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knew what none but God could know, and our Saviour called the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Father, should we not believe him also to be God? [Ans. Yes.] Keep true and firm to this Faith, and live according to it, and you will be in no danger of perishing everlastingly---you will certainly be saved.

INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE LITANY. Read the Rubrick.

Instruction.---Wednesdays and Fridays were reckoned days of extraordinary devotion, by Christians formerly, because our Lord was betrayed on a Wednesday, and crucified on a Friday. On this account the Litany is read on those days.

Questions.---What is the Litany? [Ans. A general sup plication.] In what posture should both ministers and people join in it? [Ans. Kneeling.]

Read to the Children the Four First Petitions of the Litany, then stop and read the Instructions and Questions belonging to them, and let this method be pursued throughout the Litany. The Questions are divided by lines for this purpose; but you must observe, that sometimes the portion of Instructions and Questions takes in more Petitions than one.

Instruction.---This Litany is exactly suited to those who believe in the Holy, Blessed, and glorious Trinity, Three Persons and one God.

Questions.---Who do we here invoke or call upon in the first place? [Ans. God, the Father of Heaven.] Who do we invoke in the second place? [Ans. God, the Son, the Redeemer of the world.] Who do we invoke in the third. place? [Ans. God, the Holy Ghost.] Is not this acknowledging the Three Persons in the Trinity to be God the Lord? [Ans. Yes.] Who do we invoke in the fourth? [Ans. The Holy Trinity, Three Persons in one God.] Is not this acknowledging the Unity in Trinity? [Ans. Yes.] What do we beg of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in these petitions? [Ans. To have mercy upon us.] What do we call ourselves? [Ans. Miserable sinners.] Are we not all miserable sinners? [Ans. Yes.]

Instruction.---Observe that, in these petitions we address ourselves to our Redeemer, the Son of God, because he is our heavenly King. The offences of ourselves and of our forefathers mean national sins, those which make a nation wicked. These sins God punishes by national judgments, such as War, Pestilence, and Famines; and when national sins get to a great height, God cuts off the nation.

Questions.--What sins are those which we pray God not to take vengeance upon? [Ans. National sins.] If the greatest part of the people in a nation are wicked, what sort of a nation is it? [Ans. A wicked nation.] Are there not a great many wicked people in this nation? [Ans. Yes.] What would become of the nation, if God was to take vengeance of our sins? [Ans. It would perish.] What should we pray God to do then? [Ans. Spare us.] If God spares us, what should we do? [Ans. Amend our lives.]

Questions.---Is there not a great deal of evil and mischief in the world? [Ans. Yes.] Is not the devil very crafty and mischievous? Ans. Yes.] What would our sins provoke, if God were not most merciful? [Ans. God's wrath.] What punishment would be inflicted upon us? [Ans. Everlasting damnation.] What should we pray God to do then? [Ans. Deliver us.]

Instruction.---Blindness of heart, is ignorance of religion, which leads to all the bad things mentioned in this petition. Pride signifies, thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. Vain glory is boasting of our own good works. Hypocrisy signifies cloaking wickedness, under the appearance of goodness. Envy means being spiteful against any one for his good qualities. Hatred signifies bearing ill will to others; and, Malice means a desire to hurt and injure others. These things are put into our hearts by the devil, and nothing but God's grace can deliver us from them.

Questions.---Are not all the things mentioned in this petition contrary to religion? [Ans. Yes.] Who puts it into people's hearts to be proud and vain glorious, to practise hypocrisy, to be envious, spiteful, and malicious? Ans. The devil.] What should we pray God to do? [Ans. To deliver us.]

Instruction.---By deadly sins are meant those sins to which

God has threatened eternal punishment if they are not repented of. The deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, are those things which appear to be pleasing, but are hurtful to the soul.

Questions.---Should we not pray God to deliver us from all deadly sins? Ans. Yes.] Are not many things which are called pleasures, hurtful to the soul? [Ans. Yes.]

Instruction.---The things mentioned in this petition, are the judgments which God sends upon wicked nations, to chastise them, and bring them to repentance. Plague and Pestilence signify mortal diseases, which are so contagious or catching, that numbers of people are cut off by them in a very short time. Famine signifies scarcity of food. Sudden death means dying without being prepared for judgment.

Questions.---Are not all these dreadful judgments? [dns. Yes.] For what purpose does God send them? [Ans. To chastise wicked nations, and bring them to repentance.] Should not we pray to be delivered from them? [Ans. Yes.]

Instruction.---Sedition signifies making riots and tumults. Privy Conspiracy means entering into secret plots for any bad purpose. Rebellion, is taking up arms and appearing openly against the King and Government. False doctrine is that which is contrary to Scripture. Heresy means an opinion contrary to the doctrines of the Church; and Schism signifies division and separation from it, in respect to outward modes of worship. Hardness of heart is the worst of all evils, for the person who has it, never prays for the grace of God, and for want of it, goes on from sin to sin, like Pharaoh. Contempt of God's holy word and commandments, is the fruit of hardness of heart.

Questions---What crime would you be guilty of, if you should join in a riot or mob? [Ans. Sedition.] What sin would you commit, if you should suffer yourself to be drawn into secret clubs for bad purposes? [Ans. Privy Conspiracy.] What would be your crime, if you should take arms against your lawful sovereign? Ans. Rebellion.] What sin do those commit, who take up doctrines contrary to the articles of the Christian Faith? Ans. Heresy] What are those guilty of who, having been received as members of the established Church, separate themselves from it, and join with dissenters? [Ans. Schism.] What is the worst evil that can

befal any person in this life? [Ans. Hardness of heart.] What does hardness of heart lead to? [Ans. Contempt of God's holy word and commandments.] What must we do to keep from falling into these sins? [Ans. Pray God to deliver us.]

Instruction.---This petition and the following one, relate to what our Lord did and suffered for the salvation of mankind, and we pray to have an interest in them. A mystery signifies something above human understanding. Christ's Incarnation, or coming in human nature, is a mystery, but we may be convinced that Christ was incarnate, though we cannot tell the manner of his incarnation. His nativity signifies his being born of the Virgin Mary. His circumcision, his being circumcised according to the Jewish law. His baptism, his being baptized by John the Baptist. His fasting and temptation, what he submitted to in the wilderness.

Questions---What is a mystery? [ins. Something above human understanding.] Is not the incarnation of our Saviour a great mystery? [Ans. Yes.] For what purpose was Christ incarnate and born of the Virgin Mary? [Ans. To deliver mankind from sin and Satan.] Why was he circumcised and baptized? [ns. To deliver mankind.] Why.did he fast forty days in the wilderness, and submit to the temptation of the devil? [Ans. To deliver mankind.] Should not we all desire to partake of this deliverance? [Ans. Yes.]

Questions.---For whose sake did our Saviour suffer his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, when he sweated as it were great drops of blood? [Ans. For mankind.] For whose sake was he crucified, dead, and buried? [Ans. For mankind.] Was not his a most precious death? [Ans. Yes.] Were not his resurrection and ascension glorious? [Ans. Yes.] For whose sake did he rise and ascend? [Ans. For mankind.] Was not the coming of the Holy Ghost after our Lord's ascension, a happy thing for mankind? [Ans. Yes.] Would they have known the Gospel without it? [Ans. No.] Can we expect to have any benefit from what Christ has done, if we will not pray for it? [Ans. No.]

Instruction.---When we are in sorrow and tribulation, we are tempted to murmur and repine; when we are in wealth or prosperity, we are tempted to be proud and to forget God.

Our spiritual enemy tries to render our death miserable, and the judgment day dreadful to us.

Questions.---Does not the devil tempt us, let our condition be what it will? [Ans. Yes,] Do not we stand in need of Christ's deliverance at all times? [Ans. Yes.] Shall we not want it in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment? [Ans. Yes.]

Instruction.---Having prayed for deliverance from evil of all kinds, we pray to God to give us blessings, and we begin with confessing ourselves to be a race of sinners. The first of blessings is, to have the universal Church governed in the right way, or according to the institution of Christ and his apostles, that is, to have a regular ministry, with bishops to rule over them under Christ, who is the head of the Church; this is happily the case with the Church of England.

Questions.---Is it not a happiness to belong to a Church ruled and governed in the right way? [Ans. Yes.] Should not all who are members of such a Church pray for its continuance? [Ans. Yes.] Should not they wish that all Christian Churches may also be governed in the right way? [Ans. Yes.]

Instruction,---A nation cannot be happy without a good government, as well as a true Church: we have an excellent government, of which the king is the head, and at this time we have a truly religious king; but no man, however high his station, can do his duty without the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore subjects should pray for their king.

Questions.---Ought we not to pray for our king? [Ans. Yes.]

Questions.---Who do we pray for in this petition? Ans. The Queen and all the Royal Family.] What do we pray God to do for them? [Ans. To bless them.]

Instruction.---By illuminating the minds of the Clergy, is meant giving them the help of the Holy Spirit, without which no one can rightly understand and explain the scriptures, or lead holy lives. We are not to expect our ministers to teach new doctrines by divine inspiration, but to explain the doctrines of Christ and his apostles, and to administer the Rites and Ordinances of the Church. When the ministers lead lives agree"ably to their holy profession, it is a great happiness to their flocks; but if they do not, we are still to pray for them.

Questions.---Are we to expect our ministers to be inspired as

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