hath a special prescription Lev 7.12 to be tempered with plenty of oyl of gladness that maketh the face to shine Ps 24.25 In this behalf the Psalmist is so copious that it is hard to pitch upon any passage wherein he seemeth more expressive then other In that ninety second Psalm which carries the Title for the Sabbath day no entrance is found but by the door of Thanksgiving It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy Name O thou most high To tell of thy loving kindnesse early in the morning and of thy truth in the night season Upon an Instrument of ten strings and upon the Lute upon a loud Instrument and upon the Harp Church-musick then in those dayes was not held Superstitious but taken in for an help to set forth Praise and Thanksgiving For performance of which duty so many ties are upon us that the Prophet cryes out as destitute of expressions Psa 116.11 What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me and can resolve no otherwise for himselfe but Psal 145.1 Every day will I give thanks to thee and praise thy name for ever and ever And for stirring up of others to the same duty O praise the Lord saith he for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God yea Psal 147.1 a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful But what need we go further where we have the practice of our Saviour to lead us I thank thee O Father Mat. 11.25 Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight According with this we have that large form of Thankgiving besides many others to stirre up our selves and others of the Kingly Prophet Psal 136. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is gracious and his mercy endureth for ever O give thanks unto the God of all gods for his mercy endureth for ever O thank the Lord of all Lords for his mercy endureth for ever and so going on in numbring up Gods blessings for which thanks were due with a repetition from whence they proceeded from Gods mercy not our deserts for his mercy endureth for ever He ends as he began as though in his acknowledgment he had never said enough O give thanks unto the Lord of heaven for his mercy endureth for ever O give thanks unto the Lord of Lords for his mercy endureth for ever Upon this ground proceed the four and twenty Elders representing the whole Church of the Faithful falling upon their faces and worshipping We give thee thanks Rev. 12.17 O Lord God Almighty which art and which wa st and which art to come because thou hast taken unto thee thy great power and hast reigned From these and the like patterns our Leiturgies forms are derived A Thanksgiving for raine in time of drought O God our heavenly Father who by thy gracious providence dost cause the former and the latter rain to descend upon the earth c. For fair weather O Lord God who hast justly humbled us by the late plague of immoderate rain and waters c. For Plenty O most merciful Father which of thy gracious goodness hast heard the devout prayers of the Church c. For Peace and Victory Almighty God who art a strong Tower of Defence unto thy servants against the face of their enemies c. For Deliverance from the Plague O Lord God which hast wounded us for our sins c. After receiving of the Lords Supper Almighty and everlasting God wee most heartily thank thee for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us which have duly received these holy Mysteries c. And last of all under the Title of Prayers most commonly set in the end of the Church-Book what a complete form of Thanksgiving have we that thus begins Honour and Praise be given to thee O Lord God Almighty most dear Father of heaven for all thy mercies and loving kindness shewed unto us c. Which ends with this most pious and necessary petition to be used at all times and on all occasions Let thy mighty hand and out-stretched arm O Lord be still our defence c. For your Sexe also my Daughters is not to be omitted the Thanksgiving of women after Child-birth commonly called the Churching of Women though latter times have held it superfluous if not superstitious wherein Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his goodnesse to give you safe deliverance and preserved you in the great danger of Child-birth You are called upon to be thankful heartily and to pray with the words of the Psalmist Psal 121. I have lifted up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my salvation my help cometh from the Lord which hath made heaven and earth And that which followes The Sun shall not burn thee by day nor the Moon by night c. is not impertinent as some will have it in as much as it ascribes all preservation to God at all times and in all places in our greatest extremities When more punctual devout and judicious Thanksgiving upon surer grounds and authority shall bee tendred to you my Daughters you may satisfie your consciences in making use of them In the meane time you and yours may feed on the milk which your Mother the Church so plentifully affords you and not cast about for change of Nurses who will scarce prove so natural CHAP. VI. Of Praises PRaise is a due acknowledgment of Gods infinite excellency expressed in his works of Power Mercy and Justice It hath such affinity with Thanksgiving that most commonly they go together and usually are taken one for the other Psa 145.11 As in that Psalm All thy works praise thee O Lord and thy Saints give thanks unto thee I will magnifie thee Ver. 1 2. O Lord my King and will praise thy Name for ever and ever Every day will I give thanks to thee and praise thy Name for ever and ever Notwithstanding howsoever Magnifying Praising Blessing and giving of Thanks to God are used to the same purpose yet praise may belong to Excellency which we are not bound to thank whereas Thanks includeth Praise for affording us a Blessing by which wee are obliged to magnifie the Donor In the Old Testament those that will seek for forms in this behalf shall find all the Psalmes of David in the Original to come under the title of The Book of Praises Not that all Psalmes therein may be so termed but because the most part are so that gives the nomination to the whole And Samplers for Praises to you my Daughters may be as pertinent that of Miriam registred to all posterity for imitation in these words Exo. 15.20 And Miriam the Prophetesse the sister of Aaron took a Timbrel in her hands and
before me At our going forth Psalm 143 Shew me the way that I should walk in for I lift up my soul unto thee At the hearing of a Clock or looking on a Watch or a Dyal Teach me O Lord Psal 9.12 to number my dayes that I may apply my heart to Wisdom At the undertaking of any work of our vocation The glorious majesty of the Lord our God be upon me Ibid. v. 17 Prosper thou the works of my hands O prosper thou my handy work which if wee cannot desire with a good conscience a stop must be made and the business not undertaken Last of all upon our death-beds old Jacobs Ejacalation will be acceptable and comfortable Gen. 49.18 O Lord I have waited for thy salvation With old Simeons in the New Testament to bear it company Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace because mine eyes have seen thy Salvation in knowing and depending upon him for my Redemption my Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Luk. 23.46 Whose praier in giving up the Ghost must be ours at the last gasp Father into thy hands I commend my spirit The happiest conclusion that all our Devotions can bring us unto In the interim we shall meet with in this vale of misery many passages to be lamented at which how it may be performed the next Title suggesteth CHAP. VI. Of Lamentations and complaints on sad Objects WE read in the Old Testament of the Roll of a Book Ezek. 2.10 wherein was written within and without Lamentations and Mourning and Wo. And in Ramah was there a voice heard as it is repeated in the New Testament Lamentation and weeping Matth. 2.18 and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they were not The taking up of a lamentation is a Scripture phrase Jer. 7.29 Ezek. 19.1 26.17 27.2 28.12 32.2 and the practice of it usuall Lamentations are prescribed for Tyre and Pharaoh Saul hath a set lamentation penned by David for his sad overthrow and his brave son Jonathans upon cursed mount Gilboa in which the Daughters of Israel are called upon to weep over them 2 Sam. 1.22 under whom they had injoyed such Ornaments and happiness But all the singing men and singing women must by an Ordinance in Israel 2 Chr. 35.25 speak of Josiah in their Lamentations who was slain at Hadradrimmon Zac. 12.11 in the valley of Megidde whereof the Prophet Jeremiah was the Pen-man from whom wee have those inimitable Lamentations for the ruines of the Church and State that fell out in his time O that my head were waters Jer. 9.1 and my eys a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slaine of the Daughter of my people Jer. 7.29 Cut off thy hair O Jerusalem and cast it away and take up a Lamentation in the High-Places Lam. 1.11 Is it nothing to you all ye that passe by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Then he turnes unto the Lord Behold Chap. 2.20 O Lord and consider to whom thou hast done this shal the women eat their fruit and the children of a span long Shall the Priest and the Prophet be slain and that in the Sanctuary of the Lord How cold are all Heathen Poets and Orators compared to these burning expressions Isai 22.4 Isaiah had the like before for the desolation he foresaw should come upon his Country for their sins Look away from me for I wil weep bitterly Labour not to comfort me because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people And Alas Chap. 5.16 alas is the burthen of the Lamenration foretold by Amos in the like case which the Citizens and Husbandmen and all those that are skilful in wailing must take up when the Lord is angry and poureth out the Vials of his punishments upon them Psal 8.5 Psal 102.9 Such bread of tears and drink mingled with weeping the Prophet David often made his Kingly repast when the floods of Belial made him afraid and mark how earnest and passionate he is indivers addresses to God which pierce the highest heavens to extort as it were a blessing Will the Lord absent himself for ever Psal 77.7 and will he be no more intreated Is his mercy clean gone for ever and his promise come utterly to an end for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious and will he shut up his loving kindness in displeasure And what consorts more with the miseries of these lamentable times then that of the sixtieth Psalm Psalm 60.1 O God thou hast cast us out and scattered us abroad thou hast also been displeased O turn thou unto us again Thou hast moved the land and divided it heal the sores thereof for it shaketh thou hast shewed thy people heavy things thou hast given us a drink of deadly wine When you therefore consider my Daughters which I will you seriously and conscionably to do the irreverent contempt and worse then heathenish profaneness that is fallen of late upon Gods Worship under a pretence of exacter teaching and purer Reformation you may betake your selves to that complaint of the Psalmist Help Lord for there is not one godly man left Psalm 12.1 the faithful are minished from among the children of men the wicked walk on every side Ver. ult when the vilest men are exalted And turn that reproof of our Saviour into a necessary Prayer Mat. 21.13 O Lord thy house should be called and so ever acknowledged to bee the House of Prayer but behold it is now made not only a Den of Thieves but a Stable for horses and a Receptacle for Zims and Ohims and daughters of the Owles to act their parts therein Isai 34.14 Men of worse then Heathenish conditions are come into thine inheritance Psalm 79.1 thy holy Temple have they defiled and made thy Jerusalem an heap of stones c. 2. When you recount with your selves Things consecrated to God to be alienated to cursed uses the shepherds smitten the flocks scattered and that not by strangers but at home in the houses of our friends Zach. 13.6 how seasonably will that bee thought upon out of the seventy fourth Psalm O God Psalm 74.1 why art thou absent from us so long Why is thy wrath so hot against the sheep of thy pasture Thine adversaries roar in the midst of the congregations and set up their banners for tokens breaking downe the carved works set up for thy Worship with axes and hammers Let us make havock of them altogether say they root them out Psal 83.12 that they be no more a people that we may take the houses of God into our own possession Is it not time therefore for all good Christians to cry out Arise O Lord Psal 74.23 and maintaine thine own cause remember how the foolish man blasphemeth thee daily 3 At the
his brother Esaus coming with four hundred men against him he betakes himself to this effectual personal prayer dictated to him by feare upon the present occasion O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaak thou Lord which saidst unto me return unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee I am not worthy of thy mercies and all thy truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staffe I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two hands Deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my brother Esau for I feare him lest he should come and smite mee with the mother upon the children Gen. 32 6. Thus wrestled he with God and obtained a blessing and thus must all that generation of them doe that seek him even of them that seek thy face O Jacob. What was St. Psal 24.6 Pauls thorne in the flesh that buffeted him into humiliatie Cor 12.9 nonewas sensible of but himself but what remedie doe we find he used to take it off no other but personal praier For this thing saith he I besought the Lord that it might depart from me and the return he received from God was most gracious My Grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weaknesse In these and the like practices of Piety you have Samplers my daughters how to fit your selves with personal prayers upon any private occurrences Bosome sins peculiar temptations and secret defects are incident to the best and none knowes so well where a fair shooe wrings as hee that weares it In such cases therefore the urgency of the matter will quickly frame a form correspondent to our desires vexed and barren Hannah needed not a prompter besides the bitternesse of her soul to teach her thus to pray unto the Lord O Lord of hosts if thou wilt indeed look upon the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man-child 1 Sam. 1.11 then will I give him unto the Lord all the dayes of his life I need not relate how well this prayer took the story of Samuel being so well known From Esthers trembling at the hazardous venture shee made upon majestick Ahasucrus and the importance of the suit shee had in hand we have this pertinent prayer Esth 14.3 O my Lord thou only art our king helpe me desolate woman who have no helper but thee for my danger is in mine hand O thou mighty God above all vers 4. hear the voice of the forlorn vers 4. and deliver us out of the hand of the mischievous and deliver mee out of my feare This prayer howsoever Apocriphal the calamities of these times have made in a sort Canonical The dangers are not unslike all upon the point to be lost and no hopes of redress but by publick and private prayers deliberate and occasional which need not justle one the other but duly take their turnes in their several places Extemporal and personal conceptions upon private occasions which are too often emergent we must commend and be stored with but in publick Assemblies where Gods people come together not only to hear that whereby they may be instructed but especially to confesse their sinnes and to professe their faith and give God thanks with their own mouthes in an uniforme manner for all his blessings and to ask those things which shall be requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul not only for themselves but for their brethren wheresoever dispersed present or distressed in such publick devotions young men and maidens Psal 148.12 old men and children every one according to his abilitie must act their proscribed parts with the Minister and Praise the Name of the Lord. All must joyne in saying Almighty and most mercifull Father we have erred and strayed from thy waies like lost sheepe All answer the Ministers entrance O Lord open thou our lips and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise All stand up and professe with him leading the way I Believe in God the Father Almightie Maker of Heaven and Earth For was not the Hosanna of the children in the Temple Mat. 21.16 justified by our Saviour against those that would have none heard in the Church but themselves And why may not the Congregation joyne as well with the Minister in praying as in singing or to speak to the point in prayers in prose in a set form as consonantly as in a set form of prayers in verse must they come together to admire or censure their Ministers gifts and performe nothing themselves And is there such antipathy betweene Religious preaching to men and publick set prayers to God that they may not stand both together and the one the better for the other Men as religious and judicious heretofore as for ought wee find now are have determined otherwise whom you may do well to follow till you are convinced with better reasons then have yet beene produced CHAP. II. Of Houshold or Prayers in Family IF any provide not for his own and especially those of his own house or kindred that belong to him saith the Apostle hee hath denied the faith 1 Tim. 5 88 and is worse than an infidel Now if this be required in matters temporal why should it not be urged more earnestly in cases spirituall by how much heaven is to be preferred before earth and the soule before the body For except the Lord build the house Ps 127.1 the labour is but lost of them that build it as except the Lord keepe the city the watchman waketh but in vain labor and wake and toile we may early and late and eat the bread of carefulnesse and be never the nearer Psalm 90. except the glorious Majestie of the Lord our God be upon us to prosper the workes of our hands and impart successe and sleep to his beloved Those house-keepers therfore that expect the blessings of the marriage Psalme so pertinently used in our leiturgie upon them and theirs Psal 128. must be carefull as Abraham was to have them religiously instructed and well chatechized as those three hundred and eighteen were Gen. 14.14 with whom he routed the four Eastern victorious Kings and recovered the spoiles they had taken And this God makes a motive for communicating to him his purpose in the ensuing destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha And the Lord said Gen. 18.19 Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do c. For I know that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall kee the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment The fruit of which houshold Instruction we find afterwards in the prayer and faithfulnesse of his chiefest servant whom he sent into Mesopetamia to fetch a wife for his son Isaac The prayer of the Servant is very remarkable O Lord of my
Master Abraham I pray thee send me good speed this day and shew kindness to my Master Abraham Gen. 24.12 with what follows In prosecution of which businesse he refused to eat or drink before he had received a contenting answer and then forgot not his thankfulness to God but bowed himself to the earth and worshipped ver 52. O for such servants amongst us Christians we want not meanes but care and conscience and giving them good example to make them so Job herein out of the Land of Uz from among the reputed Gentiles may bee a further patterne to Masters of Families themselvs How early was he and perseverant Job 1.5 to look after his revelling childrens exorbitances to offer sacrifices for them and sanctifie them For it may be saith he that my sons have sinned and cursed or as one translates it little blessed God in their hearts And thus did Job continually Of Eli wee find nothing but that of himself he was a good old man and harmlesse yet for want of taking a rounder course with his scandalous sons 1 Sam. 2.12 what a break-neck did he draw upon himself and family It is well David in setling his family bethought himself better perchance upon the grief that some of his darling children had been unto him not a wicked person unfaithful Psalm 101 froward slanderous proud stubborn deceitfull shall find intertainment or countenance at his hands Nay saith he mine eyes look upon those that are faithful in the Land ver 8 that they may dwell with me who so leadeth a godly life he shall be my servant Nay if Captain Cornelius be observed to fear God sincerely and to be constant in his Devotions he shall not be destitute of houshold servants and of a devout soldier whom hee may securely imploy in matters of the highest concernment Act. 10.7 Such a guide is good example to goodness and Domestick instruction to prevent destruction This consisteth especially in a strict oversight by holding every one under our charge to their daily Devotions and designed tasks And these Devotions must be first in set and such forms as all may best be acquainted with and easily made their own to bear their part in them Next The time and place for this concurrence must be so ordered wherein most if not all may bee present Where the often repetition of the same set formes may make such an impression that the rudest and little ones may have them by heart which the best gifted will confesse to be most useful and commendable and impossible to be learned from voluntary and affected varieties which vanquisheth in the uttering and can hardly be recalled by those that first so hastily conceived them Now Houshold Prayers are usually Morning and Evening For Morning Prayer it will be found by experience that by reason of divers distractions a concurrence cannot be so well had as immediately before Dinner Then the Master of the Family or fittest amongst the company designed by him may proceed in this manner 1. With the general Confession Almighty and most merciful Father c. to be repeated by all after him devoutly kneeling Then 2. Those two knowne prayers the one for Peace O God who art the Author of peace and lover of concord The other for Grace and protection that followes O Lord our heavenly Father Almighty and everlasting God may be fitly added In the third place interpose those interchangeable Scriptures with the Lords Prayer in the midst of them as they are ordered in the Leiturgy Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Our Father c. O Lord shew thy mercy upon us c. to the end O Lord make clean our hearts within us 4. After that mixt Petition We humbly beseech thee O Father for pardoning our Infirmities averting deserved punishments strengthning us with confidence and continuance in holinesse and purity May be 5. Adjoyned that prayer that petitioneth our faulty prayers may be graciously accepted O God whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and forgive And so the common Blessing The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 13.14 and the love of God c may make up the Conclusion Evening Prayer to be celebrated either immediately before Supper or else before the family depart to their rest proceeds in like manner 1 With the Confession Almighty and most merciful Father c. or else for variety that other Confession before the receiving of the Communion Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Maker of all things judge of all men c. 2. Then come in the two Collects O God from whom all holy desires c. and Lighten our darknesse c. answerable to the two morning Collects 3. After The Lord have mercy upon us c. and the Lords Prayer recited as in the morning you may take those short requests repeated interchangeably From our enemies defend us O Christ Graciously look upon our afflictions c. to the end And then We humbly beseech thee O Father c. O God whose nature and property c. and The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. are to be added as before in Morning Prayer A plainer and a more warrantable course for Houshold Prayers let them set forth that have found it For mine owne part I must confesse that my long studies amongst much variety hath not met with the like for words and matter so judiciously fitted Neither can I be perswaded but those learned men and Martyrs who were Compilers of our Service Book came any way short for Gravity Learning or Piety of those men who stand in this age so much upon their Gifts and take upon them as the saying is to correct Magnificat But I must not digresse you have in the former directions the ordinary Houshold prayers for Morning and Evening through all the week Sundayes and Holy-dayes are supplyed publickly in the Church which I would have you religiously to frequent yet Wednesdayes and Frydayes in the week your houshould prayers may profitably admit this alteration in Morning Prayer only On Wednesdayes let your beginning be 1. O Lord open thou our lips with those mutual correspondencies and Glory be to the Father c. wil follow 2. Then let the Apostles Creed bee repeated by all standing with him that officiates I believe in God the Father Almighty c. 3. The Prayer before the Commandments may bee repeated kneeling Almighty God to whom all hearts be open all desires known c Then 4. The Commandments may be repeated by him that officates standing to which the rest kneeling should as usually they do in publick prayers expresse their desires saying Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts c. In the fifth place may bee added the prayer for the whole estate of Christs Church militant here on earth as you have it Almighty God whose kingdom is everlasting and power infinite have mercy upon the whole
orderly with Gods Word which must be the ground and rule of all preaching praying and Christian conversation Now such a Reformation is directed to us that wee know not where we are or what to expect but that the longest liver shall never be acquainted by this new method in our Church Service with the whole counsel of God Acts 20.27 and if the Minister please not the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament and Lords Prayer in the New shall never bee known to the simple people But concerning the divers uses and applications of the Psalmes in private that notable Treatise of an ancient Father placed before our Psalmes in Meter may bee a profitable Directory wherein 99. Cases are set down what Psalmes wee may distinctly use for our greatest comfort For you my Daughters it may be sufficient to take into your particular Devotions those seven Psalms termed by the Ancients Penitentials which are the 6 32 38. 51 102 130 143. and were usually repeated weekly each on its set day which was a pious course But if this may bee thought to be otherwise supplyed in the Family Confessions before mentioned in your daily Morning and Evening Prayer it may bee worth your private Observation to consider the several works of the six dayes in the Creation as they are registred in Genesis with the celebration of the Sabbath chap. 1. and then to select seven Psalmes which may serve as a most sweet and pertinent explanation of each of them In this accommodation for Light the first dayes work you have the 27 Psalm The Lord is my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear c. For the second dayes work which were the Heavens the 19. Psalm The heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work For the Earth with the Sea of the third dayes framing how consonant is the 14 Psalm The earth is the Lords and all that therein is the compasse of the world and they that dwell therein for he hath founded it upon the sea and prepared it upon the flouds c. In the same order the Sun and Moon and Stars which were created and set in the Firmament the fourth day are taken into especial consideration in the 8. Psalm When I consider the heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained Behold what an excellent use hee makes of it for a patterne to direct us what we should do in contemplating all the rest of the Creatures Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of man that thou visitest him The like use is made upon the consideration of the fishes of the Sea and of the fowls of the air which were the work of the fifth day in the 104. Psalm Ver. â—5 And for the sixth day wherein Man was created with the beast and the rest of the Inhabitants of the Earth to serve him how fit is the 139 Psalme to bee thought upon O God Ver. â—5 thou hast searched me out and known me thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising thou understandest my thoughts long before c. My bones are not hid from thee though I be made secretly and fashioned beneath in the earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book were all thy Members written And last of all the 92 Psalm bears this Title A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath Day conformable to which we have the seventh and Lords day wherein we may observe that which an unwise man doth not well consider Ver. 6. and a fool doth not understand 1. What is to be done in celebrating of it Ver. 1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto the name of the Most Highest 2. At what set times especially Ver. 2. Morning and Evening To tell of thy loving kindnesse early in the Morning and of thy truth in the night season 3. With what solemnity Upon an Instrument of ten strings and upon the Lute upon a loud Instrument any that may consort with or quicken our praises Prayers or Thanksgivings 4. Upon what ground Because God hath made us glad through his works and therefore this day should be especially set apart for to rejoyce in giving praise for the operations of his hands which is intimated in the fourth Commaudment it self In six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is What should this mean but that especially upon this day with all Praise and Thanksgiving all these things were to be considered in pious meditations and distinct Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings to be inferred thereupon according to every mans private Devotions and capacities besides the publick Service 5. In what manner must this be done Our Psalmist also here furnisheth us with a Gloria Patri O Lord how glorious are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep And 6. Tells us that those that pass this over as a slight business are but unwise men and fools who prick up as the green grasse quickly to be mowen down and made fodder for beasts whereas the truly religious and due observers of the Lords Day according to his own holy Ordinance 1 Shal have their strength exalted as the horn of an Unicorn 2. Be annointed with the fresh oyl of Gods blessed Spirit 3. Flourish like a Palm tree that prospereth under pressures and 4. Spread abroad like a Cedar in Libanus in spite of winds and tempests 5. Shall see their enemies danted and put to confusion according to their desire Whereas 6. They themselves shall be firmly fixed and flourish in Gods house and bring forth more fruit in their age then the vigour of their former dayes hath yeilded There be that apply the 150 Psalmes in this manner That the first fifty should especially stir us up to hearty repentance The second to the consideration of Gods Mercy and Justice The third to the contemplation of Eternal happinesse to bee intertained with Hallelujahs and Thanksgivings But if you answer to this Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent Psal 139.5 we cannot attain unto it Take then in a shorter way those three Psalms which may well bee called the Sermons of David In the first of which which is the 37th you have a plaister against fretting at the prosperity of the wicked and perplexed estate of those that in all mens judgements deserve better In the second being the forty ninth a purge for swelling up-starts whose state is held no better then that of the beasts that perish this is set forth more at large in the seventy third to beat us off from all worldly vanities and to bring us to hold fast by God Psal 73.27 37.38 for that will only bring us true peace at the last These Sermons will not over-burden your memories with tediousnesse but be easily learned by you and taught your children And seeing you have the
Songs of Miriam and Deborah with that of Hannah in the Old Testament and the Magnificat of the most blessed Virgin in the New so canonically recorded Such Patternes should stir you up to Practice my Daughters and to part with your chiefest worldly delights as the Hebrew women did with their Looking glasses to make a laver for the Sanctuary for the setting forth Gods praises and Worship Exod. 38.8 to the utmost of your abilities O clap your hands together all ye people O sing unto God with the voice of melody O sing praises sing praises unto our God O sing praises sing praises unto our King For God is the King of all the earth sing ye praises to him with understanding And if not at all times in continued Psalmes yet on all occasions in pious Ejaculations the subject of the next Chapter CHAP. V. Of occasional Ejaculations BY Ejaculations are understood such private Prayers as when upon seeing hearing or thinking on any thing of extraordinary concernment we turne our selves immediately to God and in short petitions Praises Wishes or Thanksgivings express our hearty devotions In such no set form can be prescribed but the occasion it self will so frame the suit that it will be prevalent as it is piercing and the defect of words made up with hearty affections Into such an Ejaculatory confession the Israelites brake out at the sight of fire from heaven to consume the Sacrifice of Elijah which all the Baalites raving and lancing had failed to procure from their Idol The Lord he is the God 1 Ki. 18.39 The Lord he is the God falling upon their faces at the utterance of it So David upon report that politick Achitophel was turned Traytor against him O Lord saith he I pray thee turn the counsel of Achitophel into foolishness And what foolishness could bee more palpable then in the wise ording of his family to reserve a halter to hang himself King Asa had no time when Zerah the Ethiopian fell upon him with a Million of men but to betake himself only to this Ejaculation 2 Sa. 17.23 O Lord it is nothing with thee to help 2 Chr. 14.11 12 whether with many or with them that have no power Help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee and in thy name go we against this multitude Lord thou art our God let not man prevail against thee And was not the successe as speedy in its kind as the petition was pithy For the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah to their utter overthrow Upon the short addresse of the Disciples to our Saviour in a storm Master Mark 4.38 carest thou not that we perish He arose and rebuked the winds and said to the sea Peace and bee still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm Sudden dangers must have correspondent remedies And whence may they be hoped for but from him that is alwayes present every where and expects but our calling on him that he may relieve us As you provide therefore my Daughters to have Hot-waters in a readinesse or remedies appliable to sudden occasions lest in the interim before they can bee gotten the party whom you wish best unto wanting them perish much more should you have at hand and by heart such passages of sacred Scriptures whereon to ground good wishes and pious Ejaculations which in infinite unexpected occurrences you shal occasion to make use of such our Leiturgy hath so prick'd out for you that you need go no further To instance in a few of the most obvious particulars For raising up of a dejected or drooping soul what may prove more animating then that we first meet with at the threshold of our Service Ezek. 46.2 At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sinnes from the bottom of his heart I will put all his wickednesse out of my remembrance Ezek. 8.21 saith the Lord What more effectual to remove Gods judgments for our manifold transgressions then that of the lamenting Prophet Correct us O Lord Jer. 10.24 and yet in thy judgment not in thy fury lest we should be consumed brought to nothing A plainer direction cannot be thought upon for a straying sinner then that of the hunger starved Prodigal I will go to my Father and say to him Father I have sinned against heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Your children and your rudest servants are acquainted from the Leiturgy with these piercing Petitions O Lord open thou our Lips and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise O God make speed to save us O Lord make haste to help us O Lord shew thy mercy upon us and grant us thy Salvation O Lord deale not with us after our sins neither reward us after our iniquities From our enemies defend us O Christ graciously look upon our affliction with the like These are made familiar to them by often repetition which those that term shreds and porrage little think upon the short Ejaculation of David I have sinned against the Lord 2 Sa. 12.13 that had presently this return The Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dy Or that of the simple Publican God be merciful to me a sinner and the sequel of it that he went down to his house rather justified then the vaunting Pharisee for all his eloquence And this is an advantage in such short Ejaculations that they are not so liable to distractions as longer Prayers and are more easie to be remembred of all and ready to be used when space and place may not be had for longer prayers To give a touch in some few particulars At our first awaking in the morning who may not with heart and hands and eyes lifted up to heaven say Psalm 4.7 Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us and welcome the appearance of the light with this or the like Ejaculation Psal 67.1 God be merciful unto us and blesse us and shew us the light of thy countenance and be merciful unto us In cloathing of our selves how becoming would that be of the Apostle which converted a holy Father to be fitted to the occasion Rom. 13.12 The night is passed and the day is at hand Grant O Lord that I may cast off the works of darkness and put on the Armor of Light that I may walk honestly as in the day not in rioting or drunkenness not in chambering or wantonnesse nor in strife or envying but that I may put on my Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus more necessary to cover my souls nakedness then apparel is for my body and not to make such provision for the flesh as is commonly used to fulfil the lusts thereof In like manner far be it from Superstition when we wash to pray Wash me throughly from my wickednesse Psal 51.2 and cleanse me from my sinne for I acknowledg my faults O Lord and my sin is ever
first-fruits of the Land which thou O Lord hast given me So Israels repentance is directed by Hosea Take unto you words Chap. 14.2 and turn unto the Lord and say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips So in their solemn fasting the time was not to be unseasonably spent in tedious Teaching or by extemporal rapsodies to set forth the gifts of the Speaker or tire the devotion of the Auditory Joel 2.17 but as the Prophet directeth Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord neep between the Porch the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that the Heathen should rule ever them Wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God Which set formes in Publick Meetings were so far from altering in the New Testament that they are summed up and perfected in the Lords Prayer and so transmitted by the Apostles to all posterity that no settled Church can be noted that had not some Publick Leiturgy wherein the people might joyne with the Minister in Gods Service children and the simpler sort might be instructed by hearing the same words constantly repeated and not to come only as spectators to a Theatre to hear much learn little and do nothing as though all had not an interest in Gods Service according to their abilities and callings and that out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings Hosannaes were not to be endured Publick Prayers may be either 1. Confessions 2. Deprecations 3. Supplications 4. Intercessions 5. Thanksgivings 6. Praises 7. Comminations For Publick Confessions what can be contrived more fully and effectually then that used at the entrance of our Devotions Almighty and most merciful Father we have erred and strayed from thy wayes like lost sheep c. And that other before the receiving of the Lords Supper Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Maker of all things Judg of all men we acknowledg and bewail our manifold sins c. These you and your children must have by heart to be ready at all times upon all pangs of sadnesse for sin or more dangerous convulsions of conscience Psal 32.6 In this the Psalmist found present ease I said I will confesse my sins unto the Lord and so thou forgavest the wickednesse of my sin This the Apostle commends as a salve most soveraign 1 John 1.9 If we confesse our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins But Ver. 10 If we say we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us The Prophet Daniel fully relates how it wrought with him for no sooner had hee made that earnest passionate Confession in the behalf of himself and his fellow Captives in Babylon But while I was yet speaking Dan. 9.21 saith the Text and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel Tea while I was speaking in Prayer the man Gabriel being caused to flye swiftly came and touched me to give me satisfaction So quick in operation is an hearty Prayer and Confession No sooner shall David say 2 Sam. 12.13 I have sinned against the Lord but the Prophet shall reply And the Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye As soon as he shall acknowledge that his feet hath slipped Psal 94.18 he shall presently have good cause to adde Thy mercy O Lord held me up In the multitude of the sorrowes that I had in my heart thy comforts have refreshed my soul For as vomiting after excess of gluttony easeth the stomack so doth Confession the conscience after a burthening sinne committed For this purpose to have recourse to those Hymnes in our Church-Book and sing them devoutly O Lord of whom I do depend behold my careful heart c. And O Lord turn not away thy face from him that lyes prostrate c. And O Lord in thee is all my trust c. will be a great ease to an afflicted soul And they that have some fuller taste and relish of Gods Word may make a kind of confessionary Letany to themselves fitted to the times of trouble they live in As for example 1. By our Fratricide with Cain who causelesly murdered his innocent brother 2. By our unnatural irreverence with Cham that scoffed at the nakedness of his father 3. By our contemptuous profaneness with Esau who sold his birth-right for a mess of broth 4. By our Sacriledg with Achan who wickedly ventured on that which was consecrated to God to the destruction of himself and all his 5. By our divellish conspiracy with Corah and his Complices against Moses and Aaron Gods spiritual and temporal Prelates 6. By Doegs brutish falling upon Gods Priests to make them away that hee might have the greatest share in the plundering of their means 7. By Absoloms most unnatural rebellion against his most indulgent Father We have O Lord affronted heaven and plucked down thy just vengeance upon us but correct us therefore O Lord in thy judgment not in thy fury lest we should be consumed and brought to nothing And if you my Daughters would fit it more properly to your Sexe you may dispose it in this manner 1. Gen. 34.1 With Lots wife deserting her husband in looking back to the Luxury of Sodom 2. With Dinahs gadding abroad to her owne shame the enraging of her brethren and discontent of her father 3. With the plots of Josephs Mistresse upon her chaste servant 4. With Jobs impatient wife to adde affliction to the greatest afflictions of her tormented husband 5. With Michaels scoffing at her husband Davids Devotion as misbeseeming his High place to be submissive to God 6. With the haughtinesse of the daughters of Sion Isaiah 3 displaying their fancies to the world in twenty one fashions 7. With the peremptory Jewish wives Jer. 44.16 we have snapt at Gods Ministers as they did at the Prophet Jeremiah in Egypt and told them in plain termes Let them say what they would we would do as we list and our husbands should justifie us in it as there it is undertaken Ver. 19. In all which unsufferable exorbitancies or some of them wee have drawne thy just judgments upon us But spare us Good Lord spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood and be not angry with us for ever Which leads us to Deprecation the second kind of Publick Prayer CHAP. II Of Deprecations AFter Confession Deprecations may bee best thought upon by which we being conscious to our selves how manifold punishments our innumerable sins have deserved cry out unto God with the Psalmist Psal 130.3 If thou Lord shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it And to fall in with our Leiturgy O Lord deal not with us after our sins neither reward us after our iniquities And fully to this
purpose is that excellent Deprecation that followes O God merciful Father that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart c. This is seconded by another no lesse material We humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon our infirmities and for the glory of thy Name sake turn from us all those evils which we most righteously have deserved c. And here may be taken in those interchangeable Votes of Priest and People which are interposed O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thy Names sake O God we have heard with our ears c. and therefore now Arise O Lord help us and deliver us for thine honour that we may alwayes with united hearts and voices in the highest straine professe and say Glory be to the Father c And what are all those recountings of dangers in particular Orisons rising up from our sins as vapours that gather into a black cloud of vengeance to shun which we unanimously cry in our Letany Spare us Good Lord and Good Lord deliver us What are they but so many Deprecations for removal of just executions which would otherwise utterly confound us It was not without just cause therefore that Saint Paul so carefully exhorted Bishop Timothy whom hee had left in Ephesus to settle Church-Dectrine and Discipline that in Doctrine hee should labor to divert them from Novelties Fables 1 Ti. 1.3 4 and 6.20 and endlesse Disputes concerning Genealogies and such wrangling questions nothing tending to Edification And for Discipline he would have set in the first place in the ordring of publick Worship Deprecations 1 Tim. 2.1 Supplications Intercessions and giving of thanks for all men but especially for Kings and those that are in Authority Which lesson if it had been well pressed by those that take on them to be somewhat gifted above their brethren and observed better by their zealous followers we should have had little need then of such Leitugical Deprecations From 1. Herodian Tyranny 2. Pharisaical malicious hypocrisie 3. Saducean brutish incredulity 4 Judas his highest Treason 5. Simon Magus and Elymas his hellish oppositions 6. Ananias and Saphira's dainty deludings with a smooth lye 7. The Silver Smiths and Copper-Smiths boysterous and mechanical tumults to have Church and State forged on their Anvils as they would hammer it to repeat again and again Good Lord deliver us Let your care therefore my Daughters be in all such cryes and clamors Lo here is Christ or there is Christ Behold you shal find him by such a River re-baptizing or meet with him in such a Conventicle exercising or distributing his gifts not to forsake the old way which hath warrant to bee good from the Ancient of dayes but to hold fast by God with the Psalmist Psal 73.27 and possess your selves in patience according to our Saviours direction in the heaviest calamities Luk. 21.19 and not forget that advice of the sad Jer. 18.14 15. but serious Prophet forraign waters are not to bee preferred before our better tryed springs at home nor untrodden paths that are not cast up before the ancient wayes wherein our fathers have safely walked without stumbling For the performance of which Supplications will be found necessary and therefore fittest to be considered of in the third place CHAP. III. Of Supplications or Petitions SUpplications are Prayers directed to God for supply of our wants or prospering our pious intentions and endeavours whether spiritual or temporal Of which our Leiturgy is also a treasury that containeth all good things new and old to be desired as likewise a Magazine wherein that armour of God is to be had whereby we may be able to withstand all principalities and powers Ephe. 6.12 13 and rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places if we continue with all Prayers and Supplications and watch thereunto with perseverance as the Apostle exhorts us For herein after Confession of sins and Deprecation of punishment how orderly are wee led on both in Morning and Evening Prayer to bee humble Petitioners for Peace and Protection which yeild the greatest happinesse that in this world may be expected Now for the first we have these Prayers O God which art the Author of Peace and Lover of Concord c. And O God from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works do proceed give unto thy servants that peace which this world cannot give c. For the second those O Lord our heavenly Father Almighty and everlasting God who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day defend us in the same by thy mighty power c. And Lighten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great mercy defend us c. Those that hold these and the like Supplications the less effectual because common and so fitted for the mouths of babes and sucklings of least understanding amongst the Vulgar may as well slight the Sun and Moone imparting their beames equally to the Prince and Peasant and cast off the whole Sacred Text of Scripture because it comes not out weekly in a new Translation Those also that further require variety as more grateful to their appetites whom Manna from heaven would not long satisfie if they will but take the pains to peruse with deliberation and singleness of heart the ninety two Collects which are no other but quick and pertinent petions framed and fitted to the time of the year out of the Texts of Epistles and Gospels for Sundays and Saints-daies shall find the like veyne of Devotion not to run in any Hâ—lps or Hand-maids or Practices of Piety that may fill the hungry with good things when the rich in their squeamish choiceness may be sent empty away Where by the way if we but cast an eye on the Letany what are all those necessary desires which the religious thoughts of many ages have laid together with which young and old rich and poor offer violence as it were joyntly with their out-cryes to the Throne of Grace We beseech thee to hear us Good Lord but a sum of Petitions linked together wherein all have a share which the best gifted men on the sudden will hardly think upon O what admirable variety of choice may bee here found As when we consult the Scriptures to beginne with that Collect of the second Sunday in Advent Blessed God which hast caused all Scripture to be written for our learning c. When we undertake and begin any work of our vocation to procure a blessing unto it with that so well known Supplication Prevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and farther us with thy continual help c. For an entrance into our Prayers how fit is that Assist us mercifully O Lord in these our supplications and prayers c. or that which followes Almighty Lord and everlasting God vouchsafe we beseech thee to direct sanctifie govern c. And after the hearing
of a Sermon how becoming pious is that Petition Grant we beseech thee Almighty God that the words which we have heard this day with our outward ears c. And for the close of all our Prayers that which closeth up the Service of the Communion Almighty God which hast promised to hear the Petitions of them that ask in thy Sons name c. They are unworthy to pray or to bee heard Jer. 2.13 that forsake such fountains of knowne and living waters to hew out to themselves Cisterns broken Cisternes that hold troubled or no water or perchance some mixtures of Marah or Meribah which will not guide us to the Springs of Intercession that next wee must take in our way CHAP. IV. Of Intercessions AMong those kind of Prayers which the Apostle exhorteth 1. Tim. 2.1 especially Intercession succeeds Supplications which are Petitions put up to God for others for whom we are bound to pray either by Nature Law or Christian charity Under this title therefore come all those prayers we have for the Church in general and then more distinctly for Superiors Leaders Equals Friends Enemies all that bee desolate and oppressed that they may be relieved all that bee in good courses that they may be preserved and encouraged To such Intercessions the Psalmist exhorteth all well-affected people especially when they are assembled together Psal 122.6 7 8 9 O pray saith he for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee Peace be within thy walls and plenteousnesse within thy Palaces For my brethren and companions sake I wil wish thee prosperity yea because of the House of the Lord our God I will seek to do thee good So Samuel prayed for Saul until God told him in plaine termes that he had rejected him And so long in charity we are to pray for those that are most untoward until God hath evidenced by cutting them off that their case is desperate which wee must not be too bold to prejudg seeing she that had seven Divels in her did become the most zealous Attendant of our Saviour and he that was a most violent Persecutor 1 Cor. 15.10 the most laborious amongst all the Apostles Smal hopes there was of imprisoned Saint Peters preservation the sword having so fatally cut off Saint James and Herod being so fully bent to please the bloud-thirsty Jewes Acts 12.5 Peter was therefore kept in prison saith the Text but prayer that is Intercession was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him And was not the event as miraculous Peter is delivered by an Angel and the expectation of the Jews deluded Few would imagine that Saint Paul who had the favour to be rapt up into the third heaven 2 Cor. 12.4 and hear unspeakable words which were not lawful for a man to utter should have need of the Intercession of any of those Converts of his which he had so lately catechized in Christianity yet wee see what he writes to the Thessalonians 1 The. 5.25 Brethren pray for us And to the Hebrews Heb. 13.11 Pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly Nay Pharaoh and Simon Magus were not so hard hearted though in the gall of bitterness but they allowed and desired the intercession of Gods servants Intreat the Lord saith Pharaoh that there be no more mighty thundrings and hail Exod. 9.28 Acts 8.24 And pray ye unto the Lord for me saith Magus that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me Whereupon Saint James laid it down for a Canon to be observed of all the faithful James 5.16 Confesse your sins one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed Which two Ingredients make an excellent Soulsalve for all spiritual wounds and bruises And therefore we have so divers and effectual formes of Intercession in our Church-Book that I may wel use the words to you that Boaz sometime did unto Ruth Ruth 2.8 Hear ye not my Daughters Go not to glean in another field neither go from hence for here you shal find that will satisfie The pattern of Intercession we have from our Saviour for his Apostles Successors and Converts John 17. as we had his general prayer before for all things necessary Matth. 6. conformable to which we have framed that excellent Intercession in our Leiturgy under the Title of Let us pray for the whole estate of Christs Church militant here on earth in these words Almighty and everlasting God which by thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make prayers and supplications and to give thanks for all men c. This Prayer is to be had by heart and alwayes used upon any occasion And in particular find we not further Intercessions for the King Queen and Royal Progeny Bishops and all the Clergy most orderly following one another To the same purpose are those interchangeable Intercessions betweene Priest and People O Lord shew thy mercy upon us and grant us thy salvation O Lord save the King c. Which your little ones may be brought to repeat in answering one another The like passages are interposed in Matrimony for the parties marryed O Lord save thy servant and thine hand-maid that put their trust in thee c. In the Visitation of the sick O Lord save thy servant which putteth his trust in thee c. And at your Womens-meetings commonly called Church-going O Lord save this woman thy servant which putteth her trust in thee c. Perswade your selves my Daughters these things are not to be little set by This simplicity in coming to God with good hearts and humble minds in obedience to our Mother the Church which hath thus directed us will be more acceptable to him and more prevalent then Balaks seven Altars and Balaams thence fetching Prophecies Nay then the Sacrifice of a Bullock to use the words of the Psalmist that hath horns and hoofes Psal 69.32 For God is not taken with quaint inventions or excellency of speech 1 Cor. 2.1 as the Apostle tels us The wisdom of this world to him is but foolishness chap. 3.19 chap. 4.20 and his Kingdome consisteth not in words but power If our hearts therefore condemne us not God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things And then saith the blessed Apostle we have confidence towards God 1 Joh. 3.20 21 22 and whatsoever wee ask wee receive of Him if wee keep his Commandments and doe those things which are pleasing in his sight And so wee may close with the man after Gods owne heart Psal 69.33 The humble shall consider this and bee glad Seek ye the Lord in this way and your foul shall live CHAP. V. Of Thanksgiving WEll may Thanksgiving follow Intercession which is the only high-rent that God expecteth for all his infinite blessings bestowed upon us Amongst the Sacrifices of the Old Testament this of Thanksgiving