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A39077
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An exposition on that most excellent prayer in the liturgy of the Church of England called the litany Wherein all or most ot the exceptions that have been made against it, are fully answered.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing E3888DA; ESTC R220212
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16,626
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45
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the Mouths of all her Children all that own the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England yea all that teach contrary to Her are Hereticks and Schismaticks Heresie strikes at the Doctrine and Schism at the Discipline of the Church the former is like a Disease which taints the Blood and poisons the Seat of Life the latter is like a Wound which lets out the Blood and if not well look'd to may turn to a Gangraena and both are so dangerous that we cannot too often pray against them and all the Steps and Tendencies thereto even that that is but False Doctrine or simple Errour which persisted in and pursued to its utmost Consequences may turn to Heresie and occasion Schism And Lastly against the inward Causes of them and the other things that are so Mischievous to the State to wit Hardness of Heart and Contempt of God's Word and Commandment Obstinacy is a great Ingredient of Heresie and Stubbornness of Rebellion these two are Synonimous to one another in 1 Sam. 15.23 and these all spring from the Contempt of God's Word and Commandments which are the Test of Truth and Rule of Obedience And so much for the things pray'd against In the two next Branches we have those potent Arguments wherewith the foregoing Supplications are urged By the Mystery of the Holy Incarnation by thy Holy Nativity and Circumcision by thy Baptism Fasting and Temptation In all which there is no Swearing nor Conjuring as some weak Persons sondly object as if the Preposition By could not be used in any other way or Sense But what think they of St. Paul when he saith I beseech you therefore Brethren Rom. 12.1 by the Mercies of God that is as ye hope to partake of or be Saved by the Mercies of God It is a Form of vehement Obsecration Exhortation or Contestation So again We beseech you Brethren 2 Thess 2.1 by the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him that is as ye hope for the Coming of our Lord at the last Day and our Meeting him at that time of which he had spoken in the former Epistle and such Forms are usual among all Writers and Speakers when a thing is earnestly desired Chap. 4.15 17. And so we may account for all the Particulars above-named By the Mystery of the Holy Incarnation Good Lord deliver us As if it had been said O Lord to what end did'st thou contrive that great Mystery of Godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 God manifested in the Flesh Why did'st thou that was 't in the Form of God Phil. 2.6 7. and thought'st it no Robbery to be equal with God take upon thee the Likeness of Sinful Man Was it not to save thy People from their Sins Matt. 1.21 From the Power as well as the Punishment of Sin From the Crafts and Assaults of the Devil from the Wrath of God and from Everlasting Damnation By thy Circumcision Thou O Lord that was 't made of a Woman Gal. 4.4 5. was 't made under the Law to redeem us that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons therefore thou sheddest thy first Blood at thy Circumcision and thy last upon the Cross to redeem us from the Curse of the Law Gal. 3.13 2 Cor. 5.21 thou was 't made Sin for us and a Curse for us By thy Baptism wherein thou was 't so Solemnly own'd and proclaim'd to be the Son of God and whereby thou didst Sanctifie Water to the Mystical Washing away of Sin Office of Baptism and making us Children of God By thy Fasting Collect. 1st Sunday in Lent Thou who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights to deliver us from the Surfeit we took by eating the Forbidden Fruit and to prepare thy self against that great Temptation wherein thou overcamest the Crafts as after in thine Agony the Assaults of the Devil By that three-fold Temptation which thou underwent'st and wherein thou overcamest the great Enemy of Mankind at all his three Weapons wherewith he worsted Man at first the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life Good Lord deliver us from the Deceits of the World the Flesh and the Devil By thine Agony and Bloody Sweat O Lord the Devil then set upon thee like a roaring Lion and all the Powers of Darkness were let loose upon thee and thou then offered'st up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and Tears unto him that was able to save thee from Death Heb. 5.7 and was 't heard and delivered from that thou feared'st so may we understand that place Good Lord deliver us from all our Fears O Lord in that thy self hast suffered being tempted Heb. 2.18 thou art able to succour them that are tempted By thy Cross and Passion that is by thy Passion upon the Cross or by thy Cross that is The manner of his Death he was made a Curse for us but by his Shedding his Blood thereon he took away the Curse and made full Expiation and Atonement By thy precious Death and Burial Upon the Shedding of so much innocent and precious Blood Death must needs follow and it need not be counted any Tautology to add it to Passion since we have not words enough to express what our Lord Suffered And let not any think it was all one to us whether our Lord was buried or no meerly to quarrel with this Prayer for they must also quarrel with the Apostle's Creed that hath in that short Sumâ—n of our Christian Faith this and all the foregoing Particulars distinctly thus He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified Dead and Buried Our Lord's Burial with the choice Circumstances of it strongly prove the Reality of his Death and Resurrection And St. Paul looks upon it as so considerable a Passage as to particularise it and repeat it as part of the Christian Cabbala delivered to him at first 1 Cor. 15.3 4. I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our Sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried yea and to resemble the Spiritual part of Baptism thereunto Rom. 6.4 Therefore we are buried saith he with him by Baptism into Death And again Col. 2.12 Buried with him in Baptism Next follow after all these Instances of our Lord 's Mysterious Humiliation those of his Exaltation his glorious Resurrection and Ascension Our Lord by his Resurrection hath given the greatest Evidence and Assurance of our Immortality and Resurrection and that he not only died but overcame Death and mastered him that had had the power of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2.14 and to shew that he was to die no more he left this Stage of Mortality and made that glorious Ascension whereof enough cannot be said And when he ascended on high he led Captivity Captive Eph. 4 8. and gave Gifts to Men by his
that that is Everlasting and never think our selves too secure from the Danger of it nor past Praying against it the greatest Degree of Assurance attainable in this World can rise no higher than that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.12 c. Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall But here I would fain know with what Spirit or with what Sense they Pray this Prayer From the Assaults of the Devil thy Wrath and everlasting Damnation Good Lord deliver us that can so often and so boldly say the Devil take and God damn either themselves or others I say with what Spirit or Sense do they Pray that contradict themselves so desperately and make the Throne of Grace a Refuge of Lies When the Disciples would have fetch'd Fire from Heaven our Lord tells them Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of of what manner of Spirit think ye then are they that would fetch Fire from Hell and say Flectere sinequeo Superos Acheront a movebo call both God and the Devil to be Executioners of their Wrath The next Supplication is to be delivered from those Spiritual Wickednesses those Filthinesses of the Spirit which have less of Infamy but more of Malice belonging to them viz. From all Blindness of Heart from Pride Vain-glory and Hypocrisie from Envy Hatred and Malice and all Vncharitableness Wherein we pray God to deliver us from not meerly the outward Assaults but the inward Possession of the Devil For these are the very things that constitute the Essence of a Devil and the main things that he endeavours to plant and propagate in us as being his very Likeness and Image We pray not against Blindness of Eyes Lib. 4. c. 25. but of Heart Socrates tells us what Antonius the Monk said to that great Scholar and Writer I will not say but Dictator of Writings Didymus that was blind Let not the loss of your bodily Eyes trouble you for you are deprived of such Eyes as the Flies and Gnats can see with but rejoyce that you have those Eyes wherewith the Angels see and by which God himself is discerned and his Light comprehended So I may say on the other hand Pray not so much against the loss of bodily Sight which is common to us with Worms and Flies but against Blindness of Heart which will make us see no more than the Devil and with which the Devil labours to lead us Captive So the Apostle tells us the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them that believe not 2 Cor. 4.4 c. lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them and from such Blindness Good Lord deliver us The Second thing here pray'd against is Pride another Ingredient of the Devilish Nature Not a Novice 1 Tim. 3.6 c. lest being lifted up with Pride he sall into the Condemnation of the Devil The next is Vain-glory a branch or outward token of Pride and a-kin to it is Hypocrisie for they both pretend to something more than they are owners of As the Devil told our Saviour when from an exceeding high Mountain he shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them Matt. 4.8 9. All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me When vain-glorious Dissembler as he was he had not one foot of Land to give and certainly whoever belie and ostentate themselves in pretence of being what they are not are of their Father the Devil according to what is said in the Revelation Chap. 2.9 Chap. 3.9 I know the Blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Next follows From Envy Hatred and Malice and all Vncharitableness for these are three and there are other branches of that bitter Root which are all constituent of a Devil and make the Fiend so black as he is Let not the Sun go down upon your Wrath neither give place to the Devil When Wrath rests and settles into Malice then the Devil takes place in the Heart and the Spirit of God is grieved as you may see in the Epistle to the Ephesians the fourth Chapter 26 27 30 31 Verses compared together and these are all contrary to the Fruits of the Spirit mentioned in the Galatians for they are Love Joy Peace Long suffering Gentleness Goodness Meekness Temperance I have been thus particular in this Branch of the Litany because I have long observed these two things First That Men in their Prayers have commonly pass'd by these Sins when they have long insisted upon the Confession and Exaggeration of other less Malign Secondly That Men in common Conversation seldom express their dislike against them as against others that are more Scandalous because more obvious to the Eyes of the World which whether it proceed from a secret Indulging of those Sins or a gross Mistake in thinking them more Pardonable than others or because it is more easie or usual to gild and varnish over those Spiritual Lusts with specious Names and Titles of Virtue as to call Pride Magnanimity Revenge Sense of Honour Envy Emulation and the like I will not inquire And upon this Score I the more value our Litany and shall only observe this farther as to this Branch of it that the Primer of Salisbury hath not Pride Hypocrisie Envy mentioned in it The next Branch hath respect to the Lusts of the Flesh From Fornication and all other deadly Sin that is from all deliberate willful presumptuous Sin for it is Willfulness Presumption Deliberation that makes Sin Deadly or Unpardonable without special Repentance whereas Sins of Surprise and Incogitancy which Tertullian calls Quotidianae incursionis and are so frequent that we can scarce know when we commit them for those God is pleased to accept of a more general Repentance Wherefore it is a groundless Jealousie that makes this Objection against this Prayer that it favours the Popish Distinction between Venial and Mortal Sins And let me tell the Reader farther from all other deadly Sin is not in the foresaid Primer and upon search it will be found that Fornication is a very Venial Sin with them that coined this Distinction and in a Priest more pardonable than honest and honourable Wedlock 2. Then we come to deprecate the Evils of Suffering or Punishment which are of two sorts such as concern our selves and such as touch the Publick First Such as may do us a Mischief in particular instancing in those that endanger our Lives as 1. Lightning and Tempest from which there is no flying nor hiding no arming nor fencing that which doth often set Houses and Barns on Fire and sometimes destroys Men in a Moment 2. The Plague of Pestilence from which we have great reason to beg Deliverance if we call to mind how that Becsom swept away near an hundred thousand in our Capital City in one Summer 1665. and