THE LITURGY OF THE ANCIENTS REPRESENTED, As near as well may be, IN English Forms. WITH A PREFACE Concerning the RESTITUTION of the most Solemn Part of the Christian Worship in the Holy Eucharist, to its Integrity, and just Frequency of Celebration.  
LONDON: Printed for the AUTHOR, 1696.   
Bp. Andrews' Sermon on Gal. 3.4. p. 32. 
No Fullness there is of our Liturgy, or Public Solemn Service, without the Sacrament. Some part, yea, the chief part is wanting, if that be wanting.  Dr. S. Patrick, the present Bp. of Ely. 
Our Worship must be confessed to be but imperfect, when the Holy Communion is wanting. Discourse of Frequency of Holy Communion, p. 68  Id. ibid. p. 61. 
The Church in the best Times, and the best Men in the Church, in after-Ages, looked upon this as an Ordinary part of Christian Worship; which Christ intended should be performed in his Church, as oft as they assembled for Divine Service.   

QUESTIONS Concerning the Proper and Peculiar Christian Worship.  
1. WHether the Divine Service, or Liturgy, (as from Act. 13.2. we may conceive it to have been anciently termed as it hath been in all Ages since) of the Christians, hath not, from all Antiquity, been distinguished into two Parts: The first, consisting of Reading of the Scriptures, and Explication thereof; or Exhortation to the People, with some few short Prayers, called, The Service of the Catechumen; The other consisting principally of a Solemn Memorial of the Passion of our Saviour, represented before the Father, as the great Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World, with Thanksgivings, and Prayers for the Catholic Church, and all Mankind, for the particular Church, and People of all Orders and Degrees, where it was celebrated, and for all the Necessaries of humane Life, called, The Service of the Faithful; to which the Catechumen and Penitents were not admitted, but were excluded?  
2. Whether this latter Part, called, The Service of the Faithful, hath not been retained and celebrated in all Churches of the World from the Apostles Times to this Day (except those called Reform) as the Peculiar and most solemn Part of the Christian Worship, daily where they had any daily Worship, (as in most great Churches they had) from whence it had the name of Sacrificium quotidianum; in others, three or four times in the Week; and in all, every Lord's Day? and the rest without it be any more than the Service of Catechumen and Penitents?  
3. Whether there be any plain Evidence or Appearance in the Holy-Scripture, of any solemn Assembly of Christians in the Apostles times where this sacred Rite was not used; or that any present at any such Assembly, where it was used, did ever departed without Communion or Participation? And whether the Sacred History, Act. 20.7. relating that the Disciples came together to break Bread, as the End and Occasion of that famous Assembly of the Christians at Troas, though Paul, so eminent an Apostle, was then to Preach there, and to Preach his Farewell Sermon, doth not thereby signify or imply, that, that was notwithstanding the principal Business of that, and such settled Assembles? And St. Paul himself, 1 Cor. 11.20. speak of their coming together to eat the Lords Supper, as the constant and Principal Business of such Assemblies? and the same also be not strongly implied in those other Expressions, Act. 2.42, 46. and 1 Cor. 10.16.  
4. Whether by ancient Canons all the Faithful, who came to Church and heard the Scriptures, were not obliged to stay this Solemn Service of the Faithful and Communicate, under the Penalty of Excommunication?  
5. Whether there was ever any Doubt or Question, whether all the Faithful aught to Communicate every Day, (that is, if where there was a daily Celebration) till the time of St. Augustine? And whether many did not continue to do so then?  
6. Whether this most Holy, Solemn, and Peculiar Worship of the Faithful Christians be not, being duly performed, most highly Honourable to the Father, by Solemn Worship and Recognition of him, as the Sovereign Lord of the Universe; and also to the Son, by like Solemn Worship and Recognition of him, as our Lord and Redeemer, and that we are all his Purchased Servants; and to the Holy-Ghost, by whose Presence and Virtue all Sacred Operations are perfected? And moreover of very great Benefit to the Souls of the Faithful duly disposed, by a Communication of Divine Virtue to them?  
7. Whether what some Learned Men have rightly observed à posteriori, from matter of Fact, That the Devil hath exercised and vented more Malice against this Holy Rite, than against any other part of the Christian Religion, except the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, be not also credible upon Considerations â priori; from the Nature of the thing; from the Honour and Worship therein performed to the Father, and to our Saviour, and to the Holy-Ghost; and the Benefits communicated to Humane Souls; but more especially, because therein that Passion of our Saviour, which the Devil had maliciously procured, is solemnly Honoured and represented before the Father, as the great Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World, to the Confusion of that Proud, Malicious, and Envious Spirit?  
8. Whether great Elevation of Soul and Devotion to God, and Enlargement of Souls in mutual Charity of one to another, being principal Benefits ordinarily communicated to Souls duly disposed in the frequent and Reverend Use of this Holy Sacrament, Deprivation of these Benefits, and instead thereof, Dissensions, Contentions, and Animosities, and Decay of Piety, and overspreading of Wickedness may not be just and deserved Punishments of the Neglect of so great a Duty and Solemn Worship, and of so Holy Means for the obtaining of those Benefits? and may not therefore reasonably be believed, to be Special Judgements of God for the same, when we see them follow Notorious Neglect thereof at no great Distance?  
9 Whether therefore Neglect of Communion by the People in the Greek Churches, where Chrysostom preached vehemently against it, both at Antioch and Constantinople, may not reasonably be believed to have been severely Punished by the Special Judgement of God and Malice of the Devil getting Advantage thereupon, by the Divisions and Confusions which arose there not long after his Death, and continued till almost all the Eastern Churches were first overspread with them, and at last overrun and enslaved by the Turks and Mohemetans? And in the Latin-Churches, by the abominable Corruptions, Abuses, Impostures, and Usurpations of the Papacy?  
10. Whether the Neglect, not only of Communion by the People, but even of Celebration by the Clergy, so that such of the People, as would have Communicated, could not, and in a manner taking away of the daily Sacrifice, in the Churches, called Reform, may not also reasonably be believed to have been punished by the special Judgement of God, and Malice of the Devil, by their Divisions amongst themselves from the Beginning of their Reformation, and by the great Decays of Piety and Overspreading of Wickedness, which hath by degrees increased amongst them ever since?  
11. Whether in these Divisions in the Churches, called Reform, the Socinian Heresy hath not had great Advantage, by their Neglect of so Pregnant a Testimony of the Catholic Church against it, as this of the Solemn Memorial of the Passion of our Saviour before the Father, as the great Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World?  
12. Whether all these Churches, called Reform, 
Note, The like Judgements of God are observable upon divers particular Persons, who neglect the Opportunities, or refuse the Invitations they have for this great Duty, and necessary Means: For there is as much Unworthiness and Disrespect done to this Holy Sacrament, by Neglect or Refusal of Communion, as by Unworthy coming to it, or Irreverence at it: And most of the Pretences, which People make, to excuse their Omission, will be found but Hypocrisy at last. But many have not Opportunities, or discerning to observe this in particular Examples.  have not great Reason to fear and expect a further Judgement upon them for this Neglect, if they be not moved by those before mentioned speedily to reform the same; that is, to be delivered into the Hands of their Enemies, as it happened to the Greek Churches, and hath happened to some of these already, and particularly to one of the most Ancient and best Reformed of them all, in all other Respects, the Bohemian; besides others since?  
13. Whether there can be any Objection or Exception against the constant use of this Holy-Worship, which doth not reflect upon, and imply either great Ignorance, or something more shameful, in such as make it?  
14. Whether all such as Oppose or Discourage the frequent River and Use of this Holy-Worship, do not therein greatly gratify the Devil, and do him a very pleasing Service.  
15. Whether as well from the Nature of the Thing, as from the Authority and Practice of the Catholic Church, this Holy-Worship ought not to be restored to a daily Frequency in all Cathedrals, with Prayers there to be offered up with this Solemn Memorial for the whole Diocese more particularly, besides those for the whole Catholic Church, and the Nation; as also, in all great Towns, and populous Places, where there are a competent number of People to frequent it daily; but especially in the Universities; and to a Weekly Use; that is, every Lordsday, at least, in all other Churches?  
16. Whether all the Clergy belonging to such Churches, or in such Places ought not Constantly and Reverently to attend this Solemn Worship, except when hindered by sufficient, special, and extraordinary Occasions?  
17. Whether our Offering up to God, a defective, or imperfect Service in a superficial formal Manner, hath not been a great Offence and Provocation to many, to forsake the Church and go over to the Dissenters? and the Restitution of the complete Christian Worship reverently and devoutly performed, would not be as likely to reduce them?  
18. Whether our Neglect of the daily Sacrifice, so manifestly contrary to the Practice of the Catholic Church, hath not been a great Scandal and Offence ●o many of the Papists, and hindered their Communion with us? and the Restitution of it with all Decency and Reverence be not a likely Means to invite them to come in, especially if we did but therewithal restore some more of the undeniable Practices of the Catholic Church, and particularly that Solemn Manner of Treating of Penitents, so Honourable to God, and Beneficial and Necessary to Men?  
19 Whether, though of all the ancient Liturgies that of the Greeks, (the Form of which may be seen in Cyril of Jerusalem, and much of the Matter in the Ancient Book called Clement's Constitutions, not much different from that which bears the Name of St. James) be both more Ancient and more complete than any now extant of any of the Latin-Churches; there be not notwithstanding a great Agreement among them all, in all the Principal and Essential Parts of this Holy-Worship? and between them and the most Ancient Forms of the Jews, in such things as are common to both, as many are, and not peculiar to the Christians? and therefore, Whether all Persons ought not to be very cautious how they use either their own extempore Conceptions, or Forms composed according to their own private Fancies or Opinions, in so Solemn Worship of God?  
20. Whether it be not the Duty and the Wisdom of any Church or People as well as of particular Persons, to give Glory to God, by an humble Acknowledgement of their Sin, and a speedy, Resolute, and effectual Reformation? but a foolish and dangerous thing, either to palliate or cover the same, for fear of Weakening their Authority, or to delay or procrastinate the Reformation; or do it insufficiently or imperfectly, upon any other prudential Considerations?  
FINIS.   

THE PREFACE.  
THE Method which our Blessed Saviour prescribed for the Reformation of what is amiss in individual and private Persons and Matters; viz. That it be gradual, and, first, as gentle as may be, by tacit Admonition, or private Reproof: and if that will not do, then to proceed only to the Audience of one or two, but still in private, that there may be Witnesses to attest the orderly Proceeding, as well as the Obstinacy of the Offender: and then, indeed, if that will not do, to report it to the Church, or Holy Assembly of the Faithful: but never to expose the Person till all other Means have been used, and found ineffectual and unsuccessful: the same is, doubtless, according to his Will, ordinarily much more to be observed in public Persons and Matters. And this I have endeavoured, and do desire to observe in the Matter in hand, which is of no mean Moment, but concerning a Principal Matter of the Christian Religion, the most Solemn and Peculiar Part of the Christian Worship. For, upon diligent Search, under the Conduct of the Hand of God, into Miscarriages, and Matters amiss therein, having plainly discovered and detected the same, to my own Satisfaction, I have given Notice thereof to such as were concerned to promote a Reformation, and expected a just time for something to be done, or, at least, be begun for that Purpose: And having done all that could be done in Secret, I am now, by a regular Course of Proceeding, to make my Report to the Church: and, for that, since there is no appearance of any opportunity to do it in a Synod, there is no other way left but this of the Press; And this I have been careful to use, with all the Gentleness and Deliberation that is fit in this Case to be used, if we consider who is concerned in it, and how far. I have already, out of respect to those in Authority, for no inconsiderable time, in a manner suppressed, communicating but to a few, and some of the principal men, what I had Printed, though it did but in part open the Faults: and now I do but propose a Specimen of a Remedy to Consideration, without expressly noting what is amiss, desiring only Leave to use it with my own Company, till something more complete be established; that I may neither offend Authority, by acting without Leave; nor my own Mind, by too much varying in a martyr of this moment, from the good Order and Practice of the Catholic Church; nor yet be forced to make use of that Indulgence, which is now allowed to such, as I would not willingly be. And, possibly, from such a Beginning, by the Favour and Blessing of God, may a good Reformation insensibly ensue, without Trouble or Difficulty; for in what is here proposed, is very little but what hath the Authority of Law, and the Declaration of the whole State, that it was composed by the Aid of the Holy Ghost; and that Little such, as is not like to offend any Man of Judgement, and truly Religious. And I should be glad to have no Occasion to proceed any further to the opening such Sores, as I had rather see insensibly healed and covered, than exposed to public View. But I have such Assurance, and Divine Attestations, that the Work I am employed in, for the Restitution of this most Holy, Solemn, and peculiar Part of the Christian Worship, to its Integrity, as well as just Frequency of a Daily Celebration in places proper for it, and Weekly in all Churches, is the Special Work of God, not only for his Service, but ordered by Himself, by his own Hand of Providence, and under his Divine Conduct, that as it is no little Comfort and Encouragement to me, so it is a special and great Obligation to be Faithful in it. I am very sensible of the Obligation upon me, and very much desire to pay all due Respect and Observance to all Humane Authority, whether Ecclesiastical or Civil, as the Ordinance of God: but if they in Authority will give unnecessarily Occasion for a Contest, we must obey God rather than Man, and prefer the Authority of the Catholic Church before that of any particular Church whatever: and especially the Honour of God and of our Saviour, before that of Man, or any Society of Men, be it what it will: and if nothing else will do, I must proceed, and open the whole Matter, in the Cause of God, to the whole Church, in the best manner that I can. And this is what I have to say here, at present, in Order to the Restitution of this Holy Service to its Integrity: For, for the Reasons of what is here done, they may be more proper to have their place in the Notes, which are intended for that purpose.  
But as for that of its just Frequency of Celebration, there needs not that Caution, though what I have to say do reflect Shame upon our Clergy: For, 1. that may be without Disparagement to the Constitution of this Church in this Matter; because there be Learned Men, who have asserted in Public, and are ready to prove, That by the Constitution of this Church, there ought to be a Daily Celebration in all Places, where there are but a competent Number of Devout Persons to attend and commenicate. And, 2. it is but just and reasonable to do it, notwithstanding, for their Humiliation before God, and Reformation, to prevent what might be worse for them. Our Wise and Gracious God hath given them a gentle tacit Admonition, by a small Company of Daily Communicants, excited, and conducted by his Hand, from a private Room, to a public Church; and, by degrees, from one without the Walls, at last, to one in the very Heart of this City, where they have constantly assembled for this Holy Service, without Intermission of a Day, for a Twelvemonth together, and thereby born a Testimony for Him, and been a tacit Admonition to all others, but especially the Clergy. And I have formerly proposed the Case by Way of Questions, in Print, which have come to the Hands of some of the Principal of those concerned, and been under their Consideration, besides many others: And since those have had no more Effect, I know nothing more proper for this Purpose than these Theses and Conclusions, concerning the Frequent Celebration and Participation of the Holy Eucharist, which I lately drew up upon a private Occasion, little thinking then of this, for which they serve much better, and possibly might be so designed then, by that overruling Wisdom, whose Thoughts are as far above ours, as the Heaven above the Earth.  
Thes. 1. That this One Unbloody Sacrifice, or Holy Rite of the Blessed Eucharist, doth succeed as an Antitype and Memorial in the Christian Church, in the Place of all those Bloody Typical Sacrifices of the Jews; as is taught both by Ancient Christians, and by Learned Men of our own Church and Times.  
Concl. 1. That it is very Unworthy of a Christian, to imagine our Memorial of what is actually done and consummate, to be less effectual for Christians, than were their Types of what was then yet to be done, for the Jews, for any Intent or Purpose whatever.  
2. That this, being of as great Use to us, as were theirs to them, aught as frequently to be used among us, as were theirs among them, upon all just Occasions.  
Thes. 2. That this Holy Rite, was a Rite in Use among the Jews, for Solemn Thanksgiving to God for any great Mercy or Blessing, as often as they met together to celebrate any such; and was appropriate by our Saviour for a Eucharistical Commemoration of His Passion before God, as often as Christians should have any Solemn Assembly for the Worship of God.  
Concl. That this, being instituted by our Saviour, as the Peculiar Solemnity of that Memorial, aught to be used as often as we assemble to give Solemn Thanks for that great Blessing, or to offer up Solemn Prayers for the Obtaining of the Benefits thereof.  
Thes. 3. That it is a Rite of the Greatest Honour to God, and to our Saviour, and of the Greatest Benefit to Men, of any in the Christian Church.  
Concl. 1. Both these Considerations are both Great Motives, and Great Obligations, to a frequent Celebration and Participation of it.  
2. The Neglect thereof, in Respect of the Honour of God, and of our Saviour, is Ingratitude and Impiety; and in Respect of the Benefit to Man, as to others uncharitableness; and as to themselves, Profaneness and Folly; like that of Esau. Heb. 12.16.  
Thes. 4. It is the Principal and most Solemn Part of the Christian Worship; and so Essential a Part, that, in the Judgement of most Eminent Men of our own Church, our Service is not complete without it, but defective, and defective in the Principal Part wanting.  
Concl. 1. Concerning Reading of a part of the Communion Service at the Altar, where no Communion is prepared for, intended or expected, what Conclusion is to be made, in Respect of God, to whom it is offered; in Respect of the Minister, who doth offer it; and in Respect of the People, who should attend and communicate, is not hard to be understood.  
Thes. 5. Not any One Solemn Assembly of Christians, for the Worship of God, in the Times of the Apostles, or among the Ancient Christians of the first Ages, is known ever to have been held without it.  
Thes. 6. No Church upon the Face of the Earth, from the Time of the Apostles, to the Time of the Reformation, nor to this Day, except among Protestants, is known to have kept the Lord's-Day, or had any ordinary Assemblies for the  

And as to the Communion, or Participation.  
Thes. 1. By most Ancient Order in the Church,  departed after the Reading of the Scriptures, or Sermon, and stayed not at the Communion, and received, were to be excommunicated.  
Thes. 2. In the first Ages, till about the Time of St. Augustin, we find not any Doubt or Question concerning the Obligation of all to Communicate daily, if they were where it was Celebrated, and had no just Impediment. But then, when many, especially among the Greeks, began to neglect that Holy Duty, that Question arose among the Latins, and the more Devout continued to receive every Day, (an Argument of Daily Celebration then) and others intermitted certain Days.  
Thes. 3. By Ancient Canons, if any neglected to Communicate for Three Sundays together, they were to be excommunicated.  
Thes. 4. It was Anciently commonly reputed a grievous thing, to be hindered from Receiving the Blessed Sacrament; but to be denied it, a grievous Punishment: and such was the Judgement of the Church concerning the Importance of it, that to such as were hindered from coming to the Church, it was sent home to their Houses by the Deacons.  
Thes. 5. It was, Anciently, not only Scandalous, but Punishable in a Clergyman, to be in a City, or other Place, where it was celebrated, and not to attend, and communicate.  
Thes. 6. These Orders of later Ages, concerning Receiving at least Three times in a Year, and so indulging a Neglect for all the rest, are most justly, by Calvin, said to be Certissimum Diaboli Inventum.  
Thes. 7. It hath been always the Practice, and Advice of all Devout People, to be very frequent at it; and of most, to neglect no Opportunity. Dr. Taylor's Conclusion concerning it, in his Holy Living, is very agreeable to the Sentiments of the Ancients, and deserves to be Read by all.  
Concl. 1. From all this it appears, how far different the Devotion of this Age is from that of the ancient genuine Christianity, and short of it.  
2. This Holy Service having been constantly performed in this City, in Public Churches, ever since the Sixth of Janunry, 1694. and in the Heart of the City for a Twelvemonth together, and frequented by so few, is a Notorious Argument of the miserable Ignorance and Indevotion, for all our Pretences, both of Priests and People amongst us.  
3. It hath been the Opinion of several Learned, Judicious, and Observent Men, that a great part of the Mischief, which hath been in the World in these latter Ages, is to be imputed to so woeful a Neglect of this Holy Ordinance.  
Now, for Proofs of these things, They who pretend to any kind of Learning, I suppose, will be cautious how they require it, lest they betray their own Ignorance in Antiquity: and for others, they are not so much to be regarded, as to insist upon them merely for them: but if there be Occasion, abundant Proofs, both Old and New, may soon be produced: And, in the mean time, for the Satisfaction of such well-meaning People as doubt, they may be referred to Mr. Joseph Mede, Dr. Sherlock, the present Dean of St. Paul's, in the last chap. of his Book of Religious Assemblies, Dr. S. Patrick, the present Bp. of Ely, in his Discourse of Frequency of Holy Communion, Mr. Thorndike, Bp. Andrews, Dr. Jeremy Taylor, and others, who have several considerable Passages to the Purpose in several Parts of their Works, very consonant to the Sentiments and Practices of the Ancient Christians, and the whole Catholic Church.  
And, certainly, it is a wonderful thing, that Almighty God should ever permit the Enemy of Mankind so to impose upon such, as may well be supposed did really intent his Service, and had a great Zeal for it, as some leading Men in the Beginning of the Reformation; and that such Men of Learning and Parts should be so imposed upon, as by a mistaken Zeal against Superstition, to abolish and deface so considerable a Part of the most Holy and Solemn Worship of God, and even of the true Notion, and proper Use thereof. But our most Wise and Gracious God, for most Excellent Ends, no doubt, though we cannot comprehend them all, hath again concluded all under Sin, that he might have Mercy upon all, abolish that Enmity and Uncharitableness which the Enemy hath fomented amongst us, and teach us, henceforward, by a very remarkable Example, in the Work of God to attend with more Reverence and Circumspection to his Conduct, and not presume too much upon our own Conceits and Opinions. These Men, who so much over-shot themselves, had the Honour and Service of God, for their End; and the Word of God, for their Rule; and yet, How have they erred from both! done Dis-honour and Dis-service to God, for the Honour and Service they intended; and instead of the Pure Word of God, followed their own, or their Leaders, mere Fancies and Imaginations! The Great Business of Man upon Earth, is the Entire Subjection of the Creature to the Creator, in the Subjection of the Intellect, as well as the Will: and, therefore, it is absolutely necessary that we should have great Experiments of the Danger of Presuming too much upon our own Opinions, as well as of adhering too much to our own Wills: And such is this we are now considering.  
And if we inquire into the Causes of it, they are such as I have just now touched. 1. Not sufficient Attendance to the Conduct of God over us; for he is always present in a special manner with all those, who are employed in any special Service for Him; to direct them; if they be careful to follow Him fully; and not unadvisedly conclude upon their own Opinions, like them, Jos. 9 when they should ask Counsel of the Lord. 2. Conceitedness, and Presumption upon our own Judgements, which makes us apt to neglect that Attendance. 3. Want of Charity to such as are otherwise minded, and a Spirit of Opposition, apt to run without due Consideration, and be insensibly transported, from one Extreme or Error into another, beyond either the Conduct of God, or Mature Deliberation of our own Minds. 4. Want of due regard to Humane Authority. For though we must obey God rather than Man, yet we must be subject to Humane Ordinances too, so far as they are not inconsistent with the Orders of God: and even in those things, wherein we cannot obey, yet have due regard to the Authority. 5. Having men's Persons in Admiration, and receiving their Opinions as the Oracles of God; a secret Principle of all Sectaries. 6. Indiscreet Zeal without Knowledge, for the Honour and Service of God; another Occasion of running out of one Extreme or Error into another. 7. Mixture of Temporal Interest or Concern, of Applause, Reputation, Power, or Gain: This is often very subtle and prevalent, where and when it is little suspected. 8. Lastly, though it be not last in the Order of Causes, Abuse or Misuse of the Sacred Scriptures; a thing subtilely practised by the Devil, and simply many times, though not always so, but too often, craftily, disingeniously, and dis-honestly, by Men. There is in the Scriptures a Divine Perfection, such as is in all the Works of God, but as much different from that Perfection, which Men are apt to imagine, as the Wisdom of God exceeds Man's Wisdom. And they who endeavour to set up a Humane Conceit of Perfection, though they may mean well, yet pretending that for Perfection which they can neither prove, nor others find there, they do great Injury to the Scriptures, by raising Prejudices and Scandals in the Minds of many ingenious People against them, and against themselves too, as either silly, weak People, or Cheats, who impose upon others. The Scriptures are of no Use to such as understand not the Language wherein they were Written, unless they have them faithfully Translated; and, How shall they know which is so amongst so many Translations? Yet is there enough for the Unlearned, in what all or most do agree. Nor is the bare Knowledge of the Language sufficient for a complete Understanding of the Scriptures, without the Knowledge of divers Orders, Usages, Customs, Observations, etc. of the Jews, before our Saviour's Time, for the Old Testament: and of both Jews and Christians, for the New. This is so certain, that they who have presumed to set up their own Imaginations without due regard to those Means, have left to Posterity so many Monuments of their self-conceitedness, Presumption, and either Ignorance and Folly, or Disingenuity and Dishonesty in handling the Word of God deceitfully. And though we cannot comprehend the Wisdom of God in many such things, yet may we perceive sufficient Reasons why he was pleased to order it so in this; (but this is no place to insist upon that.) And therefore it is an Argument of Ignorance and Error, or something worse, in any one, who shall require Scripture for such Particularities as it pleased God should not be recorded there, but be transmitted to after-Ages by other Means. It is found, by Experience, that some, who have mightily cried up the Pure Word of God, have, under that Pretence, set up, and imposed upon the World, their own mere Fancies.  
Under this Pretence hath the Spirit of Antichrist as mischievously prevailed, and imposed upon People in some Places, as in others under Pretence of Apostolical Traditions: They who would confine Antichrist to Rome, are as much mistaken as they who deny him to be there. He hath no less prevailed to suppress or oppress some important Truths under the odious Name of Popery elsewhere, than he hath done at Rome to oppose others under the like odious Name of Heresy. It is a Question, which may bear some dispute, and deserve Consideration, Whether the Superstition of the Papists, leading them to Idolatry, and Subjection to one of the greatest Impostures in the World; or that of some Protestants, who have pretended highly to Reformation, precipitating them into Sacrilege, Profaneness, Selfconceitedness, and Contempt of Lawful Humane Authority, hath done most Mischief? But certain it is, that the taking away of the Daily Sacrifice is as notorious a Mark of the Spirit of Antichrist, according to the Apprehensions of the Ancient Christians, as any: and the Operations of Satan must have been very subtle, and his Delusions very strong upon men's Minds, to prevail with them so industriously to abolish so considerable a Part of the most Solemn Worship of God for Popish Superstition, and so to expunge the genuine Notion of it out of People's Minds, that they know not what it means, and therefore neglect it as a needless thing.  
By Men of these Principles was this Church abused and imposed upon, and the True English Reformed Liturgy disordered, dismembered, and defaced, to gratify their Humour, in the Reign of K. Ed. 6. But God did not connive at it, but took off the Contriver of those Disorders within a Month; the King himself, who imposed upon the Parliament in it, within a Twelvemonth; and him who misled the King, by a violent and blemished Death, not long after; and hath made that Generation of Men to them of the Church of England, Pricks in their Eyes, and Thorns in their Sides, ever since; just Corrections for so pernicious a League, and continued Compliance therein.  
And though he hath not hitherto connived at it, yet doth he now, in a special manner, call to Repentance, by new Admonitions. First, By setting up an Example of Reformation; and, next, By discovering the Shame of the Miscarriage: a manifest Call to take Shame to ourselves, and give Glory to God, by humble public Confession, and speedy Reformation. I may add, and, 3. By this late great Mercy, and so manifest Declaration of the continuance of his Favour yet towards us, notwithstanding all our Ingratitude and Unworthiness. The Concurrence of all these together are obliging Calls, both of Encouragement, if we answer as we should; and of Danger, by Provocation, if we neglect. It is a New Declaration of His Gracious Condescension, and Readiness still to receive us into Favour, if we will wisely embrace it, consider our Ways, and set to our Duty in good earnest, and not think to satisfy Him with the Formality of a Day of Thanksgiving, without any just Act of a real hearty Gratitude. Who can, or dare say, that this Divine Favour hath not been obtained of Almighty God by this Beginning of a Restitution of the Daily Christian Sacrifice, under the Conduct of His special Providence, as a principal means, for a Manifestation of his Approbation thereof to the whole Nation. If we well consider the Judgements both of Ancient Christians, and of Learned and Judicious Divines of our own Church, in this Age, concerning the Prevalence of this Holy ●eans; together with the Circumstances we are under, it will appear no unreasonable thing to think so. The Celebration of the Holy Sacrament (saith a late Bishop, Dr. Jeremy Taylor) is in its self, and in its own Formality, a Sacred, Solemn, and Ritual Prayer, in which we invocate God by the Merits of Christ, expressing that Adjuration, not only in Words, but in Actual Representment and Commemoration of his Passion. And if the Necessities of the Church were well considered, we should find that a Daily Sacrifice of Prayer, and a Daily Prayer of Sacrifice, were no more but what her Condition requires. And I would to God the Governors of Churches would take Care that the Necessities of Kings and Kingdoms, of Churches and States, were represented to God by the most Solemn and Efficacious Intercessions: and Christ hath taught us none greater than the Praying in the Virtue and Celebration of his Sacrifice. And this is the Counsel that the Church received from St. Ignatius: Hasten frequently to approach to the Eucharist, the Glory of God: For when this is Daily Celebrated, we break the Powers of Satan. If all our Bishops, Deans and prebend's did constantly and devoutly attend this Solemn Worship at their several Cathedrals, and there perform this Holy Service as it ought to be, we should soon find that to be of greater Importance, both to Church and State, and the whole Nation, than all the Service our Bishops ever did, or ever will do in Parliament, or the rest at their particular Cures, Attendances, and I know not what occasions to withdraw them from their proper and principal Business. These are such Relics of Popery as aught to be reform, if ever we expect to receive the Favour and Blessing of God in any great degree. How others can satisfy their Consciences, I know not, but I am clear of Opinion, that they who take such Preferments for Lucre sake, and attend the Duty of them no farther than our Laws do require, are guilty of the greatest Sacrilege: And that those Princes and States, who presume ordinarily to withdraw such Persons from the Service of God in their proper Places, to serve them in Matters of State, are likewise Guilty of Sacrilege, Impiety, and great Imprudence, to make so bold with Sacred Matters. The Reformation of these things would be a greater Demonstration of real Gratitude to God, than any thing this Nation hath produced of a long time.    

THE LITURGY Of the ANCIENTS REPRESENTED, As near as well may be, In ENGLISH Forms.  
PART I.  
The Priest turning toward the People. 
Note. According to Ancient Usage,  is spoken to God, is spoken toward the Altar; whatever to the People, toward them. v. Mede. Ep. 56.   
Pr. * The Lord he with you.  
Pe. And with thy Spirit.  
* O Come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us hearty rejoice in the Strength of our Salvation.  
Let us come before his Presence with Thanksgiving: and show ourselves glad in him with Psalms.  
For the Lord is a great God: and a great King above all Gods.  
In his hand are all the corners of the Earth: and the strength of the Hills is his also.  
The Sea is his, and he made it: and his hands prepared the dry Land.  
O come let us Worship, and Fall down: and Kneel before the Lord our Maker.  
For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture, and sheep of his hand. O come, etc.  
Then toward the Altar.  
* Glory be to God on high, and on Earth peace Good Will towards Men.  
* BLessed be the Lord God of Israel: for he hath visited and redeemed his people;  
And hath raised up a mighty Salvation for us: in the house of his servant David;  
As he spoke 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 swore to our forefather Abraham: that he would give us;  
That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies: might serve him without fear;  
In Holiness and Righteousness before him: all the days of our life.  
Glory be to the Father, etc.  
* GOD be merciful unto us, and bless us: and show us the Light of his Countenance, and be merciful unto us.  
* PRevent us, O Lord, in all our do with thy most gracious Favour, and further us with thy continual Help, that [as by thy special Grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good Desires, so by thy continual Help we may bring the same to good Effect; and in all our works begun, continued, and ended in thee,] we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally by thy mercy [may] obtain everlasting life, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
OUR Father who art in Heaven; Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done on Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our Daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into Temptation; But deliver us from Evil. Amen.  
ALmighty God, unto whom all Hearts be open, all Desires known, and from whom no Secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the Inspiration of thy holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
† Then turning toward the People.  
Pr. GOD spoke these words, and said, I am the Lord thy God: Thou shalt have none other Gods but me.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this Law.  
Pr. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image, nor the Likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above, or in the Earth beneath, or in the Water under the Earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the Sins of the Fathers upon the Children, unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me, and show mercy unto thousands in them that love me, and keep my commandments.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, etc.  
Pr. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, etc.  
Pr. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day. Six  shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of Work, thou, nor thy Son, nor thy Daughter, thy Manservant, nor thy Maidservant, thy Cattle, nor the Stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth, the Sea, and all that in them is, and rested the Seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Seventh day, and hallowed it.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, etc.  
Pr. Honour thy Father and thy Mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, etc.  
Pr. Thou shalt do no Murder.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, etc.  
Pr. Thou shalt not commit Adultery.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, etc.  
Pr. Thou shalt not Steal.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, etc.  
Pr. Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, etc.  
Pr. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's Wife, nor his Servant, nor his Maid, nor his Ox, nor his Ass, nor any thing that is his.  
Pe. Lord, have Mercy upon us, and write these and all thy Laws in our Hearts, we beseech thee.  
† Let us Pray.  
And turning toward the Altar.  
* O God, the Strength of all them that put their Trust in thee, Mercifully accept our Prayers; and because through the Weakness of our mortal Nature we can do no Good thing without thee, grant us the Help of thy Grace, that in keeping thy Commandments we may please thee, both in will and deed, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
* ALmighty and everliving God, by whose Spirit the whole Body of the Church is sanctified and governed; Receive our Supplications and Prayers which we offer unto thee for all Estates of Men in thy holy Church, that every Member of the same in his Vocation and Ministry, may truly and godly serve thee, through our Lord and Saviour jesus Christ. Amen.  
Then the Collect of the Day, with one of these Two for the King.  
ALmighty God, whose Kingdom is everlasting, & Power infinite; Have Mercy upon the whole Church, and so rule the Heart of thy chosen Servant N. our King and Governor, that he (knowing whose Minister he is) may above all things seek thy Honour and Glory; and that we and all his subjects (duly considering whose Authority he hath) may faithfully serve, honour, and humbly obey him, in thee, and for thee, according to thy blessed Word and Ordinance, through jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee, and the holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth ever One God, World without end. Amen.  
Or.  
ALmighty and everliving God, we are taught by thy holy Word, that the Hearts of Kings are in thy Rule and Governance, and that thou dost dispose and turn them as in thy most excellent Wisdom thou seest best; We humbly beseech thee so to dispose and govern the Heart of N. thy Servant, our King and Governor, that in all his Thoughts, Words, and Works, he may ever seek thy Honour and Glory, and study to preserve thy People committed to his charge, in Wealth, Peace, and Godliness. Grant this, O merciful Father, for thy dear Sons sake, jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
Then turning toward the People.  
The Epistle written in the— Chapter of— at the— Verse.  
And when he hath done.  
Here endeth the Epistle: The Holy Gospel, etc. People. Glory be to thee, O Lord.  
And at the end of the Gospel.  
Pr. So endeth the Holy Gospel.  
Pe. Thanks be to thee, O Lord.  
Then turning toward the Altar.  
I Believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible:  
And in one Lord jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, Begotten of his Father before all Worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made: Who for us Men, and for our Salvation, came down from Heaven, And was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made Man, And was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, And the third day he risen again according to the Scriptures, And ascended into Heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with Glory to judge both the quick and the dead: Whose Kingdom shall have no end  
And I believe in the holy Ghost, The Lord and giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the Prophets.  
And I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church.  
I acknowledge one Baptism for the Remission of Sins.  
And I look for the Resurrection of the Dead, And the Life of the World to come. Amen.  
* WE praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.  
All the Earth doth worship thee: the Father everlasting.  
To thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.  
To the Cherubin, and Seraphin: continually do cry,  
Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth.  
Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty: of thy Glory.  
The glorious Company of the Apostles: praise thee.  
The goodly Fellowship of the Prophets: praise thee.  
The noble Army of Martyrs: praise thee.  
The Holy Church throughout all the World: doth acknowledge thee:  
The Father: of an infinite Majesty;  
Thine honourable, true: and only Son;  
Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter.  
Thou art the King of Glory: O Christ:  
Thou art the everlasting Son: of the Father.  
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver Man: thou didst not abhor the Virgins Womb.  
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of Death: thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers.  
Thou sittest at the right hand of God: in the Glory of the Father.  
We believe that thou shalt come: to be our judge.  
We therefore pray thee, help thy Servants: whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious Blood.  
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints: in Glory everlasting.  
O Lord, save thy people: and bless thine heritage.  
Govern them: and lift them up for ever.  
Day by day: we magnify thee;  
And we Worship, thy Name: ever World without end.  
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.  
O Lord, have Mercy upon us: have Mercy upon us.  
O Lord, let thy Mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in thee.  
O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.  
* ALmighty and everliving God, who hast given unto us thy servants Grace, by the Confession of a true Faith, to acknowledge the Glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the Power of the Divine Majesty, to worship the Unity; We beseech thee to keep us steadfast in this Faith, and evermore defend us from all Adversities, who livest and reignest One God World without end. Amen.  
ALmighty, Everliving, most Merciful and most Gracious God, who hatest nothing which thou hast made, and dost forgive the Sins of all them, who are Penitent, create and make in us New and Contrite Hearts, that we worthily lamenting our Sins, and acknowledging our Wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all Mercy, perfect Remission and Forgiveness, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.   

THE Liturgy of the Ancients Represented, etc. PART II.  
The Office of the Faithful.  
The Priest turning toward the People.  
Pr. * The Lord be with you.  
Pe. And with thy Spirit.  
Pr. Christ our Pascal Lamb is offered for us once for all; when he bore our Sins on his Body upon the Cross: For he is the very Lamb of God, that taketh away the Sins of the World: Wherefore let us keep a joyful and Holy Feast with the Lord.  
YE who do truly and sincerely Repent you of your Sins, and are in Love and Charity with your Neighbours, and intent to lead a new Life, and hearty to follow the Commandments of God, and to walk from henceforth in his Holy Ways; Draw near 
* The Men on the one side, and the Women on the other, saith the Rubric, in the first Book of E. 6. after the Offertory; and such was the Ancient Usage.  with Faith, and take this Holy Sacrament to your Comfort; and make your humble Confession to Almighty God, meekly kneeling upon your Knees.  
Then Kneeling  
ALmighty God, Father of our Lord jesus Christ, Maker of all things, judge of all Men; We acknowledge and repent us of our manifold Sins and Wickednesses, which we from time to time most grievously have committed, by Thought, Word, and Deed, against thy Divine Majesty, provoking thy most just Wrath and Indignation against us. We do sincerely Repent, and are hearty sorry for these our Misdoing, the Remembrance of them is grievous to us; the Burden of them is intolerable. Have Mercy upon us, have Mercy upon us, most merciful Father; for thy Son our Lord jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past, and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in Newness of Life, to the Honour and Glory of thy Name, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
O Lord, we beseech thee mercifully hear our Prayers, and spare all those who confess their Sins unto thee, that they who by Conscience of Sin are accused, by thy merciful Favour may be absolved, through Christ our Lord. Amen.  
Then rising up, and turning toward the People.  
ALmighty God our Heavenly Father, who of his great Mercy hath promised Forgiveness of Sins to all them that with hearty Repentance and true Faith turn unto him; Have Mercy upon you, Pardon and Deliver you from all your Sins, Confirm and Strengthen you in all Grace and Goodness, and bring you to Everlasting Life, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
Hear what Comfortable Words our Saviour Christ faith unto all that truly turn unto him.  
COme unto Me, all that travel and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. S. Matth. 11.28.  
So God loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not Perish, but have everlasting Life. S. John 3.16.  
Hear also what S. Paul faith.  
This is a true Saying, and worthy of all Men to be received, that jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners. 1 Tim. 1.15.  
Hear also what S. John saith.  
If any Man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, jesus Christ the Righteous: and he is the Propitiation for our Sins. 1 S. John 2.1.  
The OFFERTORY.  
Note, It being an Ancient Holy Rite, among all Mankind, to pay Honour to God, by making their Address to Him with Presents and Offerings, in Recognition of his absolute Dominion, and their Dependence upon and Subjection to Him, (as with us Freeholders, pay their chief Rents to the Lord of whom they hold) and a Rite observed in the Christian Church all over the World, so Anciently, that it is not to be doubted but it was retained by the Apostles, according to their Instructions received from our Saviour, as other such Rites were; the People are to be instructed and admonished to present their Offerings with Reverence, as the Offerings of God, and to God, for the Purpose aforesaid, and as Symbolical Oblations of themselves, and all they are and have, unto Him, v. Sparrow's Rationale. And, anciently, those who could not come, and yet desired to be remembered in the Solemn Prayer at the Altar, did use to send their Offerings by some other, and were remembered accordingly, if their Offerings were accepted.  
LET your Light so shine before Men, that they may see your good Works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven. S. Matth. 5.16.  
Lay not up for yourselves Creasure upon Earth, where the Rust and Moth doth corrupt, and where Chieves break through and steal: but lay up for your sews Creasures in Heaven, where neither Rust nor Moth doth corrupt, and where Chieves do not break through nor steal. S. Matth. 6.19, 20.  
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven. S. Matth. 7.21.  
Godliness is great Riches, if a Man be content with that he hath: for we brought nothing into the World, neither may we carry any thing out. 1 Tim. 6.6, 7.  
HOnour the Lord with thy Substance, and with the Principal of all thine Increase. Prov. 3.9.  
Give unto the Lord the Glory due unto his Name: bring an Offering, and come into his Courts. Psal. 96.8. 1 Chrom. 16.29.  
Let all that be round about him bring Presents unto Him that ought to be feared. Psal. 76.11.  
None shall appear before me empty. Exod. 23.15.  
Every Man shall give as he is able, according to the Blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee. Deut. 16.17.  
If there be a willing Mind, it is accepted according to that a Man hath? 2 Cor. 8.12.  
WHO goeth to Warfare at any time at his own Cost?  
Who planteth a Vineyard, and eateth not of the Fruit thereof? or, Who feedeth a Flock, and eateth nor of the Milk of the Flock. 1 Cor. 7.9.  
If we have sown unto you Spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your Worldly things? 1 Cor. 9.11.  
Do ye not know that they who minister about holy things, live of the Sacrifice? and they who wait at the Altar, are partakers with the Altar? Even so hath the Lord also ordained, that they who preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel. 1 Cor. 9.13, 14.  
TO do good, and to distribute, forget not; for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased. Heb. 13.16.  
The Administration of this Service not only supplieth the want of the Saints, but is abundant also by many Thanksgivings unto God. 2 Cor. 9.12.  
An Odour of a sweet Smelled, a Sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing unto God. Phil. 4.18.  
He that soweth little, shall reap little: and he that soweth plenteously, shall reap plentenously. Let every Man do according as he is disposed in his Heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful Giver. 2 Cor. 9.6, 7.  
God is not Unrighteous, that he should forget your Works, and Labour of Love, which ye have showed for his Names sake, who have ministered unto the Saints, and do minister. Heb. 6.10.  
When the People have all presented their Offerings, the Priest is to take them, and present them reverently upon the Altar; then take the Bread and Wine, 
* v. Mede Chr. Sacr. c. 8.  present them, & place them decently in the middle of the Altar: And then turning toward the People, say,  
THE Grace of our Lord jesus Christ, and the Love of God the Father, and the Communication of the Holy Spirit, be with you all evermore. Amen.  
Lift up your Hearts.  
Ans. We lift them up unto the Lord.  
Pri. Let us give Thanks unto our Lord God.  
Ans. It is Meet and Right so to do.  
IT is very Meet, Right, and our Bounden Duty, that we should [Adore, Worship, and Glorify thee, and] at all Times, and in all Places, give [Praise and] Thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God, [for all thy Goodness and Lovingkindness to us, and to all Men: 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] therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the Company of Heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name, evermore praising thee, and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts; Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord most high. Amen.  
THou art worthy, O Lord, to receive Glory, and Honour, and Power; for thou hast created all things; and for thy Pleasure they are and were created.  
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, and Strength, and Honour, and Glory, and Blessing.  
For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us unto God, by thy Blood, out of every Kindred, and Tongue, and People, and Nation.  
Blessing, Honour, Glory, and Power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne; and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.  
Then turning toward the People.  
Let us pray for the whole State of Christ's Church Militant here on Earth.  
And turning again toward the Altar.  
ALmighty and Everliving God, who by thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make Prayers and Supplications, and to give Thanks unto thee for all Men; We humbly beseech thee most mercifully (to accept these our Oblations, and) to receive these our Prayers, which we offer unto thy Divine Majesty, beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the Spirit of Truth, Unity, and Concord: and grant that all they who do confess thy Holy Name, may agree in the Truth of thy Holy Word, and live in Unity and Godly Love.  
† We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian Kings, Princes, and Governors; and especially thy Servant N. our King, that under him we may be godly and quietly governed: and to grant unto his whole Council, and to all that are put in Authority under him, that they may truly and indifferently minister justice, to the punishment of Wickedness and Vice, and to the maintenance of thy true Religion and Virtue.  
† Give Grace, O Heavenly Father, to all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, and more particularly of this Church and Diocese, that they may both by their Life and Doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly administer thy Holy Sacraments.  
And to all thy People give thy Heavenly Grace; that with meek Heart and due Reverence they may hear and receive thy holy Word, truly serving thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the Days of their Life.  
And we commend especially unto thy merciful Goodness the Congregation, which is here assembled in thy Name to celebrate the Commemoration of the most precious Death and Sacrifice of thy Son our Saviour jesus Christ.  
And we most humbly beseech thee, of thy Goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succour all them, who in this transitory Life are in Trouble, Sorrow, Need, Sickness, or any other Adversity.  
And we also bless thy holy Name, for all thy Servants, 
* C. departed this Life in thy Faith & Fear; beseeching thee to give us Grace so to follow their good Examples, that with them we may be Partakers of thy Heavenly Kingdom.  who having finished their Course in Faith, do now rest from their Labours.  
And we render unto thee most hearty Thanks and Praise for thy wonderful Grace and Virtue declared in all thy Saints, who have been the choice Vessels of thy Grace, and the Lights of the World in their several Generations: 
a And chief in the glorious and most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord & God; and in thy Holy Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs. Ed. 6.  most humbly beseeching thee, that we may have Grace to follow the Example of their Steadfastness in thy Faith, and Obedience to thy Holy Commandments; 
b We commend unto thy Mercy, O Lord, all other thy Servants, which are departed hence from us with the Sign of Faith, and now rest in the Sleep of Peace; Grant unto them, we beseech thee, thy Mercy, and Everlasting Peace; and that at the Day, etc. Ed. 6. v. H. Lestr. c. 6. T. V.  that at the Day of the General Resurrection, we, and all they who are of the Mystical Body of thy Son, may be set on his Right Hand, and hear his most joyful Voice, Come, ye Blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. Grant this, O Father, for jesus Christ's Sake our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.  
Then the Prayer of Consecration.  
ALmighty God, our Heavenly Father, who of thy tender Mercy didst give thine only Son jesus Christ to suffer Death upon the Cross for our Redemption, who made there (by his own Oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient Sacrifice, Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World, and did institute, and in his Holy Gospel command us to continue and celebrate a Perppetual Memory of that his precious Death and Sacrifice, until his Coming again; Hear us, O merciful Father, we most humbly beseech thee, and of thy abundant Goodness vouchsafe to bless and sanctify with thy Word and holy Spirit these thy Gifts and Creatures of Breat and Wine, that they may be unto us the Body and Blood of thy most dearly beloved Son, our Saviour jesus Christ; so that we receiving them, according to His Holy Institution, in Remembrance of his Death and Passion, [and Recognition of our Redemption thereby] may be Partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood: who in the same Night that he was betrayed 
(a) Here the Priest is to take the Paten into his Hands.  took Bread, and when he had given Thanks 
(b) And here to break the Bread  he broke it, and gave it to his Disciples, saying, Take, eat, 
(c) And here to l●y his Hand upon all the bread:  This is my Body which is given for you, do this in Remembrance of me. Likewise after Supper 
(d) Here he is to take the Cup into his Hand.  he took the Cup, and when he had given Thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye All of this, for This 
(e) And here to lay his Hand upon every Vessel, be it Chalice or Flaren in which there is any Wine to be Consecrated.  is my Blood of the Now Testament, which is shed for you, and for many, for the Remission of Sins: Do this as often as ye shall drink it, in Remembrance of me. Amen.  
The Memorial: or Prayer of Oblation.  
WHerefore, O Lord, and Heavenly Father, according to the Institution of thy dearly beloved Son, our Saviour jesus Christ, we thy humble Servants do celebrate, and make here before thy Divine Majesty, with These thy Holy Gifts, the Memorial which He hath willed us to make, having in Remembrance his Blessed Passion, Mighty Resurrection, and Glorious Ascension; rendering unto thee most humble and hearty Thanks for the innumerable Benefits procured unto us by the same. And we humbly beseech thee, of thy Fatherly Goodness, mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of Praise and Chansgiving, and graciously to grant, that by His Death, Merits, and Intercession, and through Faith in his Blood, we, and all thy whole Church, may obtain Remission of our Sins, and all other Benefits of his Passion.  
And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our Souls and Bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively Sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that whosoever shall be Partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son jesus Christ, be fulfilled with thy Grace and Heavenly Benediction, and made one Body with him, that he may dwell in them, and they in him. And although we be Unworthy, through our manifold Sins, to offer unto thee any Sacrifice; yet we beseech thee to accept this our Bounden Duty and Service; 
* And command these our Supplications & Prayers to be, by the Ministry of thy Holy Angels, brought up into thy Holy Tabernacle, before the Sight of thy Divine Majesty. In the First Book of Ed. 6. but less out afterward.  not weighing our Merits, but pardoning our Offences, through jesus Christ our Lord; by whom, and with whom, in the Unity of the Holy Ghost, all Honour and Glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, World without end. Amen.  
AND we humbly beseech thee, O Lord, our God, That it may please thee to give us Hearts to love, dread, and adhere unto thee, and diligently to live after thy Commandments.  
That it may please thee to preserve, rule, and govern thy Holy Church Universal in the Right Way.  
That it may please thee to illuminate all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, [and particularly of this Church and Diocese] with true Knowledge and Understanding of thy Word, and that both by their Preaching & Living they may set it forth, and show it accordingly.  
That it may please thee to direct, keep and strengthen in the true Faith and Worship of thee, and in Righteousness and Holiness of Life thy Servant N. our King and Governor.  
That it may please thee that he may ever have Affiance in thee, ever seek thy Honour and Glory, and have Victory over all his Enemies.  
That it may please thee to bless and preserve all the Royal Family.  
That it may please thee to endue the Lords of the Council, and all the Nobility, with Grace, Wisdom, and Understanding.  
That it may please thee to bless and keep the Magistrates, giving them Grace to execute justice, and to maintain Truth.  
That it may please thee to bless and keep all thy People, to give them increase of Grace, to hear meekly thy Word, and to receive it with pure Affection, and to bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit.  
That it may please thee to give to all Nation's Unity, Peace, and Concord.  
That it may please thee to bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred, and are deceived.  
That it may please thee to strengthen such as do stand, and to comfort and help the Weakhearted, and to raise up them that fall, and finally to beat down Satan under our feet.  
That it may please thee to secure, help, and comfort all that are in Danger, Necessity, and Tribulation.  
That it may please thee to preserve all that Travel by Land, or by Water, all Women labouring of Child, all Sick persons and young Children, and to show thy Pity upon all Prisoners and Captives.  
That it may please thee to defend and provide for the Fatherless Children and Widows, and all that are Desolate and Oppressed.  
That it may please thee to have Mercy upon all Men.  
That it may please thee to forgive our Enemies, Persecutors, and Slanderers, and to turn their Hearts.  
That it may please thee to give and preserve to our Use the kindly Fruits of the Earth, so as in due time we may enjoy them.  
We humbly beseech thee to hear us, O Lord our God, through the Merits and Intercession of thy dearly beloved Son our blessed Lord and Saviour Christ jesus; and as he hath taught and commanded us, we are bold to say,  
OUR Father who art in Heaven; Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done on Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our Daily Bread. And forgive us our Crespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into Temptation; But deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, And the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen.  
Then, after a little Pause for all to offer up their own private Prayers, this Collect of humble Access to the Holy Communion, Kneeling.  
WE do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own Righteousness, but in thy manifold and great Mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the Crumbs inder thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose Property is always to have Mercy; grant us therefore, Gracious Lord, so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son jesus Christ, and to drink his Blood, that our Bodies and Souls being cleansed, and our Sins part oned, through his most precious Blood, we may enjoy thy Favour, be filled with thy Spirit, and evermore dwell in Him, and He in Us. Amen.  
Note. Concerning the Behaviour of the Communicants, these things are to be observed, that Anciently: 

1. They came Fasting to it. v. Sparrow.  
2. They came in Purity from all, not only Unlawful, but Carnal Embraces whatsoever, for some time before. v. S. Hier. Apol. pro Lib. contra Jovin.  
3. They came up to the Rails; (v. Spar.) to which they are called by these Words, Draw near, in the Invitation before the Confession.  
4. They answered, Amen, to the Words of the Priest at the Delivery of the Sacrament. v. Spar.  
5. They received the Consecrated Bread in their Hands. v. Spar.  
6. They were careful that none of it should fall to the Crowned. v. Tertul. de Cor. Mil— Origen. Hom. 13. in Exod. circa Med. Cyril. Hierosol. Cat. Myst. 5. sub fi. Aug. Hom. 26. l. 50 Hom.  
7. They did but sip or taste of the Cup. So did the Jews before: for it was a Rite of Thanksgiving to God in Use amongst them; and so did the christians; both using it as a Sacred Cup, and not to be profaned by pleasing the , which was the Fault of some of the Corinthians, punished by the Judgements of God. 1 Cor. 11.30. and savouring of the Temper and Disposition of those Jews, whom our Saviour repremands. Jo. 6.26.;    
At the Communion, this Benediction and Recognition.  
THe Body of our Lord jesus Christ, † which was given for thee,] preserve thy Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life. Ans Amen..  
Take and eat this in Remembrance that Christ Died for thee.  
And at the delivering of the Cup, this:  
THe Blood of our Lord jesus Christ, † which was shed for thee,] preserve thy Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life. Ans Amen..  
Drink this in Remembrance that Christ's Blood was shed for thee, and be thankful.  
Then, having decently covered what remaineth of the Consecrated Elements, this Thanksgiving.  
ALmighty and Everliving God, we most hearty thank thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe, of thy Favour and Goodness towards us, to feed us, who have duly received these Holy Mysteries, with the Spiritual Food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour jesus Christ, as Members incorporate in His Mystical Body, and Heirs through Hope of thy Everlasting Kingdom, by the Merits of His most Precious Death and Passion. And we most humbly beseech thee, O Heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy Grace, that we may continue in that Holy Fellowship, and do all such Good Works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through jesus Christ our Lord; to whom with thee, and the Holy Ghost, be all Honour and Glory, World without end. Amen.  
Then this Hymn.  
GLory be to God on high, and on Earth Peace, Good Will towards Men. We Praise thee, we Bless thee, we Worship thee, we Glorify thee, we give Thanks unto thee for thy great Glory, O Lord God, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.  
O Lord, the only begotten Son jesus Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the Sins of the World, have Mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the Sins of the World, have Mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the Sins of the World, receive our Prayer. Thou that sittest at the Right Hand of God the Father, have Mercy upon us.  
For thou only art Holy, thou only art the Lord, thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the Glory of God the Father. Amen.  
Then the Priest (or Bishop, if he be present) may let them departed with this Blessing.  
THe Peace of God which passeth all Understanding, keep your Hearts and Minds in the knowledge and Love of God, and of his Son jesus Christ our Lord: And the Blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.  

COLLECTS To be said, as occasion may serve, at the Discretion of the Minister.  
ACcept us graciously, O Lord, in these our Supplications, Prayers, and Thanksgivings, and dispose the Way of Servants towards the Attainment of Everlasting Salvation; that among all the Changes and Chances of this Mortal Life, they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready Help, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
O Almighty Lord, and everlasting God, vouchsafe, we beseech thee, to sanctify, direct, and govern both our Hearts and Bodies in the Ways of thy Laws, and in the Works of thy Commandments, that through thy most mighty Protection, both here and ever, we may be preserved in Body and Soul, through our Lord and Saviour jesus Christ. Amen.  
GRant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the Words which we have heard this Day with our outward Ears, may, through thy Grace, he so grafred inwardly in our Hearts, that they may bring forth in us the Fruit of good Living, to the Honour and Praise of thy Name, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
PRevent us, O Lord, in all our do with thy most gracious Favour, and further us with thy continual Help, that in all our Works begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy Holy Name, and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
ALmighty God, the Fountain of all Wisdom, who knowest our Necessities before we ask, and our Ignorance in Ask; We beseech thee to have Compassion upon our Infirmities; and those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our Blindness we cannot ask, vouchsafe to give us for the Worthiness of thy Son jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
ALmighty God, who hast promised to hear the Petitions of them that ask in thy Sons Name; We beseech thee mercifully to incline thy Favour to us, who have made now our Prayers and Supplications unto Thee; and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked, according to thy Will, may effectually be obtained, to the Relief of our Necessity, and to the setting forth of thy Glory, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  
In these Forms thus disposed is so much both of the Substance, and of the Order of the most ancient Liturgies, that a small matter more would make it One of the Compleatest Liturgies in the World. In the First Part should be more of the Scriptures, which may either be left to the Discretion of the Priest, or some of the Lessons for the Day be used: And the Prayers, which are preposterous before the Creed, or the Epistle and Gospel, (v. Heb. 11.6.) should either be after the Creed and the Te Deum, or be reserved to the Second Part, which is most agreeable to the most ancient Office for the Catechumen and Penetents, who were not admitted to the Prayers of the Faithful. And, in the Second Part, the Eucharist, or Thanksgiving, is much shorter than they anciently used: and the Commemorations for the Communion of Saints of the whole Mystical Body of Christ, are not so express as anciently they were in all the Liturgies now extant. I shall conclude with these Observations concerning Liturgies.  
1. That Prescribed Forms in the Public Worship of God, and also for Private Use, are of Divine Original and Institution.  
2. That there is not any good and clear Evidence of the Ordinary Solemn Worship of God, ever performed in any Christian Church, or other Religious Society, in any part of the World, without them.  
3. That therefore it is great Ignorance and Inconsiderateness at the best, but usually great Presumption and Impiety in those, who dare to speak against them in general.  
4. That the Jews did use Forms before our Saviour's Time, and the most ancient Christian Liturgies are so conform to them, that it is highly probable they were of Apostolical Original, as to the Substance and Order; or rather, that our Saviour himself, who certainly retained the Rite, retained also the Forms, with such Variations as were proper for the Christians Use.  
5. That these things considered, and the Use of the Word Liturgy in the Christian Church so ancient, universal, and appropriate to this Purpose, it is very disingenuous to deny that St. Luke (Act. 13.2.) did use that Word, which we translate Ministering, being joined with Fasting, for Solemn Prayer by Liturgy, after the manner aforesaid, comprising more in that Word than ordinary Praying, by reason of the Solemnity of the Eucharist, and Christian Sacrifice.   

In the Preface, p. 9 l. 6. for January r. June.    

A PREPARATIVE For the Reception of Truth, for a Prologue to certain Discourses, designed for a True Reformation, and Restitution of Primitive Christianity.  
TRUTH is what in its own Nature is very Excellent and Powerful, is of Divine Original, of great Importance to Mankind, and greatly opposed by the Powers of Darkness and all Evil Spirits: And therefore it is the Duty, Interest and Wisdom of Man, to have a great Esteem, Veneration and Reverence for it in all things, but more especially in things of greatest Importance, Matters of Religion. And because it is certain and manifest to all Men, who will but consider it, that there is not any more common visible Obstacle to it, than Prejudice of Education, Temporal Interests and Respects, and Pre-ingagement of Reputation for maintenance of Opinions received, especially when intermixed with something of Truth to support them, it is absolutely necessary to the Discharge of this Duty, Securing of this Interest, and Exercise of this Wisdom, Esteem and Reverence, to consider well, and settle it in our Minds, that those are no Principles of Truth, but commonly of Error, and Means, of which wicked Spirits make great Advantage to harden men's Hearts, and make them obstinate in the Errors, which they have intermixed with the Truths of God; and therefore be assured, that since we are all Fallible, there may be as much Truth on their side with whom we contend, as on our own; and that it is more likely that both Parties are in Error, than that either is entirely in the Right; and thereupon to set generously and impartially to examine and distinguish, and retain what is plain and clear, reject what is manifestly false, and leave what is doubtful and obscure till God shall reveal that also, in the mean time as of less Importance; and where there is occasion of consulting others, make choice, as in consulting Lawyers or Physicians, of such as are not only well versed in such matters, but also disinterested, , and faithful. And because to resist, reject or make light of any Truth but offered by the gracious Providence of God, is a Sin of great Ingratitude, and very offensive to his Divine Majesty, and usually provokes subtraction of his Grace and Spiritual Judgements, it greatly concerns all, who have any true Devotion to God, and considerate Care for their own Souls, to be very cautious that they do not unadvisedly reject or neglect any such when proposed to them; but especially if such as have been believed, professed and practised, if of that nature, by the most eminent Saints in all Ages, and in all Parts of the Church of Christ; and more-especially if such as concern the Honour of God, and of our Saviour, the Interest of his Church, which is the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth, the Communion of Saints, or the Salvation or Consolation of Souls, whether in the Body, or out of the Body; and more yet, if there appear just cause of Suspicion of the contrary Opinions; as when the first Teachers differ and fall out among themselves, and principal Men of their Followers afterward confess that what was greatly magnified by them before was greatly mistaken; when Charges or Accusations are of themselves monstrous and unreasonable, as that Catalogue of Errors of the Church of Rome, published by two several Persons, eminent in their own Parties, which computed, amount to above Five Hundred, a great sign of more Partiality than Prudence, more Heat than Truth, and of more Contention and Calumny than of just cause of Accusation; and one of the same Persons after-terward confessing that those of that Church are unjustly and untruly charged in many things; and especially when that remarkable Note of the Apostle, viz. Going out, 1 Jo. 2.19. according to his Master's Cautions before, Luk. 17.23. & 21.8. which by the Ancient Christians is so much insisted on as a certain Note of Heresy and Schism, is manifest beyond all contradiction. In all such cases a Godly Jealousy and Circumspection is highly necessary, that we do not obstinately persist in Error, and resist the Truth.  
So much is required of all Men, as Rational Creatures, that they be faithful to their Creator, and their own Souls, in the due Use and Improvement of their Talon of Natural Reason and Understanding: But Christians should farther consider, that they have many subtle and powerful invisible Adversaries to contend with, called Principalities and Powers, and the Rulers of the Darkness of this World, and one chief, called the God of this World, who commonly puts on the Appearance of an Angel of Light, blinding the Minds of Worldly and Carnal Men, lest the Light of Truth should shine unto them: and therefore be very watchful against their Wiles, beware of their Snares, be not conformed to this World, but transformed by the Renewing of their Mind, be mindful of their Baptismal Covenant, their Renunciation not only of the Devil, but of the World, and the Pomps and Vanities thereof, and of the Flesh with its Lusts and Affections, which are two great Engines of the Adversaries, that they may attain to true Purity in Heart, that the Light of Truth may shine into it, and be kindly and effectually received. For this they have first the implicit Document of the Great Example of their Redeemer, their Lord, and the Captain of their Salvation; which they must follow if they do sincerely endeavour to attain the End: and besides the Explication of it in manifold, express, written, plain Declarations, affectionate Admonitions, obliging Exhortations, and strict Injunctions, they must be Doers of his Will, if they will know the Truth of his Doctrine; and be careful to avoid Pride, seeking Honour of Men, (Jo. 5.44.) and Conceitedness, the common Levin of Heretics and Schismatics; be mindful also of the other part of their Baptismal Covenant, their Profession of Faith; observe and consider well the Order of the several Articles of their Belief, and study to understand the Importance of each: (For there is nothing in that Form of Sound Words, either in Matter, or Order, but is of Importance to be noted and understood:) and consider well what special Means and Helps our Lord hath provided for them, for Evidences of his Word and Doctrine; and be careful they neglect none of them, much less set them one against another, and abuse what they pretend to receive, as is very usual.  
I know not any Means whereby Men are more effectually imposed upon, than by Misapplication of manifest Truths; nor any Matters, wherein, in this part of the World, they are more commonly deceived, or deceive themselves, than in false Notions concerning the Two great Evidences of the Christian Doctrine and Institutions, the Catholic Church and the Sacred Scriptures, which, rightly understood and used, do mutually confirm and corroborate one the other; but misunderstood, separated, and abused, are the very Principles of all our Differences and Confusions: The Catholic Church is the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth, and to have great Regard to the Interests of it, is certainly the Duty of all Christians: but to despise or slight the Testimony or Authority of it, is a great Sin in itself, and the Inlet to many others, and a Fundamental Error. To conclude, they who sincerely desire to understand and embrace the Truth of Christianity, must consider what is required before their Engagement, declared by our Saviour in two Comparisons, Luke 14.28, 31. what is to be performed after, declared likewise by two other Comparisons, Matt. 13.44, 45. and what are the Terms upon which only Men may be Christ's Disciples indeed, in express Terms inculcated upon divers Occasions, Matt. 10.35, 37, 38. and again, Matt. 16.24. Luk. 9 and again to the Multitude, Luk. 14.26, 33. and the Danger of Denying or being ashamed of Christ or his Words, the Doctrines and Institutions delivered by Him in Person, or by his Apostles to the Churches, Matt. 10.28, 32. Mar. 8.34. and lastly the Danger of a fruitless and ineffectual Profession, expressly declared in the conclusion of our Saviour's first Sermon upon the Mount, Matt. 7.21, etc. and in his Farewell Discourse, when he went last out of the Temple, in the whole 25th chapter of St. Matthew, all concerning Professors; whence it appears, how far People may go in a Profession, and yet at last fail of their Expectation: upon the consideration whereof it may be doubted, whether as many Souls do not miscarry by Security in an ineffectual Profession, as by living in gross and scandalous Sins. To Souls thus prepared Truth will undoubtedly find admittance, and the Good Spirit will be ready to lead them into all necessary Truth.  

The Discourses  are,  
OF Prayers for the Dead: With a Preface showing the Necessity of a Retraction of the mistaken Reformation for a more firm Settlement of the Peace of the Nation.  
A Profession of Faith comprising the Ancient Forms of the Catholic Church, with other Articles concerning the Roman Terms of Communion.  
A Letter to a Young Man of one of the Religious Societies in London, concerning Separation, and the Proceed of the Reformation.  
Common Principles of a just Vindication of the Rights of the Kingdom of God upon Earth.    

OF PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD: Whether the Practice and Tradition thereof in the CHURCH be truly CATHOLIC, and a competent Evidence of Apostolic Original and Authority? Humbly tendered to the Consideration of the Right Honourable the JUDGES, and of the Gentlemen of the Honourable Profession of the LAW: With a PREFACE concerning the Reasons thereof, and the Concern of the Nation, that the Differences about Religion be better considered, in order to a more firm Foundation of an Honourable and Lasting PEACE.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year, 1699.   

To the Right Honourable John Lord Summer, Baron of Evesham, Lord High Chancellor of England; Sir John Holt, Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench; Sir George Treby, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; Sir Edward Ward, Lord Chief Baron; and the rest of the Honourable Judges.  
May it please Your Lordships.  
THough at first to some it may seem strange and improper to offer a Theological Controversy to the Consideration of Magistrates, and Judges of Civil Causes; yet if the present Constitution of the Church of England, the Nature of the Question, and the special Qualifications of the Persons for the Consideration of such a Question, besides the Common Concern of all States and Persons in Matters of Religion, be well considered, nothing can be more reasonable: A Church professing, and glorying in the Profession, of a Religion Established by Law; and so entirely subject to the Authority of the State, that it cannot call a Synod, choose a Bishop, Dean or Prebend, make a Canon, or alter any public Prayers of the Church without it; a Question of Prescription, Usage, and Custom, than which none are more frequently examined, tried and determined in our Civil Courts; and, by consequence, no Persons more proper to give a Judgement upon such a Question, because none more versed and expert in Cases of that nature than those of the Honourable Profession of the Law. Besides, Your Lordships, and the rest of that Honourable Profession, have another Qualification indispensably requisite to a just and true Judgement, Indifferency and Freedom from any special Prejudice, more than what is common to the whole Nation, and as much above that as any Persons in it; I mean that of Education; by which, tho' the inconsiderate Vulgar, and People of little Judgement, are very strangely affected and moved, either fond affecting, or childishly abhorring what hath nothing of real Good or Evil, but what proceeds from an abused or deceived Imagination; yet Men of Parts, Judgement, and Experience can more easily extricate themselves out of the fetters and manacles of such Impressions and Prejudice upon consideration of sufficient Grounds and Reasons. But the Generality of the English Clergy, and Non-Conformists, are under a double special Prejudice and Pre-ingagement: the Authority and Credit of their Party; and their own in particular, having not only imbibed a Special Opinion in the Case, but inconsiderately asserted, and so espoused it also, besides the Prudential Caution of not disobliging or offending their Auditors: tho' many Protestants in other Parts are of another Opinion, and the most learned here have deserted the old Cause, both in their Disputes in the University, and in their Controversial Writings. And therefore, as every honest Man in any Difference would desire the Judgement of such as are most indifferent, , and impartial, so every wise Man will desire that they may be Persons of most Ability, Skill, and expert in such Matters: And in both these respects I know none more proper to judge of this Case than Your Lordships, and the Gentlemen of Your Honourable Profession.  
Nor is this all, that You are thus qualified to judge of this matter; but you have also a Concern, a double Concern in it; but, that it may be fairly and truly determined; a Concern which obligeth you to Impartiality, that the Truth may be cleared, and an End put to such Differences; both in regard to the Places you hold, and the Interest you have in the Civil State of the Nation; and in regard of your Personal Interest and particular Concerns both in this Life and hereafter. For Matters of Religion are of no little Importance to the Wellbeing of States, as well as of particular Persons; and to the Wellbeing of particular Persons as well in this Life, as hereafter. And all this in a double respect; in respect to the Providence of God, and in respect of their Natural Efficacy and Tendency. It is very manifest, that almost all the unhappiness, Troubles and Disturbance which this Nation hath suffered for more than 150 Years last passed, have proceeded from unhappy Differences about Matters of Religion: And it would be as evident, if duly considered, that there is as little Likelihood, if Possibility, of any long Continuance of Peace without some proper Application to so fatal a Root of Mischief amongst us, for the Extirpation or Suppression of it. Nor is this so vain, unreasonable, or impracticable a thing to be thought on or attempted, as most Men are apt to presume upon the Vnsuccessfulness of the Attempts which have been made, if better considered. It is no unusual thing for Men to learn from the Errors of former Attempts so to correct their Methods and Measures, as to accomplish with ease what others with great Labour were not able to effect. Many things in Practice are like Riddles in Speculation, which, after many have found insoluble by their utmost Study, appear at last, when the Secret is once revealed, very plain and easy to the meanest Capacity. But in such Differences as these there is usually a double Secret; the one Supernatural, managed by invisible Ministers of the Divine Providence; the other Natural and Humane, proceeding from Error of the Understanding, or Corruption of the Will and Affections in one or both of the Parties: And for the most part there are Faults on both sides, if not from the beginning, at least in the Progress and Continuance of the Difference. For it is no unfrequent thing for such as have a Good Cause at first, to spoil it in the Management.  
And such is the Case in these Differences in Religion, which have so long infested this part of the World: Wherein the Supernatural Secret is the Operation of those Invisible Powers by the Commission or Permission of God, for Correction of what was and is amiss in the several Parties, among whom they arose; the Consideration of which belonging more properly to Divines, I shall say nothing of it here. But of those Differences, the first and most considerable are those between the Roman Church, and those who pretend a Reformation. And the Natural and Humane Secret in them lies in certain Faults on both sides. The Faults and Scandals of the Papacy and Court of Rome were so gross and notorious, that all good and intelligent People groaned for a Reformation long before Luther was born. But the Faults of them, who pretended to that Work, will appear, when well considered, no less, neither in Number, nor Nature: There is none of them all that is not notoriously guilty of Sacrilege, Schism and Heresy; besides divers  Practices to promote or maintain their Party. It is even natural to Men to run out of one Extreme into the other: and the Evil Spirits, when they are permitted, cease not to instigate the corrupt disposition of Men to the utmost they can. Hence have proceeded those many endless Differences among themselves, who at first differed only from the Church of Rome: And their Faults and Miscarriages are so notorious, that they are many of them confessed, acknowledged, and disclaimed by divers of the most learned of all Parties. The English Reformation, which was not faultless before, was farther corrupted by Cranmer, (who, though by some magnified as a Martyr, will appear in time to have been so mischievous an Instrument both in Church and State, as makes him very unworthy of any honourable Character or Memory in any part of the Catholic Church, but especially that of England) and settled at last thro' the prevalence of a Party of Calvinian Sectaries, with such Abuses and Corruptions in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign, as the most learned and eminent of the English Clergy have long desired and endeavoured what they could to rectify, but have never been able to effect, or scarce dared to attempt it in any great Matters, being abused and bug-beared with popular Outcries and Imputations of Popery, (with which the People of this Nation have been very grossly abused)  they dared to assert or own any thing of the Primitive Genuine Christianity contrary to the Nations of that Faction; who have been pricks in their Eyes, and thorns in their Sides, both to Church and State, ever since, by the just Judgement of God, for their Politic Compliances with the Corruptions of that pretended Reformation; which are in truth much greater than is believed or suspected by many good People, as I may possibly, by the Grace of God, show more particularly in due time.  
But for the present, to calm the Minds and stop the Mouths of such as may be offended at what I say, as briefly as may be, I shall only recommend to their Consideration, if they be Dissenters, the Expostulation of a late leading Man amongst them, Mr. Richard Baxter, to the zealous Anti-Papists, which, he saith, is written to try, if it may be, to promote our common Repentance, and to reform the Dominal Distaken Reformation of those, who have sinned by Extremes; which, by the assumed Name of Reformation have wronged God, and the Truth, and men's Souls, with the greater Advantage and Success. Thus of the Reformation in general in his Book against Foreign Jurisdiction, printed but little before his Death, Part 2. ch. 1. and ch. 7. he sets down together no less than seven summary Heads of False Charges and Wrongs done to the Papists by the Sectarian weak-headed part of Protestants, as he elsewhere calls them: 1. Some Men, saith he, do ignorantly charge some Errors on the Papists, which they are not guilty of: 2. or lay the Errors of some few upon the most: 3. Some make Errors, which are but de Nomine, to seem to be de Re: 4. and lesser Errors to seem Great: 5. Some take divers Truths to be Errors: 6. And some are ready to call some lawful Customs of the Papists by the Name of Popery and Antichristian: 7. Some would deny the Papists the common Civilities and Liberties which are their due, etc. And elsewhere he gives us part of a Catalogue of such rash Charges with an &c. to let us know that those are but part: How far Protestants mistake and rashly Charge them in the Doctrines of Predestination, , Grace, Merits, Justification, Redemption, Perseverance, etc. I, saith he, have freely showed in my Catholic Theology, and End of Doctrinal Controversies, and Ludovicus le Blank, after Others, hath excellently opened. Which is a plain Confession that in all those Differences, besides that about Antichrist, (which he does not at all approve) the Fault lies on the side of the Protestants and the Nominal Mistaken Reformation. And herein I know no Conformists, except Calvinian Sectaries, who do not agree with him, and those Others he mentions. And for Conformists, they may there see, without looking further, that there are and have been many amongst us of greatest Reverence and Name, (as he elsewhere expresseth it) who have thought the Differences as unjust and unreasonable on the Protestant side in divers other Particulars; such as Archbishop Laud, Archbishop Bramhall, Bishop Guning, Bishop Sparrow, Bishop Parker, Dr. Hammond, Dr. Heylyn, Dr. Pierce, Dr. Saywell, Dr. Beveridge, Dr. Sherlock, Mr. Thorndike, Mr. Dodwell; all whom he particularly names, and endeavours to answer: To whom might be added, for my purpose, Bishop Andrews, Bishop Cousens, Bishop Taylor, Bishop Forbes, Dr. Field, and divers other eminent learned Men in and since the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, besides divers now living. And a worthy dignified Clergyman of the City, in a Book lately printed, hath asserted that the Reformation was, and was to be, but an imperfect Work. By all which it is easy to be perceived, that the Cause of the Reformation is no such clear Cause, or infallible Truth, as is generally believed, by those who are educated in such a Presumption or Persuasion: Which might also justly be suspected from the Differences, which arose presently, and have been continued from the beginning with bitter Contentions between the Principal Actors in that Work, and their several Parties to this day; which are things manifest to all People in all Places, where any thing called the Reformation hath prevailed. But there are other Matters very observable in this Case, as several indirect Ends and Motives, which probably might be, and certainly were the Inducements to many of the Beginners and Promoters of it; the Irregular Manner in which it was managed and settled; the subtle Accommodations of the principal parts of the Work to recommend the Preachers, and gratify the People, but undermining the Honour of Christ, and the Power of Godliness, and settling the People in Presumption and Security upon a False Foundation; according to the Description of the Apostle, Speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them; and the Fruits and Effects agreeable thereunto; a plain Indication that it was not of God, but in the Nature of a Judgement, and that they knew not what they did, nor what Spirit they were of: which, tho' certain Truths, and very evident when looked into, yet are not so obvious to common Observation. Nor indeed, was I myself so sensible of much of them till after much Study and Endeavours to promote the Service of God, and Good of my Country, it all seemed to me to be under an Enchantment, so that no Good could be done: Whereupon considering the Fruits, according to our Saviour's Rule, upon a fair Invitation and Opportunity I resolved upon a Retirement, and a Review of the Reformation, the Root which produced no better Fruits: And coming to it with much Sincerity and Impartiality, I soon perceived all this that I have here said, and more, very clearly; and some things, which relate to the Civil State and present Settlement of this Nation; of which I soon gave an account to such Persons as I thought most proper, to acquaint His Majesty with it; to discharge my own Conscience,  was farther done in it.  
I do not deny but there was need of a Reformation of divers things: but none know better than your Lordships, and the Gentlemen of your Profession, how common a thing it is for Men, who have really a good Cause, to make it ill through Passion, Partiality, unreasonable Demands or Charges, and such ill Management as, if it come to Trial, it must be found against them; or tho' it be not Good, yet through Partiality or Prejudice to think it Good; and then, when by degrees they have well fixed and riveted that Opinion, and besides engaged their Reputation in it, to persuade themselves that those things are lawful for the Maintenance of it, which, in truth, are not; and those things useful or necessary, which, in conclusion, will but expose and ruin it: how much Mischief People thus affected frequently bring upon themselves and others, and endless Vexations, when obstinate in their Opinion, resolute in their Demands, and pertinacious in their Contentions, right or wrong: how undecent and unbecoming, even in Civil Matters, this appears to all wise and good Men, who have Opportunity to observe the Truth of the Case: On the other side, how much more Prudent it is, as well as Just and Honest, if a Man have the Misfortune to purchase an ill Title, or be unhappily concerned in an ill Cause, to endeavour to make it Good by fair Agreement with Parties concerned, and Tender of what is just and reasonable; and such honest Means as will at least secure his Reputation, if not his Cause also, however much mend the matter. This has been always my Practice, and this I am resolved to do in this Case, of what I have discovered upon my Review aforesaid: I do utterly disclaim all the Iniquity of the Case that I have already discovered, or can discover, all the Sacrilege, Schism, and Heresy, and other Corruptions of the pretended Reformation in general, and of that of England in particular. And tho' I do not forsake the Corruptions of this Church to espouse those of another; yet I think fit to make my own Cause good, and to stand only upon such Terms, as I can comfortably refer to the Goodness and Mercy of God, and as I am satisfied will make it their Faults, not mine, who shall refuse Agreement and Communion with me. What I think prudent in my own Case, if it be so indeed, I could wish the whole Nation did see it as well as I: For I believe it a more firm Foundation for a lasting Peace and true Happiness than any other we can build upon. And if I be not mistaken in the Matters in Difference, there is scarce any but such, as many principal Men of the one side think aught to be yielded by them, or as all on the other confess may, for just Cause, be granted by them; or may be otherwise accommodated by only fit Explications and Expressions. To which, since the most considerable on both sides have showed a very good Disposition, and the Nature and Precepts of the Gospel, and the Peace, and Repose, and Common Good of Mankind, especially in this part of the World, which may have a great Influence upon the rest, do require it; I believe it would be for the Honour and Interest of which side soever should do it, to make the Proposal, provided it be very just and reasonable. Of those Matters, which are thought aught to be yielded, this, which I propose to your Lordship's Consideration, concerning the ancient Practice of Prayers for the Dead, is one, and the most proper Instance that can be in all respects. It is indeed a double Instance; for it is a plain Evidence, that one of the principal Suppositions, with which not only Multitudes of People in these last Ages, but ever since the first Ages of Christianity, have been deceived and misled, with very plausible pretence, is notwithstanding false in itself, besides fallacious misapplications of what is true: as appears abundantly by Irenaeus, Tertullian, and the Common Practice of the Ancient Christians in their Contests with Heretics and Schismatics. And it is in its self one of the greatest Instances of the Power of Prejudice to abuse weak Men out of their apparent Interest, without any other competent ground or reason; of the Weakness of Men to be so abused; and of the Inconsiderateness of those who presume to be positive, and direct others in such Cases, that I know of.  
My intention at first was to have published a Vindication of the True English Liturgy, the first Book of Ed. 6. composed by known English Clergymen, and afterward corrupted and disordered by Cranmer, and a Faction of Foreigners, and other unknown Calvinian Sectaries in Secret, and so craftily imposed upon the Church and Nation. But when I considered, in these unhappy Differences, how partially Zealous the Generality of Clergymen (who have any Zeal at all) are for their own Party, more than for the common Concerns of Religion, or of their Country; and how unconcerned the chief of the Clergy of this Nation are, and have been ever since the State assumed the Supreme Power of Ecclesiastical Matters, as if either dispirited, or presuming that the Care also is incumbent only upon them who have assumed the Power; and how little I have found, by Experience, is to be expected from them; and, on the other side, how necessary notwithstanding it is for the Peace and Repose of this Nation, that the Occasions of such mischievous Dissensions should be better considered and removed; I presently perceived I had a fair Opportunity in this to present a proper instance of a Matter of such Importance to Persons as well qualified to judge, and who were likely to be as sensible of the Importance of it, as any; and thereupon concluded to present it alone to the Consideration of Your Lordships, and the Gentlemen of Your Honourable Profession; having already, as to the rest, made a considerable Experiment of what I have here said, of the Hopes we may have of a good Success, if they, to whom it doth belong, will but do what is in their Power towards it: For having published a Liturgy, Entitled, The Liturgy of the Ancients represented, as near as well may be, in English Forms, not much different (only a little more complete) from that Restitution of the True English Liturgy attempted by the Scotch, with the Assistance of the Principal of the English Bishops, Anno 1637. I presented it to some of the principal learned Men first of the English, who much approved it, and wished it restored by Law; then of the Lutherans, who also approved it, and declared their Satisfaction to communicate in that Form; and, at last, of the Roman Catholics, who had no Exceptions to the Matter or Form of it. And, in short, to say the Truth, the Abuse and Corruptions of the Public Liturgy in these two particulars, Of Prayers for the Dead, and the Christian Sacrifice, to mention nothing more, are so gross and notorious, that they alone are sufficient to make the Church of England inexcusably Guilty of Schism, and justly obnoxious to Excommunication, (which may be the Enchantment it seems to lie under) and unsafe for any pious Person, after notice, to hold Communion with it: so that it seems not only expedient and prudent for the State to consider these Matters, (for otherwise nothing is to be expected from these Bishops) but absolutely necessary: And so I leave it with Your Lordships.  
Your Lordship's most Humble Servant.   

Of the Practice of Prayers for the DEAD In the Christian Church.  
THE Performance of any good Offices for the Dead, even to their Bodies, their Bones, their Memories, their Wills, etc. hath always been reputed a very commendable thing among all civilised Nations; and whatever hath been acted to the contrary, barbarous, and inhuman; and the only Neglect of such Offices by such as were under any special Obligation, of evil consequence; as if Mankind had some secret sense that Separate Souls were sensible of the Kindness or Unkindness of those who survived them, and had some power to gratify or revenge the Kindness or Injuries, especially of their Relations, and such as they had any special Interest in in their Life-time. And if such inferior Offices to their Bodies and Memories have been so reputed, much more may such good Offices, as Prayers for the Souls departed, deserve commendation. And accordingly it hath been always commonly practised, by all Nations, Gentiles, Jews, Mahometans, and Christians; and that without any known Beginning: but very probably by Tradition from the common 
* Concerning Matters transmitted from them, and received and conserved by the Gentiles. See Mr. Dodwell's 2d Letter, § 8.  Parents of Mankind, being very agreeable to Nature, and confirmed by Apparitions.  
And certainly this is a thing so innocent, so free from all appearance of Evil, so desirable both for ones self and their Friends, that it is very strange that any, especially good People, should be persuaded, nay frighted from it; and much more that any should so presume, upon their own Opinion and Conceit, as to offer to persuade them so contrary to the Practice of the whole World in general, and of the whole Catholic Church, without clearer Evidence in so obscure a Case, as is that of the middle State of Souls to us Mortals: which is not to be believed could ever have been without some secret Energy of those Powers of Darkness, which have effected greater Mischiefs than this by the same Instruments.  
It is the Practice of the Jews at this day, and has been so without any known beginning: was so before our Saviour's time, as appears by the Book of Maccabees, and their ancient Form of Prayer, which, 'tis said, they used in the Captivity, still extant in their Talmud; and never was reproved by our Saviour, or any of his Apostles, or of the Primitive Christians.  
It is the Practice of the whole Catholic Church at this day, and of all Christians, except such as according to the unanimous Sentiments of the Ancients are gone, and are, out of it; and hath been so without any known beginning, in their most solemn Worship; so that no Church can be assigned where they, who scruple at it now, could have had Communion without it: And never was opposed, contradicted, or questioned by any one of any Reputation in the Catholic Church; or by any one at all for near 400 years.  
The first, who is known to have questioned it, was Aerius, in the time of Epiphanius, a Presbyter, a frantic, proud, conceited Man, discontented because he could not get a Bishopric, and thereupon, 'tis probable, quarrelled not only at divers Practices of the Church, but at Episcopacy itself: an ill Man by the Judgement of all; and Epiphanius and St. Austin reckon him in their Catalogues of Heretics for his Opposition of this Practice especially.  
The next, whose Testimony is produced in this Cause, is one Stephanus Gobarus, and obscure Scribbler, and a confessed Heretic, even by Usher, who allegeth his Testimony, as well as by Photius, from whom he takes it, and who gives this Character of his Book, that it seems a Work of much Labour, but little Profit; and a Study rather of Applause and Vainglory, than any great Usefulness. It was a Collection of the different Sentences of the Fathers in divers points of Doctrine, and alleged to prove such a Difference of Opinions in this Case, and what was the true Sentence of the Church. A special Witness, and to much purpose! an Heretic to prove the true Sentence of the Church! and a vainglorious Person, who, out of Ostentation of Parts and Learning, seeks for Differences in the Fathers, and sets himself up for a Judge! which he might, if he had pleased, have done also in the Scripture itself. But after all he doth not so much as declare his Opinion in the principal Question in this Case, but only in a by-point. A poor Cause that stands in need of such Supports!  
If we set him aside, as well we may, who is neither a competent Witness of the Sentence of the Church, nor doth declare his own in this Case, we find not another in near 700 years after Aerius, till Peter de Bruis, and one Henricus, a runagate Monk, who took up a Trade of Preaching, and spent what he got in Gaming, and on Harlots: They denied also the Baptism of Infants, the Christian Sacrifice, Public Churches, etc. against them Petrus Cluniacensis, a Man eminent for Learning and Sanctity, wrote, and St. Bernard preached, and confirmed his Doctrine with so great a Miracle, as convinced Multitudes, who had been seduced by them.  
After these arose one Waldo, a Citizen of Lions, very rich, but unlearned, who probably had a Zeal for God, but not according to Knowledge, and attributing too much to his own Opinion, procured certain Books to be written in his own Language, and distributing his Estate among the Poor, took upon him the Apostolic Office of Preaching, and began the Sect, called after his own Name, Waldenses; and from their Place and Quality, The Poor of Lions. Among other Heterodox Opinions, (whereof some were peculiar to their own Sect, and disallowed by all others) this of rejecting Prayers for the Dead was one.  
The Apostolici of that time, I suppose, were not a distinct Sect, but the same, who assumed that Name. And the Albigenses, who in the next Century increased very much, till by the secular Power and force of Arms they were suppressed, seem to have been a Branch of the same Root; however, in this particular they agreed, as they did in most others.  
Since those, I know not any Sect which hath arisen, and which questioned or contradicted Prayers for the Dead, till those which have sprung out of what is called the Reformation: For I do not find that Wickelif, and his Followers here, the Lollards, or John Huss, or Hierom of Prague, who carried his Books and Doctrines into their own Country, and were all three Men of Parts and Learning, ever opposed Prayers for the Dead, tho' among the Opinions attributed to Huss, one is, that there is no Purgatory Fire; which is denied by others, who yet are for Prayers for the Dead. But by all the several Sects of the later Reformers, since Luther began, they have been questioned, opposed, and left out of their Public Prayers.  
Only here in England, in the first Liturgy, composed by English Clergy, in the Reign of King Edward 6. which I therefore call The True English Liturgy, the ancient Prayers for the Dead were retained, both in the most Solemn Office of the Daily Sacrifice, and at Funerals: But these and other principal Parts of the Liturgy were soon after new-modelled in a clandestine manner by Cranmer, Bucer, and other Foreigners, and Calvinian Sectaries; and craftily imposed upon the Church and Nation: And the Abuse is continued to this day.  
This is the true Original and Succession of all the Opposition which hath ever been made to this Practice, of all Mankind in general, and of the whole Catholic Church of Christ; by Heretics, Sectaries, and Schismatics, and the meanest of all those; not a Man amongst them of any Eminence for Piety, or any Virtue, or so much as Parts or Learning: much less any Man of Note in the Church: much less any Church, Party, or Part of the Catholic Church, who were, or who continued in Communion with The Catholic Church, or any Particular Catholic Church, as they anciently distinguished them from the Assemblies and Associations of Heretics, and Schismatics in the same City. It is very observable, wonderful, and a great Evidence of unquestionable or undeniable Truth, that in so many Ages, when there had been so many so considerable Parties of Heretics and Schismatics, and so malicious, spiteful, and enraged, as many of them were against the Church, that none of the most considerable of them should ever seek to advantage their Cause by such a Question; which doubtless they would not have failed to have done, had they apprehended any colour of Truth or Advantage in it: that none in all the Parts of the World should ever oppose it but such an obscure, inconsiderate and inconsiderable Generation of People, till the late Reformers sprung up, who thought they could never reform enough, or pick quarrels too much, till they had brought that, which might have been a considerable Cause, if well laid and managed, to an indefensible brabble. Amongst them indeed there have been many Men of sufficient Learning; but, but few of that Ingenuity, Impartiality, freedom from Prejudice, temporal Interest, or Fear of Displeasing, and of that Generosity, as to assert the Truth plainly, without respect of Persons or Parties: and those few have been very much born down (among us especially) by the Violence and Headiness of Parties and Factions. Yet such is the Power and Evidence of Truth in this Case, that it hath found Advocates amongst the most learned of all Parties.  
Of this I think it not improper to produce an instance or two in this Place: The first shall be an eminent Person both for Learning and Virtue, Bishop Forbes, the first Bishop of Edenburg, promoted by King Charles 1. who is reported to have said of him, That he had found out a Bishop, who deserved that a See should be made for him. In his Considerationes Modestae, Controversiâ de Purgatorio, cap. 3. §. 17. coming to speak of Prayers and Oblations for the Dead; Sed hic primum, etc. But here first, saith he, is to be reproved the Opinion of some rigid Protestants, who do altogether censure and condemn Prayers for the Dead; because they find no Precept or Example of such Prayers in the Old or New Testament. Certainly even those, who are most against it, dare not deny that it is a most ancient Custom, and most (universally) received in the whole Church of Christ, that in the Public Prayers of the Church Commemoration should be made for the Dead, and Rest be prayed for to God for those who died piously, and in the Peace of the Church. And having cited divers of the Ancients for it, he adds: This most ancient Custom was full of Piety, and most truly did Cassander say, This was always fixed in 
* Note. Then this was agreed among All.  All Christian Minds, That the Spirits of those, who being initiated in the Sacrament of Christ, departed this Life in the Confession of his Name, with signification of Repentance, should be commended to the Mercy of God, that Remission of Sin, Eternal Rest, and a Part with the Elect, might be entreated for them. 
† This second part is so cited in Usher, p. 246. as is apt to lead the Reader into mistake, as if they were not agreed in more than the Author did intent.  And altho' concerning that State of Souls, for which those things were profitable, it was neither sufficiently manifest, nor agreed among all, yet all judged this Office, as a Testimony of Charity toward the Deceased, and a Profession of Faith concerning the Immortality of Souls, and Resurrection to come, to be grateful to God, and profitable to the Church. Then he saith, This most Ancient and Universal Custom of the Church very many and most learned Protestants do not disallow; and citys the Apology of the Augsburg Confess. Chemnicius, Mentserus, Luther, Gerard, Vrbanus Regius, Vorstius, Vossius, Dr. Field, Bishop Andrews, and passing over in silence very many others, as he saith, he recites the Words of the Liturgy of Edward 6. both in the Office for the Communion, and that for Burials; laments that such most ancient and pious Prayers should, by the Persuasion of Bucer, and others, be expunged; and wisheth that the Church of England, which hath showed great Moderation in many other things of less moment, had rather conformed herself in this business, as also in some others, to the most ancient Custom of the Universal Church, than for some Errors and Abuses, which had by degrees crept in, plainly rejected it, and wholly taken it away, to the great Scandal of almost all other Christians.  
I need add no more after this Learned and Apostolic Bishop, only, in short, take notice of what Vrbanus Regius saith, that None reject it but Epicureans and Sadduces; and Vorstius, that No Good Man can dislike it; and Bishop Andrews, that There is little that can be said against it; and conclude this matter with the Words of the learned and famous Hugo Grotius; The use of Praying for the Dead, received through all Churches of the East, no less than of the West, ought not to be condemned. And after some reasons for it, and something concerning the Jews, he adds, The Ancient Liturgies are not to be condemned, since Christ himself did never reprehend the Prayers for the Dead, commonly used among the Jews; of which there is a Form extant in the Talmud, made, as is believed, in the Babylonian Captivity, and mentioned in the second Book of the Maccabees.  
It will be replied, That as great a Man, and of the Church of England, as any of those, hath written against it, the famous Usher, Archbishop of Armath. It is very true he hath, and employed and strained all his Learning, all his Parts, and all his Skill, and a little too much, to oppose it; and all to very little purpose for his own Cause, but to very good purpose against it: For it is a great Evidence and Demonstration of what Bishop Andrews truly said, That there is little that can be said against what this great Man takes such pains to oppose. The sole Question between him and his Adversary was, Whether the Fathers of the first 400 or 500 Years held that Prayer for the Dead is both commendable and godly? as appears by the Challenge, which was in those very Words, and no other. How, and where, doth he answer this plain Question? His Title of that part of his Answer is general, Of Prayer for the Dead. He saw well enough how little he had to say to that plain Question; and therefore resolved to take more Liberty, to say something of the matter of his Title, though little or nothing to the Question. He spends three score and ten pages upon the general matter; but, if I mistake not, not ten lines directly and closely to the special Question. 
* To use his own words p. 170. He allegeth indeed a number of Authorities to blear men's Eyes with all; which being narrowly looked into will be found nothing at all to the purpose.  Which is to abuse, not so much his Adversary, as his Reader, with a specious appearance of an Answer, which, in truth and reality, is nothing to the purpose. That which comes nearest to the purpose is what he saith, pag. 246. These Two Questions, saith he, must necessarily be distinguished: Whether Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead? and, Whether the Dead did receive any peculiar Profit thereby? In the latter of these, he (the Reader) shall find great Difference among the Doctors: in the former, very little, or none at all. This is indeed to the purpose: but his Resolution of the former Question, tho' very true, is a plain Confession against himself. For if they be agreed that Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead, then certainly they held that that was commendable and godly; which is all that his Adversary did affirm then, and that I do principally assert now: for what I have to allege farther, is but a Consequence of that. And his Resolution of the latter Question is manifestly false, and a disingenuous Assertion: for if among so great a number of Doctors in so many Years he could have assigned five, or six, or ten, who had really differed in that point from the rest, (which those few he citys rightly understood did not) had that been a Great Difference? And if some Authors do say, that some, or that many, in their time, were doubtful in the point, is that a sufficient proof that it was still a Question in the Church? when they name not one Person in particular, much less any Doctor, nor tell us so much as of what quality they were, who had those Doubts. When a Difference is Great, there must be some proportion between the Contenders: and where a Question is continued, there must be some Disputes, Contention, or Debates. But if People's secret Doubts must be taken for Questions in the Church, that is the ready way to bring all Religion into question: and it is not to be doubted but such deal in Controversies hath had its share in producing this growth of Scepticism and Atheism of late. That such a Man as this should put Colours upon Causes; should hold up Contentions; should be so addicted to Parties, as in favour to them to confirm People in Opinions, which if false are mischievous, and if true of little Advantage, and contrary to so great Authority as is on the other side; and so expose his Judgement or Integrity, is a great Unhappiness to himself, and a Scandal to others.  
It is possible, what others may have observed in this great Man (for 'tis a scurvy thing to be engaged in an ill Cause) may have taught them more Wisdom; for, for aught I can find, as well in the Controversial Writings of late, as in the Disputations at the University, the Old Cause, An Preces pro Defunctis sint Licitae? is quite deserted, and that Question is turned into another, An Preces pro Defunctis antiquitus usurpatae inferant Purgatorium Papisticum? It is well Men have learned so much Wisdom for themselves, as to mend their Cause so far as that; and it is to be wished, that they may also learn so much Honesty, as to undeceive the People, and restore to them, for themselves and their Friends, the Comfort and Benefit of that ancient Catholic Practice. Mr. Thorndike, one of the learnedst Persons this Church hath produced, and a late Bishop of St. Asaph, have done well to do what they could, and restore it upon their own Tombstones, tho' they could not do it in the Church: and if all who believe well, would but do so well, as profess what they believe, which certainly they ought to do, we should soon see the Truth revive and flourish beyond Expectation; and so, much of our Contentions abated.  
Thus concerning the Persons who have opposed this Practice, and set up themselves against the Authority of the whole Catholic Church. I come now to consider the Opposition itself, their Allegations and Reasons. Such is the Wit of Man, and the Subtlety of Satan, that scarce any Truth is so evident, but they can find out some specious Appearances to set up against it. But such is the Mercy and Wisdom of God, that he hath provided sufficient means for Direction for all such as keep within the Bounds of Humility and Obedience; that is, in Subjection not only of their Wills, but also of their Intellects and Understandings, to his Orders, Ordinances and Prescriptions, the very Business of their Lives in this World, for Preparation for another. And to such, besides the Common Means, he will kindly vouchsafe a special Guidance sufficient for their Circumstances. Of the Danger our Saviour and his Apostles have given to all fair Warning, and great Caution; acquainting us with the End, why the most Wise and Gracious God permits it, for Trial and Exercise; the Danger and Subtlety of the Ministers of Satan, such as should deceive, if it were possible, the very Elect; the special Marks to know and avoid them, viz. Their Fruits, specious Pretences, (Sheep's Clothing,) and Distraction and Disagreement among themselves, crying, Here is Christ, and There is Christ; and special Directions, Believe them not, Go not out after them. All this Provision hath the Devil attempted to undermine, partly by raising real Scandals and Offences, and partly by strongly representing Imaginary ones. But against all this Humility and Charity will fortify us; and the Grace, special Guidance and Mercy of God will preserve us, if we be careful to continue in those Graces. It was Pride, and Arrogance, and Discontent in Aerius, which gave the 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Epiphan. p. 905. a.  Devil Advantage to instigate him to the first Opposition of such a Catholic Practice. It was Pride, Vanity, and Ostentation of Parts, by which he set Gobarus to work to show his Learning and Acuteness in finding out Differences of Opinions among them, who perhaps in many of those things differed no more than the Writers of the Sacred Scriptures seem to do. For I do not find that he made any special Opposition against this Practice. But I doubt it was not imaginary, but real Scandal and gross Abuses of a good Practice, by which Waldo and his Followers, and the Albigenses, were moved to oppose all without Distinction: tho' there seems to have been in him, with a Zeal for God, but without Knowledge, a Mixture of Pride and Conceitedness. And it was real, and not imaginary Scandal, by which Luther was at first moved to oppose Indulgencies, and his Followers at first to oppose even this innocent and commendable Practice. But in such Men as Usher and Bucer, it was the Reputation of the Cause they had espoused in gross, and Compliances with the Times, and their particular Interests, by which they were moved. But let us but carefully follow our Saviour's Admonitions and Directions, wisely distinguish the Ingredients of the Composition of Truth and Falsehood, and honestly embrace, hold fast, and own the Truth, when we have the Opportunity, and we shall not want sufficient Light and Evidence to find it.  
The specious Appearances set up against this Catholic Practice of the Church of Christ are these: 1. That there is no Scripture Authority for it. 2. That the Ancient Practice was to Pray for all, such as were at Rest. 3. That the Ancients were not agreed in their Opinions concerning the State of Separate Souls, or the general Intention of the Church in those Prayers.  
To detect the Fallacy, Falsity, and Impertinence of these Allegations, as briefly as may be: To the first, I say, it is a mere Fallacy, and grounded upon a false Supposition, that nothing is to be admitted in Doctrine or Worship but what there is Scripture Authority for, if it be understood of a special Authority; and their usual Pretences of not Adding, or Diminishing, are to be understood of those particular Parts or Books of the Scripture, as is plain by the Additional Writings and Practices of Holy Men afterwards. 2. It is inconsistent with the Tradition of the Doctrine, and Institutions of the Gospel, and of the Ordinances of the Apostles, which were all by Word and Deed, without Writing, as the Common Laws of this Nation were at first settled: and much of what was written, was written upon special Occasions, and much with that Brevity and Conciseness, by the special Providence of God, as was sufficient for them for whom it was intended, and yet so as should need an Authentic Explication to preserve the Authority of the Catholic Church. 3. It is contrary to the express Directions of the Scripture, to contend for the Doctrine once delivered to the Saints, in general, and to hold the Traditions they had received, whether by Word, or Epistle, etc. And if it be understood of a general Authority, the Allegation itself is false: For it is contrary to all those Scriptures, which declare the Authority of the Church, and require Obedience to Superiors: And either way it is contrary to the Sentiments, Testimony, and Practice of the Ancient Christians, who, in Questions of Difficulty and Contests with Heretics, always inquired, not only what was written by the Apostles, but also, or principally, what was delivered by them to the Churches, which they founded, in all Parts of the World, of which the Catholic Church doth consist, which the Scripture itself styles the Pillar and Basis of Truth, 1 Tim. 3.15. v. Grot. not only for the Sense and Meaning of the Scripture, as Lawyers, with good reason do, when in doubts about the Construction of Writings they inquire how the Usage hath gone; for in that case the Writing is the Principal Evidence: but in this case, what was delivered to the Churches, which were completely and plainly instructed and ordered by the Apostles, was the principal Inquiry, and the Scriptures but an accessary Evidence, as our Year-Books are of the Common Law, in Questions concerning the Common Law. But I doubt not but there was a special Providence in it, that so much was written, and no more, and that it was written in such a manner. Lastly, This hath been the Practice and Pretence of Heretics and Schismatics, in all Ages, to the intent with the better colour to set aside the Authority of the Catholic Church, that they might so make way to set up their own private Opinions and Conceits in the Place thereof; but never more grossly, nauciously, and scandalously, than by some of the Principal of the late Reformers, Calvin especially, on the one side, inculcating and crying up The Pure Word of God, The Pure Word of God; and on the other, abusing it, by straining wresting it to serve their own turns, and eluding and evading what is plainly contrary to them; which is now past all doubt, not only by the Confessions of Mr. Baxter and Le Blank, but the many of all Parties, who have deserted divers of those Assertions, which were so hotly contended for under that specious Pretence: a plain Evidence and Demonstration that they were no better than their Predecessors in that Pretence. But besides all this, what I am now doing, if I be not much mistaken, will be a particular demonstration of the Truth of what I say.  
To the other two Allegations, I say, they are both impertinent to the Question under consideration here; which is only concerning the Matter of Fact and Practice; I do not say that they are impertinent to the Subject in general, to be considered upon other Occasions; but to this special Question: and therefore to insist upon them in this Case, instead of directly answering to the Question, is fallacious, captious, and an abuse to the Reader, to impose upon him, distract him, and withdraw him from the proper Question. There might be Difference in Forms, and various Intendments, and all consistent. Certainly there was no such Difference or Variety either of Forms or Intendment, as there is this day amongst Protestants of both, in their greatest Solemnity of the Sacrament. But if the matter of Fact be certain, it may be in the Power of the Church to order the Form, and at Liberty for every one to construe the Intention, or make his Inferences or Observations for his own Use, as well as of the Scripture. And the Matter of Fact is granted by the very Allegation: Nor indeed is it much denied by any Men of Learning. Scio esse pervetustam hanc precandi pro piè defunctis consuetudinem, saith Bucer in his Censure; and after he had a little endeavoured to put off Tertullian, S. Cyprian, and Dionysius, he adds, Sed sit hic quantumvis vetustus Dionysius; Et sit hujus atque aliorum S. Patrum authoritas quantumlibet magna: attamen nostrum est tanto anteferre omni humanae authoritati divinam, quanto Deus omni homine major est, & sapientia, & nostri charitate, docendique nos omnia propensione. Jam or are pro Defunctis nullae docent Scripturae, sive verbo, sive exemplo. Et vetitum est quicquid his adjicere vel detrahere, Deut. 4. & 12. Solet nobis objici, says Peter Martyr, Ecclesiam semper pro Defunctis orasse; quod quidem non inficior; sed assero illius facti, neque Verbi Dei, neque Exempli, quod desumitur ex Sacris literis auctoritatem habere, in 1 Cor. 3. fol. 45. Ed. Tig. 1579. Verum est quod Papistae aiunt, says Bullinger, Dec. 4. Ser. 10. Veteres orasse & sacrificasse pro Defunctis: Scio quid Doctor Ecclesiae Insignis Augustinus, quid Eloquentissimus Chrysostomus, aliique viri vetusti ac clari hac de re scriptum relinquerunt: Sed quaero num hi rectè fecerunt? Scio damnatum fuisse Aerium, quod hujusmodi Orationes & Oblationes improbaret. Afferunt secundum Maccabaeorum librum: Sed is nihil probat, cum non sit Canonicus: Adjiciunt & Traditionem Apostolicam: Sed mihi id non videtur; nec illi unquam in scriptis ita praecipiunt. This is the Sum of the Case, and honestly said; and therefore I shall conclude this part with it.  
Such is the Folly, Passion, and Inconsiderateness of Men, that they many times bring such Causes to Trial, as upon their own showing, and hearing their own Evidence only, appears to all intelligent and indifferent Persons to be against them. And such I believe will this Cause of these Men appear to be to all competent Judges, without more a do. Notwithstanding, for the more plain and full Conviction and Satisfaction of such as are less intelligent and more scrupulous; and that those Honourable Persons, to whose Consideration I present it, may themselves judge of the Evidences, which extort these Confessions from such as would elude them if they could, I will produce so much as is sufficient for the purpose: and that I be not tedious, I will forbear all that, which would prove it to have been a true Catholic Practice of the whole Church for above 1200 years' last passed, and confine myself to the time allowed and approved by the Church and State of England, that is, the time of the first four 
* 1. Of Nice, Anno 325. 2. Constant. Anno 381. 3. Ephesus, Anno 431. 4. Chalced, Anno 481.  general Councils, and that preceding to the time of the Apostles; that is, from that to the Year of our Lord 451.  
As for the succeeding Ages, to this day, that it was observed all along per totum Orbem, and therefore believed to have been delivered by the Apostles, as the most ancient Writers upon the Church Offices affirm, I presume no Man will deny; and therefore I shall only mention one Observation concerning those Ages: I have made all the Search that possibly I could, both by Manuscripts and printed Books, to discover the most ancient Forms of celebrating the Holy Eucharist in the Latin Church: and tho' I have met with divers Variations in other parts, yet I never could discover any Alteration in that that is the principal part, and as Dr. Barlow, late Bishop of Lincoln, says, the most innocent part of the public Office, called The Canon of the Mass, since Gregory the Great, nor indeed by him 〈…〉 believe the whole Canon is not of less Antiquity than Gelasius, or S. Ambrose, if not much ancienter, divers particulars of it being found in more ancient Authors. It is not long since a very Reverend and Learned Bishop, since deceased, speaking to me of it, said, it was a Noble piece of Antiquity; and Dr. Barlow hath left under his hand a just Censure of one who cut that part out of an ancient Missel at Oxford, for an ignorant half learned Fellow. This alone is an ample Evidence of the Practice of all the Latin Churches for these Ages; which, from thence, I shall endeavour to trace back to its Original.  
S. Austin and S Paulinus both lived within the time prescribed, and died 20 years before the last of the said four Councils, about An. 431. S. Augustin was a Person of great Natural parts, acquired Learning, Piety, Holiness, and of great Authority and Reputation in the whole Catholic Church, especially in the Latin Church, of which he is reckoned one of the chiefest Doctors. He had in his younger time taught Rhetoric at Rome, and afterward at Milan, so that he was acquainted with the World, as well as with Books, and every way as well qualified to bear his Testimony in the Case as possibly could be. S. Paulinus was a Person of great Quality and Estate, in great Esteem with the Emperor, and of so great Devotion, that, embracing our Saviour's Counsel, he Sold all, distributed it to the Poor, and pious Uses, and betook himself to a strict Religious Life in Poverty, after he had been preferred to great public Offices; he was a Man of Parts and Learning, and well acquainted with the Western parts, especially Italy, France, and Spain; and for his great Virtues and eminent Sanctity was, by the Importunity of the People, made Bishop of Nola in Campania: so that he also was every way qualified for another Witness in this Case: and these two I suppose sufficient for their time, especially for the Latin Church.  
S. Paulinus in an Epistle to St. Augustin says as much as need to be in few Words; that 
* Vacare non posse, quòd universa pro Defunctis Ecclesia supplicare consuevit, ap Aug. de Cura pro Mort. pr.  It cannot be in vain that the Universal Church is accustomed to pray for the Dead. Not the Church, but the Universal Church; not only did at that time, but was accustomed so to do; that is, time out of mind, without any known beginning. And what was it accustomed to do? Not barely to commemorate, but to pray and supplicate for them. Vniversa pro Defunctis Ecclesia supplicare consuevit. As ample a Testimony, I think, as can be expressed in so few words.  
S. Augustin in confirmation of this allegeth the Book of Maccabees, and addeth, 
‖ Sed etsi nusquam in Scripture is veteribus omnino legeretur, non parva tamen est Universae Ecclesiae, quae in h●c consuetudine claret, Authoritas; ubi in pre●ibus sacerdotis, quae Domino Deo ad ejus altare funduntur, locum suum habet etiam Commendatio Mortuorum, S. Aug. de Cura pro Mortuis, c. 1.  But altho' we did no where at all read this in the ancient Writings, yet is not the Authority of the Universal Church, which is clear in this Custom, a small matter, when in the Prayers of the Priest, which are poured out to the Lord God at his Altar, the Commemoration of the Deceased hath also its proper place. In this Testimony are divers things observable, and very considerable: 1. The Authority of the Universal Church, not of a Particular Church, of a City, of a Province, of Hippo, or Africa, but of the Universal Church, which, however manifested or declared, is no small matter. 2. But in this it is declared, in the most Solemn Acts of the Church, her most Solemn Address to Almighty God at his Altar. So that here is the greatest Authority that is among Mankind, and that most solemnly declared. 3. It is no new Resolution, but a Custom, Consuetudo Vniversae Ecclesiae, an ancient Custom, and a universal Custom, which he elsewhere upon another occasion expresseth in this manner: 
* Hoc à Patribus traditum Universa observat Ecclesia, ut pro eyes, qui in Corporis & Sanguinis Christi Communione Defuncti sunt, cum ad ipsum Sacrificium suo loco commemorantur, oretur, & pro illis quoque id offerri commemoretur. S. Aug. de verb. Apost. Ser. 32. c. 2.  This being delivered from the Fathers (à Patribus traditum) doth the Universal Church observe, that for them who are departed in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are remembered at the Sacrifice itself in their place, Prayer be made, and it be commemorated that that is offered for them also. Not only for the Living, but for the Dead also, and in their proper place. 4. This Custom and Tradition was not only for a general Commemoration, but for a special Commendation.  
And here, because this excellent Person hath written much, and therefore affords more observable matter than is ordinary in any one Author, I will endeavour out of him alone to present the honest and ingenuous Reader with a Scheme of the whole Custom and Practice of the Ancients, whereby he will the better understand their Testimonies, and decern the Fallacies, Evasions, Cavillings and Shuffle of the Adversaries of it. What was done by them on behalf of the Deceased was either Public or Private: What was done in Private, was Prayers, such as S. Augustin offered for his Mother in his Confessions, lib. 9 cap. 13. Fasting, and Alms, etc. What was Public, was done either by the Relations or Friends of the Persons deceased, and that was presenting their Oblations, whether ordered by the Deceased, or freely offered by their Friends on their behalf: Which, if they departed in Communion of the Church were received, otherwise rejected, unless they were in the State of Penitents, and were surprised in such case as the Priest should have absolved them, if he could have been present: or what was done by the Bishop or Priest, with the rest of the Clergy and People: And this was either a general Commemoration pro omnibus in Christiana & Catholica Societate defunctis, as he speaks de Cura pro Mat. c. 4. for all departed in the Christian and Catholic Society, (or Communion) without any particular recitation of their Names, or a more particular Memory of them by Name with others; or a more special Commendation of a particular Person at his Death; and, besides certain other days, upon their Anniverssaries. And these were all performed at the Altar, and with the Holy Sacrifice, except that at his Death, in case that happened after the Priest had eaten, and then by some Canons it was to be performed solis Orationibus, with Prayers only; but otherwise, & Orationibus & Oblationibus; that is, with Prayers and Sacrifice both, for that is there to be understood by Oblationibus. And as S. Augustin did intent all this in what he saith of the Universal Custom by Tradition from the Fathers, so did he believe that the Souls departed were benefitted by them all. For his words immediately preceding those before-recited out of his Serm. de Verb. Apost. are, 
* Orationib. vero S. Ecclesiae, & Sacrificio salutari, & Eleemosynis, quae pro eorum spiritibus erogantur, non est dubitandum mortuos adjurari, ut cum eis misericordius agatur à Domino, quam eorum peccata meruerunt.  It is not to be doubted that the Dead are helped by the Prayers of the H. Church, and the Salutary Sacrifice, and the Alms which are distributed for their Spirits, that the Lord should deal more mercifully with them than their Sins have deserved. This was one End and Benefit of those Commemorations and Prayers; and therefore was not only comprehended in the general Intendment of the general Commemorations, but was expressly prayed for both in the Common Prayers and in the more special Commendations, as we shall see further hereafter; but this does not exclude Others; of which, I think fit to take notice of one in this place, which is mentioned by S. Austin and others, and which concern two Articles of our Creed, but little understood or considered amongst us. It is in his Book the Civ. Dei, lib. 20. cap. 9 in these words: 
† Neque enim piorum animae mortuorum separantur ab Ecclesia, quae etiam nunc est regnum Christi. Alioquin nec ad altare Dei fieret corum memoria: in communione Corporis 〈◊〉 Christi.  Nor are the Souls of the Pious deceased separated from the Church, which even now is the Kingdom of Christ: Otherwise, neither at the Altar of God should Memory be made of them in the Communion of the Body of Christ. In these words is couched one general Intendment of the Church: For as the Holy Rite of the Eucharist was intended not only for the Peculiar Solemnity of the Churches Address to God here upon Earth, with the Memorials of our Saviour's Passion, the great Propitiation for the Sins of the World, but also for Communion between our Head and the Members of his Mystical Body here upon Earth, and also between the Members of his whole Mystical Body themselves; so the Church in that Holy Solemnity hath always performed Acts of Communion, not only with the Head, but with all his Members, both present, in external Communion, and Participation of the sanctified Creatures; and with all absent, whether in the Body, or out of the Body, by Commemorations, Thanksgivings and Prayers. And because they were in several States, they were accordingly remembered distinctly, in order, which is what S. Augustin expresseth suo loco. This Communion was by the ancient Christians reputed a matter of very great Importance, and accordingly they were equally careful, whose Oblations they did receive, and whose Names they did remember, whether Living or Dead: and those who were ejected, or rejected or refused, were looked upon as out of Communion, and excluded from all the Privileges of the Church, both on Earth, and also in the separate State, according to our Saviour's Promise. It was then believed, that the Souls departed, which should be saved, were all indeed with Christ, but not at the Right-hand of his Father; but some before the Throne; some upon Mount Zion; some in the Holy of Holies; some in the Temple, but not in that place; some in Paradise, in Abraham's Bosom, in the Third Heaven, in very different Mansions or Receptacles: as one may be said to be with the King, who is with him in foreign Parts, tho' but in his Army, or at his Court, tho' never admitted into his Presence Chamber; and that by some the Church here upon Earth herself received much Benefit; but others received Benefit by her Communion and Prayers, and stood in need of it. Nor ought we to think that these two Articles of the Holy Catholic Church, and the Communion of Saints, were put into the Summary of the Christian Faith and Profession, and in the Order they are, but for special and weighty Reasons; and indeed such as are little taught, or understood, or regarded amongst us in this Age.  
S. Augustin hath many Testimonies concerning this matter of Fact and known Practice of the Church in these distinct Orders of Commemoration of the Dead, so plain, that the Archbishop himself could not but confess that in the Church Service there was made a several Commemoration; first, of the Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs, after one manner; and then of the other Dead, after another, pag. 194. and one or two he citys in the Margin, but was so wise as not to recite the words. It is Serm. 17. de Verbis Apost. 
* Ideòque habet Ecclesiastica disciplina quod fideles noverunt, cum Martyres eo loco recitantur ad altare Dei, ubi non pro ipsis oretur, pro caeteris autem commemoralis defunctis oretur. Injuria est enim pro Martyre orare, cujus nos debemus orationibus com mendari. And Tr. 84. in Evang. Johan.  This hath the Church Discipline, which the Faithful know, when the Martyrs are recited at the Altar of God in that place, where Prayer is not made for them; but Prayer is made for others, who are commemorated. For it is an Injury to pray for a Martyr, to whose Prayers we (our selves) ought to be commended. And Tr. 84. in Evang. Johan. 
* Ad ipsam mensam non sic ●os commemoramus, quemadmocum alior, qui in pace requiescunt, ●t et am pro eyes or muss, s●d magis, ut cren● ipsi pro nobis; ut eorum vestigiis adhae●eamus; quia impleverunt ipsi charitatem, qua Dominus dixit non posse esse majorem.  At the Table itself we do not so commemorate them, as others who rest in Peace, that we should also pray for them, but rather that they pray for us, that we may tread in their Steps; because they themselves have fulfilled that Charity, than which our Lord saith there cannot be greater.  
And here I cannot but take notice of the Partiality and Disingenuity of this magnified Man in this place; for it is a Scandal and Offence to me. Having cited the words of S. Augustin in Euchrid. ad Laurent. cap. 110. 
‖ Cum sacrificia sive altaris, five quarumcunque Eleemosynarum pro baptizitis defunctis omnibus offeruntur; pro valdè bonis gratiarum actiones sunt; p●o valdè malis, etsi nulla sunt adjumenta mortuorum, qua●●icunque vivorum consolationes ●u●t.  That the Oblations and Alms usually offered in the Church for all the Dead that received Baptism, were Thanksgivings for such as were very Good; Propitiations for such as were not very Bad: but for such as were very Evil, altho' they were no Help for the Dead, yet were they some kind of Consolations of the Living. He calls this a Private Exposition; not only (as he pretends) because it is not to be found in the Writings of the former Fathers; but also because it suiteth not well with the general Practice of the Church, which it intendeth to interpret, p. 194. If it had not been in the Writings of any of the former Fathers, had not the notorious Practice of the Church, which he often mentions with special notes of the Notoriety of the matter of Fact, been sufficient, and much more than any thing mentioned dogmatically by others, tho' more ancient? But besides that is false: for we shall see it hereafter attested by Cyril of Jerusalem; and not by the by, but in a professed Description, and Explication of the Greek Liturgy; which shows the Agreement of all, both Greek and Latin Churches. And therefore it is but reasonable that the honest Reader be admonished to beware of this Author, how he trusts him: for he is a partial and crafty Writer; of which other instances may be produced.  
But perhaps it may not only do right to S. Augustin, but be a Satisfaction to the Reader, to see him more fully declare his mind, which he doth in the words precedent, to this effect: 
* Neque negandum est Desu ctorum animas pietate suorum viventium relevari, cum pro illis sacrificium Media●oris offertur, vel Eleemosynae in Ecclesia fiunt. Sed e●s haec pro unt qui cum viverent, ut haec sibi postea prodesse possent, meruerunt. Est enim quidem vivendi modus, nec tam bonus, ut non requirat ifta post mortem; nec tam malus, ut ei non prosint ista post mortem. Est vero talis in bono, ut ista non requirat; & est rursus talis in malo, ut nec his valeat, cum ex h●c vita transierit, adjuvari. Quo circa hic omne meritum comparatur, quo possit post h●nc vitam releva●i, quisplam, vel gravari. Nemo autem se speret quod hic neglexerit cum obierit, apud Deum promoreri. Non igitur ista quae pro defunctis commendandis frequentat Ecclesia, illi Apostolicae sunt adversa sententiae, qua dictum est; Omnes enim astabimus ante Tribunal Christi, utreserat unusqu●sque secundum ea quae per corpus gessit sivebonum, sive malum: quia etiam hoc meritum sibi quisque cum in corpore vi●eret comparavit, ut ei possent ista prodesse. Non enim omnibus prosunt, & quare non omnibus prosunt, nisipropter differentiam vitae, quam quisque gessit in corpore? Cum ergo sacificia etc.  Nor is it to be denied, saith he, that the Souls of the Deceased are relieved by the Piety of their living Relations, when the Sacrifice of the Mediator is offered, or Alms given in the Church for them. But to those are these things profitable, who, when they lived, merited that these things might be profitable for them afterward. For there is one sort of Life neither so Good, that it might not need those things after Death; nor so Evil, that they cannot profit after Death. But there is such in Good, that it may not require them: and there is again such in Evil, that it cannot be helped by these things when this Life is ended. Wherefore here is all Merit acquired, whereby any one can after this Life be relieved, or grieved. But let none hope that he may obtain of God after he is Dead what he hath neglected here. Wherefore those things, which the Church doth frequently use for Recommending the Dead, are not contrary to the Sentence of the Apostle, where it is said, We must all stand before the Judgment-Seat of Christ, that every one may receive according to those things which he hath done in the Body, whether it be Good, or Evil; because even this Merit every one acquired for himself when he lived in the Body, that these things might profit him. For they do not profit all. And why do they not profit all, but by reason of the Difference of Life which each lived in the Body? When therefore Sacrifices, whether of the Altar, or of whatever Alms, are offered for all the Deceased, who were baptised, etc. as before recited by Usher. More to like purpose may be seen in his Book de Cura pro Mortuis, cap. 4. and cap. 18. where he adds, 
‖ Sed quia non discernimus qui sint, oportet ea pro regeneratis omnibus facere, u● nullus eorum praetermittatur, ad quos haec beneficia possint & debeant pervenire. Melius enim supererunt ista eyes, quibus nec obsunt, nec prosunt, quam eis deerunt quibus prosunt. Diligentius tamen facit haec quisque pro necessariis suis, quod pro illo fiat similiter à suis, p. 294. b. 2. to 4.  But because we do not distinguish who they are, (who are profited by them) we ought to do these things for all the Regenerate, that none of them be pretermitted, to whom these Benefits may and aught to come. For it is better that they should be superfluous as to them, who are neither helped nor hurt by them, than be wanting to those whom they may benefit. Yet every one doth these things the more diligently for his (deceased) Relations, that the same may be done by his Relations (surviving) for himself. The same he hath qu. 2. ad Dulcitium: and more to like purpose, Serm. 32. de Verb. Apost.  
To the Testimonies of these two Eminent, Holy, Learned Bishops of the Latin Church, I will add the Testimonies of two or three Eminent Bishops of the same Age in the Greck Church, concerning the Practice and Custom of the Church in their time, and the Age's precedent, even to the Apostles, in this Case. The one is S. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople, a Man as eminent for his own personal Worth, as for the Place he held. He hath much concerning Prayers and Oblations for the Dead; but much of it by way of Exhortation: and therefore to be as brief as may be, I will select principally what concerns the Practice and Original, which he refers expressly to the Ordination of the Apostles, and Directions of the Holy Spirit. But first for the common Practice of the People: Hom. 32. in Mat. 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Why after the Death of any of thy Family dost thou call the Poor together? Why dost entreat the Presbyters to pray for him? Thou wilt say, That he may obtain Rest. And dost thou then weep and lament for these things? Secondly, S. Chrysostom's Advice, Hom. 61. in Johan. 
† 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  But if a Sinner, and who hath often offended God, dieth, is he to be bewailed? or rather, not at all, since that cannot do him any good. But these things are to be performed for him, which may do him good; viz. Alms and Oblations. And concerning Alms, he presseth it much, Hom. 21. in Act. pag. 605. And, Thirdly, for the common Office of the Priest, in his Sixth Book de Sacerdotio, cap. 4. 
‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  What manner of Man ought he to be, who intercedes for the whole City? What, do I say for the City? for the whole World, and prays to God that he will be propitious to the Sins of all, not only of the Living, but also of the Dead? Then that these things are of Apostolical Authority, Hom. 3. in Phil in the Moral. Exhorting People to pray themselves, and to entreat the Prayers of others, and to give Alms continually for their deceased Friends: 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Will this, saith he, give any Relief? and than answers: Hear God thus saying, I will protect this City for my own and for my Servant David's sake. If the Memory only of a righteous Man avails so much, where Works are also done for the Dead, what cannot they do? and than goes on: These things were not in vain constituted by the Apostles, that in the venerable and tremendous Mysteries Memorial should be made of those who were departed. They knew much Benesit would accure to them by it, and much Advantage. For at that time, when all the People stand with their hands lifted up, and the Company of the Priests, and that venerable and awful Sacrifice, present, how shall we not please or appease God praying for them? And that indeed for those who departed in the Faith; But the Catechumen are not deigned this Consolation, but are destitute of all help, one only excepted. But what is that? Why, Alms may be given to the Poor for them: and hence they receive some Refreshment. For it is God's Will that we should mutually help one another. And to the same purpose, Hom. 69. ad Pop. Antioch. Lastly, and that this was by the Direction of the Holy Spirit, he is express, Hom. 21. in Act. 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Not in vain are Oblations for the Dead; Not in vain Prayers; Not in vain Alms: For all these things did the Spirit Order, willing that we should mutually help one another .... Doubt it not, the Fruit will be pleasant: It is not a light thing that the Deacon calls out, (to pray) For those who are departed in Christ; and, For those who offer for their Memories. And the same he saith also, Hom. 41. in 1 Cor. 15. and adds: 
† 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  For if Commemorations were not made for them, not so much as this would be said: For our Matters are not Stage-Plays. Far be that. For these are done by the Ordination and Disposition of the Spirit. Let us therefore afford them help, and perform their Commemorations, etc. The Propitiation proposed is common to the World: therefore do we then confidently pray for all the Worthy, and name them with Martyrs, with Confessors, with Priests: for we are all one Body, tho' some Members more splendid than others .... Why dost thou grieve and lament so much? Favour may be obtained for the Deceased. And that he himself form a Liturgy, which is at this day in use in the Greek Churches, is affirmed by the Greeks, and cannot with any good reason be denied; and tho' 'tis likely there may be some Alterations or Additions in it, yet what relates to this matter is so confirmed by this, and by more ancient Authority, that it cannot reasonably be questioned.  
The other is S. Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis, the Metropolis of the Isle of Cyprus, a Man of good Reputation for Ability and Piety, and particularly studied in all the Doctrines and Practices of the Church, and the several Heresies contrary thereunto. In him we have a double Testimony, that of Aerius, and his own, in a Book of all the Heretics and Heresies. In that of Aerius, is observable, 1. The Matter of Fact and common Practice, viz. commemorating the Names of the Dead, and Praying for them. 2. 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  The End for which it was done, viz. That they might be benefitted by the Pardon of their Sins at the Prayers, etc. of their Surviving Friends and the Church. Both these he opposeth; and that is a Proof of both; and by the Testimony of an Adversary; which is reputed the most convincing. 3. The Opposition, without any denial or question of the Antiquity or Universality of the Practice or Observation, or of the Tradition of either the Practice, or the Intention and Doctrine: which, if he had had any colour or pretence for it, he would certainly never have omitted: but he is able to say nothing against either the Practice, or Benefit of it; but, If it be so, it is in vain to be pious; it would be sufficient to get People to pray for the Pardon of ones Sins after his Death. In all these respects is the Opposition of Aerius a very considerable Testimony of both the Practice and Intention, and consequently of the Doctrine of the Church in this case. But because our great Man useth his utmost Skill, and very grossly, to evade and elude these Testimonies, I will here present them both entire, according to his own Translation, with Notes of the Pages where most of the distracted Parcels may be found in his Book, that the Reader who hath a mind to entertain himself with a Prospect of his Ingenuity, may the more plainly discern it.  
The Objection of Aerius: For what reason do you commemorate after Death, the Names of those that are departed? He that is alive prayeth, or maketh Dispensation (of the Mysteries) what shall the Dead be profited hereby? And if the Prayer of those here do altogether (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) profit them that be there; then let no body be Godly; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  let no Man do Good; but let him procure some Friends, by what means it pleaseth him, either by persuading them by Money, or entreating Friends at his Death; and let them pray for him, that he may suffer nothing there; and that those inexpiable Sins, which he hath committed, may not be required at his hands. p. 238.  
Epiphanius his Answer and Testimony: As for the reciting of the Names of those that are deceased, what can be better than this? What more commodious, and more admirable? that such as are present do believe that they who are departed do live, and are not extinguished, but are still Being, and Living with the Lord: and that this most pious Preaching might be declared, that they who pray for their Brethren have hope of them, as being in a Peregrination, p. 240. But the Prayer also which is made for them doth profit, altho' it doth not cut off All their Sins. (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here answers to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Objection.) Yet, forasmuch as whilst we are in the World, we oftentimes slip both unwillingly, and with our Will; it serveth to signify that which is more perfect: For we make a Memorial, both of the Just, and for Sinners: For Sinners, entreating the Mercy of God; of the Just, both the Fathers, and Patriarches, Prophets, and Apostles, and Evangelists, and Martyrs, and Confessors, Bishops, and Anchoretes, and the whole Order; that we may sever our Lord Jesus from the Rank of all other Men, by the Honour that we do unto him, and that we may yield Worship unto him, [while we thus judge, p. 240. That] our Lord is not to be compared unto any Man; tho' a Man live in Righteousness a thousand times and more: for how should that be possible? considering that the one is God, the other Man; and the one is in Heaven, the other in Earth, by reason of the Remains (or Relics) of the Body yet resting in the Earth. [p. 242. Except those, who being raised from the Dead, entered together into the Bride-Chamber, as saith the Holy Gospel, etc. But forbearing these things, I return to what I was about.] The Church doth necessarily perform this, having received it by Tradition from the Fathers: And who may dissolve the Ordinances of his Mother, or the Law of his Father? p. 237. [as Solomon saith, Hear, my Son, the Words of thy Father, and reject not the Laws of thy Mother; declaring by this, that (our) Father; that is, God, the Only begotten, and the Holy Spirit, hath taught (us) both in Scriptures, and without Scripture: But] our Mother, the Church, hath Ordinances settled in her, which are inviolable, and may not be broken. Seeing then there are Ordinances established in the Church, and they are well, and all things are admirably done; this Seducer is again refuted. p. 237. This is the Answer of Epiphanius: the words enclosed in Crotchets are not in Usher.  
To this we may well apply what he saith before concerning Easter, the Observation of which was another thing, which Aerius quarrelled at: But who knows these things best? This seduced Fellow, who is but newly sprung up, and now living amongst us; or they who were Witnesses before us; and who held the same Tradition in the Church before us, which they had received from their Parents, and their Parents had learned from their Ancestors; as the Church to this day observes the true and sincere Faith, which it received with the Traditions from the Fathers.  
In all this we may observe, 1. The Practice of the Church, both in the General Commemorations, and in the Prayers, agreed on both Sides. 2. The End and Intendment of the Church, that it was the Profit and Benefit of the Deceased, also agreed. 3. The Question between them, Whether the Prayer of the Living could profit or benefit the Dead, as the Church intended? 4. That this was what Aerius did principally deny: and therefore, that the Practice was reasonable, as a necessary consequence. 5. His only reason was, that it would make Piety and good Life needless. 6. Epiphanius his Answer, 1. from Reason; 1. as it is a seasonable and excellent Declaraction of the Faith and Hope of the Church; 2. as an Act of Charity, for the Benefit of the Deceased; 2. from Authority, as received in the Church by Tradition from our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit.  
And now, how does our great Man elude this? Epiphanius, saith he, doth not Name this, (viz. That Prayers and Sacrifice profiteth not the departed in Christ,) an Heresy. 2. Nor doth it appear that himself did hold that they bring such Profit to the Dead as these Men Dream, pag. 236. 3. He doth not at all charge him with forsaking the Doctrine of the Scripture, or the Faith of the Catholic Church, but with rejecting the Order, p. 237. 4. Aerius his Argument would have been in force indeed, if the whole Church had held, as many did; That the Judgement after Death was suspended until the General Resurrection, and that in the mean time, the Sins of the Dead might be taken away by the Suffrages of the Living: But he should have considered, as Gobarus (as great an Heretic as himself) did that the Doctors were not agreed upon the Point, p. 238.5. It was a foolish part in him to confound the Private Opinion of some, with the Common Faith of the Universal Church. 6. That he reproved this particular Error, he did well; but that thereupon he condemned the General Practice of the Church, he did like himself, headily and perversely, ibidem. As to the first of these, I must refer the Reader to Epiphanius himself, for the Character he gives of the Person and Opinions of Aerius, a very Vile man, a thorough-paced Arian, and who exceeded Arius himself in his new Opinions, which he imputes to the operation of the Devil; though he doth not particularly name them Heresies, yet, it is plain, he and S Austin too accounted them such; and, of the rest, the Reader may judge by what is here laid plainly before him.  
S. Ephraem was not much before these; but because he was neither Greek nor Latin, but a Syrian, and a Man of Parts and extraordinary Sanctity, greatly esteemed by the most excellent Persons of that time, and of so great Reputation, that his Writings were read publicly in divers Churches after the Holy Scriptures, I cannot pass him by without taking notice of his Testament, his Discourse to his Disciples upon his Deathbed: wherein he tells them he is Dying, and desires to be mentioned in the Commemoration of their Holy Prayers; and bewailing his Sins, and declaring his Sense of the terrible Judgement of God, he doth admonish, exhort, and strictly enjoin them to remember him constantly, after his exit and passage, in their Prayers: and after some Admonitions to them, and account of himself, he again desires to be remembered in their Prayers. Then he strictly forbids his being Buried under the Altar, or in the House of God, all Solemn Pomp, and Funeral Orations and Encomiums; and all cost of rich Vestments, of Grave , of Spices, of Odours, of Candles, and the like; but desires that all that Cost may be bestowed upon the Poor; and for himself; that in the place of all such Pomp and Funeral Orations, they will accompany him with Psalms, and help and assist him with their Prayers, and Bury him in the Churchyard, where the contrite in heart are Buried. Then he bids them come near and embrace him, for his Spirit fails him, and again entreats them diligently to make Oblations for him; and prettily represents the Communion of Saints, by a Simile of the Sympathy of things in Nature, the Wine which flowers in the Cellar, when the Vine Buds in the Vineyard, and the like: And tells them, that the Oblations of Priests under the Law were effectual for those who were slain in their Sins: and how much more the Priests of Christ under the New Testament! And gives great caution, that when they come to his Memory, (I suppose he means the Thirtieth Day, which he expressly mentioned before and his Anniverssaries) ne quisquam in Sancta peccet; that none commit any thing unmeet for holy things, (by any Excess): but that the Vigil be kept attentively, and reverently, and humbly, and holily, and purely: for it would be a miserable thing for him, if by occasion of his Memory, he should be accountable to his God for their inordinate Actions. Thus this Holy Man: an Instance equal to a very ample Testimony of the Practice in those parts.  
About the same time was S. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem. He in his Mystagogick Catechism concludes all with a Description and Scheme of the Liturgy then in use; wherein, after mention of the Holy Trisagium Hymn, 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Therefore, saith he, do we recite this Seraphic Theology delivered to us, that in that Celestial Hymnody we may communicate with the supra-mundain Militia, (the Heavenly Host:) and thus by such kind of Hymns sanctisying ourselves, we pray the most benign God that he will send out his Holy Spirit upon the proposited (Elements) that it may make the Bread the Body of Christ, and the Wine the Blood of Christ. For certainly, whatever the Holy Spirit doth touch, it is sanctified and transmuted. Then after that Spiritual Sacrifice, that unbloody Worship is done, (that is, after the Consecration and Oblation in Commemoration of the Passion of Christ) over that very Host of Propitiation do we obsecrate God for the common Peace of the Churches; for the Tranquillity of the World; for Kings; for their Armies and Confederates; for the Sick and Afflicted; and, in sum, for all who need Help. We commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us: First, the Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, that God at their Prayers and Deprecations would accept ours: Then we pray for the Holy Fathers and Bishops deceased; and, lastly, for all who are deceased amongst us, believing it to be a very great Help to the Souls, for whom the Obsecration of that tremendous Sacrifice, which is placed on the Altar, is offered.  
I will add but one instance more for the flourishing times of the Church, and so comprise the whole time of the four first General Councils from first to last. Eusebius in his 4th Book of the Life of Constantine describing the Martyrium of the Apostles, built by him at Constantinople, adds, chap. 60. All these did the Emperor dedicate, that he might consign to Posterity the Memory of our Saviour's Apostles. But he had another Design in his Mind when he built this Church: which was at first concealed: but in the end it became known to all. For he had designed this place for himself after his Death, foreseeing, by a transcendent Alacrity of Faith, that his Body after Death should be made Partaker of the Apostles Apellation, that even after Death, he might be esteemed worthy of the Prayers, which should be performed there in Honour of the Apostles, believing that their Memory would be useful and advantageous to his Soul. And afterward describing the Solemnity of his Funeral, chap. 71. he saith, that a vast Number of People, together with those Persons, consecrated to God, not without Tears and great Lamentation, poured forth Prayers to God for the Emperor's Soul; thereby performing a most grateful Office to this pious Prince. And herein also God demonstrated his singular Favour towards his Servant, because after his Death,— agreeable to his own most earnest Desire, the Tabernacle of his thrice blessed Soul was vouchsafed a place with the Monument of the Apostles; and that it might be joined with God's People in the Church; and might be vouchsafed the Divine Rights, and Mystic Service; and might enjoy a Communion of the Holy Prayers.  
This was but 12 years after the Nicen Council, and a great and most illustrious instance of the common received and settled Practice of that time. And here, before I proceed further, it is fit to consider, how far the continuance of that wicked and shameful Abuse by Cranmer, put upon the Church of England in his clandestine Corruption of the True English Liturgy; I say, the Continuance of it to this day, whether by supine Negligence, or base Compliance with a Faction of Sectaries, be consistent with that Profession of Reverence to Antiquity in general; and to those first four General Councils in particular, which is made by all who pretend to be genuine Sons of the Church of England? with their use of the Constantinopolitan Creed in the most solemn Office, so foully deformed, contrary to the Public Office at that time used in the Church, and attested by S. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, who was present at that Council, and a principal Man there? How consistent with the Statutes of most ancient Colleges in both the Universities, and the Oaths taken by so many Scholars for the Observance of them? How consistent with the Belief of One Holy Catholic Church; and of the Communion of Saints? with that Reverence and Respect, which the Holy Scriptures require should be paid to the Body of Christ, the Depository of Christian Verities, and the Pillar or Monument and Basis of Truth? with that Reverence, and Honour, and Esteem, which all true and genuine Christians cannot but have for so many glorious Saints as flourished in the Church of Christ, and all agreed in this pious Practice for more than 1200 years from the time of Constantine, who himself was none of the least, being converted in an extraordinary manner by special Vision from our Saviour, and the Truth thereof confirmed by very remarkable Victories, and afterward so great a Promoter of Christian Piety, that he was, as Eusebius relates, partaker of the Apostles appellation, being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Offices of the Greek Church, and deservedly: How it can be consistent therewith, and with Christian Modesty, to set up a Calvin, a Bucer, a Cranmer, an Usher, like little Idols, above all; and not rather an undeniable proof of the very Spirit of Heretics and Schismatics.  
Mr. 
* Life Appendix, p. 55.  Baxter's Questions in another Case, not unlike this, may very properly be proposed to our modern Opposers of this Catholic Practice: Would they have held Communion with the Catholic Church for a Thousand Years together? Or would they not, if they had lived in those times? If they would, then why not with us, who are of the same Judgement? Was it a Duty then? And is it unlawful now? If they would not in all those Ages have held Communion with the visible Church, what would they have done but separated from the Body, and so from the Head, and cast off Christ in all his Members, and taken him to be a Head without a Body, which is no Head; and so no Christ? What would they have done, but denied his Power, and Love, and Truth, and consequently his Redemption; and his Office? Hath he come at the end of 4000 years since the Creation, to redeem the World, that lay so long in Darkness? And hath he made such wonderful Preparations for his Church, by his Life and Miracles, and Blood and Spirit? etc. and promised, That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it; and that his Kingdom shall be an Everlasting Kingdom, and his Dominion endureth from Generation to Generation; and yet, after all this, shall he have a Church, (even as the Seekers say) but for an Age or two? Thus Mr. Baxter; and very good: but if this be good in the Case of Baptism of Infants, why not as good in the Case of Prayers and Oblations for the Dead? which, I think, hath as good Evidence of Apostolical Original as that, or the Lord's-Day, or Episcopacy, or a good part of the Scriptures of the New Testament: And if they stand all upon the same Foundation, why should they not stand or fall together?  
There is also an Assertion of St. Augustin 's, which deserves to be here considered in this Case; That 
* Quod universa tenet Ecclesia, nec in Consiliis institutum, sed semper retentum est, non nisi Authoritate Apostolica traditum rectissimè creditur. count. Donat. l. 4 c. 24.  what the Universal Church doth hold, and was not instituted in Councils, but always retained, is most rightly believed to have been delivered by no other than Apostolical Authority. For as this is a Practice which none did ever pretend was instituted by any Council; so amongst all, who have written concerning the Original, or first Invention, or Introduction of things, none has ever assigned any Original of it in the Catholic Church later than the Apostles; or in any part of the Catholic Church, later than of the rest of Christianity itself. So that could we trace it no further back than the time of Constantine, it would be unreasonable to believe, that the whole Christian Church, so largely spread over the Face of the Earth, and planted by so many several Persons at first, and in Places so divided and remote one from another, should so unanimously agree in such a Practice, did it not proceed from some Common Cause; which could be no other than the Mutual Agreement of all the Apostles in it. 
* Nostra quidem Scripta cur ignibus meruerunt dari? Cur immaniter Conventicula dirui? in quibus Summus oratur Deus, Pax cunctis & venia postulatur, Magistratibus, Exercitibus, Regibus, Familiaribus, Inimicis, adhuc vitam degentibus, & resolutis corporum vi●ctione. lib. 4. suo. fi.   
But tho' this might be sufficient, yet have we further Evidence to trace it, even through the more troublesome times of the Churches, so near to the Apostles, that no Man, without Disparagement to his Judgement, or his Honesty, can question its Original to be indeed Apostolical. For tho' those troublesome times have left us so few Monuments of the Primitive Christianity, in comparison, that all will hardly equal the Writings of some one of the Writers of after-Ages; yet among those few have we what is sufficient. Arnobius, an eminent Professor of Rhetoric, who had been a bitter Enemy against the Christians, even in the time of Persecution under Dioclesian turned Christian, and wrote Seven Books against the Gentiles: in the fourth of which he expostulates with them in this manner: Why have our Scriptures deserved to be cast into the Fire? Why our Meeting-Places to be cruelly destroyed, in which the Great God is prayed to, Peace and Pardon is besought for all; for Magistrates, Armies, Kings, our Familiars and Enemies; for those yet living, and those released from the Bond of their Bodies? Where he speaks of Prayers for these last, as as common as for any of the rest. About 50 years before this was S. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage, a Person of great Worth, and most deserved Reputation in the Church, and at last a Holy Martyr. He in his LXVI Epistle (with his Colleagues in Council) tells the Clergy and People, to whom he wrote, that their Predecessors, upon religious Consideration, as a necessary Provision, had decreed, That no Christian Brother at his Departure should name a Clergyman for Guardian, or Executor; and that if any one should do this, there should be 
* Si quis hoc fecisset, non offeretur pro ●o, nec sacrificium pro Do●mitione ejas celebretur. Neque enim, etc.  no Offering for him, nor Sacrifice celebrated for his Departure; for he doth not deserve to be named at the Altar of God in the Prayer of the Priests, who would call away the Priests and Ministers from the Altar: And therefore since one Victor, 
† Contra formam nuper in Concilio à sacerdotibus datam.  contrary to the Order lately made in Council by the Priests, had presumed to constitute a certain Presbyter for a Guardian, 
‖ Non est quod pro Dormitione ejas apud vos fiat Oblatio, aut Deprecatio aliqua nomine ejus in Ecclesia frequentetur.  there should no Oblation be made among them for his Departure, or any Deprecation commonly used in the Church in his Name, that the Decree of the Bishops religiously and necessarily made might be observed by them, and Example given to others, etc. This Prohibition of those things to be done, by way of Punishment, is a plain Evidence of what was accustomed, and should have been done, if there had been no Prohibition: and an Evidence not of a single Person, but of a Council: and not of Matter of Opinion, but of plain Matter of Fact; and that so notorious, as was well known to all, and of such Importance in the Opinion of all, as the Prohibition was adjudged a competent Punishment for such a Crime, as they all thought no little one: It was a kind of Excommunication.  
Another fifty years before this lived Tertullian, a Man of very great and universal Learning, very acute Parts, and very strict for Discipline, and for the Orders of the Church. He mentions this Practice in divers of his Writings, not only as common and usual, but also as delivered by Tradition, and so well known, and unquestionable, as to be itself an undeniable Instance and Proof of unwritten Traditions. This he doth in his Book de Corona Militis, § 3. where, amongst the Instances which he allegeth for proof of the Authority of unwritten Traditions, this is one: Oblationes pro Defunctis, pro Natalitiis, annua die facimus. We make Oblations for the Dead upon the Annual day of their Departure; which the Ancient Christians called their Natalitiae, or Birth-Days. And after all concludes, 
* Harum & aliarum ejusmodi discipiinarum si Legem expostules Scripturarum, nullam invenies: Traditio tibi praetenditue auctrix, Consuetudo confirmatrix, & Fides observatrix.  If of these, and other Matters of Discipline, you seek for a Rule of Scriptures, you shall find none: Tradition is alleged for the Author, Custom for the Confirmer, and Faith for the Observer. But of Traditions in general he hath other Discourses elsewhere: and of this particular Tradition, which he does but only mention here, as an instance of Fact not to be denied, we have farther mention in other of his Writings; In his Book de Monogamia, against second Marriages, speaking of the Custom of the Widow's praying for her deceased Husband; he says, 
* Et pro anima ejus orat, & Refrigerium interim adpostulat ei, & in prima Resurrectione Consortium; & offered annuis diebus dormitionis ejus. § 10.  She prays for his Soul, and entreats for Refreshment for him in the interim, and Consort in the first Resurrection, and offers (for him) on the Annual days of his Departure. Again, in his Book de Exhortatione Castitatis, he thus upbraids him who had had several Wives: 
† Et jam repete apud Deum pro cujus Spiritu postules, pro qua Oblationes Annuas reddas. Stabis ergo ad Deum cum tot Uxoribus, quot illa oratione commemoras? & offeres pro duabus, & commemoras illas duas per sacerdotem de Monogamia ob pristinum de virginitate sanctitum, circumdatum virginibus & univiris? & ascendet sacrificium tuum iibera front? & inter cete ras voluntates bonae mentis postulabis tibi, & uxori castiatem● § 11  Say before God for whose Spirit thou dost pray, for which thou dost make thy Annual Oblations. Wilt thou therefore stand before God with so many Wives, as thou dost in that Prayer remember; and offer for two, and commemorate those two by a Priest once married, by reason of the ancient Sanction of Virginity, encompassed with Virgins, and once married Women? And will thy Sacrifice ascend with Confidence? and amongst other Habits of a good Soul, wilt thou pray for Chastity for thyself, and thy Wife?  
This, I think, is plain, and full for the common Practice, both in private, and in public by the Priest at the Altar; and for the Tradition. But it is objected, that Tertullian, when he wrote these Books, was a Montanist, and wrote them against the Church. And it is as easily answered, that it is not Matter of Opinion, but Matter of Fact, for which they are here alleged: and it is certain he was no Fool; which he must have been, if this had been the Practice of the Montanists, and not of the Church. But for the Readers better Information, and more ample Satisfaction, that the Objection is a mere Scarecrow, and serves only to discover the Disingenuity and Inconsiderateness of the Objectors, he must know, That Montanus, (and his Companions) Alcibiades and Theodotus, were at first looked upon, in the Opinion of most Men, as Prophets: For very many Miracles of Divine Grace at that time wrought in many Churches made most Men believe that they also were Prophets. Euseb. 5. Hist. 3. So that if Tertullian did believe this, it was no more than what most others did. But what more specially inclined him to favour Montanus was this: He was a Man of great Austerity and Strictness in Matters of Discipline, Penance, Fasting, Chastity, Suffering, etc. which were things which Montanus asserted, and highly pretended to: And that which fixed him in his Opinion of Montanus, was some unhappy Contests which arose between him and the Roman Clergy, about some of these things, which gave him that Offence, that he not only reflects upon them in his de Corona Militis; Novi & pastors eorum, etc. but afterwards in his other Writings frequently calls them Psychici, Animal or Sensual Man. And this, which is observable in his Writings, is also affirmed by S. Hierom. This was his 
* For as to what relates to the Rule of Faith that is, to the Principal Doctrines of Religion, Tertul. and the first Montanists were of the same Opinion with the Church, etc. saith Du Pin p. 82, 83.  Montanism. And what is this to the Prejudice of his Testimony concerning Prayers for the Dead? It is so far from that, that it is the greatest Confirmation and Amplification of it, that this Practice and Tradition was no part of Montanism: for nothing could have been a greater Prejudice to the Church of Rome against it, and it had certainly been condemned by them: nor peculiar to the African Church; but the known Practice of the Catholic Church, and of the Roman Church in particular: quite contrary to what the Objectors would persuade us. But such Infatuations are the greatest of Men subject to, when they will obstinately persist in the Maintenance of an ill Cause. We may here therefore fix, upon as good ground as can reasonably be desired, this Practice and Tradition of the Catholic Church.  
And now it is time to consider how much we are short in our Evidence of the Apostles Age; and from what Original this Practice did in truth proceed. It is agreed that St. John wrote his Gospel about the beginning of the second Century; and that Tertullian fell to the Sect of Montanus in the beginning of the third. Vid. Du Pin, p. 44. and p. 70. And S. Hierom informs us, that he lived to a great Age, usque ad decrepitam atatem; and that after he had continued usque ad mediam aetatem a Presbyter of the Church, invidia postea & contumeliis Clericor. Romanae Ecclesiae ad Montani dogma delapsus. 
* After having continued in the Church 40 or 45 Years, he separated from it in the beginning of the 3d Centutury, etc. saith Du Pin, p. 70.  So that he lived the greatest and best part of his Life in the same Age wherein St. John wrote his Gospel, and did live some time. And here comes, as seasonably as unexpectedly, to my hand, at the very instant that this is at the Press, a Book of a learned Opponent; who seeing this too plain to be dissembled, and supposing that he can otherwise evade the force of this Evidence, presents us with a plain Confession of the Matter of Fact; 
† Of the Sibyls, l. 2. c 23.  David blondel: I make no difficulty (saith he) to affirm, that it might be practised some time before the Year 200, in as much as Tertullian, the most ancient of all those that say any thing of it, numbered it even then among the Customs received in his time, writing in the Year, 199. Oblationes pro Defunctis, pro Natalitiis, annua die facimus, etc. and recites also the other two Testimonies, only in that de Monogamia, mistakes the Husband for the Wife, and then adds: From the things which this great Person, the most Ancient, and most Learned of all the Latins, that we have remaining, does advance, as to Matter of Fact, concerning the Oblations, which were publicly made, and the Employment of the Priests, the only Ministers of the public Service, as a thing Ordinary, and grown into Custom, it is manifest, that Praying for the Dead was, in his Time, used, not only by particular Persons, but also in the Body of the Church, and that the Liturgies thereof were full of it. Thus we see, not only by plain Proof, but also by the 
* The same is confessed by John Dalle, since recommended to me, as one who hath written learnedly on this Subject: but I find not any thing in him added to Blendel, but such Pride, Arrogance, Insolence, Contempt, and reproachful Expressimso● the Ancient Holy Christians & Martyrs, as cannot but be very offensive to any true Christian Spirit being most apparently the common Spirit and Genius of all wicked and obstsnate Heretics, leading to Atheism and Ap stacy, and as contrary to the Pair Word of God, which they pretend, as to the true Spirit of Christianty.  Confession of a learned Adversary, that this was not only a Practice in the Church when Tertullian wrote, but a Received Custom in his time, and therefore of some standing before; and of such standing as he knew no other Original of it but Apostolical Tradition: and for such doth he allege it; and not only so, but for an unquestionable Proof of such unwritten Traditions; as this Author also confesseth and asserts. cap. 24. p. 142. And what other Original could it have in that little time, and such a Man as he have been ignorant of it? And had any other been known, could He have been guilty of so great Weakness, as to have alleged this for an unquestionable Proof in such a Case, if he had had so little Honesty?  
But we have here a learned Man, who under pretence of detecting an Imposture, presumes, by his Learning, to impose upon the World. How well he hath used his Learning in other Matters, some Learned Men of the Church of England, I think, besides others, have sufficiently showed; and how far his Judgement is to be relied upon. In this I shall show the like in a word. He would persuade that not only Tertullian, but the whole Church of Christ, hath been imposed upon in this Matter by a counterfeit Sibyl, written between the Years 138 and 151. and of Tertullian saith positively, That he relied upon no other Hypothesis than those proposed by the Author of the pretended Sibylline Writings. But in these few words there is no less than at least one notorious Fallacy, and two Falsities: a Fallacy in the word Hypothesis: for he relied not upon any Hypothesis, but upon the received Custom of the Church: And that he did rely upon, as is confessed: But he did not in the least rely upon any thing at all of the pretended Sibyl: Nor hath this Champion produced, I think, any one Proof that either Tertullian, or any other of the Ancient or Modern Christians, did at all rely upon any such Authority for that Practice: but all unanimously relied upon Tradition from the Apostles. His whole Book is full of Fallacy and Deceit, and of the very Spirit and Genius of an Heretic, who makes no scruple to abuse the whole Church of Christ, and the most Excellent Persons in it, to maintain his own Principles. It is certain, that divers of the great Truths of Christianity were known to the Gentiles long before, and received by Tradition from the Common Parents of Mankind; but received as Articles of Faith by Christians upon the Authority of Christ and his Apostles: And such was this, which he fathers upon an Impostor, and pretends the Church received it from him; without any Proof of either, whereas, if he was a Christian, it is much more likely that he received the Hypothesis from the Practice of the Church at that time; and is therefore rather an Evidence of it. Other matters of this Book have been considered by learned Men of our own Country; and I think I need say no more of this with any regard to him.  
But as to the Practice, besides all this positive and Affirmative Evidence, I do deny that any competent Evidence can be produced, among all the Churches of the World, of any where the Christian Religion was planted without it, or where it was introduced by any particular Person, upon any special Occasion, at any different time, after the first planting of Christianity there, in all those Ages since the Apostles; being verily persuaded that no such thing can be produced, but what will strongly confirm and illustate the contrary Evidence; like Mr. usher's Flourish with his most ancient Manuscript Missals, wherein the Commemoration of the Dead doth no where appear, which yet were but two in all, if not all but one mentioned by two several Authors, and that no complete Missal neither, but only Liber Sacramentorum, an Abstract, and itself at last not to be found, as his expression, habebatur, seems to imply: a good Argument of the Agreement of all, or most others in that particular, that so industrious a Searcher into ancient Records and Monuments of Antiquity, of that kind especially, could neither see nor hear of any other, either at home or abroad, wherein it was not. Such another Exception may perhaps be met with, which may serve to confirm the general Rule; but not any thing considerable, I believe, to any other purpose. Certain it is, it must either have been settled in all those several Places in the World, where Churches were planted, together with the rest of the Christian Doctrines and Institutions; and than it must have proceeded from the same Founders, who agreed as unanimously in this, as they did in other necessary things; of which sort this may therefore be concluded to be one: or it must have had a several distinct particular Introduction by itself, in all or most of those several Places, and be derived from several Authors, Originals, Occasions and Times: and then the Accounts of its special and particular Introduction, in all probability, would have very much varied in several places, at least have remained upon Record, or by Tradition in some. But not a word of any such thing, can I find, that was ever heard of in any part of the World; but a Unanimous Agreement in all, both in the Practice continued by Custom, and Original by Tradition from the Apostles.  
And thus much for Proof à posteriori, from Evidence of Matter of Fact; which I think enough to satisfy any reasonable Man of competent Ability, and to convince any Man of Modesty and Sincerity: yet because simple genuine Truth is always consistent with all that is such, it may, ex abundanti, gratify an honest ingenuous Reader to observe briefly the Universal Agreement of this Catholic Practice of the Church of Christ, 1. With common Reason, and the Nature of things: 2. With the common Sentiments of the Primitive Christians concerning the middle State of Souls: 3. With divers plain Texts of the Holy Scriptures: And 4. with the common Practice of the Jews in and before our Saviour's time, never reprehended by him, or any of his Apostles, and therefore allowed by all, and indeed practised by them: and, on the contrary, the Inconsistence of the obstinate Opposition with Truth and Justice in divers respects.  
As for Common Reason: The Universe is of vast and unconceivable extent; in it we see are many great Bodies, Orbs, and Regions; the Life of Man upon this of the Earth is very short; the Time from the Resurrection of our Saviour to this is near 1700 years, and how much more it may be to the General Judgement no Mortal knows; in the mean time the Souls of Mortals go out of their Bodies in infinitely various States of Purity and Impurity: And certainly it is most reasonable that there should be, not only one general Distinction of Souls, but moreover many distinct Places, States, and Conditions, wherein the separate Souls are disposed, according to their several Qualifications, when they go out of the Body. And as that curious Observer of the Works of Nature, as well of the Holy Scriptures, the late Lord Chief Justice Hale, speaking of towardly Plants by Death transplanted into another Region, a Garden of Happiness and Comfort, adds: And possibly by continuance of time, as they received Improvement and Perfection here, so in that other Region they add to their Degrees of Perfection, and are promoted to farther Accessions, and Degrees, and Stations of Happiness and Glory, till they come to the State of Spirits of just Men made perfect. Now in all these Varieties of States is there nothing capable of receiving Benefit by the Prayers of the Living? Is there no Communion of Saints between those in the Body, and those out of the Body? But if there be, how can it better be exercised or expressed than in the solemn Offices of the Church?  
For the Common Sentiments of the Primitive Christians, because it would be too long to recite so many Testimonies in this place, and they are collected already to my hand by Sixtus Senensis and others, I need but refer the Reader to them. But this also is confessed and asserted by Blondel and Dalle; but they would have us believe that they received them from an Impostor, a Counterfeit Sibyl, a groundless, impudent and impious Calumny.  
The Agreement with plain Scriptures is observable in that expression of our Saviour concerning the Sin which shall not be forgiven, neither in this World, neither in the World to come, Mat. 12.32. and that which agrees with this, of being cast into Prison, and not coming out by any means, till Payment of the last Farthing, Mat. 5.25. Prisoners of Hope, Zechar. 9.11, 12. Sins blotted out when the times of Refreshing shall come, Act. 3.19. Such as show the Incertainty of many Souls in their separate State, even such as were Professors of a high Form in this World, of what their final Doom shall be at that Day, as Mat. 7.22, 23. and 25.44, 45. etc. And the Recompense of Rewards at that day, 2 Thess. 1.6, 7. 1 Cor. 5.5. Luk. 14.14.2 Tim. 4.8. etc. Which if our confident Opposers had sufficiently considered, one would think they should not have presumed to make so light of that middle State, as for the maintaining of Parties to deprive so many Souls there of all Benefit they might receive by their surviving Friends here; which many Apparitions, even among Protestants, do frequently signify.  
The Practice of the Jews I have noted already, and shall add only here, That in Discourse lately with one of them, he assured me that the Form they now use for that purpose is generally believed by all to have been composed by E●ra and the Great Congregation. I there also remembered an instance of the Practice of the Apostles themselves in St. Paul's Prayer for Onesiphorus, in such a Form as is hardly to be met with for any Person living, however proves it not in vain to Pray for any Person, of whom there is Hope, but not Certainty, till that day. So that tho' our great Man, with more Confidence, I doubt, than Conscience, and without any Proof or Reason at all, doth positively affirm him then living, p. 210. he gets nothing at all by it.  
Thus we see in this a Universal Agreement in all things: but, on the contrary, if we examine the Obstinate Opposition of it throughout, we shall find nothing solid and consistent in it; neither with Truth, nor Honesty, nor any good Consequence: but a plausible Pretence of the Pure Word of God to cover an impure Inclination and Desire to set aside the Authority which God instituted, and set up themselves and their own Conceits in the place of it. 2. Inconsistent with itself; first, denying or cavilling at the Antiquity or Universality of the Practice; and then, when they thought they had found out an Evasion, confessing that, which they could no longer for shame deny, and betaking themselves to their new Invention: 3. Inconsistent with the Sincerity, Simplicity, and Ingenuity of the Gospel, in their shameless Shuffles, Cavils and Evasions; of which I have noted divers, and many more might be observed; but there is one not to be omitted here; their alleging the Writings of Epiphanius, chrysostom, Augustin, and others, against not only their own, but the confessed ancient Practice of the Church in their time, in this Case: Inconsistent with that Modesty, Respect and Decency which the Gospel requires toward all, in their Censuring as delirious, not only some particular Persons, but generally all the most Holy, Ancient Christians, in what was their common Sentiments, and is believed by the most learned of the Church of England to be plainly taught in the Holy Scriptures: 5. Inconsistent with that Reverence and Regard that Christians should have for the Honour of the Church of Christ, his Promises to it, and Care of it, in so foul and scandalous an Imputation, as that they received their common Notions of the present State of separate Souls in the other World from an Impostor; which, was not their Impudence therein as notorious as it is groundless, and destitute of any proof at all, might prove a Tentation to unsettled Souls, to suspect all to be no better: And for other Consequences, it is plain they lead the way to all others to reject their own usurped Authority with the same Ease and Impudence that they do that of the Church of Christ; and to set up their own Conceits against theirs, and pretend Scripture for it; and so to an endless Course of Separations, Schisms, Sects and Confusions; and, in conclusion, set up that Authority over others, which they themselves in the mean time reject; as by their Synod of Dort, and others in France appears: And besides all this, it is much to be feared, that they lead multitudes of Souls into that miserable Security and Presumption, wherewith our Saviour hath acquainted us that many will find themselves deceived at that day, Mat. 7.22. And therefore if these be not pertinacious Schismatics and Heretics, speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them, and therefore carefully to be avoided, I know not who are; or what so many Cautions in the Scripture to that purpose do signify.  
FINIS.   

The Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning The Middle State of Souls: And the Tradition of the Church for Prayers for the DEAD: Summed up by Dr. Jer. Taylor, late Bishop of Down and Conner. With the Judgement of Mr. Herbert Thorndike, a late most Learned Prebend of Westminster.  
ALtho' there hath been lately Printed a Discourse of Prayers for the Dead, proving the Practice and Tradition thereof in the Church to be truly Catholic, and a competent Evidence of Apostolic Original and Authority; wherein divers Learned Protestants are alleged to have been of the same Opinion; yet for the Readers farther Satisfaction in that respect, it hath been thought fit to Print the Discourse of these two other eminent Persons of the Church of England, more at large than was thought proper for that place. And first, that of the late Bishop Dr. Jer. Taylor.  

1. Of the Middle State of Souls.  
THE Holy Jesus promised to the blessed Thief, That he should that Day be with Him in Paradise: which therefore was certainly a Place or State of Blessedness, because it was a Promise; and in the Society of Jesus, whose penal and afflictive part of his Work of Redemption was finished upon the Cross. Our Blessed Lord did not promise he should that day be with him in his Kingdom; for that day it was not opened, and the everlasting doors of those interior Recesses were to be shut till after the Resurrection that himself was to ascend thither, and make way for all his Servants to enter, in the same Method in which he went before us. Our Blessed Lord descended into Hell, saith the Creed of the Apostles, from the Sermon of St. Peter, as he from the Words of David; that is, into the State of Separation and common Receptacle of Spirits, according to the Style of Scripture. But the Name of Hell is no where in Scripture an appellative of the Kingdom of Christ, of the Place of final and supreme Glory. But concerning the Verification of our Lord's Promise to the beautified Thief, and his own State of Separation, we must take what Light we can from Scripture, and what we can from the Doctrine of the Primitive Church. St. Paul had two great Revelations: he was wrapped up into Paradise, and he was wrapped up into the third Heaven: and and these he calls Visions, and Revelations, not one, but divers: for Paradise is distinguished from the Heaven of the Blessed, being itself a Receptacle of Holy Souls made illustrious with Visitations of Angels, and happy by being a Repository for such Spirits, who at the day of Judgement shall go forth into Eternal Glory. In the interim Christ hath trod all the Paths before us, and this also we must pass through to arrive at the Courts of Heaven. Justin Martyr said it was the Doctrine of Heretical Persons, to say that the Souls of the Blessed instantly, upon the Separation from their Bodies, enter into the highest Heaven. And Irenaeus makes Heaven and the intermediate Receptacle of Souls to be distinct Places; both blessed, but hugely differing in degrees. Tertullian is dogmatical in the Assertion, that till the Voice of the great Archangel be heard, and as long as Christ sits at the right-hand of his Father, making Intercession for the Church, so long blessed Souls must expect the Assembling of their Brethren, the great Congregation of the Church, that they may all pass from their outward Courts into the inward Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, to the Throne of God. And as it is certain that no Soul could enter into Glory before our Lord entered, by whom we hope to have Access: So it is most agreeable to the proportion of the Mysteries of our Redemption, that we believe the Entrance into Glory to have been made by our Lord at his Glorious Ascension; and that his Soul went not thither before then, to come back again, to be contracted into the Span of Humanity, and dwell Forty days in his Body upon Earth. But that he should return from Paradise, that is, from the common Receptacle of departed Spirits, who died in the Love of God, to Earth again, had in it not lessening of his Condition; since Himself in Mercy called back Lazarus from thence, and some others also returned to live a Life of Grace, which in all Senses is less than the least of Glories. Sufficient it is to us, that all Holy Souls departing go into the hands, that is, into the Custody of our Lord; that they rest from their Labours; that their Works shall follow them, and overtake them too, at the day of Judgement; that they are Happy presently; that they are visited by Angels; that God sends, as he pleases, excellent Irradiations and Types of Glory to entertain them in their Mansions; that their Condition is secured: but the Crown of Righteousness is laid up against the great Day of Judgement, and then to be produced and given to St. Paul, and to all that love the Coming of our Lord; that is, to all, who either here in Duty, or in their Receptacles, with Joy and certain Hope long for the Revelation of that day. At the Day of Judgement Christ will send the Angels, and they shall gather together the Elect from the four Winds; and all the Refuse of Men, evil Persons, they shall throw into Everlasting Burning. Then our Blessed Lord shall call to the Elect to enter into the Kingdom, and reject the Cursed into the Portion of Devils; for whom the Fire is but now prepared in the interval. For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ, (saith St. Paul) that every Man may receive in his Body according as he hath done, whether it be Good or Evil. Out of the Body the Reward is not. And therefore St. Peter affirms, that God hath delivered the Evil Angels into Chains of Darkness, to be reserved unto Judgement. And St. Judas saith, that the Angels, which kept not their first Estate, but left their first Habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting Chains, under Darkness, unto the Judgement of the Great Day. And therefore the Devils expostulated with our Blessed Saviour, Art Thou come to Torment us before the Time? And the same also he does to Evil Men, Reserving the  unto the Day of Judgement to be punished. For since the Actions, which are to be judged, are the Actions of the whole Man, so also must be the Judicature. And our Blessed Saviour intimated this to his Apostles; In my Father's House are many Mansions: but I go to prepare a Place for you. And if I go away, I will come again, and take you unto me; that where I am, there ye may be also. At Christ's second Coming this is to be performed. Many outer Courts, many different Places, or different States, there may be; and yet there is a Place, whither holy Souls shall arrive at last, which was not then ready for us, and was not to be entered into until the Entrance of our Lord had made the Preparation: and that is, certainly, the Highest Heaven, called by St. Paul, the third Heaven; because the other Receptacles were ready, and full of holy Souls, Patriarches and Prophets, and holy Men of God; concerning whom St. Paul affirms expressly, that the Fathers received not the Promises: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made Perfect. Therefore certain it is that their Condition was a State of Imperfection, and yet they were placed in Paradise, in Abraham's Bosom: and thither Christ went, and the blessed Thief attended Him. And then it was that Christ made their Condition better. For tho' still it be a Place of Relation in order to something beyond it, yet the Term and Object of their Hope is changed. They sat in the Regions of Darkness, expecting that Great Promise made to Adam and the Patriarches, the Promise of the Messiah: but when He that was promised came, He preached to the Spirits in Prison, He communicated to them the Mysteries of the Gospel, the Secrets of the Kingdom, the things hiddea from eternal Ages, and taught them to look up to the Glories purchased by his Passion, and made the term of their Expectation be his second Coming, and the Objects of their Hope, the Glories of the Beatific Vision. And altho' the State of Separation is sometimes in Scripture called Heaven, and sometimes Hell; (for these Words in Scripture are of large Significations;) yet it is never called the third Heaven, nor the Hell of the damned. For altho' concerning it nothing is clearly revealed, or what is their Portion till the Day of Judgement; yet it is intimated in a Parable, that between Good and Evil Spirits, even in the State of Separation, there is a Distance of Place. Certain it is there is a great Distance of Condition: and as the holy Souls in their Regions of Light are full of Love, Joy, Hope, and Longing for the Coming of the Great Day; so the Accursed do expect it with an insupportable Amazement, and are presently tormented with Apprehensions of the Future. Happy are they that through Paradise pass into the Kingdom, who from their highest Hope, pass to the greatest Charity; from the State of a blessed Separation, to the Mercies and gentle Sentence of the Day of Judgement, which St. Paul prayed to God to grant Onesiphorus; and more explicitly for the Thessalonians, that their whole Spirit, and Soul, and Body, be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus. And I pray God to grant the same to me, and all Faithful People whatsoever. Life and Death of the Holy Jesus, Sect. 16. §. 1.   

2. Of Prayers for the Dead.  
WE find in the History of the Maccabees, that the Jews did pray, and make Offerings for the Dead: which also appears by other Testimonies, and by their Forms of Prayer still extant, which they used in their Captivity. It is very considerable, that since our blessed Saviour did reprove all the evil Doctrines and Traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees, and did argue concerning the Dead and the Resurrection against the Sadducees, yet he spoke no word against this public Practice, but left it as he found it: which He, who came to declare to us all the Will of his Father, would not have done, if it had not been Innocent, Pious, and full of Charity.  
To which, by way of Consociation, if we add, That St. Paul did pray for Onesiphorus, That God would give him Mercy at that Day; that is, according to the Style of the New Testament, the Day of Judgement; the result will be, That altho' it be probable that Onesiphorus was at that time dead; because in his Salutations he salutes his Household, without naming him who was Major domo, against his Custom of Salutations in other places: yet besides this, the Prayer was for such a Blessing to him, whose Demonstration and Reception could not be but after Death: which implies clearly that there is a Need of Mercy; and, by consequence, the Dead People, even to the Day of Judgement, inclusively are the Subject of a Misery, the Object of God's Mercy, and therefore fit to be commemorated in the Duties of our Piety and Charity; and that we are to recommend their Condition to God, not only to give them more Glory in the Reunion, but to pity them to such purposes in which they need: Which, because they are not revealed to us in particular, it hinders us not in recommending the Persons in particular to God's Mercy, but should rather excite our Charity and Devotion: For it being certain that they have a Need of Mercy, and it being uncertain how great their Need is, it may concern the Prudence of Charity to be more earnest, as not knowing the Greatness of their Necessity.  
And if there should be any Uncertainty in these Arguments, yet its having been the Universal Practice of the Church of God in all Places, and in all Ages, till within these Hundred Years, it is a very great Inducement for any Member of the Church to believe that in the first Traditions of Christianity, and the Institutions Apostolical, there was nothing delivered a ainst this Practice, but very much to insinuate or enjoin it; because the Practice of it was at the first, and was Universal. And if any Man shall doubt of this, he shows nothing but that he is ignorant of the Records of the Church, it being plain in Tertullian and S. Cyprian, (who were the eldest Writers of the Latin Church) that in their time it was, ab Antiquo, the Custom of the Church to pray for the Souls of the Faithful departed in the dreadful Mysteries. And it was an Institution Apostolical, (says one of them) and so transmitted to the following Ages of the Church: And when once it began to be contested against by Aerius, the Man was presently condemned for a Heretic, as appears in Epiphanius. Thus far in the Person of a Romanist: to which he adds:  
But I am not to consider the Arguments for the Doctrine itself, 
Note. This was written in those times, when it was not safe too plainly to profess such an Opinion.  altho' the Probability and fair Pretence of them may help to excuse such Persons, who upon these or the like Grounds do hearty believe it. But I am to consider that, whether it be true or false, there is no manner of Malice in it; and, at the worst, it is out a wrong Error upon the Right side of Charity; and concluded against by its Adversaries upon the Confidence of such Arguments, which possibly are not so probable as the Grounds pretended for it.  
And if the same Judgement might be made of any more of their Doctrines, I think it were better Men were not so furious in the condemning such Questions, which either they understood not upon the Grounds of their proper Arguments, or at least consider not, as subjected in the Persons, and lessened by Circumstances, by the Innocency of the Event, or other Prudential Considerations.  
He had said before, No. 2. These Doctrines that have had long Continuance and Possession in the Church, cannot easily be supposed, in the present Possessors, to be a Design, since they have received it from so many Ages; and it is not likely that all Ages should have the same Purposes; or that the same Doctrine should serve the several Ends of divers Ages. But however, long Prescription is a Prejudice, oftentimes so insupportable, that it cannot with many Arguments be retrenched, as relying upon these Grounds; That Truth is more ancient than Falsehood. That God would not for so many Ages forsake his Church, and leave her in an Error: That whatsoever is New, is not only suspicious, but false: which are Suppositions pious and plausible enough. Liberty of Profesying, §. 20.  The Judgement of Mr. Thorndike, in his Learned, Judicious, and Honest Book, Entitled, Just Weights and Measures, c. 16. 
I Have showed out of the Revelation, That the Souls of Martyrs, appearing before the Throne of God, in the Court of the Tabernacle; (to wit, in the Jerusalem which is above) the Throne appears to St. John indeed; but it is to be understood in the Holy of Holies; and therefore is not seen in the Court of the Tabernacle. But those 144000 that were sealed, and preserved from the Destruction of Jerusalem, appear not in the Court of the Tabernacle, but on Mount Zion, a Place of inferior Holiness; and sing not the Martyr's Song, but are only able to learn it, which no body else could do: Sufficient Arguments of Difference in the State of Blessed Souls, tho' all beneath that which the Resurrection promiseth; which all of them earnestly desire. Suppose the Place to be the third Heaven; suppose that it is called Paradise, (because of necessity it answers the Figure of the Earthly Paradise;) suppose that, in respect of the Saints that died under the Law, it is called Abraham's Bosom; there may be inferior Mansions in the mean time before the Resurrection for Souls of inferior Holiness, tho' they depart in the State of Grace: For how oft do the Apostles signify a solicitous Expectation of the Day of Judgement, in those whom they suppose to die Christians? a thing, which can by no means stand with the Estate of those that are before the Throne of God, praising Him Day and Night in the Court of the Tabernacle. And therefore S. Ambrose and S. Augustin had great Reason to follow the Fourth Book of 
* 2 Esd. 4.41, 42: 7.32.  Esdras, placing the generality of Souls departed in the State of Grace, in certain secret Receptacles; signifying no more than the unknown Condition of their Estate. For the Practice of the Church in interceding for them at the Celebration of the Eucharist, is so General, and so Ancient, that it cannot be thought to have come in upon 
* As Blondel & Dalle have no less impiously than impudently asserted, without any Ground at all.  Imposture; but that the same Aspersion will seem to take hold of the Common Christianity.  
What hinders them to receive Comfort & Refreshment, Rest, and Peace, and Light, by the Visitation of God, by the Consolation of his Spirit, by his good Angels, to sustain them in the Expectation of their Trial, and the Anxieties they are to pass through, during the time of it? And tho' there be Hope for those that are most solicitous to live and die good Christians, that they are in no such Suspense, but within the bounds of the Heavenly Jerusalem; yet because their Condition is uncertain, and where there is Hope of the better, there is Fear of the worse; therefore the Church hath always assisted them with the Prayers of the Living, etc. All Members of the Church Triumphant in Heaven, according to the degree of their Favour with God, abound also with Love to his Church Militant on Earth, etc. It is certain, both that they offer continual Prayers to God for those Necessities (of the Church Militant on Earth) and that their Prayers must needs be of great force and effect with God, for the Assistance of the Church Militant in this Warfare. Which if it be true, the Communion of Saints will necessarily require, that all who remain solicitous of their Trial be assisted by the Prayers of the Living, for present Comfort, and future F●est: (and) that the Living beg of God a Part and Interest in the Benefit of those Prayers, which they who are so near to God in his Kingdom tender Him without ceasing for the Church upon Earth, etc.  
Again, Chap. 22. The Eloquence, whereby the Church hoped to prevail with God, was the Devotion and Unity which it celebrateth the Sacrament with. But I must by no means leave this place till I have paid the Debt, which I own to the Opinion, which I have premised and openly profess again and again, that we weigh not by our own Weights, nor meet by our own Measures, (do not justly) if believing one Catholic Church, and enjoying Episcopacy and the Church Lands upon that account we recall not the Memorial of the Dead, as well as of the Living, into this Service. There is the same Ground to believe the Communion of Saints in the Prayers, which those that depart in the highest Favour with God make for us; (and) in the Prayers which we make for those, that depart in the lowest degree of Favour with God; that there is for the Common Christianity; namely, the Scriptures interpreted by the perpetual Practice of God's Church. Therefore there is ground enough, for the Faith of all Christians, that those Prayers are accepted, which desire God to hear the Saints for us; to send the Deceased in Christ Rest, and Peace, and Light, and Refreshment, and a good Trial at the Day of Judgement, and Accomplishment of Happiness after the same. And seeing the 
* So he modestly calls the shameful Abuse put upon the Church and Nation, in corrupting the True English Liturgy by Cranmer, etc.  abating of the first Form, under Edward 6. hath wrought no Effect, but to give them that desired it an Appetite to root up the whole; what Thanks can we render to God, for escaping so great a danger, but by sticking firm to a RULE, that will stick firm to us, and carry us through any dispute in Religion, and land us in the Haven of a quiet Conscience; what Troubles soever we may pass through, in maintaining, That the Reformation of the Church will never be according to the Rule which it ought to follow, till it cleave to the Catholic Church of Christ in this particular.    

Sold by John Davies, at Mr. Thompson's in Dean's- Court over-against the Sessions-House, in the Old-Bailey.