some one or more of these sentences of the Scriptures that follow and then he shall say that which is written after the said sentences When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Ezek. 18.27 I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me Psal 51.3 Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities Psal 51.9 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 Rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Joel 2.13 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his Laws which he set before us Dan. 9.9 10. O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Jer. 10.24 Repent ye for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3 2. I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son Luke 15.18 19. Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal 143.2 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us But if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1.8 9. EXPLANATION The forecited sentences are all taken word for word out of the Holy Scripture of which the Minister may according to his discretion and as a fit occasion shall be offered make his choice which he is to read with a grave distinct loud but humble voice always considering that they are here set in proper place to mind the Congregation of their own misery and God's mercy and to prepare and stir up the hearts of people for the better performance of Holy Duties following both with alacrity and devotion DEarly beloved brethren Jam. 2.5 the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness 1 John 1.9 Psal 51.3 Psal 38.18 and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father Prov. 28.13 Psal 32.5 but confess them with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by his infinite goodness and mercy Psal 10.17 Psal 34.18 Joel 2.12 13. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God 1 Tim. 2.8 yet ought we most chiefly so to do when we assemble and meet together Levit. 4.14 to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands Psal 68.19 to set forth his most worthy praise Psal 50.23 to hear his most holy word Hebr. 3.7 Rom. 10.17 and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul Mat. 6.11 12. Mat. 7.7 8. Jam. 4.2 3. Wherefore I pray and beseech you as many as are here present to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice 1 Cor. 4.16 2 Cor. 2.8 2 Cor. 5.20 unto the throne of the heavenly Grace saying after me Hebr. 4.16 EXPLANATION The forementioned Exhortation is grave and serious exactly agreeable to Holy Scripture in which the people are invited and exhorted in an Apostolical stile to confess their sins humbly to the Lord who is able to help them because Almighty and willing to hear them because most merciful It gives us in a short summe the chief ends of our publick meetings in the houses of God it sets us some steps forward toward repentance makes us to know that we have offended instructs us how and in what manner to acknowledge our offence and by degrees brings us to confession upon our knees RUBRICK A general Confession to be said of the whole Congregation after the Minister all kneeling ALmighty and most merciful Father Gen. 17.1 Gen. 35.11 2 Cor. 1.5 we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep Psal 119.176 1 Pet. 2.25 we have followed too much the devises and desires of our own hearts Febr. 3.10 Gen. 6.5 we have offended against thy holy Laws Act. 7.53 Dan. 9.9 10. Jam. 2.10 Jam. 3.2 we have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done Rom. 7.15 19. and there is no health in us Isa 1.5 6. But thou O Lord have mercy upon us miserable offenders Luke 18.13 Psal 51.1 Spare thou them O God which confess their faults Joel 2.17 Hos 14.2 restore thou them that are penitent Psal 51.12 Hebr. 6.6 according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord Ephes 3.6 Rom. 15.8 2 Cor. 1.20 And grant O most merciful Father for his sake John 14.13 14. John 15.16 that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life Tit. 2.11 12. to the glory of thy holy Name 1 Pet. 4.11 1 Cor. 10.31 Amen 1 Cor. 14.16 EXPLANATION This Confession as appears by the forecited Texts is exactly agreeable to Scripture and is rationally and upon prudent grounds allowed the first place in our publick Liturgy We begin our Service with Confession of sin for these reasons 1. Because our sins make a separation betwixt God and us Isa 59.2 keep good things from us Jer. 5.25 hinder our prayers from ascending acceptably to God and God's blessings from descending comfortably upon us 2. It was the practice of God's people the Jews to begin their Service with a general Confession of sin of which we have the marks and signs in the Law Lev. 16.16 and the pattern and platform in the Prophets but the Confessions themselves are particularly to be met with in the Books of the Jews This verbal Confession of which we have an instance Luke 1.10 made the Jews fully acquainted with the true use of Sacrifices Besides Almighty God being jealous of his honour commanded a brazen Laver to be set between the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Altar for Aaron and his Sons twice in a day to wash their hands and feet Exod. 30.17 18 19 20 21. by which was signified the Laver of Repentance which we always stand in need of From the Jews it afterwards became a custom in the Christian Church to begin their publick Service with Confession of sin and to perform it in such a manner as we do The very Heathens had something amongst them which seemed to allude to it for they used to wipe off the dirt from their feet when they entred into the places of their Religious Service and Sacrifice However it is most certainly
his Resurrection appeared unto men so should we and walk exemplarily before them in heavenly living We should continue in a sanctified state of perseverance in Godly living till by Gods mercy we are taken up to bliss We should depend upon Christ for our Justification and Sanctification which are both of the effects of his rising We should also hasten our Resurrection as he did his and not so immerse our selves with sorrow and humiliation the Grave of mortified Souls as to hinder any actions and vital performances of the new and regenerate life As Christ dyed and as we are baptized into the death of Christ so we are to beg of God for his grace that we may continually mortifie our corrupt affections and being buried with him may pass through the grave and gate of death to our joyful Resurrection He ascended into Heaven and fitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty that is after his Resurrection when he had made his appearance several times to his Apostles to confirm them in the truth of it whom he had chosen for the publication of it unto the world after he had given them many sure proofs and evidences that he was risen after he had talked with them about the affairs of his Church which should be planted and governed by them and of many things concerning the Gospel and his Kingdom and how both his friends and his enemies should be dealt withall after he had eaten and drank and familiarly conversed with them thereby to give them all possible assurance of the truth of his Resurrection of his Power and Godhead and that he was indeed the undoubted Messias after that he had instructed them to tarry at Jerusalem to wait for the coming down of the Holy Ghost and how to prepare themselves for his reception after he had reproved them for their curiosity and shewn their vanity in expecting a Kingdom which he never intended to set up then in the presence and sight of them all he was taken up by Angels from the earth in a bright shining cloud which inclosed him so that they could see him no more Act. 1.2 3 4 5 6 7 8. He carried up our nature which he had assumed in which he suffered and which he had raised out of the Grave up on high above all Heavens Ephes 4.10 offer'd it up to the Father as an acceptable oblation who placed it on a glorious Throne at his right hand And as he descended on purpose to do us good to bestow and scatter his graces amongst us so he ascended also upon a good design for us that he might send down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles and by that means supply all our wants and do what was necessary to be done for the planting and governing of his Church The place he ascended from was Mount Olivet the place he ascended to was the highest Heavens The time of his Ascension was sourty days after his Resurrection the truth of it appears from the evidence of those who saw it and are able to give a good testimony of it the manner of it was glorious and the end of it hugely advantageous and beneficial to us But the practical Use which we are to make of Christ's Ascension and Session at the Father's right hand is this 1. As we believe that he is ascended into the Heavens corporally so we are spiritually in hearts and minds to ascend after him and to dwell continually with him in Divine meditations carrying heavenly minds in earthly bodies seeking minding savouring things above at the right hand of God where Christ sits Colos 3.1 where Christ our treasure is there should our hearts be also 2. Seeing he hath withdrawn his corporal presence we are to content our selves with his spiritual not to hang on his bodily presence the presence of his Manhood as it was visible to the eye but to acquiesce in his spiritual presence the presence of his Godhead and the presence of his Manhood too united to his Godhead yet no otherwise present then spiritually and by Faith for though his Godhead be every where yet his Manhood in a corporeal and natural sense cannot be every where but only where it is placed at the right hand of God Let us spiritually see him ascending cordially believe in him absent wait and hope with patience for his coming again and by his secret mercy feel and enjoy him spiritually present with us And seeing he sits at Gods right hand and is exalted with great triumph into his kingdom in Heaven whereby is noted his Reign and his being invested with all power in the union of his Regal and Priestly Office by virtue of which he gives commands to his Church intercedes with God for his Church and that so powerfully as actually to bestow that grace and pardon which he intercedes for making continual Intercession with God who is his Father and ours This should teach us to give up our selves obediently to be ruled by him in all his holy institutions and commands and to be guided by all those whom he hath placed in his Church under him to rule over us This should also teach us to depend upon his Intercession to offer up all our prayers and praises to God in and through him only This should teach us to be in a readiness to receive all Grace that shall flow from him and to make the holiest use and best advantage of it Lastly This should teach us to have recourse to him in all temptations and to persevere in despight of all assaults to the contrary to have our eye upon him in all that ever we do to improve those Talents well which he bestows upon us for as he is gone to Heaven he will return again from Heaven to judge the world From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead The very same Jesus Christ who is gone up to Heaven in glorious manner shall come one day from Heaven again in as glorious a manner to judge us Act. 1.11 His going up to Heaven was not an absolute departing from us only he went to take possession of that Kingdom of his which he shall exercise to the end of the world and then he shall return again to judge all men without respect of persons all that are dead and all that shall then be found alive all Nations of men in their order and every man of every Nation shall give up their accounts to him and shall receive according to what they have done in the flesh be it good or bad To those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality shall be given the reward of eternal life but to those who are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness the retribution shall be indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish shall be upon every Soul of man that doth evil but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good Rom. 2.7 8 9 10. Now the
sedition privy conspiracy and rebellion from all false doctrine heresie and schism from hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and Commandment Good Lord deliver us We are caution'd and advised by the holy Scriptures to fear the Lord and the King and not to have any thing to do with those who are seditious and given to change Prov. 24.21 for such persons are of very unhappy tempers and plot mischiefs secretly Psal 17.12 are unquiet in themselves and will not suffer others to live quietly by them their hearts are not stablished with grace but are of unstable minds carried about with divers and strange doctrines Heb. 13.9 sound doctrine they regard not but after their own lusts heap to themselves Teachers having itching ears which ears they turn from the truth that they may be turned unto fables 2 Tim. 4.3 4. they have in them evil hearts of unbelief hardned through the deceitfulness of sin so that they depart from the living God Heb. 3.12 13. contemn his Word and slight his Commandment Now from these persons and from the evil of their doings that we may neither act evil with them nor suffer evil from them do we pray to be delivered By the mystery of thy holy Incarnation by thy holy Nativity and Circumcision by thy Baptism Fasting and Temptation Good Lord deliver us Christ's Incarnation Nativity Circumcision Baptism Fasting and Temptation we meet with 1 Tim. 3.16 Mat. 1.25 Luk. 1.35 Luk. 2.21 Mat. 3.16 Luk. 3.21 Mat. 4.1 2 3 4 5 6. By thine Agony and bloudy sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy precious death and burial by thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension and by the coming of the Holy Ghost Good Lord deliver us These we also find expresly mentioned in the holy Scriptures Christ's Agony and bloudy sweat Mat. 26.37 38. Luk. 22.44 his Cross and Passion Philip. 2.8 Heb. 12.2 his precious death and burial Mat. 27.58 59 60. his glorious Resurrection Mat. 28.6 his Ascension Luk. 24.51 and the coming down of the Holy Ghost Act. 2. and By all these or Through all these we pray for deliverance The meanest Grammarian would tell us that here is no swearing or conjuration in the case their eyes must look through very strange Spectacles who can spie out an oath here By is no more then Through and in these prayers we do no other then desire God to aid us by applying to us the fifteen benefits here rehearsed These passionate strains are no forms of Oaths they are only a compendious recapitulation of the History of the Gospel and an acknowledgment of the chief means of our Salvation We read the like expressions 1 Pet. 2.24 Isa 53.5 By in these places is no sign of an oath only it notes the instrumental cause of a thing Zanchy confessed that in the Liturgick Offices of the Roman Church these two things pleased him very much First that they did conclude their Pravers Through Jesus Christ our Lord Secondly that they did enumerate in their Prayers all the acts and offices of the Mediator adding By thy Cross and Passion c. And it was undoubtedly to very good purpose that the 〈◊〉 Fathers of the Greek 〈◊〉 after they had recounted in their Liturgies all the particular pains as they are set down in the story of Christ's Passion and by all and every one of 〈◊〉 petition for mercy did after all 〈◊〉 up with this expression By the unknow◠〈…〉 thy Body and agonies of thy Soul â—ave mercy upon us save us and deliver us In all time of our tribulation in all time of our wealth in the hour of death and in the day of judgment Good Lord deliver us In regard we are liable to many sorts of temptations which may befall us either in a prosperous or adverse estate we pray unto God that he would deliver us from every evil work and preserve us unto his Heavenly Kingdom 2 Tim. 4.18 that he would be assistant to us in the hour of death and destroy the dread and fear of it in us by vertue of the death of him who died that he might destroy death and him who had the power of it Heb. 2.14 15. We pray also that a gracious sentence may be passed upon us at the last Judgment implying withall that we may so lead our lives as not to fall under the other more dreadful one The summe of what is here prayed for is contained in the petitions of our Saviour's Prayer mentioned Mat. 6.13 We sinners do beseech thee to hear us O Lord God and that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church universal in the right way 1 John 1.8 9 10. Mat. 28.20 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Thut it may please thee to keep and strengthen in the true worshipping of thee in righteousness and holiness of life thy servant Charles our most gracious King and Governour 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. Psal 72.1 2. Psal 80.17 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to rule his heart in thy faith fear and love and that he may evermore have affiance in thee and ever seek thy honour and glory Psal 21. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to be his defender and keeper giving him the victory over all his enemies Psal 21. Psal 132. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and preserve our gracious Queen Catherine James Duke of York and all the Royal Family Psal 89.29 Psal 45. Gen. 49.10 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to illuminate all Bishops Priests and Deacons with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word and that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly Deut. 33.8 9 10 11. Psal 132.9 Act. 20.28 1 Cor. 9.27 1 Tim. 4.16 1 Pet. 5.2 3 4. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to endue the Lords of the Council and all the Nobility with grace wisdom and understanding Exod. 18.21 Prov. 11.14 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and keep the Magistrates giving them grace to execute justice and to maintain truth 2 Chron. 19.6 Rom. 13. We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people Psal 28.9 We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. We may read in Tertullian Clement Bishop of Rome Eusebius Ambrose Cyril and others many early presidents of praying for the Church Emperours Kings the Royal Seed Bishops together with the inferiour order of Priests and Deacons and for all things indeed and persons which we pray for in this Litany and Litanies were undoubtedly of very ancient use being at first composed to be solemnly used for the appeasing of Gods wrath in time of publick evils and for the procuring of his mercy in common benefits this may be easily