Mending the sloppy stitching in the 1604 Prayer Book Catechism

While editing a chapter on the Prayer Book Catechism, I found myself once again irritated with sloppy manner in which Bishop Overall stitched his new section on sacraments onto Cranmer’s original text of the Catechism. Given how seamless Cranmer’s Catechism is, the sloppy stitching of the new text cannot fail to be noticed. So, simply to comfort myself -- recognizing that no one will use it and very few will care -- I have drafted up a smoother transition between the original ending and the 1604 addendum, which I'll paste below for your personal enjoyment of whomever happens to be reading this post. The result will not, of course, be to render Overall’s discussion of sacraments a seamless addition to the original text — as his approach and style are noticeably different from Cranmer’s a half century earlier — but will, I hope, make the seam less noticeable.

I pick up with the last question and answer of the original text of the Prayer Book Catechism and continue through the second Q&A of the 1604 addendum. My additions are marked with square braces. I have also reordered the first and second set of Q&As from the addendum, for reasons that will appear obvious below. Without further ado:

Question. What desirest thou of God in this Prayer?

Answer. I desire my Lord God our heavenly Father, who is the giver of all goodness, to send his grace unto me, and to all people: that we may worship him, serve him, and obey him, as we ought to do. And I pray unto God, that he will send us all things that be needful both for our souls and bodies; and that he will be merciful unto us, and forgive us our sins; and that it will please him to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily; and that he will keep us from all sin and wickedness, and from our ghostly enemy, and from everlasting death. And this I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore I say, Amen, So be it.

[Question. And hath God given thee, my child, any sign or sure witness of his mercy and goodness towards thee in Christ, whereby thy faith in him may be confirmed? 

Answer. Indeed he hath, in the sacraments.]

Question. What meanest thou by this word Sacrament?

Answer. I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.

Question. How many Sacraments hath Christ ordained in his Church?

Answer. Two only, as generally necessary to salvation, that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord.