senses the inward working of God's free mercy, and doth, as it were, seal in our hearts the promises of God. And so was Circumcision a Sacrament, which preached unto the outward senses the inward cutting away of the foreskin of the heart, and sealed and made sure in the hearts of the circumcised the promise of God touching the promised seed that they looked for. 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 Timothy, saying, I will that men pray in every 1 Tim. iià place, lifting up pure hands, without wrath or 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 Samuel, in Anna the mother of Samuel, when in 1 Sam. i. the heaviness of her heart she prayed in the temple, desiring to be made fruitful. 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; but, as St. Paul writeth to the Thessalonians, 1 Thess. iii. without ceasing. And as St. James writeth, The continual James v 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, Matt. via 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, which is written in the Acts of the Apostles.

Cornelius, a devout man, a captain of the Italian army, Acts x saith to Peter, that being in his house in Prayer at the ninth hour, there appeared to 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. 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. xvii any thing, whatsoever ye shall ask, my Father which 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,

Psaka. I.

James V.

Jonah iii,

Joel ii.

Esther iv.

Judith viis

Acts xii.

Isai. xxix.

Matt. XV.

Although God hath promised to hear us when we pray privately, so it be done faithfully and devoutly; (for he saith, Call upon me in the day of thy trouble, and I will hear thee. And Elias, being but a mortal man, saith St. James, 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 is much to be lamented that it is no better esteemed among us, who profess to be but one body in Christ. When the city of Nineveh was threatened to be destroyed within forty days, the prince and the people joined themselves together in public Prayer and fasting, and were preserved. In the Prophet Joel, God commanded a fasting to be proclaimed, and 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 inheritance be brought to confusion. When the Jew's should have been destroyed all in one day through the malice of Haman, at the commandment of Esther they fasted and prayed, and were preserved. When Holofernes besieged Bethulia, by the advice of Judith they fasted and prayed, 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 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 the 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 at 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 verified in you; This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 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 the visible signs, expressly commanded in the New Testament, whereunto is annexed the promise of free forgiveness of our sins, 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 New Testament it hath not this promise annexed and tied to the visible sign, which is imposition of hands. For this visible sign (I mean laying on of hands) is not expressly commanded in the New Testament to be used in Absolution, as the visible signs in Baptism and the Lord's Supper are: and therefore Absolution is no such Sacrament as Baptism and the Communion are. And though the ordering of ministers hath this visible sign and promise; yet it lacks the promise of remission of sin, as all other Sacraments besides the two above named do. Therefore neither it, nor any other Sacrament else, be such Sacraments as Baptism 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 signified. 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 seven Sacraments; but also to divers and sundry other ceremonies, as to oil, washing of feet, and such like; not meaning thereby to repute them as Sacraments, in the same signification that the two forenamed Sacraments are. And therefore St. Augustine, weighing the true signification Bernard. de and the exact meaning of the word, writing to Januarius, et Ablut. Pe and also in the third Book of Christian Doctrine, affirmeth, that the Sacraments of the Christians, as they are most excellent in signification, so are they most few in number; and in both places maketh mention expressly of two, the Sacrament of Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord. And although there are retained by the order of the Church of England, besides these two, certain other rites and ceremonies about the institutions of ministers 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

dum.

Dionysius,

Cor, xiv.

likewise for the Visitation of the Sick; yet no man ought to take these for Sacraments, in such signification and meaning as the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are: but either for godly states of life, necessary in Christ's Church, and therefore worthy to be set forth by public action and solemnity, by the ministry of the church, or else judged to be such ordinances as may make for the instruction, comfort, and edification of Christ's Church.

Now, understanding sufficiently what Prayer is, and what a Sacrament is also ; and how many sorts of Prayers there be, and how many Sacraments of our Saviour Christ's institution; let us see 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 ministered in á tongue unknown, or not understood of the minister or people: yea, and whether any person may privately use any vocal Prayer in a language that he himself understandeth not. To this question we must answer, No. And first of common Prayer and administration of Sacraments, Al though reason, if it might rule, would soon persuade us to have our common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments in a known tongue, both for that to pray commonly, is for a multitude to ask one and the selfsame thing with one voice, and one consent of mind; and to administer a Sacrament is, by the outward word and clement to preach to the receiver the inward and invisible grace of God; and also for that both these exercises were first instituted, and are still continued, to the end that the congregation of Christ might from time to time be put in remembrance of their unity in Christ, and that, as members all of one body, they ought, both in prayers and otherwise, to seek and desire one another's commodity, and not their own without others: yet shall we not need to flee to reasons and proofs in this matter, since we have both the plain and manifest words of the Scripture, and also the consent of the most learned and ancient writers, to commend the prayers of the congregation in a known tongue. First, Paul to the Corinthians saith, 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 spoken by the minister, and the words in the

administration of the Sacraments, be not understood of them that be present, they cannot thereby be edified. For, as, when the trumpet that is blown in the field giveth an uncertain sound, no man is thereby stirred up to prepare himself to the fight; and as, when an instrument of music maketh no distinct souud, no man can tell what is piped: even so, when Prayers or administration of Sacras ments shall be in a tongue unknown to the hearers, which of them shall be thereby stirred up to lift up his mind to God, and to beg with the minister at God's hand, those things which in the words of his Prayers the minister asketh? Or who shall in the ministration of the Sacraments understand what invisible grace is to be craved of the hearer, to be wrought in the inward man?' Truly no man at all. For, saith St. Paul, He that speaketh in a tongue unknown, shall be to the hearer an alien, which in a Christian congregation is a great absurdity.

Ephes. ii.

1 Cor. x.

and xii.

For we are not strangers one to another, but we are the citizens of the saints, and of the household of God, yea, and members of one body. And therefore whilst our minister is in rehearsing the prayer that is made in the name of us all, we must give diligent ear to the words spoken by him, and in heart beg at God's hand those things that he beggeth in words. And to signify that we do so, we say Amen at the end of the prayer that he maketh in the name of us all. And this thing can we not do for edification, unless we understand what is spoken. Therefore it is required of necessity, that the common Prayer be had in a tongue that the hearers do understand. If ever it had been tolerable to use strange tongues in the congregations, the same might have been in the time of Paul and the other Apostles, when they were miraculously endued with gifts of tongues. For it might then have persuaded some to embrace the Gospel, when they had heard men that were Hebrews born, and unlearned, speak the Greek, the Latin, and other languages. But Paul thought it not tolerable then: and shall we use it now, when no man cometh by that knowledge of tongués, otherwise than by diligent and earnest study? God forbid. For we should by that means bring all our church exercises to frivolous superstition, and make them altogether unfruitful. Luke writeth, that when Peter and John were Acts iv. discharged by the princes and high-priests of Jerusalem, they came to their fellows, and told them all that the princes of the priests and elders had spoken to them. Which when they heard, they lifted up their voice together to God