expectation of Christ's coming to Judgment should teach us to be constant in making up our accounts against his coming as persons daily expecting a righteous though a gracious Judge to sit upon us He is one who will come in flames of fire and in great wrath to take vengeance on his Adversaries and upon all who do not obey the Gospel one who will not only sift our actions but search our very hearts and reins who will not suffer any one sin to be carried along under the disguise of Religion or on confidence of his favour but will come from his Throne of Mercy in Heaven and sit upon his Throne of Justice here upon the Earth to judge all his provokers one who will not be moved with passions bribes flatteries to punish or reward according to any other method or rule but only this of every man according to his works Rom. 2.6 This one would think should bring us to a pious awe of him restrain us from sin keep us in good courses and make us work out our Salvation with fear and trembling I believe in the Holy Ghost who is God a distinct person in the Godhead from the Father and the Son and proceeding from both In respect of Nature the Father is holy and the Son holy the Father is a Spirit and the Son is a Spirit but in regard of Office the third person in the Trinity is eminently stiled the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit He is stiled the Holy 1. From the holiness of his Nature 2. From the holiness of his Office whose special Office it is to make the Church holy The Father sanctifies by the Son and by the Holy Ghost the Son sanctifies from the Father by the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost sanctifies from the Father and the Son immediately by himself Again he is stiled the Spirit 1. In regard of his Nature which is spiritual 2. In regard of his procession from the Father and the Son being as it were inspired and breathed from both 3. In regard of his operation and manner of working for he inspires and breaths into us holy motions and desires to good things and is the Fountain and Spring of all spiritual life in us This Holy Spirit is holy in himself pure from all sin pollution corruption hypocrisie partiality and that most eminently and he is the Author of all holiness and purity in us which he works in us by two ways of dispensation 1. Outward 2. Inward His outward dispensation was in most eminent manner when he descended visibly upon the Apostles filled them with Graces and furnished them with Powers to plant preserve and govern the Church of Christ over the World The Powers which he invested the Apostles with were these 1. To preach the Gospel 2. To baptize those Nations which embraced it 3. To confirm those whom they had baptized 4. To admit those to the Sacrament of Christ's body and bloud whom they had confirmed 5. To exercise the powers of the Keys in Censures in punishing the pertinacious and casting those out of the Church who would not conform to the rules and orders of it that so they might be ashamed and be made to reform their wicked lives and be capable of being received in again by Absolution upon their sincere repentance evidenced by their Reformation 6. To ordain others and to commit the same powers to them which the Holy Ghost had settled in themselves and so to continue a settled Ministry by succession unto the end of the world In respect of all these forementioned donations the Holy Ghost is stiled a Paraclete by which word we are to understand 1. An Advocate 2. A Comforter 3. An Exhorter and Instructer Now the Holy Ghost is to be considered as an Advocate 1. In respect of Christ 2. In respect of Christians Now the Holy Ghost is Christ's Advocate in pleading his cause against the incredulous world by a threefold conviction John 16.8 1. Of Sin and that great crime of not receiving Christ but rejecting him who was testified and demonstrated by the coming down of the Holy Spirit after his Ascension to be a true Prophet 2. Of Righteousness to convince the world that Christ was a righteous person and unjustly crucified as appeared by his Assumption into Heaven and participation of his Father's Glory 3. Of Judgment to convince all men that Christ who was judged in the world shall judge the world and pass sentence upon the Devil the Prince of this world who was the first contriver of his death and upon all who side with him and take his part Again as the Holy Ghost is Christ's Advocate so is he also the Advocate of all Christians 1. In settling a Ministry to pray and intercede for their several Congregations and enabling them to form a Liturgy to be continued in the Church to that end thereby helping our infirmities and teaching us to pray as we ought 2. In sanctifying those Prayers which the Church daily offers up to the only true God by the only true Mediator Jesus Christ that so they may be offered up with acceptance to the Father by Christ our Mediator Again as the Holy Ghost is an Advocate so is he also a Comforter for by power and abilities bestowed upon men the comfortable news of the Gospel the promises of pardon and grace are divulged to those who want comfort Lastly the Holy Ghost is our Exhorter and Instructer in exhorting us to Repentance to fly from sin and the wrath to come and to walk worthy of the great vocation and calling of our Christianity unto which we are called and by exercising all external means which belong to his Titles and Offices for the working of all manner of sanctity in our hearts and by using all inward means secret preventions incitations over-shadowings and all other assistances which are absolutely necessary to beget and continue holiness in our hearts All which do attend upon his outward ministrations before-mentioned and constantly go along with them to hollow them to all worthy receivers and obedient disciples Now to believe in the Holy Ghost is to acknowledge the truth of all that is before made mention of and to accommodate our practice accordingly and to conform to this Faith 1. By submitting our selves to those Spiritual Pastors whom the Holy Ghost hath set over us as they themselves are to be careful of that Flock whereof the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers 2. By not intruding into and usurping upon the Sacred Function and Ministry nor meddling in it without a lawful call and such as may justifie it self to be from Heaven 3. By obeying all the several Powers which the Church is invested with 4. By devout hearing the Word 5. By due preparing our selves for Baptism and bringing others to it 6. By fitting our selves for Confirmation 7. By examining our selves that we may come fitly prepared to the Lords Supper 8. By fearing the Church-censures and if we are at any time under them by
may act their parts over us and we may live peaceably and quietly under them For all persons any ways afflicted for enemies persecutors and slanderers and we are to beg of God for them the same good things as we would beg for our selves 4. Giving of thanks wherein we are to bless God for all mercies already received vouchsafed to our own persons to all who relate to us to the Church and State whereof we are members to all mankind We are to give unto God the retribution of thanks for all spiritual blessings for giving us his Son and holy Spirit for affording all means to bring sinful men from their vitious courses unto himself for suffering us to be born within the pale of the Church to be brought up in Christian Religion where we have the advantages of the Word Sacraments and all the means of eternal life put into our hands We are to render to God our thanks for his patience and long-sufferance in waiting for our repentance for his calls and invitations outward by his Word inward by his Spirit to bring us to repentance for his good great and gracious work wrought upon any of us in bringing us clear off from prophane worldly and carnal courses to lead Godly and Christian lives We are also to praise God and to give him the retribution of our thanks for temporal blessings for the peace and prosperity of the Church and Nation for all remarkable deliverances vouchsafed to either for all the good things of this life in general and in particular for health food raiment friends all preservations and deliverances and for all mercies whatsoever which cannot easily be enumerated Vnder all the forementioned heads the main body of the Service constantly used in our Christian Assemblies is contained which Service is to be concluded with the Priests blessing and benediction without which the Assemblies cannot well be dismissed or dissolved These few considerations I thought good to recommend unto you not so much to instruct the knowing as to inform the ignorant who either enter not Gods house at all but it may be are worse imployed when they should be there which is an evil they consider not of and so they offer God no Sacrifice at all or else they enter it without any devotion or reverence which is another evil that they consider not of and so they offer to God a Sacrifice of fools or being entred it may be do not understand their own offering which they are to offer up and so they offer to God they know not what serve him they know not how nor wherefore But to correct those evils that persons may come to the house of God come as they should come and knowingly and understandingly do what there is fit to be done I have presented these considerations to those who do evil in Church-Assemblies and consider not when they do it These Christian Reader with the following Notes made upon our Service-Book I freely offer to thee hoping that thou wilt as kindly accept them as I do freely offer them and I pray God to direct thee and to give thee a right understanding in all things Farewell RUBRICK The Order for Morning Prayer daily throughout the Year EXPLANATION Note 1. THat Prayer is a devout ascent of the Soul to God whereby we petition him for such things as we need both for our support and duty and we ought to be frequent in this devout exercise because it is not only the great duty but the greatest priviledge of a Christian commanded by Christ's Precept and commended by Christ's Example who was frequent in Prayer not so much for himself as for our benefit and instruction Note 2. That Prayers especially publick in the Church-Assemblies are to be ordered set and prescribed because in the Church which ought to be the School of comliness things are to be done decently by observing every due and proper Scheme and Figure which the action shall require and according to the order and appointment of Ecclesiastical Governours 1 Cor. 14.40 It is much to be wondred at that any persons of sober judgments and well ground in Religion can imploy their time so ill as to devise and study objections against prescribed Prayers in the publick Service of God Because set forms were prescribed by God in the Old Testament Numb 6.23 24 25. Deut. 26.5 Christ in the New not only enjoyned a set form to be used by his Disciples Luk. 11.2 but he whose every action should be our instruction used one himself It was also the practice of the Jews from the time of Ezra and long before constantly to use set forms of Prayer by way of Liturgy neither did they use them only as a necessary provision for the Ignorant but as a secure hedge and fence to their Religion by this means to keep all mixtures and corruptions out of their Church and they had 18 Prayers or Benedictions set and composed according to the matter and form of which some say the Lords Prayer was instituted and it is very probable that in imitation of the Jews the Pagans might use set forms at their Sacrifices and most certainly they did which forms were first approved of by the Priests before they were used and when they did use them they read them out of a Book that they might neither stray in the matter of their Prayers nor offend in the manner And that the Church of Christ hath in all ages used a prescribed and set Form I think is not to be question'd After Christs ascension and before the Holy Ghosts descension they continued all with one accord in Prayer and Supplication Act. 1.14 which Prayer was certainly in a set form for as yet the Holy Ghost was not come down upon them neither were they qualified for Prayer above the ordinary rate of other men and when the Holy Ghost did come down with his extraordinary gifts those gifts continued not long and therefore an early provision was made for set forms to be constantly used to supply the defects of them which Liturgies as ours is were framed up according to St. Paul's prescribed pattern 1 Tim. 2.1 consisting 1. Of Supplications for the averting of all hurtful things sins and dangers 2. Of Prayers for the obtaining of all good things which they wanted or stood in need of 3. Of Intercessions for others for Kings and all in Authority for the whole Church 4. Of Thanksgivings for mercies already received in all which they prayed not only for themselves but in a greater diffusion of their charity for all mankind And all were prescribed 1. That the people might the better joyn with the Minister and say Amen to the Prayer 2. That the peoples wants might be the better enumerated the people themselves be the better edified all absurdities in Prayer might be avoided and all might with one mind and one mouth glorifie God Rom. 15.6 RUBRICK At the beginning of Morning Prayer the Minister shall read with a loud voice
Psal 136. 1 Chron. 16.41 and to the practice of Primitive Christians to appeal to and to magnifie the mercies of God upon all needful occasions and to beg his mercy of pardon particularly for those sins which we are guilty of and for which we stand in need of pardon The like allocations are to be met with in all the Liturgies extant O God the Father c. O God the Son Redeemer of the world have mercy upon us miserable sinners As we have deviated from the Law of Creation so from the Law of Redemption which is the greater deviation and renders us the more inexcusably guilty therefore do we petition our Redeemer the only begotten Son of God whom he sent into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved John 3.16 17. Gal. 3.13 Gal. 4.4 5. Heb. 2.9 1 Pet. 1.18 19. that he would have mercy upon us and procure unto us pardon for those breaches which we have made against the Law of our Redemption O God the Son c. O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have mercy upon us miserable sinners As we have sinned against the Law of Creation and Redemption so against the rule of Sanctification which was set us when we were dedicated to God in Baptism and consecrated to Gods service by the Holy Spirit therefore do we petition God the Holy Ghost who was sent down after the Son went up to comfort us John 14.16 to teach and instruct us John 14.26 and to confirm the truth of Christ and the verity of Christian Religion John 15.26 and to seal all those who sincerely embrace it unto the day of complete Redemption Ephes 4.30 that he would pardon those sins whereby we have grieved him and those many offers and tenders of grace which he hath made unto us and we have obstinately rejected and refused O God the Holy Ghost c. O holy blessed and glorious Trinity three Persons and one God have mercy upon us miserable sinners As we have broken the Law of Creation transgressed the Law of Redemption and violated the sacred rules of our Sanctification and so have made our selves unhappily guilty by our miscarriages and misdoings against all the three Persons in the Godhead therefore do we petition them all to have mercy upon us and to pardon our misactings O holy blessed c. Remember not Lord our offences nor the offences of our fore-fathers neither take thou vengeance of our sins spare us good Lord spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious bloud and be not angry with us for ever This is agreeable to Scripture wherein we pray that God would make good his promise to us and remember our sins and iniquities no more Heb. 10.17 that he would not punish the fathers sins upon the children in the same sense as he himself hath threatned in the second Commandment Exod. 20.5 We read of the like form of prayer Ezra 9.7 Nehem. 1.6 Joel 2.17 and we plead the price of our Redemption mentioned 1 Pet. 1.19 to move God to remove his anger from us that it may not rest upon us according to those pious expressions which we meet with Psal 85.4 5 6. From all evil and mischief from sin from the crafts and assaults of the devil from thy wrath and from everlasting damnation Good Lord deliver us The summe of this petition is contained in the Lords Prayer and all the rest of the petitions in this Litany may easily be reduced to it From all blindness of heart from pride vain-glory and hypocrisie from envy hatred and malice and all uncharitableness Good Lord deliver us This is all agreeable to Scripture which mentions in express terms the very sins which we here pray to be delivered from Blindness of heart Ephes 4.18 Pride 1 John 2.16 Vain-glory Gal. 5.26 Hypocrisie Mat. 6.5 Envy hatred malice and uncharitableness Fphes 4.31 From fornication and all other deadly sin and from all the deceits of the world the flesh and the devil Good Lord deliver us We have Scripture-warrant for all that is contained in this petition touching Fornication 1 Cor. 6.18 and other deadly sins 1 John 5.16 Now they which are usually accounted of as deadly sins though by the general practice of them they may seem otherwise are these Pride which is opposite to Humility Covetousness which is opposite to Liberality Luxury which is opposite to Chastity Envy which is opposite to Gentleness Gluttony which is opposite to Temperance Anger which is opposite to Patience Sloth which is opposite to the devout and earnest serving of God These are called the seven deadly sins not because we judge any other sin in its own nature to be venial and not deadly but because they are so deeply rooted in our nature that it is a very hard matter to mortifie them and therefore do we pray to be delivered from them and from the deceits of the world the flesh and the Devil the grand Enemâ—es of our Christianity which we renounce and bâ—d dâ—hance to in our Baptism For to be intangled with the world is to be drawn from God 1 John 2.15 and to live after the flesh and to be carnal minded is death and to be at enmity with God Rom. 8.6 7. and to be taken in the Devils snares is a very dangerous thing and a very great blessing and happiness to be freed from them 2 Tim. 2.26 From lightning and tempest from Plague Pestilence and Famine from battel and murder and from sudden death Good Lord deliver us When we pray to be delivered from lightning and tempest our meaning is that we may be delivered from the dangers of the whole year arising many times and falling upon us by Lightning in Summer and by Tempest in Winter and when we pray to be delivered from sudden death our meaning is that we may not die such a death as God hath threatned to and usually inflicts upon the wicked Psal 50.22 Psal 73.18 Prov. 1.27 but that we may die comfortably with renewed Faith Repentance Reconciliation and setting of our houses in order that our death may neither be untimely nor unprovided for but that it may be after the common manner of men having nothing in it extraordinary but piety We desire that we may not be snatched away suddenly nor perish and come to fearful ends that we may not die like Absalom Judas Corah Dathan Abiram Ananias and Sapphira all which died fearful and unusual deaths but that we may die comfortably as Jacob Moses Joshua David who leisurably ended their lives in peace and prayer for the mercies of God to come upon their posterities For however there is no condemnation to the Elect and those who are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 yet it may so fall out that some of the Elect themselves may die with more scandal less joy of conscience and enjoy less joys of Heaven then other of their brethren From all
our solemn Service and Sacrifice to him we ought in the first place to make Confession of our sins to which necessary and important duty we are not only moved and invited by the Word of God in many places and by many urgent motives and reasons but we are also by the same Word instructed how to perform it We are not to dissemble our sins before that God from whom we cannot hide them but we are to confess and acknowledge our manifold sins and wickednesses with humble lowly penitent and obedient hearts to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by Gods infinite goodness and mercy This is a duty which ought to be done by every private Christian at all times in the â—loset and in the secret hambers but chiefly and most solemnly is to be done by all Christians when they are met together in Christian Assemblies that having done this first they may be the better disposed to do other things which are also then and there fit and necessary to be done 1. To render to God a tribute of thanks for mercies received 2. To render him a tribute of praise in the best expressions 3. To hear his Word with all attention due reverence and devotion 4. To beg humbly of him all necessary things which we want either for our souls or bodies for our support or duty All which things cannot be well done nor done with any good success by those who would endeavour to hide their sins from God and decline to make sincere confession of them with a purpose to forsake them For he that covereth his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy Prov. 28.13 Fourthly Thus far our considerations as to our affairs in the Temple and the house of God are right and being well entertained by us and often and seriously thought upon may rectifie many evils and disorders which by fools and inconsiderate persons are too frequently there committed Now having seriously considered all that is before mentioned and having resolved to do it too upon serious consideration then it will in the next place concern us when we are all present together with pure hearts and humble voices to make our approach to the Throne of Gods heavenly Grace and to confess all meekly kneeling upon our knees 1. That God is Almighty able to help us and a most merciful Father willing to hear us 2. That we are grievuous sinners who have neglected to do our duty and have not refrained to do whatsoever is contrary to it 3. That our condition is sad and deplorable that there is nothing either in us or from us which can minister to us any relief but that upon our unfeigned repentance our departing from sin and amendment of our lives and serious resolutions to live better for the future Grace is to be had from the Throne of Grace by the Mediatour of Grace Jesus Christ. For as God delights not in the sin of any man but would have all men come to repentance so neither is he pleased with the death of any penitent sinner but hath given forth his promises of pardon and forgiveness to be authoritatively conveyed by the mouths of his Ministers to all who have received the Grace of true repentance which we are constantly to pray for and are acted on by his holy Spirit to lead holy and pure lives that so by living exactly according to the measures of Grace received here which is Glory begun we may come to Glory hereafter which is Grace complete and all through Jesus Christ unto whose Throne we may come boldly yet humbly not trusting to our own merits but relying upon Gods mercies through Christs merits that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need Heb. 4.16 Fifthly Having thus seriously composed our selves by a deep consideration of our sins both confessed and acknowledged and by the consideration of our wants to be supplied and of the greatness and goodness of that God to whom we are to make our addresses for the pardon of our sins and the supply of our wants Then it is very well worthy our consideration and upon consideration we may resolve within our selves that we cannot come with a better and more acceptable Prayer to be offered up unto the Throne of Grace than that which the Mediatour of Grace himself hath taught us saying When ye pray say Our Father which art in heaven Luk. 11.2 in which Prayer before we offer it up we may do well to take notice both of the method and of the matter contained in it The method of the Prayer is this 1. There is a Preface shewing whom we pray to We pray to God who is a Father and so willing who is in Heaven and so able to help us who is ours in Christ and so by a warrant and commission given us from Christ we may with the more confidence make our addresses to him As he is a Father we pray to him in hope as he is ours a common Father we pray to him in hope and as he is in Heaven we pray to him in fear humility and devotion 2. There are Petitions shewing what we pray for and in what order First we pray to God as it is fit we should for those things which concern his Glory and by which his Name may be hallowed and glorified Next we pray for those things which concern our good of Glory Grace and Nature We pray that Gods kingdom may come that his power and dominion may appear all over the world we pray that his will may be done by us men on earth as it is done by the Holy Angels in heaven and that we may all live in all holy obedience to his commands We pray that God would give us daily bread all things needful both for our souls and bodies for our support and duty whilst we live here In the next place we pray against the evil of sin past that God would in mercy pardon it and incline us to have the like pity and compassion one of another we pray against the evil of sin to come that God would by his grace keep us from it we pray also against the evil of punishment external internal eternal that God would keep it from us by his mercy This is the summe of the Dominical or Lords Prayer Sixthly Being thus as it were refreshed and enlivened by this Prayer we are next to proceed in very good order to the more solemn Service and Worship of God desiring his assistance to open our lips that we may praise him in the bâ—st manner â—or without Gods grace we can do nothing and it is most certain that the Devil will be then most ready to hinder us when we are most dâ—sirously bent to serve and praise God â—aving therefore petitioned God in the Dominical Prayer meekly kneeling upon our knees and having joyntly craved his assistance in what is farther to be done it follows
next that we should in the most chearful posture which is standing exhibit to God our Lands and Praises for all those blessings which he hath most graciously conferred upon us which Praises of God cannot be better set forth than in the Book of Psalms which his own Spirit hath endited which once made up a great part of the Jewish Service and which Christ himself consecrated by his and the Apostles use of them to bear a part in Christian Assemblies Wherein we are to consider 1. Whom we are to praise The Lord. 2. How we are to do it joyntly with voices of Psalmodists and joyful hearts Let us sing let us heartily rejoyce 3. Why we are to do it Because he is the strength of our Salvation our mighty Saviour and deliverer ready to supply all our needs to help us in all our dangers and distresses and can and will succour us if we relie upon him when we are most destitute O come therefore let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our salvation Psal 95.1 which Psalm hath been used by the Church of God in all ages for an Introit Psalm to put us in mind how we should praise and glorifie God Now as we invite our selves by this Psalm to give glory to God so it is meet and convenient that at the end of every Psalm we should actually do it saying Glory be to God the Father our Maker to God the Son our Redeemer to God the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier as it hath been the ancient use in all Christian Assemblies Seventhly Having offered up our Lands and Praises to God in a most solemn manner whereby we may not only instruct our selves but edifie Gods glory then to give a kind of rest to our devotions that they tire not it follows in due and proper place that we should with all devout diligence sober serious and grave attention give up our selves to the hearing of Holy Scriptures distinctly and orderly read out of both the Testaments For as it was once the practice of the Jews in their publick Service to have one Lesson read out of the writings of Moses and another out of the other Prophets that the people might see the Harmony and agreement betwixt Moses and the rest so the like use and practice hath been observed by Christians in their publick Assemblies to have one Lesson read out of the Old Testament and another out of the New only a Hymn used betwixt both to take off from the tediousness and to make the Service the more recreative that people may be able to see the Harmony of both the Testaments to discern one God one Christ and one Spirit in both and how the Old Testament carries the New along with it in the same bottom that both aim at one and the same great design to make men first holy and then happy And this reading of Scripture hath been in ancient times esteemed Preaching as appears Act. 15.21 where it is said That Moses of old time had in every City them that preached him being read in the Synagogue every Sabbath-day There are indeed other ways of preaching besides this Dilating upon a Text of Scripture is preaching Catechizing is preaching Expounding is preaching yet this hinders not but bare reading of the Text may be preaching also and may for ought I know edifie as well as any Gloss made upon it â—or can we imagine that a set speech of any man made upon a Text of Scripture taken at all adventure though it may set an edge upon somâ— hearers devotion should yet edifie more than the Text it self or adde any efficacy to that Certainly the Sermons of Moses and the Prophets of Christ and his Apostles being often heard with attention and devotion as they are often read may instruct as much as any set speech delivered by men of meaner gifts which may be as soon forgotten as it is spoken and may be oft-times more obscure too than the Text which it endeavours to explain This is not spoken to detract from solid and seasonable preaching but only to vindicate the Word read from that scorn which too many put upon it in these evil days Eighthly Having devoutly heard the Word of God and by often hearing of it been well grounded and instructed in those points of Faith which are necessarily to be believed by all who seek for salvation by Jesus Christ the anointed Saviour which points of Faith are briefly summed up in the Apostles Creed and only enlarged by way of explication in the Nicene and Athanasian it follows next in very good order that we should in a posture of resolution which is a standing posture make publick and joynt Confession of that Faith with our mouths which we believe in our hearts to shew that we dare own it in the face of all the world and are not ashamed of it Wherein we confess to believe That there is one God maker of all things one Christ redeemer of mankind one Holy Spirit sanctifier of the elect people of God which people are an holy society or Church Catholick dispersed over the world and a Communion of Saints firmly united by all the communications of love and charity acted by the same Spirit governed by the same Laws leading holy and pure lives having all the same hopes to have their sins pardoned their bodies raised from death to life again and souls and bodies both re-united and crowned with glory in an immortal and endless life This is the summe of our Faith which we are to make Confession of after the hearing of the Word Because Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.17 Ninthly Having thus far proceeded in the publick Service both for Morning and Evening in a right and due order it is meet in the close of all when we have first prepared and fitted our selves by some quickning reciprocal Responds that we summe up either in Litanies universal Collects or Collects apart all that we are to pray unto God for or to praise him for in publick Assemblies Now all will come under the heads mentioned 1 Tim. 2. vers 1 2. which Text seems to be a platform according to which the publick Service fitted for Christian Assemblies was first framed up wherein we meet with 1. Supplications for the averting of all hurtful things from us sins and dangers that God would turn us from the evil of sin by Grace and turn from us the evil of punishment by Mercy 2. Prayers for the obtaining of all good things which we want for our souls and bodies for our souls pardon of sins past and grace to forsake sin for the future for our bodies all things needful and convenient for us whilst we live here what God knows best for us in order to advance his glory to promote the good of others and the salvation of our own souls 3. Intercessions for others for all mankind for all Governours secular and spiritual that they
agreeable to right Reason and Religion that we should begin our Service to God with Confession of our sins that having first confessed our sins and implored God's pardon for them we may the better pray unto him and praise him for other things So David began with Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin Psal 51.2 and then he says Open thou my lips O Lord and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise ver 15. because sin doth shut up our mouth and God pardoning sin opens it that we may chearfully pray unto him and praise him And whereas Confession of sin is enjoyned to be said of the whole Congregation after the Minister it is for these reasons 1. Because the Minister is the peoples mouth to God-ward in Prayer both to go before them and to instruct them as in Preaching he is Gods mouth to the people 2. By this means the Church like a careful Mother makes provision so far as she can that none of her untoward children should dissemble their wickedness the humble and penitent confession whereof is made so necessary an introduction to her Divine Offices Now this Confession is to be made kneeling because it is the fittest posture for Penitents that by the outward lowliness of our bodies we may the better express the inward humility of our minds All Holy men we meet with in Scripture were for this posture of kneeling at their devotion David Psal 95.6 Solomon 2 Chron. 6.13 Ezra chap. 9.5 Daniel chap. 6.10 Christ Luk. 22.41 Stephen Acts 7.60 Paul Acts 20.36 God would not have us when we come before him to worship him to offer to him and to receive from him to be as if we had no joynts in our knees he expects more from us then from the Pillars of our Churches Every day we begin our Service with a Psalm which invites us to it Psal 95.6 And the first Christians ever used to begin their Service in this manner saying Before all things let us fall down and worship the Lord who made us This was the first voice heard and the first thing done in the Primitive Church We daily utter the same voice and daily invite our selves to do the same thing and shall we never do it for all this what is this but to mock God nay to mock and abuse our selves for God will not be mocked he knows our misdemeanours in his Service and how to apportion out punishments in his own due time such as we deserve As Augustus the Emperour said to one who came rudely into his presence to petition I wonder how we two come to be so familiar so if we do but observe how rudely and with what unmannerly behaviour some persons come into Gods presence to beg pardon of him for their sins it may raise more wonder to think how God and they come to be so familiar RUBRICK The Absolution or Remission of sins to be pronounced by the Priest alone standing the people still kneeling ALmighty God Gen. 17.1 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 15.6 who desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live Ezek. 33.11 1 Tim. 2.4 and hath given power and commandment to his Ministers to declare and pronounce to his people being penitent the absolution and remission of their sins Luk. 24.47 Joh. 20.23 2 Cor. 5.19 He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and unfeignedly believe his Holy Gospel Act. 10.43 Luk. 24.47 Act. 3.19 Rom. 1.16 Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance and his holy Spirit 2 Tim. 2.25 Act. 11.18 Luk. 11.13 that those things may please him which we do at this present Heb. 11.6 Rom. 8.8 and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy Ephes 1.4 Joh. 5.14 Rom. 6.6 so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy Heb. 12.14 Mat. 5.8 through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 5.21 Rom. 6.23 RUBRICK The People shall answer here and at the end of all other Prayers Amen Nehem. 5.13 1 Chron. 16.36 1 Cor. 14.16 EXPLANATION The Absolution is as to every part of it grounded upon Scripture Remission and Absolution are two names which signifie one and the same thing a loosing from sin wherein the Soul is held bound as in a prison Psal 142.7 Psal 119.32 Sin is as a yoke burden chain fetter which loads binds and holds fast the Soul Lam. 1.14 Psal 38.4 Psal 73.6 Absolution helps to remove this yoke to lighten this burden to loose this chain Sin is a debt Mat. 6.12 Luk. 11.4 Mat. 18.27 by Absolution and Remission we are acquitted and discharged from this debt The Heathens looked upon the characteristick A when set alone as a propitious letter because it noted amongst the Romans the Absolution of a Criminal whereas the characteristical letter C was the mark of a condemned person but in Christianity let C for Confession be placed before A for Absolution it alters the case very much Some persons indeed have been very much offended at the word Absolution and therefore prevailed to have the word Remission stand by it to be its Interpreter into milder sense those persons I conceive to be like some people which I have read of who fearing their Tygers called them by more gentle names that they might not be devoured by them But some scruple may again be made why the Priest alone should pronounce this Absolution and that in the standing posture when all the people are still upon their knees Which scruple may easily be removed from those who can distinguish the Priest and a Minister in his Office from an ordinary person not invested into Holy Orders For the Priest especially when in his Office and officiating is in Christ's stead and acting in one part of his Commission given to him by Christ which is to absolve penitents Mat. 16.19 John 20.23 Neither doth he absolve by way of declaration only but by way of authority Jam. 5.14 15. which authority is absolutely and originally in God who is only able to forgive sins by the highest and most unquestionable authority Mark 2.8 Yet there is by the Charter of the Church a subordinate delegate power derived from God by Christ to the Priests and Ministers for to remit or to retain sin John 20.22 23. The Priest remits or retains sin as a Civil Magistrate pardons or condemns a Malefactor not by any power originally in themselves but by a power delegated from God And to shew by what power he acts the Priest pronounceth the Absolution standing and when the Confession of sin is serious from the heart unfeigned such as God requires and will accept of the Priest's Absolution is without question as effectual as if God himself did pronounce it from Heaven Heaven waits for and expects the Priest's sentence on Earth and if the person to be absolved by an hypocritical and feigned repentance make not the key to fail in such cases
what the Servant binds or looses here on Earth the Lord himself ratifies and confirms in Heaven Mat. 18.18 19. Now in the Absolution to be pronounced by the Minister or rather after it this clause is added Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance and his holy Spirit and may seem to be added for these reasons following 1. To shew that as Repentance is a necessary disposition to pardon so that it is also a necessary consequent of it for he who is pardoned ought to be as much a penitent if he truly understands himself as he who seeks pardon as we are daily liable to sin so for our own safety we are to secure and keep our selves within the state of pardon which we cannot do but by continuing in a state of Repentance besides the sad remembrance of sin though pardon'd ought to be always grievous to us 2. Because after a sin is pardoned and remitted the Devil is most busie to tempt the sinner either to commit the same sin again or a worse therefore as in the Lords Prayer we are taught to pray first to have our sins forgiven and next not to be led into temptation so here no sooner is Absolution and Remission of sins declared and pronounced by the Priest as a great priviledge and favour granted to all sincere Penitents and sound believers but the same pardoned persons are invited and stirred up in their own defence to pray for a continued Repentance and assistance of Gods holy Spirit that they may be secure from all Satans temptations for the future and make the grace of Pardon already granted a new obligation to more holy living that so we may not only please God in our present Devotions but also in our future life for most certain it is that every lapse after pardon is the greater sin John 5.14 2 Pet. 2.20 But we are to note in the last place that the people are enjoyned to answer Amen as at the end of this so of every Prayer in the Service-Book because Amen if pronounced as from the heart is an Indication of the peoples assent to the preceding Prayer and an affirmation that the thing prayed for is good and necessary for them and a tollification of the peoples votes and desires to obtain it It hath ever been used at the end of Prayers and pronounced with a loud voice carrying in it devotion zeal and fervency it is the last acclamation of our prayers in the pronouncing of which the Primitive Christians were wont to raise up their bodies as if they had a desire to carry their bodies as well as their souls up to Heaven RUBRICK Then the Minister shall kneel and say the Lords Prayer with an audible voice the People also kneeling and repeating it with him both here and wheresoever else it is used in Divine Service OUr Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name Mat. 6.9 thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven ver 10. give us this day our daily bread ver 11. and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us ver 12. and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen ver 13. EXPLANATION They must certainly be vain and wicked acted on by some wild and extravagant spirit who to make way for their own crude and humane breathings not fit sometimes to carry the name of Prayers would thrust the Lords Prayer quite out and allow it no place in the publick Divine Service which is as the Salt of the Sacrifice and that which should season all our Liturgick Offices Certainly as men may use other Prayers so they ought not to be restrained nor to restrain themselves from the use of this which is a Prayer used by the Church of Christ all the world over dictated at first by the supreme wisdom of our great and eternal Mediator Jesus Christ who presents our Prayers unto God and perfectly knows our Fathers mind It is the most complete Prayer which can be made summing up all the most lawful requests which can be imagined the epitome mirrour rule of all other Prayers in a wonderful brevity of words including so great plenty and variety of matter as if it would make a Camel to pass through a Needles-eye It contains in it more histories and mysteries then words it is the most methodical emphatical divine Prayer that ever yet was or shall be composed for all the parts of it cohere with an admirable symmetry it is exactly made in measure and proportion all of it is full of Torches which enlighten each other not all the wits on Earth nor Angels in Heaven were ever capable of dictating the like There is as much difference betwixt this and Prayers of man's composing as betwixt the Tabernacle and Pattern upon the Mount the Tabernacle was Earthly framed by man the Pattern Heavenly formed by God so this Prayer is all over coelestial and divine whereas our Prayers are at the best but humane and framed up by man's industry Neither is there any man so knowing or so religious who is not subject to many failings in the composure of his Prayers they are subject to imperfection to excess to disorders to many irregularities we cannot possibly be without some errour in this business either we want or exceed are too short or too long or raise our thoughts out of rank and place when we speak our own Prayers but in saying the Lords Prayer if our hearts go along with the prayer we cannot fail to speak well we omit nothing we speak nothing superfluous we are not extravagant we cannot be impertinent in our words Therefore having framed up Prayers according to what is possible for us to do and having well considered the defects of them we have recourse to this most absolute Prayer of Christ for the perfecting of all the imperfections in our own Certainly we who are Christians ought to say this Prayer because Jesus Christ hath put it into our mouths and made it to be the abridgment of all Prayer wherein are summed up all lawful requests He hath given it to be a rule and guide for us to pray by and an exact form for us to pray in It is a Prayer of universal concernment in respect of things contained in it persons using it times when and places where it may be used All the Churches of the Christian World pronounce it and it must needs be a great consolation to us to keep our part in this great consort we may say it in prosperity and adversity in Peace and War in health and sickness in life and at the hour of death young and old rich and poor noble and ignoble Princes and Peasants may all pronounce it together Therefore not without good reason is it so frequently used in our Liturgick Offices because it is so large for matter so short and
under whose Politie the Psalms were penned and composed were a Typical people and Gods Oeconomie to them may be instructive to us not in a literal but spiritual sense what severity was required from them towards the Canaanites and other enemies of God the same should be transcribed by us in another way that is we should express our displeasure and revenge upon our lusts and sins as the greatest enemies of God or us and thus our indignation and zeal our imprecations and Anathema's may be seasonable enough if we continue them only in this sense but for the cursing of any other enemies it is hardly reconcilable to Christianity neither can it be warranted out of the Psalms or any other part of Scripture to be used as a Prayer but only as a prediction or denunciation and this may be done upon a design purely Christian and charitive enough And whereas many things in the Psalms may seem not to suit well with every mans condition at all times and so the Spirit of the Reciter may meet with a kind of contradiction forbidding to go along with the Spirit of the Psalmist as for instance how can a man overwhelmed with distress hâ—ve the lively vigorous Spirit of Praise or Eucharist or a man in a prosperous state have the true Spirit of devotion and humiliation yet this scruple may be easily removed thus That though the Psalms read may not suit so properly with our own condition yet they may suit with the condition of others to the best advantages and in our publick Services we are to put upon us publick Spirits and mind the state and condition of other men as well as of our selves we are to rejoyce with them that do rejoyce and to weep with them that weep and to be of the same mind one towards another Rom. 12.15 16. we are to remember those who are in bonds as bound with them and those who suffer adversity being our selves also in the body Febr. 13.3 Therefore do we pray for the sick when we our selves are in health give thanks for the deliverance of others when we our selves are not in their dangers This we do as Christians not as meer men nor as necessity urgeth us to it but as charity binds us whereby we shew that as Christ is the Head of the body so we are Members one of another This is truly Christian when we can zealously comprehend others within our Prayers or Praises either for what they stand in need of or have received And it will be a very hard matter for any one of us to mention any one of the Psalms which we may not have some propriety to in whatsoever condition we are In our greatest prosperity we may have cause enough to humble our selves in our greatest distress there may be good grounds for giving of thanks Job was summoned to bless God as well for his sufferings as for his enjoyments Job 1.21 and many holy and pious men have seen ground and cause enough for their humiliation in the midst of their greatest affluence and abundance And whereas some of the Psalms are advanced to that high pitch of devotion which ordinary men who are not of the Psalmists spirit and temper cannot possibly reach to yet these very Psalms should be made familiar and be of constant use if for no other reason yet for this to quicken our dull devotions to give some spirit and life to our dead and not enough vigorous performances in the Service of God and to make us see how much we fall short of those holy and divine Pen-men of the Psalms who as to their profession of Faith zeal love and obedience to God ought to be looked upon as worthy patterns for our imitation and by reproaching of us for our own defects may humble us before God because we cannot so vigorously pronounce these holy Hymns as we ought to do and may teach us to pray for more growth and spiritual proficiency in our constant Religious performances RUBRICK Then shall be read distinctly with an audible voice the First Lesson taken out of the Old Testament as is appointed in the Kalendar except there be proper Lessons assigned for that day he that readeth so standing and turning himself as he may best be heard of all such as are present And after that shall be said or sung in English the Hymn called Te Deum laudamus daily throughout the year Note that before every Lesson the Minister shall say Here beginneth such a Chapter or Verse of such a Chapter of such a Book And after every Lesson Here endeth the First or the Second Lesson EXPLANATION The reading of Lessons out of the Old and New Testament is in punctual imitation of the Ancient Church which Lessons are not left arbitrary but appointed some for ordinary days and some for Festival according to Primitive custom and practice As the Jews used to read some Lessons and portions of Scripture out of Moses and the other Prophets upon their Sabbaths and Festivals Act. 13.27 which they called Sections or Tractats of a good day Colos 2.16 so it was decreed and ordered in the Church Christian and in imitation so near as could be of what was practised in the Jewish Church that the first Lesson should be read out of the Old Testament and the second out of the New And it was so contrived that Hymns Lessons and Psalms should be used interchangably to take off something from the tediousness of the Service for as variety is pleasant to the body so is it also to the Soul therefore is the Service made so Mosaick and of so many pieces commodiously disposed to rescue each other from fastidiousness Neither do we read only the Canonical Scripture but some part also of the Apocryphal Books which appear to be most agreable to the Canonical in the doing of which we do not consider both under the same parity of honour and estimation for our Bibles have sufficiently made a distinction And though it cannot be denied that the Ancient model of Canonical and Apocryphal Books did pass under a complex notion of the Old Testament yet we read not the Apocryphal Books as we do Canonical Scripture to ground any Article of Faith upon only we read them for instruction in life and manners and upon the same account as the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians was wont to be read in Churches in Ancient times Neither are any Chapters or Lessons so prescribed out of the Apocryphal Books as that we should set aside the Canonical Scripture for the Minister is left to his discretion to make his choice as he thinks fit either of the one or of the other We read the Apocryphal Books because they are consonant to the Canonical because they were respected by the Ancients because they are instructive in their stile and some passages in them do explain the Canonical Scripture which they who most oppose them cannot honestly deny and why may they not be as well
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
also the Earth Land and Sea Grass Herbs Plants and Trees Beasts Birds and Fishes he made Man to praise him and glorifie him in all and for all to magnifie God in all his works and never to distrust him who hath proved himself thus Omnipotent And in Jesus Christ his onely Son our Lord I believe also in the second person of the Godhead the Word and Wisdom of God who is stiled Jesus to note him a Saviour which name was given him by an Angel together with the meaning of it Mat. 1.21 He is also stiled Christ which is an appellative title of office and dignity given to him for three purposes 1. To note him an anointed King to judge govern defend us and to save us from danger 2. An anointed Prophet to teach instruct us and to save us from errour 3. An anointed High-Priest to offer up himself for us and his prayers for us to make Intercession to the Father for us and to save us from sin He is God the Father's Onely Son not by Creation as men are nor by Adoption as good men are nor by Office grace and favour as Kings and Judges are but by Nature as none other are save only himself he is God of the substance of his Father before all Worlds God of God very God of very God and a distinct person in the Godhead from the Father Mat. 28.19 John 1.1 He is also Our Lord 1. In respect of Creation for he hath dominion over us as he is God 2. In respect of Redemption for he hath dominion over us as he is God and Man It was God the Son not God the Father nor God the Holy Ghost who did personally pay the ransom of our sins purchase our freedom from the slavery of Satan by his own bloud and by the everlasting efficacy of the same bloud once shed doth wash and nourish us not as his Servants but as the Sons of God our heavenly Father As he is Jesus we are to sue and seek to him for Salvation for there is no Salvation in any other Act. 4.12 as he is Christ we are to pay all subjection to him as a King to hear and obey him as a Prophet to rest upon his Sacrifice Satisfaction and Intercession as a Priest As he is Gods only Son we are to pay him that honour which we pay to the Father and as he is our Lord we are to quit Sin and Satan and to pay to him our real Service Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary In this Article is declared how the Son of God became the Son of man in order to make satisfaction to God for man's sin to reconcile God to man and to work about man's Redemption to put him into a salvable condition and to render him again capable of those fruitions which he in Adam had deprived himself of by his disobedience In this Article is to be noted more particularly 1. The mystery of Christ's holy Incarnation 2ly His holy Nativity and Circumcision together with his Baptism Fasting and Temptation This Son of God who was very God begotten and not made being of the same substance with his Father by whom all things were made for us men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was conceived and incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man and as he was made Man in her so he was born of her God became Man and yet remained God he took our Humane nature yet did not lay aside his Divine and Mary became a Mother and yet remained a Virgin still Christ of her took our Humanity without the loss of her Virginity He was conceived without sin that he might cleanse and sanctifie our sinful conceptions He was born without sin that he might sanctifie the birth of us who are born in sin and with sin and as he was sinless from his birth so the life which he lived here on earth was a sinless and innocent life that by the sinlesness and obedience of his life he might make some kind of amends for the sinfulness and disobedience of ours Yet he was Circumcised though nothing was superfluous in him that so amends might be made in that part by him for Original sin by which it is propagated And he was Baptized though nothing in him was unclean that he by his Baptism might sanctifie the element of Water and make it by the Holy Spirit joyned to it virtual to cleanse us not only from Original guilt but as we are fitly capable from all actual pollutions And he was tempted by all those ways of Temptation which we are liable and exposed to that he might in his own person overcome the Tempter and grand Seducer and teach us by his example how to behave our selves successfully and to the best advantage in all our Temptations By the same Holy Spirit whereby he was conceived in the blessed Virgin Maries womb is he to be conceived in our hearts which hearts we are to keep as pure and undefiled as the holy Virgin was in order to his conception we are to prepare Virgin hearts for Christ to be conceived and born in and for the Holy Ghost to overshadow by which Virgin hearts is not to be meant an absolute sinless purity and innocence which only Adam in his created estate and Christ could yield but a renewed purity and recovered Virginity by Repentance joyned with sincere resolution and holy purposes of amendment of life and humility typified in the temper of New-born babes For these are the only due qualifications which can fit and prepare the Soul for the Holy Spirit to overshadow it and for Christ to be favoured in it As Christ took our nature upon him and was pleased to be born of a pure Virgin without the help of man which shewed him to be the true Seed of the woman that should break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 so we are to pray for Gods regenerating grace that we may be made his children by Adoption and Grace and be daily renewed and changed in our Spirits by his Holy Spirit As Christ was Circumcised and by that bloudy ceremony made obedient to the Law for us so we are to pray for the true Circumcision of the Spirit that our hearts and all our members being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts we may in all things obey Gods blessed will As Christ was Baptized not to be cleansed by the waters but to cleanse the waters that they might cleanse us so we are to come to his Holy Baptism to be washed in those streams the Fountain whereof he himself hath opened and consecrated not so much for the cleansing of our bodies and putting off the filth of the flesh 1 Pet. 3.21 as for the sprinkling of our hearts from an evil conscience Heb. 10.22 that our hearts being pure our actions may be pure also And when we are thus cleansed we ought to take special care and heed that we
return not like the Dog to lick up our vomit again or like the Swine to our former pollutions 2 Pet. 2.22 and so become the fouler for our once being cleansed and be drowned in that Holy Laver which was designed for our preservation Lastly as Christ was tempted and that he might overcome the Tempter did for our sake and in part for our example too Fast even to a miracle so we are to pray unto God for his Grace to direct and assist us in all our Temptations that we may use such abstinence as to bring our flesh in subjection to the Spirit and ever obey the Godly motions of Gods holy Spirit living in righteousness and true holiness to the praise and glory of him Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried The great end and design of Christ's coming into this world was that he might suffer and by his sufferings make satisfaction to Divine Justice for man's sin He did not suffer because he was himself a sinner but because he became a Surety for us who are so He suffered for our sins not for his own He being righteous died for us who are unrighteous 1 Pet. 2.21 22. this he did for our sake and for our example and encouragement He hath given us in himself an example of enduring the highest afflictions which example so far as imitable is to be imitated and transcribed by us 1 Pet. 2.21 From the manner of his death we are taught the great doctrine of Mortification to put off the body of the sins of the flesh Col. 2.11 to destroy the body of sin Rom. 6.6 to put our sinful habits to a contumelious death to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts and in so doing to conform our selves exactly to the sufferings of Christ through all the gradations of it that so we may be planted with him in the likeness of his death Rom. 6.5 As a consultation was held against Christ as he was apprehended examined accused condemned shamed and crucified so strictly and severely should we deal with our Old man our whole body of sin we should consult deliberately about its execution chuse our most sober seasons for the doing of it when we are in the calmest temper of Soul and we are to proceed orderly to act against sin to apprehend it to stop every course and habit of it in its career we are to examine it by the Word of God by the commands of Christ in all its variations from and oppositions to them This done we are to accuse it and in so doing to aggravate it with all the heightning circumstances of guilt and danger Then by a solemn full consent of all the faculties we are to condemn this dangerous Malefactor to spit upon it with contempt and scorn to give it up to be crucified never to revive again to any vital actions Neither are we to be thus severe against our single habit of sin only but against the whole body of sin and all its parts and members Again from the manner of Christ's death we are instructed further to take up our Cross voluntarily and chearfully when it is laid upon us to follow Christ in his sufferings and to conform our selves really to the image of our crucified Saviour for if we are thus partakers of his sufferings we shall be also partakers of his enjoyments He went by the Cross to his Crown passed through ignominies and sufferings into his Glory so should we Again he was dead that by his dying he might destroy death and sanctifie the state of death to all his Servants Death lost its sting in his side and so became to all who are his but as a calm sleep Lastly he was buried to shew that he was really dead and as his body was removed out of sight so we are to put all our sinful habits like dead bodies out of the way that they may neither offend nor infect others He continued some time in the Grave to note unto us the reality and continuance of our mortified state and that we should not only once for all repent and mortifie but keep in our Souls a continued death unto sin sincere and unfeigned till we are risen again to the other Diviner life to live unto Godliness as he rose again to live unto God He descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the dead Here began Christ's exaltation after his abasement and diminution His descent into Hell was the first part of his advancement As his body not separated from his Divinity rested in the Grave so his Soul united to his Divinity had something further to do He descended not to suffer but to conquer As he overcame the World on Earth Death in the Grave so he triumphed over Satan in Hell and within the Territories of his own Kingdom he went into Satans quarters and openly shewed him the Victory which by death he had gotten over him over death it self and over all the Powers of darkness However certain it is that he remained some time in the state of the dead his living Soul being separated from his dead body This Article of Christ's descent is as true as all the rest though perhaps not so capable as the rest of any binding interpretation to be put upon it Therefore we pass this part of the Article by and come to the latter part The third day he rose again from the dead that is within the space of less then seventy two hours and before his body saw corruption he rose again that flesh which he laid down in the Grave he by his own power raised up again from the Grave As his dying shewed his Humanity so his rising again declared his Divinity by which Resurrection of his not only his Godhead was demonstrated Rom. 1.4 but the all-sufficient Sacrifice of his death and passion for sin was fully evidenced and declared for had there remained but one sin unsatisfied for which he came to make satisfaction for that one sin might have kept him from rising The Resurrection of Christ shewed that a full satisfaction was made for sin by his death 1 Cor. 15.17 Again Christ's Resurrection is the ground of ours as Adam brought death into the world to kill us so Christ brought Resurrection into the world to give us life 1 Cor. 15.22 Christ is risen as the Head we shall follow as the Members Christ is risen as the First-fruits we shall follow as the Harvest Again the Resurrection of Christ is a proof of our Justification before God for he is to be considered as a publick person both in his Death and in his Resurrection Rom. 4.25 Lastly his Resurrection from the Grave should mind us of our Resurrection from sin which brought him to it Our actual rising to new life is as necessary as mortification as Christ rose from the dead to dye no more so we being dead to sin should rise to newness of life and live unto God Rom. 6.10 11. As he after
Confession Contrition works of Mercy and all kind of Reformation of our lives to labour for Absolution and in all these humbly to beg of God his special grace that it may go along with all these outward ordinances and diligently to watch observe and receive it in the use of them and to lay it up in honest hearts that we may bring forth fruits with patience neither resisting nor repelling nor grieving nor quenching this Holy Spirit of God whereby we are sealed if we do not betray our selves unto the day of complete Redemption Ephes 4.30 The holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints As the first part of the Creed was chiefly concerning God so the latter part of it is principally relating to the Church of God as we begin with God in our Confession of Faith so we end with the Church for unless we are of the Church we shall lose our interest in God Now by Church in this place we are to understand a society of Believers ruled and continued according to all the ordinances before-mentioned of the Holy Ghost's settling and establishing which Church is described by these three properties Holy Catholick a Communion of Saints 1. The Church is remarkably said to be Holy in respect of the holy Powers and Offices which are settled in it and upon it in respect of the Holy Ghost the author and founder of them in respect of Christ the Head of it who is most holy in respect of the Faith of the Church which is in it self holy and makes us holy in respect of that sanctity and holiness of life which ought to be in all the Members of it in respect of the great design in the first constitution of it which was to beget and to increase holiness 2. The Church is remarkably said to be Catholick which word signifies 1. Orthodoxal as having Truth in it and so it is distinguished from the Societies of Hereticks and Schismaticks wherein is errour and falshood 2. Universal dispersed and extended all the world over and so it is distinguished from the Church of the Jews which was an inclosure divided from all the world beside It is Universal also in respect of the same Faith which it teaches to all men in all places and at all times and in respect of the same Laws and Constitutions according to which all Reformations ought to be made otherwise they will appear to be rather Innovations then Reformations an introducing of new things rather then a restoring of the old Lastly the Church is remarkably said to be a Communion of Saints in respect of the Communion of Faith and Laws in respect of the Communion of Sanctity and Holiness which ought to be in all the Members of it and in respect of the communications of Charity First Corporal charity to all the Fellow-members of Christ that are in need Secondly Spiritual charity expressed to mens souls by advice counsel reprehension spiritual conference and in any kind of effusion of Grace from God to us in praying with and for one another in praising God with and for one another which last is a duty continued mutually betwixt us and the glorified Saints in Heaven so far as is most commodious to the condition of each As the Saints in rest and joy and advanced towards the Throne of Glory in Heaven pray for their younger brethren on Earth so the Saints who are yet in the Camp and Militant on Earth praise God for those revelations of his Grace and Glory which he hath bestowed upon their elder brethren in Heaven As the Saints and Members of the Church hold communion with Christ the Head have interest in all his benefits go sharers in the common Salvation so do they hold communion one with another As in the body natural so in Christ's mystical body the Church there is a perpetual sympathy between the parts if one Member suffer all suffer with it if one be had in honour all rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12.26 Neither doth death it self dissolve this communion for the knot of fellowship holds between the Saints departed this world and those who still remain in it The departed Saints pray to God for our good in general and we praise God for their good in particular we praise God for giving them such eminent graces on Earth and such unspeakable glories in Heaven in affections and hearts we converse with them we love their memories use all innocent means to have their exemplary lives propounded to us for our imitation we desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and them and we judge it the greatest honour that we can do them to imitate their pious and holy lives and that we may do this in our annual day of commemoration for All-Saints we pray That as God hath knit together his Elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of his Son Christ our Lord so he would grant us grace so to follow his blessed Saints in all vertuous and godly living that we may come to those unspeakable joys which he hath prepared for them who unfeignedly love him through Jesus Christ our Lord. The forgiveness of sins That is I believe that by the death and sufferings of Christ there is pardon and remission to be had in the Church for all true penitent sinners which pardon all true penitens upon exact examination of themselves may be able to pronounce unto themselves but the Minister whose office it is upon a clear view of conscience so far as is fairly possible may pronounce it more authoritatively yet neither of them can do it infallibly so that as to their pronouncing Remission of sins is not properly a matter of Faith neither can it well be But the matter of Faith which is contained in this Article is this To believe that the forfeiting of our perfect unsinning innocence in Paradise shall not be able to exclude us from Gods favour and grace here nor from Heaven hereafter if we sincerely turn from sin and return to God for God is pleased to accept of Christ's sufferings as a meet and meritorious satisfaction for all true penitent sinners We are born in sin and we grow from sin to sin from bad to worse naturally and it is by the grace of God that our sins are remitted which remission is conveyed to us whilst we are in the Church and continue Church-Members by Prayer the Word and the Sacraments This Remission is not to be imputed to our merit but to Gods mercy who beholds all true penitent Christians in Christ and upon their unfeigned repentance and amendment reputes their sins as no sins But that we may have our sins pardoned and forgiven it concerns us to set our selves sincerely and industriously to the performance of those conditions upon which remission of sins is to be had to repent of them to reform from them to amend our lives to fly sin and to follow sanctity to continue in a full assurance of hope towards God that
Psal 129.8 2 John 10. which are not to be thought idle Complements whereby we take the name of God in vain but Christian and commendable civilities and duties which were commonly used and practised by Christians in the time of the Apostles 2 John 10 11. In the Liturgies of St. James Basil Chrysostom and the Aethiopians the Priest was wont to say Peace be unto you to which the People replied And with thy Spirit In the old Liturgy of Spain called Mozarabe because the Christians were mingled with Arabians the Priest said The Lord be with you the People answered And with thy Spirit the Priest again said Help me brethren in your prayers and the People answered The Father Son and Holy Ghost help thee Petrus Damianus wrote a whole Book upon this argument intituled The Lord be with you It was used in the Latine Church ever since their Liturgy was composed by Damasus and supposed to be deduced out of the Greek Church into the Latine it is of very ancient use and is one of the first Formula's of devotion used in the Christian Church at first it belonged only to the Ministers of the lower Order and when the Bishop did officiate he used in place thereof Peace be unto you but in the Braccarian Council it was decreed that the Bishop and Presbyter should use one and the same form and determined the form to be this The Lord be with you adding this As it is used in all the Orient which shews the custom to be changed since Chrysostom's time or else we must reject a great part of his Works for counterfeit Epiphanius saith that this form of Salutation was derived from our Saviour's first greeting of his Apostles after his Resurrection John 20.19 However it did anciently denote a transition from one part of the Service unto another as it is here applyed by our Church for the very same purpose These mutual and reciprocal Salutations were prudently and Christianly made a part of the publick Service to continue that agreement and love which ought to be between Pastor and People and the very order of it shews that it is the Ministers office to begin and the peoples duty to correspond in all good affections and kindness when the Minister is as Paul the people should be as Galathians chap. 4.15 not only reverence his place but also love his person The Pastor cannot wish a better wish then this The Lord be with you neither can the people make a fitter reply then this And with thy Spirit To note that he is to offer up a spiritual Service and Sacrifice unto God and to do it ardently and affectionately which he cannot do unless God be with him by his Grace and holy Spirit to aid and assist him Now Christ hath promised to be with his Apostles and their successors unto the end of the world Mat. 28.20 to be with his Church in her devotions in the midst of us or amongst us when we offer up our Services to him but if our Spirits be not right fixed so as to intend and mind what we are about how can God be with us How can God be with our Spirits if our Spirits are not with God How can God be in the midst of us when we are not in the midst of our selves Therefore this clause Let us pray is very often repeated in the Service upon any noâ— table transition from one eminent part of Service to another to fix us to our devotions and to make us the more intent upon what we do for we are apt to be dull enough in Sacred duties unless we are frequently call'd upon to mind seriously what we are about It was anciently the Deacons office to pronounce it and therefore he was said to preach or to proclaim the Service for it was his office by loud voice or proclamation to warn the people in several parts of the Service what was done or to be done that accordingly they might order themselves both in their hearts and in their bodies suitable to that which was done or performed by Christ's Ministers that so all things might be done with good order and due reverence The Heathens in their Religious Offices had a custom not much differing from this for they had their Preachers and Proclaimers of their Service for the same purpose to regulate the carriage and behaviour of the people and to prevent confusion The three following Versicles Lord have mercy c. were called by the Ancients the Lesser Litany and they are fitly placed before the Lords Prayer because in our resort to him in Prayer it is very expedient that we first implore the â—ercy and assistance of the Trinity to whom we pray RUBRICK Then the Minister Clerks and People shall say the Lords Prayer with a loud voice See before pag. 18 19. OVr Father great in Creation gracious in Love rich in Inheritance which art in Heaven the Glass of Eternity the Crown of pleasure the Store-house of felicity Hallowed be thy Name in us by us upon us in our words actions lives that it may be to us Honey in the mouth Melody in the ear Jubilee in the heart Thy Kingdom come of Power to defend us of Grace to sanctifie us of Glory to crown us Let it be to us pleasant without mixture calm without disturbance secure without loss Thy will be done not ours as in Heaven by the holy Angels so on Earth by men that we may hate what thou hatest love what thou lovest and do nothing but what is pleasing unto thee Give for every good gift is thine we have nothing from our selves but crave all from thee us as necessity makes us pray for our selves so charity for others this day all the time of our living here our which we have a lawful and just title to daily what is sufficient for our necessity not superfluity to supply our wants not our wantonness bread what is necessary for our bodies or our souls Victual Doctrinal Sacramental bread And forgive us our debts whatever sins we have committed against thee our neighbour or our selves As we forgive our debtors who have injured us in our bodies goods or name And lead us not suffer us not to be led into temptation of the world the flesh the Devil But deliver us from evil present past to come Amen So be it The Doxology is here and elsewhere omitted because in St. Luke's Gospel it is not any part of the Prayer Luk. 11.2 3 4. and Mr. Calvin doth acknowledge it not to be extant in any Latine copies it was supposed to be added by the Greek Church but never used in the Latine However our Bible in St. Matthew received it and no Minister is restrained from the use of it in Divine Service RUBRICK Then the Priest standing up shall say O Lord shew thy mercy upon us Answer And grant us thy salvation Psal 85.7 Priest O Lord saze the King 1 Sam. 10.24 1 Tim. 2.2 Psal 21.1 Answer And mercifully
hear us when we call upon thee Psal 4.1 Psal 30.10 Psal 109.26 Priest Endue thy Ministers with righteousness Answer And make thy chosen people joyful Psal 132.9 Priest O Lord save thy people Answer And bless thine inheritance Psal 28.9 Priest Give peace in our time O Lord 2 King 20.19 Psal 122.6 Answer Because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou O God 2 Chron. 20.12 Exod. 14.14 Nehem. 4.20 Isa 31.4 Priest O God make clean our hearts within us Answer And take not thy holy Spirit from us Psal 51.10 11. EXPLANATION The forementioned Prayers are all agreeable to Scripture of Divine derivation and because they are most what taken out of the Book of Psalms the Priest is ordered to stand up at the reading of them they are short and in that respect conformable to Scripture pattern and Primitive practice The interchangable way of praying is used here and often elsewhere in our Divine Offices which is agreeable to Primitive practice also and the end of it is to refresh the peoples attention to teach them their part in the publick Prayers to unite their affections and to keep them in a league of perpetual amity In these Prayers we pray first for the King next for the Ministers of Christ Priests and Deacons and in the last place for the People and in all we follow that excellent pattern which was set us by the Royal Prophet David Psal 132.1 9. And although it may be our good happiness to live in a time of Peace yet we pray constantly for Peace in our time in the same sense as we pray in the Lords Prayer for daily bread when we have it by us we pray that it may come where it is not and that it may continue where it is we pray also for the blessing of peace as well as for peace it self And although we pray in express terms for peace in our time yet we do not forget posterity only we dare not presume that it shall remain with us with her wings clipt for ever as we ask for bread this day and yet we neglect not to morrow only we follow the rule of our Saviour who forbids us anxiously to take care for to morrow And whereas it is added in the foregoing Prayers Because no other fighteth for us but only thou O God our meaning is that we fear not War but hope for an eternal Peace of God to defend us we acknowledge him our Shield our Watch-Tower and our Keeper Psal 18.2 Psal 121.4 Psal 127.1 Psal 73.25 and that there is none that holds with us but Michael our Prince Dan. 10.21 that is Christ Though Angels and men may fight in our quarrel yet they all do it but as God's Instruments God only fights for us as principal Agent He it is who teacheth our hands to War and our fingers to fight Psal 18.34 And in regard that without Christ's assisting us with his holy Spirit we can do nothing for he is first and last we can neither begin nor end well without him therefore as we begin so we end with God First we desire God to be with us and with our Spirit and in the last place we desire of God that he would not take his holy Spirit from us RUBRICK Then shall follow three Collects The first of the day which shall be the same that is appointed at the Communion The second for Peace The third for Grace to live well And the two last Collects shall never alter but daily be said at Morning Prayer throughout all the year as followeth all kneeling The second Collect for Peace O God who art the author of peace and lover of concord 1 Cor. 14.33 2 Cor. 13.11 in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life John 17.3 whose service is perfect freedom Luk. 1.74 John 8.32 36. Rom. 6.18 1 Cor. 7.22 Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies Psal 31.3 4 5. that we surely trusting in thy defence may not fear the power of any adversaries Psal 125.1 Psal 118.8 9 10 11. Psal 62.6 7 8. through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord Act. 4.12 Amen The third Collect for Grace O Lord our heavenly Father Mat. 6.26 Almighty and everlasting God Gen. 17.1 Gen. 21.33 who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day Psal 22.9 10. Psal 3.5 defend us in the same with thy mighty power Psal 62.2 and grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger Mat. 6.13 Psal 19.12 13. 2 Thes 3.3 Psal 17.5 Gen. 20.6 but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance to do always that is righteous in thy sight Psal 17.5 Prov. 20.24 Psal 5.8 Psal 119.5 through Jesus Christ our Lord John 14.13 Amen EXPLANATION Collects are so called because they are Prayers in short sums containing much matter in few words like so many choice Flowers gathered and collected out of the Scriptures Garden and bound up in little Posies to be offer'd and presented to God by Jesus Christ The first Collect here mentioned for the day is always fitted to the day and framed for the most part in reference to something remarkable in the Epistle and Gospel for the day which the Collect is set before The second Collect is for Peace because we cannot well pray nor offer up an acceptable Sacrifice to God without Peace where there is no Peace there is no Piety Godliness nor Honesty therefore we pray for Peace that the rest may be preserved 1 Tim. 2.1 2. The third Collect is for Grace to live well because if there be no Peace with God by holy life there can be none with man There is no peace to the wicked Isa 48.22 Peace and Truth Isa 39.8 Peace and Righteousness Psal 85.10 Peace and Holiness Heb. 12.14 are joyned by God in Scripture and by us should not be parted Our Religion if truly Christian is pure and peaceable Jam. 3.17 RUBRICK In Quires and places where they sing here followeth the Anthem Then these five Prayers following are to be read here except when the Litany is read and then only the two last are to be read as they are there placed A Prayer for the Kings Majesty O Lord our heavenly Father high and mighty King of Kings Lord of Lords the only Ruler of Princes who doest from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon Earth Most heartily we beseech thee with thy favour to behold our most gracious Soveraign Lord King CHARLES and so replenish him with the grace of thy holy Spirit that he may alway incline to thy will and walk in thy way endue him plenteously with heavenly gifts grant him in health and wealth long to live strengthen him that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies and finally after this life he may attain everlasting joy and felicity through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer for the Royal Family ALmighty God the fountain of all goodness we humbly beseech thee
to bless our gracious Queen CATHERINE James Duke of York and all the Royal Family Endue them with thy holy Spirit enrich them with thy heavenly grace prosper them with all happiness and bring them to thine everlasting Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer for the Clergy and people ALmighty and everlasting God who alone workest great marvels send down upon our Bishops and Curates and all Congregations committed to their charge the healthful Spirit of thy grace and that they may truly please thee pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing Grant this O Lord for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator Jesus Christ. Amen A Prayer of St. Chrysostom ALmighty God who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests Mat. 18.20 John 14.13 Fulfill now O Lord the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be most expedient for them granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and in the world to come life everlasting Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 THe Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen EXPLANATION Touching the variety of Service Anthems and Hymns to be sung by way of Antiphony or Response I have spoken something before and therefore shall say nothing in this place Indeed here I might have inserted the Anthems which are daily used in the Cathedral and most eminent Churches but I consider'd it to be needless in regard persons upon enquiry may meet with them bound up all together The forementioned Prayers I have not here Scriptur'd out because most of them as to the matter and substance of them will fall within the Litany which I shall warrant by Scripture sufficiently But here let it be noted that we pray in particular for Kings in pursuance of that precept of the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. which is pressed and urged with this reason that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty which can hardly be done if Kings and eminent persons in Authority do not help towards it Good Kings promote Religion wicked Kings persecute it Josiah and Hezekiah did increase true worshippers as Jeroboam did increase and multiply false and Schismatical ones A good King is a very great blessing but so unhappy are we that we cannot know the worth of him unless it be in the want of him We pray for the Church which is excellently described by Bishops Curates and the people committed to their charge all which make up a Church rightly constituted and Ignatius the Disciple of St. John the Evangelist tells us that there can be no truly constituted Church without a Bishop By Curates here are not meant Stipendiaries but all Ministers to whom the Bishop hath committed the cure and care of Souls For the right constituting of a Church and for the preserving of it when it is constituted and settled we pray for the healthful Spirit of Gods grace to be poured down upon all who profess Christ and embrace Christianity with sincerity The terms wherein we pray may seem strange in regard we present our prayers to the Almighty and everlasting God who only worketh great marvels but this expression hath a peculiar reference to Gods sending down of his holy Spirit upon the Apostles whereby they were enabled to speak in all Languages the wonderful works of God Act. 2.11 and to consirm that Doctrine by Miracles which they taught the world The Prayer of St. Chrysostom who lived about the fourth Century is grounded upon Mat. 18. v. 19 20. and may be met with word for word in his Liturgy We begin and end the Morning Service with the Apostle as we begin the Exhortation in an Apostolical stile so we conclude the Prayers with an Apostolical Prayer and conclude most of our Prayers and Collects with this clause Through Jesus Christ our Lord because there is no coming to God but by Christ what we ask as we ought in his Name God will give us for his sake He is our Jacobs Ladder by whom our Prayers ascend to God and Gods blessings descend to us all good things come from God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. RUBRICK Here endeth the Order of Morning Prayer throughout the year EXPLANATION The Morning Prayer intended in this order is that which I have before explained which did usually begin at six in the morning and doth still in the Cathedral Churches where the Canonical hours are punctually observed Now every Canonical or greater hour did contain so many lesser hours from six in the morning to nine was the first hour from nine to twelve was the third from twelve to three afternoon was the sixth from three to six was the ninth c. RUBRICK The Order for Evening Prayer daily throughout the Year EXPLANATION THe Evening Service is exactly the same with the Morning as the Jews had their daily Sacrifice a Lamb for the Morning and a Lamb for the Evening Exod. 29.38 so we Christians in a more Spiritual sense have the same Sacrifice to offer up to God by Christ continually in the Morning and in the Evening only here are two Collects to be taken notice of which are not in the Morning Service as also the Hymns and Psalms after the first and second Lesson After the first Lesson Magnificat S. Luk. 1.46 Cantate Domino Psal 98. After the second Lesson Nunc dimittis S. Luk. 2.29 Deus misereatur Psal 67. After this the Creed the lesser Litany the Lords Prayer and the following Responses all to be ranked and placed in that order as they stand in the Evening Service without either Scriptural Notes or Explanation After this follows the Collect for the day and then two other Collects proper for the Evening Service RUBRICK The second Collect at Evening Prayer for Peace O God from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works do proceed Jam. 1.17 2 Cor. 3.5 Isa 26.12 Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give 2 Thes 3.16 John 14.27 that both our hearts may be set to obey thy Commandments Psal 40.8 Psal 37.31 Psal 119.36 Deut. 5.29 and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen Psal 3.5 6 7. Psal 4.8 Luk. 1.73 74 75. RUBRICK The third Collect for aid against all perils LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord Psal 18.28 Psal 91. and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen EXPLANATION Out of the 91 Psalm this Prayer may be enlarged as there shall be occasion in our private Devotions in which Psalm there is mention of the
sorrow upon the Soul and a Repentance not to be repented of That it may please thee to defend and provide for the fatherless children and widows and all that are desolate and oppressed We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. We pray for those whom God himself hath especially declared in Scripture that he will be careful of and kind to and the intimations of his will and pleasure are the best directions for our Prayers neither can we pray more suitably to the mind of God for his pity and compassion to be extended to any then to those miserable persons whom he hath expresly nominated in his Sacred Scriptures to be the proper and fit objects of his compassion and protection so that he is pleased to stile himself the Father of the fatherless the Husband of the widow the Helper of the helpless and the Friend of the friendless the only succour and sure refuge to all miserable and distressed persons who being destituted of the world six their sole dependance upon him That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. When we pray that God would have mercy upon all men we pray for his general mercy to be extended to all in the same sense as he wills all to be saved 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. and in the same sense as he is pleased to distribute out his mercies to all Mat. 5.45 That it may please thee to forgive our enemies persecutors and slanderers and to turn their hearts We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. In praying for our enemies we observe that special command given by our Saviour the observing of which commandment brings us up to the perfection of our Christianity and makes us most like unto God Mat. 5.44 45. And because there is no inordinate lust in our corrupt nature so hard to be mortified as hatred is therefore did Christ in his Sermon upon the Mount administer something expresly towards the mortifying of this wicked passion wherein he doth not only take off the edge of our Revenge but he turns it quite the contrary way teaching us to love our enemies to bless those who curse us to do good to those who hate us to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us to love those for Gods sake whom perhaps for their own sake we cannot love The holy Apostle St. Paul teacheth the same Rom. 12.20 21. as Justin Martyr said to Trypho the Jew Ye persecute us and we pray for you Such like forms of Prayers may be met with in the writings of the Primitive Fathers the Liturgies and Constitutions of the Ancient Church Ignatius in his Epistle to Polycarp and the Church of Smyrna Tertullian and Cyprian in their Treatises of Christian Patience have written very notably upon this argument In all which may be observed the charity of the Church of Christians towards the very enemies of that Religion which she professeth There is not any thing in this Litany but may be met with in ancient Writers and ancient Liturgies ascribed to Chrysostom Basil St. James and in the Catholick Collect mentioned in the Constitutions which are father'd upon Clemens Romanus the places I could cite word for word only in regard I am writing to English People I have made it my design to write all in English such as it is and not so much as to dip into any other Tongue or Language That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth so as in due time we may enjoy them Psal 104.27 28. Psal 65.9 10 11 12 13. Mat. 6.11 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. From the Litanies or Rogations then used upon their common Perambulations came the three days before the day Anniversary of our Lords Ascension to be called Rogation-days and the Sunday before Rogation-Sunday wherein the Church prayed especially and most seasonably that it would please God to give and preserve to their use the kindly Fruits of the earth so that in due time they might enjoy them For unless God give them and preserve them when given and preserve them to our use and give us grace to use them as we ought to do we can neither enjoy them him in them nor our selves That it may please thee to give us true repentance to forgive us all our sins negligences and ignorances and to endue us with the grace of thy holy Spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy Word 2 Tim. 2.25 26. Jer. 5.24 25. Mat. 3.8 Mat. 6.33 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. This petition in very good order follows the former for unless that be granted to us which we petition for in this prayer all the earthly blessings before prayed for may never ripen to maturity they may be blasted in the springing of them the Canker Locust Caterpillar or any thing else however contemptible may be sent on Gods errand come armed with his displeasure and ravish these blessings out of our hands before we can come to the reaping of them One sin God he knows we are guilty of many unrepented of may bring a curse upon our blessings like the Frogs and Flies Locusts and Caterpillars into Aegypt or the Worm into Jonah's Gourd and quickly deprive us of all those blessings of increasing Nature which we yet hold by no other tenure then that of a defeasible expectation and if it shall please God to be so mercifull unto us as to give us these good things to enjoy and to forgive us our sins which is a greater mercy then all besides yet that we may not abuse them to luxury and intemperance when we have them but use them soberly that we may reap the good and God the glory we pray for the grace of Gods holy Spirit that all these blessings may be sanctified to us and that they may be as so many new obligations upon us to amend our lives and to live as becometh those who have received from God the great donor such obliging favours Son of God we beseech thee to hear us Mat. 9.27 Luk. 1.35 Son of God c. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world John 1.29 Grant us thy peace John 14.27 John 16.33 Rom. 5.1 O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world John 1.36 Have mercy upon us Mark 10.47 48. O Christ hear us O Christ hear us Lord have mercy upon us Lord have mercy c. Christ have mercy upon us Christ have mercy c. Lord have mercy upon us Lord have mercy c. These repetitions are warrantable by Scripture and therefore cannot be by men of Reason and Religion judged vain it is an argument of zeal and devotion and ferventy in prayer when our petitions are doubled by which we express our desires We meet with the like re-duplications frequently used in the Primitive Church David used often repetitions Psal 136. Psal 119. Psal 107.