and this he hath done according to his holy covenant made with them. And he made them to understand that we live to see and enjoy the benefit of it, in his birth, in his life, his passion, his resurrection, and ascension into heaven, where he now sits sensible of all our temptations and infirmities; and where he is at this present time making intercession for us, to his and our Father: and therefore they ought daily to express their public gratulations, and say daily with Zacharias, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that hath thus visited and thus redeemed his people. These were some of the reasons by which Mr. Herbert instructed his congregation for the use of the psalms and the hymns appointed to be daily sung or said in the Churchservice. He informed them also, when the priest did pray only for the congregation, and not for himself: and when they did only pray for him: as namely, after the repetition of the Creed, before he proceeds to pray the Lord's Prayer, or any of the appointed collects, the priest is directed to kneel down, and pray for them, saying, The Lord be with you: : and then they pray for him, saying, And with thy spirit: and then they join together in the following collects and he assured them, that when there is such mutual love, and such joint prayers offered for each other, then the holy angels look down from heaven, and are ready to carry such charitable desires to God Almighty, and he as ready to receive them; and that a Christian congregation calling thus upon God with one heart and one voice, and in one reverent and humble posture, look as beautifully as Jerusalem, that is at peace with itself. : of our He instructed them also why the prayer Lord was prayed often in every full service of the Church: namely, at the conclusion of the several parts of that service; and prayed then, not only be cause it was composed and commanded by our Jesus that made it, but as a perfect pattern for our less perfect forms of prayer, and therefore fittest to sum . up and conclude all our imperfect petitions. He instructed them also, that as by the second commandment we are required not to bow down, nor worship any idol, or false god; so, by the contrary rule, we are to bow down and kneel, or stand up and worship the true God. And he instructed them why the Church required the congregation to stand up at the repetition of the Creeds; namely, because they did thereby declare both their obedience to the Church, and an assent to that faith into which they had been baptized. And he taught them, that in that shorter Creed, or Doxology, so often repeated daily, they also stood up to testify their belief to be, that the God that they trusted in was one God, and three persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; to whom they and the priest gave glory. And because there had been heretics that had denied some of those three persons to be God, therefore the congregation stood up and honoured him, by confessing and saying, It was so in the beginning, is now so, and shall ever be so, world without end. And all gave their assent to this belief, by standing up and saying, Amen. He instructed them also what benefit they had by the Church's appointing the celebration of holidays, and the excellent use of them; namely, that they were set apart for particular commemorations of particular mercies received from Almighty God; and (as the Rev. Mr. Hooker says) to be the landmarks to distinguish times; for by them we are taught to take notice how time passes by us, and that we ought not to let the years pass without a celebration of praise for those mercies which those days give us occasion to remember; and therefore they were to note that the year is appointed to begin the 25th day of March; a day in which we commemorate the angel's appearing to the blessed Virgin, with the joyful tidings that she should conceive and bear a son, that should be the Redeemer of mankind. And she did so forty weeks after this joyful salutation: namely, at our Christmas: a day in which we commemorate his birth with joy and praise and that eight days after this happy birth, we celebrate his Circumcision; namely, in that which we call New-year's day: and that, upon that day which we call Twelfth-day, we commemorate the manifestation of the unsearchable riches of Jesus to the Gentiles: and that, upon that day we also celebrate the memory of his goodness in sending a star to guide the three Wise Men from the East to Bethlehem, that they might there worship, and present him with their oblations of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And he (Mr. Herbert) instructed them, that Jesus was forty days after his birth presented by his blessed mother in the temple, namely, on that day which we call "The Purification of the blessed Virgin, St. Mary." And he instructed them, that by the Lent-fast, we imitate and commemorate our Saviour's humiliation in fasting forty-days; and that we ought to endeavour to be like him in purity; and that on Good-Friday we commemorate and condole his crucifixion; and at Easter commemorate his glorious resurrection. And he taught them, that after Jesus had manifested himself to his disciples to be that Christ that was crucified, dead, and buried; and by his appearing and conversing with his disciples, for the space of forty days after his resurrection, he then, and not till then, ascended into heaven in the sight of those disciples; namely, on that day which we call the Ascension, or Holy Thursday. And that we then celebrate the performance of the promise which he made to his disciples at or before his ascension; namely, that though he S left them, yet he would send them the Holy Ghost to be their Comforter; and that he did so on that day which the Church calls Whitsunday. Thus the Church keeps an historical and circular commemoration of times, as they pass by us; of such times as ought to incline us to occasional praises, for the particular blessings which we do or might receive by those holy commemorations. He made them know also why the Church hath appointed Ember-weeks; and to know the reason why the Commandments, and the Epistles, and Gospels, were to be read at the Altar, or Communion Table; why the priest was to pray the Litany kneeling; and why to pray some collects standing: and he gave them many other observations, fit for his plain congregation, but not fit for me now to mention; for I must set limits to my pen, and not make that a treatise, which I intended to be a much shorter account than I have made it: -- -but I have done, when I have told the reader, that he was constant in catechising every Sunday in the afternoon, and that his catechising was after the second lesson, and in the pulpit: and that he never exceeded his half hour, and was always so happy as to have an obedient and a full congregation. And to this I must add, that if he were at any time too zealous in his sermons, it was in reproving the indecencies of the people's behaviour in the time of divine service; and of those ministers that huddle up the Church-prayers, without a visible reverence and affection; namely, such as seemed to say the Lord's Prayer, or a collect, in a breath. But for himself, his custom was, to stop betwixt every collect, and give the people time to consider what they had prayed, and to force their desires affectionately to God, before he engaged them into new petitions. And by this account of his diligence to make his parishioners understand what they prayed, and why they praised and adored their Creator, I hope I shall the more easily obtain the reader's belief, to the following account of Mr. Herbert's own practice; which was to appear constantly with his wife and three nieces (the daughters of a deceased sister) and his whole family, twice every day at the Churchprayers, in the chapel which does almost join to his parsonage-house. And for the time of his appearing, it was strictly at the canonical hours of ten and four and then and there he lifted up pure and charitable hands to God in the midst of the congregation. And he would joy to have spent that time in that place, where the honour of his master Jesus dwelleth; and there, by that inward devotion which he testified constantly by an humble behaviour and visible adoration, he, like Joshua, brought not only his own household thus to serve the Lord; but brought most of his parishioners, and many gentlemen in the neighbourhood, constantly to make a part of his congregation twice a day; and some of the meaner sort of his parish did so love and reverence Mr. Herbert, that they would let their plough rest when Mr. Herbert's Saints'-bell rung to prayers, that they might also offer their devotions to God with him; and would then return back to their plough. And his most holy life was such, that it begot such reverence to God, and to him, that they thought themselves the happier, when they carried Mr. Herbert's blessing back with them to their labour. Thus powerful was his reason and example to persuade others to a practical piety and devotion. And his constant public prayers did never make him to neglect his own private devotions, nor those prayers that he thought himself bound to perform with his family, which always were a set form, and not long; and he did always conclude them with that collect which the Church hath appointed for the |