HOMILY ON THE RIGHT USE OF THE CHURCH

Short-Title Catalogue 13675. Renaissance Electronic Texts 1.1.
copyright 1994 Ian Lancashire (ed.) University of Toronto

 Edited to 2003 American English by Curtis I. Caldwell on 28 March 2003.
Revised 21 July 2004.

A HOMILY OF THE RIGHT USE OF
THE CHURCH OR TEMPLE OF GOD,
AND OF THE REVERENCE DUE UNTO THE SAME.

Of the right Use of the Church.
[Title from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, Episcopal Church USA,
Articles of Religion Article XXXV, Of the Homilies]

Where there appears at these days great slackness and negligence by a great number of people in coming to the church, there to serve God their Heavenly Father according to their most bounden duty, as also much improper and irreverent behavior of many persons when they are there assembled, and thereby may just fear arise of the wrath of God, and his dreadful plagues hanging over our heads, for our grievous offences in this manner among other many and great sins which we daily and hourly commit before the Lord. Therefore, for the discharge of all our consciences, and for avoiding the common peril and plague hanging over us, let us consider what may be said out of God's holy book concerning this matter, whereunto I pray you give careful attention, for that it is of great weight, and concerns you all. Although the eternal and incomprehensible majesty of God, the Lord of heaven and earth, whose feet is heaven, and the earth his footstool, cannot be enclosed in temples or houses made with man's hand, as in dwelling places able to receive or contain his majesty, according as is plainly declared by the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 66:1), and by the doctrine of St. Steven, and St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 17:24). And where King Solomon (who built unto the Lord the most glorious temple that ever was made) said, "Who shall be able to build an appropriate or worthy house for him? If heaven, and the heaven above all heavens cannot contain him, how much less can that which I have built?" (1 Kings 8:27)  And further confessed: "What am I, that I should be able to build you a house, O Lord? But yet for this purpose only it is made, that you may take notice of the prayer of your servant and his humble supplication." (2 Chronicles 2:6, 2 Chronicles 6:18)  Much less, then, are our churches satisfactory dwelling places to receive the incomprehensible majesty of God. And indeed, the chief and special temples of God, wherein he has greatest pleasure and most delights to dwell and continue in, are the bodies and minds of true Christians and the chosen people of God, according to the doctrine of the Holy Scripture, declared in the first Epistle to the Corinthians. "Know you not (said Saint Paul) that you are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which you are" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). And again in the same Epistle: "Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost dwelling in you, which has been given to you by God, and that you are not your own? For you are bought at a high price. Glorify now therefore God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And therefore as our Savior Christ teaches in the Gospel of Saint John, "Those who worship God the Father in spirit and truth, in whatever place they do it, worship him properly. For such worshippers does God the Father look for. For God is a spirit, and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth" (John 4.23-24), said our Savior Christ. Yet all this notwithstanding, the material church or temple is a place appointed as well by the usage and continual examples expressed in the Old Testament, as in the New, for the people of God to come together unto, there to hear God's holy word, to call upon his holy name, to give him thanks for his innumerable and unspeakable benefits bestowed upon us, and duly and truly to celebrate his holy sacraments (in the unfeigned doing and accomplishing of which, stands that true and right worshipping of God afore mentioned) and the same Church or temple, is by the Holy Scriptures both of the Old Testament and New, called the house and temple of the Lord, for the peculiar service there done to his majesty by his people, and for the effectual presence of his heavenly grace, wherewith he, by his Holy Word, endues his people assembled there. And to the house or temple of God, at all times by common order appointed, are all people, that are godly indeed, bound with all diligence in assembling, unless by sickness, or other most urgent causes they are hindered from coming. And all those who assemble there ought, with all quietness and reverence there, to behave themselves in doing their bounden duty and service to Almighty God, in the congregation of his saints. All which things are evident to be proved by God's holy word, as hereafter shall plainly appear.

And first of all, I will declare by the Scriptures that it is called (as it is indeed) the house of God (John 2:16), and temple of the Lord. He that swears by the temple (said our Savior Christ) swears by it and by He who dwells therein (Matthew 23:21), meaning God the Father, which he also expresses plainly in the Gospel of Saint John, saying: "Do not make the house of my Father into the house of merchandise" (John 2:16). And in the book of the Psalms, the prophet David said, "I will enter into your house. I will worship in your holy temple, in your fear" (Psalms 5:7). And it is almost in infinite places of the Scripture, especially in the Prophets and book of Psalms, called the house of God, or house of the Lord. Sometimes it is named the tabernacle of the Lord, and sometimes the sanctuary, that is to say, the holy place or house of the Lord (Exodus 25:8-9, Leviticus 19:30). And it is likewise called the house of prayer, as Solomon, who built the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, often calls it the house of the Lord, in the which the Lord's name should be called upon (1 Kings 8:43, 2 Chronicles 6:10). And Isaiah, in the 56th chapter, "My house shall be called the house of prayer among all nations" (Isaiah 56:7). Which text our Savior Christ alleges in the New Testament, as does appear in three of the evangelists (Matthew 12:4, Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46), and in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican who went to pray, in which parable our Savior Christ said, "They went up into the temple to pray" (Luke 18:10). And Anna, the holy widow and prophetess, served the Lord in fasting and prayer in the Temple, night and day (Luke 2:37). And in the story of the Acts, it is mentioned that Peter and John went up into the temple at the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1). And St. Paul, praying in the temple at Jerusalem, was ecstatic in the Spirit, and saw Jesus speaking to him. And as in all convenient places, prayer may be used by the godly privately. So it is most certain that the church or temple is the due and appointed place for common and public prayer. Now it is likewise the place of thanksgiving unto the Lord, for his innumerable and unspeakable benefits bestowed upon us, that appears notably in the latter end of the Gospel of St. Luke (Luke 24:53), and the beginning of the story of the Acts, where it is written that the apostles and disciples after the ascension of the Lord continued with one accord daily in the temple, always praising, and blessing God (Acts 2:46-47). And it is likewise declared in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, that the church is the due place appointed for the use of the sacraments (1 Corinthians 11:18). It remains now to be declared, that the church or temple is the place where the lively word of God (and not man's inventions) ought to be read and taught, and that the people are obligated with all diligence to  come, and this proof likewise to be made by the scriptures, as hereafter shall appear.

In the story of the Acts of the Apostles, we read that Paul and Barnabas preached the word of God in the temples of the Jews at Salamis: "And when they came to Antioch, they entered on the Sabbath day into the synagogue or church and sat down, and after the lesson or reading of the Law and the Prophets, the ruler of the temple said to them, saying: 'You men and brethren, if any of you have any exhortation to make to the people, say it.' And so Paul, standing up and making silence with his hand, said: 'You who are Israelites, and you that fear God, listen' " (Acts 13:14-16), etc. preaching to them a sermon out of the Scriptures, as recorded there (Acts 13: 16-41). And in the same story of the Acts, the seventeenth chapter, is testified how Paul preached about Christ, from the Scriptures, at Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-2). And in the fifteenth chapter, James the Apostle, in that holy counsel and assembly of his fellow apostles said, "Moses of old time has, in every city, those who preach about him in the synagogues or temples, where he is read every Sabbath day" (Acts 15:21). By these examples, you may see the usage of reading the Scriptures of the Old Testament among the Jews in their synagogues every Sabbath day, and sermons usually made upon the same scriptures. How much more, then, is it convenient that the scriptures of God, and specially the Gospel of our Savior Christ, should be read and expounded to us that are Christians, in our churches, especially our Savior Christ and his apostles allowing this most godly and necessary usage, and by their examples confirm the same?

It is written in the stories of the Gospels, in many places, that Jesus went around about all Galilee, teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23, Mark 1:14, Luke 4:15, Matthew 13:54, Mark 6:1-2, Luke 13:10). In which places is his great diligence in continual preaching and teaching of the people most evidently set forth.

In Luke, you read how Jesus, according to his accustomed use, came into the Temple, and how the book of Isaiah the prophet was delivered to him, how he read a text therein, and made a sermon upon the same.

And in the 19th chapter is expressed how he taught daily in the temple (Luke 19:47). And it is thus written in the eighth chapter of John: "Jesus came again early in the morning into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them" (John 8:1-2). And in the 18th chapter of John, our Savior testified before Pilate that He spoke openly to the world, and that he always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews came, and that secretly he spoke nothing (John 18.20). And in Saint Luke," Jesus taught in the temple, and all the people came early in the morning to him, that they might hear him in the temple" (Luke 21.37-38).

Here you see as well the diligence of our Savior in teaching the word of God in the temple daily, and especially on the Sabbath days, as also the readiness of the people coming altogether, and that early in the morning, into the temple to hear him.

The same example of diligence in preaching the word of God in the temple shall you find in the apostles, and the people gathering to them. Acts, the fifth chapter, where the apostles, although they had been whipped and scourged the day before, and by the high priest commanded that they should preach no more in the name of Jesus, yet the day following they entered early in the morning into the temple, and did not cease to teach and declare Jesus Christ (Acts 5:21, 42). And in several other places of the story of the Acts, you shall find similar diligence, both in the apostles in teaching, and in the people in coming to the temple to hear God's word (Acts 13:15, 17). And it is testified in the first chapter of Luke, that when Zachariah the holy priest, and father to John the Baptist, sacrificed within the temple, all the people stood outside a long time, praying; such was their zeal and fervency at that time (Luke 1:9-10). And in the second chapter of Luke appears what great journeys men, women, and even children took, to come to the temple on the feast day, there to serve the Lord, and especially the example of Joseph, the blessed virgin Mary, mother to our Savior, and of our Savior Christ himself, being yet but a child, whose examples are worthy for us to follow (Luke 2:41, 46). So that if we would compare our negligence in coming to the house of the Lord to serve him, with the diligence of the Jews in coming daily very early, sometimes by great journeys to their temple, and when the multitude could not be received within the temple, the fervent zeal that they had, declared in standing long outside and praying, we may justly in this comparison condemn our slothfulness and negligence, and even plain contempt, in coming to the Lord's house, standing so near unto us, so seldom, and scarcely at any time. It is rare that a great many of us come early in the morning, or give attendance outside, who disdain to come into the temple, and yet we abhor the very name of the Jews when we hear it, as being a most wicked and ungodly people. But it is to be feared, that in this point, we are far worse than the Jews, and that they shall rise at the day of judgment to our condemnation, who in comparison to them show such slackness and contempt in going to the house of the Lord, there to serve him, according as we are of duty most bound. And besides this most horrible dread of God's just judgment in the great day, we shall not in this life escape his heavy hand and vengeance for this contempt of the house of the Lord, and his due service in the same, according as the Lord himself threatens, in the first chapter of the prophet Agabus [Acts 11:28], in the following manner: "Because you have left my house deserted and without company (said the Lord) and you have made haste every man to his own house, for this cause are the heavens restrained over you, that they should give no dew, and the earth is forbidden that it shall bring forth her fruit, and I have called drought upon the earth, and upon the mountains, and upon corn, and upon wine, and upon oil, and upon all things that the earth brings forth, and upon men, and upon beasts, and upon all things that men's hands labor for" (Haggai 1:9-11). Behold, if we are such worldly creatures that we care not for the eternal judgments of God (which, yet of all other judgments, are most dreadful, and horrible) we shall not escape the punishment of God in this world by drought and famine, and the taking away of all worldly commodities, which we as worldly creatures seem only to regard and care for. Whereas on the contrary part, if we would amend this fault, or negligence, slothfulness, and contempt of the house of the Lord and his due service there, and with diligence come thither together to serve the Lord with one accord and consent, in all holiness and righteousness before him, we have promises of benefits both heavenly and worldly. "Wherever two or three be gathered in my name (said our Savior Christ) there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). And what can be more blessed than to have our Savior Christ among us? Or what again can be more unhappy or mischievous than to drive our Savior Christ from among us, to leave a place for his and our most ancient and mortal enemy, the old dragon and serpent, Satan the devil in the midst of us? In the second chapter of Luke it is written how that Joseph and the mother of Christ, when they had long sought Christ whom they had lost, and could find him nowhere, that at last they found him in the Temple sitting in the midst of the teachers (Luke 2:46). So if we lack Jesus Christ, that is to say, the Savior of our souls and bodies, we shall not find him in the marketplace or in the guildhall, much less in the ale-house or tavern, among good fellows (as they call them), so soon as we shall find him in the temple, the Lord's house, among the teachers and preachers of his Word, where indeed he is to be found. And as concerning worldly commodities, we have a sure promise of our Savior Christ: "Seek you first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof, and all these things shall be given to you." And thus we have in the first part of this homily, declared by God's word, that the temple or church is the house of the Lord, and is used for the service of the Lord (as teaching and hearing of his holy Word, calling upon his holy name, giving thanks to him for his great and innumerable benefits, and due ministering of his sacraments). And it is likewise declared by the scriptures, how all godly and Christian men and women ought at appointed times, with diligence, to go to the house of the Lord, there to serve him, and to glorify him, as he is most worthy, and we most bound, to whom be all glory and honor world without end. Amen.

It was declared in the first part of this homily, by God's word, that the temple or church is the house of the Lord, for the service of the Lord, used for the teaching and hearing of his holy word, calling upon his holy name, giving thanks to him for his great and innumerable benefits, and due ministering of the sacraments. And it is likewise already declared by the Scriptures, how all godly and Christian men and women ought at times appointed, with diligence to go to the house of the Lord, there to serve him and to glorify him, as he is most worthy, and we are most obligated.

Now it remains in this second part of the homily concerning the right use of the temple of God, to be likewise declared by God's word, with what quietness, silence, and reverence, those that come to the house of the Lord ought there to use and behave themselves.

It may teach us sufficiently how proper it is for us Christian men to reverently use the Church and holy house for our prayers, by considering in how great reverence and veneration that the Jews in the old law had regarding their temple, which appears in a number of places, whereof I will give you certain examples. In the 26th chapter of Matthew, our Savior Christ was charged before a temporal judge, as a matter worthy death, by the two false witnesses, that he had said he could destroy the temple of God, and in three days build it again, not doubting that if they might make men to believe that he had said anything against the honor and majesty of the temple, he should seem by all men to be most worthy of death. And in the 21st chapter of the Acts, when the Jews found Paul in the temple, they laid hands upon him, crying, "You men Israelites help. This is that man who teaches all men everywhere against the people and the law, and against this place. Besides that, he brought the gentiles into the temple, and has profaned this holy place" (Acts 21:27-28). Behold how they took it for a similar offence to speak against the temple of God, as to speak against the law of God, and how they judged it proper that none but godly persons and the true worshippers of God should enter into the temple of God (Acts 24:6). And the same fault is charged against Paul's by Tertullus (Acts 24:2), an eloquent man, and by the Jews in the 24th chapter of the Acts, before a temporal judge, as a matter worthy of death, that he went about to pollute the temple of God (Acts 24:6). And in the 27th chapter of Matthew, when the chief priests had received again the pieces of silver returned by Judas' hand, they said, "It is not lawful to put them into corban (which was the treasure house of the temple) because it is the price of blood" (Matthew 27:6). So that they could not accept that, not only any unclean person, but also any other dead thing that was judged unclean, should once come into the temple, or any place thereto belonging. And to this prupose is St. Paul's saying in the second Epistle to the Corinthians the 6th chapter to be applied: "What fellowship is there between righteousness and unrighteousness? Or what communion between light and darkness? Or what concord between Christ and Belial [the devil]? Or what part can the faithful have with the unfaithful? Or what agreement can there be between the temple of God and images?" (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)  Which sentence, although it is chiefly used to refer to the temple of the mind of the godly, yet seeing that the similarity and pith of the argument is taken from the material temple, it renforces that no ungodliness, especially of images or idols, may be permitted in the temple of God, which is the place of worshipping God, and therefore can no more be permitted to stand there than light can agree with darkness, or Christ with Belial. For the true worshipping of God and the worshipping of images are most contrary. And the setting of them up in the place of worshipping may give great occasion to the worshipping of them. But turn to the reverence that the Jews had for their temple. You will say that they honored it superstitiously, and a great deal too much, crying out, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord" (Jeremiah 7:4), while being most wicked in life, and be therefore most justly reproved by Jeremiah, the prophet of the Lord. It is true that they were superstitiously given to honoring their temple. But I wish that we were not as far too short from the due reverence of the Lord's house, as they overshot themselves therein. And if the prophet justly reprehended them, hearken also what the Lord requires at our hands, that we may know whether we are blameworthy or not. It is written in Ecclesiastes, the fourth chapter: "When you enter into the house of God (said he), take heed to your feet; draw near that you may hear, for obedience is much more worth than the sacrifice of fools, which know not what evil they do" (Ecclesiastes 4:17). "Speak nothing rashly there; neither let your heart be swift to utter words before God. For God is in heaven, and you are upon the earth. Therefore, let your words be few" (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2). Note (well beloved) what quietness in gesture and behavior, what silence in talk and words, is required in the house of God, for so he calls it. See whether they take heed to their feet, as they are here warned, which never cease from unbecomingly walking and getting up and down, and oppose the church, showing an evident sign of notable contempt, both of God, and all good men there present, and what heed they take to their tongues, and speech, which do not only speak words swiftly and rashly before the Lord (which they are here forbidden) but also oftentimes speak filthily, covetously, and ungodly, talking of matters scarce honest or fit for the ale-house or tavern, in the house of the Lord, little considering that they speak before God, who dwells in heaven, (as is here declared) when they are but vermin here creeping upon the earth, in comparison to his eternal Majesty, and less regarding that they must give an account at the great day, of every idle word wherever it be spoken (Matthew 12:36), much more of filthy, unclean, or wicked words spoken in the Lord's house, to the great dishonor of his majesty, and offence to all that hear them. And indeed, concerning the people and multitude, the temple is prepared for them to be hearers rather than speakers, considering that as well the word of God is there read or taught, whereunto they are obligated to listen diligently, with all reverence and silence, as also that common prayer and thanksgiving are recited and said by the public minister in the name of the people and the whole multitude present, to which they, giving their ready attention to what is spoken, should assent and say, "Amen", as St. Paul teaches in the first Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14:16). And in another place, glorifying God with one spirit and mouth, which cannot be when every man and woman in several pretences of devotion pray privately, one asking, another giving thanks, another reading doctrine, and not listening to hear the common prayer of the minister. And peculiarly, what due reverence is to be used in the ministering of the sacraments in the temple, the same St. Paul teaches to the Corinthians, rebuking those who themselves are irreverent in that regard. Have you not houses to eat and drink in (said he?) Do you despise the church or congregation of God? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I praise you not (1 Corinthians 11:22). And God requires not only this outward reverence of behavior and silence in his house, but all inward reverence in cleansing of the thoughts of our hearts, threatening by his Prophet Hosea in the 9th chapter that, for the malice of the inventions and devices of the people, he will cast them out of his house, whereby is also signified the eternal casting of them out of his heavenly house and kingdom, which is most horrible (Hosea 9:15). And therefore in the 19th chapter of Leviticus God said, "Fear with reverence my sanctuary, for I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:30). And according to the same the prophet David said, "I will enter into your house. I will worship in your holy temple, in fear of you" (Psalms 5:7), showing what inward reverence and humbleness of mind the godly men ought to have in the house of the Lord. And to allege somewhat concerning this matter out of the New Testament, in what honor God would have his house or temple kept, and that by the example of our Savior Christ. whose authority ought of good reason with all true Christians to be of most weight and estimation. It is written by all the four evangelists as a notable act, and worthy to be testified by many holy witnesses, how our Savior Jesus Christ, that merciful and mild Lord, compared for his meekness to a sheep, suffering with silence his fleece to be shorn from him, and to a lamb led without resistance to the slaughter, which gave his body to those who did smite him, he answered not those who reviled him, nor turned away his face from those that reproached him and spit upon him, and according to his own example, gave precepts of mildness and sufferance to his disciples (Isaiah 53:7, Acts 8:32, Isaiah 50:6, Matthew 5:39-48). Yet when he sees the temple and holy house of his heavenly Father disordered, polluted, and profaned, he uses great severity and sharpness, overturns the tables of the exchanges, subverts the feats of those that sold doves, makes a whip of cords, and scourges out those wicked abusers and profaners of the temple of God, saying, "My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves" (Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45, John 2:14), And in the second chapter of John, "Do not you make the house of my Father, the house of merchandize" (John 2:16). For as it is the house of God, when God's service is duly done in it, so when we wickedly abuse it with wicked talk or covetous bargaining, we make it a den of thieves or a house of merchandice. Such reverence would Christ demand in there, that he would not permit any vessel to be carried through the temple (Mark 11:16). And whereas our Savior Christ (as is before mentioned) could be found nowhere (when he was sought) but only in the temple among the doctors (Luke 2:46), and now again he exercises his authority and jurisdiction, not in castles and princely palaces among soldiers, but in the temple. You may by this understand in what place his spiritual kingdom (which he denies to be of this world) is soonest to be found, and best to be known by Chrysost [Chrysostom, Christ's?] all places in this world. And according to this example of our Savior Christ in the primitive church, which was most holy and godly, and in which due discipline with severity was used against the wicked, open offenders were not permitted once to enter into the house of the Lord, nor admitted to common prayer, and the use of the holy sacraments with other true Christians, until they had done open penance before the whole church.

The people's fault was most grievous. The sentence executed otherwise and more cruel than it should. He was only urged to abstain from receiving the sacrament, until by repentance he might be better prepared. And this was practiced, not only upon ordinary persons, but also upon the rich, noble, and mighty persons, even upon Theodosius, that powerful and mighty Emperor, whom for committing a grievous and willful murder¹, St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, reproved sharply, and did also excommunicate the Emperor, and brought him to open penance. And those who were so justly excluded and banished (as it were) from the house of the Lord were taken (as they were indeed) as being men divided and separated from Christ's church, and in most dangerous estate, even as St. Paul said, even given to Satan, the devil, for a time (1 Corinthians 5:5), and their company was shunned and avoided by all godly men and women, until such time as they were reconciled by repentance and public penance. Such was the honor of the Lord's house in men's hearts, and outward reverence also at that time. And so horrible a thing was it to be shut out of the church and house of the Lord in those days, when religion was most pure, and nothing so corrupt as it has been of late days. And yet we willingly, either by absenting our selves from the house of the Lord, do (as it were) excommunicate ourselves from the church and fellowship of the saint's of God, or else coming thither, by improper and irreverent behavior there, by hasty, rash, even unclean and wicked thoughts and words before the Lord our God, horribly dishonor his holy house the church of God, and his holy name and majesty, to the great danger of our souls, and certain damnation also, if we do not speedily and earnestly repent of this wickedness.

Thus you have heard (dearly beloved) out of God's word, what reverence is due to the holy house of the Lord, how all godly persons ought with diligence at times appointed thither to gather, how they ought to behave themselves there, with reverence and dread before the Lord, what plagues and punishments, temporal as well as eternal, the Lord in his holy word threatens, as well to such as neglect to come to his holy house, as also to such, who coming thither, do irreverently by gesture or talk there behave themselves. Wherefore if we desire to have seasonable weather, and thereby to enjoy the good fruits of the earth, if we will avoid drought and barrenness, thirst and hunger, which are plagues threatened unto such as make haste to go to their own houses, to ale-houses and taverns, and leave the house of the Lord empty and desolate, if we abhor to be scourged, not with whips made of cords, out of the material temple only (as our Savior Christ treated the defilers of the house of God in Jerusalem) but also to be beaten and driven out of the eternal temple and house of the Lord (which is his heavenly kingdom) with the iron rod of everlasting damnation, and cast into utter darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth, if we fear, dread and abhor this (I say) as we have most just cause to do, then let us amend this our negligence and contempt, in coming to the house of the Lord, this our irreverent behavior in the house of the Lord, and coming thither diligently together, let us there with reverent hearing of the Lord's holy word, calling on the Lord's holy name, giving of hearty thanks unto the Lord for his manifold and inestimable benefits daily and hourly bestowed upon us, celebrating also reverently the Lord's holy sacraments, serve the Lord in his holy house, as is appropriate by the servants of the Lord, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life, and then we shall be assured after this life to rest on his holy hill, and to dwell in his tabernacle, there to praise and magnify his holy name in the congregation of his saints, in the holy house of his eternal kingdom of heaven, which he has purchased for us by the death and shedding of the precious blood of his Son our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one immortal God, be all honor, glory, praise, and thanksgiving, world without end. Amen.

*Editing goals: Clear the text from obsolete words and phrases and from references local to England, its constitution, and laws.

1*:  "Saint Ambrose, Ecclesiastical administrative accomplishments", Encyclopaedia Britannica 2003, Deluxe Edition CD-ROM. St. Ambrose punished Emperor Theodosius for punishing a riot in Thessolonica by massacring citizens in 390 A.D.  In 388 A.D., Ambrose rebuked the emperor for punishing a bishop who burned a Jewish synagogue.