From the Book of Common Praper. MORNING PRAYER. Confession. Dearly beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father;.... LITANY. From all blindness of heart; from pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness, Good Lord, deliver us. From all false doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word and Commandment, Good Lord, deliver us. That it may please thee to bless and keep the magistrates; giving them grace to execute justice, and to maintain truth ; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee to bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and to turn their hearts;. We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. PRAYER for all Conditions of Men. More especially we pray for the good estate of the Catholic Church; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians, may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of Spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. COLLECT for Quinquagesima Sunday. Lord, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth; Send thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace, and of all virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee: Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake. For the first Sunday after Easter......Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may alway serve thee in pureness of living and truth, For St. Philip and St. James's Day. O Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life; Grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life;.... For St. John Baptist's Day. Almighty God, by whose providence thy servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour by preaching of repentance; Make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and after his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake, through Jesus Christ our Lord. CATECHISM. Question. What is thy duty towards thy neighbour? Answer. My duty towards my neighbour, is to love him as myself, and to do to all men, as I would they should do unto ine:......To hurt nobody by word or deed: To keep...... my tongue from evil-speaking, lying, and slandering:...... COMMINATION. Minister. Cursed is he that maketh the blind to go out of his way. Answer. Amen. Minist. Cursed is he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, the fatherless, and widow. Answ. Amen. Minist. Cursed are......slanderers; .• • • • • From the Thirty-nine Articles. ARTICLE XXXIX. Of a Christian Man's Oath. As we confess, that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ, and James his Apostle; so we judge, that Christian religion doth not prohibit, but that a man may swear when the magistrate requireth, in a cause of faith and charity, so it be done according to the Prophet's teaching, in justice, judgment, and truth. From the Homilies. BOOK I. HOMILY 6. Of Christian Love and Charity. CRANMER'S CATECHISM. Ye have heard how you ought to understand the Seventh Precept; by the which ye have learned, that by no means we should take away our neighbour's goods against his will. And when he committeth any thing to our custody (either willingly or constrained by necessity), then it is our duty to keep and save the same, we would do in case it were our own. And forasmuch as our riches standeth not only in pos as session of lands, tenements, cattle, or body, but also in our good name, fame, and estimation (which far surpasseth all gold, silver, and precious stones), therefore followeth this Commandment, "Thou shalt bear no false witness against thy neighbour." For this Commandment teacheth us how we should behave ourselves in defending our neighbour's good name, that we dishonour him not with lies, false accusations, or witness-bearing, that we slander him not, but study to defend, increase, and maintain his good name and fame, even so, as we would wish other men to do toward us. And here you shall only gently mark and bear away how excellent a treasure it is to have a good name for Solomon saith, "A good name is better than much riches, and more precious than balm or other strange ointments." And forasmuch as God so earnestly forbiddeth other men to hurt our good report and estimation, which men have conceived of us, it must needs follow, that much more he forbiddeth ourselves to do that hurt to ourselves, which he chargeth others not once to offer unto us, but he requireth of us that we with all diligence should study to get a good name, and to keep the same unspotted and undefiled. This we shall do, if we apply our minds to true virtue and unfeigned religion, that our life may be found faultless, and men may have no matter against us wherewith they may worthily charge us. For it is not sufficient only to abstain from |