their hearts and whilst they are or may be delighted with the Prayer whether their Souls are truly in a praying temper First Endeavour to be heartily reconciled with the Godly Forms of Prayer recommended in our Church employ Reason and Conscience to perswade thy self my Christian Brother to embrace what Duty commands that Duty which thou owest to Authority and thy interest obliges thee to practice Why should prejudice keep thee always blindfolded Why should Men of perverse judgments and corrupt designs impose upon thy judgment such gross mistakes Why wilt thou dote upon thine own Errors and entertain them with so much stiffness as if thy Salvation did thereupon depend those Errors I mean that cause thee to look upon our Prayers and Devotions as superstitious and make so great a breach in the Church where we live Make it thy business to understand the true ground of thine and others displeasures at our Forms of Prayer Take not things of that high concernment upon trust and captivate not thy discretion to the judgment of others never so learned but with the assistance of Reason and holy Scripture rightly interpreted labour to lift out the Truth To these and such like endeavours make use of Prayer to the God of peace that he may expel and drive away all the Mists of Error which keep thee at a distance from our manner of worshipping our great God Consider the necessity of those things that are therein desired the integrity of their first Composers the approbation of foreign Reformed Churches the Commands and Injunctions of the wise Governours of the Church and State who have no other intent in all their Laws relating to this purpose but thy Salvation and the publick Peace and Uniformity Is it possible that thou excellest them in discretion and judgment and that they are all mistaken in the good end which they purpose to themselves Without this reconcilement 't is not possible for thee to receive any benefit from our Prayers by joyning with us for thy Soul will never offer up heartily to God that for which it hath a strong aversion Secondly Overcome in thy Soul all inward displeasure which thou hast conceived against the Person of thy Minister officiating or distastes at his behaviour and actions What if he be openly scandalous or at variance with thee Let not his guiltiness cause thee to be guilty of irregularity or neglecting thy Duty to God and the interest of thy Soul Let not your mutual dissatisfaction cause you to be dissatisfied with God and his Worship Such Wicked Varlets as Hophni and Phineas are too apt to cause many to slight the Offerings of the Lord but they are not therefore excusable before God who requires an obedience to his Laws from every distinct person and allows not the vitiousness of the one to be pleaded for the disorderly behaviour of the other But certain it is that whilst thou art inwardly displeased with thy Minister thou canst never conjoyn thine heart with the Godly Prayers which proceed out of his mouth whilst thou art offended with his person his Prayers and his Words will never benefit thee much I shall not examine the many frivolous causes of distastes which the Men of our days entertain against the Clergy but this I dare affirm That it is both the Duty and Interest of a Parishioner to smother his anger and displeasure conceived against his Minister specially at the time of Divine Service when he is drawing near to God in Prayer if he will be in a possibility of praying right Look not on him at that time as thine Enemy but as thy Friend who prays for thy necessities as well as his own look not on him as one at a distance from thee but reconciled in the common Duties of Religion God forbid that the usual differences of Men about Worldly Interests should separate us in God's presence from one another and cause our variances to be eternal If therefore we are likely notwithstanding our present debates to meet unanimously to worship God's Majesty for all Eternity and sing to him angelical Halelujahs hereafter why may we not now suppress our displeasures stifle our passions and reconcile our selves in the Worship of our great Creator and common Benefactor For that intent it concerns thee not to mind so much the Person as the Petitions not so much the Minister as God for whose sake and at whose command thou art ready to forget the most sensible wrongs and check the strongest passions of hatred and displeasure Thirdly Think not that the vitious behaviour of any in the Congregation will be a prejudice to thy Prayers or hinder their accptance It is the common excuse of Men that are willing to excuse themselves from the Duties of Religion That in our publick Assemblies all sorts of persons are promiscuously admitted and that they cannot join in Prayers with the openly debauched or with persons that are known to be scandalous But this vain pretence proceeds many times from a proud conceit of our own Sanctity and favours of the Pharisees temper in the Gospel who had so much of impudence in his Prayer to God that the Publican's Humility was preferred before him God that sees all our actions and tempers knows how to put a disterence between thy relegious behaviour and the Vices of a wicked Christian 'T is not thy Neighbour's ungodliness that can prejudice thy Devotions Why shouldest thou be offended with that which God allows and the publick Unity and Peace of the Church requires We could wish that in our publick Assemblies all were Saints and Angels but seeing that is not to be expected to cull and pick out every vitious person or such as may be thought to be so by some ill-willers I am afraid scarce any would be left We must therefore bear with that which is not to be avoided and take heed that we disturb not the publick quiet more than the vitious and the profane by our indiscreet and Schismatical niceties Fourthly If thou wilt offer up the Prayers of the Church with benefit to thy Soul and with the affections of thy Heart carefully observe the motions of the Body enjoined in the Common-Prayer who knows but that this submission and this custom will have a speedy influence upon thy mind to cause thy Soul to join in the same respects to God Certain it is that the nearness of Relation between them will beget a mutual compliance between the actions of the one and the affections of the other so that the often practising of things must needs reconcile us to those performances and remove the strongest prejudices that are not grounded in reason nor strengthened by divine Revelation If therefore any weak Brother cannot at present comply with the Devotions of the Church of England if he finds an inward repugnancy for the publick Prayers which hinders him from receiving the comfort and benefit thereby intended let him follow and try my advice but a few Months Let him
excellent Prayers will avail us nothing they will not be accepted if they proceed from a Soul bewitched with the deceitful Allurements of Sin The Devil's Slave can never be fit to appear before the God of liberty till the Bolts and Chains of Hell be shaken off He shall never meet with acceptance with a Jealous God who is already betroathed and inseparable from sin the great Enemy of his Glory How unseasonable and odious were the Devotions of Zimri when in the publick Congregations of the Children of Israel humbling themselves for their Sins in God's presence he had a Midianitish Woman at his side How unwelcome were the Addresses of a proud Pharisee whose Prayers were the expressions of his Pride and Vanity Cain's Sacrifices were not pleasing to God because there was a mixture of Wickedness amongst his Offerings therefore such Prayers as proceed from impenitency and vice are odious to God Likewise in such a Case the Petitioner is not in a disposition fit to receive God's Mercies for sin discomposeth us and while we retain it in our Assections both the Action and the Habit of sin conspire together to intercept and deprive us of all gracious returns of our Prayers from God It sills the Soul full of jealousies fears apprehensions suspicions and instead of Love it begets an hatred of and an aversion to God which will never suffer us to draw near in that manner as his infinite goodness and unlimited liberality require so that unless true repentance intervene between our Sins and our Prayers to our Maker they will rather provoke his Justice than prevail with his Mercy Thirdly If you will have your Prayers acceptable to God you must offer them with that attention and intention of the mind that so weighty an action and the greatness of God's Majesty require For to what purpose is it to attend and be present in a praying Congregation if we be no more concerned in the Devotion than the Timber and the Stones of the Fabrick if our Bodies â—e present without our Souls God demands from his People spiritual Sacrifices and Services which are not to be performed with the outward part alone the Mind and the Understanding must be active and the Soul and all its faculculties ought to be concerned in this Spiritual worshipping of our great God As God is an Unity without Division whatsoever is offered to him must express this Unity by a total Consecration of it self chiefly in that Christian Service where all the divine Attributes are acknowledged and wherein the Soul as well as the Body is to resign it self over to God Dead Sacrifices under the Law were abominable and bodily Devotions alone under the Gospel are disrespectful to God and injurious to our selves for they commonly proceed from the multiplicity of Worldly business that possess the Soul from an unmindfulness of God and a want of an Holy fear of his Divine Majesty from a carelesness of our Duty or from the disturbances and lusts of the Flesh that steal away our Thoughts as well as our Affections from God's Holy Worship and deprive us of the advantages that we might expect from a due performance of our Duty To prevent such ill consequences the Christian in Prayer ought to mind the weighty Business in hand and not only at the close of every Petition in imitation of the Primitive Church of Christ to subscribe and declare his ascent and consent to the Requests offered up to God by the universal Amen but also to express inwardly in the Soul what is outwardly pronounced and spoken and to be seriously attentive to every Petition for as the rational Soul is able to express it self as well as the animal part doth with the Tongue and that by an internal Word and Faculty proper to it that must speak or else God will not hear for that intent it is necessary to hearken with a Religious attention to the Prayers which proceed from our own or others Lips and endeavour to hear that part in the Devotion which is appointed for us It is necessary to set aside all other Worldy business to disengage our selves and our minds from all other incumbrances to six them to the Duty they are employed in and to tye and settle them with the dread of God's presence so that our thoughts may not take the liberty to wander up and down from this holy exercise And when we are in Prayers we must set a watch at the door of our Senses forbid entrance to all sudden Accidents and in a word summon all the thoughts of the Mind and faculties of the Soul to render their homage to God's Divine Majesty and not to suffer them to straggle from the weighty business in hand Remarkable is the Example of that Noble and Couragious Youth of Macedon whose Office it was to burn Frankincense before King Alexander when he sacrific'd to his Gods tho' a burning Coal was casually fal'n into his open sleeve Val Max. l. 3. c. 3. and did there consume both his Vestment and his Flesh lest he should ominously and unhappily interrupt the publick Sacrifice of his Prince he persisted in his business to the end through all the Torments and would not so much as complain How religious were such and other Heathens in the publick Worship of their false Gods Nothing was able to cause them to interrupt their Sacrifice And shall we Christians mingle in our Devotions to the true Lord of Heaven and Earth vain idle wanton and lascivious thoughts and actions Shall every accident and casualty be able to take us off from the Service we are about Yet this we see most commonly happens both in our publick and in our private Addresses to God for want of a due respect and dread of God's presence of which we should at such times be really and most sensible Fourthly The Affections of the Soul ought to be moved and concerned in the offering up our Requests and our Petitions ought to receive that qualification from them as is suitable to the reasons cause and intent of our Address Our praising of God must be performed with an holy and reverend freedom and a real sense of our Obligations Our requests must be sent up to God with humility and an acknowledgment of our undeservings Our Confessions of sin must be seasoned with sorrow and a resolution of amendment Our Promises Vows and Engagements must proceed from an hearty resolution and a sense of our miscarriages and weaknesses In short all our Prayers must be the outward expressions of the inward affections of the Soul which ought to qualifie and animate them for unless our Hearts be thus concerned the Prayer is but from the Tongue the Soul hath no part in it 't is but the Effect and production of our Imagination but no real Devotion of the mind 't is a Worship in jest and not in earnest visible to an Allseeing Eye Such heartless services are so full of Imperfections that in reason we can
never expect any gracious returns from a Just and Wise God who would not admit neither the Blind nor the Lame to draw near to his Holy Altar to offer Sacrifice tho' of the Priestly Race Levit. 21.18 If under the Law the want of these Members excluded Men from God's Service how much the rather under the Gospel when the noblest Member is wanting the Heart and its Affections A Gospel Worship must be an hearty Worship that only is sufficient to obtain acceptance It was God's Complaint of Israel that they honoured God with their Lips whilst their heart was far from him They are guilty of the same Formality who frequently attend at Prayers without causing their hearts to be concerned in the Devotion it should be therefore our care to stir up our affections with all the considerations of want necessity future advantage experience duty God's presence and whatever may have the greatest influence upon us Fifthly And that our Affections may be the more inflamed we must kindle them with an Holy Zeal which must burn not so much with the sense of want as with an earnest and unfeigned desire to Glorifie our Maker however both may very well contribute to inflame our Affections in the Divine Worship of our God in Prayer Now this Zeal needful in all our Addresses is that holy violence that strains our Affections in religious Duties and gives that perfection to the Action which otherwise they would want it is accompanied with a dissidence of our selves and a strong resolution to worship God with the utmost of our endeavours it is quickned by the fears and apprehensions of being guilty of that prophane sloathfulness which might displease our gracious God and stop the current of his Mercy it sills the Soul full of Jealousie which awakens all its faculties and powers to the performance of the present Duty And as our great Saviour when he expell'd the Merchants and Money-Changers out of his Temple at Jerusalem was animated by a Divine Zeal for God's Glory so a Christian that is govern'd by the same Spirit and Zealous Affection for his God drives out of his mind all worldly Business and considerations of Profit and Advantage that God may be worshipped in this Spiritual Temple the Soul without the interruption and clamours of our sensual and secular Interests where Sin and the Devil commonly insinuate themselves too much John 2.16 Sixthly As there is a care to be taken of our persons and manner of offering up our Prayers that they may be in some measure answerable to God's glorious Perfections and our own vile and mean Estate we must likewise mind the things that we petition for that they be not contrary to God's revealed or secret Will God's Will must regulate ours in all our actions for Christ our Saviour teacheth us by his Blessed Example to be instrumental in as well as desirous of the performance of God's will on Earth and Reason tells us that God being the supreme Agent the great Maker and Protector of the World the Lord and Redeemer of Mankin'd that all our Inclinations and Wills ought to yield homage to his Pleasure in which submission there is this advantage arising to our selves thereby we compass and attain unto the end of all our desires an infallible happiness for the best self-interest is a submission to that wise Agent who is engaged to promote our Felicity and his Glory together according to his promise Rom. 8.28 If in other actions of our life God's Will should be the Rule of our desires how much the rather in that weighty and religious action of Prayer where the Soul and the Body together are to summon all their Faculties and Members for the worshipping of their great Creator and Benefactor for the chief intent of this performance is the magnifying of God's glorious Attributes which we can never do if we suffer any of our desiers to oppose his Will or contradict his Wisdom or question his Alsufficiency and Goodness The want of his Mercy should cause thee O Man to yield to his Wisdom and Power if thou expectest a favourable return from his Bounty thou must learn to court it by a dutiful submission to his Wisdom and Governance both in the things that thou desirest and in the expectation of the time which he judges most seasonable to grant thee thy requests All impatiency in Prayer is guilty of indiscretion of prophane folly of disrespect and disesteem of God's Wisdom and Mercy In this and in all other acts of Devotion Men must learn to prefer his Glory whose goodness they want to the satiating of their own craving and importunate Appetites and to give a check to the furious desires of our corrupt Nature when we find them proceeding beyond the Bounds limited by God and his Will and our real happiness which commonly are unseparable But there is a difference to be observed according to the difference of the things that we desire from God For Spiritual Mercies for Faith Grace Regeneration Strength against Sin Truth Wisdom Knowledge and other Blessings relating to God's immediate Glory and our own Salvation a Petitioner can never be too earnest zealous and impatient Such advantages are to be wrested if I may so speak from our good God by our continual and fervent Prayers Violence condemned in other things is approved of by Christ himself in such as intend to be partakers of Heaven's Kingdom and an Holy importunity in Prayer never returns without a grant of the Request when we ask the divine Riches of God's Grace unless we have like Esau forfeited before all pretensions to it for God is as willing to bestow them as we to seek them and their excellency is such that Men can never have and desire them too much As David therefore whose Soul was insatiable on Earth for Grace and divine Mercies let us not give our selves any rest until we have obtained these Riches and Ornaments of the Soul and the assurances of God's favour But as Earthly prosperity and Blessings relating to our better conveniency on Earth are not of such a value and importance our Requests for these things must be qualified accordingly and because in some Rules they may be prejudicial to our everlasting Interest we are to beg them always with a condescention to the Will and Wisdom of our great God who knows what is best for us and most conducing to our real good To desire them too passionately or without any such condescention is to Idolize the Creature and to prefer it before the Creator it is to give to those Earthly and mean things that affection which is due to God alone and his divine Mercies Nature I confess will be always craving and the sense of our wants will cause us to cry aloud for a relief and remedy but a good Christian must give a check to those natural motions in imitation of Christ our Saviour whose Humanity was loth to taste of the bitter Cup that was prepared for him
their prejudices therefore against our Rubrick are more dangerous But if a judicious and pious Soul would take the pains to sift them out and examine the Causes of their invincible prejudices they shall either find none or such slender ones as may cause us to wonder at their stiffneckedness and strange fancies Such I am sure as renders them most ridiculous to all foreign Churches of Christ Their most ordinary and popular Complaint is that it is Popish and taken out of the Mass-Book An Error which any Man will acknowledge if he will but compare our Prayers with the Popish Prayers of the Liturgy of Rome Can that be Popish which opposeth all the Errors and mistakes of the Papists which teacheth us to pray for God's assistance and direction against all the Heresies Plots and Conspiracies of the Pope which was in use in the Christian Church before ever there was any Anti-Christian Pope at Rome Can that be reckoned to be Popish which is agreeable with the Revelations of the Holy Spirit with the Doctrines and belief of the best Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and which their most Orthodox Divines Embrace as most consonant with their Faith and Piety The Creed the ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer may with as much likelihood be said to be Popish or to be taken out of the Mass-Book because the Papists have them in their Breviarium To all unprejudiced persons this accusation appears a meer Calumny unless any of those refined Souls could spy out and shew us any particular in the Common-Prayer which savours of the Romish Errors and tends to promote the Pope's Interest amongst us But it is the usual practice of abusive tongues when they cannot instance any certain Crime to bring their accusation in gross that their malice may be less discernable and their charge may be more weighty But let not the vain and groundless conceits of Popery and Superstition deter thee my Christian Brother from making use with Comfort to thy Soul of these Godly Prayers Let not these mistaken Brethren infect thy judgment with the same troublesom Error Examin and try search into every Corner of this Book and see whether thou canst find any colour of Popery that is to say any sign of those Errors which are in Controversie between us and the Papists Let not their impostures prevail so much upon thy discretion as to cause thee to take for Popery what is agreeable with Christ's true Religion and Doctrines It hath always been the glory of our Church of England to be most conformable of all other Churches to the belief Government and Practices of the Primitive and first Churches of Christ Therefore in this of the Liturgy our Church recommends that manner of praying which is most like that of the first Ages and which is most answerable to our Government and condition as our glorious Martyr and our late Soveraign of Blessed Memory declares in vindication of the Prayers of the Church in his incomparable Book All other accusations as well as this savour more of malice and displeasure than right Reason and tend to this ungracious end to abolish Order and Method in Prayer and to introduce a sad and unreasonable Confusion in our Worshipping of God Let therefore every good Christian take heed if he himself hath such an invincible prejudice against these Forms enjoyned in our Church that he cannot use them himself with any Comfort to his Soul that he disturb not others minds with the same Schismatical mistakes and spread not abroad what I could wish were consined to the bottomless Pit Let him not hinder others from the Benefit which they may reap from a hearty and zealous Offering up of these Prayers to God Abstain my Christian Brother from Blaspheming that which thou dost not perfectly understand or that which thou hatest without a just cause Draw not others into the same prejudice and be not uncharitable to think our Devotions not acceptable to our good God because thou hast an implacable displeasure against them Think not that Piety is confined to thy Breast alone and to those of thy Sect. Lay aside I beseech thee that bitterness that peevishness and froward temper which makes thee fret at our good Order and Christian Discipline If thou perceivest any faults coldness dulness or unhandsom Actions in private persons charge not their miscarriages upon our Church or Rubrick but be so reasonable not to proclaim thine unreasonable distastes to the prejudice of others and thy self Sixthly I cannot forget to mention another Cause of Mens contempt of our Forms and Rubrick which is That they are brought up in the ignorance of that manner of presenting them to God which might cause them to meet with true comfort and real benefit For I know some that have constantly attended at the Publick Prayers of the Church and have for many years scarce omitted any opportunity that did invite them yet because they knew not how to use them as they should they have not at any time found that inward content which they now think to receive from new Modes of Prayer and at last have totally forsaken them crying out most bitterly against their former Formality luke-warmness and indifferency in Prayer As if that unfit temper proceeded from the Prayers and not from the ignorance of their minds which when it is strengthened by prejudice Education or Interest is the greatest cause of their dissatisfaction at our Prayers used in the Church and that which deprives them of the advantages which they might receive from them This Ignorance is the greatest Enemy of our Liturgy and of our publick peace which if any person be willing to expel for his own and the Churches benefit let him seriously consider and make use of these directions which will shew him how to offer up our Prayers with comfort to his Soul I have already set down general directions to pray well which every good Christian ought to learn to practice in all Prayers presented to God Third particular but besides those which sute with all tempers and sorts of Men I suppose that some advices besides may be given more particularly and more proper for those persons amongst us that are dissatisfied with our Prayers and Liturgy and prejudiced against it Some advices I mean that may have a special regard to their causeless mistakes and the Prayers of the Church And truly I judge many stand in great need of these directions who are well skilled in other kinds of Devotion for prejudice here suffers them not to learn or at least not to practice what their affection teaches them in other Cases to perform without a Teacher if we may have the Charity to believe what they affirm That they are truly and zealously affected in the Prayers which are of their Ministers Composure and that they can joyn their hearts in Devotion with them for I very much question whether those persons that seem outwardly to be so disposed are really so in
profession of that pure Religion in which we have had the happiness to be instructed Give us all grace to value and prize this thy great Mercy that we are Christians and such Christians as have the benefits of thy sacred Oracles O let us not be so unworthy to forsake that Religion in which only we are to expect Salvation Give us Grace to follow the Blessed Rules of good living that we have learned keep us from sin and of all sins chiefly from the sins against our own Consciences and knowledge Give us peaceable Minds quiet dispositions with a willing resignation of our selves to thy Wise Providence in all things wean our Hearts and Affections from the World let not its Vanities possess any longer our affections Let the knowledge that all things shall work together for our good cause us to submit without murmuring to all the Crosses that we may meet with And as our time here below is but of a short continuance give us grace to mind our latter end to prepare for our dissolution betimes to live always in expectation of another and a more happy life where we shall never see neither Sorrow nor Pain Bless us we beseech thee in our Callings prosper us in all our lawful endeavours to serve our Generation And let us so demean our selves in our bodily and daily Employments as that we may not forget in them to serve and glorifie thee our God which is the great and chief Employment of our lives Suffer us not to mispend our precious Talents but according to our Abilities and thy Mercies let us so dispose of them of what kind soever they be that thy Truth and Holy Name may be glorified thereby and the ends for which thou hast given them answered Bless this Family now prostrate before thee with our years increase all our Graces sanctifie and prepare us for thy Enjoyment purifie and cleanse our Hearts and mercifully continue and augment all thy Blessings upon us Take into thy protection and favour the tender and weaker part of it the Infants and Children provide we beseech thee for the welfare of their Souls as well as for their Bodies imprint thy holy fear in their Hearts that they may glorifie thee in their Lives Bless all our Relations wheresoever they be dispersed let thy Mercy and Truth guide them all the days of their Lives Bless this Nation unto which we belong punish us not according to our just deservings and provocations lay not upon us the guilt of innocent Blood But pardon the extravagancy of our lives and cause a real Reformation to be practised as well as professed amongst us thou givest us Temporal Mercies in abundance continue thy Spiritual to us suffer not our Enemies to deprive us of thy Truth and Gospel watch over us and disappoint all their wicked purposes for our Ruine and give us all Hearts to be truly thankful for the many Favours Blessings Mercies and Deliverances which from time to time in all Ages thou hast heaped upon us and our Forefathers Bless more especially the person of our gracious Prince and thine anointed grant him a long and a prosperous reign guard him from the barbarous purposes of all Murderers save him from all their Plots and Conspiracies direct him in his Councils prosper him in his Designs and give him and us all Grace to lay seriously to heart thy merciful proceedings towards us Bless all his Relations enlighten them with thy Truth sanctifie them with thy Grace and direct them by thy Spirit that they may embrace as well as know thy Sacred Truth and govern themselves according to its Holy Precepts Bless thy Church dispersed throughout the whole World preserve every Member of it from the Malice of the Devil and his Agents increase daily the number of its true Professors Let thy Gospel and thy Salvation be published in all Nations bring back the Jews and accomplish the number of the Gentiles and open the Understandings of all Men that they may see the reasonableness and excellency of that Religion which Christ hath recommended to us and not only see it but embrace and practise it setting aside all prejudice and partiality Turn the Hearts of our greatest Enemies subdue our unruly Affections reconcile our Differences publick and private and give us all Grace that we may truly serve and glorifie thee in our Lives All this we beg for the Merits and by the Mediation of our most Blessed Lord and Saviour in whose Words we sum up all our imperfect Petitions in that most perfect Form which he hath taught us OUR Father which art 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 us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into Temptation But deliver us from all Evil. For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen THe Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the Love of God the Father and the comfortable Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen Another Morning Prayer for a Family when Business is urgent O Merciful God and Heavenly Father by whose goodness we are yet alive Thy Holy Name be praised for the safety and quiet repose of our Bodies the last Night and for our preservation until this moment which we acknowledge to be a Mercy proceeding from thy Power and Providence We are sensible O Lord of our own weakness and frailty unable of our selves to withstand the assaults of our Spiritual and Corporal Enemies from thy Mercy therefore we humbly Beg this and all other Blessings needful for our Souls and Bodies that thou wouldest be pleased to be gracious to us and forgive us our Sins and protect us from all dangers in the following course of our lives defend our Souls from all assaults of Sin and Satan keep us in the Profession and Practice of thy Holy Religion without wavering strengthen our Mindes with a Divine Knowledge and our Wills with thy Celestial Grace that neither Error nor Vice may be able to prevail upon us Defend also our Bodies from all the Snares that are laid for us Let our lives be precious in thy sight sanctifie all thy Mercies to us and the more we are loaden with thy Temporal Blessings let us be so much the more thankful and ready to obey thy Holy Laws send down thy Blessing upon all our actions and endeavours in the Callings in which thy Providence hath placed us As our chief aim is the Promotion of thy Glory be pleased to assist us in the advancing of it Preserve our Minds from all inward troubles murmurings and disturbances and arm us we beseech thee with that unchangeable Spirit as may contemn the Losses and Crosses of the World for that purpose captivate our affections to thee and thy Service take possession of our Hearts and suffer them not to dote too much
and forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O God from whom all Holy Desires all good Counsels and all just Works do proceed give unto thy Servants that peace which the World cannot give that both our Hearts may be set to obey thy Commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our Enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen LIghten our Darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the Love of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen ALmighty God who seest that we have no power of our Selves to help our selves keep us both outwardly in our Bodies and inwardly in our Souls that we may be desended from all Adversities which may happen to the Body and from all evil Thoughts which may assault and hurt the Soul through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O Almighty God who alone canst order the unruly Wills and Affections of sinful Men grant to thy People that they may love the thing which thou commandest and desire that which thou dost promise so that among all the sundry and manifold changes of the World our Hearts may surely there be sixed where true Joys are to be found through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O Lord who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast Fear and Love keep us we beseech thee under the protection of thy good Providence and make us to have a perpetual Fear and Love of thy Holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O God whose never failing Providence ordereth all things both in Heaven and Earth we humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things and to give us those things which be profitable for us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen BE merciful O Lord to this Church and Nation punish us not accord-to our deservings but let thy Mercy protect and save us from the Evil hands of all our restless Enemies continue thy Word and Gospel amongst us remit our senseless Divisions open the Eyes and Hearts of all our Dissenting and disaffected Brethren that they may embrace thy Truth set aside all Prejudice and joyn with us thy Servants in the sincere Worship of thee the true God All this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake Amen O God for as much as without thee we are not able to please thee mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our Hearts through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O Almighty God who art a strong Tower of defence unto thy Servants against the face of their Enemies We yield thee Praise and Thanksgiving for our Deliverance from those great and apparent Dangers wherewith we have been compassed We acknowledge it thy goodness that we are not delivered over as a Pray unto them beseeching thee still to continue such thy Mercies towards us to discover all hellish Plots contrived against our King Religion and Country and to disappoint all the black Designs of our Bloody Enemies that all the World may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty Deliverer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O Lord our God who upholdest and governest all things in Heaven and Earth Receive our Humble Prayers for our Soveraign Lord and Lady the King and Queen set over us by thy Grace and Providence And so together with them Bless the whole Royal Family with the Dew of thy Heavenly Spirit that they ever trusting in thy goodness protected by thy Power and Crowned with thy gracious and endless Favours may continue before thee in Health Peace Joy and Honour a long and happy life upon Earth and after Death obtain everlasting life and glory in the Kingdom of Heaven by the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen BLess we beseech thee O Lord our Bishops Priests and Deacons with true Knowledge and understanding of thy Word and that both by their Preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly enable them all to be faithful in their great trust in the maintetenance of thy true Religion against the Incroachings of Popery Heresie Schism and Prophaneness Bless the Lords of the Council and all the Nobility Magistrates and Gentry with Grace Wisdom and Understanding of thy Will and Word Give to all Nations Quietness and Peace and to this thy People give Unity and Happiness help the weak-hearted raise up them that fall subdue Satan under our Feet Comfort all that are in Tribulation preserve all that are in danger shew thy pity to Prisoners and Captives Provide for the Fatherless the Widows and all that are Oppressed Have mercy upon all Men. Forgive our Enemies and turn their Hearts Preserve for our Use the kindly Fruits of the Earth And endue us with the Grace of thy Holy Spirit and amend our Lives according to thy Holy Word All this we beseech thee to grant us for Jesus Christ his sake Amen From our Enemies defend us O Christ Graciously look upon our Afflictions Pitifully behold the sorrows of our Hearts Mercifully forgive the Sins of thy People Favourably with mercy hear our Prayers O Son of David have mercy upon us Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us O Christ Graciously hear us O Christ graciously hear us O Lord Christ O Lord let thy mercy be shewed upon us As we do put our Trust in thee WE humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon our infirmities and for the Glory of thy Name turn from us all those Evils that we most righteously have deserved and grant that in all our Troubles we may put our whole Trust and Confidence in thy mercy and evermore serve thee in Holiness and pureness of Living to thy Honour and Glory through our only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious Favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our Works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtain eversasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty God who hast given us Grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their Requests Fulfil now O Lord the desires and Petitions of thy Servants as may be most expedient for them granting us in this World knowledge of thy Truth and in the World to come life everlasting Amen THe Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen An Evening Prayer for a whole Family sutable to the times O Merciful God here we thine unworthy Servants are prostrate before thee at the close of this day loaden with thy manifold Mercies to acknowledge the Weaknesses
the Form and Beauty to any thing he takes the matter from those things that he hath already made But take notice that St. Jude adviseth us to pray not by the Holy Ghost but in the Holy Ghost That is either in that method and manner or according to those Rules which the Holy Ghost hath given us in his holy Word for the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies according The meaning therefore is That we should pray for those things that agree with the Revelations of the Holy Ghost that we should observe those particulars outwardly and inwardly as may recommend our Prayers to God and employ those graces which the Holy Ghost hath bestowed upon us for a more zealous offering up of our Prayers to God A true Christian may want the gift of Prayer but no true and sincere Christian can want the Spirit of Prayer in the state of regeneration nor those inward abilities which are requisite for Prayer For this inward breathing of the Soul towards Heaven is the very life of a Child of God and a principle of all Spiritual motion Though he is not always in the same disposition and a fit temper for Prayer because these abilities may be hindred and obstructed by some powerful impediments nevertheless the work of regeneration is no sooner begun in us but we are taught by the Holy Ghost to call God Abba Father Therefore St. Paul teacheth in his Epistle to the Romans chap. 8. v. 26. That the Spirit helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Observe Romans 10. v. 1. This and all other passages that mention praying in or by the Spirit may encourage us to take with us the assistance of God's Holy Spirit in our addresses to him and imploy the abilities which he hath given us for that good purpose They may take notice of our own natural imperfections and weaknesses and advise us to make use of the Spiritual helps that the Holy Ghost gives us that we might pray to God in a manner acceptable to him But there is none that forbids the use of those Forms which God's holy Spirit hath Established in our Church There is no passage nor Text of Scripture that requires thee to wait for a sudden inspiration from above that disallows of a judicious and religious preparation or of prescribed Prayers composed by Men as much enlightned by the Spirit of God as any now alive Why therefore may not the use of these Prayers be called praying by the Spirit if I offer them up in that devout manner as God requires Why shall I prefer the new Modes of Men whose abilities and integrity I know not perhaps to those that I am sure are agreeable with God's Will and Word Why shall I reject the old Prayers of the Holy Ghost and be so impatient to hear new which I know not from whence they are till I have taken the pains to examine them If therefore I am an auditor what reason have I to refuse the Prayers of the Church composed by the directions of the Spirit of God to be of a constant use in the Publick Worship of our great Creator to be so fond of new Modes and new Prayers of Men that pretend to a divine inspiration but how truly I know not God's Holy Spirit is no favourer of the pride presumption and sanciness of those persons that rush into God's Publick Worship without a due preparation And if they be prepared both for matter and expressions in the publick Prayers which they pronounce what reason have I to prefer this Prayer composed by this private Person tho' with the assistance of God's Holy Spirit to the religious Prayers of the whole Church allowed of by so many wise learned and Godly Divines enlightned also doubtless with the same Spirit Is that the Prayer by or in the Spirit And is not this likewise if I perform it in a Spiritual manner and offer it up with my Soul and affections O! how idle and frivolous How vain and impertinent are these prejudices against our Set Forms of Prayer Secondly But these persons that are so much admired by ignorant People for their praying by the Spirit in Prayers of any long continuance are admired for that which they themselves cannot perform For if they pray extempore without prepararation some in the Congregation may perhaps really pray to God but the persons that pronounce the Prayers whilst their fancy is so busily employed in seeking for matter and expressions can never oblige the affections of the Soul to offer their Prayers up to God in that devout manner as is required This Prayer therefore in regard of the Speaker is but a Spâ—ech and no Prayer let it be never so Eloquent and never so much able to stir up the Affections of the hearers Our minds cannot be totally employed in two actions at once whilst our apprehensions are distracted to seek for words and fit expressions they cannot be fixed upon that Divine Being unto whom we make our addresses nor cause in the Soul that humility and those affections which at such a time are necessary they cannot mind the greatness of their Wants the necessity of a speedy supply and the usefulness of those things that are petitioned for Their Souls cannot be at liberty to express the homage due to God's greatness and an earnest affection for those Blessings that they stand in need of All their care is to move the Tongue and not the Heart whilst the one is busily employed the other is unconcerned in the Service I cannot think that there are any of such an extraordinary and quick apprehension as to be abe to furnish their Organ with plenty of matter and expressions and at the same moment to mind all those things that are needful to keep our Souls in a sit disposition for Prayer 'T is not possible to divide this single Being into so many parts Such an activity seems to me almost as great a miracle as that of the Ubiquity of Christ's Humane Body and is subject to the like absurdities The Unity of the Soul â—â—d the Unity of all its Faculties requireâ— a single Object at once It may be so quick as to sly to another in an instant but this change and this motion of the apprehension incapable of two or three Objects at one single instant plainly discovers the impossibility of praying well and keeping the Soul in a worthy disposition and the affections in a sit temper in extemporary and long Prayers because the mind that should take this charge and the care to summon the affections to the performance of their Duty is busily employed in other matters Now without this conjunction of the affections and this concernment of the Soul no Devotion nor Prayer can be said to be spiritual or performed with or in the Spirit for tho' this should be understood of the
holy Spirit of God it is not to be imagined that he will act in us without our assistance and cooperation and if he did the Devotion is his and none of ours For these and other Reasons it is a matter of great difficulty to keep the unruly and wandring thoughts of the mind and the several affections of the Heart with the other parts of the Soul in a praying temper in all extemporary and long Prayers Thirdly Therefore the easiest and surest way to pray in the Spirit is to take the assistance of well composed Forms and to have them either in a Book before us or well imprinted in our Memories This is a Consequence deducible from what we have already said concerning that praying in or by the Spirit intended by St. Paul and St. Jude But if there be any so strongly prejudiced against Set Forms and so much bewitched with the pretended praying in or by the Spirit as to refuse to acquiesce to what we have already alledged let him seriously consider That there can be no praying in the Spirit whatever interpretation we give to the passages of Holy Scripture concerning that purpose whether we understand them concerning the Gift or in relation to the Duty and Spirit of Prayer without a real and hearty compliance of the Soul with every expression without an inward sense of the things petitioned for and without a devout composure of all the parts of the Soul Now if you enquire how this is produced in us I must tell you that it is not without our assidual endeavours for the mind ought to have a continual eye upon the Soul and disposition it ought to recollect and call back our wandring thoughts and labour to express both a feeling of its wants and a dutiful reverence for the Majesty of God This being of an absolute necessity in order to a zealous offering up of our Prayers in the Spirit it is needful that the mind should be at liberty for that purpose Now let any Man of Reason seriously sider whether it hath not more freedom in the use of Set Forms imprinted either in our memories or our Books than in extemporary praying whether it is not easier for the Soul in such a case to act its part and contribute to the Devotions than in such Prayers where it hath so many Offices to perform Grant it possible that some of an extraordinary ability learning and natural parts which I cannot imagine to be should be able to discharge the inward Duty of the Soul in Prayer as well as the outward in extemporary Prayers Consider whether they cannot with more ease pray with the assistance of Set Forms And why shall they be denyed of those helps in a business of so much weight and difficulty wherein the holiest and most devout Soul comes far short of that perfection and exactness which God's greatness requites at our hands Secondly That must needs be the easiest and surest way of praying by the Spirit which is offered to the weaker sort of Christians as the readiest help to their Devotions for the duties of Religion are always proportioned to the slender abilities of such persons both God and the Church are wont to condescend to their mean gifts and furnish them with such assistances as they want for the discharge of the Offices required from them Now from the beginning Set Forms of Prayer have been allowed in the Churches of God to these persons because it is well known that they are not able to express themselves and their several wants to God as they should and in that manner as becomes us mortal Men. If therefore this manner of praying is as it is generally confessed an help to the weaker kind of Christians why may it not be also to the stronger No doubt but such a one may use these helps with more advantage A staff is good in the hand of a feeble body to make it walk with more assurance and is likewise as beneficial to a strong person that undertakes a long journey The difference is that the one cannot possibly walk without it and the other may march a few steps and it may be proceed on in his way without it but for more ease and better conveniency it is sit in a tedious march that he should have the assistance of a Staff which may succour his infirmities and may comfort his wearied Limbs Therefore it is not a sufficient cause to oblige us to reject useful things to say Men may be without them I think it wisdom not to cast away such beneficial helps to our Devotions as are Set Forms because we may be so fond of our abilities as to think our selves able to compose some of an higher strain and more passionate some that may gratifie our own and the Peoples corrupt humour which usually despiseth things that are common when they have not well considered their worth Thirdly Consider how apt our thoughts are to be wandring and our minds to be drawn aside from our Devotions Therefore that is the easiest and surest way of praying well which sixeth our minds and settles our thoughts upon the weighty business in hand Now I dare affirm That there is nothing so well able to do this good office to us as Forms of Prayers judiciously composed either imprinted in our memories or before us in a Book for in the former method of praying the Soul is kept from wandring to and fro and in the latter it is tyed and limited by the sense of seeing and though in such cases it may take the liberty to step aside and escape out of the other senses yet we must all acknowledge that a Judicious Christian can by the assistance of his Senses be better able to limit and stop the wanderings of his mind and the unruliness of his thoughts than when he hath little or no use of them To conclude Nothing but the pride and self-conceitedness of some the prejudices and foolish humours of others have taught men to reject and contemn our set Forms of Prayer established in our Church of England which both for matter and manner are the best Liturgy that ever was used either in the Primitive or Modern Churches of Christ And there is nothing that hinders Men from using them with comfort and advantage to their Souls but their strong displeasures their frowad tempers and their itching Ears a Disease which hath infected the heart and fountain as well as the Sense and Organ of hearing Let me therefore intreat thee my Christian Reader seriously to peruse these Reasons that I have mentioned and let not any popular Mistake nor the pretended Inspirations of the Spirit discourage thee in the devour use of the Prayers of our Church chiefly in the publick Worship of thy God where Reason and Religion require from thee Uniformity and Unity with the rest of thy Brethren And in thy private Family I would have thee to use the same Prayers such I mean as are proper for that place and