first to Prayer, hath a more early title to a blessing. But he that changes night into day, labour into idleness, watchfulness to sleep, changes his hopes of blessing into a dream.
3. Never let any one think it an e [...] cuse to lie in bed, because he hath nothing to do when he is up: for whoever hath [...] Soul, and hopes to save that Soul, hat [...] work enough to do to make his calling and election sure, to serve God, and to pray, to reade, and to meditate, to repent and to amend, to do good to others, and to keep evil from themselves. And if thou hast little to do, thou ought'st to imploy the more time in laying up for [...] greater Crown of Glory.
4. At your opening your eyes, enter upon the day with some act of piety.
- 1. Of thanksgiving for the preservation of you the night past.
- 2. Of the glorification of God for the works of the Creation, or any thing for the honour of God.
5. When you first go off from your bed, solemnly and devoutly bow your head, and worship the holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
6. When you are making ready, be as silent as you can, and spend that time in holy thoughts; there being no way left to redeem that time from loss, but by meditation and short mental prayers. If you choose to speak, speak something of Gods praises, of his goodness, his mercies, [Page 49] or his greatness: Ever resolving, [...]at the first fruits of thy reason, and of [...]l thy faculties shall be presented to God, [...] sanctifie the whole harvest of thy conersation.
7. Be not curious, nor careless in your [...]abit, but alwayes keep these measures.
- 1. Be not troublesome to thy self, or to others, by unhandsomeness or uncleanness.
- 2. Let it be according to your state and quality.
- 3. Make Religion to be the difference of your habit, so as to be best attired upon Holy or Festival dayes.
8. In your dressing, let there be ejaculations fitted to the severall actions of dressing: as at washing your hands and face, pray God to cleanse your Soul from sin: In putting on your clothes, pray him to clothe your Soul with the righteousness of your Saviour; and so in all the rest.
For Religion must not onely be the garment of your Soul, to invest it all over; but it must be also as the fringes to every of your actions, that something of Religion appear in every one of them, [Page 50] besides the innocence of all of them.
9. As soon as you are dressed with the first preparation of your clothes, that you can decently do it, kneel and say the Lords Prayer; then rise from your knees, and do what is necessary for you in order to your further dressing, or affairs of the house, which is speedily to be done; and then finish your dressing according to the foregoing Rules.
10. When you are dressed, retire your self to your Closet; and go to your usuall devotions, which it is good that at the first prayers they divided were into seven actions of piety.
- 1. An act of Adoration.
- 2. Of Thanksgiving.
- 3. Of Oblation.
- 4. Of Confession.
- 5. Of Petition.
- 6. Of Intercession.
- 7. Of Meditation, or serious, deliberate, useful reading of the holy Scriptures.
11. I advise that your [...] S. Chrysoft. Homil. 3. de Lazaro. reading should be governed by these measures.
- [Page 51]1. Let it be not of the whole Bible in order, but for your devotion use the New Testament, and such portions of the Old as contain the Precepts of holy life.
- 2. The Historical and less useful part, let it be read at such other times which you have of leisure from your domestick imployments.
- 3. Those portions of Scripture which you use in your Prayers, let them not be long. A Chapter at once; no more: but then what time you can afford, spend it in thinking and meditating upon the holy Precepts which you read.
- 4. Be sure to meditate so long, till you make some act of piety upon the occasion of what you meditate; either that you get some new arguments against a sin, or some new incouragements to vertue; some spiritual strength and advantage, or else some act of Prayer to God, or glorification of him.
- 5. I advise that you would reade your Chapter in the midst of your Prayers in the Morning, if they be divided according to the number [Page 52] of the former actions; because little interruptions will b [...] apt to make your Prayers less tedious, and your self more atte [...] upon them: But if you finde any other way more agreeing to yo [...] spirit and disposition, use your liberty without scruple.
12. Before you go forth of your Closet, after your Prayers are done, set you self down a little while, and consider wh [...] you are to do that day, what matter [...] business is like to imploy you or to tem [...] you; and take particular resolution against that, whether it be matter of wrangling, or anger, or covetousness, or vai [...] courtship, or feasting: and when you enter upon it, remember, upon what you resolved in your Closet. If you are likely to have nothing extraordinary that day a general recommendation of the affai [...] of that day to God in your Prayers wi [...] be sufficient: but if there be any thi [...] foreseen that is not usual, be sure to be armed for it, by a hearty though a sho [...] Prayer, and an earnest prudent resolutio [...] before-hand, and then watch when th [...] thing comes.
13. Whosoever hath Children or Servants, let him or her take care, that a [...] [Page 53] the Children and Servants of the family [...]y their Prayers before they begin their [...]ork; The Lords Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, with the short verse at [...]he end of every Commandment, which [...]he Church uses; and the Creed is a very good office for them, if they be not fitted [...]or more regular offies. And to these al [...]o it were good, that some proper Prayer were apportioned, and they taught it. It were well if they would serve themselves of this form set down at the end of this Diary.
14. Then go about the affairs of your house and proper imployment, ever avoiding idlenes, or too much earnestness of affection upon the things of the world: Do your business prudently, temperately, diligently, humbly, charitably.
15. Let there be no idle person in or about your family, of beggers, or unimployed Servants, but finde them all work and meat; call upon them carefully; reprove them without reproaches, or fierce railings. Be a master or a mistress, and a friend to them, and exact of them to be faithful and diligent.
16. In your Servants suffer any offence against your self, rather then against God; endure not that they should swear, [Page 54] or lie, or steal, or be wanton, or curse each other, or be railers, or slanderers, or telltales, and sowers of dissension in the family, or amongst neighbors.
17. In all your entercourse with your neighbors in the day, let your affairs be wholly matter of business or civility, and alwayes managed with Justice and Charity; never let it be matter of curiosity or inquiry into the actions of others; alwayes without censuring or rash judgement, without backbiting, slandering, or detraction: Do it not your self, neither converse with them that do. He or she that loves tale-bearers, shall never be beloved, or be innocent.
18. Before dinner and supper, as often as it is convenient, or can be had, let the publick Prayers of the Church, or some parts of them, be said publickly in the family, and let as many be present as you can. The same rule is also to be observed for Sundays and Holy-dayes for their going to Church. Let no Servant be alwayes detained, but relieved and provided for by changes.
19. Let your meal be temperate and wholesome, according to your quality, and the season, begun and ended with Prayer; and be sure that in the course of [Page 55] [...]our meal, and before you rise, you reollect your self, and send your heart up [...]o God with some holy and short ejacula [...]ion; remembring your duty, fearing to [...]ffend, or desiring and sighing after the [...]ternal Supper of the Lamb.
20. After meal, use what innocent re [...]reshment you please, to refresh your minde or body, with these measures:
- 1. Let it not be too expensive of time.
- 2. Let it not hinder your devotion, nor your business.
- 3. Let it be alwayes without violence or passion.
- 4. Let it not then wholly take you up when you are at it; but let your heart retire with some holy thoughts, and sober recollections, left your minde be seised upon by it, and your affections carried off from better things: secure your affections for God, and sober and severe imployment. Here you may be refreshed, but take heed you neither dwell here, nor sin here. It is better never to use recreation, then at any time to sin by it. But you may use recreation, and avoid sin, and that's the best temper: But if you cannot [Page 56] do both, be more careful of your soul, then of your refreshment, and that's the best security. But then in what you use to sin, carefully avoid it, and change your refreshment for some other instance in which you can be more innocent.
21. Entertain no long discourses with any, but if you can bring in something to season it with Religion: as God must be in all your thoughts, so if it be possible, let him be in all your discourses, at least let him be at one end of it; and when you cannot speak of him, be sure you forget not to think of him.
22. Toward the declining of the day, be sure to retire to your private devotions. Reade, meditate, and pray; In which I propound to you this method: On the Lords day meditate of the glories of the Creation, the works of God, and all his benefits to Mankinde, and to you in particular. Then let your devotion be humbly upon your knees, to say over the 8 th and 19 th Psalms, and sometimes the 104 th, with proper Collects which you shall finde or get: Adding the form of thanksgiving which is in the Rule of Holy Living, [Page 57] pag. 378. in the manner as is there [...]ected; or some other of your own [...]oofing.
| Mediate on |
|
on |
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[...]aying your usuall Prayers, and adding [...]me ejaculations or short sayings of your [...]wn, according to the matter of your de [...]otion.
On Friday, recollect your sins that you [...]ave done that week, and all your life [...]ime; and let your devotion be to recite [...]umbly and devoutly some penitentiall [...]etanies, whereof you may serve your [...]elf in the Rule of Holy Living, page [...]73.
On Saturday at the same time, meditate on the passion of our blessed Saviour and [...] the mysteries of our Redemption, which you may do and pray together, by [...]using the forms made to that purpose in the Rule of Holy Living, page 391. In all your devotions begin and end with the Lords Prayer.
Upon these two dayes and Sunday, you may choose some portions out of the Life of Christ, to reade and help your meditation, [Page 58] proper to the mysteries you are appointed to meditate, or any other devo [...] books.
23. Reade not much at a time; b [...] meditate as much as your time and capacity and disposition will give you leave ever remembring, that little reading, an [...] much thinking; little speaking, and muc [...] hearing; frequent and short prayers, an [...] great devotion, is the best way to be wise, to be holy, to be devout.
24. Before you go to bed, bethin [...] your self of the day past; if nothing e [...] traordinary hath hapned, your Conscience is the sooner examined; but if you have had any difference or disagreeing with any one, or a great feast, or great company or a great joy, or a great sorrow, then recollect your self with the more diligence [...] ask pardon for what is amiss; give Go [...] thanks for what was good: if you have omitted any duty, make amends next day [...] and yet if nothing be found that w [...] amiss, be humbled still and thankful, an [...] pray God for pardon if any thing be amiss that you know not of. If all these things be in your offices, for your last prayers, be sure to apply them according to what you finde in your examination: but if they be not, supply them with short [Page 59] [...] before you begin your last [...]ayers, or at the end of them. Remem [...]r also, and be sure to take notice of all [...]e mercies and deliverances of your self, [...]d your relatives that day.
25. As you are going to bed, as often [...] you can conveniently, or that you are [...]ot hindred by company, meditate of [...]eath, and the preparations to your grave. [...]hen you lie down, close your eyes with short Prayer, commit your self into the [...]ands of your faithful Creator; and when [...]ou have done, trust him with your self, [...]s you must do when you are dying.
26. If you awake in the night, fill up [...]he intervals or spaces of your not sleep [...]ng by holy thoughts and aspirations, and [...]emember the sins of your youth: and sometimes remember your dead, and that you shall die; and pray to God to send to you and all mankinde a mercy in the day of Judgement.
27. Upon the Holy-days observe the same Rules; onely let the matter of your meditations be according to the mystery of the day. As upon Christmas day meditate on the birth of our blessed Saviour, and reade that story and Considerations which are in the Life of Christ: and to your ordinary devotions of every day [Page 60] adde the Prayer which is fitted to the mystery which you shall finde in the Life of Christ, or in the Rule of holy Living. Upon the day of the Annunciation or ou [...] Lady-day, meditate on the incarnation of our blessed Saviour; and so upon all the Festivals of the year.
28. Set apart one day for fasting once a week, or once a fortnight, or once a moneth at least, but let it be with these cautions and measures.
- 1. Do not choose a festivall of the Church for your fasting day.
- 2. Eat nothing till your afternoon devotions be done, if the health of your body will permit it: if not, take something, though it be the less.
- 3. When you eat your meal, let it be no more then ordinary, lest your fasting day end in an intemperate evening.
- 4. Let the actions of all the day be proportionable to it, abstain from your usuall recreations on that day, and from greater mirth.
- 5. Be sure to design beforehand the purposes of your fast, either for Repentance, or for Mortification. [Page 61] or for the advantages of Prayer; and let your devotions be accordingly. But be sure, not to think fasting or eating fish or eating nothing, of it self to be pleasing to God, but as it serves to one of these purposes.
- 6. Let some part of that day extraordinary be set apart for Prayer, for the actions of Repentance, for confession of sins, and for begging of those graces for whose sake you set apart that day.
- 7. Be sure that on that day you set apart something for the poor; for Fasting and Alms are the wings of Prayer.
- 8. It is best to choose that day for your fast, which is used generally by all Christians, as Friday and Saturday; but do not call it a fasting day, unless also it be a day of extraordinary devotion and of alms.
29. From observation of all the dayes of your life, gather out the four extraordinaries.
- [Page 62]1. All the great and shameful [...] you have committed.
- 2. All the excellent or greater acts of piety which by Gods grace you have performed.
- 3. All the great blessings you have received.
- 4. All the dangers and great sicknesses you have escaped; and upon all the dayes of your extraordinary devotions, let them be brought forth, and produce their acts of virtue.
- 1. Repentance and Prayers for pardon.
- 2. Resolutions to proceed and increase in good works.
- 3. Thanksgiving to God.
- 4. Fear and watchfulness, lest we fall into worse, as a punishment for our sin.
30. Keep a little Catalogue of these, and at the foot of them set down what Promises and Vows you have made, and kept or broken, and do according as you are obliged.
31. Receive the blessed Sacrament as often as you can: endevour to have it once a moneth, besides the solemn and [Page 63] [...]eat Festivalls of the year.
32. Confess your sins often, hear the Word of God, make Religion the busi [...]ess of your life, your study, and chiefest [...]are, and be sure that in all things a spi [...]itual guide take you by the hand.
Thou shalt alwayes rejoyce in the even [...]ng, if thou doest spend thy day vir [...]uously.
VIA PACIS. A short Method of Peace and Holiness. With a Manual of daily PRAYERS: Fitted to the dayes of the Week.
SUNDAY. Decad the first.
1. IT is the highest wisdome by despising the world to arrive at heaven: for they are blessed whose daily exercise it is to converse with God by Prayer and Obedience, by Love and Patience.
2. It is the extremest folly to labour for that which will bring torment in the end, and no satisfaction in the little enjoyment [Page 65] of it: to be unwearied in the [...]ursuit of the world, and to be soon tir'd [...] whatsoever we begin to do for Christ.
3. Watch over thy self, counsel thy self, [...]prove thy self, censure thy self, and [...]dge thy self impartially: whatever thou [...]ost to others, do not neglect thy self. [...]or every man profits so much as he does [...]iolence to himself.
4. They that follow their own sensu [...]lity, stain their Consciences, and lose the [...]race of God: but he that endevours to [...]lease God, whatever he suffers, is be [...]ved of God. For it is not a Question, Whether we shall or shall not suffer? but, Whether we shall suffer for God, or for the world? whether we shall take pains [...] Religion, or in sin, to get heaven, or to get riches?
5. What availeth knowledge without [...]he fear of God? A humble ignorant man [...] better then a proud scholar, who stu [...]ies natural things, and knows not himself. The more thou knowest, the more grievously thou shalt be judged: Many get no profit by their labour, because they [...]ontend for knowledge, rather then for [...]oly life; and the time shall come, when [...]t shall more avail thee to have subdu'd [...]ne lust, then to have known all mysteries.
[Page 66] 6. No man truly knows himself, but he groweth daily more contemptible in his own eyes; desire, not to be known, and to be little esteem'd of by men.
7. If all be well within, nothing can hurt us from without: for from inordinate love and vain fear, comes all unquietness of spirit, and distraction of our senses.
8. He to whom all things are one, who draweth all things to one, and seeth all things in one, may enjoy true peace and rest of spirit.
9. It is not much business that distracts any man, but the want of purity, constancy, and tendency towards God. Who hinders thee more then the unmortified desires of thine own heart? As soon as ever a man desires any thing inordinately, he is presently disquieted in himself. He that hath not wholly subdued himself, is quickly tempted and overcome in small and trifling things. The weak in spirit is he that is in a manner subject to his appetite, and he quickly falls into indignation, and contention, and envy.
10. He is truly great, that is great in Charity, and little in himself.
MUNDAY. The second Decad.
11. WEE rather often believe and speak evil of others, then good. But they that are truly virtuous, do not easily credit evil that is told them of their neighbors. For if others may do [...]miss, then may these also speak amiss. Man is frail and prone to evil, and therefore may soon fail in words.
12. Be not rash in thy proceedings, nor confident and pertinacious in thy conceits. But consult with him that is wise, and seek to be instructed by a better then thy self.
13. The more humble and resign'd we are to God, the more prudent we are in our affairs to men, and peaceable in our [...]elves.
14. The proud and the covetous can never rest.
15. Be not asham'd to be, or to be esteem'd poor in this world: for he that hears God teaching him, will finde that it is the best wisdome to withdraw all our [Page 68] affections from secular honour, and troublesome riches, and to place them upon eternal treasures, and by patience, by humility, by suffering scorn and contempt, and all the will of God, to get the true riches.
16. Be not proud of well-doing; for the judgement of God is farre differing from the judgement of men.
17. Lay not thine heart open to every one, but with the wise, and them that fear God. Converse not much with yong people and strangers. Flatter not the rich, neither do thou willingly or lightly appear before great personages. Never be partaker with the persecutors.
18. It is easier, and safer, and more pleasant to live in obedience, then to be at our own disposing.
19. Alwayes yield to others when there is cause; for that is no shame, but honour: but it is shame to stand stiff in a foolish or weak argument or resolution.
20. The talk of worldly affairs hindreth much, although recounted with a fair intention: we speak willingly, but seldome return to silence.
TUESDAY. The third Decad.
21. WAtch and pray, lest your time pass without profit or fruit. But devout discourses do greatly further our spirituall progress, if persons of one minde and spirit be gathered together in God.
22. We should enjoy more peace, if we did not busie our selves with the words and deeds of other men, which appertain not to our charge.
23. He that esteems his progress in Religion to consist in exterior Observances, his devotion will quickly be at an end. But to free our selves of passions, is to lay the axe at the root of the tree, and the true way of peace.
24. It is good that we sometimes be contradicted, and ill thought of, and that we alwayes bear it well, even when we deserve to be well spoken of: perfect peace and security cannot be had in this world.
25. All the Saints have profited by tribulations; and they that could not bear [Page 70] temptations, became reprobates, and fell from God.
26. Think not all is well within, when all is well without; or that thy being pleas'd, is a sign that God is pleas'd: but suspect every thing that is prosperous, unless it promotes Piety, and Charity, and Humility.
27. Do no evil, for no interest, and to please no man, for no friendship, and for no fear.
28. God regards not how much we do, but from how much it proceeds. He does much that loves much.
29. Patiently suffer that from others, which thou canst not mend in them, untill God please to do it for thee; and remember that thou mend thy self, since thou art so willing others should not offend in any thing.
30. Every mans virtue is best seen in adversity and temptation.
WEDNESDAY. The fourth Decad.
[...]. BEgin every day to repent, not that thou shouldst at all defer it, or stand the door, but because all that is past [...]aght to seem little to thee; because it is [...] in it self: begin the next day with the [...]me zeal and the same fear, and the same [...]umility, as if thou hadst never begun [...]efore.
32. A little omission of any usual ex [...]cise of piety, cannot happen to thee [...]ithout some loss and considerable detri [...]ent, even though it be upon a [...]erable cause.
33. Be not slow in common and usual [...]cts of Piety and Devotion, and quick [...]nd prompt at singularities: but having [...]rst done what thou art bound to, pro [...]eed to counsels and perfections, and the [...]xtraordinaries of Religion, as you see [...]ause.
34. He that desires much to hear news, [...]s never void of passions, and secular deires, and adherencies to the world.
[Page 72] 35. Complain not too much of hin [...] drances of Devotion: if thou let me [...] alone, they will let you alone: and if yo [...] desire not to converse with them, let the [...] know it, and they will not desire to converse with thee.
36. Draw not to thy self the affai [...] of others, neither involve thy self in th [...] suits and parties of great personages.
37. Know that if any trouble happen to thee, it is what thou hast deserved, and therefore brought upon thy self. But i [...] any comfort come to thee, it is a gift of God, and what thou didst not deserve. And remember, that oftentimes when th [...] body complains of trouble, it is not so much the greatness of trouble, as littleness of thy spirit, that makes thee to complain.
38. He that knows ow to suffer a [...] thing for God, that desires heartily th [...] will of God may be done in him; th [...] studies to please others rather then himself; to do the will of his superior, not his own; that chooseth the least portio [...] and is not greedy for the biggest; th [...] takes the lowest place, and does not mu [...] secretly: he is in the best conditio [...] and state of things.
39. Let no man despair of mercy [...] [Page 73] [...]ccess, so long as he hath life and health.
40. Every man must pass through fire [...]nd water, before he can come to re [...]eshment.
THURSDAY. The fifth Decad.
41. SOon may a man lose that by negligence, which hath by much labour, [...]nd a long time, and a mighty grace scarce [...]y been obtain'd. And what shall become of us before night, who are weary [...]o early in the morning? Woe be to that man who would be at rest, even when he [...]ath scarcely a footstep of holiness appearing in his conversation.
42. So think, and so do, as if thou wert [...]o die to day, and at night to give an account of thy whole life.
43. Beg not a long life, but a good one: for length of dayes oftentimes prolongs the evil, and augments the guilt. It were well if that little time we live, we would live well.
[Page 74] 44. Entertain the same opinions and thoughts of thy sin and of thy present state, as thou wilt in the dayes of sorrow. Thou wilt then think thy self very miserable and very foolish, for neglecting one hour, and one day of thy salvation: Think so now, and thou wilt be more provident of thy time and of thy talent. For there will a time come, when every careless man shall desire the respite of one hour for Prayer and Repentance, and I know not who will grant it. Happy is he that so lives, that in the day of death he rejoyces, and is not amazed.
45. He that would die comfortably, may serve his ends by first procuring to himself a contempt of the world, a fervent desire of growing in grace, love of discipline, a laborious repentance, a prompt obedience, self-deniall, and toleration of every cross accident for the love of Christ, and a tender Charity.
46. While thou art well, thou mayest do much good, if thou wilt; but when thou art sick, neither thou nor I can tell, what thou shalt be able to do. It is not very much, nor very good: Few men mend with sickness, as there are but few who by travell and a wandring life become devout.
[Page 75] 47. Be not troubled, nor faint in the [...]ours of mortification, and the austeries of Repentance: for in Hell, one [...]ur is more intolerable then a hundred [...]ars in the house of Repentance: and [...]y, for if thou canst not endure God pu [...]shing thy follies gently, for a while, to [...]end thee, how wilt thou endure his [...]ngeance for ever to undo thee?
48. In thy Prayers wait for God, and [...]ink not every hearty Prayer can procure [...]ery thing thou askest. These things [...]hich the Saints did not obtain without [...]any Prayers, and much labour, and a [...]ower of tears, and a long protracted [...]archfulness, and industry, do thou ex [...]ct also in its own time, and by its usuall [...]easures. Do thou valiantly, and hope [...]nfidently, and wait patiently, and thou [...]alt finde thou wilt not be deceived.
49. Be careful thou dost not speak a [...] in thy Prayers, which though not ob [...]ved, is frequently practis'd by careless [...]fons, especially in the forms of [...]sion, affirming things which they have [...]t thought, professing sorrow which is [...]t, making a vow they mean not.
50. If thou meanest to be devout, and [...] enlarge thy Religion, do it rather by [...]creasing thy ordinary devotions, then [Page 76] thy extraordinary. For if they be not regular, but come by chance, they will not last long. But if they be added to your ordinary offices, or made to be daily, thy spirit will by use and custome be made tender, and not willing to go less.
FRIDAY. The sixth Decad.
51. HE is a truly charitable and good man, who when he receives injuries, grieves rather for the malice of him that injures him, then for his own suffering; who willingly prayes for him that wrongs him, and from his heart forgives all his faults; who stayes not, but quickly asks pardon of others for his errors or mistakes; who sooner shews mercy then anger; who thinks better of others then himself; who offers violence to his appetite, and in all things endevours to subdue the flesh to the spirit. This is an excellent abbreviature of the whole duty of [...] Christian.
[Page 77] 52. No man can have felicity in two [...]ates of things; if he takes it in God [...]ere, in him he shall have it hereafter, for God will last for ever. But if he takes [...]licity in things of this world, where will [...]is felicity be when this world is done? [...]ither here alone, or hereafter must be [...]hy portion.
53. Avoid those things in thy self, [...]hich in others do most displease thee. And remember, that as thine eye observes [...]thers, so art thou observed by God, by Angels, and by Men.
54. He that puts his confidence in God [...]nely, is neither overjoyed in any great good thing of this life, nor sorrowful for [...] little thing. Let God be thy love and [...]hy fear, and he also will be thy salvation [...]nd thy refuge.
55. Do not omit thy Prayers for want of a good oratory or place to pray in, [...]or thy duty for want of temporal [...]. For he that does both upon Gods account, cares not how or what he [...]uffers, so he suffer well, and be the friend of Christ; nor where nor when he prayes, so he may do it frequently, fervently, and acceptably.
56. Very often remember and meditate upon the wound and stripes, the [Page 78] shame and the pain, the death and the burial of our Lord Jesus; for nothing will more enable us to bear our cross patiently injuries charitably, the labour of Religio [...] comfortably, and censuring words and detractions with meekness and quietness.
57. Esteem not thy self to have profited in Religion, unless thou thinkest well of others, and meanly of thy self: Therefore never accuse any but thy self, and be that diligently watches himself, will be willing enough to be silent concerning others.
58. It is no great matter to live lovingly with good natur'd, with humble, and meek persons: but he that can do so with the froward, with the wilful, and the ignorant, with the peevish and perverse, he onely hath true charity: alwayes remembring, that our true solid peace, the peace of God, consists rather in complying with others, then in being complied with, in suffering and forbearing, rather then in contention and victory.
59. Simplicity in our intentions, and purity of affections, are the two wings of a soul investing it with the robes and resemblances of a Seraphim. Intend the honour of God principally and sincerely, and mingle not thy affections with any [Page 79] [...]reature, but in just subordination to God, and to Religion, and thou shalt have [...]oy, if there be any such thing in this [...]orld. For there is no joy but in God, [...]nd no sorrow but in an evil Conscience.
60. Take not much care what, or who is [...]or thee, or against thee. The judgement of [...]one is to be regarded, if Gods judgement be otherwise. Thou art neither better nor worse in thy self, for any account that is made of thee by any but by God alone: [...]ecure that to thee, and he will secure [...]ll the rest.
SATURDAY. The seventh Decad.
61. BLessed is he that understands what it is to love Jesus, and contends earnestly to be like him. Nothing else can satisfie, or make us perfect. Bu [...] be thou a bearer of his Cross, as well as a lover of his Kingdome. Suffer tribulation for him, or from him, with the same spirit thou receivest consolation: [Page 80] follow him as well for the bitter Cup of his Passion, as for the Loaves; and remember, that if it be a hard saying, Take up my Cross and follow me, it is a harder saying, Go ye Cursed into Everlasting fire.
62. No man can alwayes have the same spirituall pleasure in his Prayers: For the greatest Saints have sometimes suffered the banishment of the heart; sometimes are fervent, sometimes they feel a barrenness of Devotion: for this Spirit comes and goes. Rest therefore onely in God, and in doing thy duty: and know, That if thou beest overjoyed to day, this houre will passe away, and temptation and sadnesse will succeed.
63. In all afflictions, seek rather for Patience then for Comfort. If thou preservest that, this will return. Any man would serve God, if he felt pleasure in it alwayes; but the virtuous does it, when his Soul is full of heavinesse, and regards not himselfe, but God, and hates that consolation that lessens his compunction; but loves any thing, whereby he is made more humble.
64. That which thou doest not understand [Page 81] when thou readest, thou shalt [...]nderstand in the day of thy visitation: [...]or there are many secrets of Religion, [...]hich are not perceived till they be felt, [...]nd are not felt but in the day of a great [...]alamity.
65. He that prayes, despairs not. But [...]ad is the condition of him that cannot [...]ray. Happy are they that can and do, and [...]ove to do it.
66. He that will be blessed in his Prayers, must make his Prayers his Rule. All our duty is there set down, because in all our duty, we beg the Divine Af [...]sistance: and remember, that you are [...]ound to do all those duties, for the Divine of which you have prayed for the Divine Assistance.
67. Be doing actions of Religion as often as thou canst, and thy worldly pleasures as seldome, that if thou beest surprised by sudden death, it may be oddes but thou mayest be taken at thy Prayers.
68. Watch, and resist the Devil in all his Temptations and Snares: His chief designes are these; To hinder thy desire in good; to put thee by from any Spirituall employment, from Prayers especially, from the Meditation of the [Page 82] Passion, from the remembrance of thy sins, from humble Confession of them, from speedy Repentance, from the custody of thy Senses and of thy Heart, from firm purposes of growing in Grace, from reading good Books, and frequent receiving the Holy Sacrament. It is all one to him, if he deceives thee by a lie, or by truth; whether he amaze or trouble thee, by love of the present, or fear of the future: Watch him but in these things, and there will be no part left unarmed, in which he can wound thee.
69. Remember how the proud have fallen, and they who have presumed upon their own strength have been disgraced; and that the boldest and greatest talkers in the dayes of peace, have been the most dejected and pusillanimous in the day of temptation.
70. No man ought to think he hath found peace, when nothing troubles him; or that God loves him, because he hath no enemy; nor that all is well, because every thing is according to his minde; nor that he is a holy person, because he prayes with great sweetness and comfort: But he is at peace, who is reconciled to God; and God loves him, [Page 83] [...]hen he hath overcome himself; and [...]ll is well, when nothing pleases him but God, being thankful in the midst of his [...]fflictions; and he is holy, who when [...]e hath lost his comfort, loses nothing of his duty, but is still the same, when God changes his face towards him.
POSTVLANDA: OR, Things to be prayed for.
Jubet Deus ut petus, & si non petis displicet, & non negabit quod petis, & tu non Petes.?
A FORM of PRAYER, By way of Paraphrase Expounding The Lords Prayer.
Our Father,
MErciful and Gracious; thou gavest me beeing, raising me from nothing, to be an excellent creation, efforming me after thy own Image, tenderly feeding me, and conducting and strengthning me all my dayes: Thou art our Father by a more excellent Mercy, adopting us in a new birth, to become partakers of the inheritance of Jesus; Thou hast given us the portion and the food of Sons; O make us to do the duty of Sons, that we may [Page 88] never lose our title to so glorious an inheritance.
Let this excellent Name and Title, by which thou hast vouchsafed to relate to us, be our Glory and our Confidence, our Defence and Guard, our Ornament and Strength, our Dignity, and the endearment of Obedience, the Principle of a holy Fear to thee our Father, and of Love to thee and to our Brethren, partakers of the same Hope and Dignity.
Unite every member of the Church to thee in holy bands; Let there be no more names of Division, nor Titles and Ensigns of Error and Partiality; Let not us who are Brethren contend, but in giving honour to each other, and glory to thee, contending earnestly for the Faith, but not to the breach of Charity, nor the denying each others Hope: but grant, that we may all joyn in the promotion of the honour of thee our Father, in celebrating the Name, and spreading the Family, and propagating the Laws and Institutions, the Promises and Dignities of our Elder Brother; that despising the transitory entertainments of this world, we may labour for, and long after the inheritance to which thou hast given us title, by adopting us into the dignity of Sons. For ever [Page 89] [...]et thy Spirit witness to our Spirit, that we [...]re thy children, and enable us to cry Abba, Father.
Which art in Heaven,
Heaven is thy Throne, the Earth is thy Footstool: From thy Throne thou beholdest all the dwellers upon earth, and triest out the hearts of men, and nothing is hid from thy sight: And as thy Knowledge is infinite, so is thy Power, uncircumscribed as the utmost Orb of Heaven, and thou sittest in thy own Essential Happiness and Tranquillity, immoveable and eternal. That is our Countrey, and thither thy Servants are travelling; there is our Father, and that is our inheritance; there our hearts are, for there our treasure is laid up till the day of Recompence.
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Name, O God, is glorious, and in thy Name is our hope and confidence: According to thy Name, so is thy praise unto the worlds end: They that love thy Name, shall be joyfull in thee; for thy Name which thou madest to be proclaimed [Page 90] unto thy people, is, The Lord, the Lord God, mercifull and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty. In this glorious Name, we worship thee, O Lord; and all they that know thy Name, will put their trust in thee. The desire of our soul is to thy Name, and to the remembrance of thee. Thou art worthy, O Lord, of honour, and praise, and glory, for ever and ever: we confess thy glories, we rejoyce in thy mercies; we hope in thy Name, and thy Saints like it well: for thy Name is praised unto the ends of the world; it is believed by Faith, relied upon by a holy Hope, and loved by a great Charity: All thy Church celebrates thee with praises, and offers to thy Name the Sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving.
Thou, O God, didst frame our Nature by thy own Image, and now thou hast imprinted thy Name upon us, we are thy Servants, the relatives and domesticks of thy family, and thou hast honoured us with the gracious appellative of Christians. O let us never dishonour so excellent a Title, nor by unworthy usages profane thy holy Name, but for ever glorifie [Page 91] it. Let our life be answerable to our dignity; that our body may be chaste, our thoughts clean, our words gracious, our manners holy, and our life useful and iunocent, that men seeing our good works, may glorifie thee our Father which art in Heaven.
Thy Kingdome come.
Thou reignest in Heaven and Earth: O do thou rule also in our hearts; advance the interest of Religion; let thy. Gospel be placed in all the regions of the earth; and let all Nations come and worship thee, laying their proud wills at thy feet, submitting their understandings to the obedience of Jesus, conforming their affections to thy holy Laws. Let thy Kingdome be set up gloriously over us; and do thou reign in our spirits, by thy Spirit of Grace; subdue every lust and inordinate appetite; trample upon our pride, mortifie all rebellion within us, and let all thine and our enemies be brought into captivity, that sin may never reign in our mortal bodies; but that Christ may reign in our Understanding by Faith, in the Will by Charity, in the Passions by Mortification, in all the members by a right and [Page 92] a chaste use of them. And when thy Kingdome that is within us hath flourished and is advanced to that height whither thou hast designed it, grant thy Kingdome of Glory may speedily succeed; and we thy Servants be admitted to the peace and purity, the holiness and glories of that state where thou reignest alone, and art all in all.
Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven.
Thy will, O God, is the measure of holiness and peace; thy Providence the great disposer of all things, tying all events together, in order to thy glory and the good of thy Servants, by a wonderful mysterious Chain of Wisdome. Let thy Will also be the measure of our desires: for we know, that whatsoever thou sayest is true, and whatsoever thou doest is good: Grant we may submit our wills to thine, being patient of evils which thou inflictest, lovers of the good which thou commandest, haters of all evil which thou forbiddest, pleased with all the accidents thou sendest; that though our nature is weaker then Angels, yet our obedience [Page 93] may be as humble, our conformity to thy will may arise up to the degrees of Unity, and theirs cannot be more; that as they in Heaven, so we in Earth may obey thy will promptly, chearfully, zealously, and with all our faculties; and grant, that as they there, so all the world here may serve thee with peace and concord, purity and love unfeigned, with one heart, and one voice glorifying thee our heavenly Father.
Grant that we may quit all our own affections, and suspect our reasonings, and go out of our selves, and all our own confidences, that thou being to us all things, disposing all events, and guiding all our actions, and directing our intentions, and over-ruling all things in us and about us, we may be Servants of the Divine Will for ever.
Give us this day our daily Bread.
Thou, O God, which takest care of our Souls, do not despise our bodies which thou hast made and sanctified, and designed to be glorious. But now we are exposed to hunger and thirst, nakedness and weariness, want and inconvenience, Give [Page 94] unto us neither poverty nor riches, but feed us with food convenient for us, and clothe us with fitting provisions, according to that state and condition where thou hast placed thy Servants; that we may not be tempted with want, nor made contemptible by beggery, nor wanton or proud by riches, nor in love with any thing in this world; but that we may use it as strangers and pilgrims, as the relief of our needs, the support of our infirmities, and the oyle of our lamps, feeding us till we are quite spent in thy service. Lord take from thy Servants sad carefulness, and all distrust and give us onely such a proportion of temporal things, as may enable us with comfort to do our duty.
Forgive us our Trespasses, as we forgive them that trespasse against us.
O dear God, unless thou art pleased to pardon us, in vain it is that we should live here, and what good will our life do us? O look upon us with much mercy, for we have sinned grievously against thee. Pardon the adherent imperfections of our life, the weaknesses of our duty, the carelesness [Page 95] of our spirit, our affected igno [...]nce, our indiligence, our rashness and [...]ant of observation our malice and Pre [...]mptions. Turn thine eyes from our im [...]urities, and behold the brightness and [...]urest innocence of the Holy Jesus, and [...]nder his cover we plead our cause, not [...]hat thou shouldest judge our sins, but [...]ive us pardon, and blot out all our ini [...]uities, that we may never enter into the [...]orrible regions where there are torments without ceasing, a Prison without ransome, [...]eproaches without comfort, anguish without patience, darkness without light, [...] worm that never dies, and the fire that [...]ever goeth out.
But be pleased also to give us great Cha [...]ity, that we may truly forgive all that [...]rouble or injure us, that by that Chara [...]ter thou mayest discern us to be thy [...]ons and Servants, Disciples of the Holy [...]esus, lest our Prayer be turned into sin, [...]nd thy grace be recalled, and thou enter [...]nto a final anger against thy Servants.
Lead us not into Temptation.
Gracious Father, we are weak and ignorant, our affections betray us, and make us willing to die, our adversary the Devil [Page 96] goeth up and down, seeking whom he may devour; he is busie, and crafty, malicious and powerful, watchful and envious; and we tempt our selves, running out to mischief, delighting in the approaches of sin, and love to have necessities put upon us, that sin may be unavoidable. Pity us in the midst of these disorders; and give us spirituall Strength, holy Resolutions, a watchful Spirit, the whole Armour of God, and thy protection, the guard of Angels, and the conduct of thy holy Spirit to be our security in the day of danger. Give us thy grace to flie from all occasions to sin, that we may never tempt our selves, nor delight to be tempted; and let thy blessed Providence so order the accidents of our lives, that we may not dwell near an enemy; and when thou shalt try us, and suffer us to enter into combat, let us alwayes be on thy side, and fight valiantly, resist the Devil, and endure patiently, and persevere constantly unto the end, that thou mayest crown thy own work in us.
But deliver us from evil.
From sin and shame, from the malice and fraud of the Devil, and from the [Page 97] falseness and greediness of men, from all [...]hy wrath, and from all our impurities, [...]ood Lord deliver thy servants.
Do not reserve any thing of thy wrath [...] store for us; but let our sins be Par [...]oned so fully, that thou mayest not pu [...]ist our inventions. And yet if thou [...]ilt not be intreated, but that it be ne [...]essary that we suffer, thy will be done; [...]mite us here with a Fathers rod, that [...]hou mayest spare us hereafter: let the [...]ad accidents of our life be for good to [...]s, not for evil, for our amendment, not [...]o exasperate or weary us, not to harden [...]r confound us: and what evil soever it [...]e that shall happen, let us not sin against [...]hee. For ever deliver us from that evil, [...]nd for ever deliver us from the power of [...]he evil one, the great enemy of Man [...]inde, and never let our portion be in [...]hat region of Darkness, in that ever [...]asting burning which thou hast prepared [...]or the Devil and his Angels for ever.
For thine is the Kingdome, the Power and the Glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
So shall we thy servants advance the Mightiness of thy Kingdome, the Power of thy Majesty, and the Glory of thy Mercy, from generation to generation for ever.
Amen.
LETANIES FOR All Things and Persons.
O God the Father of Mercies, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, have [...]ercy upon thy servants, and hear the [...]rayers of us miserable sinners.
O blessed Jesus, the Fountain of Peace [...]nd Pardon, our Wisdome and our Righ [...]ousness, our Sanctification and Redem [...]tion, have mercy upon thy servants, re [...]se not to hear the prayers of us misera [...]e, sorrowful, and returning sinners.
O holy and divinest Spirit of the Fa [...]er, help our infirmities, for of our selves [...]e know not what to ask, nor how to [...]ray, but do thou assist and be pre [...]nt in the desires of us miserable sin [...]ers.
1. For Pardon of Sins.
REmember not Lord the follies of our childehood, nor the lusts of our youth, the wildness of our head nor the wandrings of our heart, the infinite sins of our tongue, and the inexcusable errors of the dayes of vanity.
Lord have mercy upon us poor miserable sinners.
Remember not, O Lord, the growing iniquities of our elder age, the pride of our spirit, the abuse of our members, the greediness of our appetite, the inconstancy of our purposes, the peevishness and violence of all our pafsions and affections.
Lord have mercy, &c.
Remember not, O Lord, how we have been full of envy and malice, anger an [...] revenge, fierce and earnest in the purchases and vanities of the world, aud lazy an [...] [Page 101] dull, slow and soon weary in the things of God and of Religion.
Lord have mercy, &c.
Remember not, O Lord, our uncharita [...]le behaviour towards those with whom [...]e have conversed, our jealousies and su [...]icions, our evil surmisings and evil re [...]ortings, the breach of our promises to [...]en, and the breach of all our holy vows [...]ade to thee our God.
Lord have mercy, &c.
Remember not, O Lord, how often we [...]ave omitted the several parts and actions [...]f our duty; for our sins of Omission [...]re infinite, and we have not sought after [...]he righteousness of God, but have rested [...] carelesness and forgetfulness, in a false [...]eace and a silent Conscience.
Lord have mercy, &c.
O most gracious Lord, enter not into [...]udgement with thy servants, lest we be [...]onsumed in thy wrath, and just displea [...]ure: from which
Good Lord deliver us, and preserve thy servants for ever.
11. For deliverance from evils.
FRom gross ignorance and stupid negligence, from a wandring head, and a trifling spirit, from the violence and rule of passion, from a servile will, and a commanding lust, from all intemperance, inordination and irregularity whatsoever:
Good Lord deliver and preserve thy servants for ever.
From a covetous minde and greedy desires, from lustful thoughts, and a wanton eye, from rebellious members, and the pride and vanity of spirit; from false opinions and ignorant confidences:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From improvidence and prodigality from envy and the spirit of ssander, from idleness and sensuality, from presumption and despair, from sinful action; and all vicious habits:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
[Page 103] From fierceness of rage, and hastiness [...]f spirit, from clamorous and reproachful [...]nguage, from peevish anger, and inhu [...]ane malice, from the spirit of conten [...]on, and hasty and indiscreet zeal:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From a schismatical and heretical spirit, [...]om tyranny and tumults, from sedition [...]nd factions, from envying the grace of God in our Brotber, from impenitence and [...]ardness of heart, from obstinacy and apo [...]asie, from delighting in sin, and hating God and good men:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From fornication and adultery, from annatural desires and unnatural hatreds, from gluttony & drunkenness, from loving and believing lies, and taking pleasure in the remembrances of evil things, from de [...]ighting in our. Neighbours misery, and [...]rocuring it, from upbraiding others, and [...]ating reproof of our selves:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From impudence and shame, from contempt [Page 104] and scorn, from oppression and cruelty, from a pitiless and unrelenting spirit, from a churlish behaviour, and undecent usages of our selves or others:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From famine and pestilence, from noisome and infectious diseases, from sharp and intolerable pains, from impatience and tediousness of spirit, from a state of temptation, and hardned spirits:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From banishments and prison, from widowhood and want, from violence of pains and passions, from tempests and earthquakes, from the rage of fire and water, from Rebellion and Treason, from fretfulness and inordinate cares, from murmuring against God, and disobedience to the divine Commandment:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From delaying our repentance, and persevering in sin, from false principles and prejudices, from unthankfulness and irreligion, from seducing others, and being [Page 105] [...]bused our selves, from the malice and [...]raftiness of the Devil, and the deceit and [...]yings of the World:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From wounds and Murther, from pre [...]cipices and falls, from fracture of bones, and dislocation of joynts, from dismembring our bodies, and all infatuation of [...]our souls, from folly and madness, from uncertainty of minde and state, and from a certainty of sinning:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From thunder and lightning, from phantasms, spectres and illusions of the night, from sudden and great Changes, from the snares of wealth, and the contempt of beggery and extreme poverty, from being made an example and a warning to others by suffering sad judgements our selves:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From condemning others, and justifying our selves, from mispending our time and abusing thy grace, from calling good [Page 106] evil, and evil good, from consenting tofolly, and tempting others:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From excess in speaking and peevish silence, from looser laughing and immoderate weeping, from giving evil example to others, or following any our selves, from giving or receiving scandal, from the horrible sentence of endless death and damnation:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From cursing and swearing, from uncharitable chiding, and easiness to believe evil, from the evil spirit that walketh at noon, and the arrow that flieth in darkness, from the Angel of wrath, and perishing in popular diseases:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From the want of a Spiritual Guide, from a famine of the Word and Sacraments, from hurtful persecution, and from taking part with persecutors:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
[Page 107] From drowning or being burnt alive, from sleepless nights, and contentious dayes, from a melancholy and a confused spirit, from violent fears and the loss of reason, from a vicious life, and a sudden and unprovided death:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From relying upon vain fancies and false foundations, from an evil and an amazed Conscience, from sinning near the end of our life, and from despairing in the day of our death:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
From hypocrisie and wilfulness, from self-love and vain ambition, from curiosity and carelesness, from being tempted in the dayes of our weakness from the prevailing of the flesh, and grieving the Spirit, from all thy wrath, and from all our sins:
Good Lord deliver, &c.
III. For Gifts and Graces.
HEar our Prayer, O Lord, and consider our desire, hearken unto us for thy truth and righteousness sake: O hide not thy face from us, neither cast away thy servants in displeasure.
Give unto us the spirit of Prayer, frequent and fervent, holy and persevering, an unreprovable Faith a just and a humble Hope, and a never-failing Charity.
Hear our prayers, O Lord, and consider our desire.
Give unto us true humility, a meek and a quiet spirit, a loving and a friendly, a holy and a useful conversation, bearing the burthens of our Neighbours, denying our selves, and studying to benefit others, and to please thee in all things.
Hear our prayers, &c.
[Page 109] Give us a prudent and a sober, a just [...]nd a sincere, a temperate and a religious [...]pirit; a great contempt of the world, a [...]ove of holy things, and a longing after [...]eaven, and the instruments and paths that [...]ead thither.
Hear our prayers, &c.
Grant us to be thankful to our Benefa [...]ctors, righteous in performing promises, [...]oving to our relatives, careful of our [...]harges, to be gentle and easie to be in [...]reated, slow to anger, and fully instructed and readily prepared for every good work.
Hear our prayers, &c.
Give us a peaceable spirit, and a peaceable free from debt, and deadly sin, grace to abstain from all appearances of evil, and to do nothing but what is of good report, to confess Christ and his holy Religion, by a holy and obedient life, and a minde ready to die for him when he shall call us, and assist us.
Hear our prayers, &c.
Give to thy servants a watchful and an [Page 110] observing spirit, diligent in doing our duty, inflexible to evil, obedient to thy word, inquisitive after thy will, pure and holy thoughts, strong and religious purposes, and thy grace to perform faithfully what we have promised in the day of our duty, or in the day of our calamity.
Hear our prayers, &c.
O teach us to despise all vanity, to fight the battles of the Lord manfully against the Flesh, the World, and the Devil, to spend our time religiously and usefully, to speak gracious words, to walk alwayes as in thy presence, to preserve our souls and bodies in holiness, fit for the habitation of the holy Spirit of God.
Hear our prayers, &c.
Give us a holy and a perfect repentance, a well instructed understanding, regular affections, a constant and a wise heart, a good name, a fear of thy Majesty, and a love of all thy glories above all the things in the world for ever.
Hear our prayers, &c.
[Page 111] Give us a healthful body and a clear [...]nderstanding the love of our neighbors, [...]nd the peace of the Church, the publick [...]fe and comfort of thy holy Word and [...]acraments, a great love to all Christians, [...]nd obedience to our Superiors, Eccle [...]astical and Civil, all the dayes of our [...]ife.
Hear our prayers, &c.
Give us spiritual wisdome, that we may [...]iscern what is pleasing to thee, and fol [...]ow what belongs unto our peace; and let the knowledge and love of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord, be our guide and our portion all our dayes.
Hear our prayers, &c.
Give unto us holy dispositions, and an active industry in thy service, to redeem the time mispent in vanity; for thy pity sake take not vengeance of us for our sins, but sanctifie our souls and bodies in this life, and glorifie them hereafter.
Hear our prayers, &c.
Our Father, &c.
IV. To be added to the former Letanies, according as our Devotions and time will suffer.
For all states of men and women, especially in the Christian Church.
OBlessed God, in mercy remember thine inheritance, and forget not the congregation of the poor for ever; pity poor mankinde, whose portion is misery and folly, shame and death: But thou art our Redeemer, and the lifter up of our head, and under the shadow of thy wings shall be our help, untill this Tyranny be overpast.
Have mercy upon us, O God, and hide not thy self from our petition.
Preserve, O God, the Catholick Church in holiness and truth, in unity and peace, free from persecution, or glorious under it, that she may for ever advance the honour [Page 113] our of her Lord Jesus, for ever represent is Sacrifice, and glorifie his Person, and [...]dvance his Religion, and be accepted of [...]hee in her blessed Lord, that being filled with his Spirit, she may partake of his [...]lory.
Have mercy upon us, &c.
Give the spirit of Government and ho [...]iness to all Christian Kings, Princes and Governours: grant that their people may obey them, and they may obey thee, and [...]ive in honesty and peace, justice and holy Religion, being Nursing Fathers to the Church Advocates for the oppressed, Pa [...]rons for the widows, and a Sanctuary for the miserable and the fatherless, that they may reign with thee for ever in the Kingdome of the Lord Jesus.
Have mercy upon us, &c.
Give to thy servants the Bishops, and all the Clergy, the spirit of holiness and courage, of patience and humility, of prudence and diligence, to preach and declare thy will by a holy life, and wise discourses, that they may minister to the good of souls, and finde a glorious reward in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Have mercy upon us, &c.
[Page 114] Give to our Relatives [our Wives and Children, our Friends and Benefactors, our Charges, our Family, &c.] pardon and support, comfort in all their sorrows, strength in all their temptations, the guard of Angels to preserve them from evil, and the conduct of thy holy Spirit, to lead them into all good; that they doing their duty, may feel thy mercies here, and partake of thy glories hereafter.
Have mercy upon us, &c.
Give to all Christian Kingdomes and Common-wealths peace and plenty, health and holy Religion: to all families of Religion and Nurseries of piety, zeal and holiness, prudence and unity, peace and contentedness: To all Schools of Learning, quietness and industry, freedome from wars and violence, factions and envy.
Have mercy upon us, &c.
Give to all married pairs, faith and love, charitable and wise compliances, sweetness of society, and innocence of conversation; To all Virgins and Widows, great love of Religion, a sober and a contented spirit, an unwearied attendance to devotion, and [Page 115] [...]he offices of holiness; protection to the fatherless, comfort to the disconsolate, pa [...]tience and submission, health and spiritual advantages to the sick; that they may feel thy comforts for the dayes wherein they have suffered adversity.
Have mercy upon us, &c.
Be thou a star and a guide to them that travel by land or sea, the confidence and comfort of them that are in storms and shipwracks, the strength of them that toil in the Mynes, and row in the Gallies, an instructer to the ignorant, to them that are condemn'd to die, be thou a guide unto death; give chearfulness to every sad heart, spiritual strength, and proportionable comfort to them that are afflicted by evil spirits: pity the [...]unaticks, give life and salvation to all to whom thou hast given no understanding; accept the stupid and the fools to mercy, give liberty to prisoners, redemption to captives maintenance to the poor, patronage and defence to the oppressed, and put a period to the iniquity, and to the miseries of all mankinde.
Have mercy upon us, &c.
[Page 116] Give unto our enemies grace and pardon, charity to us, and love to thee; take away all anger from them, and all mistakes from us, all misinterpretations and jealousies; bring all sinners to repentance, and holiness, and to all thy Saints and Servants give an increasing love, and a persevering duty; bring all Turks, Jews and Infidels to the knowledge and confession of the Lord Jesus, and a participation of all the Promises of the Gospel, all the benefits of his Passion; to all Hereticks give humility and ingenuity, repentance of their errors, and grace and power to make amends to the Church and Truth, and a publick acknowledgement of a holy faith, to the glory of the Lord Jesus.
Have mercy upon us, &c.
Give to all Merchants faithfulness and truth; to the labouring husbandman health, and fair seasons of the year, and reward his toil with the dew of heaven, and the blessings of the earth; To all Artizans give diligence in their Callings, and a blessing on their labours and on their families; To old men piety and perfect repentance, a liberal heart, and an open hand, great religion, and desires after [Page 117] heaven; To young men give sobriety and chastity, health and usefulness, an early [...]iety, and a persevering duty; To all families visited with the rod of God, give consclation, and a holy use of the affliction, and a speedy deliverance; To us all pardon and holiness, and life eternal, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communication of the Holy Spirit, be with us all for ever.
Amen.
A SHORT PRAYER To be said every Morning.
O Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of mercy and comfort, with reverence and fear, with humble confidence and strong desires, I approach to the Throne of Grace, begging of thee mercy and protection, pardon and salvation. O my God, I am a sinner, but sorrowful and repenting: Thou art justly offended at me, but yet thou art my Lord and my Father, merciful and gracious: Be pleased to blot all my sins out of thy remembrance, and heal my soul, that I may never any more sin against thee. Lord open my eyes, that I may see my own infirmities, and watch against them; and my own follies, that I may amend them: and be pleased to give me perfect understanding in the way of godliness, that I may walk in it all the dayes of my pilgrimage. Give me a spirit diligent in the works of my Calling, chearful and zea [...]us [Page 119] in Religion, fervent and frequent in [...]y Prayers, charitable and useful in my [...]onversation: Give me a healthful and a [...]aste body, a pure and a holy soul, a [...]nctified and an humble spirit; and let [...]y body and soul and spirit be preserved [...]nblameable to the coming of the Lord [...]esus. Amen.
II.
BLessed be thy Name, O God, and blessed be thy Mercies, who hast preserved [...]e this night from sin and sorrow, from [...]ad chances, and a violent death, from the [...]alice of the Devil, and the evil effects of [...]y own corrupted nature and infirmity. The out-goings of the Morning and Evening shall praise thee, and thy servants [...]hall rejoyce in giving thee praise for the operation of thy hands. Let thy providence and care watch over me this day, and all my whole life, that I may never sin against thee by idleness or folly, by evil company or private sins, by word or deed, by thought or desire; and let the imployment of my day leave no sorrow, or the remembrance of an evil conscience at night: but let it be holy and profitable, blessed, and alwayes innocent; that when [Page 120] the dayes of my short abode are done, and the shadow is departed, I may die in thy fear and favour, and rest in a holy hope, and at last return to the joyes of a blessed Resurrection, through Jesus Christ: In whose Name, and in whose words, in behalf of my self and all my friends, and all thy servants, I humbly and heartily pray, Our Faether. &c.
A Prayer for the Evening.
ETernall God, Almighty Father of Men and Angels, by whose care and providence I am preserved and blessed, comforted and assisted, I humbly beg of thee to pardon the sins and follies of this day, the weaknesses of my services, and the strength of my passions, the rashness of my words, and the vanity and evil of my actions. O just and dear God, how long shall I confess my sins, and pray against them, and yet fall under them! O let it be so no more, let me never return to the follies of which I am ashamed, which bring sorrow, and death, and thy displeasure, worse then death. Give me [...] command over my evil inclinations, and [...] [Page 121] [...]erfect hatred of sin, and a love to thee [...]ove all the desires of this world. Be [...]leased to bless and preserve me this night [...]rom all sin, and all violence of Chance, [...]nd the malice of the Spirits of darkness: [...]atch over me in my sleep, and whether sleep or wake, let me be thy servant. [...]e thou first and last in all my thoughts, [...]nd the guide and continual assistance of [...]ll my actions: Preserve my body, pardon [...]he sin of my soul, and sanctifie my [...]oul; let me alwayes live holily, and justly, [...]nd soberly; and when I die, receive my [...]oul into thy hands, O holy and ever [...]lessed Jesus, that I may lie in thy bo [...]ome, and long for thy coming, and hear [...]hy blessed Sentence at Doomsday, and [...]hold thy face, and live in thy King [...]lome, singing praises to God for ever and [...]ver. Amen.
Our Father, &c.
For SUNDAY. A Prayer against Pride.
I.
O Eternal God, merciful and glorious, thou art exalted far above all heavens, thy Throne, O God, is glory, and thy Scepter is righteousness, thy Will is holiness, and thy Wisdome the great foundation of Empire and Government: I adore thy Majesty, and rejoyce in thy Mercy, and revere thy Power, an [...] confess all glory, and dignity and honour to be thine alone, and theirs to whom thou shalt impart any ray of thy Majesty, or reflexion of thy honour; but as fo [...] me, I am a worm and no man, vile dust and ashes, the son of corruption, and the heir of rottenness, seized upon by folly, a lump of ignorance and sin, and shame and death. What art thou O Lord? the great God of Heaven and Earth, the fountain of Holiness, and Perfection in [...]te [Page 123] But what am I? so ignorant, that [...]now not what; so poor, that I have no [...]ng of my own; so miserable, that I am [...]e heir of sorrow and death; and so sin [...], that I am encompassed with shame [...]d grief.
II.
ANd yet, O my God, I am proud: proud of my shame, glorying in my [...] boasting my infirmities; for this is all [...]t I have of my own, save onely that I [...]ve multiplied my miseries by vile acti [...]s, every day dishonouring the work of [...]y hands: my understanding is too con [...]ent, my affections rebellious, my will [...]ractory and disobedient; and yet I [...]ow thou resistest the proud, and didst [...]t the Morning Stars, the Angels, from [...]aven into chains of darkness, when they [...]w giddy and proud, walking upon the [...]tlements of heaven, beholding the glo [...]us Regions that were above them.
III.
THou, O God, who givest grace to the [...] humble, do something also for the [...]oud man; make me humble and obedient. [Page 124] Take from me the spirit of prid [...] and haughtiness, ambition and self-fla [...]tery, confidence and gayety: teach met [...] think well, and to expound all things fai [...]ly of my brother, to love his worthiness to delight in his praises, to excuse his er [...]rors, to give thee thanks for his grac [...] to rejoyce in all the good that he receive [...] and ever to believe and speak better thing [...] of him then of my self.
IV.
O Teach me to love to be conceale [...] and little esteemed; let me be tru [...] humbled, and heartily ashamed of m [...] sin and folly: teach me to bear reproach [...] evenly, for I have deserved them; to r [...]fuse all honours done unto me, because have not deserved them; to return all t [...] thee, for it is thine alone; to suffer r [...] proof thankfully, to amend all my fau [...] speedily; and do thou invest my so [...] with the humble robe of my meek Mast [...] and Saviour Jesus; and when I have hun [...], patiently, charitably and diligent [...] served thee, change this robe into t [...] shining garment of immortality, my co [...] into glory, my folly to perfe [...] knowledge, my weaknesses and dis [...] [Page 125] [...] the strength and beauties of the Sons [...]f God.
V.
[...]N the mean time use what means thou [...] pleasest to conform me to the image of [...]hy holy Son; that I may be gentle to [...]thers, and severe to my self: that I may [...]t down in the lowest place; striving to [...]o before my brother in nothing, but in [...]oing him and thee honour; staying for [...]ny glory till thou shalt please in the day [...]f recompences to reflect light from thy [...]ace, and admit me to behold thy glories. Grant this for Jesus Christs sake, who [...]umbled himself to the death and shame of the Cross, and is now exalted unto glory: Unto him, with thee O Father, be glory and praise for ever and ever.
Amen.
For MUNDAY. A Prayer against Covetousness.
I.
O Almighty God, eternal Treasure of all goodthings, thou fillest all things with plenteousness; Thou clothest the lillies of the field, and feedest the young ravens that call upon thee: Thou art all-sufficient in thy self, and all-sufficient to us, let thy Providence be my store-house, thy dispensation of temporal things the limit of my labour, my own necessity the measures of my desire: but never let my desires of this world be greedy, nor my labourimmoderate, nor my care vexatious, and distracting, but prudent, moderate, holy, subordinae to thy Will, the measure thou hast appointed for me.
II.
TEach me, O God, to despise the world, to labour for the true riches, [Page 127] [...]o seek the Kingdome of heaven and its [...]ighteousness, to be content with what [...]hou providest, to be in this world like a [...]tranger, with affections set upon heaven, [...]abouring for, and longing after the pos [...]estions of thy Kingdomes; but never [...]uffer my affectious to dwell below, but [...]ive me a heart compassionate to the [...]oor, liberal to the needy, open and free [...]n all my communications, without base [...]nds, or greedy designes, or unworthy [...]rts of gain; but let my strife be to gain [...]hy favour, to obtain the blessedness of do [...]ng good to others, and giving to them [...]hat want, and the blessedness of receiving [...]rom thee pardon and support, grace and [...]oliness perseverance and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
For TUESDAY. A Prayer against Lust.
I.
O Eternal Purity, thou art brighter then the Sun, purer then the Angels, [Page 128] and the Heavens are not clean in thy sight, with mercy behold thy servant apt to be tempted with every object, and to be overcome by every enemy. I cannot, O God, stand in the day of battel and danger, unless thou coverest me with thy shield, and hidest me under thy wings. The fiery darts of the Devil are ready to consume me, unless the dew of thy grace for ever descend upon me. Thou didst make me after thy image: be pleased to preserve me so, pure and spotless, chaste and clean; that my body may be a holy Temple, and my soul a sanctuary to entertain thy divinest Spirit, the Spirit of love and holiness, the Prince of Purities.
II.
REprove in me the spirit of Fornication and Uncleanness, and fill my soul with holy fires, that no strange fire may come into the Temple of my body, where thou hast chosen to dwell. O cast out all those unclean spirits which have unhallowed the place where thy holy feet have trod: Pardon all my hurtfull thoughts, all my impurities, that I who am a member of Christ, may not become the member of a harlot, nor the slave of [Page 129] [...] Devil, nor a servant of lust and [...] desires: But do thou purifie my [...], and let me seek the things that are [...], hating the garments spotted with the [...]; never any more grieving thy holy [...] by filthy inclinations, with impure [...] phantastick thoughts; but let my [...] be holy, my soul pure, my body [...] and healthful my spirit severe, [...] and religious, every day more and more; that at the day of our appearing, [...] may be presented to God washed and cleansed, pure and spotless by the blood of the holy Lamb, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
For WEDNESDAY. A Prayer against Gluttony and Drunkenness.
I.
O Almighty Father of Men and Angels, who hast of thy great bounty provided plentifully for all mankinde to [Page 130] support his state, to relieve his necessities, to refresh his sorrows, to recreate his labours; that he may praise thee, and rejoyce in thy mercies and bounty: Be thou gracious unto thy servant yet more, and suffer me not by my folly to change thy bounty into sin, thy grace into wantonness. Give me the spirit of temperance and sobriety, that I may use thy creatures in the same measures, and to the same purposes which thou hast designed, so as may best enable me to serve thee, but not to make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof: Let me not, as Esau, prefer meat before a blessing; but subdue my appetite, subjecting it to reason and the grace of God, being content with what is moderate, and useful, and easie to be obtained; taking it in due time, receiving it thankfully, making it to minister to my body, that my body may be a good instrument of the soul, and the soul a servant of thy Divine Majesty for ever and ever.
11.
PArdon, O God, in whatsoever I have offended thee by meat and drink and pleasures; and never let my body any more be oppressed with loads of sloth and [Page 131] delicacies, or my soul drowned in seas of [...]ine or strong drink; but let my appe [...]ites be changed into spiritual desires, that [...] may hunger after the food of Angels, and thirst for the wine of elect souls, and may account it meat and drink and pleasure to do thy will, O God. Lord let me [...]eat and drink so, that my food may not become a temptation, or a sin, or a [...]ease; but grant that with so much caution and prudence I may watch over my ap [...]petite, that I may in the strength of thy [...]mercies, and refreshmnets, in the light of thy countenance, and in the paths of thy Commandments, walk before thee all the dayes of my life acceptable to thee in Jesus Christ, ever advancing his honour, and being filled with his Spirit, that I may at last partake of his glory, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
For THURSDAY. A Prayer against Envy.
I.
O Most gracious Father, thou Spring of an Eternal Charity, who hast so loved mankinde, that thou didst open thy bosome, and send thy holy Son to convey thy mercies to us; and thou didst create Angels and Men, that thou mightest have objects to whom thou mightest communicate thy goodness: Give me grace to follow so glorious a precedent that I may never envy the prosperity of any one, but rejoyce to honour him whom thou honourest, to love him whom thou lovest, to commend the vertuous, to discern the precious from the vile, giving honour to whom honour belongs, that I may go to heaven in the noblest way of rejoycing in the good of others.
II.
O Dear God, never suffer the Devil to rub his vilest Leprosie of Envy upon [Page 133] me; never let me have the affections of [...]he desperate and damned; let it not be [...]ll with me, when it is well with others, [...]ut let thy holy Spirit so over-rule me for ever, that I may pity the afflicted, and be compassionate, and have a fellow-feeling of my brothers sorrows, and that I may as much as I can promote his good, and give thee thanks for it, and rejoyce with them that do rejoyce; never censuring his actions curstly, nor detracting from his praises spitefully, nor upbraiding his infelicities maliciously, but pleased in all things which thou doest or givest, that I may then triumph in spirit, when thy Kingdome is advanced, when thy Spirit rules, when thy Church is profited, when thy Saints rejoyce, when the devils interest is destroyed, truly lovieg thee, and truly loving my brother; that we may all together joyn in the holy Communion of Saints, both here and hereafter, in the measures of grace and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
For FRIDAY. A Prayer against Wrath and inordinate Anger.
I.
O Almighty Judge of Men and Angels, whose anger is alwayes the minister of Justice, slow, but severe, not lightly arising, but falling heavily when it comes: Give to thy servant a meek and a gentle spirit, that I also may be slow to anger, and easie to mercy and forgiveness. Give me a wise and a constant heart, that I may not be moved with every trifling mistake, and inconsiderable accident in the conversation and entercourse of others; never be moved to an intemperate anger for any injury that is done or offered; let my anger ever be upon a just cause, measured with moderation and reason, expressed with charity and prudence, lasting but till it hath done some good, either upon my self or others.
II.
LOrd let me be ever courteous, and easie to be intreated; never let me fall into a peevish or contentious spirit, but follow peace with all men, offering forgiveness, inviting them by courtesies, ready to confess my own errors, apt to make amends, and desirous to be reconciled. Let no sickness, or cross accident, no imployment or weariness, make me angry or ungentle, and discontent, or unthankful, or uneasie to them that minister to me; but in all things make me like unto the holy Jesus. Give me the spirit of a Christian, charitable, humble, merciful and meek, useful and liberal, complying with every chance; angry at nothing but my own sins, and grieving for the sins of others; that while my passion obeys my reason, and my reason is religious, and my religion is pure and undefiled, managed with humility, and adorned with charity, I may escape thy anger which I have deserved, and may dwell in thy love, and be thy Son and Servant for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
For SATURDAY. A Prayer against wea [...]ness in well-doing.
I.
O My God, merciful and gracious, my soul groans under the loads of its own infirmity, when my spirit is willing, my flesh is weak; my understanding foolish and imperfect, my will peevish and listless, my affections wandring after strange objects, my fancy wilde and unfixed, all my senses minister to folly and vanity; and though they were all made for Religion, yet they least of all delight in that. O my God pity me, and hear me when I pray, and make that I may pray acceptably. Give me a love to Religion, an unwearied spirit in the things of God. Let me not relish or delight in the things of the world, in sensual objects, and transitory possessions; but make my eyes look up to thee, my soul be filled with thee, my spirit ravished with thy love, my understanding [Page 137] imployed in the meditation of thy Law, all my powers and faculties [...]f soul and body wholly serving thee, [...]nd delighting in such holy ministeries.
II.
O Most gracious God, what greater favour is there then that I may, and what easier imployment can there be then to pray thee, to be admitted into thy presence, and to represent our needs, and that we have our needs supplied onely for asking and desiring passionately and humbly. But we rather quit our hopes of heaven, then buy it at the cheapest rate of humble prayer. This, O God, is the greatest infirmity and infelicity of man, and hath an intolerable cause, and is an unsufferable evil.
III.
O Relieve my spirit with thy graciousness, take from me all tediousness of spirit, and give me a laboriousness that will not be tired, a hope that shall never fail a desire of holiness not to be satisfied till it possesses, a charity that will alwayes increase; that I making Religion the business of my whole life, may turn all things [Page 138] into Religion, doing all to thy glory, and by the measures of thy Word and of thy Spirit, that when thou shalt call me from this deliciousness of imployment, and the holy ministeries of grace, I may pass into the imployment of Saints and Angels, whose work it is with eternal joy and thanksgiving to sing praises to the mercies of the great Redeemer of Men, and Saviour of Men and Angels, Jesus Christ our Lord: To whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and worship, all service and thanks, all Glory and Dominon for ever and ever.
Amen.
A Prayer to be said by a Maiden, before she enters into the state of Marriage.
I.
O Most glorious God, and my most indulgent Lord and gracious Father, who doest bless us by thy bounty, pardon us by thy mercy, support and guide us by thy grace, and govern us sweetly by thy providence; I give thee [Page 139] most humble and hearty thanks, that [...]hou hast hitherto preserved me in my Virgin state with innocence and chastity [...]n a good name, and a modest report. It [...]s thy goodness alone, and the blessed [...]manation of thy holy Spirit, by which [...] have been preserved, and to thee I re [...]urn all praise and thanks, and adore and [...]ove thy goodness infinite.
II.
ANd now, O Lord, since by thy dispensation and over-ruling providence I am to change my condition, and enter into the holy state of Marriage, which [...]hou hast sanctified by thy Institution, and [...]lessed by thy Word and Promises, and [...]raised up to an excellent mystery, that it might represent the Union of Christ and his Church: Be pleased to go along with [...]thy servant in my entring into, and passing through this state, that it may not be a state of temptation or sorrow, by occasion of my sins or infirmities, but of holiness and comfort, as thou hast intended it to all that love and fear thy holy Name.
III.
LOrd bless and preserve that dear person whom thou hast chosen to be my Husband; Let his life be long and blessed, comfortable and holy, and let me also become a great blessing and comfort unto him; a sharer in all his joyes, a refreshment in all his sorrows, a meet helper for him in all accidents and chances of the world. Make me amiable for ever in his eyes, and very dear to him. Unite his heart to me in the dearest union of love and holiness; and mine to him in all sweetness, and charity, and compliance. Keep from me all morosity and ungentleness, all fullenness and harshness of disposition, all pride and vanity, all discontentedness and unreasonableness of passion and humour: and make me humble and obedient, charitable and loving, patient and contented, useful and observant, that we may delight in each other according to thy blessed Word and Ordinance, and both of us may rejoyce in thee, having our portion in the love and service of God for ever and ever.
IV.
OBlessed Father, never suffer any mistakes or discontent, any distrustfulness or sorrow, any trifling arrests of fancy, or unhandsome accident to cause any unkindness between us: but let us so dearly love, so affectionately observe, so religiously attend to each others good and content, that we may alwayes please thee, and by this learn and practise our duty and greatest love to thee, and become mutual helps to each other in the way of godliness; that when we have received the blessings of a married life, the comforts of society, the endearments of a holy and great affection, and the dowry of blessed children, we may for ever dwell together in the embraces of thy love and glories, feasting in the Marriage-supper of the Lamb to eternal ages, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
A Prayer for a holy and happy Death.
Oeternal and holy Jesus, who by death hast overcome death, and by [Page 142] thy Passion hast taken out its sting, and made it to become one of the gates of heaven, and an entrance to felicity; have mercy upon me now and at the hour of my death; let thy grace accompany me all the dayes of my life, that I may by a holy conversation, and an habitual performance of my duty, wait for the coming of our Lord, and be ready to enter with thee at whatsoever hour thou shalt come. Lord let not my death be in any sense unprovided, nor untimely, nor hasty, but after the manner of men, having in it nothing extraordinary, but an extraordinary piety, and the manifestation of a great and miraculous mercy. Let my senses and my understanding be preserved intire till the last of my dayes, and grant that I may die the death of the righteous, free from debt and deadly sin, having first discharged all my obligations of Justice, leaving none miserable and unprovided in my departure; but be thou the portion of all my friends and relatives, and let thy blessing descend upon their heads, and abide there till they shall meet me in the bosome of our Lord. Preserve me ever in the communion and peace of the Church; and bless my Death-bed with the opportunity of a holy and a spiritual Guide, with the [Page 143] assistance and guard of Angels, with the reception of the holy Sacrament, with patience and dereliction of my own desires, with a strong faith, and a firm and humbled hope, with just measures of repentance, and great treasures of charity to thee my God, and to all the world, that my soul in the arms of the holy Jesus, may be deposited with safety and joy, there to expect the revelation of thy day, and then to partake the glories of thy Kingdome, O eternal and holy Jesus.
Amen.
FESTIVAL HYMNES.
HYMNS Celebrating the Mysteries and chief Festivals of the Year, according to the manner of the Ancient Church: fitted to the fancy and devotion of the younger and pious persons.
Apt for memory, and to be joyned to their other PRAYERS.
Hymns for Advent, or the weeks immediately before the Birth of our blessed Saviour.
Amen.
The second Hymn for Advent; or Christs coming to Jerusalem in triumph.
Amen.
Hymns for Christmas-day.
The second Hymn; being a Dialogue between three Shepherds.
The third Hymn: Of Christs birth in an Inne.
Amen.
A Hymn upon S. Johns day.
Upon the day of the holy Innocents.
Amen.
Upon the Epiphany, and the three wise men of the East coming to worship JESUS.
Amen.
A Meditation of the Four last things, Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell. For the time of Lent especially.
A Meditation of Death.
The PRAYER.
Amen.
Of the Day of Judgement.
Of Heaven.
Of Hell.
On the Conversion of S. Paul.
On the Purification of the blessed Virgin.
On Good-Friday.
Amen.
On the Annunciation to the blessed Virgin.
Easter day.
On the day of Ascension.
Amen.
On the Feast of Pentecost, or Whitsunday.
Amen.
Penitentiall Hymns.
I.
Amen.
II.
Amen.
A Prayer for Charity.
Amen.
A Catalogue of some Books printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Ivie lane, London.
The names of several Treatises and Sermons written by Ier: Taylor. D. D.
1. [...], A Course of Sermons for all the Sundayes of the Year; Together with a Discourse of the Divine Institution, Necessity, Sacredness, and Separation of the Office Ministerial, in fol.
2. Episcopacy asserted, in 4 o.
3. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ, 2 d Edit. in fol.
4. The Liberty of Prophesying, in 4 o.
5. An Apology for authorized and Set-forms of Liturgie; in 4 o.
6. A Discourse of Baptisme, its institution and efficacy upon all Believers, in 4 o.
7. The Rule and Exercises of holy living, in 12 o.
8. The Rule and Exercises of holy dying, in 12 o.
9. A Short Catechisme for institution of yong persons in the Christian Religion, in 12 o.
10. A Short Institution of Grammar composed for Yong Scholars, in 8 o.
11. The Reall Presence and Spirituall of CHRIST in the Blessed Sacrament proved against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, in 8 o.
Books written by H. Hammond D. D.
A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament by Henry Hammond D. D. in fol.
2. The Practicall Catechisme, with all other English Treatises of Henry Hammond D. D. in two volumes in 4 o.
3. Dissertationes quatuor, quibus Episcopatus Iuraex S. Scripturis & Primaeva Antiquitate adstruuntur, contra sententiam D. Blondelli & aliorum. Authore Henrico Hammond. in 4 o.
4. A Letter of Resolution of six Quaere's, in 12 o.
5. Of Schisme. A Defence of the Church of England, against the Exceptions of the Romanists, in 12 o
6. Of Fundamentals in a notion referring to Practise, by H. Hammond D. D. in 12 o.
7. An Answer to the Animadversions on the Dissertations touching Ignatius Epistles and the Episcopacy in them asserted, subscribed by Iohn Owen servant of Jesus Christ, in 4 o.
8. A Vindication of the Dissertations concerning Episcopacy from the Exceptions offered against them by the London Ministers in their Ius Divinum Ministerii Evangelici in 4 o.
9. A Reply to the Cathol. Gent: Answer to the most materiall part of the Book of Schisme, together with an Account of H. T. His Appendix to his Manuall of Controversies &c. 4 o.
The Psalter of David, with Titles and Collects according to the matter of each Psalm, by the Right honourable Chr. Hatton, in 12 o the 5. Edition with Additionals.
Boanerges and Barnabas, or Judgement and Mercy for wounded and afflicted souls, in several Soliloquies, by Francis Quarles, in 12 o.
[Page] [...]thmologicum Parvum in usum Schol [...] public [...] West [...], opera & studio Francisci Gregorii, in 8 o.
A Discourse of Holy Love, by Sir Geo: Strode Knight, in 12 o.
The Communicants Guide, directing the yonger so [...]t which have never yet received, and the elder and ignorant sort, which have hitherto received unworthily, how they may receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper with comfort by R. Gove, in 8 o.
A Contemplation of Heaven with an Exercise of Love, and a Descant on the Prayer in the Gar [...] by a Catholick Gent. in 12 o.
Devotion digested into several Discourses and Meditations upon the Lords most holy Prayer: Together with additional Exercitations upon Baptism, The Lords Supper, Heresies, Blasphemy, The Creatures, The souls pantings after God, The Mercies of God, The souls complaint of its absence from God; by Peter Samwaies, Fellow lately resident in Trinity College, Cambridge, in 12 o.
Of the Division between the English and Romish Church upon Reformation, by Hen: Fern D. D. in 12 o the 2. Edition with many Additionals.
Certain Sermons and Letters of Defence and Resolution to some of the lare Controversaries of our times by Jasper Mayn, D. D. in 4 o. New.
A Treatise concerning Divine providence, very seasonable for all ages, by Tho. Morton Bishop of Duresme, in 8 o.
Dr. Stuart's Answer to Fountains Letter, in 4 o.
Blessed birth-day, printed at Oxford, in 8 o.
A Treatise of Self-denial, in 4 o. by a conceal'd Author.
The holy Life and Death of the late Vi-countesse Falkland in 12 o.
Certain Considerations of present Concernment: Touching the Reformed Church of England, by H. Fern, in 12 o. New.
[Page] Englands Faithfull Reprover and Monitour, in 12 o. by Jo. Allington.
Newly published,
The grand Conspiracy of the Members against the Mind, of Jewes against their King. As it hath been delivered in four Sermons: by John Allington, B. D. in 12 o
White Salt, or a sober correction of a mad world: By John Sherman, B. D. a discontinuer, in 12 o.
The History of the Church of Scotland, by John Spotswood, Archbishop of S. Andrews, in fol. New.