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