right wits can object any thing justly against it 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 Deut. 11.14 that it may bring forth fruit for the use of man Psal 104.84 We give thee humble thanks that it hath pleased thee in our great necessity to send us at the last a joyful rain upon thine inheritance and to refresh it when it was dry Deut. 28.12 Psal 147.8 Jer. 5.24 Psal 68.9 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 For fair weather 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 always declare thy loving kindness from generation to generation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For Plenty O Most merciful Father who 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 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 For Peace and Deliverance from our Enemies O Almighty God who 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 Psal 124. beseeching thee still to continue such thy mercies towards us that all the world may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty deliverer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For restoring publick Peace at home O Eternal God our heavenly Father who alone makest men to be of one mind in a house Psal 68.6 and stillest the outrage of a violent and unruly people Psal 65.7 We bless thy holy Name that it hath pleased thee to appease the seditious tumults which have been lately raised up amongst us most humbly beseeching thee to grant to all of us grace that we may henceforth obediently walk in thy holy commandments and leading a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 may continually offer unto thee our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for these thy mercies towards us Heb. 13.15 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For deliverance from the Plague or other common sickness O Lord God who 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 judgment 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 Rom. 12.1 always praising and magnifying thy mercies in the midst of thy Church 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 contagious sickness 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 Note These Thanksgivings extraordinary answer most of them to the Prayers extraordinary foregeing we praise God in the latter for what we prayed for in the former They need not be Scriptured out exactly for they are the very Scriptures themselves both for ground of matter and form of words They are of a very rational contrivance for great deliverances ought to have perpetual remembrances and the gracious favours of God bestowed upon us are to be remembred and acknowledged with gratitude The very Heathens in their Histories shew it to be usual and God in Scripture by his injunction makes it necessary Deut. 4.9 10. that we should dutifully repay to God our tribute of praise for the great and undeserved benefits which we have received from him Psal 111.4 Thus have I for the good of the Church I hope and for the glory of God and for the satisfaction of some who may have prejudices against our publick Divine Service and upon that account may absent themselves from it or not joyn in it with that devotion as they ought to do and I am sure without making any unhandsom and uncharitable reflections which is a very great errour of the Pen upon any persons whatsoever who do but own Christ and God as they are revealed in Scripture and profess Christianity contributed my poor endeavours to invite so many in as can be rationally moved and perswaded to joyn with us in our Christian Assemblies that we may with one heart mind and mouth glorifie God and serve him without distraction who is I am sure the God of order and not of confusion FINIS
all that we are or have is due to thee from whom all is received and therefore we do not impute any thing to our selves or our own acquisition In this Faith we pray and confide that what we pray for shall be granted RUBRICK Then likewise he shall say O Lord open thou our lips Answ And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise Psal 51.15 O God make speed to save us Psal 70.1 Answ O Lord make hast to help us Psal 40.13 RUBRICK Here all standing up the Priest shall say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Isa 42.8 1 Cor. 10.31 Rom. 11.36 Answ As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Priest Praise ye the Lord Psal 146.1 Answ The Lords name be praised EXPLANATION The forementioned Versicles with the Responses are Canonical Scripture and taken most-what out of the Book of Psalms by which we acknowledge our dependance upon God and that we are unable of our selves to perform any Religious duty well unless God enable us They are used interchangably by Minister and People to testifie mutual Love to strengthen affection to stir up devotion to kindle and enflame it one in another to oblige us to greater attention and this praying by way of Response is grounded upon the Scripture and conformable to the practice of the earliest and purest times of Christianity And for the form of giving glory to God Father Son and Holy Ghost it is very ancient by which we avouch our Doctrine and Faith of the Trinity against all opposers as we have received from Christ and his Apostles so we baptize believe and give glory to God Father Son and Holy Ghost and this we do not without Scripture-warrant Mat. 28.19 Rom. 11.36 It is the Christians Hymn and shorter Creed some who professed Christianity had corrupted this form of giving glory to God and had framed up another form in favour of their own new opinions and perswasions in Religion differing from that of the Ancient Christians both in words and sense but the ancient form which was before and is still used was again restored upon the restauration of which those words were added As it was in the beginning c. that is in the first beginning of the true Religion professed and solemnly owned by the name of Christian Now certainly very meet it is that we should give glory to God because it is appropriate to God alone Psal 115.1 It is his peculiar right which he lays claim to Isa 42.8 for he is the King of Glory The Heavens declare it Psal 19.1 the Angels chant it Luk. 2.14 Seraphims resound it Isa 6.3 and man is no less obliged to it then those coelestial Spirits are No place on earth is more proper for it then God's house where every man should speak of his honour and there is no better posture to do it in then standing for by it we shew our chearful readiness to give glory to God and our pious resolution to stand fast in the Faith of the Holy Trinity And for those words Praise ye the Lord they are the same with Hallelujah set at the end of the five last Psalms in the Psalter and used in this place to be as an impression invitatory to the following Psalms and the following Response The Lords name be praised is according to what we find written Psal 106.48 RUBRICK Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following except on Easter-day upon which another Anthem is appointed and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here but in the ordinary course of the Psalms PSAL. 95. Ver. 1. O Come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our salvation 2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and shew our selves glad in him with psalms 3. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods 4. In his hand are all the corners of the earth and the strength of the hills is his also 5. The sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry land 6. O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker 7. For he is the Lord our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand 8. To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness 9. When your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works 10. Fourty years long was I grieved with this generation and said It is a people that do err in their hearts for they have not known my ways 11. 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 is now and ever shall be world without end Amen EXPLANATION With this Psalm the ancient Church used to begin her Service it was the invitatory Psalm with which they usually began before the Congregation was well met together at the hearing of which all hastned to Church and it is very well appointed to be used in this place before all other Psalms because it is the fittest to conform us to the right use of all the rest and to furnish out Gods Service with all due reverence Glory be to the Father c. is added at the end of this and of every Psalm that we may reduce that to practice which is the scope of every Psalm that is Give Glory to God RUBRICK Then shall follow the Psalms in order as they are appointed And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year and likewise at the end of Benedicite Benedictus Magnificat and Nunc dimittis shall be repeated Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Answ As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen EXPLANATION The Psalter was anciently divided into several portions called Nocturns by which division the Psalms were read every week and this was a custom peculiar only to the Latine Church for in the Syrian and Greek Churches the Psalter was read over every twenty days Our Church allows a months space for the reading over the Book of Psalms and her meaning is that they should be read in publick according to ancient practice by way of Response Now the reasons why the Psalms are so frequently read over and why in this manner I conceive to be these Because the Psalms do contain in them the choice and flower of all things profitable which may be met withall in the Holy Scriptures and do more movingly express them by reason of the Poetical form wherein they are written No part of Scripture doth more admirably set forth all the considerations and operations which belong to God nor so magnifie the Holy meditations and actions of Divine
read and approved of as our own Comments upon a Text of Scripture which it is to be presumed we would not have to be taken for Canonical Scripture They who are most against the reading of them cannot but confess our Sermons and Tractates to have as little of the Spirit of infallibility and Sanctification as the Apocryphal Books So far as they are consonant to the Word of God they are Canonical though not Proto-Canonical There is truth in them and we are to embrace truth wherever we meet with it for it is Gods whoever speaks it or writes it we read them not to confirm us in matters of Faith but to instruct us in life and manners because they contain in them many excellent moral precepts for the regulating of our lives and well ordering of our conversations Again some part of the Canonical is not enjoyned to be read publickly in the Congregation not because the Authority of it is undervalued but because it is not so useful for Edification nor so fitted to the understandings and capacities of the people as those portions of Scripture are which are enjoyned to be read those necessary parts of Scripture which God hath made easie the Church desires should be made familiar and frequently read to the people Therefore she orders the Psalms to be read over once every month most part of the Old Testament once a year the New thrice and hath so sorted the Lessons Prayers Psalms Epistles and Gospels for some Festivals that they edifie as much as any ordinary Sermons if people were but so wise as to consider the wise directions of the Church and to value her prudence as much as they do their own foolish humors Now the Lessons are taken one out of the Old another out of the New Testament that by frequent reading of them we may observe the Harmony of both for as the Cherubins of Glory looked each upon other and both closed with their wings over the Mercy-seat so the Two Testaments look each upon other both upon Christ who is the supplement of the one and the complement of the other in the one promised in the other exhibited the Law being an hidden Gospel and the Gospel a revealed Law The Patriarchs Prophets Evangelists Apostles wrote by the same Spirit pointed at the same Messias were saved by the same Faith and this may very much confirm us in the truth of the Scriptures when we read that exactly fulfilled in the New Testament which was so punctually foretold in the Old Besides it may be a means of converting the Jews as well as confirming us Christians for they may in time embrace Christ's Gospel with us when they see us embrace Moses and the Prophets together with them But in taking Lessons first out of the Old Testament and then out of the New the Church observes the method of the Holy Spirit who first published the Old then the New first the precepts of the Law then of the Gospel and by this method we are taught to go forward in our knowledge from smaller things to greater from the lowest to the highest for the Law is as a Paedagogue teaching the first Rudiments the Institutions of highest perfection are contained in the Gospel The Minister is to read the Lessons distinctly with a sober grave and audible voice and he is to turn himself towards the people when he reads because he is upon an office directed to them whereas in Prayer he looks another way towards the more eminent part of the Church where use to be placed the Symbols of God's more especial presence with whom the Minister in Prayer hath chiefly to do For the same reason we may suppose that the Christians in former times used to pray with their faces Eastward because in the Chancel which was the East part of the Church stood the Holy Table where the highest of Religious Services were usually performed and the Sacrament of Christ's body and bloud was administred which is the special sign of God's mysterious presence The Jews at the reading of the Law and other Scriptures looked toward the people but in Prayer toward the Mercy-seat or principal part of the Temple Psal 28.2 and Christians may in all probability do the like in imitation of the Jews for as their Mercy-seat was a type and figure of Christ so the Holy Table and the Sacred Mysteries there performed are representations of him in a more special manner Neither did the Jews nor do the Christians this out of any superstitious conceit that God cannot or will not hear our Prayers unless we look Eastward when we pray as the Jews looked toward the Oracle or Mercy-seat for we know God is Omnipresent every where present yet for all this Christ directed us by his form of prayer to look towards Heaven when we pray because it is the Throne of God Te Deum Laudamus WE praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord Psal 67.3 Psal 99.34 Psal 148.1 All the Earth doth worship thee the Father everlasting To thee all Angels cry aloud the Heavens and all the Powers therein Psal 148.2 To thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory Isa 6.3 Rev. 4.8 Isa 66.1 Jer. 23.24 The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee Rev. 4.10 11. The noble army of Martyrs praise thee Rev. 6.9 10. The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee Psal 67.2 The Father of an infinite Majesty Psal 93.1 Thine honourable true and onely Son Mat. 17.5 Luk. 1.32 Heb. 1.3 4 5. Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter John 14.26 Thou art the King of Glory O Christ Rev. 17.14 Psal 24.8 Luk. 19.38 Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father Rom. 1.4 Isa 9.6 Luk. 1.35 John 8.58 John 17.5 When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man thou didst not abhor the Virgins womb Philip. 2.6 7. Mat. 1.25 When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers John 14.2 3. John 17.24 Heb. 9.8 9 10 11. Heb. 10.19 20. Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father Act. 2.33 Heb. 10.12 Heb. 12.2 We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge Rom. 2.16 Act. 1.11 Act. 17.31 We therefore pray thee help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Psal 74.2 Make them to be numbred with thy Saints 〈◊〉 in glory everlasting Colos 1.12 John 17.22 O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage Govern them and lift them up for ever Joel 2.17 Psal 28.9 Day by day we magnifie thee Psal 96 2◠Psal 145.2 And we worship thy Name ever world without end Psal 61.8 Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin Psal 17.5 Gen. 20.6 O Lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us Psal 123.3 O Lord
Priests of the Lord bless ye the Lord Psal 135.19 20. O ye servants of the Lord bless ye the Lord Psal 134.1 O ye spirits and souls of the righteous bless ye the Lord Heb. 12.23 O ye holy and humble men of heart bless ye the Lord Isa 57.15 O Ananias Azarias and Misael bless ye the Lord. Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. EXPLANATION This Song or Hymn commonly called the Song of the Three Children is word for word to be found in the Apocryphal Scripture and was used to be read by Christians in their publick Congregations as a Religious Formulary of pious thoughts confessions and prayers fit to be used in times of remarkable deliverances vouchsafed from great dangers The names of the Three Children mentioned in the close of this Hymn are to be met with in the Book of Daniel which is received for Canonical Dan. 1.6 and the occasion why this Psalm of Praise was at first composed Dan. 3.25 In the Apocryphal Book of Daniel this Hymn is set down word for word as is before noted which Apocryphal Books were anciently of very great esteem in the Church and were publickly read in the Congregations for instruction in life and manners However as appears by the forecited Texts this Hymn is exactly agreeable with Canonical Scripture and the Ancient Fathers did highly approve of it neither is there in it any thing liable to a just exception for it is only a methodical and full Compendium of the great and glorious Works of God and the whole scope of it is to shew that God is and will be magnified in all his Creatures We do not in it speak to the Creatures for to instruct them what they should do but we rather speak of them to teach our selves what is our duty that is to glorifie God together and therefore do we conclude it with Glory be to the Father that we may actually do it RUBRICK Then shall be read in like manner the second Lesson taken out of the New Testament And after that the Hymn following except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day or for the Gospel on St. John Baptists day Benedictus St. Luke 1.68 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 fore-father Abraham that he would give us That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life And thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways 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 Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. RUBRICK Or this Psalm Jubilate Deo Psal 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 Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. EXPLANATION Let it be here noted once for all that the Benedictus of Zachary and Psalm the 100. for the Morning Service after the Second Lesson and the Magnificat of Mary Luk. 1.46 with Psalm the 98. after the First Lesson in the Evening Service and the Nunc Dimittis Luk. 2.29 and Psalm the 67. after the Second Lesson are ordered to be read as the Minister shall make his choice This or That and however these Hymns or Psalms were composed upon occasion of particular benefits yet are they always of singular use in the Church of God The forementioned Hymns are frequently used in our publick Service because they are the Hymns wherewith our blessed Saviour was joyfully received at his first entrance into this world and they do somewhat more concern us then Davids Psalms do because the Gospel and New Testament is of more concern to us then the Law and the Old These Hymns are proper only to Christianity whereas the Psalms are common to the Jews and Christians The Psalms are Prophesies and Predictions of Christ who was to come these Hymns are plain discoveries of Christ who is come They are the first gratulatory Hymns which welcomed into the world our born Saviour And though they were most seasonable then when they were first composed and sung yet we may profitably enough use them still as well as Hezekiah in publick Service commanded the Songs of David and Asaph to be used which were composed long time before 2 Chron. 29.30 For the promises and performances of God are not so restrained to particular persons but others also may go sharers in them in regard of the mystical union of all the faithful and however the particular occasion may cease yet the fountain of goodness and mercy is ever the same besides by frequent using of the praises of the Saints our minds may daily more and more be inured and enflamed with their affections And the Church hath very fitly appointed Hymns after Lessons for when we have heard God out of the Lessons speaking as it were from Heaven to our Souls how can we do less then rise up and praise him and with what Hymns can we praise him better for our Salvation then with those which were the first gratulations of our Saviour As for the Hymn and Benedictus of Zachary it was indeed composed by reason of Christ's birth and manifestation in our flesh which Zachary the Author of it Prophetically foresaw and therefore composed it for to entertain Christ withall Yet though the occasion of it was or rather was not particular we may convert it to a common use as well as the Epistles of St. Paul which were most of them written upon special occasions Neither can that occasion be indeed particular where the benefit is common for the birth of Christ as much concerns us as it did Zachary and therefore we
next that we should in the most chearful posture which is standing exhibit to God our Lands and Praises for all those blessings which he hath most graciously conferred upon us which Praises of God cannot be better set forth than in the Book of Psalms which his own Spirit hath endited which once made up a great part of the Jewish Service and which Christ himself consecrated by his and the Apostles use of them to bear a part in Christian Assemblies Wherein we are to consider 1. Whom we are to praise The Lord. 2. How we are to do it joyntly with voices of Psalmodists and joyful hearts Let us sing let us heartily rejoyce 3. Why we are to do it Because he is the strength of our Salvation our mighty Saviour and deliverer ready to supply all our needs to help us in all our dangers and distresses and can and will succour us if we relie upon him when we are most destitute O come therefore let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our salvation Psal 95.1 which Psalm hath been used by the Church of God in all ages for an Introit Psalm to put us in mind how we should praise and glorifie God Now as we invite our selves by this Psalm to give glory to God so it is meet and convenient that at the end of every Psalm we should actually do it saying Glory be to God the Father our Maker to God the Son our Redeemer to God the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier as it hath been the ancient use in all Christian Assemblies Seventhly Having offered up our Lands and Praises to God in a most solemn manner whereby we may not only instruct our selves but edifie Gods glory then to give a kind of rest to our devotions that they tire not it follows in due and proper place that we should with all devout diligence sober serious and grave attention give up our selves to the hearing of Holy Scriptures distinctly and orderly read out of both the Testaments For as it was once the practice of the Jews in their publick Service to have one Lesson read out of the writings of Moses and another out of the other Prophets that the people might see the Harmony and agreement betwixt Moses and the rest so the like use and practice hath been observed by Christians in their publick Assemblies to have one Lesson read out of the Old Testament and another out of the New only a Hymn used betwixt both to take off from the tediousness and to make the Service the more recreative that people may be able to see the Harmony of both the Testaments to discern one God one Christ and one Spirit in both and how the Old Testament carries the New along with it in the same bottom that both aim at one and the same great design to make men first holy and then happy And this reading of Scripture hath been in ancient times esteemed Preaching as appears Act. 15.21 where it is said That Moses of old time had in every City them that preached him being read in the Synagogue every Sabbath-day There are indeed other ways of preaching besides this Dilating upon a Text of Scripture is preaching Catechizing is preaching Expounding is preaching yet this hinders not but bare reading of the Text may be preaching also and may for ought I know edifie as well as any Gloss made upon it â—or can we imagine that a set speech of any man made upon a Text of Scripture taken at all adventure though it may set an edge upon somâ— hearers devotion should yet edifie more than the Text it self or adde any efficacy to that Certainly the Sermons of Moses and the Prophets of Christ and his Apostles being often heard with attention and devotion as they are often read may instruct as much as any set speech delivered by men of meaner gifts which may be as soon forgotten as it is spoken and may be oft-times more obscure too than the Text which it endeavours to explain This is not spoken to detract from solid and seasonable preaching but only to vindicate the Word read from that scorn which too many put upon it in these evil days Eighthly Having devoutly heard the Word of God and by often hearing of it been well grounded and instructed in those points of Faith which are necessarily to be believed by all who seek for salvation by Jesus Christ the anointed Saviour which points of Faith are briefly summed up in the Apostles Creed and only enlarged by way of explication in the Nicene and Athanasian it follows next in very good order that we should in a posture of resolution which is a standing posture make publick and joynt Confession of that Faith with our mouths which we believe in our hearts to shew that we dare own it in the face of all the world and are not ashamed of it Wherein we confess to believe That there is one God maker of all things one Christ redeemer of mankind one Holy Spirit sanctifier of the elect people of God which people are an holy society or Church Catholick dispersed over the world and a Communion of Saints firmly united by all the communications of love and charity acted by the same Spirit governed by the same Laws leading holy and pure lives having all the same hopes to have their sins pardoned their bodies raised from death to life again and souls and bodies both re-united and crowned with glory in an immortal and endless life This is the summe of our Faith which we are to make Confession of after the hearing of the Word Because Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.17 Ninthly Having thus far proceeded in the publick Service both for Morning and Evening in a right and due order it is meet in the close of all when we have first prepared and fitted our selves by some quickning reciprocal Responds that we summe up either in Litanies universal Collects or Collects apart all that we are to pray unto God for or to praise him for in publick Assemblies Now all will come under the heads mentioned 1 Tim. 2. vers 1 2. which Text seems to be a platform according to which the publick Service fitted for Christian Assemblies was first framed up wherein we meet with 1. Supplications for the averting of all hurtful things from us sins and dangers that God would turn us from the evil of sin by Grace and turn from us the evil of punishment by Mercy 2. Prayers for the obtaining of all good things which we want for our souls and bodies for our souls pardon of sins past and grace to forsake sin for the future for our bodies all things needful and convenient for us whilst we live here what God knows best for us in order to advance his glory to promote the good of others and the salvation of our own souls 3. Intercessions for others for all mankind for all Governours secular and spiritual that they
some one or more of these sentences of the Scriptures that follow and then he shall say that which is written after the said sentences When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Ezek. 18.27 I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me Psal 51.3 Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities Psal 51.9 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 Rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Joel 2.13 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his Laws which he set before us Dan. 9.9 10. O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Jer. 10.24 Repent ye for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3 2. I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son Luke 15.18 19. Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal 143.2 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us But if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1.8 9. EXPLANATION The forecited sentences are all taken word for word out of the Holy Scripture of which the Minister may according to his discretion and as a fit occasion shall be offered make his choice which he is to read with a grave distinct loud but humble voice always considering that they are here set in proper place to mind the Congregation of their own misery and God's mercy and to prepare and stir up the hearts of people for the better performance of Holy Duties following both with alacrity and devotion DEarly beloved brethren Jam. 2.5 the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness 1 John 1.9 Psal 51.3 Psal 38.18 and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father Prov. 28.13 Psal 32.5 but confess them with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by his infinite goodness and mercy Psal 10.17 Psal 34.18 Joel 2.12 13. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God 1 Tim. 2.8 yet ought we most chiefly so to do when we assemble and meet together Levit. 4.14 to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands Psal 68.19 to set forth his most worthy praise Psal 50.23 to hear his most holy word Hebr. 3.7 Rom. 10.17 and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul Mat. 6.11 12. Mat. 7.7 8. Jam. 4.2 3. Wherefore I pray and beseech you as many as are here present to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice 1 Cor. 4.16 2 Cor. 2.8 2 Cor. 5.20 unto the throne of the heavenly Grace saying after me Hebr. 4.16 EXPLANATION The forementioned Exhortation is grave and serious exactly agreeable to Holy Scripture in which the people are invited and exhorted in an Apostolical stile to confess their sins humbly to the Lord who is able to help them because Almighty and willing to hear them because most merciful It gives us in a short summe the chief ends of our publick meetings in the houses of God it sets us some steps forward toward repentance makes us to know that we have offended instructs us how and in what manner to acknowledge our offence and by degrees brings us to confession upon our knees RUBRICK A general Confession to be said of the whole Congregation after the Minister all kneeling ALmighty and most merciful Father Gen. 17.1 Gen. 35.11 2 Cor. 1.5 we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep Psal 119.176 1 Pet. 2.25 we have followed too much the devises and desires of our own hearts Febr. 3.10 Gen. 6.5 we have offended against thy holy Laws Act. 7.53 Dan. 9.9 10. Jam. 2.10 Jam. 3.2 we have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done Rom. 7.15 19. and there is no health in us Isa 1.5 6. But thou O Lord have mercy upon us miserable offenders Luke 18.13 Psal 51.1 Spare thou them O God which confess their faults Joel 2.17 Hos 14.2 restore thou them that are penitent Psal 51.12 Hebr. 6.6 according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord Ephes 3.6 Rom. 15.8 2 Cor. 1.20 And grant O most merciful Father for his sake John 14.13 14. John 15.16 that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life Tit. 2.11 12. to the glory of thy holy Name 1 Pet. 4.11 1 Cor. 10.31 Amen 1 Cor. 14.16 EXPLANATION This Confession as appears by the forecited Texts is exactly agreeable to Scripture and is rationally and upon prudent grounds allowed the first place in our publick Liturgy We begin our Service with Confession of sin for these reasons 1. Because our sins make a separation betwixt God and us Isa 59.2 keep good things from us Jer. 5.25 hinder our prayers from ascending acceptably to God and God's blessings from descending comfortably upon us 2. It was the practice of God's people the Jews to begin their Service with a general Confession of sin of which we have the marks and signs in the Law Lev. 16.16 and the pattern and platform in the Prophets but the Confessions themselves are particularly to be met with in the Books of the Jews This verbal Confession of which we have an instance Luke 1.10 made the Jews fully acquainted with the true use of Sacrifices Besides Almighty God being jealous of his honour commanded a brazen Laver to be set between the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Altar for Aaron and his Sons twice in a day to wash their hands and feet Exod. 30.17 18 19 20 21. by which was signified the Laver of Repentance which we always stand in need of From the Jews it afterwards became a custom in the Christian Church to begin their publick Service with Confession of sin and to perform it in such a manner as we do The very Heathens had something amongst them which seemed to allude to it for they used to wipe off the dirt from their feet when they entred into the places of their Religious Service and Sacrifice However it is most certainly
let thy mercy lighten upon us as our trust is in thee Psal 33.22 O Lord in thee have I trusted let me never be confounded Psal 71.1 EXPLANATION The Church in appointing Hymns observes punctually the rule of the Apostle Colos 3.16 and from the practice of Christ and his Apostles who sung Hymns together Mat. 26.30 probably to teach and instruct us to do the like may the Antiquity of them in the Christian Church be derived We have not only Christ's example for it and the Apostles command for it but we read of it practised in the Church of Alexandria which was founded by St. Mark St. Ambrose brought Hymns into the Church of Millain God saith Jerom is delighted with Morning and Evening Hymns St. Augustine as we read in the Life of him was very much afflicted a little before his death as for the decay of other things in Religion and in the publick worship of God so that the Hymns and Lauds used to be sung to God were lost out of the Church Those Hymns were either said or sung but more properly sung because Hymns are Songs of Praise and it was the practice to sing them both in the Jewish Psal 47.6 and Christian Church Mat. 26.30 for singing enflames and enlivens the minds and affections of the hearers and such musick by pleasing the affections and delighting the minds of men makes the Service of God more delectable and less tedious And for this reason is Church-Service so intermixed with Lessons Psalms and Prayers and like the garment of the Spouse Psal 45. made up of such variety that by this variety our devotions may be carried on with the more chearfulness and the greater appetite and without any fastidiousness Standing was the usual posture for the saying or singing of Hymns for it is indeed the most proper posture for thanksgiving or laud Psal 134.1 2. 2 Chron. 7.6 and this erection of our bodies doth most properly express the elevation of our hearts in joy praises and Eucharist unto God The forementioned Hymn called Te Deum laudamus was composed as it is said by St. Ambrose and St. Augustine which they used to sing Anthem-wise and the occasion of its composition was St. Augustine's Conversion and Baptism in both which St. Ambrose was most happily instrumental But be the Author who it will the Structure though Humane is complete and the materials of it are Divine and it is worthily enough vouchsafed a place in our constant Service for its Antiquity for its consonancy with Scripture for having the Churches both warrant and approbation for the contents of it which are most Christian hugely advantageous for the heightning of Devotion and promoting of Religion wherein is acknowledged the Power and Majesty of God the Father the Divinity and Humanity of God the Son his Incarnation Passion Resurrection Ascension Exaltation to Glory and Power committed to him for to guide rule preserve and govern his Church and wherein also is asserted the Divinity of God the Holy Ghost and there is nothing in the whole Hymn but what is very agreeable to Scripture Some exception may be made against this expression in it When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers But what can justly be found fault with in this expression by it we do not express this to be our meaning as if we thought that the departed Saints were not in a state of bliss and happiness before Christ's Ascension but our meaning is rather that Christ by his Ascension prepared a greater and more complete state of bliss for those that are his meriting their going to it by his Death and making the way passable by his Resurrection and Ascension John 3.13 John 14.2 3. Heb. 9.8 12. Heb. 10.19 20. Heb. 11.40 for by this means he procured greater Grace for them here greater Glory for them hereafter Whatever he did or suffer'd the end was to open the kingdom which our sins had shut up which he opened most liberally at his Ascension and after he had overcome the sharpness of death for then he took a local possession of Glory for the use of all that are his Be the state of the Saints departed before what it will yet what God bestowed upon their Souls was procured by Christ's Death Resurrection and Ascension which followed after as also the Glorification of their bodies is most certainly to follow the Exaltation of his whither the glory of the Head is gone before the hope of the Body is to follow after and when our bodies and souls come to be glorified together then shall we be in our complete and perfect bliss Glory be to the Father is not enjoyned to be used at the end of this Hymn because it is it self almost nothing else but that Doxology enlarged RUBRICK Or this Canticle Benedicite omnia opera Domini O All ye works of the Lord bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever Psal 145.10 O ye Angels of the Lord bless ye the lord praise him c. Psal 148.2 O ye Heavens bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 148.4 O ye waters that be above the Firmament bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 148.4 O all ye powers of the Lord bless ye the Lord c. Psal 150.1 O ye Sun and Moon bless ye the Lord c. Psal 148.3 O ye Stars of Heaven bless ye the Lord c. Psal 148.3 O ye showres and dwe bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.8 Psal 148.4 O ye winds of God bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.18 Psal 148.8 O ye fire and heat bless ye the Lord c. O ye Winter and Summer bless ye the Lord c. Psal 74.17 O ye dews and frosts bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.16 O ye frost and cold bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.16 17. O ye ice and snow bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.16 17. O ye nights and days bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 74.16 O ye light and darkness bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 104.19 20. O ye lightnings and clouds bless ye the Lord c. Job 38.25 34 35. O let the earth bless the Lord yea let it praise him c. Psal 67.6 O ye mountains and hills bless ye the Lord praise him c. Psal 148.9 O all ye green things upon the earth bless ye the Lord c. Psal 147.8 Psal 148.9 O ye wells bless ye the Lord c. Psal 104.10 O ye seas and flouds bless ye the Lord Job 38.8 9 10 11. O ye Whales and all that move in the waters bless ye the Lord Gen. 1.21 O all ye fowls of the air bless ye the Lord Psal 148.10 O all ye beasts and cattel bless ye the Lord Psal 148.10 O ye children of men bless ye the Lord Psal 107.8 O let Israel bless the Lord praise him c. Psal 135.19 O ye
all men and deserves to be celebrated in the most solemn manner with all the Instruments of Musick used in the Service of God and all are little enough to express the Glory of the work and the infinite advantages designed to us by Christ thus entring upon his Regal Office in order to subdue all the world to the power of the Gospel which is the Scepter of his Kingdom For this we should praise him in our contemplations and actions words and works lips and life being all of us as so many spiritual Temples of God and Timbrels of the Holy Ghost Vers 8 9 10. All the habitable world the very Heathens who have been long under the servitude of their false Idol worships shall now be redeemed from that slavery of sin and Satan the Idol Oracles and Temples shall all be destroyed and the Doctrine of the true God and practice of Piety Justice and Charity shall be set up in their stead and thereby a most happy joyful Reformation be wrought amongst men which certainly deserves all the acknowledgments of humble and thankful hearts and lays obligations upon us to ascribe all glory to God in all the Churches 6. A Paraphrase upon Nunc dimittis Luke 2. Vers 29. O Lord seeing thou hast in great mercy fulfilled thy gracious promise revealed to me touching the Messias I am heartily content now to dye Vers 30. And needs must I dye happy and contented who have seen with mine eyes the Messias and Saviour of the world the great means and glorious instrument of man's Salvation Vers 31. Whom thou hast so long promised and now exhibited to be seen by all which Salvation thou hadst ordained from everlasting to be made known in due time to all Nations and to make them partakers of it Vers 32. That there might be a light afforded to the Gentile world to reveal to them Gods righteousness and that way of living which is to God most acceptable who after he hath reformed the Religion of the Jews teaching them substantial Duties instead of Ceremonial observances was to bring in the Gentiles to embrace the same Religion and so to bring much glory and honour to all of that Nation and of all Nations in the world who would receive him for which unspeakable mercy all Nations in the world are to ascribe all glory to God Father Son and Holy Ghost in all the Churches 7. A Paraphrase upon Psal 67. Vers 1. THe great and good God of Heaven pardon our sins supply our wants bestow his blessings both spiritual and temporal upon us behold us with favour and acceptance and for ever continue them unto us Vers 2. This may be a means of propagating the fear worship and Service of the true God to all the Heathen world when they shall see and consider the eminent miraculous acts of thy providence O God over us in delivering us from great dangers and distresses which have been upon us when they shall behold the wonderful order and means which thou observest in governing of thy Church as well in regard of thy Word and Laws as thy Works and Miracles Vers 3. This universal Reformation and acknowledgment of the one true God of Heaven and Earth is a mercy so much to be wished for and desired by every pious man that I cannot but give my suffrage to it and most affectionately call upon all to joyn in this wish and to beseech God that his Kingdom may be enlarged and that all the Nations in the world Jews and Gentiles may joyn in the Service and Worship of him Vers 4. And it must needs be matter of infinite joy and exultation to all Nations when they shall be admitted to so high an honour as to be ruled and directed by God to be governed by his most righteous way of Justice in the Kingdom of the Messias by Laws and Statutes so admirably good and agreeable to our interests and by the administration of his works of providence so admirably wise and just that all the world both in prudence care of and love to themselves are obliged with joy to submit to the setting up of this Kingdom in their hearts Vers 5. And it would be an happy and blessed thing if all the world would be duly sensible of it and all joyn to acknowledge worship serve and obey the true God and so partake of this great mercy and be induced to magnifie his Name for it Vers 6. For his mercies are continually afforded to all rain from heats fruitful seasons and peculiar acts of his providence are such as may oblige the most Heathen men in the world to acknowledge bless and give up themselves to the obedience of him And it is our duty continually to pray unto him that he would bestow his Benediction both upon us and upon all that which he hath so richly afforded us Vers 7. And our prayer shall be that the God of Heaven would crown us with his blessings and that all the most barbarous people in the world may be brought in to acknowledge and worship him and to pay all uniform obedience and subjection to him To whom be glory for ever Amen The Creed of St. Athanasius RUBRICK Vpon these Feasts Christmas-day the Epiphany St. Matthias Easter-day Ascension-day Whitsunday St. John Baptist St. James St. Bartholomew St. Matthew St. Simon and St. Jude St. Andrew and upon Trinity Sunday shall be sung or said at Morning Prayer in stead of the Apostles Creed this Confession of our Christian Faith commonly called the Creed of St. Athanasius by the Minister and people standing Quicunque vult WHosoever will be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith Heb. 11.6 Jude vers 3. Heb. 10.23 By Catholick Faith we are to understand the Faith of the Church Universal which is opposed to the Faith of Hereticks Jews Turks and Pagans Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly Ephes 4.5 Jude vers 20. Act. 15.9 John 3.18 Mark 16.16 Faith may be diverse in respect of the subject or believers but not in respect of the object or thing believed for there is but one Faith Ephes 4.5 Therefore this Faith is to be kept whole we are not to divide Christ 1 Cor. 1.13 and this Faith if kindly received and embraced purifies the heart and therefore it is to be kept undefiled Act. 15.9 and upon this account is it stiled the most holy Faith Jude vers 20. Therefore St. Augustine hath expresly declared That a good life is not only inseparable from Faith but that Faith it self is a good life To believe in God and Christ is to do the declared will of the one and the commands of the other It is not enough to profess like Christians and to live like Heathens to be Christians in name and Heathens in manners to profess to know God and in our works to deny him Tit. 1.16 And the Catholick Faith is this That we
sedition privy conspiracy and rebellion from all false doctrine heresie and schism from hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and Commandment Good Lord deliver us We are caution'd and advised by the holy Scriptures to fear the Lord and the King and not to have any thing to do with those who are seditious and given to change Prov. 24.21 for such persons are of very unhappy tempers and plot mischiefs secretly Psal 17.12 are unquiet in themselves and will not suffer others to live quietly by them their hearts are not stablished with grace but are of unstable minds carried about with divers and strange doctrines Heb. 13.9 sound doctrine they regard not but after their own lusts heap to themselves Teachers having itching ears which ears they turn from the truth that they may be turned unto fables 2 Tim. 4.3 4. they have in them evil hearts of unbelief hardned through the deceitfulness of sin so that they depart from the living God Heb. 3.12 13. contemn his Word and slight his Commandment Now from these persons and from the evil of their doings that we may neither act evil with them nor suffer evil from them do we pray to be delivered By the mystery of thy holy Incarnation by thy holy Nativity and Circumcision by thy Baptism Fasting and Temptation Good Lord deliver us Christ's Incarnation Nativity Circumcision Baptism Fasting and Temptation we meet with 1 Tim. 3.16 Mat. 1.25 Luk. 1.35 Luk. 2.21 Mat. 3.16 Luk. 3.21 Mat. 4.1 2 3 4 5 6. By thine Agony and bloudy sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy precious death and burial by thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension and by the coming of the Holy Ghost Good Lord deliver us These we also find expresly mentioned in the holy Scriptures Christ's Agony and bloudy sweat Mat. 26.37 38. Luk. 22.44 his Cross and Passion Philip. 2.8 Heb. 12.2 his precious death and burial Mat. 27.58 59 60. his glorious Resurrection Mat. 28.6 his Ascension Luk. 24.51 and the coming down of the Holy Ghost Act. 2. and By all these or Through all these we pray for deliverance The meanest Grammarian would tell us that here is no swearing or conjuration in the case their eyes must look through very strange Spectacles who can spie out an oath here By is no more then Through and in these prayers we do no other then desire God to aid us by applying to us the fifteen benefits here rehearsed These passionate strains are no forms of Oaths they are only a compendious recapitulation of the History of the Gospel and an acknowledgment of the chief means of our Salvation We read the like expressions 1 Pet. 2.24 Isa 53.5 By in these places is no sign of an oath only it notes the instrumental cause of a thing Zanchy confessed that in the Liturgick Offices of the Roman Church these two things pleased him very much First that they did conclude their Pravers Through Jesus Christ our Lord Secondly that they did enumerate in their Prayers all the acts and offices of the Mediator adding By thy Cross and Passion c. And it was undoubtedly to very good purpose that the 〈◊〉 Fathers of the Greek 〈◊〉 after they had recounted in their Liturgies all the particular pains as they are set down in the story of Christ's Passion and by all and every one of 〈◊〉 petition for mercy did after all 〈◊〉 up with this expression By the unknow◠〈…〉 thy Body and agonies of thy Soul â—ave mercy upon us save us and deliver us In all time of our tribulation in all time of our wealth in the hour of death and in the day of judgment Good Lord deliver us In regard we are liable to many sorts of temptations which may befall us either in a prosperous or adverse estate we pray unto God that he would deliver us from every evil work and preserve us unto his Heavenly Kingdom 2 Tim. 4.18 that he would be assistant to us in the hour of death and destroy the dread and fear of it in us by vertue of the death of him who died that he might destroy death and him who had the power of it Heb. 2.14 15. We pray also that a gracious sentence may be passed upon us at the last Judgment implying withall that we may so lead our lives as not to fall under the other more dreadful one The summe of what is here prayed for is contained in the petitions of our Saviour's Prayer mentioned Mat. 6.13 We sinners do beseech thee to hear us O Lord God and that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church universal in the right way 1 John 1.8 9 10. Mat. 28.20 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Thut it may please thee to keep and strengthen in the true worshipping of thee in righteousness and holiness of life thy servant Charles our most gracious King and Governour 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. Psal 72.1 2. Psal 80.17 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to rule his heart in thy faith fear and love and that he may evermore have affiance in thee and ever seek thy honour and glory Psal 21. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to be his defender and keeper giving him the victory over all his enemies Psal 21. Psal 132. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and preserve our gracious Queen Catherine James Duke of York and all the Royal Family Psal 89.29 Psal 45. Gen. 49.10 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to illuminate all Bishops Priests and Deacons with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word and that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly Deut. 33.8 9 10 11. Psal 132.9 Act. 20.28 1 Cor. 9.27 1 Tim. 4.16 1 Pet. 5.2 3 4. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to endue the Lords of the Council and all the Nobility with grace wisdom and understanding Exod. 18.21 Prov. 11.14 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and keep the Magistrates giving them grace to execute justice and to maintain truth 2 Chron. 19.6 Rom. 13. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people Psal 28.9 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. We may read in Tertullian Clement Bishop of Rome Eusebius Ambrose Cyril and others many early presidents of praying for the Church Emperours Kings the Royal Seed Bishops together with the inferiour order of Priests and Deacons and for all things indeed and persons which we pray for in this Litany and Litanies were undoubtedly of very ancient use being at first composed to be solemnly used for the appeasing of Gods wrath in time of publick evils and for the procuring of his mercy in common benefits this may be easily
our blessed Saviour repeated one Prayer three times Mat 26.44 and he questionless could have altered had he thought it either necessâ—â—â—â— or convenient Such short ejaculatory â—rayers as these come nearest to the pattern given by our Saviour who gave to his Disciples a short form and in all the Holy Bible we meet not with any example or pattern of a very long Prayer Solomon's Prayer used at the Dedication of the magnificent Temple which he built to God is the longest we meet with in Holy Scripture And saith holy Augustine the business of Prayer is rather done by sighs groans and fervency of heart then by multiplicity of words RUBRICK Then shall the Priest and the People with him say the Lords Prayer OVr Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom 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 trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen Luk. 11.2 3 4. For the often use of this Prayer in our Liturgick Offices and the meaning of it see before The Versicle Priest O Lord deal not with us after our sins Answer Neither reward us after our iniquities Psal 130.3 Let us pray Why this is so often used see before O God mercifull Father that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart Psal 51.17 nor the desire of such as be sorrowful mercifully assist our prayers that we make before thee in all our troubles and adversities whensoever they oppress us and graciously hear us that those evils which the craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us be brought to nought and by the providence of thy goodness they may be dispersed that we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord Psal 20. Psal 86.7 O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thy Names sake Nehem. 1.9 10 11. Ezek. 20.9 Ezek. 36.12 O God we have heard with our ears and our fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didst in their days and in the old time before them Psal 78.3 4. Psal 43.1 O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thine honour Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Foly Ghost Answ As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Why this is used and so often see before From our enemies defend us O Christ Psal 25.15 16 17 18 19. Graciously look upon our afflictions Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts Mercifully forgive the sins of thy people Favourably with mercy hear our Prayers O Son of David have mercy upon us Luk. 18.9 Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us O Christ John 14.13 14. Graciously hear us O Christ graciously hear us O Lord Christ Priest O Lord let thy mercy be shewed upon us Answ As we do put our trust in thee Psal 33.22 Note All the forementioned Prayers with the Responds are short lively active and spirited Prayers uttered with fervency which are most available with God when they come from devout and righteous souls Jam. 5.16 it is the short Prayer which pierceth Heaven God looks not at how much we pray but how well we pray how heartily and sincerely we pray Such were the Prayers of the most devout Christians in ancient times whose hearts fired with zeal and devotion did passionately send forth short Prayers as the hottest Springs send forth their waters by ebullitions See before Let us pray WF humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon our infirmities and for the glory of thy Name turn from us all those evils 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 pureness of living to thy honour and glory through our only Mediatour and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Note the fulness of this Prayer and by this judge of all the rest Herein we pray that God would in mercy pardon the sinful frailties and infirmities of our lives and the imperfections of those very Prayers wherein we beg that pardon This we beg not for our merits for we can merit nothing at his hands but upon the account of his mercy And we pray further that he would divert from us all the evil of punishment which our evil of sin might move him justly to inflict upon us and that whatever calamities befall us in this world for our own defaults yet we may repose confidence in his mercy and not distrust him though he kill us however we may have cause enough to distrust our selves but that we may be awakned and warned by the punishments which he is pleased to inflict upon us to walk more warily for the future to make our actions more holy and our lives more pure that so we may bring good to our selves and honour and glory to him and all this as we do all other things convenient and needful for us we beg not through the mediation and intercession of any Saint or Angel but through our only Mediatour and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. A Prayer of St. Chrysostom ALmighty God who 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 are 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 Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 THe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen Here endeth the Litany And be it noted that the Litany is no distinct Service properly for a Service consists of Psalms Lessons Creed Thanksgivings and Prayers distinct only it is a distinct Form and many times made use of as a fit preparative to other ensuing Offices Formerly notice was used to be given by the tolling of a Bell when it was to be said The accustomed days for the saying of it are Sundays Wednesdays Fridays the three days of Rogation and other Fasting-days appointed to be observed in times of Plague Famine War and other general calamities and it is a devotional piece of Service very suitable to all such times The usual place for saying of it where it can be done conveniently is in the midst of the Church and just before the Chancel-door the Ministers turning their faces towards the Altar or Communion-Table when they say it For saith Chrysostom it is fit that the Minister who officiates in Prayer should put on the outward garb and deportment as well as the inward mind of a Supplicant and therefore he
is to be in the kneeling posture the posture of penitents when he is performing this penitential Office and he is to perform it in the appointed place in imitation of the Priests and Ministers under the Law who were commanded in their penitential Service to weep between the Porch and the Altar and to say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God Joel 2.17 To conclude the Litany take it in the whole and in every part of it is so excellent a Form of all good devotion that they must needs be upbraided either with errour or somewhat worse whom in all parts this principal and excellent Prayer doth not fully satisfie The corruptions brought into former Litanies by addition of Saints names and Invocation of Saints are purged away in ours so that there is not any Litany extant more complete then ours is the Church in other Divine Offices hath exceeded other Churches but in this her self RUBRICK Prayers and Thanksgivings upon several occasions to be used before the two final Prayers of the Litany or of Morning and Evening Prayer PRAYERS For Rain O God heavenly Father who 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 Mat. 6.33 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 Jam. 4.3 Jam. 5.18 Hos 2.21 22. 1 King 8.35 36. John 14.13 14. For fair weather O Almighty Lord God who for the sin of man didst once drown all the world except eight persons 1 Pet. 3.20 and afterward of thy great mercy didst promise never to destroy it so again Gen. 8.21 22. We humbly beseech thee that although we for our iniquities have worthily deserved a plague of rain and waters yet upon our true repentance thou wilt send us such weather as that 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 the 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 Job 38.25 26 27 28. Gen. 1. 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 iniquity may through thy goodness be mercifully turned into cheapness and plenty for the love of Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen 2 Chron. 20.9 2 Chron. 6.26 27 28 29 30 31. Rom. 8.32 Deut. 11.13 14. Or this O God merciful Father who in the time of Elisha the Prophet didst suddenly in Samaria turn great scarcity and dearth into plenty and cheapness 2 King chap. 6. chap. 7. Have mercy upon us that we who are now for our sins punished with like adversity may likewise find a seasonable relief increase the fruits of the earth by thy heavenly benediction and grant that we receiving thy bountiful liberality may use the same to thy glory the relief of those that are needy and our own comfort through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 1 King 8.35 36 37 38 39 40. In the time of War and Tumults 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 to 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 evermore from all perils to glorifie thee who art the only giver of all victory through the merits of thy only Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2 Sam. 22.32 Isa 45.22 Psal 76.7 10. 1 King 8. vers 44 c. In the time of any common Plague or Sickness O Almighty God who in thy wrath didst send a Plague upon thine own people in the wilderness for their obstinate rebellion against Moses and Aaron Numb 16. and also 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 2 Sam. 24.15 16. Have pity upon us miserable sinners who now are visited with great sickness and mortality that like as thou didst then accept of an atonement and didst command the destroying Angel to cease from punishing 2 Sam. 24.16 so it may now please thee to withdraw from us this plague and grievous sickness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen In the Ember weeks to be said every day for those that are to be admitted into Holy Orders ALmighty God our heavenly Father who hast purchased to thy self an universal Church by the precious bloud of thy dear Son Act. 20.28 Colos 1.13 14. Tit. 2.14 Rev. 1.5 Rev. 7.14 mercifully look upon the same and at this time so guide and govern the minds of thy servants the Bishops and Pastours of thy flock that they may lay hands suddenly on no man 1 Tim. 5.22 but faithfully and wisely make choice of fit persons to serve in the sacred Ministery of thy Church Act. 1.24 25 26. And to those which shall be ordained to any holy function give thy grace and heavenly benediction that both by their life and doctrine they may set forth thy glory and set forward the salvation of all men through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 1 Tim. 4.16 Deut. 33.8 Or this ALmighty God the giver of all good gifts who of thy divine providence hast appointed divers orders in thy Church 1 Cor. 12.28 29. Ephes 4.11 12. 1 Pet. 4.10 1 Cor. 12.4 Give thy grace we humbly beseech thee to all those who are to be called to any office and administration in the same and so replenish them with the truth of thy doctrine and indue them with innocency of life that they may faithfully serve before thee to the glory of thy great Name and the benefit of thy holy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Note The four Ember weeks were anciently weeks of Abstinence quarterly Fasts observed in the four seasons of the year the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent for the Spring the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the Feast of Pentecost for the Summer the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after Holy Cross September the 13th for the Autumn and the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after St. Lucies day December the 13th for the Winter Now the Church enjoyned Wednesday Friday and Saturday to be weekly observed because Christ
was betrayed by Judas on a Wednesday was crucified on a Friday and was laid in the Sepulchre on a Saturday And the Church enjoyned these days to be quarterly observed as Fasting-days for these following reasons 1. That Christians might be as devout as the Jews who observed four several and solemn times of Fast in the year Zechar. 8.19 2. Because these are the First-fruits of every Season which we rightly dedicate to the service and honour of God that beginning every Season so devoutly we may learn to spend the whole year accordingly and that by this means we may procure Gods blessing upon the Fruits of the year arising out of the Earth which are at these Seasons either sown sprung up come to ripeness or gathered into Barns 3. That we may call our selves yearly to a strict account for our sins committed every Season and sadly and seriously repent of them 4. That we may implore Gods mercy to our bodies in freeing us from those common distemperatures which usually are predominant at these four Seasons 5. That we may procure the greater blessing upon the Ministers received into Holy Orders at these four Seasons of the year by Prayer Fasting and imposition of hands Now the forementioned weeks are called Ember weeks from an old Saxon word Enthber which denotes Abstinence or say others from the word Ember now commonly in use which signifies Ashes for Ashes were a ceremony frequently made use of in times of Fasting and carried with it significancy sufficient from which ceremony the first day of the Lent-fast was termed Ash-wednesday of which it is probable I may say something more in proper place A Prayer for the High Court of Parliament to be read during their Session MOst gracious God we humbly beseech thee as for this Kingdom in general so especially for the High Court of Parliament under our most religious and gracious King at this time assembled That thou wouldst be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations to the advancement of thy glory the good of thy Church the safety honour and welfare of our Soveraign and his Kingdoms that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness truth and justice religion and piety may be established among us for all generations These and all other necessaries for them for us and thy whole Church we humbly beg in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ our most blessed Lord and Saviour Amen Note No persons can be offended at this Prayer who are not enemies to all goodness and rather desire that debauchery and wickedness should overspread a Nation to the shame and dishonour of it than piety and vertue to advance its reputation A Collect or Prayer for all conditions of men to be used at such times when the Litany is not appointed to be said O God the Creator and Preserver of all mankind we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them thy saving health unto all nations Psal 67.1 2. 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. More especially we pray for the good estate of the Catholick Church Gal. 6.10 Psal 122.6 that it may be so guided and governed by thy good spirit that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth and hold the faith in unity of spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life Ephes 4.3 Finally we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are any ways afflicted or distressed in mind body or estate Heb. 13.3 * * This to be said when any desire the prayers of the Congregation especially those for whom our prayers are desired that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities giving them patience under their sufferings and a happy issue out of all their afflictions And this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake Amen A Prayer that may be said after any of the former O God whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble petitions Psal 103.13 and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us for the honour of Jesus Christ our Mediatour and Advocate Amen Note Touching the preceding Prayers and following Thanksgivings may it be observed that extraordinary dangers should of themselves invite us and stir us up to extraordinary Prayers and extraordinary deliverances from those dangers should equally move us to extraordinary thankfulness as we are to pray to God for the blessings we would obtain so we are to praise him when they are obtained when God opens his hand to gratifie us we should open our mouths to glorifie him It is the Apostles prescribed method to begin with Prayer and to end with Thanksgiving 1 Tim. 2.1 indeed where the concernment is National a provision in such cases is usually better made by fixing set days to be solemnly and religiously observed but it many times happens that the calamities inflicted and mercies received are only Provincial or peculiar to some one County Town City or Vicinage so that they may not reach the cognizance of the Supreme Magistrate therefore are these Prayers and Thanksgivings composed that they may be ready upon all occasions for us to have recourse to when there are no set days indicted for such a purpose THANKSGIVINGS A General Thanksgiving ALmighty God Father of all mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks Psal 116.12 13. for all thy goodness and loving kindness to us and to all men 1 Tim. 2.1 * * This to be said when any that have been prayed for desire to return praise particularly to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for thy late mercies vouchsafed unto them We bless thee for our creation preservation and all the blessings of this life but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of grace and for the hope of glory And we beseech thee give us that due sense of all thy mercies that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful and that we may shew forth thy praise not only with our lips but in our lives by giving up our selves to thy service and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days Luk. 1.74 75. Tit. 2.11 12. through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory world without end Amen Note This Thanksgiving is not only warrantable by more Texts of Scripture then I have cited but it is so excellent both for matter and method that all Churches and Writers can hardly shew a better form so full of matter and that comprized in so few words This needs no vindication because no persons in their