Bookseller In the Year 1684 MEDITATIONS upon our going to Church with some short Directions for your Demoanour in the House and in the Service of GOD. UPon your going to Church three things will be necessary for you to consider 1. The Condition of the Place whither you are going 2. The great End of your going thither and 3. How there you are to demean your self All this you would consider if you were going to the Palace of an earthly Prince who is but a mortal man like your self and you surely have much more reason to consider the particulars now that you are going unto the Courts of the Lord's house First then as to the House whither you are going t is indeed as to its Fabrick but like other houses made of wood and stone even as the Lords day is but like other days as to the air and light of heaven but the relative holiness of this House and its eminency above other houses will appear by the Names whereby it is called both in the Book and by the people of God Under the Law it was called the Tabernacle of the Congregation i. e. the place of God's meeting with his people the Temple of the Lord where he presents himself to the contemplation or view of his Worshippers sitting betwixt the Cherubims as on his throne of State T is also called the Sanctuary of the Lord the House of God the Habitation of his Holiness and the place where his Honour dwelleth All which Names do explain each other and need no Interpretation Under the Gospel t is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord's House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King's Palace and Oratorium the House of Prayer Any of which Names much more all of them together considered will oblige any man who hath any sense of Religion to obey that command of God himself which is not merely ceremonial and typical but moral and perpetual Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary Lev. 19. 30. Secondly As to the great end of your going to Church it is to present your self before the Lord and there to adore the great Majesty of Heaven from whom you have your life and breath and all things It is not to serve your self by hearing this or t'other fine-gifted Minister tickling your itching ears by his taking Discourses agreeable to your fancy but to serve the Lord is your Errand to his House viz. there to joyn with the Minister and the Congregation in publick prayers and praises of God in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs in Confessions Thanksgivings and Benedictions as wherein chiefly the Service of God consists Behold now praise the Lord all ye servants of the Lord ye that by night stand in the House of the Lord even in the Courts of the house of our God Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary and praise the Lord Ps. 134. 1. 2. As for me I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name Ps. 138. 2. Thirdly As to your Carriage and Demeanour in the house of God you are commanded Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God Eccles. 5. 1. enjoyning thee First to beware of all light unseemly indecent and irreverent carriage and to shew humility and devotion in all the gestures of thy Outward man bowing down thy self and kneeling before the Lord thy Maker Ps. 95. 6. before him who made both thy body and soul and joyned them together that they might be joyned in his Service So worshipped the people of God the whole Congregation bowed themselves with their faces to the ground 2 Chron 7. 3. And so all good people resolve to do We will go into his Tabernacle and fall low on our knees before his footstool Ps. 132. 7. Secondly The foot of the Inward man must also and chiefly be kept upright in the house of God Thy Affections are the feet or motions of thy Soul these must be kept free from all secular cares pure from all sensual lusts clean from all wanton wicked inclinations yea from all thoughts of any worldly concerns for ye cannot serve God and Mammon Mat. 6. 24. In the High-priest's forehead was engraven in a plate of Gold Holiness to the Lord Exod. 28. 36. and every ordinary Priest was commanded to wash before he entred into the Sanctuary Exod. 30. 19 10. intimating that exact Purity and Holiness which is required of all both Priests and People when we approach the presence of the Lord in his holy Temple So saith the holy man of God Holiness becometh thy house O Lord for ever Ps. 93. 5. and he resolves accordingly I will wash my hands in innocency and so will I go to thine Altar Ps. 26. 6. Be not slothful and negligent averse and careless backward and tardy in coming to the Church for many and mischievous are the consequents of coming thare For 1. you rob your self of the opportunity of your private prayers for a Blessing upon the publick 2. You lose the benefit of the publick Confession and Absolution which are of high esteem and value to all who are wisely religious And 3. to deprive your self wittingly and willingly of any part of God's publick Worship is both a sin and a loss of so great an account as cannot easily be exprest nor will be ordinarily believed Against such sinful sloth and neglect endeavour to have imprinted in your heart the love of God's House and of his Service there performed Say with the man after God's own heart Lord I have loved the habitation of thy House and the place where thine honour dwelleth Ps 26. 8. I was glad when they said unto me We will go unto the house of the Lord. Psalm 122. 1. Our feet stand in thy gates O Ierusalem vers 2. I. When you come to the Church-door COnsider that you are now upon entrance into the Presence chamber of the great King of the World whose Throne of Glory is in Heaven above but his Throne of Grace in his Temple here below Say then within your self Surely the Lord is in this place How dreadful is this plaee This is none other but the house of God this is the gate of heaven Gen. 28. 16 17. How amiable are thy Dwellings thou Lord of hosts My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh rejoyce in the living God Yea the Sparrow hath found her an house and the Swallow a nest where she may lay her young even thine Altars O Lord of hosts my King and my God! Blessed are they who dwell in thy house they will always be praising thee Ps. 84. 1 2 3 4 And most happy were I could I both esteem it and make it my greatest joy and constant labour of love to praise the Lord in his Temple II. When you are entred and view the Baptisterion or Font. GIve hearty thanks unto God for your Christendom that
SEVERAL Short but seasonable Discourses Touching COMMON and PRIVATE PRAYER Relating to the Publick Offices of the CHURCH By a Reverend Divine of the Church of England I will pray with the Spirit and pray with the Understanding also 2 Cor. 14. 15. OXFORD Printed by L. Lichfield Printer to the University for Richard Sherlock Bookseller In the Year 1684. A CATALOGUE Of all the following DISCOURSES I. Of the Irregularity of Private Prayer c. II. Dr. Stewards Iudgment c. III. Of the Difference betwixt long Prayers prohibited and continuance of Prayers commanded IV. Meditations upon our going to the Church with some short Directions for our Demeanour in the House of God touching some too-much mistaken and neglected Acts of Divine Worship V. A Sermon preached upon the Archbishop of YORK's Provincial Visitation at Warrington The IRREGULARITY Of a Private Prayer in a Publick Congregation SIR I Have sent you herein my repeated and enlarged Thoughts upon what was once the subject of our serious discourse wherein I would not at all disparage or in the least undervalue the private prayers and devotions of any person whether of the Laity or Clergy whether those prayers be by himself composed or by others whether they be premeditated or sometimes ejaculatory whether fixed or occasional oral or mental for thus and all these ways every truly Religious Christian prays and undoubtedly finds the benefit and feels the comfort of such holy breathings forth of his Soul unto Heaven in his private recesses But that any Person especially such who have entred into holy Orders in this Church of England should presume to use any Prayers in Publick of his own private conception whether premeditate or extemporary before or after his Sermon other than those Prayers which are by publick Authority allowed and published to that end I humbly conceive with submission to my Superiors to be unlawful in several respects First T is a disorder and confusion in the service of God For thus the Publick and Private Worship of God are confounded whilst those private Prayers which our Lord hath confined to the private Closet do yet contrary to his express command appear in publick and usurp the place of his publick Service in the Congregation The holy duties of publick and private Prayers as they are distinct in their own nature and constant use so they are distinguished by our Lord and distinct rules prescribed for the distinct and discreet performance of either Duty First for private Prayer Mat. 6. 6. When thou prayest enter into thy Closet speaking in the singular number to every particular person Secondly for publick Prayer v. 7. But when ye pray use not vain repetitions speaking in the plural number to many assembled together where to avoid the Heathenish practice of much speaking or multitudinous words in Prayer v. 8. a short and most excellent Form is given us v. 9. Thus then publick prayer being distinguished by our Lord from private we are thereby forbidden to confound them in their use and practice 1 Cor. 14. 40. Let all things be done decently and in order not preposterously and disorderly one part of divine worship undermining another and the lesser and more particularuty Dusurping upon the greater and more general religious Office Secondly 'T is not only a disorderly but also an unreasonable Service and so not likely to be acceptable to him who is both the God of Order and of Wisdom And the unreasonableness of this private prayer in publick will appear by considering That all prayers offer'd up unto God in publick must be publickly known consented unto and agreed upon which the private prayer generally is not by all them that joyn therein Upon which agreement and not otherwise Christ hath promised his presence viz. to hear our Prayers and grant our requests Mat. 18 19 20. Again I say unto you If two of you shall agree upon Earth touching any thing they shall ask it shall be done unto them of my Father which is in Heaven for where two or three are gathered together there am I in the midst of them whereupon saith the Gloss out of Origen This is the cause we are not heard when we pray in that we agree not in all things For as in Musick there must be harmony and agreement of voices or else it delights not the hearer so in the Church an assent and agreement is necessary or else God is not pleased neither will he hear the voice of our prayers 'T is this agreement in prayer that denominates our publick worship of God Common Prayer because agreed upon by common consent which doth presuppose that t is known to all that all may joyn therein So it was ever in the Church of Christ the faithful knew what they prayed for and this not at the second hand from the mouth of the Minister but before they joyned with him So Saint Chrysostome Hom. 6. in Tim. You that are faithful know what things are to be desired in Prayer because all Prayer viz. that is in publick ought to be common T is the exhortation of Ignatius Ep. ad Magn. who lived in the times of the Apostles and saw our Lord in the flesh That we assemble together in one place and use one prayer common to all For if the prayers of a Congregation be not known common and agreedupon then First the people cannot joyn therein it being little less than the sacrifice of fools for men to ask of God they know not what but wholly depend upon the Ministers unknown expressions Secondly A Prayer that is unknown before it be offered up is to an English man though spoken in English as a Latin prayer to him who understands no Latin for they are both lame and maimed and cannot stand with common sense except they make use of that Crutch which we so much blame in the Papists viz. an implicite faith to support them and both the one and the other do equally transgress that rule of prayer prescribed by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 15. I will pray with the spirit and will pray with the understanding also Thirdly It is against both the Iudgment and practice of the Universal Church of Christ no footsteps thereof are to be found in Antiquity but many Canons of the Church against it whereof some are noted in the Margin Fourthly T is a transgression of the Laws and Orders of this particular Church of England and this accompanied with the breach of that solemn promise which every Minister lawfully ordained hath made no man being admitted into holy Orders untill he hath attested the lawfulness of the Book of Common Prayer and promised that he himself will use the same and no other in publick subscribing with his own hand this attestation and promise so that the contrary practice in the use of any private prayer by any Minister of this Church is a breach of Fidelity to the Church and to the Reverend Bishop that Ordained him Fiftly T is also a
transgression of the Common Law of the Land which in the Acts of Parliament for Uniformity in Common-prayer both old and new enjoyns peremptorily under severe penalties That no man shall use any prayers openly or in publick but such as are set forth in the said book so that both in this and in the former respects t is an act of Disobedience to the higher Powers and breach of the fifth Commandment I might adde in the last place the Non-conformity of this practice with all other Protestant Communicants beyond the Seas their Ministers being neither fond of it themselves nor permitted such a liberty by their Governors Object But to solve all these particulars t is said A private prayer before Sermon is allowed nay enjoyned by the 55th Canon of the Church which is called indeed a Form of Prayer but therein the Minister is not bound up to the use of the same words but may pray to that effect Answ. First But surely there is no man that understandeth sense and is not blinded with prejudice will say That the form prescribed in the Canons is a Form of prayer but an Exhortation only to move the people to joyn in prayer for Christ's Holy Catholick Church for the King's Majesty for and t is most properly called a bidding of Prayer And 't was Mr. Cartwright that Ring-leader of the Puritan Faction in the time of Q. Elizabeth who first turned this Bidding prayer into a long prayer of his own head and 't was the very Engine whereby he and his followers undermined the Common Prayers of the Church Secondly Because the observance of this Canon was obnoxious to the censure and exceptions of many who desired an absolute Prayer in stead of that bidding Form it was proposed at the Convocation held An. 1640. that it might be so ordered and accordingly there was a short Prayer drawn up comprising all the heads of the Canon the which notwithstanding the confidence some had of its universal reception was rejected by the most Reverend Archbishop who judged it neither safe nor fittng to alter that Canon which was founded on the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth and King Edward the Sixth at the first Reformation which sufficiently evinceth the said Canon to be no Prayer nor yet lawfully to be altered and used Prayer wise Thirdly T is a presumptuous usurpation and affront upon the Church of Christ for any man to thrust himself upon such a Ministerial Office as he is not by the Authority of the Church intrusted withall and whosoever acts the Presbyterian in this particular becomes Independant the one having no more just Authority derived from the Church that ordained him to use such a private Prayer of his own in publick than the other hath either to preach or pray in publick being not admitted into holy Orders nor lawfully called thereunto Fourthly T is an Innovation in Religion a new up start practice brought into the Church not above 70 years ago and may therefore be reckoned inter profanas vocum novitates which the Apostle admonished to avoid even all profane and vain bablings 1 Tim. 6. 20. canting language new words and new ways such as are contrary to those old paths and those good ways which the Lord commands us to enquire after and to walk therein Jer. 16. 16. And such New ways are fitly called profane quasi procul à fano saith the Commentator Lyra in loc because far from the Temple or different from the words and ways of Christ's Church and contrary to the Apostles Depositum tene in the following words hold fast that which is committed to thee 1 Tim. 6. i. e. saith the Father quod tibi creditum non quod à te inventum what the Church whereby thou art admitted to the Ministerial Function hath committed to thy trust and commanded thee to observe hold fast that keep close to that not following thine own fancy and invention to bring in what is New which ever undermines the Old and true way of Divine worship Fifthly If a Call or command from God be herein pretended though not allowed by the Church yet in this particular they are at a loss except they pretend immediate Revelation with the Enthusiasts for there is neither command nor example in holy Writ to justifie this Private prayer in Publick We have many Sermons of the Apostles upon record but no Prayer before any of them so that this is an act of usurpation upon the Publick Divine Worship a presumption to do that which God hath no where commanded nor the Church of Christ allowed Sixthly Liberty being permitted for any person of what perswasion soever to vent his private conceptions by way of Prayer in publick opens a gap to Heresy and Schism in the Church to Sedition and Rebellion in the Kingdom For their private errors and designs being inserted in their prayers do insinuate into the Affections and more mightily inflame the People than by any other way of perswasion whatsoever Old Truths being undermined by New ways of Worship and vain bablings the constant Parents of errors in the Faith 1 Tim. 6. 20 21. Seventhly Thus Separations and Divisions both amongst Ministers and People are bred and nourished for whilst one Minister or gifted man as such are called prays thus and thus and and another in a way and with words divers from him one sort and sect of men likes this mans way method and language tone and gesture another sort is taken more with anothers way Hence One saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo and another I of Cephas 1 Cor. 1. 12. which is the life and being of Schism the remedy whereof is to obey that most pathetical exhortation Now I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing That there be no divisions among you 1 Cor. 1. 10. To speak the same thing and to use the same words in the publick worship of God or as the same Apostle to glorifie God with one mind and with one mouth is the way to avoid divisions and to take off the people from their partiality and fondness in prefetring one Minister before another merely for their less or more eminencies in this unwarrantable way of praying Eighthly By this Private prayer the Publick prayers of the Church are implied to be imperfect and deficient are slighted nay contemned and undermined For they with whom this way is in repute generally slight and slubber over the Common prayer carelesly irreverently and indevoutly but to their own conceived prayers give all the advantages of seeming zeal both in their tone and language elevation of eyes hands and no marvel then that the one be so much applauded by the vulgar and the other slighted especially when they are perswaded by these Enthusiasts that Common-prayer and all the Ceremonies in that celebration are taken out of the Mass-book that they are but a dead letter and the invention of man whereas the private
to this or that Party or Sect which agrees with his Humours and Opinions but To all the Flock impattially and without Hypocrisie and this first affirmatively to instruct the Ignorant to strengthen the weak to confirm the wavering to reduce the erroneous to visit the the sick to comfort the afflicted to bind up the broken in heart to reprove the sinful and to testify against the stubborn and disobedient Secondly Negatively not to break the bruised reed and quench the smoaking flax Mat. 12. 20. not to sow Pillows under all Armholes Ezek. 13. 18. Not to suffer them to settle with ease and without reproof upon the Lees of their sins and and the errors of their wayes Not to claw the scabbed Sheep and scratch the itching ears not to tickle and foment the petulant humors of the Factious not to please those squeazy Palates who nauseate the solid food of Gods publick solemn standing worship under the prophane scurrilous name of Porridge and for no other cause but because it is like it self ever the same constant to it self Like the Glorious Sun in the Firmament which shines every day the same which renders it a worship acceptable as being herein most agreeable to the Immutable nature of God the Father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning Jam. 1. 17. But the Itch after novelties in the Flock and the Itch of popular applause or filthy Lucre in the Pastor whilst the one scratches the Itch of the other Hence the putrid Scabs of Schism and Heresie in the Church of Disobedience and Rebellion in the Kingdome are engendred Against all such sinful Compliance Take heed to your selves my Brethren take heed to your selves and to your vows and promises Sacerdotal and Ecclesiastical confirmed by your respective Subscriptions to the Articles and Canons of the Church to the Injunctions of your Metropolitan and Diaecesan to the Approbation and constant use of the Liturgy of the Church and of that onely in publick In which last particular wherein the greatest part of Ministerial Function consists I cannot but testifie in this Assembly so much concern'd therein That there is utterly a fault amongst us In that those divine and excellent Prayers and heavenly inspired Praises of God and that ancient and constant way of Gods worship in Publick is by many too much slighted and neglected by many irreverently and indevoutly celebrated by many mangled and maimed curtail'd abbreviated and by the Additions of others implicitly vilified And generally almost by all secretly undermind enervated and subverted by each mans private prayer in publick The which private prayer whether before Sermon or at any other time in the Congregation doth not onely secretly imply a defect in the Publick Prayers of the Church which must forsooth be supplyed by mens private conceived prayers but also 't is a disorder and confusion in the service of God for thus publick and private prayer are confounded which our Lord Christ hath distinguished and commanded to be seperately observed to avoid Hypocrisie and vain-glory limiting private Prayer to the private Closet Mat. 6. 5 6. and for avoiding Tautologies and impertinent bablings after the manner of the heathen he prescribes a set form to be us'd in publick vers 8 9. We are commanded when we call upon the Lord to pay our vows to the most High and then he will hear Psal. 50. 14. But can any man think it probable that God will hear their Prayers who sacrilegiously break their vows when they pray by praying otherwise then they have vowed and promised those promises also being agreeable to the Commands of Christ and the orders of his Church And this undoubtedly amongst many others is not the least canse of so many stray and wandring Sheep in every Flock of so many giddy headed and factious minded men in every Congregation of so many seperate Congregations or Conventicles in every Parish one great cause hereof is the falshood and treachery of the Shepherds who in compliance with the noxious humors of the diseased part of their Flock take no heed to themselves nor to the vows and promises they have made in order to the right and regular execution of their Function in feeding of their Flock so for the iniquity and irregular carriage of the Priests the sons of Eli in the sacrifices of the Temple Men abhorred the offering of the Lord 1 Sam. 2. 17. 6. But should not the Flock take heed to the Shepherd as well as the Shepherd to the Flock The duty of the one to the other undoubtedly is reciprocal and the mutual Relation respectively binding Take heed to thy said said the Lord to his people that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth Deut. 12. 19. and Chap 14. 27. Fccl. 7. 30. There is nothing more plainly asserted and more punctually commanded in the book of God then that the people should take heed to their Priests the flock to their Shepherds especially such as are Orthodox and holy that they should hear and obey their voice and make their Application and recourse unto them in all cases of ignorance or doubting For the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they the people should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the messenger or the Angel of the Lord of Hosts Mal. 2. 7. Haec sunt initia haereticorum ut sibi placeant praepositum superbo tumore contemnant Cypr. lib. 3. Epist. ad Florent Hence the Rise of Hereticks in the Church when the people swelling with presumption of their own knowledge and pleasing themselves in their fancies and opinions proudly neglect and scorn to submit to their directions whom the Lord hath appointed to be their Shepherds and Guides of their Souls And thus even thus the people of God fell into Idolatry even that gross and infamous Idolatry of the Golden Calf when slighting Moses and overawing Aaron the high Priest they commanded him who should have commanded them saying Make us God to go before us for as for this man Moses we wot not what is become of him Numb 22. 1. When the same people were weary of the Government of Samuel the Prophet and desired a King the Lord said unto Samuel They have not despised thee but they have despised me 1 Sam. 8. 7. Whereupon St. Gregory Quam reverendi sunt Pastores optimi Sanctae Ecclesiae how reverendly to be esteemed are the Pastors of holy Church who whilst they faithfully serve the Lord in the Execution of their function they are so closely joyn'd unto him in the bond of love that the least slight disesteem or neglect that is cast upon them the Lord takes it as an injury to himself So said the Lord to his Apostles and in them to their Successors He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luc 10. 16. And this duty that the people should take heed to their