do no Good thing without thee grant us the Help of thy Grace that in keeping thy Commandments we may please thee both in will and deed through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen * ALmighty and everliving God by whose Spirit the whole Body of the Church is sanctified and governed Receive our Supplications and Prayers which we offer unto thee for all Estates of Men in thy holy Church that every Member of the same in his Vocation and Ministry may truly and godly serve thee through our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Amen Then the Collect of the Day with one of these Two for the King ALmighty God whose Kingdom is everlasting Power infinite Have Mercy upon the whole Church and so rule the Heart of thy chosen Servant N. our King and Governour that he knowing whose Minister he is may above all things seek thy Honour and Glory and that we and all his subiects duly considering whose Authority he hath may faithfully serve honour and humbly obey him in thee and for thee according to thy blessed Word and Ordinance through Iesus Christ our Lord who with thee and the holy Ghost liveth and reigneth ever One God World without end Amen Or. ALmighty and everliving God we are taught by thy holy Word that the Hearts of Kings are in thy Rule and Governance and that thou dost dispose and turn them as in thy most excellent Wisdom thou seest best We humbly beseech thee so to dispose and govern the Heart of N. thy Servant our King and Governour that in all his Thoughts Words and Works he may ever seek thy Honour and Glory and study to preserve thy People committed to his charge in Wealth Peace and Godliness Grant this O merciful Father for thy dear Sons sake Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen Then turning toward the People The Epistle written in the Chapter of at the Verse And when he hath done Here endeth the Epistle The Holy Gospel c. People Glory be to thee O Lord. And at the end of the Gospel Pr. So endeth the Holy Gospel Pe. Thanks be to thee O Lord. Then turning toward the Altar I Believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible And in one Lord Iesus Christ the onely begotten Son of God Begotten of his Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light Very God of very God Begotten not made Being of one substance with the Father By whom all things were made Who for us Men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven And was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary And was made Man And was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate He suffered and was buried And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures And ascended into Heaven And sitteth on the right hand of the Father And he shall come again with Glory to judge both the quick and the dead Whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the holy Ghost The Lord and giver of Life Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified Who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the Remission of Sins And I look for the Resurrection of the Dead And the Life of the World to come Amen * WE praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the Earth doth worship thee the Father everlasting To thee all Angels cry aloud the Heavens and all the Powers therein To the Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory The glorious Company of the Apostles praise thee The goodly Fellowship of the Prophets praise thee The noble Army of Martyrs praise thee The Holy Church throughout all the World doth acknowledge thee The Father of an infinite Majesty Thine honourable true and onely Son Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter Thou art the King of Glory O Christ Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father When thou tookest upon thee to deliver Man thou didst not abhor the Virgins Womb. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of Death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the Glory of the Father We believe that thou shalt come to be our Iudge We therefore pray thee help thy Servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious Blood Make them to be numbered with thy Saints in Glory everlasting O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage Govern them and lift them up for ever Day by day we magnifie thee And we Worship thy Name ever World without end Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin O Lord have Mercy upon us have Mercy upon us O Lord let thy Mercy lighten upon us as our trust is in thee O Lord in thee have I trusted let me never be confounded * ALmighty and everliving God who hast given unto us thy servants Grace by the Confession of a true Faith to acknowledge the Glory of the eternal Trinity and in the Power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Vnity We beseech thee to keep us stedfast in this Faith and evermore defend us from all Adversities who livest and reignest One God World without end Amen ALmighty Everliving most Merciful and most Gracious God who hatest nothing which thou hast made and dost forgive the Sins of all them who are Penitent create and make in us New and Contrite Hearts that we worthily lamenting our Sins and acknowledging our Wretchedness may obtain of thee the God of all Mercy perfect Remission and Forgiveness through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen THE Liturgy of the Ancients Represented c. PART II. The Office of the Faithful The Priest turning toward the People Pr. * The Lord be with you Pe. And with thy Spirit Pr. Christ our Pascal Lamb is offered for us once for all when he bare our Sins on his Body upon the Cross For he is the very Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Wherefore let us keep a Ioyful and Holy Feast with the Lord. YE who do truly and sincerely Repent you of your Sins and are in Love and Charity with your Neighbours and intend to lead a new Life and heartily to follow the Commandments of God and to walk from henceforth in his Holy Ways Draw near * The Men on the one side and the Women on the other saith the Rubrick in the first Book of E. 6. after the Offertory and such was the Ancient Usage with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to your Comfort and make your humble Confession to Almighty God meekly kneeling upon your Knees Then Kneeling ALmighty God Father of our Lord Iesus Christ Maker of all things Iudge of all Men We acknowledge and repent us of our manifold Sins and Wickednesses which
and so comprize the whole time of the four first General Councils from first to last Eusebius in his 4th Book of the Life of Constantine describing the Martyrium of the Apostles built by him at Constantinople adds chap. 60. All these did the Emperor dedicate that he might consign to Posterity the Memory of our Saviour's Apostles But he had another Design in his Mind when he built this Church which was at first concealed but in the end it became known to all For he had designed this place for himself after his Death foreseeing by a transcendent Alacrity of Faith that his Body after Death should be made Partaker of the Apostles Apellation that even after Death he might be esteemed worthy of the Prayers which should be performed there in Honour of the Apostles believing that their Memory would be useful and advantagious to his Soul And afterward describing the Solemnity of his Funeral chap. 71. he saith that a vast Number of People together with those Persons consecrated to God not without Tears and great Lamentation poured forth Prayers to God for the Emperor's Soul thereby performing a most grateful Office to this pious Prince And herein also God demonstrated his singular Favour towards his Servant because after his Death agreeable to his own most earnest Desire the Tabernacle of his thrice blessed Soul was vouchsafed a place with the Monument of the Apostles and that it might be joined with God's People in the Church and might be vouchsafed the Divine Rights and Mystick Service and might enjoy a Communion of the Holy Prayers This was but 12 years after the Nicen Council and a great and most illustrious instance of the common received and settled Practice of that time And here before I proceed further it is fit to consider how far the continuance of that wicked and shameful Abuse by Cranmer put upon the Church of England in his clandestine Corruption of the True English Liturgy I say the Continuance of it to this day whether by supine Negligence or base Compliance with a Faction of Sectaries be consistent with that Profession of Reverence to Antiquity in general and to those first four General Councils in particular which is made by all who pretend to be genuine Sons of the Church of England with their use of the Constantinopolitan Creed in the most solemn Office so fouly deformed contrary to the Publick Office at that time used in the Church and attested by S. Cyril Bishop of Hierusalem who was present at that Council and a principal Man there How consistent with the Statutes of most ancient Colleges in both the Universities and the Oaths taken by so many Scholars for the Observance of them How consistent with the Belief of One Holy Catholick Church and of the Communion of Saints with that Reverence and Respect which the Holy Scriptures require should be paid to the Body of Christ the Depository of Christian Verities and the Pillar or Monument and Basis of Truth with that Reverence and Honour and Esteem which all true and genuine Christians cannot but have for so many glorious Saints as flourished in the Church of Christ and all agreed in this pious Practice for more than 1200 years from the time of Constantine who himself was none of the least being converted in an extraordinary manner by special Vision from our Saviour and the Truth thereof confirmed by very remarkable Victories and afterward so great a Promoter of Christian Piety that he was as Eusebius relates partaker of the Apostles appellation being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Offices of the Greek Church and deservedly How it can be consistent therewith and with Christian Modesty to set up a Calvin a Bucer a Cranmer an Vsher like little Idols above all and not rather an undeniable proof of the very Spirit of Hereticks and Schismaticks Mr. * Life Appendix p. 55. Baxter's Questions in another Case not unlike this may very properly be proposed to our modern Opposers of this Catholick Practice Would they have held Communion with the Catholick Church for a Thousand Years together Or would they not if they had lived in those times If they would then why not with us who are of the same Judgment Was it a Duty then And is it unlawful now If they would not in all those Ages have held Communion with the visible Church what would they have done but separated from the Body and so from the Head and cast off Christ in all his Members and taken him to be a Head without a Body which is no Head and so no Christ What would they have done but denied his Power and Love and Truth and consequently his Redemption and his Office Hath he come at the end of 4000 years since the Creation to redeem the World that lay so long in Darkness And hath he made such wonderful Preparations for his Church by his Life and Miracles and Blood and Spirit c. and promised That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and that his Kingdom shall be an Everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion endureth from Generation to Generation and yet after all this shall he have a Church even as the Seekers say but for an Age or two Thus Mr. Baxter and very good but if this be good in the Case of Baptism of Infants why not as good in the Case of Prayers and Oblations for the Dead which I think hath as good Evidence of Apostolical Original as that or the Lord's-Day or Episcopacy or a good part of the Scriptures of the New Testament And if they stand all upon the same Foundation why should they not stand or fall together There is also an Assertion of St. Augustin 's which deserves to be here considered in this Case That * Quod universa tenet Ecclesia nec in Consiliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi Authoritate Apostolica traditum rectissimè creditur cont Donat l. 4 c. 24. what the Vniversal Church doth hold and was not instituted in Councils but always retained is most rightly believed to have been delivered by no other than Apostolical Authority For as this is a Practice which none did ever pretend was instituted by any Council so amongst all who have written concerning the Original or first Invention or Introduction of things none has ever assigned any Original of it in the Catholick Church later than the Apostles or in any part of the Catholick Church later than of the rest of Christianity it self So that could we trace it no further back than the time of Constantine it would be unreasonable to believe that the whole Christian Church so largely spread over the Face of the Earth and planted by so many several Persons at first and in Places so divided and remote one from another should so unanimously agree in such a Practice did it not proceed from some Common Cause which could be no other than the Mutual Agreement of all the Apostles in it
Blessed being it self a Receptacle of Holy Souls made illustrious with Visitations of Angels and happy by being a Repository for such Spirits who at the day of Judgment shall go forth into Eternal Glory In the interim Christ hath trod all the Paths before us and this also we must pass through to arrive at the Courts of Heaven Justin Martyr said it was the Doctrine of Heretical Persons to say that the Souls of the Blessed instantly upon the Separation from their Bodies enter into the highest Heaven And Irenaeus makes Heaven and the intermediate Receptacle of Souls to be distinct Places both blessed but hugely differing in degrees Tertullian is dogmatical in the Assertion that till the Voice of the great Arch-Angel be heard and as long as Christ sits at the right-hand of his Father making Intercession for the Church so long blessed Souls must expect the Assembling of their Brethren the great Congregation of the Church that they may all pass from their outward Courts into the inward Tabernacle the Holy of Holies to the Throne of God And as it is certain that no Soul could enter into Glory before our Lord entred by whom we hope to have Access So it is most agreeable to the proportion of the Mysteries of our Redemption that we believe the Entrance into Glory to have been made by our Lord at his Glorious Ascension and that his Soul went not thither before then to come back again to be contracted into the Span of Humanity and dwell Forty days in his Body upon Earth But that he should return from Paradice that is from the common Receptacle of departed Spirits who died in the Love of God to Earth again had in it no lessening of his Condition since Himself in Mercy called back Lazarus from thence and some others also returned to live a Life of Grace which in all Senses is less than the least of Glories Sufficient it is to us that all Holy Souls departing go into the hands that is into the Custody of our Lord that they rest from their Labours that their Works shall follow them and overtake them too at the day of Judgment that they are Happy presently that they are visited by Angels that God sends as he pleases excellent Irradiations and Types of Glory to entertain them in their Mansions that their Condition is secured but the Crown of Righteousness is laid up against the great Day of Judgment and then to be produced and given to St. Paul and to all that love the Coming of our Lord that is to all who either here in Duty or in their Receptacles with Joy and certain Hope long for the Revelation of that day At the Day of Judgment Christ will send the Angels and they shall gather together the Elect from the four Winds and all the Refuse of Men evil Persons they shall throw into Everlasting Burning Then our Blessed Lord shall call to the Elect to enter into the Kingdom and reject the Cursed into the Portion of Devils for whom the Fire is but now prepared in the interval For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ saith St. Paul that every Man may receive in his Body according as he hath done whether it be Good or Evil. Out of the Body the Reward is not And therefore St. Peter affirms that God hath delivered the Evil Angels into Chains of Darkness to be reserved unto Judgment And St. Jude saith that the Angels which kept not their first Estate but left their first Habitation he hath reserved in everlasting Chains under Darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day And therefore the Devils expostulated with our Blessed Saviour Art Thou come to Torment us before the Time And the same also he does to Evil Men Reserving the Vnjust unto the Day of Judgment to be punished For since the Actions which are to be judged are the Actions of the whole Man so also must be the Judicature And our Blessed Saviour intimated this to his Apostles In my Father's House are many Mansions but I go to prepare a Place for you And if I go away I will come again and take you unto me that where I am there ye may be also At Christ's second Coming this is to be performed Many outer Courts many different Places or different States there may be and yet there is a Place whither holy Souls shall arrive at last which was not then ready for us and was not to be entred into until the Entrance of our Lord had made the Preparation and that is certainly the Highest Heaven called by St. Paul the third Heaven because the other Receptacles were ready and full of holy Souls Patriarchs and Prophets and holy Men of God concerning whom St. Paul affirms expressly that the Fathers received not the Promises God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made Perfect Therefore certain it is that their Condition was a State of Imperfection and yet they were placed in Paradice in Abraham's Bosom and thither Christ went and the blessed Thief attended Him And then it was that Christ made their Condition better For tho' still it be a Place of Relation in order to something beyond it yet the Term and Object of their Hope is changed They sate in the Regions of Darkness expecting that Great Promise made to Adam and the Patriarchs the Promise of the Messias but when He that was promised came He preached to the Spirits in Prison He communicated to them the Mysteries of the Gospel the Secrets of the Kingdom the things hiddea from eternal Ages and taught them to look up to the Glories purchased by his Passion and made the term of their Expectation be his second Coming and the Objects of their Hope the Glories of the Beatifick Vision And altho' the State of Separation is sometimes in Scripture called Heaven and sometimes Hell for these Words in Scripture are of large Significations yet it is never called the third Heaven nor the Hell of the damned For altho' concerning it nothing is clearly revealed or what is their Portion till the Day of Judgment yet it is intimated in a Parable that between Good and Evil Spirits even in the State of Separation there is a Distance of Place Certain it is there is a great Distance of Condition and as the holy Souls in their Regions of Light are full of Love Joy Hope and Longing for the Coming of the Great Day so the Accursed do expect it with an insupportable Amazement and are presently tormented with Apprehensions of the Future Happy are they that through Paradice pass into the Kingdom who from their highest Hope pass to the greatest Charity from the State of a blessed Separation to the Mercies and gentle Sentence of the Day of Judgment which St. Paul prayed to God to grant Onesiphorus and more explicitly for the Thessalonians that their whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord
THE LITURGY OF THE ANCIENTS REPRESENTED As near as well may be IN English Forms WITH A PREFACE Concerning the RESTITUTION of the most Solemn Part of the Christian Worship in the Holy Eucharist to its Integrity and just Frequency of Celebration LONDON Printed for the AUTHOUR 1696. Bp. Andrews's Sermon on Gal. 3.4 p. 32. No Fulness there is of our Liturgy or Publick Solemn Service without the Sacrament Some part yea the chief part is wanting if that be wanting Dr. S. Patrick the present Bp. of Ely Our Worship must be confessed to be but imperfect when the Holy Communion is wanting Discourse of Frequency of Holy Communion p. 68. Id. ibid. p. 61. The Church in the best Times and the best Men in the Church in after-Ages look'd upon this as an Ordinary part of Christian Worship which Christ intended should be performed in his Church as oft as they assembled for Divine Service QUESTIONS Concerning the Proper and Peculiar Christian Worship 1. WHether the Divine Service or Liturgy as from Act. 13.2 we may conceive it to have been anciently termed as it hath been in all Ages since of the Christians hath not from all Antiquity been distinguished into two Parts The first consisting of Reading of the Scriptures and Explication thereof or Exhortation to the People with some few short Prayers called The Service of the Catechumens The other consisting principally of a Solemn Memorial of the Passion of our Saviour represented before the Father as the great Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World with Thanksgivings and Prayers for the Catholick Church and all Mankind for the particular Church and People of all Orders and Degrees where it was celebrated and for all the Necessaries of humane Life called The Service of the Faithful to which the Catechumens and Penitents were not admitted but were excluded 2. Whether this latter Part called The Service of the Faithful hath not been retained and celebrated in all Churches of the World from the Apostles Times to this Day except those called Reformed as the Peculiar and most solemn Part of the Christian Worship daily where they had any daily Worship as in most great Churches they had from whence it had the name of Sacrificium quotidianum in others three or four times in the Week and in all every Lords Day and the rest without it be any more than the Service of Catechumens and Penitents 3. Whether there be any plain Evidence or Appearance in the Holy-Scripture of any solemn Assembly of Christians in the Apostles times where this sacred Rite was not used or that any present at any such Assembly where it was used did ever depart without Communion or Participation And whether the Sacred History Act. 20.7 relating that the Disciples came together to break Bread as the End and Occasion of that famous Assembly of the Christians at Troas though Paul so eminent an Apostle was then to Preach there and to Preach his Farewell Sermon doth not thereby signify or imply that that was notwithstanding the principal Business of that and such settled Assembles And St. Paul himself 1 Cor. 11.20 speak of their coming together to eat the Lords Supper as the constant and Principal Business of such Assemblies and the same also be not strongly implied in those other Expressions Act. 2.42 46. and 1 Cor. 10.16 4. Whether by ancient Canons all the Faithful who came to Church and heard the Scriptures were not oblig'd to stay this Solemn Service of the Faithful and Communicate under the Penalty of Excommunication 5. Whether there was ever any Doubt or Question whether all the Faithful ought to Communicate every Day that is if where there was a daily Celebration till the time of St. Augustine And whether many did not continue to do so then 6. Whether this most Holy Solemn and Peculiar Worship of the Faithful Christians be not being duly performed most highly Honourable to the Father by Solemn Worship and Recognition of him as the Soveraign Lord of the Universe and also to the Son by like Solemn Worship and Recognition of him as our Lord and Redeemer and that we are all his Purchased Servants and to the Holy-Ghost by whose Presence and Virtue all Sacred Operations are perfected And moreover of very great Benefit to the Souls of the Faithful duly disposed by a Communication of Divine Virtue to them 7. Whether what some Learned Men have rightly observed à posteriori from matter of Fact That the Devil hath exercised and vented more Malice against this Holy Rite than against any other part of the Christian Religion except the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity be not also credible upon Considerations â priori from the Nature of the thing from the Honour and Worship therein performed to the Father and to our Saviour and to the Holy-Ghost and the Benefits communicated to Humane Souls but more especially because therein that Passion of our Saviour which the Devil had maliciously procured is solemnly Honoured and represented before the Father as the great Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World to the Confusion of that Proud Malicious and Envious Spirit 8. Whether great Elevation of Soul and Devotion to God and Enlargement of Souls in mutual Charity of one to another being principal Benefits ordinarily communicated to Souls duly disposed in the frequent and Reverend Use of this Holy Sacrament Deprivation of these Benefits and instead thereof Dissentions Contentions and Animosities and Decay of Piety and over-spreading of Wickedness may not be just and deserved Punishments of the Neglect of so great a Duty and Solemn Worship and of so Holy Means for the obtaining of those Benefits and may not therefore reasonably be believed to be Special Judgments of God for the same when we see them follow Notorious Neglect thereof at no great Distance 9. Whether therefore Neglect of Communion by the People in the Greek Churches where Chrysostom preached vehemently against it both at Antioch and Constantinople may not reasonably be believed to have been severely Punished by the Special Judgement of God and Malice of the Devil getting Advantage thereupon by the Divisions and Confusions which arose there not long after his Death and continued till almost all the Eastern Churches were first over-spread with them and at last over-run and enslaved by the Turks and Mohemetans And in the Latin-Churches by the abominable Corruptions Abuses Impostures and Usurpations of the Papacy 10. Whether the Neglect not only of Communion by the People but even of Celebration by the Clergy so that such of the People as would have Communicated could not and in a manner taking away of the daily Sacrifice in the Churches called Reformed may not also reasonably be believed to have been punished by the special Judgement of God and Malice of the Devil by their Divisions amongst themselves from the Beginning of their Reformation and by the great Decays of Piety and Over-spreading of Wickedness which hath by degrees increased amongst them
Ignatius Hasten frequently to approach to the Eucharist the Glory of God For when this is Daily Celebrated we break the Powers of Satan If all our Bishops Deans and Prebends did constantly and devoutly attend this Solemn Worship at their several Cathedrals and there perform this Holy Service as it ought to be we should soon find that to be of greater Importance both to Church and State and the whole Nation than all the Service our Bishops ever did or ever will do in Parliament or the rest at their particular Cures Attendances and I know not what occasions to withdraw them from their proper and principal Business These are such Relicks of Popery as ought to be reformed if ever we expect to receive the Favour and Blessing of God in any great degree How others can satisfie their Consciences I know not but I am clear of Opinion that they who take such Preferments for Lucre sake and attend the Duty of them no farther than our Laws do require are guilty of the greatest Sacriledge And that those Princes and States who presume ordinarily to withdraw such Persons from the Service of God in their proper Places to serve them in Matters of State are likewise Guilty of Sacriledge Impiety and great Imprudence to make so bold with Sacred Matters The Reformation of these things would be a greater Demonstration of real Gratitude to God than any thing this Nation hath produced of a long time THE LITURGY Of the ANCIENTS REPRESENTED As near as well may be In ENGLISH Forms PART I. The Priest turning toward the People Note According to Ancient Usage what-ever is spoken to God is spoken toward the Altar whatever to the People toward them v. Mede Ep. 56. Pr. * The Lord he with you Pe. And with thy Spirit * O Come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the Strength of our Salvation Let us come before his Presence with Thanksgiving and shew our selves glad in him with Psalms For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods In his hand are all the corners of the Earth and the strength of the Hills is his also The Sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry Land O come let us Worship and Fall down and Kneel before the Lord our Maker For he is the Lord our God and we are the people of his pasture and sheep of his hand O come c. Then toward the Altar * Glory be to God on high and on Earth peace Good Will towards Men. * BLessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people And hath raised up a mighty Salvation for us in the house of his servant David As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began That we should be saved from our Enemies and from the hands of all that hate us To perform the Mercy promised to our fore-fathers and to remember his holy Covenant To perform the Oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham that he would give us That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear In Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our life Glory be to the Father c. * GOD be merciful unto us and bless us and shew us the Light of his Countenance and be merciful unto us * PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious Favour and further us with thy continual Help that as by thy special Grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good Desires so by thy continual Help we may bring the same to good Effect and in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy may obtain everlasting life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen OUR Father who art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done on Earth As it is in Heaven Give us this day our Daily Bread And forgive us our Trespasses As we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into Temptation But deliver us from Evil. Amen ALmighty God unto whom all Hearts be open all Desires known and from whom no Secrets are hid Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the Inspiration of thy holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnifie thy holy Name through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen †Then turning toward the People Pr. GOD spake these words and said I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt have none other Gods but me Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law Pr. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the Likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath or in the Water under the Earth Thou shalt not bowe down to them nor worship them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the Sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt do no manner of Work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter thy Man-servant nor thy Maid-servant thy Cattle nor the Stranger that is within thy gates For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the Seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt do no Murther Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not commit Adultery Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not Steal Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours Wife nor his Servant nor his Maid nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any thing that is his Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us and write these and all thy Laws in our Hearts we beseech thee †Let us Pray And turning toward the Altar * O God the Strength of all them that put their Trust in thee Mercifully accept our Prayers and because through the Weakness of our mortal Nature we can
Name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high Amen THou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy Pleasure they are and were created Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us unto God by thy Blood out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Then turning toward the People Let us pray for the whole State of Christ's Church Militant here on Earth And turning again toward the Altar ALmighty and Everliving God who by thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make Prayers and Supplications and to give Thanks unto thee for all Men We humbly beseech thee most mercifully to accept these our Oblations and to receive these our Prayers which we offer unto thy Divine Majesty beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the Spirit of Truth Vnity and Concord and grant that all they who do confess thy Holy Name may agree in the Truth of thy Holy Word and live in Vnity and Godly Love †We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian Kings Princes and Governours and especially thy Servant N. our King that under him we may be godly and quietly governed and to grant unto his whole Council and to all that are put in Authority under him that they may truly and indifferently minister Iustice to the punishment of Wickedness and Vice and to the maintenance of thy true Religion and Vertue †Give Grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops Priests and Deacons and more particularly of this Church and Diocess that they may both by their Life and Doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word and rightly and duly administer thy Holy Sacraments And to all thy People give thy Heavenly Grace that with meek Heart and due Reverence they may hear and receive thy holy Word truly serving thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the Days of their Life And we commend especially unto thy merciful Goodness the Congregation which is here assembled in thy Name to celebrate the Commemoration of the most precious Death and Sacrifice of thy Son our Saviour Iesus Christ And we most humbly beseech thee of thy Goodness O Lord to comfort and succour all them who in this transitory Life are in Trouble Sorrow Need Sickness or any other Adversity And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy Servants * C. departed this Life in thy Faith Fear beseeching thee to give us Grace so to follow their good Examples that with them we may be Partakers of thy Heavenly Kingdom who having finished their Course in Faith do now rest from their Labours And we render unto thee most hearty Thanks and Praise for thy wonderful Grace and Vertue declared in all thy Saints who have been the choice Vessels of thy Grace and the Lights of the World in their several Generations a And chiefly in the glorious and most blessed Virgin Mary Mother of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord God and in thy Holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Martyrs Ed. 6. most humbly beseeching thee that we may have Grace to follow the Example of their Stedfastness in thy Faith and Obedience to thy Holy Commandments b We commend unto thy Mercy O Lord all other thy Servants which are departed hence from us with the Sign of Faith and now rest in the Sleep of Peace Grant unto them we beseech thee thy Mercy and Everlasting Peace and that at the Day c. Ed. 6. v. H. Lestr c. 6. T. V. that at the Day of the General Resurrection we and all they who are of the Mystical Body of thy Son may be set on his Right Hand and hear his most joyful Voice Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World Grant this O Father for Iesus Christ's Sake our onely Mediatour and Advocate Amen Then the Prayer of Consecration ALmighty God our Heavenly Father who of thy tender Mercy didst give thine onely Son Iesus Christ to suffer Death upon the Cross for our Redemption who made there by his own Oblation of himself once offered a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World and did institute and in his Holy Gospel command us to continue and celebrate a Perppetual Memory of that his precious Death and Sacrifice until his Coming again Hear us O merciful Father we most humbly beseech thee and of thy abundant Goodness vouchsafe to bless and sanctifie with thy Word and holy Spirit these thy Gifts and Creatures of Breat and Wine that they may be unto us the Body and Blood of thy most dearly beloved Son our Saviour Iesus Christ so that we receiving them according to His Holy Institution in Remembrance of his Death and Passion and Recognition of our Redemption thereby may be Partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood who in the same Night that he was betrayed (a) Here the Priest is to take the Paten into his Hands took Bread and when he had given Thanks (b) And here to break the Bread he brake it and gave it to his Disciples saying Take eat (c) And here to lâ—y his Hand upon all the bread This is my Body which is given for you do this in Remembrance of me Likewise after Supper (d) Here he is to take the Cup into his Hand he took the Cup and when he had given Thanks he gave it to them saying Drink ye All of this for This (e) And here to lay his Hand upon every Vessel be it Chalice or Flaren in which there is any Wine to be Consecrated is my Blood of the Now Testament which is shed for you and for many for the Remission of Sins Do this as often as ye shall drink it in Remembrance of me Amen The Memorial or Prayer of Oblation WHerefore O Lord and Heavenly Father according to the Institution of thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Iesus Christ we thy humble Servants do celebrate and make here before thy Divine Majesty with These thy Holy Gifts the Memorial which He hath willed us to make having in Remembrance his Blessed Passion Mighty Resurrection and Glorious Ascension rendering unto thee most humble and hearty Thanks for the innumerable Benefits procured unto us by the same And we humbly beseech thee of thy Fatherly Goodness mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of Praise and Chansgiving and graciously to grant that by His Death Merits and Intercession and through Faith in his Blood we and all thy whole Church may obtain Remission of our Sins and all
living amongst us or they who were Witnesses before us and who held the same Tradition in the Church before us which they had received from their Parents and their Parents had learned from their Ancestors as the Church to this day observes the true and sincere Faith which it received with the Traditions from the Fathers In all this we may observe 1. The Practice of the Church both in the General Commemorations and in the Prayers agreed on both Sides 2. The End and Intendment of the Church that it was the Profit and Benefit of the Deceased also agreed 3. The Question between them Whether the Prayer of the Living could profit or benefit the Dead as the Church intended 4. That this was what Aerius did principally deny and therefore that the Practice was reasonable as a necessary consequence 5. His only reason was that it would make Piety and good Life needless 6. Epiphanius his Answer 1. from Reason 1. as it is a seasonable and excellent Declaraction of the Faith and Hope of the Church 2. as an Act of Charity for the Benefit of the Deceased 2. from Authority as received in the Church by Tradition from our Saviour and the Holy Spirit And now how does our great Man elude this Epiphanius saith he doth not Name this viz. That Prayers and Sacrifice profiteth not the depa ted in Christ an Heresie 2. Nor doth it appear that himself did hold that they bring such Profit to the Dead as these Men Dream pag. 236. 3. He doth not at all charge him with forsaking the Doctrine of the Scripture or the Faith of the Catholick Church but with rejecting the Order p. 237. 4. Aerius his Argument would have been in force indeed if the whole Church had held as many did That the Judgment after Death was suspended until the General Resurrection and that in the mean time the Sins of the Dead might be taken away by the Suffrages of the Living But he should have considered as Gobarus as great an Heretick as himself did that the Doctors were not agreed upon the Point p. 238.5 It was a foolish part in him to confound the Private Opinion of some with the Common Faith of the Universal Church 6. That he reproved this particular Error he did well but that thereupon he condemned the General Practice of the Church he did like himself headily and perversly ibidem As to the first of these I must refer the Reader to Epiphanius himself for the Character he gives of the Person and Opinions of Aerius a very Vile man a thorough-pac'd Arian and who exceeded Arius himself in his new Opinions which he imputes to the operation of the Devil though he doth not particularly name them Heresies yet it is plain he and S Austin too accounted them such and of the rest the Reader may judge by what is here laid plainly before him S. Ephraem was not much before these but because he was neither Greek nor Latin but a Syrian and a Man of Parts and extraordinary Sanctity greatly esteemed by the most excellent Persons of that time and of so great Reputation that his Writings were read publickly in divers Churches after the Holy Scriptures I cannot pass him by without taking notice of his Testament his Discourse to his Disciples upon his Death-Bed wherein he tells them he is Dying and desires to be mentioned in the Commemoration of their Holy Prayers and bewailing his Sins and declaring his Sense of the terrible Judgment of God he doth admonish exhort and strictly enjoyn them to remember him constantly after his exit and passage in their Prayers and after some Admonitions to them and account of himself he again desires to be remembred in their Prayers Then he strictly forbids his being Buried under the Altar or in the House of God all Solemn Pomp and Funeral Orations and Encomiums and all cost of rich Vestments of Grave Cloaths of Spices of Odors of Candles and the like but desires that all that Cost may be bestowed upon the Poor and for himself that in the place of all such Pomp and Funeral Orations they will accompany him with Psalms and help and assist him with their Prayers and Bury him in the Church-yard where the contrite in heart are Buried Then he bids them come near and imbrace him for his Spirit fails him and again intreats them diligently to make Oblations for him and prettily represents the Communion of Saints by a Simile of the Sympathy of things in Nature the Wine which flowers in the Cellar when the Vine Buds in the Vineyard and the like And tells them that the Oblations of Priests under the Law were effectual for those who were slain in their Sins and how much more the Priests of Christ under the New Testament And gives great caution that when they come to his Memory I suppose he means the Thirtieth Day which he expressly mentioned before and his Anniversaries ne quisquam in Sancta peccet that none commit any thing unmeet for holy things by any Excess but that the Vigil be kept attentively and reverently and humbly and holily and purely for it would be a miserable thing for him if by occasion of his Memory he should be accountable to his God for their inordinate Actions Thus this Holy Man an Instance equal to a very ample Testimony of the Practice in those parts About the same time was S. Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem He in his Mystagogick Catechism concludes all with a Description and Scheme of the Liturgy then in use wherein after mention of the Holy Trisagium Hymn * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore saith he do we recite this Seraphick Theology delivered to us that in that Coelestial Hymnody we may communicate with the supra-mundain Militia the Heavenly Host and thus by such kind of Hymns sanctisying our selves we pray the most benign God that he will send out his Holy Spirit upon the proposited Elements that it may make the Bread the Body of Christ and the Wine the Blood of Christ. For certainly whatever the Holy Spirit doth touch it is sanctified and transmuted Then after that Spiritual Sacrifice that unbloody Worship is done that is after the Consecration and Oblation in Commemoration of the Passion of Christ over that very Host of Propitiation do we obsecrate God for the common Peace of the Churches for the Tranquility of the World for Kings for their Armies and Confederates for the Sick and Afflicted and in sum for all who need Help We commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us First the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs that God at their Prayers and Deprecations would accept ours Then we pray for the Holy Fathers and Bishops deceased and lastly for all who are deceased amongst us believing it to be a very great Help to the Souls for whom the Obsecration of that tremendous Sacrifice which is placed on the Altar is offered I will add but one instance more for the flourishing times of the Church
Payment of the last Farthing Mat. 5.25 Prisoners of Hope Zechar. 9.11 12. Sins blotted out when the times of Refreshing shall come Act. 3.19 Such as shew the Incertainty of many Souls in their separate State even such as were Professors of a high Form in this World of what their final Doom shall be at that Day as Mat. 7.22 23. and 25.44 45. c. And the Recompence of Rewards at that day 2 Thess 1.6 7. 1 Cor. 5.5 Luk. 14.14.2 Tim. 4.8 c. Which if our confident Opposers had sufficiently considered one would think they should not have presumed to make so light of that middle State as for the maintaining of Parties to deprive so many Souls there of all Benefit they might receive by their surviving Friends here which many Apparitions even among Protestants do frequently signifie The Practice of the Jews I have noted already and shall add only here That in Discourse lately with one of them he assured me that the Form they now use for that purpose is generally believed by all to have been composed by Eâ—ra and the Great Congregation I there also remembred an instance of the Practice of the Apostles themselves in St. Paul's Prayer for Onesiphorus in such a Form as is hardly to be met with for any Person living however proves it not in vain to Pray for any Person of whom there is Hope but not Certainty till that day So that tho' our great Man with more Considence I doubt than Conscience and without any Proof or Reason at all doth positively affirm him then living p. 210. he gets nothing at all by it Thus we see in this a Universal Agreement in all things but on the contrary if we examine the Obstinate Opposition of it throughout we shall find nothing solid and consistent in it neither with Truth nor Honesty nor any good Consequence but a plausible Pretence of the Pure Word of God to cover an impure Inclination and Desire to set aside the Authority which God instituted and set up themselves and their own Conceits in the place of it 2. Inconsistent with it self first denying or cavilling at the Antiquity or Universality of the Practice and then when they thought they had found out an Evasion confessing that which they could no longer for shame deny and betaking themselves to their new Invention 3. Inconsistent with the Sincerity Simplicity and Ingenuity of the Gospel in their shameless Shuffles Cavils and Evasions of which I have noted divers and many more might be observed but there is one not to be omitted here their alleadging the Writings of Epiphanius Chrysostome Augustin and others against not only their own but the confessed ancient Practice of the Church in their time in this Case Inconsistent with that Modesty Respect and Decency which the Gospel requires toward all in their Censuring as delirous not only some particular Persons but generally all the most Holy Ancient Christians in what was their common Sentiments and is believed by the most learned of the Church of England to be plainly taught in the Holy Scriptures 5. Inconsistent with that Reverence and Regard that Christians should have for the Honour of the Church of Christ his Promises to it and Care of it in so foul and scandalous an Imputation as that they received their common Notions of the present State of separate Souls in the other World from an Impostor which was not their Impudence therein as notorious as it is groundless and destitute of any proof at all might prove a Tentation to unsettled Souls to suspect all to be no better And for other Consequences it is plain they lead the way to all others to reject their own usurped Authority with the same Ease and Impudence that they do that of the Church of Christ and to set up their own Conceits against theirs and pretend Scripture for it and so to an endless Course of Separations Schisms Sects and Confusions and in conclusion set up that Authority over others which they themselves in the mean time reject as by their Synod of Dort and others in France appears And besides all this it is much to be feared that they lead multitudes of Souls into that miserable Security and Presumption wherewith our Saviour hath acquainted us that many will find themselves deceived at that day Mat. 7.22 And therefore if these be not pertinacious Schismaticks and Hereticks speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them and therefore carefully to be avoided I know not who are or what so many Cautions in the Scripture to that purpose do signifie FINIS The Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning The Middle State of Souls And the Tradition of the Church for Prayers for the DEAD Summ'd up by Dr. Jer. Taylor late Bishop of Down and Conner With the Judgment of Mr. Herbert Thorndike a late most Learned Prebend of Westminster ALtho' there hath been lately Printed a Discourse of Prayers for the Dead proving the Practice and Tradition thereof in the Church to be truly Catholick and a competent Evidence of Apostolick Original and Authority wherein divers Learned Protestants are alleadged to have been of the same Opinion yet for the Readers farther Satisfaction in that respect it hath been thought fit to Print the Discourse of these two other eminent Persons of the Church of England more at large than was thought proper for that place And first that of the late Bishop Dr. Jer. Taylor 1. Of the Middle State of Souls THE Holy Jesus promised to the blessed Thief That he should that Day be with Him in Paradice which therefore was certainly a Place or State of Blessedness because it was a Promise and in the Society of Jesus whose penal and afflictive part of his Work of Redemption was finished upon the Cross Our Blessed Lord did not promise he should that day be with him in his Kingdom for that day it was not opened and the everlasting doors of those interior Recesses were to be shut till after the Resurrection that himself was to ascend thither and make way for all his Servants to enter in the same Method in which he went before us Our Blessed Lord descended into Hell saith the Creed of the Apostles from the Sermon of St. Peter as he from the Words of David that is into the State of Separation and common Receptacle of Spirits according to the Style of Scripture But the Name of Hell is no where in Scripture an appellative of the Kingdom of Christ of the Place of final and supream Glory But concerning the Verification of our Lord's Promise to the beatified Thief and his own State of Separation we must take what Light we can from Scripture and what we can from the Doctrine of the Primitive Church St. Paul had two great Revelations he was wrapt up into Paradice and he was wrapt up into the third Heaven and and these he calls Visions and Revelations not one but divers for Paradice is distinguished from the Heaven of the
Jesus And I pray God to grant the same to me and all Faithful People whatsoever Life and Death of the Holy Jesus Sect. 16. § 1. 2. Of Prayers for the Dead WE find in the History of the Maccabees that the Jews did pray and make Offerings for the Dead which also appears by other Testimonies and by their Forms of Prayer still extant which they used in their Captivity It is very considerable that since our blessed Saviour did reprove all the evil Doctrines and Traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees and did argue concerning the Dead and the Resurrection against the Sadducees yet he spake no word against this publick Practice but left it as he found it which He who came to declare to us all the Will of his Father would not have done if it had not been Innocent Pious and full of Charity To which by way of Consociation if we add That St. Paul did pray for Onesiphorus That God would give him Mercy at that Day that is according to the Stile of the New Testament the Day of Judgment the result will be That altho' it be probable that Onesiphorus was at that time dead because in his Salutations he salutes his Houshold without naming him who was Major domo against his Custom of Salutations in other places yet besides this the Prayer was for such a Blessing to him whose Demonstration and Reception could not be but after Death which implies clearly that there is a Need of Mercy and by consequence the Dead People even to the Day of Judgment inclusively are the Subject of a Misery the Object of God's Mercy and therefore fit to be commemorated in the Duties of our Piety and Charity and that we are to recommend their Condition to God not only to give them more Glory in the Re-union but to pity them to such purposes in which they need Which because they are not revealed to us in particular it hinders us not in recommending the Persons in particular to God's Mercy but should rather excite our Charity and Devotion For it being certain that they have a Need of Mercy and it being uncertain how great their Need is it may concern the Prudence of Charity to be more earnest as not knowing the Greatness of their Necessity And if there should be any Uncertainty in these Arguments yet its having been the Vniversal Practice of the Church of God in all Places and in all Ages till within these Hundred Years it is a very great Inducement for any Member of the Church to believe that in the first Traditions of Christianity and the Institutions Apostolical there was nothing delivered a ainst this Practice but very much to insinuate or enjoin it because the Practice of it was at the first and was Universal And if any Man shall doubt of this he shews nothing but that he is ignorant of the Records of the Church it being plain in Tertullian and S. Cyprian who were the eldest Writers of the Latin Church that in their time it was ab Antiquo the Custom of the Church to pray for the Souls of the Faithful departed in the dreadful Mysteries And it was an Institution Apostolical says one of them and so transmitted to the following Ages of the Church And when once it began to be contested against by Aerius the Man was presently condemn'd for a Heretick as appears in Epiphanius Thus far in the Person of a Romanist to which he adds But I am not to consider the Arguments for the Doctrine it self Note This was written in those times when it was not safe too plainly to profess such an Opinion altho' the Probability and fair Pretence of them may help to excuse such Persons who upon these or the like Grounds do heartily believe it But I am to consider that whether it be true or false there is no manner of Malice in it and at the worst it is out a wrong Error upon the Right side of Charity and concluded against by its Adversaries upon the Confidence of such Arguments which possibly are not so probable as the Grounds pretended for it And if the same Judgment might be made of any more of their Doctrines I think it were better Men were not so furious in the condemning such Questions which either they understood not upon the Grounds of their proper Arguments or at least consider not as subjected in the Persons and lessened by Circumstances by the Innocency of the Event or other Prudential Considerations He had said before No. 2. These Doctrines that have had long Continuance and Possession in the Church cannot easily be supposed in the present Possessors to be a Design since they have received it from so many Ages and it is not likely that all Ages should have the same Purposes or that the same Doctrine should serve the several Ends of divers Ages But however long Prescription is a Prejudice oftentimes so insupportable that it cannot with many Arguments be retrenched as relying upon these Grounds That Truth is more ancient than Falshood That God would not for so many Ages forsake his Church and leave her in an Error That whatsoever is New is not only suspicious but false which are Suppositions pious and plausible enough Liberty of Profesying § 20. The Judgment of Mr. Thorndike in his Learned Judicious and Honest Book Entituled Just Weights and Measures c. 16. I Have shewed out of the Revelation That the Souls of Martyrs appearing before the Throne of God in the Court of the Tabernacle to wit in the Jerusalem which is above the Throne appears to St. John indeed but it is to be understood in the Holy of Holies and therefore is not seen in the Court of the Tabernacle But those 144000 that were sealed and preserved from the Destruction of Jerusalem appear not in the Court of the Tabernacle but on Mount Sion a Place of inferior Holiness and sing not the Martyrs Song but are only able to learn it which no body else could do Sufficient Arguments of Difference in the State of Blessed Souls tho' all beneath that which the Resurrection promiseth which all of them earnestly desire Suppose the Place to be the third Heaven suppose that it is called Paradice because of necessity it answers the Figure of the Earthly Paradice suppose that in respect of the Saints that died under the Law it is called Abraham's Bosom there may be inferior Mansions in the mean time before the Resurrection for Souls of inferior Holiness tho' they depart in the State of Grace For how oft do the Apostles signifie a solicitous Expectation of the Day of Judgment in those whom they suppose to die Christians a thing which can by no means stand with the Estate of those that are before the Throne of God praising Him Day and Night in the Court of the Tabernacle And therefore S. Ambrose and S. Augustin had great Reason to follow the Fourth Book of * 2 Esd 4.41 42 7.32 Esdras placing the