Psal 136. 1 Chron. 16.41 and to the practice of Primitive Christians to appeal to and to magnifie the mercies of God upon all needful occasions and to beg his mercy of pardon particularly for those sins which we are guilty of and for which we stand in need of pardon The like allocations are to be met with in all the Liturgies extant O God the Father c. O God the Son Redeemer of the world have mercy upon us miserable sinners As we have deviated from the Law of Creation so from the Law of Redemption which is the greater deviation and renders us the more inexcusably guilty therefore do we petition our Redeemer the only begotten Son of God whom he sent into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved John 3.16 17. Gal. 3.13 Gal. 4.4 5. Heb. 2.9 1 Pet. 1.18 19. that he would have mercy upon us and procure unto us pardon for those breaches which we have made against the Law of our Redemption O God the Son c. O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have mercy upon us miserable sinners As we have sinned against the Law of Creation and Redemption so against the rule of Sanctification which was set us when we were dedicated to God in Baptism and consecrated to Gods service by the Holy Spirit therefore do we petition God the Holy Ghost who was sent down after the Son went up to comfort us John 14.16 to teach and instruct us John 14.26 and to confirm the truth of Christ and the verity of Christian Religion John 15.26 and to seal all those who sincerely embrace it unto the day of complete Redemption Ephes 4.30 that he would pardon those sins whereby we have grieved him and those many offers and tenders of grace which he hath made unto us and we have obstinately rejected and refused O God the Holy Ghost c. O holy blessed and glorious Trinity three Persons and one God have mercy upon us miserable sinners As we have broken the Law of Creation transgressed the Law of Redemption and violated the sacred rules of our Sanctification and so have made our selves unhappily guilty by our miscarriages and misdoings against all the three Persons in the Godhead therefore do we petition them all to have mercy upon us and to pardon our misactings O holy blessed c. Remember not Lord our offences nor the offences of our fore-fathers neither take thou vengeance of our sins spare us good Lord spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious bloud and be not angry with us for ever This is agreeable to Scripture wherein we pray that God would make good his promise to us and remember our sins and iniquities no more Heb. 10.17 that he would not punish the fathers sins upon the children in the same sense as he himself hath threatned in the second Commandment Exod. 20.5 We read of the like form of prayer Ezra 9.7 Nehem. 1.6 Joel 2.17 and we plead the price of our Redemption mentioned 1 Pet. 1.19 to move God to remove his anger from us that it may not rest upon us according to those pious expressions which we meet with Psal 85.4 5 6. From all evil and mischief from sin from the crafts and assaults of the devil from thy wrath and from everlasting damnation Good Lord deliver us The summe of this petition is contained in the Lords Prayer and all the rest of the petitions in this Litany may easily be reduced to it From all blindness of heart from pride vain-glory and hypocrisie from envy hatred and malice and all uncharitableness Good Lord deliver us This is all agreeable to Scripture which mentions in express terms the very sins which we here pray to be delivered from Blindness of heart Ephes 4.18 Pride 1 John 2.16 Vain-glory Gal. 5.26 Hypocrisie Mat. 6.5 Envy hatred malice and uncharitableness Fphes 4.31 From fornication and all other deadly sin and from all the deceits of the world the flesh and the devil Good Lord deliver us We have Scripture-warrant for all that is contained in this petition touching Fornication 1 Cor. 6.18 and other deadly sins 1 John 5.16 Now they which are usually accounted of as deadly sins though by the general practice of them they may seem otherwise are these Pride which is opposite to Humility Covetousness which is opposite to Liberality Luxury which is opposite to Chastity Envy which is opposite to Gentleness Gluttony which is opposite to Temperance Anger which is opposite to Patience Sloth which is opposite to the devout and earnest serving of God These are called the seven deadly sins not because we judge any other sin in its own nature to be venial and not deadly but because they are so deeply rooted in our nature that it is a very hard matter to mortifie them and therefore do we pray to be delivered from them and from the deceits of the world the flesh and the Devil the grand Enemâ—es of our Christianity which we renounce and bâ—d dâ—hance to in our Baptism For to be intangled with the world is to be drawn from God 1 John 2.15 and to live after the flesh and to be carnal minded is death and to be at enmity with God Rom. 8.6 7. and to be taken in the Devils snares is a very dangerous thing and a very great blessing and happiness to be freed from them 2 Tim. 2.26 From lightning and tempest from Plague Pestilence and Famine from battel and murder and from sudden death Good Lord deliver us When we pray to be delivered from lightning and tempest our meaning is that we may be delivered from the dangers of the whole year arising many times and falling upon us by Lightning in Summer and by Tempest in Winter and when we pray to be delivered from sudden death our meaning is that we may not die such a death as God hath threatned to and usually inflicts upon the wicked Psal 50.22 Psal 73.18 Prov. 1.27 but that we may die comfortably with renewed Faith Repentance Reconciliation and setting of our houses in order that our death may neither be untimely nor unprovided for but that it may be after the common manner of men having nothing in it extraordinary but piety We desire that we may not be snatched away suddenly nor perish and come to fearful ends that we may not die like Absalom Judas Corah Dathan Abiram Ananias and Sapphira all which died fearful and unusual deaths but that we may die comfortably as Jacob Moses Joshua David who leisurably ended their lives in peace and prayer for the mercies of God to come upon their posterities For however there is no condemnation to the Elect and those who are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 yet it may so fall out that some of the Elect themselves may die with more scandal less joy of conscience and enjoy less joys of Heaven then other of their brethren From all
2.5 One not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God Heb. 2.16 Gal. 4.4 John 1.24 One altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of person â—or as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and Man is one Christ Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant of Grace and glorious Instrument of mans salvation and restauration was to suffer in that Flesh which had sinned that he might make satisfaction for the sin of it Now as God he could not suffer therefore was he Man that he might be liable to sufferings as Man he would have sunk under his sufferings therefore was he God that he might be the better enabled to endure them a satisfaction was to be made by man to God for mans sin and therefore was he both God and Man his Manhood made him capable of sufferings and his Godhead made his sufferings meritorious Now for the union of the two Natures in this one Person who was to suffer and by his sufferings to make a full satisfaction to God for mans sin I know not how it could possibly better be illustrated then by the rational Soul and the brutish Flesh united together for the making up of one man The Leviathan who derides the Illustration because he really believes not the Union nor the happy effects of it is as monstrous a scoffer at Christian Religion as â—ucian who indeed derided the Union but might be very well pleased for ought I know with the Illustration if so happy as to be acquainted with it Who suffered for our salvation descended into Hell rose again the third day from the dead Heb. 9.24 25 26 27 28. 1 Pet. 4.1 1 Pet. 2.21 22 23 24. 1 Pet. 4.18 19. Ephes 4.9 Act. 2.31 32. 1 Cor. 15.3 4. Christ saith Ambrose was woâ—â—ded in me and for me he sorrowed for me who had nothing in himself to sorrow for The curse of briars and thorns which our sins had platted into a Crown was removed to his brows We raised the Tempest and he was the Jonah cast over-board for to appease it whom Death and the Grave like a great Whale swallowed up but cast up again the third day upon the Land He ascended into Heaven he sitteth on the right hand of the Father God Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead Ephes 4.8 9 10. Heb. 12.2 Act. 10.42 Act. 17.31 Let us saith holy Augustine look upon him ascending believe in him absent hope for his coming again and by his secret mercy feel him present with us though absent from us present by Faith though absent by Sense spiritually present though corporally absent At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works Rom. 14.9 10. 2 Cor. 5.10 And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire Mat. 25.46 This is the only expressed rule and instance by which Christ means to judge the world according to their works respectively be they good or bad they who do good shall receive good and they who are the doers of evil shall meet with a retribution that is answerable Rom. 2.5 6 7 8 9 10 11. It was the saying of the learned Seneca That it is God-like for one mortal to be helpful to another and this saith he is the way to Eternity Undoubtedly the last Judgment shall proceed if not according to the merit yet according to the quality of our works it shall go well with the righteous ill with the wicked This is the Catholick Faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved It is a currant Tradition that the forementioned Creed was composed by Athanasius yet Learned men for some reasons have strongly opposed this Tradition But be the Author who he will it is undoubtedly ancient and contains in it the principal Mysteries of Christian Faith therefore doth the Church approve of it and admits it into her Liturgy It is appointed to be said upon certain days because the select Scriptures made choice of for those days do treat much of that which this Creed endeavours to explain viz. the Trinity in the Godhead and the Incarnation of God Neither did the Author whoever he was impose this as I suppose as a summary of Faith to be believed by others in those precise terms wherein it is expressed only published it with confidence to declare his own belief and to shew what he himself held as point of Doctrine touching the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead and the Incarnation of Christ Neither is the rigid sentence of damnation which is implicitely contained in it to be extended to all who believe not every particular in it in the terms wherein they are expressed for all cannot understand them but it is designed only against those who deny the substance of this Creed the Doctrine of the Trinity the Divinity and Humanity of Christ and the union of his two Natures in one Person For this is undoubtedly a Catholick Doctrine to be believed by all who profess Christianity without the believing of which so far as cleared and revealed to us no man can be saved For how is it possible for those persons to come to Salvation who by a mis-belief oppose the ways means and methods whereby they are to be brought unto it Now Glory be to the Father Son and Holy Ghost is very properly set at the close of this Creed because it is before proved and cleared in the Greed that the Father is God the Son God and the Holy Ghost God and Divine glory and worship belongs to all and is to be paid to all by all Christians as it was from the begâ—nning of the Christian Religion professed under that name and title RUBRICK Here followeth the Litany or general supplication to be sung or said after Morning Prayer upon Sundays Wednesdays and Fridays and at other times when it shall be commanded by the Ordinary O God the Father of heaven have mercy upon us miscrable sinners God is the Father of the Rain the Father of the Dew Job 38.28 and the Father of Lights Jam. 1.17 the great Father of the stupendious works of the Creation and the very Heathens themselves have acknowledged him so to be therefore we who are his Creatures and have deviated from the Law of his Creation do petition him to have mercy upon us and to pardon our deviations He is the great and glorious God who made Heaven and Earth Psal 124.8 whose goodness we have abused and therefore upon our bended knees desire his mercy to pardon those abuses and vile affronts which we have done unto him saying with holy David Have mercy upon us O God according to thy loving kindness Psal 51.1 Neither let any persons think it strange that Have mercy upon us is so often repeated in this Litany for it is agreeable to Scripture
is to be in the kneeling posture the posture of penitents when he is performing this penitential Office and he is to perform it in the appointed place in imitation of the Priests and Ministers under the Law who were commanded in their penitential Service to weep between the Porch and the Altar and to say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God Joel 2.17 To conclude the Litany take it in the whole and in every part of it is so excellent a Form of all good devotion that they must needs be upbraided either with errour or somewhat worse whom in all parts this principal and excellent Prayer doth not fully satisfie The corruptions brought into former Litanies by addition of Saints names and Invocation of Saints are purged away in ours so that there is not any Litany extant more complete then ours is the Church in other Divine Offices hath exceeded other Churches but in this her self RUBRICK Prayers and Thanksgivings upon several occasions to be used before the two final Prayers of the Litany or of Morning and Evening Prayer PRAYERS For Rain O God heavenly Father who by thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised to all them that seek thy kingdom and the righteousness thereof all things necessary to their bodily sustenance Mat. 6.33 Send us we beseech thee in this our necessity such moderate rain and showres that we may receive the fruits of the earth to our comfort and to thy honour through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Jam. 4.3 Jam. 5.18 Hos 2.21 22. 1 King 8.35 36. John 14.13 14. For fair weather O Almighty Lord God who for the sin of man didst once drown all the world except eight persons 1 Pet. 3.20 and afterward of thy great mercy didst promise never to destroy it so again Gen. 8.21 22. We humbly beseech thee that although we for our iniquities have worthily deserved a plague of rain and waters yet upon our true repentance thou wilt send us such weather as that we may receive the fruits of the earth in due season and learn both by thy punishment to amend our lives and for thy clemency to give thee praise and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen In the time of Dearth and Famine O God heavenly Father whose gift it is that the rain doth fall the earth is fruitful beasts increase and fishes do multiply Job 38.25 26 27 28. Gen. 1. Behold we beseech thee the afflictions of thy people and grant that the scarcity and dearth which we do now most justly suffer for our iniquity may through thy goodness be mercifully turned into cheapness and plenty for the love of Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen 2 Chron. 20.9 2 Chron. 6.26 27 28 29 30 31. Rom. 8.32 Deut. 11.13 14. Or this O God merciful Father who in the time of Elisha the Prophet didst suddenly in Samaria turn great scarcity and dearth into plenty and cheapness 2 King chap. 6. chap. 7. Have mercy upon us that we who are now for our sins punished with like adversity may likewise find a seasonable relief increase the fruits of the earth by thy heavenly benediction and grant that we receiving thy bountiful liberality may use the same to thy glory the relief of those that are needy and our own comfort through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 1 King 8.35 36 37 38 39 40. In the time of War and Tumults O Almighty God King of all Kings and Governour of all things whose power no creature is able to resist to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners and to be merciful to them that truly repent save and deliver us we humbly beseech thee from the hands of our enemies abate their pride asswage their malice and confound their devices that we being armed with thy defence may be preserved evermore from all perils to glorifie thee who art the only giver of all victory through the merits of thy only Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2 Sam. 22.32 Isa 45.22 Psal 76.7 10. 1 King 8. vers 44 c. In the time of any common Plague or Sickness O Almighty God who in thy wrath didst send a Plague upon thine own people in the wilderness for their obstinate rebellion against Moses and Aaron Numb 16. and also in the time of King David didst slay with the plague of Pestilence threescore and ten thousand and yet remembring thy mercy didst save the rest 2 Sam. 24.15 16. Have pity upon us miserable sinners who now are visited with great sickness and mortality that like as thou didst then accept of an atonement and didst command the destroying Angel to cease from punishing 2 Sam. 24.16 so it may now please thee to withdraw from us this plague and grievous sickness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen In the Ember weeks to be said every day for those that are to be admitted into Holy Orders ALmighty God our heavenly Father who hast purchased to thy self an universal Church by the precious bloud of thy dear Son Act. 20.28 Colos 1.13 14. Tit. 2.14 Rev. 1.5 Rev. 7.14 mercifully look upon the same and at this time so guide and govern the minds of thy servants the Bishops and Pastours of thy flock that they may lay hands suddenly on no man 1 Tim. 5.22 but faithfully and wisely make choice of fit persons to serve in the sacred Ministery of thy Church Act. 1.24 25 26. And to those which shall be ordained to any holy function give thy grace and heavenly benediction that both by their life and doctrine they may set forth thy glory and set forward the salvation of all men through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 1 Tim. 4.16 Deut. 33.8 Or this ALmighty God the giver of all good gifts who of thy divine providence hast appointed divers orders in thy Church 1 Cor. 12.28 29. Ephes 4.11 12. 1 Pet. 4.10 1 Cor. 12.4 Give thy grace we humbly beseech thee to all those who are to be called to any office and administration in the same and so replenish them with the truth of thy doctrine and indue them with innocency of life that they may faithfully serve before thee to the glory of thy great Name and the benefit of thy holy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Note The four Ember weeks were anciently weeks of Abstinence quarterly Fasts observed in the four seasons of the year the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent for the Spring the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the Feast of Pentecost for the Summer the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after Holy Cross September the 13th for the Autumn and the Wednesday Friday and Saturday after St. Lucies day December the 13th for the Winter Now the Church enjoyned Wednesday Friday and Saturday to be weekly observed because Christ
of our souls We are to undreg them of all earth dirt and filth that nothing which is earthly or sensual may mingle with our spiritual imployments wherein we are to be exercised and wholly taken up during our stay in that Holy place When Moses and Joshua approached that ground which the presence of God by his Angel made holy they were commanded to put off their shoes Exod. 3.5 Josh 5.15 By which in a figure was intimated the cleansing of the soul from that filth of sin which is required of every one who draws near unto God Heb. 10.22 When our business is with God we are to mind our business to have our minds hearts and affections set only upon it When we come into the house of God which is the figure of heaven we are to leave the earth and the world behind us and to have our conversation only in heaven When Abraham went to sacrifice and to offer up the dearest thing which he had unto God he left his Ass and his Servants behind him Gen. 22.5 And when holy Bernard entred the Temple his usual saying was Stay behind all my worldly thoughts So when we are to enter Gods house and are making our approaches to do him service we should have nothing to do with the world but take off our hearts and affections clear from it As we would keep our feet as much as possibly we can from dirt and filth when we are to enter the Presence-Chamber of a King so when we enter into Gods house which is his Presence-Chamber we are to keep the feet of our souls clean and unspotted from the world though not altogether clean yet as clean as they can be kept Like those who come out of the dirt into a well-swept room we must cast away that filth and uncleanness which we may have contracted in our worldly affairs when we are entring into the house of God Keep thy foot when thou entrest it is an expression borrowed from the Heathens especially the Aegyptians who would not enter their Idol-Temples with shoes on their feet And amongst his other precepts Pythagoras gave this for one When thou sacrificest or worshippest put off thy shoes from thy feet By which is intimated to us who look not so much at the ceremony as at the meaning of it That when we come into Gods house who is a God of purity in whose presence the brightest Angel is impure we are to see that all be pure about us we are to come with pure hearts pure hands and to present him with pure offerings especially we are to look to our affections the feet of our souls to see that they have contracted no impurity for if they be pure the whole man is pure Keep thy foot when thou entrest This is the first consideration which if well thought upon would prevent many of those rudenesses evils and misdemeanours which unwise men rashly commit in Gods house and so offer to him the Sacrifice of fools for want of due consideration Secondly When thou art entred the house of God let thy next consideration be that thou art in the presence of God there where God is present in a more special and peculiar manner He is every-where present by his Essence which is infinite and cannot be contained within bounds or limits He is every-where present by his Power turning the Orbs of Heaven with his hand fixing the Earth with his foot guiding all Creatures with his eye and refreshing them all with his influence but he is more specially present in some places than in othersome by the several and more special manifestations of himself to extraordinary purposes Thus by Glory his seat is in Heaven where his Servants dwell with him by Grace and Benediction he is present in Holy places and Sacred Assemblies where his Servants walk with him and worship him Well then consider what thou art and what God is into whose special presence thou art come and what is thy business with him Thou art a feeble infirm creature made up of nothing but wants and weaknesses God is a Creator All-sufficient to heal thy infirmities to supply thy wants and to manifest his strength in thy weakness It is thine own misery and his mercy which are the two chief motives that bring thee into his house of prayer That which brought home the Prodigal into his Fathers house Luk. 15.17 18. we may suppose brings thee into Gods house want and woe in us untoward Children pity and plenty in God a good and kind Father For is not this our business with him if we do truly understand our own business to have our needs and wants supplied our sins pardoned our miseries relieved by mercies and aâ— our insufficiencies every way answered out oâ— that inexhaustible fountain of his goodness who is all-sufficient This is the best title we can give our selves we are all but his creatures and if we are just to our selves and not partial we must confess that we are none of the best creatures by our own default but vile and vitious more than enough Our dependance both for our being and well being and for what is requirable to both is entirely upon our Creator and him only whose creatures we are but whatever tends to our ruine undoing infelicity and misery is meerly from the Serpent and our selves So that as I noted before our own miseries and Gods mercies our wants and Gods many ways to supply them our sins our many sins to be pardoned and Gods inclinations great inclinations for to pardon them if we are truly and sincerely penitent are the two great motives which bring us into Gods house into his special presence but we are to lay open our selves before him from whom we cannot hide our selves though we would for he made us and knows us better than we know or can know our selves For there is not any creature that is not manifest in his sight there is no man shall be able to disguise himself so cunningly but God will discover him all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 Thirdly But now in the third place let us consider what we are to do first after we have made our adorations as we ought to do when we are come into Gods house and special presence Now methinks those vile unprofitable and pernicious things called our sins which are indeed properly our own should come to our remembrance There is nothing so likely to hinder good things from us as our sins unconfessed unrepented of They hinder our prayers from ascending acceptably unto God for God will not hear sinners who bring nothing but their sins unrepented of for an offering and like Adonijah lay hold on the Altar with all their sins and rebellions about them and they hinder Gods blessings from descending comfortably upon us Therefore when we are come into the presence of God and are all met together in his house to offer up
some one or more of these sentences of the Scriptures that follow and then he shall say that which is written after the said sentences When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Ezek. 18.27 I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me Psal 51.3 Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities Psal 51.9 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 Rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Joel 2.13 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his Laws which he set before us Dan. 9.9 10. O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Jer. 10.24 Repent ye for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3 2. I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son Luke 15.18 19. Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal 143.2 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us But if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1.8 9. EXPLANATION The forecited sentences are all taken word for word out of the Holy Scripture of which the Minister may according to his discretion and as a fit occasion shall be offered make his choice which he is to read with a grave distinct loud but humble voice always considering that they are here set in proper place to mind the Congregation of their own misery and God's mercy and to prepare and stir up the hearts of people for the better performance of Holy Duties following both with alacrity and devotion DEarly beloved brethren Jam. 2.5 the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness 1 John 1.9 Psal 51.3 Psal 38.18 and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father Prov. 28.13 Psal 32.5 but confess them with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by his infinite goodness and mercy Psal 10.17 Psal 34.18 Joel 2.12 13. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God 1 Tim. 2.8 yet ought we most chiefly so to do when we assemble and meet together Levit. 4.14 to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands Psal 68.19 to set forth his most worthy praise Psal 50.23 to hear his most holy word Hebr. 3.7 Rom. 10.17 and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul Mat. 6.11 12. Mat. 7.7 8. Jam. 4.2 3. Wherefore I pray and beseech you as many as are here present to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice 1 Cor. 4.16 2 Cor. 2.8 2 Cor. 5.20 unto the throne of the heavenly Grace saying after me Hebr. 4.16 EXPLANATION The forementioned Exhortation is grave and serious exactly agreeable to Holy Scripture in which the people are invited and exhorted in an Apostolical stile to confess their sins humbly to the Lord who is able to help them because Almighty and willing to hear them because most merciful It gives us in a short summe the chief ends of our publick meetings in the houses of God it sets us some steps forward toward repentance makes us to know that we have offended instructs us how and in what manner to acknowledge our offence and by degrees brings us to confession upon our knees RUBRICK A general Confession to be said of the whole Congregation after the Minister all kneeling ALmighty and most merciful Father Gen. 17.1 Gen. 35.11 2 Cor. 1.5 we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep Psal 119.176 1 Pet. 2.25 we have followed too much the devises and desires of our own hearts Febr. 3.10 Gen. 6.5 we have offended against thy holy Laws Act. 7.53 Dan. 9.9 10. Jam. 2.10 Jam. 3.2 we have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done Rom. 7.15 19. and there is no health in us Isa 1.5 6. But thou O Lord have mercy upon us miserable offenders Luke 18.13 Psal 51.1 Spare thou them O God which confess their faults Joel 2.17 Hos 14.2 restore thou them that are penitent Psal 51.12 Hebr. 6.6 according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord Ephes 3.6 Rom. 15.8 2 Cor. 1.20 And grant O most merciful Father for his sake John 14.13 14. John 15.16 that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life Tit. 2.11 12. to the glory of thy holy Name 1 Pet. 4.11 1 Cor. 10.31 Amen 1 Cor. 14.16 EXPLANATION This Confession as appears by the forecited Texts is exactly agreeable to Scripture and is rationally and upon prudent grounds allowed the first place in our publick Liturgy We begin our Service with Confession of sin for these reasons 1. Because our sins make a separation betwixt God and us Isa 59.2 keep good things from us Jer. 5.25 hinder our prayers from ascending acceptably to God and God's blessings from descending comfortably upon us 2. It was the practice of God's people the Jews to begin their Service with a general Confession of sin of which we have the marks and signs in the Law Lev. 16.16 and the pattern and platform in the Prophets but the Confessions themselves are particularly to be met with in the Books of the Jews This verbal Confession of which we have an instance Luke 1.10 made the Jews fully acquainted with the true use of Sacrifices Besides Almighty God being jealous of his honour commanded a brazen Laver to be set between the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Altar for Aaron and his Sons twice in a day to wash their hands and feet Exod. 30.17 18 19 20 21. by which was signified the Laver of Repentance which we always stand in need of From the Jews it afterwards became a custom in the Christian Church to begin their publick Service with Confession of sin and to perform it in such a manner as we do The very Heathens had something amongst them which seemed to allude to it for they used to wipe off the dirt from their feet when they entred into the places of their Religious Service and Sacrifice However it is most certainly
terrours by night and of the Pestilence walking in darkness and therefore Evening and Night Prayers are certainly a good defensative against both What remains of the Evening Service is the same with that of the Morning and concludes in the same manner Hereunto is added by way of Appendix these following Paraphrases 1. A Paraphrase upon Psal 95. Vers 1. THe great God of Heaven is he from whom all our deliverance and strength doth come O let us uniformly joyn in praising and glorifying his Name Vers 2. Let us make our daily constant addresses to him with all the acknowledgments and expressions of thankful hearts Vers 3. For he is the Supreme God of Heaven and Earth the only super-eminent Monarch over all Powers and Dignities to whom Angels in Heaven are Ministers and the mightiest Princes upon the Earth are Vice-gerents Vers 4. The bowels and bottom of the Earth are in his disposal and so are the loftiest and stoutest Hills by which it is also intimated that the meanest and lowest men or creatures on Earth are particularly ordered by his providence in all that befalls them here and the mightiest men in the world are bounded and governed by him Vers 5. It is he that framed the whole Orb of the Sea and dry Land and so contrived them the one within the bowels of the other that they should not incommode each the other but both together make up one useful Globe for men and all other creatures to inhabit Vers 6. O let us joyntly adore praise and pray unto him and make the members of our bodies partners and witnesses of the real devotion of our hearts let us joyn inward and outward reverence together in the most submiss and lowliest gestures thereby signifying and expressing the sincere humility of our Souls which is a tribute most justly due to him who is the great Lord and Creator of all Vers 7 8. And although we have often rebelled against him and so have often deserved his dereliction and as often smarted for it yet if now at length we shall be wrought upon by his calls and warning and perform unto him sincere obedience he is most ready to accept us to take us into his care and protection and to secure us from all our enemies Vers 9. But let not us like our provoking fore-fathers who being delivered by him sinned yet more against him after we have so liberally tasted of his power goodness and long-sufferance and after his many gracious calls afforded us to Repentance rebell against him and provoke his wrath by imitating them in their ingratitude and impenitence Vers 10 11. For fourty years together wherein for their sins God detained and perplexed them in the wilderness they did frequently provoke God to indignation and made him resolve that they were a stupid Idolatrous people preferring the worship of false Gods and Devils before the obedience and worship of him the only true God of Heaven and Earth therefore being as it were tired out with their continued provocations God obliged himself by an Oath irreversibly that of the many thousands which came out of Aegypt only two persons who were grown up to be men should enter the Land of Promise O let not us follow them in their sins lest we follow them also in their punishments and so fall short of Heaven as they did of Canaan 2. A Paraphrase upon Benedictus Luk. 1. vers 68. Vers 68. ALl glory honour and praise be unto the great Lord and gracious God of his chosen people and select inheritance for he hath performed his promise so often made to them by his gracious Visitation in bringing them out of Aegypt formerly by a temporal deliverance which did pre-figure a greater deliverance to be wrought by Christ the promised Messias who is shortly to be born Vers 69. Of David's Family and invested with all power honour glory dignity and triumph to be a King Ruler and eminent deliverer of his people whose Kingdom is not Secular but Spiritual Vers 70 71. Of whom honourable mention is made by all the holy Prophets of God speaking of him as with one mouth from the beginning of that age which was before the coming of the Messias unto this present time The end of whose coming is to save us from all our spiritual enemies sins and dangers by taking upon him our nature and in it performing perfect unsinning obedience by dying upon the Cross for us and by giving us precepts and rules by their own inward goodness most agreeable to our reasonable nature for the purifying of our affections and for teaching and instructing us to lead pure lives Vers 72. By all which God hath made good his signal promise of mercy made to the holy Fathers and Patriarchs wherein both themselves and their Seed were highly concerned Vers 73. Especially that great and gracious Covenant of mercy which he made to Abraham and his Seed in a Spiritual sense and ratified and confirmed by the Sanction of an Oath Vers 74 75. Namely that he would give us power ability and grace in and from the Messias revealed to obey and attend him in a sincere performance of all duties to God and man and chearfully and constantly to persevere therein being by him rescued and secured from all dangers of enemies without us though not altogether from those which may be founded in our selves in our own negligences and miscarriages Vers 76. And thou Child meaning John the Baptist shalt be a wonderful person and extraordinary Prophet of God for thou shalt foretell Judgments on the Nations if they repent not speedily and in a signal manner shalt point out Christ being his immediate fore-runner and shalt preach Repentance and amendment of life thereby to fit and prepare men for him Vers 77. Teaching all men that in Christ there is a possibility for sinners to obtain Salvation and to have their sins pardon'd upon their Repentance and New life Vers 78. Which is a special act of compassion and signal mercy in God through which mercy the Messias who is called the Day-spring by the Prophets is come from Heaven to visit us and to abide amongst us Vers 79. And to shine forth to blind ignorant mortals and obdurate worldlings who lived in a state of sin and death and to bring them and us into the way of Sanctity and Holiness which leads to Salvation and life eternal 3. A Paraphrase upon Psal 100. Vers 1 2 O Let all the people in the world bless worship and praise and offer up their Prayers and Supplications to the great God of Heaven let them resort daily to his Sanctuary and constantly attend his Service and account it the most estimable and delectable task and the most renowned and most glorious imployment which they can possibly undertake Vers 3. For this is the only way to converse with the great and glorious and omnipotent Creator of all things to whom we owe all that we have and all that we are to him we
worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity 1 John 5.7 Revel 4.8 Mat. 28.19 Rom. 11.36 Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance The Jews and Turks have a Faith such as it is for they worship one God and many of them keep that Faith whole and in a sense undefiled for as they believe one God so they live according to what they believe The meer Pagans and Heathens have a Faith too for they worship more Gods then one they will rather admit of too many then none at all few Atheists are to be met with amongst any of these as Atheism stands in direct opposition to a Deity Yet all Jews Turks and Pagans may be termed Atheists and Infidels in opposition to the Christian Religion in regard they all deny the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead which all sound Christians do believe worship and adore For there is one person of the Father another of the Son and another of the Holy Ghost But the Godhead of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one the Glory equal the Majesty co-eternal Such as the Father is such is the Son and such is the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 1 John 5.7 Heb. 1.3 John 10.30 Philip. 2.6 The doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of Godhead and Divine Essence is the peculiar doctrine of Christians and that which remarkably distinguishes the Christian Religion from all other Religions in the world Though all the world besides opposed it yet Christians have ever believed and embraced it and as they have believed so they have been baptized and have always given glory to God one in Essence Father Son and Holy Ghost three in Person always acknowledging in the blessed Trinity and unspeakable Deity one substance in work not divided in will agreeing in omnipotence and glory equal The Heathens especially the Platonists had some broken notions of this admirable Mystery which ought to be the subject of our adoration and devotion rather then of our curiosity and search The Jews had many dark adumbrations of it but it was only cleared and revealed to Christians God the Father in the Creation of the world God the Son in the Redemption of mankind God the Holy Ghost in the Sanctification of the Church To search too far into this Mystery is rashness to dispute it is folly to deny it madness to believe it is true piety and to know it is life The Father uncreate the Son uncreate and the Holy Ghost uncreate Gen. 1.2 3. The Father incomprehensible the Son incomprehensible and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible 1 Tim. 6.16 The Father eternal the Son eternal and the Holy Ghost eternal Deut. 33.27 Psal 90.2 God a self-being gave being to the Creatures he was himself without beginning gave a beginning to time and to the world in time he made something of nothing and of that something he made all things God who created the world was himself uncreated and as uncreated so incomprehensible for if he could be comprehended he should not be God and as incomprehensible so eternal that is God from everlasting before all time and to everlasting when time shall be no more And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal As also there are not three incomprehensibles nor three uncreated but one uncreated and one incomprehensible So likewise the Father is Almighty the Son Almighty and the Holy Ghost Almighty And yet they are not three Almighties but one Alighty So the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God And yet they are not three Gods but one God So likewise the Father is Lord the Son Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord And yet not three Lords but one Lord 1 John 5.7 Revel 1.8 Revel 4.8 1 Cor. 8.5 6. God is potentially one personally three one in Essence three in Subsistence in the diversification of Names as the Scripture hath made the distinction three but in Nature Substance and Essence one so the holy Fathers of the Church have forced themselves to speak because they knew not how to speak better nor more clearly in so deep a Mystery neither had they spoken so much I suppose had not the enemies to Christianity extorted it from them and forced them to speak out where they had a mind to be silent When the great doctrine of the Trinity which is the peculiar doctrine of Christians was opposed they thought themselves obliged to defend it and in such terms too as to declare their own meaning though perhaps not to all capacities very intelligible For as it follows in this Creed the meaning of the Church so far as she can express her meaning is this For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord So are we forbidden by the Catholick Religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords Revel 4.8 Heb. 1.3 Rom. 11.36 1 John 5.7 Christians only defended that form of Baptism instituted by our Saviour and that Faith into which they were baptized viz. into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 and if in their own defence they have used expressions not so candidly received and embraced by all that read them they are not to be blamed for it but their opposers who forced them to make use of what expressions they could in their own defence They chose rather to be accounted fools for Christ then to betray and yield up that form of Christ's Institution by which they were initiated in Baptism to be his Disciples The Father is made of none neither created nor begotten His name is I am which shews him to be a self-being Exod. 3.14 and the Heathen Aristotle dyed with an expression in his mouth not much differing when he called upon the Being of Beings to have mercy on him And other Heathens both Poets and Philosophers taking their Light perhaps from the Sacred Scriptures have used terms equivalent to shew God the Father who is the original principle of the Deity to be a self-being by whose bounty and benefit all things are as he himself is by and from himself and by the benefit of none The Son is of the Father alone not made nor created but begotten John 1.14 18. The Son of God who is also very God in respect of his Divine Nature not a Son by way of Eminence but by Essence not by Priviledge or Prerogative but by Nature and Substance was of the Father alone not differing from him in respect of Deity but in respect of Personality He was not made for he was in the beginning before any thing was made and all things were made by him John 1.1 2 3. neither was he created for he was before all creatures his goings forth have been from everlasting Mic. 5.2 He was before the world was In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God John 1.1 We
sedition privy conspiracy and rebellion from all false doctrine heresie and schism from hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and Commandment Good Lord deliver us We are caution'd and advised by the holy Scriptures to fear the Lord and the King and not to have any thing to do with those who are seditious and given to change Prov. 24.21 for such persons are of very unhappy tempers and plot mischiefs secretly Psal 17.12 are unquiet in themselves and will not suffer others to live quietly by them their hearts are not stablished with grace but are of unstable minds carried about with divers and strange doctrines Heb. 13.9 sound doctrine they regard not but after their own lusts heap to themselves Teachers having itching ears which ears they turn from the truth that they may be turned unto fables 2 Tim. 4.3 4. they have in them evil hearts of unbelief hardned through the deceitfulness of sin so that they depart from the living God Heb. 3.12 13. contemn his Word and slight his Commandment Now from these persons and from the evil of their doings that we may neither act evil with them nor suffer evil from them do we pray to be delivered By the mystery of thy holy Incarnation by thy holy Nativity and Circumcision by thy Baptism Fasting and Temptation Good Lord deliver us Christ's Incarnation Nativity Circumcision Baptism Fasting and Temptation we meet with 1 Tim. 3.16 Mat. 1.25 Luk. 1.35 Luk. 2.21 Mat. 3.16 Luk. 3.21 Mat. 4.1 2 3 4 5 6. By thine Agony and bloudy sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy precious death and burial by thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension and by the coming of the Holy Ghost Good Lord deliver us These we also find expresly mentioned in the holy Scriptures Christ's Agony and bloudy sweat Mat. 26.37 38. Luk. 22.44 his Cross and Passion Philip. 2.8 Heb. 12.2 his precious death and burial Mat. 27.58 59 60. his glorious Resurrection Mat. 28.6 his Ascension Luk. 24.51 and the coming down of the Holy Ghost Act. 2. and By all these or Through all these we pray for deliverance The meanest Grammarian would tell us that here is no swearing or conjuration in the case their eyes must look through very strange Spectacles who can spie out an oath here By is no more then Through and in these prayers we do no other then desire God to aid us by applying to us the fifteen benefits here rehearsed These passionate strains are no forms of Oaths they are only a compendious recapitulation of the History of the Gospel and an acknowledgment of the chief means of our Salvation We read the like expressions 1 Pet. 2.24 Isa 53.5 By in these places is no sign of an oath only it notes the instrumental cause of a thing Zanchy confessed that in the Liturgick Offices of the Roman Church these two things pleased him very much First that they did conclude their Pravers Through Jesus Christ our Lord Secondly that they did enumerate in their Prayers all the acts and offices of the Mediator adding By thy Cross and Passion c. And it was undoubtedly to very good purpose that the 〈◊〉 Fathers of the Greek 〈◊〉 after they had recounted in their Liturgies all the particular pains as they are set down in the story of Christ's Passion and by all and every one of 〈◊〉 petition for mercy did after all 〈◊〉 up with this expression By the unknow◠〈…〉 thy Body and agonies of thy Soul â—ave mercy upon us save us and deliver us In all time of our tribulation in all time of our wealth in the hour of death and in the day of judgment Good Lord deliver us In regard we are liable to many sorts of temptations which may befall us either in a prosperous or adverse estate we pray unto God that he would deliver us from every evil work and preserve us unto his Heavenly Kingdom 2 Tim. 4.18 that he would be assistant to us in the hour of death and destroy the dread and fear of it in us by vertue of the death of him who died that he might destroy death and him who had the power of it Heb. 2.14 15. We pray also that a gracious sentence may be passed upon us at the last Judgment implying withall that we may so lead our lives as not to fall under the other more dreadful one The summe of what is here prayed for is contained in the petitions of our Saviour's Prayer mentioned Mat. 6.13 We sinners do beseech thee to hear us O Lord God and that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church universal in the right way 1 John 1.8 9 10. Mat. 28.20 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Thut it may please thee to keep and strengthen in the true worshipping of thee in righteousness and holiness of life thy servant Charles our most gracious King and Governour 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. Psal 72.1 2. Psal 80.17 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to rule his heart in thy faith fear and love and that he may evermore have affiance in thee and ever seek thy honour and glory Psal 21. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to be his defender and keeper giving him the victory over all his enemies Psal 21. Psal 132. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and preserve our gracious Queen Catherine James Duke of York and all the Royal Family Psal 89.29 Psal 45. Gen. 49.10 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to illuminate all Bishops Priests and Deacons with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word and that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly Deut. 33.8 9 10 11. Psal 132.9 Act. 20.28 1 Cor. 9.27 1 Tim. 4.16 1 Pet. 5.2 3 4. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to endue the Lords of the Council and all the Nobility with grace wisdom and understanding Exod. 18.21 Prov. 11.14 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and keep the Magistrates giving them grace to execute justice and to maintain truth 2 Chron. 19.6 Rom. 13. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people Psal 28.9 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. We may read in Tertullian Clement Bishop of Rome Eusebius Ambrose Cyril and others many early presidents of praying for the Church Emperours Kings the Royal Seed Bishops together with the inferiour order of Priests and Deacons and for all things indeed and persons which we pray for in this Litany and Litanies were undoubtedly of very ancient use being at first composed to be solemnly used for the appeasing of Gods wrath in time of publick evils and for the procuring of his mercy in common benefits this may be easily
sorrow upon the Soul and a Repentance not to be repented of That it may please thee to defend and provide for the fatherless children and widows and all that are desolate and oppressed We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. We pray for those whom God himself hath especially declared in Scripture that he will be careful of and kind to and the intimations of his will and pleasure are the best directions for our Prayers neither can we pray more suitably to the mind of God for his pity and compassion to be extended to any then to those miserable persons whom he hath expresly nominated in his Sacred Scriptures to be the proper and fit objects of his compassion and protection so that he is pleased to stile himself the Father of the fatherless the Husband of the widow the Helper of the helpless and the Friend of the friendless the only succour and sure refuge to all miserable and distressed persons who being destituted of the world six their sole dependance upon him That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. When we pray that God would have mercy upon all men we pray for his general mercy to be extended to all in the same sense as he wills all to be saved 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. and in the same sense as he is pleased to distribute out his mercies to all Mat. 5.45 That it may please thee to forgive our enemies persecutors and slanderers and to turn their hearts We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. In praying for our enemies we observe that special command given by our Saviour the observing of which commandment brings us up to the perfection of our Christianity and makes us most like unto God Mat. 5.44 45. And because there is no inordinate lust in our corrupt nature so hard to be mortified as hatred is therefore did Christ in his Sermon upon the Mount administer something expresly towards the mortifying of this wicked passion wherein he doth not only take off the edge of our Revenge but he turns it quite the contrary way teaching us to love our enemies to bless those who curse us to do good to those who hate us to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us to love those for Gods sake whom perhaps for their own sake we cannot love The holy Apostle St. Paul teacheth the same Rom. 12.20 21. as Justin Martyr said to Trypho the Jew Ye persecute us and we pray for you Such like forms of Prayers may be met with in the writings of the Primitive Fathers the Liturgies and Constitutions of the Ancient Church Ignatius in his Epistle to Polycarp and the Church of Smyrna Tertullian and Cyprian in their Treatises of Christian Patience have written very notably upon this argument In all which may be observed the charity of the Church of Christians towards the very enemies of that Religion which she professeth There is not any thing in this Litany but may be met with in ancient Writers and ancient Liturgies ascribed to Chrysostom Basil St. James and in the Catholick Collect mentioned in the Constitutions which are father'd upon Clemens Romanus the places I could cite word for word only in regard I am writing to English People I have made it my design to write all in English such as it is and not so much as to dip into any other Tongue or Language That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth so as in due time we may enjoy them Psal 104.27 28. Psal 65.9 10 11 12 13. Mat. 6.11 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. From the Litanies or Rogations then used upon their common Perambulations came the three days before the day Anniversary of our Lords Ascension to be called Rogation-days and the Sunday before Rogation-Sunday wherein the Church prayed especially and most seasonably that it would please God to give and preserve to their use the kindly Fruits of the earth so that in due time they might enjoy them For unless God give them and preserve them when given and preserve them to our use and give us grace to use them as we ought to do we can neither enjoy them him in them nor our selves That it may please thee to give us true repentance to forgive us all our sins negligences and ignorances and to endue us with the grace of thy holy Spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy Word 2 Tim. 2.25 26. Jer. 5.24 25. Mat. 3.8 Mat. 6.33 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. This petition in very good order follows the former for unless that be granted to us which we petition for in this prayer all the earthly blessings before prayed for may never ripen to maturity they may be blasted in the springing of them the Canker Locust Caterpillar or any thing else however contemptible may be sent on Gods errand come armed with his displeasure and ravish these blessings out of our hands before we can come to the reaping of them One sin God he knows we are guilty of many unrepented of may bring a curse upon our blessings like the Frogs and Flies Locusts and Caterpillars into Aegypt or the Worm into Jonah's Gourd and quickly deprive us of all those blessings of increasing Nature which we yet hold by no other tenure then that of a defeasible expectation and if it shall please God to be so mercifull unto us as to give us these good things to enjoy and to forgive us our sins which is a greater mercy then all besides yet that we may not abuse them to luxury and intemperance when we have them but use them soberly that we may reap the good and God the glory we pray for the grace of Gods holy Spirit that all these blessings may be sanctified to us and that they may be as so many new obligations upon us to amend our lives and to live as becometh those who have received from God the great donor such obliging favours Son of God we beseech thee to hear us Mat. 9.27 Luk. 1.35 Son of God c. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world John 1.29 Grant us thy peace John 14.27 John 16.33 Rom. 5.1 O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world John 1.36 Have mercy upon us Mark 10.47 48. O Christ hear us O Christ hear us Lord have mercy upon us Lord have mercy c. Christ have mercy upon us Christ have mercy c. Lord have mercy upon us Lord have mercy c. These repetitions are warrantable by Scripture and therefore cannot be by men of Reason and Religion judged vain it is an argument of zeal and devotion and ferventy in prayer when our petitions are doubled by which we express our desires We meet with the like re-duplications frequently used in the Primitive Church David used often repetitions Psal 136. Psal 119. Psal 107.
our blessed Saviour repeated one Prayer three times Mat 26.44 and he questionless could have altered had he thought it either necessâ—â—â—â— or convenient Such short ejaculatory â—rayers as these come nearest to the pattern given by our Saviour who gave to his Disciples a short form and in all the Holy Bible we meet not with any example or pattern of a very long Prayer Solomon's Prayer used at the Dedication of the magnificent Temple which he built to God is the longest we meet with in Holy Scripture And saith holy Augustine the business of Prayer is rather done by sighs groans and fervency of heart then by multiplicity of words RUBRICK Then shall the Priest and the People with him say the Lords Prayer OVr Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen Luk. 11.2 3 4. For the often use of this Prayer in our Liturgick Offices and the meaning of it see before The Versicle Priest O Lord deal not with us after our sins Answer Neither reward us after our iniquities Psal 130.3 Let us pray Why this is so often used see before O God mercifull Father that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart Psal 51.17 nor the desire of such as be sorrowful mercifully assist our prayers that we make before thee in all our troubles and adversities whensoever they oppress us and graciously hear us that those evils which the craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us be brought to nought and by the providence of thy goodness they may be dispersed that we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord Psal 20. Psal 86.7 O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thy Names sake Nehem. 1.9 10 11. Ezek. 20.9 Ezek. 36.12 O God we have heard with our ears and our fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didst in their days and in the old time before them Psal 78.3 4. Psal 43.1 O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thine honour Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Foly Ghost Answ As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Why this is used and so often see before From our enemies defend us O Christ Psal 25.15 16 17 18 19. Graciously look upon our afflictions Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts Mercifully forgive the sins of thy people Favourably with mercy hear our Prayers O Son of David have mercy upon us Luk. 18.9 Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us O Christ John 14.13 14. Graciously hear us O Christ graciously hear us O Lord Christ Priest O Lord let thy mercy be shewed upon us Answ As we do put our trust in thee Psal 33.22 Note All the forementioned Prayers with the Responds are short lively active and spirited Prayers uttered with fervency which are most available with God when they come from devout and righteous souls Jam. 5.16 it is the short Prayer which pierceth Heaven God looks not at how much we pray but how well we pray how heartily and sincerely we pray Such were the Prayers of the most devout Christians in ancient times whose hearts fired with zeal and devotion did passionately send forth short Prayers as the hottest Springs send forth their waters by ebullitions See before Let us pray WF humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon our infirmities and for the glory of thy Name turn from us all those evils that we most righteously have deserved and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of living to thy honour and glory through our only Mediatour and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Note the fulness of this Prayer and by this judge of all the rest Herein we pray that God would in mercy pardon the sinful frailties and infirmities of our lives and the imperfections of those very Prayers wherein we beg that pardon This we beg not for our merits for we can merit nothing at his hands but upon the account of his mercy And we pray further that he would divert from us all the evil of punishment which our evil of sin might move him justly to inflict upon us and that whatever calamities befall us in this world for our own defaults yet we may repose confidence in his mercy and not distrust him though he kill us however we may have cause enough to distrust our selves but that we may be awakned and warned by the punishments which he is pleased to inflict upon us to walk more warily for the future to make our actions more holy and our lives more pure that so we may bring good to our selves and honour and glory to him and all this as we do all other things convenient and needful for us we beg not through the mediation and intercession of any Saint or Angel but through our only Mediatour and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. A Prayer of St. Chrysostom ALmighty God who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests Fulfill now O Lord the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be most expedient for them granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and in the world to come life everlasting Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 THe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen Here endeth the Litany And be it noted that the Litany is no distinct Service properly for a Service consists of Psalms Lessons Creed Thanksgivings and Prayers distinct only it is a distinct Form and many times made use of as a fit preparative to other ensuing Offices Formerly notice was used to be given by the tolling of a Bell when it was to be said The accustomed days for the saying of it are Sundays Wednesdays Fridays the three days of Rogation and other Fasting-days appointed to be observed in times of Plague Famine War and other general calamities and it is a devotional piece of Service very suitable to all such times The usual place for saying of it where it can be done conveniently is in the midst of the Church and just before the Chancel-door the Ministers turning their faces towards the Altar or Communion-Table when they say it For saith Chrysostom it is fit that the Minister who officiates in Prayer should put on the outward garb and deportment as well as the inward mind of a Supplicant and therefore he
was betrayed by Judas on a Wednesday was crucified on a Friday and was laid in the Sepulchre on a Saturday And the Church enjoyned these days to be quarterly observed as Fasting-days for these following reasons 1. That Christians might be as devout as the Jews who observed four several and solemn times of Fast in the year Zechar. 8.19 2. Because these are the First-fruits of every Season which we rightly dedicate to the service and honour of God that beginning every Season so devoutly we may learn to spend the whole year accordingly and that by this means we may procure Gods blessing upon the Fruits of the year arising out of the Earth which are at these Seasons either sown sprung up come to ripeness or gathered into Barns 3. That we may call our selves yearly to a strict account for our sins committed every Season and sadly and seriously repent of them 4. That we may implore Gods mercy to our bodies in freeing us from those common distemperatures which usually are predominant at these four Seasons 5. That we may procure the greater blessing upon the Ministers received into Holy Orders at these four Seasons of the year by Prayer Fasting and imposition of hands Now the forementioned weeks are called Ember weeks from an old Saxon word Enthber which denotes Abstinence or say others from the word Ember now commonly in use which signifies Ashes for Ashes were a ceremony frequently made use of in times of Fasting and carried with it significancy sufficient from which ceremony the first day of the Lent-fast was termed Ash-wednesday of which it is probable I may say something more in proper place A Prayer for the High Court of Parliament to be read during their Session MOst gracious God we humbly beseech thee as for this Kingdom in general so especially for the High Court of Parliament under our most religious and gracious King at this time assembled That thou wouldst be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations to the advancement of thy glory the good of thy Church the safety honour and welfare of our Soveraign and his Kingdoms that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness truth and justice religion and piety may be established among us for all generations These and all other necessaries for them for us and thy whole Church we humbly beg in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ our most blessed Lord and Saviour Amen Note No persons can be offended at this Prayer who are not enemies to all goodness and rather desire that debauchery and wickedness should overspread a Nation to the shame and dishonour of it than piety and vertue to advance its reputation A Collect or Prayer for all conditions of men to be used at such times when the Litany is not appointed to be said O God the Creator and Preserver of all mankind we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them thy saving health unto all nations Psal 67.1 2. 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. More especially we pray for the good estate of the Catholick Church Gal. 6.10 Psal 122.6 that it may be so guided and governed by thy good spirit that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth and hold the faith in unity of spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life Ephes 4.3 Finally we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are any ways afflicted or distressed in mind body or estate Heb. 13.3 * * This to be said when any desire the prayers of the Congregation especially those for whom our prayers are desired that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities giving them patience under their sufferings and a happy issue out of all their afflictions And this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake Amen A Prayer that may be said after any of the former O God whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble petitions Psal 103.13 and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us for the honour of Jesus Christ our Mediatour and Advocate Amen Note Touching the preceding Prayers and following Thanksgivings may it be observed that extraordinary dangers should of themselves invite us and stir us up to extraordinary Prayers and extraordinary deliverances from those dangers should equally move us to extraordinary thankfulness as we are to pray to God for the blessings we would obtain so we are to praise him when they are obtained when God opens his hand to gratifie us we should open our mouths to glorifie him It is the Apostles prescribed method to begin with Prayer and to end with Thanksgiving 1 Tim. 2.1 indeed where the concernment is National a provision in such cases is usually better made by fixing set days to be solemnly and religiously observed but it many times happens that the calamities inflicted and mercies received are only Provincial or peculiar to some one County Town City or Vicinage so that they may not reach the cognizance of the Supreme Magistrate therefore are these Prayers and Thanksgivings composed that they may be ready upon all occasions for us to have recourse to when there are no set days indicted for such a purpose THANKSGIVINGS A General Thanksgiving ALmighty God Father of all mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks Psal 116.12 13. for all thy goodness and loving kindness to us and to all men 1 Tim. 2.1 * * This to be said when any that have been prayed for desire to return praise particularly to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for thy late mercies vouchsafed unto them We bless thee for our creation preservation and all the blessings of this life but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of grace and for the hope of glory And we beseech thee give us that due sense of all thy mercies that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful and that we may shew forth thy praise not only with our lips but in our lives by giving up our selves to thy service and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days Luk. 1.74 75. Tit. 2.11 12. through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory world without end Amen Note This Thanksgiving is not only warrantable by more Texts of Scripture then I have cited but it is so excellent both for matter and method that all Churches and Writers can hardly shew a better form so full of matter and that comprized in so few words This needs no vindication because no persons in their
right wits can object any thing justly against it For Rain O God our heavenly Father who by thy gracious providence dost cause the former and the latter rain to descend upon the earth Deut. 11.14 that it may bring forth fruit for the use of man Psal 104.84 We give thee humble thanks that it hath pleased thee in our great necessity to send us at the last a joyful rain upon thine inheritance and to refresh it when it was dry Deut. 28.12 Psal 147.8 Jer. 5.24 Psal 68.9 to the great comfort of us thy unworthy servants and to the glory of thy holy Name through thy mercies in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For fair weather O Lord God who hast justly humbled us by thy late plague of immoderate rain and waters and in thy mercy hast relieved and comforted our souls by this seasonable and blessed change of weather We praise and glorifie thy holy Name for this thy mercy and will always declare thy loving kindness from generation to generation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For Plenty O Most merciful Father who of thy gracious goodness hast heard the devout prayers of thy Church and turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapness and plenty We give thee humble thanks for this thy special bounty beseeching thee to continue thy loving kindness unto us that our land may yield us her fruits of increase to thy glory and our comfort through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For Peace and Deliverance from our Enemies O Almighty God who art a strong tower of defence unto thy servants against the face of their enemies We yield thee praise and thanksgiving for our deliverance from those great and apparent dangers wherewith we were compassed We acknowledge it thy goodness that we were not delivered over as a prey unto them Psal 124. beseeching thee still to continue such thy mercies towards us that all the world may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty deliverer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For restoring publick Peace at home O Eternal God our heavenly Father who alone makest men to be of one mind in a house Psal 68.6 and stillest the outrage of a violent and unruly people Psal 65.7 We bless thy holy Name that it hath pleased thee to appease the seditious tumults which have been lately raised up amongst us most humbly beseeching thee to grant to all of us grace that we may henceforth obediently walk in thy holy commandments and leading a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 may continually offer unto thee our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for these thy mercies towards us Heb. 13.15 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For deliverance from the Plague or other common sickness O Lord God who hast wounded us for our sins and consumed us for our transgressions by thy late heavy and dreadful visitation and now in the midst of judgment remembring mercy hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death We offer unto thy fatherly goodness our selves our souls and bodies which thou hast delivered to be a living sacrifice unto thee Rom. 12.1 always praising and magnifying thy mercies in the midst of thy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Or this WE humbly acknowledge before thee O most merciful Father that all the punishments which are threatned in thy Law might justly have fallen upon us by reason of our manifold transgressions and hardness of heart Yet seeing it hath pleased thee of thy tender mercy upon our weak and unworthy humiliation to asswage the contagious sickness wherewith we lately have been sore afflicted and to restore the voice of joy and health into our dwellings we offer unto thy divine Majesty the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving lauding and magnifying thy glorious Name for such thy preservation and providence over us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Note These Thanksgivings extraordinary answer most of them to the Prayers extraordinary foregeing we praise God in the latter for what we prayed for in the former They need not be Scriptured out exactly for they are the very Scriptures themselves both for ground of matter and form of words They are of a very rational contrivance for great deliverances ought to have perpetual remembrances and the gracious favours of God bestowed upon us are to be remembred and acknowledged with gratitude The very Heathens in their Histories shew it to be usual and God in Scripture by his injunction makes it necessary Deut. 4.9 10. that we should dutifully repay to God our tribute of praise for the great and undeserved benefits which we have received from him Psal 111.4 Thus have I for the good of the Church I hope and for the glory of God and for the satisfaction of some who may have prejudices against our publick Divine Service and upon that account may absent themselves from it or not joyn in it with that devotion as they ought to do and I am sure without making any unhandsom and uncharitable reflections which is a very great errour of the Pen upon any persons whatsoever who do but own Christ and God as they are revealed in Scripture and profess Christianity contributed my poor endeavours to invite so many in as can be rationally moved and perswaded to joyn with us in our Christian Assemblies that we may with one heart mind and mouth glorifie God and serve him without distraction who is I am sure the God of order and not of confusion FINIS