his vocation and Ministery may truly and godly serve thee And O Lord who hast made all men nor wouldest the death of a sinner but rather that he should be converted and live have mercy upon al Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks and take from them all ignorance and hardness of heart and contempt of thy word and so fetch them home blessed Lord to thy flock that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites and be made one fold under one shepherd Jesus Christ And merciful God which through thy only begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death and by his resurrection Resurrection opened unto us the gate of everlasting life We humbly beseech thee that as by thy special grace preventing us thou doest put into our mindes good desires so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect And as thou didst give him not only to die for our sins but to rise again for our justification grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness that we may always serve thee in pureness of living and truth And as thou didst give him both a sacrifice for sin and also an example of godly life give us the grace that we may alwayes most thankfully receive that his inestimable benefit and also dayly endeavour our selves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life And like as we do believe thy only begotten Son our Lord to have ascended with Ascension great glory into the Heaven so we beseech thee grant us that we may also in heart and mind thither ascend also and with him continually dwell who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost And do not leave us comfortless but according to thy promise send us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour is gone before And as thou didst after our Saviours Ascention teach the hearts of thy faithful people by thy sending them the light of thy Holy Spirit Sending the holy Spirit Grant us by the same spirit to have a right judgement in all things and evermore to rejoyce in his holy comfort through the merits of Christ Jesus And seeing thou hast given us grace thus by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternall Trinity and in the power of Trinity the Divine Majesty to worship the unity We beseech thee that through the stedfastnes of this faith wee may evermore be defended from all adversities through Jesus Christ our Saviour who liveth and reigneth with the in the unity of the selfe same Spirit one God world without end Amen An Excellent Prayer VII O Almighty and Everliving Lord God God the Father God the Son God the holy Ghost holy blessed and glorious Trinity three persons and one God have mercy upon us Remember not our offences nor the offences of our forefathers neither take thou vengeance of our sins but spare us good Lord spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most pretious blood and be not angry with us for ever Preserve us from all evill and mischief from sin from the crafts and assaults of the Divell from thy wrath and from everlasting damnation Deliver us from all blindnes of heart from pride vaine glory and hypocrisie from envy hatred and malice and all uncharitablenes from fornication and all other sins the wages of which is death and from all the deceits of the world the flesh and the Divell keep us from any hurt by lightning and tempest from the plague pestilence and famine from battels and murder and from sudden death deliver us from all sedition and privy conspiracy all false doctrine and heresie hardnes of heart and contempt of thy word and commandements And these things wee beseech of thee for and through the mystery of thy holy incarnation thy holy nativity and circumcision thy baptisme fasting and temptation through thine agony and bloody swet thy crosse and passion thy pretious death and buriall thy glorious resurrection and ascension and the comeing of the holy Ghost And O Lord God we do beseech thee that it would please the to rule and governe thy holy Church universall in the right way Illuminate all Bishops Pastors and Ministers of the Church with true knowledge and understanding of thy word and that both by preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly Be pleased to blesse and keepe the Magistrates giving them grace to execute justice and to maintaine truth And Blesse and keepe all thy people give us all hearts to love and dread thee and diligently to live after thy commandements That we may have increase of grace to heare meekely thy word and receive it with pure affection and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit Wee beseech thee to give unto all Nations unity peace and concord bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived strengthen such as do stand comfort and helpe the weake-hearted raise up them that fall and finally beate down Satan under our feete Be pleased O Lord to succour helpe and comfort all that be in danger necessity and tribulation preserve all that in their lawfull affaires travell by land or water all women labouring with child all sick persons and young children and to shew thy pitty upon all prisoners and captives defend and provide for the fatherlesse children and widdowes and all that are desolate and oppressed and let it please thee to have mercy upon all men Forgive our enemies persecutors and slanderers and turne their hearts And we beseech the to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth so as in due time we may enjoy them and deale not with us after our sins nor reward us after our iniquities but give us true repentance forgive us all our sins negligences and ignorances indue us with the graces of thy holy Spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy word And O mercifull father that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart nor the desires of such as be sorrowfull mercifully assist our prayers that we make before thee in all our troubles and adversities whensoever they oppresse us and gratiously heare us that those evils which the craft and subtilty of the divell or man worketh against us be brought to nought and by the providence of thy goodnes they may be dispersed that we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church And seeing we have heard with our eares and our fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didst in their dayes and in the old time before them We beseech thee in the midst of these our divisions and distractions to arise and helpe us by thy power and deliver us for the honour of thy name defend us from all our enemies and let thy mercy be shewed upon us as we do put our trust in thee
forefathers Abraham and his seed for ever Or Psalm 98. O Sing unto the Lord a new song for he hath done marvellous things With his own right hand and with his holy arm hath he gotten himself the victory The Lord declared his salvation his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen He hath remembred his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel and all the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our God Shew your selves joyful unto the Lord all ye lands sing rejoyce and give thanks Praise the Lord upon the harp sing to the harp with a Psalm of thanksgiving With trumpets also and shawms O shew â—our selves joyful before the Lord the King Let the Sea make a noise and all that therein is the round world and they that dwell therein Let the floods clap their hands and let the hills be joyful together before the Lord for he is come to judge the earth With righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with equity Luke 2. 29. (e) This or the next were wont to be read at the Evening after the second chapt LOrd now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy Word For mine eyes have seen thy salvation Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel Or Psalm 67. GOd be merciful unto us and bless us and shew us the light of his countenance and be merciful unto us That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all nations Let the people praise thee O God yea let all the people praise thee O let the nations rejoyce and be glad for thou shalt judge the folk righteously and govern the nations upon earth Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee Then shall the earth bring forth her increase and God even our own God shall give us his blessing God shall bless us and all the ends of the world shall fear him Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen The repetition of this ancient doxology had this pious intention viz. to keep the mystery of the blessed Trinity in the mindes of the vulgar who else may be in danger to forget it Which with the other according to the rule were to be read by the Minister alone and not interchangeably by the people though the common practice had prevailed otherwise The Creed (f) This was wont to be read after the second chapter both at morning and evening I Believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord which was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the holy Catholick Church the communion of Saints the forgiveness of sins the Resurrection of the Body and the life everlasting Amen The Nicene Creed (g) This was used to be read in the morning I Believe in one God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of his Father before all worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate He suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead whose kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptisme for the remission of sins And I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come Amen The Creed of Athanasius commonly so called (h) This was appointed to be read about thirteen times in the year to the people if it were now read once a month it were very convenient WHosoever will be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick faith Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly And the Catholick faith is this that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance For there is one person of the Father another of the Son and another of the Holy Ghost But the God-head of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one the glory equal the Majesty coeternal Such as the Father is such is the Son and such is the Holy Ghost The Father uncreate the Son uncreate and the Holy Ghost uncreate The Father incomprehensible the Son incomprehensible and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible The Father eternal the Son eternal and the Holy Ghost eternal And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal As also there are not three incomprehensibles nor three uncreated but one uncreated and one incomprehensible So likewise the Father is Almighty the Son Almighty and the Holy Ghost Almighty And yet they are not three Almighties but one Almighty So the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God And yet they are not three Gods but one God So likewise the Father is Lord the Son Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we be compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord. So are we forbidden by the Catholick Religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords The Father is made of none neither created nor begotten The Son is of the Father alone not made nor created but begotten The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeding So there is one Father not three Fathers one Son not three Sons one Holy Ghost not three Holy Ghosts And in this Trinity none is afore or after other none is greater or less then another But the whole three persons be coeternal together and coequal So
may receive the crown of righteousnesse laid up by the Lord the righteous Judge who liveth and reigneth one God with the Father and the holy Ghost world without end Amen Whereby it is evident if there were any negligence in the Bishop in preaching or other labours in the work of the Ministry the constitution was not defective in the exhortations of him and prayers for him accordingly nay it rather laies more upon him then it doth upon the Presbyâ—ers To conclude let the Reader take a view of the thirty sixt Article of religion of the Church of England and let him judge if they had not very good cause to approve as they there do this book of ordination and to declare that all such as have been or shall be ordered accordingly to be rightly and lawfully ordered and whether it had not been much better upon the disputes concerning it to have had some moderate accommodation then a totall suppression of it The Lord give us moderate spirits and a right understanding in all things ARTICLES AGREED UPON By the ARCH-BISHOPS and BISHOPS of both Provinces and the whole CLERGIE In the Convocation holden at LONDON in the yeer 1562. For the avoiding of diversities of opinions and for the establishing of Consent touching true RELIGION THE TABLE 1 OF faith in the Trinity 2 Of Christ the Son of God 3 Of his going down into hell 4 Of his Resurrection 5 Of the Holy Ghost 6 Of the sufficiency of the Scripture 7 Of the old Testament 8 Of the three Creeds 9 Of the Original sin 10 Of free-will 11 Of Iustification 12 Of good works 13 Of works before justification 14 Of works of supererogation 15 Of Christ alone without sin 16 Of sin after Baptism 17 Of Predestination and Election 18 Of obtaining salvation by Christ 19 Of the Church 20 Of the authority of the Church 21 Of the authority of the general councels 22 Of Purgatory 23 Of ministring in the congregation 24 Of speaking in the congregation 25 Of the Sacraments 26 Of the unworthiness of the Ministers 27 Of Baptisme 28 Of the Lords Supper 29 Of the wicked which eat not the body of Christ 30 Of both kindes 31 Of Christs one oblation 32 Of the marriage of Priests 33 Of excommunicate persons 34 Of Traditions of the Church 35 Of Homilies 36 Of consecration of Ministers 37 Of civil Magistrates 38 Of Christian mens goods 39 Of a Christian mans oath 40 Of the Ratification ARTICLES OF RELIGION I. Of Faith in the holy Trinity THere is but one living and true God everlasting without body parts or passions of infinit power wisdom and goodness the maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible And in unity of this Godhead there be three persons of one substance power and eternity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost II. Of the Word or Son of God which was made very man THe Son which is the Word of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father the very and eternal God of one substance with the Father took mans nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin of her substance so that two whole and perfect natures that is to say the Godhead and manhâ—â—d were joyned together in one person neveâ— to be divided whereof is one Christ very God and very man who truly suffered was crucified dead and buried to reconcile his Father to us and to be a sacrifice not only for original guilt but also for actual sins of men III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell AS Christ died for us and was buried so also is it to be believed that he went down into Hell IV. Of the Resurâ—â—ction of Christ. CHrist did truly rise again from death and took again his body with flesh bones and all things appertaining to the perfection of mans nature wherewith he ascended into Heaven and there sitteth untill he return to judge all men at the last day V. Of the Holy Ghost THe Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son is of one substance Majesty and Glory with the Father and the Son very and eternal God VI. Of the sufficientcy of the holy Scriptures for salvation HOly Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of the faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation In the name of the holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church Of the names and numbers of the Canonical BOOKS GEnesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomium Joshue Judges Ruth The 1. Book of Samuel The 2. Book of Samuel The 1. Book of Kings The 2. Book of Kings The 1. Book of Chronicles The 2. Book of Chronicles The 1. Book of Esdras The 2. Book of Esdras The Book of Hester The Book of Job The Psalms The Proverbs Ecclesiastes or Preacher Cantica or songs of Solo. 4. Prophets the greater 12. Prophets the less And the other Books as Hierome saith the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine such are these following The 3. Book of Esdras The 4. Book of Esdras The Book of Tobias The Book of Judeth The rest of the Book of Hester The Book of Wisdome Jesus the son of Sirach Baruch the Prophet The song of the three Children The Story of Susanna Of Bell and the Dragon The prayer of Manasses The 1. book of Maccabees The 2. book of Maccahees All the books of the New Testament as they are commonly received we do receive and account them Canonical VI. Of the Old Testament THe old Testament is not contrary to the new for both in the old and new Testament everlasting life is offered to mankinde by Christ who is the only Mediator between God and man being both God and man Wherefore they are not to be heard which feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises Although the law given from God by Moses as touching Ceremonies and Rites do not binde Christian men nor the civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any Common wealth yet notwithstanding no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral VIII Of the three Creeds THe three Creeds Nice Creed Athanasius Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought thorowly to be received and believed for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture IX Of original birth or sin ORiginal sin standeth not in the following of Adam as the Pelagians do vainly talk but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is ingendred of the off-spring of Adam whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness and is of his own nature
excellent prayer pag. 28. Psalm 95. O come let us sing c. pag. 34. We praise thee O God c. pag 35. Luk. 1. 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel c. pag. 37. Psalm 100. O be joyful in the Lord c. pag. 38. Luk. 1. 46. My soule doth Magnify the Lord c. pag. 39. Psalm 98. O sing unto the Lord a new song c. pag. 40. Luk. 2. 29. Lord now letest thou thy servant depart c. pag. 41. Psam 67. God be Mercifull unto us and blesse us c. pag. 41. The Creed I believe in God c. pag. 42. The Nicen Creed I believe in one God c. pag. 43. The Creed of Athanasins commonly so called Whosoever will be saved c. pag. 45. The Ten Commandements 49. Some Choice sentences out of Scripture used at the beginning of prayer c. pag. 51. Prayers for raine faire wether in time of dearth and famine in time of war in time of any common plague or sicknes and thanksgivings for the returne of each pag. 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59. A thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth pag. 59. The Seven administrations 1. Baptisme pag. 63. 2. Communion pag. 75. 3. Visitation of the sick pag. 91. 4. Catechisme pag. 117. with confirmation pag. 128. 5. A day of fasting or Humiliation pag. 131. 6. Matrimony pag. 141. 7. An Exhortation at the Buriall pag. 153. Some prayers used upon the Fifth of November pag. 161. A prayer formerly used by the Speaker of the house of Commons in Parliament pag. 169. A prayer for the Parliament used in the house pag. 174. The substance of the Ancient manner of Ordination in the Church of England pag. 177. The Articles of the Church of England An Advertisement PAge 80 81 82. some Prayers at the Communion in relation to the Nativity Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour Pentecost Trinity-Sunday are intended only for their proper festivals but may be used at the discretion of the Minister Page 27. line 18. read glory and triumph into thy kingdome of Heaven p. 29. l. 21. dele any hurt by p. 31. l. 13. dele in their lawful affairs p. 118. l. 4. r. and I heartily thank our Heavenly Father that he hath called me to this state of salvation through Jesus Christ our Saviour p. 123. l. 27. r. be merciful unto us and p. 199. dele 100. DEVOTIONS OF THE ANTIENT CHURCH A Prayer for the Morning I. ALmighty God and in thy Son Jesus Christ our most mercifull Father we acknowledge we have erred and strayed from thy wayes like lost sheep we have followed too much the corrupt desires of our own hearts and have offended against thy holy lawes by leaving undone those things which we ought to have done and doing those things which we ought not to have done So that in us dwelleth no good thing We beseech thee to have mercy upon us who are miserable offenders to spare us who do confesse our faults and restore us who are penitent for them according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant O most mercifull Father for his sake that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life to the glory of thy holy name And O Lord in regard we heare out of thy word that thou desirest not the death of a sinner but rather that he may turne from his wickedness and live and hast given power and commandement to thy Ministers to declare and pronounce to thy people being penitent the forgiveness and remission of their sinnes And that thou wilt pardon all them that truely repent and unfeignedly believe thy holy Gospell We beseech thee to grant us true repentance and thy holy Spirit that those things may please thee which we do at this present and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy so that at the last we may come to thy eternall joy where our lips shall be opened and our mouth continually shew forth thy praise in giving glory to the Father and to the Son and to the holy Ghost world without end And O Lord our heavenly Father who art the author of peace and lover of concord in the knowledge of whom standeth our eternall life whose service is perfect freedom mercifully heare us now we call upon thee defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies that we surely trusting in thy defence may not feare the power of any adversaries but by thy being with us and shewing thy mercy upon us and granting us thy salvation thy chosen people may be still joyfull in thee peace may be given and continued in our time O Lord and thy inheritance even thy people may be blessed and saved and taught to put their trust in thee there being no other that fighteth for us but only thou our God and do thou make cleane our hearts within us that thy holy Spirit be not taken from us And seeing O Lord thou hast safely preserved us hither to this day defend us in the same with thy mighty power and grant that this day we fall into no sinne neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doings may be ordered by thy Governance to do allwayes that which is righteous in thy sight And we humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to looke upon our infirmities and for the glory of thy names sake turne from us all those evills that we most righteously have deserved and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy and evermore serve thee in holiness and purenes of living to the honor and glory of thy name And O Lord who art the Governor of all things whose power no creature is able to resist to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners and to be mercifull unto them that truely repent wee beseech thee to save and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies abate their pride aswage their malice and confound their devices that we being armed with thy defence may be preserved evermore from all pâ—rills to glorifie thee who art the only giver of all victories And seing thou hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and dost promise that when two or three be gathered together in thy name thou wilt grant their requests fulfill now O Lord the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be most expedient for them granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and in the world to come life everlasting Through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose name and words we further pray saying OUr Father which art in heaven hallowed by thy name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as wee forgive them that trespasse against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill for thine is
thy holy Commandments And as thou didst confirm the faith of Thomas thy Apostle whom thou didst suffer to be doubtful of thy Sons resurrection so grant unto us that we may so perfectly and without all doubt believe in thy Son Jesus Christ that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved And as thou didst chuse thy faithful servant Matthias in the place of the traytor Judas to be numbred with the Twelve Apostles so grant still that thy Church being alwayes preserved from false Apostles may be ordered and guided by faithful and true Pastors And seeing thou hast instructed thy Church with heavenly doctrine in thy Gospel by the labour and care of St. Mark and the other Evangelists give us grace that we be not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine but finally be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel and grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way the truth and the life whom truly to know is everlasting life as thou hast taught Philip and the other Apostles And O Lord as thou didst earnestly command thy Apostle Peter to feed thy flock make we beseech thee all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach thy holy word and the people obediently to follow the same that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory And as thy holy Apostle James leaving his Father and all that he had without delay was obedient to the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ and followed him so we forsaking all wordly and carnal affections may be evermore ready to follow thy commandements that as he preached what he was taught from thee so we may believe what he preached and love what we do believe And let the example of Matthew who readily obeyed thy blessed Sons call from the receipt of custome to be an Apostle and Evangelist be our imitation in forsaking all covetous desires and inordinate love of riches and to follow thy Son Jesus Christ who is God blessed for ever Grant us to love our enemies by the example of thy Martyr Stephen who prayed for his persecutors and cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church that it being lightned by the doctrine of thy Apostle and Evangelist John may attain to thy everlasting gifts And seeing we read those young innocent children of Bethlehem did shew forth thy praise not in speaking as witnesses but in dying for thy names sake mortifie and kill all vices in us that in our conversation our life may express thy faith which with our tongues we do confess And as thou wert pleased to teach the world through the preaching of thy blessed Apostle Paul grant we beseech thee that we which have his wonderful conversion in remembrance may follow and fulfil the holy doctrine which he hath taught us whom with Barnabas as thou didst endue with singular gifts of the Holy Ghost so let us not be destitute of thy manifold gifts nor yet of grace to use them always to thy glory And seeing thou hast ordained and constituted the services of all Angels and men in a wonderful order mercifully grant that they which alway do thee service in Heaven may by thy appointment succour and defend us in earth And as thou didst call Luke the Physician whose praise is in the Gospel throughout the Churches to be a Physitian of the Soul may it please thee by the wholsome medicines of his doctrine to heal all the diseases of our Souls and thus O Lord seeing thou hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the head corner stone and that thou hast knit together thy Elect in one Communion and fellowship in the mystical body of thy Son We beseech thee grant that we may so be joyned together in unity of spirit by the doctrine of thy Apostles that we may be made an holy Temple acceptable unto thee as also that we may so follow thy holy Saints in all vertuous and godly living that we may come to those unspeakable joyes which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour in whose name and words we further call upon thee saying Our Father which art in Heaven c. A Heavenly Prayer VI. O Most holy and merciful God We do here humbly and thankfully acknowledge thy infinit love in the great work of our redemption by thy Son Jesus Christ the glad tidings of whose incarnation Conception of our Saviour thou wert pleased to make known unto us by the message of an Angel We beseech thee poure thy grace into our hearts that as we are brought to the knowledge of his conception so by his Cross and Passion we may be translated unto the glory of his Resurrection Thou wert gratiously pleased to give him thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him and to be born of a pure Virgin Grant Birth that we being regenerate and made thy children by Adoption and grace may dayly be renewed by thy holy Spirit through the same our Lord Jesus Thou didst also make thy blessed Son to be circumcised and obedient Circumcision to the law for man grant us the true circumcision of the heart that our hearts and all our members mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts may in all things obey thy blessed will And as thou wert pleased by the leading of a Star to manifest thy only begotten Epiphâ—â—y Son to the Gentiles mercifully grant that we which know thee now by faith may after this life have Presenting in the â—emple the fruition of thy glorious Godhâ—ad And as he was presented in the Temple in the substance of our flesh So grant that we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean mindes And as by thy providence thy servant John Baptist was wonderfully born and sent to prepare the way to the manifestation of thy Son our Saviour by preaching of repentance make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life that we may truly repent according to his preaching and after his example constantly speak the truth boldly rebuke vice and patiently suffer for the truths sake And O Lord who of thy tender love towards man hast sent our Saviour Jesus Christ not only to take upon him our flesh but to suffer death upon the Cross mercifully Passion grant that we may both follow the example of his great humility and patience and be made partakers of his Resurrection And we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family for the which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed and thus to be given up into the hands of wicked men And not only us but the whole body of thy Church which by thy Spirit is governed and sanctified and all estates of men in thy holy Congregation for whom we beseech thee to receive our supplications and prayers which we now offer before thee for them that every member of the same in
Good Lord we beseech thee to heare us and graciously looke upon our afflictions pittifully behold the sorrowes of our hearts favourably with mercy forgive the sins of thy people and grant us what else thou knowest more necessary for us even for Jesus Christ his sake who is the Son of God and Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world in whose blessed name and words we conclude our imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught us OUr Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill for thine is the kingdome the power and the Glory for ever Amen These particulars following having been in the peoples memories and still are it is good to preserve them so by an often rehearsal in their due time and place most of them being either select places out of holy Scripture or containing the necessary points of faith to be believed by us Psalm 95. (a) This was wont to precede the reading of the Psalms O Come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our salvation Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and shew our selves glad in him with Psalms For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods In his hands are all the corners of the earth and the strength of the hills is his also The Sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry land O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker For he is the Lord our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness When your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said it is a people that do erre in their hearts for they have not known my wayes Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning c. (b) This is both a hymn and a Creed and if 1200. years continuance in the Church may not be a suflicient plea for the keeping its place after the first Chapter out of the old Testament in the morning the Ten Commandements much neglected may be read in the room of it WE praise thee O God we knowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee the Father everlasting To thee all Angels cry aloud the Heavens and all the powers therein To thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of sabbath Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee The noble army of martyrs praise thee The holy Church throughout all the world doth knowledge thee The Father of an infinit majesty Thine honourable true and only Son Also the Holy Ghost the comforter Thou art the King of glory O Christ Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man thou didst not abhorre the virgins womb When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the kingdome of Heaven to all believers Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father We believe that thou shalt come to be our judge We therefore pray thee help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood Make them to be numbred with thy Saints in glory everlasting O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage Govern them and lift them up for ever Day by day we magnifie thee And we worship thy Name ever world without end Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin O Lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us O Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us as our trust is in thee O Lord in thee have I trusted let me never be confounded Luke 1. 68. (c) This or the next were wont to be read after the second lesson or chapter out of the New Testament in the morning BLessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us in the house of his servant David As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers and to remember his holy covenant To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham that he would give us That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear In holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life And thou childe shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his wayes To give knowledge of salvation unto his people for the remission of their sins Through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace Or Psalm 100. O Be joyful in the Lord all ye lands serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song Be ye sure that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and speak good of his name For the Lord is gracious his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth from generation to generation Luke 1. 46. (d) This or the next were used to be read after the first chapter at the Evening MY soul doth magnifie the Lord my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour For he hath regarded the lowliness of his hand-maiden For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed For he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his Name And his mercy is on them that fâ—â— him throughout all generations He hath shewed strength with his arm he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away He remembring his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel as he promised to our
evermore from all perils to glorifie thee which art the onely giver of all victory through the merits of thy onely Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen In time of any common plague or sickness O Almighty God which in thy wrath in the time of King David didst slay with the plague of pestilence threescore and ten thousand and yet remembring thy mercy didst save the rest have pitty upon us miserable sinners that now are visited with great sickness and mortality that like as thou didst then command thine Angel to cease from punishing so it may now please thee to withdraw from us this plague and grievous sickness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Or this O God whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble petitions and though we be tyed and bound with the chain of our sins yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us for the honour of Jesus Christs sake our only mediator and advocate Amen A thanksgiving for rain O God our Heavenly Father who by thy gracious providence dost cause the former and the latter rain to descend upon the earth that it may bring forth fruit for the use of man we give thee humble thanks that it hath pleased thee in our greatest necessity to send us at the last a joyful rain upon thine inheritance and to refresh it when it was dry to the great comfort of us thy unworthy servants and to the glory of thy holy Name through thy mercies in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A thanksgiving for fair weaâ—her O Lord God who hast justly humbled us by thy late plague of immoderate rain and waters and in thy mercy hast relieved and comforted our souls by this seasonable and blessed change of weather we praise and glorifie thy holy Name for this thy mercy and will alwayes declare thy loving kindness from generation to generation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A thanksgiving for plenty O Most merciful Father which of thy gracious goodness hast heard the devout prayers of thy Church and turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapness and plenty we give thee humble thanks for this thy special bounty beseeching thee to continue this thy loving kindness unto us that our land may yield us her fruits of increase to thy glory and our comfort through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A thanksgiving for peace and victory O Almighty God which art a strong tower of defence unto thy servants against the face of their enemies we yield thee praise and thanksgiving for our deliverance from those great and apparent dangers wherewith we were compassed we acknowledge it thy goodness that we were not delivered over as a prey unto them beseeching thee still to continue such thy mercies toward us that all the world may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty deliverer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague O Lord God which hast wounded us for our sins and consumed us for our transgressions by thy late heavy and dreadful visitation and now in the midst of judgement remembring mercy hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death we offer unto thy fatherly goodness our selves our souls and bodies which thou hast delivered to be a living sacrifice unto thee alwayes praising and magnifying thy mercies in the midst of the congregation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Or this WE humbly acknowledge before thee O most merciful Father that all the punishments which are threatned in thy law might justly have fallen upon us by reason of our manifold transgressions and hardness of heart yet seeing it hath pleased thee of thy tender mercy upon our weak and unworthy humiliation to asswage the noisome pestilence wherewith we lately have been sore afflicted and to restore the voice of joy and health into our dwellings we offer unto thy divine Majesty the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving lauding and magnifying thy glorious Name for such thy preservation and providence over us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Thanksgiving for women after Child-birth O Almighty God we bless and praise thy name that thou hast of thy goodness given safe deliverance unto this woman thy servant and hast preserved her from the great pain and peril of Child-birth grant we beseech thee most merciful Father that she through thy help may both faithfully live and walk in her vocation according to thy will in this life present and also may be partaker of everlasting glory in the life to come through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen After which this blessing may be pronounced to her AS thy help hath been hitherto in the name of the Lord who hath made Heaven and earth even so the Lord himself still be thy keeper and thy defence upon thy right hand the Lord preserve thee from evil yea it is even he that shall keep thy soul the Lord preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth for evermore Amen Seven ADMINISTRATIONS 1. Baptisme 2. Communion 3. Visiting the Sick 4. Catechisme with Conformation 5. Day of fasting or Humiliation 6. Matrimony 7. An Exhortation at the Burial BAPTISME Welbeloved in the Lord Hear the words of the Gospel written by St. Mark in the Tenth Chapter AT a certain time they brought Children to Christ that he should touch them and his Disciples rebuked those that brought them But when Jesus saw it he was displeased and said unto them Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for to such belongeth the Kingdome of God Verily I say unto you whosoever doth not receive the Kingdome of God as a little Childe he shall not enter therein And when he had taken them up in his arms he put his hands upon them and blessed them Friends you hear in this Gospel the words of our Saviour Christ that he commanded the children to be brought unto him how he blamed those that would have kept them from him how he exhorted all men to follow their innocencie You perceive how by his outward gesture and deed he declared his good will toward them for he embraced them in his arms he laid his hands upon them and blessed them Doubt you not therefore but earnestly believe that he will likewise favourably receive these present Infants that he will embrace them with the arms of his mercy that he will give unto them the blessing of Eternal life and make them partakers of his everlasting Kingdome Wherefore we being thus perswaded of the good will of our Heavenly Father towards these infants declared by his Son Jesus Christ and nothing doubting but that he favourably alloweth this charitable work of ours in bringing these Children to his holy Baptisme let us proceed accordingly in it Welbeloved friends ye have brought these children here to be Baptized ye have heard the gracious promise made by Christ unto them which he for his part will most surely keep and perform wherefore these Infants must
also faithfully for their part by you that be their sureties profess the faith of Christ and promise that they will forsake the Divel and all his works and constantly believe Gods holy word and obediently keep his commandements Minister Doest thou in the name of this Childe promise to forsake the Devil and all his works the vain pomp and glory of the world with all covetous desires of the same the carnal desires of the flesh so that thou wilt not follow nor be led by them Answer I will forsake them all Minister Doest thou in the name of this Childe profess this Faith to Believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord and that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary that he suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried descended into Hell and also did rise again the third day that he ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and from thence shall come again at the end of the world to judge the quick and the dead And doest thou in the name of this childe believe in the Holy Ghost the holy Catholick Church the communion of the Saints the Remission of sins the Resurrection of the flesh and everlasting life after death Answer All this I stedfastly believe Minister Wilt thou be Baptised And do you dedesire in the name of this Infant that he may be Baptized in this faith Answer That is my desire Now dearly beloved forasmuch as all men be conceived and born in sin and that our Saviour Christ saith none can enter into the Kingdome of God except he be regenerate and born anew I beseech you to call upon God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ that of his bounteous mercy he will grant to these children that thing which by nature they cannot have that they may be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost and received into Christs holy Church and be made lively members of the same that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to receive them to lay his hands upon them to bless them and release them of their sins to give them the Kingdome of Heaven and everlasting life Let us Pray ALmighty and everlasting God which of thy great mercy didst save Noah and his family in the Ark from perishing by water and also didst safely lead the children of Israel thy people through the red Sea figuring thereby thy holy baptisme and by the baptisme of thy welbeloved Son Jesus Christ didst sanctifie the flood Jordan and all other waters to the mystical washing away of sin we beseech thee for thine infinite mercies that thou wilt mercifully look upon these children sanctifie them and wash them with the Holy Ghost that they being delivered from thy wrath may be received into the Ark of Christs Church and being stedfast in faith joyful through hope and rooted in Charity may so pass the waves of this troublesome world that finally they may come to the land of Everlasting life there to reign with thee world without end And O Lord who art the aid of all that need the helper of all that flee to thee for succour the life of them that believe and the resurrection of the dead we call upon thee for these Infants that they coming to thy holy baptisme may receive remission of their sins by spiritual regeneration Receive them O Lord as thou hast promised by thy welbeloved Son saying ask and you shall have seek and you shall finde knock and it shall be opened unto you So give now unto us that ask let us that seek find open the gate unto us that knock that these Infants may enjoy the everlasting benediction of thy Heavenly washing and may come to thy Eternal Kingdome And O Heavenly Father we give thee humble thanks that thou hast vouchsafed to call us to the knowledge of thy grace and faith in thee Increase this knowledge and confirm this faith in us evermore Give thy Holy Spirit to these Infants that they may be born again and be made heirs of everlasting Salvation and as the way to attain it grant that the old Adam in these children may be so buried that the new man may be raised up in them and that all things belonging to the Spirit may live and grow in them That they may have power and strength to have victory and to triumph against the Devil the world and the flesh And grant that whosoever is here dedicated to thee by our office and ministrie may also be endowed with heavenly vertues and everlastingly rewarded through thy mercy And seeing we hear thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins did shed out of his most precious side both water and blood and gave commandment to his Disciples that they should go and teach all Nations and baptize them in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost regard we beseech thee the supplication of thy congregation and grant that these thy servants which shall be baptized in this water may receive the fulness of thy grace and ever remain in the number of thy faithful and elect children through Jesus Christ our Lord and onely Saviour Amen N. I Baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Amen We receive this child into the Congregation of Christs Flock * If they that bring the Children do defire it the Minister may add viz. and do signe him with the signe of the Crosse that so hereafter he may not be ashamed to confesse the faith of Christ crucified and manfully to fight under his banner against Sin the world and the Devill and to continue Christs faithfull Souldier and servant unto his lives end Amen Seeing now deerly beloved Brethren that these children have received the Sacrament of Regeneration and thus visibly grafted into the body of Christs Congregation Let us give thanks unto God for these benefits and with one accord make our prayers unto Almighty God that they may lead the rest of their life according to this beginning OUr Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as wee forgive them that trespasse against us And lead us not into temptation but deilver us from evill For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory for ever Amen Wee yield thee hearty thanks most mercifull Father that it hath pleased thee to make this infant partaker of this Sacrament of Regeneration and thus to receive him for thy child by adoption and to incorporate him into thy holy congregation And humbly we beseech thee to grant that he being dead unto Sin and living unto righteousness and being buried with Christ in his death may crucifie the old man and utterly abolish the whole body
of Sin That as he is thus made partaker of the death of thy Son so he may be partaker of his resurrection So that finally with the residue of thy holy Congregation he may be inheritour of thine everlasting Kingdome through Jesus Christ our Lord. An exhortation to the Parents Godfathers or sureties For as much as these children have promised by you to forsake the Divell and all his works to believe in God and to serve him you must remember that it is your parts and duties to see that these infants be taught so soone as they shall be able to learne what a solemn vow promise and profession they have made by you And that they may know these things the better you shall call upon them to heare Sermons and chiefly you shall provide that they may learne the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandements in the English tongue and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soules health and that these children may be vertuously brought up to lead a godly and Christian life remembring alwayes that Baptisme doth represent unto us our profession which is to follow the example of our Saviour Christ and to be made like unto him that as he died and rose againe for us so should we which are baptized die from sin and rise againe unto righteousnes continually mortifying all our evill and corrupt affections and dayly proceeding in all vertue and Godlynes of living THe Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all everrmore Amen Now in case of necessity as when the childe is in danger of death the lawful Minister may briefly call upon God for his Grace and the childe being named by some one that is present may only cast Water upon the Childe and use the Form of words in Baptisme saying N. I Baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen And let no man doubt but the Childe so Baptized is lawfully and sufficiently Baptized and ought not to be Baptized again THE COMMUNION The Exhortation before it DEarely Beloved in the Lord ye that mind to come to the holy Communion of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ must consider what St. Paul writeth to the Corinthians how he exhorteth all persons diligently to trie and examine themselves before they presume to eate of that bread and drink of that Cup. For as the benefit is great if with a true penitent heart and lively Faith we receive that holy Sacrament for then we spiritually eate the flesh of Christ and drinke his blood then we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we be one with Christ and Christ with us So is the danger great if we receive the same unworthily for then we be guilty of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour we eate and drinke our own judgement not considering the Lords body We kindle Gods wrath against us We provoke him to plague us with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God and hinderer or slaunderer of his word an adulterer or be in malice or envy or in any other greivous crime bewaile your sins and come not to this holy Table least the divell enter into you as he entred into Judas and fill you full of all iniquities and bring you to destruction both of body and soule Judge therefore your selves bretheren that ye be not judged of the Lord. Repent you truely of your sins past have a lively and stedfast Faith in Christ our Saviour Amend your lives and be in perfect charity with all men So shall ye be meete partakers of those holy mysteries And above all things yee must give most humble and hearty thanks to God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ both God and man who did humble himselfe even to the death upon the Crosse for us miserable sinners which lay in darkness and shadow of death that he might make us the children of God and exalt us unto everlasting life And to the end we should alwayes remember the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ thus dying for us and the innumerable benefits which by his pretious blood shedding he hath obtained to us He hath instituted and ordained holy Mysteries as pledges of his love and continuall remembrance of his death to our great and endlesse comfort To him therefore with the Father and the Holy Ghost let us give as we are bounden continuall thanks submitting our selves wholy to his holy will and pleasure and studying to serve him in true holynes and righteousnes all the dayes of our life You that thus do truely and earnestly repent you of your sinnes and be in love and charity with your neighbours and intend to lead a new life following the Commandements of God and walking from henceforth in his holy wayes you may draw neere and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort according to these comfortable words of our Saviour to all that truely turne unto him Come unto me all yee that are weary Mat. 11. 28. and heavie laden and I will refresh you So God loved the world that he John 3. 16. gave his only begotten Son to the end that all that believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life Or that of St. Paul This is a faithfull 1 Tim. 2. 5. saying and worthy of all men to be received that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners Or that of St. John If any man sinne we have an 1 John 2. 1 2. advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sinnes In confidence of whose mercy let us make an humble and penitent confession of our sinns before Almighty God asking pardon for them and his efficacious blessing upon this his own ordinance meekly kneeling upon our knees Let us Pray ALmighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ maker of all things judge of all men wee acknowledge and bewaile our manifold sinnes and wickednes which we from time to time most grievously have committed by thought word and deed against thy Divine Majesty provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us But we do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings the remembrance of them is grievous unto us the burthen of them is intolerable Have mercy upon us most mercifull Father for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake forgive us all that is past and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newnes of life to the honor and glory of thy name And O Lord we do not presume to come to this thy table trusting in our own righteousnes but in thy manifold and great mercies We be not worthy so much as to gather up
the crumbs under thy table But thou art the same Lord whose property is alwayes to have mercy We beseech thee therefore gratious Lord who of thy great mercy hath promised forgivenes of sinns to all them which with hearty repentance and true faith turne unto thee have mercy upon us pardon and deliver us from all our sinns confirme and strengthen us in all goodness and bring us to everlasting life And O Lord unto whom all hearts be open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy holy spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy name And seeing it is meete right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places lift up our hearts even lift them up unto the Lord in giving thanks unto our Lord God holy Almighty and Everlasting Father for all thy mercyes and blessings So do we now more specially prayse thee for thy Son and our Saviours incarnation who by the operation of the holy Ghost was made very man of the substance of the Virgin Mary his Mother and that without spot of sin to make us cleane from all sin But chiefly we are bound to prayse thee for the glorious resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord for he is the very Paschall Lambe which was offered for us and hath taken away the sins of the world who by his death hath destroyed death and by his rising to life againe hath restored to us everlasting life Who also after his most glorious resurrection manifestly appeared to all his Apostles and in their sight ascended up into heaven to prepare a place for us that where he is thither might we also ascend and reigne with him in glory And we do also praise thee for that according to his most true promise unto them the holy Ghost came down from heaven with a sudden great sound as it had been a mighty wind in the likeness of fiery tongues lighting upon the Apostles to teach them and to leade them into all truth giving them both the gifts of divers languages and also boldness with servent zeale constantly to preach the Gospell unto all nations whereby we are and have been brought out of darkness and errour into the cleere light and true knowledge of thee and thy Son which art one God one Lord not one only person but three persons in one substance by whom we have been taught that what we believe of the glory of the Father the same we believe of the Son and of the Holy Ghost without any difference or inequality For these inestimable benefits we do with Angells and Arch Angells and with all the company of heaven laud and magnify thy glorious name evermore praysing thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of hoasts heaven and earth are full of thy glory Glory be to thee O Lord most High And O Heavenly Father who of thy tender mercy didst give thy only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption who made there by his one oblation of himself once offered a full perfect and sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world and did institute and in his holy Gospel command us to continue a perpetual memory of that his precious death untill his coming again hear us O most merciful Father we beseech thee and grant that we receiving these thy creatures of bread and wine according to thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christs holy institution in remembrance of his death and passion may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood that we may so spiritually eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ and drink his blood that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us and hereafter dwell with him in his Kingdome of glory even for Jesus Christ his sake our only Lord and Saviour Amen After this Prayer the Minister taking the Bread into his hand may stand up and say these words following Our Lord Jesus in the same night that he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take Eat this is my Body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me And taking the Cup into his hand may say Likewise after Supper he took the Cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying Drink ye all of this for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins Do this as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me After the Minister hath received the Communion himself he may say thus in delivering the Bread and Cup to the several Communicants The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy Body and Soul into everlasting life And take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thine heart by faith with thanksgiving The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy Body and Soul into everlasting life and drink this in remembrance that Christs blood was shed for thee and be thankful After the Communion is done this Hymn at the discretion of the Minister may be said which hath been of great Antiquity in the Church GLory be to God on high and in earth Peace good will towards men We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee we give thanks unto thee for thy great glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the only begotten Son Jesu O Christ Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon us thou that takest away the sins of the world receive our Prayers thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father have mercy upon us for thou only art holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most High in the glory of God the Father Let us Pray OUr Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill for thine is the kingdome the power and the Glory for ever Amen O Lord and Heavenly Father we thy humble servants entirely desire thy Fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving most humbly beseeching thee to grant that by the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ and through faith in his blood we and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins and all other benefits of his passion And here we offer and
present unto thee O Lord our selves our souls and bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively sacrifice unto thee humbly beseeching thee that all we which be partakers of this Holy Communion may be fulfilled with thy grace and Heavenly benediction And although we be unworthy through our manifold sins to offer unto thee any sacrifice yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service not weighing our merits but pardoning our offences And seeing O Lord thou hast now vouchsafed by our duly receiving these holy mysteries to seed us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and doest assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us and that we be very members incorporate in thy mystical body which is the blessed company of all faithful people and be also heirs through hope of thy everlasting Kingdome by the merits of the most precious death and passion of thy dear Son We most humbly beseech thee O merciful Father so to assist us with thy grace that we may continue in that holy fellowship and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in And do thou so dispose the wayes of thy â—ervants towards the attainment of everlasting salvation that among all the changes and chances of this mortal life they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help And we beseech thee to direct sanctifie and govern both our hearts and bodies in the wayes of thy laws and in the works of thy Commandements that through thy most mighty protection both here and ever we may be preserved in body and soul And grant that the words which we have heard this day with our outward ears may through thy grace be so grafted inwardly in our hearts that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living to the honour and praise of thy name And now O Lord who art the fountain of all wisdome which knowest our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking and who hast promised to hear the petitions of them that ask in thy Sons name we beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ears to us that have made now our Prayers and supplications unto thee and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked according to thy will may effectually be obtained to the relief of our necessitie and to the setting forth of thy glory through Jesus Christ our Lord by whom and with whom in the unitie of the Holy Ghost all honour and glory be unto thee O Father Almighty world without end Amen The Peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and mindes in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be amongst you and remain with you alwayes Amen THE VISITATION of the SICK An Exhortation after this Form or the like DEarly beloved know this that Almighty God is the Lord of life and death and over all things to them pertaining as youth strength health age weakness and sickness wherefore whatsoever your sickness is know you certainly that it is Gods visitation And for what cause soever this sickness is sent unto you whether it be to try your patience for the example of others and that your faith may be found in the day of the Lord laudable glorious and honourable to the encrease of glory and endless felicitie or else it be sent unto you to correct and amend in you whatsoever doth offend the eyes of your heavenly Father know you certainly that if you truly repent you of your sins and bear your sickness patiently trusting in Gods mercy for his dear Son Jesus Christ his sake and render unto him humble thanks for his fatherly visitation submitting your self wholly unto his will it shall turn to your profit and help you forwards in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting life If the person visited be very sick then the Minister may end his exhortation in this place or else proceed as followeth Take therefore in good worth the chastisement of the Lord For whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth yea as St. Paul saith he scourgeth every son which he receiveth If ye endure chastisement he offereth himself unto you as unto his own children What son is he that the Father chastiseth not If ye be not under Correction whereof all true children are partakers then are ye bastards and not children Therefore seeing that when our carnal Fathers do correct us we reverently obey them shall we not much rather be obedient to our spiritual Father and so live And they for a few dayes do chastise us after their own pleasure but he doth chastise us for our profit to the intent that he may make us partakers of his holiness These words good brother are Gods words and written in holy Scripture for our comfort and instruction that we should patiently and with thanksgiving bear our heavenly Fathers correction whensoever by any manner of adversitie it shall please his gracious goodness to visit us And there should be no greater comfort to Christian persons then to be made like unto Christ by suffering patiently adversities troubles and sicknesses For he himself went not up to joy but first he suffered pain he entred not into his glory before he was crucified so truly our way to eternal joy is to suffer here with Christ and our door to enter into eternal life is gladly to die with Christ that we may rise again from death and dwell with him in everlasting life Now therefore taking your sickness which is thus profitable for you patiently I exhort you in the name of God to remember the profession which you made unto God in your Baptisme And for asmuch as after this life there is an account to be given unto the righteous Judge of whom all must be judged without respect of persons I require you to examine your self and your state both toward God and man so that accusing and condemning your self for your own faults you may finde mercy at our heavenly Fathers hand for Christs sake and not be accused and condemned in that fearful judgement Therefore I shall first shortly rehearse the articles of our faith that you may know whether you do believe as a Christian man should or no. Here the Minister may rehearse the Articles of the faith saying thus Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty c. And so forth as it is in Baptisme And the Minister may do well to ask him whether he be in charity with all the world exhorting him to forgive from the bottome of his heart all persons that have offended him and if he have offended other to ask them forgiveness and where he hath done injury or wrong to any man that he make amends to the uttermost of his power And if he have not afore disposed of his goods that he then make
Articles of the Christian Faith And thirdly that I should keep Gods holy will and Commandements and walk in the same all the dayes of my life Question Dost thou not think thou art bound to believe and do what was promised for thee Answer Yes verily and with Gods help so I will and I pray God give me his grace that I may continue in the same unto my lives end Question Rehearse the Articles of thy belief Answer I Believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord which was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the holy Catholick Church the communion of Saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Amen Question What dost thou chiefly learn in these Articles of thy belief Answer First I learn to believe in God the Father who hath made me and all the world Secondly in God the Son who hath redeemed me and all mankinde Thirdly in God the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth me and all the Elect people of God Question How many Commandements be there Answer Ten. Question Which be they Answer THe same which God spake in the twenty Chapter of Exodus saying I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage I. Thou shalt have none other Gods but me II. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandements III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain IV. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt do no manner of work thou and thy son and thy daughter thy man-servant and thy maid-servant thy cattle and the stranger that is within thy gates for in six dayes the Lord made Heaven and earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it V. Honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee VI. Thou shalt do no murther VII Thou shalt not commit adultery VIII Thou shalt not steal IX Thou shalt not beare false witness against thy neighbour X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his servant nor his Maid nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any thing that is his Question What dost thou chiefly learne by these commandements Answer I learne two things my duty towards God and my duty towards my neighbour Question What is thy duty towards God Answer My duty towards God is to believe in him to feare him and to love him with all my heart with all my mind with all my soule and with all my strength To worship him to give him thanks to put my whole trust in him to call upon him to honour his holy name and his word and to serve him truely all the dayes of my life Question What is thy duty towards thy neighbour Answer My duty towards my neighbour is to love him as my self and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me To love honour and succour my father and Mother To honour and obey the King or supream Magistrate and his Ministers To submit my self to all my Governours teachers spirituall pastours and Masters To order my self lowly and reverently to all my betters to hurt no body by word nor deed To be true and just in all my dealing To beare no malice nor hatred in my heart To keepe my hands from stealing and my tongue from evill speaking lying and slandering To keepe my body in temperance sobernesse and chastity Not to covet or desire other mens goods but to learn and labour truely to get mine own living and to do my duty in that state of life unto the which it shall please God to call me Question My good childe know this that thou art not able to do these things of thy self nor to walke in the commandements of God and to serve him without his speciall grace which thou must learne at all times to call for by diligent prayer Let me heare therefore if thou canst say the Lords Prayer Answer OUr Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdome come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our dayly bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us And leade us not into temptation But deliver us from evill For thine is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever Amen Question What desirest thou of God in this prayer Answer I desire my Lord God our heavenly Father who is the giver of all good to send his grace unto me and to all people that we may worship him serve him and obey him as we ought to do And that he would send us all things that be needefull both for our soules and bodyes And that he will forgive us our sinns and save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily and that he will keepe us from all sinne and wickedness and from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death And this I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness through our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore I say Amen So be it Question How many Sacraments hath Christ ordained in his Church Answer Two onely as generally necessary to salvation that is to say Baptisme and the supper of the Lord. Question What meanest thou by this word Sacrament Answer I meane an outward and visible signe of an inward and spirituall grace given unto us ordeined by Christ himself as a meanes whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof Question How many parts be there in a Sacrament Answer Two the outward visible signe and the inward spirituall grace Question What is the outward visible signe or forme in Baptisme Answer Water wherein the person baptized is dipped or sprinkled with it In the Name of the Father and
of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Question What is the inward and spirituall Grace Answer A death unto sinne and a new birth unto righteousnesse For being by nature borne in sinne and the children of wrath we are hereby * i. e. Sacramentally made the children of grace Question What is required of persons to be baptized Answer Repentance whereby they forsake sinne and faith whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in the Sacrament Question Why then are infants baptized when by reason of their tender age they cannot performe them Answer Yes they do perform them by their sureties who promise and vow them both in their names which when they come to age themselves are bound to perform Question Why was the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ordained Answer For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ and the benefits which we receive thereby Question What is the outward part or signe of the Lords Supper Answer Bread and wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received Question What is the inward part or thing signified Answer The body and blood of Christ which are verily and indeed taken and received of the faithful in the Lords Supper Question What are the benefits whereof we are partakers thereby Answer The strengthning and refreshing of our souls by the body and blood of Christ as our bodies are by the bread and wine Question What is required of them which come to the Lords Supper Answer To examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new life have a lively faith in Gods mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his death and be in charity with all men CONFIRMATION of Children upon their repeating this Catechisme was an Ancient and laudable custome who thereby took upon themselves the profession and performance of that which had been promised in their names at Baptisme which Calvin and other Divines of the Reformed Churches in his time did much lament the disuse of and wished it were restored the substance of which was as followeth The Prayer for the Children before CONFIRMATION ALmighty and everliving God who hast vouchsafed to admit these thy servants to the Sacrament of regeneration by water and the holy Ghost and given them the seal of forgiveness of sins and who have now in their own persons professed what had been before promised in their names strengthen them we beseech thee with thy Holy Ghost the comforter and dayly increase in them the manifold gifts of grace the spirit of wisdome and understanding the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength the spirit of knowledge and true godliness and fulfil them with the spirit of thy holy fear Amen After this Prayer the Bishop laying his hand on each Childe sayeth DEfend O Lord this Childe with thy Heavenly grace that he may continue thine for ever and dayly increase in thy holy spirit more and more until he come unto thy everlasting Kingdome Amen The Prayer after Confirmation ALmighty and everliving God which maketh us both to will and to do those things that be good and acceptable unto thy majesty we make our humble supplications unto thee for these children upon whom after the example of the holy Apostles we have laid our hands to certifie them by this signe of thy favour and gracious goodness towards them let thy fatherly hand we beseech thee ever be over them let thy holy spirit ever be with them and so lead them in the knowledge and obedience of thy word that in the end they may obtain everlasting life through our Lord Jesus Christ who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth one God world without end Amen The Blessing to the Children THe blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be upon you and remain with you for ever Amen Vpon a day of FASTING or HVMILIATION This taken out of that which was called the Commination against Sinners may be useful upon a private day of Fasting or Humiliation the exhortation being as followeth WE read in the book of Deuteronomy and other places of Scripture of divers curses solemnly pronounced against notorious and impenitent sinners to the end that being admonished of the great indignation of God against them they may be the rather called to earnest and true repentance and may walk more warily in these dangerous times and flee from such vices for which God may justly suffer his wrath to break forth against us And therefore seeing as David also beareth witness Psalm 119. 21. That all they be accursed which do erre and go astray from the Commandements of God let us remembring the dreadful judgement hanging over our heads and being alwayes at hand return unto our Lord God with all contrition and meekness of heart bewailing and lamenting our sinful life knowledging and confessing our offences and seeking to bring forth worthy fruits of repentance For now Mat. 3. 10. is the axe put unto the root of the trees so that every tree which bringeth not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire It is a fearful thing to fall into the Heb. 10. 31. hands of the living God he shall poure down rain upon the sinners snares fire Psal 11. 6. and brimstone storm and tempest this shall be their portion to drink For loe the Lord is come out of his place Isa 26. 26. to visit the wickedness of such as dwell upon the earth But who may abide the Mal. 3. 2. day of his coming Who shall be able to endure when he appeareth His fan is in his hand and he will purge his floor Mat. 3. 12. and gather his wheat into the barn but he will burn the chaffe with unquenchable fire The day of the Lord 1 Thes 5. 2. cometh as a Thief in the night and when men shall say peace and all things are safe then shall sudden destruction come upon them as sorrow cometh upon a woman travelling with childe and they shall not escape Then Rom. 2 4. shall appear the wrath of God in the day of vengeance which obstinate sinners through the stubbornness of their heart have heaped unto themselves which despised the goodness patience and long sufferance of God when he called them contiually to repentance Then shall they call upon me Prov. 1. 28. saith the Lord but I will not hear they shall seek me early but they shall not finde me and that because they hated knowledge and received not the fear of the Lord but abhorred my counsel and despised my correction Then shall it be too late to knock when Mat. 2â— 10. the door shall be shut and too late to cry for mercy when it is the time of justice O terrible voice of most just judgement which shall be pronounced upon them when it shall be said unto them Go ye cursed Mat. 4. 1. into the fire everlasting
the man may give unto the woman a Ring and put it upon the fourth finger of her left hand saying With this Ring I thee wed with my body I thee * i. e. I give thee my personal honours worship with all my worldly goods I thee endow In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Then may the Minister joyn their right hands together and say Those whom God hath joyned together let no man put asunder Forasmuch as N. and N. have consented together in holy wedlock and have witnessed the same before God and this company and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a Ring and by joyning of hands I pronounce them to be man and wife together In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Let us pray O Eternal God Creator and preserver of all mankind giver of all spiritual grace the author of everlasting life send thy blessing upon these thy servants this man and this woman whom we bless in thy name that as Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together so these persons may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant between them made and may ever remain in perfect love and peace together and live according to thy laws And O Lord seeing it is by thy gracious gift mankinde is encreased give that thy blessing of children to these two persons and grant them to live so long together in godly love and unity that they may see their childrens children and peace upon Israel O Lord bless them and sow the seed of eternal life in their mindes that whatsoever in thy holy word they shall profitably learn they may indeed fulfil the same Look O Lord mercifully from Heaven upon this thy servant and thy handmaid which do put their trust in thee send them help from thy holy place and evermore defend them be unto them a tower of strength from the face of their enemies And as thou didst send thy blessing upon Abraham and Sarah to their great comfort so vouchsafe to send thy blessing upon these thy servants that they obeying thy will and alway being in safety under thy protection may abide in thy love unto their lives end And O God which by thy mighty power hast made all things of nought which also after other things set in order didst appoint that out of man created after thine own image and similitude woman should take her beginning and knitting them together didst teach that it should never be lawful to put asunder those whom thou by Matrimony hast made one O Lord which hast consecrated the state of Matrimony to such an excellent mystery that in it is signified and represented the spiritual marriage and unity betwixt Christ and his Church look mercifully upon these thy servants that both this man may love his wife according to thy word as Christ did love his Spouse the Church who gave himself for it loving and cherishing it even as his own flesh and also that this woman may be loving and amiable to her husband as Rachel wise as Rebecca faithful and obedient as Sarah and in all quietness sobriety and peace be a follower of holy and godly matrones O Lord bless them both and grant them to inherit thy everlasting Kingdome through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose name and words we conclude our imperfect prayers saying Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name thy Kingdome come thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven give us this day our dayly bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever Amen The Blessing ALmighty God which at the beginning did create our first Parents Adam Eve and did sanctifie and joyn them together in marriage poure upon you the riches of his grace sanctifie and bless you that you may please him both in body and soul and live together in holy love to your lives end God the Father God the Son God the Holy Ghost bless preserve and keep you The Lord mercifully look upon you and so fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace that you may so live together in this life that in the life to come you may have life everlasting Amen AN EXHORTATION AT THE BURIAL FOr asmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed we therefore commit his body to the ground earth to earth ashes to ashes dust to dust in sure and certain hope of a resurrection by our Lord Jesus Christ who shall change their vile bodies who do sleep in him that they may be like unto his glorious body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself And now while the body is interring it will be seasonable and profitable for us to hear some portions out of Scripture which may put us in minde of our mortalitie and of the resurrection 'T is the speech of Job Man that Job 14. 1 2. is born of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down he flieth also as a shadow and continueth not I know that my redeemer liveth and Job 19. 25 26. that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not anothers though my reins be consumed within me The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord. The speech of our Saviour I am John 11 25 26. the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die The speech of Saint Paul We 1 Tim. 6. 2. brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out Saint John saith I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write Rom. 14. 23. blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they rest from their labours But no place is more seasonable to be read now unto you then that of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15. 20. which chiefly concerneth the resurrection Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept 20 For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead 21 For as in Adam all died even so in Christ shall all be made alive But every 22 man in his own order Christ the 23 first fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming Then cometh the end when he
of the horrible punishment which will ensue Wherefore consider with your selves the end of your ministerie towards the children of God towards the spouse and body of Christ and see that you never cease your labour your care and diligence until you have done all that lieth in you according to your bounden duty to bring all such as are or shall be committed unto your charge unto that agreement in faith and knowledge of God and to that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ that there be no place left among you either of errour in religion or for viciousness in life Then forasmuch as your office is both of so great excellencie and of so great difficulty ye see with how great care and study ye ought to apply your selves as well that you may shew your selves kinde to that Lord who hath placed you in so high a dignity as also to beware that neither you your selves offend neither be occasion that other offend Howbeit ye cannot have a minde and a will thereto of your selves for that power and ability is given of God alone Therefore ye see how ye ought and have need earnestly to pray for his holy Spirit And seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a work pertaining to the salvation of man but with doctrine and exhortation taken out of the holy Scripture and with a life agreeable unto the same ye perceive how studious ye ought to be in reading and in learning the Scriptures and in framing the manners both of your selves and of them that specially pertain unto you according to the rule of the same Scriptures and for this self same cause ye see how ye ought to forsake and set aside as much as you may all worldly cares and studies We have good hope that you have well weighed and pondered these things with your selves long before this time and that you have clearly determined by Gods grace to give your selves wholly to this vocation whereunto it hath pleased God to call you so that as much as lyeth in you you apply your selves wholly to this one thing and draw all your cares and studies this way and to this end And that you will continually pray for the heavenly assistance of the Holy Ghost from God the Father by the mediation of our only mediatour and Saviour Jesus Christ that by dayly reading and weighing of the Scriptures ye may so wax riper and stronger in your ministery and that ye may so endeavour your selves from time to time to sanctifie the lives of you and yours and to fashion them after the rule and doctrine of Christ and that ye may be wholsome and godly examples and patterns for the rest of the Congregation to follow and that this present congregation of Christ here assembled may also understand your mindes and wills in these things and that this your promise shall more move you to do your duties ye shall answer plainly to these things which we in the name of the congregation shall demand of you touching the same First demand Do you think in your heart that you be truly called according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ and the order of this Church of England to the ministery of Priesthood Answer I think it Second demand Be you perswaded that the holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ And are you determined with the said Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation but that you shall be perswaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture Answer I am so perswaded and have so determined by Gods grace Third demand Will you then give your faithfull diligence alwayes so to minister the doctrine and Sacraments and the discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this realm hath received the same according to the commandments of God so that you may teach the people committed to your cure and charge with all diligence to keep and observe the same Answer I will so do by the help of the Lord. Fourth demand Will you be ready with all faithfull diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to Gods word and to use both publike and private monitions and exhortations as well to the sick as to the whole within your cures as need shall require and occasion be given Answer I will the Lord being my helper Fifth demand Will you be diligent in prayers and in reading of the holy Scriptures and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same laying aside the study of the world and the flesh Answer I will endeavour my self so to do the Lord being my helper Sixth demand Will you be diligent to frame and fashion your own selves and your families according to the doctrine of Christ and to make both your selves and them as much as in you lieth wholsom examples and spectacles to the flock of Christ Answer I will apply my self the Lord being my helper Seventh demand Will you maintain and set forwards as much as lyeth in you quietnesse peace and love among all Christian people and specially among them that are or shall be committed to your charge Answer I will so do the Lord being my helper Eigth demand Will you reverently obey your Ordinarie and other chief Ministers unto whom the government and charge is committed over you following with a glad minde and will their godly admonitions and submitting your selves to their godly judgments Answer I will so do the Lord being my helper Then the Bishop say'd Almighty God who hath given you this will to do all these things grant also unto you strength and power to performe the same that he may accomplish his work which he hath begun in you untill the time he shall come at the latter day to judge the quick and the dead After this exhortation and these demands the Congregation was desired secretly in their prayers to make humble supplications to God for the aforsaid things viz. that the persons might have grace to performe what they had promised and had been exhorted unto for the which there was a certaine space kept in silence And then the Bishop prayed in this wise ALmighty God and Heavenly Father which of thine infinite love and goodnesse towards us hast given to us thy only and most dear beloved Son Jesus Christ to be our redeemer and authour of everlasting life who after he had made perfect our redemption by his death and was ascended into heaven sent abroad into the world his Apostles Prophets Evangelists Doctors and Pastors by whose labour and ministery he gathered together a great flock in all the parts of the world to set forth the eternall praise of thy holy Name For these so great benefits of thy eternall goodnesse and for that thou hast vouchsafed to call these thy servants here present
to the same office and ministery of salvation of mankinde we render unto thee most hearty thanks we worship and praise thee and we humbly beseech thee by the same thy Son to grant unto all which either here or elsewhere call upon thy Name that we may shew our selves thankfull to thee for these and all other thy benefits and that we may daily increase and go forwards in the knowledge and faith of thee and thy Son by the holy Spirit So that aâ— well by these thy Ministers as by tâ—em to whom they shall be appointed Ministers thy holy Name may be alwayes glorified and thy blessed kingdom enlarged through the same thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ which liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same holy Spirit world without end Amen After this prayer the Bishop with the Ministers present did lay their hands severally upon the head of every one that received orders the receivers humbly kneeling upon their knees and the Bishop in the name of the rest of the Ministers asisting him in it did say * The sense of these words and the fitness of the use of them here upon this occasion see the late arch Bishop of Armaghs judgment as the neglect in that ordination which gives no power or authority either in these words or any other to the likesense Ordinat of Presby ters p. 136. Receive the holy Ghost whose sins thou doest forgive they are forgiven and whose sins thou doest retain they are retained and be thou a faithfull dispenser of the word of God and of his holy Sacraments In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Amen Then was delivered to every one of them the Bible in his hand the Bishop saying Take thou authority to preach the word of God and to minister the holy Sacraments in the Congregation where thou shalt be so appointed After this was done there was a prayer that the Lord would send upon those persons thus ordained his heavenly blessing that they might be clad about with all justice and that his word spoken by their mouthes may have such successe that it may never be spoken in vain and that the people committed to their charge may have grace to heare and receive the same as his most holy word and the meanes of their salvation and that in all their words and deeds they may seek his glory and the increase of his kingdom c. And it was also ordered that there should be a Communion and that all that were ordained should receive it together with the ordainers and to remaine in the same place where hands were laid upon them till they had received the Communion Now thus weighing and well considering the whole proceedings of this constitution Let any moderate prudent person judge if there were any just cause to have laid it wholy aside but that upon second thoughts there is more cause it were restored to the generall satisfaction both of people and Ministry And for the forme of Consecrating a Bishop it was very grave and Solemn the substance of which was as followeth THe person Elected to that office was commended accordingly to God by the prayers of the Congregation that he might have grace duly to execute the office whereunto he is called to the edifying of the Church and to the honour and glory of his name Wherein the principall prayer is the same which was used in the ordaining of Priests or Presbyters with this difference in the former thus behold this thy servant now called to the office of Priest-hood and in this called to the worke and Ministry of a Bishop The portions read out of holy Scripture are the same also as 1 Tim. 3. 1. to vers 8. John 10. 1. to vers 17. only a third added John 21 15. to vers 18. The Bishop Elected was presented by two Bishops as a godly and well learned man to be consecrated accordingly diverse solemn engagements were demanded viz. for the reading of the Scriptures prayers preaching the withstanding of false doctrines an exemplary godly liâ—e maintaining of peace and quietness correcting of the unquiet to be gentle mercifull and charitable to the poore and needy c. As may be seen more at large in the Booke Then the prayer before imposition of hands was this ALmighty God and most mercifull Father which of thine infinite goodnesse hast given thy onely and most deaâ— beloved Son Jesus Christ â—o be our Redeemer and Author of everlasting life who after that he had made perfect our Redemption by his death and was ascended into heaven poured down his gifts abundantly upon men making some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastours and Doctours to the edifying and making perfect his Congregation grant we beseech thee to this thy servant such grace that he may evermore be ready to spread abroad thy Gospel and glad tidings of reconcilement to God and to use the authority given unto him not to destroy but to save not to hurt but to help so that he as a wise and faithfull servant giving to thy family meat in due season may at the last be received into joy through Jesus Christ our Lord who with thee and the holy Ghost liveth and reigneth one God world without end Amen Then the Archbishop and Bishops present layd their hands upon the head of the Elected Bishop saying Take the holy Ghost and remember that thou stirre up the grace of God which is in thee by imposition of hands for God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and love and sobernesse Then the Archbishop delivereth to him the Bible saying Give heed unto reading exhortation and doctrine Think upon these things contained in this book Be diligent in them that the increase coming thereby may be manifest unto all men Take heed unto thy self and unto teaching and be diligent in doing them for by doing this thou shalt save thy self and them that hear thee Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd not a woolf feed them devour them not hold up the weak heal the sick binde together the broken bring again the outcasts seek the lost be so mercifull that ye be not too too remisse so minister discipline that you forget not mercy that when the chief Shepherd shall come ye may receive the immarcescible crown of glory through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Lastly there was a Communion and the new consecrated Bishop did communicate with the rest When there was one speciall prayer conceived for him as followeth MOst mercifull Father we beseech thee to send down upon this thy servant thy heavenly blessing and so endue him with thy holy Spirit that he preaching thy word may not only be earnest to reprove beseech and rebuke with all patience and doctrine but also may be to such as believe an wholsome example in word in conversation in love in faith in chastity and purity that faithfully fulfilling his course at the latter day he
that in all things as is aforesaid the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God is God and man God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds and man of the substance of his mother born in the world Perfect God and perfect man of a reasonable soul and humane flesh subsisting Equal to the Father as touching his Godhead and inferiour to the Father touching his manhood Who although he be God and man yet he is not two but one Christ One not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking the manhood into God One altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of person For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and man is one Christ Who suffered for our salvation descended into Hell rose again the third day from the dead He ascended into Heaven he sitteth on the right hand of the Father God Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire This is the Catholick faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved The Ten Commandements GOd spake these words and said I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt have none other Gods but me 2. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandements 3. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain 4. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt do no manner of work thou and thy son and thy daughter thy man-servant and thy maid-servant thy cattle and the stranger that is within thy gates for in six dayes the Lord made Heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it 5. Honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 6. Thou shalt do no murder 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery 8. Thou shalt not steal 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his servant nor his maid nor his oxe nor his asse nor any thing that is his At the beginning of Prayer as a preparative of the peoples attentions and affections there were diverse choice sentences out of holy Scripture some of which were to be read at the discretion of the Minister and then the known solemn exhortation accordingly which are still in their memories A Sorrowful spirit is a sacrifice to God despise not O Lord humble and Psal 51. contrite hearts Rent your hearts and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God because he is gentle and merciful he is patient and of Joel 2. much mercy and such a one that is sorry for your afflictions To thee O Lord God belongeth mercy Dan. 9. and forgiveness for we have gone away from thee and have not hearkned to thy voice whereby we might walk in thy laws which thou hast appointed for us Correct us O Lord and yet in thy judgement Jer. 10. not in thy fury lest we should be consumed and brought to nothing Amend your lives for the kingdome of God is at hand Matt. 3. I will go to my Father and say unto him Luk. 15. Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee I am no more worthy to be called thy son Enter not into judgement with thy servants Psalm 143. O Lord for no flesh is righteous in thy sight If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us 1 John 1. And as the Apostles by the command of our Saviour gathered up the crumbs that remained that nothing was lost of which they filled twelve baskets so these twelve short Prayers composed for several seasonable occasions may not be omitted For rain if the time require it O God heavenly Father which by thy son Jesus Christ hast promised to all them that seek thy kingdom and the righteousness thereof all things necessary to their bodily sustenance send us we beseech thee in this our necessity such moderate rain and showres that we may receive the fruits of the earth to our comfort and to thy honour through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For faire weather O Lord God which for the sin of man didst once drown all the world except eight persons and afterward of thy great mercy didst promise never to destroy it so again we humbly beseech thee that although we for our iniquities have worthily deserved this plague of rain and waters yet upon our true repentance thou wilt send us such weather whereby we may receive the fruits of the earth in due season and learn both by thy punishment to amend our lives and for thy clemency to give thee praise and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen In time of dearth and famine O God heavenly Father whose gift it is that the rain doth fall the earth is fruitful beasts increase and fishes do multiply behold we beseech thee the afflictions of thy people and grant that the scarcity and dearth which we do now most justly suffer for our iniquitie may through thy goodness be mercifully turned into cheapness and plenty for the love of Jesus Chirst our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour c. In time of war O Almighty God King of all Kings and governour of all things whose power no creature is able to resist to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners and to be merciful unto them that truly repent save and deliver us we humbly beseech thee from the hands of our enemies abate their pride asswage their malice and confound their devices that we being armed with thy defence may be preserved