We acknowledge the debt cancell therefore the Obligation let not the multitude of them preuaile against vs but where our sinne hath abounded let thy grace more abound and as we haue multiplyed our sinnes so wee pray thee to multiply thy mercies and although we haue by continuance in them so soaked our selues that thereby we are not onely lightly stained but also haue gotten as it were the Scarlet and Purple die of them yet let them all wee pray thee beeing washed in the blood of thy deare Sonne be made as white as the Snow in Salmon as the Woolle of the Sheepe which come from washing And to conclude as our sinnes haue magnified thēselues in an infinite length breadth depth and height so let thy mercies which passe all vnderstanding of all sides and all assaies out-reach them Therefore also wee most humblie desire thee ô Lord that the sinne being pardoned thy wrath which is alreadie declared may be appeased towardes all the Churches of our profession and especiallie towardes vs that the manifolde breaches of the Churches and Common wealthes may bee made vp that those being receiued into the bosome of the Church which belong to thy election the rest of the Papistes Heretikes may be vtterly rooted out and that the enimies in religion being slaine we may to the vttermost thinke all one thing in the honest and peaceable gouernement of the Common wealth Vpon which vniting of vs in all trueth and honestie the curses of the Plague and barrennesse being remooued a way may be made to thy blessinges which as the Hilles doe the Vallies may make our land holesomely fruitefull And that not onely the wrath which is alreadie kindled may be quenched but that which hath been lately threatened may be caused to retyre For the graunt wherof vnto vs we beseech thee to remember that how vnworthy soeuer yet are we thy people the Sheepe of thy pasture whō thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood watched ouer with a carefull eye defended with a mightie hand despise not therfore ô Lord the works of thy handes And seeing thou hast loued vs when we hated thee visited vs when we desired thee not then acknowledged vs when we knew not thee now that there be a number of vs which loue thee desire thine aboade and acknowledge thee hold on thy loue still depart not from vs deny vs not ô thou God of trueth which art the God that changest not And if thou wouldest or couldest forget vs calling vpon thee yet what should become of thy great name which is called vpon by vs And therefore for thy glories sake and for thy blessed names sake which in our destruction should be rent and runne through spare vs spare vs good Lord according to the vsuall dealing which thou hast euer kept with those which in prayer haue had recourse vnto thee and according to the old and vnchangeable nature of a mercifull kind sparing and long suffering God Which mercie wee doe not ô Lord desire to the end that wee should tumble and wallow our selues in our accustomed neglect and contempt of thy holy word but togeather with mercie for our sinnes and the rewarde of them wee most humblie craue vpō the knees of our heartes that for the time to come how long or how short soeuer wee with deniall and detestation of our selues and of our wicked lustes may offer vp vnto thee in Iesus Christ our selues our bodies and soules to be seruantes at thy holy commaundement in that reasonable seruice which the high reason of thy holy word doth prescribe and to be weapons or instrumentes of righteousnesse and holinesse as they haue been heretofore of the contrarie All which thinges as whatsoeuer thou knowest to be further needfull for vs or for any of the Churches we pray thee as our Sauiour hath taught c. A Confession of Sinnes with Faith and Repentance O Mercifull and heauenly Father we thy seruantes doe humbly prostrate our selues before thy Maiestie ackowledging heere in thy sight our hainous offences committed against thy Maiestie seeing beholding thy heauie wrath against them We feele our selues laden ô Lord our God with a huge companie of horrible sinnes wherof euen the very least being but conceiued in thought is sufficient in iudgement to throw vs down to the euerlasting burning lake Our owne consciences ô Lord doe beare witnesse against vs of our manifolde transgressions of thy blessed Law of our securitie and sencelesse blindnesse running headlong to destruction cōmitting sinne after sinne although not notorious to the world yet horrible before thine eye The thoughtes of our hearts rise vp in iudgement against vs the vanitie of our talke before thy Maiestie condemneth vs the wickednesse of our deeds from thy sight reiecteth vs all our wicked thoughtes wordes and deedes with the inwarde corruption of our nature doe altogeather as it were a whole lumpe and load of sinne lie heauie vpon vs and with their intollerable weight doe euen presse vs downe to Hell We doe daily grone vnder the burthen of them inwardly lamēting our owne follie so greedily running into them In heauen earth or hell we see none able to sustaine the weight of them but euen thy dearely beloued sonne Iesus Christ who in mercie infinite and compassion endles hath sustained and ouercome that endlesse punishment due vnto them in him therefore in him most mercifull Father and through him wee come to thee beeing fully assured according to thy promise that thou wilt accept and take that full recompence which hee thy deare Sonne hath made for vs as a iust ransome for all the sinnes of all those who with a true fayth take hold on him In him therefore we see thine anger towardes vs appeased thy wrath satisfied our debts paied Increase in vs good Lord we beseech thee this liuely and feeling Fayth for we feele it oftentimes in vs very weake and troubled with many doubtes increase it in vs ô Lord that we may through thy holy spirite be assured that the punishment of our sinnes is fully in thy Sonne discharged Make vs ô Lord our God to feele this same in our soules and consciences that Iesus Christ is ours and all that he hath done that we are grafted into his body and made one with him and therefore fellow heires with him of euerlasting life Let vs not onely haue these wordes in our mouthes good Lord but through thy holy spirit let vs feele the comfort of them in our heartes fully sealed and setled in vs that wee feeling our selues inwardly before thy iudgement seate discharged and our consciences towardes thee appeased may be swallowed vp with an vnfaigned loue toward thy heauenly Maiestie and towardes our breathren for thy sake Make sinne to die in vs dayly more and more that wee may hate detest and vtterly abhorre all sinne wickednesse in all men but especially in our selues that we may strongly through thy holy spirite set our selues in open warre
almost a great distraction of mindes for the Church gouernement beside the diuersities of iudgementes in many other matters And among bodily punishmentes the Plague hath indifferently fedde and yet doth feede vpon vs. The Sword hath been shaken at vs both in the North by Traytors and in the South by disordered wicked persons And shold it not strike vs that her Maiestie was of late in danger of her life by a Shotte Which that it was not meant towardes her ought not to abate our care for her maiestie but rather encrease it as that which was more neerely directed against her of the Lord to make both her and vs to cry for his gratious couer and protection ouer her And if we consider the wrath that hangeth ouer our heads the notes thereof are taken by the example of the people of God Ezra 9.3 and first of Ezra who vnderstāding that the people had married strange women fasted where vpon wee haue this note of the wrath to come that considering how that sinne is committed openly in the land in diuers sortes that therefore anger is at hand Here may be handled with godly and discreete wisedome the Sinnes of the Land The seconde note to know the tempest to come is taken from the Niniuites Fast Ionas 3.5 Wherevpon wee gather that for so much as we are grieuously threatened as well by the Ministers and Seruantes of the Lord that speake in his name vnto vs as also by his late shaking of the Earth that sharpe iudgement without repentaunce must speedily come vpon vs. The third is taken from signes of the wrath of God which may breake out against vs Hester 4.6 as in Hester where it was concluded at the request of Hamon of the destruction of the whole Church wherewith may fitly be compared the Holy League as they say and Decree of the late Councell of Trent against the whole Church and against ours particularly An other signe is the preparation made against the Church or an indeauour to execute malice which draue Josaphat and other moe 2 Paral. 20. to a Fast Here the loftie countenaunces and vnduetifull demeanour of the Papistes may be considered with their rebellious attemptes in Ireland as also the Spanish Nauie and great preparation made amongst them of the Holy league with the troubles in Scotland and Gun-pouder treason in England and like accidentes sufficient to procure the practise of this holy exercise A GENERAL CONFESSION OF Sinnes to be made at the exercise of Fasting the more particular confession being taken according to the estate of the seuerall Churches by the good discretion of the minister vpon the knowledge thereof O Lord which art glorious in power and holinesse wee being but Dust and Ashes with the casting of our selues downe at the foote of thy high Maiestie confesse that wee are most vile sinners conceiued borne in sinne that we are by nature nothing else but a lumpe of all wickednesse whose natural propertie is to grow in sin as wee grow in yeares to waxe strong in wickednesse as the powers of our mindes and bodies receiue strength There is in vs no holesome nor sounde knowledge how to obey there is no manner of good will or affection to please thee finally there dwelleth no good thing in our flesh And although our cursed estate doth herein greatly appeare yet our sinne is made out of measure sinfull through the exceding grace which thou offerest by the Gospell of thy deare Sonne whereby wee are so farre from profiting that of our selues we should waxe worse and worse For the more light of knowledge is shewed the blinder would we remaine the greater obedience is taught the frowarder and stubberner would wee become if thou by the mightie working of thy holy spirite shouldest not cause it to be fruitfull And although we haue this naturall corruption in common with the whole rotten race of Adam yet wee confesse that in vs it hath budded shot foorth so much more then in others as we haue had moe meanes to kil it and to cause it to wither then others haue had Where first of all the gracious offer of the treasure of thy holy Gospell vnto vs maketh vs guiltie many waies For where passing by many other nations thou hast trusted our natiō withall yet with a number of vs hath it found as small entertainment and felt as great resistance as amongst them at whose Gates it neuer knocked For a great portion of the land partly neuer yeelding them selues to the obedience therof and partly falling from it after they had once yeelded stande proudly as it were at the staues end with thee The rest which make profession of their submittaunce vnto it doe it not accordingly For first there be heapes of our people which either through an yrcksomnesse of the yron-yoke of the Popish Religion or through a wicked opiniō which they nourish of embracing any Religion set foorth so cast aside the former Poperie as they stil abide in an vtter ignorance of the truth it selfe in such sort that through want of Preaching they are as raw in the knowledge of the true seruice of thee as they were expert before in the seruice of the Deuill And where knowledge is to any such sufficiencie as is requisite for the inheritours of the kingdome of Heauen there is it for a great part ioyned with such hypocrisie as maketh them more detestable before thee which searchest the very Raines then if they had still continued in their ignoraunce Now for the remnant of vs which through Grace haue truly and faythfully beleeued it is with so great weaknesse of Fayth and so small reformation of Manners that our glorious profession of the Gospell supported and borne out with so small shew of the fruites which the excellencie thereof doth require maketh not onely the enimies to condemne vs but our selues to suspect one another whether wee belong vnto thee or no. Wherein O Lord wee acknowledge that to be our great and horrible sinne that being put in trust with this vnspeakable treasure of thy holy Gospell and preferred to our neighbours professours about vs yet we are in thankfull obedience vnto thee behind them all first in knowledge last in zeale before them in the doctrine of thy holy Gospell behinde them in the discipline of the same The yoke of the slauerie of our bodyes which the Popish Religion layed vpon vs we willingly shake off but the holy bandes of thy Law whereby our riotous life and affections should be brought into bondage wee do hardly and heauily admitte The Gospell which brought a freer vse of our lawfull honors pleasures commodities was welcome vnto vs but the same Gospell which restraineth the vnlawfull licentiousnesse of our ambition intemperancie and couetousnesse is not so Finally so much of the Gospel as doth more neerely respect our saluation we seeme to haue some care to retaine but so much of it as doth more directly respect thy
the eye of mans reason and vnderstaÌ„ding yet we know that this is sensibly set foorth vnto vs by seuerall meanes and instrumentes some outward as the Elementes in the Sacrament and some inwarde as the spirituall Grace represented thereby For we are not Angels but men consisting of bodie and soule and therefore the Lord by the vse of his Word and Sacramentes hath prouided for both partes as the Word for our Eares and our Eares for hearing of the same that so Fayth might be wrought in our heartes Rom. 10.17 and the Elementes in the Sacramentes for our taste sight feeling c. and yet our soules to be nourished not with any or all of these outward thinges for how can outward and corruptible things nourish inward and immortall substaunce but onely with the spirituall graces offered vnto vs therein this also to be wrought in vs though our Sauiour be in Heauen in respect of his body and wee heere as Pilgrimes and Strangers on the Earth by the wonderfull vnsearchable working of his holy Spirite in vs and by the meanes of a liuely and assured Fayth both which being knit togeather doe easily ioyne togeather things that be as farre asunder in respect of distaunce of place as one ende of the earth is from the other and as farre asunder as heauen and earth them selues are or else how could we either beleeue the holy Catholike Church and feele the communion of Saintes seeing it commonly falleth out that the members of that holy fellowshippe are sundered one of them from an other in respect of great distance of place or be assured that Christes righteousnesse is become ours seeing he is in heauen wee on the earth if by Fayth we did not take hold of the same and apply it vnto our selues Besides if men should imbrace this sacramentarie opinioÌ„ what were it but to euert as the trueth of Christes promises so the certaintie and assurednesse of his word who in plaine tearmes calleth this holy Sacrament His bodie 2 The second extreamitie is that of consubstantiation some affirming that there is deliuered to the people and they receiue togeather with the substance of Bread the yery substance of Christes very naturall body so that there is as it were an intermingling of both the substaunces in the action of the Supper This opinion is iustly to be disliked and reproued not onely because of the absurdities which it hath common with the heresie of transubstantiation whereof wee will speake in the next place but also because it is quite and cleane contrarie to common sense and reason confounding and iumbling togeather two seuerall and distinct substances and making the lesse to witt the substance of bread to comprehende the greater that is Christs humaine body yea euen his verie Godhead which heauen and earth is not able to containe Besides it doth vtterly take away an essentiall propertie of Christes body for if Christ in respect of his humanitie be like vnto vs in all thinges sinne onely excepted and we know by the light of reason and vnderstanding that God hath bestowed vpon vs yea by verie experience that our bodies are circumscriptible and tyed to a place it must needs follow that Christ in respect of his Manhood or Christ as he is Man is and must be tyed to a place and not be in euery place as he must be if these mens assertions be true which is nothing els indeed but vtterly to destroy Christes body which I proue against them thus Whosoeuer taketh away the essentiall propertie of any thing taketh away the thing it selfe this Proposition is prooued by this Maxime in Logike If the definition of a thing which chiefly consisteth of the essentiall propertie of euerie thing be taken away then the thing defined it selfe also falleth As for example If a reasonable liuing creature which is the definition of a man be taken away what shall become of man or where shall he appeare which is the thing defined But these men take away the essentiall propertie of a thing to witte of a body which is to be circumscriptible or tyed to a place which is indeed an essentiall propertie of the body of man and therefore of Christes body as he is man If any will denie this it may easily be prooued both by the definition of a body which is a quantitie that may be deuided according to the threefold measuring receiued amongst men that is length breadth thicknesse and also by the description of a place which is defined to be a nighnesse or touching of the thing containing and the thing conteined The conclusion therefore is that in taking away place from the body of Christ which they doe whilest they place it in euerie place whereas in the nature thereof it can be but in one place at one time they doe vtterly destroy the body or humanitie of Christ or at the least confound it so with the Godhead as Eutyches did that they make a confusion whereas in all trueth and vprightnesse there should remaine a distinction of the proprieties of either nature in his blessed person But of this ynough in this place because it is somewhat philosophicall and because also in the next â—ection we shall haue occasion to deale with the like 3. The third extreamitie is that of transubstantiation maintained altogether by the Romish Catholikes which hold that the Bread and Wine the substance thereof vanishing away and nothing being left but the accidentes or qualities thereof as roundnes whitenesse rednesse moysture c. are changed and that by the power of certaine wordes spoken by the Priest as they cal him ouer the Elements they are turned into the verie naturall body and bloud of our Sauiour Concerning this point and the branches thereof I will speake particularly and first for the name Transubstantiation I fear not to affirme that it is verie new and neuer heard of before the dayes of Pope Innocent the third who was about the yeare of our Lord 1205. much lesse was it confirmed as an article of faith before the Councell of Constance a Citie so named in Germanie in the dayes of Pope John the xxiii which was about the yeare of our Lord 1415. and therefore by the Popish reason of reiecting new thinges easily ynough reiected for the noueltie thereof 2 That there is a change I doe not deny but this is not in respect of the nature of the thinges themselues but in respect of the vse and ende whereunto they are applyed because that they are by the Lordes institution separated from the common vse yea and from common Bread and Wine and applyed not onely to a holy vse but dedicated also to a holy ende that is to be sure seales and pledges of holy things to witt of Christs body and bloud and of the effectes that by his death and passion we receiue But that this change should be wrought by any wordes I am so farre off froÌ„ allowing it as true that I am verily perswaded
I meane not onely a generall beliefe of all the Canonicall books of the old and new Testament or a grounded knowledge alone of the poyntes and principles of Christian religion but an assured perswasion that whatsoeuer the Lord hath reuealed in his Word as hee hath done the same for others so he hath done it particularly for mee So that this Fayth is necessarie to him that shall communicate both because that otherwise hee being on the earth cannot take hold of Christ in heauen for faith is it by which he may apply vnto himselfe particularly Christ Iesus and all his merites to the assured feeling of the free pardone and full forgiuenesse of all his sinnes of the one side and the imputation of Christes righteousnesse on the other side and also that thereby he may be assured that that which hee doeth either in the administration or participation of that holy action is acceptable before God for without Fayth it is impossible to please him Which properties indeed or effectes rather if a man onely haue them shall make his Fayth to differ from all the vaine imaginations of Diuels and wicked men whatsoeuer By Repentance I vnderstand a syncere hatred of all our former sinnes and iniquities whatsoeuer and a sound loue of all righteousnesse and well doing proceeding from the right reuerence and louing feare of the maiestie of God in our heartes which holy affection doth euery day by little and little worke in vs the forsaking of our selues and the subduing of the sinfull lustes and affections of our owne flesh to the end that wee may wholly resigne our selues to be guided and gouerned by the spirit of God in the syncere seruice worship of his Maiestie So that hee which feeleth himselfe truely and vnfeignedly sorrowfull for his former iniquities not onely loathing his sinnes but euen himselfe for his sinnes sake and caryeth with him this holy purpose neuer through Gods assistaunce to commit the same or any such like may not onely be assured of his vnfeined repentaunce and so by consequent of the forgiuenesse of his sinnes but also with boldnesse yet not withstanding with reuerence in respect of God and with humblenesse of minde in respect of himselfe draw neere to the partaking of these holy mysteries By Loue which is the thing that concerneth men I doe not onely vnderstand the vnfeigned pardoning and forgiuing of others that haue any maner of way trespassed against vs which is a sure seale and earnest pennie as it were that our sinnes are forgiuen vs before God but also sound reconciliation after offences committed one of vs towardes another which is a certaine pledge that our prayers and all other good thinges that come from vs are in Christes obedience accepted before God yea I meane further by Loue which is an inward affection of the heart the sincere and outwarde testifying of the same by wordes deeds countenaunces and other meanes as the Lord shall giue occasion and our abilitie will serue to expresse the same and that not to our friendes onely or to our enimies also which is somewhat more but generally to all men though to some in greater measure as to the Household of fayth our Wiues Children and Parentes c. and to some in lesse measure as to those that be yet without and be somwhat further off by nature and kindred Meditation which is the second thing and is to be vsed specially in the time of the celebration of the Lords Supper consisteth chiefely in these poyntes In regarding the outward elements and the rites vsed in the same as the breaking of the Bread c. by which is set foorth vnto our soules the crucifying of Christs body the shedding of his bloud c. and all for our transgressions And then because wee must not stay below but must by Fayth rise vp to Heauen as it were we are deeply to consider what great graces the Lord offereth vnto vs in that holy and spirituall Banquet which in my minde may be brought into these few pointes 1 God setteth before the eyes of our Faith in that holy action first Christes death and passion togeather with the benefites and effectes which wee reape thereby and namely the remission and forgiuenesse of our sinnes 2 Secondly the full and spirituall nourishment that thorow Christ wee haue both in the outward and inwarde man euen to the hope of eternall life 3 Thirdly the mysticall vnion that is betwixt Christ and his Church hee dwelling in our heartes by faith and we thereby being made members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones 4 Fourthly and lastly the holy vnitie and agreement that is ought to be continued amongst all the members of his Church whatsoeuer or wheresoeuer they be The third and last thing which I call Action and is to be performed after the receiuing of the Lords Supper consisteth 1 First in earnest Prayer vnto God not onely for the liuely feeling of these graces exhibited but also for the fructifying of the word of God and his Sacraments in our heartes and that not for the time present alone but euen for the whole rase and course of our life Secondly in humble thankes-giuing for the vnestimable riches and treasures of grace and of goodnesse which it pleaseth him in his Church and namely by the vse of his Worde and Sacramentes not onely to offer but also to bestow vpon his people the particulars whereof are before recited And hereunto wee may be prouoked by consideration of this that the Lord freely and of his owne goodnesse giueth vs those merites not onely when we had not deserued the least of them but euen then when euerie one of vs had deserued eternall death and condemnation to be powred foorth vpon vs and ours 3 And lastly in care and conscience of a holy conuersation that seeing Christ dwelleth in our heartes by fayth and we haue our spirituall life and beeing from him that therefore wee should so liue as wee may not onely glorifie him in this life but that when the dayes of our wearisome pilgrimage shall be ended we may be glorified with him in eternall blessednesse which thing the Lord graunt vs euen for his crucified Christes sake to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost three persons and one eternall God be giuen all honour prayse power and glorie both of vs and of all people euen now and at all times for euer and euer So be it A Prayer to be said before a man repaire to the partaking of the Lords Supper O Eternall GOD and most mercifull Father I thy poore vnworthy seruant doe must humbly beseech thee in Iesus Christ thy deare Sonnes name and for his sake gratiously in his death and obedience to pardone and forgiue mee all my sinnes what so euer which at any time or by any manner of meane I haue committed against thy Maiestie or any other Seale vp in my heart O Lord this great benefite of the free pardon