The PRAYER S.

I.

faftness in

Almighty God, who hath inftructed thy holy For StedChurch with the heavenly Doctrine of thy Religion. Evangelift St. Mark; give us Grace, that being not like Children who are carried away with every Blaft of vain Doctrine, we may be eftablished in the Truth of thy holy Gofpel, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

II.

Accept

Lord, I befeech thee mercifully to receive the For the Prayers of thy People which call upon thee; ance of and grant that I may both perceive and know what Prayer. Things I ought to do, and alfo may have Grace and Power faithfully to fulfil the fame, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

A

III.

For the

Affiftance of the Ho

Lmighty and everlafting God, who makeft me both to will and to do thofe Things that be good and acceptable unto thy divine Majefty; let ly Spirit thy fatherly Hand, I beseech thee, be over me; let thy Holy Spirit be ever with me; and fo lead me into the Knowledge and Obedience of thy Word, that in the End I may obtain everlasting Life, through the Merits of Jefus Chrift my Saviour. Amen.

A

IV.

Scrip

Lmighty God, who haft not abandoned us to For a right the dim Light of our own Reafon to conduct Ufe of the us to Happiness; but, when Mankind had mifera- tures. bly miftook the Object of their Worship, and the right Manner of performing it, wert graciously pleafed to reveal to us in the holy Scriptures what0 4

ever

John 1.44.

ever is neceffary for us to believe and practife in order to our eternal Salvation; grant that I may with Care and Diligence apply myfelf to the Reading of thofe facred Volumes; and do thou open my Eyes, that I may see the wondrous Things of thy Law. Let me peruse them with that Reverence and Respect which is due to thy gracious Manifeftations; with an entire Submiffion of my Understanding to thy divine Authority, and with a fincere and ftedfaft Refolution of Mind, to govern my Life by the Maxims of thy Holy Gofpel, and to obey and fubmit to thy bleffed Will in every Thing. Let thy precious Pomifes quicken my Obedience, and make me fruitful and abundant in the Work of the Lord. Let thy dreadful Threatnings fright me from my Sins, and make me fpeedily depart from all Iniquity: And thou, who workeft in me to will and to do of thy good Pleasure, teach me to obey all the Commandments, to believe all thy Revelations, and make me Partaker of all thy gracious Promises, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

СНАР. XIX.

St. Philip and St. James the Lefs,
May 1.

BLI

QWHAT Festival doth the Church this Day

celebrate?

A. That of the two Apoftles, St. Philip and St. James.

Q. Where was St. Philip born?

A. At Bethfaida in Galilee, a Town near the Sea of Tiberias. The Natives of this Place paffed under a very reproachful Character, as a People more rude and unpolished than any other in the Territories of Palestine.

Q. Why

Q. Why did our Saviour chufe his Difciples, the great Inftruments to convert the World, from this Place?

A. To confound the Wisdom of the Wife, and by the Succefs of fuch contemptible Means to attest the Divinity of that Doctrine they preached.

Q. Of what Profeffion was St. Philip?

A. The Gofpel takes no Notice of his Parents and Way of Life, though probably he was a Fisherman, the general Trade of that Place.

Q. What is thought by fome to be his peculiar Privilege?

A. That he had the Honour of being firft called to be a Difciple of our bleffed Saviour; because though our Saviour, after his Return from the Wildernefs, first met with Andrew and his Brother Peter, and had fome Converfation with them, yet they immediately returned to their Trade; and the next Day, as he was paffing through Galilee, he Johni. 45 found Philip, whom he commanded to follow him, the conftant Form he used in chufing his Difciples. And it was a whole Year after, that the other two were called to be Difciples, when John was caft into Prifon.

Q. Did St. Philp readily comply with our Lord's Command?

A. Yes, he immediately engaged in his Service, though he had not feen any Miracle. But it is reafonable to believe, that he was acquainted with Mofes and the Prophets, and that he was awakened with the general Expectation then among the Jews, that the Meffias would immediately appear; befides, we are to fuppofe the Divine Grace did particularly accompany the Command of Christ, and difpofe thofe that he called, to believe him to be the Melfias. Q. What was the first Effect of his Faith in the Meffias?

A. A Forwardnefs of Mind to direct others in the fame Way of Happinefs with himfelf; for he finds

Nathaniel,

John i. 45. Nathaniel, a Perfon of Note and Eminence, and acquaints him with the welcome News of his Difcovery, that he had found him of whom Mofes and the Prophets did write, the Anointed of God, the Saviour of the World, and conducts him to him. Q. What is recorded of this Apoftle in the Hiftory of the Gofpel?

Ch. xii.

21.

A. That to try his Faith our Saviour propounded John vi. 5. to him that Question: What they fhould do to procure fo much Bread as would feed the vaft Multitude that followed him? That it was to him the Gentile Profelytes addreffed themfelves, when defirous to fee our Saviour, of whom they had heard fo great a Fame. And that it was with him our Lord had that Difcourfe concerning himself before the last Chap. xiv. Pafchal Supper; wherein our Saviourgently rebukes him for the fmall Improvement he had made, after having attended fo long upon his Inftructions.

8, 9.

Q. What Part of the World is thought to have fallen to the Care of this Apoftle?

A. The Upper Afia, where he took great Pains in planting the Gofpel, and by his Preaching and Miracles made many Converts. In the latter End of his Life he came to Hierapolis in Phrygia, a City rich and populous, and very much addicted to Idolatry; and particularly to the Worship of a Serpent or Dragon of a prodigious Bignefs. St. Philip, by his Prayers, procured the Death, or at least the vanifhing of this famous Serpent, and then by his Difcourses, made them fenfible, how unbecoming it was to give divine Honours to fuch odious Creatures. Q. Where did be fuffer Martyrdom?

A. At this City of Hierapolis; for the Magiftrates being provoked by the Succefs Christianity found among the People, put St. Philip into Prifon, and caufed him to be feverely whipped and fcourged, and then led to Execution; where he was, as fome

fay,

fay, hanged up by the Neck against a Pillar; though others affirm he was crucified.

Q. Is St. Philip reckoned among the married Apostles?

c.

A. The Ancients generally affirm it, and fay, Euseb. that he had three Daughters; two whereof perfe- lib. 3. vered in their Virginity, and died at Hierapolis; the 30. third, after having lived a very spiritual Life, died at Ephefus.

Q. What Writings did he leave behind him?

A. None; the Gospel that was forged under his Name, was produced by the Gnofticks, to countenance their bad Principles and worfe Practices. Q. What Account have we of St. James?

A. There is no Mention in the facred Hiftory of the Place of his Birth; but he is in Scripture styled the Brother of our Lord: And by Jofephus, emi- Gali.19. nently skilful in Matters of Genealogy and Defcent, exprefsly called the Brother of Jefus Chrift.

Q. In what Senfe was St. James Brother of our Lord?

A. The Language of the Jeres includeth in the Name of Brethren, not only the ftrict Relation of Fraternity, but alfo the larger of Confanguinity; fo that any Degree of Relation juftifies the Expreffion. But the ancient Fathers, especially of the Greek Church, make St. James, and them that were ftyled Brethren of our Lord, Children of Joseph by a former Wife; and then, as he was reputed and called our Saviour's Father, fo they might well be accounted and called his Brethren.

Q. Why was this St. James ftyled the Lefs?

A. It was thought he had his Surname from the Stature of his Body, to diftinguish him from St. James that was of greater Height and Bulk, and therefore called the Major; though others will have this Diftinction founded in their different Ages. But he got himself a more honourable Name by

Antiq.

the