of their Commission is this That God hath used Christ as a means to make peace between Him and the sinful World not by pardoning their sins whilst they remain in them but by admitting them to repentance by calling them and using admirable methods of mercy in revealing himself unto them which word of reconciliation is put into the Ministers hands that they may upon all needful occasions make known the means of grace and advise and perswade all who need it especially the sick and grieved in conscience to make use of it The Ministers imployment is to be as Negotiators for Christ to supply Christ's place on earth and to treat with Men after the same manner as Christ did when he was upon the Earth by calling them to repentance and beseeching them to reform their lives and make themselves capable of the return of God's favour to them 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. When the Minister hath done this and the sick party hath received some large measure of satisfaction from him then upon his serious and unfeigned repentance if it be desired he is to give him absolution saying I absolve thee c. But here we are to take notice that there are three opinions touching the Ministers absolution 1. That it is only optative and precarious So in the Absolution for the Communion-Office 2. That it is only declaratory pronouncing the Penitent absolved by applying God's promises to the signs of his contrition So in the Absolution at the beginning of the Service-Book 3. That it is Authoritative as deriving Power and Commission from God not only to declare the party absolved but to absolve him in words denoting the first Person so in this Office for the Visitation of the Sick not that the Minister can absolve any whom God absolves not or that any sick Person can receive any benefit of absolution but upon the condition of his sound and sincere repentance The power of absolution is 1. Absolute and original which belongs only to God Mark 2.8 2. Delegate and in the Charter of the Church belonging to the Ministers and them only Matth. 16.19 Matth. 18.18 John 29.23 Vid. Bishop Andrew's Serm. in Locum See the Form of Ordination of Priests Vid. Montag Appell Caesar cap. 35.36 Vid. Fisher Visitation of the Sick upon the Service-Book lib. 1. c. 16. Vid. Reeve B. D. his Christian Divinity out of the Service-Book cap. 63. Vid. Bishop Morton in his appeal pag. 270. Sacerdos utitur ipsissima Christi potestate in remittendis peccatis Bullinger in Diatrib pag. 267. Sacerdos absolvendo confitentem pronunciat absolutum non remittit peccatum Sacerdotes dimittunt ostendendo manifestando habent se ad modum demonstrantis non directe sed dispositive ea adhibent per quae Deus dimittit peccata dat gratiam Aliter Deus solvit vel ligat aliter ecclesia Vid. Montag appell Caesar cap. 36. Our Lord Jesus Christ c. Note This absolution is grounded on Matth. 16.19 Matth. 18.18 John 29.23 And here the Minister first prays to God to absolve before he absolves himself and what he doth he doth in the Name of the Trinity acts so far as he receives Power and Commission from the Trinity and no further Rubrick And then the Priest shall say the Collect following Let us Pray O most merciful God c. Note This is the Principle and chief Prayer in the Office every word grounded upon Scripture and therefore Let us pray is prefixed to make the Minister and People present more intent upon it and serious and fervent in it It is grounded upon many clear Texts of Scripture not only the Materials of it but the very phrase is taken out of the Scripture Jam. 5.14 15. Heb. 8.12 Psal 51. c. Rubrick Then shall the Minister say this Psalm Psal 71. Note This Psalm is a Prayer for deliverance in time of distress which happens to a Man in the latter end of his life and therefore very fitly is it made to bear a part in this Office Paraphrase Vers 1. Lord all my trust and confidence is in Thee I trust not in any secular aid but depend upon Thee only Let not my dependance on Thee be disappointed and frustrated Vers 2. Thou art the Patron of all who are in distress and hast promised relief to all who constantly wait on Thee for it Lord grant me a portion in this thy promised mercy and let thy faithfulness and mercy give me a seasonable deliverance at this time Vers 3. Be Thou my sure place of retreat to which I may resert in this time of danger and grant me the performance of that mercy which Thou hast promised to all who constantly depend upon thee for it Vers 4. Keep me out of the snares of the wicked and let not the enemy of Souls have any advantage over me nor approach to hurt me Vers 5. I have ever depended and relied upon Thee as thy Creature and peculiar Client Vers 6. I acknowledge it thy work of continual protection by which I have been supported every hour of my life and it is of thy primary gift that I ever had any being in the World for both which I am obliged continually to bless thy Name Vers 7. Some carnal Men may wonder to hear me talk of relief from Heaven who am brought so low in the eye of Man but yet I am not disheartned at this I know whom I trust and there is no security like my dependance upon Thee Vers 8. Therefore be pleased to send me relief that so I may be able to confute those vain Men and divulge to others the glorious advantages of thy service Vers 9. Reject me not O God now I am in the Wane of my Age feeble and destitute of strength for I have none to flie unto but Thee only Vers 10. and 11. Refute the obloquies of those who look upon me as a Person forsaken of God and confute their rash descants upon me by sending me a most gracious deliverance Vers 12. Arise speedily O God to my relief who have no other dependance but on Thee Vers 13. So shall those vain Persons be brought to shame by seeing themselves frustrate and disappointed Vers 14. What-ever they talk and discourse they shall not drive me from my fast and sure hold nor from proclaiming to all Men the exceeding goodness of that God on whom I wait The less reason they conceive I have so to do still the more will I magnifie thy greatness and profess my dependance on Thee Vers 15. My mouth shall number thy faithful and gracious dealings toward me though I know not the number of them I will spend my whole life in this task and when I have so done I will confess my self to fall far short of giving Thee thy due praises for thy goodness towards thy Servant is infinitely above the imperfect measures either of my valuation or expression Vers 16. What-ever I do or undertake shall not be in any confidence of my
by him and delivered from those dangers which did encompass me I have nothing to do but to serve him in all sincerity and integrity of conversation Vers 8. For he hath rescued my life from death wiped all tears from my eyes restored me from my weakness to a perfect strength and soundness Vers 9. Therefore will I spend the remainder of my days which he shall afford me in this World in his service and at the present make my humble address to the place of God's special presence there to celebrate that mercy which he hath afforded me in so signal a deliverance Vers 10 11. When my calamities were most pressing and my dangers greatest by which I was clearly convinced that the arm of flesh was not to be trusted in for my relief yet I knew there was one sure hold to which I might hopefully and successfully resort the never failing Omnipotent hand of God therfore to that I betook my self entirely and from that I received my deliverance Vers 12 13 14. For this and for all other abundant mercies which God hath so graciously bestowed upon me I am bound up by all obligations to make my most thankful acknowledgment and to do it in the most solemn manner in the presence of the whole Congregation by way of publick Festival blessing and magnifying God's Holy Name who hath preserved my life from so great a danger and kept it as a Jewel of his own Cabinet as being by me humbly deposited with and intrusted to him And this is his gracious way of dealing not with me only but with all who truly rely and depend upon Him For which signal mercy of his I here present my self at this time to pay that gratitude and oblation of praise which if I did not promise in my danger yet am now bound up to perform after my deliverance Vers 16. O most gracious Lord how am I obliged to Thee by all the bonds that any ingagement can lay upon me No Servant bought with a price or born in a Man's house can be more closely bound to him than I am bound to Thee who hast rescued me by so great a deliverance from so great a danger Vers 17 18 19. What remains now but that I should return to Thee the humblest offrings of praise and prayer and spend my whole life as a vow'd oblation to thy service rendring Thee all possible praise in the publick Assembly and in the most solemn manner saying Blessed be the name of the Lord or Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the begining is now and ever shall be World without end Amen Vid. Dr. Hammond Or this Psalm 127. Note This or the former is left to the prudence and discretion of the Minister but the Church in both hath made so good a choice that the Minister in either cannot make an ill one Paraphrase This Psalm was composed by Solomon as a Compendium of his Ecclesiastes wherein is set down the vanity of worldly sollicitude without God's blessing as in all things else so in that of Children the greatest blessing of life Vers 1. There is no way in the World to attain any secular wealth or safety save only from the blessing of God the author and dispenser of all good things The building up of Houses and Families of gathering Riches and begetting Children to inherit them is not to be imputed to Man's sollicitude but is wholly imputable to God's blessing Unless God by his special protection guard a City all the guards of Men can do but little to the securing or preserving of it and unless God build up a Family all the industry of Men will not be successful to it Vers 2. 'T is to little purpose for Men to deny Nature that rest which God hath indulged to her to moil incessantly and to debar themselves the enjoyment of worldly comforts thinking by this means to inrich their Posterity for they who trust and depend upon their own anxious and sollicitous indeavours are generally frustrated and disappointed in their aims and ends whereas they who take God's blessing along with them thrive insensibly and become prosperous though they never loose any sleep in the pursuit of it Vers 3. And for Children that 's a particular blessing of God's from whom all increase comes and he gives them as he pleases and sees good as a present reward to the piety and other virtues of Men. Vers 4. And of all blessings this of a numerous Progeny is the greatest every Child being an addition of strength and safety to the Father Children of Youth are as arrows in the hand of a mighty Man and defend the House from Hostil Invasions as well as Weapons can Vers 5. As the Military Man guards himself with Weapons Arrows and Darts having them in a full quiver all in a readiness and prepared so the Master of a Family is fortified from Hostile Invasions and all other insolencies and molestations by the multitude and strength of his numerous Children who are in a readiness to back and defend him at all turns from injuries of any kind which the open violence or more secret fraud of Men can design against him either in the Field or in any Court of Judicature Vid. Dr. Hammond Therefore for other blessings and for these amongst the rest Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost c. Note Two more excellent Psalms could not have been selected out of the whole Book of Psalms for this Office which though not Penn'd for this particular occasion yet are most admirably fitted to it and most seasonably applied and no Church in the World is more happy for her Verba Opportuna as our Church of England is Then the Priest shall say Let us Pray Note This is like the Prophet David â—s invitatory Psal 95.1 and is frequently used in other Offices of the Service Book especially before the Lord's Prayer to shew what requests we desire more particularly to summe up in that Prayer at that time For this reason is this clause inserted into the Absolution at the begining of Morning Prayer Wherefore let us bâ—seech Him to grant us true repentance and his holy Spirit c. The meaning is that we are incited more particularly to pray for the grace of repentance and the gifts of the Spirit in the Lord's Prayer immediately following which Prayer was undoubtedly indicted by our Saviour for such a purpose or else it is set before these Three Versicles Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us which antiquity called the lesser Litany and were of very early admission into the service of the Church Clemens lib. 8. c. 5. c. 6. And fitly are they placed before â—â—e Lord's Prayer because expedient it is we implore God's mercy before we resort to him in Prayer Durand rational lib. 4. c. 12. It is an address to the blessed Trinity whereby
they are Persons who must give an account of their proficiency in the Gospel who are under their charge Heb. 13.17 I wish the Ministers were so careful of their People as to go to the Sick when they call or send for them and that the People had so much respect for the Ministers and for themselves too as to send for them upon all occasions when ever they stand in need of any spiritual aids Peace be to this House and to all that dwell in it Note This is clearly grounded upon that of our Saviour When ye come into an House salute it say peace that is all kind of prosperity be to this House Matth. 10.12 13. Luk. 10.5 6. And if there be any pious Person or Son of Peace in the house capable of so great a blessing theâ— the blessing of peace shall rest upon him if not the blessing shall return to the Minister and the party visited shall receive no advantage by the Ministers coming to him upon a design of so much charity Rubrick When he cometh into the sick Mans presence he shall say knéeling down Remember not Lord our iniquities c. Note This short Prayer is warranted from these Texts of Scripture Joel 2.17 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Act. 20.28 Psal 85.3 Answer Spare us good Lord. Note This supposes a company joyned in Prayers with the Minister and to return back Spare us good Lord in answer to the Ministers Spare thy People going before Rubrick Then the Minister shall say Let us Pray Lord have mercy c. Our Father which art in Heaven c. Note I have already often accounted for the frequent use of these in our divine Offices and therefore I shall not now say any thing of them only give me leave to insert this short Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven O Lord God our Heavenly Father who art the giver of all goodness who art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by nature ours by grace and favour who dwellest in Heaven the Throne of thy Majesty the Seat of thy Glory attended by myriads of Angels ready to take Commissions from Thee in order to execute thy will and pleasure Hallowed be thy Name Send down thy grace unto us and to all People that we may glorifie thy great Name as we ought to do Let thy blessed and glorious Name be ever sanctified by us and by all that draw nigh unto Thee may we never profane it in our common talk abuse it by detestable oaths or blasphemies nor vainly make use of it in words or works professing Thee with our Lips and departing from Thee in our Lives Thy Kingdom come May the Scepter of thy Spirit so over-rule our unruly Spirits that we may worship Thee serve Thee and obey Thee as we ought to do Lord remove from us the Kingdom of thy Justice for if Thou shouldst strictly account with us no flesh could be justified bring us into Thy Kingdom of Grace that we may be comforted here and into thy Kingdom of Glory that we may be crowned hereafter Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven So long as we are to live in this Vale of misery let not our own wills but Thy will be done in us and by us in our several stations periods and conditions incline our hearts unto Thee that we may do all thy commands sincerely readily chearfully and in some proportion to what is done by the blessed Saints and glorious Angels in Heaven where there is no opposing disputing or resisting of thy will Give us this Day our daily Bread And that we may go on the more cheerfully in the discharge of our duties not taken off nor interrupted by any anxious thoughts about the things of this life We pray Thee to send us all things needful both for our Souls and Bodies the necessaries of our lives from day to day proportion'd to every Mans being or sustenance Give us the day of our life and the life of our days our daily bread victual for the nourishing of our bodies doctrinal for the reforming of our lives Sacramental for the sanctifying and saving of our Souls And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us We beseech Thee also to be merciful unto us and to forgive us our sins punish not on us those sins wherewith we have offended and provoked Thee to punish us Pardon all our sins of impiety committed against Thee of injustice and uncharitableness committed against our Neighbours of intemperance and uncleanness committed against our selves These and all other sins committed by us against thy Divine Majesty in thought word or deed we pray Thee to pardon and pass by as we forgive all who have any way or at any time trespassed against us in thought word or deed in body goods or Name And lead us not into Temptation And to these blessings of thy Mercy in pardoning what is past add that other of thy providence to preserve us for the time to come Suffer us not through our own corâ—uptions which are very many nor through the Devils malice which is very great to be brought into any temptation or snare or to be intangled in any dangers or difficulties which may not be easily supported by us But deliver us from evil But let it be thy pleasure to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily to keep us from all sin and wickedness from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death Deliver us from the blandishments of the flesh the allurements of the World the plausible snares of the Devil From external evils internal evils eternal evils by thy grace from the evil of sin by thy mercy from the evil of punishment Good Lord deliver us For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen These and all other blessings of thy grace goodness mercy and Majesty we trust Thou wilt bestow upon us of thy mercy and goodness through our Lord Jesus Christ For thine is the Kingdom and we doubt not but that Thou art able to remove from us all those Evils and Judgments which we have prayed to be delivered from For thine is the power Both which we beg at thy hands in order to advance and to set forth thy glory For thine is the glory To Thee therefore Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be ascribed in our Prayers and in our praises all honour glory power praise might majesty and dominion to both Ages the present and the future for the ever of this World which hath an end and the ever of that other World which is without end Amen Lord so be it Minister O Lord save thy Servant c. O Lord look down from Heaven c. Hear us Almighty and most merciful God and Saviour c. Note These Prayers are all prescribed and deliver'd in the very Scripture phrase so full of piety charity and devotion and so sitted to all
the Viaticum the provision for the way When we come to Heaven which is the end of our Journey this our daily bread shall cease and then our Fathers house and all that is in it will be ours to enjoy and that for ever It is a corruption in nature that Men Quo minus habent viae eo plus quaerunt viatici do stil lay up the more provision the shorter journey they have to go Our daily bread Our that is by just possession lawfully and honestly got that which is got by unlawful ways and indirect means is not ours by right but by usurpation it is not bread given us but bread taken rather Again ours by deputation or assignation not by propriety God is the Lord we are but the stewards the possession is in us but the propriety is in him Daily bread that is food for our daily necessities neither poverty nor riches but a competency Prov. 30.8 Not quails to Minister to our wantonness but bread to supply our want Bread doctrinal in the word bread Sacramental in the Sacrament Bread supersubstantial that is Christ the bread of life who came down from Heaven born And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us in Bethleem the City of Bread who feeds up our souls to a blessed immortality And forgive c. Forgive our righteousness stands not in our own merits but Gods forgiveness Us that is all of us For we all have sinned Nonne errant omnes saith Solomon In multis omnes So James Our nothing so properly and truly ours as our sins Trespasses that is sins Original actual of Omission Commission of weakness of wickedness of ignorance of knowledg Personal National secret presumptuous sins of impiety against Thee our God Sins of injustice against our Neighbour Sins of intemperance against our selves As we forgive those who have trespassed against us In thought in word in deed in our bodies in our goods in our name Forgive us great sins that is talents as we forgive little sins that is pence And lead us not c. That is suffer us not so to be lead into temptation And lead us not into temptation as to be overcome of the temptation The temptation of the World of the Flesh of the Devil There is Tentatio Probationis so God tempts us as he tempted Abraham to try our faith love and obedience against this we pray not There is Tentatio deceptionis seductionis So the Devil and the Flesh tempts us Jam. 1.13 14. Against this we pray Tentat Deus ut probet tentat diabolus ut perdat But deliver us from evil But deliver us from evil Past Present To come From evil without us The World The Devil From evil within us the Flesh the Lusts therof Libera nos a nobis Domine From the evil of sin by thy Grace From the evil of punishment by thy Mercy From the Author of evil Satan From the Root of Evil Covetousness For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the glory for ever and ever Amen From the Evil of the Heart Evil Thoughts Of the Tongue Evil Words Hand Evil Actions From corporal spiritual temporal Eternal Evil Good Lord deliver us This Thou canst do For thine is the Kingdom and Power This thou wilt do for thine is the Glory Thine first and by Jesus Christ to all that are thine Thine that is from Thee by Thee to Thee in the glory and safety of all thy Servants Kingdom absolute and in it self Power not depending upon others Glory shining about all above all and in all Amen This word is the Seal of all our Petitions to make them authentical and it implies two things 1. Assent 2. Assurance that our requests shall be granted and therefore it is thought by some to be of more value than all the rest of the Prayer by how much our faith is more excellent than our desire For this is a testification of our faith whereas all the Petitions are only testifications of our desire Note I may say of the Lord's Prayer only peruse it commend it I need not for the Author's worth is so well known that he needeth not any Man's commendation nay he is above all commendation and the work it self is so perfect and compleat containing so much in so little so short in words so large in matter that it needs not any commendation neither 'T is the Lord's Prayer dictated by our Saviour himself in the behalf of his Disciples and his Church to the end of the World He to whom we pray and in whose Name we pray hath left us this pattern to be Forma Norma Orationis It deserves a very high respect for the Author's sake He compos'd it who is Dei spiritus Dei Sermo Dei ratio Sermo rationis ratio Sermonis Spiritus Tertul. de Orat. lib. 'T is short but withall plain 't is few in words but withall full in matter like the best Coin it contains the most value in the smallest compass These reasons may be given for the shortness of it 1. That it may be the sooner learnt 2. That it may be the better retained in memory 3. That it may be the oftner used 4. That there may be no weariness in the saying of it 5. That there may be no excuse for the not knowing of it 6. That it may beget in us a confidence of soon obtaining what we pray for 7. To shew that the Efficacy of Prayer consists not in how much but how well not in the multiplicity of words but in the devotion of the heart And for this purpose hath our Church in imitation of this pattern framed up all her Prayers in short Collects like many Flowers gathered into little Bundles We know the hottest Springs send forth their Waters by ebullitions and doubtless the most zealous hearts utter their conceits in the fewest words and shortest formes in all the Bible we read not any Examples of very long Prayers Our Saviours Prayer in the Garden short our Saviours Pray'r upon the Cross short Stephen's Pray'r for his Persecutors short The Publicans Prayer short The Thief 's Prayer upon the Cross short The Apostles Prayers all short They who did Petition our Saviour in the Gospel did it in short forms So in the New Testament and so in the Old David's Psalms which are most of them Prayers or Praises not very long Solomon commends few words in the Old Testament Eccles 5.2 and a greater than Solomon condemns long Prayers in the New Mat. 6.7 Mat. 23.14 if not the Prayers yet I am sure the hypocrisie of them he doth condemn As the Scriptures so the Fathers in all their writings are for short Prayers Hoc negotium plus gemitibus quam sermonibus agitur plus sletu quam afflatu August Epist 121. Oratio brevis penetrat Coelum Augustine also tells us that it was the practise of all the Christians in Aegypt to use short Prayers and he gives the Reason
for their so doing Dicuntur fratres in Aegypto crebras quidem habere orationes sed eas quidem brevissimas raptim quodam modo ejaculatas ne illa vigilanter erecta quae Orationi plurimum necessaria est per productiores mores evanescat atque hebetetur intentio August Epist 121. But I say no more upon this Argument the shorter our Prayers are the neerer they are to the pattern of our Saviour who when he taught his Disciples to pray prescribed them a short forme and the Reverend Mr. Calvin in his Pray'rs after Sermon swerved not from this Rule observing ever both a set and short forme See his Bidding of Prayer used at the end of his Sermons upon Job Again the Prayer of our Saviour as it is short so it is most excellent in the use being so fram'd that it may suit for all Times Persons Places and Conditions other Prayers may be at some times unseasonable this never it is not only Norma Orationis a Rule to pray by Mat. 6.9 but it is Forma Orationis a Form to pray in Luk. 11.2 As John's Disciples had a Form which none used but themselves by which they were known to be his Disciples Luk. 11.1 So Christ gave his Disciples a Form which Tertullian terms Orationem Legitimam a Prayer which Christ's own Law hath tied his Church to use in the same form of words wherein he deliver'd it and ever hath it been used in all parts of the World where Christian Religion ever was He who made us to live hath taught us to pray and doubtless if God will hear us wheâ— we use his Sons Name he will much more hear us when we use his Sons words as Prayer in general so this in special is of much efficacy and necessity for the good of our Souls there is not in Christian Religion any thing of like force through every hour and moment of our whole lives Therefore if we may believe St. Augustin as a witness of Antiquity the Universal Church of Christ hath ever used to begin and end all her Prayers with this form as striving indeed by divers other formes more largely to express the sense of this but being not able to come neer to the high note and most excellent spirit of perfection in this they ever concluded with it as being assur'd that however they may for divers defects not attain to the depth of it yet by it they shall be sure to beg all things necessary at Gods hands Vid. August Epist 59. Hook Eccles polic lib. 5. sect 35. B. Andrews Sermons of the Worshipping of Imaginations And for this very reason it hath been the custom in our Church of England to place Christ's Prayer in the front of our prayers as a guide and to add it neer to the end of some principal Offices as a complement which fully perfecteth whatsoever may be defective in the rest Praemissa Legitima ordinaria oratione quasi fundamento accidentia imus est desideriorum imus est superstruendi extrinsecas petitiones Tertul. de orat For this Prayer excels all other in many respects It is the Gospels Epitomy compiled by wisdom it self so large for matter so short for phrase so sweet for order as that it deserves worthily to have both the best and the most place in our Liturgy the first as a guide to the rest the most as a necessary complement to supply what is wanting in the rest Therefore is it used in our Burial Office and all other offices to be Tanquam sal omnium divinorum officiorum Durand Rational divin offic lib. 5. c. 5. sect 17. Priest Almighty God with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord. Mat. 22.32 Eccles 12.7 Heb. 12.23 and with whom the souls of the faithful after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh are in joy and feliciâ—y Revel 14.13 Luk. 23.43 We give thee hearty thanks for that it hath pleased thee to deliver this our _____ out of the miseries of this sinful World beseeching thee that it may please thee of thy gracious goodness shortly to accomplish the number of thine Elect and to hasten thy Kingdom that we with all those that are departed in the true faith of thy holy Name may have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul in thy eternal and everlasting glory through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Note That the Soul dies not with the Body is a received truth amongst the wiser and better Heathens Vid. Cic. Tuscul quoest Cato major de Senectut Somn. Scipion. Pythagoras rather thought of a Transmigration of Souls than a dormition or dying The Fathers all hold the same Vid. August de immortalitat animae Ne in somnium quidem cadit anima cum corpore quomodo ergo in veritatem mortis cadet quae nec in imaginem ejus ruit Tertul To think our Souls shall sleep in dust as our Bodies do til the last doom is but a dream of the Psychopannychites the spawn of the ancient Arabicks against whom Mr. Calvin hath written a learned Treatise It is an errour clearly confuted by the Scriptures take one place which is Instar omniem Mat. 22.32 Note again As the Souls of Gods Servants when they are separated from the Body are in some certain definite place so they are in a state of rest and refreshing the Scripture-phrase diversly expresseth it by being in the hand of God being with God being in the Society of Angels being in Abraham's bosome in Paradise in the Land of the Living in the Tabernacles of peace in Heavenly Mansions in Heaven it self that is they are so dispos'd of as to have the Glory and Blessedness of Heaven communicâ—ted to them and to enjoy the beatifical vision in part wheresoever they are and this may be the reason of that usual Epitaph among the Jews upon their Sepulchres Let his Soul be bound up in the Garden of Eden or in the bundle of the Living Godw. Antiq. lib. 6. c. 5. Yet I cannot say that they are in that very Heaven whither Christ as our fore-runner is enter'd not in that perfect bliss and happiness the Treasury of which was first opened by Christ at his Ascension and shall be more compleatly shewed and revealed upon all the faithful at the General Resurrection when they shall be where he is and as he is and partakers of the same glorious felicities with himself at Gods right hand as our Church prays that we may have our perfect consummation and bliss which is the same in effect with that Petition in our Saviour's prayer Thy Kingdom come Touching this I could say very much but for brevities sake I refer my Reader to some Writers of Note upon this Argument Irenaeus lib. 4. c. 45. lib. 5. c. 31. Athanasi tom 2. orat de Ascens Chrysost tom 5. pag. 637. Tertul. de anim c. 55. lib. 4. contr Marcio cap. 6. c. 10. lib. de anim In which Book
Tertullian is very plain and full Vid. Melanct. in Evangel domin in loc commun And Mr. Calvin is very express That Christ alone is enter'd into the Sanctuary of Heaven and that he presents unto God the Prayers of the People who remain in a remoter Court till the end of the World Instit lib. 3. c. 20. Sect. 20. lib. 3. cap. 25. sect 6. in Luc. cap. 16. vers 22. vid. Marlorat vid. Calvin lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 1 Pet. 3.19 2 Pet. 2.4 Luc. 23.43 Mat. 8. Genes 5. de raptu Enochi Job 14. Philip. 1.6 2 Cor. 5.1 2 Cor. 12.13 Instit lib. 4. cap. 4. sect 12. in Catechism In all which places he will not define or determine any thing in terminis only holds as we do that they are in bliss but shall not have their perfect consummation and bliss till the Resurrection and Day of Doom The Collect. O merciful God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life in whom whosoever believeth shall live though he die and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall not die eternally Joh. 11.25 26. who also hath taught us by his holy Apostle St. Paul not to be sorry as Men without hope for them that sleep in him 1 Thes 4.13 14. We meekly beseech Thee O Father to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness Rom. 6.3 4. 1 Cor. 15.34 That when we shall depart this life we may rest in him as our hope is this our _____ doth and that at the general Resurrection in the last day we may be found acceptable in thy sight and receive that blessing which thy well beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear Thee saying Come ye blessed Children of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 Grant this we beseech thee O merciful Father through Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer Amen Note This Collect sums up all the remarkableness of the Burial Office in a short devout prayer and brings all home in pious application Herein we declare our hope concerning all who depart this life in the bosom of the Church for so long as we are in the bosome of the Church we are in the state of pardon however if we are sometimes mistaken in our hope as to particulars yet it is ever a testimony of our charity It is Error amoris in case it happen at any time to be an errour 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all ever more Amen Viz. The charity of God the Son the love of God the Father and the bounty or liberal effusion of the graces of God's Holy Spirit be in us with us and upon us now and ever Amen POSTSCRIPT Christian Reader IN the first place I am to desire thee to have so much charity for our reviving Mother the Church of England as not to think her any way addicted to an affected singularity in her prescribed Office for the Burial of her dying Children for as in her other Offices so in this she holds exact conformity with her other Sisters the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas so far as they may be permitted to hold conformity with her Vid. Mr. Durel Touching the conformity of other reformed Churches with the Reformed Church of England pag. 34. sect 38. pag. 48. sect 60. Besides take notice of the words of the most judicious Hooker Take away saith he these prayers praises and holy Lessons which were ordained at Burials to shew the peculiar hope of the Church touching the Resurrection of the dead and in the manner of the dumb Funerals what one thing is there whereby the World may perceive that we are Christians Hook Eccles Pol. lib. 5. sect 75. Some few Rites more I shall add observed at Funerals together with their Reasons annexed only to give satisfaction to those better sort of weak Christians who quarrel at their use more out of tenderness of conscience than out of turbulency or any contentious spirit as for such who are contentiously given who are ill-willers to Sion who are enemies to the peace of the Church who delight in nothing but dreadful confusions and make it a great part of their Religion to quarrel the ancient practises of the Church and just Orders of Superiours I leave them to the severest execution of the Laws of the Land and the power of those who are invested with Jurisdiction to punish them as schismatical and seditious Persons and as the nature of their offence shall deserve and truly I think Superiours may be blamed for their indulgence in such cases as well as for their severity Our Church will never be at peace and our State never at quiet from the working of some Mens spirits and intemperate zeal Si vitiis Principum irasci liceat insidiari bonitati But enough of this I proceed now to speak of the few other Rites rather practised at Funerals than by Law or Canon prescribed and to account for them with what brevity and perspicuity I can 1. The ringing of the Passing-bel or Soul-bell as we call it is not intended to help the passage of the Soul when departed out of the Body but only to stir up devout Christians to pray for its happy passage out of its Body and to move those who are living to make reflexions upon their own mortality and seriously to consider of their later end This Bell is like St. Paul's Trumpet 1 Cor. 14.8 which gives such a certain sound that all within the hearing of it may prepare themselves to the Battel which is to be fought in the Field of Death 2. It was an ancient custom and is still practised to bury the Dead with their Faces turning towards the East to shew that they were as sure of an uprise as the Sun that comes forth of his Eastern Chamber and that they lie waiting for that Sun of Righteousness Malach. 4.2 who shall at the last day return with his healing Wings and quicken and revive all the dead Bodies of his Servants by his healing and life-giving influence when he comes with his Prodi Lazare or Surge qui dormis then the Graves shall set open their Marble Doors and restore their deposita When the Arch-Angel shall sound the Trump of Collection then the scattered bones of Gods Saints shall be gathered together with sinews and those sinews incorporated with flesh and that flesh covered over with skin all mortality being purged away and by a new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Pythagoras never dreamed of the same Soul shall re-enter the same Body These and the like Ceremonies the Church hath practised in her Funerals to be as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so many significant emblems to strengthen and confirm her living Children in the hopes of a joyful resurrection 3. It was an
out in my Scriptural citations upon the absolution at the beginning of the Service-Book and I love not Actum agere Rubrick Then the People shall say this that followeth after the Minister Turn Thou us O good Lord. Note Here the People as Persons very deeply sensible of their sins and nearly concern'd to beg paâ—don and ask forgiveness are incited to do it after the Minister with unanimous hearts united affections and the highest fervency of devotion in such form of words as is not only consonant with but almost Verbatim taken out of the Scriptures Hos 14.2 Joel 2.17 Joel 2.12 13. Nehem. 1.4 5 c. Rubrick Then the Minister alone shall say The Lord bless us and keep us c. Note This form of blessing is grounded upon Numb 6.23 24 25 26 27. It is pronounced by the Minister as being an Act of Authority Heb. 7.7 Highly esteem'd in the Primitive times and none durst go out of the Church till they had received it Concil Agath Can. 31. Ann. Dom. 472. Concil Orlean 3. Can. 22. The People kneeled to receive it Chrysost Liturg. The Jewes received it after the same manner Eccles 50.23 As God blessed by the Priests then Numb 6.22 23. So we have the promise of his assistance and ratifying the Priests blessing which they are to pronounce with authority under the Gospel Matth. 10.13 Luke 10.5 Where by peace resting upon the party capable and by Blessing returning to the Minister where the House resists and hinders the blessing we may note that there is a vertue goes out from the Minister together with the blessing POST-SCRIPT Reader FOr the removing of all scruples and to give satisfaction to some religious Persons who are perhaps of a different perswasion and whose Consciences may be so tender as to take offence where none is given I have here joyned by way of an Appendix a Paraphrase upon some places of Scripture sorted out for that purpose For truly I would have such Persons dealt with in the most tender and gentle way that can be imaginable I would have the Mote so discreetly pull'd out of their Eye as not to pull out Eye and all but done with so gentle a hand as not to forget the tenderness of an Eye and the nearness of Brethren we should make Christs President our pattern who would not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. Rom. chap. 14th Vers 1. For the preserving of Christian charity among all who profess themselves to be Christians take these following Directions There are great dissensions and divisions gotten in already amongst us by reason of some different perswasions about some things in their own nature indifferent however all are not so perswaded these have caused animosities sidings and separations amongst us so that the communion and peace of the Church the most precious thing to be preserved is more than likely to be broken Therefore to make up this breach that it prove not incurable by continuance I make this seasonable application and first I admonish those who do not think themselves obliged to the use of those indifferent things not to reject others who think themselves bound up in Conscience to their observance but to receive them to their communion and not to quarrel with other Mens resolutions and perswasions as to such things but to direct their own lives by what in conscience they are perswaded is lawful or unlawful about such matters in case the things indifferent in their nature are left also indifferent in their use Vers 2. For he who is sufficiently instructed in his Christian liberty makes use of his Christian liberty and makes no scruple at all about such things neither doth he place any religion in them further then to express his obedience to lawful Superiors which is not the least part of Christian Religion whereas he who is weak and not sufficiently instructed in the nature of the liberty allow'd him by Christ so long as he remains in that errour reckons of such things as unclean in themselves and not to be conformed to Vers 3. But let not him who discerns his Christian liberty in such matters despise him who is scrupulous and erroneous neither let the scrupulous and erroneous reject and cast out of his communion those who are better instructed in the nature of their Christian liberty seeing God hath admitted them into his Church and received them as Servants into his Family Vers 4. And what commission can any pretend to judg the Servants of God received and owned by him or to exclude them out of the Church touching such matters seeing they must stand or fall be cleared or condemned by God's Sentence and not Man's God is able to clear them if he will and he certainly will having received them into his Family and given them this liberty Vers 5. Some Judaizing Christians observe the Sabbaths and other Rites appointed by Moses others who know their liberty make not that difference of times and things which Moses Law requires in such things Let every Man act by his own Conscience and not by another Mans what he is verily perswaded he ought to do and let not the unity and peace of the Church be broken for such matters Vers 6. 7. He who makes a difference betwixt days as they were differenc'd by Moses Law this is nothing to our Christian Festivals observed upon another account thinks it is God's will he should do so and he who doth not make that difference thinks it is God's pleasure now under Christ that he should not make it So is it for Meats as well as for Days some who understand not their liberty make a difference from the supposed obligation of Moses Law others who are very well instructed in their Christian liberty make no difference as from Moses Law however from Christian Laws a difference may be made as to the use but not as to the nature of Meats and Days which Christian-Laws Christians who rightly understand their Christian liberty will cheerfully obey certainly when both sides do what they do meerly out of conscience and to do a thing pleasing to God this is well done for no Man is to do what himself likes best but what he thinks to God is most acceptable Vers 8. For our life and death are very inconsiderable but as by them we may serve God so ought we to do it in all other things Vers 9. This being the great end of Christ's death Suffring and Resurrection that he should have power over us all and command and give what liberty he pleaseth but further then he gives we may not take nor pretend to such a Christian liberty as unavoidably destroys Christian duty Vers 10. But why do we condemn our fellow Christians or exclude them from our Communion Why do we vilifie set them at naught or judg them so long as they only use and do not abuse their Christian liberty in conforming to the use of some things which not the
far from the true Christian knowledge or from directing it to the right end which is charity and the edification of our Brethren Vers 3. If any Man loves God sincerely and so adheres to him in time of danger he truly knows him and consequently is acknowledged by him Vers 4. We know indeed that an Idol is nothing in the World no part of Gods first Creation only an invention and fancy of Mâ—n there is but one true God all the rest are fictions of wicked Men who were first the formers and then the worshipers of them Vers 5. There may be many such fictitious deities called by that title whether in Heaven or in Earth Vers 6. But we Christians are assur'd the e is but One true God the Creator of all things to whom all Mens Prayers must be addressed from whom we had our being and to whom we are obliged to be his Servants and to make all our applications to Him and there is but One Mediator and Lord Christ by whom all things were created and by whom as the only Mediator betwixt God and us all our Prayers are addressed to Heaven Vers 7. Yet all Men are not of this perswasion that these Idols are nothing for sure if they thought so they would not worship them nay some are of Opinion that they are something and are able to hurt them and therefore they continue their Heathenish custom to be present at the Idol-Feasts notwithstanding these very Persons have received the faith of Christ so that their sick and sinful Consciences are defiled and polluted by so doing Vers 8. Now a Man who is not of this perswasion towards the Idol if he goes to the Idol-Temple with the Idol-Worshipers may be a means of confirming them in their Error it being certain that they will think he comes as they come with the same Opinion of the false deity and of reaping some benefit by it which inconvenience must needs be very dangerous Vers 9. For though the being there or not being there be not of it self of any great moment in the sight of God yet this care would befit every Christian so to use his own liberty as not to be an occasion of sin or of continuance in sin to others by confirming them in their sinful courses Vers 10. For if any Man who through an erroneous Conscience goes to an Idol-Feast sees another at the same Feast who knows within himself an Idol to be nothing and eats not out of any religious Opinion but only as of ordinary meat Will not he by this means be confirmed to go on in his erroneous course Vers 11. So that the Christian of an erroneous Conscience shall go on in his sin and be in danger to be ruined by reason of the others practise who presumes upon his knowledge and so goes confidently to the Idol as a meer vanity and thing of nought not at all considering the erroneous Conscience of his weak Brother and so he makes himself guilty not only of uncharitableness to his Brother but of injury to Christ in betraying a Soul to ruine for the saving of which Christ died Vers 12. And be it granted that for one who understands his Christian liberty to be present at an Idol-feast be not impiety against God yet is it an act of great uncharitableness against the weak Brethren in bringing them to a confirmation in those sinful practises wherein through error they are already and so it may be an impiety and sin against God too who is concerned in them Vers 13. Therefore if to eat a Feast in an Idol-Temple or any use of my liberty in the same kind be an occasion of confirming any Christian in an erroneous sinful practise or of bringing him to do any thing which is unlawful I will be sure to deny my self the use of that liberty supposed it be such as by the Laws of Christ truly belongs to me when it shall prove of such dangerous consequence to my fellow-Christians Note Whatever hath been spoken by way of a plain Paraphrase out of the forementioned places of Scripture makes nothing at all against any Mans conformity to the use of the Common-Prayer-Book now by Law established 1. Nothing out of Rom. 14. makes against it for these following reasons 1. Because no Man who is a Christian can possibly be so weak in the faith unless he be wilful too as to scruple at prayer as such it being the great duty of a Christian or at Prayer in a set-form because it is authorized out of both Testaments and was ever the practise of Christs Church so to pray or at the set-form of Common-Prayer established in our Church because it is conform to all ancient Liturgies and to the Liturgy of the Roman-Church too is not denied so far as that is conform to the Prayers of the ancient and primitive Church but no otherwise besides every branch of it is reducible to the Lords Prayer the Creed and Ten Commandements is agreeable to Scripture and most delivered in the very Scripture-phrase and framed up according to St. Paul's prescribed Model 1 Tim. 2.1 2. Vid. Dr. Hammond Annot. in Locum 2. All this supposed and as easie to be proved as supposed I believe no Christian can pretend to that tenderness of conscience as to be grieved in his conscience for doing that which is so agreeable to God's Word and the practise of all the Church-Christian all the World over 2. Nothing out of 1 Cor. 8. makes against Conformity unless these weak Christians will say which I know they will not least they should be accounted wicked rather than weak 1. That God is an Idol 2. That to pray to God in his House of Prayer or to be present at Christian Festivals and Services in his Temple is Idolatry besides if any should be so perverse and yet mask it under pretence of tenderness of conscience as to be offended at us in so doing and by so doing discharging our duty I do not see how we can leave off these things to gratifie them for we have consciences as well as they have and as tender apt to be grieved as theirs and we understand our Christian liberty as well as they do and it may be in some things better too for we know this liberty is not so in our power as to use it and not use it when we please to gratifie and comply with every passion and distemper but we are bound up by Laws which by Authority deriv'd from God's Laws have power to bind the conscience to serve God in such set-forms and at such set-times neither do I see how any power upon earth can disoblige us from obedience to those just Laws which are impos'd upon us by lawful Superiors how can we to satisfie another Mans conscience take off our obedience from those whom we are commanded to be subject to not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 our Christian liberty hath freed us from the Ceremonial
we avouch our faith in God One in Essence Three in Person we are to pray to But be this Oremus or Let us pray set where it will the end and â—se of it is very good to settle and fix our intentions towards some ensuing duty for unless we are thus stirred up and called upon we are apt to grow dull and drowsie and to supplicate God to hear those Prayers which we do not hear our selves This Oremus is very ancient as appears out of Chrysostom Augustine and others and there was a practise amongst the Heathens in their sacred though erroneously so Offices very like unto it Vid. Plutarch in Coriolano Our Father which art in Heaven Our Teacheth us to pray one with another one for another he who prays only for himself shal be heard only for himself The prayers we put up to God should be cast in the mould of love and charity He who is angry with his brother cannot offer a pleasing and acceptable offring to God his Father without faith no acceptable pray'r without love no true faith Father This begets in us love a humble confidence a holy kind of presumption what wil God deny us who vouchsafes us this to call him Father Though we are sinful he will not forget to be merciful though we forget our duties he will not forget his Nature Laesus est sed tamen pater which art in Heaven This begets in us fear and a holy kind of reverence This minds us of our earthly peregrination shews our wants and whence we are to expect relief it notes us to be strangers and pilgrims on Earth standing in need of his help and assistance who is in Heaven It teacheth us whither we are to direct our prayers and where to settle our affections when we pray Orantis est nil nisi coelestia cogitare It shews whence every good comes we can possibly want or stand in need of it shews God to be all-sufficient able to help us for in Heaven as willing to hear us for our Father It minds us that we are but viatores Travailours Earth is our way and Heaven is our home Our Nos pudeat eum aspernari fratrem quem deus non aspernatur filium Est vox charitatis as this Pray'r is Breviarium fidei so is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Singuli pro omnibus omnes pro singulis orant Pro se orat necessitas pro aliis charitas Father Magnum nomen hoc sub quo nemini desperandum Surgam ibo ad patrem Luc. 15.18 19. Pater etiamsi offensus est pater filius etiamsi nequam tamen filius He will never forget the nature of his Name though we forget our duties There is indulgentia paterna liberalitas paterna Facilitas dandi condonandi in patre Nomen patris explicat charitatem dei excitat charitatem nostri which art in Heaven Other Fathers sub terris he in coelis Isay 63.16 Psal 10.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3. aquilarum hoc negotium non talparum non milvorum Caelumque tueri Jussit We do genus de coelo ducere Act. 17. We should look home with the Prodigal Luc. 15. As Absolom desired to see the King's face 2 Sam. 14. So we the face of Christ and God in Heaven Coelum petere is the Unum necessarium In this sense Qua supra nos maxime ad nos Pater ergo vult In coelis ergo potest Nullus pater talis pater Tertull. Hallowed be thy Name This shews as Holiness is the chief attribute in God so it should be the chiefest thing in our account we should be holy as he is holy holy in our words holy in our actions holy in our lips holy in our lives We must not falsify Gods Name set it where he will not set it himself nor pretend it to justifie or legitimate any Action which is sinful This is as if we should carry God's Ark into the Field to fight against himself or fight the devils cause under the banner of Christ or wear Christs livery in the bare profession of a name and do the devils service We do not sanctifie God's Name but profane it when we profess him in words and deny him in works When we pretend Christian liberty to destroy Christian duty make use of Religion to usher in Sacriledge and Rebellion Paint the Cross upon banners and yet by actions most sinful and scandalous put Christ as it were upon a new Crucifixion God is not to be named but he is above every name only he was pleased to make himself known under the notion of names that we might have some directions how to invocate and call upon Him This is Caput votorum Sanctificetur cannot come from any Persons that are profane Psal 50.16 17. Not Jacob 's voice and Esau 's hands Not a Scriptum est from the Devil's mouth nor the devils gloss and comment upon GOD's Text. In Nomine Domini incipit omne malum that ought not to be There are Qui sub Christiano Nomine Christianam vulnerant Religionem Quid verba audio cum facta videam En Testimonia rerum loquentia signa God's Name is as a Castle we must not flie to it but in time of need Prov. 18.10 Deus Sanctificat nos faciendo Sanctos ex non sanctis nos sanctificamus Deum non faciendo eum sanctum sed agnoscendo praedicando Extrinsecus assumpsit sibi nomen ut invocetur Thy Kingdom come In this Petition we pray for the propagation of the Gospel the spreading of Christian Religion all the World over that God's Name which was onely great in Israel may be known and acknowledged reverenced and adored among all Nations we pray for the extirpation of sin and the implantation of grace that we may be translated out of the Kingdome of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light freed from the slavery of sin and Satan and intitled to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God That Christ would set up his Throne and Scepter in our hearts that the work of grace may be here in us glory begun and the work of glory may be hereafter in us and upon us grace compleat We pray for the means ordained and appointed of God to bring this Kingdom to us and us into it the word the Sacraments and a regular and ordain'd Ministry to preach the one and to administer the other Thy Kingdom of God 1. Universal over all 2. Special over the Church and this latter 1. Regnum gratiae inchoatum in hac vita 2. Regnum gloriae consummatum post hanc vitam Rex hujus Regni Christus 1. Quia Deus 2. Quia Mediator Regni hujus cives 1. Angeli 2. Sancti Militantes in terris Triumphantes in coelis Regni hujus Leges 1. Verbum Dei 2. Spiritus Dei Regni hujus Dona 1. Fides 2. Conversio 3. Justificatio 4. Sanctificatio 5. Glorificatio Regni hujus hostes 1. Diaboli 2. Homines impii In