they are Persons who must give an account of their proficiency in the Gospel who are under their charge Heb. 13.17 I wish the Ministers were so careful of their People as to go to the Sick when they call or send for them and that the People had so much respect for the Ministers and for themselves too as to send for them upon all occasions when ever they stand in need of any spiritual aids Peace be to this House and to all that dwell in it Note This is clearly grounded upon that of our Saviour When ye come into an House salute it say peace that is all kind of prosperity be to this House Matth. 10.12 13. Luk. 10.5 6. And if there be any pious Person or Son of Peace in the house capable of so great a blessing theâ— the blessing of peace shall rest upon him if not the blessing shall return to the Minister and the party visited shall receive no advantage by the Ministers coming to him upon a design of so much charity Rubrick When he cometh into the sick Mans presence he shall say knéeling down Remember not Lord our iniquities c. Note This short Prayer is warranted from these Texts of Scripture Joel 2.17 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Act. 20.28 Psal 85.3 Answer Spare us good Lord. Note This supposes a company joyned in Prayers with the Minister and to return back Spare us good Lord in answer to the Ministers Spare thy People going before Rubrick Then the Minister shall say Let us Pray Lord have mercy c. Our Father which art in Heaven c. Note I have already often accounted for the frequent use of these in our divine Offices and therefore I shall not now say any thing of them only give me leave to insert this short Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven O Lord God our Heavenly Father who art the giver of all goodness who art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by nature ours by grace and favour who dwellest in Heaven the Throne of thy Majesty the Seat of thy Glory attended by myriads of Angels ready to take Commissions from Thee in order to execute thy will and pleasure Hallowed be thy Name Send down thy grace unto us and to all People that we may glorifie thy great Name as we ought to do Let thy blessed and glorious Name be ever sanctified by us and by all that draw nigh unto Thee may we never profane it in our common talk abuse it by detestable oaths or blasphemies nor vainly make use of it in words or works professing Thee with our Lips and departing from Thee in our Lives Thy Kingdom come May the Scepter of thy Spirit so over-rule our unruly Spirits that we may worship Thee serve Thee and obey Thee as we ought to do Lord remove from us the Kingdom of thy Justice for if Thou shouldst strictly account with us no flesh could be justified bring us into Thy Kingdom of Grace that we may be comforted here and into thy Kingdom of Glory that we may be crowned hereafter Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven So long as we are to live in this Vale of misery let not our own wills but Thy will be done in us and by us in our several stations periods and conditions incline our hearts unto Thee that we may do all thy commands sincerely readily chearfully and in some proportion to what is done by the blessed Saints and glorious Angels in Heaven where there is no opposing disputing or resisting of thy will Give us this Day our daily Bread And that we may go on the more cheerfully in the discharge of our duties not taken off nor interrupted by any anxious thoughts about the things of this life We pray Thee to send us all things needful both for our Souls and Bodies the necessaries of our lives from day to day proportion'd to every Mans being or sustenance Give us the day of our life and the life of our days our daily bread victual for the nourishing of our bodies doctrinal for the reforming of our lives Sacramental for the sanctifying and saving of our Souls And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us We beseech Thee also to be merciful unto us and to forgive us our sins punish not on us those sins wherewith we have offended and provoked Thee to punish us Pardon all our sins of impiety committed against Thee of injustice and uncharitableness committed against our Neighbours of intemperance and uncleanness committed against our selves These and all other sins committed by us against thy Divine Majesty in thought word or deed we pray Thee to pardon and pass by as we forgive all who have any way or at any time trespassed against us in thought word or deed in body goods or Name And lead us not into Temptation And to these blessings of thy Mercy in pardoning what is past add that other of thy providence to preserve us for the time to come Suffer us not through our own corâ—uptions which are very many nor through the Devils malice which is very great to be brought into any temptation or snare or to be intangled in any dangers or difficulties which may not be easily supported by us But deliver us from evil But let it be thy pleasure to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily to keep us from all sin and wickedness from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death Deliver us from the blandishments of the flesh the allurements of the World the plausible snares of the Devil From external evils internal evils eternal evils by thy grace from the evil of sin by thy mercy from the evil of punishment Good Lord deliver us For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen These and all other blessings of thy grace goodness mercy and Majesty we trust Thou wilt bestow upon us of thy mercy and goodness through our Lord Jesus Christ For thine is the Kingdom and we doubt not but that Thou art able to remove from us all those Evils and Judgments which we have prayed to be delivered from For thine is the power Both which we beg at thy hands in order to advance and to set forth thy glory For thine is the glory To Thee therefore Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be ascribed in our Prayers and in our praises all honour glory power praise might majesty and dominion to both Ages the present and the future for the ever of this World which hath an end and the ever of that other World which is without end Amen Lord so be it Minister O Lord save thy Servant c. O Lord look down from Heaven c. Hear us Almighty and most merciful God and Saviour c. Note These Prayers are all prescribed and deliver'd in the very Scripture phrase so full of piety charity and devotion and so sitted to all
Purification of sin whereby the Blood of the Lamb of God and the death of the Messias was prefigured Levit. 14.6 7. Numb 19.6 So shall I be restored to that blessed estate from which I have so sadly fallen by my sinful miscarriages Vers 8. I am yet in a sad and most wretched condition thy wrath continuing over me sets my soul upon torture my own conscience under thee being my dreadful executioner but O be thou pacified unto me again and that shall be the most joyful news which ever came to any poor tortured suppliants ears when he is taken from the rack his bones set and he restored to ease again Vers 9. Lord pardon my sins return thy wonted favour towards me Vers 10. I have sadly fallen from my wonted purity and sincerity but O Lord by the good work of thy grace upon my heart restore me to it again renew me inwardly and throughly my thoughts as well as actions that I never fall into the least beginning of any such pollutions again Vers 11. It is just with thee to cast me from thy spiritual commerce who have resisted thy spirit it is just with thee to withdraw thy grace to which I have done such despite but O do not thus severely punish me by withdrawing that which I now more than ever stand in need of Vers 12. Without thy gracious aid and assistance I am not able to get out of this broken condition the free assistances of thy Spirit are so necessary to me that without them I cannot indeavour in the least the recovering of that purity from which I am fallen Therefore Lord restore them to me that I may be restored unto thee Vers 13. This thy exceeding mercy to me a sinner so sadly lapsed may be a means to bring wicked livers home to repentance by mine own happy success I shall encourage them to return who have fallen as sadly as any of them can have done and yet have met with mercy and many I doubt not encouraged on by my example by the assistance of thy grace will be brought home to thy service and the practise of the duties of new life Vers 14. The sin of Murder is an horrid and crying sin of a black and deep die deliver me from that so far as my conscience assures me guilty though my own hands have not been polluted with it Blessed Lord from whom all deliverance comes be pleased to deliver me from this and all other foul commissions which will be welcome news to me and make me with greatest exultation of Heart to proclaim abroad thy abundant mercies Vers 15. Thy work of grace towards me shall set my lipps wide open in praysing thee Vers 16. It is not any Hecatombe or most chargeable oblation for sin thou requirest of me for the truth is my sins are such as for which all exteriour performances afford no reconciliation Vers 17. 'T is my sincere humiliation confession and renovation which alone thou admittest and which thou art mercifully pleased to have respect to however I am in this foul condition and to look upon them as the most acceptable oblation These with an honest heart presented unto Thee will be sure to find a favourable and welcome reception Vers 18. Be merciful O Lord not to me only but to all that love and fear thy Name and meet uniformly in the place appointed for thy service Be thou a defence and succour to all such Let them be walled about with thy protection and preserve them from falling into any wilful and presumptuous sins Vers 19. For then shall all our services of Prayers and praises typified by the Legal sacrifices our solemn acts of the most ardent devotion to Thee and most diffusive charity to our brethren be accepted by Thee being upon an humble but cheerful confidence of thy acceptance presented to Thee upon the Altars of our very hearts Vid. Dr. Hammond Glory be to God the Father maker of all the World and to God the Son Redeemer of all Mankind and to God the Holy Ghost Sanctifier of the Church or all the Elect People of God Answer This was the confession of faith taken up from the first beginning of the Christian name and grounded upon Christ's own institution Matth. 28.19 therefore against all Arrians and Antitrinitarians we make confession of the same faith in the ever blessed Trinity and pray for the continuance of it to the Worlds end subjoyning our Amen of confirmation that so it is and of option that so it may continue Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Note These Versicles are of very ancient usage in the Church-Service mention'd in the Clementine Constitutions lib. 8. c. 5. c. 6. Council of Vas c. 5. Ann. Dom. 440. received both in the Eastern and Western Church called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seasonable at all times and therefore it hath a part in all our divine Offices and is set ever or for the most part before the Lord's Prayer as a fit preparative to usher it in Vid. Haman Lestrange Alliance of Divine Offices Pag. 83. Dr. Sparrow's Rational pag. 71 72 73. Our Father which art in Heaven c. Note This Prayer is Tanquam sal omnium divinorum Officiorum Upon which I have here added this Paraphrastical Prayer Preface O Lord God who art great in power rich in mercy whose glory is above the Heavens whose goodness is over all the Earth who art Almighty for in Heaven who art most merciful for our Father in Heaven so able to help us our Father so willing to hear us Lord what art not thou able to do for us who art in Heaven Lord what art not thou willing to do for us who art our Father Here we lie prostrate before Thee upon the Earth yet pressing in our affections towards the Heaven where thou art and presume not for any merit in us but for thy mercies in Christ that thou wilt deny us nothing which may do us good who vouchsafest us this to call Thee Father 1 Petit. Thou art an Holy God and delightest that all thy Worshipers should worship Thee in the beauties of holiness we desire Thee to shed thy Holy Spirit abroad in our hearts that we may perform this our bounden duty and service in an holy manner that we may lift up holy hands with holy hearts to Thee who dwellest in the Heavens Thou who art the sanctifier of all that is made holy make us to be holy as Thou art holy give us holiness in our thoughts words and actions sanctify us inwardly and outwardly in our Souls and Bodies make us holy in our lives that we may be happy at our deaths Let thy Name of Father be hallowed in us and upon us that we may in our lives and conversations walk before Thee in newness of life and as it becometh the Sons of God 2 Petit. To this end we humbly beg of Thee to sanctifie our corrupt nature and to beautifie
qualities from the glorified Bodies in Heaven Vers 40. For it is to be observed that in the Resurrection there shall be 1. An improvement of all Mens estates who have their part in the Resurrection of the just above that which they here enjoy Vers 41. 2. There shall be degrees of glory of one above another as Heavenly Bodies are more glorious than Earthly and one Heavenly Body more glorious than another so shall it be in the Resurrection Vers 42. For it is to be noted which is indeed the chief thing notable in this present Discourse that the Bodies which shall rise differ from those that die and the state of the Resurrection differs from that of this life That which falls into the Grave is a corruptible Body that which shall rise again an incorruptible Vers 43. The Body which we live in here and must put off is subject to many dishonorable deformities weaknesses diseases age but the Body which we shall take up again and put on shall be a Body glorious and strong Vers 44. The Body we carry about with us while we live and lay down in the Grave when we die is nourished and sustained by meats and drinks whereas the Body in our future state will be immortal wanting nothing to sustain it For indeed such Bodies there are of both these sorts Vers 45. For thus we find it written in the Scriptures that we have one nature from Adam such a Body as Adam is mention'd to have had before his fall Gen. 2.7 we derive from him who communicated it to his Posterity But another Nature and another Body we shall receive from Christ who at the Resurrection shall restore us from the Grave and change our vile Bodies that they may be like unto His glorious Body Phil. 3.21 Vers 46. The mortal Body was first formed which needed sustenance without which it must needs perish and when this is put off by death the immortal Body shall be returned to us instead of it at the Resurrection Vers 47. The stock of our animal life was Adam so called as an earthy Man made and taken out of the Earth The stock of the life immortal is Christ the Lord who came down from Heaven Vers 48. Such a Body as Adam had such have all mortal Men and such a Body as Christ now hath shall we have who live according to his Precept and Example at the Resurrection Vers 49. As we have first been made like the mortal Adam here on Earth so we shall be made like the immortal Christ when we come to Heaven Vers 50. I shall add but this one thing more that it is not possible for these earthy corruptible weak ignominious Bodies of ours which are in a state of growing and feeding to come to Heaven but they must first be changed purified and immortaliz'd Vers 51. Therefore concerning those who shall be found alive at the Day of Judgment I shall tell you a Secret not yet discovered to you that though they die not at all yet they shall all be changed before they go to Heaven for these Bodies thus qualified as they now are cannot come thither Vers 52. And this change shall be wrought in a minute at the point of time when all the World shall be summoned to Judgment For God shall make the Angels alarm all the World of Men that ever was or shall be as by the sound of a Trumpet to appear before his Tribunal and when that alarme is given all that were formerly dead shall arise with immortal Bodies and they who shall be then alive shall from their mortal Bodies be changed into such Vers 53. For it is most certain and necessary that our mortal Bodies must be changed into immortal Vers 54. And when this is done then shall that saying of the Prophet be made good Hos 13. Vers 14. that death shall be devoured and destroyed for ever never to recover strength again over any thing nothing from thenceforth shall ever die Vers 55. In contemplation whereof a Christian may look upon death as a hurtless thing the sting or plague or wounding power of it being by Christ taken away and look upon the state of separation of Soul from Body to be such as shall not last for ever Vers 56. The only thing which makes Death sting like a Serpent and puts it in a capacity to hurt us is sin for were it not for sin Death would differ nothing from a calm sleep and that which gives sin any strength to mischief us is the Law which prohibits it and so consequently upon the breach brings guilt upon us Vers 57. But thanks be to God who by what Christ hath done for us hath given us victory over Sin and Death and by Conquest of Sin hath made Death but an Entrance to Immortality Vers 58. These Arguments may suffice to teach any Christian constancy and perseverance in doing Gods will and in suffering Gods will too and may oblige him to the utmost industry and diligence in the service of God knowing that nothing which we thus undergo shall fail of receiving a reward Vid. Dr. Hammond Rubrick When they come to the Grave while the Corps is made ready to be laid into the Earth the Priest shall say or the Priest and Clerks shall sing Note Here follows another very seasonable part of the Funeral Office to mind the standers by and those who are yet alive of the shortness miseries and uncertainty of this life Job 14. vers 1 2. Man that is born of a Woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery he cometh up and is cut down like a flower he fleeth as it were a shadow and never continueth in one stay That is Man is born of a Woman and as he hath received being from her so he hath derived weakness he lives here few Years but in so short a time he suffers many miseries He is born like a flower and passeth away like it he is like the shadow of our Quadrants in a perpetual motion and change is so far passed into his nature that notwithstanding all his endeavours he cannot remain one sole moment in the same condition Note here That the sticking of the Herse with Flowers and the use of Garlands at such a time is a custom which hath some resemblance with the Jews who as they went along by the Corps used to pluck up the Grass 1. To note the shortness of Man's life that Man is but as Grass as the flower of the Field It was said of a great Emperour that he was Parietira a wall-flower and so are we all our time is proclaimed Isay 40.6 withering sooner than the Grass which is short fading sooner than the flower of the Grass which is shorter From April to June the Sith cometh nay the Wind but bloweth and we are gone Hodie in agro cras in clibano Flourishing in the Morning fading cut down and withered before Night 2. To note the certain
of our deceased friends unto the Grave we do not lay up these precious Reliques in the Wardrobe of the Earth as Carkasses lost and perished but as having in them a seed of Eternity in sure and certain hope of a Resurrection to Eternal Life this is to bury Christianly the hope of the Resurrection being the proper hope of Christians Vid. August de Civit. Dei lib. 1. c. 13. Now this hope is grounded upon Christ's Resurrection who is our Resurrection and Life John 11.25 He is Primogenitus mortuorum Colos 1.18 As he rose in se so he rose Pro aliis As an Angel proclaimed at his Grave Resurrexit non est hic Mat. 28.6 So from his Resurrection we have added on our Tomb-stones to Hic jacet this happy clause Spe Resurgendi What is gone before in the Head shall follow in the Members if the Head be above there is hope for the whole Body if the Root have Life the Branches shall not long be without Christ the first fruits being restored to life all the rest of the dead who die in him are in him entitled to the same hope Rubrick Then shall be said or sung Note This following is another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or triumphant Hymn to be sung by Priest and People or said by the Priest alone to show our expressions of joy over our deceased friends whereby we do in a holy valour laugh at death I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours Note This place of Scripture is primarily applied to the great Trials and Persecutions which were then to fall upon the Church within a short time which should be so great that they should be counted happy who were well dead before and were gone to enjoy their reward of peace and bliss being taken away from the Earth before such combats and storms as these should fall The holy Divine accounts those happiest who should die soonest and be taken out of this life from having their parts in the evil to come Isay 57.1 So upon mention of oppressors and strength on their side and the no comforter the Preacher tells us that he praised the dead which are already dead Eccles 4.1 2. And to this belongs the answer of the Spirit in the words following they shall have rest from their labours that is from those Persecutions which attend them here and which only death can put an end to But our Church very fitly applies it to all the Saints and Servants of God departing this life as finishing their warfare and going out of the World to receive the reward both of their Christian combat and conquest Rubrick Then the Priest shall say Note Here the Priest is Vox Populi the Peoples Mouth to God-ward Luk. 18.13 Lord have mercy upon us To God the Father Mat. 15.22 Christ have mercy upon us To God the Son Mark 10.48 Lord have mercy upon us To God the Holy Ghost Note This is thrice repeated to shew our faith in the Trinity This was called the lesser Litany and was of very early usage in Church Offices Clem. constit lib. 8. cap. 5. 6. Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Our Father Great in our Creation Good in our Redemption Rich in Goodness and good in the riches of thy mercy sweet in love and slow to wrath willing to hear us for our Father able to help us for in Heaven Which art in Heaven The Glass of Eternity the Crown of Felicity the Treasure of all Complacency In Heaven Eminenter chiefly there but not only there in Heaven the Throne of thy Glory the Place of thy Majesty teaching us both whither to direct our Prayers and where to setle our affections when we pray Hallowed be thy Name in us by us upon us thy Kingdom come That it may be as Hony in the Mouth Melody in the Ear Jubily in the heart as Holiness is chief in Thee so let it be chief in our account and esteem of Thee May thy Name of Father be so hallowed in us and by us in our words lives and actions that we may deserve the title of Sons Thy Kingdom come Thy Kingdom of Grace come to us that we may come to thy Kingdom of Glory Thy Kingdom come that the Kingdom of Sin Satan and Death may be destroyed Thy Kingdom of Power to defend us Thy Kingdom of Grace to Sanctifie us Thy Kingdom of Glory to establish us in all bliss and happiness We are in this World but thy Kingdom is not of this World call us out of the one into the other Here thy Kingdom is begun in us by grace hereafter it must be perfected in us by glory Here is truth mixed with error here is joy mixed with grief here is tranquility mixed with trouble Here thy Kingdom thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven hath many enemies who seek the division of it labour the ruine of it malice the glory of it though avert it they may evert it they cannot The gates of Hell cannot prevail against the gates of Sion nor the kingdom of Satan against the Kingdom of Christ But O Lord let it come in its power and full glory that there may be in it Truth not mixed with errour Joy not mixed with sorrow Peace without trouble Glory without shame and a Kingdom so setled it upon us and we in it that there may be no more fear of losing it Thy will be done c. Thy will not ours be done in us and by us Freely without coaction fully without imperfection faithfully without fraud or hypocrisie In us that is in us men as it is done in Heaven that is in and by the holy Angels So that we may love those things which thou lovest hate those things which thou hatest shun those things which thou forbidest and do those things which thou commandest Give us this day and suffer those things with patience which thou art pleased in thy wise providence to inflict upon us Give us this day c. Give for we cannot have it except thou give it Dicimus da nobis ne putetur esse a nobis We are taught to ask it of God to shew that we have it not of our selves Us thou teacheth us that we are not to pray for our selves alone but that we are to seek the good one of another Pro se orat necessitas pro aliis charitas This day Day is here taken for life so long as we live so long shall we stand in need of God's givings and may say this Prayer Give us c. This day should teach us moderation in the pursuit of earthly things They are Utenda not Fruenda things to use not to enjoy Like Israel's Manna we are to feed upon them only till we come to the borders of our Canaan This life is Via the way Daily bread is
we avouch our faith in God One in Essence Three in Person we are to pray to But be this Oremus or Let us pray set where it will the end and â—se of it is very good to settle and fix our intentions towards some ensuing duty for unless we are thus stirred up and called upon we are apt to grow dull and drowsie and to supplicate God to hear those Prayers which we do not hear our selves This Oremus is very ancient as appears out of Chrysostom Augustine and others and there was a practise amongst the Heathens in their sacred though erroneously so Offices very like unto it Vid. Plutarch in Coriolano Our Father which art in Heaven Our Teacheth us to pray one with another one for another he who prays only for himself shal be heard only for himself The prayers we put up to God should be cast in the mould of love and charity He who is angry with his brother cannot offer a pleasing and acceptable offring to God his Father without faith no acceptable pray'r without love no true faith Father This begets in us love a humble confidence a holy kind of presumption what wil God deny us who vouchsafes us this to call him Father Though we are sinful he will not forget to be merciful though we forget our duties he will not forget his Nature Laesus est sed tamen pater which art in Heaven This begets in us fear and a holy kind of reverence This minds us of our earthly peregrination shews our wants and whence we are to expect relief it notes us to be strangers and pilgrims on Earth standing in need of his help and assistance who is in Heaven It teacheth us whither we are to direct our prayers and where to settle our affections when we pray Orantis est nil nisi coelestia cogitare It shews whence every good comes we can possibly want or stand in need of it shews God to be all-sufficient able to help us for in Heaven as willing to hear us for our Father It minds us that we are but viatores Travailours Earth is our way and Heaven is our home Our Nos pudeat eum aspernari fratrem quem deus non aspernatur filium Est vox charitatis as this Pray'r is Breviarium fidei so is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Singuli pro omnibus omnes pro singulis orant Pro se orat necessitas pro aliis charitas Father Magnum nomen hoc sub quo nemini desperandum Surgam ibo ad patrem Luc. 15.18 19. Pater etiamsi offensus est pater filius etiamsi nequam tamen filius He will never forget the nature of his Name though we forget our duties There is indulgentia paterna liberalitas paterna Facilitas dandi condonandi in patre Nomen patris explicat charitatem dei excitat charitatem nostri which art in Heaven Other Fathers sub terris he in coelis Isay 63.16 Psal 10.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3. aquilarum hoc negotium non talparum non milvorum Caelumque tueri Jussit We do genus de coelo ducere Act. 17. We should look home with the Prodigal Luc. 15. As Absolom desired to see the King's face 2 Sam. 14. So we the face of Christ and God in Heaven Coelum petere is the Unum necessarium In this sense Qua supra nos maxime ad nos Pater ergo vult In coelis ergo potest Nullus pater talis pater Tertull. Hallowed be thy Name This shews as Holiness is the chief attribute in God so it should be the chiefest thing in our account we should be holy as he is holy holy in our words holy in our actions holy in our lips holy in our lives We must not falsify Gods Name set it where he will not set it himself nor pretend it to justifie or legitimate any Action which is sinful This is as if we should carry God's Ark into the Field to fight against himself or fight the devils cause under the banner of Christ or wear Christs livery in the bare profession of a name and do the devils service We do not sanctifie God's Name but profane it when we profess him in words and deny him in works When we pretend Christian liberty to destroy Christian duty make use of Religion to usher in Sacriledge and Rebellion Paint the Cross upon banners and yet by actions most sinful and scandalous put Christ as it were upon a new Crucifixion God is not to be named but he is above every name only he was pleased to make himself known under the notion of names that we might have some directions how to invocate and call upon Him This is Caput votorum Sanctificetur cannot come from any Persons that are profane Psal 50.16 17. Not Jacob 's voice and Esau 's hands Not a Scriptum est from the Devil's mouth nor the devils gloss and comment upon GOD's Text. In Nomine Domini incipit omne malum that ought not to be There are Qui sub Christiano Nomine Christianam vulnerant Religionem Quid verba audio cum facta videam En Testimonia rerum loquentia signa God's Name is as a Castle we must not flie to it but in time of need Prov. 18.10 Deus Sanctificat nos faciendo Sanctos ex non sanctis nos sanctificamus Deum non faciendo eum sanctum sed agnoscendo praedicando Extrinsecus assumpsit sibi nomen ut invocetur Thy Kingdom come In this Petition we pray for the propagation of the Gospel the spreading of Christian Religion all the World over that God's Name which was onely great in Israel may be known and acknowledged reverenced and adored among all Nations we pray for the extirpation of sin and the implantation of grace that we may be translated out of the Kingdome of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light freed from the slavery of sin and Satan and intitled to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God That Christ would set up his Throne and Scepter in our hearts that the work of grace may be here in us glory begun and the work of glory may be hereafter in us and upon us grace compleat We pray for the means ordained and appointed of God to bring this Kingdom to us and us into it the word the Sacraments and a regular and ordain'd Ministry to preach the one and to administer the other Thy Kingdom of God 1. Universal over all 2. Special over the Church and this latter 1. Regnum gratiae inchoatum in hac vita 2. Regnum gloriae consummatum post hanc vitam Rex hujus Regni Christus 1. Quia Deus 2. Quia Mediator Regni hujus cives 1. Angeli 2. Sancti Militantes in terris Triumphantes in coelis Regni hujus Leges 1. Verbum Dei 2. Spiritus Dei Regni hujus Dona 1. Fides 2. Conversio 3. Justificatio 4. Sanctificatio 5. Glorificatio Regni hujus hostes 1. Diaboli 2. Homines impii In
own mouths and make a particular application of these general Heads to our own comfort 3. The Object GOD in God Credere Deum That he is Credere Deo That he is true cannot be deceived himself will not deceive us Credere in Deum Because a Father so willing to hear us and because Almighty so able to help us To believe in God is Facere voluntatem Dei to do as God would have us God is here manifested to us 1. By his Title Father Principium Deitatis 2. By his Attribute Almighty He can do whatever implies not a contradiction in it self or argues not imperfection in him 3. By his Works Maker of Heaven and Earth Seculum Speculum Creatura index Creatoris Artificem commendat opus Psal 33.6 Psal 95.5 Psal 96.5 Psal 104.24 Psal 121.2 Psal 124.8 Psal 134.3 Hebrews 1.2 Act. 17.24.26 Let any make such a World and let him be God He made something of nothing and of that something all things How can we distrust that God who hath proved Himself thus Omnipotent 2. Article And I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord. John 3.18 Rom. 3.26 Philip. 1.29 John 14.1 This part of the Creed treats of Man's Redemption wherein we are to observe the Titles and in Them the Natures and Offices of our Redeemer 1. Jesus So a Saviour Matth. 1.21 2. Christ So a Saviour anointed Mat. 1.16 Matth. 16.16 John 4.25.29 That is anointed with the Holy Ghost the fulness of grace in him and from his fulness do we receive John 1.16 Colos 1.19 Others Christi Domini He Christus Dominus The anointing powred down upon him dropt down upon others He anointed above his fellows Psal 45. Others anointed Kings so David Priests so Aaron Prophets so Elisha None King Priest and Prophet but He. Melchizedeck King and Priest David King and Prophet Samuel Priest and Prophet these saving Offices met doubly in others but in Him they all meet Who is David's Priest Psal 110. Jeremie's King Jerem. 23.5 Moses Prophet Deut. 18.15 As a King he redeems us from danger as a Priest from sin as a Prophet from error 3. His only Son There his Divine Nature of the same Power Majesty and Eternity with the Father John 5.26 John 10.30 1 John 4.15 John 3.16 4. Our Lord. There his humane nature Nostram assumpsit naturam non deposuit suam Ours 1. By Gift John 3.16 2. By Faith Ephes 3.17 Lord. 1. By Creation John 1.3 2. By Redemption Gal. 3.13 3. By Dominion Mat. 28.18 All redeemed by Him though all not actually saved by Him as many Israelites came out of Aegypt which dropt short of Canaan That all are not saved is from our own default not any defect in the meritorious price of our Redemption Incredulitas facit esse paucorum quod alias esset commune omnium beneficium 3. Article Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost Matth. 1.18 20. Born of the Virgin Mary Luke 1.27 Isay 7.14 This Article sets before us Christ's Humanity as the former did chiefly his Divinity which is proved 1. From his mysterious Incarnation and Conception 2. From his miraculous Birth and Nativity Requisit it was that He should be God and Man who was to Redeem Man to God and to Reconcile God to Man Fit He should be one of both who was to make both one A Jacob's Ladder in this coupling Earth to Heaven standing upon Earth as Man reaching up to Heaven as GOD. 4. Article Who suffred under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried and descended into Hell This and the Article preceding shews how and by what means the work of Man's Redemption was wrought For as to Redeem us was the thing chiefly intended so it was done by steps and there were many intervening acts to bring it about 1. His mysterious Conception By the Holy Ghost 2. His miraculous Nativity Of the Virgin Mary 3. His active obedience and holy life included in both for He could not possibly sin whose Conception was so holy and Birth so pure 4. His passive obedience and meritorious death wherein we are to consider 1. That He suffred this He did from the Cradle to the Grave from the Cratch to the Cross The whole History of his sufferings are recorded at large in the Four Evangelists all comprized in these words He suffred under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried Whence Note 1. The who He. 2. The what Suffered 3. By and under whom Pontius Pilate one of the Chief to be noted in that foul murder For he was the Magistrate then in being the Judg who swayed the whole Bench although the People sway'd him 4. What manner of death he suffred Was crucified Which is marked out in Scripture for an accursed death wherein was both pain and shame and that to the highest aggravation of his suffrings 5. That he suffred death for dead 6. That he was really dead for buried The words following are not to be understood of any part of his humiliation but of the first degree of his exaltation Where by Hell we are to understand the place of the damned August Epist 99. Ne ipsos quidem inferos uspiam scripturarum locis in bono appellatos potui reperire So he Vid. August de Genes ad Lit. lib. 12. c. 33. By his descent we are to understand that as in his Body he descended into the Bowels of the Earth so in his Soul separated from his Body He descended into Hell Vid. Dr. Howel's Catechism in Locum Artic. 3. Edward Reg. 6 ti Artic. 3. Elizabeth 1562. and Artic. 1. Vid. August Epist. 99. Athanas Symbol Tertul. de anim c. 55. The end of his descending was to dissolve the power of Hell Aug. Epist 99. To triumph over Hell and to fulfill that of the Prophet Hos 13.14 5. Article The Third Day He rose again from the Dead This Article presents us with Christ's Triumphant return from Death to Life Act. 10.40 41. 1 Cor. 15.4 2 Cor. 5.15 Whence we may observe 1. That he is risen 2. That we shall rise For Resurrexit solus sed non totus He is Primitiae dormientium 6. Article He ascended into Heaven And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty In this Article is noted to us Christ's Exaltation into Heaven and his investing with all Power and Rule for the Father did put all Authority into the Sons hands and as Kings at their Inaugurations give gifts to Men so did He. Act. 2.33 33 34 35 36. Act. 1.9 Ephes 4.8 9 10. Philip. 2.9 10. Colos 1.16 17 18. Colos 2.10 Matth. 22.44 Luc. 22.69 Rom. 8.34 Ephes 1.20 21 22. 7. Article From thence He shall come to judg both the quick and the dead This Article speaks of Christ's second coming at the end of the World and the Consummation of all things a coming much differing from the first then he came as a Lamb now as a Lion then in weakness now in Power then in ignominy now in glory
Tertullian is very plain and full Vid. Melanct. in Evangel domin in loc commun And Mr. Calvin is very express That Christ alone is enter'd into the Sanctuary of Heaven and that he presents unto God the Prayers of the People who remain in a remoter Court till the end of the World Instit lib. 3. c. 20. Sect. 20. lib. 3. cap. 25. sect 6. in Luc. cap. 16. vers 22. vid. Marlorat vid. Calvin lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 1 Pet. 3.19 2 Pet. 2.4 Luc. 23.43 Mat. 8. Genes 5. de raptu Enochi Job 14. Philip. 1.6 2 Cor. 5.1 2 Cor. 12.13 Instit lib. 4. cap. 4. sect 12. in Catechism In all which places he will not define or determine any thing in terminis only holds as we do that they are in bliss but shall not have their perfect consummation and bliss till the Resurrection and Day of Doom The Collect. O merciful God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life in whom whosoever believeth shall live though he die and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall not die eternally Joh. 11.25 26. who also hath taught us by his holy Apostle St. Paul not to be sorry as Men without hope for them that sleep in him 1 Thes 4.13 14. We meekly beseech Thee O Father to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness Rom. 6.3 4. 1 Cor. 15.34 That when we shall depart this life we may rest in him as our hope is this our _____ doth and that at the general Resurrection in the last day we may be found acceptable in thy sight and receive that blessing which thy well beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear Thee saying Come ye blessed Children of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 Grant this we beseech thee O merciful Father through Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer Amen Note This Collect sums up all the remarkableness of the Burial Office in a short devout prayer and brings all home in pious application Herein we declare our hope concerning all who depart this life in the bosom of the Church for so long as we are in the bosome of the Church we are in the state of pardon however if we are sometimes mistaken in our hope as to particulars yet it is ever a testimony of our charity It is Error amoris in case it happen at any time to be an errour 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all ever more Amen Viz. The charity of God the Son the love of God the Father and the bounty or liberal effusion of the graces of God's Holy Spirit be in us with us and upon us now and ever Amen POSTSCRIPT Christian Reader IN the first place I am to desire thee to have so much charity for our reviving Mother the Church of England as not to think her any way addicted to an affected singularity in her prescribed Office for the Burial of her dying Children for as in her other Offices so in this she holds exact conformity with her other Sisters the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas so far as they may be permitted to hold conformity with her Vid. Mr. Durel Touching the conformity of other reformed Churches with the Reformed Church of England pag. 34. sect 38. pag. 48. sect 60. Besides take notice of the words of the most judicious Hooker Take away saith he these prayers praises and holy Lessons which were ordained at Burials to shew the peculiar hope of the Church touching the Resurrection of the dead and in the manner of the dumb Funerals what one thing is there whereby the World may perceive that we are Christians Hook Eccles Pol. lib. 5. sect 75. Some few Rites more I shall add observed at Funerals together with their Reasons annexed only to give satisfaction to those better sort of weak Christians who quarrel at their use more out of tenderness of conscience than out of turbulency or any contentious spirit as for such who are contentiously given who are ill-willers to Sion who are enemies to the peace of the Church who delight in nothing but dreadful confusions and make it a great part of their Religion to quarrel the ancient practises of the Church and just Orders of Superiours I leave them to the severest execution of the Laws of the Land and the power of those who are invested with Jurisdiction to punish them as schismatical and seditious Persons and as the nature of their offence shall deserve and truly I think Superiours may be blamed for their indulgence in such cases as well as for their severity Our Church will never be at peace and our State never at quiet from the working of some Mens spirits and intemperate zeal Si vitiis Principum irasci liceat insidiari bonitati But enough of this I proceed now to speak of the few other Rites rather practised at Funerals than by Law or Canon prescribed and to account for them with what brevity and perspicuity I can 1. The ringing of the Passing-bel or Soul-bell as we call it is not intended to help the passage of the Soul when departed out of the Body but only to stir up devout Christians to pray for its happy passage out of its Body and to move those who are living to make reflexions upon their own mortality and seriously to consider of their later end This Bell is like St. Paul's Trumpet 1 Cor. 14.8 which gives such a certain sound that all within the hearing of it may prepare themselves to the Battel which is to be fought in the Field of Death 2. It was an ancient custom and is still practised to bury the Dead with their Faces turning towards the East to shew that they were as sure of an uprise as the Sun that comes forth of his Eastern Chamber and that they lie waiting for that Sun of Righteousness Malach. 4.2 who shall at the last day return with his healing Wings and quicken and revive all the dead Bodies of his Servants by his healing and life-giving influence when he comes with his Prodi Lazare or Surge qui dormis then the Graves shall set open their Marble Doors and restore their deposita When the Arch-Angel shall sound the Trump of Collection then the scattered bones of Gods Saints shall be gathered together with sinews and those sinews incorporated with flesh and that flesh covered over with skin all mortality being purged away and by a new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Pythagoras never dreamed of the same Soul shall re-enter the same Body These and the like Ceremonies the Church hath practised in her Funerals to be as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so many significant emblems to strengthen and confirm her living Children in the hopes of a joyful resurrection 3. It was an
Ecclesia Extra Ecclesiam Uzzah is not to touch the Ark. Nor Oziah to meddle with the censer Nor Saul to offer the sacrifice Obedience is better than such Sacrifices Quae sacra sed sacrilega vota non vovenda sed devovenda Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Here we pray that we may readily and promptly obey all the Laws of the Kingdome before mentioned not to live as we list but to live as we ought to make God's Word our Rule his Spirit our guide and his Sons life our example that we may as cheerfully do God's will on earth as the Angels do it in Heaven do it sincerely not in hypocrisie do it not because we will it but because God wills it though it be contradictory to our own wills We must not only do Gods will but suffer GOD's will as it must cheerfully be done by us so we must patiently submit when done upon us when Gods hand is upon our backs our hand must be upon our mouths Could we in all accidents and various changes of this world resign up our wills to GOD's will it would make the Cross easy here and keep us from those everlasting burnings hereafter We must not only do what God wills but as he wills it too Voto desiderio animo We must not do it Utcunque in any manner but with a sicut in the best manner 1. Voluntas Dei est decretum Haec est voluntas quam Deâ— vult Voluntas haec adoranda non scratanda 2. Voluntas Dei est mandatum Haec est voluntas quam ipse nos velle vult Voluntas haec scrâ—tanda facienda Converte meum nâ—n velle Domine in tâ—â—â— velle Tolle voluntâ—teâ— tuam O Homo ego extinguam infernum 'T is Factum Domini So Eli. Obmutui quia tu fecisti So David Modo occidat fiduciam non deponam So Job Perdidit vitam ne per deret obedientiam So Christ Bonum est verbum Domini So Ezekiah Bonum bene God loves adverbs better than verbs Quid Deus vult quomodo Deus vult Give us this Day our daily Bread Here we pray that God who is the giver of all good would bestow upon us those temporal blessings which are convenient for us in this life That he would give us the necessaries of our lives from day to day proportioned to every Mans being or sustenance neither do we pray only for our selves but for others the motive of necessity puts us upon the first the motive of Charity puts us upon the latter Omne bonum Dei donum We must beg our daily Bread before we have it Dicimas da nobis ne patetur esse a nobis In sudore vultus Gen. 3.19 Deus habet sinum facilem sed non perforatum Jacob 's Prayer Gen. 28.20 Agur 's Prayer Prov. 30.8 Paul 's Dimensum 1 Tim. 6.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meat and cloathing are sufficient for us Non mihi sed nobis non meam sed nostram And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us We are no sooner taught to pray for our daily Bread but as soon as those words are out of our mouths to pray for the forgiveness of our sins so apt we are to make the blessings of God instruments of Rebellion against him and to enslave our faith to our present enjoyments And in regard our sins hinder the current of his blessings and keep good things from us we are taught to beg that God would be merciful unto us forgive us our sins and work in our hearts though not in the like measure yet in some measure the same mercy towards others as he bears towards us How can we expect pardon from God when we will not pardon our Brethren Again in begging pardon we confess how much we need it and that our righteousness is depending on Gods forgivenes Least I be full and deny thee Pro. 30.9 Then beware least thou forget the Lord Deut. 6.12 Religio peperit divitias filia devoravit matrem Plenty causeth forgetfulness noted in Joseph's two Sons Ephraim and Manasses Gen. 41.51 52. When GOD is most mindful of us we are most unmindful of him Vid. Aristoph Plut. Quid alimenta proderunt si illis reputamur revera quasi taurus ad Victimam Tertul. Quid est ad pacem Dei accedere sine pace ad remissionem debitorum cum retentione quomodo placabit patrem iratus in fratrem Tertul. Qui petit veniam delictum confitetur Tertul. And lead us not into Temptation In this Petition seeing our own nature is so strong in its weakness as to incline us to sin we pray that God would support us by his grace to keep us from falling and when we are fallen to raise us up again by repentance Ne nos patiaris induci a diabolo qui utique tentat Tertul. Christus a diabolo tentatus praesidem artificem tentationis demonstravit Tertul. But deliver us from evil Seeing we are exposed to many temptations in this World and by reason of our sins lie open to many dangers so that in the midst of life we are in death one evil opening a way to another the evil of sin to the evil of punishment therefore we pray that God who is so powerful that he can and so merciful that he will would keep us from the evil of sin by his grace and keep from us the evil of punishment by his mercy Haec clausula priorem interpretatur Tertul. Qui Deo se committit diabolum non timet Ambros Libera nos 1. a malo mundi 2. a malo carnis 3. a malo diaboli Libera nos a nobis For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever This clause is an Appendix to the Prayer and shews that when we pray in this forme and take the meaning along with the words and our hearts and words go together we may have an humble confidence we shall be heard and have our requests granted either according to our desires or according to our needs in another kind which may not be so well known to us in regard He we pray to is a King invested with all Power and Authority and will deny us nothing which tends to the advancement of his glory Deus vult dare quod petimus potest dare quod petimus 1. Ab officio regis Tuum est regnum 2. A potentia dei Tua est potentia 3. A causa finali Tua est gloria This Doxologie is often omited because in St. Luke it is no part of the Prayer nor is to be found in that most ancient Manuscript of St. Matthew's Gospel but is thought to be added by the Greek Church and used in their Liturgies but divided from the Prayer as if it were no part of it Vid. Dr. Sparr Ration pag. 28. Amen This Word being an Index of the Peoples ascent to the preceding Prayer was usually in the Primitive Church
well be for we who live in this age cannot be ignorant how many good Laws have been made for the correcting of vice and how few executed either we love vice so well that we will not or we have indulged it so much that we dare not bring it to open Penance But God who was neither pleased with it nor afraid of it did for when Adam the first of Man-kind and King of the whole World under God had transgressed his positive Law and committed a great sin in breaking an easie Commandement he brought him to his confession his open and full confession though he came unwillingly to it and used many evasions and equivocations which the Tempter taught him to use who first taught him to sin he gave him an Ash-Wednesday Lecture for the Ceremony of Ashes from whence this Day derives the name came from his Pulvis es Dust thou art Gen. 3.19 and he put him to his Penance In moerore in sudore In sorrow shalt thou eat and in sweat He who abused his indulged innocent pleasures should live with afflictions thorns and thistles Gen. 3.17 18 19. The promised Seed gave him hopes of pardon Gen. 3.15 but he must pass this Penance first and that he might pass it he must quit his Paradise be driven for a time from the presence of the Lord. So He drove out the Man c. This was the first great Specimen of Church Discipline it is Primitive and ancient enough as ancient as the Church it self and it is authentick and authoritative enough for God himself was the author of it and it was practised in the Church before the Law till sin was so imperious that nothing could reform it but a Deluge and under the Law till wickedness was so predominant that nothing could quell its power but a Babylonian captivity in the time of the Messias till Vice was so prevalent amongst the Jews that nothing could check the rage of it till the Roman Eagles fell upon Jerusalem like Birds of Prey upon a Carkass and in the Christian Churches of the Apostles planting till sin was grown so much in defiance of the light that God was pleased not only in Justice but in Mercy too to withdraw the Candlestick and in all Churches of the Christian World was this Christian Discipline used this godly Discipline and where it was most used there Christianity most flourished till corruption had gotten the start of Christianity and Christianity and Covetousness or something worse had made a match But now it is every where either too much abased or else almost totally abandoned so that it is no wonder Christians in name should be worse than Heathens in manners when the Christian Church is without Discipline when the Tares and the Wheat the Goats and the Sheep the Chaff and the good Corn the Dross and the Gold the Unclean and the Clean the Vile and the Precious must all promiscuously make up one communion in the participation of most holy things and no Judicial Discipline is used to make so much as a tolerable separation so that in the Church Militant here on Earth sin is only the Triumphant part But in Heaven where no unclean thing shall ever enter it shall not be so For flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God neither corruption inherit incorruption 1 Cor. 15.50 God hath here in the History of the first original of all our humane race opened to us this great truth wherein there is a History as well as a Mystery what is spoken of Adam and Paradise of Adam placed in Paradise whilst he remained innocent and of Adam brought to confession penance and removed out of Paradise when he became notoriously criminal is historical but it is written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of a type and ensample in respect of us and so is mystical shewing that all notorious criminals who live in the bosom and bowels of the Christian Church and are a reproach to the Christian name and a scandal to Christian profession are to be removed are to be brought to their confession penance and to remain sometime separate from the community of Christians whose holy Laws and Lives they will not conform to This was God's Law and this was Gods practice but as godly as we pretend our selves to be I do not see that we transcribe God's Copy and draw his practise into imitation We suffer many scandals in the Church seek no removing of them suffer Vice to be accounted Vertue and Vertue to be accounted criminal and seek no redressing of it Adam innocent and Adam a transgressor is all one to us he shall remain in Paradise though the curse of briars and thorns grow up and remain with him he may eat of the tree of sin and when he hath done so come without any controul to the Tree of Life if it was possible without doing his penance so little do we regard who comes or what is done in the Church which is the Paradise of God Church Officers are much to be blamed as to this particular who do not duly and truly present such Criminals But God would not have it so would not suffer it to be so For He drove out the Man c. That I may give you an exact model of the godly Discipline which the Primitive Christian Church used at the beginning of Lent or much about this time of the Year I shall take my Scheme from this first pattern of it set by God himself in his severe dealings with lapsed Adam 1. Adam so long as he kept his integrity remained innocent and had done nothing notoriously criminal to deface that divine and glorious Image which God his Maker had stamped upon him had all Paradise at his command he might freely take the fruition of God's Creation and enjoy his Creator in a happy and a contemplative life Thus he was In statu instituto in his first and innocent estate but when he became a delinquent and a Transgressor and stood convicted of a notorious sin against his Maker when the Serpent in subtilty had beguiled Eve and Eve in simplicity had deceived Adam and under the specious pretence of being like unto God and wise in knowing good and evil he made himself a sinner against God lost that wisdom which he had by refusing the good and choosing the evil then God took a severe course with him to humble him for his pride and to mortify him for his presumption Paradise the Garden of his pleasure was turned into a place of his penance and punishment and he lost the liberty of those fruitions which he had made a forfeiture of by a too great licentiousness God put upon him his Penance Robes cloathed him in skins the badges of his sin and the covers of his shame Gen. 3.21 So in imitation of this practise of God the Church in the Primitive times did deal with her criminals such as apostatized from Christianity in times of Persecution or such as
our debauched souls with thy grace extirpate sin that grace may be implanted break the power of sin in us bruise Satan under our feet and set up the Throne and Scepter of Jesus Christ in our hearts bring down every exalting thought and proud imagination in us to the obedience of Christ translate us out of the kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of thy dear Son Let not Sin nor Satan reign in us but let thy Son reign in us by the Scepter of his Holy Spirit May thy Kingdom of Grace come to us that we may come to thy Kingdom of Glory 3 Petit. And O Lord we desire Thee to cloath our Souls with those Divine affections that we may love the same love choose the same objects and delight in unions and holy conformities with Thee Lord so incline our hearts and affections that we may make thy providence which is the guide of the World the measure of our desires that we may be patient in all accidents and conform to thy will both in doing and in suffering that we may submit to all changes even to persecutions for thy Holy Name Make us to do thy will in the manner of Angelical obedience promptly readily cheerfully and with all our faculties as the Angels in Heaven serve Thee with concord harmony and peace so may we joyntly serve Thee here on Earth with peace and purity and love unfeigned That we may have nothing in us that may displease Thee but that quitting all our own desires and pretensions we may live in all Angelical conformity Make our Souls subject to Thee and our passions to our Souls that thy will may be done by us here on Earth as it is done by the Holy Angels in Heaven 4 Petit. And O Lord we pray Thee to give us all that is necessary for the support of our lives that portion of bread which is Day by Day needful for us we pray Thee for the poor who want it and have it not but as it is deposited in thy hand Let thy mercy O Lord ploughing the Fields of Heaven bring them in their Meat in due season we pray Thee for the rich who have it and yet may stand in need of thy blessing with it From the highest to the lowest we all wait upon Thee that thou would'st be pleased to feed us with food convenient for us We beg but for a Day that we may always have our dependance on Thee to minister to us as we need it 5 Petit. And seeing every sin entertained with a free choice and a full understanding is an obstruction to our Prayers keeping our Prayers from Thee and thy blessings from us as sinful delinquents and penitent Servants we desire Thee to pardon and forgive us all our sins not only our sins of infirmity invasion and sudden surprize which through natural weakness may adhere to most of our best actions but also our sins of a deeper dye our sins of wilfulness and wickedness Pardon O Lord what is past in thy mercy and keep us from such presumptuous sins and all other for the time to come by thy grace And when we ask forgiveness of Thee incline our hearts to discharge the obligation which thy condition of pardon hath laid upon us in forgiving one another May the indearing mercy of Thee our Father lay an engagement upon our Souls not to contrive the least revenge or entertain the least malice against our erring brethren and follow Christians who have in the least been injurious to us we implore thy mercy to forgive our grand trespasses which are talents and we beg thy grace that we may forgive petty injuries done to us which are but pence 6 Petit. And seeing O Lord we are in this World hemm'd about with many dangers and lie exposed to many afflictions as Persons placed in the midst of dangers we make our addresses to Thee the only great and most gracious deliverer humbly beseeching Thee to guard and defend us from all adversities which may happen to the Body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the Soul Lord suffer us not to be led into temptation but if through frailty and weakness we fall into any gross sin give us the grace of repentance to rise again and work in us such a detestation of sin for the time to come that we may stand the firmer after our fall may the fear of falling with thy supporting grace be for ever after the best tenure of our standing 7 Petit. Deliver us O Lord from the evil of sin by thy grace from the evil of punishment by thy mercy From our selves O Lord deliver us from the allurements of the flesh from the temptations of the World from the suggestions of the Devil From evil men from the Men of this World from all their plots plausible snares terrible threats violent and rude armes may their power only prevail to exercise our patience but not to subvert our faith or destroy our confidence in Thee Shelter us under the covert of thy Wings against all fraud and every violence that no temptation may destroy our hopes weaken our strength alter our state or overthrow our glories this we beg for our selves for thy whole Church hear them we pray Thee for us hear us for them and thy Son Jesus Christ for us all Doxology To whom with Thee and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all honour power and glory for thine One God in Essence distinguished in Personality is the Kingdom Power and Glory now and for ever Amen So it is Lord so be it Minister O Lord save thy Servants c. Note These short Ejaculatory Prayers by way of Response for which the reason is already given in my first essay upon the Service-Book are so grave so clearly Scriptural that they are delivered in the very Scripture phrase so that I look upon it as a very needless task to put my self to any further trouble about the recommending of them to the vulgar I know rational Men are able to give a right judgment upon rational things and to acquiesce and truly for the inferiour sort of People whom I have no small value for they costing Christ as dear as the most Potent in Superiority I advise them to trust the judgment of the Church in the ordering of these external things which are not contrariant to the Word of God and assure them withall that their obedience in such matters is better than Sacrifice or any exteriour act of Religion performed meerly in a customary manner and for fashion-sake as I fear too many are guilty of Minister Let us pray Note The reason for this I have given already it is only when we are turning our selves as it were to any special part of devotion required in any special and distinct Office to be intent upon it and to make it our Hoc age O Lord we beseech thee mercifully c. O most mighty God c. Note These are for the substance Scriptur'd
far from the true Christian knowledge or from directing it to the right end which is charity and the edification of our Brethren Vers 3. If any Man loves God sincerely and so adheres to him in time of danger he truly knows him and consequently is acknowledged by him Vers 4. We know indeed that an Idol is nothing in the World no part of Gods first Creation only an invention and fancy of Mâ—n there is but one true God all the rest are fictions of wicked Men who were first the formers and then the worshipers of them Vers 5. There may be many such fictitious deities called by that title whether in Heaven or in Earth Vers 6. But we Christians are assur'd the e is but One true God the Creator of all things to whom all Mens Prayers must be addressed from whom we had our being and to whom we are obliged to be his Servants and to make all our applications to Him and there is but One Mediator and Lord Christ by whom all things were created and by whom as the only Mediator betwixt God and us all our Prayers are addressed to Heaven Vers 7. Yet all Men are not of this perswasion that these Idols are nothing for sure if they thought so they would not worship them nay some are of Opinion that they are something and are able to hurt them and therefore they continue their Heathenish custom to be present at the Idol-Feasts notwithstanding these very Persons have received the faith of Christ so that their sick and sinful Consciences are defiled and polluted by so doing Vers 8. Now a Man who is not of this perswasion towards the Idol if he goes to the Idol-Temple with the Idol-Worshipers may be a means of confirming them in their Error it being certain that they will think he comes as they come with the same Opinion of the false deity and of reaping some benefit by it which inconvenience must needs be very dangerous Vers 9. For though the being there or not being there be not of it self of any great moment in the sight of God yet this care would befit every Christian so to use his own liberty as not to be an occasion of sin or of continuance in sin to others by confirming them in their sinful courses Vers 10. For if any Man who through an erroneous Conscience goes to an Idol-Feast sees another at the same Feast who knows within himself an Idol to be nothing and eats not out of any religious Opinion but only as of ordinary meat Will not he by this means be confirmed to go on in his erroneous course Vers 11. So that the Christian of an erroneous Conscience shall go on in his sin and be in danger to be ruined by reason of the others practise who presumes upon his knowledge and so goes confidently to the Idol as a meer vanity and thing of nought not at all considering the erroneous Conscience of his weak Brother and so he makes himself guilty not only of uncharitableness to his Brother but of injury to Christ in betraying a Soul to ruine for the saving of which Christ died Vers 12. And be it granted that for one who understands his Christian liberty to be present at an Idol-feast be not impiety against God yet is it an act of great uncharitableness against the weak Brethren in bringing them to a confirmation in those sinful practises wherein through error they are already and so it may be an impiety and sin against God too who is concerned in them Vers 13. Therefore if to eat a Feast in an Idol-Temple or any use of my liberty in the same kind be an occasion of confirming any Christian in an erroneous sinful practise or of bringing him to do any thing which is unlawful I will be sure to deny my self the use of that liberty supposed it be such as by the Laws of Christ truly belongs to me when it shall prove of such dangerous consequence to my fellow-Christians Note Whatever hath been spoken by way of a plain Paraphrase out of the forementioned places of Scripture makes nothing at all against any Mans conformity to the use of the Common-Prayer-Book now by Law established 1. Nothing out of Rom. 14. makes against it for these following reasons 1. Because no Man who is a Christian can possibly be so weak in the faith unless he be wilful too as to scruple at prayer as such it being the great duty of a Christian or at Prayer in a set-form because it is authorized out of both Testaments and was ever the practise of Christs Church so to pray or at the set-form of Common-Prayer established in our Church because it is conform to all ancient Liturgies and to the Liturgy of the Roman-Church too is not denied so far as that is conform to the Prayers of the ancient and primitive Church but no otherwise besides every branch of it is reducible to the Lords Prayer the Creed and Ten Commandements is agreeable to Scripture and most delivered in the very Scripture-phrase and framed up according to St. Paul's prescribed Model 1 Tim. 2.1 2. Vid. Dr. Hammond Annot. in Locum 2. All this supposed and as easie to be proved as supposed I believe no Christian can pretend to that tenderness of conscience as to be grieved in his conscience for doing that which is so agreeable to God's Word and the practise of all the Church-Christian all the World over 2. Nothing out of 1 Cor. 8. makes against Conformity unless these weak Christians will say which I know they will not least they should be accounted wicked rather than weak 1. That God is an Idol 2. That to pray to God in his House of Prayer or to be present at Christian Festivals and Services in his Temple is Idolatry besides if any should be so perverse and yet mask it under pretence of tenderness of conscience as to be offended at us in so doing and by so doing discharging our duty I do not see how we can leave off these things to gratifie them for we have consciences as well as they have and as tender apt to be grieved as theirs and we understand our Christian liberty as well as they do and it may be in some things better too for we know this liberty is not so in our power as to use it and not use it when we please to gratifie and comply with every passion and distemper but we are bound up by Laws which by Authority deriv'd from God's Laws have power to bind the conscience to serve God in such set-forms and at such set-times neither do I see how any power upon earth can disoblige us from obedience to those just Laws which are impos'd upon us by lawful Superiors how can we to satisfie another Mans conscience take off our obedience from those whom we are commanded to be subject to not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 our Christian liberty hath freed us from the Ceremonial