For the Imitation of Chrift's Example. For the Converfion of and He. retics. who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghoft, ever one God, World without End. Amen. II. LMIGHTY and everlafting God, who of thy tender Love towards Mankind haft fent thy Son our Saviour Jefus Chrift, to take upon him our Flesh, and to fuffer Death upon the Cross, that all Mankind fhould follow the Example of his great Humility: Mercifully grant that I may both follow the Example of his Patience, and alfo be made Partaker of his Refurrection, through the fame Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen. III. MERCIFUL God, who hast made all Men, and hateft nothing that thou hast Infides, made, nor wouldeft the Death of a Sinner, but rather that he fhould be converted and live; have Mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics, and take from them all Ignorance, Hardness of Heart, and Contempt of thy Word; and fo fetch them Home, bleffed Lord, to thy Flock, that they may be faved among the Remnant of the true Ifraelites, and be made one Fold under one Shepherd, Jefus Chrift our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, World without End. Amen. Bp. Kenn. IV. THOU my crucified Saviour, Glory be to thee for caufing thy Sufferings to be regigiving for ftered in the Gofpel; there I have read, and rememSufferings. ber the Wonders and Triumphs of thy almighty Love, for which I will always adore and praife Chrife's thee. I remember, O gracious Lord, how thou, who thoughteft it no Robbery to be equal with God, waft waft made in the Fashion of frail Man, of the vileft and most contemptible of Men; for thou tookest on thee the Form of a very Servant: I remember how many Reproaches and Contradictions, Blafphemies and Perfecutions, thou didst endure from a wicked and perverfe Generation; and all this to fave us finful Men. I remember, O gracious Lord, how thou didst endure a most bitter Agony, and didft fweat as it were great Drops of Blood, falling to the Ground; how thou, who art God above all, bleffed for ever, waft treacherously betrayed and apprehended, and bound as a Malefactor, fet at nought by Herod and his Men of War, denied by Peter, forfaken by all thy Difciples; and all this to fave us finful Men. I remember, how thou, O God of Truth, waft accufed by falfe Witneffes; how thou, whom all the Angels adore, waft blindfolded and buffeted, mocked and fpit upon, ftript naked and fcourged, and all this that we might be healed by thy Stripes, and to fave us finful Men. I remember, Lord, how thou, that art the great Judge of Heaven and Earth, waft thyfelf dragged to the Judgment Seat and condemned; how thou, O King of Heaven, waft crowned with Thorns, and oppreffed with the Weight of thy own Cross; and all this to fave us finful men. I remember, O bleffed Saviour, how thou, who art the Lord of Glory, and the fole Author of Life, waft put to a moft ignominious Death; how thy Hands and thy Feet were nailed to a Crofs; how thou waft crucified between two Thieves, and numbered with the Tranfgreffors, how thou hadst a Portion given thee, to imbitter thy very last Gasp; and all this to fave us finful Men. I remember, O gracious Lord, how, when thou wert hanging on the very Crofs, thou waft fcoffed at and reviled; how infinitely then thou waft af Ff3 flicted flicted and bruifed for our Tranfgreffions, when the Iniquities of us all were laid on thy Shoulders; how thou didst then exprefs an Anguish greater than all the Torments of thy Crucifixion, when thou didft cry out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And how thou didst at laft give up the Ghost, and die thyfelf, that we might live. Was there ever any Sorrow like that which my Lord and my God endured for me? Was there any Love like to that Love my Lord and my God has fhewed to me? O my Saviour, with all my Heart I love and adore thine infinite Love and Benignity to Sinners; with all my Heart I lament and deteft the Hatred and Outrage of Sinners to thee. Inftil, O my God, penitential Love into my Soul, that I may grieve for my Sins, which grieved thee; that I may love thee for fuffering for us Sinners, who occafioned all thy Griefs. O may I always love thee ! O may I never grieve thee more! By the Love of thy Crofs, O Jefus! I live; in that I will only glory; that above all Things will I ftudy; that above all Things will I value; by the Love of thy Cross I will take up my Crofs daily, and follow thee; I will perfecute, and torment, and crucify my finful Affections and Lufts, which perfecuted, tormented, and crucified thee; and if thy Love calls me to it, I will fuffer on the Crofs for thee, as thou haft done for me. How illuftrious and amiable were thy Graces amidst all thy Sufferings! O thou afflicted Jesu! I admire and love thy profound Humility! unwearied Patience, Lamb-like Meekness, immaculate Innocence, invincible Courage, abfolute Refignation, compaffionate Love of Souls, and perfect Charity to thy Enemies. Give me Grace to tread in thy Steps, and conform me to thy divine Image; that the more I grow like thee, the more I may love thee, and the more I may be loved by thee. Amen, Lord Jefus, Amen. CHAP. CHA P. V. Easter-Eve. Q. WHAT Fast doth the Church this Day cele brate? A. The great Vigil of our Saviour's Refurrection, when he lay in the Grave, and defcended into the State of the Dead; when there was a real Separation of his Soul from his Body, whereby he was properly and truly dead: Which State of his lowest Humiliation the primitive Church always obferved with rigorous Fafting, even in that Age when Saturday was otherwife kept as a Feftival, and, in respect to the Jewish Converts, honoured with all Solemnities of Religion over all the Eastern Church, as well as in fome Parts of the Weltern. Q. How was Chrift buried? Mat.xxvii ૭. A. According to what was predicted concern- Ifa. liii. 9. ing the Meffias, our Saviour made his Grave with the Rich; for Jofeph of Arimathea, a rich Man, who was himself a Disciple of the bleffed Jefus, begged the Body from Pilate, and wrapt it in a 57, 8. Linen Cloth, and put it in his own new Tomb, which he had hewn out in the Rock; which was shut up with a great Stone and made fecure by the Jews, by fealing the Stone, and setting a Watch. All these Circumftances do not only manifeft the Reality of our Saviour's Death, but tend to make his Refurrection more evident. Q. How did the Ancient Church obferve this Vigil? A. It was celebrated with more than ordinary Naz. Pomp, as Nazianzen relates, with folemn Watch- Orat. 2. ings, with Multitudes of lighted Torches both in Ff4 their in Pafch Eufeb vit. Conft. their Churches and their own private Houses, and with the general Refort and Confluence of all Ranks of Men, both Magiftrates and People. At Conftantinople, Eufebius tells us, it was obferved lib. iv. c. with moft magnificent Illuminations, not only within the Churches but without. All over the City there was fet up lighted Tapers, or rather Pillars of Wax, which glorioufly turned the Night into Day, which they defigned as a Fore-runner of that great Light, even the Son of Righteousness, which the next Day arofe upon the World. 12. Hiero. in XXV. 1. 5. c. xv. 19. Ib. e xiv. Q. How were the Chriftians employed upon this Vigil? A. As the Day was a ftrict Faft, fo the Vigil conConft. Ap tinued at least till Midnight, the Congregation not being difmiffed till that Time; it being the Tradition of the Church, that our Saviour rofe a little after Midnight. But in the Eaft the Vigil lafted till the Cock-crowing, the Time being spent, fay the Apoftolical Conflitutions, in reading the Law and the Prophets, in expounding the holy Scriptures, and in baptifing the Catechumens. In the Latin Church the Water for the Font is bleffed on this Day, and referved for the Ufe of the Persons to be baptifed the Year following, which Custom is a Shadow of the ancient Ufage; 'for on EafierEve were the Catechumens baptifed by the Bishop himself, if prefent; Eafter being one of the chiefeft Times appointed by the Church for baptifing Adult Converts; Children and fick Perfons being bap tifed at all Times. 17, 18. Rupert. de Div. Offic. c. XXXV. Q. Muft we pass through the Gate of Death before we can attain that Happiness Chrift hath purchased for us. A. It is appointed for all Men once to die; and though our bleffed Saviour hath conquered Death in depriving it of its Power to hurt those that are his faithful Servants, yet he hath not exempted us from |