Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n
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A38583
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The reasonableness of our Christian service (as it is contained in the Book of Common-Prayer) evidenced and made clear from the authority of Scriptures and practice of the primitive Christians, or, A short rationale upon our morning and evening service as it is now established in the Church of England wherein every sentence therein contained is manifestly proved out of the Holy Bible, or plainly demonstrated to be consonant thereto / composed and written by Thomas Elborow, vicar of Cheswick ; and since his death made publick by the care and industry of Jo. Francklyn ...
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Elborow, Thomas.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing E324; ESTC R31410
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96,665
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240
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may say it or sing it and were justly to be blamed in case we should refuse the doing so The 100 Psalm is joyned with it and the Minister may make his choice of either because both are Thanksgivings unto God enforced almost with the very same reasons and arguments RUBRICK Then shall be sung or said the Apostles Creed by the Minister and the people standing Except only such days as the Creed of St. Athanasius is appointed to be read I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth Mark 9.24 Heb. 1.2 John 14.1 Psal 124.8 And in Jesus Christ his onely Son our Lord John 1.18 John 14.1 Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary Mat. 1.20 23. Luk. 1.27 31. Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried Mat. 27.2 1 Tim. 6.13 He descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the dead Act. 2.31 32. 1 Cor. 15.4 Ephes 4.9 1 Pet. 3.19 He ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty Act. 1.9 Ephes 4.9 10. Heb. 12.2 From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead Act. 1.11 Act. â—0 42 Act. 17.31 I believe in the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 Act. 19.2 1 John 5.7 The holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints Psal 87. Psal 110.3 Isa 54.2 3. 1 Cor. 10.16 Ephes 1.3 4. Ephes 4.15 16. Heb. 10.22 23 24 25. 1 John 1.7 The forgiveness of sins Luk. 24.47 Act. 2.38 Colos 2.13 The resurrection of the body 1 Cor. 15. And the life everlasting Rom. 6.23 Amen Mark 9.24 EXPLANATION This is called the Creed or Belief because all necessary points to be credited or believed in order to our Salvation are contained in it It is the Key of the Holy Scriptures an Abridgment of the Gospel Christ taught it the Apostles the Apostles taught it the Church and the Church us Though it be not Canonical Scripture as to the make yet as to the matter contained in it it is for it contains in it the very Scripture Word and Truth of God It is of greater Authority then any other Ecclesiastical Traditions of this nature whether they are Confessions of particular Churches or Writings of private men The Nicene and Athanasian Confessions mentioned and used in our Liturgy are not new Creeds but larger Explications of this It is called the Apostles Creed either because they themselves used it or because it contains the heads of that Doctrine which they taught the world and it is the Judgment of some very learned men that it is more Ancient then many writings of the New Testament At first perhaps it was no part of the Liturgy or publick Service only a prescribed Lesson for the Catechumens to be instructed in and whereof they were to make publick rehearsal in order to their admission unto Baptism There is mention made of it in the most Ancient writers of the Church and however some objections may be made against the Apostolicalness of it yet those objections certainly are not unanswerable But however most certain it is that it is so Apostolical as to the matter that it may without offence carry its denomination from the Apostles and be called their Creed because it is a most excellent Epitome and Abridgment of their Doctrine contrived in a very near resemblance to their Language and a great part of it undoubtedly digested by the Apostolical Church For if the Apostolical Churches had not this very Creed in express words yet they had a Creed very much resembling this as to the substance of the Articles though with some few syllabical variations If at any time the Articles concerning the Holy Ghost and the Church were omitted in the Creed yet they were supplied from the form of Catechizing then in use which form was in truth a Creed and with the rehearsal of which the Catechumens were Baptized Though not in Tertullian yet in Cyprian we find express mention of the Holy Church Remission of sins and everlasting life but then indeed as it is noted by Jerom all the mysteries of the Christian Faith were upon the matter terminated in the Resurrection of the flesh into which they were baptized 1 Cor. 15.19 and with it Tertullian concludes his rule of Faith yet was not the Article of Life everlasting any after-new addition only it was represented in a different order Let but the African parcels of Tertullian and Cyprian be united together and a Creed may be found as to the Essentials conformable to this of the Apostles and the like may be found in the Epistles of Ignatius who was disciple to one of them Neither was there any need for the Apostles or Fathers to commit this Creed to writing in regard it was the great depositum of the Church conveyed down from one Age to another in a Traditional way supposed by some to be the one Faith mentioned Ephes 4.5 and the form pattern or summary of sound words mentioned 2 Tim. 1.13 the body of Faith made up in all its proportions mentioned Rom. 12.6 and the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints mentioned Jude vers 3. This Creed and the other two the Nicene and the Athanasian which are but Explanations of this are ordered to be said after the Lessons to shew that Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.17 we must first hear and then confess and they are ordered to be said standing because they are summaries of the Gospel which was ever rehearsed in that posture and because the Catechumens used to make rehearsal of their Faith in a standing posture which posture is also significant and notes that gallant resolution which ought to be in us to maintain and defend that Faith and Religion which we profess The Creed Explained I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth I for my self as every Christian ought to believe for himself do believe there is a God do believe God and do believe in God I confess him put all my trust and confidence in him acknowledge my self obliged to do his will and to obey his commands I own his title God his personality Father his power Almighty and admire and adore him for his operations and works for he is the Maker of heaven and earth He is able to do whatever is fit for God to do he can do what he will and more then he will whatever implies not a contradiction in it self or argues not imperfection in him He is so Almighty that he is liable to no imperfections and his Almightiness appears remarkably in the Creation of the World for he is the Maker of heaven and earth He made something of nothing and out of that something he made all things the glorious Heaven Angels and Spirits the Starry Heaven Sun Moon and lesser Lights with all the glorious Constellations the Airy Heaven winged Fowls Clouds and Vapours Hail and feather'd Snow Rain Lightning and terrible Thunder He made
read and approved of as our own Comments upon a Text of Scripture which it is to be presumed we would not have to be taken for Canonical Scripture They who are most against the reading of them cannot but confess our Sermons and Tractates to have as little of the Spirit of infallibility and Sanctification as the Apocryphal Books So far as they are consonant to the Word of God they are Canonical though not Proto-Canonical There is truth in them and we are to embrace truth wherever we meet with it for it is Gods whoever speaks it or writes it we read them not to confirm us in matters of Faith but to instruct us in life and manners because they contain in them many excellent moral precepts for the regulating of our lives and well ordering of our conversations Again some part of the Canonical is not enjoyned to be read publickly in the Congregation not because the Authority of it is undervalued but because it is not so useful for Edification nor so fitted to the understandings and capacities of the people as those portions of Scripture are which are enjoyned to be read those necessary parts of Scripture which God hath made easie the Church desires should be made familiar and frequently read to the people Therefore she orders the Psalms to be read over once every month most part of the Old Testament once a year the New thrice and hath so sorted the Lessons Prayers Psalms Epistles and Gospels for some Festivals that they edifie as much as any ordinary Sermons if people were but so wise as to consider the wise directions of the Church and to value her prudence as much as they do their own foolish humors Now the Lessons are taken one out of the Old another out of the New Testament that by frequent reading of them we may observe the Harmony of both for as the Cherubins of Glory looked each upon other and both closed with their wings over the Mercy-seat so the Two Testaments look each upon other both upon Christ who is the supplement of the one and the complement of the other in the one promised in the other exhibited the Law being an hidden Gospel and the Gospel a revealed Law The Patriarchs Prophets Evangelists Apostles wrote by the same Spirit pointed at the same Messias were saved by the same Faith and this may very much confirm us in the truth of the Scriptures when we read that exactly fulfilled in the New Testament which was so punctually foretold in the Old Besides it may be a means of converting the Jews as well as confirming us Christians for they may in time embrace Christ's Gospel with us when they see us embrace Moses and the Prophets together with them But in taking Lessons first out of the Old Testament and then out of the New the Church observes the method of the Holy Spirit who first published the Old then the New first the precepts of the Law then of the Gospel and by this method we are taught to go forward in our knowledge from smaller things to greater from the lowest to the highest for the Law is as a Paedagogue teaching the first Rudiments the Institutions of highest perfection are contained in the Gospel The Minister is to read the Lessons distinctly with a sober grave and audible voice and he is to turn himself towards the people when he reads because he is upon an office directed to them whereas in Prayer he looks another way towards the more eminent part of the Church where use to be placed the Symbols of God's more especial presence with whom the Minister in Prayer hath chiefly to do For the same reason we may suppose that the Christians in former times used to pray with their faces Eastward because in the Chancel which was the East part of the Church stood the Holy Table where the highest of Religious Services were usually performed and the Sacrament of Christ's body and bloud was administred which is the special sign of God's mysterious presence The Jews at the reading of the Law and other Scriptures looked toward the people but in Prayer toward the Mercy-seat or principal part of the Temple Psal 28.2 and Christians may in all probability do the like in imitation of the Jews for as their Mercy-seat was a type and figure of Christ so the Holy Table and the Sacred Mysteries there performed are representations of him in a more special manner Neither did the Jews nor do the Christians this out of any superstitious conceit that God cannot or will not hear our Prayers unless we look Eastward when we pray as the Jews looked toward the Oracle or Mercy-seat for we know God is Omnipresent every where present yet for all this Christ directed us by his form of prayer to look towards Heaven when we pray because it is the Throne of God Te Deum Laudamus WE praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord Psal 67.3 Psal 99.34 Psal 148.1 All the Earth doth worship thee the Father everlasting To thee all Angels cry aloud the Heavens and all the Powers therein Psal 148.2 To thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory Isa 6.3 Rev. 4.8 Isa 66.1 Jer. 23.24 The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee Rev. 4.10 11. The noble army of Martyrs praise thee Rev. 6.9 10. The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee Psal 67.2 The Father of an infinite Majesty Psal 93.1 Thine honourable true and onely Son Mat. 17.5 Luk. 1.32 Heb. 1.3 4 5. Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter John 14.26 Thou art the King of Glory O Christ Rev. 17.14 Psal 24.8 Luk. 19.38 Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father Rom. 1.4 Isa 9.6 Luk. 1.35 John 8.58 John 17.5 When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man thou didst not abhor the Virgins womb Philip. 2.6 7. Mat. 1.25 When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers John 14.2 3. John 17.24 Heb. 9.8 9 10 11. Heb. 10.19 20. Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father Act. 2.33 Heb. 10.12 Heb. 12.2 We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge Rom. 2.16 Act. 1.11 Act. 17.31 We therefore pray thee help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Psal 74.2 Make them to be numbred with thy Saints 〈◊〉 in glory everlasting Colos 1.12 John 17.22 O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage Govern them and lift them up for ever Joel 2.17 Psal 28.9 Day by day we magnifie thee Psal 96 2◠Psal 145.2 And we worship thy Name ever world without end Psal 61.8 Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin Psal 17.5 Gen. 20.6 O Lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us Psal 123.3 O Lord