that is a Romish error for all that Rome holds is 〈◊〉 â—oneous let them take the Common-pâ—â—â—â—â—â—ook and Book of xxxix Articles and the â—â—eed look no further for a confutation Truly I never had yet the confidence which some Men have to call the Pope Antichrist and the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon and yet the very same Men have fastned the same titles of disgrace upon the Bishops and Church of England but I could wish the Pope more l ke the Primitive Bishops and Rome more like her Primitive self that so that Church ours may both be reconciled upon such terms of reconciliatâ—on as is consistent with Christian rules and so upon their union it is to be hoped another party would be disappointed of their foul ends who are for the Church of Rome and England one while and and another while call them both Whores only to destroy both and to set up themselvs Farewel The a ORDER for the Burial of the DEAD Rubrick I. Here is to be noted that the Office ensuing is not to be used for any that die b unbaptized or b excommunicate or b have laid violent hands upon themselves II. The c Priest and Clerks méeting the Corps at the entrance of the Church-yard and going before it either into the Church or towards the Grave shall say or sing Annotat. a ALl Offices to be performed to Christians living or dead are to be done according to the custom of the Church which is the rule of decency and according to the order directions and appointment of our lawful Superiours 1 Cor. 14.40 b These Three are denied Christian Burial The First because they were never visibly received into the bosom of the Church for Baptism is Introitus in Ecclesiam The Second because for some notorious crimes they are by just censure cast out of the bosom of the Church The Third and last because guilty of so foul a crime which is directly contradictory to Christian profession yet ought we to judg charitably of the first especially when born of believing Parents and where there was rather the want than the contempt of Baptism The Second we leave to the mercies of God neither are they absolutely denied the external rites of decent Funeral when repentance for the faults of such offenders is before their deaâ—h signified to those who have power to receive them into the Church upon their repentance as they had power to cast them out in a legal way for their crimes But if they die in a state of impenitency then these and the last who in their life and death would be as Pagans are not judged fit to be as Christians in their Burial All that authority can do to such Persons is to put their Carkasses to shame and to deny them the honour of seemly Sepulture For it hath been the practice of very Heathens Aegyptians Athenians and others to deny Burial to those who were notoriously wicked and self-murderers Athenienses decreverunt ne si quis se interfecisset sepeliretur in agro Attico August de civitat dei lib. 1. This difference God himself made in Jezebel 2 King 9.36 The King of Babylon Isay 14.19 Jehojakim Jerem. 22.18 19. And the Church hath frequently done the same by this means if possible to keep others in good courses and to terrify them from committing those horrid acts which have rendred some uncapable of Christian Burial Those Grecian Virgins who feared not death were yet restrained with the fear of shame after Death It hath been a usual practice thus to lay open the faults of Persons notoriously criminal by putting them to exemplary punishments and denying them the solemnity of honest Sepulture So Eusebius calls it Splendidissima Sepultura lib. 7. c. 15. Corah who rebelled against Moses and Aaron died not the common death of Men nor was buried after the manner of Men but went down quick into the ground opening under him Numb 16.32 Baana and Rechab who rose up against their Lord had their quarters set upon Poles 2 Sam. 4.12 Bigthan and Thares were fairly hanged upon a Tree Esth. 2.22 So Absalom came to a strange end 2 Sam. 18.14 So Sheba 2 Sam. 20.22 All the punishments of Rebels and Traytors now in use are collected and drawn together from the several examples we meet with in the Book of God Now these exemplary punishments are inflicted upon some to terrifie many and vengeance is taken in such manner upon such sinners that the just Cum viderit vindictam Psal 58.10 may wash his Feet or Hands in the blood of the wicked And then do the just wash their Hands and Feet when by other Mens punishments they learn to amend their own lives And there is a necessity to make some Persons thus exemplary in their Deaths and Burials 1. For the punishment of the offence for sins not corrected are incouraged 2. For a vindication of the Laws and Authority against which the offence is For such a disrespect unpunish'd would in time breed a contempt of all Law and Authority 3. For a terrour to others that other Mens punishments may be our instruction As David intitles his Psalm wherein he reports Israel's punishments a Psalm to give instruction Psal 78. That Man is desperately a Fool whom other Mens harms cannot make wise The Fox was warned when he saw the tracks of other Beasts leading to the Lyons Den but none returning So the foot-steps of others may be a warning to us to fix us upon firmer and better Principles that we do not fall and perish as they did The Foot-steps of the fallen Angels may check us for our pride The ashes of Sodom admonish us of our filthiness Ex eorum cinere fiat nobis lixivium The Gibbet of Hamman be an allay to our ambition Achans heap of stones in the Vally of Achor give check to our Sacriledge And the fearful examples of Absalom Corah Zimry Sheba Judas and others antidote us against Sedition Rebellion and Treason Miror quorum facta imitamur eorum exitus nos non perhorrescere c By the Priest and Clerks we are to understand the chief Minister of the Congregation and his Assistants who are either Clerici or Ministerialis ordinis candidati These are for the more solemnity to meet the Corps or dead Body at the entrance of the Church-Yard which Church-Yard is the usual and accustomed place of Burial Vid. Mins Diction expressed in the Teutonick German and other Languages by such words which signify Gods Glebe-Land the Churches Orchard or Garden noting unto us that the dead Bodies are there sowne like Seeds in the Furrow of the Grave and shall ripen into a fruitful and joyful Harvest at the Resurrection They are sown in tears but shall be reaped in joy they are sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory sowne in weakness shall be raised in power 1 Cor. 15.43 As Trees and Plants in the Winter they are as dead for a time but shall bud and spring
be put off that immortality may be put on Those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the first Age had this story told of them all they lived so many years and then they dyed Gen. 5. What Man is he that liveth and shall not see death The Prince and the Peasant are elemented of the same earth as Adam was like Nebuchadnezar's Image though we may have Heads of Gold yet we all stand but Lute is pedibus on feet of clay We are but like the Ark of God In medio pellium in the midst of skins living within Paper-walls walls of flesh we dwell in Houses of Clay whose foundation is in the dust and dirt which are crushed before the Moth. Job 4.19 I need say no more for confirmation of the first Proposition Let us see in the next place what use is to be made of it if we must all die and depart hence this being not our rest not our home but our way home Let us make provision in our life time for that time of dying which will most certainly come upon us though it be most uncertain when Let us think every day of dying for indeed we die daily as soon as we are born we begin to die Let us make death familiar by expectation of it by daily apprehension of it Let us at all instants go out to meet it and think our selves always upon our Death-bed He deserves not saith Jerom the name of a Christian who will live in that state of life in which he would not die Indeed it is a very great adventure to be in an evil state of life because we know that every minute of it hath a danger and we know withall that after death there is something else to be looked after which brings me to the next particular That all Men after Death must come to Judgment This is a Proposition carrying in it a very great truth which Pagans Turks and Infidels I mean the most sober and best moraliz'd amongst them have not been ignorant of How Heathens came by this knowledg whether by the light of nature or by some Revelation unknown to us or happily by some light derived from our Scriptures I am not able to say nor curious to enquire for my way hath ever been to sit down contented with my own ignorance in things which are in the dark and wherein I may spend much time in the disquisition and find but little satisfaction at last In secret things which belong to God Ignorance shall be the Mother of my Devotion That God shal judg the World is a clear truth Rom. 3.6 That he shall judg the Jews who sinned in the Law by the Law the Gentiles who sinned without Law without Law and Christians who have sinned against the clear light of the Gospel by the Gospel is a very great truth also Rom. 2.12 13 14 15 16. When this final Judgment shall be I will not determine Let curious heads meddle with these curiosities I dare not I will not so much as desire to know what God was not willing to reveal There is a day God hath appointed in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained Act. 17.31 even Jesus Christ before whose Tribunal we must all appear and receive according to what we have done in our Bodies be it good or evil 2 Cor. 5 10. God is pleased in wisdom to conceal that day that we may carefully observe every day By way of Application I add but this Knowing therefore this terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 5.11 Consider I pray you and lay it to heart What manner of Persons ye ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness 2 Pet. 3.11 And let this be a comfort to all Christians who have not their hope in this life only nor fix the Anchor of it here below that the same Jesus Christ who is now our Advocate in Heaven shal hereafter be our Judg c. Reader A Funeral Sermon of this nature may not be impertinent although not very necessary neither the Church in her Funeral Office having made such a full provision already But were the Funeral Orations and Encomiums o◠some low spirited Preachers well examin'd there is nothing in Print can appear more unseemly and misbecoming Christian profession wherein great Persons meerly for being great shall be applauded for that goodness which was never apparent in them Certainly these Elogies were intended as things extraordinary for Men of extraordinary sanctity and not else THE END The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-Birth Commonly called The Churching of Women Note 1. OUr Church of England eminent in her Liturgy and publick Offices both for her Charity to Man and Piety to God hath prescribed to Us in Her Service-Book two notable Passages as relating to Child-bearing-Women 1. In the Litany we are taught to pray in a general way for all Women labouring with Child that is for their safe deliverance in so great a danger which is so great that the Spirit of God being to lay out a danger to the full expresseth it thus As travel upon a Woman with Child 1 Thes 5.3 noting both the suddenness and sharpness of the pains Now there was a curse we know inflicted upon Woman-kind for Eve's sin That they should bring forth Children in sorrow or with sore travel at their birth Gen. 3.16 Every Child should be to her a Benoni and Filius Lachrymarum because the Woman was the cause and beginning of sin and ruine on all Man-kind 1 Tim. 2.14 However God is pleased to moderate the curse so that Woman shall be able to pass through her Child-bearing safe though not without some difficulty and danger and this curse no question is not so heavy upon Woman-kind as that sin deserved by means of the seed of the Woman the Messias which should be born from her Posterity For no doubt he would redeem that nature which he was to assume and did assume not only from the danger of Child-bearing but from a greater danger of eternal damnation upon condition that these Child-bearing-Women continue in the Faith and live in that Charity Holiness and Sobriety as they ought to do performing those Duties of Chastity and modest behaviour which Christianity requires of them 1 Tim. 2.15 Yet notwithstanding the curse of Child-bearing is moderated and mitigated it is not taken away it remains stil so as to expose the Woman to very great danger which motive puts the Church upon it constantly to pray for all Women labouring with Child I wonder ever any Women who have been sensible of these dangers should be taken captives by those spirits of errour and seducing Teachers 2 Tim. 3.6 which creep first into their houses and then into their hearts so as to be brought to a loathing and dislike of that most excellent Prayer which the Church hath inserted into her constant Morning-Service for their safe deliverance 2. Here is a peculiar Office for the purpose
they are Persons who must give an account of their proficiency in the Gospel who are under their charge Heb. 13.17 I wish the Ministers were so careful of their People as to go to the Sick when they call or send for them and that the People had so much respect for the Ministers and for themselves too as to send for them upon all occasions when ever they stand in need of any spiritual aids Peace be to this House and to all that dwell in it Note This is clearly grounded upon that of our Saviour When ye come into an House salute it say peace that is all kind of prosperity be to this House Matth. 10.12 13. Luk. 10.5 6. And if there be any pious Person or Son of Peace in the house capable of so great a blessing theâ— the blessing of peace shall rest upon him if not the blessing shall return to the Minister and the party visited shall receive no advantage by the Ministers coming to him upon a design of so much charity Rubrick When he cometh into the sick Mans presence he shall say knéeling down Remember not Lord our iniquities c. Note This short Prayer is warranted from these Texts of Scripture Joel 2.17 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Act. 20.28 Psal 85.3 Answer Spare us good Lord. Note This supposes a company joyned in Prayers with the Minister and to return back Spare us good Lord in answer to the Ministers Spare thy People going before Rubrick Then the Minister shall say Let us Pray Lord have mercy c. Our Father which art in Heaven c. Note I have already often accounted for the frequent use of these in our divine Offices and therefore I shall not now say any thing of them only give me leave to insert this short Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven O Lord God our Heavenly Father who art the giver of all goodness who art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by nature ours by grace and favour who dwellest in Heaven the Throne of thy Majesty the Seat of thy Glory attended by myriads of Angels ready to take Commissions from Thee in order to execute thy will and pleasure Hallowed be thy Name Send down thy grace unto us and to all People that we may glorifie thy great Name as we ought to do Let thy blessed and glorious Name be ever sanctified by us and by all that draw nigh unto Thee may we never profane it in our common talk abuse it by detestable oaths or blasphemies nor vainly make use of it in words or works professing Thee with our Lips and departing from Thee in our Lives Thy Kingdom come May the Scepter of thy Spirit so over-rule our unruly Spirits that we may worship Thee serve Thee and obey Thee as we ought to do Lord remove from us the Kingdom of thy Justice for if Thou shouldst strictly account with us no flesh could be justified bring us into Thy Kingdom of Grace that we may be comforted here and into thy Kingdom of Glory that we may be crowned hereafter Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven So long as we are to live in this Vale of misery let not our own wills but Thy will be done in us and by us in our several stations periods and conditions incline our hearts unto Thee that we may do all thy commands sincerely readily chearfully and in some proportion to what is done by the blessed Saints and glorious Angels in Heaven where there is no opposing disputing or resisting of thy will Give us this Day our daily Bread And that we may go on the more cheerfully in the discharge of our duties not taken off nor interrupted by any anxious thoughts about the things of this life We pray Thee to send us all things needful both for our Souls and Bodies the necessaries of our lives from day to day proportion'd to every Mans being or sustenance Give us the day of our life and the life of our days our daily bread victual for the nourishing of our bodies doctrinal for the reforming of our lives Sacramental for the sanctifying and saving of our Souls And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us We beseech Thee also to be merciful unto us and to forgive us our sins punish not on us those sins wherewith we have offended and provoked Thee to punish us Pardon all our sins of impiety committed against Thee of injustice and uncharitableness committed against our Neighbours of intemperance and uncleanness committed against our selves These and all other sins committed by us against thy Divine Majesty in thought word or deed we pray Thee to pardon and pass by as we forgive all who have any way or at any time trespassed against us in thought word or deed in body goods or Name And lead us not into Temptation And to these blessings of thy Mercy in pardoning what is past add that other of thy providence to preserve us for the time to come Suffer us not through our own corâ—uptions which are very many nor through the Devils malice which is very great to be brought into any temptation or snare or to be intangled in any dangers or difficulties which may not be easily supported by us But deliver us from evil But let it be thy pleasure to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily to keep us from all sin and wickedness from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death Deliver us from the blandishments of the flesh the allurements of the World the plausible snares of the Devil From external evils internal evils eternal evils by thy grace from the evil of sin by thy mercy from the evil of punishment Good Lord deliver us For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen These and all other blessings of thy grace goodness mercy and Majesty we trust Thou wilt bestow upon us of thy mercy and goodness through our Lord Jesus Christ For thine is the Kingdom and we doubt not but that Thou art able to remove from us all those Evils and Judgments which we have prayed to be delivered from For thine is the power Both which we beg at thy hands in order to advance and to set forth thy glory For thine is the glory To Thee therefore Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be ascribed in our Prayers and in our praises all honour glory power praise might majesty and dominion to both Ages the present and the future for the ever of this World which hath an end and the ever of that other World which is without end Amen Lord so be it Minister O Lord save thy Servant c. O Lord look down from Heaven c. Hear us Almighty and most merciful God and Saviour c. Note These Prayers are all prescribed and deliver'd in the very Scripture phrase so full of piety charity and devotion and so sitted to all
Lord be thou pleased to give us this grace so to instruct us and convince us of the shortness of our lives that we may by this consideration be brought to pay that constant reverence and obedience which is due to Thee and wherein the true wisdom consists for there cannot be any greater folly imaginable than to provoke Thee by our sins and to run the adventure of being cut off by Thee in our sins Vers 13. And O Lord if it stand with thy good pleasure reverse the sentence of excision which is gone out against us let it suffice that thy wrath hath swept away so many of us vouchsafe at last to be pacified and reconciled with us Vers 14. We have lain very long under thy wrath delay not now to afford us the full streams of thy mercy which we have so long wanted and impatiently thirsted after that so for the remainder of our time we may have some matter of rejoycing after so much sadness Vers 15. May the days of our rejoyceing hold some proportion with the days of our mourning and let our comforts be answerable to our calamities Vers 16. Magnifie thy glorious work of grace and mercy which is properly thy work to us and our posterity Vers 17. Shew thy loving kindness and light of thy countenance towards us look in mercy upon us give us thy grace to direct us all our days and in all our ways work in us both to will and to do and then by thy good providence prosper our designs and undertakings Vid. Dr. Hammond Note Why Gloria Patri concludes this and the foregoing Psalms I have given my Reasons in another Book upon the Common-Prayer Rubrick Then shall follow the Lesson taken out of the Fiftéenth Chapter os the former Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians Paraphrase Note This Lesson indeed the whole Office sets forth the peculiar hope of the Church touching the Resurrection of the Dead Which is Primarium Evangelii caput The Predominant Article that presupposeth all the rest It is Nexus Articulorum Fidei The tying Knot upon which all other links of holy Faith depend By this hand Religion is held up by the head 1 Cor. 15. vers 20. ad finem Vers 20. All the hope of a Christian is not terminated with this life of his here on Earth for if it were so Christians would be the most unhappy Persons and the most proper objects of compassion in the World But blessed be God for it it is much otherwise for Christ is risen and he by raising himself raiseth all others with him as in the consecration of the first fruits the whole Harvest is also consecrate So that we Christians who are miserable here shall be rewarded hereafter for Christ's Resurrection is a most certain proof of ours As the Head must rise before the Members so the Members are sure to follow the Head Christus est typus Christianorum Christus resurgens non solum est auspex exemplar sed fide-jussor chirographum nostrae resurrectionis Vers 21. As one Man brought death into the World so another Man brought Resurrection into the World Vers 22. For as upon Adam's sin All who are partakers of his nature are concluded under the sentence of his death so all regenerate believers who are like to Christ and belong to him shall be raised to immortal life Vers 23. But yet with some distance of Time shall this be Christ the first fruits shall rise some time before and all regenerate Christians shall rise after Him at his last coming to Judgment Vers 24. And then at the Conclusion of this World and of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ in the Church here below he shall deliver up all his power exercised by Himself and his Commissioners into the hand of God his Father having first destroyed all earthly Dominions pronouncing sentence upon the mightiest as well as the meanest Men subduing all to his Power either by their conversion or their destruction Vers 25. For this was the promise which was made to Christ Psal 110. that his Spiritual Kingdom on Earth should last so long till God had brought all the World to be subject to Him Vers 26. The last Enemy to be subdued by him is death and that must be therefore subdued that Men may be raised again from death to life Vers 27. The evidence is clear that God will subdue all enemies and things without exception under Christ only God is excepted from being so subdued from whom Christ hath received this power Vers 28. And when all things shall thus be brought in subjection to Christ then shall Christ lay down that Office which til then he exerciseth and in which he is conspicuous in his Church And then shal God Father Son Holy Ghost fill all the Elect with endless Bliss and Glory Vers 29. Now if the dead rise not why do Men at their Baptism make profession of the belief of it for the Resurrection of the dead is one of the prime Articles of belief into which Christians are Baptized and to which Baptism refers as a significant emblem first of Christs then of our Resurrection from the Grave The putting in and taking out of the Water being a sign of descending into the state of the dead and ascending from thence To be a Baptized Christian and not to believe the Resurrection is a ridiculous thing an Hypocrisie which will never be answer'd to God or men Note These words of St. Paul which are plain and easie and rational enough in the sense before mentioned are by some diversly rendred and strangely too 1. Stapleton and others prove from hence a Purgatory Vid. Du Moulin in his Confutation of Purgatory pag. 268. 2. Thomas Aquinas by the dead understandeth sins which are dead works 3. Claudius Guiliandus understands it of Martyrdom for the Faith of the Resurrection 4. Some interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over the dead as if it had been the manner of some to Baptize over the Graves of the dead to cherish their hope of the Resurrection but this custome is no where read of 5. Others think it may allude to an ancient custome of the faithful Jews who to strengthen their hopes of a Resurrection used to wash the Bodies of their dead and then embalm them before they buried them 6. Calvin following Epiphanius interprets it to refer to the custome of such Conveâ—ts in Religion who neglected Baptism til their death approached 7. Franciscus Junius interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not super but insuper as if the Apostle had said why is Baptisme still continued in the Church for the comfort of the Living as it was found of comfortable use to those who are now dead if the dead rise not 8. St. Ambrose understands it of a Sacramental washing applied unto some living Man in the name and behalf of his Friend dying without Baptism 9. Du Moulin applies it to the manner of Baptisme used By plunging the Body in Water to
qualities from the glorified Bodies in Heaven Vers 40. For it is to be observed that in the Resurrection there shall be 1. An improvement of all Mens estates who have their part in the Resurrection of the just above that which they here enjoy Vers 41. 2. There shall be degrees of glory of one above another as Heavenly Bodies are more glorious than Earthly and one Heavenly Body more glorious than another so shall it be in the Resurrection Vers 42. For it is to be noted which is indeed the chief thing notable in this present Discourse that the Bodies which shall rise differ from those that die and the state of the Resurrection differs from that of this life That which falls into the Grave is a corruptible Body that which shall rise again an incorruptible Vers 43. The Body which we live in here and must put off is subject to many dishonorable deformities weaknesses diseases age but the Body which we shall take up again and put on shall be a Body glorious and strong Vers 44. The Body we carry about with us while we live and lay down in the Grave when we die is nourished and sustained by meats and drinks whereas the Body in our future state will be immortal wanting nothing to sustain it For indeed such Bodies there are of both these sorts Vers 45. For thus we find it written in the Scriptures that we have one nature from Adam such a Body as Adam is mention'd to have had before his fall Gen. 2.7 we derive from him who communicated it to his Posterity But another Nature and another Body we shall receive from Christ who at the Resurrection shall restore us from the Grave and change our vile Bodies that they may be like unto His glorious Body Phil. 3.21 Vers 46. The mortal Body was first formed which needed sustenance without which it must needs perish and when this is put off by death the immortal Body shall be returned to us instead of it at the Resurrection Vers 47. The stock of our animal life was Adam so called as an earthy Man made and taken out of the Earth The stock of the life immortal is Christ the Lord who came down from Heaven Vers 48. Such a Body as Adam had such have all mortal Men and such a Body as Christ now hath shall we have who live according to his Precept and Example at the Resurrection Vers 49. As we have first been made like the mortal Adam here on Earth so we shall be made like the immortal Christ when we come to Heaven Vers 50. I shall add but this one thing more that it is not possible for these earthy corruptible weak ignominious Bodies of ours which are in a state of growing and feeding to come to Heaven but they must first be changed purified and immortaliz'd Vers 51. Therefore concerning those who shall be found alive at the Day of Judgment I shall tell you a Secret not yet discovered to you that though they die not at all yet they shall all be changed before they go to Heaven for these Bodies thus qualified as they now are cannot come thither Vers 52. And this change shall be wrought in a minute at the point of time when all the World shall be summoned to Judgment For God shall make the Angels alarm all the World of Men that ever was or shall be as by the sound of a Trumpet to appear before his Tribunal and when that alarme is given all that were formerly dead shall arise with immortal Bodies and they who shall be then alive shall from their mortal Bodies be changed into such Vers 53. For it is most certain and necessary that our mortal Bodies must be changed into immortal Vers 54. And when this is done then shall that saying of the Prophet be made good Hos 13. Vers 14. that death shall be devoured and destroyed for ever never to recover strength again over any thing nothing from thenceforth shall ever die Vers 55. In contemplation whereof a Christian may look upon death as a hurtless thing the sting or plague or wounding power of it being by Christ taken away and look upon the state of separation of Soul from Body to be such as shall not last for ever Vers 56. The only thing which makes Death sting like a Serpent and puts it in a capacity to hurt us is sin for were it not for sin Death would differ nothing from a calm sleep and that which gives sin any strength to mischief us is the Law which prohibits it and so consequently upon the breach brings guilt upon us Vers 57. But thanks be to God who by what Christ hath done for us hath given us victory over Sin and Death and by Conquest of Sin hath made Death but an Entrance to Immortality Vers 58. These Arguments may suffice to teach any Christian constancy and perseverance in doing Gods will and in suffering Gods will too and may oblige him to the utmost industry and diligence in the service of God knowing that nothing which we thus undergo shall fail of receiving a reward Vid. Dr. Hammond Rubrick When they come to the Grave while the Corps is made ready to be laid into the Earth the Priest shall say or the Priest and Clerks shall sing Note Here follows another very seasonable part of the Funeral Office to mind the standers by and those who are yet alive of the shortness miseries and uncertainty of this life Job 14. vers 1 2. Man that is born of a Woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery he cometh up and is cut down like a flower he fleeth as it were a shadow and never continueth in one stay That is Man is born of a Woman and as he hath received being from her so he hath derived weakness he lives here few Years but in so short a time he suffers many miseries He is born like a flower and passeth away like it he is like the shadow of our Quadrants in a perpetual motion and change is so far passed into his nature that notwithstanding all his endeavours he cannot remain one sole moment in the same condition Note here That the sticking of the Herse with Flowers and the use of Garlands at such a time is a custom which hath some resemblance with the Jews who as they went along by the Corps used to pluck up the Grass 1. To note the shortness of Man's life that Man is but as Grass as the flower of the Field It was said of a great Emperour that he was Parietira a wall-flower and so are we all our time is proclaimed Isay 40.6 withering sooner than the Grass which is short fading sooner than the flower of the Grass which is shorter From April to June the Sith cometh nay the Wind but bloweth and we are gone Hodie in agro cras in clibano Flourishing in the Morning fading cut down and withered before Night 2. To note the certain
hopes of a Resurrection Such Ceremonies are used in exprobration to Death and Mortality By them we shew that we are not sorry for our departed friends as Men without hope we look upon them only as Herbs and Flowers cropt off for a time and to spring up again in their season We sow their Bodies in the Earth with as much faith as we do our Seeds and Herbs and equally expect the spring of both In the midst of life we are in death of whom may we seek for succour but of Thee O Lord who for our sins art justly displeased Note Our end borders upon our beginning Finisque ab origine pendet Death and Life like Jacob and Esau take hold on each others â—eel Orimur morimur We bring sin and death into the World with us Haeret lateri lethalis arundo 'T is in vain to hope for long life which is so short that it is at an end whilst we are speaking of it Dum loquimur fugit vita The Man in the Gospel sung a Requiem to his Soul for many Years when the summons came presently Stulte hac nocte Luk. 12.20 Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam A Christians hope is not in this life only which is not the only life indeed not to be reckon'd of as life at all Via non vita A midling betwixt life and death Mortalis vita vitalis mors but truly my hope saith David is in Thee O Lord who canst deliver my Soul from sin and my Body from the Grave Psal 39.7 8. Thou killest and thou makest alive thou bringest down to the Grave and bringest up 1 Sam. 2.6 Yet O Lord God most Holy O Lord most Mighty O Holy and most Merciful Saviour deliver Us not into the bitter pains of Eternal Death Note As there is a two-fold Resurrection a Resurrection from sin to the life of grace which is glory begun Rom. 6.4 1 Cor. 15.34 and a Resurrection from the Sepulchre to the life of glory which is grace compleat 1 Cor. 15.54 Philip. 3.21 So there is a two-fold death The first death to which the first nature which we derive from Adam is subjected For upon Adam's sin all that are partakers of his nature are concluded under the sentence of death pronounced against him 1 Cor. 15.22 It was a statute made in Paradise a Decree not to be reversed a Debt not possible to be declined Gen. 3 19. Statutum est omnibus semel mori Heb. 9.27 All Men must die the first Death Wherein the Sepulchre like the Serpent feeds on nothing but dust it is not so much the death of the Body as the Death of the Corruption of the Body Mortalitas magis finita est quam vita And there is a second death to which all regenerate Christians who belong to Christ are not subjected but as they derive another nature from Christ so in that nature they shall be raised again to the life immortal 1 Cor. 15.22 Souls and Bodies both For however there is a death of the Soul not that it ceaseth to be but when it ceaseth to be righteous Habet anima mortem suam cum vita beata caret quae vâ—ra animae vita dicenda est August Perdere animam est non ut non sit sed ut male sit So the glosse upon Matth. 16.26 Yet they who belong to Christ who live according to his Doctrine and Example shall be raised Souls and Bodies to an endless life of endless felicities They who have a part in the Resurrection of grace shall have no part in the Second Death Which first Resurrection is proverbially applied to the flourishing condition of the Church under the Messias after a long time of Persecution Revel 20.5 According to that of the Apostle speaking of the Jews received to favour as Persons raised from the dead again Rom. 11.15 and the Second Death is applied to an â—tter final irreparable excision and cutâ—ing off Revel 20.6 Now against this Second Death the bitter pains of Eternal Death in the burning Lake where the Worm never dies and the Fire is not quenched the Church here teaches us to pray for as to the first Death which is a Debt to be paid to that nature which we derive from Adam there is no avoiding of it Palvis es in pulverem reverteris â—s Man's Epitaph written with Gods own Finger Gen. 3.19 But Libenter mortalis sum qui sim futurus immortalis is the faithful Man's subscription Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our hearts shut not thy merciful Eares to our Prayers but spare us Lord most Holy O God most Mighty O Holy and Merciful Saviour Thou most worthy Judge Eternal suffer us not at our last Hour for any pains of death to fall from Thee Note Here we pray to God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Maker of hearts and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Knower and Searcher of hearts and of actions as well as of hearts that he would in mercy hear our Prayers and in equal mercy pardon and forgive us our sins that he would sanctifie us by his Holiness imparted to us that he would defend us by his power save us in his infinite mercy and as we must all stand before him at the day of Judgment so he would stand by us at the Hour of Death that so the Devil who assaults us in the heel Gen. 3.15 and is most busie at the end and close of our life may have no advantage of us but that by the Shield of Faith we may put by all his Fiery Darts and never come into those everlasting Burnings but dying as Moses did Ad osculum oris Jehovae At a kiss of the Mouth of God So the Chalde paraphrase in Deut. 34.5 We may depart in the arms of God and so pass by Death temporal to Life Eternal Rubrick Then while the Earth shall be cast upon the Body by some standing by the Priest shall say Note This is left arbitrary for any by-stander to perform by which it is implied that it shall be the state and condition of every One one day He that casts earth upon the dead Body to day may have earth cast upon his tomorrow Hodie mihi cras tibi For as much as it hath pleased Allmighty God of his great mercy to take unto Himself the Soul of our dear here departed Eccles 12.7 we therefore commit _____ Body to the ground earth to earth ashes to ashes dust to dust Eccles 12.7 Eccles 3.20 Gen. 3.19 in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to Eternal Life Psal 16.9 1 Cor. 15.20 21 22. 1 Thes 4.13 14. through our Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile Body that it may be like unto his glorious Body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to Himself Philip. 3.20 21. Note When we perform these officia postremi muneris as the Fathers call them and decently commit the Bodies
Tertullian is very plain and full Vid. Melanct. in Evangel domin in loc commun And Mr. Calvin is very express That Christ alone is enter'd into the Sanctuary of Heaven and that he presents unto God the Prayers of the People who remain in a remoter Court till the end of the World Instit lib. 3. c. 20. Sect. 20. lib. 3. cap. 25. sect 6. in Luc. cap. 16. vers 22. vid. Marlorat vid. Calvin lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 1 Pet. 3.19 2 Pet. 2.4 Luc. 23.43 Mat. 8. Genes 5. de raptu Enochi Job 14. Philip. 1.6 2 Cor. 5.1 2 Cor. 12.13 Instit lib. 4. cap. 4. sect 12. in Catechism In all which places he will not define or determine any thing in terminis only holds as we do that they are in bliss but shall not have their perfect consummation and bliss till the Resurrection and Day of Doom The Collect. O merciful God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life in whom whosoever believeth shall live though he die and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall not die eternally Joh. 11.25 26. who also hath taught us by his holy Apostle St. Paul not to be sorry as Men without hope for them that sleep in him 1 Thes 4.13 14. We meekly beseech Thee O Father to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness Rom. 6.3 4. 1 Cor. 15.34 That when we shall depart this life we may rest in him as our hope is this our _____ doth and that at the general Resurrection in the last day we may be found acceptable in thy sight and receive that blessing which thy well beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear Thee saying Come ye blessed Children of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 Grant this we beseech thee O merciful Father through Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer Amen Note This Collect sums up all the remarkableness of the Burial Office in a short devout prayer and brings all home in pious application Herein we declare our hope concerning all who depart this life in the bosom of the Church for so long as we are in the bosome of the Church we are in the state of pardon however if we are sometimes mistaken in our hope as to particulars yet it is ever a testimony of our charity It is Error amoris in case it happen at any time to be an errour 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all ever more Amen Viz. The charity of God the Son the love of God the Father and the bounty or liberal effusion of the graces of God's Holy Spirit be in us with us and upon us now and ever Amen POSTSCRIPT Christian Reader IN the first place I am to desire thee to have so much charity for our reviving Mother the Church of England as not to think her any way addicted to an affected singularity in her prescribed Office for the Burial of her dying Children for as in her other Offices so in this she holds exact conformity with her other Sisters the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas so far as they may be permitted to hold conformity with her Vid. Mr. Durel Touching the conformity of other reformed Churches with the Reformed Church of England pag. 34. sect 38. pag. 48. sect 60. Besides take notice of the words of the most judicious Hooker Take away saith he these prayers praises and holy Lessons which were ordained at Burials to shew the peculiar hope of the Church touching the Resurrection of the dead and in the manner of the dumb Funerals what one thing is there whereby the World may perceive that we are Christians Hook Eccles Pol. lib. 5. sect 75. Some few Rites more I shall add observed at Funerals together with their Reasons annexed only to give satisfaction to those better sort of weak Christians who quarrel at their use more out of tenderness of conscience than out of turbulency or any contentious spirit as for such who are contentiously given who are ill-willers to Sion who are enemies to the peace of the Church who delight in nothing but dreadful confusions and make it a great part of their Religion to quarrel the ancient practises of the Church and just Orders of Superiours I leave them to the severest execution of the Laws of the Land and the power of those who are invested with Jurisdiction to punish them as schismatical and seditious Persons and as the nature of their offence shall deserve and truly I think Superiours may be blamed for their indulgence in such cases as well as for their severity Our Church will never be at peace and our State never at quiet from the working of some Mens spirits and intemperate zeal Si vitiis Principum irasci liceat insidiari bonitati But enough of this I proceed now to speak of the few other Rites rather practised at Funerals than by Law or Canon prescribed and to account for them with what brevity and perspicuity I can 1. The ringing of the Passing-bel or Soul-bell as we call it is not intended to help the passage of the Soul when departed out of the Body but only to stir up devout Christians to pray for its happy passage out of its Body and to move those who are living to make reflexions upon their own mortality and seriously to consider of their later end This Bell is like St. Paul's Trumpet 1 Cor. 14.8 which gives such a certain sound that all within the hearing of it may prepare themselves to the Battel which is to be fought in the Field of Death 2. It was an ancient custom and is still practised to bury the Dead with their Faces turning towards the East to shew that they were as sure of an uprise as the Sun that comes forth of his Eastern Chamber and that they lie waiting for that Sun of Righteousness Malach. 4.2 who shall at the last day return with his healing Wings and quicken and revive all the dead Bodies of his Servants by his healing and life-giving influence when he comes with his Prodi Lazare or Surge qui dormis then the Graves shall set open their Marble Doors and restore their deposita When the Arch-Angel shall sound the Trump of Collection then the scattered bones of Gods Saints shall be gathered together with sinews and those sinews incorporated with flesh and that flesh covered over with skin all mortality being purged away and by a new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Pythagoras never dreamed of the same Soul shall re-enter the same Body These and the like Ceremonies the Church hath practised in her Funerals to be as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so many significant emblems to strengthen and confirm her living Children in the hopes of a joyful resurrection 3. It was an
Ecclesia Extra Ecclesiam Uzzah is not to touch the Ark. Nor Oziah to meddle with the censer Nor Saul to offer the sacrifice Obedience is better than such Sacrifices Quae sacra sed sacrilega vota non vovenda sed devovenda Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Here we pray that we may readily and promptly obey all the Laws of the Kingdome before mentioned not to live as we list but to live as we ought to make God's Word our Rule his Spirit our guide and his Sons life our example that we may as cheerfully do God's will on earth as the Angels do it in Heaven do it sincerely not in hypocrisie do it not because we will it but because God wills it though it be contradictory to our own wills We must not only do Gods will but suffer GOD's will as it must cheerfully be done by us so we must patiently submit when done upon us when Gods hand is upon our backs our hand must be upon our mouths Could we in all accidents and various changes of this world resign up our wills to GOD's will it would make the Cross easy here and keep us from those everlasting burnings hereafter We must not only do what God wills but as he wills it too Voto desiderio animo We must not do it Utcunque in any manner but with a sicut in the best manner 1. Voluntas Dei est decretum Haec est voluntas quam Deâ— vult Voluntas haec adoranda non scratanda 2. Voluntas Dei est mandatum Haec est voluntas quam ipse nos velle vult Voluntas haec scrâ—tanda facienda Converte meum nâ—n velle Domine in tâ—â—â— velle Tolle voluntâ—teâ— tuam O Homo ego extinguam infernum 'T is Factum Domini So Eli. Obmutui quia tu fecisti So David Modo occidat fiduciam non deponam So Job Perdidit vitam ne per deret obedientiam So Christ Bonum est verbum Domini So Ezekiah Bonum bene God loves adverbs better than verbs Quid Deus vult quomodo Deus vult Give us this Day our daily Bread Here we pray that God who is the giver of all good would bestow upon us those temporal blessings which are convenient for us in this life That he would give us the necessaries of our lives from day to day proportioned to every Mans being or sustenance neither do we pray only for our selves but for others the motive of necessity puts us upon the first the motive of Charity puts us upon the latter Omne bonum Dei donum We must beg our daily Bread before we have it Dicimas da nobis ne patetur esse a nobis In sudore vultus Gen. 3.19 Deus habet sinum facilem sed non perforatum Jacob 's Prayer Gen. 28.20 Agur 's Prayer Prov. 30.8 Paul 's Dimensum 1 Tim. 6.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meat and cloathing are sufficient for us Non mihi sed nobis non meam sed nostram And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us We are no sooner taught to pray for our daily Bread but as soon as those words are out of our mouths to pray for the forgiveness of our sins so apt we are to make the blessings of God instruments of Rebellion against him and to enslave our faith to our present enjoyments And in regard our sins hinder the current of his blessings and keep good things from us we are taught to beg that God would be merciful unto us forgive us our sins and work in our hearts though not in the like measure yet in some measure the same mercy towards others as he bears towards us How can we expect pardon from God when we will not pardon our Brethren Again in begging pardon we confess how much we need it and that our righteousness is depending on Gods forgivenes Least I be full and deny thee Pro. 30.9 Then beware least thou forget the Lord Deut. 6.12 Religio peperit divitias filia devoravit matrem Plenty causeth forgetfulness noted in Joseph's two Sons Ephraim and Manasses Gen. 41.51 52. When GOD is most mindful of us we are most unmindful of him Vid. Aristoph Plut. Quid alimenta proderunt si illis reputamur revera quasi taurus ad Victimam Tertul. Quid est ad pacem Dei accedere sine pace ad remissionem debitorum cum retentione quomodo placabit patrem iratus in fratrem Tertul. Qui petit veniam delictum confitetur Tertul. And lead us not into Temptation In this Petition seeing our own nature is so strong in its weakness as to incline us to sin we pray that God would support us by his grace to keep us from falling and when we are fallen to raise us up again by repentance Ne nos patiaris induci a diabolo qui utique tentat Tertul. Christus a diabolo tentatus praesidem artificem tentationis demonstravit Tertul. But deliver us from evil Seeing we are exposed to many temptations in this World and by reason of our sins lie open to many dangers so that in the midst of life we are in death one evil opening a way to another the evil of sin to the evil of punishment therefore we pray that God who is so powerful that he can and so merciful that he will would keep us from the evil of sin by his grace and keep from us the evil of punishment by his mercy Haec clausula priorem interpretatur Tertul. Qui Deo se committit diabolum non timet Ambros Libera nos 1. a malo mundi 2. a malo carnis 3. a malo diaboli Libera nos a nobis For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever This clause is an Appendix to the Prayer and shews that when we pray in this forme and take the meaning along with the words and our hearts and words go together we may have an humble confidence we shall be heard and have our requests granted either according to our desires or according to our needs in another kind which may not be so well known to us in regard He we pray to is a King invested with all Power and Authority and will deny us nothing which tends to the advancement of his glory Deus vult dare quod petimus potest dare quod petimus 1. Ab officio regis Tuum est regnum 2. A potentia dei Tua est potentia 3. A causa finali Tua est gloria This Doxologie is often omited because in St. Luke it is no part of the Prayer nor is to be found in that most ancient Manuscript of St. Matthew's Gospel but is thought to be added by the Greek Church and used in their Liturgies but divided from the Prayer as if it were no part of it Vid. Dr. Sparr Ration pag. 28. Amen This Word being an Index of the Peoples ascent to the preceding Prayer was usually in the Primitive Church