consecrated Elements of Bread and Wine into his Mouth For he that believeth in Christ embraceth his doctrin and is sincerely his Disciple shall undoubtedly live for ever John 6.47 Rubrick In the time of the Plague c. Note Note Ministers are to visit the Sick by this Rule be the Disease never so infectious but there is an indulgence granted them as to this particular danger Can. 67. Yet God forbid any Minister should decline this most Christian and needful Office meerly intending his own private safety more than the Sick-mans Eternal welfare For undoubtedly God is able to protect his Ministers from all infection when they are sincerely discharging their Office and provided they do not presumingly tempt God decline no dangers for the good of Souls POST-SCRIPT Christian Reader IF any seducing Teachers have told thee either in their private suggestions or popular Sermons that the Common-Prayer is nothing but the Mass-Book turned into English and that it is Popish all over if not worse I desire thee to take notice once for all that they have told thee as great an untruth as ever was told by any but the Father of Lies and when thou shalt see Popery it self clearly confuted out of the Common-Prayer I desire thee to be so kind to thy self as to lend no Ear for the time to come to such notorious Preachers of Lies if thou hast any value at all for thy precious Soul have nothing to do with these precious Seducers who have found out such a pious policy to delude the vulgar as to carry the Doves Eye in the Serpents Head Now before I proceed to bring forth the Service Book to the Confutation of Popery I think it very requisite first that it be resolv'd on what Popery is not and then what it is for I have observ'd a very strange humour predominant amongst some more peevish English of late time and that is to brand every thing with the infamous name of Popery which they like not of and which is not framed up in every respect to please their fancies and over-dainty Palats Sure to read the Book of Psalms Chapters for Lessons out of both the Testaments and Epistles and Gospels is not Popery now this takes up the greatest part of our Service-Book If to read the Bible and so to read it as the Church prescribes that is so as to edifie most by the reading of it be accounted Popery I profess my self so much for this Popery as I could wish there were more Papists As for those Apocryphal Chapters we read I am satisfied that the Church enjoyns them to be read only for example of life and instruction of manners but doth not press them to be applyed to establish any Doctrine by Artic. 6. The Texts of Scripture set before the service-Service-Book is not Popery unless the very Scripture be Popery neither is the following Exhortation Confession and Absolution the Lord's Prayer and the following Responses Popery for all are grounded upon and taken Verbatim out of the Scripture The Te Deum the Gloria Patri the three Creeds are not Popery unless the Confutation of Arianisme and other gross Heresies of the Greek Church be Popery The 95th Psalm The Benedicite The Benedictus Psalm the 100. The Magnificat Psalm the 98th The Nune dimittis and Psalm the 67th and all the Responses following are not Popery for they are all the very Scripture either taken thence or may be reduced thither The Collect for Peace The Collect for Grace The Prayers for the King for the Royal Family for the Clergy and People The Prayer of St. Chrysostom The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ The Collects at Evening Prayer for peace for aid against all perils The lesser and larger Litany with the following Prayers and Responses The Prayers extraordinary for Rain for fair weather In time of Dearth and Famine In time of War and Tumults In time of any common Plague or Sickness The Prayers in the Ember-weeks The Prayer for the High Court of Parliament The Prayer for all conditions of men And the Thanksgivings extraordinary are not cannot be Popery unless the Lord's Prayer be Popery and St. Paul's exhortation 1 Tim. 2.1 2. be Popery to which they may be all reduc'd The Collects Epistles and Gospels to be used throughout the Year have nothing Popish in them nor any one of the offices following any one thing tending that way Some things we have which the Church of Rome may have in her formula's but we have them not because Rome hath them but because they are agreeable to Scripture because the antient Liturgies had them because they were used in the Church before Popery was in the World The Church of Rome hath many novel devices which we have not but have rejected as frivolous erroneous and of too late a date to be retained in our Service So far as they hold with the ancient Church we hold with them and so far as they have departed from the ancient Church we have departed from them Indeed our service-Service-Book is a good defensative not only against all other heresies but against all Romish novelties whatsoever What are those things then which the most severe and rigid enemies in appeâ—rance to the Church or rather Papacy and Court of Rome quarrel at as Popish Give me leave to name them only to put the same Persons to the blush who quarrel at Popery and yet equally disgust the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book wherin it is confuted and so tell the World that they are Protestants in shew and Papists in reality 1. To hold the Pope Supreme is taken for grand Popery and the chief hinge on which all other Popish errours depend Now the Common-Prayer in all its Collects for the King acknowledges the King to be Soveraign and Supreme and in the form for Ordination of Ministers the Oath of Supremacy is to be taken by all who enter into holy Orders to acknowledg the Kings Supremacy in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal See more Can. 1. c. 2. Eccles Anglican Artic. 37. Eccles Angl. Here it may be demanded whether those Persons are to be taken for Protestants or not rather to be suspected for Papists who will not take the Oath wherein the Kings Supremacy is asserted 2. To hold an infallibility and that the Church cannot erre is said to be another Branch of Popery By the Common-prayer in the first general confession of sin we are taught to say We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost Sheep and never had we so just cause to say it as since we left it off besides that Churches and Councils may err is plain Can. 19. and Can. 21. Eccles Anglican 3. To hold Transubstantiation in the Sacrament a term which many are frighted at though they know not what it means is looked upon by some as a very gross piece of Popery Wheras our Common-prayer Book in the very words wherein the Minister delivers the Consecrated Elements to the
people as it holds a real presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Sacrament saying The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee c. The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee c. So it seems to shut the Door against Transubstantiation in saying Take and eat this in Remembrance c. Drink this in Remembrance c. Noting it to be a Commemoration only of his suffrings in his natural Body upon the Cross however spiritually his Body and Blood are both exhibited and participated in the Sacrament Again our Church is expresly both in her Book of Homilies and in her Articles against Transubstantiation Artic. 28. Indeed the form for administration in the late Directory did rather officiate towards the errour of Transubstantiation then the form in our Common-Prayer-Book 4. To with-hold the Cup of blessing from the People in the Lords Supper is looked upon by some as a very gross Popish errour especially by those who have neither given the Bread nor the Cup to the People for many Years together Now our Common-Prayer-Book expresly injoynes the Minister to give the Communion to the People in both kinds and our Church is urgent in one of her Articles to have it so Artic. 30. Eccles Ang. 5. To restrain the holy Scriptures from the perusal of the People is branded for Popery and that by some who have indulged so great a liberty to the People in this kind that they have abused and wrested the Scriptures to patronize Treason Rebellion Sacriledge and any gross sin whatsoever Now in our common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book that Scripture which is most for edification is not only ordered to be read in the vulgar tongue but so ordered to be read and so sorted out to all the best advantages that would the People follow the Churches order and method it is not possible they should be so grosly ignorant as they are 6. To have publick Prayers in a Tongue unknown to the common People and to which they cannot understandingly say Amen is condemned for grand Popery by those who yet have devised a way of extemporary Prayer and many times in such language too that it is not possible for People safely to joyn their Amen to those Prayers which they cannot understand But the Common-Prayer sums up all lawful and necessary requests in so plain and pious formes that they may say Amen to and edifie by those Prayers if they will 7. To prohibit Marriage to Men in Holy Orders is voted grand Popery especially by those who have so much invaded the Church-maintenance that there is scarce sufficient left to maintain the Ministers in a single life wheras our common-prayer-Common-prayer-Book in the Office for Matrimony admits all to the holy state of Matrimony that are allowed of by the Word of God and the Church of England expresly declares the marriage of Priests to be lawful Artic. 32. 8. To indulge Marriage to Persons within the degrees prohibited by the Laws of God is accounted another branch of Popery But the common-prayer-Common-prayer-Book in the Matrimonial Office declares against it and so doth the Church Can. 99. 9. To tolerate the liberty of Divorce betwixt Man and Wife for more causes than the cause of Fornication is accounted Popery and yet they did both allow it and practise it who profess themselves to be the only Anti-Papists The Common-prayer now in the Matrimonial Office admits of no such thing and our Church is very cautious in so weighty a matter Can. 105 106 107. 10. To obtrude new Articles of faith upon the People which have no ground in the Word of God is complain'd of for very gross Popery especially by those who have of late years done it thrusting upon the People new Doctrines new Catechisms new Covenants which are in many things contrariant to God's Word and did it with such violence as to refuse them communion who refused to submit to these impositions Whereas our Common prayer-Prayer-Book admits of no more Articles of faith than what are contained in the ancient Creeds of the Latin and Greek Church And the Church expresly declares for them Artic. 8. and as expresly declares against any thing enforced as a matter of faith which is contrary to Gods written word Artic. 6. Artic. 20. Artic. 21. 11. The Doctrine concerning Purgatory Pardons worshiping and adoration as well of images as of Reliques and also invocation of Saints is declaimed against as very foul and intolerable Popery by those especially who made of late Years Mens lives more bitter then any Purgatory who drew People off from their subjection and allegiance to their lawful Prince and pardon'd them when they had done who defaced all Images which were only for decency and a civil remembrance with that zeal and fury as if they saw some Religion in them more then ever was intended and who were so far from the invocation of Saints that they ran fouly into the other extreme obliterating all their annual days of observance and instead of allowing them any pious and civil remembrance sordidly reviling them and disgracing so much as in them lay their very memories and names However the Common-prayer-Book and our Church teacheth them no Popery yet both may teach them more civility and moderation As for a Popish purgatory the Common-prayer is against it in the Burial Office holding the spirits of all who depart hence in the Lord to be in joy and felicity in bliss though not in their perfect consummation and bliss As for pardons and indulgencies the Common-prayer takes notice of none but only while Men are alive to beg for pardon and that of God not for the merit of any Saint but for the merits of Christ for most of the Collects conclude Through Jesus Christ our Lord. For worshiping and adoration of Images there is not one syllable in all the Common-prayer tending that way but through all the Offices our worship and adoration is terminated in God as the proper object and offred by Christ as the only Advocate Mediator and Intercessor And for invocation of Saints departed or praying to them there is no thing so irreconcilable to our Common-prayer-Book For through all the Offices of it we acknowledg no Mediator Intercessor or Advocate but Christ only indeed we honor the memorial of some known Scripture Saints by observing set days and propounding their lives as exemplary to us we praise God for their holy living here in this World Articl Eccles Anglic. 22. happy departure hence praying that our lives may be as holy and our deaths as happy but we do not pray unto them If there be any other Tenents which some are pleased to call Popery for all is Popery with some which they have not a châ—ef hand in the establishment if they fear Justifying Popery Free-will Popery Merit Popery Supererrogation Popery Satisfaction Popery or what Popery soever for they must name it I fear I have not given the names aright but if it be Popery
of their Commission is this That God hath used Christ as a means to make peace between Him and the sinful World not by pardoning their sins whilst they remain in them but by admitting them to repentance by calling them and using admirable methods of mercy in revealing himself unto them which word of reconciliation is put into the Ministers hands that they may upon all needful occasions make known the means of grace and advise and perswade all who need it especially the sick and grieved in conscience to make use of it The Ministers imployment is to be as Negotiators for Christ to supply Christ's place on earth and to treat with Men after the same manner as Christ did when he was upon the Earth by calling them to repentance and beseeching them to reform their lives and make themselves capable of the return of God's favour to them 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. When the Minister hath done this and the sick party hath received some large measure of satisfaction from him then upon his serious and unfeigned repentance if it be desired he is to give him absolution saying I absolve thee c. But here we are to take notice that there are three opinions touching the Ministers absolution 1. That it is only optative and precarious So in the Absolution for the Communion-Office 2. That it is only declaratory pronouncing the Penitent absolved by applying God's promises to the signs of his contrition So in the Absolution at the beginning of the service-Service-Book 3. That it is Authoritative as deriving Power and Commission from God not only to declare the party absolved but to absolve him in words denoting the first Person so in this Office for the Visitation of the Sick not that the Minister can absolve any whom God absolves not or that any sick Person can receive any benefit of absolution but upon the condition of his sound and sincere repentance The power of absolution is 1. Absolute and original which belongs only to God Mark 2.8 2. Delegate and in the Charter of the Church belonging to the Ministers and them only Matth. 16.19 Matth. 18.18 John 29.23 Vid. Bishop Andrew's Serm. in Locum See the Form of Ordination of Priests Vid. Montag Appell Caesar cap. 35.36 Vid. Fisher Visitation of the Sick upon the service-Service-Book lib. 1. c. 16. Vid. Reeve B. D. his Christian Divinity out of the Service-Book cap. 63. Vid. Bishop Morton in his appeal pag. 270. Sacerdos utitur ipsissima Christi potestate in remittendis peccatis Bullinger in Diatrib pag. 267. Sacerdos absolvendo confitentem pronunciat absolutum non remittit peccatum Sacerdotes dimittunt ostendendo manifestando habent se ad modum demonstrantis non directe sed dispositive ea adhibent per quae Deus dimittit peccata dat gratiam Aliter Deus solvit vel ligat aliter ecclesia Vid. Montag appell Caesar cap. 36. Our Lord Jesus Christ c. Note This absolution is grounded on Matth. 16.19 Matth. 18.18 John 29.23 And here the Minister first prays to God to absolve before he absolves himself and what he doth he doth in the Name of the Trinity acts so far as he receives Power and Commission from the Trinity and no further Rubrick And then the Priest shall say the Collect following Let us Pray O most merciful God c. Note This is the Principle and chief Prayer in the Office every word grounded upon Scripture and therefore Let us pray is prefixed to make the Minister and People present more intent upon it and serious and fervent in it It is grounded upon many clear Texts of Scripture not only the Materials of it but the very phrase is taken out of the Scripture Jam. 5.14 15. Heb. 8.12 Psal 51. c. Rubrick Then shall the Minister say this Psalm Psal 71. Note This Psalm is a Prayer for deliverance in time of distress which happens to a Man in the latter end of his life and therefore very fitly is it made to bear a part in this Office Paraphrase Vers 1. Lord all my trust and confidence is in Thee I trust not in any secular aid but depend upon Thee only Let not my dependance on Thee be disappointed and frustrated Vers 2. Thou art the Patron of all who are in distress and hast promised relief to all who constantly wait on Thee for it Lord grant me a portion in this thy promised mercy and let thy faithfulness and mercy give me a seasonable deliverance at this time Vers 3. Be Thou my sure place of retreat to which I may resert in this time of danger and grant me the performance of that mercy which Thou hast promised to all who constantly depend upon thee for it Vers 4. Keep me out of the snares of the wicked and let not the enemy of Souls have any advantage over me nor approach to hurt me Vers 5. I have ever depended and relied upon Thee as thy Creature and peculiar Client Vers 6. I acknowledge it thy work of continual protection by which I have been supported every hour of my life and it is of thy primary gift that I ever had any being in the World for both which I am obliged continually to bless thy Name Vers 7. Some carnal Men may wonder to hear me talk of relief from Heaven who am brought so low in the eye of Man but yet I am not disheartned at this I know whom I trust and there is no security like my dependance upon Thee Vers 8. Therefore be pleased to send me relief that so I may be able to confute those vain Men and divulge to others the glorious advantages of thy service Vers 9. Reject me not O God now I am in the Wane of my Age feeble and destitute of strength for I have none to flie unto but Thee only Vers 10. and 11. Refute the obloquies of those who look upon me as a Person forsaken of God and confute their rash descants upon me by sending me a most gracious deliverance Vers 12. Arise speedily O God to my relief who have no other dependance but on Thee Vers 13. So shall those vain Persons be brought to shame by seeing themselves frustrate and disappointed Vers 14. What-ever they talk and discourse they shall not drive me from my fast and sure hold nor from proclaiming to all Men the exceeding goodness of that God on whom I wait The less reason they conceive I have so to do still the more will I magnifie thy greatness and profess my dependance on Thee Vers 15. My mouth shall number thy faithful and gracious dealings toward me though I know not the number of them I will spend my whole life in this task and when I have so done I will confess my self to fall far short of giving Thee thy due praises for thy goodness towards thy Servant is infinitely above the imperfect measures either of my valuation or expression Vers 16. What-ever I do or undertake shall not be in any confidence of my
A GUIDE TO THE Humble OR AN EXPOSITION ON THE Common Prayer VIZ. I. The Visitation of the Sick II. The Communion of the Sick III. The Burial of the Dead IV. The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth V. The Denouncing of GOD's Anger and Judgments against Sinners with Prayers to be used on the first Day of Lent and at other times By THOMAS ELBOROW LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in St. Pauls Church-yard 1675. TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Presume and take it for granted that thou wilt prove a Christian and if thou art so more than in profession I shall not question but that thou wilt be kindly and Christianly a spyer of the faults and errors coming into this little Treatise without my knowledge or approbation and not prove rigidly censorious I confess that I have been always very much an admirer but yet no Idolizer of all the Liturgick Offices as they are now setled and established in the Church of England and this induced me to write my Exposition upon the first part of the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book and now to add this Exposition upon the latter part what lies betwixt these two parts I confess I have taken the like pains upon but am not in a capacity to make publick Bricks cannot be made up to the full tale where straw is wanting and I am the more willing to keep my other Notes suppressed till I can be assured that they which are now adventur'd forth to publick view can meet with a friendly acceptance aâ—d in some measure attain the desired end which they were written for The end I believe most Readers will agree with me so far was not to perswade some People to have any better opinion of me for vindicating our Church but all to have a better opinion of our Church which to vindicate may in the Opinion of some be crime enough The eminent Men that stand by me in this very Treatise are Persons so far from being thought mean and contemptible by those who know how to value what is truly valuable that they were indeed the glory and ornaments of our Nation by exemplary liveing as well as the Pillars of our Religion and Church by their sound sober and profound learning such as the most judicious Hooker the most solid and searching Andrews the most elaborate and learned Hammond cum caeteris I have not I confess given them those splendid titles which they deserve because they have by their own works merited more than I can give and exceeded all others praise or Eulogie I durst not presume to walk these dark and intricate Paths without such bright and eminent guides and if by them and some others as eminent whom I have not named I can lead People to see that we have a true Church in England in whose bosom they may be safely nursed and bred up I have my desire Farewel T. E. The Errors of the Press Corrected PAge 6. Line 14. read severe and strict justice p. 77. l. 14. 1. Clerks p. 117. l. 13. add in the Margin Revel 14.13 p. 122. l. 9. f. thou r. this p. 132. l. 5 6 7. r. accidentium jus est desideriorum jus est superstriendi extrinsecus p. 137. l. 11 12. r. all that is remarkable in p. 141. l. 2 3. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 173. l. 17. f. my r. any p. 179. l. penult f. as r. than p. 217. l. 4. r. in extremis p. 260. l. 6 1. sâ—nners f. servants p. 273. l. 1. r. Vers 13. The Epistle Dedicatory To the Virtuous and Religious and truly Christian Mrs. Anne Whalley Wife to William Whalley Esq of Norton by Gaulby in Leicestershire Dear Sister HOwever it was my great misfortune by those who had a power to command me and did to be taken from you and from Two Parishes upon the matter wherein I am confident I wanted not the love of any and I think none will complain either of my want of care or love to them yet I have ever since my forced departure from you had you in my thoughts and a desire to leave some Memorial amongst you whereby you may bear me in your memories when I am dead and gone out of this World which is so bad that I want an Epithite to speak what it is I know you were always lovers of the Common-Prayer-Book and if you loved me because I loved it too ye are the worthier to participate of some of these my poor endeavours upon it To you I present them first and chiefly and if they meet with your acceptance I question not but they will be accepted by many others of the Gentry about you to whom You may if you please to command me present them by Your own fair Hand with my Prayers to God for You and all Youâ—s I remain Yours to serve You. T. ELBOROWE Imprimatur Ex Aed Lamb. Oct. 25. 1670 Tho. Tomkyns The ORDER for the Visitation of the SICK Rubrick When any Person is sick notice shaâ—l be given thereof to the Minister of the Parish who coming into the sick Persons House shall say Note THis Office for the Visitation of the Sick is undoubtedly gâ—ounded upon that advise of St. James chap. 5. vers 14. where the Person visited with sickness being supposed not very well able to judg of his own estate but one standing in need of spiritual directions and counsel is exhorted and advised to call to his assistance some spiritual Person the Bishop or whosoever is by or under Him ordained for such Offices By Elders of the Church in that place are primarily meant the Bishops who are Seniores Christianae Congregationis called by Polycarp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Philip. One part of whose Office was to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To visit all the Sick To afford them their best directions to pray to God with and for them At the first when the Church was small and the number of Disciples not great the Bishop only attended with his Deacons did perform all the Offices of the Ministerial function the middle order which is now called the Presbyters came not in till after the Church became numerous and so the task of the Ministry too great to be discharged by the Bishop alone Vid. Dr. Ham. Annot. in Act. 11. vers 30. Now it is undoubtedly a work of the highest charity a singular piece of piety and Christianity and an eminent branch of the Ministerial function for Ministers carefully to attend upon this Office of visiting the Sick It is a Christian Office and an act of charity at all times to visit the People under their charge and afford them all the spiritual helps and aids as they make discovery of their needs but in time of sickness when they are in extremis then the Ministers ought to be most diligent and in no case to neglect it ever remembring that of our Saviour I was sick and ye visited me Matth. 25.36 But especially that of the Apostle that
then in the Cloud of our Flesh now in the Clouds of Heaven then to be judged now to Judg. Note 1. Who shall come He. 2. Whence from Heaven 3. When. No time set it is certain come he shall but most uncertain when Latet ille dies ut observentur omnes 4. What to do To judge 5. Whom The quick and dead Act. 10.38.40 41. Rom. 2.16 2 Tim. 1.8 Jam. 5.9 8. Article I believe in the Holy Ghost This Article is touching the third Person in the sacred Trinity the Author of Man's Sanctification wherein we are to Note 1. The Divinity I believe in which we could not do was he not God 2. His Nature A Spirit an holy spirit 3. His Nature and Office both Holy 1. He is so The highest Holy 2. He makes us so He is Spiritus Sanctus spiritus sanctificans 1 Cor. 1 21 22. 1 Pet. 1.2 9. Article I believe there is an Holy Catholick Church which is a Communion of Saints As the other Articles were touching God and the chief works of God Creation attributed to the Father Redemption attributed to the Son Sanctification attributed to the holy Ghost So this and the following Articles are touching the People of God called a Church or the Lords People Catholick for time and place Apostolick for faith and government Holy and a Communion of Saints because sanctified in Baptism by the holy Spirit and dedicated to the service of God which is an holy service Note 1. There is a Church 2. There is but one 3. It is distinguished from other Societies by these badges or marks 1. Holy 2. Catholick 3. Apostolick 4. A Communion of Saints Ephes 4.15 1 Cor. 10.16 Heb. 10.25 1 John 1.7 Ephes 1.3 4. Ephes 2.21 Colos 1.22 Isay 54.2 Psal 87.4 Act. 1.8 Ephes 2.14 Revel 5.9 10th 11th 12th Article I believe there is a Remission of Sins Resurrection of the Body and a Life Everlasting In these last Articles are contained the priviledges and special immunities of the People of God 1. Touching the Soul Remission 2. Touching the Body Resurrection 3. Touching both Life Everlasting Amen So it is I believe Lord help my unbelief Note here once for all that a very great part of the Service-Book or Common-Prayer may be resolved into this Creed and was the Method of the Common-Prayer warily and considerately observed the Apostles Creed would need no other explication then what the Church in her Liturgick Office hath in one part or other one office or other clearly made out to our hands I am very confident the service-Service-Book cannot be faulty in any one thing unless it will be confest that this confession of faith according to which most of the Service is composed be faulty also 1. The Te Deum The Athanasian and the Nicene Creeds are but explications of this and the growth of heresies in the Church gave the occasion to those explications that the Members of the Church might be the better secured from the infection of them 2. The Gloria patri c. so often repeated is but a shorter confession of the Trinity which this Creed teacheth us to believe in 3. The Lord have mercy Christ have mercy c. Lord have mercy c. which is the lesser Litany used in all Divine Offices is of the same use and design 4. The greater Litany which begins O God the Father of Heaven c. is as to the first part of it the very same and those passages in it which some scruple at By the mystery of thy holy Incarnation c. is but a pathetical enumeration of all those acts and passages of our Redeemer mention'd in this Creed by which we pray for deliverance and without which our deliverance we pray for could not possibly be obtain'd 5. Many of the Collects Epistles and Gospels for the Dominicals and Festivals may be reduced to this Creed and may serve for a clear explication of it As that for Trinity-Sunday to the whole Creed The Prayer for Rain In time of dearth and Famine with many other Collects to the first Article The last Prayer but one in the Visitation of the Sick to the second Article as also many other Prayers and Collects The Collects for the Annunciation and the Nativity to the third Article The Collect for the Sunday next before Easter and the first Collect for good Friday to the fourth Article The Collect and Epistle for Easter Even The Anthems Collect Epistle and Gospel for Easter Day for Munday and Tuesday in Easter-Week for the first and second Sunday after Easter to the fifth Article The Collect Epistle and Gospel for Ascension-Day and the Collects for the Sunday after Ascension to the sixth Article The Collect for the first Sunday in Advent to the seventh Article The Collects Epistles and Gospels for Whit-Sunday Munday and Tuesday in Whitsun-Week and the second Collect for good Friday to the eighth Article The Collect for the 22th Sunday after Trinity for all the Festivals of the Apostles and Evangelists especially for all Saints to the 9th Article The Confession and Absolution at the beginning of the Service-Book the Absolution and following Collect in the Visitation of the Sick The general confession in the Office for the Communion and the Absolution together with many other Collects and Prayers to the tenth Article The most part of the Office for the Burial of the dead and many other passages in the Service-Book as the Collect for the second Sunday in Advent to the eleventh and twelfth Article Hither all the Festivals touching Christ then Apostles and Evangelists together with the Collects Epistles and Gospels proper Lessons and proper Psalmo may be reduced and may serve not only to explain every Article in the Creed but to imprint it in our memories that it may have the greater influence upon our lives So that I very much wonder that any People can be offended at the Service-Book it being of so admirable contrivance and so singularly useful would People but follow and observe as well as follow the Churches method I could easily reduce the most of it to the Lord's Prayer Apostles Creed and Ten Commandements After the Minister hath rehearsed the Articles of the Faith The sick Person is to return this Answer All this I stedfastly believe That by it the Minister may be assur'd that the sick Person believes as a Christian ought to do and so may proceed to the other part of the Office in that order as the Church directs Rubrick Then shall the Minister examine â— Note It is not enough that the sick Person declare his assent to all the Articles of Faith contained in the Creed but that his faith may appear sound and sincere and be in some sort evidenced to the Minister that so it is by the fruits and effects of it the Minister is to examine him further touching his life and conversation 1. Touching his charity without which a bare profession of faith is nothing worth Fides non
be put off that immortality may be put on Those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the first Age had this story told of them all they lived so many years and then they dyed Gen. 5. What Man is he that liveth and shall not see death The Prince and the Peasant are elemented of the same earth as Adam was like Nebuchadnezar's Image though we may have Heads of Gold yet we all stand but Lute is pedibus on feet of clay We are but like the Ark of God In medio pellium in the midst of skins living within Paper-walls walls of flesh we dwell in Houses of Clay whose foundation is in the dust and dirt which are crushed before the Moth. Job 4.19 I need say no more for confirmation of the first Proposition Let us see in the next place what use is to be made of it if we must all die and depart hence this being not our rest not our home but our way home Let us make provision in our life time for that time of dying which will most certainly come upon us though it be most uncertain when Let us think every day of dying for indeed we die daily as soon as we are born we begin to die Let us make death familiar by expectation of it by daily apprehension of it Let us at all instants go out to meet it and think our selves always upon our Death-bed He deserves not saith Jerom the name of a Christian who will live in that state of life in which he would not die Indeed it is a very great adventure to be in an evil state of life because we know that every minute of it hath a danger and we know withall that after death there is something else to be looked after which brings me to the next particular That all Men after Death must come to Judgment This is a Proposition carrying in it a very great truth which Pagans Turks and Infidels I mean the most sober and best moraliz'd amongst them have not been ignorant of How Heathens came by this knowledg whether by the light of nature or by some Revelation unknown to us or happily by some light derived from our Scriptures I am not able to say nor curious to enquire for my way hath ever been to sit down contented with my own ignorance in things which are in the dark and wherein I may spend much time in the disquisition and find but little satisfaction at last In secret things which belong to God Ignorance shall be the Mother of my Devotion That God shal judg the World is a clear truth Rom. 3.6 That he shall judg the Jews who sinned in the Law by the Law the Gentiles who sinned without Law without Law and Christians who have sinned against the clear light of the Gospel by the Gospel is a very great truth also Rom. 2.12 13 14 15 16. When this final Judgment shall be I will not determine Let curious heads meddle with these curiosities I dare not I will not so much as desire to know what God was not willing to reveal There is a day God hath appointed in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained Act. 17.31 even Jesus Christ before whose Tribunal we must all appear and receive according to what we have done in our Bodies be it good or evil 2 Cor. 5 10. God is pleased in wisdom to conceal that day that we may carefully observe every day By way of Application I add but this Knowing therefore this terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 5.11 Consider I pray you and lay it to heart What manner of Persons ye ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness 2 Pet. 3.11 And let this be a comfort to all Christians who have not their hope in this life only nor fix the Anchor of it here below that the same Jesus Christ who is now our Advocate in Heaven shal hereafter be our Judg c. Reader A Funeral Sermon of this nature may not be impertinent although not very necessary neither the Church in her Funeral Office having made such a full provision already But were the Funeral Orations and Encomiums o◠some low spirited Preachers well examin'd there is nothing in Print can appear more unseemly and misbecoming Christian profession wherein great Persons meerly for being great shall be applauded for that goodness which was never apparent in them Certainly these Elogies were intended as things extraordinary for Men of extraordinary sanctity and not else THE END The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-Birth Commonly called The Churching of Women Note 1. OUr Church of England eminent in her Liturgy and publick Offices both for her Charity to Man and Piety to God hath prescribed to Us in Her service-Service-Book two notable Passages as relating to Child-bearing-Women 1. In the Litany we are taught to pray in a general way for all Women labouring with Child that is for their safe deliverance in so great a danger which is so great that the Spirit of God being to lay out a danger to the full expresseth it thus As travel upon a Woman with Child 1 Thes 5.3 noting both the suddenness and sharpness of the pains Now there was a curse we know inflicted upon Woman-kind for Eve's sin That they should bring forth Children in sorrow or with sore travel at their birth Gen. 3.16 Every Child should be to her a Benoni and Filius Lachrymarum because the Woman was the cause and beginning of sin and ruine on all Man-kind 1 Tim. 2.14 However God is pleased to moderate the curse so that Woman shall be able to pass through her Child-bearing safe though not without some difficulty and danger and this curse no question is not so heavy upon Woman-kind as that sin deserved by means of the seed of the Woman the Messias which should be born from her Posterity For no doubt he would redeem that nature which he was to assume and did assume not only from the danger of Child-bearing but from a greater danger of eternal damnation upon condition that these Child-bearing-Women continue in the Faith and live in that Charity Holiness and Sobriety as they ought to do performing those Duties of Chastity and modest behaviour which Christianity requires of them 1 Tim. 2.15 Yet notwithstanding the curse of Child-bearing is moderated and mitigated it is not taken away it remains stil so as to expose the Woman to very great danger which motive puts the Church upon it constantly to pray for all Women labouring with Child I wonder ever any Women who have been sensible of these dangers should be taken captives by those spirits of errour and seducing Teachers 2 Tim. 3.6 which creep first into their houses and then into their hearts so as to be brought to a loathing and dislike of that most excellent Prayer which the Church hath inserted into her constant Morning-Service for their safe deliverance 2. Here is a peculiar Office for the purpose
as being to sit in a more eminent place in the Congregation to pay her thanks to God for her safe deliverance from so great a danger which Veil may not only mind her of her subjection but teach her also to make reflexion upon that first sin wherein the Woman was the first which brought the Sex first under subjection and withall subjected them to the great danger of Child-birth Indeed some superstitious Persons who are apt to create fears to themselves where there is no ground of fear which is the right meaning of superstition taken in a bad sense scruple more at this Vestment than at the committing of a gross sin and where-ever this Veil is used I verily believe it may be to convince these pittiful Christians of their gross ignorance who scruple so at every indifferent thing that they do not only destroy all Christian duty but all Christian liberty too which they so much contend for I do not read it injoyned by any Ecclesiastical Canon nor by any injunction of the Church only it is a civil custom and fashion of the Country and hath no more offence in it than the wearing of new Gloves at Marriages or blacks at Funerals Dr. Whitgift Defence of his Answer to the Admonition Fol. 537. 3. Note The Woman is to kneel in a convenient place For kneeling I suppose no just exception can be taken out against that for it hath ever been the manner in Christ's Church Note 1. Book of Edward VI. unto the Quire Door whether we offer to God or receive ought offered from him in this wise to do it Vid. Bishop Andrews Serm. on Phil. 2.8 9 10 11. Now the Woman at this time hath a peculiar offring of praise and thanksgiving to offer up to God for her deliverance and therefore it is fit she do it in most decent and humble manner But as to the convenient place we must take our directions from custom and the Ordinary however in case it be more within the publick view and the publick hearing than any other place the Chancel and as neer to the Communion Table as may be approached the Woman not pressing or presuming within the Rail which is a place peculiar to the Priest only is the fittest place and hath ever been so accounted in the Churches practise For that is indeed properly the Sacrarium where Oblations were wont to be made They who brought any gift were to bring it unto the Altar or to the Holy Table which in Ignatius is frequently termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Altar According to that of our Saviour If thou bring thy gift to the Altar Mat. 5.23 which is clearly a Christian injunction implying when we bring any special gift to God for any special mercy received thither we must bring it It was the usual place whither all oblations donations and gifts devoted to God and the maintenance of his Service were brought Vid. Capital Caroli Magni Wormatiae lib. 6. c. 285. And then the Priest shall say unto Her For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God of his goodness to give you safe deliverance and hath preserved you in the great danger of Child-birth you shall therefore give hearty thanks unto God and say Rubrick Then shall the Priest say this Psalm Note 1. In the former Liturgy this Preface For as much as it hath pleased c. was left arbitrary to the Priest these words or such like as the case shall require but since our Reformers very prudently noting of how dangerous a consequence it is to leave things arbitrary in publick Offices especially when some extravagant Ministers took occasion thereby to depart clearly from the sense sometimes as well as from the words and assumed such a liberty as did exceed the due bounds of modesty and sobriety therefore to avoid all such extravagancies for the future have tied up the Ministers to use these very words which words are to be applied to the Woman who is to return her thanks and that she may discharge this duty of thankfulness with the more fervency and devotion she is in few words put in mind 1. Of the greatness of her danger 2. Of God's goodness to her in her deliverance Note 2. The Minister is to go before the Woman I suppose in the reading of the Psalm and she to make her Response of every Verse after him for in the Preface she is to say as well as the Priest is to say in the Rubrick The usual Psalm both in the Scotch Liturgy and our former Liturgy was Psalm 121. which was a Psalm not abused but very appositly applied in regard the Contents of it are expresly thus That the faithful ought only to look for help from God But in regard some Persons have made their exceptions against it by reason of some passages in the Psalm which were not plain enough to their capacities in their literal meaning therefore our late Reformers being willing to give satisfaction to all truly tender Consciences have laid that Psalm aside and made choice of two other less liable to exception for to supply that defect Psal 116. This Psalm is a grateful acknowledgment of God's seasonable deliverances and gracious returns to the prayers of his afflicted distressed Servant which are to be answered with vows of new obedience and intire affiance in God This Psalm indeed was not Penn'd for such a particular occasion as this but yet it is thought seasonable at this time to be used and may very fitly be applied to this occasion Paraphrase Vers 1. I desired of the Lord in whom I reposed my chief and only confidence that he would be pleased to hear my prayer and in his good time consider my distress and send me a seasonable and gracious deliverance Vers 2. Now seeing he hath thus graciously heard my request and bestowed upon me the mercy which I prayed for I shall when ever my calamities approach me or seize upon me apply my self by my prayers chiefly and solely to God and however I neglect not any other lawful means yet will I make him my chief trust and dependance Vers 3. My dangers indeed which by the strength and goodness of my God I have escaped were very great menacing death Vers 4. And when I had small or no hopes of rescue left me from any humane means I made my address to God's over-ruling help and providence I humbly and fervently besought him in my Prayers that he would send me a seasonable deliverance Vers 5. For certainly thought I be my dangers what they will yet I have a merciful and faithful God in whom I trust who will make good his promise of mercy to all who depend upon his promises and faithfully by prayer solicite him for performance Vers 6. It is his proper attribute to be the supporter of the weak and the reliever of those who are in distress and accordingly hath he dealt with me in my greatest destitution Vers 7. And now being thus rescued
by him and delivered from those dangers which did encompass me I have nothing to do but to serve him in all sincerity and integrity of conversation Vers 8. For he hath rescued my life from death wiped all tears from my eyes restored me from my weakness to a perfect strength and soundness Vers 9. Therefore will I spend the remainder of my days which he shall afford me in this World in his service and at the present make my humble address to the place of God's special presence there to celebrate that mercy which he hath afforded me in so signal a deliverance Vers 10 11. When my calamities were most pressing and my dangers greatest by which I was clearly convinced that the arm of flesh was not to be trusted in for my relief yet I knew there was one sure hold to which I might hopefully and successfully resort the never failing Omnipotent hand of God therfore to that I betook my self entirely and from that I received my deliverance Vers 12 13 14. For this and for all other abundant mercies which God hath so graciously bestowed upon me I am bound up by all obligations to make my most thankful acknowledgment and to do it in the most solemn manner in the presence of the whole Congregation by way of publick Festival blessing and magnifying God's Holy Name who hath preserved my life from so great a danger and kept it as a Jewel of his own Cabinet as being by me humbly deposited with and intrusted to him And this is his gracious way of dealing not with me only but with all who truly rely and depend upon Him For which signal mercy of his I here present my self at this time to pay that gratitude and oblation of praise which if I did not promise in my danger yet am now bound up to perform after my deliverance Vers 16. O most gracious Lord how am I obliged to Thee by all the bonds that any ingagement can lay upon me No Servant bought with a price or born in a Man's house can be more closely bound to him than I am bound to Thee who hast rescued me by so great a deliverance from so great a danger Vers 17 18 19. What remains now but that I should return to Thee the humblest offrings of praise and prayer and spend my whole life as a vow'd oblation to thy service rendring Thee all possible praise in the publick Assembly and in the most solemn manner saying Blessed be the name of the Lord or Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the begining is now and ever shall be World without end Amen Vid. Dr. Hammond Or this Psalm 127. Note This or the former is left to the prudence and discretion of the Minister but the Church in both hath made so good a choice that the Minister in either cannot make an ill one Paraphrase This Psalm was composed by Solomon as a Compendium of his Ecclesiastes wherein is set down the vanity of worldly sollicitude without God's blessing as in all things else so in that of Children the greatest blessing of life Vers 1. There is no way in the World to attain any secular wealth or safety save only from the blessing of God the author and dispenser of all good things The building up of Houses and Families of gathering Riches and begetting Children to inherit them is not to be imputed to Man's sollicitude but is wholly imputable to God's blessing Unless God by his special protection guard a City all the guards of Men can do but little to the securing or preserving of it and unless God build up a Family all the industry of Men will not be successful to it Vers 2. 'T is to little purpose for Men to deny Nature that rest which God hath indulged to her to moil incessantly and to debar themselves the enjoyment of worldly comforts thinking by this means to inrich their Posterity for they who trust and depend upon their own anxious and sollicitous indeavours are generally frustrated and disappointed in their aims and ends whereas they who take God's blessing along with them thrive insensibly and become prosperous though they never loose any sleep in the pursuit of it Vers 3. And for Children that 's a particular blessing of God's from whom all increase comes and he gives them as he pleases and sees good as a present reward to the piety and other virtues of Men. Vers 4. And of all blessings this of a numerous Progeny is the greatest every Child being an addition of strength and safety to the Father Children of Youth are as arrows in the hand of a mighty Man and defend the House from Hostil Invasions as well as Weapons can Vers 5. As the Military Man guards himself with Weapons Arrows and Darts having them in a full quiver all in a readiness and prepared so the Master of a Family is fortified from Hostile Invasions and all other insolencies and molestations by the multitude and strength of his numerous Children who are in a readiness to back and defend him at all turns from injuries of any kind which the open violence or more secret fraud of Men can design against him either in the Field or in any Court of Judicature Vid. Dr. Hammond Therefore for other blessings and for these amongst the rest Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. Note Two more excellent Psalms could not have been selected out of the whole Book of Psalms for this Office which though not Penn'd for this particular occasion yet are most admirably fitted to it and most seasonably applied and no Church in the World is more happy for her Verba Opportuna as our Church of England is Then the Priest shall say Let us Pray Note This is like the Prophet David â—s invitatory Psal 95.1 and is frequently used in other Offices of the Service Book especially before the Lord's Prayer to shew what requests we desire more particularly to summe up in that Prayer at that time For this reason is this clause inserted into the Absolution at the begining of Morning Prayer Wherefore let us bâ—seech Him to grant us true repentance and his holy Spirit c. The meaning is that we are incited more particularly to pray for the grace of repentance and the gifts of the Spirit in the Lord's Prayer immediately following which Prayer was undoubtedly indicted by our Saviour for such a purpose or else it is set before these Three Versicles Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us which antiquity called the lesser Litany and were of very early admission into the service of the Church Clemens lib. 8. c. 5. c. 6. And fitly are they placed before â—â—e Lord's Prayer because expedient it is we implore God's mercy before we resort to him in Prayer Durand rational lib. 4. c. 12. It is an address to the blessed Trinity whereby
were convicted of heresie Schism Contumacy Perjury Adultery Drunkenness or any other notorious crimes which were a scandal to the Christian name or a reproach to Christianity and they were the stricter and severer in this Discipline not to magnify the power of the Keys and Authority of the Church above the mercies of God for his mercies are inexhaustible and all our sins to them are but as a drop to the Ocean but they were the more severe in it because Christianity was but then in the bud and the profession of it was thinly dispersed in the crowd of Pagans where the least moral scandal would have been a great blemish to the whole party and consequently have impeded the gaining of Proselites For it is an infallible rule that no Sect whatever can thrive and prosper whose Professors do not exhibit a fair front of moral Vertues in their outward actions Upon this account it was and it was expedient too that the Church under the penalty of the deepest of her censures required from all her subordinates such a practical and exemplary purity as might render her most resplendent even in the opinion of her greatest enemies Neither was the Church Catholick so severe but the Novatians the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Puritans in Affrick as they stiled themselves were much severer for they when they excluded criminals out of their communion did shut them for ever out which severity Cyprian condemned in them and so did Ambrose and wrote several Books and Epistles against them as being too over-rigid and cruel in their Discipline towards their lapsed Children exercising rather the authority of a Step-Mother than of a natural and indulgent Mother Yet though Affrica was always very fruitful of Monsters this severe Discipline of theirs did keep out vice and scandalous crimes from their Churches And when the Church ceased to carry a strict hand of Discipline over her delinquent Children grew remiss and relax and every day more and more gentle towards notorious criminals sin did quickly get the head of sanctity and vice justle out vertue and debauchery driv out this very Discipline it self so that for want of it now we may take up the complaint of Isaiah How is the faithful City become an Harlot it was full of judgment righteousness lodged in it but now murderers Thy Silver is become dross thy Wine mixed with Water Isay 1.21 22. 2. When Adam had sinned Adam and Eve both for Eve was the first transgressor and was first in the transgression 1 Tim. 2.14 God did not presently separate them and cast them out of Paradise but he called them first to a strict account and interrogated them touching their sin of which they were convict in their own consciences as appeared by the covers which they made for to hide their nakedness Gen. 3.7 and by their hiding themselves from God when they heard his voice in the Garden Gen. 3.8 9 10. GOD summons them to appear before Him with all their sin and guilt about them Gen. 3.9 And although they used many wryings and turnings from the matter minsings and shiftings translating and passing off their faults from one to another Adam confessing his nakedness but not his sin Gen. 3.10 And when he could not hide his sin laying it not upon himself but upon his Wife as his Wife did upon the Serpent Gen. 3.11 12 13. Yet God by his strict examination brought them to such a sense of it that they could not choose but see how notoriously criminal they were and unworthy to abide any longer in that Garden of God wherein they had injured the Majesty of so glorious a God and abused the mercy and goodness of so gracious a Creator So in the Primitive Church of Christians before the notorious sinners and criminals were cast out of the bosom of it they were assigned their Confessors who were to examine them to take cognizance of their crimes to lay open their sin and their danger and to make them throughly sensible of the injuries and indignities they had offred to Christ and to make them see clearly how unworthy they were to live in the society and communion of Christians and to partake of the Prayers Sacraments and Priviledges of the Church who by their hainous sins and notorious crimes had so much defamed Christ scandalized the Christian community and brought a reproach even amongst Heathens upon the Christian Name Now this business of confession or taking confession was not intrusted to any but to those who were most eminent in the Church for their prudence piety sanctity and integrity and such as could be as Christianly sensible of the faults of others as if they were really their own who had the wisdome of the Serpent to discern and the innocency of the Dove to determine in such cases and knew how to distinguish betwixt weak and wilful sinners 3. When Adam Eve and the Serpent whose shape the Devil had abused to deceive them both had passed their examination and confession but it is to be observed the Serpent was not examined neither did make any confession Gen. 3.14 Then God promised to Adam and Eve a gracious Pardon in the promised Seed Gen. 3.15 But he brought them to do Penance first the Serpents punishment rather than his Penance was to go upon his Belly and to feed upon dust all the days of his life Gen. 3.14 15. The Womans Punishment and Penance both was to bring forth Children with sorrow and to be in subjection to her Husband whom by her imperiousness she had deceived Gen. 3.16 being assured of hopes of salvation through a Child that should be born of Woman-kind that is the Messias if she and her Sex continued in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety 1 Tim. 2.15 The Man's punishment and penance was to eat his Bread in sorrow all the days of his life to live amongst thorns and thistles and to spend his days in a kind of mortification for his intemperance Gen. 3.17 18 19. And when God had pronounced them this Penance he cloathed the Man and the Woman like Penitents in Coats of Skins Gen. 3.21 So in the Primitive Church when scandalous Christians had passed their examination and confession then they were assigned their Penance by their Penitentiaries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the rate and assize of their crime and offence which Penance they were to perform exactly and to give some clear evidences of their reformation and amendment before they were to be readmitted to Christian communion but in some cases to those especially who were in extremes the Church was indulgent and did deal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more favourably Now when the Penance was assigned them and they became Canonice poenitentes then as God cloathed Adam and Eve with Skins so they were cloathed in silicio sordibus in sack-cloth and ashes to testify to the World that they were fallen and by sin become as the vilest things Fourthly and Lastly When Adam and
the Orders of the Church and by offring at a Sermon which is not enjoyned although the Court-practise may be our President let go the very Office of the Day which is enjoyned Give me leave now to acquaint you with a penitential Service placed at the end of the Service Book which may be used at other times of the Year but must always be used upon this Day It consists of the Litany which is a good penitential Prayer and of choice Sentences taken out of both Testaments which are very fit for the work of repentance and of Psalm 51. which is a penitential Psalm and other choice Prayers following fitted to the state and condition of Penitents But because there are many curses in it and the People are enjoyned to answer Amen after every curse lest any should take occasion thence to quarrel the Service as if we were enjoyned to curse our selves and as Jacob said to call down a curse upon our own Heads and not a blessing Gen. 27.12 To remove this scruple I am first to tell you That the Churches Voice herein is God's Voice the Church enjoynes no more than what God himself enjoynes Deut. 27.15 Now for the word Amen give me leave to explain it it is not always a wish or prayer but sometimes only an assent to the truth of that to which it is added and so is it in this place we do not wish that these curses may fall upon our Heads but only affirm with our own Mouths that the curse of God is indeed due to such sins as the Church here propounds it And the use of it is to deter us from such and the like sins to make us repent of them if we are guilty as very well knowing that God's curse and vengeance doth deservedly follow such sins and sinners So that however we are enjoyned with Moses as it were to go into Mount Ebal this day and to pronounce these curses which can be no very pleasing task For according to the Hebrew Proverb we must creep into Ebal and leap into Gerizim that is be swift to bless and slow to curse Let them note this who were not many years since so ready at their Curse ye Meroz wresting and abusing a Text of Scripture against the clear sense and meaning of it rather than the King Loyal Nobility and Clergy and all the faithful People of the Land should not be cursed which considering how this Church of ours both in her Articles of Religion Liturgy and Canons stands divided from Rome so far as she is divided from her ancient self may perswade any rational Man to believe that they received their Orders from the Conclave of Rome so to do they wanted nothing but the Ceremony of Bell Book and Candle to speak them as very Papists as ever upheld the Popes interest Their Curse ye Meroz as they apply'd it differ'd nothing from the Pope's Bull and his thundering Curse of Excommunication for how it wrought upon the seduced vulgar and drew them off from their Allegiance is apparent to all but only those who are resolvedly blind and will not see But I go on now to speak of the Curses in the Commination Office For if we can but avoid the cursed thing avoid the cause which makes the Curse to fall it may hover over but not alight nay it may flie over as a Bird but not fall down upon us as a Bird of prey If we do but frame our practise up to the Churches meaning these Curses pronounced will be but like Jonathan's Arrows shot to David to warn us but not to wound us For be confident whatever evil of punishment may fall upon us for our evil of sin if we go on and continue in it The one will never fall the evil of punishment if we flie the other the evil of sin Our Repentance if it be as it ought will cause God's Repentance If we turn from the evil we have done he will turn from us the evil which he may justly do and inflict upon us even all those evils as it is in our Service-Book which we most righteously that is most justly have deserved So that unless we have a mind to continue in our sins and to turn to them like the Dog to his vomit or the Swine to her wallowing in the Mire rather than turn from them as Moses from his Rod when it was a Serpent there can be no danger in reading the Commination and the many Curses in it for upon our turning from sin and turning to God God can turn these Curses all away and instead of them leave a blessing behind him But then as it follows in the last part of this Text. 3. Harden not your Hearts Hardness of heart was Pharaoh's great sin and his punishment as well as his sin So that God is said one while to harden Pharaohs heart and in that sense hardness of heart was a punishment God did harden it that is God did not soften it Pharaoh is said another while to harden his own heart and in that sense Hardness of heart was a sin Pharaoh did harden it that is Pharaoh did stand out against Moses and Aaron by a perpetual Rebellion and would rather run the hazard of having all Aegypt destroy'd then let the People of God go out of his tyrannous hands But those very People of God how little warning did they take by Pharaoh's wounding How were they guilty of that very sin for which they saw Pharaoh and all Aegypt smarted insomuch that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hardness of heart became as it were the proper note of the Jewish Nation As little as Moses Miracles wrought upon Pharaoh so little did Christ's Miracles work upon them The Miracles which would have converted Tyre and Sydon could not reclaim Chorazin and Bethsaida The mighty Works which might have preserved Sodom could not keep Capernaum from destruction Matth. 11.21 It was indeed their hardness of heart their obstinacy and resolved impenitency that kept many out of Canaan who came out of Aegypt and transported many into Babylon who came into Canaan That brought them under the scourge of Nebuchadnezar and the Rod of Ashur and at last under the Roman Eagles to be prey'd upon wasted and consumed to nothing so that that Nation which was God's own Nation adorned with many Priviledges and Prerogatives above other Nations is now no Nation but dispersed among all Nations to be a warning to all Nations That as Tertullian hath it Ex cinere Judaeorum fiat lixivium Christianorum out of the very Ashes of that ruin'd Nation we may gather up some this Ashwednesday and make a Lee of them to besprinkle our Eys and to supple and mollifie our hard hearts that the same sin which procured theirs prove not also our ruine Hardness of heart brought such a fall upon them that unless our hearts are as hardned as theirs we cannot choose but fear at their fall and look to our own standing when we
read of them fallen Miror quorum facta imitamur eorum exitus nos non perhorrescere But what is it think you that causeth this hardness of heart Whence proceedeth it Truly it proceeds from the heart it self from some errour there They err in their hearts not in their heads but in their hearts Heb. 3.10 It lies not so much in the understanding as in the will a weak understanding doth not contribute so much to this Soul-murdering sin as a wicked will Therefore the Apostle's caution is not so much against an erroneous head as an evil heart Heb. 3.12 An unfaithful unthankful heart a heart apt to tempt God to provoke God a heart that is more inclinable to grieve God with sin Forty Years together then to be grieved for sin A heart that will depart from God rather than depart from sin from the living God rather than from any one beloved sin When an evil heart and the deceitfulness of sin meet together when Sin and the wily Serpent both joyn to deceive the heart and the heart is as willing to be deceived by them this is it which produceth in time hardness of heart Heb. 3.13 But now to keep us from this sin which unless we are kept from Salvation it self cannot keep us from perishing the Church hath appointed such times of austerity as these to mortifie our lusts and to mollifie our hearts And hath framed up a Service proper for this Day to bring the heart if possible into a good frame So that the sins which we are most prone to are presented to us with a sting in the tayl of them usher'd in with a Maledictus Cursed is such a sinner for such a sin and closed up with an Amen so it is God says it and the People seal it The Minister goes before with a Commination and the Congregation follows after with a Confirmation But that none of these Curses to be pronounced by us may fall upon us but all beside us I desire you that as you have heard God's Voice spoken by me so now ye would with a little more patience hear God's Voice spoken by the Church and so having given you in part the Reason for this Days observance I come now to conclude with the proper Office framed up for the better observance of it and so in the close we shall shut up with the Ministers Benediction the better to secure us from Moses Malediction that when we have heard the severe curses against sin we may depart from sin and so all the forementioned curses may depart from us and we depart with God's blessing Note This Sermon was preached before the reading of the Commination Office the better to acquaint the People with the Reasons of it and to remove some scruples A COMMINATION OR Denouncing of God's anger and judgments against sinners with certain Prayers to be used on the first day of Lent and at other times as the Ordinary shall appoint Rubrick After Morning Prayer the Litany ended according to the accustomed manner the Priest shall in the Reading-Pew or Pulpit say Note 1. THe learned Bucer as touching this Office gives this full commendation in few words Cum primis salutaris est ceremonia c. And whereas it was formerly used but upon one day it was by his motion brought in to be used at several times in the Year which times are not settled by any prescribed rule only we read in the Visitation Articles of Arch-Bishop Grindal three days mention'd as relating to this Office Ann. Dom. 1576. One before Easter another before Pentecost a third before Christmass and Ashwednesday or the first day of Lent must be always supposed to have been another day as appears by the following Preface However as sins abound and God's judgments follow at the heels of them in order to the Reformation of the one and the Removal of the other it is left to the Ordinary of the place and Men impowred for the ordering of Ecclesiastical affaires to indict days as they shall see occasion provided nothing be done contrary to any established Law or prescribed Rules Note 2. This Office is a very necessary Office to lay open Mens gross sins unreformed and unsanctified lives for which the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven Rom. 1.18 Rom. 1.32 that seeing the guilt of their sin in the glass of their punishment they may reform their lives and so keep themselves both from the wrath present which is as a spark and the wrath to come which is as a great Fire Note 3. It is an Office very proper for the first day of Lent commonly called Ashwednesday because this was Caput jejunii the Head of the Lent-Fast and was a day of extraordinary humiliation called Dies cinerum or Ashwednesday from a Ceremony of Ashes wherewith Christians used to sprinkle themselves partly to mind them of their mortality but chiefly to mind them of that Fire which is of sins kindling those everlasting burnings Isay 33.14 which nothing but the tears of unfeigned repentance and the Blood of Jesus can quench This is the terrour of the Lord 2 Cor. 5.11 which the Ashes of this Day once preached that by our fasting penance mortification and amendment of life we might keep our selves from the wrath to come and the wrath to come from us Matth. 3.7 However the Ceremony is gone yet I hope the substance is not though the Ashes are blown away yet the memory of them should remain the substance should not be blown away after the Ceremony This and the three days following were added to the Lent-Fast by Gregory the Great to supply the Six Sundays falling in Lent which were never fasted on Ignatius accounts them Schismatiques to say no worse who fast upon the Lord's Day and to make up the just number of Forty Days which is about the tenth part of the Year by which the Church seemed to devote to God as well a tenth of their time as of their fruits Here is to be noted also once for all Psal 6. Psal 32. Psal 38. Psal 102. Psal 130. Psal 143. that there are proper Psalms now added to Ashwednesday which were not in our former Liturgy Psalms admirably chosen by the Church being Psalms penn'd by David or others upon some occasion of special humiliation for confession of sins and averting of God's judgments Note 4. The Place injoyned the Priest for the reading of the Commination was the Pulpit in the former service-Service-Book but now the Minister may make his choice of Pew or Pulpit and use his discretion to take the fittest of these two places for the People to hear him and joyn in their Amens to the Commination The Pulpit which is now made use of only for popular Orations was anciently the place where a great part of the Service was performed Injunct 22. Edward 6. and Injunct 4. Ann. 1547. Injunct 5. Elizabeth The Reading-Pew or Desk we read not of till Can. 82. Ann. Dom. 1603. However the