if we perform our parts God in Christ will never fail in his To pray to God in Christ daily for his mercy to continue in the most melting state of humility and meekness always remembring that all the good we do or can attain to in this life or the next is not to be imputed to us or to any thing in us but is wholly to be acknowledged the purchase of Christ who hath by his passion and sufferings alone delivered us from the punishment of our sins which punishment is the deprivation of Gods grace here and of the vision of God hereafter For all the strength which any Christian hath to resist any sin is but a consequent of Gods being reconciled to us in Christ and for his sake not imputing to us our trespasses The Resurrection of the body That is I believe that this flesh of ours which by the curse of God inflicted on sin goes down to the Grave shall most certainly be raised again out of the Grave though it be the punishment of all mankind by reason of Adam's fall to be mortal and to dye yet this punishment is removed and allayed by Christ in respect of all his faithful Servants the bitter and noxious part of death is taken away so far as concerns them the sting of death is plucked out and the Grave is turned into a place of repose and rest where their bodies shall sleep until they are awakened unto bliss That power which raised up Jesus will raise up us also God who fetched all out of nothing by his word can by the last Trump call all of us out of the dust and restore our bodies again to us however they may be changed or transmuted Christ is risen as the First-fruits the heap will follow Christ is risen as the Head the body will follow and if it should not be so our bodies which are both the instruments and co-partners of all sin and of all righteous actions and sufferings would be left unpunished and unrewarded Now the belief of the Resurrection of the body should teach us to keep our bodies in a rising condition not by uncleanness drunkeness worldly-mindedness or floth to nail our hearts and to fasten our affections to the Earth but by purity sobriety heavenly-mindedness and an holy industry to fit our bodies for that Heavenly and Divine condition to which after the Grave we hope to be advanced And to pray to God for this perfection and bliss not only for our selves but for all others who are already entred into Gods rest that souls and bodies joyned may dwell together in the heavenly and endless life of bliss and glory And the life everlasting This is the chief good and last end which we gain by being in the Church and true Members of it Life everlasting all men on earth have life but it is not everlasting life the damned in Hell shall have that which is everlasting but it shall be death rather then life for they shall be tyed perpetually unto torments only the true Members of the Church shall attain to life everlasting an inheritance purchased for them by Christ and yet is it also notwithstanding that purchase Gods free donation if we begin with God and continue Members of his Church this will be our end Everlasting life The life we lead here is finite short and feeble but the life which shall follow the Resurrection of the body will be infinite everlasting an endless state in endless bliss to every true penitent believer and of endless woe to all contumacious provokers How should this teach us seriously to weigh and soberly to consider these two distant states and to be careful not to forfeit our interest in the one nor for a little transitory joy honour and gain or ease for a few minutes here to incur the danger of the other How should this teach us so to use and improve that moment of life which we have here that it may be made a foundation of Eternity God hath set before us life and death and seems to have left either of them too to our own option and choice And if it be so then if we will not accept of the terms and conditions upon which life is offered us we must of necessity for our despising life fall into death Certainly men as men were neither created nor decreed absolutely to Heaven or Hell for Heaven is our crown not our fate our reward not our destiny so neither is Hell our fate or destiny but our punishment God who made us rational men provided also for us rational rewards and rational punishments so that if we miss of Heaven happiness and bliss and Hell become our portion it will be for our own default it must be our own wretched contempt which deprives us of the one and brings us to the other There is an Eternity of joy to be had upon a very rational and easie obedience and an Eternity of misery belongs only to those who fall in love with those things which will inevitably make them miserable God made not death for man but he created Paradise for him the everlasting fire was prepared first for the Devil and his Angels and ungodly men by their own words and works made it to become their portion they did as it were commit a Riot upon Hell and invade Lucifer's peculiar And it is a sad thing to consider how foolish men will strive more vehemently for a sad portion in the burning Lake and endure more for Hell then for Heaven take more pains for Eternal death then for Everlasting life Now although all is true which is expresly contained in the Creed and we may say Amen give our free and full assent to the truth and certainty of it and that there is an Everlasting life is as true as any Article in the Creed beside yet it is to be presumed that there are two sorts of wicked men who shall never come to this life everlasting 1. Wicked Infidels who believe contrary to the Faith of Christ 2. Wicked Believers who live contrary to it They who would have life everlasting must have it upon those terms and conditions upon which it is offered that is not only upon the condition of a sound Faith but also of a sincere obedience as it is written If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments Mat. 19.17 RUBRICK And after that these Prayers following all devoutly kneeling the Minister first pronouncing with a loud voice The Lord be with you Ruth 2.4 Answer And with thy Spirit 2 Tim. 4.22 Minister Let us pray Psal 95.6 Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Luk. 18.13 Mat. 15.22 Mark 10.47 48. Psal 123.3 EXPLANATION The forementioned Prayers delivered in the very Scripture phrase are Christian Salutations very well becoming the people of God and passing reciprocally betwixt Priest and People The like in ordinary use among us are God save you God speed you God bless you
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
our blessed Saviour repeated one Prayer three times Mat 26.44 and he questionless could have altered had he thought it either necessâ—â—â—â— or convenient Such short ejaculatory â—rayers as these come nearest to the pattern given by our Saviour who gave to his Disciples a short form and in all the Holy Bible we meet not with any example or pattern of a very long Prayer Solomon's Prayer used at the Dedication of the magnificent Temple which he built to God is the longest we meet with in Holy Scripture And saith holy Augustine the business of Prayer is rather done by sighs groans and fervency of heart then by multiplicity of words RUBRICK Then shall the Priest and the People with him say the Lords Prayer OVr Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen Luk. 11.2 3 4. For the often use of this Prayer in our Liturgick Offices and the meaning of it see before The Versicle Priest O Lord deal not with us after our sins Answer Neither reward us after our iniquities Psal 130.3 Let us pray Why this is so often used see before O God mercifull Father that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart Psal 51.17 nor the desire of such as be sorrowful mercifully assist our prayers that we make before thee in all our troubles and adversities whensoever they oppress us and graciously hear us that those evils which the craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us be brought to nought and by the providence of thy goodness they may be dispersed that we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord Psal 20. Psal 86.7 O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thy Names sake Nehem. 1.9 10 11. Ezek. 20.9 Ezek. 36.12 O God we have heard with our ears and our fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didst in their days and in the old time before them Psal 78.3 4. Psal 43.1 O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thine honour Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Foly Ghost Answ As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Why this is used and so often see before From our enemies defend us O Christ Psal 25.15 16 17 18 19. Graciously look upon our afflictions Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts Mercifully forgive the sins of thy people Favourably with mercy hear our Prayers O Son of David have mercy upon us Luk. 18.9 Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us O Christ John 14.13 14. Graciously hear us O Christ graciously hear us O Lord Christ Priest O Lord let thy mercy be shewed upon us Answ As we do put our trust in thee Psal 33.22 Note All the forementioned Prayers with the Responds are short lively active and spirited Prayers uttered with fervency which are most available with God when they come from devout and righteous souls Jam. 5.16 it is the short Prayer which pierceth Heaven God looks not at how much we pray but how well we pray how heartily and sincerely we pray Such were the Prayers of the most devout Christians in ancient times whose hearts fired with zeal and devotion did passionately send forth short Prayers as the hottest Springs send forth their waters by ebullitions See before Let us pray WF humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon our infirmities and for the glory of thy Name turn from us all those evils that we most righteously have deserved and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of living to thy honour and glory through our only Mediatour and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Note the fulness of this Prayer and by this judge of all the rest Herein we pray that God would in mercy pardon the sinful frailties and infirmities of our lives and the imperfections of those very Prayers wherein we beg that pardon This we beg not for our merits for we can merit nothing at his hands but upon the account of his mercy And we pray further that he would divert from us all the evil of punishment which our evil of sin might move him justly to inflict upon us and that whatever calamities befall us in this world for our own defaults yet we may repose confidence in his mercy and not distrust him though he kill us however we may have cause enough to distrust our selves but that we may be awakned and warned by the punishments which he is pleased to inflict upon us to walk more warily for the future to make our actions more holy and our lives more pure that so we may bring good to our selves and honour and glory to him and all this as we do all other things convenient and needful for us we beg not through the mediation and intercession of any Saint or Angel but through our only Mediatour and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. 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 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 Here endeth the Litany And be it noted that the Litany is no distinct Service properly for a Service consists of Psalms Lessons Creed Thanksgivings and Prayers distinct only it is a distinct Form and many times made use of as a fit preparative to other ensuing Offices Formerly notice was used to be given by the tolling of a Bell when it was to be said The accustomed days for the saying of it are Sundays Wednesdays Fridays the three days of Rogation and other Fasting-days appointed to be observed in times of Plague Famine War and other general calamities and it is a devotional piece of Service very suitable to all such times The usual place for saying of it where it can be done conveniently is in the midst of the Church and just before the Chancel-door the Ministers turning their faces towards the Altar or Communion-Table when they say it For saith Chrysostom it is fit that the Minister who officiates in Prayer should put on the outward garb and deportment as well as the inward mind of a Supplicant and therefore he
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
read and approved of as our own Comments upon a Text of Scripture which it is to be presumed we would not have to be taken for Canonical Scripture They who are most against the reading of them cannot but confess our Sermons and Tractates to have as little of the Spirit of infallibility and Sanctification as the Apocryphal Books So far as they are consonant to the Word of God they are Canonical though not Proto-Canonical There is truth in them and we are to embrace truth wherever we meet with it for it is Gods whoever speaks it or writes it we read them not to confirm us in matters of Faith but to instruct us in life and manners because they contain in them many excellent moral precepts for the regulating of our lives and well ordering of our conversations Again some part of the Canonical is not enjoyned to be read publickly in the Congregation not because the Authority of it is undervalued but because it is not so useful for Edification nor so fitted to the understandings and capacities of the people as those portions of Scripture are which are enjoyned to be read those necessary parts of Scripture which God hath made easie the Church desires should be made familiar and frequently read to the people Therefore she orders the Psalms to be read over once every month most part of the Old Testament once a year the New thrice and hath so sorted the Lessons Prayers Psalms Epistles and Gospels for some Festivals that they edifie as much as any ordinary Sermons if people were but so wise as to consider the wise directions of the Church and to value her prudence as much as they do their own foolish humors Now the Lessons are taken one out of the Old another out of the New Testament that by frequent reading of them we may observe the Harmony of both for as the Cherubins of Glory looked each upon other and both closed with their wings over the Mercy-seat so the Two Testaments look each upon other both upon Christ who is the supplement of the one and the complement of the other in the one promised in the other exhibited the Law being an hidden Gospel and the Gospel a revealed Law The Patriarchs Prophets Evangelists Apostles wrote by the same Spirit pointed at the same Messias were saved by the same Faith and this may very much confirm us in the truth of the Scriptures when we read that exactly fulfilled in the New Testament which was so punctually foretold in the Old Besides it may be a means of converting the Jews as well as confirming us Christians for they may in time embrace Christ's Gospel with us when they see us embrace Moses and the Prophets together with them But in taking Lessons first out of the Old Testament and then out of the New the Church observes the method of the Holy Spirit who first published the Old then the New first the precepts of the Law then of the Gospel and by this method we are taught to go forward in our knowledge from smaller things to greater from the lowest to the highest for the Law is as a Paedagogue teaching the first Rudiments the Institutions of highest perfection are contained in the Gospel The Minister is to read the Lessons distinctly with a sober grave and audible voice and he is to turn himself towards the people when he reads because he is upon an office directed to them whereas in Prayer he looks another way towards the more eminent part of the Church where use to be placed the Symbols of God's more especial presence with whom the Minister in Prayer hath chiefly to do For the same reason we may suppose that the Christians in former times used to pray with their faces Eastward because in the Chancel which was the East part of the Church stood the Holy Table where the highest of Religious Services were usually performed and the Sacrament of Christ's body and bloud was administred which is the special sign of God's mysterious presence The Jews at the reading of the Law and other Scriptures looked toward the people but in Prayer toward the Mercy-seat or principal part of the Temple Psal 28.2 and Christians may in all probability do the like in imitation of the Jews for as their Mercy-seat was a type and figure of Christ so the Holy Table and the Sacred Mysteries there performed are representations of him in a more special manner Neither did the Jews nor do the Christians this out of any superstitious conceit that God cannot or will not hear our Prayers unless we look Eastward when we pray as the Jews looked toward the Oracle or Mercy-seat for we know God is Omnipresent every where present yet for all this Christ directed us by his form of prayer to look towards Heaven when we pray because it is the Throne of God Te Deum Laudamus WE praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord Psal 67.3 Psal 99.34 Psal 148.1 All the Earth doth worship thee the Father everlasting To thee all Angels cry aloud the Heavens and all the Powers therein Psal 148.2 To thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory Isa 6.3 Rev. 4.8 Isa 66.1 Jer. 23.24 The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee Rev. 4.10 11. The noble army of Martyrs praise thee Rev. 6.9 10. The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee Psal 67.2 The Father of an infinite Majesty Psal 93.1 Thine honourable true and onely Son Mat. 17.5 Luk. 1.32 Heb. 1.3 4 5. Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter John 14.26 Thou art the King of Glory O Christ Rev. 17.14 Psal 24.8 Luk. 19.38 Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father Rom. 1.4 Isa 9.6 Luk. 1.35 John 8.58 John 17.5 When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man thou didst not abhor the Virgins womb Philip. 2.6 7. Mat. 1.25 When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers John 14.2 3. John 17.24 Heb. 9.8 9 10 11. Heb. 10.19 20. Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father Act. 2.33 Heb. 10.12 Heb. 12.2 We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge Rom. 2.16 Act. 1.11 Act. 17.31 We therefore pray thee help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Psal 74.2 Make them to be numbred with thy Saints 〈◊〉 in glory everlasting Colos 1.12 John 17.22 O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage Govern them and lift them up for ever Joel 2.17 Psal 28.9 Day by day we magnifie thee Psal 96 2◠Psal 145.2 And we worship thy Name ever world without end Psal 61.8 Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin Psal 17.5 Gen. 20.6 O Lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us Psal 123.3 O Lord
let thy mercy lighten upon us as our trust is in thee Psal 33.22 O Lord in thee have I trusted let me never be confounded Psal 71.1 EXPLANATION The Church in appointing Hymns observes punctually the rule of the Apostle Colos 3.16 and from the practice of Christ and his Apostles who sung Hymns together Mat. 26.30 probably to teach and instruct us to do the like may the Antiquity of them in the Christian Church be derived We have not only Christ's example for it and the Apostles command for it but we read of it practised in the Church of Alexandria which was founded by St. Mark St. Ambrose brought Hymns into the Church of Millain God saith Jerom is delighted with Morning and Evening Hymns St. Augustine as we read in the Life of him was very much afflicted a little before his death as for the decay of other things in Religion and in the publick worship of God so that the Hymns and Lauds used to be sung to God were lost out of the Church Those Hymns were either said or sung but more properly sung because Hymns are Songs of Praise and it was the practice to sing them both in the Jewish Psal 47.6 and Christian Church Mat. 26.30 for singing enflames and enlivens the minds and affections of the hearers and such musick by pleasing the affections and delighting the minds of men makes the Service of God more delectable and less tedious And for this reason is Church-Service so intermixed with Lessons Psalms and Prayers and like the garment of the Spouse Psal 45. made up of such variety that by this variety our devotions may be carried on with the more chearfulness and the greater appetite and without any fastidiousness Standing was the usual posture for the saying or singing of Hymns for it is indeed the most proper posture for thanksgiving or laud Psal 134.1 2. 2 Chron. 7.6 and this erection of our bodies doth most properly express the elevation of our hearts in joy praises and Eucharist unto God The forementioned Hymn called Te Deum laudamus was composed as it is said by St. Ambrose and St. Augustine which they used to sing Anthem-wise and the occasion of its composition was St. Augustine's Conversion and Baptism in both which St. Ambrose was most happily instrumental But be the Author who it will the Structure though Humane is complete and the materials of it are Divine and it is worthily enough vouchsafed a place in our constant Service for its Antiquity for its consonancy with Scripture for having the Churches both warrant and approbation for the contents of it which are most Christian hugely advantageous for the heightning of Devotion and promoting of Religion wherein is acknowledged the Power and Majesty of God the Father the Divinity and Humanity of God the Son his Incarnation Passion Resurrection Ascension Exaltation to Glory and Power committed to him for to guide rule preserve and govern his Church and wherein also is asserted the Divinity of God the Holy Ghost and there is nothing in the whole Hymn but what is very agreeable to Scripture Some exception may be made against this expression in it When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers But what can justly be found fault with in this expression by it we do not express this to be our meaning as if we thought that the departed Saints were not in a state of bliss and happiness before Christ's Ascension but our meaning is rather that Christ by his Ascension prepared a greater and more complete state of bliss for those that are his meriting their going to it by his Death and making the way passable by his Resurrection and Ascension John 3.13 John 14.2 3. Heb. 9.8 12. Heb. 10.19 20. Heb. 11.40 for by this means he procured greater Grace for them here greater Glory for them hereafter Whatever he did or suffer'd the end was to open the kingdom which our sins had shut up which he opened most liberally at his Ascension and after he had overcome the sharpness of death for then he took a local possession of Glory for the use of all that are his Be the state of the Saints departed before what it will yet what God bestowed upon their Souls was procured by Christ's Death Resurrection and Ascension which followed after as also the Glorification of their bodies is most certainly to follow the Exaltation of his whither the glory of the Head is gone before the hope of the Body is to follow after and when our bodies and souls come to be glorified together then shall we be in our complete and perfect bliss Glory be to the Father is not enjoyned to be used at the end of this Hymn because it is it self almost nothing else but that Doxology enlarged RUBRICK Or this Canticle Benedicite omnia opera Domini O All ye works of the Lord bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever Psal 145.10 O ye Angels of the Lord bless ye the lord praise him c. Psal 148.2 O ye Heavens bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 148.4 O ye waters that be above the Firmament bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 148.4 O all ye powers of the Lord bless ye the Lord c. Psal 150.1 O ye Sun and Moon bless ye the Lord c. Psal 148.3 O ye Stars of Heaven bless ye the Lord c. Psal 148.3 O ye showres and dwe bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.8 Psal 148.4 O ye winds of God bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.18 Psal 148.8 O ye fire and heat bless ye the Lord c. O ye Winter and Summer bless ye the Lord c. Psal 74.17 O ye dews and frosts bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.16 O ye frost and cold bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.16 17. O ye ice and snow bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.16 17. O ye nights and days bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 74.16 O ye light and darkness bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 104.19 20. O ye lightnings and clouds bless ye the Lord c. Job 38.25 34 35. O let the earth bless the Lord yea let it praise him c. Psal 67.6 O ye mountains and hills bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 148.9 O all ye green things upon the earth bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.8 Psal 148.9 O ye wells bless ye the Lord c. Psal 104.10 O ye seas and flouds bless ye the Lord Job 38.8 9 10 11. O ye Whales and all that move in the waters bless ye the Lord Gen. 1.21 O all ye fowls of the air bless ye the Lord Psal 148.10 O all ye beasts and cattel bless ye the Lord Psal 148.10 O ye children of men bless ye the Lord Psal 107.8 O let Israel bless the Lord praise him c. Psal 135.19 O ye
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
his Resurrection appeared unto men so should we and walk exemplarily before them in heavenly living We should continue in a sanctified state of perseverance in Godly living till by Gods mercy we are taken up to bliss We should depend upon Christ for our Justification and Sanctification which are both of the effects of his rising We should also hasten our Resurrection as he did his and not so immerse our selves with sorrow and humiliation the Grave of mortified Souls as to hinder any actions and vital performances of the new and regenerate life As Christ dyed and as we are baptized into the death of Christ so we are to beg of God for his grace that we may continually mortifie our corrupt affections and being buried with him may pass through the grave and gate of death to our joyful Resurrection He ascended into Heaven and fitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty that is after his Resurrection when he had made his appearance several times to his Apostles to confirm them in the truth of it whom he had chosen for the publication of it unto the world after he had given them many sure proofs and evidences that he was risen after he had talked with them about the affairs of his Church which should be planted and governed by them and of many things concerning the Gospel and his Kingdom and how both his friends and his enemies should be dealt withall after he had eaten and drank and familiarly conversed with them thereby to give them all possible assurance of the truth of his Resurrection of his Power and Godhead and that he was indeed the undoubted Messias after that he had instructed them to tarry at Jerusalem to wait for the coming down of the Holy Ghost and how to prepare themselves for his reception after he had reproved them for their curiosity and shewn their vanity in expecting a Kingdom which he never intended to set up then in the presence and sight of them all he was taken up by Angels from the earth in a bright shining cloud which inclosed him so that they could see him no more Act. 1.2 3 4 5 6 7 8. He carried up our nature which he had assumed in which he suffered and which he had raised out of the Grave up on high above all Heavens Ephes 4.10 offer'd it up to the Father as an acceptable oblation who placed it on a glorious Throne at his right hand And as he descended on purpose to do us good to bestow and scatter his graces amongst us so he ascended also upon a good design for us that he might send down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles and by that means supply all our wants and do what was necessary to be done for the planting and governing of his Church The place he ascended from was Mount Olivet the place he ascended to was the highest Heavens The time of his Ascension was sourty days after his Resurrection the truth of it appears from the evidence of those who saw it and are able to give a good testimony of it the manner of it was glorious and the end of it hugely advantageous and beneficial to us But the practical Use which we are to make of Christ's Ascension and Session at the Father's right hand is this 1. As we believe that he is ascended into the Heavens corporally so we are spiritually in hearts and minds to ascend after him and to dwell continually with him in Divine meditations carrying heavenly minds in earthly bodies seeking minding savouring things above at the right hand of God where Christ sits Colos 3.1 where Christ our treasure is there should our hearts be also 2. Seeing he hath withdrawn his corporal presence we are to content our selves with his spiritual not to hang on his bodily presence the presence of his Manhood as it was visible to the eye but to acquiesce in his spiritual presence the presence of his Godhead and the presence of his Manhood too united to his Godhead yet no otherwise present then spiritually and by Faith for though his Godhead be every where yet his Manhood in a corporeal and natural sense cannot be every where but only where it is placed at the right hand of God Let us spiritually see him ascending cordially believe in him absent wait and hope with patience for his coming again and by his secret mercy feel and enjoy him spiritually present with us And seeing he sits at Gods right hand and is exalted with great triumph into his kingdom in Heaven whereby is noted his Reign and his being invested with all power in the union of his Regal and Priestly Office by virtue of which he gives commands to his Church intercedes with God for his Church and that so powerfully as actually to bestow that grace and pardon which he intercedes for making continual Intercession with God who is his Father and ours This should teach us to give up our selves obediently to be ruled by him in all his holy institutions and commands and to be guided by all those whom he hath placed in his Church under him to rule over us This should also teach us to depend upon his Intercession to offer up all our prayers and praises to God in and through him only This should teach us to be in a readiness to receive all Grace that shall flow from him and to make the holiest use and best advantage of it Lastly This should teach us to have recourse to him in all temptations and to persevere in despight of all assaults to the contrary to have our eye upon him in all that ever we do to improve those Talents well which he bestows upon us for as he is gone to Heaven he will return again from Heaven to judge the world From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead The very same Jesus Christ who is gone up to Heaven in glorious manner shall come one day from Heaven again in as glorious a manner to judge us Act. 1.11 His going up to Heaven was not an absolute departing from us only he went to take possession of that Kingdom of his which he shall exercise to the end of the world and then he shall return again to judge all men without respect of persons all that are dead and all that shall then be found alive all Nations of men in their order and every man of every Nation shall give up their accounts to him and shall receive according to what they have done in the flesh be it good or bad To those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality shall be given the reward of eternal life but to those who are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness the retribution shall be indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish shall be upon every Soul of man that doth evil but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good Rom. 2.7 8 9 10. Now the
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
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