This prayer following is to be said secretly, after the sick persons be departed from the king, at his pleasure.—“Almighty God, Ruler and Lord, by whose goodness the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and all sick persons are healed of their infirmities: By whom also alone the gift of healing is given to mankind and so great a grace, through thine unspeakable goodness toward this realm, is granted unto the kings thereof, that by the sole imposition of their hands, a most grievous and filthy disease should be cured: Mercifully grant that we may give thee thanks therefore, and for this thy singular benefit conferred on us, not to ourselves, but to thy name let us daily give glory; and let us always so exercise ourselves in piety, that we may labour not only diligently to conserve, but every day more and more to encrease thy grace bestowed upon us: And grant that on whose bodies soever we have imposed hands in thy name, through this thy virtue working in them, and through our ministry, may be restored to their former health, and being confirmed therein, may perpetually with us give thanks to thee the chief physician and healer of all diseases; and that henceforth they may so lead their lives, as not their bodies only from sickness, but their souls also from sin may be perfectly purged and cured: through our Lord Jesus Christ thy son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God world without end. Amen.”
The reader will readily perceive that the above office, or formulary was entirely of popish manufacture; the king and whole nation being then papists; but it probably differed not much, if at all, from those used afterwards by our protestant princes, except in the article of invoking the Virgin Mary and the Saints; in which also consists, seemingly, the chief difference between the Romish and English Liturgies: in other respects the resemblance is great and striking; which is not much to be wondered at, as the model of the latter is pretty well known to have been taken from the former.
[306] Seward’s Anecdotes, 1, 38.
[308] Occasional Thoughts, as before, 61.
[309] So little did those reformers know of the spirit of christianity; and yet they are still held up, by a numerous and powerful religious party among us, as patterns of orthodoxy and pure religion: as if those men, who knew the least of the spirit of Christ, and the principles of common justice, were most likely to know most of the doctrines and precepts of the gospel, and be of all men the fittest to follow; or as if that religion should be the most orthodox, pure, and estimable, that shews the least of the spirit of the New Testament, and even allows of intolerance, persecution, and murder.
[310a] Her conduct, in torturing and burning those whom the deemed heretics, cannot well be thought more diabolical or execrable than that of her successors Elizabeth and James, toward those whom they viewed in a similar light: the latter burns them, as Mary did, and no less cruelly and unjustly; and the former imprisoned, tortured, hanged, embowelled, and quartered them. This was the good queen Bess. Her whole bench of bishops, all of the right reformed and evangelical stamp, applauded her deeds.
[310b] That part of the ceremony, however, appears to have been expunged in the next reign, and discontinued afterwards till that of James II. without any diminution of the effect. See Oc. Thoughts, as before, 62.
[310c] Carte, 1, 357.
[312a] Carte, 1, 358, note.
[312b] Athenæum No. 4.