"What did your Godfathers and Godmothers then for you? "A. They did promise and vow three things in my name. "First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works; the pomps and vanitys of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh. "Secondly, that I should believe all the articles of the Christian faith. "And thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments: and walk in the same all the days of my life. "Q. Dost thou not think thou art bound to believe and to do as they have promised for thee? "A. Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will; and I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour: and I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end." Q. The promises of faith and obedience, which you made in your baptism, will be mentioned in their proper places, when you come to the creed, and to the decalogue; that which now lies before you is to shew, how your abrenunciation is preparatory to the love of God. A. As all particular graces are but the love of God, varied by different instances and relations, so all particular sins are nothing but concupiscence, or the love of one creature or other, in competition with, or opposition to, the love of God: now all the creatures on which we set our love, are reducible to these three, the devil, the world, and the flesh; and my heart must be emptied of these impure loves, before it is capable of entertaining the pure love of God. Q. If you are conscious to yourself, that you have entertained these impure loves, and have violated your baptismal vow, and have in your heart renounced God, instead of renouncing his enemies, what must you do to recover that favour of God you have lost, and to be delivered from the wrath to come? A. I must thoroughly repent of all the breaches of my vow, and I must seriously renew it. Repentance for our Vow broken. Q. Express your repentance for breaking it. O Lord God, with shame, and sorrow, and confusion of face, I confess and acknowledge thy infinite mercy and goodness to me, my infinite vileness and ingratitude to thee! Thou, Lord, infinitely good and gracious, wast pleased, out of thy own free mercy, first to love me, to excite me to love again: glory be to thee. Thou, Lord, didst vouchsafe, of a miserable sinner, to make me a member of my Saviour, thy own child and an heir of heaven; glory be to thee. I, infinitely wicked and unworthy, have despised, and rejected, and forfeited all the inestimable blessings, to which I was entitled by my baptism: Lord, have mercy upon me. Woe is me, wretch that I am! I have cut myself off by my sins, from being a true member of Christ's mystical body, and from all the gracious influences I might have derived from my union to him; Lord, have mercy upon me. Woe is me, wretch that I am! I have by my numerous provocations, lost that holy spirit of adoption, whereby I might become thy child, O God, and call thee Father, and am become a child of wrath! Lord, have mercy upon me. Woe is me, wretch that I am! I have, by my own wilful impiety, disclaimed my being an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, and am become an heir to the kingdom of darkness; Lord, have mercy upon me. Woe is me! I have easily yielded to the temptations of satan, and have wrought the works of my father the devil: Lord, have mercy upon me. Woe is me! I have greedily coveted and pursued the pomps and vanity of this wicked world: Lord, have mercy upon me. Woe is me! I have often indulged the sinful lusts of the flesh: Lord, have mercy upon me. Woe is me! I have loved all things which thou Lord hatest, and am myself become odious in thy sight: Lord, have mercy upon me. Woe is me! I have neither believed in thee, O my God, nor obeyed thee, nor loved thee, as I ought and as I solemnly vowed I would: Lord, have mercy upon me. O Lord God, most gracious and reconcileable, pity and pardon me. I lament, O Lord God, my detestable impiety, for having so long, and so often, and so obstinately offended thee. In the bitterness of my soul, O Father of mercy, I bewail and abhor my unworthiness, and the hardness of my heart, that has despised the riches of thy goodness, and forbearance, and long suffering, which should have led me to repentance. 1 O Lord God, whatever thou denyest me, deny me not "a broken and a contrite heart "." 66 "O that my head were waters, and my eyes fountains of tears," that I might weep much, and love much, having much to be forgiven ! Lord, hear me, help me, save me, for thy own gracious promise sake, for thy own tender mercies' sake, for the merits and sufferings of Jesus thy beloved, in whom thou hast made penitents accepted. Amen. Amen. Our Vow renewed. Q. Having repented of the violations of your baptismal vow, show me how you will renew it. A. I shall do it after this manner: I have sinned, O Lord God, I have sinned, and done evil in thy sight; but I repent, I turn to thee. "I confess, and forsake my wickedness, and am sorry for my sins 5." It grieves me, O most amiable goodness, it grieves me, that ever I offended thee. With all my heart, O my God, do I now renew the sacred vow, which, alas! alas! I have so often violated. O Lord God, I do for the future, renounce the devil, that arch-rebel against thee, with all his apostate angels. Rom. ii. 4. 3 Jer ix. 1. 2 Psalm li. 17 4 Luke vii. 47. 5 Psalm xxxviii. 18, I renounce all his worship', all his impious suggestions, delusions, and temptations, for which he is called the tempter, and all the ways of consulting him, which ungodly men have taken ". 8 I renounce all his works, all those sins of the spirit, all pride, and malice', and envy; all treachery and lying, revenge and cruelty; all tempting others to sin, hatred to holiness, and apostacy 10, which are his daily practice, and are truly diabolical. I utterly renounce, O Lord God, "the "the pomps and vanity of this wicked world;" all covetous desires of honour, riches and pleasure", all sinful excesses in things lawful 12. 14 15 I renounce, Lord, all evil customs 13, all evil companions 11; all that is vain or wicked in the world 13, "all that friendship with the world, which is enmity with thee 16", all things that may alienate my heart from thee. I renounce, O Lord God, all worldly comforts and possessions; all my natural relations, and my own life ", whenever they stand in competition with my duty to thee. I utterly renounce, O Lord God, "all the sinful lusts of the flesh," all the inordinate desires of my own corrupt nature, of my own carnal mind, which is enmity with thee 18" |