3.8 So that being compassed with so much guilt and finding no help on Earth it becomes the Soul in this fear with Jehosophat 2 Chron. 20.12 to fly to heaven and say I have no might O God against this great Multitude of transgressions that is set in array against me neither know I what to do but my eyes are upon thee my onely refuge and last hope and unless I find health and help in thee I must inevitably Perish But Lord do not cast me off but have mercy c. But although this sense be very genuine we may take the freedome for the inlarging our thoughts and assisting our Devotions to pursue the Metaphor and explaine it in that manner as a generall inference c. § 8. But thou O Lord have mercy upon us miserable sinners When we have thus discovered our deplorable condition we must not run away from God by the entertainment of despairing thoughts both because it is impossible to escape him (q) Non est quo fugias à Deo irato nisi ad Deum placatum August in Psal 7. and by attempting to fly from God we run into the evils we fear and hasten from him that alone can help us to what we desire and need Let us come therefore but not with the Pharisees I thank thee (r) Luke 18.11 but with the Publicans Lord be merciful as the Church from his Example hath taught us And when we are before him let us not ask any favours till we have begged a removal of the evils which are upon us viz. The guilt the punishment and the dominion of sin which are here so contrived into three Petitions that every one is joyned with a Motive to enforce it so that our Misery pleads for Mercy our free Confession cries for a removal of the Punishment and our hearty Reformation begs deliverance from all our contracted Indispositions The first thing in our view is our present Misery which is so plain we cannot over look it and so great we cannot but feel it and we are taught to beseech our God to look upon it for Misery is the proper object of Mercy (s) Misericordia est alienae miseriae quaedam in nostro corde compassio qua utique si possumus subvenire compellimur August Civ Dei l. 9. c. 5. That benigne Attribute is ever looking upon the Creatures present sufferings without reflecting on the deserts of the sufferer and is moved with the sight of a distressed Person whatever be the cause of his calamity Therefore when nothing else in God can give any comfort to a poor sinking sinner that knows he is not more miserable then he hath made himself by his wickedness then he can lay hold of this The Publican that dares not look up to heaven can yet say Miserere and as Mercy is the sinners chiefest comfort so it is that Attribute that moves God to forgive and pardon (t) Rom. 11.32 Hebr. 8.12 Psalm 51.1 2. so that to beg for mercy and desire forgiveness are all one as in that eminent Penitential Psalm David begins with Have mercy on me and immediately explains it by the removing his offences in like manner here we pray for pardon in our Have mercy on us because Mercy is the Almoner to distribute this principal act of Divine bounty and grants out all pardons It is not from any desert in us but a meer compassion of our distress and a pure act of Free grace that disposeth God to take away sin * Isai 43.25 We have no friend in the Court of Heaven to obtain it but Mercy and no Argument to plead for it but Misery if we come with We have prayed fasted waited (u) Isai 58.3 we seem to apply our selves to Gods Justice But he that from a heart secretly groaning under the apprehensions of its distress cries out for Mercy because he is Miserable he shall pierce Mercies ears and cause her to open her compassionate eyes to see and stretch out her gracious hand to help and if she be thy Advocate she will cause the bowels of the Almighty to yearn upon thee (x) Jerem. 31.20 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide 1 Reg. 3.26 prop. viscera matris vel iâ—volnera quibus foetus in utero continetur at saepe pro misericordid Dei with the same affection that the tender Mother did when she heard the cryes of her poor sprawling infant under the merciless sword of the bloody executioner But then you must be sure first to view your sin and danger fully that you may be fully convinced of your Misery and cry in a pungent sense thereof most earnestly Lord have Mercy for otherwise this will be a feigned cry and an intolerable abuse of this sweet Attribute what can provoke God more then for a man to call Mercy forth which is ready enough to come and then through impenitence or laziness or not discerning our need of it to send it back empty alas such are more miserable because they see not their misery (y) Nihil est miserius misero non miserante seipsum and they are never like to be delivered from that misery because by these feigned calls they have so often mocked God and affronted this their only friend that if at last they call in earnest when Death is before their eyes Mercy then will not come § XI Spare thou them O God that confess their faults The elder brother that knew the fidelity and constancy of his service expects a large reward but the poor Prodigal that was conscious of his offences will esteem it a high favour to escape a severe Chastisement and utter exclusion from his Fathers house and presence they that are not sensible of their guilt fear not punishment and esteem a deliverance scarce worth the asking But he that considers the multitude of his own offences and Gods abhorrency of them and remembers the terrors of his threatnings and strictness of his justice the fierceness of his anger when he begins and the impossibility of avoiding that stroke which no place can hide him from (z) Josh 8.20 Non erat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in eis Manus ad pugnandum vel pedes ad fugiendum RR. LXX Vulg. Masius Nen erat iis locus ut Deut. 2.37 C. P. J. nostr Vers Non erant in eis vires ita Drus no hands resist no feet fly from nor no strength endure To this poor soul Gods pity is desirable and it is accounted a great mercy he hath not yet felt the weight of Gods wrath such an one begs earnestly he never may feel it or however not sink eternally under it he can pray as heartily before the stroke come as otheâ—s when the smart extorts it from them When the Israelites heard the cry of Egypt and saw the slaughter of so many first born (a) Exod 12.13 Fagius in locum they then thought it a mercy not to be slain worthy the celebrating with
omne princiâ—ium huc refer exitum we now give that to him our selves which we prayed might be offered him from others For the sense of these words they may be an acknowledgment of his infinite perfections who is not praised by flattery but by a bare confession of the truth what he really is and hath in by and from himself and we fall short of what he is and deserves in our most exact acknowledgments for his Kingdome is everlasting and universal his power infinite and unlimited his glory transcendent and incomprehensible we may repeat them but can neither fully comprehend them nor express them but by silence and admiration only we confess our own subjection weakness and misery and ascribe all these to him Kings must lay down their Crowns Mighty men their Strength and the Honourable men of the Earth their glory at his foot-stool These words considered in themselves thus are an Act of Praise but being connected to the prayer by the particle for they are a proper Conclusion to this Divine Prayer and seem to contain a reason of every Petition for we are obliged to pray that his Kingdome may come because he is the right and lawful King of Heaven and Earth and to desire his will may be done because he hath the just Power and Supremacy over all to command what he pleaseth and to wish his name may be hallowed because he is glorious in himself and deserves all possible praises from all the World so likewise in the three last Petitions of him we ask for a Temporal supply because he is the King of all Creatures and all provisions are his of him we beg a Pardon for he only hath full Power and just Authority to dispense it and of him lastly we request deliverance from Sin and Damnation because he may have the same glory from us as he now hath and ever shall have from the blessed Saints whom he hath brought to his heavenly Kingdome or if this seem too nice and we reflect upon the whole prayer together here we are struck with reverence in remembrance of that great King we have spoken to we declare why we make our addresse to him and what ground we have to hope for acceptance with him His is the Kingdome therefore we his poor subjects do petition him and it is his Prerogative to help and by his Supremacy he may do it His is the Power therefore we his weak impotent Creatures look up to him and rely upon him who is able to do all we desire and being Almighty can perform it His is the Glory and therefore we vile sinners that can do nothing without him though we deserve nothing from him yet we present our necessities before him that by his free grace he may have that glory from us which he hath from all others that he hath formerly relieved Leave thy prayers then with much comfort in his hands who is thy Heavenly Father and may do abundantly for thee by his Right and can do it by his Power and will do it for his Glory both this day to morrow and for ever come when thou wilt he is and hath Kingdome Power and Glory from everlasting to everlasting this is no mortal King nor fading Power nor transient glory but all endures longer then thy wants even for ever and ever Oh how hearty an Amen mayest thou say to this Prayer since as thou hast great reason to desire all these things should be granted thou hast as good ground to believe they shall Amen The Paraphrase of the Lords Prayer after the Absolution MOst merciful Lord God who hast owned us for thy Children by Creating us preserving and providing for us and after our manifold disobedience hast by this gracious promise of Pardon again encouraged us to call thee Our Father thy mercy in receiving us exceeds the Compassions of Earthly Parents and thy infinite goodness and power do evidence thy glory and teach us humbly to adore thee which art in Heaven and therefore thou canst do what thou pleasest in all the world But we are so transported with thy admirable pitty towards us and all poor sinners that forgetting our own wants we heartily desire thy glory even that by us and all men hallowed sanctified reverenced and for ever feared may be thy Name from which we have had our help and thy Attributes in which we have our comfort let us ever express a fervent love and dutiful regard to thee and all belonging to thee Oh Lord we lately were as many yet are in rebellion against thee but since we have sound thee so merciful a Prince Oh let thy Kingdome come into all our hearts to rule us by thy grace and to fit us against it shall come in glory for the Crowning of thy servants and the Condemnation of thy Enemies whose misery thou delightest not in but deferrest thy coming because it is thy will we should live in holiness here and happiness hereafter Dear Father let this thy will be done by our obedience to thy Word and submission to thy Providence for then shall all the world be happy when thy good will and pleasure is done by us and on us thy poor Creatures in earth as readily and fully as constantly and cheerfully as it is in heaven by the blessed Saints and Angels whose food it is to execute thy Commands But Lord thou knowest the frailty of our nature and the misery of our Condition which needs continual support and supplies and forceth us to beseech thee who hast all blessings at thy disposal to give us this day which for any thing we know may be our last and therefore we look no further nor ask no more then out daily bread even so much food and raiment health and wealth prosperity and success as thou seest is necessary and convenient for us in this state of life and condition in which thou hast placed us that we may be able to serve thee not encouraged to forget thee or enticed to encrease the number of our sins which are so many already that we must daily acknowledge and bewail them and remembring the vengeance due unto us for them we earnestly beseech thee to pardon and forgive us our trespasses against thy righteous laws and just authority for Jesus sake who hath made satisfaction for them gracious Lord by his Merits forgive us as we by the help of thy grace the injunction of thy Gospel and the example of thy mercy forgive them that trespass against us in fewer and lesser matters we tremble at the remembrance of all those amazing miseries which our former sins made us lyable to Oh let that mercy which moved thee to Pardon us prevail with thee to become our guide and though we deserve to be deserted by thee yet that we may never fall again into those dreadful circumstances lead us not into any dangerous occasions or opportunities of sin but though many snares be laid for us guide us so by thy Providence
to desire God to be unjust But our Lord Jesus who payed our scores hath sent us to his Father with these words in our mouths and he calls them truly Our Trespasses to shew his love in redeeming us and Gods mercy in forgiving us not to make us fear them as unpardonable for when we remember our Redeemer we have lively hopes in the midst of our humble acknowledgments because he that payed our Debt makes the same request in heaven for us That God would clear us and charge our iniquities upon him But because we are so apt to remember our needs and forget our duty to pray for good things to our selves and neglect the doing them to others our master hath annexed one of the greatest duties of the Gospel so close to this necessary and desirable request that we cannot ask forgiveness of God but we must promise the same to our neighbours that so Christ may make peace in Earth as well as Heaven we must declare not only to lay as de our groundless prejudices against our bretheren bâ—t to q it all pretences of malice or revenge even to those who have not payed us the returns of love and duty where they were obliged to it and to our enemies that have wronged and harmed us by thought word or deeds Not that our Pardon from God depends absolutely on this or is merited by it but because it is most reasonable that we who request forgiveness of our offences against God should forgive the lesser debts (s) Veniam det facile cui veniâ est opus Ecclus 28.3 Matth. 18.24 cum 28. 10000 Tal. h. e. nostrae monet 1870500 lb 100 Denar h. c. 3. lb 2. sol 6. den vide Waser de Num. ap Critic of our bretheren to uâ— which are fewer in number smaller in valew committed against a meaner person and commonly upon some provocation on our part He that doth so strictly exact his due in these petty injuries deserves to be strictly accounted with himself and may blush to ask of so great a God to abate of his rigour when he a mortal creature will not do it to his Equall how can such a malicious person be sensible of the kindness which God sheweth in forgiving him when he is a stranger to those compassions such a mans person must be hatefull to our Heavenly Father because he is so unlike him (t) Matth. 5.45 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al. lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grot. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Libanius Sophist and his request odious because it is unreasonable and impudent Wherefore take heed least by your malice and uncharitableness you involve your selves into the wrath of God for your own greater injuries and offences § 8. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Temptation doth not in its prime sense in Scripture signifie a sollicitation to evil but any kind of tryal (u) 2 Cor. 13.5 Heb. 11.29 and is expressed both by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Duae sunt tentationes una quae decipit altera quae probat secundum eam quae decipit Deus neminem Tentat Aug. Tract 43. in order to the discovery of what we are whether it be done by a Friend as when God tempted Abraham Gen. 22.1 or glorified him as some read with a design to manifest the strength of his Faith or by an enemy as when Sathan desired to sift St. Peter (x) James 1.13 not to purifie him but to manifest that mixture of chaff he could find in him and because evil objects shew what we are and declare us to be evil if we comply with them therefore the setting evil things before us to draw us into sin are also called Temptation but God never tempts thus he may try us by Afflictions and put us in the fire as Gold (y) 1 Pet. 1.6 7. to separate us from our dross nay he will do it (z) Zechar. 13.9 and it is a sign of his love (a) Heb. 12.6 and ought to be a cause of our joy (b) James 1.2 and David begs it as a favour (c) Psal 139.23 Nor do any but cheats and hypocrites fly this tryal or fear to be inquired into Gods Children are willing their Father should try them and tempt them here with intentions of mercy rather then to pass the severe Tryal before the last Tribunal and as to these tryals and temptations Christ would rather teach us to pray to be supported under and carried through them then never to be lead into them which if Gods grace be with us may be for our advantage and honour and his glory Wherefore by Temptation here we are rather to understand the being enticed to commit sin or however a trying whether we will sin and thus it well follows the former Petition (d) Vt non de remittendis tantum sed etiam de avertendis in totum delictis supplicaremus Tert. de Or. Illud ut praeterita eâ—pientur hoc ut futura vitentur Oros de liber arb for having considered the heinous nature and dangerous consequents of former sins and prayed for the forgiveness of them if we spoke that out of a real fear of those dreadful miseries we cannot but desire we may never more fall into such desperate circumstances and to quicken this request let us consider Our enemies are many and mighty vigilant and politick that we are naturally easie and willing to be deceived rash in our choices heedless of danger neither considering before nor examining afterwards and so shall certainly fall every moment it God in mercy do not help us and if we be humble and fear and heartily call for aid against sin (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian l. 4. c. 12. although we should fall some times we declare our hatred of it and if we be not totally free yet we manifest a desire to be free from all and for this we rely not on our own strength but as Jesus hath taught us humbly beg strength from Heaven every day against it But some may wonder why we desire God would not lead us c. sure he that hates sin so perfectly and so lately forgave us will not tempt us to commit more (f) James 1.13 't is most true Sathan is the Tempter (g) Matth. 4.3 and so his name Sathan in Hebrew signifies he being miserable by sin (h) Solatium perditionis suae perdendis hominibus operatur Lact. de orig er desires to make men partners with him in sin and misery by working on those lusts (i) Jam. 1.14 which do draw us into sin But the Devil himself is under the Command of the Almighty who sets him bounds that he cannot pass and gives permission to him to tempt us (k) Job 1.12 Chal. P. Exiit Sathanas cum licentiae à coram Domino so that he could have no power against us except it were given him from on high
(u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexandr Paedag. as the Christians form of praising God above 100 years before the Councel of Nice An. 190. besides it appears it was used in the service of the Church before or somewhat very like it (x) Gloria Deo Patri honor item adoratio cum filio collegâ unà cum Sancto vivificatore Spiritu Athanasius because the Arrians did alter the antient form into Glory be to the Father by the Son and in the holy Ghost for which they are sharply reprehended by the Orthodox Fathers who afterward annexed it to their publique Devotions in this Form in which we now have it All which doth not only prove the Antiquity of it but teach us that it may serve for two purposes first as a form of Praising God and glorifying every Person of the Trinity which was the first design of those that invented it Secondly as a shorter Creed and declaration of our Faith in the Trinity in Unity which was the use it was fitted to afterwards I wish we might have no occasion to make use of it in the second sense as a Teste for Hereticks though the Disciples of Socinus and Fanatick Enthusiasts do even still deride or deny this mistery but if there were no such it might still serve its principal end to be a Form of ascribing all Praise and Glory to the Supreme Being and an Act of Adoration to each Person which we are obliged particularly to pay because every one of the Persons in the Trinity hath done peculiar benefits for us so that it is our Duty to Praise the Father for our Creation the Son for our Redemption the Holy Ghost for our Sanctification The Father hath sent us into the world and preserves and provides for us in it The Son hath lived with us and died for us and being returned to his Glory is still mindful of us The Holy Ghost doth come to us and stay with us as a guard and a guide a comforter and an advocate cleering our minds cleansing our hearts quickening our affections and enforcing our prayers and shall we not then be highly ungrateful if we pay not a particular tribute to every Person in special as well as to all in general Remember the Angels sung praise to the undivided and ever-blessed Trinity in the morning of the Creation the beginning of all time (y) Job 38.7 and they and all the world do it now and both men and Angels shall continue this Jubilee to eternity As long as goodness endures (z) Omnes tam orationes quam oblationes cessabunt in seculo futuro sed oblatio gratiarum nunquam cessabit R.D.K. Psal 100.4 gratitude and praise cannot cease This was and is and ever shall be done in all ages and generations (a) Psal 145.4 The Patriarchs and Prophets did it in the beginning of the Church the Apostles and Martyrs in the first planting of the Gospel All these though removed to heaven continue to sing praises to the Trin-une God there as we and all Pious Christians do here and there will never want tongues in Heaven nor Earth to sing this gratulatory Hymn for all generations Observe further the Comprehensiveness of these few words which extend to all things as well as to all times and persons and present at once to our view all the Mercies of God past present and to come and are an acknowledgment that all the good that ever was or shall be done or is now enjoyed in heaven or earth hath proceeded from this all-sufficient and ever-flowing fountain to whom this tribute of praise is and was and ever will be due Behold then oh pious soul a glorious Quire of Angels Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Saints and Martyrs in Heaven with all holy Men and Women in all the world at once with united voices and joyful hearts to sing this triumphant Song let this inspire thee with holy raptures and extasies of Devotion to bear a part here on earth and when thou art taken hence thy place shall be supplied by the succeeding generations and thou shalt be advanced to a state as endless as his mercy where thou shalt praise him to eternity What better form can we have to glorifie God by then this which is a declaration of our faith a discharge of our homage in which we acknowledge his former mercies and confess his present favours to us and all the world and glorifie him for both we hope in him for those that are to come expecting all from him and resolving upon those returns of Eucharist which we will for ever make to him How can this be done too often or repeated too frequently surely his mercies are more frequent then our praises can be Those that censure this as a vain repetition would ill have digested the hundred blessings (b) Deut. 10.12 R. R. legunt pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro quid leg centum unde unusquisque benetur centum benedictiones quotidiè reddere which the Jews are bid to say every day and might be offended at Davids seven times a day (c) Psal 119.64 and St. Pauls charge to rejoyce alwaies (d) 1 Thess 5.18 Philip. 4.4 but as God never thinks it too often to relieve us let us never think his praises too many tedious or impertinent but in Psalms Letanies and every thing let us give thanks and when Gloria Patri is not in our mouths let it be in our heart that we may never forget his benefits To this we shall only add the particular reason why the Church hath placed it in the close of the penitential part of daily Prayer and that is in imitation of holy David who commonly when he hath made his Confession and declared his distress (e) Psal 6.9 and 130.7 and begged pardon and deliverance turns his petitions into Praises because of his lively hope of acceptance so we being full of hopes that our gracious Father will forgive us for his Sons sake by the Ministry of his spirit We I say do now give glory to the Father who granteth this Absolution to the Son who purchased and obtained it and to the Holy Ghost who sealeth and dispenseth it to us and we also call to mind those innumerable instances of the like infinite mercies to poor sinners which have been and ever shall be to the worlds end and what heart can conceive or tongue express that exstasy of ravishing pleasures which we shall feel at the last day when we and all true Penitents that ever were or shall be shall all joyn in singing songs of praise to our deer Redeemer whom we shall love much because much is forgiven us we can foresee those Anthems which shall then be sounded on the battlements of Heaven by millions of glorious souls rescued from destruction and we by Faith have such a sense hereof that we begin now that Song that we shall sing for evermore § 5. Praise ye the Lord the Lords
benedicam tibi laudabo nomen tuum c. Vulg. Lat. only altering the Tense and Person Lord help us for we are thy servants paying thee the daily tribute of Praise Whatever thou bestowest on us will not be forgotten nor buâ—ied in ungratefull silence We meet in thy house every day to magnifie thee in this manner and to set our the glory of thy Name in every thing thou dost for u. Withold not thy mercy for we will not withold thy Praise and since we resolve daily to do the work of Angelâ— Lord keep us pure as they are for praise is neither seemly nor acceptable in the mouth of a sinner Let not us who are thy servants in the morning be the devils slaves before night (z) Coepisti meliùs quam desinis ultima primis Distant but preserve us holy all day that our afternoon sins may not rob us of the benefit of this dayes Praises nor indispose us against the next morning when our duty will return Dear Jesus look on our frailty and strengthen us look on our guilt and misery and Pardon us We cry earnestly and double our request Jesus Master (a) Math. 20.30 31. have mercy on us have mercy on us for our needs are great and pressing unless we find mercy for former sins we must be condemned by thee and except we obtain mercy for future assistance we shall be overcome by Sathan Oh shut not out our Prayer consider not our merits but our distress we know we deserve nothing but we have great hopes such is thy transcendent goodness that we shall have what we desire Those that were better then we have put words in our mouths who in the Psalms (b) Psal 33.22 Sit misericordia tua Domine super nos quemadmodum speravimus in te Psal 31.1 In te Domine speravi non confundar in aeternum Vulg. Lat. did not urge thee as if they had been worthy but only trusted in thy mercy and so do we We rely not on our selves or any Creature but on thee alone for we know thou canst help us and we have a persuasion thou wilt All the world sees by our daily attendance on thee that all our expectations are from thee Oh do not disappoint those hopes that are grounded on thy tender mercy least Sathan upbraid us and the world slight us (c) Ezra 8.22 Psal 22.7 8. and then which way can we look Lord be it unto us according to our Faith Amen Amen The Paraphrase of the Te Deum WE Praise thee most heartily for all we have learned out of thy holy Word O God and it shall be our care as it is our duty to observe thy Will since we acknowledge thee to be the Lord to whom we owe all Duty and Obedience We esteem it our happiness and honour to be accounted thy servants who art Lord of all the world and aâ—l the earth with its Inhabitants joyns with us and doth worship thee who aâ—t from Eternity and in all ages hast been acknowledged to be the Father everlasting Nor doth this lower world alone own thy Supremacy but Praise is given to thee by the several Orders of all Anâ—â—â—s who with harmonious voices cry aloud in proclaiming thy glory which is ever set forth by all the hosts of the Heavens the Thrones Dominions Principalities and the Powers that are therein To thee O God triumphant Hymns are sung in that Celestial Quire For the Cherubin on one side and the Seraphin on the other with ravishing melody chart thy Praise and in their mysterious adorations they continually do cry one to another Holy Father Holy Son Holy Spirit three Persons but one Lord thou art tâ—e most mighty God of Savaoth the supream commander of all the hosts of Heaven of us and the innumerable myriods of blessed Spirits Thou makest us happy with beholding and the Sons of men with expecting thy glory so that all the Inhabitants of Heaven and Earth rejoyce in thee because all parts of the Universe are full of those manifestations of thy power and goodness which declare the majesty of thy glory Thus the Angels sing and for our great comfort many of our bretheren now glorified bear a part with them The glorious company of the Apostles who Preached Christ and with unwearied diligence and patience admirable courage and fidelity shewed he was come to save the world these are now in those regions of bliss and there for ever praise thee As also all those harbingers of thy Sons comming inspired at sundry times and in divers manners these are now met in glory and make up the goodly fellowship of the Prophets whose words we read on earth but they now are happy in beholding him of whom they foretold and now continually praise thee To all which blessed numbers are added those undaunted Legions who sealed the truth of the Prophets predictions and the Apostles preaching with their blood even The noble army of Martyrs who conquered infidelity and cruelty by Faith and Patience these now are passed from torments to their reward and they with all other Saints and Angels with united hearts and voices sweetly praise tâ—ee Oh Lord we long to be there that we might see thee as clearly and praise thee as heartily as they do But since we can now know thee only by Faith we must glorifie thee by agreeing with The holy Church even our faithful bretheren throughout all the world in the Confession of that True Faith whereby every good Christian doth acknowledge thee to be what thou hast revealed thy self to be in thy holy word We believe in that Trinity which the Angels worship even in thee the Father who by creating and governing all the World declaredst thy self to be of an infinite Majesty And we believe in him that is equal in glory with thee and one in nature thine honourable true and only begotten Son who hath redeemed us that we of slaves of Sathan might be thy adopted Sons We do believe and acknowledge also the Holy Ghost to be very God equal to and with the Father and the Son and is the advocate for us in Heaven and the Comforter of us on the Earth And these Three Persons are One God Thy grâ—cious condescension O blessed Jesus shall not Eclipse thy Divine Perfection for though thou camest in our likeness to Redeem us yet we believe thou art equal with the Father and the King of Glory for thou ever wa st most glorious in thy self and thou O Christ art anointed of God a King and Priest for ever From eternity thou art God neither hadst thou thy beginning when thou wast made the Son of Man for thou art the everlasting Son begotten of the Father before the world began Yet blessed be thy name thou didst change thy Glory for Misery and sufferedst thy Eternity to be measured by time for when thou tookest upon thee that glorious design to deliver man from eternal death thou didst not abhor the meanest
Deo propitiante intromittatur Concil Vasens can 5. that it should be said in the Morning and Evening Prayer and in the Communion Offâ—ce with great Contrition and Devotion By which it appears that though these words were so sacred that the Heathens used them in their Prayers (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian in Epict. l. 2. c. 7. yet they learned them either from David or the Christian Church where the use hereof was so familiar that we read that Antioch was delivered from an Earth-quake by the Peoples going barefoot in procession and saying this short Litany Lord have mercy on us (d) Paul Diacon lib. 16. No doubt if with humility and fervency we repeat it Our souls may be delivered from sin and our following supplications might be more acceptable for it signifies Lord be gracious (e) Deus sis propitius Ita Vers Jun. Trem. unto us or shew compassion and favour toward us in receiving and answering the Prayers we are about to make especially the Lords Prayer wherein we must not presume to call God Father until we have intreated for grace and mercy But concerning the repetition of the LORDS PRAYER in this place our designed brevity allows us only here to say that being the best of all Prayers it cannot be used too often and having the best of all Authors for its Composer even him for whose sake all our requests are heard it may seem to consecrate the Petitions annexed to it since they are formed by this Pattern and contain nothing but what is agreeable to this form which hath upon it the Royal stamp of Divine Authority Nor should the frequency of its returns abate our devotion in the use since Jesus did thrice pray in the same words Only as before it was applied for the Confirmation of our Pardon so now it must respect the following Petitions to which we may so heartily unite it that they may be more acceptable for its sake and we may make amends for any Petition thereof which was not so zealously put up by reason of intervening distractions when it was said before by asking that with a doubled earnestness now which then we forgot or sligâ—tly passed over § 4. Psal 85.7 O Lord shew thy mercy upon us Answ And grant us thy salvation From the recital of that sacred Form of Prayer which Jesus left us we pass to the interlocutory Petitions by this grateful variety taking off the tediousness and adding to the pleasure of the duty as also quickening the attention and uniting the hearts of the performers And herein the Minister begins as the commissionated Embassador of Heaven yet the people follow and bear a part as a badge of their honour and an engagement to their watchfulness charity and devotion while both contribute heat to each others affections and vigour to these short and sweet ejaculations taken for the most part out of the great storehouse of Divine Offices the Psalms of David and being an Epitome of the ensuing Collects for Grace and Peace for Kings Priests and People that they may be replenished with all sorts of blessings The words of which sentences are so significant and comprehensive that it will be hard to make a better Collection and yet so plain and obvious that we discourse of them rather for the help of Devotion then any necessity of explication This first Versicle is a general Petition for Mercy and Salvation and seems to be the sum of all the weekly Collects for one or both of these are commonly the subject of them we prayed for Mercy in the Lord have mercy c. and now we beg some visible token thereof viz. some such wonderful deliverance (f) Psal 36.17 Psal 64. penult that all the world may see and say it is his salvation We need mercy to pardon pitty and help us in the way and we desire salvation at the end even that eternal salvation which is his by inheritance possession and purchase and can only be ours in his right and by his mercy so that it is fit we call it his salvation and first crave mercy (g) Quia non aliunde inducitur Deus ut salvator nisi quia misericors est Calv. in loc before we presume to ask it because we cannot otherwaies merit or obtain it but by his mercy § 5. Psal 20. ult O Lord save the Kingâ— Answ And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee This twentieth Psalm whence this is taken may be intituled a Prayer for the King for after many Petitions for his prosperity it concludes with this summary ejaculation even in these very words (h) Psal 20. ult LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ita Vulg. Lat. Vatabl. vide Hammond Annot. Psal 20. d as the Greek Interpreters and their followers do on good grounds read them And for the Phrase it self it is the same with that so usual acclamation God save the King (i) 1 Sam. 10.24 Chal. Par. Sit faelix Rex 1 Kings 1.25.39 2 Kings 11.12 alibi Vivat Rex vel Vivat in aeternum wherein we do in one woâ—d wish the King prosperity and peace long life and health victory and everlasting felicity And this we do not as many Parasites only at the Coronation when every one adores the rising Sun but we repeat it most loyally and devoutly every day earnestly desiring his welfare and safety and because in his peace we shall have peace we humbly beg this request may alwaies find acceptance and that we may be heard and our dear and dread Soveraign blessed every day withall pre-ingaging as it were the Almighty against a time of more especial need viz. that when by reason of wars or tumults we come in the behalf of our Prince to beg a particular blessing for Him and his Armies that we may then prevail so that the Praying as well as fighting legiors may be esteemed the defence and guard of his Person and his Rights § 6. Psal 132.9 Endue thy Ministers with right ousness Answ And make thy chosen people joyful This Prayer for the holy Tribe indited by David seems to have been a part of the Jewish Liturgy for it was solemnly used by Solomon at the dâ—dication of the Temple Let thy Priests be clothed (k) 2 Chron. 6.46 Exod. 28.2 36. saith he with Righteousness alluding no doubt to the holy Garments appointed for their ministration which did signifie that extraordinary and peculiar sanctity which was required in those who approached so near to God The sense of which Petition our Church hath significantly given in the word endue lightly changed from the Latine indue which refers to the qualifications of the mind as the word Cloth to the covering of the body So that here we pray that they may have souls pure as their linnen Ephod and lives spotless and holy as the garments they are clothed with not content to have their outward man arrayed with the sign but endeavouring to
have their inward man endued and adorned with the purity signified thereby And this Petition we make to him who hath promised to deck his Priests with health (l) Psal 132.16 Isai 61.10 and to cloath them with the garment of salvation and the robe of righteousness that his Saints may re-rejoyce and sing For the holy lives and good success of pious and painful Ministers is an extraordinary and a huge delight to Gods people who therefore do here use it as an argument to enforce their request for the Ministers For we say they are not of the number of those who glory in the crimes of the Ministers of God or rejoyce in their calamities because O Lord we love thee and them wherefore if thou wilt please to give them health and safety righteousness and peace we shall thrive under their care and joyfully follow their good examples the benefit and the pleasure will be ours and the glory shall be thine for this and all thy mercies § 7. Psal 28.9 O Lord save thy people Answ And bless thine inheritance The kindness of the Congregation to the Minister expressed in the last Responsal is here most lovingly and thankfully returned and required by him who now prays for them as heartily as they for him before which cannot but endeer the Priest and people one to another since they daily do thus mutually interchange offices of love Wherefore let both joyn in this comprehensive request that God would save and deliver his people from all evil and bless and furnish them with all good things since they are his peculiar inheritance and so may expect a special defence and relief from their own God But of this before in the TE DEVM § 8. 1 Chron. 22.9 Give peace in our time O Lord Answ Because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou O God It pleased God to make particular Promises to Solomon Hezekiah and Josiah (m) 1 Chron. 22.9 Isai 39.8 2 Kings 22.20 that he would give peace in their days Wherefore we make bold to ask it for our times from the God of peace our only defence (n) Exod. 14.14 Deut. 1.30 against our enemies They who trust in their bow and rely on their sword care not to ask for Peace because they hope either to awe their foes into quietness or to make advantage by War as being sufficiently guarded and prepared But we even the Church of God know Armies and Navies are useless not only against God but without him and only successful by his blessing So that though we have both yet we account the Divine Providence our greatest security How well this Petition suited the Primitive Christians every one may discern who considers they judged it unlawful while the Emperors were Heathen to fight in their own defence (o) Luke 22.38 ita Explic. ab Origen in Cels l. 5. Ambros de Off. Basil August vid. Arnobius l. 1. p 6. And when Prayers and tears were their only weapons they might most justly (p) Ezra 8.22 be earnest with God for their defence who did so wholly depend on his Protection that his glory seemed concerned in their safety Yet it is not improper for us now though blessed be God we have Christian Princes and their forces to defend us for we wish there may be no occasion to use arms or if there be (q) Bellum gerere malis videtur foelicitas bonis necessitas Augustin we declare we rely not alone on these Preparations unless he please to bless them we know they are unserviceable Wherefore if it please him we desire peace and that he will keep off invasions and Rebellions for our time and so will the following generations for their daies that it may appear we wish to live in peace and do trust alone in the Lord of hosts § 9. Psal 51.10 11. O God make clean our hearts within us Answ And take not thy holy spirit from us Though Peace be accounted the chief of all blessings yet without grace it may do us more harm then good Wherefore we conclude with an carnest supplication for Grace to fit us for and help us in the following devotions We are now to offer up our incense and therefore do beseech the Author and lover of purity in holy Davids words to cleanse the Altars of our hearts that neither the guilt of former offences may unhallow or defile them nor any remaining evil thoughts may disturb the holy cloud but that it may ascend and he a sweet savour before the Throne of God And because it is the Holy Spirit alone which can effect this we pray that our hearts may be so pure as to invite this holy Dove to come unto us and remain with us that it may both make and keep us undefiled both in the remaining part of our Prayers and of our lives If we look back on those portions of the Office which we have performed I hope we shall have cause thankfully to acknowledge that the Divine Spirit hath been with us and excited the flames of our devotion the comfort of which aid makes us earnest for its continuance And certainly we could never have sent up these very sacred ejaculations with such fervent spirits united hearts and harmonious voices if the same spirit of zeal and love had not inspired us Therefore let the sweetness of this experience encourage us to beg that the Holy Ghost may stay among us so that we may as affectionately joyn in those Prayers where the Minister is the only speaker as we have done in these wherein we have had the honour and advantage of bearing our Parts and making our Responsals The Paraphrase of the Versicles and Responsals before and after the Lords Prayer Minister MY dear bretheren in the right Faith I do most affectionately salute you desiring The Lord and his grace may be with you to prosper you in that you now are doing Answer And we thankfully return the kindness desiring likewise the Lord may be with thy spirit to compose and excite it while thou speakest to God for us Minister Let not your thoughts wander but now Let us pray to God with fervency and devotion O Lord God the Father pitty pardon and have mercy upon us who are unworthy to call upon thee O Christ the son of God pitty pardon and have mercy upon us whose only hope is in thy Mediation and Redemption O Lord God the Holy Ghost pitty pardon and have mercy upon us and assist us in these our supplications Our Father which art c. Priest Consider our sin and misery with compassion O Lord and now shew some token of thy mercy upon us to our comfort Answ And grant us now and ever such wonderful deliverances from all evil that we may surely obtain thy salvation Priest O Lord thou Governor of all the world be pleased to bless preserve and save the King thine own Anointed Answ And mercifully hear us whose peace is linked
in the World if examined strictly will be found faulty in some particular and therefore there is no ground for us to Contend who are the vilest and worst of all if God resolve to punish there is Cause enough to be pleaded against the most holiest Person in the world therefore if we fear God will chastise us we must not pretend we are innocent and therefore hope to be spared but rather confess our evil-deservings without a judgment to force us and let our hope of sparing be founded on his Mercy not our Purity we are sinners but we may be spared for all that for if all Sinners must suffer the whole World must be condemned (o) Rom. 3.19 Sure God spares many and though many that are spared are better then we yet none altogether innocent none but must be judged with favour and mercy and if he please to judge us so we may escape also however 't is the best way if we fear Gods Anger to pray the Suit may be stopt for we do own our sins and the Lyon spareth the prostrate and that God may deliver us we may Pray with him Psalm 143.2 Lord thou chargest me with many sins and intendest to punish me for them and I come not to assert my self cleer but before thou summonest knowing my guilt I pray thee enter not into judgment neither reckon strictly in justice with thy Servant who confess I have deserved Punishment but hope thou wilt spare me who rely only on thy Mercy which is my best plea for in thy sight who seest so exactly and hatest sin so perfectly by defending their Innocence shall no Man not the holiest Person living in this dangerous World be acquitted or be justified without a favourable allowance which I beseech thee also shew to me Thirdly We are to consider that the very Corrections of God are mixed with so much Mercy and allayed by a supply of inward Comforts and made tolerable by his gracious purposes in sending them that we ought not altogether to decline them for if we feel no smart for our sin we may more easily run into it again (p) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. and consequently go on in it and pull upon our selves Eternal misery And the poor humbled Soul who sees the punishment of sin to be a being forsaken of God deprived of grace and glory delivered up to be a slave to the vilest lusts here and a Companion of the vilest Persons and horridest Devils hereafter will account a temporal Chastisement which delivers him from that a benefit and a favour and with Saint Augustine (q) Domine hic Vre seca liga ut pareas in aeternū will pray to be scorcht and scarrified lanced and bound here that they may be spared hereafter and this may perhaps teach you instead of fearing and flying Afflictions to desire as the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 10.24 to have some gentle correction with Gods smallest rod * 2 Sam. 7.14 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virgâ hominum infirmiorum with which he strikes his own Children for he is so merciful that we ought not to be afraid to fall into his gracious hands only to pray as the Prophet doth he will deal gently with us especially if we apprehend some Affliction likely to fall upon us then we must not absolutely desire God to lay by his Rod but to use it with judgment (r) Cum judicio modicè Junius Heb. in modo that is gently with consideration to our weakness or in a sober way in judgment (s) LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. Vatab. in judicio not as a furious angry person falls on a man who values not how nor where he striks nor cares if he take away our life but that it may please God in his Discipline to proceed as a sober and compassionate Judge that we may be amended and survive the strokes and be warned by the pain against future rebellions not so as that we should faint under his hand And if either we need or desire or are likely to be chastised we must not run from God but our best course is on trust of Gods compassion to deliver up our selves quietly to suffer and with Jeremy not to desire a total sparing but a mitigation Jerem. 10.24 Since thy justice obligeth thee to punish sinners and I have deserved so justly to suffer and am so apt to go on in sin till I smart for it I do beseech thee Correct me here with temporal afflictions O Lord that thou mayest spare me hereafter but let not this correction be proportionable to my deserts nor thy displeasure but let it be inflicted moderately with judgment and consideration of my infirmities punish me not in thy anger as thou dost thy enemies least thou bring me to nothing so that I fall under thy hand and survive not to be amended by it A Meditation Preparatory to Prayer in the fears of Gods Anger OH my soul what fearful tremblings are these have seized on thee so that the thoughts of God that have been and ought to be thy greatest comfort are now become thy terrour and amazement Whence is this miserable alteration that thou canst behold nothing but Judgment in the Father of Mercies and Anger in the Fountain of Love What hath provoked him that delights to spare to be resolved to punish Surely my sins are very many for it is not a few can incense him and they have more then ordinary aggravations for he is not so highly displeased at small offences and certainly I have often committed them and long continued in them for he begins not to frown upon the first misdemeanor Alas the case is too apparent My sins are both very many and exceeding great frequently repeated and of long continuance I have despised Mercy and now I am likely to feel Judgment Miserable wretch that I am I have tyred out the patience of a long-suffering Father and run from the embraces of a loving Saviour rejected the offers of a most indulgent holy Spirit so that now I fear I have stopped up the fountain of his Mercy (t) Isai 59.2 and unsealed the treasures of his vengeance (u) Deut. 33.34 And I ought rather to wonder how God could spare me so long then why he should strike me now since many have been cut off for fewer and lesser sins I see I have most justly deserved to suffer the worst of evils and therefore should esteem it an incomparable favour to be onely corrected with a temporal affliction if I might be so excused But it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (x) Hebr. 10.31 who I fear will begin by these and increase them till I be ruined by them and drop into a sad eternity Therefore O Lord my flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgments (y) Psalm 119.120 I know no
freely to purchase Gods favour but though men be thus appeased yet he must have something he likes better and truly the Sacrifices most likely to be accepted of God who needs no outward things are a broken spirit which trembles at his Anger and hateth it self for its sins and is almost dashed to pieces betwixt fear and sorrow Whoever therefore brings such a broken and a contrite heart let him think it never so vile yet O God thou whose favour such alone desire wilt not despise nor reject but accept and embrace both it and those that bring it 2. If they shall further argue against themselves that they deny not Gods gracious nature but that they fear their iniquities have turned his love into hatred his mercy into fury and his kindness into indignation Behold in the next place a free discovery of what God is to sinners (k) Dan. 9.9 for the Jews were then in captivity but had so grievously offended that Daniel who much desired their restauration scarce knew how to plead for them till at last he finds an Argument in Gods gracious Nature viz. That mercies and forgiveness that is many nay infinite mercies and forgiveness for numberless sins were Gods peculiar possession a principal part of his Name (l) Exod. 34.6 the chiefest of his Attributes and inseparably annexed to his Essence and therefore the sins of his creatures cannot make any change in God Mercy in the creatures is by communication from him but he is the original and fountain which is never dry therefore Daniel confesseth they are sinners but denies that therefore it is impossible to hope for pardon for their evil doings could not rifle his treasures nor rob him of his Attributes nor alter his Nature That continues the same still and therefore there is mercy to be had He confesses them guilty of all sorts of sins that is sins of commission and that even to an absolute rebelling and forsaking of God and apostacy from him (m) LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ita Vulg. Vat. by Idolatry and then also Omission and neglect of walking in Gods law though they were taught and instructed in it therefore they deserved no mercy But God is the fountain of mercies still and therefore there is yet hope Other Translations generally read not though but because we have sinned which is but a further illustration of the same sense viz. We may see and be convinced that Mercy is Gods peculiar possession because we have done such vile things and yet he hath spared us that we might by our humiliation give him occasion to forgive us and this his pity in sparing shews his intention of restoring us and therefore should quicken us to address to him who hath it solely in his own power Daniel will not go to the King of Babylon not to the best nor greatest on the earth No Mercy is Gods and so we have the better hope to obtain it Dan. 9.9 Why should we because we have formerly sinned remain hopeless of ever being received since we know that To the Lord Jehovah who is peculiarly our God as inseparably annexed to his Essence and as his own proper possession belongs mercies infinite and forgivenesses more then our sins can need and since they are his we hope we shall have them though we are unworthy for though we have sinned by breaking his laws and rebelled against him by forsaking his Covenant neither have we done what he commanded us nor obeyed the voice of the Lord our God who charged us by his servants to walk in his laws and tread in that plain and pleasant path which he set before us though all this be true we are sorry for it but will not despair because God can yet restore us 3. To enforce both the former and encourage these humble souls whose desires are too big for their faith here is a lively example of one (n) Luke 15.18 19. whose condition was as miserable his faults as great and his reception as unlikely as theirs can be And yet he comes and speeds that you may take example hereby and do likewise The example is that of the prodigal son who had voluntarily forsaken his Fathers house and carried away his full portion which he wasted lavishly and consumed in all manner of riot and excess never thinking of nor regarding his father all the time of his madness till extreme want had restored him to the use of his Reason (o) ver 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad seipsum rediens and put him into his wits again and then he blames himself for lying still either in his sin which is lapsus animae the fall of the soul resolving to arise by repentance or else you may understand his lying along or sitting on the ground to be a posture of sorrow (p) Isa 3.26 But he sees he may sit disconsolate for ever and be no nearer to his fathers house wherefore he resolves to take courage and arise and not sit alwaies bemoaning himself with a vain and ineffective grief but repenting himself to return home His father had not called him nor had he any assurance he should be received only he knew if he sate still he must starve and if he were repulsed he could suffer no more He comes not to make any apology but to bring in accusation against himself he hoped indeed that his offence could not unty the bands of that dear Relation and therefore calls him Father but confesseth he had forfeited the title of Son and not onely broken the law of Nature but of heaven that is of the God of heaven (q) Coelum pro Deo ponitur quoniam est ejus habitaculum Elias Tisb Psal 73.9 who expresly requireth this Obedience He could have wished a return to his Fathers Table but that were Presumption to expect only he hopes he will not see him starve and if he be set with the meanest servants that will be prevented But the Father is readier to hear then the Son to desire and what his unworthiness made him ashamed to ask his Fathers Bounty made him willing to bestow and he that scarce hoped to be admitted a servant is once more owned as a dear son This he found and so shall they that follow his example Luke 15.18 19. Why do I sit still in my sin vainly bemoaning my folly while I am like to starve surely I will take courage and I will arise by repentance and with prayer and supplication make haste and go by faith to my Father who can relieve me and perhaps may have pity on me For to move his bowels toward me as soon as I see him I will fall down and will say unto him Father who didst beget me that am now so wretched I here confess that I have sinned by my ungodly courses against Heaven and the God that dwells there and before thee being so ungrateful for all thy love that I justly deserve to be disowned and
left in my misery for I have forfeited my relation and am no more worthy to be called thy Son yet I hope thou wilt not let me perish who feedest thy meanest servants A Meditation preparatory to Prayer when we doubt of the favour of God to us HE that hath a considerable request to make to an earthly King must approach without a present in his hand but my request is to the King of Kings to whose laws I have been disobedient false to his Government refractory to his summons and ingrateful for his former favours But what can I offer to him that needs nothing what can I give to him whose both my self and all I have are his favour indeed is so sweet so desirable and so universal a comprehension of all happiness that I could freely give all I have or can do or may procure for the purchase of it but the whole world is a vanity to him neither can such trifles blind his eyes or bind his hands buy his mercy to the unworthy or pervert his justice from the sinner I could methinks expose my body to the sharpest torments my soul to the heaviest sorrows and my life to the cruelest Tyrant if I were sure of his everlasting mercy afterwards and would account my self happy in the purchase but it cost more to redeem a soul I can give nothing but it is his already and I can suffer nothing but what I have deserved what then oh where shall I have a peace-offering which may not be dispised I am told nothing is more acceptable then a broken heart t is strange can an heart polluted with the guilt and enslaved to the Power of sin stupid to apprehend slow to desire and impatient to wait for and unable to perform any good but witty to invent and vigorous to prosecute unsatiable to desire and unwearied to pursue all evil and now more vile then ever by reflecting upon its own vileness shaken with fears torn in pieces with sorrow and even a terror to it self miserable and poor blind and naked can this heart be a fit sacrifice for so glorious and all-seeing so holy and pure a God can he like that which I abhor how can it be but let me recall that hasty word for he hath said it who best knows what will please himself and if he value it it is worthy for the true worth of every thing is to be judged by his estimation of it Who knows but such a broken heart may be a greater evidence of his power and mercy a fitter instrument of his praise and glory a plainer table to describe his grace and draw his image on then any other Such a heart I have and if this serve I am happy I will give it freely to thee oh Lord who despisest not the meanest gift if there be sincerity in the giver It was broken before with fear but it is now dissolved with love I am ashamed it is no better but thy mercy is the greater in accepting it and it will become better by being thine oh how am I filled with admiration of the freeness and fulness of thy mercies in comparison of which the greatest humane compassion seems cruelty and I dare proclaim to all that in thee are all the mercies of the world united and thou art mercy it self in the highest degree if my disobedience and negligence contempt and ingratitude could have separated thee from thy mercy I had now met thee in fury taking vengeance without pitty for I have seemed to live as if I had designed to Dare thee to turn away thy self from me and to try thy utmost patience the least part of which baseness would have turned my best friends in the world against me but behold the mercy of my God continues still oh let me have the shame of an ingrateful sinner and thy name have the glory of thy inexpressible pitty even to those who are almost ashamed to ask pardon and let me to whom thou hast shewed such compassion have the honour to be an instance of thy goodness to all the world but have I such a father why then do I lye still with this load of guilt upon my soul and this heavy burden of sorrow upon my spirit what do I get by these vain complaints but waste my time and double my misery by sad reflections I can neither have help from my self nor any creature but from my Father alone to whom mercies are as proper as misery is to me and if I through fear or sorrow sit still here and starve I have not so much pity for my self as he would have for me if he saw me thus grieved for abusing his mercies wherefore I will arise and go though I think I shall scarce have the face to ask more I have spent the last so ill and I shall be ashamed to tell him how base I have been but as I was not ashamed when I did evil so I must have shame when I suffer the desert of it I will go bathed in tears blushing for shame accusing my self and only relying on the bowels of a Father will beg only so much mercy as will banish despair and quiet my mind and give me some little hope and revive my languishing faith and if I may have this I will be content though I be not entertained with assurance and certain expectations for the least favourable look is more then I have deserved yet I see the tender Father upon the first sight of the returning prodigal whom he had never sent for but was driven home by his own miseries yet he runs to meet him takes the words out of his mouth and receives him with all the demonstrations of love and the caresses of a deer affection and is my God less merciful who hath invited me so often and promised me so largely I have done ill to stay so long but I will go now high in my desires low in my expectations sorrowing for my offence and begging his mercy and I hope though I carry no merits of my own to his justice yet I carry misery enough to make his bowels of compassion yearn upon me and then I cannot perish Amen Thus we see the Church hath shewed her care of these poor contrite ones in selecting the most and choicest of these sentences for them who are the best though the least part of the people and though such are vile in their own eyes (t) Psal 15.4 Old Transl Chal. Par. Viles prae oculis suis yet they are dear to God and highly valued by all good people and tenderly indulged by the Church who wishes there were more of this blessed temper § 5. THe next sort of men who come to pray are involved in gross ignorance and such are inappreâ—ensive of their guilt and unacquainted with their danger who know not what to ask nor of whom nor why but these be instructed before they pray or otherwise they will neither confess aright nor amend at all
should dis-esteem us since we have deserved it such a heart the Prodigal had when he thought a servants place too good for him (l) Luke 15.19 such the Publican (m) Chap. 18.13 when he durst neither look up nor come near and he that wants it and thinks well of himself after his sin cannot confess heartily nor desire pardon devoutly nor for sake what he thinks hath done him no harm Wherefore let us labour to have this right knowledge of our selves and of our sins and that we may be ashamed of both let us consider we have shewed so much folly and rashness disingenuity and ingratitude obstinacy and perversness by breaking such holy laws of so great a God and so gracious a Father for so small a price and are thereby so miserable that we shall for ever be disgraced if we repent not Sin is a more just cause of shame then any thing in the world for it shews a man to be a base and abominable person nay it makes him degenerate into a beast (n) Psal 73.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arr. in Epict. lib. 1. cap. 3. which if we seriously think upon it will beget in us a dis-esteem of our selves and a true opinion of our own unworthiness which is an excellent disposition for the begging or receiving of pardon 2. A Penitent heart viz. a sad and sorrowful spirit which is most becoming one that sees his actions to have been base vain and dâ—ngerous and therefore must ever accompany us in confession of our sins Now if we are of ingenuous tempers the Gospel will produce this viz. The beholding the wounds of Jesus which we have made the long suffering we have abused the grace we have rejected and the comforts and benefits we have lost and forfeited But if we are more obdurate the Law must effect it viz. the sight of Gods justice and the consideration of the curse we have deserved and the danger we are in of endless torments for those poor perishing pleasures these things duly weighed will help us to draw water before the Lord (p) 1 Sam. 7.6 Ch. Par. Hauserunt aquas è puteo cordis sui abundè lachrymati sunt coram domino resipiscentes as the Israelites did from the pits of our hearts and pour them out by the channels of our eyes and this sorrow for what is past will both make our confession acceptable and help us to the third requisite 3. An obedient heart that is a takeing up such a dislike against sin as to resolve stedfastly if we can get those pardoned we have committed that we will never more do that which hath caused so much shame and sorrow to us and till we have brought our hearts to this all our confession and sorrow are not repentance but onely a purpose to repent (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex Strom. 2. Nor will all the rest prevail either to a removal of the guilt or dominion of sin Therefore let us learn how to confess Humility will make our confession sincere Sorrow will make it earnest and Holy purposes will make it prevalent § 6. To the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by his infinite Goodness and Mercy There is nothing more pleasant to us then the contemplation of Gods infinite goodness and mercy but we are therein apt to forget his justice and to think the one will exclude the other because we measure God by our selves in whose narrow hearts these two dispositions are not at once contained and hence when we hear of infinite mercy we are apt to presume of pardon upon any terms But the Church from Gods Word assures you that a sinner cannot be forgiven no not by this infinite mercy unless he bring an humble penitent and obedient heart and that you are to esteem it infinite goodness that you may be forgiven upon these terms For you must know that Justice without a Mediator doth not admit a sinner to second thoughts nor accept of any Repentance at all and therefore it is an high act of Grace that so holy a God so justly offended and highly provoked will be reconciled upon any terms and let us not neglect our endeavours to get our hearts thus disposed for we had need be so prepared or else Mercy it self will reject us Some may here perhaps scruple at the expression to the end and Question whether in our confession we ought not rather to aim at Gods glory then our own forgiveness Such must know they quarrel with the language of holy Writ (s) Acts 2.38 Chap. 3.19 where men are exhorted to repent that they may be forgiven and further they do not understand what Gods glory is if they separate it from his doing good to his creatures and representing his excellencies to them wherefore to aim at Gods glory and our own forgiveness is all one for by confessing we own his power to forgive we shew our trust in his goodness and hope in his mercy and desire that the Almighty by accepting and doing us good may demonstrate himself to be what we believe him to be viz. a God gracious and merciful c. that we and all the world may admire him for it and praise him for evermore § 7. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God This concession of the Churches declares that the Publique Prayer ought not to excuse any from Private Devotions These we account the Principal but the other we recommend as very useful and necessary so that we neither incourage the lazy who neglect the private nor allow the Precise who undervalue the Publique one ought to be done so as not to leave the other undone We find our Saviour and his Apostles after the manner of the devout Jews were wont to go to the Temple and Synagogues at the hours of Prayer and yet both he and they did seek retirements for more private Devotions And the Scripture teacheth us to Pray at all times in all places and with all sorts of prayer (r) Ephes 6.18 1 Timoth. 2.8 Psalm 111.1 that none might be excused from either nor can one be alledged to exclude the other for they are mutual helps to one another for he that hath been most careful in private Confession will be the fittest for and most advantaged by the other yet he that is so prepared must not think the coming to Gods house superfluous because we cannot do this too often nor too openly since many of our sins are manifest and require a publique declaration And by this open Confession we shall be freer from the suspition of hypocrisie in our Closet We must remember we stand in need of Gods help every moment and therefore we have reason to beg it often and we can never beg it in humility unless we confess those sins that make us unworthy of it and since we sin dayly a dayly Confession is highly requisite and that not only
slight its reproofs refuse its commands despise its threatnings and dis-believe or disregard its promises and so all will be lost upon you But till you hear Gods voice you cannot expect he should hear yours when you come to this house of prayer 4. to ask those things which are requisite and necessary either towards our well-being or being even all that is convenient or of absolute necessity as well for the body as the soul for if you do beg temporal mercies earnestly he knows you will be strengthened in your sins by them and for those which concern the soul if the obstinate sinner could desire them God would not give them nor is such an one capable to receive them Wherefore since we are come into the House of God to worship and serve him and all we can do will be esteemed but a mocking of God without repentance I pray and beseech you who am the Ambassadour of the King of Heaven to whom you intend to pray for all good things and of him to beseech deliverance from all evil I in his Name do request all you as many as are here present high and low rich and poor young and old whether you are the best of the Congregation or the worst of sinners to accompany me in presenting an humble Confession to Almighty God who by Christ Jesus hath given you leave to come into his presence and commanded me to bring you with me and will most mercifully accept and lovingly embrace us both Oh then come along with me and let us confess our sins with a pure heart not harbouring any hypocrisie in our souls and humble voice to express the sorrow of our minds and since you have deserved shame do you in your own words accuse your selves and justifie God and fear not that your own testimony shall be used to help to condemn you for you are not going to a humane tribunal but to the throne of the heavenly Grace where he sits who did invite you and doth wait for you and will forgive you do not fear it And though he be in Heaven yet trouble not your selves how to bespeak him for if you be willing to go with me I will be your Mouth only I request you will in your own words consent to and seal every sentence by saying after me this most hearty Confession following SECTION III. Of the daily Confession The Analysis or Division of the Confession THis pious Confession is so methodically composed that it naturally falls into these four Parts 1. The Introduction 2. The Confession properly so called 3. A Deprecation of evil 4. A Petition for good 1. The Introduction in which is shewed 1. To whom it is made to our Almighty and most merciful Father who is Able to puÌ„ish Willing to forgive Likely to receive us 2. By whom it is made by us we 2. The Confession it self 1. in general that we have sinned have erred and strayed from thy wayes how we have sinned like lost sheep 2. in particular 1. of the cause original sin We have followed too much the Devices and Desires of our own heart 2. of the effect Actual sin in general Disobedience We have offended against thy holy Laws in sins of Omission we have left undon those things which we ought to have done in sins of Commission And we have done those things which we ought not to have done* 3. in a conclusion from both * And there is no health in us 3. The Deprecation of the Evill 1. What we would be delivered from and 2. The Reasons annexed to every one 1. The guilt of sin But thou O Lord have mercy upon us with the Reason because we are miserable offenders 2. The puniâ—hment of it spare thou them O God with the Reason because such that confess their faults 3. The power of it Restore thou with the Reason because we are of them that are penitent 3. An Argument to enforce the Deprecation 1. From the Promises in general According to thy Promises 2. The manner of giving Declared 3. The Persons to whom unto mankind 4. The Person by whom they were given in Christ Iesu our Lord 4. The Petition for good in which there is 1. Of whom we desire it And grant O most merciful Father 2. Through whom we desire it for his sake 3. What we desire of God 1. in general amendment that we may hereafter live 2. Piety to God a godly 3. Charity to others righteous 4. Temperance to our selves and a sober life 4. Why we desire it or to what end To the glory of thy holy Name Amen A Practical Discourse on the General Confession § 1. Almighty and most merciful Father The Church hath been curious and exact to select such Titles for God in the beginning of every Prayer as are most proper to the Petitions to which they are prefixt and most likely to produce affections sutable to those requests in him that useth them which as it is every where apparent to a considering person so it may appear particularly in the fitness of these two compellations to the subsequent Confession being the Attributes of his infinite Power and Mercy The first is an acknowledgment of the greatness of him whom we have offended and is the same with that which God stiles himself by to Abraham (a) Gen. 17.1 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 22.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aqu. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speusippus Ipsa suis conâ—enta opibus nil indigo nostri Lucrer de natur And it denotes his being all-sufficient in himself for his own happiness as the Philosopher defined him as also his being able to supply all our wants And further it notifies his absolute Dominion over all the world and his infinite power to do whatsoever he pleaseth So that the consideration of this attribute shews us that we have sinned against a God whom we cannot hurt by our sins but by them we damage our selves both in stopping the current of his blessings by which we are sustained and refreshed and by provoking him to stretch out his mighty Arm to destroy us the shutting his hand of bounty would make us perish for want bâ—t the weight of his Arm of power will crush us to pieces And we must meditate on this so long till our hearts are pierced with a religious fear and holy dread of the anger of this Almighty God only this fear must not drive us from him but draw us more speedily to him and be as the Needle (b) Si nullus est timor non est quâ charitas intret sicut setam introducere filum videmus sed nisi exit seta non succedit linum sic timor occupat mentem prior verum non ibi manet quia ideo intravit ut introduceret charitatem Augustin in 1. ep Johan 4o. which enters not to stay but to make way for the thread of
a Passover The true penitent esteems his life a favour and all on this side Hell Mercy and the condemned Malefactor will be as thankful for a Reprieve as another for a great Pension and high Preferment The poor sinners request is no greater then to be spared and his Argument is not because he is not guilty or deserves no stripes that would accelerate the stroke to abate such daring confidence and convince such horrible falshood He knows nothing is to begotten from God by standing on his Innocence but the way is to acknowledge our Guilt for one great end of Gods temporal judgments on sinners is to force them to do him justice by racks and tortures to extort a Confession from them that have the cunning to conceal or the impudence to deny their wickedness Thus God opened the mouths of Josephs brethren (b) Genes 42.21 44.16 of Adonibezek (c) Judg. 1.6 and Manasseth (d) 2 Chron. 32.12 to display their former and almost forgotten cruelties and made Phaaroh himself cry Peccavi (e) Exod. 9.27 Satis est h. e. satis jam lucratus est Deus poenis suis cum jam culpam nostram agnoscimus Fagius in loc and then he hoped God would cease to Punish when he had obtained his end and brought him to Confession But the wiâ—est way is not to stay till some judgment summon us but of our own accord ingenuously to confess our sins Racks and Strapadoes are for obstinate Rogues and no merciful humane Prince would use them to one that with tears pleaded guilty and begged a Pardon Matth 26.65 Habes confitentem reum much less will the Father of Mercies What need is there of any fâ—rther witness the humble sinner accuseth himself cleers Gods justice and casts himself wholly on his mercy and doubtless he shall be spared especially because it is to be hoped that he that hath seen his danger and so spedily and fully confessed his fault designs never more to prove disobedient if he may now be spared and since the chief end of punishment is to prevent the sin (f) Nemo prudens punit quia peccatur sed ne peccatur Senec. doubtless God will not be hard to be entreated to spare him that is in the way to amendment and whose own prudent fears have done that which otherwise a sharp judgment must have wrought Let us be so wise as to go in upon the first apprehensions of Gods displeasures and take sanctuary in his pity and we shall not be punished temporally unless with designs of mercy however not eternally § 10. Restore thou them that are penitent Though we are apt to account those beggars saucy and troublesome who from one request granted are encouraged to make a second and more considerable Yet God whose rule is Habenti dabitur to him that hath shall be given is well pleased with it nor will he interpret it impudence if after we have prayed for a removal of the guilt and a deliverance from the punishment of our sin we put up a further and greater request even to be restored For it is not a single mischief which sin doth us besides the stain and the wrath it doth alienate the mind of God from us and therefore after David had prayed against the fore-mentioned evils he also desires to be restored (g) Psalm 51.12 2 Sam. 14. It will not suffice Absolom to be called home from banishment unless he may see his Fathers face So if a truly pious man were sure never to smart for sin by any positive evil the bare privation of the Divine love would be intollerable and its suspension a grievous burden and he that truly calls God Father will not be satisfied without a restoring to his favour which sin had deprived him of The word is also used for the rebuilding a ruined and depopulated City (h) Dan. 9.25 c. which is the sad embleme of a soul laid wast by sin which defaceth its beauty dismantles its strengths and brings down its highest and noblest faculties evenning them with the ground fitting them for converse with low and base things making of a defenced City a heap Which when we consider how can we but weep over our own souls as Nehemiah over the ruines of Jerusalem never ceasing to pray that by the Holy Spirit it may be restored and re-edifyed and retrieved into its former beauty and strength either of these Metaphors afford useful Meditations but 't is most probable this Petition refers to that clause of the Confession there is no health in us and signifies our desires to be restored to health according to Gods promise (i) Jerem. 30.17 It is not enough that we dye not by sin but we desire we may not lye languishing under the remains of so sad a disease but may have a perfect cure Some distempers do so universally corrupt the humours that the abatement is no recovery for they make way for a worse unless the body be well cleansed after them (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. in animâ post peccatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian in Epic. lib. 2. c. 18. So do most sins blind the mind harden the heart Heb. 3.13 weaken the faith undermine the hope embase the affections quench the actings of Gods Spirit and give the tempter advantage against us so that a bare Pardon will not fit us either to serve or enjoy God till the remaining ignorance security distrust worldly mindedness and deadness be purged out and we be fully restored But nothing will move God to do this unless you be sincerely penitent that is add to your sorrow and confession real purposes of amendment he may pity the miserable and may spare him that acknowledgeth his offence but he will restore none but him that reforms for he that sees the heart knows that to seek only pity or deliverance proceeds only from self-love at best and sometimes from love to sin as the crazy Epicure desires health that he may renew the prosecutions of his Lust But he that seriously desires to be restored hates sin for it self and not for its evil company and he that doth so is truly penitent but they that only desire a freedome from misery and punishment and are not grieved for these remains will soon fall again into sin and God who knows that may justly deny them that peace which they will use so ill By this also it appears that those men do in vain complain of those dregs of their old corruptions which have not truly repented for God leaves these Canaanites on purpose to vex these half repenters to hinder them in religious duties (l) Numb 33.35 Saepe includent vos introitum exitum negabunt vobis Jos 23.13 Cautè tectè primò vos irretire conentur deinde palam urgebunt vos donec occaecuti estis Masius and when they grow weary of resisting them then they become snares in their way secretly to intrap
them and by degrees scourges in their sides violence to drive them and lastly thorns in their eyes that by putting out the light of conscience it self they may sin without fear Oh! Do not therefore cease repenting as soon as you can believe or hope a Pardon but let that hope encourage you to repent more and to cast out all the reliques of the old leaven watch and pray till you be restored to the same cleerness of judgment earnestness of holy desire freedome of will power over your affections composedness of soul and tenderness of conscience which you had before you fell for not till then are you out of the danger of your disease § 11. According to thy Promises declared unto mankind in Christ Iesu our Lord It might well be deemed an high Presumption in us that are offenders against God to ask so many favours of him 〈◊〉 but that he hath prevented this censure by interposing his Promise that he will do what we desire which Promise is a sure foundation to build our hopes upon because by it we have a title to that which before we could not expect for God being truth it self is obliged to make his Word good and by his promise gives his Creature a kind of right to the thing promised (m) Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 promissio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eustath Il. β. and if he be not bound to us yet he is by his own Justice and Veracity (n) Deus non nobis fit simplicitèr debitor sed sibi ipsi T. Aquin. which yet doth not abridge his freedom who could discern before all that could fall out and yet freely obliged himself so that his Promise is no more then a Declaration of what he can do and sees fit to be done if it had never been promised Wherefore we cannot please him better then to urge him with his promises because then we only desire what he judges fit to be granted nor must we measure the Almighty by the scant measures of a man (o) Numb 23.19 Homo ex 4 causis solet promissa negare vel quando fallacitèr quid promisit vel quando promissi poenitet vel quando offenditur ab eo cui fit promissio vel quando nequit persolvere haec omnia à Deo absunt ex Fag who loves not to be charged with what he doth not intend or is not able to perform but there is no unforeseen accident can occur to alter the determination of an All-seeing and Immutable God his servants have alwayes pleased him and obtained their sute (p) 2 Chron. 6.16 Chap. 20.9 when they have pleaded a Promise in a particular temporal concern Much more shall we in these which are of so great weight and so often repeated in the Book of God and so fully agreeable to his eternal purposes and constant desires These Promises are indeed conditional but we ask them not absolutely but upon the condition on which they are made viz. as hoping by Gods grace that we are penitent or else our request could not be according to his Promises But in these words are three grounds of our hopes 1. Because the Promises are declared he hath not onely purposes of Mercy in the secrets of his unsearchable breast but he hath made Promises and communicated and published them by Word and Writing from time to time before Heaven and Earth Angels and Devils and all Men that are or were or ever shall be now if they should not have been certainly performed they would not have been divulged before so many Witnesses but since they are declared to all they are a summons to all and shall be fulfilled to all that do go in to God bringing his gracious Proclamation in their hands 2. They are made to mankind for the Apostate Angels were permitted as they fell so to lye to Eternity though in their Naturals they far excelled us but Jesus graciously snatched hold (q) Heb. 2.16 Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dr. Ham. of us and made a Covenant with us so that though we are offenders we are salvable though despicable yet we are such as the Promises are directed to We dare not with some pretend to any infallible revelation of our peculiar interest in them nor do we plead any particular ingagements made to our persons by Name yet since made to all we are thankful we are not particularly excepted and do hope we shall have a share for we believe Mercy on purpose contrived the Promises so large that no repentant sinner might want encouragement and we apply them modestly to our selves not because we are better then others but because we have as much need as any and even when we see our selves the chief of sinners we may take comfort in the universality of the Promise because we are of mankind but those who fancy they can read their own names in them are like that vain person who offered his Prince a great sum of money to be permitted to salute him familiarly every day that men might suppose him a Confident of the Kings for the better sort of humble Christians are thankful for lesser favours which are also commonly more real though less plausible 3. We hope in these Promises because they are made in Christ Jesus for he first clearly revealed them to us (r) 2 Tim. 1.10 and procured them of God and sealed them as a Mediatour between both and therefore they are made in him (s) 2 Tim. 1.1 And because they are made in him 1. We believe they shall be faithfully performed they are Yea and Amen (t) 2 Cor. 1.20 that is really intended Christ is the first (u) Gen. 3.15 and great promise and God having given him already hath both evidenced his love to us and manifested his reality in promising and his resolution of performing all the rest in due time (x) Rom. 8.32 And further it is surer comfort that they are made in him then if they had been made immediately to us for so when ever we had broke any Condition we had lost our title to what was promised (y) In pactis si vel tantillum ex dictis pars altera transgrederetur rupta sunt foedera Thucyd. but our Venture is deposited in a safer bottom even in him that fulfilled all that God required Surely none can question those Promises which were made freely by the God of Truth and are confirmed by the performance of the greatest first and depend on the perfect Obedience of Christ Jesus whose compleat Righteousness shall justifie the claim of every true Penitent notwithstanding his own many failings 2. We believe because made in him they shall be dispensed to us with much mercy not like those made upon Mount Sinâ—i which could only benefit him that had at all times and in all instances obeyed for what comfort were that to him that owns himself a sinner but these are from mount Sion and to be fulfilled by our gracious
(p) Psalm 119.59 set your sins before you to keep you humble (q) Psalm 51.3 but not to weaken your hands from doing Gods will (r) Lament 3.40 When your sorrow hath made you hate sin and long for peace with God it hath proceeded far enough and to continue this Corroding Plaister is to protract and hinder the Cure experience tells us that many good men suffer for want of this advice for fearing they should grieve too little they study to increase their sorrow by ever beholding the dark side of the Cloud which fills their hearts with benumming fears their heads with unworthy jealousies and all their duties with distrust and unbelief whereas if they would set themselves to work and oyling their wheels with love and hope leave their desires of Pardon to Jesus to sue out they might find more convincing proofs of the Divine Mercy in his assistance of their endeavours then ever they shall gain by fruitless sighs and tears sad wishes and empty speculations 2. The dissembling hypocrite who also looks not forward but not because he fears he cannot as the former but because he resolves he will not amend his life only finding his Conscience terrified and uneasie he would say or promise any thing to be quit of the present smart but this proceeds rather from a weariness of suffering for evil then a hatred against doing wickedly and such mens cries for mercy are only to stop the mouth of their accuser without any resolutions of becoming better if they procure their quiet nay perhaps they do it in hopes to sin hereafter with less opposition But the Miserable wretches deceive and tire themselves in an endless Circle of sinning and Repenting striving for a little false peace that they may do that which will renew their trouble and then they repent again as they call it though indeed they never repent because they never amend (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Strom. 2o. and in this are worse then the most blind and obdurate sinners because they see they have done amiss and yet will do it again Oh let such consider this hereafter and know till they both desire and endeavour a change in their Manners they cannot be forgiven § XIV Live a Godly righteous and a sober life The Jews call that place Mich. 6.8 the law in three words Justice Mercy and Humility and St. Paul hath given us both Law and Gospel in as few (t) Titus 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Epistle to Titus from whence this Petition is taken for the principal end of Christs coming of the preaching of the Gospel and of the Communications of Gods grace he there shews to be that we might live 1. Godlily in observance of all Duties of Piety to God 2. Righteously in discharging all offices of Justice and Charity to others 3. Soberly in performing what relates to our own bodies and souls and this is the whole Will of God And surely he that confesseth he hath offended in all and desires forgiveness of all must needs pray for the amendment of all that hath been amiss or his Repentance cannot be sincere The true Penitent takes not out such Duties as comply with his Interest and omits the rest nor craves allowance in those sins that agree with his constitution and design and forbears the rest but forsakes all iniquity as displeasing to God and as that which Jesus smarted for and which will deprive him of grace and glory Those therefore that would excuse their injustice and uncharitableness to others or their own voluptuousness by a strict Devotion have never truly repented nor those who wish there were no more required then outward justice that they might take liberty in other matters God allows none of these commutations nor the Church who orders us to pray for Religion and justice and sobriety all together some of them perhaps may please us better but they all alike and only together please God if we seek our own ease we may choose what we like best but if we truly love God we must embrace all for they all depend on one another and he that breaks or leaves one link loose weakens as well as shortens the whole chain But let us view the Particulars 1. A Godly life which may challenge the first place in regard the observations of piety are the foundation of justice and sobriety and the neglect opens the door to all manner of wickedness (u) Heu primae scelerum causae mortalibus aegri◠Naturam nescire Dei Sil. Ital. Sublatâ pietate tollitur justitia Cicero how should he that is a rebel to his Prince be just to his fellow-subjects The first is the fear of God or the godly life and it is the giving God his due inwardly and outwardly 1. Inwardly in that complete precept of loving him before all above all and more then all things in giving him the chiefest place in our thoughts will understanding and desires so that we admire nothing more then his wisdome fear nothing more then his threatnings and design nothing more then his glory (x) Deut. 6.5 Matth. 22.37 toto corde ut omnes cogitationes totâ animâ ut omnem vitam totâ mente ut omnem intellectum in Deum conferas Aug. de dec Christ This is that loving God with our whole heart when we confide in his Truth hope in his Mercy rest on his Omnipotence and wait for his Bounty And if thy heart be thus disposed it will discover it in outward significations viz. endeavours to know him speaking honourably of him in a readiness to praise him pray to him and worship him in all opportunities publique and private This is the sum of the first Table of the Law wherein we are commanded to love and own honour and fear God exclusively to all others to worship him in purity to reverence his name and all that bears the impresses of it and to observe religiously those solemn times dedicated to his service which is called walking with God (y) Gen. 5.22 C. P. ambulavit in timore coram domino and worthy of him (z) 1 Thess 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such a godly life is suitable to those confessions we make of his Wisdome Power and Mercy and doth express we are really grieved for walking in contrary Paths 2. A Righteous life which is more then a Negative can express and is by some falsly confined to the doing no evil to our neighbours (a) Justitia in eo sita est ut abstineatur alienis neque noceatur non nocenti ita Porphyr Quod tibi fieri non vis alterine feceris The Heathens said do not to others what you would not have done to you But Christ changes it into the positive (b) Matth. 7.12 ideo mihi placent Christiani quòd quae sibi fieri velint ipsi aliis faciunt Severus Imperat. and the Christians did that to others which they would
our selves into this estate but thou O Lord who seest our distress have mercy upon us and let thy bowels yearn upon so wretched a spectacle forgive that horrid guilt that doth amaze us for though we deserve no pitty yet thou knowest we are most miserable sinners like to be eternally condemned by thy Justice if thou dost not pardon us and certain to perish under thy vengeance whensoever thou beginnest to punish us but for thy pity and compassion sake spare thou them O God that knowing they have deserved thy wrath and fearing before it comes do of their own accord confess their faults in hopes to find mercy and a deliverance if it please thee from temporal judgments however from eternal Although O Lord our God when thou hast removed thy Judgments unless thou also take away that security and presumption impenitence and unbelief the sad remains of our sins we shall want thy favour still which is our only happiness therefore we further pray Restore thou that health and comfort that former joy and peace freedom and strength we had before we did offend For we now groan under that deadness which seized on us upon the withdrawings of thy holy spirit and do see and lament those sins which did occasion it we â—ow relent and are of the number of them that are penitent and resolve if thou wilt cleanse us from the dregs of these corruptions never to do the like again We confess we have no merit to deserve these things and so no ground in our selves to expect them but we hope thou wilt grant us all these requests for Pardon Peâ—ce and Restauration because they are oh thou God of truth according to thy Promises which thou madest so freely out of thy everlasting love and resolvest so fully to perform that that thou hast openly declared and proclaimed these thy gracious intentions unto mankind on purpose that such poor sinners as we who are not excepted might not despair but come in upon thy general summons and lay hold on those comfortable promises which are made in Christ Iesus our Lord who Purchased this favour for us by his death and now lives to dispense his benefits to those he dyed for in whom thou art reconciled to us so that we not only hope for a Pardon but mindful of his intercession we beseech thee to give us thy holy Spirit and grant O most merciful Father unto us who deserve nothing on our own account to be so powerfully assisted by thy grace for his sake who is now pleading in heaven for us that we who have earnest desires and unfeigned purposes to amend though we cannot satisfie for the time past may hereafter give all diligence to fulfill the end of Christs coming and answer the design of thy forgiving us that we may live a godly and religious life in observance of all our duties to thee that we may love and fear thee honour and adore thee believe in thee and rely upon thee long for thee and delight in thee above all the world daily seeking to know thee praying for thy help praising thee for thy Mercies and waiting in hopes of the eternal injoyment of thee that by serving thee we may be inabled also to lead a Righteous life in all justice honesty and charity to our Neighbours hurting no man in thought word or deed but ready to relieve and help all to our power doing ever unto others what we would have done to our selves And lastly grant that by thy Divine aid we may live a Temperate Chast and a sober life Mortifying our lusts moderating our desires restraining our appetites so that we may avoid all carnal delights that would cloud our reason engross our thoughts pollute our bodies and souls or unfit us for thy service Which if thou shalt please to do for us thy mercy in forgiving our grievous sins thy pity in delivering us from apparent mine and thy grace in strengthening us to live a reformed life will not only be our advantage but turn to the glory of thy holy name which shall be praised by us and all the world for these incomparable testimonies of thy unspeakable Loving-kindness now and evermore And in token of our earnest desire of all these Petitions we unfeignedly sign them by heartily saying Amen Lord grant it may be so SECTION IV. Of the Absolution §. 1. Of Absolution in General SIN doth abridge the Soul of its free converse with God and by the terror of it binds the soul down with fear and by it the wicked are reserved in chains to the judgment of the great day wherefore it is compared to a bond (s) Acts 8.23 Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the sinner is said to be holden in its cords (t) Prov. 5.22 but since Christ came to loose those bonds (u) Isai 66.1 they are now prisoners of hope (x) Zach. 9.12 because Jesus hath the keys of death and Hell and he can loose whom he please by forgiving that is absolving and unloosing those bonds But because he is now invisible and imployed in heaven to intercede for us before his departure he appointed his Apostles to supply his place giving them Commission (y) Math. 16.19 Chap. 18.18 John 20.22 23. by a visible and external application of this power to support the spirits of all true Penitents till himself should come to ratifie this Absolution upon which ground the Bishops and Priests of the whole Christian Church have ever used to absolve all that truly Repented and at this day it is retained in our Church and is a part of the daily office which being so useful and necessary and founded on holy Scripture needs not any arguments to defend it but that the ignorance and prejudice of some makes them take offence at it and principally because it hath been so much abused by the Papal Church so that it may perhaps help the Devotion of many if we discover the true meaning of Absolution and the mistakes of our adversaries on both sides as well those who make it nothing as those who urge it as instar omnium those who would rob us of it as those who would ensnare us by it 1. The true judgment of the Church of England concerning Absolution may best be gathered from the Liturgy in which are three forms of Absolving set down The first declaratory here which is a solemn promulgation of pardon by a Commissionated person repeated every day when the whole Congregation confess their sins wherein they are assured of forgiveness if they Repent and believe and this is fitted for a mixt Company of good and bad men where many hypocrites feign Repentance but this Absolution gives no encouragement to such Only it assures all that there is a Pardon and shews on what terms it may be had so that to those who truly do repent it is present remission to those that do not it is a Monitor that they may repent it comforts the Godly and
his promise but for the confirmation of our Faith and as a condescention to our infirmity Indeed all Gods words are most true but not many have an Oath annexed as this hath which he that will not have us swear but upon weighty Occasions would not have added but because the belief of this is the Foundation of all Religion since no man can begin to seek to God till he believe he delights in Mercy (k) Heb. 11.6 and is willing to receive those that turn to him wherefore let us not doubt so great and necessary a truth confirmed with his Oath (l) O beatos nos quorum causa Deus jurat O miserrimos si nec Deo juranti credimus Tert. de poenit who assures us he wills not the death of a sinner (m) LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vatab. num desidero aut volo with his Will nor desires it as we do those things we have pleasure in but is even forced to it against his inclination Which gracious nature of God is here set before the sinners eyes to discover what probability there is for his granting out such a Commission because he that desireth not the death of such will not withold Mercy nay he will by the offer of a Pardon prevent it for this phrase means he desires the life even the everlasting life of all penitents (n) Negatio mali in S. S. notat accumulationem boni Job 3.18 Job 11.26 vide 1 Tim. 2.4 1 Thess 5.9 and if the assurance of Remission will support them and give them encouragement to seek for happiness they shall not want it For to do good is the Nature of God he doth this willingly and readily without the consideration of merit or expectation of reward but Punishments are Extorted from him (o) Lam. 3.33 Vatab. ex corde non est proprium Dei affligere castigare homines sed alienum by mens wickedness and when he inflicts them he expostulates with himself like an indulgent Father about to correct a disobedient child (p) Hos 11.8 Ezek. 33.11 So that it is no incredible thing that he should send a Pardon it is the device of Sathan to picture the Almighty so dreadful that he may be a terror to his Supplicants to make men fear and hate and fly from him rather then serve or love him But God is love and especially kind to Men (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato 1 John 4.8 who have no reason to dishonour God by dismal apprehensions of him Remember I beseech you the Price payed for you the Covenant made with you the Promises given to you call to mind how justly frequently and easily he might have cut you off if he had not designed to be Reconciled and think of the earnestness of his invitations continuance of his patience the arts of his providence and all other means used to preserve you and then blush at your selves for having ever had hard thoughts of God or doubting he would not Absolve you Whoever hath so conceived of God is as bad as an Atheist for he takes away Gods Being and this his goodness as if like the Scythian Deities (r) Meliùs esset nullos credere Deos quam esse putare sed sanguine caesorum hominum laetatos existimare Plutar. de Superstit Scyth Gallorum he rejoyced in humane Sacrifices and we our selves had rather be reported dead then traduced living but though this unbelief do attempt to dishonor God the mischief lights upon it self for God is glorious still in Mercy and he that does not believe it is void of love and hope weak in Faith full of fears and dismal expectations (s) Et faciunt animos humiles formidine divum Depressosque premunt ad terram Luc. and when he that is perswaded of Gods mercy can rejoyce in hearing this Absolution the other quarrels with the Messenger or suspects the Master and tortures himself with endless scruples § 5. But rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live We must be cautious while we endeavour to prevent despair that we encourage not presumption and least any should think when they hear of Gods kindness to sinners that he will allow them their sins (t) Rom. 6.1 this is added to shew that he so desires our happiness as the end that he desires our holiness as the only way thither he would have us live viz. in Eternal glory but his desires cannot be accomplished if we continue in our wickedness because then God is obliged in justice to destroy us therefore he labours to turn us from those evil ways which end in death and to bring us into the safe paths of holiness which are the beginning of Heaven upon earth for the felicity of Heaven is but an addition to and the perfection of that begun holiness in vain therefore does any trust to this Mercy of God who lives wickedly still for what Father would spare his offending Child or what Prince pardon his rebellious Subject but upon condition they will not renew the same Crimes it is possible indeed to deceive men into Remission when the offenders mean not to reform Caesar was stab'd by Brutus a reconciled enemy whom he had adopted for his son Cicero was beheaded by Popilius whom he had saved from publique justice But the All-seeing God knows your purposes and can tell what you will do hereafter so that you deceive your selves in hoping for forgiveness while you remain impenitent but you cannot deceive him to make him grant to it he will not make his mercy the support of your iniquity and it would undo (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 3. sinners if he should too easily forgive such mercy before true repentance would make sin cheap and encourage men to do wickedly Wherefore he sends his Ambassadors to proclaim his gracious intentions of saving you least any should grow desperate with Cain (x) Gen. 4.13 and as the hardened traitor resolve to dye in their rebellion but these Ministers of God are first to turn (y) Acts 3. ult men from their iniquities and if they prevail in that they have a Pardon ready sealed and can assure them of life everlasting and that God who punisheth unwillingly will freely forgive he must either condemn or save you it is most evident he had rather give you life and will rejoyce if you accept it and if you miss it it is because you had rather sin and dye not because he had rather you should so perish § 6. And hath given Power and Commandement to his Ministers Whoever hath a just right and absolute Authority may either exercise it in Person or Depute others by communicating to them their Power subordinately and then these substitutes have a Ministerial right so far as their Commission extends a Temporal Prince can do thus and choose which of his Subjects he pleaseth to act thus in his Name and by
of the Christian Church prove Christ to be God (u) Ergo qui remittit Deus est quia nemo remittit nisi Deus Hilar. in Math. Can. 8. because he forgave sin which none but God can do (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in 1 Cor. 15. and his son Jesus who is also very God and purchased this Mercy of Absolution with his own blood (y) Ille solus peccata dimittit qui pro peccatis mortuus est Ambr. Veniam peccatis quae in ipsum commissa sunt solus potest ille largiri qui peccata nostra portavit Cypr. wherefore we give to God the things which are Gods and plainly declare he is the Author we the dispensers only of this favour and the Witnesses and Messengers to bring certain news thereof (z) En fili certificate remissa tibi esse peccata hujus me testem habebis Vade in Pace Fer. in Matth. 9. And this is more comfort to the Penitent the Supreme Judge he from whose Sentence is no Appeal Pardoneth thee fear not the state of Agag whom Saul had pardoned but God had not wherefore Samuel hewed him to pieces in the midst of his vain hopes that the bitterness of death was past He Pardoneth that hath no equal to examine or approve much less superiour to disanul his actings Our absolution is profitable when the Persons are meet to receive it (a) Tunc enim vera est absolutio Praesidentis cum aeterni arbitrium sequitur judicis Greg. hom 26. but the stamp of God will make it currant in Heaven it self The Priests Pardon is not compleat at present till it be ratified at the last day But he Pardoneth at this present while we are holding out this Absolution he that knows who among you are true believers and really Penitent is at this instant sealing your Pardon in Heaven which makes ours to be valid we then are but the Messengers and interpreters but it is our great Master that Absolveth because what we do is Pronounced in his name dispensed by his Authority offered on his Condition and confirmed by his Approbation § 9. All them that truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel These two acts Repentance and Faith are by Christ (b) Mark 1.15 and his Apostles (c) Act. 20.21 made the Conditions of all the Gospel promises and without them no Absolution can be had those that have these no man can condemn but without these no man can acquit it was therefore a great arrogance in those Ecclesiasticks in St. Hieroms time who imagined they could save or destroy at pleasure (d) ut vel damnent innocentes vel solvere se noxios arbitrantur Hierom. Com in Matth. l. 3. Nec Angelus nec Archangelus potest nec Dominus ipse si peccaverimus in poenitentiam deferentibus non relaxat Ambros Epist 28. ad Theodos and it is as great a vanity in any to believe a Servant acting contrary to his Masters known Will because it will be insignificant wherefore if any by hypocrisie shall think to surprize an Absolution Or if he that dispenseth an act by prejudice or corruption you must know it is he must ratifie the Pardon who can see whether these qualifications are in him that receives it or no and though we hold out this Act of a Grace to all yet our Master pardons none but such as do repent truly and believe unfeignedly and how many soever do so if they have been the worst of sinners they shall every one be forgiven Let us then take care to come 1. With an hâ—mble lowly penitent and obedient heart sorrowing and being ashamed fearing exceedingly confessing humbly and resolving heartily against all sin let us beware that a hard heart and a customary confession and hypocritical pretences do not ruine our hopes and blast our desires for he only Pardoneth the real Penitent 2. Let us bring with us an unfeigned Faith in his Gospel trusting in the assurances of his Promises and persuading our selves of the necessity and excellence of his laws and confirming our souls in the expectations of his rewards and this Faith unfeigned (e) 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1 5. will open the door of Mercy but for that bold challenge which some make to the promises and the benefits of the Gospel while they are void of hatred to sin or love to God it is only feigned to stifle the accusations of Conscience and ward off the threats of the Law and to give the man liberty to sin and God will never accept such to remission but discover these men had no other ground for their confidence but only because they had persuaded themselves of a falshood Remember you come to him that searcheth the heart for a Pardon and strive that your Repentance may be true and Faith cordial and sound as you hope for mercy from him and learn by this order first to repent of your former evil ways before you entertain too particular confidences of Gods love and your interest in Jesus but if you have truly repented the more firmly you believe the greater will be Gods glory and the sweeter your comfort and the speedier will your Absolution be confirmed Though your iniquities are heinous and innumerable if upon the sight you have had of them you do condemn your self with real purposes of amendment and notwithstanding your unworthiness if you can trust to the Merits of Jesus and believe all the gracious Promises of the Gospel shall be fulfilled to you I doubt not to assure this your Repentance and Faith shall pass the test of God himself and your desires shall be satisfied in his mercy § 10. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true Repentance and his holy Spirit The whole duty of a Minister consists in instruction and exhortation (f) Acts 2.40 Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first to convince the understanding the second to engage the affections both which parts of his Office the Priest doth here exercise for hitherto he hath testified there is Remission to be obtained and now he exhorts to seek for it for in this Section we are directed how to obtain in the following we are encouraged by the Benefits to be had thereby now this present exhortation is a conclusion inferred from all the former parts of this Absolution which are in this word wherefore urged as so many motives to quicken our addresses viz. 1. Since God who is full of power and mercy would not the death of us sinners but desires we may live therefore we may cheerfully come to him for help who will be as well pleased with the opportunity of giving as we with the mercy of receiving 2. He hath Commissionated Ministers to be the Heralds of his willingness to forgive wherefore let us in answer to this gracious Proclamation go in and submit to him who though he be the offended Party first sent to us to be reconciled 3. He hath assured us he
is the Christians highest aim it was Davids prayer (z) Psal 19.14 and the greatest blessing the Priest could wish (a) Numb 6.24 25 26. Psal 20.3 4. that Almighty God might accept them Poor Socrates after many a tedious step in a virtuous but afflicted state (b) An diis placent quae feci nescio hoc autem solum scio me sedulò haec egisse ut placerent could not tell whether he had given content to his Deities or no but whoever of you have the grace of Repentance and the holy spirit are not in those uncertainties but have Enochs Testimony Heb. 11.5 that you do please God § 12. And that the rest of our lives hereafter may be pure and holy this is the second benefit and motive earnestly to pray for these things for so you shall not only be welcomed at present with a gracious smile but all your lives long be reputed as the friends of God and by his help shall be preserved as pure as a true Repentance hath made you and as holy as those are who are under the Guard of the Spirit of holiness Pray therefore with all your soul for a true Repentance or else as soon as your soul is washed it will return to its impure wallowings and all your labour is in vain hitherto (c) 2 Pet. 2.22 laterem lavare for a feigned repentance will send Absolom away for a while but upon the next Enterview will hurry us with more passion into his embraces whereas the deep wounds of the true penitent make sin hateful to him while he lives and he that gets on a white garment with so much difficulty will not easily sully it but carefully preserve it pure as his tears have made it And upon the same ground be very pressing for the holy spirit Which if you can obtain you shall not only be preserved from the spots of sin but shall shine with the lustre of a holy life for our goodness is apt to vanish (d) Hos 6.4 we are wavering and soon weary unless we have that establishing spirit (e) Psal 51.14 David prays for and then all duties will be easie and we shall be strong for love and the sense of his assistance will carry us cheerfully through them all so as to be our pleasure not burden and when we are arrived to this nothing can bribe us to forsake them Oh happy soul that is thus begun to be restored to that purity and holiness which are part of Gods Image (f) Ephes 4.24 and parcels of the Divine Perfections blessed is he that is so far advanced that God is not like to forsake him because he hath made him holy pure and a fit temple for the inhabitation of his spirit nor is he likely ever to forsake that God whose mercy hath saved him whose grace doth refresh him whose waies please him and his glorious bounty which faith discovers doth still allure him to press forward to neerer unions and unseparable connexions no state under the Sun is to be longed and wished for like this which a true Repentance and Gods holy Spirit brings us to § 13. So that at the last we may come to his eternal joy through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen There is nothing more desirable then the sweet peace of a good Conscience but only that which is the end and perfection thereof and that is that happiness which is infinite and endless which the Scripture calls an eternal and everlasting joy (g) Isai 35.10 Chap. 61.7 51.11 which neither men nor devils can lessen or interrupt much less put a period to it And if God give us true Repentance it will preserve us from the sins which forfeit this and if he add his holy spirit it will safely lead us into those paths of righteousness which lead thither where we can desire no more because we have all that is desirable There are no cares to disturb no fears to allay nor sorrows to abate those ravishments of delight for ever there is joy which far surpasseth the half-sad and mixed pleasures which this world hath being nothing else but pure joy which pleaseth by its own excellence and by having no fears nor possibility of defailance in degree or continuance we tast something of it in the charming calm of a strong faith and a quiet conscience with undeceived expectations of Gods love but this is but the land-skip of our heavenly Canaan which Jesus hath purchased for us and God the Father will grant unto us and the most holy Spirit will be our guide thither (h) Psal 51.14 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole glorious Trinity is concerned for us and will cooperate with us to put us into possession of them and then rejoyce over us to all eternity The Father who forgave us the Son who dyed for us and the Blessed Spirit who wrought effectually in us will Communicate this their joy with us and to us for ever And lastly to shew that you thankfully follow these Directions of the Ministers and have in your own heart and thoughts most devoutly petitioned God for a true Repentance and his holy Spirit by means whereof all these incomparable benefits may redound to you in testimony I say hereof you sum up all in a Petitionary Amen desiring it may be so and assenting also to the truth of all this It is most true and therefore oh so be it unto you Amen The Paraphrase of the Absolution BE it known to every one of you that hath confessed his sins with an humble lowly Penitent and obedient heart that Almighty God Supreme King of Heaven and Earth whose Royal Prerogative it is fully to acquit or finally to condemn being the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who assumed our nature and suffered for our sins this great God by his Merits is of an angry Judge become a tender Father and hath solemnly sworn he is one who desireth not neither taketh pleasure in the death or damnation of a sinner though never so justly deserving it but rather chuseth to have opportunity to shew mercy and therefore he useth all possible means that he may turn from his wickedness which will bring the sinner into condemnation that by leaving these paths of death he might be forgiven and live in holiness and comfort here and in everlasting glory hereafter And to confirm this his good will and keep penitent sinners from despair he hath given and in holy Scripture communicated Power by vertue of his Supreme Authority and Commandment for the exercise of this power for when poor sinners need comfort he hath given special charge to his Ministers lawfully chosen by himself and those he appoints to be his Ambassadors to declare at all times his willingness to pardon all and pronounce Absolution more particularly and plainly to those that by returning and obedience do own him even to his People being Penitent for all their offences as you now from your
officia Dei honor in patre fidei testimonium in nomine oblatio obsequii in voluntate commemoratio spei in regno petitio vitae in pane exomologesis debitoâ—um in deprecatione sollicitudo tentationum in postulatiene tutelae Tertul de Orat. here is our belief of his goodness our persuasion of his love our desire after his holiness our subjection to his Authority and hope of his Kingdome our willingness to suffer and readiness to do his will here we declare our dependance on his Providence and contentedness with his dispensations our Penitence for former sins and resolutions of amendment our sense of our own frailty and our trust in his mercy and grace and all this ending with acts of Faith and Love joy and praise Devotion and Adoration So that this Divine Form is fitted for all times and all places and all persons The ignorant must use it because he may understand it the knowiâ—g that they may understand it better the sinner that he may be holy the holy man least he become a sinner the rich prays thus for the sanctification of his gifts the poor for the supply of his wants in private it extends to particular needs in publique it unites us all into one soul and makes us equally desire (r) Non singulis privatam precem mandavit sed Oratione communi concordi prece pro omnibus jussit orare Cypr. Epist 8. others good with our own being indited in a publique stile so that though it be useful every where yet it is especially fitted for the Assemblies of the Church where all Antiquity used it as the Salt of all other offices (s) Sat omnium divinorum oâ—â—ctorumâ— and we in Imitation of them for our Church prescribes it after the Absolution for acceptance after the word of God read and the recital of the Creed for assistance in holiness and confirmation in Faith in the Letany for deliverance from evil in the Communion Service to dispose us for a penitent hearing of the Laws of God never too often nor never superfluously as you may observe afterwards for how can we too often joyn his most perfect Prayer to ours that are so imperfect since by him both we and our prayers are alone made acceptable Those that presented Petitions to the Roman Emperors drew them up by the direction of some judicious Lawer but we have this Sacred Form from the wonderful Counsellor who came out of the Bosom of God and knew his treasures as well as our wants he best could inform us what was fit for us to ask and what most likely for him to grant he was to go to Heaven to be our Advocate there and he hath taught us this that there may be a Harmony between our requests and his What zeal and height of devout affections are sufficient to offer up this Prayer with drawn up by the great Master of Requests and orderer of all entercourse between God and Man how sure is this of acceptance (t) Animata suo privilegio ascendit coelum commendans patri quae filius docuit Tertull. which is stamped with his Image signed with his hand and sent in his name his Power will make it prevalent and Gods love to his dear Son most acceptable (u) Dum prece Oratione quam filius docuit ad patrem loquitur faciliùs audiamur Cypr. for what can pierce the ears sooner or melt the heart of a tender Father more readily then the voice of his only and Beloved Son use it therefore Reverently and heartily and doubt not to be heard The Division of the Lords Prayer The Lords Prayer hath three Parts 1. The Preface or Compellation 2. The six Petitions which concern Expressing 1. Charity to Men Our 2. Faith in God Father 3. Fear of God which art in Heaven Either Gods Glory by 1. The Reverence of his Attributes hallowed be thy Name 2. The Exercise of his Authority thy Kingdome come 3. The fulfilling of his Will thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Or our own good in 1. Temporal supplies give us this day our daily bread 2. Remission of sins past and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us 3. Deliverance for the future from Sin and lead us not into temptation Punishment but deliver us from evil Being an acknowledgement of God 1. As Supreme for thine is the Kingdome 2. As Omnipotent the Power 3. As Gracious and the Glory 4. As Eternal for ever and ever Amen 3. The Conclusion or Doxology A Practical Discourse on the Lords Prayer § 2. OUr Father which art in Heaven This was the usual Preface to the Jewish Forms of Prayer who stiled God their Father which was in heaven (x) Pater noster qui es in coelis fac nobis gra iam Sed. Tephil Lusitan Deus noster qui in coelo unicus es in lib. Musar But since they owned not God the Son they could not justly call God Father and being in bondage to the Law (y) Galat. 4.6 Servis â—ancillis non permissum Abba vel Immaâ— Dominis suis dicere in Gem. they were Servants rather then Sons and such by their own rule might not call their Masters by the name of Father This Appellation suiteth us better who are by Jesus adopted to be the Sons of God and by his Spirit who obtained that priviledge we are taught to cry Abba Father (z) Gal. 4.6 he that is the eternal Son of God himself who hath alone right to this Name hath put the words in our mouths and what fitter words to begin our Prayers then these two which include the principal requisites of Prayer Faith and Charity no man can call God his Father but by Faith and he must be in Charity that can add Our Father which cannot be said devoutly but by him that is free from wrath to man or doubting (a) 2 Tim. 2.8 'T is certain God is our Father for he hath created us after his own Image and begotten us again by the washing of Regeneration he feeds and cloths us preserves and provides for us he teacheth us what is right and correcteth us when we do amiss and Finally he hath done like a Father in providing an eternal inheritance for us (b) 2 Cor. 12.14 even such as men make for their Children (c) 2 Sam. 7.19 G. P. Talis enim est provisio humana He hath ever expressed a Fatherly love to us and care of us and tenderness toward us and this Jesus obligeth us to acknowledge (d) Isai 63.16 that while we call him Father we may be gratefull to him and have the affections of Children upon us when we come to him in our needs trusting in his mercy persuaded of his All-sufficiency rejoycing in hope and filled with love and joy and comfortable expectations because we are going to our Father and least if we were uncharitable to our Bretheren that unlikeness to
that we may seldome fall into temptation and never fall by it least Sathan who desires our eternal ruine again get power over us and advantage against us let us not be a prey to his malice but deliver us from evil which he inticeth us to as a Tempter and will punish us for as a Tormentor that we may not deliver our selves over to him by sin nor thou give us up to his wrath to execute thy sentence upon us for it These mercies we need and though we are unworthy yet we Petition thee for them thou mayest help us for thine is the Kingdome thou canst do it for thine is the Power thou wilt do it for us as thou hast freely and frequently relieved poor penitent sinners for which Men and Angels do acknowledge thine is the Praise and the Glory and we shall by thy mercy to us be obliged to joyn in this just acknowledgment which shall be made to thee in Heaven and Earth for ever and ever world without end Amen be it so SECTION VI. Of the Responses First of them in General § 1. AFter this devout address to God in that incomparable Prayer which Jesus taught are added some short and pithy Sentences in which the People are to bear a part according to the manner of the Primitive Christians (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constit Ap. l. 2. c. 5. who used this so constantly that Eusebius (x) Euseb Hist Eccl l. 2. c. 17. brings it as an Argument to prove the Essenes were Christians because they sung by turns answering one another They did so indeed among the Jews but those duties were performed by the Priests and Levites only But Christians have a greater Priviledge and every man is so far a Priest (y) 1 Pet. 2.9 Revel 1.6 as to have leave to joyn in this spiritual sacrifice and it is for the benefit as well as honour of the people For First This shews their full Consent and Unity in all that is Prayed for which Christ teacheth us to be necessary that our Prayers may be heard (z) Matth. 18.19 Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor is their silence sufficient to express such a consent as is here required for they must not only be willing these things may be prayed for but they must desire God should look on it as every ones particular request and accordingly Minister and people must with one mouth as well as one mind (a) Rom. 15.6 praise God Secondly This quickens their Devotion by a grateful variety making those holy offices pleasant which our corrupt nature is so apt to think tedious and by a different manner of address making the time seem short (b) Breve videbitur tempus quod tantis operûm varietatibus occupatur Hieron Epist ad Laet. and the Devotions new so that we may be as fresh as in the beginning of our Prayers Thirdly This engageth their Attention which is apt to stray especially in Sacred things and most of all if the people bear no part But when they have also their share of Duty they must expect before it comes that they may be ready when it is come that they may be right they must observe and after take heed to prepare against the next Answer they are to give How Pious therefore and Prudent is this Oâ—der of the Church thus to intermix the Peoples duty that they may be alwaies exercised in it or preparing for it and never have leisure to entertain those vain thoughts which will set upon us especially in the house of God (c) Nihil agendo malè agere dâ—scimus Senec. if we have nothing to do And assuredly the general neglect of this Duty of answering in their course hath introduced so much laziness sleeping irreverence inadvertency and weariness into the house of God Our Pious Ancestors may make our Devotion blush when we see them all the time of Prayer in procinctu with their knees bended their hands lifted up their eyes fixed on the Minister and their hearts and mouths ready to say Amen and answer where ever it was required And if ever this Devotion be restored in the Church which all good men passionately with it must be by learning the people zealously and conscientiously to joyn in these pious Ejaculations allotted to them which that they may do I shall now explain them to every ones capacity § 2. O Lord open thou our lips And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise This sentence with many of those that follow are Endited by the Spirit of God taken out of that excellent repository of Devotion the Psalms of David from whence the Jews took the greatest part of their Liturgy and the Primitive Christians collected their Prayers (d) See Dr. Hammonds Preface to his Annotat. and composed their Hymns out of it because it contains variety of prayers and praises exactly fitted for all persons in all circumstances as pertinent as if they had been made for the present occasion and so we shall find this to be which we now consider The words are to be found in Psal LI. ver 15. and were antiently transcribed into the Christian Liturgies for they are ordered to be three times repeated in that antient one attributed to St. James not to mention them of later date And nothing can be more pertinent when Minister and people apply themselves to praise God for speech is the gift of God (e) Prov. 16.1 Exod. 4.11 and that in which man excells all other Creatures and was given us to this end that we might glorifie him whence the tongue is called our glory (f) Psal 16.9 gloria mea LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Psal 36.12 108.1 because it is the instrument of his praise But we here do not only acknowledge our speech was given us to this end but desiring now to make a right use of it we beg his help and confess from him we have the faculty and the exercise of that faculty in every Act especially in holy things wherein unless he open our lips we cannot set forth his praise This is the sense of the words considered absolutely and alone But the Observation whence they are taken oâ—t of the most famous Penitential Psalm and where they are set soon after the Confession will afford us another profitable exposition David useth them after the Confession of his grievous sin and earnest supplication for Pardon and we use them in the Close of the Penitential part before we begin our solemn praises and petitions intimating that till we have some hopes of our Pardon we cannot proceed any further and so we briefly but zealously press that great sute for mercy because sin and the guilt of it doth stop our mouths and shut our lips that we become tongue-tyed (g) Matth. 22.11 Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speechless and mute as Judah the most eloquent of all his brethren (h) Gen. 44.16 Quid scribam vobis a t quomodo
softened and bettered by the word of God when you come to his house (t) Quid ergo miramini vos quae in scholam affertis ea domum referre num ut decreta vel abjecturi vel correcturi vel commutaturi advenitiâ— Arrian in Epict. l. 2. c. 21. resolved not to forsake any of your evil courses since you trust the Devil and believe not him that speaketh from heaven But be advised and take heed behold a sad example of those hard hearted Jews who dealt thus with God at Massah and Meribah which words signifie provocation and temptation they lusted for water and because they were not presently supplied they blasphemed God and questioned his providence and doubted of his promises and were so hardened by their lust that they feared not his dreadful indignation which therefore fell upon them This day is made by God a day of mercy but if you be resolved to hearken to your lusts if they call but for water and will not hear the calls of God if you doubt his promises and despise his threatnings as they did you will turn this day of grace into a day of provocation and temptation and perhaps of destruction and desolation as you do deserve § 6. Ver. IX X and XI When your Fathers tempted me c. It was the boast of the Jews that they followed the steps of their fore-fathers and so they did but not of the best of them not of Abraham who no sooner heard Gods voice but he was obedient to it (u) John 8.39 Gen. 17.23 but they followed the steps of those obstinate and provoking wretches which God delivered out of Egypt conducted them in the wilderness and sustained them there with bread from heaven yet they did frequently and continually discover their disobedience and unbelief by inventing strange wayes to try and prove the patience and fidelity of God growing rude and insolent in every denial discontent and clamorous if they had not every day a new miracle and although he had done so much to testifie his affection to them and care of them yet upon every slight occasion they conclude that they had neither his favour towards them nor his presence among them God indeed was so merciful that he suffered these their evil manners fourty years (x) Acts 13.18 but not without loathing and abhorrency and high indignation (y) Ver. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aqu. Sym. cum taedio pertuli Vatabl. fasâ—idio habui Jun. Tremel and though he did not presently destroy them yet he gave sufficient testimony that he was displeased at these their dealings They asked every thing of God they wanted and were impatient of denial but yet they would deny God that called them to repentance every day and thus they mistook him and formed wrong notions of him falsely imagining to be heard without obedience or else wretchedly concluding God was not able or not willing to make good his promises But they must be strangers to his Power truth and mercy that think so And yet as they erred in their minds so God made them err and wander in that desolate wilderness and he grew so highly incensed at last at their obstinacy and unbelief that he unalterably proposed which is expressed by taking an Oath they should none of them come into that Land of Caanan nor enjoy that rest since they sometimes despised it and preferred Egypt before it and otherwhiles doubted whether they ever could obtain it so that notwithstanding all their priviledges and all that God had done for them these vile returns provoked him that loved them once so deerly to destroy them in the wilderness and make good that promise to their children which the Fathers had made themselves unworthy of This is the sum of this sad example and of what happened to those Jews for our learning (z) 1 Cor. 10.11 Omne quod evenit patribus signum fuit filiis Moses Gerund in Gen. 12. and as David set it before the men of his time and St. Paul those of his so doth our Church daily set it before you for a warning that you may not do as they did least you also perish as they did You are delivered by Christ from the bondage of Sin and Sathan you are the chosen people of God pilgrims in the wilderness of this world and travellors to the heavenly Caanan and here is set before you some that of old did miscarry that you may shun those paths that lead them to ruine and that you may hearken to Gods calls and believe his Promises and despise Egypt and be content with his providence and then you shall arrive at your desired rest Otherwise do not encourage your selves because God spares you and think you may deny him to day as you did yesterday for he may suffer these abuses from you many years and be highly provoked against you in his own brest though his anger break not out in your destruction presently and you had best take heed you trifle not and mistake till God vow your deprivation for then you are irrecoverably lost These Israelites were going to a temporal Caanan and so dyed only temporally for ought we know and lost the pleasures of that pleasant land But we are invited to a heavenly rest and if we provoke God as they did our loss is ten thousand times greater and we must dye eternally Acquaint your selves therefore with Gods wayes and do not delight in such destroying mistakes as you are pleased to hug in your bosoms He is merciful to those that obey him and will perform all the expectations of his faithful servants but those that presume he should do so to them and yet continue to stop their ears though he spare them long yet he will cut them off at last which being so certain and having so plain an example this day propounded to you I hope you will this day hearken to the invitations that you hear out of Gods word and resolve now to begin a new course of life and if this have so good an effect you will have great cause to bless God for sparing you so long and warning you so seriously and giving this one effectual call more and then you may well conclude this Divine Hymn with Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. Amen The Paraphrase of the XCV Psalm VERSE I. O come with all speed and let us who are here met together in the house of God with loud and chearful voices sing unto the Lord and having our affections raised by the remembrance of his mercy let us not only outwardly and vocally but inwardly and heartily rejoyce in him that is the Rock of our defence the foundation of our hope and the strength by which we shall be brought to the fruition of our salvation Ver. II. He is present every where but especially here where we assemble to worship him therefore let us come into his house where we are
the hand of our enemies should never by sin put our selves in their power again but being obliged by our Pardon and assisted by his grace henceforth might serve him with a lively faith and chearful hope without fear of being hurt by Sathan or rejected by God So long as we walk in holiness towards him and righteousness toward our Neighbours and if our Religion and Charity be sincere as done before him and constant so as we continue in it all the days of our life we answer all his expectations and need not doubt of acceptance and reward Lord thou camest to make us holy as well as happy and therefore thou hast sent this Harbinger to acquaint us with thy design And thou Child art chosen to give the world warning and shalt be called the Prophet of the highest God thy office shall be to fit men to receive this mighty Saviour for thou shalt go as a Herald before the face of the Lord by severe reproofs and powerful exhortations to prepare his ways by bringing men to repentance Thou art sent to shew the danger of sin and to give knowledge of him that will bring Salvation to his People that they repenting and fearing the wrath to come may forsake all iniquity and fly to Jesus for the Remission of their sins It is high time for us who are guilty of so many sins to take care least by impenitence and unpreparedness we loose the benefit of this salvation which is provided for us through the tender bowels of the mercy of our God whereby he pittied our desperate danger and after our dismal right hath given us the light of the day-spring even his only Son who from on high leaving his Heavenly Throne hath visited us And now hath set up his Gospel among us to give light and discover the dangerous event of sin to them that sit in darkness through ignorance or by horrid guilt are in the valley and shadow of death that so they may be instructed converted and live And to guide our feet when we are thus brought out of our evil and dangerous paths that we may enter into the way that leads to the everlasting Kingdom of Peace we will observe this light and follow this guide and ever praise thee for it saying Glory be to the Father c. The second Hymn after the second Lesson at Morning Prayer Or the 100 Psalm § 9. THE Church hath provided not only for our necessities but our delight giving us the choice of another Hymn which is a Psalm of Praise as the Title tells us and was Composed to be sung by course in the Temple-service (f) Dr. Hammond Paraph. and Annot. on Psal 100. at the time of the Oblation of the Peace-Offering and yet it is not so appropriate to the Jewish service but it may well fit the Christian worship being a double exhortation to publick Praise which is most due to God for the publication of his Gospel and besides it is addressed to all Nations and so is a fit return for so universal a Mercy as the Redemption is There is no difficulty in the Method or Phrase and therefore we shall only note That the first Exhortation in the three first Verses is both to direct and quicken us in the duty of Divine Praise directing us in the two first Verses concerning the Persons by whom the manner how and place where we must perform it and the third Verse contains the Motives which are taken first from the Nature of God secondly from his Works both in Creating us and taking special care of us as of the sheep of his Pasture Wherefore the fourth Verse renews and inforceth the Duty even to come into Gods house with hearts full of gratitude and joy lauds and benedictions and the fifth Verse gives new reasons of it and more spiritual motives to it first because of his Essential goodness secondly his Endless Mercy thirdly his infallible truth All which are manifested so clearly in his holy Gospel that the world never had such a Testimony of them before and therefore this Hymn directly looks upon us who have heard this good news and obligeth us to bless God for that infinite Grace and Mercy and Truth which he shewed in giving his Son to us for which we must ever ascribe Glory to the Father c. SECTION X. Of the Hymns for the Evening Prayer and first of the Magnificat The Analysis of the Magnificat This Hymn hath two Parts 1. A general Thanksgiving containing 1. The Acts of Praise Magnifie and Rejoyce 2. The Instruments Soul and Spirit 3. The Object of it The Lord God c. 2. The special reasons for it 1. Upon her own account considering 1. Her present Meanness 2. Her future Honour 3. The Author of her happiness He that is Mighty He that is Holy 2. Upon the account of others 1. For the general disposals of his Providence Giving to the Pious Mercy Humble Exaltation Poor Supplies Procuring to the Proud Shame Mighty Humillation Rich Want 2. For the particular grace of the Redemption in which God shewed His Mercy In remembring of us His Power In sending help to us His Truth In keeping his word with us A Practical Discourse on the Magnificat § 1. THE Blessed Virgin whom God chose to be the Instrument of the greatest blessing that ever the World had by the fruit of her lips as well as of her Womb hath given apparent testimony of the extraordinary presence of the Divine Spirit with her and in her For this sacred Hymn breaths forth such lovely mixtures of faith and fear humility and love charity and devotion that it appears she was full of grace as well as highly favoured And it should be our wish and endeavour to repeat it with the same affections and holy fervours with which she indited it Perhaps we think we have not the same occasion 'T is true God the Word took flesh in her Womb and that is her peculiar Priviledge But if we receive the word of God and the motions of the holy Spirit that attend it we may turn that word into (g) Verbum Carnem facere est Verbum in Opus Scripturas in operas convertere Bish Andr. Ser. 6. flesh by Faith and Obedience if we so hear as to practice (h) Sit in singulis Mariae anima Nam etsi secundum carnem una Mater est Christi secundum fidem tamen omnium fructus est Ambros in Luc. we do conceive Christ by Faith and he is formed in us (i) Omnis enim anima concipit Dei verbum si tamen immaculata immunis à vitiis intemerato castimâ—niam pudorâ— custodiat Idem by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost and a puâ—e heart and he is by holiness brought forth for Christ himself calls such (k) Matth. 12.50 by the name of his Mother We are to rejoyce with all that do rejoyce but especially when we are sharers in the mercy and
(g) Filius abdicatus in gratiam rediens Graecis dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pater 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scult exer and received into grace again and thus the Promise made to Abraham is made good and the Lord becomes the God of his seed for ever Oh my soul acknowledge the gracious dealings of thy most merciful Father but above all praise him for the mercies of the Gospel for what comfort were it to be raised by the fall of our temporal enemies to a fading honour if a miserable Eternity did succeed but now by Faith in Jesus thou art not only secured in thy low estate but mayest behold an immoveable Throne an immortal Crown prepared for thee high as Heaven while all the proud workers of iniquity shall fall low as hell never to rise again Glory be to the Father c. The Paraphrase of the Magnificat O Praise the Lord with me all ye that behold his inexpressible goodness which hath exalted my affections and filled My soul with such glorious apprehensions that with all its powers it doth magnifie and set forth the admirable greatness of the Lord my mind also and my spirit ravished with the contemplation of his infinite goodness doth rejoyce with joy unspeakable in God who hath vouchsafed to become my Saviour I cannot sufficiently express his Mercy nor my gratitude For he that is the Majesty of Heaven by his marvelous condescension hath regarded and cast a gracious eye on the poverty and the lowliness of my condition who am so inconsiderable and never aimed higher then to be reputed amongst the meanest of his servants and called by the name of his handmaiden I am most despicable in the worlds eyes and vile in my own yet he hath conferred on me a high and lasting honour for behold he hath passed by the more noble and chosen me to be the Mother of the worlds Saviour so that from henceforth whenever this mercy is mentioned to the honour of God his favour toward me will be remembred by the people of all generations who shall bless God for it and shall call me blessed and account me happy above all women But I will freely acknoâ—ledge it was not my own merit nor strength that hath advanâ—ed me For he that is mighty in Power and infinite in Mercy most freely hath exalted me and hath magnified me his poor unworthy hand-maid his therefore is the glory his the praise and holy and reverend is his Name which I and all his servants will ever love and honour For I am not the only instance of his goodness nor do I confine my Praises to my particular occasion all the world sees and knows that his favour And his mercy is ever shewed on them that fear him so that holy and pious men are blessed by him and shall be throughout all generations while the world endureth Ye servants of the Lord consider how in all the course of his Providence especially in this great Redemption He hath shewed strength and a mighty Power for with his arm he hath secured and lifted up his own and by it he hath scattered the forces and baffled the designs of the proud who thought they only deserved to be respected by God and were so high and safe in the imaginations of their hearts At all times he disappoints such expectations and now as at other seasons he hath put down the wise the honourable and the mighty from their seats and thrones on which their pride had mounted them And hath exalted to that honour the humble and meek even those whom the arrogant most despised He hath filled most plenteously the souls of the hungry that earnestly desired the least favours and satisfied their longings with good things beyond their expectations and the rich whose pride made them think themselves fittest objects of his bounty and yet their abundance abated their desires after it these he hath disappointed and sent empty away And as in all other cases so now He remembring the constant method of his mercy and seeing his peoples distress hath holpen and again restored his servant Israel and all faithful people to favour and the hopes of glory as he promised to the Saints of former ages and particularly to our forefathers to Abraham that he would give a Saviour to Redeem and bring deliverance to us and to his seed for ever The second Hymn after the first Lesson viz. the XCVIII Psalm § 4. SOmetimes instead of the Blessed Virgins Song we use this Psalm to express the same thing even the might of Gods arm and the affections of his heart both shewed to his people Israel his true Church and this is one of Davids triumphant Hymns composed upon some miraculous victory over the enemies of the truth and being intituled a new Song may be applied in the Mistery to the glorious Conquest made over Sin and Sathan by the mighty arm of Jesus or in the letter to those deliverances of the faithful mentioned in the Lessons and a new heart will make it every day a new song by a renewed sense of the Divine goodness for here the people of God incourage one another to praise him for his works which are so admirably contrived ver 1. so mightily performed ver 2. so clearly manifested ver 3. to his own people and all the world ver 4. Wherefore the exhortation is renewed and inlarged and all the world is invited to joyn in this Hymn ver 5. and shewed how to praise him with heart and voice and all sorts of Musick ver 6. and 7. no part of the Earth must be silent but the Inhabitants of Seas (h) Arab. populi fluviorum c. populi montium Clament c. Aspice venturo laetentur ut omnio seclo and flouds hills and valleys must rejoyce not only for past mercies but for the Kingdome of Christ which every temporal deliverance minds us of when he shall come to free his servants from sin and misery and exercise such justice in the trial of all the World that his Saints shall sing a new song of Victory to him for ever in Heaven and we on Earth in hopes of it do at present rejoyce and say Glory be to c. The Analysis of the Nunc Dimittis Luke 2.29 Herein Simeon sheweth 1. The greatness of his joy which appeareth 1. In offering his very life 2. In his readiness to meet death so Willingly Peaceably 2. The reason of it which was 1. His particular happiness 1. In the fulfilling the Promise 2. In the beholding his Saviour 2. The Universal good because 1. Christ was visible to all 2. Beneficial to all bringing light glory to the Gentiles Jews A Practical Discourse on the Nunc Dimittis The first Hymn after the second Lesson § 5. THE Author of this short and comprehensive Hymn was a man eminent for his exact Justice vigorous Devotion lively Faith and extraordinary inspiration and of this the holy Text assures us and it is
Festivals Good Friday Turks Sundaies and Festivals Good Friday Infidels Sundaies and Festivals Good Friday Hereticks Sundaies and Festivals Good Friday 2. Such as are in the Church 1. The whole body that it may be kept in 1. Truth Sundaies and Festivals St. John Good Friday 5. Epiphany 2. Unity Sundaies and Festivals St. Simon and Jude 3. Peace Sundaies and Festivals 5. Trinity 16. Trinity 22. Trinity 2. The Ministers that they may be Fit Sundaies and Festivals St. Matthias Diligent Sundaies and Festivals St. Peter Successful Sundaies and Festivals 3. Advent SECTION XIV Of the two Collects peculiar to the Morning Prayer The Analysis of the second Collect for Peace In this Collect are five parts 1. The Person to whom we make this request 1. His Nature O God who art 2. His Attributes the Autâ—or of peace and lover of concord 2. The reasons why we make it taken from 1. Our happiness in knowing him in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life 2. Our priviledge in serving him whose service is perfect freedom 3 The request it self specifying 1. The thing desired defend 2. The Persons by whom us thy humble servants 3. The time when in all assaults of our enemies 4. The ends for which we make it 1. The securing our Faith that we surely trusting in thy defence 2. The removing our fears may not fear the Power of any Adversaries 5 The means by which we hope to prevail through the might of Iesus Christ our Lord Amen A Practical Discourse on the Collect for Peace § 1. O God who art the author of peace and lover of concord Peace hath alwaies been reputed the chiefest of earthly blessings both because of its own excellâ—ncies and because it is the Parent and the Nurse of all other comforts So that in the sacred dialect (u) Num. 6.26 in salutationibus Pax est Gen. 29.6 comprehendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drusius Si non pax nihil Adag Hebr. ap Fagium peace is used to signifie all good things â—lenty and prosperity health and joy and the undisturbed fruition of all these It is the felicity indeed of Earth â—here all is nothing without it and the Type of Heaven where all is comprehended in it wherefore the Christiaâ—s according to Gods command (x) Heb. 12.14 Jerem. 29.7 Psal 122.6 orbem quietum Tertul. Apolog. Pro arcendis hostibus vel auferendis vel temperandis adversis ut pro gentium pace salute Cypi Epist ad Demetr did ever follow it in their lives and â—eg it in their Prayers both as to the Heathens under whom they lived and the Church of God And in obedience to the Divine Command and imitation of such examples we also make it a part of our daily Office to pray for Peace And sure none can approach the throne of grace to ask this blessing with greater encouragements then we have For as the Church intimates our God is the author of Peace (y) Isâ—i 45.7 Matth. 5.9 and owns the peace-makers for his Children And instead of that dreadful title the Lord of hosts is in the New Testament (z) Rom. 15.33 Chap. 16.20 Philip. 4.9 ever stiled the God of Peace because he loves it and procures it (a) Psal 46.9 and commands us to make it and seek it with all men So that this Petition can never be rejected which is no more then Lord give us that which is agreeable to thy nature pleasant in thy sight and which we by thy command continually do follow after And as he delights to preserve his servants in Peace from all enemies without so also to behold them live in unity and concord within among themselves Hence he also commends and commands this (b) Psal 68.6 133.1 2. Rom. 15.5 6. Acts 2.44 and did so firmly bind the souls of the first believers in the bands of amity and concord that all the powers of darkness could not dissolve those holy combinations Wherefore set these Attributes of God before you when you are to beg for Peace and let them encourage you to ask chearfully and teach you as you desire to please him to endeavour after Peace and Concord in your lives that your actions may not contradict your Prayers wherein you own your selves sons of the God of peace § 2. In knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life whose service is perfect freedom It will further encourage our request if we here make humble acknowledgments of and pleasing reflexions upon our happiness in having relation to such a God the perfect knowledge of whom is the felicity of the Saints of Heaven (c) John 17.3 and his worship and service the safety of his holy ones on earth It is the most ravishing of all the delights of Eternity for blessed spirits to take a full prospect of the immense treasures of the unexpressible love of the God of Peace and to behold how he rejoyces over the endearing Concord and inseparable mities of his chosen ones in his everlasting peace And that little discovery which he hath mâ—de to us in this imperfect state of his power and providence his care and love his delight in our concord and procuring our peace even this is the greatest help to bring â—s to those endless joys For when we behold the miseries of the world the rage of wicked men and the malice of Sathan we might in despair 〈◊〉 escape them comply with them for our present safety and so lose our eternal happiness But only that we know him who is able to secure us and delights in our peace and therefore we fly to him call upon him and incourage our selves in him in the greatest appearance of danger and thereby are kept through Faith unto salvation and brought at last to that eternal life which we should scarce dare to hope for but by our knowledge and experience of his power and mercy This is the reason why we now entreat him for peace whom we know to be the Author of Peace even that we may improve our knowledge of him to be a means to bring us to that never ceasing peace in his heavenly Kingdom and to shew us from whom we must seek protection all the way And further we declare that we neither are nor desire to be masters of our selves For our liberty consists not in being subject to no superior but in that we are the servants (d) John 8.32.36 1 Cor. 7.22 Dion Drus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 14. of so almighty and gracious a master who preserves us a thousand times safer then if we were left to our selves We are now directly engaged in his service and therefore under his immediate proteâ—â—ion so that now we have a perfect freedom even from the very fears of any harm from the worst of our enemies We that trembled like slaves and bowed our necks to sinful complyances in every appearance of danger do now pray most chearfully for peace and are as free men