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-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-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
Himself both God and Man I am never more Easy and free from a troublesome Concern about the Words of Prayer than when I am making use of the Lord's-Prayer And they that find fault with it as it is a Form may for the same reason quarrel all the Scriptures for being a Form of Sound words Nay they may as well reject every Conceived Prayer which is indeed as much a Form to the Hearers as if it had been penn'd or printed and then Repeated Yea I may know That to be a real Form composed by my self which some others take for an Extempore Effusion And so it may be only Ignorance in them which makes it Acceptable with them Because they take it not to be Prepared by me but to flow immediately from the Spirit in me But to think that all Set Forms are opposed to Prayer by the Spirit is such an opinion of Praying by the Spirit as I cannot comprehend No Praying indeed is true and right that is not Supplication in the Spirit i. e. Through the Help of the Spirit of God But I see not why it may not be such as well with as without a Form Nor is the Spirit Limited by such Forms Whenas indeed the Enlargement of the Heart stands not so much in the Copiousness and variety of Expressions as in the extent and Elevation of the Affections A Carnal man may have a Fluency of good Words But only the Child of God abounds with holy and heavenly Desires And those desires I may express in Others words or in my own Premeditated or Immediately formed without Stinting of the Spirit either way The one may do as well as the other No matter which I take So that I do it pertinently and affectionately For Words are but the Carkass of Prayer The Soul and Spirit lies within And the Searcher of hearts regards not so much how it is Drest as from what Heart it proceeds and how Earnest and Devout it is My words are not to Move Him but my self Not to pull the Bank to me but to bring my Vessel to the Shore And so I may use such words as I find fittest to Enflame my affections that I may stand rightly disposed to receive his Mercies Whether I pray in a Book or without is the smallest matter to Him So that I Pray at all indeed And when I use the Book am not Lazy and Formal And when I use none am not Rude and Proud but still Humble and Hearty To Pray is a great deal more than Saying of Prayers There may be all the Words without any thing of the Spirit of Prayer Whether I speak out of the Book or out of my Memory I may draw nigh to God only with my Lips Or I may so manage my Prayer as to have it Sincere and Effectual either way But when so little is done by the most at Prayer and such multitudes do live Prayerless not Calling upon the Lord at all Little need to perplex the thing or Affright any from the Throne of Grace Because they deliver not their minds just in our Rote of words To disgrace Book Prayers may be the way to discourage the most from all Prayer If they must have no Forms they could it may be make nothing of it but Ramble and Babble Trusting only to their own Abilities I think we ought rather to Hearten men on if they Own God in any way of serious Worship with Book or without For 't is according to what a man hath that God Accepteth him And he stands not so much upon a poor Christian 's Wording of his Prayers When he sees his Spirit Engaged and that he offers the Best he has doing all Heartily as in the Sight of God We make a mighty matter as to the way of some mens Wording things so much Better than others But alas what a small thing is this in the Esteem of God who Valueth and Judgeth men by somewhat else The most Elaborate and exact Expressions What wretched Barbarisms and hideous Jargon would they be found if severely Criticiz'd upon by Infinite Perfection And wo be to the best Speaker in the World if he should not be Heard and Accepted on any other account but only for the sake of his Words For how can a mouth-full of frail Breath tho Modulated with never such Art and Advantage be the Motive of all God's Mercy and Man's Salvation As much Stress as ever some are pleas'd to lay upon it 'T will not be so much enquirâ—d after in the great Day of Accounts How we used to Express ourselves in our Prayers As how our Hearts stood Affected to the Service And then the Holy Livers shall be found aforehand with the Finest Speakers And such weakness and Indecence as many a man would not Pardon The Father of Mercies will never Mention to them that Follow him and Delight in him as dear Children He equally offends God and Prophanes Prayer who either reads it Carelesly in a Book or tumbles it Rudely out of his Breast But when I find that I can be Devout in the use of a Prayer Book and that I can Exercise as much Devotion when I have no Book that I can join Profitably and Comfortably with the Church Prayers and with other Prayers I am in utramque paratus without Scruple for all Prayer that is offered with Humility and Zeal to God thrô Jesus Christ for such things as in his comprehensive Platform he has directed and encouraged us to pray for I will never believe That an Earthly Father can be Kinder than my Heavenly And if my natural Parent will take it in good part from me when I deliver my self to him as well as I can Thô I do not make a Starched Speech or read all out of a Book can he that knows our Frame and hath Compassion on our Infirmities Pitying them that fear Him as a Father pities his children fall out with me because I have not the Knack of Expressing my self as well as another When he knows I have a Careful Heart to Please him and am for serving him with the Best and do not use my own words for the high Opinion that I have of them above others But because another cannot express my wants and desires so Agreeably as I can my self Who best knowâ— where it pinches most and what I would be most glad to have And because I am afraid of being a Slothful Servant to Bury any Talent in a Napkin that my Lord hath lent me I would serve him with my Understanding and Memory and Utterance and all my faculties as well as with my Affections And if my Understanding cannot vye with some others or their Words be Better than mine Yet I think I am bound also to use my Own and to do according to the Ability that God hath given me Who I am sure will not be Harsh and Stern with the Weakest of his Children that shew their Willingness and Endeavours to please him thô they
Prayers We may Insist but upon one Point and yet not Maim or Mangle our Devotions According as we are particularly Disposed in our Minds or prest with any particular Occasions in our Lives That which at this Time we find we have most Need to do or are fittest for the doing To do it Heartily will suffice and find Acceptance Tho every thing be not mentioned that belongs to a Full Prayer It is not a Guilt at which we need to Deject our selves for Curtailing and Dismembring our Offices When we leave out some Part and are Intent upon another in which we think our selves Now more immediately Concerned 'T is well and indeed a great Attainment in which we may Hug our selves If we can dispatch but any one Part with serious and fervent Devotion Tho the Enumeration and Confession of our Sins with Confusion of face and Compunction of heart to Humble us before the Lord and prepare us for his Pardon and Grace is of the greatest use for poor Obnoxious Sinful Creatures Yet in our Lord 's own Form there is no Confession but only what is Tacit and Implicite As where in asking for Daily Bread we acknowledge our Wants and Indigence In begging Forgiveness of our Trespasses we acknowledge our Guilt and Wickedness And in Praying not to be Lead into Temptation we acknowledge our Weakness and how prone we are of our selves to go all to Naught And also that we Deserve the Punishment which we Pray to be Delivered from So that altho we should be us'd and forward to Confession Yet we must not Entangle our Consciences with a Conceit of the Necessity lying upon us expresly to Confess our Sins in every Prayer Nor yet the Necessity of particularly Reciting the Mercies and Favours which we have received at the hands of God Tho Thankfulness which is our good Manners towards Heaven as much becomes his Obliged as Confession which is a Self Arraignment to clear our Judge becomes his Offenders Yet there may be the Broken and the Grateful heart sensible both of Sin and Mercy without the particular Naming either our Sins or God's Benefits However 't is my own Sense and my desire to make all I can alike minded That it not only Becomes but Behoves us to be Thankful which being a Tribute we owe to the Crown of Heaven I count it no better than Wrong and Robbery to withhold it Nay so Material a point is this That some I think not amiss have summ'd up the whole of our Religion in the one Word Gratitude To be sensible of our Receits from Above and all our Obligations to the Lord and still Acknowledging the Debt which we are never Able to Pay Full of Concernment What we shall render to the Lord for all his Benefits And where the Poverty of our case checks all thoughts of Retaliation yet giving unto God at least the Glory of his own Gifts Yea for the due Expression of this Gratitude Loving and Honouring and Praising our great Benefactor Trusting and Delighting in him Afraid to Offend and Lose him and studying and striving in all things to Please him And as it is our Reasonahle Service and the most Ingenuous Disposition of Soul as well as the sweetest Solace of our Lives The Marrow and Fatness of our Religion and the joyful Employment of Blessed Spirits above thus to Observe and Recount to Particularize and Magnify the Favours of Heaven to us So 't is the most Decent Begging of what is yet Wanting and our prudential Gaining upon the Goodness of God to run on still in the same Channel Seeing he accounts his Benefits there best placed where they are most Gratefully Resented This then we must be in care not to leave Undone And yet I dare not say that we are bound to do it toties quoties every time we Pray So tho it looks most proper for the Guilty and Conscious to go upon their Submission to the Holy Majesty offended and before they Ask to Acknowledge how unworthy they are to Receive and make their Confessions the Introduction to their Prayers Yet a Great man well vers'd in these matters The Right Reverend Bishop Hall in an Epistle concerning the Continual exercise of a Christian to Keep his heart gives this Advice To begin our Prayers with the Praises of God Taking notice of all his Goodness to us and the great things which still he has done for us and the continued Favours with which he goes on to Oblige us To be in Thanksgiving first and then in Requests And to Bethink our selves How Unworthy we have walk'd of such Mercy and to recount our Abuses of his Kindness and Love may prove an effectual Method to Melt and Dissolve our hard and stony Hearts That laying to heart how Good he has been to us and how wretchedly we have Misbehav'd our selves and carried most ill to the Best of Fathers The Goodness of God may lead us to Repentance Now they that upon trial find the Benefit of this course are Free to take it And I shall not think it Preposterous in my Prayers To deliver my self First of that which lies most upon my opirit and chiefly Affects my Heart whatever it be Good things to be Begged Or Sins or Mercies to be Acknowledged I take it for a Direction and Call to Begin with that which I am so Full of and in Pain till I have poured it out However it may seem to Invert the common Order And if you make use of Another's Form You must not think your selves obliged to every Word and to take All before you But may alter or add or leave out as Diseretion shall suggest or you Judge fittest for your purpose They that are Conversant with God have a Taste for Spiritual things as well as for their common Food To Distinguish between better and worse And then they are not bound to take all that they find and to swallow that which they do not Like But may pick out of the Book all one as at the Table what is Agreeable and let the rest alone and make it up with what they find most Grateful to them and Beneficial for them Yea he that is to be the Speaker in Praying with others may Change his Prayers according to the Company without being a sinful Time-server or Man-pleaser Tho it is the same God I speak to every where Yet the Wants and Humours of men are so exceeding Different that what most Takes with some is as much Disgusted by others And tho I am not to Comply with them to Harden or Hurt them and must not care so much to Please men as God nor be check'd by the Company nor let my Devotion flutter among them instead of flying up to Heaven nor Regard any Men comparably to the Great God But Cease from Man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Yet there is a Lawful Becoming all things to all men and Pleasing all for their Good to
cannot do like some of the rest I my self feel more Inclination as I see more Reason sometimes to give to a Beggar that is a sorry Faultering Orator than to another that speaks Exactly in Mood and Figure 'T is not so much his Fine Words and Cadence as his Want and Misery join'd with Simplicity and Humility that makes him an Object of Charity And I know it is not so much for our Speech and the Words of Prayer as for our Hearts and the Spirit of Prayer that He regards us who will be worshipped with our Souls and Spirits We should indeed Chuse words to Reason with him But when we compose somwhat of our Own it speaks our greater Care to be Acceptable And Bishop Hall in his Devout Soul tells us That a Stammering Suppliant may reach to a more eminent Devotion Pag. 11. than he that can deliver himself in the most fluent and Pathetical forms of Elocution 'T is not to rake together a parcel of good Petitions and seek to give them some Life in the Utterance unless we Draw Nigh with a True heart in full Assurance of Faith For it it is Faith in God's Promises that is the Foundation of all our Prayers And Prayer is but Faith putting forth itself in a Flame of Desires God hears no impenitent Sinners that Regard Iniquity in their hearts Let their words be never so fine and Apposite And he rejects no Humble Faithful Supplicant be his Speech never so weak and Imperfect Tho such be not Eloquent they have words sufficient to do their Business Even Broken words will serve the turn when they come from a Broken heart When going to Prayer then I will remember I am going to my Father And tho I know a Son honours his Father and so I will know my Distance and pay a profound Veneration and Exert the best of my Abilities in his Service Yet while I keep off from the Vncreaturely Boldness I will not run upon the Vnchildlike Strangeness To be curb'd with such a Spirit of Bondage that I dare not Speak for my self Nor dejected with a Servile Dread of his lying at catch to Trepan me in my words if I do not place every one Aright As if he were so Inconsiderate of my Frailty or could carry like so Rigid an Enemy to Cast off me and all my Suit if there be but the least word knockt out of Joint At this rate did I listen to the Teachers of such a Ghastly Frightful Religion I should make it a more Dangerous thing to Pray to God than to Keep away and never come before Him But I will never be persuaded that the Father of Mercies has the Spirit of some Rough and Sowre Doctors Who yet can make as bold with God in their Manners as they think others do in their Prayers And are not so Strict in Tutoring their Neighbours Tongues but they can be as Lax in ordering their Own I cannot question in the least But there have been many and gross Abuses of this Way of Praying which if rak'd together may furnish out matter enough for Satyr and make abundance of work for any Doctor or other that has such a Talent And tho Stories seldom lose in the reporting by such as are known to have a strong Byas Yet let Commin's Hypocrisy and Weyer's Villany both pass without Contradiction That the one could so Masquerade it for the Pope and the other Command good words while himself was Commanded by the Evil Spirit And to these Two let Twenty more be added of the same Stuffing 'T will but prove what none denies That there have been Ill men of all Pretentions Satan himself can be Transformed into an Angel of Light And one that was a Devil had yet a Name among the Disciples of Christ But let False Coin and Counterfeit Wares be Detected and Cryâ—d down This is no Prejudice at all to that which is Current right and good Nor does my Undertaking oblige me to answer for all the Cant and Gibberish Jargon and Impertinence flowing from any shatter'd Heads or wild Tongues under pretence of Exercising their Gifts Men may Hurt themselves even with God's Gifts and turn their very Remedy to their Ruin They may be proud of their New Words as of New Cloaths And there may be much more Pride than Devotion in the case When we are ashamed to Appear before the Lord unless it be still in a New Dress But if the Abuses must lay an Embargo on the Use I know not what Prayers then of any sort will be left us Or what will become of the Common Prayer it self but it must cease to be Common or to be at all because many have made as Wretched work with that as ever was made of Free Prayer But I know some would heavily resent it for a most Tyrannical Imposition To be tied up for ever medling with a Bottle of Wine because it has Happened with so many That when the Wine was in the Wit was out This Doctor is not therefore for Renouncing the Doctrine of the Trinity because he takes that for an Adulteration which another Doctor calls a Vindication of it Holy things and Pearls will sometimes light among Dogs and Swine But yet they do not for that lose their Nature The Things themselves are not a jot the Worse tho the Profaners of them are a great deal Let those that are Guilty answer for that But why should the Children of the Kingdom be turn'd out of their Privilege for the sake of some illegitimate Interlopers that have made Invasions upon it Whither should a Child go but to his Father And if he must not speak a Word to him but what he Reads out of a Form Where 's the Ingenuity and Freedom of a Child and the Boldness at the Throne of Grace And what advantage then of the Spirit of Adoption above the Spirit of Bondage Sure we may have Boldness and Assurance without being Sawcy and Malapert And tho it is not for a pitiful Worm to think of being Hail-Fellow with his Glorious Maker Yet I think it is an untowardly way of Honouring my Father to take him for such a one that I Dare not Speak with him or if but a word Amiss to think he would not Hear nor Forgive me Desires are the Wings of the Soul on which it mounts up to Heaven Prayer sets them a working But where are many Appendages they 'll be like but to Cumber and Clog the Motion which the more Natural the more Free and Easy Tho a dexterous Art may help Nature Yet Grace added to both is the best accomplishment and the Crown of all Prayer is God's Breath in man Herb. Nothing to be done in this matter without the Spirit Helping our Infirmities And that I take to be what they call Praying by the Spirit whether with Book or without when the good Spirit of God gives his gracious Guidance and Assistance for the true and zealous performance tho not an
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