that the Primitive Church and even they themselves admit some such to be necessary or at least expedient as admitting women to participate in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper with many more Nor observe they that the Holy Ghost hath permitted the Church of Christ to tolerate the Observation of such Ceremonies for a time as might tend to prevent Persecution advance Piety or else to the preservation of civil Peace and humane Society though not warranted in express terms And that Liberty seemeth approveable by the practice of the Primitive Church when the necessities of times places or the constitutions of the people did rationally require it and when no more was imposed on weak Believers then they had strength to bear such things as were then seasonable being injoyned or permitted but at some times in some places and upon emergent occasions to be so long onely and no longer continued and no other force used but loving compellations by reasonable Arguments and no wrong is done to them upon whom such force irresistably prevails Nor are such things justly reputed burthensome which necessity requireth though they have accidentally some evil Consequence when they evidently prevent greater evils Such was the circumcising of Timothy the observing of the Jewish Sabbath the forbearance of things strangled or offered to Idols or eating or not eating of meats with other such whereof some were longer and some less while continued laid aside and reasumed by particular Churches and rejected again as occasion required without Schism This Sobriety and Christian prudence being now imitated would renew tbat Peace and brotherly Concord which is almost Vniversally destroyed by a barbarous violence or imprudent Zeal to the hazzad of all true Piety and Morality through their intemperancy who more desire to accomplish their own self-will then the Will of God For the most part of dissenting Parties are equally superstitious and injurious both to themselves and others in things which they oppugne or reprove when their use or not using them is magisterially required or denyed especially when such things as are expedient and at some other times not so are at all times obstinately insisted upon as those were by some of Old which are called Beggerly Rudiments the forbidding whereof when they were needful and the inforcing their continuance when needless is as absurd a practice as to take from those who would learn to read the liberty of naming the letters and spelling them syllable after syllable to make up the words and to enjoyn all those who can read perfectly to do the same yet though it be not heeded by all the like absurdity may be observed in what relates to the duty and gift of Prayer and Thanksgivings and that many wise and good men as I think in other respects have erred both in judgement and practice by inclining over-much to the Left-hand or to the Right 8. I acknowledge it is an excellent gift to be able to pray and speak publickly without premeditation upon all occasions with a sober confidence in words pertinent to the matter in hand and to the necessities of those to whom we speak or for whom we pray so it be done with a sincere heart and a true sence of that for which we are petitioners as also with a reverend regard to the Majesty of God But all have not this gift who have that opinion of themselves for this Faculty may be onely a branch of the gift of Prayer in the vocal part thereof and may be so well counterfeited that none but God himself can discern the frothiness of it for he that hath a strong retentive Memory a voluble Tongue and but an ordinary natural Wit may by long endeavouring to get his Livelyhood or catch Opinion thereby plausibly and without hesitation act over that which he hath often read or heard spoken by other men and so well personate the same that it may seem to proceed from an extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost yet be nothing so and his many good words flow from carnal affections inclining him to seek the accomplishing of some pleasing self-end by the practice thereof and his performances amount to no more then the Actors of Interludes attain unto in other Countries where their Comedies and Tragedies are not penned for them to their hands as with us for the Actors having first designed a Plot among themselves speak extemporarily by the strength of their natural Wit according to their general Design as occasions are mutually given and otherwhile he that hath most Ignorance if he hath also impudence and confidence enough wins most applause because the greatest number of the Auditory being more ignorant then he perceive not the absurdities committed in a quick and sudden delivery and so perhaps it frequently happeneth among speakers and hearers of extempore Prayers 9. The true Gift of Prayer though it is also powerful in words consisteth not wholly in vocal expressions but principally in such a frame of Spirit as enables us according as the Apostle exhoreth to Pray continually not thereby intending we should be always speaking or bearing to the neglect of other necessary duties but that we should as much as possibly keep our hearts always in such a temper by retaining implicitely what is at sometimes to be explicitely uttered that such ejaculations and upliftings of the heart as are pertinent to Prayer and Thanksgivings may be at all times in readiness to be vocally or internally applyed upon every occasion offered And set Forms of Prayer used in National Churches or particular Congregations or private Families are not to be despised as if no effects of the Spirit for so far forth as they are without intermixture of meer humane Inventions or superstitious additions they are outflowings from the Spirit of Prayer and often helpful to teach the ignorant how to pray in secret there being very many who had no other visible means of Instruction who nevertheless by Gods blessing thereupon have been thereby enabled both to pray as they ought to do and also to instruct others Moreover somewhat pertinent to that duty is otherwhile thereby brought to their remembrances who had been else in a total ignorance of that Duty and it may be brings likewise advantages to them who are most knowing yea to many who now think those Forms altogether needless Doubtless therefore those Forms are still profitable to some and might be so to more if they were not so wilfully imposed and opposed as they are to the violation of the Christian Liberty and Charity on both sides For if all men could believe at they rationally may that the Spirit of God is concurrently assisting to many who pray without premeditation in extempore words they might as reasonably believe that the Prayers composed in a time of Reformation by those pious men who in many sufferings even to the loss of their lives testified their sincerity are still assisted and accompanied by the same Spirit which first dictated them in such words
they may forgive as they would be forgiven unless they are prepossessed with a wilful and malitious Vengeance Therefore I will for the present here conclude my Meditations upon this Petition humbly beseeching our gratious Further which is in heaven so to incline our hearts to forgive all who trespass against us that he may forgive all our trespasses against him Amen The sixth Petition And lead us not into Temptation But deliver us from evil 1. THis and the last preceding Petition being annexed to the fourth by the Copulative AND as a foresaid compleat all things necessary to accomplish our well-being in this Life We stand in perpetual need as to our external happiness of what is pray'd for in these three last Petitions and therefore the Apostle exhorteth us to pray continually which Duty every Pious man conscientiously performeth For it is not intended we should be always exercised in vocal prayer minding nothing else in regard that is neither necessary nor required nor possible It will be sufficient and acceptable to perform that duty daily as oft as occasions are offered as these words in the fourth Petition imply Give us this day our daily bread keeping our selves always in a readiness to lift up our hands voices and hearts in Prayer and Thanksgivings to God for our Selves Relations and Friends as we are ingaged by duty or promise yea and for our Enemies as necessities require For this is always implicitely done whensoever we offer up this Prayer intentionally including all that is thereby prayed for and having our heart put into such a Frame that it is willing and striving so far as it can extend to take in all things to be desired on the behalf of God of our selves or others for then it is as truely though not so sensibly prayed for as if particularly named and they who are kept in this posture can never long forget to pray explicitely for them in words whom they are obliged to remember by promise by natural affection or Christian Charity especially in immergent Temptations Calamities times of extream want and troubles which being the seasons wherein God hath incouraged us to call upon him with a promise of hearing and deliverance Temptations are the most hazzardous of all the rest and those most perilsome whereinto we cast our selves St. James saith 1. 13. Let no man say when he is tempted that he it tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man but every one is tempted inticed and drawn away by his own lusts When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and when sin is finished it bringeth forth death yet by many places in holy Scripture and by the words of this Prayer it seemeth implyed that God tempteth some for Christ would not have taught us to pray for deliverance from the evil consequence of that which never was or shall be done It is therefore true that we are not tempted of God as by the World the Flesh and the Devil to commit that which is absolutely sinful or to do ought which may bring mischiefs or Inconveniences upon us without remedy or any future disadvantage as by these Tempters But he sometimes exposeth us unto temptations and otherwhile doth lead us into them either for our Probation to give us experimental knowledge of our frailties and of his Mercies or to make our prudence and patience exemplary to others and that we may be honoured secured or some other way advantaged thereby as when Job was exposed to the Devils malice for a Tryal of his Patience and when our Saviour was led by the spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil God likewise leaves always an Issue open out of those Temptations whereinto he leadeth and provideth means whereby we may escape those evils which then are or may be brought upon us and is so far from intending ought to our disadvantage thereby that he preserves us from the evil of those temptations whereinto we wilfully run and which the world and the malice of the Devil design for out destruction thus doing not onely when we endeavour and pray for it but many times also when we neither minde him or our own peril or safeties 2. Our First-parents when they were in their innocency seem to have been led into a twofold Temptation It was a Temptation to have such a Tree planted in the most perspicuous place of the Garden that was desirable by Nature and the forbidding to taste a Fruit so desirable as that was doubled the Temptation yea and somewhat more if the humane Nature had been then as prone to do what is forbidden as it hath been ever since for as the Heathen Poet said Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata Things which we are forbid to do We still have a desire unto But GOD exposed them thereunto for Probation onely not to bring evil on them yea that they might be confirmed in their Integrity by their obedience For he had planted the Tree of Life in the same Garden and had given them will and power to forbear what he had forbidden if by giving more credit to his enemy then to him they had not been inclined to that selfness which made the Temptation prevalent And though God fore-knew what they would do it is evident he intended them no evil but good in regard he had eternally decreed a Remedy whereby the Devils malice should be turned both to the advantage of them and of so many of their Posterity as did not wilfully neglect what he enabled them to perfom God tempted Abraham to sacrifice his Son which according to his own humane Laws was an apparent sin but when he had made trial of his obedience to make his Faith exemplary to all his Posterity in the flesh as also to them who should be his spiritual seed in the same Faith God who knew before what he would do sorbad the execution of his own command and rewarded Abraham with the greatest temporary Blessing also that ever was conferred upon a meer mortal man because he saw him prosecute what he had injoyn'd even to the very stroke of death out of pure obedience love and confidence in him though the Actmight not onely for ever deprive him of his best beloved Son but probably render him infamous also throughout all Generations for so unnatural and inhumane a murther as that would have been vulgarly reputed When God leadeth exposeth or if it may be so called tempteth any man to the open professing acting or suffering of ought for his glory which may bring such great fears or terrible sufferings as usually tempt men to distrust his assistance and causes them to Apostatize from their duties and professions he there leaves them not as the Devil and the World doth but alwayes strengthens to the end and delivers them from their fears and torments yea makes their torments a pleasure and an honour to them as when the three Children were cast into the Firy
gathering ought as Bees do from flowers growing without me but spinning out like the Silk-worm that onely which God had stored up within me And having put into words that which was as it were distilled out of my heart by fire as were my Remembrances to this Nation in the great Pestilence this time forty years I do now as a Testimonial of my thankfulness bequeathe it to my friends by whose Charity I was then and heretofore seasonably furnished with such necessaries as have hitherto preserved me and mine from likely rnine and in the first place offer it for a Thank-Oblation to God who enabled me to finish it during those few days which I might probably have conceived would have concluded my life GOD the Father GOD the Son GOD the Holy Ghost one Eternal Deity always joyntly co-operating intrinsecally by invisible workings and distinctly in what is externally personated by a triple manifestation thereof to our humane Capacities sanctifie me and all my thoughts words and actions to his glory now and for ever Amen THE PREFACE OF The LORDS PRAYER Offering many Particulars to consideration pertinent to other Duties an Objects of our Christian Faith as well as to the true understanding and right use of that Prayer without imposing upon any ought more then he shall conscientiously believe till convinced by better informatiion which the Author humbly prays all his Readers to remember for prevention of uncharitable Prejudice Matthew 6. 9. After this manner pray ye or as it is written Ink. 12. 2. When ye pray say Our Father which are in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever Amen OUr blessed Redeemer having in the words next preceding these reprehended these who used such vain Repetitions in praying as the Heathens did who thought to be heard for their much babling or that God else knew not or would not heed their wants It pleased him for preventing such practices and misapprehensions to leave this Catholick Form and Pattern of Prayer and Praise to his Apostles and his Church for all future Generations including therein one conditional Petition not grantable without performance of that condition required to wit the forgiveness of our sins which condition is both Affirmatively and Negatively declared in these words next following If you forgive men their Trespasses then will your heavenly Father forgive you But if you forgive not them then will not your heavenly Father forgive you This precaution is heedfully to be observed at all times lest our Prayers be turned into sin and we imprecate a Curse upon our selves instead of a Blessing For God is Love and whosoever brings a Petition into his Presence with a malitious or implacable heart toward his Brother or Neighbour shall have all his suits rejected and his sins even his sins formerly forgiven recharged upon him and be laid in prison until he hath pay'd the utmost farthing of his debts That qualification for Prayer is in this Generation very defective in a great number And perhaps it proceeds from a want of Charity in this kinde whereof their own consciences accuse them that so many have neglected the use of this Prayer even because they cannot forgive as they would be forgiven and therefore are afraid to speak in that Form of words not considering that God remembers that condition though they mention it not in their prayers nor peradventure observe that though God sets before us his Love and free forgiveness to be a Pattern whereto he requires conformity as near as possible we can he is not so severe as to expect our forgiveness should equal his in perfection but onely in that proportion which our finite and frail nature is capable of This Hint is proper to the Fifth Petition yet not impertinently here offered to remembrance because peradventure some may meet it here upon the threshold who will never look further into the Book 2. The Texts of Holy Scripture prefixed to this Prayer contain a Precept or Injunction teaching how to pray it For the Evangelist Matthew saith After this manner pray ye and St. Luke says When ye pray say thus Our Father c. whereof little more need to be said then what the words and authority of the Author sufficiently explains and warrants to take away all scruple of praying both in the same words and according to their Genuine sence in such other words as the Spirit of God shall dictate unto our understandings upon such occasions as are offered for the two Evangelists by the words afore-specified the one biddding us to pray in this manner and the other to say thus makes this assertion doubtless and they are very ignorant who shall either suspect the lawful use of a Form so authorized or that the help to Devotion thereby intended was not as well vouchsafed to direct and inlarge our conceptions in whatsoever is pertinent to the duty of Prayer as to restrain us from vain Tautologies or other superfluous impertinencies 3. As it is hinted in my preceding Preamble our humane Capacity is not capable of spiritual Objects or to communicate them intelligibly to each other unless they are imbodied in some sensible Form Therefore in that respect this may be called the Body of Prayer and I finde it consists of a Preface six Petitions and an Epilogue or Conclusion The Preface is comprehended in these words Our Father which art in Heaven in which there are several particulars observable first that this Prayer is not singly personated by this word MY but by the Pronoun Collective OUR comprehending many persons mysteriously incorporated which implies that it is not to be offered up to God by Individual persons or congregations with respect to themselves onely or to their personal duties or necessities but with regard also to the whole Catholick Church-Militant and to the necessities of every member thereof in being or in a potentiality of being yea in some respects with regard to those Saints whose quondam visible being is at an end for a while considering their Resurrection to life Eternal with all the Priviledges of the Everlasting Kingdom petitioned for in this Prayer belonging to the Quick and Dead and concerns their Bodies now in the Grave no less then their bodies who yet live and therefore they are to be comprehended In our Prayers in such respects with those also who were or shall be as well as on the behalf of our selves and of those who yet live in regard they are Objects of the Universal Faith Charity and Resurrection as well as we and their Resurrections no less necessary to be pray'd for then the Kingdom to come though both will come to pass notwithstanding we pray not for them This Doctrine will not be justly offensive to
MEDITATIONS UPON The Lords Prayer WITH A PREPARATORY PREAMBLE To the Right Understanding and True Use of this PATTERN Contemplated by the Author during the time wherein his House was visited by the Pestilence 1665. and is dedicated to them by whose Charity God preserved him and his Family from perishing in their late troubles That which we have we are oblig'd to give In recompence of that which we receive And with some this will relish though it be Fruit gather'd from an aged Wither'd Tree Many particulars pertinent to these last times are hereby offered to consideration by the said Authour Geo. Witheâ—… Legite perlegite Read all lest wrong by prejudice ensue Either unto this Author or to you For since all cannot be exprest together One place must often help expound another LONDON Printed in the Year 1665. To the Authors Christians Friends by whose Charity GOD hath hitherto preserved him in manifold troubles and sufferings Grace and Peace in our Lord Jesus Christ THe repute of a POET which I have had among some hath caused many Pious well-meaning persons to suspect that Meditations upon a Subject of this Nature are neither proper to me nor like to produce any considerable Esteem or Effect yâ—t I have better hopes for Poesie is a good Gift vouchsafed for a prâ—paratory to Prophecy and oft hath been improved to the honour of God by those who abused it not to serve the World the Fâ—â—sh and the Devil In some degrees it hath also been so sanctified unto me by Gods Grace that many who had a sinister Opinion of that Faculty have acknowledged themselves profited thâ—reby in Dutiâ—s relating both to GOD and Man which makes me hopâ—ful these Musings will not be Fruitless I have rcceived seasonable Refreshments from many of you whose Persons or Names I yet know not nor am likely to know whilst I live therefore I must commit your Reward to him who knows you and will remember your kindnesses when we have quite forgotten each other I know that you who are living expect nothing from me toward a Recompence and the greatest number of my known Friends in this City have their Reward already for I believe they are with God Yet to discharge my Conscience that the like Charity may not seem cast away upon those who may as much need it and better deserve it I endeavoured to leave behind me a grateful Testimony which might be some evidence that I consumed not the remainder of my life preserved by your Mercy either in idleness or in living wholly to my self and among other such-like endeavourings partly published and partly reserved in private hands composed the ensuing Meditations during my solitariness in the late Pestilence as also that I might have been found well-doing if God should have then called me This being finished by his Gracious assistance I now offer it up for a Thank-oblation to him and bequeath it also as a token of my gratitude to you who are yet living hoping it will be acceptable to both being the Fruit of his Mercy and yours without more of mine then the putting that into words which God put into my heart when I had no Book but his nor so much in memory wâ—itten by any humane Author upon this Subject as may be comprehended in one line and being carried upon the wings of my single Contemplation to various Objects like an Eagle flying every way to seek food for her self and her Eaglets you will here finde some things perhaps which will be offensive to weak stomacks But I know it is wholesome and am confident that if it be tasted without prejudice it will at last be pleasing to their Appetites who at first disgust it However I have well intended it and Gods will be done VVe may in Judgement differ in some Cases As innocently as we do in Faces But in our Failings if preserve we shall The Bond of Love it makes amends for all Until therefore convinc'd by Truth Divine Enjoy your Conscience and leave me to mine He that so doth not though he Truth profess Shall else retain it in unrighteousness And he whom Loving Caution doth offend VVill that while be nor mine nor his own Friend Savoy Decemb. 30. 1665. I am your Faithful and humble Servant GEO. WITHER THE PREAMBLE IF all that which is comprehended and may be pertinently apprehended by every Contemplative Soul seriously meditating the Words and Actions of our blessed Redeemer whilst he continued upon earth it would unquestionly be believed that St. John the Evangelist did not Hyperbolize when in the verse concluding his Gospel he affirmed that besides what he had therein expressed Jeses did many other things which if they should be all written he supposed that even the world it self could not contain the Books that should be written Therefore it cannot be justly expected that all which is contained in that brief Form of Prayer recommended to his Disciples then living can possibly be made forth explicitely in every Essential and Circumstantial pertinency thereof by the single Faculty of any one contemplative Believer how large soever his Intellectual Capacity may be much less can it be expected from me who by what I have endeavoured to raise up my Soul thereby to entertain the true Spirit of Prayer can reach to but a part of those Notions which may be extracted from that Body of Devotion whereby the powerful and true performance of our duty in Prayer is evidenced and preserved yet for as much as it hath been much stifled in this last Generation by meer Formalites and by multiplying such vain words as our Saviour terms Babling and in regard some also in other respects good and Pious men have totally neglected that wholesome Form of Words and othersome superstitiously repeated them for fashionsake onely without any sence of what is thereby petitioned for either toward the advance of Gods Glory or of their own well-being I have added my Mite to rectifie that which I think ought to be reformed 2. It cannot be denyed but that many have made an Idolatrous and superstitious use of Gods written Word and particularly of this superlative Form of Prayer as if the bare repetition thereof even in an unknown Tongue were a Charm effectual to such ends as they fancy though they neither understand the meaning of the Words nor if they do endeavour so to conform their devotion and affections thereto that it may be made acceptable according to his intention who prescribed it For he gave it to be used either literally or in the sence of his Original words indifferently as also to be a standing Patern whereby all verbal and mental Prayers should be regulated lest we sometimes blaspheam God or curse our selves instead of praying for Blessings or lest we err by that vain babling which our Saviour reprehended in the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees Christ Jesus very well knew both by his Divine Wisdom and experimentally by assuming our humane Nature all our defects
and infirmities and therefore gratiously provided this Expedient for preventing such errors and the whole Catholick Church hath found just Cause to praise him for that Condescention being one special means to preserve the principal Worship of God from being totally adulterated or else quite buried under the rubbish of humane Inventions as it was when Heathenish Idolatries first crept in and as now it is where the mystery of Iniquity is almost at highest For though the spirituality and true life of Religion and Divine Worship consisteth not altogether in outward Formalities yet unless it hath some bodily existence and external Clothing whereby it may be made perceptible and apprehensive in some degree by our humane Faculties it could neither be known or long retained though there may be some intellectual glimmerings thereof in such as are supernaturally illuminated much less could it be communicated from man to man by those corporeal Organs which are the Mediums whereby the affections and inclinations of our souls are made known to our selves and other men upon which considerations I am perswaded that they who totally neglect and they who superstitiously affect his Form of Prayer are equally reproveable I acknowledge there is in many an excellent gift of extempore vocal Prayer pertinent to the stirring up of Devotion and Pious Affections in themselves and other men and with much reverence I comply therewithal and assent thereto when I am admitted to partake in their Devotions yea and without envying Gods dispensations to them by whom I see my self to be far excelled For he who dispenseth his Gifts as he pleaseth made Aaron who was inferiour to Moses in other Graces superiour to him in vocal expressions I ingenuously confess my self also to be sometimes ashamed to be silent where such duties are performed but my natural modesty and my want of memory or somewhat worse renders me fearful to speak before an Assembly Perhaps my secret pride tempts me to preserve by silence a better opinion in others of my ability in that kinde then I have But whatsoever occasions it in me I suspect that better men then I are otherwhile liable to the same temptation through the same defect and may have need of premeditated words To say the whole Truth my verbal Devotions are frequently so broken into dis-joynted parts and so dissatisfactory to my self that I cannot hope they will be plausible to my hearers unless I had time to put them into better order which when I have done in the best mode I can I think defective until I have perfited my Devotions with that Prayer whereupon I have grounded my ensuing Meditations and am perswaded that Form is not always added superstitiously to other Prayers and that their Devotions are acceptable who in sincerity and with a true desire to express their necessities or thankfulness to God offer up unto him their prayers or praises in words wanting Grammatical coherence and in such Language as they are able For if we are pleased to hear our little Children stammer out their wants and affections in such imperfect terms as they are capable of though it be nonsence much more doth our Heavenly Father who better knows our Infirmities and requires no more of any man then he hath given him take delight in their good endeavours who prosecute them as they are able though in much childish weakness which appears by his Sons care taken to prevent the despising and offending of such by their stronger brethren He knew also that the most perfect could not attain to that perfection without means of improvement and therefore left them this Form of Prayer which if right use be thereof made may be to the wisest of them great advantages many wayes 4. I know well that not a few who seem to have acquired most perfections and to be better qualified for performance of such Duties then many of their brethren are otherwhile fain to use set Forms of Prayer composed by their National Churches or by particular pious men and I suppose it to be a great weakness in them who for no other respect are offended thereat or with such as therein joyn For if it be allowable to joyn in a vocal extempore Prayer with him the scope of whose Petitions we cannot know until we hear them and whose Prayers are at that time a set Form to his Auditory if not to him who speaks them doubtless we may with less scruple pray with another whose words we know beforehand and wherein we finde nothing repugnant to this Patern left us by our Saviour In such Prayers or Praises whether publick on private Extempore or set Forms I can joyn with any person or Congretion professing Faith in Jesus Christ so they be not wittingly willingly malitiously and impenitently scandalous in Doctrine or manners though there may be some deficiency or superfluity in Words or Forms and in such conrformities I demean my self without giving cause of disturbance to their Devotions with whom I communicate yea and without uncharitably censuing them in my heart as to that which is contrary to my Judgement For I know the best men and the best humane Forms have their defects and that their duties and divine Mysteries are known to them but in part Therefore when in their Preachings or Divine Worshippings I hear and heed ought which to my understanding is not Orthodox or comely or expressions insisted upon or attributes given to persons or things of whose truth I am not certain then instead of absolute compliance therein I waving that lift up my heart in secret to God beseeching him to pardon what is misdone or missaid by others or misunderstood by me if I have misapprehended their pious meanings 5. The Forms of Prayer and Praises dictated by the Holy Ghost and recorded in the Psalmes or other Books of Holy Scripture I can use without scruple in the same words either in the Original or in any other Language that I undersand as occasions require but not without premeditating the distinct Mysteries in them contained whereby I may be conscientiously satisfied what particular Mystery is touched in the whole and in every particle lest as I said before I may sometimes blaspheam or curse instead of praying by misapplying that to one which is properly appliable to another And those Maledictions to my own Enemies which are intended onely to the Adversaries of Christ or left I take those Attributes to my self in my single Capacity which are properly due to none but to Jesus Christ and to me and others no otherwise then as we are Members of his Mystical Body This is not so much heeded by some as it ought to be who make frequent use of Davids Psalmes at adventure in their publick and private Devotions With much precaution therefore I endeavour as I am able to pray and praise GOD in those words of his own which I finde recorded in the Old Testament with respect to what was Legally and to what was evangelically to be
considered knowing it required much heed to avoid such mistakes as we might else incur by a negligent use of them But this Form of Prayer which I have now meditated upon is made so plain and so suitable to the whole and to every individual Member of Christs Mystical Body as also to the meanest capacities that it may safely be repeated singly and joyntly in the literal sence Yet I have observed and I think am not therein deceived that God hath permitted many wiser men then I am to be subject to misapprehensions in the duties of Praise and Prayer and particularly in the use of this unquestionable Form and perhaps hath so permitted it thereby to prove and exercise their Humility Patience Prudence and Love which being well considered together with that Christian Liberty which ought to be preserved without Infringement and from over-far inlarging the limits thereof would qualifie the Contest among dissenting Brethren and therefore I have here to that end precautioned so much as I conceive may be pertinently extracted from the subject I have now in hand and it gives me occasion of many particular hints to that purpose For This is a Charm made by the best Physician Which if applyed without superstition Cures and secures T is a Catholicon Compounded for the use of every one In weal and wo in every differing Case For every Change in every Time and Place For each State Person Sex Age and Degree Whether mean high low rich or poor they be Single or Congregated if they pray it Hallowed with Faith and Love as well as say it For said in words it may be yet not pray'd And pray'd it may be though in words not said Who ever therefore shall not be partaker Of profit by it cannot blame the Maker 6 Some overstrictly confine other men within their jurisdiction to their set Forms of Prayers and Worships upon such penalties is are unmercifully destructive to the peace estates relations and persons of those who are by them compelled because their tender unsatisfied Consciences will not permit that complyance which is required lest they should thereby violate that obedience which they believe is owing to a Superior Power and to him who is the sole Judge in all Causes relating to his own Supremacy And if that be unfeignedly their Plea without respect to any carnal self-ends and no unquestionable Evidence produced proving that their Principles or practices tend to the violation of the Moral Law or to the breach of the Common Peace by their default it seems very hard measure to compel them contrary to the Law of Nature or the ancient Priviledges of their Nation actively to submit unto that which is offensive to their Consciences in respect of God and repugnant to that Light which is in them especially when they are questioned upon bare suspitions or by the clandestine Informations of persons having no good report as also before they shall be convinced of erring by better Arguments then compulsion and the arbitrary will and pleasure of those who are neither authorized to judge of matters relating to God alone nor have means to take true cagnizance of such secrets as cannot certainly be known to any but to God himself The consequents of such inforcements are not onely destructive to their persons and Families who are compelled if they submit not or hazzardous to their souls who submit contrary to what they believe in their hearts because they become thereby guilty of that which is abhorred of God to whom also that is unpleasing which is unwillingly performed though it be what he himself commandeth but it is also mischievous or at least unprofitable to the Imposers as will be made probable in what followes To the clean all things are clean and that which defiles one will not defile another if conscienciously acted without any meer carnal and self-end St. Paul said Rom. 14 14. he was perswaded by Christ Jesus That there is nothing unclean in it self yet to him who believeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean And in that respect we are exhorted in the same Chapter to follow those things which tend to peace and whereby we may edifie one another without giving just cause of offence to our weak Brethren or of blaspheaming to them who are without or of infringing the Christian Liberty which permitteth the profession practise or omission of things indifferent so far forth as they are honest just of good report among good men and tending to edification in the love and fear of God And it is very considerable that the inforcing such things one way or another produceth one of the most mischievous consequences in the world both to those who compel them and to them among whom they live for when they have constrained men by hope or fear of temporary advantages or disadvantages to destroy their Consciences which makes them men of no Consciences and thereby such as have also no God they do by that imprudence add none to their own Party but such wicked Hypocrites and secret Traytors as otherwhile become a Plague both to those who offered violence to their pretended consciences and to all other good men with whom they have to do for whatsoever Oaths they take whatsoever Covenants they make whatsoever Ingagements they enter into they usually become false and perfidious to those who trusted them as soon as they finde it may be to their particular advantage And I have long observed that those Formalities in Divine Worship which are submitted unto through fear and even those principles of Truth which are professed for carnal ends onely did never make any such to be the better men and I therefore wonder what they hope to get by it who by compulsion make proselytes or Conformists to their Judgement and Practice those who are neither truly serviceable to God to their Country or to whom they are compelled except it be for this end that when such Imposers have services to be done which none but the most damnable Villanes will do they may know where to finde them 7. I am no accepter of Persons or Parties further then I finde them qualified according to the Principles of Love and Truth therefore execuse me though I am bold to say there are some other so unreasonably adverse to all Forms Ceremonies and Customs how expedient soever to prevent disorder and cure Ignorance although not evil in themselves that they can hardly be prevailed upon by any Arguments to conform unto them in their own persons or to allow them to others whose consciences incline them thereunto though they cannot make forth how without some of them they and other men could have so easily been made acquainted with the soul and spiritual existence of Religion had they wanted a bodily form whereby it might be rendred apprehensive These Oppugners of all Formalities in Divine Worship which are not in positive terms commanded though not countermanded in the written Word of God do not well heed
undefiled and so visibly made known to be such that none shall be distrustful of each others Integrity An universal Love shall cement together inseparably every precious Stone of that building Yea a Love excluding all the Fear Jealousie and Envie which might imbitter their Injoyments and Affections into whom that Kingdom is come For though there will be a differing Glory as among the Stars which excel one another the least shall be as fully and as highly contented with his measure of Joy and his degree of exaltation as he that is greatest and every one take as much pleasure in the Glorification of others as in his own Much more might be said to this purpose and to give some hints whereby it may be known of what Nature this Kingdom is and when it is come into us But this and that which the Spirit of God will further dictate as need shall require will be sufficient to raise an apprehension to make us confident that when his Kingdom comes upon Earth his will shall be here done as it is in Heaven 17. Nevertheless it seems impossible to some that the Will of God should be fulfilled in Earth as it is in Heaven and so it would be unless it shall he more gloriously manifested then either now or heretofore and we should not have been taught so to pray if it were not to be expected in another mode Our Father had the same Kingdom upon Earth from the first Creation thereof and the Reign of his Anoynted Son was more visible when he first came in the flesh then in preceding Ages But it is said to be a Kingdom yet to come in regard of that more evident manifestation which it shall still have from time to time and especially after the six Mystical Dayes of a thousand years a piece are finished During that space the Devil called the Prince of this world and his Vicegerents are to exercise a power by Divine permission that the evil whereof our first Parents desired Knowledg might be as far forth made known to their whole Posterity as might be permitted with preservation of the humane Nature from being utterly destroyed And that when the great Sabbath of Years came the Beauty and Perfection of GOODNESS might be thereby the more Illustrated as the Day is by the darkness of the Night and as well known to Mankind as evil hath been and shall be experimentally manifested before the Mystical week is compleated For though the Devil lied when he tempted the Son of God with an offer of all the Kingdoms of the Earth in saying all those were given unto him Yet some appearance of Truth may seem to have been therein if we consider what Arbitrary power his Vicegerents have Arrogated and Exercised by their being accomptable to none in this life for their Mis-governments For many of them have been the most wicked men in the world chief Actors in bringing the knowledg of evil to perfection by making it as well felt as intelligibly known and They and the Nations under their Governments have mutually so corrupted each other that the greatest benefit we have now hope of by their Counsels Reasons of State and Arbitrary Actings is this their Wickedness ere long will be so fully Ripe that it will bring hither that King and Kingdom whereby we shall perfectly know and enjoy that GOODNESS which will root all wickedness out of the Earth and perhaps be an occasion of cutting that time of their Tyrannie somewhat shorter then it might else have been according to that Scripture where it is said that the dayes of Antichrists last cruelty should be shortned for the sake of his Elect. 18. The Kingdom we pray for now is and hath been in some proportion both visibly and invisibly upon the Earth in all Ages and his will there done according to the similitude expressed in this Prayer and in the Children thereof so far forth as they were and are capable And whereas it is said When Christ cometh shall he finde faith upon Earth as it may also be questioned whether when he cometh he shall find in any man an absolute Resignation of his will to GODS It implies not in my understanding either an universal Nagative or Affirmative but that he shall then finde both Faith and Self-denial in some For as there is an Old Will and an Old Earth by Nature in man which he had from Adam so there is also a New Earth and a New Heaven or will in man partly come and more perfectly to come into us and into the world by Christ between whom there is and shall be a continual warfare until Christs personal coming They in whom the first natural Earthlyness and will are predominant shall have no such faith or willingness found in them when Christ comes But he shall then find both such a Faith and such a Will as is expected in all those into whom that new Earth and that new Heaven is come which is predicted in the Revelations to St. John for that is a mystical Expression of that Kingdom which shall descend both into our Microcosme or little World and appear gloriously in this great World Into this Kingdom there shall enter no imperfect or unclean thing the Glory and Honour of all Nations shall be brought into it The fearful whose cowardise makes them Apostatize in persecution Unbelievers Murtherers Whoremongers Sorcerers Idolaters and Liers shall be shut out of it for this Kingdom shall not need as do the Kingdoms of this world to be supported by publishing Lies by depressing Truths by Dissemblings false Accusations Plottings Perjuries Oppressions and such like The City and Royal Palace thereof shall be more strongly fortified and more gloriously beautified then we are able to imagine or conceive by all those excellent Metaphorical Allusions to the most precious Earthly things whereby St. John as is before hinted hath endeavoured to raise us up to some apprehension by Faith which cannot be made known so excellent as it is by any VVords or natural Demonstrations Our Father the King of Righteousness even the Lord GOD Almighty is sole King thereof to whom we may with that perfect Joy and Love which casteth out Fear say Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven which short Petition comprehends all that is contained in this brief Prayer relating either to God or our selves as this Prayer contains implicitely all that is absolutely to be prayed for by the most exact Publike Liturgies and by all the Prayers of every Congregation and Individual person upon Earth Nevertheless remember this that though this is so Universal a Prayer as aforesaid and though God knows what we want before we ask it yet our insisting upon particulars is necessary to keep us mindful of our duties to God heedful of those wants which we have in our selves and diligent upon all occasions to seek and ask supply from him only in VVords and Musings regulated by this Prayer believing that we have attained
Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and hardneth whom he pleaseth and GOD is no such accepter of persons as they misconceive him to be who misapply that Text wherein it is said that GOD hated Esau and loved Jacob before either of them had done good or evil and think it implies Esua's Reprobation for though Jacob being the third Patriark who was separated or sanctified to be the Fore-father of Christ according to the flesh and Esau in that respect but a common or prophane person and worthily lost his Birth-right for selling it at so base a price yet that rejection as to the Election of being the person from whom the Messiah should descend warrants not me to aver that he was reprobated in respect to the Salvation of his Soul for those words 〈◊〉 mentioned were spoken perhaps with regard to Gods fore-knowledge of what he would do or rather as I believe with respect to the works of the flesh and of the Spirit onely Esau being a Type of the one and Jacob of the other as Sarah is said to be of the Gospel and Hagar of the Law they being Progenitors of differing Nations For the works of the Spirit are pleasing to God and always loved of him and the works of the flesh abominable and by him hated both before and after they are done 16. That Text is misunderstood also to the dishonour of God which mentioneth a Potters power over his Clay to make thereof a Vessel of honour or dishonour as he pleaseth For though God hath more power over his work then a Potter over his Clay yet to infer positively from thence that God had purposely made some to be Vessels of wrath is an unjustifiable inference from that allusion And that obscure place of St. Pauls Epistle to the Romans where the Potters freedome to make what Vessels he pleaseth out of one and the same Lump is misunderstood to imply what is aforesaid for if it be so expounded by the context and other places of holy Scripture that the whole and every part of Gods Word may agree in one Truth we shall never understand Pauls meaning as some do The holy Ghost alludes not our most wise Creator to a foolish Potter who because he might make what he would of his Clay did therefore make the greatest number of his Pots to be broken again to shew he had as well a power to break them as to make them or that onely to evidence his displeasure without cause he made them ugly and unserviceable Doubtless God so made all things that not one of his Creatures hath so much cause of dislike as to say Why hast thou made me thus He is resembled to a wise Potter who makes both Vessels of honour and dishonour out of the same Lump of Clay no Vessels of wrath came so made out of his hand but every one a vessel useful for his service without injury or grievance done thereunto A Chamber-pot made for that use or a Pipkin to serve always in the Fire are as well pleased to be serviceable in their kinds as drinking-cups and other Vessels employed at the Table though reputed more honourable then the former The Literal words of Scripture may be and in some places are vitiated by the heedlesness of Transcribers as we perceive by differing Copies yet the true Genuine sence will be always found intire and every part consonant to each other in the truth if read with submission to the dictates of that Spirit which always accompanies the same and so are the Texts aforementioned 17. I will add a few line more to declare why I believe as is aforesaid that God hath predestinated a far greater number to eternal Life then he hath left liable to final Reprobation by their own default and I beseech all my Readers to peruse it with patience and without Prejudice for no affectation to singularity but a conscientious Zeal to vindicate Gods honour by illustrating the infiniteness of his Mercy and Love to all Mankinde hath inclined me there unto In my understanding that which may be considered by contemplating Gods Word in the spirituality thereof he hath as it were distributed all mankinde into three Regiments which have been governed by the invisible and visible operations of the holy Trinity ever since the Creation and during most part of that time hitherto by the third Person who still governs it and shall until Christ comes personally again upon earth The first Regiment consists or all those who lived to be Members of the Visible Church made up both of the natural and spiritual Seed of Abraham as well under the Law of works as of Faith Jews and Gentiles Hypocrites and true Professors These in many preceding Generations were very few and so they yet are in respect of the rest of Mankinde and were obliged to work out their a Salvation by a respective conformity to those Laws and Dispensations which in their distinct times and seasons were vouchsafed in various modes they who lived before Christ came in the Flesh in one manner and they in another who were to come after that time but both one in Substance though differing in Types Ceremonies and other circumstances For we of the later time cannot be saved but by believing in Christ Jesus the Son of God conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Vigin Mary c. as it hath been revealed by the Apostles with those Attributes and circumstances contained in the Old and New Testament relating to Christs Evangelical Kingdom whereby both Jews and Gentiles now called Christians are equally priviledged and obliged The Jewish outward Duties before Christ consisted in observing and conforming to those Types and Ceremonies under which that was vailed which we profess They had the same Christ for the Object of their Faith and Worship though so little known to them according to the manifestations we have had that very few except their eminent Prophets understood the Mysteries of his Kingdom yet were saved by being obedient thereto according to the measure of their understanding These together make up the Brigade of those Souldiers in the Church-Militant who fight the Battles of the Lord against the enemies of his Kingdom some in pure Love to him and his Cause some as Hirelings onely for their Wages And they among them who become faithful continuing so to the end shall be Crowned with Victory and Glory above all other Saints because exposed to the greatest sufferings and dangers in this Life Now though these will be a very small number in respect of that great number which consists of them who have been either false Pretenders Traytors Apostates or unprofitable servants to their General yet they are said to be as numberless as the Stars in the Firmament these are Davids worthies and as it were the Life-guard of the Kingdom and a small Regiment compared unto the other two whereof I am next to speak Yea these are that part of GODS Elect to whom this saying hath