his delivery SAve me O God by thy name and judge me by thy strength 2 Hear my prayer O God give eare to the words of my mouth 3 For strangers are risen up against me and oppressors seek after my soul they have not set God before them Selah 4 Behold God is mine helper the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. 5 He shall reward evill unto mine enemies cut them off in thy truth 6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee I will praise thy name O Lord for it is good 7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies PSAL. LV. David upon his fear of being discover'd by the men of Keilah or upon the conjunction of Achitophol with Absalom prays to God for his own safety and the division and confusion of his enemies counsel he complains of his own restlesse and insecure condition the falsenesse of his supposed friends encourages himself and others to put their whole trust in God and foretels the suddain and immature death of his Enemies GIve ear to my prayer O God and hide not thy self from my supplication 2 Attend unto me and hear me I mourn in my complaint and make a noise 3 Because of the voice of the enemie because of the oppression of the wicked for they cast iniquity upon me in wrath they hate me 4 My heart is sore pained within me and the terrors of death are faln upon me 5 Fearfulnesse and trembling are come upon me and horror hath overwhelmed me 6 And I said O that I had wings like a dove for then would I flie away and be at rest 7 Lo then would I wander far off and remain in the wildernesse Selah 8 I would hasten my escape from the windie storm and tempest 9 Destroy O Lord divide their tongues for I have seen violence and strife in the citie 10 Day and night they go about it upon the wals thereof mischief also sorrow are in the midst of it 11 Wickednesse is in the midst thereof deceit and guile depart not from her streets 12 For it was not an enemie that reproched me then I could have born it neither was it he that hated me that did magnifie himself against me then I would have hid my self from him 13 But it was thou a man mine equall my guide and mine acquaintance 14 We took sweet counsell together and walked unto the house of God in company 15 Let death seise upon them let them goe down quick into hell for wickednesse is in their dwellings and among them 16 As for me I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me 17 Evening morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and and he shall hear my voice 18 He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battel that was against me for there were many with me 19 God shall hear afflict them even he that abideth of old Selah because they have no changes therefore they fear not God 20 He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him he hath broken his covenant 21 The words of his mouth were smoother then butter but war was in his heart his words were softer then oil yet were they drawn swords 22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved 23 But thou O God shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction bloody and deceitfull men shall not live out half their dayes but I will trust in thee Mo. Pr. PSAL. LVI David being in Gath and known by the Courtiers of Achish prayes to God to be defended from his cruell enemies complains of their snares and their injuries comforts himself in God and promises to give him thanks and praise for his delivery BE mercifull unto me O God for man would swallow me up he fighting daily oppresseth me 2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up for they be many that fight against me O thou most High 3 What time I am afraid I will trust in thee 4 In God I will praise his word in God I have put my trust I will not fear what flesh can doe unto me 5 Every day they wrest my words all their thoughts are against me for evill 6 They gather thēselves together they hide themselves they mark my steps when they wait for my soul. 7 Shall they escape by iniquity in thine anger cast down the people O God 8 Thou tellest my wandrings put thou my tears into thy bottle are they not in thy book 9 When I cry unto thee then shall mine enemies turn back this I know for God is for me 10 In God wil I praise his word in the Lord will I praise his word 11 In God have I put my trust I will not be afraid what man can doe unto me 12 Thy vowes are upon me O God I will render praises unto thee 13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling that I may walk before God in the light of the living PSAL. LVII When David had been hid in a cave in the desert of Engedi he prayes this prayer to be deliver'd from Saul complains of his sad condition describes their impiety and rejoyces in God and adores his greatnesse BE mercifull unto me O God be mercifull unto me for my soul trusteth in thee yea in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge untill these calamities be overpast 2 I will cry unto God most high unto God that performeth all things for me 3 He shall send from heaven save me from the reproch of him that would swallow me up Selah God shall send forth his mercy and his truth 4 My soul is among lions and I lie even among them that are set on fire even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword 5 Be thou exalted O God above the heavens let thy glory be above all the earth 6 They have prepared a net for my steps my soul is bowed down they have digged a pit before me into the midst whereof they are faln themselves Selah 7 My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise 8 Awake up my glory awake psalterie and harp I my self will awake early 9 I will praise thee O Lord among the people I will sing unto thee among the nations 10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens and thy truth unto the clouds 11 Be thou exalted O God above the heavens let thy glory be above all the earth PSAL. LVIII When David was by Abner and Sauls Councel condemned of Treason be complains of their injustice prayes against them and foretells their destruction DO ye indeed speak righteousnesse O congregation doe ye judge uprightly O ye sons of men 2 Yea in heart you work wickednesse you weigh the violence of your hands in
What is man that thou art mindfull of him and the Son of man that thou visitest him ¶ For thou hast made him little lower then the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour * Thou madest him to have dominion over the workes of thy hands and hast put all things under his feet ¶ All sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the feild the fowle of the aire and the fishes of the sea * O Lord our Governour how excellent is thy name in all the world ¶ The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work * Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge ¶ Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world * To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thankes unto thee for ever ¶ Shew me thy wayes O Lord teach me thy paths lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on thee doe I wait all the day * Remember O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindnesses for they have been ever of old ¶ Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgression according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodnesse sake O Lord. * For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is very great O keepe my soule and deliver me let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee ¶ That which I see not teach thou me I have done iniquity but I will doe no more for there is no darkenesse nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves * For his eyes are upon the wayes of man and he seeth all his goings but none saith where is God my maker who giveth songs in the night ¶ But I put my trust in thee O Lord I have said thou art my God * Into thy hand I commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth ¶ I will lay me downe in peace for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. Or this * PReserve me O God for in thee doe I put my trust O my soule thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodnesse extendeth not to thee ¶ But to the Saints which are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight * The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my lot ¶ I will blesse the Lord who hath given me counsell my reines also instruct me in the night seasons * I have set the Lord alwaies before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be mooved Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope ¶ For thou wilt not leave my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy one to see corruption * Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is the fulnesse of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore ¶ As the heart panteth after the water brookes so panteth my soule after thee O God * My soule thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appeare in the presence of God ¶ The Lord will command his loving-kindnesse in the day time and in the night his song shall be with me I will make my prayer unto the God of my life * For thou art the God that doest wonders thy way O God is in the sanctuary who is so great a God as our God ¶ Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the Fowler and from the noisome pestilence * Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day ¶ For he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keepe thee in all thy waies they shall beare thee in their hands least thou dash thy foot against a stone * I will remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night-watch for thou hast been my health therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce ¶ Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits even the God of our salvation * He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues of death ¶ Also unto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou rendrest to every man according to his worke Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Lesson 1 Thessal 5. 2. YOur selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so commeth as a theife in the night * For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape * But ye brethren are not in darknesse that that day should overtake you as a theife ye all are children of the light and children of the day we are not of the night or of darknesse * Therefore let us not sleepe as doe others but let us watch and be sober * For they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night * But let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breast-plate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation * For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtaine salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ * Who died for us that whether we wake or sleepe we should live together with him Or read a chapter in the Sapientiall bookes in order After the lesson recite the Creed I beleive in God the Father Almighty c. The Lord be with you Ans. And with thy Spirit Let us Pray I. The confession of sins taken out of the prayer of S. Ephraim the Syrian O Almighty God who dwellest in the inaccessible light before whom the greatest mountaines are like the dust of the ballance and in whose sight the heavens are not pure and the Angels tremble and the Saints are charg'd with folly and all the world shall feare in thy glorious presence we confesse to thee O Lord Father of heaven and earth all those sins which we have wrought in private and in publick for thou knowest all things and nothing is hid from thy righteous eyes Thou art the God of mercy and pity and thou wouldst have all even strangers to be sav'd we fly therefore unto thee who art the lover and Saviour of all the soules of the faithfull Have pity upon us who have many times imbitterd and greiv'd thy most holy spirit to the joy of our enemies and the sad ruine of our pitiable and wounded soules Behold O God we have been dead in sins and trespasses and servants to thy enemy There is no kind of sins but we have committed or would have committed If it were pleasant we cared
24. And that we may be yet more particular the very Prayer for Christs Catholick Church in the Office of Communion beside that it is nothing but a plain execution of an Apostolical precept set down in the Preface of the Prayer it was also used in all times and in all Liturgies of the ancient Church And we finde this attested by S. Cyril of Jerusalem Deinde postquam confectum est illud spirituale sacrificium ... obsecramus Deum pro communi Ecclesiarum pace pro tranquillitate mundi pro Regibus c. To the same purpose also there is a testimony in S. Chrysostome which because it serves not onely here but also to other uses it will not be amiss here to note it Quid autem sibi vult primum omnium In obsequio scil quotidiano perpetuâ—que divinae religionis ritu Atque id noverunt fideles quomodo diebus singulis mane vespere orationes fundantur ad Dominum quomodo pro omni mundo Regibus omnibus qui in sublimitate positi sunt obsecrationes in Ecclesia fiant Sed forte quis dixerit pro omnibus quod ait tantum fideles intelligi voluisse At id verum non esse quae sequuntur ostendunt Denique ait pro Regibus neque enim tunc Reges Deum colebant It is evident by this that the custome of the Church was not onely in the celebration of the holy Communion but in all her other Offices to say this Prayer not onely for Christs Catholick Church but for all the world 25. And that the charity of the Church might not be misconstrued he produces his warrant S. Paul not onely expresly commands us to pray for all men but addes by way of instance for Kings who then were unchristian and heathen in all the world But this form of Prayer is almost word for word in S. Ambrose Haec regula Ecclesiastica est tradita à Magistro gentium quâ utuntur Sacerdotes nostri ut pro omnibus supplicent ... deprecantes pro Regibus ... orantes pro iis quibus sublimis potestas credita est ut in justitia veritate gubernent ... postulantes pro iis qui in necessitate varia sunt ut eruti liberati Deum collaudent incolumitatis Authorem So farre goes our form of Prayer But S. Ambrose addes Referentes quoque gratiarum actiones ... And so it was with us in the first Service-books of King Edward and the Preface to the Prayer engages us to a thanksgiving but I know not how it was stoln out the Preface still remaining to chide their unwariness that took down that part of the building and yet left the gate standing But if the Reader please to be satisfied concerning this Prayer which indeed is the longest in our service-Service-book and of greatest consideration he may see it taken up from the universal custome of the Church and almost in all the words of the old Liturgies if he will observe the Liturgies themselves of S. Basil S. Chrysostome and the concurrent testimonies of Tertullian S. Austin Celestine Gennadius Prosper and Theophylact 26. I shall not need to make any excuses for the Churches reading those portions of Scripture which we call Epistles and Gospels before the Communion They are Scriptures of the choicest and most profitable transaction And let me observe this thing That they are not onely declarations of all the mysteries of our redemption and rules of good life but this choice is of the greatest compliance with the necessities of the Christian Church that can be imagined For if we deny to the people a liberty of reading Scriptures may they not complain as Isaac did against the inhabitants of the land that the Philistines had spoiled his well and the fountains of living water If a free use to all of them and of all Scriptures were permitted should not the Church her self have more cause to complain of the infinite licentiousness and loosness of interpretations and of the commencement of ten thousand errours which would certainly be consequent to such permission Reason and Religion will chide us in the first reason and experience in the latter And can the wit of man conceive a better temper and expedient then that such Scriptures onely or principally should be laid before them all in daily Offices which contain in them all the mysteries of our redemption and all the rules of good life which two things are done by the Gospels and Epistles respectively the first being a Record of the life and death of our blessed Saviour the latter instructions for the edification of the Church in pious and Christian conversation and all this was done with so much choice that as obscure places are avoided by design as much as could be so the very assignation of them to certain festivals the appropriation of them to solemn and particular days does entertain the understandings of the people with notions proper to the mystery and distinct from impertinent and vexatious questions And were this design made something more minute and applicable to the various necessities of times and such choice Scriptures permitted indifferently which might be matter of necessity and great edification the people of the Church would have no reason to complain that the fountains of our Saviour were stopp'd from them nor the Rulers of the Church that the mysteriousness of Scripture were abused by the petulancy of the people to consequents harsh impious and unreasonable in despight of government in exauctoration of the power of superiours or for the commencement of schisms and heresies The Church with great wisdome hath first held this torch out and though for great reasons intervening and hindering it cannot be reduced to practice yet the Church hath shewn her desire to avoid the evil that is on both hands and she hath shewn the way also if it could have been insisted in But however this choice of the more remarkable portions of Scripture is so reasonable and proportionable to the nature of the thing that because the Gospels and Epistles bear their several shares of the design the Gospel representing the foundation and prime necessities of Christianity and the mysterious parts of our Redemption the summe the faith and the hopes of Christianity therefore it is attested by a ceremony of standing up it being a part of the confession of faith but the Epistles containing superstructures upon that foundation are read with religious care but not made formal or solemn by any other circumstance The matter contains in it sufficient of reason and of proportion but nothing of necessity except it be by accident and as authority does intervene by way of sanction 27. But that this reading of Epistles and Gospels before the Communion was one of the earliest customes of the Church I finde it affirmed by Rabanus Maurus Sed enim initio mos iste cantandi non erat qui nunc in Ecclesia ante sacrificium
religious can either need or fancy but the English Liturgy in its entire constitution will furnish us withall And certainly it was a very great wisdome and a very prudent and religious Constitution so to order that part of the Liturgy which the ancient called the Lectionarium that the Psalter should be read over twelve times in the year the old Testament once and the new Testament thrice beside the Epistles and Gospels which renew with a more frequent repetition such choice places as represent the intire body of faith and good life There is a defalcation of some few Chapters from the intire body in the order but that also was part of the wisdome of the Church not to expose to publick ears and common judgements some of the secret rites of Moses Law or the more mysterious prophecies of the new Testament whose sense and meaning the event will declare if we by mistaken and anticipated interpretations doe not obstruct our own capacities and hinder us from beleeving the true events because they answer not those expectations with which our own mistakes have prepared our understandings as it hapned to the Jews in the case of Antiochus and to the Christians in the person of Antichrist 38. Well! thus as it was framed in the body of its first Constitution and second alteration those excellent men whom God chose as instruments of his honour and service in the reformation to whom also he did shew what great things they were to suffer for his Names sake approved of it with high testimony promoted it by their own use and zeal and at last sealed it with their bloud 39. That they had a great opinion of the piety and unblameable composure of the Common Prayer-book appears 1 in the challenge made in its behalf by the Archbishop Cranmer to defend it against all the world of Enemies 2 by the daily using it in time of persecution and imprisonment for so did Bishop Ridley and D r Taylor who also recommended it to his wife for a legacy 3 by their preaching in behalf of it as many did 4 by Hulliers hugging it in his flames with a posture of great love and forwardness of entertainment 5 besides the direct testimony which the most eminent learned amongst the Queen Mary Martyrs have given of it Amongst which that of the learned Rector of Hadley D r Rowland Taylor is most considerable his words are these in a Letter of his to a friend But there was after that by the most innocent King Edward for whom God be praised everlastingly the whole Church Service with great deliberation and the advice of the best learned men of the Realm and authorized by the whole Parliament and received and published gladly by the whole Realm which Book was never reformed but once and yet by that one reformation it was so fully perfected according to the rules of our Christian Religion in every behalf that no Christian conscience could be offended with any thing therein contained I mean of that Book reformed 40. I desire the words may be considered and confronted against some other words lately published which charge these holy and learned men but with a half-fac'd light a darkness in the confines of Egypt and the suburbs of Goshen And because there is no such thing proved of these blessed Men and Martyrs and that it is easy to say such words of any man that is not fully of our minde I suppose the advantage and the outweighing authority will lie on our part in behalf of the Common Prayer-book especially since this man and divers others died with it and for it according as it hapned by the circumstance of their charges and articles upon which they died for so it was in the cases of John Rough John Philpot Cutbert Simson and seven others burnt in Smithfield upon whom it was charged in their indictments that they used allowed preached for and maintained respectively the service-Service-book of King Edward To which articles they answered affirmatively and confessed them to be true in every part and died accordingly 41. I shall press this argument to issue in the words of S. Ambrose cited to the like purpose by Vincentius Lirinensis Librum sacerdotalem quis nostrum resignare audeat signatum à Confessoribus multorum jam martyrio consecratum Quomodo fidem eorum possumus denegare quorum victoriam praedicamus Who shall dare to violate this Priestly book which so many Confessors have consigned and so many Martyrs have hallowed with their bloud How shall we call them Martyrs if we deny their faith how shall we celebrate their victory if we dislike their cause If we beleeve them to be crown'd why shall we deny but that they strove lawfully So that if they dying in attestation of this Book were Martyrs why doe we condemne the Book for which they died If we will not call them Martyrs it is clear we have chang'd our Religion since then And then it would be considered whether we are fallen For the Reformers in King Edwards time died for it in Q. Elizabeths time they avowed it under the protection of an excellent Princess but in that sad interval of Q. Maries reign it suffered persecution and if it shall doe so again it is but an unhandsome compliance for Reformers to be unlike their Brethren and to be like their Enemies to doe as doe the Papists and onely to speak great words against them and it will be sad for a zealous Protestant to live in an age that should disavow K. Edwards and Q. Elizabeths Religion and manner of worshipping God in an age that shall doe as did Q. Maries Bishops persecute the Book of Common Prayer and the Religion contained in it God help the poor Protestants in such times But let it doe its worst if God please to give his grace the worst that can come is but a Crown and that was never denied to Martyrs 42. In the mean time I can but with joy and Eucharist consider with what advantages and blessings the pious Protestant is entertained and blessed and arm'd against all his needs by the constant and Religious usage of the Common Prayer-book For besides the direct advantages of the Prayers and devotions some whereof are already instanc'd and the experience of holy persons will furnish them with more there are also forms of solemne benediction and absolution in the Offices and if they be not highly considerable there is nothing sacred in the Evangelical Ministery but all is a vast plain and the Altars themselves are made of unhallowed turf 43. Concerning Benediction of which there are four more solemne forms in the whole Office two in the Canon of the Communion one in Confirmation one in the Office of Marriage I shall give this short account that without all question the less is blessed of the greater and it being an issue spiritual is rather to be verified in spiritual relation then in natural or political And therefore if
there by any such thing as regeneration by the Ministery of the word and begetting in Christ and Fathers and Sons after the common faith as the expressions of the Apostle make us to beleeve certain it is the blessings of Religion doe descend most properly from our spiritual Fathers and with most plentiful emanation And this hath been the Religion of all the world to derive very much of their blessings by the Priests particular and signal ministration Melchisedech blessed Abraham Isaac blessed Jacob and Moses and Aaron blessed the people So that here is benediction from a Prince from a Father from the Aaronical Priest from Melchisedech of whose order is the Christian in whose Law it is a sanction that in grea◠needs especially the Elders of the Church be sent for and let them pray over him that is distressed That is the great remedy for the great necessity And it was ever much valued in the Church insomuch that Nectarius would by no means take investiture of his Patriarchal Sea until he had obtained the benediction of Diodorus the Bishop of Cilicia Eudoxia the Empress brought her son Theodosius to S. Chrysostome for his blessing and S. Austin and all his company received it of Innocentius Bishop of Carthage It was so solemne in all marriages that the marrying of persons was called Benediction So it was in the fourth Councel of Carthage Sponsus sponsa cùm benedicendi sunt à Sacerdote c. benedicendi for married ... And in all Church Offices it was so solemne that by a Decree of the Councel of Agatho A. D. 380. it was decreed ante benedictionem Sacerdotis populus egredi non praesumat By the way onely here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for two parts of the English Liturgy For the benediction in the Office of marriage by the authority of the Councel of Carthage and for concluding the Office of Communion with the Priests or Bishops benediction by warrant of the Councel of Agatho which Decrees having been derived into the practice of the universal Church for very many ages is in no hand to be undervalued lest we become like Esau and we miss it when we most need it For my own particular I shall still press on to receive the benediction of holy Church till at last I shall hear a Venite benedicti and that I be reckoned amongst those blessed souls who come to God by the ministeries of his own appointment and will not venture upon that neglect against which the piety and wisdome of all Religions in the world infinitely doe prescribe 44. Now the advantages of confidence which I have upon the forms of benediction in the Common prayer-Prayer-book are therefore considerable because God himself prescribed a set form of blessing the people appointing it to be done not in the Priests extempore but in an established form of words and because as the authority of a prescript form is from God so that this form may be also highly warranted the solemne blessing at the end of the Communion is in the very words of S. Paul 45. For the forms of Absolution in the Liturgy though I shall not enter into consideration of the Question concerning the quality of the Priests power which is certainly a very great ministery yet I shall observe the rare temper and proportion which the Church of England uses in commensurating the forms of Absolution to the degrees of preparation and necessity At the beginning of the Morning and Evening Prayer after a general Confession usually recited before the devotion is high and pregnant whose parts like fire enkindle one another there is a form of Absolution in general declarative and by way of proposition In the Office of the Communion because there are more acts of piety and repentance previous and presupposed there the Churches form of Absolution is optative and by way of intercession But in the Visitation of the sick when it is supposed and enjoyned that the penitent shall disburthen himself of all the clamorous loads upon his conscience the Church prescribes a medicinal form by way of delegate authority that the parts of justification may answer to the parts of good life For as the penitent proceeds so does the Church pardon and repentance being terms of relation they grow up together till they be compleat this the Church with greatest wisdom supposes to be at the end of our life grace by that time having all its growth that it will have here therefore then also the pardon of sins is of another nature then it ever was before if being now more actual and compleat whereas before it was in fieri in the beginnings and smaller increases and upon more accidents apt to be made imperfect and revocable So that the Church of England in these manners of dispensing the power of the Keys does cut off all disputings and impertinent wranglings whether the Priests power were Judicial or declarative for possibly it is both and it is optative too and something else yet for it is an emanation from all the parts of his Ministery and he never absolves but he preaches or prays or administers a Sacrament for this power of remission is a transcendent passing through all the parts of the Priestly Offices For the keys of the Kingdome of heaven are the promises the threatnings of the Scripture and the prayers of the Church and the Word and the Sacraments and all these are to be dispensed by the Priest and these keys are committed to his Ministery and by the operation of them all he opens and shuts heaven gates ministerially and therefore S. Paul calls it verbum reconciliationis and says it is dispensed by Ministers as by Embassadors or Delegates and therefore it is an excellent temper of the Church so to prescribe her forms of Absolution as to shew them to be results of the whole Priestly Office of Preaching of dispensing Sacraments of spiritual Cure and authoritative deprecation And the benefit which pious and well disposed persons receive by these publick Ministeries as it lies ready formed in our blessed Saviours promise erit solutum in coelis so men will then truly understand when they are taught to value every instrument of grace or comfort by the exigence of a present need as in a sadness of spirit in an unquiet conscience in the arrest of death 46. I shall not need to procure advantages to the reputation of the Common Prayer by considering the imperfections of whatsoever hath been offered in its stead but yet a 1 form of worship composed to the dishonour of the Reformation accusing it of darkness and intolerable inconvenience 2 a direction without a rule 3 a rule without restraint 4 a prescription leaving an indifferency to a possibility of licentiousness 5 an office without any injunction of external acts of worship not prescribing so much as kneeling 6 an office that onely once names reverence but forbids it in the ordinary instance and enjoyns it in
fires of devotion then the straw and the stubble which some men did suddenly or weakly rake together when ever they were to dress their Sacrifice Now although these prayers have no authority to give them power yet they are humbly and charitably intended and that may get them love and they have been as to the matter of them approved by persons of great learning and great piety and that may sufficiently recommend them to the use of those who have no other or no better and they no way doe violence to Authority and therefore the use of them cannot be insecure and they contain in them no matter of question or dispute and therefore cannot be justly suspected of interest or partiality and they are especially in the chiefest offices collected out of the devotions of the Greek Church with some mixture of the Mozarabick and AEthiopick and other Liturgies and perfected out of the fountains of Scripture and therefore for the material part have great warrant and great authority and therefore if they be used with submission to Authority it is hop'd they may doe good and if they be not used no man will be offended 49. I hope there will be no need of an apology or an excuse for doing an act of charity If no man will confess that he needs any of these they can be let alone for they are intended onely for them that doe but if there be a need these prayers may help to obtain of God to take that need away and to supply it in the mean while But there is nothing else intended in this design but that we may see what excellent forms of prayer were used in the ancient Church what a rare repository of Devotion the Scripture is how it was the same spirit of prayer that assisted the Church of England and other Churches of God how much better the Curates of souls may help themselves with these or the like offices then with their own extempore how their present needs may be supplied and their devotion enlarged and a day of Religion intirely spent and a provision made for some necessities in which our calamities and our experience of late have too well instructed us For which and for other great reasons all Churches have admitted variety of Offices In the Greek Church it is notorious they have three publick Books and very many added afterwards by their Patriarchs their Bishops and their Priests some are said often and others sometimes and in Spain the Mozarabick office was used until the time of Alfonsus the 6 th and to this very day in six Parishes in Toledo and in the Cathedral Church it self in the Chappel of Frier Francis Ximenez and at Salamanca upon certain days in the Chappel of Doctor Talabricensis And after all these may be admitted into the use and ministery of families for all the necessities of which here is something provided 50. He that gathered these things together intends as humbly as piously as charitably as he can doe in any action whatsoever and if any of his brethren can tell his heart better then himself I am sure he may say much more of it but if any man can think I have in it any purpose less pious or less severe or that there is any obliquity or any thing but what is here expressed I must answer for it if there be and he must answer for it if there be not January hath xxxi days The Moon xxx Sun in Aquar riseth h. 7. m. 52. sec. 34. In lat 52. setteth h. 4. m. 7. sec. 26. Jan. 10.  h. 8. m. 3. sec. 56. In lat 54.  h. 3. m. 56. sec. 4.      Morning prayer Evening prayer      1 Lesson 2 Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Less 19 1 A Calend. Circumcision * * * * 8 2 b 4 Non.  Gen. 1. Matt. 1 Gen. 2. Rom. 1.  3 c 3  3 2 4 2 16 4 d Pr. No.  5 3 6 3 5 5 e Nonae Edward K. 7 4 8 4  6 f 8 Idus Epiphany * * * * 13 7 g 7  Gen. 9. Matt. 5 Gen. 12 Rom. 5. 2 8 A 6 Lucian 13 6 14 6  9 b 5  15 7 16 7 10 10 c 4  17 8 18 8  11 d 3  19 9 20 9 18 12 e Pr. Idus  21 10 22 10 7 13 f Idus Hilary Bp. 23 11 24 11  14 g 19 Cal. of February 25 12 26 12 15 15 A 18  27 13 28 13 4 16 b 17  29 14 30 14  17 c 16 Sulpitius Bp. 31 15 32 15 12 18 d 15 Prisca Virg. 33 16 34 16 1 19 e 14 Ulstan Bp. 35 17 37 1 Cor. 1.  20 f 13 Fabian 38 18 39 2 9 21 g 12 Agnes 40 19 41 3  22 A 11 Vincent Mart. 42 20 43 4 17 23 b 10  44 21 45 5 6 24 c 9 Timothy Bp. 46 22 47 6  25 d 8 Conv. S. Paul * * * * 14 26 e 7 Polycar Mart. Gen. 48 Mat. 23 Gen. 49 1 Cor. 7. 3 27 f 6  50 24 Exod. 1 8  28 g 5  Exod. 2 25 3 9 11 29 A 4 Valerius Bp. 4 26 5 10 19 30 b 3 C. R. M. 7 27 8 11 8 31 c Pr. Cal.  9 28 10 12 February hath xxviii days The Moon xxix Sun in Pisc. riseth h. 7. m. o. sec. 28. latit 52. setteth h. 4. m. 59 sec. 32. Feb. 8.  h. 7. m. 1. sec. 40. latit 54.  h. 4. m. 58 sec. 20.      Morning prayer Evening prayer      1 Lesson 2 Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Less  1 d Calend. Fast Exo. 11 Mark 1 Exo. 12 1 Cor. 13 16 2 e 4 Non. Purific Mary * 2 * 14 5 3 f 3 Blasius Exo. 13 3 Exo. 14 15  4 g Pr. No.  15 4 16 16 13 5 A Nonae Agathe 17 5 18 2 Cor. 1 2 6 b 8 ld  19 6 20 2  7 c 7  21 7 22 3 10 8 d 6  23 8 24 4  9 e 5 Apollon Virg 32 9 33 5 18 10 f 4 Scholast Virg. 34 10 Lev. 18 6 7 11 g 3  Lev. 19 11 20 7  12 A Prid. ld  26 12 Nu. 11 8 15 13 b Idus  Nu. 12 13 13 9 4 14 c 16 Cal. Valentine 14 14 16 10  15 d 15  17 15 20 11 12 16 e 14  21 16 22 12 1 17 f 13  23 Lu. di 1 24 13  18 g 12  25 dim 1 27 Galat. 1 9 19 A 11  30 2 31 2  20 b 10  32 3 35 3 17 21 c 9  36 4 Deut. 1 4 6 22 d 8  Deut. 2 5 3 5  23 e 7 Fast 4 6 5 6 14 24 f 6 S. Matthias * 7 * Ephes. 1 3 25 g 5  6 8 7 2  26 A 4  8 9 9