I Have ask'd your leave to di­rect Instructions to you, and now I presently take it, as rea­dy to make use of it as you are, I am sure, to grant it, who, as you are too generous to deny any thing which should advance the Good of others, so are too wise to refuse that which would promote your own.

The First Advice which I shall offer to you, shall be in the first thing which Religion taught you.

Let the Catechism never be for­gotten: Though it is learn'd in Childhood, it is to be remem­bred still in all the other parts of our Age; therefore indeed learn'd in Childhood, that it may not be for­gotten, and that it may be useful [Page 2]ever afterwards: As when the Pilot has Sailed very far, and very often, yet he is not to throw away his Compass, nor to Sail without it. Religion begins thus in Childhood; if in that Age it begins, much more in our Age of Understanding it is to be continued, and to be improved, as other things are not less, but they become greater and stronger too by Time. Religion is much more to be continued in all the Scenes of Life beyond our Childhood, because we afterwards come to the Age of Practice, which is its chief design, and because our Understanding is more accomplish'd afterwards, and so we are then more capable of Ad­vancements in that which is the most noble Exercise of our Under­standing, in Religion. Indeed the first use of our Reason, the first open­ing of it is to be in that, because it will be more prepared for a Progress in Knowledge, and the Child, the yet imperfect Creature, for Attain­ments [Page 3]in Perfection, by making the first steps in the Understanding of Him who is the Fountain of Know­ledge, and of all Perfection. A par­ticular right He has to the first Fruits of our Reason, because it is more particularly derived from God, and it is more the Image of Him from whom it comes, and because the Be­ing of him from whom it derives its own, is a Principle our Reason is acquainted with as soon as any, and therefore it should be as soon ac­quainted with the Worship and the Knowledge of Him. If our Child­hood, amongst its many Pastimes, is to have Religion for its Business; if that Light and thoughtless Age is in this alone to become serious and wisely Active, this much more should be our Exercise, when our Age has all the steady Thought and Reflection, and when all our Thought is directed to Business, and Things of high and serious Impor­tance, and when the more we think, [Page 4]we are carried still farther into Re­ligion. If our Reason at the first glimmering and dawning of it is to begin its day, as we should every one of our Life, with Religion, much more is this to have enlarg­ment with our Reason, and to be the greater Light to rule the Day; the Worship of the Father of Lights, is surely to be much more then our Ex­ercise, when we are in so much bet­ter condition to perform it.

I speak thus of Religious Know­ledge, that, when gained in the for­mer, it is not to be lost in the follow­ing part of our Age, because too ma­ny think it may then well be lost, and it was intended only for our Child­hood, and when we were children, we were in Bondage under Rudiments, we spoke as Children, understood as Chil­dren, thought as Children, but we are to put away afterwards childish things. How great, alass, the Misunderstan­ding, and how fatal the effect, if there be no recovery from it! How [Page 5]much do they, who thus misunder­stand, seem Industrious to prove themselves Children still? How much happier would they be, if they were so indeed? They would then have something like Excuse; now they have not.

All that we did, and learn'd in the more serious Undertakings of our Childhood was only designed for Discipline and Method to dispose us for the doing and learning more here­after, as he can never be Rich, who keeps not that which he has gain'd, and he can never be Skilful in any Art or Science, who forgets the first Notions of it he once was taught. A Father of the Church said upon a like Occasion, nothing is to be dispised by those who are to be instructed, and led into the know­ledge of things; for if they look upon the first Elements as little things, how shall they attain the perfect and great things in knowledge? These early things which the Church has taught us, are not Scaffold work, to be ta­ken [Page 6]down again, but Foundation, and he that would take away the Foundation, when the House is near the being, finish'd, would only un­dermine it, and never finish it. Who­ever discards the knowledge of the Catechism, when he is no more a Child, he either at the same time re­nounces all knowledge of Religion, (but surely, if that knowledge were necessary in Childhood, it is much more necessary afterwards) or he at the same time designs a much high­er Knowledge in Religion; and be­cause he is still going forward, he leaves the first behind him, not as too heavy, but as too light, or little to carry with him. Indeed he must not here forget those things which are be hind, if he will reach forth to those things which Are before, if he will press towards the Mark of the Prize of the high Calling. The more he values those other things he would understand, the more he is to value these first things, without [Page 7]which he cannot understand the o­ther, and the more Knowledge he has attained, the more humble he is, or should be, and so not apt to des­pise the meanest Truth as well as Person; be owes the greater regard to these original Truths, to which he owes all his highest Improve­ments. Indeed they are not the meanest Truths, they are the first in Order and Dignity, as well as in Time and Place, because they are the Doctrines of things necessary to Sal­vation, and no Good so great as Salva­tion, no Truth so great, as that which teaches things necessary to it. The other Doctrines are the Issues of these by a natural Consequence, and so they cannot be nobler than these, till the Off-spring shall claim more Honour than Parents, from whom they derive all they have. The o­ther parts of Religion are but so many several Streams that flow from these, which therefore should have all the Reverence from us, as Fountains had [Page 8]so much from the Heathens, were Sacred, and were Adored.

The Doctrines of the Catechism are very far from being those of the lowest Rank, they have so much the Character of the Scripture from whence we received them (as Fruits have the Nature of the Soil wherein they grow) that however there are things in the Catechism for the low­est, there are also many for the high­est and most manly Understanding: The things are so high, that they are subjects more of Belief, then of En­quiry, and yet when they have My­stery enough to puzzle the Enquirer, they have at the same time Evidence enough to baffle the Unbeliever; Evidence, like that of Witnesses a­gainst a Malefactor, to Condemn him. The Doctrines still are great, however the style of the Catechism, like that of the Scripture, be very plain, as the greatest Person may ap­pear in the plainest Dress: There is so much more of the nicer Art, to [Page 9]reduce sublime and awful things to easie and familiar Words, and there is more Authority in such a Language, as there is often a more prevailing Au­thority in a condescending and lowly Behaviour. That No­ble Person had a very just Opinion The Lady Catherine Manners, afterwards Marchioness of Buck­ingham. of our Catechism, who ac­knowledged it to be a plain Summa­ry of saving Truth, and being of a Roman-Catholick Family, and Edu­cation, she seemed in this Acknow­ledgment to give a generous Pledg, that there should be Success to their Endeavours, who were Zealous to teach her new and better Principles. The Religious Beginnings of Child­hood are in things necessary to Salva­tion, that our happy End, the End of our Faith may be in Salvation it self, our Christian Beginning is in things more necessary, as in the first part of a Feast we find the Meats which have more substance, and nourish more. Our first entrance [Page 10]is in the needful things of Belief and Knowledge, both because this Be­lief and Knowledge are the Root to all the goodly Branches of Religion, and there must be first a Root, be­fore there can be an enlargement of the Tree into spreading Branches, and useful Fruit, and because the former Time of our Age is not so ca­pable of, nor has such Occasion and Exercise for the several good Works, which are the other chief parts of Christian Duty; but it is already capable of Knowledge, which should prepare us for them.

That being planted in the House of the Lord, you may flourish in the Courts of the House of our God, in His Church, and you my bring forth more Fruit in your Age, that you may grow in Grace, and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, your reading over the Catechism once every Month of your Life, and your reading it with all the Wisdom, and careful Observa­tion [Page 11]of your more perfect Age, would be a most useful Office; when you may be above the giving an account of it to others, you can never, in a Life of all those Years I wish you, out-live the Necessity of giving it to your self, and to God. There is a Precept to all, even to the oldest Christians, for the being ready al­ways to give account to others, to give an Answer to every Man that asks a Reason of the Hope which is in them. So needful is the conti­nuance of this first Knowledge, that you cannot know any thing else a­right, without having still an Eye to this, and then steering by it; you are to take it with you wherever you go, in whatever you do: It is the Standard, by which all your Know­ledge is to be tryed, and it is the Rule, to which all your Practice hereafter is to be reconciled.

As the Catechism is always to be well remembred, so is it to be well considered by you. No part of it [Page 12]you are to consider more, than your Vow in Baptism, and the Explaining of the Commandments in the Cate­chism; the Performance of which Commandments (so explained) is one great part of the Performance of that Vow, and the great, the princi­pal Exercise of your wisest Age, and of the best Endeavours in all the Time which is to come, and I hope with a long Train after it of Days and Blessings upon your doing that which you were not only Baptized, but you were born to the Performance of.

I know you already understand very much in Religion, and often have I observed, and always rejoyced in observing how much you un­derstood. But now, That the for­mer Age of your Life, as the first was of the World, may be a Golden one, That your Knowledge may rise to Practice in the Com­mandments, and your Practice may advance to Perfection; that you may not be discouraged in the Practice (e­specially [Page 13]in the beginning of it.) I beg leave to advise you, who under­stand already so much of Religion, not to misunderstand the Design thereof, as if Melancholy were a na­tural Effect of Religion, or were a ne­cessary Duty of it, as if it denied us a moderate Liberty in worldly Enjoy­ments, and required that we should deny our selves this Liberty. Were such a Notion of Religion a true one, and embraced as true, it might have a dismal Consequence, that nothing of Religion, besides this Notion, might be embraced by Persons of your Age, and Sex, and Quality. Your Age, as well as Sex, may be sup­posed to love things less difficult or severe, and not to abhor Diversi­on and Mirth; your Quality gives a Right, almost a Birth-right to that, to which your other Circumstances may give some Inclination, to Plea­sure, and harmless Enjoyment. Me­lancholy is very far from being com­manded, it is forbidden by Religion; [Page 14]Excess of that, as much forbidden, as the Excess of Mirth. Religion for­bids not Enjoyment, but abuse, which is no part of the Enjoyment, which indeed does lessen it, that, and not Religion hinders all. So far Religion is from hindering, that in its Design it promotes, and in its Practice, in the present Act it gives a chearful Mind, and this is one great, this is one present Reward to the Practice of it: Surely none has so much cause as the Pious Man for a chearful Mind, and O let him ever have it, let there be no Pretence or Bar against his having that which is thus his right, and which God him­self desires he should have. As there was a famous Master who would have Pictures of Joy to be placed round his School, that his Scholars might have Images of Delight in their Minds, and Knowledge might become a more inviting Fi­gure to those who came thither to make Addresses to it. Religion is a [Page 15]thing of great delight in its Nature, and it is never otherwise, but when it is made otherwise by us, as the most pleasing Wines by our ill Ma­nagement, or ill Keeping may be­come sower, and very unpleasant. The Fear of the Lord maketh a merry Heart, and giveth Joy and Gladness, Ecclus 1.2. So much Religion is a thing of the noblest Joy, that it gives no little Joy, not only to those who sincerely Profess, and sincerely Pra­ctice it themselves; but even to those who behold it, when thus Pro­fess'd and Practiced, in others. I am sure the thing which is very delight­ful in its Nature, much more is made so by your Ladyship; Religi­on has often appeared to me as ha­ving a particular and surprizing De­light, when I have beheld it in your Deportment. The French Philosopher told one of your Sex, that no Beau­ty was equal to that of Truth, and the Writer of his Life makes this Remark, that the Saying was no [Page 16]Complement, and he talked more like a Philosopher than a Courtier. I am sure, this saying, that the Beauty of Virtue is above all other, can be no Affront to a Person, who has a large share of Virtue, and so in the Praises of it. There was a Sect of Philosophers, which so many of the Noble Youth resorted to in the Time of Epicus, as to a Court, and which pretended to all the Art­ful Refinement of Wit; but here their Wit did not shew it self, nor do them Service, when they profess'd the Study and Advancement of Plea­sure, and yet admitted not any set­tled thought of Religion into their Debates upon it: The Epicureans pursuing Pleasure, and not carrying this along with them, went out of their way all the time, and the un­happy Men, the farther still they went, still were farther off from Pleasure, and when there was so much of the Name in their Books and Harangues, there was little of [Page 17]the thing in their Mind or Condition. It is the end of a Man, of a wise Man so to order every thing, that he may find a Pleasure in every thing he does, in all things belonging to him: A wise Man he cannot be, he has no true Light in his Mind, who with all his busie search can think of fin­ding Pleasure by any other Light then that of Religion. May every thing your Ladyship does entertain you with Joy, especially Religion, and this so much more, because this will give an high tast of Joy to all o­ther things. The chief delight of Piety is in it self a Delight of the Mind, and not therefore less, the Pleasures of the Mind are the great­est: But indeed, that the Mind may be capable of the Religious Plea­sure, it must be prepared with a par­ticular Frame of Spirit, a true and suitable Disposition towards it, as the Body it self his very little Sense of bodily Enjoyments, if Indisposed. Some complain they find not that [Page 18]lofty Satisfaction, that Rapture we talk of: But we never said, there was such a Delight, unless upon a most hearty Tryal, and Religion is not therefore to be blamed, because they are very Blameable; nor is there any want in Religion, because they never found what they never sought.

May your Ladyship find a Joy in eve­ry Act of Religion, especially in Prayer, which procures strength for the do­ing all the other Acts thereof, and in­crease of Satisfaction in the doing them, and which is it self so plea­sant, that it has a foretast of Heaven, where is fulness of Joy and Pleasure for evermore. Well may Prayer give us a foretast of Heaven, seeing it carries us thither every time we Pray as when St. Paul was caught up into the third Heaven; he not only heard the words which are not to be uttered, but perhaps he tasted the Enjoyments which are not to be conceived. Prayer carries us up to Heaven, and then in the re­turn, [Page 19](as Angels do to those, to whom they give a friendly Convey­ance) it sets us down again gently up­on the Earth, and makes Earth it self more pleasant, when thus it has brought us back from Heaven: The Man who goes so often thither, must needs return with something of the Pleasures, and the Riches of the Place, as the Merchant, who Tra­vels often to the Countrey of Gold and Silver, and precious Stones, does as often bring from thence some of the gaudy, and admired, and dazling Goods.

That you may be prepared for the devout Offices of Prayer, and for all the exalted Satisfactions of it, be pleased to compose that Mind, which indeed is seldom discomposed, to fix your Soul for an Attention to the pi­ous Work, and so God himself will attend, and have a kind regard to the Work, and to the Person. Be­fore you begin to Pray, you may pre­pare and fix your Mind by some good [Page 20]Thoughts, as short as may be, of the Duty you are undertaking, and of the God you are to Address to in the Duty, and cast off for the Time all your common Thoughts of worldly Things, that you may think more, and better of the Duty, and of God. Your Thoughts are always harmless, but they may not so easily be always useful, nor always Pious in that de­gree of Elevation, when they are ex­ercised upon worldly Things, they are formed and fashioned for the time into a likeness with them; your Mind then complies and condescends to an unaffected Debasement, it sub­mits and bows down, with a gene­rous Regret, to the Meanness of the Subject; as the Eagle, with all its greatness, and lofty Flights, vouch­safes sometimes to lower it self and come down, when its Quarry is near the Earth. As to the Work you are to undertake in Praying, you may be pleased to consider, that you intend to ask Blessings for Soul and Body, [Page 21]and particular Blessings; such, and such things for both; and you may consider particularly, what things they are you intend to ask. You may not forget, that not only Prayer is a most holy Work, but if you would obtain what you ask, you are also to be Holy, before and after­wards: Pure Hands should be lift up; if there be not Purity, there will not be Strength in those Hands, nor in the Prayer. As to the God you Address to in Prayer, you may con­sider, that as you are a weak and needy Creature to want the things you Pray for, so he is a great God, and able, a bountiful God, and wil­ling to give them: That He may be moved to give them, you are at all times, but especially in the Praying time, to pay all the Reverence to your Maker, and the Maker of all the World, to Him who dwells in Heaven, and Governs on Earth; to Him who dwells in the highest Hea­vens, knows, and preserves, and go­verns [Page 22]all things to the Iowest Earth. You may again consider, that having retired from your ordinary Company, you are now to Converse with an higher Being. Indeed the remove from our common Business and Con­versation to Prayer is so great, that we cannot in such a sudden Motion, without some preparing Thoughts, take off our Mind from things of or­dinary Exercise, and place it on those of Devotion: The distance between these things is so wide, that however Spirits are said to be very nimble in their Motions, the Soul cannot pass the next Minute from the one to the other. Nothing more apt than Con­versation to engage our Mind, and after the withdrawing of our Body from it, the remembrance of its Transactions, whether pleasant or unpleasant, seems to place us still in the midst of our Company, and de­tain us with them: In respect of this Conversation, that with God is a thing altogether new, it is more [Page 23]refined and excellent, and therefore we cannot so very soon be capable of it, as he who has Conversed with Peasants and the meanest Persons, does not thus become the most Ac­complish'd Man for the higher ap­proach to the Presence and Thrones of Princes. Very narrow and im­perfect is all our Correspondence with Spirits, and even with those who, as some imagine, have a nearer Alliance to Matter, and so to us: Our Eyes sees nothing, our Under­standings very little of them; no Sense or Faculty is satisfied in the enquiry into them; whenever we perceive their being near us, we al­most covet to be farther from them, we entertain them with a Reverence very like Amazement and Horror. If our Disadvantages be such in all our Entercourse with Spirits, much more in that with the Father of Spi­rits: And then should not Israel in the softer meaning, prepare to meet his God? And thus we shall [Page 24]make those Disadvantages as little as may be to us; at least we shall be so prepared for our attending God, as Men put on the best Dress they have, when they are to wait on Persons much above them.

I have here allowed my self so much more enlargment on the necessity of forming our Minds into a suitable Frame, before our Praying, because otherwise there can be little Thought in our Prayer, and less Affection, and the Prayer which wants either, must want Success: Therefore is there so ex­traordinary Success to so many Pray­ers; they may well not have it, when they do not deserve it, & they cannot deserve what they seem not to desire.

If your other Engagements will comply with so many Times; let your Prayers be thrice in a Day, in the Morning the first Business, at Night the last, and at Noon before your Dinner; because a Work so Carnal as Eating, would make [Page 25]you less disposed for a Work so Spiri­tual as Praying; and because this de­serves a place before every other Business, and it is to be our Meat thus to do the Will of Him who sent us, and thus to pray for Grace that we may do the Will of him that sent us into the World. Your Prayers are to be Publick and Private, not only private, but publick upon every Opportunity, not only publick, but private too, and you constant in the Seasons of both. As to publick Pray­ers, the Church has prescribed, and who has a better Right to prescribe? Who could have better Success? As to private, your own Devotion will soon be skilful, and the Advice of Pious Books will give you Laws: Such Laws your Books will be ready to give, and you to obey.

I would advise your having not only particular Times, but a parti­cular Place for your Private Devo­tion, and so, if the Place be not re­served for this use alone, yet the [Page 26]Duty it self should be alway perfor­med in that place, reserved for that alone: Then as often as you come near this Religious Apartment, some good Thought will come near you too, when you shall remember the Business you have there often done, and you are now to do: There may well be some Vertue in that Air, which has been made fragrant and so often sweet with the Incense of your Prayers.

The Grace of God is the chief thing you are to pray for, because all other things will follow this. You are to pray for Grace, that it may in­struct you in all such things in which a Christian is to be instructed, and may turn your Thoughts towards Religion, and your Inclinations to a Desire for the Benefits thereof. You are to pray for Grace, that it may di­rect and move you to enter upon a solemn Course of Religion, direct and give Strength to the whole Pra­ctice of it, guard your Age so tender against the many Temptations of the [Page 27]World, and fix it against the several Misfortunes thereof upon the true Foundations of Religion and Pru­dence, and give it a true Notion of the World: Then will you know that this gaudy World is a place of Vanity, and that nothing but Re­ligion can make it a place of Satisfa­ction, and so you will know the wisest thing which can be known by Man in the whole Circle of his boasted Learning: Pity it is that we do not know it sooner, that only many Years and many Misfortunes should teach it, more Years than have yet past over your Head, and worse Misfortunes then (I hope) will ever come near your Condition; though indeed the being above Misfortunes is not one of those peculiar Privile­ges belonging to Birth and Quality. Let my Experience be yours, let not this be one of the dear bought things your Sex is said to covet: But as the Complaisance of our Sex delights to present costly things to yours, may the Experience be purchased only [Page 28]at my Cost, and teach us both. And as the Gallantry of our Sex very often exposes it self for the Safety and the Interest of yours, so let the Dan­ger and the Evil be only mine.

You are to pray for Grace, that it may now betimes prevent your be­ing guilty of those Sins, which many young Persons begin too soon to be guilty of and which sooner or later are to have a Repentance, and the Repentance is to have so much cost, in Tears and Sighs, in painful Thought and unpleasant Remem­brance: Surely those Sins are Disea­ses of the most Dangerous Kind, which we should rather chuse to pre­vent then to remove, and when they have entertainment from our Youth, they are like that forward Fruit which is very unwholsome and will soon be rotten. You are to pray for Grace, that it may guide you through this Life to a better; as hap­py as I wish your present Life, there is yet one far more happy, which I [Page 29]doubt not, you wish your self; and which that Grace is to guide you to, and moreover it is to guide you through the several parts of your present Life with all the Success and Blessing in all the Management of it. As you are to pray for your self, so for those next to your self, your near Relations, and for all good things to them, Spiritual and Tem­poral. The Advice you are ready to prevent, because the Office, I know, is very pleasing to you, who pay so much Duty, where you ow it, and so much Love to your other Relations, more (I had almost said) than you can be supposed to owe. You are not only to pray for what you want, but to give thanks for your not hav­ing wanted many things, for those you have enjoyed from the first day of your Life unto this, for your Noble Birth, and wealthy Fortune, and Virtuous Education. Such a Thanksgiving to God will require a Prayer to him for all the Endow­ments of Mind suitable to such a [Page 30]Birth, and Fortune and Education, and for the making these his Favours useful to the Glory of him you pray to; and him who gave them. You are to pray for a low Opinion of all this World, and of one part of it more than all, of your self, that your heart may not be haughty, nor your Eyes lofty, and you may not exer­cise your self in great matters, nor in things too high for you, Moreover you may pray, that to your other, to your many earthly Goods may be added that of Health, in order to your being more capable of making the best use of all, your doing more service to God, more good to others. You may pray that in this your walking through the Vally of the Shadow of Death God would make you to fear no Evil, and make his Goodness and Mer­cy to follow you all the Days of your Life, that so you may dwell in the House of the Lord for ever, dwell in his House here, and in that other not made with hands, eternal in the Hea­vens. Your prayers upon these seve­ral [Page 31]occasions are to be short, and then may be more servent, and what is wanting in length may be supplied in a more warm Devotion, which is to God more pleasing; a warm Devotion more pleasing to God, then a Burning Sacrifice. The Force of our Prayers, when more close and united, in a narrower Room, in less Time and fewer Words, may be stronger, and as that Force is stron­ger, the Prayers will be more earnest. The Orator must weep himself, if he will be sure to have his hearers weep: Much more we must be earnest in praying if we expect that God will be moved in hearing, that he will shew to us a part of the strange Affe­ction he has to Mankind which the Prophets have told us of, and which only their Flights can describe. It is one design of Prayer to unite us to God, and so much it does unite us to him, that our Affections and his are almost to the same; as we are affe­cted more or less in the presenting our Prayer so is he in the recei­ving it.

I pretend not here to have given all the Rules which are necessary for Prayer, but some more particular to to your Ladyships Quality and Age I have designed to give, and then to recommend your Learning of other more general Rules for Prayer and for all things from the Books of Re­ligious Wisdom, those which you are not a Stranger to, and which, I am sure, you will be every Day more acquainted with. The Books are to be few and chosen, and so much the rather should yours be cho­sen, because in every Kind you de­serve the best: Few Books, that they may be read, and chosen, that the reading may be useful.

At the same time you read the Writings of others, let this of all things be written upon your mind, that whereas there are several parts of Religion, the chief part is practice, and a living in obedience to the Commands of God, and that all pre­tending [Page 33]to Religion is trifling with­out it, and that still the Older you are, the more Practice is required.

In order to your being moved to live in a Religious Method of all this Practice, you may be assured that your Life can never be happy with­out Religion, and then what is to make your whole Life happy, is to be it self a greater part of it, is to be indeed begun in the first Seasons of Life, and so continued to the last. If the beginning afterwards were not late and ineffectual, yet it would be less certain and more difficult, the beginning sooner will by the long and early custom make Religion that which I so much desire it may be to you, and may be accounted by you, a delightful thing, the most delightful in the World. Religion I have declared before to be a thing which has all the Refinement and Delicacy of Pleasure; and then why should we lose so much Pleasure all the time we are not engaged in the [Page 34]Interests of Religion? Youth is the time, in which we think we have a Claim to Pleasu e; and then, if it covet all other Pleasure, why not the truest and highest Joy, and why not Religion, which alone can give this, which alone can secure the other? We can no more be happy too soon then too much; and all the Wit and all the Power of Man cannot order an happy Life without ordering the Life to be first Religious.

This Truth is as great as evident; O that all those would consider it, to whom the considering of it would be useful, that is, all Mankind. And seeing it is the Desire of every Man to be happy, there should be this o­ther Desire of the Good and the Wise, that every Man would consi­der and every Man would do what is necessary to make him, as he desires to be, very happy.

Be pleased to remember that high degree in the World does not make Vertue a lower or a needless thing; [Page 35]and that Riches make Religion still more needful, because Riches have many Dangers, against which Reli­gion only can give Security, and be­cause when there is such a plenty of other things, it is pity there should be a want of that alone. Riches are coveted too much, Reli­gion too little; and yet this should be more desired, if not for its own sake, at least for the sake of Riches, which, if they are never so much desired, never so much possest, are yet no Blessing without Religion. You may remember also that Noble Blood, a Body Highborn does not make us so great as that Nobler sort of Mind, which shews its heavenly Birth in heavenly Actions. You may not forget that no Beauty does so charm, no Dress so adorn, as Vertue always does, no Conversa­tion is so truly delightful, as a devout Communion in Gods worship, no Behaviour and Accomplishment has so lovely a Grace, as that of Reve­rence [Page 36]in the Worship of him who cannot have too much: Happy we, if from the best of us he could have enough; but we must be contented, as God is satisfied, with our being Servants, though unprofitable. Noble Birth, and Beauty, the Arts of Con­versation and Behaviour, and all the Glories of Dress, which are things very much admired, will deserve much more to be so, when joined to Religion, and when they have the great Advantages which Religion gives them: Indeed this gives the greatest, because it is greater, it is better then all things. All the things you can desire (or others can desire, can Love in you) are not to be compa­red unto it, the gain thereof is better than fine Gold, it is more precious than Rubies, and its ways are ways of plea­santness. So says Solomon, and the same Author says, a Gracious Wo­man retaineth Honour. He had high Birth himself, and so much of it, that the Haughty Aethiopian [Page 37]Emperors; amongst all their Bulky and noisie Titles, are proud of no­thing more then that they have (as they pretend) Royal Blood flowing from him. Solomon had a King his Father, and his Father the chief Head of a Family of Kings, the first and last settled Royal Family in Isra­el; Solomon was a King himself, and as he had Riches and Greatness, to make him awfull, so he had Beauty and Wisdom, and all the Charms of Wit and Conversation and Lan­guage to make him lovely to Man­kind: Grace was poured into his Lips, and he was fairer then the Children of Men, he dwelt in Ivory Palaces, and his Garments were perfumed with Myrrhe and Aloes and Cassia, and Kings-Daughters were among his Ho­nourable Women. In the same Psalm his Queen too is described, and in vain had she been brought unto the King in Raiment of Needlework, and in vain she had stood at his right hand in Gold of Ophir, and her cloathing of wrought [Page 38]Gold, if she the Daughter as well as Wife of a King had not been all glo­rious within as well as she was with­out in all her Aegyptian Glory; the King would never have so much de­sired her Beauty, if she had not heark­ned and considered, enclined her Ear and Worshipt.

A Writer of your Sex brings in the Shepherd professing all the Rap­ture of Esteem, and something more the Passion to the Sheperdels, not for those Endowments, which are commonly treated with all the softer Language and respectful Names, but for other and greater things.

These Perfections shined through all the shade of that Meaness which Poetry had drest her in, and her own Humility was ready to put on; and [Page 39]they discover'd to every admiring Eye the Noble Lady (for so she was) under the borrowed Disguise of a Shepher­dess.

I have spoken so much more upon Noble Birth, because as that is a ve­ry great Blessing in it self, so it has been to some a very great Evil, to those who have so valued them­selves, or have been taught by o­thers, attending them, so to value themseves upon it, as to imagine they wanted nothing else, and were above the being good, above that very thing which would make them still more Noble, and would give them an higher Rank then Birth had given them, would place them above all things besides it self. I have all the high regard to Noble Birth, especi­ally to that which your Ladyship de­rives from a Family I have so peculiar an Honour for: I would only advise all Persons who are born in Great­ness not to have too high a Re­gard for it in one Sence, and scarce high enough in another. The gene­ral [Page 40]Precept of the Philosopher seems to be particular to them in its de­sign, that men should reverence them­selves: Surely they should teach o­thers to pay Honour to them by do­ing Honour to themselves, they should have a Reverence for the Me­mories and the Venerable Ghosts of their Ancestors, in not embezzling the Honour as well as the Estate which they bequeathed, and in act­ing so that their Ashes may not be disturbed, nor they dead once more in those whom they left behind to represent them. Vertue did first give Honour and Title; and that is still necessary to preserve it. Honour acquired by Virtue is greater than that of Inheritance, and when the Honour which was first the Reward of Vertue is carried down to others as the Gift of Inheritance, these in­deed are Noble once, the first Day of their Birth: But, if they continue and enlarge those vertuous Actions [Page 41]of their Ancestors, they make them­selves Noble anew, every Day of their Life, confirm and enlarge their original Right to the Honour they received from others, and then begin to make it their own. Jehu could not chuse but pay a regard to Birth, in the midst of all his Holy Rage, and the Wickedness of Jezebel, in whom there was but one thing to give her any claim to a regard, and for the sake of that one thing she had it, she was to suffer less Dishonour in her Death, because she had so much honour in her Birth, Go, bury her, for she is a Kings Daughter. The Son of God, who vouchsafed to be born, as Man, in all the Forms of Mean­ness, chose a Noble mans Daughter for the Subject of a Miracle to raise her when dead, and so a Noblemans Son, to rescue him from Death. I have not designed one word to lessen Birth, but all to make it greater, by Vertue added to it, and adorning it.

With the same design I have spo­ken of Riches and Pleasures, and all the desirable Advantages of the World, and which are only of this World: I would not have them excluded, I would have those who possess them not to love them better than themselves, and not to exclude Religion, and then Happiness too, which never goes in to any Place, but where Religion goes in before it. The Things of the World have too much wrought on many Aged, and not Imprudent Persons: Much more then is there need of Caution to one of your Age, and your Quali­ty, when too many of the same greater Figure have abused their worldly Advantages, being first a­bused themselves by the ill Counsels of those who have been too near them. Indeed your Ladyship gives me no occasion to suspect that you had ever any to Misguide you, or that you are to be Misguided, when I by a delightful Experience have [Page 43]viewed so much Virtue, as should either make me think you had never been attacked by ill Counsels, or you had always Virtue, Strong and Wise, to conquer them. There are Persons in the World, (and may you be always one of those) upon whom Ill Advice is no less ineffectual then Good is very often on others, ill things cannot stand before them, and, as no venemous Beast can live in some Climates, they dye as soon as they come near them, or within the fatal Air of this so mighty Innocence. There is a Serpent to every Daughter of Eve, as well as there was to Eve her self, and so to every Son of Adam: But however the Serpent be more subtle then any Beast of the Field, there are those who will be innocent, be he never so Crafty, and they will not eat of the Fruit, and without eating of it their Eyes are opened, and they know Good and Evil, and so as to pursue, and to avoid. Every good Person [Page 44]has something of an Exorcist, in him the Apostolical Power of casting out Devils is hot lost, to him it is con­tinued, the evil Spirit cannot bear his Presence, as he could not bear that of Christ, when he sell down before him, and cried out, I be­seech thee torment me not. Besides the many Temptations from others, there is a Tempter within our selves, there is a Principle of Vanity in the Nature of Man, in this too earthly Nature, which carries us on to these Vain Earthly Things with a fierce Desire, as fierce alas, as if they were not Vain: From this Principle, which seems to be almost as old as our Nature, rise all the Sins of our following Life, these are only so ma­ny irregular ways into which our Inclinations divide themselves for the Pursuit of earthly Things. From this Principle of Corruption in our Souls, rise all our Sins, as from ano­ther of natural Corruption in our Bodies do rise the several Diseases of [Page 45]them. The best of us therefore may have need to be upon our Guard a­gainst the Things of the World, and good Reason there is to keep low, and to correct betimes that prevailing Cause of Corruption by Advice, and by Endeavour.

In order to your successful Pro­gress in this Course of Religion, you will, (I am sure) be easily, and soon Exhorted to have (shall I say?) Or to continue a suitable and devout Re­gard to that Day of the Week, which is particularly designed for Religious Offices. The Day, which is set apart, and for something, and that can be no other than holy Duty; the Day, which we call the Lord's Day in a prophane Jest, if we do not keep it to the Lord, if our use of it be Prophane, that is, not Religious. He who regardeth a Day, regardeth it unto the Lord. Man is Born to La­bour, (as Job has told us) he is design­ed by God to be always in Action, and that Action as much as may be [Page 46]worthy of himself, and useful to himself, or others: They who have the lowest Respect for this Day, pre­tend not then to do the Business of their particular Calling; and there­fore should they not do that of their general Calling, as they are Christi­ans? This one Day was not set a­part, only to be a Blank, a void Space in our Time, and to have no­thing written upon it: If we could be contented to lose one Day, as to our own Interest, in every Week of so short a Life, yet God is not wil­ling to allow the loss of one, as to his Service, we complain, says a Learned Heathen, that Life is short, and Time is swift, and yet like Men, very Un­thrifty, and very Poor, we mispend our too little time, as if we had too much. Whatever time we mispend, we should take care, like Men luxu­rious in their Expences, and yet still just in ther Principles, to mispend none but our own Indeed, [Page 47]if we should take this Care, we should mispend no Time, because none is ours, much less that which God has made His more than any o­ther, His in a peculiar manner: Not only God, but Man; all the Authori­ty of Man, that of the Church, and that of the State has made it God's own Time: And if any Sacred Thing, which one Man gave to God, another cannot take away but with the blackest Guilt, much less that which God has given to him­self, and Man gave to God. Our u­sing well this part of our Time will prevent our abusing every other part, because it will advance us to such a State of Mind, it will lead us into such Rules of Life, that we shall learn to be always careful, and resolve to be always good. Surely we shall be so, if we remember an A­postles Saying, that we are not our own; and then not our Time; be­cause if we our selves are not our own, then not any thing belonging [Page 48]to us, which can be held no other­wise than our Being is, and must pass over with our selves to the great So­vereign Lord.

You are ready, (I know) to keep this Day with all the solemn Care, and you are to perform the Duties of it with all the solemn Reverence. The fix'd and ordinary Duties of it are Praying, and Hearing, Meditati­on, and Reading, and Acts of Chari­ty; and moreover there is an extra­ordinary Duty, the receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, see­ing your Years now meet, and come up to your devout Inclinations, and Time now almost overtakes your Pi­ety and Prudence, which (as swift as Time is) have been so much before it. Since this is so great which now we see, how great must that be, which we may expect; the good Things we view at a distance, though so far off, yet appear not little, they already entertain our Eyes with a pleasing Prospect, and fill our Minds [Page 49]with amusing Thought and the brightest Image, when we look forward to the Seasons of full and ripe Perfection, of which we have the first Fruits now already. That the Sacrament of Perfection may give you a large share thereof, and hasten it upon you, and so gratify your eager Zeal and our swelling Expecta­tion, you will not fail to receive the Sacrament as often as you have Op­portunity to receive it. No mean believe me, between not receiving, and refusing; if you do not receive it, you refuse it; and be pleased to consider how heinous the Crime must be to refuse, when God does offer, not to come, when God in­vites. Every time the Sacrament is to be administred, it is offered to all the Persons of the Place, as much to each of them, as if it were offered in express words, and by name to every single Person only and not to the rest, for him only provided. And then you may begin to think how conde­scending [Page 50]a thing it is for a great Man, for one much greater than our selves to order a particular entertainment for us, and how indecent a thing to deny our Presence.

That you may hereafter receive this Sacrament with advantage, and now perform with advantage the o­ther Duties of Worship, which al­ready you are not more capable of then zealous for, I would propose few things more and sooner than a Constancy to the Church of England, in which the Performance of all those Duties is so strictly required, and the manner of performing them so well prescribed. A Church it is, which cannot fail to be agreeable to you, because it so well instructs you in Religion, in no part whereof you would be ignorant, it is so ready to promote your Knowledge in every part, which you are so eager to im­prove: A Church, which the more you understand, is still the better sa­tisfied, and her Satisfaction is still [Page 51]made greater by yours, instead of envying you your own Knowledge, or denying you a share in that of o­thers by Instruction. I would re­commend a Constancy to the Com­munion of the Church with full Judgment of your Mind, and sincere Good-will of your Soul, that Soul, which is to have so much Advantage from that Communion. When I give this Advice, I offer it with all the Sincerity which becomes the Subject of Advice, Religion, and which becomes a Man who has all the Zeal for the well-being of the Person to whom he offers it, for this well-being in every thing, especially in Religion. I would be sure to be thus sincere, when I propose this (I am sure) wholsome Counsel, and therefore in that very Instant I for the time endeavour to forget my own being a Member of this Church, I separate in my Thoughts my being so from my Advice to you to be so forever. I do not exhort you to this [Page 52]Communion, because I live within it, but because it is the best for your Eternal Welfare, and for my own. And so I am not partial to my self in my inviting you to my own Church, as some are fond of every thing they meet with at their own House. But I should be indeed very partial, if I should reserve good things to my self, if I should not exhort you to a Communion with that Church, which is, and which upon all my Experience and all my Consideration I have found to be the best, and which I therefore chose at first, there­fore now continue in. As Christ's Disciples said upon a like occasion, Whither shall we go? So may I say, if we are not to continue in this Church, to what other shall we go? What necessary thing for the Souls of Men can any other give, which we have not here? Surely if Men will be hearty in any Religion, they will not fail of embracing ours, when they have heartily enquired [Page 53]what it is, and they truly know, how much it deserves to be embra­ced. Therefore perhaps so many Atheists oppose our Church with a particular Fury, and so many, when they have revolted from it, have soon become Atheists afterwards, their denying all Religion has been the next Step to the denying one, of which a less thing can scarce be said, then that is as good as any. Others going from it have indeed not known whither to go, they have roved a­bout in a Circle of Error, have gon backward and forward in an endless Maze of Religions, and whereas once there was a Promise to move the Earth, if there were but found a Place to stand on, the Religious world turns round with them, because they have not such a place. When Cain went out from the Presence of the Lord, he became a Fugitive and a Vagabond in the Earth, and his Punishment in this Sense too was greater than he could bear: The Spirits of ill Men [Page 54]some imagin to have their wandring in the air for a part of Punishment, the worst of Spirits and the Prince of the Air gave this Account of him­self, that he went to and fro in the Earth, and walkt up and down in it. So the departing from our Church has been punisht in many with their being never fixt, who would not be fixt where they might, where they should have been very steady. Never indeed shall they find the Truth, who are alway seeking, and will never believe, they have found it, as they cannot be long in a right way, who will change their way every Minute and every step. The pursuing as well as the renouncing every Religion is an ill extream; the seeking thus for ever is one ill ex­tream as well as the not seeking any is another. There can be no reason at any time to forsake our Church; no reason to be always forsaking one, and running into another.

I insist so much more on this Plea for our Communion, not only be­cause the Subject is very pleasing to my self, but also very advantagious it is to you. Indeed to your thoughts of this best Church I would give the best Impressions, that you might be above the Danger of receiving any of the worse kind hereafter, that you might be fixt before at this your Age, which is so capable of Good, and so liable to Ill, and besides the Tender­ness of your Age there is the Softness of your Sex to make you the more disposed for the taking of any sort of Stamp or Impression. You will for­give this my troublesome, however zealous, Industry to see you settled in true Principles, and in strong con­viction of that Truth, because In­constancy (as you read before) in Religion is a thing so Dangerous, and Constancy in a false one is a thing so fatal.

Moreover Attempts have been ve­ry often made upon those of just [Page 56]Sex for the betraying of them into a false Religion, and too often those at­tempts have bin successful. My desires are so much more importunate for your continuing in a Religion (which has so much reason for it) in a good Religion upon very good Reason, because they who at first took Reli­gion by that handle, and afterwards held it there are said in Scripture to be Noble; the doing so was a mark of a Generous Spirit, and such a Spi­rit is very suitable to such a Quality as yours, and no less suitable to Re­ligion.

Many are the Arguments I could urge to prove the Necessity and the Advantage of your being a Daughter of the Church, as well as of your No­ble Parents. But all such Arguments would as much be lost upon you, who have little need to be convin­ced, as they are too often upon o­thers in a worse Sence, who resolve not to be so. I shall offer no more [Page 57]Arguments, then two, and those, as very peculiar to your Quality and more exalted State: one I borrow from him who had no such Zeal for the Church as should make him par­tial to it, but approaching Death, which makes so many wise, and ma­ny sincere, taught him to confess, that the People of England being natu­rally inclined to Freedom, and bred in Riches and Plenty can hardly be indu­ced to embrace any Religious Disci­pline which may abridg their Liberty, and Pleasures: That is, any other Discipline then this of the Church, which at the same Time it allows us Liberty and Riches and Pleasures, does prefcribe our not abusing them to our own greatest Disadvantage, and moreover our using them to the Advantage of others, and of Religi­on. I now may add my other Ar­gument, the Order and Decency of our Worship, which makes it very natural to Persons of your Nobler [Page 58]Rank, who are distinguished from others by order (that of High and Low in the different Figures of the World) and by Decency, their having so much of it in their appea­rance: They have all the Forms of Address paid to them, wherever they vouchsafe to appear, and therefore something is to be paid by them to the Prince of the Kings of the Earth. So K. David argued, and that gene­rous Devotion, which was so much his Vertue and his Glory, made him, apt to argue, See now I dwell in a house of Cedar, and the Ark of God dwelleth within Curtains. And so God himself did argue, offer it now unto thy Prince, will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy Person?

From this my naming of order in Worship I will take occasion to re­commend it in all other things: And so much rather, because if there be a Rule for all other things, much more will there be one for [Page 59]Religion, and when all things are done in order, they will be done with ease, and be finish't each of them in very good time, and so there will not be a want of time, and a want of Thought free and dis­engaged, for Prayer and other Works of Religion. To do things in order, even those of our Busie and common Life, is so far a part of Religion, as we thus imitate God, who is not the Author of Confusion, who made, and who preserves all things still, in number weight and measure, who has fixt the times for Night and Day, for Summer and Winter, and for every thing, who has taught those Creatures Order which know little else: He hath appointed the Men for Seasons, and the S [...] knoweth his going down, the Stork in the Heaven knoweth her appointed Time, and the Turtle and the Cra [...]e, and the Swallow observe the time of [...] That Wisdom of Solution, the Fame whereof was in all Nations rou [...] [Page 60]bout, not only shewed it self in Reigning so as that Judah and Is­rael dwelt safely, every Man under his Vine, and under his Fig-tree; not only in speaking Three Thou­sand Proverbs, and in speaking of Trees, and Beasts, and Fowl; his Wisdom also appeared in the Order of his private Business, that of his Family, and the Queen of Sheba ad­mired it in this Order, as well as in greater Things. His Wisdom taught him to prescribe, as always to himself, so to others fix'd Times for all things, and then to declare that, To every thing there is a Sea­son, and a Time to every purpose under Heaven. But here some may be ready to say, that when each Affair is performed in all this Method, and at allotted Times, the Man becomes a Slave (and no worse Slave then he who is his own) the Rule is a Chain, and Life is a Toil, as he who observes the strict Rules of Physick is very far from being happy, or being easie. I [Page 61]intend not the observing of Order with this Anxious Care, and as if the thing must be done in this very man­ner, and not otherwise, whatever happens, but only that it be for the most part observed, and when it may be so with little trouble, and with the common Foresight of every prudent Person; and then there will be something of Order, even in the not observing of it. Otherwise Or­der would be a thing too Nice for the State of Man, as some things are too fine to be used, or to last. Our present State will not be so regular as a good Man would have it, nor so Uniform; and all of a piece, and colour, as a wise Man would make it, our whole Condition, when on Earth, is uneven, like the Earth it self, which is divided into Hills and Plains, and rough Way as well as smooth. No Rule of Acting can pretend to a greater Name than that of a Law, nor to greater Authority; [Page 62]and seeing we live not under Persian Emperors, every Law upon a new Over-ruling Occasion may be Re­pealed, or be Suspended. Order is not to be Superstition and Caprice, like that of the Orator, who made use of his angry Eloquence in a Law-Suit, Commenced against the inno­cent Roman that ruffled and discom­posed his Gown. We are not to be Martyrs for our Rule, as the Man in the Greecian Common-wealth was to die for the new Law which he proposed; and we are not to ob­serve the Rules of our appointed Or­der, as a Pedant those of his Gram­mar, or as a Monk professes to observe those of his Society. Living in me­thod, without the Severity of living thus, will be so far from being a Toyl, that it will make every thing else to cease from being so; there will be Ease in every Business, and the great­est in the Mind; when [...] is no Hurry without, there will be none within. Not only Use will [Page 63]make Order so familiar, but it will make it self so pleasant, that we shall not be afraid of it, we shall choose and covet it, as we choose the Tra­velling in an open Road, and find it much more easie, and we covet the Sayling by a Compass, and find it much more safe. Indeed a Physi­tian of elder Times prescribed this Rule of Health, that none should be ob­served: But if none, then not his own, and then not his against every Rule.

That the Order, which I know to be so useful in all our Life, and to be so needful in the best part of Life, in Religion, you may be sure to observe in this better part; when you enter upon any Action, consider, first, whether the thing you would do be Lawful, whe­ther God has not forbidden it, and whether the best, and the wisest Men would not forbid it, and ad­vise against it. Very great Reason there is to consider thus, because you will otherwise have no Blessing [Page 64]from that God, from whom, I hope, you will have an overflowing Plenty of it; no Blessing so as to finish the Action you begin, or no Blessing af­terwards, so as to have any good Ef­fect rising from it: And surely all that Prudence, which your present Behaviour gives us a Promise of, will not give you leave to think of doing any one thing in vain, much less that which should be worse than Vain, should be hurtful. Be plea­sed to consider first, whether the Thing have any sinful part, and not first, what Pleasure it may have, and what Profit; because our greatest Profit is in Religion, and in Religion should be our greatest Pleasure; and because Religion should be the go­verning Principle of all our Actions, and should be always at the Helm to guide them, and is always the most faithful Oracle to be consulted upon the Issues of them. So a great Man says, a Prince, as Pious as Great, I have set the Lord always before me, [Page 65]therefore I shall not be moved, Psalms 16. I shall neither do, nor suffer Ill, I shall be sure in my Actions, and safe in my whole Condition. The not considering in our first Steps of Action, whether it be such as we should go any farther in it, whether it be good or not, is an ill Thing it self, much worse than at first sight it seems to be, it leads us into Pro­faneness, and a Contempt of Reli­gion; and therefore in Scripture it is a Mark hereof: Indeed so much rather it is a Mark of Profaneness; because this very thing is a first Principle of Religion, that our Acti­ons should begin from Him, from whom all Creatures had their be­ginning, and because, if Religion does not come in at first, it comes in seldom afterwards; either that withdraws upon the contempt, or we make the first contempt greater still, and we harden'd Men too soon learn to forget what before too bold­ly we had despised. The Action be­gins [Page 66]in disorder, which gives the first place to Profit or Pleasure, and it cannot but end as it began.

Remember always your Confir­mation, that is, this your Dedica­tion of your self to God (as the Jews had an yearly Remembrance of the Dedication of the Temple) your taking the Vow upon your self which in your Baptism you made by others; and that you always may remember it, be pleased to read the Form of Confirmation once every Quarter of the Year. This was a Sacred tye, and the first with which you by your own act bound the first and tender part of your Life, and, I know, the Bond was not uneasie or too stiff for the tenderness of it, but, in Solomon's Language, an Ornament of Grace unto your Head, and a Chain about your neck; and to be bound con­tinually upon your heart. This was one of the most awful, the greatest Acts of Religion, you ever yet per­form'd, [Page 67]because it was the sealing of a Covenant between God and your self in most awful manner, the Covenant made in Baptism, but seal­ed in Confirmation. You then de­clared what you would do, and you obliged your self to the doing of it in your whole following life, and the Bishop declared what God would do at the same time he prayed to God for it, that he would assist you in, and reward you for the performing your pious part. How great and solemn was the Engagement, when the Bi­shop askt you with others, Do ye here in the presence of God and of this Congregation renew the solemn Pro­mise and Vow that was made in your Name at your Baptism, ratifying and confirming the same in your own Per­sons and acknowledging your selves bound to believe and to do all those things which your Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook for you. How great and solemn was the Bishops Prayer, when the Venera­ble [Page 68]Man invested with heavenly Power, and with all things to give commanding Authority to his Per­son, and a Religious Grandeur to the performance, laid his hand up­on you; as if he would convey a part of that precious spiritual Oynt­ment, which had been poured on his Head, to yours, like the Oyl running down from Aaron 's head, and so spreading farther to the parts below. At the same time the Bishop laid one hand upon your Head, he lift up another to that Heaven from whence his Power was derived, in Prayer for you, Defend, O Lord, this thy Servant with thy hea­venly Grace, that she may continue thine for ever, and daily encrease in thy Holy Spirit more and more; un­til she come into thy everlasting King­dom, Amen. I have indeed a par­ticular reason for recommending all the nice and serious respects to your Confirmation, not only because of [Page 69]the useful Greatness of the thing it­self, but also because of the extraor­dinary regard I ow it, as well as you, seeing I bore a part therein, had the Honour to attend you in it, and present you to it.

My Lord your Father, as he ob­served me to be always, so upon this occasion save me to be most particu­larly concerned for your Spiritual Interests, he did me the Honour to think favourably of me, and was willing to believe that this my zeal (for your Confirmation) had a Knowledg with it, and at the same time to wish (I may suppose) that in order to the having such a Zeal, others might have such a Knowledge, and therefore he askt me what Proof I had from Scripture for the practice of Confirmation: My Answer was to this purpose, that 1. however it is Sacrament to some, it is not to us, but indeed it follows one, and being not essential, but very useful in Re­ligion, like many other useful and [Page 70]yet not absolutely necessary things, it might not be expresly comman­ded, and not so expresly found in Scripture, which is a particular and a standing Rule only for things ab­solutely necessary to Salvation. In other things the Church may know that they advance the great ends of Religion, and then it wants for their use no other Command be­sides its own. But 2dly. Confirmation has a proof from Scripture, Acts 8. The first Christians of Samaria were ba­ptized upon the preaching of Philip, v. 12, and after their Baptism the Apostles sent Peter and Johh to pray for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. v. 14.15. then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost, v. 17. that is, were Confir­med.

Your Baptism placed you in the Christian Church; but your being there was declared, and you engaged your self to the abiding there, in [Page 71]your Confirmation: As an Am­bassadour may be sometime un­known in the Kingdom he is sent to, but he is not supposed, or decla­red to be there, till his publick En­try, and then he begins publick Action. When you were to be Confirmed, your Age made your beginning of Religious Action very seasonable, and your Confirmation made your going on therein very necessary, has given it all the obli­ging Circumstances. Go on there­fore, as you have begun, and do, as you are obliged, and go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and pray for a double Portion of that his Strength, and say; Give me, O my God, a zealous and steady Piety, a most devout and flaming Love of thee, O my Creatour, whom I ought to remember now in the Days of my Youth, and the Days of my Pleasure, and I am also to remember those other Evil Days, which as far they are from me now, yet will [Page 72]come, and the years will draw nigh, in which I shall say I have no Pleasure. So shall your Confirmation be repeated upon you from God every day of your Life, and, in the Strength he gives, you shall become great in Reli­gion, and go so far therein, as only those have gone, whose shining Example was a Light in your way, and taught you to go forth betimes, as they did before you, and as too few do after them. Our Virtue and our Age, in the common View of Man­kind, pass through the same degrees, and their Progress often is the same, as there is not ripe and well grown Fruit without a Bloom before, which pleases so much at present, and pro­mises so much hereafter. We have often had a surprizing Account of some younger Saints, what good and excellent things they said, what great and excellent things they did. Indeed we have heard won­derful [Page 73]Descriptions of the Vertues of the blessed Virgin in the first part of her Age, and so the Life of the Mother almost becomes as much a Miracle as the Birth of the Son: That such particular relations were true we have no proof, and they have no credit; but the foundation of them is not without its truth, that she whose Piety was so eminent af­terwards, it is most likely, could never have attained those glorious improvements, without beginning sooner than others too often do; she could never have been so highly fa­voured of God, if God had not been highly and early beloved of her, if she had not been a Virgin as much in her Mind, as otherwise, if her Purity had not been great in the first outgoings of her Life, though her first Conception was not undefiled.

Your Confirmation leads you to Prayer, because you are afterwards to beg Grace of God for your being able to answer all those holy ends of [Page 74]your Confirmation, and because this leads you into Religion, the first Act whereof is Prayer. Seeing Prayer is the first Act of Religion, that your beginning may not be an Error, and seeing it is an immedi­ate Address to God, that it may be with all the Caution and Reverence of Approach, I would direct you here, and I now propose the use of Three Prayers to you, which have a particular Respect to your own Condition, and may be added one of them still to your other Prayers, at your three daily Times of Pray­ing.