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
That indetermination of the office may not introduce indifferency nor indifferency lead in a freer liberty or liberty degenerate into licentiousness or licentiousness into folly and vanity and these come sometime attended with secular designs lest these be cursed with the immission of a peevish spirit upon our Priests and that spirit be a teacher of lies and these lies become the basis of impious theoremes which are certainly attended with ungodly lives and then either Atheism or Antichristianism may come according as shall happen in the conjunction of time and other circumstances for this would be a sad climax a ladder upon which are no Angels ascending or descending because the degrees lead to darkness and misery 5. But that which is of special concernment is this that the Liturgy of the Church of England hath advantages so many and so considerable as not onely to raise it self above the devotions of other Churches but to endear the affections of good people to be in love with Liturgy in general 6. For to the Churches of the Romane Communion we can say that ours is reformed to the reformed Churches we can say that ours is orderly and decent for we were freed from the impositions and lasting errours of a tyrannical spirit and yet from the extravagancies of a popular spirit too our reformation was done without tumult and yet we saw it necessary to reform we were zealous to cast away the old errours but our zeal was balanced with consideration and the results of authority Not like women or children when they are affrighted with fire in their clothes we shak'd off the cole indeed but not our garments lest we should have exposed our Churches to that nakedness which the excellent men of our sister Churches complained to be among themselves 7. And indeed it is no small advantage to our Liturgy that it was the off-spring of all that authority which was to prescribe in matters of Religion The king and the Priest which are the Antistites Religionis and the preservers of both the Tables joyn'd in this work and the people as it was represented in Parliament were advised withal in authorizing the form after much deliberation for the Rule Quod spectat ad omnes ab omnibus tractari debet was here observed with strictness and then as it had the advantages of discourse so also of authorities its reason from one and its sanction from the other that it might be both reasonable and sacred and free not onely from the indiscretions but which is very considerable from the scandal of popularity 8. And in this I cannot but observe the great wisdome and mercy of God in directing the contrivers of the Liturgy with the spirit of zeal and prudence to allay the furies and heats of the first affrightment For when men are in danger of burning so they leap from the flames they consider not whither but whence and the first reflections of a crooked tree are not to straightness but to a contrary incurvation yet it pleased the Spirit of God so to temper and direct their spirits that in the first Liturgy of King Edward they did rather retain something that needed further consideration then reject any thing that was certainly pious and holy and in the second Liturgy that they might also throughly reform they did rather cast out something that might with good profit have remained then not satisfy the world of their zeal to reform of their charity in declining every thing that was offensive and the clearness of their light in discerning every semblance of errour or suspicion in the Romane Church 9. The truth is although they fram'd the Liturgy with the greatest consideration that could be by all the united wisdome of this Church and State yet as if Prophetically to avoid their being charg'd in after ages with a crepusculum of Religion a dark twilight imperfect Reformation they joyn'd to their own starre all the shining tapers of the other reformed Churches calling for the advice of the most eminently learned and zealous Reformers in other Kingdomes that the light of all together might shew them a clear path to walk in And this their care produced some change for upon the consultation the first form of King Edwards Service-book was approved with the exception of a very few clauses which upon that occasion were review'd and expung'd till it came to that second form and modest beauty it was in the Edition of M D L II and which Gilbertus a German approved of as a transcript of the ancient and primitive forms 10. It was necessary for them to stay somewhere Christendome was not onely reformed but divided too and every division would to all ages have called for some alteration or else have disliked it publickly and since all that cast off the Romane yoke thought they had title enough to be called Reformed it was hard to have pleased all the private interests and peevishness of men that called themselves friends and therefore that onely in which the Church of Rome had prevaricated against the word of God or innovated against Apostolical tradition all that was par'd away But at last she fix'd and strove no further to please the people who never could be satisfied 11. The Painter that exposed his work to the censure of the common passengers resolving to mend it as long as any man could finde fault at last had brought the eyes to the ears and the ears to the neck and for his excuse subscrib'd Hanc populus fecit But his Hanc ego that which he made by the rules of art and the advice of men skill'd in the same mystery was the better peece The Church of England should have par'd away all the Canon of the Communion if she had mended her peece at the prescription of the Zuinglians and all her office of Baptism if she had mended by the rules of the Anabaptists and kept up Altars still by the example of the Lutherans and not have retain'd decency by the good will of the Calvinists and now another new light is sprung up she should have no Liturgy at all but the worship of God be left to the managing of chance and indeliberation and a petulant fancy 12. It began early to discover its inconvenience for when certain zealous persons fled to Frankford to avoid the funeral piles kindled by the Romane Bishops in Queen Maries time as if they had not enemies enough abroad they fell foul with one another and the quarrel was about the Common Prayer Book and some of them made their appeal to the judgement of M r Calvin whom they prepossessed with strange representments and troubled phantasms concerning it and yet the worst he said upon the provocation of those prejudices was that even its vanities were tolerable Tolerabiles ineptias was the unhandsome Epithete he gave to some things which he was forc'd to dislike by his over-earnest complying with the Brethren of Frankford 13. Well! upon this the wisdome of
is contained in the Common Prayer Book to be conformable to that order which our blessed Saviour Christ did both observe and command to be observed And a little after he offers to joyn issue upon this point That the Order of the Church of England set out by authority of the innocent and godly Prince Edward the sixth in his high Court of Parliament is the same that was used in the Church fifteen hundred years past 20. And I shall go near to make his words good For very much of our Liturgy is the very words of Scriptures The Psalms and Lessons and all the Hymnes save one are nothing else but Scripture and owe nothing to the Romane Breviaries for their production or authority So that the matter of them is out of question holy and true As for the form none ever misliked it but they that will admit no form for all admit this that admit any But that these should be parts of Liturgy needs not to be a question when we remember that Hezekiah and the Princes made it a Law to their Church to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the Seer and that Christ himself did so and his Apostles after the manner of the Jews in the Feast of Passeover sung their Hymnes and portions of the great Allelujah in the words of David and Asaph the Seer too and that there was a song in heaven made up of the words of Moses and David and Jeremy the Seer and that the Apostles and the Church of God always chose to doe so according to the commandment of the Apostle that we sing Psalms and Hymnes to God I know not where we can have better then the Psalms of David and Asaph and these were ready at hand for the use of the Church insomuch that in the Christian Synaxes particularly in the Churches of Corinth S. Paul observed that every man had a Psalm it was then the common devotion and Liturgy of all the faithful and so for ever and the Fathers of the fourth Councel of Toledo justify the practice of the Church in recitation of the Psalms and Hymnes by the example of Christ and his Apostles who after Supper sung a Psalm and the Church did also make hymns of her own in the honour of Christ sung them Such as was the Te Deum made by S. Ambrose and S. Augustine and they stood her in great stead not onely as acts of direct worship to Christ but as Conservators of the articles of Christs Divinity of which the Fathers made use against the heretick Artemon as appears in Eusebius lib. 5. cap. 28. Eccles. Hist. 21. That reading the Scripture was part of the Liturgy of the Apostolical ages we finde it in the tenth Canon of the Apostles in Albinus Flaccus Rabanus Maurus and in the Liturgy attributed to S. James Deinde leguntur fusissimè oracula sacra veteris Testamenti Prophetarum Filii Dei Incarnatio demonstratur Passio Resurrectio ex mortuis ascensus in Coelum secundus item adventus ejus cum gloria Atque id fit singulis diebus c. 22. So that since thus farre the matter of our devotions is warranted by Gods Spirit and the form by the precedents of Scripture too and the ages Apostolical above half of the English Liturgy is as Divine as Scripture it self and the choice of it for practice is no less then Apostolical 23. Of the same consideration is the Lords Prayer commanded by our blessed Saviour in two Evangelists the Introit is the Psal. 95. and the Responsories of Morning and Evening Prayer ejaculations taken from the words of David and Hezekiah the Decalogue recited in the Communion is the ten words of Moses and without peradventure was not taken into the Office in imitation of the Romane for although it was done upon great reason and considering the great ignorance of the people they were to inform yet I think it was never in any Church Office before but in Manuals and Catechisms onely yet they are made Liturgick by the suffrages at the end of every Commandement and need no other warrant from antiquity but the 20. Chapter of Exodus There are not many parts beside and they which are derive themselves from an elder house then the Romane Offices The Gloria Patri was composed by the Nicene Councel the latter Versicle by S. Jerome though some eminently learned and in particular Baronius is of an opinion that it was much more ancient It was at first a confession of faith and used by a newly baptized Convert and the standers by and then it came to be a Hymne and very early annexed to the Antiphones and afterwards to the Psalms and Hymnes all except that of S. Ambrose beginning with Te Deum because that of it self is a great Doxology It is seven times used in the Greek Office of Baptism and in the recitation of it the Priest and people stood all up and turned to the East and this custome ever continued in the Church and is still retained in the Church of England in conformity to the ancient and Primitive custome save onely that in the Let any we kneel which is a more humble posture but not so ancient the Letanies having usually been said walking not kneeling or standing But in this the variety is an ornament to the Churches garment S. Gregory added this Doxology to the Responsory at the beginning of prayer after O Lord make hast to help us That was the last and yet above a thousand years old and much elder then the body of Popery And as for the latter part of the Doxology I am clearly of opinion that though it might by S. Hierome be brought into the Latine Church yet it was in the Greek Church before him witness that most ancient Hymne or Doxology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However as to the matter of the Doxology it is no other then the Confession of the three most blessed persons of the Trinity which Christ commanded and which with greatest solemnity we declare in Baptism and certainly we can no ways better or more solemnly and ritually give glory to the Holy Trinity then by being baptized into the profession and service of it The Trisagion was taught to the Greek Church by Angels but certain it is it sprang not from a Romane fountain and that the Canon of our Communion is the same with the old Canon of the Church many hundred years before Popery had invaded the simplicity of Christian Religion is evident if we compare the particulars recited by S. Basil Innocentius his Epistle to John Archbishop of Lyons Honorius the Priest Alcuinus and Walafridus Strabo and if we will we may adde the Liturgy said to be S. James's and the Constitution of S. Clement for whoever was the author of these certainly they were ancient Radulphus Tongrensis and the later Ritualists Cassander Pamelius Hittorpius Jacobus Goar and the rest
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
when thou hadst taken upon thee our Nature and our sin and appeased thy Fathers wrath and perform'd all his will and overcome death and rescued all obedient soules from the hand of the enemy didst ascend to thy Eternall Father and open the Kingdome of Heaven to all beleivers thou hast espoused thy Church unto thy selfe with the eternall circles of thy providence with thy love and with thy care with thy word and with thy Spirit thy promises and thy holy intercession thou hadst a feeling of our infirmities and art our mercifull High Preist makeing intercession for us for ever O be pleased to represent and supply all our wants excuse all our infirmities pity all our calamities pardon our sins and send downe thy holy spirit of grace into our hearts that though we walke upon the earth yet our conversation may be in heaven and there also may be our portion and inheritance for ever through thy mercies O most Gracious Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Amen For Whitsunday Psalmes for Morning Prayer Psalme 87. Morning Prayer Psalme 89. Evening Prayer Psalme 2. Evening Prayer Psalme 45. Evening Prayer Psalme 110. The Hymne to be said after the second lesson at Morning and Evening Prayer * SIng a loud unto God our strength make a joyfull noise unto the God of Jacob. ¶ I will remember the workes of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate of all thy 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 ¶ Vow and pay unto the Lord your God let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared * He shall cut off the spirit of princes he is terrible to the Kings of the earth ¶ Say unto God how terrible art thou in thy workes thorough the greatnesse of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee * Sion heard and was glad and the daughters of Judah rejoyced because of thy judgements O Lord. ¶ For thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted farre above all Gods * Light is sowne for the righteous and gladnesse for the upright in heart ¶ Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous and give thankes at the remembrance of his Holinesse * The Lord hath made knowne his salvation his righteousnesse hath he openly shewed in the sight of the Heathen ¶ He hath remembred his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel all the ends of the earth have seene the salvation of our God * Give unto the Lord O ye kinreds of the people give unto the Lord glory and strength ¶ For he commeth For he commeth to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousnesse and the people with his truth Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Collect. O Eternall God the Great Father of spirits the great Lover of soules who didst send thy holy Spirit upon thy Church in the day of Pentecost and hast promised that he shall abide with thy Church for ever let thy holy Spirit lead us into all truth defend us from all sin enrich us with his gifts refresh us with his comforts rule in our hearts for ever conduct us with his truth and lead us in the way everlasting that we living by thy Spirit and walking in him may by him be sealed up to the day of our redemption O let thy Spirit witnesse to our spirits that we are the children of God and make us to be so for ever through Jesus our Lord who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit one God world without end Amen Upon Trinity Sunday O Blessed ineffable and most mysterious Trinity how admirable are thy beauties how incomparable are thy perfections how incomprehensible are those relations of the three most Blessed Persons which we believe and admire and adore but understand not The Angels are amazed in the unimaginable beauties of that glorious presence and are swallowed up with the Ocean of thy infinity How then can we who are in the lowest order of understanding creatures and have removed our selves further from thee and the participation of thy excellencies by a sinfull life praise thee either according to our duty or thy glories yet be pleased to accept the humblest adorations and with a favourable and a gracious eye behold the lowest worshippings and duty of thy servants We confesse and glory in thy omnipotency thy immensity thy goodnesse thy uncircumscribed Nature thy truth thy mercy thy omniscience O let us also receive thy blessings and gracious influences that we may adore thee with all our powers and possibilities for ever love thee with all our affections for ever serve with our best and earliest and all our industry that being here wholly inebriated with love and busied in thy service and the duties of a holy obedience we may to all eternity rejoyce in the beholding of those glories which are above all capacities above all heavens above all Angels even those glories which streame forth from the throne of the Eternall God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost to whom be glory and dominion honour and adoration eternally confessed due and humbly paid by all men and all Angels world without end Amen A Collect to be used upon any of the Festivals or Commemoration of the Apostles ALmighty God who hast built thy holy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himselfe being the cheife corner stone we blesse and magnifie thy Name thy holy and ever glorious Name for thy great graces which thou gavest to thy Apostles and Prophets and Martyrs in the daies of their flesh and this day we have thy servant S. Paul S. Peter S. James c. here name the Apostle c. in remembrance praising thee for the benefits which the church hath received by his ministery and example we pray unto thee to give us thy grace that we obeying thy doctrine which he taught and publish'd and following his example as he followed Christ we also may with safety and holinesse passe through this vally of tears that serving thee in our generation advancing thy honour and obeying thy lawes we may in the society and communion of Saints and Angels sing eternall Hallelujahs to the honour of thy mercy and of thy majesty through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen An Office or Order for the Holy Sacrament of the LORDS SUPPER An Office or order for the Administration of the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper according to the way of the Apostolicall Churches and the doctrine of the Church of England THE ANTECOMMUNION 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
Maon sings praises to God in this psalm I Love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications 2 Because he hath inclined his eare unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live 3 The sorrowes of death compassed me and the pains of hell gat hold upon me I found trouble sorrow 4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul. 5 Gracious is the Lord righteous yea our God is mercifull 6 The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me 7 Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee 8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living 10 I believed therefore have I spoken I was greatly afflicted 11 I said in my haste All men are liars 12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me 13 I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. 14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints 16 Oh Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds 17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving will call upon the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people 19 In the courts of the Lords house in the midst of thee O Jerusalem Praise ye the Lord. PSAL. CXVII A Doxology to God for his mercy and truth it is also propheticall of the calling the Genâ—iles O Praise the Lord all yee nations praise him all ye people 2 For his mercifull kindnesse is great towards us and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever Praise ye the Lord. PSAL. CXVIII A thanksgiving and gratulation to God for his being victorious over the Philistims and his establishment in his kingdome it figures the Church going to her Temples giving thanks to God praying for blessing and the priests blessing God and thâ— people and appointing sacrifices The coming of the Messias and the joyes of the world at his coming O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth for ever 2 Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth for ever 3 Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth for ever 4 Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever 5 I called upon the Lord in distresse the Lord answered me and set me in a large place 6 The Lord is on my side I wil not fear what can man do unto me 7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me 8 It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in man 9 It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in princes 10 All nations compassed me about but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them 11 They compassed me about yea they compassed me about but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them 12 They compassed me about like bees they are quenched as the fire of thorns for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them 13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me 14 The Lord is my strength and song and is become my salvation 15 The voyce of rejoycing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly 16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly 17 I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. 18 The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over unto death 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness I will go in to them and I will praise the Lord. 20 This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter 21 I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone of the corner 23 This is the Lords doing it is marvellous in our eyes 24 This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it 25 Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. 27 God is the Lord which hath shewed us light bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the altar 28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art my God I will exalt thee 29 O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Ev. Pr. PSAL. CXIX David teaches that all true happiness consists in keeping the commandments he prayes to God to produce in him a great love of them and to give him right understanding in them promises and threatnings are intermingled with great variety of expressions of the same earnest dâ—sire he had keep to the laws of God BLessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart 3 They also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes 4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently 5 O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes 6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments 7 I will praise thee with uprightnesse of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgements 8 I will keep thy statutes O forsake me not utterly BETH 9 VVHerewithall shal a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee O let me not wander from thy commandments 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee 12 Blessed art thou O Lord teach me thy statutes 13 With my lips have I declared all the judgements of thy mouth 14 I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches 15 I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy wayes 16 I will delight my self in thy statutes I wil not forget thy word GIMEL 17 DEal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word 18 Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law 19 I am a stranger in the earth hide not thy commandments from me 20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgements at all times 21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed which