the Viaticum the provision for the way When we come to Heaven which is the end of our Journey this our daily bread shall cease and then our Fathers house and all that is in it will be ours to enjoy and that for ever It is a corruption in nature that Men Quo minus habent viae eo plus quaerunt viatici do stil lay up the more provision the shorter journey they have to go Our daily bread Our that is by just possession lawfully and honestly got that which is got by unlawful ways and indirect means is not ours by right but by usurpation it is not bread given us but bread taken rather Again ours by deputation or assignation not by propriety God is the Lord we are but the stewards the possession is in us but the propriety is in him Daily bread that is food for our daily necessities neither poverty nor riches but a competency Prov. 30.8 Not quails to Minister to our wantonness but bread to supply our want Bread doctrinal in the word bread Sacramental in the Sacrament Bread supersubstantial that is Christ the bread of life who came down from Heaven born And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us in Bethleem the City of Bread who feeds up our souls to a blessed immortality And forgive c. Forgive our righteousness stands not in our own merits but Gods forgiveness Us that is all of us For we all have sinned Nonne errant omnes saith Solomon In multis omnes So James Our nothing so properly and truly ours as our sins Trespasses that is sins Original actual of Omission Commission of weakness of wickedness of ignorance of knowledg Personal National secret presumptuous sins of impiety against Thee our God Sins of injustice against our Neighbour Sins of intemperance against our selves As we forgive those who have trespassed against us In thought in word in deed in our bodies in our goods in our name Forgive us great sins that is talents as we forgive little sins that is pence And lead us not c. That is suffer us not so to be lead into temptation And lead us not into temptation as to be overcome of the temptation The temptation of the World of the Flesh of the Devil There is Tentatio Probationis so God tempts us as he tempted Abraham to try our faith love and obedience against this we pray not There is Tentatio deceptionis seductionis So the Devil and the Flesh tempts us Jam. 1.13 14. Against this we pray Tentat Deus ut probet tentat diabolus ut perdat But deliver us from evil But deliver us from evil Past Present To come From evil without us The World The Devil From evil within us the Flesh the Lusts therof Libera nos a nobis Domine From the evil of sin by thy Grace From the evil of punishment by thy Mercy From the Author of evil Satan From the Root of Evil Covetousness For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the glory for ever and ever Amen From the Evil of the Heart Evil Thoughts Of the Tongue Evil Words Hand Evil Actions From corporal spiritual temporal Eternal Evil Good Lord deliver us This Thou canst do For thine is the Kingdom and Power This thou wilt do for thine is the Glory Thine first and by Jesus Christ to all that are thine Thine that is from Thee by Thee to Thee in the glory and safety of all thy Servants Kingdom absolute and in it self Power not depending upon others Glory shining about all above all and in all Amen This word is the Seal of all our Petitions to make them authentical and it implies two things 1. Assent 2. Assurance that our requests shall be granted and therefore it is thought by some to be of more value than all the rest of the Prayer by how much our faith is more excellent than our desire For this is a testification of our faith whereas all the Petitions are only testifications of our desire Note I may say of the Lord's Prayer only peruse it commend it I need not for the Author's worth is so well known that he needeth not any Man's commendation nay he is above all commendation and the work it self is so perfect and compleat containing so much in so little so short in words so large in matter that it needs not any commendation neither 'T is the Lord's Prayer dictated by our Saviour himself in the behalf of his Disciples and his Church to the end of the World He to whom we pray and in whose Name we pray hath left us this pattern to be Forma Norma Orationis It deserves a very high respect for the Author's sake He compos'd it who is Dei spiritus Dei Sermo Dei ratio Sermo rationis ratio Sermonis Spiritus Tertul. de Orat. lib. 'T is short but withall plain 't is few in words but withall full in matter like the best Coin it contains the most value in the smallest compass These reasons may be given for the shortness of it 1. That it may be the sooner learnt 2. That it may be the better retained in memory 3. That it may be the oftner used 4. That there may be no weariness in the saying of it 5. That there may be no excuse for the not knowing of it 6. That it may beget in us a confidence of soon obtaining what we pray for 7. To shew that the Efficacy of Prayer consists not in how much but how well not in the multiplicity of words but in the devotion of the heart And for this purpose hath our Church in imitation of this pattern framed up all her Prayers in short Collects like many Flowers gathered into little Bundles We know the hottest Springs send forth their Waters by ebullitions and doubtless the most zealous hearts utter their conceits in the fewest words and shortest formes in all the Bible we read not any Examples of very long Prayers Our Saviours Prayer in the Garden short our Saviours Pray'r upon the Cross short Stephen's Pray'r for his Persecutors short The Publicans Prayer short The Thief 's Prayer upon the Cross short The Apostles Prayers all short They who did Petition our Saviour in the Gospel did it in short forms So in the New Testament and so in the Old David's Psalms which are most of them Prayers or Praises not very long Solomon commends few words in the Old Testament Eccles 5.2 and a greater than Solomon condemns long Prayers in the New Mat. 6.7 Mat. 23.14 if not the Prayers yet I am sure the hypocrisie of them he doth condemn As the Scriptures so the Fathers in all their writings are for short Prayers Hoc negotium plus gemitibus quam sermonibus agitur plus sletu quam afflatu August Epist 121. Oratio brevis penetrat Coelum Augustine also tells us that it was the practise of all the Christians in Aegypt to use short Prayers and he gives the Reason
hopes of a Resurrection Such Ceremonies are used in exprobration to Death and Mortality By them we shew that we are not sorry for our departed friends as Men without hope we look upon them only as Herbs and Flowers cropt off for a time and to spring up again in their season We sow their Bodies in the Earth with as much faith as we do our Seeds and Herbs and equally expect the spring of both In the midst of life we are in death of whom may we seek for succour but of Thee O Lord who for our sins art justly displeased Note Our end borders upon our beginning Finisque ab origine pendet Death and Life like Jacob and Esau take hold on each others â—eel Orimur morimur We bring sin and death into the World with us Haeret lateri lethalis arundo 'T is in vain to hope for long life which is so short that it is at an end whilst we are speaking of it Dum loquimur fugit vita The Man in the Gospel sung a Requiem to his Soul for many Years when the summons came presently Stulte hac nocte Luk. 12.20 Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam A Christians hope is not in this life only which is not the only life indeed not to be reckon'd of as life at all Via non vita A midling betwixt life and death Mortalis vita vitalis mors but truly my hope saith David is in Thee O Lord who canst deliver my Soul from sin and my Body from the Grave Psal 39.7 8. Thou killest and thou makest alive thou bringest down to the Grave and bringest up 1 Sam. 2.6 Yet O Lord God most Holy O Lord most Mighty O Holy and most Merciful Saviour deliver Us not into the bitter pains of Eternal Death Note As there is a two-fold Resurrection a Resurrection from sin to the life of grace which is glory begun Rom. 6.4 1 Cor. 15.34 and a Resurrection from the Sepulchre to the life of glory which is grace compleat 1 Cor. 15.54 Philip. 3.21 So there is a two-fold death The first death to which the first nature which we derive from Adam is subjected For upon Adam's sin all that are partakers of his nature are concluded under the sentence of death pronounced against him 1 Cor. 15.22 It was a statute made in Paradise a Decree not to be reversed a Debt not possible to be declined Gen. 3 19. Statutum est omnibus semel mori Heb. 9.27 All Men must die the first Death Wherein the Sepulchre like the Serpent feeds on nothing but dust it is not so much the death of the Body as the Death of the Corruption of the Body Mortalitas magis finita est quam vita And there is a second death to which all regenerate Christians who belong to Christ are not subjected but as they derive another nature from Christ so in that nature they shall be raised again to the life immortal 1 Cor. 15.22 Souls and Bodies both For however there is a death of the Soul not that it ceaseth to be but when it ceaseth to be righteous Habet anima mortem suam cum vita beata caret quae vâ—ra animae vita dicenda est August Perdere animam est non ut non sit sed ut male sit So the glosse upon Matth. 16.26 Yet they who belong to Christ who live according to his Doctrine and Example shall be raised Souls and Bodies to an endless life of endless felicities They who have a part in the Resurrection of grace shall have no part in the Second Death Which first Resurrection is proverbially applied to the flourishing condition of the Church under the Messias after a long time of Persecution Revel 20.5 According to that of the Apostle speaking of the Jews received to favour as Persons raised from the dead again Rom. 11.15 and the Second Death is applied to an â—tter final irreparable excision and cutâ—ing off Revel 20.6 Now against this Second Death the bitter pains of Eternal Death in the burning Lake where the Worm never dies and the Fire is not quenched the Church here teaches us to pray for as to the first Death which is a Debt to be paid to that nature which we derive from Adam there is no avoiding of it Palvis es in pulverem reverteris â—s Man's Epitaph written with Gods own Finger Gen. 3.19 But Libenter mortalis sum qui sim futurus immortalis is the faithful Man's subscription Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our hearts shut not thy merciful Eares to our Prayers but spare us Lord most Holy O God most Mighty O Holy and Merciful Saviour Thou most worthy Judge Eternal suffer us not at our last Hour for any pains of death to fall from Thee Note Here we pray to God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Maker of hearts and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Knower and Searcher of hearts and of actions as well as of hearts that he would in mercy hear our Prayers and in equal mercy pardon and forgive us our sins that he would sanctifie us by his Holiness imparted to us that he would defend us by his power save us in his infinite mercy and as we must all stand before him at the day of Judgment so he would stand by us at the Hour of Death that so the Devil who assaults us in the heel Gen. 3.15 and is most busie at the end and close of our life may have no advantage of us but that by the Shield of Faith we may put by all his Fiery Darts and never come into those everlasting Burnings but dying as Moses did Ad osculum oris Jehovae At a kiss of the Mouth of God So the Chalde paraphrase in Deut. 34.5 We may depart in the arms of God and so pass by Death temporal to Life Eternal Rubrick Then while the Earth shall be cast upon the Body by some standing by the Priest shall say Note This is left arbitrary for any by-stander to perform by which it is implied that it shall be the state and condition of every One one day He that casts earth upon the dead Body to day may have earth cast upon his tomorrow Hodie mihi cras tibi For as much as it hath pleased Allmighty God of his great mercy to take unto Himself the Soul of our dear here departed Eccles 12.7 we therefore commit _____ Body to the ground earth to earth ashes to ashes dust to dust Eccles 12.7 Eccles 3.20 Gen. 3.19 in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to Eternal Life Psal 16.9 1 Cor. 15.20 21 22. 1 Thes 4.13 14. through our Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile Body that it may be like unto his glorious Body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to Himself Philip. 3.20 21. Note When we perform these officia postremi muneris as the Fathers call them and decently commit the Bodies
of our deceased friends unto the Grave we do not lay up these precious Reliques in the Wardrobe of the Earth as Carkasses lost and perished but as having in them a seed of Eternity in sure and certain hope of a Resurrection to Eternal Life this is to bury Christianly the hope of the Resurrection being the proper hope of Christians Vid. August de Civit. Dei lib. 1. c. 13. Now this hope is grounded upon Christ's Resurrection who is our Resurrection and Life John 11.25 He is Primogenitus mortuorum Colos 1.18 As he rose in se so he rose Pro aliis As an Angel proclaimed at his Grave Resurrexit non est hic Mat. 28.6 So from his Resurrection we have added on our Tomb-stones to Hic jacet this happy clause Spe Resurgendi What is gone before in the Head shall follow in the Members if the Head be above there is hope for the whole Body if the Root have Life the Branches shall not long be without Christ the first fruits being restored to life all the rest of the dead who die in him are in him entitled to the same hope Rubrick Then shall be said or sung Note This following is another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or triumphant Hymn to be sung by Priest and People or said by the Priest alone to show our expressions of joy over our deceased friends whereby we do in a holy valour laugh at death I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours Note This place of Scripture is primarily applied to the great Trials and Persecutions which were then to fall upon the Church within a short time which should be so great that they should be counted happy who were well dead before and were gone to enjoy their reward of peace and bliss being taken away from the Earth before such combats and storms as these should fall The holy Divine accounts those happiest who should die soonest and be taken out of this life from having their parts in the evil to come Isay 57.1 So upon mention of oppressors and strength on their side and the no comforter the Preacher tells us that he praised the dead which are already dead Eccles 4.1 2. And to this belongs the answer of the Spirit in the words following they shall have rest from their labours that is from those Persecutions which attend them here and which only death can put an end to But our Church very fitly applies it to all the Saints and Servants of God departing this life as finishing their warfare and going out of the World to receive the reward both of their Christian combat and conquest Rubrick Then the Priest shall say Note Here the Priest is Vox Populi the Peoples Mouth to God-ward Luk. 18.13 Lord have mercy upon us To God the Father Mat. 15.22 Christ have mercy upon us To God the Son Mark 10.48 Lord have mercy upon us To God the Holy Ghost Note This is thrice repeated to shew our faith in the Trinity This was called the lesser Litany and was of very early usage in Church Offices Clem. constit lib. 8. cap. 5. 6. Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Our Father Great in our Creation Good in our Redemption Rich in Goodness and good in the riches of thy mercy sweet in love and slow to wrath willing to hear us for our Father able to help us for in Heaven Which art in Heaven The Glass of Eternity the Crown of Felicity the Treasure of all Complacency In Heaven Eminenter chiefly there but not only there in Heaven the Throne of thy Glory the Place of thy Majesty teaching us both whither to direct our Prayers and where to setle our affections when we pray Hallowed be thy Name in us by us upon us thy Kingdom come That it may be as Hony in the Mouth Melody in the Ear Jubily in the heart as Holiness is chief in Thee so let it be chief in our account and esteem of Thee May thy Name of Father be so hallowed in us and by us in our words lives and actions that we may deserve the title of Sons Thy Kingdom come Thy Kingdom of Grace come to us that we may come to thy Kingdom of Glory Thy Kingdom come that the Kingdom of Sin Satan and Death may be destroyed Thy Kingdom of Power to defend us Thy Kingdom of Grace to Sanctifie us Thy Kingdom of Glory to establish us in all bliss and happiness We are in this World but thy Kingdom is not of this World call us out of the one into the other Here thy Kingdom is begun in us by grace hereafter it must be perfected in us by glory Here is truth mixed with error here is joy mixed with grief here is tranquility mixed with trouble Here thy Kingdom thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven hath many enemies who seek the division of it labour the ruine of it malice the glory of it though avert it they may evert it they cannot The gates of Hell cannot prevail against the gates of Sion nor the kingdom of Satan against the Kingdom of Christ But O Lord let it come in its power and full glory that there may be in it Truth not mixed with errour Joy not mixed with sorrow Peace without trouble Glory without shame and a Kingdom so setled it upon us and we in it that there may be no more fear of losing it Thy will be done c. Thy will not ours be done in us and by us Freely without coaction fully without imperfection faithfully without fraud or hypocrisie In us that is in us men as it is done in Heaven that is in and by the holy Angels So that we may love those things which thou lovest hate those things which thou hatest shun those things which thou forbidest and do those things which thou commandest Give us this day and suffer those things with patience which thou art pleased in thy wise providence to inflict upon us Give us this day c. Give for we cannot have it except thou give it Dicimus da nobis ne putetur esse a nobis We are taught to ask it of God to shew that we have it not of our selves Us thou teacheth us that we are not to pray for our selves alone but that we are to seek the good one of another Pro se orat necessitas pro aliis charitas This day Day is here taken for life so long as we live so long shall we stand in need of God's givings and may say this Prayer Give us c. This day should teach us moderation in the pursuit of earthly things They are Utenda not Fruenda things to use not to enjoy Like Israel's Manna we are to feed upon them only till we come to the borders of our Canaan This life is Via the way Daily bread is
nature of the things themselves but the just Laws of lawful Superiours make necessary indeed neither are to be Judg one of another in such things but Christ is to be the Judg of all being sent by his Father and commissionated to that Office Vers 11. As it was long before predicted Isay 45.23 which Prediction was to have its completion in Christ incarnate Phil. 2.9 10 11. who is constituted the one Supreme Judg of all to whose Judicature every one must submit and give account for his own actions Therefore it is very unreasonable that one private Christian should judg another and reject one another from Communion for this belongs only to Christ and those Governours of his Church who are his delegates and are endowed with the power of the Keys and Censures Vers 12. Therefore let this fault be mended by you that are fellow-Christians do not any longer censure and separate from one anothers communion for such indifferent and circumstantial things as these are only be careful not to scandalize the weaker Christians by putting stumbling blocks in their way to hinder their coming clear over to Christianity cast no gall-traps in the way of weak Judaizing Christians to wound their Consciences and to cause them to fall back from Christianity which they will be in danger to do when they see those liberties used among Christians which they deem utterly unlawful Vers 14. I am confident and make no question but that by the coming of Christ the Mosaical difference of Meats is taken away and all Meats are lawful in themselves to be eaten by Christians but yet the same Meats are unlawful to those who are so perswaded in their conscience and have not yet attained to the right understanding of their Christian liberty Vers 15. But if thou who understandest thy liberty dost for a matter of this nature despise and cast off thy Fellow-Christian who understands it not and by so doing dost discourage him from going on in Christianity Surely thou walkest contrary to the rule of Christian charity which is to draw all to piety and to drive none away and this will be a great fault in thee for so light a thing as this to drive him from Christianity and so destroy him for the saving of whom Christ was content to lay down his Life Vers 16. Ye may use your Christian liberty but ye do not well if ye so use it as to make it tend to an others hurt for that will be the defaming of that which is in it self indifferent or innocent Vers 17. Christianity consists not in such external matters when left indifferent in their use as they are in their nature and not commanded by lawful Superiors for decency and order but in the practise of Christian vertues such as â—bedience to the Laws of Superiours iâ— things not sinful mercy peace delight to do one another good to build up one another in piety not dividing and hating and excommunicating one another Vers 18. All these are acts of obedience to Christ that are sure to be accepted by God and to be of good report among all good men Vers 19. Therefore let us most zealously attend to these things which may thus preserve peace between all sorts of Christians though of different perswasions and which tend to the drawing Men to Christianity not driving them from it Vers 20. Let not so inconsiderable â—aâ—ters as these external things wherein no Man who is instructed in his Christian liberty places any Religion further than obedience to the just Laws of lawful Superiours disturb that peace and unity which ought to be among Believers though of different perswasions about indifferent things For a Man may eat any thing simply consider'd but if by so doing he aliens others from the Gospel by despising and avoiding them who dare not do so this is a sin in him Vers 21. It is not charitable to make use of any part of Christian liberty when by thy so doing another Man is deterred from the Christian faith and by some unhappy occasion of thy misused liberty is so galled and wounded in his Conscience as that he cannot with any inward comfort or satisfaction go on in the discharge of his Christian duty Vers 22. If thou hast a clear understanding of thy Christian liberty it is well for thee but use it betwixt God and thy self not always before Men when it may be in danger to hurt them and when it is not necessary to reveal thy practâ—se in such matters yet when commanded by lawful Authority things indifferent in their nature become necessary in their use He is a happy Man who when he knows a thing lawful doth so manage the practise of it that he hath therein no reason to accuse or condemn hmself Vers 23. But there is no reason that the scrupulous Christian should be evil intreated by thee for not daring to do as thou dost when he thinks himself in conscience otherwise obliged for it would be a damning sin in him to do what his conscience tells him is an unlawful action For whoever does any thing though the thing be in it self lawful which is in his perswasion sinful and unlawful he certainly sins in so doing Rom. 15. Vers 1. The more instructed Christians who rightly understand the nature and extent of their Christian liberty ought to help and relieve those who do not understand it and to be watchful to keep them from falling into sin not to please themselves too much by presumeing upon their own strength and knowledg so as to neglect and despise others who have not so much Vers 2. We should all of us rather do what good we can towards the edification of other Men. Vers 3. Herein following the most imitable Example of our Saviour who did not so much consider the pleasing of himself as to do what was of publick concernment reckoning all that befell his Father to fall upon him and being as tender of God's honour as of his own 1 Cor. 8. Vers 1. We who are Orthodox Christians have that knowledg of our Christian liberty and therefore ought not to be despised by those who in pride of heart separate themselves from us that together with our knowledge we hold charity and the love of God which inclines us to suffer any thing for Christ's sake so that an Idol-feast is no trouble to our Consciences for we need not to come at them to save us from persecution a little of this courage and love of Christ is much better than all the pretended deep knowledge of those who choose to comply with any Religion which their own Conscience tells them is false rather than confess and suffer for Christ and that Religion which their own Conscience tells them is the only true Religion Vers 2. Therefore if Men please themselves with an Opinion of knowledg from such subtilties as these and so come to despise other Men and not consider what tends to their good and edification they are