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
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
nature of the things themselves but the just Laws of lawful Superiours make necessary indeed neither are to be Judg one of another in such things but Christ is to be the Judg of all being sent by his Father and commissionated to that Office Vers 11. As it was long before predicted Isay 45.23 which Prediction was to have its completion in Christ incarnate Phil. 2.9 10 11. who is constituted the one Supreme Judg of all to whose Judicature every one must submit and give account for his own actions Therefore it is very unreasonable that one private Christian should judg another and reject one another from Communion for this belongs only to Christ and those Governours of his Church who are his delegates and are endowed with the power of the Keys and Censures Vers 12. Therefore let this fault be mended by you that are fellow-Christians do not any longer censure and separate from one anothers communion for such indifferent and circumstantial things as these are only be careful not to scandalize the weaker Christians by putting stumbling blocks in their way to hinder their coming clear over to Christianity cast no gall-traps in the way of weak Judaizing Christians to wound their Consciences and to cause them to fall back from Christianity which they will be in danger to do when they see those liberties used among Christians which they deem utterly unlawful Vers 14. I am confident and make no question but that by the coming of Christ the Mosaical difference of Meats is taken away and all Meats are lawful in themselves to be eaten by Christians but yet the same Meats are unlawful to those who are so perswaded in their conscience and have not yet attained to the right understanding of their Christian liberty Vers 15. But if thou who understandest thy liberty dost for a matter of this nature despise and cast off thy Fellow-Christian who understands it not and by so doing dost discourage him from going on in Christianity Surely thou walkest contrary to the rule of Christian charity which is to draw all to piety and to drive none away and this will be a great fault in thee for so light a thing as this to drive him from Christianity and so destroy him for the saving of whom Christ was content to lay down his Life Vers 16. Ye may use your Christian liberty but ye do not well if ye so use it as to make it tend to an others hurt for that will be the defaming of that which is in it self indifferent or innocent Vers 17. Christianity consists not in such external matters when left indifferent in their use as they are in their nature and not commanded by lawful Superiors for decency and order but in the practise of Christian vertues such as â—bedience to the Laws of Superiours iâ— things not sinful mercy peace delight to do one another good to build up one another in piety not dividing and hating and excommunicating one another Vers 18. All these are acts of obedience to Christ that are sure to be accepted by God and to be of good report among all good men Vers 19. Therefore let us most zealously attend to these things which may thus preserve peace between all sorts of Christians though of different perswasions and which tend to the drawing Men to Christianity not driving them from it Vers 20. Let not so inconsiderable â—aâ—ters as these external things wherein no Man who is instructed in his Christian liberty places any Religion further than obedience to the just Laws of lawful Superiours disturb that peace and unity which ought to be among Believers though of different perswasions about indifferent things For a Man may eat any thing simply consider'd but if by so doing he aliens others from the Gospel by despising and avoiding them who dare not do so this is a sin in him Vers 21. It is not charitable to make use of any part of Christian liberty when by thy so doing another Man is deterred from the Christian faith and by some unhappy occasion of thy misused liberty is so galled and wounded in his Conscience as that he cannot with any inward comfort or satisfaction go on in the discharge of his Christian duty Vers 22. If thou hast a clear understanding of thy Christian liberty it is well for thee but use it betwixt God and thy self not always before Men when it may be in danger to hurt them and when it is not necessary to reveal thy practâ—se in such matters yet when commanded by lawful Authority things indifferent in their nature become necessary in their use He is a happy Man who when he knows a thing lawful doth so manage the practise of it that he hath therein no reason to accuse or condemn hmself Vers 23. But there is no reason that the scrupulous Christian should be evil intreated by thee for not daring to do as thou dost when he thinks himself in conscience otherwise obliged for it would be a damning sin in him to do what his conscience tells him is an unlawful action For whoever does any thing though the thing be in it self lawful which is in his perswasion sinful and unlawful he certainly sins in so doing Rom. 15. Vers 1. The more instructed Christians who rightly understand the nature and extent of their Christian liberty ought to help and relieve those who do not understand it and to be watchful to keep them from falling into sin not to please themselves too much by presumeing upon their own strength and knowledg so as to neglect and despise others who have not so much Vers 2. We should all of us rather do what good we can towards the edification of other Men. Vers 3. Herein following the most imitable Example of our Saviour who did not so much consider the pleasing of himself as to do what was of publick concernment reckoning all that befell his Father to fall upon him and being as tender of God's honour as of his own 1 Cor. 8. Vers 1. We who are Orthodox Christians have that knowledg of our Christian liberty and therefore ought not to be despised by those who in pride of heart separate themselves from us that together with our knowledge we hold charity and the love of God which inclines us to suffer any thing for Christ's sake so that an Idol-feast is no trouble to our Consciences for we need not to come at them to save us from persecution a little of this courage and love of Christ is much better than all the pretended deep knowledge of those who choose to comply with any Religion which their own Conscience tells them is false rather than confess and suffer for Christ and that Religion which their own Conscience tells them is the only true Religion Vers 2. Therefore if Men please themselves with an Opinion of knowledg from such subtilties as these and so come to despise other Men and not consider what tends to their good and edification they are