humble Supplicants and dismisse them with the Seal of Amen set to their just requests You cannot therefore my Daughters be ignorant what to pray for or what to decline as impertinent to your Devotions being so compendiously instructed by our Saviours owne heavenly Directory It will do well therefore in the next place to take some notice what Gestures in our Prayers may be most conveniently used CHAP. IV. Of External Gestures beseeming Religious Devotions HOwsoever Superstition as praying in an unknown tongue upon Beads before a Crucifixe or the like be as wild Goards 2 Kin. 4.40 that throwne in among good herbs makes the pottage deadly yet a distinction must be ever made between that and due reverence This is required not only of the mind but also of the Body Exod. 4.5 Josh 5.15 Moses and Joshuah must put off their shooes when they approach near to have conference with God Job Job 42.6 that was somewhat too forward upon his integrity when the Lord had schooled him was quickly brought to professe that he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes And it may well be thought that the heavy doome pronounced against the Intruder at the Kings Marriage Supper for his Son Mat. 22.13 without a Wedding garment was especially inflicted upon him for his irreverence in that behalf For would an earthly Prince endure a Tradesman invited by him to a Feast to come regardless out of his shop in his worst Apparrel without respect of the Person or place or honor of his Superiour that vouchsafed so much to owne him Joseph must not be presented to Pharaoh without trimming Gen. 41.74 and changing his rayment And what adoe was there with the Purification of the Virgins Esth 2.12 before they were thought fit to come into Ahasuerus his presence To this purpose God himself lessoneth grieved Aaron for the unexpected death of his two rash sons Nadab and Abihu I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified It is a plot of Satan to brand due reverence of the body with the scandal of Superstition Bowing at the name of Jesus standing up at the Creed kneeling at the Receiving of the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper must be held with some Superstitious to smel of Popery as though it were too much for him that created the body aswel as the soul to have the due reverence from both And because Papists are too peevish in over acting we should performe nothing at all That mean therefore must be kept between warrantable Ceremonies and superstitious fooleries that in detesting the one wee prove not profane in the other Herein our Church hath been very careful and judicious in giving a reason of Ceremonies in a Preface to our Leiturgy why some be abolished and some retained which those that dislike will dislike any thing that comes not out of the forge of their owne fancies and that most commonly as our fashions endures no longer then the starting up of another whimzy whose noveltie takes more with the people Jude such clouds without water fruitlesse trees raging waves of the sea foaming out their owne shame gifts without grace shifts withont blushing drifts without the least touch of conscience and Christianity our late experience hath taught us how ruinous they prove to Church and Commonwealth The smarts whereof should rather make us to recollect our selves and recover that we have lost both in external and internal Devotions then to proceed in such dangerous wayes which in the end must needs undo us for this falleth in with that of the Prophet Jer. 18.15 16 17. Because my people have forgotten me they have burnt Incense unto vanity and they have caused them to stumble in their wayes from the ancient paths to walk in paths in a way not cast up to make their Land desolate and a perpetual hissing Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and wag his head But mark the issue if timely repentance prevent it not I will scatter them as with an East wind before the enemy I will shew them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity Amendment therefore for the present and prevention for the future will prove at this time especially more seasonable then complaints for that which is past and cannot be recalled That which the Apostle requireth 1 Cor. 14.40 Let all things be done decently and in order is of a large extent and hath a more evident reflex in our devotions upon the outward postures of our body then the inward affection of the mind Such Gestures therefore as these 1. Casting our eyes on the earth and smiting our brests as unworthy to behold heaven by reason of our false-hearted exorbitancies 2. Standing up at the Creed in token of our free profession of it and resolution ever to stand to it 3. The lifting up of our eyes and hands to heaven as to the Mercy-Seat of that only God to whom only our prayers are to bee directed 4 Strong cryes and tears Heb 5.7 which make our Supplications prevalent with him that puts them in his bottle and is able to save us from death provided they be as well meant as they are oftentimes expressed 5. Bowing of the head and body 6. Kneeling on the knees 7. Prostrating our whole body upon the earth have pattern and warrant in Scripture and may be used of us in our private or publick devotions as variety of occasions shall be offered 1 For casting down the eyes to the earth as unworthy to look on heaven and smiting his brest Luk. 18.13 were the penitent Publicans postures that went home more justified thereby then the self-pleasing vaunting Pharisee 2. Ps 106.30 Phineas stood up and prayed therewith executing judgment the word bears both senses and so the plague ceased Judg. 3 26 Eglon the fat King of Moab had so much goodness in him as to rise from his seat when he was to hear a Message from God And may Christians hold it superstitious to rise up reverently when their Faith is to be professed And Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost in acknowledgment of the blessed Trinity to be given unto God 3. Moses holding up his hands that purchased victory against Amalek Exod. 17.11 Davids practice and prayer I have lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help Psal 123.1 Psal 141.2 And let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice Our Saviours confirmation in that excellent prayer for his disciples These things spake Jesus Joh. 17.1 and lift up his eyes to heaven and said are uncontrollable patterns for the lifting up of our eyes and hands to God in prayer 4. And he that observeth Davids watering his couch with tears by night Psal 6.6 and mingling his drink with weeping by day Psal 102.4 Jeremies wishing his
place and space and scope to have free accesse to the throne of grace to pray and sing Psalmes and obtaine thereby a miraculous deliverance For here the heart may be inditing of a good matter Psal 45.1 when the tongue is pluckt out and cannot be the pen of a ready writer Here the heart of King Manasses finds knees to bow when the knees of his body are so chained that they cannot move 7. Last of all it would be held a kind of blasphemous position if the Scripture had not uttered it that Jacob should wrestle with God and enforce as it were a Blessing from him by compulsion that by prayer Moses should stand in the gap and hold the hand of the omnipotent and cause him to cry let me alone that my wrath may waxe hot Exol 32.10 and consume this people And against Satan that roating Lion and spirituall Leviathan think wee that any Magick-spells can prevaile or force of arms Job 4.2 7 that esteemeth Iron as straw and brasse as rotten wood no surely our Saviour will better inform us that faith of it selfe may doe much but not wholly to cast out all such adversaries without fasting and prayer I perswade my self my daughters by that which hath beene spoken you are convinced of the necessity of prayer Now if any scruple and say God knoweth our necessities before wee aske and hath determined what to doe so that our prayers cannot alter him and therefore would prove needlesse The answer is at hand that hee that hath determined what to doe hath commanded us also to ask And not Gods secret decrees which we know not but his revealed commands or prohibitions in his word are the rule of our actions which we must follow nay the Son himselfe must ask that which the Father had ever resolved to grant Desire of me and I shall give thee the uttermost parts of the carth for thy inheritance Psalm 2.8 Now if we prove cold in our asking our hopes may freez from obtaining But may not intruding importunity rather exasperate justice then obtain a favour With men it may but with the fountain of mercyes the striving to enter into the strait gate and offering violence to the kingdome of heaven Luk. 13.24 Mat. 11 12 Luk 18.5 makes the road way for a pardon In such a case the unjust judg will do right to free himself from trouble much sooner will the Father of mercies be pleased with such holy intrusion Isa 65.24 and prevent us with an answer before we call Last of all we need not fear that our continued prayers should any way hinder the works of our several vocations The Plough-man in the field the tradesman in his shop Martha about her houswifery may be praying as they are doing and do the better for their praying Acts 9.12 Go saith the Lord to Ananias and help Saul of Tarsus to his sight for behold he prayeth Prayers bring us blessings we little think of we should think therefore on prayers the more seriously for the enjoying those blessings For those blessings must needs be of small esteem that we hold not worth the asking CHAP. II. To VVhom our Prayers ought to be directed IT were to small purpose to acknowledge the necessity of prayer if wee know not to whom we may confidently direct our prayers wherfore this is so punctually set downe by our Saviour Mat. 4.10 that we need not cast about for further assurance Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Calling upon Deut. 6.13 1 Sam. 7 3 praising and praying to are the especial kinds of Gods worship which confirmed by our Saviour against Satan in the new Testament out of the old to belong only unto God so shamed the Tempters claime of it that he left the field and dared not to attempt any further Whence we may observe that neither through the old Testament or new it can be shewen that any of Gods people ever prayed to Saints or Angels but only to God No saying here of holy Abraham or holy Peter pray for us but Thou O God that hearest prayers Psal 65.2 unto thee shall all flesh come But you when ye pray say not O Holy mother of God but Our Father which art in heaven Luke 11.2 And it may further be taken notice of that Angels and so Saints have refused with a kind of indignation such supreme worship and devotions tendered unto them Though thou detaine mee saith the Angel to Manoah I will not eat of thy bread and if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering Jud. 13.16 offer it to the Lord. St. John being about to worship an Angel in the same kind had the same lesson twice given him Rev. 19.10 22.9 Col. 2.18 See thou do it not I am thy fellow servant worship God Let not man therfore beguile you of your reward they are the words of St. Paul in a voluntary humility and worshiping of Angels intruding intothosethings which he hath not seen And doth it not stand with common reason that he to whom we direct our prayers should be omniscient that knowes the heart and Almighty to be able to help us in all our extremities and omnipresent every where to be alwayes at hand when wee call upon him Otherwise we might play the hypocrites with him say one thing and mind another or faile of our purpose in craving for that from a party who cannot relieve us For what creature may we well imagine to bee every where or able to help us at all times or that understandeth our very thoughts long before Psa 139.1 but only our Father which is in heaven This Satan perceives to be most destructive of his Designes and therefore sets all his Engines awork that where hee cannot befool men against Nature to think that there is no God hee might at least so puzzle them what that God should be that most should hold him to be no other then they and their Leaders have fancied By such meanes gods became multiplied according to the number of Cities or Nations Jer. 2 28. and thus as it were upon the turne of a hand The glory of the God of Israel was turned into the similitude of a Calf that eateth hay Ps 106.20 Out of the same forge came in Molocks and Baals with innumerable abominations and heathenish Superstitions In all which the pretence hath been ever among the sagest That the true God was only worshipped by such Intercessours or representations but the Vulgar foared no higher then that they saw and most agreed with their humour both coming under the Apostles reproof Ye men of Athens Act. 17 22 and 29. We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by Art or mans device Those that make such puppets are like unto them saith the Psalmist Psa 115.8 that is senselesse and blockish as they are For God is
a Spirit Joh. 4.24 and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth Those that tell you that Statua's and Images are good memorials to mind us what we should worship you may answer Psal 19. That the Heavens declare the glory of God and all other Creatures his handy works direct us to the worshipping of him that made them Thus shall ye say unto them as the Prophet charged the Israelites to tell the Idolatrous Chaldeans in their own language The Gods that have not made the heavens and the earth Jer. 10.12 even they shall perish from the earth and from under those heavens Images for Worship saith another are but Teachers of lies Hab. 2.18 and the promoters of the Doctrine of Divels 2 Tim. 4.1 They may otherwise have an Historical use and adorne buildings but for Worship we have the Words direction not a painted Crucifix to set before the foolish Galatians Christ crucified Gal. 3.1 And for Remembrance of our Saviours Passion why should not the Breaking of bread and drinking of wine in the Sacrament of his last Supper be accounted the best Art of Memory seeing hee himself hath taught us Do this in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19 And would not any wise man take the Sermons of our Saviour and the Writings of his Apostles to be better Relicks then a chip of the material Crosse or the shewing of Saint Peters Chaines to inform us what they taught for our salvation or did for our imitation Last of all Against the Proctors for praying to Saints or Angels that which our Saviour replyed to the Lawyer may be well made use of Luk. 10.26 What is written in the Law how readest thou Can you shew me any Precept or Example of such prayer throughout all the Old or New Testaments Or can wee think in reason that Saints will bee more readie to hear or tender our wants or promote our Petitions then our blessed Redeemer and our only Mediatour and Advocate Christ Jesus The Woman of Canaan found small comfort upon earth of Saints Intercession Mat. 15.23 Send her away say they for she cryeth after us Wee believe the Saints are most happy in heaven and honour their persons and memory here on earth in appointing Holy-Dayes wherein their Doings and Doctrine are commended to our Assemblies for their pious Imitation But what they know of us or may do for us by way of Intercession in heaven is not revealed unto us Build you therefore upon certainties my Daughters Christ hath taught you to say Our Father which art in heaven and the Church wherein you were borne and baptized teacheth you accordingly That when you direct your Prayers severally to any of the Persons in whose Names you were baptized or jointly to the Blessed Trinity you direct them to One God which is Three in One and One in All. And as many as walk according to this Rule peace be on them and mercy Gal. 6.16 and upon the Israel of God which prevailing with God they shall the more comfortably and assuredly enjoy if they take with them as an Antidote Saint Johns conclusion Little children John 5.13 keep your selves from Idols CHAP. III. What wee are to ask in our prayers TO know the Necessity of Prayer and to whom we are to pray will but little avail if we are not well advised what to ask Joh 21 22 Peter may enquire what shall become of John but receive a check What is that to thee Inquire not after that which belongs not to thee do that I bid thee Follow thou me And when the mother of Zebedees children became a suiter for the preferment of them to that which they were uncapable of Mat. 20.20 wee know what a cold satisfaction they obtained from our Saviour Mar. 10.35 Ye know not what ye ask Neither the joint petition of the Apostles afterwards concerning an earthly Kingdom found better successe Acts 1.7 It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put into his own power Those therefore that trust to speed must petition only for those things which may be convenient for them to receive and for God to grant as the entrauce to our Liturgy tells us They must ask those things which are requisite for the soul and body Otherwise their prayers may be turned into sin Psa 109.7 and instead of an expected Blesing a deserved curse may fall upon them Gen. 27.12 The caveat therefore of the preacher as well for the mouth as for the foot is to be observed of all suiters that shall present themselves before the throne of grace First learne by hearing what to doe before thou tender a fooles sacrifice without consideration in hope to obtaine Eccles 5.1 and be not rash with thy mouth and hasty with thy heart to multiply many words where few would be more to the purpose and better accepted for how can it chuse but prove lost labour to beg that of God which may not be granted by reason of his revealed will to the contrary Hence the salvation of Judas and damned spirits the foreknowledg of the day of Judgment and secrets of God in election or reprobation of this or that party must not come within the compasse of our petitions And if the tree must lye where it falleth Eccles 11.3 and the condition of the dead from worse to better be unchangeable those Masses dirges and prayers for any friend departed may very well be spared which some are so missled to purchase and others to sell at so dear a rate for who hath required this at your hands Isa 1.12 Psal 49.8 It cost more to reedem a soul therfore that must be let alone for ever upon the same ground Samuel might not pray for Saul nor Jeremiah for preventing Judahs captivity where the immutable purpose of God was once made known unto them Things then spiritual which concerne our salvation and temporal that make for our preservation in the condition God hath put us or furtheering us to a better according to his good will and disposition not our restlesse and itching ambition must bee the line and compasse of our approveable devotions And this brings in that confidence the beloved disciple speaks of That if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us Joh 5.14 and if we know that he heareth whatsoever we aske wee know wee have the petition that we desired of him Many scruples are here suggested whether we may pray for one blaspemously sinning to death or obstinately standing excommunicate or rebelliously persecuting the Church and State seeing the petition of the Psalmist is expresse Stand up O Lord God of hostes Psal 59.5 thou God of Israel to visit all the heathen and be not mercifull unto them that offend of malicious wickednesse But the Prophets prayer runs against those that God shal find so not against such as we
then upon this repeated condition again and again most strictly to be observed As we forgive them that trespasse against us Mat. 6 14 15 And lastly is not that a thundring censure denounced upon that Caitiffe that took his Brother by the throat for a few pence when his Lord had acquitted him for so many Talents O thou wicked Servant Mat. 28.32 I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me shouldst not thou have had also compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee And you may read what followes Take him Tormentors not a penny to be abated those that afford none shall find no mercy And the application is from him that propounded the Doctrine ver 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses 7. Lastly Distrust and despair take away all ground of prayer and turn us into the Land of Nod with Cain to denounce with a guilty conscience Gen. 4.13 Mine iniquity is greater then it my be forgiven or politickly to hang our selves with Achitophel or to give a name to Acheldama with Judas Such Murderers and Traytors prevent as it were Gods judgments and suppose the paines of hell more tollerable then a guilty conscience Let it be your care therefore my Daughters with your prayers to beseech God amongst other blessings to remove from you these forementioned Hindrances of prayer Gen. 15.11 Abraham had much ado when he sacrificed to keep off the fowls from devouring it And Joshuah the High Priest shall no sooner present himself a poor and ragged supplicant for restoring of his captive Country-men Zech. 3.1 but Satan will be at his right hand to resist him But resist the Divel saith the Apostle and he will flee from thee Jam. 4.7 That is done not by force of arms nor fasting only or almes-deeds howsoever otherwise commended but by continued and devout prayers gronnded upon that of our Saviour lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil And with this being put to flight if the evil spirit return again with seven worse then himself Luk. 11.26 of his undermining companions The shield of faith will be sufficient to quench all his fiery darts being managed with continued prayers and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance as the Apostle assures us Eph 6.18 more fully to be handled in that which followes CHAP. VI. Helpes for the stirring up and furtherance of our suits HE that intends to build a tower Luk. 14 28 you may find whose observation it is first sits downe and counts the costs what it wil amount unto lest haply when he hath laid the foundation and is not able to compass it all that behold begin to mock and say This man began to build and was not able to finish it In this the case of such that shall make their addresses to God by prayer is in a manner represented All kind of snares distractions seductions impediments shall be cast in his way that except preventions and helps come from above and are circumspectly used of us our best intents will but prove attempts like a foundation that wants a purse to compleat the building The helpes that herein will best further us may be reckoned to be 1. Meditation 2. Vowes 3. Fasting 4. Almes-deeds 5. Visiting of the sick and distressed 6. Frequenting pious and lawfull assemblies 7. Putting on the whole Armour of God whereby we may be able to stand in the evil day Eph. 6 13. and having done all to stand 1. How meditation and prayer mutually helpe each other the Psalmist sheweth in his early and earnest prosecution of them Ponder my words O Lord and consider my meditation Psal 5.1 O hearken thou unto the voice of my calling my King and my God for unto thee do I make my prayer my voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up which when he had done in a serious turning over three books the book of Nature the book of Scripture and the book of Conscience which alwaies lie open for all to look upon he shuts up his religious speculation with this supplicant conclusion Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be alwaies acceptable in thy sight Psal 19.14.15 O Lord my Strength and my Redeemer This was holy Isaak's practice no doubt from the institution of his good father Abraham he went out to meditate in the field at eveningtide to pray saith the margin in our last translation intimating Gen. 24.63 that prayer and Meditation be of such affinity that prayer without meditation is as a messenger that runs without his errand 2. Vowes may passe also as helps to prayers upon deliberate meditation Jer. 23.32 otherwise they may prove rash and sinfull Those that we have made by our Godfathers and Godmothers in our Baptism to forsake the divel flesh and world with all their pompes and vanities might hold us in a right course without any monkish by-laws or further impositions of our owne if they were as well kept as they are wisely set down in our Catechisme But such is our wavering weaknesse and itch after Novelties that we must needs have a new lesson before the old be learned and Manna from heaven shall not relish if it grow too common you should do well therefore my daughters not to vow more then you have undertaken to doe already or else to vow no otherwise then that it may tend to the performance of that which solemnly before God and his Church you have undertaken For though the obedience of the Rechabites to the commands of their Father Jonadab Jer. 35.19 be approved in Scripture as an ensample for observing the fifth Commandment yet the Pharisaicall tye for their Corban that exempted children from obedience to their parents or relieving them in their necessity is branded by our Saviour as an attempt which justles aside Gods law that mans Traditions might take place So wise wee would make our selves to perfect Gods Text with our marginal notes and give order for a directer way to heaven then he that is the way John 14.6 the truth the life had leisure or pleasure to leave behind him Notorious are the sad consequences of Jeptha's inconsiderate vow Judg. 11.39 And what would Sauls for killing Jonathan 1 Sam. 14 c. 25. and Davids for massacring Nabal with his whole familie have wrought if God in mercy had not interposed Our vowes therefore when we make any extraordinary must be 1. Warrantable by Gods word 2. Fit for our condition of life 3. Concerning things in our power 4. Injurious to none 5. Changeable upon necessity 6. Referred wholly to Gods glory and the good of the Church and common-wealth wherein we live 7. No way exempting from
Songs of Miriam and Deborah with that of Hannah in the Old Testament and the Magnificat of the most blessed Virgin in the New so canonically recorded Such Patternes should stir you up to Practice my Daughters and to part with your chiefest worldly delights as the Hebrew women did with their Looking glasses to make a laver for the Sanctuary for the setting forth Gods praises and Worship Exod. 38.8 to the utmost of your abilities O clap your hands together all ye people O sing unto God with the voice of melody O sing praises sing praises unto our God O sing praises sing praises unto our King For God is the King of all the earth sing ye praises to him with understanding And if not at all times in continued Psalmes yet on all occasions in pious Ejaculations the subject of the next Chapter CHAP. V. Of occasional Ejaculations BY Ejaculations are understood such private Prayers as when upon seeing hearing or thinking on any thing of extraordinary concernment we turne our selves immediately to God and in short petitions Praises Wishes or Thanksgivings express our hearty devotions In such no set form can be prescribed but the occasion it self will so frame the suit that it will be prevalent as it is piercing and the defect of words made up with hearty affections Into such an Ejaculatory confession the Israelites brake out at the sight of fire from heaven to consume the Sacrifice of Elijah which all the Baalites raving and lancing had failed to procure from their Idol The Lord he is the God 1 Ki. 18.39 The Lord he is the God falling upon their faces at the utterance of it So David upon report that politick Achitophel was turned Traytor against him O Lord saith he I pray thee turn the counsel of Achitophel into foolishness And what foolishness could bee more palpable then in the wise ording of his family to reserve a halter to hang himself King Asa had no time when Zerah the Ethiopian fell upon him with a Million of men but to betake himself only to this Ejaculation 2 Sa. 17.23 O Lord it is nothing with thee to help 2 Chr. 14.11 12 whether with many or with them that have no power Help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee and in thy name go we against this multitude Lord thou art our God let not man prevail against thee And was not the successe as speedy in its kind as the petition was pithy For the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah to their utter overthrow Upon the short addresse of the Disciples to our Saviour in a storm Master Mark 4.38 carest thou not that we perish He arose and rebuked the winds and said to the sea Peace and bee still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm Sudden dangers must have correspondent remedies And whence may they be hoped for but from him that is alwayes present every where and expects but our calling on him that he may relieve us As you provide therefore my Daughters to have Hot-waters in a readinesse or remedies appliable to sudden occasions lest in the interim before they can bee gotten the party whom you wish best unto wanting them perish much more should you have at hand and by heart such passages of sacred Scriptures whereon to ground good wishes and pious Ejaculations which in infinite unexpected occurrences you shal occasion to make use of such our Leiturgy hath so prick'd out for you that you need go no further To instance in a few of the most obvious particulars For raising up of a dejected or drooping soul what may prove more animating then that we first meet with at the threshold of our Service Ezek. 46.2 At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sinnes from the bottom of his heart I will put all his wickednesse out of my remembrance Ezek. 8.21 saith the Lord What more effectual to remove Gods judgments for our manifold transgressions then that of the lamenting Prophet Correct us O Lord Jer. 10.24 and yet in thy judgment not in thy fury lest we should be consumed brought to nothing A plainer direction cannot be thought upon for a straying sinner then that of the hunger starved Prodigal I will go to my Father and say to him Father I have sinned against heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Your children and your rudest servants are acquainted from the Leiturgy with these piercing Petitions O Lord open thou our Lips and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise O God make speed to save us O Lord make haste to help us O Lord shew thy mercy upon us and grant us thy Salvation O Lord deale not with us after our sins neither reward us after our iniquities From our enemies defend us O Christ graciously look upon our affliction with the like These are made familiar to them by often repetition which those that term shreds and porrage little think upon the short Ejaculation of David I have sinned against the Lord 2 Sa. 12.13 that had presently this return The Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dy Or that of the simple Publican God be merciful to me a sinner and the sequel of it that he went down to his house rather justified then the vaunting Pharisee for all his eloquence And this is an advantage in such short Ejaculations that they are not so liable to distractions as longer Prayers and are more easie to be remembred of all and ready to be used when space and place may not be had for longer prayers To give a touch in some few particulars At our first awaking in the morning who may not with heart and hands and eyes lifted up to heaven say Psalm 4.7 Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us and welcome the appearance of the light with this or the like Ejaculation Psal 67.1 God be merciful unto us and blesse us and shew us the light of thy countenance and be merciful unto us In cloathing of our selves how becoming would that be of the Apostle which converted a holy Father to be fitted to the occasion Rom. 13.12 The night is passed and the day is at hand Grant O Lord that I may cast off the works of darkness and put on the Armor of Light that I may walk honestly as in the day not in rioting or drunkenness not in chambering or wantonnesse nor in strife or envying but that I may put on my Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus more necessary to cover my souls nakedness then apparel is for my body and not to make such provision for the flesh as is commonly used to fulfil the lusts thereof In like manner far be it from Superstition when we wash to pray Wash me throughly from my wickednesse Psal 51.2 and cleanse me from my sinne for I acknowledg my faults O Lord and my sin is ever
purpose is that excellent Deprecation that followes O God merciful Father that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart c. This is seconded by another no lesse material We humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon our infirmities and for the glory of thy Name sake turn from us all those evils which we most righteously have deserved c. And here may be taken in those interchangeable Votes of Priest and People which are interposed O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thy Names sake O God we have heard with our ears c. and therefore now Arise O Lord help us and deliver us for thine honour that we may alwayes with united hearts and voices in the highest straine professe and say Glory be to the Father c And what are all those recountings of dangers in particular Orisons rising up from our sins as vapours that gather into a black cloud of vengeance to shun which we unanimously cry in our Letany Spare us Good Lord and Good Lord deliver us What are they but so many Deprecations for removal of just executions which would otherwise utterly confound us It was not without just cause therefore that Saint Paul so carefully exhorted Bishop Timothy whom hee had left in Ephesus to settle Church-Dectrine and Discipline that in Doctrine hee should labor to divert them from Novelties Fables 1 Ti. 1.3 4 and 6.20 and endlesse Disputes concerning Genealogies and such wrangling questions nothing tending to Edification And for Discipline he would have set in the first place in the ordring of publick Worship Deprecations 1 Tim. 2.1 Supplications Intercessions and giving of thanks for all men but especially for Kings and those that are in Authority Which lesson if it had been well pressed by those that take on them to be somewhat gifted above their brethren and observed better by their zealous followers we should have had little need then of such Leitugical Deprecations From 1. Herodian Tyranny 2. Pharisaical malicious hypocrisie 3. Saducean brutish incredulity 4 Judas his highest Treason 5. Simon Magus and Elymas his hellish oppositions 6. Ananias and Saphira's dainty deludings with a smooth lye 7. The Silver Smiths and Copper-Smiths boysterous and mechanical tumults to have Church and State forged on their Anvils as they would hammer it to repeat again and again Good Lord deliver us Let your care therefore my Daughters be in all such cryes and clamors Lo here is Christ or there is Christ Behold you shal find him by such a River re-baptizing or meet with him in such a Conventicle exercising or distributing his gifts not to forsake the old way which hath warrant to bee good from the Ancient of dayes but to hold fast by God with the Psalmist Psal 73.27 and possess your selves in patience according to our Saviours direction in the heaviest calamities Luk. 21.19 and not forget that advice of the sad Jer. 18.14 15. but serious Prophet forraign waters are not to bee preferred before our better tryed springs at home nor untrodden paths that are not cast up before the ancient wayes wherein our fathers have safely walked without stumbling For the performance of which Supplications will be found necessary and therefore fittest to be considered of in the third place CHAP. III. Of Supplications or Petitions SUpplications are Prayers directed to God for supply of our wants or prospering our pious intentions and endeavours whether spiritual or temporal Of which our Leiturgy is also a treasury that containeth all good things new and old to be desired as likewise a Magazine wherein that armour of God is to be had whereby we may be able to withstand all principalities and powers Ephe. 6.12 13 and rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places if we continue with all Prayers and Supplications and watch thereunto with perseverance as the Apostle exhorts us For herein after Confession of sins and Deprecation of punishment how orderly are wee led on both in Morning and Evening Prayer to bee humble Petitioners for Peace and Protection which yeild the greatest happinesse that in this world may be expected Now for the first we have these Prayers O God which art the Author of Peace and Lover of Concord c. And O God from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works do proceed give unto thy servants that peace which this world cannot give c. For the second those O Lord our heavenly Father Almighty and everlasting God who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day defend us in the same by thy mighty power c. And Lighten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great mercy defend us c. Those that hold these and the like Supplications the less effectual because common and so fitted for the mouths of babes and sucklings of least understanding amongst the Vulgar may as well slight the Sun and Moone imparting their beames equally to the Prince and Peasant and cast off the whole Sacred Text of Scripture because it comes not out weekly in a new Translation Those also that further require variety as more grateful to their appetites whom Manna from heaven would not long satisfie if they will but take the pains to peruse with deliberation and singleness of heart the ninety two Collects which are no other but quick and pertinent petions framed and fitted to the time of the year out of the Texts of Epistles and Gospels for Sundays and Saints-daies shall find the like veyne of Devotion not to run in any Hâ—lps or Hand-maids or Practices of Piety that may fill the hungry with good things when the rich in their squeamish choiceness may be sent empty away Where by the way if we but cast an eye on the Letany what are all those necessary desires which the religious thoughts of many ages have laid together with which young and old rich and poor offer violence as it were joyntly with their out-cryes to the Throne of Grace We beseech thee to hear us Good Lord but a sum of Petitions linked together wherein all have a share which the best gifted men on the sudden will hardly think upon O what admirable variety of choice may bee here found As when we consult the Scriptures to beginne with that Collect of the second Sunday in Advent Blessed God which hast caused all Scripture to be written for our learning c. When we undertake and begin any work of our vocation to procure a blessing unto it with that so well known Supplication Prevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and farther us with thy continual help c. For an entrance into our Prayers how fit is that Assist us mercifully O Lord in these our supplications and prayers c. or that which followes Almighty Lord and everlasting God vouchsafe we beseech thee to direct sanctifie govern c. And after the hearing
hath a special prescription Lev 7.12 to be tempered with plenty of oyl of gladness that maketh the face to shine Ps 24.25 In this behalf the Psalmist is so copious that it is hard to pitch upon any passage wherein he seemeth more expressive then other In that ninety second Psalm which carries the Title for the Sabbath day no entrance is found but by the door of Thanksgiving It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy Name O thou most high To tell of thy loving kindnesse early in the morning and of thy truth in the night season Upon an Instrument of ten strings and upon the Lute upon a loud Instrument and upon the Harp Church-musick then in those dayes was not held Superstitious but taken in for an help to set forth Praise and Thanksgiving For performance of which duty so many ties are upon us that the Prophet cryes out as destitute of expressions Psa 116.11 What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me and can resolve no otherwise for himselfe but Psal 145.1 Every day will I give thanks to thee and praise thy name for ever and ever And for stirring up of others to the same duty O praise the Lord saith he for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God yea Psal 147.1 a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful But what need we go further where we have the practice of our Saviour to lead us I thank thee O Father Mat. 11.25 Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight According with this we have that large form of Thankgiving besides many others to stirre up our selves and others of the Kingly Prophet Psal 136. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is gracious and his mercy endureth for ever O give thanks unto the God of all gods for his mercy endureth for ever O thank the Lord of all Lords for his mercy endureth for ever and so going on in numbring up Gods blessings for which thanks were due with a repetition from whence they proceeded from Gods mercy not our deserts for his mercy endureth for ever He ends as he began as though in his acknowledgment he had never said enough O give thanks unto the Lord of heaven for his mercy endureth for ever O give thanks unto the Lord of Lords for his mercy endureth for ever Upon this ground proceed the four and twenty Elders representing the whole Church of the Faithful falling upon their faces and worshipping We give thee thanks Rev. 12.17 O Lord God Almighty which art and which wa st and which art to come because thou hast taken unto thee thy great power and hast reigned From these and the like patterns our Leiturgies forms are derived A Thanksgiving for raine in time of drought O God our heavenly Father who by thy gracious providence dost cause the former and the latter rain to descend upon the earth c. For fair weather O Lord God who hast justly humbled us by the late plague of immoderate rain and waters c. For Plenty O most merciful Father which of thy gracious goodness hast heard the devout prayers of the Church c. For Peace and Victory Almighty God who art a strong Tower of Defence unto thy servants against the face of their enemies c. For Deliverance from the Plague O Lord God which hast wounded us for our sins c. After receiving of the Lords Supper Almighty and everlasting God wee most heartily thank thee for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us which have duly received these holy Mysteries c. And last of all under the Title of Prayers most commonly set in the end of the Church-Book what a complete form of Thanksgiving have we that thus begins Honour and Praise be given to thee O Lord God Almighty most dear Father of heaven for all thy mercies and loving kindness shewed unto us c. Which ends with this most pious and necessary petition to be used at all times and on all occasions Let thy mighty hand and out-stretched arm O Lord be still our defence c. For your Sexe also my Daughters is not to be omitted the Thanksgiving of women after Child-birth commonly called the Churching of Women though latter times have held it superfluous if not superstitious wherein Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his goodnesse to give you safe deliverance and preserved you in the great danger of Child-birth You are called upon to be thankful heartily and to pray with the words of the Psalmist Psal 121. I have lifted up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my salvation my help cometh from the Lord which hath made heaven and earth And that which followes The Sun shall not burn thee by day nor the Moon by night c. is not impertinent as some will have it in as much as it ascribes all preservation to God at all times and in all places in our greatest extremities When more punctual devout and judicious Thanksgiving upon surer grounds and authority shall bee tendred to you my Daughters you may satisfie your consciences in making use of them In the meane time you and yours may feed on the milk which your Mother the Church so plentifully affords you and not cast about for change of Nurses who will scarce prove so natural CHAP. VI. Of Praises PRaise is a due acknowledgment of Gods infinite excellency expressed in his works of Power Mercy and Justice It hath such affinity with Thanksgiving that most commonly they go together and usually are taken one for the other Psa 145.11 As in that Psalm All thy works praise thee O Lord and thy Saints give thanks unto thee I will magnifie thee Ver. 1 2. O Lord my King and will praise thy Name for ever and ever Every day will I give thanks to thee and praise thy Name for ever and ever Notwithstanding howsoever Magnifying Praising Blessing and giving of Thanks to God are used to the same purpose yet praise may belong to Excellency which we are not bound to thank whereas Thanks includeth Praise for affording us a Blessing by which wee are obliged to magnifie the Donor In the Old Testament those that will seek for forms in this behalf shall find all the Psalmes of David in the Original to come under the title of The Book of Praises Not that all Psalmes therein may be so termed but because the most part are so that gives the nomination to the whole And Samplers for Praises to you my Daughters may be as pertinent that of Miriam registred to all posterity for imitation in these words Exo. 15.20 And Miriam the Prophetesse the sister of Aaron took a Timbrel in her hands and
all the women went out after her with Timbrels and with Dances none being so scrupulous in those dayes as to take exceptions at them And Miriam said Sing ye unto the Lord for he hath criumphed gloriously the horse and his rider hath he throwne into the sea O what an excellent Emulation it is betweene men and women when they contend who may praise God most for his Blessings bestowed upon them In the same straine of praises is the consort of Deborah and Barak for the overthrow of General Siserah Judges 5. Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel when the people willingly offered themselves c. In comparison of which piece the highest touch of Heathen Poetry sounds but flat and livelesse Neither must the good-wives of Bethlehems praising of God for the birth of Obed King Davids grand-father be thought not worthy to be imitated upon the like occasion Rut. 4.14 15 And the women said unto Naomi Blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman that his name may bee famous in Israel And he shall be thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age for thy Daughter in Law which loveth thee which is better to thee then ten sonnes hath born him Thankful Hannahs Hymn is tuned to the same key for the birth of her son Samuel And Hannah prayed and said 1 Sam. 2.1 My heart rejoiceth in the Lord my horn is exalted in the Lord my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation But eminent above all the rest is that Magnificat or Song of Praise and Thanksgiving of the most blessed Mother-maid Luke 1.46 retained in our Leiturgy to be alwayes repeated Wherein Humility in her greatest advancement referring all to Gods glory and reflecting still upon the Churches good is most lively set forth He hath looked upon me a poor wretch regarding the low and inconsiderable estate of his Hand-maiden passing by the flourishing Pomp of the rich and mighty He hath remembred his mercy for the redemption of Israel according to the promise made to our forefathers and therefore My soul doth praise and magnifie the Lord and my spirit rejoyceth not for any worth found in my self but in God only my Saviour O that the proud ones of these times would but think upon this This one patterne might be sufficient to take down their haughty looks and new fangled attires by minding them that the blessedst amongst all women was otherwise affected In the like straine is that Benedictus of holy Zachary Luke 1.68 Blessed or praised be the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people c. And that Psal 100. O be joyful in the Lord all yee Lands serve the Lord with gladnesse and come before his presence with a Song 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 And it is worth the noting that as the Book of the hundred and fifty Psalms begins with Blessed is the man or many blessings are upon that man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly but kissed the Son and ordered his walks to God to which the first fifty Psalmes especially lead him Neither stood in the way of sinners which the second fifty beats him from as most dangerous So the third fifty plucks him and his from the Seat of the scornful lift him up with Psalms of Degrees and Hallelujahs to thank and praise the Maker and Preserver of all things sealing all up with this conclusion Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Wherefore let not the Te Deum We praise thee O God we acknowledg thee to be the Lord or the Benedicite the following Canticle O all ye works of the Lord blesse ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever be thought superfluous in our Leiturgy for not having that Canonical Authority which the former Scriptures have lest our Sermons and unpremeditated praises and prayers should be in that respect excepted against and so Preaching be discredited as bordering too neer sometimes upon Apocrypha Let it be sufficient then that such holy prayers have ground in Scripture from which as the Articles of our Creed they are deduced and framed to the capacitie and memories of all that cannot bee more edifyingly instructed So Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost so often repeated to uphold the Doctrine of the sacred Trinitg against the ancient and moderne Hereticks and that Angelical Rapture used after receiving of the Lords Supper Glory be to God on high and in earth peace good will towards men We praise thee we blesse thee we worship thee we glorifie thee we give thanks to thee for thy great glory O Lord c. are such collections whereby young men and maidens old men and children may praise the Name of the Lord Psa 148.12 as the Psalmist exhorts them to do With whom we may safely conclude in that which our Leiturgy takes up for an entrance Psalm 95. O come let us sing unto the Lord c. with the Postscript of that good wish Psal 40.19 Let all those that seek thee be joyful and glad in thee and let such as love thy salvation say alwayes The Lord be praised CHAP. VII Of Comminations or Cursings COmmination in our Leiturgy is a part of Church-Discipline whereby Gods judgments are denounced against notorious offenders to terrifie them from their desperate courses and to put a stop to others that they follow not them in their damned wayes which by their owne mouthes they have pronounced accursed This is grounded on the twenty seventh of Deuteronomy with little alteration of words or matter for the applying it to our time And to the same end serve the Woes denounced by our Saviour Matth. 23 against the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees which will never be out of date as long as the same sins are fomented and thought good policie and not heartily repented of amongst Professors of Christianity With this Commination the Church-Excommunication hath a neer affinity whereby obstinate notorious offenders are excluded from the benefit of the Saints communion and delivered unto Satan as the incestuous Corinthian was by Saint Paul to the destruction of the flesh 1 Cor. 5.5 that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus These warrantable practices of Primitive Discipline considered as they ought should breed a restlesse horror in the consciences of those that lye under such censures Gal. 6. For Be not deceived God is not mocked who will not have his Church neglected whose priviledges of binding and loosing here on earth are enrolled in heaven Mat. 18.18 And if we account it a slight matter to bee reckoned of Gods people as an Heathen or Publican at the last admittance of the faithful and obedient