Purification of sin whereby the Blood of the Lamb of God and the death of the Messias was prefigured Levit. 14.6 7. Numb 19.6 So shall I be restored to that blessed estate from which I have so sadly fallen by my sinful miscarriages Vers 8. I am yet in a sad and most wretched condition thy wrath continuing over me sets my soul upon torture my own conscience under thee being my dreadful executioner but O be thou pacified unto me again and that shall be the most joyful news which ever came to any poor tortured suppliants ears when he is taken from the rack his bones set and he restored to ease again Vers 9. Lord pardon my sins return thy wonted favour towards me Vers 10. I have sadly fallen from my wonted purity and sincerity but O Lord by the good work of thy grace upon my heart restore me to it again renew me inwardly and throughly my thoughts as well as actions that I never fall into the least beginning of any such pollutions again Vers 11. It is just with thee to cast me from thy spiritual commerce who have resisted thy spirit it is just with thee to withdraw thy grace to which I have done such despite but O do not thus severely punish me by withdrawing that which I now more than ever stand in need of Vers 12. Without thy gracious aid and assistance I am not able to get out of this broken condition the free assistances of thy Spirit are so necessary to me that without them I cannot indeavour in the least the recovering of that purity from which I am fallen Therefore Lord restore them to me that I may be restored unto thee Vers 13. This thy exceeding mercy to me a sinner so sadly lapsed may be a means to bring wicked livers home to repentance by mine own happy success I shall encourage them to return who have fallen as sadly as any of them can have done and yet have met with mercy and many I doubt not encouraged on by my example by the assistance of thy grace will be brought home to thy service and the practise of the duties of new life Vers 14. The sin of Murder is an horrid and crying sin of a black and deep die deliver me from that so far as my conscience assures me guilty though my own hands have not been polluted with it Blessed Lord from whom all deliverance comes be pleased to deliver me from this and all other foul commissions which will be welcome news to me and make me with greatest exultation of Heart to proclaim abroad thy abundant mercies Vers 15. Thy work of grace towards me shall set my lipps wide open in praysing thee Vers 16. It is not any Hecatombe or most chargeable oblation for sin thou requirest of me for the truth is my sins are such as for which all exteriour performances afford no reconciliation Vers 17. 'T is my sincere humiliation confession and renovation which alone thou admittest and which thou art mercifully pleased to have respect to however I am in this foul condition and to look upon them as the most acceptable oblation These with an honest heart presented unto Thee will be sure to find a favourable and welcome reception Vers 18. Be merciful O Lord not to me only but to all that love and fear thy Name and meet uniformly in the place appointed for thy service Be thou a defence and succour to all such Let them be walled about with thy protection and preserve them from falling into any wilful and presumptuous sins Vers 19. For then shall all our services of Prayers and praises typified by the Legal sacrifices our solemn acts of the most ardent devotion to Thee and most diffusive charity to our brethren be accepted by Thee being upon an humble but cheerful confidence of thy acceptance presented to Thee upon the Altars of our very hearts Vid. Dr. Hammond Glory be to God the Father maker of all the World and to God the Son Redeemer of all Mankind and to God the Holy Ghost Sanctifier of the Church or all the Elect People of God Answer This was the confession of faith taken up from the first beginning of the Christian name and grounded upon Christ's own institution Matth. 28.19 therefore against all Arrians and Antitrinitarians we make confession of the same faith in the ever blessed Trinity and pray for the continuance of it to the Worlds end subjoyning our Amen of confirmation that so it is and of option that so it may continue Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Note These Versicles are of very ancient usage in the Church-Service mention'd in the Clementine Constitutions lib. 8. c. 5. c. 6. Council of Vas c. 5. Ann. Dom. 440. received both in the Eastern and Western Church called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seasonable at all times and therefore it hath a part in all our divine Offices and is set ever or for the most part before the Lord's Prayer as a fit preparative to usher it in Vid. Haman Lestrange Alliance of Divine Offices Pag. 83. Dr. Sparrow's Rational pag. 71 72 73. Our Father which art in Heaven c. Note This Prayer is Tanquam sal omnium divinorum Officiorum Upon which I have here added this Paraphrastical Prayer Preface O Lord God who art great in power rich in mercy whose glory is above the Heavens whose goodness is over all the Earth who art Almighty for in Heaven who art most merciful for our Father in Heaven so able to help us our Father so willing to hear us Lord what art not thou able to do for us who art in Heaven Lord what art not thou willing to do for us who art our Father Here we lie prostrate before Thee upon the Earth yet pressing in our affections towards the Heaven where thou art and presume not for any merit in us but for thy mercies in Christ that thou wilt deny us nothing which may do us good who vouchsafest us this to call Thee Father 1 Petit. Thou art an Holy God and delightest that all thy Worshipers should worship Thee in the beauties of holiness we desire Thee to shed thy Holy Spirit abroad in our hearts that we may perform this our bounden duty and service in an holy manner that we may lift up holy hands with holy hearts to Thee who dwellest in the Heavens Thou who art the sanctifier of all that is made holy make us to be holy as Thou art holy give us holiness in our thoughts words and actions sanctify us inwardly and outwardly in our Souls and Bodies make us holy in our lives that we may be happy at our deaths Let thy Name of Father be hallowed in us and upon us that we may in our lives and conversations walk before Thee in newness of life and as it becometh the Sons of God 2 Petit. To this end we humbly beg of Thee to sanctifie our corrupt nature and to beautifie
they are Persons who must give an account of their proficiency in the Gospel who are under their charge Heb. 13.17 I wish the Ministers were so careful of their People as to go to the Sick when they call or send for them and that the People had so much respect for the Ministers and for themselves too as to send for them upon all occasions when ever they stand in need of any spiritual aids Peace be to this House and to all that dwell in it Note This is clearly grounded upon that of our Saviour When ye come into an House salute it say peace that is all kind of prosperity be to this House Matth. 10.12 13. Luk. 10.5 6. And if there be any pious Person or Son of Peace in the house capable of so great a blessing theâ— the blessing of peace shall rest upon him if not the blessing shall return to the Minister and the party visited shall receive no advantage by the Ministers coming to him upon a design of so much charity Rubrick When he cometh into the sick Mans presence he shall say knéeling down Remember not Lord our iniquities c. Note This short Prayer is warranted from these Texts of Scripture Joel 2.17 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Act. 20.28 Psal 85.3 Answer Spare us good Lord. Note This supposes a company joyned in Prayers with the Minister and to return back Spare us good Lord in answer to the Ministers Spare thy People going before Rubrick Then the Minister shall say Let us Pray Lord have mercy c. Our Father which art in Heaven c. Note I have already often accounted for the frequent use of these in our divine Offices and therefore I shall not now say any thing of them only give me leave to insert this short Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven O Lord God our Heavenly Father who art the giver of all goodness who art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by nature ours by grace and favour who dwellest in Heaven the Throne of thy Majesty the Seat of thy Glory attended by myriads of Angels ready to take Commissions from Thee in order to execute thy will and pleasure Hallowed be thy Name Send down thy grace unto us and to all People that we may glorifie thy great Name as we ought to do Let thy blessed and glorious Name be ever sanctified by us and by all that draw nigh unto Thee may we never profane it in our common talk abuse it by detestable oaths or blasphemies nor vainly make use of it in words or works professing Thee with our Lips and departing from Thee in our Lives Thy Kingdom come May the Scepter of thy Spirit so over-rule our unruly Spirits that we may worship Thee serve Thee and obey Thee as we ought to do Lord remove from us the Kingdom of thy Justice for if Thou shouldst strictly account with us no flesh could be justified bring us into Thy Kingdom of Grace that we may be comforted here and into thy Kingdom of Glory that we may be crowned hereafter Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven So long as we are to live in this Vale of misery let not our own wills but Thy will be done in us and by us in our several stations periods and conditions incline our hearts unto Thee that we may do all thy commands sincerely readily chearfully and in some proportion to what is done by the blessed Saints and glorious Angels in Heaven where there is no opposing disputing or resisting of thy will Give us this Day our daily Bread And that we may go on the more cheerfully in the discharge of our duties not taken off nor interrupted by any anxious thoughts about the things of this life We pray Thee to send us all things needful both for our Souls and Bodies the necessaries of our lives from day to day proportion'd to every Mans being or sustenance Give us the day of our life and the life of our days our daily bread victual for the nourishing of our bodies doctrinal for the reforming of our lives Sacramental for the sanctifying and saving of our Souls And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us We beseech Thee also to be merciful unto us and to forgive us our sins punish not on us those sins wherewith we have offended and provoked Thee to punish us Pardon all our sins of impiety committed against Thee of injustice and uncharitableness committed against our Neighbours of intemperance and uncleanness committed against our selves These and all other sins committed by us against thy Divine Majesty in thought word or deed we pray Thee to pardon and pass by as we forgive all who have any way or at any time trespassed against us in thought word or deed in body goods or Name And lead us not into Temptation And to these blessings of thy Mercy in pardoning what is past add that other of thy providence to preserve us for the time to come Suffer us not through our own corâ—uptions which are very many nor through the Devils malice which is very great to be brought into any temptation or snare or to be intangled in any dangers or difficulties which may not be easily supported by us But deliver us from evil But let it be thy pleasure to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily to keep us from all sin and wickedness from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death Deliver us from the blandishments of the flesh the allurements of the World the plausible snares of the Devil From external evils internal evils eternal evils by thy grace from the evil of sin by thy mercy from the evil of punishment Good Lord deliver us For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen These and all other blessings of thy grace goodness mercy and Majesty we trust Thou wilt bestow upon us of thy mercy and goodness through our Lord Jesus Christ For thine is the Kingdom and we doubt not but that Thou art able to remove from us all those Evils and Judgments which we have prayed to be delivered from For thine is the power Both which we beg at thy hands in order to advance and to set forth thy glory For thine is the glory To Thee therefore Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be ascribed in our Prayers and in our praises all honour glory power praise might majesty and dominion to both Ages the present and the future for the ever of this World which hath an end and the ever of that other World which is without end Amen Lord so be it Minister O Lord save thy Servant c. O Lord look down from Heaven c. Hear us Almighty and most merciful God and Saviour c. Note These Prayers are all prescribed and deliver'd in the very Scripture phrase so full of piety charity and devotion and so sitted to all
pronounced by all the People with a loud Voice Jerom. in 2. proaem comment in Galat. Clem. Alexandr stromat lib. 7. Optati◠est adimpletionis omnium petitionum The Lord's Prayer and the Decalogue answering each the other Lord's Prayer  Decalogue God is our Father Therefore No other Gods but Him God is in Heaven No graven Image to worship it God's Name must be hallowed We must not take his Name in vain We pray that Gods Kingdome may come and his wil may be done Some portion of time must be consecrate for his worship and service We pray that he would give us our daily Bread Having sufficient we must be helpful to others and so honour our Father Mother and having sufficient we have the less temptation to be injurious to others in any kind We pray that God would not lead us into temptation We must contentedly sit down with what we have and not entertain any covetous desires after that which is another Mans. Minister  O Lord save this Woman thy Servant Psal 34.22 Psal 33.21 Answer  Who putteth her trust in Thee  Minister  Be Thou to her a strong Tower Psal 25.1 Psal 18.1 Answer  From the face of her enemy  Minister  Lord hear our Prayer  Answer Psal 4.1 And let our cry come unto Thee Psal 5.1 2. Note These Responds are the very Scripture phrase taken out of the Psalms that Treasury of Devotion and are fitted to the present occasion wherein Minister and People as taking it one from the other put up their Prayers to God for a continued mercy upon the Woman who comes devoutly to return her thanks to God for the great mercy already received Minister Let us Pray Note The Prayer following being clearly fitted to the occasion this clause is set before it to stir up the People to joyn heartily and unanimously with the Minister in begging of Almighty God those special blessings and mercies to rest upon the Woman which are there and then prayed for O Almighty God we give Thee humble thanks for that thou hast vouchsafed to deliver this Woman thy Servant from the great pain and peril of Child-birth Grant we beseech Thee most merciful Father that she through thy help may both faithfully live and walk according to thy will in this life present and also may be partaker of everlasting glory in the life to come through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Note This Prayer seems principally to be grounded upon 1 Tim. 2.14 15. and is an admirable summary of devotion wherein the Church so far honours these weaker Vessels as to pray for as many blessings upon them as they can possibly be capable of or as can be summ'd up in so few words It is very great pity that any Woman should be so silly so over-laden with sin and over-led with lust 2 Tim. 3.6 as to be carried away as so many Captives by those Seducers and Instruments of destroying Souls who creep first into their Houses then into their hearts into their bosomes so as to depart from God and from this Office of the Church which is purposely framed up for them in reference to their present and future Estate being meerly gull'd out of their Religion by those who pretend it to be Popish and fain would make it so Sed avertat Deus whereas I do verily believe there is no such Christian provision made in all the Mass-Book for Child-bearing Women not so sober grave and serious without any the least mixture of unprofitable and useless Ceremonies Rubrick The Woman that cometh to give her thanks must offer her accustomed offrings and if there be a Communion it is convenient that she receive the holy Communion Note These accustomed offrings were some Evangelical Oblations and small Retributions given to God into the hands of his Ministers by the Woman to be as an evidence of her gratitude for the eminent blessing which she had received and when we offer up our special thanks to God for special mercies it is fit we should bring presents unto him there is nothing Jewish in it but we are obliged to be thankful to God for his mercy no less then the Jews Non ore tantum sed opere David was for a Quid retribuam Psal 116.11 And when-ever we do offer to God it is but Tibi Domine de tuis 1 Chron. 29.14 Now that the Woman receive the Communion if there be a Communion is very requisit that by a new addition of mercies she may have the more ties and obligations upon her to spend the remainder of her days in holiness and may double her oblations together with her mercies received and return home not emptier but the fuller for her oblations filled with joy and comfort having received a spiritual refreshment as well as a corporal deliverance and so make it the business of her whole life to devote her self and those Children to God which God hath given her Lastly Here is to be noted that neither the blessing nor the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ concludes this Office in regard it is a service to be performed betwixt the first and second service which doth so conclude as Dr. Sparrow observes Rational pag. 363. Neither is such like Office altogether a stranger in the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas for in the Hungarian Polonian and Lithuanian Churches we read of an Office of this nature used Vid. Mr. Durel pag. 48. sect 59. THE Primitive Church Discipline GEN. III. xxiv And he drove out the Man and he planted at the East of the Garden of Eden Cherubims and a flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life THis is the first early instance we have in Scripture for Church-Discipline Gratian derives it hence Distinct 50. c. 64. Epiphanius seems to derive it hence Haeres 52. and so doth Jerom. in Hos lib. 2. c. 6. and Augustine in Genes ad lit lib. 11. c. 40. and many others and if so there is not only Scripture for such a Discipline but the most ancient of Scripture An ancient godly Discipline of putting notorious sinners to open Penance which it seems is lost amongst us and we only wish as there is cause enough for it a happy restauration of it It was indeed when it was used as it ought to be a very laudable and edifying way to reform the scandals of Christianity and to make Christians in profession to be Christians in their lives and conversations too It is strange that the only reforming discipline should be abandoned those Churches which are stiled the Reformed that excommunication should be it self excommunicate and that driven out of the Church which should drive out vice And I wonder a whole Nation should vote the restauration of it and so few in the Nation should endeavour it It is a sign that vice hath overtopt Christianity hath gotten the upper hand of all Laws both Political and Ecclesiastical and that may very
consecrated Elements of Bread and Wine into his Mouth For he that believeth in Christ embraceth his doctrin and is sincerely his Disciple shall undoubtedly live for ever John 6.47 Rubrick In the time of the Plague c. Note Note Ministers are to visit the Sick by this Rule be the Disease never so infectious but there is an indulgence granted them as to this particular danger Can. 67. Yet God forbid any Minister should decline this most Christian and needful Office meerly intending his own private safety more than the Sick-mans Eternal welfare For undoubtedly God is able to protect his Ministers from all infection when they are sincerely discharging their Office and provided they do not presumingly tempt God decline no dangers for the good of Souls POST-SCRIPT Christian Reader IF any seducing Teachers have told thee either in their private suggestions or popular Sermons that the Common-Prayer is nothing but the Mass-Book turned into English and that it is Popish all over if not worse I desire thee to take notice once for all that they have told thee as great an untruth as ever was told by any but the Father of Lies and when thou shalt see Popery it self clearly confuted out of the common-Common-Prayer I desire thee to be so kind to thy self as to lend no Ear for the time to come to such notorious Preachers of Lies if thou hast any value at all for thy precious Soul have nothing to do with these precious Seducers who have found out such a pious policy to delude the vulgar as to carry the Doves Eye in the Serpents Head Now before I proceed to bring forth the Service Book to the Confutation of Popery I think it very requisite first that it be resolv'd on what Popery is not and then what it is for I have observ'd a very strange humour predominant amongst some more peevish English of late time and that is to brand every thing with the infamous name of Popery which they like not of and which is not framed up in every respect to please their fancies and over-dainty Palats Sure to read the Book of Psalms Chapters for Lessons out of both the Testaments and Epistles and Gospels is not Popery now this takes up the greatest part of our Service-Book If to read the Bible and so to read it as the Church prescribes that is so as to edifie most by the reading of it be accounted Popery I profess my self so much for this Popery as I could wish there were more Papists As for those Apocryphal Chapters we read I am satisfied that the Church enjoyns them to be read only for example of life and instruction of manners but doth not press them to be applyed to establish any Doctrine by Artic. 6. The Texts of Scripture set before the Service-Book is not Popery unless the very Scripture be Popery neither is the following Exhortation Confession and Absolution the Lord's Prayer and the following Responses Popery for all are grounded upon and taken Verbatim out of the Scripture The Te Deum the Gloria Patri the three Creeds are not Popery unless the Confutation of Arianisme and other gross Heresies of the Greek Church be Popery The 95th Psalm The Benedicite The Benedictus Psalm the 100. The Magnificat Psalm the 98th The Nune dimittis and Psalm the 67th and all the Responses following are not Popery for they are all the very Scripture either taken thence or may be reduced thither The Collect for Peace The Collect for Grace The Prayers for the King for the Royal Family for the Clergy and People The Prayer of St. Chrysostom The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ The Collects at Evening Prayer for peace for aid against all perils The lesser and larger Litany with the following Prayers and Responses The Prayers extraordinary for Rain for fair weather In time of Dearth and Famine In time of War and Tumults In time of any common Plague or Sickness The Prayers in the Ember-weeks The Prayer for the High Court of Parliament The Prayer for all conditions of men And the Thanksgivings extraordinary are not cannot be Popery unless the Lord's Prayer be Popery and St. Paul's exhortation 1 Tim. 2.1 2. be Popery to which they may be all reduc'd The Collects Epistles and Gospels to be used throughout the Year have nothing Popish in them nor any one of the offices following any one thing tending that way Some things we have which the Church of Rome may have in her formula's but we have them not because Rome hath them but because they are agreeable to Scripture because the antient Liturgies had them because they were used in the Church before Popery was in the World The Church of Rome hath many novel devices which we have not but have rejected as frivolous erroneous and of too late a date to be retained in our Service So far as they hold with the ancient Church we hold with them and so far as they have departed from the ancient Church we have departed from them Indeed our Service-Book is a good defensative not only against all other heresies but against all Romish novelties whatsoever What are those things then which the most severe and rigid enemies in appeâ—rance to the Church or rather Papacy and Court of Rome quarrel at as Popish Give me leave to name them only to put the same Persons to the blush who quarrel at Popery and yet equally disgust the Common-Prayer-Book wherin it is confuted and so tell the World that they are Protestants in shew and Papists in reality 1. To hold the Pope Supreme is taken for grand Popery and the chief hinge on which all other Popish errours depend Now the Common-Prayer in all its Collects for the King acknowledges the King to be Soveraign and Supreme and in the form for Ordination of Ministers the Oath of Supremacy is to be taken by all who enter into holy Orders to acknowledg the Kings Supremacy in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal See more Can. 1. c. 2. Eccles Anglican Artic. 37. Eccles Angl. Here it may be demanded whether those Persons are to be taken for Protestants or not rather to be suspected for Papists who will not take the Oath wherein the Kings Supremacy is asserted 2. To hold an infallibility and that the Church cannot erre is said to be another Branch of Popery By the Common-prayer in the first general confession of sin we are taught to say We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost Sheep and never had we so just cause to say it as since we left it off besides that Churches and Councils may err is plain Can. 19. and Can. 21. Eccles Anglican 3. To hold Transubstantiation in the Sacrament a term which many are frighted at though they know not what it means is looked upon by some as a very gross piece of Popery Wheras our Common-prayer Book in the very words wherein the Minister delivers the Consecrated Elements to the
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
Tertullian is very plain and full Vid. Melanct. in Evangel domin in loc commun And Mr. Calvin is very express That Christ alone is enter'd into the Sanctuary of Heaven and that he presents unto God the Prayers of the People who remain in a remoter Court till the end of the World Instit lib. 3. c. 20. Sect. 20. lib. 3. cap. 25. sect 6. in Luc. cap. 16. vers 22. vid. Marlorat vid. Calvin lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 1 Pet. 3.19 2 Pet. 2.4 Luc. 23.43 Mat. 8. Genes 5. de raptu Enochi Job 14. Philip. 1.6 2 Cor. 5.1 2 Cor. 12.13 Instit lib. 4. cap. 4. sect 12. in Catechism In all which places he will not define or determine any thing in terminis only holds as we do that they are in bliss but shall not have their perfect consummation and bliss till the Resurrection and Day of Doom The Collect. O merciful God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life in whom whosoever believeth shall live though he die and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall not die eternally Joh. 11.25 26. who also hath taught us by his holy Apostle St. Paul not to be sorry as Men without hope for them that sleep in him 1 Thes 4.13 14. We meekly beseech Thee O Father to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness Rom. 6.3 4. 1 Cor. 15.34 That when we shall depart this life we may rest in him as our hope is this our _____ doth and that at the general Resurrection in the last day we may be found acceptable in thy sight and receive that blessing which thy well beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear Thee saying Come ye blessed Children of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 Grant this we beseech thee O merciful Father through Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer Amen Note This Collect sums up all the remarkableness of the Burial Office in a short devout prayer and brings all home in pious application Herein we declare our hope concerning all who depart this life in the bosom of the Church for so long as we are in the bosome of the Church we are in the state of pardon however if we are sometimes mistaken in our hope as to particulars yet it is ever a testimony of our charity It is Error amoris in case it happen at any time to be an errour 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 ever more Amen Viz. The charity of God the Son the love of God the Father and the bounty or liberal effusion of the graces of God's Holy Spirit be in us with us and upon us now and ever Amen POSTSCRIPT Christian Reader IN the first place I am to desire thee to have so much charity for our reviving Mother the Church of England as not to think her any way addicted to an affected singularity in her prescribed Office for the Burial of her dying Children for as in her other Offices so in this she holds exact conformity with her other Sisters the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas so far as they may be permitted to hold conformity with her Vid. Mr. Durel Touching the conformity of other reformed Churches with the Reformed Church of England pag. 34. sect 38. pag. 48. sect 60. Besides take notice of the words of the most judicious Hooker Take away saith he these prayers praises and holy Lessons which were ordained at Burials to shew the peculiar hope of the Church touching the Resurrection of the dead and in the manner of the dumb Funerals what one thing is there whereby the World may perceive that we are Christians Hook Eccles Pol. lib. 5. sect 75. Some few Rites more I shall add observed at Funerals together with their Reasons annexed only to give satisfaction to those better sort of weak Christians who quarrel at their use more out of tenderness of conscience than out of turbulency or any contentious spirit as for such who are contentiously given who are ill-willers to Sion who are enemies to the peace of the Church who delight in nothing but dreadful confusions and make it a great part of their Religion to quarrel the ancient practises of the Church and just Orders of Superiours I leave them to the severest execution of the Laws of the Land and the power of those who are invested with Jurisdiction to punish them as schismatical and seditious Persons and as the nature of their offence shall deserve and truly I think Superiours may be blamed for their indulgence in such cases as well as for their severity Our Church will never be at peace and our State never at quiet from the working of some Mens spirits and intemperate zeal Si vitiis Principum irasci liceat insidiari bonitati But enough of this I proceed now to speak of the few other Rites rather practised at Funerals than by Law or Canon prescribed and to account for them with what brevity and perspicuity I can 1. The ringing of the Passing-bel or Soul-bell as we call it is not intended to help the passage of the Soul when departed out of the Body but only to stir up devout Christians to pray for its happy passage out of its Body and to move those who are living to make reflexions upon their own mortality and seriously to consider of their later end This Bell is like St. Paul's Trumpet 1 Cor. 14.8 which gives such a certain sound that all within the hearing of it may prepare themselves to the Battel which is to be fought in the Field of Death 2. It was an ancient custom and is still practised to bury the Dead with their Faces turning towards the East to shew that they were as sure of an uprise as the Sun that comes forth of his Eastern Chamber and that they lie waiting for that Sun of Righteousness Malach. 4.2 who shall at the last day return with his healing Wings and quicken and revive all the dead Bodies of his Servants by his healing and life-giving influence when he comes with his Prodi Lazare or Surge qui dormis then the Graves shall set open their Marble Doors and restore their deposita When the Arch-Angel shall sound the Trump of Collection then the scattered bones of Gods Saints shall be gathered together with sinews and those sinews incorporated with flesh and that flesh covered over with skin all mortality being purged away and by a new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Pythagoras never dreamed of the same Soul shall re-enter the same Body These and the like Ceremonies the Church hath practised in her Funerals to be as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so many significant emblems to strengthen and confirm her living Children in the hopes of a joyful resurrection 3. It was an
we avouch our faith in God One in Essence Three in Person we are to pray to But be this Oremus or Let us pray set where it will the end and â—se of it is very good to settle and fix our intentions towards some ensuing duty for unless we are thus stirred up and called upon we are apt to grow dull and drowsie and to supplicate God to hear those Prayers which we do not hear our selves This Oremus is very ancient as appears out of Chrysostom Augustine and others and there was a practise amongst the Heathens in their sacred though erroneously so Offices very like unto it Vid. Plutarch in Coriolano Our Father which art in Heaven Our Teacheth us to pray one with another one for another he who prays only for himself shal be heard only for himself The prayers we put up to God should be cast in the mould of love and charity He who is angry with his brother cannot offer a pleasing and acceptable offring to God his Father without faith no acceptable pray'r without love no true faith Father This begets in us love a humble confidence a holy kind of presumption what wil God deny us who vouchsafes us this to call him Father Though we are sinful he will not forget to be merciful though we forget our duties he will not forget his Nature Laesus est sed tamen pater which art in Heaven This begets in us fear and a holy kind of reverence This minds us of our earthly peregrination shews our wants and whence we are to expect relief it notes us to be strangers and pilgrims on Earth standing in need of his help and assistance who is in Heaven It teacheth us whither we are to direct our prayers and where to settle our affections when we pray Orantis est nil nisi coelestia cogitare It shews whence every good comes we can possibly want or stand in need of it shews God to be all-sufficient able to help us for in Heaven as willing to hear us for our Father It minds us that we are but viatores Travailours Earth is our way and Heaven is our home Our Nos pudeat eum aspernari fratrem quem deus non aspernatur filium Est vox charitatis as this Pray'r is Breviarium fidei so is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Singuli pro omnibus omnes pro singulis orant Pro se orat necessitas pro aliis charitas Father Magnum nomen hoc sub quo nemini desperandum Surgam ibo ad patrem Luc. 15.18 19. Pater etiamsi offensus est pater filius etiamsi nequam tamen filius He will never forget the nature of his Name though we forget our duties There is indulgentia paterna liberalitas paterna Facilitas dandi condonandi in patre Nomen patris explicat charitatem dei excitat charitatem nostri which art in Heaven Other Fathers sub terris he in coelis Isay 63.16 Psal 10.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3. aquilarum hoc negotium non talparum non milvorum Caelumque tueri Jussit We do genus de coelo ducere Act. 17. We should look home with the Prodigal Luc. 15. As Absolom desired to see the King's face 2 Sam. 14. So we the face of Christ and God in Heaven Coelum petere is the Unum necessarium In this sense Qua supra nos maxime ad nos Pater ergo vult In coelis ergo potest Nullus pater talis pater Tertull. Hallowed be thy Name This shews as Holiness is the chief attribute in God so it should be the chiefest thing in our account we should be holy as he is holy holy in our words holy in our actions holy in our lips holy in our lives We must not falsify Gods Name set it where he will not set it himself nor pretend it to justifie or legitimate any Action which is sinful This is as if we should carry God's Ark into the Field to fight against himself or fight the devils cause under the banner of Christ or wear Christs livery in the bare profession of a name and do the devils service We do not sanctifie God's Name but profane it when we profess him in words and deny him in works When we pretend Christian liberty to destroy Christian duty make use of Religion to usher in Sacriledge and Rebellion Paint the Cross upon banners and yet by actions most sinful and scandalous put Christ as it were upon a new Crucifixion God is not to be named but he is above every name only he was pleased to make himself known under the notion of names that we might have some directions how to invocate and call upon Him This is Caput votorum Sanctificetur cannot come from any Persons that are profane Psal 50.16 17. Not Jacob 's voice and Esau 's hands Not a Scriptum est from the Devil's mouth nor the devils gloss and comment upon GOD's Text. In Nomine Domini incipit omne malum that ought not to be There are Qui sub Christiano Nomine Christianam vulnerant Religionem Quid verba audio cum facta videam En Testimonia rerum loquentia signa God's Name is as a Castle we must not flie to it but in time of need Prov. 18.10 Deus Sanctificat nos faciendo Sanctos ex non sanctis nos sanctificamus Deum non faciendo eum sanctum sed agnoscendo praedicando Extrinsecus assumpsit sibi nomen ut invocetur Thy Kingdom come In this Petition we pray for the propagation of the Gospel the spreading of Christian Religion all the World over that God's Name which was onely great in Israel may be known and acknowledged reverenced and adored among all Nations we pray for the extirpation of sin and the implantation of grace that we may be translated out of the Kingdome of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light freed from the slavery of sin and Satan and intitled to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God That Christ would set up his Throne and Scepter in our hearts that the work of grace may be here in us glory begun and the work of glory may be hereafter in us and upon us grace compleat We pray for the means ordained and appointed of God to bring this Kingdom to us and us into it the word the Sacraments and a regular and ordain'd Ministry to preach the one and to administer the other Thy Kingdom of God 1. Universal over all 2. Special over the Church and this latter 1. Regnum gratiae inchoatum in hac vita 2. Regnum gloriae consummatum post hanc vitam Rex hujus Regni Christus 1. Quia Deus 2. Quia Mediator Regni hujus cives 1. Angeli 2. Sancti Militantes in terris Triumphantes in coelis Regni hujus Leges 1. Verbum Dei 2. Spiritus Dei Regni hujus Dona 1. Fides 2. Conversio 3. Justificatio 4. Sanctificatio 5. Glorificatio Regni hujus hostes 1. Diaboli 2. Homines impii In