The golden altar; forms of living faith ...

Preface

rjlHE brevity and terseness of this little book, com- -■- bined with its exhaustive fulness, may serve to win for it a place of practical usefulness, notwithstanding the hurry and excitement which crowd against the spirit of faith and genuine devotion. The aim in its preparation has been to furnish the expressions and elements of a living Christianity in the simplest and most concentrated utterances, along with the marrow-passages of that Divine Word on which true faith ever leans and feeds. Platitudes and needless extensions have been rigidly eschewed ; and while all states and relations are duly provided for, nothing but the pure gold is given.

May God bless the production to the spiritual profit of many; and to His Holy Spirit be the praise for ever.

TABLE OP CONTENTS.

Part First. — The Holy Christian Faith. PAGE

I. The Apostles' Creed, 13

II. The Nicene Creed, 13

III. The Athanasian Creed, . . . . . . .14

IV. The Creed as Paraphrased by Luther, . . . .16

Part Second. — Prayers for all Occasions

I. Morning Prayers .20

A Form by Luther, 20

Another Form, > 21

Further Forms and Collects, 22

II. Collects and Ejaculations during the Day, . . . .23

III. Evening Prayers, . 25

A Form by Luther, . 25

Another Form, 25

Further Forms and Collects, 26

IV. Table Prayers, 27

Forms by Luther, .28

Other Forms Before and After Meat, .... 28

V. Further Devotional Exercises, 29

An Act of Self-Examination, 29

An Act of Penitence, 31

A Psalm of Penitence, 31

An Act of Faith, 32

Contents

PAGE

An Act of Hope, 33

An Act of Charity 34

Part Third.— The Holy Promises. For Strength to Grasp the Promises, 90

Against the Fear of Trouble 90

In the Experience of Trouble, 91

In the Continuance of Trouble, 91

In Threatened Sickness, 91

In Sickness, 92

In Sickness Long Continued, ....... 92

In Threatening Death 92

Against Dread of Want, 93

Against Threatening Famine and Need, . . . .93

In Suffering from Enemies, 93

Under Slander, 94

In Sorrow and Alarm for Sin, 94

In Seeking God's Forgiveness, 95

In Exercising Faith, 95

In Prayer, 96

In Obedience and Good Works, 96

In Humble Waiting on the Lord, . . . . . .97

In the Fear of God, 97

In the Exercise of Charity, 98

When the Wicked Prosper, 98

In Trial and Temptations, 98

In Dark Providences, 99

When Faint and Disconsolate, 99

In Doubt of Ultimate Salvation, 99

Against the Fear of Death, ... . . . . .99

In the Approach of Death 100

10 Olontents.

PAGE

Beyond Death, . . 100

In the Judgment Time, 101

Prayers for the Consummation, 101

Part Fifth. — Prayers for Family Use. For .Morning, 159-102

For Evening, 163-165

Special Collects and Prayers, 165-172

A Few Songs of Consolation, 173-178

THE GOLDEN ALTAR.

PART FIRST. ®l)e $olg Christian iFaitlj

The great thing in true Religion is the Faith— the Creed— the facts and doctrines on which the soul rests for peace and salvation. There can be no right Religion without a right Faith.

" Without faith it is impossible to please God : for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." — Heb. 11 : 6.

It is the nature of saving faith to receive and rest on certain truths and revelations which God has made known to us in His Word; and having learned and embraced those truths, to make confession of the same. It is on such personal apprehension and confession of these truths that the Church is formed and marked, and that we show ourselves to be of the family and household of faith.

Jesus demanded of His disciples to say whom they understood and look Him to be. " Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." —Matt. 16 : 16-18. It was by this faith and confession that Peter became the first-laid rock in the edifice of the Church, and it is by the belief and confession of the same that all Christians since came to be Christians, and to be a part of the mystic edifice of Christ's Church. It is by believing and confessing with the Church thus be-

12 &tje $o!b Christian iFaiti).

lieving and confessing, that we come to be of the Church; and failing thus to believe and confess with the believing and confessing Church, we cannot be of the Church, and have no part in live, covenant and promises which God makes to the Church, which is the congregation of them thai believe.

" /;' thou shall confess ivith thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."— Rom. 10 • 8-10.

The Belief, Creed, or Confession of the Church, is what the Church in her faithful searchings of God's infallible Word has found there, and what she sets forth as tlie divine truths on which she rests, and has ever rested, for salvation. It is therefore as old as Christianity itself, and inseparable from salvation. " If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed : for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds:'— 2 John 10, 11.

Hence it is of the greatest moment to one desiring to be a genuine Christian to have special regard to the Faith believed and confessed by the believing and confessing Church as her learning of God's Word. Accordingly, the Apostle Paul admonishes Timothy to " Hold fast the form of sound words, which he had heard, in faith and love."— 2 Tim. 1 : 13. And Jude also exhorts that we " should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints." — Jude 3.

From the beginning, the Church has carefully set forth and guarded her faith, as taught by Christ and His inspired Prophets and Apostles.

Pre-eminent in age, in importance, and in dearness to the hearts of all Christians, is what is called The Apostles' Creed, of which all the other accepted creeds and confessions of the Church are developments ayid defences. " As the Lord's Prayer is the Prayer of prayers, the Decalogue the Law of laws, so the Apostles' Creed is the Creed of creeds."

The Creeds of the Church which came after (his great fundamental expression of the faith, are only the further setting forth and profession of the meaning and belief of Christians in their one confession

®t)£ fiolg Christian iFait!). 13 of the only true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in whom we have our being, our redemption, and our sanctification.

First of all, it therefore pertains to the devout Christian soul to be well rooted and grounded in the Faith on which salvation depends.

I. THE APOSTLES' CEEED.

T BELIEVE in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of ■*- heaven and earth :

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried : He descended into Hell, the third day he rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Christian* Church, the Communion of saints ; the forgiveness of sins ; the Eesurrection of the body ; and the life everlasting. Amen.

II. THE NICENE CEEED.

T BELIEVE in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker ■*- of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father ; by

* Or Catholic.

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whom all things were made, Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered, and was buried ; and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead : Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped aud glorified, Who spake by the Prophets.

And I believe one holy Christian- and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins ; And I look for the Eesurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

III. THE ATHANASIAN CEEED.

WHOSOEVEE will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the true Christian* Faith ; Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the true Christian* Faith is this : That we worship One God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity ; neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one ; the Glory Equal, the Majesty Coeternal. Such as

* Or Catholic.

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the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy- Ghost : The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate : the Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible : The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three Eternals, but one Eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated ; but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet, they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord ; and yet not three Lords, but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Christian Eeligion to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords.

The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers ; one Son, not three Sons ; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other : none is greater, or less than another ; but the whole three Persons are coeternal together, and coequal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.

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Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that we also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. is God and Man ;— God, of the substance of the Father^ begotten before the worlds ; and Man, of the substance of His Mother, born in the world ; Perfect God, and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting ; equal to the Father, as touching His Godhead ; inferior to the Father, as touching His manhood. Who although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ ;— One, not by conversion of Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God ;— One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by Unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ ; Who suffered for our salvation, descended into Hell, rose again the third day from the dead; He ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works ; And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

This is the true Christian Faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.

IV. THE CEEED AS PAEAPHEASED BY LUTHEE. T BELIEVE that God has created me and all that ex- - 1 - ists ; that He has given and still preserves to me my body and soul, with all my limbs and senses, my reason and all the faculties of my mind, together with my rai-

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ment, food, home and family, and all my property ; that He daily provides me abundantly with all the necessaries of life, protects me from all danger, and preserves and guards me against all evil ; all which He does out of pure, paternal and divine Goodness and Mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me ; for all which I am in duty bound to thank, praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true Man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord ; Who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, secured and delivered me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with silver and gold, but with His holy and precious blood, and with His innocent sufferings and death ; in order that I might be His, live under Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness ; even as He is risen from the dead, and lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him ; but the Holy Ghost has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me by His gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true Faith ; in like manner as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the true Faith ; in which Christian Church He daily forgives abundantly all my sins, and the sins of all believers, and will raise up me and all the dead at the last day, and will grant everlasting life to me, and to all who believe in Christ. This is most certainly true. 2