right wits can object any thing justly against it For Rain O God our heavenly Father who by thy gracious providence dost cause the former and the latter rain to descend upon the earth Deut. 11.14 that it may bring forth fruit for the use of man Psal 104.84 We give thee humble thanks that it hath pleased thee in our great necessity to send us at the last a joyful rain upon thine inheritance and to refresh it when it was dry Deut. 28.12 Psal 147.8 Jer. 5.24 Psal 68.9 to the great comfort of us thy unworthy servants and to the glory of thy holy Name through thy mercies in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For fair weather O Lord God who hast justly humbled us by thy late plague of immoderate rain and waters and in thy mercy hast relieved and comforted our souls by this seasonable and blessed change of weather We praise and glorifie thy holy Name for this thy mercy and will always declare thy loving kindness from generation to generation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For Plenty O Most merciful Father who of thy gracious goodness hast heard the devout prayers of thy Church and turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapness and plenty We give thee humble thanks for this thy special bounty beseeching thee to continue thy loving kindness unto us that our land may yield us her fruits of increase to thy glory and our comfort through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For Peace and Deliverance from our Enemies O Almighty God who art a strong tower of defence unto thy servants against the face of their enemies We yield thee praise and thanksgiving for our deliverance from those great and apparent dangers wherewith we were compassed We acknowledge it thy goodness that we were not delivered over as a prey unto them Psal 124. beseeching thee still to continue such thy mercies towards us that all the world may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty deliverer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For restoring publick Peace at home O Eternal God our heavenly Father who alone makest men to be of one mind in a house Psal 68.6 and stillest the outrage of a violent and unruly people Psal 65.7 We bless thy holy Name that it hath pleased thee to appease the seditious tumults which have been lately raised up amongst us most humbly beseeching thee to grant to all of us grace that we may henceforth obediently walk in thy holy commandments and leading a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 may continually offer unto thee our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for these thy mercies towards us Heb. 13.15 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For deliverance from the Plague or other common sickness O Lord God who hast wounded us for our sins and consumed us for our transgressions by thy late heavy and dreadful visitation and now in the midst of judgment remembring mercy hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death We offer unto thy fatherly goodness our selves our souls and bodies which thou hast delivered to be a living sacrifice unto thee Rom. 12.1 always praising and magnifying thy mercies in the midst of thy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Or this WE humbly acknowledge before thee O most merciful Father that all the punishments which are threatned in thy Law might justly have fallen upon us by reason of our manifold transgressions and hardness of heart Yet seeing it hath pleased thee of thy tender mercy upon our weak and unworthy humiliation to asswage the contagious sickness wherewith we lately have been sore afflicted and to restore the voice of joy and health into our dwellings we offer unto thy divine Majesty the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving lauding and magnifying thy glorious Name for such thy preservation and providence over us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Note These Thanksgivings extraordinary answer most of them to the Prayers extraordinary foregeing we praise God in the latter for what we prayed for in the former They need not be Scriptured out exactly for they are the very Scriptures themselves both for ground of matter and form of words They are of a very rational contrivance for great deliverances ought to have perpetual remembrances and the gracious favours of God bestowed upon us are to be remembred and acknowledged with gratitude The very Heathens in their Histories shew it to be usual and God in Scripture by his injunction makes it necessary Deut. 4.9 10. that we should dutifully repay to God our tribute of praise for the great and undeserved benefits which we have received from him Psal 111.4 Thus have I for the good of the Church I hope and for the glory of God and for the satisfaction of some who may have prejudices against our publick Divine Service and upon that account may absent themselves from it or not joyn in it with that devotion as they ought to do and I am sure without making any unhandsom and uncharitable reflections which is a very great errour of the Pen upon any persons whatsoever who do but own Christ and God as they are revealed in Scripture and profess Christianity contributed my poor endeavours to invite so many in as can be rationally moved and perswaded to joyn with us in our Christian Assemblies that we may with one heart mind and mouth glorifie God and serve him without distraction who is I am sure the God of order and not of confusion FINIS
some one or more of these sentences of the Scriptures that follow and then he shall say that which is written after the said sentences When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Ezek. 18.27 I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me Psal 51.3 Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities Psal 51.9 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 Rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Joel 2.13 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his Laws which he set before us Dan. 9.9 10. O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Jer. 10.24 Repent ye for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3 2. I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son Luke 15.18 19. Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal 143.2 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us But if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1.8 9. EXPLANATION The forecited sentences are all taken word for word out of the Holy Scripture of which the Minister may according to his discretion and as a fit occasion shall be offered make his choice which he is to read with a grave distinct loud but humble voice always considering that they are here set in proper place to mind the Congregation of their own misery and God's mercy and to prepare and stir up the hearts of people for the better performance of Holy Duties following both with alacrity and devotion DEarly beloved brethren Jam. 2.5 the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness 1 John 1.9 Psal 51.3 Psal 38.18 and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father Prov. 28.13 Psal 32.5 but confess them with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by his infinite goodness and mercy Psal 10.17 Psal 34.18 Joel 2.12 13. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God 1 Tim. 2.8 yet ought we most chiefly so to do when we assemble and meet together Levit. 4.14 to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands Psal 68.19 to set forth his most worthy praise Psal 50.23 to hear his most holy word Hebr. 3.7 Rom. 10.17 and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul Mat. 6.11 12. Mat. 7.7 8. Jam. 4.2 3. Wherefore I pray and beseech you as many as are here present to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice 1 Cor. 4.16 2 Cor. 2.8 2 Cor. 5.20 unto the throne of the heavenly Grace saying after me Hebr. 4.16 EXPLANATION The forementioned Exhortation is grave and serious exactly agreeable to Holy Scripture in which the people are invited and exhorted in an Apostolical stile to confess their sins humbly to the Lord who is able to help them because Almighty and willing to hear them because most merciful It gives us in a short summe the chief ends of our publick meetings in the houses of God it sets us some steps forward toward repentance makes us to know that we have offended instructs us how and in what manner to acknowledge our offence and by degrees brings us to confession upon our knees RUBRICK A general Confession to be said of the whole Congregation after the Minister all kneeling ALmighty and most merciful Father Gen. 17.1 Gen. 35.11 2 Cor. 1.5 we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep Psal 119.176 1 Pet. 2.25 we have followed too much the devises and desires of our own hearts Febr. 3.10 Gen. 6.5 we have offended against thy holy Laws Act. 7.53 Dan. 9.9 10. Jam. 2.10 Jam. 3.2 we have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done Rom. 7.15 19. and there is no health in us Isa 1.5 6. But thou O Lord have mercy upon us miserable offenders Luke 18.13 Psal 51.1 Spare thou them O God which confess their faults Joel 2.17 Hos 14.2 restore thou them that are penitent Psal 51.12 Hebr. 6.6 according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord Ephes 3.6 Rom. 15.8 2 Cor. 1.20 And grant O most merciful Father for his sake John 14.13 14. John 15.16 that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life Tit. 2.11 12. to the glory of thy holy Name 1 Pet. 4.11 1 Cor. 10.31 Amen 1 Cor. 14.16 EXPLANATION This Confession as appears by the forecited Texts is exactly agreeable to Scripture and is rationally and upon prudent grounds allowed the first place in our publick Liturgy We begin our Service with Confession of sin for these reasons 1. Because our sins make a separation betwixt God and us Isa 59.2 keep good things from us Jer. 5.25 hinder our prayers from ascending acceptably to God and God's blessings from descending comfortably upon us 2. It was the practice of God's people the Jews to begin their Service with a general Confession of sin of which we have the marks and signs in the Law Lev. 16.16 and the pattern and platform in the Prophets but the Confessions themselves are particularly to be met with in the Books of the Jews This verbal Confession of which we have an instance Luke 1.10 made the Jews fully acquainted with the true use of Sacrifices Besides Almighty God being jealous of his honour commanded a brazen Laver to be set between the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Altar for Aaron and his Sons twice in a day to wash their hands and feet Exod. 30.17 18 19 20 21. by which was signified the Laver of Repentance which we always stand in need of From the Jews it afterwards became a custom in the Christian Church to begin their publick Service with Confession of sin and to perform it in such a manner as we do The very Heathens had something amongst them which seemed to allude to it for they used to wipe off the dirt from their feet when they entred into the places of their Religious Service and Sacrifice However it is most certainly
to bless our gracious Queen CATHERINE James Duke of York and all the Royal Family Endue them with thy holy Spirit enrich them with thy heavenly grace prosper them with all happiness and bring them to thine everlasting Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer for the Clergy and people ALmighty and everlasting God who alone workest great marvels send down upon our Bishops and Curates and all Congregations committed to their charge the healthful Spirit of thy grace and that they may truly please thee pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing Grant this O Lord for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator Jesus Christ. Amen A Prayer of St. Chrysostom ALmighty God who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests Mat. 18.20 John 14.13 Fulfill now O Lord the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be most expedient for them granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and in the world to come life everlasting Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 THe Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen EXPLANATION Touching the variety of Service Anthems and Hymns to be sung by way of Antiphony or Response I have spoken something before and therefore shall say nothing in this place Indeed here I might have inserted the Anthems which are daily used in the Cathedral and most eminent Churches but I consider'd it to be needless in regard persons upon enquiry may meet with them bound up all together The forementioned Prayers I have not here Scriptur'd out because most of them as to the matter and substance of them will fall within the Litany which I shall warrant by Scripture sufficiently But here let it be noted that we pray in particular for Kings in pursuance of that precept of the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. which is pressed and urged with this reason that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty which can hardly be done if Kings and eminent persons in Authority do not help towards it Good Kings promote Religion wicked Kings persecute it Josiah and Hezekiah did increase true worshippers as Jeroboam did increase and multiply false and Schismatical ones A good King is a very great blessing but so unhappy are we that we cannot know the worth of him unless it be in the want of him We pray for the Church which is excellently described by Bishops Curates and the people committed to their charge all which make up a Church rightly constituted and Ignatius the Disciple of St. John the Evangelist tells us that there can be no truly constituted Church without a Bishop By Curates here are not meant Stipendiaries but all Ministers to whom the Bishop hath committed the cure and care of Souls For the right constituting of a Church and for the preserving of it when it is constituted and settled we pray for the healthful Spirit of Gods grace to be poured down upon all who profess Christ and embrace Christianity with sincerity The terms wherein we pray may seem strange in regard we present our prayers to the Almighty and everlasting God who only worketh great marvels but this expression hath a peculiar reference to Gods sending down of his holy Spirit upon the Apostles whereby they were enabled to speak in all Languages the wonderful works of God Act. 2.11 and to consirm that Doctrine by Miracles which they taught the world The Prayer of St. Chrysostom who lived about the fourth Century is grounded upon Mat. 18. v. 19 20. and may be met with word for word in his Liturgy We begin and end the Morning Service with the Apostle as we begin the Exhortation in an Apostolical stile so we conclude the Prayers with an Apostolical Prayer and conclude most of our Prayers and Collects with this clause Through Jesus Christ our Lord because there is no coming to God but by Christ what we ask as we ought in his Name God will give us for his sake He is our Jacobs Ladder by whom our Prayers ascend to God and Gods blessings descend to us all good things come from God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. RUBRICK Here endeth the Order of Morning Prayer throughout the year EXPLANATION The Morning Prayer intended in this order is that which I have before explained which did usually begin at six in the morning and doth still in the Cathedral Churches where the Canonical hours are punctually observed Now every Canonical or greater hour did contain so many lesser hours from six in the morning to nine was the first hour from nine to twelve was the third from twelve to three afternoon was the sixth from three to six was the ninth c. RUBRICK The Order for Evening Prayer daily throughout the Year EXPLANATION THe Evening Service is exactly the same with the Morning as the Jews had their daily Sacrifice a Lamb for the Morning and a Lamb for the Evening Exod. 29.38 so we Christians in a more Spiritual sense have the same Sacrifice to offer up to God by Christ continually in the Morning and in the Evening only here are two Collects to be taken notice of which are not in the Morning Service as also the Hymns and Psalms after the first and second Lesson After the first Lesson Magnificat S. Luk. 1.46 Cantate Domino Psal 98. After the second Lesson Nunc dimittis S. Luk. 2.29 Deus misereatur Psal 67. After this the Creed the lesser Litany the Lords Prayer and the following Responses all to be ranked and placed in that order as they stand in the Evening Service without either Scriptural Notes or Explanation After this follows the Collect for the day and then two other Collects proper for the Evening Service RUBRICK The second Collect at Evening Prayer for Peace O God from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works do proceed Jam. 1.17 2 Cor. 3.5 Isa 26.12 Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give 2 Thes 3.16 John 14.27 that both our hearts may be set to obey thy Commandments Psal 40.8 Psal 37.31 Psal 119.36 Deut. 5.29 and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen Psal 3.5 6 7. Psal 4.8 Luk. 1.73 74 75. RUBRICK The third Collect for aid against all perils LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord Psal 18.28 Psal 91. and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen EXPLANATION Out of the 91 Psalm this Prayer may be enlarged as there shall be occasion in our private Devotions in which Psalm there is mention of the
owe our being conduct and preservation and to him we are obliged to pay all the obedience and observance which the meekest creatures in nature pay to those who have the care and conduct of them Vers 4. O let us make our solemn addresses to his Sanctuary where his Divine Majesty is signally pleased to exhibit himself and to testifie his peculiar residence and favourable audience to them who assemble there Thither let us come with all the humility and devotion of loyal and thankful hearts and praise and magnifie his Name for all the mercies which we have ever received from him Vers 5. For to do this we have all imaginable obligations not only that of his Soveraign dominion over all to which all the performances of our lives are but a most unproportionable tribute but also his abundant benignity his rich promises of a never-failing mercy and his constant fidelity of performing to every man who is fitly qualified for receiving it the utmost that he ever promised to any 4. A Paraphrase on Magnificat Luke 1. Vers 46 47. MAry the blessed Virgin and mother of the Lord Jesus brake out into this holy Hymn of praise and thanksgiving saying All the faculties of my Soul my affections and understanding have reason to bless and praise the name of God and to return great thanks unto him for I have received great things from him I my self will praise him and will not do it only by another as I have tasted liberally of his bounty so will I in my own person perform this duty His benefits are so great and so good so manifest and so manifold that I cannot utter them with my tongue and therefore must devoutly ponder on them in my heart I will give him my Soul the best thing that I have who hath given to me all that I am or have I will praise him cordially unfeignedly without hypocrisie with all intention in my understanding with all devotion in my affection not with a divided heart but with my whole heart will I praise him I will make him who is great in himself to be reputed so of others I will magnifie him and magnifie my self too in the doing of it He is a Lord able to help and he is a Saviour as willing as he is able I adore his greatness I joy in his goodnesâ— and whatever I take joy in beside it is only for his sake He is my mighty Saviour and deliverer saving me both from sin and danger Vers 48. He hath done the greatest honour to me the unworthiest of all his Servants that was ever done to any He hath sâ—ken pity of the wretched condition and state which I the daughter of David's Seed was brought into and hath not disdained my poverty but hath been pleased to make choice of me for a vessel of Grace in a very great work He hath looked upon me in my abased condition with a most gracious eye and hath not only vouchsafed to make me his Child but the Mother of my Maker so that all posterities shall look upon me as a most happy person and most highly dignified by God of any Vers 49. The omnipotent God of Heaven hath done marvellous things in me hath honoured me above imagination hath so blessed me as to make me a Virgin the Mother of the most Blessed in whom all Nations of the Earth are blessed and his Name shall be ever blessed for it Vers 50. For in me he hath accomplished the promised mercy made to Abraham saying I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee which abundant kindness is not to me only but â—o all who obey and serve him humbly from time to time to help and comfort them to scatter and confound all their foes and especially to make good his promise to them touching the Messias and Saviour of the world Vers 51. The great and proud designer-of the world are so far from being favoured that they are manifestly opposed and confounded by him and by his only power without any helper hath he now wrought a great and glorious work He hath established the Kingdom of Christ and hath overthrown all the counsels and endeavours of his enemies and hath disappointed all who are proud in the imagination of their own hearts Vers 52. It is ordinary with him to abase the lofty Atheists however high they are raised in might and power and to advance humble persons though they are of never so low degree Vers 53. He takes the poor who depend upon him into his protection and replenisheth them with all necessaries when they call upon him whereas the rich men of the world who trust in their uncertain riches are often brought into want and beggery Vers 54 55. He hath now performed his promise made to Abraham and his Seed hath exhibited to them and to all the believing world the great promised mercy and hath made such a provision for them which shall never fail having sent the Messias the Saviour of the world so long expected which is a mercy that shall never be taken from us Therefore for this unspeakable mercy and for all mercies flowing from this Glory shall be ascribed to God in all the Churches of his Saints and that for ever 5. A Paraphrase upon Psal 98. Vers 1 2. IT is now an opportune season to praise and magnifie the great God of Heaven for all his miraculous deliverances but especially for the glorious conquests of the Messias who by his own power and by vertue of his most perfect righteousness hath obtained for the Humane nature which he assumed and for his whole Church Victory over all his enemies and eternal Glory He hath made a conquest over the Grave by rising triumphantly out of it and thereby hath given us a pawn and pledge of our Resurrection This is a new work indeed and deserves a new Song to be sung in all Ages by all the regenerated part of Mankind who are renewed according to Christ Jesus the most glorious exemplar of all the Regenerate Vers 3. This mighty work of God in raising the Messias from the dead and the completion of his predictions and promises therein his goodness and mercy and Evangelical righteousness by which he is pleased to justifie sinful men through the merits of his Son 's most perfect righteousness embraced by a lively Faith God would have to be published and proclaimed by the preaching of the Gospel to all the men in the world Vers 4. And not published only as a Miracle though of most stupendious nature but as an act of infinite goodness and promised mercy and of great fidelity in performing it too the benefits whereof were first reached forth to his own peculiar people the Jews and afterwards to be published to the utmost Nations of the world who have all their parts in the Redemption from sin and Satan atchieved and wrought by it Vers 5 6 7. This is true matter of the greatest joy and exultation to
all men and deserves to be celebrated in the most solemn manner with all the Instruments of Musick used in the Service of God and all are little enough to express the Glory of the work and the infinite advantages designed to us by Christ thus entring upon his Regal Office in order to subdue all the world to the power of the Gospel which is the Scepter of his Kingdom For this we should praise him in our contemplations and actions words and works lips and life being all of us as so many spiritual Temples of God and Timbrels of the Holy Ghost Vers 8 9 10. All the habitable world the very Heathens who have been long under the servitude of their false Idol worships shall now be redeemed from that slavery of sin and Satan the Idol Oracles and Temples shall all be destroyed and the Doctrine of the true God and practice of Piety Justice and Charity shall be set up in their stead and thereby a most happy joyful Reformation be wrought amongst men which certainly deserves all the acknowledgments of humble and thankful hearts and lays obligations upon us to ascribe all glory to God in all the Churches 6. A Paraphrase upon Nunc dimittis Luke 2. Vers 29. O Lord seeing thou hast in great mercy fulfilled thy gracious promise revealed to me touching the Messias I am heartily content now to dye Vers 30. And needs must I dye happy and contented who have seen with mine eyes the Messias and Saviour of the world the great means and glorious instrument of man's Salvation Vers 31. Whom thou hast so long promised and now exhibited to be seen by all which Salvation thou hadst ordained from everlasting to be made known in due time to all Nations and to make them partakers of it Vers 32. That there might be a light afforded to the Gentile world to reveal to them Gods righteousness and that way of living which is to God most acceptable who after he hath reformed the Religion of the Jews teaching them substantial Duties instead of Ceremonial observances was to bring in the Gentiles to embrace the same Religion and so to bring much glory and honour to all of that Nation and of all Nations in the world who would receive him for which unspeakable mercy all Nations in the world are to ascribe all glory to God Father Son and Holy Ghost in all the Churches 7. A Paraphrase upon Psal 67. Vers 1. THe great and good God of Heaven pardon our sins supply our wants bestow his blessings both spiritual and temporal upon us behold us with favour and acceptance and for ever continue them unto us Vers 2. This may be a means of propagating the fear worship and Service of the true God to all the Heathen world when they shall see and consider the eminent miraculous acts of thy providence O God over us in delivering us from great dangers and distresses which have been upon us when they shall behold the wonderful order and means which thou observest in governing of thy Church as well in regard of thy Word and Laws as thy Works and Miracles Vers 3. This universal Reformation and acknowledgment of the one true God of Heaven and Earth is a mercy so much to be wished for and desired by every pious man that I cannot but give my suffrage to it and most affectionately call upon all to joyn in this wish and to beseech God that his Kingdom may be enlarged and that all the Nations in the world Jews and Gentiles may joyn in the Service and Worship of him Vers 4. And it must needs be matter of infinite joy and exultation to all Nations when they shall be admitted to so high an honour as to be ruled and directed by God to be governed by his most righteous way of Justice in the Kingdom of the Messias by Laws and Statutes so admirably good and agreeable to our interests and by the administration of his works of providence so admirably wise and just that all the world both in prudence care of and love to themselves are obliged with joy to submit to the setting up of this Kingdom in their hearts Vers 5. And it would be an happy and blessed thing if all the world would be duly sensible of it and all joyn to acknowledge worship serve and obey the true God and so partake of this great mercy and be induced to magnifie his Name for it Vers 6. For his mercies are continually afforded to all rain from heats fruitful seasons and peculiar acts of his providence are such as may oblige the most Heathen men in the world to acknowledge bless and give up themselves to the obedience of him And it is our duty continually to pray unto him that he would bestow his Benediction both upon us and upon all that which he hath so richly afforded us Vers 7. And our prayer shall be that the God of Heaven would crown us with his blessings and that all the most barbarous people in the world may be brought in to acknowledge and worship him and to pay all uniform obedience and subjection to him To whom be glory for ever Amen The Creed of St. Athanasius RUBRICK Vpon these Feasts Christmas-day the Epiphany St. Matthias Easter-day Ascension-day Whitsunday St. John Baptist St. James St. Bartholomew St. Matthew St. Simon and St. Jude St. Andrew and upon Trinity Sunday shall be sung or said at Morning Prayer in stead of the Apostles Creed this Confession of our Christian Faith commonly called the Creed of St. Athanasius by the Minister and people standing Quicunque vult WHosoever will be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith Heb. 11.6 Jude vers 3. Heb. 10.23 By Catholick Faith we are to understand the Faith of the Church Universal which is opposed to the Faith of Hereticks Jews Turks and Pagans Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly Ephes 4.5 Jude vers 20. Act. 15.9 John 3.18 Mark 16.16 Faith may be diverse in respect of the subject or believers but not in respect of the object or thing believed for there is but one Faith Ephes 4.5 Therefore this Faith is to be kept whole we are not to divide Christ 1 Cor. 1.13 and this Faith if kindly received and embraced purifies the heart and therefore it is to be kept undefiled Act. 15.9 and upon this account is it stiled the most holy Faith Jude vers 20. Therefore St. Augustine hath expresly declared That a good life is not only inseparable from Faith but that Faith it self is a good life To believe in God and Christ is to do the declared will of the one and the commands of the other It is not enough to profess like Christians and to live like Heathens to be Christians in name and Heathens in manners to profess to know God and in our works to deny him Tit. 1.16 And the Catholick Faith is this That we
sorrow upon the Soul and a Repentance not to be repented of That it may please thee to defend and provide for the fatherless children and widows and all that are desolate and oppressed We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. We pray for those whom God himself hath especially declared in Scripture that he will be careful of and kind to and the intimations of his will and pleasure are the best directions for our Prayers neither can we pray more suitably to the mind of God for his pity and compassion to be extended to any then to those miserable persons whom he hath expresly nominated in his Sacred Scriptures to be the proper and fit objects of his compassion and protection so that he is pleased to stile himself the Father of the fatherless the Husband of the widow the Helper of the helpless and the Friend of the friendless the only succour and sure refuge to all miserable and distressed persons who being destituted of the world six their sole dependance upon him That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. When we pray that God would have mercy upon all men we pray for his general mercy to be extended to all in the same sense as he wills all to be saved 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. and in the same sense as he is pleased to distribute out his mercies to all Mat. 5.45 That it may please thee to forgive our enemies persecutors and slanderers and to turn their hearts We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. In praying for our enemies we observe that special command given by our Saviour the observing of which commandment brings us up to the perfection of our Christianity and makes us most like unto God Mat. 5.44 45. And because there is no inordinate lust in our corrupt nature so hard to be mortified as hatred is therefore did Christ in his Sermon upon the Mount administer something expresly towards the mortifying of this wicked passion wherein he doth not only take off the edge of our Revenge but he turns it quite the contrary way teaching us to love our enemies to bless those who curse us to do good to those who hate us to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us to love those for Gods sake whom perhaps for their own sake we cannot love The holy Apostle St. Paul teacheth the same Rom. 12.20 21. as Justin Martyr said to Trypho the Jew Ye persecute us and we pray for you Such like forms of Prayers may be met with in the writings of the Primitive Fathers the Liturgies and Constitutions of the Ancient Church Ignatius in his Epistle to Polycarp and the Church of Smyrna Tertullian and Cyprian in their Treatises of Christian Patience have written very notably upon this argument In all which may be observed the charity of the Church of Christians towards the very enemies of that Religion which she professeth There is not any thing in this Litany but may be met with in ancient Writers and ancient Liturgies ascribed to Chrysostom Basil St. James and in the Catholick Collect mentioned in the Constitutions which are father'd upon Clemens Romanus the places I could cite word for word only in regard I am writing to English People I have made it my design to write all in English such as it is and not so much as to dip into any other Tongue or Language That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth so as in due time we may enjoy them Psal 104.27 28. Psal 65.9 10 11 12 13. Mat. 6.11 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. From the Litanies or Rogations then used upon their common Perambulations came the three days before the day Anniversary of our Lords Ascension to be called Rogation-days and the Sunday before Rogation-Sunday wherein the Church prayed especially and most seasonably that it would please God to give and preserve to their use the kindly Fruits of the earth so that in due time they might enjoy them For unless God give them and preserve them when given and preserve them to our use and give us grace to use them as we ought to do we can neither enjoy them him in them nor our selves That it may please thee to give us true repentance to forgive us all our sins negligences and ignorances and to endue us with the grace of thy holy Spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy Word 2 Tim. 2.25 26. Jer. 5.24 25. Mat. 3.8 Mat. 6.33 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. This petition in very good order follows the former for unless that be granted to us which we petition for in this prayer all the earthly blessings before prayed for may never ripen to maturity they may be blasted in the springing of them the Canker Locust Caterpillar or any thing else however contemptible may be sent on Gods errand come armed with his displeasure and ravish these blessings out of our hands before we can come to the reaping of them One sin God he knows we are guilty of many unrepented of may bring a curse upon our blessings like the Frogs and Flies Locusts and Caterpillars into Aegypt or the Worm into Jonah's Gourd and quickly deprive us of all those blessings of increasing Nature which we yet hold by no other tenure then that of a defeasible expectation and if it shall please God to be so mercifull unto us as to give us these good things to enjoy and to forgive us our sins which is a greater mercy then all besides yet that we may not abuse them to luxury and intemperance when we have them but use them soberly that we may reap the good and God the glory we pray for the grace of Gods holy Spirit that all these blessings may be sanctified to us and that they may be as so many new obligations upon us to amend our lives and to live as becometh those who have received from God the great donor such obliging favours Son of God we beseech thee to hear us Mat. 9.27 Luk. 1.35 Son of God c. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world John 1.29 Grant us thy peace John 14.27 John 16.33 Rom. 5.1 O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world John 1.36 Have mercy upon us Mark 10.47 48. O Christ hear us O Christ hear us Lord have mercy upon us Lord have mercy c. Christ have mercy upon us Christ have mercy c. Lord have mercy upon us Lord have mercy c. These repetitions are warrantable by Scripture and therefore cannot be by men of Reason and Religion judged vain it is an argument of zeal and devotion and ferventy in prayer when our petitions are doubled by which we express our desires We meet with the like re-duplications frequently used in the Primitive Church David used often repetitions Psal 136. Psal 119. Psal 107.
is to be in the kneeling posture the posture of penitents when he is performing this penitential Office and he is to perform it in the appointed place in imitation of the Priests and Ministers under the Law who were commanded in their penitential Service to weep between the Porch and the Altar and to say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God Joel 2.17 To conclude the Litany take it in the whole and in every part of it is so excellent a Form of all good devotion that they must needs be upbraided either with errour or somewhat worse whom in all parts this principal and excellent Prayer doth not fully satisfie The corruptions brought into former Litanies by addition of Saints names and Invocation of Saints are purged away in ours so that there is not any Litany extant more complete then ours is the Church in other Divine Offices hath exceeded other Churches but in this her self RUBRICK Prayers and Thanksgivings upon several occasions to be used before the two final Prayers of the Litany or of Morning and Evening Prayer PRAYERS For Rain O God heavenly Father who by thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised to all them that seek thy kingdom and the righteousness thereof all things necessary to their bodily sustenance Mat. 6.33 Send us we beseech thee in this our necessity such moderate rain and showres that we may receive the fruits of the earth to our comfort and to thy honour through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Jam. 4.3 Jam. 5.18 Hos 2.21 22. 1 King 8.35 36. John 14.13 14. For fair weather O Almighty Lord God who for the sin of man didst once drown all the world except eight persons 1 Pet. 3.20 and afterward of thy great mercy didst promise never to destroy it so again Gen. 8.21 22. We humbly beseech thee that although we for our iniquities have worthily deserved a plague of rain and waters yet upon our true repentance thou wilt send us such weather as that we may receive the fruits of the earth in due season and learn both by thy punishment to amend our lives and for thy clemency to give thee praise and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen In the time of Dearth and Famine O God heavenly Father whose gift it is that the rain doth fall the earth is fruitful beasts increase and fishes do multiply Job 38.25 26 27 28. Gen. 1. Behold we beseech thee the afflictions of thy people and grant that the scarcity and dearth which we do now most justly suffer for our iniquity may through thy goodness be mercifully turned into cheapness and plenty for the love of Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen 2 Chron. 20.9 2 Chron. 6.26 27 28 29 30 31. Rom. 8.32 Deut. 11.13 14. Or this O God merciful Father who in the time of Elisha the Prophet didst suddenly in Samaria turn great scarcity and dearth into plenty and cheapness 2 King chap. 6. chap. 7. Have mercy upon us that we who are now for our sins punished with like adversity may likewise find a seasonable relief increase the fruits of the earth by thy heavenly benediction and grant that we receiving thy bountiful liberality may use the same to thy glory the relief of those that are needy and our own comfort through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 1 King 8.35 36 37 38 39 40. In the time of War and Tumults O Almighty God King of all Kings and Governour of all things whose power no creature is able to resist to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners and to be merciful to them that truly repent save and deliver us we humbly beseech thee from the hands of our enemies abate their pride asswage their malice and confound their devices that we being armed with thy defence may be preserved evermore from all perils to glorifie thee who art the only giver of all victory through the merits of thy only Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2 Sam. 22.32 Isa 45.22 Psal 76.7 10. 1 King 8. vers 44 c. In the time of any common Plague or Sickness O Almighty God who in thy wrath didst send a Plague upon thine own people in the wilderness for their obstinate rebellion against Moses and Aaron Numb 16. and also in the time of King David didst slay with the plague of Pestilence threescore and ten thousand and yet remembring thy mercy didst save the rest 2 Sam. 24.15 16. Have pity upon us miserable sinners who now are visited with great sickness and mortality that like as thou didst then accept of an atonement and didst command the destroying Angel to cease from punishing 2 Sam. 24.16 so it may now please thee to withdraw from us this plague and grievous sickness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen In the Ember weeks to be said every day for those that are to be admitted into Holy Orders ALmighty God our heavenly Father who hast purchased to thy self an universal Church by the precious bloud of thy dear Son Act. 20.28 Colos 1.13 14. Tit. 2.14 Rev. 1.5 Rev. 7.14 mercifully look upon the same and at this time so guide and govern the minds of thy servants the Bishops and Pastours of thy flock that they may lay hands suddenly on no man 1 Tim. 5.22 but faithfully and wisely make choice of fit persons to serve in the sacred Ministery of thy Church Act. 1.24 25 26. And to those which shall be ordained to any holy function give thy grace and heavenly benediction that both by their life and doctrine they may set forth thy glory and set forward the salvation of all men through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 1 Tim. 4.16 Deut. 33.8 Or this ALmighty God the giver of all good gifts who of thy divine providence hast appointed divers orders in thy Church 1 Cor. 12.28 29. Ephes 4.11 12. 1 Pet. 4.10 1 Cor. 12.4 Give thy grace we humbly beseech thee to all those who are to be called to any office and administration in the same and so replenish them with the truth of thy doctrine and indue them with innocency of life that they may faithfully serve before thee to the glory of thy great Name and the benefit of thy holy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Note The four Ember weeks were anciently weeks of Abstinence quarterly Fasts observed in the four seasons of the year the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent for the Spring the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the Feast of Pentecost for the Summer the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after Holy Cross September the 13th for the Autumn and the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after St. Lucies day December the 13th for the Winter Now the Church enjoyned Wednesday Friday and Saturday to be weekly observed because Christ
was betrayed by Judas on a Wednesday was crucified on a Friday and was laid in the Sepulchre on a Saturday And the Church enjoyned these days to be quarterly observed as Fasting-days for these following reasons 1. That Christians might be as devout as the Jews who observed four several and solemn times of Fast in the year Zechar. 8.19 2. Because these are the First-fruits of every Season which we rightly dedicate to the service and honour of God that beginning every Season so devoutly we may learn to spend the whole year accordingly and that by this means we may procure Gods blessing upon the Fruits of the year arising out of the Earth which are at these Seasons either sown sprung up come to ripeness or gathered into Barns 3. That we may call our selves yearly to a strict account for our sins committed every Season and sadly and seriously repent of them 4. That we may implore Gods mercy to our bodies in freeing us from those common distemperatures which usually are predominant at these four Seasons 5. That we may procure the greater blessing upon the Ministers received into Holy Orders at these four Seasons of the year by Prayer Fasting and imposition of hands Now the forementioned weeks are called Ember weeks from an old Saxon word Enthber which denotes Abstinence or say others from the word Ember now commonly in use which signifies Ashes for Ashes were a ceremony frequently made use of in times of Fasting and carried with it significancy sufficient from which ceremony the first day of the Lent-fast was termed Ash-wednesday of which it is probable I may say something more in proper place A Prayer for the High Court of Parliament to be read during their Session MOst gracious God we humbly beseech thee as for this Kingdom in general so especially for the High Court of Parliament under our most religious and gracious King at this time assembled That thou wouldst be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations to the advancement of thy glory the good of thy Church the safety honour and welfare of our Soveraign and his Kingdoms that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness truth and justice religion and piety may be established among us for all generations These and all other necessaries for them for us and thy whole Church we humbly beg in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ our most blessed Lord and Saviour Amen Note No persons can be offended at this Prayer who are not enemies to all goodness and rather desire that debauchery and wickedness should overspread a Nation to the shame and dishonour of it than piety and vertue to advance its reputation A Collect or Prayer for all conditions of men to be used at such times when the Litany is not appointed to be said O God the Creator and Preserver of all mankind we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them thy saving health unto all nations Psal 67.1 2. 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. More especially we pray for the good estate of the Catholick Church Gal. 6.10 Psal 122.6 that it may be so guided and governed by thy good spirit that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth and hold the faith in unity of spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life Ephes 4.3 Finally we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are any ways afflicted or distressed in mind body or estate Heb. 13.3 * * This to be said when any desire the prayers of the Congregation especially those for whom our prayers are desired that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities giving them patience under their sufferings and a happy issue out of all their afflictions And this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake Amen A Prayer that may be said after any of the former O God whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble petitions Psal 103.13 and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us for the honour of Jesus Christ our Mediatour and Advocate Amen Note Touching the preceding Prayers and following Thanksgivings may it be observed that extraordinary dangers should of themselves invite us and stir us up to extraordinary Prayers and extraordinary deliverances from those dangers should equally move us to extraordinary thankfulness as we are to pray to God for the blessings we would obtain so we are to praise him when they are obtained when God opens his hand to gratifie us we should open our mouths to glorifie him It is the Apostles prescribed method to begin with Prayer and to end with Thanksgiving 1 Tim. 2.1 indeed where the concernment is National a provision in such cases is usually better made by fixing set days to be solemnly and religiously observed but it many times happens that the calamities inflicted and mercies received are only Provincial or peculiar to some one County Town City or Vicinage so that they may not reach the cognizance of the Supreme Magistrate therefore are these Prayers and Thanksgivings composed that they may be ready upon all occasions for us to have recourse to when there are no set days indicted for such a purpose THANKSGIVINGS A General Thanksgiving ALmighty God Father of all mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks Psal 116.12 13. for all thy goodness and loving kindness to us and to all men 1 Tim. 2.1 * * This to be said when any that have been prayed for desire to return praise particularly to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for thy late mercies vouchsafed unto them We bless thee for our creation preservation and all the blessings of this life but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of grace and for the hope of glory And we beseech thee give us that due sense of all thy mercies that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful and that we may shew forth thy praise not only with our lips but in our lives by giving up our selves to thy service and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days Luk. 1.74 75. Tit. 2.11 12. through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory world without end Amen Note This Thanksgiving is not only warrantable by more Texts of Scripture then I have cited but it is so excellent both for matter and method that all Churches and Writers can hardly shew a better form so full of matter and that comprized in so few words This needs no vindication because no persons in their
our solemn Service and Sacrifice to him we ought in the first place to make Confession of our sins to which necessary and important duty we are not only moved and invited by the Word of God in many places and by many urgent motives and reasons but we are also by the same Word instructed how to perform it We are not to dissemble our sins before that God from whom we cannot hide them but we are to confess and acknowledge our manifold sins and wickednesses with humble lowly penitent and obedient hearts to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by Gods infinite goodness and mercy This is a duty which ought to be done by every private Christian at all times in the â—loset and in the secret hambers but chiefly and most solemnly is to be done by all Christians when they are met together in Christian Assemblies that having done this first they may be the better disposed to do other things which are also then and there fit and necessary to be done 1. To render to God a tribute of thanks for mercies received 2. To render him a tribute of praise in the best expressions 3. To hear his Word with all attention due reverence and devotion 4. To beg humbly of him all necessary things which we want either for our souls or bodies for our support or duty All which things cannot be well done nor done with any good success by those who would endeavour to hide their sins from God and decline to make sincere confession of them with a purpose to forsake them For he that covereth his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy Prov. 28.13 Fourthly Thus far our considerations as to our affairs in the Temple and the house of God are right and being well entertained by us and often and seriously thought upon may rectifie many evils and disorders which by fools and inconsiderate persons are too frequently there committed Now having seriously considered all that is before mentioned and having resolved to do it too upon serious consideration then it will in the next place concern us when we are all present together with pure hearts and humble voices to make our approach to the Throne of Gods heavenly Grace and to confess all meekly kneeling upon our knees 1. That God is Almighty able to help us and a most merciful Father willing to hear us 2. That we are grievuous sinners who have neglected to do our duty and have not refrained to do whatsoever is contrary to it 3. That our condition is sad and deplorable that there is nothing either in us or from us which can minister to us any relief but that upon our unfeigned repentance our departing from sin and amendment of our lives and serious resolutions to live better for the future Grace is to be had from the Throne of Grace by the Mediatour of Grace Jesus Christ. For as God delights not in the sin of any man but would have all men come to repentance so neither is he pleased with the death of any penitent sinner but hath given forth his promises of pardon and forgiveness to be authoritatively conveyed by the mouths of his Ministers to all who have received the Grace of true repentance which we are constantly to pray for and are acted on by his holy Spirit to lead holy and pure lives that so by living exactly according to the measures of Grace received here which is Glory begun we may come to Glory hereafter which is Grace complete and all through Jesus Christ unto whose Throne we may come boldly yet humbly not trusting to our own merits but relying upon Gods mercies through Christs merits that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need Heb. 4.16 Fifthly Having thus seriously composed our selves by a deep consideration of our sins both confessed and acknowledged and by the consideration of our wants to be supplied and of the greatness and goodness of that God to whom we are to make our addresses for the pardon of our sins and the supply of our wants Then it is very well worthy our consideration and upon consideration we may resolve within our selves that we cannot come with a better and more acceptable Prayer to be offered up unto the Throne of Grace than that which the Mediatour of Grace himself hath taught us saying When ye pray say Our Father which art in heaven Luk. 11.2 in which Prayer before we offer it up we may do well to take notice both of the method and of the matter contained in it The method of the Prayer is this 1. There is a Preface shewing whom we pray to We pray to God who is a Father and so willing who is in Heaven and so able to help us who is ours in Christ and so by a warrant and commission given us from Christ we may with the more confidence make our addresses to him As he is a Father we pray to him in hope as he is ours a common Father we pray to him in hope and as he is in Heaven we pray to him in fear humility and devotion 2. There are Petitions shewing what we pray for and in what order First we pray to God as it is fit we should for those things which concern his Glory and by which his Name may be hallowed and glorified Next we pray for those things which concern our good of Glory Grace and Nature We pray that Gods kingdom may come that his power and dominion may appear all over the world we pray that his will may be done by us men on earth as it is done by the Holy Angels in heaven and that we may all live in all holy obedience to his commands We pray that God would give us daily bread all things needful both for our souls and bodies for our support and duty whilst we live here In the next place we pray against the evil of sin past that God would in mercy pardon it and incline us to have the like pity and compassion one of another we pray against the evil of sin to come that God would by his grace keep us from it we pray also against the evil of punishment external internal eternal that God would keep it from us by his mercy This is the summe of the Dominical or Lords Prayer Sixthly Being thus as it were refreshed and enlivened by this Prayer we are next to proceed in very good order to the more solemn Service and Worship of God desiring his assistance to open our lips that we may praise him in the bâ—st manner â—or without Gods grace we can do nothing and it is most certain that the Devil will be then most ready to hinder us when we are most dâ—sirously bent to serve and praise God â—aving therefore petitioned God in the Dominical Prayer meekly kneeling upon our knees and having joyntly craved his assistance in what is farther to be done it follows
men They are an universal declaration of things Heavenly working in those whose hearts God inspireth with a due consideration and disposition of mind whereby they are made fit vessels both for receipt and delivery of whatsoever Spiritual perfection There is nothing necessary for man to know which the Psalms are not able to teach They are to beginners a familiar introduction to those who are entred into the way of Religion a mighty augmentation of vertue and knowledge and to the most perfect a strong confirmation Heroical magnanimity exquisite Justice grave moderation exact wisdom Repentance unfeigned unwearied Patience the mysteries of God the sufferings of Christ the terrours of Wrath the comforts of Grace the works of Providence over the world present and the promised Joys of the next all good necessary to be known done or had are laid up in this Store-house no grief incident to man's soul or sickness to the body but a remedy may be found for it in the Book of Psalms As the Holy Scripture exceeds other writings in verity so the Book of Psalms exceeds other Sacred Scriptures in variety The Psalter is the common treasury of all good arguments and instructions the summary pith and breviary of the whole Bible therefore as the Church esteemed nothing more generally necessary for the Worship of God then the Word of God so she judged no parcel of the Word more full and fit then the Psalms But it is to be wished that we could all endeavour to make our lives conformable to those Holy patterns who were the Pen-men of these Psalms and that the Psalmists infusions and effusions may find in us the Psalmists spiritual affections to go along with them that when we say or sing over these Psalms we may not speak against our sense knowledge or conscience nor blame the Psalm or Church for enjoyning it to be used when we our selves perhaps are in fault He who would make a right and good use of the Psalms read over in private or publick must endeavour to form his Spirit to the affection of the Psalm if it be the affection of love which runs through the Psalm it is to be read with the same affection if of fear the same Spirit of fear should be imprinted upon the Soul if of desire it should be carried on with the like transportation if of gratitude to God the Soul should be lifted up with praises and come with affections that way enflamed If the Psalm carries in it the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication of Praise or Eucharist he who dares to read it must still conform and bring down his Spirit to the Psalm and whatever affection is in any Psalm the heart is to comply with that affection that by this means the often repeating of the Psalms may not prove a ridiculous piece of Pageantry we should strive to say the Psalms with the same Spirit with which they were inspired who composed them and accommodate our selves to them in the same manner as if we our selves had been the composers or as if they had been purposely composed for our use by exciting up in our selves the same affections which we may discern to have been in David or others at the same time when they composed them We are to love when they love fear when they fear hope when they hope praise God when they praise him weep for our own sins and others when they weep beg what we want with the like Spirit wherewith their petitions are framed love our enemies when they love theirs pray for ours when they pray for theirs have zeal for Gods glory when they profess it humble our selves when they are humbled and lift up our Spirits to Heaven when they lift up theirs give thanks for Gods mercies when they do delight and rejoyce in the benefits of the Messias and beauties of the Church when they do relate the wonderful works of God in the creation of the World and deliverance of his people with the like admiration and praise as they do and where-ever there is mention of punishments inflicted on rebellious sinners and rewards and favours bestowed upon the obedient we are to tremble where they tremble and to rejoyce where they rejoyce we are to walk in Gods Sanctuary as they walked and to wish to dwell in it as they wished And wherever the Psalmist as a Master teacheth exhorteth reprehendeth and directeth we are to suppose him speaking to every one of us and we should answer him in such due manner as he requires And at the beginning of every Psalm we should beg of God that affection which the Psalmist had when he composed it and desire to attain the same guift and spiritual savour which he felt Was this course as constantly used as the reading over the Book of Psalms we should in time be of the Psalmists temper and devotion and the usage of the Psalms would not seem so strange as perhaps they may to some for want of observing this good rule prescribed by the Ancients It is a course which the devouter Christians ever observed and they found it hugely advantageous for the heightning and enflaming of their devotions Some scruples may be made by some persons against the reading of Scripture in general and against the Psalms in particular the most devotional part of Scripture for they were most of them composed by David the Type of Christ and the best fitted and qualified of any man to set down a formulary of Devotions in which are contained the most remarkable things which concern Christ or Christianity and which may well enough be used by all who are sincerely Christian either as forms of Prayers or Praises of which they consist for the most part Indeed some Psalms seem to have no propriety of the Spirit of Christianity being spent in calling down vengeance upon Gods and the Psalmists enemies which is contrary to the Gospel-temper Luk. 9.54 55. but herein lies our great mistake for David the Psalmist of Israel by whom the Spirit of the Lord spake 2 Sam. 23.2 could not have in him the least malignity or revenge in the penning of his Psalms not of those of the severest character for in those Psalms he did not so properly pray as a petitioner that God would bring such and such Judgments upon obstinate sinners as he did predict and denounce as a Prophet the just Judgments of God which would inevitably fall upon such sinners Such Psalms are Prophesies and Predictions not properly Prayers and they may easily be accommodated to the Christian affection Spirit and temper All Texts of Scripture in either Testament of this seemingly-severe temper and nature may be safely admitted into the very bowels of our Souls if they could be permitted also to perform the work which they are designed for that is to melt us into contrition to mortifie us to reform us to bruise our Souls to purge all dross out of them to refine and prepare them for holy duties Besides the Jews
Priests of the Lord bless ye the Lord Psal 135.19 20. O ye servants of the Lord bless ye the Lord Psal 134.1 O ye spirits and souls of the righteous bless ye the Lord Heb. 12.23 O ye holy and humble men of heart bless ye the Lord Isa 57.15 O Ananias Azarias and Misael bless ye the Lord. Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. EXPLANATION This Song or Hymn commonly called the Song of the Three Children is word for word to be found in the Apocryphal Scripture and was used to be read by Christians in their publick Congregations as a Religious Formulary of pious thoughts confessions and prayers fit to be used in times of remarkable deliverances vouchsafed from great dangers The names of the Three Children mentioned in the close of this Hymn are to be met with in the Book of Daniel which is received for Canonical Dan. 1.6 and the occasion why this Psalm of Praise was at first composed Dan. 3.25 In the Apocryphal Book of Daniel this Hymn is set down word for word as is before noted which Apocryphal Books were anciently of very great esteem in the Church and were publickly read in the Congregations for instruction in life and manners However as appears by the forecited Texts this Hymn is exactly agreeable with Canonical Scripture and the Ancient Fathers did highly approve of it neither is there in it any thing liable to a just exception for it is only a methodical and full Compendium of the great and glorious Works of God and the whole scope of it is to shew that God is and will be magnified in all his Creatures We do not in it speak to the Creatures for to instruct them what they should do but we rather speak of them to teach our selves what is our duty that is to glorifie God together and therefore do we conclude it with Glory be to the Father that we may actually do it RUBRICK Then shall be read in like manner the second Lesson taken out of the New Testament And after that the Hymn following except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day or for the Gospel on St. John Baptists day Benedictus St. Luke 1.68 BLessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us in the house of his servant David As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers and to remember his holy Covenant To perform the oath which he sware to our fore-father Abraham that he would give us That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life And thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways To give knowledge of salvation unto his people for the remission of their sins Through the tender mercy of our God whereby the Day-spring from on high hath visited us To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. RUBRICK Or this Psalm Jubilate Deo Psal 100. O Be joyful in the Lord all ye lands serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song Be ye sure that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and speak good of his name For the Lord is gracious his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth from generation to generation Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. EXPLANATION Let it be here noted once for all that the Benedictus of Zachary and Psalm the 100. for the Morning Service after the Second Lesson and the Magnificat of Mary Luk. 1.46 with Psalm the 98. after the First Lesson in the Evening Service and the Nunc Dimittis Luk. 2.29 and Psalm the 67. after the Second Lesson are ordered to be read as the Minister shall make his choice This or That and however these Hymns or Psalms were composed upon occasion of particular benefits yet are they always of singular use in the Church of God The forementioned Hymns are frequently used in our publick Service because they are the Hymns wherewith our blessed Saviour was joyfully received at his first entrance into this world and they do somewhat more concern us then Davids Psalms do because the Gospel and New Testament is of more concern to us then the Law and the Old These Hymns are proper only to Christianity whereas the Psalms are common to the Jews and Christians The Psalms are Prophesies and Predictions of Christ who was to come these Hymns are plain discoveries of Christ who is come They are the first gratulatory Hymns which welcomed into the world our born Saviour And though they were most seasonable then when they were first composed and sung yet we may profitably enough use them still as well as Hezekiah in publick Service commanded the Songs of David and Asaph to be used which were composed long time before 2 Chron. 29.30 For the promises and performances of God are not so restrained to particular persons but others also may go sharers in them in regard of the mystical union of all the faithful and however the particular occasion may cease yet the fountain of goodness and mercy is ever the same besides by frequent using of the praises of the Saints our minds may daily more and more be inured and enflamed with their affections And the Church hath very fitly appointed Hymns after Lessons for when we have heard God out of the Lessons speaking as it were from Heaven to our Souls how can we do less then rise up and praise him and with what Hymns can we praise him better for our Salvation then with those which were the first gratulations of our Saviour As for the Hymn and Benedictus of Zachary it was indeed composed by reason of Christ's birth and manifestation in our flesh which Zachary the Author of it Prophetically foresaw and therefore composed it for to entertain Christ withall Yet though the occasion of it was or rather was not particular we may convert it to a common use as well as the Epistles of St. Paul which were most of them written upon special occasions Neither can that occasion be indeed particular where the benefit is common for the birth of Christ as much concerns us as it did Zachary and therefore we
terrours by night and of the Pestilence walking in darkness and therefore Evening and Night Prayers are certainly a good defensative against both What remains of the Evening Service is the same with that of the Morning and concludes in the same manner Hereunto is added by way of Appendix these following Paraphrases 1. A Paraphrase upon Psal 95. Vers 1. THe great God of Heaven is he from whom all our deliverance and strength doth come O let us uniformly joyn in praising and glorifying his Name Vers 2. Let us make our daily constant addresses to him with all the acknowledgments and expressions of thankful hearts Vers 3. For he is the Supreme God of Heaven and Earth the only super-eminent Monarch over all Powers and Dignities to whom Angels in Heaven are Ministers and the mightiest Princes upon the Earth are Vice-gerents Vers 4. The bowels and bottom of the Earth are in his disposal and so are the loftiest and stoutest Hills by which it is also intimated that the meanest and lowest men or creatures on Earth are particularly ordered by his providence in all that befalls them here and the mightiest men in the world are bounded and governed by him Vers 5. It is he that framed the whole Orb of the Sea and dry Land and so contrived them the one within the bowels of the other that they should not incommode each the other but both together make up one useful Globe for men and all other creatures to inhabit Vers 6. O let us joyntly adore praise and pray unto him and make the members of our bodies partners and witnesses of the real devotion of our hearts let us joyn inward and outward reverence together in the most submiss and lowliest gestures thereby signifying and expressing the sincere humility of our Souls which is a tribute most justly due to him who is the great Lord and Creator of all Vers 7 8. And although we have often rebelled against him and so have often deserved his dereliction and as often smarted for it yet if now at length we shall be wrought upon by his calls and warning and perform unto him sincere obedience he is most ready to accept us to take us into his care and protection and to secure us from all our enemies Vers 9. But let not us like our provoking fore-fathers who being delivered by him sinned yet more against him after we have so liberally tasted of his power goodness and long-sufferance and after his many gracious calls afforded us to Repentance rebell against him and provoke his wrath by imitating them in their ingratitude and impenitence Vers 10 11. For fourty years together wherein for their sins God detained and perplexed them in the wilderness they did frequently provoke God to indignation and made him resolve that they were a stupid Idolatrous people preferring the worship of false Gods and Devils before the obedience and worship of him the only true God of Heaven and Earth therefore being as it were tired out with their continued provocations God obliged himself by an Oath irreversibly that of the many thousands which came out of Aegypt only two persons who were grown up to be men should enter the Land of Promise O let not us follow them in their sins lest we follow them also in their punishments and so fall short of Heaven as they did of Canaan 2. A Paraphrase upon Benedictus Luk. 1. vers 68. Vers 68. ALl glory honour and praise be unto the great Lord and gracious God of his chosen people and select inheritance for he hath performed his promise so often made to them by his gracious Visitation in bringing them out of Aegypt formerly by a temporal deliverance which did pre-figure a greater deliverance to be wrought by Christ the promised Messias who is shortly to be born Vers 69. Of David's Family and invested with all power honour glory dignity and triumph to be a King Ruler and eminent deliverer of his people whose Kingdom is not Secular but Spiritual Vers 70 71. Of whom honourable mention is made by all the holy Prophets of God speaking of him as with one mouth from the beginning of that age which was before the coming of the Messias unto this present time The end of whose coming is to save us from all our spiritual enemies sins and dangers by taking upon him our nature and in it performing perfect unsinning obedience by dying upon the Cross for us and by giving us precepts and rules by their own inward goodness most agreeable to our reasonable nature for the purifying of our affections and for teaching and instructing us to lead pure lives Vers 72. By all which God hath made good his signal promise of mercy made to the holy Fathers and Patriarchs wherein both themselves and their Seed were highly concerned Vers 73. Especially that great and gracious Covenant of mercy which he made to Abraham and his Seed in a Spiritual sense and ratified and confirmed by the Sanction of an Oath Vers 74 75. Namely that he would give us power ability and grace in and from the Messias revealed to obey and attend him in a sincere performance of all duties to God and man and chearfully and constantly to persevere therein being by him rescued and secured from all dangers of enemies without us though not altogether from those which may be founded in our selves in our own negligences and miscarriages Vers 76. And thou Child meaning John the Baptist shalt be a wonderful person and extraordinary Prophet of God for thou shalt foretell Judgments on the Nations if they repent not speedily and in a signal manner shalt point out Christ being his immediate fore-runner and shalt preach Repentance and amendment of life thereby to fit and prepare men for him Vers 77. Teaching all men that in Christ there is a possibility for sinners to obtain Salvation and to have their sins pardon'd upon their Repentance and New life Vers 78. Which is a special act of compassion and signal mercy in God through which mercy the Messias who is called the Day-spring by the Prophets is come from Heaven to visit us and to abide amongst us Vers 79. And to shine forth to blind ignorant mortals and obdurate worldlings who lived in a state of sin and death and to bring them and us into the way of Sanctity and Holiness which leads to Salvation and life eternal 3. A Paraphrase upon Psal 100. Vers 1 2 O Let all the people in the world bless worship and praise and offer up their Prayers and Supplications to the great God of Heaven let them resort daily to his Sanctuary and constantly attend his Service and account it the most estimable and delectable task and the most renowned and most glorious imployment which they can possibly undertake Vers 3. For this is the only way to converse with the great and glorious and omnipotent Creator of all things to whom we owe all that we have and all that we are to him we
2.5 One not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God Heb. 2.16 Gal. 4.4 John 1.24 One altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of person â—or as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and Man is one Christ Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant of Grace and glorious Instrument of mans salvation and restauration was to suffer in that Flesh which had sinned that he might make satisfaction for the sin of it Now as God he could not suffer therefore was he Man that he might be liable to sufferings as Man he would have sunk under his sufferings therefore was he God that he might be the better enabled to endure them a satisfaction was to be made by man to God for mans sin and therefore was he both God and Man his Manhood made him capable of sufferings and his Godhead made his sufferings meritorious Now for the union of the two Natures in this one Person who was to suffer and by his sufferings to make a full satisfaction to God for mans sin I know not how it could possibly better be illustrated then by the rational Soul and the brutish Flesh united together for the making up of one man The Leviathan who derides the Illustration because he really believes not the Union nor the happy effects of it is as monstrous a scoffer at Christian Religion as â—ucian who indeed derided the Union but might be very well pleased for ought I know with the Illustration if so happy as to be acquainted with it Who suffered for our salvation descended into Hell rose again the third day from the dead Heb. 9.24 25 26 27 28. 1 Pet. 4.1 1 Pet. 2.21 22 23 24. 1 Pet. 4.18 19. Ephes 4.9 Act. 2.31 32. 1 Cor. 15.3 4. Christ saith Ambrose was woâ—â—ded in me and for me he sorrowed for me who had nothing in himself to sorrow for The curse of briars and thorns which our sins had platted into a Crown was removed to his brows We raised the Tempest and he was the Jonah cast over-board for to appease it whom Death and the Grave like a great Whale swallowed up but cast up again the third day upon the Land He ascended into Heaven he sitteth on the right hand of the Father God Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead Ephes 4.8 9 10. Heb. 12.2 Act. 10.42 Act. 17.31 Let us saith holy Augustine look upon him ascending believe in him absent hope for his coming again and by his secret mercy feel him present with us though absent from us present by Faith though absent by Sense spiritually present though corporally absent At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works Rom. 14.9 10. 2 Cor. 5.10 And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire Mat. 25.46 This is the only expressed rule and instance by which Christ means to judge the world according to their works respectively be they good or bad they who do good shall receive good and they who are the doers of evil shall meet with a retribution that is answerable Rom. 2.5 6 7 8 9 10 11. It was the saying of the learned Seneca That it is God-like for one mortal to be helpful to another and this saith he is the way to Eternity Undoubtedly the last Judgment shall proceed if not according to the merit yet according to the quality of our works it shall go well with the righteous ill with the wicked This is the Catholick Faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved It is a currant Tradition that the forementioned Creed was composed by Athanasius yet Learned men for some reasons have strongly opposed this Tradition But be the Author who he will it is undoubtedly ancient and contains in it the principal Mysteries of Christian Faith therefore doth the Church approve of it and admits it into her Liturgy It is appointed to be said upon certain days because the select Scriptures made choice of for those days do treat much of that which this Creed endeavours to explain viz. the Trinity in the Godhead and the Incarnation of God Neither did the Author whoever he was impose this as I suppose as a summary of Faith to be believed by others in those precise terms wherein it is expressed only published it with confidence to declare his own belief and to shew what he himself held as point of Doctrine touching the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead and the Incarnation of Christ Neither is the rigid sentence of damnation which is implicitely contained in it to be extended to all who believe not every particular in it in the terms wherein they are expressed for all cannot understand them but it is designed only against those who deny the substance of this Creed the Doctrine of the Trinity the Divinity and Humanity of Christ and the union of his two Natures in one Person For this is undoubtedly a Catholick Doctrine to be believed by all who profess Christianity without the believing of which so far as cleared and revealed to us no man can be saved For how is it possible for those persons to come to Salvation who by a mis-belief oppose the ways means and methods whereby they are to be brought unto it Now Glory be to the Father Son and Holy Ghost is very properly set at the close of this Creed because it is before proved and cleared in the Greed that the Father is God the Son God and the Holy Ghost God and Divine glory and worship belongs to all and is to be paid to all by all Christians as it was from the begâ—nning of the Christian Religion professed under that name and title RUBRICK Here followeth the Litany or general supplication to be sung or said after Morning Prayer upon Sundays Wednesdays and Fridays and at other times when it shall be commanded by the Ordinary O God the Father of heaven have mercy upon us miscrable sinners God is the Father of the Rain the Father of the Dew Job 38.28 and the Father of Lights Jam. 1.17 the great Father of the stupendious works of the Creation and the very Heathens themselves have acknowledged him so to be therefore we who are his Creatures and have deviated from the Law of his Creation do petition him to have mercy upon us and to pardon our deviations He is the great and glorious God who made Heaven and Earth Psal 124.8 whose goodness we have abused and therefore upon our bended knees desire his mercy to pardon those abuses and vile affronts which we have done unto him saying with holy David Have mercy upon us O God according to thy loving kindness Psal 51.1 Neither let any persons think it strange that Have mercy upon us is so often repeated in this Litany for it is agreeable to Scripture