behinde us I know where the blame must lie But you will say you do not accuse Set Forms for want of life in themselves but that by the continual repetition of the same things they be-dead affection in those that should have it And how I pray should that be If the sense of real wants and blessings which are always the same cannot keep up our affections how should a new set of words do it Can we imagine that God should be taken with variety and shift of phrases or that the affection that takes heat from them will render the service more acceptable to God And therefore when they complain that their devotion is tired with nothing but Almighty and most merciful Father in the Morning and Almighty and most merciful Father in the Evening and the same over and over again every day That complaint did never lie against the Jews daily Sacrifice which was a type of ours that there was a Lamb in the morning and a Lamb again at evening and the same over again every day in the year When our Saviour at his last agony in the Garden three times retired himself from his Disciples to pray he used still the same form of words without any change St. Matth. 26.44 And who dares say he wanted ability to vary his prayer or can say he wanted affection though he did not For as St. Luke relates it He prayed so earnestly St. Luk. 22.44 that his swet was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground and then sure there was no want of affection for when our zeal is at the hottest we do not use to swet at our prayers I go on to a third charge That Set Forms instead of helping us hinder the Spirit by which we should pray The truth is Such as the Spirit may be and too often useth to be it ought rather to be bound with chains then left at liberty under a Form of Praying to Libel their Governors or whom or what they please to bring into hatred with the people But for the true Spirit of Prayer that cannot be tyed with words For they are utterly mistaken that think the Spirit of Prayer supplies any defect of words or phrases for that very Text of St. Paul whereon they ground it confutes them Rom. 8.26 The spirit helpeth our infirmities But in what not in words for what the Spirit supplies are there said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not spoken at all or as we translate it which cannot be uttered What then doth it supply It maketh intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered The true Spirit of Prayer consists in groans in zeal and fervency and that where it is will animate and put life into any Form of Prayer They who call Forms of their own making or borrowing con'd without Book Praying by the Spirit do both cheat the people and blaspheme the Holy Ghost A fourth Objection is That it is but a Book-Sacrifice a Reading-Service which any childe may do They complain it seems of ease If God should require a harder thing of us as no doubt there are many harder things to be done do them we must The easiness lays the greater obligation upon us How ridiculous would this exception appear against the Legal Sacrifices A Butcher could kill and dress a Lamb as well as a Priest This is a false deceitful weight Gods service is not to be weighed by the labor of doing but by the relation to him for whom it is done And therefore King Solomon when by the advice of his Father upon his death-bed he call'd to account the chief Leaders in the rebellion of Adoniah as Joab that commanded in chief and Abiathar the High Priest made no question of putting Adoniah and Joab to death but for Abiathar though he deprived him of his office yet he spared his life And why he gives no other reason but this Because he bore the Ark before his Father David But was that a work of such merit and difficulty Could not any Porter do as much it was but carrying of a Chest Solomon did not take his measure by that That Sacred Chest the Ark was a Symbol of Gods presence it had relation to his Service and that he preferred before his own for Adoniah was his Brother of the half-blood and Joab his cosin-german You that are the Kings servants here in Court do not weigh the merit and honor of your places which you justly have by the pains and difficulty of your service which we know in many is little enough but by the greatness of the Master for whom you do it Children may be able to read the Book but not therefore fit to offer the Sacrifice They are troubled with the rude confused noise that is made by the people in answering to the Confessions and Psalms It seems their ears are as tender as their consciences and both alike out of tune For this is a Publick Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text i. e. a Confessing together Now there can be no communication of men together but by speech and therefore of necessity it must be the Fruit of our Lips But while we in obedience to that pray God to open our Lips they teach the people to shut them They take it very ill that they are silenced though they deserve it and yet stick not to silence the whole Congregation without any offence or fault of theirs They say it is an improper and impertinent Service We use such Hymns and Psalms for our Praises and Thanksgivings as are not proper and appliable to us For how can any one that is a Man say in the Magnificat Thou hast regarded the lowliness of thy handmaid Or how can it be seasonable for all especially young men to say in the Nunc dimittas Lord now let thy servant depart in peace For answer to this and the rest of that kinde It is but turning to the Doctrine of the Text as we have done in all the rest The Liturgy is the Churches Publick Sacrifice of Praise and in that we are not onely to give thanks for blessings immediately conferred upon our persons but upon us with the whole Church by the intervention of others For in the Blessed Virgin we do all partake of the grace done to her being taken to be the Mother of our Lord. And in old Simeon we rejoyce at the sight of that salvation which was a Light to us Gentiles as well as a glory to the people of Israel They are offended with the length of the Service which makes it not onely tedious in it self but injurious also by hindring the Sermon To measure the length first If we lay our line to it you will not finde it so It takes up but a very short part of the whole time which God has bestowed upon us of which enough we have and too much we take many times for our rest and sleep enough for our own necessary business
perform this duty And therefore our Church that never was of the minde to fling away Chaff and Corn both at once That they might not want what all Churches ever had so ordered our Liturgy that by it we might wiâ—h safety and true devotion daily Sacrifice to the praise and honor of God Wherein they have followed not onely Precept but â—atern also from this Text as by a short parallel between them may visibly appear as first The Text calls us to a Sacrifice and the Liturgy is that Sacrifice Antioch was the place where Christs Disciples were first called Christians and Antioch is the place where the Christian Service is first called a Liturgy Acts 13. We finde the Disciples met together at their Liturgy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 2. which we translate Fasting and Ministring to the Lord for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a Publick Ministration to which the word used by the Church fits well calling it Common Prayer and is so expounded by St. Luke himself in the next Verse Vers 3. When they had Fasted and Prayed This Liturgy or Ministring to God must needs be in something for His honor and service which is properly a Sacrifice Secondly As it is a Sacrifice to God so to none but God We call it Divine Service and so we use it No Creature Saint or Angel hath any part in it as in some they have Praise them we may for the good service they have done the Church but offer a Sacrifice of Praise we may not It was never heard saith St. Augustine Offero tibi Sacrificium Petre or Paule or Cypriane And though the invocation of them simply be not a Sacrifice yet it is such when used in Divine Service in the place of one And that it is not heard in our Liturgy it is no doubt with their good leave and liking too The Angel Rev. 19. will answer for that Order When St. John would have worshipp'd him Do it not says he I am your fellow servant And the Apostles Paul and Barnabas for their Order when the men of Lystra would have sacrificed to them Acts 14.15 they cryed out Sirs why do you these things we also are men of the like Passions with you That they are Gods friends intitles them to no more than a place in his Court to do him service not in his Throne to receive any And therefore that honor which God hath not given to another we have not given to them in our Liturgy Thirdly The Sacrifice of the Text is Eucharistical a Sacrifice of Praise and so is our Liturgy We pretend to no expiation or satisfaction for sins either of quick or dead We ow that to a better Sacrifice The price of Redemption is greater than any service we can do It cost more to redeem our souls we must let that alone for ever and therefore in the Liturgy our Sacrifice is set to no higher key than We praise thee O God Psal 49. c. Fourthly In every Sacrifice there must be something offered and that in the Text is the fruit of our Lips For though the Root of this and every good service must be in the heart yet the fruit must sprout outwardly in the lips For though a vertue may sometimes be accomplished in the heart onely yet neither this nor Prayer it self if private or mental onely though otherwise of excellent use will amount to a Sacrifice till it come into the lips for no proper Sacrifice is invisible And therefore in our Liturgy as we pray that God would open our lips so we practise when we joyn with the Priest in the Confessions and Psalms and in such things where he alone is not concerned Fifthly It is not every fruit that grows upon the lips is fit to make a Sacrifice but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lips that confess to his Name But how comes confessing more than any thing else to relate to a Sacrifice It is thus The end and import of every thing offered to God in Sacrifice Eucharistical is a Profession and Acknowledgment of some blessing bestowed upon the Sacrificer and so either expresly or implicitely is joyned with it As for instance At the offering of the first-fruits they are commanded to make a Confession in this form Thou shalt go unto the Priest Deut. 26.3 and say thus unto him I confess this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come into the Country which the Lord sware unto our Fathers to give us That is in the first-fruits they confest the Land that bore them to be of Gods gift Now of such confessions as these the whole body and matter of the Liturgy is framed Our first address and approach into Gods presence is by a Confession of our sins which is a putting off our shoes with the defilements we have contracted in our ways for the place and presence is holy And by this we make Profession and Acknowledgment of Gods perfect purity and holiness in that we presume not to come into his presence till we first put off our uncleanness Then follows the Absolution and this is another Confession of his infinite mercy that he is willing to forgive our sins and to use the ministry of sinful man to confer it upon us Then we have the Hymns and Psalms which is a third Confession to his Name whereby we do with chearful and thankful hearts acknowledge him to be the Author of all the good we enjoy or hope for For Lessons we have the Scriptures read and they are written for our learning In that we confess God to be our infallible Teacher to whose Oracles we submit to be guided both in faith and manners And because the Rules of both lie diffused through the whole body of Scripture we have them summ'd up in the Creeds and Decalogue In the Creeds we acknowledge our faith in his wisdom who hath so mysteriously contrived the means and way of our Salvation before unknown to Men and Angels And in the Decalogue we confess his Dominion That he is our Lawgiver and to that our Patron also not onely gives us Laws but Grace and hearts to keep them In the Collects Prayers and Supplications for the supply of our wants and necessities as well temporal as spiritual we acknowledge every good gift and every perfect giving to come down from the Father of lights But the chief of all the Confessions is that for which our Saviour instituted a Sacrament Do this in remembrance of me that is in Commemoration and Acknowledgment of what he by his blood hath purchased for us For we must not think as some do that a Sacrament should be instituted for relief onely of a bad memory like a thred tied about the finger but solemnly to celebrate the memory of the greatest of blessings that God ever bestowed upon men the Redemption of our Souls by the blood of his dear Son And therefore this Confession carries away from all the rest the
name of an Eucharist a Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving By this we see the matter of the Sacrifice of the Text fulfilled in the Liturgy by Confessing to his Name The next thing to be observed is the circumstance of time when this Sacrifice is to be offered and that is continually In conformity to this our Service is a continual daily sacrifice a Morning and Evening Prayer And though the greatest benefit of this belongs to those that daily attend it yet because it is the Publick Sacrifice of the Church all that are Members of that have their part and interest in it though they be absent yet not in equal measure The present are intitled to the benefit as a Sacrifice offered by them the absent as a Sacrifice offered for them For this is our juge Sacrificium that is perpetually burning upon the Altar for the service of God and in behalf of every member of the Church that doth not ponere obicem set a bar upon himself by his wilful neglect of it and opposition to it Lastly By him we are to offer 'T is his merit and mediation that crowns the Sacrifice In vain should sinful man approach so great a Majesty in his own Name but by him who hath made our peace with God and sanctified us by his blood we may finde access to him This by him gives the Characteristical difference of the Christian sacrifice from all others for otherwise the Sacrifice of Praise was common to all times before and under the Law You finde in many Psalms a Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving but in none of them by him in Christs name St. Joh. 16.24 Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name says our Saviour but hereafter his Name will give vertue and efficacy to all our services And therefore to gain so gracious an Advocate with the Father our Prayers and Supplications are in the Liturgy offered up in his Name concluding always By the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ THus you see the Text exemplified throughout in the Liturgy and the Liturgy therefore warranted by the Text. I could not promise my self time enough to take a view of all the particulars I have therefore reduced that I have to say at this time to this one Observation in gross That our Liturgy or Common Prayer is a true Sacrifice to God for the praise and honor of His Name And to this I shall not beg the assent of those that like it not but require it and by the authority of the same Apostle in an other place Rom. 15.8 where we read That Jesus Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promise made unto the Fathers Now what that promise was he tells us in the next Verse That the Gentiles might glorifie God for his mercy as it is written For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing praises unto thy Name Here are Confessions and Praises and Singing by which God is to be glorified among the Gentiles They that will be Christians upon other terms do in effect make God a lier who promised it should be so And yet they that would not have it so are very many and of many sorts and though I cannot think the worse of it that it lies under a popular dislike yet because it is no ill way of learning our duties by the folly of those that oppose it I shall give you a short account of them The ATHEIST first charges it with such weapons as he hath scorn and drollery That these Forms and Ceremonies and Pageantry of worshipping God in Liturgies is but a trade invented by the Priests to get their living and according to the priviledge of Inventors they claim a Monopoly that they onely may have the offering of that Sacrifice It is not strange that they who have not God in their hearts as the Prophet David speaks of those fools should have any sacrifice in their lips for him In this onely I confess they are no fools If there be no God we need not trouble our selves about a Sacrifice but if there be a God let them take the fool again for Sacrifice is his due Never was any Nation so barbarous that fancied a Deity but thought it necessary to make some testification and acknowledgment of it by Sacrifice To these we may joyn the whole Herd of SECTARIES who are but a kinde of godly Atheists When the late storm that raged amongst us brought with it those Locusts that over-spread the Nation though their whole business was to destroy yet of all most virulently the Publick Service of the Church And hence it is that in the practice of their devotions you shall finde nothing that looks like the offering of a Sacrifice of praise for the honor of God But their meeting together is onely to tell one another their dreams and ridiculous phansies belying the holy Spirit an hour or two and then depart And so I leave them And come to another sort of enemies whom I intend more particularly to call to an account and the rather because they seem to allow of a Publick Sacrifice of praise as far as a free Directory will go but for a set and stinted Liturgy as they call it they have it in abomination as appears by the heap of accusations they bring against it 1. That it is a polluted unclean thing 2. That it is a dead Sacrifice 3. A Book-service of the Letter and not of the Spirit 4. A Childish 5. Confused 6. Improper impertinent service 7. A tedious service 8. A lame sacrifice full of defects And lastly A blinde one that edifies not All this dirt and filth they cast upon it is easily wiped off with a right understanding of this onely general Doctrine of the Text That it is a sacrifice of praise to Gof for the honor of His Name First They say it is a polluted unclean thing taken out of the Popish Missal and Breviary But if it be truly according to the patern in the Text as ye have heard a Sacrifice of praise to God we need not be troubled through what hands it passed before it came to us For as we are not ashamed to confess that our Religion is not a new but Reform'd Religion so nor need we be ashamed to say We worship God not by a new but Reform'd Liturgy And so our Faith and Religion are both of a piece and both as old as the Text. Secondly They say it is a dead Sacrifice made up of empty Forms and Ceremonies void of that life and affection which is necessary in Gods service If there be that want of affection in our Prayers it is a fault lie where it may But certainly the Forms are not guilty of it It is injustice to require that in a Sacrifice which belongs onely to him that offers it The Church that composed the Forms cannot create affection If we come to this Sacrifice and leave our hearts