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A27562
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A sermon concerning the excellency and usefulness of the common prayer preached by William Beveridge ... 27th of November. 1681.
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Beveridge, William, 1637-1708.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing B2100; ESTC R974
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27,675
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46
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when we our selves do not mind whether he answer them or no Nor believe and trust upon him for it For certainly trusting on God as it is one of the highest Acts of Religion that we can perform so it is that which gives life and vigour vertue and efficacy to our Prayers without which we have no ground at all to expect they should be answered For God having promised to answer our Prayers except we trust on him for his performance of such Promises we lose the benefit of them and by consequence our Prayers too And therefore as ever we desire that he should grant us what we pray for when we have directed our prayers to him we must still look up â—sâ—l 5. 3. expecting and hoping for the return of them Now as this is a thing of greater consequence so a Set Form of Prayer is a greater help to us in â—â— than it is commonly thought to be For if we hear another utter a prayer extempore which he never said nor we heard before nor ever shall do it again it is much if he himself can remember the tenth part of what he said how much less can we that heard him do it And if we cannot possibly remember what we prayed for how is it possible for us to expect it at the hands of God Or to depend upon him for it But now it is quite otherwise when we use a Set Form of Prayer For by this means when we have prayed we can recollect our selves look over our prayers again either in a Book or in our minds where they are imprinted we can consider distinctly what we have asked at the hands of God and so act our faith and confidence on him for the granting every petition we have put up unto him according to the promises which he hath made us to that purpose And as this is the surest way whereby to obtain what we pray for it must needs be the most edifying way of praying that we can possibly use These things being duly weighed I shall now take it for granted That the using a Form in general in the Publick Worship of God is agreeable to this Apostolical Rule Let all things be done to edifying and so shall proceed to shew that that Form in particular which our Church hath appointed to be used upon such occasions is so too For which end it is not necessary that I should run through every particular word phrase or expression in the Common Prayer much less that I should vindicate and defend it from every little exception that ignorance or malice may make against something in it For nothing ever yet was or can be said or written but something or other may be said or written against it either well or ill But my business must be to prove That the Form of Divine Service contained in the Book of Common Prayer which is now used in the Church of England conduceth so much to the edifying those that use it that it agrees exactly with the Rule which the Apostle here prescribes in that case And this I shall demonstrate from Four Heads 1. From the Language 2. From the Matter or Substance of it 3. From the Method And 4. From the Manner of Performing it For if it be edifying in all these respects it must needs be acknowledged to be so in the whole There being nothing in it but what may be reduced to these Heads First Therefore as to the Language you all know that the whole Service is performed in English the Vulgar and Common Language of the Nation which every one understands and so may be edified by it And this indeed is the ground and foundation of all the benefit that we can possibly receive from our Publick Prayers And therefore in the Church of Rome the Common People are made uncapable of being edified by the prayers of their Church in that they are all made in Latine a Language which they do not understand So that when they meet to worship God there are seldom any in the Congregation that knows what is said there except the Priest that reads it and oftentimes not he neither By which means they have no such thing really amongst them as Common Prayer Neither is it possible for the Common People to be ever edified by what is there said or done except they would be once convinced by it of the horrible abuse which their Church puts upon them in commanding all her Publick Devotions to be performed in an unknown Tongue directly contrary not only to the Rule in my Text but to the Design of this whole Chapter But blessed be God for it it is not so with us For ours is truly Common Prayer for it is written and read in that Language which is common to all the Congregations in the Kingdom and to every person in each Congregation So that all the People of the land whatsoever rank or condition they are of may joyn together in the use of every thing that is in it and so be joyntly Edified by it Especially considering that it is not only all in English but in common and plain English such as we use in our common discourse with one another There are no unusual or obsolete words no hard or uncouth Phrases in it but every thing is expressed as cleerly and plainly as words can do it so that the meanest person in the Congregation that understands but his Mothers Tongue may be Edified by it as well as the greatest Scholar But that which is chiefly to be considered in the Language of the Common Prayer is that it is not only common but proper too Though the words there used be all but common words yet they are so used that they properly express the things that are designed by them This I confess may seem to be no great matter at first sight yet it is that without which we might be subverted by that which was intended for our Edification For Impropriety of Speech in matters of Religion hath given occasion to all or most of the Schisms Errors and Heresies that ever infested this or any other Church as might easily be demonstrated Hence the Apostle gave Timothy a Form of sound words and charged him to hold it fast Hold fast saith he the Form of sound words which thou hast heard of me 2 Tim. 1. 13. As knowing that except the words whereby he usually expressed Divine Truths were sound and proper it would be impossible for his Notions and Opinions of the things themselves to be so And certainly if ever there was a Form of Sound Words composed by men since the Apostles times our Common Prayer may justly deserve that Title It being all made up of such fit and proper such sound and wholesome words that if we do but hold fast to them there is no fear of our falling either into Heresy or Schisme For they being duly considered will suggest to our minds right and true Apprehensions of all the Articles of our Christian
Religion or the salvation of your own souls I beseech you all in the name of him that made you that whensoever you come hither to pray unto him you do it in that awful lowly and solemn manner which our Church commandeth and as becometh creatures when you speak to your great and almighty Creator that so you may give true worship and honour unto him and also receive that benefit and edification to your selves which he hath promised and you expect from your Publick Prayers This being certainly the most edifying posture that you can possibly use upon such occasions From what we have hitherto discoursed concerning the Language the Matter the Method and the Manner of Performing Divine Service as contained and prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer we may positively conclude that it agrees exactly with the Rule in my Text even that All things in it are done to edifying Which was the thing I undertook to prove I know that many other Arguments might be brought to shew the Excellency and Usefulness of the Common Prayer But these already produced are sufficient to convince any sober and considering Christian of it And if there be any here present who are not yet convinced by what they have heard of it I desire onely one thing of them and that is That they would but make tryal of it for a while For my Charity prompts me to believe that all the Zeal that some express against the Common Prayer and all that indifferency that is in others for it proceeds only from their ignorance of what it is or at least from their want of an experimental knowledg of it For let any Man that seriously minds the Worship of God and the Salvation of his Soul before all things else let such a one I say set himself in good earnest to use the Common Prayer as he ought to do for some considerable time and I do not doubt but that by the blessing of God he will find that benefit and edification by it that his own experience shall convince him of all that I have now said more than all the Arguments that I have or any man in the World can ever produce to him Some perhaps may think this to be a Paradox But I do not question but that many here present can attest it upon their own knowledge Having found themselves more confirmed in their Faith more settled in their Religion more humbled for their sins more supported under their troubles more enflamed with Love to God and desires of Heaven every way more Edifyed by the constant use of the Common Prayer than they could ever have believed it possible to have been except they had found it to have been so by their own experience Now these things being thus briefly considered I shall observe only two things from them The first is the extraordinary prudence as well as piety of our first Reformers who first compiled the Book of Common Prayer so exactly Conformable to the Word of God and that Apostolical Canon in my Text which I cannot but ascribe to the same extraordinary aid and assistance from God whereby they were afterwards enabled to suffer persecution yea Martyrdome it self for his sake and so to confirm what they have done with their own Blood Which certainly is no small commendation of it The other thing I would observe unto you is the reason why the Devil hath had such a spight against the Common Prayer ever since it was first made For the more edifying it is to Gods People the more destructive it must needs be of the Devils Kingdom And therefore it is no wonder that he hath all along employed the utmost of his power and policy to blast its Reputation and so to discourage and disswade Men from the use of it And by the permission of God for the punishment of this ungrateful Nation he hath so far prevailed in his design that the Liturgy hath been twice cast out of the Church since it was first brought into it once in the Reign of Queen Mary and then again in the days of King Charles the First In the Reign of Queen Mary you all know who were his Instruments in the doing of it even the Papists For they cleerly and truly fore-saw that their Erroneous Opinions could never be believed nor their superstitious Practices observed in the Nation so long as the Common Prayer was used Forasmuch as there is nothing in that but what is sound and agreeable to the Doctrine of the Gospel and so contrary to the groundless Opinions which the Church of Rome would obtrude upon the World for Articles of Faith And besides that there are many expressions purposely inserted in it to arm us against the Popes Supremacy Indulgences Invocation of Sainâ—s Transubstantiation and other Popish Errors So that it would have been impossible for the Romish Religion to be ever restored in the Nation unless the Common Prayer was first removed Which therefore they took care to have done as soon as possible But within a few years after even the first of Queen Elizabeth it was brought in again And as the Reformation was begun before so from that time forward it was carried on and perfected chiefly by means of the Common Prayer For it is very observable that in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth and for several years too of Queen Elizabeth there was little or no preaching in most parts of the Kingdom and few then could read English and yet by the constant and general use of the Liturgy and Gods Blessing upon it the whole Nation was so edified in the True Religion that there was scarce one in an hundred but forsook and abhorred all Popish Doctrines and Superstitions Which is an undeniable Argument that in this respect also it is as edifying as it is possible for a thing of that nature to be In so much that so long as the Common Prayer is used and frequented as it ought to be it is morally impossible for Popery to get any ground amongst us But if this Bulwark was once removed which God forbid our grand Adversary would soon accomplish his malicious designs upon us one way or other This he knows well enough and therefore hath left no stone unturned to effect it But what he had done before by the Papists he afterwards brought about again by other means in the Reign of King Charles the First For by what kind of Spirit the Common Prayer was then cast out you all know and some of you found by woful experience All that I shall say of it is only this That the same Spirit that then stirred up people so violently against the Common Prayer stirr'd them up at the same time to Rebel against their King to take away Mens Estates and Lives contrary to all Law and Justice and at last to Murther one of the most pious Princes that ever lived And whether that was the Spirit of Christ or Antichrist God or the Devil judge you