that the blessed time so long wrapped up in sacred Prophecy is indeed now ready to be revealed When the Church of Christ being purged from those Corruptions that have so long defaced its Beauty shall again appear in its primitive Purity When all Heresie and Schism being every where abolished and the Mystery of Iniquity laid fully open and the Man of Sin destroyed true Religion and sincere Piety shall again reign throughout the World God himself shall pitch his Tabernacle among us and dwell with us and we shall be his People and he shall be our God O Blessed State of the Church Militant here on Earth the glorious Antepast of that Peace and Piety which God has prepared for his Church Triumphant in Heaven Who would not wish to see those days when a general Reformation and a true Zeal and a perfect Charity passing through the World we should All be united in the same Faith the same Worship the same Communion and Fellowship one with another When all Pride and Prejudice all Interests and Designs being submitted to the Honour of God and the discharge of our Duty the Holy Scriptures shall again triumph over the vain Traditions of Men and Religion no longer take its denomination from little Sects and Factions but we shall all be content with the same common primitive Names of Christians and Brethren and live together as becomes our Character in Brotherly Love and Christian Charity with one another And who can tell but such a Change as this and which we have otherwise some reason to believe is nigh at hand may even now break forth from the midst of us would we but all seriously labour to perfect the Great Work which the Providence of God has so gloriously begun among us and establish that Love and Vnity among our selves which may afterwards diffuse it self from us into all the other Parts of the Christian World besides But however whether we shall ever see I do not say such a Blessed Effect as this but even any good Effect at all of our Endeavours here on Earth or no yet this we are sure we shall not lose our Reward in Heaven When to have contributed tho' in the least degree to the healing of those divisions we so unhappily labour under shall be esteemed a greater Honour than to have silenced all the Cavils of our Enemies and even to have pray'd and wish'd for it and where we could not any otherwise have contributed our selves but to have exhorted others to it shall be rewarded with Blessings more than all the Stars in the Firmament for number Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ To Him be Honour and Praise for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preach'd before the Honourable House of Commons AT St. MARGARET'S WESTMINSTER June 5 th 1689. Being The FAST-DAY Appointed by the KING and QUEEN'S Proclamation TO Implore the Blessing of Almighty God upon Their MAJESTIES Forces by Sea and Land and Success in the War now declared against the FRENCH KING Jovis 6 o die Junii 1689. Resolved THat the Thanks of this House be given to Mr. Wake for the Sermon he Preached before them yesterday And that he be desired to Print the same Ordered THat Mr. Grey do give him the Thanks and acquaint him with the Desires of this House accordingly Paul Jodrell Cl. Dom. Com. OF THE Nature and Benefit OF A PUBLICK HUMILIATION JOEL ii 12 13. Therefore also now saith the LORD Turn ye even to Me with all your heart and with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning And 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. THough the time of this Prophecy be uncertain so that neither the Jewish Rabbins nor Christian Antiquaries are able to give us any tolerable Account of it yet is the Design plain and the words of my Text a most proper and pathetick enforcement of the great duty of this day to turn unto the Lord our God with all our Heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning for he is Gracious and Merciful slow to Anger and of great Kindness and repenteth him of the Evil. If we look into the foregoing Chapter we shall there find an astonishing Account of the great Evils that were just ready to befall the Jews for their Sins But that which is yet more surprising is That though all this was about to come upon them yet were they nevertheless insensible of their danger nor took any the least care to prevent their utter desolation To awaken a stupid and inconsiderate People a Nation dead in Sin and Security in the beginning of this Chapter he prepares a lofty and magnificent Scene He sets before them a Prophecy of yet greater dangers than any they had hitherto experimented and that in a manner so unusual with such a Pomp of Words and in such Triumphant Expressions as carry a terror even in the Repetition of them Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion sound an Allarm in my holy Mountain Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble for the day of the LORD cometh for it is nigh at hand A day of darkness and of glooâ—iness a day of Clouds and of thick darkness as the Morning spread upon the Mountains a great People and a strong there hath not been ever the like neither shall be any more after it A fire devours before them and behind them a flame burneth The Land is as the Garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate Wilderness The Earth shall quake before them the Heavens shall tremble the Sun and the Moon shall be dark and the Stars shall withdraw their shining Whatever be the Import of these Phrases whether by the mighty and terrible Host here spoken of we are only to understand that swarm of Locusts and other Insects that we are before told were utterly to devour all the Fruits of the Land Or whether under the Character of these we shall with most Interpreters comprehend the numerous and mighty Armies of the Chaldeans and Babylonians which at divers times brought such Desolations as we read of upon the Jews This is plain that we have here the denunciation of some Judgment worthy of God and great as the sins and incorrigibleness that occasion'd it And now who would not here expect the final desolation of such a People as this But behold God even yet in his Anger remembers Mercy and tho' they had hitherto neglected all the Calls and Invitations of his holy Prophets to Repentance yet He resolves once more to try whether they would now at least in their dangers hearken to his Admonitions He raises up Joel at once both to set before
them his Judgments if they continu'd still impenitent and to encourage them by repenting not only to prevent their Ruine but to assure themselves of his Favour That though they had so long neglected him yet if they would now even now at the last return with a true Zeal and a sincere Affection to their Duty they should not fail to meet with a favourable acceptance from him Therefore also now saith the LORD Turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning and 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 It is not my intention to seek a a Parallel of all this either in the sins or in the danger of our own Country I would willingly hope that neither our Guilt nor our Incorrigibleness have been so heinous as theirs nor shall any such deplorable Judgment as this ever I trust be made the punishment of what our Iniquities have indeed but too justly deserved No blessed be God who by a wonderful Concurrence of great and singular Mercies seems rather to call upon us to celebrate his Goodness than to deprecate his Judgments to praise his Name in Hymns of Triumph and Eucharist than to weep between the Porch and the Altar in melancholy Litanies to avert his Anger and implore his Mercy But yet since the Goodness as well as Judgments of the Lord are designed to bring us to repentance and that whether we look back into our own particular Actions or consider those Publick and National Transgressions whereby we have so long and loudly call'd to Heaven for vengeance we must with shame and indignation confess our selves some of the greatest of Sinners I cannot but think both the Solemn Occasion of this Day and the Design of my Text to be a most proper and seasonable Admonition to us to turn unto the Lord our God and to implore his Blessing upon our present Enterprises that those vile Insects the Locusts and Caterpillars that have so barbarously consumed our Neighbours round about us our worse than Assyrian or Babylonian Enemies may not be able to prevail against us And indeed however it has pleased God as at this time to give us some Encouragement to trust in his Mercy yet we cannot so soon forget that we have also born the punishment of our sins For not to repass upon the things that are at a greater distance from us let the Instances still fresh in all our Memories speak to us What just Apprehensions did we but very lately lye under of our Lives and of what is yet dearer to us than our Lives our Liberty and our Religion How did our Enemies not only project our Ruin but as if it were already accomplished begin to say in their hearts nay they began freely to speak it out to us Aha! so would we have it Persecute them and take them for there is none to deliver them And if now we are no longer exposed to those dangers that so lately threatned us if God has begun upon our late more serious concern for Religion and more general return to him to give us some Testimony of his gracious Designations towards us This certainly ought to be so far from lessening our solemn Humiliation at this time that it should rather engage us to be the more forward in perfecting our Repentance the greater Encouragement we have to hope that it shall be accepted at our hands And I must now beg leave with so much the more Earnestness to enforce the Duty of my Text Therefore also now saith the LORD turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning And rent your hearts and not your garments and turn unto the LORD your God By how much I hope I may with the greater assurance propose to you the Promise of it for your Encouragement For he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil I have already pointed out to you the two great parts of my Text and which must therefore be the Subject of my Discourse upon it viz. I. The Address of the Holy Prophet to his Countrey and in that the Exhortation which I am earnestly in the Name of God to recommend unto you this day To turn unto the LORD your God with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning II. The great Encouragement which he offer'd to induce them and which ought to be of no less a force to stir up all of us to a serious and diligent performance of it For he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil I begin with the former of these the Exhortation of my Text I. To turn unto the LORD your God with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning And here I presume I shall not need to tell you That all this is but a larger Paraphrase of what I may in other Words call a General and National Repentance of those Publick and National Sins which had provoked God Almighty to send down so many Judgments upon them and to threaten them with yet greater if they continued still in their Impenitence And indeed what could be more reasonable than by such a Solemn and Universal Acknowledgment both of the Evils they had committed and of the Judgments which they deserved and of the sorrow they were now touch'd with for their Offences to appease God's Anger for that General Incorrigibleness by which they had so long exposed both his Goodness and his Justice to Contempt among the Heathen round about him For however it be very certain that all the outward pomp and solemnity of Repentance the fasting and the weeping and the mourning are at best but a form of Godliness empty and unprofitable unless there be also added to these that true inward change of Mind in which alone consists the Power of it yet there may be such Circumstances and Cases put wherein this Duty must pass beyond the Heart and the Closet and the Humiliation will be imperfect if it be not as publickly set forth to the Eyes of Men as it is sincerely perform'd in the sight of God And such especially must be the Repentance for National Sins Where Mens Transgressions have been open and notorious there their Return also must be no less Solemn and Evident that so the Honour as well as Justice of God may be vindicated in their Forgiveness and some sort of Reparation made not only for the Guilt which they have contracted but also for the Scandal which they have given to his Honour and Religion in the World Now 't is this which at once both declares the Piety and commands the publick Humiliation of THIS DAY And for the due discharge whereof I must intreat
can that Soul expect any benefit of his Death and Sufferings for his forgiveness hereafter who now will not vouchsafe so much as to make that common Acknowledgment which every Christian ought of his remembrance of it or shew any sense of his Obligation though we have here so plain and peremptory a Comâ—â—â—d to do it And if we look to the Denuntiations of the Old Testament against those who should thus neglect to joyn in the Jewish Passover and shew forth this remembrance of the deliverance which that Feast referr'd to we may I think have some cause to fear how much greater shall be our Punishment whose neglect is certainly upon many accounts much more inexcusable than theirs If any man says Moses Deut. xii 15 shall eat leavened-bread in that time that Soul shall be cut off from Israel But more expresly Numb ix 3 He that is clean and is not on a journey and forbeareth to keep the Passover even the same Soul shall be cut off from his People Whatever the meaning of that Excision be which God here threatned that People with whether it be that such a one should have no part in the World to come as some interpret it or that God would cut him off by an untimely temporal death as others Or lastly which was esteemed by them no small Curse that he should die childless and have his name put out in Israel This is certain that the Denuntiation is very severe and if the Remark of a very learned Rabbin be true almost particular to the thing in hand there being but two of all the affirmative Precepts to which God made this Denuntiation viz. to him that neglected the first Sacrament of Circumcision and this second of the Passover But perhaps it will here be said That this Commination was to those that were clean and near at hand and yet neglected this Holy Institution And therefore ought not to be applied to them with reference to the Blessed Sacrament which we are speaking of who would gladly receive it and have a very honourable remembrance in their hearts of the Death of Christ but alas either they are not clean or are in a journey either they are not prepared or have not the leisure to come to this Table 'T is true indeed God did here restrain the Judgment I have mention'd to such as were clean and at or near to Jerusalem but the rest were not therefore by any means excused and permitted to neglect the partaking of it They had time given them till the next Month to cleanse themselves and to come up to Jerusalem and if they neglected in the second Month to keep the Feast after having omitted it in the first there was then no farther Provision for them but they fell under the Curse of those who neglected altogether to eat of it And this therefore may serve for a useful Admonition as well as full Answer to the Excuses of those who are still pretending they are not worthy to come to this Sacrament or else have not time and leisure to prepare themselves for it If indeed this should chance by any accident to hinder them at this time or on this occasion from receiving of it they ought not therefore to disquiet themselves but to believe that in such a case our Saviour Christ will make the same allowance for this Feast that God did for that other and permit them yet another Month to remove the Obstacle and prepare themselves to come to his Table But if instead of doing this they shall still go on to insist upon these vain Pretences and live so as not to be worthy to receive the Holy Sacrament and continue to live so still without taking any care to put themselves into a better state this will prove an aggravation of their Sin not a lessening of it and their neglect will be but the more inexcusable for being grounded on a reason so contrary not only to the design of this Holy Sacrament but of the whole Christian Religion But Sixthly And to close all The Command of our Saviour in these words we have been so long considering will not only oblige us in the general sometimes to remember his Death by receiving this Holy Sacrament but frequently and oftentimes so to do I have before observed that the word which we here render Remembrance does not imply a bare Memorial but a renew'd Commemoration to teach us that we are often to refresh the Memory of Christ's Death in our minds by this Sacred Solemnity and to repeat again and again the Remembrance of it And though it be pretty hard to say how often a Man ought to receive the Sacrament yet 't is plain he is not so zealous a Christian as he should be that very seldom or never does it We know that in the first Ages of Christianity when Devotion was quick and vigorous and Men had the most sensible impressions upon their minds of the love of our Saviour in giving himself to die for us that then they received it ordinarily every day Insomuch that some of those Fathers who then lived have interpreted this Eucharistical Bread to be that daily Bread which our Lord has taught us to pray for Afterwards as Mens Zeal cool'd so did their frequent Communicating decay in proportion with it At first it fell in some Churches to four in others to three times in the Week and in a little while it came to be the distinctive Devotion of the Lord's days And at last the necessary least proportion established was the three great Feasts of the Year in which our Church still obliges all her Members to partake of it But as he who is in a pure and holy state can never receive it too often so certainly it is a thing than which none would more advance our Piety to labour as frequently as we can to fit our selves for it And since it has pleased God to revive something of the Primitive Zeal among us as to this particular in bringing our Solemn Communions to a monthly course besides other extraordinary occasions of it I do not see what better Exhortation I can leave with you as to this Matter than seriously to advise and earnestly beseech every one of you to examine and prepare your selves then at least to joyn with your Brethren in these Holy returns and not deprive your Souls of the Benefits which are thus graciously offered to you in this great and most useful Remembrance This will indeed both best answer the design of our Blessed Lord in the Text and be the best Application I could even wish you would make of my Discourse upon it But then I must observe that I speak now by way of Exhortation not as necessarily requiring this in Obedience to the Command before us but as the improvement I desire if it were possible you might all make of those Opportunities God is pleased here to reach out to you in order to this End and which I do
Lights in the Primitive Church and Reason according to the common Condition of Mankind and from which they themselves cannot produce us any Authority of Holy Scripture to exempt her And if some among us have with St. Chrysostom freely supposed That in some cases she did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet in the very Instances to which they refer they have at least probable grounds for what they say And for the most part we are contented with St. Austin to suspend our selves and for the honour of our Saviour not to enter into any question at all concerning her as to this matter whether she ever did actually sin or no Or now that God has taken her up into Glory Have we not all that high and worthy Opinion of her Exaltation that we ought to have because indeed we freely profess we cannot believe such extravagant Romances as all sober Men even of their own Church are ashamed of We doubt not but she is at this time in Heaven Do we ever the more debase her because we will not entertain a shameless Legend of her Assumption thither We are persuaded that she is adorn'd with one of the brightest Aureola's in God's Kingdom That her Crown is more Illustrious than any among the Daughters of Eve Is not this sufficient unless we will undertake to tell you what her Crown was made of how many Stars went into her Atchievement what Badges her Servants wore and what Speeches and Complements were made to her upon the occasion and to compleat all set forth in perspective all the Holy Trinity concurring in this Ceremony and all the Powers of Heaven and Earth singing Praises to Her and adoring of Her We make no question but that as she was very highly favour'd by God on Earth so is she now no less beloved by him in Heaven But should we therefore set her up as another Mediatrix that as both Sexes concurr'd to our Ruin so might both concur to our Reparation and so tye up the Hands of God as not to allow any to be saved but according to Her Will Nay make her so far the Queen of Heaven and Earth as to give her a Power of all the Grace that is to be bestowed on Mankind Of saving her Votaries if they do but sufficiently love and worship Her whatever their Affections or their Service be to God Almighty Of fetching Souls not only out of Purgatory but even from Hell it self by her Authority Of ordering all the Events of the Fortunes of Men and Kingdoms insomuch that not a Battel can be fought or a Victory obtain'd but by the favour of this Pallas to whom the Success is due and to whom the Praise and Honour therefore ought to be return'd These indeed are the Extravagancies of some of our Adversaries but God forbid they should ever be the Practice or Opinions of any among us To conclude It is impossible for any to entertain more honourable Sentiments of the Blessed Virgin than we do who will not run out into Blasphemy and Fanaticism and believe such things as neither Scripture nor Antiquity have deliver'd nor will either Piety or common Sense suffer us to receive Let us see Secondly Whether our Actions be not every way suitable to our Opinions Now for this I must observe according to my Foundation before laid down That the Holy Virgin however highly exalted by God being yet still but a meer Creature our Actions towards her must be no other than what a Creature that is at such a vast distance from us and out of all compass of Civil Communication is capable of receiving And so the summ of what may warrantably be paid to her will fall under these Three Generals First To celebrate the Memory of those Blessings and Favours which it has pleased God to bestow upon her Secondly To return Praises to God on the account of them And Thirdly To endeavour what in us lies to imitate her Excellencies This is all the Honour she is capable of receiving from us and it cannot be doubted but that we are as careful as any to fulfil the Prophecy of our Text in every one of these Particulars First We celebrate the Memory of those Blessings and Favours which it has pleased God to bestow upon her Let this day and the other Solemn Festivals we observe to the same End be our Witness how careful we are as to this particular We mark it out in our Rituals as a Day Holy unto the Lord We assemble in our Sacred places solemnly to recount what the Holy Scriptures have recorded of God's Mercies to Her And annually as at this time we encourage one another to bless and praise Him upon the account of them But here the Objection made in the beginning will rise against us 'T is true indeed we do observe some of her Festivals but yet we pass by the greater part of them And for the main thing of all we quite omit it in that we say not AVE MARIA so often and so impertinently as they do nor other Anthems of our Lady as they call her by a new and phantastical Title never given her either in Scripture or by any of the ancient Fathers This we confess is in some measure true We say no AVE MARIE'S i. e. after the manner that they do nor can we imagin what Honour is done to the Blessed Virgin by the nauseous tautologie of a Salutation pertinent in its season when the Angel spoke to her upon her Conception but now as unseasonable in the Application as it is vain and absurd in the Repetition But yet when we recite the History and celebrate the Memory of that surprising Salutation then we read it in our Assemblies that is we do say Ave Maria as often as 't is either pious or to the purpose to do it And if for not doing it as they do we are to be excluded out of the Number of those of whom our Text speaks yet God be thanked we shall run but the same Fortune that the Apostles and the primitive Ages of the Church did before it was first as they tell us revealed to St. Dominick and by him to the Church how they were to recite the Rosary But now for the other Instances objected against us viz. The Feasts and Anthems of our Lady in these we may venture to justifie our selves We celebrate the Memory of all the great Particulars that we know of her Life And if upon the meer Authority of Fables confess'd to be uncertain and disputed by many among themselves as not fit to be credited we cannot be induced to observe more yet in this we hope all sober Christians will acquit us and esteem us to be very excusable in what we do It being certainly to mock not honour both God and Her solemnly to commemorate and seriously to thank God for such Blessings as at the same time we are sure He never bestowed upon Her nor She ever receiv'd
neither were the Gentile Christians utterly without fault in it but so far stood fast in that liberty wherewith Christ had made them free as not only to despise the weakness and ignorance of the others but to be ready almost even to cut them off from their Communion I need not say how dangerous such a Controversie as this might have proved nor what a stop it might have put to the progress of Christianity in those first beginnings of the Gospel Great were the difficulties which the Apostles underwent on this occasion whilst they endeavoured so to menage themselves between these two Parties as not only not to offend either but if it were possible to bring them Both to such a temper with one another that neither the Gentile Convert might despise the weakness of his Judaizing Brother nor the Jewish Votary judge too severely of the Liberty of the Gentile Christian. And this was the design of St. Paul in the Chapter before my Text. Where addressing himself as indeed he seems to have done this whole Epistle to the Gentile Christians and whom as having the truer Notion of their Christian Liberty as to this matter he therefore calls the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong in the Faith v. 1 he exhorts them in a most admirable Discourse on this Subject throughout the whole Chapter to bear the Infirmities of the Weak i. e. not to grieve nor despise them for their mistaken Zeal but by complying a little and condescending to their Infirmities to endeavour if it should please God to draw them out of their Error Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to Edification And then concludes all in the words of the Text wherein we have First A hearty Prayer to God Almighty That he would inspire them so effectually with a Spirit of Vnity and Charity that notwithstanding all their differences they might joyn unanimously both Jews and Gentiles not only in the same common Worship of God but with the same hearty affection to one another Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus that ye may with one Mind and one Mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Secondly an Exhortation as the final result of his whole Discourse That they should with all charitable condescension and kindness receive and love and assist one another and not despise and censure and deprive one another either of their Charity or their Communion Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the Glory of God In which words as they thus lye before us in the Occasion and Design of them there are two things that will offer themselves to our consideration First An Exhortation to these Dissenting Christians and in them to all of us Not to break either Charity or Communion with one another upon the account of such things wherein we may securely differ but mutually to bear with one another in our differences Secondly An Enforcement of this Exhortation from two of the greatest Considerations that can possibly engage any Christian to an observance of it viz. First From the Example of Christ towards us Secondly From the greater Glory that will hereby redound to God Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the Glory of God I shall make it my endeavour with all the plainness that I can to pursue both the Exhortation and the Enforcement in the three following Propositions I. That there may be differences in matters of lesser moment between very good and zealous Christians without any just reflection either upon the Men or upon their Religion II. That these differences ought not to hinder such Persons from agreeing together not only in a common Charity but if it be possible in a common Worship of God too III. That to this End it is the Duty of all Christians but especially of those who are the strong in Faith not only to pray for such a Vnion but as they have opportunity heartily to labour Themselves and earnestly to stir up all Others to endeavour after it And First That there may be Differences in matters of lesser moment between very good and zealous Christians without any just Reflection upon the Men or upon their Religion For proof of which I think I need go no farther than the very History of my Text. I have already said how great a division there was between the Jewish and the Gentile Converts about the Ritual Observances of the Law of Moses and with what a Zeal the Dissenting Parties managed the Dispute till they had almost lost their Charity and made a deplorable Schism in the Church of Christ. And yet I am confident no Man will say that this was at all derogatory either to the Truth of their Common Christianity or to the Infallible Authority with which the Apostles had deliver'd it unto them And for the Parties themselves that thus differ'd with one another that they had a true Zeal on both sides for the Glory of God and thought it matter of Conscience the one to observe these Ceremonial Institutions as what God still required of them the other to refuse any such Imposition as not only a needless Burden but even repugnant to the Grace of Christ declared to them in his Gospel S. Paul in the prosecution of this very Argument does clearly bear witness to them Ch. xiv 6 Where he makes use of this very thing as one Reason why they should mutually tolerate one another in their Dissensions viz. That however they differ'd in their Notions as to these particulars yet they were both perfectly agreed in the same common Zeal for the Glory of God and the Discharge of their Duty He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it He that eateth eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks And indeed either we must say that all even the least Points relating to our Religion are so clearly and plainly revealed that no Honest Man can possibly be mistaken if he will but impartially enquire into them which from the Differences of whole Parties concerning these things 't is plain they are not Or else Men's different Capacities and Opportunities and Tempers and Education consider'd 't is in vain to expect that all Good Men should agree in all their Notions of Religion any more than we see they do in any other concerns whatsoever And who am I that I should dare to pronounce a Sentence of Reprobation against any one in whom there appear all the other Characters of an humble upright sincere Christian only because he has not perhaps met with the same Instruction or read the same Books or do's not argue the same way In a Word because he is not
you to go along with me in these following Reflections First That though as I have just now shewn there must be the publick marks of Sorrow and Humiliation in our publick Repentance yet we must by no means stop in these nor thinks that this is all that God requires of us in order to our Forgiveness This was indeed the Vanity of the Jews heretofore and is too much the folly of some misguided Christians now Their Indignation against their Sins and against themselves for having committed them was spent especially in the outward appearance of Sorrow They rent their cloaths and put on sackcloth they wept and fasted and went softly and then they supposed they had done their business though it may be their Souls were not yet humbled nor their Hearts at all broken with any true Contrition for their Sins And so among those of the Church of Rome at this day If we may believe some of their greatest Casuists an external Worship is sufficient to carry a Man to Heaven without the trouble of the true inward Devotion of the Soul He may repent without Contrition may fast with a full Meal Nay and if the Pope pleases may obtain a plenary remission of his Sins se ancho non fosse confesso ne contrito though he has neither confess'd them to any Priest nor finds in his own Heart any manner of Contrition for them I shall not need to say how many new ways of Salvation of this kind they have found out by wearing Leathern Girdles about their Loins or Scapularies over their Shoulders by listing themselves into such or such certain Fraternities by dressing of Altars and going on Pilgrimages by Holy Water and Agnus Dei's And all which and infinite more of the like kind if as our late Masters tell us they are not Authorized by their Church yet I am sure are publickly recommended by their Greatest Men and generally practised too without any censure or contradiction among them This is certain that all these and whatever Artifices of the like kind Men may please either to flatter themselves or to delude others withal without a true Contrition and a serious Reformation they are all but Vanity they make a shew of Piety in the Eyes of Men but they avail nothing to our forgiveness with God I will not now dispute of what use some of these External Performances may be to assist our Repentance and render our Sorrow for Sin the more solemn and so in some Cases as I have before observed the more pleasing to God I know well enough that St. Paul has told us That Bodily Exercise where 't is discreetly order'd does profit a little though it be not like Godliness profitable for all things But then as 't is plain that the greatest part of those Follies so much magnified and recommended in the Church of Rome are but vain and ridiculous Impositions to cheat the silly and superstitious Multitude so 't is certain that the best of these things are neither in themselves Meritorious much less Satisfactory for Sins as they pretend them to be nor otherwise of any value at all with God than as they are attended with that true Repentance which alone can either incline his Mercy or obtain our Forgiveness If we will therefore make our solemn Humiliation this day acceptable to God and available to our selves our Country and our Religion we must take the Method of the Prophet in our Text We must turn unto the Lord our God with all our Heart and then our fasting and our weeping and our mourning shall indeed be pleasing unto him We must rent our Hearts and not i. e. rather than our Garments must humble our Souls first and then the violence we do our Bodies will be considerâ—d by him When Jonah denounced God's Judgments against Niniveh we read in his 3 d. Chapter That the People of Niniveh believed and proclaimed a Fast and put on Sackcloth from the greatest of them even unto the least But was this therefore that Repentance for which he spared them No it is not so much as once mentioned among the Reasons of it It was the Reformation of their Lives that tied up his Hand and sheathed his Sword ver 10. And God saw their Works that they turn'd from their Evil way and God repented of the Evil that he said he would do unto them and he did it not 2. And this brings me to a second Remark for the farther clearing of this great Duty viz. That not only these outward marks of penitence are not sufficient to the discharge of it but though we should to these add a true and real sorrow of heart for the Sins we have committed even this would not be sufficient to purchase our Forgiveness Now by true sorrow I do not mean that little imperfect sorrow which looks rather to the danger of our Condition than to the heinousness of our Offences and bewails our Transgressions more out of an apprehension of those Judgments that may be the Consequence of them than out of any real regret that we have sinned against a most Gracious and Merciful God For however those of the other Communion out of their great tenderness to Sinners have declared such a sorrow as this if accompanied with Confession to be sufficient to dispose Men to obtain the Grace of God by the Sacrament of Penance and therefore have resolved that true Contrition or a sorrow for sin committed with a purpose of sinning no more is not necessary to the Sacrament of Penance after the Commission of mortal Sin but that Attrition is sufficient though a Man knows it to be no more Yet I suppose it needless in this place to obviate any such gross Error however otherwise of very great danger in the Practice of this Duty Be the sorrow for sin never so sincere and our Resolutions thereupon no more to return to the Commission of it never so firm and well grounded yet if instead of making good these Resolutions we shall stop here we are but half Penitents seeing we yet want that change of life which alone is able to compleat the Nature and render the Practice of our Repentance acceptable unto God and available to our Forgiveness 3. In short Thirdly if we will truly discharge that Repentance to which we are here called we must do it not by being sorry for our Sins or by resolving against them but by an effectual forsaking of them i. e. as our Text speaks By turning unto the Lord our God This is that which alone can implore his Favour and commend us to his Mercy And this was what I before observed in the Case of Niniveh When God saw their works that they turned from their Evil way then he repented him of the Evil that he had said he would do unto them and he did it not Nay but it is not any turning unto God that will suffice neither We must turn
even unto him and with all our Heart Words very Emphatical and which offer to us two great Conditions which are absolutely necessary to render our Conversion every way such as it ought to be First That it must be hearty and sincere There must be nothing of the Hypocrite mix'd with it our Souls must go along with our outward Performances and these penitential appearances be the true Declariations of that real inward sorrow which we feel in our Hearts for our Offences For God is not a Man that he should be mocked He sees into our very Souls and knows the secrets of all the Children of Men. And Secondly That it must be intire and without reserve As we must be sorry for every Sin we have already committed so we must resolve against ever committing any for the time to come For God is of purer Eyes than to behold the least Iniquity and if our Repentance be sincere so shall we be too The same Piety which moves us to hate any Evil will equally fill us with an Aversion against all And if we desire to continue but in one Offence it is because that we do truly repent of none So that now then if we will answer the design of this day if we will render our Fast such as the Lord has chosen and has promised to reward with the Blessings both of this life and of that which is to come we must not think it enough that we comply with the outward Ceremonies and shew of Repentance but we must indeed resolve to bring forth the Fruits of it Whilst we address our selves to God for Pardon we must take heed to dispose our Souls in such a manner that we may be fit to receive it And if we thus improve the great Solemnity of this day we shall not fail to meet with a favourable acceptance at the Throne of Grace God will be jealous for his land and pity his People He will perfect the great Deliverance he has begun for us and once more render us the fear and the terror of all our Enemies round about us Our Faith which has so often triumph'd over all the Arguments of its Adversaries shall now no less triumph over all their black Designs to root it out and to destroy it and shew to all the World that though for our Tryal God may sometimes permit the Winds to blow and the Floods to rise and the Storms to beat against our Church yet has he founded it on that Rock that shall never fail Nor shall the gates of Hell either the Power of France or the Cunning of the Jesuit or the Malice of Both ever be able to prevail against it And this brings me to the other thing I am to speak to Our Encouragement to this Duty II. For God is Gracious and Merciful slow to anger and of great Kindness and repenteth him of the Evil. It is not at all needful for me to enter on any particular Explication of all these Attributes and shew what Arguments every one of them affords to engage us to Repentance Two things in general there are which will at first sight arise from them to excite us to it viz. First The Goodness and Mercy of God to the greatest Sinners upon their Repentance God is Gracious and Merciful and of great Kindness Secondly His unwillingness to pronounce any Judgments at all against them and his readiness to recal them if they repent He is slow to Anger and repenteth him of the Evil. And First Of the Goodness and Mercy of God to the Greatest of Sinners upon their Repentance He is Gracious and Merciful and of great Kindness When God proclaimed his own Name in the midst of the People of Israel we read Exod. xxxiv that he chose to do it not so much in the terrible Attributes of his Majesty and Power as in the soft Ideas of his Mercy and Goodness The Lord the Lord God Merciful and Gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin And if we look into all the following Representations which he makes of himself whether by his Holy Prophets under the Legal but especially by our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles under the Christian Dispensation we shall find there is no Character he so much delights in as this of being Good and Gracious not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. iii. 8 And now what more forcible Encouragement can any one desire to bring him to Repentance than to be thus assured of the Goodness and Mercy of God to the greatest of Sinners if they Repent That he will not only forgive him upon his return but will even assist him with Grace and Strength in the doing of it That he desires not the death of the most profligate Offender but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live In a word That he has promised forgiveness without exception to the most wicked Men upon their Repentance so that if they will but yet break off their evil Course and keep his Statutes and do that which is lawful and right they shall surely live they shall not die Ezek. xviii 21 Many are the ways and excellent the Methods that God has taken to convince us of his Mercy and the time would fail me to enter on a particular Consideration of them Sometimes he declares not only that he is ready to pardon us if we repent but that he even desires we should repent that he may forgive us And lest his Word should not be sufficient he confirms that desire with an Oath Ezek xxxiii 11 As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O House of Israel Sometimes he Expostulates with us in the way of Reasoning to see if by that means he may be able to bring us to consider his Love and Affection to us Isai. i. 16 Wash ye make ye clean put away the Evil of your doings from before mine Eyes cease to do evil learn to do well Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord Though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wool If he Exhorts us to Repentance he always does it upon this Promise That he will Pardon us if we repent If we turn from our Sins Iniquity shall not be our ruine If he threatens Judgments yet still he keeps a reserve for Mercy to triumph over Judgment and will rather be thought inconstant in his most peremptory Decrees than inexorable to Repenting Sinners Thus he commanded Jonah to go to Niniveh and to pronounce an utter Destruction against it He fix'd the very time too Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be overthrown
our Religion from Destruction And by the Blessing of God he accomplish'd it in a manner so extraordinary in all its Circumstances as I think should not suffer us to doubt from whose Providence it was that this Redemption was sent to us This was the Lord's doing and whatever it is I am sure ought to be marvellous in our Eyes And may I think be a final I hope it shall be an effectual Confirmation to us of this Great Engagement of our Text to turn to him with all our hearts viz. That he is a God repenting him of the evil and therefore whose Mercy if we now truly do so we may securely depend upon both for the forgiveness of our sins and for our deliverance from those dangers which our sins have so justly exposed us to And now what remains but that having all these great Encouragements such Promises or rather such an Earnest of God's Favour to us we resolve every of one of us seriously to comply with the great Design both of this Day and of this Discourse and by our sincere Repentance for our past Offences obtain that Blessing we so much desire both for our Country and for our Religion Never was there a time wherein we had greater Reason to hope for God's Acceptance than at this Day and such an Occasion as this to implore his Favour there may not perhaps again occur in the Course of many Ages For indeed what is it that we are now assembled to recommend to His Mercy but in Effect the preservation of our Selves our Laws our Liberties and our Religion against the Violence of those who have long conspired both Their and Our Destruction That be would preside in our Councils and go forth with our Armies and so direct the one and prosper the other that we may again enjoy the Blessings of Peace and Security that there may be no decay no leading into Captivity and no just complaining in our Streets And this he will do if we be not our selves wanting to our own Preservation Only let us act as becomes Good Christians and True Englishmen let us do all things for the Glory of God and for the Safety Honour and Welfare of our Country In the words of Joab to his Brother Abishai upon an Occasion not much different from our own at this time Let us be strong and of good Courage and let us play the Men for our People and for the Cities of our God and then he will not fail us nor forsake us But if instead of pursuing the things that make for our Peace we shall still go on to precipitate our own Destruction If when we are call'd this Day to turn unto the LORD our God with all our hearts and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning we shall instead thereof fast only for strife and for debate If when we should be here prostrating our selves before the LORD to implore the Completion of that Great Deliverance he has begun to work for us we shall on the contrary continue ungratefully to murmur against his Providence and be ready almost to implead his Justice for what he has already done and with those repining Israelites of old be looking back again to our Egyptian Bondage when we are brought even within prospect of the Promised Land In a word If when we should be uniting our selves against the Common Enemy of our Country and Christendom we shall suffer a Spirit of Faâ—tion and Sedition of Mutiny and Discontent of private Interests and unseasonable Resentments to distract our Councils and divide us against one another What can we then expect but that God should at last give us over into the hands of our Enemies and make those that hate us to rule over us Wherefore now arise O ye Worthies ye Chosen and Counsellors of our Israel Consult consider and resolve And may the God of Heaven the God before whom we are here assembled this Day He who has and does and we trust will still deliver us our Rock and our Defence against the Face of our Enemies so direct and prosper all your Consultations that the Children which are yet unborn may rise up in their Generations and call you Blessed when they shall enjoy the Benefits of that Peace and Security which we trust shall descend to them through your Wise and Vigorous Resolutions Behold this day the Eyes not of your own Nation only but of all the Nations round about us fix'd upon you The Fortunes I do not say of every single Person among you tho' that were somewhat nor yet of your own Country and Religion only which ought to be much more valued but what is still more considerable than all this the Fortunes of all the Reformed Churches and distressed Countries of Europe depending on the Success of our present Enterprizes This is the fatal Crisis that must secure or ruine both them and us for ever May the Consideration of all these things inspire every one of you with a Spirit suitable both to our present Needs and to that great trust that is here committed to you A Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding a Spirit of Prudence and Discretion a Spirit of Charity and Moderation but above all with a Spirit of Piety and Vnity that being endu'd with all these excellent Qualities ye may become the Repairers of our Breaches the Restorers of our almost lost and trampled Liberties the Defenders of our Faith the Support of your Country the Avengers of your barbarously abus'd Allies the Scourge and Terror of the Vniversal Enemy of Truth Peace Religion Nature In short of all the common Laws and Rights both of God and of all Mankind May your Councils be govern'd with such a Calmness and Temper as may settle and compose all the unquiet and dissatisfied Spirits if there be any yet remaining among us and suffer none to regret our wonderful Preservation but those only whose fury had once prompted them to attempt and whose Principles still carry them on to desire even when they are not able to accomplish our Destruction May your Resolutions be as speedy as the publick Necessities are pressing and their Execution be accompanied with a Fidelity and Success that may equal not only our Expectation but even our very Hopes and our Desires And for the obtaining of all these Blessings and whatever else may serve to make these Kingdoms Happy May we all this day fast the fast which the Lord has chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the Oppressed go free Let us confess our wickedness and be sorry for our sins Let us turn to the LORD our God with all our heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning Let us deal our Bread to the Hungry and bring the Poor to our Houses So shall we call and the Lord shall answer we shall cry and he shall say Here I am Our light shall break forth as
commanded to Remember the Day in which they came out of Egypt and to keep the feast of unleavened bread seven daies And then and there solemnly to declare to their Children the Cause of it namely That they did this because of that which the Lord their God had done for them when they came forth out of Egypt To which end it was the Custome of the Jews at this Solemnity to have their Children propose to them the Question What the meaning of this Solemnity was And thereupon the Master of the House gave a full Account to them of the History of their Deliverance and which from thence they called the Haggadah the Annunciation or Remembrance Because of their using it at this Time to commemorate or shew forth that wonderful Deliverance which God had wrought for them Such was the Nature of that Remembrance which God commanded the Jews to continue in their Paschal Supper of His bringing them out of Egypt And the same is the Remembrance which our Saviour here commands us by this new Feast to continue in his Church of his dying for us We are to celebrate it as a solemn and Publick Memorial of that great Deliverance which our Blessed Lord has wrought for us and to declare to all the World thereby what a Sense we have of his infinite Love and Mercy to us Nay but this is not yet all we are to do if we will answer the full extent of the Duty here required of us We must not only make in this Holy Sacrament our Publick and solemn Recognition of Christ's Death and Passion but we must do it with that Affection that Joy those Resentments that become so great and excellent a Memorial So these kind of Expressions in Holy Scripture are for the most part to be understood and so it is plain we must take the Word in this Place And this is the other thing remaining to be considered for the full understanding of the Text. viz. II. With what Affections we ought to come to this Holy Table and Do this in Remembrance of Him It were too much for me here in the close of my Discourse to resume the whole Consideration of this great Sacrament and enter again upon a particular View of it and shew what kind of Affections we ought to raise in our Souls proportionable to the several Parts and Respects of it If we are indeed so sensible as we ought to be of our Saviour's Love to us in thus giving himself to the Death for us If we have so seriously weighed as becomes those who are called to this Feast the mighty Benefits and Advantages which are derived to us thereby what Miseries we have escaped to what Blessings we are entituled by his Sufferings the Sense of all this will soon teach us what Motions and Affections ought to fill our Souls that may be suitable to so great and blessed a Memorial For indeed who can be so ignorant as not to know without my Remark when he comes to the Holy Table and there beholds the Minister of God setting forth as S. Paul speaks evidently before his eyes Christ crucified for Him when both his Words and his Actions call upon Him to consider How the Son of God humbled himself even to the death for our Redemption and submitted his Body to be broken his Blood to be spilt as He there sees the Bread broken the Wine poured out in this Celebration that here certainly he ought with the greatest Ecstasie of Love to contemplate this Love of his Saviour to Him and break forth into the highest Expressions of a grateful Thanksgiving for this mighty Demonstration of his Favour and Affection to Him When from this He begins to reflect on that wretched Condition in which we all of us must have been had not the blessed Jesus thus graciously undertook the great Work of our Redemption and by dying for us delivered us from that Death to which we were condemned and raised us up to the Hopes of Eternal Glory Where is the Soul so dull so un-affected with the Contemplation of such a glorious Change as to be able to keep in his joyful Resentments of so wonderful a Deliverance and not rather burst forth into new Songs of Praise and Gladness for all the Benefits which God and his Redeemer have been so wonderfully pleased to do unto Him But above all who can think on that Value which the Blessed Jesus has put upon our Souls that he thought the Salvation of them to be a Price worthy his own Death and Sufferings to redeem them and then consider That even these very Souls for which Christ died will yet be exposed to the hazard of a greater and worser Damnation than that from which they have been delivered if we shall still go on impenitent in our Sins And not presently resolve here to sacrifice all his Passions at this Altar to lay down all his Lusts at the Pedestal of the Cross and vow Himself entirely to the Obedience of that Saviour who as S. Paul tells us for this very End gave himself for us that He might redeem us from all Iniquity and purchase to himself a peculiar people zealous of good Works Such Resentments as these will naturally arise in every pious Soul when he comes to this Sacred Feast and therefore I shall not need to give any particular Directions concerning them Only I would take occasion from this last Import of the Remembrance to which our Text calls us To exhort you when you come to this Holy Institution that you would take Care to raise up all these Affections and Resentments to as great a Heighth as you are able and having done this that you would then cherish and improve them that being not only warm and vigorous upon your Souls at the present but also rooted and engrafted into them they may not easily cool again but become operative upon your Lives may encrease your Love and confirm your Faith and enflame your Devotion and keep you firm and steady to your Duty till some new Occasion shall again call you to a new exciting of them This will be indeed to render your Remembrance such as your Saviour here requires of you And the frequent Returns which by the Blessing of God you here enjoy of this Memorial beyond most Christians in the World shall not only put you in a Capacity of coming still with better and more affectionate Resentments to this Holy Sacrament but shall by the Blessing of God prove a most useful and excellent Assistance to the promoting of all the other Parts of your Duty you shall live as becomes those who know what mighty Engagements their Saviour has laid upon them to what Hopes they are called and by what means their Redemption was purchased for them And as this Exercise will be the best means to prepare you to come worthily to this Remembrance so will it be also the most powerful Motive to engage you to
not see how any good Christian can with a good Conscience so frequently neglect In the mean time this is the summ of all He that despises this Institution does not only shew a light esteem of the Death of Christ and do violence to the Command of his Saviour but does moreover deprive his Soul of the most excellent assistance God has given us in this World in order to our Salvation in the next Whereas he who comes frequently and with that due Preparation he ought to it will not only put himself out of all danger from the Precept before us but will in a little while secure himself of such a measure of the Grace and Favour of his Redeemer whose Memory he here honours as shall carry him through all the Temptations the Sorrows the Afflictions of this Life to an Eternal Enjoyment of Glory Honour and Immortality in the next And to which God of his infinite Mercy vouchsafe to bring us all for the same his Son Jesus Christ's sake our Lord Amen OF THE Honour due to the Blessed Uirgin A SERMON Preached on Lady Day MARCH xxv 1688. LUKE I. 48 49. For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed for he that is mighty hath done to me great things and holy is his name THese Words are part of that Magnificat or Song of Thanksgiving which the Blessed Virgin made to God in return of that wonderful Favour He had vouchsafed unto her in esteeming her worthy to become the Mother of our Lord. And they contain in them a kind of Prophecy of that Honour which the Christian Church should in all Ages to come pay to her Memory upon the account of it It is the Observation of our English Rhemists in their Annotations upon this Place That this Prophecy is fulfilled in their keeping her Festival Days and saying the Ave Marie and other Holy Anthems of our Lady And that the Calvinists therefore so they are pleased to stile us for not doing of this are not among these Generations which call our Lady Blessed And in their Marginal Note on the same Passage they very briskly ask this Question Have the Protestants had always Generations to fulfil this Prophecy Or do they call her blessed that derogate what they can from her Graces Blessing and all her Honour In answer to so ignorant or so malicious a Calumny and to shew that We tho' we neither say any Ave-Maries to her Honour nor are engaged in any other part of that unwarrantable Superstition whereby they have so long dishonoured God abused the Blessed Virgin and scandalized the Church of Christ have yet as just an Esteem for the Holy Mother of our Lord and proclaim her Blessedness as much as either this Prophecy requires or any sober Orthodox Christian may be allowed to do it I shall crave leave to make use of that Occasion the Solemnity of this Day offers to me to enter on the Comparison between our selves and them And could I be assured That the Blest above have this Honour from God to be made acquainted with these solemn Exercises of their Brethren here below I would not doubt to appeal to the Holy Virgin her self to judge betwixt us Who they are that do the most truly honour her We who freely pay her all that Love that Respect that Glory that any Creature in her Circumstances can possibly be thought capable of Or they who by giving her more raise her up to a State above the Condition of her Nature and so instead of honouring her dishonour that Son whom she was so happy as to bring into the World and that God who thought her worthy of so great an Exaltation Now in order to this End I shall observe this following Method I. I will shew what that Honour is which the Blessed Virgin is now capable of Receiving and which accordingly we our selves this Day pay to her Memory II. I will lay before you some Instances of that Additional Worship which those of the other Church pretend is due to her III. I will offer some of those Reasons for which we think such a Worship to be unlawful and therefore refuse to give it to her I. I begin with the first of these I. What that Honour is which the Blessed Virgin is now capable of receiving and which accordingly we our selves pay to her Memory For answer to which Enquiry I shall lay down this plain and I suppose undeniable Foundation viz. That however some have been pleased to exalt the Glories and Prerogatives of the Holy MARY to a very great indeed to an extravagant Degree so as hardly to leave any Comparison between her and any other Creature whether in Heaven or Earth yet since they still confess her to be but a meer Creature the Measure we must take whereby to judge What Honour may warrantably be paid to her must be to consider What Honour any meer Creature in her Circumstances is capable of receiving And then I presume it cannot be justly said That we are not of the number of those who call the Holy Virgin Blessed who upon this Foundation do freely profess That providing only for that just Distance that ought to be observed between the Adoration that we owe to God and that Honour which we may be allowed to give to a Creature there is no Respect that we think too great to be given to her Nor will we scruple to pay her any Honour that does not entrench upon our Piety and confound the Service of God and his Creatures together Were the Blessed Virgin yet present upon Earth with us we would soon convince those our Accusers that we thought no Respect too much for her which either they or we are wont to give to the greatest Saints yet on Earth Now that she is departed from us all we can do is to follow her with our Esteem our Praise and our Imitation That is To give her all that Honour which any Creature in the same Circumstances is fit to receive or which it may be either Lawful or Reasonable for us to offer to such a one We pray not indeed to her now nor would we do it if she were still on Earth and we were sure she could hear and know our Requests Because Prayer we look upon to be an Act of Religious Worship and therefore such as is proper to God only But we Bless God for the Honour he vouchsafed unto her when he made her the Mother of our Lord with the Angel we pronounce her Blessed among Women and that in that very Form which she her self set us for our Pattern And so every Day fulfil her Prophecy whilst we cry out with her to God Almighty My Soul doth magnifie the Lord and my Spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour in that he regarded the lowliness of his Handmaiden We intreat her not to pray for us because we cannot tell how to convey our Requests to her And tho' for ought we know God might