THE CATECHISM OF THE Church of England, POETICALLY PARAPHRASED.  
BY JAMES FOWLER.  
LONDON; Printed by Tho. Hodgkin, 1678.   

Imprimatur,  
Guil. Jane, Jan. 4. 1677.   

TO My Worthy and much HONOURED FRIEND, EPHRAIM SKINNER Esq; SOMETIMES His MAJESTY'S CONSUL IN LEGORN.  
SIR,  
AS I know you have a natural averseness to being passive, so I find in myself no temptation to be active in those lofty Praises, that commonly stuff up Dedications: Let your works themselves (not my Encomium's) praise you in the Gates. Enjoy yourself in that Noble and Christian principle of sparing the Trumpet for securing the Reward. Only thus much I must say in Apology for this boldness, That the Catechism of the Church knows not better where to seek for Patronage, than at those hands that have been exemplarily liberal in beautifying the Temple. May you go on and Prosper in so pious a Design: and since it cannot be accounted a Digression to your Progress, with your favourable acceptance encourage these Papers, which are written for their Instruction, that aught to be the Polished Corners of it, that when nothing of you shall remain but the memory of your actions, they may rise up and call you Blessed. Which blessedness, as you plenteously sow it in this life, that you may reap abundantly in a better, is the hearty Prayer of  
Your most Obliged and humble Servant, JAMES FOWLER.   

TO THE READER.  
READER,  
THat indifferency in Poetry, which one that was a Stranger to it, thought unattainable, hath here been aimed at. This Paraphrase was intended for the benefit of Youth, and (as near as I could) Calculated for that Meridian. I have studied to approve myself a Divine that may Delight, and a Poet that may be Understood. If by tying myself to Scripture-phrase, and the expressions of the Church, I come short of that Poetic strain that may be expected, I desire it may be remembered, that it was designed for Children, and not for Critics. If it be read with that simplicity of heart, that it was written, I hope though it was fitted to the Capacities of the Younger, yet it will not so nauseate the more Intelligent and Judicious, but the performance may be accepted for the honesty of the Design.   

THE CATECHISM OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND, Poetically Paraphrased.  

Question.  
OF all the gifts, that serve delight, or grace  
The humane nature, knowledge first takes place.  
Knowledge which to the mind at once supplies  
Enlightening beams, and light-discerning eyes:  
That heaven-born faculty which man invest,  
With Godlike nature, differs man from beasts:  
That blessed object of the souls desire,  
That does at once content, yet screw it higher;  
Of which a maxim it hath always stood,  
That Souls to be without it is not good.  
Now since of Knowledge that that is divine,  
Does that that's merely humane far outshine;  
Since knowing of ourselves was always found,  
In this great Science the Foundation ground,  
Since what does this Self-knowledge first proclaim,  
Is that the busy tattling Child can frame  
It's yet unpractised tongue to tell its Name  
To give some proof how well thou hast begun  
To get this knowledge, What's thy Name my Son?   

Answer.  
The name first given me when I became  
A Christian, and thence called my Christian Name.  
Which aided by that Epithet gives check  
To sinful deeds, cries sinful thoughts stand back,  
And bids the soul walk worthy of the honour,  
And grandeur of that name that's called upon her.  
Live a true Christian, or renounce that name,  
Lest that which honours her, she basely shame;  
And that profession that she should adorn.  
Expose to censure obloquy and scorn.  
This glorious name, the mark and badge of him  
Whose Service makes me free is N. or M.   

Question.  
Who gave it you?   

Answer.  
My sureties, who because  
When I submitted to the Christian Laws,  
They answering for me did my soul beget  
Into the faith, myself not able yet  
To make confession on't, are therefore styled  
Parents in God to me their Christian Child.  
The scene of my receiving thus from them  
This Christian favour, was my Baptism;  
That mystic Military Sacrament,  
In which by Covenant I did indent  
The great Captain of my souls salvation,  
Fight his battle to maintain my station.  
Thus at my first enrolment into grace,  
I, wretched I till then, whose woeful case  
Angels condoled, God pitied, Christ bemoaned,  
For whose lost state the whole creation groaned,  
While devils did with spiteful joy and pride,  
God's image so transformed to theirs deride.  
I from the body erst lopped off and dead,  
My soul a Bastard and disherited:  
I thus to misery by sin betrayed,  
By this blessed means Oh blessed means!) was made  
A noble member of the noblest, highest,  
And wisest head, my Lord, my Saviour, Christ,  
A Child of God the most august or rather  
The only great and honourable Father.  
And an inheritor undoubted heir  
To an estate, as truly rich as fair.  
No soil so fruitful, nor the purest air  
So wholesome for the spirits; no prospect is  
So ravishing, no title safe as this;  
So safe the heir can never be bereaven  
For 'tis a Kingdom, and that placed in Heaven.   

Question.  
What did your undertakers then for you?   

Answer.  
Three things they did engage for me by vow,  
First, that I should forsake, abhor, detest  
That Enemy to man's eternal rest,  
That Serpent-hypocrite, who (though he can  
Transform himself, about to ruin man,  
Into an Angel of most glorious light)  
Is prince of darkness, king of blackest night.  
That roaring Lion, whose Apostate power  
Ranges the world to seek souls to devour  
That Crest-fal'n King of pride, that pride-fal'n star  
And metamorphosed Angel, Lucifer;  
Who for his tempting first and then accusing,  
For his ungodlike property in choosing  
Whatever's evil, and what's good refusing  
And in a word, his aptness to do evil,  
Fitly obtains his proper name the Devil.  
This is that Lord, whom they did undertake,  
I should together with his works forsake:  
Nor should it strange appear, that he which lurks  
And rules in slothful bosoms only, works.  
Slack rains in duty is the Devil's bridle,  
'Tis work enough for him to make men idle.  
Whom he can wean from God, himself has won;  
Let men their work omit, and his work's done.  
Sin then's his work and fitly titled his.  
Who is not Gods the Devil's servants is;  
And does his work; nor does he serve for nought,  
Vengeance his wages is, that sin hath wrought;  
Poor wages for hard service! let that Lord  
Do his own work, and take his own reward.  
With him I must forsake what by his care  
Is of a blessing made a curse and snare;  
The painted gewgaws of this cheating prize,  
This wicked world its pomps and vanities.  
So perfect from the Maker's hands it came,  
That from its beauty it derived the name.  
And he which good exactly understood,  
Approved of it when made, as very good.  
But all-inverting sin, which could it dwell  
In Heaven, would make even Heaven itself be Hell;  
This from its purity the world estranged,  
And perfect good to perfect wicked changed:  
'Twas this that set up gold a God to vie  
For Sovereign honour with the Deity;  
'Twas this gave pleasure an envenomed sting,  
Made honour death in glorious titles bring;  
This licenced fraud for wise, and force for just,  
And tipped loves-shafts with poisoned heads of lust.  
So that her blessings, now infected thus,  
Good in themselves, but deadly ill to us,  
Are all but baits to catch the soul in sin,  
Sugar without, but poison's hid within.  
There yet remains another dangerous elf,  
Which I must quit, I mean my treacherous self,  
With all my Carnal lusts, though they as dear  
And useful as right hands or eyes appear:  
Not one, though ne'er so small, but out it must,  
God never yet kept house with any lust.  
They're bred of flesh corrupt, that sink of evil,  
That pimp to sin, and strumpet to the Devil,  
Like Vermin gendered in the filth and mire  
Of her corruption, by that hellish fire:  
Sinfully sinful in themselves, as they  
Prompt all the powers o'th' soul to disobey;  
Make war against the soul, and in her manners  
Advance against the Lord Rebellious banners.  
From these the homebred foes with friendly faces,  
Which kill with kindness, murder with embraces;  
From these and their allurements, under pain  
Of death and hell, I must resolve t' abstain.  
That all these enemies should be forsaken,  
My sureties vowed; then further undertook  
I should,  purblind reason saith,  
Believe all th' Articles o'th' Christian Faith;  
Her scanty line in things divine will fail  
To fathom truth, here she and wit must veil.  
Thus far she may (and will if managed duly)  
To all faiths mysteries subscribe, and truly  
Assent, instructed thus to exercise  
In way of argument her faculties.  
This Sacred Doctrine is attested by  
The God of truth; who will not, cannot lie.  
His word's the word of truth, which does aver it  
Dictated by the Holy Ghost the Spirit  
Of saving truth; my own dim sight adieu,  
God says it, and it is, it must be true.  
What though I cannot apprehend it well,  
Though not with me, with God 'tis possible.  
And where my unfledged wings can soar no higher,  
I must not stand disputing but admire.  
Lastly, They vowed I should with watchful care,  
With awful reverence and holy fear;  
Even to the utmost of my power and skill  
Inviolably keep Gods holy will.  
Complete unsinning righteousness ('tis true)  
(Though to the purity of God 'tis due  
Yet) by the frailties of our sinful nature  
Is ne'er arrived at in its perfect stature.  
But though no foot uprightly walk, no hand  
Uprightly do, the heart may upright stand;  
And if obedience be well practised there,  
It will be thought imperfect, yet sincere.  
And this sincerity will so supply  
All the defects of legal purity,  
That God (whose eyes could never once endure  
To see pollution) shall account me pure.  
Sincerely I must aim at what is best,  
Do what I can, and will to do the rest:  
Where flesh and blood shall slip or stumble, grace  
Must take advantage by't and mend her pace.  
Thus did my sureties vow, I should fulfil  
And keep my holy Gods most holy will;  
And that his just commands should be the ways  
My soul should choose to walk in all my days.   

Question.  
Are you persuaded you are bound to do,  
And to believe as they engaged for you?   

Answer.  
Yes truly; when they promised in my name,  
I by their act obliged and bound became.  
The Covenant betwixt God and me was made,  
And what I could not say myself they said.  
But I the party was i'th' Covenant,  
To whom, since th' other party God did grant  
That grace on his part which my soul did want,  
'Tis just I should perform with thankful heart  
What he requireth in the Counterpart.  
And by God's help I will; for that must be  
The strengthening aid that must enable me.  
Without him, of myself I can do nought,  
Not think so much at best as one good thought.  
'Tis his good Spirit, and he only, who  
Works in me both the power and will to do.  
And all unfeigned hearty thanks I give  
To God, who thus hath given me power to live;  
My heavenly father, who vouchsafed t' enrol  
Into heaven's liberty my Hell-bound soul.  
That he hath called me to it, doth afford  
Me power to be saved through Christ our Lord.  
And him I pray his powerful grace to send  
To keep me in it to my lives last end.   

Question.  
Faith and obedience then to Christ's commands  
Are the two props on which Religion stands.  
Faith goes before, as that that does beget  
Obedience in the heart, and nourish it;  
Perfumes and seasons it, and makes it pass  
Accepted at the glorious throne of grace.  
Faithless obedience is but fruitless fruit,  
Sprung from a tree, that wants both sap and root;  
And he that works it, does but build on sand  
An unfoundationed house, that cannot stand:  
Let your first care be then to see the ground  
Whereon you build your hopes be firm and sound;  
And this to show, be't now your Christian lesson,  
Of th' Articles of faith to make confession.   

First Article. S. Peter.  
I Not another for me (no man's Creed  
Besides my own stands me in steed;  
Nor boots it any man that he receives  
And holds the faith the Church believes,  
Unless his reason giving her assent  
He chose it as most excellent)  
Believe, confess, rely upon, and trust  
As holy, gracious, true, and just  
In God, the best the greatest, first and last,  
That being infinitely vast;  
That great I AM, first cause, first mover he,  
That was, and is, and is to be  
That God that from Eternal ages stood  
The highest, greatest, chiefest good:  
The father, of all things living by creation,  
And by continual preservation.  
And by Adoption father of his Sons,  
The newborn Holy chosen ones.  
Almighty, whose unbounded powerful hand  
Did all create, does all command.  
Maker, who all created beings brought  
Out of a Chaos, out of nought.  
Of Heaven, his starry seat, that upper story,  
Where earthly grace turns heavenly glory:  
And Earth, his footstool, yet man's Royalty;  
Man's head at God's foot placed stands high.   

Second Article. S. Andrew.  
And in, not any other God than he,  
No more there are, no more can be;  
But in the second of the Vni-trine  
Persons transcendently divine;  
The true God-man in whom both natures joined  
Union but not confusion find.  
jesus, the Saviour of the souls of men  
Ransomed by him, but lost till than  
Which name in heaven above and earth below  
Calls upon every knee to bow.  
Christ, the Anointed with that oil of gladness  
Which cheers his fellows press'ed with sadness,  
As King, to rule us, Priest in priestly guise  
T' atone for sin by sacrifice,  
And Prophet to instruct, and teach us how  
To choose the good, and evil eschew.  
His only Son, begot by him, and yet  
Equal to him, that did beget.  
Our Lord, who bought us, and the purchase stood  
The Purchaser his dearest blood:  
Who are not, being bought with such a price,  
Our own by property, but his.   

Third Article. S. John.  
Who was conceived, not in a sinful state,  
But like himself Immaculate:  
By th' Holy Ghost, (whose overshadowed power  
Being graciously vouchsafed unto her  
Impregnated (Oh Heavenly bridal-groom!)  
A chaste unspotted Virgin's womb.  
Born of the Virgin Mary, mother she,  
To him that gave her first to be.  
Happy to be his Mother, happier far  
That he his Daughter counted her;  
Whose sinless chaste conception did bring forth  
A Sin-Curse-Free, a painless birth.   

Fourth Article. S. James the Great.  
Suffered, not for his own, but for the Sin  
Of hopeless, helpless, wretchless, men.  
Under a Governor, a Zealous pleaser  
Of the Ambitious jealous Caesar.  
Pentius Pilate, who his death Commands  
And washes then his guilty hands.  
Was Crucified, Condemned, and forced to be  
Hanged on the Cross, the Cursed tree;  
Where while nails pierced his sacred plants and palms  
his wounded side, dropped healing balms:  
Blood that might pay the score to justice, than  
Water to wash and make us clean;  
To evidence redemption finished  
Water from's heart to prove him dead.  
Dead, truly dead, the Lord of life and breath  
Fast-fettered in the Chains of death.  
And buried, buried in a Tomb obscure,  
And guarded too to make him sure;  
Yet was the Guest not common, and the grave  
No common entertainment gave.  
A Rock received him, and (the Scriptures say)  
A Rock, where never man yet lay.   

Fifth Article. S. Thomas.  
He, whom the heaven, and heaven of heavens in vain  
Might have endeavoured to contain.  
Descended into Hell, Content to have  
His lodgings in a six-foot grave;  
Thence, to th' infernal pit where Satan lurks  
To triumph over him and's works.  
The third day, ere his sacred body saw,  
Or yielded to corruptions law.  
He the first fruits of life, which he in spite  
Of Death and Hell would bring to light.  
Risen again from the dead, and showed it plain  
That man being dead can live again.   

Sixth Article. S. James the Less.  
He, than (his work being done, redemption wrought  
Hells works destroyed and man rebought.)  
Ascended into Heaven, his first abode,  
The only proper place for God.  
And sitteth, not till now his labour ceased  
And not till now he sits to rest.  
At the right hand of God, to signifi●,  
As well his power as dignity:  
Where now in our behalf he daily pleads  
And with the Father intercedes,  
For such continual and benign supplies,  
As suits our wants and miseries.  
The father Almighty, who can all things do,  
But to his dearest Son say no;  
Who as Almighty can his suit fulfil,  
And as a gracious Father will.   

Seventh Article. S. Philip.  
From thence, when judgements Trump shall sound a Call,  
And to the Bar shall summon all;  
And not before to reign as some mean dream,  
A thousand years on earth with them:  
He, but not such as formerly was he,  
Clothed with disgrace and poverty,  
But he such as he is eye-dazling bright,  
With Majesty and heavenly light.  
Shall come, attended as he truly merits,  
With Legions of Scraphick Spirits.  
To judge, impartially according to  
The works that in this life they do.  
The quick, who though in death they sleep not, shall  
Be changed in a moment all.  
And the dead too, whose perished bodies then  
Shall by his power be raised again;  
And reunited with the soul together,  
With that shall live, and live for ever.   

Eighth Article. S. Bartholomew.  
I Believe in him who proceeds as third,  
Both from the Father and the Word;  
Proceeding as the Godheads Emanation,  
Yet coeternal in duration:  
The third, yet equal person in the One,  
Both with the Father and the Son.  
The Holy Ghost, the blessed Lord and giver  
Of life whose lease bear's date for ever;  
Who by his various gifts dispensed abroad,  
So edifies the Church of God.  
And by his works upon the hearts of men,  
So lively influences them.  
That they who thus the seeds of grace inherit  
Brings forth the gracious fruits o'th' Spirit.  
This is the sum of what my faith doth gather  
Of God my gracious heavenly Father.   

Ninth Article. S. Matthew.  
Another part of my belief remains,  
And that the Church my Mother Claims.  
And here I do believe, (not in, nor on,)  
(Such faith respecteth God alone,)  
But with a faith Historically meant,  
Which does to truth revealed assent.  
The holy Catholic Church, that lovely spouse,  
For which her Lord his life did lose.  
Holy, as builded up and founded on  
Christ, the most holy corner stone.  
Whose Constitutions, Principles, Profession,  
Teach us her Sons, this holy Lesson:  
That holy, as he is holy we must be,  
Or never hope his face to see.  
Catholic as all those it comprehends,  
Whom our dear Lord accounts his friends.  
Whether they Militate for him below,  
Or having conquered triumph now.  
A Church, truth's rocky pillar, and firm ground,  
'Gainst which Hell-gates no force have found.   

Tenth Article. S. Simon.  
The sweet communion of the Saints, that high,  
And most Angelic harmony.  
Which they have first with God Christ's father and theirs  
As his beloved sons and heirs;  
With God the Son, as branches with the vine,  
As members with the head combine.  
With God the Spirit who in them, as God  
Within his Temple keeps abode.  
This bond of Charity does kindly move,  
Their hearts and souls in mutual love,  
And keeps the Church of God by this Communion  
A City in itself at Union.  
Not tainting her, nor truth perverting, by  
Blind and erroneous heresy.  
Nor yet with Schisms Rents dividing one,  
And making many, so make none.  
The full, and absolute, free and gracious,  
(No way deserved or earned by us,)  
Forgiveness, Pardon, plenary remission,  
Indemnity, and abolition.  
Of Sins, of whatsoever kind, degree,  
Whether in thought, word, deed they be.  
Granted to such, as having faith that's true,  
Are by repentance born anew.   

Eleventh Article. S. Judas Thaddeus.  
The Resurrection of the fleshly part,  
To share the spirits joy or smart.  
The body to corruption now inclined,  
But then more purer and more refined.  
Whose scattered ashes erst base earth and clay,  
And bones with drought consumed away,  
New-framed and reunited shall restore  
The selfsame man that was before.  
So though those crawling Cannibals, the worn  
Destroy these bodies in their urns;  
Yet in the flesh with these. not other eyes,  
We shall to see the Lord arise.   

Twelfth Article. S. Mathias.  
And, as the end the Crown, and recompense  
Of this my faith, and patience.  
The Life, not frail as this, whose every breath  
Brings the man one step nearer death.  
But everlasting, such a life as when  
Thousands of years, and, after them  
Miriads are spent, by millions multiplied,  
Though each brought forth an Age beside,  
Shall have when this is spent, and ten times mor●  
As long to last, as't had before.  
And so shall still roll on without conclusion,  
In an Eternal revolution;  
In which all Souls Eternally shall dwell,  
As Kings in Heaven, or Fiends in Hell.  
Ravished with Music in the Angel's Choir,  
Or Brands of Everlasting Fire:  
Amen, this was, is, will be true till when  
My Faith and Expectation, say Amen.   

Question.  
I've gladly heard you word by word explain  
This sacred Symbol: great might be the pain  
To learn this young, but greater sure the gain.  
Add yet to this a more concise and brief,  
Account of what you learn from hence in chief.   

Answer.  
Then, as three persons in the Godhead be,  
The parts of Faith are like its objects three.  
First I believe in God the great Creator,  
Who, when there was as yet nor form nor matter,  
Did by his word make men and all the World  
Of empty substance in Confusion hurled.  
First from a Vacúum from a darksome mist  
He bids a goodly beauteous world exist:  
Then of the dust, the base part of that  
Did man the glorious Lord thereof create.  
And then t'enlighten and adorn the whole  
Stamps a Divine impression on his Soul;  
Making in's mind, his better part to dwell  
The chief perfections that in God excel.  
Creates him his own image in a Will  
Perfectly free to choose or good or ill.  
Gives him a power of Standing, but withal  
To make it truly free a power to fall.  
And this was Paradise; but envious Hell  
ne'er ceased till glorious man from glory fell.  
He shows him beauty richly guilded o'er  
That fruit, where God had showed him death before.  
The look gives God the lie, and man believes;  
And tastes, the taste the man of bliss bereaves:  
He plucks the fairest fruit, yet eats, but leaves.  
He ate t'tain to knowledge, and thereby  
Deep knowledge gained but 'twas of misery.  
Whence to redeem t'a second life and bliss,  
The Son of God for ransom paid down his.  
So next I do believe in God the Son,  
Who God of God, is God with God but one.  
Stand here my Soul admire, the matchless love,  
Which, Strong as death itself, the Lord could move  
To leave th' Eternal seats of bliss above;  
To  himself with shame and misery,  
To court infirmities and poverty,  
To live inglorious, and inglorious die:  
And all to rescue from the worst of dangers  
Poor us no more than men, no more than strangers:  
Unless 'twere more his goodness to despise,  
And spite of favours turn his Enemies.  
Lord, what attractive! What could win thine eye?  
Is there magnetic power in misery,  
To drawn down mercy? What dear God, had wooed  
The sufferers grace, t'espouse th' offenders good,  
And write his love in characters of blood?  
Thanks to thy Image, and thy mercy Lord!  
One craved the help, which t'other did afford;  
Thy Image suffering in us, cried to Heaven  
For pity, pity by thy grace was given.  
Where Heaven is once allied, it never can  
Like unrelenting, like unnatural man,  
Forget Relation; though deserts bespeak  
His anger, he can love for Kindred sake.  
Unfathomed love! that claims abused relation;  
And further to endear that obligation,  
First takes men's nature, makes himself like them,  
Then gives his Spirit, to make them like him.  
That Spirit which the third, but equal place,  
In my belief, as in the Godhead has;  
God in creating did a Father prove;  
Christ in redeeming showed a Brother's love:  
But both these Godlike works would be defeated,  
By Nature's counter-works, unless repeated;  
Which God the Spirit day by day effects,  
By frequent iterated gracious acts.  
'Tis he preserves us, and that preservation  
May well be called, continual Creation.  
He daily Sanctifies, what daily sin  
Profanes, and so as oft redeems again.  
This does the Spirit, for all that chosen be,  
And in that number (as I hope) for me.  
May he go on to do it, till this State  
Of humane frailty, shall be out of date.  
When this our mortal shall be clothed upon  
With immortality, this corrupt put on  
Such incorruption, that, like Angels, we  
Shall live from need of all such succours free.   

Question.  
Did you not tell me, that your Sureties vowed,  
That you their charge with pious conscience should  
(When thus instructed in the Christian faith)  
Observe God's Laws, and tread an even path,  
In all his holy Precepts, bind your hands,  
To execute sincerely his Commands?  
Of these divine Commandments, therefore say,  
How many are there?   

Answer.  
Ten.   

Question.  
And what be they?   

Answer.  
The same which God, the great and wise Lawgiver,  
Sole Judge of fit and just, God blest for ever;  
That Israel rescued from Egyptian traps,  
Spoke in a dreadful voice of Thunderclaps.  
When his shrill Trumpet Heavens great Axel shook,  
His fiery presence made all round him smoke;  
And at his word the very Mount did quake:  
Then to his ransomed people thus he spoke:   

The Preface.  
I am the Lord thy God, O Israel,  
That with a mighty hand,  
Freed thee from that tyrannic Law,  
Of making bricks, and seeking straw.  
In cruel Egypt's Land  
Between the Sacred Cherubims I dwell.   

Thine, Christian Israelite, thy God am I;  
For when thou wast a slave,  
Condemned lust, sin, and Hell to serve,  
And for thy wages, only starve,  
My helping hand I gave,  
And set thy slavish Soul at liberty.   

The first Table. First Commandment.  
Thou shalt not worship other Gods before me;  
Nor others shalt thou have;  
Worship religious and divine,  
I challenge rightfully as mine,  
No hand but mine can save;  
Let him that would be safe, alone adore me.   

Comply not with vain Mortals fond Opinions,  
With them to deify  
Departed Saints that are at rest;  
Or sue for help to Angels blest,  
Which Creatures are like thee;  
Nor have such Garden-gods as Leeks and Onions.   

Thou shalt not in thy treacherous heart create  
Temples, to serve thy lust.  
Nor set up Honour, Ease, or Pleasure,  
Belly-delights, or Eye-bright Treasure,  
In them as Gods to trust.  
My jealous eye such Idols will detect.   

Second Commandment.  
Thou shalt no image; nor resemblance fashion,  
In carved, or graven matter,  
Of aught that is in Heaven above,  
Or in the Earth below doth move,  
Or subterraneous Water;  
Nor bow to them nor give them veneration.   

For I, th' Eternal God, thy Lord Supreme,  
I am a God most jealous;  
I, who my glory never gave  
To others, will not yield to have  
Worship-dividing fellows;  
Nor count that honour mine, that's done to them.   

Upon the Sons I visit Father's sins,  
To third and fourth degree;  
Such is my justice to the Creature:  
But so much is my mercy greater,  
To them that honour me,  
I show't on thousands of succeeding kins.   

Third Commandment.  
Thou shalt not take the Name of God in vain,  
Nor in discourses idle,  
Usurp it in thy mouth, when yet  
Thy heart perhaps ne'er thinks of it;  
Learn well thy tongue to bridle,  
And not that Great and Holy Name profane.   

If by the dreadful Name of God thou swear,  
To honour me thereby,  
(For by my Name to swear it shall  
Be lawful, at a lawful call.)  
Beware of Perjury;  
Remember whom thou call'st upon to hear.   

The God of Truth who never promise broke,  
Will not for guiltless hold,  
The man that promises by vow,  
Or takes an Oath the truth to show,  
Yet (false in heart) makes hold,  
God's venerable Name in vain to take.   

Fourth Commandment.  
Remember keep the Sabbath consecrate,  
For rest 'tis only fit,  
Six days thou hast to work beside,  
The seventh is God's, and sanctified,  
Thou shalt not work in it,  
Thy servant, child, nor guest within thy gate.   

For in six days God made the glorious Heaven,  
And the self-poising Earth,  
And Sea, with all their several Guests,  
Angels, Men, Fishes, Birds, and Beasts;  
And when the Seventh took birth,  
He took his rest and hallowed one of seven.   

Remember Christian, that thou holy keep,  
Thy Christian Sabbath-day,  
In which the Lord of rest arose,  
To give thee rest, as also those,  
On which the Church doth pa●  
Commemorating praise for Saints that sleep.   

Second Table. Fifth Commandment.  
Unto thy Father and thy Mother give,  
Honour and Reverence,  
That in the Land which God hath given,  
To be thy Lot, be't Earth or Heaven,  
Thou may'st an age commence,  
In which thou may'st long days and happy live.   

Art thou a Subject? Learn thy lawful King,  
To honour and obey.  
Or if thou art a Christian Sheep,  
A reverence for thy Pastor keep,  
Or if a Servant, pay  
Obedience to thy Lord in every thing.   

Art thou a Wife? the Church's footsteps tread,  
Let thy Lord govern thee:  
If poor thou be, God made thee so,  
Disdain not to the Rich to bow,  
If a young man thou be,  
Rise up and Reverence the hoary head.   

Sixth Commandment.  
Thou shalt not any kind of murder do;  
Avoid contentious strife;  
All fightings, quarrels, and upbraid,  
Mooking, reproaches, and deridings,  
These oft endanger life,  
And though they be not murder, tend thereto.   

Quit all revengeful thoughts, those cords are strong,  
To draw thy hand to blood,  
And if thou hast revenge designed,  
Thou art a murderer in thy mind:  
Vengeance in none is good,  
But God to whom alone it doth belong.   

Be thou to all a friend, make all men thine;  
Love to be merciful,  
Study ambitiously for peace;  
Let meekness, love, and gentleness,  
The edge of fury dull,  
And make thy good thy Brother's evil outshine.   

Seventh Commandment.  
From all adultery thou shalt abstain;  
Let Beasts do beastly deeds;  
When men by Grace once planted flowers,  
And watered with Celestial showers,  
degenerate into weeds,  
Heaven shall on them, like Sodom, vengeance rain.   

Avoid whatever tends to lust, all glances  
From unchaste wanton eyes:  
Intemperate, lose, and idle courses,  
Profane, immodest, vain discourses,  
(In which obsceneness lies)  
And Songs that tickle with their amorous fancies.   

If being single thou art apt to burn,  
Thy God gives leave to marry;  
If married, then possess in honour  
Thy vessel, fix thy love upon her.  
Else thou wilt sure miscarry,  
And all thy present sweets to gall shall turn.   

Eighth Commandment.  
Thou shalt not steal; no kind of theft commit,  
Upon thy Neighbours right;  
Whether thou do his goods purloyn,  
By means on which no Sun can shine,  
Or open force and might,  
'Tis theft, and God shall punish thee for it.   

Deceive not Customers in way of Trade,  
Nor take extorting use;  
All fraud, deceit, and unjust dealing,  
Is but a finer kind of stealing,  
And every such abuse,  
With the reward of theft shall be repaid.   

Use all industrious diligence in thy Calling,  
'Twere sin to wrong thy self,  
Give Alms to whom it does belong,  
Where aught is due, do no men wrong;  
Thus use the worldly pelf,  
And thou art sure to be preserved from falling.   

Ninth Commandment.  
Against thy neighbour no false witness bear,  
By any feigned tale,  
By base or sinister suspicions,  
By nice or curious inquisitions,  
Nor slily on him rail,  
Nor false reports when raised against him hear.   

If thou art called to swear, let truth take place,  
That ne'er with blush was stained;  
If asked a question, scorn a Lie,  
'Tis all but loss that's got thereby;  
What commonly is gained,  
Is loss of Credit, with the worst disgrace.   

Be wisely tender of thy neighbour's fame,  
'Tis that by which he lives;  
Which, he that wounds, does all he can  
With stabs of breath to kill the man,  
And every stroke he gives,  
Let's out his life-Blood, through his wounded Name.   

Tenth Commandment.  
Thy neighbour's house thou shalt in no wise covet.  
Nor for his wife shalt wish,  
Nor for his servant, man, or maid,  
Nor ox nor ass, for which he paid;  
What e'er by right is his,  
However lovely, let thy Soul not love it.   

Eat envy, which by seeing others sound,  
Will make thy bowels bleed;  
An envious eye, seeing other men  
Grow fat and plump, itself grows lean;  
On thy own heart it feeds,  
And, aimed at others, giveth thy self the wound.   

wherever it comes it poisons and bewitches,  
Makes crowded bags sit scant;  
Get thou the Jewel of Content,  
That will be still thy compliment:  
And while Rich miser's want,  
Shall make thy narrow'st fortunes seem great Riches.   

Question.  
I see, young Plant, thou dost not only stand  
In Christian ground, but hast by some good hand  
Been watered too, but 'tis not both of these  
Can make thee thrive, unless God give th'increase.  
'Tis easy to have learned these great Commands;  
But happy he that learns, and understands.   

'Tis not enough the Tongue can do her part,  
Unless they be engraven on the Heart.  
If you learn only as a nat'rl man,  
You neither know the things of God, nor can,  
Because they must be spiritually discerned;  
What hast thou therefore by these Precepts learned?   

Answer.  
Two gen'ral Duties; one that hath regard  
To God, the other looks my Neighbour-ward;  
The first the former four Commandments fix,  
The latter is comprised in th'other six:  
All in two Tables written, and were reckoned,  
Those the first Table Duties, these the Second.   

Question.  
But will the Lord so dwell on Earth indeed,  
As (when his Greatness cannot stand in need  
Of Angel's Service) to accept the praise,  
And honour, that poor dust and ashes pays?  
What service is it can with glory sort,  
And yet with man's infirmity comport?  
And what's the Duty, thou poor sorry clod,  
Of helpless Earth, art bound in toward God?   

Answer.  
My Duty towards God is, first to place  
My faith, and trust, and hope upon his Grace;  
Towards his Name, and Majesty, to bear  
An awful, holy, reverend dread and fear:  
And to my utmost power, to reflect  
Some beams of love on him, whose every act,  
Whose every gift and blessing from above,  
To me bespeaks him (in the abstract) Love.  
And this to do with all my heart, which still  
Must frame th' affections to a pious will;  
With all my mind, with all its powers to learn  
By faith the unseen Godhead to discern;  
With all my soul, whose every motion ought  
To seek his Glory in each word and thought;  
With all my strength, and power, in which I can  
Dispose the inward, or the outward man.  
To worship him in Spirit, whose Truth hath said,  
He will in Spirit and Truth be worshipped.  
To give him thanks for all good things, which he  
Without respect of merit heaps on me.  
To call upon him, who alone can grant,  
A plentiful supply of all I want.  
All reverence and honour to afford,  
Both to his holy Name, and to his Word.  
And all my days, as well in age as youth,  
To serve him in Sincerity and Truth.   

Question.  
Say now, What duty does thy neighbour claim?  
And who is he thou meanest by that name?   

Answer.  
I mean not only him, whose house and mine  
Stand in a Street, or do contiguous join,  
Not only friends or brothers, nor alone  
Those that with me the same Religion own;  
Though chief these: But generally all,  
Whom by the glorious name of Man we call.  
All whom the great Creator hath endued,  
With Souls made in his own Similitude:  
All Jews, Turks, Heretics, and Infidels,  
And even my Enemy, where e'er he dwells.  
To these my duty is like love to bear,  
As to myself, and hold them equal dear.  
To do to every man as I would be  
Content and willing he should do to me.  
To both my Parents, who my being gave,  
And then from death my Infant-life did save.  
Such honour and such filial love to show,  
As to the Author's of my life is due.  
If need require to secure and relieve them,  
In all distresses that in age may grieve them.  
The King and all his Ministers, (which he  
Hath vested with a just Authority,)  
In all Commands, in every thing where they  
Cross not God's Laws, to honour and obey;  
To be submissïve to my spiritual Pastors,  
Governors, Teachers, and instructing Masters;  
To bear me low and reverend in my deeds,  
To all whose place or fortune mine exceeds.  
They are to God (who made them differ) debtors;  
But I must count them differing thus my betters.  
No bodies injury or hurt to act,  
Either with tongue in word, or hand, in fact.  
To be (as Conscience cries aloud I must:)  
To all in all my deal true and just,  
Not offering to deceive with sly evasions,  
Mysterious sense, or mental reservations:  
No private grudge, malicious wounding dart,  
Nor envious peek to lodge within my heart:  
To keep my hands from picking and from stealing,  
That when I've power to falsify in dealing,  
And none sees what I do, but God alone,  
His eye may teach me then to know my own.  
My tongue to bridle, that it never may  
In vain superfluous speaking go astray.  
Always to set a careful watch before  
My mouth, that lying never scape the door.  
My Lips to keep that they may speak no guile,  
Nor with false slanderous tales my Soul defile.  
To keep my body fit for the abode  
Of that great Guest, the holy Spirit of God.  
In temperate eating, which a proof may give,  
That I live not to eat, but eat to live.  
In sober drinking, not with Swine to swill,  
To drink to quench my thirst, but not to fill.  
And chastity, Christ's Members not to take,  
And them the Members of an Harlot make.  
Not to desire, or cover goods that be  
Not mine, but other men's by property;  
But well to learn and labour hard to get  
My living truly by my own brow-sweat.  
And in that state of life, in which I stand,  
Lawfully called thereto, by God's Command,  
Whether my place be great, mean, high, or low,  
Whether the Gown, the Sword, the Pen, or Plough.  
whate'er my duty be, God calls me to it,  
Something he bids me do, and I must do it.  
Of these two parts consists a Christian's duty,  
In these, and only these, is perfect beauty;  
No wealth or power the world affords, that can  
So much as these adorn, the Christian man.   

Question.  
'Tis very true, But this (my good Child) know,  
In nature's Garden no such fruit will grow;  
Unless the Lord the Husbandman prepare  
The ground with Grace, 'twill not obedience bear.  
He that hath that, walks upright in the ways,  
That God directs, but he that wants it strays;  
Nor comes this Grace unsought for, no man gains it,  
But he, that by true fervent prayer obtains it.  
The method of supplying what we want,  
Is first for man to ask, than God to grant;  
And for this grace to him thou must repair,  
By humble, diligent, and fervent prayer:  
Let me hear therefore, if thou canst repeat,  
That brief, but full, succinct, but most complete,  
And comprehensive form, our Saviour's words,  
Prescribed by him, and therefore called the Lord's.  
Who pitying to see the humane mind,  
In heavenly matters ignorant and blind,  
Directed us, when we prepare to pray,  
Those words, or suchlike words as those, to say.   

Answer. PREFACE.  
Our common Father, now not mine alone,  
But all men's that are born of thee;  
Though no man's faith can save me but my own;  
Yet Prayers may excepted be,  
That I for others make, or they for me.  
Which art in Heaven, most eminently there,  
As that thy glorious might declares;  
Who yet (though they be made on Earth) canst hear,  
With gracious and paternal ears;  
And hearing grant thy needy Almes-mens' prayers.   

First Petition.  
Hallowed, reverenced by all that fear thee,  
Magnified, honoured, and adored,  
And sanctified in us that now draw near thee;  
Praised for the grace thou dost afford,  
And for the mercy's that we want, implored.   

Thus hallowed be thy Name, that Name Divine,  
Which does indeed deserve it solely,  
Does all the names of Heathen Gods outshine;  
And when they speak no more than folly,  
Thine is majestic, wonderful, and holy.   

Second Petition.  
Thy Kingdom, that of grace, whereby as King,  
Thou in thy Child's hearts dost reign,  
And into such subjection lusts canst bring,  
That they shall but attempt in vain,  
To dispossess their lawful Sovereign.   

And that of glory, which shall recompense  
All present shame and miseries;  
When glorious Angels shall come fetch us hence,  
And mounting us above the Skies,  
Shall wipe away all tears from off our eyes.   

This twofold Kingdom come, the one to make  
Our hearts thy Spirit's Temple-room;  
The other us from Pilgrimage to take,  
To our Eternal heavenly home:  
So come Lord Jesus, quickly let it come.   

Third Petition.  
Thy will, which only has power to command,  
At whose bare nod the Creatures run;  
Which whatsoever it says, for Law must stand,  
Curbed, questioned, and controlled by none;  
This sacred godly will on earth be done.   

On us in cheerfully submitting to  
All methods of thy Providence,  
Who as our Maker, what thou wilt, mayst do,  
And good or ill to us dispense,  
As seems most fitting in thy own wise sense.   

And by us, in a dutiful compliance  
To thy Commands, without demurring  
For aid, so placing on thee our affiance,  
That our endeavours joint concurring,  
May keep us never from our duty stirring.   

Thus be it done by us on earth as 'tis  
In Heaven, where 'tis the Angel's choice,  
Their only pleasure, glory, joy, and bliss;  
Who in obeying thee rejoice,  
To execute the dictates of thy voice.   

Fourth Petition.  
Give us, we cannot purchase Boons from Heaven,  
Nor fee th' Almighty to be kind,  
All favours we receive from thee are given:  
Should we be left ourselves to find,  
We soon should starve and perish hunger-pined.   

This day, we ask not (Lord) to be secured  
For years to come, from being poor.  
We are not of to morrows life assured;  
From hand to hand supply our store:  
This Lord we want indeed, and ask no more.   

Our daily bread, plain, wholesome, homely food,  
Not Kickshaws and Conserves, but bread;  
Not what delights the eye, but what is good;  
Not what may please, but what may feed;  
Not what we long for, Lord, but what we need.   

Bread for the body, meat, and drink, and clothing,  
A good name, liberty, health, peace;  
And for the Soul, or t'other comes to nothing,  
Thy Spirit, which our Souls may ease,  
And Faith, and Hope, and Love in them increase.   

Fifth Petition.  
Forgive us, for we cannot satisfy,  
Neither discharge the whole nor part;  
Dear God, forgive us, though the score be high,  
An able Creditor thou art,  
We debtors neither can compound, nor start.   

Our trespasses, for which, the least of which,  
Thou mightst Command us down to hell,  
Where Scorpions rods should lay our lustful itch,  
That bottomless Infernal cell,  
Where none but Fiends and flames in darkness dwell.   

This our ten thousand Talents, Lord, and more.  
Forgive, as we, the hundred pence  
To them that owed us; and to clear the score,  
Of our weak Brother's small offence,  
Do thou with Grace our spirits Influence.   

Sixth Petition.  
And lead us not, nor let the Tempter lead us,  
So far into temptations field,  
As underfoot to let that Lion tread us,  
And throwing down our sword and shield,  
Like Dastards, to th' insulting foe to yield.   

But by thy power deliver us from evil,  
All that leads to, or lies in sin;  
From all the wiles and cunnings of the Devil;  
From every snare, and secret gin,  
That he hath laid to trap and catch us in.   

And from the evil of punishment, that's due  
To sin, thy servants, Lord, deliver;  
Thou mightst pay torments, death, and hell, 'tis true:  
But thou, art God, blest for ever;  
Of Grace and Pardon, art a franker giver.   

Conclusion.  
For thine the Kingdom is, thou canst reprieve,  
And dost with acts of Grace abound;  
And if thy power will, as't can forgive,  
That power shall with praise be crowned,  
And all the glory shall to thee redound.   

To thee be all for ever and for ever,  
By all ascribed as 'tis most meet:  
Let this our prayer be denied us never,  
Granted, we wish and hope to see't,  
And therefore say to it, Amen, So be it.,   

Question.  
Oh heavenly Prayer! and such as did befit  
The blessed lips that first did dictate it;  
But he that would, as God's Petitioner,  
His wishes at the Throne of Grace prefer,  
In an acceptable and prospr'ous way,  
Must with the understanding also pray.  
Not he, that to an unknown God addresses,  
And rudely in an unknown tongue expresses,  
He knows not what; that in a frantic notion,  
Makes ignorance the mother of devotion:  
That thinks the wisdom and the power immense  
Of heavens great Ruler, bound to pick out sense,  
From senseless Prayers, which they themselves that s●●  
Are ignorant what they deprecate or pray:  
Not such a man must hope his Suit will thrive,  
Or think he shall prevail with God to give,  
Till he knows what he asks; 'tis only he,  
That prays with knowledge, can accepted be.  
Nor can, nor dare I bid you hope to speed,  
Unless you first know rightly what you need;  
Then how to ask: Now give me leave t'enquire,  
What do you in this Prayer of God desire?   

Answer.  
I beg of God, my Lord and Father, who,  
As Lord hath power, as Father will to do  
What I request; whose hand with bounty flows,  
And on his Creatures all good things bestows;  
To send to me, and all of humane race,  
His sanctifying and preventing Grace;  
That with a hearty Zeal, sincere and true,  
That Reverence that to his Name is due;  
That depth of love, and thankfulness for all  
His love, which for his answ'ring deep doth call:  
That thus with his celestial Grace endued,  
We may in part express our gratitude;  
In pious worship, undefiled, and pure,  
With faith not wavering, but steadfast, sure;  
In civil service, making still the end  
Of worldly business to his glory tend,  
And in obedience, such as shall submit  
To his Command, 'cause he commanded it.  
And I desire his heavenly Providence,  
Both to our Souls and Bodies to dispense,  
All things that he sees needful, to assuage  
Our grief and care in this our Pilgrimage:  
And that he will on us his Servants (though  
We merit wrath and vengeance) mercy show;  
That he will pardon us for Christ his sake;  
As well the lesser faults and slips we make,  
As our presumptuous, those more daring high,  
And impious Darts, 'gainst Heaven itself let fly.  
That he'll vouchsafe in mercy to defend us  
From all the numerous dangers that attend us;  
Ghostly, to stifle and extirpate Grace,  
And God's own Image in the Soul efface,  
And send that glorious heaven-born Particle  
To Eternal Lodgings in the shades of Hell:  
And bodily, which wait us day by day,  
Upon our lives and dearest joys to prey;  
Diseases, dolorous pains, distracting cares,  
Oppressing sorrows, and dismaying fears,  
Misfortunes, pinching poverty, and losses,  
Despairing thoughts, and over-burd'ning crosses.  
That Israel's Shepherd, he whose Eyes no sleep  
Nor slumber know, would always guard and keep  
Poor us, his easily seduced Sheep,  
From sin and wickedness, and from the Foe,  
That seeks to involve us in eternal woe;  
That though with Satan's fiery Darts surrounded,  
We be not in eternal Death confounded:  
That dying life, that death which never dies,  
Where dismal yell, frightful shrieks and cries,  
Echoed with mournful accents of despair,  
With throbs and curses, beat the flaming air.  
And this I humbly trust and hope he'll do,  
(By his good mercy, prompted thereunto)  
For his dear sake, who of his own accord,  
Died to redeem us, jesus Christ our Lord.  
And this my trust to evidence, I say,  
Amen, say he, Amen, to what I pray.   

Question.  
Departing Friends, their memory to endear,  
To those they part with, make their love appear,  
In absence strong and vigorous, and maintain  
Constant affections, till they meet again;  
Some one request or two are wont to leave,  
The doing which their sorrows may relieve,  
And separations tediousness deceive:  
And thus our ever dear, but parting Lord,  
Was pleased some pledges of his love t'afford;  
Which given to his Spouse, the Church in charge,  
From over-pressing sorrows might enlarge  
Her fainting spirits, exercise her graces,  
And move th'affections in their proper places.  
He institutes his blessed Sacraments,  
Whereby each party mutually indents,  
He to his people to remember them,  
They thankfully to love and honour him:  
But now, How many hath the Lord's Anointed,  
For that great end to's holy Church appointed?   

Answer.  
Two only, which we properly so call;  
As they respect the common needs of all,  
And as they're useful suitable supplies,  
To Christians general necessities;  
That is to say, first, that which enters them,  
And makes them freemen Christians, Baptism:  
And that which feeds them at his holy Board,  
The food of Souls, the Supper of the Lord.  
First he gives milk for Babes in Christ, and then  
Corroborating meat for stronger men.  
Those others, which obtruders introduce,  
Are not of gen'ral Sacramental use;  
And either want the parts in Constitution,  
Or good Authority for Institution.  
If holy Orders, rightfully they call  
A Sacrament, why not dispensed to all?  
Since all are Soldiers, why are all not bound,  
By like engagements, to maintain their ground?  
This therefore in its proper definition,  
Is but the Leading-Officer's Commission.  
If Marriage were a Sacrament, 'twere much,  
The Priest himself should be forbid to touch  
That holy Ordinance, which by Christ's intent  
Must be accounted for a Sacrament;  
None gives the Sacred Military Oath,  
Till first himself have pledged his Loyal Troth.  
The next is Penance joined with Absolution,  
Divinely ancient in the Institution;  
Yet not a Gospel-Sacrament, because  
As well by Jewish as by Christian Laws,  
Enjoined, and Sacraments, we know, succeed  
In place of something now abolished.  
Nor do we here an outward El'ment find,  
If any, so much more than Christ enjoined.  
The solemn ancient Rite of Confirmation,  
Deserves its due and lawful Commendation;  
But yet the Romish Doctors (all this while)  
Are at a loss to prove their foppish Oil,  
Or whatsoever with that Oil they join,  
To have the nature of an outward Sign;  
The best of which on no pretence rely,  
To primitive Divine Authority.  
That which the Romans call Extreme anointing,  
Was one of Apostolical appointing,  
But to another, vastly  end  
From that, which they, that use it now, intent;  
'Twas then for health of body to be used,  
Now as a Sign of spiritual Grace abused.   

Question.  
What do you take to be the true extent  
And meaning of this word, A SACRAMENT?   

Answer.  
The word was first, a Pagan Martial term,  
The name of that inviolably firm,  
And Sacred Oath; when, going out to War,  
Each private Soldier, to his General swore,  
That he the Common Enemy would defy,  
And in his Generals Cause, would live or die.  
Since now the Christians life, a Warfare is,  
And as the Soldier swears true faith to his,  
So does the Christian to his Gen'ral Christ  
In the Baptismal Vow and Eucharist;  
And since those Vows so nearly represent  
That other Military Sacrament,  
The Ancient holy Fathers deemed it fit,  
Into the Church t' adopt and christian it.  
Now by this word (an Infidel by Nation)  
In the adopted Christian acceptation,  
I mean a visible and outward Sign  
Of grace internal, Spiritual, Divine,  
Given us by Christ himself, who ordered it  
In his great wisdom, as the only fit  
And proper means, whereby we must receive it,  
And pledge t'assure us that we may believe it.   

Question.  
But if those Sacraments the Romans own,  
Because deficient in the parts, are none  
How many parts must go to make up one?   

Answer.  
These two; the sign by outward sense perceived,  
And th' inward grace not seen, but yet believed.   

Question.  
What is in Baptism the outward Rite,  
The sign or form objected to the Sight?   

Answer.  
Water, a proper Element whereby  
The cleansing of our Souls to signify;  
With which the person is Baptised, either  
Immerged or Sprinkled with't, no matter whether.  
Each are Symbolical, and to Baptise  
No more to plunge, than Sprinkle signifies.  
And this performed in a name that Charms,  
'Gainst the World's witchcrafts, and the Devils harms;  
The powerful name o'th' mighty Lord of Hosts,  
Even God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.   

Question.  
What inward spiritual grace doth thence accrue?   

Answer.  
A being dead to Sin, and born anew  
To Righteousness: That old Usurping Slave  
First mortified, and buried in the Grave  
With Christ himself, and so brought in Subjection;  
The new man's raised with him in's Resurrection.  
For being by nature, which on children's lives  
The Parents vicious appetites derives,  
And all the inbred seeds of stubborn, frail,  
And sinful inclinations does entail,  
(As do the Branches borrow from the Root  
The Sap, that makes them fit for bearing Fruit)  
They are by nature born and fostered in,  
The most corrupt depraved lusts of sin,  
And so (as Crabtree-Stocks are doomed to burn,  
Unless the Grafters hand their nature turn,)  
Become the Sons of wrath and vengeful ire,  
Cut out for Brands of Everlasting fire,  
Have by this gracious means our minds renewed  
The reigning Power of Sin and Lust subdued,  
From Hell adopted into heavenly race,  
And are of Sons of wrath, made Sons of grace:  
Even grace that is with gracious freedom given,  
And makes our Souls acceptable to Heaven;  
Whose riches can alone supply our needs,  
Gives us to will, accepts that will for deeds:  
Crowns our endeavours, when we strive to run,  
As if our strength and speed, the race had won:  
That grace which where it lights, both is and shall  
Always and Every where be all in all.   

Question.  
What does the Lord, that doth this grace inspire,  
Of persons thus to be Baptised, require?   

Answer.  
Two graces, which must correspond, and join  
Concurrent service with the grace Divine;  
Repentance, such as may sense express,  
Of Sins deformed, and loathsome sinfulness;  
May second that with hearty true contrition,  
And back that sorrow with a due Confession,  
To God in chief, as first, and most offended,  
Then to those men, whose hurt the Sin intended.  
And then (to crown this happy undertaking)  
A total, final, absolute forsaking;  
A Resolution wholly to abstain,  
To part with Sin, and never meet again.  
This is (however Castaways may scoff)  
Repentance ne'er to be repent of.  
This will destroy the old man Sin, and make  
The most united powers of Hell to shake.  
Then he must add to this a vigorous, true,  
And active faith for building up the new:  
Not only faith Historical, that seals  
To all the Truths that Holy Writ reveals;  
Nor faith of Miracles that takes a Bribe  
Of Wonders to induce it to subscribe:  
But such a faith as shall depend upon,  
And trust in God's veracity alone;  
And with assured, yet humble Confidence,  
Rely on's will benign, and strength immense;  
For bringing of the Promises to pass,  
Made to him in this Sacrament of grace.   

Question.  
Why Infants then baptised, whose tender age  
Cannot perform what here they must engage?   

Answer.  
Because they firmly by their Sureties mouth,  
Who undertake for them, do promise both.  
Which promise, when of understanding found,  
Themselves to keep, and satisfy, are bound;  
So Guardians bonds must by their words be paid,  
Though in the nonage of their Pupils made.   

Question.  
Why was that heavenly Sacramental feast,  
Where sinful wretches are the blessed Guests,  
That Feast at which Eternal life is gained,  
The Supper of our dying Lord ordained?   

Answer.  
For the perpetual Commemoration  
Of that most perfect, full, and free Oblation  
Of Christ, in's meritorious Death and Passion;  
That grateful Sacrifice, that does alone  
Propitiate God to Man, for Sin atone;  
And for remembrance of each benefit,  
And gracious gift that we receive by it.   

Question.  
What is in this, the outward part, or Sign?   

Answer.  
Untransubstantiated Bread and Wine,  
Not changed when Consecrate, as some maintain,  
The natures still of Bread and Wine remain.  
That late device of Transubstantiation,  
Is but a vain and humane innovation;  
Directly contradicts the Sacred Word,  
And draws in Consequences most absurd.  
Saint Paul (and he knew surely what he said)  
Called th' Element when blest and broken, Bread.  
And if our eyes, if Sense we may believe,  
'Tis none but Bread and Wine that we receive.  
He that asserts or fancies otherwise,  
The constant suffrage of his Sense denies;  
And proves (which in Religion looks but odd)  
Himself a Cannibal, that eats his God.  
Not thinking how, by such Religious fictions,  
He vents these inconsistent contradictions.  
First, that our Lord (behold a fatal shelf  
That splits their Doctrine) once did eat himself.  
That accidents, taste, colour, outward show,  
Should be in things, and yet not subject know.  
That the same Body is at once existent  
In many places, from itself is distant;  
Does at the same time rest, yet truly move,  
Is here and there, below, and yet above;  
Can meet itself, and then with wondrous Art,  
Retire again, and from itself departed.  
Nor are the Lutherans indeed less out,  
Who seek t'untie the Knot, and salve the Doubt  
By Consubstantiation: For that they  
With little Reason, less Religion say,  
The words, This is my Body, this my Blood,  
Must in the lit'ral sense be understood:  
Yet not the Elements changed, They only deem  
The Blood and Body in, or under them.  
Nor do they this a Local Union call,  
But Personal and Hypostatical;  
As Christ his humane nature cannot be  
At all divided from the Deity.  
And in this sense, indeed the Papists may  
Be counted more allowable than they,  
Whose Doctrine Christ's two natures quite confounds,  
His omnipresence, and his Local bounds.  
And by this argument, as well we may  
Of common Bread, as Sacramental say,  
This is Christ's Body; since themselves declare,  
That his divine and humane Nature are  
Inseparable; whence where one is, we  
Must think the other nature still will be.  
And, if his Deity all places fill,  
His manhood, not divided from it, will.  
That other practice of the Church of Rome,  
Which will allow the Wine to only some,  
And those the Priests, is a bold Sacrilege,  
That does the lay-communicant abridge  
Of half his right: But Rome hath power of late,  
What God himself hath joined, to separate.  
Christ's blood to Laymen! says the Priest, 'tis vain,  
The body does the blood of Christ contain.  
So Grass hath moisture in't, and therefore may  
The Shepherd to the Sheep, when thirsty, say,  
Eat Sheep to quench your thirst, if that won't do  
I will by Drinking, do the rest for you.  
Authentic Constance-counsel! whose decree,  
Can thus for Orthodox speak Blasphemy.  
Be't thus by us established, Notwithstanding  
Primitive practice, and God's mouth commanding.  
But no Non-obstance Act can supersede  
What in his institution Christ decreed.  
Which was, if Scriptures are be believed,  
Both Bread and Wine, by all to be received.   

Question.  
Now what's the inward part that's signified?   

Answer.  
Though in the former notion I denied  
The real presence of Christ's flesh and blood,  
As those at Capernaum understood;  
Yet in a mystic sense both are, I grant,  
Partaken by the true Communicant.  
And he that truly does in Christ believe,  
Does both indeed and verily receive:   

Question.  
What are the benefits and graces, that  
Receivers do hereby participate?   

Answer.  
Confirming grace, which vigorous strength imparts,  
And grace of comfort to our feeble hearts.  
For as our outward bodies by the Bread  
And wine, which they receive are nourished;  
So by the Body and the Blood of Christ,  
Our inward-man is strengthened and refreshed.  
And as to temporal life, those feed the carnal,  
These nourish up the Soul to life Eternal.   

Question.  
What is required and expected front  
Such as to this great Wedding-Supper come?   

Answer.  
To come with Wedding garments, trimmed, and dressed,  
As suits the quality of such a feast.  
First to examine the most inward parts,  
And close recesses of their treacherous hearts,  
To try if there they find repentance true,  
With steadfast purpose to be born anew.  
Whether forsaking all their former Sin,  
They do a Course of Righteousness begin.  
The Room must first of filthy lust be cleared,  
And then with holy purposes prepared,  
Before we must expect the Lord our guest,  
Or dare approach his Soul-refreshing feast,  
To this must come a lively faith, and firm,  
Such as may give the Man-of-no-man worm.  
A confidence that God will mercy have,  
On such as in his merits Mercy crave.  
And to these graces next, there must be joined  
A pious, thankful, and Remembering mind  
Of Christ his death, that Cursed death, which he  
Died freely from a worse to set us free.  
In which his precious Sacred blood was shed,  
To wash our Souls with those dear drops he bled.  
He Gall and Vinegar drank, that we might drink  
Rivers of pleasure that overflow the brink.  
And in a word, to shame, from glory fell,  
To lift up sinful Man to Heaven from Hell.  
And to complete the man of God, that he  
Furnished to all good works, may perfect be,  
It is required that in his Soul there move,  
An universal Charity and Love.  
Not such a charity as does extend  
Only to benefactor, lover, friend;  
Not such a narrow straitlaced love, as will  
Requite a good turn, and revenge an ill.  
Not such half-love, as can forgive, and yet  
Will never be persuaded to forget  
Not such a squeamish love, or rather passion,  
As reaches not beyond its own persuasion.  
Not that selfended love, whose only drifts  
In giving are to purchase greater gifts.  
But such impartial love as deals abroad  
Its alms, to all the images of God,  
True objects of its Charity, does choose,  
Gives freely, looks for no return, or use.  
Such as does envy scorn, revenge despise,  
From heart forgives and prays for enemies.  
As God himself, who bids us pardon thus,  
Both hath and will, for Christ's sake, pardon us.  
This is the Card'nal grace, the Axel-Pole,  
The hinge of virtue in a Christian Soul.  
This grace, like Jacob's Scale, by steps shall rise,  
Mount up from earth, and mounting, reach the skies;  
And when our faith shall be complete in vision,  
When hope shall be consummate in fruition,  
Love, an inhabitant in Heaven shall prove,  
As lasting as the God himself of Love.  
'Tis this we stand or fall by, this that brings  
Our Souls to Abra'ms' bosom, makes us Kings.  
'Tis this that gives us Crowns, which never fade,  
Among the Spirits of Just men perfect made.  
Who, swallowed up in joys, in Heaven above,  
God, and each other shall for ever love.   
FINIS.