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
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
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
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