a cheerful and a godly mind; come to seek God's glory, and to be thankful unto him; come to be at one with thy neighbour, and to enter in friendship and charity with him. Consider that all thy doings stink before the face of God, if thou be not in charity with thy neighbour. Come with an heart sifted and cleansed from worldly and carnal affections and desires. Shake off all vain thoughts which may hinder thee from God's true service. The bird, when she will flee, shaketh her wings: shake and prepare thyself to flee higher than all the birds in the air; that, after thy duty duly done in this earthly temple and church, thou mayest flee up, and be received into the glorious temple of God in heaven, through Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all glory and honour. Amen. AN HOMILY WHEREIN IS DECLARED THAT COMMON PRAYER AND SACRAMENTS OUGHT TO AMONG the manifold exercises of God's people, dear Christians, there is none more necessary for all estates and at all times than is Public Prayer and the due use of Sacraments. For in the first we beg at God's hand all such things as otherwise we cannot obtain; and in the other he embraceth us, and offereth himself to be embraced of us. Knowing therefore that these two exercises are so necessary for us, let us not think it unmeet to consider, first, what Prayer is, and what a Sacrament is; and then, how many sorts of Prayer there be, and how many Sacraments: so shall we the better understand how to use them aright. Spiritu et To know what they be St. Augustine teacheth Augustin, de us. In his book entituled, Of the Spirit and the Anima. Soul, he saith this of Prayer: "Prayer is," saith he, "the devotion of the mind, that is to say, the returning to God through a godly and humble affection; which affection is a certain willing and sweet enclining of the mind itself towards God." And in the second book against the Adversary of Augustin. the Law and Prophets he calleth Sacraments "holy signs." And writing to Bonifacius of the baptism of infants he saith: "If Sacraments had not a certain similitude of those things whereof they be Sacraments, they should be no Sacraments at all. Advers. Leg. Lib. ii contr. et Proph. Augustin, ad Bonifacium. And of this similitude they do for the most part Now let us see how many sorts of Prayer and how many Sacraments there be. In the Scriptures we read of three sorts of Prayer, whereof two are private, and the third is common. The first is that which St. Paul speaketh of in his Epistle to 1 Tim. ii. 8. Timothy, saying, I will that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands, without wrath and striving; and it is the devout lifting up of the mind to God without the uttering of the heart's grief or desire by open voice. Of this Prayer we have example in the first Book of the Kings in Anna the mother of Samuel, when in the heaviness of her heart she prayed in the temple, desiring to be made fruitful. 1 Sam. 1. 13. She prayed in her heart, saith the text, but there was no voice heard. After this sort must all Christians pray, not once in a week or once in a day only, 1 Thess. v. 17. but, as St. Paul writeth to the Thessalonians, withJames v. 16. out ceasing: and, as St. James writeth, the continual prayer of a just man is of much force. The second sort of Prayer is spoken of in the Gospel of Matthew where it is said, When thou prayest, enter into thy secret closet, and, when thou hast shut the door to thee, pray unto thy Father in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee. Of this sort of Prayer there be sundry examples in the Scriptures; but it shall suffice to rehearse one, Acts x. 1, 2, 30. Which is written in the Acts of the Apostles. Cor Matt. vi. 6. nelius, a devout man, a captain of the Italian army, saith to Peter, that, being in his house in prayer at the ninth hour, there appeared unto him one in a white garment, &c. This man prayed unto God in secret, and was rewarded openly. These be the two private sorts of Prayer; the one mental, that is to say, the devout lifting up of the mind to God; and the other vocal, that is to say, the secret uttering of the griefs and desires of the heart with words, but yet in a secret closet or some solitary place. 18. The third sort of Prayer is Public or Common. Of this Prayer speaketh our Saviour Christ when he saith, If two of you shall agree upon earth upon Matt. xviii. any thing, whatsoever ye shall ask, my Father which 19, 20. is in heaven shall do it for you; for, wheresoever two or three be gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Although God have promised to hear us when we pray privately, so it be done faithfully and devoutly; (for he saith, Call upon Ps. 1. 15. me in the day of thy trouble, and I will hear thee; and Helias, being but a mortal man, saith St. James, James v. 17, prayed, and heaven was shut three years and six months: and again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain;) yet by the histories of the Bible it appeareth that Public and Common Prayer is most available before God; and therefore it is much to be lamented that it is no better esteemed among us, which profess to be but one body in Christ. When the city Ninive was threatened to be de- Jonah iii. stroyed within forty days, the prince and people joined themselves together in public prayer and fasting, and were preserved. In the prophet Joel God commandeth a fasting to be proclaimed, and Joel ii. 15-17. the people to be gathered together, young and old, man and woman, and are taught to say with one voice, Spare us, O Lord, spare thy people, and let not thine enheritance be brought to confusion. When the Jews should have been destroyed all in one day through the malice of Haman, at the command- Esth. iv. 16. ment of Hester they fasted and prayed, and were 4-10. Judith viii. 17-27. preserved. When Holofernes besieged Bethulia, by the advice of Judith they fasted and prayed, Acts xii. 5-12. and were delivered. When Peter was in prison, the congregation joined themselves together in prayer, and Peter was wonderfully delivered. By these histories it appeareth that Common or Public Prayer is of great force to obtain mercy and Rom. xii. 1. deliverance at our heavenly Father's hand. Therefore, brethren, I beseech you, even for the tender mercies of God, let us no longer be negligent in this behalf; but, as a people willing to receive at God's hand such 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 of our heavenly Father all those things which he knoweth to be necessary for us. I forbid you not private prayer, but I exhort you to esteem Common Prayer as it is worthy. And before all things be sure that, in all these three sorts of Prayer, your minds be devoutly lifted up to God; else are your prayers to no purpose, and this saying shall be Is. xxix. 13: verified in you, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Matt. xv. 8. Thus much for the three sorts of Prayer whereof we read in the Scriptures. Now with like or rather more brevity you shall hear how many Sacraments there be that were instituted by our Saviour Christ, and are to be continued and received of every Christian in due time and order, and for such purpose as our Saviour Christ willed them to be received. And as for the number of them, if they should be considered according to the exact signification of a Sacrament, namely, for visible signs expressly commanded in the New Testament, whereunto is annexed the promise of free forgiveness of our sin and of our holiness and joining in Christ, there be but two, namely, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord. For, although Absolution hath the promise of forgiveness of sin, yet by the express word of the |