have any regard to God our merciful Creator I think there is no person so simple as to imagine that the Eloquency of the Tongue or unusual expressions can have a greater influence upon him than the Common Prayers of the Church It is not the Tongue but the Heart that God Eyes in all our Services The whisperings and private Complaints of the one are heard when the loud Cries of the other are rejected The Door of Mercy flies open at the beatings of a devout Heart when it remains bolted at the furious assaults of the most eloquent Tongue Therefore as it should be our chief regard in Prayer to examine that which is most pleasing to God not that which gratifies our own Humour We should chuse those Prayers to offer up to him wherein our Hearts may be as well concerned as our Tongues In order thereunto as the Set Forms of Prayer are the greatest helps that we can procure both to the learned and the unlearned to the wise and the ignorant I see no reason wherefore Men should be deprived of them and extemporary Prayers set up Those Forms I mean where things are spoken and not only words where the Conceptions are plainly expressed and the Prayers fitted for the use of the weakest Capacities They can never be too plain nor too easie and the Wise and the Learned ought not to think it a trouble to condescend in their Publick Worship to requests worded in a manner answerable to the meanest abilities for Christianity requires from them an Union with the weakest of their Brethren who is in as great a likelihood of God's mercy and obtaining God's Glory as persons of the greatest Reach and Judgment I know that it is the common use of our Dissenting Brethren to upbraid us in our Devotions with too much Formality in regard of our being so fond of Set Forms with an exclusion of all new composed Prayers I heartily wish that we our selves the Clergy and the People did not give cause for this aspersion but that it may not deceive the ignorant with its first plausible appearance let me tell them that we are not guilty of Formality nor to be condemned for it because that we use set and prescribed Forms but because we use them not right with that Devotion Respect Humility and inward Affection as becomes Christians and Petitioners of the God of Heaven Because in our Publick Service we repeat only the Words and mind not the uttering them with the affections of the Soul because some make it only a trade to go to Prayer others run them over as a Task and too many mind the Form but few mind the Substance of Prayer that is to express and offer them up to God with those inward qualifications and outward humility that I have now recommended to the practice of our Christian Brethren This causeth me to pass to the second particular that I have promised to examine The causes of the Peoples Contempt of our Liturgy and their neglect of the Forms of Prayer enjoined in our Church of England I could name a great many Causes that we our selves give but I shall reduce them all for brevity sake to these six following First I must accuse the Clergy both high and low great and small for having given the greatest cause of the contempt of our Liturgy and Rubrick by their indifferent Practices By their over hasty reading of them and by their omission of that respect which they should outwardly express and that devotion which is due to God they give occasion to many to slight the very Prayers themselves As they are the Peoples mouths to God they should be the Peoples Examples and Patterns to shew them how to beg God's Mercies as well as to endeavour to obtain them for their relief And the greater care they should take to observe all the motions of reverence because their practice hath so great an influence upon the Congregation and is of so great a consequence that they oblige Men to esteem those Prayers that are offered up to God For this reason a person that officiates in the audience of a Congregation should read over the Prayers not as we peruse a Story in a Book but with his Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven and upon his knees he ought to pronounce the Prayers as if he were speaking to God's Divine Majesty visibly present and to deliver them with the most apparent signs of sincerity of reverence and earnestness imaginable Endeavour to grace the godly Prayers of the Church with thy graceful and comely delivery with thy decent and respectful postures and gestures and let the Eyes of the Assembly learn from thee my reverend Brother the manner how to pray as well as the words and expressions of Prayer O! let not the negligence and sloathfulness of so many be laid to thy charge but strive to be zealously affected thy self that this disposition may be communicated to thy hearers I speak to you chiefly whose office and happiness it is to sing daily praises to God in Cathedral Churches Think not that you have sufficiently discharged your Duty if you have observed your distances your tunes and pleased the Auditors with your melodious Voices O! Remember my Christian Brother that thou must likewise please thy God with the harmony of the Soul and tune as well his praises with the inward affections as well as with the outward concerts of Musick Take heed lest thy behaviour or thy negligent discharge of thy Duty give scandal to our dissenting Brethren who are too apt to be offended at the least sign of weakness which thou mayest discover at such a time Secondly Another cause of the contempt of our Liturgy given by the Clergy is the negligence of the Superior and wealthiest Clergy who seldom read the Prayers of the Church themselves unless it be some small portion but commonly employ their Deacons or the meanest persons of the Church to offer up those Prayers that are of the greatest concernment to us and the chiefest of the Rubrick As if that Office were too mean for their Promotions and Dignity whereas it is the most glorious Employment that we Men can pretend to It makes us like our divine and great Saviour who intercedes for us in the presence of God and offers up our Requests Is there any that nameth himself a Christian that scorns to imitate the Author of our Salvation and to offer up the Prayers of their Congregations to God No person can be too worthy for so excellent an Employment and because the usual method observed in Cathedrals cannot well be changed I could wish that the Superior Clergy the Bishop the Dean and the Canons would sometimes perform those parts of Devotion which they have totally appropriated to the meanest of their Foundation and Society that thereby they might remove from the minds of Men the disesteem of our Prayers which they are apt to conceive and entertain thereby For as in the Days of Jeroboam
their prejudices therefore against our Rubrick are more dangerous But if a judicious and pious Soul would take the pains to sift them out and examine the Causes of their invincible prejudices they shall either find none or such slender ones as may cause us to wonder at their stiffneckedness and strange fancies Such I am sure as renders them most ridiculous to all foreign Churches of Christ Their most ordinary and popular Complaint is that it is Popish and taken out of the Mass-Book An Error which any Man will acknowledge if he will but compare our Prayers with the Popish Prayers of the Liturgy of Rome Can that be Popish which opposeth all the Errors and mistakes of the Papists which teacheth us to pray for God's assistance and direction against all the Heresies Plots and Conspiracies of the Pope which was in use in the Christian Church before ever there was any Anti-Christian Pope at Rome Can that be reckoned to be Popish which is agreeable with the Revelations of the Holy Spirit with the Doctrines and belief of the best Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and which their most Orthodox Divines Embrace as most consonant with their Faith and Piety The Creed the ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer may with as much likelihood be said to be Popish or to be taken out of the Mass-Book because the Papists have them in their Breviarium To all unprejudiced persons this accusation appears a meer Calumny unless any of those refined Souls could spy out and shew us any particular in the Common-Prayer which savours of the Romish Errors and tends to promote the Pope's Interest amongst us But it is the usual practice of abusive tongues when they cannot instance any certain Crime to bring their accusation in gross that their malice may be less discernable and their charge may be more weighty But let not the vain and groundless conceits of Popery and Superstition deter thee my Christian Brother from making use with Comfort to thy Soul of these Godly Prayers Let not these mistaken Brethren infect thy judgment with the same troublesom Error Examin and try search into every Corner of this Book and see whether thou canst find any colour of Popery that is to say any sign of those Errors which are in Controversie between us and the Papists Let not their impostures prevail so much upon thy discretion as to cause thee to take for Popery what is agreeable with Christ's true Religion and Doctrines It hath always been the glory of our Church of England to be most conformable of all other Churches to the belief Government and Practices of the Primitive and first Churches of Christ Therefore in this of the Liturgy our Church recommends that manner of praying which is most like that of the first Ages and which is most answerable to our Government and condition as our glorious Martyr and our late Soveraign of Blessed Memory declares in vindication of the Prayers of the Church in his incomparable Book All other accusations as well as this savour more of malice and displeasure than right Reason and tend to this ungracious end to abolish Order and Method in Prayer and to introduce a sad and unreasonable Confusion in our Worshipping of God Let therefore every good Christian take heed if he himself hath such an invincible prejudice against these Forms enjoyned in our Church that he cannot use them himself with any Comfort to his Soul that he disturb not others minds with the same Schismatical mistakes and spread not abroad what I could wish were consined to the bottomless Pit Let him not hinder others from the Benefit which they may reap from a hearty and zealous Offering up of these Prayers to God Abstain my Christian Brother from Blaspheming that which thou dost not perfectly understand or that which thou hatest without a just cause Draw not others into the same prejudice and be not uncharitable to think our Devotions not acceptable to our good God because thou hast an implacable displeasure against them Think not that Piety is confined to thy Breast alone and to those of thy Sect. Lay aside I beseech thee that bitterness that peevishness and froward temper which makes thee fret at our good Order and Christian Discipline If thou perceivest any faults coldness dulness or unhandsom Actions in private persons charge not their miscarriages upon our Church or Rubrick but be so reasonable not to proclaim thine unreasonable distastes to the prejudice of others and thy self Sixthly I cannot forget to mention another Cause of Mens contempt of our Forms and Rubrick which is That they are brought up in the ignorance of that manner of presenting them to God which might cause them to meet with true comfort and real benefit For I know some that have constantly attended at the Publick Prayers of the Church and have for many years scarce omitted any opportunity that did invite them yet because they knew not how to use them as they should they have not at any time found that inward content which they now think to receive from new Modes of Prayer and at last have totally forsaken them crying out most bitterly against their former Formality luke-warmness and indifferency in Prayer As if that unfit temper proceeded from the Prayers and not from the ignorance of their minds which when it is strengthened by prejudice Education or Interest is the greatest cause of their dissatisfaction at our Prayers used in the Church and that which deprives them of the advantages which they might receive from them This Ignorance is the greatest Enemy of our Liturgy and of our publick peace which if any person be willing to expel for his own and the Churches benefit let him seriously consider and make use of these directions which will shew him how to offer up our Prayers with comfort to his Soul I have already set down general directions to pray well which every good Christian ought to learn to practice in all Prayers presented to God Third particular but besides those which sute with all tempers and sorts of Men I suppose that some advices besides may be given more particularly and more proper for those persons amongst us that are dissatisfied with our Prayers and Liturgy and prejudiced against it Some advices I mean that may have a special regard to their causeless mistakes and the Prayers of the Church And truly I judge many stand in great need of these directions who are well skilled in other kinds of Devotion for prejudice here suffers them not to learn or at least not to practice what their affection teaches them in other Cases to perform without a Teacher if we may have the Charity to believe what they affirm That they are truly and zealously affected in the Prayers which are of their Ministers Composure and that they can joyn their hearts in Devotion with them for I very much question whether those persons that seem outwardly to be so disposed are really so in
called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants A greater Humility in such a Case ought to prepare our Persons and Prayers for God's acceptance The more unworthy sin hath made us the more lowly ought our approaâ—hes to be to him The alteration in our behaviours should cause an alteration in our Souls before we present our selves before God Instead of alienating our minds from him the consideration of our weakness should incourage us to fly to him by prayer and seek from his all-sufficiency strength against future Temptations In such a case I would have a repenting Christian understand that God our merciful Creator is not so soon estranged from us as we are from him The Sin that disorders our Souls and causeth us to shun his presence may cause him to correct us for our good but it will never oblige him to cast us away if there be any sense of our Guiltiness in us accompanied with the hopes of his Mercy Therefore this ought not to be long an impediment to our Prayers or the cause to interrupt our daily correspondency with God Morning and Evening for we see it often happen by woful experience that by such an omission of our Duty many are insensibly brought into dangerous Snares And God withdraws his protection from such as were not mindful to take it along with them To avoid such miscarriages and dangers Prayer is as needful to a Christian in the beginning and close of the day as Armour and Weapons to a Souldier and Shoos and Cloathing to a Traveller to defend him from the injuries of the Way and Weather It emboldens the Soul against all accidents it gives Life and Heart to a Christian and makes him walk every where and lye down with David's Confidence Tho' I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no ill for thou art with me thy Rod and thy Staff they comfort me Psal 23. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life Psal 4.6 Likewise in the midst of a danger at the Tidings of Losses or Successes at the beginning of any Business of weight or moment and at several other times and occasions it concerns us to address our selves in Prayer to God the chief and only Author of all Temporal and Spiritual happiness for as this Devotion will disappoint the mischievous intent of Evils and Crosses it will infallibly draw a Blessing upon all our undertakings I have therefore endeavoured in this Book to furnish you my Christian Brethren with all the Prayers that are suitable for many Occasions and Casualities and Accidents needful in these wicked and dangerous times in which we now live If you offer them up in the manner as you ought you need not doubt of the Success The Prayer of a devout Soul hath an invincible Power The whole Creation is not able to resist or render ineffectual the religious Prayers of a Child of God Joshua's Prayers arrested the Sun in the middle of its Course Moses's Prayer dryed up the Waters of the Red Sea The Israelites Prayers undermined the Walls of Jericho Hezekiahs's prayer obtained fifteen years to his Life already condemned by the furiousness of a Disease naturally irrecoverable and caused an alteration in the common Course of Nature David by his Prayers marched safe through many dangers and was secure in the midst of all the Risings and Tumults of his Enemies Ahab's humility and prayers suspended and put a stop to God's Judgments that were going to fall upon his Idolatrous House Manasses's Prayer freed him from the Chains of Babylon and restor'd him against all probability to his Kingdom and Throne Daniel's Prayer shut up the Lyons mouths and disarm'd those furious Beasts Esther's Prayers changed the Sentence of death established against against the Jews and caused the mischief to fall upon their Enemiâ—s Heads The Churches Prayers unfettered St. Peter in the midst of his Guards opâ—ned for him the Iron Gâ—te and set him at liberty Elijah's Prayers shut and opeâ—'d thâ— Windows of Hâ—aven The thuâ—dering Roman Lâ—gion by Prayer reliev'd their fellow Souldiers with fresh showers of Rain and discomfiâ—ed their Enemies with strange Lightning and Thunder So many and such strange Events above all expectation and humane Power have been brought to pass by zealous Prayers that we have good cause in the greatest difficulties to be full of hopes whilst we have liberty to pray The Heavens the Seas the Earth the Elements and all the Creatures animate and inanimate seem to be at the Devotion of a devout Soul For the great Author and preserver of all Created Beings causeth them to yield help to the assistance of the humble and contrite Petitioner As they are alway in his hand and at his disposal he employs them in their Relief and for the accomplishment of such desires as tend to the Universal good of his Creatures and his own Glory What is not Prayer able to bring to pass when it intâ—râ—sseth an Almighty Power and an infinite Goodness in our Affairs and fetches to its assistance that same Omnipotency that created the World out of nothing Nihil fortius saith a Father homine legitime Orante There is nothing more powerful than a Man praying as he ought For the efficacy of Prayer depends not upon the holiness of the Petitioner but upon God's promises that are unchangeable Christ's Merits that are truly meritorious and his intercession that is unresistable At the right hand of God where he sits above this unconstant World he is employed in offering up the requests of his Members and Sâ—rvants on Earth and there before the Mercy Seat to perfume them with the Frankineense of his Passion that they might be acceptable to our Heavenly Father Whilst we have such a prevailing Mediator never doubt of the success of a Prayer procceeding from an humble Soul sit for the acceptance and encouragement of our merciful Saviour And if at any time thou feelest thy self indisposed or not able to offer up thy Prayers with that Devotion that is requisite be not therefore discouraged despair not of the success know for certain that it is not so much thy weakness as thy negligence not so much thy inability as thy sloth and indisposition that clogs thy Prayers and stops them in their ascent to Heaven Know for certain that God regards more humility truth and sincerity than the flourishes of Wit and the excellency of the language or the vehemency of the expression in all thy Requests That the Sighs and Groans of a broken heart or of a devout Soul are more powerful with God than the strongest Arguments or the longest Prayers God is not wont to proportion his mercies only to our deservings or reasons but rather out of his inexhaustible Treasuries to take and bestow upon us Men beyond all merits and expectation Therefore slack not thine Endeavours to pray well God's greatness and thine estate in relation to him calls for the greatest Respect the profoundest
corrupt either the judgments or the manners of Christ's Disciples and by that means to render them more unsit for God's great design in our Redemption but they never offered to overthrow the whole Service of God or to thwart the common practices recommended to them by the well-advised Piety of their Predecessors This strange attempt was reserved for these last and worst Ages of the World and this kind of impiety which could never find entertainment amongst the Primitive Enemies of God and of his Truth hath been greedily embraced by some in these latter days under the usual deceiving pretence of purity and Religion as if they alone were to be esteemed Religious who slander condemn blaspheme and contradict the religious Practices of the rest of Christians as if irregularity and an affected sigularity were the best means to render them acceptable to God in his Worship For that purpose we have seen them to our great grief cast out of the Church all the godly Forms of Prayer which the Wisdom and Piety of former Ages have recommended to us and because they could not spie in them any sufficient cause to condemn and reject them we have seen these over zealous brethren generally exclaim against all Forms as unlawful irreligious and Popish leaving every one to the irregular dictates of their Passion and presumptuous minds A mistake of a most dangerous consequence that opposeth the practice of Christ and of the true Church of God in all Ages since the beginning of the World for if you please to examin Holy Scriptures concerning Forms of Prayer and praising of God especially in the publick worship you shall not find a Church nor Congregation professing the Truth without Set Forms in the first Ages of Mankind it is said when Enos Seth's Son was born and that Men began to increase they began also to call upon the Name of the Lord Cen. 4.26 which words are 〈◊〉 simply to be understood of their addressing themselves to God's Divine Majesty as if before that time neither Adam nor Eve had ever minded to call upon him nor none of their Children for both Cain and Abel had been taught to worship God with the Fruits of their labour and the increase of their Substance which could not be done without calling upon God for a continuance of his Blessings besides it is very unlikely that Adam a Man created in an Estate of Holiness who could not be insensible of our dependency upon and want of God's daily mercies who had seen his wonderful Power in the Creaton of the World should forget to teach his Children to call upon God's Holy Name But these words are to be understood of their calling upon the Holy Name of God in a publick Society and with set and prescribed Forms and in a manner answerable to their condition It is to be understood of solemnizing the publick Service and Worship of God with Prayers Praises and Sacrifices for the obtaining of God's Blessings and the acknowledgments of his favours and protection according to a certain manner appointed by the Religious Persons of those days therefore in the Original the word employed to signifie in this passage calling upon God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to meet together and assemble or from the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 publickly to read and declare or cry out because that this calling upon the Name of the Lord of these first Men of the ancient World was performed in their publick meetings wherein there was a Service and ordinary Worship appointed and observed by the distinct reading of Prayers and Praises which infer sufficiently that they had publick places appointed persons in whom the care of Religion was entrusted and a common manner prescribed to them in writing which they were to read in the audience of the People Further it may be worthy of our Observation that the Prophet David when he speaks of calling upon the Name of the Lord in many of his Psalms he useth the same significant word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in that most remarkable Verse of the 116 Psalm and the 13 Verse where he speaks of that Cup of Salvation which was usually taken by the Jews in the publick Sacrifices a Type of our Christian Eucharist I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. This calling signifies meeting together in the publick Worship of God and offering to him reading those Forms of Prayers appointed by the Church For it is the custom of God's Holy Spirit in relating the passages of former times to allude by the expression to the manner and circumstances of those Actions that are mentioned Thus David in the 79th Psalm Verse 6. desires God to send down his Judgments and pour out his Wrath upon the Heathen that have not known him and upon the Kingdoms that have not called upon his Name he makes use of the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from the same root as if he should say send down thy Judgments upon the Kingdoms which call not upon thee in publick Meetings and where there is no set nor appointed Worship for the Inhabitants to use in glorifying thy Name And in many other Psalms David useth the same Expression which imports a publick Assembly and the reading of the Praises and Prayers in his Divine Worship when he was wont to call upon God This Observation is confirmed by the constant Practice of all the Heathens in the Worship of their Gods Both the Greeks and the Romans had their constant Forms of Prayers and Praises which yet are extant in the Writings of their Poets It seems that they had received this judicious and pious Custom from the first Men of the World And what God's People were accustomed to do to the Honour of the true God these Heathens did commonly practice the same in the service of their false Gods as may be observed by their Hymns and other Ceremonies in their Worship But this religious use of set Forms was in the Jewish Church by the appointment of Moses and of the succeeding Prophets as may be easily proved by the song of Triumph composed by Moses and Miriam Exod. 15. after Pharaoh's overthrow in the Red-Sea The 9th Psalm is a Prayer of Moses by the words and Ceremonies to be used in the eating of the Paschal Lamb by the other Institutions and passages of the Ceremonial Law and chiesly by the Psalms of David which Hezekiah restored in the publick Worship of God for it is said 2 Chron. 29.25 That he set the Levites in the House of the Lord with Cymbals with Psalteries and with Harps according to the Commandment of David and of Gad the King's Seer and Nathan the Prophet Observe what is added in the next words For so was the Commandment of the Lord by his Prophets It seems in the Jewish Church the observing of a prescribed Form was no Human institution but proceeded from
Men took occasion to contemn Religion it self when he had made the lowest of his People the Priests of his High Places and the promoters of Religion so likewise in our time Men especially our Enemies are more inclinable to despise our excellent Prayers because they are most employed to offer them up to God in the name of the People who are in a mean station in the Church and have but sorrowful abilities Thirdly I must not forget another cause of the Peoples despising our Godly Prayers which many Ministers who are too highly conceited of their parts do give 'T is in mangling cutting short and leaving out the Prayers of the Church to make more room for the delivery of their own proud conceptions either in Prayer or a Sermon contrary to the Publick Injunctions of our Superiors for by this action they declare openly their own disrespect of the Forms of Prayer their unwillingness to use them that they are thereunto meerly compelled and their too high esteem of their own inventions And when the People see them hasten them over so speedily they are wont to be prejudiced with strange conceits of these excellent Prayers or at least not to esteem nor use them as they ought Therefore I would advise my Reverend Brethren not to shorten the publick Prayers but carefully diligently and constantly to observe the Rules commanded and which they are the more engaged to obey because their disobedience is apt to encourage and foment the Peoples disregard of these Prayers which they might use with so much advantage to their Souls had they that affection for them which they really deserve Fourthly The publick behavior of many of the Nobility Gentry and persons whose Examples are regarded is another cause of the Peoples disesteem of our Liturgy When Men of Learning of Wealth and of Honour assist at the Devotions of their Brethren without expressing any respect for them and without bearing any part in the Service of the Church others are discouraged from the use of it This we see almost in every Congregation some of the Chief are commonly distasted at some part of our praying or praising of God in which they will shew no sign of devotion or it may be the Gentlemen of the Parish are not so religious as they should be therefore they think it sufficient for them if they bring their Bodies to the Publick Prayers though they remain there in God's presence as so many Stocks or Brutes without expressing any Devotion for the Prayers or any Worship to their Creator If these seasonable lines shall happen to fall into the hands of any of you whose Nobility and Extraction deserves the esteem of the rest of the Nation consider how highly you your selves would be offended if your Servants and Tenants should appear before you to demand your assistance in their wants with as much disrespect as you appear before the God of Heaven unto whom you are but Tenants for life or it may be for a shorter time Would you be ready to reward their contempt of your person with the grant of their desires Would not you be ready to check their impudency and sauciness if they should treat you as they do their Labourers And what think you my Lords and Gentlemen of your disrespectful and contemptuous approaches before God your great Creator Do not you stand in need of his assistance and blessings And if you do is this the means to obtain it to slight those Prayers which are presented to God for the increase of your happiness and prosperity For your own honour be not the greatest Clowns of your Congregation in God's presence but as you excel the rest in Nobility of Blood endeavour to excel them also in your respects to God in your zeal and devotion to him render to him publickly with your Bodies that homage which he claims and deserves from you for all his favours Interess your selves in our praising of his holy Name and in our Prayers to him Employ the credit of your Estates and Promotions which God's Providence hath given you to promote his Glory and Worship Why should you be so unthankful to his goodness to be a reproach to his Profession and not to honour him who hath bestowed so much honour upon your persons O! Remember that the higher you are exalted above other Men the lower you are ingaged to stoop to this good God chiefly in publick in his Worship before the Eyes of the World seeing that your neglect in this case will not be only injurious to him but disgraceful to your noble persons and prejudicial to all the assistants Fifthly Moreover the slanders the filthy jestings and the irreligious pastimes of prophane Persons in these last corrupt days upon the Book of Common-Prayer have strangely filled many minds religiously disposed with strong prejudices against it And when they have seen the the greatest pretenders to Religion with the Authorty of the Nation pass a sentence of Condemnation upon these Forms of Prayer as well as the prophaner sort when they yet see many Wise Godly and Conscientious Men stand stifly in oposition to their reception the weaker sort of Men that commonly judge of things and persons by the general Vote are ready to look upon them as superstitious and unlawful The schismatical scrupulosity of the one and the wicked Blasphemies of the other have discredited this excellent Book among such as are not wont to examine the true worth of things for the prophaner sort it is too well known that there is nothing so sacred or holy but they have offered Violence to it God and his Sacraments his Laws and Constitutions Christ and our Redemption Heaven and Hell our present Enjoyments and suture Hopes are all turned into Ridicule by those monstrous Wits whose Religion and Faith is limited by their Senses No wonder therefore if they continue to abuse the constant Prayers and Service of the Church But certainly the Religion of those persons is not well grounded when they are to be scoffed out of it and their belief is not well setled if every prophane jest can oblige them to call it in question If we may be perswaded by these frothy wits to change our religious Customs Ceremonies and Prayers we shall quickly become as wicked as themselves and banish Religion it self out of the Land They are no competent Judges of our Devotions who were never devout but rather their malicious expressions should confirm Men of discretion in their esteem of those pious things which they condemn because they were never inclinable to Piety and their Tempers are repugnant to it and to those Godly Rules that reproach them for their licentiousness Let these considerations therefore strengthen the weakness of such as are apt to be thereby perswaded to a dereliction of these Godly Forms And for the other Enemies of our Common-Prayer their Conversations seem to insinuate the equity of their Judgments because they are persons of a religious behaviour and good manners
their hearts and whilst they are or may be delighted with the Prayer whether their Souls are truly in a praying temper First Endeavour to be heartily reconciled with the Godly Forms of Prayer recommended in our Church employ Reason and Conscience to perswade thy self my Christian Brother to embrace what Duty commands that Duty which thou owest to Authority and thy interest obliges thee to practice Why should prejudice keep thee always blindfolded Why should Men of perverse judgments and corrupt designs impose upon thy judgment such gross mistakes Why wilt thou dote upon thine own Errors and entertain them with so much stiffness as if thy Salvation did thereupon depend those Errors I mean that cause thee to look upon our Prayers and Devotions as superstitious and make so great a breach in the Church where we live Make it thy business to understand the true ground of thine and others displeasures at our Forms of Prayer Take not things of that high concernment upon trust and captivate not thy discretion to the judgment of others never so learned but with the assistance of Reason and holy Scripture rightly interpreted labour to lift out the Truth To these and such like endeavours make use of Prayer to the God of peace that he may expel and drive away all the Mists of Error which keep thee at a distance from our manner of worshipping our great God Consider the necessity of those things that are therein desired the integrity of their first Composers the approbation of foreign Reformed Churches the Commands and Injunctions of the wise Governours of the Church and State who have no other intent in all their Laws relating to this purpose but thy Salvation and the publick Peace and Uniformity Is it possible that thou excellest them in discretion and judgment and that they are all mistaken in the good end which they purpose to themselves Without this reconcilement 't is not possible for thee to receive any benefit from our Prayers by joyning with us for thy Soul will never offer up heartily to God that for which it hath a strong aversion Secondly Overcome in thy Soul all inward displeasure which thou hast conceived against the Person of thy Minister officiating or distastes at his behaviour and actions What if he be openly scandalous or at variance with thee Let not his guiltiness cause thee to be guilty of irregularity or neglecting thy Duty to God and the interest of thy Soul Let not your mutual dissatisfaction cause you to be dissatisfied with God and his Worship Such Wicked Varlets as Hophni and Phineas are too apt to cause many to slight the Offerings of the Lord but they are not therefore excusable before God who requires an obedience to his Laws from every distinct person and allows not the vitiousness of the one to be pleaded for the disorderly behaviour of the other But certain it is that whilst thou art inwardly displeased with thy Minister thou canst never conjoyn thine heart with the Godly Prayers which proceed out of his mouth whilst thou art offended with his person his Prayers and his Words will never benefit thee much I shall not examine the many frivolous causes of distastes which the Men of our days entertain against the Clergy but this I dare affirm That it is both the Duty and Interest of a Parishioner to smother his anger and displeasure conceived against his Minister specially at the time of Divine Service when he is drawing near to God in Prayer if he will be in a possibility of praying right Look not on him at that time as thine Enemy but as thy Friend who prays for thy necessities as well as his own look not on him as one at a distance from thee but reconciled in the common Duties of Religion God forbid that the usual differences of Men about Worldly Interests should separate us in God's presence from one another and cause our variances to be eternal If therefore we are likely notwithstanding our present debates to meet unanimously to worship God's Majesty for all Eternity and sing to him angelical Halelujahs hereafter why may we not now suppress our displeasures stifle our passions and reconcile our selves in the Worship of our great Creator and common Benefactor For that intent it concerns thee not to mind so much the Person as the Petitions not so much the Minister as God for whose sake and at whose command thou art ready to forget the most sensible wrongs and check the strongest passions of hatred and displeasure Thirdly Think not that the vitious behaviour of any in the Congregation will be a prejudice to thy Prayers or hinder their accptance It is the common excuse of Men that are willing to excuse themselves from the Duties of Religion That in our publick Assemblies all sorts of persons are promiscuously admitted and that they cannot join in Prayers with the openly debauched or with persons that are known to be scandalous But this vain pretence proceeds many times from a proud conceit of our own Sanctity and favours of the Pharisees temper in the Gospel who had so much of impudence in his Prayer to God that the Publican's Humility was preferred before him God that sees all our actions and tempers knows how to put a disterence between thy relegious behaviour and the Vices of a wicked Christian 'T is not thy Neighbour's ungodliness that can prejudice thy Devotions Why shouldest thou be offended with that which God allows and the publick Unity and Peace of the Church requires We could wish that in our publick Assemblies all were Saints and Angels but seeing that is not to be expected to cull and pick out every vitious person or such as may be thought to be so by some ill-willers I am afraid scarce any would be left We must therefore bear with that which is not to be avoided and take heed that we disturb not the publick quiet more than the vitious and the profane by our indiscreet and Schismatical niceties Fourthly If thou wilt offer up the Prayers of the Church with benefit to thy Soul and with the affections of thy Heart carefully observe the motions of the Body enjoined in the Common-Prayer who knows but that this submission and this custom will have a speedy influence upon thy mind to cause thy Soul to join in the same respects to God Certain it is that the nearness of Relation between them will beget a mutual compliance between the actions of the one and the affections of the other so that the often practising of things must needs reconcile us to those performances and remove the strongest prejudices that are not grounded in reason nor strengthened by divine Revelation If therefore any weak Brother cannot at present comply with the Devotions of the Church of England if he finds an inward repugnancy for the publick Prayers which hinders him from receiving the comfort and benefit thereby intended let him follow and try my advice but a few Months Let him
an immortal Nature to continue for ever as thy self and I am going apace to this boundless Eternity and as I am thine Image and Creature O that I may live with thee for ever cast me not away into endless Torments make me an Eternal Monument of thy Mercy and goodness receive me into thine everlasting Rest for Jesus Christ his sake Amen A Meditation and Prayer upon God's Almighty Power O Dreadful Majesty of Heaven where-ever I cast my Eyes thy Power shines before me clearer than the Sun at Noon-day In the make of this great Fabrick of the World and in the disposal and continuance of all the several Parts how visibly doth thine extraordinary Power appear the Heavens and all the Elements are Witnesses and Trumpeters of thy glorious Power which nothing can oppose or stop The Devils that are revolted from thee do yet own and are subject to thine Omnipotency they are held fast in Chains and are so restrained by thine Almighty Hand that they cannot possibly move without thy permission When I cast mine Eyes upon the Seas and consider the vastness and fury of the Waves When I look up to Heaven and see the many glorious and large Globes of Light some settleed and fixed others rowling in their several Spheres O my God how wonderfully doth thy Power appear to me in all these things And as thou art the only Original of all Virtue and Power I have reason to conclude that all Creatures together cannot stop thine hand and that there is nothing impossible with thee as thou hast been able to Create all things thou art able to govern and rule their unruliness and greatest Fury to the setting forth of thy Glory and whatsoever thou hast promised thou wilt surely perform and art fully able to accomplish O Almighty Creator give me a real sense of thy Power that I may stand in awe of it that I may trust upon it in time of need that I may believe in thy Word and Promises that my Soul may rest and rely upon thee alone and never doubt of thy Protection and of thy Power to save me Amen A Meditation and Prayer upon the Wisdom of God and his infinite Knowledge O Infinite Being thy Wisdom is answerable to thine Almighty Power and hath the same Creatures to manifest and set it forth Wherever I see the one I must needs take notice of the other that is obvious to every Eye in the disposition of all things that are made in their fashion and composition in their Inclinations and tendencies in the design and purpose of their Creation in their mutual Correspondencies and Government and in the Laws and Rules that they observe Is there any of so dull an apprehension that cannot observe a more than ordinary Wisdom in all these particulars Can we see the Sun Moon and Stars observe their appointed and annual Motions and Stations without variation and not think upon thy Wisdom O Almighty God who hast stretched forth the Heavens like a Curtain and rulest over all Well may I cry out with the Blessed David in admiration of all these Blessed Wonders In Wisdom hast thou made them all But what need have I to look at such a distance for the Foot-steps and Evidences of Divine Wisdom In my Body and Soul and in every Member wherein the Great World is Epitomized and the Incomprehensible Attributes of the Unity and Trinity shadowed out here are wonderful and surprising expressions of thy Wisdom that I carry about me Wherefore O my God hast thou opened mine Eyes and bestowed upon me an understanding Nature to observe all these things but that I should meditate and admire thy great Wisdom that shines before me brighter than the Sun O Eternal Wisdom of Heaven as I am thine Image grant me a share of this Wisdom imprint in my Soul such Habits of Wisdom and Knowledge that I may fear and admire thy Divine Majesty and the rather because thine all-seeing Eye is every where to take notice of my behaviour and actions There is no darkness nor shadow of Death where Iniquity may hide or retreat from thy Knowledge All things are naked and open before thee thou hast a perfect insight into all the Inclinations of my Heart and Soul and fore-seest what shall happen in this great World with the several Causes O wonderful Knowledge that comprehends the Sparrows in the Market and the Lillies of the Field and the meanest Beings that owe all to thee a subsistence O wonderful Wisdom and Knowledge that extends it self over all the parts of this great Fabrick and nothing is exempted from the benefits that are procured thereby Give me O my God such an understanding of this infinite Knowledge and of thine All seeing Eye that I may stand in awe of thy Divine Presence that I may fear to displease thee that my Soul may be always in such a disposition as becomes a Creature and a Servant of so Holy so Powerful and such an All-seeing Majesty Amen A Meditation and Prayer UPON THE Goodness of God Manifested in Nature and Providence O Universal Goodness that opens thy Hand to all things that have a Being and furnishest so many Sorts of Creatures out of thine overslowing abundance with so much sweetness and variety of Pleasures How full must be the Stores out of which so many Millions are continually supplyed From what overflowing Ocean of Delight and Joy proceed so many Streams that yield a sufficiency to all and yet there is an overplus left for more O wonderful Goodness that knowest how to supply every Creature with that which is most suitable to its Appetite and Nature and givest a contentment to the several species according to their Capacities and Tempers Through how many differing Channels does this inexhaustible Goodness convey to us the necessaries and conveniencies of Life Man of all sublunary subsistencies seems to be the chief Favourite of the Divine Goodness other things and Creatures have their short allowances in comparison of Man It is upon him that thou dost heap the Riches and Satisfactions of the Earth It is to him thou hast granted thy most signal Favours It is in his Bosom that thou dost empty all varieties of sweetness and Earthly Comforts without any regard to his deservings O Impartial and disinterested Goodness that expects no returns but such as may give thee the Glory and us the Benefit and may be a means to sanctifie and increase our Blessings How ready should we be to comply with this inexpressible Goodness and answer the Expressions of thy Favours with such easie cheap and profitable returns Should we be backward to acknowledge that which every moment we may be sensible of and when the bare acknowledgment will produce unto us fresh Recruits and greater tokens of Love from thine unwearied Bounty O let me never forget thy goodness my good God expressed and experienced in my Creation thy Providence in making me a rational Creature and giving me an immortal Soul with