should bear to those whether our Superiors Equals or Inferiors with whom we are united as one Nation and National Church and also should endeavour to represent to ourselves what may be the several States and Conditions of those we are presently to joyn with in the performance of Sacred Offices Such Considerations will much help our Devotion for the sense of the sins of others to whom we are united as well as of our own will help to make us humble and contrite in our Confessions the sense of their Wants and Miseries will help to make us fervent in our Supplications the sense of the Mercies they receive will help to make us joyful in God's Praises because we are obliged by our Union to reckon their Sins their Wants and their Mercies our own Thus the general knowledge that multitudes of Christians as well as our selves are concerned in the Matter of our Prayers and the sense we have in particular of the Concern of many of those we presently joyn with will add much more to our Devotion It may be there are many things in the Publick Prayers that we have not at present such a particular Concernment in but when we think there are Millions of Christians that have who are all of the same Divine Incorporation and that many of them are our own Country-men united with us as a National Church and some our Neighbours with whom we are one as a Parochial Church and of whose Concern we may have a particular knowledge I say this Meditation will greatly assist our Devotions and will also increase that Charity without which our Prayers as well as Ourselves are counted but dead in the fight of God And when we have wrought Ourselves to this excellent Temper our love to our Brethren will help our Devotion another way also For it will make us endeavour by our example to make them Devout and the more defefective we do perceive their Devotion to be the more shall we indeavour to assist it by the perfection of our own And there is certainly no better way for I have known those that Reproof and Disputation did but irritate by such Examples to have been reformed Lastly Frequent Reading these Holy Offices by ourselves and serious Meditation thereon would be a great help to our Devotion and Dr. Comber 's Excellent Book on the several Office of the Common Prayer will much 〈◊〉 us therein for when we have a full understanding of the great things contained in the brief comprehensive Sentences of the Lords Prayer and of our Collects c. the memory thereof when we come to repeat them will much assist our Devotion And I am perswaded that if Men were but conversant in the study of the Common Prayer-Book they would find more Instruction in the Matter of their Duty to God and Man more Assistance in governing their Affections and Passions and preserving Peace in themselves more Support and Consolation in Troubles and Afflictions and more Aid against Temptations c. than in reading many Books but especially it would be an excellent Means to increase those Holy Affections which prepare us for Publick Prayers and to assist our Devotion in the Performance I have mentioned this little of a great deal that might be said of the Matter of our Meditation but still it must be remembred that these things be thought on with a purpose and intention to beget in us such habitual Affections and Dispositions that we may be always fit to Pray and may in the most wonted Expressions exercise a servent Devotion and if we do so we shall not so need the Natural or Artificial Rethorick in Prayer as those do that want these Dispositions nor shall we be cloy'd with having Prayers always the same as some Dainty Stomachs are with eating often the same Meats for such Men constantly carry in their Breast such a sense of their past Enormities that it puts Life into their repeating our General Confession and such Esteem of God's Mercy in Christ as gives them a Behaviour not ordinary in receiving Absolution they have such Affection towards the Glory and Pleasure of Almighty God and such belief that he only can give what we want and forgive the Sins and prevent the Temptations that would involve us in evil now in this World and eternally in the next that it gives a great Devotion to their saying the Lord's Prayer and all the rest tho' they are still the same And where Men have such sense methinks no Man should deny that they pray in the Spirit or in the Holy Ghost as the Precepts of the Gospel require That Pious Nonconformist Mr. J. Corbet in his Kingdom of God hath these words The Spirit of Prayer is never wanting where the Heart hath a due sense of the Matter pag. 46. Although as he afterwards explains it we use a stinted Form of Words Dr. Owen I confess in a late Discourse of Prayer hath these words If Persons are able in the reading any Book meerly of Human Composure to rise up in answer to this Duty of Praying with all manner of Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit or the exercise of the Aids and Assistances received from him and his Holy Acting in them as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication endeavouring labouring and watching thereunto they have attained what I cannot understand That is in plain words the Doctor cannot understand how a Man that uses a Form can be said to pray in the Spirit It would be a high presumption in me to question the Understanding of so Great a Man but he will not be angry if I question my own for I cannot understand why our Saviour from whom we have these Precepts of Praying in the Spirit should teach his Disciples a Form of Prayer if in using a Form we cannot pray in the Spirit But it may be the Doctor will say as he doth insinuate in many places of that Book that Christ gave those words only for a Doctrinal and Directive Help to Prayer i. e. To teach Men how to pray Ex tempore for which End he saith we may read Forms of Prayer how unlawful soever the use be for which they were made But then I do not understand how the Doctor can say pag. 234. That it were better it may be that this were done Men taught to pray Ex tempore in some other way and these Doctrinal and Directive Helps not cast into the Form of a Prayer which is apt to divert the Mind from its proper End and Vse Which words seem to me to have such a Reflection on our Blessed Saviour as is little short of Blasphemy according to the Doctor 's Opinion of the Lord's Prayer For if that were not intended for a Form but for a Doctrinal and Directive Help to Prayer then those words applied to him plainly say That it may be Christ might have done better than to have cast his Instructions and Directions about Prayer into the Form of a Prayer which is
time before they begin which will be very helpful in this case and this would prevent an Abuse which I have observed in most Churches that have Prayers twice a day viz. that the Sextons are so careless and negligent that the Church-doors are not so much as opened when the Clock strikes the hour appointed for Prayers so that many that out of Devotion or by reason of the difference of Clocks come a little to soon are fain to wait a great while at the Church-door for entrance Secondly The natural Preparations are An ability to read distinctly that which we are to read and also to say perfectly by heart the daily Psalms and Hymns that so we may perform our part with the better grace 'T is certainly a thing most evident to any that will consider it that what is to be done in the sight and presence of Almighty God and especially when it is to be done most immediately for his Glory and Honour I say that it should be done in the most excellent manner that is possible and therefore it will need no proof to those that believe what I have already written on that Subjects that this which I advise is a great and most concerning Duty And I the rather insist on it because I have observed that many who profess to be great Approvers of the Common Prayer and of all the Orders of our Church do yet seldom or never read their part of the Psalms or joyn in the Repetition of the daily Hymns and Responses as they are ordered which I impute to their great carelesness in those preparations and that many who do what is required to be done yet do it so ill that it is apparent they want some excitation to their Duty hereabout I shall therefore intreat all that are defective herein to employ their leisure hours to practise a more perfect and punctual way of Reading which will be a thing of credit and use to them otherwise as well as here I have sometimes been present when Men of good Quality and Estates have taken upon them to read some Pamphlet in a Coffee-house but read at such a pitiful rate that a Man could scarce make sence of it or be ever the wiser for hearing it which is a reproach to them among wise Men for whatever the defects of their Education have been it might easily have been supplied by their own diligence if an inordinate love of Company and other Divertisements did not make them too much to decline profitable Retirements And I would intreat all Parents and Masters to consider the obligation that is upon them in this respect and to look that their Children and Servants do the same We owe not onely our selves but all ours to the honour and service of Almighty God And if Children were taught as they should be their duty to worship and praise God in the publick Assemblies and encouraged therein by the example of their Elders it would be a mighty Argument to perswade them to learn the most distinct and graceful way of Reading I have been much pleased to see the good success of this care in some Parents that are well affected to the Common Prayer whose Children read their part of the Psalms with a better grace than many when grown to be Men can do And when these do attain to a perfection herein it will beget in them a great delight in that heavenly Exercise and make them love to attend the Prayers and this doubtless will be a mighty Antidote against Prophaneness and Schism and both plant and root in our minds that Doctrine whence a holy Life cannot but spring II. That being prepared as before we should endeavour our selves to perform our part of this Service in the best manner we are able There are some things which I have observed in the performance of the People that seem to be very indecent As first That they speak when they should hearâ— repeating together with the Minister and often before him the Prefatory Admonition wherewith the Minister is to begin thiâ— Service and the Absolution which he giveâ— them after the General Confession the Commandments also and many other thingâ— appointed for the Minister alone which iâ— by all wise men held very improper and indecent The Church indeed hath ordered some things to be said after the Minister with great advice As 1. The General Confession wherein we solemnize that Repentance that gives us admittance into the reconciled state that which makes all our Services acceptable to God And there is this great advantage in the conjunction of all therein and that with the Voice as well as the Heart That the professing of our Repentance in that manner hath all the circumstances that may make it satisfactory and obliging at least as far as the Church can provide in the case Therein every one doth as it were accuse judge and condemn himself before God and the whole Congregation for sins contained under the general heads therein mentioned the particular instances whereof are onely fit to be repeated in secret Confession to God himself and if he do it seriously with a Devotion suitable to the Words it is to me a more satisfactory sign of penitence than the enlarged Confessions used in the other Way wherein some to seem fervent or to make themselves so run into the enumeration of sins beyond due measures being as I think beyond what the Congregation in general can be supposed though Christians of a sort inferiour to themselves at least in their own judgment to be ordinarily conscious that they have been guilty in And 't is also obliging for this should be a mighty argument against returning to sin when we have solemnly confessed our folly and guilt therein before God and the Congregation For having as it were called God and Man to witness the truth and sincerity of our Repentance it will be a high aggravation of our carelesness if we suffer our selves easily to be drawn to sin again and that either in omitting our Duty or committing Iniquity in any kind and it will engage every good man to watch and pray lest he should enter into temptation and be hurried into the sins for which he hath so condemned himself The 2d is the Lord's Prayer which because it teacheth the forming of the affections and desires of our Souls unto the most excellent order and raising them by degrees to the highest perfection and because it comprehends the heads of whatever is to be sought by us at the hands of God and that with greatest brevity and plainness it is necessary to be learned of all even from their first attainment of the use of Reason and Speech And this the Church cannot better provide for than by engaging them always to say it after the Minister and besides it implies a declaration of our Christian Unity and a renunciation of all Heresies and Schisms as far as we know them And we do the greater honour to God and our blessed-Saviour
comply with my Desire and save me the Labour of Arguments I shall only say the Inward Peace and Satisfaction they will find in governing themselves in this Matter by Reason and not by Fancy and in following the Custom and Usage of all good Christians for many Ages and of most even in this and not that of Hereticks and Schismaticks by obeying the Orders of our own Church made with the greatest Advice and by the most unbias'd Persons of any in the World and not Herding with Quakers Fifth-Monarchy men Anabaptists and other turbulent Sects that oppose the same and seek its Ruin the Satisfaction they will have in finding all that was Good and Profitable all that was Decent and Solemn all that was truly Primitive or any way Praise-worthy in the Service of the Church of Rome a Church which was once very Famous for Learning Piety and Stedfastness in the Faith still retained in ours and all that which Ignorance Error or the Corruption of Time had introduced into that purged out in this I say the Satisfaction they will find in considering the Excellency of our Form of Divine Service in this and such like respects Will prevent all Inclinations to turn into other Ways And should they have any Scruples suggested unto them by cunning Seducers I dare say if they will but do what may be justly expected from Men so educated and obliged that is Consult the Ministers of our Church they will find the fullest satisfaction that they can desire Again As these Considerations so the good Effects of a Devout Attending this Service will perswade them to continue the same The Exaltation of our Minds thereby above the mean Concerns of this World so that they shall not be influenced by the Revolutions and infinite Changes to which it is subject the Confirmation of our Faith and Hope in God's Promises and the inward Joy and Peace that results therefrom the Excitation of our Love to God and the Exercising thereof in Holy Adorations and Cheerful Praises the Increase of our Love to one another by Holy Communion in such Sacred Offices these and such like which will be the Effects of attending this Service will inforce our delight therein and our endeavours so to order it that we be not kept from the same To which I may add some outward good Effects such as 1. The Preventing many Idle and sometimes very Chargeable Clubs and Visits from which this will both excuse and oblige us 2. The inducing Harmony and Good Order into our Families For our contriving that as many as possible may attend God's Service will make much for Order in other things and also for Love and Peace and Good Success of our Affairs I cannot attend the Demonstration but I am sure he that will try shall find it true by Experience 3. The Chearfulness induced into our Minds by our Communion in the Psalmody and Responses and the use of our Voice in other parts of the Service tends much to the health of our Bodies and the mending our Temper For as silence feeds the Melancholy Humour the worst that Mans Body is affected with and of most pernicious influence on the Mind so Speaking and especially in such Heavenly Converse doth much to dissolve and disperse the same and preserves the Body healthful and lively and the Mind in a sweet and pleasant Temper I shall mention no more I hope it may suffice to have touched these things in so short a Discourse to perswade a Constant Attendance on the Publick Prayers 2dly I shall say somewhat also to perswade an indeavour of a right performance which even those are in danger not to do who daily frequent these Holy Offices Education Custom and various Interests may have great force to effect a constant attendance at Prayers when yet want of consideration may betray Men to Formality and undue Performance There is a Fear of God so his Worship of old was called which is taught by the Precepts of Men Matth. 15.8 and this is when Men go to Church meerly because the Magistrate Commands or their Parents bred them to it or because it is the Custom of their Neighbours so to do These shew themselves of a good dactile and sociable Temper and are more to be esteemed than such who in despite of the Laws good Education and a pious Cohabitation contemn and scorn a daily attendance on God's Worship Or than those that strain their Wits to find Faults in our Liturgy and that do all they can to create Scruples in themselves and infuse them into others But they must not rest here but while they constantly go to Prayers they must indeavour to exercise that Fervent Love to God and to our Blessed Saviour and that Divine Joy in the Hope of Glory to come and to Fore-taste the Blessedness we shall partake of in the Communion of Saints above in these Exercises wherein as Saints we have communion here below and will to that purpose attend more diligently to the Preparations wherewith they should come to Worship and to those Expressions whereby they Honour God while they do so Therefore I beseech these to whom I write to consider that God will be Sanctified in all those that come nigh to Worship him and this he only is by those who Worship him with a Holy Worship both Internally and Externally Which we do not except our Minds be so disposed and our Words and Actions so ordered as is aforesaid and as becomes the Glory of God's Essence the Immensity of his Divine Perfections the Sense of our own Concernments and of our Relation to those we are to pray with and to pray for and so as is suitable to the several Parts of Worship which we are to perform Now these Dispositions cannot be attained but by serious and frequent Meditation For there is a Connexion in the Duties of Religion which make it impossible to perform some as we ought except we make Conscience of others that are preparatory thereunto in this Connexion I suppose Meditation to be the first and he that makes no Conscience of that or knows not how to Perform it will be hardly brought to a Good Performance in any other Duties especially this of Prayer Men may by a natural fluency of Speech assisted with a quickness of Wit and ready Invention easily pray to good acceptance with Men but as to our acceptance with God and the effects of Prayer to our own Benefit and Consolation it depends on the preparation of such Affections and such Expressions thereof as can never be without frequent Meditation Meditation in the most common sense of the word is taken for more than bare thinking it is a thinking of things that we may have such knowledge of them and esteem and affection toward them as we ought to have And so great an Influence hath the proposed End into the Efficacy of any Action that I cannot expect that any Man should excite his Devotion by thinking of things though
apt to divert the Mind from its proper End and Vse which to say is to reproach the Wisdom of God-incarnate and to tell Our great Teacher sent from God that he did not understand his Office nor teach in the best manner a thing of greatest concern to the Glory of God and Happiness of Mankind as the Doctor rightly saith the well performance of Prayer is Words which no Christian can patiently hear of his Saviour Now according to my weak opinion there is but one of these two ways for the Doctor to avoid this consequence from his words either that he confess the truth and say That our Saviour intended to teach his Disciples a Form of Prayes and that it is not only Lawful but a Positive Duty to use this his Holy Prayer as we do Or if he will hold to this Opinion viz. That 't is a Doctrinal and Directive Help to teach to Pray Ex tempere Then he must prove that it is not cast into the Form of a Prayer Now this later seems utterly impossible to be done for since it so plainly appears that it is cast into the Form of a Prayer And since the Christians of many Ages throughout the World have esteemed and used it as a Form of Prayer And since the Doctor himself notwithstanding his Opinion that it was not so intended cannot forbear in many places of his Book to call it The Lord's Prayer I say since it is so he will never make Men believe it is not cast into the Form of a Prayer Therefore I hope the Doctor on second thoughts will retract his Book and confess that there is a Work of the Spirit in Prayer that he hath therein much opposed A Work wherein he moved our Saviour and Holy Men to compose Forms of Prayer and to teach their Disciples to say them as the best Help to Prayer A Work whereby he moved and inabled our Reformers as well as the Governours of other Churches to Compose and Prescribe a Liturgy or Form for the Publick Service of God A Work whereby he excites Men to approach daily to God in this Solemn Office of Prayer in the Church and not to think it enough to Pray occasionally when they are pressed with the present sense of Dangers Miseries or Wants as I confess every Christian can and may do in his Closet Ex tempore A Work whereby he teacheth Men thankfully to accept and faithfully to use as Prayers the Form our Saviour taught and other Forms taught and prescribed as before Lastly A Work whereby he teacheth and assists the Preparations I before mentioned that in the use of such Forms we may be truly devout and fervent And if the Doctor will believe and consider this I hope he will use no more such Insinuations to perswade that no Forms of Prayer should ever hereafter be made nor those that are be used any otherwise than to help the attainment of the Art of Praying Ex tempore nor will while he professeth to oppose our Liturgy as set up to exclude their Way of Praying endeavour by such Insinuations to banish our Way of Praying out of the World as the use of Ex tempore Prayer did once the Liturgy out of the Church And I hope the Doctor will excuse this warmth which the conceit of such a design hath occasioned But to return if our Saviour meant to teach a Form of Prayer there can be no greater proof than that That in the use of Forms we may best pray in the Spirit For since by his Inspiration the Precept of Praying in the Spirit was given the Way of Prayer he taught must be acknowledged best for the performing the same This I hope will put an end to the common way of appropriating the phrase of Praying in the Spirit to the use of Ex tempore Prayer and give those that pray by Forms and by our Liturgy some share in the honour of it and then I hope we shall hear no more Scoffing at Praying by the Spirit which this appropriation hath caused however the Doctor complains of it which I by no means approve But Lastly When we have done our best in our Preparations and Performances we must take heed that all be not intended to gain an Indulgence for living in any Sin either of Omission or Commission The Enemies of our Church boast much of their good Lives and condemn us that are for the Common Prayer as a profane sort of Men I do heartily wish them as good as they think themselves and that their goodness may consist as much in the Government of their Passions in Just Retributions in Meekness Humility and Candid Interpretations as in decrying Sensual Vices and Worldly Pomps and Vanities And I wish also that ours did not give just occasion for this their complaint and that we may indeavour to Equal yea Excel them in Temperance and Heavenly-mindedness adding Sobriety and True Sanctity to Conformity and Loyalty But that I may also to my Wishes add my Faithful Endeavours I shall offer Two Considerations to perswade thereunto 1. That of the Incongruity of a Vicious Life to daily Attendance on Divine Service and appearing Devout therein 2. Of the Unacceptablness thereof without the Conjunction of a Holy Life 1. The Incongruity is Evident to all Men. None that see a Man to go constantly to Church to bow very low at his coming in to appear very devout in the several Parts of Worship both by Speech and Behaviour I say they that see this expect that such a one should be very exact in the Course of his Life And if they come to know that they are not they will be very apt to take offence at it I confess for my own part it hath been so with me and others have told me it hath been so with them and reason tells me it must be so with all For it is absurd to hear a Man at Church very devoutly to own himself a sinner and condemn himself of silliness in wandring from God's Ways and following his own Desires and Devices as in our General Confession and then return home as Proud and Self-conceited as ever and never the less inclin'd to wander from God in prosecution of Self satisfaction as before To call God our Father at Church as if we did partake of a Nature like his inclined to all Righteousness Goodness and Truth and when we come Home by our Ill Nature and Destructive Practices to shew ourselves the Children of the Devil To call him Our Father in Heaven when neither the consideration of the Heavenly Original of our Souls generated first by Divine Spiration and regenerated by that Word which is of Divine Inspiration on both which accounts we call him our Father can raise our Minds from this Dunghill Earth to seek the Things above Nor the Heighth and Excellency of God's Glory and his Advantage of Seeing and Punishing expressed by his being in Heaven can move us to fear him To Pray that his
well as in conformity to God and his Church this is required at their hands And I insist particularly on this because I have observed that many Readers having this Prayer more perfectly by heart than any of the rest they ramble it over with a greater hast and have less care to express that Devotion which becomes this Solemn Exercise in reading that than any other the amendment whereof I humbly desire of them And because I have a great desire that this may be amended I shall here adde somewhat to what was said before I have observed so great a proneness in all even the most Grave and Devout to say this Prayer faster than is meet and without due expressions of their sence of the Majesty of God who is in Heaven though our Father in Christ Jesus and of the great concern of those things most briefly expressed therein that I have in my thoughts inquired a little into the cause thereof which seems to me to be this That this Prayer being the first thing that we teach Children in the Exercise of Religion there is not that care taken to make them say it distinctly and reverently as ought to bâ— but they are suffered to do it with such Rambling hast and without any regard of what they are about that it begets an ill habit by long custom which is so strong that all the powers of Reason can scarce overcome it for else it were impossible but that those Men who are exceeding grave and intent in the Prayer they make themselves should ramble at such a rate when they come to conclude with that our Lord and Master hath made for them and that they who in all Offices of our Church would have none to want that Prayer which is the sum and substance of all our Prayers yet should have less of Gravity and Devotion in the repetition of that than any of the rest I cannot but impute this to an ill habit that almost all Men get in their Childhood in this matter of saying the Lord's Prayer and upon account hereof I make it my earnest Request to Parents and especially those of the Female Sex who have usually the charge of hearing their Children say their Prayers that they will teach them and often call upon them to say deliberately and distinctly what they speak in this Holy Office but especially the Lord's Prayer the want of this care causeth most Men yea Ministers to have so ill a delivery that it is very prejudicial to themselves and others and a dishonour to the Holy Offices they perform and a great hindrance to Edification especially in Ministers And 't is this that would season their tender Years with a sence of God and Religion which would never go out Some Vessels never loose the savour of that which first of all is put into them especially if it stand long and if Children were first taught a right manner of performing their Devotions and kept constantly to it while under the Tuition of their Mother they would retain the effects of it through their whole lives And we see by sad experience the neglect of this not only is cause of the habitual Defect fore-mentioned but betrays them to some ill Habits that make them a Grief to their Parents all their days And I have hope if Mothers were but conscious of their Duty herein it would make them more wary of giving way to these frothy or froward humours and that inordinate concern for little things which indispose them for the same and more willing to put on the Ornaments of the inward Man of the Heart which inables them thereunto by giving them that reverence and respect with their Children without which it can never be effected I hint this 1. Because as the welfare of Mankind depends very much on the good Education of Children so their good Education will be most essectually begun in the well performance of this Duty for in teaching them to say the Lord's Prayer devoutly they will have occasion to discourse to them of the Glory and Presence of God of the Awe and Reverence we must have for him of his all-disposing Providence and our Dependance on him c. which are the Principles of all Goodness and also of the great Indearments of our Blessed Saviour and of the excellency of his Person who taught this Prayer whereby they will be disposed to true Christianity and this foundation being laid it will be easie to build them up in all Vertues 2. Because I believe that as Formality hath for the most part its beginning from the ill saying this Prayer so it is most like to have its ending by our learning to say it aright and he that can be devout as he ought in this will be able to perform all acts of Devotion as becomes him 'T is the Opinion of wise Men That Christ and his Church hath therefore thought better to teach us to pray by prescribing us Forms than by giving us a Directory for the Matter of Prayer and leaving the Composure to ourselves because no laborious Exercise of the Memory or Invention should hinder the free and vigorous Exercise of Devotion and that these Forms are usually brief except those for Fasts which for a peculiar reason are longer lest that vigilant and erect attention of mind which in Prayer is very necessary should be wasted or dulled through continuance if the Prayers were few and long as Mr. Hooker hath it out of St. Augustine Now when Men pervert these ends and because they are not necessitated to be intent by being put to study their Prayers just when they make them or to remember what they studied before therefore they will take no care to be intent at all but say their Prayers as a Hireling doth his Work as fast as they can that they may be at leisure for that which they take more pleasure in And because they have these brief Prayers very perfect their Devotion is the more imperfect this is a very unworthy requital of the Care of Christ and his Church and how justly may such Persons be given up to such Errours as have drawn many into Fanaticism as That Forms of Prayer are the bane of Devotion The Lord's Prayer is no Form The way of Extempore Prayer is the only acceptable Service of God And to pray by the Liturgy or other Forms is unlawful and such-like Let me therefore once more intreat the care of Parents in this matter that they will first by their own Example in saying this Prayer most distinctly gravely and devoutly and in the most reverent posture in their Family-Worship and then by Instruction suitable to the Capacities of their Children and by the exercise of Parental Authority bring them once to a good performance in saying this Divine Prayer by themselves which might be easily done if Men had a mind to it and then bring them to Church with them and make them joyn with the Congregation in that Prayer first and in
any posture that is less reverent To sit is very offensive to all that desire to see this Service duely performed And it is reason it should be so for these words signifie a most immediate Address to God the Ever Blessed Trinity in Unity in the highest act of Christian Worship and so fitly do they serve to the Adoration of the Deity according to the Faith of our Religion that the Man that doth not express the inward reverence and adoration of his mind by the devout manner of his pronouncing them and by a fit deportment at that time gives suspition of some defect in his Christianity or of some mistake in the way of expressing the same And this erect posture of our Bodies would mind us to lift up our Hearts yea and our Voices too in giving praise and glory unto this Blessed Trinity whereas the other disposeth us to a defect in both and therefore not only to avoid giving offence but for our own benefit we should observe it Being next to proceed to praise God by the repetition of the Psalms of David c. the Minister that he may mind us that it is not the ordinary reading those parts of Scripture for instruction but the repeating them as an Office of Praise and Solemn Worship to Almighty God I say the Minister on that account is ordered to say Praise ye the Lord and the People to answer The Lord's Name be praised In hearing and saying which words we must endeavour to excite in ourselves holy desires to praise God and so to perform this Exercise as may tend most abundantly to his Glory and Honour The Psalm with which we always begin at Morning Prayer is O come let us sing unto the Lord and is most fitly chosen both for mutual provocation to this heavenly Exercise and for instruction in the reasons thereof and withal to insinuate that obedience to all God commands in the whole course of our lives should be consequent to the adoration and praise of God as our God shewing in the conclusion the dreadful danger of not attending to the same which excellent matter requires that we be serious and intent in repeating this Psalm as that which will prepare and dispose us to be so in all the rest As for the repetition of the Psalms in course that follows I have hinted before what is needful in that matter one thing pray remember that none should take liberty to fit in that performance except constrained by bodily infirmity because standing is so much more fit a posture for the Office of Thanksgiving and sitting was counted so indecent in the Primitive Times that the whole Service was called Station and sitting is only indulged now in some Parts for bodily weakness and because of the great decay of Piety which will not bear such strictness After the Psalms a Chapter is read out of the Old Testament that we may be instructed in the Doctrine of the Creation and Government of the first World its Destruction and Restitution the Promises of the MESSIA and procedure of God's Grace in preparing Men for Him in bringing them to Him and saving them by Him as also in the correspondency of our Saviour's Doctrine to that which God of old delivered by his Prophets his agreement to the Types and Figures of him under the Law and the accomplishment of what Moses and the Prophets wrote in that which he was did and suffered in such and many other respects the reading thereof is profitable and therefore all talking gazing and careless behaviour too often seen at this time should be avoided and we should appear as diligent Auditors of those Divine Oracles The instruction therein given us to it and the respite we have had hereby in it should cause us to return with greater joy and cheerfulness to this heavenly work of praising God For which there is next prepared the Evangelical Hymn TEDEVM the most excellent that ever was composed by Man and speaks as much of Divine Inspiration as any thing not acknowledged for such ever did 't is so fitted for Divine Adoration and apt to excite Devotion and to minister most abundantly to the Consolation of good Christians that even that alone methinks should draw us to Church if not with-held by great obligations I do therefore most earnestly recommend to you the most solemn appearance and the most devout acts of Worship and the most plain joyful and reverent manner of speaking and what ever you can think becomes the repetition of those excellent words The Adoration of God and of our Saviour by the foresaid Exercise cannot but dispose us to the next viz. the Chapter out of the New Testament which being called New for its excellency and perpetuety above the Old and reporting to us either the wonderful Works of Christ and his Apostles their holy and incomparable Doctrine or perfect and exemplary Lives cannot be too diligently and reverently attended to And I should think those who have strength of body would do very commendably in standing up at the reading thereof on the same reasons for which we do so at reading the Gospel Then we are ordered to return again to the work of Praising God which nothing but Carnality can ever be weary of And the Psalms here appointed are such as minister most fitly to the Joy conceived by hearing the glad tidings of the Gospel sent to the Gentiles of which we were as well as to the Jews and therefore to shew that we have not received that Grace in vain nor heard the Gospel of it without diligent heed we should repeat that Psalm devoutly and joyfully The next that follows is the CREEDâ— which contains those matters in which aâ—â— Christians are of one Mind all that believâ— with their hearts to Righteousness and oâ— which all Christians must make publicâ— Profession all that will Confess with theiâ— mouths to Salvation We therefore in one posture and all with our Faces one way as indeed it should be and would be if the Reader did give the example do with one mouth repeat that excellent Form of sound Words which so excellently ministers to the stedfastness of our Faith our rejoycing in Hope our unity in Love and cheerfulness in the Praises of God and our Saviour that no Man that considers it could chuse but stand up and bear his part with us and he that finds no spiritual joy and elevation of mind in repeating the Creed can have nothing else but a natural delight in hearing the most excellent Sermon or ravishing Prayer For neither of these can have any Matter that is more transporting and if it be only the words or passion of the Speaker that affects us 't is no spiritual delight Let those therefore take heed who regard not to honour God and express the joy of their Faith by a due performance in this matter After this we return to the solemn Duty of Prayer which that we may perform with mutual Charity and great Devotion
a time to turn themselves to seek the Pleasures that are always Savory and Lasting of which we can never surfeit But now these Lusts of the World that is Covetousness of Worldly Riches as they are more insatiable than those of the Flesh so they have scarce any recesses they follow us into our Closets and to Church accompany us when Sickness shuts us into our Chambers and even on our very Death beds and nothing but the utter destruction of our Faculties can eradicate this Love of Money These Lusts give us no time or composure for the Hearty and Zealous Service of God but tho' our Bodies be present our Minds being agitated with Thoughts about the World cannot intend what is done to the Honour of God and their Souls Health as they ought Therefore Men of this Temper can't be good Readers till they be converted and their Conversion is very difficult as our Saviour hath taught Matth. 19.24 There remains therefore but this Way to make them Read well That it be for their Worldly Advantage so to do and that none will employ them except they can approve themselves to Read very well and this will make them Study it and it may be Do it as well to the Peoples Edification though not to their own Acceptance with God as the most Pious Men. And it is my humble Request to those who Imploy Readers That they will be sure they do so before they Admit them to the Place and will not suffer themselves by any Importunity Interest Relation or any other thing to be drawn to Accept an ill Reader to the dishonour of this Service whereby we Glorifie God and in which we enjoy the Highest and most Heavenly Delights in our own Minds and Spirits if a good one may be got But because there may be defect of such and that they may be forced to accept such as need the Instruction Incouragement and good Examples of the Ministers to whom they belong my Request is farther That neither their reserving themselves for long and earnest Preaching which I fear God will not bless when set up to the contempt of the Prayers nor Greatness nor Studies nor Business nor any thing else may hinder them from Reading sometimes themselves according to that good Order of our Church which they are many ways obliged to observe and the more obliged for that they receive a large share of the Dignities and Benefits thereof I beseech them therefore that once a Month at the least they will most Devoutly and Solemnly Read the Service of the Church in their own Persons that thereby the Readers may see they have a great love for the same and be excited to do their Part the better in imitation of their Masters For certainly nothing will be so prevalent as the Example of those on whom they depend to make Readers more studious and industrious to do their Duty And to this I also beseech them to add one thing more as that which will be of great avail to beget a reverence and good esteem for our Prayers in the Minds of the People and draw them to attend more Constantly and Devoutly upon them and that is That the Ministers of the Parishes will never omit but when constrained thereunto to be themselves present at the Prayers when ever they are read in their own Churches And also that here in this City where Churches are very near in some of which Prayers are read twice a day that all the Neighbour Ministers will come as often as they can possible to such Prayers It hath been a great Grief and Offence to some good Men as I have heard them complain that they see so few Ministers at the daily Prayers at St. Christophers a Church that stands most advantageously to give Example and Influence to the City and Kingdom where Prayers are read twice every day and the Example of a devout Attendance and good Performance of Eminent Ministers of our Church in that Place would for ought I know Influence the whole Nation unto a greater Reverence for the Publick Worship according to this Order Others I have heard complain of the Ministers retiring into the Vestry all the time of Divine Service as if they came to Church to Study and not to Worship and were not as much concerned in the Common Prayers of the Church as the People I know not what their Plea may be in this Case but I have not been able by my own wit to excuse them to those that have blamed them for it But the worst Complaint of all hath been That of many Ministers who at the time of some eminent Lectures will sit in a Coffee-House till Prayers be almost done and rather let their Company be wanting to the Solemnity of God's Holy Worship than leave a Pipe of Tobacco before it be smoak'd out or not take their usual Dose of Tea or Coffee I confess I have been much troubled to hear of it and am more so to mention it especially thus publickly if the thing were not notorious and in no way that I know of I can assist the Reformation of iâ— so well as in this which I hope will plead my excuse with all good Men. I know Ministers may be many ways hindred sometimes from attendance at daily Prayers and I am against those that are so censorious in imputing their omission to ill causes no man desires to preserve a greater Reverence and Respect for the Clergy of our Church than my self but yet I cannot excuse them wholly in this matter and therefore I humbly beg that it may not be reckoned any sign of dis-respect that in my Zeal for the Service of God I have proceeded thus far since I believe the good or ill State of this Church depends much on the Esteem or Contempt that is had of its Publick Service of God and the Good Order appointed for the same and upon the Love and Reverence or Neglect and Contempt of it by its Ministers which will very much influence the Minds of the People in this matter I have but one thing more to beg of them which I must crave leave to press with some earnestness which is this That in their Sermons they frequently inculcate the Duty of being constant and devout in attending the Common Prayer and that they prove to their People That it is not only possible but much more easie to be devout in the use of Forms of Prayer than in the Ex tempore Way Methinks when Papists out of a Malicious Design to divide us that they may destroy us and Separatists out of Mistakes of some Scripture Expressions and an Opinion of Experience cry up the way of Ex tempore Prayer in opposition to the Publick Liturgy to the distracting Mens minds and dividing the Church I say surely since it is so the Ministers of our Church should not think themselves unconcerned about the Esteem their People have of the Common Prayer and their Devotion in the use of