THE PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN, Divided into FOUR PARTS. I. The Practice of Self-examination, and a Form of Confession fitted thereunto; the Lord's Prayer and Penitential Psalms paraphrased; with Meditations, and Prayers to be made partakers of Christ's Merits. II. Directions, Meditations and Prayers, in order to the worthy Receiving of the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. III. Meditations with Psalms for the Hours of Prayer, the ordinary Actions of Day and Night, with other Religious Considerations and Concerns. IV. Meditations with Psalms— upon the Four 〈◊〉 things; 1. Death, 2. Judgement, 3. Hell, 4. Hea●●● The Third and Fourth Parts make the Second Volume, formerly called the Second Part. By R. SHERLOCK D. D. Rector of Winwick. Omne tempus in quo de Deo non cogitas, hoc te computa perdidisse. LONDON, Printed by E. Flesher for R. Royston, Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty, at the Angel in Amen-corner, MDCLXXVII. To the Parishioners of Winwick in Lancashire. Good People, THE Cure of your Souls being by 〈◊〉 Divine Providence incumbent upon Me, very unfit to undergo so great a Cha● especially considering the Liberty which 〈◊〉 men do now assume in the way of Religion In the discharge of my Duty, though 〈◊〉 not say I have been so prudent and di●●gent as the high and holy nature of my Fun●●●● requires; yet you know I have not omitte● frequently to put you in mind [which is on principal part of my Office] of the who● Will of God, in the careful observanc● whereof the Health of your Souls consisteth The Contents of God's revealed Will, being delivered and disporsed through th● whole Body of Holy Scriptures, are collected and summed up into general Heads by the Church of Christ in her Catechism: th● which, though by a strange Fanatic humou● it be slighted, and even derided, yet contains all things both of Faith and Fact necessary to Salvation, being rightly, clearly ●nd fully understood. Did you therefore rightly understand, ●nd seriously consider, wherein your Soul's Health and Edification chief consists, you ●ould be better pleased with the frequency ●f Catechising, and be more versed in those essentials of Religion, then in the hearing 〈◊〉 many Sermons, which are of less concerning have not spared my Pains in Preaching, ●or my Purse in the maintenance of others ● assist me herein. But by long experience it is evident, that Sermons [what through ●he Variety, several Modes and Methods on ●he one hand, and what through the great abuse thereof on the other,] have not that ●nfluence upon the minds of men as becometh ●ound Doctrine, but have too much sway with men of itching ears, who heap to themselves Teachers after their own ●usts; who, upon Pretence of going on to perfection, go off the Foundation, wax ●ain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts are darkened, whilst they conceit themselves enlightened. And therefore for your more ready, easy, and constant instruction, I have committed to writing, and made public, the Summary of Christian Doctrine in the Church-Catechism paraphrased. And because Doctrine without Practice is but a Body of Religion without a Soul to quicken it; I have here added a Summary of Christian Practice, in the ensuing Rules of Self-examination, which will equally discover unto you your Sins and Miscarriages past, and serve for a Guide to direct you in the future ordering of all the Actions of your lives in the ways of Godliness. In both which Summaries I have endeavoured to be both brief and plain, delivering only what I conceive generally necessary to Salvation, and expressing the same in the most easy way to be understood: as knowing that multitude of words, various, acute, and acquaint affected expressions, especially in the Essentials of Religion, though they may more please, do not so much profit, nay, they do really rather distract then instruct the minds of most. For it is not the rattling of the Leaves, but the Fruits of the Tree of knowledge that feed the Soul to life eternal. The Prayers prescribed upon any the ensuing considerations are not by way of one long continued Oration without intermission; but divided into several shorter Prayers: and this because, 1. The heat of holy Zeal is hereby better maintained, and kept flaming in the Soul, whilst the ending of one Prayer and beginning another adds new fervour to the Soul's Devotion. 2. Long Prayers do tyre the spirits, clog the memory, distract the mind, and damp that celestial fervour which is the life of all holy and acceptable Prayers. 3. Such are all those Prayers which are truly the Prayers of God's Holy Spirit, and stand upon record in Holy Writ: they are all divided and cut short into so many distinct Verses, as into so many several shorter Prayers. 4. Thus Christ has commanded us to pray, Matt. 6.7, 8, 9 And according to this pattern the Prayers of Christ's Church, even for the length thereof, are generally framed. My primary intention in the ensuing Discourse was chief, to direct you for the worthy Receiving of the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, whereunto a through Self-examination is absolutely necessary. And being desired to enlarge my Meditations upon that Blessed Sacrament, I have therefore now divided the former Edition into Two Parts: the First, of Self-examination; and the Second, of the Holy Communion. Wherein I must necessarily tell you, that since the Danger of unworthy Receiving is equivalent with the Benefit of the worthy; it therefore concerns every one of you, that hath any sense and sincere care of his Soul's health, as strictly to examine himself before he eat of that Bread, and drink of that Cup, as he believes he shall be examined before the great Tribunal of Heaven; and accordingly to purge and purify his Soul by Confession, Contrition, and all the sacred Acts and Offices of true Repentance; the practice whereof is in the following Leaves delivered. Of the other Two Parts of the Practical Christian, mentioned in the general Title-page, you will have a farther account in the Preface thereunto. I shall not farther enlarge this Epistle, more than to pray, that God may be pleased to assist you by his Divine grace carefully to observe such useful Instructions as be herein given you: not vainly jangling, and talking of Religion; but, according to the Covenant you have made with your God, to keep his holy Will and Commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of your life; remembering who it is that has said it, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments, Matt. 19.17. And that you may observe the one as the way to the other, is and shall be the constant Prayer of Your respective Pastor, Ric. Sherlock. A TABLE of the Chapters. CHAP. I. Of the great necessity of Self-examination. CHAP. II. The Rule of Self-examination by the Vow in Baptism. CHAP. III. The Rule of Self-examination by the Creed; or, by the Second part of the Vow in Baptism, To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith. CHAP. IU. The Rule of Self-examination by the Decalogue; or, by the Third part of the Vow in Baptism, To keep God's Holy Will and Commandments, etc. CHAP. V The Examination of Religious actions. CHAP. VI The Examination of Repentance. CHAP. VII. Considerations with Directions in the Confession of Sin. CHAP. VIII. A Form of Confession of Sin fitted to the Rules of Self-examination, whereunto every one may add or subtract, as he finds himself guilty or not guilty. CHAP. IX. An ancient Form of Confession extant Biblioth. Patrum. CHAP. X. The Lord's Prayer paraphrased. CHAP. XI. The Seven Penitential Psalms paraphrased. CHAP. XII. Meditations and Prayers to be partakers of the Merits of what our Blessed Redeemer hath done and suffered for us. Pag. 195. l. 26. for Christ's number, read this number. p. 200. l. 27. for his, read this. THE PRACTICAL Christian. PART I. CHAP. I. Of the great necessity of SELF-EXAMINATION. 1. WHosoever believes as a Christian his Soul to be immortal, being either entitled to everlasting Joy through Faith and Obedience to the Gospel of Christ, or liable to eternal Woe through Disobedience and Misbelief a Joh. 5.28, 29. , must be very stupid and sottish, if he do not frequently examine himself b Psal. 4.4. 2 Cor. 13.5. Gal. 6.4. , whether he may reasonably conclude ●he is in the state of Grace and Salvation; or of Sin, and of Death the wages whereof c Rom. 6.23. . 2. That every man should know himself, is such a fundamental principle of true wisdom, that wise men of old affirmed [Nosce teipsum] to be a command immediately derived to the sons of men by a voice from Hea ven, as being absolutely necessary to the right guidance of all the actions of humane life upon earth. 3. The reasonable Soul, were it not debauched by the sensual appetite, and distracted by the hurry of exorbitant desires, could not but often remember herself, examine and call to mind the Author and End of her Being, the immortality and dignity of her nature, what is her errand into this world, and how she shall subsist in the world to come, what is her chiefest Good, and wherein her perfection and felicity consists: which cannot be to eat, and drink, and sleep, purchase lands, build houses, satisfy the lusts of the flesh, swell with pride of life—. She would consider that she is stamped after the Image of God, and her Happiness consists in the knowledge, love and enjoyment of the Divine Majesty, and in the imitation and representation (according to her model) of the Perfections of the Godhead. But, alas! vain man being in honour, hath no understanding, considers not the honour of his being after the Image of his Maker; but receives his Divine immortal Soul in vain, whilst he follows the sway of his sensual irrational appetite, and is compared to the beasts that perish d Psal. 49.12. . 4. And well it were for all such inconsiderate and imprudent persons, if their Souls were as perishing and mortal as those which animate the beasts of the field. But ●o their eternal sorrow 'tis far otherwise: for there is an account to be given by every man of his immortal Soul, and of the Image of God stamped thereupon: viz. how this blessed Image hath been either defaced, or kept undefiled; how it hath been obscured, or how shined; how deformed, or how beautified through all the actions of each man's life. For God will bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil * Eccles. 12.14. Rom. 2.16. and 14.10 2 Cor. 5.10. . 5. Upon every man's Examination, both in his particular, and in the general Judgement, depends his everlasting well-being, or undoing for ever: each man's condition then shall be unchangeable, whether it be of glory, or misery. They that have done good shall go into everlasting life, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire f Matth. 25.46. . 6. Since this great Trial then shall be upon life and death eternal, 'twil be wisely done to try beforehand. Such is the advice of the wise Siracides; Before judgement examine thyself, and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy g Ecclus. 18.20. . To examine, accuse, judge and condemn thyself in this life, may, through the merits of Christ, acquit thee in the life to come. So saith the Apostle; If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged h 1 Cor. 11.31. . 7. Now then (sinful man) delay not to pass judgement upon thyself: remember that the Great Judge himself hath said it, I will reprove thee, and set before thee the things that thou hast done i Psal. 50.21. . Be wise then, and prevent this sad and dismal reproof, by setting in order before thyself all the Sins of thy life. And to this Trial of thyself these following particulars do necessarily concur. (1.) A Tribunal must be erected; and this is not to be without thee, but within thee, even in thine own heart k 1 Joh. 3.20, 21. . (2.) The Judge to sit upon this Seat of judicature must be thy Reason guided by the Law of the most High; wherein beware of a misunderstanding and wresting of the letter of the Law, to pass any unjust and partial sentence upon thyself, for that may undo thee for ever l 2 Pet. 3.16. . (3.) The Witnesses to be produced against thee are, the Conscience bearing witness, and the thoughts the mean while accusing or excusing one another: and thus shall it be also in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus m Rom. 2.15, 16. . (4.) The Executioners that stand ready to seize the Criminal are, Fear and terror, and an horrible dread overwhelming the Soul n Phil. 2.12. Psal. 55.5. . These do ever attend (5.) Self-condemnation, which is an unfeigned and sad acknowledgement to have incurred the dismal Sentence of condemnation to death eternal. To prevent which, (6.) Execution must be done, and the blood of the guilty Soul must be shed. 'Tis not to be believed or hoped, that a black diseased Soul should recover its health, and beauty after the Image of God, except she bleed plentifully; bleed in the tears of Compunction and godly sorrow; bleed in the Confession of her Sins, with an abhorrence of them, for the filthiness, guilt and danger contracted by them, so as for the future to renounce and abjure them for ever. 8. Thus to examine, judge and condemn thyself, is the same Christian duty which is called Repentance, without the practice whereof our Lord positively affirms that we are all undone for ever, saying, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish o Luk. 13.3, 5. . And he saith the same words again, at the same time, and in the same Text recorded; 1. to enforce the great necessity of Repentance, against all carnal, careless, selfconceited and seduced persons: 2. to manifest his great goodness, who would not have any to perish, but that all should come to Repentance p 2 Pet. 3.9. . 9 Sinners we are all, less or more q Jam: 3 2. : but God in great mercy has ordained and commanded Repentance as the great antidote against the poison of Sin, and preservative from death r Matth. 3 7, 8. . And that Repentance which is thus salutary consists of 2 general parts: 1. to confess with sorrow our sins past; 2. for ever to abjure and forsake them. And to such a true Penitent only is mercy promised † Prov. 28.13. Joh. 8.11. 1 Joh. 1.9. . 10. To both these general heads of true Repentance, a full knowledge and deep sense of all heinous sins, even punctually and particularly, is absolutely necessary. For no man can confess his Sins who knows them not; nor forsake them, who is not feelingly sensible of the guilt and danger contracted by them t Psal. 51.3. Isa. 59.12. . Self-examination is therefore commanded as a previous duty necessarily conducing to a true Conversion v Psal. 4.4. Lam. 3.40. , or (which is the same) to a true Repentance, both in respect of all its integral parts, and also of the fruits meet for Repentance, which are no other but the Good works of a new Obedience x Col. 1.10. . 11. The just man falleth seven times y Prov. 24.16. : and upon consideration of his seven times daily failings, he hath seven times daily confessions z Psal. 119.164. , to the praise of God a ●es. 7.19. ; with frequent laments in the night also b Psal. 6.6 and 77.6. . At least twice aday, morning and evening, he takes a view of his miscarriages the bypast day and night, confessing and bewailing his frequent backslidings, and in all holy humility imploring with tears of godly sorrow the pardon of his daily offences, with firm resolution of more care and caution, more zeal of innocence and purity both in heart and life, for the time to come. 12. 'Tis a great imprudence, even madness, in the hearts of men, to put off from day to day this Self-examination, or reckoning with ourselves. Since 'tis difficult to account strictly for the misdemeanours of one day, how much more hard then to set strait and even the accounts of a long sinful life? whereas he who daily accounts with himself and his offended God for his daily transgressions, shall have but one day's sins to account for upon his dying day c Luk. 12.42, 43. . 13. We read of Moses, that his leprous hand was made whole and recovered its native whiteness by thrusting it into his bosom d Exod. 4.7. . And thus is the Soul cleansed from the leprosy of Sin, by thrusting the hand, which is the instrument of action, into the bosom of thine own Conscience, to enter, and strictly to search into the inner man; to ransack all the corners of the deceitful heart; to examine what affections lurk there, and what excursions they have thence made into any extravagant and sinful actions; that they may be thence ejected and abandoned. This is the way both to keep the heart pure, and the hands clean: hence comes both the knowledge of thyself, and the fear of God: hence comes Sense of sin, holy Compunction, godly Sorrow, Humiliation, and true Repentance in all its branches and worthy fruits. Hence the Soul becomes inflamed with the ardent heats of holy Devotion, and fervent Prayers for pardon and peace, mercy and grace, Sanctification and Redemption. Hence arise in the heart holy Resolves of new Obedience, with holy breathe after God and his Salvation. Therefore is this Duty of Self-examination called the Magazine or Storehouse of all Christian Virtue. 14. And because to receive worthily the Communion of the body and blood of Christ is the chiefest of all Christian performances, and requires the practice of all Christian Virtues; therefore after an especial manner is Self-examination commanded as a necessary Preparative to that Sacramental Feast; which from the doctrine of S. Paul we are taught in the Principles of our Religion, where in the last Question of the Catechism it is demanded, What is required of them that come to the Lord's Supper? and 'tis answered, To examine themselves, whether they truly repent them of their former sins—. CHAP. II. The Rule of Self-examination by the Vow in Baptism. 1. SInce Self-examination is a Duty of so great, so high, so general concernment as hath appeared; it will be necessary that it be sincerely and throughly performed, not slightly, partially and deceitfully; not by any false rules and erring opinions, but by such a Rule as will not deceive us, when we shall come to our great Examination and Trial at the Last day. 2. There be too many who do flatter and deceive themselves by a bare and naked Faith in Christ, by virtue whereof they conceit themselves to be justified, and of the number of God's elect, and assured of Salvation. But these are groundless presumptions, except thy Faith do purify thy heart a Act. 15.9. from all inordinate affections; and cleanse thy hands from all sinful actions b 2 Cor. 7.1. Jam. 4.8. ; and be also fruitful in all good works c Jam. 2.26. . 3. The Rule according to which we shall be tried, when we shall all stand before the Judgment-seat of Christ, is not that of Faith alone, under that notion whereby 'tis too frequently misunderstood; but that of an universal Obedience to the Gospel of Christ d 2 Thess. 1.8. , whereof Christian Charity is the Compendium and completion * Matt. 25.35, 36, etc. . 4. The sum of Evangelicall Obedience is expressed in that Vow which every true Christian hath made when he was baptised or Christened. And by this, as S. Gregory observes f Greg. Hom. 19 , every man may try the truth of his Faith in Christ. For as no man can be said to be faithful, who keeps not his promise: so neither can any Christian be said to have any true Faith towards God, if he performs not the promise he hath made unto him; especially considering that hereupon righteousness and everlasting happiness doth depend. For, 5. This Baptismal Vow is the condition upon which we are admitted into the Covenant of Grace, and made members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. And therefore they who perform not this condition, but slight, neglect, or negligently observe the same, do uncovenant themselves, and return again to their natural state of Sin and Misery; viz. become children of wrath, enemies of God, and heirs of eternal damnation g Heb. 10.23, 26, 27, 28, 29. . 6. The holy Christian Religion we all profess, is no other but God's Will and Testament, wherein a goodly inheritance is promised and bequeathed; but not to be obtained, as S. Augustine observes h Aug. Ser. de Tem. 167. , except, as in all other Testaments, we observe the will of the testator: nor is there any thing more clearly expressed in the revealed will of God, than this, That the benefits of the Covenant of Grace belong only to them who keep the condition therein required i Deut. 7.9, 10. Psal. 25.10 and 89 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. and 103.17, 18 and 132.11, 12. Jer. 11.3, 4, 5. Heb. 2.2, 3. . 7. Every wilful sin is a breach of this Covenant, and contracts therewith the sin of perjury, and incurs the forfeiture of all the precious benefits of the members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of Heaven; so that no man can reasonably conclude himself within the Covenant of Grace, until the leaven of wickedness, which is a breach of its Condition, be strictly searched out and expurged k 1 Cor. 5.7, 8. . According therefore to this Covenant, which we have every one, rightly Christened, made with God, it concerns every man to examine himself, who hath any care of his Soul. 8. This Condition consists of three general Heads, called in Holy Writ by the three names of, 1. Repentance, 2. Faith, 3. Obedience, containing thereunder the whole Duty of a Christian man. 9 Repentance consists not only in confession, with sorrow for sin past; but in performance for the future of that grand Evangelical duty whereby we forsake sin, renounce all fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness l Eph. 5.11. , deny ungodliness and worldly lusts m Tit. 2.12. : the which, with several more expressions of the same nature, are the very same in sense with the first part of our Baptismal Vow, viz. to forsake the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh, which is frequently remembered to be one of the two main ends of all that Christ hath done and suffered for us n Luke 10.17, 18, 19 Col. 1.13. Tit. 2.12. Heb. 2.14, 15. . 10. This being therefore the preparation of the Gospel of peace o Eph. 6.15. Matt. 3.2. , and the foundation of Religion p Heb. 6.1. , is the first general rule of Self-examination. By the First part, To forsake the Devil and all his works; AND it highly concerns us surely to do this, since they are the children of the Devil who do his works a Joh. 8.44. . The Devil's first and general work was Apostasy: he abode not in the truth; he kept not his first estate b Judas 6. . Here then in the first place consider seriously and impartially, how frequently, nay daily, if not hourly, thou hast yielded to the suggestions of Satan, and become like unto him, by swerving from thy first profession of the holy Christian Faith, and Vow of Obedience to God's Commands, when admitted into covenant with God in Baptism. The more particular works of the Devil are, 1. Pride, whereby he fell from being an Angel of Light, to be a Spirit of Darkness c Isa. 14.14, 15. . 2. Lying; for he is a Liar, and the father of it d Joh. 8.44. . 3. Malice, Hatred, Envy, with all the degrees of Murder both in will and deed: he was a Murderer from the beginning * ibid. . 4. Slander, Backbiting and accusing of the brethren f Rev. 12.10. ; from whence he takes the name of Devil. 5. Tempting unto sin: that's the incessant work of the Devil, who continually goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour g 1 Pet. 5.8. . Examine then whether, according to thy promise made unto God, thou hast manfully fought under the banner of Christ against the crafts and assaults of the Devil, tempting thee to any of these sins, or to any other miscarriage either in judgement or practice; and hast not rather suffered thyself, oftener than thou canst possibly imagine, to be taken in the snares of the Devil, and led captive by him at his will h 2 Tim. 2.26. . The Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World; These are in other words the pride of life, and the lusts of the eyes, which are positively affirmed to be inconsistent with the love of God a 1 ●oh. 2.16. . Upon this Head examine 1. Hath not thine heart been puffed up with the wind of vainglory, which vents itself by boasting and bragging of vain things of the world which profit not b Ps. 12.2. , by over costly and garish apparel c Isa. 3.16, etc. , high vaunting, imperious language, strutting gate, affected gestures, supercilious and scornful looks d Ecclus 19.29, 30. , affecting and receiving the honour which is from man, more than the honour which cometh from God only * Joh. 5.44. ? 2. Have you not esteemed yourself more than others your equals, if not superiors f Phil. 2.3. ; either in respect of your worldly wealth and estate, place of credit and superiority g Ps 49.6. , greatness of wit, readiness of elocution, boldness to outvie, cunning to overreach your neighbour, or in any other of those worldly qualifications and endowments, which usually swell the vain minds of worldly men with conceitedness of their own worth, and makes them love the praise of men more than the praise of God h Joh. 12.43. ? 3. Have no idle and lewd company, nor yet the ill example of others, alured you to follow any of those sinful customs of the world, which have some outward show of pomp and seeming bravery, but are really vain and empty of all true worth i Psa. 144.11. Prov. 1.10, etc. ? Have you not delighted yourself in such lying vanities, and loved even to be cozened both of your time and treasure in pursuance of them k Ps. 4.2. ? 4. Have you not loved and served Mammon more than God l Matt. 6.24. , by preferring the sordid service of your worldly ends and interests, before the sacred service of God, and the interests of your Soul's health and happiness? And all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh. 1. Hath not the corrupt seed of carnal Lust taken root in your heart, and brought forth in your life any of those sinful fruits of the flesh, which are reckoned by S. Paul to be these, Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, strifes, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelling, &c a Gal. 5.19, 20, 21. ? 2. If upon the strict examination of your heart and life, you find yourself guilty in any of these respects, then remember what follows, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God b Gal. 5.21. : and such surely are not within the Covenant of Grace, neither have they any title to the promises thereof, whilst they continue in any of the forementioned sins unrepented; for the promise only appertaineth to him that overcometh c Rev. 2.7, 11. , namely, the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh. The more particular breaches of this first part of your Covenant with God will appear upon examination of yourself by those particular Commands of God which they do respectively transgress. CHAP. III. The Rule of Self-examination by the CREED; or, by the Second part of the Vow in Baptism, To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith. HE that believes (viz. all the fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith) shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned a Mark 16.16. John 12.48. . Here then examine, 1. If you have learned being young, what are these Articles or Points of Christian Faith whereinto you were Baptised or Christened: and if you can now give a ready account of your Faith; and this both in the very words of your Creed, and also in the full sense and true meaning of each Article thereof b James 2.18. 1 ●et. 3.15. . 2. Do you steadfastly believe the infallible truth of each Article, though perhaps you understand it not in its full extent? Are you zealously affected with them all, resolved to die in this Faith, and, if occasion be, to die for it, ● Tim. 6.2. ● Tim. 4.7. resisting even unto blood whatever may oppose or infringe the same; earnestly contending for that faith which was once given to [or by] the Saints, the holy Apostles of our Lord c Judas 3. ? 3. Dost thou not only believe with the heart, but also frequently confess this faith with the mouth? for as with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation d Rom. 10.10. , 4. Have neither the senseless neglect of some, nor the profane scoffs of others, made thee also neglect, or be ashamed to confess thy Faith in public? And if so, thy Faith is not sincere: for he that truly believeth in God, will not be ashamed * Rom. 10.11. openly to profess it; remembering that there is a dismal shame and confusion of face threatened to him that is ashamed of Christ and his words f Mark 8.38. , which are summed up in the Creed. 5. Hast thou lived in the practice of this Faith, framing both the affections of thy heart and the actions of thy life according to what each Article doth imply and implicitly command? For thus the just man lives by his Faith g Hab. 2.4. Rom. 1.17. . 6. Have you not been mistaken in the nature of a true Christian Faith, making it to be a presumption upon the Promises of the Gospel abstract from obedience to the Precepts thereof? And hath not thy Faith been rather notional in the Brain, then practical in the heart and life? been more in talk and dispute, and verbal profession, then in love and good works h Gal. 5.6. Jam. 2.17 , and holy conversation? For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power i 1 Cor. 4.20. of holy actions. CHAP. IU. The Rule of Self-examination by the DECALOGVE; or, by the Third part of the Vow in Baptism, To keep God's holy Will and Commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of thy life. TO obey God's Commands is properly to serve him a Eccles. 12 13. ; which is frequently affirmed to be the plain roadway to Heaven b Matt. 19.17. Rev. 14.12. . And 'twere a high presumption, Aug. de Sanct. as S. Augustine observes, to hope to obtain what God has promised, except we carefully observe what he has commanded. These Commandments are the same which God spoke in the 20. Chap. of Exodus c Matt. 19.18, 19 Mark 10.19. , the rule of Righteousness being the same under the Law and under the Gospel; only in the one 'tis more plainly and fully understood then in the other. Here then a more large and particular Examination of thyself is required; viz. by all the Duties commanded and Sins forbidden in the Precepts of the Moral Law. The First Commandment. Thou shalt have none other Gods but me. Examination by the First Commandment. THe Duties enjoined in this Commandment are, I. To believe in God. Since Faith in God is the ground of all religious worship, examine, First, Heb. 11.6. Whether truly and without all doubting, or harbouring any secret Atheistical thoughts, you do believe the being of God and his providence over all. Secondly, Joh. 4.24. 1 Tim. 1.17. Ecclus. 16.11, 12. Psal. 77.13, 14. Deut. 28.58. That you believe of him what he truly is, a pure, spiritual, invisible Essence, a God most wise, most holy, eternal and infinite, infinitely merciful and infinitely just, infinitely great and glorious, omnipotent and immortal, without beginning of days or end of time; Gen. 21.33. Ps. 90.2. Matt. 5.48. and in a word, that his excellency, perfection and felicity in himself is beyond all that the wit of man can conceive. Thirdly, Job 11.7. Is. 40.28. That you believe in him as the great Creator of the world, Redeemer of all men, and Sanctifier of his Church and people, Matt. 28.19. 1 Joh. 5.7. three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, one God over all, blessed for ever. And because the Faith of most i● but notional and verbal only, daily decaying as the world draws nearer to an end, Luke 18.8. examine the sincerity of your Faith by these essential properties thereof. 1. Acts 15.9. If it purify your hearts from all unworthy thoughts of God, and vile affections that separate from him. 2. If it increase divine Love in your heart: which was Mary Magdalen's Faith. Luk. 7.47. 3. If it make you devout and intense in your Prayers: which was the woman of Canaan's Faith. Matt. 15.28. 4. If thereby you cleave unto God, and make him your choice above all the pleasures and treasures of the world: Heb. 11.24, 25, 26. which was Moses' Faith. 5. If it make you strong to resist even unto blood: Heb. 11.33, 34. which was the Faith of all Martyrs. 6. If it bring forth the fruits of good works: which was Cornelius' Faith, Acts 10.2. Jam. 2.26. and is the life of Faith. II. To trust in him. 1. Examine, first, whether both in prosperity and adversity your mind hath so been stayed in the Lord, Ps. 62.1. 2 Thess. 3.3. as not to be puffed up by the one, or dejected by the other. 2. Have you not betrayed your trust in the care and providence of God, 1 Pet. 5.7. so as either to distract your mind with carking cares for worldly concerns, or yet to use any unlawful means to acquire or preserve health, wealth, credit, liberty, or life itself? 3. Have you not leaned to your own understanding, Prov. 3.5. 1 Tim. 6.17. Jer. 17.5, 7. trusted to your own wit, policy, strength, riches, nor yet in the favour and power of any mortal man, to the weakening of your dependence on God alone? III. To hope in him. 1. Whether to enjoy God, and those joys which are in his presence attainable a Psal. 16.11. , be the great and main object of your hope b Ps. 71.5. Jer. 17.7. , as being created after his image, and to attain the perfection of your being in the beatifical enjoyment of his Sacred Majesty c Psal. 73.24, 25, 26. . 2. Hath your hope to enjoy God been accompanied with a conformity to the nature of God, being holy as he is holy, merciful as he is merciful d 1 Pet. 1.15, 16. Luke 6.36. ? For you hope in vain to see God in Heaven and enjoy him, except you be Godlike * Matt. 5.8, 9 . 3. Have you so hoped to enjoy the promises of God, as to obey his precepts, and be fruitful in all good works? Hope in the Lord, and be doing good f Psal. 37.3. : your hope is otherwise but a sinful presumption, or the hope of the hypocrite that perisheth g Job 8.13. . 4. Hath not your hope in the mercies of God through the merits of Christ emboldened you to go on in any known sin unrepented of, and banished grace out of thy heart? iv To fear God. 1. Hath thy fear of God's Judgements equally balanced thy hope in his Mercies, revering his justice, and the direful threats and examples thereof in his Holy Word, so as not to dare to sin against him? Fear the Lord, and departed from evil h Psal. 4.5. Prov. 3.7. Phillip 2.12. . 2. Have you not more feared to sin in the sight of men, then in the presence of God; more feared to displease man, then to incur the displeasure of the Almighty; more feared to lose thy credit amongst thy neighbours and companions, then to hazard the loss of God's favour; nor yet more feared the penalty of humane Laws, than the threaten of the Divine i Prov. 29.25. Isa. 51.12. Luk. 12.4, 5. ? 3. Hath thy Fear of God been rather filial, viz. a fear to offend so gracious a Father, then servile, for fear of punishment? But because we are commanded to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling k Phil. 2.12. ; examine, whether the filial fear of God prevail in your heart, and gather strength over the servile fear, till at last it be quite cast out by perfect love l 1 Joh. 4.18. ; which is the next Duty in this Commandment enjoined. V To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all, etc. This Divine Love includes all these graces, Matt. 22.37, 38 1 Cor. 13.1, 2, etc. and all the particulars of the duties we own unto God. And because every man pretends to love God, how falsely and deceitfully soever he think or say it, therefore this Divine affection is to be strictly examined by these following Rules. And, 1. as thy Hope, so thy Love of God is not sincere, except thou be in some good measure conformed to his nature, pure as he is pure, just, good, gracious— as God is so. Eph. 5.1, 2. Be ye followers of God as dear children, and walk in love. 2. If the will of God be the rule of thy will, and moderator of all thy affections, Ps. 97.10. Matt. 5.44. Luk. 14.26. loving what he loves, hating what he hates, even to the love of thine enemies, and hatred of thy friends, if in competition with the love of God. 3. If the chief end of all your actions be to please God, 1 Thess. 2.4. Matt. 18.8. Matt. 10.37. more than to please yourself, or to pleasure any person, how great and high, how near or dear soever. 4. Ps. 122.1. Isa. 2.3. Ps. 27.4. Ps. 42.1, 2. Ps. 71.20, etc. Matt. 5.16. 1 Pet. 2.12. If it be the joy of your heart to come into the House of the Lord; to converse with him in holy prayers, public and private; to contemplate his perfections and felicities, so as to be inflamed with longing desires and affectionate breathe after him; to glorify him both with heart and voice, both with your lips and in your life. 5. If you be quick, ready, active, Joh. 14.15. regular and constant in your Obedience to all his Commandments. 6. If you long to have a more full enjoyment of God in the world to come; Ps. 63.1, 2. 2 Cor. 4.18. and 5.1, 2, 3. and do not rather prefer a troublesome temporary abode in this life, before the pleasures of God's right hand in the other. By these Rules you may examine yourself, whether you love God in deed and in truth, and not in conceit and verbally only. VI To call upon God, and give him Thanks. In the habitual practice of the former Graces of the Spirit consists the worship of God in Spirit: Joh 4.23, 24. and they are all put in practice chief by holy Prayers unto God and Praises of him, which is therefore the principal part of God's outward worship. And, Psal 50.23. 1. Here examine how frequently you have slighted and omitted to call upon God, being hereunto obliged, Ps. 134. 2● Matt. 6.6. Ps. 55.17. Eccls 11.6. both publicly in the congregation, and privately in your closet, morning and evening at least, signified by the morning and evening sacrifice. 2. How often hath any slight occasion and pretence made you neglect this indispensable duty of Prayer, especially the public prayers of the Church? and have you not been secretly glad when any such occasion hath happened? 3. Being come into the House of God, have you not neglected to join in the prayers and service of God there celebrated, and through ignorance and dulness, or a sinful shame, omitted to lift up your voice in the congregation, Eph. 5.19. Ps. 106.48. to praise the Lord in hymns and psalms and spiritual songs, and audibly to say Amen to the prayers of the Church? For 'tis not the Minister's duty only to pray and preach in the Church; but in the Temple of the Lord doth every man speak of his honour. Psal. 29.9. 4. Eccles. 5.2. Have you not been too rash with your mouth to utter any thing before God, that is either unfit, impertinent or unlawful to be asked; but have first weighed all your words in the balance of the Sanctuary, Hos. 14.2. Matt. 6.9. and have framed all your prayers according to the pattern which our Lord hath given us, both by his own prayer and the prayers of his Church? 5. Have you prayed for others, viz. all Superiors and relations of every 1 Tim. 2.1. kind, and not only for such as are your friends, Matt. 5.44. but for your very enemies also? 6. Have you first endeavoured to purify your heart from all hypocrisy, Jam. 4.8. and to cleanse your hands from all your actual sins by true repentance, before you make your approaches to the most Holy God by prayer? 7. Do you practise as you pray, in the careful use of those means which God hath appointed, James 1.6, 7, 8. to obtain your petitions? 8. Do you daily praise God for his great glories in himself, and give him thanks for his manifold graces, Eph. 5.20. both general to all men, special to his Church and people, and particular to yourself expressed? And do you show forth the praises of God, Matt. 5.16. not only with your lips, but in the good works of your life, that others may be thereby excited to glorify God also? The Second Commandment. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them, etc. Examination by the Second Commandment. 1. Deut. 4.15, etc. HAve you not in your fantasy misrepresented the most pure and spiritual God, under any bodily shape or visible being whatsoever? 2. Have you not served the creature more than the Creator, making a God of the World by Ambition, Rom. 1.25. Col. 3.5. Phil. 3.19. and Cavetousness which is Idolatry, or a God of your Belly by Luxury, and the too much indulging of carnal delights? 3. Ezek. 14.4. Ps. 81.9.12, 2 Cor. 10.5. Deut. 4.2. Heb. 13. ●. Have you not set up your idols in your own heart, idolised your own imaginations, by believing and worshipping God otherwise then himself hath prescribed, either immediately in his Holy Word, or mediately by the Ministry of his holy and true Church? 4. Have you worshipped God as with all internal devotion of Soul, so also with all external, humble and low prostration of Body? Ps. 95.6. 1 Cor. 6.20. For in being forbidden to fall down to serve Idols, or any false gods, you are thereby bidden to fall down in serving the Lord. 5. If you abhor Idols, Rom. 2.22. examine if you have not been guilty of Sacrilege, which is to rob God in Tithes and Offerings, Mal. 3.8. or of whatsoever is devoted to his Service. Both of which sins are equally condemned by this Law: for as by Idolatry God is rob in his service, so by Sacrilege, in the support and maintenance of his service. The Third Commandment. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain, etc. Examination by the Third Commandment. HAve you not profaned the Name of God, either, 1. In your Thoughts, by entertaining any misbecoming apprehensions of God's Majesty, and such as are vain and mean, and far below the Name of God, Ps. 99 3. which is great, wonderful and holy? Or, 2. Jam 2.7. In your Words, by any scurrilous and irreverent discourses of God, or impertinent and unseemly addresses unto him? Or, 3. In your Actions, by the ungodliness and injustice of your conversation, 2 Sam. 12 14. Rom. 2.23, 24. giving occasion to others to blaspheme his Name? 4. Have you taken no * Leu. 19.12. Matt. 5.34. Jam. 5.12. false and unlawful Oaths, nor yet been guilty of too ordinary, customary swearing in discourse, Ps. 109.17. Jam. 3.10. or cursing by the dreadful Name of God, which is only to be mentioned for adoration and blessing? 5. Ezek. 17.18, 19 Zach. 8.17. Have you carefully observed those lawful Oaths you have taken in order to subjection to higher powers, nor yet have taken any that have been contrary thereunto? 6. Have you to the utmost of your power observed all just promises made unto others, Psal. 15.4. though to your prejudice in your outward affairs? And because the Name of God is to be honoured in all things that have his Name enstamped thereupon; Leu. 21.6. Deut. 28.58. ●er. 34.15, 16. you may therefore upon this Commandment examine as to the duties you own, first, to the Word, secondly, to the Sacraments, thirdly, to the House of God. As to the Word of God. 1. Have you a far more venerable esteem for the Word of God, 1 Thess. 2.13. then for the word of man, though spoken in the Pulpit, wisely distinguishing betwixt the divine inspiration of the one, and the humane invention of the other? 2. Do you believe unfeignedly all that God hath spoken in his Holy Word, Psal. 19.7, etc. whether by doctrine or example, promises or threaten? and have the promises of God's Word alured you to obey its precepts, and the threats (confirmed by examples) deterred you from doing what is therein prohibited? Ps. 90.11. 3. Have you not placed your Religion in the bare reading of Holy Scriptures, and hearing of Sermons, without due consideration of the weight and true meaning of what you have heard or read, Mar. 4.24. and without the careful practice thereof in your life? Jam. 2.22. 4. 2 Pet. 1.20. 2 Pet. 3.16. 1 Tim. 6.3, 4, 5. Tit. 3.9. Have you not made your own private interpretation of Scriptures, nor wrested any Text to another sense then the Holy Spirit of God intended therein, either to please your own fancy, or maintain some private opinion, or to minister to contention and dispute? 5. Have you not used the Word of God in ordinary and common talk, either to excite to merriment and laughter, or to show your own wit, and secretly boast of your reading and readiness therein? As to the Sacraments which Christ hath ordained in his Church. 1. In general; Have you a very high and holy esteem for those blessed means of Grace and mysteries of Salvation, Joh. 3.5. and 6.53. believing unfeignedly the great necessity and efficacy both of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and not upon any pretexts or pretences neglecting the devout and reverend use of either, as occasion and opportunity hath been offered? 2. Have you not profaned the consecrated Elements of either Sacrament, Act. 10.14, 15. by esteeming and using them as common things? 3. As to Baptism in particular, your grand duty is, to examine yourself frequently by that solemn Vow you made when Christened, confessing and bewailing your manifold transgressions thereof, and daily renewing your Covenant with God; resolving and promising daily to forsake the Devil, the World, and the Flesh, and devoting yourself to the sacred service of God by a true and lively Faith, and Obedience to his Commandments. The breach of which Vow unto God is a greater offence then that of ordinary Swearing: because in the one God is but called upon as a witness; but in the other he is a party concerned. Concerning the Sacrament of the holy Body and Blood of Christ, examine, 1. How often you have neglected to come, Is. 55.1, 2, 3. being invited, to that blessed Feast. And here consider the causes of this sin: which are, 1. ignorance of your Duty, Isa. 5.13. joined with a slothful and careless neglect to take pains for instruction, or apply yourself to your Pastor for direction; 2. 1 Cor. 11.28, 29. Isa. 55.7. the terror of unworthy receiving considered, but the duty to receive not remembered; 3. impenitence, and continuance in sin, preferred before the Sacred Religious actions of a due preparation, and devout participation of that Bread of life. 2. Notwithstanding which impediments, examine, have you not presumed to come to that Sacred Feast, being ignorant of the nature, of the ends, and benefits thereof, and so received the same unworthily, 1 Cor. 11.27, 29. not discerning the Lord's body? Or having knowledge, 3. Have you accordingly prepared yourself aright, to come unto that celestial banquet; and that, 1. by a through examination of yourself, 1 Sam. 7.6. Jam. 4.8, 9, 10. Act. 3.19. to find out your sins and failings, 2. by a full confession of them to God, and in some cases to Man, and that, 3. with all contrition and godly sorrow for sin, and, 4. with a full purpose of amendment; Heb. 10.16, 17. renewing your covenant with God, contracted in the foregoing Sacrament of Baptism, and now to be sealed in the Sacrament of Christ's Blood? 4. Have you with all reverence and humility, 1 Cor. 6.20. both of Soul and body, approached to that Sacrament? and have you received the same, 1. Ro. 5.1, 2. with a lively Faith in the mercies of God, through the merits of Christ; 2. with all Devotion and thankfulness of heart, in the grateful acknowledgement of God's infinite love, Joh. 3.16. 1 ●im. 1.15. 1 Pet. 1.18, 19 Joh. 6.51. Matt. 5.23, 24, 25. Isa. 12.3. in giving his Son to be both the price of your Redemption, and the food of your Soul; 3. with an entire and unfeigned Charity towards all men; 4. being inwardly affected with a spiritual joy in the Lord? 5. After the participation of those divine Mysteries, examine, 1. whether you feel your former sinful motions, sensual and worldly lusts dying and decaying in your heart: 2. whether you have any sense of God's mercy refreshing your Soul as to the pardon of your sins past; Rom. 14.17. and, 3. of Grace quickening and strengthening you to serve God more sincerely and industriously for the time to come. If not, you may justly suspect yourself guilty, either of an undue preparation, or some sinful defect in the participation thereof. And because the Name of God is called not only upon his Word and Sacraments, but also upon the Place where those are administered; examine whether you have made your approaches to that House which is called by his Name, 1 Cor. 3.17. Ps. 93.5. Matt. 21.13. Psal. 5.7.132.7. Ps. 11.4. Hab 2.20 (viz.) the Temple of the Lord, the house of God, etc. and demeaned yourself therein with that lowly Reverence and Humility, both inward and outward, as becomes the place that is separate to his service, and sanctified by his special presence therein. If otherwise, remember with horror, if any one defile or profane the Temple of the Lord, 1 Cor. 3.17. him shall God destroy; for the Temple of God is holy. 'Tis here objected, that the immediate following words [which Temple ye are] do imply this Text to relate to holy Persons, not to any holy Houses of God. But 'tis answered, That this makes not void that duty of holiness which becometh the House of God, but rather confirms the same: for these words [which Temple ye are] are an illation or consequence flowing from this which the Apostle takes for an undeniable principle, [The Temple of God is holy.] And the plain and full meaning of the whole Verse is in other words briefly this. The material Temple or House of God is a figure of the mystical Temple or People of God. As therefore the material Temple is an holy place, being sanctified to the holy Service of the most Holy God; and whosoever profanes the same by irreverent and undecent carriage there, him will God destroy: so the People of God, being his mystical Temple, must keep themselves undefiled and pure both in heart and life, that God destroy them not. The Fourth Commandment. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day, etc. Examination by the Fourth Commandment. 1. HAve you wisely distinguished betwixt times sacred and profane, Ecclus. 33.7, 8, 9 by esteeming of such days as are devoted to the service of God, in a select and separate respect, from such as are common or ordinary days allowed for the service of man? 2. Have you not omitted the Christian Duties required to the Sanctification of the Lord's day, and of every day holy to the Lord; viz. 1. the public Prayers with Thanksgivings, Eph. 5.19. Isa. 56.7. the Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs in the Lord's House; 2. the offices of Charity, Matt. 12.12. Mar. 3.4. Alms-deeds, Visiting the sick? 3. Have you not profaned any days devoted to God's public Worship, Isa. 56.2. Ex. 20.10. by doing such servile works that might be omitted, or by going unnecessary journeys, Isa. 58.13. or by spending the same in idleness or vain sports, luxury and wantonness? 4. Have you observed not only the Festival days, Joel 1.14. Matt. 6.16. 1 Cor. 7.5. Leu. 16.29, 30. but also those days of Fasting and Humiliation which have been observed in all ages of the Church of Christ, by the devout people of God, and are enjoined by lawful Superiors, in order to the obedience we own to the Commands of God? 5. Have you kept the true Christian spiritual Sabbath, which is to rest from the service of sin, and to be wholly devoted to the service of God here; Heb. 4 9, 10, 11. so that you may reasonably hope to keep an eternal Sabbath of peace and joy with God and all the Chore of Heaven hereafter? The Fifth Commandment. Honour thy Father and thy Mother, etc. Examination by the Fifth Commandment. THE Christian Duties enjoined in this Commandment are as many as there are Relations of Superiority and Inferiority amongst men. 1. As to your natural Parents: Have you not been stubborn and irreverent in your carriage towards them? Deut. 21.18. Prov. 20.20. and 23.22. Prov. 30.17. Pro. 1.8. & 4.1. & 13.1. Eph. 5.1. Ecclus. 3.12, 13. Mar. 7.11, 12. Have you not secretly despised them in your heart, nor openly published their infirmities? Have you not slighted their wholesome admonitions, nor disobeyed their lawful commands? Have you not neglected to comfort and relieve them, to the best of your power and skill, in their sickness, wants, weakness, and old age? and have you not secretly coveted their estates, though by their death? 2. If you be a Father or a Mother of Children, examine, 1. have you taken care to see they were rightly and in due time Baptised? 2. Eph. 6.4. that they be taught, as soon as they are able to learn, what a solemn Vow was made in their name when Baptised, with the Principles of Religion implied therein, and depending thereupon? 3. to correct them for their offences, Heb. 12.9, 10, 11. that they contract not a custom in sin? 4. to give them good example? 5. to pray for them in private, and openly to give them your blessing? 6. Ecclus. 3.9. 1 Tim. 5.8. to provide for them according to your ability; and not to spend in needless riot, or otherwise, what ought to have been reserved for their maintenance? 3. As to your civil Father, 1 Pet. 2.13, 14. Jud. 8. Pet. 2.10, 11. Rom. 13.6. Tit. 3.1. Rom. 13.1, 2. Pro. 24.21. Eccles. 10.20. who is the King as Supreme; have you not been censorious and malapert, in judging and traducing him or his government? Have you not grudged to pay him toll or tribute; refused to obey his lawful commands; had no hand in rising up against him, nor contributed thereunto, by sowing sedition and faction, spreading infamous reports—? 4. As to your spiritual Fathers, 1 Tim. 3.1, 13. Luk. 10.16. the Bishops and Pastors of Christ's Church; have you not despised their Calling, but honoured them according to their respective degrees and stations in the Church of Christ? 1 Tim. 5.17. Heb. 13.17. Ecclus. 7.29. Have you not slighted and disobeyed those commands and admonitions which God by them hath given you? Have you not denied or diminished their deuce, or paid them grudgingly? Joh. 10.4, 5. 2 Tim. 4.3, 4. Have you not forsaken your lawful Pastor, to follow after factious Preachers, or such who more tickle your itching ears; which is the issue of a corrupt heart, Prov. 29.1. Isa. 29.21. and the high road to error and falsehood? Have you not been angry when told of your faults, or put in mind of the errors of your ways, and refused to return and amend thereupon? 5. Have you been respective and lowly in your demeanour to all your Superiors, whether in age or office, learning and judgement, temporal estate and preferment, Rom. 12.10. 2 Tim. 2.20. 1 Pet. 2.17. giving to each the honour due to their respective conditions; and this though you have no dependence upon them, nor hopes to receive any benefits from them? 6. Have you been meek, gentle, courteous and affable unto all men, as becomes the Spirit of a true Christian; not high and haughty, Tit. 3.3. churlish and distasteful in your carriage towards any; slighting, undervaluing, scorning your equals, if not your betters, in some respects? However, the truly humble good Christian esteems others better than himself. Phil. 2.3. 7. If you have any persons under your command, as a Master of a Family, Eph. 6.9. have you not been overharsh and rigorous towards any of your Servants, 1 Sam. 12.3. nor defrauded them of their wages? and have you preserved them to your power from the wrongs of others? and have you taken care, what in you lies, for the good of their Souls; viz. that they be Catechised in the principles of Religion, Gen. 18.19. Jos. 24.15. and duly frequent the public Worship of God, both in Church and family? 8. If you be a Servant, examine, Eph. 6.5. Tit. 2.9, 10. have you been obedient to your Master in all his lawful commands? just and true in the managing his business, so that he hath suffered no loss, either by your carelessness, or dishonesty? and hath your carriage towards him been submissive and meek, not answering again, when provoked by hard language? 9 In a word, have you obeyed that admonition of S. Paul, which is the more full meaning of this 5. Commandment, Rom. 13.7, 8. Render therefore to all men their due; tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour. Own no man any thing, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law. The Sixth Commandment. Thou shalt do no murder. Examination by the Sixth Commandment. THere are several degrees of Murder in this Law prohibited; and though you have not been guilty thereof by bloodshed, yet examine, 1. Have you not been guilty of immoderate Anger, Matt. 5.21, 22. been peevish, and disquieted at trifles, at slight miscarriages of others, and inconsiderable accidents about you? 2. Hath not your anger swelled into wrath and fury, Pro. 27.3, 4. Eph. 4.31. Jam 1.19. Matt. 5.22. 1 Pet. 3.9. Matt. 5.40. nor been drawn out into hatred and malice, nor broken out into bitter and opprobrious language, rendering evil for evil, and railing for railing, brawling and quarrelling for any offence; going to law upon petty and small occasions of trespass? 3. Ps. 37.1. Rom 13.13. Have you not envied the good parts and endowments, or the wealth and preferments, or the flourishing estate of others, in any respect, though they may be wicked and unworthy? 4. Leu. 19.18. Matt. 5.38. Have ye harboured no secret grudge in your heart towards any person, nor entertained any secret thoughts and desires of revenge? 5. Prov. 24.17. Rom. 12.15. Have you not secretly rejoiced at the losses, crosses, disgraces or death of any? 6. Have you no way impaired the health either of the Souls or bodies of others; either by hurting, maiming, Exod. 21.22, etc. wounding any person in body, or tempting them to sin, Matt. 18.6 Gal. 5.26. to the ruin of their Souls, or provoking their spirits, or neglecting to perform the Christian duties of Charity, both corporal and spiritual, unto them? 7. Hath your demeanour been with all meekness and humility, Matt. 11.29. Eph. 4.32. being loving, kind, tenderhearted, pitiful, peaceful, and easy to be entreated, with the several qualifications of true Christian charity, 1 Cor. 13.1, etc. without which no true Christianity? 8. Have you not impaired your own health, by surfeiting, drunkenness, uncleanness, or giving way to any unruly lusts, passions, and desires, even against your reason and judgement? Prov. 21.16. The Seventh Commandment. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Examination by the Seventh Commandment. THe Christian Virtues in this Law commanded are Chastity and Temperance, the one being not to be preserved without the other: and of both these there are several degrees; the transgression of each of which is to be here examined. And, First, Concerning Chastity; because the uncleanness of the heart is as vile before God as any act of that kind before man, examine, Matt. 5.28. 1. Have you not pleased your fancy with lose and wanton imaginations; nor suffered unchaste thoughts so long to dwell in your heart, till by the corrupt bent of its concupiscence they have grown into unruly lusts? and have you endeavoured to subdue those lusts, Col. 3.5. and not suffered them to break out either, 1. Eph. 4.29. into any filthy communication, scurrilous and obscene speeches? 2. into any sinful solicitations and temptations of others to commit uncleanness with you, Matt 5.29, 30. by the wantonness of the eyes, hands, tongue? 2. Have you not gazed upon any person, Matt. 5.8. till your eyes have betrayed your heart secretly to lust, and sinfully to enjoy them? And as to the acts of corporal uncleanness, they are of such a loathsome nature, Eph. 5.3. as not fit to be once named amongst Christians; your own Conscience will be your best guide for your examination in such particulars: wherein consider and seriously weigh the aggravating circumstances of Time, Place, Person; the unruliness of your lust, against all the laws of God and Nature, right Reason, and holy Religion: consider the inconsistency of every such deed of darkness with the purity of your profession, 1 Cor. 6.15, etc. Eph. 5.5. and your relation of being a member of Christ, a child of God, and an heir of Heaven. Upon the consideration of this, let this Memento of that one Father have a deep impression upon your Soul; That in every lust of uncleanness, as the unlawful flame thereof goes up into Heaven, so the filthy stench thereof goes down into Hell. And as another Father observes, I am persuaded that the greatest number of the Souls tormented in Hell have been less or more guilty of this Sin. Secondly, And because unlawful lusts are nourished and maintained by Intemperance, Jer. 5.7, 8. and that chief, 1. In Eating and Drinking, either more, or more often then is conducible to the two ends of feeding; first, to maintain life, secondly, to preserve health; examine, how frequently you have crossed these ends of God and Nature, either, 1. by too much curiosity and daintiness to please an exotic palate, Prov. 23.3. Deut. 31.20. & 32.15. Ecclus. 9.12. Luk. 21.34. Ecclus. 37.29, 30, 31. Luk. 16.19, etc. Prov. 23.29. and humour a rebellious appetite; or, 2. to maintain and strengthen the lusts of the flesh; or, 3. to please and humour others. And herein by drinking to excess consider, first, the sinful expense of your Time; secondly, of your Talon and estate; thirdly, of the health and good temper of your Body; fourthly, of the soundness and quickness of all the faculties of your Mind; fifthly, of what might and ought to have relieved the poor; sixthly, Isa. 56.12. Wisd. 2.6, etc. of contracting the guilt of the excess of your companions, at least by your compliance with them, if not tempting of them to drink: the which, though it be looked upon as a matter of jest and merriment, yet it will end in sadness and woe. H●b. 2.15, 16. And though perhaps, through the strength of your brain, and good constitution of body, you may come off from your excess without any visible distemper; yet that frees you not from the sad woe to such denounced. Isa. 5.22. Luk. 6.25. And 'tis woeful enough, that this beastly sin of eating and drinking to riot and excess is inconsistent, as the former, 1 Cor. 6.10. Gal. 5.21. with your Christian profession, and hopes of Heaven. 2. And since an account must be given of your precious Time, examine whether your intemperance in diet hath not often engaged you to spend your time either in immoderate sleep or slothfulness, Thess. 5. ●, 7. ●sa. 56.10, ●2. Ezek. 16. ●9. whereby the sinful lusts of the flesh are fomented; which was the sin of Sodom: and 'tis the only business of the slothful man to tempt the Devil, who tempts man unto all other sins. 3. Intemperance and excess in Apparel is not only a sign of pride and vainglory, but a symptom and allurement to unlawful lusts. Examine if your attire be such as is, 1. agreeable to your rank and condition, neither affectedly sordid, nor too curiously fine and costly: Luk. 7.25. 2. answerable to the ends of clothing; viz. first, to cover your nakedness, secondly, to preserve, by moderate warmth, the health of the body: in either of which respects to affect gorgeous apparel, Luk. 16.19. Phil. 3.19. Gen. 3.21. or to be proud of the same, is to glory in your shame; to cover which shame, the use of garments was first instituted. Again, have you not envied others for the bravery of their apparel, but rather pitied their folly; remembering that the true ornament of a Christian is the hidden man of the heart, 1 Pet. 3.4. even the ornaments of a meek and quiet spirit? 4. Recreations are not only useful, but necessary to recruit the vigour both of the Soul and body, Eccl. 2.10.11. & 3.12, 13. 2 Sam. 11.2, 3. when over-toiled with labour; but are too often the foments of unlawful lusts: and therefore as to these, examine, 1. that your recreations be in themselves lawful, neither dishonourable to God, nor scandalous and injurious to man: Eph. 5.11. 2. that they be not unseasonable, Eccl. 3.1. to the hindrance of any duty to God or man: 3. that you be not immoderate in their use, by making that your employment, which should only fit you for employments more useful: 4. Eccl. 8.5. that your recreations be not what they are vulgarly called, pastimes; it being strangely imprudent to spend that precious time in toys and vanities, Eccl. 2.1, 2, 3. Phil. 2.12. which is lent only to work out the eternal Salvation of your Soul. The Eighth Commandment. Thou shalt not steal. Examination by the Eighth Commandment. A Man may steal, and play the thief, 1. to himself, 2. to others. 1. As to the first, consider, if you have not ruined, decayed or diminished the estate God hath given you, either, Prov. 24.30, 31. 1. by your own careless and imprudent management thereof; or, 2. by the carelessness and profuseness of others, whom you entrusted, but not discreetly regarded; Prov. 6.6. & 13.4. and 19.15. Prov. 18.9. Eccles 6.1, 2. or, 3. by your sloth and negligence in your calling; or, 4. by your prodigal and profuse mispending; or yet on the contrary, 5. by pinching and too much sparing, and denying thyself the full and lawful enjoyment of thy riches: the which with several others are the causes of poverty, Prov. 24.34. and kinds of self-robbery. 2. As to injustice towards others, examine yourself, 1. 1 Kin. 21.1, etc. Is. 3.14, 15. by the public sins of oppression, or grinding the face of the poor: 2. of making hard bargains with the necessitous; of every forcible way either to get, 1 Sam. 12.3, 4. or to keep what not of right, or more than of right belongs to you: 3. by the private sins, 1. of pilfering and filching, which is properly called stealing; 2. of cogging and lying to cozen and deceive; 3. Luk. 19.13, etc. 1 Thess. 4, 6. Deut. 15.7, 8, 9 Ps. 37.21. Hos. 12.7. of cunning to defraud and circumvent, in buying and selling, lending and borrowing, lending to the loss of the borrower, borrowing and not paying again; by false weights and measures, by counterfeit coin, naughty money, and the like unjust deal. Have you not rob God in tithes and offerings? Mal. 3.8. Eccles. 7. 29.3●, 31. Rom. 13.6. Luk. 10.7. ●e● 20.13. ●●m. 13.7, 8. nor his Priests in their accustomed deuce? nor the King's Majesty in his Tribute, customs, honour and obedience due to him? nor the labourer of his hire, or servants of their wages? nor yet deprived any person of what either by law or custom belongs unto him? All which with many more particulars are transgressions of that golden rule of righteousness and charity, Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, Matt. 7.12. even so do unto them. Have you not been uncharitable to the poor and indigent, Deut. 15.7, etc. Ps. 41.1. & 112.9. 2 Cor. 9.9. Pro. 29.7. Is. 58.7. Eccls 5.11. Luk. 2.11. Pro. 3.27. 2 Cor. 8.12, 13, 14. either by not giving, or not lending to supply their wants? or by railing, reviling, and using opprobrious language towards them? Want of charity is no other than downright robbery: for the poor man's livelihood is the rich man's superfluity, and that is the poor man's due: it being as equal justice for the rich to relieve the poor, as 'tis for the poor not to steal from the rich. This sin is also a transgression of the former law: Ecclus. 34.21. for the bread of the needy is their life, and he that defraudeth him thereof is a . The Ninth Commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Examination by the Ninth Commandment. NOt only of all false and evil speaking, Matt. 12.36, 37. but of every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account in the day of Judgement. And therefore to make up your accounts against that great day of trial, 'twill be necessary to commune with your heart, 12.34. out of the abundance whereof the mouth speaketh, 1. Whether you have been guilty of any officious lies, by speaking falsely either in the cause of God, Job 13. Col. 3.9 or of man. The first being unlawful, the second is highly sinful, though my neighbour may be benefited thereby. Ps. 12.2 Ecclus. 2.24, 25. and 23. 2. Have you told no scurrilous lies, vainglorious bragging lies, to please and humour your own and your companions sensual inclinations? 3. Psal. 24 4. Pro. 12 17. & 13.5. Have you told no false stories to allure others to be of your mind and judgement, though you be in an error? And 'tis very evident that you are both deceived yourself, and desire to deceive others, when you tell a lie to maintain your opinion: for Truth stands in need of no lie to support it. 4. Prov. 18.8. ●nd 24.28. Ecclus. 19 ●, 8. and ●1. 25. Eph. 4.25. Have you told no infamous lies and scandalous stories, to detract and blemish the good name of any? If such stories should be true, 'tis uncharitable; but when falsities, abominable to report and spread them. 5. Matt. 7.3, ●. Have you not talked of the moat in your brother's eye to his disgrace, being blind as to the beam in your own? And have you not judged rashly, censured uncharitably of other men's actions, viz. not in the better, but worse sense? 6. ●rov. 26. ●4, 25, 26. Have you not flattered with your lips, professing more love and respect to any than has been truly in your heart towards them? 7. Exod. 23.1. Have you neither publicly nor privately testified what is false, to the diminution either of the reputation or estate of any man? 8. Have you used no opprobrious language, as, thou fool, knave? Matt. 5.22. 1 Pet. 3.9. — nor answered railing for railing?— The sin of evil speaking is much aggravated from the quality of the persons evil spoken of. As, 1. for Children to speak evil and reproachfully either of or to their Parents: Pro. 20.20. 2. Jer. 18.18. Exod. 22.28. Jud. 8. for a people to speak evil of their Pastors: 3. for Subjects to speak evil of their King and his Ministers of State. Which is the humour of false Prophets and Heretics; it being the practice of Orthodox Pastors, Tit. 3.1, 2. to put their people in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers, to obey Magistrates, to speak evil of no man, etc. The Tenth Commandment. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his. Examination by the Tenth Commandment. 1. HAth no lust inflamed your breast towards the Wife or Maid of another, Matt. 5.28. 1 Thess. 4.5. 2 Sam. 11.2. or to covet whatsoever of his you vainly conceive serviceable to your sinful pleasures? So lusted David after the wife of Vriah. 2. Hab. 2.9. Luk. 12.15. Have you not coveted the house, lands, preferments, offices, or whatsoever is enjoyed by another, in order to your worldly profit? 1 King. 21.1, etc. So coveted Ahab the vineyard of Naboth. 3. Have you not secretly wished the loss or ruin of your neighbour's health, peace, credit, liberty, life, Job 31.29, 30. 1 Joh. 2.11. and 3.15. or any thing that is his, in order either to your pleasure or profit? 4. Num. 11.28, 29. Have you not envied the flourishing estate of any, either in respect of their wealth, esteem, honour, preferment,— and this whether in reference to yourself, or to your friend? 5. Phil. 4.11. 1 Tim. 6.8. Matt. 6.19, 20. Heb. 13.5. Have you been content with your present state and condition in this world, how mean soever; not roving after the exterior consolations of the creature abroad, the only way to lose contentment in yourself at home? 6. Prov. 13.4. Eph. 4.28. 2 ●hess. 3.8. Have you been diligent and industrious in the duties of your calling, (without all carking solicitude,) both for the support of yourself and yours, and for the relief of others? 7. Have none of those great Diana's whom all the world worshippeth, viz. the lusts of the flesh, 1 Joh. 2.15, 16. or voluptuousness, the lusts of the eyes, or covetousness, the pride of life, or ambition, taken up more room in your heart then the love of God, and the joys of the world to come? My soul cleaveth to the dust: Psal. 119.25. quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word. CHAP. V The Examination of Religious actions. SUch is the infelicity of our humane condition upon earth, that we frequently trespass against the Majesty of Heaven, not only by doing what God hath by his holy Laws forbidden, but also by the irregular performance of those holy acts of Religion which he hath commanded. Gen. 4.4, 5. And herein a more strict scrutiny is required, a more narrow search into all the secret recesses and corners, wind and turn of the corrupt heart: because the sins of such actions as be outwardly holy do commonly lie more closely hidden from our apprehension and view, than those which have no appearance of holiness in them. Where, 1. Examine your intention in every good work, what is your chief end and aim therein. Matt. 6.22, 23. For the light of the body is the eye: 'tis the intention, the internal eye of the Soul, which renders every work, either of light or of darkness, sinful or holy. Consider then, whether in , Fasting, Praying, Preaching, or any other Religious duty, you intent either, 1. the glory of God, rather than your own glory and esteem; the praise of God more than the praise of men: or, 2. the good of your Soul, and the interest of Heaven, rather than any worldly ends or interests. 3. Whether you perform such or such an holy action out of a true love to God, and obedience to his commands; or rather to please yourself, in following your own imaginations, inclinations and humours: 4. whether to satisfy your own conscience, rather than to prevent the discourses or censures of others; 5. to benefit others, rather than to please your own fancy. And lastly, whether you have an eye to the recompense of reward in the other world, without reflection upon any secular advantage in this life. 'Tis too common with men, to mistake their own wills for the Will of God, their own Fancies for Divine Illumination, the love of themselves for the Love of God, and the revelations of flesh and blood for the Dictates of God's holy Spirit. The mind of man (saith S. Gregory) doth often belly itself, and conceits, both in a good work to love what truly it loves not, and also in an evil work to hate what throughly it hates not: nor can such secret collusions of the deceitful heart of man be throughly sifted and found out, until the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed in that great day of a general examination and trial. 1 Cor. 4.5. 2. As the end of every Religious action is to be examined, whereby the equity or iniquity, sincerity or hypocrisy is discerned; so the care and caution, fervour and devotion of the heart in its performance, is to be considered: Jer. 48.10. for Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently. When the heathen Priests offered Sacrifices to their false gods, in the midst of their idolatrous Ceremonies an Herald cried unto them, Age quod agis, Be intent upon what you are about. And 'tis surely unreasonable to imagine, that the allseeing spiritual God, or the God of the spirits of all flesh, should be pleased with any worship, or act of Religion, where the heart is not wholly intent thereupon, and devoted thereunto. 3. After any holy action performed in public, examine your own thoughts, whether they reflect not upon your own dextrous wit, wisdom, elocution, zeal, or holiness, for any of which you may expect to be praised and extolled by men. And though your heart be so upright, as not to seek and hunt after popular applause; yet if you be affected and delighted with the praise of men, 'tis not without some tincture of vainglory. 4. Have you not been so secure, and conceited of your Religious performances, as to lay yourself the more open to after-temptations? For the more fervent and frequent you be in holy actions, the more earnest and forcible will be your temptations. And these also shall the more easily prevail against you, the more secure you think yourself of the Divine grace and favour upon such or such Religious Duties conscientiously performed. CHAP. VI The Examination of Repentance. HAving by all these particulars examined yourself to find out your sins, it will be necessary to try your Repentance also; that the great Antidote against the poison of sin be not defective nor counterfeit. And the first particular herein to be examined, is the duty of Examination itself. 1. Psal. 26.2. Have you daily considered your daily offences, duly weighed them, and emptied them out of your heart by a full and particular Confession of them in the presence of God? 2. Have you so deeply considered your sins in the stain and danger thereof, as to beget in your heart true compunction, 2 Cor. 7.10. and that godly sorrow for sin which worketh repentance unto Salvation not to be repent of? 3. Luk. 11.24. Joh. 5.14. 2 Pet. 2.20, 21, 22. Hath not your Repentance been too often an hypocritical mocking of God, by returning again to your sins repent; breaking your promises of amendment in time of sickness, danger, and the like? 4. Matt. 3.8. Hos. 14.1, 2. Dan. 4.27. Have you brought forth fruits meet for Repentance? Such are, 1. more frequent and hearty Devotions for your sins of ungodliness; 2. Almsgivings for your sins of unrighteousness; 3. Joel 2.12. Matt. 3.10. & 7.16, 17. Fasting for your sins of Intemperance. If the tree of Repentance bring not forth such fruits, 'tis neither lively, nor likely to be accepted. CHAP. VII. Considerations with Directions in the Confession of Sin. 1. HAving discovered the black stains and pollutions of Sin your Soul hath contracted, in the strict Examination of your heart and life by the foregoing particulars, with what other your own judgement and conscience may suggest unto you: your next work must be, to empty them all out of your Soul, to cast them out with an abhorrence; which is to be done by a particular and punctual Confession of them all unto Almighty God in prayer. Num. 5.6, 7. Without such a sincere and through Confession of Sin, Leu. 16.21. & 26.40. Prov. 28.13. 1 Joh. 1.9. the Pardon thereof is not promised; and therefore not likely to be obtained by a bare and naked Faith in Christ, who very probably will not pardon and forgive men their trespasses, but upon his terms prescribed. 2. 'Tis not to be imagined, that God therefore commands the Confession of Sins, as if he were ignorant or unmindful of any of our evil do; Psal. 90.8. for he hath set even our most secret sins in the light of his countenance. But hereby, first, in all humility we acknowledge our undeservings of the least of God's mercies: which, secondly, Jos. 7.19. Quando homo detegit, Deus tegit; cùm homo celat, Deus nudat; cùm homo agnoscit, Deus ignoscit. Aug. in Psal. does magnify the glory of his grace, and the greatness of his glory: thirdly, we discover our soars to our Physician, and our wants of mercy to the Father of mercies, our great needs of pardon to the fountain of goodness: fourthly, we declare our great obligations for pardon granted and mercy obtained: fifthly, our hearts are excited, and our affections inflamed with the greater love of our dear Lord, who died to merit so great a mercy: sixthly, the Confession of sin doth imprint in our hearts the deeper sense, with an abhorrence of them: and lastly, being cordially done, 'tis an evident sign that we have abjured and forsaken them. 3. But the outward confession of the mouth, without the inward compunction of the heart, is but the shell of Repentance without the kernel, a carcase without a Soul to quicken it. King David, 1 King. 15.5. Isal. 6.6. for his only Sin in the matter of Vriah, every night washed his bed, and (in the daytime also) he watered his couch with his tears. Marry Magdalen also with her penitent tears washed the blessed feet of our Lord: Luk. 7.38. and such must be a flood of tears, and not a few drops only. S. Peter, for one single sin, Luk. 22.62. wept bitterly: and 'tis recorded of him, that he never heard the cock crow through the course of his life, but by a shower of tears he declared the sorrow of his heart for his offence. And some of the Fathers have styled Repentance the Baptism of tears, Clem. Alex. apud Euseb. as not to be exactly performed with dry eyes, in an outward verbal Confession of Sin. 'Tis confessed, that for sins of daily infirmity, small peccadilloes, and frequent failings through ignorance, inadvertency,— the daily confession of sins,— saying devoutly, (as S. Augustine) Forgive us our trespasses as we—, will be sufficient, Quàm magnè deliquimus, tam granditer defleamus— Poenitentia crimine minor non sit. Cypr. Serm. de Laps. through the merits of Christ, to obtain pardon of them: But such sins as be of an higher and deeper stain, sins of wilfulness and presumption, of perverseness and obstinacy of mind, and even lesser, when multiplied and continued, require a deeper sense and sorrow. For 'tis most just and equitable, that true and sincere Repentance be commensurate to the heinousness of the Crimes repent. 4. Psal. 51.17. 1 Pet. 2.5. That your Confession may flow from a broken heart, which will render the same a Sacrifice acceptable unto God through Jesus Christ, these following Considerations and farther Directions may be useful. Remember how deeply you stand obliged to keep God's holy will and Commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of your life. This was promised in your name when you were Christened; and if you have any sense or conscience of the Religion you profess, you have frequently renewed this your Baptismal Vow. And surely, to live in obedience to God's Commandments you are deeply obliged, 1. in general, in that he is the great Lord of all the world, to whom all things in Heaven and Earth do bow and obey: 2. more particularly, he is the God of thy life, health, strength, wealth, from whom thou hast received thy whole self, Body, Soul, Spirit, with all thou dost enjoy in this life, or canst hope or desire to make thee happy, either in this world, or in the world to come. 5. That to offend a God so great, so good, so glorious, so gracious, and frequently to transgress his most holy Laws, contracts a guilt of such infinite weight and demerit, as will undoubtedly, without an infinite mercy, sink thy Soul to the bottom of Hell. 6. Consider for what foolish, petty, trifling things you have offended God: perhaps for a little filthy lucre, or some dirty delight, or to please a rebellious appetite, or to satisfy a mischievous, vindictive, malicious humour, or for the venomous breath of popular applause, or the aicry thing of a fancied esteem and the praise of men,— wherein the service of every such unprofitable and brutish lust is preferred before the service you own to the great Majesty of Heaven, which consists in obedience to his Commandments. 7. Remember and ponder with yourself, as the folly, so the filthiness of your Sins, how odious they render you both before God and Man. First, as for God; he is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity a Hab. 1.13. . The Sinner with his Sins are equally hateful unto him b Job 4.8, 9 Prov. 13.5. . So that your Sins do not only, 1. rob you of his grace and favour, and, 2. render all your Prayers and all your other acts of Religion abomination unto him c Isa. 1.12, 13, 14. ; but also, 3. move him to raze your name out of the Book of life d Exod. 32.33. , and, 4. to deliver you up to have your portion with the Devil and his Angels in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone * Rev. 20.15. Psal. 11.6. . Secondly, as for Man; even wicked men themselves will abhor and revile you for your Sins; but much, very much more hateful do they render you to all good men, Prov. 29.27. Psal. 97.10. who truly love God, and hate all that is evil. And questionless, you would be ashamed to look any men in the face, whether good or bad men, did they but know all that by you which you know by yourself, and which God knoweth better than yourself. 8. Call to mind some of the most aggravating Circumstances: how such or such a Sin was committed against the light of your mind, wittingly and knowingly; against the checks of your Conscience, stubbornly and wilfully; against the admonitions of God's Holy Word, and the dictates of his Holy Spirit, presumptuously and contumaciously; against your Covenant with God in Baptism, and frequently renewed in your Prayers, profanely and perjuriously; against your profession as a Christian to make conscience of your ways, scandalously and offensively. And this guilt of Scandal is much aggravated, if you be a Master of a family, a Pastor of people, a Parent of children, a Magistrate, Minister,— In every of which respects your Sin is doubled, by the encouragement of others to the like offence by your example. 9 In calling your Sins to remembrance, 'twill be necessary also to call to mind several other Circumstances of many Sins; as the Time when, the Place where, the Persons with whom, the Manner how such or such a Sin was committed: viz. how bold, how impudent, how shameless, how peremptory, how furious and unbridled you were in the prosecution of such or such exorbitant desires, such unruly lusts, such irrational passions. Whether also 'twas the first or second time only you transgressed in the like kind; or whether you have not rather been more frequently guilty, and so through custom and continuance your heart is hardened, and your Repentance for the same but hypocritical and feigned, if any at all. 10. The most of these Considerations are of so high concernment, that if you will truly turn unto the Lord from all the errors of your ways, your mind must dwell upon them, especially upon such as do most sting your Conscience, and affect your heart, 1 Sam. 7.6. 2 Cor. 7.10. Jam. 4.9, 10. till the pride thereof be humbled, and its stubbornness subdued, and your Soul melt into holy compunction, and your eyes run over with the tears of godly sorrow. 11. And because your Soul cannot be truly humbled within you, except your Body be humbled also, and God requires both Soul and Body in every act of his service; 1 Cor. 6.20. 'twill be requisite therefore that you prostrate yourself upon the earth in the confession of your Sins. 2 Sam. 12.16. So holy David lay upon the earth, when he fasted and prayed for the remission of his sins. When the people of God made confession of their sins publicly in the Temple, they did it grovelling on the ground, with their faces in the dust: and to this day the Jews do the same in their Synagogues, falling flat upon the earth when they confess their sins, and the sins of their forefathers. Wherein that which should yet have a greater influence upon too stubborn hearts and stiffened joints, is, the example of our dearest Saviour; who, when he prayed, Matt. 26.38, 39 Lak. 22.44. groaning under the burden of our sins, fell upon his face, and prayed, and sweat drops of blood, and prayed more earnestly saying the same words: 1 Pet. 2.21. herein leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps; not so much to mind variety of expressions and multitude of words in our prayers and confessions, as to be throughly humbled both in body and Soul under the mighty hand of God, 1 Pet. 5.6. that he may vouchsafe to raise us up out of the mire and clay of all our sinful pollutions. 12. This humiliation of yourselves both in Body and Soul for your Sins cannot be perfectly, sincerely and throughly transacted, except your Prayers be joined with Fasting. That great day of expiation, commanded by God for the putting away of Sin, was a Fastingday: and for this corporal mortification, Leu. 16.29, 30. Isa. 58 3, 5. Joel. 2.12. Matt. 17.21. Luk. 2.37. as well as for the spiritual compunction, 'twas called a day wherein to afflict the Soul. The many admonitions and examples of Fasting, both in the Old and New Testament, and its frequent conjunction with Prayer, may sufficiently convince us of the necessity of this Duty, when we implore the pardon of our Sins; as also of other acts of Mortification for the taming and subduing of the flesh, 1 Cor. 9.27. Gal. 5.17. which hath so shamefully rebelled against the spirit, as in the through Confession of Sins is acknowledged. 13. That you may be both humbled for your Sins, and yet not despair of mercy and forgiveness, meditate upon the bitter Sorrows and Sufferings of our Blessed Redeemer. Behold him with the eye of Faith and devout Meditation expanded on the Cross, as on a Tormenting-rack: see him naked, and racked, and wounded, and bleeding for thy Sins: no part of his Body untormented, no power of his Soul unsacrificed, no drop of his Blood unshed for thine offences. His tender Skin and delicate Flesh was torn, and rend, and razed, by cruel lashes with forked whips; his Head crowned with thorns, the curse of the earth; his Sinews cracked, his Veins burst, his Joints disparted, and all his Bones started aside: whilst in the midst of these torments he offered up his Soul a Sacrifice for thy Sins. And 'tis this precious Blood thus shed and applied to thy heart, if any thing, will mollify its hardness, and melt thee into tears of Compunction for thy Sins, the cause of thy Saviour's Sufferings; into tears of Compassion with thy Redeemer in his Passion for thee; into tears of Devotion, in the dedication of thy whole self unto the service of his Majesty, who gave himself wholly to redeem and save thee. And because Meditations upon this subject are of all others most effectual to excite Compunction, and Devotion in the heart, and to obtain mercy; I have therefore annexed some short Meditations on the several Mysteries of our Redemption, and our Saviour's Passion, wherein every one may enlarge himself, as his Devotion shall suggest. 14. In the Confession of your Sins, as in every of your set solemn constant Prayers unto God, 'twill be very imprudent, and too presumptuous, to trust to your own extempore expressions, and boldly say only what at present comes into your mind: for this is to be as one of them that tempt the Lord. Ecclus. 18.23. Eccles. 5.1, 2. And by such rash inconsiderate addresses you offer to the Alwise God the sacrifice of fools. There's no Malefactor that petitions his Judge for the pardon of his crime, but will pen his Petition, and study to do it in such words as are pertinent, and not superfluous, that he offend not by any tedious prolix or unnecessary expressions. And we cannot surely be less considerate and careful, when we petition the Great Judge of the world for the pardon of our Sins, which would otherwise sink our Souls to eternal honour. For the right performance therefore of a Duty of so high concernment, Dan. 9.4, etc. Hos. 14.2, 3. Baruc. 1.15, etc. Luke 15.18, 21. we have many Forms of Confession upon record in the Book of God, and other books of practical Devotion both ancient and modern. But because such generals reach not punctually to the particulars of Self-examination proposed, I have hereunto added, for the greater ease of the Reader, a Form of Confession, whereunto every man may add or diminish, as his Conscience tells him he is guilty or not guilty, also as he finds himself more or less guilty: remembering to enlarge upon every general head of Confession, the enumeration of all such particular Sins as relate thereunto. And because there be few devout orthodox good Christians but are affected with what is ancient and primitive, more than with the modes of new and modern Devotion; I have therefore added one Form of Confession out of the Bibliotheca Patrum, for its antiquity, and the general extent thereof. 15. After the Confession of your Sins, the most effectual Prayers you can use for the Pardon of them are, next to the Lord's Prayer, the Penitential Psalms; the praying whereof with understanding and devotion, is truly and indeed to pray by the Holy Spirit of God: Eph. 5.18, 19 for such are undeniably the dictates of God's Holy Spirit. I have therefore added the said Psalms, with the Lord's Prayer, paraphrased, that in the devout use thereof you may pray by the Spirit, 1 Cor. 14.15. and pray with understanding also. CHAP. VIII. A Form of Confession of Sin fitted to the Rules of Self-examination, whereunto every one may add or subtract, as he finds himself guilty or not guilty. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. BUT I am unworthy, O Lord, to take thy Holy Name in my mouth, ashamed to lift up mine eyes to Heaven; for I have sinned against Heaven and before thee, in that I have daily broken my Vow and Promise made unto the God of Heaven. Sins against the Baptismal Vow in general. To renounce the Devil and all his works; I am unworthy to be called thy Son, having obeyed the suggestions and done the works of the Devil; and I do therefore justly deserve, as a child of the Devil, to have my portion with him and his Angels: for, with those Apostate spirits, I have not kept to my first estate of Regeneration in Baptism, but have transgressed all the particulars of that Covenant which I made with my God therein. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have suffered my foolish heart to be deceived with the Pomps and Vanities of this transitory life; The Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World; and have been more enamoured with the empty, gaudy, flattering felicities of this present World, then with those never-fading joys and unspeakable glories of the World to come. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. The Pride of life hath ensnared me more to affect the praise of men than the praise of God; and the Lust of the eyes hath bewitched me, to prefer the love and service of Mammon before the love and fear and service of my Maker. God be merciful to me a sinner. I have more readily obeyed the sinful lusts of the flesh, And all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh. than the godly motions of the Spirit: and carnal Concupiscence hath reigned in my heart, and prevailed in the actions of my life, against the dictates both of right Reason and holy Religion. Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies, do away mine offences, through Jesus Christ, Amen. I have not been so careful as I ought, To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith. rightly and fully to understand all the Articles of the holy Christian Faith, whereinto I was Baptised, and made Christian: and my Faith in those Fundamentals of the Religion I profess has been weak and wavering, clouded by ignorance, depraved by error, and distracted by many various Opinions, and doubts of the Truth. God be merciful to me a sinner. I have not framed the affections of my heart, and the actions of my life, according to what each Article of my Christian Faith doth imply, and implicitly command: but I have profaned, nay even denied, that Faith by the sinful works of my hands, which I have professed with my mouth. God be merciful to me a miserable sinner. I have too often neglected, and been sometimes ashamed to make confession of my Faith, when called hereunto by the Minister in the Congregation: and most justly therefore may my Blessed Saviour be ashamed of me at the last great Day. But he is merciful, and I a miserable sinner. God be merciful to my sin, for it is great. I have not studied fully to know what the Will of my God is, To keep God's holy Will and Commandments. and to understand aright those Divine Commandments I am obliged to observe: neither have I obeyed thy Will and kept thy Commandments, according to the knowledge I have had thereof. To thee, O Lord God, belongeth mercy and forgiveness, but to me shame and confusion of face; for I have rebelled against thee, and have not walked in those Laws which thou hast appointed for us. Sins against the First Table of the Law. I Have not so steadfastly and unfeignedly believed in thee my God, Sins against the First Commandment. as not many times to entertain wild and roving thoughts of Infidelity and Atheism. I have lived too much and too long without God in the world, Against Faith in God. spending my time either in doing nothing, or nothing to purpose, or doing what I ought not; as if there were no God to call me to an account for the expense of my time, and for all my actions in time. The whole course of my life has been a trade of rebellion to my Creator, of ingratitude to my Redeemer, of obstinacy to my Sanctifier, of contradiction to a sincere Faith in the Trin-une God, Blessed Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; being little better than one of those Atheists, who profess to know God, but in their works deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and to every good work reprobate. Remember not, Lord, the sins of my youth, nor of my riper age; but according to the multitude of thy mercies think upon me, O God, for thy goodness. I have not fully relied upon the alwise and good providence of God, Trust in God. and cast all my care upon him; but I have often distracted my mind with carking cares and fears for the things of this life, and have used unlawful and indirect means to obtain and advance my worldly ends and interests. I have leaned to my own understanding, trusted to my policy and cunning, made flesh my arm, and riches my confidence, been puffed up by prosperity, cast down by adverse occurrents; for want of a sure trust and holy confidence in my God. God be merciful to me a miserable sinner. I have not made my Creator the chief object of my hope and desires; Hope in God. but being made in honour, after the Image of God, I have made myself like the beasts that perish, roving in my desires and vain hopes of consolation in the Creature. I have foolishly hoped to avoid thy threatened Judgements, and yet have not avoided the Sins against which they are denounced: and I have as vainly hoped to attain thy promised Mercies, having not obeyed thy Precepts in order thereunto. O turn thy face away from my sins, and blot out all mine offences. I have not stood in awe of thy dreadful Majesty, Fear of God. so as not to sin, and provoke thee to anger: I have more feared to commit sin before men, then in the presence of the Allseeing God; more feared the penalty of humane laws, than the threaten of the Divine; more feared to lose a little empty credit and esteem amongst men, then to incur the displeasure of the Almighty: and the little fear I have had of God hath been more servile than filial, more afraid of the punishment then of the sin. Enter not into judgement with thyservants, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified. The Love of God in my heart is weak and defective, Love of God. and no better than dissimulation and hypocrisy; since I have not hated what is evil, nor delighted myself in the Lord, and in the ways of his service: since I have not obeyed his Laws, nor studied to please him, more than to please myself and pleasure others: since I have not longed after a more full enjoyment of God's Sacred Majesty in Heaven above, but my Soul cleaveth to the dust and rubbish of worldly vanities. Withdraw not thou thy mercy from me, O Lord, though my heart hath been withdrawn from thee; but let thy loving mercy and truth always preserve me. I have too often neglected and omitted that indispensable duty of holy Prayers, both public and private, Prayers unto God. in the Church and in the Closet; taking any light occasion, sometimes to omit, sometimes to curtail my Devotions, and too often glad of such an occasion. I have been too rash with my mouth to utter Prayers before God that have been impertinent, irregular, and unfit to be offered up to the infinite wisdom and purity of Heaven. In the use of those holy Prayers which have been weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary I have been both indevout and irreverent, weary of their length, displeased at their return; cold, dull, heavy and without advertency in the effusion of them. And that which renders the best and most zealous prayers ineffectual, I have presumed to pray in my sins, with an impure heart and unclean hands; so that wherein I might have most confidence, I find nothing but imperfections, weaknesses and defects. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have not so seriously considered and entertained so deep a sense of thy great glories in thyself, Praises of God. and manifold graces to us sinful mortals, as duly to praise thee, both with heart and voice, both in the congregation and in the closet: neither hath the light of holy Truth so shined in the actions of my life, that others seeing my good works, may glorify thee also. God be merciful unto my sin, for it is great. O thou who art an Eternal, Sins against the Second Commandment. Incomprehensible, Spiritual, Pure, Invisible Essence, how have I misapprehended thy greatness? My imaginations and conceptions of thee have been vain and mean, and far below the excellency, purity and perfection of thy Divine Nature. And as my thoughts have been rude and unworthy of thee; Irreligious Worship. so has my Worship also been far misbeseeming so great, so holy, so pure a Majesty. I have not worshipped thee either with that humble, low prostration of Body, or yet with that sincere intense devotion of Soul, as was meet I should: I have drawn near to thee with my lips, when often my heart has been far from thee. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have made a God of the World by Pride, and Covetousness, Idolatry. which is Idolatry; and a God of my Belly, by Luxury and Wantonness, wherein, and in many more respects, I have served the Creature more than the Creator, God over all, blessed for ever. I have too much idolised my own Imaginations, both by believing and worshipping God otherwise then himself, in his Holy Word, and by the Ministry of his Holy and true Church, hath commanded. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have too often sacrilegiously rob my God in Tithes and offerings, usurping and withholding what hath been consecrated to holy use, diminishing and defrauding in the deuce of the Church. Remember not, Lord, our iniquities, nor the iniquities of our forefathers; but spare us, good Lord, spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood. That Name of Heaven, Sins against the Third Commandment. which is great, wonderful and holy, I have too slightly regarded, and too often used to promote vanities, and maintain lies. I have not only myself too often profaned, Rash Swearing and Cursing. but, without regret in myself, or reproof of others, have heard thy holy Name blasphemed by rash Oaths and irreligious Execrations; cursing the creatures, my neighbours, nay myself, by that ever-blessed Name, which is only to be mentioned for adoration and blessing. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have taken many solemn Oaths Perjury. in public, without a right understanding of the respective contents thereof, and the obligation of my Conscience thereunto: and what I have understood, I have not conscientiously kept and observed; being guilty of Perjury, both in general Oaths, and in many particular. I have seen the reverend Name and Oath of God imposed upon the Consciences of men out of Tyranny, as a covert of oppression and injustice; and I also, partly for fear, partly for favour and affection to unjust designs, have wickedly taken the same Oaths and Engagements: and though because of such unlawful Oaths the Land sadly mourned; yet have not I been humbled for the sins and Perjuries of this sinful Nation. Those holy and just Promises I have made, both to God and man, Breach of Promise. I have not justly performed; but have preferred, sometimes my sinful pleasure, sometimes my sordid gain and worldly advantage, before the obligations of my Conscience both by oath and promise. I have not given occasion to others to sanctify thy Name, by my discreet, Scandal. sober, edifying speech and demeanour; but have rather caused the same to be profaned, by my idle, light, foolish, sinful words and works. For thy Name's sake, Blessed Jesus, thy sweet and saving Name of JESUS, be merciful unto my sin, for it is great. I have too slightly and negligently both read and heard the Sacred Word of God; Against the Word of God; through carelessness not understanding, and through precipitancy and self-interest misunderstanding and wresting the contents thereof: and what I have rightly understood, I have not conscientiously put in practice. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have too much slighted, and the Sacraments, and too often profaned, those Holy Sacraments Christ hath ordained in his Church, as the blessed means of Grace and Salvation. I have not seriously enough weighed, Of Baptism, and carefully observed, the Covenant I made with my God in Baptism; nor yet informed those committed to my charge, of their obligation to perform the same. I have not been so reverend and devout at the administration of that Holy Sacrament of Baptism, as becometh so great a Mystery of Godliness, and the holy offices of its Celebration. God be merciful unto me, and heal my Soul, for I have sinned against thee. When I have been invited to that Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, Of the Lord's Supper. I have often slighted such invitations; choosing rather to continue in my ignorance and neglect of so great a duty, then to take pains to be informed, and to practise the Religious acts and offices of due preparation thereunto. I have pretended scruples of Conscience about harmless Ceremonies, to neglect the Service of God itself: and remembered the danger of unworthy receiving, to keep me back; but forgot the duty that is incumbent on me, to eat of that Bread, and drink of that Cup. Many excuses and pretences I have fancied to myself, and made to others, to detain me from that Sacrament; when the true cause has been, want of Devotion in my heart, and of a full purpose to leave my Sins, and to turn unto the Lord sincerely from all the errors of my ways. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I am much afraid that I have received that Blessed Sacrament unworthily, by not discerning the Lord's Body, being ignorant of the nature, ends and benefits thereof, and of what is required of them that come thereunto; and by not observing strictly, in my Preparation and Participation, what I have known thereof. As to Preparation; I have not so duly and truly examined my heart and life, confessed and bewailed my Sins, humbly implored pardon, fully resolved amendment, carefully renewed my Vow and Covenant in Baptism,— as becometh a devout Communicant. Thine infinite mercy, O God, in giving us thine only Son, to be both the price of our Redemption, and the food of our Souls, hath not sunk so deep into my heart, as to be inflamed with Divine love and affection, with a spiritual joy in the Lord, and a through devoting of myself to thy service, and to praise thee therefore both with heart and voice, and through all the actions of my whole life. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have not performed my promises, nor put into practice my resolutions I undertook upon my approach to thine Altar; but have again returned to my old sins, as the dog to his vomit. I have sinned, woe unto me that I have sinned, O Father, against Heaven, and before thee, and am not worthy to be called thy son. Thy Holy Temple have I profaned by my often irreverent approaches thereunto, and my careless, The profanation of what is holy. slovenly and indevout demeanour therein; as if there were no difference betwixt the House of God and the houses of men, betwixt a Church and a Barn. I have too much undervalved the Ministers of thy Holy Word and Sacraments, slighted and contemned holy persons, profaned many holy actions and holy things, which have thy mark enstamped on them, and have been dedicated to the service of thy great Name. And though thus, and more ways than thus, in more respects than I can possibly conceive or remember, I have profaned thy Holy Name; yet is thy Name called upon me, and I do daily call upon thy Name: I do therefore humbly beg, For thy Name's sake, O Lord, be merciful unto my sin, for it is great. Many of those Days and hours, Sins against the Fourth Commandment. times and seasons, dedicated to thy Divine Worship, public and private, have I profaned and unhallowed; making no difference, either by my words or works, betwixt Days separate to the sacred Service of God, and such as are left in common for the service of ourselves. I have too often absented myself from thy solemn public Worship, without sufficient cause, and have too carelessly, irreverently and indevoutly demeaned myself therein. I have misspent much of the time assigned for holy Exercises, in following my own private business, satisfying my sensful lusts, pursuing the pleasures and interests of this present world; spending upon such days in luxury, riot and excess, what might better have been laid out in Alms and Charitable uses. The whole course of my life, which thou grantedst me to be spent in thy service here, that I might advance my hopes of Heaven hereafter, I have foolishly thrown away upon my lusts and vanities; continually grieving thy good Spirit, quenching those sacred flames he hath enkindled in my breast, never ceasing from the works of sin, but daily labouring to destroy my hopes to keep a perpetual Sabbath in Heaven. O God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my eyes to Heaven; for mine iniquities are increased over mine head, and my trespass is gone up unto the Heavens. Sins against the Second Table of the Law. O Most just and dear God, Sins against the Fifth Commandment. I humbly confess myself, not only to have broken the bonds of that love, fear and service I own unto thee, but I have also transgressed my duty in all my Relations unto others. I have been disobedient to my Parents, Against Parents. stubborn and disrespective in my carriage towards them: I have sometimes secretly despised them in my heart, and openly reviled them; I have slighted their admonitions, thinking myself too good to own them, too wise to obey their commands: I have not, to the best of my power, comforted and relieved them in their wants and weaknesses, sorrows and sicknesses; and I have too often wished for their death, that I might enjoy their estate, and follow the sway of my own corrupt humour and inclinations. God be merciful to me a sinner. I have not been careful, Against Children. either myself to instruct my Children, or to see they were by others instructed in the Principles of holy and true Religion: I have been more careful for their temporal then spiritual estate, for the health of their Bodies then for the Salvation of their Souls; not wisely admonishing, discreetly correcting, and seasonably reproving them, and by my good example teaching them the ways of Truth and Holiness. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. Against the King— I have been too disobedient to my Prince, too censorious and malapert in traducing his Person and Conversation, his Government, and the Governors under his Majesty: I have murmured to pay him Toll and Tribute, and refused to obey many of his Laws and lawful Commands. I had too deep a hand in the Rebellion against the late King of blessed memory, by my many personal sins provoking the wrath of God, by entertaining false opinions, by believing and spreading lies and infamous stories— God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have not made conscience to obey the Laws and Orders of thy Church, Against the Church, whether universal or particular, not acknowledging or not submitting to the authority of either, and am justly to be therefore ranked amongst Publicans and Sinners. My Ghostly Fathers, and the Ministers thereof. in the several Orders of Bishop, Priest and Deacon, I have disbelieved, disrespected, disobeyed; despised them in their Persons, in their Callings, in their Admonitions for my Soul's health: And I have also detained, diminished, defrauded, and grudingly paid the Deuce of the Church. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. Amongst the Ministers of the Gospel, I have had respect of persons, being better pleased with a stranger then with my own lawful Pastor; better pleased with the Factious and Schismatical, then with the Orthodox and Regular Clergy; better pleased with Preachers that tickle the itching ear, then with such as feed the Soul with sound and wholesome Doctrine. I have hated him that reproveth in the gate: I have hardened my heart, and refused, when admonished, to return from the Errors of my ways. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. Towards all my Superiors I have been too haughty and disrespectful, Against all men in their relations and conditions. both in my carriage towards them, and speeches of them: I have not honoured the aged, and admonished the younger and less experienced: Towards all men my deportment has been too churlish and ungentle; not so meek and lowly, not so courteous and affable, as becomes the spirit of a true Christian. I have been proud and vainglorious, stubborn and disobedient; slighting, contemning, deriding others, giving rash judgement: but have been impatient myself of scorn, or of a just reproof; not enduring to be slighted, and yet extremely deserving it. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have not ordered aright the members of my Family, [or my Servant, Sins of Masters of Fandlies. or Servants;] been too remiss in my care for their instruction, and for their daily attendance upon the public Worship of God: preferring their attendance upon me, and their service in my worldly concerns, before the great concernment and interest of their own Souls Salvation in the service of thy Sacred Majesty. I have detained or curtailed their wages, murmuring to give them their due; provoked their spirits, exacted too hard duty from them, and too superciliously lorded it over them. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have oftentimes disobeyed, And of Servants. and murmured to obey my Master's commands: I have not been so lowly and submissive in my demeanour towards him, so just and honest in the management of his affairs, as becomes a good and faithful Servant. Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness; and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences, through Jesus Christ— I have been heinously and frequently guilty of immoderate Anger, Sins against the Sixth Commandment. Immoderate Anger in the heart: in word and deed. been peevish and disquieted at trifles, at slight miscarriages of others, and inconsiderable accidents about me. My Anger hath often swelled into wrath and fury, broken out into bitter railing and cursing, opprobrious speeches, (to such and such,) mindful of wrongs, forgetful of benefits: going to law (with such and such) more out of malice then matter; more out of pride, or covetousness, or for revenge, then for righteousness sake. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have envied the persons and flourishing estates of others, Envy. (of such or such,) their parts or endowments, of such for their wealth and preferments, of such for their credit and esteem: I have desired and pursued mine own worldly ends and interests, though in the loss, ruin and death of others. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have many ways, The inferior degrees of Murder, as to the Bodies of others; and in many respects, impaired the health of others, the bodily health of such and such, by fight, maiming, wounding, and by not relieving the wants and necessities of the poor and indigent; by not assisting and helping, to the best of my power, the sick and the soar, the wounded and distressed, and such as are in captivity and bondage. I have also too much contributed to the ruin of other men's Souls, as to the Souls of others: both by silence, consenting, and not reproving; by not instructing, admonishing, and exhorting others, as opportunity has been offered, and my duty required; and by my lewd example and wanton behaviour, encouraging, nay tempting and alluring others to run with me to the same excess of Drunkenness, Uncleanness, uncharitable Censures:— and I have been pleased and delighted to hear of the disgrace, loss and death of others. I have been extremely wanting in all those several kinds of Christian Charity, as to both. both corporal and spiritual, whereby the good estate of my neighbours is preserved, both in respect of their Souls and Bodies: I have not been so kind, so loving, so courteous, so pitiful, so tenderhearted, so compassionate, so gentle and easy to be entreated, as becomes a true disciple of Christ my Saviour. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O my God; even from all these, and from all the several kinds and degrees of bloodguiltiness, good Lord, deliver me; and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness. But how should I rightly love my neighbour as myself, Towards ourselves. since I have not loved myself aright, but have gone the way to destroy myself, by my intemperance in meats and drinks, and by my incontinence and wantonness, by my impatience and overmuch solicitude of mind for temporal things; and in a word, for want of prudence and sober guidance of my unruly passions and desires? I am gone astray like a sheep that is lost: O seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy Commandments. I have not possessed my vessel in holiness and honour, Sins against the Seventh Commandment. Wanton imaginations. as the Temple of God should be. I have entertained many lose and wanton Imaginations, the which I have not forthwith cast out of my heart, but have suffered them to dwell there, till they have grown into unruly, unlawful Lusts: lusts. I have not endeavoured to subdue those lusts, but have suffered them to break out into filthy Communication, obscene talk, Filthy talk. sinful solicitations of others, by the wantonness of my eyes, hands, unseemly gestures, rude Actions; Actions. more particularly, [such and such with such and such persons, at such and such a time, in such and such a place, after such a shameless manner and behaviour.] I am unclean, unclean, unclean: O wash me in the fountain of thy inexhaustible mercy through faith in the blood of Christ; wash me throughly from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin. I have not mortified my body, Neglect of fasting. for the subduing of carnal lusts, by Fasting and Abstinence; making no conscience of several Days and times devoted thereunto. I have fomented my lusts, Intemperance in Meats and drinks. by giving too much way and sway to my rebellious appetite, even to Drunkenness and Gluttony, [at such a time, with such company,—] wherein I have been too forward myself to drink to excess, and to tempt others to the like excess. Even the whole course of my life has been a trade of Intemperance in meats and drinks: and though I have reaped the bitter fruits of such improvidence, by having my heart thereby estranged from thee my God, by the slight and negligent performance of holy duties, by wasting my time, my talon, giving ill example, impairing the health both of my Soul and body; yet have I still continued to be daily guilty of such Intemperance and folly. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have been too lose, In Apparel. costly, garish and flaunting in my Attire, to entice and allure the eyes of lovers, to gain an empty respect from others; making garments, given to cover my nakedness, and the shame of my nature, to be the instruments of pride and wantonness. God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner. I have been both immoderate and unseasonable in the use of Recreations, In Recreations. misspending too much of that precious time in toys and vanities, which was lent me only to work out the eternal Salvation of my Soul. My sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up; yea, they are more in number then the hairs of my head, and my heart doth fail me when I think thereupon. O let it be thy pleasure to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord. I have been an improvident and unjust Steward of thy temporal blessings, Sins against the Eighth Commandment. Improvidence. Prodigality Injustice. prodigally and sinfully wasting my estate, by drinking, gaming, feasting, sloth and negligence in the duties of my Calling— I have been guilty of defrauding and overreaching [such and such] in buying and selling, in purloining, in oppressing, in borrowing and not paying again, in lending upon usury and for unjust gain— By many undue means I have interverted to my own use, and detained what of right belonged to others; neither have I made restitution, or given satisfaction for [such and such] wrongs and unjust deal. I have not been so charitable to the poor, uncharitableness. so pitiful to the afflicted, so compassionate to the sick, nor so openhanded to relieve the wanting and necessitous, as my ability and opportunity, and their sad condition have required. When [such and such persons, at such or such a time,] have called to me for relief, I have turned the deaf ear, and given them harsh language in stead of an Alms. I have been unlike thee, my God, in all respects; for I have been uncharitable and unjust. O deal not with me after my sins, neither reward me after mine iniquities: but according to the multitude of thy mercies think upon me, O God for thy goodness, through Christ my Saviour. I have not been so studious and diligent to understand and speak the truth at all times as I might have been: Sins against the Ninth Commandment. neither have I had that Christian courage always to speak what I have known to be truth, Denying of the Truth. or to run any hazard to defend the same, as becomes a true soldier of Jesus Christ. I have not set a watch over my mouth, Lies. and guarded the door of my lips: but I have suffered my unruly licentious tongue to be the instrument of manifold Lies of all kinds and conditions; officious lies, bragging, boasting lies, scurrilous lies, flattering lies; professing more love to [such and such] then has been in my heart towards them. I have offended by detracting, Censures. defaming, censuring and condemning others, being myself far more worthy to be condemned by others. I have talked of the moat in my brother's eye, to his disgrace; but have been blind, and would not see mine own sins and infinite misdemeanours. Enter not into judgement with thy servant, O Lord, as I have entered into judgement with others: O deal not with me after my sins, neither reward me after mine iniquities, but according to the multitude of thy mercies think upon me, O God, for thy goodness. I have sinfully coveted to enjoy the wife, or the maid, Sins against the Tenth Commandment. or the servant [of such and such;] coveted [such a man's] lands and possessions, [such a man's] offices, preferments, credit, honour, [such a man's] conveniencies and seeming contentments in the world: maligning, envying other men's wealth, fair house, great estate; but too too much dissatisfied with my own estate and condition, though far beyond my desert. God be merciful to me a miserable sinner. Having both food and raiment and all things necessary for my support in this life, Covetousness. I have not been therewith content, but have been over-disquieted and solicitous in my mind for more, more wealth, more land, more and higher preferments, though founded and settled not in the loss only, but even in the death of others. I have not accounted Godliness the chiefest gain, Earthly-mindedness. nor delighted myself in the Lord, and in the ways of his service, nor set my affections on things above; but have roved in my wild desires after the exterior enjoyments of the creature, which being empty and unsatisfying, have deprived me of true peace and contentment of mind. Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before thee, and am not worthy to be called thy son: but reject me not from amongst the number of thy servants; though I be both an unprofitable and disobedient one. And to my sins, The sins of Repentance for sin. I have been guilty of many sinful defects in my Repentance for my sins. I have but too slightly, not strictly and throughly, examined my heart and my life, to find out my sins, which lurk in the dark, to hurry my soul to blackness of darkness for ever: those sins which I have known and found myself guilty of, I have not bewailed with that godly sorrow as the greatness and grievousness thereof require. With my lips have I often confessed my sins, when my heart has not been truly humbled within me under the deep sense of their pollution, stain and danger, so as to loath and abhor my sins and myself too in dust and ashes. I have too often made a mock of the Almighty in the Confession of my sins, by returning back to the sins confessed, as the dog to his vomit. Thus have I sinned, and I have done wickedly, and I have committed iniquity, and I have rebelled against thee, by departing from all thy most holy Laws and Judgements. To thee, O Lord God, belongeth mercy and forgiveness, but to me shame and confusion of face; for I have rebelled against thee: God be merciful— I have been guilty of many secular and sensual ends in the performance of holy actions; The Sins of Religious actions. minding more my own advantage, and the pleasing my own fancy, than the advancement of thy service; loving more the praise of men, than the praise of God. I have entertained many vain, wandering, worldly, and sometimes wicked, imaginations in the times of thy Service; have been dull, inconsiderate and indevout in my Prayers; very much defective in Fasting, and too vainglorious in the little good I have done to others. I have secretly applauded my own fancy, wit, wisdom, elocution, and dextrous management of Religious discourses: even the best and most holy of all my Religious performances are not without their manifold sinful defects and deformities. Who can tell how oft he offendeth? O cleanse thou me from these, and from all my secret faults. My secret sins are innumerable; Secret Sins. sins secret through ignorance, through forgetfulness, through negligence, and a negligent Self-examination, through wilful misperswasion; sins which a watchful and diligent spirit might have prevented, but I would not: sins secret to the world, committed before thee only, and under the witness of mine own Conscience. I am confounded with the multitude of them, and the horror of their remembrance: the remembrance of them is grievous unto me, the burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon me, have mercy upon me, most merciful Father, for thy Son my Lord Jesus Christ's sake: forgive me all that is past; and grant that ever hereafter I may serve thee in newness of life, to the honour and glory of thy name, and the eternal Salvation of my Soul, through Jesus Christ— Grant, merciful Lord, I beseech thee, not to me only, but to all thy faithful people, pardon and peace; that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind through Jesus Christ— CHAP. IX. An ancient Form of Confession extant Biblioth. Patrum tom. 8. p. 409. I Confess unto thee, O Lord, the Father of Heaven and earth, and to thee, O sweet and benign Jesus, with the Holy and Blessed Spirit, before all thy holy Angels and Saints, before thy Altar, and thy Priest standing there; I was conceived and born in Sin: and since my Baptism, (wherein I was washed from Sin original,) I have been conversant in actual Sins all the days of my life, until this very hour. I confess I have sinned in Pride and Vainglory, in the vanity of my Apparel, in the lifting up of mine eyes, and the swelling of my heart: and Pride hath stained all my actions. I have been in Envy, Hatred, Malice, and immoderate Anger; in Ignorance and Negligence, in Slothfulness and Sullenness; in the greedy Covetousness both of worldly wealth, and of the praise of men. I have sinned in the Greediness of the belly, even to Gluttony and Drunkenness, and Sodomitical Luxury; in wanton kisses, unchaste embraces, in Fornication and Adultery, and every kind of shameful Uncleanness. I have sinned in Theft and Cozenage, in Rapine and Sacrilege, in Lying and idle tales, in Swearing and forswearing; in the loss, sickness, disgrace and death of others, which I have too often desired, and wherewith I have been too well pleased. I have sinned in the defects of Faith, Hope, and Charity; in the unworthy participation of the Body and Blood of Christ; in the neglect of Hospitality and , frequently denying to relieve, and often exasperating the poor by opprobrious language. I have transgressed the precepts of thy Gospel, enjoining me to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the sick,— I have been unjust in detaining the Deuce of thy Church, and in the dispensation of Ecclesiastical goods; in the contracts of Usury, bargaining and sale, overreaching, lying, withholding what has been more or less righteous and just. I have not attended upon thy public and solemn Worship upon Sundays and Holidays devoted thereunto: I have not behaved myself upon such days soberly, righteously and godly: I have approached and come into thy House without that reverence and godly fear which becometh that Sacred place; and there I have demeaned myself unseemly, sitting, standing, leaning, lolling, and staring about, when the respective parts of thy Sacred Service required more humble and devout gestures and behaviour. I have entertained vain, idle, wandering thoughts, and intermingled unprofitable, wanton, worldly talk in the time of thy solemn Worship. I have unhallowed many holy things, many holy actions, by using the same as common and unclean and with unclean hands, and an impure conscience. I have not joined with a right understanding and devotion in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs, public Prayers, and other the sacred acts of Religious Worship: too often speaking with my lips cursorily and customarily, whilst my heart hath been roving by evil imaginations and false suspicions; judging rashly of what is sacred and holy, when transcending my shallow capacity. I have sinned by perverse reasonings against the Truth, because either above my understanding, or not agreeable with my will; by consenting, and not reproving the sinful; by not instructing the ignorant, not reducing the erroneous, not admonishing, not exhorting such as have gone astray, to entertain more sound and sober counsels. I have not reverenced my Superiors, I have both defamed and disobeyed my Governors Ecclesiastical and Civil; neither have I repaid to my friends and benefactors such grateful acknowledgements and due obsequiousness as becometh. I have entertained in my heart many lose and unchaste thoughts and filthy lusts; and have looked upon the carnal copulation and intermixture of beasts with an unclean delectation of mind. I have been guilty of much superfluous and opprobrious language, of lying and slandering, of falsehoods and flatteries, of railing and reviling, of scurrilous and vain jangling, of profane and irreligious speaking, and customary swearing, of taking unlawful oaths, of much filthy communication, and of all the evils of an untamed tongue, the instrument of a corrupt heart. I have even renounced the Covenant of my God, by not renouncing the Devil and all his works: I have too often yielded to his suggestions to disobey the will of God, and to transgress his Commandments, in the breach of my Duty both towards God and Man. And thus I have sinned both in my thoughts and desires, in my words and actions, by seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling; even all my Senses have been as so many windows to let in Sin to my Soul, and Death by Sin. And not only thus, but in all kinds of Vice, whereunto humane frailty is liable, or in whatever any dissolute and debauched person doth or can offend, have I offended the Great Lord of Heaven and earth. And I acknowledge myself above all the men in the world to be the greatest of Sinners. Have mercy upon me, Almighty and most merciful Father: for thy Son, my Lord Jesus Christ, his sake, pardon and deliver me from all mine offences, confirm and strengthen me in all goodness, and bring me to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ.— Psalm 6. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger— Psal. 32. Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven— Psal. 38. Put me not to rebuke, O Lord— Psal. 51. Have mercy upon me, O God— Psal. 102. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my crying— Psal. 130. Out of the deeps have I called unto— Psal. 143. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and consider— Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name;— the world to come, through Jesus Christ— III O merciful Lord, to whom chief it appertaineth to forgive sins, and by whom alone the Souls of true Penitents are absolved from all their offences, wash me, O wash my unclean Soul in the fountain of thine inexhaustible mercy, through faith in the blood of my dear Redeemer Jesus Christ— iv Look down from Heaven, O Lord, with the eye of pity and compassion upon thy humble servant, confessing his wickedness, and being sorry for his sins, imploring withal thy pardon, and trusting alone in thy mercics, through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ— V Be propitious, O Lord, we humbly beseech thee, be propitious to the prayers and supplications of thy humble servants; and grant that the remission of our sins being obtained, we may evermore rejoice in thy heavenly benediction, through Jesus Christ— CHAP. X. The Lord's Prayer paraphrased. Praefat. ad Orat. Domin. ex Lit. Mozarab. Ad te pervenire cupimus, Domine, per Christum, qui apud te factus est Advocatus noster; & Orationem quam ipso Domino instruente didicimus, ad te introire permittas; proclamantes è terris, PATER NOSTER, QVIES IN COELIS— OUR Father,] 1. The Preface. as we have a Being with all things, by Creation and Providence; 2. as we are reasonable creatures, with Men and Angels, by Representation and Likeness; 3. as we are Christians, by Adoption and Grace. Which art in Heaven,] by thy Majesty and great Glory; in earth, by thy Mercy and good Providence; and in all things both in Heaven and earth, by thy essential Presence. Thou, O Lord, art more ready to hear then we are to pray, and art wont to give more than we desire or deserve, as being our Father; and though daily provoked by our sins, yet still our Father: and thou art able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we can ask or think, as being in Heaven. And to Heaven vouchsafe to raise up our immortal Souls: Let them not cleave to the dust of worldly vanities, since we have a Father in Heaven. Hallowed be thy Name.] Petition. 1 O that all the Nations whom thou hast made would come and worship thee, and glorify thy Name, which is great, wonderful and holy: but more especially, may thy ever-blessed Name be magnified by me and by all people who have thy Name called upon us; in all our thoughts, words and deeds, manifesting that reverence and godly fear, that divine love and filial obedience we own unto thee, Our Father which art in Heaven. Thy Kingdom come.] Petit. 2 Mayest thou rule and reign in all the affections of our hearts, and over all the actions of our lives; swaying thy Sceptre of Righteousness by thy Holy Word and Spirit, to the destruction of the Kingdom of Sin and Satan: And may we all live in obedience of thy most holy Laws, and continue such loyal and faithful subjects of thy Kingdom of Grace in this life, that we may become Saints in thy Kingdom of Glory in the life to come. Thy will will be done in earth as it is in heaven.] May all we, Petit. 3 whose immortal Souls do dwell in earthly Tabernacles, as readily, zealously, constantly obey thy will, and as cheerfully submit to thy good pleasure, as do thy blessed Angels and Saints in their blissful mansions of Heaven above. Give us this day our daily bread.] Petit. 4 Even all things necessary both for our Souls and bodies; both the bread of Heaven and earthly bread. And grant that what we do enjoy upon earth, may be rightly ours, not to any other belonging; and neither acquired by injustice, nor uncharitably detained by us: and our daily bread, according to our daily necessities administered to us, who daily wait upon thee, O Lord, who givest unto all their me●t in due season. And that our daily abuse of thy gifts may not rob us of them, Petit. 5 [Forgive us our trespasses:] even all our transgressions of thy most holy Laws pardon, good Lord, whose nature and property it is always to have mercy and to forgive. But this we presume not to ask but upon thine own terms: As we forgive those that trespass against us.] The trespasses of others, and our sufferings from them, are but few and trifling, in respect of our sins and trespasses against thee; for they be many and heinous: but as sin hath abounded in us, so doth grace and mercy abound also with thee; but we are men of hard, corrupt, uncircumcised hearts. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, and forgive us, both our sins against thee, and our uncharitableness unto our neighbours: soften our hard hearts, to be kindly affectioned one towards another; forbearing and forgiving one another, as we hope and humbly beg to be forgiven by thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. Led us not into temptation:] Petit. 6 Suffer us not any more to fall into fins and trespasses against thee. When we are led away with our lusts, and tempted, O leave us not then to ourselves, who are weak and frail, and too prone to all that is evil: but assist and enable us by thy Divine grace to overcome all the affaults of our ghostly enemies, and to continue thy faithful servants and soldiers to our lives ends. Deliver us from evil.] Petit. 7 From the evil of sin, by thy grace; and from the evil of punishment, by thy mercy: and from the author of all evils, the Devil: From the temporal evils and miseries of this life, and from the evils of a sad eternity in the life to come; from thy wrath, and from everlasting damnation, Good Lord deliver us. Liberati à malo, confirmati semper in bono, tibi servire mereamur, Deo ac Domino nostro. Pone Domine, sine peccatis nostris, da gaudium trd●ul●stis, praebe redemptionem captivis fanitatem infirmis, re●●tiémque defunctis; concede pa●em & securitatem in omnibus drebus ●●stris, france audaciam omnium in●micorum ●●strorum, & exaudi. Deus, orationes omnium servorum cuorum fidelium Christianorum in h●● die & in omni tempore, per Dominum nostrum Jesum— Lit. Mozarab. For thine is the Kingdom,] Conclusion. Thou rulest and reignest over all: and thy Dominion is absolute and independent, the power whereof cannot be broken, nor its glory eclipsed, like the frail and fading Kingdoms of this world: But thine is [the Power and the Glory, for ever and ever.] Thy Dominion is an everlasting Dominion, such as shall not pass away; and thy Kingdom such as cannot be destroyed, but shall stand fast in power, and eminent in glory, for ever. O give us hearts yielding a willing obedience to the Laws of thy Kingdom, full of reverence and awful fear of thy Power, studious to advance thy Glory upon earth; that we may in the end arrive at thy Kingdom in Heaven, where thou livest and reignest, Blessed Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, One God, world without end. Amen. CHAP. XI. The Seven Penitential Psalms paraphrased. THE Psalms of David being by all Christians, of what persuasion soever, acknowledged to be the immediate dictates of God's Holy Spirit; it must necessarily be acknowledged also, that he who understandingly and devoutly prays in the very words of the Psalms, prays by the Holy and true Spirit of God. The truth whereof, which by many blind Zelots is too much slighted and neglected, we have both confirmed, and the practice commanded, Eph. 5.18, 19 Be ye filled with the Spirit, Speaking to yourselves (or among yourselves, which is done by answering each other) in Psalms, and Hymns, and spiritual Songs; i e. such as are the dictates of the Holy Spirit; compared with Col. 3.16. Thus prayed our Lord upon the Cross in the very words of the Psalmist, Psal. 22.1. and 31.5. And so hath ever prayed the Church of Christ, Psalmus totius Ecclesiae vox— Aug. Prologue in Ps. Chrys. de Poen. Hom. 6. Ambr. de Virg. l. 5. in all the Ages thereof. Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs are, and ever were, the constant, regular, standing parts of God's Worship, both under the Law and under the Gospel: And he must needs be a desperate Fanatic, who will not acknowledge the words of God's own Spirit to be more wise, pithy, pertinent, and effectually prevailing with God in our Prayers, than any words of man's devising, how seemingly-zealous and taking soever. 'Tis a strange, but not a true Spirit of holy Prayer, then, those persons pretend unto, who slight the devout use of the Psalms, which are the treasury of all sound Devotion, and trust to their own extempore or studied expressions in Prayer, preferring the dictates of their own Spirit before those of the Spirit of God himself. The Penitential Psalms are so called, because commended by the Church of Christ, and by the constant practice of orthodox devout Christians, to the Religious use of all true Penitents in their Prayers; to be used upon all days of Humiliation and Fasting, and in the time of sickness or any disness. So prayed S. Aug. upon his Deathbed; he wept and bewailed his sins in the devout use of the Penitential Psalms. And those are also the most effectual Prayers we can use in the practice of Repentance, by way of preparation to the holy Communion. Psalm VI. Vers. 1. O Lord,] the Judge of all men, [rebuke me not in thine indignation:] which I have deservedly incurred: [neither chasten me] for mine offences [in thy hot displeasure.] flaming to consume me. 2. Have mercy upon me, O Lord,] whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive, [for I am weak:] both through original corruption, and manifold actual transgressions: [O Lord, heal me,] pour the wine and oil of thy grace and mercy into the wounds of my sinful soul, [for my bones are vexed.] that interior strength which supports my Soul is troubled and sore shaken by many falls and failings. 3. My soul also] being conscious of her guilt and distempered condition [is sore troubled:] being terrified at the apprehension of thy strict Justice and her own deserts: [but thou, O Lord,] who desirest not the death of a sinner, [how long?] wilt thou delay to hear, help and heal my Soul? 4. Return, O Lord;] from the rigour of Justice to the sweetness of Mercy; [deliver my soul,] from the bands and fetters of her sins, and from under the power of Satan, [and save me,] from thy wrath and from everlasting damnation, good Lord, deliver me, [for thy mercy's sake.] wherein is my only trust through the merits of my Saviour. 5. For in death] whether spiritual in sin, or corporal for sin, [there is no remembrance of thee:] either by confessing our sins unto thee, or imploring mercy from thee: [and who will give thee thanks in the pit?] None sure do praise thy Name in the grave of death, which is the dwelling-place of silence and oblivion; much less in the pit of hell, where thy great Name is not praised, but blasphemed rather. 6. I am weary of my groan:] having long laboured under the heavy burden of my sins: [every night wash I my bed,] both in the night, when I should sleep, and in the day, Or, in the night, and obscurity of my sins, I wash with the tears of compunction the bed of my Conscience. Tho. Aquin. when I go to rest, [I water my couch with my tears.] Even all the places of my ease, rest and refreshment are bedewed with tears of compunction and godly sorrow. 7. Mine eye] wherein my exterior beauty chief consists [is consumed with grief,] the inward sorrow of my Soul thereby emptying itself, [and worn away because of all mine enemies.] because my ghostly enemies daily prevail against me, by my consent to their suggestions and temptations unto wickedness. But being resolved to avoid all occasions of such temptations, therefore 8. Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity:] For the future, I must leave the society of all such as do not only work wickedness, but also tempt others to sin with them: [for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.] He hath put my tears into his bottle, and it concerns me therefore to separate myself from the company and counsel of the ungodly. O how audible and effectual is the voice of weeping! for therefore 9 The Lord hath heard my petition:] graciously accepted and answered my desires, in the pardon of mine offences: and [the Lord will receive my prayer.] when I thus humble myself under his mighty hand. And then 9 All my enemies shall be confounded] they shall be frustrated in their designs and enterprises against my Soul, [and soar vexed:] when all their contrivances fail them: [they shall be turned back,] from their farther assaults of my innocence, [and put to shame suddenly.] Even before their intentions be put in execution, their plots shall be blasted, when the Lord vouchsafes to hear the voice of my weeping. And O that I could so weep and bewail my sins, that the Lord may hear in Heaven, and be merciful unto me, and heal my Soul, to glorify his Name. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen. Psalm XXXII. Verse 1. BLessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven,] as to the guilt contracted, [and whose sin is covered.] that it appear not to his punishment. Or, whose original pollution is washed away in the Laver of Baptism, and his actual transgressions covered with the robes of Christ's merits. 2. Blessed is the man] He is blessed in Hope, though not in Fruition, [to whom the Lord imputeth not his iniquity;] to his eternal separation from the presence of God. But of such an one it is required that he be sincere in his Repentance, [and in whose spirit there is no guile.] no hypocrisy or deceit in his Repentance: but he turneth unto the Lord with all his heart, and this too from all the errors of his ways. 3. Whilst I kept silence,] covering, and not confessing, my sins: or Whilst I filently considered with myself the multitude and heinousness of my transgressions, [my bones consumed away] the strength and support of my Soul failed me [through my daily complaining.] not as I ought to complain in the confession of my sins, for therein I have kept silence; but through the secret murmurs of my troubled conscience, and fear of the just judgements of God. 4. Day and night thy hand is heavy upon me:] My daily practice and continuance in my sins makes every day more heavy the hand of Divine justice: for the fear whereof [my moisture is like the drought in summer.] The sap of grace and vigour of the Spirit languisheth, and the verdure of my Devotion is dried up, even as the fruits of the earth are parched by the Sun's hot beams in the height of Summer. And now being sensible of this my sad condition, 5. I will acknowledge my sin unto thee;] both my sins of Omission, [and mine iniquity] my sins of Commission, [have I not hid.] but laid them all open before thee; purging my Conscience from the venom of them by Confession. And this I firmly resolved with myself to do. 6. I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord:] accusing myself, that thou, O Lord, mayst excuse me; condemning myself, that thou mayst acquit me; discovering my nakedness and shame, that thou mayst cover me with the robes of thy mercy, through the merits of my Saviour: [and so thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin.] being confessed, bewailed and forsaken. 7. For this] thy great mercy in pardoning offences sincerely repent [shall every one that is godly prey unto thee] that he may be cleansed from his sins: for there is no man so godly that sinneth not, but therefore godly, because thou art gracious, both in forgiving the wickedness of his sins, and strengthening him with grace to abjure them. And he that is thus godly, will not neglect those blessed opportunitles of Prayer [in the time when thou mayst be found:] ready and propense to hear and forgive, and that's the time of this present life, wherein there are [great water-floods,] of temptations and troubles, [but they shall not come nigh him.] The Prayer of the godly is a strong Bulwark: and thus he prayeth in the time of trouble. 8. Thou art my biding-place;] Under the sacred wings of thy merciful protection is my refuge in the midst of the greatest tribulation; [thou shalt preserve me from trouble:] like Noah and his family in the Ark, when the rest of the world perished by water: [thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.] Being on all sides delivered and preserved from the floods of many waters, I will sing praises unto thy great Name for the same. The answer of God to a true Peititent. 9 I will inform thee and teach thee] outwardly by my Word, and inwardly by my Spirit, [the way] of true wisdom, which is both to know God and know thyself, [wherein thou shalt go:] what good is to be done, and what evil to be left undone: [and I will guide thee with mine eye.] have a constant eye upon thee for thy guidance in the way of life. And he that is thus guided himself will say unto others, 10. Be ye not like to the horse,] that is, untamed, headstrong and stubborn, [or to the mule,] that is, foolish and slothful, [which have no understanding:] or reason to bridle their sensual appetites: [whose mouths must be held with bit and bridle, lest they fall upon thee.] Be not so brutish as not to keep the ways of God's Laws, except he whip and spur thee with affliction and trouble: this is like a horse that will not obey his rider, without a bridle in his jaws, and a spur in his sides. 11. Great plagues remain for the ungodly:] often in this life, to drive them to repentance, but assuredly in the life to come, if they repent not: [but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord,] and will be doing good, his holy confidence in God being not only notionary in the brain and fancy, but practical in the heart and life, [mercy embraceth him on every side.] The Lord's mercy shall surround him for his protection, and support him for his perseverance in the way to Heaven, where he shall both see and enjoy Divine mercy on every side: 1. above him, in the beatifical Vision of God's Majesty; 2. below him, in the torments he hath escaped; 3. and mercy round about him, in the blissful society of Angels and Saints: great cause of joy surely. 12. Be glad, O ye righteous,] through the testimony of a good Conscience, [and rejoice in the Lord:] not in your own merits, for by grace we are saved: [and be joyful] not ye that prosper in the world, but [all ye that are true of heart.] sincere and upright before God, whose wills and affections are conformable to the Divine will, both in desire and deed: such may rejoice hearty in this life, in the assured hope of celestial happiness in the life to come. And therefore Glory be to the Father, etc. As it was in the beginning, etc. Psalm XXXVIII. Verse 1. PUT me not to rebuke, O Lord, in thine anger;] to take revenge of the ingratitude and perjury of mine offences against thee; [neither chasten me in thy heavy displeasure.] Let not my correction for my faults be in rigour of justice, but tempered with mercy, as a father chasteneth his son whom he loveth. 2. For thine arrows stick fast in me:] The sharp sentences of thy holy Word against sinners pierce my heart with fear and terror: [and thy hand presseth me soar.] Thy vindicative power, which thou exercisest against offenders, weigheth down and oppresseth myspirits. 3. There is no health in my flesh,] thence is the spring and foment of my sinful corruption, and therefore justly punished, [because of thine anger:] the sad effects whereof afflict me: [neither is there any rest in my bones, by reason of my sin.] The sinful sickness of my Soul renders me so disquieted and disturbed, as be those who are so afflicted with bodily pain and sickness, that they find no ease or intermission of their anguish. 4. For mine iniquities] by my frequent reiteration of them [are gone over my head:] their number is greater than the hairs of my head, and so prevalent withal, that they have brought under both head and heart; both my Judgement and Affections are ensnared thereby: [and are as a heavy burden] which sinks the body to the earth, so is the weight of sin upon the Soul, [too heavy for me to bear] the weight of punishment due thereunto. 5. My wounds stink,] My sins through long continuance in them fester in my Soul, [and are corrupt through my foolishness.] in consenting and delighting myself to wallow, with the sow, in the mire of sinful pollutions. 6. I am brought into so great trouble and misery,] B the powers and parts of my Soul and body are so distempered and disturbed, [that I go mourning all the day long.] The sense of my sins and just fears of punishment make the day of my present life sad and heavy. 7. For my loins are filled with a soar disease:] there, there my carnal lusts engendered, the fulfilling whereof hath made my Soul like a loathsome leper, or some such ulcerous creature: [and there is no soundness in my flesh.] which always lusteth against the spirit, to the great distemper of both. 8. I am feeble,] in body, through carnal incentives, [and soar broken:] in spirit, by their prevalency over me: [I have roared for the very disquietness of my heart.] My conscience gainsaying such exorbitances, but not prevailing, makes me now cry aloud through its disquietude unto the searcher of all hearts. 9 Lord, thou knowest all my desire:] my earnest long after thee for ease and help: [and my groaning] under the heavy weight of my sins and of thy displeasure [is not hid from thee.] although I should be silent, and not express the same by prayers and tears. 10. My heart panteth,] through the disquietude of its unruly passions, the peace of my Conscience being also lost, [and my strength hath failed me:] the wont vigour of my Devotion is decayed, whence fear and solicitude do issue: [and the light of mine eyes is gone from me.] My understanding, which is the eye of the Soul, is darkened through the sway of its passions; and the Sun of righteousness is gone down upon my Soul, because of the deeds of darkness I have committed. 11. My lovers and my neighbours] who are obliged by the ties of friendship and continued conversation [did stand looking upon my trouble:] ●●t moving to perform their wont friendly offices to me: [and my kinsmen] they of mine own flesh and blood, either out of scorn or abhorrence of my troubled estate, [〈◊〉 a● far off.] as if I were a stranger to them: and not only my friends, but mine enemies, 12. They that se●k ●fter my soul] the Devil and his Angels, and wicked men their instruments, [laid s●●res for me:] by their cunning temptations of me unto sin, to destroy me: [and they that went about to do me evil] endeavoured by all means to do me all the mischief was in their power, have to this end [talked of wickedness,] framed lies, raised false reports, consulted and contrived pernicious designs against me, [and imagined deceit all the day long.] or continually framed all their imaginations to deceive and ruin me. 13. As for me, I was like a deaf man that heareth not;] With such patience I sustained all this, as if I had heard nothing of their consultations, nor known any thing of their designs against me; [and as one that is dumb, who doth not open his mouth.] either to rail against mine enemies, or to murmur at the sadness of my condition. 14. I became even as a man that heareth not,] taking no notice of what was said or done against me, [and in whose mouth are no reproofs.] I opened not my mouth to reprove, much less to revile my adversaries. So my dear Saviour has taught me by his example, who suffered himself with all sweetness of patience; he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb dumb before the shearers, so opened he not his mouth. 15. For in thee, O Lord, have I put my trust:] As knowing that vain is the help of man; but thou, O Lord, art both able and willing to secure all such as unjustly suffer, and depend upon thee for right: [thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God.] Hear my prayers, and answer my desires; plead my cause against mine adversaries, and disappoint me not of my hope, which hangeth upon thee the God of my Salvation. 16. I have required,] requested of thee in my prayers, [that mine enemies should not triumph over me:] insult in my overthrow: [for when my foot slipped,] at my slips and failings, either into sin or other danger, [they rejoiced greatly against me.] My falls, which are grief to the godly, were great cause of joy to my ghostly adversaries: how much more greatly then would they rejoice and triumph in my utter overthrow? 17. And I truly am set in the plague:] being born to suffering, because born in sin; being prone to fall, if not by thee supported: [and my heaviness is ever in my sight.] being conscious of my sins, the cause of all my sorrows. But that the plague thereof may be healed, 18. I will confess my wickedness;] and this not only outwardly with my lips, but inwardly from my heart; [I will be sorry for my sins.] And great reason sure, for they are the cause of all my sorrows and sufferings both in Soul and body. 19 But mine enemies] the Devil and his angels [live and are mighty:] they are lively, active, strong and vigorous, whilst I am weak and feeble: [and they that hate me without a cause are many in number.] they are multiplied and make head against me without cause given them by me. And not only they whom I have not wronged or provoked, but even 20. They that reward evil for good are against me:] And such undoubtedly who repay evil for good, do it by the instinct of Satan, and out of mere hatred to goodness itself: and therefore they hate me [because I follow the thing that good is.] hating my person because of the integrity of my actions. But 21. Forsake me not] In time of temptation and trouble leave me not destitute of thy assistence, [O Lord my God:] in whom are all my hopes of salvation: [be not thou far from me.] by taking away thy grace from me. But if in thy great wisdom it be withdrawn a little, for my trial, yet not too far, nor too long, but rather 22. Haste thee to help me,] against all the assaults of the Devil, the World and the Flesh, whom to vanquish and overcome is from thee, and by thy assisting presence, [O Lord God of my salvation.] the author, the promiser, the donour of eternal Salvation. Let others trust in their riches, power—; yet shall my Soul for ever trust in thee for saving happiness, in whom and from whom alone is peace and joy, and to whom be all glory. Glory be to the Father— As it was in the beginning— Psalm LI. Verse 1. HAve mercy upon me, O God,] the Father of mercies, [after thy great goodness:] were not thy goodness infinitely great I could not hope for thy mercy: [and after the multitude of thy mercies, do away mine offences.] Mine offences are multitudinous and heinous, and require a multitude of mercies to cover them. 2. Wash me throughly] who am throughout foul and polluted in all the parts and powers both of Soul and body [from my wickedness;] 'tis mine own indeed, from mine own wicked will proceeding; [and cleanse me from my sin.] both from my wickedness against God, and from my sin against man; from my wickedness past, and from sin to come; that both the guilt of sin and my corrupt inclination thereunto may be cleansed. 3. For I acknowledge my faults:] I desire neither to hid nor excuse them, but with a penitent heart I own and confess them, that thou mayest forget and forgive them: [and my sin is ever before me.] my conscience constantly accusing and condemning my great folly and ingratitude in sinning against thee. And 'tis 4. Against thee only have I sinned,] who alone art both my Judge and the Witness of my sins. Thou alone searchest the hearts, and knowest the greatness and grievousness of my sins; and thou alone hast supreme power both to punish and to pardon. [and done this evil in thy sight.] What I was ashamed to do before men, I have without either fear or shame done before thee, to whose allseeing eye nothing is hid. Have mercy upon me, O God. 5. That thou mayst be justified in thy saying;] be found just in all thy words, and in this particularly, Hos. 13.9. Thou hast destroyed thyself, O Israel; but in me is thy help; [and clear when thou judgest.] free from the least injustice in pardoning the penitent, and condemning the obstinate. 6. Behold, I was shapen in wickedness:] contracting, together with my very being in nature, original corruption from my parents loins: [and in sin hath my mother conceived me.] Hence my flesh becomes so frail and rebellious against the spirit. 7. But lo, thou requirest truth in the inward parts: the internal purity of the heart and affections are thy delight: [and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.] By the secret influences of thy Holy Spirit, make me to understand and practise that wisdom which is from above. 8. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop:] My foul and corrupt Conscience hath need of a purge, the ingredients whereof must be the bitter sorrows and sufferings of my dearest Saviour, intermixed with the salt tears of bitter sorrow of Soul for my sins: [thou shalt wash me,] in the inexhaustible fountain of thy mercy, through Faith in the blood of Christ, [and I shall be whiter than snow.] through the spiritual candour of my justified Soul. 9 Thou shalt make me hear (or be inwardly sensible) of joy and gladness:] in the remission of my sins, and hopes of eternal happiness, than the which no greater joy can touch the immortal Soul: [that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.] in the light of thy countenance shining into my broken heart, and there diffusing the glimmering rays of a blessed hope. 10. Turn thy face away] not from me through indignation, but [from my sins;] by the remission of them; [and put out all my misdeeds.] out of thy book of remembrance, that they appear not in judgement against me to my condemnation at the last great Day. 11. Make me a clean heart, O God,] cleansed from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit; [and renew a right spirit] rectified from all the crooked paths of vanity and iniquity, raised up to heaven-wards, and cleaving steadfastly to thee, my God: and let this be [within me.] Purify my will and affections, whence all my extravagancies issued. 12. Cast me not away from thy presence:] in whose presence is both the light and health of the Soul: and though I am unworthy to appear in thy presence, but deserve rather to be as a castaway, given up to a reprobate sense; yet [take not thy holy Spirit from me.] though I have often quenched his sacred fires by my extravagant lusts, yet leave me not; forsake me not utterly. But, 13. Give me the comfort of thy help again.] or, Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation, which by my sins I have forfeited and lost: [and establish me with thy free spirit.] Free me by thy holy Spirit of liberty from the law of sin and of death. 14. Then shall I teach] both by word and example [thy ways] of mercy and truth [unto the wicked;] who follow the ways of their own hearts; [and sinners shall be converted unto thee.] by the example of my sincere conversion and seasonable admonitions. 15. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,] from all the kinds and degrees of bloodguiltiness; such are immoderate anger, hatred, malice, envy, and from all mortal or soulkilling sins; [thou that art the God of my health:] the health both of my body and Soul, both temporal and eternal Salvation is from thee: and therefore [my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness.] extolling thy truth in making good thy promised mercies to the truly penitent. 16. O Lord, open my lips;] which my sins have closed up; [and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.] which becometh not the lips of sinners: but thou art a God forgiving offences, and even out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast perfected praise. 17. For thou, O Lord, desirest no sacrifice,] of slain beasts, for the expiation of sin, [else would I give it thee:] were it thy pleasure to accept the same: but [thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.] 'Tis not the outward carnal offerings (though commanded by thee) that thou respectest as the principal means to pacify thy displeasure, but the inward devotion and compunction of the person offering. 18. The sacrifices of God] those he chief respecteth and accepteth [are a troubled spirit:] wounded and groaning under the sad sense of his sins: [a broken and contrite heart] the fallow-ground whereof is broken up by a strict Self-examination, contrite by Compunction, weeded by Confession, watered with the tears of godly Sorrow; such a Sacrifice [O God, thou wilt not despise.] but accept through his merits, who with a torn body and broken heart offered up himself a sacrifice for the sins of the world. 19 O be favourable and gracious unto Zion:] Let thy blessing plentifully descend upon our holy Mother, the Church, both universal, and this particular Church whereof I am a Member: [build thou the walls of Jerusalem.] Repair the breaches both in true doctrine and discipline, which through licentiousness in opinion and conversation are greatly decayed: that the Souls of the righteous may enjoy the vision of peace. 20. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness,] with those sacred acts and offices of true Repentance, whereby through Faith in the blood of Christ the sinner is justified, [with burnt-offerings] not of beasts without spot or defect, but of holy innocent persons, enfired with godly zeal and devotion to thy Service, [and whole burnt-offerings:] even the whole man, devoted to a whole entire obedience, through the whole course of life: [then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar.] themselves shall they offer upon the Altar of a pure heart, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ— Glory be to the Father, etc. As it was in the beginning, etc. Psalm CII. Verse 1. HEar my prayer, O Lord;] as to the saving effects thereof; [and let my crying come unto thee.] be accepted by thee, since my loud voice manifests the inward zeal and devotion of my heart. 2. Hid not thy face from me] under the thick cloud of my transgressions [in the time of my trouble;] when burdened with the weight of sin, or violence of temptation; [incline thine ears to me: when I call,] being penitent and humbled under thy mighty hand, [O hear me, and that right soon.] there being danger in delay. 3. For my days are consumed away like smoke:] spent in airy, light, vain, unprofitable and black sinful works: [and my bones] the strength and support of my Soul [are burnt up as it were a firebrand.] scorched and withered through the exorbitant heat of carnal concupiscence, which renders me liable to the fire of thy wrath. 4. My heart is smitten down, and withered like grass:] As when the grass is mowed down, and withered by the Sun's hot beams; so my Soul, being smitten down by the violence of temptation, is dried up and withered in her devotion: [so that I forget to eat my bread.] neglecting the sweet refreshments of thy Holy Word and Sacraments, where the Soul is nourished with the bread of life. 5. For the voice of my groaning,] under the heavy burden of my sins, [my bones will scarce cleave to my flesh.] being macerated by the strict rigour of penitential severities. 6. I am become like a pelican in the wilderness;] flying even the sight and society of men, through shame and confusion of face; [and like an owl that is in the desert.] that takes up her lodging in ruinous houses, and not inhabited. 7. I have watched, in the serious consideration of my sinful and sad condition, [and am even as it were a sparrow] flying the company of sinners [that sitteth alone upon the house top.] solitary, serious, and studious how to escape the snares of sin below, and mount up my Soul to Heaven above. 8. Mine enemies revile me all the day long:] Such as hate to be reform, and are enemies to a serious and settled course of Religion, continually deride and revile me: [and they that are mad upon me] with rage and fury [are sworn together against me.] have conspired my ruin. 9 For I have eaten ashes as it were bread;] My meat was as unpleasant to me as if I had eaten ashes; [and mingled my drink with weeping.] All my wont corporal refreshments were soured with spiritual sorrow for my sins. Or, a August. in loc. I have exercised the penitential rigours of ashes and weeping: sackcloth and ashes being the armour and clothing of penitents. 10. And that because of thine indignation and wrath:] That's the chief ingredient in my sorrow, that I have deservedly incurred thy wrath: [for thou hast lift me up, and cast me down.] Thou seemest, as it were, to raise me up, that I may fall with the greater weight and violence: or, Thou hast raised me to great honour to be stamped after thine own image, but, for want of understanding, I have fallen down as low as the beasts that perish. 11. My days are gone like a shadow:] they are not only vain, empty and unprofitable, but also darksome and gloomy, because I have declined from the Sun of righteousness: [and I am withered like grass,] for want of the celestial dew of Divine grace. 12. But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever;] Whilst all other things pass away, thou changest not, being immutable, as in mercy to raise up, so in justice to cast down; [and thy remembrance throughout all generations.] Thy gracious promises both of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, are in all ages remembered to thy praise and glory. 13. Thou shalt arise,] to redeem, deliver, and defend, [and have mercy upon Zion:] thy Church militant here upon earth: [for it is time that thou have mercy upon her,] the time of this life is the seasonable time of mercy, because it is a time of misery, [yea the time is come.] even the fullness of time is completed of our Redemption and Salvation. 14. And why? thy servants think upon her stones;] both Angels and Saints resent with much regret the dispersed members of thy Church; [and it pitieth them to see her in the dust.] they pity her distractions and confusions, and have great desires to secure and relieve her. 15. The heathen shall fear thy name, O Lord;] which now they blaspheme, but being converted from their Idolatries, and from all the errors of their ways, they shall with us adore the blessed and saving Name of Jesus; [and all the Kings of the earth thy majesty.] being converted unto thee, they shall in all humility confess the greatness of thy Majesty far to transcend their greatest power and glory. 16. When the Lord shall build up Zion,] repair the breaches of his Church, and settle it upon the foundation of Prophets and Apostles, [and when his glory shall appear,] the glory of his great grace shall manifest itself in the edification and support of his Church, upon the pillars of Truth and Peace, 17. When he turneth him to the prayer of the poor destitute,] For his ears are ever open to the prayers of the humble and poor in spirit, and such as be destitute of all exterior consolations, [and despiseth not their desire;] when flowing from a true Faith, and enfired with Charity and Devotion. 18. This shall be written for those that come after:] That the succeeding people of God under the Gospel may have upon record the wondrous works of God under the Law: [and the people that shall be born] regenerate and born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost [shall praise the Lord.] for the grace of Redemption and great mercy attained. 19 For he hath looked down from his Sanctuary:] God the Son, from the bosom of his Father above, looked down with the eye of his mercy upon us miserable sinners here below: [out of heaven did the Lord behold the earth:] when the King of Heaven descended upon earth, when the dayspring on high came down to visit us, when the Word was made flesh for the building up of Zion. 20. That he might hear the mourning of such as are in captivity,] groaning under the bonds and chains of their sins; [and deliver] out of the gulf of sin and clutches of Satan [the children appointed unto death;] as the due wages of sin; 21. That they may declare the name of the Lord in Zion,] being delivered from the sad condition of being the children of the Devil in the vast womb of this wicked world, to be the children of God in the sacred womb of their Mother, the Church, they might therein and therefore extol the great Name of God; [and his worship at Jerusalem;] promote and advance the holy Worship of God in his Church, and unanimously join therein together, to the glory of his Name; 22. When the people are gathered together,] When the people of God, dispersed through the world, shall be nevertheless joined together in the unity of the true Faith, enlivened by divine Charity; [and the kingdoms also to serve the lord] when both the Kings, and the people of their dominion, assemble together, and join with one heart and one mouth in the public Worship of God; then shall the Name of the Lord be magnified in Zion. 23. He brought down my strength in my journey:] In the mean time whilst I walk in the way of Repentance, my strength is decayed: [and he hath shortened my days.] of health and outward prosperity, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom. 24. But I said,] addressing myself unto God by Prayer, [O my God,] the God of my life, of my health, of my joy, my God and my all, [take me not away in the midst of mine age:] before the natural course of my life expire: [as for thy years, they endure throughout all generations.] being from everlasting to everlasting, in respect of whose duration the years of my life are nothing; and therefore I humbly beg, they may not be shortened through the violence of thy afflicting hand. 25. Thou, Lord,] who art without beginning, [in the beginning] of time [haste laid the foundations of the earth:] which is the centre of this visible World: [and the heavens are the works of thy hands.] both the Heavens and the earth, and all things visible and invisible, are of thy Creation. 26. They shall perish,] as having their beginning in time, [but thou shalt endure.] as being from all eternity, and through all the changes of created beings remaining in thyself unchangeable. 27. They all shall wax old as doth a garment:] which is worse for the wearing: [and as avesture shalt thou change them,] from their present state and condition, [and they shall be changed.] in their qualities and operations. [But thou art the same;] in thyself immutable; [and thy years shalt not fail.] or rather, being not liable at all to any term of years, but without either beginning or end of Time. 28. The children of thy servants] if they follow the steps of their godly Fathers, in the sacred service of God, [shall continue:] in the land of the living, being translated from the life of Grace to the life of Glory: [and their seed] of good works, the issue of their true faith, [shall stand fast in thy sight.] being treasured up in Heaven, where no moth or rust corrupteth. Glory be to the Father— As it was in the beginning— Psalm CXXX. Verse 1. OUT of the depths] both of my sins and sufferings, and out of the depth of my heart, wounded with godly sorrow for my sins, [have I called] as Ionas out of the whale's belly, so do I lift up my voice in prayer, to be delivered from the power of the Devil, [unto thee, O Lord:] with whom alone is power to help and save me: [Lord, hear my voice.] in my prayers which I make before thee. 2. O let thine ears] which are not corporeal, but wholly spiritual, and therefore more quick andintense to [consider well the voice of my complaint.] be intent to release me of my sins, under the weight whereof my Soul complains. 3. If thou, Lord,] to whom no secrets are hid, [will't be extreme to mark what is done amiss,] so as to take notice of all our faults and failings, and punish us accordingly, [O Lord, who may abide it?] There is none so exactly righteous and holy, as to abide the strict scrutiny of thy vindicative justice; since every sin, from which none is free, is, in respect of the person offended, infinite. 4. For there is mercy with thee;] to forgive the sins of the penitent, and to raise up them that are fallen; [therefore shalt thou be feared.] or, worshipped with reverence and godly fear, thy mercy engaging and sweetly working upon our hearts to fear thy Name. 5. I look for the Lord,] even for his saving mercy, [my soul doth wait for him:] to heal her soars, and satisfy her longing desires with the oil and wine of mercy and consolation: [in his word is my trust.] for therein he hath promised to pardon the penitent, to heal the —. And I doubt not but he will be as good as his word: and therefore, 6. My soul fleeth unto the Lord] upon the spiritual wings of ardent desires, strong hopes, fervent prayers— [before the morning-watch;] very early in the morning of the day; or, in the morning of my life, the time of my youth; [I say, before the morning-watch.] or, more earnestly than such who are appointed watchmen for the night do wait for the morning to be discharged from their watch, and have liberty to repose themselves. 7. O Israel,] Ye that are of the number of God's people, members of his Church, if you be wise, trust not in yourselves, nor in others, but [trust in the Lord:] who never faileth to help them that put their trust in him, and be doing good: [for with the Lord there is mercy;] There is, there was, and ever will be mercy with him to justify sinners that truly repent and believe in him; for his mercy endureth for ever; [and with him there is plenteous redemption.] His precious blood, whereby we are redeemed, is plentifully sufficient to satisfy for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. 8. And he shall redeem Israel] No doubt but he will, more especially above all others, redeem his own inheritance [from all his sins.] Be they never so many, mortal and venial, if truly repent, through Faith in the blood of Christ they shall be pardoned. And therefore we have great reason to give Glory to the Father, etc. As it was in the beginning, etc. Psalm CXLIII. Verse 1. HEar my prayer, O Lord,] for the obtaining of what is good, [and consider my desire:] for the avoiding of what is evil: [harken unto me] in both respects [for thy truth,] of thy promises made to hear the prayers of the humble, [and for thy righteousness sake.] in performing all such promises to those who trust not in their own, but in thy righteousness, condemning themselves, that they may be absolved by thee. 2. And enter not into judgement] without any intermixture of mercy [with thy servant, O Lord:] I dare not say thy son, but confess, with the Prodigal, that I have sinned against Heaven— but reject me not from among the number of thy servants: [for in thy sight] who art a God of purer eyes then to behold iniquity [shall no man living] in this frail mortal flesh [be justified.] by his own merits, but by the mercy of God through the merits of Christ. 3. For the enemy] the Devil [hath persecuted my soul;] and doth incessantly undermine its innocence by his temptations and snares; [he hath smitten my life down to the ground:] so that my Soul grovels in the dust of earthly desires: [he hath laid me in the darkness,] involved in the night of secular lusts, [as the men that have been long dead.] in their trespasses and sins, having no sense or feeling of their desperate condition. 4. Therefore is my spirit vexed within me;] My Conscience within me being defiled and my Soul, which would aspire to Heaven-ward, depressed with the weight of her sins and the corruption of her flesh, is a great corrosive and vexation of my spirit; [and my heart within me is desolate.] destitute of all consolation. 5. Yet do I remember the time past;] wherein thy people have been exercised and tried, both by adversity and prosperity, both by temptations and deliverances; and for my consolation, and strengthening my hopes of deliverance, [I muse upon all thy works:] wherein I observe, as thy great power and wisdom, so thy mercy allaying the rigour of thy justice: yea, I endwise myself in the works of thy hands.] wherein I find thy mercy to be over thy works; and that I, though an unprofitable work of thy hands, may obtain mercy also. 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee:] both praying with my lips, and working with my hands, to obtain may petitions: and [my soul] pours forth herself in the expansion of my hands, which being in herself dry and barren of consolation [gaspeth unto thee] the fountain of living waters, and wellspring of Divine graces, even [as a thirsty land] gapeth to be filled and satisfied with rain from Heaven. 7. Hear me, O Lord,] watering my thirsty Soul with the celestial dew of thy Divine grace, [and that soon;] delay not to satisfy the thirst of my soul, which is great; [for my spirit waxeth faint:] hath lost its wont fersour of devotion, being oppressed with the burden of her sins, and destitute of the sweet refreshments and influences of thy Holy Spirit: [hid not thy face from me,] as one turns away his face from his enemy, or one with whom he is justly offended, [lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.] If thou look not in mercy upon me, I shall be in the same condition with them that are involved in the pit both of sin and of death. 8. O let me hear] be made sensible of [thy loving kindness betimes in the morning;] early and betimes in this life; and after the night of this life is ended, in the morning of that day which never shall have end; [for in thee is my trust:] not in myself, nor in any help of man, for it is but vain; and so will prove my trust in thee also, except I obey thy will and walk in thy ways: the which that I may do, I humbly beg [show thou me the way] of thy laws, and the paths of thy Commandments, [wherein I should walk;] as leading to my native home of Heaven, where my immortal Soul was first framed by the hands of the Almighty; [for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.] which being made after thine Image, aspires to become perfect in the beatifical vision and fruition of thy sacred Majesty. In which way being soar let and hindered, it implores thy assistence, saying, 9 Deliver me from mine enemies, O God:] both visible and invisible, ghostly and bodily adversaries: [for I flee unto thee] when assaulted by them [to hid me.] under the covert of thy protection, from all the storms of temptations which daily arise in the tumultuous sea of this life. 10. Teach me] who am naturally blind and careless of my duty [to do the thing that pleaseth thee;] not only to know, but to do thy will; not to follow mine own pleasure, but what is pleasing and acceptable unto thee; [for thou art my God:] who hast created and redeemed me: and that I may be throughly sanctified [let thy loving Spirit] the Spirit of love and verity [lead me forth] in the strait direct way that leads [into the land of righteousness.] That's the promised Land, the celestial Canaan, where alone is perfect, everlasting righteousness, in the blissful presence of the God of righteousness. 11. Quicken me, O Lord,] who am dull and dead-hearted, and faint in the way towards the land of the living, [for thy name's sake:] which I invoke and adore: [and for thy righteousness sake] not for mine, which is little, and good for little, [bring my soul out of trouble.] delivering me from whatever disturbs the peace of my Soul, and hinders her progress in the way to Heaven. 12. And of thy goodness slay mine enemies,] Mortify in me all unruly lusts and passions that rebel against Reason and Religion, [and destroy all them that vex my soul:] by exciting and fomenting the flesh against the spirit, the sensual against her rational faculties; that the whole may be obedient unto thee: [for I am thy servant.] Created, Redeemed, not to serve my own lusts and exorbitant passions, but to be Sanctified or devoted wholly to serve thee, in holiness and righteousness before thee all the days of my life. And so shall my Soul praise thee with joyful lips, and say, Glory be to the Father— As it was in the beginning— I. O most just and merciful God, who being by Sin offended, art by true Repentance appeased, be propitious to the Prayers of thy faithful people; and in great mercy turn away from us those scourges of thy wrath which our sins have justly deserved, through Jesus Christ our Lord. II. Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers, neither take thou vengeance of our sins; but spare us, good Lord, spare thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever. III. O God, whose nature and property it is, ever to have mercy and to forgive, receive our humble Petitions; and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins, yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy lose us; for the honour of Jesus Christ our Mediator and Advocate. Amen. CHAP. XII. Meditations and Prayers to be partakers of the Merits of what our Blessed Redeemer hath done and suffered for us. O Most Holy and ever-Blessed Jesus, The Incarnation of the Son of God. who vouchsafedst, for the redemption of mankind, to be made Man, by the blessed merits of thy mysterious Incarnation grant me to become one Spirit with thee, who becamest one flesh with me. Thou, Blessed Lord, Nativity. wert miraculously born of a pure immaculate Virgin, by the power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing her: grant me, by the same power of the most High, to possess a pure virgin Soul, in a pure and chaste body, and to be fruitful in all good works. Holy Jesus, Circumcision. who vouchsafedst to be circumcised the eighth day, and made obedient to the Law for man, grant unto me, I humbly beg, the true circumcision of the Spirit, that my heart and all my members may be mortified from all carnal and worldly lusts, and whatever hinders my regular obedience to thy most holy Laws. By the merits and mysteries of thy Baptism in the river Jordan, Baptism. wash me throughly from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sins, whereby I have unhallowed those sacred and saving waters of my Baptism, and perjuriously broken my Vow and Promise made therein. Holy Jesus, Fasting. who didst fast forty days and forty nights, forgive me the manifold acts of Gluttony and Drunkenness, Riot and Excess, whereof I have been guilty: and by the virtue and power of thy miraculous Fast, grant me the mastery over my rebellious appetite, to live soberly, that I may also live righteously and godly in this present world. Holy Jesus, Temptation. who being fasting waist tempted of the Devil, and overcamest him, grant me, by the influences of thy Blessed Spirit, so devoutly to intent the holy duties of Fasting and Prayer, that by the power of thy victory over the Devil, I may have strength and power to triumph over the Devil, the world and the flesh, and to continue thy faithful servant and soldier to my life's end. Holy Jesus, Doctrine and Example. who being inaugurated in thy Prophetical office by Baptism, and confirmed by the vanquishment of the Devil, wentest about preaching the Gospel, doing good, healing all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases amongst the people, being by thy doctrine and example the Way and the Truth that leads unto Life; grant me to believe aright all thy Revelations, to obey all thy Commands, to walk in thy steps, and so to follow thee the Light of the world, that I walk not in darkness, but may have the light of life. Holy Jesus, He is conspired against, and betrayed. who didst condescend to have thy precious life conspired against by the Jews, and to be betrayed and sold by one of thine own Disciples for a vile price, deliver me from the conspiracies of all mine enemies, ghostly and bodily; and specially from the treachery and corruption of mine own deceitful heart, and from the rebellion of my flesh, which for vile things and of no value daily betray my Soul into the hands and under the power and bondage of Sin and Satan, the great enemies of my life in Grace and Glory. Holy Jesus, His Agony in the Garden. who didst begin thy last and bitter passion in a Garden, where thy innocent Soul was sorrowful even unto death, sanctify, I beseech thee, all my natural infirmities and passions, comfort me in all my troubles and disquietudes of mind, and make me sensible with godly sorrow of that heavy wrath and curse for Sin, which thou suffered'st, and I deserved. Holy Jesus, Bloody swear. who didst prostrate thyself upon the cold earth, sweeting drops of blood under the pressure of our sins, and out of a sad apprehension of thy ensuing sufferings, offering up strong ●●ies with tears unto him that is able to save; O that my heart might inwardly bleed tears of compassion and of compunction, and vent itself by such fervent and effectual prayers, with tears of devotion, as to be heard in Heaven, and healed of all my sinful infirmities. Holy Jesus, Submission to the will of God. who with all sweetness of patience and submission didst give up thyself wholly to the will of thy Heavenly Father, endue me with the same spirit of lowliness and meckness, patience and contentedness in all conditions, submitting to the good will of my God, both in prosperity and adversity, health and sickness, life and death. Holy Jesus, Apprehension. who didst yield thyself to be apprehended, when thou mightest escape, and to be bound as a Malefactor, being clearer than an Angel of light; O let not my Soul be feised by any infernal Fiends to eternal horror in the other world: But out of the sangs and clutches of all the spirits and powers of darkness, good Lord, deliver me: from the bonds and chains of my sins, and from that dismal sentence, [Take him, and bind him hand and foot, and cast him into utter darkness,] good Lord, deliver me. Holy Jesus, who being felsed by rude hands, Arraignment and Condemnation. wast led as an innocent Lamb to the slaughter, hooted at, rated, reviled, reproached, falsely accused, and unjustly condemned by unjust Judges here upon earth, being thyself the most just Judge of Heaven and earth; O be not a severe and angry Judge when I shall stand before thy Tribunal, but vouchsafe to be then my Mediator, and answer for me, who am not able to answer thee one of a thousand, if thou shouldest be strict to mark what I have done amiss: But in thee have I put my trust; thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God. From all the accusations of the Devil and his Angels, from the accusations of all men and of all women, with whom I have been guilty, or who have been conscious of my many sinful pollutions, and from the accusations of my own Conscience in the day of Judgement, good Lord, deliver me. Blessed be that infinite mercy and humility of thine, Holy Jesus, He is spitted upon. whereby thou suffered'st thy face, faiter than the children of men, to be polluted by filthy ignominious spittings. O turn thy face away from my sins, whereby I have polluted my Soul, and profaned thy holy Name, which is called upon me. Turn not thy face away from me, but turn thy face away from my sins, who for my sins didst not turn thy face from shame and spitting. Holy Jesus, Buffeted. who didst expose thy blessed cheeks to the rude cuffs and buffets of hard injurious fists, grant that though I may feel, yet not be felled and overthrown by the buffets of Satan. Holy Jesus, Forsaken of his friends and followers. who wast content to be forsaken of all thy friends and dearest Disciples, and to be left alone in the hands of cruel men, who like ravening wolves thirsted after a draught of thy dearest blood; O leave me not destitute of thy assisting presence, when assaulted by my ghostly Adversaries; though I have deserved to be for ever desolate and forsaken, for my manifold treacherous backslidings from thee. Blessed be that infinite goodness and meekness of thine, Denied by Peter. who looking back upon S. Peter, when he denied and forswore thee, didst by that gracious chiding look call him back, both to himself and to thee, by tree Repentance. O look thus upon all backsliders from thee, for their correction and sincere conversion; and look upon me also, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. And now behold, (O my Soul,) Scourged. with the eye of devout meditation, such a portion of thy Saviour's sufferings as is the wonder and astonishment both of Heaven and earth. See with what profound humility and patience the great Lord of all the world condescends to be whipped by a merciless crew of soldiers: see with what a sweet silence this innocent Lamb yields to have his fleece torn off, his body stripped naked, and strictly bound to a whipping-post: see him all alone, naked and helpless, where there was no eye to pity him, no heart to have compassion on him; whilst those merciless Caitiffs with their sharp and forked whips rip up and tear his delicate skin and tender flesh, so that his blessed back and breasts, by the violence of their cruel lathes, doubled and redoubled, are all gore blood, which from the ghastly wounds streamed down his innocent sides. Now when I think hereupon I pour out my heart by myself, even to weeping and wonder: wondering, that the eternal Son of God, the glory of Angels and beauty of men, should suffer such a cruel and shameful punishment; and weep, that my sins should both deserve and cause such sufferings; and weeping wonder, that the Son of God should suffer what I deserved. But since thou disdainedst not, O merciful Lord, to be wounded for my transgressions, and bruised for mine iniquities; O let thy chastisement procure my peace with offended Heaven, and grant that by thy stripes my soul may be healed. Holy Jesus, Crowned with thorns. whose venerable head was crowned with Thorns, the curse of the earth, and those thorns beaten into thy Temples with a Reed and with much rage; pardon, Lord, all those sins which by the instrumental mediation of all the senses of my head I have committed: break not the bruised reed, my broken heart, with the sad pressure of thy heavy wrath: let thy thorns, the fruits of the curse which we contracted and thou sustainedst, deliver me from the curse due for my sins, and stop the jaws of death, that the pit shut not her mouth upon me. Thou art the King of glory, Renouncing the Pomp's and Vanities of this world. O Christ; yet wast content with a Cross for thy Throne, with a wreath of Thorns for thy Crown, with a Reed for thy Regal Sceptre, with Gall and Vinegar for thy Cates, and for thy Robes of Majesty only a little Linen to cover thy nakedness. O that I were so wise as, from thy example, to despise all the gilded glories, empty consolations, nicknamed pleasures and profits of this present life: choosing, with Moses, rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, having an eye to the recompense of reward. Blessed Jesus, Bearing his Cross. who with an invincible patience goest forth bearing thy Cross, till it sunk thy tender virginal body to the earth; O let me not sink under thy Cross, nor shrink from it, but cheerfully take up my Cross, whatever it be, and carefully undergo all the sacred acts and offices of true Repentance, which is the Cross of Sinners, and follow thee my immortal Saviour, who didst suffer for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow thy steps. Holy Jesus, Crucified. who wast lifted up upon the Cross to draw all men unto thee, and didst hang on a cursed Tree, to abolish the Curse contracted by eating the fruit of the forbidden Tree, and waste numbered with the transgressors, crucified amongst thiefs; O draw my hard and stony heart unto thee: deliver me from the curse, by my sins contracted; and rank me not among the cursed Goats on thy left hand, but amongst thy blessed Sheep on thy right hand, in the great Day of Judgement. O most Holy crucified Jesus, All the parts of his body tormented. all the parts and members of whose Body were expanded on the Cross, as on a tormenting rack; thy blessed Arms and Legs were with such violence diftended, that the Joints were disparted, the Veins burst, the Sinews cracked, the Skin rend, the Flesh torn, and all the Bones started aside: And in this height of distension thy innocent Hands and Feet were nailed for the sinful works of our hands, nailed where the nerves, those conveyances of sense, are the thickest, to the unspeakable torment of thine innocent body. The sorrows and sufferings of thy Soul were far greater, The sufferings of his Soul. being like melting wax, melted in the fiery furnace of God's wrath for the sins of the world; till the fullness of thy sufferings being accomplished, thou commendedst thy spirit into the hands of God. All this Sorrow and Suffering, Grief and Torment of thine, I believe verily, was for me and for my sins; there being nothing in thee, the spotless Son of a spotless Virgin, to grieve, or sorrow, or suffer for. O sweetest Saviour, save and deliver me from all my sins, whether of knowledge or ignorance, of wilfulness or negligence, of omission or commission; of thought, desire, word or deed, confessed or not confessed before thee: wash them all away in thy precious blood shed for me; nail them to thy Cross, which were the cause of thy Crucifixion; hid them in thy wounds, who wast wounded for my transgressions: and write those wounds of thine in my heart, not with ink, but with the blood which was shed form; that in and by those characters of blood I may read and learn to die unto sin, and live only unto thee, who diedst for me; cleaving steadfastly unto thee, whose whole self waste so fast nailed to the Cross for me. By thy Cross and Passion, both in Soul and Body, cleanse me from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit; crucify this corruptible flesh of mine, with all the inordinate affections and unruly lusts thereof: that being conformed to thy Death, I may be partaker of thy Resurrection; that suffering with thee here, I may reign with thee hereafter, where thou livest— THE SECOND PART OF THE PRACTICAL Christian: Being Considerations, Meditations and Prayers in order to the worthy Receiving the HOLY COMMUNION of the Body and Blood of CHRIST. The Second Edition revised and augmented. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Luk. 12.43. LONDON, Printed for R. Royston, 1677. A TABLE of the Chapters. CHAP. I. Of the two general Christian Duties required in order to the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. CHAP. II. Meditations and Prayers preparatory to the Holy Communion the Week before. CHAP. III. Meditations and Prayers for the Friday, especially before the Communion. CHAP. iv Saint Augustine 's Recommendation of the Passion of Christ unto God the Father. CHAP. V Saint Ambrose 's Commemoration of our Saviour's Passion. CHAP. VI Saint Gregory 's Prayers upon the Passion of Christ. CHAP. VII. The Form of Prayer used by our Lord upon the Cross, viz. the XXII. Psalm paraphrased. CHAP. VIII. Meditations and Prayers preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament, on Saturday-night, or Sunday-morning before. CHAP. IX. Meditations upon your going to Church; with some short Directions for your demeanour in the House and in the Service of God. CHAP. X. Meditations and Prayers at the Blessed Sacrament. CHAP. XI. Psalms of praise and thanksgiving after the Holy Communion. THE PRACTICAL Christian. PART II. CHAP. I. Of the two general Christian Duties required in order to the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of CHRIST. 1. THE Blessed Eucharist, or Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is of all the Mysteries of godliness the most comprehensive, and applicatory to the Soul's eternal Happiness. 'Tis amongst all Christian Duties of highest dignity, and greatest concern. 'Tis both the Food and the Medicine, the Life and the Health, the Strength and Defence, the Peace, Joy and Delight of the truly Religious Soul. 'Tis the most effectual means of the nearest Union and Communion with Christ in this life attainable. 'Tis expressly so called, the Communion of the Body of Christ, and the Communion of the Blood of Christ a 1 Cor. 10.16. : which Doctrine we are taught as one of the Principles of our Religion; The Body and Blood of Christ is verily and indeed taken and received of the faithful in the Lord's Supper b Church Catech. . 2. In the right and reverend Administration, with the devout and worthy Participation of this Sacramental Body of Christ we are incorporated into his holy Mystical Body. So saith our Lord himself; He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him c Joh. 6.56. . And such is also the Doctrine of the Church of Christ: If with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive the Holy Sacrament, we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood; we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; we be one with Christ, and Christ with us; we obtain remission of our Sins, and all other the Benfits of his Passion d Comm. office. . 3. Hence than it follows, that whoever owns the name of a Christian and understands aright what it is to be truly so, and not in vain so called, must acknowledge these two general Duties to be incumbent upon him: 1. Not to neglect any opportunity of Receiving this Blessed Sacrament; 2. To use all possible means with his utmost endeavours to receive the same worthily. I. As to the First, whoso slights or neglects to come, being invited, to the Holy Communion, either, 1. He rightly understands not the Holy Religion he professeth: or, 2. His Religion is no other but a bare Profession; something that perhaps employs his Tongue, and strikes upon his Ears, to hear and talk about it; but never entered the deep of his Heart, truly to believe and practise it * Matt. 15.8. . There be too many such persons, (God wots) that talk much of Religion, yea, many that talk loudly of Communion with Christ, and are seemingly zealous in the external performance of several Christian Duties, especially in the frequency of long and loud Prayers: but if the many wild extravagancies of such performances did not lay them open, yet their general neglect of this Sacrament, which is the life and quintessence of all Christian offices, and the infallible witness of true Christianity, discovers the hypocrisy of such seeming Zelots; that, with the old Pharisees, they draw nigh unto God with their mouth, and honour him with their lips; but their heart is not whole with him, neither are they steadfast in his covenant f Isa. 29.13. Psal. 78.36, 37. . Which is farther evident in that, 3. Such persons make no conscience of Sin, which is the transgression of the Law of Christ. He commands saying, Take, eat— Drink ye all of this— Do this in remembrance of me— Show forth the Lord's death till he come— Come unto me all ye that are weary— Ho, every one that thirsteth, come— g Matt. 26.27, 28. Luk. 22.19. 1 Cor. 11.24, 25, 26. Matt. 11.28. Isa. 55.1. . Not to come to that Blessed Sacrament, being invited, is to disobey all these, and several more positive commands of God: which being also frequently read, heard, preached, and pressed upon the consciences of men by their conscientious Ministers, and yet still slighted and disobeyed, will undoubtedly incur (if not prevented by a timely true Repentance and Amendment) that sad and dismal sentence at the last Day, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire h Matt. 25.41. . 4. Disobedience to these commands of our Lord in the neglect of this Blessed Sacrament, doth declare every such person so neglecting, whatever his excuses may be, 1. in general, that he is more in love with his Sins then with his Saviour, with the errors of his ways then with the Truth that is in Jesus i Eph. 4.21. : or, 2. more particularly, that he prefers either his sloth and negligence, or his enmity and maliciousness, or his temporal concerns and covetousness, or, in a word, some secular or sensual lust, before the purification of his Soul in the Blood of Christ, and its nourishment to life eternal. 5. He disobeys the commands, slights the orders, contemns the discipline of Christ's Church, makes no conscience of conforming to the practice of, and of holding communion with, all sound and orthodox Members of Christ: but rather implies, nay, openly declares, that he is none of Christ's number, but separate and divided from Christ's mystical Body, which is the Church k Col. 1.24. ; and, consequently, not quickened with his Spirit: for these two are inseparable; one Body, the Church; and one Spirit l Eph. 4.4. , viz. of truth and holiness, which quickeneth this one Body, and this alone. The guilt of any which particulars is so inconsistent with the state of true Christianity, that there is no person who reads and seriously considers them, can reasonably call himself a Member of Christ, or acceptably call upon God as such, and yet still continue his neglect of this Blessed Sacrament. 6. And this amongst others is one of the greatest causes of so great a decay of Piety, of so much dulness and deadness of heart in all Religious performances, of so much averseness from the public Worship of God in his House of prayer, and of so much irreverence and profaneness therein. 'Tis the cause of so many spiritual diseases in the Souls of men, of so much weakness against Temptations, of so much wavering in opinion, of so many Errors, Schisms, Factions— even because the Souls of all such are not fed, nourished, strengthened and refreshed, quickened and confirmed with the precious Body and Blood of Christ: the which, being rightly and reverently received, illuminates the Understanding, purifies the Will, cleanses the Heart, rectifies the Affections, and renders the whole Man apt and active to every good work of the Lord. II. The Second general Duty in order to this Holy Sacrament is, To use all possible means and endeavours to receive the same worthily. There will need no other Reasons to enforce this Duty then the terror of those known words of the Apostle, He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. And this Unworthiness consists in not discerning the Lord's Body, as it immediately follows m 1 Cor. 11.29. . Here then every man that hath any care of his Soul will desire to know what it is, not to discern the Lord's Body, which makes a man liable to Damnation, by being an unworthy Communicant at the Lord's Table. To understand this fully and clearly, we must use the light of a distinction. For there is a threefold Body of Christ abstracted from that of his personal subsistence as Man of a reasonable Soul and humane Flesh subsisting: viz. 1. Mystical, 2. Doctrinal, 3. Sacramental. And not to discern the Lord's Body in any of these three meanings thereof, makes unworthy Receivers. 1. The Mystical Body of Christ is his Church n Eph. 1.22, 23. Col. 1.24. . And he discerns not this Body of Christ, who rightly believes not the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints. 'Tis one of the names whereby this Holy Sacrament is called, The Holy Communion; excluding thence as unworthy all that are not within the Pale and Communion of Christ's Church, both Unbelievers and Misbelievers, Heretics and Schismatics; all disobedient, factious, contentious spirits, with all sorts of Separatists from the Church of Christ, whether in Faith or Charity, Doctrine or Worship. For all worthy Communicants, being many, are one Body in Christ, and every one Members one of another o Rom. 12.5. 1 Cor. 12.12, 13. . 2. The Doctrinal Body of Christ is the Doctrine of Christianity, or the Body of Faith, wherein all found orthodox Christians do agree, and are united as Members of the foresaid Mystical Body of Christ, the Church: which is therefore called the common Faith p Tit. 1.4. : and 'tis that Faith which was once given to, or rather by, the Saints q Judas v. 3. , the holy Apostles of our Lord. He discerns not this Body of the Lord, who understands not the Principles of his Religion, which are summed up in the Vow or Covenant which every person rightly Christened hath made with God in his Baptism: the positive parts whereof (besides the negative) are, 1. the Apostles Creed, 2. the Ten Commandments; with what is implied therein, and depends thereupon, viz. 3. the Lord's Prayer, and, 4. the Doctrine of the Sacraments. Not to know these general Heads of Religion, which be plainly and fully delivered in the Church-Catechism; or, having learned them by heart when Children, not frequently to remember and consider them when come to age, so as to understand and hold them fast as the Essentials of Christianity; is the second general kind of Unworthiness of the Lord's Supper, from whence all ignorant and careless, foolish and sottish persons are excluded r Jer. 24.7. Heb. 8.11. , with all such as hold not fast the first Principles of the Oracles of God † Heb. 5.12. . 3. The Sacramental Body of Christ is, the consecrated Elements of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament. This is expressly affirmed by our Lord, saying, This is my Body, This is my Blood. Who then dare say, (as the Fathers frequently observe,) This is not his Body, but a Figure of his Body only? He discerns not this Body of our Lord, 1. who sees not with the eye of Faith Christ really present under the Species of Bread and Wine, though he conceive not the manner thereof: who doth not with all grateful acknowledgement and divine love, and with the greatest humility and devotion, adore the infinite wisdom, power, mercy, goodness and condescension of this Presence of our Lord; not curiously questioning, much less pragmatically defining the way and manner of his Presence, as being deeply mysterious and inconceivable. Those old Verses expressing the Faith of the wifest of our first Reformers may satisfy every modest, humble and sober-minded good Christian in his great Mystery of godliness. It was the Lord that spoke it, He took the Bread and broke it, And what the Word did make it, So I believe and take it. 2. He discerns not this Sacramental Body of the Lord, who knows not in some measure the nature, ends, uses and benefits of this Sacrament, with what is required of them that come thereunto: All which being plainly, fully, and yet very briefly, taught in our Church-Catechism, to be therefore ignorant of these things, which every Child is bound to learn and say, is another Species of an unworthy Communicant. 3. He discerns not this Sacramental Body of the Lord, who prepares not himself to receive the same with all reverence and godly fear t Heb. 12.28. ; with hands washed in innocency v Psal. 26.6. ; and into a pure and clean heart x Isa. 1.16. Psal. 24.4. ; into a Soul cleansed from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit y 2 Cor. 7.1. , and perfumed (as was our Lord's crucified Body) with the sweet odours of Humility and Compunction, of Love and Devotion, of Obedience and Charity. And hereunto all the parts and kinds of true Repentance do necessarily concur: for there can be no cleanness of hands, no purity of heart, if the naturally stiff and proud heart be not first humbled, and its stifness broken with godly sorrow for sin, and its filthiness washed off with the devout tears of true Penitence through Faith in the blood of Christ. And he that receives Christ's Holy Body and Blood into his Soul, not first emptied of all his Sins by holy Faith and all the sacred offices of true Repentance, doth with Judas betray his Master into the hands of his enemies, even those very enemies which crucified him: for those were our Sins. And therefore 'tis said of such unworthy Receivers, that they are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ. To avoid such a horrid Sin, 1 Cor. 11.27. and Damnation following the same, v. 29. betwixt both Verses 'tis commanded v. 28. Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat— Self-examination, as 'tis in the former Leaves prescribed to be practised, is the first and the greatest Duty, and requires the most of spiritual labour, care and industry, of all that is required to the worthy Receiving of the Holy Communion. And this because 'tis not only necessary in itself; but necessarily, conducing to the sincere performance of all the other Religious Duties commanded: Our Repentance in all its parts, our Humiliation and godly Sorrow for sin, our holy Purposes and Resolves of amendment, our Faith, our Hope, our Charity must be examined, that they be sincere, and without hypocrisy. And therefore it is that this Duty is commanded by the Apostle, as if it were alone sufficient, when sincerely performed, to make us acceptable Guests at the Lord's Table; saying, Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat— And indeed this so great, so necessary a Duty, is as greatly extolled, and withal pretended unto, by most men, especially such as talk much of their Religion, but practise little. 'Tis generally the pretence and the plea of such who cry up Self-examination, to cry down the Sacerdotal power and function, to withdraw themselves from under the guidance and examination of their respective Pastors, whose Instructions being not received, or observed, but so far forth as to every man seemeth good in his own eyes, is the great reason why this grand Duty is so generally neglected, or negligently performed. The which is manifest, 1. From the numerous company of those who make no conscience of coming to the Holy Communion when invited. 'Tis not possible that men, otherwise prudent as to their worldly concerns, should yet be so sottish, so retchless, so stupidly careless of their eternal health and happiness, did they ever seriously examine and consider the state and condition of their Souls. But whilst they know not themselves in their spiritual wants, weakness and wickedness, how can they have any desire, much less a delight, to come to the fountain of mercy, truth and holiness z Wisdom 2 21, 22. Matt. 5.6. ? 'Tis the reason, 2. Why many persons, having received the Sacrament, but feeling no virtue, no efficacy, no power of grace, no consolation flowing from these celestral Mysteries of Salvation, have therefore afterwards slighted and neglected the same. For whilst their ignorances' and errors, whether in opinion or practice, for want of due Examination, appeared not unto them; that Sun of Righteousness shined not into their hearts, who appears not but through the windows and the openings of broken hearts and displayed consciences a Wised. 5.6. . And besides, such is the corrupt nature of all finfulness and vice, that if the leaven thereof be not narrowly searched out, and abandoned, it will sour the Bread of life, and make it without any taste of sweetness to the Soul b 1 Cor. 5.7, 8. . 'Tis the reason, 3. Why many persons have by the receiving of that Blessed Sacrament been more hardened in their sins, and in the errors of their ways. For errors in judgement, and offences in conversation, which are the soars and diseases of the Soul, being not searched to the bottom, and salved by Repentance and the acknowledgement of the Truth c 2 Tim. 2.25. , do change the spiritual food and nourishment of the Soul into the poison thereof, whereby what was ordained unto life, is found unto death d Rom. 7.10. . CHAP. II. Meditations and Prayers preparatory to the Holy Communion the Week before. THE truly sincere good Christian, whose Faith is not in Fancy, or Opinion, or Presumption, or consisting in word and tongue alone, but in deed and in truth, who desires truly to serve God, and to honour and obey him with his whole heart, and through his whole life; every such qualified Christian will, as soon as he hath notice given by his Pastor of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to be administered, seriously apply himself to the great work of fitting, preparing and ordering his Soul for the joyful and devout entertainment of his Blessed Redeemer thereinto. In order to such a Blessed work, 'twill be very useful and advantageous, the whole Week foregoing, to add to your daily Prayers and Meditations these (or the like) following Collects, with the Psalms ensuing. I. Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our Redemption, and hast commanded us to continue a perpetual memory of that his precious Death until his comiong again; Hear me, O merciful Father, I most humbly beseech thee, and grant that I may with that right Understandings true Faith, sincere Repentance, deep Humility, and fervent Charity, receive the Sacrament of my dear Saviour's Death, accoridng to his institution and command; that I may be made partaker of all the benefits of his Passion, to the justification, sanctification, and eternal Salvation of my Soul, through the same Jesus Christ— II. I will not presume to approach thine Altar, O Lord, trusting in mine own Righteousness, but in thy manifold and great Mercies. I am not worthy to gather up the crumbs that fall from thy Table; for I am an unclean creature, to whom the children's bread belongs not, having too often returned to my old Sins, as the dog to his vomit. But whither, Blessed Lord, whither should a defiled Soul go to be cleansed, but unto that Fountain which is opened in the house of Israel for sin and for uncleanness? In this inexhaustible Fountain of Divine grace my sinful Soul longs to be washed, and through the effusion of the precious Blood of my Redeemer to be purified; and my whole self for the future to be sincerely devoted to serve thee in holiness and righteousness before thee all the days of my life. Amen. III. Assist me, Blessed Lord, in the Trial and impartial Examination of my heart, and of all the actions of my life; in the full Confession of all my Sins, with the tears of true Penitence and godly Sorrow for them; in my Prayers for mercy and pardon of them, and for grace to be sanctified against them. O hear in Heaven, and be merciful unto me; forgive me my Sins, and heal my Soul, through the merits and mediation of my dearest Saviour Jesus Christ— Amen. A short preparatory Meditation to the Sacrament out of S. Ambrose. O with what great contrition of heart, with what a flood of tears, with what reverence, fear and trembling, with what purity of mind, and chastity of body, is that Divine celestial. Mystery to be celebrated, where thy Flesh, O Lord, is truly received, and thy Blood is truly drunk; where things most high and low, Divine and humane, are mysteriously intermingled; where the Angels of Heaven are invisibly present, beholding and assisting in the celebration; and where thou, O Lord, art inconceivably present, both as the Priest and the Sacrifice! O who can worthily either administer or receive such grand, tremend, celestial Mysteries, except Thou, the Omnipotent God, make him worthy of thy Grace? Even so come, Lord Jesus. The XXIII. Psalm paraphrased. Verse 1. THE Lord] who hath created, redeemed and sanctified me, [is my Shepherd;] to feed, guide, and defend me from the ravening of my ghostly foes: [therefore I can lack nothing] that is needful or convenient either for Soul or body. 2. He shall feed me in a green pasture;] My Soul doth he feed with the verdant refreshing Indoctrinations of his Holy Word; [and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.] Such are the influences of the Holy Ghost the Comforter; and such are the Sacraments of his Church, which as waters do quench the fire of Concupiscence, wash off the pollution of Sin, cleanse the heart from all vain and impure thoughts and desires, satisfy the spiritual thirst of the Soul, and feed the same to life eternal: and these be Comforts both great and glorious. 3. He shall convert my soul,] from the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World, and from the sinful Lusts of the Flesh, [and bring me forth into the paths of righteousness,] to keep God's holy Will and Commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of my life: and this he will do [for his Name's sake.] that his Name, which is great, wonderful and holy, may be glorified in me, and by me. 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,] be conversant amidst continual Temptations, and Tribulations, which are the miseries of mortality, and the shadows of death in this valley of tears, [I will fear none evil:] neither the evil of Sin, nor Death the wages of Sin: [for thou art with me;] dwelling in my heart by Faith in this mortal life, that after the shadow of death is vanished, I may dwell with thee by Vision in life immortal; Aug. [thy rod and thy staff comfort me.] thy rod, to correct me; thy staff, to support me: thy rod, to punish me when I do evil; thy staff, to sustain me in my sufferings for my Sins. Both are great comforts to the devout Soul, as being signs of Adoption and Grace, purchased by the mystical Rod and Staff of my Saviour's Sufferings on the wood of his Cross. This was the rod of the Lord's indignation for our Sins, and the rod wherewithal our Lord beat the Devil out of his strong holds: this was the staff also or stay of fallen Man: the merits whereof I humbly beg to be applied to my Soul in the Sacrament of his Passion. For, 5. Thou shalt prepare a table before me] The Table of the Lord is spread before all true Believers, where is prepared the Bread of Heaven, the food of Angels, the Body and Blood of Christ, for the strengthening and refreshing of my Soul, [against them that trouble me:] and these are chief homebred Enemies, even all those sinful Lusts of the flesh which war against the Soul. But that I may be prepared for the conflict with them, [thou hast anointed my head with oil,] The Unction of the Holy one, are the Graces of the Holy Spirit, which from Christ the Head do flow down upon his Members in the devout use of his Sacraments. [and my cup shall be full.] That Cup of blessing which is the Communion of the Blood of Christ, is full of grace and heavenly benediction. And this in all humility I call my cup, because I am invited, nay commanded, to take and drink thereof. And if I receive it worthily, I may then rejoicing say, The Lord himself is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup: and as it follows, 6. Thy lovingkindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:] 'Twas thy lovingkindness and mercy preventing me whereby I was called unto the state of Grace and Salvation: and I believe and humbly pray that thy Grace may also follow me to continue in the same to my life's end. [and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.] This is the end and the perfection of all the Lord's Blessings upon me: He is therefore my Shepherd, and doth feed and guide me, protect and defend me, correct and support me, and with his precious Body and Blood doth nourish me in his house of prayer here below, that I may hereafter dwell in his house of praise above, and with his holy Angels and Saints for ever sing, Glory be to God the Father— As it was in the beginning— Other Psalms seasonable for Meditation, and relating to this Divine subject in several Verses, are the XLII. XLIII. LXXXI. LXXXIV. Psalms; the which I have not paraphrased or explained, that this Volume might not swell into too great a bulk. CHAP. III. Meditations and Prayers for the Friday; especially before the Communion. 1. AMongst all the days of the Week, Friday is the most seasonable and fittest for the performance of those Religious Duties, the which, though never out of season, are yet then most practical, when commanded as necessary Preparatives for the worthy receiving of the Sacrament; viz. the grand Duty of Self-examination, of Confession of sins, with Contrition, Humiliation, and Fasting; as also for Meditations and Prayers upon the Passion of our Lord, since it was upon this day of the week he was crucified and died for our Sins. 2. 'Tis upon this account, that our Church enjoins this day to be observed through the whole year as a day of Fasting and Abstinence; and it was ever observed as such, since our Lord died upon the Friday, through all the Ages of the Church, until these last and worst of days, wherein the evil spirit of contradiction against the Religious practices of Christ's Church doth so rage, as, amongst many others, to cry down all Times and Days devoted to the Service of God, except what they call the Sabbath-day: the which under the Gospel is neither properly so called, nor rightly observed by such as truly understand not the iv Commandment, but misinterpret the sound meaning of the Spirit by the kill Letter of the Law. 3. All orthodox and understanding good Christians, in stead of a Jewish Sabbath, observe as festival and holy the Christian Sunday, because the Sun of Righteousness arose upon that day from death to life, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel: in which respect 'tis frequently in Holy Scripture called the Lord's day. 4. And there is the like reason for the observance of Friday, as fasting in commemoration of Christ's Passion, as there is for Sunday, as festival in commemoration of his Resurrection. Nor is this obscurely, but plainly enough commanded by our Lord himself; But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them: and then shall they fast in those days a Luk. 5.35. . These words are both, 1. a positive command to all the Disciples of Christ, they shall fast; and also, 2. the days whereon they shall fast are prescribed, in those days whereon the Bridegroom was taken away from them, which are the Fridays of the year, whereon our Lord, the Bridegroom and Head of his Church, was taken off by a bitter death upon the Cross. It is therefore but meet and just, that all true Members of this Head should fast, and pray, and be humbled for their Sins on that day especially, whereon the Son of God so sadly suffered and sorrowed for the Sins of the world. Friday Meditations. I. Part of LXIX. Psalm paraphrased. Verse 13. LORD, I make my prayer unto thee in an acceptable time.] Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of Salvation▪ even the day whereon for us men, and for our Salvation, the Blessed Son of God was crucified unto death. 14. Hear me, O God, in the multitude of thy mercies:] against the multitude of my Sins, which require a multitude of mercies to pardon them: [even in the truth of thy Salvation.] which on this day was so dearly purchased with the precious Blood of the Son of God, as a Lamb without spot. 15. Take me out of the mire,] of all my sinful pollutions, and of all exorbitant lusts, both secular and sensual, [that I sink not:] under the weight and pressure of them: [O let m● be delivered from them that hate me,] meaning chief the Devil and his angels, and all the enemies of my Soul, [and out of the deep waters.] the rising waves of my unruly Passions, and the waters of Trouble and Affliction which issue thence. 16. Let not the water-floud] of iniquity, which overflows the face of the earth, [drown me,] with the rest of evil-doers, [neither let the deep swallow me up:] the deep abyss of Death, the wages of Sin: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.] so as that I arise not out of the gulf of Sin and Death, to the life of Grace and Glory. 17. Hear me, O Lord, for thy lo●●● kindness is comfortable:] 'tis the 〈◊〉 and fountain, life and soul of 〈◊〉 consolation, at all times, and in 〈◊〉 conditions, both prosperous and adverse: [turn thee unto me] not for any worth that is in me to attract thy lovingkindness, but [according to the multitude of thy mercies.] which are ever manifested to all them who truly turn unto thee. 18. Hid not thy face from thy servant;] as angry and displeased for the alienations of my heart from thee, and negligence in thy service; [for I am in trouble:] troubled for my Sins and frequent back-slidings; and the sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise: [O haste thee, and hear me.] For if thou make as though thou hearest not, I shall be like them that go down into the pit. 19 Draw nigh unto my Sole, and save it:] who for the Salvation of my Soul didst this day humble thyself unto death, even the cursed death of the Cross: by the Merits and efficacy of which Cross and Passion [O deliver me,] from all mine offences, [because of mine enemies.] that they triumph not in my confusion. II. Meditations out of the Prophet Isaiah, Chap. LIII. Verse 4. surely he hath born our griefs, and carried our serrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray: and God hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. In the Sufferings of thy Saviour, O my Soul, thou mayest see as in a glass thine own Deformities and Sins. The Great Lord over all, Blessed for ever, to be reproached, reviled, scorned, contemned, and numbered amongst the transgressors, discovers thy false and uncharitable Judging, Censuring, Condemning, Evil-speaking, Lying and Slandering, Railing, and Reviling of others. The blessed Face of Jesus besmeared with Spittle, doth remember thee of all thy unclean Lusts, and of all the filthy Communication that has proceeded out of thy mouth. His blessed Mouth embittered with Gall and Vinegar doth mind thee of thy Effeminacy and Luxury, Drunkenness and Gluttony: and his Whipping, of thy Stubbornness, and Disobedience to the Laws of Heaven. The King of Glory to wear a Crown of Thorns, and for his Robes of Majesty only a little Linen to cover his nakedness, declares the iniquity of thy Pride and Vainglory, the folly of Gay clothing, and all thy vain and foolish affectation of the Pomps and Vanities of this sinful World. That Crown of Thorns beaten into his Temples with a Reed, and much rage, discovers the offensive nature of immoderate Cares of the world, with the sharp and piercing Vexations issuing thence, which eat up the Consolation of the heart, and all true sincere Devotion of the spirit— O sweetest Jesus, let all my Sins be done away through thy Sufferings, which did both represent, and satisfy for them. Let thy Wounds be a Salve for my Sin-wounded Soul; and by thy Stripes let her be healed of all her Distempers. Let thy Bonds discharge that Bond of malediction and woe wherein my Sins have enwrapped my Soul: and let my Obligation to punishment be canceled by thy Cross. Let thy Pains deliver me from the Pains of Hell; and thy Labours procure my Rest with the Saints in Heaven. Let thy Sorrows purchase the Joys, and thy Griefs the Pleasures of thy right hand. Let thy Captivity be my Redemption, thy Humiliation my Exaltation, thy Cross my Crown, and thy Death my Life for ever. God forbidden that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world b Gal. 6.14. . III. Meditations out of the Prophet Jeremy. IS it nothing to you, Lam. 1.12. all ye that pass by? behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Ob that mine head were waters, Jer. 9.1. and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the Sufferings of my Saviour. Shall I not weep for him who both wept and bled for me, yea, wept out every drop of his most precious Blood, to deliver me from weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever? In the natural Body, if one Member suffer, all suffer with it: and 'tis thus in the Body mystical also. If I be a lively Member of Christ, his Afflictions will afflict and pierce my heart; his Passion will excite both compassion and compunction in my Soul, so as to bewail not my Saviour only, but myself and my Sins also: to bewail myself, and the hardness of my heart, that I cannot even with a flood of tears bewail my Saviour in his Sufferings, nor yet sufficiently lament and abhor my Sins, the causes thereof. Upon the Passion of our Lord the veil of the Temple was rend in twain from the top to the bottom. That Temple mystically represents the Heart of man, which signifies by its triangular form, that 'tis framed to be a Temple consecrated to the thrice-blessed Trinity. But, woe and alas! my Heart is harder than the stones of that material Temple, and receives not any deep impressions of that honour and happiness whereunto it was created. Yet if any thing will mollify its stifness, it must be the precious Blood of my dear Redeemer, which was for this very end shed upon the Cross. There he bled, whilst he had one drop to shed; and there together with his precious Blood he poured forth his righteous Soul with strong cry and tears, to melt the stony hearts of the sons of men into tears of Penitence and Devotion, of divine Love and Obedience. The gaping Wounds of my dear Lord are as so many Mouths opened to show forth the bowels of his Compassion: and through the hollow of his pierced Side may the devout Soul behold with the eye of faith his broken Heart flaming with the love of Man, and dying for love. O senseless ingrateful Soul, who art not wounded with the Wounds of thy Saviour; who art not throughly pierced with the dart of his Love, who was pierced to the heart for the love of thee; whose mouth is not continually opened in the praise of him, all whose Wounds were as so many mouths praising the Lord for thy Redemption! I am surely bound, deeply engaged to love, to honour, to obey, and wholly to live unto him, who died for me; even to give up myself, my whole self, all that I am, and all that I have, to his service, who gave up his whole self, every member of his Body, every power of his Soul, every drop of his Blood, a Sacrifice for my Sins. And the very God of peace sanctify me wholly to his service: And I pray God my whole spirit, and Soul and body, may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. CHAP. iv Saint Augustine 's Recommendation of the Passion of Christ unto God the Father. BEhold, Holy Father, thy Blessed Son suffering for me great and grievous things. Regard, most glorious King, who it was that suffered, and remember in mercy for whom he suffered. Is not this He, (my Lord,) even that Innocent one, whom, to redeem a Servant, thou offeredst up being a Son? Is not this He, even that Author and Giver of Life, who was led as an innocent Lamb to the slaughter, and became obedient unto thee even unto death, and feared not to undergo the most bitter of all deaths? Is not this He, whom thou (the dispenser of all Salvation) didst beget from all eternity, but in fullness of time wouldst have him partaker of my infirmity? This is truly thy Deity, who hath put on my mortality, who was lifted up on the Cross, and in my flesh suffered that sad punishment of a cursed death. Look back (O Lord my God,) with the eyes of thy Majesty upon this unspeakable work of mercy. Behold thy sweet Son in all the parts of his Body extended and racked. See his innocent Hands flowing with his precious blood; and pardon in great mercy the iniquities which my wicked hands have committed. Consider his naked Side pierced with a cruel spear; and renew me in the sacred Font, which I believe to have issued thence. Behold those immaculate Feet, which never stood in the way of sinners, but always walked in the Law of the Lord, cruelly bored and transfixed with nails: remove far from me the way of iniquity, and make me to choose the way of truth, to hate and decline the ways of the ungodly, and to walk in the paths of thy Commandments. O hold thou up my go in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. I beseech thee, O King of Saints, by him who is the chief of Saints, my Blessed Redeemer, make me to run the way of thy Commandments; that I may be united unto him, who abhorred not to be clothed with my flesh. Behold, most merciful Creator, the Humanity of thy beloved Son, and have mercy upon the infirmity of thy frail creature. His naked Breast is white and wan, his pierced Side red and bloody, his distorted Bowels whither, his splendid Eyes do languish, his majestic Countenance is pale, his procerous Arms are stiff and cold, his marble Thighs hang down, whilst his precious Blood like water bedews his Feet. Behold the punishment of God made Man, and relax the misery of created man: consider the sufferings of the Redeemer, and forgive the sins of the redeemed. This is He, my Lord, whom thou hast stricken for the sins of thy people; although he be thy beloved Son, in whom thou art well pleased. This is He, who knew no sin, neither was any guile found in his mouth; and yet he was numbered amongst the Transgressors, and bore the sins of many. CHAP. V Saint Ambrose 's Commemoration of our Saviour's Passion. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the Creator and Redeemer of all mankind, we give thee thanks, unworthy though they be, yet desire they may be devout and acceptable to thee, who for us miserable sinners camest down from Heaven, and tookest flesh of the blessed Virgin Mary: of her thou vouchsafedst to be born; to be wrapped in swadling-cloaths, and laid in a manger; to suck the breasts; to be circumcised in thy tender flesh; to be manifested to the Wise men, and adored by them; to be presented in the Temple; to be carried into Egypt; to return into thy country; to be subject to thy parents; to be baptised by John; to be afflicted with a forty days fast; and thrice to be tempted of the Devil; to be wearied with journeys, and macerated by hunger and thirst and watch, to be tired with preaching; to weep for compassion; to be rejected of the Jews, and frequently abused by them. Thy Passion approaching, thou vouchsafedst to be heavy and exceeding sorrowful; to pray, not only with bended knees, but thrice to fall upon thy face, to be in a bitter Agony, and to sweat drops of blood; to be betrayed by Judas with a deceitful kiss; to be apprehended by the Jews, and bound as a thief; to be left desolate and alone, for all thy Disciples forsook thee and fled. To be led to Annas the Highpriest first, and there to be buffeted; to be sent by him bound to Caiaphas, and there to be many ways derided; to be brought before the council of the Jews, and there to be falsely accused and condemned; to have thy face polluted with spittings, to be provoked by manifold reproaches, to be scorned, and blasphemed, and again smitten on the face and buffeted; to be delivered bound unto Pilate, and before him vehemently accused unto death, and by him to be sent unto Herod, and there to be calumniated, and set at nought by him and his men of war; to be arrayed in white, and sent back unto Pilate; by his command to be bound to a pillar, and cruelly scourged unto blood; to be by him condemned, and delivered up to the soldiers to be crucified: by whom thou wast mocked with a purple garment, and pierced with a Crown of thorns, derided with a Reed in stead of a Regal sceptre, and with bowing of knees named in contempt, The King of the Jews; again the third time bespattered with spittle, and buffeted, and beaten with a Reed on thy head; laden with the weight of thy Cross, and led away to the place of thy Passion; there again stripped naked of thy garments, and proffered to drink Gall mingled with Myrrh. At last thou wast extended on the Cross, thy hands and feet transfixed with nails, crucified amongst thiefs, numbered amongst transgressors, blasphemed both by them that stood by and by them that passed by; and in the extremity of thy sufferings criedst out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Thy head bowed down, thou didst give up the ghost; and thy Side was pierced by a Soldier, whence issued both water and blood. Taken down from the Cross, and buried by Joseph, the third day thou didst rise again, and appear to thy disciples. The fortieth day thou ascendedst into Heaven; and sitting on the right hand of God the Father, thou didst send down the promise of the Holy Ghost upon thy blessed Apostles and Disciples; and shalt come again to Judgement, to render to all men according to their works done in the body, whether they be good, or whether they be evil. O Blessed Lord Jesus, by all these thy most sacred Sufferings, by thy bitter death and most precious blood shed for us, and by all things foretold of thee and fulfilled by thee, vouchsafe in great mercy to deliver me, a sordid sinner, with all my friends and enemies, parents, brothers, sisters, all that are poor and desolate, tempted and afflicted, bound and imprisoned, with all Christian people. From all our tribulations and distresses, from the snares of the Devil, from the bonds and chains of our Sins, and from all evils both of Soul and body, good Lord, deliver, save and defend us. All our imaginations and actions vouchsafe so to dispose and order, that they may be acceptable unto thee: fill us with thy grace, and with holy peace, and with all virtue; and grant us herein to persevere even unto death; that making a good end of this present life, thou mayst bring us to eternal life in thy celestial Kingdom, where thou livest and reignest— CHAP. VI Saint Gregory 's Prayers upon the Passion of Christ. I. I Adore thee, Holy Lord Jesus, hanging upon the Cross, and bearing on thy venerable head a Crown of Thorns: and I humbly beg, by thy Cross, to be delivered from the destroying Angel. II. I Adore thee, Holy Lord Jesus Christ, expanded on the Cross, with five great wounds in thy nailed hands and feet, and pierced side: and I humbly beg, that thy dire and ghastly wounds may be a healing remedy to my sinsick Soul. III. I Adore thee, Holy Lord Jesus, panting under the sad weight of the sins of the world: and I humbly beg, by that unconceivable bitterness of sorrow thy innocent Soul suffered in that moment when it left the body, have mercy upon my Soul in the memert of her departure hence. iv I Adore thee, Holy Lord Jesus, laid in the Sepulchre, and anointed with Myrrh and Aloes: and I humbly beg that thy death may be the life of my Soul. V O Save, Holy Jesus, the good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his Sheep, save and preserve the righteous, call home the wicked, justify the penitent, have mercy upon all true believers, and upon me a miserable sinner. Amen. CHAP. VII. The Form of Prayer used by our Lord upon the Cross, viz. the XXII. Psalm paraphrased. Verse 1. MY God, my God,] So prayed my dear Redeemer hanging upon the Cross; the gemination of his words expressing both the great Devotion and also the bitter Anguish of his Soul; [look upon me;] imploring divine commiseration and assistence in the sufferings of his humane nature. [why hast thou forsaken me?] That's the height of sorrow and suffering, to be therein forsaken: as if the personal union of his divine and humane nature were dissolved. [and art so far from my health,] not affording the least mitigation of my tormenting pains, or consolation therein, [and from the words of my complaint? or, the voice of my roaring? for with strong crying and tears I offer up my prayers and supplications a Heb. 5.7. . 2. O my God,] I will never cease to call thee so, though now thine indignation for the sins of the world lieth heavy upon me, so that though [I cry in the daytime,] in the which I suffer the torments of crucifixion, [yet thou hearest not:] so as to deliver me from them: [and in the night-season also] when I was in a bitter agony, sweeting drops of blood under the pressure of the Sins of men, and thy wrath for them, in both seasons and sad sufferings [I take no rest.] no ease of my Soul's sorrows, no cessation of my bodily torments. 3. And thou continuest holy,] just and faithful in all thy promises of mercy to the miserable: or, [thou dwellest in thy holy one,] in this holy and innocent body of mine, though nailed to the cross. So we read, God was in Christ reconciling the world b 2 Cor. 5.19. . [O thou worship of Israel.] who hast so often delivered thy people, and been made both the subject matter of their prayers and praises, and only object of their divine adoration and worship. 4. Our fathers] after the flesh, the Patriarches and Prophets of old, [hoped in thee:] and when they did so, when sincerely and without hypocrisy [they trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them.] as from the Egyptian bondage and Babylonian captivity, and from all their enemies on every side: figuring thereby the great deliverance and redemption of mankind by my present Sufferings for their Sins. 5. They called upon thee,] as the only anchor of their hope amidst the raging waves of worldly tribulations, [and were helped:] either supported in their distresses, or delivered from them: [they put their trust in thee, and were not confounded.] or frustrated in their expectation of a sure and seasonable succour and defence. 6. But as for me,] who now call upon thee in distress, [I am a worm,] framed of the dunghill nature of Adam by the supernatural operation of the Holy Ghost upon my Virgin-Mother, without any carnal lust or copulation; as the worm hath its being out of the dung of the earth, without any mutual coition, by the sole heat of the Sun; [and no man:] not made man after the same manner with others: and as a worm that is trodden on and despised, so am I [a very scorn of men,] who have spitten on me, reviled, reproached, derided, whipped, buffeted, and in all respects used me as [the outcast of the people.] who have judged me more unfit to live then Barrabas, a thief, a rebel, and a murderer. 7. All they that see me, laugh me to scorn; they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads,] So we read, And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, saying, He saved others, himself he cannot save c Matt. 27.39, 42. : [saying,] in derision, 8. He trusted in God, that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, if he will have him.] So saith the sad story of our Saviour's suffering d Matt. 27.43. . Thus have they rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my good will. But though I be thus evil entreated by sinful men, yet thou, Lord, 9 Thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb:] 'Twas by thee alone, (for none but a supernatural Divine power could effect it,) that I was both made man, and born of a woman: [thou waste my hope when I hanged yet upon my mother's breasts.] my refuge, my support in my infancy as Man; who art my Father from all eternity as God. 10. I have been left unto thee ever since I was born:] my Humane nature being united unto the Person of the Son of God from the first moment of my conception: [thou art my God even from my mother's womb.] when I was conceived without any other father but thy power sanctifying the Virgin-womb of my mother; and have ever since lived, and am now ready to die, in obedience to thy most holy will. 11. O go not from me,] by withdrawing thy Divine assistence, [for trouble is hard at hand:] the inveterate malice of my persecuting enemies and my tormenting pains bespeak my near-approaching death: [and there is none to help me.] in that bitter agony, besides thee, O Lord: for vain is the help of man; and the nearest of my friends and followers have also now forsaken me and fled: in whose room 12. Many oxen are come about me:] people who have cast off the yoke of Obedience to God's most holy Laws, being luxuriant in their opinions, and licentious in their conversation: by such I was apprehended, hurried away, hooted at and reviled, falsely accused, and cried down by their loud clamours against me: [fat bulls of Basan] the High-priests, rich and fat men of the world, swollen with their pomp and wealth, armed with power like unto horned bulls, [close me in on every side.] By their counsels and conspiracies, votes and suffrages, they have so enfettered me, that there was no way left to escape their rage and malice. 13. They gape upon me with their mouths;] some falsely accusing, some ironically deriding, some maliciously reproaching, some unjustly censuring and condemning me; and all crying out, Crucify him, crucify him; [as it were a ramping and a roaring lion.] greedily and fiercely yelling over his prey: so eagerly do they thirst after the blood of my Soul, and that now is in their power; for 14. I am poured out like water;] so is my Blood poured out of all my veins, flowing from my nailed Hands and Feet, pierced Side, and from my Head crowned with thorns, which eat into my temples. And may this precious blood, like water, wash off the pollutions of my Soul, soften the hardness, moisten the dryness, and make fertile the barren ground of my Heart, to be capable of the great benefits my dear Redeemer purchased with his Blood. [all my bones are out of joint:] through the violent distension of my Members on the Cross: and yet far greater are the sufferings of my Soul, for [my heart also in the midst of my body is even like melting wax.] even melted in the fiery furnace of God's wrath for the Sins of the world, whose indignation like fire consumes and eats up all consolation within me. 15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd,] That radical humour which supplies the strength of the body is exhausted through the effusion of my Blood, and dislocation of my bodily Members, [and my tongue cleaveth to my gums:] through the drought, pain and weakness of my tortured Body: [and thou shalt bring me into the dust of death.] By my Death and Burial in the dust of the earth my Sufferings will be completed. And this cannot be avoided, 16. For many dogs] persons who bark and devour, not out of conscience or love of the Truth, but out of custom and malice: such [are come about me:] they encompass me, to rend and tear in pieces both my good name, liberty, and life itself: [the council of the wicked layeth siege against me.] So we read, The chief priests and elders took counsel against Jesus; to put him to death * Matt. 27.1. : and this both shameful and painful; for 17. They pierced my hands and my feet;] Through the palms of my Hands and the plants of my Feet, places fullest of nerves, and most capable of sense, have they nailed me to the Cross; but first with the greatest violence, and to the utmost extent, my Arms and Legs were expanded, so that [I may tell all my bones:] for they start through my flesh, through the violent distension thereof; and this to the great astonishment of all that behold my torments: for [they stand staring and looking upon me.] The tormenting punishment renders me so misshapen, distorted, and deformed, as makes all the spectators gaze and wonder. But 'tis more with bodily then spiritual eyes: They see not, neither do they understand me aright, though I thus suffer for their sins. 18. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.] So did the Soldiers with the garment of our Lord's natural Body; and so do Heretics and Schismatics with his mystical Body the Church. 19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord:] so as to leave me altogether destitute of consolation in my present distresses; nor yet to leave me buried in the grave to see corruption with other men, and not to rise again till 〈◊〉 general Resurrection: [thou art 〈◊〉 succour;] 'Tis thy promise of succour I rely upon; [haste thee to help me.] finishing my Sufferings by Death, and the Redemption of the world by my Resurrection from death to life. 20. Deliver my soul from the sword.] from that death which by the sword and violence of wicked men is inflicted: [and my darling, or dear and only one,] Such was the Soul of Christ, dear, because innocent and free from Sin; and the only one, that is, absolutely so: such is the Church of Christ, dear unto him, without spot; and only one, as united in its Members. [from the power of the dog.] from such who without reason bark and devour: (August.) or, from the power of Hell, which greedily devours like a dog all that descend into it. (Lyra.) 21. Save me from the lion's mouth;] out of the jaws of the Devil, which are open ever to swallow up all departing Souls into death eternal. But by thy assistence I shall overcome the tyrant, and swallow up Death in victory. [thou hast heard me also] answered my prayers by thy deliverance of me [from amongst the horns of the unicorns.] such as lifted up the horn of pride and fierceness against me, and extolled themselves (August.) as if there were none like them. And thus far (saith Cassiodore) our Lord expostulates his Sufferings by way of Prayer: The fruit of his Passion followeth; which is in general the Glory of God's name. 22. I will declare thy name] thy might and thy Majesty, thy greatness and thy goodness, in my Passion and Resurrection especially manifested [unto my brethren:] to my Apostle and Disciples, and they to others. F●● the word was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them the● heard him f Heb. 2.2, 3. . [in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.] publicly and in the Temple of the Lord, where every man speaks of his honour. 23. O praise the Lord, ye that fear him:] Ye that have any respect to th● worship of the Lord, lift up you voice in the congregation, and both with Priest and people praise the Lord: [magnify him, all ye of the seed of Jacob, and fear him, all ye of the seed of Israel.] even all whom he hath chosen to be his people, whether Jews or Gentiles. So they are distinguished, Ye men of Israel, and ye that fear the Lord, i. e. from amongst the Gentiles g Act. 13.16. . To both, even to all you it appertains to praise the Lord, for the Redemption of the world by his Son Jesus Christ; who although he was despicable in the eyes of men, yet is far otherwise in the eyes of the Lord: for 24. He hath not despised nor abhorred the low estate of the poor;] Though born in a poor condition; lived a poor life; more poor yet in his death, being stripped naked of all, even to a little linen to cover his nakedness; destitute of what the poorest enjoy, a buriall-place, for he was buried in a stranger's sepul chre: yet not despised, but highly exalted, having a Name given above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow— Nor hath He ever despised his brethren, the Members of his body, who conform to his poverty, by being poor in spirit, humble and meek— [he hath not hid his face from him:] either through neglect or scorn, as too usually men do to the poor: [but when he called unto him, he heard him.] as not presuming in himself, but depending upon God. 25. My praise is of thee, or in thee, For God the Son is praised in the Father, and the Father in the Son, [in the great congregation:] both of the Church militant here below, and triumphant above. And that thy praise may be perfected in and by me, [my vows will I perform] The vows of our Blessed Lord were, to offer up his Soul a Sacrifice for Sin, and to give his holy Body and Blood to be the food of devout Souls in the Blessed Eucharist: and this to be publicly performed, even [in the sight of them that fear him.] And only for such is that Blessed Feast prepared: not for the proud, stubborn, and disobedient; but for 26. The poor] The humble and penitent Souls, and such as have abjured the Pomp's and Vanities of this wicked world; such [shall eat and be satisfied:] because they hungered and thirsted after righteousness: [they that seek after the Lord] in all humility and devotion [shall praise him;] because he is found of them that seek him, and showeth himself to such as distrust him not; [your heart shall live for ever.] The life of your heart is the joy thereof, which is both begot and maintained unto perpetuity by the Bread of life. He that eateth this bread shall live for ever h Jeh. 6.51. . 27. All the ends of the world] The inhabitants of the utmost corners of the earth [shall remember themselves,] in the remembrance and adoration of their Creator and Redeemer, [and be turned unto the Lord:] from the service of the creature to the worship of God, over all Blessed for ever. Such, so great and unspeakable, is the efficacy of our Saviour's Passion, as that thereby the sacred beams of Grace and Truth are displayed over all the world: insomuch that [all the kindreds of the nations] of what tribe, family, nation, sect or condition soever, [shall worship before him.] fall down before his footstool, and adore him as the great Redeemer of the world, and Prince of the holy Catholic Church. 28. For the Kingdom is the Lord's:] Or, Dominion over all the people of the earth is given to the Lord Christ who hath a Name written on his vesture and on his thigh, King of kings, and Lord of lords i Rev. 19.16. : [and he is the Governor among the people.] even all true Christian people, among whom and over whom he sways his Sceptre of righteousness by his Holy Word and by his Holy Spirit. 29. All such as be fat upon earth] spiritually fat, or grown in Grace and Holiness; temporally fat, abounding in wealth and power, the Princes and Potentates of the earth, saith the Chaldee Paraphr. [have eaten and worshipped.] adoring the Lord for that he feeds them with his Divine Gifts and Graces. 30. All they who go down into the dust] whose bodies are buried in the grave [shall kneel before him:] prostrate themselves unto him, who vouchsafed to give himself, both Soul and Body, a Ransom for their Sins: for being all dead in Sin, [no man hath quickened his own soul.] That was and is effected only by the meritorious Death of the Lord of Life. And such as are quickened, even 31. My seed] whose Life in grace is the fruit and issue of my Death: of which seed it is said, When thou shalt make his Soul an offering for Sin, he shall see his seed k Isa. 53.10. , even the fruits of his Passion, devout Believers, who [shall serve him:] or, keep his holy Will and Commandments, and walk in the same all the days of their life: [they shall be counted unto the Lord for a generation.] being regenerated by Water and the Holy Ghost in Baptism; whereby they are made Members of Christ, Children of God, and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. 32. They shall come,] being admitted into the glorious Communion of his blessed Saints, [and the Heavens] both above and below, both the Church Triumphant and Militant, [shall declare his righteousness] His Mercies promised, and performed in the Redemption of the world, shall be proclaimed to all succeeding generations, [to a people that shall be born,] new born in and through all the Ages of the Church, [whom the Lord hath made.] his own peculiar people, whose mouths are filled with his praise for ever, saying, Glory be to God the Father— As it was in the beginning— In the Greek Liturgy the people pray in the words of the Thief upon the Cross, Lord, remember us in thy Kingdom. The Priest answers, God be mindful of every one of us in his Kingdom both now and always for ever and ever. Amen. In the Mozarabick Liturgy. I. By the wood of a Tree was Adam banished out of Paradise; and from the Tree of wood, the Cross, the Thief that was crucified with our Lord ascended into Paradise. The one by eating the forbidden Fruit transgressed the Law of his Maker: the other confessed Christ in his Crucifixion to be the Lord of Heaven, saying, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. II. Grant unto us, O Lord, the Repentance of the Thief upon the Cross; and grant that we may with the like Faith call upon thee our Lord of great and much mercy, saying, Lord, remember us in thy Kingdom. III. Lord, thou hast made us in the image of thine ineffable Glory, which we have much defaced by the black marks of our many Falls: have mercy upon the work of thine hands, sanctify us of thy great goodness, and restore us to our much-desired Country, the celestial Paradise. Lord, remember us in thy Kingdom. CHAP. VIII. Meditations and Prayers preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday-night or Sunday-morning before. I. THOU art now invited, O my Soul, to such a Banquet as Heaven and Earth affords not the like. 'Tis the precious Body and Blood of thy dear Redeemer, which he first gave to be the price of thy Redemption, and now gives again to be thy food and nourishment. Teach me, O Lord, by thy Holy Spirit, Out of St. Ambrose. to understand and believe, and ever to conceive and speak of those great and wonderful Mysteries (and this day to receive the same) with that Faith and Esteem, Humility and Contrition, holy Desires and Resolutions, Reverence and Devotion, as may please thee, and conduce to my Soul's Salvation. Empty my heart of all vain, idle, wand'ring Thoughts, and of all filthy and unfruitful Lusts. Take from me this Heart of stone, and give me an heart of flesh, a soft and melting heart, to fear thee, love thee, honour thee, delight in thee, and so to follow thee, that I may be for ever happy in the enjoyment of thee. II. O Holy crucified Jesus, Out of St. Aug. Man. ca 11. I humbly beg, by that sacred effusion of thy most precious Blead, give unto thy Servant the effusion of Tears, with compunction of spirit, when I approach thine Altar, to partake of that celestial Sacrament, worthy of all Reverence, and the most inflamed Devotion, which thou, O Lord God, didst institute, and command to be received, in commemoration of thine infinite Love in dying for us, and for the reparations of our manifold infirmities and daily failings. Grant me, Blessed Lord, Out of T. Aquin. not only to receive that Sacrament in the outward Elements, but in the virtue and power thereof; not Bread and Wine alone, but the Body and Blood of my Jesus, to the Remission of all my Sins, and to all other the Benefits of his Death and Passion for me. III. The whole need not a Physician, Out of T. Aquin. but they that are sick: And such am I, a diseased sinsick Soul; and as sick I now go to my Physician; as a Sinner, to the Redeemer of fallen Man; as miserable, to the Father of Mercy; as unclean, to the fountain of Purity; as poor and needy, to the Lord of all Bounty; as blind and ignorant, to the Brightness and splendour of Spirits; as infirm and weak, to the Strength of Israel. And oh that it may please thee to enlighten my Darkness, to heal all my Infirmities, to enrich my Poverty, to strengthen my Weakness, to wash away all my Uncleanness, and by the Communion of thy precious Body and Blood to cleanse me from all Filthiness both of flesh and spirit, that I may perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. iv Thou didst offer up thyself, Out of Tho. a Kempis. Blessed Jesus, even thy whole self, upon the Altar of the Cross, a Sacrifice for my Sins; no Member of thy Body not tormented, no Power of thy Soul not sacrificed, no Drop of thy Blood not shed for me a miserable Sinner. 'Tis therefore most just and meet, and my bounden Duty, that I should offer up myself, my whole self, to thee and to thy service: for I am not mine own, being bought with a price; and such a price as transcends the value of all that the whole Heavens and Earth afford beside. Whatever I offer unto thee, O Lord, though it be all that I do enjoy in the world, with my Prayers for all, it will not be accepted without the offering of myself: for 'tis not mine, but me, not all that is without me, but all that is within me thou requirest, as the price of thyself to be enjoyed. Receive me, O Lord, in the devout Participation of thy most holy Body and Blood, whereunto I am now invited. Guard me, O Lord, with the pious custody and strong defence of thy holy Angels invisibly present, and assistant in the transaction of those tremend Mysteries of Godliness and Salvation; that the enemies of all that is holy and good may be thence driven back with shame and confusion. In all the holy Actions of that sacred celestial Service make me sensible of the sweetness of thy presence with me: that I may taste and see how gracious the Lord is a Psal. 34.8. , be satisfied with the plenteousness of thy house, and drink of thy pleasures as out of a river. For with thee is the Well of life, and in thy light shall we see light b Psal. 36.8, 9 . O send out thy light and thy truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to thy holy hill, and to thy dwelling: and that I may go unto the Altar of God, even the God of my joy and gladness: and upon the harp (with my heart) will I give thanks unto thee, O God my God c Psal. 43.3, 4. . The CXI. Psalm. Verse 1. I Will give thanks unto thee, O Lord; with my whole heart a God must be worshipped not with the lips alone, nor alone in the closet; but both with heart and voice, both secretly and in the Congregation. ; secretly among the faithful, and in the congregation b not in the Conventicles of Heretics and Schismatics, but in the Congregation of the faithful. . 2. The works of the Lord are great; sought out of all them that have pleasure therein c whose delight it is to study and meditate upon the greatness of God apparent in his works. . 3. His work is worthy to be praised and had in honour: and his righteousness endureth for ever d wherein to the honour of God his righteousness is as himself unchangeable and everlasting. . 4. The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done his marvellous works, that they ought to be had in remembrance * Though the Lord be marvellous in all his works, yet of his grace and mercy he hath therein observed such an excellent order, that we might remember and recount them to his praise and glory. . 5. He hath given meat to them that fear him: he shall ever be mindful of his covenant f In remembrance of the Covenant of grace he has made with his people, he feeds them with celestial meat, even the Sacrament of his Holy Body and Blood. . 6. He hath showed his people the power of his works: that he may give them the heritage of the heathen g by the power and virtue whereof, we, who were heathens, are entitled to the heritage of Heaven. . 7. The works of his hands are verity and judgement: all his Commandments are true h Christ is Truth to them who worthily receive him, but Judgement to the unworthy. . 8. They stand fast for ever and ever: and are done in truth and equity i And this being true and equitable, shall never fail of its due accomplishment. . 9 He hath sent Redemption to his people, he hath commanded his Covenant for ever: Holy and reverend is his Name k God's holy and reverend Name is to be for ever magnified, for the Redemption of his people in the Blood of his Son, which is sealed and applied in the Blessed Eucharist, to stand as an everlasting Covenant betwixt God and man. . 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom l The first part of this Covenant is the beginning of Wisdom, viz. to fear the Lord, and to departed from evil, or to renounce the Devil and all his works, the Pomp's— : a good understanding have all they that do thereafter: the praise of it endureth for ever m They are truly wise who frame both their hearts and lives by this rule of Divine fear, the praise whereof is everlasting. . Glory be to the Father, and— As it was in the beginning— The Prayers. I. THou art worthy, O Lord, to be praised and had in honour for all thy marvellous works; but most to be admired for thy grace and mercy in the Redemption of thy people by the Blood of thine own dear Son, whom thou hast also given to be meat unto them that fear thee. Be ever mindful, O Lord, of this thy Covenant of grace; and grant that I may ever receive the Blessed Sacrament, which is the Seal thereof, in verity, and not unto judgement; nor to my condemnation, but unto the attainment of the heritage of Heaven through Jesus Christ— II. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to pierce my heart with such an awful fear of thy Name, which is holy and reverend, that I may not dare to offend thee, by transgressing the least of thy Commandments, but carefully, conscientiously and constantly do thereafter; that I may be admitted into the blissful Society of those happy Souls, the praise of whose innocence and holiness endureth for ever, through Jesus Christ— Praefatio ad Orationem Dominicam ex Liturgia S. Basilii ante Communionem Corporis— That we may worthily receive the Body and Blood of our Lord, to the confirming and strengthening of our Souls, let us worthily say that Prayer which the onely-begotten Son of God hath taught us, crying unto heaven with a pure heart, Our Father, which art in Heaven,— You may, if you desire to enlarge your Prayers upon this divine subject, add Psal. CXVI. verse 10. to the end, and CXXVIII. and CXLVII. verse 12. to the end. CHAP. IX. Meditations upon your going to Church, with some short Directions for your demeanour in the House and in the Service of God. UPON your going to Church three things will be necessary for you to consider: 1. the condition of the Place whither you are going; 2. the great End of your going thither; and, 3. how there you are to demean yourself. All this you would consider, if you were going to the Palace of an earthly Prince, who is but a mortal man, like yourself: and you surely have much more reason to consider these particulars now that you are going unto the Courts of the Lord's House. First then, as to the House whither you are going, 'tis indeed, as to its Fabric, but like other houses, made of wood and stone: [even as the Lord's Day is but like other days as to the air and light of Heaven:] But the relative Holiness of this House, and its eminency above other houses, will appear by the Names whereby it is called both in the Book and by the People of God. Under the Law it was called the Tabernacle of the congregation, i. e. the place of God's meeting with his people; the Temple of the Lord, where he presents himself to the view of his people sitting betwixt the Cherubims as on his Throne of state. 'Tis also called the Sanctuary of the Lord; the House of God; the Habitation of his Holiness; and the place where his Honour dwelleth. All which Names do explain each other, and need no interpretation. Under the Gospel 'tis called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Church of God; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Lord's House; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the King's Palace; and Oratorium, the house of Prayer. Any of which Names (much more all of them together considered) will oblige any man who hath any sense of Religion, to obey that command of God himself, which is not merely ceremonial and typical, but moral and perpetual, Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary: I am the Lord a Leu. 19.30. . Secondly, as to the great End of your going to Church, it is, to present yourself before the Lord, and there to adore the great Majesty of Heaven, from whom you have your life and breath and all things. It is not to serve yourself, by hearing this or t'other fine-gifted Minister tickling your itching ears, by his taking discourses agreeable to your fancy: but to serve the Lord is your errand to his House, viz. there to join with the Minister and the Congregation in public Prayers and Praises of God, in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs, in Confessions, Thanksgivings and Benedictions, as wherein chief the service of God consists. Behold, now praise the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord; ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord, even in the Courts of the house of our God. Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary, and praise the Lord b Psal. 134.1, 2. . As for me, I will worship towards thy holy Temple, and praise thy name— c Psal. 138.2. . Thirdly, as to your Carriage and Demeanour in the House of God, you are commanded, Keep thy foot when thou goest unto the house of God d Eccles. 5.1. : enjoining thee, 1. to beware of all light, unseemly, indecent and irreverent carriage, and to show Humility and Devotion in all the Gestures of thy Outward man: bowing down thyself, and kneeling before the Lord thy Maker * Psal. 95.6. ; before him who made both thy Body and Soul, and joined them together, that they might be joined in his Service. So worshipped the people of God; the whole congregation bowed themselves with their faces to the ground f 2 Chron. 7.3. . And so all good people resolve to do: We will go into his tabernacle, and fall low on our knees before his footstool g Psal. 132.7. . 2. The foot of the Inward man must also, and chief, be kept upright in the House of God. Thy Affections are the feet or motions of thy Soul: these must be kept free from all secular Cares, pure from all sensual Lusts, clean from all wanton, wicked Inclinations, yea from all Thoughts of any worldly concerns. For ye cannot serve God and Mammon h Matt. 6.24. . In the High-priest's forehead was engraven in a plate of gold, Holiness to the Lord i Exod. 28.36. : and every ordinary Priest was commanded to wash before he entered into the Sanctuary k Exod. 30.19, 20. : intimating that exact Purity and Holiness which is required of all, both Priests and people, when we approach the presence of the Lord in his holy Temple. So saith the holy man of God, Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, for ever l Psal. 93.5. : and he resolves accordingly; I will wash my hands in innocency, and so will I go to thine Altar m Psal. 26.6. . Be not slothful and negligent, averse and careless, backward and tardy in coming to the Church: for many and mischievous are the Consequents of coming late. For, 1. you rob yourself of the opportunity of your private Prayers for a Blessing upon the public. 2. You lose the benefit of the public Confession and Absolution, which are of high esteem and value to all who are wisely Religious. And, 3. to deprive yourself wittingly and willingly of any part of God's public Worship, is both a sin and a loss of so great an account, as cannot easily be expressed, or will be ordinarily believed. Against such sinful sloth and neglect, endeavour to have imprinted in your heart the love of God's House, and of his Service there performed. Say with the man after God's own heart, Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth o Psal. 26.8. . I was glad when they said unto me, We will go unto the house of the Lord p Psal. 122.1. . Our feet stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem q Verse 2. . 1. When you come to the Church-door, Consider, that you are now upon entrance into the Presence-chamber of the Great King of the world, whose Throne of glory is in Heaven above, but his Throne of grace in his Temple here below. Say then within yourself, Surely the Lord is in this place— How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the House of God: this is the Gate of heaven r Gen. ● 16, 17. . O how amiable are thy dwellings, thou Lord of hosts! My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God. Yea the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest, where she may lay her young, even thine Altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they who dwell in thy House: they will be always praising thee † Psal. 84.1, 2, 3, 4. . And most happy were I, could I both esteem it, and make it my greatest joy, and constant labour of love, to praise the Lord in his Temple. 2. When you are entered, and View the Baptisterion or Font, Give hearty thanks unto God for your Christendom; that by holy Baptism he hath called you to the state of Grace and Salvation through Jesus Christ: and humbly beseech God to give you his grace to continue in the same to your life's end, by the religious observance of that Vow which was so solemnly taken in your name, the which you must now perform, that you forfeit not the great privileges, rewards and honours, of being a Member of Christ, a Child of God, and an Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven. 3. When you view the Pulpit, Remember how many good Lessons you have received thence; the which not being carefully practised will rise up in judgement against you in the great Day of your Trial. Resolve therefore for the future to be a Doer of the Word, and not a Hearer only, deceiving your own self. 4. When you look up towards the Altar, say, What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me? I will receive the Cup of salvation, [offer the sacrifice of Thanksgiving for my Redemption,] and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the sight of all his people, in the courts of the Lord's house; even in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord t Psal. 116.12, 13, 14, 18, 19 . Glory be to the Father— As it was in the beginning— 5. When you come to your Seat, kneeling down, pray, I. Prayer. Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants: and grant that what we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually through Jesus Christ— II. Prayer. O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee, grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts: and more especially be assistant to us in all the holy actions of this day through Jesus Christ— III. Prayer. And since by reason of our Sins we are unworthy to offer up any Sacrifice to so pure a Majesty, grant, merciful Lord, both to me, and to all thy faithful people, pardon and peace: that being cleansed from all our Sins, we may serve thee with a quiet mind through Jesus Christ— Directions relating to some parts of the public Worship. AS soon as the Minister gins with the public Worship, all your private Meditations and Prayers must be waved, and your mind applied to attend diligently, and to join devoutly in every part and passage of Divine Service; considering that this is the great End of your coming to Church, and your business there is to serve the Lord with your Christian brethren in public. 1. Therefore when the Minister exhorts you, out of the Word of God, to confess and acknowledge your sins and wickedness, harden not your heart, but with all possible humility both of Body and Soul say after the Minister in the Confession of sin: and to this, and to every Prayer, or other act of Divine Worship, where 'tis prescribed, neglect not to say Amen: for that is as it were the seal to confirm to your Soul the Benefits thereof. And the Hebrews have a saying, that Whosoever says Amen with all his might, opens the doors of Paradise. 2. After the Confession, when the Minister comes to the words of Absolution, bow down your head, and say softly in your heart, Lord, let this pardon pronounced by thy Minister fall upon my Soul, and seal thereunto the forgiveness of all my sins. 3. The Psalms and Hymns are to be answered verse for verse with the Minister; that so all may join and bear a part in the Service of God: for in his Temple doth every man speak of his honour v Psal. 29.9. And 〈◊〉, although you cannot read, yet your heart may join with them that do read: and your mouth also may show forth the praise of God, by saying after every Psalm, Glory be to the Father, and to— or else, if it fall in course, As it was in the beginning, is now— Adding always Amen, to express how affectionately you desire the glory of God. 4. Be not silent, nor ashamed publicly and audibly to make confession of the holy Christian Faith, when you are thereunto called by the Minister. For this is a Duty you own both to God and Man: it is an act of God's Worship, and a declaration that you hold the same Faith with all true Christians. And therefore 'tis required of you, not only with the heart to believe unto righteousness, but that with the mouth also Confession be made unto salvation x Rom. 10.10. And when the Confession of Faith is publicly pronounced, do not you sit or loll, as if it concerned you not, but stand up with the rest of the Congregation, to signify and declare, that you will stand to this Faith, and earnestly contend for it, as being the same which was once given to, or by, the Saints, the holy Apostles. 5. Be not so cold and careless in giving honour to God, as not to bow at the name of Jesus: for 'tis a Duty positively commanded, and universally practised by the Church and people of God in all Ages. And therefore give no ear to those deceivable Criticisms, corrupt Glosses, and false Inferences, which are too frequently, but profanely, urged to make void the commandment of God, in the omission of this Religious practice. If you hear any such allegations out of the Pulpit, detest them the rather, that any act of Religious worship should be spoken against in the place where whatever tends to the honour of God should be magnified and advanced. 6. That you may not be tired with the length of the Divine Service, consider, 1. the great variety of its several parts, as consisting of Prayers and Praises, Confessions, Thanksgivings, Invitations, Lessons, Admonitions— all of which are with most admirable prudence and Religious wisdom so ordered, and contrived to follow each other, that so the ending of one, and beginning of another, may renew and re-enquicken your Devotion cheerfully to join in all. Remember, 2. whose service it is you are adoing, and continue therein from the beginning to the end: that you may reap the benefit of the whole Office, both of the Absolution in the beginning, and of the Blessing in the end, and of the Amen's throughout. CHAP. X. Meditations and Prayers at the Blessed Sacrament. When you go up to communicate. COme unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you a Matt. 11.28. . Thus calleth my Saviour upon Sinners: whereunto my heart answereth, I come, Blessed Jesus; in all humility, and deeply sensible of my Sins, I now come unto thee, to be eased of the burden of them, and to be refreshed with the sense of thy Mercy, and the truth of thy Salvation. My heart hath talked of thee, [and of thy gracious command,] Seek ye my face: Thy face, Lord, do I now seek. O hid not thou thy face from me b Psal. 27.8, 9 , under the clouds of my Sins; neither let the thick clouds of my transgressions hinder the light of thy countenance from shining upon thy servant. When you kneel down before the Altar. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive blessing, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created c Rev. 4.11. . Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing d Rev. 5.12. Out of S. Chrysost. Liturgy. . But I am unworthy his praise should come within my polluted lips; and much more unworthy, his precious Body and Blood should be received into my Soul and unclean mouth. But since he disdained not to be born in a Stable, and to be laid in a Manger amongst Beasts * Luk. 2.7. ; since he vouchsafed to enter into the house of a Leper f Matt. 26.6. , and of a Publican g Luk. 5.29. , and to admit the kisses of an unclean Sinner (such as I am) washing his delicate Feet with her penitent Tears h Luk. 7.38. ; O vouchsafe, most benign Jesus, to receive me also: reject me not, though a Sinner, yet thy Servant; though unclean, yet penitent, and now humbling myself under thy most mighty hand. That it may please thee to remit, to release, to pardon all my Sins, whether of knowledge or ignorance, whether by thought, word or deed, committed: that with a pure and clean Soul I may receive thy most precious Body and Blood. Prayers out of several other Liturgies, that the devout Reader may have the more choice, and fix upon the use of such as he feels most enquickening his Devotion. Out of S. James' Liturgy. I. O Lord God, the Bread of Heaven, and Life of the World; I have sinned against Heaven and before thee, and am not worthy to partake of thy most holy Mysteries: yet vouchsafe, merciful Lord, to make me worthy by thy grace; that I may not receive thy Holy Body and Blood to my condemnation, but unto the remission of my Sins and everlasting life. Amen. II. I beseech thee, O Lord, Out of the R. B. that I may so worthily receive those sacred Mysteries of Salvation, as to have Christ dwelling in my heart, and that it may become the Temple of the Holy Ghost. III. In the spirit of Humility and with a contrite heart receive me, O Lord: and may the Sacrifice which this day I offer up unto thee be accepted, and please thee, O Lord my God. iv Let not the Participation of thy Body, Lord Jesus, which I, too much unworthy, presume to receive, be unto me for judgement, but effectual through thy great mercy for the safeguard both of my Mind and Body, and for the healing of my sinsick Soul, who livest and reignest with the Father— Out of the Greek Ritual. I. May what we now offer up unto thee, O Lord, be accepted, for the mercy of the universal World, for all them for whom Christ offered up himself a Sacrifice upon the Altar of the Cross, for the glory of thy Name, and for the coming of the Holy Ghost, that he may please to visit and enlighten my heart. Amen. II. As the Offering of righteous Abel, as the Sacrifice of Noah, of Abraham, of Isaac,— so let this our Sacrifice be acceptable unto thee, O Lord; and may the same be so worthily offered by us, and mercifully received by thee, as when 'twas performed by thy holy Apostles. Amen. III. O God, the King of all, give me, I beseech thee, true Compunction, the Redemption of my Sins, and the Amendment of my life, who am deeply immersed in bodily Affections, estranged from thee, and without hopes but in thy great goodness and saving mercies, Omnipotent Jesus, Saviour and Redeemer. Amen. Out of the Mozarabick Liturgy. I. May the Sacrifice we now offer up unto thy Divine Majesty be effectual for the Pardon of all our offences, for the Establishment of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith, and for all who religiously profess the same, through Jesus Christ— II. Bearing in mind continually the Holy Catholic Church, we pray that the Lord may be pleased to be propitious hereunto; and by the increase of Faith, Hope and Charity, to enlarge its limits. We likewise remember all them that are fallen, all that be in captivity, the infirm and sick, the stranger, the fatherless and widow, that the Lord would in mercy look upon them, restore, redeem, heal, comfort and relieve them all, through Jesus Christ— III O Holy Trinity, the Storehouse of blessings, vouchsafe to bless, confirm and strengthen us (all here present before thee:) deliver us from the day of condemnation, and let us not be confounded when we shall appear before thee, and in the presence of thy holy Angels; but make us joyful in thy Resurrection, Blessed Jesus. Keep the Soul of thy Servant the King; and let Grace and Peace, Charity and Humility flourish in his days, through Jesus Christ— iv Grant, O Lord our God, that we may receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, to obtain the Remission of all our Sins, and to be replenished with thy Holy Spirit, who livest and reignest, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God over all Blessed for ever. Out of the Liturgy. I. Holy, Holy, Holy, thrice Blessed ineffable Lord, grant me to receive the Blessed Body of my Redeemer not unto judgement, but to all fruitfulness in Good works, according unto thy will: and that such fruits may remain to thy glory. Quicken us in thee to do thy will. In faith we call thee Father, and pray, Thy Kingdom come, Hallowed be thy Name in us and by us; for thou art most powerful, praiseworthy, and glorious. To thee be glory for ever. Amen. II. O God, the Governor of Souls, the Guide of the holy, and the Crown of the just; open mine Eyes now to see thee, mine Ears always to hear thee, and mine Heart to receive thee. O give me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. And after of thy great grace thou hast satiated my Soul with thy Blessed Body and Blood, give me to understand both thy Greatness and thy Goodness, and grant that thy holy will may ever be done in my Soul: for thine is the Kingdom, O Lord. Glory and Blessing be to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen. III. Grant me, Blessed Lord, Out of the English Lit. so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his Blood, that my sinful Body may be made clean by his most Holy Body, and my Soul washed in his most precious Blood; that I may evermore dwell in him, and he in me. Amen. which is the great benefit of the Communion of Saints. After you have received the consecrated Bread. The Bread which I have now taken is the Bread which came down from Heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Oh that I may now feel its efficacy, enquickening and inflaming my Soul with the heavenly ardours of divine love, having all my Affections set upon things above, and not upon things below. May this Bread be to my Soul the staff of strength, whereby I may vanquish all the assaults of the Devil, the World, and the Flesh, and continue my Lord's faithful Servant and Soldier to my life's end. Amen. After the Cup received. O that this precious Blood of my dear Redeemer may be now both the Purification and Nourishment of my Soul, the seal of my Pardon and Peace with God, and the pledge of mine Inheritance in Heaven. After both. Grant, Holy Jesus, that as I have now received in faith thy precious Body and Blood, veiled under the Species of Bread and Wine, I may hereafter behold thy blessed Face reveiled in Heaven, to eat and drink with thy holy Angels and Saints in their mansions of bliss; where they are satisfied with the fullness of the most ravishing delights in the Beatifical vision of the thrice-blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; of whom, and through whom, and in whom are all things, and to whom be all glory for ever. Amen. Out of the Greek Ritual. We give thee thanks, good Lord, the Benefactor of our Souls, that thou hast this day made us worthy of thy celestial and immortal Mysteries. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to confirm us in thy fear, to preserve our life, to secure our paths, and to guide our feet in the way of peace. Amen. The Song of Simeon. 1. Lord, now lettest thou thy Servant departed in peace, according to thy Word. 2. For mine eyes have seen thy Salvation, 3. Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, 4. To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel. Glory be to the Father— As it was in the beginning— Meditations whilst others are communicated. The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers; though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary i 2 Chron. 30.18, 19 . Blessed are they who dwell in the House of the Lord, and are fed though it be but with the crumbs that fall from his Table. The XXXIV. Psalm is in the Apostolical Constitutions, and in S. Chrysostom 's Liturgy, appointed to be at this time devoutly prayed. Verse 1. I Will always give thanks unto the Lord: his praise shall ever be in my mouth. 2. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 3. O praise the Lord with me, and let us magnify his Name together. 4. I sought the Lord, and he heard me: yea he delivered me out of all my fear. 5. They had an eye unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. 6. Lo, the poor crieth, and the Lord heareth him: yea and saveth him out of all his troubles. 7. The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. 8. O taste and see how gracious the Lord is: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 9 O fear the Lord, ye that be his Saints: for they that fear him do lack nothing. 10. The lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they who seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good. 11. Come, ye children, and hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12. What man is he that lusteth to live, and would fain see good days? 13. Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile: 14. Eschew evil, and do good: seek peace and ensue it. 15. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous: and his ears are open unto their prayers. 16. The countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil; to root out the remembrance of them from off the earth. 17. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth them; and delivereth them out of all their troubles. 18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that are of a contrite heart: and will save such as be of an humble spirit. 19 Great are the troubles of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of all. 20. He keepeth all his bones: so that not one of them is broken. 21. But misfortune shall slay the ungodly: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. 22. The Lord delivereth the souls of his servants: and all they that put their trust in him shall not be destitute. Glory be to the Father— As it was in the beginning— The Prayer. May the praise of the Lord be ever in my mouth: and let us all magnify his Name together, who do now taste and see how gracious the Lord is: for he hath heard our prayers, enlightened our minds, delivered us from all our fears, and from all those troubles whereunto our Sins had made us liable. And oh that the sweet taste of our gracious Lord in this Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood may have its proper influence upon all the Affections of our hearts and Actions of our lives; that we may henceforth and for ever eschew evil, and do good; being fruitful in all the good works of Righteousness and true Holiness, from whence ensue eternal Peace and Happiness through Jesus Christ— I have sworn, [vowed in my Baptism, and now again renewed the same Vow,] and am steadfastly purposed, to keep thy righteous judgements k Psal. 119.106. . I am thine: [even now solemnly devoted thine, steadfastly resolved thine:] O save me, for I have sought thy Commandments l Vers. 94. . O hold thou up my go in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not m Psal. 17.5. . O hold thou up my go in thy paths, that I may daily perform my vows n Psal. 61.8. . CHAP. XI. Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving after the Holy Communion. The CIII. Psalm. Verse 1. PRaise the Lord, O my Soul; and all that is within me, praise his holy Name. 2. Praise the Lord, O my Soul; and forget not all his benefits: 3. Who forgiveth all thy sins, and healeth all thy infirmities: 4. Who saveth thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with mercy and lovingkindness: 5. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, making thee young and lusty as the eagle. 6. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgement for all them that are oppressed with wrong. 7. He shown his ways unto Moses, his works unto the children of Israel. 8. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, long-suffering and of great goodness. 9 He will not always be chiding: neither keepeth he his anger for ever. 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness. 11. But look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth: so great is his mercy also towards them that fear him. 12. Look how wide also the East is from the West: so far hath he set our sins from us. 13. Yea, like as a father pitieth his own children; even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him. 14. For he knoweth whereof we are made: he remembreth that we are but dust. 15. The days of man are but as grass: for he flourisheth as a flower of the field. 16. For as soon as the wind goeth over it, it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. 17. But the merciful lovingkindness of the Lord endureth for ever and ever upon them that fear him; and his righteousness upon children's children: 18. Even upon such as keep his covenant, and think upon his commandments to do them. 19 The Lord hath prepared his seat in heaven: and his Kingdom ruleth over all. 20. O praise the Lord, ye Angels of his, ye that excel in strength: ye that fulfil his commandment, and hearken unto the voice of his words. 21. O praise the Lord, all ye his hosts: ye servants of his that do his pleasure. 22. O praise the Lord, all ye works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise thou the Lord, O my Soul. Glory be to the Father, etc. I. 'Tis not within the power of all the Faculties of my Soul, worthily to praise the Lord, for that he hath now satisfied my mouth with the good things of Heaven; he hath forgiven me all my sins, and healed the diseases of my Soul; he hath renewed my strength as an Eagle, to mount my Soul unto Heaven upon the sacred wings of holy Faith, firm Hope, fervent Charity, and by the virtue of that celestial Food I have now received. II. How great is the goodness, and how great is the mercy of the Lord, who hath not dealt with me after my Sins, nor rewarded me according to my wickedness! But as a father pitieth his own children, so merciful is the Lord, and hath compassion upon the work of his own hands, and whom he hath framed after his own Image, frail and sinful though we be. III. But since through the weakness and frailties of my mortal nature I cannot praise the Lord as becometh his eminent grace and greatness: may my defects herein be supplied with the Hallelujahs of Angels and Archangels, and all the company of Heaven. And 'tis the exultation and joy of my heart, that these celestial Spirits cease not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts, Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory: Glory be to God on high. Amen. Blessed be the Lord God, even the God of Israel, who only doth wondrous things. And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and all the earth shall be filled with his majesty. Amen, Amen † Psal. 72.18, 19 . The following Hymn of Ananias, Azarias and Misael, is in some Liturgies prescribed to be used after the Blessed Eucharist. Tres pueri jussu Regis missi sunt in fornacem, non timentes flammam ignis; at dicentes, Benedictus es, Domine: Hallelujah. Verse 1. O ALL ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever a By this rhetorical invocation upon all creatures we stir up our own minds, in, by, and for them all to praise the Lord. . 2. O ye Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever b The Angels are called Morning-stars, for the light of their Understanding, which most eminently shines in their praises of the Lord, begun in the very morning of the Creation, and continued to all eternity. Job 38 7. Rev. 4.8. . 3. O ye Heavens, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever c The heavens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament showeth his— Psal. 19.1. . 4. O ye Waters that be above the firmament, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever d All creatures, even the most irrational, do praise the Lord, 1. By Excitement: in that the con●●deration of their vast number, and distinct nature, their beauty and variety, their use and excellency, their instincts and operations— do excite all Angels and all men to revere the Power, to admire the Wisdom, to adore the Greatness, to love the Goodness, and to be ravished with the Perfections of the Lord, which do so eminently appear in all the works of his hands, Rom. 1.19, 20. 2. By Obedience: in that all created Being's do regularly obey the law imposed upon each, both according unto, and sometimes against their natural inclinations; as in the example of these Three Children in the fiery furnace not consumed, which is at large declared Wisdom 16.17, 18,— 3. By the Benefit and Comfort we receive from them: which is therefore particularly to be considered upon the mention of every Creature, that in and for each we may with the more alacrity and devotion praise the Lord. . 5. O all ye Powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord praise him, and magnify him for ever. 6. O ye Sun and Moon, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 7. O ye Stars of heaven, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 8. O ye Showers and Dew, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 9 O ye Winds of God, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 10. O ye Fire and Heat, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 11. O ye Winter and Summer, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 12. O ye Dews and Frosts, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 13. O ye Frost and Cold, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 14. O ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 15. O ye Nights and Days, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 16. O ye Light and Darkness, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 17. O ye Lightnings and Clouds, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 18. O let the Earth bless the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 19 O ye Mountains and all Hills, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 20. O all ye Green things upon the earth, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 21. O ye Wells, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 22. O ye Seas and Floods, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 23. O ye Whales, and all that move in the waters, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 24. O all ye Fowls of the air, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 25. O all ye Beasts and Cattles, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 26. O ye Children of men, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever * After all the works of the Lord, Man is excited to praise him, who made all things for the use of Man, and Man for his praise in the use and consideration of them. . 27. O let Israel bless the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever f But the Church and people of God are most specially bound to praise God in his works, as to whom alone they are sanctified in their use, both natural and divine. . 28. O ye Priests of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever. 29. O ye Servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever g It is the constant and common work both of the Priests and people of God in his Church militant, . 30. O ye Spirits and Souls of the righteous, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever h and of his Saints in his Church triumphant, to praise the Lord. Psal. 84.4. . 31. O ye Holy and Humble men of heart, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever i The humble are encouraged to praise the Lord, because he hath respect to the lowly; but as for the proud, he beholdeth them afar off. Psal. 138.6. . 32. O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, bless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever k They who have received any signal Deliverances, are engaged to be the more frequent and servant in praising the Lord, for their Redemption both general and particular. . Glory be to the Father— The Prayer. O God, who didst miraculously assuage the fury of the fiery Furnace, that it touched not to harm thy Three Servants when cast thereinto, vouchsafe to allay all exorbitant heats of Concupiscence in my heart: Let not any vicious fires inflame my Affections; but quench them all through Faith in the Blood of my dear Redeemer, and by the sweet influences of thy Holy Spirit, the Breath of Heaven: and so shall my Soul bless thee, and praise thee, and magnify thy Holy Name for ever. Amen. Blessed be the Holy and undivided Trinity now and for evermore. Amen. The End.