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-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
sanctifie all the events of thy providence and the changes of our life that we may for ever love and for ever fear thee and all things may worke together for our Good unto thy glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen The blessing The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communication of the holy spirit of God be with us and with all our Relatives and with all the servants of God this day and for evermore Amen The end of Morning Prayer EVENING PRAYER Throughout the YEARE EVENING PRAYER Throughout the YEARE Say one or more of these Sentences O Lord the hope of Israel all that forsake thee shall be ashamed because they have for saken the Lord the fountaine of living waters O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us have mercy upon us for thy names sake for our backslidings are many we have sinned against thee Seeke the Lord while he may be found call upon him when he is neer There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the remnant of the transgression of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercie Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to renew the heart of them that are contrite After which adde this short exhortation I Beseech you that are present to joyne with me in a humble confession of sins to Almighty God casting your selves downe with all humility before the throne of Grace The Confession I. ALmighty God powerfull and mercifull thou art a jealous God against persevering sinners but a gracious father to the penitent let thy mercifull eares be opened to the petitions of thy servants who with sorrow and shame confesse their sins unto thee II. We have loved the world not thee we have obeyed the desires of our owne hearts not thy holy lawes and Commandements we have often left our dutie undone but cease not to please our senses and to feed greedily upon vanity thou hast commanded us to love our brethren and instead of loving them we have slandered and reproached injured and tempted them envied their good and rejoyced in their calamity III. O Blessed God we are asham'd when we rememberd our owne follies our violent passions our peevishnesse and pride our vaine thoughts and unprofitable words our uncharitable and uselesse conversation we spend our daies in idlenesse and folly our nights in the images and causes of death and though our sins are so many that we cannot number them yet we so little apprehend our owne dangers that we neither leave them utterly nor heartily deplore them IV. But O God thou God of pity and compassion have mercy upon us For thou art our Father mercifull and gracious and thou hast revealed to mankind an infinite mercy in Jesus Christ. For his sake be pleased to give us repentance and to give us pardon and grant that our soules being wash'd in the blood of the holy Lambe and the Baptisme of repentance we may live a gracious a holy and a blessed life in all godlinesse and honesty and sobriety and may die in the love of God in the charity of our neighbours in the Communion of the Church and in a sure and certaine hope of life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen The prayer of Absolution to be said by the Minister alone according to his piety and discretion when he sees cause OUr Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus the great Shepherd and Bishop of our soules that lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world who promised Paradise to the repenting theife and gave pardon to the woman taken in adultery he pardon and forgive all your sins knowne and unknowne *** O Blessed Jesus in whatsoever thy servants as men bearing flesh about them and inhabiting this world or deceived by the Devill have sinn'd whether in word or deed whether in thought or desire whether by omission or commission let it be forgiven unto them by thy word and by thy spirit and for ever preserve thy servants from sinning against thee and from suffering thine eternall anger for thy promise sake and for thy glorious Names sake O Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Amen Then devoutly and distinctly say the Lords Prayer OUr Father which art in heaven * Hallowed be thy Name * Thy Kingdome come * Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven * Give us this day our daily bread* And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us* And lead us not into temptation* But deliver us from evill For thine is the Kingdome the power and the Glory for ever Amen The Doxology GLory be to the Father of mercies the Father of Men and Angels the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Glory be to the most holy and eternall sonne of God the Blessed Saviour and Redeemer of the World the Advocate of sinners the Prince of Peace the Head of the Church and the mighty Deliverer of all them that call upon him Glory be to the holy and Eternall spirit of God the Holy Ghost the comforter the sanctifying and life-giving Spirit All Glory and thankes all honour and power all love and obedience be to the Blessed and undivided Trinity one God Eternall The Heavens declare thy glory the Earth confesses thy providence the sea manifests thy power and every spirit and every understanding creature celebrates thy greatnesse for ever and ever* All glory and majesty all praises and dominion be unto thee O God Father Son and Holy Ghost for ever and ever Amen Then arising from their knees let the Psalme's be said in order unlesse some extraordinary occasion doe intervene in which case let Psalmes be selected according to the occasion or as is afterwards described concluding with Glory be to the Father c. Then read upon all Sundaies and Festivals of the yeare a chapter in the old Testament either in order or by choice After the lesson recite this Hymne * I Will remember the workes of the Lord surely I will remember the wonders of old I will meditate of allthy workes and talke of thy doings ¶ Thy way O God is in the sanctuary who is so great a God as our God * Thou art the God that doest wonders thou hast declared thy strength among the people ¶ Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when thou art angry * For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he powreth out of the same