empty away whereas an humble Petitioner that comes with a deep sense of his own defects and the greater excellencies of him he applies to and manifests both these by the humility of his Words and Gestures generally finds an easie access and a kind acceptance A plain instance hereof we have in the Pharisee and the Publican The poor Publican out of a deep sense of his own unworthiness had scarce confidence enough to lift up his eyes unto Heaven but smote upon his breast and with a profound humility of Soul and Body utter'd only this short form of Prayer God be merciful to me a sinner Well and what was the effect of these few and hearty words why God Almighty was well pleas'd with the humble Sincerity of his Address and sent him home justified to his own House The proud Pharisee on the other hand comes with his long Prayers and spins out his Petition into a multitude and variety of Expressions bestowing many good words upon himself as a Saint of the highest form God I thank thee I am not as other men c. and many bad words on others and especially on the poor Publican But what was the issue of this bold and vaunting Harangue why our Saviour condemn'd him for an arrant Hypocrite and sharply rebuk'd his vain babling The one by being low in his own eyes rose the higher in God's the other by exalting himself fell into the greater Scorn and Contempt By which it evidently appears that 't is not the multitude or variety of words that is pleasing unto God for though much speaking may as one hath observ'd storm the Ear yet 't is Modesty and Humility that takes the Heart Lastly There is one thing more to be premis'd and that is that suddain and unpremeditated Speech is liable to many Indecencies and Imperfections yea such as oftener stand in need of a Pardon than procure Acceptance Solomon hath told us Prov. 10.19 That in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin and he that is hasty of speech uttereth folly 'T is hard when the Tongue hath too great a liberty to prevent its Extravagance and this unruly Member is not easily confin'd within the rules of Decency Experience shews that in long and sudden Speeches many things are said that had been better not to have been spoke And he that considers what raw indigested Speeches have proceeded out of the Mouths of such as have taken this liberty in their Prayers to God will see great reason to tye up the Tongue to the good Behaviour and to beg Pardon for the Irreverence of such Addresses David resolv'd to keep his mouth as it were with a bridle Psal 3.1 to curb and restrain its Extravagance and upon great deliberation said I will take heed to my ways that I offend not in my tongue And this we should all do not only in our Conversation with Men where rash and unadvised words frequently occasion much Evil but chiefly in our Addresses to God where as the Danger is greater so should our care and circumspection be so too To which end we should all pray with the Psalmist Psal 141.3 Set a watch O Lord before my mouth that nothing may pass through it without due Examination and keep the door of my lips that no Evil may enter in or come out of it And such a Door-keeper ought every one to be in the house of God And thus having a little prepar'd the Way by premising these sew things I shall now come closer to the Matter in Question and enquire whether a well-composed Liturgy ot Forms of Prayer be not better to preserve and secure that Reverence and Solemnity of Publick Worship before describ'd than sudden and conceived Prayers To which I answer Yes and shall endeavour to demonstrate it by these following Arguments First That which best helps us to come preparedly to the publick Worship of God does most conduce to preserve the Reverence that is to be us'd in it But publick Forms of Prayer do best assist us in making such a Preparation and therefore must conduce most to secure the Reverence that is to be shew'd in it That Preparation is necessary before we approach the Divine Majesty I suppose will be easily granted by all that have any sense of his infinite Power and Greatness for without this we rush into the Presence of God Jer. 8.6 as the Horse rusheth into the Battel not considering whither we are a going and therefore we are commanded to prepare our hearts to seek the Lord. Now this Preparation is much better helped by a Publick Liturgy than it can be by Extemporary Effusions For where the Matter of Publick Prayer is digested into fit words there we may peruse and meditate upon it before hand and thereby be assisted to come prepar'd with Affections suitable to it When we know what we are about to confess we may be able to excite that Sorrow that Shame and Indignation with our selves that is fit to accompany such a Confession When we know what we are about to ask we may come prepared with a due Sense of our want of it and with ardent desires of having it supply'd When we know for what mercies and blessings we are about to give thanks we may stir up in our hearts that joy and inward sense of the divine goodness that is proper for such Thanksgivings In a word when we can consider before-hand for whom and for what we are going to address to our Maker weighing each Petition and meditating upon the sundry Attributes and Properties of God Almighty with which they are usher'd in we may suit our affections to the matter and words of such an Address and come ready to go along with all the Parts of such a Service Now this is impossible to be done in sudden and conceiv'd Prayers because we cannot know before hand what will be utter'd And how can we prepare our selves for such an Exercise which we are wholly unacquainted with and know not either the Matter or Words or Order in which it will be delivered Neither is this possible to be known when the Minister himself is uncertain before-hand what he shall say Such a one may confess some Sins in publick which many in the Congregation cannot charge themselves withal And so may falsly accuse them before God He may put up Petitions for things which may be inexpedient for some of them to ask and for God to grant And how is it possible to prepare or bring devout Affections to such a Service 1 Cor. 14.8 If the trumpet give an uncertain sound who can prepare himself to the battel If he that officiates be uncertain before-hand what he shall say and the People uncertain what they shall hear as both must be when their Prayers are left to sudden Effusions there can be no Preparation for such a Worship and consequently no due Reverence in attending upon it Which is the first Argument Secondly That which
such as he did of old to the Jews Isai 1. bring no more such vain Oblations they are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them Is not this to offer strange fire unto the Lord and such as may justly kindle his Wrath against us And how is it possible to remedy these Evils whilst Men are left to vent what they please and are only fond of their own Inventions Fourthly That which helps us to perform the Duty of Prayer with the greatest fervency and the least distraction must best preserve the Reverence of Publick Worship but this is best done by a publick Liturgy and therefore that must be the most serious and solemn way of Worshiping God For the better understanding of this Argument we must call to Mind what I before premis'd that the Duty of Prayer consists not in Words and much less in the Novelty and Variety of them for God Almighty is not to be charm'd by the Arts of Speech or wrought upon by the importunity of words No he understands the most silent breathings of the Soul after him and hears the Language of those Sighs and Groans that cannot be utter'd and these things are of greater force and efficacy with him than the most pompous Rhetorick or flourish of Words All the use of words in the Service of God is with respect to our selves that we may join and agree together in our Petitions and with one mouth offer up the same Prayers and Praises to God which renders them the more pleasing and the more prevalent with him But whether this be best done by the well-advised words of a form or the sudden Effusions of conceiv'd Prayer is the thing in Question For the clearing whereof we must note farther That the inventing of Words in Prayer which is the work of the Head is one thing and the exciting Affections suitable to them which is the work of the Heart is another Now because the Soul of Man is of so limited a Nature in all its Operations that it cannot attend to two or more things at once at least so closely and intensely as it can to one therefore the inventing of words in Prayer which is the exercise of the Brain must needs be a hindrance to the Soul in exciting the Affections which is the great business of the Heart Now herein plainly appears the Usefulness and Conveniency of Publick forms in which the words being prepared to our hands the Mind hath nothing to do but to excite and imploy Affections suited to them as namely to stir up Sorrow in Confessing Desire in Petitioning Joy in Thanks-giving and the like which cannot be so well done when when other things are to be minded at the same time And therefore a form of Prayer which gives the Soul full scope and leisure to attend to these things without calling it off to the study of words must best promote the inward fervency and devotion of the Mind in which the life of Prayer doth mainly consist And this is true with relation both to the Minister and People The Minister in a conceiv'd Prayer is wholly employ'd in finding out Matter and putting it into Words which is work enough to take up his Thoughts and his Head being thus busied about these things it must necessarily hinder the greater work and business of the Heart since the Soul cannot so closely attend to both at the same time And as for the People they not knowing what the Minister will utter must attend likewise as the words come to the sence of them and bethink with themselves whether they may safely join in them And so the People too are put upon Studying instead of Praying and many times before they can do this the Minister goes too fast for them and whilst they are considering one thing he is gone to another by which means they must be often at a loss and their Devotion miserably distracted and confounded Whereas in a well-composed form all this trouble is saved for the Matter and Words being well known and consider'd before there will be no need of employing the Mind either in inventing or in judging of the sence or soundness of our Prayers but being well satisfied of this before-hand the Soul hath nothing to do but to apply it self to the Duty without distraction by which means the Affections may keep pace with the Words and the Heart go all along with the Prayers Fifthly That Way of Worship in which the whole Matter of Prayer may be best compriz'd in full and comprehensive sence and likewise best digested into due Order and Method is certainly the most reverent and solemn Way of Publick Worship But both these may be far better done in a Publick Liturgy than by sudden Effusions and therefore that must be the most solemn and reverent Way of Publick Worship That the whole matter of Prayer is to be compriz'd and taken care of in Publick Worship is evident because if it be defective in any part the People may go without some Blessings for want of asking If it be redundant they may ask and not receive because they ask amiss So that nothing necessary ought to be omitted and nothing needless and superfluous ought to be asked in our Publick Worship Now that these things may be better taken care of in a standing Liturgy than by suddenly conceiv'd and extempore Prayers is no less evident because in the one all that we are allow'd or requir'd to pray for that is all things that are agreeable to the Will of God and necessary for the Wants of the People may be duely considered and digested into proper and particular forms as they are in our excellent Liturgy where the daily matter of our Prayers being still the same is summ'd up in general Confessions Petitions and Thanksgivings in which as all People are concern'd so they all may and ought heartily to join and as for other occasional Wants they are provided for in particular Forms and Collects as the Exigence of Times and Necessities require Whereas in extempore Prayer these things cannot be so wisely taken care of for in that some things through hast and incogitancy may be omitted that ought to be pray'd for other things through weakness and inadvertence may be added which are not fit to be asked by which the Sacrifice becomes either lame and imperfect or else monstrous and impertinent both which must render it unfit to be offered to our Maker Then as for Order and Method that too is to be taken care of in the Publick Devotions For God Almighty who hath stil'd himself a God of Order 1 Cor. 14. hath required that all things in his Service be done decently and in order Now this in pious and well-consider'd forms may be in some competent measure provided for as may be seen likewise in our Excellent Liturgy where all the parts and offices of Religion are dispos'd in a comely and orderly Method Dr. Comber Dr. Beveridge as by
commanded his Disciples and Followers to use it yea Luke 11.1 when all the Prayers we find offered up by our Saviour consisted of Forms For the Evangelists tell us That he prayed three times saying the same Words And as Forms of Prayer in general so ours in particular are by the far greatest part of Dissenters adjudged to be lawful for they can and do frequently join with us in the use of them and maintain occasional Communion with us in them which they would not do if they thought them unlawful So that they are not now frighted from our Service by the hard Names of Baal and Dagon and Babylon and Mass-Service and the like which some designing Men to create Schisms and Divisions among us formerly put upon it But ever since they have been perswaded to come near it and to be better acquainted with it all these Bugbears vanish and it appears to be not only a tolerable but a pious and wholesome Model of Devotion 3. As we are Agreed about the Lawfulness of Forms so neither doth our Church condemn all use of more free and conceiv'd Prayers in their due time and place For in our private and secret Prayers wherein we are to confess our own particular Sins and to lay before God our own particular Wants and Necessities we are allow'd to enlarge our selves as we shall think meet But because the publick Worship ought to be so fram'd and worded that all may know what they are to join in and say Amen to therefore all Christian Churches have thought a standing Liturgy most expedient to preserve the Unity and Harmony of divine Worship that Christians may with one heart and one mouth glorifie their great Creator But in private they are left at Liberty to their own conceiv'd Devotions and may use their own or others Expressions as they find them best suit with their Necessities and Occasions Yea even in publick too in some extraordinary Cases wherein the Church hath made no Provision Ministers are not restrain'd from a sober and decent Exercise of their own Abilities provided it be done with Prudence and a due Submission to Authority In short then the Question in Debate is Whether the Reverence and Solemnity of Publick Worship be not better provided for and secured by well-composed Forms than by leaving Men to their own free and Extemporary Effusions And that we may advance by degrees to the better clearing of this Point I shall premise 4. That a compos'd Address is always esteemed a Token of greater Reverence and Respect than sudden and unpremeditated Speech For the one betokens a due Sence of the Greatness of the Person we address to before whom we dare not venture to utter any thing rashly or hastily the other betrays mean Thoughts of the Person with whom we think fit to make so bold And therefore we never address to Princes but in a composed form of words to shew the awe and sense we have of their greatness we bind up our Tongues to a form of Speech lest by letting them loose we should unawares fall into those Indecencies that might rather Affront than Honour the Majesty we address to And if this be a piece of Respect to be shewed to Men like our selves to take a due care of our Words and Behaviour in speaking to them can any think fit to make so bold with their Maker as to vent any thing of a sudden before him Certainly the Reverence we owe to the Supream Being ought not to be less than that we are wont to pay to Inferiour Creatures And therefore what is irreverent when done to them must be much more so when done to him for 't is not to be imagin'd that the King of Kings should have a less regard to his Honour than Earthly Princes and consequently it must be absurd and irrational to treat the Majesty of Heaven who is infinitely above the Kings and Potentates of the Earth more rudely than we are wont to do the Works of his own Hands But to advance farther in this Point I shall premise 5. That God Almighty is not to be wrought upon either by the multitude or variety of Words and therefore neither of these can be any token of Reverence and Respect to him And because here lies the main Errour and Mistake in this Matter I shall enlarge here a little the more that we may the better discover and remove it I say then That the novelty and variety of Expressions in Prayer hath no manner of Efficacy or Acceptance at all with God For we find him often condemning but never commending the use of them These things may indeed do much with Men who must be inform'd of our Wants before they can relieve them and being led mostly by their Passions are often moved by the Arts and Importunity of Speech but God Almighty who knows our Necessities before we ask and is above and without all manner of Passions is not to be moved or prevail'd upon by these Arts. So that to think that God is taken with many and new Words is to think him such a one as our selves yea 't is to rank him among the worst and meanest sort for Wise Men easily see through these Arts and 't is only the blind and weaker part of Mankind that are led or influenc'd by them And therefore Solomon wills us to express the sense of our great distance from him by the Paucity and Discretion of our words Eccl. 5. ◠for God is in Heaven saith he and we are upon Earth therefore our words unto him should be few Indeed to speak properly Prayer is not the Work of the Tongue or a Matter of Words but the Work and Business of the Soul and consists not so much in lifting up the Voice Exod. 14.15 as in the Elevation of the Heart unto God Moses is said to cry unto the Lord when he utter'd not a word and Hannah spake in her heart 1 Sam. 1.13 and prayed when her voice was not heard And we find St. James ascribing the Efficacy and Success of our Prayers not to the nimbleness and volubility of the Tongue Jam. 5.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to the inward workings and warmth of the Heart telling us that the inwrought fervent Prayer of the Righteous for so the word imports availeth much The truth is Ostentation and Vanity is commonly seen in many words and Pride lurketh under a Profuseness of Speech Whereas Modesty and Reverence the much better qualifications of a Petitioner are best seen in few and well-weigh'd Expressions and these evermore find the best acceptance 〈◊〉 5.5 for God and Man too resist the proud and both conspire to shew grace and favour to the humble A bold arrogant Petitioner that comes rather to shew his Parts than his Wants and runs out his Petition into length and multiplicity of words is commonly dismiss'd with frowns and a repulse and they that are thus full of themselves are sent
him Thus if we Consider 1. The infinite Power of God who made the World and all things in it by the Word of his Mouth who as he spake them all into Being so can he speak them back again into Nothing when he pleases And then think with our selves that 't is this great and glorious Being that in our Publick Assemblies we are speaking to and attending upon This will strike our Minds with a holy Awe and Dread of him and make us afraid to dally with such an immense and powerful Being Again 2. If we Ponder upon the infinite Knowledge of God who searches the heart and understandeth our thoughts long before hand that his Eyes behold and his Eye lids try the Children of Men that all things are open and naked before him and nothing can be hid from his Presence And then consider That 't is this All-knowing and Heart-searching Being that in our Publick Assemblies we address to This will farther imprint this Sacred Awe and Dread upon our Souls and keep us from all Irreverence in so great a Presence Moreover 3. If we take into our Consideration the manifold Mercies and transcendent Goodness of God who giveth us life and breath and all things upon whose Bounty we entirely depend If we call to Mind that he is daily heaping his Mercies and Blessings upon us that we live wholly upon him and cannot subsist one moment without him And then Consider That 't is this gracious and bountiful Being that in our Publick Assemblies we are directing our Worship to This will make us fear the Lord for his goodness Hos 3.5 and so fix our Minds in the Love and Contemplation of him that we shall be both ashamed and afraid to offend so great and good a Benefactor Lastly If we Consider how infinitely Jealous and tender God Almighty is of his honour and that he whom we Address to will not be mock'd with Vain and Hypocritical Pretences of Serving of him That he is to be lov'd with all our Heart and all our Mind and all our Strength and will not be Rival'd by the World the Flesh or the Devil in the acts of Worship And then call to mind that in our Publick Assemblies we are Serving this Jealous God who watches all the Wandrings of our Heart from him This will make us in the Psalmist's Phrase to serve the Lord with fear and even to rejoice before him with trembling In a word if we seriously meditate on the boundless and adorable Perfections of the Divine Nature and bethink with our selves who and what that God is in whose Presence we are when we enter his House and offer up our Prayers and Praises to him 'T will make us bow our Souls before him and create those devout and awful Apprehensions of him in which this Inward reverence and Godly fear doth mainly consist And this is one Reason why the Publick Liturgy of our Church was cast into so many short Prayers or Collects each of which beginning with some Attribute or Perfection of God proper to usher in the Petition that follows it is thereby fitted both to keep up the Reverence and Attention of the Mind in asking it and to quicken our Faith and Hopes of obtaining it And so much briefly of that Inward fear and reverence that is to attend all our Addresses to the Divine Majesty held forth in those words God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints Now these Internal awful Apprehensions of the Mind concerning God are to be express'd 2. By the Outward Reverence of the Body which consists in the well-ordering of our words and gestures in our Applications to him And this is held forth to us in the last words of the Text And to be had in Reverence of all that are round about him That Reverence relates to the Outward Man and implies becoming gestures and behaviour of the Body is evident not only from the Nature of the thing but from the universal Consent and Practice of Mankind who have always shewed their Respect this way to those that are above them Mephibosheth the Son of Jonathan fell on his Face and did Reverence to David 2 Sam. 9.6 1 King 1.31 Bathsheha bowed her Face to the Earth and did Reverence to the King All the King's Servants bowed and did Reverence to Haman Hest 3.2 By which it appears that humble and decent Postures of the Body have been ever reckon'd to be Tokens of Respect and Reverence That this External Reverence is to be us'd likewise in the Worship of God is evident too from many Precepts and Examples in Holy Scripture Rom. 12 1â— St. Paul beseeches the Romans to present their bodies as a living holy and acceptable Sacrifice unto God which is our reasonable Service Where the Apostle calls the presenting our bodies a living Sacrifice in Opposition to the dead bodies that were offer'd to him under the law And because brute beasts and irrational Creatures were then offer'd up He stiles the presenting our bodies a reasonable Service which as it is more holy so it is a more fitting and acceptable Present to our Maker The same Apostle exhorts the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6.19 20. to glorifie God with their bodies as well as Souls which is to be done by reverent and becoming Gestures in his Service And to engage them thereunto tells them that they are both his and must be both dedicated to him He that breath'd into us a Living and immortal Soul did likewise frame the Body to be a fit Mansion and Companion for it and united them together for his Service And therefore justly expects the Homage and Service of both Yea he further adds that Christ redeemed the Body as well as the Soul from the bondage of Corruption And God hath promised to glorifie both hereafter And therefore both are requir'd to glorifie him here The Truth is an inward Reverence for God will always draw after it the Reverence of the outward Man And where the Mind is possess'd with awful Apprehensions of the divine Majesty it will discover it self in the External Decency both of Words and Actions And accordingly we find that good Men in all Ages have taken Care not only to keep up a Religious Awe and Dread of God in their Souls but have been as careful likewise to express it by the External Acts and Postures of the Body Now what outward Gestures are most expressive of Honour and Reverence the Practice of the Church and the Custom of the Country where we live will be the best Guides to direct us Vncovering of the Head Bowing the Body putting off the Shooes Kneeling Prostration lifting up the Eyes and Hands unto Heaven Lamen 3.41 have been Ancient Signs and Tokens of Honour Exod. 3.5 The Lord commanded Moses to put off his Shooes because the place whereon he stood was Holy Ground And to this Solomon alludes when he directs Men to look to their Feet Eccl.