is the Christians highest aim it was Davids prayer (z) Psal 19.14 and the greatest blessing the Priest could wish (a) Numb 6.24 25 26. Psal 20.3 4. that Almighty God might accept them Poor Socrates after many a tedious step in a virtuous but afflicted state (b) An diis placent quae feci nescio hoc autem solum scio me sedulò haec egisse ut placerent could not tell whether he had given content to his Deities or no but whoever of you have the grace of Repentance and the holy spirit are not in those uncertainties but have Enochs Testimony Heb. 11.5 that you do please God § 12. And that the rest of our lives hereafter may be pure and holy this is the second benefit and motive earnestly to pray for these things for so you shall not only be welcomed at present with a gracious smile but all your lives long be reputed as the friends of God and by his help shall be preserved as pure as a true Repentance hath made you and as holy as those are who are under the Guard of the Spirit of holiness Pray therefore with all your soul for a true Repentance or else as soon as your soul is washed it will return to its impure wallowings and all your labour is in vain hitherto (c) 2 Pet. 2.22 laterem lavare for a feigned repentance will send Absolom away for a while but upon the next Enterview will hurry us with more passion into his embraces whereas the deep wounds of the true penitent make sin hateful to him while he lives and he that gets on a white garment with so much difficulty will not easily sully it but carefully preserve it pure as his tears have made it And upon the same ground be very pressing for the holy spirit Which if you can obtain you shall not only be preserved from the spots of sin but shall shine with the lustre of a holy life for our goodness is apt to vanish (d) Hos 6.4 we are wavering and soon weary unless we have that establishing spirit (e) Psal 51.14 David prays for and then all duties will be easie and we shall be strong for love and the sense of his assistance will carry us cheerfully through them all so as to be our pleasure not burden and when we are arrived to this nothing can bribe us to forsake them Oh happy soul that is thus begun to be restored to that purity and holiness which are part of Gods Image (f) Ephes 4.24 and parcels of the Divine Perfections blessed is he that is so far advanced that God is not like to forsake him because he hath made him holy pure and a fit temple for the inhabitation of his spirit nor is he likely ever to forsake that God whose mercy hath saved him whose grace doth refresh him whose waies please him and his glorious bounty which faith discovers doth still allure him to press forward to neerer unions and unseparable connexions no state under the Sun is to be longed and wished for like this which a true Repentance and Gods holy Spirit brings us to § 13. So that at the last we may come to his eternal joy through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen There is nothing more desirable then the sweet peace of a good Conscience but only that which is the end and perfection thereof and that is that happiness which is infinite and endless which the Scripture calls an eternal and everlasting joy (g) Isai 35.10 Chap. 61.7 51.11 which neither men nor devils can lessen or interrupt much less put a period to it And if God give us true Repentance it will preserve us from the sins which forfeit this and if he add his holy spirit it will safely lead us into those paths of righteousness which lead thither where we can desire no more because we have all that is desirable There are no cares to disturb no fears to allay nor sorrows to abate those ravishments of delight for ever there is joy which far surpasseth the half-sad and mixed pleasures which this world hath being nothing else but pure joy which pleaseth by its own excellence and by having no fears nor possibility of defailance in degree or continuance we tast something of it in the charming calm of a strong faith and a quiet conscience with undeceived expectations of Gods love but this is but the land-skip of our heavenly Canaan which Jesus hath purchased for us and God the Father will grant unto us and the most holy Spirit will be our guide thither (h) Psal 51.14 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole glorious Trinity is concerned for us and will cooperate with us to put us into possession of them and then rejoyce over us to all eternity The Father who forgave us the Son who dyed for us and the Blessed Spirit who wrought effectually in us will Communicate this their joy with us and to us for ever And lastly to shew that you thankfully follow these Directions of the Ministers and have in your own heart and thoughts most devoutly petitioned God for a true Repentance and his holy Spirit by means whereof all these incomparable benefits may redound to you in testimony I say hereof you sum up all in a Petitionary Amen desiring it may be so and assenting also to the truth of all this It is most true and therefore oh so be it unto you Amen The Paraphrase of the Absolution BE it known to every one of you that hath confessed his sins with an humble lowly Penitent and obedient heart that Almighty God Supreme King of Heaven and Earth whose Royal Prerogative it is fully to acquit or finally to condemn being the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who assumed our nature and suffered for our sins this great God by his Merits is of an angry Judge become a tender Father and hath solemnly sworn he is one who desireth not neither taketh pleasure in the death or damnation of a sinner though never so justly deserving it but rather chuseth to have opportunity to shew mercy and therefore he useth all possible means that he may turn from his wickedness which will bring the sinner into condemnation that by leaving these paths of death he might be forgiven and live in holiness and comfort here and in everlasting glory hereafter And to confirm this his good will and keep penitent sinners from despair he hath given and in holy Scripture communicated Power by vertue of his Supreme Authority and Commandment for the exercise of this power for when poor sinners need comfort he hath given special charge to his Ministers lawfully chosen by himself and those he appoints to be his Ambassadors to declare at all times his willingness to pardon all and pronounce Absolution more particularly and plainly to those that by returning and obedience do own him even to his People being Penitent for all their offences as you now from your
have their inward man endued and adorned with the purity signified thereby And this Petition we make to him who hath promised to deck his Priests with health (l) Psal 132.16 Isai 61.10 and to cloath them with the garment of salvation and the robe of righteousness that his Saints may re-rejoyce and sing For the holy lives and good success of pious and painful Ministers is an extraordinary and a huge delight to Gods people who therefore do here use it as an argument to enforce their request for the Ministers For we say they are not of the number of those who glory in the crimes of the Ministers of God or rejoyce in their calamities because O Lord we love thee and them wherefore if thou wilt please to give them health and safety righteousness and peace we shall thrive under their care and joyfully follow their good examples the benefit and the pleasure will be ours and the glory shall be thine for this and all thy mercies § 7. Psal 28.9 O Lord save thy people Answ And bless thine inheritance The kindness of the Congregation to the Minister expressed in the last Responsal is here most lovingly and thankfully returned and required by him who now prays for them as heartily as they for him before which cannot but endeer the Priest and people one to another since they daily do thus mutually interchange offices of love Wherefore let both joyn in this comprehensive request that God would save and deliver his people from all evil and bless and furnish them with all good things since they are his peculiar inheritance and so may expect a special defence and relief from their own God But of this before in the TE DEVM § 8. 1 Chron. 22.9 Give peace in our time O Lord Answ Because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou O God It pleased God to make particular Promises to Solomon Hezekiah and Josiah (m) 1 Chron. 22.9 Isai 39.8 2 Kings 22.20 that he would give peace in their days Wherefore we make bold to ask it for our times from the God of peace our only defence (n) Exod. 14.14 Deut. 1.30 against our enemies They who trust in their bow and rely on their sword care not to ask for Peace because they hope either to awe their foes into quietness or to make advantage by War as being sufficiently guarded and prepared But we even the Church of God know Armies and Navies are useless not only against God but without him and only successful by his blessing So that though we have both yet we account the Divine Providence our greatest security How well this Petition suited the Primitive Christians every one may discern who considers they judged it unlawful while the Emperors were Heathen to fight in their own defence (o) Luke 22.38 ita Explic. ab Origen in Cels l. 5. Ambros de Off. Basil August vid. Arnobius l. 1. p 6. And when Prayers and tears were their only weapons they might most justly (p) Ezra 8.22 be earnest with God for their defence who did so wholly depend on his Protection that his glory seemed concerned in their safety Yet it is not improper for us now though blessed be God we have Christian Princes and their forces to defend us for we wish there may be no occasion to use arms or if there be (q) Bellum gerere malis videtur foelicitas bonis necessitas Augustin we declare we rely not alone on these Preparations unless he please to bless them we know they are unserviceable Wherefore if it please him we desire peace and that he will keep off invasions and Rebellions for our time and so will the following generations for their daies that it may appear we wish to live in peace and do trust alone in the Lord of hosts § 9. Psal 51.10 11. O God make clean our hearts within us Answ And take not thy holy spirit from us Though Peace be accounted the chief of all blessings yet without grace it may do us more harm then good Wherefore we conclude with an carnest supplication for Grace to fit us for and help us in the following devotions We are now to offer up our incense and therefore do beseech the Author and lover of purity in holy Davids words to cleanse the Altars of our hearts that neither the guilt of former offences may unhallow or defile them nor any remaining evil thoughts may disturb the holy cloud but that it may ascend and he a sweet savour before the Throne of God And because it is the Holy Spirit alone which can effect this we pray that our hearts may be so pure as to invite this holy Dove to come unto us and remain with us that it may both make and keep us undefiled both in the remaining part of our Prayers and of our lives If we look back on those portions of the Office which we have performed I hope we shall have cause thankfully to acknowledge that the Divine Spirit hath been with us and excited the flames of our devotion the comfort of which aid makes us earnest for its continuance And certainly we could never have sent up these very sacred ejaculations with such fervent spirits united hearts and harmonious voices if the same spirit of zeal and love had not inspired us Therefore let the sweetness of this experience encourage us to beg that the Holy Ghost may stay among us so that we may as affectionately joyn in those Prayers where the Minister is the only speaker as we have done in these wherein we have had the honour and advantage of bearing our Parts and making our Responsals The Paraphrase of the Versicles and Responsals before and after the Lords Prayer Minister MY dear bretheren in the right Faith I do most affectionately salute you desiring The Lord and his grace may be with you to prosper you in that you now are doing Answer And we thankfully return the kindness desiring likewise the Lord may be with thy spirit to compose and excite it while thou speakest to God for us Minister Let not your thoughts wander but now Let us pray to God with fervency and devotion O Lord God the Father pitty pardon and have mercy upon us who are unworthy to call upon thee O Christ the son of God pitty pardon and have mercy upon us whose only hope is in thy Mediation and Redemption O Lord God the Holy Ghost pitty pardon and have mercy upon us and assist us in these our supplications Our Father which art c. Priest Consider our sin and misery with compassion O Lord and now shew some token of thy mercy upon us to our comfort Answ And grant us now and ever such wonderful deliverances from all evil that we may surely obtain thy salvation Priest O Lord thou Governor of all the world be pleased to bless preserve and save the King thine own Anointed Answ And mercifully hear us whose peace is linked
will Absolve none without true Repentance wherefore let us beg of him who requires this Condition to give what he requires (g) Domine da quod jubes jube quod vis D. Augustin upon all these considerations let us beseech c. if we now make not our applications it will be a despising his love slighting his Message and sending back his servants empty oh let us earnestly pray for true Penitence we are encouraged by his gracious nature engaged by his courteous offer of a treaty urged by necessity as being not like to be forgiven without it further we must ask these favours of him from whom comes every good and perfect gift (h) James 1.17 for if we consider what we ask we shall easily discern they must not be sought any where else Repentance is a change of the notions of the mind the choices of the will the actings of the affections and passions induring new joys and sorrows hopes and fears desires and aversations so that it is a kind of new Creation (i) Ephes 4.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he alone that brought life out of death and light out of darkness can bring us from the death of sin and darkness of iniquity to the life and light of holiness and Piety * Nulla sine Deo meus bona Seneca we can fall down by our own weight but we cannot rise out of this narrow Pit without help nay we sink lower for our hearts are as backward to repent as forward to sin and by frequent commissions we love sin more and are more loth to part with it yesterday we mistook by accident to day we desire to be again in such circumstances to morrow we shall run into them (k) viresque acquirit eundo so that we must not trust in our own hearts (l) Prov. 28.1 but seek repentance from God and his holy Spirit which being both so necessary for us and of so incomparable advantage to us let us humbly beg this on our knees beseeching God to grant them to us which word grant (m) Acts 11.18 denotes a free act of grace from a Prince to his Subject though few offending Subjects can have a Pardon granted out upon their Repentance yet God deals so with us and hath not only promised to forgive us when we do repent (n) John 6.37 but to give us grace that we may repent (o) Acts 5.31 and if we have his gracious assistance no doubt we shall repent truly and not fall into Ahabs hypocrisie Israels treachery (p) Psal 78.34 nor Judas his despair Oh let us pray for his holy spirit of grace which will open our eyes to see our sirs and soften our hearts to mourn for them and strengthen our purposes to amend them and this will be a true Repentance which contains in it an unfeigned Faith which is here understood though not expressed for Faith and true Repentance are so inseparably joyned that in Scripture Repentance is put for them both in many places (q) Matth. 4.17 compared with Mark 1.15 because he that is truly humbled and really purposed to amend doth ever trust in Gods mercy or else it may be understood when we pray for his holy Spirit we mean to produce in us all graces especially Faith which is that gracious fruit of the Spirit of Adoption (r) Gal. 4.16 for by it we call God Father and as such rely on him 'T is certain if we can prevail with God for his holy Spirit it will bring both Faith and all Graces with it and will assist us to do good when Repentance hath taken us off from our evil courses this will keep out those lusts which Repentance began to exclude but observe Repentance goes first for you must not expect this holy Dove will abide in impure places (s) Pietas inducit Spiritum Sanctum R. R. ad Candida tecta columbae when the unclean Spirit expects his house to be swept and garnished (t) Matth. 12.44 we may then hope to have our Prayers for Gods holy Spirit heard when Repentance hath prepared his lodgings in our hearts § 11. That those things may please him which we do at this present Having thus taught you who to pray to and what to pray for it remains that we shew the great advantages of having your Prayers heard that so you may not put up so weighty a request without such hearty desires and zealous affections as are suitable to it for this one Petition granted will procure you 1. Present acceptance 2. Future assistance 3. Endless happiness true Repentance and Gods holy Spirit will assure all this to you but if you pray not so devoutly and earnestly as to obtain them your Absolution must be cancelled your services rejected your souls continue polluted here and be condemned to endless misery hereafter so that we hope your own Interest will quicken you most passionately to beg for these to which purpose consider them severally 1. If your Confession Prayers and Endeavours be such as can prevail with God to give you a true Repentance and his holy Spirit then all the duties now performed shall be acceptable particularly and in the first place that which we Ministers are doing viz. pronouncing the Absolution this shall be confirmed by God and he will assent to it so that your Pardon shall be inrolled in Heaven and then all other duties that we and you do shall be pleasing to God and beneficial to you our mutual and common Prayers shall be answered our praises accepted our hearing shall be converting and salutiferous our Communicating an infallible conveyance and irrevocable seal of Grace and peace But without Repentance all our prayers and praises and all we do (u) See of this at large before in Sect. 2. shall be rejected as a mocking of God without his holy spirit also all our observances are harsh and unpleasing flat and dull in Gods account it is this good Spirit that makes our hearts and tongues agree this inlightens our minds to see our wants quickens our memory to remember them toucheth our hearts with a sense of them confirms our Faith that God can supply us and enlarges our affections to beg the relief of them In a word this Spirit of God helps us to ask inclines him to give and fits us to receive all we pray for so that God is not pleased when we worship him without it (x) Gal. 4.6 John 4.24 Rom. 8.26 and denies nothing when we have it so that our Saviour accounts (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. 11.13 Is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 7.11 it the same to pray for the holy spirit and all good things which spring from it And now who would not earnestly beseech for such a true Repentance as might invite this Holy Spirit into their hearts which will be the seal of their Pardon and make all they do well-pleasing to God to please him
and be careful to express those practical inferences that are all along drawn from them in our lives and conversations heartily desiring we may live by these holy principles of truth and in these we must exercise especially Faith and Love concluding them with giving Glory to the Father who hath made us partakers of a right Faith in his Son by his Spirit and remembring that every Person of this Glorious Trinity joyns in these eminent works of Creation Providence Redemption and Sanctification let us heartily praise God the Father Son and Holy Ghost for all that is done or designed for the sons of men Let thy soul say Oh Lord I confess the truth of these things I believe them fully and I admire them highly and will ever love thee for declaring them I acknowledge thy Power in Creating thy Bounty in sustaining thy Wisdome in ordering and thy Mercy in relieving and preserving all the World I discern thy love in our Redemption I hope in thy might for a resurrection to life and I trust in thy Mercy for a share in thy glory Glory be to the Father c. for all this 2. The Psalms of Exhortation which are serious admonitions backed with powerful motives and convincing arguments and cleer examples by which we are stirred either to some Acts of moral Virtue (b) Psal 15. and 101. or to some Duties of positive Religion to fear God or study his Law or observe his Will (c) Psal 1. and 34. and 119. or else we are warned against sin by threatnings and examples (d) Psal 7. and 58. and 64. particularly against distrust in God by the History (e) Psal 78.105 106. of his Providence over his own people That we may profit by these it is requisite that we do weigh the promises and motives to holiness so seriously that we be convinced of our folly in neglecting these duties and resolved to set upon the sincere performance of them and it is necessary that we consider the evils that are appointed for and threatned to all sorts of sins and the sad instances and examples of sinners that have been made miserable thereby till we find our hearts moved with fear and penitence and till we have taken up purposes of speedy forsaking those dangerous courses so that here we are to exercise humility and Repentance fear of God and pious resolutions which being finished in the Doxology is a superadded act of Praise to the Father for sparing us to the Son for interceding for us and to the Holy Ghost for warning and convincing us and this Glory be to the Father c. doth declare you are thankful for the admonition and resolved to take warning and full of hopes of the Divine assistance to help you to forsake the evil and follow the good In these Psalms take the same resolutions which holy David did and encourage your selves with the same hopes love what he loves desire what he longed for believe and expect what he promiseth to himself hate what he hated take warning by what he observed and fear the same sad event if you go on in the same way with those sinners that are made examples to you evermore praising God for these gracious discoveries and saying Glory be c. 3. The Psalms of Supplication which are most ardent Petitions for all good things for your selves your Bretheren and the whole Church in all circumstances and upon all occasions These are private Prayers for Pardon of sin (f) Psal 25. and 51. and 143. for Restauration to Gods favour (g) Psal 4. and 42. and 63. for Patience in trouble (h) Psal 39. and 88. for deliverance from Spiritual or Temporal enemies (i) Psal 55. and 59 and 71. and 74. and also publique Prayers for the King (k) Psal 21. and 72. and for the Church and people of God (l) Psal 68. and 79. and 80. and such like Which that we may be fitly disposed for we must have a quick and feeling sense of our own and our bretherens wants a firm belief of Gods all-sufficiency a strong confidence in the intercession of Jesus Christ and a full persuasion of the acceptableness of these requests which are drawn up by the Holy Ghost And these devout prayers will give us occasion to shew our care of our own souls and our universal charity to all the world our love to Gods Church and our intire dependance on his Power and Mercy and may fitly be closed with a giving Glory to the Father who heareth us to the Son who pleads for us in Heaven and to the Holy Ghost who directs and assists us on Earth and we have cause to bless him who hath heard both our and others Prayers and will do so to the end of the world giving all persons in all ages past present and to come great-cause of Eucharist and thanksgiving for by this Gloria Patri added to our Prayers we declare our confidence and hope that he will grant us our desires who is and was and ever shall be the helper of all that flee to him for succour and we call to mind that many are now praising him in heaven for hearing these very Petitions we now put up Art thou poor or miserable sick or weak despised or slandered persecuted or oppressed here thou mayest breath out thy complaints to him that can help thee or those that are so Art thou under trouble of conscience or fear of Gods anger worsted by temptation or sluggish in holy duties or any waies spiritually indisposed here are most proper and pertinent forms for thy comfort and redress Art thou a well-wisher to all the world a lover of Gods people a friend to the Peace of Kingdoms and a faithful Subject to thy own Prince hast thou any detestation for sinners or desire of their Conversion any pitty for the calamitous and wishes for their deliverance if thou bring a charitable heart thou mayest pray for all or any of these in such prevailing words that ere thou hast done speaking thou mayest have such assurances of a gracious return as to sing Glory be to the Father c. 4. The Psalms of thanksgiving are those joyful songs of Praise and Eucharist and lovely descriptions of the Divine goodness to the World but especially to us and all his own people Such are those wherein God is praised for all his mercies (m) Psal 103. and 136. and 145. for those bestowed on our bodies (n) Psal 116. and 130. health plenty (o) Psal 65. and 104. victories over our enemies (p) Psal 18. and 144. and 149. as also for what he hath done for our souls (q) Psal 66. and 111. and 118. and in these Psalms are most earnest exhortations to joyn in praising his holy Name and most exact Characters of all Gods gracious dealings with us and all mankind wherefore that we may joyn in heart and voice let us bring with us hearts fully sensible of our
which shined on so many millions of wretched Heathens benighted in the darkness of Idolatry and made them Christian I will bless thee for honouring thy antient but despised people who were more enabled by the birth of Jesus then by all their former Royalties and victorious Trophies and instead of the bright Cloud the glory of the Tabernacle thou hast sent him to pitch his tent among them who was the brightness of thy own glory I am ravished to behold so many joyful souls blessing thee for this light which shined on them in their sins and the confines of eternal darkness and converted and translated them into thy marvelous light And all thy holy Saints in all ages have given thee the glory for all those illustrious beams of Love and Charity Piety Justice and Devotion which shine from their lives and are but the reflexion of the rayes of the grace of Jesus This excellent person rejoyced not only in his own felicity but to behold by the Spirit of Prophecy what joy Jesus was like to bring to me and many thousands of Converts and holy Men to the end of the World Wherefore let us be glad and rejoyce with him for our selves and all people for the light that shines upon us and the glory that is round about us and with all our Souls sing Glory be to the Father c. The Paraphrase of the Nunc Dimittis I Desire not to live in this world any longer then I have laid hold of thy Salvation which since thy Word and Spirit hath now discovered to me I have all I can wish for here therefore Lord now lettest thou thy command go forth that thy servant who hath longed hitherto to injoy thee may depart quietly out of this miserable world and be dismissed from the prison of the flesh I can now leave it in peace being assured thou wilt make good all other Promises since in giving thy dear Son thou hast done so exactly according to thy word My desires are satisfied and my faith confirmed as much as is possible in this world For mine eyes inlightened by thy holy Spirit have seen by Faith in thy blessed word him that is my Redeemer and brings thy salvation to me and all the world I cannot contain nor yet express my joy to behold this lovely Peace-maker w ich thou hast not only manifested in the flesh to the infinite delight of thy servants then but prepared by the discovery of thy holy Gospel to appear most gloriously before the face of all people that ever were or shall be This glorious Sun of Righteousness hath shined on all the Earth his word is a light to lighten the dismal regions of the unconverted heathens and the Gentiles that knew not God His doctrine instructed them and hath converted many and his presence and his grace is the honour and the glory of all true believers the joy and comfort of thy people Israel so that we and all the world are bound to praise thee for thy Gospel and thy son here on Earth and to continue our song to all Eternity when thou lettest us depart from hence Amen The last Hymn after the second Lesson viz. the LXVII Psalm § 6. AFter those parts of the Epistles which are more Doctrinal as containing the excellent principles and precepts of the Christian Religion we may seasonably use this rare piece of Davids devotion which contains most passionate wishes for the propagation of the knowledge of these incomparable truths throughout all the world and zealous desires that they may be known to all as they are to us whereby we declare our high esteem of them our hearty thankfulness for them and our sincere desires that all men might have the benefit and God the glory by them which is a seasonable return for those instructions we have now received out of Gods holy word and these very Petitions are an act of Eucharist and Praise The first Verse is the first Request even that God would be gracious to us in forgiving our sins giving us his grace to profit and outwardly expressing the kindness of his heart by the smiles of his countenance The second Verse is the end why we desire this felicity to his Church that the divine goodness to us may invite many Converts in and the encrease of the Church will be our happiness as it is our desire The third Verse is the second Petition that we and all may so discern the excellency of his Laws that he may be universally praised by Jews and Gentiles Verse fourth both for the holiness of his Commands and the righteous administrations of his Providence And to shew how earnestly we desire Gods glory and how constantly it ought to be paid the same Petition is repeated ver 5. And to encourage all to it the blessed effects of this universal praise are added ver 6. and 7. For when we are thankful God will multiply his blessings the Church shall be replenished with grace and fruitful in good works and more will so be drawn to embrace this Sacred Religion Did we thus earnestly beg his grace to prosper his Word to us and heartily Praise him for it our selves and fervently wish the enlargement of Christs Kingdom God the Father and Jesus Christ even our own God and God the Holy Ghost would assuredly bless us To which holy and undivided Trinity be ascribed all Honour Glory and Praise by us and all the World now and for ever Amen SECTION XI The Analysis of the Apostles Creed In this Creed are two parts shewing what we believe 1 Concerning God 1. In general that there is A God One God I believe in God 2. In special as to the Persons of the Trinity 1. Person the Father His Nature the Father Almighty Works Creation Providence maker of Heaven and Earth 2. Person the Son 1. His Name and Offices Prophet Priest and King and in Iesus Christ 2. His Natures both the Divine and his only Son our Lord Humane in his Conception and Birth who was conceived by the holy ghost born of the Virgin Mary 3. His works 1. Redemption by 1. His Passion suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buryed he descended into hell 2. Resurrection the third day he rose again from the dead 3. Ascension and Interces◠he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty 2. Final Judgement from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead 3. Person whose Name expresseth His Nature a Holy Spirit His Office to sanctifie us I believe in the Holy Ghost 2. Concerning our selves 1. Our Condition as to 1. Union the holy Catholique Church 2. Communion the communion of Saints 2. Our Priviledges 1. As to the Soul the forgiveness of sins 2. As to the Body the resurrection of the body and 3. As to both the life everlasting Amen A Discourse of the Creed § 1. THE Holy Scriptures being a perfect Revelation of all Divine Truth ought to
along with every sentence and seal it with a most hearty assent There are many truths which do not concern us whether they be true or false and in such cases a general persuasion that they may be true will suffice But these principles of our Faith are the ground of our Prayers the rule of our lives and must be received with the same evidence that the Mathematicians postulata are on which his following demonstrations depend so that without the admission of these he can do nothing Remember you must conduct the affairs of your life by this profession you must venture your souls at your death on these principles nay if need be you must seal these Truths with your blood therefore do not slightly repeat them but let them sink into your heart and be so assured of them that no pleasure or profit may intice you to walk contrary to it or deny it nor no threats or pains affright you from confessing it and rejoyce in this daily opportunity to express the constancy of your faith and every day protest your belief as solemnly as if you were to dye for it 3. Our mind can never want imployment for all the faculties and powers thereof because in the repetition we are to make a particular application of every Article that it may produce those effects and serve those ends for which it was revealed And it is absurd if not impious to think that God did discover these sacred truths only to enlarge our speculations or experience our credulity All that is true is equally so and the reason why these truths are more necessary to be believed then others is not because they are more certain but more uâ—eful to assist our devotions and direct our conversation then any other propositions that Gods word doth contain where they are not barely taught but ever applied either as incouragements to the worship of God or arguments to a holy life Nor are they intended so much to make us wiser as to perswade us to become better (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Paedag. And if they have not this effect upon us our Faith excels not the Confession of the Devils (i) Matth. 8.29 James 2.19 who did acknowledge Jesus the Son of God and yet opposed the purposes of that mistery and so had no benefit by their acknowledgment This light is set up to direct us and it is expected that we should work and walk by it And that will appear when our Devotions suit these principles and our practices are the genuine products of our profession For therefore Heaven did reveal this Creed and therefore the Church inserts it here And that we may learn to use it to these purposes let us more particularly consider 1. How we may apply it to assist our Prayers In order whereunto we must observe that our Faith is the basis on which our Petitions are built the sole engagement to us to make them and the principal motive to God to hear them who hath so often required that we should pray with Faith and without the least wavering or distrust (k) Matth. 21.22 1 Tim. 2.8 Heb. 11.6 James 1.6 Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agitatur scil dubitans at non progreditur vide item Jac. 5.15 Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If we come to God we must believe that he is and that he will reward those that wait upon him without which persuasion the Gentiles themselves did never (l) Veneramini Dees colitis non credentes illos esse propitias aures vestris supplicationibus accommodare Arnob adv gentes lib. 2. worship their false Gods nor can we pray to the true with either courage zeal or comfort till we have possessed our souls with right opinions of him And this we may do by a reciting our Creed before our Prayers which is an impenetrable armor against all those discouragements and fears which Sathan is apt to assail us with Let us not pray like those that know not God but imitate the holy servants of God in Scripture who alwaies begin their supplications with a brief Confession of their Faith in Gods Power (m) 1 Kings 8.23 Nehem. 9.6 1 Chron. 29.11.12 Daniel 9.4 and Providence his Mercy and his Covenant as we do ours with the declaration of our Faith Oh what holy fervours doth it put our souls into to contemplate the Power of an Almighty Father the love of a most merciful Redeemer and the grace of the holy Spirit our sanctifier Doth it not teach us reverence and fear sincerity and longing desires hope and chearful expectations thus to set God before us in our Creed in the beauty of his Attributes and the glory of his works When we have professed our belief in the Father Almighty that made Heaven and Earth how readily shall we run to him for the supply of our temporal necessities When we have protested our assurance that the eternal Son of God was made man born among us lived with us and dyed for us and arose again and returned to his glory to prepare a place for us and plead our cause can we then forbear to cry for pardon and peace for conversion and salvation or shall we doubt to be accepted Again have we owned our belief of that holy Spirit which is the Author and finisher of all grace and are we not then fitly disposed and strongly moved to petition for his aid that we may continue true members of Christs body and enjoy a Communion with the Saints remission of our sins restauration of our body and an eternal life of glory If we did not premise our Faith to our Prayers it might be suspected we spoke to him we knew not and asked what was unfit to be desired or impossible to be obtained But now all these stumbling blocks are removed and our Creed is made an excellent preparatory to the following Collects every Petition of which are directed by grounded on and enforced from some of these Articles which if we thus apply them will shew us how fitly we may desire these things and what reason we have to hope they shall be granted And secondly we must learn to apply these Articles of our Faith to the right ordering of our lives not repeating them as empty notions and airy speculations but as the principles and rules of practice For why should the Christians belief alone be supposed sufficient without some Acts deduced from it The Merchant believes there are Jewels and rarities in other lands (n) Estne operis in vitâ negotiosum aliquod quod non fide praecunte suscipiunt actores Arnob. l. 2. Nihil est quod in vitâ geri possit si non credulitas praecesserit Ruffin in Symbol and he puts to Sea and attempts the purchase The Countryman sows the Scholar studies and the Souldier fights according to the principles of advantage they believe will come upon those endeavours And doth the Religious man only believe and sit
and thy gracious Providence we being defended from the Power and malice and preserved in safety from the fear of our enemies may never be hurt terrified or disturbed but may pass our time which thou shalt afford us on this earth in rest from our foes and quietness in our own minds Grant us O Lord therefore this Peace for the sake as it was obtained through the merits of thy Son Iesus Christ our Saviour Amen The Analysis of the third Collect for Aid against all Perils This Collect hath only two Parts 1. The Petitions for 1. Mystically Knowledge Lighten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord Literally Comfort 2. Safety intimating 1. The means by which we must be delivered and by thy great mercy defend us 2. The evils from which from all perils and dangers 3. The time in which of this night 2. The motive urged to obtain them for the love of thy only Son our Saviour Iesus Christ Amen A Practical Discourse on the third Collect at Evening Prayer § 5. LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord The declining of the day doth now mind us of the approaching darkness which will shortly wrap us in the shadows of the night And what Petition more seasonable then with holy David to beseech God to enlighten our darkness (o) Psal 18.28 Vul. Deus meus illumina tenebras meas For the night is sad and terrible in it we can see nothing with our bodily eys to entertain or to cheer us and we seem exposed to all the mischieâ—s (p) Versuta frans callida amat tenebris obtegi Prud. Ovid. Metam 2. Conscia culpae Conspectum lucemque fugit tenebrisque pudorem Celat John 3.20 Job 24.17 of Sathan and those instruments of his who fly the light and hope to cover their sin with this sable Mantle our dangers are many and our fears are sometimes more especially if our eyes be closed by unbelief as well as darkness If we behold not the Divine Providence watching over us and the Angels encamping round about us the very apprehension of the perils of a dismal night may damp our joy and startle our courage and makes us cry out with the Prophets servant (q) 2 Kings 6.15 16 17. What shall we do But let us intreat the Lord to fulfil his promise (r) Psal 112.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccl. 5.17 Psal 97.11 c. Adrian Isagoge that light may arise in our darkness that is in Scripture phrase comfort in our sadness That our hearts may by faith and cheerful thoughts by the assurance of his providence and the operations of his Grace be joyful and pleasant and that the shine of his countenance may make our nights bright as the day illuminated by the Meridian Sun For the inward comforts of Gods Spirit and a sense of his care and favour when the Soul is in fear or sadness do cheer and refresh more then a suddain light doth the wandring Travellour who is misled in a gloomy night These make our dwellings a Goshen while the wicked have thoughts black and dismal and Aegypt is veiled in a horrid shade and terrified with the dark side of the Cloud while the people of God are led all the night thorough with a light of fire so that the darkness and light to them are equally safe and comfortable Or if we desire to spiritualize the Petition more we may take occasion from the approaching night to enlarg our meditations upon our spiritual ignorance and blindness by nature by which our Souls are veiled and in the dark so that we often wander out of the way We stumble in the day and are in danger to run into the shadow of death till the day spring from on high visit us and give us that true knowledg which is usually set out under the name of light (s) Luke 2.32 Hebr. 6.4 illuminati i. e. edocti Wherefore let us humbly beseech our gracious Lord to let the Sun of righteousness arise upon us for whoever follows him doth not wander nor walk in darkness (t) John 8.12 and that we may take heed to Gods holy word as to a light shining in a dark place (u) 2 Pet. 1.19 and a sure guide to true blessedness And then our knowledg shall increase and we shall keep the right path till we arrive to that eternal light which shall never be extinguished When our hearts are clouded with greif shadowed with ignorance and benummed with dreadful â—pâ—rehensions we are taught to lift up our thoughts to the Father of lights and the God of all comfort who dwells in that light to which no mortal eye can approach whose Countenance is cleer as the sun and bright as lightning And if we can by our beseechings obtain his favour to shine upon us no doubt it will turn our night into day our sorrows into the joyes of the Morning While we are in the darksome cell of this lower world we think of our glorified brethren who dwell in a perpetual brightness and everlasting light and we long to be with them when it may please God But in the mean time we hope he will support and recreate us with some glimpses of those beams which they have the constant and full fruition of § 6. And by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night Comfort and safety are those two things which make a happy night And of whom should we ask these but of God the Lord who is a light and defence (x) Psal 84.11 The hopes of his love makes it comfortable But least we should be deceived in that comfort his mercy and power must keep us safe which here we earnestly desire We may easily perceive we are most miserable without his Providence especially in the night season for then Sathan prepares most violently to assault us supposing it is his hour and the power of darkness And alas how easily may we then be enticed with pleasure transported with malice and revenge or disturbed with evil fancies and imaginations When the Soul is heavy the Senses dull the stomack loaden the flesh strong and the reason weak (y) Stomachus aeger mens somnolenta animus occupatus tunc omne nefas suadere contendunt quando nullus arbiter culpae nullus criminis conscius nullus potest esse erro is testis Ambros in 8. par 119. Psal when the Curtain is drawn and we think no eyes see us neither judg witness nor accuser can espy us how open are our Souls then to all Dangerous temptations And yet our temporal concerns are not more safe for how soon may we be seized by diseases or suddain death or made miserable by theives and Robbers burnings or inundations Are not our lives and limbs estate and friends liable to loss and mischief both suddenly and unavoidably Go we then with all speed to our merciful Father and let us represent our condition to him the consideration whereof
all-seeing eye behold all the dwellers upon earth especially thine anointed ones on whose safety the welfare of the rest depends In all loyal affection to our King we most heartily intreat thee and in all lowly regard to thy glorious Majesty we beseech thee by thy particular providence to defend and with thy especial love and favour to behold thy servant and our most gracious Soveraign Lord King Charles that in his safety and happiness we may have peace and comfort and so replenish him with all holy and virtuous qualities by filling his heart with the grace of thy holy Spirit to make him a most religious Prince that he may in his counsels and intentions alwaies incline to choose that which is agreeable to thy will and in his actions and undertakings ever follow the rule of thy word and walk in thy way And that he may be fitted for the due Administration of so great a charg endue him plenteously with the spirit of wisdom and courage and such an extraordinary measure of all heavenly Gifts as may declare him thy anointed And that he may be every way blessed grant him in health and safety plenty and wealth long to live and prosperously to reign over us direct prosper and strengthen him and his armies that he may vanquish and overcome the policies and forces of all his and our enemies who attempt to disturb our peace And finally since the greatest of men the best of Kings and the longest of worldly joys are finite grant to our dear Soveraign that after this life finished in virtue and honour he may attain a Crown of glory in the Kingdome of everlasting joy and felicity which was purchased by the merits and must be obtained through the mediation of Iesus Christ our Lord to all which we most heartily say Amen be it so The Analysis of the Prayer for the Royal Family This Prayer hath three Parts 1. The Person to whom we Pray described by His Power Almighty God His Goodness the fountain of all goodness 2. The Persons for whom we Pray we humbly beseech thee to bless our gracious Queen Catherine Iames Duke of York and all the Royal Family 3. The blessings desired for them 1. Spiritual gifts and grace Endue them with thy holy Spirit enrich them with thy heavenly grace 2. Temporal prosperity prosper them with all happiness 3. Eternal glory and bring them to thine everlasting Kingdom through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Practical Discourse on the Prayer for the Royal Family § 10. ALmighty God the fountain of all goodness we humbly beseech thee to bless our gracious Queen Catherine Iames Duke of York and all the Royal Family There is as near an alliance between this and the former Prayer as between the persons for whom they are made so that there will be little to be added except where this hath something peculiar And first it deserves our notice that God is called here the fountain of all goodness which is the explication of those Scripture Phrases the well-spring of life and living waters (s) Psal 36.9 Jer. 2.13 and is an acknowledgment that the God we pray unto is absolute and independent having all goodness in and from himself and also inexhaustible for though he bestows his blessings liberally and constantly upon all creatures yet he suffers no diminution nor decay Wherefore though we have now been petitioning for a King who needs extraordinary assistances and large measures of all kinds of blessings yet we know this Ocean cannot be drawn dry but can supply the Branches as well as the root and make all that stock grow and flourish together The Queen and heir to the Crown are the fountains from which we hope blessings shall be derived upon after Generations But here we behold there is a higher fountain which must first replenish them with all that goodness which they convey to us The ancient Church in their prayers did desire the welfare of the Palace and the imperial family (t) Domum tutam Pertul Pro omni palatio Liturg. S. Basil Pontifices eorumque exemplo caeteri sacerdotes cum pro incolumitate principis vota susâ—iperent Neronem quoque Drusum iisdem diis commendavere Tacit Annal. l. 4. Vt pro Domino Imperatore cum suâ prole orationes oblationes augeantur Concil Rhemense can 40. Ezra 6.10 as well as the safety of the Emperour And the practice of the heathens as well as the Canons of the Christians do make it appear fit and rational But if reasons do outweigh examples we may add that we are many waies obliged to pray for the Queen and the Royal family 1. In regard to the glory of God whose honour is advanced by holy example of persons so illustrious whose dignity when it is adorned with piety and goodness may bring virtue into repute and engage many to imitate them 2. In duty to the Kings majesty whose comfort will be encreased both in the holiness and prosperity of persons so neerly related to him and so dearly beloved by him 3. Thirdly in affection to our Country who in this and future generations will have cause to bless God for these prayers if they become prevalent because these are the hopes of succeeding times and our children may be happy in the religious education of such as are to be the pillars of Justice and Patrons of the Church hereafter David had not been so curious in Solomons education but that he knew it was not the Princes personal concern alone but interest of the whole Nation and of all Gods people The Persian Kings desired the Prayers of the Jews for their sons Ezra 6.10 and chose four of their most wise and virtuous Nobility to whom the education of the Prince was committed who as Clem. Alexandrinus tells us were called the Royal tutors and we hope the care of those concerned shall be joiâ—ed to the Churches prayers and then this Petition shall be prevalent § 11. Endue them with thy holy Spirit enrich them with thy heavenly grace Prosper them with all happiness and bring them to thine everlasting Kingdom through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen These particulars are a comprehension of the same blessings in other words which before we desired for the King even spiritual temporal and eternal felicity The persons we pray for are Royally descended nobly educated replenished with all honourable endowments with great riches and vast possessions yet although they need none of the wealth or honours of this world we may wish them greater and better things viz. that their virtue may be parallel to their descent and their graces equal (u) Nemo in nostrûm gloriam vixit nec quod ante nos fuit nostrum est animus facit nobilem Sen. Ep. 44. nay excel all other endowments that they may be rich in good works so as to gain the love of God and of all good men these in the first place to which we desire it may please God to superadd
all outward happiness that the Queen may be fruitful the Prince healthful and the whole family numerous and fortunate united in the bonds of an indissoluble love and that there may never want a man of them to sit upon the throne for ever Let not Traiterous Projectors be more zealous to cut off these hopes then we are to pray to God to discover and disappoint them let us beg that we may not provoke him to punish us in the decay of that Royal house the establishment whereof we should wish more then that of our own families because the welfare of so many are dependent on it and the consequences of change dismal and uncertain Therefore we will heartily pray they may have all the happiness they can wish in this world and so enjoy it that they may not loose the glorious Crown of Eternity in the world to come for which no temporal greatness or pleasures can make them a satisfaction Amen The Paraphrase of the Prayer for the Royal Family O Almighty and all-sufficient Lord God the fountain of life and inexhaustible spring of all goodness As we have begged thy blessing for thine anointed so also we humbly beseech thee in order to his comfort and our benefit and the good of future times continually to bless our gracious Queen Catherine and the illustrious Prince James Duke of York that the succession may be secured by the preservation and encreas of them and all the branches of the Royal family And that they may please thee and become blessings to us endue them with the best of all endowments thy holy Spirit to direct them in all virtue and enrich them with the most durable of all riches thy heavenly grace to make them exemplary and rich in good works keep them from all traiterous designs and prosper them with all kind of happiness which this world can afford to encourage them in well-doing and because this happiness must end give them at the conclusion thereof a blessed exchange and bring them to thine everlasting Kingdome of joy and peace there to reign with thee for ever through the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour Amen SECTION XVII Of the two last Prayers The Analysis of the Prayer for the Clergy and People This Prayer hath three Parts 1. The Preface in which God is acknowledged in 1. His Excellent Attributes Almighty and everlasting God 2. His Wonderful Works who alone workest great marvels 2. The Petitions expressing 1. For whom we pray Clergy send down upon our Bishops and Curates People and all Congregations committed to their charge 2. For what we pray 1. Grace to fit them for duty the healthful spirit of thy grace 2. A Blessing on their endeavours and that they may truly please thee pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing 3. The Argument to enforce them Grant this O Lord for the honour of our advocate and mediator Iesus Christ Amen A Practical Discourse on the Prayer for the Clergy and People § 1. ALmighty and everlasting God who alone workest great marvels As we have made our supplications before for our Temporal Governors that we under them may have all those outward blessings which will make our lives comfortable here so we now continue to pray for our Spiritual Guides that with them we may receive all those Graces and inward blessings which will make our souls happy hereafter And as we are members of the Church as well as the State we must pray for those things which are requisite to the preservation and felicity of both joyntly and severally since they mutually support each other And as the union of men into Polities and civil Societies is designed for the securing our Bodies and Estates and the obtaining of external prosperity so the union of Christians by one Spirit into one Faith and to one another by the bonds of love is intended by God for the edification of our souls and the securing our eternal inheritance Wherefore let us remember our Mystical as well as Political union our souls as well as our bodies and most devoutly imitate the best examples in calling (x) John 17.20 Deut. 33.11 upon God for his Church and People and especially for the Ministers thereof as the Scripture injoyns us (y) Psal 132.9 Ephes 6.18 19. and as the Apostle St. Paul so often particularly intreats those he writes unto (z) Coloss 4.3 1 Thess 5.25 to do And for this we have in all ages many testimonies of holy men who both in their publique and private worship did ever beg for the peace and welfare of the Church more then any of their private concerns With which noble spirit if our breasts be possessed this excellent Form is here daily presented to us to be offered to God with fervent affections which is so contrived that the very method and phrase if duly considered may furnish us with many affecting meditations to improve our devotion in the use of it The Introduction sets God before us in those admirable Attributes and wonderful Works which declare him every way fit to be called upon for his Church and mind us what he hath done for it It is he that first gathered his Church out of obstinate Jews and ignorant Heathens by his Almighty Power and who hath by the same Omnipotence either preserved it from or supported it against the malice of Sathan the rage of Persecutors the subtility of Hereticks and the blind zeal of factious Dividers so that it continues to this very day and shall do to the end of the world because our Redeemer ever lives to intercede for us and hath promised to be with us (a) Matth. 16.18 chap. 28. ver ult Heb. 7.25 Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnis Ecclesia quae fit propter Deum firma permanebit Dic. Rab. for ever Our God is everlasting and the duration of the Church relies on the indeficiency of the Divine Nature which ever lives and ever loves it and is as powerful and sufficient to support and supply it now as ever in former ages History can describe and our Fathers can tell us what marvellous works he hath done for the benefit thereof how many miracles he wrought for the confirmation of his truth to the conviction of its enemies and the strengthening of the members thereof In the first times he did wonderfully inspire the Apostles with the Holy Ghost and power to work miracles by which (b) Acts 2.4 Chap. 9.17 Chap. 19.6 2 Tim. 1.6 1 Tim. 1.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecum in loc their successors were distinguished for some time till the world did believe And afterwards though the operation were not so visible because it was not so necessary (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost l. 4. de Sacerdotio Necessaria fuerunt antequam crederet mundus ad hoc ut crederet Aug. Civ De. 22. yet the
A COMPANION TO THE TEMPLE AND CLOSET Or a Help to PUBLICK and PRIVATE DEVOTION In an ESSAY upon The daily OFFICES OF THE CHURCH I will Pray with the Spirit and I will Pray with the Vnderstanding also 1 Cor. XIV 15. LONDON Printed by T. R. for Hen. Brome at the Gun at the West end of S. Paul's and Robert Clavel in Little Britain MDCLXXII TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE And most Truly Noble LORD JOHN LORD FRESCHEVILE Baron of STAVELY My Lord IF the judgment of some excellent Friends had complyed with my first Resolutions this Mite had been cast into the Treasury by an unknown hand which seemed to me the more pious and the safer way the more likely to gain acceptance with God (a) Mat. 6.3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. de Repub. who sees and rewards the most secret Virtue and the more probable to escape the censures of men who shoot at Rovers when the person designed is vailed in a happy obscurity But they whose kindnesses and known experience had made me uncapable to resist their advice alledged that this Essay was consonant to publick and established Order that the trifling and malicious oppositions of our Liturgy have born the names of their ill-imployed Authors (b) Ac si honesta erubescenda sint inhonesta glorianda Aug. and that I should not fail of the favour of all the pious Sons of the Church to excuse the failings and vindicate the design of my undertaking Wherefore they said I need not scruple to allow the prefixing of my Name to these Papers To which I became more inclinable when I reflected on my grand Obligations to your Lordship because I Judged this a fair Opportunity to give a publick Testimony of that Duty which your peculiar Favours challenge from me of which I have so deep a Sense that I would say more if your Lordships Modesty did not restrain my Pen. Wherefore I do here tender to your Lordship a Discourse upon the noblest of Duties Prayer and the life of that Duty Devotion and the best Rule of humane composure for the Exercise thereof the Liturgy of the Church of England and though many would have performed this task better yet none could have chosen a subject more acceptable to your Lordship or more excellent in it self So that I am inclined to believe it cannot be more my delight to behold your Lordships name grace these Pages then it will be your satisfaction that any thing which is yours may serve to recommend the Concerns of Piety and the Church to which your Lordship hath ever expressed so rare a Fidelity For t is not alone the Honours but the virtues of your noble Ancestors famous upon record for their affections to Religion which your Lordship doth inherit which inclinations cannot but endear any design to illustrate and vindicate those Prayers in the defence of which your Lordships sword hath been imployed and in the practise whereof your Soul is daily poured out at the Throne of Grace So that I do with much cheerfulness present this little Tract as a daily servant to your Lordship and of continual use in your converse with Heaven supposing it may be both pleasant as it simpathises with your wel-grounded Principles and profitable by adding wings to your Petitions and casting oile on the flames of your daily Sacrifice And sure if it might be so fortunate to meet with that Candour and Piety with which your Lordship will entertain it in all its perusers it would be universally succesful and generally serviceable for nothing but prejudice and carelesness can make it useless to any true members of this Church who are all obliged to the performance of these Offices and if the influence of these Papers might by the Divine Mercy quicken so many Souls in their addresses to Heaven it will be infinitely pleasing to the Undertaker and as delightful to your Lordships diffusive Charity to behold others Devotions kindled by a Taper first put into your hands Nor should I despair of so happy an issue to these Labours if I might prevail so far as to engage men in an impartial and serious consideration of these excellent Forms because my own Experience hath taught me how much a clear understanding contributes to the deserved admiration and the affectionate recital of them for when once we have throughly pondered them and made our Souls fully acquainted with these pertinent and comprehensive Expressions of our constant necessities we shall find our hearts actuated with holy inlargements and powerfully attracted into the prosecution (c) Cum oratis Deum hoc versetur in corde quod profertur in Ore Aug. reg 3. of the requests made by our Lips and our Minds would have no other imployment in these Duties but to annex the sense to the words and its most vigorous affections to that sense which is true Devotion (d) Jungamus verbis sensum sensui affectum D. Bern. Ser. 13. in Cantic And if we would learn to pray with such a knowing and fervent zeal these thoughts would be more efficacious with God then the loudest clamours or the most charming as we count them flourishes of Rhetorick (e) Nos nisi loquentem audire non possumus apud Deum non loquuntur verba sed Cogitationes Amb. de Cari Abeli c. 9. For to think to prevail upon the searcher of hearts by the methods used to work upon the frailties of men is to disparage the God we serve T is the motions of the Soul to which he attends wherefore if we desire to pray acceptably we must study our Petitions before we present them which not only enlivens our Devotion in the act of it but makes our Prayers become the rule of our lives (f) Unusquisque nostrûm sic discat orare de orationis lege qualis esse debeat noscere Cypr. de Orat. by making us blush into amendment (g) Oratio de conscientia procedit si conscientia erubescat erubescit oratio Tert. ex ad Cast cap. 10. when we find our practices the contradiction of what we have asked with so much passion My Lord I hope this brief account may be sufficient to obtain your Lordships good Opinion of this attempt and to excuse whatever can need a Pardon but 't is possible there may be some who are as much strangers to your Lordship as to Charity who may censure a Manual of Prayers unsuitable to your military Honours and Imployment who may please to remember that Cornelius whose Name speaks him Noble and whose office declares him to have been Martial did observe the Canonical Hours of Prayer Acts 10.3 and 30. and though he commanded in the Roman Legions yet he was a Devout Servant of the Lord of Hosts especially after his Baptisme wherein he took a more Sacred Military Oath to be true to Jesus as well as to Caesar and therefore whosoever judgeth this Discourse incongruous I am sure your Lordship will not so
That would make the Porch larger then the house and may better be seen in the following discourse only at present we may say this of it in general That though all Churches in the World have and ever had forms of prayer yet none was ever blessed with so comprehensive so exact and so inoffensive a Composure Which is so judiciously contrived that the wisest may exercise at once their Knowledg and Devotion and yet so plain that the most ignorant may pray with Understanding so full that nothing is omitted that is fit to be asked in publique and so particular that it comprises most things which we would pray for in private and yet so short as not to tire any that have true Devotion It s Doctrine is pure and Primitive its Ceremonies so few and Innocent that most of the Christian World agree in them its Method is exact and Natural its language is significant and perspicuous most of the words and Phrases being taken out of holy Scripture and the rest the Expressions of the first and best Ages so that whoever takes exceptions at these must quarrel with the language of the Holy-Ghost or fall out with the Church in her greatest Innocence Indeed the greatest part of these Prayers are primitive or a second Edition of the most ancient Liturgies of the Eastern and Western Churches corrected and amended And in the opinion of the most impartial and excellent Grotius (a) Certum mihi est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anglicanam item morem imponendi manus adolescentibus in memoriam baptismi Autoritatem Episcoporum Presbyteria ex solis pastoribus composita multaque alia ejusmodi satis congruere institutis vetustioris Ecclesiae a quibus in Galliâ Belgio recessum negare non possumus Grotius Epist ad Boet. who was no member of nor had any Obligation to this Church The English Liturgie comes so near that Pattern that none of the Reformed Churches can compare with it And if any thing External be needful to recommend that which is so glorious within We may add That the Composers were all Men of great Piety and Learning for they were all either Martyrs or Confessors upon the Restitution of Popery which as it declares their Piety so the Judicious Digesting of these prayers doth evidence their Learning for therein a Scholar can discern close Logick pleasing Rhetorick pure Divinity and the very Marrow of all the Ancient Doctrine and Discipline and yet all made so familiar that the unlearned may safely say Amen (b) 1 Cor. 14.16 Lastly all these excellencies have obtained that universal Reputation which these prayers enjoy in all the World so that they are deservedly admired by the Eastern Churches and had in great esteem by the most eminent Protestants (c) See D. Durel his defence of the Liturgy beyond the Seas the most impartial Judges In fine this Liturgie is honoured by all but the Romanist whose interest it opposeth and some Dissenters whose prejudices will not let them see its lustre whence it is they call that which Papists hate because 't is Protestant Superstitious and Popish and though they count it Roman condemn it without a hearing But when we remember the best things in a bad world have most Enemies as it doth not lessen its worth so it must not abate our esteem that it hath malicious or misguided Adversaries Who for all this hold the Conclusion and obstinately resolve they will not come How endless and unprofitable it is to dispute with these the little success of the best arguments managed by the wisest Men do too sadly testify Wherefore I shall decline that and attempt to convince the Enemies by assisting the Friends of our Church Devotions And by drawing that vaile which the ignorance and indevotion of some and the passion and prejudice of others have cast over them represent the Liturgie in its true and native lustre which is so lovely and ravishing that like the purest beauties it needs no supplement of Art and Dressing but conquers by its own attractives and wins the affections of all but those that do not see it clearly (d) Ignorant qui non amant This will be sufficient I am sure to shew that whoever desires no more then to worship God with zeal and knowledg spirit and truth purity and sincerity may do it by these devout Formes so that I should have concluded here my Preface when I had given a more particular account of this Undertaking but that I must first examine an Objection or two which are like a skin over the eyes of some and be the Picture never so full of graces will spoile the Prospect if they be not removed Object 1. It is said to be a Form and therefore a hindrance to zealous praying by the spirit Answ Whoever makes this Objection and affirmes we cannot pray by the Spirit in the words of a Form must beware his ignorance betray him not into a dangerous uncharitableness and perhaps blasphemy For the Saints of the Old Testament (e) Numb 6.23 Deut. 26.3 Ezra 9.5 Daniel 9.1 prayed by Formes and so did Christ himself in the New (f) Math. 26.44 and he taught his Apostles a Form to pray by and dare any say they prayed not by the Spirit Have not all Churches since the Apostles times to our daies had their Forms of Prayer and did not the devoutest men of all ages Compose and use such Was ever Extemporè Prayer heard of in Publique till of late unless on special occasions And do we think No Church nor no Persons prayed by the Spirit till now To come nearer still Have not France and Geneva their Forms And did not learned Calvin and the best reformed Divines use a Form before their Sermons And is not an unstudied Prayer a Form to the People who are confined to pray in those words And will you say these all pray without the Spirit of God But sure we hugge the Phrase of praying by the Spirit not attending the Sense For the meaning doubtless is to be so assisted by the Holy-Ghost that our thoughts being composed and our Souls calmed and our Hearts deeply affected with our Wants and the Divine all-sufficiency we can pray with a strong Faith and a fervent Love When we are so intent upon our Requests that we duly weigh them and pursue every petition with pressing importunity ardent desires and Vigorous affections this is the Spirit of prayer And thus we may better pray by the Spirit in the words of a Form than we can do when our Mind is imployed in inventing new expressions For having a Form which custome hath made familiar we have all things set down to our Hands which we or others want and we are at leasure to improve the good Motions of the Spirit having no more to do but to joyn our Souls and Affections to every Petition and follow them up to Heaven in most passionate and zealous wishes that God would grant them
prevail but little upon many and some might deny their guilt others despise the summons and others might think to avoid by recrimination Wherefore the Minister comes armed with the sword of the Spirit the Word of God that as the Prophets of the old Testament came with Verbum Jehovae the Word of the Lord so might also the Priests of the New and though the Person may be contemptible yet it is the voice of God which you hear from him and whoever be the proclaimer where the word of a King is there is power (c) Eccles 8.4 who dare disobey when the King of heaven commands He that knows the hearts of all and commands all men every where to repent not onely in the places now read But in sundry other places (d) Isai 1.16 17. Chap. 55.7 Lament 3.40 41. Acts 2.38 Chap. 17.30 even throughout the whole Scripture and miserable will their case be who refuse so many so plain and so earnest calls from such a God We Ministers are exhorted as well as you and we intend to joyn with you and if we request you to joyn with us it is in obedience to the Commission we have from the King of heaven and he that refuseth refuseth not Man but God and that Word of God which now moves you so frequently to repent will be produced against you to condemn you if you obey it not § 3. To acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness We need not here be curious in the difference between these words though acknowledging seems to signifie the granting something laid to our charge as David did when Nathan came to him I have sinned (e) 2 Sam. 12.13 saith he upon the first charge and to confess may import a voluntary act when no man accuseth us which indeed is the more acceptable and ingenuous but it were well if we would but acknowledge our offences For God in his Word by his Ministers and by our own Consciences doth indict us as guilty and he that soonest owns the truth thereof shall easily find mercy But it may perhaps be more material to take notice of the Epithete joyned to our sins manifold which is borrowed from Amos 5.12 and may denote the variety of our transgressions like Josephs coat of many colours for we are clothed with the redness of Anger the paleness of Malice the yellow of Covetousness the blackness of Despair or the green of Presumption in these changeable garments are our souls attired when we put off the white garments of our Innocence Or else as the learned Translator of the Liturgy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Multiplicia those iniquities which are so cunningly twisted and weaved together by that accursed policy which Satan teacheth men to begin with many small thrids of lesser sins and by uniting these and twining them together to proceed till they draw iniquity with cords of vanity and at last sin as it were with a Cart-rope (f) Isaiah 5.18 Peccatum trahit peccatum Dict. R. R we perhaps imagine it a piece of commendable craft (g) Job 5.13 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filum retortum unde signif multis nexibus implicitum consilium LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drus to be able thus to contrive our wickedness But alas if Gods Mercy do not unravel it it will at last be strong enough to draw us into eternal flames But we are warned that as we have used much study and pains to twist our sins together that one may strengthen the other so we do now by an humble and hearty confession untwine and separate them again that we be not bound in the bands of death § 4. And that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father It is the language of Satans school that we must cover one sin by committing another which the Scripture pronounceth a woe against (h) 1 John 1.8 9. Isaiah 30.1 and sheweth the folly and danger of it because it doubles the guilt (i) Negatio iniquitatis duplex iniquitas and hinders the pardon See Chap. 1. Sect. 5. p. 18. and therefore Gods Word teacheth us that if we have sinned we must neither dissemble them with excuses as Saul * 1 Sam. 15. and Ananias with his wife †Acts 5. nor cloak them with a flat denial as Gehazi ‖ 2 Kings 5. least we be judged as they were But this is the manner of Hypocrites 1. To extenuate them with dissembling apologies and fair pretences it was the first time I was surprised the effects of it were not very evil others have done worse c. whereas the good man aggravates his sins with all those circumstances that make them heinous and S. Paul calls himself the chief of sinners The worst men will deny they have sinned and reckon themselves among the Righteous as the Pharisee did (*) Luke 18.11 while Ezra (k) Ezr. 9.6 loquitur de Culpis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ne nimium arreganter se caeteris eximere videatur Grotius in loc and Daniel put themselves in amongst sinners and that is by much the safer way for he that feigns himself better then he is or denies himself to be sick before the Physician keeps his disease and looses an opportunity to regain his perfect health But remember thou art in Gods house nay just before his face and dost thou think with a lye or an excuse to deceive him No no this is too thin a veil and to short a cover for thy numerous transgressions and will avail no more then for a Thief to deny he stole that which is found about him before the Bench if thou couldst deny so impudently or dissemble so cunningly as to deceive all the world yet do not hope to impose upon him that is Almighty to find thee out and hath a heavenly all-seeing eye to discern thee and he would shew the kindness of a Father in thy pardon if thou shewest the ingenuity of a Son in confessing wherefore do not deceive thy self nor slight this warning for be sure one time or other your sin will find you out Numb 32.23 § 5. But confess thâ—m with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart The Word of God is not only a Monitor to remember us of our duty bâ—â— a guide to direct us in the performance of it it interposeth its authority to command us to repent and then affordeth its directions to shew how we may repent and 't is impossible the right disposition of a true penitent heart can be more exactly described in so few words then the Church hath here done it and they that would know how they must be affected when they confess so tâ—at they may be sure to find pardon cannot learn in fewer and more significant expressions 1. An humble and lowly heart viz. to behold our vileness by sin till we have a mean opinion of our selves and can be content that God or Men
a Passover The true penitent esteems his life a favour and all on this side Hell Mercy and the condemned Malefactor will be as thankful for a Reprieve as another for a great Pension and high Preferment The poor sinners request is no greater then to be spared and his Argument is not because he is not guilty or deserves no stripes that would accelerate the stroke to abate such daring confidence and convince such horrible falshood He knows nothing is to begotten from God by standing on his Innocence but the way is to acknowledge our Guilt for one great end of Gods temporal judgments on sinners is to force them to do him justice by racks and tortures to extort a Confession from them that have the cunning to conceal or the impudence to deny their wickedness Thus God opened the mouths of Josephs brethren (b) Genes 42.21 44.16 of Adonibezek (c) Judg. 1.6 and Manasseth (d) 2 Chron. 32.12 to display their former and almost forgotten cruelties and made Phaaroh himself cry Peccavi (e) Exod. 9.27 Satis est h. e. satis jam lucratus est Deus poenis suis cum jam culpam nostram agnoscimus Fagius in loc and then he hoped God would cease to Punish when he had obtained his end and brought him to Confession But the wiâ—est way is not to stay till some judgment summon us but of our own accord ingenuously to confess our sins Racks and Strapadoes are for obstinate Rogues and no merciful humane Prince would use them to one that with tears pleaded guilty and begged a Pardon Matth 26.65 Habes confitentem reum much less will the Father of Mercies What need is there of any fâ—rther witness the humble sinner accuseth himself cleers Gods justice and casts himself wholly on his mercy and doubtless he shall be spared especially because it is to be hoped that he that hath seen his danger and so spedily and fully confessed his fault designs never more to prove disobedient if he may now be spared and since the chief end of punishment is to prevent the sin (f) Nemo prudens punit quia peccatur sed ne peccatur Senec. doubtless God will not be hard to be entreated to spare him that is in the way to amendment and whose own prudent fears have done that which otherwise a sharp judgment must have wrought Let us be so wise as to go in upon the first apprehensions of Gods displeasures and take sanctuary in his pity and we shall not be punished temporally unless with designs of mercy however not eternally § 10. Restore thou them that are penitent Though we are apt to account those beggars saucy and troublesome who from one request granted are encouraged to make a second and more considerable Yet God whose rule is Habenti dabitur to him that hath shall be given is well pleased with it nor will he interpret it impudence if after we have prayed for a removal of the guilt and a deliverance from the punishment of our sin we put up a further and greater request even to be restored For it is not a single mischief which sin doth us besides the stain and the wrath it doth alienate the mind of God from us and therefore after David had prayed against the fore-mentioned evils he also desires to be restored (g) Psalm 51.12 2 Sam. 14. It will not suffice Absolom to be called home from banishment unless he may see his Fathers face So if a truly pious man were sure never to smart for sin by any positive evil the bare privation of the Divine love would be intollerable and its suspension a grievous burden and he that truly calls God Father will not be satisfied without a restoring to his favour which sin had deprived him of The word is also used for the rebuilding a ruined and depopulated City (h) Dan. 9.25 c. which is the sad embleme of a soul laid wast by sin which defaceth its beauty dismantles its strengths and brings down its highest and noblest faculties evenning them with the ground fitting them for converse with low and base things making of a defenced City a heap Which when we consider how can we but weep over our own souls as Nehemiah over the ruines of Jerusalem never ceasing to pray that by the Holy Spirit it may be restored and re-edifyed and retrieved into its former beauty and strength either of these Metaphors afford useful Meditations but 't is most probable this Petition refers to that clause of the Confession there is no health in us and signifies our desires to be restored to health according to Gods promise (i) Jerem. 30.17 It is not enough that we dye not by sin but we desire we may not lye languishing under the remains of so sad a disease but may have a perfect cure Some distempers do so universally corrupt the humours that the abatement is no recovery for they make way for a worse unless the body be well cleansed after them (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. in animâ post peccatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian in Epic. lib. 2. c. 18. So do most sins blind the mind harden the heart Heb. 3.13 weaken the faith undermine the hope embase the affections quench the actings of Gods Spirit and give the tempter advantage against us so that a bare Pardon will not fit us either to serve or enjoy God till the remaining ignorance security distrust worldly mindedness and deadness be purged out and we be fully restored But nothing will move God to do this unless you be sincerely penitent that is add to your sorrow and confession real purposes of amendment he may pity the miserable and may spare him that acknowledgeth his offence but he will restore none but him that reforms for he that sees the heart knows that to seek only pity or deliverance proceeds only from self-love at best and sometimes from love to sin as the crazy Epicure desires health that he may renew the prosecutions of his Lust But he that seriously desires to be restored hates sin for it self and not for its evil company and he that doth so is truly penitent but they that only desire a freedome from misery and punishment and are not grieved for these remains will soon fall again into sin and God who knows that may justly deny them that peace which they will use so ill By this also it appears that those men do in vain complain of those dregs of their old corruptions which have not truly repented for God leaves these Canaanites on purpose to vex these half repenters to hinder them in religious duties (l) Numb 33.35 Saepe includent vos introitum exitum negabunt vobis Jos 23.13 Cautè tectè primò vos irretire conentur deinde palam urgebunt vos donec occaecuti estis Masius and when they grow weary of resisting them then they become snares in their way secretly to intrap
of the Christian Church prove Christ to be God (u) Ergo qui remittit Deus est quia nemo remittit nisi Deus Hilar. in Math. Can. 8. because he forgave sin which none but God can do (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in 1 Cor. 15. and his son Jesus who is also very God and purchased this Mercy of Absolution with his own blood (y) Ille solus peccata dimittit qui pro peccatis mortuus est Ambr. Veniam peccatis quae in ipsum commissa sunt solus potest ille largiri qui peccata nostra portavit Cypr. wherefore we give to God the things which are Gods and plainly declare he is the Author we the dispensers only of this favour and the Witnesses and Messengers to bring certain news thereof (z) En fili certificate remissa tibi esse peccata hujus me testem habebis Vade in Pace Fer. in Matth. 9. And this is more comfort to the Penitent the Supreme Judge he from whose Sentence is no Appeal Pardoneth thee fear not the state of Agag whom Saul had pardoned but God had not wherefore Samuel hewed him to pieces in the midst of his vain hopes that the bitterness of death was past He Pardoneth that hath no equal to examine or approve much less superiour to disanul his actings Our absolution is profitable when the Persons are meet to receive it (a) Tunc enim vera est absolutio Praesidentis cum aeterni arbitrium sequitur judicis Greg. hom 26. but the stamp of God will make it currant in Heaven it self The Priests Pardon is not compleat at present till it be ratified at the last day But he Pardoneth at this present while we are holding out this Absolution he that knows who among you are true believers and really Penitent is at this instant sealing your Pardon in Heaven which makes ours to be valid we then are but the Messengers and interpreters but it is our great Master that Absolveth because what we do is Pronounced in his name dispensed by his Authority offered on his Condition and confirmed by his Approbation § 9. All them that truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel These two acts Repentance and Faith are by Christ (b) Mark 1.15 and his Apostles (c) Act. 20.21 made the Conditions of all the Gospel promises and without them no Absolution can be had those that have these no man can condemn but without these no man can acquit it was therefore a great arrogance in those Ecclesiasticks in St. Hieroms time who imagined they could save or destroy at pleasure (d) ut vel damnent innocentes vel solvere se noxios arbitrantur Hierom. Com in Matth. l. 3. Nec Angelus nec Archangelus potest nec Dominus ipse si peccaverimus in poenitentiam deferentibus non relaxat Ambros Epist 28. ad Theodos and it is as great a vanity in any to believe a Servant acting contrary to his Masters known Will because it will be insignificant wherefore if any by hypocrisie shall think to surprize an Absolution Or if he that dispenseth an act by prejudice or corruption you must know it is he must ratifie the Pardon who can see whether these qualifications are in him that receives it or no and though we hold out this Act of a Grace to all yet our Master pardons none but such as do repent truly and believe unfeignedly and how many soever do so if they have been the worst of sinners they shall every one be forgiven Let us then take care to come 1. With an hâ—mble lowly penitent and obedient heart sorrowing and being ashamed fearing exceedingly confessing humbly and resolving heartily against all sin let us beware that a hard heart and a customary confession and hypocritical pretences do not ruine our hopes and blast our desires for he only Pardoneth the real Penitent 2. Let us bring with us an unfeigned Faith in his Gospel trusting in the assurances of his Promises and persuading our selves of the necessity and excellence of his laws and confirming our souls in the expectations of his rewards and this Faith unfeigned (e) 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1 5. will open the door of Mercy but for that bold challenge which some make to the promises and the benefits of the Gospel while they are void of hatred to sin or love to God it is only feigned to stifle the accusations of Conscience and ward off the threats of the Law and to give the man liberty to sin and God will never accept such to remission but discover these men had no other ground for their confidence but only because they had persuaded themselves of a falshood Remember you come to him that searcheth the heart for a Pardon and strive that your Repentance may be true and Faith cordial and sound as you hope for mercy from him and learn by this order first to repent of your former evil ways before you entertain too particular confidences of Gods love and your interest in Jesus but if you have truly repented the more firmly you believe the greater will be Gods glory and the sweeter your comfort and the speedier will your Absolution be confirmed Though your iniquities are heinous and innumerable if upon the sight you have had of them you do condemn your self with real purposes of amendment and notwithstanding your unworthiness if you can trust to the Merits of Jesus and believe all the gracious Promises of the Gospel shall be fulfilled to you I doubt not to assure this your Repentance and Faith shall pass the test of God himself and your desires shall be satisfied in his mercy § 10. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true Repentance and his holy Spirit The whole duty of a Minister consists in instruction and exhortation (f) Acts 2.40 Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first to convince the understanding the second to engage the affections both which parts of his Office the Priest doth here exercise for hitherto he hath testified there is Remission to be obtained and now he exhorts to seek for it for in this Section we are directed how to obtain in the following we are encouraged by the Benefits to be had thereby now this present exhortation is a conclusion inferred from all the former parts of this Absolution which are in this word wherefore urged as so many motives to quicken our addresses viz. 1. Since God who is full of power and mercy would not the death of us sinners but desires we may live therefore we may cheerfully come to him for help who will be as well pleased with the opportunity of giving as we with the mercy of receiving 2. He hath Commissionated Ministers to be the Heralds of his willingness to forgive wherefore let us in answer to this gracious Proclamation go in and submit to him who though he be the offended Party first sent to us to be reconciled 3. He hath assured us he
immediately before his presence who sees our thoughts having our hearts filled with thanksgiving and gratitude for all his favours And the more to set forth his love and quicken our bretheren let us openly reioyce and shew our selves glad in him not with any vain songs but with Psalms which are indited by his Spirit and appointed by the Church as Forms of our daily Praises Ver. III. And we have great reason to glorifie him with heart and voice for the Lord Jehovah is not like any other that is falsly worshiped for he is a great God infinite and incomprehensible in his Essence supream and absolute in his Dominion and a great King who commands over Angels of Heaven Devils of Hell and the greatest earthly Monarchs being far above all that are supposed or called Gods and therefore deserves a nobler worship then Heathens give to their feigned Deities and guardian Angels or flattering Courtiers to their Royal Masters Ver. IV. He is not limited in his Power and Providence to one City or confined to a single Province but in his hands and Power under his Rule and Government are all the remotest and most secret corners of the earth no place is too far for him to reach too deep for him to discover or too high and strong for him to subdue for the heigth and the strength of the hills which are inaccessible to men these are his also and serve for the bulwarks of his Kingdome Ver. V. He is Lord of all the world and commandeth over that unruly Abyss of Waters the Sea which he binds in fetters of sand that it should not harm us but serve our needs for he hath given us power over it because it is his by an unquestionable Title for he created and he made it and therefore ought to give laws to it and to dispose of it and all the earth because he took away the covering of Waters from the ground and his hands made Herbs and Fruits Birds and Beasts and so furnished and prepared the dry land to be a habitation for the Sons of Men. Ver. VI. O come then since we have so gracious and All-sufficient a God let us not only praise him for what we have but also pray unto him and worship him in spirit and truth petitioning him for the relief of all our necessities with all possible zeal and sincerity in our heaâ—ts and with all lowliness and reverence in our postures let us bow and fall down on our faces and kneel to so glorious a King behaving our selves decently and humbly before the Lord who is able to do all things and being our maker will not suffer us the work of his own hands to perish Ver. VII But besides his Creating of us upon which ground others have hope to be heard as well as we our peculiar interest in him may encourage us to pray to him for he is the Lord whom we believe in and who calleth himself our God and although he made all men yet he hath especially made himself known to us and we are the people whom he feeds with his Word and Sacraments and whom he hath chosen to be the flock of his pasture that he himself may watch over us day and night to secure us from sin and Sathan because we are his especial subjects and the sheep that shall ever be preserved by the care of his eye and the power of his hand if we come at his call and hearken to his voice Ver. VIII O ye peculiar people of God observe how when his Word is read or preached to you his Ministers nay his Spirit doth every day invite you to Repentance saying to day after you have lost so many and have so few remaining while this is in your power it will be well for you if ye will hear and obey his voice and that he may not call in vain take heed you wilfully harden not your hearts by delighting in the pleasures of sin and doubting of the promises or slighting the threatnings of God for the event will be as sad as in the provocation of the Divine Anger by the unbelieving Israelites at Meribah and in the day of their presumptuous temptation of Gods patience at Massah in the wilderness of Sin after they came out of Egypt Ver. IX This example God set before the Posterity of those obstinate Jews saying to them as now he doth to us remember the time when your fathers whom you glory in disobeyed my commands and questioned my Providence and durst not trust my promises but tempted me by requiring miracles from me to satisfie their lusts and by this they supposed to have proved me and made trial of my power and love although there was evidences enough of both in their miraculoâ—s deliverance wherein they found my kindness and saw my works which were so wonderful they would have convinced any but such stubborn wretches Ver. X. For all this I forbore them as I have done you who serve me as they did yet fourty years long I spared them from utter destruction and still they were as rebellious as at first so that all that time was I grieved with the perverseness of this Generation At last when nothing would amend them I declared my utter detestation of them and said of those whom I had once chosen it is a people whom nothing can reclaim a refractory crew that do err in the thoughts of their hearts concerning me imagining me faithless and false or weak and impotent and no wonder for they have not known nor never would observe my waies to destroy presumptuous sinners but to give grace and glory to holy and humble men which put their trust in me Ver. XI Wherefore I warn you all to take heed least you refuse to hear my voice and neglect to repent to day for so you will provoke me to deal with you as I did with them unto whom I sware and stedfastly resolved in my wrath being justly incensed at their baseness that they should all perish in the wilderness and for all their confidence one of them should not enter into the blessed land of promise nor partake of my rest nor did they for I cut them off from the possession of Caanan for disobedience and unbelief and I will keep all such out of the heavenly Jerusalem loe I have said it that you may be warned and turn in time Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the Beginning c. §. VII Of the daily use of the Psalms in the Morning and Evening Prayer THE Book of Psalms seems to be a Collection of thosâ— devout hymns wherewith holy men did praise God upon publique or private occasions and are fitted to all Conditions of the Church in general and of particular persons and are Divine forms of Prayer and Praise indited by the Spirit of God with such admirable variety that we may easily Collect a Form from thence either to Petition for any thing we need or to glorifie the
benedicam tibi laudabo nomen tuum c. Vulg. Lat. only altering the Tense and Person Lord help us for we are thy servants paying thee the daily tribute of Praise Whatever thou bestowest on us will not be forgotten nor buâ—ied in ungratefull silence We meet in thy house every day to magnifie thee in this manner and to set our the glory of thy Name in every thing thou dost for u. Withold not thy mercy for we will not withold thy Praise and since we resolve daily to do the work of Angelâ— Lord keep us pure as they are for praise is neither seemly nor acceptable in the mouth of a sinner Let not us who are thy servants in the morning be the devils slaves before night (z) Coepisti meliùs quam desinis ultima primis Distant but preserve us holy all day that our afternoon sins may not rob us of the benefit of this dayes Praises nor indispose us against the next morning when our duty will return Dear Jesus look on our frailty and strengthen us look on our guilt and misery and Pardon us We cry earnestly and double our request Jesus Master (a) Math. 20.30 31. have mercy on us have mercy on us for our needs are great and pressing unless we find mercy for former sins we must be condemned by thee and except we obtain mercy for future assistance we shall be overcome by Sathan Oh shut not out our Prayer consider not our merits but our distress we know we deserve nothing but we have great hopes such is thy transcendent goodness that we shall have what we desire Those that were better then we have put words in our mouths who in the Psalms (b) Psal 33.22 Sit misericordia tua Domine super nos quemadmodum speravimus in te Psal 31.1 In te Domine speravi non confundar in aeternum Vulg. Lat. did not urge thee as if they had been worthy but only trusted in thy mercy and so do we We rely not on our selves or any Creature but on thee alone for we know thou canst help us and we have a persuasion thou wilt All the world sees by our daily attendance on thee that all our expectations are from thee Oh do not disappoint those hopes that are grounded on thy tender mercy least Sathan upbraid us and the world slight us (c) Ezra 8.22 Psal 22.7 8. and then which way can we look Lord be it unto us according to our Faith Amen Amen The Paraphrase of the Te Deum WE Praise thee most heartily for all we have learned out of thy holy Word O God and it shall be our care as it is our duty to observe thy Will since we acknowledge thee to be the Lord to whom we owe all Duty and Obedience We esteem it our happiness and honour to be accounted thy servants who art Lord of all the world and aâ—l the earth with its Inhabitants joyns with us and doth worship thee who aâ—t from Eternity and in all ages hast been acknowledged to be the Father everlasting Nor doth this lower world alone own thy Supremacy but Praise is given to thee by the several Orders of all Anâ—â—â—s who with harmonious voices cry aloud in proclaiming thy glory which is ever set forth by all the hosts of the Heavens the Thrones Dominions Principalities and the Powers that are therein To thee O God triumphant Hymns are sung in that Celestial Quire For the Cherubin on one side and the Seraphin on the other with ravishing melody chart thy Praise and in their mysterious adorations they continually do cry one to another Holy Father Holy Son Holy Spirit three Persons but one Lord thou art tâ—e most mighty God of Savaoth the supream commander of all the hosts of Heaven of us and the innumerable myriods of blessed Spirits Thou makest us happy with beholding and the Sons of men with expecting thy glory so that all the Inhabitants of Heaven and Earth rejoyce in thee because all parts of the Universe are full of those manifestations of thy power and goodness which declare the majesty of thy glory Thus the Angels sing and for our great comfort many of our bretheren now glorified bear a part with them The glorious company of the Apostles who Preached Christ and with unwearied diligence and patience admirable courage and fidelity shewed he was come to save the world these are now in those regions of bliss and there for ever praise thee As also all those harbingers of thy Sons comming inspired at sundry times and in divers manners these are now met in glory and make up the goodly fellowship of the Prophets whose words we read on earth but they now are happy in beholding him of whom they foretold and now continually praise thee To all which blessed numbers are added those undaunted Legions who sealed the truth of the Prophets predictions and the Apostles preaching with their blood even The noble army of Martyrs who conquered infidelity and cruelty by Faith and Patience these now are passed from torments to their reward and they with all other Saints and Angels with united hearts and voices sweetly praise tâ—ee Oh Lord we long to be there that we might see thee as clearly and praise thee as heartily as they do But since we can now know thee only by Faith we must glorifie thee by agreeing with The holy Church even our faithful bretheren throughout all the world in the Confession of that True Faith whereby every good Christian doth acknowledge thee to be what thou hast revealed thy self to be in thy holy word We believe in that Trinity which the Angels worship even in thee the Father who by creating and governing all the World declaredst thy self to be of an infinite Majesty And we believe in him that is equal in glory with thee and one in nature thine honourable true and only begotten Son who hath redeemed us that we of slaves of Sathan might be thy adopted Sons We do believe and acknowledge also the Holy Ghost to be very God equal to and with the Father and the Son and is the advocate for us in Heaven and the Comforter of us on the Earth And these Three Persons are One God Thy grâ—cious condescension O blessed Jesus shall not Eclipse thy Divine Perfection for though thou camest in our likeness to Redeem us yet we believe thou art equal with the Father and the King of Glory for thou ever wa st most glorious in thy self and thou O Christ art anointed of God a King and Priest for ever From eternity thou art God neither hadst thou thy beginning when thou wast made the Son of Man for thou art the everlasting Son begotten of the Father before the world began Yet blessed be thy name thou didst change thy Glory for Misery and sufferedst thy Eternity to be measured by time for when thou tookest upon thee that glorious design to deliver man from eternal death thou didst not abhor the meanest
Hymn God is praised 1. For the Redemption both as to 1. The nature of it as it is an act 1. Of Gods Mercy ver 68. 2. Of his Power ver 69. 3. Of his Truth being the fulfilling of His Word ver 70 and 71. His Promise His Covenant 72. His Oath ver 73. 2. The end of it viz. 1. Our safety ver 74. 2. Our obedience which must be 1. Universal in the parts Holiness towards God Righteousness towards man 2. Sincere before him 3. Constant all our life ver 75. 2. For the Promulgation considering 1. The Instrument and that for 1. His Office to be a Prophet Harbinger 2. His Duty to Prepare v. 76. Instruct 3. The end for Remission ver 77. 2. The cause why iâ— was now to be thus made known 1. In general Gods Mercy 2. In particular in regard 1. Of him that was to come ver 78. 2. Of the end of his coming ver 79. A Practical Discourse on the Benedictus § 6. THE Gospel which hath now been read for the second Lesson doth not only require our attention but command our gratitude because it brings that good news which is the cause of great joy to all people The Angels sing and all holy men to whom it was revealed entertain the news with Hymns of Praise And if we be as sensible of the mercy as they were and as thankful as we ought to be for the benefit thereof we shall rejoyce as heartily as they did since it is as much our concern as theirs And how can we better express our gladness for all that the Gospel records of what Jesus hath done for us then in those sacred forms indited by the holy Spirit with which devout Persons welcomed our Lord into the world And these will be most acceptable to God and most beneficial to us both to help us with fit expressions and to ingage us to sing them with the same heart and affections which were in the first Composers and particularly with the Devotion of holy Zachariah the Author of this Hymn who after nine months silence recovering his speech stays not to rejoyce in that personal Mercy but immediately being filled with the Divine Spirit the inexpressible joy that filled his heart before now breaks forth in these words Blessed be the Lord God of Israel c. Wherein he in the Phrase of Antient times (f) Gen. 9.26 Psal 41.13 declares the wonderful goodness of God And we ought to joyn with him not scrupling the Jewish form of expression because if we be true Christians and have the circumcision of the heart we are the Children of the Promise (g) Rom. 9.8 the seed of Abraham and the Israel of God And this God of our Israel hath in a more excellent manner delivered â—s from the slavery of Sathan then he did them from the bondage of Egypt And yet though this Spiritual Redemption be much greater there is such a similitude in the method and circumstances that it appears that was a type of this and therefore Zacâ—ariah alludes to Gods delivering the people from Aegyptian misery For as then he first visited them (h) Exod. 3.16 Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and considered their misery (i) Gen. 21.1 Visitavit Chal. Par. Recordatus est ita Syr. Luc. 7.16 Arab. Respexit ita Vulg. Ruth 1.6 and then he rescued them with a mighty hand So in our case he visited us in all senses he remembred our calamity he looked on our misery considered our distress and came himself to see us and made such a visit as men and Angels admire at He came in our nature clothed with our infirmities and stayed with us and dwelt among us And all this to Redeem us not by doing miracles but by suffering death not only by conquering our inraged enemies but satisfying an offended God buying our lives with his dearest hearts blood And by taking our Punishment when himself was innocent he freed us both from the sin and the wrath due to it (k) Suscipiendo poenam sine culpâ culpam delevit poenam August that we might with freedome and hope serve our reconciled God Well may we call this a Mighty Salvation being accomplished with as much Power as it was undertaken with Love Behold how many helpless Creatures he delivers from cruel burdens mighty oppressors and dreadful expectations nay from the just vengeance of an angry terrible and Almighty God from endless and unsufferable flames as horrid as unavoidable This was indeed a horn of Salvation (l) Cornu robur Imperium vocat Hieron Hab. 3. Vide Dan. 7.24 cap. 8.21 1 Sam. 2.10 Chal. Par. pro Cornu habent Regnum Ecclus 49.5 that is a Royal Princely succour and rescue such as became the Son of so Victorious a King as David was nay such as became the Son of God when he undertook to restore the Kingdom of Divid which now literally Herod and the Romans had usurped but spiritually sin and guilt had overcome yet Jesus will retrieve it and set it up for ever not to deliver us from Temporal but Spiritual enemies not from Tribute but Damnation and shall not we rejoyce at his Coronation It is certain there is not a more illustrious mercy then this which was proclaimed so early to our first Father (m) Gen. 3.15 and repeated so often by all the Prophets (n) Act 3.24 Deut. 28.7 Jerem. 23.6 Isai 25.8 men of excellent holiness approved integrity and unquestionable truth These all as if they had but one mouth unanimously agreed in the publication hereof This is the mercy that was so fully confirmed by Covenants and Oaths (o) Gen. 12.16 Heb. 6. to Abraham and all the faithful This was believed and hoped for by the Jews and expected by the very Gentiles (p) Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus constans opinio ut eo tempore Judae à profectus rerum poteretur Tacitus Annal. Vid. Numb 24.17 This is that good news which cheared Adam after his fall rejoyced Abraham in his peregrination revived Jacob on his dying bed (q) John 8.56 Gen. 49.18 and supported the Patriarchs in all their troubles although they only saw it at a distance and hoped and waited for the light while they themselves were in the dark But when Zachary beheld the morning star and saw the day begin to spring which had so long been wished and desired he is ravished with holy joy like the Northern people after a tedious night when they perceive the Sun approach And shall not they that lived by the bare hope of this and he that was so overjoyed at the first glimpse of it condemn us who are daily taught that he is come and hath confirmed Gods truth and answered all their expectations if we rejoyce not at least as much in the performance as they did in the promise Behold how God hath favoured us to let us behold the accomplishing of the desire of all Nations
the hand of our enemies should never by sin put our selves in their power again but being obliged by our Pardon and assisted by his grace henceforth might serve him with a lively faith and chearful hope without fear of being hurt by Sathan or rejected by God So long as we walk in holiness towards him and righteousness toward our Neighbours and if our Religion and Charity be sincere as done before him and constant so as we continue in it all the days of our life we answer all his expectations and need not doubt of acceptance and reward Lord thou camest to make us holy as well as happy and therefore thou hast sent this Harbinger to acquaint us with thy design And thou Child art chosen to give the world warning and shalt be called the Prophet of the highest God thy office shall be to fit men to receive this mighty Saviour for thou shalt go as a Herald before the face of the Lord by severe reproofs and powerful exhortations to prepare his ways by bringing men to repentance Thou art sent to shew the danger of sin and to give knowledge of him that will bring Salvation to his People that they repenting and fearing the wrath to come may forsake all iniquity and fly to Jesus for the Remission of their sins It is high time for us who are guilty of so many sins to take care least by impenitence and unpreparedness we loose the benefit of this salvation which is provided for us through the tender bowels of the mercy of our God whereby he pittied our desperate danger and after our dismal right hath given us the light of the day-spring even his only Son who from on high leaving his Heavenly Throne hath visited us And now hath set up his Gospel among us to give light and discover the dangerous event of sin to them that sit in darkness through ignorance or by horrid guilt are in the valley and shadow of death that so they may be instructed converted and live And to guide our feet when we are thus brought out of our evil and dangerous paths that we may enter into the way that leads to the everlasting Kingdom of Peace we will observe this light and follow this guide and ever praise thee for it saying Glory be to the Father c. The second Hymn after the second Lesson at Morning Prayer Or the 100 Psalm § 9. THE Church hath provided not only for our necessities but our delight giving us the choice of another Hymn which is a Psalm of Praise as the Title tells us and was Composed to be sung by course in the Temple-service (f) Dr. Hammond Paraph. and Annot. on Psal 100. at the time of the Oblation of the Peace-Offering and yet it is not so appropriate to the Jewish service but it may well fit the Christian worship being a double exhortation to publick Praise which is most due to God for the publication of his Gospel and besides it is addressed to all Nations and so is a fit return for so universal a Mercy as the Redemption is There is no difficulty in the Method or Phrase and therefore we shall only note That the first Exhortation in the three first Verses is both to direct and quicken us in the duty of Divine Praise directing us in the two first Verses concerning the Persons by whom the manner how and place where we must perform it and the third Verse contains the Motives which are taken first from the Nature of God secondly from his Works both in Creating us and taking special care of us as of the sheep of his Pasture Wherefore the fourth Verse renews and inforceth the Duty even to come into Gods house with hearts full of gratitude and joy lauds and benedictions and the fifth Verse gives new reasons of it and more spiritual motives to it first because of his Essential goodness secondly his Endless Mercy thirdly his infallible truth All which are manifested so clearly in his holy Gospel that the world never had such a Testimony of them before and therefore this Hymn directly looks upon us who have heard this good news and obligeth us to bless God for that infinite Grace and Mercy and Truth which he shewed in giving his Son to us for which we must ever ascribe Glory to the Father c. SECTION X. Of the Hymns for the Evening Prayer and first of the Magnificat The Analysis of the Magnificat This Hymn hath two Parts 1. A general Thanksgiving containing 1. The Acts of Praise Magnifie and Rejoyce 2. The Instruments Soul and Spirit 3. The Object of it The Lord God c. 2. The special reasons for it 1. Upon her own account considering 1. Her present Meanness 2. Her future Honour 3. The Author of her happiness He that is Mighty He that is Holy 2. Upon the account of others 1. For the general disposals of his Providence Giving to the Pious Mercy Humble Exaltation Poor Supplies Procuring to the Proud Shame Mighty Humillation Rich Want 2. For the particular grace of the Redemption in which God shewed His Mercy In remembring of us His Power In sending help to us His Truth In keeping his word with us A Practical Discourse on the Magnificat § 1. THE Blessed Virgin whom God chose to be the Instrument of the greatest blessing that ever the World had by the fruit of her lips as well as of her Womb hath given apparent testimony of the extraordinary presence of the Divine Spirit with her and in her For this sacred Hymn breaths forth such lovely mixtures of faith and fear humility and love charity and devotion that it appears she was full of grace as well as highly favoured And it should be our wish and endeavour to repeat it with the same affections and holy fervours with which she indited it Perhaps we think we have not the same occasion 'T is true God the Word took flesh in her Womb and that is her peculiar Priviledge But if we receive the word of God and the motions of the holy Spirit that attend it we may turn that word into (g) Verbum Carnem facere est Verbum in Opus Scripturas in operas convertere Bish Andr. Ser. 6. flesh by Faith and Obedience if we so hear as to practice (h) Sit in singulis Mariae anima Nam etsi secundum carnem una Mater est Christi secundum fidem tamen omnium fructus est Ambros in Luc. we do conceive Christ by Faith and he is formed in us (i) Omnis enim anima concipit Dei verbum si tamen immaculata immunis à vitiis intemerato castimâ—niam pudorâ— custodiat Idem by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost and a puâ—e heart and he is by holiness brought forth for Christ himself calls such (k) Matth. 12.50 by the name of his Mother We are to rejoyce with all that do rejoyce but especially when we are sharers in the mercy and
still Are not our principles surer our hopes clearer and our probabilities fairer and our gains like to be infinitely more Why then do we say these principles over as it were some Lesson that was never to be put in practice Let us turn our Creed into Syllogisms and we shall see what consequences necessarily flow from it And let us so firmly believe it that our Conversation may be the natural conclusion from those premises for there is no man whose natural Logick will not enable him to argue thus He that believes God to be Almighty and that he made him and all the world must love and fear this God and trust in him in all his needs But I believe in God the Father Almighty c. Therefore I must love and fear and trust in him at all times Or thus Whoever deserves and fears Gods wrath cannot truly believe Jesus came to save him from it but he must speedily apply himself to him and thankfully embrace this salvation But I who deserve and fear Gods wrath do believe this c. Therefore I must speedily apply my self to him and thankfully embrace this salvation from him And thus without strictly confining our selves to the rules of Art the most ignorant may with a little consideration find the natural result of every Article and what effect it will produce in any man that heartily doth embrace it And oh that all the world were as willing to live according to their professions as they are able to apprehend the force of these arguings We should not see our practises so frequently opposite to nay destructive of those principles we pretend to believe Let us ask our selves what manner of persons we ought to be who do so solemnly protest our belief that all these things are true In temporal things what we believe dangerous and unprofitable we avoid what we are persuaded is pleasant and advantageous we pursue and if our assent be as firm why should we not do so in spirituals Where the grounds are surer the inferences clearer and the gain and reward infinitely greater 't is too much to be feared we follow not our Creed far enough nor consider what the belief of those Articles would produce in us if cordially embraced Wherefore for the sake of such as could not or would not thus use the Articles of their Faith we have added to the Paraphrase the following Application The Paraphrase and Application of the Creed Art 1. I Believe most firmly in one infinite and eternal God who is a most powerful wise gracious and pure spirit Distinguished into three Persons the first of which is the Father Almighty who is the maker of me and all the Creatures of heaven and earth the preserver and Governor of all the world Wherefore I am obliged and resolved to own him for my God and Almighty Father by loving fearing serving and obeying him and to acknowledge him the Creator of all by admiring his works rightly using his Creatures and relying on his Providence for whatever I want in this world which is at his disposal And I am encouraged to call upon this my mighty God and merciful Father for my self and all the world for a competent measure of food and raiment health and wealth peace and plenty and not to doubt but that he who can do what he please will take care of the work of his own hands Art 2. And I do most firmly believe in the second Person of the glorious Trinity even in Iesus Christ our anointed Saviour who is very God equal to the Father being his only Son by eternal generation and is now become our Lord by the merciful redemption of our souls from death and hell Wherefore I am obliged and resolved most thankfully to commit my salvation to the management of my glorious and gracious Redeemer and as anointed by God to be a Prophet Priest and King to observe his teaching rely on his attonement and submit to his Authority and to walk answerable to the price that is payed for me And I am encouraged to pray in his name with faith and comfort for deliverance from my spiritual enemies and the salvation of my soul for a safe Pasport to Gods Heavenly Kingdome since his only Son is my Redeemer Art 3. I do also most firmly believe it was this very son of God who became man and yet was conceived free from sin by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost and that assuming our Nature and uniting it to his own Divine Nature was born of the blessed Virgin Mary so that he was both God and Man two Natures in one Person Wherefore I am obliged and resolved to be most thankful for that miraculous condescension and to learn to submit to the meanest condition to do good and to be careful not to defile my Nature which Jesus hath united to the Divinity And I am encouraged to pray that I may be sustained under the necessities of my frail estate which Jesus was acquainted with and purged from the corruptions which he was freed from and that being regenerate like him by the power of the Holy Ghost I may be partaker of his Nature as he was of mine Art 4. I do also most firmly believe that the holy Jesus being to satisfie the Divine Justice for our offences suffered the wrath which we had deserved and under Pontius Pilate the Romane Governor though most innocent in himself he was crucified till with cruel torments both of body and soul he had offered up his life a sacrifice for sin He was really dead and buried and took possession of the regions of darkness for he descended into hell and remained under the power of death for a time Wherefore I am obliged and resolved to lament for and crucifie my sins the cause of his bitter Passion to beware least by continuing in them I bring my self under the same curse and loose the benefits of this all-saving death and also to learn from him to suffer patiently and dye chearfully when God pleaseth And I am hereby encouraged to pray that I may not suffer what Christ hath endured for me that this sacrifice may be accepted as a satisfaction for all my transgressions and that the remembrance of it and the grace obtained by it may mortifie and kill in me that which hath crucified him Art 5. I do also most firmly believe that when he had paid the full price for the sins of the world death could no longer hold him so that the third day after his suffering by an infinite power he arose again assuring us that justice was satisfied and our enemies conquered since he was delivered from the dead among whom our iniquities and Gods anger had laid him Wherefore I am obliged and resolved in my lowest estate to trust in his power for my safety to rely on his All-sufficient merits for my Pardon and to endeavour to rise from the death of sin to walk in newness of life And I am encouraged
since they were ushered in by Faith and Charity the best preparatives to that duty We have all owned that we have one Lord and one Faith and now we are preparing as bretheren and fellow-souldiers to unite our requests and to send them to the throne of God But first in token of our mutual Charity the Church appoints instead of the antients kiss of peace a hearty salutation to pass between the Minister and People he beginning in the phrase of Bâ—az to his Reapers The Lord be with you (o) Ruth 2.4 Psal 129.8 which was after drawn into common use as a form of salutation to all and used by St. Paul in his Epistles (p) 2 Thess 3.16 to which the people are to return a good wish for their Minister in a form taken from the same Apostle (q) 2 Tim. 4.22 Galat. 6.18 desiring the Lord may be with his spirit Which is no invention of our own but mentioned in an Antient Counsel (r) Placuit ut Episcopi â—resbyteri uno modo salutent populum dicentes Dominus vobiscum ut respondeatur à populo Et cum Spiritu tuo sâ—cut ab ipsis Apostolis traditum omnis retinet Oriens Concil Brace primum Can. 21. and there affirmed to have been instituted by the Apostles and as it there appears retained in the Liturgies especially of the Greek Church but sure it never had a fitter place then in our excellent service where it succeeds the Creed as the Symbol and bond of peace St. John forbids us to salute or to desire God to be with any that cleave not to this right Faith (s) 2 Ep. 5. Jâ—hn ver 10.11 But when the Minister hath heard every one profess his Faith in the same words with himself how chearfully and without scruple may he salute them as bretheren and they requite his affection with a like return 'T is too sadly true that little differences in Religion make wide separations and the most incurable animosities Why then should not our exact agreement be as forcible an uniter of all our hearts since the profession of the same Faith hath ever been reputed the firmest bond of Charity (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. Wherefore when these endeering offices have warmed our hearts with mutual love these expressions will not barely signifie the affections between the Minister and his people but may be used as the exercise of their Charity by way of Pâ—ayer for one another Let the spiritâ—al man meditate how often Sathan is among the sons of God how mâ—ny of his flock which now are preparing to joyn with him are oppressed with hard hearts or disturbed with vain thoughts and then let him earnestly pray the Lord may be with them that his Prayers be not in vâ—in for them Let the people also remember how comfortable and advantagious it will be to them that he who is their mouth to God may have a pure heart and a fervent spirit and with these thoughts let them most hear ily require their Pastors prayer by desiring the Lord to be with his spirit that both may by acknowledging tâ—eir insufficiency and declaring their Charity obtain a blessing of God for each other and find the benefit of these short Petitions in every part of the suceeding Offâ—ces § 2. Let us pray We can do nothing in Religion without the Divine presence and Assistance and therefore the Minister and People must mutually beg that for each other and then they must joyn in their Petitions In the beginning of which is placed this short and antient Exhortation So often repeated in all the old Liturgies (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alibi Dominum oremus postulemuâ— vid. Liturg S. Jacobi S. Basilii c. whereby the Priest gives the signal of battel or the watch word to all the assembly that they may set on their enemies with courage and besiege even Heaven it self with a holy importunity And as the Cryer of old in the Heathen Sacrifices proclaimed his HOC AGITE and warned all to attend what they were about so doth the Minister charge you against all wandring thoughts which are never more frequent nor pernicious then in holy duties desiring you not to rest satiâ—fied in his Petitions for you but to let your heart go along with him that they may be accepted as your Prayers though pronounced with his lips He injoyns all to pray and that with him and for one another for it is a great work we have to do and we must now take off our thoughts from all other things and wholly mind this § 3. Lord have mercy upon us Christ have c. Lord have c. The best beginning for our requests is a Petition for Mercy whereby we acknowledge our unworthiness declare our misery and confess we cannot expect our Prayers should be heard unless it may please God first to have mercy upon us Like those poor Lepers (x) Luke 17.11 12. eminus tanquam immundi Levit. 13.45 clamant Jesu Domine miserere nostri we discerning Jesus afar off cry out unclean and beseech him to have mercy on us for we are defiled dust and ashes and how shall we dare to draw near to him or open our mouths before him till he be pleased to pitty and cleanse us As to this particular Form it is originally taken out of Davids Psalms (y) Psal 6.2 Psal 51.1 Psal 123.3 where it is sometimes repeated twice together to which tâ—e Church hath added Christ have mercy upon us that it might be a short Litany and a supplication for mercy to every Person in the Trinity (z) Imploramus misericordiam Domini per Kyrie eleeson Chriâ—e c. Kyrie c. ita ut tres articulos aliquo modo divinae majestatis trinitatis in Ecclesiâ celebreâ—us Amalar Fort. de Eccl. off because we have offended every Person and are to pray to every Person and need the help of every Person calling both the Father and Holy Ghost by the same title of Lord as being partakers of only one and the same Divine Nature and the Son by another title who also did partake of our humane Nature as Durand Rational l. 4. c. 12. doth observe And as Tho. Aquinas adds being under a three sold misery of ignorance guilt and punishment we thrice imploâ—e mercy And because we need that when ever we pray (a) Quia ante omnem Orationem sacerdotùm necesse est misericordiam Domini implorare Durand Rat. ut supr it was used both in the Eastern and Western Churches and become customary in the time of Theodosius the younger so that it was decreed by a Councel (b) Et quia dulcis nimis salubris consuetudo intâ—omissa est ut Kyrie eleeson frequentiùs cum grandi compunctione dicatur Placuit etiam nobis ut in omnibus Ecclesâ—is nostris ista consuâ—tudo Sancta ad Matutinum ad Missas ad Vesperam