To the Inhabitants within the Diocese of Bath and Wells, THOMAS their Unworthy Bishop, wisheth the Knowledge, and the Love of God.

Dearly Beloved in our Lord,

THE Church has provided this short Catechism, or Instruction to be learn'd of every person, before he be brought to be Confirm'd by the Bishop, wherein she teaches all things that a Christian ought to know, and believe for his Soul's health; and she has enjoyn'd All Fathers and Mothers, Masters and Dames, to cause their Children, and Servants, and Prentices, to come to the Church at the time appointed, and obediently to hear, and be ordered by the Curate, untill such time as they have learn'd all that is here appointed to be learn'd.

How seasonable and necessary this Injunction is, in these days, our wofull experience does sufficiently convince us, when we reflect on the gross Ignorance and Irreligion of persons in those places, where Catechizing is neglected, which all sober Christians do sadly deplore.

Since then the Providence of God, who is wont to glorifie his strength in the weakness of the Instruments he uses, has caught me up from among the meanest Herdmen, into the Pastoral Throne, and has been pleased to commit you to my care; The Love I ought to pay to the chief Shepherd, obliges me to feed all his Lambs and his Sheep that belong to my flock, and according to my poor abilities, to teach them the Knowledge, and the Love of God, and how they may make them both their daily study and practice.

One thing onely I most earnestly beg of you all, whether old or young, that ye would help me to save your own Souls; that ye would learn, and seriously consider, again and again, the terms on which your Salvation is to be had.

As for you who have Families, I beseech you to instill into your Children and Servants their Duty, both by your Teaching, and your Example: In good earnest, it is less cruel and unnatural to deny them Bread for their mortal Bodies, than saving Knowledge for their immortal Souls.

Ye that are Fathers, or Masters, I exhort you to tread in the steps of Abraham, the Father of the faithfull, and the friend of God, and like him, to command your Children and Housholds to keep the way of the Lord.

Ye that are Mothers, or Mistresses, I exhort you to imitate that unfeigned Faith, which dwelt in young Timothy's Grandmother Lois, and his Mother Eunice, who taught him from a Child to know the Holy Scriptures, which were able to make him wise to Salvation; and like them, to bring up your Children and Servants in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

I passionately exhort and beseech you all, of either Sex, never to cease your conscientious zeal for their instruction, till you bring them to Confirmation; To renew their Baptismal vow; To make open profession of their Christianity; To discharge their Godfathers and Godmothers; To receive the solemn; Benediction of the Bishop; To share in the publick Intercessions of the Church, and to partake of all the Graces of God's Holy Spirit, implor'd on their behalf; that God who has begun a good work in them; may perfect it till the day of Christ; and that I my self at that dreadfull day, may render an account of you with joy.

How much the Catechism of our Church may conduce to so desirable an end, you will in some measure judge by the following Explication, as imperfect as it is, and which, by God's gratious assistence, I have so contriv'd, that at one and the same time, it may both inform your understanding, and raise your affections; and that it might the better sute with every ones leisure and infirmities, it is Pen'd in short Forms of Devotion, to be us'd in whole, or in part; in separate Collects or Ejaculations, or occasionally, as your Spiritual necessities shall require.

God of his infinite mercy bless the whole, to his own Glory, and to your Edification, through Jesus the Beloved. Amen, Amen.

Question. WHAT is your Name?

Answer. N. or M.

Q. Why do you answer by that Name, rather than by your Sirname?

A. Because it is my Christian Name, and was given me when I was made a Christian, and puts me in mind both of the Happiness, and duty of a Christian.

Q. Where do you learn the Happiness, and the Duty of a Christian?

A. The very next answer teaches me the Happiness, and all the rest of the Catechism, the Duty of a Christian.

Q. Who gave you this Name?

A. My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism, wherein I was made a Member of Christ, the Child of God, and an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Q. Shew me from hence the Happiness of a Christian.

A. The Happiness of a good Christian, is altogether unutterable, he is one who has Christ for his Head, God for his Father, and Heaven with all its joys and glories, which are all eternal, for his Inheritance.

Q. Shew me on the contrary the condition of a bad Christian.

A. The misery of a bad Christian is altogether insupportable, He has Christ for his Enemy, the Devil for his Father, and Hell, with all its miseries, and torments, and despair, which are all eternal, for his Doom.

Q. Which of these Conditions do you chuse?

A. I adore the goodness of God, who has set before me life and death, blessing and cursing; and in great compassion to my Soul, has bid me chuse life, and with all my heart I chuse life, even life eternal.

Q. Are there not many in the World that chuse death?

A. It is too too visible there are, such is the extreme madness and folly of obstinate Sinners, that they chuse the Service of the Devil before the Service of God, and Hell before Heaven, the damnation of such men is wholly from themselves, and having chosen death, even death eternal, it is most just with God to give them their choice.

Q. Blessed be God who has given you grace, to make a right choice; Tell me what you must doe to obtain that which you have chosen, life eternal?

A. All that I am to doe is reduc'd to one word onely, and that is Love; This is the first and the great Command, which comprehends all others, the proper Evangelical Grace; and eternal Truth has assured me, This doe, and thou shalt live; So that if I truly love God, I shall live beloved by God to all eternity.

Q. Tell me wherein the love of God doth consist?

A. The love of God is a grace rather to be felt than defin'd, So that I can doe no more than rudely describe it; It is the general inclination and tendency of the whole man, of all his heart, and soul, and strength, of all his powers and affections, and of the utmost strength of them all to God, as his chief, and onely, and perfect, and infinite Good.

Q. Is this love of God taught in the Catechism?

A. The Catechism having in the entrance of it presented to our choice the happiness of a Christian, does throughout all the remaining parts of it instruct us in the duties of a Christian, by which that happiness is to be attain'd, which are all sum'd up in the love of God, which is here most methodically taught.

Q. In what method does the Catechism teach the love of God?

A. In a method so excellent and natural, that if by God's help, I can but faithfully observe it, I shall not fail of the love of God.

Q. Explain this method to me.

A. It teaches me how the love of God is produc'd, how practis'd, and how preserved.

Q. Shew me more distinctly in what parts of the Catechism each of these particulars is coucht.

A. If I seriously desire the love God, I must first expell all contrary loves out of my heart, and then consider the motives and causes that excite it, the former is taught in the Vow of Baptism, the latter in the Creed.

When divine love is once produc'd, my next care is to put it in practice, and that is, by bringing forth the fruits, or effects of Love, which are all contain'd in the Ten Commandments.

When the love of God is produc'd in my heart, and is set on work, my last concern is to preserve, and ensure, and quicken it; It is preserv'd by Prayer, the pattern of which is the Lord's Prayer; It is ensured to us by the Sacraments, which are the Pledges of Love; and more particularly it is quickned by the Holy Eucharist, which is the feast of Love. So that the plain order of the Catechism teaches me the rise, the progress, and the perfection of Divine love, which God of his great mercy give me grace to follow.

Q. I beseech God to give you the grace you pray for, that you may prosecute this method with your heart, as well as with your words.

A. It is the full purpose of my Soul so to doe, and I trust in God I shall doe it.

Q. You are to begin with the vow you made at your Baptism, Tell me,

What did your Godfathers and Godmothers then for you?

A. They did promise and vow three things in my name.

First, That I should renounce the Devil and all his works; the pomps and vanities of this wicked World, and all the sinfull lusts of the flesh.

Secondly, That I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith.

And thirdly, That I should keep God's holy Will and Commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.

Q. Dost thou not think thou art bound to believe, and to doe as they have promised for thee?

A. Yes verily; and by God's help so I will, and I heartily thank our Heavenly Father, that he hath call'd me to this state of Salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my lives end.

Q. The promises of faith and obedience, which you made in your baptism, will be mention'd in their proper places, when you come to the Creed, and to the Decalogue; that which now lies before you is to shew, how your Abrenunciation is preparatory to the love of God.

A. As all particular graces are but the love of God, varied by different instances and relations, so all particular sins are nothing but concupiscence, or the love of one Creature or other, in competition with, or opposition to, the love of God; Now all the Creatures on which we set our love, are reducible to these three, the Devil, the World, and the Flesh, and my heart must be emptied of these impure Loves, before it is capable of entertaining the pure love of God.

Q. If you are conscious to your self, that you have entertained these impure Loves, and have violated your baptismal Vow, and have in your heart renounc'd God, instead of renouncing his Enemies, what must you doe to recover that favour of God you have lost, and to be deliver'd from the wrath to come?

A. I must throughly repent of all the breaches of my vow, and I must seriously renew it.

Q. Express your repentance for breaking it.

A. I express it thus.

O Lord God, with shame, and sorrow, and confusion of Face, I confess and acknowledge thy infinite mercy and goodness to me, my infinite vileness and ingratitude to thee!

Thou Lord infinitely good and gratious wast pleas'd out of thy own free mercy, first to love me, to excite me to love again, glory be to thee.

Thou Lord didst vouchsafe, of a miserable Sinner, to make me a Member of my Saviour, thy own Child, and an Heir of Heaven, glory be to thee.

I infinitely wicked and unworthy, have despis'd, and rejected, and forfeited all the inestimable Blessings, to which I was intitled by my Baptism; Lord have mercy upon me.

Woe is me, wretch that I am, I have cut my self off by my sins, from being a true Member of Christ's Mystical Body, and from all the gratious influences I might have deriv'd from my union to him; Lord have mercy upon me.

Woe is me, wretch that I am, I have by my numerous provocations, lost that holy Spirit of Adoption, whereby I might become thy Child, O God, and call thee Father, and am become a Child of wrath; Lord have mercy upon me.

Woe is me, wretch that I am, I have by my own willfull impiety, disclaimed my being an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven, and am become an Heir to the Kingdom of Darkness, Lord have mercy upon me.

Woe is me, I have easily yielded to the temptations of Satan, and have wrought the works of my Father the Devil; Lord have mercy upon me.

Woe is me, I have greedily coveted and pursued the pomps and vanity of this wicked World; Lord have mercy upon me.

Woe is me, I have often indulg'd the sinfull lusts of the Flesh; Lord have mercy upon me.

Woe is me, I have lov'd all things which thou Lord hatest, and am my self become odious in thy sight; Lord have mercy upon me.

Woe is me, I have neither believ'd in thee, O my God, nor obey'd thee, nor lov'd thee, as I ought, and as I solemnly vow'd I would; Lord have mercy upon me.

O Lord God most gratious and reconcileable, Pitty and pardon me.

I lament, O Lord God, my detestable impiety, for having so long, and so often, and so obstinately offended thee.

In the bitterness of my Soul, O Father of mercy, I bewail and abhor my unworthiness, and the hardness of my heart, that has despis'd the riches of thy goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, which should have lead me to repentance.

O Lord God, whatever thou deny'st me, deny me not a broken and a contrite heart.

O that my head were waters, and my eyes fountains of tears, that I might weep much and love much, having much to be forgiven.

Lord, hear me, help me, save me, for thy own gratious promise sake, for thy own tender mercies sake, for the merits and sufferings of Jesus thy beloved, in whom thou hast made Penitents accepted. Amen. Amen.

Q. Having repented of the violations of your Baptismal Vow, shew me how you will renew it.

A. I shall doe it after this manner.

I have sinned, O Lord God, I have sinned, and done evil in thy sight, but I repent, I turn to thee.

I confess, and forsake my wickedness, and am sorry for my sins.

It grieves me, O most amiable Goodness, it grieves me that ever I offended thee.

With all my heart, O my God, do I now renew the Sacred vow, which, alas! alas! I have so often violated.

O Lord God, I do, for the future, Renounce the devil, that Arch-rebel against thee, with all his Apostate-Angels.

I renounce all his worship, all his impious suggestions, delusions and temptations, for which he is called the tempter, and all the ways of consulting him, which ungodly men have taken.

I renounce all his works, all those sins of the Spirit, all pride, and malice, and envy; all treachery and lying, revenge and cruelty; all tempting others to Sin, hatred to Holiness and Apostasie, which are his daily practice, and are truly diabolical.

I utterly renounce, O Lord God, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world; all covetous desires of honour, riches and pleasure; all sinfull excesses in things lawfull.

I renounce, Lord, all evil customs, all evil companions, all that is vain or wicked in the world, all that friendship with the world, which is enmity with thee; all things that may alienate my heart from thee.

I renounce, O Lord God, all worldly comforts and possessions; all my natural relations, and my own life, whenever they stand in competition with my duty to thee.

I utterly renounce, O Lord God, all the sinfull lusts of the flesh, all the inordinate desires of my own corrupt nature, of my own carnal mind, which is enmity with thee.

I Renounce, Lord, all fleshly lusts which war against thee, and against my own Soul, all sloth, and idleness, and intemperance, and lasciviousness; all filthiness of flesh and spirit, which render us unclean in thy sight.

O Lord God, I utterly Renounce all things that may any way displease thee; from them all let it be thy good pleasure to deliver me.

I know, Lord, that Sin is the utmost abomination to thy purity, the most audacious outrage to thy Adorable Majesty, the perfect contradiction to thy Deity, and therefore I utterly renounce and abhor it.

I know, Lord, that Sin exposes us to all the Vials of thy wrath, and to vengeance eternal; I know it sets the Sinner at the extremest distance, and opposition and defiance to thee, and therefore I utterly renounce and abhor it.

I know, Lord, I cannot love thee, but I must hate evil, and therefore I renounce and detest it.

Turn thou me, O Lord God, and so shall I be turned.

Turn, O Lord, the whole stream of my affections, from sensual love, to the love of thee.

O my God, let thy heavenly love be the constant byass of my Soul; O may it be the natural spring and weight of my heart, that it may always move towards thee.

Thy love, O my God, shall hereafter be the sole rule and guide of my life; I will love thee, and love whatever thou lovest, and hate whatever thou hatest, I will believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith, and I will keep thy Holy Will and Commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.

All this, O my God, I own my self bound to believe and doe, and though of my self I am impotent to all good, yet by thy help I will perform it; and I heartily thank thee, O heavenly Father, who, out of mere compassion to my Soul, hast call'd me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Glory be to thee, O Lord, who hast indulg'd me this opportunity of repentance; Glory be to thee who hast wrought in me this Will, to renew my Baptismal vow.

O my God, I humbly, I earnestly pray unto thee to give me continual supplies of thy grace, that I may continue in thy love unto my lives end, that being faithfull to death, I may receive the Crown of life.

O Lord God, I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

My heart is empty and disengag'd, and longs for thee; my heart is entirely devoted to thee: Enter, O my God; possess it with thy gratious presence, and fill it with thy love.

Lord, for thy tender mercies sake, restore me to thy favour; to all the graces and privileges of my Baptism, of which I have been spoil'd by my sins.

Lord, make me a living member of thy Church, the mystical body of thy Son.

O my God, unite me inseparably to Christ my Head, and from thence let his gratious influences, be ever streaming into my soul.

Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy Son: But I return with the Prodigal; O let thy paternal bowels yearn on me, and gratiously receive me.

Lord, send thy Spirit of Adoption into my heart, to instill true filial affections, that I may again be own'd by thee for thy Child, and call thee Father, and share in the blessings of thy Children, and at last become an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven.

O heavenly Father, accept my imperfect repentance, compassionate my infirmities, forgive my wickedness, purifie my uncleanness, strengthen my weakness, fix my unstableness, and let thy love ever rule in my heart, through the merits, and sufferings, and love of the Son of thy love, in whom thou art always infinitely pleas'd. Amen.

This Office may be us'd in times of devout Retirement, or on the Lord's day, or in Affliction or Sickness, but especially before the Holy Eucharist.

Q. Rehearse the Articles of your Belief.

A. I.

I Believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth.
II. And in Jesus Christ his onely Son our Lord,
III. Who was Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary.
IV. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Dead and Buried, He descended into Hell.
V. The third day He rose again from the Dead.
VI. He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
VII. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
VIII. I believe in the Holy Ghost.
IX. The Holy Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints.
X. The Forgiveness of Sins.
XI. The resurrection of the body.
XII. And the life everlasting. Amen.

Q. What dost thou chiefly learn in these Articles of thy belief?

A. First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me and all the world.

Secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind.

Thirdly, In God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the Elect people of God.

Q. What is the method of the Creed?

A. The Creed teaches me to believe in God, and to believe his Church.

Q. How in God?

A. It teaches me to believe in God, with respect to his Unity, and then to the Trinity of Persons in that Unity, Father, Son, and holy Ghost.

Q. How does it teach you to believe the Church?

A. It teaches me to believe the Church, with regard to its two different states, either Militant below, or Triumphant above.

Q. How are the Articles of the Creed Motives of Love?

A. Every Article includes a Blessing as well as a Mystery, and is as proper to excite our Love, as to engage our Faith.

Q. Give me such a Paraphrase on the Creed, that throughout the whole, your Faith may work by Love.

A. I shall doe it to the best of my power, in such Instructive and Pathetical Aspirations, as follow.

I Believe.

My Lord and my God, with a full, free and firm assent, I believe all the Articles of my Creed, because thou hast revealed them; I know thou art infallible Truth, and canst not, thou art infinite Love, and wilt not deceive me: Glory be to thee.

With all my heart, O my God, do I love and praise thee, who art so infinitely amiable in thy self, and so full of love to us, that all I can know, or believe of thee, excites me to love thee.

Lord, daily increase my Faith; make it active and fruitfull, that I may believe and love thee as entirely, as becomes one entirely devoted to thee.

In God.

I believe, O my God, that thou art One, and that there is no other God besides thee; thou art that One infinite and independent Being, that One onely true God, whom all Men, and all Angels are to Adore: All glory be to thee.

O Lord God, help me to love and to praise thee with God-like affections, and a sutable Devotion.

I believe, O my God, that in the Unity of thy Godhead, there is a Trinity of Persons, I believe in thee, O Father, Son and Holy Ghost, in whose Name I was baptized, to whose Service I am religiously devoted: All glory be to thee.

I believe, I admire, I love, I praise, I adore thee, O most blessed and glorious Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, for being the joint Authours of our Salvation: All glory be to thee.

O sacred, and dreadfull, and mysterious Trinity, though I cannot conceive thee, yet let me daily experiment thy goodness; Let thy Grace, O Lord Jesus; let thy Love, O God the Father; let thy Communications, O Holy Spirit, be ever with me.

The Father.

I believe, and love, and praise thee, O my God, the first Person in the most Adorable Trinity; the Fountain of the Godhead; the Eternal Father of thy coeternal Son, Jesus my Saviour.

Glory be to thee, O God the Father, for so loving the world, as to give thy onely begotten Son to redeem us.

Glory be to thee, O Heavenly Father, for first loving us, and giving the dearest thing thou hadst for us; O help me to love again, and to think nothing too dear for thee.

Almighty.

I believe, O my God, that thou art a Spirit most pure, and holy, and infinite in all perfections, in Power, and Knowledge, and Goodness; that thou art Eternal, Immutable, and Omnipresent; all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O Lord, that thou art most wise and just, most happy and glorious, and all-sufficient, most gratious and mercifull, and tender, and benign, and liberal, and beneficent; all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe thy Divine Nature, O my God, to be in all respects amiable, to be Amiableness it self, to be Love it self; and therefore I love, I admire, I praise, and fear, and adore thee.

Thou, Lord, art my Hope, my Trust, my Life, my Joy, my Glory, my God, my All, my Love.

Maker of Heaven and Earth.

I believe that thou, O Father Almighty, didst create Heaven and Earth, the whole World, and all things in it, visible and invisible, out of nothing, and by thy Word onely: All glory be to thee.

I believe, O thou great Creatour, that thy Divine Love made thee communicate Being to thy Creatures; that thou lovest all things, and hatest nothing thou hast made: Glory be to thee.

I believe, O God, that thou art the sole Lord, and Proprietour of all things thou hast made; that all things do necessarily depend on thee; that 'tis in thee onely we live, and move, and have our Being: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

I believe, O thou Communicative Goodness, that thou dost preserve, and sustain, and protect, and bless all things thou hast made, sutably to the Natures thou hast given them: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

I believe, O mighty Wisedom, that thou dost most sweetly order and govern, and dispose all things; even the most minute; even the very sins of men, to conspire in thy Glory; O do thou conduct my whole life, steer every motion of my soul, towards the great End of our Creation; to love, and to glorifie thee.

I believe, O Lord, that thy Love was more illustrious in the Creation of Man, than in all the rest of the visible World; thou wert pleased to make him in thy own Image, and after thy own divine likeness: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

Thou, Lord, didst make Man for thy self, and all things visible for Man; Thou designedst all creatures for his use, and didst subject them to his Dominion; the very Angels thou didst charge to keep him in all his ways: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

Thy Works, O Lord, are wonderfull and amiable; I love, and admire, and praise thy Universal Providence over the whole World; the perpetual flux of thy Goodness on every Creature: All glory be to thee.

I love and praise thee, O my God, for all the particular vouchsafements of thy love to me, for all thy deliverances and blessings, either to my body or to my soul, known or unknown; for all that I do not remember, or did not consider: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

The longer I live, O my God, the more reason I have to love thee, because every day supplies me with fresh experiments and new motives of thy manifold love to me; and therefore all Love, all Glory be to thee.

And in Jesus.

I believe in thee, O Jesus, and I rejoice in that dear Name which is so full and expressive of thy Love.

Thou art Jesus our Saviour, because thou camest into the World on purpose to save us from our sins: All Love, all Glory be to thee,

O be thou ever Jesus to me; O let me feel the kind force of that sweet name, in which I and all sinners do reade our danger, and our deliverance, our guilt, and our salvation.

O most benign Jesu! He well deserves to be accursed that does not love thee: Who, Lord, can ever hope to share in thy Salvation, who does not love thee his Saviour?

Christ.

I believe, O mercifull Jesus, that thou art Christ the true Messias, the Anointed of the Lord, the promised seed which was to bruise the Serpent's head, long expected by the Fathers, foretold by the Prophets, represented by Types, which were all fulfilled in thee, O thou the desire of all Nations: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

I believe that thou, O Jesus, wert Anointed with the Holy Spirit, that all his Gifts and Graces were poured out, and diffused like a sweet ointment on thy soul, without measure; thou art altogether lovely, O Christ, and of thy fulness we all receive: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

I believe, O thou Anointed of God, that as Kings, and Priests, and Prophets, were heretofore anointed with Material oil; so by thy Heavenly Anointing, thou wast Consecrated to be our Prophet, our King, and our Priest, and in all those three Offices, to manifest thy love to us; and therefore all Love, all Glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O Christ, our Prophet, who didst teach, and reveal, and interpret thy Father's Will, and all saving truth to the World.

Glory be to thee, O Christ, our King, who dost give Laws to thy People, dost govern and protect us, and hast subdued all our Ghostly Enemies.

Glory be to thee, O Christ, our Priest, who dost bless us, who didst offer thy self a sacrifice, and dost still make intercession for us.

Our Redemption, our Illumination, our Support is wholly from thy Love, O thou Anointed of God: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

His onely Son.

I believe that thou, O most Adorable Jesus, art the Son of God by ineffable generation; thou didst from Eternity derive thy Godhead from the Father; thou art the brightness of his Glory, and the express Image of his Person: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

Thou, O blessed Jesu, art the onely Son of God, the onely begotten Son, full of Grace and Truth; Thou art the onely beloved Son, in whom thy Father is well pleased; 'tis onely in thee, and for thee, that Sinners have Hope; and therefore all Love, all Glory be to thee.

Thou art equal to thy Father, O Jesu, in amiableness and in love to us, and art equally to be loved by us; and therefore all Love and Praise be to the Father that eternally begat, and to the Son eternally begotten.

Our Lord.

I believe, O thou eternal Son of the Father, that thou art the great and true God, Iehovah our Righteousness, God above all blessed for ever, and mighty to save: All love, all Glory be to thee.

I believe, O Lord Jesus, that thou didst make, and dost sustain all things by thy Power, and that thou art to be honoured by Men, and by Angels, as thy Father is honoured: All Love, all Glory be to thee.

I believe, O thou King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, that thou art the Lord, and the Authour of the new Creation, as well as of the old, that thou art more peculiarly Lord of us Sinners by purchase; O that I, and all that own thy Dominion, may for ever love, and revere, and obey so powerfull and gratious a Lord!

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost.

I believe, O most condescending Majesty, that when thou didst stoop so low as to assume our frail Nature, the Holy Ghost came on thy sacred Mother. and that the Power of the Highest did overshadow her, and that she did conceive, and lodge thee in her Womb, where thou, who fillest Heaven and Earth, wert about nine months for our sakes imprison'd; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

Born of the Virgin Mary.

I believe, O most adorable Humility, that thou wast at last born into the World, that thou having onely God for thy Father, and Mary, a pure Virgin, for thy Mother, whom all Generations do call Blessed, both thy Conception and Birth were perfectly immaculate, that being without sin thy self, thou mightest be a fit sacrifice to attone for us Sinners, who being born of unclean Parents, were all by nature unclean; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee, O immaculate Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the World.

I believe, O blessed Saviour, that the two Natures of God, and of Man, were in thee so mysteriously united, without either change, or confusion, that they made in thee but one Person, but one Mediatour, one Lord: Thou, O Eternal Word, didst become flesh, and didst dwell among us, on purpose to save us; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

Suffered.

I believe, O adorable Love, that thy whole life was made up of sufferings, and that for sinfull men, and in particular for me; O let me never cease to adore and love thee.

It was for us Sinners, O tenderest Love, that in thy very infancy thou wast circumcis'd, and design'd by Herod for slaughter, and forc't to fly into Egypt, and therefore I praise and love thee.

It was for us Sinners that thou, O afflicted Love, wert all thy life-long, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; that thou wast persecuted and revil'd, despis'd and rejected, and hadst not where to lay thy head, and therefore I am bound to praise, and love thee.

It was for us Sinners, that thou, O compassionate Love, when thou tookest on thee our nature, wast toucht with a feeling of our infirmities, and wast in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, that thou mightest the more affectionately pity the weak, and succour the tempted; and therefore I praise and love thee.

It was for us Sinners, that thou, O beneficent Love, didst go about doing good, preaching repentance, publishing the glad tidings of salvation, sending thy Disciples, confirming thy heavenly Doctrine by many glorious Miracles, and illustrating it by a God-like example; all thy life is full of attractives of sweetest love and pity to us Sinners, which kindly and forcibly constrain us to praise and love thee.

O most exuberant Love, how amiable are all thy Graces, O fill my heart with thy love, and transform me into thy likeness, that I may all my life-long imitate thy perfect obedience, unspotted Holiness, unchangeable Resolution, universal Charity, uninterrupted Devotion, contempt of the World, Heavenly-mindedness, gratious Condescention, ardent Zeal for thy Father's Glory, and unbounded Love, and that for the sake of that dearest Love, which inclined thee to become incarnate for me.

Under Pontius Pilate.

I believe, O my Lord, and my God, that though thou didst suffer all thy life long, yet thy greatest sufferings were under the Roman Governour of Iudea, Pontius Pilate; I believe all those mighty sufferings, but am as little able to express the greatness of them, as I am the greatness of thy love which mov'd thee to suffer: All I can doe is to love, and to praise thee.

How great were thy sufferings, O Saviour of the World, when the very apprehension of them made thy Soul very heavy, exceeding sorrowfull even to death, made thee offer up prayers, with strong crying and tears, that if it were thy Father's will the Cup might pass from thee, threw thee into an agony and bloudy sweat, insomuch that there was an Angel sent from Heaven on purpose to strengthen thee! O thou agonising Love, impress on my heart so tender a sense of thy sufferings for me, that I may agonise with thee, that I may feel all thy sorrows, that though I cannot sweat bloud like thee, I may dissolve into tears for thee, that I may love and suffer with thee throughout every part of thy Passion.

O suffering Jesus, when my Meditations follow thee from the Garden to Mount Calvary, I grieve and I love all the way.

I grieve, and I love, when I see thee, O Incarnate God, who couldst command more than twelve legions of Angels for thy rescue; out of love to Sinners, and in particular to me, one of the vilest of all that number, humbling thy self to be apprehended, and bound by the rude Souldiers, as a Malefactour.

I grieve, and I love, when I see thee, O gratious Lord, for my sake, betray'd by the treacherous kiss of Iudas, deny'd by Peter, and forsaken of all thy Disciples.

I grieve, and I love, when I see thee, O spotless innocence, out of love to me, dragg'd to Annas and Caiaphas the High-priest, when I see thee accus'd by false Witnesses, arraign'd and condemn'd.

I grieve, and I love, when I see thee, O divine Majesty, out of love to me, spit upon, and blindfolded, and buffeted, and mockt, sent to Pilate an Infidel Judge, then to wicked Herod, who with his men of war set thee at naught, array'd thee in a white Robe of Mockery, and sent thee again to Pilate.

I grieve, and I love, O injur'd Goodness, when I see thee, though declar'd innocent by the very Traytour Iudas, who out of horrour for his Crime, went and hang'd himself, though declar'd innocent by Pilate himself, the Judge to whom thine Enemies appeal'd, yet worried to death by the clamours of the Rabble, that cry'd out Crucify, Crucify, when I see Barabbas a Traytour and a Murtherer preferr'd before thee.

I grieve, and I love, when I see thee, O lover of Souls, for my sake most unjustly given up into the hands of infidel Souldiers, to be stript naked, and tied to a Pillar, and scourg'd; to see the Plowers plowing on thy back, and making long furrows.

I grieve, and I love, O King of Heaven, when I see thee out of love to me, humbling thy self to be array'd in Purple, with a Reed in thy hand, when I see thee crown'd with Thorns, to multiply thy torments; when I see thee mockt by barbarous Wretches, with their bended knee, and with hail King of the Iews.

I grieve, and I love, when I see thee, O Lord God, whom the Angels worship, spit upon again, and buffeted, and for my sake, made the extreme scorn, and contempt, and sport, of thy insolent and insulting Enemies; and though still declar'd innocent by Pilate, yet surrender'd to the unrelenting Cruelty of the multitude, to be crucified.

My Lord, my God, my Saviour, with all my heart, I love and adore thy infinite love and benignity to Sinners; with all my heart, I lament and detest the hatred, and outrage of Sinners to thee.

Was crucifyed.

I grieve, and I love, O sorrowfull Jesus, when I see thee for my sake opprest with the weight of thy own Cross, till thy tender Body, quite spent with sufferings, sank under it.

I grieve, and I love, O thou great Martyr of Love, when for my sake I see thy virgin Body stript naked, thy Hands and thy Feet nail'd to the Cross; when I see thee crucified between two Thieves, and numbred with the Transgressours, when I see Gall given thee to eat, and Vinegar to drink.

I grieve, and I love, when I see thee, O incarnate Deity hanging on the Cross, and for my sake, by thy own People, in the height of thy anguish, derided, reproacht and blasphem'd, with wagging of their heads, mockt by the Souldiers, and by the impenitent Thief.

I grieve, and I love, when I see thee, O God blessed for evermore, O Fountain of all blessing, hang bleeding on the Cross, and made a curse for me; How does my indignation swell against the injustice, and ingratitude, and inhumanity of the Iews, who could thus cruelly treat so unreproachable an Innocence, so amiable a Charity, so compassionate a Saviour!

Alas, alas, it was the Sinner, O Love incarnate, rather than the Jew, that betray'd, and derided, and blasphemed and tortur'd and crucify'd thee; the sins of lapst mankind, and particularly my sins, they were thy Tormentours; and therefore from my heart I bewail, detest and abjure them.

My Lord, and my God, instill penitential love into my Soul, that I may grieve for my sins, which griev'd thee, that I may love thee for suffering for us Sinners, who occasion'd all thy griefs; O may I always love thee, O may I never grieve thee more!

Dead.

I grieve, and I love, O bleeding Love, when I see thee on the Cross, quite spent with pain and anguish, when I see thee in thy dying pangs commending thy Spirit into the hands of thy heavenly Father, bowing thy head, and giving up the Ghost. Thou, O Lord of life, didst for us Sinners humble thy self to death, even to the death of the Cross, a death of utmost shame and ignominy, and of torment insupportable; all love, all glory be to thee.

Was ever any sorrow, O crucify'd Lord, like that sorrow my sins created thee?

Was ever any love, O outrag'd Mercy, like that love thou didst shew, in dying for Sinners!

All the frame of Nature, O dying Saviour, fell into convulsions at the crucifixion of their great Creatour; The Sun was darkned, the veil of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom, the Earth quak't, the Rocks clave asunder, the Bodies of dead Saints rose out of their Graves, insomuch that the Centurion and infidel Souldiers acknowledg'd thee to be the Son of God; thou wast lovely, and glorious, and adorable in thy lowest humiliation; all love, all praise be to thee.

Thy bodily Sufferings, O almighty Love, were intolerable, but yet thy inward were far greater.

I grieve, I love, I melt all o'er, when I hear thee on the Cross crying out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me. Ah sinfull Wretch that I am, how infinite and unconceivable were the inward Dolours and Agonies thou didst undergo for us Sinners, when thou didst tread the Winepress of thy Father's wrath alone, when it pleas'd thy own most beloved Father to bruise thee, and to put thee to grief, when the iniquities of the whole World were laid on thee, and my numerous sins increast thy load, and heightned thy torment, when thy own Deity withdrew all consolation from thee, when God, offended by our sins, did afflict thee in the day of his fierce anger; no sufferings, no love was ever like unto thine for me; no grief, no love but thy own should exceed mine for thee.

For whom, O unutterable goodness, didst thou suffer the extreme bitterness of sorrow, but for the vilest of all thy Creatures, sinfull man, and for me one of the worst of Sinners? and therefore I praise and love thee.

For what end didst thou suffer, O most ardent Charity, but to save Sinners from all things that were destructive, the Curse of the Law, the Terrours of Death, the Tyranny of Sin, the Powers of Darkness, and Torments Eternal, to purchase for us all things conducible to our Happiness, Pardon and Grace, Consolation and Acceptance, and the everlasting Joys and Glories of the Kingdom of Heaven; and therefore I praise and love thee.

Out of what motive didst thou suffer, O boundless Benignity, but out of thy own preventing love, free mercy, and pure compassion, and therefore I praise and love thee.

When no other Sacrifice could attone thy Father's Anger, O thou the beloved Son of God, and reconcile Divine Justice and Mercy together, but the Sacrifice of God incarnate, who as man was to die, and to suffer in our stead, as God was to merit and make satisfaction for our sins; 'twas then that thou, O God the Son, didst become Man, the very meanest of Men, didst take upon thee the form of a Servant, and didst on the Cross shew us the mystery and the Miracle of Love, God crucified for Sinners, and Sinners redeem'd by the bloud of God.

O thou propitious Wonder, God incarnate on the Cross, by what Names shall I adore thee, all are too short, too scanty to express thee, Love onely, nothing but Love will reach thee, thou art Love, O Jesu, thou art all love, O tenderest, O sweetest, O purest, O dearest Love, soften, sweeten, refine, love me into all Love like thee!

By the love of thy Cross, O Jesu, I live, in that I will onely glory, that above all things will I study, that before all things will I value; by the love of thy Cross I will take up my Cross daily, and follow thee, I will persecute and torment, and crucify my sinfull Affections and Lusts, which persecuted, tormented and crucify'd thee; and if thy love calls me to it, I will suffer on the Cross for thee, as thou hast done for me.

How illustrious and amiable were thy Graces amidst all thy Sufferings, O thou afflicted Jesu; I admire, and I love thy profound Humility, unwearied Patience, Lamb-like Meekness, immaculate Innocence, invincible Courage, absolute Resignation, compassionate love of Souls, and perfect Charity to thy Enemies. O my Love, I cannot love thee, but I must desire above all things to be like my Beloved; O give me grace to tread in thy steps, and conform me to thy Divine Image, that the more I grow like thee, the more I may love thee, and the more I may be lov'd by thee.

And Buried, He descended into Hell.

I believe, O crucified Lord, that thou wast really dead, and that there was a separation of thy Body and Soul: That thy side was mortally wounded, and pierced with a Spear on the Cross, and thy sacred Body was buried, to assure us of thy death: All love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O pierced, O wounded Love, that thy Soul in the state of separation did descend into Hell, to vanquish Death and all the Spirits of darkness in their own Dominions, and therefore I adore and love thee.

Glory be to thee, O thou great Champion of Love, who didst for our sakes singly encounter all our ghostly Enemies, who didst thy self taste of death, that thou mightst take away the sting of death, who didst wrestle with principalities and powers, and all the force of Hell that we might share in thy Victory; for which wonderfull Salvation I will always praise and love thee.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

I believe, O Almighty Love, that, according to the Types and Prophecies which went before of thee, and according to thy own infallible predictions, thou didst by thy own power rise from the dead the third day: All love, all glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, who didst lie so long in the Grave to undergo the full condition of the dead, and to convince all the world thou wert dead; and didst rise so soon that thou mightst not see corruption or retard our joy; All love, all glory be to thee.

He ascended into Heaven.

I believe, O Victorious Love, that thou, after thy conquest over Death and Hell, didst ascend in triumph to Heaven, that thou mightst prepare Mansions for us, and from thence as Conquerour bestow the gifts of thy conquest on us, and above all the gift of thy Holy Spirit; that thou mightst enter into the Holy of Holies, as our great High-priest, to present to thy Father the sweet-smelling Sacrifice of his crucified Son, the sole propitiation for Sinners; and therefore all Love, all glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O Jesu, who didst leave the world and ascend to Heaven about the 33^d year of thy age, to teach us in the prime of our years to despise this world, when we are best able to enjoy it, and to reserve our full vigour for Heaven and for thy Love.

O thou whom my Soul loveth, since thou hast left the world, what was there ever in it worthy of our Love! O let all my affections ascend after thee, and never return to the earth more; for whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee.

And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

I believe, O Triumphant Love, that thou now sittest in full and peacefull possession of bliss, and at the right hand of God, that thy humane Nature is exalted to the most honourable place in Heaven, where thou sittest on thy throne of glory, ador'd by Angels, and interceding for Sinners; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O Love enthron'd, thy Resurrection, Ascension and Session, are all signal instances of thy love, and earnests of our future felicity, the entire purchase of thy love: All our hopes of Heaven, our Resurrection, Ascension and Glorification depend on, and are derived from thine, and are all the trophies of thy love to us; and therefore I will ever praise and love thee.

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe, O Glorified Love, that from thy Throne at God's right hand, where thou now sittest, thou wilt come again to judge the world, attended with thy holy Angels. All glory be to thee.

I believe, O thou adorable Judge, that all mankind shall be summon'd before thy awfull Tribunal.

All the Dead, who shall be wak'd out of their Graves when the Angel shall blow the last Trump, and all that are then Quick, and alive, shall then appear before thee. All glory be to thee.

I believe, Lord, that I and all the world shall give a strict account of all our thoughts, and words, and actions; that the Books will be then opened, that out of those dreadfull Registers we shall be judged; that Satan and our own Consciences will be our accusers. O let the last Trump be ever sounding in my ears, that I may ever be mindfull of my great accounts, and that I may neither speak, nor doe, nor think any thing that may wound my own Conscience, or provoke thy Anger, or make me tremble at the awfull day.

I know, O thou adorable Judge, that Love onely shall then endure that terrible Test, that Love onely shall be acquitted, that love onely shall be eternally blest; and therefore I will ever praise and love thee.

Glory be to thee, O thou beloved Son of God, to whom the Father has committed all Iudgment.

How can they that love thee, O Jesu, ever despond, though their love in this life is always imperfect, when at last they shall have love for their Judge, Love that hath felt and will compassionate all their infirmities; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe in the Holy Ghost.

I believe in thee, O thou Spirit of God, the third Person in the most adorable Trinity; I believe, O blessed Spirit, that thou art the Lord, that thou art God eternal and omniscient, a Person distinct from both the Father and the Son, eternally proceeding from both, and equally sent by both, and joint-authour with both of our Salvation; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O blessed Spirit, that thou art Holy, essentially Holy, in respect of thy own Divine Nature, and being essentially Holy, art infinitely Amiable; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O blessed Spirit, that thou art personally Holy, that thou art the Authour of all internal Holiness, and all internal and sanctifying Grace, that thou art the principle of all spiritual life in us; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O Love Incarnate, for sending the Spirit in thy stead, and for promising it to our Prayers; all love, all glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O Spirit of Love, for shedding the love of God abroad in our hearts, for filling all that love thee with exuberance of joy and consolation; all love, all glory be to thee.

O thou blessed Spirit the Comforter, purifie my Soul, and infuse thy love into it, and consecrate it to be thy Temple, and fix thy Throne immovably there, and set all my affections on fire, that my heart may be a continual Sacrifice of Love offer'd up to thee, and the flame may be ever aspiring towards thee.

The Holy Catholick Church.

I believe, O blessed and adorable Mediatour, that the Church is a Society of persons, founded by thy love to Sinners, united into one Body of which thou art the Head, initiated by Baptism, nourish't by the Eucharist, govern'd by Pastours commission'd by thee, and endow'd with the power of the Keys, professing the Doctrine taught by thee, and deliver'd to the Saints, and devoted to praise and to love thee.

I believe, O holy Jesus, that thy Church is holy like thee its authour; holy by the original design of its Institution, holy by baptismal dedication, holy in all its administrations which tend to produce holiness; and though there will be always a mixture of good and bad in it in this world, yet that it has always many real Saints in it; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, Lord, this Church to be Catholick, or Universal, made up of the collection of all particular Churches; I believe it to be Catholick in respect of time, comprehending all ages to the worlds end, to which it is to endure; Catholick in respect of all places, out of which Believers are to be gather'd; Catholick in respect of all saving Faith, of which this Creed contains the substance, which shall in it always be taught; Catholick in respect of all Graces, which shall in it be practised, and Catholick in respect of that Catholick War it is to wage against all its ghostly enemies, for which it is called Militant: O preserve me always a true Member of thy Catholick Church, that I may always inseparably adhere to thee, that I may always devoutly praise and love thee.

Glory be to thee, O Lord my God, who hast made me a member of the particular Church of England, whose Faith, and Government, and Worship are Holy, and Catholick, and Apostolick, and free from the extremes of Irreverence or Superstition, and which I firmly believe to be a sound part of thy Church Universal, and which teaches me Charity to those who dissent from me; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

O my God, give me grace to continue stedfast in her bosome, to improve all those helps to true Piety, all those means of Grace, all those incentives of thy Love, thou hast mercifully indulged me in her Communion, that I may with primitive affections and fervour praise and love thee.

The Communion of Saints.

I believe, O King of Saints, that among the Saints on Earth, whether real or in outward profession onely, there ought to be a mutual catholick participation of all good things, which is the immediate effect of catholick Love. Thou, O God of Love restore it to thy Church.

I believe, O thou God of Love, that all the Saints on Earth by profession ought to communicate one with another, in evangelical Worship, and the same holy Sacraments, in the same Divine and Apostolical Faith, in all Offices of corporal and spiritual Charity, in reciprocal delight in each others Salvation, and in tender sympathy as members of one and the same Body: O God of Peace, restore in thy good time this catholick Communion, that with one heart and one mouth we may all praise and love thee.

O my God, amidst the deplorable divisions of thy Church, O let me never widen its breaches, but give me catholick Charity to all that are baptis'd in thy Name, and catholick Communion with all Christians in desire. O deliver me from the Sins and Errours, from the Schisms and Heresies of the Age. O give me grace to pray daily for the peace of thy Church, and earnestly to seek it, and to excite all I can to praise and to love thee.

I believe, O most holy Jesu, that thy Saints here below have communion with thy Saints above, that they pray for us, while we celebrate their memories, congratulate their bliss, give thanks for their labours of love, and imitate their examples, for which all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O gratious Redeemer, that thy Saints here on Earth have Communion with the holy Angels above; that they are ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation, and watch over us, and we give thanks to thee for their protection, and emulate their incessant praises and ready obedience; for which all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O my Lord and my God, that the Saints in this life have Communion with the three Persons of the most adorable Trinity, in the same most benign influences of love in which all three conspire; for which all love, all glory be to thee, O Father, Son and Holy Ghost, world without end.

Glory be to thee O Goodness infinitely diffusive, for all the Graces, and blessings in which the Saints communicate, for breathing thy love, as the very Soul into thy mystical Body, that all that believe in thee may love one another, and all join in loving thee.

The Forgiveness of Sins.

I believe, O my God, that none can forgive Sins but thou alone, and that in thy Church forgiveness is always to be had; and for so inestimable a blessing all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O thou lover of Souls, that without true repentance we cannot hope for pardon, that our repentance is at the best imperfect, that it is out of thy mere mercy, O heavenly Father, and for the merits and passion of thy crucified Son that thou dost accept our imperfect repentance, and art pleas'd to forgive us; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O most adorable Trinity, for thy infinite love in our forgiveness; Glory be to thee, O Father forgiving, O Son propitiating, O Holy Ghost purifying, I miserable sinner, who sigh, and pant, and languish for thy forgiveness, and to be at peace with thee, praise, and adore, and love that most sweet, and liberal, and tender, and amiable mercy, that delights in forgiving sinners.

The Resurrection of the Body.

I believe, O victorious Jesu, that by the virtue of thy Resurrection all the dead shall rise, bad as well as good; all love, all glory be to thee, by whom death is swallowed up in victory.

I believe, O Almighty Jesu, that by thy power all shall rise with the same bodies they had on earth; that thou wilt recollect their scattered dust into the same form again, that our Souls shall be re-united to our Bodies, that we shall be judged both in Body and Soul, for the sins committed by both, that the Bodies of the wicked shall be fitted for torment, and the Bodies of the Saints chang'd in quality, and made glorify'd Bodies, immortal and incorruptible, fitted for heaven and eternally to love and enjoy thee; for which glorious vouchsafement I will always praise and love thee.

And the Life everlasting.

I believe, O great Judge of Heaven and Earth, that after all the Quick and Dead have appear'd before thy Judgment-seat, then the most just and unrepealable Sentence shall pass, and be executed to all eternity, joyfull onely to those that love thee; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O righteous Jesu, that the wicked shall be set on thy left hand, and be damn'd to Hell, to be tormented with everlasting and unconceivable anguish and despair, by the Devil and his Angels and their own Conscience, both in Soul and Body, in the lake of fire and brimstone, from which there never can be any redemption; O just reward of those that do not love thee.

O mercifull Jesu, how desirous art thou that we should be happy in loving thee, when thou hast created Hell on purpose to deter us from hating thee, and Heaven to compell us to love thee; and therefore all love, all glory be to thee.

I believe, O my Lord and my God, that the righteous shall be rewarded with joys unspeakable and full of glory, with the beatifick Vision and love of thy self in Heaven, with a happiness of Body and Soul, which shall be in all respects most perfect, eternal and unchangeable, that they shall never sorrow nor sin more, which is all the free gift of thy infinite love, O heavenly Father, and the purchase of thy bloud, O God incarnate; for which I will ever, to the utmost of my power, adore and love thee.

O boundless love, when shall I love thee in heaven without either coldness or interruption, which alas too often seise me here below.

When, O my God, O when shall I have the transporting vision of thy most amiable goodness, that I may unalterably love thee, that I may never more offend thee.

O thou whom my Soul loveth, I would not desire heaven but because thou art there, for thou makest heaven wherever thou art.

I would not, O Jesu, desire life everlasting, but that I may there everlastingly love thee.

O inexhaustible love, do thou eternally breath love into me, that my love to thee may be eternally increasing, and tending towards infinity, since a love less than infinite is not worthy of thee.

Amen.

O thou great authour and finisher of our Faith, do thou daily increase my Faith and heighten my love; O grant that in holy ardours of love, to love crucify'd, my love may at last ascend to the region of love, that I may have nothing to doe, to all eternity, but to praise and to love thee. Amen. O infinite Love, Amen, Amen.

This Office may be divided into several parts, and used on the Lord's days, or on Holy-days, especially on the great Festivals of Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, in Lent also, and particularly on Good-friday, and before the reception of the blessed Sacrament, as is most suitable to the occasion, or to the state, temper and disposition of every devout Soul.

Q. You said your Godfathers and Godmothers did promise for you, that you should keep God's Commandments.

Tell me how many there be.

A. Ten.

Q. Which be they?

A. The same which God spake in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage.

I. Thou shalt have none other Gods but me.

II. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above, or in the Earth beneath, or in the water under the Earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children, unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me, and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me, and keep my Commandments.

III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain: For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain.

IV. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labour, and doe all that thou hast to doe; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt doe no manner of work, thou and thy Son, and thy Daughter, thy Man-servant, and thy Maid-servant, thy Cattel and the stranger that is within thy Gates. For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth, the Sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.

V. Honour thy Father and thy Mother, that thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

VI. Thou shalt doe no Murther.

VII. Thou shalt not commit Adultery.

VIII. Thou shalt not Steal.

IX. Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour.

X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's House, thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's Wife, nor his Servant, nor his Maid, nor his Ox, nor his Ass, nor any thing that is his.

Q. What dost thou chiefly learn by these Commandments?

A. I learn two things: my duty towards God, and my duty towards my Neighbour.

Q. What is thy duty towards God?

A. My duty towards God is,

I. II. To believe in him, to fear him, and to love him, with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my Soul, and with all my strength: to worship him, to give him thanks, to put my whole trust in him, to call upon him.

III. To honour his holy Name and his Word;

IV. And to serve him truly all the days of my life.

Q. What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour?

A. My duty towards my Neighbour is,

To love him as my self, and to doe to all men as I would they should doe to me.

V. To love, honour, and succour my Father and Mother. To honour and obey the King, and all that are put in Authority under him. To submit my self to all my Governours, Teachers, spiritual Pastours and Masters, To order my self lowly and reverently to all my betters.

VI. To hurt no body by word or deed.

VII. To be true and just in all my dealings.

VIII. To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart.

IX. To keep my hands from picking and stealing.

X. And my tongue from evil-speaking, lying and slandering.

XI. To keep my body in temperance, soberness and chastity.

XII. Not to covet and desire other mens goods, but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, and to doe my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me.

Q. You have shew'd me how the Creed presents to us the Motives; shew me next how the Ten Commandments contain the Fruits, or Effects of Divine love.

A. Jesus our Love, the great Prophet of Love, has given us this trial of our love, If ye love me, keep my Commandments

Q. Are there not some general Rules, very usefull to be observ'd, in expounding the Commandments?

A. Divine Love does suggest to us the best Rules, and is the best Expositour to teach us the full importance of every Command.

Q. Shew me how.

A. The Love of God does necessarily include these two things, a tenderness to please, and a fearfulness to offend our Beloved, and this Love will be a sure guide to us, in both the affirmative, and the negative part of each Command.

Q. Express this more distinctly.

A. I shall doe it in these following Particulars.

1. O my God, when in any of thy Commands a duty is enjoin'd, Love tells me the contrary evil is forbidden; when any evil is forbidden, Love tells me the contrary duty is enjoin'd; O do thou daily increase my love to good, and my antipathy to evil.

2. Though thy Commands and Prohibitions, O Lord, are in general terms, yet let thy love direct my particular practice, and teach me, that in one general are imply'd all the kinds, and degrees, and occasions, and incitements, and approaches, and allowances relating to that good or evil, which are also commanded or forbidden, and give me grace to pursue, or to fly them.

3. O my God, keep my love always watchfull, and on its guard, that in thy negative Precepts I may continually resist evil; keep my love warm with an habitual zeal, that in all thy affirmative Precepts I may lay hold on all seasons and opportunities of doing good.

4. Let thy love, O thou that onely art worthy to be belov'd, make me carefull to persuade, and engage others to love thee, and to keep thy Commands, as well as my self.

5. None can love thee, O Lord, and endeavour to keep thy holy Commands, but his daily failings in his duty, his frequent involuntary and unavoidable slips and surreptions, and wandrings afflict and humble him, the infirmities of lapst nature create him a kind of perpetual martyrdom, because he can love thee no more, because he can so little serve thee.

But thou, O most compassionate Father, in thy Covenant of Grace dost require sincerity, not perfection; and therefore I praise and love thee.

O my God, though I cannot love and obey thee as much as I desire, I will doe it as much as I am able, I will to the utmost of my power keep all thy Commandments, with my whole heart, and to the end; O accept of my imperfect duty, and supply all the defects of it by the merits, and love, and obedience of Jesus thy Beloved.

6. Glory be to thee, O thou supreme Law-giver, for delivering these Commands to sinfull men; they are the words which thou thy self, O great Iehovah didst speak, O let me ever have an awfull regard for every word thou hast spoken; O let me ever love thee for speaking them, and for giving us the Laws of Love.

7. Glory be to thee, O Lord God, who to make every one of us sensible of our obligation, hast given all thy Commands in the second Person, and by saying Thou, hast spoken in particular to every Soul, that every Soul might love and obey thee.

Glory be to thee, O my God, who in this short abstract, in these Ten Commandments hast compris'd the full extent of our Duty, all the effects of Divine Love.

Teach me, O Lord, to examine my Love by thy Commands, that I may know how to please thee, that I may know wherein I have offended thee, and grieve for my offences, that I may bewail all my commissions of sin, all my omissions of duty.

Teach me, O Lord, by this thy Law, which is the rule of Love, and of all my Actions, to examine not onely my several sins, but also all their several aggravations, whether they have been wilfull, or known, or frequent, or obstinate, or habitual, or ensnaring to others, that Love may shed the more tears, and in some measure proportion my contrition to my guilt.

8. Glory be to thee, O Lord God, who givest us Christians higher obligations to keep thy Commands than thou didst to the Jews, they had onely the memory of their temporal deliverance out of the Land of Egypt, and the House of Bondage set before them, we are deliver'd out of spiritual Egypt, from the bondage of Sin, the power of Satan, and the torments of Hell; O give us grace to exceed them as much in our love, and thanksgiving, and obedience, as we do in our blessings.

9. Glory be to thee, O great Iehovah, who to constrain us to love and obey thee, art pleas'd to honour every faithfull Soul with a near and intimate propriety in thy self, and gratiously to declare, I am the Lord thy God.

O mercifull Lord, what is it possible for me to desire more than to have thee for my God? If thou be my God, the relation ought to be mutual, and I must be thy Servant; Lord be thou mine, and I will be for ever thine.

My Beloved is mine, and I am his.

My God, my Father, my Friend, my Love, whatever is thine I will love, and particularly thy Law will I love for teaching me to love thee, thy Law I will highly esteem, and diligently read and study, thy Law shall be daily my delight, my consellour, and my meditation.

O my good God keep me always thine, and let nothing ever divorce me from thy love.

Q. You have laid down proper rules for interpreting the Commandments, shew me now how they are divided.

A. Into two sorts, or Tables, suitable to the two respects they have to God, and to our Neighbour.

Q. Begin with the first Table, and shew me the number and order of the Commands which it contains.

A. It contains the four first Commands which relate to God, and teach us the Worship of God, even that reverential Love we are to pay to God, which naturally arises from a true sense of his infinite both goodness and greatness.

This Worship of God is either inward or outward.

The inward Worship, being that of the Heart, is the nobler of the two, and this, together with the right object of our worship, is taught in the First Commandment, as the foundation of all the rest.

The outward is compris'd in the three following, which teach us the regulation of God's Worship in reference to our Gestures in the Second, to our Tongues in the Third, to our Time in the Fourth.

Q. Which are the duties of the Second Table?

A. They are the six remaining Commands, which do all relate to our Neighbour, of which I shall speak in their due place.

Q. What have you farther to observe of the Commandments in general?

A. 'Tis observable that those which refer to God are put first, to teach us that the love of God is the chief and original Command, and ought chiefly to be studied, and to teach us also, that all the duties of the Second Table must yield to the First, whenever they stand in any competition.

Q. Go over all the Ten Commandments in particular, and shew me how they are all the genuine fruits and effects of Divine Love, exercis'd either in doing good, or eschewing evil.

A. I shall gladly doe it, and as distinctly as possibly I can, taking every Commandment apart.

The First Commandment.

O thou who onely art Iehovah, if thou be my God, and if I truly love thee, I can never suffer any creature to be thy Rival, or to share my heart with thee; I can have no other God, no other Love but onely thee.

O infinite Goodness, thou onely art amiable, whatever is amiable besides thee, is no farther amiable, than it bears some impressions on it of thy amiableness; and therefore all Love, all Glory be to thee alone.

O my God, O my Love, instill into my Soul so entire reverential a Love of thee, that I may love nothing but for thy sake, or in subordination to thy Love.

O Love, give me grace to study thy Knowledge, that the more I know thee, the more I may love thee.

O my God, O my Love, do thou create in me a stedfast Faith in the veracity, a lively Hope in the Promises, a firm trust in the Power, a confident reliance on the Goodness, and a satisfactory acquiescence in the All-sufficiency of thee my Beloved.

O my God, O my Love, do thou create in me an ardent desire of the presence an heavenly delight in the fruition of thee my Beloved.

O my God, O my Love, fill my heart with Thanksgiving for the Blessings, Praise of the Excellence, Adoration of the Majesty, Zeal for the Glory of thee my Beloved.

O my God, O my Love, fill my heart with a true Repentance for offending, with a constant fear of provoking thee my Beloved.

O my God, O my Love, fill my heart with an affective Devotion in Prayer, and with a profound Humility, in ascribing all Honour to thee my Beloved.

O my God, O my Love, create in me a sincere Obedience to all the commands, a submissive Patience under all the chastisements, an absolute Resignation to all the disposals of thee my Beloved.

O my God, O my Love, let thy All-powerfull Love abound in my heart, and in the hearts of all that profess thy name, that in all these, and in all other possible instances of thy Love, our Souls may be continually employed to praise and to love thee.

O my God, O my Love, let me ever be seeking occasions to excite all I can to adore and love thee.

O my God, O my Love, I renounce, and detest, and bewail, as odious and offensive to thee, as directly opposite to thy Love, and to thy Glory,

All self-love, and inordinate love of things below.

All wilfull and affected ignorance.

All Atheism, or having no God, and Polytheism, or having more Gods than one.

All Heresie, Apostasie, and Infidelity.

All presumption and despair, distrust and carnal security.

All voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels; Reliance on the creature, or recourse to evil spirits.

All unthankfulness and irreligion, lukewarmness and indifference.

All impenitence and disregard of divine wrath.

All indevotion and pride, disobedience, impatience and murmuring.

All the least tendencies to any of these Impieties.

From all these and the like hatefull violations of thy love, and from that vengeance they justly deserve; O my God, O my Love, deliver me, and deliver all faithfull people.

O my God, O my Love, I earnestly pray, that thy love may so prevail over our hearts, that we may sadly lament and abhor all these abominations, and may never more provoke thee.

The Second Commandment.

O my God, O my Love, I know the true Love of thee is incommunicable to any but thee; and therefore I renounce, and detest, and bewail, as odious and offensive to thee, as directly opposite to thy love, and to thy glory,

All making of Idols or false Gods, or of graven Images, with intent of worshipping and bowing down before them.

All representations and picturing of thee, O my God, by visible likenesses of things in Heaven or in Earth.

All corporeal shapes, which are infinitely unsutable to thy invisible and spiritual nature, and derogatory from thy adorableness.

All Idolatry and Religious invocation of Creatures.

All sacrilege and prophanations of thy House, and of things sacred.

All abuse or disesteem, or carelesness of thy Word, and contempt of thy Ministers.

All superstitious or unlawfull rites, superfluities or mutilations, irreverence or indecencies in thy publick worship, by which thou art any way dishonoured.

All resting in mere outward observances, or refusing to give thee bodily worship, and to fall down before thee.

All the least tendencies to any of these impieties.

From all these and the like violations of thy incommunicable Love, and from that vengeance they justly deserve; O my God, O my Love, deliver me, and deliver all faithfull people, &c.

O my God, O my Love, imprint on my soul an Awfull Love of thy Majesty, that I may worship thee in spirit and in truth, and in a manner worthy of thee.

O my God, O my Love, make me so tender of the Honour of thee my Beloved, that I may shew a due regard to all the parts of thy worship.

That with lowest humiliation of soul and body, whenever I appear in the presence of infinite-Love, I may fall down and adore thee.

O my God, O my Love, O may I always enter thy house, the habitation of unbounded Love, with recollected thoughts, compos'd behaviour, becoming reverence, and sincere intentions of Love.

O my God, O my Love, O may I ever frequent the publick Prayers, and approach thine Altar with fervent and heavenly affections, with holy impatience for the blessings of thy Love.

O my God, O my Love, O may I always reade and hear thy Word, the heavenly register of thy Love, with a serious attention, an inflamable heart, and a particular application, and ever learn from it some lesson of thy Love.

O my God, O my Love, for thy dearest sake, give me grace to pay a religious veneration to all sacred persons, or places, or things, which are thine by solemn dedication, and separated for the uses of Divine Love, and the communications of thy grace, or which may promote the decency and order of thy worship, or the edification of faithfull people.

O my God, O my Love, let thy All-powerfull Love abound in my heart, and in the hearts of all that profess thy Name, that in all these, and in all other possible instances of thy love, our souls may be continually employed to praise and to love thee, &c.

Thou, O my God, O my Love, art a jealous God, jealous of thy own Honour, and of the chastness of my Love; O let me never run after other Loves, or commit spiritual Adultery against thee, to provoke thee to anger.

Thou, O my God, O my Love, dost visit the iniquities of the Fathers upon the children; Thou when thy jealousie burns like fire against Idolaters, and those that rob thee of thy worship, art wont to punish them in their very posterity, with temporal evils, and with spiritual too, when their children tread in their steps; for then thou makest their Father's sins occasions of hastning, or of increasing thy judgments, though thou always sparest the children that repent; O let thy just indignation against violating thy Worship, deter me, and all that profess thy Name, from such violations.

Thy jealousie, O my God, O my Love, falls heavy upon them that hate thee; but how is it possible for any one to hate thee, who art infinite love? and yet, alas! all that are enemies to thy Divine Worship; all that exalt any lust, any creature into thy Throne, to ascribe their happiness, to sacrifice their esteem, and zeal, and affections, and to offer up Sovereign Honours to it; what do they doe but love false Gods, and hate thee, and are therefore hated by thee.

O Lord God, to hate thee is the proper character of Devils, and Lucifer himself cannot sin beyond that utmost extremity of evil, the hatred of thee; and my heart is full of horrour and grief, to think, that ever those that bear thy Image, and daily subsist by thy love, should turn themselves into Devils, and this World into a Hell, by hating thee: O boundless Love, turn them, O turn them into men again, and then they cannot chuse but love thee.

Glory be to thee, O my God, who shewest mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy Commandments: Love and Obedience always go together, and entail a blessing on the posterity of thy Lovers; O keep me always one of that happy number; O let me ever love and obey thee.

Glory be to thee, O Lord God, whose Love is more diffusive than thy Anger; they vengeance extends but to the third, or, at most, the fourth generation, thy mercy unto thousands; and the more diffused thy Love is, the more powerfully it moves us, to praise and to love thee.

The Third Commandment.

O my God, O my Love, thy Name is thy own glorious and amiable self, thy Divine Nature, and Perfections, and Works, most worthy to be ador'd, most worthy to be lov'd, and therefore I will always adore and love thy Name.

O my God, O my Love, may I ever have awfull thoughts of thee, may I never mention thy venerable Name, unless on solemn, and just, and devout occasions; may I never mention it on those occasions without acts of love and adoration.

O my God, O my Love, to love, and to glorify thy Name is the great end of our Creation, which is still more enforced by our Redemption; O let it be the greatest business of my whole life to love, and to glorifie it all the possible ways I can, by my mouth, by my conversation, by my publick confession of thee before men, even to death, whenever thou art pleas'd to call me to it, by engaging all I can to glorify and love thee; O happy life, O blessed death, which is spent, and expires in glorifying, in loving thee!

O my God, O my Love, my heart shall ever be jealous of thy Name, I can have no true love, no real concern for thee if I do not, to the utmost of my power, assert and vindicate the Name of my Beloved whenever I hear it dishonour'd.

O my God, O my Love, fix in my Soul an habitual pure intention of thy glory in all my actions, that whether I eat or drink, or whatever I doe, I may doe all to the glory of my Beloved.

Oaths.

O my God, O my Love, fill me with a religious awe of Oaths, in which the honour of thy beloved Name is so highly concern'd.

I know, O great Iehovah, that in an Oath I solemnly invoke thee, as a Witness to attest the truth of what I swear, as a Judge to punish me if I swear falsly.

Far be it from me, O Lord God, ever to swear, and in swearing, to invoke thee, unless upon inducements lawfull and important, when thy Glory, the Command of my Superiours, the visible good of my Neighbour, the ending of strife, or my own Innocence obliges me to it.

O Lord God, whenever I am duly call'd to an Assertory Oath, grant I may swear in truth, in righteousness, and in judgment.

Whatever lawfull Promissory Oaths I take, Lord give me grace piously to perform them, though to my own hindrance.

Vows.

The glory of thy most beloved Name, O great Iehovah, next to the truth of our Oaths we invoke thee to attest, is concern'd in the sincerity of those Vows we offer thee to accept; O do thou therefore create in me a serious sense of the religiousness of Vows, that my Vows may not dishonour thee.

O my God, O my Love, whenever I voluntarily vow a Vow to thee, give me grace to vow with all the due caution I can, that I may vow those things onely which are lawfull and acceptable to thee, and which thou hast put in my power, that I may vow with deliberation and ghostly advice, and on weighty and considerable occasions onely, and with a design of glory, and thankfulness, and love to thee.

O my God, O my Love, give me grace faithfully to perform all the Vows I make to thee, especially my Baptismal Vow, and all my repeated Vows of amendment, in which I have so often vow'd, to glorify and love thy Name.

O my God, O my Love, let thy All-powerfull Love abound in my heart, and in the hearts of all that profess thy name, that in all these, and in all other possible instances of thy Love, our Souls may be continually employed to praise, and to love thee.

O my God, O my Love, who is there that knows thy great, thy beloved Name, can ever in the least dishonour it?

O my God, O my Love, I renounce, and detest, and bewail, as odious and offensive to thee, as directly opposite to thy love, and to thy glory,

All taking of the Name in vain.

All use of it on trivial occasions, and without holy awe.

All abuse of it in impious Jests, in Charms, or Curses, or Imprecations, or telling Fortunes, or exploratory Lots; all irreverent thoughts of thy Name, profaneness and blasphemy.

All denying thee by my works, or refusing publickly to confess thee, when call'd to it, or tamely enduring to hear thee dishonour'd.

All heathenish, or customary, or rash Oaths, or swearing in ordinary communication, or by any Creature.

All breaking of lawfull Oaths, Perjury, false-swearing, and invoking thee, O God of truth, to attest a lye, sins most destructive to publick Faith and Society, and to our own Souls, and most dishonourable and hatefull to thee.

All hasty, or unlawfull, or superstitious, or impossible Vows, all breaking those that are regularly made.

All the least tendencies to any of these impieties.

From all these, and the like hatefull violations of thy Love, and from that vengeance they justly deserve, O my God, O my Love, deliver me, and deliver all faithfull People.

O great Iehovah, thou art jealous for thy glorious and beloved Name, and without a particular and serious repentance thou wilt not hold him guiltless, that taketh it in vain; thou wilt pour on him the vials of thy wrath, thy wrath eternal, and yet thy ever blessed Name, is, alas! alas! daily, hourly blasphemed.

O Apostate, Infamous World, wherein Infinite Goodness is so oft blasphem'd; were not thy Name Love, O Lord, as well as Iehovah, thou hadst long agoe aveng'd thy self of the blasphemous World, with a vengeance worthy of God.

Glory be to thee, O Long-suffering Love for thy forbearance, efficacious of its self to convert the whole World, did the World but seriously consider it.

O Almighty Love, thou canst as easily diffuse thy Love over the World, as thou didst at first diffuse Light; O let thy Fear, and thy Love so universally affect the Age, that thy great and beloved Name may be universally ador'd and lov'd!

The Fourth Commandment.

Glory be to thee, O my God, O my Love, who in compassion to humane weakness, which is not capable of an uninterrupted contemplation of thee, such as the Saints have above, hast appointed a solemn day on purpose for thy remembrance.

Glory be to thee, O my God, my Love, for proportioning a seventh part of our time to thy self, and liberally indulging the remainder to our own use.

O my God, O my Love, let me ever esteem it my privilege, and my happiness to have a day of rest set apart for thy service, and the concerns of my own Soul, to have a day free from distractions, disengaged from the World, wherein I have nothing to doe, but to praise, and to love thee.

Lord, grant that I may not onely on thy day give thee due worship my self, but may give rest and leisure also to my Family, to all under my charge, to serve thee also, to indulge ease to my very Beasts, since good men are mercifull even to them.

Glory be to thee, O blessed Spirit, who on the first day of the week didst descend in miraculous gifts and graces on the Apostles; O descend upon me, that I may be always in the spirit on the Lord's day.

O my God, O my Love, give me grace on thy day to worship thee in my Closet, and in the Congregation, to spend it in doing good, in works of necessity, devotion and charity, in prayer, and praise, and meditation; O let it ever be to me a day sacred to Divine Love, a day of heavenly rest and refreshment.

Thou, O my God, O my Love, didst ordain the Jewdaical Sabbath as a shadow of the true Gospel-sabbath; O may I every day keep an Evangelical Sabbath, and rest from my sins, which are my own works, while I live here, and may I celebrate an eternal Sabbath with thee in Heaven hereafter.

O my God, O my Love, for the like purposes of Piety, and of thy Glory, give me grace to sanctify the Feasts and Fasts of thy Church, as in the number of those happy days set apart for the remembrance of thy love.

Glory be to thee, O Lord God, who didst command the Sabbath or seventh day to be kept holy, and strictly observed by the Jews as thy Sabbath, in memory of the Creation; of thy making Heaven and Earth, the Sea, and all that in them is, and of thy resting the seventh day; of thy blessing the seventh day, and hallowing it.

We Christians, O Lord God, following the moral equity of thy Command, and authorised by Apostolical Practice, celebrate the Lord's day, the first day of the week, in memory of our Redemption, in memory of thy Resurrection from the dead, O most beloved Jesu, when thou didst rest from the labours and sorrows of the New Creation, O may I ever remember thy day, and thee.

Glory be to thee, O my God, my Love, who hast under the Gospel delivered us from the Rigours, but not from the Piety of the Jewish Sabbath.

Lord, since the blessing of everlasting Salvation, which we Christians on thy day commemorate, does wonderfully exceed the Creation commemorated by the Jews; O let our love, and praise, and devotion, and zeal, proportionably exceed theirs also.

O my God, O my Love, let thy All-powerfull Love abound in my heart, and in the hearts of all that profess thy Name, that in all these, and all other possible instances of thy love, our Souls may be continually employ'd to praise, and to love thee.

O my God, O my Love, I renounce and detest, &c.

All profanations of thy hallow'd Day, and of all other holy Times dedicated to thy praise, and thy love.

All Jewdaizing Severities, all Worldly-mindedness, and unnecessary business, or not allowing those under my care liberty and leisure for thy service on thy day.

All unmercifulness to my very Beasts.

All indevotion, or forgetfulness of thee.

All the least tendencies--

From all these and the like, &c.

Next to thy glorious self, O my God, O my Love, and for the sake of thy supreme, independent Love, thou hast commanded me to love my Neighbour, allied to me by nature, or by grace, all Strangers and Enemies as well as Friends. To honour all men, as being made after thy likeness, and the greater likeness they retain to thee, to honour them the more; Glory be to thee.

Thou, O my God, O my Love, hast commanded me to love my Neighbour as my self, O for the sake of thy love, give me love to relieve and assist him in all instances wherein he may need my help, as freely, as fully, as affectionately as I my self would desire to be treated, were I in his condition.

O my God, O my Love, for the sake of thy dearest Love, give me grace to love my Neighbour, not in word, and in tongue onely, but in deed, and in truth; to wish well to all men, and to contribute my hearty prayers and endeavours, and to give them for thy sake all lawfull, and reasonable, and necessary succours.

Glory be to thee, O my God, O my Love, who by commanding me to love my Neighbour as my self, dost imply the regular love of my self; that I should doe all I can to preserve my self free and vigorous to glorify thee in my station: 'Tis for thy sake onely I can love my self, and he does not wish or endeavour his own happiness, he really hates himself, that does not love thee.

Thou Lord by enjoining me to love my Neighbour as my self, hast intimated my duty of loving those best, which either in bloud are nearest my natural self, or in grace nearest my Christian self; O let thy love teach me to observe the true order of Charity in loving others.

O thou eternal source of Goodness, give me grace to imitate that boundless Goodness, let thy love work in me an universal propension to love, and to doe good to all men, to be mercifull to others, as thou Lord art mercifull.

Q. Shew me how the love of your Neighbour is in the Second Table divided.

A. The love of my Neighbour, which is the fulfilling of the Law, of all the Commands of the Second Table is divided according to those different conditions of our Neighbour, wherein we most exercise our love or hatred to him.

Q. In how many ruling Instances may we exercise that love or hatred?

A. Either in outward acts, or inward disposition.

Q. How in outward acts?

A. Five several ways, in respect of his superiority, in the Fifth Commandment.

His Safety in the Sixth.

His Bed in the Seventh.

His Propriety in the Eighth; or,

His good Name in the Ninth.

Q. How in our inward disposition?

A. By regulating our very Desires in relation to him, as the Tenth obliges us to doe?

Q. Let me hear how Divine Love moves in each of these Commands.

A. It moves in such acts as follow.

The Fifth Commandment.

Let thy reverential Love, O my God, teach and incline me, to shew respectfull Love to all my superiours, in my inward esteem, in my outward speech and behaviour.

Glory be to thee, O Lord, who hast comprehended all that are above me, under the tender and venerable Names of Father and Mother, that I looking on them as Resemblances and Instruments of thy Sovereign Power and Paternal Providence to me, may be the more effectually engaged for thy sake to reverence and love them.

O my God, give me grace to imitate thy Paternal Goodness, and for the sake of thy Love; to love and cherish, and provide for; to educate and instruct, and pray for my Children; to take conscientious care to give them medicinal correction and good example, and to make them thy children, that they may truly love thee.

O my God, give me grace for the sake of thy love, to Honour my Father and Mother, to render them all love, and reverence, and thankfulness, and all that regard which is due from a Child, that I may pay obedience to their commands, submission to their corrections, attention to their instructions, and succour to their necessities, and may daily pray for their welfare.

Thou, O Lord, hast set our most Gratious King over us, as our Political Parent, as thy Supreme Minister, to govern and protect us, and to be a terrour to those that doe ill: O grant Him a long and happy Reign, that we may all live a peaceable and quiet life under Him, in all godliness and honesty. Defend Him from all His Enemies; let Him be ever beloved by thee, and let Him ever love thee, and ever promote thy love.

Multiply, O Lord God, the blessings of thy love on our most Gratious Queen Mary, Catharine the Queen Dowager, their Royal Highnesses Mary Princess of Orange, and the Princess Anne of Denmark, and on all the Royal Family: Give them grace to exceed others, as much in Goodness as in Greatness, and make them signal instruments of thy Glory, and examples of thy Love.

O my God, give grace to me and all my fellow-subjects, next to thy own infinite self, to love and honour, to fear and obey our Sovereign Lord the King, thy own Vicegerent, for Conscience sake, and for thy own sake, who hast placed Him over us; O may we ever faithfully render Him his due tribute; O may we ever pray for His prosperity, sacrifice our fortunes and our lives in His defence, and be always ready rather to suffer than resist.

Glory be to thee, O Lord, who hast ordained Pastours, and hast given them the Power of the Keys; to be our Ecclesiastical Parents; to watch over our Souls; to instruct us in saving Knowledge; to guide us by their Examples; to pray for, and to bless us; to administer spiritual discipline in thy Church, and to manage all the conveyances of thy Divine Love.

O my God, for thy Love's sake, let me ever honour and love the Ministers of thy Love, the Ambassadours thou dost send in thy stead, to beseech us sinners to be reconciled to thee, to offer thy Enemies conditions of Love, of love eternal; O may I ever hear them attentively, practise their heavenly doctrine, imitate their holy examples, pay them their dues, and revere their censures.

O my God, for the sake of thy love, grant I may ever love, and provide for my Servants [servant,] and may treat them like Brethren; let me never exact from them immoderate work; O may I always give them just wages, and equitable commands, and good example, and mercifull correction: Grant, Lord, I may daily allow them time for their prayers, indulge them due refreshments, and may take care of their souls, and persuade them to love thee; remembring, that I also have a Master in Heaven.

Give me grace, O my God, for the sake of thy Love, to honour, and love, and obey my Master [and Mistress] and to serve him [her] with diligence and faithfulness, and readiness to please, and to pray for him [her] them; and whatever I doe, to doe heartily as to thee, O Lord, and not to him, [her] [them.]

O my God, let thy love incline me to love, and to honour all whom thou hast any way made my superiours, sutably to their quality, or age, or gifts, or learning, or wisedom, or gravity, or goodness.

O my God, grant that for thy sake, I may ever love and honour all that are, or have been, instruments of thy love to me, in doing me good; O may I reverence my teachers, be gratefull to my benefactours, and may I have always a peculiar respect to my particular Pastour.

O my God, let thy love engage me to love those whom thou hast obliged to love me; to shew constancy, and fidelity, and sympathy, and love, and communicativeness to my Friend; to be affectionate to my Brethren and Sisters; to be kind and affable to my Equals; condescending to my Inferiours; to be all the possible ways I can, universally helpfull and obliging, and loving to all

O my God, O my Love, let thy All-powerfull Love abound in my heart, and in the hearts of all that profess thy Name, that in all these, and in all other possible instances of duty, our lives may be continually employed to love thee, and for thy sake to love our Neighbour, and to excite our Neighbour to love thee.

The several Forms which contain the Duties of Parent and Child, of Master and Servant, &c. are to be used by every one, according as may sute with his Circumstances, or as he stands in any of those Relations.

O my God, O my Love, I renounce, and derest, and bewail, as odious and offensive to thee, as directly opposite to thy love, and the love of my neighbour, for thy sake,

All dishonour to our Superiours, in either despising them, speaking evil of them, or in irreverent behaviour.

All unnaturalness to Children.

All undutifulness, or stubbornness, or disobedience, or disrespect to Parents.

All rebelling, or reviling, or murmuring against the King, or against his Ministers.

All defrauding, undervaluing or rejecting lawfull Pastours.

All Schism, and contempt of their regular censures.

All falseness or negligence, or refractariness to Masters or Mistresses.

All rudeness, ingratitude, treachery, want of brotherly love and unfaithfulness.

All the least tendencies to any of these impieties.

From all these and the like hatefull violatious of thy love, and of the love of my neighbour, and from the vengeance they justly deserve, O my God, O my Love, deliver me and all faithfull people.

O my God, O my Love, I earnestly pray, that thy love, and the love of our neighbour may so prevail over our hearts, that we may sadly lament and abhor all these abominations, and may never more provoke thee.

Glory be to thee, O Lord, who to teach us the importance of this duty of subjection, hast placed it the first of all the second Table, of all that relate to our neighbour, and hast made it the first Commandment with a promise to every soul that conscientiously keeps it, that thy days shall be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Who would not love and obey thee, O my God, and for thy sake his Superiours, when thou hast promised to reward our Duty with a long happy life here, or if thou seest it best for us, and to take us away from the evil to come by living a long tract of Holiness in a little time, and at last by prolonging our bliss to all eternity in Heaven; for which gratious promise, all love, all glory be to thee.

The Sixth Commandment.

O my God, O my Love, I renounce, and detest, and bewail, as odious and offensive to thee, as directly opposite to thy love, and to the love of my neighbour, for thy sake,

All duels and unlawfull War.

All doing hurt to the body and life of my neighbour, directly by wounding or murthering him.

Indirectly by contriving or employing others to harm him.

All the ways of procuring Abortion.

All malice and envy, hatred and revenge, contention and cruelty.

All injury and violence, all rash, causeless, immoderate or implacable anger, or contumelious speaking and reviling.

All wilfull vexing, grieving or disquieting him.

All threatning, ill-wishes or curses.

All needless endangering our selves, and self-murther.

All murthering of Souls, by encouraging, ensuaring, tempting, commanding them to sin.

All the least tendencies to any of these impieties.

From all these and the like, &c.

O my God, O my Love, let thy unwearied and tender love to me, make my love unwearied and tender to my neighbour, and zealous to procure, promote, and preserve his health, and safety, and happiness, and life, that he may be the better able to serve and to love thee.

O my God, O my Love, make me like thy own self, all meekness and benignity, all goodness and sweetness, all gentleness and long-suffering.

Fill me full of good wishes and compassion, of liberality in Alms-giving according to my abilities, and of readiness to succour, and relieve, and comfort, and rescue, and pray for all, whom thy love or their own necessities, or miseries, or dangers, recommend to my charity.

O let thy love, thou God of Love, make me peacefull and reconcilable, always ready to return good for evil, to repay injuries with kindness, and easie to forgive, unless in those instances, where the impunity of the criminal would be injustice or cruelty to the publick.

O thou lover of Souls, let thy love raise in me a compassionate zeal to save the life, the eternal life of Souls, and by fraternal, and affectionate, and seasonable advice, or exhortation, or correptions, to reclaim the wicked, and to win them to love thee.

O my God, O my Love, let thy All-powerfull love, &c.

The Seventh Commandment.

O my God, O my Love, I renounce, &c.

All adultery and violations of my neighbour's bed, in the gross act, robbing him of that he loves best.

All adultery and unchastity of the eye or the hand.

All the kinds and degrees of lust, fornication, pollution of our own bodies, and works of darkness, which it is a shame to mention.

All things that provoke, or feed lust, impure company, discourse, songs, books or pictures.

All lascivious dresses, or dances, or plays; all idleness or luxurious diet.

All the excesses or abuses of lawfull Marriage, all unreasonable jealousies, and all things that lessen the mutual kindness, or alienate the affections of those that are married.

All the least tendencies to any of these impurities.

From all these, &c.

O my God, my Love, let thy purest love, who art Purity it self, create in me a perfect abhorrence of all impurity, that I may purifie my self as thou Lord art pure.

I know, O Lord, that I can never be partaker of the Divine Nature, unless I escape the pollution that is in the world through lust, O do thou therefore cleanse me from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, that I may perfect holiness in thy fear: Give me grace to possess my vessel in sanctification and honour and to keep thy Temple holy, that thy Spirit of Love may always there inhabit.

O my God, let my love be chast to thee, chast to my self, chast to my neighbour.

O my God, may thy Love set a strict guard on my Senses; turn away mine eyes, stop mine ears, bridle my tongue, and restrain my hand from all uncleanness.

Lord, give me grace to fly all incitements, or opportunities, or instruments of defiling, either my neighbour or my self, To beat down my body, and to bring it into subjection.

O my Love, let me live ever watching or praying, or profitably employ'd or busied in thy love, that I may leave no room if possible for any unclean Spirit to enter into my Soul and tempt me.

O my God, O my Love, let thy all-powerfull love abound in my heart and in the hearts of all that profess thy Name, that in all these and in all other possible instances of duty, our lives may be continually employ'd to love thee, and for thy sake to love our neighbour, and to excite our neighbour to love thee.

O thou God of Love, who hast ordain'd the marriage state for the cure of our passion, and the comfort of our life, and hast made it the embleme of that Divine Love and Union thou art pleas'd to bear towards thy Church: Let the force of thy mystical love teach us to love each other, and both of us to love thee.

O thou who hast made us one flesh, make us but one Soul also; let our love be mutual, constant and inviolate, full of compliance, and condescensions, and Sympathy, and forbearance towards each other.

Fill us, O God of Love, with reciprocal care and zeal, and charity for each others happiness temporal and eternal, and with a delight in each other exclusive of all loves but thine.

Lord give us grace to keep our marriage always honourable, and our bed undefiled; let the affectionate authority of the one, and the submissive sweetness of the other, produce an entire friendship and harmony of dispositions, and fervent intercessions for each other; Give us, O Lord, an unafflicting foresight of our parting here, and a passionate longing to be beatified near each other, in neighbouring mansions above, that from thenceforth our love to each other and to thee may be coeternal with thine.

The Eighth Commandment.

O my God, O my Love, I renounce, &c.

All kinds of stealing, by open Robbery, Violence, or Invasion.

All Oppression, or Extortion, or Rapine, vexatious Law-suits, or griping Usury.

All fraud in Trade and Contracts, false Weights, and Measures, and Coin.

All concealing the defects of our own Goods, or depretiating those of our neighbour.

All making haste to be rich, or taking advantage of the ignorance or necessity of the persons we deal with.

All withholding our neighbours dues, or detaining the hire of the Labourer.

All borrowing and not paying, injurious keeping the goods of others, and refusing to make restitution

All breach of Trust, or removing Land-marks, wastfull prodigality, avaritious gaming, or idle begging.

All outrages to the Fatherless, the Widow and the Stranger.

All the least tendencies to any of these acts of injustice.

From all these and the like hatefull violations of thy Love, and of the Love of my neighbour, and from the vengeance they justly deserve, O my God, O my Love, deliver me and all faithfull people.

O my God, O my Love, let the love of thy eternal and amiable justice, teach me a steddy justice in giving all men their due, since I cannot love my neighbour if I am unjust to him.

Lord give me grace to use my neighbour as my friend, as my self, to buy and sell by just Weights and Measures, and to be content with moderate gain.

To pay debts and wages, and conscientiously to make restitution for injuries or wrongs, or for goods unlawfully gotten.

Teach me, O my God, to use this world so as not to abuse it; to receive and manage all thy temporal blessings with thankfulness to thee, sobriety to my self, and charity to all besides.

Make me ever, O my God, upright and faithfull in Trusts, and Trade, and Agreements, diligent and honest in my station and Calling, and according to my ability willing to lend, and remit to my poor neighbours.

Whenever, O my God, I am forc'd to go to Law, O let me ever contend more for right than victory, and in all prosecutions preserve a charitable and an equitable disposition.

O my God, O my Love, let thy all-powerfull love abound in my heart, and in the hearts of all that profess thy Name, that in all these and all other possible instances of duty, our lives may be continually employ'd to love thee, and for thy sake to love our neighbour, and to excite our neighbour to love thee.

The Ninth Commandment.

O my God, O my Love, I renounce, &c.

All manner of bearing false Witness against my Neighbour, All false accusations, or glosses, or pleadings, or testimonies, or sentences in Courts of Judicature, by concealing or overspeaking, or perverting right and truth.

All things prejudicial or destructive to my neighbours good name.

All censoriousness and slander, detraction and calumny, forc'd consequences, or invidious reflexions.

All scoffing, or exposing the infirmities of others.

All whispering and tale-bearing, or raising of evil reports, suspicions or jealousies, and all evil-speaking.

All equivocations and dissembling, flattery and lying.

All the least tendencies to any of these injurious falshoods.

From all these and the like hatefull violations of thy love, and of the love, &c.

O my God, O my Love, who dost love truth, and dost hate a lie, as perfectly Diabolical, instill into my Soul an unalterable love of truth, that nothing may tempt me to deviate from an intire veracity in my whole conversation, or become a liar, which thy Soul abhors.

O Lord give me grace ever to speak the truth, and let my heart and my tongue always go together.

O my God, give me grace to be tender of my neighbour's good name, since I cannot love him if I take that from him which I know to be most dear to him.

Grant, O my God, for the sake of thy own love, that I may be always ready to vindicate my neighbour's good name on all occasions, that I may judge the best, and speak well of him, and conceal or excuse his infirmities, that I may be impatient to hear, slow to believe, and unwilling to propagate evil reports; that I may put candid interpretations on his actions, since the more he is defamed the less able he is to serve thee, the less credit he has to perswade others to love thee.

O my God, O my love, let thy, &c.

The Tenth Commandment.

O my God, O my Love, I renounce, &c.

All the inordinate desire of what is my neighbour's, All coveting his House, or Wife, or Servant, or Maid, or Ox, or Ass, or any thing that is his.

All discontentedness with my worldly condition, and worldly solicitude.

All covetousness, or repining at the happiness of others.

All taking pleasure in sin, or complacence in past impurities.

All the first motions, all the least tendencies to concupiscence.

From all these and the like hatefull, &c.

O my God, O my Love, thou art the great searcher of hearts, and dost not onely require outward acts of duty but the inward disposition of the heart, the heart is the chief sacrifice thou requirest, the heart is the proper seat of thy love, and my heart I wholly devote to thee.

O my God, create in me a clean heart, that the fountain of action being clean, the streams may run clean also.

Give me a heart, O thou who onely canst change the heart, entirely turn'd to thee, that may suppress and resist all the first springings of Lust, before they shoot up into consent, approbation and desire, before lust conceiving brings forth sin.

Lord, make me contented, and thankfull and well-pleased with that portion thy providential love has allotted me, and to acquiesce in thy choice as best for me.

O great Lord of hearts, lodge my neighbour in my heart next to my self, let all my desires be for his good, and let it be the subject of my joy, and praise, and love, to see thy love liberal to him, to see him abounding in thy blessings.

O my God, my love, what can a Soul enamour'd of thee ever desire but thee; O let the world never more have place in my heart, all my affections I withdraw from that to fix on thee.

Forgive me, O my God, if I am unmeasurably ambitious, it is onely of thy favour; forgive me if I am unsatiably covetous, it is onely of thy fruition; forgive me if I am perpetually discontented, it is onely because I cannot love thee more

O unconceivable happiness of Heaven where my Ambition shall rest on a Throne, where my Covetousness shall be filled with the Beatifick Vision, and where I shall be eternally satisfied with love.

O my God, O my Love, let thy, &c.

Q. My good child, know this, that thou art not able to do these things of thy self, nor to walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve him without his special grace, which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent Prayer. Let me hear therefore if thou canst say the Lords Prayer?

A. Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Q. What desirest thou of God in this prayer?

A. I desire my Lord God our heavenly Father, who is the giver of all goodness, to send his grace unto me, and to all people, that we may worship him, serve him, and obey him as we ought to do. And I pray unto God, that he will send us all things that be needful both for our souls and bodies. And that he will be merciful unto us, and forgive us our sins, and that it will please him to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily, and that he will keep us from all sin and wickedness, and from our ghostly enemy, and from everlasting death.

And this I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore I say Amen. So be it.

O infinite Lord, it is my duty and my happiness to love thee; but alas! my own sad experience teaches me, how little able I am to love.

Ah Lord, there is a dark cloud of Ignorance spread over my Soul, that intercepts thy beams, I cannot clearly see, I cannot fully know how lovely thou art.

Ah Lord, when ever any gleams of thy loveliness break in upon my Spirit, and attract my will; a crowd of strange Loves importune and tempt me to wander after them.

Since O my God, I can of my self neither know, nor love thee, since I cannot by my own strength do those things thou requirest, nor walk in thy Commandments, nor serve thee, nor think so much as one good thought: whither can I fly but only to thy free and unbounded love? Thou art my hope, my help, and my salvation; thou only canst teach and enable me to know and to love thy own goodness.

By thy special Grace, O my God, by thy particular assistance, by the strength of thy Love I can do all things: O let thy Grace ever enlighten and enflame me; let it ever prevent, and accompany and follow me; let it ever excite, and encrease, and support thy love in my heart; O let it ever work in me both to will and to do of thy good pleasure.

I know Lord, that thy Grace, and all other blessings I must learn at all times to call for by diligent Prayer, and I adore and love thy infinite Benignity to sinners, in indulging us the privilege, the honour, the happiness to pray to thee, to pour out our souls, to breath out our desires, to present our wants, and to unbosom our griefs at thy Throne of love.

I praise and I love thee, O sovereign Love, for not only permitting us miserable Wretches to pray to thee, but also for giving us all imaginable encouragement to so important and divine a Duty.

I adore and love thee, O munificent goodness, for inviting, for commanding us to pray: I adore and love thee for pouring out thy holy spirit of grace and supplication on us, to help our Infirmities, to assist us in praying, to make intercessions for us with Sighs and Groans that cannot be uttered, with the utmost ardours of a penitential and indigent love. I adore and love thee for giving us so many glorious promises of hearing our Prayers, so many firm assurances of a gracious acceptance.

O thou great Prophet of Divine Love, who, as if thy invitation, and command, and assistance, and promise were not enough to move us to pray; hast condescended to teach us this duty thy self; and to give us a perfect pattern of Prayer, for which I adore and love thee.

Glory be to thee, O blessed Master of Devotion, who in dictating a form of Prayer, and enjoyning us to use it, hast complied with our weakness, and warned us not to relie on rash and unpremeditated Effusions; who in dictating a short form, hast taught us to avoid vain repetitions, or thinking we shall be heard for much speaking, and to measure our Prayers rather by their fervency than length.

That Prayer which was composed by thy own self, O God that hearest Prayer, we are sure is most divine and excellent, and perfect like its Author, and most agreeable and acceptable to thee, for which I adore and love thee.

O Blessed Jesus, the only beloved of God, thou best understandest the language of Love, and in that language thou hast taught us to pray, and whenever we pray in that language, we have an humble confidence thy heavenly Father will hear us, who with the words of his own beloved Son will ever be well pleased; and therefore I adore and love thee.

Thou O heavenly Guide of our Devotion and our Love, by teaching us to pray, hast shewed us that Prayer is our treasury where all Blessings are kept, our Armoury where all our strength and weapons are stored, the only great preservative, and the very vital heat of Divine Love. Give me grace therefore to call on thee at all times by diligent Prayer.

O the unspeakable misery of those who either totally neglect the duty of Prayer, or else prophane it by drawing near to God with their lips, when their hearts are far removed from him, whose Prayers being void of all Devotion and concern, are turned into fresh sins: How deservedly shall he have God for his Enemy; who would not beg pardon of a most reconcileable Father? How deservedly shall he suffer eternal wrath, who thought Heaven not worth the asking?

O my God, let me daily offer up to thee my morning and evening Sacrifice in private, and in publick too, if my circumstances permit, and as near as I can, let me omit no opportunities of praying, or of praising thee.

O my God, may I ever keep my self in thy Love, by praying in the holy Ghost, and by praying without ceasing, since I incessantly want the succours of thy Love.

Ah Lord, I know my Devotion has daily many unavoidable and necessary interruptions, and I cannot always be actually praying, all I can do is to beg of thy Love, to keep my heart always in an habitual disposition to Devotion, and in mindfulness of thy divine presence, that I may perpetuate my Prayer by frequent Ejaculations.

O my God, as thy infinite Love is ever-streaming in Blessings on me; O set my Soul be ever breathing Love to thee.

O my God, to Prayer whereby I address to thee, give me grace to add the daily reading and meditation of thy word, whereby thou art pleased to converse with me.

It is thy abundant Love to us, O Lord, that thou indulgest us thy word in our own mother Tongue, that from those dear Volumes of thy Love, every devout Lover may daily and on all occasions supply proper fewel to his Love; for which all Love, all Glory be to thee

I adore and love thee, O heavenly Oracle of Love, for contriving this Prayer in that admirable method; that thou hast withal taught us all the requisites of an acceptable Prayer; thou in the Preface hast taught us how to Pray: In the Petitions for what to Pray: and in the Conclusion, what ought to be the end of our Prayers, for which I adore and love thee.

Father.

Glory be to Thee O Jesu, who hast taught us to whom to direct our Prayers, to God only, since he only is Omniscient to know, and allsufficient to succour, all our necessities.

Glory be to thee who hast taught us for whose sake only we can hope to be heard, even for thy own, O blessed Jesus, for it is through thy alone Mediation, that we sinners can call God Father, or have access to his Throne.

Glory be to thee, O beloved Jesu, who in teaching us to call God Father, hast taught us to pray with the affections of a Child, with Reverential Love, and Reliance on the Paternal care, and benignity, and love of our Heavenly Father.

Our Father.

Glory be to thee, O Lord, who in teaching me to call God, Our Father, has taught me not to confine my Charity to my self, but to pray also with the affections of a Brother, to all mankind, who are children by Creation, to all Christians, who are children by Adoption, of the same Heavenly Father. O give me that Brotherly kindness, to them all, that I may beg the same blessings for them, as for my self, and earnestly pray that they may all share with me in thy Fatherly Love.

Which art in Heaven.

Glory be to thee, O thou beloved of the Father, who in teaching us to pray to Our Father in Heaven, hast taught me the infinite distance between God and us, and to pray with the Humility of a supplicant. with that awe that becomes a frail Creature, a miserable Sinner, before his Creator, and his Judge.

O Father Almighty, though thou fillest all places, yet thy Glory is most manifested in Heaven, and there thy Majesty does most Illustriously dwell, and to thy Throne there, are we to lift up our hearts when we Pray, O let my soul fly up to thee, when I pray, in Heavenly Thoughts, and Desires, and Love: O let me savour nothing of the earth, whenever I treat with thee in Heaven!

Glory be to thee O Gratious Lord, who in the Petitions of thy most Divine Prayer, hast taught us for what we are to Pray, for all blessings Temporal, and Eternal, for all things lawful, and acording to thy will.

Glory be to thee, O Jesu, who in ranking the Petitions for Spiritual blessings first, hast taught us to seek Heaven in the first place, grant Lord that I may always beg thy blessings in their due order, that I may pray for blessings Spiritual with holy violence, with importunity, and resolution not to be denyed, as being the proper ingredients of thy Love and absolutely necessary to my eternal welfare, and for Temporal, with Indifference and Resignation to thy will, since I may Love thee, and be eternally happy without them.

Hallowed be thy Name.

O Lord God, may Thy Name, thy own Glorious, and Amiable self have a Love and Honour separate, and incommunicable. May thy infinite Goodness and Greatness be for ever, by all Men and all Angels, Confest, and Admired, and Adored, and Magnified both in Private and Publick, in our Hearts, our Mouths and our Lives.

All Creatures share in thy Goodness O God, O let all Creatures help us to Glorifie thy Name.

O may every thing that hath breath, praise the Lord.

Thy Kingdom come.

O thou King of Kings, may Thy Kingdom of Grace, the Church Militant, the Catholick Seminary of Divine Love, come to its utmost Evangelical perfection in this life.

O may thy Gospel, Lord, be dayly propagated, Unbelieving Nations Converted, and the number of thy Saints augmented.

Grant, O Lord God, that thy true Religion, thy Word, thy Conveyances of Grace, all the Holy Institutions, Laws and Governours; fixt by thee in thy Spiritual Kingdom, may be Loved and Honoured, and Obeyed: and that thy faithful Subjects may be protected against all the malice of wicked men, or the powers of darkness.

O my God, let it be thy good Pleasure to put a period to sin and misery, to infirmity and death; to compleat the number of thine Elect, and to hasten thy Kingdom of Glory: that s, and all that wait for thy Salvation, may in the Church Triumphant eternally Love, and I Praise thee.

Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven.

O my God, thy Will, and thy Commands, are most Holy, Iust, and Good, and condescending to our weakness, and by no means grievous, O give me Grace Conscientiously to observe them.

Thy blessed Angels, O Lord, always behold thy Face in Heaven, They have the Beatifick Vision of thy incomparable Amiableness, they cannot but unalterably choose thee, they must needs to their utmost capacity Praise and Love thee. they cannot possibly offend thee, they ever perfectly obey thee, and are always upon the Wing at thy Command.

Lord give me Grace, in imitation of the blessed spirits above, to set thee always before me, O six my serious Contemplation on thee. Ravish my soul with a lively sense of thy infinite Amiableness, O vouchsafe me one short glimps of thy Goodness. O may I once tast and see how Gratious Thou art, that all things besides thee may be tastless to me, that my desires may be always flying up towards thee, that I may render thee Love, and Praise, and Obedience, Pure and Chearful, Constant and Zealous, Universal and Uniform, like that the Holy Angels render thee in Heaven.

Give us this day our dayly Bread.

Glory be to thee, O Heavenly Benefactor, who openest thy hand, and fillest all things living with plenteousness.

O let it be thy good pleasure to give me, and all the wait on thy Beneficent Love, our food in due season, Give us Bread, and all that is comprehended by it, Health, Food, Raiment, and all the necessaries of Life.

Give us, O Heavenly Father, Dayly Bread, nothing to gratifie our Luxury, but such a competence as thy Divine wisdom sees fittest for us.

Give us, O bountiful Creatour, Dayly Bread this day, Teach us to live without covetous anxiety for to morrow, with a fiducial dependance on thy Fatherly Goodness, and to be content and thankful for the present portion, thy Love has indulged us.

O merciful Lord, give us Our Bread, that which is our own Bread, by honest Labour, or a lawful Title, and grant that we may never eat the Bread of Idleness, or of deceit.

Do Thou Lord, Give us our Bread, for unless thou givest it, we cannot have it, and together with our Bread give us thy blessing, otherwise our very Bread will not nourish us.

Above all, O Lord God, give us the Bread of Life, the Bread that came down from Heaven, the Body and Blood of thy most Blessed Son, to feed our Souls to Life eternal.

Blessed Jesus, O that it might be my meat, as it was thine, to do the will of thy Heavenly Father!

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.

For thy own infinite mercies sake, and for the Merits of the Son of thy Love, Forgive me, and all penitent sinners Our trespasses, our sins Known or Secret, of Omission or Commission, which are the vast debts we owe, to thy vindictive justice.

Forgive us, O Lord, as we forgive all them, even our greatest Enemies that trespass against us, their trespasses, which are infinitely inconsiderable in comparison of our trespasses against thee.

Glory be to thee, O Lord, who to teach us Charity, hast made our forgiveness, the condition of obtaining Thine.

O Easie, O Gratious condition of Pardon, who would not forgive his Brother a few pence in this Life, to have ten Thousand Talents, forgiven in the next!

O let my love, Lord, learn from thine, not only to forgive my Enemies, but to be Zealous also to do them good.

O Lord God, thou seest how our Ghostly Enemies, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, are every moment soliciting, inticing, alluring, or tempting us to evil; O be merciful to us, save, and help, and deliver us.

Thou seest, O my God, how infirm I am, and how ready my own deceitful heart is, to surrender it self to the Tempter; and I know that Satan cannot tempt me without thy permission: O lead me not if it be thy good pleasure, suffer me not to fall into violent or lasting Temptations, that may endanger my perseverance.

I know O heavenly Father, that to be tempted is no sin, for thy own beloved Son, God incarnate, was tempted to the most horrid of all Sins, to fall down and worship the very Devil, I know Lord, the Sin lies in yielding to the Temptation.

O my God, if thou for trial of my Love, lead me into any great Temptation, and let me continue under it, thy Will Lord be done, not mine: O let thy paternal tenderness limit and controul the Tempter: O let thy All-sufficient Grace restrain my consent, and keep me always on my guard, watching and praying, and let me at last be more than Conquerour.

I am content, Lord, to be tried and assaulted, so I be not wicked, though it be grievous for those that Love thee, to be tempted to offend thee.

O Father of mercy, if thou thinkest fit to lead me into Temptation, deliver me from the Evil to which I am tempted: Deliver me from the Evil of Sin, and the Evil of Punishment, from the evil one, from the evil World, and from my own evil Heart, and from all suggestions to Evil, for all that is Evil is most hateful to thee, who art infinite goodness, and most destructive of thy Love. And therefore from all that is Evil, O Almighty Lord defend me.

I adore, and Love thee, O Jesu, who by concluding, this Prayer with a Doxology, hast taught us, that the right end of our Prayers should be the Glory of God, that we should be ever careful to mix Praise with our Prayers, and to be as zealous to give thanks for what we receive, as to Pray for what we want.

To thee, O Lord God, do we pray, on thee only we rely and depend for acceptance, to thee only we offer up our Praises, for thine is the Kingdom and Sovereign Right to dispose of all things, thine is the Power Almighty, to relieve and bless us, thine is the Glory. All, the Communications of thy Goodness, as they flow from thee, return to thee again in Sacrifices of Love, of Praise, and Adoration.

For the sake O Heavenly Father of thy beloved, in whom all thy Promises are Amen, and who is himself the Amen, the faithful and true Witness of thy Love to us. Hear me, and pardon my wandrings and coldness, and help me to sum up and enforce my whole Prayer; all my own wants, and all the wants of those I pray for, in a hearty and fervent, and comprehensive, Amen.

Q. How many Sacraments hath Christ ordained in his Church?

A. Two only, as generally necessary to Salvation, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.

Glory be to thee, O Crucified Love, out of thy Wounded Side flowed Water and Blood, the two Sacraments which thou hast Ordained in thy Church, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord, the one to initiate, the other to confirm us, in our Christianity.

Glory be to thee, O Lord, who having Ordained two Sacraments only, and made them Generally necessary to Salvation, art yet pleased to have Mercy rather than Sacrifice, in cases where they cannot be had, and where a surprise of Death may prevent their Administration, thou dost supply the want of them by thy merciful acceptation of those persons, who earnestly desire, and who are disposed to receive them.

O blessed Jesu, the greater thy Compassion is to those sincere persons who want thy Sacraments, by reason of their infelicity, not their choice, the greater will be thy indignation against those who wilfully neglect, or contemn what thy Adorable Love has ordained to be throughout thy whole Church used and revered, from which neglect and contempt of thy Love, good Lord deliver me.

Q. What meanest thou by this word Sacrament?

A. I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, given unto us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.

Q. How many parts are there in a Sacrament?

A. Two: the outward visible sign, and the inward spiritual grace.

Glory be to thee, O tenderest Love, who to stoop to our weak and gross apprehension, hast in the two Sacraments made an Outward and visible, and familiar thing, to be the sign, and memorial, and representation, of an Inward and invisible Mysterious and Spiritual Grace.

Glory be to thee, O bountiful Love, for Ordaining and Giving us the Holy Sacraments, thou thy self only art the Author, and Fountain of Grace, and thou only hast the right of instituting the conveyances of thy own Grace: all Love, all Glory, be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O mighty Love, who hast elevated these obvious and outward signs, to an efficacy far above their Natures, not only to signifie, but to be happy Means, and instruments, to convey thy Grace to us, to be Seals, and Pledges, to confirm and assure to us the Communications of thy Love, that our sight may assist our Faith, that if with due preparation, we receive them, both parts of the Sacrament will go together, as certainly as we receive the Outward and Visible sign, so certainly shall we receive the Inward and invisible Grace, for which all Love, all Glory, be to thee.

Q. What is the outward visible sign, or form in Baptism?

A. Water: wherein the person is baptized, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost.

Q. What is the inward and spiritual grace?

A. A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness: for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace.

Q. What is required of persons to be baptized?

A. Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and faith, whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God, made to them in that Sacrament.

Q. Why then are infants baptized, when by reason of their tender age, they cannot perform them?

A. Because they promise them both by their sureties: which promise, when they come to age, themselves are bound to perform.

Glory be to thee, O Lover of Souls; it was by thy preventing Love, that I was Baptized with the outward sign, Water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. That I should believe in the most Holy Trinity; that I should depend on the gracious assistances, and live wholly devoted to the three most adorable Persons, that it should be my chief care to Love and Glorifie that triune Love, the Author of my Salvation.

Glory be to thee O Jesu, who by Water, that washes away the filth of the Body, dost represent to my Faith thy invisible Grace in Baptism, which spiritually washes and cleanses the Soul.

Glory be to thee, O blessed Lord, who in Baptism savest us, not by the outward washing, but by the inward purifying Grace accompanied with a sincere Vow, and stipulation of a good Conscience towards God; by which thy propitious Love brought me into thy Church, the spiritual Ark, to save me from perishing in the Deluge of Sin, which overwhelms the generality of the World; and therefore all Love, all Glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O all-powerful Love, by whose invisible Grace, we in Baptism die to sin to all carnal Affections, renouncing and detesting them all, and resolving to take no more pleasure in them than dead persons do in the comforts of life. O may I ever thus die to Sin.

Glory be to thee, O Jesu, who from our death to Sin in our Baptism, dost raise us to a new Life, and dost breath into us the breath of Love; 'Tis in this Laver of regeneration, we are born again by Water, and the Spirit, by a new Birth unto righteousness: that as the natural Birth propagated sin, our spiritual Birth should propagate Grace, for which all Love, all Glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O most indulgent Love, who in our Baptism dost give us the holy spirit of Love, to be the principle of new Life, and of Love in us, to infuse into our Souls a supernatural, habitual Grace, and ability to obey and love thee, for which all Love, all Glory be to thee.

Glory be to thee, O compassionate Love, who when we were conceived and Born in Sin, of sinful Parents, when we sprang from a root wholly corrupt, and were all Children of Wrath, hast in our Baptism made us Children of thy own Heavenly Father by Adoption and Grace: When we were Heirs of Hell, hast made us Heirs of Heaven, even joynt Heirs with thy one self, of thy own Glory; for which with all the powers of my Soul, I adore and love thee.

I know, O dearest Lord, that I am thine no longer than I Love thee; I can no longer feel the saving efficacy of my Baptism, than I am faithful to my Vow I there made; no longer than I am a Penitent, no longer am I Christian; if I name the name of Christ, I am to depart from Iniquity. O do thou give me the Grace of True Repentance for all my Sin, for my original Impurity, and for all my actual Transgressions, that I may abhor and forsake them all, wound my Soul with a most affectionate sorrow, for all the Injuries, and Affronts, and dishonours I have offered to infinite Love.

Glory be to thee, O most liberal Jesu, for all those exceeding great and pretious Promises of Pardon, and Grace, and Glory which thou hast made to us Christians in the Sacrament of Baptism: O may I ever stedfastly believe, O may I ever passionately Love, may I ever firmly rely on thy superabundant Love in all these Promises, for which I will ever adore and love thee.

Glory be to thee, O sweetest Love, who in my infancy didst admit me to holy Baptism, who by thy preventing Grace when I was a little Child, didst receive me into the evangelical Covenant, didst take me up into the arms of thy Mercy, and bless me. Glory be to thee, who didst early dedicate me to thy self, to prepossess me by thy Love, before the World should seize and desire me.

Ah Gratious Lord, how long, how often have I polluted my self by my Sins? But I repent, and deplore all those Pollutions, and I consecrate my self to thee again: O thou most reconcileable Love, pardon and accept me, and restore me to thy Love: O let the intenseness of my future Love, not only Love, for the time to come, but retrieve all the Love I have lost.

Glory be to thee, O tenderest Jesu, who when by reason of my Infancy I could not promise to repent and believe for my self, didst mercifully accept of the promise of my Sureties, who promised both for me, as thou didst accept for good to the Paralytick; the charitable intentions of those that brought him to thee, and of the Faith of the Woman of Canaan; for the Cure of her Daughter: for which merciful acceptance, all Love, all Glory be to thee.

O my God, my Lord, the promise which was made by my Sureties for me, I acknowledg that as soon as I came to a competent Age, I was bound my self to perform, and I own and renew my Obligation: I promise, O my Lord, with all the force of my Soul to Love thee, O do thou ever keep me true to my own promise, since thou art ever unalterably true to thine, for which I will ever adore and love thee.

Q. Why was the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ordained?

A. For the continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby.

Q. What is the outward part or sign of the Lords Supper?

A. Bread and Wine, which the Lord hath commanded to be received.

Q. What is the inward part, or thing signified?

A. The body and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken, and received by the faithful in the Lords Supper.

Q. What are the benefits where we are partakers thereby?

A. The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the body and bloud of Christ, as our bodies are by the bread and wine.

Q. What is required of them who come to the Lords Supper?

A. To examin themselves whether they repent them truly of their former sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in Gods mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and be in charity with all men.

Glory be to thee, O crucified Love, who at thy last Supper didst ordain the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament and Feast of Love.

It was for the continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of thy death, O blessed Jesu, and of the Benefits we receive thereby, that thou wast pleased to ordain this sacred and awful Rite; all Love, all Glory be to thee.

Ah dearest Lord, how little sensible is he of thy Love in dying for us, who can ever forget thee?

Ah wo is me, that ever a Sinner should forget his Saviour, and yet alas how prone are we to do it.

Glory be to thee, O Gracious Jesu, who to help our memories, and to impress thy Love deep on our Souls, hast instituted the blessed Sacrament, and commanded us, Do this in remembrance of me.

O Jesu, let the Propitiatory Sacrifice of thy Death which thou didst offer upon the Cross for the Sins of the whole World, and particularly for my Sins, be ever fresh in my remembrance.

O blessed Saviour, let that mighty Salvation thy Love has wrought for us never slip out of my mind, but especially let my remmbrance of thee in the Holy Sacrament be always most lively and affecting.

O Jesu, if I love thee truly, I shall be sure to frequent thy Altar, that I may often remember all the wonderful Loves of my Crucified Redeemer.

I know, O my Lord and my God, that a bare remembrance of thee is not enough; O do thou therefore fix in me such a remembrance of thee, as is suitable to the infinite Love I am to remember: Work in me all the holy and heavenly affections, as become the remembrance of a Crucified Saviour.

Glory be to thee, O adorable Jesus, who under the outward and visible part, the Bread and Wine, things obvious and easily prepared, both which thou hast commanded to be received, dost communicate to our Souls, the Mystery of divine Love, the inward and invisible Grace, thy own most blessed Body and Blood which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in thy Supper, for which all Love, all Glory be to thee.

O God incarnate, how thou canst give us thy Flesh to eat, and thy Blood to drink; How thy Flesh is Meat indeed, and thy Blood is Drink indeed; How he that eateth thy Flesh and drinketh thy Blood, dwelleth in thee, and thou in him; How he shall live by thee, and shall be raised up by thee to Life Eternal; How thou who art in Heaven, art present on the Altar, I can by no means explain, but I firmly believe it all, because thou hast said it, and I firmly rely on thy Love, and on thy Omnipotence to make good thy Word, though the manner of doing it I cannot comprehend.

I believe, O Crucified Lord, that the Bread which we break in the Celebration of the Holy Mysteries, is the Communication of thy Body, and the Cup of Blessing which we bless, is the Communication of thy Blood, and that thou dost as effectually and really conveigh thy Body and Blood to our Souls, by the Bread and Wine, as thou didst thy holy Spirit, by thy Breath to thy Disciples; for which all Love, all Glory be to thee.

Lord, what need I labour in vain, to search out the manner of thy mysterious presence in the Sacrament, when my Love assures me thou art there? All the faithful who approach thee with prepared hearts, they well know thou art there, they feel the Vertue of Divine Love going out of thee, to heal their infirmities, and to enflame their affections, for which all Love, all Glory be to thee.

O Holy Jesu, when at thy Altar I see the Bread broken, and the Wine poured out, O Teach me to discern thy Body there, O let those Sacred and Significant actions, create in me a most lively Remembrance of thy Sufferings, how thy most blessed Body was scourged, and wounded, and bruised, and tormented; how thy most pretious Blood was shed, for my sins, and set all my powers on work to Love thee, and to celebrate thy Love in thus dying for me.

Glory be to thee, O Jesu, who didst institute the Holy Eucharist in both Kinds, and hast Commanded both to be received, both the Bread and the Wine, both thy Body broken, and thy Blood shed: thy Love, O Lord, has given me both, and both are equally Significative and Productive of thy Love: I do as much Thirst after the one, as I Hunger after the other, I equally want both, and it would be grievous to my Love to be deprived of either.

Ah Lord, who is there that truely Loves thee, when thou givest him two distinct Pledges of thy Love, can be content with one only, what Lover can endure to have one half of thy Love withheld from him? And therefore all Love, all Glory be to thee for giving both.

O my Lord, and my God, do thou so dispose my heart, to be thy Guest at thy Holy Table, that I may feel all the sweet influences of Love Crucified, the Strengthning and Refreshing of my soul, as our Bodies are by the Bread and Wine, for which I will ever Adore and Love thee.

O merciful Jesu, let that immortal food, which in the Holy Eucharist thou vouchsafest me, instil into my weak and languishing soul, new supplies of Grace, new Life, new Love, new Vigour, and new Resolution, that I may never more faint, or droop or tire in my duty.

O Crucified Love, raise in me fresh ardours of Love and Consolation, that it may be henceforth the greatest torment I can endure, ever to offend thee, that it may be my greatest delight to please thee.

O amiable Jesu, when I devoutly receive the outward Elements, as sure as I receive them, I receive thee, I receive the Pledges of thy Love, to quicken mine; O Indulge me, though but for a moment, one Beatifick foretast of the deliciousness of thy Love, that in the strength of that deliciousness I may perseveringly love thee.

Glory be to thee, my Lord and my God, who hast now given me an invitation to thy Heavenly Feast. All Love, all Glory, be to thee.

Lord, give me Grace, that I may approach thy awful Mystery, with Penitential preparation, and with a heart sully disposed to love thee.

O my God, my Judge, give me Grace I most humbly beseech thee to Examine my whole life past, by the Rule of thy Commandments, before I presume to Eat of that Bread, and Drink of that Cup, give me Grace sadly to reflect on, and deplore all my provocations, lest coming to the Holy Eucharist impenitent, and unprepared, I receive Unworthily, and Eat and drink my own damnation.

O thou Great Searcher of Hearts, thou knowest all the Load of Impiety and Guilt under which I lie, O Help me so Impartially to Judge, and Condemn my self, so humbly to Repent, and beg Pardon, that I may not be Condemned at thy Tribunal, when I shall appear there at the last day, that I may be set at thy Right Hand, amongst thy Lovers.

Lord, give me Grace to search every secret of my Heart, to leave no sin, if possible, unrepented of; fill my Eyes full of Tears of Love, that with those Tears I may lament, all the Indignities I have offered thy Love.

But alas alas, after the most strict examination we can make, who can number his impieties, who can tell how oft he offendeth, Lord therefore cleanse me from my secret faults, which in general I renounce and bewail.

O my God, thou who alone changest the Heart, O be thou pleased to change mine; change my aversion to thee, into an intire Love of thee. O give me a filial Repentance, that with a Broken and Contrite Heart I may Grieve, and Mourn, and Repent for all my former sins, and may for ever forsake them, and return to my Obedience.

Let thy Love, O my God, so perfectly exhaust my soul, that I may for the future, stedfastly purpose to lead a new life, that I may renew my Baptismal Vow, that I may hereafter live, as a sworn Votary to thy Love.

O Heavenly Father, settle in my soul, a Lively Faith in thy Mercy through Christ, a steddy belief of all thy Love to sinners, and an affectionate Reliance on the Merits and Mediation of thy Crucified Son, of my being Accepted in the Beloved, for whom I will ever Adore and Love thee.

O my Crucified God, thou Soveraign Inflammative of Love, let the Remembrance of thy Death, set all the powers of my Soul on work, that I may desire, and pant after thee, that I may Admire, and Adore thee, that I may take Heavenly delight in thy Gracious Presence, that with Praise and Thanksgiving, with Jubilation and Triumph I may receive thee into my Heart, there I will have Love, only Love, always Love, to entertain thee.

Lord, when I present my self, and my Love, as all the Gift I have to offer at thy Altar, next to my Love to thee, and for the sake of thy infinite Love to me which I there remember, give me Grace to love my Neighbour, and to be in Charity with all men, and to walk in Love, as thou hast loved us, and hast given thy self for us, an Offering, and a Sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour, for which all Love, all Glory be to thee.

O most Reconcileable Jesu, in this Memorial of thy Sufferings, I see how thou didst forgive me, and didst love me when I was thy Enemy, O for thy dearest Love to me, give me Love to forgive all my Enemies, and to be at peace with the world, as I desire to be Loved and Forgiven, and to be at peace with thee.

All that have any way injured me, O my God, I freely forgive, for thy sake, O do thou also forgive them: incline them to Brotherly Charity, and let them at last feel the comfort of that Reconciliation thou didst make upon the Cross, for which I will ever Adore and Love thee.

O my God, if I have wronged, or injured my Neigbour, O give me Grace to beg his pardon, and as I have opportunity, to make him satisfaction, and restitution according to my power.

O crucified Love, whenever I see thee in any of thy poor Members, Hungry, or Naked, or in Distress, O let the Remembrance of thy Love, in Dying for me, engage me to contribute all I can to thy relief, O may I ever be liberal in my Alms to thee, who wert so liberal of thy inestimable Blood for me.

It is very adviseable, that persons before they Communicate, should read over the whole Communion-Office, or at least, the exhortations there, which they will find to contain very proper, and plain, and excellent Instructions.

It were much to be wish'd, that people would make more use of their Common Prayer Books than they do, and apply the Prayers they meet with there to their own particular conditions, for the Book is always at hand, and the Prayers are most safe and familiar, and devout, and the more they affect us in our Closet, the more they will affect us in the Congregation, and well meaning souls will reap great spiritual advantage from this practice.

For example, an humble poor Christian, who it may be has no other Book but his Common Prayer Book, and who intends to come to the Holy Communion, may learn to turn the Communion-Office to his own private use, after this manner.

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of my heart by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that I may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnifie thy Holy Name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I give most humble and hearty thanks to thee, O God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ, both God and man, who did humble himself even to the death upon the Cross for us miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow of death, that he might make us the Children of God, and exalt us to everlasting Life.

Glory be to thee O Jesus, our master and only Saviour, who to the end that we should always remember thy exceeding great Love in thus dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by thy precious Blood-sheding thou hast obtained to us; hast Instituted and Ordained Holy Mysteries as Pledges of thy Love, and for a continual remembrance of thy Death, to our great endless Comfort.

To thee therefore, O blessed Saviour, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, I will give (as I am most bounden) continual thanks, I submit my self wholly to thy Holy Will and Pleasure, and will study to serve thee in true Holiness, and Righteousness, all the days of my Life.

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judg of all men, I acknowledg and bewail my manifold sins, &c.

I lift up my heart unto thee, O Lord, I give thanks unto thee, O Lord our God, it is meet and right so to do: it is very meet, right, and my bounden duty, that I should at all times, and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord, Holy Father Almighty, everlasting God.

But chiefly am I bound to praise thee for giving thy only Son Jesus to dye for my Sins, and to rise again for my Justification.

Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the Company of Heaven I laud and magnifie, &c.

I do not presume to come to thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in my own righteousness, &c.

Glory be to God on high, and on earth Peace, good will towards men: I praise thee, &c.

To these, as you see occasion, you may add many very good Prayers, short and plain, and pertinent to your purpose, which you may collect out of the Common Prayer, and which will much further your Devotion; such as these.

O Lord, who never failest to help and govern them whom thou doest bring up in thy stedfast Fear and Love; keep me I beseech thee, under the protection of thy good Providence, and make me to have a perpetual Fear and Love of thy Holy Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

O God, who hast prepared for them that love thee, such good things as pass Mans understanding; pour into my heart such Love toward thee, that I loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that I can desire, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Lord of all power and might, who art the Author and Giver of all good things, graft in my Heart the Love of thy Name, encrease in me true Religion, nourish me with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep me in the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

O Lord, who hast taught me that all my doings without Charity are nothing worth, send thy Holy Ghost, and pour into my Heart that most excellent gift of Charity, the very bond of Peace and of all Vertues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee. Grant this for thy only Son Jesus Christs sake, Amen.

Almighty God, who hast given thy only Son to be unto us both a Sacrifice for Sin, and also an example of Godly life, give me grace that I may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable Benefit, and also daily endeavour my self to follow the blessed steps of his most holy Life, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

They that are ignorant, or that cannot read should go to their Parish Priest, or to some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods Word, and desire him to teach them their Duty in private, and they that thus sincerely seek the Law at the Priests mouth, shall find that the Priests Lips do preserve Knowledge, and shall not go away without a Blessing.

To God the Father who first loved us, and made us accepted in the Beloved, to God the Son who loved us and wash'd us from our Sins in his own Blood: To God the Holy Ghost, who sheds the Love of God abroad in our Hearts, be all Love and all Glory, for time, and for eternity. Amen.

FINIS.

Project Canterbury