7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8. Thou shalt not steal. 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness, &c. 10. Thou shalt not covet, &c'.' By these Commandments' we' chiefly learn,' that our duty towards God is, to believe in him, to fear him, and to love him with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength; to worship him, to give him thanks, to put our whole trust in him, to call upon him, to honour his holy name and his word, and to serve him truly all the days of our life .' By these' same 'Commandments' we also learn,' that our duty towards our Neighbour is to love him as ourselves, and to do to all men as we would they should do unto us; to love, honour, and succour our father and mother; to honour and obey the king, and all that are put in authority under him; to submit ourselves to all our governors, teachers, spiritual pastors, and masters; to order ourselves lowly and reverently to all our betters; to hurt no body by word or deed; to be true and just in all our dealings; to bear no malice nor hatred in our hearts; to keep our hands from picking and stealing, and our tongues from evil speaking, lying, and slandering; to keep our bodies in temperance, soberness, and chastity; not to covet nor desire other men's goods; but to learn and labour truly to get our own living, and to do our duty in that state of life unto which it may please God to call us 1.' PRAYER. O Almighty Lord, and everlasting God, vouchsafe, we beseech thee, to direct, sanctify, and govern, both our hearts and bodies in the ways of thy laws, and in the works of thy Commandments'.' Ŏ f Catechism. g Catechism. h Catechism, may it please thee to give us an heart to love and dread thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments.' And 'because, through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without thee,' O'grant us the help of thy grace 'that, through thy most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be preserved in body and soul,' and 'that, in keeping thy commandments, we may please thee both in will and deed, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"' m SECTION VI. OF THE GOSPEL. THOUGH We are called by God's Holy Word, to give up ourselves obediently to fulfil His holy commandments,' yet, by reason of the frailty of our nature P,' we offend in many things; and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' Forwe, from time to time, most grievously have committed manifold sins and wickedness, by thought, word, and deed, against the Divine Majesty, provoking most justly God's wrath and indignation against us'.' Through' these ' our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us," and having no power of ourselves to help ourselves ',' we do not render unto God as much as we are bound to do ".' Nay, more; Christ saith plainly, When ye have done all that are command k Litany. 6 1 Collect, First Sunday after Trinity. n Collect, First Sunday after Trinity. m Collect after Communion. t Collect, Second Sunday in Lent. q 15th Article. Collect, Fourth Sunday in Advent. u Article 14th. ed to you, say, We are unprofitable servants *.' Having, then, 'done those things which we ought not to have done, and left undone those things which we ought to have done,'' all the punishments which are threatened in the law might justly have fallen upon us, by reason of our manifold transgressions and hardness of heart;' and we should be 'justly punished for our offences",' negligences, and ignorances *,' were we not mercifully delivered by God's goodness, for the glory of His name, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.' Therefore they are to be had accursed,' (that is, considered still under the curse,) that presume to say, that every man shall be saved by the law, or sect, which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that law, and the light of nature. For holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved".' 6 This is the great truth of the Gospel. It proclaims to us, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of God's grace may mercifully be relieved, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ".' It relates to us, how, by God's providence, his servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of his Son our Saviour, by preaching of repentance.' It announces to us, that the only begotten, and everlasting Son of the Father by the operation of the Holy Ghost, was made very man, of the substance of the Virgin Mary his mother.' It tells us, that God's blessed Son was' so manifested, that He might destroy the works of x Article 14th. y General Confession, Morning and Evening Prayer. z Thanksgiving for deliverance from plague, &c. a Collect, Septuagesima Sunday. WILFUL ignorances. 1 d 18th Article. b Litany. c Collect, Septuagesimà Sunday. e Collect, Fourth Sunday in Lent. Collect, Christmas Day. i Preface upon Christmas Day, Communion. Collect, St. John Baptist's Day. h Te Demm. g the devil, and make us the sons of God, and heirs of eternal life .' It assures us, that the 'Almighty and Everlasting God, who hateth nothing that He hath made,' will forgive the sins of all them that are penitent1;' and that, 'worthily lamenting their sins, and acknowledging their wretchedness, they shall obtain of the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness m,' by the merits and death of his Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in His blood". It describes Him to be the way, the truth, and the life, and declares to us, that He has overcome the sharpness of death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.' It, further, instructs us, that God, by the sending to us the light of his Holy Spirit,' will create and make in us new and contrite hearts','' that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that He would have done,' and 'stedfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord '.' In short, it reveals to us God's 'inestimable love, in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; and points out to us the several means of grace, and the hope of' everlasting glory "? (Vide, in continuation of the Gospel scheme, the next seven Sections.) PRAYER. 6 6 O God, who hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world; give us grace, that, being not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel:' and, that we may shew forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same,' 'increase in us more and more a lively faith and love, fruitful in all holy obedience; that thou mayest still continue thy favour, with the light of thy Gospel, to us and our posterity for evermore ; and that, for thy dear Son's sake, Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.' SECTION VII. OF REPENTANCE. 6 'REPENTANCE' is that act of guilty men, 'whereby they forsake sin". Now, forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin o,' and, by reason of this frailty of our natured,' we have erred and strayed from God's ways like lost sheep, following too much the devices and desires of our own hearts,' and offending against God's holy laws;' therefore, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness, and not to dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but to confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart, to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy .' For' He is a merciful God, full of compassion, long-suffering, and of great pity;' who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wicked y Collect, St. Mark's Day. e General Confession. Prayer. z Collect, Conversion of St. Paul. b Catechism. a Collect, Fourth Sunday after Epiphany. f Exhortation, Morning and Evening 8 Prayer, Commination Service. |