are condemn'd by it utterly but consider it as it relates to the Apostles and then it has another Aspect for so it is to be look'd upon as a perfect and absolute Form of Prayer given I doubt not to say to be like the Shekel in the Sanctuary a Standard to them and whereas 't is prefac'd with the Words I have read they are I conceive to be look'd on as a Canon to warrant both the Use of it and also the making it a Pattern for the Church to compose her Prayers by For 't is for such ends as these we are to think that our Saviour Christ directing his Apostles in the Duty of Praying say's unto them After this manner Pray ye In which Words there is an Act and it 's Modus or an Injunction and its Qualification Pray ye and Pray ye after this manner Which two considered with what is premis'd give ground for a double Quaere 1. Whether there ought to be a Solemn publick manner of Worship always in the Church of Christ 2. Whether that being granted we in our Church may be said to Pray after the manner prescribed by him Of both which while I speak Affirmatively of the First as briefly as I may of the Second more amply I crave the Patience of this Reverend and Learned Auditory and for my Defects Pardon The First is Whether there ought to be a Solemn and Publick Worship always in the Church of Christ or not And That there ought to be I collect from the Injunction here in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pray ye in regard it is spoken by our Saviour in the Plural Number as to many and for that the Prayer it self is in the Plural too Our Father and then because it ends with Amen which is a Note of publick Use but chiefly in regard these Words are a part of his Divine Law as I instanc'd before whereby he must be thought to establish God's Worship if at all or any where For we may not imagine that the Words of this great Lawgiver import so little as that this Prayer of his should serve only for the present Use of his Disciples and that it should be a Temporary thing Nor can we conceive he meant that the Christian Church should have a less Solemn Service than the Jewish had If so why is this a part of this Sermon of his in the Mount where he is giving his Law why does he deliver it with so much Solemnity as he does with so much Majesty and Authority and why does he bring it in with other substantial parts of the Law of Moses of which he professes he came not to Destroy the least Iôta Surely a Solemn Service or way of worshiping God he meant by 't should be in his Church of which the Apostles to whom he speaks next to himself the prime Foundation Stones and that perpetual a known Solemn Publick and Perpetual Service which all Christian People should have Recourse to even as God's People the Jews had anciently at the Temple and their lesser Synagogues Then it was so in those Days when the Prophet Haggai's Glory appeared in the Second House and is it not most rational that it should be so in ours Yea is it not inferrible from this Rule and Precept manifestly Let who will imagin otherwise it is what I may and therefore shall express Definitively that so long as there shall be a Church upon the Face of the Earth this will authorise her to see that Prayers and Praises be rend'red to Almighty God publickly continually and that they ascend up like the Smoke of the Morning and Evening Sacrifice at the Temple as a due Homage to him For it the Arguments are very weighty and momentous For 1. Had they a Priesthood so have we an Order of Men appointed to be for ever in the Church by an unalterable Constitution Therefore doth the Apostle say of our Saviour Christ that he hath a Priesthood that 's unchangeable or that passeth not away Heb. 7. 24. As blessing us from Heaven by his Intercession on Earth by his Ministry and to like effect is that Promise of his to his Apostles that he would be always with them unto the end of the World Mat. 28. 20. Which Promise the Church has always understood not of the Apostles considered personally but of Church-Officers by an uninterrupted Succession I know the Erastians of our Age wrest the Words another way that thereby they may evacuate Episcopal Ordination For by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there say they is meant only the End or Consummation of the Jewish Oeconomy as it is taken Heb. 9. 26. But however grant it be so it matters not for that things were to continue ever after as they even as the Apostles left them is as undoubtedly true as that our Saviour till then was alwayes with them Again Had they the Jews a Day in which to serve God so have we We now the Lord's Day as they then the Sabbath And why a Day but for Holy Services to be perform'd in it Take away These by which the Day is Sanctify'd and Hallow'd and ye will near-hand make the Day an idol keeping the Day for the Dayes sake which is the Sabbath of the Ox and the Ass These two must go together still If Almighty God who made all Days be pleased above others with a Seventh or a First it is for our sakes that we may therein Devote our selves to his Service and that we may commemorate the great Benefits of our Creation and Redemption 3. What think we of the Celebration of the Eucharist which is in lieu of their Passeover in which we remember afresh and anew the Death of our Saviour Christ of Christ our Passeover as the Apostle stiles him who was Sacrificed for us is not that Solemnly to be Celebrated by us And if so can it be done I ask without Prayers and Hymns how can that be St. Mark says that our Saviour and his Apostles sung an Hymn at the Institution of it the known or wonted Hymn or Hallelujah say the Criticks that was used at the Feast beginning Psalm the 113 and ending Psalm the 118 and that Prayer was ever a Solemn Concomitant of this Grand Duty is evident Act. 2. 42. Where 't is said of those First Fruits of the Apostles Preaching that they continued in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship in Breaking Bread and in Prayer 4. Thus we have a Priesthood a Day a Duty the Eucharist for one to which I might add more and have we not an House too Yes ever was there and must be for the before specifyed Ends of which I shall speak a little more largel◠as making out to us the Publickness and Perpetuity of God's Worship for therefore Mat. 21. 13. does our Saviour say it is written My House shall be called an House of Prayer and that as Esay saith from whom that Text is quoted for all People A Pregnant and full Testimony for what
to the precedent Century For in the Apostles time that they had then Liturgies known Offices consisting of Prayers and Praises in use with them is easily Discerned from St Paul's Advice to the Romans Ch. 15. 6. which is with one Mind and one Mouth to Glorifie God by which Words that a Form is meant is more than intimated from his reprehending the Corinthians 1 Cor. 14. 26. Because in their publick Assemblies they had every one a Psalm that is to say a Manner or Form of his own which hindered Edification and bred Confusion and why not from that Act. 13. 2. where we read As they Ministred unto the Lord and Fasted the Holy Ghost said Minister'd 't is rendered but the Words in the Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they were Liturgying that is because joyned with Fasting as they were performing Divine Service which it seems was this way For it further the Liturgy of St. James and the Liturgy of St. Mark used by the Cophti still and that of St. Peter used a long time in the Church of Rome are a strong Inforcement tho of them we can produce only some Fragments and broken Pieces For had they not had Offices would it not have been known and observed by after-Ages but the succeeding times give account of the contrary that they had 'T was not 300 Years after the Apostle's Days that the Council of Nice was and then there is great mention of them as you may see in Eusebius his fourth Book of the Life of Constantine who tells us there of Orationum Syngraphe a Book of Prayers and Liturgia Mystica so he calls it a Mystical Liturgy which Constantine the Emperor was present at And what is more common then in Ecclesiastical Writers to hear of the Liturgy of St. Hierome and of St. Ambrose and so of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom the last of which hath left it upon Record that in the Primitive Church among the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit one was the gift of making Prayers for the Church to use It seems the Gift of Prayer was not look'd upon then as a Faculty of making long and familiar Harangues to God as it hath been of late Years without Sense or Reason Look we moreover on the Canons of the Councils and we shall find them for us that of Carthage and that of Melevis so early It is the 23 Canon of the third Council of Carthage Quascunque sibi preces c. Let no Man use any Prayers that he hath made unless he first consult with the Brethren i. e. Fellow-Officers of the Church who were learned and well instructed More ample is that of Melevis which says as I find in Caranza Placuit ut preces quae probaetae fuerunt in Synodo ab omnibus Celebrentur It is our Will that Prayers only that are approved by a Synod be celebrated by all nec alia omnino dicentur in Ecclesia and that no other but those that are so approved by a Synod be said in the Church lest by chance any thing either through Ignorance or Carelesness be done against the Faith Well then that thus it was in the first 4 or 5 Centuries of the Church besides the Glimpses for it in Scripture Fathers and Councils Testifie And what that it hath been so ever since have we not the Consent of the Churches of all Ages we have look we which way we will either into the East or West Which being granted can we imagine that the Church hath continued so long even till these last Days in so gross an Error or can we think it fit to throw aside the way of the Universal Church in all Ages for a few Mens Sake that have Voluble Tongues Or is not rather the Custom and Practice of the Church of all Ages in stead of a Rate and perpetual Law they are Saravia's Words speaking in reference to Episcopacy which and the Liturgy must Live and Dye together Mos totius Ecclesiae est inviolabilis quaedam lex the Custom of the whole Church is an inviolable Law and which at peradventure so it ought to be esteemed yea to be kept and held inviolably by us For tho such a Custom or Constitution of the Church in Mr. Weemes his Words may not be Jus Divinum Divinè Divinum a Law that is properly and purely Divine as having no plain positive Command for it in the Scriptures yet it is Jus Divinum humanè Divinum of like Force and in a manner equally Divine with that for which there is a positive Law supposing still it be Universal It is quodam modo Divinum as Forbâ—sius in his Ierenicum says in some manner Divine as being founded in God's positive Law which commands us to obey our Superiors as them also to see that all things be done according to Rule and with all Decency and Order And surely we have more reason to believe that the Primitive Fathers would not stray from the Apostical Practice who could not but see what was done before them and would rather dye Martyrs then part with the least Truth then that the whole Church hath all along been deceived unto this present Day On this Argument stands Infant-Baptism the Observation of the Lord's Day Episcopacy and the like and to me it is prevalent before all that can be said against it by Novelists Common Prayer spoken of in the Epistles of Ignatius has more in it than a World of Arguments produced against what I affirm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see that ye all come together in one place let there be one Common Prayer among you one Mind one Hope in Love and Faith that is spotless I go upon such Grounds as these and nothing seems to me more Plain putting all together than that the use of Liturgy is not only Ancient but also Primitive and Apostolical Now 2ly that in ours there is no Spot or Blemish for which to be rejected I come next to prove And had I need say any thing to that Matter I know 't is accused of Popery But O ye holy Martyrs how came you to be so mistaken then as to dye thus in Defence of Popery and in Defiance of it at one and the same Instant Mr. John Hullier being burnt at the Stake with the Common-Prayer-Book in his Bosom But Oh! there is somewhat of the Mass Book in it I confess it There are the Creeds and some of the Hymns and Collects that are used by them and they have a Litany too But shall we abolish our Creeds the Nicene Athanasian and Apostolical because they have them as well as we and throw away our Collects and Litany because they have also Collects and a Litany Then away with the Christian Religion upon that like Score A weak Argument and very inconsequent Do we not know that if we reform Popery in what is amiss we do but as Christ did by the Jewish Euchologue and that that is true which
the Chariots of Israel and the Horse men thereof Could I see once a Congregation of such Devout persons met together as the Apostles were in one place and with one Accord in the Name of Christ what a Blessed spectacle would that be How might I affirm that I had seen God there the Angels present Christ himself in the midst And how would all their Hearts like the Angel that appeared â—â— Manoah ascend to Heaven in the â—lames of such 〈◊〉 Jacob's Vision again methinks it is another 〈◊〉 Angels ascending and descending upon the Rounds of this Ladder Sure enough it is not 〈◊〉 Goodness in our Prayers but want of Devotion in our selves 〈◊〉 all Men will I hope be perswaded to 〈◊〉 this 〈◊〉 and learn to have a due Regard to so Holy a thing as the Churches Service is That all that hear me may I shall propound to your Consideration the Conducement hereof to the Peace of the Church and to the Peace of the Kingdom we live in our Love to which next to God's Glory and Honour ought to outweigh in the Ballance all other things whatsoever And indeed 1. Highly will it make for the Peace of the Church by putting a Bar to Heresie and Schism For he that is for the Churches Prayers cannot be an Heretick Whereas take away this Hedg and Mound once who may not Bless the People as St. Cyprian complained heavily a Montanist a Donatist a Manichee I may add a Socinian an Anti-trinitarian and what not Then that 't is a Cure of Schism who does not see for what is it else that Keeps our Wounds open but an Evil Opinion of the Churches Service a Conceit with some that 't is Popish with others that 't is not according to the Manner prescribed by Christ And let me tell you that Schism as 't is a prodigious Evil having malign Influences on the World so 't is a great Sin also of the first Magnitude St. Cyprian equals it to offering Sacrifice to Idols and well does he for the Church is the Body of Christ and what a great Sin must that be to Rend and Tear in pieces his Holy and Sacred Body to Divide and Crumble into Factions the best and purest Societies that ever were or can be but of Saints in Heaven For which a Divine of our Church hath said that it were better those little things about which our Differences are were buryed deep in Eternal Silence at the very Bottom and Centre of the Earth than that the Peace of the Church should be disturbed by them But the Mischief is Schism is like Sheol semper Petax it is always Craving never Satisfyed The best Cure of this Malady that I know is a due Obedience to our Superiours together with a general Conformity to and Uniformity in the Worship and Service of God Highly also will it make for the Peace of the Kingdom of which we are all Members it being the main Expedient to bring back that Love that Unity that Concord and that Agreement that hath been so long banished from us by this Antecedent Difference in Opinion and Judgment about matters of Worship Whilst one is for this Sect another for that one for Episcopacy another for Presbytery some for a Liturgy others for none how can we expect that the Blessing of Peace should remain in our Borders Do we not rather make way by it for the Abomination that makes Desolate to come upon us I wish my Conjecture may prove Abortive but that it will be so unless God in Mercy by healing our Breaches and making up our Divisions put a stop to it â— may Predict I think without a Spirit of Prophecy 'T is what fills the Enemies of our Church with Hope and all her Friends with Fear And do I not hear you now sighing out these Words of the Prophet Is there no Balm in Gilead are there no Physicians there whâ— thâ—â— is not the Health of the Daughter of my People recovered In my Conceit I do and I say to it that there is Balm in Gilead blessed be God for it and there are store of Physicians there But to little purpose is it unless the Voice of Christ may be heard which calls upon the Shâ—â—â—mite to return unless they that Dissent and Separate would see their Errour once and go back by the same Steps they have gon astray to the Church which they forsook without Cause For tho I may not be bold to say of her as her Spouse of the Church invisible There is no Spot in her yet this I may and will say that there is none in her so great as to justifie a Separation from her Communion O that Men would listen and give Ear But what am I I will leave the Church to speak for her self I see her methinks standing at the side of her Altar with her Service Book in her Hand weeping bitterly and taking on heavily that her Children should depart and go away from her And what does she further do why she Beseeches she Conjures them for the Love they bear if not to her self to her Head and Husband and that in the Words of her Litany By the Mystery of his Holy Incarnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nativity and Circumâ—â—sion By his Baptism Fasting and 〈◊〉 by his Agony and bloody 〈◊〉 by his Cross and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pretious Death and 〈◊〉 and by the Glorious 〈◊〉 and Ascension that they would walk according to Rule and 〈…〉 same things That Dissenters will not heard 〈…〉 should be how quickly would 〈…〉 again even so as to give 〈…〉 Ezekiel which is Jehovah Shammah the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more only a Word or two by way of Prayer or Vote that Almighty God would take the matter into his own Hand and work upon the Hearts of all the People of this Nation that they may yet be wise and see and understand what is for their own good learning to serve him one Way and with one Mind laying aside Division and Schism and indeavouring as they have one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace God of his infinite Mercy grant it that so our Church may continue in Tranquility our Nation abide in Quietness God's Service remain in its Purity God himself be Glorifyed and our Souls saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God be ascribed as is most due by Angels and Men by us and all People all Honour and Glory both now and for evermore FINIS
A SERMON Preach'd in the Cathedral Church at the Triennial VISITATION OF The Right Reverend Father in God SETH Lord Bishop of SARUM Chancellor of the GARTER By Samuel Fyler A. M. Rector of Stockton in the County of Willts Septemb. 13. 1680. LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. For Thomas Flesher at the Angel and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1682. To the Right Reverend Father in God Seth Lord Bishop of Sarum Chancellor of the Garter My Lord YOUR Command to Preach and your Incouragement to Print this Sermon have given me the Confidence thereunto to prefix your Name and more especially yours for that Respect you have to Truth Loyalty and Peace the Promoting of which is my sole Aim in casting this Mite into the Treasury of the Church I am fully satisfied it will meet with a multitude of Enemies because the Church hath many but I look on 't as a shame for that matter to concern my self after its Consecration by the Blood of so many Martyrs especially that Royal one King Charles the First who hath given us an Example not to be Paralell'd but in one only in that of our Blessed Saviour I pray God grant when his forty Years of Patience shall be expired and so long he waits to see if a People will Repent this Nation may not suffer for that Prodigious Wickedness as we have just Cause to Fear the like things that Jerusalem did for Crucifying Him But my Hope is it will not and that for this Reason because it was not the Clergy of the Church of England nor was it any thing in her Doctrine or Liturgy that brought our most Gracious and Religious King to the Block but Rebells Murderers Traytors Spirited by Achitophel's Chaplains who if they might have had Leave given 'em would by this time near hand have Prayed all Christianity out of this into another World God Almighty preserve his Sacred Majesty that now is from the Divinity and Mercy of such Men and then I doubt not but he will ever as he hath done proceed to Protect that Liturgy joyfully which directs us to Pray for him so devoutly shewing it self in that Respect as well as many others to be truly Apostolical My Lord It would be Libellous for me to Recommend these things to your Wisdom and Care because 't is to move you to that which you already eminently do I shall only therefore Pray for your Lordships Health and that God would be pleased to continue his Blessings to the Church and to this whole Nation and so give off only begging the Honour to Subscribe my self Your Lordships Most Humble And Obedient Servant Samuel Fyler MATTHEW 6. 9. After this manner therefore Pray ye MAny are the Sins of England at this day which have even shaken and seem still to threaten the Remotion of the Candlestick from us which God avert Among the rest one and that a great one that stands in need of an Elijah a St. John Baptist another Word made Flesh to reform it I think I may truly say in the general and wretched Neglect and Contempt of God's Worship and Service some in all places almost refusing to come to his House to Worship him there Atheists and they that seperate others that come doing it 't is to be fear'd for Fashion's sake only like the Jews of whom God complains by his Prophet drawing nigh with their Lips while their Hearts are far from him And I wish this were all to be said but the more 's the Pitty the Service bears the Blame Men are Schismatical and Faulty and then that they may excuse themselves they are ready to say God is not serv'd after the right and due manner What an heavy Charge this is to our spotless Mother which was once look'd upon as the Beauty and Glory of all the Churches in Christendom is easie to say but the Mischief is to wipe it off is not so easie I question whether the Spirit of Prophesie or a Voice from Heaven will do the turn such is the Prejudice men have taken against so Excellent and Holy a thing as the â—hurches Service is For the Remotion of which I wish the weight of so great a Task were laid on abler Shoulders of one that 〈◊〉 sufficient for these things but however I â—hall offer to the Châ—â—â—â—es Corban as I am able as appearing here purâ—ly in Obedience and Duty in Performance of which if I do any thing acceptably I shall hold my self very well Content as having no other Aim then to serve the interest of the Church which I pray God continue unto us with Truth and Peace In pursuance of this Design now as it is but rational that I should pitch on some Words of Christ himself he being the Churches Lawgiver as well as Saviour therefore call'd not only the High Priest but also the great Apostle of our Profession so I have accordingly done For these Words that I have read are a part of that divine Law which he delivered on the Mount Monti Sinaitico superstructo as Dr. Hamond in his Book against Dalleus about Confirmation say's built not by but upon the top of Mount Sinai whereby he would intimate that he intended not the Abolition of the Law of Moses and of solemn Services then in use but only the Reformation and Perfection of them as 't is true he did not And here I take my rise on which to build my insuing Discourse For that this is the full design of our blessed Saviour in this Sermon of his not to destroy put aside Typicals what was well set before but to reform what was amiss by reason either of the false Glosses or ungrounded Traditions and Practices of the Scribes and Pharisees that sate at that time in Moses Chair will appear in all its parts as you may see both in the precedent and also in the present Chapter In the precedent when he speaks to the Letter of the Law in this where he speaks to the main parts of God's Worship as particularly to Fasting Almsgiving and Prayer For 't is not Fasting he Condemns in any but doing it as Hypocrites for Ostentation and Shew nor is Almsgiving blamed by him but gâ—vâ—ng of Alms with sound of Trump and to be seen of men So for Prayer we are to account that his end was at no hand to tâ—ke away a publick Service or Liturgy-way used by them in those days in their Prayer-places and Synagogues no in that the Jews had a Liturgy a set known manner of Service then consisting of Tehillim and Tephillim Praises and Prayers which that they had Mr. Gregory makes appear too evidently to be denyed this he disapproves not there is nothing to that purpose to be gathered from this Prayer of his or any Circumstance therein or thereabouts 'T is true as it relates to the Pharisees so their Battologies and their making long Prayers and that openly in the corners of the Streets for a shew and in pretext of Holiness