always implore the direction of heaven. To be careful how we make vows; but, after we are engaged, to observe them inviolably, lest we be found to lie to the Holy Ghost. Never to alienate what is consecrated to holy uses, lest we contract the great guilt of robbing God. To bewail the follies of our lives with great sincerity, and to mourn bitterly for our transgressions. To repair the breaches of our duty by greater zeal and industry in God's service, for the short uncertain part of life that is yet remaining. To bear reproof with patience and humility. To avoid all occasions of evil from a true sense of our own weakness, and not to lay too great a stress upon our own strength, lest we tempt God to humble our pride by withdrawing his grace. That we are never in greater danger of being overcome by temptations, than when we suspect our own hearts least.

Q. When may we be said to rely too much upon our own strength?

A. When we neglect those means of grace, which are established in order to enable us to perform our duty. When we rashly run ourselves into temptations, presuming upon our own ability to encounter them. And even in those trials that the providence of God brings upon us, when we trust more to our own resolution than his divine assistance, and consequently remit that watchfulness and prayer which are so necessary to secure us. When we do not avoid those occasions which, by woeful experience, we have found fatal to our virtue. When we are not jealous over our own hearts, and do not suspect that weakness and corruption, which makes us so prone to be overcome when we are assaulted.

Q. What are the sad effects of this self-confident temper?

A. It often betrays us to undertake what we have

neither capacity nor ability to perform. It makes us neglect those previous measures which are necessary to accomplish what we design. It teaches us, by dearbought experience, the frailties and infirmities of our It frequently makes shipwreck of a good conscience, and provokes God to withdraw his grace; which we lay so little stress upon, in order to our preservation.

own natures.

Q. What is necessary to cure this sort of presumption?

A. To consider the weakness and frailty of human nature, and the frequent instances of it in our own conduct, and how unable we are of ourselves to do any thing that is good. To reflect upon those eminent examples that have been fatally betrayed by too great a confidence in themselves; and which are set up as so many marks for us to avoid those rocks upon which they split. That the praying not to be led into temptation, supposes not only an obligation in us to avoid dangerous occasions, but also a proneness in our nature to be overcome when we are attacked. That the promises of God's assistance imply, we cannot work out our salvation upon the stock of our own strength; and that the means of grace which are so necessary to secure us, shew that our sufficiency is of God.

THE PRAYERS.

FOR ALL BISHOPS AND PASTORS.

ALMIGHTY God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy Apostle St. Peter many excellent gifts, and commandest him earnestly to feed thy flock; make, I beseech thee, all bishops and pastors diligently to preach thy holy word, and the people obediently to

follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

FOR THE PROTECTION OF PROVIDENCE.

O God, who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost 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.

FOR REPENTANCE AND PARDON.

MOST merciful God, who desirest not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn and live, who hast graciously, in thy holy gospel, provided for our recovery, and encouraged our repentance, by many promises of pardon and forgiveness; fit and prepare me for this exercise of thy abundant mercy, by true sorrow and hearty contrition, by condemning my past follies, and by stedfastly purposing entirely to forsake them for the time to come and then, O heavenly Father! for thine own infinite mercies' sake, whose property it is to shew compassion, for thy truth and promise sake, who art faithful and just, for the merits and sufferings of the Son of thy love, in whom thou art well pleased, cleanse me from all my iniquities, receive me into thy favour, and let me continue therein all the days of my life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

FOR STRENGTH TO RESIST TEMPTATION.

O GOD, who for the trial of my faith and obedience,

hast suffered me, while I am here below, to be surrounded with variety of temptations, the flesh designing to ruin me by its false allurements, the devil by his sub

tility and watchfulness, and the world by soliciting me in every state and condition of life to transgress thy laws; how shall I, O Lord! a weak and frail creature, stand fast, when thy great Apostle failed in the day of trial? My help standeth in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth; in the powerful intercession of the blessed Jesus, our advocate with the Father, in the comfortable assistance of the Holy Spirit, by whom we are sealed to the day of redemption: make me herein a gainer, by my former losses to be more sensible of my own weakness and inability, and of my necessary dependence upon thee my God; and being constantly upon my guard, and under the influence of thy Almighty grace, neither the pleasures of life, nor the fears of death, may ever prevail upon me to quit the way of thy commandments; but that being stedfast and immoveable, I may always abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that my labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Amen.

CHAP. XXVIII.

ST. JAMES. JULY 25.

Q. What Festival does the church celebrate this day? A. That of St. James the Apostle; called the great. Q. Why is this Apostle surnamed the great?

A. Either because of his age, being much elder than the other St. James; or for some peculiar honours and favours our Lord conferred upon him, he being one of the three disciples whom our Saviour admitted to the more intimate transactions of his life, from which the others were excluded.

Q. What was St. James's profession before he was called to the Apostolate?

A. He was one of Simon Peter's partners in the

trade of fishing, and son to Zebedee, of the same profession, who kept many servants for that employment; which speaks him a man of considerable note that way." Q. How had St. James the honour of being related to our Saviour?

A. By his mother Mary, surnamed Salome, sister to Mary, the mother of our Lord. Not her own sister, properly so called (the blessed virgin being, in all likelihood, an only daughter), but cousin german, styled her sister according to the custom of the Jews, who were wont to call all such near relations brother and sisters.

Q. What may we learn from our Saviour's choosing his disciples from such mean professions?

A. That God's blessing usually meets men in the way of an honest diligence; and that we ought not to contemn men of the meanest employment, that are honest and industrious; especially when it is remembered, that our Lord himself, as is intimated in Scripture, and asserted generally by the ancient writers of the church, worked at the trade of a carpenter, during the retirements of his private life."

Q. How came St. James to be an Apostle?

A. Our Saviour passing by the sea of Galilee, saw him and his brother in their ship, and called them to be his disciples; which they cheerfully complied with, and took no occasion to make excuses from the circumstances of their aged father they left behind them.

Q. What new name did St. James receive from our Saviour?

A. James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, he surnamed Boanerges, that is Sons of Thunder.d