person bee able and willing let him before the Congregation give the foresaid account at large of his Knowledge Faith and Obedience But if through backwardness or disability for publick speech hee shall refuse it let him make the same Profession privately to the Minister and own it in the Assembly when the Minister shall declare it and ask him whether hee owns it But unless it bee in case of some extraordinary natural Imperfection and disability of utterance let him at least openly recite the Creed and profess his consent to the Covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Let the Minister of every Parish keep a double Register one of the Names of all that are there baptized another of the Names of all that are approved upon their foresaid credible Profession and so admitted into the number of Communicants or that have a certificate of such Approbation regularly elsewhere performed And if Confirmation bee continued let His Majesties Declaration bee observed requiring That Confirmation bee rightly and solemnly performed by the Information and with the consent of the Minister of the place Let no Minister bee inforced to admit any himself to the Lords Supper who hath been clancularly and irregularly approved Those that after this Approbation prove scandalous offenders shall not by the Minister be suffered to partake of the Lords Table until they have openly declared themselves to have truly repented and amended their former naughty lives Of the Celebration of Matrimony BEfore the Solemnizing of Marriage between any Persons their purpose of marriage shall bee published by the Minister three several Lords daies in the Congregation at the place or places of their most usual abode respectively And of this Publication the Minister who is to joyn them in marriage shall have sufficient Testimony before hee proceed to Solemnize the Marriage The Parents consent being first sufficiently made known At the Celebration the Minister shall either by a Sermon or other Exhortation open to them the Institution Ends and Use of Marriage with the conjugal Duties which they are faithfully to perform to each other And then shall demand of them whether it bee their desire and purpose to bee joyned together in the Bond of the Marriage-Covenant and if they answer affirmatively hee shall say to them I require and charge you as you will answer at the dreadful day of Judgement when the secrets of all hearts shall bee disclosed that if either of you do know any Impediment by Preconâ—ract or otherwise why you may not lawâ—ully bee joyned together in marriage you discover it and proceed not If no Impediment bee discovered by them or others hee shall Proceed to Pray MOst merciful Father who hast ordained Marriage for mutual help and for the increase of mankinde with a legitimate Issue and of the Church with a Holy séed and for prevention of uncleanness Bless thy own Ordinance to these persons that entring this state of Marriage in thy fear they may there â—â—tirely devote themselves unto thée and bée faithful in all conâ—…gal Affections and duties unto each other and if thou bless them with Children let them bee devoted unto thée and accepted as thine own and blessed with thy grace and educated in thy fear Subdue those corruptioins that would make their lives unholy or uncomfortable and deliver them from temptations to impiety worldlyness unquietness discontent or disaffection to each other or to any Unfaithfulness to thée or to each other make them meet helps to each other in thy fear and in the lawful management of the affairs of this World Let them not hinder but provoke one another to love and good to works and foreséeing the day of their separation by death let them spend their daies in a Holy Preparation and live here together as the Heirs of life that must reâ—oyce at the great marriage day of the Lamb and live for ever with Christ and all the Holy Angels and Saints in the presence of thy glory Amen The Woman if shâ—e bâ—e under Parents or Governours being by one of them or some deputed by them given to bâ—e married the Man with his Right hand shall take the Woman by the Right hand and shall say I. A. do take thée B. to bée my Married Wife and do promise and Covenant in the presence of God and before this Congregation to bée a loving and faithful Husband to thée till God shall separate us by death Then the Woman shall take the Man by the Right hand with her Right hand and say I. B. do take thée A. to bée my Married Husband and I do promise and Covenant in the presence of God and before this Congregation to bée a loving obedient and faithful Wife unto thée till God shall separate us by death Then let the Minister say These two persons A. and B. being lawfully married according to Gods Ordinance I do pronounce them Husband and Wife And those whom God hath conjoyned let no man put asunder Next hee may read the duty of Husbands and Wives out of Eâ—hes 5. 2. Coll. 4. 2. 1 Pet. 3. and Psalm 128. or some other Pertinent Psalm may bee said or sung And let the Minister exhort them to their several duties and then Pray MOst merciful Father let thy Blessings rest upon these Persons now joyned in lawful Marriage Sanctify them and their Conversations their Family Estates and 〈◊〉 unto thy Glory Furnish them with love to thée and to each other with méekness patience and contentedness Let them not live unto the Flesh but unto the spirit that of the spirit they may reap Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen Then let him Conclude with a Benediction GOd Almighty the Creator Redéemer and Sanctifier bless you in your Souls and Bodies Family and Affairs and preserve you to his Heavenly Kingdome Amen The Visitation of the Sick and their Communion THe Visitation of the Sick being a private duty and no part of the Pubâ—ick Liturgy of the Church and the case of the Sick being so exceeding various as to soul and body and it being requisite that Ministers bee able to suiâ— their Exhortations and Prayers to the Condition of the Sick let the words of such Exhortations and Prayers bee left to their Prudence So urgent is the necessity of the Sick and so seasonable and advantagious the opportunity that Ministers may not negligently over-pass them but in love and tenderness instruct them according to their several Conditions Endeavouring the Conversion of the ungodly the strengthening of the weak and comforting such as need Consolation directing them how to improve their afflictions and helping them to bee sensible of the evil of sin the negligences and miscarriages of their lives the vanity of the World their necessity of a Saviour the sufficiency of Christ the Certainty and Excellency of the Everlasting Glory Exhorting them to repentance and to faith in Christ and to set their affections on the things above And if
bee a Communion of the Church in the Lords Supper Let the Pastor require him to forbear and not suffer him to partake of the Lords Table If yet the offender remain impenitent let the Pastor openly declare him â—â—meet for the Communion of the Church and require him to abstain from it and require the Church to avoid Communion with him And let him binde him by the denounciations of the threatings of God against the impenitent But before this is done let no necessary consultation with other Pastors or concurrence of the Church bee neglected And after let there bee place for due appeals and let Ministers consent to give account when they are accused of Mal-administration But if after private Admonition while the offence is such as requireth not publick confession the Sinner bee penitent let the Minister privately apply to his Consolation the promises of the Gospel with such cautelous prudence as is most suitable to his condition And if hee repent not till after publick admonition or that the scandall bee so great and notorious as that a publick confession is necessary let him at a seasonable time appointed by the Pastor with remorse of conscience and true contrition confels his sin before the Congregation and heartily lament it and clear the honour of his Christian profession which hee had stayned and crave the prayers of the Church to God for pardon and reconciliation through Christ and also crave the Ministerial Absolution and restauration to the Communion of the Church and profess his resolution to do so no more but to live in new obedience to God desiring also their prayers for Corroborating and preserving grace It is only a credible profession of repentance that is to bee accepted by the Church The foregoing Cautious must bee carefully observed in such confessions that they bee not made to the injuring of the Magistrate or of the Church or of the reputation of others or of the Life Estate or Liberty of the offender or to any other shame than is necessary to the manifesting of his repentance and the clearing of his Profession and the Righting of any that hee hath wronged and the honour and preservation of the Church When hee hath made a credible profession of repentance It is the Pastors duty Ministerially to declare him pardoned by Christ but in conditional terms If his repentance be sincere And to absolve him from the censureof non Communion with the Church if he was under such a censure before his penitence and to declare him meet for their Communion and to encourage him to come and require the Church to entertain him into their Communion with gladness and not upbraid him with his fall but rejoyce in his recovery and endeavour his confirmation and preservation for the time to come And it is his duty accordingly to admit him to Communion and theirs to have loving Communion with him All which the penitent person must beleevingly lovingly joyfully receive But if any by Notorious perfidiousness or frequent Covenant breaking have forfeited the Credit of their words or have long continued in the sin which they do confess so that their forsaking it hath no proof The Church then must have testimony of the Actual Reformation of such as these before they may take their Professions and promises as credible Yet here the difference of persons and offences is so great that this is to bee much left to the Prudence of Pastors that are present and acquainted with the persons Circumstances of the Case In the transacting of all this these following Forms to bee varied as the variety of Cases do require may bee made use of A Form of Publick Admonition to the Impenitent A. B. you are convict of gross and scandalous sin you have been admonished and intreated to repent The promises of mercies to the Penitent and the threatnings of God against the Impenitent have not been concealed from you wee have waited in hope for your repentance as having Compassion on your soul and desiring your Salvation But wee must say with grief you have hitherto disappointed us Wee are certain from the Word of God that you must bee penitent if ever you will bee pardoned and that except you repent you shall everlastingly perish Luke 13. 3 5. Act. 5. 31. Luke 12. 47. To acquaint you publickly with this and yet here to offer you mercy from the Lord is the next duty laid upon us for your recovery O! blame us not if knowing the terrours of the Lord wee thus perswade you and are loath to leave you in the power of Satan and loath to see you cast out into perdition and that your blood should bee required at our hands as not having discharged our duty to prevent it Bee it known unto you therefore that it is the God of Heaven and Earth the great the jealous and the terrible God whose Lawes you have broken and whose Authority you dispise you refuse his government who is coming with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of their ungodly Deeds and speeches who hath told us that evil shall not dwell with him The Foolish shall not stand in his sight Hee hateth all workers of Iniquity Jude 14 15. Psalm 5. 4 5. The ungodly shall not stand in judgement nor sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous Psalm 1. 5 6. God hath not made his Lawes in vain Though the wicked contemn God and say in their hearts hee will not require it Psalm 10. 13. Yet their damnation slumbereth not they are reserved to the day of judgement to bee punnished 2 Pet. 2. 3 9. And hee seeth that their day is coming Psalm 37. 13. If men cut off the lives of those that break their laws will God bee out-faced by the pride and stubborness of sinners Hee will not you shall know hee will not Hee threatneth not in jest Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered Job 9. 4. Are you not as chaffe and stubble and is not our God a consuming Fire Psalm 1. 4. Isa 5. 24. Heb. 12. 19. If Briers and Thorns bee set against him in Battel will hee not go through them and burn them up together Isa 27. 4. Can your heart endure or your hands bee strong in the day when God shall deal with you It is the Lord that hath spoken it and hee will do it Ezek. 22. 14. What will you do when you must bear wich the pains of Hell from God that now can scarce endure to bee thus openly plainly warned of it If wee to please you should bee silent and betray you do you think the God of Heaven will fear or flatter you or bee unjust to please a worm Do you provoke the Lord to Jealousie are you stronger than hee 1 Cor. 10. 22. O man for your souls sake let not Satan abuse your understanding and sin befool you must you not die And doth not Judgement follow when all
A Petition for Peace with the REFORMATION OF THE LITURGY As it was Presented to the Right Reverend BISHOPS BY THE DIVINES Appointed by His Majesties Commission to treat with them about the alteration of it LONDON Printed Anno Dom. MDCLXI A Petition for Peace To the most Reverend Archbishop and Bishops and the Reverend their Assistants commissioned by His Majesty to treat about the Alteration of the Book of Common-Prayer The humble and earnest Petition of others in the same Commission Most Reverend Fathers and Reverend Brethren THe special Providence of God and His Majesties tender regard of the Peace and Consciences of His Subjects and his desire of their concord in the things of God hath put into our hands this opportunity of speaking to you as humble Petitioners as well as Commissioners on the behalf of these yet troubled and unhealed Churches and of many thousand souls that are dear to Christ on whose behalf wee are pressed in spirit in the sense of our duty most earnestly to beseech you as you tender the peace and prosperity of these Churches the comfort of His Majesty in the union of his Subjects and the peace of your souls in the great day of your accounts that laying by all former and present exasperating and alienating differences you will not now deny us your consent and assistance to those means that shall bee proved honest and cheap and needful to those great desirable ends for which wee all profess to have our offices and our lives The things which wee humbly beg of you are these 1. That you will grant what wee have here proposed and craved of you in our Preface Even your charitable interpretation acceptance of and consent unto the alterations and additions to the Liturgy now tendered unto you that being inserted as wee have expressed it may bee left to the Ministers choice to use one or other at his discretion upon His Majesties approbation according to his gracious declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs And that seeing wee cannot obtain the form of Episcopal Government described by the late Reverend Primate of Ireland and approved by many Episcopal Divines wee may at least enjoy those benefits of Reformation in Discipline and that freedome from Subscription Oaths and Ceremonies which are granted in the said Declaration by the means of your charitable Mediation and Request 2. Seeing some hundreds of able holy faithful Ministers are of late cast out and not onely very many of their Families in great distress but which is of far greater moment abundance of Congregations in England Ireland and Wales are overspread with lamentable ignorance and are destitute of able faithful Teachers And seeing too many that are insufficient negligent or scandalous are over the Flocks not meaning this as an accusation of any that are not guilty nor a dishonourable Reflection on any party much less on the whole Church wee take this opportunity earnestly to beseech you that you will contribute your indeavours to the Removal of those that are the shame and burdens of the Churches and to the Restauration of such as may bee an honour and blessing to them And to that end that it bee not imputed to them as their unpardonable Crime that they were born in an Age and Country which required Ordination by Parochial Pastors without Diocesans And that Re-ordination whether absolute or hypothetical bee not made necessary to the future exercise of their Ministry But that an Universal Confirmation may bee granted of those ordained as aforesaid they being still responsible for any personal insufficiency or crime Were these two granted The Confirmation of the Grants in His Majesties Declaration with the liberty of the Reformed Liturgy offered you and the restoring of able faithful Ministers to a capacity to bee serviceable in the Church of God without forcing them against their consciences to bee Re-ordained how great would bee the benefits to this unworthy Nation How glad would you make the peoples hearts how thankful should wee bee for the cause of Christ and the souls of men to those that grant them and procure them being conscious that wee seek not great things for our selves or for our Brethren that wee are ambitious of no greater wealth or honour than our daily bread with such freedome and advantage for the labours of our Ministry as may most conduce to the success the increase of holiness and peace wee shall take the boldness to second these Requests with many of our reasons which wee think should prevail for your consent chusing rather to incur whatsoever censures or offence may by any bee taken against our necessary freedome of expression than to bee silent at such a time as this when thousands of the servants of the Lord that are either deprived of their faithful Teachers or in fears of losing them together with the freedome of their consciences in Gods worship do cry day and night to Heaven for help and would cry also in your ears with more importunate Requests if they had but the opportunity as now wee have And 1. Wee beseech you bear with us while wee remember you that you are Pastors of the flock of Christ who are bound to feed them and to preach in season and out of season and to bee laborious in the Word and Doctrine but are not bound to hinder all others from this blessed work that dare not use a Cross or Surplice or worship God in a form which they judge disorderly defective or corrupt when they have better to offer him Mal. 1. 13 14. Is it not for matter and phrase at least as agreeable to the holy Scriptures If so wee beseech you suffer us to use it who seek nothing by it but to worship God as neer as wee can according to his will who is jealous in the matters of his worship If indeed yours have more of strength and ours of weakness yet let not Fathers cast the children from the House of God because they are sick or weak and need the more compassion let not our Physicians resolve their Patients shall all bee famished or cast off whose temperature and appetites cannot agree to feed on the same dish with the same preparation and sauce Hee that thrice charged Peter as hee loved him to feed his Lambs and Sheep did never think of charging him to deny them food or turn them out of his fold or forbid all others to feed them unless they could digest such forms and ceremonies and superscriptions as ours 2. May wee presume to minde you that the Lord of the Harvest hath commanded us to pray that more Labourers may bee sent into the Harvest For still proportionably the Harvest is great and the Labourers are few Mat. 9. 37. And that the Lord hath not furnished them with his gifts in vain nor lighted these Candles to put under a Bushel but to bee set on a Candlestick that they may give light to all that are in the house Mat. 5. 15 And that there are few
Peace which brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shepherd of the Shéep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom bée Glory for ever and ever Amen THE Celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism LEt no Minister that is therein unsatisfied be forced against his Judgement to baptize the Childe of open Atheists Idolaters or Infidels or that are unbaptized themselves or of such as do not competently understand the Essentials of Christianity what it is to be a Christian and the Essentials of Baptism nor of such as never since they were baptized did personally own their Baptismal Covenant by a credible Profession of Faith and Obedience received and approved by some Pastor of the Church as before Confirmation is required and in His Majesties Declaration Nor yet the Childe of Parents justly excommunicate or that live in any notorious scandalous sin or have lately committed such a sin as if the Childe be gotten in Adultery or Fornication and being justly convict of it refuseth penitently to confess it and promise Reformation But if either of the Parents bee duly qualified and present the Childe to bee baptized or another for them in case they cannot bee present the Childe is to bee received unto Baptism And if both the natural Parents are Infidels Excommunicate or otherwise unqualified yet if any become the Pro-parents and owners of the Childe and undertake to educate it in the Faith of Christ and Fear of God and so present it to bee baptized let it bee done by a Minister whose judgement doth approve it but let no Minister be forced to it against his judgement Let the Parents or owners come to the Minister at some convenient time the week before and acquaint him when they intend to offer their Childe to Baptism and give an account of their fore-said capacity and receive his further Ministerial Assistance for the fuller understanding of the use and benefits of the Sacrament and their own duty The Font is to bee placed to the greatest conveniency of the Minister and People The Childe or Children being there presented the Minister may begin with this or the like speech directed to the Parent or Parents that presenteth it THat you may perform this service to God with understanding you must know that God having made man in his own Image to love and serve him our first Parents wilfully corrupted themselves by sin and became the Children of Death and the Captives of Satan who had overcome them by his temptation And as by one man sin entred into the World and death by sin so death passed upon all for that all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God Wee are conceived in sin and are by nature children of wrath For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean By the offence of one Judgement came upon all men to condemnation But the infinite Wisdome and Love of the Father hath sent his Son to bee the Saviour of the World The Word was made Flesh and dwelt on Earth and overcame the Devil and the World Fulfilled all Righteousness and suffered for our sins upon the Cross and rose again and reigneth in Glory and will come again and judge the World in Righteousness In him God hath made and offered to the World a Covenant of Grace and in it the Pardon of sin to all true Penitent Beleevers and power to bee the Sons of God and Heirs of Heaven This Covenant is extended to the seed also of the Faithful to give them the benefits suitable to their age the Parents dedicating them unto God and entring them into the Covenant and so God in Christ will bee their God and number them with his People This Covenant is to be solemnly entred into by Baptism which is a holy Sacrament instituted by Christ in which a person professing the Christian Faith or the Infant of such is baptized in water into the Name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost in signification and solemnization of the holy Covenant in which as a Penitent Beleever or the seed of such hee giveth up himself or is by the Parent given up to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost from henceforth or from the time of natural capacity to beleeve in love and fear this Blessed Trinity against the Flesh the Devil and the World and this especially on the account of Redemption and is solemnly entred a Visible Member of Christ and his Church a Childe of God and an Heir of Heaven How great now is the Mercy and how great the Duty that is before you Is it a small Mercy for this Childe to bee accepted into the Covenant of God and washed from its Original sin in the Blood of Christ which is signified and sealed by this Sacramental washing in water to be accepted as a Member of Christ and of his Church where hee vouchsafeth his Protection and Provision and the Means and Spirit of Grace and the renewed pardon of sin upon Repentance and for you to see this happiness of your Childe The duty on your part is first to see that you are stedfast in the Faith and Covenant of Christ that you perish not your self and that your Childe is indeed the Childe of a Beleever And then you are beleevingly and thankfully to dedicate your Childe to God and to enter it into the Covenant in which you stand And you must know that your Faith and Consent and Dedication will suffice for your Children no longer than till they come to age themselves and then they must own their Baptismal Covenant and personally renew it and consent and give up themselves to God or else they will not bee owned by Christ You must therefore acquaint them with the Doctrine of the Gospel as they grow up and with the Covenant now made and bring them up in the fear of the Lord. And when they are actually penitent Beleevers they must present themselves to the Pastors of the Church to bee approved and received into the Communion of the Adult Beleevers If the Persons bee before well instructed in the nature of Baptism and Time require Brevity the Minister may omit the first part of this speech and begin at the description of Baptism or after it If there bee need of satisfying the People of the duty of Baptizing Infants the Minister may here do it otherwise let the Questions here immediately follow The Minister shall here say to the Parent and the Parent answer as followeth IT being the Faithful and their seed to whom the Promises are made And no man will sincerely dedicate his Childe to that God that hee beleeveth not in himself I therefore require you to make Profession of your own Faith Quest Do you beleeve in God the Father Almighty c Answ All this I do unfeignedly beleeve Quest Do you repent of your
they are penitent beleevers comfortably to hope for the Kingdome which God hath promised to them that love him committing their souls to their Redeemer and quietly resting in the will and love and promises of God Resolving if God shall recover them to health to redeem the time and live the rest of their lives unto his glory And being willing if it bee their appointed time to depart and bee with Christ and they must bee exhorted to forgive such as have wronged them and to bee reconciled to those with whom they have been at variance and to make a pious just and charitable disposal of their Worldly Estates The Order for Solemnizing the Burial of the Dead IT is agreeable to nature and Religion that the Burial of Christians bee solemnly and decently performed as to the cases Whether the Corps shall bee carried first into the Church that is to bee buried in the Churchyard And whether it shall bee buried before the Sermon Reading or Prayer or after or in the midst of the reading or whether any Prayer shall bee made at the grave for the living Let no Christians uncharitably judge one another about these things let no people keep up groundless usages that being suspicioâ—s grieve their Minister and offend their Brethren Let no Minister that scrupleth the satisfying of peoples ungrounded desires in such things bee forced to do it against his Conscience and let Ministers that do use any of these Customes or Ceremonies have liberty when they suspect that the people desire them upon some Error to profess against that Error and teach the people better Whether the Minister come with the Company that brings the Corps from the house or whether hee meet them or receive them at the burial place is to bee left to his own discretion But while hee is with them let him gravely discourse of mans Mortality and the useful truths and duties thence to bee inferred And either at the Grave or in the Reading place or Pulpit by way of Sermon according to his discretion Let him at least if it bee desired instruct and exhort the people concerning death and the life to come and their necessary preparation Seeing the spectacle of Mortality and the season of mourning do tend to prepare men for a sober considerate entertainment of such Instructions and hee may read such Scriptures as may minde them of Death Resurrection and Eternal life as 1 Cor. 15. or from vers 10. to the end And Job 1. 21. 19. 25 26 27. John 11. 25 26. 5. 28 29. And his Prayer shall bee suited to the occasion When ever the Rain Snow or Coldness of the season make it unhealthful to the Minister or People to stand out of doors at least then let the Reading Exhortation and Prayers bee used within the Church Of Extraordinary Daies of Humiliation and Thanksgiving and Anniversary Festivals WHen great afflictions lye upon the Church or any special part or members of it or when any great sins have been Committed among them it is meet that in publick by fasting and prayer wee humble our selves before the Lord for the averting of his displeasure and on such occasions it is the Pastors duty to confess his own and the peoples sins with Penitence and tenderness of heart and by his Doctrine and Exhortation to Endeavour effectually to bring the People to the sight and sense of their sin and the deserts of it and to a firm Resolution of better obedience for the time to come being importunate with God in Prayer for pardon and renewed grace Upon the receipt of great and extraordinary mercies the Church having opportunity is to Assemble for publick Thanksgiving unto God and the Minister to stirre up the people to a lively sense of the greatness of those mercies and joyfully to Celebrate the praises of God the Author of them And it is not unmeet in these daies to express our joy in Feasting and outward signes of Mirth provided they bee used moderately spiritually and inoffensively and not to gratifie oursensual desires and that wee releeve the poor in their necessities which also on daies of Humiliation and other seasons wee must not forget The occasions of such daies of Humiliation and Thanksgiving being so various as cannot bee well suited by any standing forms the Minister is to apply himself to the respective duties suitable to the particular occasions Though it bee not unlawful or unmeet to keep Anniversary Commemoration by Festivals of some great and notable mercies to the Church or State the memory whereof should bee transmitted to posterity nor to give any persons their due honour who have been the Instruments thereof yet because the Festivals of the Churches Institution now observed are much abused and many sober Godly persons Ministers and others are unsatisfied of the Lawfulness of the Celebrating them as Holy daies let the abuse bee restrained and let not the Religious observation of those daies by publick Worship bee forced upon any that are thus unsatisfied provided they forbear all offensive behaviour thereupon Of Prayer and Thanksgiving for Particular Members of the Church BEsides the Petitions that are put up for all in such distresses in the General Prayer it is meet that Persons in dangerous sickness or other great affliction of Body or minde and Women that are neer the time of Childe-bearing when they desire it shall bee particularly recommended to God in the Publick Prayers of the Church Because all the members constitute one body and must have the same care one for another as suffering all with one that suffereth and rejoycing all with one that is honoured And the effectual servent prayer of the righteous especially of the whole Congregation availeth much with God But because diseases distresses and greif of minde are so various that no forms that are Particular can suit them all And because every Minister should bee able to suit his Prayers to such various Necessities of the people Wee desire that it may bee left to his discretion to pray for such according to their several Cases before or after Sermon But wee desire that except in case of sudden necessity they may send in their Bills of Request to him the night before that hee may consider of their cases and may publish only such in such Expressions as in prudence hee shall judge meet for the Ears of the Assembly In the more ordinary Cases of persons in sickness danger and distress and that are delivered from them these following Prayers may bee used or such like A Prayer for the Sick that is in hopes of Recovery MOst merciful Father Though our Sin doth finde us out and wée are justly afflicted for our Transgressions yet are wée not consumed in thy wrath but thou punishest us less than our Iniquities do deserve though thou causest Grief yet wilt thou have compassion according to the multitude of thy mercies for thou dost not willingly afflict and grieve the children of men Thou revivest the