sanctifying these waters a new and heavenly off-spring may hence arise full of health and light that humane nature which was made after thy own image being reformed and restored to the honour of its first beginning may be cleansed from all the impure adherencies of sin preserved from the Dominion of it and rescued from all its sad effects that what shall be so born in the wombe of the Church may dwell in the house of God and Reign with thee for ever in the inheritance of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Amen II. OUR Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus who was baptized of John in Jordan who walked upon the waters who converted water into wine who out of his precious side shed forth bloud and water the two Sacraments of life unto his holy Church and commanded his disciples to teach all nations baptizing them with water in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost he blesse and sanctifie by his holy Spirit this water that it may be instrumental and effective of grace of pardon and sanctification Hear us O most gracious God that whoever shall be baptized in this water may be renewed by thy grace justified by thy mercy sanctified by thy Spirit preserved by thy providence and guided by thy word that in this water springing from the Paradise of God the Soul or Souls presented unto thee may be cleansed and purified and that there may be added to thy Church daily such as shall be saved in the day of thy glorious appearing O Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Amen Then the Minister and People arising from their knees the following Gospel shall be read Hear the words of the holy Gospel written by S. Matthew in the third chapter c. Verse 13. to verse 17. inclusively THen cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him * But John forbad him saying I have need to be baptized of thee and commest thou to me And Jesus answering said unto him Suffer it to be so now for thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousness Then he suffered him And Jesus when he was baptised went up straitway out of the water and loe the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him * And loe a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Hear likewise what S. Mark writeth in his tenth chapter Verse 13. 17. exclusively THE Jews brought children to Christ that he should touch them and his Disciples rebuked those that brought them * But when Jesus saw it he was much displeased and said unto them Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdome of God Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the kingdome of God as a little child he shall not enter therein * And he took them up in his armes put his hands upon them and blessed them FRiends in these Gospels you see the actions and hear the words of our Blessed Saviour how he commanded little children to be brought unto him how he rebuked those that would have kept them away how readily he blessed them how kindly he embraced them how he pronounced them capable of and entitled to the kingdome of God how he commanded us to receive the kingdome as infants received it and affirmed that we can no way receive it but by being like them you know also that although Christ commanded them to be brought unto him there is no ordinary and appointed way for Infants to come to Christ and no way poâ—â—â—ble for them to be brought to Christ but by this new birth and regeneration in the laver of Baptisme you see also by the example and words of our Blessed Lord himself that even the most innocent persons ought to be baptized For he himself who knew no sin was yet baptized in the Baptisme of Repentance and so to doe was the fulfilling of righteousness we may therefore easily perceive that the innocence of infants and their freedom from actual sin cannot excuse them from Baptisme and if we remember that although our Blessed Saviour required faith of them who came to be healed of their diseases yet by the * faith of others who came in behalf of such as could not be brought or could not come the sick person was healed we are sufficiently instructed that although Infants have no more actual faith then they have actual sin yet the faith of others can be is by the usual and revealed method of the divine mercy as well imputed to them to the purposes of grace and life as the sin of Adam can be imputed to the purposes of death that as in Adam all die so in Christ all should be made alive we may therefore from these certain evidences conclude that God alloweth in you this obedience and charity in bringing this child to Christ to receive all blessings of which he is capable a title to the promises and adoption to be the child of God a sanctification by the spirit a designation to the service of Christ and putting him into the order of eternal life Therefore as circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of faith and yet minâ—stred to infants eight daies old and commanded so severely that God said the uncircumcised child whole flesh is not circumcisedâ— that soul shall be cut off from his people so Baptisme which is now the seal of the same faith and the same righteousness and a figure like unto the former is to be administred to infants although they have no more actual faith then the children of the Israelites had our Blessed Saviour having made Baptisme as necessary in the new Testament as Circumcision in the Old For because little children can receive the kingdome of God and in infants there is no incapacity of receiving the mercies of God the adoption to be children of God a title to the promises the covenant of repentance and a right to pardon whosoever shall deny to baptize infants when he is justly required is sacrilegious and uncharitable Since therefore the Church of God hath so great so cleer so indubitable a warrant to baptize infants and therefore did alwaies practice it let us humbly and charitably give thanks to God for his great mercies unto us all and with meekness and love recommend this child to the grace of God Let us pray O Almighty and eternal God who hast redeemed us from sin and shame from the gates of hell and the sting of death and from ignorance and darkness by thy holy Son who is that light which lightneth every man that cometh into the world we praise and glorifie thy name that thou hast called us to the knowledge of thy will and the love of thy name and the service of thy majesty which is perfect freedome the freedome of the sons of God II. As thou hast
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
dealt graciously with us so deal with this infant whom we humbly bring and offer to our blessed Saviour Jesus that he should receive him and blesse him with the blessings of an everlasting love Receive him O most gracious Lord who is thy child by creation make him thine also by adoption into thy covenant of grace and favour let him be consigned with thy Sacrament be admitted into Christs kingdome enter into his warfare beleeve his doctrine labour and hope for his promises that this child witnessing here a good confession may have his understanding for ever brought unto the obedience his affections to the love and all his faculties to the service of Christ and after he hath served thee in his generation he may receive his part and portion in thy glory thorough Jesus Christ our Lord. Then arising from their knees the Minister shall say unto the Godfathers and Godmothers as followeth WEl beloved friends you have brought this child to be presented unto Christ as a servant of his laws and a Disciple of his doctrine ye have prayed that God would receive him and give him a portion in the Gospel and kingdome of his Son ye have heard what promises God hath made on his part and ye beleeve and know all his words are yea and Amen and not one tittle of them shall pass unaccomplished now therefore because it is a Covenant of grace and favour on Gods part and of faith and obedience on ours though God prevents us with his grace and begins to doe for us before we can doe any thing to him yet you under whose power this child is and by whose faith and charity this child comes to Christ in holy Baptisme must also on his or her behalf promise that he will forsake the devil and all his wicked works that he will faithfully beleeve Christs holy Gospel and dutifully keep all Christs Commandements Minister Dost thou abjure and renounce and promise to forsake the Devil and all his wicked works not to listen to his temptations not to be led by the flesh by the vain powers of the world by carnal or covetous desires but thou wilt be the servant of the Lord Jesus Answer I forsake them all and will be a servant of Jesus Minister Dost thou beleeve in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth And in Jesus Christ his onely begotten Son our Lord And that he was conceived by the holy Ghost borne of the Virgin Mary that he suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried that he went down into hell and also did rise againe the third day that he ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and from thence he shall come again at the end of the world to judge the quicke and the dead And dost thou believe in the holy Ghost the Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the remission of sins the resurrection of the flesh and everlasting life after death Answer All this I will profess and stedfastly beleeve Minister Wilt thou be baptized into this faith Answer That is my desire Let us Pray O Almighty God who hast given the promise of thy Spirit to us and to our children even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Give thy holy Spirit to this infant that the evil spirits of darkness may not take thy portion from thee nor hurt the body nor deceive the understanding nor corrupt the will nor tempt the affections of this infant but that thy Spirit who bloweth where it listeth no man knows whence he cometh nor whether he goeth may be in this child as the seed of God springing up to life eternal that the kingdom of God which is within and commeth not with observation may early rule and conduct this infant prevent the folly of his childhood from growing up to sins in his youth and may work strongly in him when his weakness his ignorances and temptations are most powerful to prevail upon him that from his cradle to his grave he may be guided by the Spirit of God in the paths of the divine Commandements Admit him O God into the bosome of the Church into the armes of thy mercy into a right of the promises into the service of Christ into the Communion of Saints and give him power to become the Son of God that being buried with Christ in Baptisme he may also rise with him thorough the faith of the operation of God thorough the same our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Then the Minister of the Sacrament shall take the child in his armes and ask the Name Then naming the child aloud he shall dip the head or face or body of the child in the water saying N. I baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Dipping the head at the naming of the holy Trinity If the child be weak or any other great Cause intervene it may suffice instead of dipping to sprinkle water on the face using the same form of words Then shall the priest make the sign of the Cross upon the childs forehead saying WE sign this child with the sign of the Cross and enroll him a Soldier under the banner of Christ to signifie and in ceremony to represent that the duty of this and all baptized persons is manfully to fight under the banner of Christ against the flesh the world and the Divel all the daies of their life and by the power which Christ our Blessed Lord who hath the key of David hath given unto me I admit this child into the Communion of Saints into the bosome of the visible Church the kingdome of Grace and the title to the promises Evangelical and the hopes of glory OUr Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus who when he had overcome the sharpness of death did open the kingdom of heaven to all beleevers and gave unto his Church the keyes of the kingdome that his ministers might let into it all that come to him he of his infinite goodness and truth make good his gracious promises upon this infant that what we doe on earth according to his will he may confirme in heaven by his spirit and by his word to the glory of the blessed and undivided Trinity God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen Then shall the Minister adde this Invitation SEeing now dearly Beloved that this infant hath received holy Baptisme and is washed in the laver of regeneration admitted into the bosome of the Church into the Covenant of faith and repentance pardon and holiness let us give thanks to God for these graces and pray that this child may lead his life according to the present undertaking I. WE give thee thanks and praise O heavenly and most gracious Father that it hath pleased thee to call this child to thy holy Baptism to renew him with thy holy Spirit to admit him into the Church to adopt him for thy child and to receive him
his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. Or this IN thee O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion but rid me and deliver me in thy righteousnesse incline thine eare unto me and save me ¶ Be thou my strong hold whereunto I may alwayes resort thou hast promised to helpe me for thou art my house of defence and my Castle * As for the children of men they are but vanity the children of men are deceitful upon the weights they are altogether lighter then vanity it selfe ¶ O trust not in wrong and robbery give not your selves unto vanity if riches increase set not your heart upon them * Up Lord why sleepest thou awake and be not absent from us for ever ¶ Wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our misery and trouble * For our soul is brought low even unto the dust our belly cleaveth unto the ground ¶ O cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall nourish thee and shall not suffer the righteous to fall for ever * For this God is our God for ever he shall be our guide unto death ¶ There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest * There the prisoners rest together they heare not the voice of the oppressor ¶ The small and great are there and the servant is free from his Master * Blessed is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help and whose hope is in the Lord his God ¶ Which helpeth them to right that suffer wrong which feedeth the hungry * The Lord looseth men out of prison the Lord giveth sight to the blind he helpeth them that fall the Lord careth for the righteous ¶ Praise the Lord O my soule while I live will I praise the Lord yea as long as I have any being I will sing praises unto my God Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Lesson Read Genesis 39. Genesis 40. Isai. 42. 51. Jerem. 32. or Jerem. 37. Jerem. 52. Matthew 25. Acts 5. Acts 16. Let these be read at several times and if the office be said in private let him that reads and is interested meditate a while After which let him humbly kneele downe and pray I. The Prayer for all Prisoners O Almighty God the Merciful Father of all that put their trust in thee looke downe from the beauteous throne of thy glory with much mercy and compassion upon us thy servants who are children of misery full of sin and full of calamity whose onely hope is in the mercies and loving kindnesse of the Lord. O doe thou pardon all our trespasses and debts by which we are in arrears to thee put them upon the accounts of the Crosse for our Blessed and most gracious Lord hath paid our price to redeeme us from the Eternal prisons and be thou pleased to enrich us with thy holy Spirit that we may be strong in faith abounding in hope established in a holy patience and rich in charity expecting with meeknesse and submission when the times of refreshment shall come from the presence of the Lord our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Amen II. For Prisoners of Debt ENable us O God thou treasure of all goodnesse and all plenty and all justice to doe our dutie to those to whom we are obliged let not their kindnesse to us be injurious to them nor our poverty become their calamity but doe thou enable us by the miracles of thy mercy to doe what we are bound to doe or incline our creditors to accept what we can and make us willing to doe according to the utmost of our power and doe thou make it up in the blessings of plenty and mercy what is diminished to them by our poverty and infelicity Restore us O God to the light of thy countenance to the sense of thy mercies and refreshments sanctify our present condition make us humble and obedient quiet and peaceable temperate and patient let not our calamities exasperate our spirit nor the present affliction make us to seeke for comfort in the creature much lesse in vice and the stupors of drunkennesse in prophane noises and evil company O let our hopes be in thee and our joy in thee onely and in thy service through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen III. For Prisoners of Crime O Eternal and most Holy Saviour Jesus who wert brighter then an Angel purer then the morning starre and yet wert pleas'd for our redemption to take upon thee our guilt that suffering our punishment thou mightest rescue us from an intolerable state of evil Thou didst for our sakes suffer thy selfe to be imprison'd in the house of the High-preist and have thy holy hands bound with cords that thou mightest procure to us the liberty of the sons of God O looke upon us with a gracious eye Thou didst suffer and yet wert innocent we suffer lesse then we have deserved and hope in thy goodnesse that we never shall suffer so much O heare our cries from the bottom of our prisons from the depths of our sorrowes let this affliction be thy discipline to worke contrition and repentance in our hearts Thou art just O God in all that we suffer and thou art to be glorified and shame and confusion of face belongs unto us as it is this day but never let us suffer the confusion of a sad eternity Accept our sorrow and repentance our suffering and our shame that in the blood of the Lambe and in the teares of repentance our sins being washed our soules may be presented pure and spotlesse before the throne of grace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen IV. If the Prisoners be condemned to death then adde this prayer O Most mercifull Saviour who didst glorify thy mercy by giving pardon and promising paradise to the repenting theife thy mercies have no limit and thy loving kindnesse cannot be measured O heare the cries and deepest groanings of miserable perishing sinners who cannot looke up with any hope but onely because thy glorious mercy is greater then can be understood and by thy owne measures thou doest good to the miserable and calamitous Thou didst add fifteene yeares to the daies of Hezekiah upon his prayer but he was righteous Thou didst lift up the head of Manasses from the Dungeon and gavest pardon to him when he cried mightily but he was a timely penitent O give mercy to thy Enemies that faine would be reconcil'd to thee to the impenitent that faine would be admitted to repentance to miserable and undone persons who desire that the infinitenesse of thy mercy should be glorified upon those whom nothing can releive but what is infinite as thy selfe O give pardon to thy servants give patience a conformity to thy will and a dereliction of their owne let thy Blessed Angels stand in circuit round about and rescue this miserable company man
with faith and hope submit his body and soule to thy merciful and just dispensation that he may not discompose the duties of his repentance by a new sin nor provoke thee to anger by his impatience nor offend them who charitably minister to him nor neglect the doing of any thing that can be in his power or in his duty to his body or his soule O God be mercifull unto thy servant and presse not him or her with an unequal load but remember that we are but flesh and vanity that we are crushed before the Moth and die in thy displeasure give him ease and rest a quiet mind and a peacefull conscience make thou all his bed in his sicknesse and deliver him not into the will of his Spiritual enemies but glorify thy mercies and make thy goodnesse illustrious upon thy servant through Jesus Christ our Lord. III. Against death and the feare of it O Eternal God who for the sin of man didst send death into the world and by the Resurrection of thy holy Son didst bring life to all beleivers have mercy upon this thy servant whom thou hast smitten with thy rod and brought into the vally of teares and the shadow of death O let not thy feirce anger goe beyond a fatherly correction let this rod be discipline not vengeance let it kill his sin but not the man but in judgement remember mercy take from thy servant all inordinate feare give him a present mind a hopeful Spirit a faithful heart a perfectly repenting conscience a charitable and a devout soule Take from him the feare and take from him the sentence of death preserve his life and restore his health if that be best for him for to thy power we submit on thy goodnesse we doe depend by thy wisedome we desire to be governed and that thy love should choose for thy servant But if thou hast otherwise decreed O grant to thy servant the comforts of a holy hope and the strengths of an unconquerable faith the constancy of an unmooved patience and the meekenesse of a perfect resignation that to him to live may be Christ and to die may be gaine that whether he lives or dies he may be thine through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen IV. For Pardon O Most gracious and eternal Son of God who onely hast power to forgive sins and to rescue erring soules from the power of sin and from the wrath of God be gracious toâ— thy servant who confesses thy justice in his suffering and begs to feele thy mercy in his pardon and thy pity in his ease and restitution Contend no longer with the miserable who confesses himselfe guilty reject him not that begs for remission of his sins and remission of thy anger remember not the follies of his childhood nor the vanities of his youth the sins of his tongue nor the sins of his anger the sins of desire nor the innumerable breaches of charity his infinite omissions of duty the inexcusable actions of his choice Thou hast glorified thy selfe in all generations of the world by giving pardon to the penitent and ease to the afflicted comfort to the comfortlesse and refreshment to the weary Behold O God the sorrowes of thy servant and remember his sins no more Behold the passion and the paines which our blessed Lord suffered for our sins and let not the sins of thy servants cause thee to take another forfeiture and produce another and an eternall anger but spare thy servant in thy anger and remember him in thy mercy and pity him in thy infinite compassion and releive him with thy mighty grace and deliver him from his sins and bring him to thy glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. V. If he be in or neere the agonies of death O Blessed God thou lover of soules and the Saviour of thy servants who gavest thy Son to die for us that we might live in him looke with mercy and great compassion upon the soule of thy servant for whom the Lord Jesus gave his precious bloud Now O God is that sad period in which he is to be consign'd over to his final sentence now is the day of his great expence his needes of mercy are great as his sins and great as his dangers and great as all his enemies let him or her receive the fruit of all his labours a blessed returne of all his prayers the grace of thy promises and the effect of all the sufferings of the holy Jesus Now O God let him find the end of his hopes and a just peace in his conscience a spiritual communion with Christ and the benefit of all his Passion pardon of his sins and the sweetest visitations of thy holy Spirit the comforter Now let him feele the effect of thy mighty power and of thy glorious victory over sin and all the powers of darkenesse let them have no portion in him and let thine angers end in comfort and pardon in the visitation of Angels and the glorious appearing of thy holy Spirit Now let him feele the truth of religion and the substance of the things he hath hoped for the verification of thy promises and the goodnesse of God let all the sermons of the Gospel passe into real exhibition of thy loving kindnesse and let thy servant rejoyce in the portions of the blessed in the redemption of his soule in the communion of Saints in the society of the spirits of just men made perfect through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then shall the Minister recommend the soule of the Dying man if it be departing the body I. O Most Blessed and most gracious Saviour Jesus into thy holy hands we commend the soule of this our Brother or Sister praying thee to defend it from all evil from the wrath of God which he hath deserved from the evil Spirits of darkenesse which are ready to devoure it from the flames of hell from whence nothing can rescue it but the mercies of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen II. Let thy holy Angels receive this soule from her prison and ruinous house of clay and carry it to the region of loving and obedient soules in the bosome of Jesus there with joy and longing with the assurance of hope and a peaceful charity to expect the Resurrection of the just and the day of thy righteous judgement Amen III. O let not the Devils accuse this soule before thee or if they doe let them not prevaile but interpose thy death and passion thy mediation and intercession between thy judgement and this soule now at her departure and at the day of judgement that in the terrors of that day this soule may stand upright supported by the armes of thy eternal mercy Amen IV. Let not this soule carry along with her the infirmities of her present state but be immur'd with a guard of loving and blessed Spirits to defend her against all the hostilities and incursions of all evil Angels Now she shall see what she never saw and heare what she
to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne unto God who gave it People Blessed be God The Minister while they are preparing to interre the Corps shall say this Psalme * THE wicked is driven away in his wickednesse but the righteous hath hope in his death ¶ I said in the cutting off of my daies I shall goe to the gates of the grave I am deprived of the residue of my yeares * I said I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world ¶ I have set the Lord alwaies before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be mooved * Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope ¶ For thou wilt not leave my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption * As for me I will behold thy face in righteousnesse when I awake with thy likenesse I shall be satisfied ¶ Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is the fulnesse of joy and at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore * Glory be to the Father c. ¶ As it was in the beginning c. When the Corps is in the grave the Minister shall say Forasmuch as it hath pleas'd Almighty God to take to himselfe the soule of our deare brother here departed we lay his body in the ground for out of it was it taken dust it is unto dust it does return but we lay it downe in a sure and certain hope of the resurrection from the grave For the Lord himselfe shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then those which are alive and remaine shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the aire and so shall we be ever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words Let us pray * Lord have mercy upon us ¶ Christ have mercy upon us * Lord have mercy upon us Our Father which art in Heaven c. I. O Almighty God with whom doe live the spirits of the just men made perfect we give thee humble thankes that thou hast delivered the soule of thy servant N. N. from the calamities of this life putting a period to his sin and to his paines O be pleased shortly to fill up the numbers of thine elect and hasten thy kingdome and to us thy servants grant that we may die to sin and live to righteousnesse living a holy and a gracious life peaceable and blessed that when we have served thee in our generations we may die the death of the righteous leaving a good name and a faire example behind and our good workes may follow us that being holy in our lives we may be blessed in our death and with this thy servant and all other departed in thy love and feare may lie in the bosome of our Lord till by the trump of God we shall be awakened in the resurrection of the just to reigne with thee in thy Kingdome through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen II. O most blessed Saviour Jesus who art the resurrection and the life and in whose sight the death of thy saints is precious looke upon us thy servants whose life is vanity and our dayes passe away like a tale that it told and as the remembrance of a passenger that stayeth but a night the dayes of our pilgrimage are few and evil and we disquiet our selves in vaine O looke upon us with a gracious eye give us thy holy Spirit of wisedome and peace to guide us in the wayes of God that our affections and our conversation being in heaven and being weaned from this world we may die daily and every day be doing good that laying up a treasure of good workes we may rejoyce in the day of our death and may be freed from the terrors of the day of judgement and the gates of hell may not prevail against us O preserve us from that eternal wrath which shall destroy all thine enemies and let our portion be with the charitable and the merciful on the right hand of the Father where thou sittest and reignest in the glory of God to eternal ages world without end Amen If it be opportune then here may be added one of the prayers for a blessed death at the end of Evening prayer throughout the yeare ending with the usual benediction The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. A forme of Devotion TO Be used and said in the daies OF Sorrow and Affliction A forme of Devotion to be used and said in the daies of Sorrow and Affliction of a family or of private persons In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Our Father c. O God make speed to save us O Lord make hast to helpe us Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Psalme HIde not thyface far from me O Lord put not thy servant away in anger thou hast been my helpe leave me not neither forsake me O God of my salvation ¶ O my God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season I am not silent * But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel ¶ Our Father trusted in thee they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them * But I am a worme and no man smitten of thee Lord afflicted tormented forsaken ¶ Thou hast filled me with bitternesse and hast made me drunken with worm-wood thou hast remooved my soule far off from peace and I have forgotten prosperity * But O God thou art my God early will I seek thee be not thou far from me O Lord O my strength hast thee to help me ¶ I acknowledge my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord O doe thou forgive the iniquity of my sin * Thou art my hiding place thou shalt preserve me from trouble thou shalt compasse me about with songs of deliverance ¶ Lord make me to know my end and the measure of my daies what it is that I may know how fraile I am * Behold thou hast made my daies as an hand breadth and mine age is as nothing before thee verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity ¶ And now O Lord what wait I for Surely my hope is in thee * Deliver me from all my transgressions remove thy stroke away from me I am even consumed by the blow of thy hand ¶ When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moath Surely every man is vanity * Hear my prayer O Lord and give eare unto my cry hold not thy peace at my teares For I am a stranger with thee and
Give me grace to despise the world and all its interests and possessions that while we set not our affections upon them we may not be too much afflicted when we are crossed in them but let our great care be to please thee our greatest fears least we should sin against thee let our dutie be our imployment thy providence our portion thy Spirit our guide thy law our rule That when this cloud is passed over we may see the brightnesse of thy face and perpetual showers of grace and mercy refreshing our sad and weary spirits so shall thy servants sing praises to the honour of thy Name when thou shalt have saved our soules from death our eyes from teares and our feet from falling grant these mercies O blessed God and Father for Jesus Christ his sake our dearest Lord and Saviour Amen A private prayer to be said by or for a person mutatis mutandis apt to be afflicted with feare of death or Gods anger and the uncertaine state of his of her soule O Eternal God most gracious Father in much mercy compassion behold me thy servant loaden with my sins encompassed with infirmity assaulted by enemies without and apt to be betrayed by my owne weaknesses within If I am cheerfull I am apt to be carelesse of my dutie If I am sad I am timorous and unsafe too ready to distrust thee and to sinke under the burden of those calamities which by my sins I have deserved O God I confesse with sorrow and shame that I resolve often to give my selfe intirely to thy service but I am so perpetually beaten with the violent tempests and stormes of passion that all my hopes and all my feares grow unactive and uselesse and are overcome by them and sinke under my owne evil customes and infirmities Lust Pride Ambition Anger And under this state of infelicity I groane and labour and to thee I humbly make my complaint for thou art my hope and my strength my rock and my might my Saviour and defender my support and my deliverer O hear the saddest cries of thy humble and afflicted servant and give me ease from my greatest sorrowes Give me a cheerfull heart and a severe spirit a love of thy mercies and a trembling at thy judgements an infinite desire to please thee and a great fear to offend thee and though I humbly desire of thy glorious goodnesse to secure and promote my eternall interest by what instruments thou pleasest yet because thou art my Father and my mercifull God I begg of thy infinite goodnesse to take care of my infirmities and to pity my weaknesses and make my religion to be to me the pleasantest thing in the world that nothing may tempt me from thee and prevaile in the daies of my weaknesses and disadvantage II. O Blessed God be pleas'd to give me a perfect repentance for all my sins and admit me to a full pardon and not onely so but if it be thy gracious will consigne this my pardon by some testimony from heaven by a holy and humble hope by a strong faith and a cheerfull spirit by joy in God and a command over my passions by meeknesse and charity by forgiving every one that troubles me and every one that offends me O God my God give to thy servant an excellent religion and a devout spirit and grant that I may take great pleasure in the service of God in obedience to my spirituall superiors in doing the works of that dutie to which thou hast called me in my present state of life and never suffer me to fall into a despairing or an amazed conscience into the evils of a tedious or impatient a wounded or an afflicted spirit but grant that rejoycing in thee evermore and delighting in doing my dutie in mortifying my passions in loving and serving my dearest Relations I may be preserved in thy fear and thy favour and nothing may be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus Amen III. O my deareft Saviour take from thy servant all inordinate fear of death and give me a great desire after heaven and heavenly things and when thou shalt call me from this world conduct me by the graces and comforts of thy Holy Spirit evenly and holily certainly and cheerfully to the regions of hope and joy that in thy armes I may expect and long for the day of recompences and of thy glorious appearing O God hear the prayer and most passionate desires of thy servant and since thou hast commanded us in the time of need to come with boldnesse to the throne of grace grant that I may be accepted by thy mercies and loving kindnesse through the merits and intercession of my Lord in whom I desire to live and for whom I will not refuse to die our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus to whom with thee O blessed Father and most Holy Spirit I humbly give all honour and thankes and glory and love and service and desire to doe so for ever Amen A forme or prayer of Thanksgiving The Preface to the following office Since it hath pleased God to heare our prayers and to give us the blessing we now feele and rejoyce in the blessing of Peace Health Plenty Victory c. let us faithfully and devoutly give thankes unto God for his great benefit and grace and say Psalmes Eucharistical or of thanksgiving upon special times of festivity to be added to any of the foregoing offices or to be said distinctly After a plentifull Harvest Our Father which art in Heaven c. * O Be joyful in God all ye lands sing praises unto the honour of his Name make his praise to be glorious ¶ O come hither and behold the works of God how wonderful he is in his doing toward the children of men * Thou visitest the earth and blessest it thou makest it very plenteous ¶ Thou waterest her furrowes thou sendest raine into the little vallies thereof thou makest it soft with the drops of raine and blessest the increase of it * Thou crownest the yeare with thy goodnesse and thy clouds drop fatnesse ¶ They shall drop upon the dwellings of the wildernesse and the little hils shall rejoyce on every side * The folds shall be full of sheepe the vallies also shall stand so thick with corne that they shall laugh and sing ¶ Praised be God which hath not cast out our prayer nor turned his mercy from us * Let us now feare the Lord our God that giveth raine both the former and the latter raine in his season ¶ He reserveth unto us the appointed weekes of the harvest * Lord what is man that thou hast respect unto him or the Son of man that thou so regardest him ¶ The eyes of all waite upon the O Lord and thou givest them their meat in due season * Thou openest thine hand and fillest all things living with plenteousnesse ¶ The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his workers * The Lord is