Page images
PDF
EPUB

good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. St. Matth. v. 16.

After Prayer [For whole State of

ness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

YRANT, we beseech thee, Al

Chier's Church Se) these Collects follow G mighty God, that the words,

ing shall be used.

A Prayer for Unity.

God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace; Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly Union and Concord: that, as there is but one Body, and one Spirit, and one Hope of our Calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may henceforth be all of one heart, and of one soul, united in one holy bond of Truth and Peace, of Faith and Charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen.

which we have heard this day with our outward ears, may through thy grace be so grafted inwardly in our hearts, that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living, to the honour and praise of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ALMIGHTY God, the fountain

of all wisdom, who knowest our necessities before we ask, and our ignorance in asking; We beseech thee to have compassion upon our infirmities; and those things, which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask, vouchsafe to give us for the worthiness of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. THE peace of God which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge

GRANT, O Lord, we beseech and love of God, and of his Son Jesus

thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quiet

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

"

"GEORGE R.

[ocr errors]

Christ our Lord: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.

UR Will and Pleasure is, That these Four Forms of Prayer and Service, made for the Fifth of November, the Thirtieth of January, the Twenty-ninth of May, and the Twenty-fifth of October, be forthwith printed "and published, and annexed to the Book of Common Prayer and Liturgy of "the Church of England; to be used yearly on the said Days, in all Cathedral "and Collegiate Churches and Chapels, in all Chapels of Colleges and Halls "within both Our Universities, and of Our Colleges of Eaton and Winchester, " and in all Parish-Churches and Chapels within that part of Our Kingdom of "Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed.

"

"Given at Our Court at St. James's the seventh Day of

"

October, 1761, in the First Year of Our Reign.

By His Majesty's Command,

"BUTE."

AGREED UPON BY

THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF BOTH PROVINCES,

AND THE WHOLE CLERGY,

In the Convocation holden at London in the Year 1562, for the avoiding of Diversities of Opinions, and for the establishing of Consent touching true Religion: Reprinted by His Majesty's Commandment, with his Royal Declaration prefixed thereunto.

BEING

HIS MAJESTY's DECLARATION.

EING by God's Ordinance, according to Our just Title, Defender of the Faith, and Supreme Governour of the Church, within these Our Dominions, We hold it most agreeable to this Our Kingly Office, and Our own religious Zeal, to conserve and maintain the Church committed to Our Charge, in Unity of true Religion, and in the Bond of Peace; and not to suffer unnecessary Disputations, Altercations, or Questions to be raised, which may nourish Faction both in the Church and Commonwealth. We have therefore, upon mature Deliberation, and with the Advice of so many of Our Bishops as might conveniently be called together, thought fit to make this Declaration following:

That the Articles of the Church of England (which have been allowed and arthorized heretofore, and which Our Clergy generally have subscribed unto) do contain the true Doctrine of the Church of England agreeable to God's Word: which We do therefore ratify and confirm, requiring all Our loving Subjects to continue in the uniform Profession thereof, and prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles; which to that End We command to be new printed, and this Our Declaration to be published therewith.

That We are Supreme Governour of the Church of England: And that if any difference arise about the external Policy, concerning the Injunctions, Canons, and other Constitutions whatsoever thereto belonging, the Clergy in their Convocation is to order and settle them, having first obtained leave under Our Broad Seal so to do: and We approving their said Ordinances and Constitutions; providing that none be made contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Land.

That out of Our Princely Care that the Churchmen may do the Work which proper unto them, the Bishops and Clergy, from time to time in Convocation, upon their humble Desire, shall have Licence under Our Broad Seal to deliberate of, and to do all such Things, as being made plain by them, and assented unto by Us, shall concern the settled Continuance of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England now established; from which We will not endure any varying or departing in the least Degree.

That for the present, though some differences have been ill raised, yet We take comfort in this, that all Clergymen within Our Realm have always most willingly subscribed to the Articles establisked; which is an argument to Us,

that they all agree in the true, usual, literal meaning of the said Articles; and that even in those curious points, in which the present differences lie, men of all sorts take the Articles of the Church of England to be for them; which is an argument again, that none of them intend any desertion of the Articles established.

That therefore in these both curious and unhappy differences, which have for so many hundred years, in different times and places, exercised the Church of Christ, We will, that all further curious search be laid aside, and these disputes shut up in God's promises, as they be generally set forth to us in the holy Scriptures, and the general meaning of the Articles of the Church of England according to them. And that no man hereafter shall either print, or preach, to draw the Article aside any way, but shall submit to it in the plain and full meaning thereof: and shall not put his own sense or comment to be the meaning of the Article, but shall take it in the literal and grammatical

sense.

That if any publick Reader in either of Our Universities, or any Head or Master of a College, or any other person respectively in either of them, shall affix any new sense to any Article, or shall publickly read, determine, or hold any publick Disputation, or suffer any such to be held either way, in either the Universities or Colleges respectively; or if any Divine in the Universities shall preach or print any thing either way, other than is already established in Convocation with Our Royal Assent; he, or they the Offenders, shall be liable to Our displeasure, and the Church's censure in Our Commission Ecclesiastical, as well as any other: And We will see there shall be due Execution upon them.

L. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. THE HERE is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

II. Of the Word or Son of God, which

was made very Man.

HE Son, which is the Word of Tthe Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took Man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect Natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God, and very Man; who truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for actual sins of

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

And the other Books (as Hierome | saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:

The Third Book of Esdras,
The Fourth Book of Esdras,
The Book of Tobias,
The Book of Judith,

The rest of the Book of Esther,
The Book of Wisdom,
Jesus the Son of Sirach,
Baruch the Prophet,

The Song of the Three Children,
The Story of Susanna,
Of Bel and the Dragon,
The Prayer of Manasses,
The First Book of Maccabees,
The Second Book of Maccabees.
All the Books of the New Testa-
ment, as they are commonly received,
we do receive, and account them Ca-
'nonical.

VII. Of the Old Testa.nent.

HE Old Testament is not con

Ttrary to the New: for both in

the Old and New Testament everlast

received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.

IX. Of Original or Birth-sin.

RIGINAL Sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk;) but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam ; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated; whereby the lust of the flesh, called in the Greek, phronema sarkos, which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire, of the flesh, is not subject to the Law of God. And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the

Apostle doth confess, that concupi

scence and lust hath of itself the na

ture of sin.

X. Of Free-Will.

HE condition of Man after the

ing life is offered to Mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are TH Tfall of Adam is such, that he not to be heard, which feign that the old Fathers did look only for tran- cannot turn and prepare himself, by sitory promises. Although the Law his own natural strength and good given from God by Moses, as touch-works, to faith, and calling upon ing Ceremonies and Rites, do not bind Christian men, nor the Civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral.

VIII. Of the Three Creeds.

God: Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.

XI. Of the Justification of Man.

Wfore God, only for the merit

E are accounted righteous be

HE Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, ought thoroughly to be

or deservings: Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only is a most whole

« EelmineJätka »