hour is come: but as foon as she is delivered of the child, fhe remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have forrow: but I will see you again, and your heart fhall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. The fourth Sunday after Eafter. The Collect. Almighty God, who alone canft order the unruly wills and affections of finful men; Grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and defire that which thou doft promife; that fo, among the fundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may furely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.. E The Epiftle. St James i. 17. VERY good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variablenefs, neither fhadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be fwift to hear, flow to fpeak, flow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the righte oufnefs of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthinefs, and PARAPHRASE. On the COLLECT for the fourth Sunday after Eafter. O Almighty God, we being informed by thy holy word, that every good and perfect gift cometh down from thee the Father of lights (Jam. i. 17.) and among thefe, doft bettow upon us the gift of retraining our corrupt and carnal affections and inordinate love of this world; we befeech thee to grant that we thy faithful fervants, being divefted of these earthly inclinations, may heartily love thy commands, and above all things, defire that recompence which thou haft promifed us for our obedience; and that being unmoved at all the accidents of this world, our affections may be entirely fixed upon the joys of Heaven; and this we beg for the fake of Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen. fuperfluity of naughtinefs, and receive with meeknefs the engrafted Word, which is able to fave your fouls. JES The Gospel. St John xvi. 5. ESUS faid unto his difciples, Now I go my way to him that fent me, and none of you afketh me, Whither goeft thou? But because I have faid these things unto you, forrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will fend him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of fin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of fin, because they believe not on me: Of righteoufnels, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more: Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to fay unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he fhall not speak of himfelf; but whatfoever he fhall hear, that fhall he fpeak: and he will fhew you things to come. He fhall glorify me: for he fhall receive of mine, and fhall fhew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore faid I, that he fhall take of mine, and fhall fhew it unto you. The fifth Sunday after Eafter. The Collect. Lord, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble fervants, that by thy holy infpira tion we may think thofe things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the fame, through our Lord Jefus Chrift. Amen. PARAPHRASE. On the COLLECT for the fifth Sunday after Eafter. O Lord, from whofe grace all good thoughts and virtuous actions do proceed, grant that we thy ardent worshippers, who are now affembled in thy prefence, may, by the infpiration of thy holy Spirit, obtain fach a portion BE The Epiftle. St James i. 22. ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own felves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glafs. For he beholdeth himfelf, and goeth his way, and ftraightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whofo looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein; he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man fhall be bleffed in his deed. If any man among you feem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: To vifit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unfpotted from the world. The Gospel. St John xvi. 23. ERILY, verily, I fay unto you, Whatsoever ye fhall afk the Father in my Name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye afked nothing in my Name: Afk, and ye fhall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: the time cometh when I fhall no more fpeak unto you in proverbs, but I shall fhew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye fhall afk in my Name: andl fay unto you that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himfelf loveth you, becaufe ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: Again I leave the world, and go to the Father. His difciples faid unto him, Lo, now fpeakeft thou plainly, and fpeakeft no proverb. Now are we fure that thou knoweft all things, and needeft not that any man fhould afk thee: by this we believe that thou cameft forth from God. Jefus answered PARAPHRASE. portion of thy grace, as may render us doers of thy word, and not hearers only, (Jam. i. 22.) and that whatever good refolutions we fhall form in this place, thou wouldst enable us, by thy gracious direction, to adhere to the fame in the future actions of our lives; and this request we make for the fake of Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen. PARA them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye fhall be scattered every man to his own, and fhall leave me alone and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me, These things I have fpoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. G The Afcenfion-day, The Collect. RANT, we befeech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Chrift to have afcended into the heavens; fo we may also in heart and mind thither afcend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee, and the Holy Ghoft, one God, world without end. Amen. TH For the Epiftle. Acts i. 1. HE former treatife have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jefus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he, through the Holy Ghoft, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chofen. To whom alfo he fhewed himself alive after his paffion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and fpeaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God and being affembled together with them, commanded them that they fhould not depart from Jerufalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, PARAPHRASE. On the COLLECT for Afcenfion-Day. O Almighty God, we humbly beseech thee, that, as we are firmly perfuaded, that our bleffed Lord Jefus Chrift afcended up into heaven, from the united teftimony of thy holy word, and fuch a number of eyewitneffes who beheld him, (As i. 10.) fo may we, in this life, afcend thither in our hearts, by fetting our affections on heavenly things, (Col. iii. 2.) and may, after the general refurrection, be admitted to dwell for ever there with him, who reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghoft, one God, world without end. Amen. faith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye fhall be baptized with the Holy Ghoft not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they afked of him, faying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Ifrael? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times, or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye fhall receive power after that the Holy Ghoft is come upon you: and ye shall be witneffes unto me, both in Jerufalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermoft part of the earth. And when he had fpoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their fight. And while they looked ftedfaftly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men ftood by them in white apparel, which also faid, Ye men of Galilee, why ftand ye gazing up into heaven? This fame Jefus which is taken up from you into heaven, fhall fo come in like manner, as ye have feen him go into heaven. The Gospel. St Mark xvi. 14. ESUS appeared unto the eleven as they fat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had feen him after he was rifen. And he faid unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gofpel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, fhall be faved; but he that believeth not, fhall be damned. And thefe figns fhall follow them that believe: In my name fhall they caft out devils, they fhall speak with new tongues, they fhall take up ferpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it fhall not hurt them; they fhall lay hands on the fiçk, and they fhall recover. So then after the Lord had fpcken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and fat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with figns following, Sunday |