Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A27562
|
A sermon concerning the excellency and usefulness of the common prayer preached by William Beveridge ... 27th of November. 1681.
|
Beveridge, William, 1637-1708.
|
1682
(1682)
|
Wing B2100; ESTC R974
|
27,675
|
46
|
Be sure the consequents of its being laid aside at that time were very sad For people being deprived of that whereby they should have been edified were immediately tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine until at length many of them fell into the most pernicious and damnable Heresies that were ever heard of in the Church Yea together with the Liturgy they laid aside all distinction betwixt sacred and common things by which means the whole Nation was in danger of being over-spread with profaneness and irreligion But blessed be the Name of the most high God for it he was once more pleased to appear for us and in a miraculous manner to restore our Common Prayer to his Church together with our Gracious Soveraign to his Kingdoms But what shall we render to the Lord for so great a Blessing as this is All that he expects or we can give him for it is only to make the best use of it that we can This therefore is that which I now pray and beseech you all for the future to do Do not think it enough to be for the Common Prayer and to come now and then to hear it This you may do as many do and yet receive no more benefit by it than as if there was none at all to be received Which therefore can by no means be imputed to the Common Prayer its self but to the negligence of those that use it Neither must you think it enough to talk high for it or to rail at those who are not so happy as to be rightly informed about it But rather take all opportunities to inform them and by all means possible to convince them of the Excellency and Usefulness of it Which you can never do so effectually as by your out-stripping and exceeding them in Vertue and Good Works For this is and ever will be a plain demonstration that the Common Prayer is indeed far more edifying than those new Modes of Religion which they are so unhappily seduced into That therefore you may do this and so both experience in your selves and demonstrate unto others the truth and certainty of what you have now heard concerning the Common Prayer I desire you to observe these few Rules in the using of it First Come not to our Publick Prayers only out of Custom or for Fashion sake as the manner of some is but out of a sincere obedience to Gods Commands and with a sure trust and confidence in his Promises for his Blessing upon what you do For which end it will be very good as you go to Church to bethink your selves whither you are going and what you are to do there that so laying aside all other business you may put your selves into a right temper for so great a work Secondly Frequent our Publick Prayers as often as conveniently you can The oftner you are at them the better you will like them and the more edified you will be by them And therefore do not satisfie your selves with hearing them once a Week In this City as also in many other places of the Kingdom especially where there are Cathedrals or Collegiate Churches you may enjoy the benefit of them publickly every day and so keep your hearts continually in an holy and heavenly frame and always live as becometh Christians And if you neglect such opportunities as are now put into your hands you will one day wish you had not but then wishing will do no good Thirdly If possible come always at the beginning of Divine Service Otherwise you will certainly miss of something that would have been edifying to you and perhaps of that which at that time might have done you more good than all the rest Neither will you lose the benefit only of part of it but in some measure of the whole too All the parts of it being linked together in so excellent a manner and method that they influence and assist each other So that nothing can be omitted either by Minister or People but the whole will suffer by it and lose something of that Vertue and Efficacy which otherwise you would find in it Fourthly All the while that you are in Gods House carry your selves as in his special presence and suitably to the work you are about standing while you praise God and kneeling while you pray unto him as our Church hath directed you For though these may seem but little things in themselves yet they are of great consequence both to our Worshipping of God aright and also to our being edified by what we do as I have shewed before Lastly Take special care all along to keep your minds intent upon the matter in hand When you confess your sins to God do it with an hearty and sincere Repentance for all the Errors of your life past When the Absolution is pronounced receive it with a firm and stedfast Faith in Christ your Saviour When you repeat or sing the Hymns and Psalms raise up your Spirits as high as you can to joyn with those above in praising and magnifying the Eternal God When the Word of God is read hearken diligently unto it and consider seriously what he that made you saith to you and requireth of you and resolve by his Blessing to believe and live accordingly And all the while that you are upon your knees putting up your Petitions to the most high God let your whole Souls be employed in it earnestly desiring the good things you pray for at his Gracious hands and humbly confiding on his faithful Promises for the granting of them By this means you will perform reasonable service unto God and by consequence that which will be very acceptable unto him and as profitable and edifying to your selves Whereas they that do not observe this Rule cannot be properly said to pray or serve God at all And therefore it is no wonder that they come to Church and hear the Common Prayer read and yet are no way edified by it Indeed it is impossible that they should For as much as all the benefit and edification that we can possibly receive from any of our Devotions depends very much upon the due intention of our minds in the performance of them To which as I have shewn both a Form of Prayer in general and ours in particular is a very great help Do but observe these plain and necessary Rules in using of the Common Prayer without which you cannot be truly said to use but rather to abuse it and you will soon find what I have said about it to be true even that All things in it are done to Edifying And therefore I would to God that not only you that hear me at this time but all the people of the Nation could be once perswaded to do so What an holy Nation what a peculiar People should we then become How Pious towards God How Loyal to our Soveraign How Just and Charitable to one another For by our constant Worshipping Almighty God in so solemn and devout a manner as this is our hearts would be over-awed with so great a fear of his Divine Majesty that we should never dare willingly to offend him Our minds would be filled and impregnated with such a sense of his power and soveraignty that we should honour and revere it in those also whom he hath set over us Our whole Souls would be raised up so much above the World that we should not do an ill act to gain it wholly to our selves In short we should be every day edified more and more in Faith in Love in Humility in Self-denial in Temperance in Patience in all true Grace and Vertue And so we should go from strength to strength from one degree of grace unto another until at length we arrive at Glory and Perfection in the highest Heavens where we shall spend Eternity its self in Praising and Adoring the most high God as for all the other Mercies which he hath vouchsafed to us so in a particular manner for our being Members of such an Apostolical Church wherein all things are done to edifying Which God of his Infinite Mercy grant we may all do in and through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen FINIS