only out of custome they may come and offer the sacrifice of fools but neither knowing God nor themselves they alwaies erre either in thinking they have no sin or else in supposing those which they have may be pardoned by a meer outward shew of Repentance But the Church hath a remedy for each disease 1 John 1.8 9. First for those who do not see their sins and therefore cannot be cured till they know themselves sick such need this spiritual eye-salve (s) Revel 3.18 For they account it a reproach to be reputed sinners because they do not discern they are such if any exhort them to repent they say they have no sin as Laodicea did and thus they answer the Summons of God the Exhortations and Advices of his Ministers and the censures of their Reprovers In the primitive times some Hereticks were so impudent as to say positively they had no sin (t) Epiphanius in haeres Valent. l. 1. tom 2. Marco◠l. 1. tom 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Strom. 3. so did the followers of Valent. Marcus and Basilides with some others who denyed that any wickedness was a sin in them and some in our dayes come too near them but such are so gross that all abhor them yet many who hate such and will not say so with their mouths yet through ignorance or pride say so in their heart (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psalm 30.6 Isai 47.10 Adrian Isagoge which is the language God understands and therefore in Scripture to think and to say are the same But the Apostle declares that if we Christians Disciples of Christ even the best of us should either say or think so it is a great errour and both false and dangerous to him that believes it (x) Eccles 7.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Procopius Quisquis se inculpatum dixerit aut superbus est aut stultus Cypr. de opere eleemosyn Romans 3.20 The Scripture undeceives us if we do not wilfully shut our eyes that we may sleep in security while we seem innocent to our selves which is so far from making us really innocent that hereby we remain guilty for ever (y) Sine peccato autem qui se vivere existimat non id agit ut peccatum non habeat sed ut veniam non arripiat August de Civ Dei l. 14. c. 19. because we never seek a pardon we think it may be it is in Gods Court as in Mans where confession is a cause of condemnation but if we think it so in Gods we deceive our selves for before him not he that confesses but he that denies is condemned and this the Apostle here further shews that if we confess our faults we shall have two of Gods Attributes of our side First His Truth will then oblige him to forgive us because he hath promised it (z) Prov. 28.13 and if I relying on that promise do come in and accuse my self Gods truth will engage him to perform that now it is promised which none could have expected if there had not been a promise for it Secondly His Justice or Righteousness will also plead for us because justice being satisfied by Christs death desires no further vengeance on the penitent sinner but grants a pardon as the just desert of Christs merits though the Hebrew notion of Justice and Righteousness do seem more proper here for with them it is put for Charity and Mercy (a) Matth. 6.1 allibri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hieron Dan. 4.24 Prov. 10.2 solent ministri nostri quod pauperibus datur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nuncupare R. Jud. lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Matth 1.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom and so it may here signifie the goodness and kindness of God which is the foundation of our hopes when we do confess and through his mercy we do not onely obtain forgiveness of the guilt but are also cleansed from the filth of our sins also from all which it appears that he is a fool who out of laziness or shame or fear doth dissemble or deny his sins and so not only is deceived but is undone for ever by it when as by an humble and hearty acknowledgment of the truth Gods Truth and Mercy would have been our Advocates and his Pardon and Peace might be procured for us 1 John 1.8 9. The Scripture declares we all have sinned and every man that knows his own heart will confess it But be we the best of men if we say out of pride or ignorance or do but think in our hearts that we have no sin to confess to God or repent of thinking to be excused the sooner before God because we do not or will not condemn our own wayes we deceive not God who sees all things but our selves and loose our pardon by standing on our innocence because we speak safely in the face of the Almighty and the truth is not in us They therefore that conceal their wickedness God will open it to them and condemn them for it But if we having observed our selves guilty deal ingeniously and confess our sins with hatred shame and sorrow He hath promised to give us a pardon and we may trust his Word for he is faithful And Christ hath suffered the vengeance due to such he is righteous and just and will not exact the punishment of us but be ready to forgive us the punishment due to our sins and to cleanse us from the stains of all iniquities we had committed 2. If the ignorant man do discern any of his sins yet he is apt to think there is no difficulty to obtain a pardon if he but acknowledge them and cry God mercy for them But the Church laies before them Ezek. 18.27 wherein they may see that their souls shall not be delivered from death the just reward of sin when they confess but when they turn from their sins For to repent implies a disapproving of what we have done so as to do it no more a change of the mind and actions also (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est ut qui errorem suum pristinum intelligit ab insaniâ se reciperet id maxime caveret ne in eosdem laqueos iterum inducatur Lact. inst l. 6. Munster Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 3.2 h. e. facite vitae conversionem no longer continuing to do that which we grieve that ever we had done and this is here plainly shewed to be the condition on which our sins may be forgiven viz. if first we cease to do evil (c) Isa 1.16 17. secondly learn to do well and surely he that confesseth himself in a wrong way and grieves for it will both leave the path he is in and labour to find out the right so must the wicked man or otherwise he doth in vain expect a pardon from God who will not forgive one fault to him that intends to commit more
lest his Mercy become the support of iniqâ—ity his Holiness the entertainer of what he hates and his Goodness the encouragement to the breach of his Laws And if this seem difficult that you must forsake all evil and do the contrary good before you can be accepted you must consider the benefit of it is the saving your souls alive this will preserve you from a two-fold death the least of which is worse then bodily death a dying in sin and a dying for sin for while you go on to practise these sins you are really dead (d) Impii etiamsi videantur vivere miseriores tamen sunt omnibus mortuis carnem suam sicut tumulum circumferentes cui infaelicem infoderunt animam quae intra humum volvitur terrenae avaritiae cupiditatibus caeterisque vitiis includitur ut gratiae coelestis auram spirare non possunt Ambros de Cain Ab. Ephes 2.1 1 Tim. 5.6 though you have a name to live because you so long have no sense of any good nor motion toward it nor any union â—ith God whose departure from the soul of the sinner is as real a death to the soul as it is to the body to have the soul separated from it But by forsaking your sins God will be moved to return and revive you and so you shall not dye eternally whereas the wicked man that lives in his sins first God forsakes his soul and then his soul forsakes his body (e) Revel 3.1 and so begins his eternal misery (f) Cum anima à Deo deserta deseriâ— Corpus Aug. where his soul lives only to feel torments but never more to enjoy any good To prevent which you must turn out of that evil way that leads to both these deaths and your souls shall live in glory for though Gods justice oblige him to punish you for the old score yet our Lord Jesus hath by his death purchased a Covenant of Repentance for us wherein God ingageth to receive us and he promiseth to satisfie the former Debt if we repent and amend (g) Ezek. 18.27 Though I might easily revenge my self on the sinner for all his old transgressions yet through my Son Christ Jesus I do here promise when the wicked man who is walking in the wayes of death not onely confesseth his fault but also turneth away from those paths and being really grieved for what is past abstaineth from his wickedness and never more practiseth those sins that he hath formerly with so much delight committed if this wicked man amend his life and doth that which is lawful and allowed by my word so that his wayes be good and right in my eyes I will forgive the punishment and remove the power of his sins so that while impenitent sinners are dead in sin here and die eternally for it hereafter he shall save his soul alive and I will give him life everlasting A Meditation preparatory to Prayer for the instruction of such as are mistaken IS it possible I should be all this while deluded so grosly to imagine my eyes open and my way direct and to suppose I have hitherto dwelt in light when indeed my eyes are shut and my feet are wrong and my mind over-spread with the mist of Error and the Aegyptian Darkness of a stupid Ignorance Thy Word O Lord is a light to my feet not onely to shew me which is the right way but to let me know when I am in the wrong which I never suspected till I met with the faithful conduct of thy sacred Oracles How have I given up my soul to false gâ—ides who that I might not enquire after the right way would never acquaint me I was wandring from it had I followed them still I had stumbled on the threshold of hell while I expected to arrive at the gates of heaven Blessed be thy Name I now see I have been straying from thee the fountain of all true happiness and have been in vain seeking content where it is not to be found and this disappointment drives me to seek it where it is Had I not been a stranger to my own heart I had not been so far out of the right way But I have supposed my self clear only because I never considered wherein I was guilty and have flattered my self with the pleasing thoughts of my own innocence so that I have been as secure as if I really had been so I have relyed on my own vain imaginations being glad to spare my self the labour of a farther inquiry and most foolishly I have accounted this a Peace which was no other but want of a sense of my real danger I find my chief design hath been to seem good and persuade my self I was so that I might be more quiet in the ways of evil and might neither be accused by my own Conscience nor allarumed by thy dreadful threatnings since I supposed they did not belong to me But alas how miserable would the event of this self deceit have been for thou oh my God didst see and wouldst have condemned me for all my blasphemous and repining thoughts against thee my malicious envious disdainful and treacherous thoughts against my neighbour thou heardest all those false and slanderous vain and filthy words I uttered with my mouth those deceitful and unjust cruel and uncharitable works which I committed with my hands thou sawest yea all that formality and hypocrisie ambition and pride lust and covetousness that lay in the secret corners of my heart were apparent in thy sight and what did it avail me not to see them thy vengeance would have come as certainly and more terribly because it was not expected It is most strange I should never see this vast heap before but sure I have wilfully shut my eyes lest I should discern that I was loath to believe and unwilling to amend and thus my Iniquities continue still But now I see them by thy mercy and I believe I have offended thee as much by hypocrisie in concealing them as by my disobedience in committing them Therefore now I will ingenuously confess them because the graciousness of thy Nature and the truth of thy Promises and the satisfaction of the Lord Jesus are sufficient to procure a pardon for those who dare so far trust to thy Mercy as to become their own accusers and while I thus discover my sore to the Physician of souls though it be dishonourable and troublesome 't is the onely way to have it cured and cleansed had not Jesus dyed for me upon my confession thy Justice would have proceeded to punish but now by thy promise to him it will oblige thee to forgive me and deliver me Yet since my God hath so graciously convinced me of the evil and danger of those courses I have taken I will not rest in a bare confession I am in the wrong but by his grace will return from it and utterly forsake all these my follies His Mercy perhaps is great enough to
forgive thee upon thy humble acknowledgment but that he knows thy sins are as inconsistant with thy happiness oh my soul as they are with his laws and therefore he that desires thy felicity will not forgive the old score unless thou cease to run further in debt for while thou goest on in sin thou art in the way to eternal death and art really dead to all true sense of divine comfort thou art buried alive in lusts and pleasures and thy flesh intombs thy wretched soul and the grave-cloaths of vile affections bind thee hand and foot from moving towards God nor hast thou power to breathe in the pure air of heavenly meditations and canst thou like to stay in this filthy place still when thou didst not see thy misery no wonder if thou calledst this Dungeon and Vault a Pallace But now thou must abhor it when Jesus calls Lazarus come forth Dost thou not find the more thou followest these the less thou lovest thy God and seldomer thinkest of him and movest slowlier toward him and hast meaner apprehensions of him Return then from these evil paths for now thou knowest the dead are there Do not onely seek a pardon but desire a Communion with him who is thy strength and life thy joy and happiness and he will be joyful for thy recovery that he will forget all former unworthy dealings and will only study how to make thee happy hereafter There is nothing can hinder thee unless thou lovest thy sins too well to forsake them and carest so little for him that thou hadst rather dye without him then with him live holily here and happily hereafter which God forbid § VI. ANother sort of men there are who know it to be their Duty to Repent and yet do from day to day neglect it and have more need to be excited then instructed in order whereunto here is provision made of a cogent example and a strict command which may put them upon the practise of this necessary grace First such who are great sinners and yet seldome reflect upon their own condition cannot sure but blush to behold one who had been no customary offender but being once surprised in a deplorable instance never gives over thinking upon it with shame and sorrow * Psalm 51.3 while they that are more guilty never concern themselves The rest of Davids life was a converse with God and a strict observance of his will and if the Jewish conceit of good deeds being weighed over against the evil might be allowed or if after the manner of the Persians (h) Vita anterior simul cum delicto in aestimationem venit quâ major pars vitae atque ingenii steâ—iâ— eâ judicandâ—m de homine Asin Pollio de Persis his former life had been considered with his present transgression surely he might have been excused But he never attempts to hide this one sin in a croud of holy actions nor goes about to extenuate it because it was the first or but one or not great in comparison of others but confesseth it to be very hainous continually laying it open not only before God but before himself that he might recollect with grief and sorrow the guilt and filth whereof the baseness of the act and the danger of the event and fully discover the vileness and horridness thereof and it seems he was not without dreadful apprehensions of Gods anger for we fix our eye on what we fear and cannot get that out of our minds which doth affright us oh how doth this reproach that negligence which we shew who are guilty of so many and so great wickednesses and have no holy actions to set over against them and yet we either cast them behind our backs and grow careless and merry and forget our danger or if we do sometimes look over them we do it slightly and are glad of any occasion to divert us T is certain God sees them and will one day make them all pass before us (i) Psal 50.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanquam aris armatorum disponam nay muster them up against us unless by looking on them now we learn to abhor them and repent of them and so God of his mercy do for ever hide his eyes from them (*) Psal 51.3 let others be unconcerned when they offend thee and go about to excuse themselves I must and will publish my baseness in offending my heavenly Father Lord I acknowledge with a sad heart my transgression of thy most holy law by this wilful act of wickedness for which I know I have so justly deserved thy wrath that my eye and mind are fixed on what I have done and my sin haunts me continually giving my conscience no rest because it is ever before me and I cannot but view the hainousness of it till thou hast pardoned it Secondly If the shame of such an example make no impression let them hear that strict and positive command (k) Matth. 3.3 which being a summons from God to all the world to repent was proclaimed first by the harbinger S. John in the wilderness to those who had so much devotion as to come to him thither and after it was published by the Lord Jesus himself in Towns and Cities to all those he met with this was his first Sermon (l) Matth. 4.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocles and is the first lesson to be learned in Christs School not by some particulars but by all that will be his Disciples he speaks to all and to every particular man repent ye for he knows this duty necessary for every one so that till this be done you have done nothing in Christianity and if any say he will not he despiseth his authority if he plead he need not he impeacheth his Wisdome and if he alledge he cannot yet it seems he dare live in a wilful neglect of his commands Tertullian thinks we ought not to enquire what need or what good there is of repentance (m) Neque enim quia bonum est auscultare debemus sed quia Deus praeceperit ad exhibitionem obsequii prior est authoritas imperantis quà m utilitas serviâ—â—is Lib. de poenitent because his commands by whose favour we hope for eternal happiness are to have weight with us without any appendant reason but here we have a reason of the precept added to shew us he injoyns not this so much to shew his authority as because it is necessary for us and our interest requires it viz. Because the kingdome of heaven or of God which is all one ant pag. 14. is at hand That is either the kingdome of grace as it is sometimes taken in Scripture (n) Matth. 13.24 alibi or the kingdome of glory as it signifies elsewhere (o) 1 Corinth 6.9 2 Thessal 1.5 both which do press this duty when this was spoken by our Saviour he meant it in the first sense viz. that the time being now approaching
(l) John 19.11 and he obtains leave from God sometimes to try us and so Christ was led (m) Matth. 4.1 by the spirit of God as a Champion to combat Sathan in such case our frailty might make us pray and fear that we might not fall by such a tryal But other times God in his displeasure for one sin suffers us to fall into another not by enticing us but by witholding that grace which should restrain our evil desires and loosing Sathans chain and leaving us encompassed with opportunities and engaging circumstances which we are likely to fall by and this the Scripture phraseth Entring into temptation (n) Matth. 26 44. Ne me inducas in manum peccati nec in manum transgressionis Seder Tephil Lusitan and the Jews in their Forms being led into the hand of temptation or sin And let us remember how often by one sin and desires after more we provoke God to expose us to such circumstances as will infallibly bring us into some grievous transgression but our comfort is that God is our guide and he will direct us and lead us in the right way he foresees the enticing baits and evil objects and wicked company which are in ambush for us and if we rely on his mercy and follow his guidance he will conduct us so as to miss them all or give us strength to overcome them though we have neither wisdome to discover nor strength of our own to avoid the danger wherefore we pray him to lead us who can restrain the powers of darkness and desire we may not provoke him to lead us into evil circumstances and dangerous occasions nor let loose our infernal foes nor leave us to our selves which is the prime intent of this Petition in its first Branch As to the last clause of deliverance from Evil Tertullian and many others take it to be a fuller explication of the former (o) Et respondet clausula interpretans quid sit ne inducas hoc est enim sed dâ—vehe nos à malo de Orat. and by Evil understand the evil of sin as if we were not unwilling to be tempted by afflictions or sollicitations if it be our Fathers pleasure provided he would by his grace prevent us from sinning and falling into iniquity by them temptations and tryals if they occasion not our sin may humble us and quicken our prayers mortifie our lusts and exercise all our graces and therefore we only desire whether God or Sathan by his permission try us we may be innocent Or with the Antients we may take the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Evil one that is the Devil who is so called in Scripture (p) 1 John 3.12 Ephes 6.16 Matth. 5.3 Castal à Diabolâ— ibi Tert. à maligno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost and thus we shall avoid a Repetition which cannot be supposed in this compendious form and the sense will be that God would not deliver us up to sin least our enemy the Devil taking advantage thereby seize our hearts when God hath abandoned them and we become his slaves and forfeit to destruction Or lastly we may by Evil understand the effect of sin viz. the evil of Punishment that we may not be drawn into any wickedness nor into that which certainly follows it sickness losses crosses death temporal and eternal which are the wages of sin and of which the Devil is the Executioner so that the two last senses may very well stand together viz. That God would not put us out of his protection nor deliver us up into Sathans power either as a Tempter first to entice to sin nor as a Tormenter afterward to execute and inflict upon us what those sins deserve in this world or the world to come The sum is that Sin is a dreadful thing and gives Sathan power over us and possession of us and makes us liable to be hurried on to more wickedness by banishing Gods holy Spirit and by taking off his favour it opens a way for all the miseries and mischiefs of this world and the next to fall upon us upon the serious consideration whereof we not only crave the remission of past sins but earnestly beg that we may never more fall into transgression and then we doubt not but to be safe from all Evil. § 9. For thine is the Kingdome and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen Some have imagined this Conclusion was added by the Greek Church to this Prayer not spoken by Christ because all the old Latine Copies want it wholly and all the Greek in St. Luke and some in St. Matthew nor is it expounded by the Latine Fathers others plead it is agreeable to the Jewish forms and generally found in the Original of one Evangelist and in the Syriack and Arabick both antient Translations and is expounded by St. Chrysostome and Theophilact But our Church hath chosen a middle way and hath annexed it here in the first repetition of the Lords Prayer and in some other offices in other places hath omitted it not as if it were not of Divine Authority but therein following St. Luke as here St. Matthew And it is very unlikely those holy Fathers should presume to add their own inventions to this Venerable Form of Christs own Composure It is more probable that our Lord delivering this Prayer twice did add the Doxology at the first time which is recorded in St. Matthew and leave it out the second which is set down in St. Luke and hence the Latine Copies which were very confused and full of error might leave it out in both least the Evangelist should seem to differ in so considerable a matter But however it was it is most for our profit to wave these inquiries and labour truly to understand it It is known the Jews concluded all their Prayers with a Doxology or form of praise and Drusius saith in these very words (q) In Matth. 6.13 Quia tuum est regnum in secula seculorum regnabis gloriosè and our Lord Jesus delighted in imitating their customs though here the reason is weighty for a Prayer is scarce compleat without praises (r) Philip. 4.6 with thanksgiving it being sordid to ask all from God and return nothing to him Prayers may seem more necessary but Praises are as much our Duty and more lovely Petitions fit the Earth but the glorifying God is the imitation of the Celestiall Quire who sing a song much like this conclusion of the Lords Prayer (s) Rev. 5.12 13. Chap. 11.15 nos Angelorum Candidati jam hinc coelestem illam vocem in Deum oâ—â—cium futurae claritatis ediscimus Tertul. de Orat. and we do well to learn it here against we come to use it there We began these Devotions with his glory and now we end with it that this may be the beginning and end of all our actions (t) Rom. 11.36 Horat. Od. l. 3. od 6. Hinc
still Are not our principles surer our hopes clearer and our probabilities fairer and our gains like to be infinitely more Why then do we say these principles over as it were some Lesson that was never to be put in practice Let us turn our Creed into Syllogisms and we shall see what consequences necessarily flow from it And let us so firmly believe it that our Conversation may be the natural conclusion from those premises for there is no man whose natural Logick will not enable him to argue thus He that believes God to be Almighty and that he made him and all the world must love and fear this God and trust in him in all his needs But I believe in God the Father Almighty c. Therefore I must love and fear and trust in him at all times Or thus Whoever deserves and fears Gods wrath cannot truly believe Jesus came to save him from it but he must speedily apply himself to him and thankfully embrace this salvation But I who deserve and fear Gods wrath do believe this c. Therefore I must speedily apply my self to him and thankfully embrace this salvation from him And thus without strictly confining our selves to the rules of Art the most ignorant may with a little consideration find the natural result of every Article and what effect it will produce in any man that heartily doth embrace it And oh that all the world were as willing to live according to their professions as they are able to apprehend the force of these arguings We should not see our practises so frequently opposite to nay destructive of those principles we pretend to believe Let us ask our selves what manner of persons we ought to be who do so solemnly protest our belief that all these things are true In temporal things what we believe dangerous and unprofitable we avoid what we are persuaded is pleasant and advantageous we pursue and if our assent be as firm why should we not do so in spirituals Where the grounds are surer the inferences clearer and the gain and reward infinitely greater 't is too much to be feared we follow not our Creed far enough nor consider what the belief of those Articles would produce in us if cordially embraced Wherefore for the sake of such as could not or would not thus use the Articles of their Faith we have added to the Paraphrase the following Application The Paraphrase and Application of the Creed Art 1. I Believe most firmly in one infinite and eternal God who is a most powerful wise gracious and pure spirit Distinguished into three Persons the first of which is the Father Almighty who is the maker of me and all the Creatures of heaven and earth the preserver and Governor of all the world Wherefore I am obliged and resolved to own him for my God and Almighty Father by loving fearing serving and obeying him and to acknowledge him the Creator of all by admiring his works rightly using his Creatures and relying on his Providence for whatever I want in this world which is at his disposal And I am encouraged to call upon this my mighty God and merciful Father for my self and all the world for a competent measure of food and raiment health and wealth peace and plenty and not to doubt but that he who can do what he please will take care of the work of his own hands Art 2. And I do most firmly believe in the second Person of the glorious Trinity even in Iesus Christ our anointed Saviour who is very God equal to the Father being his only Son by eternal generation and is now become our Lord by the merciful redemption of our souls from death and hell Wherefore I am obliged and resolved most thankfully to commit my salvation to the management of my glorious and gracious Redeemer and as anointed by God to be a Prophet Priest and King to observe his teaching rely on his attonement and submit to his Authority and to walk answerable to the price that is payed for me And I am encouraged to pray in his name with faith and comfort for deliverance from my spiritual enemies and the salvation of my soul for a safe Pasport to Gods Heavenly Kingdome since his only Son is my Redeemer Art 3. I do also most firmly believe it was this very son of God who became man and yet was conceived free from sin by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost and that assuming our Nature and uniting it to his own Divine Nature was born of the blessed Virgin Mary so that he was both God and Man two Natures in one Person Wherefore I am obliged and resolved to be most thankful for that miraculous condescension and to learn to submit to the meanest condition to do good and to be careful not to defile my Nature which Jesus hath united to the Divinity And I am encouraged to pray that I may be sustained under the necessities of my frail estate which Jesus was acquainted with and purged from the corruptions which he was freed from and that being regenerate like him by the power of the Holy Ghost I may be partaker of his Nature as he was of mine Art 4. I do also most firmly believe that the holy Jesus being to satisfie the Divine Justice for our offences suffered the wrath which we had deserved and under Pontius Pilate the Romane Governor though most innocent in himself he was crucified till with cruel torments both of body and soul he had offered up his life a sacrifice for sin He was really dead and buried and took possession of the regions of darkness for he descended into hell and remained under the power of death for a time Wherefore I am obliged and resolved to lament for and crucifie my sins the cause of his bitter Passion to beware least by continuing in them I bring my self under the same curse and loose the benefits of this all-saving death and also to learn from him to suffer patiently and dye chearfully when God pleaseth And I am hereby encouraged to pray that I may not suffer what Christ hath endured for me that this sacrifice may be accepted as a satisfaction for all my transgressions and that the remembrance of it and the grace obtained by it may mortifie and kill in me that which hath crucified him Art 5. I do also most firmly believe that when he had paid the full price for the sins of the world death could no longer hold him so that the third day after his suffering by an infinite power he arose again assuring us that justice was satisfied and our enemies conquered since he was delivered from the dead among whom our iniquities and Gods anger had laid him Wherefore I am obliged and resolved in my lowest estate to trust in his power for my safety to rely on his All-sufficient merits for my Pardon and to endeavour to rise from the death of sin to walk in newness of life And I am encouraged
together with his prosperity when we call upon thee for him especially on extraordinary occasions Priest O Lord do thou Endue the hearts and minds of thy Ministers with the purity and holiness signified by their garments that so their lives may be full of righteousness Answ And thereby thou shalt make us and all thy chosen people out of our love to them and spiritual benefit by them exceeding joyful in such exemplary and faithfâ—l Pastors Priest Be graciously pleased O Lord continually to deliver and save thy people out of all their troubles Answ And of thy infinite bounty and goodness to bless thine inheritance which thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood Priest Mercifully Give peace to all the world and especially to thy Church that we may quietly serve thee in our time O Lord thou God of Peace Answ We pray to thee for Peace because there is no other can keep us from war or save us in it for we trust not in any one that fighteth for us since none can secure us but only thou O God of hosts Priest And since we are now to proceed in our supplications unto thee O God by thy grace make clean and purifie our hearts from sin that no evil thoughts may remain within us in our approaches unto thee Answ As thou hast begun to assist and cleanse us so be pleased to continue thy help and take not the sweet and necessary aid of thy holy spirit away from us but let it rest upon us in the remaining part of our devotions and for ever SECTION XIII Of the Collects for the Week and Festival daies § 1. IT cannot be expected we should here give a particular account of all the Collects for Sundaies and other Festival daies which are so numerous they cannot be contained in the narrow limits of this Essay and so plain that they need not any curious explication especially when the Pious soul by exercising it self in other parts of these offices after our proposed method is become expert in inlarging into devout meditations it will then easily do the same in these Collects without a Monitor And yet the Epistle and Gospel annexed to them are generally an excellent Commentary upon them and some judge they take their name from their being Collected out of those portions of holy Writ But if we regard the use of the Word in the Scripture and the Fathers (r) Dies collectae Vulg. Lat. Levit. 23.36 collectionem Vulg. Heb. 10.25 apud Patres collectam celebrare saepissimè Inde precâ—tiones illae à populi collectione câ—llectae appellâ—ri coeperunt Alcuinus they may rather seem to be denominated from the Collection and gathering together of the People into Religious Assemblies among whom so collected these Prayers were to be used For which cause though they be short (s) Existimant orationem brevem câ—llectam appellari qâ—od sacerdos omnium petitiones compendiosâ brevitate colligit Walafriduâ— Strabo vid. Durand rational l. 4. c. 15. yet all that any need ask for is comprehended in them and collected into a small Epitome Therefore let the whole Congregation joyn most unanimously in them and apply them to their own and their bretherens known necessities And observe that they are all directed to the Father through the Son who liveth and loveth us (t) Generaliter ad Patrem dirigitur terminatur in Nomine filii paulo post O Pater exandi per filium tuum qui hoc vult potest vult quia vivit potest quia Regnat Durand Rat. l. 4. c. 15. and so will hear us and who reigneth in Heaven and therefore can help us The beginning is commonly the ground on which we are induced to ask and after the Petition made it is commonly backed with some motive taken from the glory of God or our benefit which we believe will be the effect of our being heard But if any desire a more distinct information of the subject of every Collect they may learn by the following table wherein they are so ranged that besides the direction in the publique we may by frequent use thereof be alwaies armed with a compendious and ejaculatory Prayer of the Churches composure pertinent to all occasions which may be of excellent use to those who desire to be alwaies on their guard against the enemy of their souls An Analytical Table of all the Weekly and Festival Collects § 2. In them we pray either first for our selves or secondly for others In the first sort we pray for our selves 1. For both body and soul Sundaies and Festivals 2. and 5. of Lent 2. For the body and things temporal 1. Safety by the Providence of God Sundaies and Festivals 2 3 4 20. after Trin. Guarding of Angels Sundaies and Festivals St. Michael 2. Deliverance from Enemies Judgments Sundaies and Festivals 3. Lent Sexagessima Septuag 4. Lent 3. Support in Adversity Sundaies and Festivals 3 4. Epiphany 4. Both Preservation from evil and supply of good Sundaies and Festivals 8. 15. Trinity 3. For the soul and things spiritual 1. Manifold gifts from God Sundaies and Festivals St. Barnabas 2. Especial favours of God 1. Pardon of sin Sundaies and Festivals 12.21 24. Trinity 2. Benefit of Christs death Sundaies and Festivals Annuntiation 3. Acceptance for his sake Sundaies and Festivals Purification 2. Epiphany 3. Abundant Grace as to 1. The Author of it 1. To comfort us Sundaies and Festivals Sund. after Ascens 2. To inlighten us Sundaies and Festivals Whitsunday 3. To direct us Sundaies and Festivals 19. Trinity 2. The means in 1. Hearing Sundaies and Festivals St. Bartholomew St. Luke 2. Reading Sundaies and Festivals 2. Advent 3. Falling Sundaies and Festivals 1. Lent 4. Prayer Sundaies and Festivals 10. 23. Trinity 3. The end to 1. Convert us from sin Sundaies and Festivals 1. Advent 1. Easter St. Andrew St. James St. Matthew 2. Rescue us in temptations Sundaies and Festivals 4. Advent 4. Epiphany 18. Trinity 3. Enable us to do good Sundaies and Festivals 5. Easter 1. 9. Trinity 11. 13. Trinity 17. 25. Trinity 4. Bring us to glory Sundaies and Festivals Epiphany 6. after Epiphany 4. The kinds of it for 1. Regeneration Sundaies and Festivals Nativity of Christ 2. Charity Sundaies and Festivals Quinquagessima 3. Mortification Sundaies and Festivals Circumcision Easter Even 4. Contrition Sundaies and Festivals Ash-Wednesday 5. Sincerity Sundaies and Festivals 3. Easter 6. Love of God and his laws Sundaies and Festivals 4. Easter 6. 14. Trinity 7. Heavenly affections Sundaies and Festivals Ascension-day 8. Faith both Right Sundaies and Festivals Trinity Sunday Stedfast Sundaies and Festivals 7. Trinity St. Thomas St. Mark 9. Imitation of Christ Sundaies and Festivals 6. Lent 2. Easter The Saints Sundaies and Festivals St. Steven St. Paul St. Philip Jacob St. John Baptist Holy Innocents All Saints day In the second sort we Pray for others 1. Such as are out of the Church as Jews Sundaies and
esteem it while it promotes your Imitation of so excellent a Patern I shall add no more but to beg my Imperfections may take Sanctuary in the integrity of my Purposes which have armed me against all Detractions because my Aim is the Glory of God the encrease of Piety and the Peace of this Church for the obtaining whereof the Prayers as well as the Patronage of your Lordship are most earnestly requested by My Lord Your Honours most obliged and Most faithful Servant Thomas Comber THE PREFACE THere are two principal ends of the Worship of God The glory of him that is Worshiped and the benefit of the Worshipers And these two are so inseperably united that St. Augustine (a) Credendum est totum quod recte colitur Deus homini prodesse non Deo Aug. Civ Dei l. 10. cap. 5. reduceth both to one assuring us that all the advantage accrues to us But whether we look on them single or conjoyned no part of Divine Worship doth so much express and advance Gods glory nor so directly tend to Mans good as Publique Prayer in which we make the most universal solemn acknowledgments of our Obligations unto and Dependence upon the Supreme Lord of all the World and by which all the servants of God in all times places and circumstances do with one heart and voice by common consent (b) Publica est nobis COMMUNIS ORATIO quando oramus non pro uno sed pro toto populo oramus quia totus populus unum sumus Cyprian reveal their wants and obtain supplies for them So that we may call this the Life and Soul of Religion the Anima Mundi that universal Soul which quickens unites and moves the whole Christian World Nor is the case of a private Man more desperate when he breaths no more in secret Prayer then the condition of a Church is where Publique Devotions cease St. Hierome out of Hippolitus puts the cessation of Liturgie (c) Hieron Com. in Dan. as a principal sign of the coming of Antichrist And nothing more clearly shews a profane generation (d) Gen. 4.26 Chal. Par. Tunc profani fuerunt homines ut non Orarent in nomine Domini edit Ven. the very title of wicked men in Scripture (e) Psal 14.4 53.4 being that they call not upon God 'T is well if any of us can excuse our selves but the general neglect of daily Prayers (f) In the Rubrick before the Morning Prayer by Ministers who are both desirous and bound to perform them doth too sadly testify they are tired out with the peoples constant absence and all together witnesseth an Universal decay of true Piety Perhaps the dishonour that is cast upon God and Religion while there is no apparent testimonies that they value either will not move these disregarders and neglecters since they live so that a Stranger could not imagine they had any God at all But I hope they have yet so much Charity for themselves that it may startle them to consider what mischiefs are hereby brought upon themselves and others Wherefore let them ask the cause of all that Atheism and Prophaneness Luxury and Oppression Lying and Deceiving Malice and Bitterness that is broke in upon us to the torment and disquiet of the whole World Let them ask why they plague others with their sins and others requite them again and it will appear that all this is come upon us because we forget God and Heaven Death and Judgment which daily prayers would mind us of Our Souls are fixed to the Earth because we lift them not up to Heaven We have neither grace to do good nor resist Sin because we never ask it and we can have as little hopes of Glory as we have signs of grace because we do not prepare for it But if these evils be too thin and spiritual let it be enquired whence our National and personal calamities proceed Epidemical diseases Warrs and pestilences Whence comes the Multiplication of Heresies the prevalency and pride of the Enemies of the true Religion The Jews will tell you Jacob's Voice in the Synagogue (g) Omni tempore quo Jacobi vox est in synagogis non sunt ibi manus Esau Prov. Rab. lib. Musar keeps off Esau's hands from the People We have disrespected and slighted God and his VVorship and he may justly put us out of his Protection who do not duly pay our homage to him and go away (h) Si Deus s b. synagogam intrat nemo inventus est abiit iratus ut Isai 50.2 Buxtorf syn ex Rh. displeased and then we lye open to all evil when our defence is departed from us and they that provoke him so to do are enemies to themsâ—â—â—â— and to the Church and state where they live indeed the worst Neighbours (i) Quisquis incolit civitatem in quâ extat synagoga et eam tecum non adiit is est Vicinus malus R. Nath. de latr But notwithstanding all this while all sober and devout Men lament this Epidemical iniquity and groan under the sad effects thereof passionately wishing a speedy remedy the Offenders grow bold by their numbers and hardened by this evil custome till they now despise a reproof and deny this Negligence to be a sin because they have no mind to amend it But these are of two kinds 1. Those that make their business their Apology and suppose it is unreasonable to expect them every Day at Common Prayer and judge it sufficient to say they cannot come 2. Those which have learned to despise or hate the Prayers of the Church and to scorn that which their Fore-fathers generally better then they did heartily serve God by and yet these account it their Virtue to abstain from them and having sufficiently undervalued these Devotions stampt by Publick Authority they imagine they may say innocently enough they wil not come But if to disparage our Rule did take off our Obligation to walk by it Scorners then were the least of sinners But neither the excuses of the one can cover his Covetousness and Irreligion nor the confidence of the other shelter his Pride at the last and dreadful day So that I suppose it may be a friendly office and will be so accepted to warn all such of the unsafe grounds they relye upon to prove their innocency in forbearing Publique Prayers And this I shall do by representing with all Moderation 1. The reasonableness of our being present at Daily Prayers to those who say they cannot 2. The Excellency of the Liturgie to those who say they will not come And this I am obliged to do to smooth the way to the Temple for in vain do we shew how men may be devout there if they excuse or deny Coming thither And we must not so confine our Charity to these within the walls as to forget those without We love the one best but we must pitty the other also and endeavour to
Whereas in Extempore Prayer the Petitions expire into Air in a moment for neither Minister nor People knew them before nor can remember them afterwards the one being busy in inventing the others in expecting a pleasing novelty And methinks it argues more of the Spirit of God when we can attend the old Prayers with zeal and love then when we need Variety and Novel Expressions to skrew us up into a Devotion too much like Artifice and seeming rather to be moved by the pleasure of the Fancy then the Actings of desire However we judge of the Effects of Gods Spirit rather by disposing our hearts to joyn in a well-composed Form then by filling our heads with new Prayers or opening our Mouths in fluent expressions both which we may do without the help of the Spirit but to be devout without it is most impossible To which we shall only add that many Sons of God and sound Members of our Church do daily use these prayers with as much Spirit and Life serious and sincere Devotion as any in the World can do And this they account a demonstration that the Spirit doth assist them in this Form And so it may assist these mistaken Christians if they will lay down their groundless prejudice and try to serve God thus as well as they can So would the good Spirit assist their prayers and make up our differences (h) Quis enim inimicum adhuc ducere potest eum cum quo unam ad Deum vocem emisit D. Basil giving us one mind and one Spirit that with one Heart and one Mouth we might glorify one God Object 2. But it is further urged that these Prayers though good in themselves will grow flat and nauseous by daily use (i) Vilia sunt nobis quaecunque prioribus annis Vidimus sorâ— det quicquid spectavimus olim Calphurn Eccl. 7. and consequently become an impediment to Devotion Answ We come not to the house of God for Recreation but for a supply of our Wants and therefore this might be a better reason of an empty Theatre than a thin Congregation We come to God in Publique to petition for the releif of our own general Necessities and those of the whole Church viz. for Pardon of sin Peace of Conscience the succours of Divine Grace and a Deliverance from sin and Sathan Death and Hell as also for food and raiment health and strength protection and success in all our Concerns and more generally for the Peace of the Kingdom the prosperity of the Church the propagation of the Gospel and the success of its Ministers Now these things are alwaies needful and alwaies the same to be prayed for every day alike Wherefore unless we be so Vain as to fancy God is delighted with Variety and Change as well as we what need is there to alter the Phrase every day or what efficacy can a new Model give to our old requests Particular wants and single Cases must be supplyed by the Closet-Devotions for the Pubâ—ique whether by Form or Extempore can never reach all those which are so numerous and variable Wherefore one Form may fit all that ought to be asked in the Church and why then should we desire a needless and infinite Variety and Alteration If we do it is out of Curiosity not Necessity The poor Man is most healthful whose Labour procures him both Appetite and Digestion who seldome changeth his Dish yet finds a Relish in it and a new strength from it every day And so it is with the sober and industrious Christian who busying himself in serving God gets daily a new sense of his Wants and consequently a fresh Stomack to these Holy Forms which are never flat or dull to him that brings new affections to them every day It is the Epicure and luxurious the crammed lazy Wanton or the diseased man that need quelques choses or Sauces to make his daily bread desirable And if this be our Temper it is a sign of a diseased Soul and an effect of our surfeiting on holy things In this we resemble those Murmurers Numb 11.6 who despised the bread of Heaven because they had it daily and loathed Manna it self calling it in scorn Dry Meat This was sufficient to sustain their bodies and satisfy their hunger but they required Meat for their Soul (k) Psal 78.18 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to feed their Fancies and their lusts even as we do for whom the Church hath provided Prayers sufficient to express our needs but not to satiate our wanton Fancies nor gratify the Lust of our Curiosity and we complain they are insipid so perhaps they are to such for the Manna had no Tast to the wicked but it suited it self to the Appetite and Tast of every good Man as the Jews tell us in their Traditions (l) Wisd 16.21 Fagius on Numb 11. Sure I am it is true here for if we be curious and proud or Carnal and Profane there is no gust in the Common-prayers but a truly pious Man can every day here exercise Repentance and Faith Love and Desire and so use them as to obtain fresh hopes of Mercy Peace of Conscience increase of Grace and expectations of Glory and whoever finds not this the fault is not in the Prayers but in the indisposition of his own heart If all this will undeceive any and take away their prejudice so that they may see clearly what they cannot but love if they did behold I shall think my pains well bestowed if not it appears they are resolved to believe as they do and I am resolved also not to imitate them so far as to cover my Arguments with strenuous revilings (m) Non incessimus adversarios convitiis contumeliis sicut plerique faciunt rationum argumentorum infirmitatem maledictis obtegentes Greg. Naz. because it is more pleasant to me to give a true and lovely Character of my own Devotions then an odious though deserved one of Others Only let those that delight in making objections against Forms know that we can easily recriminate and Charge extempore Prayers with Novelty Confusion Irreverence Vain-glory which can scarce be denyed and many other inconveniences that will hardly be excused But this were to perpetuate a Quarrel and had not been mentioned here but to teach those to be modest in their Censures (n) Cum tua praevideas oculis mala lippus inunctis Cur in amicorum Vitiis tam cernis Acutum who are not free from all Exceptions nay liable to infinitely more then can be justly Charged upon us But having thus cleared the way to all indifferent and disinterested Persons it is time to speak briefly of the Design of the following Discourse which is to make it evident that our Excellent Prayers do deserve all possible love and esteem and contain in them a rich Treasurie of all that can make our Devotion liveâ—y and useful And if we be assisted by Gods spirit and
way to escape them To deny my sins were impudence to excuse them will be apparent hypocrisie To be concealed is impossible to be found intollerable I am miserably confounded But was never any in this case before that I might receive some advise and comfort for them Yes surely The Church hath here presented me with a King and a Prophet both dear to God whose fears were greater though their sins were less and their danger not so great as mine yet these in the midst of their fears considered their sins as the onely cause of these evils and accordingly they freely confessed them bitterly lamented and exceedingly humbled themselves for them not striving so much to avoid the Punishment as to obtain the pardon of their sins knowing that the guilt once removed thou wouldst either totally spare them or gently chastise them for their good Wherefore they rendred themselves up into thy hands rather aggravating then extenuating their offences and yet humbly begging their correction might be in mercy and they found the benefit of it Go to then my soul and do thou likewise thou hast first occasioned Gods wrath by thy breaches of his laws oh do not encrease it by dishonouring his Name with excessive fears thou hast forsaken him by sin run not farther by despair for the faster thou runnest from his Mercy the sooner thou wilt meet with his Justice Delay no longer but go in before he send for thee deliver up thy self before death or any sore judgment arrest thee accuse thy self before thou be indited and confess thy sins freely before the witnesses be called out against thee pass sentence on thy self e're the Judge condemn thee I cannot expect wholly to escape but it will be a great favour if I meet a sickness instead of death losses in my estate instead of loosing both my God and my Soul for ever It is not fit to desire my heavenly Father altogether to lay aside his Rod but only to use it gently that I may by this smart be warned against those future sins that bring me to utter and final ruine Oh Lord rather chastise me then disinherit me me and those stripes shall be welcome which come in exchange for eternal torments Thou who wilt change thy Sword into a Rod wilt be so compassionate in thy inflictions that I shall onely feel what my distempered soul needs to recover and my flesh and spirit can bear not what my sins deserve and thy Justice might exact Wherefore I will no longer hide my sins but by a humble and hearty confession declare that I hate them more then I fear to fall into thy merciful hands and do hope hereafter I shall fear to offend and then I shall be freed from these sad expectations of thy heavy wrath which wisdom God grant me for Jesus sake Amen § 4. NOt much unlike this is the case of the poor doubting soul who is discouraged from Confession by mis-giving thoughts that God is become utterly irreconcileable and hence they conclude it needless to repent because they believe the recovery of his favour to be impossible and truly so it is if we think it so to be because while we look upon it to be impossible we can never seek after it (z) Postquam enim adempta spes est lassus câ—râ consertus stupet Arnobius but if we observe it is the design of Satan to make us to think so that we might never obtain it nor attempt it Wherefore to rescue these poor souls from so dangerous a delusion and to prepare them to ask a pardon in Faith the Church hath selected three portions of Scripture more The first (a) Psalm 51.17 To shew they are fitly disposed to ask by their contrition The second (b) Daniel 9.9 To demonstrate God is inclined to give notwithstanding their unworthiness The third (c) Luke 15.18 19. To prove by a pertinent example they are likely to be received if they will venture to come 1. Psalm 51.17 Let this dejected soul view holy David after the Commission of his great sin who being earnestly desirous as you are to be taken again into favour by God vers 12. was surveying his flocks and all his substance (d) Micah 6.6 7. to find some acceptable present to offer to God resolving that nothing was too much nor too precious to procure a thing so excellent But while he looks abroad he remembers he hath something at home a trembling broken heart which panted in his breast and therefore here expressed by a word (e) Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fluctus ad scopuluâ— allisos ita signif Psal 94.5 signifying waves dashed against a Rock this broken spirit and contrite heart was the most acceptable offering in the world Gods justice in condemning his power in detaining and his severity in executing the sentence of his wrath upon his Enemies was in his thoughts as a mighty Rock against which these thoughts had beat so long that his heart was almost dashed to pieces with fear and yet he knows its sighs and groans are pleasanter to God then the melody of the Chantings of the sons of Asaph its pantings and breathings are perfumes sweeter then the cloud of Incense its free Confessions and exposing it self to shame make it an acceptable Heave-offering its tears are a precious Drink-offering and its flaming desires do make it more excellent then whole Burnt-offerings and all the Sacrifices of the Temple The sorrows of our hearts are far more prevalent then the fattest oxen of our stalls or the fairest calves of our lips neither of which without contrition are respected by God (f) Matth. 15.9 The prayers and tears of sorrowful Hanna can fetch a greater and spedier blessing from heaven then the costly oblations of Elâ—anah (g) 1 Sam. 1.13 David is resolved to offer this for this he is sure God will not despise Which word not despise is to meet with the fears of the contrite sinner who because he knows his own heart so filthy deceitful and vile a thing cannot believe but God will reject it as he did the lame and the blind the sick and maimed sacrifice under the Law This is that you fear but he assures you he will not despise it but there is more intended (h) Minus dicitur sub eo majus intelligitur ut Johan 6.37 alibi even that he will accept it kindly as when Christ saith he will not cast them off who come to him he means he will lovingly entertain them so here 't is certain God will not onely not despise it but will look upon it as the best and greatest gift though it be from the hand of a Publican (i) Luke 18. wherefore be not disheartned for your fears shew you have this broken heart offer that and be assured God will embrace it lovingly treat it tenderly and keep it safely Psalm 51.17 I have nothing in this world so dear to me but I would give it
prevail but little upon many and some might deny their guilt others despise the summons and others might think to avoid by recrimination Wherefore the Minister comes armed with the sword of the Spirit the Word of God that as the Prophets of the old Testament came with Verbum Jehovae the Word of the Lord so might also the Priests of the New and though the Person may be contemptible yet it is the voice of God which you hear from him and whoever be the proclaimer where the word of a King is there is power (c) Eccles 8.4 who dare disobey when the King of heaven commands He that knows the hearts of all and commands all men every where to repent not onely in the places now read But in sundry other places (d) Isai 1.16 17. Chap. 55.7 Lament 3.40 41. Acts 2.38 Chap. 17.30 even throughout the whole Scripture and miserable will their case be who refuse so many so plain and so earnest calls from such a God We Ministers are exhorted as well as you and we intend to joyn with you and if we request you to joyn with us it is in obedience to the Commission we have from the King of heaven and he that refuseth refuseth not Man but God and that Word of God which now moves you so frequently to repent will be produced against you to condemn you if you obey it not § 3. To acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness We need not here be curious in the difference between these words though acknowledging seems to signifie the granting something laid to our charge as David did when Nathan came to him I have sinned (e) 2 Sam. 12.13 saith he upon the first charge and to confess may import a voluntary act when no man accuseth us which indeed is the more acceptable and ingenuous but it were well if we would but acknowledge our offences For God in his Word by his Ministers and by our own Consciences doth indict us as guilty and he that soonest owns the truth thereof shall easily find mercy But it may perhaps be more material to take notice of the Epithete joyned to our sins manifold which is borrowed from Amos 5.12 and may denote the variety of our transgressions like Josephs coat of many colours for we are clothed with the redness of Anger the paleness of Malice the yellow of Covetousness the blackness of Despair or the green of Presumption in these changeable garments are our souls attired when we put off the white garments of our Innocence Or else as the learned Translator of the Liturgy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Multiplicia those iniquities which are so cunningly twisted and weaved together by that accursed policy which Satan teacheth men to begin with many small thrids of lesser sins and by uniting these and twining them together to proceed till they draw iniquity with cords of vanity and at last sin as it were with a Cart-rope (f) Isaiah 5.18 Peccatum trahit peccatum Dict. R. R we perhaps imagine it a piece of commendable craft (g) Job 5.13 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filum retortum unde signif multis nexibus implicitum consilium LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drus to be able thus to contrive our wickedness But alas if Gods Mercy do not unravel it it will at last be strong enough to draw us into eternal flames But we are warned that as we have used much study and pains to twist our sins together that one may strengthen the other so we do now by an humble and hearty confession untwine and separate them again that we be not bound in the bands of death § 4. And that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father It is the language of Satans school that we must cover one sin by committing another which the Scripture pronounceth a woe against (h) 1 John 1.8 9. Isaiah 30.1 and sheweth the folly and danger of it because it doubles the guilt (i) Negatio iniquitatis duplex iniquitas and hinders the pardon See Chap. 1. Sect. 5. p. 18. and therefore Gods Word teacheth us that if we have sinned we must neither dissemble them with excuses as Saul * 1 Sam. 15. and Ananias with his wife †Acts 5. nor cloak them with a flat denial as Gehazi ‖ 2 Kings 5. least we be judged as they were But this is the manner of Hypocrites 1. To extenuate them with dissembling apologies and fair pretences it was the first time I was surprised the effects of it were not very evil others have done worse c. whereas the good man aggravates his sins with all those circumstances that make them heinous and S. Paul calls himself the chief of sinners The worst men will deny they have sinned and reckon themselves among the Righteous as the Pharisee did (*) Luke 18.11 while Ezra (k) Ezr. 9.6 loquitur de Culpis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ne nimium arreganter se caeteris eximere videatur Grotius in loc and Daniel put themselves in amongst sinners and that is by much the safer way for he that feigns himself better then he is or denies himself to be sick before the Physician keeps his disease and looses an opportunity to regain his perfect health But remember thou art in Gods house nay just before his face and dost thou think with a lye or an excuse to deceive him No no this is too thin a veil and to short a cover for thy numerous transgressions and will avail no more then for a Thief to deny he stole that which is found about him before the Bench if thou couldst deny so impudently or dissemble so cunningly as to deceive all the world yet do not hope to impose upon him that is Almighty to find thee out and hath a heavenly all-seeing eye to discern thee and he would shew the kindness of a Father in thy pardon if thou shewest the ingenuity of a Son in confessing wherefore do not deceive thy self nor slight this warning for be sure one time or other your sin will find you out Numb 32.23 § 5. But confess thâ—m with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart The Word of God is not only a Monitor to remember us of our duty bâ—â— a guide to direct us in the performance of it it interposeth its authority to command us to repent and then affordeth its directions to shew how we may repent and 't is impossible the right disposition of a true penitent heart can be more exactly described in so few words then the Church hath here done it and they that would know how they must be affected when they confess so tâ—at they may be sure to find pardon cannot learn in fewer and more significant expressions 1. An humble and lowly heart viz. to behold our vileness by sin till we have a mean opinion of our selves and can be content that God or Men
is the Christians highest aim it was Davids prayer (z) Psal 19.14 and the greatest blessing the Priest could wish (a) Numb 6.24 25 26. Psal 20.3 4. that Almighty God might accept them Poor Socrates after many a tedious step in a virtuous but afflicted state (b) An diis placent quae feci nescio hoc autem solum scio me sedulò haec egisse ut placerent could not tell whether he had given content to his Deities or no but whoever of you have the grace of Repentance and the holy spirit are not in those uncertainties but have Enochs Testimony Heb. 11.5 that you do please God § 12. And that the rest of our lives hereafter may be pure and holy this is the second benefit and motive earnestly to pray for these things for so you shall not only be welcomed at present with a gracious smile but all your lives long be reputed as the friends of God and by his help shall be preserved as pure as a true Repentance hath made you and as holy as those are who are under the Guard of the Spirit of holiness Pray therefore with all your soul for a true Repentance or else as soon as your soul is washed it will return to its impure wallowings and all your labour is in vain hitherto (c) 2 Pet. 2.22 laterem lavare for a feigned repentance will send Absolom away for a while but upon the next Enterview will hurry us with more passion into his embraces whereas the deep wounds of the true penitent make sin hateful to him while he lives and he that gets on a white garment with so much difficulty will not easily sully it but carefully preserve it pure as his tears have made it And upon the same ground be very pressing for the holy spirit Which if you can obtain you shall not only be preserved from the spots of sin but shall shine with the lustre of a holy life for our goodness is apt to vanish (d) Hos 6.4 we are wavering and soon weary unless we have that establishing spirit (e) Psal 51.14 David prays for and then all duties will be easie and we shall be strong for love and the sense of his assistance will carry us cheerfully through them all so as to be our pleasure not burden and when we are arrived to this nothing can bribe us to forsake them Oh happy soul that is thus begun to be restored to that purity and holiness which are part of Gods Image (f) Ephes 4.24 and parcels of the Divine Perfections blessed is he that is so far advanced that God is not like to forsake him because he hath made him holy pure and a fit temple for the inhabitation of his spirit nor is he likely ever to forsake that God whose mercy hath saved him whose grace doth refresh him whose waies please him and his glorious bounty which faith discovers doth still allure him to press forward to neerer unions and unseparable connexions no state under the Sun is to be longed and wished for like this which a true Repentance and Gods holy Spirit brings us to § 13. So that at the last we may come to his eternal joy through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen There is nothing more desirable then the sweet peace of a good Conscience but only that which is the end and perfection thereof and that is that happiness which is infinite and endless which the Scripture calls an eternal and everlasting joy (g) Isai 35.10 Chap. 61.7 51.11 which neither men nor devils can lessen or interrupt much less put a period to it And if God give us true Repentance it will preserve us from the sins which forfeit this and if he add his holy spirit it will safely lead us into those paths of righteousness which lead thither where we can desire no more because we have all that is desirable There are no cares to disturb no fears to allay nor sorrows to abate those ravishments of delight for ever there is joy which far surpasseth the half-sad and mixed pleasures which this world hath being nothing else but pure joy which pleaseth by its own excellence and by having no fears nor possibility of defailance in degree or continuance we tast something of it in the charming calm of a strong faith and a quiet conscience with undeceived expectations of Gods love but this is but the land-skip of our heavenly Canaan which Jesus hath purchased for us and God the Father will grant unto us and the most holy Spirit will be our guide thither (h) Psal 51.14 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole glorious Trinity is concerned for us and will cooperate with us to put us into possession of them and then rejoyce over us to all eternity The Father who forgave us the Son who dyed for us and the Blessed Spirit who wrought effectually in us will Communicate this their joy with us and to us for ever And lastly to shew that you thankfully follow these Directions of the Ministers and have in your own heart and thoughts most devoutly petitioned God for a true Repentance and his holy Spirit by means whereof all these incomparable benefits may redound to you in testimony I say hereof you sum up all in a Petitionary Amen desiring it may be so and assenting also to the truth of all this It is most true and therefore oh so be it unto you Amen The Paraphrase of the Absolution BE it known to every one of you that hath confessed his sins with an humble lowly Penitent and obedient heart that Almighty God Supreme King of Heaven and Earth whose Royal Prerogative it is fully to acquit or finally to condemn being the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who assumed our nature and suffered for our sins this great God by his Merits is of an angry Judge become a tender Father and hath solemnly sworn he is one who desireth not neither taketh pleasure in the death or damnation of a sinner though never so justly deserving it but rather chuseth to have opportunity to shew mercy and therefore he useth all possible means that he may turn from his wickedness which will bring the sinner into condemnation that by leaving these paths of death he might be forgiven and live in holiness and comfort here and in everlasting glory hereafter And to confirm this his good will and keep penitent sinners from despair he hath given and in holy Scripture communicated Power by vertue of his Supreme Authority and Commandment for the exercise of this power for when poor sinners need comfort he hath given special charge to his Ministers lawfully chosen by himself and those he appoints to be his Ambassadors to declare at all times his willingness to pardon all and pronounce Absolution more particularly and plainly to those that by returning and obedience do own him even to his People being Penitent for all their offences as you now from your
it is not by the merits of their own Innocence but by those of this thy all-saving death We need not dispute de Facto whether any of the Saints before Christ had actual Possession of Heavens Glory the Scripture (l) Heb. 11.40 1 Pet. 3.19 Matth. 27.52 and the Fathers (m) Clem. Alexandr Strom. 20. Tertul. de animâ cap. 55. Cypr. Serm. in Dom Pass Ambrosius Comment in Rom. 5. passim especially St. Ambrose seem to deny it and it is not easie to disprove them but this we are sure of de Jure that none under the Law nor the Gospel ever were received thither but by Faith in this Death of Jesus which God might consider as done before it was accomplished but no holiness that we are capable of can challenge Heaven nor no feigned Purgatory expiations can satisfie for our sins And whenever Abraham Isaac and Jaacob entred into their glory it was in the right of Jesus who by this saving death pulled out that fatal sâ—ing and obtained admission for all believers not only for Jews and Saints of former ages but for Gentiles and all the World that so owns him as a Saviour as to give up themselves to be ruled by his holy Laws Our blessed Master indeed was glorious with his Father from all Eternity he was in Heaven before (n) Ascendit non ubi Verbum Deus ante non fuerat sed ubi verbum Caâ—e factum ante à non sederat Ruffin in Symbol But not in our nature not as our advocate not to take possession for us but now he is restored to his tâ—rone again ready to receive all believers into the participation of his joyes And now his glory is our great advantage and iâ—finite comfort so that we may receive this article with that delight with which old Jaacob did the news of his beloved Josephs advancement over all the Land of Egypt assuring our selves that he who stooped so low to us and suffered so much for us will imploy his regained Power and Glory for ouâ— good even to take us up to him and to let us reign with him who ever lives to make intercession for us We cannot see him in this glory by the eye of seâ—se bâ—t we do discern â—im by the eye of faith and we doubt not bâ—t he shall be revealed in all this glory when he comes to judge the world at the lasâ— day He â—hall then come to examine and pass sentence upon all But since we must every one bear our own buâ—dens we must not concern our selves for the sâ—re of others but busie our selves to prepare our own accounts for we are sure he shall be our Judge our guilt might make us fear and tremble to think of it yet his mercy may comfort us and quicken us to make ready Who could we rather wish should Judge us then he that Redeemed us and he that now offers to give us a Pardon sealed in his own blood Let us now accept his tender and we need not tremble then for our Judge shall be our advocate and our friend § 4. The last part which closeth this devout and exquisite form turns both the Thanksgiving and Confession into Prayer as a most natural consequence of all the preceding considerations for who can behold so great a God so universally praised in Heaven and Earth and not believe him to be the fountain of all goodness and desire his fâ—vour Who can contemplate the Saviour of the World in his Essential glory in his admirable Condescension willing humiliation and illustrious restitution and not break forth into most passionate supplications for a share in his love Or if we go back no farther then the two last Verses we there saw him with St. Steven sitting in all his glory at the Right hand of God and shall we not request him to be mindfull of us in his glory whom in his low estate he purchased with his life and blood And as he put on weakness and submitted to misery to redeem us that he will imploy his regâ—ined Power and Glory for our help and assistance We say he is to be the Judge of us and all the World (o) John 5.22.27 and we know we cannot answer him for one of a thoâ—sand (p) Job 9.2 Sure then our wisest way is to make supplication to our Judge (q) Job 9.15 and to beg his favour may at that day be shewed to us and all his people for at his sentence all the world â—â—st stand or fall those whom he justifies or reputes innocent (r) Numerare prâ— reputari Isai 53.12 Sapient 5.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graec. shall be set on the right hand and be reckoned among the number of the Saints and sealed ones (s) Revel 7.4 and therefore let us pray to this great Shepheard that though now the sheep and goats are mixed yet he will wash us with his blood and pronounce us guiltless that our lot may be with his Saints Now that we may be thus disposed of at the last day we shall need not only his Mercy then but his grâ—ce now to secure us in our passage through this world Wherefore we pray with holy David in the last words of the 28th Psalm that God would use all means to bring his people to his glory (t) Psal 28. ult Serva populum tuum benedic hereditati tuo rege eos extolle eos usque in aeternum Vulg. Lat. even that he would save them from all evil and bless them with all good things That he would govern and direct them in their duty and lift them up and support them against all opposition for ever And these are the sum of every Christians needs and desires What more can we wish or pray for then to be rescued out of trouble and furnished with all blessings needful for our souls and bodies That God should feed us as a shepheard as the Hebrew reads (u) Heb. LXX pasce eos hoc est rege Vulg. Sorores enim sunt artes pascendi regnandi Basil conc 24. or govern us as a Prince conducting our duty by his care and Laws that we may not stray nor go amiss And lastly That he should bear us up against all the opposition of Sathan and his instruments and advance us from our low estate (x) Job 22.19 Psal 9.14 to â—et us up on that Rock where our enemies malice cannot reach us but we may stand safely there till we are lifted up from thence to Glory which we cannot miss of if God hear but these Petitions Therefore having prayed for all that is needful for us as members of the Church we now look more peculiarly to our selves considered apart And since we are now and every day imployed thus in praising God we desire him to accept this as a Testimony that we are his Servants We declare it in Davids Phrase Psal 145.2 (y) Psal 145.2 Per singulos dies
condition but wast conceived in tâ—e Virgins womb and born like unto us only void of sin How chearfully didst thou embrace a bitter and bloody Passion to satisfie the Divine Justice provoked by our offences and when thou hadst by suffering the wrath due to us overcome the sharpness of that sting of death which our sins had armed it with the whole world found the benefit of thy Cross For by those merits thou didst open those gates of mercy which iniquity had shut against all mankind for hereby alone admittance into the kingdom of heaven is granted to all believers that are or were or ever shall be hereafter And no such can be excluded for now thou sittest as a glorious conqueror at the right hand of God to intercede that the faithful may have the benefit of thy purchase to keep possession for them and finally to receive them to partake with thee in the glory of the Father which thou now injoyest and canst dispose it to whom thou pleasest To our great comfort therefore we believe that thou who hast been our Redeemer and art our Advocate shalt come with millions of Angels in great glory to try all the world and particularly to be our Iudge with full Power to condemn or acquit us We therefore knowing our guiltiness and that we cannot account to thy Justice do before hand beg thy mercy and most humbly pray thee help thy servants with thy infinite merits and abundant grace and to answer for them whom thou hast so deerly bought and redeemed with thy most precious blood that we may not loose the benefit nor thou the glory of thy gracious purchase Since all men must stand or fall then at thy sentence Oh do thou acquit thy faithful ones and by applying thy merits make them to be numbred with thy Saints that being placed on thy right hand they may have a part with thee and them in Glory unspeakable and everlasting And that thou mayest have mercy on them in thy Kingdom give them here all that may fit them for it and bring them to it O Lord save thy people from all evil which might dishearten or defile them and bless thy Church with all good things which may make it flourish as thine inheritance and encourage it in well-doing Be thou a shepheard to watch over and feed thy servants a King to defend and govern them in all thy holy wayes and when Sathan and his instruments design to cast them down rescue and lift them up by thy grace above their power and malice that they may be safe for ever Particularly be mindful of us in this Congregation who will never forget thee but as we daily taste of thy mercies so Day by day we acknowledge them in thy house and we magnifie thee for them with these sacred hymns Thou art an everflowing spring of comfort therefore we ever praise thee and we worship thy name both now in this world and will glorifie it in thy Kingdom ever world without end And as by our daily paying thee this Tribute of Praise we declare our selves thy servants Vouchsafe O Lord to remember our frailty and by thy grace to keep us this day which we have begun in thy service holy pure and without sin that our present sacrifice may be accepted and our hearts fitly disposed against the next opportunity We have so often fallen into sin and so sadly smarted for our folly that we must now most earnestly beseech thee O Lord to forgive and have mercy upon us for all that is past and again to have mercy upon us and deliver us for the remaining part of our lives We beg compassion of thee in all humility O Lord let thy mercy come to us and lighten upon us not for our merits nor after the proportion of our deserts but our faith even like as we incouraged by thy promises most readily and firmly do put our trust in thee and hope for it And though we do not challenge it by desert yet we believe thou wilt not frustrate any of our expectations for every one of us renouncing all other helps can say O Lord in thee alone have I trusted because I knew thy grace and bounty Let me not now ask in vain Oh let me never be put to shame before the world or the devil nor be confounded by being sent away empty Amen The second Hymn after the First Lesson at Morning Prayer § 5. WE shall briefly pass over this Hymn because it is seldom used and sufficiently plain it being an invitation of all Creatures to praise God And though it be not in the Canon of Scripture yet it is an excellent Paraphrase on the 148 Psalm and comes so near it in words and sense that we must reproach that if we despise this And we have the practice of the Primitive Church to justifie our use of it wherein it was not sung only four times in the year as in the present Roman Church but on all solemn occasions in the assemblies of the faithful from the beginning as Ruffinus and St. Augustine (d) In omni solemnitate in sacâ—is fidelium decantatur Ruffinus l. 2. adv Hieron ap Sixâ— Senens Biblioth Aug. Serm. 47. temp assure us And the duty which it invites us to ought to recommend it which is to praise God for all his works 'T is true they are so excellent that they do of tâ—emselves declare the Power and Wisdom of their great Creator (e) Psal 19.1 Bona enim ex sâ—ipsis vâ—ce â—â—emittunt neque enim Sol vel Luna interprete egeâ—◠〈◊〉 ipsa lux palam testatur quod totum mundum illustrant Philo. And yet since we have benefit by them and understanding to observe and speech to express his glory who made them God calls on us to lend them a tongue to glorifie him with and by so doing we may fill our souls with reverence and noble thoughts of the Lord of all things Our aptness to be forgetful of the rare contrivance and unthankful for the usefulness of his works makes this Hymn often needful but it is alwayes proper to be used after the History of the Creation or the relation of those miracles wherein God useth the Creatures as Instruments of his Justice or Mercy And then we may in this Form learn the order of Gods works for the method is exact and beginning with the Heavens and the hosts thereof descends to the air the Earth and Sea reckoning up all the furniture of them and concluding with a particular exhortation to the Sons of Men who are concerned in them all to give praise to the Lord their maker the Order will inform our understanding the exactness quicken our memory and the comprehensive and devout manner of address will enlarge our affections if we attend it and desire to profit by it and then it will need no other recommendations The Analysis of the Benedictus or first Hymn after the second Lesson In this
See how he hath glorified himself in giving the world such a manifestation of his truth as will stop the mouths of his enemies and for ever strengthen the faith of his humble servants For now he hath made good all his words and Promises his Covenant and Protestations in the first and greatest blessing of all (r) 2 Cor. 1.20 and so given that as an earnest of all the rest The night seemed long and the people of God themselves began to fear and the wicked to deride their expectation But now we will trust in him even though he defer we will wait on him for we find he will not forget his promises nor falsifie his word Oh let us rejoyce in the God of truth who hath sent this mighty Salvation to us which is the instrument of our safety and the evidence of his truth and on both accounts the cause of our rejoycing § 7. But in the midst of our Joy we must not forget our Dâ—ty nor so please our selves with the delightful view of our advantage by this glorious Redemption as to pass by the design of God in giving it least we think Jesâ—s came to set us free from death and let us loose to sin He came to free us from the slavery which we were fâ—llen into uâ—der Sathan but not to discharge â—s of our duty to himself Nay to encrease the obligation for by redeeming us from captivity and death he ingaged us to serve him all our lives which the laws of Nations (s) Redemptus ab hostibus r demptori serviat denec pre ium reddiderit Grot. de jur B. P. l. 3. c. 9. §. 10. as well as common gratitude doth inform us of And if he had not rescâ—ed nor yet purchased us yet we are bound to serve God as we are his Creatures and as he is Supream Lord and law-giver to all the World But then we coâ—ld not have payed that duty withoâ—t fears aâ—d terrors both becaâ—se of the Tyrants w om we were enslaved to and the Mâ—jesty we had offended against And therefore witho t a Redeemer our seâ—vice to God either would have â—â—en neglected or have been â—ccompanied with such â—â—emblings aâ—d anxieties so devoid of faith or love oâ— hope that it would have appeared necessaâ—y and consâ—rained not voluntary or free and consequently it would be unacceptable to God and unprofitable to us His mercy therefore is designed to remove our fears and not to quit us of our Obedience but to make it more easie and pleasant by appeasing Gods wrath restraining Sathans power and encreasing our strength So that now when we apply our selves to the duties of Religion we need not be discouraged at our former guilt he will cleanse us amazed at Gods justice he will satisfie it affrighted at Sathans malice he will restrain it We need not be disheartned at the difficulty he will help us nor doubtful of the event he will procure acceptance and reward He hath taken off the terrors of an offending slave and left us no fear but that which is useful the fear of an ingenious and a dutifâ—l Child (t) Non sicut feram timeo patrem timeo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Strom. 2o. who out of love to his Father is afraid to offend him or come short in his duty to him And this blessed Condition to be able to serve God with Faith and Hope freedom and chearfulness is the great comfort of every truly pious soul and if we be such we shall reckon the convenience to do our duty among the chiefest of our felicities and praise God as much for the Power to do good as for any other blessing Lâ—t us then who pretend to more Gospel then any had then imitate this blessed man who in praising God for the Redemption seems speedily to pass over all the benefits of Pardon and reconciliation and glory it self aâ—d chuseth above all to bless God for affording us opportunity and freedom to serve him As if holiness and undisturbed obedience were the most desirable thing in the world and the Heaven which Jesus brings Let us behold our duty and rejoyce in that more then in our pardon and ease and then we shew a noble love And let this deliverance produce its due effect in us even to make us use our hopes and comforts to quicken our love and our obedience And so this Hymn shall not only be a form of Praise but a tutor to instruct us what returns we ought to make even to walk holily in our duties to God and righteously in our conversation with men (u) Titus 1.11 Resolving that neither ease nor pretended gain shall intice us back to our chains nor all Sathans menaces shall affright us from our gracious Master whom we must now serve not with such outward shews (x) Coloss 3.22 as if we only courted human approbation but with such sincerity as may declare he hath won our hearts and engaged our affections while we live Therefore our ear must be bored to signifie we will now hear his word obey his will and never leave so sweet and dear a Master And when we have a while found and considered the easiness of his service the greatness and readiness of his assistance the infiniteness and endlesness of his rewards we shall have cause to glorifie God for sending Jesus to bring us into this estate and think all our duty too little to express our obligation and see reason to put it into our Benedictus that of slaves of Sathan we are become Gods free men § 8. God hath not only expressed his love in raising up a Saviour for us but in making him known to us And since our obedience was designed least ignorance should make Apology (y) Rom. 10.14 15. the divine care did order it should be proclaimed to all the world It was foretold at a great distance by the Prophets to comfort the former ages And when it was just approaching it was by a special Harbinger pointed out as near at hand to awaken mens expectations and summon them to prepare so that it is sure it was the great interest of all mankind or else it had not been ushered in by so many warnings I doubt not but holy Zachary now felt the Etymology of his sons Name and the truth of the Angels Promise (z) Luke 1.14 gaudium exultaâ—io Not so much that he had a son as in tâ—e joy he conceived that he was to be the messenger of the Lord of hosts the Herald and Harbinger to the most high And yet he rejoyceth not so much in the particular priviledge of his son as the general benefit which the world might receive by his message And therefore he blesseth God for his duty as well as his office For when such a messenger came to assure them of the approach of the so long expected Messiah and much desired Salvation and to let the world know for what purposes the most
the hand of our enemies should never by sin put our selves in their power again but being obliged by our Pardon and assisted by his grace henceforth might serve him with a lively faith and chearful hope without fear of being hurt by Sathan or rejected by God So long as we walk in holiness towards him and righteousness toward our Neighbours and if our Religion and Charity be sincere as done before him and constant so as we continue in it all the days of our life we answer all his expectations and need not doubt of acceptance and reward Lord thou camest to make us holy as well as happy and therefore thou hast sent this Harbinger to acquaint us with thy design And thou Child art chosen to give the world warning and shalt be called the Prophet of the highest God thy office shall be to fit men to receive this mighty Saviour for thou shalt go as a Herald before the face of the Lord by severe reproofs and powerful exhortations to prepare his ways by bringing men to repentance Thou art sent to shew the danger of sin and to give knowledge of him that will bring Salvation to his People that they repenting and fearing the wrath to come may forsake all iniquity and fly to Jesus for the Remission of their sins It is high time for us who are guilty of so many sins to take care least by impenitence and unpreparedness we loose the benefit of this salvation which is provided for us through the tender bowels of the mercy of our God whereby he pittied our desperate danger and after our dismal right hath given us the light of the day-spring even his only Son who from on high leaving his Heavenly Throne hath visited us And now hath set up his Gospel among us to give light and discover the dangerous event of sin to them that sit in darkness through ignorance or by horrid guilt are in the valley and shadow of death that so they may be instructed converted and live And to guide our feet when we are thus brought out of our evil and dangerous paths that we may enter into the way that leads to the everlasting Kingdom of Peace we will observe this light and follow this guide and ever praise thee for it saying Glory be to the Father c. The second Hymn after the second Lesson at Morning Prayer Or the 100 Psalm § 9. THE Church hath provided not only for our necessities but our delight giving us the choice of another Hymn which is a Psalm of Praise as the Title tells us and was Composed to be sung by course in the Temple-service (f) Dr. Hammond Paraph. and Annot. on Psal 100. at the time of the Oblation of the Peace-Offering and yet it is not so appropriate to the Jewish service but it may well fit the Christian worship being a double exhortation to publick Praise which is most due to God for the publication of his Gospel and besides it is addressed to all Nations and so is a fit return for so universal a Mercy as the Redemption is There is no difficulty in the Method or Phrase and therefore we shall only note That the first Exhortation in the three first Verses is both to direct and quicken us in the duty of Divine Praise directing us in the two first Verses concerning the Persons by whom the manner how and place where we must perform it and the third Verse contains the Motives which are taken first from the Nature of God secondly from his Works both in Creating us and taking special care of us as of the sheep of his Pasture Wherefore the fourth Verse renews and inforceth the Duty even to come into Gods house with hearts full of gratitude and joy lauds and benedictions and the fifth Verse gives new reasons of it and more spiritual motives to it first because of his Essential goodness secondly his Endless Mercy thirdly his infallible truth All which are manifested so clearly in his holy Gospel that the world never had such a Testimony of them before and therefore this Hymn directly looks upon us who have heard this good news and obligeth us to bless God for that infinite Grace and Mercy and Truth which he shewed in giving his Son to us for which we must ever ascribe Glory to the Father c. SECTION X. Of the Hymns for the Evening Prayer and first of the Magnificat The Analysis of the Magnificat This Hymn hath two Parts 1. A general Thanksgiving containing 1. The Acts of Praise Magnifie and Rejoyce 2. The Instruments Soul and Spirit 3. The Object of it The Lord God c. 2. The special reasons for it 1. Upon her own account considering 1. Her present Meanness 2. Her future Honour 3. The Author of her happiness He that is Mighty He that is Holy 2. Upon the account of others 1. For the general disposals of his Providence Giving to the Pious Mercy Humble Exaltation Poor Supplies Procuring to the Proud Shame Mighty Humillation Rich Want 2. For the particular grace of the Redemption in which God shewed His Mercy In remembring of us His Power In sending help to us His Truth In keeping his word with us A Practical Discourse on the Magnificat § 1. THE Blessed Virgin whom God chose to be the Instrument of the greatest blessing that ever the World had by the fruit of her lips as well as of her Womb hath given apparent testimony of the extraordinary presence of the Divine Spirit with her and in her For this sacred Hymn breaths forth such lovely mixtures of faith and fear humility and love charity and devotion that it appears she was full of grace as well as highly favoured And it should be our wish and endeavour to repeat it with the same affections and holy fervours with which she indited it Perhaps we think we have not the same occasion 'T is true God the Word took flesh in her Womb and that is her peculiar Priviledge But if we receive the word of God and the motions of the holy Spirit that attend it we may turn that word into (g) Verbum Carnem facere est Verbum in Opus Scripturas in operas convertere Bish Andr. Ser. 6. flesh by Faith and Obedience if we so hear as to practice (h) Sit in singulis Mariae anima Nam etsi secundum carnem una Mater est Christi secundum fidem tamen omnium fructus est Ambros in Luc. we do conceive Christ by Faith and he is formed in us (i) Omnis enim anima concipit Dei verbum si tamen immaculata immunis à vitiis intemerato castimâ—niam pudorâ— custodiat Idem by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost and a puâ—e heart and he is by holiness brought forth for Christ himself calls such (k) Matth. 12.50 by the name of his Mother We are to rejoyce with all that do rejoyce but especially when we are sharers in the mercy and
probable he was a person considerable very likely him whom the Jews call Simeon the first who lived at this time and was the son of the most famous Rabbi Hillel (i) Vid. Scultet Exerc. Evang. l. 1. c. 61. and Light-foots Harm on this place who opposed the received opinion of the temporal Kingdome of the Messiah for it is certain our Simeon did so or he had never thus rejoyced over a Messiah presented by so mean Parents in swadling clothes at the gates of the Temple It was not the object that appeared to his eyes but the illumination of the Spirit and the prospect of his Faith that elevated his affections Wherefore we need not pretend to dismiss this holy song by alledging it was an extraordinary occasion for the writings of thâ— Apostles which are daily read among us do as clearly represent him the Saviour of the world to the eye of Faith and set him before us as evidently in the house of God as any bodily sight could do to him and if our minds be inlightened and our faith firm as his we have the same occasion and ought to rehearse it with the same devotion The mercy is made sufficiently plain to us it we were but as apprehensive of the advantages it brings to us and all men as he was I know not why we should wish to live any longer then till we have obtained hopes of a share in it But we have houses to build families to propagate and designs to compleat and all before we are willing to dye We desire something besides nay perhaps more then an Interest in Jesus and therefore we dare not joyn in this noble wiâ—h But he was dead to the world before and had been impatient of a longer stay but only for the promise to have a sight of Jesus in the flesh And when this long-wished for happiness was come to pass his expectations are answered and all his desires filled He values nothing here but humbly craves his dismission His holy soul that came from God can find no rest on the waters of this world and therefore desires to return with an Olive-branch of peace to its dear Lord (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Câ—em Al. Strom. 4o. Mortem Stoici appellare solent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian where it was sure of rest and joy among the best of friends He now desires leave to depart from the flesh which he had long esteemed his Prison wherein he was confined by his infirmities (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Themistius ap Stobae and shut up from beholding the glories of God which he now longs to see more then ever by this last experience of his Truth and Mercy and he knew that death would set him free his desires and joy begin to swell too big to be confined in the walls of flesh and now he is even straitned till he be let loose into the regions of glory to praise him face to face And yet his extasies transport him not beyond the measures of obedience and humility for he first asks his Masters leave nor will he go till he have Commission but he intimates he had stript himself of all worldly desires and had his inner coat his flesh in his hands ready to lay it down and run whenever the watch word (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ar. was given His hopes and desires to see his Saviour had alone made his life acceptable and the fulfilling of them makes even death most welcome to him because he knew that Jesus came to disarm death and by satisfying for sin to deprive it of that sting which made it terrible to all men All the sin-offerings of the law were but weak armor to encounter death nor could they so fully purge or appease the Conscience as that it should not accuse in the fatal hour But the perfect Sacrifice of the death of Jesus doth so fully avert Gods wrath that all that believe in him can triumph over death meet it with courage and embrace it with peace as the end of their fears and the entrance into their felicity (n) 1 Cor. 15.55 Non est timendum quod liberat nos ab omni timendo How can he fear death that hath his sins forgiven or how can he doubt Gods mercy that beholds his Son with faith and love or how can he question the truth of Gods Promises that embraces Jesus the greatest of all in his arms He that knows Gods power is persuaded of his love and convinced of his truth can dye in peace and lye down with joy in the assurance of a blessed Resurrection And this we may do for it was only their priviledge who lived then to see Jesus and whoever looked on him so as to dare to dye then must behold him by faith and thus we may see Christ not only with Simeon presented in the Temple but with St. Steven standing at the right hand of God not only in his rising but his full glory Why then are we so fixed to this world so desirous to stay so loath to depart so sad when God calls Oh let us look on this our Redeemer so stedfastly and embrace him so tenderly in our hearts that it may appear he is dearer to us then our very lives Let us love him so intirely that nothing may satisfie us without him and trust so fully in his merits and mercies that we may live chearfully and dye peaceably Let us say with this devout Old man Lord I do now so clearly perceive thy purposes of mercy so confidently believe thy promises of forgiveness and so firmly rely on the hopes of glory that I resolve to be ever thy servant I desire to stay no longer in this world then to get assurances for a better Earths vanities do not make me wish to live nor deaths terrors afraid to dye If thou callest me this day Lord I come I can live with patience or dye in peace for I see him that will preserve me in life or death and gives me hopes that whether I live or dye I am the Lords I was not with Simeon in the Temple to behold my Saviour with my bodily eyes but I have had thy Salvation as clearly manifested in this thy holy word as if I had seen him with my eyes Lord grant me thy holy Spirit that I may behold him with the same faith and embrace him with the same affections that he did and then I shall chearfully joyn in a Nunc Dimittis and being daily ready to dye shall ever be fit to live and thy will shall be done in my life or death Blessed Lord thou hast even to our dayes by these holy writings sufficiently manifested thy Son before all our faces and it is our carelesness ingratitude and unbelief that hides him from our eyes and makes us hug these vanities and fear to leave them But thou hast done thy part and I will praise thee for sending this bright and glorious Sun
the malice of Sathan and the designs of evil men safe in soul and body Yea he hath made it a refreshment of our weariness an allay of our care and a renewing of our strength so that perhaps we scarce apprehended the terrors nor tediousness of it And are we not unworthy to live another day if all this will not fill our hearts and mouths with Eucharist and thankful acknowledgments to him that never slumbers nor sleeps who hath so safely brought us to the morning light and given us an earnest of our resurrection And this sincere gratitude will be not only the discharge of a duty to God but an occasion of benefit to our selves For he that heartily praiseth God every morning for the renewed mercies it brings with it may more chearfully ask and more reasonably expect the continuance of the same Providence in the day following So that this sentence will not only be an act of Praise but an excellent motive to the next Peâ—ition aâ—d will give us cause to hope that he who hath begun this good work will perfect it and that he who brought us safely to the beginning will preserve us graciously to the end of this day § 7. Defend us in the same by thy mighty Power and grant that this day we fall into nâ— siâ— neitheâ— run into any kind of danger Our n cessities do not end with the Night nor vanish with the darkness But we need a mighty power to keep us in the day also For our whole lives are an absolute dependance oâ— his â—efence without which we had not escaped the terrors of the last night nor can we but by it be secured against the dangers of this day The light perhaps may make us more confident but we are often less safe for in the day time we have Company to disturb us business to ensnare us occasions and opportunities to entice us we have more temptations and greater variety of accidents and occurrences and yet commonly we are but slenderly guarded against all the mischiefs which we are exposed unto but we had need buckle on our armor and beware that haste or negligence do not thrust us into the battail naked before we have put on those pieces of defence by Prayer which God hath provided for us If we view the way in which we are to walk we may discern so many pits digged and traps set for us that we who are by nature blind and by custome careless are never likely to eâ—cape them unless we be guided by an all-seeing eye and guarded by an almighty power Say therefore every morning most passionately Lord we shall either fall into the pits of temptation which Sathan hath cunningly covered over or run into the traps of danger which are secretly laid for us on every side so that if thy presence go not along with us carry us not any further (t) Exod. 33.15 Let us not dare to rush into the midst of temptations till we have earnestly begged wisdome to discover courage to resist and strength to overcome all the sins by which we may be allured remembring that sin doth displease our God destroy our Hopes disquiet our Consciences and lay us open to all mischiefs even the least of sins hath these malignant qualities in it besides that it makes way for a greater We must expect to be tempted in privacy and in company in our business and recreations our meat and drink nay our charity and devotions But we must every morning pray that we may not in lesser or greater instances consent to these evil motions that we may not fall into any sin by compliance nor lye in and under it by impenitence And we may be assured Gods grace is sufficient thus to defend us Only let us beware we do not abuse this necessary Petition by seeking for Companions in and occasions of sin before night for if we be not watchful to avoid evil as well as earnest in calling for the Divine aid we do but mock the Deity whose help we call for and our actions shew our Petitions were but feigned But oh with what a serene mind and an active hope shall they perform their evening sacrifice and lay themselves down to rest whose Conscience testifies they have as studiously avoided all wilful sin throughout the whole day as they did seriously pray against it in the morning And that we may do so let us place sin before danger both in our Prayers and in our Opinions because that only harms the body but this hurts the soul Let the Order of this sentence teach us that sin is the greatest evil in the world and if it cannot be avoided but we must fall into one of these we must choose danger rather then sin for if by avoiding of iniquity we are cast upon the suffering any evil or loosing any good we must account such reproach our honour such poverty our riches and such loss our truest gain and we shall be eternally rewarded for it This may be our case sometimes but commonly the flying of sin doth not involve us in danger but secure us from it and wickedness is the high-way to mischief Drunkenness and lust pride and malice injustice and deceit do naturally lead those who follow them into many perils and as well these as all other sins do cause God to take away his protecting hand from us and then we are not many steps from ruine although his justice should not inflict any positive evils for these offences And therefore if we would be safe we must be holy We are apt to be more sensible and fearful of sickness then sin of the danger to our outward rather then inward man but since they are productive of one another we must pray against both And if we fear diseases or want reproach or wrong violence or death let those very fears quicken our petitions against sin which is the gate that lets them all in upon us We may fall into calamities by the immediate hand of Providence but when by acts of wickedness we bring them upon our selves we are said to Run into danger and this we chiefly pray against here that we may not by our own folly and iniquity become accessary to our own misery for such afflictions will not be so likely to be sanctified so easie to be born nor so possible to be removed If we lead holy lives though the condition of our nature make us liable to more dangers then can easily be recounted we shall either escape them or receive no considerable prejudice by them And therefore a good man beholds his body liable to wounds maims and diseases his mind to the impairing of any or all its faculties his estate to losses wrongs and injuries his whole life exposed to all the misery that can come upon him by the unkindness or loss of friends the malice of enemies or the more publick disturbances to Church or State but all these do only teach him to walk more humbly