set day may not as much hinder and obstruct his gift of prayer in respect of time as a set form can hinder and obstruct his gift of prayer in respect of words For it is as strict and as strong a confinement both to the spirit and gift of prayer to say Pray on this day as to say Pray in these words and we may as justly blame the Church for prescribing a set day as for prescribing a set form of prayer in both which notwithstanding she hath exactly followed our blessed Saviours own example and in prescribing the set form hath moreover followed his command SECT VI. The Church hath God the Holy-Ghosts Precedent and Preâ—ept for making and using set forms of Prayer IT is a heavenly prayer and much befitting a Christian Divine which is hinted by Saint Dionysius in the beginning of his sublime book concerning mystical Theologie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O thou holy and blessed Trinity super abundant in essence in deity and in Goodness the Overseer of our Christian Divinity which is a wisdom of from and for God be pleased to direct us in the search of those more then hidden mysteries which we can neither find without thy guidance nor see without thy light nor utter without thy power He beginneth his book as many antient Divines began their Sermons In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And though we of late have used longer prayers before our Sermons I will not say out of pretence but I must say Not out of Obedience for our Church did not command it and t is probable did scarce approve it yet we have not filled the world with much better Piety and sure we have filled it with much worse divinity For we have given occasion to many ignorant people to deny that Trinity which we our selves do disown in that we neither will begin in his name nor will end with his glory Tell me if there be any Jew in the world that will not pray to the great and dreadfull God or in the acknowledgement of his incomprehensible Majesty as well as we If therefore we our selves would not be thought nor have others to be made Jews or which is as bad Anti-trinitarians let us not think we pray as Christians unless in our prayers we do indeed glorifie God the Father Son and Holy Ghost For we are alike indebted to all three Persons of the blessed Trinity in regard of our prayers The Father accepteth the Son recommendeth the Holy Ghost suggesteth them nay indeed if they be truly acceptable they are suggested to us from the Father for the Son and by the Holy-Ghost And this was the grand reason that the primitive Christians did gather out of the holy Scriptures the greatest part of their publlike if not of their private devotions because they were sure that all such prayers as they found in the holy Bible came to them from the Holy Ghost and they could not desire better expressions then his in their mouths as not better motions then his in their hearts not doubting but God would readily hear the words as he would readily own the motions of his own spirit For this is the confidence that we all have in the Son of God that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us 1 Joh. 5. 14. and we cannot but think that one ready way to ask any thing according to his will is to ask it according to his words And his are all the words that are written either by the Prophers or by the Apostles for our instruction for they all came from they all lead to the eternal word So that in truth all those heavenly forms of prayer and praise which we meet with in the Old and New Testament are no other then so many set forms of infallible and impeccable Liturgy given to the Church from God the Father through God the Son and by God the Holy Ghost and the Church would shew but little dutifulness and less thankfulness if she did not accordingly make a frequent and a good use of them in her own Liturgies or if she did not make Liturgies of her own both in imitation of those and in obedience to those Liturgies which she hath received from God And as for the using set forms it is no less recommended to the Church by the Spirit of God then is the making them Thus in the ninth of Nehemiah we find eight several Levites Praying and Preaching at one time each in his several congregation for the multitude was so great that it was divided into eight congregations saith Tremelius But t is evident there was but one Form of prayer and praise for them all whether at one time in several congregations or at several times in one congregation for one of these must be granted to avoid confusion still they all had but one form for the text saith expresly then the Levites Jeshua and Kadmiel c. said Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever and blessed be thy glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise v. 5. Thou even thou art Lord alone c. v. 6. and so along to the end of the chapter where all the eight Levites named together in the fift verse do make a most religious confession of Gods goodness a confession of Praise and of their Fathers and their own wickedness a confession of sin and all of them make but one and the same confession using exactly the same words For when the Text saith expresly Then the Levites naming all eight of them said Stand up and bless the Lord c. t is not for us to imagine that one of all the eight did not say these or did say other then these very words Again it is said Neh. 12. 46. For in the dayes of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the Singers and Songs of praise and thanksgivings unto God No man can doubt who reads the inscriptions of the Psalms and obâ—â—râ—eâ— what he reads but that the Songs were as publikely known and as particularly appointed as the singers And â—aâ—â— David tells us plainly in his comment upon the third Psalm that the Psalms were not called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Songs at the time they were made but at the time they were sung and that they were accordingly in process of time sung in the Temple some before some after the Captivity However it is undeniable that the Psalms were the greatest part of the Jews Liturgie or publike worship and the matter is not great whether we look on them as Songs or as Supplications For if there were particular forms of praise without stinting of the Spirit as without doubt the spirit which appointed and commanded the use of these forms stinted not himself I say if there were particular forms of praise without stinting of the spirit why not also forms of Prayer Since it is evident the same
Peter Martyr with four other Divines would defend this Book and each particle thereof against all the Papists in England and he did indeed at last undergo his Martyrdom very comfortably in its defence Besides all this the Confessors of that age Those who were banished or had left all and fled for their Religion into Geneva or the Low-Countries did even there use this very form of prayer which they had brought with them out of England as thinking it the best Test of their Religion for which they fled and the surest badge of their communion in which they persisted I say they did use our Common prayer book beyond sea in Holland and Geneva till Master Knox began to pick quarrels both with the book it self and with them that used it Which when Doctor Grindal told Bishop Ridley as he was in prison to be sacrificed in the flames the very next day the holy Martyr broke out into this bitter complaint I cannot but wonder that Mr. Knox should at this time set himself against the poor Protestants of England and find fault with their Service book wherein though his wit may chance find something to cavil at yet shall he never be able to find matter of just exception as if any thing therein contained were contrary to the word of God This was that dying Martyrs Testimony concerning our Common prayer book to which I could alledge many more but that yet after all this to give content and satisfaction to all parties if it were possible and to take away those passages which Calvin was pleased to call Tolerabiles ineptias Tolerable follies who doubtless did see intolerable follies in other conceived prayers This same Book was again the fourth time corrected and amended in the daies of that renowned Queen Elizabeth and yet for all these corrections and amendments met still with innumerable companies of Malecontents who disliked the use of it though they could not agree in their own dislikes For what some rejected others approved in so much that the whole was approved by them severally whiles it was joyntly opposed which when the Queen discovered to them she shamed their oppositions though she could not silence them For though they pretended only to make some objections against this form yet their intent was indeed to have no set form whereby to put Religion wholly into their own mouthes if not out of the Peoples hearts This made them despise that Book which Cranmer Ridly Bucer Peter Martyr and Reverend Master Ould and others did justifie against the Papists all of them with their Pens and some of them with their Blood For my part I must profess that as a Christian Divine I have bestowed much pains in viewing the Christian forms of publick worship and I cannot yet find any one Liturgy in all Christendom to which I can willingly and with a good conscience say Amen in all particulars save only This of our own Church with which I cannot but most heartily and willingly joyn in every prayer and the rather because I find This Liturgy hath in it all the chiefest pious and pithy devotions of Greek and Latine Liturgies but the superstitions of neither And I am willing to perswade my self that other men especially of my calling would not so easily forsake much less so openly revile this publick form of worship if they did seriously consider how directly it tends to Gods glory and his peoples good and how much it belongs to the Churches Trust that her publick worship should directly tend to both For surely it is a most inestimable priviledge of Piety that we can joyn in Prayer with Saint Augustine Saint Chrysostom and all the other Greek and Latine Fathers nay with Saint Peter and Saint Paul who if they were present at our service would not refuse to communicate in our prayers whatever our own seduced Brethren may refuse because they are all easily and plainly reducible to the Lords most holy Prayer In so much that we do not only in our Belief glorifie God as they did and truly the repeating of the Creed doth more truly glorifie God then any other Profession of his Truth which we can make but also in our prayers we invocate him as they did whereby we do not only speculatively profess or acknowledge but also practically maintain and uphold the Communion of Saints and are sure we shall both profess and practise that communion if we communicate with our own Church which hath such a form of worship as doth profess and practise it For we are sure that we Pray as they once prayed whiles we are sure that we pray according to the Lords own most holy Prayer which certainly they must needs want who do not before-hand know their Form of Prayer but come first to Hear and then to Pray so that if the Preacher chance to abuse their Patience by some new-found upstart Divinity in his Sermon They may be sure he will much more abuse their Piety by some new-found upstart Devotion in his Prayer since his business is to turn his Sermon into his Prayer and that may be either of so bad contents or of so bad consequents as to turn their Prayer into Nothing It is not to be denyed but this may be done easily it is to be feared this is done frequently among those who have no other Prayers but such as the Preacher is pleased to make for them whose Faith may be Faction in his Sermon and whose Religion may be Rebellion in his Prayer so that the Congregation which dependeth meerly upon his lips must have no Prayers if they will not be factious and rebellious or must have Profanations instead of Prayers if they will For it is not to be imagined that such Ministers who pull down their Church to set up themselves will not stand on Tip-toe as well in Praying as in Preaching that they may obtain a full Dictatorship in Religion whiles every one of them takes upon him to Lord it in Gods house as if God had given him Commission to say with Elijah As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand there shall not be dew nor rain these years neither dew of heavenly Doctrine nor rain of heavenly devotion to refresh your gasping souls but according to my word 1 King 17. 1. For they all in the end drive at this that we should in effect have no prayers though at first they would be thought to advise us to better prayers The first Edition of their Anti-prayer Book though it had this proud posie in its fore-head No man can lay any other foundation then that which is laid even Jesus Christ yet within two years after being reviewed by themselves was in a manner quite changed and had not so few as 600. grand and material alterations And yet for all this within another year a third Book was begotten and brought forth differing in many points from both the other as if they had resolved to make good that reproach which
once Frederick Duke of Saxonie cast upon the Lutherans Quid nunc credant benè novi quid autem anno sequenti credituri sunt prorsus ignoro Magal Praef. in Titum sec 3. annot 4. What they now believe I well know but what they will believe the next year I know not He might have said concerning our Changelings Nor they themselves For they changed grosly thrice in less then four years But this third Book was thought so compleat that some earnestly pressed to have the same allowed by publick Authority not with intent that there should be prescribed a set form of publick prayer mistake them not for they can endure none no not of their own making They that cannot agree as Christians to pray as Christ taught them will never agree as Brethren to pray as they shall teach one another But only to throw aside that set Form which was prescribed in the common-Common-Prayer Book For although they durst not be so outragiously impious as to make it their profession that they would have no set form of Prayer yet they were so impiously subdolous as to make it their design to have none And therefore though for a shew they had made some set Prayers yet they meant never to use them For in their Rubrick they still give themselves this liberty That the Minister shall pray thus or else to this same purpose as the Spirit of God shall move his heart So that the Minister is in truth left to himself which ought not to be because the Church or Ministry in general and not each Minister in particular is Gods Trustee for publick worship and the people are wholly left to the piety and discretion of their Minister which ought less to be because it is a ready way to bring Gods publick worship under the danger if not under the guilt of Impiety and Indiscretion For if the Minister conceiving a Prayer upon the sudden shall say the Spirit moved his heart to pray so and withall shall avouch his prayer to have been to the same purpose with that which was prescribed him though God may be justly offended with him for entitling his enormities to the Holy Ghost yet the people may not justly be offended with him for making use of his liberty though they have the greatest cause of just offence which can be given to any Christians even the loss of their Piety and the danger of their patience or to speak yet plainer even the reproach of their Communion and the scandal of their Religion SECT IX Reformation not to be pretended against Religion The abolishing of Liturgy no part of a true Reformation And that God hath not given any Church power to abolish Liturgy and that no Church ought to assume that Power because Liturgy directly tends to the keeping of the third and of the fourth Commandments TO do that open wickedness which immediately tends to the dishonour of Christ is no other then to smite Christ on the face but to do it under a disguise or fair pretence is indeed first to blind-fold him and then to strike him saying Prophesie who is it that smote thee And thus do all Hypocrites deal with Christ they do not only smite him but also deride him and for this reason it is that counterfeit holiness is a double wickedness because it not only forsakes God but also mocks him which consideration made Saint Paul so sharply reprove those of Corinth who made more account of some false Teachers who fed their phancies with vain pretences then of himself who had fed their souls with the true bread of life not that he greatly cared for their respect for he had learned in what estate soever to be content but that he greatly abominated their impiety who were then learning to take Phancie for Faith and by that means were indeed unlearning Christ Accordingly in his reproof he first insinuates their unthankfulness that they had fallen from him who had been the means of their conversion For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast Virgin unto Christ 2 Cor. 11. 2. Secondly their unadvisedness who took no greater care of their footing nor of their safety then to walk among Serpents to converse securely with most notorious impostors who lived as Serpents whiles they spake as Saints But I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Vers 3. Do you look upon Eve as strangely sottish in taking a Serpent for her Company and much more for her Directorie then be ashamed of your own sottishness who have lent your ears and your hearts to such men who are as earthly minded as if with Serpents they were condemned to creep upon the ground and are as venemous as Serpents having such poison as can reach your souls and corrupt your minds from the simplicity that is in Christ Thirdly of their ungodliness that they had so received the Gospel of Christ as not to know it or so known it as not to regard it or so regarded it as not to retain it They had itching ears to be ever learning but dead hearts never to come to the knowledge of the Truth They went a gadding after new Preachers as if they could Preach another Jesus whom Saint Paul had not Preached or were led by a better Spirit in Preaching then had led him And this reproof is in the 4. Vers For if he that cometh sc from abroad to shew this mischief was from those without not from those within the Church as saith Saint Chrysost preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached or if ye receive another Spirit by his Sermons which ye have not received by ours or another Gospel from him which ye have not accepted from us ye might very well bear What his heart is too great for his mouth his mind is more then he can utter his anger is greater then he can express or their sin had been so great as to stop his mouth and to hinder his expression or at least their confutation was so plain their condemnation so evident as to need no more words that makes him say ye might very well bear but say no more leaving it to them to fill up the sense who had filled up the sin speaking the more by saying the less and shewing the power of his eloquence in the practise of his silence For now having only said ye might very well bear He hath left it to their own consciences to say the rest concerning their new Teachers so that if they looked back upon the foregoing words they must gather this for the Apostles meaning Ye might very well bear with their insolency their impudence their impetuousness their impertinency For it was their insolency their impudence to pretend they had another Gospel their impetuousness to preach it as if it had been another and their impertinency to preach it when it
of the fourth Commandment who cryes up the Day but beats down the other adjuncts and also the very Duty of the Sabbath That Duty being to glorifie God in Christ by Publick worship for the Redemption of the world whereas they discountenance Liturgie and Festivals though both instituted in honour of our Redeemer Sect. 4. The sincerity of Christian Communion may be violated either Causally by a false Religion or Formally by an unjust separation Both violations are abominable The care which the primitive Christians used to avoid both by cleaving to the antient Creeds and Gloria Patri and also by their Communicatory Letters The reason of that care was that both Priest and People laboured only to serve Christ not to serve themselves of him The Touchstone to try all Churches is the Advancing Christ both in their Religion and in their Communion The Iustification of the Church of England Consisteth of three Chapters The first Chapter sheweth That the Church of England is Gods Trustee for the Christian Religion as to the people of this Nation The secend Chapter sheweth That the same Church of England hath carefully discharged her Trust concerning Religion as a most Christian or most Catholick Church The third Chapter sheweth That the Communion of the said Church of England is conscionably embraced and reteined by All the people of this Nation and not rejected much less renounced by any of them but against the Rules of Conscience CAP. 1. That the Church of England is Gods Trustee for the Christian Religion as to the People of this Nation Sect. 1. CHrist delivered the Trust of his Word and Sacraments to his Apostles They delivered the same to Bishops and Presbyters their successors But the Apostles had an illimited their successors have a limited Trust The necessity of the succession of these Trustees to the worlds end yet is the succession of Doctrine more necessary then the succession of Persons Sect. 2. The Trust and nature of the Catholick Church best gathered from particular Churches The first part of their Trust is concerning the word of God Sect. 3. The second part of the Trust of particular Churches is concerning the people of God What that Trust is and how it comes to be derived to them is shewed from Saint Pauls speech Acts 20. to the particular Church of Ephesus and from Saint Pauls Epistles to Timothy and Titus and from other several Epistles of his to particular Churches Sect. 4. The third part of the Trust of particular Churches is concerning the worship of God The written Word of God is the Rule whereby they are to manage that Trust the readyest way to beget a Christian Communion among all Churches and a Christian Peace in each particular Church Sect. 5. The Prince as the Supreme Governor of the particular Church in his own dominions is Gods Trustee concerning the outward exercise of Religion not to manage or perform but to propagate and to protect it The antient Divines acknowledged this Trust and the antient Princes discharged it and Princes now are bound so to do because it is their right by the Law of nature and because without the discharge of this Trust there can neither be the face nor the due order of Religion among any People Sect. 6. The limitation both of the Princes and of the Priests Trust in matters of Religion That neither may deviate from the Law of God And that the Authority of the Churches Laws is most enfeebled by them who make least esteem of the Law of God casting the aspersions of obscurity and of uncertainty upon the Holy Scriptures Sect. 7. The Trust of each particular Church is sufficient for the Peoples salvation if she take heed to her self and to the Doctrine God hath given her in his written Word and in the antient Creeds of the Catholick Church Sect. 8. The Trust of particular Churches is immediately from God himself both in regard of the Magistrate and of the Minister That trust much stood upon in the Primitive times and ought to be so still because it is founded in the Holy Scriptures And that this Doctrine concerning the trust of particular Churches doth not Canton or dis-joynt the Catholick Church Sect. 9. What Trust is given to other particular Churches in the Holy Scriptures is also given to our particular Church of England from God the Father Son and Holy Ghost That our Church is accordingly bound to magnifie her Trust and therefore we bound not to vilifie it And that it is both rational and religious to maintain the Trust and Authority of our own particular Church CAP. 2. That the Church of England hath most carefully discharged her Trust concerning Religion as a most Christian or most Catholick Church Sect. 1. GODS intent in Trusting the Church with Religion was her Honour and Happiness which should cause our thankfulness to God and our reverent esteem of his Church Sect. 2. The Churches Trust concerning Religion is to see there be right Preaching Praying and Administring the Holy Sacraments Preaching belongs rather to the knowledge then to the worship of God and ought not to thrust out Praying which is the chiefest act of Gods worship and most regarded by him especially when many Pray in one Communion Sect. 3. Preaching is twofold either by Translating or by Expounding the Holy Scriptures The great excellency and necessity of both And that our Church is entrusted with both and cannot justly be charged as defective in either Sect. 4. Praying a greater part of the Churches Trust then Preaching The Church hath God the Fathers Precedent and Precept for making set forms of Prayer and shall answer for all the blemishes that may be in publick Prayers for want of a set form Sect. 5. The Church hath God the Sons Precedent and Precept for making set forms of Prayer and is accordingly obliged both to make and to use them Sect. 6. The Church hath God the Holy Ghosts Precedent and Precept for making and using set forms of Prayer Sect. 7. The Church hath Gods Promise for his blessing upon set forms of Prayer Sect. 8. The Church is obliged to make set forms of Prayer according to the Pattern of the Lords most holy Prayer that there be no Peccancy neither concerning the Object nor the Matter nor the Manner of publick Prayer and that our Church hath exactly followed that Pattern in hers and that other Churches ought to follow the same in their Liturgies A short Historical Narration concerning our common-Common-Prayer Book and the anti-Anti-prayer book set up against it Sect. 9. Reformation not to be pretended against Religion The abolishing of Liturgie no part of a true Reformation That God hath not given any Church power to abolish Liturgie And that no Church ought to assume that power because Liturgie directly tends to the keeping of the third and of the fourth Commandments Sect. 10. Certainty is more to be regarded in the publick exercise of Religion then Variety Hence the Creed the Lords Prayer
spirit is the first mover both in prayer and in praise and if we look upon all the Psalms of David we shall scarce find one of them which is not a most exact form of prayer and of praise both together and indeed these were the Songs of praise and thanksgiving which were meant by Nehemiah or rather Ezra for he made that book whence in ancient Canons it is usually reckoned under his name Even the songs recorded in the book of Psalms These Songs in some of their Titles shew the Singers for whom in others shew the use for which they were made by the Penmen of the Holy-Ghost the ninty second of them hath this Title A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath day and it was made by Moses say the Jewish Doctors to be said or sung on the Sabbath Targum goes farther and saith it was made by the first man that is by Adam for the Sabbath yet Docent Adamum Sabbatizasse needs not trouble us in this case for t is plain from the Hebrew inscription which is to be looked on as a part of the Text that the Holy-Ghost intended this Psalm as a set form of prayer and praise to be used on the Sabbath day to shew that enemies to set forms are enemies to the Sabbath The like may be said of the hundred and second Psalm which hath this Title A prayer for the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord This Title in the Hebrew copies is accounted as the first verse of the Psalm and openly proclaimeth this Truth That the Holy Ghost not only commandeth the afflicted to pray but also prescribeth him this particular set form of prayer and though by commanding this he forbiddeth not others yet he plainly forbiddeth the contemptuous neglect and encourageth the Religious use of this he forbiddeth its contemptuous neglect for by his affirmative precept he bindeth at all times to an habitual though not to an actual obedience whereas a wilfull neglect much more a wilful contempt excludes the possibility of an habitual obedience And he also encourageth its religious use for as by his power he commandeth our obedience so also in his goodness he rewardeth it which was the ground of that excellent Proverb among the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secar hamitsuah mitsuah Merces mandati est mandatum The reward of the commandment is the Commandment The reward of Piety is Piety with which agreeth that excellent gloss given by R. David Kimchi on the second verse of the first Psalm where he telleth us that God saith of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is my Law till a man begins to read it with diligence and devotion but then he faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is his Law even his that so readeth it whereas Saint Paul hath said no more to make us in love with the Gospel it self but that it is able to transform us into the likeness of its own purity 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord They who most look on the Lord in the looking-glass of his own word do most behold his glory And they who most behold his glory are most changed into his image from glory to glory even as by his Spirit because from his word for his Spirit is inseparably with his Word And therefore we may safely say that no man yet ever devoutly used any form of prayer or of praise which the Holy Ghost hath prescibed but by using it devoutly he both exercised and also increased his own devotion being the more inflamed with the love of making such spiritual addresses to his God and the more enabled to make them which is a truth dogmatically asserted by the very Jews and experimentally verified by many Christians who have then chiefly found the comforts of the Holy Ghost from their prayers when they have prayed in his own words the first proof whereof was in the Apostles themselves who after they had been threatned by the Rulers of the Jews made choice of the second Psalm for a great part of their prayer and the Text saith plainly that when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost Act. 4. 31. This is the first proof we meet with among Christians of Gods publick accepting the words of the Holy Ghost in the mouths of men but there was one long before this among the Jews even in King Solomons time when upon the Priests singing the 136. Psalm God gave a visible sign of his acceptance For so it is said When they lift up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick and praised the Lord saying For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever which words are repeated in every verse of the 136. Psalm and accordingly shew it was that Psalm they sung that then the house was filled with a cloud even the house of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to Minister by reason of the cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God 2 Chron. 5. 13 14. What can be said more for the use of set forms of publick prayer but that God the Father Son and Holy Ghost hath made them hath appointed them hath approved them hath accepted them For in that he hath accepted these in the Text he hath assured us that he would reject none which should be made in imitation of these Let any man shew but half so much for extemporary and unpremeditated effusions and we shall be so far from denying him the use of his pretended liberty that we shall be glad to exempt him from the accusation of a pretence in his affected piety In the mean time as God himself did not think it sufficient to teach his Church to pray only by giving general rules but also by giving particular forms of Prayer so Gods Church could not think it sufficient to teach his people to pray without making for them such particular forms as should be sure to keep them to the general Rules because if she had not done so she had been guilty of a great omission for not following the example of Gods unerring perfection in teaching and of a great Commission for suffering the people committed to her charge to follow the misguidance of their own manifold and great imperfections for want of being taught Again 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 2 Chron. 29. 30. Had the King and the Princes forbad the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph under pretence that those set forms did make them lazy
10. Sund. after Trin. Let thy merciful ears O Lord be open to the prayers of thy humble servants and that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please thee No Congregation of Christians can pray in faith of obtaining their petitions unless they pray in faith of asking such things as please God and they cannot well do this unless they know before-hand what they shall ask of him in their prayers and in what words they shall ask it because else for ought they know they shall ask such things as may not please him or ask in such a sort as may displease him SECT VIII The Church is obliged to make set forms of prayer according to the pattern of the Lords most holy prayer that there be no peccancy neither concerning the object nor the matter nor the manner of publick prayer that our Church hath exactly followed that pattern in Hers and that other Churches ought to follow the same in their Liturgies A short historical narration concerning our Common prayer Book and the anti-Anti-prayer Book set up against it REligion is the motion of the reasonable soul to God as to its first beginning and to its last end but Christ alone is the way by and in which the soul doth make this motion so that to have a Religion without Christ is to have a Religion without God that is to have no Religion For the soul of man being finite cannot be joyned to God who is infinite but by the help of a Mediator nor can any be a Mediator betwixt finite and infinite but he that partakes of both which is only our Saviour Christ who partaketh of finite as man of infinite as God He alone is able to joyn finite and infinite in one Communion who hath joyned them in one person and therefore to him alone we must repair as often as we desire to be joyned with God Our Religion without him were nothing for it could not bring us unto God and since our prayers are the chiefest part of our Religion they also would be nothing without him Therefore it neerly concerns the Church to make sure of such prayers wherein Christ may joyn with her for else she will pray in vain because without his intercession nay indeed she will pray in sin because against his command Accordingly hath Christs own most holy Prayer been looked upon in all Ages of the Church as the ground and platform of Liturgy to make other set forms of prayer from it as a warrant by it as a pattern This was the judgement of the Church in Saint Augustines time delivered by himself in his Epistle to Proba Si recte congruenter oramus nihil aliud dicere possuneus quam quod in ista oratione Dominica positum est If we pray rightly and fitly rightly in the object fitly in the matter and manner of our prayers We can say nothing else but what is already briefly said in the Lords Prayer And this was likewise the judgement of the Church in Aquinas his time as it is also delivered by himself In oratione Dominica non solum petuntur omnia quae recte desiderare possumus sed etiam eo ordine quo desideranda sunt ut sic haec oratio non solum instruat postulare sed etiam sit informativa totius nostri affectus 22ae qu. 83. art 9. c. In the Lords most holy prayer are not only desired all things which are truly desirable but also in that Method and order in which we must desire them So that this prayer doth not only regulate our expression teaching us of whom and what to ask but also our affection teaching in what Method to ask it For this prayer teacheth us to pray unto God only Our Father which art in heaven and in our prayers first to desire God for himself and after that all other things for God God for himself as he is in himself Hallowed be thy name God for himself as he may be enjoyed by us Thy Kingdom come God for himself as he ought to rule and reign over us Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven And it teacheth us to desire all other things for God whether they concern our present subsistence Give us this day our daily bread or our present deliverance from the guilt of sin and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us or our future deliverance from the guilt of sin and lead us not into temptation or our present and future deliverance from the punishment of sin But deliver us from evil Even all these deliverances are prayed for in relation to God for as much as the guilt of sin doth immediately separate from his holiness the punishment of sin doth immediately separate from his blesedness much more is our present subsistence prayed for in relation to him that we may not subsist in and for our selves who are worse then nothing but in and for our God who is all in all And all these things are prayed for in a right order first God for himself as he is in himself Then God for himself as he is in his Church Triumphant by his Glory after that as he is in his Church Militant by his Grace Then we pray for all other things in relation to God and amongst them first we desire desire him to give those things which may be as instruments to bring us to him as our corporal and much more our spiritual food after that we desire him to remove those things which are as impediments to keep us from him our sins our temptations our punishments We cannot answer it to God or men if we refuse to pray with those who thus pray with Christ for such men cannot be peccant either in the object or in the matter or in the manner of their prayers wherein the Liturgy of the Church of England hath a singular pre-eminence which maketh her prayers only to God and such prayers as are only for God Prayers exciting holy affections agreeable with a holy God Prayers affording holy expressions agreeable with holy affections Prayers least defective either in religious affections or in religious expressions and therefore prayers most befitting the publick exercise of Religion which will not endure either of these defects Prayers which no man doth say cordially but he is assured of his hearts being with his God Prayers which every man should say cordially because when he is assured of his hearts being with his God he may be ashamed of his tongues not being with his heart As for that objection which some make against our Liturgy that it cometh too neer the Popish Mass book t is in truth its vertue 1. Because thereby our Reformers intended the promotion of true Christian Communion by not making a needless much less a scandalous separation from other Christians in those devotions wherein they had not separated from Christ 2. Because they intended to promote true Christian
Apostles rule Hold fast that which is good is not to be observed in all good but only in the very best The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of Truth Eccles 12. â—10 If he that preacheth ought to seek for acceptable words that is words sutable both to the matters he speaks of and the persons he speaks to then much more he that prayeth since praying ought to be more carefully provided and more conscionably performed then preaching For in preaching a man speaks to men but in praying a man speaks to God And for this cause the Church thinks it her duty to provide for us acceptable words in praying whilst she leaves us to provide our own acceptable words in preaching The Prophet Hosea exhorteth the Israelites to take with them words and turn to the Lord Hos 14. 2. He asks not Gold nor Silver not burnt offerings saith Rabbi David but good words from you that with them you will confess your sins and return unto the Lord with all your heart and not only with your lips Here t is plain by his Gloss that the Prophet enjoyns a form of confession and bids them take good words that they may have good hearts nay t is plain by the Text it self for those good words or that form of confession is particularly expressed as well as enjoyned in the next words Say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously But it were in vain to pray unto God to receive us graciously if we did pray ungraciously therefore taking with us words according to Gods command in Hosea must needs well agree with the Spirit of grace and of supplications according to his promise in Zechariah Zech. 12. 10. And as the Papists do vainly arrogate and more vainly appropriated the Title of Religion to their monastical vows so the Enthusiasts do as vainly arrogate and more vainly appropriate the Title of the Spirit to their phantastical prayers and good Protestants have no more reason to think they want these prayers to make them spiritual then that they want those vows to make them Religious I do not discourage or discountenance any particular mans gifts for I do heartily wish as Moses did I would to God all the Lords people were Prophets but I must needs profess that he which ascended on high led captivity captive to give gifts unto men hath given the greatest gifts where he hath given the greatest promises and he hath given greater promises to his Church then to any member or Minster of the same If I follow the Church making use of the gift of prayer which God hath given her I do that which God hath required of me For the Church hath commission from God to teach me to pray or that of Luk. 11. 1. was not written for our instruction But if I follow any other mans gifts who hath not that commission I may justly fear that God who will one day say to him Who hath required this at your hands for making such prayers will not say much less to me for hearing them As for that slight objection of deadness formality men are subject to more from set forms then from conceived prayers t is in its consequence a blasphemy against the holy Scriptures for it reacheth the prayers penned there by the Holy Ghost as well as penned here by the Church so that I hope none will blame me for calling the objection slight now I have proved it wicked For how is it possible for any man to say that prayer by book is flat and dead without undervaluing all the prayers in the holy Bible and contemning the very Book of books Let him next say Evangelium Atramentarium away with this Inkie-Gospel but withal let him know that he cannot thus turn Enthusiast unless he will first turn Papist So he shall turn to the worse for his person and he cannot depend upon suggestions instead of books but he must turn prayer from being an act of Reason nay from being an act of Faith to be an act of phansie if not of faction And so he shall turn to the worse also for his prayers yet all this while we cannot but take notice that our adversaries are very hard put to it for an accusation when they are fain to fetch it from our hearts which they cannot know should not judge dealing with us as some of the Rabbies dealt with Job for when the Text had said of him In all this Job sinned not with his lips as we doubt not but it doth also in effect say of our Church concerning her Common Prayers two of them sc Ralbag and Jarchi are pleased to add this gloss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abal belibbo Chata But yet sure he sinned in his heart To conclude a set form of Doctrine we must have or be Heretical A set form of Discipline we must have or be irregular and why not also have a set form of devotion or be irreligious for we cannot well be unanimously Religious without a set form of publick prayer and the want of unanimity will soon beget the want of Religion for God is love and therefore we cannot be without love but we must be without God and consequently men cannot be long without true charity but they will also be without true piety And as for making the Common Prayer Book an Idol if it be not an objection of great impiety by calling true Religion Idolatry yet it is an argument of great absurdity because it may cast the Bible must cast the Sabbath out of the Church For men may Idolize one good Book as well as another so the Bible may go ere long but some have already Idolized the Sabbath so that must stay no longer I do the rather instance upon this latter for that it comes neerest our present case 1. Because publick prayer is the duty of the Sabbath and that ought to be publick in its substance that is in its matter and form as well as in its Accidents that is time place and persons 2. Because the same Method is to be observed in words as in time Gods consecration is to be the rule of ours in them both he hath consecrated we may what he hath consecrated we must he hath said make holy we may he hath said make holy the Sabbath day we must he hath said when ye pray say thus we must he hath said after this manner therefore pray we may Had he not given us that latitude we might not have taken it but must have only used such prayers in his publick worship as his holy Spirit had left us in the holy Scriptures Now he hath given this latitude we must make the best use of it by making and using such prayers as we know are after this manner though not in these Words we have as great need of set forms of prayers to find our tongues as of set forms of Laws to bind our heads to
and Adoration of God and a right profession to glorifie his most holy name according to the three first Commandments How doth it not bind us to its communion in all these according to the fourth If we cannot deny the purity how dare we deny the publike exercise of our Religion For surely he that will one day say Depart from me ye cursed to those who have carelesly neglected their duty towards their neighbours will never say Come ye blessed to us if we wilfully neglect our duty towards our God but our peevishness now saying unto him in effect Depart from us Thou blessed will then most certainly be recompenced with his Justice saying unto us Depart from me ye cursed Our departure from him is now voluntary it will then be necessary it is now our sin it will then be our punishment For if we shall be condemned for our omissions towards our brethren much more shall we be condemned for our omissions or rather for our contempts towards our Saviour And those Jehu's which drive furiously not to throw down the worship of Baal but of the true everliving God shall without doubt answer at the last day not only for their furiousness as guilty of Schism but also for their contempt as guilty of profaness not only for their breaking the Christian communion but also for their opposing the Christian Religion they cannot set up the abomination of desolation in the Holy place and pull down holiness from thence but themselves will be in Gods account abominable and desolate So saith Junius in his Parallel upon Saint Mat. 24 15. Appellatur exercitus omnis infidelium ad subversionem desolationemque populi Dei comparatus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Abominatio desolationis Abominatio quidem propter naturam constitutionem ipsius quia totus ex hominibus abominandis infidelibus conflatus est Desolationis vero ab effectu quia horridam desolalationem fuerat importaturus loco in quem irruerit Christ calleth those Roman Armies which were to lay waste Jerusalem The Abomination of desolations Abomination from their persons because they were abominable men desolation from their work because they were to make Hierusalem waste and desolate If those men were the abomination of desolation who laid waste the City of God what are they who lay waste the worship of God Therefore saith the Spirit of God in Psalm 68. that such men are Gods enemies and must expect to be scattered and either speedily to vanish like smoak after they have a little troubled our eyes or at least to melt like wax that they may not stay so long as to harden our hearts For he is the God that maketh men to be of one mind in an house verse 6. and most loves they should be of one mind in his own House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the 70. Inhabitare facit unius moris in domo He makes those of the same fashion to be of the same family He makes men to be of one disposition and of one conversation that they may be of one communion And he accounts them but runnagates that are not so But letteth the runnagates continue in scarceness Nay the Hebrew calls them Rebels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the rebellious The Greek translations do render this one word four several ways 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the 70. Qui exasperant they that are contentious ready to exasperate and to provoke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Symmachus Incruduli They that are incredulous and hard to believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aquila Abscedentes They that are exceptious or ready to depart from the known way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theodotius Declinantes They are erroneous and actually declining into false wayes for so is that word used Psalm 124. v. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Declinantes autem ad tortuosas vias such as turn aside unto their crooked ways All which sins are combined together in this one of wilful schism which makes men Runnagates for their inconstancy Rebels for their disobedience contentious for their bitterness incredulous for their blindness exceptious for their apostasie and erroneous for their pertinacy Such men are commonly Hot-headed and Hard-hearted in their sin and they are accordingly tormented with Heat and Hardness in their punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitabunt aestus siccitatem saith Symmachus They shall dwell among burning drought that shews their punishment from heat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitaverent rupem saith Aquila they do dwel among rocks that shews their punishment from Hardness And what is the reason of all but because they are enemies to God in being enemies to the communion which he hath established for so it is said ver 26 Give thanks O Israel unto God the Lord in the congregations but they neither regard Israel nor the God of Israel nor the giving of thanks nor the congregations And therefore these words Rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee which were used by Moses when the Ark set forward Num. 10. 35. are here by David formed into a perfect Psalm which was sung afterwards saith Musculus before that same Ark when David and all the house of Israel brought it up to Zion with shouting and with dancing and with the sound of the trumpet 2 Sam. 6. 15. The Ark was a Type of the Church and therefore this Psalm which once concerned the Ark and its enemies doth now concern the Church and her enemies and Saint Paul in effect assured us as much in that he hath applied the 18 verse of this Psalm to our Saviour Christs Ascension wherein he gave such gifts to men by which the Christian Church was first founded and doth still subsist So that it is evident that this Psalm is a prayer for defence and propagation of the Catholick Church and consequently these and the like expressions that are found in it are so many imprecations and curses from the Spirit of God against his Churches enemies The like is often to be observed in the whole book of Psalms which is very full of expostulations with and imprecations against the enemies of the Church and that being a book of devotions of Gods own making may neither be neglected by his servants nor yet securely used by his enemies for they will but curse themselves by using it and more mischief themselves by not using it A sad condition which the Churches enemies most unavoidably bring upon themselves either not to use those devotions which were of Gods own composing or to use them against their own prosperity in this world and salvation in the next I will make but one instance more and that shall be out of Psalm 129. one of the Psalms of degrees or Ascensions which were so called saith Kimchi from Rabbi Sudia because the Levites in singing those Psalms were bound to exalt their voices and as it were to ascend higher and higher in every Psalm so
due is to deny the Text and to be a Heretick against the fifth Commandment and t is as hard going to heaven for Hereticks against the Decalogue as against the Creed surely Mordecay and Hester would not have appointed the feast of Purim for two dayes by their own authority if the secular Magistrate had been confined by God only to secular affairs and prohibited to intermeddle in Ecclesiastical Wherefore we dare not but say this trust this power is indeed the Princes birth-right and is as inseparable from his Crown by the dictates of God and nature as his Crown is from his head or his head is from his body And t is happy for us it is so for else such is the wickedness and such would be the outrage of headstrong Schismaticks Hereticks and Atheists that we should soon come to have no appearance or shew of a Church and no form or face of Religion For the spiritual power of Preaching exhorting correcting administring praying excommunicating which is all that Church-men can do by vertue of their Orders can only enable them to preserve the purity and the truth but not the outward publick solemnity and practice of Religion that depends very much if not altogether upon the external or temporal power both for its being and for its continuance For if men once turn mad and outragious as t is very easie for those who are out of their honesty to be also out of their wits the fear of Gods Judgements will no more terrifie them then the love of Gods truth will perswade them to consult with their consciences so that neither fear nor love of God is like to bring them to a right order in his worship and service nor to keep them in it wherefore in such a case as this and a mischief that hath already been so often felt ought to be alwayes feared unless the secular arm defend the Church well there may be some private love and desire but there can scarce be any publick practice and exercise of the true Religion This Augustine proves at large Epist 50. Bonifacio comiti de moderate coercendis Hereticis which himself would have us look upon as a full Tractate because in the second of his Retract cap. 28. he calls it a Book Scripsi librum de correctione Donatistarum In which Book he useth many arguments why Kings by their secular power should both defend and vindicate Religion 1. Because those were blamed in the Old Testament who did it not those extolled above all others who did it 2. Because it was the duty of Kings so to do for that else though they might serve God as private men yet not as Kings unless they made Laws to compel others also to serve him Aliter enim servit quia homo est aliter quia etiam Rex est Quia homo est ei servit vivendo fideliter quia vero etiam rex est servit leges justa praecipientes contraria prohibentes convenienti rigore sanciendo Kings serve God as men by being religious but they serve him as Kings by making severe Laws in the defence of Religion 3. Because the Church might lawfully call upon them to do it for though the Apostles desired not the assistance of the Heathen Princes in their dayes because that prophesie was not yet fulfilled why do the Heathen so furiously rage The Kings of the Earth stand up together against the Lord and against his Christ Yet now the Church may desire the assistance of Christian Princes since that is come to pass which followeth in the same Psalm Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be learned ye that are Judges of the earth For now that Kings are called to the knowledge of Religion t is not rational to say they are not called to the defence of it Quis mente sobrius Regibus dicat Nolite curare in regno vestro à quo teneatur vel oppugnetur Ecclesia Domini vestri non ad vos pertineat in regno vestro quis velit esse sive religiosus sive sacrilegus quibus dici non potest non ad vos pertineat in regno vestro quis velit pudicus esse quis impudicus What sober man will say to Kings It is no part of your care to look after the Church of your Lord who do possess it or who do oppose it as if they were not to look after mens piety who are to look after womens chastity as if it concerned them that there should be no bastards not much more that there should be no sacriledge or idolatry in their kingdoms 4. Because Kings by their temporal power might redress many mischiefs which else were not like to be redressed For though the best Christians were moved by love yet the most Christians were awed by fear Sicut meliores sunt quos dirigit amor ita plures sunt quos corrigit timor And to this purpose he applies several Texts of the Proverbs particularly this of Prov. 29. 19. Verbis non emendabitur servus durus A stubborn servant will not be corrected by words Quum dixit Verbis non emendari non eum jussit deseri sed tacite admâ—nuit unde debeat emendari when be said a stubborn servant will not be corrected by words he would not have him left incorrigible but privately intimated the way he should be corrected sc by stripes or blows For God often useth the scourge to his best servants to bring them to himself therefore it is not cruelty but mercy in Christian Kings to scourge his enemies unto him whereas the Donatists object Cui vim Christus intulit quem coegit Whom did Christ force or compell to be a Christian I answer saith he Let them look on S. Paul Agnoscant in eo prius cogentem Christum postea docentem prius ferientem postea consolantem mirum est autem quomodo ille qui poena corporis ad Evangelium coactus intravit plus illis omnibus qui solo verbo vocati sunt in Evangelio laboravit Let them confess that Christ did first compel then instruct Saint Paul first strike him down then raise him up and it is very observable that he who was forced to the Apostleship by the pain and punishment of his own body was more laborious therein then they who were only called by the word of Christ 5. And lastly Because the Donatists used un just violence to oppose and opppress the Church much more should Christian Princes use their just power to uphold and to maintain it Cur ergo non cogeret Ecclesia perditos filios ut redirent si perditi filii coegerunt alios ut perirent Why should not the Church force her lost children to come to the way of life since they force their brethren to go to the gates of death Et ipse Dominus ad magnam coenam suam prius adduci jubet convivas postea cogi for even our Lord himself first appointed guests to be invited but at last to
particular supplication that they may be remedied and yet none are more averse from particular Confession then those that are most angry with the Church for the want of such particular Petitions But to say the truth The Church hath sufficiently provided for such particulars in that she hath taken the Psalms of David into her publick Devotions which Book is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to use Epiphanius his word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arcula medica a Box of Medicines for all diseases Here he that hath a dead heart shall find affections to enliven it he that hath a slow tongue expressions to quicken it Nor is it possible for that man to want either faith or repentance or thankfulness or any other true spiritual good to comfort and strengthen him either against the evil of sin or the evil of punishment who can truly apply the prayers of the Psalmist to his own heart and truly apply his heart to God and no Prayer whatsoever can either comfort or strengthen him without this twofold application viz. of the Prayer to his own heart and of his heart to God And as for variety of words let him not trouble himself for he were better cordially say with David Have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness or In thee O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion then verbally expatiate in greater discourses but lesser desires of this Mercy or of this Trust He will find more true contentment to his soul from the use of one short ejaculation of Gods then in the use of many enlargements of his own making And he were better in brief say with the Publican God be merciful to me a sinner which equally concerns any other true Penitent then make a long prayer with the Pharisee which may only concern himself For it is more like Heathen then like Christians for men to think they shall be heard for their much speaking Mat. 6. 7. and yet if they will needs speak much it is more probable God will hear them speaking in his words then in their own So that if God hath sufficiently provided for our occasional necessities in the holy Scriptures our Church hath likewise sufficiently provided for the same in translating those holy Scriptures and making them a great part of her publick service that we may know how to use them upon and how to apply them to our several occasions For as that general promise whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed Rom. 10. 11. doth warrant every good Christian to make particular application of Gods promises to his own soul by special faith so that other general promise whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10. 13. doth warrant every good Christian to make particular application of his own soul to God by special Prayer And as the holy Scriptures are most abundantly sufficient in the rules and examples of special faith so also in the rules and examples of special prayers And as we justly say That the holy Scriptures do shew their original to have been from God because they speak so much in so little containing so many Truths in so few words for only he that understood all things at once was able to intend and comprize so many things together so we as justly say The Church hath taken the best course she could to improve our understandings in those divine Truths in that she hath made it easie for us to understand the holy Scriptures And consequently though she had devised millions of particular prayers for no other purpose but to instruct us to pray upon particular occasions yet she could not have instructed us half so well as now she hath meerly by imparting to us Gods own Instructions And till the Church of Rome shall do the same it will be vain for her Champions to object that she hath out-gone the Protestant Churches in the care of the peoples souls but this by the way to shew the grounds we go upon in our Religion are equally good against the Papists and against the Enthusiasts But neither is this all that we can say for our Church in this behalf for in truth she hath provided such admirable prayers as are not only according to the Rule of Gods holy Word but also very much according to the Genius of it comprizing much in little having more of Faith Hope and Charity in one of her little collects then is to be found in many of their long prayers who either revile her Devotions or renounce her Communion So that if we will not be as wasps good for nothing but to buz and sting but rather as Bees ready to gather honey even from weeds and much more from the roses of Sharon we shall easily find to the joy of our own hearts and the stopping of others mouths That our Church in her Common-Prayers hath taught us such Generals as may sufficiently supply for all particulars And hath taught us such eternals as ought to be in our account as they are in themselves infinitely beyond all Occasionals our blessed Saviour himself hath taught us this lesson concerning the manner of our prayers Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him Mat. 6. 8. as if he had said you need not ask your heavenly Father as you need your earthly parents in many words but only with true and upright hearts this made our Church delight in short prayers because she rather desired to shew a relenting heart then an over-flowing tongue as praying to him that weigheth only hearts not words in the ballance of his Sanctuary A short prayer best suits with an hearty desire which is too earnest to be long in uttering and also with the desires of our hearts in regard of heavenly things which most commonly are too weak to be long in desiring The Church in her short prayers hath taken a great care for our earnestness and withal provided a certain cure for our weakness and if any man think that Through Jesus Christ our Lord comes in too soon because the Prayers are short or too often because they are many let him know That this one single observation in these five words speaks more to God for us then we by thousands of continued Periods in our longest prayers are able to speak for our own selves and if there were no other reason but this yet for this reason alone were many short prayers to be preferred before one long prayer both in our private and in our publick Devotions Again our blessed Saviour hath also taught us this lesson concerning the matter of our Prayers Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Mat. 6. 33. as if he had said Regard chiefly your Continual not your Occasional your Spiritual not your Temporal necessities in your Prayers be earnest with God to give you Faith Hope Charity Religion Repentance Obedience