# I •^ /£ ^ 3 ^ (U CO O '♦^^ ]P in ^ Ha Ql UD •^ ^ M- rH U t55 ^ O 1 0 ^ ^ 00 >N 2 § in M < :3 rH a T;t< ^MH ^ £ CO d O ^ H 03 tH ^ ^ P5 CO O 0) -*^ ^ iJ in 1-0 G S*-» s r- -H ^ >% (^ - Jh jQ . X -P ^ -o Ti o % (U O (15 O % c CO CL BV 21 Pride The d 1 )::;. o o THa DOCTUINE OF PRAYER. BY THE RIGHT REV. FATHER IN GOD JOHN^PRIDEAUX, D.D. BISHOP OF WORCESTEK : SOMETIME KECTOR OF EXETER COLLEGE, REGIUS PROFESSOR | OF DIVINITY, AND CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD. A NEW EDITION. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS, PROM EARLY EDITIONS OF THE BOOK OF COMlMON PRAYER, AND THE TREATISE OF ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE USE AND VIRTUE OF THE PSALMS. BY SIDNEY W. CORNISH, D.D. I.ATE FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD. OXFORD : .JOHN HENRY PARKER. MDCCC-SLI. O O EVCHOLOGIA: OR, The Doctrine of PRACTICAL PRAYING. By the Right Reverend Father in God, John Prideaux, Late Bishop of Worcester. Being a Legacy left to his Daughters in Private, Directing them to such ma- nifold Uses of our I Common - Prayer - Book, j As may satisfie upon all Occasions without looking after New Lights from Extemporal Flashes. The second Edition corrected and enlarged. ^ j Jer. 6. 16. j jUkfor the old paths where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest to your souls. \ London, Printed for George Sawbridge I at the sign of the Bible on Ltidgate Hill, I 16 6 0. I EDITOE'S PE -u No apology is necessary for offering to the members of the Anglican Church a new edition of the following scarce and valuable Treatise on the Doctrine of Practical Praying, by an emi- nent Bishop and Confessor of her Communion. After enduring great personal privations for Conscience- sake, the venerable Author sur- vived, but for a single year, the ruin of the Church and Monarchy, consummated by the Martyrdom of his Royal Master, and bequeathed to his surviving children this best legacy which his ruined worldly estate could lay together for them. The lucid arrangement of the parts of the subject on which he treats, the abundant refer- ence to the Holy Scriptures, and the truly ^ o -o o o ii editor's preface. practical character of the work, will sufficiently recommend it to the Christian reader; while the touching allusions to the desolation of the Church and nation which the pious writer was even then witnessing, as his " eyes waxed dim," and the hopeful confidence in which he, nevertheless, exhorts his daughters to holdfast by God and possess their souls in patience, im- part additional interest to this token of a Chris- tian Father's love and care in death. There have been, it appears, only two Editions of the work. Of these the second, published in 1660, is the basis of the present reprint. In preparing it for publication, the Editor has carefully revised, and considerably augmented, the Scriptural references at the foot of each page. He is also responsible for the few notes scattered throughout the volume ; and has subjoined, in the form of Appendices, " Certaine Godly Praters to be used for sundry purposes," and "A Treatise made by Athanasius the Great concerning the vse and vertue of the c 6 o o editor's preface. iii Psalmes ;" which are now rarely to be met with, although referred to by Bishop Prideaux, as works in every person's hands, at the time he wrote. It is not the least favourable sign of the im- proved feelings of the age in which our lot is cast, to find Christian Householders recurring to those Liturgical Forms of Devotion, sug- gested by our Right Reverend Author in his admu'able Chapter on Household Prayer (Page 93 — 103) : and, amid many recent selec- tions for that purpose, the Editor avails himself of this opportunity of singling out " Liturgia Domestica" by Mr. Arthur Acland, as breath- ing a truly Catholic Spirit of Devotion, and supplying every reasonable variety of Forms of Prayer fi'om the authorized volume of our Scriptural Liturgy. It is intended, by God's blessing, to follow up the present work with a reprint of " The Doctrine of Conscience," by the same Author. Any profits, arising fi-om either publication, o o o^ o iv editor's preface. I will be added to the Fund for the Building and Endowment of the Church* and School of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, at Sipton, in the parish of Ottery St. Mary, and Diocese of Exeter. SIDNEY W. CORNISH. King's School. Ottery St. Mary. • Consecrated April 29th, 1840. iS^f o- 6 TO MY DAUGHTERS SARAH HODGESS AND ELIZABETH SUTTONb. DEAR DAUGHTERS, After the expiration of three score and ten years {the ordinary date by Moses'' allotted to mans life) finding weakness with age to creep upon me, and summoning me continually * "Sarah was the wife of William Hodges, Archdeacon of Worcester, and one of the Vicars of Bampton in Oxfordshire , and Rector of Ripple in Worcestershire." Prince's Worthies of Devon. (Ed.) ^ " Elizabeth married Dr. Henry Sutton (son of William Sutton, D.D. Chancellor of Gloucester) Rector of Bredon in Worcestershire. The Bishop died at his house 20th J\ily, 1650," (Prince) " leaving his children no legacy, but pious poverty, God's blessing and a father's prayers, as it appears by his last Will and Testament." Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy. (Ed.) ■= Psalm xc. 10. o- o o — o vi DEDICATION. to prepare for a change ; / have often bethought myself what legacy of my love I might best leave unto you, being the only survivors of the nine'^ children that God had blest me with, by your long since deceased mother. Silver and gold have I none^ (as I may well profess with the Apostle^) and you know it too well. But what is all worldly pelf to that treasure and jewel, to purchase which we should be happy to part with all that we have ^ ? My education^ (as 'tis well known) and course ^ Two of his sons held commissions in the King's service ; the elder of whom, Colonel William Prideaux, fell in the battle of Marston Moor. His other children died in their infancy. 6 " Being guilty of two unpardonable crimes in those days, of being a Bishop, and of adhering faithfully to the cause of dis- tressed Majesty in Charles the First; he was persecuted and ejected by the prevailing party of the times, whereby he was reduced to such straights as to sell his household goods, nay ! his very library." Prince's Worthies of Devon. (Ed.) f Acts iii. 6. s Matt. xiii. 44 — 46. •» He is said to have at first filled a menial office in Exeter College, of which he was afterwards elected Rector. (1612.) He was also Regius Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, and his reputation was so great, that his College "flourished in his time more than any house in the University." After filling the Divinity chair for the space of twenty- seven years, he was consecrated Bishop of Worcester. (1641.) (Ed.) o o DEDICATION. vii of life hath not led me to make you great in this world ; if it induce you to be good, and ft you for an heavenly inheritance, it is all that I aim at ; and the utmost from me you can expect. Your mother was known to he a rehgious and modest matron in all the course of her life ; ex- traordinarily addicted to Prayer. A sampler from whom I exhort you to take, especially in that hehalf. To which purpose I have framed these ensuing directions, to set you onward. I make no doubt but your loving husbands will herein be my seconds; whom those that know, must confess to be learned, pious and painful ministers; and I think you happy to have met with such, above divers that hold themselves of a higher pitch in the world. You know who pro- testeth he had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of his God^ than to bear a greater sway in more esteemed mansions, and i?itimates the sparrow a?id swallow's condition, almost to be envied at, that have admittance to nestle and lay their young so near God's altar. Besides, your names should mind you of good old Sarah in the ' Ps. Ixxxir. 3. 10. o o O -^O viii DEDICATION. Old Testament, and Elizabeth in the New, what excellent patterns you have to follow. And when you read that T'vmoih.j (St. Fsivl's famous pupil, and first Bishop q/Ephesus) had the first ground of his Catechism, from his grandmother Lois, and mother Eunice ^ ; you should cast about, how you might perform the like to your little ones, whom God hath blest you with abundantly : that your sons may grow up as the young plants, and that your daughters may be as the polished corners of the Temple ^ ; plants growing to trees, that will bring forth seasonable fruit, and corner stones that will hold together, and set forth a building. To conclude, I may not omit one passage of that famous Martyr^, Dr. Rowland Taylor (ivhich you should take the more with you, because by your mother you are lineally descended from him) the chain of pearl he only left your great ° '' 2 Tim. i. 5. ' Ps. cxliv, 12. ™ He was burnt with brutal cruelty, at Hadleigh in Suffolk, in 1535. " ''Great" must here be taken as an epithet; for she was their grandmother, the Bishop having married her daughter Mary. (Ed.) c o Q — ■ O DEDICATION. ix Grandmother, his dear wife {when he last parted with her, to suffer Martyrdom) was no other but the Book of Common- Prayer ° ; in contriving of which he had a hand, and which he used only in his imprisonment, as holding that Book {above all other, next the Bible) the most absolute Directory for all his effectual devotions. The same Book commend T unto you and yours {my beloved daughters) as fittest for your use, and most complete and warrantable for the grounds it stands upon. Take heed of itching ears? and devourers of widows' houses {these shall receive greater damnation ^,) who under a show of making long Prayers, mislead silly women '^j to be ever learning, and never come to the knowledge of 0 "So came Dr. Taylors wife, his son, and John Hull his servant, to sup with him; and at their coming in, afore supper, they kneeled down and prayed, saying the Litany When he had thus said, they with weeping tears prayed together, and kissed one the other: and he gave to his vsdfe a book of the Church service, set out by King Edward, which he, in the time of his imprisonment, daily used And he took his daughter Mary in his arms .... and kneeled down and said the Lord's Prayer .... And then he kissed her, and said, ' God bless thee and make thee his servant.'" Foxe's Acts and Monuments, Book xi. A.D. 1555. (Ed.) P 2 Tim. iv. 3. •§-< Chichester. 1^ Holbeck, 1 Lincoln. q Ridley, '^ Rochester, {afterward Bp. of London) Ma7^tyr^. Cox, King Edward's Almoner °. Taylor, '\ '^ /'Lincoln, Martyr^. Heynes, f 1 ^ Exeter. ^Redman, > 'q y ^Westminster®. Master Robinson, Archdeacon of Leicester^-. Mense Maio 1549. Anno Regni Edwardi VI. tertios. » Burnt at Oxford, March 21st, 1556. »» Burnt at Oxford, October 16th, 1555. <= Dr. Richard Cox was also Dean of Christ Church, and tutor to King Edward the Sixth. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth he was consecrated Bishop of Ely. ^ Dr. John Taylor was afterwards Bishop of Lincoln. He was deprived in the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, and died soon after, but not as a Martyr. (Vide Note g.) o o o ^o • Dr. John Redman (or Redmayne) was also Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. 'Mr. Thomas Robinson (or Robertson) "was always to a considerable extent under the bondage of his early prejudices," and was appointed in Queen Mary's Reign to the Deanery of Durham. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth however he was superseded by Home, who returned to the Preferment from which he had been formerly rejected. g This Common Prayer-Book, generally kno-ivn as the First Book of King Edward VI., was revised and approved by the Convocations Provincial of Canterbury and York, and then con- firmed by the King and the three Estates in Parliament, in 1548. The List, here given, of the Persons employed in compiling it differs from the ordinary Lists, inasmuch as the name of Dr. William May, Dean of St. Paul's, and afterwards Master of Queen's College, Cambridge, is omitted. The original Com- mission empowering them to act is probably not upon record ; and in the Statute, the Archbishop only is named. The term " Martyr" is also erroneously attached to the name of Dr. Taylor. It is not unlikely that, the Euchologia being a posthumous pub- lication, the Editor was misled by an expression in Bishop Prideaux's Dedication to his daughters, where he says that Dr. Rowland Taylor (the Martyr) ^' had a hand in contriving" the Book of Common Prayer ; and hence considered him as identical with the Dean of Lincoln, whom he therefore designated by the honoured title of Martyr. Dr. Rowland Taylor, before he dwelt at Hadley, had been in Cranmer's household, and doubtless assisted (but not officially) in the important work, the comple- tion and settlement of which Strype expressly ascribes to the "great care and study of the Archbishop." — (Ed.) o o o- o TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page Editor's Preface i Dedication v Introduction 3 THE FIRST PART. CONCERNING THE DUE PREPARATIONS TO PRAYER. Chap. I. Of the necessity of Prayer . . 7 II. To whom our Prayers ought to be directed 16 III. What we are to ask in our Prayers . 23 IV. Of external gestures beseeming Religious Devotions . , . V. Of impediments that disturb or frus- trate our Prayers .... VI. Helps for the stirring up, and furtherance of our suits . VII. Of the waiting for a gracious answer from God to our Prayers, and the surest tokens to discern it , . 72 34 47 58 o- O O — ' dv CONTENTS. THE SECOND PART. CONCERNING PRIVATE PRATER. Page Chap. I. Of Personal, or Prayers in secret . 85 II. Of Household, or Prayers in Family 93 III. Of Blessings and occasional Saluta- tions 104 IV. Of Psalms and Hymns and Spiri- tual Songs 113 V. Of occasional Ejaculations . . 125 VI. Of Lamentations and Complaints on sad subjects .... 133 VII. Of Excitations or Encouragements to all kinds of Christian Cheerfulness and Alacrity 143 THE THIRD PART. or PRAYERS IN PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES. Chap. I. Of Confessions 163 II. Of Deprecations . 175 III. Of Supplications or Petitions . 180 IV. Of Intercessions . 185 V. Of Thanksgiving . 192 VI. Of Praises .... 198 VII. Of Comminations or Cursings > . . 205 o o -o CONTENTS. APPENDIX I. CERTAINE GODIilE PRAIERS. Page I. A General Confession of sins, to be said every Morning . . . .219 II. A Prayer to be said in the Morning . 222 III. Another Prayer for the Morning . 223 IV. A Prayer for the Evening . . 224 V. A most necessary Prayer . . . 227 VI. The Prayer of Manasseh, King of the Jews 228 VII. A Prayer containing the duty of every true Christian 231 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS FOR SUNDRY DAYS. VIII. Monday 235 IX. Tuesday 235 X. "Wednesday 236 XL Thursday 236 XII. Friday 237 XIII. Saturday 238 XIV. 238 XV. Sunday 239 XVI. A Prayer for trust in God . . .239 XVII. XVIII. Prayers to be said in the Morning 240, 241 -o o o XVi CONTENTS. Page XIX. A Prayer against Temi)tation . . 242 XX. A Prayer for the obtaining of Wisdom (Wisdom ix.) 244 XXI. A Prayer against worldly carefulness 245 XXII. A Prayer necessary for all persons . 245 XXIII, A Prayer for Patience in trouble . 248 XXIV. A Prayer to be said at night, going to bed 249 XXV. A Prayer to be said at the hour of death 250 XXVI. A Prayer necessary to be said at all times 252 XXVII. A Godly Prayer to be said at all times 254 APPENDIX II. A Treatise made by Athanasius the Great concerning the vse and vertue of the Psalmes 259 o o •r ■pBIITGnTn^T N . '•. O . V \thsologig '%. ilL 'H^S-F^A bJi;s» S"'.^^'^' ■•, 'J ''« ^ X"* THB DOCTRINE OF PRAYER. i o o o ^^fW% ,, .. . ,-,., , ^fW^^^m INTRODUCTION. St, Luke xi. 1. Lord, teach us to Pray, as John also taught his Disciples. The Doctrine of Prayer may be termed a fit direction, collected out of God's Word, for the right preparing us to Pray, both for ourselves and others : as also to praise, and give thanks unto God, in private and public, for His bless- ings bestowed upon us. It diifers therefore from Meditations, Solilo- quies, Lamentations, Expostulations ; (though these border near upon it, and may be made good helps unto it;) but hath a greater distance from Ave Marias, or Salutations of the Blessed | Virgin ; as also from Adjurations, such as the [ o 6 o o 4 INTRODUCTION. High Priest^, or the devil^, used to our Saviour. Neither Creed, said or sung, may be accounted Prayers, but professions of our faith upon which our Prayers are grounded. For your readier apprehending and retaining what shall be fittest for your practice and pro- gress herein ; I shall divide this ensuing Dis- course into three parts. Whereof the first shall be concerning the due preparations to Prayer : the second, of Prayer in private : and the third, of Praying in public assemblies. Wherein it were fruitless to heap together all that may be said ; for the best teachers have left us a pattern to respect our auditors' capacities, / have yet many things to say unto you, hut ye cannot hear them now^. Milk*^ therefore must be the children's diet, until their stomachs be fitted for stronger meats. The Preparation comes first to be thought on : wherein these particulars are especially to be observed. a Matt. xxvi. 63. b Mark v. 7. « John xvi. 12. d 1 Cor. iii. 2; Heb. v. 12, o o o o INTRODUCTION. 5 i . The necessity of Prayer. 2. To whom our Prayers are to be directed. 3. Wliat we are to ask. 4. What gestures are most beseeming our devotions. 5 . The impediments that are most hkely to frustrate or disturb our petitions. 6. What helps may most stir us up to further them. 7. The waiting for a gracious answer from God, and the surest tokens to discern it. In none of which, my daughters, you must expect what might be gathered by me from divers authors, with my own additions ; but such touches only as you may best remember to put in practice. When our Saviour had instructed His Disciples to Pray^, and shewed how prevalent it is with God if it be continued with importunity (interposing therewith amiracle in casting out a dumb deviF, which He shewed His calumniators, that He did it not by enchant- ments, but by the finger of God;) a certain « Matt. vi. 9; Luke xi. 2. * Luke xi. 14. o o 0- 6 INTRODUCTION. woman of the company is said to have lifted up her voice by way of applause. Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked^. But what was the answer she received for so hearty an expression ? Yea, rather (saith our Saviour), blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. It is not the applauding of the preacher, but the edifica- tion and practice of the hearer, that finds ac- ceptance at the throne of grace. This there- fore we should especially drive at, which is enjoined and made effectual by continual Prayer. The necessity of which, in the first place, is duly of you to be considered. g Luke xi. 27, 28. o- o O- o THE FIRST PART. CONCERNING THE DUE PREPARATIONS TO PRAYER. CHAP. I. or THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. Of all Christian duties we find none so much urged in Scripture as Prayer. Pray always^, saith our Saviour ; continually'^, saith the Apostle; which convinces its necessity. And experience informs us, that there were never any so brutish, who acknowledged a God, but also concluded upon it, that He must be sought unto by Prayer. We therefore that from heavenly institution have surer grounds to build upon 1 Thess. V. 17. o o o o 8 OF THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 1. From the command of the Father^; 2. From the seconding of the Son ; 3. From the enforcing of the Holy Ghost ; 4. From the honom- given to them in Scrip- ture, that have been eminent in Prayer ; 5. From the wonderful effects of Prayer ; 6. -From the freedom of it, that cannot be hindered as other duties may; 7. And, last of all, for that it is the only means, that forceth (as it were) the Almighty, and the special engine that terrifies and routs Satan and all his adherents We, I say, may well more peremptorily enforce the necessity of it to be such, that as outward works of our vocation cannot be performed without hght ; The night cometh, saith our Saviour, when no man can work^ ; so no action of ours can be acceptable to God, or profitable for ourselves, except it be seasoned with the salt of Prayer. 1. For the first inducement; Call upon Me k 1 Pet. i. 17. ' Johnix. 4. o o o OF THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 9 (saith the Father) in the time of trouble: so will I hear thee, and thou shalt praise Me™. 2. For the second ; Ask and it shall be given you, they are the words of the Son, seek and ye shall find ; knock and it shall be opened unto you^. Ask by Prayer, seek by hearing-, knock by doing good works. And as though all this had been too little, in regard of our dulness, to have once said the word, He reinforceth it again with a promise renewed ; for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh,findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. And further, lest this large proffer should make the promise suspected. He backs it with an instance, picked out of our natural corrupt affections. Wliat man is there (so pei*verse) of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone ? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent ? And that we neglect not, or misapply the inference, by our untoward Logic, He adds for a right application : If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, Which ™ Psalm 1. 15. » Matt. vii. 7—11. O — ■ -^O o ■ — o 10 OF THE NECESSITY OF PRATER. is in Heaven, give good gifts to them that ask Him? 3. For the third; would the Spirit (think you) when we know not what we should pray for as we ought, help our infirmities, and mxike intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered^, if Prayers w^ere not necessary for Saints according to the will of God ? 4. In the fourth place; that passage of the Psalmist, Moses and Aaron among His Priests, and Samuel among such as call upon His Name p ; and that of the Prophet, Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job^, should be inter- cessors for the putting by of a determined famine and spoil by beasts, swords, and pesti- lence, for the wickedness of the people, they only shall be delivered themselves — what may it intimate unto us, but the prevalence of such men's Prayers, where any hope is left, and the heinousness of continued abominations^ have not quite excluded pardon? 5. Fifthly; the wonderful effects of Prayer o Rom. viii. 26. P Psalm xcix. 6. V Ezekiel xiv. 14. ' Ezekiel xiv. 6. o o Q Q OF THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER, H are sufficiently set forth in that of Joshua ^P Sun, stand thou still upon Giheon; and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon: which was no sooner asked than had, so that there ivas no day like that, before it, or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man. But if this may seem too extraordinary, ^Z2a5 (saith the Apostle^) was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months, and he prayed again, and the Heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 6. And this makes hoth for Prayer's neces- sity and excellency, which, sixthh/, may be further thought on; that whereas other duties of Preaching-, Sacram.ents, visiting the afflicted, giving of alms, or the like, may through pressing distractions, want of abihty, or oppor- tunity of time and place be wholly hindered; no time, no place, no calamity whatsoever, can prohibit us from the practice of Praying. Daniel » Joshua X. 12, 14. t James v. 17, 18. C— — O o — o 12 OF THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. in the lion's den^, Jonah in the whale's belly^, Paul and Silas^ in the stocks howsoever impri- soned find time and space and scope, to have free access to the Throne of Grace, to Pray and sing psalms, and obtain thereby a miraculous deliverance. For here the heart may be indit- ing of a good matter'^ when the tongue is plucked out, and cannot be the pen of a ready writer. Here the heart * of king Manasses finds a knee to bow, when the knees of his body are so chastened, that they cannot move. 7. Last of all; it would be held a kind of blasphemous position, if the Scripture had not uttered it, that Jacob'' could wrestle with God, and enforce, as it were, a blessing from Him by compulsion; that, by Prayer, Moses'' should stand in the gap, and hold the hand of the Omni- potent, and cause Him to cry. Let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot and consume them^. And against Satan that roaring lion ^ and spiri- " Daniel vi. » Jonah ii. 1 . y Acts xvi. 25. « Psalm xlv. 1. a Prayer of Manasses. b Genesis xxxii. 24—28. » Psalm cvi. 23. ■ Matt, xviii. 20, 21. O 6 c o 14 OF THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. parts of the earth for Thy possession^. Now, if we prove cold in our asldng, our hopes may freeze from obtaining. But may not intruding importunity rather exasperate justice, than obtain a favour? With men it may: but with the Fountain of Mercies the striving to enter in at the straight gate^, and offering violence^ to the Kingdom of Heaven make the road- way for a pardon. In such a case the unjust judge^ will do right to free himself from trouble; much sooner will the Father of mercies be pleased vdth such holy intrusion, and prevent us with an answer before we call. Last of all: We need not fear that our con- tinued Prayers should any way hinder the works of our several vocations. The plough- man in the field, the tradesman in his shop, Martha" about her housewifery, may be Pray- ing as they are doing, and do the better for their Praying. Go (saith the Lord to Ananias) and help Saul of Tarsus to his sight, for behold he Prayeth^. Prayers bring us blessings we ■■ Psalm ii. 8. ^ Luke xiii. 24. ' Matt. xi. 12. •n Luke xviii. 5. » Luke x. 40. » Acts ix. 11. 0 O o- o OF THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 15 little think of; we should think therefore on Prayers the more seriously for enjoying those blessings. For those blessings must needs be of small esteem that we hold not worth the asking. ^iS^-' o o o o CHAP. II. TO WHOM OUR PRAYERS OUGHT TO BE DIRECTED. It were to small purpose to acknowledge the necessity of Prayer, if we know not to whom we may confidently direct our Prayers. Where- fore this is so punctually set down by our Saviour P that we need not cast about for fur^ ther assurance ; Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Calling upon, praising, and Praying to, are the especial kinds of God's worship ; which confirmed by our Saviour against Satan in the New Testament out of the Oldi to belong only unto God, so shamed the tempter's claim of it, that he left the field and dared not to attempt any further. Whence we may observe that, neither in the p Matt. iv. 10. q Deut. vi. 13. o o o o TO WHOM WE MUST PRAY. 17 Old Testament or New, it can be shewn that any of God's people ever Prayed to Saints or Angels, but only to God. No saying here of holy Abraham, or holy Peter, Pray for us ! but Thou, O God, that hearest Prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come^. But, When ye Pray say, not O holy Mother of God! but. Our Father Which art in Heaven^! And it may fur- ther be taken notice of that Angels, and so Saints, have refused with a kind of indignation that supreme worship and devotion tendered unto them. Though thou detain me, said the Angel of the Lord unto Manoah, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt - offering , thou must offer it unto the Lord^. St. John, being about to worship an Angel in the same kind, had the same lesson twice given him. See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant : worship God^. Let no man, therefore, beguile you of your reward (they are the words of St. Paul) in a voluntary humility, and worshipping of Angels, intruding into those things which he 0 Psalm Ixv. 2. * Luke xi. 2. • Judges xiii. 16. ^ Rev. xix. 10; xxii. 9. 6 O o o 18 TO WHOM WE MUST PRAY. hath not seen^. And doth it not stand with common reason, that He to whom we direct our Prayers should be Omniscient, that knows the heart; and Almighty, to be able to help us in all our extremities; and Omnipresent, every where, to be always at hand ? Otherwise, we might play the hypocrites with Him, say one thing and mind another, or fail of our purpose in craving for that from a party that cannot relieve us. For what creature may we well imagine to be ever)^ where, or able to help us at all times, or that understandeth our thoughts long before^, but only Our Father JVhich is in Heaven? This Satan perceives to be most destructive of his designs, and therefore sets all his engines to work; that where he cannot befool men against nature to think that there is no God\ he might at least so puzale them what that God should be, that most should hold Him to be no other than they and their leaders have fancied. By such means gods became multiphed according to the numbers of B Col. ii. 18. i> Psalm cxxxix. 1, > Psalm xiv. 1. o — o o o TO WHOM WE MUST PRAY. 19 cities^ or nations : and thus, as it were, upon the turn of a hand, the gloiy of the God of Israel was turned into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay^. Out of the same forge came in Molochs and Baals, with innumerable abominations and heathenish superstitions. In all which the pretence hath been ever among the sagest, that the true God was only worshipped by such intercessors, or representa- tions; but the vulgar soared no higher than that they saw, and most agreed with their humour: both coming under the Apostle's reproof. We ought not to think, that the God- head is like unto gold or silver, or stone, graven by art and mans device^. They that make such puppets are like unto them ", saith the Psalmist, that is, senseless and blockish as they are. For God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must ivorship Him in spirit and in truths. Those that teU you that statues and images are good memorials to mind us what we should worship, you may answer, The heavens declai^e k Jer. ii. 28. ' Psalm cvi. 20. " Acts xvii. 29. ° Psalm cxv. 8. <> John iv. 21. O O o o 20 TO WHOM WE MUST PRAY. the glory of God, and all other creatures His handy work^. Thus shall ye say unto them, as the Prophets charged the Israehtes to tell the idolatrous Chaldeans, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from wider these heavens^. Images for worship, saith another, are but teachers of lies '^, and the promoters of the doctrines of devils ^ They may, othei*wise, have an historical use and adorn buildings ; but for worship we have the Word's direction, not a painted Crucifix to set evidently forth, before the foolish Galatians, Christ crucified^. And for the remembrance of our Saviour's Passion ; why should not the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine, in the Sacrament of His last Supper, be accounted the best art of memory, seeing He Himself hath taught us. Do this in remembrance of Me " ? And would not any wise man take the sermons of our Saviour, and the writings of His Apostles, to be better relics than a chip of the material Cross, or the P Psalm xix. 1. > Eccles. xi. 3. Isaiah i. 12. ^ Psalm xlix. 8. ' 1 Sam. xvi. 1. ™ Jer. vii. 16. xi. 14. xiv. 11. o -0 o o 26 WHAT TO ASK. for our preservation in the condition in which God has placed us, or for furthering us to a better according to His good will and disposi- tion, and not our restless and itching ambition, must be the line and compass of our approvable devotions. And this brings in that confidence of which the beloved Apostle speaks, that if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth its: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him^. Many scruples are here sug- gested; whether we may Pray for one blas- phemously sinning to death «, or obstinately standing excommunicate, or rebeUiously perse- cuting the Church and State, seeing the peti- tion of the Psalmist is express. Stand up, 0 Lord God of hosts, thou God of Israel, to visit all the heathen; and be not merciful unto them that offend of malicious wickedness"^. But the Psalmist's Prayer runs against those that God shall find so, not against such as we in passion may censure to be so ; for we are to hope the best of all, and condemn not that we be not con- " 1 John V. 14. 0 1 John v. 16. p Psalm lix. 5. o — ■ O Q O WHAT TO ASK. 27 deinned ^. May not a persecuting Paul become a chosen vessel^, and a forsworn Peter ^ go out and weep bitterly ? But more of this when we shall speak hereafter of execrations. In regard to what we are to pray for, suffi- cient limits may be found in that Heavenly pattern* which our Saviour has left for that purpose, consisting of a Preface, Petition, and Conclusion. In the Preface, the first word as we have it. Our, reminds us of unity, and respect to our brethren as well as of ourselves, excluding dissensions that frustrate our best intentions, as also respect of persons in pre- feiTing the rich before the poor, and censuring others as being not capable of God's mercies equally with ourselves. The second word. Father, assures us of acceptance, tells us that we are aU brethren, and that we need not make our addresses for our wants to others whom we may not term Fathers ; He having will and power to supply us, and disliking that we should seek further in hope of speeding better ; for 1 Luke vi. 37. ' Acts ix. 15. » Luke xxii. 62. « Matt. vi. 9. Luke xi. 2. -o c o 28 WHAT TO ASK. we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, hut we have received the Spirit of adop- tion whereby we cry Abba, Father! The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God^. That which follows, which art in Heaven, makes pilgrimages to shrines and rehcs superfluous and superstitious. For it hfts up our hearts to Heaven and Heavenly things, as the Psalmist teaches us : Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes ; 0 Thou that dwellest in the Heavens^, Which our Saviour's practice con- firms: These words spake Jesus and lifted up His eyes to Heaven, and said. Father, the hour is comey. It tells us, moreover, that we have an Overseer Who looks into all our thoughts, words, and works : Who is like unto the Lord our God, Who hath His dwelling so high : and yet humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and earth ^ ? The Petitions that succeed are by some made but six, but, with- out quarrelling may be reckoned seven. In which, the order of them shews, that spiritual ° Rom. viii. 15. ^ Psalm cxxiii. 1. y John xvii. 1. » Psalm cxiii. 5. o 6 9 -9 WHAT TO ASK. 29 things are to be first looked after, and prayed for, before temporal. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness^, and then temporal matters shall be added as an advan- tage. In which respects Solomon's choice pleased God^ in praying for wisdom before riches and honour ; for, what shall be best for us we shall not want, if we prefer the first peti- tion, the hallowing of God's Name before all temporalities. Of this Moses and St. Paul were so tender, that the one wished to be blotted out of God's Book of Life ^, and the other to be accursed for Christ^, rather than an aspersion should be cast on God, either of impotency in not being able, or of breach of promise as not performing what He had of His free bounty undertaken, to bring to pass for His Church. The hallowing, therefore, and glorifying and extolling above aU things, of the infinite Majesty of God's Name, is the thing that we are to esteem above our own Salvation. And by Name here, which signifies God's » Matt. vi. 33. b 1 Kings iii. 10. " Exod. xxxii. 32. ^ Rom. ix. 3. 0— u o 30 WHAT TO ASK. Essence, Attributes, and Commands, must be conceived no other but that which we were baptized in, including Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Who, being of one Essence, must needs by the same act of ours, be equally honoured or dishonoured. The second petition, Thy Kingdom come, instructs us, that next after God's glory the good of His Church must be respected and Prayed for; that being militant here, as it ought, it may be triumphant hereafter, as it expects. Any thing, therefore, that may dero- gate from this, must be so far from our Pray- ers, that it be rejected as the subject of our chief est detestation. Tliirdly; Thy Will he done in earth as it is in Heaven, guides all our desires and petitions to be regulated by God's Will revealed in His Word ; the resisting or declining from which must not once come within conipass of our thoughts, much less of our petitions. And now, when we descend to beg for sup- plies in our own behalf, the fomlh petition. Give us this day our daily bread, doth lesson us c — o O— ^ o WHAT TO ASK. 31 in every word to exclude exorbitances. Give, not as due, but of Thy mere bounty; not to one that hath of his own, but to those that of unfeigned necessity are forced to beg with us, not for themselves only, but for their brethren too, who must do the like for them also. Rich and poor are at God's gate of mercy, must be equally suppliants, and that for present supply. This day our daily bread must be conferred on us by continual liberality; where, under the name of bread are contained apparel, dwell- ings, all things necessary; to teach mode- ration to be used in all God's blessings, so that superfluities make not up any part of our petitions. And that these blessings be not hindered by our sins, the fifth petition puts in a caveat. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. The condition here expresses the obligation, that lies upon us, of forgiving others, if we hope to be forgiven of God ourselves. / say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that O' o o 32 WHAT TO ASK. despitefully use you, and persecute you^. So that an irreconciled petitioner in God's Court of Requests is like, as you see, to find no audience. And as such an one will not be heard for the remission of his own sins, so neither will he be freed from the assaults and hazards of iniining temptations, which makes up the sixth request to be granted by Him that only can keep us from, and deliver us in, the strongest combats of the world and the flesh ; and also against the most impetuous incursions of the Devil himself, as desired in the seventh and last petition. All these shew sufl&ciently what we are to ask; so that we need not cast about what we should Pray for besides. For the articles of the Apostles' Creed shew but the condition of that Kingdom, whose coming and prosperity we Pray for in the second petition. And what is the loving of God above all things, and of our neighbour as ourselves, but the substance of the Ten Commandments, that we desire in e Matt. V. 44. C O o ■ -o WHAT TO ASK. 33 the third petition, that the Will of God may be done by us here on earth, as it is in Heaven by the Saints and Angels ? For the more assured obtaining of all which petitions, the conclusion adds this confidence. For Thine is the Kingdom, therefore Thou wilt ; the Power, therefore Thou canst ; and the glory, therefore in honour Thou art, in a manner, by Thyself engaged to tender the Prayers of Thy children, subjects and humble supplicants, and dismiss them with the seal of Atnen set to their just requests. You cannot, therefore, my daughters, be ignorant what to Pray for, or what to decline as impertinent to your devotions, being so com- pendiously instructed by our Saviour's own Heavenly directory. o— -o o o CHAP. IV. OF EXTERNAL GESTURES BESEEMING RELIGIOUS DEVOTIONS. It will do well, in the next place, to take some notice, what gestures in our Prayers may be most conveniently used. Howsoever super- stition, as Praying in an unknown tongue upon beads, before a crucifix, or the like, be as wild gourds^ that, thrown in among good herbs, make the pottage deadly, yet a distinc- tion must be ever made between that and due reverence. This is required not only of the mind, but also of the body. Moses ^ and Joshua^ must first put off their shoes, when they approach near to have conference with God. Job, that was somewhat too forward ' 2 Kings iv. 40. s Exod. iii. 5. »> Josh. v. 15. o o o o EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. 35 upon his integrity S when the Lord had schooled him, was quickly brought to confess, / abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes'^. And it may well be thought, that the heavy doom pronounced against the intruder at the King's marriage-supper for his Son, which had not on a wedding garment^, was specially inflicted upon him for his irreverence in that behalf. For would an earthly Prince endure a tradesman, invited by him to a feast, to come regardless out of his shop, in his worst apparel, without respect of the person, or place, or honour of his superior, that vouchsafed so much to own him } Joseph must not be presented to Pharaoh until he had shaved himself and changed his raiment"^. And what ado was there with the purifications of the maidens'^, before they were thought fit to come into the presence of Ahasuerus ? To this purpose, God Himself lessoneth sorrowful Aaron for the unexpected death of his two rash sons, Nadab and Abihu, / will be sanctified in them that come nigh ' Job xxvii. 5. "t Job xlii. 6. ' Matt. xxii. 11. » Gen. xli. 14. " Est. ii. 12. O O o o I 36 EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. Me, and before all the people I ivill be glorified °. It is a plot of Satan to brand due reverence of the body with the scandal of superstition. Bowing at the Name of Jesus, standing up at the Creed, kneeling at the receiving of the Blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, must be held with some superstitious, and to smell of Popery, as though it were too much for Him that created the body as well as the soul, to have the due reverence from both ; and, because Papists are too peevish in over-acting, we should perform nothing at all. That mean, therefore, must be kept between warrantable ceremonies and superstitious fooleries, that in detesting the one, we prove not profane in the other. Herein our Church hath been very careful and judicious in giving a reason in the Preface to our Liturgy, " Of Ceremonies, why some be abolished and some retained y" which those that dislike, will dislike any thing that comes not out of the forge of their own fancies, and that most commonly, as our fashions, endures no longer than the starting up of ° Levit. X. 3. O — O o p EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. 37 another whimsy, whose novelty takes more with the people. Such clouds without water, trees without fruit, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame p, gifts without grace, shifts without blushing, drifts without the least touch of conscience and Christianity, — our late experience has taught us how ruinous they prove to Church and Commonwealth. The smarts whereof should rather make us recollect our- selves, and recover what we have lost both in external and internal devotions, than proceed in such dangerous ways, which in the end must needs undo us. For this falleth in with that of the Prophet, Because My people hath forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; to make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing ; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and wag his head^. But mark the issue, if timely repent- ance prevent it not : / will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them P Jude ver. 12, 13. i Jer. xviii. 15—17. o u o —O 38 EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. Amendment therefore for the pre- sent, and prevention for the future, will prove, at this time especially, more seasonable than complaints for that which is past and cannot be recalled. That which the Apostle requires. Let all things he done decently and in order^, is of a large extent, and hath a more evident reflex in our devotions upon the outward postures of our bodies, than the inward affection of the mind. Such gestures, therefore, as these, have pat- tern and warrant in Scripture, and may be used of us in our private or public devotions, as variety of occasions shall be offered. 1. Casting our eyes on the earth, and smiting our breasts, as unworthy to behold Heaven, by reason of our false-hearted exorbi- tances. 2. Standing up at the Creed, in token of our free profession of it, and resolution ever to stand to it. 3. The lifting up our eyes and hands to f 1 Cor. xiv. 40. O O o— o EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. 39 Heaven, as to the mercy-seat of that only God, to Whom only our Prayers are to be directed. 4. Strong cryings and tears ^ which make our supplications prevalent with Him that puts them in His bottle ^ and is able to save us from death, provided they be as well meant, as they are oftentimes expressed. 5. Bowing of the head and body. 6. Kneeling on the knees. 7. Prostrating our whole body upon the earth. 1. For casting down the eyes to the earth as unworthy to look on Heaven, and smiting his breast, were the postures of the penitent Publican that went down to his house justified rather than the self- pleasing, vaunting Pharisee^. 2. Phinehas stood up, and Prayed, (or, as it is translated in the Bible-version, executed judg- ment;) and so the plague ceased^. Eglon, the fat King of Moab, had so much goodness in him as to arise out of his seaty, when he was to hear a message from God. And may Christians hold it superstitious to rise up reverently when their » Heb. V. 7, ' Psalm Ivi, 8. " Luke xviii. 13, 14. * Psalm cvi. 30. r Judg. ill. 20. 6 o o o 40 EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. j Faith is to be professed, and glory given to God in acknowledgment of the Blessed Trinity, Gloyy be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ? 3. Moses holding up his hands, that pur- chased victory against Amalek^ — David's prac- tice and Prayer, / will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence comet h my help^; and. Let the lifting up of mine hands be an evening ser- vice^. Our Saviour's confirmation in that excellent Prayer for His Disciples ; These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to Heaven'^ — these are uncontrollable patterns for the lifting up of our eyes and hands to God in Prayer. 4. And he that obsei-veth David's^ watering his couch with tears every night, and mingling his drink with weeping^ all the day long ; Jeremiah's wishing his head were water and his eyes a fountain of tears^ ; St. Peter's bitter tears ^; and the woman's^^ bath of tears for our Saviour's » Exod. xvii. 11. » Psalm cxxi. 1. ^ Psalm cxli. 2. <■ John xvii. 1. <* Psalm vi. 6. « Psalm cii. 8,9. f Jer. ix. 1. s Matt. xxvi. 75. ^ Luke vii. 38. o o O Q EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. 41 feet, and towel of her locks to wipe them; must acknowledge that tears with Prayer make a happy mixture to procure pity from Him Who shed tears over Jerusalem*, and wept^ in compassion with the sisters that lamented their dead brother, Lazarus. 5. For bowing the knees and body; that humble posture of the afflicted Israelites, when they received the hopeful message of their deli- verance, may be a leading case to be imitated: When they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affiiction, then they bowed their heads and wor- shipped^. And what can be the meaning of that prohibition fi'om falling down and wor- shipping images or any other similitudes in the second commandment™, but that God hath retained unto Himself such a religious worship of the body ? 6. Those that make scruple of such kneeling in Prayer must needs set themselves against that solemn proclamation of the King of Hea- ■ Luke xix. 41. '' John xi. 35. ' Exod. iv. 31. "» Exod. xx 4. O ^ — o o o 42 EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. ven : / have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall how, every tongue shall swear ^. The same posture, when we find it allowed to our incarnate Saviour, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth^; confirmeth the Oneness of the Son with the Father, which innovators now question, and make it their glory to cavil at, where confutation is impossible. Solomon, with these new masters, for kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to Heaven"^ in his Prayer at the dedication of the Temple, shall be held unwise. Daniel, for Praying on his knees three times a day^, shall be scarce thought worthy to be beloved. And St. Paul need not bow his knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ^ in behalf of the Ephesians, because sitting, as many do at sermons with their heads covered, would be far more easy, and, in those men's discipline, do as well. " Isa. xlv. 23. ° Phil. ii. 10. p 1 Kings viii. 54. q Dan. vi. 10. ' Eph. iii. 14. O _o 0 o EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. 43 7. And, last of all, when I find my Saviour falling on His face and Praying, 0 My Father, if it he possible, let this cup pass from Me : nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt^, I should hold him far from superstition, that in time and place, and where it may be fitly performed, shall prostrate his whole body, or do more if it is possible, and put his face between his knees as Elijah did on Mount Carmel*, in adoring Him in Whose book were all our members written, which day by day were fashioned: when as yet there was none of them^. With great judgment therefore is the ninety- fifth Psalm set in the front of our Liturgy, as a preface to the ensuing devotions; wherein that passage, 0 come let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker ^, consorting with that in the hundred and thirty- second Psalm, We will go into His tabernacle and fall low on our knees before His footstooly , should shame the irreverent behaviour of too many in the House of Prayer^, which Turks and Infidels » Matt. xxvi. 39. <■ 1 Kings xviii. 42. " Psalm cxxxix. 15, 16. ^ Psalm xcv. 1. y Psalm cxxxii. 7. ^ Isa. Ivi. 7. o 0 o o 44 EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER, would hold abominable to be used in their idol-temples. Moreover (wherein women most offend) God's House is not a place for the display of plaiting of hair and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel^, or in outvying one another in more than the twenty-four fashions of the daughters of Zion, taxed parti- cularly by the Prophet^; but, for meek and quiet spirits to humble themselves before God, to set forth His most worthy praise, to hear His most holy Word, and to ask those things that be requi- site and necessary as well for the body as the soul. And that is not to be slighted, which the Apostle^ reproves in the Corinthian assemblies, that men presumed to Pray with their heads covered, and women with their heads uncovered. I would have you, my daughters, so to keep your feet, when you go to the House of God, that your devotions prove not, through irreverent unseemliness, the sacri- fice of fools^. It was the modesty and humi- lity of some of your fore-mothers, not to seat » 1 Peter iii. 3. •' Isa. iii. 16—23, I " 1 Cor. xi. 4, 5. ^ Eccles. v. 1. O 6 o o EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. 45 themselves in the Church, before they had performed a reverent respect to the Minister then officiating : which howsoever the high spirits of these times hold derogatory to their greatness, yet the Son of God will take it as done to Himself, if it be done to the meanest of His for His sake®. And the blessed Virgin His Mother, will inform the statehest, that God will exalt the humble and meek when He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and the rich He hath sent empty away^. This sub- missive and religious deportment of body in God's worship hath been too shamefully neg- lected among us. Surely such, that slight God's Ministers so much, would hardly be induced to wash their Master's feet with their tears, and wipe them with their curled locks. But those that have ears to hear^ will hear. Bowing of the head, and of the body to the earth, kneeling, prostration or falling on the face, lifting up the eyes to Heaven, and spreading forth the hands to the same place, as well as smiting the breast with the penitent Publican, ^ Matt. X. 40. f Luke i. 52. g Matt. xi. 15. O i o o 46 EXTERNAL GESTURES IN PRAYER. are postures of the body warranted to be used by precept and practice out of the Word of God. Which, if they were more seasonably and devoutly frequented by us in our private and public Prayers, according to the example of our religious predecessors, would, better than any Jewish phylacteries'^ or fringes'^, put us in mind of the business we are about, set an edge on our dulness, and stir up others to offer violence and take the Kingdom of Heaven hy force ^. But this sacred fervency will meet with many impediments, to be considered in the next place. J- Matt, xxiii. 5. i Num. xv. 39. ^ Matt. xi. 12 o o o o OF IMPEDIMENTS THAT DISTURB OR FRUSTRATE OUR PRAYERS. Prayer is so effectual against Satan, and all his drifts and depths, that he sets his utmost plots and stratagems to frustrate or hinder it. He therefore, that seriously composes himself to Prayer, shall be sure to meet with a world of impediments. Among which these espe- cially may be taken notice of, to be carefully avoided ; 1 . Wandering thoughts. 2. Presumption. 3. Ostentation. 4. Superstition. 5. Bosom-sins retained. 6. IrreconciUation. 7. Despair. o- o O— o 48 IMPEDIMENTS OF PRAYER. 1 . Concerning wandering thoughts ; we should especially attend to that caveat of the Apostle, If any of you lack wisdom, let Mm ask (not by intercession of Saints or Angels, but) of God, that giveth to all men liberally and uphraideth not. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that waver eth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord^. Such people, in our Saviour's censure, honour Him with their lips; but their heart is far from^ Him. Tliey say one thing, and mean another ; pre- tend love, but seek Him for the loaves'"^; and are carried away with the contemplations on their ivives and farms and oxen^, and perchance worse fancies, in the midst of their devotions. This is an inbred disease, and an infectious weed of original corruption, which must be rooted out by Higgaions** and Selahs? and k James i. 5—7. ' Matt. xv. 8. " John vi. 26. " Luke xiv. 18 — 20. » Psalm ix. 16. " Higgaion Selah. Res meditanda summe." Junius. [Ed.] P Psalm iii. 4. " Selah here signifies a lifting up of the voice, o o o o IMPEDIMENTS OF PRAYER. 49 Hosannahs used, as some probably think, in the Old Testament to raise attention and in- tention, and by that of the Apostles, Lord increase our faiths, in the New Testament, which will prove more effectual than any Pharisaical phylacteries ^. 2. Presumption may be held to be the next impediment, which swells up the thoughts of its own worth, and accounts it a kind of in- dignity not to have audience before others. The Wise Man sets them forth in their native colours : There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their Jilthiness^. Those will tell you, as the Prophet informs. Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou^. But what is the Lord's censure of them in the very same place? These are a smoke in My nose, and a fire that hurneth all day ; with whom He is incensed so far that He will destroy those murderers and to cause us to consider the sentence, as a thing of great import- ance." Marginal notes to Barker's Bible. [Ed.] q Luke xvii. 5. "• Matt, xxiii. 5. » Prov. XXX. 12. ' Isaiah Ixv. 5. O— O o — o 50 IMPEDIMENTS OF PRAYER. burn up their city^. What the Pharisee got by his presumption, and the Pubhcan by his humihty in Prayer, our Saviour tells us ; This man went down to his house justified rather than the other ^. It is a substantial introduction therefore in the beginning of our Church- Book, that would have us confess our sins with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by God's infinite goodness and mei'cy, 3. How, therefore, can we presume that those Prayers shall be acceptable, which are accompanied with an ostentation of imaginary gifts ; and spun out in length, to beg applause rather of tired hearers, than a blessing from God, or an intelligent Amen fi-om the most part, that know not what to make of them ? You, my daughters, may learn of our Saviour, that such fastings, Prayers, and alms-deeds, as are done only to be seen of men, have no further reward than a windy approbation : For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind : it hath no stalk : the bud shall yield » Matt. xxii. 7. " Luke xviii. 14. O O o o IMPEDIMENTS OF PRAYER. 51 no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up^. 4. As ostentation, so superstition is to be avoided. External ceremonies y for order, decency and solemnity, no way crossing God's word, and agreed upon by prudent and religious superiors, are to be comfortably sub- mitted to. But to turn Sacraments into sacrifices^, make a god of a piece of bread ^, attribute little less to the Cross than to Him that was crucified upon it, make intercessors of Saints and Angels without commission from the Lord of all (nay, having prohibition to the contrary) , and the like ; this can procure no further grace at God's hands, than that the ' Hoseaviii. 7. y Article XXXIV. ^ "The Eucharist," says Bishop Andrewes, " ever was, and 6?/ us is considered, both as a Sacrament and a Sacrifice ; " whereas the Trent Fathers, by determining that Christ is therein offered up, not commemoratively and sacramentally only, but hypo- statically destroyed the nature of a Sacrament. [Ed.] • " I know that it is not bare bread our adversaries say they worship, but Christ in the bread, or the bread in Christ. But I wish them to consider, what Gregory Nyssen long ago said ; He that worshippeth a creature, though he do it in the name of Christ, is an idolater, giving the name of Christ to an idol." Bishop Beveridge on Art. XXVIII. [Ed.] o- ■u o— o 52 IMPEDIMENTS OF PRAYER. Prophet expresseth, IfTio hath required this at your hands^P Such oblations are vain, such incense is an abomination unto Me; as the cutting oj^ a dog's neck^ instead of sacrificing a lamb. Let Nadab and Abihu take heed, there- fore, though they be the sons of Aat^on how they offer strange fire before the Lord which He commanded them not^. For where a command Ues, that must be punctually obsei-ved. We must think that our inventions will not take better in God's worship than his own prescriptions. 5. But, suppose us free from superstition, yet a greater impediment may frustrate our prayers ; and that is a bosom- sin which most foster as a favourite. But this must be plucked out with the rest, if we expect any favour from Him that heareth Prayer^. We know, said the poor cured bhnd man, that God heareth not sinners^; which was David's profession in his own experience, If I incline unto wickedness with mine heart : the Lord will not hear meS. Fain would the young man, that came running •» Isaiah i. 12. ■= Isaiah Ixvi. 3. ^ Leviticus x. 1. • Psalm Ixv. 2. f John ix. 31. s Psalm Ixvi. 16. O O o ^ o IMPEDIMENTS OF PRAYER. 53 to our Saviour, have kept whatsoever he had with the interest that he made suit for in the Kingdom of Heaven ; but when our Saviour had discovered that bosom-impediment, he went away grieved^\ and for aught we know, never returned : so impossible is it to make Clirist and Behal^ joint inmates. All sins must be sincerely repented of, before any Prayers can be prevalent. Let Joshua be never so earnest with all the Elders of Israel, by reason of their unexpected defeat received from the men of Ai, yet no other answer from God can be obtained than this : There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, 0 Israel : thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among yoii^. Tliis is what the Apostle aimed at when he so earnestly importunes his newly converted Corinthians : Examine yourselves whether ye he in the Faith ; prove your own selves : know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates^ ? Now% Jesus Christ never b Mark x. 22. ' 2 Cor. vi. 15. ^ Joshua vii. 13. '2 Cor. xiii. 5. 6 — — o o o 54 IMPEDIMENTS OF PRAYER. harbours where a bosom-sin keeps residence. The prophet David's Prayer, therefore, in this case must make way to our Prayers. Try me, O God, and seek the ground of my heart : prove me, and examine my thoughts. Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me : and lead me in the way everlasting"^. 6. In which way, no happy progress is to be expected, if we, that sue for God's peace, should come unreconciled to our brethren. St. John gives him the plain lie, that professeth he loveth God and hateth his brother ; for, says he, he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God Whom he hath not seen^^ P That which we see more aifects than that which we hear of ; and all will say, I will trust mine own eyes rather than another's report. But how irreconciliation with our brethren renders void all our addresses to God, we need be lessoned no farther than from our Saviour's own mouth. First, where He tells us that all our oblations will be frustrated if thy brother "> Psalm cxxxix. 23. " I John iv. 20. c o ' o IMPEDIMBiNTS OF PRAYER. 55 hath aught against thee^ ; and, therefore, agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him. Next, what shall we say to that, that our trespasses are desired to be forgiven us, no otherwise than upon this repeated condition p, again and again most strictly to be observed. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors ? And, lastly, is not that a thundering censure denounced upon that caitiff, that took his brother by the throat for a few pence, when his lord had acquitted him for so many talents ? O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst Me; shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow- servant, even as I had pity on thee^P And you may read what follows ; Take him, tormentors ! not a penny to be abated ; those that afford no mercy shall find none. And the application is from Him that propounded the doctrine : So likewise shall My Heavenly Father do also unto o Matt. V. 23. p Matt. vi. 14, 15. 1 Matt, xviii. 32. 6 o O -O 56 IMPEDIMENTS OF PRAYER, you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses^. 7. Lastly, disturbance and despair take away all ground of Prayer, and turn us into the land of Nod, with Cain, to denounce with a guilty conscience. Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven^ ; or politically to hang our- selves with Ahithophel^ ; or to give a name to Aceldama with Judas ^. Such murderers and traitors prevent, as it were, God's judgments, and suppose the pains of hell more tolerable than a guilty conscience. Let it be your care, therefore, my daughters, with your Prayers to beseech God, among other blessings, to remove from you these afore-mentioned hindrances of Prayer. Abraham had much ado, when he sacrificed, to keep off the fowls from devouring ity. And Joshua, the High-priest, shall no sooner present himself, clothed with filthy garments, before the Angel of the Lord, a sup- plicant for the restoration of his captive countrymen, but Satan will be at his right hand » Matt, xviii. 35. ' Gen. iv. 13. Marginal translation. " 2 Sam. xvii. 23. ' Acts i. 19. y Gen. xv. 11, O O o o IMPEDIMENTS OF PRAYER. 57 to resist him'^. But, resist the devil, saith the Apostle, and he will flee from you^. This is done, not by force of arms, nor fasting only, nor alms-giving, however otherwise com- mended, but by continued and devout Prayers, grounded upon that of our Saviour. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil^. And if the evil spirit, with this being put to flight return again with seven other spirits more wicked than himself^, of his undermining companions, with the shield of faith ye shall be able to quench all his darts. Praying always with all Prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance^. » Zech. iii. 1. ^ James iv. 7. ^ Matt. vi. 13. •^ Luke si. 26. <» Ephes. vi. 18. o- •o o o CHAP. VI. HELPS FOR THE STIRRING UP, AND FURTHERANCE, OF OUR SUITS. He that intends to build a tower (you may find whose observation it is) sitteth down first and counteth the cost, what it will amount to ; lest, haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold begin to mock and say, This ma?i began to build, and was not able to finish^. Herein, the case of such as shall make their addresses to God by Prayer is in a manner represented. All kinds of snares, distractions, seductions, impediments, shall be cast in their way : so that except preventions and helps come from above, and are circum- spectly used by us, our best intents will but prove attempts, like a foundation that wants a Luke xiv. 28—3 o o 0 — O HELPS TO PRAYER. ^^ purse to complete the building. The helps that herein will best further us, may be reckoned to be, 1 . Meditation. 2. Vows. 3. Fasting. 4. Aims-Deeds. 5. Visiting the sick and distressed, 6. Frequenting pious and lawful assemblies. 7. Putting on the whole armour of God, whereby we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. 1. How Meditation and Prayer mutually help each other, the Psalmist shews in his early and earnest prosecution of them. Ponder my words, O Lord: consider my meditation. 0 hearken Thou unto the voice of my calling, my King and my God : for unto Thee will I make my Prayer. My voice shalt Thou hear betimes, O Lord : early in the morning will I direct my Prayer unto Thee, and will look up^. Which I f Psalm V. 1—3. o o o o I 60 HELPS TO PRAYER. when he had done in a serious turning over three books, the book of Nature, the book of Scripture, and the book of Conscience, which always He open for all to look upon, he shuts up his rehgious speculation with this supphant conclusion : Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, he always acceptable in Thy sight, 0 Lord, my Strength and my Re- deemer^! This was holy Isaac's practice, no doubt, from the institution of his good father Abraham. He went out to meditate in the field at the even-tide^ ; to Pray, saith the margin in our last translation, intimating that Prayer and meditation be of such affinity, that Prayer without meditation is as a messenger that runs without his errand. 2. Vows may pass also as helps to Prayers upon deliberate meditation, otherwise they may prove rash and sinful. Those that we have made by our godfathers and godmothers in our Baptism " to renounce the devil and aU his w^orks, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the g Psalm xix. 14. ^ Genesis xxiv. 63. o ■ o o _o 1 HELPS TO PRAYER. 61 I flesh," might hold us in a right course, without any monkish bye-laws or further impositions of our own, if they were as well kept as they are wisely set down in our Catechism. But such is our wavering weakness and itch after novelties, that we must needs have a new lesson before the old be learned, and manna^ from Heaven shall not relish, if it grow too common. You should do well therefore, my Daughters, not to vow more than you have undertaken to do already, or else to vow no otherwise than that it may tend to the per- formance of that, which solemnly, and before God and His Church, you have undertaken. For though the obedience of the Rechabites to the commands of their father Jonadab^ be approved in Scripture as an ensample for observing the fifth commandment ; yet the Pharisaical tie for their corban^ which ex- empted children from obedience to their parents, or relieving them in their necessity, is branded by our Sa\dour, as an attempt which ■ Numbers xi. 6. Psalm Ixxviii. 18. ^ Jeremiah xxxv. 19. ' Mark vii. 11. o o o o f)^ HELPS TO PRAYER. puts aside God's law that man's tradition might take its place. So wise we would make ourselves, to perfect God's text with our marginal notes, and give order for a directer way to Heaven than He that is the Way, the Truth, and the Life^, had leisure or pleasure to leave behind Him. Notorious are the con- sequence of Jepthah's" inconsiderate vow. And what would Saul's ^ for killing Jonathan, and David's? for the massacre of Nabal and his whole family, have wrought, if God had not in mercy interposed ? When therefore we make any extraordinaiy vows, they must be 1 . Warrantable by God's Word : 2. Fit for our condition in life : 3. Concerning things in our power : 4. Injurious to none : 5 . Changeable upon necessity : 6. Referred wholly to God's gloiy, and the good of the Church, and the Commonwealth in which we live. •n John xiv. 6. " Judges xi. 30. o 1 Sam. xiv. 39. p 1 Sam. xxiii. 22. o o o o HELPS TO PRAYER. 63 7. No way exempting from the performance of any Christian duties that justly belong to us. Vows, or resolutions, so qualified may be a quickening help to our devotions. 3. Fasting also must be acknowledged to be a quickening help, which is commonly joined with Prayer. Our Saviour mentions a kind of devils which goeth not out by Prayer only, hut by Prayer and fasting^. Where fasting staves off sensuality from hindering our Prayers, which only do the deed that fasting fits us for, those that cry down our Lent-fasts, Ember weeks, fasting on Holy- day Eves according to the prescribed order in our Church, may as well take exception at the appointed Day of Atonement^ for the afflicting of souls in the Old Testament, and St. Paul's keeping under his body and bringing it into subjection in the New, without which his preaching would not free him from being a cast-away^. You shall do best therefore, my daughters, to keep these good and warrantable orders in your families. 4. Your alms-deeds will be larger, which q Matt. xvii. 21. ' Levit. xxiii. 27. « 1 Cor. ix. 27. o o o o 64 HELPS TO PRAYER. help on Prayers. Cornelius, saith the Angel, thy Prayer and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God^. Provided always that neither these nor fasting be tainted with Pharisaical vain- glory, or hypocrisy to be seen of men^ which our Saviour warns us of, as of leaven corrupting the whole lump. 5 . Visiting the sick or distressed, and relieving them according to our best abilities, make a fair way to have our own Prayers heard, and distresses relieved. For, does not our Lord put such poor layings-out, yet not of our own but of that we are for a time entinisted with, upon His own account ? / was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me : I was in prison, and ye came unto Me^. Will He, Who takes notice to grace such petty essays by the name of Blessed, and crowns them through His infinite mercy with eternal happiness, reject the petitions that come thus accompanied, especially if in their « Acts X. 4. » Matt. vi. 1. » Matt. xxv. 35. I 6 o o o HELPS TO PRAYER. 65 walk they labour also to be peace-makers, who are honoured with the title of the children of Gody. 6. All which graces, honour, and good accep- tance, will be the better understood and improved by us, if we be religious and con- stant frequenters of the appointed assemblies, in set times and places for God's public and sacred worship : not to hear and observe only what gifts our teachers have, but to attend to the Scripture orderly read by the lawful Minis- ter, according to the advised appointment of the Church, manifested in our Calendars, and to join with him and the rest of the congrega- tion in confession of our sins, and profession of our faith, with one heart and voice offering up our Prayers as a sweet- smelling sacrifice of thanks and praise^ to our Father Which is in Heaven, through Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour. This is that which the Apostle urgeth : Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering ; {for He is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to y Matt. V. 9. ^ Psalm 1. 23. o : o o o 66 HELPS TO PRAYER. provoke unto love and to good works : not for- saking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is^; some superstitious and schismatical recusants being then, as now there are. For the joint Prayers, and orderly read- ing the Scriptures, are the ground whereupon sermons and exhortations must be erected; by which you are faithfully catechised what to beUeve, how to Pray, in what sort to perform your duty toward God and your neighbour, with what faith, hope, and charity to esteem of Baptism, and to receive the blessed Sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper, Now where shall these saving points be learned, especially by the vulgar, but in our public assemblies .f* Which being excluded or curtailed, most sermons will edify httle more than a trumpet that giveth an uncertain sound^ in relation to a battle. I advise you, therefore, my daughters, to be always present, with such as belong to you, in all devout obedience, at all Common-Prayers, Sermons, Marriages, Baptisms, Churchings of Heb. X. 23—25. ^ 1 Cor. xiv. 8. o- O ( HELPS TO PRAYER. 67 Women, Funerals, or other commanded assem- blies upon extraordinary occasions: especially to be partakers of the Lord's Supper^, where it is orderly and religiously to be ministered. In such a Communion of Saints (not christened so by their own, but God's esteem) you may add to your faith, virtue ; and to virtue, know- ledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to tem- perance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, hrotlierly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity^. These things, abounding in you, shall make you powerful in Prayer, fruitful in good works, cheerful in your callings, constant in your good courses, contented in your conditions, happy in your children and families, comfortable to your neighbours and acquaintance. 7. The rather, if we are guarded with the whole armour of God^, which the Apostle com- mends unto us ; and whereunto we betake our- <= " — whensoever it i3 administered; though it 'be every Lord's day in the year, as it was in the primitive times ; or every day i)i the week, as it was, sometime, in the days of the Apostles, and may be so still, according to the Liturgy of the Church of England." Bp. Beveridge. [Ed.] d 2 Peter i. 5—7. e Ephes. vi. 13—18. o — o o o 68 HELPS TO PRAYER. selves, as a safe hold and help, to secure our Prayers. (1.) By this annour, the feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, such peace as the world cannot give. This leads us in the right way, and frees us from bye-paths or dashing our feet against blocks or stones. (2.) The loins are girt about with truth, which is always consonant to itself, and will not be drawn aside by partial affections and affectations of singularity. (3.) The breast is guarded with the breast- plate of righteousness-, not of our own, which is of the law; but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith^. (4.) The left hand, next the heart, is fur- nished with the shield of faith; so that, when Satan is ready with his fiery darts to drive a guilty conscience into despair upon the horror of God's immutable justice, faith is ready at hand with an extinguisher, as with a pardon to prevent the execution. If any man sin, we have f Phil. iii. 9. u -o O- c HELPS TO PRAYER. 69 an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous: and He is the ^propitiation for our sinsS; by Whose stripes we are healed, ivho were as sheep gone astray, hut are noiv returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls^^. (5.) The right hand is filled with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. This is not only defensive but offensive : quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the hearts This frighted and flighted the tempter^ in that onset against our Saviour in the wilderness, of which triumph we are made partakers by the using aright of the same weapon. (6.) The head is secured with the helmet of salvation, settled on the promises of the Father, in our Redeemer Christ Jesus, in JJ'Tiom only He is well-pleased \ (7.) All wliich variety of armour of proof is e 1 John ii. 1, 2. ^ I Peter ii. 24, 25. ' Heb. iv. 12. k Matt. iv. 11. I Matt. iii. 17. O ^ O o o 70 HELPS TO PRAYER. buckled together, and made useful to us by Prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, as the Apostle there shews, and not without apparent necessity : for we wrestle, not only against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places^. Which, needs, must be most danger- ous unto us — (1.) For their wariness that grapple with us; (2.) For their invulnerableness, they being Spirits, whereas we are flesh and blood ; (3.) For their principahties, whereby they challenge a pre-eminence over us ; (4.) By their power, by which they would quickly overbear us ; (5.) By their rule in darkness, in which unawares they entrap us, that see not what we do; (6.) They being spiritual and invisible, we carnal and open to all assaults ; «> Eph. vi. 12. o o O— . Q HELPS TO PRAYER. 71 (7.) They in high places, we in the lower ground, to be over-topped at pleasure. The advantages therefore being so many and material, is it not incumbent on us to be armed, as it were, from head to foot, to withstand all these forces in the evil day, and having done all, to stand^P And if, in an extraordinary storm, we suspect that it will scarce hold out, recourse must be had to our Saviour, by Praying, with His Apostles in danger of drowning. Master, Master, we perish^/ that He may arise and rebuke the wind and the waves; and then a wished-for calm will follow. How this may be discerned, the next chapter may, in some sort, direct. ' Eph. vi. 13. » Luke viii. 24. O O CHAP. VII. OF THE WAITING FOR A GRACIOUS ANSWER FROM GOD TO OUR PRAYERS, AND THE SyREST TOKENS TO DISCERN IT. None put up petitions to any, but wait for an answer, what they may depend upon. The servants of Benhadad, that, with sackcloth on their loins, and ropes on their heads, were sup- phcants for their master to victorious Ahab, did observe diligently"^ whether they might catch at any thing from him that might yield them comfort. Upon Esther's engagement among the virgins presented to Ahasuerus for selecting a queen, Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women s house, to know how Esther did, and what would become of her^. Much more incumbent is it on religious peti- P 1 Kings XX. 32, 33. Esther ii. 11. o o o o TOKENS OF ACCEPTANCE. 73 tioners, that have put up their Prayers to God in matters of the highest consequence, to attend what will be the issue of them : that, if they take, their thanksgiving may be accordingly : if otherwise, their care may search out where the stop lieth, and all diUgence may be used to remove it. Whereupon the Psalmist resolves, / will hearken, what the Lord God will say con- cerning me: for He shall speak peace unto His people and to His Saints, that they turn not again to folly^. In this Micah seconds him, at a time when neither friend, nor wife, nor children, much less sei'vants, were to be trusted; / will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me^. The like attendance we find professed by Habakkuk; for respecting what God would do concerning a threatened ruin from the Chaldeans, which he had earnestly Prayed against, / will stand upon my watch, he says, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved^. For he that ' Psalm Ixxxv. 8. » Micah vii. 7. ' Hab. ii. 1. o o o o 74 TOKENS OF ACCEPTANCE. thinks it sufficient to Pray, and observes not what effect it takes, may be hkened to the foohsh ostrich, which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the dust^, Uttle reckoning what afterwards becomes of them. Our circumspection must be more than this, not only to Pray fervently, but to wait pati- ently, till some good token for our good may be discerned, for our comfort in good courses, and shame of those which hate us. Miraculous tokens for good^ are not to be expected in such clear light of the Gospel, which has been con- firmed by miracles; but events are to be observed, whereby we may gather how far our Prayers have prevailed. When Abraham's servant saw with his eyes how aU things had succeeded as he had Prayed for, in Rebekah's readiness to give him to drink ^ and water his camels, he made no doubt but that God had heard his Prayer. And Hannah's cheerfulness ^ after Praying to God for a man-child, was a notable evidence • Job xxxix. 14. » Psalm Ixxxvi. 17. » Gen. xxiv. 18. v 1 Sam. i. 18. o o o-- — — ■ 9 I TOKENS OF ACCEPTANCE. 75 that she should not be disappointed of her hopes. Manoah's wife's logic in such cases, may stand for a rule ; the deed will lead us to the doer, and that we find to that we search after. If, said she, the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a hurnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands, neither would He have shewed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these^. Upon this woman's logic, then, why might not the best men and women thus proceed to gather what is become of the devoutest Prayer? The Apostle to the Galatians sets doA^^l nine fruits of the Spirit which those that are furnished with, are not liable to any con- demning law. These are, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- ness, temperance^. If after our humble suits then commended to God, upon impartial examination of our un- tainted consciences, we find our love to God and man increased; our joy, through some good events, heightened ; our peace, both in- « Judges xiii. 23. ^ Gal. v. 22. | O O O o 76 TOKENS OF ACCEPTANCE. ward and outward, confirmed ; our long- suffer- ing quickened ; our gentleness not abused ; our goodness more accepted ; our faith trusted; our meekness winning others ; and temperate moderation in any good measure improved ; why may we not conclude that our Prayers are accepted and filed in God's star-chamber, to be farther thought on, to our best advantage ? For by our walking in the Spirit^, as the Apostle gives there the rule, we shall find w-hich way the Spirit hloweth^, by which we live. And to this walking in the Spirit, there are required these seven associates. 1 . Light, without which there is no walking or working. The night cometh when no man can work^. 2. Confidence, to come at length unto the haven where we would he^, inasmuch as we are here hut strangers and pilgriins^. 3. The love of the Country to which we are walking ; from whence being absent, we have •> Gal. V. 16. <; John iii. 8. <» 1 John ix. 4, e Ps. cvii. 30. f Ps. xxxix. 14 ; and Heb. xi. 13. O O o o i TOKENS OF ACCEPTANCE. 77 i David's longing, when shall I come to aj)pear \ before the presence of Gods 9 old Simeon's ' craving his letters dimissory; Lord, now let- I test Thou Thy servant depart in peace accord- \ ing to Thy word^ ; and St. Paul's desire to I depart and to be with Christ"^. j 4. Assurance that we are in the right way ■ to it. See that ye walk circumspectly, says the i Apostle, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the 1 time, because the days are eviV^. \ 5. Sobriety, for Blessed are those that are un- \ defiled in the way : and walk in the law of the \ Lord^, which will be a sure guide unto them. I 6. Peaceableness with their fellow-travellers. I See that ye fall not out by the way^, said Joseph ! to his brethren ; which we most commonly do ! through vain-glory, provoking one another, : envying one another^^, when common calamities I or common blessings invite us most to unity. j 7 . Cheerfulness, that sweetens all the crosses ! in the way, and encourages us to go on with I assurance of the crowTi that is set before us. g Ps. xlii. 2. h Luke ii. 29. i Phil. i. 23. k Eph. v. 16, ' Psalm cxix. 1. >« Gen. xlv. 24. " Gal. v. 26. o _o o o 78 TOKENS OF ACCEPTANCE. Those that sigh and cry for the abominations of the times, and see, as it were, God's hand Hfted up to strike, shall find some marked, as in EzekieP and the Revelation?, which we shall discern in ourselves, as we find a conformity between our actions and petitions. For may not he, that, as a true Nathanael in whom is no guile^, finds himself humble in himself, mourn- ing for his own sins and the iniquity of the times, meek to his companions, hungering and thirsting to do good to all men, merciful to the miserable, pure in his intentions, patient in enduring injuries for righteousness' sake^, safely conclude that a mark of blessedness is stamped upon him, which is the chief scope our Prayers aim at? But what need we go farther, in this behalf, than the Lord's Prayer } If we find our unbiassed afi'ections sti'iving to compass 1 . The hallowing of God's Name above all things : o Ezekiel ix. 4. p Rev. vii. 3. q John i. 47. ' Matt. v. 3—9. O C c^— — o TOKENS OF ACCEPTANCE. 70 2. The promoting of His kingdom and Church : 3. The doing His will in observance of His Word: 4. The acknowledging with all thankfulness our daily bread, and all other necessaries for this life, to come from His bounty : 5. Our readiness to forgive all others their trespasses against us, that we may receive re- mission of our sins from Him : 6. Our desires to be freed from all tempta- tions of the flesh and world, in which we should perish, being left to ourselves : and 7. Our protection from the violences and stratagems of that roaring lion, who is daily ranging about, seeking whom he may devour^ — should not such hearty desires which cannot arise from our own strength, ascertain for us, that the hearty recital of this Prayer of the Son's composing hath found favour with the Father, to our best advantage in due time to be accomphshed? Thus have you, my dear children, the necessity of Prayer, and to Whom • 1 Peter v. 8. o— o r o 80 TOKENS OF ACCEPTANCE. it is to be directed ; the things that we are to Pray for, and the awful reverence to be used in asking ; the impediments that may hinder it, and the helps that may make it eifectual ; and the tokens whereby we may conclude that our Prayers have found grace to be accepted. To put a happy period therefore to this preparation ; when we settle ourselves to Pray, v>^hich, the Apostle tells us, must be without ceasing^, 1 . The infinite majesty of God ; 2. Our own vileness ; 3 . The fraud and fury of our adversaries ; the flesh, the world, and the devil ; 4. The weight of the business we go about, being our utter making or marring ; 5. The interest we have in our Saviour Jesus Christ's atonement for us ; 6. The inevitableness of the account we are to render, and the uncertainty of the time, when we shall be called to it ; 7. And lastly, the strictness and unchange- ableness of the judgment that will be passed ' 1 Thess. V. 17. o— o o o TOKENS OF ACCEPTANCE. 81 upon it — all these subjects must be most cir- cumspectly and religiously pondered, and laid to heart, that so we may profess with the Psalmist, Away from me all ye that work vanity : for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my petition : the Lord will receive my Prayer^. How you may frame this more particularly, I shall endeavour to give you plain directions in that which follows. » Psalm vi. 8. o- o THE SECOND PART. CONCERJ4ING PRIVATE PRATER. Prayers are known to be either private or public. Those are to be accounted private, which touch not only on private occasions, but as they are distinguished from solemn Prayers at public meeting in the house of God. They may be reckoned to be 1 . Personal, or Prayers in secret : 2. Household, or Prayers in a family : 3. Blessings, or occasional salutations : 4. Psalms, hymns or spiritual songs, apphc- able to divers occurrences : 5. Ejaculations, framed on all sorts of con- ceits or objects : c o o o 84 CONCERNING PRIVATE PRAYER. 6. Lamentations, for sin or miseries : 7. Excitations or encouragements to all kinds of Christian cheerfulness and resolu- tion. o CHAP. I. OF PERSONAL, OR PRATERS IN SECRET. It is a question proposed by the Apostle, What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him^ P And it cannot be answered otherwise than it is else- where by the same Apostle, that the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God^. This Spirit is acquainted with our infirmities and most secret sins ; for which if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, to punish or to pity, as His justice or mercy leads Him : but if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God^. The book of conscience, in such cases, is especially to be • 1 Cor. ii. 11. b Romans viii. 15, 16, ' I John iii. 20, 21. o- o o — o 86 PERSONAL PRAYER. consulted. Hence were all those zealous strains of the heavenly inspired Psalmist : 0 Lord, Thou hast searched me out, and known me: Thou knoivest my down-sitting, and mine up- rising; Thou understandest my thoughts long before. Thou art about my path and about my bed : and spiest out all my ways. For, lo, there is not a ivord in my tongue : but Thou, O Lord, knowest it altogether^. To the same purpose is that considerate acknowledgment in another place : Who can tell how oft he offendeth : O cleanse Thou me from my secret faults ! Keep Thy servant also from presumptuous sins, lest they get the dominion over me : so shall I be un- defiled, and innocent from the great offence^. Here is a growth of sin, as of an infant in the womb, from scarce sensible motions to close committed offences ; which, if they meet not with some public check, will dare by degrees to appear in public, and amount at length to that great offence that sears the conscience f, and makes it regardless of Hell or Heaven. This cockatrice, not crushed in the g^^, will d Ps. cxxxix. 1—3. e Ps. xix. 13, 14. * 1 Tim. Iv. 2. o o o o PERSONAL PRAYER. 87 soon become a most dangerous /ym^ serpent ^ ; which can be quelled only with personal Prayers, opposed to the temptations, terrors, and assaults with which we are most molested. Now these are only known to God and our- selves, and the Father which seeth in secret our retired suits, will reward us openly^, to his own gloiy, and our best advantage. This Jacob was fully persuaded of, and therefore upon the affrighting news of his brother Esau's coming with four hundred men against him, he betakes himself to this effectual personal Prayer, dictated to him by fear upon the present occasion. O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me. Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal ivell with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the m£rcies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant ; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau : for I fear him s Isaiah xir. 29. •> Matt. vi. 18. 6 ^ ~ o o o 88 PERSONAL PRAYER. lest he loill come and smite me, and the mother with the children^. Thus wrestled he with God, and obtained a blessing : and thus must all that generation of them do, that seek Him, even of them that seek Thy face O [God of] Jacob^. What St. Paul's thorn in the flesh^ was, that buffeted him into humility, none was sensible of but himself; but what remedy do we find he used to take it off .'' No other but personal Prayer. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And the retm'n he received from God was most gracious : My grace is sufficient for thee : for My strength is made perfect in thy weakness. In these, and the like practices of piety, you have examples, my daughters, how to fit yourselves with personal Prayers upon private occurrences. Bosom-sins, peculiar temptations and secret defects are incident to the best, and none knows so well where a fair shoe wrings, as he that wears it. In such cases, therefore, the urgency of the matter will quicldy frame a form cor- respondent to our desires. Vexed and barren ' Gen. xxxii. 9—11. ^ Ps. xxiv. 6. " 2 Cor. xii. 7—9. o- — - — o o o PERSONAL PRAYER. 89 Hannah needed not a prompter besides the bitterness of her soul to teach her thus to Pray unto the Lord. O Lord of Hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Thine handmaid, but wilt give unto Thine handmaid a male child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life^. I need not relate how well this Prayer took, the story of Samuel being so v/ell known. From Esther's trembling at the hazardous venture she made upon majestic Ahasuerus, and the importance of the suit she had in hand, we have this pertinent Prayer. 0 my Lord, Thou only art our King : help me, desolate woman, which have no helper but Thee : for my danger is in mine hand. 0 Thou mighty God above all, hear the voice of the forlorn, and deliver us out of the hands of the mischievous, and deliver me out of my fear^. This Prayer, howsoever Apocryphal, the calamities of these times'' have made in a sort Canonical. The «" 1 Samuel i. 11. " Esther xiv. 3. 4. 19. ° The Author died in 1650, the year following the Martyrdom of King Charles. (Ed.) O _o o o 90 PERSONAL PRATER. dangers are not unlike ; all upon the point to be lost, and no hopes of redress, but by public and private Prayers, dehberate and occasional, which need not jostle one the other, but duly take their turns in their several places. Extemporal and personal conceptions upon private occasions, which are too often emergent, we must commend and be stored with ; but in public assemblies, where God's people come together, not only to hear that whereby they may be instructed, but especially to confess their sins, and to profess their faith, and to give God thanks with their own mouths in an unifoiTfi manner for all His blessings, and to ask those things which shall be requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul, not only for themselves but for their brethren wheresoever dispersed, present, or distressed — in such pubHc devotions, young men and maidens, old men and children, every one according to his ability, must act their prescribed parts with the Minister, and praise the Name of the Lord^. P Psalm cxlviii. 12. — o o o PERSONAL PRAYER. 91 All must join in saying", Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep. All answer the Minister's entrance, 0 Lord open Thou our lips ! with. And our mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. All stand up, and profess with him leading the way, / Believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. For was not the Hosanna*! of the children in the Temple justified by our Saviour, against those who would have none heard in the Church but themselves ? And why may not the congregation join with the Minister in Praying, as in singing ; or, to speak to the point, in Prayers in prose in a set form as consonantly as in a set form of Prayers in verse ? Must they come together to admire or censure their Minister's gifts, and perform nothing themselves ? And is there such antipathy between religious preaching to men, and public set Prayers to God, that they may not stand both together, and the one the better for the other ? Men as religious <) Matt. xxi. 15. o o o- 0 92 PERSONAL PRAYER. and judicious heretofore as, for aught we find, now are, have determined otherwise ; whom you may do well to follow, till you are con- vinced with better reasons than have yet been produced. o- •o o o CHAP. II. OF HOUSEHOLD, OB PEAYERS IN FAMILY. If any provide not for his own, says the Apostle, and specially for those of his ovm house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel^. Now if this be required in temporal matters, why should it not be urged more earnestly in spiritual by how much Heaven is to be pre- ferred before earth, and the soul before the body .'' For, except the Lord build the house : their labour is but lost that build it. Except the Lord keep the city : the watchman waketh but in vain^. Labour and wake and toil we may early and late, and eat the bread of care- 1 Tim. V. 8. " Psalm cxxTiii. 1, 2. o o o 91' HOUSEHOLD PRAYER. fulness, and be never the nearer, except the glorious Majesty of the Lord be upon us, to prosper the work of our hands, and impart success and sleep to his beloved *. Those housekeepers, therefore, that expect the blessings of the Marriage Psalm, so pertinently used in our Liturgy, upon them and theirs, must be careful, as Abraham was, to have them religiously instructed and well- catechised, as those three hundred and eighteen were ", with whom he routed the four eastern victorious kings, and recovered the spoils they had taken. And this God makes a motive for communi- cating to him his purpose in the ensuing destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him P For I know him, that he will command his chil- dren after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lo7'd, to do justice and judgment^. The ' Psalm xc. 17. " Gen. xiv. 14. Trained servants, trans- lated in the margin, instructed. (Ed.) » Gen. xviii. 17 — 19. o o o o HOUSEHOLD PRAYER. 95 fruit of this household instruction we find afterwards in the Prayer and faithfulness of his chiefest servant, whom he sent into Mesopo- tamia, to fetch a wife for his son Isaac. The Prayer of the servant is very remarkable ; 0 Lo7'd God of my master Abraham, I pray Thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham^ . In prosecution of which business, he refused to eat or drink before he had received a contenting- answer ; and then forgot not his thankfulness to God, but worshipped the Lord, hawing himself to the earth. Oh ! for such servants among us Chris- tians ! We want not means, but care, and con- science, and giving them good example, to make them so. Job, herein, out of the land of Uz, from among the reputed Gentiles, may be a further pattern to masters of famihes themselves. How early was he and persevering to look after his revelling children's exorbitances, to offer sacri- fices for them and sanctify them ? For, it may be, said he, that my so?is have sinned and cursed y Gen. xx.iv. 12. I o . o o 9 96 HOUSEHOLD PRAYER. (or, as one translates it, little blessed) God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually ^. Of Eli we find nothing, but that of himself he was a good old man and harmless ; yet, for want of taking a rounder course with his scan- dalous sons, what a breakneck did he draw upon himself and family ^ ! It is well that David, in settling his family, bethought himself better, perchance upon the grief that some of his darling children had been unto him. Not a wicked, unfaithful, fro- ward, slanderous, proud, stubborn, deceitful per- son shall find entertainment or countenance at His hands. Nay, says He, Mine eyes look upon such as are faithful in the land : that they may dwell with Me. Whoso leadeth a godly life : he shall be My servant^. Nay, if Captain Cornelius be observed to fear God sincerely, and to be constant in his devotions, he shall not be destitute of household servants, or of a devout soldier ^, whom he may securely employ in matters of the highest con- » Job i. 5. a 1 Sam. iv. 18. »> Psalm ci. 8- <^ Acts x. 7. 6 6 o o HOUSEHOLD PRAYER. 97 cemment. Such guide is good example to goodness, and domestic instruction to prevent destruction. This consists especially in a strict oversight, by holding eveiy one under our charge to their daily devotions and designed tasks. And these devotions must be first in set and such forms, as all may best be ac- quainted with, and easily make their own, to bear their part in them. Next ; the time and place for this concur- rence must be so ordered, wherein most, if not all, maybe present. Where the frequent repe- tition of the same set forms may make such an impression that the rudest and little ones may have them by heart; which the best gifted will confess to be most useful and commend- able, and impossible to be learnt from voluntaiy and affected vanities which vanish in the utter- ing, and can hardly be recalled by those that first so hastily conceived them. Now Household Prayers are usually morning and evening. For morning Prayer it will be found by experience, that by reason of divers distractions, a concurrence cannot be so well o o O ( 98 HOUSEHOLD PRAYER. had as immediately before dinner. Then the mas- ter of the family, or fittest among the company designed by him, may proceed in this manner. 1. With the general Confession, Almighty and most merciful Father, 8(C., to be repeated by all after him, devoutly kneeling. 2. Then those two well-known Prayers may be fitly added; the one for Peace, 0 God Who art the Author of peace ; the other for Grace and Protection that follows, O Lord our Hea- venly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, &;c. 3. In the third place, interpose those inter- changeable Scriptures, with the Lord's Prayer in the midst of them, as they are ordered in the Liturgy : Lord, have mercy upon us ! Christ, have mercy upon us ! Our Father 8;c. ; 0 Lord, shew Thy mercy upon us, to the end, 0 Lord, make clean our hearts within us ! And take not Thy Holy Spirit from us! 4. Next, that mixed petition, We humbly beseech Thee, 0 Father S^c, for pardoning our infirmities, averting desei'ved punishments, strengthening us with confidence and continu- ance in holiness and purity. o o o ^ — — o HOUSEHOLD PRAYER. QD 5. To this may be added that Prayer which petitions that our faulty supphcations may be gi'aciously accepted ; 0 God Whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive / And so, the common Blessing, The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God 8fC. ! may make up the conclusion. Evening Prayer proceeds in like manner, to be celebrated either immediately before supper, or else before the family depart to their rest. 1. With the general Confession, Almighty and most merciful Father, 8(C.; or else, for variety, with that other Confession before re- ceiving the Communion, Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8^-c. 2. Then come in the two collects, 0 God from Whom all holy desires, SfC, and Lighten our darkness, S^c, answerable to the two morning collects, 3. After, Lord have mercy upon us, S;c., and the Lord's Prayer recited, as in the morning, you may take those short requests repeated interchangeably. From our enemies defend us, 0 Christ ! Graciously look upon our afflictions ! o— ^ o o ^ o 100 HOUSEHOLD PRATER. to the end. And then, We humbly beseech Thee 0 Father, S^c, 0 God, Whose nature and property, 8(C., and The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8^c. are to be added as before in morning Prayer. A plainer and more warrantable course for Household Prayers let them set forth that have found it. For mine own part, I must confess, that my long studies, among much variety, have not met with the like for words and matter so judiciously fitted. Neither can I be persuaded that those learned men and Martyrs, who were compilers of our Service-book, came any way short for gravity, learning, or piety, of those men who stand in this age so much upon their gifts, and take upon them, as the saying is, to correct Magnificate. But I must not digress. You have, in the former directions, the ordinary Household Prayers for morning and evening through all the week. Sundays and Holy- days are supplied publicly in the Church, which I would have you religiously I frequent ; yet, on Wednesdays and Fridays in the week, your Household Prayers may profit- o o O : ^ O HOUSEHOLD PRAYER. 101 ably admit this alteration in morning Prayer only. On Wednesdays let yom* beginning be, 1. O Lord, open Thou our lips! with those mutual correspondencies ; and Glory be to the Father, S^-c, will follow. 2. Then let the Apostles' Creed be repeated by all standing, with him that officiates. 3. Tlie prayer before the Commandments may be repeated kneeling ; Almighty God, to Whom all hearts he open, 8^c. Then 4. Tlie Commandments may be repeated by him that officiates standing, to which the rest kneehng should, as usually they do in Public Prayers, express their desires, saying. Lord have mercy, SfC. 5. In the fifth place, may be added the Prayer for the whole estate of Christ's Church, militant here on earth : and then, as fonnerly, 0 God Whose nature and property, S^c. And The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, S^-c, makes up the conclusion. This will revive the memory of the Apostles' Creed, which we undertook to beheve and profess in our Baptism ; and of the Ten Commandments, Q ^ O i o ■ o 102 HOUSEHOLD PRAYER. which were written by the finger of the Father, and by the Son never abrogated, but ex- pounded, and urged to be strictly observed. The laying aside of which may make most people, especially the simpler sort, to be liable to such reprehension as the Prophet's ; Which think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams^, and not to remember into what faith they were baptised. In the Friday's office, in morning Prayer, the Litany, as it lies, may serve as complete, beginning with, 0 God the Father of Heaven, &;c., and ending with The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, &;c. And so have you Prayers to be ordinarily used with your families. If besides, in private, when you lie down to sleep, or rise in the morning, you would have some forms to com- mend you to God, you shall hardly meet with any more effectual that may fit you for the morning than that, Almighty and most gracious God, I heartily thank Thee for the sweet sleep and comfortable rest, S;c. ; and that other for the evening, 0 merciful God and Heavenly <• Jeremiah xxiii. 27. o c- o HOUSEHOLD PRAYER. 103 Father, whether we sleep or wake, live or die, we are always Thine, S^c, to be had in the end of most of our Church-books® ; \Yhich, devoutly used, will bring us to that thankful acknow- ledgment of the Psalmist, / laid me down and slept, and rose up again : for the Lord sustained me^. e This collection of Godlie Praiers, which formed so valuable an appendage to the earlier editions of the Book of Common Prayer, having been omitted of late years, and thus having fallen into disuse ; it has been thought desirable to reprint it as an Appendix (I) to the present volume. (Ed.) f Psalm iii. 5. c- -o CHAP. III. OF BLESSINGS AND OCCASIONAL SALUTATIONS. Blessings may be diversly understood. All God's favours to us, and our returning thanks to Him, are indifferently called Blessings; of which more hereafter. Here, Blessings are to be reckoned for such good turns, returns, and wishes, as usually we receive from one another. So Melchizedec blessed Abraham, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Possessor of Heaven and earth : and Blessed be the Most High God, Which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand s / Where Abraham is pronounced happy through God's favour, and God is praised and glorified for thus favouring Abraham. B Genesis xiv. 19, 20. o o — ■ — o BLESSINGS. 105 The emulation and plotting between Esau and Jacob for their father's Blessing is an argument that parents' Blessings were then of some esteem, which now, with many are reckoned scarce worth asking for. How tenderly did Esau, not much noted for piety, take it that his brother had prevented him ; and passionately with tears urge his father to Bless him in like kind ! Hast thou not reserved a Blessing for me ? Hast thou hut one Blessing, my father P Bless me, even me also, 0 my father^/ So sensible he shews himself of so great a loss, that he vows revenge on his brother for thus supplanting him. Jacob w^ould not let go the Angel without a Blessing, though he got it with an halting i ever after ; to shew, that the Blessings of this life are acccmpanied with infirmity, as St. Paul's rapture into the third Heaven, was with a thorn in the flesh^, to keep him from boasting ; which our gifted age so much triumpheth in. Instead of the patterns of the Old Testament, >> Gen. xxvii, 36, 38. ' Gen. xxxii. 25. k 2 Cor. xii. 7. o o o- c 106 BLESSINGS. we have precept in the New, and that from Him in Whom all the nations of the earth are Blessed : / say unto you. Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and Pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you ^ And when httle chil- dren were brought unto Him He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and Blessed them "^. St. Peter leads us along in the same Blessed path : for after he had fully shewn the mutual duties of husbands and wives, one toward another, he concludes, Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as bre- thren, be pitiful, be courteous ; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise Blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that he should inherit a Blessing^. And, do we not read, that as Aaron was commanded to Bless the children of Israel on this wise. The Lord Bless thee and keep thee: the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee : the Lord lift up His 1 Matt. V. 44. " Mark x. 16. ° 1 Peter iv. 8, 9. C — — — ■ — O o .- o BLESSINGS. 107 countenance upon thee and give thee peace ^ ! So the Apostle's Blessing, which we have in our Liturgy, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Ghost he with you all^, is acknowledged to be his usual salutation ^ with his own hand. It is also one of the chiefest arguments for confirm- ing the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, and Praying to the Holy Ghost, which by novel- ists in their liberty of prophecy is in these days again opposed. In which it is strange also, that a generation is found among us, that scru- ple at children's asking Blessing from their parents. Are they afraid lest they should shew themselves too dutiful } or surfeit upon Blessings } or must no Blessing be held effec- tual that comes not from their mouths ? The doctrine may be entertained by itching ears ^, and silly women ® ; but you, my daughters, shall do better to follow the tracks of your pious predecessors, according to the example of good King David, who, after an eminent 0 Num. vi. 23—26. p 2 Cor. xiii. 14. i 2 Thess. iii. 17. ' 2 Tim. iv. 3. ' 2 Tim. iii. 6. 6 — ' ^ o C . 3 108 BLESSINGS. celebration of God's public worship with his subjects, returned to Bless his household^. In your houses, therefore, let such care be taken that cursing or swearing, or lying, or filthiness, or foolish talking, or jesting, which are not con- venient^, be not heard, or pass unreproved, among your children or servants. Let them not offer to eat or drink, without Grace before meat and after it. It is a piece of Judas Iscariot's character, fore-prophesied'^ long by the Psalmist, His delight was in cursing, and it shall happen unto him : he loved not Blessing, therefore shall it be far from him y. Our Savi- our's last parting from His Disciples is thus described. He lifted up His hands and Blessed them. And it came to pass, while he Blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into Heaven ^. From whence when he returns to judgment, O, how much it concerns us to be found with the Blessed on His right hand *, to inherit eternal Blessedness ! 2 Sam. vi. 20. " Eph. v. 4. Compare Acts i. 16 — 22. y Psalm cix. 10. Luke xxiv. 50, 51. » Matt. xxv. 34. o o BLESSINGS. 109 And what are Christian salutations, but Blessings whereby we express the unfeigned good- will we bear to all God's children ? King Toi sends Prince Joram his son unto King David, to salute him and to Bless him ^. King Saul goes to meet Samuel to salute him^, according to the text ; or, according to the marginal translation, Bless him. And this must be performed, not only to great ones or those of our acquaintance : for if ye salute your brethren only, says our Saviour, what do ye more than others ? do not even the Publicans so ^ ? When ye come into an house, (it is His charge to His Apostles) salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it : but if it be not worthy, let your peace return unto you ^. Worthy and unworthy then may be saluted, which the Apostle is careful to do in the beginning and ending of most of his Epistles. What a catalogue of salutations have we in the last chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, with an allowance to salute one another with an b 2 Sam. viii. 10. c 1 Sam. xiii. 10. ^ Matt. V. 47. e Matt. x. 12, 13. C O o — — o no BLESSINGS. holy kiss ^ : which the jealousy of some Chris- tians scarce approves of s. Tlie Angel's saluta- tion to Gideon, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour ^ ! from a thresher exalted him to be a victorious general. Such a saluta- tion it w^as from the Angel Gabriel that strength- ened the Blessed Virgin to entertain a con- ference with him ^ And when Elisabeth heard the Blessed Virgin's salutation afterwards, the babe leaped in her womb and she was filled with the Holy Ghost ^. Among other faults of clownish and churlish Nabal (who lived like a hog, and died like a dog) this is noted for one of the chiefest, that a discreet servant acquainted his mistress, Abigail, Nabal' s wife, with. Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them^. But the courteous salutation of Boaz to his reapers, The Lord be with you ! and their civil •■Rnn. xvi. 16. % "In the Apostles' times that was harmless, which being now revived would be scandalous ; as their osctila sacra." Hooker's Eccl. Pol. Pref. c. iv. 4. (Ed.) h Judges vi. 12. > Luke i. 29. i" Luke i. 41. '1 Sam. xxiii. 14. c — — O .o BLESSINGS. Ill i answer to him. The Lord bless thee^/ are recorded for patterns to be imitated in like cases. Let it be, therefore, a chief token of your humihty and meekness, my loving daugh- ters, to be free of your blessings and due salu- tations, not only to those about you in your house, but to your neighbours, to strangers, nay to those you are persuaded bear you no good- will. For as a soft answer turneth away wrath " ; so a kind salutation sometimes makes enemies friends, and, neglected where it should be performed, turns fi'iends to foes. From superiors, it takes off the suspicion of pride or contempt ; in equals or inferiors, the note of surliness or incivility. In all, it argueth a religious desire to put in practice that precept of the Apostle, If it he possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men °. Neither is this crossed by that of our Saviour, Salute no man by the way^ : or that of the beloved disciple concerning a false teacher. Receive him not into your house, neither hid him "n Ruth ii. 4. n Prov. xv. 1. ° Rom. xii. 18. p Luke x. 4. O — O o ^ o 112 BLESSINGS. God speed: adding withal a reason, For he that hiddeth him God sjjeed, is partaker of his evil deeds ^. For in the first passage, salutation is not forbidden simply, but insisting upon com- pliments, that might hinder their enjoined quick despatch of the business in hand. And in the latter case, a foreknowledge is pre- supposed that such come to beguile, as the ser- pent did to Eve ^ and, therefore, are to be dis- missed rather with a Lord rebuke thee ^ ! than, with a God speed to be encouraged. And this we take for a rule in venturing on any action. If a God speed may be given to it with a safe con- science, then Go on and prosper * ! if not, they that sow the wind are likely to reap nothing but the whii^lwind^, where their spider's webs ^ will meet with the besom of destruction y, and shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works ^. 1 2 John 10, 11. ' 2 Cor. xi. 3. » Zech. iii. 2. Jude v. 9. '1 Kings xxii. 12. " Hosea viii. 7. * Job viii. 14. y Isa. xiv. 23. '* Isa. lix- 5. o — o o- o CHAP. IV. OF PSALMS AND HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS. How these differ, there is a difference among the learned; but that is not to our purpose. This text of St. James is canonical. Is any among you afflicted? let him Pray. Is any merry ? let him sing Psalms^. What shall he sing ? not ballads or jigs of the times : but Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs. So St. Paul instructeth the Ephesians to speak, not out of excess of wine, but of the fulness of the Spirit ; not only in consort with others, but speaking to themselves ; when they are alone, making melody in their hearts to the Lord^\ To the same key he turneth the Colcssians^. In which sort he would have all them (in whom the Word of Christ dwelt richly in all wisdom) » James v. 13. ^ Eph. v. IS, 19. '^ Coloss. iii. 16. o- ■O o o IH' PSALMS. to teach and admonish one another in Psalms, (as some understand it, with voice and instru- ments of the hest music) and Hymns (in praising God with the voice only) and Spiritual songs (of private meditation) upon all oiFered occasions. And it is of especial note that our Saviour, for the proof of His satisfactory redemption, ranks the Psalms with the fulness of the Law of Moses, and the Prophets^. Nay, we shall find scarce any part of the Old Testament so often cited in the New, as that which we call the Psalms of David, in regard that he was the chiefest author of them. Seven of these Psalms our Saviour is thought to have sung with his Disciples (that is, by the vulgar account, from the hundred and twelfth to the hundred and nineteenth) after the institution of His last Supper, when He was going towards His Passion. This is a plain text, that Hezekiah the King, and the Princes, commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord, in their solemn reformation of God's worship and temple, not in extempore conceptions, but with the words <* Luke xxiv. 44. o o o o PSALMS. 115 of David and of Asaph the Seer^. And did they refuse to do it ? No ; but as it follows, they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped. At the Praying and singing such praises unto God by St. Paul and Silas, imprisoned in the strictest manner, the foundations of the prison were shaken bv an earthquake, all the doors were opened, and every one's bands ivere loosed^, and the keeper of the prison terrified into Christianity. A man would marvel, therefore, what those men mean who are so fierce against Church music in concert with instruments. Would they cut the strings of David's harp, if he were now ahve, and turn out Asaph and his brethren for fiddlers ? It is well that the Heavenly Host, who sang that congratulatoiy anthem for the birth of our Saviour, Glory to God in the highest, and in earth peace, good-will towards men^, descended not so low as these men's hearing ; otherwise, somewhat might have been noted in it to be scarce in tune, or accord- ing to the new song of these men's pricking. e 2 Chron. xxix. SO. ' Acts xvi. 26. s Luke ii. 14. O— O o o 11<3 PSALMS. It would grieve the heart of any pious Christian to ponder seriously, that, when as we have had heretofore the monthly reading through of these Psalms with the New Testament also, except the Revelation, thrice every year, and the most edifying passages of the Old Testa- ment once a year, to acquaint the people orderly with God's Word, which must be the inile of all preaching, Praying, and Christian conversation — now such a Reformation is di- rected to us, that we know not where we are, or what to expect ; but that the longest liver shall never be acquainted, by this new method^ in our Church- Service, with the whole counsel of God. And, if the Minister please not, the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, and Lord's Prayer in the New, shall never be known to the simple people. •> '^ How large a portion (of ihe Holy Scriptures) shall be read at once is left to the wisdome of the Minister." Again, " The Communion, or Supper of the Lord is frequently to be celebrated, but how often may be considered and determi7ied by the Ministers? &c." vide, " Directory for Publique Worship," A.D. 1644. For the actual working of this system, consult Archbishop King's " Discourse concerning the Inventions of man in the Worship of God," ch. iii. sect. 3. and ch. v. sect. 3. (Ed.) O O o ■ o PSALMS. 117 But concerning the divers uses and applica- tions of the Psalms in private, that notable treatise^ of an ancient father, placed before our Psalms in metre, may be a profitable directory, wherein ninety-nine cases are set down, what Psalms we may distinctly use for our greatest comfort. For you, my daughters, it may be sufficient to take into your particular devotions those seven Psalms, termed by the ancients peniten- tials ; which are the sixth, thirty- second, thirty- eighth, fifty-first, one hundred and second, one hundred and thirtieth, and one hundred and forty-third ; and were usually re- peated weekly, each on its set day, which was a pious course. But if this may be thought to be otherwise supplied in the family confessions before mentioned in your daily morning and evening Prayer ; it may be worth your private observation to consider the several works of the six days in the creation, as they are registered in the first chapter of Genesis, with * This Treatise of St. Athanasius, On the Use and Virtue of ihePsalms,is reprinted at the end of this volume, v. Appendix II. o — o o o 118 PSALMS. the celebration of the Sabbath, and then to select seven Psalms, which may serve as a most sweet and pertinent explanation of each of them. 1. In this accommodation, for light, the first day's work, you have the twenty- seventh Psalm, The Lord is my Light and my Salvation, whom then shall I fear ? &;c. 2. For the second day's work, which were the Heavens, the nineteenth Psalm, The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- ment sheweth His handy work, 8^c. 3. For the earth with the sea, of the third day's framing, how consonant is the twenty- fourth Psalm, The earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is : the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the sea : and prepared it upon the foods, S^c. 4. In the same order, the sun and moon and stars, which were created and set in the firmament the fourth day, are taken into especial consideration in the eighth Psalm, When I consider the Heavens, even the work of Thy fingers : the moon and the stars which Thou c- u 0__ ( PSALMS. 119 hast ordained, 8fC. Behold, what an excellent use he makes of it, for a pattern to direct us what we should do in contemplating all the rest of the creatures, Lord what is man that Thou art mindful of him : and the son of man that Thou so regardest him ? 5. The like use is made upon the consi- deration of the fishes of the sea, and of the fowls of the air, which were the work of the fifth day, in the hundred and fourth Psalm. 6. And for the sixth day, wherein man was created, with the beasts and the rest of the in- habitants of the earth to serve Him, how fit is the hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm to be thought upon ! 0 God, Thou hast searched me out and known me, Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising: Thou understandest my thoughts long before. My hones are not hid from Thee, though I be made secretly and fashioned beneath in the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect, and in Thy book were all my members written. 7. And, last of all, the ninety-second Psalm bears this title, A Psalm or song for the Sabbath o o o o 120 PSALMS. day (conformable to which we have the seventh and Lord's day), wherein we may observe that, which an unwise man doth not consider, and a fool doth not understand: (1.) What is to be done in celebrating it: It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord : and to sing praises unto Thy Name, 0 Thou most Highest ! (2.) At what set times especially ; morning and evening : To tell of Thy loving -kindness early in the morning : and of Thy truth in the night-season. (3.) With what solemnity : upon an instru- ment of ten strings, and upon the lute : upon a loud instrument ; any in short that may consort with, or quicken, our praises, Prayers, or thanksgivings. (4.) Upon what grounds : Because God hath made us glad through His works. And therefore, this day should be especially set apart to rejoice in giving praise for the opera- tions of His hands ; which is intimated in the fourth Commandment itself. In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all o o o o PSALMS. 121 that in them is^. What should this mean, but that especially upon this day, with all praise and thanksgiving, all these things were to be considered in pious meditations ; and distinct Prayers, praises, and thanksgivings, to be in- ferred thereupon, according to every man's private devotions and capacities, besides the public service. (5.) In what manner must this be done: Our Psalmist also here furnishes us with a Gloria Patri, 0 Lord, how glorious are Thy works ! Thy thoughts are very deep ! (6.) He tells us also that they, who pass over this as a shght business, are but unwise men and /bo/5, who prick up as the green grass, quickly to be mown down, and made fodder for beasts ; whereas the truly religious and due observers of the Lord's day, according to His holy ordinance, shall have their strength ex- alted like the horn of an unicorn ; shaU be anointed with the fresh oil of God's blessed Spirit ; shall flourish like a palm tree, that flourishes under pressures ; shall spread abroad ^ Exodus XX. 11. 6 o o o 122 PSALMS. like a cedar in Lihanus, in spite of winds or tempests ; and shall see their enemies daunted and put to confusion according to their desire. Whereas, they themselves shall be firmly fixed and flourish in the House of the Lord, and bring forth more fruit in their age than the vigour of their former days has yielded. There be some that apply the whole book of Psalms (one hundred and fifty) in this manner; that the first fifty would especially stir us up to hearty repentance ; the second fifty to the consideration of God's mercy and justice ; and the third to the contemplation of eternal happi- ness to be entertained with Hallelujahs and thanksgivings. But if you answer to this, such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for us, we cannot attain unto it^; take then in a shorter way those three Psalms which may well be called the sermons of David. I. In the first of which, the thirty -seventh, you have a plaster against fretting at the prosperity of the wicked, and perplexed estate ' Psalm cxxxix. 6. o — ^ o O- o PSALMS. 123 of those that, in all men's judgments, deserve better. II. In the second, the forty -ninth, you have a purge for swelling upstarts, whose state is held no better than that of the beasts that perish. III. This is set forth more at large in the seventy-third, to beat us off from all worldly vanities, and to bring us to hold fast by God, for that only will bring us true peace at the last. These sermons will not overburden your memories with tediousness, but be easily learned by you, and taught your childi'en. And, seeing you have the songs of Miriam™, and Deborah", and Hannah o in the Old Testament, and the Magnificat"^ of the most Blessed Virgin in the New, so canonically recorded; such patterns should stir you up, my daughters, to practice, and to part with your chiefest worldly delights, as the Hebrew women did with their looking- glasses^ to make a laver for the sanctuary, for the setting forth God's praises and worship " Exodus XV. 21. n Judges v. 1. "1 Sam. ii. 1. p Luke i. 46. q Exodus xxxviii. 8. O O o -o 124 to the utmost of your abilities. 0 clap your hands together, O ye people : 0 sing unto God with the voice of melody, 0 sing praises, sing praises unto our God: 0 sing praises, sing praises unto our King. For God is the King of all the earth : sing ye praises with understanding^ / And, if not at all times in continued Psalms, yet on all occasions in pious ejaculations, the subject of our next chapter. r Psalm xlvii. 6, 7. O- -o o o CHAP. V. OF OCCASIONAL EJACULATIONS. By Ejaculations are understood such pri- vate Prayers, as when upon seeing, hearing, or thinking on any thing of extraordinary con- cernment, we turn ourselves immediately to God, and in short petitions, praises, wishes or thanksgivings, express our hearty devotions. In such no set form can be prescribed, but the occasion itself will so frame the suit, that it will be as prevalent as it is piercing, and the defect of words will be made up with hearty affections. Into such an ejaculatory confession the Israel- ites brake out at the sight of fire from hea- ven to consume the sacrifice of Elijah (which all the raving and lancing of the Baalites had o- o o o 126 EJACULATIONS. failed to procure fi-om their idol «), The Lord, He is the God! The Lord, He is the God^ / falling upon their faces at the utterance of it. So David, upon report that pohtic Ahithophel was turned traitor against him, exclaimed, 0 Lord, I Pray Thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness ^ ! and what foolishness could be more palpable, than in the wise ordering of his family, to reserve a halter to hang him- self^! King Asa had no time, when Zerah the Ethiopian fell upon him with a million of men, but to betake himself to this Ejaculation, Lord it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power : help us, 0 Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. 0 Lord, Thou art our God: let not man prevail against Thee^. And was not the success as speedy in its kind, as the petition was pithy } For, the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah to their utter overthrow. » 1 Kings xviii. 2G — 29. « 1 Kings xviii. 89. j » 2 Sam. XV. 31. ='2 Sam. xvii. 23. y 2 Chron. xiv. 11. 6 ^ — 3 o o EJACULATIONS, 127 Upon the short address of the disciples to our Saviour in a storm, Master, carest Thou not that we perish P He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be still ! and the wind ceased and there was a great calm"^'. Sudden dangers must have correspondent remedies. And whence may they be hoped for, but from Him that is always present every where, and expects but our caUing on Him that He may reheve us ? As you provide, therefore, my daughters, to have hot waters in readiness, or remedies appli- able to sudden occasions, lest in the interim, before they can be gotten, the party whom you best wish unto, perish ; much more should you have at hand, and by heart, such passages of sacred Scriptures, whereon to ground good wishes and pious Ejaculations, which in infinite unexpected occurrences you shall have occasion to make use of. Such our Liturgy hath so pricked out for you, that you need go no fur- ther. To instance in a few of the most ob- vious particulars. For raising up a dejected and * Mark iv. 28, I'd. o 0 o o 128 EJACULATIONS. drooping soul, what may prove more animating than that we first meet with at the threshold of the ser\dce ? IVhen the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive ^. What more effectual to remove God's judgments for our manifold transgressions than that of the lamenting Prophet ? 0 Lord, correct me, hut with judg- ment : not in Thine anger, lest Thou hnng me to nothing'^. A plainer direction cannot be thought upon for a straying sinner, than that of the hunger- starved prodigal, / will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to he called thy son ^. Your children and your rudest sei*vants are acquainted from the Liturgy with these pierc- ing petitions, and the like ! 0 Lord, open Thou our lips / And our mouth shall sheiv forth Thy praise ! 0 God, make speed to save us ! » Ezek. xviii. 27. >> Jer. x. 24. "^ Luke xv. 18, 19. O O o — ■ o EJACULATIONS. 129 O Lord, make haste to help ns ! 0 Lord, sheiv Thy mercy upon us ! And grant us Thy salvation ! 0 Lord, deal not with us after our sins ! Neither reward us after our iniquities ! From our enemies defend us, 0 Christ ! Graciously look upon our afflictions ! These are made familiar to them by frequent repetition, which those that term shreds and pomdge, little think upon the short Ejaculation of David, / have sinned against the Lord, that had presently this return. The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shall not die ^. Or that of the simple Pubhcan, God be merciful to me a sinner ! and the sequel of it, that he went down to his house justified rather than the ® vaunting Pharisee, for all his eloquence. And this is an advantage in such short Ejaculations, that they are not so liable to distractions as longer Prayers, and are more easy to be remembered by all, and ready to be used when space and I place may not be had for longer Prayers. "1 2 Sam. xii. IS. • Luke xviii. 13, 14. o o -o 130 EJACULATIONS. To give a touch in some few particulars. At our first awaking in the morning, who may not, with heart and hands and eyes Ufted up to Heaven, say. Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us ^, and welcome the appearance of the light with this, or the like. Ejaculation, God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and sheiv us the light of His countenance, and be merciful unto us s ? In clothing ourselves, how becoming would that be of the Apostle (which converted a holy Father ^) to be fitted to the occasion ? The night is far spent, the day is at hand ! Grant, O Lord, that I may cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light : that I may waik honestly as in the day, not in rioting or f Psalm iv. 6. g Psalm Ixvii. 1. •" "So was I speaking, and weeping in the most bitter contri- tion of my heart, when, lo I I heard, from a neighbouring house, a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, ' Take up and read ; Take up and read' I arose interpret- ing it to be no other than a command from God, to open the book, and read the first chapter I should find I seized opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell : 'Not in riotinff and drunkenness, S^c.'" St. Augustine's Con. fessions. Book viii. § 29. (Ed.) [ o o o o EJACULATIONS. 131 drunkenness, not in chambering or wantonness, not in strife or envying ; but that I may put on the Lord Jesus Chnst (more necessary to cover my soul's nakedness than apparel is for the body) and make not provision for the flesh (as is commonly used) to fulfil the lusts thereof'^. In like manner, far be it from superstition, when we wash, to Pray, Wash me throughly from my wickedness : and cleanse me from my sin : For I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before ine^. At our going forth, Sheiv Thou me the ivay that I should walk in ; for I lift up my soul unto Thee^f At the hearing of a clock, or looking on a watch, or dial. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom^ ! At the undertaking of any work of our voca- tion, The glorious Majesty of the Lord our God be upon us! Prosper Thou the work of our hands upon us, 0 prosper Thou our handy -work ^ ! And if we cannot utter this desire with a good ' Rom. xiii. 12, 13, 14. ■< Psalm li. 2. ' Psalm cxliii. 8. ™ Psalm xc. 12. " Psalm xc. 17. O O O Q 132 EJACULATIONS. conscience, a stop must be made, and the busi- ness not undertaken. Last of all, upon our death-beds, old Jacob's Ejaculation will be acceptable and comfortable, 0 Lord, I have waited for Thy Salvation ° t with old Simeon's in the New Testament, to bear it company. Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation p, in knowing and depending upon Him for my redemption, my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Whose Prayer, in giving up the Ghost, must be ours at the last gasp. Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit ^ ! the happiest conclusion that all our Devotions can bring us unto. Li the interim, we shall meet with, in this vale of misery, many passages to be lamented at : which, how it may be per- formed, the next Title suggests. 0 Gen. xlix 18. p Luke ii. 29. Jeremiah vii. 29. <= Lamen. i. 12. <" Lamen. ii. 20. o o O o LAMENTATIONS. 135 compared to these burning expressions ! Isaiah had the hke, before the desolation he foresaw should come upon his countiy for their sins. Look away from me, I will weep bitterly : labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people^ ! And Alas ! Alas ! is the burthen of the Lamentation, foretold by Amos in the like case, which the citizens, and husbandmen, and such as are skilful of Lamenta- tion^, must take up, when the Lord is angry and poureth out the vials?' of His punishment upon them. On such bread of tears^, and drink mingled with weeping^ the prophet David often made his kingly repast, when the floods^ of Belial made him afraid. And mark how earnest and passionate he is in divers addresses to God, which pierce the highest heavens, to extort, as it were, a blessing. Will the Lord absent Him- self for ever : and will He be no more entreated ? Is His mercy clean gone for ever : and is His promise come utterly to an end for evermore ? « Isaiah xxii. 4. ^ Amos v. 16. K Revelations xvi. 1. ^ Psalm xlii. 3. ' Psalm cii. 9. '= Psalm Ixix. 2. O — CJ o o 136 LAMENTATIONS. Hath God forgotten to be gracious : and will He shut up His loving -kindness in displeasure^? And what consorts more with the miseries of THESE lamentable times, than that of the sixtieth Psalm, 0 God, Thou hast cast us out, and scat- tered us abroad : Thou hast also been displeased ; 0 turn Thee unto us again. Thou hast moved the land, and divided it : heal the sores thereof, for it shaketh. Thou hast shewed Thy people heavy things : Thou hast given us a drink of deadly 'wine^ ! \Vhen you therefore consider, my daughters, (which I will that you seriously and conscion- ably do) the irreverent contempt, and worse than heathenish profaneness, that is fallen of late upon God's worship, imder a pretence of exacter teaching and purer reformation, you may betake yourselves to that complaint of the Psalmist, Help, Lord, for there is not one godly man left : for the faithful are minished from among the children ofmen^. The wicked walk on evety side when the vilest of the sons of men ' Psalm Ixxvii. 7 — 9, "> Psalm Ix. 1 — 3. " Psalm xii. 1. o- 6 o- o LAMENTATIONS. 137 are exalted^. And turn that reproof of our Saviour into a necessary prayer ; O Lord, Thy House should be called, and so ever acknow- ledged to be, the House of Prayer ; but, behold, it is now made, not only a den of thieves p, but a stable for horses, and a receptacle for Ziim Psalm Ixix. 1, 2. 21. o Q _ O 140 LAMENTATIONS. by -word. They ahhor me, they flee far from me y and spare not to spit in my face^! 6. Upon survey and sense of our own dis- abilities, to procure the least refi-eshing to our galling grievances, how feelingly may that of Isaiah vent our sorrows ! My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously ; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are so ordered upon us, that he ,who fleeth from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit ; and he, that cometh up out of the midst of the pit, shall he taken in the snare^. 7 . Last of all ; if David's eyes gushed out with water, because 7nen kept not God's law^, what rivers of tears should run down our cheeks at beholding our obstinate offendings under the rod of God's confounding punishment ! Even in the sight of Moses and the congregation, weeping by reason of the plague among them, an impu- dent Zimri shall trace along with his shameless Cozbi^. Instead of true humiliation, we shall Job XXX. 1 5. 8—10. d Isaiah xxiv. 16—18. Psalm cxix. 136. ^ Num. xxv. 6. o- o c— o LAMENTATIONS. 141 have obtruded deluding dissimulation ; and dogs shall prove more pitiful to disconsolate Lazarus than purple DivesS, or any of his full-fed attend- ants. To all which what have we to say, but, 0 Lord God, to Whom vengeance belongetJi : Thou God, to Whomvengcancebelongeth,shew Thyself^? What remaineth but to comfort ourselves in this, that in Sodom's destruction from heaven, Lot shall find a protection to escape^ ; and Baruch shall obtain his life for a prey in all places whither he goeth^ ? In the destruction of that temple and city which was the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth^, a mark shall be set upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof"^ ; that so in the day of vengeance they may be passed over and pre- served. Whereupon we may safely conclude, with the Psalmist, as much experienced in this kind as any of God's children, They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy. He that now goeth on e Luke xvi. 19. i> Psalm xciv. 1. ■ Gen. xix. 16. k Jer. xlv. 5. ' Lamen. ii. 15. ■» Ezek. ix. 4. and Rev. vii. 3. O O o o 142 LAMENTATIONS. his way weeping, and heareth forth good seed, shall doubtless come again with joy, and bring his sheaves with him^. For expressing of which rejoicing we may use for a directory the helps that follow. » Psalm cxxvi. 7. o o o o CHAPTER VII. OF EXCITATIONS OR ENCOURAGEMENTS TO ALL KINDS OF CHRISTIAN CHEERFULNESS AND ALACRITY. Such is the stupid dulness of our nature since the Fall, and loathing averseness from all good- ness, that though it be erected by grace, and directed in the plainest paths that lead to hap- piness, yet, without continual goadingson, it will look back with Lot's wife°, and be like the horse and mule, which will follow us no longer than they are drawn to it, with bit and bridle^ in our hands. Hence the Psalmist, being exceeding sensible of this original lethargy, no less than seven times in one Psalm, sues to the Physician of our souls for spiritual quickening. Aqua Vitce, in these and the like expressions. Quicken me, 0 Lord, according to Thy Word — in Thy way — in " Gen. xix. 26. P Psalm xxxii. 10. O O D O 144 CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. Thy righteousness — after Thy loving kindness ^ ! And the blessed Apostle thinks it not enough, to exhort his scholar Timothy, to endure hard- ness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ ^, except he joined with it the stirring up the gift of God ^ that was in him, and improving it to the utmost, in the vocation in which the Church had set him. When the people told blind Bartimseus (whom they had before charged that he should hold his peace *) that our Saviour made a stand and called for him. Oh, how nimbly the blind beggar bestirs himself ! Off goes his garment, up he starts, scrambles to Jesus as well as he could, was presently healed, and followed after with all alacrity, praising the heavenly Donor of so inestimable a benefit. Such cheerful and confident alacrity the Lord Himself in a peculiar iQanner gives in charge to His general Joshua : Have not I commanded thee ? he strong and of a goodcourage, he not afraid, neitherhe thou dismayed ; for the Lord Thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest^. Among teeth as spears and 1 Psalm cxix. 9. 25. 40. 88. ' 2 Tim. ii. 3. « 2 Tim. i. 6. « Mark x. 48. '■ Joshua i. 9. 6 o o— — o CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. 145 arrows, and tongues of his enemies as sharp as swords, and nets to entangle his feet, and pits to swallow up his whole body, observe how the Prophet David cheers himself up : My heart is fixed, 0 God, my heart is fixed : I will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory ; awake, lute and harp: I myself will awake right early '^. And this is the ready, the willing, the cheerful worship, the dancing of the heart for joy y, the praising of God with the best member'^ we have, that was prophesied to be performed after our Savioui-'s erecting his Church of Jews and Gentiles ; In the day of Thy poiver shall the people offer Thee free-will offerings with an holy worship; (or, as our later translation has it. Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of Holiness) the dew of Thy birth is of the womb of the morning^, gentle for the descending in drops innumerable. For putting life into and cheering this free- will worship, which is only acceptable unto God when it proceeds according to His own * Psalm Ivii. 5—9, y Psalm xxviii. 8. • Psalm cviii. 1. » Ps.ilm ex. 3. 9 : o o . ■ o 146 CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. Directory, three things in the Scripture and our Church-book, are especially to be taken notice of: 1 . Proclamations from God. 2. Excitations of ourselves. 3. Incitations of others. I. Of those which may be termed cheerful Proclamations, you may take notice of these seven especially : 1. Of that whereof King David is made the herald; Come ye children, and hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord^. Your teacher shall be a King and Prophet; your teaching shall be gratis ; your learning shall be such as shall make you eternally happy. 2. And because, perchance, to some it may come more plausibly from the deliverance of a woman, Solomon the son brings in Wisdom bestirring herself, and sending/orM her maidens, to invite all desirous of learning, to a great feast in her stately house erected upon seven pillars. Whoso is simple, (she criethfrom the ^ Psalm xxxiv. 1 1 . ■C ' — ^ < o ^ o CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. 147 highest places of the city, where it is likely of the greatest audience,) let him turn in hither : as for him that wanteth understanding, let him come eat of my bread, and drink of my wine, which I have mingled^ ! 3. In the third place, that of Tsaiah would be diligently hearkened unto ; Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, (for spiritual refreshing, which is infinitely beyond all carnal comforts,) and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread P and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness^ . 4. And to prevent ail surmises that a pious life is accompanied with sadness, and lays a tie upon us which would abridge us of all cheerful society, the Proclamation of our Saviour Him- self doth ascertain us to the contrary. Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon " Proverbs ix. 1—5. d Isaiah Iv. 1, 2. O ^ O o o 148 CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. you, and learn of Me : for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light^. This is taken into our Liturgy, for a chief ground of the Excitations that are set before the partaking of the Lord's Supper j Lift up your hearts ! We lift them up unto the Lord! Let us give thanks unto our Lord God ! It is very meet and right so to do ! 5. Upon this, the Great King's invitation of all sorts to His wedding feast for His Son would be most seriously hearkened unto : Behold, I have prepared my dinner : my oxen and my fallings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage^. Turn it not off with excuses of absence, neither profane it by irreverent intruding without a wedding- gar- ment; for this shall never pass without a heavy censure. 6. Neither is the sixth Proclamation of less consequence. Come out of her. My people, that e Matt. xi. 28—30, ' Matt. xxii. 4. o — < o c CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. 149 ye he not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues^. Take it how you will, either for clearing yourselves from the Babylon, or confusions, of Popery, or of schis- matics, or of wTetched worldlings, the case is of such consequence, that the not abandoning of such societies will make us incapable of the last Proclamation. 7. And the Spirit and the Binde say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the waters of life freely^. What sense is so benumbed, and affection so bewitched, what heart so stupified, that such proffers, if they win not, yet at least will not retard from the desperate courses, which the world, the flesh, and the devil continually puts us upon ? To strengthen those graces so freely offered, these Memorandums or Mementos may do well to be had in readiness. 1 . Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth\ while thou hast abilities and oppor- g Rev. xviii. 4. •» Rev. xxii. 17. ' Eccles. xii. 1. Q Q o o 150 CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. tunities to do it ; for thou knowest not how soon thou may est be deprived of them. 2. Remember Lot's wife^ ; fall not back from a good course wherein thou art, lest thou be at a loss, which thou shalt never be able to recover. 3. Remember Dives SLiid Lazarus^. We must not think to fare well here, and never to be called to an account hereafter. 4. Remetnber the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy"^ ; not in hearkening so much after other men's undertakings in speaking, as the worshipping of God ourselves in the Beauty of Holiness. Consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works : not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is ; but exhorting one another ; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching^ . This will draw on 5. Tlie fifth Memento. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was imisedfrom the dead° ; and having spoiled principalities, and k Luke xvii. 32. ' Luke xvi. 19—31. »" Exodus xx. 8. " Heb. X. 24. ° 2 Tim. ii. 8. O 6 r o CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. 151 powers. He made a show of them openly, triumph- ing over them p by Himself, in His Cross ; thereby freeing us from Satan's slavery, and purchasing to us an immortal kingdom. In travelling to the possession of which, we must labour to support the weak, and take 6. The sixth Memento of our Saviour with us : and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said. It is more blessed to give than to receive i. 7. And yet, when all this is done, to keep us from undoing all again, that Memento of St. Jude in the last place will be necessary : Beloved, remember ye the words which ivere spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ ; how that they told you, there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts ^. But how shall we discern them from honest men, seeing they varnish all their actions with the exquisite veil of holiness, and hold forth their jealous pro- jects with the most taking professions of Saint- ship } The nineteenth verse will there tell us in r Coloss. ii. 15. i Acts xx. 35. ' Jude 17, 18. O ___„. O o ^o 152 CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. downright terms : These he they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. These be the Separatists, Libertines, and Enthusiasts, of this age spawning, which some suspect to have affinity with the three frogs, issuing out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false Prophet, which set king- doms and states against the Lamb and His foUow^ers, until they be utterly defeated in the battle of Armageddon ^. Here the like number of Caveats may be put in, and all from the Saviour immediately ; as 1 . Take heed that no man deceive you *, by putting false Christs and false Prophets upon you. 2. Take heed what ye hear ", and how ye hear ^. 3. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men y : that thou appear not unto men to fast ^ ; that, when thou Prayest, thou be not as the hypo- * Rev. xvi. 13. IG. ' Mark xiii. 5. ° Mark iv. 24. » Luke viii. 18. y Matt. vi. 1. « Matt. vi. 18. I c— — — J o o CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. 153 crites are^: lest there be vain-glory in thy best works. 4. Take heed that the light ivhich is in thee be not darkness^, by aiming at wrong ends, and overprizing your own sanctity in comparison with others. 5. Take heed, and heivare of men, by being wise as serpents, and harmless as doves ^ ; which caution intimates that which the Prophet Jere- miah hath more at large : Take heed every one of his neighbour ; and trust ye not in any brother : for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders^. 6. Take heed, and beware of covetousness : for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth ®. They make him not happy, but the well bestowing of them ; which, basely neglected, prove often- times the bane of the owner, and a booty for those that wiU vdckedly set them packing. 7. Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and » Matt. vi. 5. •> Luke xi. 35. = Matt. x. 16, 17. I <* Jer. ix. 5. « Luke xii. 15, o o o c 154 CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. drunkenness, and cares of this life ; and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth ^. But enough hath been spoken, if it be well remembered and practised. And yet, what will Caveats, Mementos, or Edicts from Hea- ven avail, if we be wanting to ourselves, and bend not an ear to hear, or a heart to enter- tain what the Spirit saith unto the Churches s, and, in them, to us in particular ? II. Here then come in these Excitations, which among Divines are called Sohloquies, in which, by reflecting upon ourselves, in what condition soever we are, we set the superior faculties of our souls, that is, the understanding and will, to comfort and cheer up our drooping senses and consciences, upon heavenly princi- ples that wiU never fail. And, herein, for a lantern to our feet, and a light unto our paths^, we have the Prophet David, in so many pas- sages, that it may distract us which especially f Luke xxii. 34, 35. e Rev. ii. 11. >> Psalm cxix. 105. O O o . . o CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. 155 to instance. In the midst of his devouring cannibal enemies, who came upon him to eat up his flesh, how cheerfully does he rouse himself up ! The Lord is my light, and my salvation ; whom then shall I fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I he afraid^? Upon the scoffs of his adversaries, that, having him at an advantage, would cast him in the teeth, Where is now thy God? he reflects within himself, and, without passionate retort, makes good his ground against them. Why art thou so vexed, 0 my soul, and ichy art thou so disquieted within me ? 0 put thy trust in God, for I will yet thank Him JVIiich is tJie help of my countenance and my God^. Praise the Lord, 0 my soul : and all that is within me praise His holy Name^f While I live, will I praise the Lord: yea, as long as I have any being, I will sing praises unto my God^. Such a communing with her own heart hath the poor woman diseased with an issue of blood, for she said within herself. If I may but touch His ' Psalm xxvii. 1. k Psalm xlii. 14, 15. ' Psalm ciii. 1. » Psalm cxlvi. 1. o o c __- ^o 156 CHRISTIAN ALACRITY. garment I shall be whole^! And how calmly, in this kind, doth Job put off the losses of his goods and children ! Naked came I out of my mx)ther's womb, and naked shall I return thither : the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord^! III. Last of all, for inciting others ; not only must all sorts of people be called upon in these, and the like, terms, 0 praise the Lord! 0 give thanks unto the Lord ! O sing unto the Lord a new song! which are as famihar as comfortable; but also beasts and senseless creatures must be fetched in to bear a part, as in the close of the Psalms : Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord^! Let the sea make a noise — let the floods clap their hands — let the hills be joyful together before the Lord^! and, 0 be joyful in the Lord all ye lands, serve the Lord with gladness, and come before His presence with a song^! These and like select » Matt. ix. 20, 21. o Job i. 21. p Psalm cl. 6. 1 John i. 8, ■ Dan. ix. 20. 0 ^ o c — o CONFESSIONS. 165 No sooner shall David say, / have sinned against the Lord, but the Prophet shall reply, The Lord also hath put away thy sin ; thou shalt not die'^f As soon as he shall acknowledge. My foot hath slipped, he shall presently have good cause to add, Thy mercy, 0 Lord, held me up. In the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart: Thy comforts have refreshed my soulK For as cleansing the stomach, after excess of gluttony, giveth it ease, so Confes- sion easeth the conscience after a burthening sin committed. For this purpose it will be a great ease to the afflicted soul, to have recourse to those Hymns in our Church-Book, and sing them devoutly. •< 2 Sam. xii. 13. ' Psalm xciv. 18. o o o o 166 .CONFESSIONS. ®f;£ f)um6Ie suit of a Sinner. O Lord on "Whom I do depend, Behold my careful heart, And when T*hy will and pleasure is, Release me from my smart. Thou seest my sorrows what they are. My grief is known to Thee ; And there is none that can remove, Or take the same from me ; But only Thou Whose aid I crave. Whose mercy still is prest : To ease all those that come to Thee, For succour and for rest. And since Thou seest my restless eyes, My tears and grievous groan : Attend unto my suit, O Lord, Mark well my plaint and moan. For sin hath so enclosed me. And compassed me about : That I am now remediless, If mercy help not out. For mortal men cannot release, Or mitigate this pain. But even Thy Christ, my Lord and God, Which for my sins was slain. 0 ^ c o CONFESSIONS. 167 Whose bloody wounds are yet to see, Though not with mortal eye : Yet do Thy Saints behold them all, And so I trust shall I. Though sin doth hinder me awhile, When Thou shalt see it good, 1 shall enjoy the sight of Him, And see His wounds and blood. And as Thine Angels, and Thy Saints, Do now behold the same, So trust I to possess that place. With them to praise Thy Name. But while I live here in this vale. Where sinners do frequent, Assist me ever with Thy grace. My sins still to lament. Lest that I tread in sinners' trace, And give them my consent, To dwell with them in vsdckedness. Whereto nature is bent. Only Thy grace must be my stay. Lest that I fall down flat : And, being down, then, of myself. Cannot recover that. 6 ^i) o— 168 CONFESSIONS. Wherefore this is yet once again, My suit and niy request, To grant me pardon for my sins, That I in Thee may rest : Then shall my heart, my tongue and voice, Be instruments of praise : And in Thy Church and house of Saints, Sing Psalms to Thee always. ©]^£ ICamentation of a Sinner— Market. 0 Lord, turn not away Thy face. From him that lies prostrate. Lamenting sore his sinful life. Before Thy mercy gate. Which gate Thou openest wide, to those That do lament tkeir sin. Shut not that gate against me, Lord, But let me enter in. And call me not to mine accounts. How I have lived here : For then I know right well, O Lord, How vile I shall appear. 1 need not to confess my life, I am sure Thou canst tell : What I have been and what I am, I know Thou kn-ow'st it well. 6 6 o CONFESSIONS. 169 O Lord, Thou know'st what things be past And eke the things that be : Thou know'st also what is to come, Notliing is hid from Thee: Before the heavens and earth were made Thou know'st what things were then. As all things else that have been since, Among the sons of men. And can the things that I have done, Be hidden from Thee then ? Nay, nay. Thou know'st them all, O Lord, Where they were done, and when. Wherefore with tears I come to Thee, To beg and to entreat : Even as the child that hath done ill, And feareth to be beat : So come I to Thy mercy gate, Where mercy doth abound : Requiring mercy for my sin, To heal my deadly wound. O Lord, I need not to repeat. What I do beg or crave : Thou know'st, O Lord, before I ask, The thing that I would have. o o 170 CONFESSIONS. Mercy, good Lord, mercy I ask, This is the total sum : For mercy, Lord, is all my suit. Lord, let Thy mercy come. W^z ICamcntation. Through perfect repentance , the sinner hath a sure trust in God, that his ains shaU te -washed away in Christ's blood"'. O Lord in Thee is all my trust. Give ear unto my woful cry ; Refuse me not that am unjust, But bowing down Thy heavenly eye. Behold how I do still lament. My sins wherein I do offend : O Lord, for them shall I be shent ", Since Thee to please I do intend ? '° In the Old Version of the Psalms in Metre, there was ori- ginally prefixed to each Psalm a brief account of its contents, making especially all prophetic reference to Christ and His Kingdom. This served to keep their truly Evangelical character ever present to the reader's mind ; and there was then no ' com- plaining of the sweet Songs of Zion, given by inspiration of God the Holy Ghost, that they are not sufficiently Spiritual! " (Ed.) n Blamed O — - — O o o CONFESSIONS. 171 No, no, not so, Thy will is bent, To deal with sinners in Thine ire : But when in heart they shall repent. Thou grant' st with speed that they desire. To Thee therefore still shall I cry, To wash away my sinful crime : Thy blood, O Lord, is not yet dry. But that it may help me in time. Haste Thee, O Lord, haste Thee, I say. To pour on me Thy gifts of grace. That when this life must fleet away, In Heaven with Thee I may have place ; "Where Thou dost reign eternally, With God, "Which once did down Thee send ; Where Angels sing continually , To Thee be praise world without end. They too that have some fuller taste and rehsh of God's Word, may make a kind of confessionary Litany to themselves, fitted to the times of trouble they live in. As for example. 1. By our fratricide with Cain^, who cause- lessly murdered his innocent brother : — o o o o 172 CONFESSIONS. 2. By our unnatural irreverence with HamP, who scoffed at the nakedness of his father ; — 3. By our contemptuous profaneness with Esau^, who for one morsel of meat sold his birth- right^;— 4. By our sacrilege with Achan^, who wickedly ventured on that which was conse- crated to God, to the destruction of himself and all his ; — . 5. By our devilish conspiracy with Corah and his company against Moses and Aaron, God's spiritual and temporal Prelates ; — 6. By Doeg's* brutish falling upon God's Priests to make away with them, that he might have the greatest share in the plundering of their means ; — 7. By Absalom's" most unnatural rebellion against his most indulgent father ; — We, O Lord, have affronted Heaven, and plucked down Thy just vengeance upon us ; Correct us, therefore, 0 Lord, but with judg- P Gen. ix. 22. i Gen. xxv. 33. ' Heb. xii. 16. • Josh. vii. 18. « 1 Sam. xxii. 18. " 2 Sam. xv. 10. o- o o ■ o CONFESSIONS. 173 ment, not in Thine anger, lest we be consumed, and Thou bring us to nothing^! And if you, my daughters, would fit it more properly to your sex, you may dispose it in this manner. 1. With Lot's wifey, deserting her husband, and looking back to the luxui-y of Sodom ; — 2. With Dinah ^, gadding abroad to her own shame, the enraging of her brethren, and the discontent of her father : — 3. With the plots of Joseph's mistress* upon her chaste sei*vant : — 4. With Job's impatient wife^, to add affliction to the greatest afflictions of her tormented husband : — 5. With Michal's*^ scoffing at her husband David's devotion ; as misbeseeming his high place to be submissive to God : — 6. With the haughtiness of the daughters of Zion» 1 Thess. v. 25. ■> Heb. xiii. 18. ° Exodus ix. 28. p Acts viii. 24. 6 — o n O 188 INTERCESSIONS. Whereupon St. James laid it down for a Canon to be observed of all the faithful, Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may he healed^. Which two ingredients make an excellent soul- salve for all spiritual wounds and bruises. And therefore we have so divers and eiFectual forms of Intercession in our Church-book, that I may well use the words to you, that Boaz sometime did unto Ruth, Nearest thou not, my daughter ? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence^, for here you shall find that which will satisfy. The pattern of Intercession we have from our Saviour for his Apostles, successors, and con- verts, in the seventeenth chapter of St. John's Gospel, as we had His general Prayer for all things necessary in the sixth chapter of St. Matthew's; conformable to which we have, in our Liturgy, that excellent Intercession framed, under the title. Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church militant here on earth. This Prayer is to be had by heart, and always used upon any occasion. And, in 1 James v. 16. ■• Ruth ii. 8. o ■ o o o INTERCESSIONS. ,189 particulars, find we not further Intercessions for the Kings, Queen, and Royal Progeny, Bishops, and all the Clergy, most orderly following one another ? To the same purpose are these interchangeable Intercessions between Priest and People; 0 Lord, shew Thy mercy upon us ; And grant us Thy salvation ! 0 Lord, save the King ! 8^c. which your Httle ones may be brought to repeat in answering one another. The like passages are interposed in Matrimony for the parties contracting marriage, 0 Lord, save Thy Servant and Thy Handmaid; Which put their trust in Thee, &;c. Again, in the Visitation of the Sick, 0 Lord, save Thy servant : Which putteth his trust in Thee, 8^c. « "One of the greatest faults some men found with the Common Prayer Book, I believe, was this, that it taught them to pray so oft for me." King Charles I. 'EiKwv BaaiMKri. Sect. xvi. (Ed.) O O o o 190 INTERCESSIONS. And also, at your women's-meetings, commonly called Church-goings, 0 Lord, save this woman Thy servant, Who putteth her trust in Thee, 8fC. Persuade yourselves, my daughters, these things are not to be little set by. This simplicity in coming to God with good hearts and humble minds, in obedience to our Mother, the Church, which hath thus directed us, will be more acceptable to him, and more prevalent, than Balak's seven altars^, and Balaam's thence fetching prophecies ; nay, than the sacrifice of a bullock, that hath horns and hoofs^. For God is not taken with quaint inventions, or excellency of speech^; for, as the Apostle tells us. The ivisdom of this world is foolishness with Gody, and His Kingdom is not in word, but in power ^. If our heart, therefore, condemn us not, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things ; and then, saith the Blessed Apostle, have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, ' Numbers xxiii. 1. " Psalm Ixix. 32. » 1 Cor. ii. 1. y 1 Cor. iii. 19. « 1 Cor, iv. 20. o 6 o o 191 INTERCESSIONS. we receive of Him, because we keep His command- ments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight^. And so we may close with the man after God's own heart^. The humble shall con- sider this, and be glad : seek ye after God, in this way, and your soul shall live^. 1 John iii. 20—22. Psalm Ixix. 33. 1 Sam. xiii. 14. o CHAP. V. or THANKSGIVING. Well may Thanksgiving follow Interces- sion, which is the only high-rent that God expecteth for all His infinite blessings bestowed upon us. Among the sacrifices of the Old Testament, this of Thanksgiving hath a special prescription to be tempered with plenty of oil of gladness^, that maketh a cheerful counte- nance^. In this behalf the Psalmist is so copious, that it is hard to pitch upon any one passage, wherein he seems more expressive than another. In that ninety- second Psalm, which carries the title. For the Sabbath day, no entrance is found but by the door of Thanks- giving. It is a good thing to give thanks unto "J Psalm xlv. « Psalm civ. 15. o o o THANKSGIVING. 193 the Lord : and to sing praises unto Thy Name, 0 Most Highest : to tell of Thy loving -kindness early in the morning : and of Thy truth in the night-season : upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the lute : upon a loud instrument, and upon the harp ^. Church music, then, in those days, was not held superstitious, but taken in for a help, to set forth Praise and Thanks- giving. For performance of which duty, so many ties are upon us, that the Prophet s cries out, as if destitute of expressions ; What reward shall I give unto the Lord : for all the benefits that He hath done unto me '^ ? And the Psalmist can resolve no otherwise for himself than. Every day will I give thanks unto Thee, and praise Thy Name for ever and ever'^. And for stirring up of others to the same duty, he exclaims, 0 praise the Lord, for it is a good f Psalm xcii. 1 — 3. g Patrick ascribes this Psalm to David ; but Hammond refers it to a period subsequent to the Captivity, from certain Chalda- isms which occur in it. Others consider it likely to have been composed by Hezekiah. 2 Kings xx. 1. (Ed.) ^ Psalm cxvi. 11. ' Psalm cxlv. 2. C O o o 194 THANKSGIVING. thing to sing praises unto our God : yea a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful ^. But what need we go further, where we have the practice of our Lord to lead us ? / thank Thee, 0 Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight ^. According with this, we have that large form of Thanksgiving, besides many others, to stir up ourselves and others, of the kingly Prophet, O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious : and His mercy endureth for ever. 0 give thanks unto the God of all Gods : for His mercy endur- eth for ever. 0 thank the Lord of all Lords : for His mercy endureth for ever "^ / And so he goes on, numbering up God's Blessings, for which thanks were due, with a repetition from whence they proceeded ; from God's mercy not our deserts ; for His mercy endureth for ever. He ends, moreover, as he began, as though in '' Psalm cxh'ii. 1. - Matt. xi. 25. ™'Psalm cxxxvi. 1 — 3. o — ^ n o- o THANKSGIVING. 195 his acknowledgment he had never said enough ; 0 give thanks unto the God of Heaven : for His mercy endurethfor ever. O give thanks unto the Lord of Lords: for His mercy endureth for ever. Upon this ground proceed the four and twenty Elders, representing the whole Church of the Faithful, falling u]pon their faces, and worshipping God ; saying, We give Thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty, Which art, and wast, and art to come ; because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned " / From these, and the hke, patterns our Liturgy's Forms are derived ; such as the Thanksgiving/br Rain in time of drought, for Fair Weather, for Plenty, for Peace and Deliverance from our ene- mies, for Deliverance from the Plague, and that one after the receiving of the Lord's Supper, commencing with. Almighty and everlasting God, we most heartily thank Thee S^c. And, last of all, under the title of Prayers most commonly set in the end of the Church-Book, what a com- plete form of Thanksgiving have we, that thus » Rev. xi. 17. o -o c— o 196 THANKSGIVING. begins ; Honour and Praise he given to Thee, O Lord God Almighty 8^c. ^ ; which ends with the most pious and necessary petition to be used at all times and on all occasions ; Let Thy mighty hand and outstretched arm, 0 Lord, be still our defence 8fC. For your sex also, my daughters, is not to be omitted the Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth, commonly called the Churching of women, though latter times have held it superstitious ; wherein you are called upon to give hearty thanks unto God, and to pray, in the v/ords of the Psalmist, / will lift up mine eyes unto the hills : from whence cometh my help. My help cometh even from the Lord : Who hath made Heaven and earth '^. And that which follows, so that the sun shall not burn thee by day, neither the moon by night, is not imperti- nent, as some will have it, inasmuch as it ascribes all preservation to God, at all times, and in all places, in our greatest extremities. V/hen more punctual, devout, and judicious Thanksgivings, upon surer ground and authority, " Vide Appendix I. p Psalm cxxi. 1 . c — ^ o c— ' THANKSGIVING. 197 shall be tendered to you, my daughters, you may satisfy your consciences in making use of them. In the mean time, you and yours may feed on the milk which your Mother, the Church, so plentifully i affords you ; and not cast about for change of nurses, who will scarce prove so natural "^. "5 " Whatsoever means of Grace and Salvation hath been used by the Catholic Church in all ages, the same, and none else, are to this day used by our own. Insomuch that, if we do but cast our eye upon the Church we live in, we may in that, as in a mirrour, behold the constant practice of the Universal Church, in all things necessary to man's salvation." Bp. Beveridge, Ser. 4. Vol. 1. Folio. (Ed.) >■ "I tell you, I have tried it, (the Church o England,) and, after much search, and many disputes, have concluded it to be the best in the world ; not only in the community, as Christian, but also in the speciall notion, as reformed: keeping the middle way between the pomp of superstitious tyranny, and the mean- nesse of fantastique anarchy." K. Charles I. Eikccp BaaiXiKT} Sect, xxvii. (Ed.) o o n O CHAP. Vi. OF PRAISES. Praise is a due acknowledgement of God's infinite excellency, expressed in His works of Power, Mercy, and Justice. It has such affinity with Thanksgiving, that most commonly they go together, and are usually taken one for the other. As in that Psalm, All Thy works praise Thee, 0 Lord, and Thy Saints give thanks unto Thee. I ivill magnify Thee, 0 God, my King :■ and I will praise Thy Name for ever and ever. Every day will I give thanks unto Thee, and praise Thy Name for ever and ever ^. Notwithstanding, however. Magnifying, Praising, Blessing, and Giving of Thanks to God, are used for the same purpose, yet Praise • Psalm cxlv. 10, 1.2. O O n — - — ■ o PRAISES. 199 may belong to excellency which we are not bound to thank; whereas Thanks include Praise for affording us a blessing, by which we are obhged to glorify the Donor. In the Old Testament, those, that shall seek for forms in this behalf, shall find all the Psalms of David, in the original, come under the title of "The Book of Praises." Not that all Psalms therein may be so termed; but, because the most part are so, that gives the nomination to the whole. As an example for Praises to you, my daughters, that of Miriam may be pertinent, which is registered to all posterity for imitation in these words ; And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand ; and all the women went out after her with tim- brels and with dances : (none being so scru- pulous in those days as to take exceptions at them,) and Miriam ajiswered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea ^ Oh, what an excellent emulation it is between * Exodus XV 20, 21. O O ~ o 200 PRAISES. men and women, when they contend who may praise God most for His blessings bestowed upon them ! In the same strain of Praises is the concert of Deborah and Barak for the over- throw of General Sisera; Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves 8^c.^ ! In compari- son of which piece, the highest touch of heathen poetry sounds flat and lifeless. Nor must the good-wives of Bethlehem praising God for the birth of Obed, King David's grandfather, be thought not worthy to be imitated upon the like occasion. And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed he the Lord, Which hath not left thee this day without a kins- man, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age : for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him ^. Thankful Hannah's Hymn is tuned to the same key for the birth of her son Samuel ; And Hannah prayed, and said. My heart rejoiceth in " Judges V. 2. * Ruth iv. 14, 15. C O o o PRAISES. 201 the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies ; because I rejoice in Thy salvation y. But eminent above all the rest is that Magni- ficat, or Song of Praise and Thanksgiving, of the most Blessed Mother-maid, retained in our Liturgy to be always repeated. Wherein humility in her greatest advancement, refer- ring all to God's glory, and reflecting still upon the Church's good, is most lively set forth ; He hath looked upon me, a poor wretch. He hath regarded the lowliness, and inconsiderable estate, of His handmaiden, passing by the flour- ishing pomp of the rich and mighty. He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spake to our Fathers. Therefore, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced (not for any worth found in myself, but) in God, my Saviour ^. Oh, that the proud ones of these times would but think upon this ! This one pattern might be suflicient to take down their haughty looks, and new y I Sam. ii. 1. » Luke i. 46—55. O O c ^ o 202 PRAISES. fangled attires, by reminding them that the most Blessed among women was otherwise affected. In the hke strain is that Benedictus of holy Zachary, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people, 8^c. * ! And that, 0 he joyful in the Lord, all ye lands, serve the Lord with gladness, and come before His presence with a song ! Oh, go your way into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise : be thankful unto Him, and speak good of His Name^. And it is worth the noting, that, as the Book of the hundred and fifty Psalms begins with. Blessed is the man, (or, Many blessings are upon that man) that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, but kissed the Son, and ordered his ways to God, to which the first fifty Psalms especially lead him, — nor stood in the way of sinners, which the second fifty beats him from, as most dangerous, — so the third fifty plucks him and his from the seat of the scornful, lifts him up with Psalms of » Luke i. 68. *> Psalm c. 1. 3. o o o o PRAISES. 203 Degi*6es*', and Hallelujahs, to thank and praise the Maker and Preserver of all things, sealing all up with this conclusion. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord^ ! Wherefore let not the Te Deum (We praise Thee, 0 God, 8fC.) nor the following Canticle, the Benedicite, (0 all ye works of the Lord &;c.) be thought superfluous in our Liturgy, for not having that authority, which the former Scriptures have; lest our Sermons, and unpremeditated Praises and Prayers, should, in that respect, be excepted against, and so Preaching be discre- dited, as bordering too near sometimes upon Apocrypha. Let it be sufficient then, that such holy Prayers have ground in Scripture, from which, hke the Articles of our Creed, they are deduced, and framed to the capacity and memo- ries of all, that cannot be more edifyingly in- <= The hundred and twentieth, and fourteen following Psalms are styled Songs of Degrees, or rsLiher, of Ascensions, having been composed, as is generally imagined, to be sung in processions of the King and his Court, or of the people, when they went up to worship at the Temple. (1 Kings x. 5; xii. 27. John vii. 8.) Some think the term denotes that they are peculiarly suited to raise the soul from earth to Heaven. (Ed.) we may all our life space go without any stum- bling or oiFence, and may decently and seemly walk (as in the day-time) being pure and clean from the works of darkness, and abounding in all good works which God hath prepared for us to walk in, Which with the Father and with the Holy Ghost livest and reignest for ever. Amen. VI. The Prayer of Manasseh king of the Jews. (E.) O Lord Almighty, God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of their righte- ous seed. Which hast made Heaven and earth with all their ornament. Which hast bound the sea by the word of Thy commandment, Which hast shut up the deep and sealed it by Thy terrible and glorious Name, Whom all do fear, and tremble before Thy power : for the Majesty of Thy glory cannot be borne, and Thine angry threatening towards sinners is importable, but o — o c = o I FOR SUNDRY PURPOSES. 229 Thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and un- searchable. For Thou art the most high Lord, of great compassion, long suffering, and most merciful, and repentest for man's miseries. Thou, O Lord, according to Thy great good- ness, hast promised ^ repentance and forgive- ness to them that sin against Thee, and for Tliine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners that they may be saved. Thou therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, hast not appointed repentance to the just, as to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not^ sinned against Thee, but Thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sin- ner : for I have sinned above the number of the sand of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied : my transgressions are exceeding many : and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of the Heavens for the multitude of » Thou hast promised that repentance shall be the way for them to return to Thee. ^ He speaketh this in comparison of himself and those holy fathers which have their commendation in the Scriptures, so that in respect of himself he calleth their sins nothing, but attributeth unto them righteousness. o ■ ■ — O o — o 230 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS mine unrighteousness. I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I cannot Hft up mine head, neither have any release. For I have provoked Thy wrath, and done evil before Thee. I did not Thy Will, neither kept I Thy Commandments. I have set by abominations, and have multiplied offences. Now therefore I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching Thee of grace. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge my transgressions : but, I humbly beseech Thee, forgive me : O Lord forgive me, and destroy me not with my trans- gressions. Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me, neither condemn me into the lower parts of the earth. For Thou art the God, even the God of them that repent : and in me Thou wilt shew all Thy goodness ; for Thou wilt save me that am unworthy, accord- ing to Thy great mercy : therefore I will praise Thee for ever all the days of my life. For all the powers of the Heavens praise Thee, and Thine is the glory for ever and ever. Amen. U O o — o FOR SUNDRY PURPOSES. 231 VII. A Prayer containing the duty of every true Christian. (E. J. C.) O Most mighty God, merciful and loving- Father, I wretched sinner come unto Thee in the Name of Thy dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ, my only Saviour and Redeemer : and I most humbly beseech Thee for His sake to be merciful unto me, and to cast all my sins out of Thy sight and remembrance, through the merits of His bloody death and passion. Pour upon me, O Lord, Thy Holy Spirit of wisdom and grace ; govern and lead me by Thy Holy Word, that it may be a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my steps. Shew Thy mercy upon me, and so lighten the natural blindness and darkness of my heart through Thy grace, that I may daily be renewed by the same spirit and grace : by the which, O Lord, purge the grossness of my hearing and under- standing, that I may profitably read, hear, and understand Thy Word and Heavenly Will, believe and practise the same in my hfe and ! c o o o 232 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS conversation, and evermore hold fast that blessed hope of everlasting life . Mortify and kill all vice in me, that my life may express my faith in Thee : mercifully hear the humble suit of Thy servant, and grant me Thy peace all my days. Graciously pardon mine infirmities, and defend me in all dangers of body, goods, and name : but most chiefly my soul against all assaults, temptations, accusa- tions, subtle baits and sleights of that old enemy of mankind, Satan that roaring lion, ever seeking whom he may devour. And here (O Lord) I prostrate, with most hum- ble mind, crave of Thy Divine Majesty, to be merciful unto the Universal Church of Thy Son Christ : and specially according to my bounden duty, beseech Thee for His sake to bless, save, and defend, the principal member thereof. Thy servant, our most dear and sovereign Lady, Queen Ehzabeth : increase in her royal heart true faith, godly zeal, and love of the same ; And grant her victory over all her enemies, a long, prosperous, and honourable life upon earth, a blessed end, and life everlasting. c- ( o o FOR SUNDRY PURPOSES. 233 Moreover, O Lord, grant unto her Majesty's most honourable councillors, and every other member of this Thy Church of England, that they and we in our several callings, may truly and godly serve Thee : plant in our hearts true fear and honour of Thy Name, obedience to our Prince, and love to our neighbours : increase in us true faith and religion : replenish our minds with all goodness, and of Thy great mercy keep us in the same till the end of our lives : give unto us a godly zeal in Prayer, true humihty in prosperity, perfect patience in adversity, and continual joy in the Holy Ghost. And, lastly, I commend unto Thy Fatherly protection, all that Thou hast given me, as wife, children, and servants : aid me, O Lord, that I may govern, nourish, and bring them up in Thy fear and service. And forasmuch as in this world I must always be at war and strife, not with one sort of enemies, but with an infi- nite number, not only with flesh and blood, but with the devil, which is the Prince of dark- j ness, and with wicked men, executors of his o o c -o 234 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS &C. most damnable will : Grant me, therefore, Thy grace, that being armed with Thy defence, I may stand in this battle with an invincible con- stancy against all corruption, which I am com- passed with on every side, until such time as I having ended the combat, which during this life I must sustain, in the end I may attain to Thy heavenly rest, which is prepared for me and all Thine elect, through Christ our Lord and only Saviour. Amen. o o O — Q CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS FOR SUNDRY DAYS. (J. C.) VIII. Monday. Almighty God, the Father of mercy, and God of all comfort. Which only forgivest sin, forgive unto us our sins, good Lord, forgive unto us our sins, that by the multitude of Thy mercies they may be covered, and not imputed unto us, and by the operation of the Holy Ghost, we may have power and strength here- after to resist sin, by our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. IX. Tuesday. O Lord God, which despisest not a contrite heart, and forgettest the sins and wickedness U r O 236 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS of a sinner in what hour soever he doth mourn and lament his old manner of living; grant unto us (O Lord) true contrition of heart, that we may vehemently despise our sinful life past, and wholly be converted unto Thee, by our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. X. Wednesday. O Merciful Father, by Whose power and strength we may overcome our enemies both bodily and ghostly : grant unto us, O Lord, that according to our promise made in our Baptism, we may overcome the chief enemies of our soul, that is, the desires of the world, the pleasures of the flesh, and the suggestions of the wicked spirit : and so after lead our hves in hohness and righteousness, that we may serve Thee in spirit and truth, and that by our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. XI. Thursday. O Almighty and everlasting God, Which not only givest every good and perfect gift, o ^ — o o— o FOR SUNDRY DAYS. 237 i but also increasest those gifts that Thou hast given ; we most humbly beseech Thee (merciful God) to increase in us the gift of faith, that we may truly believe in Thee, and in Thy promise made unto us ; and that neither by our negligence, nor infirm- ity of the flesh, nor by grievousness of tempta- tion, neither by the subtle crafts and assaults of the devil, we be driven from faith in the blood of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. XII. Friday. Grant unto us, O merciful God (we most heartily beseech Thee) knowledge and true understanding of Thy Word, that, all ignorance expelled, we may know what Thy Will and pleasure is in all things, and how to do our duties and truly to walk in our vocation : and that also we may express, in our living, those things that we do know, that we be not only knowers of Thy Word, good Lord, but also be workers of the same, by our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. o ^ 6 o -o 238 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS XIII. Saturday. O Almighty God, Which hast prepared ever- lasting life to all those that be Thy faithful ser- vants : grant unto us, Lord, sure hope of the life everlasting, that we being in this miserable world, may have some taste and feehng of it in our hearts, and that, not by our deserving, but by the merits and deserving of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. XIV. O Merciful God, our only aid, succour, and strength at all times : grant unto us, O Lord, that in the time of prosperity we be not proud, and so forget Thee, but that with our whole heart and strength we may cleave unto Thee, and in the time of adversity, that we fall not into infidelity and desperation, but that always, with a constant faith, we may call for help unto Thee : grant this, O Lord, for our Advocate's sake and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. o o o o FOR SUNDRY DAYS. 239 ^ s UNDAY. O Almighty and merciful Lord, Which givest unto Thy elect people the Holy Ghost, as a sure pledge of Thy Heavenly Kingdom : grant unto us, O Lord, Thy Holy Spirit, that He may bear witness with our spirit, that we be Thy children, and heirs of Thy Kingdom, and that by the operation of this Spirit we may kill all carnal lusts, unlawful pleasures, concupiscences, evil affections, contrary unto Thy will, by our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. XVI. A Tray er for Trust in God. (J. C.) The beginning of the fall of man was trust in himself. The beginning of the restoring of man was distrust in himself and trust in God. O most gracious and most wise Guide, our Saviour Christ, Which dost lead them the right way of immortal blessedness, which, truly and unfeignedly trusting in Thee, commit them- selves to Thee : Grant us, that, like as we be o 0 o o 240 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS blind and feeble indeed, so we may take and repute ourselves, that we presume not of our- selves to see to ourselves, but so far to see, that alway we may have Tliee before our eyes, to follow Thee being our guide, to be ready at Thy call most obediently, and to commit our- selves wholly unto Thee, that Thou, ^NTiich only knowest the way, may est lead us the same way unto our heavenly desires : to Thee, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory for ever. Amen. XVII. Prayers, to be said in the Morning. (J. C.) All possible thanks, that we are able, we render unto Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for that Thou hast willed, this night past, to be prosperous unto us : and we beseech Tliee likewise to prosper all this same day unto us for Thy glory, and for the health of our soul ; and that Thou Which art the true Light, not knowing any going down, and Which art the Sun eternal, giving life, food, and gladness, unto all things, vouchsafe to shine into our minds, o o r — . O FOR SUNDRY DAYS. 241 that we may not any where stumble to fall into any sin, but may, through Thy good guiding and conducting, come to the life everlasting. Amen. XVIII. (J. C.) O God and Lord, Jesus Christ, Thou know- est, yea, and hast also taught us, how great the infirmity and weakness of man is, and how cer- tain a thing it is that it can do nothing without Thy godly help. If man trust in himself, it cannot be avoided, but that he must run head- long, and fall into a thousand undoings and mischiefs ; O our Father, have Thou pity and compassion upon the weakness of us Thy chil- dren, be Thou prest and ready to help us, always shewing Thy mercy upon us, and pros- pering whatsoever we godly go about : so that. Thou giving us light, we may see what things are truly good indeed : Thou encouraging us, we may have an earnest desire to the same : and Thou being our guide, we may come where to obtain them : for we, having nothing 0 — ,: o o 242 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS but mistrust in ourselves, do yield and commit ourselves full and whole unto Thee alone, Which workest all things in aU creatures, to Thy ho- nour and glory. So be it. XIX. A Prayer against temptation. (J. C.) O Lord Jesus Christ, the only stay and fence of our mortal state, our only hope, our only salvation, our glory, and our triumph. Who in the flesh (which Thou hadst for our only cause taken upon Thee) didst sufi'er Thyself to be tempted of Satan ; and Who, only and alone of all men, didst overcome and vanquish sin, death, the world, the devil, and all the kingdom of hell : and whatsoever Thou hast so over- come, for our behoof it is that Thou hast over- come it : neither hath it been Thy Will to have any of Thy servants to keep battle, or fight with any of the foresaid evils, but of purpose to reward us with a crown of the more glory for it ; and to the intent, that Thou mightest hkewise over- throw Satan in Thy members, as Thou hadst before done in Thine own Person, give Thou o o o- o FOR SUNDRY DAYS. 243 I (we beseech Thee) unto us Thy soldiers (O Lion most victorious of the tribe of Judah) Strength against the roaring Hon, which con- tinually wandereth to and fro, seeking whom he may devour. Thou being that same Ser- pent, the true giver of health and life, that was nailed on high upon a tree, give unto us, thy silly ones, wiliness against the deceitful await- ing of the most subtle serpent. Thou being a Lamb as white as snow, the vanquisher of Satan's tyranny, give unto us. Thy little sheep, the strength and virtue of Thy Spirit, that being in our own selves weak and feeble, and in Thee strong and valiant, we may withstand and over- come all assaults of the devil, so that our ghostly enemy may not glory on us, but being conquered through Thee, we may give thanks unto Thy mercy. Which never leavest them des- titute that put their trust in Thee ; Who livest and reignest, God for ever, without end. Ajnen. o o o o 244 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS XX. A 'Prayer for the obtaining of Wisdom. (J. C.) Wisdom ix. O God of our fathers, and Lord of mercy. Thou that hast made all things with Thy Word, and ordained man through Thy Wisdom, that he should have dominion over the crea- tures which Thou hast made, that he should order the world according to equity and right- eousness and execute judgment with a true heart : give me Wisdom, which is ever about Thy seat, and put me not out from among Thy children : for I Thy servant and son of thine handmaid am a feeble person, of a short time, and too young to the understanding of Thy judgments and laws : yea, though a man be never so perfect among the children of men, yet if Thy Wisdom be not with him, he shall he nothing worth : O send Thy Wisdom out of Thy holy Heavens, and from the Throne of Thy Majesty, that she may be with me and labour with me, that I may know what is acceptable o o ) . o FOR SUNDRY DAYS. 245 in Thy sight, for she knoweth and understand- eth all things, and she shall conduct me right soberly in Thy works, and preserve me in her power, so shall my works be acceptable. Amen. XXI. A Prayer against worldly carefulness. (J. C.) O most dear and tender Father, our defender and nourisher, endue us with Thy grace, that we may cast off the great blindness of our minds, and carefulness of worldly things, and may put our whole study and care in keeping of Thy holy Law, and that we may labour and travail for our necessities in this life, like the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, without care. For Thou hast promised to be careful for us, and hast commanded that upon Thee we should cast all our care : Which Hvest and reignest world without end. Amen. XXII. A Prayer necessary for all persons. (J. C.) j I O merciful God, I a wretched sinner acknowledge myself bound to keep Thy holy Commandments, but yet unable to perform ; 6 — o o o 246 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS them, and to be accepted for just, without the righteousness of Jesus Christ Thy only Son, Who hath perfectly fulfilled Thy Law, to justify all men that believe and trust in Him. There- fore grant me grace, I beseech Thee, to be occupied in doing of good works, which Thou commandest in Holy Scripture, all the days of my hfe, to Thy glory ; and yet to trust only in Thy mercy, and in Christ's merits, to be purged from my sins, and not in my good works, be they never so many. Give me grace to love Thy Holy Word fervently, to search the Scrip- tures diligently, to read them humbly, to under- stand them truly, to live after them effectually. Order my life so, O Lord, that it may be alway acceptable unto Thee. Give me grace not to rejoice in any thing that displeaseth Thee, but evermore to delight in those things that please Thee, be they never so contrary to my desires. Teach me so to Pray, that my peti- tions may be graciously heard of Thee. Keep me upright among diversities of opinions and judgments in the world, that I never swerve from Thy truth taught in Holy Scripture. In I O — — , (J o -o FOR SUNDRY DAYS. 247 prosperity, O Lord, save me that I wax not proud. In adversity help me, that I neither despair nor blaspheme Thy Holy Name, but taking it patiently, to give Thee thanks, and trust to be delivered after Thy pleasure. When I happen to fall into sin through frailty, I beseech Thee to work true repentance in my heart, that I may be sorry without desperation, trust in Thy mercy without presumption, that I may amend my life, and become truly religious without hypocrisy, lowly in heart without feign- ing, faithful and trusty without deceit, merry without lightness, sad without mistrust, sober without slothfulness, content with mine owti without covetousness, to tell my neighbour his faults charitably without dissimulation, to instruct my household in Thy Laws truly, to obey our King and all governors under him unfeignedly, to receive all laws and common ordinances (which disagree not from Thy Holy Word) obediently, to pay every man that which I owe unto him truly, to backbite no man, nor slander my neighbour secretly, and to abhor all vice, loving all goodness earnestly. O Lord, o a o o 248 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS j grant me thus to do for the glory of Tliy Holy Name. Amen. i xxiti. A Prayer f 07' Patience in trouble. (J. C.) How hast Thou (O Lord) humbled and plucked me down ! I dare now uneaths (not easily) make my prayers unto Thee, for Thou art angiy with me, but not without my deserv- ing. Certainly I have sinned. Lord, I confess it ; I will not deny it : but, O my God, pardon my trespasses, release my debts, render now Thy grace again unto me, stop my wounds, for I am all to {altogether ?) plagued and beaten : yet. Lord, this notwithstanding I abide pa- tiently, and give mine attendance on Thee, con- tinually waiting for rehef at Thy hand, and that not without skill, for I have received a token of Thy favour and grace toward me, I mean. Thy word of promise concerning Christ, Who for me was offered on the Cross, for a ransom, a sacrifice, and price for my sins : wherefore according to that Thy promise, defend me. Lord, by Thy right hand, and give o 6 o o FOR SUNDRY DAYS. 249 a gracious ear to my requests, for all man's stavs are but vain. Beat down, therefore, mine enemies Thine own self, with Thy power. Which art mine only aider and protector, O Lord God Almighty. Amen. XXIV. A Prayer to be said at night going to bed. (J. C.) O merciful Lord God, heavenly Father, whether we sleep or wake, live or die, we are always Thine. Wherefore, I beseech Thee heartily, that Thou wilt vouchsafe to take care and charge of me, and not to suffer me to perish in the works of darkness, but to kindle the light of Thy countenance in my heart, that Thy godly knowledge may daily increase in me through a right and pure faith, and that I may always be found to walk and live after Thy will and pleasure, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen. o— -o o — _o 250 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS XXV. A Prayer to he said at the hour of death. (J. C.) O Lord Jesus, Which art the only health of all men hving, and the everlasting life of them which die in faith : I wretched sinner give and submit myself wholly unto Thy most blessed will. And being sure that the thing cannot perish which is committed unto Thy mercy, willingly now I leave this frail and wicked flesh in hope of the resurrection : which in better wise shall restore it to me again. I beseech Thee, most merciful Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou wilt by Thy grace make strong my soul against all temptation, and that Thou wilt cover and defend me with the buckler of Thy mercy against all the assaults of the devil. I see and acknowledge that there is in myself no help of salvation, but all my confidence, hope, and trust is in Thy most merciful goodness. I have no merits nor good works which I may allege before Thee. Of sins and evil works, alas, I o o o o FOR SUNDRY DAYS. 251 i see a great heap, but through Thy mercy I j trust to be in the number of them to whom ' Thou wilt not impute their sins, but take and accept me for righteous and just, and to be the inheritor of everlasting life. Thou, merciful Lord, wast born for my sake, Thou didst suffer both hunger and thirst for my sake. Thou didst preach and teach. Thou didst Prayandfast for my sake, Thou didst all good works and deeds for my sake. Thou sufferedst most grievous pains and torments for my sake, and finally Thou gavest Thy most precious body to die, and Thy blood to be shed on the Cross for my sake. Now, most merciful Saviour, let these things profit me, which Thou freely hast given me. That hast given Thyself for me. Let Thy blood cleanse and wash away the spots and foulness of my sins. Let Thy righteousness hide and cover mine unrighteousness. Let the merits of Thy passion and blood be the satisfaction for my sins. Give me. Lord, Thy grace that my faith of salvation in Thy blood waver not in me, but be ever firm and constant; that the hope of Thy mercy and life everlasting, never o o o — o 252 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS decay in me ; that charity wax not cold in me ; finally, that the weakness of my flesh be not overcome with the fear of death. Grant me, merciful Saviour, that when death hath shut up the eyes of my body, yet that the eyes of my soul may still behold and look upon Thee ; that when death hath taken away the use of my tongue and speech, yet that my heart may cry and say unto Thee, In manus Tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum! (that is to say) O Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit! Domine Jesu, accipe spiritum meum ! Lord Jesu, receive my soul unto Thee ! Ame?i. XXVI . A Prayer necessary to be said at all times. (C.) O bountiful Jesu, O sweet Saviour, O Christ the Son of God, have pity upon me, mercifully hear me and despise not my Prayer. Thou hast created me of nothing. Thou hast redeemed me from the bondage of sin, death, and hell, neither with gold nor silver, but with Thy most precious body once off'ered upon the o o o- — o 1 FOR SUNDRY DAYS. 253 Cross, and Thine own blood once shed for all my ransom. Therefore cast me not away, whom Thou by Thy great wisdom hast made : despise me not, whom Thou hast redeemed with such a precious treasure : nor let my wicked- ness destroy that, which Thy goodness hath builded. Now, while I live, O Jesu, have mercy on me, for if I die out of Thy favour, it will be too late aftei-ward to call for Thy mercy : while I have time to repent, look upon me with Thy merciful eyes, as Thou didst vouchsafe to look upon Peter Thine Apostle, that I may bewail my sinful hfe, and obtain Thy favour, and die therein. I acknowledge that, if Thou shouldest deal with me according to very justice, I have deserved everlasting death. Therefore I appeal to Thy high Throne of Mercy, trusting to obtain God's favour, not for my merits, but for Thy merits, O Jesu, Who hast given Thyself an acceptable Sacrifice to Thy Father, to appease His wrath, and bring all sinners, truly repenting and amending their sinful Hfe, into His favour again. Accept me, O Lord, among the number of them that shall o — o o o 254 CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS. be saved ; forgive me my sins ; give me grace to lead a godly and innocent life; grant me Thy heavenly wisdom ; inspire my heart with Faith, Hope, and Charity; give me grace to be hum- ble in prosperity, patient in adversity, obedient to my rulers, faithful unto them that trust me, dealing truly with all men, to live chastely in wedlock, to abhor adultery, fornication and all uncleanness, to do good after my power, unto all men, to hurt no man, that Thy Name may be glorified in me during this present life, and that I afterward may obtain everlasting life, through Thy mercy and the merits of Thy Passion. Amen. [lEntJ of tf)e C&otrlic ^raicrs.] XXVII. A Godly Prayer to be said at all times. Honour and praise be given to Thee, O Lord God Almighty, most dear Father of Heaven, for all Thy mercies and loving-kindness shewed unto us, in that it hath pleased Thy gracious 6 o o o A GODLY PRAYER. 255 goodness, freely and of Thine own accord, to elect and choose us to salvation before the beginning of the world. And even like continual thanks be given to Thee, for creating us after Thine own image, for redeeming us with the precious blood of Thy dear Son, when we were utterly lost ; for sanctifying us with Thy Holy Spirit in the revelation and knowledge of Thy Holy Word, for helping and succouring us in all our needs and necessities, for saving us from all dangers of body and soul, in comforting us so fatherly in all our tribulations and persecutions, for sparing us so long and giving us so large a time of repentance : these benefits, O most merciful Father, like as we acknowledged to have received them of Thy only goodness, even so we beseech Thee for Thy dear Son Jesus Christ's sake, grant us always Thy Holy Spirit, that we may continually grow in thankfulness towards Thee, to be led into all truth, and com- forted in all our adversities. O Lord, strengthen our faith, kindle it more in ferventness and love towards Thee and our neighbours for Thy sake. Suffer us not, most dear Father, to receive Thy G O o o ! 256 A GODLY PRAYER ' Word any more in vain, but grant us always the assistance of Thy grace and Holy Spirit, that in heart, word, and deed, we may sanctify and do worship to Thy Name, help to amplify and increase Thy Kingdom, and whatever Thou sendest, we may heartily be well content with Thy good pleasure and will : let us not lack the thing, O Father, without the which we can- not serve Thee, but bless Thou all the works of our hands, that we may have sufficient, and not be chargeable, but rather helpful to others. Be merciful, O Lord, to our offences, and seeing our debt is great, which Thou hast for- given us in Jesus Christ, make us to love Thee and our neighbours so much the more. Be Thou our Father, our Captain and defender in all temptations ; hold Thou us by Thy merciful hand, that we may be delivered from all incon- veniences, and end our lives in the sanctifying and honour of Thy Holy Nam«, through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour. So be it. Let Thy mighty hand and stretched- out arm, O Lord, be still our defence ; Thy mercy o ^ o o to BE SAID AT ALL TIMES. 257 and loving-kindness in Jesu Christ Thy dear Son our salvation. Thy trust and Holy Word our instruction, Thy grace and Holy Spirit our com- fort and consolation unto the end and in the end. So be it. O -o o o APPENDIX II. A TREATISE MADE BY ATHANASIUS THE GREAT CONCERNING THE VSE AND vertue of the Psalmes. I AMES V. If any be afflicted let him pray, and if any be merie let him sing Psalmes. LONDON Printed by lohn Windet, for the Assigns of Richard Day 1599. § " lliis is the Treatise of Athanasius the Great, as it is styled, con- cerning the use and virtue of- the Psalms • prefixed to old ediUons of Stemhold and Hopkins, but injudiciously excluded from the modem ; and found in the Version also of Archbishop Parksr without the varia- tion of a word " Todd s Observations upon the Metrical Version, p. 43. o o o o Te holy strains, on David's harp that hung, Tahor and httle Hermon to yoiir call. And Jordan's wjllowy banks responsive sung ; Te witJa soft wings, like Angel friends, when all Seem'd to forsake, have soothed the Maortyr's thrall. Some high-soul'd Laud, in suffering fortitude. Some captive Taylor by his prison wall ; And one by Cherwell's banks in happier mood. Hath woo"d yoior choral voice to soothe his solitude*. Nor learned cell alone, or sacred pile- Made animate with sweetness, flowing o'er The music-roUing roof, and branching aisle— But VTidowed Eld, that, in some cottage poor, Sitteth alone by the eternal shore. With your deep inspirations hath been young : Toxor beauteous torch hath lit Death's shadowy door. And strengthened by your staff, and cheering tongue. The failing Spirit walks unfading groves among - • ♦ « The Cathedkal. • Bishop Home, O •6 A TREATISE MADE BY ATHANASIUS THE GREAT CONCERNING THE USE AND VIRTUE OF THE PSALMS. All Holy Scripture is certainly the teaclier of all virtue and of the true faith ; but the Book of the Psalms expresses after a certain manner the very state and condition of the soul. For as he who intends to present himself to a King, will first compound with himself to set in good order both his gesture and speech, lest else he . might be reputed rude and ignorant : even so does this godly Book inform all such as are desirous to lead their life in virtue, and to know the life of our Saviour which He led in His o ■ ^ — o o ^ ^ o 262 THE USE AND VIRTUE conversation ; putting them in mind, in the reading thereof, of all their affections and pas- sions, whereto their soul is inchned. Moreover, the Psalms form and teach every man -with divers instructions, wherehy he may not only espy the affection and state of his soul, and to win a good pattern and discipline how he may please God ; but also with what form of words he may amend himself, and how to give God due thanks, lest if he should speak otherwise than were convenient, he should fall into impiety by his irreverent estimation of God ; for we must all make an account to the Judge, as well of our evil deeds, as of our idle words, 1. If therefore thou wouldest at any time describe a blessed man, who he is, and what thing maketh him to be so ; thou hast the first, thirty- second, forty-first, hundred and twelfth, and hundred and twenty-eighth Psalms. 2. If thou wouldest rebuke the Jews for their spite they have to Christ ; thou hast the second Psalm. 3. If thine own familiars pursue thee, and if , o o o o OF THE PSALMS, 263 many rise against thee ^ ; say the third, and hundred and forty-third Psalms. 4. If thus in trouble thou hast called on God, and hast tarried upon His help : and wouldest give Him thanks for that He hath heard thee with His help ; sing the fourth, fortieth, and hundred and sixteenth Psalms, 5. If that thou seest that evil men lay snares for thee, and therefore desirest Grod's ears to hear thy Prayer ; sing the fifth Psalm, 6. If thou feelest God's dreadful threats, and seest thyself afraid of them, thou mayest say the sixth, thirty- eighth and eighty-eighth Psalms, 7. If any take counsel against thee, as AhitopheP did against David, if thou be admonished thereof; sing the seventh Psalm, 8. If thou, in beholding the grace of our Saviour spread on every side, especially for the restoring of mankind to salvation, wouldest speak thereof in meditation to God ; sing the eighth Psalm. 9. If, so again, thou wilt sing in giving * 2 Sam. XV — xviii. t 2 Sam. xv. 31. o ■ b o o 264 THE USE AND VIRTUE I I I thanks to God for the prosperous gathering of thy fruits ; use the eighth Psalm. 10. If thou wouldest have thine adversary- kept back, and thy soul saved, trust not in thy- self but in the Son of God, singing the ninth Psalm. 11 . If thou perceivest God to be wroth with His people, as though He regarded them nothing ; thou hast, to pacify Him, to complain thereof, the tenth, sixtieth, and seventy-fourth Psalms. 12. If any man would put thee in fear, have thou thy hope in God, and sing the eleventh Psalm. 13. If thou beholdest the pride of many men, and seest malice to abound, so that there is no godliness among men, repair then to God, and say the twelfth Psalm. 14. If thine adversaries lie long in wait against thee, despair not, as though God had forgotten thee; but call upon the Lord, and sing the thirteenth, twenty- second, and sixty- first Psalms. 15. If thou hearest any blaspheme God in o o o o OP THE PSALMS. 265 His providence, be not partaker with them in wickedness, but make haste to God, and say the fourteenth and fifty-fifth Psalms. 16. If thou desirest to know who is a citizen of Heaven, sing the fifteenth Psalm. 17. If thou hast need of Prayer for such as be against thee and have closed thy soul on every side ^, sing the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighty- sixth and hundred and forty-first Psalms. 18. If thou hast escaped from thine enemies and art delivered from them who pursued thee^, sing thou the eighteenth and eighty- ninth Psalms. 19. If thou dost wonder at the order of things created by God, considering the grace of the divine Providence, sing the nineteenth and twenty-fourth Psalms. 20. If thou seest a man in adversity, comfort him and pray for him, in the twentieth Psalm. 21. If thou perceivest thyself to be defended and fed by God, and to live prosperously, rejoice therein, and sing the twenty-third Psalm. <: 2 Sam. xxiii. 23. * 2 Sam. xxii. 1. o o O 0 266 THE USE AND VIRTUE 22. If thme enemies conspire against thee, lift up thy soul to God, and say the twenty- third Psalm, and thou shalt espy them to labour but in vain against thee. 23. If thine enemies cluster against thee, and go about with their bloody hands to destroy thee, go not thou about by man's help to revenge it, for all men's judgments are not trusty ; but desire God to be Judge, for He alone is Judge, and say the sixteenth, thirty-fifth, and forty- third Psalms. 24. If they press more fiercely on thee, though they be in number like an armed host, fear them not who thus reject thee, as though thou wert not anointed and elected by God, but sing the twenty- seventh Psalm. 25. If they be yet so impudent that lay wait against thee, so that it is not lawful for thee to have any vocation by them, regard them not, but sing to God the twenty- eighth Psalm. 26. If thou wdlt exhort and provoke kings and princes to submit their powers to God, and to regard His honour, sing the twenty-ninth and seventy- second Psalms. c o O 0 OF THE PSALMS. 267 2 7 . If thou renew and build thine house, both of the soul whereto thou receivest God as a guest, and of thy temporal habitation, sing- the thirtieth, forty -^eighth, and hundred and twenty- seventh Psalms. 28. If thou seest thyself had in hate, for the truth's sake, of thy friends and kinsfolk, leave not off thy purpose, nor fear them which be against thee, but think on them which foUow, and sing the thirty- second Psalm. 29. If thou beholdest such as be baptized, and so delivered from the corruption of their birth, praise thou the bountiful grace of God, and sing the thirty-second Psalm. 30. If thou dehght to sing among many, call together righteous men of godly life, and sing the thirty-third Psalm. 31. If by chance, thou fallest among thine enemies, and yet hast fortunately escaped them ^ — if therefore thou wilt give thanks, call together meek men and sing the thirty-fourth Psalm. « 1 Sam. xxi. 10. o — ■ o o— o 268 THE USE AND VIRTUE 32. If thou seest wicked men contend among themselves to do mischief, think not that their nature doth impel them by necessity to work sin against their wiU, (as certain heretics sup- pose,) but consider the thirty- sixth Psalm ; and thou shalt perceive that they be to themselves their own occasion of sinning. 33. If thou seest how wicked men do much wickedness, and that yet simple folk praise such, when thou wilt admonish any man (ta refuse) to follow them, to be like unto them, because they shall be shortly rooted out and destroyed : speak to thyself, and to the other, the thirty- seventh Psalm. 34. If thou hast decreed to take heed of thyself, and seest thine enemies approach nigh thee, as to such the adversary is more provoked to come with assault, and therefore wilt prepare thyself, sing the thirty-ninth Psalm. 35. If thou seest many poor men begging, and wilt shew pity to them, thou mayest both thyself receive them to mercy, and also exhort others to do the same, singing the forty-first Psalm. , o o o OF THE PSALMS. 269 36. If thou hast a desire to Godward, and hearest thine enemies upbraid thee, be not troubled, but consider what fruit of immortahty riseth to thee for this desire : comfort thy soul with hope to God, and so therein relieving and assuaging the heaviness of thy life, say the forty-second Psalm. 37. If thou wilt remember God's benefits which He did to their fathers, both in their out- going from Egypt and in the desert ; and how good God was unto them, but they unthankful to Him : thou hast the forty-fourth, seventy- eighth, eighty-ninth, hundred and second, hundred and sixth, hundred and fourteenth, and hundred and seventeenth Psalms. 38. If thou hast made thy refuge to God, and hast escaped such trouble as was prepared against thee, if thou wilt give thanks and shew out His kindness to thee, sing the forty- sixth Psalm. 39. If thou wilt know how to give thanks to God, when thou dost resort to Him with under- standing sound, sing the forty-seventh and forty-eighth Psalms. o o 9 — ^ o 270 THE USE AND VIRTUE 40. If thou wilt exhort men to put their trust in the Hving God, who ministereth all things abundantly to good men's use, and blameth the madness of the world which serv- €th their god Mammon so inordinately: sing the forty-ninth Psalm. 41. If thou wouldest call upon the bhnd world for their wrong confidence of their brute sacrifices, and shew them what sacrifice God hath most required of them, sing the fiftieth Psalm. 42. If thou hast sinned, and art converted, and moved to do penance^, desirous to have mercy, thou hast words of confession in the fifty-first Psalm. 43. If thou hast suffered false accusation before the king, and seest the devil to triumph thereof, go aside and say the fifty-second Psalm. 44. If they which persecute thee with accu- sations and would betray thee, as the Pharisees did Jesus, and as the aliens did David s : dis- comfort not thyself therewith, bat sing in good ' 2 Sam. xi. and xii. e 1 Sam. xxiii. O — O o o OF THE FSALMS, 271 hope to God the fifty-fourth, fifty-seventh, and sixty-ninth Psalms. 45. If thine adversaries, which trouble thee, do upbraid thee, and they which seem to be thy friends speak most against thee — where- upon, if in thy meditation, thou art somewhat grieved thereat, thou may est call on God, say- ing the fifty-fifth Psalm. 46. If persecution come fierce on thee and unbewares (unlooked-for intruders) chance to enter into the cave ^ where thou hidest thyself, fear not : for in this strait thou shalt have expedient words, both to comfort thee, and put thee in remembrance, with the fifty- seventh and the hundi-ed and forty- second Psalms. 47. If thou wilt confound hypocrites which make glorious shows outwardly, speak their conversion with the fifty- eighth Psalm. 48. If thy pursuers command thy house to be watched, when thou art escaped, give thanks to God, and grave it in the tables of thy heart for a perpetual remembrance, and say the fifty- ninth Psalm. i 1 Sain. xxiv. • 1 Sam. six. 11—18. o -^ o o ■ o 272 THE USE AND VIRTUE 49. If thine enemies cruelly assault thee, and would catch thy life, offer the subjection to God against them, and be of good comfort : for the more they rage, the more shall God sub- due them : and say the sixty- second Psalm. 50. If thou fliest persecution and gettest thee into a wilderness ^, fear thou not as though thou wert there alone, but having God nigh unto thee, rise to Him early in the morning, singing the sixty-third Psalm. 51. If thine enemies should put thee in fear, and never cease to lay trains for thee, and pick all manner of quarrels against thee^ though they be very many, give no place to them ; for the darts of babes shall be their destruction, if thou sayest the sixty-first, sixty-eighth, seven- tieth, and seventy-first Psalms. 52. If thou wilt laud God with a Psalm or Hymn, sing the sixty-fifth and sixty- sixth Psalms. 53. If thou askest mercy of God, sing the sixty- seventh Psalm. 54. If thou wouldest sing to the Lord, thou k 1 Sam. xxii. 14, ' 2 Sam. xvii. 2. i c, o o OF THE PSALMS. 273 hast what to say in the nmety-sixth and ninety- eighth Psalms. 55. If thou hast need to confess God with thanks, sing the seventy-first, seventy-fifth, ninety- second, hundred and eighth, hundred and eleventh, hundred and eighteenth, hundred and thirty-sixth, hundred and thirty-eighth, and hundred and forty-fifth Psalms. 56. If thou seest wicked men prosper in peace, be not ofiended thereat, but say the seventy- third Psalm. 57. If thine enemies have beset the ways whither thou fliest, and thou art thereby in great anguish ; yet in this trouble despair not to Pray, and if thy Prayer be heard, give God thanks and say the seventy- seventh Psalm. 58. If they persevere still and defile the House of God, kill His elect, and cast their bodies to the fowls of the air ; fear not their cruelty, but shew pity to them which be in such agony, and say the seventy-ninth Psalm. 59. If thou wilt inform any one with the mys- tery of the Resurrection, sing the eighty-first Psalm. o o . o 274 THE USE AND VIRTUE | 60. If thou wilt sing to the Lord, call together God's servants on the Festival Day, and sing the eighty-first, ninety-fifth, and hundred and thirty-fourth Psalms. 61. If the adversaries flock together on every side and threaten to destroy the House of God, and make their conspiracies against religion, let not their number and power trouble thee, for thou hast an anchor of the words of the eighty-third Psalm. 62. If thou castest an eye to God's House, and to His eternal Tabernacles, and hast a desire thereto as the Apostle had™: say thou also the eighty-fourth Psalm. 63. If God's wrath be ceased, and the captivity ended, thou hast cause how to give thanks to God with David, recounting His goodness to thee and others, with the seventy- sixth, eighty-fifth, and hundred and sixteenth Psalms. 64. If thou wilt rebuke Paynims and Heretics, for that they have not the knowledge of God in them, thou mayest have under- ■» Phil. i. 23. U ) ■ o OF THE PSALMS. 275 standing to sing to God the eighty- sixth and hundred and fifteenth Psalms. 65. If thou wilt see and know the dissent that the Cathohc Church hath from Schism, and wouldest convert schismatics, or discern the Church concerning the outward appearance and forms thereof, thou mayest say the eighty- seventh Psalm. 66. If thou w^ouldest know how Moses" prayed to God, and, in his meditation re- counting the bitter state of man's life, desired God so to direct his short life, that he might follow wisdom ; read the ninetieth Psalm. 67. If thou wouldest comfort thyself and others in true religion, and teach them that hope in God will never suffer a soul to be confounded, but will make it hold without fear for God's protection: singthe ninety-first Psalm. 68. If thou wilt sing on the Sabbath Day^*, thou hast the ninety-second Psalm. " Deut. xxxiii. 1. o " We ineet together on the {Jetvish) Sabbath, not that we are infected with Judaism ; but that we may worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbatli." St. Athanasius, Komiiia de Semente. V^ o ■ o 276 THE USE AND VIRTUE 69. If thou wilt sing on the Sunday in meditation of God's Word, desiring to be instructed therein, whereby thou mayest rest in God's holy Will, and cease from all the works and doctrines of vain men ; revolve that notable Psalm the hundred and nineteenth. 70. If thou wilt sing in the second day? of the Sabbath, thou hast the ninety-fifth Psalm. 7 1 . If thou wouldest sing to the Lord, thou hast what to say in the ninety- sixth and ninety- eighth Psalms. 72. If thou wouldest sing the fourth day of the Sabbath^, sing the ninety-fourth Psalm : for when the Lord was betrayed He began to take vengeance on death, and to triumph over it : therefore when thou readest the Gospel, wherein thou hearest the Jews take counsel p " The second day of the Sabbath," i. e. Monday : the word Sabbath here denoting week. 1 The fourth day of the Sabbath, i. e. Wednesday. Wednesdays and Fridays were " days kept in the Greek Church for more solemn Fasts, because the Bridegroom was then taken from us, being sold by Judas on the Wednesday, and murdered on Friday." Sparrow's Rationale. 6 o o o OF THE PSALMS. 277 against the Lord, and that He standeth boldly against the devil, then sing the aforesaid Psalm, 73. If thou wilt sing on Good-Friday, thou hast a commendation of the ninety- third Psalm : for then was the House of God's Church builded and groundly founded, though the enemies went about to hinder it : for which cause sing to God the songs of triumphant victory with the said Psalm, and with the ninety- eighth and hundred and twenty-ninth Psalms. 74. If there be any captivity wherein thy house is laid waste, and yet builded again, sing the ninety- sixth Psalm. 75. If the land be vexed with enemies, and afterward come to any rest by the power of God, if thou wilt sing thereof, sing the ninety- seventh Psalm, 76. If thou considerest the providence of God in His governance so over all, and wilt instruct any with true faith and obedience, when thou hast first persuaded them to confess themselves, sing the hundredth and hundred and forty- seventh Psalms. 0 o o — ^ ■ o 278 TUB USE AND VIRTUE 77. If thou dost acknowledge in God His judicial power, and that in judgment He mixeth mercy, if thou wilt draw nigh imto Him, thou hast the words of the hundred and first Psalm, to the end. 78. If for the imbecihty of thy nature, thou art weary with the continual miseries and grief of this life, and wouldest comfort thyself, sing the hundred and second Psalm. 79. If thou wilt give thanks to God, as it is most convenient and due for all His gifts : when thou wilt so do, thou hast how to rejoice thyself thereunto, with the hundred and third and hundred and fourth Psalms. 80. If thou wilt praise God, and also know how and for what cause, and with what words thou mayest best do it, consider the hundred and thirteenth, hundred and seventeenth, hundred and thirty-third, hundred and forty- fifth, hundred and forty -seventh, hundred and forty-eighth, hundred and forty-ninth, and hundred and fiftieth Psalms. 81. If thou hast faith to such things as God speaketh, and believest that which in prayer o o o o OF THE PSALMS. 279 j thou utterest, say the hundred and sixteenth Psalm to the end. 82. If thou feelest thyself to rise upward in degrees of well- working, as though thou sayest with St. Paul, I forget those things which are behind, and reach forth unto those things which are before^: thou hast the hundred and twentieth Psalm. 83. If thou art held in thraldom under straying and wandering thoughts, and feelest thyself drawn by them, whereof thou art sorry, then stay thyself from thenceforth, and tarry where thou hast found thyself in fault, set thee doAvn, and mourn thou also as the Hebrew people did^; and say with them the hundred and thirty- seventh Psalm. 84. If thou perceivest that temptations are sent to prove thee, thou oughtest after such temptations to give God the thanks, and say the hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm. 85. If thou art in bondage by thine enemies. ' Phil. iii. 13. » Ezra viii. 21; Nehemiah i. 3—11, o- o o 280 THE USE AND VIRTUE and wouldest fain be delivered, say the hundred and fortieth Psalm. 86. If thou wouldest pray and make supplica- tion, say the hundred and forty-first, hundred and forty- second, and hundred and forty- third Psalms. 87. If any tyrannous enemy rise up against the people, fear thou not, no more than David did Goliah ; but believe like David*, and sing the hundred and forty-fourth Psalm . 88. If thou art elect out of low degree, specially before other, to sei^-e thy brethren, advance not thyself too high against them in thine own power, but give God His glory, Who did choose thee ; and sing thou the hundred and forty-fifth Psalm. 89. If thou wilt sing of obedience, praising God with Halleluia, thou hast the hundred and fifth, hundred and sixth, hundred and seventh, hundred and eleventh, hundred and twelfth, hundred and thirteenth, hundred and fourteenth, hundred and fifteenth, hundred and seventeenth, hundred and thirty-fifth, hundred and forty- » 2 Sam. xxii. o o o o OF THE PSALMS, 281 sixth, hundred and forty- seventh, hundred and forty- eighth, hundred and forty-ninth, and hundi-ed and fiftieth Psahns. 90. If thou wilt sing specially of our Saviour Christ, THOU hast Him in every psalm, but most chiefly in the twenty-fifth, forty-fifth, and hundred and tenth Psalms. 9 1 . Such Psalms as shew His lawful genera- tion fi-om His Father, and His corporal pre- sence, be the eleventh and forty-ninth Psalms. 92. Such as prophesy before of His most holy Cross and Passion, telling how many deceitful assaults He sustained for us, and how He suffered, are the second and hundred and nineteenth Psalms. 93. Such as express the malicious enmities of the Jews, and the betraying of Judas, are the twenty-first, fiftieth, fifty-fifth, sixty-ninth, seventy- second, and hundred and ninth Psalms. 94. Such as describe His agony in His Passion, Death, and Sepulture, are the twenty- second and eighty-first Psalms. 95. For His dominion and presence in the flesh, read the hundred and sixteenth Psalm. C J o ■ o 282 THE USE AND VIRTUE OF THE PSALMS. 96. Such as shew His glorious Resurrection of Body are the forty-fourth and forty-seventh Psalms. 97. Such as set out His Ascension into Heaven, are the ninety-third, ninety-sixth, ninety- eighth, and ninety-ninth Psalms. 98. And that He sitteth on the right hand of His Father, the hundred and tenth Psalm makes manifest. 99. Such as shew that He hath authority of His Father, to judge, expressing His judicial power, both in condemning the devil and all wicked nations, are the fiftieth, seventy- second, and eighty- second Psalms. OXFORD : PRINTED BY I. SHRIMPTON. o ■ — ■ -o o 0 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD. The Twerify-sccond Edition. 32mo. 3s. 6d. The Twenty-first Edition. Small 8vo. (is. Library Edition. 8vo. 10s. 6d. THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. ^f)ougf)ts in Ucrsc FOR THE SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. Third Edition. Royal 18 mo. Is. 6'd. THE PSALTER, OR PSALMS OF DAVID, In lEnglis!) Ucrse. A few Copies remain of the larger Edition. Small 8vo. 7s. 6d. 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