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A77773 Short and plain directions for the observation of the Lords day as they were delivered in a sermon in the church of Mallow, in the diocess of Cloyne : suited to the capacity of the common people / by John Bulkelly, M.A. and rector of Cloyne. Bulkelly, John. 1697 (1697) Wing B5402; ESTC R42873 10,718 19

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a Hymn for after times And what are David's Psalms but set forms of Prayer Petitions thanksgivings for Benefits and deprecations against Evil. Our Saviour in the New Testament prescribed a Form of Prayer to his Apostles as St. John the Baptist his immediate fore-runner had formerly done to his Disciples St. Paul often used the same set form of Prayer without variation Our Saviour had a better gift in praying than any man in the world and could have varied his words better than any other yet when he had the same suit to make to his Father he used the same words diverse times saying once again and yet a third time Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me In the Primitive times I doubt not but they did pray and preach too as the Spirit gave them utterance but when that immediate assistance of the Spirit ceased they saw the inconvenience of extemporary Prayers and were enforced to compile publick Forms or Liturgies for as St. Aug. speaks Quidam in precibus loquti sunt contrà Regulam Fidei Some in their prayers speak dissonant to the Rule of Faith Some prayed Heresy some Schisme and some Blasphemy In remedy whereof the Council of Laodicaea decreed that it should not be lawful for any to frame set forms of Prayer at their pleasure and recite them in their publick Assemblies But the accustomed prayers which had been approved should be used in every meeting And the Councel of Carthage decreed that what prayers soever a man framed for himself he should first acquaint those that were wise and learned with them before he presumed to use them and also decreed that Nullae aliae preces vel Orationes dicerentur in Ecclesia nisi quae à synodo erant approbatae that no other prayer or supplications be used in the Church but such as are approved by a Synod And the reason is given nè forte aliquid contra fidem vel per Ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit Compositum Least by sudden extemporary effusion of prayer without good advice and meditation some expressions might slip from him either through Ignorance or Carelesness which were not consonant to the Faith of Christ's Church no nor beseeming the awful Majesty of Almighty God And now I appeal to your Consciences whether the same necessity doth not lie on us to preserve the Publick Liturgie or Service Book from contempt and disusance seing so many different Sects and dangerous Heresies are crept in among us as Presbyterians Independants Anabaptists Seekers c. whose prayers if they be true to their own Positions cannot be consonant to the rule of Faith and consequently we cannot with a good Conscience say Amen thereunto I close up this with the speech of Polycarpus O Deus in quae tempora reservasti nos O God for what times hast thou reserved us wherein that service of thine which hath heretofore had the high approbation applause and commendation of many learned Divines and glorious Martyrs is now exposed to the careless neglect to the proud contempt and scorn of new fangled disaffected persons and villifyed as popish and superstitious whose particular exceptions against it or any passage in it have received full particular and abundant satisfaction by the Learned pens of Hooker Fisher Falkner and of Dr. King the now Bishop of Derry But I now come to the peoples Duty at the time of publick service when prayers are beginning lay aside thine own private meditations Let thy heart joyn with the Minister and the whole Church as being one Body of Christ and because God is the God of Order he will have all things to be done in the Church with one heart and one agreement The exercises of the Church are common and publick no body is excluded from it's harmony vis unita fortior It is an ignorant pride for a man to think his own private prayers more effectual than the publick prayers of the whole Church pray therefore when the Church prayeth sing when they sing and let thy heart and affection be intent upon and run along with the publick prayers let not thy heart be roving while thy tongue is at prayer 2dly Let thy behaviour at prayer be such as becometh Saints the ordinary postures at prayer were standing kneeling or lying along upon the ground but the usual posture was kneeling Eusebius witnesseth that the Christian Souldiers kneeled in their prayers Arnobius affirms that Christians when they ador'd God with their joynt prayers did use prostration The Church commandeth prayers to be made with all diligence and genuflection on the set or appointed days True it is that for joy of our Saviours Resurrection the ancient Church would not kneel in her prayers between Easter and Whitsuntide as we read in Tertull and Just Mart. and when that Ceremony was omitted in some places the 20th Can of the first Councel of Nice decreed that it should be observed in every place yet we find in Acts 21.5 that St. Paul prayed with bended knees on the shore of Tyre between the Feast of Pascha and Pentecost After the days of Unleavened Bread he sayled from Philippi and hastned to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost and passing thrô Tyre in this his journy towards Jerusalem he kneeled down on the shore and prayed Acts 20.6.16 Kneeling then is the most seemly gesture in prayer but if thou canst not thrô some bodily infirmity or for want of room why then stand But sitting is a most irreverent and unseemly gesture at prayer time When thou prayest thou askest a Blessing and dost it upon thy knees if to thy earthly Father how much more to thy heavenly But men have inverted the course now they drink their health upon their knees and pray for their health upon their tayles God shall answer such men according to their manners Lastly at the close of every prayer say Amen Neh. 8.6 1. Cor. 14.16 So did the primitive Christians ad similitudinem caelestis tonitru Amen reboabat saith St. Hierom. The whole Congregation resoundeth Amen like a crack of Thunder till the Church did ring again After prayer succeedeth the publick reading of the Word Deut. 4.10 where it appears that the end of our gathering is to hear the word that is sanctified for sanctification Moses was read among the Jews in their Synagogue upon that Sabbath day Acts 15.21 Among Christians also Moses and the Prophets were read at first Acts 13.15 Then the Gospels 2. Cor. 8.18 We have sent with Titus the Brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches whence we may not improbably gather that the Gospel of St. Luke was read in all the Churches in Sr. Paul's time St. Paul chargeth the Thessalonians that the Epistle sent unto them be read unto all the holy Brethren and he desires of the Collossians that they would read the Epistle written from Laodicaea and cause that which was sent unto them to be read to the Laodiceans After