shall be used, and the fast kept the next day following. And upon the Lord's day next before the day to be kept, (i. e. on whatever day of the week it shall happen,) at Morning Prayer, immediately after the Nicene Creed, notice shall be given for the due observation of the said day. The second. II. As to the service of this day, (like that appointed for the fifth of November,) it is to be the same with the usual office for holy-days in all things, except where it is in this office otherwise appointed; i. e. the ordinary Morning and Evening Service, and Office for the Communion, are to be said as usual, except where any thing in either of these services is to be added to, or to be used in the room of, the ordinary service for the day; as the Collects, for instance, and the several prayers appointed on these occasions, are to be used either instead of, or besides, the prayers daily in use; and the Hymn, Psalms, and Lessons, the Epistle and Gospel, instead of those in ordinary course. SECT. II. Of the Sentences, Hymn, Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel. I. THE office is introduced with some of the usual sentences at Morning Prayer.? The sentences. The hymn. II. The hymn, instead of the xcvth Psalm, was drawn up in the reign of king James II., when a review was taken, and several alterations made in this office. And whoever looks into king Charles's book, must acknowledge the old hymn not to be near so fine as the new one, which is as solemn a composure, and as pertinent to the occasion, as can be imagined or contrived. The psalms. Psalm ix. III. The proper psalms appointed for the morning are Psalms ix. x. xi. The viith was originally prefixed to them all, but that was afterwards discontinued. The first of those that are now appointed, was wrote upon Goliath's death, and was designed for David's victory over the Philistines: and though the chief end of this day's solemnity is to bewail our sins, which were the occasion of the late bloody and dismal times; yet when we recollect how happily we were at last delivered from them, and how remarkably God's justice was executed on the enemies of our David, we cannot forbear intermingling a thanksgiving to praise the divine Majesty for so wonderful a work. 2 Dan. ix. 9, 10. Jer. x. 24. Psal. cxliii. 2. §. 2. The xth Psalm, wanting a title, was by Psalm x. the Hebrews anciently, and by the Vulgar Latin is still, joined to the former: but though it be on a like subject, yet there is a plain difference between them. The ixth Psalm speaks of Pagan enemies, whose cruelty was ended some time before, and is therefore fuller of praises; whereas this psalm speaks of domestic foes, who still acted unjustly, and so abounds more with prayers and complaints proper to be used on this day. §. 3. The xith Psalm is a declaration of David's Psalm xi. full confidence and trust in God, in despite of all discouragements, and is very applicable to our royal martyr under his sufferings. IV. The first Lesson for the morning is 2 The first Lesson. Samuel i. There is no parallel for this inhuman and barbarous murder of a good and pious king by his own subjects in all the Old Testament: and therefore the Church is content to read the history of David's justice and vengeance upon the Amalekite, that accused himself of killing king Saul, though at his own request, to ease him of his pain; and of David's own decent mourning for his sovereign, notwithstanding he had been always his mortal enemy, had apostatized from God, and was forsaken by Heaven. How much more reason then had our state to punish those impious rebels, who murdered the best of kings, only for adhering to the best of religions; and also to set apart a day of humiliation for fasting and prayer, and to draw up a mournful office for the occasion, after the example of David in the Lesson! The second 3 §. 2. As for the second Lesson, it is no other than that appointed by the Church in the ordinary course, to be read on the thirtieth of January. For by a signal providence the bloody rebels chose that day for murdering their king, on which the history of our Saviour's sufferings was appointed to be read as a Lesson for the day. The blessed martyr had forgot that it came in the ordinary course; and therefore when bishop Juxon (who read the morning office immediately before his martyrdom) named this chapter, the good prince asked him, if he had singled it out as fit for the occasion; and when he was informed it was the Lesson for the day, could not without a sensible complacency and joy admire how suitably it concurred with his cir 3 Matt. xxvii. to the end. cumstances: betrayed by some, denied by others, and despised by the rest of his seeming friends, who left him to the implacable malice of his barbarous enemies; who treated him with the same contempt and ingratitude, outrage and cruelty, with which the Jews treated their King and Saviour; while he followed the steps of his great Master in meekness and patience, piety to God, and charity to men, and at last praying for his murderers. The Epistle and V. The Epistle shews the duty which Christians owe to magistrates: the Gospel severely Gospel. and justly upbraids those unparalleled rebels, who were the villanous projectors of this day's tragedy. It calls to our mind the care and diligence of the poor good king, who, when he had omitted nothing for the quiet and safety of his kingdoms, had the misfortune to commit the administration of the government into such hands, as made use of the power he had intrusted with them, to deny him the rights and prerogatives of his crown; rejecting his commissioners, slaying his servants, seizing his crown, murdering his person, banishing his heir, and usurping his kingdom. VI. The Psalms for the evening service are The Psalms for different now from what they were when the the evening. office was composed; at present they are the Psalm lxxix. lxxixth, xcivth, and lxxxvth. The lxxixth Psalm contains a lively description of the miseries of Jerusalem, upon the sacking of it by the king of Babylon; and is very applicable to our sad condition during the rebellion: only the Jews suffered by heathens, we by men whose behaviour was worse than heathenish, while they called themselves Christians. Psalm xciv. Psalm 1xxxv. §. 2. The xcivth Psalm is a prayer to God, and a confident assurance in him, that he will dissipate the attempts of wicked men, and uphold the righteous. §. 3. The lxxxvth Psalm is appointed with respect to that happy change at the Restoration, and is for that reason placed out of its usual order; it containing an acknowledgment of God's mercy in delivering the land from those sad calamities, and a prayer for a continuance of it in prosperity hereafter. VII. For the first Lesson is appointed a choice of two chapters for variety: one of which is Je The first Lesson Viz. Psalm xxxviii. lxiv. and remiah's complaint to God of great mischiefs done in Church and State by false prophets and tyrannical rulers, with God's answer, giving the reason of his permitting it, and threatening withal, in due time, to punish the authors of these mischiefs, and to deliver the righteous. §. 2. The other is out of Daniel, being an excellent prayer, which that holy man used on a day that he had set apart to solemn humiliation, fasting, and repentance; wherein he so effectually bewailed the sins and sufferings of God's people, that he prevailed with God to restore them to their liberty, and to the exercise of their religion. Which justly reminds us of the prayers and penitence of devout men under those usurpers, which at last had the same effect with us. The second 9 §. 3. The second Lesson sets before us the faith and patience of the holy martyrs, whom St. Paul records, and is very proper as a commemoration of our royal martyr's sufferings and faith, and an exhortation to us to imitate them, whensoever it shall please God to require it of us. In the old Gallican Liturgy this was the proper Lesson for the festival of any martyr.1o CHAPTER XVII. OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE TWENTYNINTH OF MAY The first rubric. SECT. I. Of the Rubrics. To the end (saith the Act of Parliament, by which this day is appointed) that all persons may be put in mind of their duty thereon, and be better prepared to discharge the same with that piety and devotion as The Act to be becomes them; the Act of Parliament made in read, and notice the twelfth, and confirmed in the thirteenth year of king Charles the Second, for the observation of the twenty-ninth day of May yearly, as a day of public thanksgiving, is to be read publicly in all churches at Morning Prayer, immediately after the Nicene Creed, on the Lord's day next before every such twenty-ninth of May, and to be given for the observation of the day. 8 Daniel ix. 1-22. Gallic. 1. 2, p. 160. 9 Heb. xi. 32, to chap. xii. 7. 10 Vide Mabillon, Lit. notice to be given for the due observation of the said day. So also the Act for the observation of the Fifth of November is appointed to be read, by that Act itself, publicly in the church. after Morning Prayer or preaching on the said day. are enjoined. And yet it is remarkable, that though both By what authorthese Acts, together with the Act for the thirtieth ity these offices of January, appoint these several days to be solemnly observed, and both suppose and enact that proper prayers and praises shall be used on those days; yet not one of them provides for or establishes any office for the use of either one or other of the said days: nor have our kings, by whose order and directions alone these several offices are printed and annexed to the Book of Common Prayer, and appointed to be used on their respective days, any power or authority invested in them by king Charles II.'s Act of Uniformity, to establish or enjoin any other form than what is provided in the Book of Common Prayer, or to do any thing else in relation to that book, than to alter and change from time to time the names of the king, queen, and royal progeny. So that it might be very well questioned, whether these, or any other occasional offices put out by the same order, could safely be used, were it not for the general connivance, or rather concurrence of the two other parts of the legislative authority, the lords and commons, who, if sitting, are always present at the performance of such offices, and frequently address the king to order them.1 The rubric of di rections for read ing this office upon other holy days. II. The second rubric has already been spoken to in the foregoing chapter: but because this festival falls in such a time of the year, as that it often happens to concur with some other great holy-day, which has a proper service appointed for itself; therefore here is a third rubric of directions in this case, that whenever such concurrence shall happen, the preference shall be given to that other holy-day, and so much of this office as interferes with the service proper for that day shall be omitted. Thus, for instance, it is said in the rubric, If this day shall happen to be Ascension-day, or Whit-Sunday, the Collects of this office (i. e. all the prayers of it, for all prayers are called Collects both in the rubrics of this and all other offices) are to be added to the office of those festivals in their proper places:-and the rest of this office shall be See this proved at large by Mr. Johnson in his Case of Occasional Days and Prayers. |