THE LIBERTY OF PRAYER Asserted and Garded from LICENTIOVSNESS By a Minister of the Church of England Cum Judice fabulatur ad ejus penetralia Precator admittitur Neque ullus inde respuitur nisi qui in oratione Tepidus invenitur Cass in Psal Multoque melius est de duobus imperfectis Rusticitatem sanctam habere quà m Eloquentiam peccatricem Hier. in ep ad Nepot LONDON Printed by R. ROBERTS and are to be Sold by the Booksellers in London and Westminster MDCXCVI THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE Design of this little Tract is not to make or Widen any Breaches But rather to contribute some Endeavours towards the Healing of those Wounds which Angry men delight still to Vex and Torture Nor would I Expose Prayer as Cheap and Contemptible to any But make it Easy and Familiar to all That such as have but little List to it or Kindness for it may see what Need there is of it and be Quickened to it And that others who have more Inclination this way but find many Rubs and Perplexities lying before them may see the Passage clear'd and perceive that there are no such Difficulties in it but what any ordinary man who means well may Easily deal with And so be Encouraged to proceed And not Drag on Heavily but find the Duty a Delight And Serve the Lord with Gladness I confess the first Occasion of this Discourse was given by some Passages in Two Sermons upon Eccles V. 2. Preach'd and lately Publish'd by a Reverend and Learned Doctor whose Name I forbear to mention Not for dread of a Stab from his Pen But out of Regard to his Person as well as Place both upon the Account of what I have heard him long ago speak from the Pulpit in Defence of the Faith Doctrine and Religion of the Church of England expressed in her Articles And also what I have seen of late in some of his Writings from the Press to the same Intent Particularly his just Zeal to Vindicate the gospel-Gospel-Doctrine of our Blessed Saviour's Satisfaction against the Paganish Principles of such as imploy their Parts and Wit to Ridicule it Nor do I take upon me any Crimination of the main Contents of those very Sermons in which yet there is somewhat that I make bold to Reflect on For as I know how greatly they are in Vogue with many who perhaps may like the Eristical squabling Subject better than they do the old Anti-Remonstrant Author So I profess my self Beholden to him for some curious Notions I learned from them And do find a great deal more wherein I heartily Subscribe and Consent to him And all along give him the due praise of his exact Method his elaborate Periods his surprizing Turns of Wit and Quickness of Expression But there are other Words and Things he has dropt here and there which in my apprehension seem not so agreeable to the Genius of the Gospel at which indeed I have stumbled and am afraid they may have but a sorry Effect in giving Prejudice to many more considerable than my self Yea to give the Enemies of the Lord occasion to Blaspheme And to startle the pious Souls of Weak Christians and make them afraid to Stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us Free Not every florid Harangue trimm'd with Witticisms and pointed with Sarcasms to make the Juvenile Academicks Merry is the most Edifying discourse to Better the World I can remember since such Athenian Entertainments were Transporting Musick to my self which now I Abhor as the most harsh and grating Noises And I cannot applaud that for the Best Sermon which makes the worst part of the Audience most Sport May I be so happy to speak to the Conscience and Satisfaction of Serious and Experienced Christians And I am in little care to Tickle the wanton ears of Novices in Religion and Scoffers at Devotion But so far as I have somewhere briefly made bold to touch upon this Reverend Divine 'T is not in the bitter Satyrical strain wherein he has of late thought fit to handle his learned Brother Indeed as some are startled to observe a new sort of Calvinian Rigor and such boisterous Blasts from that Point which has a Name for the Mildest Quarter so I cannot but Admire to see men so freely deal their Blows and let fly at others for Insufferable Insolence both of Stile and Temper Animadv p. 353. crying out of them for Infinitely Scornful and Extreamly Spightful Thus seeming to Forget that Duty which say they every man owes both to Decency and himself always obliging him to speak only as becomes him however Adversaries provoke him A good Rule so apt to be forgotten That he whom most tongues do praise for teaching us the Governnment of the Tongue complains It is a piece of Morality which sober Nature dictates and yet in Controversies many of our greatest Scholars seem totally to have Unlearn't it Managing Disputes in Religion with such Virulence that one would think the Disputants had put off much of Humanity Dec. Christ Pi. p. 279. before they came thus to treat of Divinity Nor should I have said any thing at all wherein this Author might have thought himself concerned had not I fear'd his Reflections might Hurt others more than mine are like to Damnify him But being equally Engaged with him in the Common Cause of Preaching the Gospel As far as I understand it Wo to me if I do it not And when I know that Gospel to be no Servile Yoke but a Law of Liberty As such therefore I do appear for it And whoever cry out of a Gap opened to Licentiousness I think we should be in as much care to Maintain the Liberty as to prevent the Abuse Or else they who complain so much of the Priest-Riding however abusively they are wont to apply it Yet may pick out matter for a just Charge That we Handle the word of God deceitfully and Shun to declare to them all the Counsel of God And like Lords over his beritage and Harder Masters than Christ withhold from them what he has Granted them And Tie them up where he has set them Free It will be no Surprize to me If I find the Reward so commonly bestowed on such as write Irenicums for Adjusting and Compounding Litigious matters i. e. To be pincht on both Sides The Antesignani that lead Contending Parties thô all to pieces in every thing else yet can meet and hold together like Sampson's Foxes to carry Firebrands and set the Fields all in a Flame I know what the Moderate man uses to be taken for among such furious Drivers But I must beg their pardon If I cannot take them for any of the best Judges I had much rather be determined by our late most Reverend and Renowned Primate whose great Soul much disdain'd the mean Service of our Squibbing Boutefeus that fill the Church with endless Noise and Heat and pother about the Mint Annise and Cummin But was
all Being for Support And in the want of every thing whither but to the Fountain of all Goodness for Supply We hang upon Him still for our Being and all the Comforts of it who continues to Create us every moment And Prayer is the Souls Flying back again to Him from whom it came Who exacts our Devotions as the Sun draws Vapours from the earth Not to retain them for his own Benefit but to rain them down in Showers of Mercy upon us The Debt is owing to him but the paying of it only Advantageous to ourselves And in serving him we serve our own best Interest He commands indeed many things above the power of Nature to bring us upon our Knees for his Grace that where our strength ends there our Prayers may begin And that we may Seek for that in Him which we have not in ourselves And tho the infinitely Wise and Good needs neither our Confessions to Inform him of our Wants Nor our Petitions to make him Inclinable to Relieve them Yet he will be Enquired of by us to do for us And notwithstanding He Blots out our Transgressions for his Own Sake Yet he Calls on us to Call upon Him And bids Put me in Remembrance Let us plead together Declare thou that thou maist be justified Isa 43.25 and 6. And by this means we come to Bethink ourselves From whence it is that we have all That we may not impute to our Good Luck what we owe to the Divine Bounty Nor Undervalue the Favours of Heaven coming so Lightly by them without any Seeking He will have us exercise our Repentance towards him our Dependance upon him and our Affiance in him So to Dispose us for the the Reception and Fruition of what we would have from him And therefore Invites us to his Gates that he may load us with his Blessings And commands us to Ask and Seek and Knock That we may receive and Find and Enjoy This Key the Gracious God is pleas'd to put into our Hands That we may go to all the inexhaustible Treasures of his Bounty even as we go to our Table for Meat That we who are so Indigent and Beggarly may be throwly furnished with Him who is Able to do exceeding abundantly even above all that we ask or think And O how well is it for us And what riches of Grace from the Lord of Love That the Gates of Heaven shall be open'd at our Knocking That a Supply shall be Granted for our Asking And that our diligent Seeking shall be rewarded with Finding Eternal Glory O how would the Courts of Kings be thronged if their Gates and Hearts and Hands were so Open to all Comers If it were no more but Come and Ask and Have It is not more needful for a Creature to live in Dependance on his Maker and Preserver But it is as full of sweet Satisfaction for poor frail Insufficient wretches who Want every thing and lye open here still to all Changes and Troubles and Dangers To have an All-sufficient Helper and the safest Sanctuary to Repair to and Solace our selves in O what should we do and whither Betake our selves if we had not this Happy Retreat to turn in at If left Desolate to shift for our selves and make us a Happiness or want it O Kind word then from a Good God Come unto me and Call upon me As if he should say Unload your heavy Hearts with me And Cast your Care upon me Make known your Requests to me and put the matter into my Hands And I will take Care of you and Provide for you O the easy Access that a poor soul has to the Throne of Grace Where as the good Bishop Hall speaks it is not Death to draw nigh before the Golden Scepter be extended No Time out of season No Person so inconsiderable No Words so ordinary no Boon so big No Grant so hard as to give the hearty Supplication a Repulse But rising like a thin Mist from the earth it returns in a plentiful Rain of manifold Blessings Our kind Redeemer chides us that we make no more use of this sweet and blessed Advantage Joh. 16.24 Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full And how well do we deserve to go without that which we count not worth so much as the Asking for O that we should be so Listless to do our selves Good when the God of all Grace is so Willing to be Kind As it was said of the Emperor Severus Molestius erat illi nihil peti quà m dare It troubled him more to be Asked nothing than to give much And to the Courtier that made not bold with him he would say Quid est quod nihil petis What 's the matter thou askest no Boon of me Let me know what thou wouldst have that thou maist not complain Thou art never the better for me So does the Lord of Love delight to see the Face of his Spouse and to Hear her Voice Cant. 2.14 He sollicites for Suiters Joh. 4.23 Waits to be Gracious Loves the Opportunities of dispensing his Favours And bids Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth Isa 45.22 So far is he who knows what Need we all have of Him from Discouraging any to Approach him That he gives free leave and License to every one All may come that Will. Nay it is not As they Will But he has made it their Duty to Come and all must be Supplicants or Rebels It is not then the Liberty to Pray or Not to Pray that is to be Discoursed of But the Permission that every one has to frequent the Throne of Grace The Boldness to Ask Seek and Knock at Heaven's Gates Yea and chiefly The Freedom of Address any Where at any Time or in any becoming Manner Thô it be not at the Church nor within Canonical Hours nor just in this or that Mode and Form We are indeed Bound to it But yet we must make a Free will offering of it and be Volunteers at our Prayers For if it be a Forced-put it is not Religion Beasts might but Men must not be Dragg'd to God's Altar nor be Threatned with Happiness nor Clubb'd into Heaven No compulsion here but by dint of Argument and the charms of Perswasion When we are so Convinc'd and wrought upon that we know not how to Stand out against that which appears every way so Rational Needful and Beneficial This Liberty of Praying i. e. All the Liberty which Nature and Scripture give So as not to run into that Licentiousness which I shall take care to Gard it from in the Second Part of this Discourse It may be considered Not only as to the Leave and Encouragement Given from Heaven to our Prayers And the fair Invitation made with Assurance of good Welcome and Happy Success to All Flesh that come to Him by the God that Heareth Prayers And who is pleased therefore to put
immediate Inspiration to Dictate our Prayers Therefore with all our Prayers we must still Pray for the Spirit of Prayer that our Prayer may be Supplication in the Spirit And when it is but such it will have a Recommendation that will help it to find Acceptance tho it be not set out in Perfection of Stile In Private I am not so curious of my Words but often let my Expressions Follow my Affections And I may make a Continued Oration or Break off and Pause and begin again as I see occasion They that in Private by themselves alone Do Pray may take What Liberty they please In chusing of the ways Wherein to make Their Souls most intimate Affections known To Him that sees in Secret when Th' are most conceal'd from other men Harv Po. p. 14. In such Retirements we are out of the reach of any Momus to carp at our Words And free from all Concern but to have our Hearts Right with God who will not take offence at a Misplaced or Improper Word When he hath the Heart Engaged and Buisy at work in his Service He calls That to draw nigh to him in the first place let the Tongue follow after as it can And as it 's most Natural when our Mouths speak Out of the Abundance of our Hearts So a few words that come Warm from the Heart are more Valuable than Ten thousand said after another or in a customary Round Sine Monitore Apol. c. 30. quia de Pectore Oramus Tertul. We are not Told all that we must Say in our Prayers because we fetch them out of the Bottom of our Hearts And he needs no other Prompter be he never so Weak that has the Spirit of God himself for his Tutor But when I am called to be the Mouth of the Company I must be more Cautelous especially if they be Captious and such as are apt to be scandalized should any thing drop that sounds Unadvis'd 'T is good then to Forecast What to say and How in words pertinent and Becoming And when the Heart Indites a good matter the Tongue will be the Pen of a Ready Writer Suitable Expressions are apt to fall in with Well digested Meditations I confess that which the Dr. alledges may be an Inconvenience of the Extempore way When he that Ministers hath his Mind taken up to find out Words it looks more like Studying than Praying Beating the Brain when he should be Drawing out the Affections And I heartily Subscribe to his Rule Pag. 152. That whatever gives the Soul Scope and Liberty to exercise and imploy the hearts Affection and Devotion That doth most effectually help and enlarge the Spirit of Prayer But together with this Let it be considered That some are in more Concern and Pain to be tied up to Others Words than to be at Liberty to express themselves in their Own Especially when it is supposed They are such as are Acquainted with the Holy Scripture and all the Heads of Prayer and have a Good Treasure within them both of Matter and fit Phrases to dress it out And when as the Dr. expresses it They are not to study Finess but Decency Pag. 141. Not to Declaim as Orators but to speak as men Therefore methinks they may tell their own Tale as well as they can and not only Read a Paper Think of the Substance and Words too but not just say a Lesson A Judicious man sure may speak the Sense of his Soul and not fraught with Nonsence and Incoherence Confusion and Impertinence Nay tho' A Child of God may be of so weak Parts as to shew himself Broken and incoherent when put upon common Discourse saith Bishop Hopkins Alm. Christ p. 72. Yet engage him in Prayer How doth he expatiate and enlarge and what a Torrent of Divine Rhetorick will he pour into the Bosom of God Yea the Dr. tells us That where God hath given Ability Pag. 143. he will be served by acts proportionable to it and that our Parts ought to be employed in the worship of God that gave them Or else not wearing Gods Livery in his own Service we add Sacriledge to Profaness and Strip and Starve our Devotions Now what would he have We Must use our Parts and we must Not. Where God hath furnished a Readiness and pertinence of Expression Yet must we not dare to Speak for our selves or others No not a Word but what is just set down for us on the Paper Tho' I am not accustomed to the Sudden Effusions not finding in my self a Sufficiency for that Service Yet I dare not from hence conclude That God hath given such Abilities to none And where he hath given them Must they be Restrained from the Use of them because I cannot do as they And must my Scantling be made a Rule to all and the Measure which none must offer to Exceed The Dr. it should seem hath had the opportunities which I have not had to hear the Pretenders without Ability with their endless Repetitions insufferable Nonsense and Prayers full of Ramble and Inconsequence which he counts of an Opiate nature to cast one Asleep P. 217. The Temptation I confess was never set before me But if it were I think it would more try the strength of my Patience than my Ability in Watching For I should be too full of Indignation to Sleep But whatever Extravagancies have attended the thing and tho it be the thing which I dare not pretend to be Master of my self Yet for the sake of many of my Betters that have Appeared for it and been Happy in it I dare not Decry and run it down as a Scandalous and Insufferable practice Nor so Limit the Holy One as to conclude He hath given to none any more Sufficiency for it than to my self But shall even leave it as I find it in the Holy Scripture Undecided and at Liberty And as our Saviour said in another case Let them Receive it to whom it is given But when I see no Jus Divinum for Forms or no Forms I cannot but wonder at the Assuming Humor of those men that will take so much upon them to Brand and Damn the one or the other where the Word of God hath not past the Sentence on either SECT VII The Liberty of using One Form or Another SEeing God hath not put all the very Words into my Mouth Wherewithal I must Appear before him I am left to Chuse for my self and may take words of my own Contriving and collecting Or such Prepared and Fitted to my hand as I find most conducing to Minister to my Devotion Yet here I design not to offer any thing tending to Loosen what Authority has bound Nor to Vnhinge the things that are Settled as to the Liturgy and Publick Offices of the Church Which I know not how any can Calumniate without an ill Reflection on the Compilers who dyed Martyrs of our Professed Religion and approved themselves the greatest
enemies to the Popish Superstition Tho I dare not Idolize any Form nor make it Exclusive of all else as if there were no true Worship but that I am far from Despising what the Dr. calls such a Treasure of Rational Devotion And I believe many have a Pique at it not so much for any Exceptionable things in it as for the sake of some Admired Persons whom they hear Speak against it I have long since testified my Assent and Consent to all that is therein Appointed To allow it as True and to Approve it as Good Or as Dr. Falkner gives his sense of it Lib Eccles p. 96 That it may Warrantably and with a good Conscience be used And I do still Declare for it as far as it is Appointed i. e. for the Publick Service of the Church But I cannot think my self obliged to Plead for this Form to the Justling out of all other When as indeed Other Forms also are Contrived and put into our hands even by the Fathers of the Church And Dr. Patrick now one of our Right Reverend Bishops in the Preface of his Book of Devotions for Families thus freely delivers his Opinion That the Reverence due to the Common-Prayer will be best preserved by imploying it only in the Publick Divine Service unless there 's a Priest to Officiate in Private And that the Design of it is not to furnish people with Prayers for all those particular Occasions wherein Devout Souls should make their Requests to God And he appeals to the constant Opinion of pious Divines That other Prayers are Necessary for the Flock of Christ Besides the Publick Liturgy And I observe that his Grace the late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Whose Name I cannot mention without some mark of Honour Such a rich Perfume his high Deserts have left behind him Who was upon constant and eminent Service of the Church even all his days And his most Vseful Learning and Happy Pen flowing with Nervous Sense in the Easiest Stile will Oblige the World even as long as it stands In his Sermon of family-Family-Religion makes no mention of the Common Prayer for Family-Worship But refers to the Excellent Helps for this purpose for those that stand in Need of them in the several Books of Devotion calculated for the Private use of Families as well as for Secret Prayer in our Closets Thô I Criminate none who discreetly collect out of the Liturgy to use in their Houses but commend all the Families where this or any other Offices of God's true Worship are Reverently and Seriously performed That I may not be guilty of the Imposing Humour which I censure Hanc Veniam damus petimusque vicissim Let every one enjoy the Freedom which the great Lord of all hath Allowed them Tho' God that required Sacrifices without Blemishes would have those of our Prayers as free from Mutilation and Defect as our Frailty will admit Yet I do not expect to Join with any Worship on Earth that is Perfect I am glad when I am concern'd in that which is Least Faulty And tho I would not make Invidious Comparisons nor Cry up some Prayers to the Depretiating of others Yet I must make bold to tell the Dr. That I have heard Bishops and Dignitaries and many Doctors and Divines of this Church all very Learned and Pious Pray without the Book both before their Sermons and upon other Occasions And with such a Rational and Raised Devotion as has been so far from Offensive and Grating That it has been very Instructive and Edifying And here I cannot but Reflect with some concernment on the Doctor 's Sharp Reprimand of Praying before Sermon which he says Pag. 213. Put the Rule of the Church first out of Vse and then out of Countenance And that it is a Senseless and Absurd practice After the Church has been near for an Hour together Praying for all that is Fit And That the Bidding-Prayer against all Law and Reason is Justled out by this Vpstart Puritanical Encroachment which is a Conforming to the Phanaticks How desperately doth he Strike here at his Fathers and Brethren peradventure the Most and the Best of this Church That are not to Learn even of this Reverend Dr. either to Preach or to Pray And I may add Nor to Obey the Canons neither Tho I am told he Learn'd this at a very Advantageous Season Yet what if I can point him to several Canons that he doth not think Convenient to be so Punctual an Observer of in his Parish And must the very Name of Bidding-Prayer make this Canon more Binding and Bidding and Commanding above all others Like as One Canon in a Cathedral may be more Imperious than all the Rest But if Custom has made the Bidding-Prayer at least in his sense of it as Unfashionable as the Standing-Collars and Priests Cloaks Rather let him Pelt me for following my Betters than I 'le make my self an Antick Ridiculous to all but some Starched Dons for Appearing still in the Old stiff Ruff. Yet with Submission to Wiser Judgments I offer it to Second Thoughts Whether he in his heat and Transport has not wrackt the Canon beyond its genuine drift and intention For I do not find that the Form there mentioned is Absolutely Enjoin'd So that the Prayer be but To that Effect and as briefly as conveniently the Preachers may Of which Conveniency I think themselves are the Fittest Judges or else they are not Fit to be Preachers And if they find it not Convenient to be so Brief at one time as at another I see not but the Canon leaves them at Liberty For even that which in some Ears sounds like a strict Limitation in my Judgment gives a fair Latitude for Variation and Addition and shews that the Canon does not Impose an Indispensible and Unchangeable Form but only Direct to some Heads that should not be left out When it is said In this Form or to this Effect as briefly as conveniently they may Doth not this leave Room to Vary and Enlarge beyond the bare words of Prayer exprest in that Canon For if I were bound still to keep just to that very Form and speak Nothing more than is there Mentioned it would admit of no Magis and Minus nor any thing else to be brought in tho never so Conveniently and Briefly And so run it up to the Super-Conforming Height against all Law and Reason indeed But if it be so Senseless and Absurd to Fray afore Sermon Because all that is Needful has been asked Before To what Sense then is it That the Church and the King must be Prayed for again as the Canon prescribes When it has been done Three or Four times before Nay why then must the Lords-Prayer be Repeated anew to Shut up the Bidding-Prayer when it has been Used also as many times the same Morning But he Complains not of another New Mode as much Prevailing among a sort of Divines and whereby the Bidding Prayer is I
better far to Err in the charitable Extream than in the other All Sin in its own Nature is Deadly But yet all that is Mortal doth not Kill thro the Divine Mercy And it proves Not unto Death thro Christ's Remedy No Sin so Deadly but shall be Pardoned to the Penitent And therefore we must Pray for all as Pardonable till we are sure of the Contrary as to any Our rash Censoriousness may as much Wrong others as Harm ourselves But our kind Prayers even for such as they can do no Good yet will do us no Hurt Yea we shall be the Better for our Charity tho they be never the Better for it Thro a Bar which themselves put in the Way Let us not then scruple to Extend our Litany as far as ever there is a man Alive to receive the Benefit Beseeching the Good Lord That it would please him to have Mercy upon All men The Close of the First Part Justifying the Liberty pleaded for THUS for the Matter and Manner Time Place and Persons we are at Liberty for Prayer Not tied up to move only as Puppets in a Frame but may walk at Large as the Lord 's Free men Let Papists call us Libertines because we challenge a Share in our Blessed Saviour's Purchase made for us We are not at Liberty so to Part with our Liberty But must rather Resist unto Blood than make ourselves Vnderlings to Unreasonable and Cruel men Such as would bind us under pain of Damnation As to Believe all that their Church Says So to do all as their Church Requires tho God's Word as well as our own Reason tell us we are Misled Those of a Bigotted Humor void of the truly Pious Temper shew little or no Religion but in the blind Hair-brain'd Hectoring for the Shells and Shadows of Religion For that Formal Religion which at best is but like the fine Birds Skin stuffed without any Life in it When as indeed the Heavenly Beauty of Religion is Within however the Outward Dress is not to be Wild and Slattering Yet it must not be so Strait lac'd to bind and Fetter us instead of Expediting our Motions in Drawing nigh to God It is not Christianity but Bigottery to Neglect the most Weighty things of God's Law as if Indifferent And the while to Plead for things Indifferent as All in All. Like those whom Socrates the Historian tells us of that held Fornication a thing Indifferent Lib 5. c. 21. But Tugg'd for a Holy-day as if their Lives had lain upon it Our hearts may be Free in spight of all Assuming Powers in the World Nor need we so much Perplex our Consciences about the Ritual Religion As if by Strictness in such Lesser matters we thought to Compound for our Carelesness in the One thing Necessary Never must we set any Humane Laws to Rival and Top the Divine Tho Submission to Just Authority in all Lawful things is no Infringement of our Christian Liberty Which we are not so to Dote upon neither as if we thought even our own Cloaths Abridg'd it But may preserve it still Good and fair to Ourselves even then when Prudence holds us in from Flourishing with it Before men As long as we do not tie up ourselves to the Observation of Humane Institutions as things in themselves Absolutely Necessary We may obey for Conscience Sake and yet keep our Consciences as Free in the Sight of God as if we did none of the things Prescribed by men While we make them no Parts of our Religion nor believe them Necessary to Salvation And yet thô we know the things to be Indifferent we look not upon our Obedience as Indifferent when as nothing is Commanded contrary to what God has Commanded And being thus Right in our Opinion and Apprehension of things and not Slaves to our own Conceits We are at Liberty still Enjoyed to ourselves for all our Deference to Ecclesiastical Appointments for Decorum and Order in the Church Our Thoughts and Judgment are Free even when our Practice is under some Restraint And thô we do the same things as others It is at our Liberty whether it shall be with the same Mind None can hinder but we may Think as we please Now in all this my Endeavour has been to Open and Smooth the way to the Throne of Grace That no Well-disposed Pious Soul may be discouraged in its Approaches to that Sweet Retreat but find all Encouragement Freely and Cheerfully to Draw Nigh to God without a Servile Dread Discharged from those fluctuating Doubts and Entangling Conceits wherewith so many are turmoil'd and kept under Hatches even all their days To Interrupt them in the course of their Religion to make their Offices their Torment to disturb the Serenity and Quiet of their Minds and to spoil all the Comfort and Sweetness of their Devotion While they drag on so Heavily as Strangers to the Spirit of Adoption and have a Hundred Rubs and Frights in the way When as their Prayers should be their Free-will Offering and the Festival Entertainment of their Lives and their Souls should run as oiled Wheels upon the least Touch of God's Attraction when he Moves them to Seek his Face For tho' he Draws he doth not Drag but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Carries such along as are Willing to Run after him and do Give themselves to Prayer Not as Compell'd but in Love to the Work and Delighting to do the will of God The End of the First Part. THE LIBERTY OF PRAYER Guarded from LICENTIOVSNESS PART II. Si de Veritate Scandalum sumitur utilius Scandalum nasci permittitur quà m Veritas relinquatur Greg in Ez. PART II. The TRANSITION To obviate Bigots and prevent Mistakes I have offered to the Worshippers of God all the Liberty that can reasonably be Desired And yet no more than I take the Gospel of our Lord to have Given and Granted No more than the Liberty of the children of God Who are to move Freely as an Ingenuous Generation and a Willing People and not to be hamper'd like Slaves under the Yoke of Bondage But from men of Narrow Souls and Stingy Principles that are under the power of false Notions and bound up in Superstitious Fetters I expect hideous Outcries of Loose Doctrine and a door opened to all Abomination I hear and Smile when I know some of the great Libertines in Practice to be the most Nice and Straight-lac'd men for certain Modes and Opinions They can make bold to take all Loose Liberties in their Conversation and Manners and go so far this way that they must be men of Large Consciences indeed and have as Little of God's holy Fear that dare venture to Follow them And yet at the same time and in the midst of all their Rants and Excesses who more hasty to find great fault with much Better than themselves And make heavy Complaints and Tragical Exclamations of the insufferable Boldness and Laxity of all that are