4 9 13 May 30 25 28 1676 Mar. 26 April 30 4 21 27 Dec. 3 1677 April 15 May 20 24 June 10 24 2 1678 Mar. 31 5 9 May 26 26 1 1679 April 20 25 29 June 15 23 Nov. 30 1680 11 16 20 6 24 28 1681 3 8 12 May 29 25 27 1682 16 21 25 June 11 24 Dec. 3 1683 8 13 17 3 25 2 1684 Mar. 30 4 8 May 25 26 Nov. 30 1685 April 19 24 28 June 14 23 29 1686 4 9 13 May 30 25 28 1687 Mar. 27 1 5 22 26 27 An Almanack for 50. years The year of our Lord The Golden Number The Epact The Dominical Letter Sundays after the Epiphany Septuagesima Sunday Shrovetuesday 1688 17 7 A g 5 Feb. 12 Febr. 27 1689 18 18 f 2 Jan. 27 12 1690 19 29 e 5 Feb. 16 Mar. 4 1691 1 11 d 4 8 Febr. 24 1692 2 22 c b 2 Jan. 24 9 1693 3 3 A 5 Febr. 12 28 1694 4 14 g 4 4 20 1695 5 25 f 1 Jan. 20 5 1696 6 6 e d 4 Febr. 9 25 1697 7 17 c 3 Jan. 31 16 1698 8 28 b 6 Febr. 20 Mar. 8 1699 9 9 A 4 5 Febr. 21 1700 10 20 g f 3 Jan. 28 13 1701 11 1 e 5 Febr. 16 Mar. 4 1702 12 12 d 3 1 Febr. 17 1703 13 23 c 2 Jan. 24 9 1704 14 4 b A 5 Febr. 13 28 1705 15 15 g 4 4 20 1706 16 26 f 1 Jan. 20 5 An Almanack for 50. years The year of our Lord Easter day Rogation Sunday Ascension day Trinity Sunday Sundays after Trinity Advent Sunday 1688 April 15 May 20 May 24 June 10 24 Dec. 2 1689 Mar. 31 5 9 May 26 26 1 1690 April 20 25 29 June 15 23 Nov. 30 1691 12 17 21 7 24 29 1692 Mar. 27 1 5 May 22 26 27 1693 April 16 21 25 June 11 24 Dec. 3 1694 8 13 17 3 25 2 1695 Mar. 24 April 28 2 May 19 27 1 1696 April 12 May 17 21 June 7 24 Nov. 29 1697 4 9 13 May 30 25 28 1698 24 29 June 2 June 19 23 27 1699 9 14 May 18 4 25 Dec. 3 1700 Mar. 31 5 9 May 26 26 1 1701 April 20 25 29 June 15 23 Nov. 30 1702 5 10 14 May 31 25 29 1703 Mar. 28 2 6 23 26 28 1704 April 16 21 25 June 11 24 Dec. 3 1705 8 13 17 3 25 2 1706 Mar. 24 April 28 May 2 May 19 27 1 A Table To finde Easter for ever The Golden Number A B C D E F G 1 April 9. 10 11 12 6 7 8 2 Mar. 26. 27 28 29 30 31 April 1 3 April 16. 17 18 19 20 14 15 4 April 9. 3 4 5 6 7 8 5 Mar. 26. 27 28 29 23 24 15 6 April 16. 17 11 12 13 14 15 7 April 2. 3 4 5 6 Mar. 31 April 1 8 April 23. 24 25 19 20 21 22 9 April 9. 10 11 12 13 14 8 10 April 2. 3 Mar. 28 29 30 31 April 1 11 April 16. 17 18 19 20 21 22 12 April 9. 10 11 5 6 7 8 13 Mar. 26. 27 28 29 30 31 25 14 April 16. 17 18 19 13 14 15 15 April 2. 3 4 5 6 7 8 16 Mar. 26. 27 28 22 23 24 25 17 April 16. 10 11 12 13 14 15 18 April 2. 3 4 5 Mar. 30 31 April 1 19 April 23. 24 18 19 20 21 22 When you have found the Sunday letter for that year on which you require Easter guide your eye downward from it till you come over against that number which is Prime for that year and that number which is directly under the Dominical and collateral to the Prime shews the time of Easter But note that the name of the Moneth is set at the left hand or else just with the Figure and follows not as in other Tables by descent but collaterally A Table of what is contained in this Book A Preface The Church Calendar with a Table of Lessons for every day of the year An advertisement to the Reader touching the lengthening or shortning of the Offices Morning Prayer throughout the year Evening Prayer throughout the year Additionals to the former Offices viz. A prayer before Sermon A prayer after Sermon A prayer when a sick person desires to be publickly prayed for A prayer for seasonable weather A prayer on the same occasion or in the time of any other judgment A shorter form of Morning prayer for a family A short form of Evening prayer for a family Varieties to be added upon the great Festivals or Solemnities of the year viz. Upon Christmass day Good Friday Easter day Ascension day Whitsunday Trinity Sunday A Collect to be used upon any of the Festivals or commemoration of the Apostles * Note that the Collect for Christmass day may be used upon the Annunciation An Office or Order for administration of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper A form of administration of the Holy Sacrament of Baptism Devotions and proper offices for Women viz. An Office for safe child-birth An Office of publick Thanksgiving for safe childbirth or deliverance from any great sickness calamity or fear A prayer to be said immediately after the womans delivery to be said by the Minister or any other attendant A prayer for the new born child A prayer to be said by a new married wife A prayer for a fruitful womb A prayer to be said by an afflicted wife in behalf of a vicious husband A prayer of thanksgiving if she have escaped any violence or danger from him A mothers prayer for her children The Widows prayer A prayer to be used by the widow if she have children of both sexes The Offices or Forms of Prayer and Devotion for the miserable and afflicted viz. An Office to be said in the days of persecution of a Church by Sacrilegious or violent persons A prayer for an Army or Navy in time of War An Office for Prisoners for Prisoners in General of Debt of Crime condemn'd to death or Warre or Oppression An Office or form of prayer for Sailers or Mariners A form of prayer and blessing to be used over him that in the beginning of a journey desires the prayers of the Minister of the Church A prayer in behalf of Fools or Changelings A prayer for Madmen A prayer in behalf of Hereticks and seduced persons * Note that these three last prayers are also to be used upon Good Friday An Office at the Visitation of the sick An Office for Burial of the dead A form of dâ—â—otion to be used and said in the days of sorrow and affliction of a family or private person A private prayer to be said by or for a person apt to be afflicted with fear of death Gods anger the uncertain state of his soul. A form of Thanksgiving after a plentiful harvest after recovery from a a plague or other sickness after a Victory or the prosperous ending of a Warre The Great
this Church State saw it necessary to fixe where with advice she had begun and with counsel she had once mended And to have altered in things inconsiderable upon a new design or sullen mislike had been extreme levity and apt to have made the men contemptible their authority slighted and the thing ridiculous especially before adversaries that watch'd all opportunity and appearances to have disgraced the Reformation Here therefore it became a Law was established by an Act of Parliament was made solemne by an appendant penalty against all that on either hand did prevaricate a sanction of so long and so prudent consideration 14. But the Common Prayer-book had the fate of S. Paul for when it had scap'd the storms of the Romane Sea yet a viper sprung out of Queen Maries fires which at Frankford first leap'd upon the hand of the Church but since that time it hath gnawn the bowels of its own Mother and given it self life by the death of its Parent and Nurse 15. For as for the Adversaries from the Romane party they were so convinc'd by the piety and innocence of the Common Prayer-Book that they could accuse it of no deformity but of imperfection of a want of some things which they judged convenient because the error had a wrinckle on it and the face of antiquity And therefore for ten or eleven years they came to our Churches joyn'd in our devotions and communicated without scruple till a temporal interest of the Church of Rome rent the Schism wider and made it gape like the jaws of the grave And let me say it addes no small degree to my confidence and opinion of the English Common Prayer-Book that amongst the numerous Armies sent from the Romane Seminaries who were curious enough to enquire able enough to finde out and wanted no anger to have made them charge home any errour in our Liturgy if the matter had not been unblameable and the composition excellent there was never any impiety or heresy charg'd upon the Liturgy of the Church for I reckon not the calumnies of Harding for they were onely in general calling it Darkness c. from which aspersion it was worthily vindicated by M. Deering The truth of it is the Compilers took that course which was sufficient to have secur'd it against the malice of a Spanish Inquisitor or the scrutiny of a more inquisitive Presbytery for they put nothing of controversy into their prayers nothing that was then matter of question onely because they could not prophecy they put in some things which since then have been called to question by persons whose interest was highly concerned to finde fault with something But that also hath been the fate of the Penmen of holy Scripture some of which could prophecy and yet could not prevent this But I doe not remember that any man was ever put to it to justify the Common Prayer against any positive publick and professed charge by a Romane Adversary Nay it is transmitted to us by the testimony of persons greater then all exceptions that Paulus 4 tâ—s in his private entercourses and Letters to Queen Elizabeth did offer to confirm the English Common Prayer Book if she would acknowledge his Primacy and authority and the Reformation derivative from him And this lenity was pursued by his Successor Pius 4 tus with an omnia de nobis tibi polliceare he assured her she should have any thing from him not onely things pertaining to her soul but what might conduce to the establishment and confirmation of her Royal Dignity amongst which that the Liturgy newly established by her authority should not be rescinded by the Popes power was not the least considerable 16. And possibly this hath cast a cloud upon it in the eyes of such persons who never will keep charity or so much as civility but with those with whom they have made a league offensive and defensive against all the world This hath made it to be suspected of too much compliancâ— with that Church and her Offices of devotion and that it is a very Cento composed out of the Mass Book Pontifical Breviaries Manuals and Portuises of the Romane Church 17. I cannot say but many of our Prayers are also in the Romane Offices But so they are also in the Scripture so also is the Lords Prayer and if they were not yet the allegation is very inartificial and the charge peevish and unreasonable unless there were nothing good in the Romane Books or that it were unlawful to pray a good prayer which they had once stain'd with red letters The Objection hath not sense enough to procure an answer upon its own stock but by reflection from a direct truth which uses to be like light manifesting it self and discovering darkness 18. It was first perfected in King Edward the sixths time but it was by and by impugned through the obstinate dissembling malice of many They are the words of M. Fox in his Book of Martyrs Then it was reviewed and published with so much approbation that it was accounted the work of God but yet not long after there were some persons qui divisionis occasionem arripiebant saith Alesius vocabula penè syllabas expendendo they tried it by points and syllables and weighed every word and sought occasions to quarrel which being observed by Archbishop Cranmer he caused it to be translated into Latine and sent it to Bucer requiring his judgement of it who returned this answer That although there are in it some things quae rapi possunt ab inquietis ad materiam contentionis which by peevish men may be cavill'd at yet there was nothing in it but what was taken out of the Scriptures or agreeable to it if rightly understood that is if handled and read by wise and good men The zeal which Archbishop Grindal Bishop Ridly D r Taylor and other the holy Martyrs and Confessors in Queen Maries time expressed for this excellent Liturgy before and at the time of their death defending it by their disputations adorning it by their practice and sealing it with their blouds are arguments which ought to recommend it to all the sons of the Church of England for ever infinitely to be valued beyond all the little whispers and murmurs of argument pretended against it and when it came out of the flame and was purified in the Martyrs fires it became a vessell of honour and used in the house of God in all the days of that long peace which was the effect of Gods blessing and the reward as we humbly hope of an holy Religion and when it was laid aside in the days of Queen Mary it was to the great decay of the due honour of God and discomfort to the Professors of the truth of Christs Religion they are the words of Queen Elizabeth and her grave and wise Parliament 19. Archbishop Cranmer in his purgation A. D. 1553. made an offer if the Queen would give him leave to prove All that
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-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-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-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-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
no particular 7 an office that leaves the form of ministration of Sacraments so indifferently that if there be any form of words essential the Sacrament is in much danger to become invalid for want of provision of due forms of Ministration 8 an office that complies with no precedent of Scripture nor of any ancient Church 9 that must of necessity either want authority or it must preferre novelty before antiquity 10 that accuses all the Primitive Church of indiscretion at the least 11 that may be abused by the indiscretion or ignorance or malice of any man that uses it 12 into which heresy or blasphemy may creep without possiblity of prevention 13 that hath no external forms to entertain the fancy of the more common spirits 14 nor any allurement to perswade and enâ—ice its adversaries 15 nor any means of adunation and uniformity amongst its confidents 16 an office that still permits children in many cases of necessity to be unbaptized making no provision for them in sudden cases 17 that will not suffer them to be confirmed at all ut utroque Sacramento renascantur as S. Cyprians phrase is that they may be advantaged by a double rite 18 that joyns in marriage as Cacus did his oxen in rude inform and unhallowed yokes 19 that will not doe piety to the dead nor comfort to the living by solemn and honorary offices of funeral 20 that hath no forms of blessing the people any more 21 then described forms of blessing God which are just none at all 22 an office that never thinks of absolving penitents or exercising the power of the Keys after the custome and rites of Priests 23 a Liturgy that recites no Creed no Confession of Faith so not declaring either to Angels or men according to what Religion they worship God but entertaining though indeed without a symbole Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Manichees or any other Sect for ought there appears to the contrary 24 that consigns no publick Canon of Communion but leaves that as casual and phantastick as any of the lesser offices 25 an office that takes no more care then chance does for the reading the holy Scriptures 26 that never commemorates a departed Saint 27 that hath no Communion with the Church Triumphant any more then with the other parts of the Militant 28 that never thanks God for the redemption of the world by the Nativity and passion Resurrection and Ascension of our blessed Saviour Jesus but condemnes the memorial even of the Scripture Saints and the memorial of the miraculous blessings of redemption of mankinde by Christ himself with the same accusation it condemnes the Legends and portentous stories of the most suspected part of the Romane Calendar 29 an office that out of zeal against Judaism condemnes all distinction of days unless they themselves distinguish them that leaves no signature of piety upon the Lords day and yet the Compilers doe enjoyn it to a Judaical superstition 30 an office that does by implication undervalue the Lords Prayer for it never injoyns it and does but once permit it 31 an office that is new without authority and never made up into a sanction by an Act of Parliament an order or Directory of devotion that hath all these ingredients and capacities and such a one there is in the world I suppose is no equal match to contest with and be put in balance against the Liturgy of the Church of England which was with so great deliberation compiled out of Scriptures the most of it all the rest agreeing with Scriptures and drawn from the Liturgies of the ancient Church and made by men famous in their generations whose reputation and glory of Martyrdome hath made it immodest for the best of men now to compare themselves with them and after its composition considered by advices from abroad and so trimm'd and adorn'd that no excrescency didremain the Rubricks of which Book was writ in the bloud of many of the Compilers which hath had a testimony from Gods blessing in the daily use of it accompanying it with the peace of an age established and confirmed by six Acts of Parliament directly and collaterally and is of so admirable a composure that the most industrious wits of its Enemies could never finde out an objection of value enough to make a doubt or scarce a scruple in a wise spirit But that I shall not need to set a night-piece by so excellent a beauty to set it off the better it s own excellencies are Orators prevalent enough that it shall not need any advantages accidental 47. And yet this excellent Book hath had the fate to be cut in pieces with a pen-knife and thrown into the fire but it is not consumed at first it was sown in tears and is now watered with tears yet never was any holy thing drowned and extinguished with tears It began with the Martyrdom of the Compilers and the Church hath been vexed ever since by angry spirits and she was forced to defend it with much trouble and unquietness but it is to be hop'd that all these storms are sent but to increase the zeal and confidence of the pious sons of the Church of England Indeed the greatest danger that ever the Common prayer-Prayer-book had was the indifferency and indevotion of them that used it but as a common blessing and they who thought it fit for the meanest of the Clergy to read prayers and for themselves onely to preach though they might innocently intend it yet did not in that action consult the honour of our Liturgy except where charity or necessity did interpose But when excellent things goe away and then look back upon us as our blessed Saviour did upon S. Peter we are more mov'd then by the nearer embraces of a full and an actual possession I pray God it may prove so in our case and that we may not be too willing to be discouraged at least that we may not cease to love and to desire what is not publickly permitted to our practice and profession 48. But because things are otherwise in this affair then we had hop'd and that in very many Churches in stead of the Common Prayer which they use not every man uses what he pleases and all men doe not choose well and where there are so many choosers there is nothing regular and the Sacraments themselves are not so solemnly ministred as the sacredness and solemnity of the mysteries do require and in very many places where the old excellent forms are not permitted there is scarce any thing at all but something to shew there was a shipwrack a plank or a cable a Chapter or a Psalm some who were troubled to see it so and fain would see it otherwise did think it might not be amiss that some of the Ancient forms of other Churches of the prayers of Scriptuâ—e should be drawn together and laid before them that need as supposing that these or the like materials would make better fuel for the
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