by holy Baptism he hath called you to the state of Grace and Salvation through Iesus Christ and humbly beseech God to give you his grace to continue in the fame to your lifes end by the religious observance of that Vow which was so solemnly taken in your Name the which you must now perform that you forfeit not the great priviledges rewards and honours of being a member of Christ a child of God and an heir of the Kingdom of Heaven III. When you view the Pulpit REmember how many good Lessons you have received thence the which not being carefully practised will rise up in judgment against you in the great day of your Trial. Resolve therefore for the future to be a Doer of the Word and not a Hearer only deceiving your own Self IV. When you look up towards the Altar say WHat reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me I will receive the cup of salvation offer the sacrifice of Thanksgiving for my Redemption and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my Vows unto the Lord in the sight of all the people in the Courts of the Lords house even in the midst of thee O Ierusalem Praise the Lord. Ps. 116. 12 13 14 18 19. Glory be to the Father As it was in the beginning V. When you come to your Seat kneeling down pray I. Prayer LET thy merciful ears O Lord be open to the prayers of thy humble servants and grant that what we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually through Jesus Christ. II. Prayer O God for as much as without thee we are not able to please thee grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts and more especially be assistant to us in all the holy Actions of this Day through Jesus Christ III. Prayer AND since by reason of our sins we are unworthy to offer up any sacrifice to so pure a Majesty grant merciful Lord both to me and to all thy faithful people Pardon and Peace that being cleansed from all our sins we may serve thee with a quiet mind through Jesus Christ DIRECTIONS relating to some parts of the Publick Worship AS soon as the Minister begins with the Publick Worship all your Private Meditations and Prayers must be waved and your Mind applied to attend diligently and to joyn devoutly in every part and passage of Divine Service considering that this is the great end of your coming to Church and your business there is to serve the Lord with your Christian Brethren in Publick 1. Therefore when the Minister exhorts you out of the Word of God to confess and acknowledg your sins and wickedness harden not your heart but with all possible humility both of Body and Soul say after the Minister in the Confession of Sin and to this and to every Prayer or other Act of Divine Worship where t is prescribed neglect not to say Amen for that is as it were the Seal to confirm to your soul the benefits thereof And the Hebrews have a saying that Whosoever says Amen with all his might opens the doors of Paradise 2. Alter the Confession when the Minister comes to the words of Absolution bow down your head and say softly in your heart Lord let this Pardon pronounced by thy Minister fall upon my soul and seal thereunto the forgiveness of all my sins 3. The Psalms and Hymns are to be answered verse by verse with the Minister that so all may joyn and bear a part in the Service of God for in his Temple doth every man speak of his Honour Ps. 29. 9. And here although you cannot read yet your Heart may joyn with them that do read and your Mouth also may shew forth the Praise of God by saying after every Psalm Glory be to the Father and to or else if it fall in couse As it was in the beginning is now adding always Amen to express how affectionately you desire the Glory of God 4. Be not silent nor ashamed publickly and audibly to make Confession of the holy Christian Faith when you are thereunto called by the Minister for this is a duty you owe both to God and Man it is an act of God's Worship and a Declaration that you hold the same Faith with all true Christians and therfore t is required of you not only with the Heart to believe unto righteousness but that with the Mouth also Confession be made unto salvation And when the Confession of Faith is publickly pronounced do not you sit or loll as if it concerned you not but stand up with the rest of the Congregation to signifie and declare that you will stand to this Faith and earnestly contend for it as being the same which was once given to or by the Saints the holy Apostles 5. Be not so cold and careless in giving Honour to God as not to bow at the Name of IESUS for t is a duty positively commanded and universally practised by the Church and people of God in all ages And therefore give no ear to those deceivable Criticisms corrupt Glosses and false Inferences which are too frequently but profanely urged to make void the Commandement of God in the omission of this Religious Practice If you hear any such Allegations out of the Pulpit detest them the rather that any Act of Religious Worship should be spoken against in the place where whatever tends to the honour of God should be magnified and advanced 6. That you may not be tired with the length of Divine Service consider 1. the great variety of its several parts as consisting of Prayers and Praises Confessions Thanksgivings Invitations Lessons Admonitions all of which are with most admirable Prudence and religious Wisdom so ordered and contrived to follow each other that so the ending of one and beginning of another may renew and re-enquicken your Devotion chearfully to joyn in all Remember 2. whose Service it is you are a doing and continue therein from the beginning to the end that you may reap the Beneft of the whole Office both of the Absolution in the beginning and of the Blessing in the end and of the Amen's throughout A SERMON Preached upon the Arch-Bishop of YORK's Provincial Visitation at WARRINGTON Acts. 20. 28. Take heed to your selves and to all the Flock OXFORD Printed by L. Lichfield Printer to the University for Ric. Sherlock Bookseller In the Year 1684. A SERMON PREACHED AT A VISITATION Act. 20. 28. Take heed to your selves and to all the Flock IN the context we have S. Paul upon his Visitation at Miletus vers 17. And the Visitation as this which is now holden with us is Provincial all the Clergy of the Province of Ephesus being conven'd by this great Visitor and appear before him vers 18. The Text presents you with a part but 't is the principal part of the Visitatiion Sermon or as I may rather call it The Visitors charge to the Clergy of the Province
affirms the necessity of this Prayer before Sermon saying That Queen Esther prayed for the temporal safety of her Nation before she adventured to speak before the King Ahasuerus that God would be pleased to put into her mouth congruous words How much more ought we to pray for the like gift when we are to speak for the eternal salvation of souls in the Word and Doctrine August de Doct Christiana And again saith he When the hour is come to preach before he opens his mouth let him lift up his thirsting soul unto God Answ. It is undoubtedly a laudable practice for every Preacher to pray for the Divine Assistance in his Sermons to the People And this not only in the publick prayers of the Church but in private also betwixt God and his own soul and this as the Father directs before he opens his mouth in publick And such was Queen Esther's prayer in private before she publickly spake to the King which makes rather against than for the private prayer in publick for and with the whole congregation St. August could not be guilty of any such practice for it was against his judgment being himself one of the Two Hundred Fathers of that Milevitan Councel wherein it was decreed that no prayer should be us'd in publick but such as were approv'd in the Synod Sometimes this Father did conclude his Sermon with an Exhortation conceived in form of a Prayer e g. Conversi Turning unto the Lord God Father Almighty let us render him all possible thanks beseeching him of his great mercy that he would vouchsafe to hear our prayers and expell the Enemy from having any influence upon our thoughts and desires words and actions that he would increase our faith govern our minds fill us with spiritual cogitations and at last bring us to everlasting happiness through Iesus Christ which is not so much a Prayer as an Invitation to Prayer suitable to the Form prescribed in the Canon of our Church Object 11. The liberty or private prayer in publick is the way to make an able Ministry whilst thus they are put on to exercise and improve their Ministerial gifts and graces Answ. T is rather the way to make a Licentious Fanatick Brain-sick Ministry and in process of time no Ministry at all for from this practice it is that so very many unlearned unstable souls have taken up the trade and proved as eminent at least as well approved of by the people for their gift of Prayer as the most learned of their Tutorers therein And whosoever shall impartially weigh and without prejudice consider it he may observe that this private prayer in publick both in Church and at home is the very life and soul of that Schism and Division which is still so perniciously kept up in this Church T is hereby maintained more than by preaching and disputes T is from hence that Parties do call their Leaders Godly Ministers and themselves the godly Brethren the children that cry Abba Father the chosen and familiar friends of God from their over-saucy and familiar converse with God This is that great Idol whom all the world of Non-conformists on this side the pale of the Roman Church adore and worship crying down the goodly frame of Gods worship in his Church under the notion of Idolatry Superstition and Will-worship that every one may set up his Idols in his own heart follow the sway of their own imaginations to be guilty themselves of that Will-worship which they falsly impute to the Church of Christ Upon this Rock many thousands of Souls have suffered shipwrack who have been otherwise piously inclined For being taken with holy language religious tone and sceming zeal of this or the other person in their private and conceived prayers they have in respect thereof slighted and undervalued even the Celestial Prayer of God the Son all the divinely inspired prayers of God the Holy Ghost recorded in Holy Writ with all the devout and excellent Prayers of the Church of Christ which are framed after the pattern prescribed by our Lord commanded by the higher Powers used by the devout people of God in all Ages and whereby many thousand triumphant Saints in Heaven have pray'd themselves into that blissful place of Eternal Glory After all this it would be considered That as every error in Religion is very prolifick in bringing forth many others of the same mishapen stamp and nature so this erroneous way of divine worship the use of a private Prayer in a publick Congregation is also productive of many mistakes and falshoods and deformed ways of worship in the management thereof And 1. Such private Prayers in publick are generally erroneous in the length of them For that Long Prayers are unlawful is apparent First Because they are prohibited by our Lord Mat. 6. 7. When ye pray use not vain repetitions which cannot be understood of the same prayer repeated which is falsly objected against the prayers of the Church for so prayed our Lord himself and his example surely contradicts not his Doctrine whose Prayer when most earnest in his Desires was the same three times repeated and a very short prayer also Mat. 26. 44. By vain repetitions then must be meant the repetitions of the same thing in other words For First to use multitude of words and variety of expressions in prayer is vain i. e superfluous impertinent and to no purpose since our desires may and ought to be expressed in few words and pertinent Secondly such are generally vain i. e. empty and insignificant that have more noise than weight more sound than sense serving only to fill up the time to amuse the minds and tickle the itching ears of the Hearers That such kind of long Prayers are here forbidden by our Lord is manifest Secondly From the parallel Text quoted in the Margin Eccles. 5. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy words be few And this Text in the margin quotes another to the same purpose Prov. 10. 19. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin but he that refraineth his lips is wise Thirdly From the custom of the Heathen as it follows Use not vain repetitions as the Heathen do It was the manner of the Heathen saith the ordinary Gloss out of Cyprian to endeavour rather to be eloquent than devout in their prayers and to be loud and clamorous rather than fervent and zealous And example whereof we have 1 Kings 18. 27. where Elijah mocks the Priests of Baal calling upon their Pagan Deities Cry aloud for he is a God either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is in a journey or peradventure he is asleep and must be awaked And accordingly they cryed aloud thinking as our Saviour here saith that they should be heard for their much speaking And therefore as it follows v. 18. Be not like unto
Bookseller In the Year 1684 MEDITATIONS upon our going to Church with some short Directions for your Demoanour in the House and in the Service of GOD. UPon your going to Church three things will be necessary for you to consider 1. The Condition of the Place whither you are going 2. The great End of your going thither and 3. How there you are to demean your self All this you would consider if you were going to the Palace of an earthly Prince who is but a mortal man like your self and you surely have much more reason to consider the particulars now that you are going unto the Courts of the Lord's house First then as to the House whither you are going t is indeed as to its Fabrick but like other houses made of wood and stone even as the Lords day is but like other days as to the air and light of heaven but the relative holiness of this House and its eminency above other houses will appear by the Names whereby it is called both in the Book and by the people of God Under the Law it was called the Tabernacle of the Congregation i. e. the place of God's meeting with his people the Temple of the Lord where he presents himself to the contemplation or view of his Worshippers sitting betwixt the Cherubims as on his throne of State T is also called the Sanctuary of the Lord the House of God the Habitation of his Holiness and the place where his Honour dwelleth All which Names do explain each other and need no Interpretation Under the Gospel t is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord's House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King's Palace and Oratorium the House of Prayer Any of which Names much more all of them together considered will oblige any man who hath any sense of Religion to obey that command of God himself which is not merely ceremonial and typical but moral and perpetual Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary Lev. 19. 30. Secondly As to the great end of your going to Church it is to present your self before the Lord and there to adore the great Majesty of Heaven from whom you have your life and breath and all things It is not to serve your self by hearing this or t'other fine-gifted Minister tickling your itching ears by his taking Discourses agreeable to your fancy but to serve the Lord is your Errand to his House viz. there to joyn with the Minister and the Congregation in publick prayers and praises of God in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs in Confessions Thanksgivings and Benedictions as wherein chiefly the Service of God consists Behold now praise the Lord all ye servants of the Lord ye that by night stand in the House of the Lord even in the Courts of the house of our God Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary and praise the Lord Ps. 134. 1. 2. As for me I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name Ps. 138. 2. Thirdly As to your Carriage and Demeanour in the house of God you are commanded Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God Eccles. 5. 1. enjoyning thee First to beware of all light unseemly indecent and irreverent carriage and to shew humility and devotion in all the gestures of thy Outward man bowing down thy self and kneeling before the Lord thy Maker Ps. 95. 6. before him who made both thy body and soul and joyned them together that they might be joyned in his Service So worshipped the people of God the whole Congregation bowed themselves with their faces to the ground 2 Chron 7. 3. And so all good people resolve to do We will go into his Tabernacle and fall low on our knees before his footstool Ps. 132. 7. Secondly The foot of the Inward man must also and chiefly be kept upright in the house of God Thy Affections are the feet or motions of thy Soul these must be kept free from all secular cares pure from all sensual lusts clean from all wanton wicked inclinations yea from all thoughts of any worldly concerns for ye cannot serve God and Mammon Mat. 6. 24. In the High-priest's forehead was engraven in a plate of Gold Holiness to the Lord Exod. 28. 36. and every ordinary Priest was commanded to wash before he entred into the Sanctuary Exod. 30. 19 10. intimating that exact Purity and Holiness which is required of all both Priests and People when we approach the presence of the Lord in his holy Temple So saith the holy man of God Holiness becometh thy house O Lord for ever Ps. 93. 5. and he resolves accordingly I will wash my hands in innocency and so will I go to thine Altar Ps. 26. 6. Be not slothful and negligent averse and careless backward and tardy in coming to the Church for many and mischievous are the consequents of coming thare For 1. you rob your self of the opportunity of your private prayers for a Blessing upon the publick 2. You lose the benefit of the publick Confession and Absolution which are of high esteem and value to all who are wisely religious And 3. to deprive your self wittingly and willingly of any part of God's publick Worship is both a sin and a loss of so great an account as cannot easily be exprest nor will be ordinarily believed Against such sinful sloth and neglect endeavour to have imprinted in your heart the love of God's House and of his Service there performed Say with the man after God's own heart Lord I have loved the habitation of thy House and the place where thine honour dwelleth Ps 26. 8. I was glad when they said unto me We will go unto the house of the Lord. Psalm 122. 1. Our feet stand in thy gates O Ierusalem vers 2. I. When you come to the Church-door COnsider that you are now upon entrance into the Presence chamber of the great King of the World whose Throne of Glory is in Heaven above but his Throne of Grace in his Temple here below Say then within your self Surely the Lord is in this place How dreadful is this plaee This is none other but the house of God this is the gate of heaven Gen. 28. 16 17. How amiable are thy Dwellings thou Lord of hosts My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh rejoyce in the living God Yea the Sparrow hath found her an house and the Swallow a nest where she may lay her young even thine Altars O Lord of hosts my King and my God! Blessed are they who dwell in thy house they will always be praising thee Ps. 84. 1 2 3 4 And most happy were I could I both esteem it and make it my greatest joy and constant labour of love to praise the Lord in his Temple II. When you are entred and view the Baptisterion or Font. GIve hearty thanks unto God for your Christendom that