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
THE Divine Art OF PRAYER Containing the Most Proper Rules TO PRAY WELL. WITH Divers Meditations and Prayers Suitable to the Necessities of Christians useful in every Family To Which Are annexed Seasonable Prayers for Souldiers both in Their Majesties Army and Fleet. By Marius D'Assigny B.D. LONDON Printed by R. Everingham and are to be Sold by John Everingham at the Star in Ludgate-street near the West end of St. Paul's 1691. Augustissimis Serenissimis OMNIBUS VIRTUTIBUS Pietate Religione Ornatissimis Principibus GULIELMO MARIAE D. G. Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Regi Reginae Fidei Defensoribus c. Hunc Libellum Reipublicae Anglicanae perutilem in observantiae suae testimonium humillimè Offert Consecrat Dedicat MAJESTAT vest Addictissimus Marius D'Assigny THE PREFACE To the Devout Christian I Need not use any Arguments to recommend unto you the use of this Little Treatise your Religious Disposition will I hope after a perusal find that pleasure and benefit that is intended for doubtless you will meet here with such considerable Assistances to your Devotions as will not suffer you to reject them because of the smallness of the Book the obscurity of the Author or the frequency of the Subject For here are perhaps some Observations Directions and Reasons that are not usually met with and proceed from a long Experience in the Service of God and Religion I confess that I first designed these Meditations only for my Countrey Neighbours at the Request of some Religious Persons they being in a Wilderness at a distance from other like Books of Devotion of which they were altogether ignorant And I conceived they might more readily embrace my Advices in this kind because of their Acquaintance with me and esteem of my Person The Language therefore and Style was made the more easie and plain that it might be levelled to their Capacities for I design not Words but Things not to wrap them in a Cloudy Discourse or Lofty Expressions but to lay them open to the apprehension of the Vulgar Sort. And to the Helps and Encouragements of Prayer I have purposely added divers Meditations and Prayers that you might have here the Practice as well as the Rules of Devotion Let not therefore your Familiarity with the Works of other Divines cause you to mistake this as useless or a repetition of the Gift of Prayer you will find the Design to be otherwise to enable the Soul not so much to speak the Words as to recommend the Things that we want to the Divine Bounty with that Decency Humility Respect and Qualifications that are required from us as Creatures and Servants of so Holy a Majesty Therefore as I design nothing but your Assistance and Comfort I doubt not but to meet with favour and acceptance from all Rational and Grateful Christians whose business is Devotion and Religion Farewel M. D. The CONTENTS A Discourse to encourage to Prayer with the most proper Helps and Directions to Pray well pag. 1. A Morning Prayer according to the Book of Common Prayer 127 Another Morning Prayer for a Family when business is most urgent 131 Another Prayer for a Family 133 Another Prayer for a Family when business is urgent 139 A Morning Prayer for a single Person 143 A Morning Prayer for a young Person 149 A Morning Prayer for a younger Person 153 A Morning Prayer for a Child 155 An Evening Prayer for a private Family according to the Book of Common Prayer with some new Collects for the time 157 An Evening Prayer for a whole Family suitable to the times 165 An Evening Prayer for a single Person 171 An Evening Prayer for young Persons and Children 176 Prayers before Meat 179 A Profitable Meditation at the sight of a Table spread or covered with food for our Bodies 180 Another Prayer before Meat for a Child 184 Vsefel Meditations and Prayers upon God and his Divine Attributes 185 A Meditation and Prayer upon the incomprehensible Being and Presence of God Ibid A Meditation and Prayer upon the immutability of our great God 187 A Meditation and Prayer upon the Eternity of God 189 A Meditation and Prayer upon God's Almighty Power 190 A Meditation and Prayer upon the Wisdom of God and his infinite Knowledge 192 A Meditation and Prayer upon the goodness of God manifested in Nature and Providence 195 A Meditation and Prayer upon the Mercy of God in the Redemption of Man by the Lord Jesus Christ 199 A Meditation and Prayer upon the Justice and Holiness of God 202 A Meditation and Prayer upon Plenty and Riches 208 A Meditation and Prayer upon the consideration and sence of Poverty and Want 211 A Meditation and Prayer at the enjoyment of Prosperity 216 A Comfortable Meditation and Prayer for such as are in Adversity and Afflicted with Crosses and Losses in the World 219 A Meditation and Prayer in time of health 233 A Meditation and Prayer useful in time of Sickness 226 A Meditation and Prayer when the Symptoms of Death appear 233 A Meditation and Prayer for such as are going to the Publick Assemblies to hear the word of God 237 A Prayer for Souldiers before a Fight 241 A Prayer for a Ship 's Company before an Engagement at Sea 243 Seasonable Ejaculations and short Prayers in the midst of a Fight either by Sea or Land 245 A Prayer for Mariners in a furious Tempest 246 A Thanksgiving after a Victory either by Sea or Land 247 A Prayer for the Preservation of the King's Person 250 A Prayer for the Church Militant 251 A short Prayer for such as are desperately wounded 252 A DISCOURSE To encourage to PRAYER With the most proper Helps and Directions to pray well THERE is no Duty of Religion more excellent more divine more beneficial and of a greater Concernment to us all than that of Prayer For in respect to God it is an Adoration and an open acknowledgement of all his glorious Attributes at once and the best and onely return that we poor Men are capable of for all the Expressions of his unwearied goodness and in respect of Man the Petitioner it is the most effectual means to supply our continual wants to procure and increase the divine Graces in our Souls to arm us against all the attempts of Worldly Misfortunes and predispose us for an Eternal Communion with our great Creator So many and such real Advantages which we reap from the performance of this our Duty are sufficient Encouragements to stir up our negligence and to oblige us to present our selves very often in Prayer to the Divine Majesty whose power is answerable to his Goodness of an infinite extent and may discover the folly of those frivolous Objections that men of corrupt minds and manners invent to disswade us from praying For when a considerable Benefit appears together with the express Command of our God if the Sense of Duty be not sufficient to move us the expectation of our own good
grace teacheth us to check The first ought to encourage our perseverance in Prayer as the consideration of the last Attribute of God should teach us to quiet the irreverent dissatisfactions of our discontented minds One thing more I would have a devout Christian observe in publick and private Prayers to God's divine Majesty to offer them with the humility of the Body as well as the devotion of the Mind I have observed that our Nation chiefly and every Congregation is full of irreverent and disrespectful Clowns when we make our Addresses to God either in Prayer or praising of his holy Name They observe not that decency and respect which is due to the Excellency of our heavenly Father in his Worship but appear most scandalous and prophane in the Eyes of Men whatever may be their inward disposition which I conceive is to be gathered from the outward gesture of their Bodies They come into God's presence in such a familiar manner as if there were no difference between them and their great Creator as if their Bodies were not as much obliged to worship him as their Souls as if their outward behaviour were not to be concerned in their Devotions to God and at the times of Prayer they shew forth so much contempt of God and of the Religion they profess that none would take them to be Christians that understands not their Names and knows not their Persons and further I have observed that some of the more religious sort both in private and in publick when they address themselves to God omit sometimes out of a prophane and irreligious Custom the outward humility which the Body is obliged to render to its Creator and Benefactor in his Worship For the redress of this open Prophaneness and for the prevention of the dishonour that may reflect from hence upon God and our Religion in the Eyes of the World Let me intreat every devout Soul never to offer to speak to God in Prayer without observing and expressing that humility with his Body which God's incomprehensible Majesty and our vile condition requires indispensibly from us all from the highest to the lowest Reason as well as Holy Scripture enjoyns this observance for if the whole man is bound to render Hommage to God as he seems to intimate by those Sacrifices under the Law which were to be offered intire without any diminution it concerns us to express the inward qualification and disposition of the Soul with the outward action of the Body and make the World sensible of the sincerity and piety of our intentions justice and equity require this from us for seeing we have received our Bodies as well as our Souls from the Almighty hand of God it is but just that they should acknowledge his Soveraignty by some significant posture when the Soul appears before him to do him reverence or to crave his merciful assistance It is but just that this outward part of our selves as well as the inward should make some returns for all the divine favours that relate immediately to its subsistance it is but just that this Body of ours which is one day to be glorified in God's heavenly Sanctuary should now glorifie God by the humblest and most devout postures and actions I confess 't is the usual manner of Superstition to enjoin the cringings of the Body more than the devout qualification of the Soul but I am sure that it is a clownish and unmannerly Religion indeed that suffers Men to approach in holy Duties to God without expressing any reverence with the Body If you please to enquire into the behaviour of the holy Men of the Old and New Testament you shall never find them praying in an irreverent posture neither sitting nor leaning Old Abraham worshipped before God Gen. 22.5 This worshipping is an outward action of the Body as well as the inward of the Mind as may appear by Gen. 24.52 where Abraham's Servant is said to have worshipped the Lord bowing himself to the ground when God had prospered his journey When the Israelâ—tes heard Moses's Message to them and God's purpose to redeem them out of Egypt they bowed their Heads and Worshipped Exod. 4.31 King Hezekiah bowed himself before God in his publick Addresses 2 Chron. 29.29 St. Paul likewise was upon his knees in prayer with the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Acts. 20.36 And Christ our Saviour whose Example should prevail upon our negligence was never seen in Prayer to God the Father but either prostrate or kneeling upon the ground This Humility of the Body is so essential a part of the publick worship of God that its observance alone hath caused the Holy Scriptures to give the Name of Worshippers of God to the Vilest of Men who were never acquainted with the internal and hearty Worship as may be observed by what is recorded of Saul and of others 1 Sam. 15.31 And it is said of the Israelites 2 Chron. 29.29 And when they had made an end of Offering the King and all that were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped And in the next Verse Moreover Hezekiah the King and the Princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the Seer and they sang Praises with gladness and they bowed their Heads and worshipped Likewise in the 8th of Nehemiah and the sixth Verse It is said that Ezra blessed the Lord the great God and all the People answered Amen Amen with lifting up their Hands and they bowed their Heads and worshipped the Lord with their Faces to the ground The publick Worship of our God was never yet performed by any Primitive Church without the outward humility of the Body and the outward expressions of respect as well as with the inward devotion of the mind Reason and Religion require it and the constant practice of the People of God in all Ages both in the Jewish and the Christian Church is an undeniable Evidence to prove the necessity of it What means therefore the negligence the prophaneness the irreverence and unmannerly behaviour of some that are stiled Christians Is not the practice of Naaman the Syrian who could bow himself in the House of Rimmon his false God a reproach to us Doth not the humility and the respect which the Heathens constantly pay to their Divinities upbraid the Clownishness of some of our Country-men There are three Postures of Humility very decent in Prayer and other parts of God's Worship Standing Kneeling or Prostration to the ground When ever therefore we appear before God either to pray to him or to praise his holy Name our Body must be in one of these postures unless any natural or accidental weakness or impediment may justly deserve a dispensation Likewise the lifting up of the Hands and Eyes unto Heaven are expressions of Devotion as ancient as the first People of God Think not that the honour of your Blood the excellency of your Persons or your eminent promotions ought to
excuse you from this outward humility of the Body God requires it at your hands in the 99th Psalm and the fifth Verse Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool And the Royal Prophet calls upon all devout Souls in the 95th Psalm ver 6. O come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our maker In the next words this Religious Prince labours to stir you up to this Humility to this part of Piety by reasons drawn from God's Soveraignty his Power and Right over us For he is the Lord our God and we are the People of his Pasture and the sheep of his hand Hath thy God any Interest in thee O Christian Hast thou any respect for his Holy Name Dost thou look upon him as thy Creator Protector and Benefactor Hath he received thee into his Church and to the hopes of eternal Rewards Is this Body of thine to be admitted into his heavenly Sanctuary in all the Company of his Holy Angels to worship and bow before him Then prepare thy self for this future and happy Employment Express thy thanks for all his innumerable benefits by thy Reverence and Devotion to him as thy God with the outward Humility of the Body in all thy Addresses to his glorious Majesty whether it be in publick or in private but chiefly in the publick Prayers of the Church There not only the Honour of our God the Credit of our Profession the interest of our Brethren whose Devotions are apt to grow cold by the sight and sense of our negligence but your own Interest also as well as your Duty calls you to this outward respect for an unmannerly behaviour deserves the Curses contrary to those Blessings which we are there to beg of God However you can never expect in reason to be benefited by the Churches Prayers if you will not vouchsafe so much as to be outwardly concerned O Christians let not any popular mistakes nor any Schismatical prejudices rob you of the advantages which you might hope to obtain from God by a devout humble and affectionate attendance at the offering up of the Excellent Prayers of our Church for your good and happiness But if all these Reasons cannot prevail upon some stiff necked and invincible Souls so far as to cause them to be dutiful and humble in God's presence at the hour of Prayer let them consider that in our civil Conversation the want or the omission of a due respect is a disgrace to the Person that should render it for it causeth Men to be branded with the odious Names of Clowns Ill-bread Brutish and uncivil People Now they are the worst of Clowns that are so in Religion that know not or will not render the Hommage that is due from their Bodies to their God If therefore the respect that we have for him is not able to oblige us to a Civil Behaviour and decent Postures and Gestures in Prayer let the shame of Men if we be not insensible to that likewise cause us to behave our selves with decency with respect in God's presence as becomes Men of Reason and Christians of good breeding and extraction and not as Brute Beasts that have neither manners nor understanding But of all Men none are more engaged than such as Officiate publickly and are the Mouths of their People to offer up their Prayers with all the decency humility and outward Devotion which might serve to excite the Auditors to a due respect for as their Persons are eyed by the whole Congregation their Example is not without followers It hath a great influence upon all that are present either to encourage or discourage them in their publick Worship Therefore in their disrespectful offering up of the Prayers of the Church they are not only scandalous in their own Persons and guilty of dishonouring God disgracing their Religion profaning the publick Worship but they are likewise guilty of all the contempt negligence and unmannerly behaviour of their Attendants if it happens through their shameful and irreverent Praying Let therefore my Brethren of the Clergy seriously consider the apparent danger they are in by an omission of this Duty I am perswaded that our Nation alone had never fall'n into that extravagant humour to loath the Godly Forms of Prayer which all good Men both at home and abroad highly esteem were it not for their disrespectful handling and reading of them whose Duty it is to recommend and grace them by their pâ—actices Good things when they are delivered by a slovenly hand are usually rejected and it is the weakness of the Common people to value things not according to their true intrinsick worth but according as they appear outwardly to their Senses A Prayer that shines with the gay cloaths of Wit and invention and a good delivery shall meet with acceptance and draw many sighs and groans from an ignorant Soul tho' otherwise never so full of imperfections when many will scarce afford an hearing to the solid and divine Prayers of the Church How many in our late Days have delighted to listen to the unadvised and blasphemous Prayers of the Sons of Tumult and Division How many have spent their Days under the Pulpits of those bloody Saints without any discovery of weariness whereas they now Complain of tediousness when in our ordinary Devotions we employ a few minutes to implore God's divine Mercies according to the most approved and religious manner How comes it to pass that the extemporary productions of many idle and wicked Fancies have been far more esteemed amongst many of us than those wise and excellent Prayers composed in the beginning of our Reformation by such as have sealed the Protestant and Christian Truths with their Blood Those Prayers I say which are fitted to all Capacities recommended to us by the Piety and Practice of the Antient Catholick and Othodox Church and which are not to be mended by any humane endeavours This question gives me an occasion to speak to thee my Christian Reader of some few particulars concerning Prayer which the present dissentions amongst us render very seasonable First I shall speak in vindication of publick Forms of Prayer against the new Modes of Praying ex tempore Secondly I shall enquire into the true Causes of our unreasonable distastes at the publick Forms injoyned by authority in our Church of England Thirdly I shall offer to thee my Christian Brother some directions how thou shalt use this Liturgy with Comfort to thy Soul Fourthly I shall examine what praying by the Spirit is in the sense of St. Paul and of the Holy Fathers Amongst the ancient Hereticks I find none so bold as to attempt the total subversion of God's Divinâ— Worship or to bring in any other mode but that which was generally embraced in the places where they lived They ventured to oppose some certain Articles of our Christian Belief or to introduâ—â— vitious and irregular practices in the Church They made it their business to
God's Holy Spirit And in the 30 verse it is said that Hezekiah the King and the Princes commanded the Levites to sing Praises unto the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the Seer It was for that good purpose that David compos'd all his Divine Psalms that they might be of a constant use in the praising of and the praying unto our great God And after the Jews return from Babylon Nehemiah commands the same use to be observed Nehem. 2.45.46 And as it was not lawful to change these Forms so likewise it may not be lawful for any but such only as were inspired of God or were to take care of Religion Man de Missa Lib. 1. cap. 5. to introduce in God's Divine Service any new Forms as may be easily proved But this use of Set Forms of Prayers and praising of God is not Jewish it is grounded upon such solid and moral Reasons that have recommended it to the Christian Church St. John the Baptist in imitation of the Pharisees gives a Set Form of Prayer to his Disciples And Christ our Saviour to comply with the desires of his Followers teaches them a Set Form opposite to the long and tedious Forms used by the Scribes and Pharisees Luke 11.1 2. And not only in this particular but also in the receiving of the Paschal Lamb Christ shews himself to be no Enemy of Forms and Humane Institutions when they tend to a Godly purpose as may appear by the singing of the Hymn after the Celebration and by the posture of leaning And St. Paul likewise in imitation of his great Master commands Timothy 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. That Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men That is that he should appoint in the Churches of his Diocess such Set Forms of Prayer as might be offered up to God For Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour That this was the intent of St. Paul may appear by the practice of the Christian Churches in the next Age to the Apostles for in the Ancientest Fathers we read of the Set Forms of Prayer See Conc. Laodicea can 19.8 Miletan Con. can 2. commonly used in God's Publick Worship And we have yet extant some of those Primitive Liturgies of the People of God differing in many things for the Wisdom of God's Holy Spirit hath left the Composure of these Prayers to the Rulers of the distinct Churches that they should appoint such Forms as were most agreeable with the Tempers and Manners of their People such as will encourage Devotion and Piety and serve best for the Promotion of God's Glory Likewise in these later Days since the beginning of the Reformation all the Churches of our Brethren beyond the Seas have their Set Forms of Prayer from which it is not lawful to vary and which are appointed by the authority of their Rulers Never any attempted the changing of them their People never mutined against them or against Forms in general Never any person was allowed in publick to prefer his own Fancies to these Prayers commanded to be used in the Church But in the Churches of every Nation there is a constant and an universal Uniformity in the Publick Worship of our God And this good Order is Religiously kept without any fear of Superstition This Universal Practice of all Ages Churches and Nations that have instituted and constantly used Set Forms of Prayer in God's Publick Worship is sufficient to justifie the Religious Orders of our Church from all scandalous aspersions of our mistaken Brethren But Reason and Religion and the general good of Christian Societies recommended this Practice and Use to us as well as to them I suppose no person can deny but set Forms are absolutely necessary for the information instruction and benefit of the more ignorant and younger sort who must be taught how to ask their Conveniencies from God's Bounty and in what Name to make their Addresses to his Divine Majesty for without this information from Men we find them not in a Capacity to pray and speak to God as they should unless they be inspired from above which is not usual To remedy their ignorance and weakness the Church of England commands constantly the use of Set Forms of Prayer in publick that by a frequent repetition we might imprint them in the memories of Persons not able to read and that otherwise have no means to learn them Therefore generally to discourage or condemn the use of Set Forms of Prayer is to deprive a great part of Christianity from the comfort and advantage of praying to God and it is to discover an Enmity against Religion which no good Disciple of Christ can possibly harbour I could here shew many horrid inconveniencies that would happen amongst us had we no Set Forms of Prayer but for brevity sake I omit the mention of them for I conceive it is not so much at Set Forms of Prayer that our Zealots quarrel as it is at their publick use in God's Divine Worship and the exclusion of all others of their own or other Mens Fabrick at such solemn times and occasions But let Mens abilities and gifts of Prayer be never so signal and extrordinary I dare affirm and can easily prove by Scripture and Reason that they are not to be allowed to cause their own Inventions to justle out the usual Service of the Church That Forms of Prayer are to be preferred whether they be declared memoriter or read in a Book to all the most excellent extemporary speeches or Prayers and that constant and setled Forms in a well governed Church are agreeable with the Word of God and the common good Were there no other reason to recommend them but that decency which St. Paul desires to be observed in Christ's Church in all its publick Practices and Divine Worship it would be sufficient to make us embrace an Uniformity both in manner as well as matter for how ridiculous would a Nation appear to all unbyassed Souls if there were no order if every Congregation should be differing in their actions if one Minister should read when the other sings if one should spend the Sabbath in speaking and another in praying or if one should pray for one thing another for the contrary or if the prayers were discrepant if one Minister should pray in one manner others follow the dictates of a Rubrick of another make what a wide Gate would this deformity open to all kind of Errors Heresies and Blasphemies And how ridiculous should we appear to all Foreign Churches We have already experienced sufficiently the danger of this general liberty allowed to all Men to pray what they list in the Ears of the People For not to mention the Extravagancies that some have been guilty of the Whimsies and Blasphemies that they have bolted forth
Men took occasion to contemn Religion it self when he had made the lowest of his People the Priests of his High Places and the promoters of Religion so likewise in our time Men especially our Enemies are more inclinable to despise our excellent Prayers because they are most employed to offer them up to God in the name of the People who are in a mean station in the Church and have but sorrowful abilities Thirdly I must not forget another cause of the Peoples despising our Godly Prayers which many Ministers who are too highly conceited of their parts do give 'T is in mangling cutting short and leaving out the Prayers of the Church to make more room for the delivery of their own proud conceptions either in Prayer or a Sermon contrary to the Publick Injunctions of our Superiors for by this action they declare openly their own disrespect of the Forms of Prayer their unwillingness to use them that they are thereunto meerly compelled and their too high esteem of their own inventions And when the People see them hasten them over so speedily they are wont to be prejudiced with strange conceits of these excellent Prayers or at least not to esteem nor use them as they ought Therefore I would advise my Reverend Brethren not to shorten the publick Prayers but carefully diligently and constantly to observe the Rules commanded and which they are the more engaged to obey because their disobedience is apt to encourage and foment the Peoples disregard of these Prayers which they might use with so much advantage to their Souls had they that affection for them which they really deserve Fourthly The publick behavior of many of the Nobility Gentry and persons whose Examples are regarded is another cause of the Peoples disesteem of our Liturgy When Men of Learning of Wealth and of Honour assist at the Devotions of their Brethren without expressing any respect for them and without bearing any part in the Service of the Church others are discouraged from the use of it This we see almost in every Congregation some of the Chief are commonly distasted at some part of our praying or praising of God in which they will shew no sign of devotion or it may be the Gentlemen of the Parish are not so religious as they should be therefore they think it sufficient for them if they bring their Bodies to the Publick Prayers though they remain there in God's presence as so many Stocks or Brutes without expressing any Devotion for the Prayers or any Worship to their Creator If these seasonable lines shall happen to fall into the hands of any of you whose Nobility and Extraction deserves the esteem of the rest of the Nation consider how highly you your selves would be offended if your Servants and Tenants should appear before you to demand your assistance in their wants with as much disrespect as you appear before the God of Heaven unto whom you are but Tenants for life or it may be for a shorter time Would you be ready to reward their contempt of your person with the grant of their desires Would not you be ready to check their impudency and sauciness if they should treat you as they do their Labourers And what think you my Lords and Gentlemen of your disrespectful and contemptuous approaches before God your great Creator Do not you stand in need of his assistance and blessings And if you do is this the means to obtain it to slight those Prayers which are presented to God for the increase of your happiness and prosperity For your own honour be not the greatest Clowns of your Congregation in God's presence but as you excel the rest in Nobility of Blood endeavour to excel them also in your respects to God in your zeal and devotion to him render to him publickly with your Bodies that homage which he claims and deserves from you for all his favours Interess your selves in our praising of his holy Name and in our Prayers to him Employ the credit of your Estates and Promotions which God's Providence hath given you to promote his Glory and Worship Why should you be so unthankful to his goodness to be a reproach to his Profession and not to honour him who hath bestowed so much honour upon your persons O! Remember that the higher you are exalted above other Men the lower you are ingaged to stoop to this good God chiefly in publick in his Worship before the Eyes of the World seeing that your neglect in this case will not be only injurious to him but disgraceful to your noble persons and prejudicial to all the assistants Fifthly Moreover the slanders the filthy jestings and the irreligious pastimes of prophane Persons in these last corrupt days upon the Book of Common-Prayer have strangely filled many minds religiously disposed with strong prejudices against it And when they have seen the the greatest pretenders to Religion with the Authorty of the Nation pass a sentence of Condemnation upon these Forms of Prayer as well as the prophaner sort when they yet see many Wise Godly and Conscientious Men stand stifly in oposition to their reception the weaker sort of Men that commonly judge of things and persons by the general Vote are ready to look upon them as superstitious and unlawful The schismatical scrupulosity of the one and the wicked Blasphemies of the other have discredited this excellent Book among such as are not wont to examine the true worth of things for the prophaner sort it is too well known that there is nothing so sacred or holy but they have offered Violence to it God and his Sacraments his Laws and Constitutions Christ and our Redemption Heaven and Hell our present Enjoyments and suture Hopes are all turned into Ridicule by those monstrous Wits whose Religion and Faith is limited by their Senses No wonder therefore if they continue to abuse the constant Prayers and Service of the Church But certainly the Religion of those persons is not well grounded when they are to be scoffed out of it and their belief is not well setled if every prophane jest can oblige them to call it in question If we may be perswaded by these frothy wits to change our religious Customs Ceremonies and Prayers we shall quickly become as wicked as themselves and banish Religion it self out of the Land They are no competent Judges of our Devotions who were never devout but rather their malicious expressions should confirm Men of discretion in their esteem of those pious things which they condemn because they were never inclinable to Piety and their Tempers are repugnant to it and to those Godly Rules that reproach them for their licentiousness Let these considerations therefore strengthen the weakness of such as are apt to be thereby perswaded to a dereliction of these Godly Forms And for the other Enemies of our Common-Prayer their Conversations seem to insinuate the equity of their Judgments because they are persons of a religious behaviour and good manners
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
purpose I know that several Pious and Learned Men have lately and in the former Age furnished our Nation with Books of this kind but I think that their religious labours fitted for those times and answerable to their private designs will not hinder this present Treatise from being useful in its kind for the prevention of the Mistakes lately crept in amongst us and the mischiefs that are intended by our Enemies at home and abroad I find them busily employed in contriving our ruine and in poisoning our people with strange Principles by spreading in the Country new Pamphlets printed for that evil purpose I wish that we were as watchful for our own preservation The best means for that intent is to employ the same policy and to furnish our People with new and fresh advices which may serve as Antidotes against the Venom of their Enemies and ours Such Treatises therefore as this I think to be very seasonable for our divided times I am certain that it is much wanting in the place where I live and to the people committed to my Charge My first design was only to have a regard to their private wants at the requests of one of my Parishioners but when I considered that tho' Providence hath given me a particular inspection over the Inhabitants of a small division in a Wilderness it is my Duty to aim in all my actions at the general good I resolved to recommend to the publick such a Treatise as might serve and be useful to all Families in our Reformed Church and in it to have a general aim at the benefit of all Christians for I think that there is none in the state of Grace or within the limits of Christ's Church but he shall in this short Tract find Prayers and Advices which may sute with the condition and temper of his Soul You therefore that desire that Religion should flourish amongst us neglect not its chief Duty but see that it be carefully observed in your own practice and that of those recommended to your care As soon as your Children begin to speak teach them to cry Abba Father which art in Heaven Call upon them Morning and Evening to implore Protection and Assistance Let their Tongues be used betimes to tune forth the Praises of their Maker and acknowledge the Providence of God Remember that Piety with the Blessings of Heaven is the best and most durable portion which you can procure to your little ones And the only means to obtain it is carefully to practise this and all other Duties of Religion As they grow to years of Understanding Let them proceed on in learning the Prayers that are sit for their capacity and suitable to their Abilities Let them know that their chief dependency is upon that Almighty Being who hath created the World and put them into it to serve and worship him This daily practice of seeking to God in Prayer will keep youth from all those extravagancies and vitious actions by which the Gallants of our time are become a reproach to Christianity and Humanity it self Thou shalt never have the displeasure to see thy Son and thy Daughter either unruly in their behaviour or prophane in their discourse or corrupt in their Lives if thou wilt when they are young train them up in the constant and continual observance of this Duty of Prayer for there is nothing more proper and of a greater force to keep the Souls of Men from the temptations of our days and from all disorders as this Correspondency with God in Prayer Man therefore in this respect is like a Watch or a Clock the least neglect disturbs the Motion and steals him insensibly into improficiency or an ossence Pray therefore O Christian Man or Woman and pray without ceasing In prosperity and adversity let your requests be made known unto God Be not silent when God requires you to speak In whatsoever estate Providence may cast you make use of those Prayers that are answerable to your condition If you can offer up the Prayers of our Church with any satisfaction to your minds use them rather than others But if your prejudices be so strong and your aversion so invincible that you cannot yet relish them use the other Prayers more agreeable to your affections However neglect not this most important this most weighty and most indispensible Duty but perform it with all the Care and Devotion that God's greatness and thy mean condition requires from thee And I beseech the God of all Goodness to hear thy Requests to grant thy Petitions to comfort and refresh thy Soul and Body with Spiritual and Temporal Mercies and that this Treatise may be as useful to the Publick as it is intended by M. D. A Morning Prayer FOR A FAMILY According to the Book of Common-Prayer O! Lord who hast promised that before we call thou wilt answer and whilst we are yet speaking Isa 65.24 Psal 6.1 Psal 25 1â— Psal 51.10 thou wilt hear Rebuke us not in thine indignation neither chasten us in thy displeasure For thy Names sake be merciful to our sins Make us clean Hearts O God and renew a right Spirit within us O! Lord we beseech thee mercifully hear our Prayers and spare all those who confess their sins unto thee that they whose Consciences by Sin are accused by thy merciful pardon may be absolved through Christ our Lord. Amen O! Almighty Lord and everlasting God vouchsafe we beseech thee to direct sanctifie and govern both our Hearts and Bodies in the ways of thy Laws and in the works of thy Commandments that through thy most mighty protection both now and ever we may be preserved in Body and Soul through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 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 everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen BLessed be thy Holy Name O Lord for thy continual and daily Mercies granted to us for thy Protection and Preservation till this time for the safety and quiet Repose of the last night for the welfare and Health of our Bodies and for all thy Temporal Blessings which thou heapest upon us Gracious God we acknowledge these and all other Mercies which we enjoy to be undeserved Favours proceeding from thy bountiful hand and fatherly goodness Continue them we beseech thee to us and all other things needful for our Souls and Bodies and give us grace in the use of them to glorifie thy great Name and to be truly thankful in our Hearts and Lives for all expressions of thine unwearied Liberality All this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake Amen O God the Protector of all that put their trust in thee without whom nothing is strong nothing is holy increase and multiply in us thy Mercy that thou being our Ruler and Guide
we may so pass through things Temporal that we finally lose not the things Eternal for Jesus Christ his sake our Lord. Amen GRant O Lord we beseech thee that the Course of this World may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance that we and thy whole Church may joyfully serve thee in all Godly quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen LOrd of all Power and might who art the Author and giver of all good things Graft in our Hearts the love of thy Name increase in us true Religion nourish us with all goodness and of thy great Mercy keep us in the same through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O Merciful God bless and preserve we pray thee our Princes defend them from all their Enemies direct them in all their Counsels assist them in all their religious purposes grant them and the Church amongst us peace and prosperity in this Life and everlasting Happiness in the life to come Bless all the Royal Family the Nobility the Magistrates the Gentry and People of this Land Grant us Peaâ—e and Truth and preserve us from Heresie Schism Superstition and Idolatry for Jesus Christ his sake Amen 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 wâ— 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 and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen Another Morning Prayer for a Family when Business is most urgent TUrn thy Face away from our sins O Lord and blot out all our Offences Make us clean Hearts O God and renew right Spirits within us Ps 51. Almighty and Everlasting God mercifullly look upon our Infirmities and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy Right Hand to help and defend us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O God whose Blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil and make us the Sons of God and Heirs of Eternal Life Grant us we beseech thee that having this Hope we may purifie our selves as he is pure that we may walk in newness of life and follow the Examples of his Patience Piety and Holiness that when he shall appear with Power and Glory we may be made like unto him in his glorious Kingdom Amen O Lord be merciful to us and our Nation bless the King's Majesty and our Queen with Life and happiness their Counsellors with Wisdom their Armies with Victory their Subjects with Peace and Prosperity Bless the Nobility the Clergy and Commonalty in their goings out and comings in Bless us we beseech thee and all our Relations with Spiritual and Temporal Mercies And all these Blessings we beg for Jesus Christ his sake in whose perfect Form of Prayer we sum up all our desires as 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 Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all Amen Another Morning PRAYER for a Family O Gracious God the Creator and Protector of Mankind whose continued goodness we have lately experienced in the safety and preservation of the last Night We bless thy Holy Name for this and all other expressions of thy Mercy to us we acknowledge that as thou art the Author of our Beings it is thy good Providence that maintains and defends them from all dangers and Enemies that incompass us about It is thy watchful Eye that sees all their contrivances to destroy us It is thy Wisdom that knows how to defeat their Craftiest purposes It is thy Power alone that can disappoint and oppose their wicked and hellish Plots We are not ignorant O Lord of their malice and our continual dangers dangers that proceed from the contrivances of Spiritual and Temporal Enemies we desire therefore to be heartily thankful for we are really sensible of thy merciful protection hitherto and to ascribe all the Honour and Praise of our preservation and deliverance to thy Wisdom and Providence alone But O merciful Father let this expression of thy goodness the foundation of all thy Blessings be still continued to us we are sensible of our undeservings our sins and wickednesses are multiplied our provocations and ingratitudes have been many our many deficien ies in all our Duties might justly cause thee to leave us to our selves for the future and expose us naked to the subtilties and power of our Enemies who would quickly devour us But we implore thy mercy at this time and intreat thee to forgive us our Trespasses to pardon our Infirmities and to pass by all our Transgressions for the Lord Jesus his sake In his Name and through his Merits we approach with all humility to the throne of thy grace to beg the forgiveness of all our Iniquities and the continuance of thy protection and Mercies Temporal and Spiritual How weak are we of our selves How soon cast into our Graves and what is Man that he should be able to defend us when the least blast deprives him of Life and Being Thou art therefore and thou alone O great God of Heaven thou art only able to defend us in the following course of our Life from visible and invisible perils Let thy Mercy be continued to us shelter us from the malicious designs of all our Enemies frustrate their wicked purposes lead us in all our ways direct us in all our paths bless us in all our undertakings we live in a crooked Generation in a world that overflows with sin and wickedness and our Conversation is amongst evil-doers let therefore thy Wisdom and thy fear so possess our Souls that we may not be drawn away by the Vices of the Age nor intangled in such Labryinths of Sin as might indanger our eternal welfare Suffer us not to be inticed with the allurements of unlawful Pleasure and Profit We trust not to our selves O Lord and our own frail resolutions because we have broken them so often that we have cause to mistrust our selves and to rely chiefly upon thy merciful guidance Let thy Truth direct us and thy Spirit lead us as well as thy Power protect us from the invasion of Error and Vice give us a right understanding of thy Will an unchangeable resolution to practise it suffer us not to be drawn aside neither by fear nor by profit from the