the frailty of virtue is great, therefore all cautions should be used not to expose it to an infectious air. But young men, when they first appear in the world, ought to have a particular regard to it, their future happiness, both temporal and eternal, depending so much upon the qualifications of those they converse with. Though they have received good principles in their education, yet they want practice to confirm the habits of virtue, and courage to resist the allurements of vice. They are apt to catch at any thing that indulges and countenances their irregular appetites. The misfortune is, when they want prudence most, they have least of it; therefore it is happy when they will listen to the advice of their parents, or some experienced relation, who is able to direct them in an affair of such consequence.

Q. What are the mischievous effects of bad company to good men?

A. If they are not by degrees entirely corrupted, yet the horror they ought to have for sin is very much abated by their seeing it frequently committed. They are led into uncharitable thoughts concerning their neighbour, whose reputation in such company is never spared, but loaded with all injurious and contumelious usage. Besides, it makes their own duty difficult, for by not discountenancing such practices by one means or other, they may contract a share in the guilt of them, and embroil their own minds by reflecting, whether or no they did what became good Christians upon such occasions.

THE PRAYERS.

FOR THE IMITATION OF THE SAINTS.

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical

body of thy Son Christ our Lord; grant me grace so to follow thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that I may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

O GOD, who hast prepared for them that love thee, such good things as pass man's understanding; pour into my heart such love towards 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.

FOR FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF GOOD MEN

DEPARTED.

ALMIGHTY God, make me so wise in this state of probation and trial, as to provide for eternity, by walking in those paths that conducted thy blessed saints to everlasting bliss. Keep it for ever in the purpose of my heart, as it was in theirs, to obey those laws, which thou my maker and sovereign hast enjoined, and according to which I shall be one day judged. Grant that I may with all possible care avoid sin, the greatest evil, and the most mischievous to my main interest; and that I may at any expense seek thy favour, which is better than life: that following thy blessed saints in the meekness and humility of their minds, in the mortification of their carnal appetites, in their entire submission to thy divine will, in their charity to the souls and bodies of men, in their patience under sufferings, and in their readiness to take up the cross, I may attain that happiness they now possess, and inherit those promises

which they are made partakers of, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THANKSGIVING FOR THE PERSEVERANCE Of Good MEN.

MOST gracious God, the author of sanctity and lover

of unity, whose wisdom hath established an admirable communion between the members of the same mystical body, whereof thy Son Jesus Christ is the head; I bless and praise thy holy name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear. I congratulate their victories over the world, who overcame themselves, and led in triumph their own passions. I commemorate with all thankfulness their heroic piety, who served their Lord in hunger and thirst, in prison and chains, on racks and in tortures, and who undauntedly encountered death, armed with the greatest terror. I rejoice in the glory and happiness they are now advanced to, the greatness of which the heart of man cannot conceive. Beseeching thee to give me grace so to follow their good examples, in the wise bestowing of my time here below, that I may follow them in their happy passage out of this world, and with them be made partaker of thy heavenly kingdom, which I beseech thee to hasten, and shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect; that I, with all those, that are departed in the true faith of thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE END OF THE FESTIVALS.

PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS

CONCERNING

FASTS.

QUEST. What do you mean by Fasts?

Ans. Days set apart by the church, or by civil authority, or by our own appointment, to humble ourselves before God, in punishing our bodies and afflicting our souls, in order to a real repentance. By outward significations testifying our grief for sins past, and by using them as means to secure us from returning to those sins, for which we express so great a detestation.

Q. Wherein consists the nature of fasting?

A. In a strict sense it implies a total abstinence from all meat and drink the whole day, from morning to evening; and then to refresh ourselves sparingly as to the quantity, and not delicately as to the quality of the food. And in this manner not one but more days were passed in a continual fast by the primitive Christians before Easter. In a large sense, it implies an abstinence from some kind of food, especially flesh and wine, as was used by Daniel; or a deferring to eat beyond the usual hours, as the primitive Christians did on their stationary days, till three in the afternoon, to which hour their public assemblies continued on those days. So that hereby some self-denial is designed to our bodily appeDan. x. 3.

a

tites; for no abstinence can partake of the nature of tasting, except there be something in it that afflicts us. Q. How many sorts of Fasts are there?

A. There are two sorts, public and private. The first we are determined to observe by virtue of that obedience which is due to our lawful superiors; and for those reasons they enjoin it. The second proceeds from our own voluntary imposition, and arises from our obligation to perform it at some times, though it is left to our own discretion to determine the season.

Q. Whence arises the obligation of a Christian to Fast?

A. Nature seems to suggest it as a proper means to express sorrow and grief; and as a fit method to dispose our minds toward the consideration of any thing that is serious. And therefore all nations from ancient times have used fasting as a part of repentance, and as a means to turn away God's anger; as is plain in the case of the Ninevites; which was a notion common to them with the rest of the world. And though our Saviour left no positive precept about fasting, yet he joins it with alms-giving and prayer, unquestionable duties; and the directions he gave in his admirable sermon upon the mount, concerning the performance of it, sufficiently suppose the necessity of the duty; which, if governed by such rules as our Saviour there lays down, will be accepted by God, and openly rewarded by him. Besides, our Saviour says expressly, that the time should come, when his disciples should fast. And when he brings in the Pharisee, boasting that he fasted twice in the week, our Saviour in no manner blames him for fasting, but corrects his vanity for boasting of it.

Jonah iii. 5. Mat. vi. 16-18.

• Luke v.

35.