It leads us gradually to the Perfection of Chriftian Piety, and preferves that Union between our Souls and God, in which our spiritual Life confists. Without it we in vain pretend to difcharge thofe Duties that are incumbent upon us as Chriftians, or to profper in our temporal Affairs, which mu have God's Bleffing to crown them with Success.

The PRAYERS.

I.

Accepte

ers.

LMIGHTY God, who haft promised to For God's hear the Petitions of them that afk in thy ance of Son's Name; I befeech thee mercifully to incline our Prayi thine Ears to me, when I make my Prayers and Supplications unto thee; and grant that I may fo faithfully afk according to thy Will, that I may effectually obtain the Relief of my Neceffities, to the setting forth of thy Glory, through Jefus Chrift my Lord. Amen.

II.

poral

GOD, heavenly Father, who by thy Son For tem Jefus Chrift hath promifed to all them that Bleffings. feek thy Kingdom, and the Righteousness thereof, all Things neceffary to their bodily Suftenance fend us, I beseech thee, fuch feasonable Weather as may preferve to our Ufe the kindly Fruits of the Earth, and that in due Time we may enjoy them. I acknowledge, O Lord, that it is from thy Gift that the Rain doth fall, the Earth is fruitful, Beasts increase, and Fishes do multiply; and though for our Sins we have worthily deferved Scarcity and Dearth, and have juftly expofed ourfelves to be punished with great Sickness and Mortality, and to be delivered into the Hand of our Enemies; yet for the Sake of thy bleffed Son, and upon our own true Repentance, fend us Cheap

nels

For avert

ing Judg

ments.

nefs and Plenty, healthful Seafons, Unity, Peace, and Concord: Deliver us from Lightning and Tempest, from Plague, Peftilence, and Famine, from Battle and Murder, and from fudden Death. Increase the Fruits of the Earth by thy heavenly Benediction, and grant that we receiving thy bountiful Liberality, may use the fame to thy Glory, the Relief of thofe that are needy, and to our own Comfort, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

III.

ALMIGHTY Cod, who in thy Wrath didft fend a Plague upon thine own People in the Wildernefs, for their obftinate Rebellion against Mofes and Aaron, and alfo in the Time of King David didst flay with the Plague of Pestilence threefcore and ten thoufand; be merciful to thy finful People, who have so many Ways provoked thy Wrath, that we are afraid of thy Judgments: Remember not, Lord, our Sins, nor the Sins of our Forefathers, but according to the Greatness of thy Mercies, think thou upon us for thy Goodness-fake. Turn us, O Lord, and fo let thy Anger ceafe from us. Be favourable, O Lord, be favourable to thy People, who turn to thee in Weeping, Fafting, and Praying. Thou fpareft when we deferve Punishment, and in thy Wrath thinkeft upon Mercy. Spare thy People, good Lord, fpare them, and let not thy Heritage be brought to Confufion. Hear us, O Lord, for thy Mercy is great, and after the Multitude of thy Mercies look upon us, through the Merits and Mediation of thy bleffed Son Fefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

CHAP.

CHA P. VII.

Ember Days in Whitsun-Week.

Q. WHAT Faft doth the Church obferve at this

Time?

A. The second Season of the Ember Days; which are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Feast of Pentecoft; Trinity Sunday, which immediately follows, being one of the flated Times for Ordinations.

Q. What do you mean by Ordination?

A. A Privilege peculiar to the Character of a Bishop, who is a Governor in the Church of God; whereby he conveys Authority to fome to preach the Gospel, and to adminifter the Sacraments, who are called Prefbyters, and from whence is derived our Word Prieft; and to others to be Affiftants to himself and the Prefbyters in their spiritual Administrations, who are called Deacons; which is performed by Prayer and the Impofition of Hands: A folemn Ceremony of Bleffing and devoting Perfons to the facred Functions. For as the laying the Hands upon the Head was a Rite of Benediction ufed by Jacob in bleffing Jofeph's Children, and by Gen. Mofes in bleffing Jofbua; fo by the Sinners laying their Hands on the Heads of the Sacrifice, it ap- xxxiv. 9. pears that it was a Ceremony used in devoting Things to God; upon which Account this was appropriated to the Ordination of the Church-men, who are to be blessed and devoted to God, and was made use of to exprefs that Right and Authority which Perfons do receive together with it; for the Exercife and Difcharge of their Minifterial Function.

Q. What

xlviii. 14.

Heb. v.

10.

Q. What Foundation is there for this Subordination. of Church Officers from the Inftitution of Jefus Chrift?

A. Our Bleffed Saviour, while here upon Earth, was himself the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls, and High-Prieft, called of God, who in his Life-time established under himself two diftinct Orders of Church-Officers, the one fuperior to the other, viz. Luke vi. the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy Difciples; who are fo diftinguished from one another, that it implies a Distinction in their Office, they are mentioned apart by different Names, and fent forth at different Times. In which Establishment our Saviour kept as nigh to the Form in ufe among the Jews, as was poffible; who had their High-Priefis, the Priefts, and the Levites.

13.

X. 1.

Mat. x. 8.

Luke x

2.9.

Q. How doth it appear that the Office of the Apostles was fuperior to that of the Seventy?

A. This is evident, not only from our Saviour's particular Care, Solicitude, and Interceffion for thefe Twelve, and his diligent inftructing and teaching them more than the reft of his Followers, revealing to them the Myfteries of the Kingdom of Heaven; but from hence alfo, that the Succeffors of the Apofiles were chofen out of the Seventy; and that Matthias, who was ordained into the Place of Judas, is by the Ancients affirmed to be of that Number; which argues the Apostles to be fuperior to the Seventy, otherwise it had been no Advancement to the Seventy to have fucceeded them. Befides, the Apostles exercifed Powers which were not common with the Seventy, as cleansing the Lepers, and raising the Dead; and our Saviour, after his Refurrection, gave them a fecond folemn Miffion, whereby these peculiar fpiritual Powers were increased.

Q. What Powers did the Apoftles excrcife which the Seventy were not endowed with?

A. The

A. The Power of Impofition of Hands in Ordi- Aus vi. nations, as is plain in the Inftitution of Deacons ; who, though chofen by the reft of the Difciples yet they were fet before the Apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their Hands on them. The Power of confirming baptifed Chriftians; for Acts viii. when St. Philip had converted and baptifed the Men of Samaria, the Apoftles fent St. Peter and St. John to lay their Hands on them, that they might receive the Holy Ghoft: The Power of Jurifdiétion and Authority to govern the Church, as is evident in the Cafe of Diotrephes a Prefbyter; whom, for not giving Heed to St. John's Letters, and for his Rejection of fome faithful People from the Catholic Communion, without Caufe, and without Authority, St. John the Apostle threatened, that when he came, he would remember his Deeds; 3 John which would have been to no Purpose, if he had not had coercive Jurifdiction to have punished his Delinquency.

Q. But was not this Superiority and Subjection among the ecclefiaftical Orders temporary, and to cease with the Perfons of the Apoftles?

A. These Powers, peculiar to the fuperior Order, being neceffary for the good Government of the Church, it is plain in Fact they did not expire with the Apostles. But as our Saviour glorified not Heb. v. 5. himself to be an High-Prief, but had his Commiffion from God the Father; fo, after his Refurrection, he invefted the Apoftles with the fame Commiffion his Father had given unto him. As 1 John xx. my Father bad fent me, even fo fend I you; and be 21, 22.&c. breathed on them, and faid unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghoft. In which Commiffion is plainly contained the Authority of ordaining others, and a Power to transfer that Commiffion upon others, and those upon others to the End of the World. And to fhew that it was not merely perfonal to the