the general meditation and affection of the season We may therefore observe that as all the Gospels for Sundaies since Easter day hitherto are taken out of the beloved Disciple S. Iohn who therein gives us many of the last and most tender and affectionate words of our dear Lord before his Passion and Ascension his promising of a Comforter bidding them not fear bequeathâ—ing his peace to them and the like so now the two first Epistles are taken and most fitly out of the same Apostle who therein minds us with much earnest affection of that spirit which our Lord promised for our Comforter and of the great effect and sign of it the love of one another If saith he we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfect in us Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And the Epistle for the second Sunday exhorteth us in like manner To love one another as he gave commandment and he that keepeth his Commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us even by the Spirit which he hath given us In the Epistle for the third Sunday we are put in mind by S. Peter of submission and being humble for God gives grace to such of sobriety watching faith and patience in affliction with an exhortation to cast our care upon God who cares for us and shall perfect seâ—tle strengthen and stablish us which is according to what Christ said That he would not leave us Comfortless The fourth Epistle is out of Rom. 8. and is a comfort against afflictions as not worthy of that glory which shall be shewed upon us provided we be such as they whom the Apostle there speaks of who had received the first-fruits of the Spirit The Epistle for the fifth being taken out of S. Peter exhorts us to Love Peace Innocence and such spiritual affections and if any trouble us not to be afraid but to sanctifie the Lord God in our hearts The rest of the Epistles for all the days following relate much to the same business as newness of life and all the fruits and gifts of Gods holy Spirit and as a particular insight will sufficiently manifest But being not the first that are used in this season they seem to have been chosen with more indifferency for they are taken out of S. Paul and keep the very order of his Epistles and the place they have in each Epistle For of them the first are out of the Epistle to the Romans and so in order the next out of the Epistles to the Corinthians first and second Galatians Ephesians Philippians and Colossians for so far the Order reacheth till the time of Advent Only two of the Sundaies the 18. and 25. do vary from this method in the choice of their Epistles and there is reason for both And first for the 25. or last Sunday the reason is manifest for it being lookt upon as a kind of preparative or fore-runner of Advent as Advent is to Christmas and in S. Ieromes Lectionarius it is comprized within the time of Advent an Epistle was chosen not as hapned according to the former method but such an one as prophesied of Christs Advent or Coming for that plainly appears in This out of Ieremy Behold the time cometh saith the Lord that I will raise up the righteous branch of David which King shall bear rule and he shall prosper with wisdom and shall set up Equity and Righteousness again in Earth The like Prophesie is implyed in the Gospel and applyed to Iesus in the words of the people when they had seen his miracle This is of a truth the same Prophet that should come into the world And therefore when there are either more or fewer Sundays than 25 between Trinity and Advent if we so dispose of the Services as always to make use of this for the last of them it will be agreeable to reason and exemplary practice and that from time of old for we find such a Rule in Micrologus an ancient Ritualist The other Sunday that follows not the method of the rest is the 18. after Trinity for its Epistle is taken out of the first to the Corinthians not out of that to the Ephesians as other are for the Sundayes that go next before and after This seems to be occasioned by a particular circumstance for which a fit Epistle was to be found out though it were not taken out of its place in the usual order and that was the Ordination of Ministers for the understanding of which and the ancient care about Ordinations it will not be amiss to be somewhat the larger We may therefore note that what was said of Collects pag. 70. is true also of this order of Epistles and Gospels that it comes down to us from Ancient Times as appears by S. Hieromes Lectionarius above mentioned and other old Liturgists and Expositors And by them we find that it was the Custome of old to have proper Services for Wednesdays Fridays and Saturdayes in each Ember-week and then followed as with us the conferring of Holy Orders But care being taken that the Ordination should be performed after continuance the same day in Prayer and fasting and yet be done upon the Lords day also and because by ancient Canon that day was not to be fasted they therefore took this course to perform it on Saturday it being one of the Ember Fasts and yet in the Evening of it for that time was accounted as belonging to the Lords day following or if they would continue so long fasting to do it early in the morning following See Leâ— Epist. 81. ad Diosc. In regard therefore that this was accounted a Sundays work and that there had been so much Exercise and Fasting on Saturday the Sunday following had no publick Office and was therefore called Dominica Vacat or Vacans a vacant Sunday But it was afterwards thought better not to let that day pass in that manner nor to continue so long and late on Saturday in such Abstinence and Exercise and therefore the Ordination came to be dispaâ—cht sooner on Saturday and the Sunday following had a Service said on it which at first for some time was borrowed of some other days but afterwards One was fixt being fitted to the day or season with some respect in the frame of it to the Ordination at that time For although there were peculiar Readings Rites and Prayers for the Ordination it self as there is also in our Church much resembling the ancient Form yet besides that in the general Service of the day some reflexion was made on the business of Ordination Only the Vacant Sunday for the Ember week in September had no constant peculiar â—ervice for being fixt to a certain time â—fâ— that Month it chanceth that the said Sunday sometimes is the 18. after Trinity sometimes the 17. or sooner as Easter falls out and accordingly takes
the Father c. which is the Christians both Hymn and shorter Creed For what is the summ of the Christians faith but the mystery of the holy Trinity God the Father Son and Holy Ghost which neither Jew nor Pagan but only the Christian believes and in this Doxology professes against all Hereticks old and new and as it is a short Creed so it is also a most excel-Hymn for the glory of God is the end of our Creation and should be the aim of all our services whatsoever we do should be done to the glory of that God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and this is all that we can either either by word or deed give to God namely GLORY Therefore this Hymn fitly serves to close any of our Religious services our Praises Prayers Thanksgivings Confessions of Sins or Faith Since all these we do to Glorifie God it cannot be unfitting to close with Glory be to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost It cannot easily be expressed how useful this Divine Hymn is upon all occasions If God Almighty send us prosperity what can we better return him than Glory If he sends Adversity it still befits us to say Glory be to c. Whether we receive good or whether we receive evil at the hands of God we cannot say a better Grace than Glory be the Father c. In a word we cannot better begin the day when we awake nor conclude the day when we go to sleep than by Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Then the Hallelujah or Praise ye the Lord of which S. Augustine sayes There is nothing that more soundly delights than the praise of God and a continual Hallelujah The VENITE O come let us sing unto the Lord. THis is an Invitatory Psalm For herein we do mutually invite and call upon one another being come before His presence to sing to the Lord to set forth His praises to hear His voice as with joy and chearfulness so with that reverence that becomes His infinite Majesty worshipping falling down and kneeling before Him using all humble behaviour in each part of His service and worship prescribed to us by His Church And needful it is that the Church should call upon us for this duty for most of us forget the Psalmists counsel Psal. 69. 7. To ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his Name into his Courts we come before the presence of the Lord of the whole Earth and forget to worship him in the beauty of holiness The PSALMS THe PSALMS follow which the Church appoints to be read over every Month oftner than any other part of holy Scripture So was it of old ordained saith S. Chrys. Hom. 6. de poenit All Christians exercise themselves in Davids Psalms oftner than in any other part of the Old or New Testament Moses the great Lawgiver that saw God face to face and wrote a Book of the Creation of the World is scarcâ— read over once a year The holy Gospels where the Miracles of Christ are preached where God converses with Man where Death is destroyed the Devils cast out the Lepers cleansed the blind restored to sight where the Thief is placed in Paradise and the Harlot made purer than the Stars where the waters of Iordan to the sanctification of Souls where is the food of immortality the holy Eucharist and the words of life holy precepts and precious promises those we read over once or twice a Week What shall I say oâ— blessed Paul Christs Oratour the Fisher of World who by his 14. Epistles those spiritual Nets hath caught Men to salvation who was wrapt into the third Heaven and heard and saw such Mysteries as are not to be uttered him we read twice in the week We get not his Epistles by heart but only attend to them while they are reading But for holy Davids Psalms the grace of the holy Spirit hath so ordered it that they should be said or sung night and day In the Churches Vigils the first the midst and the last are Davids Psalms in the Morning Davids Psalms are sought for and the first the midst and the last is David And Funeral Solemnities the first the midst and the last is David In private houses where the Virgins spin the first the midst and the last is David Many that know not a letter can say Davids Psalms by heart In the Monasteries the quires of Heavenly Hosts the first the midst and the last is David In the Deserts where Men that have crucified the world to themselvs converse with God the first the midst and the last is David In the Night when Men are asleep David awakes them up to sing and gathering the Servants of God into Angelical troops turns Earth into Heaven and makes Angels of Men singing Davids Psalms The holy Gospels and Epistles contain indeed the words of eternal life words by which we must be saved and therefore should be sweeter to us than Honey or the Honey-comb more precious than Gold yea than much fine Gold but they are not of so continual use as Davids Psalms which are digested forms of Prayers Thanksgivings Praises Confessions and Adorations fit for every temper and every time Here the penitent hath a form of confession he that hath received a benefit hath a Thanksgiving he that is in any kind of need bodily or ghostly hath a prayer all have Lauds and all may adore the several excellencies of Almighty God in Davids forms and these a Man may safely use being compos'd by the Spirit of God which cannot erre whereas other Books of Prayers and Devotions are for the most part compos'd by private men subject to error and mistake whose fancies sometimes wild ones are commended to us for matter of devotion and we may be taught to blaspheme while we intend to adore or at least to abuse our devotion when we approach to the throne of grace and offer up an unclean Beast instead of an holy Sacrifice May we not think that this amongst others hath been a cause of the decay of right and true devotion in these latter dayes namely the neglect of this excellent Book and preferring Mens fancies before it I deny not but that Collects and other parts of Devotion which the consentient Testimony and constant practice of the Church have commended to us may and especially the most divine Prayer of our LORD ought to be used by us in our private devotion but I would not have Davids Psalms disused but used frequently and made as they were by Athanasius and S. Ierome a great if not the greatest part of our private devotions which we may offer up to God as with more safety so with more confidence of acceptation being the inspiration of that holy Spirit of God who when we know not what to say helps our infirmities both with words and affections Rom. 8. 26. If any man thinks these Psalms too hard for him to understand and apply
Morning and Evening The Creed follows soon after the Lessons and very seasonably for in the Creed we confess that Faith that the Holy Lessons â—each The Creed is to be said not by the Priest alone but by the Priest and people together Rubr. before the Creed For since Confession of Faith in publick before God Angels and men is so acceptable a service to God as is shewn Fit it is that every man as well as the Priest should bear his part in it since every man may do it for himself as well nay better than the Priest can do it for him for as every man knows best what himself believes so it is fittest to confess it for himself and evidence to the Church his found Belief by expresly repeating of that Creed and every particular thereof which is and alwayes hath been accounted the Mark and Character whereby to distinguish a True Believer from an Heretick or Infidel We are required to say the Creed standing by this Gesture signifying our Readiness to Profess and our Resolution to adhere and stand to this holy Faith Of Athanasius's CREED Besides the Apostles Creed holy Church acknowledges two other or rather two explications of the same Creed the Nicene and Athanasius his Creed of the Nicene Creed shall be said somewhat in the proper place the Communion-Service where it is used Athanasius his Creed is here to be accounted for because it is said sometimes in this place in stead of the Apostles Creed It was composed by Athanasius and sent to Pope Iulius for to clear himself and acquit his Faith from the slanders of his Arian Enemies who reported him erroneous in the Faith It hath been received with great Veneration as a treasure of an inestimable price both by the Greek and Latin Churches Nazianz de laud. Athan. orat 21. and therefore both for that authority and for the testification of our Continuance in the same Faith to this day the Church rather uses this and the Nicene explanations than any other Gloss or Paraphrase devised by our selves which though it were to the same effect notwithstanding could not be of the same credit nor authority This Creed is appointed to be said upon the dayes named in the Rubrick for these Reasons partly because those daies many of them are most proper for this Confession of the Faith which of all others is the most express concerning the Trinity because the matter of them much concerns the manifestation of the Trinity as Christmas Epiph. Trinity Sunday and S. Iohn Baptists day at the highest of whose Acts the Baptizing of our Lord was made a kind of Sensible manifestation of the Trinity partly that so it might be said once a moneth at least and therefore on S. Iames and S. Barthol daies and withal at convenient distance from each time and therefore on S. Matt. Matthias Sim. and Iude and S. Andrew's The Lord be with you This Divine Salutation taken out of Holy Scripture Ruth 2. was frequently used in Ancient Liturgies before Prayers before the Gospel before the Sermon and at other times and that by the direction of the holy Apostles saies the Council of Braccara It seems as an Iâ—troit or entrance upon another sort of Divine Service and a good Introduction it is serving as an holy excitation to Attention and Devotion by minding the people what they are about namely such holy Services as without Gods assistance and special grace cannot be performed and therefore when they are about these Services the Priest minds them of it by saying The Lord be with you And again it is a most excellent and seasonable Prayer for them in effect thus much The Lord be with you to lift up your Hearts and raise your Devotions to his Service The Lord be with you to accept your Services The Lord be with you to reward you hereafter with eternal liâ—e The people Answer And with thy Spirit Which form is taken out of 2 Tim. 4. 22. and is as much as this Thou art about to Offer up Prayers and spiritual Sacrifices for us therefore we pray likewise for thee that He without whom nothing is good and acceptable may be with thy spirit while thou art exercised in these Spiritual Services which must be performed with the Spirit according to S. Paul 1 Cor. 14. 15. Thus the Priest prayes and wishes well to the people and they pray and wish well to the Priest And such mutual Salutations and Prayers as this and those that follow where Priest and people interchangeably pray each for other are excellent expressions of the Communion of Saints Both acknowledging thus that they are all one body and each one members one of another mutually caring for one anothers good and mutually praying for one another which must needs be if well considered and duly performed excellent Incentives and provocations to Charity and love one of another and as S. Chrys. observes hom 3. in Col. if these solemn mutual Salutations were religiously performed it were almost impossible that Priest and people should be at Enmity For can the People hate the Priest that blesses them that prayes for them The Lord be with you or Peace be with you which was anciently the Bishops Salutation in stead of the Lord be with you Or can the Priest forget to love the People that daily prayes for him And with thy Spirit Let us pray These words are often used in ancient Liturgies as wâ—ll as in ours and are an Excitation to prayer to call back our wandring and recollect our scattered thoughts and to awaken our Devotion bidding us mind what we are about namely now when we are about to pray to pray indeed that is heartily and earnestly The Deacon in ancient Services was wont to call upon the people often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us pray vehemently nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still more vehemently and the same vehemency and earnest devotion which the manner of these old Liturgies breathed does our Church in her Liturgy call for in these words Let us pray that is with all the earnestness and vehemency that we may that our prayers may be such as S. Iames speaks of active lively spirited prayers for these are they that avail much with God And there is none of us but must think it needful thus to be call'd upon and awakened for thoughts will be wandring and devotions will abate and scarce hold out to the prayers end though it be a short one that well said the old Hermit whom Melanc mentions in his discourse de Crat. There is nothing harder than to pray These words Let us pray as they are an Incitation to prayer in general so they may seem to be sometimes an Invitation to another Form of petitioning as in the Litany and other places it being as much as to say Let us collect our alternate supplications by Versicles and Answers into Collects or Prayers In the Latin Liturgies their Rubricks especially Preces and Orationes seem to be
the service of the 18. Sunday or some other before it as it happens to be that year But of old after other Vacant days had their proper Services this day continued for some while to make use of borrowing so Berno and Micrologus say it was in their times and what Service can we think could be more useful for that purpose than this of the 18th Sunday especially if we consider it with all the accessaries It had then In ancient Rituals as S. Hieromes Lectimarius S. Gregories Antiphonarius Liber Sacramentorum c. we find the service of Ember week placed immediately before â—â—t of this Sunday and the chief reason â—â—y be this aforesaid their affinity of matter Rupertus Tuitiens in his 12. Book De Divin Officiis and 18. Chap. is very â—â—pious in shewing how much the office of this day in that largeness it then had concern'd them that had the cure of souls and Berno Augiens in his 5. Chap. is as large in shewing how well it might serve in that regard for a supplement to the Vacant Sunday All which considered and withal that the usual order of the Epistles from 5. to the 25. was changed only in This and that according to the course of Easter the Ordination falls on this Sunday or some other before it we may very probably conclude that the choice of this Epistle and Gospel also was with design to exercise our meditations somewhat on the Ordination this day celebrated or not long before it And hereby a good ground was given to the Preacher in his Sermon for that was usually upon the Readings of the day to declare in a fit season the duty of Pastors and their flocks according as he saw occasion The Epistle is a Thanksgiving in behalf of the Corinthians for the grace of God which was given them by Iesus Christ It appears by what the Apostle saith of them in divers places that they had been taught by many learned Instructers and that many of them had much profited and abounded in many spiritual gifts And such gifts are here mentioned as are specially requisite for them that are Ordained to be Spiritual Guides as the being enriched in all utterance and in all knowledge and being behind in no good gift And the Gospel is of our Saviours answering a question of a Doctor of the Law of his silencing both Pharisees and Sadduces by his doctrine and questions whereby he shews how those whom he sends on Divine Messages should be qualified how able to speak a word in due season to give a reason of their faith and to convince gain-sayers This is the Gospel in the ancient Lectionary above mentioned and though some Churches use other yet we may observe that they are all very appliable to this occasion And the old Anthems or Versicles for the day S. Greg. Antiphonary which are to be found most of them in some Latin Services are herein most express desiring of God That his Prophets may be found faithful and speaking of being glad of going into the house of God Bringing presents coming into his Courts c. Of telling out among the Heathen that the Lord is King Of Moses hallowing an Altar and offering Sacrifices ascending into the Mount praying for the people of Gods shewing himself to him c. It is true that other Ordination-Sundays relate principally as is most meet to the chief Meditations of those special seasons wherein they fall but yet therein we may find matter very pertinent to this occasion How fit the Service of Trinity Sunday is in this regard hath already been declared p. 182. nor could any season have been more aptly chosen for this occasion In that of Lent the Epistle tells us what holiness of life is required in all and therefore certainly in them whom God hath called to such an holy profession and that saying of Christ in the Gospel for the same day that he was sent to the lost sheep c. may mind them of their duty who are sent by him to be Pastors of his flock The like Advertisements they may gather from both Epistle and Gospel of the Sunday of Ordination in time of Advent as may be obvious to view And no less proper is that Epistle which the Lectionary and some Churches appoint for the same day Let a man saith the Apostle there thus wise esteem us even as the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Secrets of God Furthermore it is required of Stewards that a man be found faithful Which Epistle with us and some other Churches is applyed to the Sunday next before this changing place with another Epistle not unfit for this occasion and more fit to come next to Christmas For by those words in it The Lord is even at hand it may excite us to such a preparation for the Feast of Christs coming in the flesh as may prepare us for that other coming in glory which we look for Thus have we taken a view of these Epistles and Gospels and upon occasion also of those which are used after Ordinations and somewhat also of the time when holy Orders were given Our Church herein keeps to the day that is most proper and that is to the Sunday which next follows the Ember Fast. A day on which Christ bestowed his Spirit upon his Apostles gave them their Commission and many wonderful gifts for the good of the Church For this and other reasons doth Leo shew how congruous the Lords day is for such a work Besides this may be added that a business of such consequence being done upon such a day is attended with more solemnity and presence of the Congregation See the discourse of Ember weeks pag. 149. and Leo Epist. 81. ad Diosc. The COLLECTS remain to be now spoken of and they in the same manner with the Epistles and Gospels have a general congruity with the affection of the season For as Faith Hope and Charity graces and gifts of the Holy Ghost are the general subject more or less of these Epistles and the same taught exemplified and confirmed in the Gospels so are these Collects certain general Invocations upon God for the assistance of his holy Spirit and bringing forth the fruits of it and consist usually of a most humble acknowledgment and a petition suitable as is above declared Pag. 85. And as we have taken there a brief view of the pious sense and spirit of these acknowledgments so will it not be amiss to do the same here concerning the petitions which in each Collect are some or other of these following or such like That God would be pleased to prevent and follow us always with his grace and with his mercy in all things direct and rule our hearts to stir up our wills pour into our hearts graff in them the love of his holy â—ame make us to have a perpetual fear and love of it to ask such things as shall please him to have the Spirit to think and do always such
fruition of the glorious Godhead Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity to be adored for ever God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost accept sanctifie and bless this place to the end whereunto according to his own Ordinance we have ordain'd it to be a Sanctuary to the most High and a Church for the living God The Lord with his favour ever mercifully behold it and so send upon it his spiritual Benediction and Grace that it may be the House of God to him and the Gate of Heaven to us Amen Haec precatus Episcopus Baptisterium adit atque impositâ manu ait REgard O Lord the Supplications of thy Servants and grant that those Children that shall be baptiz'd in this Laver of the New birth may be sanctified and washed with the Holy Ghost delivered from thy wrath received into the Ark of Christs Church receive herein the fulness of Grace and ever remain in the number of thy faithful and elect Children Suggestum dein GRant that thy Holy Word which from this place shall be preach'd may be the savour of life unto life and as good seed take root and fructifie in the hearts of all that shall hear it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quoque GRant that by thy Holy Word which from this place shall be read the hearers may both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also may have Grace and Power to fulfil the same Sacram etiam Mensam GRant that all they that shall at any time partake at this Table the highest blessing of all thy Holy Communion may be fulfill'd with thy Grace and Heavenly Benediction and may to their great and endless Comfort obtain Remission of their sins and all other Benefits of thy Passion Locum Nuptiarum GRant that such persons as shall be here joyned together in the holy estate of Matrimony by the Covenant of God may live together in holy Love unto their lives end Vniversum denique Pavimentum GRant to such bodies as shall be here interr'd that they with us and we with them may have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul in thine everlasting kingdom Tum flexis genibus ante sacram Mensam pergit porro GRant that this place which is here dedicated to thee by our Office and Ministry may also be hallowed by the sanctifying power of thy holy Spirit and so for ever continue through thy Mercy O blessed Lord God who dost live and govern all things world without end Grant as this Chappel is separated from all other common and profane uses and dedicated to those that be sacred only so may all those be that enter into it Grant that all wandring thoughts all carnal and worldly imaginations may be far from them and all godly and spiritual cogitations may come in their place and may be daily renew'd and grow in them Grant that those thy servants that shall come into this thy holy Temple may themselves be made the Temples of the Holy Ghost eschewing all things contrary to their profession and following all such things as are agreeable to the same When they pray that their prayers may ascend up into Heaven into thy presence as the Incense and the lifting up of their hands be as the morning sacrifice purifie their hearts and grant them their hearts desire sanctifie their spirits and fulfil all their minds that what they faithfully ask they may effectually obtain the same When they offer that their Oblation and Alms may come up as a Memorial before thee and they find and feel that with such Sacrifices thou art well-pleased When they sing that their souls may be satisfied as with marrow and fatness when their mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips When they hear that they hear not as the word of man but as indeed it is the Word of God and not be idle Hearers but Doers of the same Populus interea tacite ingressus in imis substitit dum haec in Cancellis agerentur quibus finitis sedes quisque suas jussi capessunt atque ad solennem Liturgiam Sacellani se parant Alter Sacellanorum coram sacra mensa venerans sic incipit IF we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth c. Confessionem Absolutionem Dominic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recitant c. Psalmos canunt pro tempore accommodos Ps. 84. 122 132. alternis respondente populo quibus facultas erat libri Lectio prima definitur ex 28. Gen. à ver primo ad finem Hymn Te Deum c. Lectio secunda ex secundo capite S. Joh. à vers◠13. ad finem Hymn Psal. 100. I Believe in God c. Et post usitatas Collectas hanc specialem addidit Episcopus O Lord God mighty and glorious and of incomprehensible Majesty thou fillest Heaven and earth with the Glory of thy presence and canst not be contain'd within any the largest compass much less within the narrow walls of this Room yet forasmuch as thou hast been pleased to command in thy holy Law that we should put the Remembrance of thy Name upon places and in every such place thou wilt come to us and bless us we are here now assembled to put thy name upon this place and the Memorial of it to make it thy house to devote and dedicate it for ever unto thee utterly separating it from all worldly uses and wholly and only consecrate it to the invocation of thy glorious Name wherein supplications and intercessions may be made for all men thy sacred Word may be read preached and heard the Holy Sacraments the Laver of Regeneration and the Commemoration of the precious death of thy dear Son may be administred thy Praise celebrated and sounded forth thy people blessed by putting thy Name upon them we poor and miserable creatures as we are be altogether unfit and utterly unworthy to appoint any earthly thing to so great a God And I the least of all thy servants no ways meet to appear before thee in so honourable a service yet being thou hast oft heretofore been pleased to accept such poor offerings from sinful men most humbly we beseech thee forgiving our manifold sins and making us worthy by counting us so to vouchsafe to be present here among us in this religious action and what we sincerely offer graciously to accept at our hands to receive the prayers of us and all others who either now or hereafter entring into this place by us hallowed shall call upon thee And give us all grace when we shall come into the house of God we may look to our feet knowing that the place we stand on is holy ground bringing hither clean thoughts and undefiled bodies that we may wash both our hearts and hands in innocency and so compass thine Altar I am alter Sacellanus denuo exiens venerans ante sacram Mensam incipit Litaniam in fine cujus recitavit hoc ipse Episcopus O Lord God who dwellest
precatur denuo LOrd God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob who because thou art the God not of the dead but of the Living shewest hereby that they are living and not dead and that with thee do live the spirits of all them that dye in the Lord and in whom the Souls of them that are Elect after they be delivered from the burden of this flesh be in joy and felicity thou hast said thou wilt turn men into small dust and after that wilt say Return again you Children of men Thou art the God of Truth and hast said it thou art the God of power and might and wilt do it by that power whereby thou art able to subdue all things unto thy self and bring to pass whatsoever pleaseth thee in Heaven and Earth with whom nothing is impossible Lord Jesu Christ who art the Resurrection and the Life in whom if we believe though we be dead yet shall we live who by thy death hast overcome death and by thy rising again hast opened to us the Gate of everlasting life who shalt send thine Angels and gather the bodies of thine Elect from all the Ends of the Earth and especially those who by a mystical union are flesh of thy flesh and in whose hearts thou hast dwelt by Faith we humbly beseech thee for them whose bodies shall in this place be gathered to their Fathers that they may rest in this hope of Resurrection to eternal life through thee O blessed Lord God who shalt change their vile bodies that they may be like thy Glorious body according to the mighty working whereby thou art able to bring all things even death and all into subjection to thy self Holy and blessed Spirit the Lord and giver of life whose Temples the bodies of thy Servants are by thy sanctifying Grace dwelling in them we verily trust that their bodies that have been thy Temples and those hearts in which Christ hath dwelt by Faith shall not ever dwell in corruption but that as by thy sending forth thy Breath at first we received our Being Motion and Life in the beginning of the Creation so at the last by the same Spirit sending forth the same breath in the end of the Consummation Life Being and Moving shall be restored us again so that after our dissolution as thou didst shew thy holy Prophet the dry bones shall come together again Bone to his Bone and Sinews and Flesh shall come upon them and thou shalt cause thy Breath to enter into them and we shall live and this Corruption shall put on Incorruption and this Mortal shall put on Immortality God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost accept sanctifie and bless this place to that end whereunto according to thine own Ordinance we have ordain'd it even to bestow the Bodies of thy Servants in till the number of thine Elect being accomplished they with us and we with them and with all other departed in the true Faith of thy Holy Name shall have our consummation and Bliss both in Body and Soul in thy eternal everlasting glory Blessed Saviour that didst for this end dye and rise again that thou mightest be Lord both of the Living and the Dead whether we live or die thou art our Lord and we are thine living or dying we commend our selves unto thee have mercy upon us and keep us thine for evermore Reintrantes igitur Capellam cantant priorem partem Psal. 16. Conscendit suggestum Magister Matthaeus Wren Thema ei posterior pars vers 17. cap. 2. S. Ioan. Zelus domus tuae c. Agit de affectibus in Christo Zelo inter caeteros nec illo falso sed pro Deo nec caeco sed secundum scientiam pro Domo pro Cultu Dei de praesentia Dei praecipue in Templis magno non Morum solummodo nostrorum sed sâ—ei quoque Fidei incremento fulcimentoque Deum Locorum distinctione gaudere confirmat tum exemplo mirifice Jacobi tantopere distinguentis Bethel tum maximo omnium miraculo quo Christus Mercatores è Templo ejecit Enarratis Christi per hoc factum devotionibus concludit in debitam à nobis Templorum reverenâ—â—â—â— atque istius Fundatoris Encomium meritissimum Cantatur pars reliqua Vespertinae precationes incipiendo jam à Symbolo Apostolico secundum communem Ecclesiae formulam finiuntur FINIS Balsam in Nomâ—caâ— tit 2. 6. 2.