worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity 1 John 5.7 Revel 4.8 Mat. 28.19 Rom. 11.36 Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance The Jews and Turks have a Faith such as it is for they worship one God and many of them keep that Faith whole and in a sense undefiled for as they believe one God so they live according to what they believe The meer Pagans and Heathens have a Faith too for they worship more Gods then one they will rather admit of too many then none at all few Atheists are to be met with amongst any of these as Atheism stands in direct opposition to a Deity Yet all Jews Turks and Pagans may be termed Atheists and Infidels in opposition to the Christian Religion in regard they all deny the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead which all sound Christians do believe worship and adore For there is one person of the Father another of the Son and another of the Holy Ghost But the Godhead of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one the Glory equal the Majesty co-eternal Such as the Father is such is the Son and such is the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 1 John 5.7 Heb. 1.3 John 10.30 Philip. 2.6 The doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of Godhead and Divine Essence is the peculiar doctrine of Christians and that which remarkably distinguishes the Christian Religion from all other Religions in the world Though all the world besides opposed it yet Christians have ever believed and embraced it and as they have believed so they have been baptized and have always given glory to God one in Essence Father Son and Holy Ghost three in Person always acknowledging in the blessed Trinity and unspeakable Deity one substance in work not divided in will agreeing in omnipotence and glory equal The Heathens especially the Platonists had some broken notions of this admirable Mystery which ought to be the subject of our adoration and devotion rather then of our curiosity and search The Jews had many dark adumbrations of it but it was only cleared and revealed to Christians God the Father in the Creation of the world God the Son in the Redemption of mankind God the Holy Ghost in the Sanctification of the Church To search too far into this Mystery is rashness to dispute it is folly to deny it madness to believe it is true piety and to know it is life The Father uncreate the Son uncreate and the Holy Ghost uncreate Gen. 1.2 3. The Father incomprehensible the Son incomprehensible and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible 1 Tim. 6.16 The Father eternal the Son eternal and the Holy Ghost eternal Deut. 33.27 Psal 90.2 God a self-being gave being to the Creatures he was himself without beginning gave a beginning to time and to the world in time he made something of nothing and of that something he made all things God who created the world was himself uncreated and as uncreated so incomprehensible for if he could be comprehended he should not be God and as incomprehensible so eternal that is God from everlasting before all time and to everlasting when time shall be no more And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal As also there are not three incomprehensibles nor three uncreated but one uncreated and one incomprehensible So likewise the Father is Almighty the Son Almighty and the Holy Ghost Almighty And yet they are not three Almighties but one Alighty So the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God And yet they are not three Gods but one God So likewise the Father is Lord the Son Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord And yet not three Lords but one Lord 1 John 5.7 Revel 1.8 Revel 4.8 1 Cor. 8.5 6. God is potentially one personally three one in Essence three in Subsistence in the diversification of Names as the Scripture hath made the distinction three but in Nature Substance and Essence one so the holy Fathers of the Church have forced themselves to speak because they knew not how to speak better nor more clearly in so deep a Mystery neither had they spoken so much I suppose had not the enemies to Christianity extorted it from them and forced them to speak out where they had a mind to be silent When the great doctrine of the Trinity which is the peculiar doctrine of Christians was opposed they thought themselves obliged to defend it and in such terms too as to declare their own meaning though perhaps not to all capacities very intelligible For as it follows in this Creed the meaning of the Church so far as she can express her meaning is this For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord So are we forbidden by the Catholick Religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords Revel 4.8 Heb. 1.3 Rom. 11.36 1 John 5.7 Christians only defended that form of Baptism instituted by our Saviour and that Faith into which they were baptized viz. into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 and if in their own defence they have used expressions not so candidly received and embraced by all that read them they are not to be blamed for it but their opposers who forced them to make use of what expressions they could in their own defence They chose rather to be accounted fools for Christ then to betray and yield up that form of Christ's Institution by which they were initiated in Baptism to be his Disciples The Father is made of none neither created nor begotten His name is I am which shews him to be a self-being Exod. 3.14 and the Heathen Aristotle dyed with an expression in his mouth not much differing when he called upon the Being of Beings to have mercy on him And other Heathens both Poets and Philosophers taking their Light perhaps from the Sacred Scriptures have used terms equivalent to shew God the Father who is the original principle of the Deity to be a self-being by whose bounty and benefit all things are as he himself is by and from himself and by the benefit of none The Son is of the Father alone not made nor created but begotten John 1.14 18. The Son of God who is also very God in respect of his Divine Nature not a Son by way of Eminence but by Essence not by Priviledge or Prerogative but by Nature and Substance was of the Father alone not differing from him in respect of Deity but in respect of Personality He was not made for he was in the beginning before any thing was made and all things were made by him John 1.1 2 3. neither was he created for he was before all creatures his goings forth have been from everlasting Mic. 5.2 He was before the world was In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God John 1.1 We
all that we are or have is due to thee from whom all is received and therefore we do not impute any thing to our selves or our own acquisition In this Faith we pray and confide that what we pray for shall be granted RUBRICK Then likewise he shall say O Lord open thou our lips Answ And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise Psal 51.15 O God make speed to save us Psal 70.1 Answ O Lord make hast to help us Psal 40.13 RUBRICK Here all standing up the Priest shall say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Isa 42.8 1 Cor. 10.31 Rom. 11.36 Answ As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Priest Praise ye the Lord Psal 146.1 Answ The Lords name be praised EXPLANATION The forementioned Versicles with the Responses are Canonical Scripture and taken most-what out of the Book of Psalms by which we acknowledge our dependance upon God and that we are unable of our selves to perform any Religious duty well unless God enable us They are used interchangably by Minister and People to testifie mutual Love to strengthen affection to stir up devotion to kindle and enflame it one in another to oblige us to greater attention and this praying by way of Response is grounded upon the Scripture and conformable to the practice of the earliest and purest times of Christianity And for the form of giving glory to God Father Son and Holy Ghost it is very ancient by which we avouch our Doctrine and Faith of the Trinity against all opposers as we have received from Christ and his Apostles so we baptize believe and give glory to God Father Son and Holy Ghost and this we do not without Scripture-warrant Mat. 28.19 Rom. 11.36 It is the Christians Hymn and shorter Creed some who professed Christianity had corrupted this form of giving glory to God and had framed up another form in favour of their own new opinions and perswasions in Religion differing from that of the Ancient Christians both in words and sense but the ancient form which was before and is still used was again restored upon the restauration of which those words were added As it was in the beginning c. that is in the first beginning of the true Religion professed and solemnly owned by the name of Christian Now certainly very meet it is that we should give glory to God because it is appropriate to God alone Psal 115.1 It is his peculiar right which he lays claim to Isa 42.8 for he is the King of Glory The Heavens declare it Psal 19.1 the Angels chant it Luk. 2.14 Seraphims resound it Isa 6.3 and man is no less obliged to it then those coelestial Spirits are No place on earth is more proper for it then God's house where every man should speak of his honour and there is no better posture to do it in then standing for by it we shew our chearful readiness to give glory to God and our pious resolution to stand fast in the Faith of the Holy Trinity And for those words Praise ye the Lord they are the same with Hallelujah set at the end of the five last Psalms in the Psalter and used in this place to be as an impression invitatory to the following Psalms and the following Response The Lords name be praised is according to what we find written Psal 106.48 RUBRICK Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following except on Easter-day upon which another Anthem is appointed and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here but in the ordinary course of the Psalms PSAL. 95. Ver. 1. O Come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our salvation 2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and shew our selves glad in him with psalms 3. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods 4. In his hand are all the corners of the earth and the strength of the hills is his also 5. The sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry land 6. O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker 7. For he is the Lord our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand 8. To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness 9. When your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works 10. Fourty years long was I grieved with this generation and said It is a people that do err in their hearts for they have not known my ways 11. Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen EXPLANATION With this Psalm the ancient Church used to begin her Service it was the invitatory Psalm with which they usually began before the Congregation was well met together at the hearing of which all hastned to Church and it is very well appointed to be used in this place before all other Psalms because it is the fittest to conform us to the right use of all the rest and to furnish out Gods Service with all due reverence Glory be to the Father c. is added at the end of this and of every Psalm that we may reduce that to practice which is the scope of every Psalm that is Give Glory to God RUBRICK Then shall follow the Psalms in order as they are appointed And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year and likewise at the end of Benedicite Benedictus Magnificat and Nunc dimittis shall be repeated Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Answ As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen EXPLANATION The Psalter was anciently divided into several portions called Nocturns by which division the Psalms were read every week and this was a custom peculiar only to the Latine Church for in the Syrian and Greek Churches the Psalter was read over every twenty days Our Church allows a months space for the reading over the Book of Psalms and her meaning is that they should be read in publick according to ancient practice by way of Response Now the reasons why the Psalms are so frequently read over and why in this manner I conceive to be these Because the Psalms do contain in them the choice and flower of all things profitable which may be met withall in the Holy Scriptures and do more movingly express them by reason of the Poetical form wherein they are written No part of Scripture doth more admirably set forth all the considerations and operations which belong to God nor so magnifie the Holy meditations and actions of Divine
of our souls We are to undreg them of all earth dirt and filth that nothing which is earthly or sensual may mingle with our spiritual imployments wherein we are to be exercised and wholly taken up during our stay in that Holy place When Moses and Joshua approached that ground which the presence of God by his Angel made holy they were commanded to put off their shoes Exod. 3.5 Josh 5.15 By which in a figure was intimated the cleansing of the soul from that filth of sin which is required of every one who draws near unto God Heb. 10.22 When our business is with God we are to mind our business to have our minds hearts and affections set only upon it When we come into the house of God which is the figure of heaven we are to leave the earth and the world behind us and to have our conversation only in heaven When Abraham went to sacrifice and to offer up the dearest thing which he had unto God he left his Ass and his Servants behind him Gen. 22.5 And when holy Bernard entred the Temple his usual saying was Stay behind all my worldly thoughts So when we are to enter Gods house and are making our approaches to do him service we should have nothing to do with the world but take off our hearts and affections clear from it As we would keep our feet as much as possibly we can from dirt and filth when we are to enter the Presence-Chamber of a King so when we enter into Gods house which is his Presence-Chamber we are to keep the feet of our souls clean and unspotted from the world though not altogether clean yet as clean as they can be kept Like those who come out of the dirt into a well-swept room we must cast away that filth and uncleanness which we may have contracted in our worldly affairs when we are entring into the house of God Keep thy foot when thou entrest it is an expression borrowed from the Heathens especially the Aegyptians who would not enter their Idol-Temples with shoes on their feet And amongst his other precepts Pythagoras gave this for one When thou sacrificest or worshippest put off thy shoes from thy feet By which is intimated to us who look not so much at the ceremony as at the meaning of it That when we come into Gods house who is a God of purity in whose presence the brightest Angel is impure we are to see that all be pure about us we are to come with pure hearts pure hands and to present him with pure offerings especially we are to look to our affections the feet of our souls to see that they have contracted no impurity for if they be pure the whole man is pure Keep thy foot when thou entrest This is the first consideration which if well thought upon would prevent many of those rudenesses evils and misdemeanours which unwise men rashly commit in Gods house and so offer to him the Sacrifice of fools for want of due consideration Secondly When thou art entred the house of God let thy next consideration be that thou art in the presence of God there where God is present in a more special and peculiar manner He is every-where present by his Essence which is infinite and cannot be contained within bounds or limits He is every-where present by his Power turning the Orbs of Heaven with his hand fixing the Earth with his foot guiding all Creatures with his eye and refreshing them all with his influence but he is more specially present in some places than in othersome by the several and more special manifestations of himself to extraordinary purposes Thus by Glory his seat is in Heaven where his Servants dwell with him by Grace and Benediction he is present in Holy places and Sacred Assemblies where his Servants walk with him and worship him Well then consider what thou art and what God is into whose special presence thou art come and what is thy business with him Thou art a feeble infirm creature made up of nothing but wants and weaknesses God is a Creator All-sufficient to heal thy infirmities to supply thy wants and to manifest his strength in thy weakness It is thine own misery and his mercy which are the two chief motives that bring thee into his house of prayer That which brought home the Prodigal into his Fathers house Luk. 15.17 18. we may suppose brings thee into Gods house want and woe in us untoward Children pity and plenty in God a good and kind Father For is not this our business with him if we do truly understand our own business to have our needs and wants supplied our sins pardoned our miseries relieved by mercies and aâ— our insufficiencies every way answered out oâ— that inexhaustible fountain of his goodness who is all-sufficient This is the best title we can give our selves we are all but his creatures and if we are just to our selves and not partial we must confess that we are none of the best creatures by our own default but vile and vitious more than enough Our dependance both for our being and well being and for what is requirable to both is entirely upon our Creator and him only whose creatures we are but whatever tends to our ruine undoing infelicity and misery is meerly from the Serpent and our selves So that as I noted before our own miseries and Gods mercies our wants and Gods many ways to supply them our sins our many sins to be pardoned and Gods inclinations great inclinations for to pardon them if we are truly and sincerely penitent are the two great motives which bring us into Gods house into his special presence but we are to lay open our selves before him from whom we cannot hide our selves though we would for he made us and knows us better than we know or can know our selves For there is not any creature that is not manifest in his sight there is no man shall be able to disguise himself so cunningly but God will discover him all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 Thirdly But now in the third place let us consider what we are to do first after we have made our adorations as we ought to do when we are come into Gods house and special presence Now methinks those vile unprofitable and pernicious things called our sins which are indeed properly our own should come to our remembrance There is nothing so likely to hinder good things from us as our sins unconfessed unrepented of They hinder our prayers from ascending acceptably unto God for God will not hear sinners who bring nothing but their sins unrepented of for an offering and like Adonijah lay hold on the Altar with all their sins and rebellions about them and they hinder Gods blessings from descending comfortably upon us Therefore when we are come into the presence of God and are all met together in his house to offer up
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
compendious for phrase and words so sweet for order in all respects so perfect and absolute we give it the most place in our publick devotions sometimes begin with it to guide our prayers and sometimes conclude with it to compleat and perfect them Wherever Christian Religion is professed this prayer is used as one of the principal and most material duties of honour done to Jesus Christ The often repeating of it cannot bring it within the compass of that vain repetition which our Saviour condemned Mat. 6.7 for repetition is then only vain when words are often repeated being directed neither with reason of Art nor with zeal and devotion of heart nor with any supposal of a justly implyed necessity all which most certainly may meet in the use of this prayer how frequently soever we make use of it For because we cannot pray as we ought there is a kind of necessity for us to use it to supply our defects and that with art and zeal we hope sufficient Again seeing we have an Advocate with the Father interceding continually for sinners when we seek for pardon of our sins at Gods hand we cannot do better then alledge unto God the words which our Advocate hath taught us seeing he hath promised that shall be granted which we ask in his name we may be confident that will not be denied which we ask in his name and words When in our prayers we speak unto the Father in the Sons own prescribed form of words we may be sure that we utter nothing which God will either disallow or deny The Minister is to begin this prayer with an audible voice and the people all kneeling are to repeat it orderly after him for these supposed reasons 1. That people ignorantly educated may learn it and be instructed in it 2. To shew what an esteem we ought to have for it and for Christ our Lord and Saviour who was the Author of it and for Christianity it self and the Christian Service wherein all of us are to bear a part But that people may say this prayer understandingly I shall add this plain Paraphrase upon it OVr Father which art in heaven O holy Father ours by creation education instruction compassion and adoption who remainest gloriously on thy throne in Heaven where thou art praised and glorified by the holy Angels and blessed Souls of thy departed Saints and Servants where thou reignest in unspeakable glory and art perfectly obeyed Hallowed be thy name be pleased by thy grace poured into our hearts and the hearts of all men and by the dispensation of thy gracious providence to work all our hearts to such a reverence awe and separate respect unto thee thy Majesty thy Attributes thy works of Grace thy Name thy Word thy holy days thy holy places thy holy Ministers thy holy Patrimony devolved from thee upon them for the maintenance of thy holy Service that the sins of Sacriledge Prophaness Idolatry Heathenism Atheism irreverence and indevotion may be turned out of the world and the contrary vertues of Christian piety reverence and devotion may be set up and flourish amongst us Thy kingdom come by thy grace inspired into our hearts and the hearts of all men and by thy blessed disposal of all things here below weaken the power of the Adversary give check to the malice of all opposers and so begin to set up thy kingdom immediately in our hearts that it may by degrees of flourishing daily increase and that all other things which are in thy purpose may be so orderly computed till at last this mortal compounded kingdom which hath so much mixture of rebellion sin and infirmity in it may be turned into a kingdom of perfect holiness and immortality Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven So inspire thy grace into all our hearts so direct us by thy providence and assist us to performance that we may obey thee in all thy commands here on Earth willingly readily chearfully speedily impartially sincerely without indulging our selves to any kind of sin in the omission of any part of duty as thy holy Angels obey thy commands in Heaven doing all things promptly and readily which thou commandest them without the neglect of any part of duty Give us this day our daily bread Give us day by day this present day and for the remainder of our lives all the necessaries of life whatever is agreeable and fit for our subsistence and being and suitable to our conditions taken with all circumstances food convenient for us Give us also thy Grace the food of our Souls in that measure day by day which may suffice for the remainder of our warfare here and give us all bodily sustenance which we can possibly want or stand in need of assist and uphold us in all our wants for we referr the care thereof to thee who carest for us And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us Pardon all our offences committed against thee punish not on us those sins whereby we have offended and provoked thee to punish us and that we may be capable of thy remission bestow upon us we pray thee that necessary qualification of freely pardoning all those who by any injuries done to us are become our debtors and might justly in strict Law be by us prosecuted unto punishment And lead us not into temptation Suffer us not to be brought into any temptation or snare suffer us not to be intangled in any dangers or difficulties which may not be easily supported by us may no allurement of pleasure or profit no determent of danger of evil cause or occasion us to fall into any sin when at any time we are tempted which may be the lot of the best men do not thou leave us nor withdraw thy grace from us nor so deliver us up in time of temptation as to leave us unable to extricate our selves and to be overcome and swallowed up by the temptation But deliver us from evil Give us a proportionate measure of strength and grace to bear up and to move under any temptation or pressure how heavy soever it may be temper the temptation to our strength and permit not the assault to be too heavy for us Deliver us from Satan who is the artificer designer and improver of temptations deliver us from the temptations themselves which come from our own lusts the world or the enemies of true piety that we may not be overcome by any of them nor drawn into sin For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen For it is thy due to have dominion over the world therefore we resign up our souls for thee to reign in them as the sole Prince and Monarch of them Thou art Omnipotent and All-sufficient the fountain of all that grace and strength which we beg for therefore we relie upon thee for all that is necessary for this life and the other The thanks honour and glory of
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
Priests of the Lord bless ye the Lord Psal 135.19 20. O ye servants of the Lord bless ye the Lord Psal 134.1 O ye spirits and souls of the righteous bless ye the Lord Heb. 12.23 O ye holy and humble men of heart bless ye the Lord Isa 57.15 O Ananias Azarias and Misael bless ye the Lord. Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. EXPLANATION This Song or Hymn commonly called the Song of the Three Children is word for word to be found in the Apocryphal Scripture and was used to be read by Christians in their publick Congregations as a Religious Formulary of pious thoughts confessions and prayers fit to be used in times of remarkable deliverances vouchsafed from great dangers The names of the Three Children mentioned in the close of this Hymn are to be met with in the Book of Daniel which is received for Canonical Dan. 1.6 and the occasion why this Psalm of Praise was at first composed Dan. 3.25 In the Apocryphal Book of Daniel this Hymn is set down word for word as is before noted which Apocryphal Books were anciently of very great esteem in the Church and were publickly read in the Congregations for instruction in life and manners However as appears by the forecited Texts this Hymn is exactly agreeable with Canonical Scripture and the Ancient Fathers did highly approve of it neither is there in it any thing liable to a just exception for it is only a methodical and full Compendium of the great and glorious Works of God and the whole scope of it is to shew that God is and will be magnified in all his Creatures We do not in it speak to the Creatures for to instruct them what they should do but we rather speak of them to teach our selves what is our duty that is to glorifie God together and therefore do we conclude it with Glory be to the Father that we may actually do it RUBRICK Then shall be read in like manner the second Lesson taken out of the New Testament And after that the Hymn following except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day or for the Gospel on St. John Baptists day Benedictus St. Luke 1.68 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 forefathers and to remember his holy Covenant To perform the oath which he sware to our fore-father 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 And thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways To give knowledge of salvation unto his people for the remission of their sins Through the tender mercy of our God whereby the Day-spring from on high hath visited us To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. RUBRICK Or this Psalm Jubilate Deo Psal 100. O Be joyful in the Lord all ye lands serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song Be ye sure that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and speak good of his name For the Lord is gracious his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth from generation to generation Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. EXPLANATION Let it be here noted once for all that the Benedictus of Zachary and Psalm the 100. for the Morning Service after the Second Lesson and the Magnificat of Mary Luk. 1.46 with Psalm the 98. after the First Lesson in the Evening Service and the Nunc Dimittis Luk. 2.29 and Psalm the 67. after the Second Lesson are ordered to be read as the Minister shall make his choice This or That and however these Hymns or Psalms were composed upon occasion of particular benefits yet are they always of singular use in the Church of God The forementioned Hymns are frequently used in our publick Service because they are the Hymns wherewith our blessed Saviour was joyfully received at his first entrance into this world and they do somewhat more concern us then Davids Psalms do because the Gospel and New Testament is of more concern to us then the Law and the Old These Hymns are proper only to Christianity whereas the Psalms are common to the Jews and Christians The Psalms are Prophesies and Predictions of Christ who was to come these Hymns are plain discoveries of Christ who is come They are the first gratulatory Hymns which welcomed into the world our born Saviour And though they were most seasonable then when they were first composed and sung yet we may profitably enough use them still as well as Hezekiah in publick Service commanded the Songs of David and Asaph to be used which were composed long time before 2 Chron. 29.30 For the promises and performances of God are not so restrained to particular persons but others also may go sharers in them in regard of the mystical union of all the faithful and however the particular occasion may cease yet the fountain of goodness and mercy is ever the same besides by frequent using of the praises of the Saints our minds may daily more and more be inured and enflamed with their affections And the Church hath very fitly appointed Hymns after Lessons for when we have heard God out of the Lessons speaking as it were from Heaven to our Souls how can we do less then rise up and praise him and with what Hymns can we praise him better for our Salvation then with those which were the first gratulations of our Saviour As for the Hymn and Benedictus of Zachary it was indeed composed by reason of Christ's birth and manifestation in our flesh which Zachary the Author of it Prophetically foresaw and therefore composed it for to entertain Christ withall Yet though the occasion of it was or rather was not particular we may convert it to a common use as well as the Epistles of St. Paul which were most of them written upon special occasions Neither can that occasion be indeed particular where the benefit is common for the birth of Christ as much concerns us as it did Zachary and therefore 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 129.8 2 John 10. which are not to be thought idle Complements whereby we take the name of God in vain but Christian and commendable civilities and duties which were commonly used and practised by Christians in the time of the Apostles 2 John 10 11. In the Liturgies of St. James Basil Chrysostom and the Aethiopians the Priest was wont to say Peace be unto you to which the People replied And with thy Spirit In the old Liturgy of Spain called Mozarabe because the Christians were mingled with Arabians the Priest said The Lord be with you the People answered And with thy Spirit the Priest again said Help me brethren in your prayers and the People answered The Father Son and Holy Ghost help thee Petrus Damianus wrote a whole Book upon this argument intituled The Lord be with you It was used in the Latine Church ever since their Liturgy was composed by Damasus and supposed to be deduced out of the Greek Church into the Latine it is of very ancient use and is one of the first Formula's of devotion used in the Christian Church at first it belonged only to the Ministers of the lower Order and when the Bishop did officiate he used in place thereof Peace be unto you but in the Braccarian Council it was decreed that the Bishop and Presbyter should use one and the same form and determined the form to be this The Lord be with you adding this As it is used in all the Orient which shews the custom to be changed since Chrysostom's time or else we must reject a great part of his Works for counterfeit Epiphanius saith that this form of Salutation was derived from our Saviour's first greeting of his Apostles after his Resurrection John 20.19 However it did anciently denote a transition from one part of the Service unto another as it is here applyed by our Church for the very same purpose These mutual and reciprocal Salutations were prudently and Christianly made a part of the publick Service to continue that agreement and love which ought to be between Pastor and People and the very order of it shews that it is the Ministers office to begin and the peoples duty to correspond in all good affections and kindness when the Minister is as Paul the people should be as Galathians chap. 4.15 not only reverence his place but also love his person The Pastor cannot wish a better wish then this The Lord be with you neither can the people make a fitter reply then this And with thy Spirit To note that he is to offer up a spiritual Service and Sacrifice unto God and to do it ardently and affectionately which he cannot do unless God be with him by his Grace and holy Spirit to aid and assist him Now Christ hath promised to be with his Apostles and their successors unto the end of the world Mat. 28.20 to be with his Church in her devotions in the midst of us or amongst us when we offer up our Services to him but if our Spirits be not right fixed so as to intend and mind what we are about how can God be with us How can God be with our Spirits if our Spirits are not with God How can God be in the midst of us when we are not in the midst of our selves Therefore this clause Let us pray is very often repeated in the Service upon any noâ— table transition from one eminent part of Service to another to fix us to our devotions and to make us the more intent upon what we do for we are apt to be dull enough in Sacred duties unless we are frequently call'd upon to mind seriously what we are about It was anciently the Deacons office to pronounce it and therefore he was said to preach or to proclaim the Service for it was his office by loud voice or proclamation to warn the people in several parts of the Service what was done or to be done that accordingly they might order themselves both in their hearts and in their bodies suitable to that which was done or performed by Christ's Ministers that so all things might be done with good order and due reverence The Heathens in their Religious Offices had a custom not much differing from this for they had their Preachers and Proclaimers of their Service for the same purpose to regulate the carriage and behaviour of the people and to prevent confusion The three following Versicles Lord have mercy c. were called by the Ancients the Lesser Litany and they are fitly placed before the Lords Prayer because in our resort to him in Prayer it is very expedient that we first implore the â—ercy and assistance of the Trinity to whom we pray RUBRICK Then the Minister Clerks and People shall say the Lords Prayer with a loud voice See before pag. 18 19. OVr Father great in Creation gracious in Love rich in Inheritance which art in Heaven the Glass of Eternity the Crown of pleasure the Store-house of felicity Hallowed be thy Name in us by us upon us in our words actions lives that it may be to us Honey in the mouth Melody in the ear Jubilee in the heart Thy Kingdom come of Power to defend us of Grace to sanctifie us of Glory to crown us Let it be to us pleasant without mixture calm without disturbance secure without loss Thy will be done not ours as in Heaven by the holy Angels so on Earth by men that we may hate what thou hatest love what thou lovest and do nothing but what is pleasing unto thee Give for every good gift is thine we have nothing from our selves but crave all from thee us as necessity makes us pray for our selves so charity for others this day all the time of our living here our which we have a lawful and just title to daily what is sufficient for our necessity not superfluity to supply our wants not our wantonness bread what is necessary for our bodies or our souls Victual Doctrinal Sacramental bread And forgive us our debts whatever sins we have committed against thee our neighbour or our selves As we forgive our debtors who have injured us in our bodies goods or name And lead us not suffer us not to be led into temptation of the world the flesh the Devil But deliver us from evil present past to come Amen So be it The Doxology is here and elsewhere omitted because in St. Luke's Gospel it is not any part of the Prayer Luk. 11.2 3 4. and Mr. Calvin doth acknowledge it not to be extant in any Latine copies it was supposed to be added by the Greek Church but never used in the Latine However our Bible in St. Matthew received it and no Minister is restrained from the use of it in Divine Service RUBRICK Then the Priest standing up shall say O Lord shew thy mercy upon us Answer And grant us thy salvation Psal 85.7 Priest O Lord saze the King 1 Sam. 10.24 1 Tim. 2.2 Psal 21.1 Answer And mercifully
to bless our gracious Queen CATHERINE James Duke of York and all the Royal Family Endue them with thy holy Spirit enrich them with thy heavenly grace prosper them with all happiness and bring them to thine everlasting Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer for the Clergy and people ALmighty and everlasting God who alone workest great marvels send down upon our Bishops and Curates and all Congregations committed to their charge the healthful Spirit of thy grace and that they may truly please thee pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing Grant this O Lord for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator Jesus Christ. Amen A Prayer of St. Chrysostom ALmighty God who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests Mat. 18.20 John 14.13 Fulfill now O Lord the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be most expedient for them granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and in the world to come life everlasting Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 THe Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen EXPLANATION Touching the variety of Service Anthems and Hymns to be sung by way of Antiphony or Response I have spoken something before and therefore shall say nothing in this place Indeed here I might have inserted the Anthems which are daily used in the Cathedral and most eminent Churches but I consider'd it to be needless in regard persons upon enquiry may meet with them bound up all together The forementioned Prayers I have not here Scriptur'd out because most of them as to the matter and substance of them will fall within the Litany which I shall warrant by Scripture sufficiently But here let it be noted that we pray in particular for Kings in pursuance of that precept of the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. which is pressed and urged with this reason that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty which can hardly be done if Kings and eminent persons in Authority do not help towards it Good Kings promote Religion wicked Kings persecute it Josiah and Hezekiah did increase true worshippers as Jeroboam did increase and multiply false and Schismatical ones A good King is a very great blessing but so unhappy are we that we cannot know the worth of him unless it be in the want of him We pray for the Church which is excellently described by Bishops Curates and the people committed to their charge all which make up a Church rightly constituted and Ignatius the Disciple of St. John the Evangelist tells us that there can be no truly constituted Church without a Bishop By Curates here are not meant Stipendiaries but all Ministers to whom the Bishop hath committed the cure and care of Souls For the right constituting of a Church and for the preserving of it when it is constituted and settled we pray for the healthful Spirit of Gods grace to be poured down upon all who profess Christ and embrace Christianity with sincerity The terms wherein we pray may seem strange in regard we present our prayers to the Almighty and everlasting God who only worketh great marvels but this expression hath a peculiar reference to Gods sending down of his holy Spirit upon the Apostles whereby they were enabled to speak in all Languages the wonderful works of God Act. 2.11 and to consirm that Doctrine by Miracles which they taught the world The Prayer of St. Chrysostom who lived about the fourth Century is grounded upon Mat. 18. v. 19 20. and may be met with word for word in his Liturgy We begin and end the Morning Service with the Apostle as we begin the Exhortation in an Apostolical stile so we conclude the Prayers with an Apostolical Prayer and conclude most of our Prayers and Collects with this clause Through Jesus Christ our Lord because there is no coming to God but by Christ what we ask as we ought in his Name God will give us for his sake He is our Jacobs Ladder by whom our Prayers ascend to God and Gods blessings descend to us all good things come from God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. RUBRICK Here endeth the Order of Morning Prayer throughout the year EXPLANATION The Morning Prayer intended in this order is that which I have before explained which did usually begin at six in the morning and doth still in the Cathedral Churches where the Canonical hours are punctually observed Now every Canonical or greater hour did contain so many lesser hours from six in the morning to nine was the first hour from nine to twelve was the third from twelve to three afternoon was the sixth from three to six was the ninth c. RUBRICK The Order for Evening Prayer daily throughout the Year EXPLANATION THe Evening Service is exactly the same with the Morning as the Jews had their daily Sacrifice a Lamb for the Morning and a Lamb for the Evening Exod. 29.38 so we Christians in a more Spiritual sense have the same Sacrifice to offer up to God by Christ continually in the Morning and in the Evening only here are two Collects to be taken notice of which are not in the Morning Service as also the Hymns and Psalms after the first and second Lesson After the first Lesson Magnificat S. Luk. 1.46 Cantate Domino Psal 98. After the second Lesson Nunc dimittis S. Luk. 2.29 Deus misereatur Psal 67. After this the Creed the lesser Litany the Lords Prayer and the following Responses all to be ranked and placed in that order as they stand in the Evening Service without either Scriptural Notes or Explanation After this follows the Collect for the day and then two other Collects proper for the Evening Service RUBRICK The second Collect at Evening Prayer for Peace O God from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works do proceed Jam. 1.17 2 Cor. 3.5 Isa 26.12 Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give 2 Thes 3.16 John 14.27 that both our hearts may be set to obey thy Commandments Psal 40.8 Psal 37.31 Psal 119.36 Deut. 5.29 and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen Psal 3.5 6 7. Psal 4.8 Luk. 1.73 74 75. RUBRICK The third Collect for aid against all perils LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord Psal 18.28 Psal 91. and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen EXPLANATION Out of the 91 Psalm this Prayer may be enlarged as there shall be occasion in our private Devotions in which Psalm there is mention of the
all men and deserves to be celebrated in the most solemn manner with all the Instruments of Musick used in the Service of God and all are little enough to express the Glory of the work and the infinite advantages designed to us by Christ thus entring upon his Regal Office in order to subdue all the world to the power of the Gospel which is the Scepter of his Kingdom For this we should praise him in our contemplations and actions words and works lips and life being all of us as so many spiritual Temples of God and Timbrels of the Holy Ghost Vers 8 9 10. All the habitable world the very Heathens who have been long under the servitude of their false Idol worships shall now be redeemed from that slavery of sin and Satan the Idol Oracles and Temples shall all be destroyed and the Doctrine of the true God and practice of Piety Justice and Charity shall be set up in their stead and thereby a most happy joyful Reformation be wrought amongst men which certainly deserves all the acknowledgments of humble and thankful hearts and lays obligations upon us to ascribe all glory to God in all the Churches 6. A Paraphrase upon Nunc dimittis Luke 2. Vers 29. O Lord seeing thou hast in great mercy fulfilled thy gracious promise revealed to me touching the Messias I am heartily content now to dye Vers 30. And needs must I dye happy and contented who have seen with mine eyes the Messias and Saviour of the world the great means and glorious instrument of man's Salvation Vers 31. Whom thou hast so long promised and now exhibited to be seen by all which Salvation thou hadst ordained from everlasting to be made known in due time to all Nations and to make them partakers of it Vers 32. That there might be a light afforded to the Gentile world to reveal to them Gods righteousness and that way of living which is to God most acceptable who after he hath reformed the Religion of the Jews teaching them substantial Duties instead of Ceremonial observances was to bring in the Gentiles to embrace the same Religion and so to bring much glory and honour to all of that Nation and of all Nations in the world who would receive him for which unspeakable mercy all Nations in the world are to ascribe all glory to God Father Son and Holy Ghost in all the Churches 7. A Paraphrase upon Psal 67. Vers 1. THe great and good God of Heaven pardon our sins supply our wants bestow his blessings both spiritual and temporal upon us behold us with favour and acceptance and for ever continue them unto us Vers 2. This may be a means of propagating the fear worship and Service of the true God to all the Heathen world when they shall see and consider the eminent miraculous acts of thy providence O God over us in delivering us from great dangers and distresses which have been upon us when they shall behold the wonderful order and means which thou observest in governing of thy Church as well in regard of thy Word and Laws as thy Works and Miracles Vers 3. This universal Reformation and acknowledgment of the one true God of Heaven and Earth is a mercy so much to be wished for and desired by every pious man that I cannot but give my suffrage to it and most affectionately call upon all to joyn in this wish and to beseech God that his Kingdom may be enlarged and that all the Nations in the world Jews and Gentiles may joyn in the Service and Worship of him Vers 4. And it must needs be matter of infinite joy and exultation to all Nations when they shall be admitted to so high an honour as to be ruled and directed by God to be governed by his most righteous way of Justice in the Kingdom of the Messias by Laws and Statutes so admirably good and agreeable to our interests and by the administration of his works of providence so admirably wise and just that all the world both in prudence care of and love to themselves are obliged with joy to submit to the setting up of this Kingdom in their hearts Vers 5. And it would be an happy and blessed thing if all the world would be duly sensible of it and all joyn to acknowledge worship serve and obey the true God and so partake of this great mercy and be induced to magnifie his Name for it Vers 6. For his mercies are continually afforded to all rain from heats fruitful seasons and peculiar acts of his providence are such as may oblige the most Heathen men in the world to acknowledge bless and give up themselves to the obedience of him And it is our duty continually to pray unto him that he would bestow his Benediction both upon us and upon all that which he hath so richly afforded us Vers 7. And our prayer shall be that the God of Heaven would crown us with his blessings and that all the most barbarous people in the world may be brought in to acknowledge and worship him and to pay all uniform obedience and subjection to him To whom be glory for ever Amen The Creed of St. Athanasius RUBRICK Vpon these Feasts Christmas-day the Epiphany St. Matthias Easter-day Ascension-day Whitsunday St. John Baptist St. James St. Bartholomew St. Matthew St. Simon and St. Jude St. Andrew and upon Trinity Sunday shall be sung or said at Morning Prayer in stead of the Apostles Creed this Confession of our Christian Faith commonly called the Creed of St. Athanasius by the Minister and people standing Quicunque vult WHosoever will be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith Heb. 11.6 Jude vers 3. Heb. 10.23 By Catholick Faith we are to understand the Faith of the Church Universal which is opposed to the Faith of Hereticks Jews Turks and Pagans Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly Ephes 4.5 Jude vers 20. Act. 15.9 John 3.18 Mark 16.16 Faith may be diverse in respect of the subject or believers but not in respect of the object or thing believed for there is but one Faith Ephes 4.5 Therefore this Faith is to be kept whole we are not to divide Christ 1 Cor. 1.13 and this Faith if kindly received and embraced purifies the heart and therefore it is to be kept undefiled Act. 15.9 and upon this account is it stiled the most holy Faith Jude vers 20. Therefore St. Augustine hath expresly declared That a good life is not only inseparable from Faith but that Faith it self is a good life To believe in God and Christ is to do the declared will of the one and the commands of the other It is not enough to profess like Christians and to live like Heathens to be Christians in name and Heathens in manners to profess to know God and in our works to deny him Tit. 1.16 And the Catholick Faith is this That we
was betrayed by Judas on a Wednesday was crucified on a Friday and was laid in the Sepulchre on a Saturday And the Church enjoyned these days to be quarterly observed as Fasting-days for these following reasons 1. That Christians might be as devout as the Jews who observed four several and solemn times of Fast in the year Zechar. 8.19 2. Because these are the First-fruits of every Season which we rightly dedicate to the service and honour of God that beginning every Season so devoutly we may learn to spend the whole year accordingly and that by this means we may procure Gods blessing upon the Fruits of the year arising out of the Earth which are at these Seasons either sown sprung up come to ripeness or gathered into Barns 3. That we may call our selves yearly to a strict account for our sins committed every Season and sadly and seriously repent of them 4. That we may implore Gods mercy to our bodies in freeing us from those common distemperatures which usually are predominant at these four Seasons 5. That we may procure the greater blessing upon the Ministers received into Holy Orders at these four Seasons of the year by Prayer Fasting and imposition of hands Now the forementioned weeks are called Ember weeks from an old Saxon word Enthber which denotes Abstinence or say others from the word Ember now commonly in use which signifies Ashes for Ashes were a ceremony frequently made use of in times of Fasting and carried with it significancy sufficient from which ceremony the first day of the Lent-fast was termed Ash-wednesday of which it is probable I may say something more in proper place A Prayer for the High Court of Parliament to be read during their Session MOst gracious God we humbly beseech thee as for this Kingdom in general so especially for the High Court of Parliament under our most religious and gracious King at this time assembled That thou wouldst be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations to the advancement of thy glory the good of thy Church the safety honour and welfare of our Soveraign and his Kingdoms that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness truth and justice religion and piety may be established among us for all generations These and all other necessaries for them for us and thy whole Church we humbly beg in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ our most blessed Lord and Saviour Amen Note No persons can be offended at this Prayer who are not enemies to all goodness and rather desire that debauchery and wickedness should overspread a Nation to the shame and dishonour of it than piety and vertue to advance its reputation A Collect or Prayer for all conditions of men to be used at such times when the Litany is not appointed to be said O God the Creator and Preserver of all mankind we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them thy saving health unto all nations Psal 67.1 2. 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. More especially we pray for the good estate of the Catholick Church Gal. 6.10 Psal 122.6 that it may be so guided and governed by thy good spirit that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth and hold the faith in unity of spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life Ephes 4.3 Finally we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are any ways afflicted or distressed in mind body or estate Heb. 13.3 * * This to be said when any desire the prayers of the Congregation especially those for whom our prayers are desired that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities giving them patience under their sufferings and a happy issue out of all their afflictions And this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake Amen A Prayer that may be said after any of the former O God whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble petitions Psal 103.13 and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us for the honour of Jesus Christ our Mediatour and Advocate Amen Note Touching the preceding Prayers and following Thanksgivings may it be observed that extraordinary dangers should of themselves invite us and stir us up to extraordinary Prayers and extraordinary deliverances from those dangers should equally move us to extraordinary thankfulness as we are to pray to God for the blessings we would obtain so we are to praise him when they are obtained when God opens his hand to gratifie us we should open our mouths to glorifie him It is the Apostles prescribed method to begin with Prayer and to end with Thanksgiving 1 Tim. 2.1 indeed where the concernment is National a provision in such cases is usually better made by fixing set days to be solemnly and religiously observed but it many times happens that the calamities inflicted and mercies received are only Provincial or peculiar to some one County Town City or Vicinage so that they may not reach the cognizance of the Supreme Magistrate therefore are these Prayers and Thanksgivings composed that they may be ready upon all occasions for us to have recourse to when there are no set days indicted for such a purpose THANKSGIVINGS A General Thanksgiving ALmighty God Father of all mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks Psal 116.12 13. for all thy goodness and loving kindness to us and to all men 1 Tim. 2.1 * * This to be said when any that have been prayed for desire to return praise particularly to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for thy late mercies vouchsafed unto them We bless thee for our creation preservation and all the blessings of this life but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of grace and for the hope of glory And we beseech thee give us that due sense of all thy mercies that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful and that we may shew forth thy praise not only with our lips but in our lives by giving up our selves to thy service and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days Luk. 1.74 75. Tit. 2.11 12. through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory world without end Amen Note This Thanksgiving is not only warrantable by more Texts of Scripture then I have cited but it is so excellent both for matter and method that all Churches and Writers can hardly shew a better form so full of matter and that comprized in so few words This needs no vindication because no persons in their