out delay; grant unto me and all Christians, that we being called by thy holy word, may forthwith. give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy holy commandments, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

FOR ASSISTANCE IN ADVERSITY.

O GOD, merciful Father, that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sorrowful, mercifully assist our prayers that we make before thee in all our troubles and adversities whensoever they oppress us, and graciously hear us, that those evils which the craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us may be brought to nought, and by the providence of thy goodness they may be dispersed ; that we thy servants, being hurt by no persecutions, may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy church, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

FOR GRACE TO SUFFER AS A GOOD CHRISTIAN.

O BLESSED Jesus, who, in thy wise providence, thinkest it fit sometimes to call thy faithful servants to bear their cross, and to suffer for thy sake, who didst suffer a most ignominious death for them; bring me not to suffer till thou hast fitted and prepared me for it; and lay no more upon me, than thou wilt enable me willingly and thankfully to endure. Let me not rashly expose myself to danger without thy call, nor suffer for my own fancy or folly, or for any wilful or affected error. Give me grace to live according to the rules of my most holy faith, that I may have courage and comfort in suffering for it. Preserve me stedfast in the belief of thy heavenly truths, and undaunted in the profession of

G

them. Give me patience to bear my cross, and meekness to bear with my persecutors; charity to forgive their wrongs, and to pray to thee for their forgiveness. Enable me to trust in thy goodness for support and deliverance, and to fix my faith upon those heavenly joys, with which the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared; that being made partaker of thy sufferings, I may be glad with exceeding joy when thy glory shall be revealed. To whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end.

Amen.

FOR THE CHURCH UNDER PERSECUTION.

O ALMIGHTY Lord, who hath purchased to thyself a church with thine own blood, look in mercy upon the same, however distressed throughout the world. Pity all its calamities, and in thy due time give it a happy deliverance out of them. Keep it in thy truth, and preserve it from heresies and false doctrines, either in faith or practice, and from schisms that tear it in pieces. And when thou art pleased to visit it with tribulations, let them only purge it, but not lay it waste. Revive a suffering spirit among all the members of it when it labours under a suffering state; that they may be ready to quit all worldly interest, and be enabled contentedly and joyfully to take up the cross, and bear it after thee that carefully avoiding all ways of error and wickedness, for preventing or rescuing themselves from sufferings, they may either be delivered by thy mighty arm, or rewarded in thy heavenly kingdom, where, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, thou livest and reignest one God, world without end. Amen.

CHAP. IV.

SAINT THOMAS, DECEMBER 21.

Q. What Festival doth the church celebrate this day? A. That of St. Thomas the Apostle.

Q. What was he called besides Thomas?

A. Didymus; which, according to both the Greek and Syriac sense of his name, signifies a twin; as Thomas also doth among the Hebrews. It being customary with the Jews, when travelling into foreign countries, or familiarly conversing with Greeks and Romans, to assume to themselves a Greek or a Latin name of great affinity, and sometimes of the very same signification with that of their own country.

Q. Of what country and kindred was this Apostle? A. The history of the Gospel takes no particular notice of either. That he was a Jew is certain, and probably a Galilean and it is very likely, that as to his trade he was a fisherman; for when St. Peter, after our Saviour's resurrection, thought fit to return to his former occupation of fishing, to relieve his present necessities, Thomas bore him company.

Q. After he was called to be an Apostle, what proof did he give of his willingness to adhere to our Saviour? A. When the rest of the Apostles dissuaded our Saviour from returning into Judea (whither he was resolved to go for the raising his dear friend Lazarus," lately dead) lest the Jews should stone him, as they had before attempted; St. Thomas desires them not to hinder Christ's journey thither, though it might cost their lives. Let us also go, that we may die with him,

a

John xxi. 2.

b xi. 8. &c.

C

xi. 16.

saith he; probably concluding, that instead of raising Lazarus from the dead, they themselves should be sent with him to their own graves.

Q. How did our Saviour treat the slowness of St. Thomas's understanding; who when our Saviour a little before his cruel sufferings, speaking to his disciples of the joys of heaven, and of his going to prepare a place for them, professed that he knew not whither he went, much less the way that led to it?

A. With the mildness and gentleness that is proper to be used to a well-disposed mind, in a short but satisfactory answer, that he was the true living way, the person whom the father had sent into the world, to shew men, by his doctrine and by his example, the paths of eternal life; and that they could not miss of heaven, if they did but keep to that way which he had prescribed. Q. What may we learn from the foregoing particulars?

A. That where the mind is rightly disposed, and the affections bent towards heaven, we ought to bear with the heaviness of the understanding, and to endeavour with gentleness and patience to instill that knowledge which is necessary to make devotion perfect; and that the doing that will of God which we know is the best qualification to attain greater degrees of knowledge: since we are assured by our Saviour, if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.

Q. What proof did St. Thomas require of our Sa

viour's resurrection?

A. The testimony of his own senses; for though the rest of the Apostles assured him they had really seen

their master alive again, yet he professed, except he should see in his hands the print of the nails, and thrust his hand into his side, he would not believe.

Q. How did our Saviour cure this his infidelity? A. Compassionating the weakness of St. Thomas, and willing to satisfy the doubts and scruples of a sincere though ignorant man; he appeared to his disciples again, when St. Thomas was with them, and gave him the satisfaction he desired; who being quickly convinced of his error, acknowledged him to be his very Lord and master, a God omnipotent, thus able to rescue himself from the powers of death.

Q. What reply did our Saviour make to the profession of St. Thomas's faith?

A. That he did well to believe upon this testimony of his senses; but that it was a more noble and commendable act of faith, to acquiesce in a rational evidence," and to entertain the doctrines and relations of the gospel upon such assurances of the truth of things, as are fit to satisfy a wise and sober man, though he did not see them with his own eyes.

Q. Of what advantage is this act of St. Thomas's infidelity to us Christians?

A. It confirms our faith in our Saviour's resurrection, and convinces us beyond all doubt or scruple, by the most sensible evidence, that the very same body of our Lord was raised, in which he suffered.

Q. Where did St. Thomas preach the gospel?

A. The province allotted to him for the exercise of his apostolic office was Parthia; he published the glad tidings of salvation to the Medes, Persians, Carmanians, Hyrcani, and Bactrians. Some of the ancients relate

'John xx. 25.

xx. 27.

h

ver. 29.