AN HOMILY, Anima. WHEREIN IS DECLARED, That Common Prayer and Sacraments ought to be ministered in a tongue that is underflood of the hearers. MONG the manifold exercifes of God's people, Α : all eftates, and at all times, than is public Prayer, and the due ufe of Sacraments. For in the firft we beg at God's hands all fuch things, as otherwife we cannot obtain and in the other he embraceth us, and offereth himself to be embraced of us. Knowing therefore that thefe two exercifes are fo neceffary for us, let us not think it unmeet to confider, firft what Prayer is, and what a Sacrament is; and then, how many forts of Prayers there be, and how many Sacraments; fo fhall we the better understand how to ufe them aright. To know what Auguft. de they be, St. Auguftine teacheth us in his book, entitled, Spiritu et Of the Spirit and the Soul: he faith thus of prayer; "Prayer is (faith he) the devotion of the mind, that is to fay, the returning to God, through a godly and humble affection, which affection is a certain willing and sweet inclining of the mind itfelf towards God." And in the fecond Book againft the Adverfary of the Law and the 1h. ii. con- Prophets, he calleth Sacraments holy figns. And writing farios Legis to Bonifacius of the baptifin of infants, he faith, "If et Proph. Sacraments had not a certain fimilitude of thofe things Auguft. ad whereof they be Sacraments, they fhould be no Sacraments at all. And of this fimilitude they do for the moft part receive the names of the fulf-fame things they fignify." By thefe words of St. Auguftine it appeareth, that he alloweth the common defcription of a Sacrament, which is, that it is a vifible fign of an invifible grace; that is to fay, that fetteth out to the eyes and other outward Auguft. lib. tra Adver Bonifaci um. fenfes fenfes the inward working of God's free mercy, and doth, as it were, feal in our hearts the promises of God. And fo was Circumcifion a Sacrament, which preached unto the outward fenfes the inward cutting away of the foreskin of the heart, and fealed and made fure in the hearts of the circumcifed the promise of God touching the promised feed that they looked for. Now let us fee how many forts of Prayer, and how many Sacraments there be. In the Scriptures we read of three forts of Prayer, whereof two are private, and the third is common. The firft is that which St. Paul fpeaketh of in his Epiftle to Timothy, faying, I will that men pray in every 1 Tim. ii. place, lifting up pure hands, without wrath or ftriving. And it is the devout lifting up of the mind to God, without the uttering of the heart's grief or defire by open voice. Of this prayer we have example in the first Book of Samuel, in Anna the mother of Samuel, when in 1 Sam. i. the heaviness of her heart fhe prayed in the temple, defiring to be made fruitful. She prayed in her heart, faith the text, but there was no voice beard. After this fort muft all Chriftians pray, not once in a week, or once in a day only; but, as St. Paul writeth to the Theffalonians, 1 Theff. iii. without ceafing. And as St. James writeth, The continual James ▼. prayer of a juft man is of much force. The fecond fort of Prayer is fpoken of in the Gofpel of Matthew, where it is faid, When thou prayeft, enter into thy fecret clofet; and, Matth. vi. when thou haft but the door to thee, pray unto thy Father in fecret; and thy Father, which feeth in fecret, fhall reward thee. Of this fort of Prayer there be fundry examples in the Scriptures; but it fhall fuffice to rehearse one, which is written in the Acts of the Apoftles. Cornelius, a devout man, a captain of the Italian army, A&ts x. faith to Peter, that being in his houfe in prayer at the ninth hour, there appeared to him one in a white garment, &c. This man prayed unto God in fecret, and was rewarded openly. These be the two private forts of Prayer: the one mental, that is to fay, the devout lifting up of the mind to God; and the other vocal, that is to fay, the fecret uttering of the griefs and defires of the heart with words, but yet in a fecret closet, or fome folitary place. The third fort of Prayer is public or common. Of this Prayer speaketh our Saviour Chrift, when he faith, If two of you jball agree upon earth upon any Matth. thing, whatfoever ye shall afk, my Father which is in heaven xviii. fball do it for you: for wherefoever two or three be gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Al though Pfal. 1. James v. though God hath promised to hear us when we pray privately, fo it be done faithfully and devoutly; (for he faith, Call upon me in the day of thy trouble, and I will bear thee. And Elias, being but a mortal man, faith St. James, prayed, and heaven was but three years and fix months; and again be prayed, and the beaven gave rain :) yet by the hiftories of the Bible it appeareth, that public and common Prayer is most available before God, and therefore is much to be lamented that it is no better efteemed among us, which profels to be but one body in Christ. When Jonah iii. the city of Nineveh was threatened to be destroyed within forty days, the prince and the people joined themselves together in public prayer and fafting, and were preferved. In the Prophet Joel, God commanded a fafting to be proclaimed, and the people to be gathered together, young and old, man and woman, and are taught to fay with one voice, Spare us, O Lord, fpare thy people, and let not thine inberitance be brought to confufion. When the Jews fhould have been deftroyed all in one day through Efther iv. the malice of Haman, at the commandment of Efther Joel ii. they fafted and prayed, and were preferved. When HoJudith viii. lophernes befieged Bethulia, by the advice of Judith they fafted and prayed, and were delivered. When Acts xii. Peter was in prifon, the congregation joined themselves together in prayer, and Peter was wonderfully delivered. By thefe hiftories it appeareth, that common or public Prayer is of great force to obtain mercy and deliverance at our heavenly Father's hand. Therefore, brethren, I befeech you, even for the tender mercies of God, let us no longer be negligent in this behalf but as the people willing to receive at God's hand fuch good things as in the common Prayer of the church are craved, let us join ourselves together in the place of common Prayer, and with one voice and one heart beg at our heavenly Father all thofe things which he knoweth to be neceffary for us. I forbid you not private Prayer, but I exhort you to efteem common Prayer as it is worthy. And before all things, be fure that, in all these three forts of Prayer, your be devoutly lifted up to God, elfe are your prayers to no Ifai. xxix. purpose; and this faying fhall be verified in you; This people bonoureth me with their lips, but their beart is far from me. Thus much for the three forts of Prayer, whereof we read in the Scriptures. Now with like, or rather more brevity, you fhall hear how many Sacraments there be, that were inftituted by our Saviour Matth. xv. ་ minds Chrift, Chrift, and are to be continued, and received of every Chriftian in due time and order, and for fuch purpose as our Saviour Chrift willed them to be received. And as for the number of them, if they should be confidered according to the exact fignification of a Sacrament, namely, for the vifible figus, exprefsly commanded in the New Teftament, whereunto is annexed the promise of free forgivenefs of our fins, and of our holiness and joining in Chrift, there be but two; namely, Baptifm, and the Supper of the Lord. For although Abfolution hath the promise of forgiveness of fin; yet by the exprefs word of the New Teftament it hath not this promife annexed and tied to the vifible fign, which is impofition of hands. For this vifible fign (I mean laying on of hands) is not exprefsly commanded in the New Teftament to be ufed in Abfolution, as the vifible figns in Baptifm and the Lord's Supper are: and therefore Abfolution is no fuch Sacrament as Baptifm and the Communion are. And though the ordering of minifters hath this vifible fign and promife; yet it lacks the promife of remiffion of fin, as all other Sacraments befides the two above named do. Therefore neither it, nor any other Sacrament elfe, be fuch Sacraments as Baptifm and the Communion are. But in a general acception, the name of a Sacrament may be attributed to any thing, whereby an holy thing is fignified. In which understanding of the word, the ancient writers have given this name, not only to the other five, commonly of late years taken and used for supplying the number of the feven Sacraments; but alfo to divers and fundry other ceremonies, as to oil, washing of feet, and fuch like; not meaning thereby to repute them as Sacraments, in the fame fignification that the two forenamed Sacraments are. And Dionyfius, therefore St. Auguftine, weighing the true fignification Bernard, de and the exact meaning of the word, writing to Januarius, mini, et Aband alfo in the third Book of Chriftian Doctrine, affirmeth, lut. Pedum. that the Sacraments of the Chriftians, as they are most excellent in fignification, fo are they moft few in number; and in both places maketh mention exprefsly of two, the Sacrament of Baptifm, and the Supper of the Lord. And although there are retained by the order of the church of England, befides these two, certain other rites and ceremonies about the inftitutions of minifters in the church, Matrimony, Confirmation of the Children, by examining them of their knowledge in the Articles of the faith, and joining thereto the prayers of the church for them, and likewife Cœna Do likewife for the Vifitation of the Sick; yet no man ought to take thefe for Sacraments, in fuch fignification and meaning as the Sacraments of Baptifm and the Lord's Supper are: but either for godly ftates of life, neceffary in Chrift's church, and therefore worthy to be fet forth by public action and folemnity, by the miniftry of the church, or elfe judged to be fuch ordinances as may make for the inftruction, comfort, and edification of Chrift's church. Now, understanding fufficiently what Prayer is, and what a Sacrament is alfo ; and how many forts of Prayers there be, and how many Sacraments of our Saviour Chrift's inftitution; let us fee whether the Scriptures and examples of the primitive church will allow any vocal Prayer, that is, when the mouth uttereth the petitions with voice, or any manner of Sacrament, or other public or common rite or action, pertaining to the profit and edifying of the unlearned, to be miniftered in a tongue unknown, or not understood of the minifter or people: yea, and whether any perfon may privately ufe any vocal Prayer in a language that he himfelf underftandeth not. To this question we muft anfwer, No. And firft of common Prayer and adminiftration of Sacraments. Although reafon, if it might rule, would foon perfuade us to have our common Prayer and adminiftration of the Sacraments in a known tongue, both for that to pray commonly, is for a multitude to afk one and the felffame thing with one voice, and one confent of mind; and to adminifter a Sacrament is, by the outward word and element to preach to the receiver the inward and invisible grace of God; and alfo for that both these exercises were firft infiituted, and are ftill continued, to the end that the congregation of Chrift might from time to time be put in remembrance of their unity in Chrift, and that, as members all of one body, they ought, both in prayers and otherwife, to feek and defire one another's commodity, and not their own without others: yet fhall we not need to flee to reafons and proofs in this matter, fith we have both the plain and manifeft words of the Scripture, and alfo the confent of the most learned and ancient writers, to commend the prayers of the congregation in 1 Cor. xiv. a known tongue. First, Paul to the Corinthians faith, Let all things be done to edifying. Which cannot be, unless common Prayers and administration of Sacraments be in a tongue known to the people. For where the prayers fpoken by the minifter, and the words in the administration |