Ignatius Hasten frequently to approach to the Eucharist the Glory of God For when this is Daily Celebrated we break the Powers of Satan If all our Bishops Deans and Prebends did constantly and devoutly attend this Solemn Worship at their several Cathedrals and there perform this Holy Service as it ought to be we should soon find that to be of greater Importance both to Church and State and the whole Nation than all the Service our Bishops ever did or ever will do in Parliament or the rest at their particular Cures Attendances and I know not what occasions to withdraw them from their proper and principal Business These are such Relicks of Popery as ought to be reformed if ever we expect to receive the Favour and Blessing of God in any great degree How others can satisfie their Consciences I know not but I am clear of Opinion that they who take such Preferments for Lucre sake and attend the Duty of them no farther than our Laws do require are guilty of the greatest Sacriledge And that those Princes and States who presume ordinarily to withdraw such Persons from the Service of God in their proper Places to serve them in Matters of State are likewise Guilty of Sacriledge Impiety and great Imprudence to make so bold with Sacred Matters The Reformation of these things would be a greater Demonstration of real Gratitude to God than any thing this Nation hath produced of a long time THE LITURGY Of the ANCIENTS REPRESENTED As near as well may be In ENGLISH Forms PART I. The Priest turning toward the People Note According to Ancient Usage what-ever is spoken to God is spoken toward the Altar whatever to the People toward them v. Mede Ep. 56. Pr. * The Lord he with you Pe. And with thy Spirit * O Come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the Strength of our Salvation Let us come before his Presence with Thanksgiving and shew our selves glad in him with Psalms For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods In his hand are all the corners of the Earth and the strength of the Hills is his also The Sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry Land O come let us Worship and Fall down and Kneel before the Lord our Maker For he is the Lord our God and we are the people of his pasture and sheep of his hand O come c. Then toward the Altar * Glory be to God on high and on Earth peace Good Will towards Men. * BLessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people And hath raised up a mighty Salvation for us in the house of his servant David As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began That we should be saved from our Enemies and from the hands of all that hate us To perform the Mercy promised to our fore-fathers and to remember his holy Covenant To perform the Oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham that he would give us That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear In Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our life Glory be to the Father c. * GOD be merciful unto us and bless us and shew us the Light of his Countenance and be merciful unto us * PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious Favour and further us with thy continual Help that as by thy special Grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good Desires so by thy continual Help we may bring the same to good Effect and in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy may obtain everlasting life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen OUR Father who art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done on Earth As it is in Heaven Give us this day our Daily Bread And forgive us our Trespasses As we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into Temptation But deliver us from Evil. Amen ALmighty God unto whom all Hearts be open all Desires known and from whom no Secrets are hid Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the Inspiration of thy holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnifie thy holy Name through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen †Then turning toward the People Pr. GOD spake these words and said I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt have none other Gods but me Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law Pr. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the Likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath or in the Water under the Earth Thou shalt not bowe down to them nor worship them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the Sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt do no manner of Work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter thy Man-servant nor thy Maid-servant thy Cattle nor the Stranger that is within thy gates For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the Seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt do no Murther Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not commit Adultery Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not Steal Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us c. Pr. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours Wife nor his Servant nor his Maid nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any thing that is his Pe. Lord have Mercy upon us and write these and all thy Laws in our Hearts we beseech thee †Let us Pray And turning toward the Altar * O God the Strength of all them that put their Trust in thee Mercifully accept our Prayers and because through the Weakness of our mortal Nature we can
Blessed being it self a Receptacle of Holy Souls made illustrious with Visitations of Angels and happy by being a Repository for such Spirits who at the day of Judgment shall go forth into Eternal Glory In the interim Christ hath trod all the Paths before us and this also we must pass through to arrive at the Courts of Heaven Justin Martyr said it was the Doctrine of Heretical Persons to say that the Souls of the Blessed instantly upon the Separation from their Bodies enter into the highest Heaven And Irenaeus makes Heaven and the intermediate Receptacle of Souls to be distinct Places both blessed but hugely differing in degrees Tertullian is dogmatical in the Assertion that till the Voice of the great Arch-Angel be heard and as long as Christ sits at the right-hand of his Father making Intercession for the Church so long blessed Souls must expect the Assembling of their Brethren the great Congregation of the Church that they may all pass from their outward Courts into the inward Tabernacle the Holy of Holies to the Throne of God And as it is certain that no Soul could enter into Glory before our Lord entred by whom we hope to have Access So it is most agreeable to the proportion of the Mysteries of our Redemption that we believe the Entrance into Glory to have been made by our Lord at his Glorious Ascension and that his Soul went not thither before then to come back again to be contracted into the Span of Humanity and dwell Forty days in his Body upon Earth But that he should return from Paradice that is from the common Receptacle of departed Spirits who died in the Love of God to Earth again had in it no lessening of his Condition since Himself in Mercy called back Lazarus from thence and some others also returned to live a Life of Grace which in all Senses is less than the least of Glories Sufficient it is to us that all Holy Souls departing go into the hands that is into the Custody of our Lord that they rest from their Labours that their Works shall follow them and overtake them too at the day of Judgment that they are Happy presently that they are visited by Angels that God sends as he pleases excellent Irradiations and Types of Glory to entertain them in their Mansions that their Condition is secured but the Crown of Righteousness is laid up against the great Day of Judgment and then to be produced and given to St. Paul and to all that love the Coming of our Lord that is to all who either here in Duty or in their Receptacles with Joy and certain Hope long for the Revelation of that day At the Day of Judgment Christ will send the Angels and they shall gather together the Elect from the four Winds and all the Refuse of Men evil Persons they shall throw into Everlasting Burning Then our Blessed Lord shall call to the Elect to enter into the Kingdom and reject the Cursed into the Portion of Devils for whom the Fire is but now prepared in the interval For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ saith St. Paul that every Man may receive in his Body according as he hath done whether it be Good or Evil. Out of the Body the Reward is not And therefore St. Peter affirms that God hath delivered the Evil Angels into Chains of Darkness to be reserved unto Judgment And St. Jude saith that the Angels which kept not their first Estate but left their first Habitation he hath reserved in everlasting Chains under Darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day And therefore the Devils expostulated with our Blessed Saviour Art Thou come to Torment us before the Time And the same also he does to Evil Men Reserving the Vnjust unto the Day of Judgment to be punished For since the Actions which are to be judged are the Actions of the whole Man so also must be the Judicature And our Blessed Saviour intimated this to his Apostles In my Father's House are many Mansions but I go to prepare a Place for you And if I go away I will come again and take you unto me that where I am there ye may be also At Christ's second Coming this is to be performed Many outer Courts many different Places or different States there may be and yet there is a Place whither holy Souls shall arrive at last which was not then ready for us and was not to be entred into until the Entrance of our Lord had made the Preparation and that is certainly the Highest Heaven called by St. Paul the third Heaven because the other Receptacles were ready and full of holy Souls Patriarchs and Prophets and holy Men of God concerning whom St. Paul affirms expressly that the Fathers received not the Promises God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made Perfect Therefore certain it is that their Condition was a State of Imperfection and yet they were placed in Paradice in Abraham's Bosom and thither Christ went and the blessed Thief attended Him And then it was that Christ made their Condition better For tho' still it be a Place of Relation in order to something beyond it yet the Term and Object of their Hope is changed They sate in the Regions of Darkness expecting that Great Promise made to Adam and the Patriarchs the Promise of the Messias but when He that was promised came He preached to the Spirits in Prison He communicated to them the Mysteries of the Gospel the Secrets of the Kingdom the things hiddea from eternal Ages and taught them to look up to the Glories purchased by his Passion and made the term of their Expectation be his second Coming and the Objects of their Hope the Glories of the Beatifick Vision And altho' the State of Separation is sometimes in Scripture called Heaven and sometimes Hell for these Words in Scripture are of large Significations yet it is never called the third Heaven nor the Hell of the damned For altho' concerning it nothing is clearly revealed or what is their Portion till the Day of Judgment yet it is intimated in a Parable that between Good and Evil Spirits even in the State of Separation there is a Distance of Place Certain it is there is a great Distance of Condition and as the holy Souls in their Regions of Light are full of Love Joy Hope and Longing for the Coming of the Great Day so the Accursed do expect it with an insupportable Amazement and are presently tormented with Apprehensions of the Future Happy are they that through Paradice pass into the Kingdom who from their highest Hope pass to the greatest Charity from the State of a blessed Separation to the Mercies and gentle Sentence of the Day of Judgment which St. Paul prayed to God to grant Onesiphorus and more explicitly for the Thessalonians that their whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord
Company till something more compleat be established that I may neither offend Authority by acting without Leave nor my own Mind by too much varying in a marter of this moment from the good Order and Practice of the Catholick Church nor yet be forced to make use of that Indulgence which is now allow'd to such as I would not willingly be And possibly from such a Beginning by the Favour and Blessing of God may a good Reformation insensibly ensue without Trouble or Difficulty for in what is here proposed is very little but what hath the Authority of Law and the Declaration of the whole State that it was composed by the Aid of the Holy Ghost and that Little such as is not like to offend any Man of Judgment and truly Religious And I should be glad to have no Occasion to proceed any further to the opening such Sores as I had rather see insensibly healed and covered than exposed to publick View But I have such Assurance and Divine Attestations that the Work I am imploy'd in for the Restitution of this most Holy Solemn and peculiar Part of the Christian Worship to its Integrity as well as just Frequency of a Daily Celebration in places proper for it and Weekly in all Churches is the Special Work of God not only for his Service but ordered by Himself by his own Hand of Providence and under his Divine Conduct that as it is no little Comfort and Encouragement to me so it is a special and great Obligation to be Faithful in it I am very sensible of the Obligation upon me and very much desire to pay all due Respect and Observance to all Humane Authority whether Ecclesiastical or Civil as the Ordinance of God but if they in Authority will give unnecessarily Occasion for a Contest we must obey God rather than Man and prefer the Authority of the Catholick Church before that of any particular Church whatever and especially the Honour of God and of our Saviour before that of Man or any Society of Men be it what it will and if nothing else will do I must proceed and open the whole Matter in the Cause of God to the whole Church in the best manner that I can And this is what I have to say here at present in Order to the Restitution of this Holy Service to its Integrity For for the Reasons of what is here done they may be more proper to have their place in the Notes which are intended for that purpose But as for that of its just Frequency of Celebration there needs not that Caution though what I have to say do reflect Shame upon our Clergy For 1. that may be without Disparagement to the Constitution of this Church in this Matter because there be Learned Men who have asserted in Publick and are ready to prove That by the Constitution of this Church there ought to be a Daily Celebration in all Places where there are but a competent Number of Devout Persons to attend and commenicate And 2. it is but just and reasonable to do it notwithstanding for their Humiliation before God and Reformation to prevent what might be worse for them Our Wise and Gracious God hath given them a gentle tacit Admonition by a small Company of Daily Communicants excited and conducted by his Hand from a private Room to a publick Church and by degrees from one without the Walls at last to one in the very Heart of this City where they have constantly assembled for this Holy Service without Intermission of a Day for a Twelve-month together and thereby born a Testimony for Him and been a tacit Admonition to all others but especially the Clergy And I have formerly proposed the Case by Way of Questions in Print which have come to the Hands of some of the Principal of those concerned and been under their Consideration besides many others And since those have had no more Effect I know nothing more proper for this Purpose than these Theses and Conclusions concerning the Frequent Celebration and Participation of the Holy Eucharist which I lately drew up upon a private Occasion little thinking then of this for which they serve much better and possibly might be so designed then by that over-ruling Wisdom whose Thoughts are as far above ours as the Heaven above the Earth Thes 1. That this One Vnbloody Sacrifice or Holy Rite of the Blessed Eucharist doth succeed as an Antitype and Memorial in the Christian Church in the Place of all those Bloody Typical Sacrifices of the Jews as is taught both by Ancient Christians and by Learned Men of our own Church and Times Concl. 1. That it is very Unworthy of a Christian to imagin our Memorial of what is actually done and consummate to be less effectual for Christians than were their Types of what was then yet to be done for the Jews for any Intent or Purpose whatever 2. That this being of as great Use to us as were theirs to them ought as frequently to be used among us as were theirs among them upon all just Occasions Thes 2. That this Holy Rite was a Rite in Vse among the Jews for Solemn Thanksgiving to God for any great Mercy or Blessing as often as they met together to celebrate any such and was appropriate by our Saviour for a Eucharistical Commemoration of His Passion before God as often as Christians should have any Solemn Assembly for the Worship of God Concl. That this being instituted by our Saviour as the Peculiar Solemnity of that Memorial ought to be used as often as we assemble to give Solemn Thanks for that great Blessing or to offer up Solemn Prayers for the Obtaining of the Benefits thereof Thes 3. That it is a Rite of the Greatest Honour to God and to our Saviour and of the Greatest Benefit to Men of any in the Christian Church Concl. 1. Both these Considerations are both Great Motives and Great Obligations to a frequent Celebration and Participation of it 2. The Neglect thereof in Respect of the Honour of God and of our Saviour is Ingratitude and Impiety and in Respect of the Benefit to Man as to others Vncharitableness and as to themselves Prophaneness and Folly like that of Esau Heb. 12.16 Thes 4. It is the Principal and most Solemn Part of the Christian Worship and so Essential a Part that in the Judgment of most Eminent Men of our own Church our Service is not compleat without it but defective and defective in the Principal Part wanting Concl. 1. Concerning Reading of a part of the Communion Service at the Altar where no Communion is prepared for intended or expected what Conclusion is to be made in Respect of God to whom it is offered in Respect of the Minister who doth offer it and in Respect of the People who should attend and communicate is not hard to be understood Thes 5. Not any One Solemn Assembly of Christians for the Worship of God in the Times of the Apostles
or among the Ancient Christians of the first Ages is known ever to have been held without it Thes 6. No Church upon the Face of the Earth from the Time of the Apostles to the Time of the Reformation nor to this Day except among Protestants is known to have kept the Lord's-Day or had any ordinary Assemblies for the And as to the Communion or Participation Thes 1. By most Ancient Order in the Church who-ever departed after the Reading of the Scriptures or Sermon and stay'd not at the Communion and received were to be excommunicated Thes 2. In the first Ages till about the Time of St. Augustin we find not any Doubt or Question concerning the Obligation of all to Communicate daily if they were where it was Celebrated and had no just Impediment But then when many especially among the Greeks began to neglect that Holy Duty that Question arose among the Latines and the more Devout continued to receive every Day an Argument of Daily Celebration then and others intermitted certain Days Thes 3. By Ancient Canons if any neglected to Communicate for Three Sundays together they were to be excommunicated Thes 4. It was Anciently commonly reputed a grievous thing to be hindered from Receiving the Blessed Sacrament but to be denyed it a grievous Punishment and such was the Judgment of the Church concerning the Importance of it that to such as were hindered from coming to the Church it was sent home to their Houses by the Deacons Thes 5. It was Anciently not only Scandalous but Punishable in a Clergy-Man to be in a City or other Place where it was celebrated and not to attend and communicate Thes 6. These Orders of later Ages concerning Receiving at least Three times in a Year and so indulging a Neglect for all the rest are most justly by Calvin said to be Certissimum Diaboli Inventum Thes 7. It hath been always the Practice and Advice of all Devout People to be very frequent at it and of most to neglect no Opportunity Dr. Taylor 's Conclusion concerning it in his Holy Living is very agreeable to the Sentiments of the Ancients and deserves to be Read by all Concl. 1. From all this it appears how far different the Devotion of this Age is from that of the ancient genuine Christianity and short of it 2. This Holy Service having been constantly performed in this City in Publick Churches ever since the Sixth of Janunry 1694. and in the Heart of the City for a Twelve-month together and frequented by so few is a Notorious Argument of the miserable Ignorance and Indevotion for all our Pretences both of Priests and People amongst us 3. It hath been the Opinion of several Learned Judicious and Observent Men that a great part of the Mischief which hath been in the World in these latter Ages is to be imputed to so woful a Neglect of this Holy Ordinance Now for Proofs of these things They who pretend to any kind of Learning I suppose will be cautious how they require it lest they betray their own Ignorance in Antiquity and for others they are not so much to be regarded as to insist upon them meerly for them but if there be Occasion abundant Proofs both Old and New may soon be produced And in the mean time for the Satisfaction of such well-meaning People as doubt they may be referred to Mr. Joseph Mede Dr. Sherlock the present Dean of St. Pauls in the last chap. of his Book of Religious Assemblies Dr. S. Patrick the present Bp. of Ely in his Discourse of Frequency of Holy Communion Mr. Thorndike Bp. Andrews Dr. Jeremy Taylor and others who have several considerable Passages to the Purpose in several Parts of their Works very consonant to the Sentiments and Practices of the Ancient Christians and the whole Catholick Church And certainly it is a wonderful thing that Almighty God should ever permit the Enemy of Mankind so to impose upon such as may well be supposed did really intend his Service and had a great Zeal for it as some leading Men in the Beginning of the Reformation and that such Men of Learning and Parts should be so imposed upon as by a mistaken Zeal against Superstition to abolish and deface so considerable a Part of the most Holy and Solemn Worship of God and even of the true Notion and proper Use thereof But our most Wise and Gracious God for most Excellent Ends no doubt though we cannot comprehend them all hath again concluded all under Sin that he might have Mercy upon all abolish that Enmity and Uncharitableness which the Enemy hath fomented amongst us and teach us henceforward by a very remarkable Example in the Work of God to attend with more Reverence and Circumspection to his Conduct and not presume too much upon our own Conceits and Opinions These Men who so much over-shot themselves had the Honour and Service of God for their End and the Word of God for their Rule and yet How have they erred from both done Dis-honour and Dis-service to God for the Honour and Service they intended and instead of the Pure Word of God followed their own or their Leaders meer Fancies and Imaginations The Great Business of Man upon Earth is the Intire Subjection of the Creature to the Creator in the Subjection of the Intellect as well as the Will and therefore it is absolutely necessary that we should have great Experiments of the Danger of Presuming too much upon our own Opinions as well as of adhering too much to our own Wills And such is this we are now considering And if we inquire into the Causes of it they are such as I have just now touched 1. Not sufficient Attendance to the Conduct of God over us for he is always present in a special manner with all those who are imployed in any special Service for Him to direct them if they be careful to follow Him fully and not unadvisedly conclude upon their own Opinions like them Jos 9. when they should ask Counsel of the Lord. 2. Conceitedness and Presumption upon our own Judgments which makes us apt to neglect that Attendance 3. Want of Charity to such as are otherwise minded and a Spirit of Opposition apt to run without due Consideration and be insensibly transported from one Extream or Errour into another beyond either the Conduct of God or Mature Deliberation of our own Minds 4. Want of due regard to Humane Authority For though we must obey God rather than Man yet we must be subject to Humane Ordinances too so far as they are not inconsistent with the Orders of God and even in those things wherein we cannot obey yet have due regard to the Authority 5. Having Mens Persons in Admiration and receiving their Opinions as the Oracles of God a secret Principle of all Sectaries 6. Indiscreet Zeal without Knowledge for the Honour and Service of God another Occasion of running out of one Extream or Errour into another 7. Mixture
with the Spiritual Food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Iesus Christ as Members incorporate in His Mystical Body and Heirs through Hope of thy Everlasting Kingdom by the Merits of His most Precious Death and Passion And we most humbly beseech thee O Heavenly Father so to assist us with thy Grace that we may continue in that Holy Fellowship and do all such Good Works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in through Iesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen Then this Hymn GLory be to God on high and on Earth Peace Good Will towards Men. We Praise thee we Bless thee we Worship thee we Glorifie thee we give Thanks unto thee for thy great Glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely begotten Son Iesu Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayer Thou that sittest at the Right Hand of God the Father have Mercy upon us For thou onely art Holy thou onely art the Lord thou onely O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father Amen Then the Priest or Bishop if he be present may let them depart with this Blessing THe Peace of God which passeth all Vnderstanding keep your Hearts and Minds in the knowledge and Love of God and of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord And the Blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be amongst you and remain with you always Amen COLLECTS To be said as occasion may serve at the Discretion of the Minister ACcept us graciously O Lord in these our Supplications Prayers and Thanksgivings and dispose the Way of Servants towards the Attainment of Everlasting Salvation that among all the Changes and Chances of this Mortal Life they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready Help through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen O Almighty Lord and everlasting God vouchsafe we beseech thee to sanctifie direct and govern both our Hearts and Bodies in the Ways of thy Laws and in the Works of thy Commandments that through thy most mighty Protection both here and ever we may be preserved in Body and Soul through our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Amen GRant we beseech thee Almighty God that the Words which we have heard this Day with our outward Ears may through thy Grace he so grafred inwardly in our Hearts that they may bring forth in us the Fruit of good Living to the Honour and Praise of thy Name through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious Favour and further us with thy continual Help that in all our Works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty God the Fountain of all Wisdom who knowest our Necessities before we ask and our Ignorance in Asking We beseech thee to have Compassion upon our Infirmities and those things which for our Vnworthiness we dare not and for our Blindness we cannot ask vouchsafe to give us for the Worthiness of thy Son Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty God who hast promised to hear the Petitions of them that ask in thy Sons Name We beseech thee mercifully to incline thy Favour to us who have made now our Prayers and Supplications unto Thee and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked according to thy Will may effectually be obtained to the Relief of our Necessity and to the setting forth of thy Glory through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen In these Forms thus disposed is so much both of the Substance and of the Order of the most ancient Liturgies that a small matter more would make it One of the Compleatest Liturgies in the World In the First Part should be more of the Scriptures which may either be left to the Discretion of the Priest or some of the Lessons for the Day be used And the Prayers which are preposterous before the Creed or the Epistle and Gospel v. Heb. 11.6 should either be after the Creed and the Te Deum or be reserved to the Second Part which is most agreeable to the most ancient Office for the Catechumens and Penetents who were not admitted to the Prayers of the Faithful And in the Second Part the Eucharist or Thanksgiving is much shorter than they anciently used and the Commemorations for the Communion of Saints of the whole Mystical Body of Christ are not so express as anciently they were in all the Liturgies now extant I shall conclude with these Observations concerning Liturgies 1. That Prescribed Forms in the Publick Worship of God and also for Private Use are of Divine Original and Institution 2. That there is not any good and clear Evidence of the Ordinary Solemn Worship of God ever performed in any Christian Church or other Religious Society in any part of the World without them 3. That therefore it is great Ignorance and Inconsiderateness at the best but usually great Presumption and Impiety in those who dare to speak against them in general 4. That the Jews did use Forms before our Saviours Time and the most ancient Christian Liturgies are so conform to them that it is highly probable they were of Apostolical Original as to the Substance and Order or rather that our Saviour himself who certainly retained the Rite retained also the Forms with such Variations as were proper for the Christians Use 5. That these things consider'd and the Use of the Word Liturgy in the Christian Church so ancient universal and appropriate to this Purpose it is very disingenuous to deny that St. Luke Act. 13.2 did use that Word which we translate Ministring being joyned with Fasting for Solemn Prayer by Liturgy after the manner aforesaid comprising more in that Word than ordinary Praying by reason of the Solemnity of the Eucharist and Christian Sacrifice In the Preface p. 9. l. 6. for January r. June A PREPARATIVE For the Reception of Truth for a Prologue to certain Discourses design'd for a True Reformation and Restitution of Primitive Christianity TRUTH is what in its own Nature is very Excellent and Powerful is of Divine Original of great Importance to Mankind and greatly opposed by the Powers of Darkness and all Evil Spirits And therefore it is the Duty Interest and Wisdom of Man to have a great Esteem Veneration and Reverence for it in all things but more especially in things of greatest Importance Matters of Religion And because it is certain and manifest to all Men who will but consider it that there is not any more common visible Obstacle to it than Prejudice of Education
Payment of the last Farthing Mat. 5.25 Prisoners of Hope Zechar. 9.11 12. Sins blotted out when the times of Refreshing shall come Act. 3.19 Such as shew the Incertainty of many Souls in their separate State even such as were Professors of a high Form in this World of what their final Doom shall be at that Day as Mat. 7.22 23. and 25.44 45. c. And the Recompence of Rewards at that day 2 Thess 1.6 7. 1 Cor. 5.5 Luk. 14.14.2 Tim. 4.8 c. Which if our confident Opposers had sufficiently considered one would think they should not have presumed to make so light of that middle State as for the maintaining of Parties to deprive so many Souls there of all Benefit they might receive by their surviving Friends here which many Apparitions even among Protestants do frequently signifie The Practice of the Jews I have noted already and shall add only here That in Discourse lately with one of them he assured me that the Form they now use for that purpose is generally believed by all to have been composed by Eâ—ra and the Great Congregation I there also remembred an instance of the Practice of the Apostles themselves in St. Paul's Prayer for Onesiphorus in such a Form as is hardly to be met with for any Person living however proves it not in vain to Pray for any Person of whom there is Hope but not Certainty till that day So that tho' our great Man with more Considence I doubt than Conscience and without any Proof or Reason at all doth positively affirm him then living p. 210. he gets nothing at all by it Thus we see in this a Universal Agreement in all things but on the contrary if we examine the Obstinate Opposition of it throughout we shall find nothing solid and consistent in it neither with Truth nor Honesty nor any good Consequence but a plausible Pretence of the Pure Word of God to cover an impure Inclination and Desire to set aside the Authority which God instituted and set up themselves and their own Conceits in the place of it 2. Inconsistent with it self first denying or cavilling at the Antiquity or Universality of the Practice and then when they thought they had found out an Evasion confessing that which they could no longer for shame deny and betaking themselves to their new Invention 3. Inconsistent with the Sincerity Simplicity and Ingenuity of the Gospel in their shameless Shuffles Cavils and Evasions of which I have noted divers and many more might be observed but there is one not to be omitted here their alleadging the Writings of Epiphanius Chrysostome Augustin and others against not only their own but the confessed ancient Practice of the Church in their time in this Case Inconsistent with that Modesty Respect and Decency which the Gospel requires toward all in their Censuring as delirous not only some particular Persons but generally all the most Holy Ancient Christians in what was their common Sentiments and is believed by the most learned of the Church of England to be plainly taught in the Holy Scriptures 5. Inconsistent with that Reverence and Regard that Christians should have for the Honour of the Church of Christ his Promises to it and Care of it in so foul and scandalous an Imputation as that they received their common Notions of the present State of separate Souls in the other World from an Impostor which was not their Impudence therein as notorious as it is groundless and destitute of any proof at all might prove a Tentation to unsettled Souls to suspect all to be no better And for other Consequences it is plain they lead the way to all others to reject their own usurped Authority with the same Ease and Impudence that they do that of the Church of Christ and to set up their own Conceits against theirs and pretend Scripture for it and so to an endless Course of Separations Schisms Sects and Confusions and in conclusion set up that Authority over others which they themselves in the mean time reject as by their Synod of Dort and others in France appears And besides all this it is much to be feared that they lead multitudes of Souls into that miserable Security and Presumption wherewith our Saviour hath acquainted us that many will find themselves deceived at that day Mat. 7.22 And therefore if these be not pertinacious Schismaticks and Hereticks speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them and therefore carefully to be avoided I know not who are or what so many Cautions in the Scripture to that purpose do signifie FINIS The Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning The Middle State of Souls And the Tradition of the Church for Prayers for the DEAD Summ'd up by Dr. Jer. Taylor late Bishop of Down and Conner With the Judgment of Mr. Herbert Thorndike a late most Learned Prebend of Westminster ALtho' there hath been lately Printed a Discourse of Prayers for the Dead proving the Practice and Tradition thereof in the Church to be truly Catholick and a competent Evidence of Apostolick Original and Authority wherein divers Learned Protestants are alleadged to have been of the same Opinion yet for the Readers farther Satisfaction in that respect it hath been thought fit to Print the Discourse of these two other eminent Persons of the Church of England more at large than was thought proper for that place And first that of the late Bishop Dr. Jer. Taylor 1. Of the Middle State of Souls THE Holy Jesus promised to the blessed Thief That he should that Day be with Him in Paradice which therefore was certainly a Place or State of Blessedness because it was a Promise and in the Society of Jesus whose penal and afflictive part of his Work of Redemption was finished upon the Cross Our Blessed Lord did not promise he should that day be with him in his Kingdom for that day it was not opened and the everlasting doors of those interior Recesses were to be shut till after the Resurrection that himself was to ascend thither and make way for all his Servants to enter in the same Method in which he went before us Our Blessed Lord descended into Hell saith the Creed of the Apostles from the Sermon of St. Peter as he from the Words of David that is into the State of Separation and common Receptacle of Spirits according to the Style of Scripture But the Name of Hell is no where in Scripture an appellative of the Kingdom of Christ of the Place of final and supream Glory But concerning the Verification of our Lord's Promise to the beatified Thief and his own State of Separation we must take what Light we can from Scripture and what we can from the Doctrine of the Primitive Church St. Paul had two great Revelations he was wrapt up into Paradice and he was wrapt up into the third Heaven and and these he calls Visions and Revelations not one but divers for Paradice is distinguished from the Heaven of the