take heed that nothing false is said by him to cause himself to attend to what is true anâ— important to awake and inflame Affections thereto by proposing or urging the reasonableness of them by upbraiding his Infirmity Dulness Ignorance Mistake Slavery in his Senselesness of the best things I think too that this Assistance is principally in holy Affections that is such as are rightly directed and moderated to the most excellent Objects and in their due Degree more than in Sense and Words also principally upon some extraordinary Occasion either for the great need of its being well performed just at such a time or the necessary want of Time and it may be of natural Ability of the Person if innocent and humble and therefore always especially to the innocent and particularly the humble and modest not to the lazie negligent weak yet vainly conceited presumptuous and proud Person I rather think that they have most of this Assistance who least pretend to it who least therefore wilfully neglecting their own endeavours trust to it but only modestly think it may be sometimes in some things and whether it be so or be not so do attribute all they are or do or can perform ultimately to God whether it be by natural Parts or habitual Gists or present Influence who acknowledg that all holy Desires all good Counsels all just Works do proceed from him and thank God that he is pleased to do any good to others by them though they should be very well pleased too if it were done by others so it were done If it pleased God to afford a greater degree of this Assistance to do good this way there is no good Man I suppose but would be very glad thereof and willingly receive it and thank God for it And for ought I know it may be afforded to the World in greater degree First in respect of good and holy Inclinations and sense of Soul called Graces and then in those Perfections of our understanings which are called Gifts before the whole design of Christianity and consequently the present condition of Man-kind here on Earth hath and End but then we must certainly know it to be so when it is The Badness the Pride and Vanity of many Persons their self-conceit swelling with a false opinion that they are so highly favoured of God Contempt of others because inferiour to them in this respect want of Humility Modesty Charity also Falshood Uncertainty Unintelligibleness to other Persons wise and Pious in the Reciter's Non-sense or great Confusion Trivialness and Uselessness of things and consequently the Pedantry or Childishness of the Persons sometimes also the mischievousnesâ— of things are sufficient signs in their degreeâ— Non-inspiration and therefore of the Madness and Contemptibleness of such pretences They are signs even of want of ordinary considerâ—tion Reason Judgment of Ignorance Duâ—ness Confusion Error and yet Rashness anâ— Confidence And where Prayers and Persons are bettâ—â— and the clean contrary yet surely full easilâ— may all that we now see be by the Goodnessâ— the natural Parts before mentioned and by hâ—bituaâ— Gifts that is those Faculties endoweâ— with some Perfection belonging to them by God's special Influences some time or timeâ— in our Lives without the special Influence â—â— the Spirit just then And we find extempâ—râ— Performances in other matters to be performed as well as in those divine Offices as in Orations in common discourse especially when warmed with Talking and Passions and yet these are attributed only to natural Parts which in some Men are very quick and lasting of great Variety conversant about more than ordinary things and may not unfitly be termed natural Enthusiasm Of which the bodily cause according to the Laws of union of Body and Soul which God hath fixed is Subtilty Solidity Copiousness of Spirits a well constituted Brain Organs of Speech and the Nervous passages of the Brain thereto c. I would try any Man who should pretend to be even a Prpohet and did even work Miracles by such Signs as I have now mentioned and they may reasonably in some degree over-weigh the greatest appearing Miracles themselves For I may have more certainty and evidence that some things are unworthy of God or that they cannot be done by oâ— proceed from such a Nature as Gods is then that any effect is caused by God's immediate action or influence for the Confirmation of any thing taught or affirmed and not by some natural and second causes And we see accordingly the Jews were admonished by Moses that even if one should rise up who should foretell things to come and yet teach that Jehovaâ— was not the true God but should draw them to other Gods and there is the like reason in all Truths as clearly manifested by Revelation or Reason he was not to be believed that God had sent him but to be rejected and put to death Deut. 13. v. 1. As for those poor deluded or Hypocritical Men who sit in deep silence a great while and of a sudden break out with abundance as is said of Non-sensical stuff or Prophetical Phrases cluttered together and then think themselves inspired by the Spirit most probably their silence was at first affected or if not their bodily Temper was only dull and after some time their Brains were agitated with thoughts and their Hearts with Passions or their Temper was fortuitously changed as most Men are apt to be silent and talkative once in two or three Hours or at least the Examples of others make them begin to talk too and to shew the Spirit comes upon them They may do well also to have a care there be noâ— something a worse cause when Men so proudly and wilfully expose themselves to such miserable sottish Delusions These few things I have at present upon the mentioning these Sorts or kinds of Prayer only briefly suggested If one had a mind accurately and particularly to determine in this matter a Form premeditated and extempore Prayer would be considered first absolutely with each ones conveniencies and Inconveniencies good or bad Effects in which again are to be observed the degrees of their Extension as to Subjects that is Persons of their Intension of their Duration or their Frequency in three words their degrees of greatness as to Extension and Intension and of Lastingness And then again they would be considered comparatively which had most or least Conveniencies or Inconveniencies for all things have some of both and whether the using of one of them or a mixture of all of them would be best to obtain the greatest Conveniencies or good Effects with the least bad ones A Method which is to be observed in the Determination of the goodness absolute or comparative of all things To do which to any good Effect Men must be impartial and indifferent to any thing but the Truth out of Charity to Mankind as in all other Cases of Controversie and Debate it is perpetually to be admonished and dispose themselves by
in the World I say generally not always c. For sometimes a man may better know the cause effect or like of a thing than its essential nature and then it will be better to endeavour to convey the knowledge or conception of this essential nature by a word which properly signifies to him its cause effect or like c. and accordingly we often see that we are sain to describe especially an intellectual thing by its likeness effects c. to make some persons understand and conceive it But I am slipping too far into a Philosophical Digression To apply this direction more usefully It is particularly to be observed That many Scripture-Words and Phrases which are figurative though often used do not convey their sense to the generality of Auditors or Readers so clearly as proper words now in common use among us both because they are figurative and also because the things from whence they are taken and other circumstances of speech are nothing near so well known to us now as they were then to those to whom they were first spoken or written or as the natures of the things themselves There are many Metaphors Allegorys and other figurative speeches of the Scripture especially of the Old Testament used ordinarily in Prayers and Sermons which people generally do not at all â—r very obscurely and darkly understand â— am sure they would far more clearly understand the sense it self designed to be signified by them if it were expressed by the most sit words of our own Language Of this it were easie to give instances Moreover Many things in the Scripture might have been more clearly by proper â—peeches expressed even to those to whom they were then delivered if God had so pleased but it might seem good to Divine Providence for many reasons which we have not generally that some things should be delivered obsurely as to excite mens diligence and endeavour to understand them â— detain mens employment about them â—nger to give occasion for mutual forbearance and charity in case of dissenting Nay one reason might be that we might have the satisfaction of finding out and conveying the sense more clearly to others Wherefore when we use Scripture-Phrases which are not clear enough of themselves as it may be often sit for the Authority and better memory of what we say This Rule as well as the rest having their exceptions it will be most prudent for us to paraphrase or to explicate them by the speech most proper for the things now in use with us of which some instances are given in a following Direction Hereby also many confused and erroneous conceits in the sense of Scripture would be prevented The Holy Scripture is the most abused piece of writing extant that I know and that not only by the unlearned always and especially of late among us but many times by some of the learned Fathers Councels Postillers And if men should have explicated and used the Text of Aristotle or the Terms of any Science with as little understanding as they do the Holy Scriptures they would have exposed themselves to shame enough But because the Holy Scriptures are of so mighty concernment to all sorts of persons it is more reasonably permitted to them to be more conversant therein though with great defects and follys which notwithstanding men are to prevent and mend all they can that so they may have the greatest benefits and advantages of the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures with the fewest and least inconveniencies SECT XV. 7. LEt our words and phrases the signs of our conceptions or thoughts be distinct in opposition to ambiguity and doubtfulness Let them not be such as may signifie in all the circumstances with which they are spoken more things than one Such are very many words and phrases and it is a principal defect of Language I speak not concerning the confusedness complexness of our conceptions or thoughts one of the chief defects of knowledge yet remaining to be remedied as much as the World can bear but of the signs of them If our thoughts be complex confused general as we may out of choice prepare only such and not too subtle and distinct according as men are more or less capable our words should be those which properly and distinctly signifie such Whether our conceptions be confused â—or distinct our words should be such as properly signifie them But of this though but â— little is enough in this place SECT XVI 8. LEt not these signs and expressions be longer than are needful for the most perfect conveyance of Thoughts or Affections c. As 1. Not more words when one would serve not a Sentence by which I mean now not a Proposition but many words when one word may be had and easilier too which may serve a great usage of our modern style whereby a great deal of paper and time is spent oft-times to little or no purpose 2. Not many different words or sentences for the same thing except for some such reasons as have and may be mentioned as because of the variety of Auditors or to detain their attention longer or for memory or to signifie affection or on purpose to obscure a thing or for any other reason which prudence may think fit The multitude of ideas of words and sentences confound divert or blunt the perception and attention of the mind to the conception of the things signified 3. Not more of the same words or sentences for the same thing or not the same repeated called Tautology when a man saith the same thing in the same words This doth in common use admit of frequent Exceptions For it is better to use this Tautology than not when the thing that is to be conveyed is very excellent of great good use and very necessary for which there is and ought to be in the conveyer very great and somewhat lasting Affections or Passions and consequently his Attention to the thing it self is so much and strongly detained that he neglects the alteration or variety of words to signifie it by as if he had not time or leisure for that I say in such case which in Prayer is and ought to be a frequent thing Tautology or repeating the same words for the same things is and ought to be used and is a natural sign of real and strong affections for excellent things and particularly for that thing where it was used And thus we see it on purpose used in some set Forms But contrariwise it is not allowable when it is used in mean and and smaller things compared with others in Prayer and to which not so great and lasting an Affection is to be given For the time might have been better spent in attention to other things which might have succeeded It is not allowable meerly to gain time or lengthen our Prayers to no better purpose than that it might be said we pray'd so long An Example of this Tautology is that frequent needless repetition of the same
time thereof The reason why this Disadvantage of premeditated or extempore Prayers of single Persons hath not by most of the Despisers of Forms been taken notice of is because they have taken all for true and good which Persons have said and never examined or they have formerly and perhaps often heard the same things from them and others in Prayers and so far these very premeditated or extempore Prayers are indeed a Form to these â—earers 3. Another Advantage of Forms where the same Words are used is That in them the Sense is better conveyed the Meaning of Expressions is better understood Men especially the vulgar by often hearing and attending to Words and Expressions usually know better what they mean than those which are new and not before heard 4. Another Advantage of Forms is that they are very useful for the Memory being often repeated they are more impressed upon the Memory and so if they contain any good useful thing are always the more ready for Use come oftner to the Mind and thereby do some general good They can also be better quoted and cited by one to another upon Occasion of Advice or Reproof when one asks another whether he be and advises that he would or minds him that he is not so good as his Prayers Besides it hath some more Authority it is a Prayer which he himself hath liked approved joyned in it is readier therefore for use a Man needs not stand first to prove the Truth or Goodness of the Thing but presently apply it Whereas in Prayers which are always diverse there is little by most remembred of them and if they be forgotten they can do no more good then what they did at the present when spoken nor if they be remembred can they be so presently made use of nor have they so much Authority as Forms On the other hand the Advantages of a premeditated Prayer may be Frist Increase of Knowledge there being usually more Variety of Things and Things more particular and distinct This is an Effect of premeditated or extempore Prayers not of a Prayer Of many diverse Prayers opposed to a Form not of one only for one Form may contain as much variety of things as one premeditated or extempore Prayer but many diverse premeditated or extempore Prayers opposed to the same Form as many times repeated give Occasion for a more various and distinct and particular Knowledge of of Things It puts Men upon Invention and Consideration of things it prevents Iâ—leness and consequently which most-what follows Ignorance Dulness and Sensuality it causeth Men more to imploy their Minds about the two most excellent Objects of them Truth and Goodness It seemeth therefore in this Respect of one very good Consequence generally for there is Exception that the Clergy be at least permitted to compose Prayers of their own as well as Sermons but then it would be of better Effect still if they had at least sometimes one or more Governors to be their Auditors to overlook them and prudently to incourage them when they did well and direct them when they might do better There may be both too little and too much Employment they both are generally Causes of doing very slightly and ill what is done 2. Consequently for Attention to what is contained in a Prayer premeditated Prayers are a help thereto For what we very well know what we have often heard we are apt to neglect What is new whether Sense or Expression we are apt to take more heed to â—o mark and observe and this because of all our natural Appetites to increase our Knowledge and the Perfection thereof It is reasonable we should gratisie this Appetite but then we must have a care that we do not preser it before a better that is that of the Profitableness or Excellency of the Objects of our Knowledge We must not prefer the Novelty or Variety before the Utility of our Knowledge and so it may be Trisles before very useful Things We should order it so too what we can as to make them consistent one with another and one subservient to the other As that the Variety be of profitable and excellent things But very often Variety and Utility of Conceit are naturally inconsistent and the first is often a sign and sometimes a cause of the want of the second Men of very various conceit are often defective in Judgment or rather in the percepcion and sight of the Truth and Usefulness of things of which the cause might easily be more particularly shâ—wn if it were here proper Wherefore we should be so far from a general Approbation and Admiration of Men meerly for Variety and Multitude of Conceit that it should rather if we see no other reason to the contrary dispose us to undervalue them as being a probable sign of the Defect of a far better Quality than that is 3. Another Advantage of premeditated Prayer is the seasonableness and pertinency of things in Prayer For there may happen some Wants which could not be foreseen at any distance and therefore not provided for or if they he yet some may be more particularly and distinctly and with more Variety of Phrase or Speech and other signs both of our sense or meaning and of our affections which may be of good use though always the same persons should be our Auditors much more when there are many of different capacities insisted upon at some Times and Places than at others The Goodness of such things too thus seasonable pertinent and present is more clearly apprchended and consequently prayed for with more strong and vigorous Affections It may often happen to some persons that when their inventions are warmed with a serious and affectionate reciting their owâ— premeditated Prayer they may see in somâ— things a greater excellency then before theâ— had taken notice of whence their passioâ—â— on a sudden may be more raised and theâ— expressions of them in words more various natural and proper than at another time Sometimes also they may have some neâ— things start into their minds of great uâ— and very pertinent When this is an extempore interposition may be seasonable and nâ— to be excluded especially in private and seerâ— Prayer 4. Another Advantage usually not always of diverse premeditated Prayers is reality and fervency of affection by reason 〈◊〉 the variety of the matter Men generallâ— are less affected with old and well known things than with new The reason of which is the boundlessness of mens desires There is no good so great but we can conceive anâ— consequently desire a greater still till we come to infinite Whence it is that we take off desires from what we already possesâ— and consequently our love and esteem aâ— least for the present and reserve them for some other good still of which we are ignorant We generally think it a mean thing â—o sit down content with less than what we are capable of enjoying We are like the ambitious and covetous man who
1. The First is the truth of them We are to take care that that which is capable thereof be true All things that are the sense or matter of our Prayers besides that which is the proper matter of Petition or Desire may be false or true The matter or objects of our desire indeed cannot because they are all of them as so considered simple not complex things in such manner as Propositions are in which only there is that truth I now mean For Example In acknowledgment of the Divine Perfections we must have a care that what we acknowledge to be in God be really a pure perfection and implies necessarily no imperfection or defect in the least and therefore that it is really in him Thus when we make an acknowledgment of God's absolute Power and Sovereignty of doing whatsoever he willeth and pleaseth we must have a care of thinking he can by his own intrinsick Power or that it is in his Nature to determine himself contrary to the Laws of Righteousness or Universal Goodness which is all one As for Instance That he can or that there is any capacity in his most perfect Nature to will all his Creatures to be miserable and to make them for that purpose nay or to will any number of them nay any one of them absolutely and ultimately to be so nay or the least evil to any of them without any further respect to any other good but only that he pleaseth himself therein this is contrary to Reason and express Revelation It is true there is no superiour cause to God's Will or his active Power that makes him to be good or restrains him from making any of his Creatures unhappy or miserable we should be mistaken again if we thought so but we neither ought nor can conceive if we attend to the Nature of God and Perfection that it is possible ever for him to will absolutely and ultimately the least evil or misery of his Creatures his Will can never be so disposed it is not in his Nature to will so cannot please him That which I conceive the best disposed men mean confusedly and are not offended with when they acknowledge God's Soveraignty so unlimitedly as that he can do what he will with his innocent Creatures and either immediately though such or mediately first contriving a necessity of sinning throw them into Hell if he pleaseth is that there is no superiour cause to his own Will why he doth not so which is true not that it is possible for him ever so to will or to be pleased therewith That even the due Relations of our Actions to their Objects or their Justice or Righteousness is something and therefore made by God or dependent upon his Will for all things must have his Will or active Power to be the Cause But then we cannot conceive his Nature such as ever to have willed contrary or not to have willed these Relations not to have willed that which is just and right There have been both of the most prophane and of the greatest Religionists but mistaken who have I think entertained these false and most mischievous Opinions concerning God So on another hand in the acknowledgment of the Divine Goodness men may have a conceit and acknowledge that God is so good that he will make all men happy and therefore pass over all their sins though never so great and heinous numerous and many that he will not punish them neither here nor hereafter and this though they do not repent and their minds and natures are not changed at all or very slightly They say they are sinners but God they hope will forgive them for God is merciful as they use to express it This is a very mischievous falshood and implies him even not to be Universally good to all his Creation not to do the greatest good to it for he cannot be so unless he restrain sometimes wickedness and sinful mischievous Purposes and Resolutions of Will and put a difference as to Happiness between the Righteous and the Wicked sometime and in some measure or other according as seems best to his infinite Wisdom This also is contrary to Reason and the express revealed Will of God So again Those who may acknowledge the Divine Tenderness and peculiar Love to them and to some certain others that he will not see any sin in them and will not punish them in the least for it but that they are peculiarly destined to an unconceivable Glory and Felicity in another World notwithstanding they live in their Sins and are no better than others and are very well content so to do and be who say further that God hath provided and found out a way to excuse them from actual obedience to his Laws and from punishment in case of constant failure without any amendment that they indeed have very corrupt hearts but God for Christ's sake will pardon all These persons make God and Christ the worst Patrons of sin the most unrighteous the most partial to bear with and pardon it in a few whom he pleaseth but to punish it in all the rest with the greatest severity Nothing more repugnant to Reason and Scripture in Rom. 2. In Confession in like manner we must have the like care and as near as we can say nothing but what we know to be certainly true Wherefore we must have a care that we do not confess that we deserve punishment in such things which are not sins nor that we are guilty in those things which really are sins when we are not Nor on the contrary perhaps excuse our selves or think our selves innocent or good when we are bad think those things no sins nay very good actions which are bad ones That which may often be in those which are done with pretended or some little real zeal confusedly for the glory of God mixed with much more or other undue selfish ends and unlawful appetites Nor must we acquit slatter connive at our selves and think our selves not guilty of any sins and it may be thank God for it too when we are being either ignorant and forgetful of our selves or wilfully vainly conceited The greatest part of the World are very presumptuous and conceited generally of their own innocency though they may sometimes in words only or very slightly say they are sinners insomuch that if you should enquire of them what they have been or how they have lived they 'l tell you that no man can say any harm by them and they know nothing amiss they thank God by themselves they hardly know one sin by themselves or one bad action to confess or they must study upon it or be put in mind of something or other whence they conclude themselves very innocent and take it for granted and act accordingly as if it really were so and God knew as little by them as they do by themselves when perhaps they have rarely done any good action and they have little good in them If they should
mean â—â— general their doing every thing they listed and pleased not only upon the day now ordinarily called their Sabbath but also upon other their holy days And that they made the rule of their actions on those days only their own will and pleasure not God's This they neglected and had no regard to and therefore they neglected and slighted those things that God had on those days commanded them Those words cannot mean their doing some things which might please themselves for eveâ— what God commanded might and ought to please them and they were to delight themselves in them Again The sense of the words shalt honour him not doing thine own ways c. is no other but that they should in general honour God by keeping his Commandments and preferring his Will before their own will and ways when inconsistent with or opposed thereto and particularly by keeping his Commands whatsoever they were concerning the observation of the Sabbath that by the Phrase of their own ways is meant their sinful ways in opposition to God's Will and Commands is manifest from Isa 66. Verse 3 and 4. Another mistake is That supposing the Jews were commanded by God for the 24 hours of the Sabbath to abstain from all words and thoughts which were not nearly at least relating to the immediate Worship of God that this Command obligeth all Christians For on the contrary it is most certain that no Commands given to the Jews by Moses oblige any Christians as given by him They were particularly directed to that particular people and no other If there be any of those Commands that are enjoyned from God by Christ who was the great Prophet and Messenger of God to all Mankind or by Reason and Natural Light so that they appear in all circumstances to have more good effects than bad ones then indeed they oblige all men Now the Judaical Observation of the Lord's day to all men howsoever particular that of their Sabbath was is not commanded neither by Christ nor by Reason There is not one word of it in the Scripture And for Reason it is not imaginable that it is possible for all Persons of all tempers in all Climates and places as the affairs of humane nature now are to observe it as the Jews did nor is it of more good effect that it should be so observed And as for the translation of the Jewish Sabbath-day from the Seventh to the First Day of the Week by Christ or his Apostles it is without any ground from any Testimony that I remember to have heard Nor is the Reason usually given more considerable viz. the Redemption of the World by Christ being a greater Mercy than the Creation For the Creation was of Millions more and that of ever blissful and happy and most perfect Creatures than the Redemption was And indeed if the minute circumstances with which the Jews observed their Sabbath be Moral and therefore not changed by Christ and his Apostles much more should the precise day be so Finally it is to be affirmed That only all those Precepts in the Mosaical Law are obligatory to all men at all times which concern the end of all our wills and actions namely the Universal Good consisting of pleasing God the greatest good of others and our own Salvation or most compleatly perfect and happy state and consequently the suppression of all selfish and immoderate Appetites or Lusts in us And moreover those few general Precepts of Prudence which perpetually to observe doth most obtain this our one ultimate end such as the material part of the Commands against Idolatry Prophaneness Irreligion Murder Adultery False-witness c. how many and which these are our own Reason and Prudence if we have them not repeated in our Christian Religion must only determine by the same ways they use in other matters In all that I have said concerning the Judaical Observation of the Lord's day I would not be thought as if I intended or desired in the least to undervalue and discourage the employment of our minds about spiritual things and consequently spirituality of Soul that is such a temper whereby a man is apt to apprehend and be affected with spiritual matters No I would have it introduced into the World as much as humane nature is capable of For although I do not think this employment and temper of Soul to be our absolute and greatest Perfection which I doubt is a mistake among some of the highest Religionists of all sorts and parties yet I know it to be a most excellent Instrument thereof viz. of Universal Love and Goodness in opposition to Selfishness It allays and calms all our bodily Passions and consequent bad Impressions and Inclinations it clears our Reason and Perception of all Perfection of the Nature of God of the Truth of Things and consequently of the Nature and Excellency of Virtue and its only instance Universal Charity and Goodness yea and causeth us to be deeply affected with it to admire and love it It immediately disposeth the Soul to a sweet and easie benignity and goodness c. Wherefore I say I would endeavour to introduce it as much still as humane nature shall be observed to be capable of that is so much as will be the cause of most good among men as their natures or affairs are necessarily constituted For it is certain The employment of a man's mind about spiritual matters may be too much so that it may wast or dull ones spirits and consequently render one less sufficient to apprehend well and be affected with either spiritual or sensible things it may weaken flatten and darken our apprehension and conception diminish and impair much all our natural parts it may render us fearful flattering of too mean an opinion of our selves compared with others superstitious pievish morose by too great an expense or contracting some certain ill Crasis of the Spirits in fine very little and mean minded persons dull afraid of and angry with every small thing beyond measure whereas a free and discreet use of bodily pleasures and converse with ordinary affairs may secure us from those Infirmities But thus much I think the Condition of men will very well generally bear 1. That there be some time set apart for the publick Worship of God to which all men except very rarely may resort which time may be once in the Week at least or oftner 2. Particularly to commemorate his Creation Preservation and Administration of the whole Universe and therein with all sutable affections to acknowledge his infinite Perfections displaied and more particularly to commemorate that part of his providence or administration or direction and government of the affairs of Mankind viz. Jesus's coming amongst us from him for our Redemption from a State of great Imperfection Wickedness Misery by his Doctrine Life gracious Influence procurement of Pardon c. all this also with agreeable affections of Soul for which the day of his Resurrection by his own Power
to think they oblige the Divinity by the honour they do it by their Prayers to grant them what they desire The Jews at this day think and say that God cannot withstand their Prayers It hath been said I doubt but too often vainly and presumptuously that God could not hold out against a praying People But too well known hath been the confidence of many private persons that their Prayers should be answered and as well known hath been their disappointment Many Prayers also may be stuffed with things very trivial and slight comparatively while the greater things are neglected smaller sins and other sins may be confessed eagerly but greater and their own not taken notice of or but slightly Petitions may be made for Worldly things importunately but for Spiritual negligently or coldly We may pray for Gifts or excellent Qualities of Understanding more than for Graces or holy Dispositions of Will For Pardon more than for Goodness For Priviledges more than for Dutys For Justification more than for Sanctification For Peace and Assurance before and more than for Regeneration Renewal of our Natures Mortification of our Lusts Love to God for his Excellencies Charity Humility Spirituality In Prayers also may be very much Insincerity the things desired may be selfish to gratifie immoderate Lusts of Revenge Pride Superiority Envy Covetousness Sensuality Luxury or the like Some Prayers I wish I could not say most may be very cold formal meer words Be not I say very well satisfied so thou hast but prayed though it may be very badly Endeavour not only to pray but pray well and as thou oughtest and therefore make use of such Means and Directions as have been prescribed I add here too as an useful Caution by the by Be not content and satisfied with thy having prayed well If thy Prayers have been such as have proceeded from good Qualities in thee and tend to make thee more so too and thou feelest thy self very much delighted with the Performance thereof and much disposed thereby to the Universal Practice of thy Duty think not that thou hast been good enough at the time of thy Prayers and mayst be negligent every where else In all thy succeeding Actions pursue thy good Disposition begun by thy Prayers at any time by Watchfulness and Reflection all the following day by frequent Checks when thou doest ill and Encouragements and Joy when thou doest well by frequent Ejaculations and Resolutions And so I have done with the Fifth General Head viz. Directions concerning Prayer CHAP. V. SECT I. VI. THe last General Head was the Excuses or Pretences Men usually make why they do not Pray especially in Private or Secret in which I shall be but short They are most commonly but these three 1. That they need not Pray 2. They have not Ability to Pray 3. They have not Time The first Pretence some Men have for not praying is that there is no need of it it is to no purpose and that therefore it is a foolish thing The Reason of which their Opinion is either because they think there is no God at all nor any Being superior to themselves in Power Wisdom and Goodness who hears them when they do pray or else because all future things are willed and determined by God already and that he is unchangeable As to the first of these Reasons if it were true it would render all Prayers and all things contained in them ridiculous indeed But I shall return no other Answer to these Monsters of Insolency and Dulness but that though they hereby call all Mankind except one or two of themselves if there be any Sots and Fools in spending so considerable a part of their time yet the World will have better Demonstrations and they ought to be no less against so Universal a Testimony than ever they have brought to prove them â—o before they will believe it or before these Objectors themselves ought to believe it Moreover there have been in this last Age such and so many Proofs of God's and Spirits Existence both highly probable and some absolutely necessary as I have upon the longest consideration judged that it is nothing but an obstinate Affection of Uncontroulableness and Licentiousness in those who do or may know them or a pitiable dulness which must make them capable of a contrary perswasion As to the Second Reason of God's predetermination of all things It must mean more particularly one of these two things First That it is needless to set our selves to Pray meaning all Ingredients of a Prayer because it is predetermined by God whether we shall or no. Or else Secondly That it is needless to Pray to God for any good thing meaning by Prayer Petition only because he hath predetermined whether we shall have the thing we pray for or no. To the First of these it is to be answered That there is the same reason against all will endeavor action whatsoever to obtain any good thing we want For Example Against the chewing and swallowing our Food that we may be nourished For the Argument runs thus God hath determined before we pray whether we shall pray or not If the first then we shall do it without our will or endeavor If the second then we shall not do it with them In the same manner we may argue God hath determined before we chew and swallow our Food to nourish us whether we shall do those actions or no. If the first we shall do them without our will and endeavour if the second we shall not though we do will and endeavour to do them But we do not see men in this and the like cases abstain from their will and endeavor for such a Reason though it be suggested to them But they always use both where they believe them to be the cause or condition of their obtaining any good thing they desire And indeed they have the greatest reason so to do which is a Second thing to be answered For briefly and not to spend much time here in these subtilties since men must of necessity will and endeavour after something or not whether it be or be not predetermined they shall will and endeavour or not there being no middle surely it is most manifest that they are to take that part of which there appears to them the best Effects and consequences but it is as manifest that there doth appear better effects and consequences of willing and endeavouring after that which is the cause or caution of any good thing than of omitting so to do or lying idle because God hath predetermined we know not which of the two viz. either we shall will and endeavor or not But this is not the ordinary sense of this Objection here though it be in a controversie which hath filled many Volumes To the Second therefore viz. That it is needless to petition God for any thing because he hath predetermined whether we shall have it or no many things may be replyed As 1. Let
but men of more active tempers which are far the greatest number will hardly believe him that useth it to be at all in earnest to mind and be affected much with what he saith they will think him dull because always when they themselves or those with whom they have generally conversed have been seriously and much concerned for any thing they have accustomed themselves to be loud and unequal in their speech and quick fierce multifarious in their gestures In such case it may be advisable to use in part only those gestures which those men do and that with some marks of condescension whereby a man may convey his sense and affections to them and yeâ— not confirm them in their bad usage but rather admonish them of their imperfection For indeed they are not only signs but causes too of strong and ungovernable passions most commonly for little things and consequently of rash and blind actions Rude and vulgar speech and carriage are commonly the causes of rude and vulgar manners But there is no greater breach of this direction than to make Prayers in a Foreign Tongue For here the words are so far from being signs of conceptions to all the Auditory that they are signs to none at all perhaps And this is the foul fault of that Church which pretends to so much wisdom and care in all her Constitutions when hardly any thing can argue a greater folly and tyranny Of this they have heard enough though their pride and other self-interests will never suffer them to acknowledge or amend any thing though never so foolish and mischievous which others shall admonish and advise them of Nay these men do not only appoint those who pray with others to use such a Language wich the Auditors do not understand but also private persons to pray Pater Noster's Ave Maria's and Gloria Patri's a judicious Prayer indeed for they use it for Petition too when sometimes they understand not one Sentence of what they say SECT XIII 5. LEt the signs of all the operations and actions of our Soul particularly of our affections be the most natural Such which are conjoyned in men generally with the things signified even without their wills or endeavours nay they are not disjoyned without some difficulty These signs more certainly convey to others not only the knowledge or conception of the affections which are in us but also the like affections themselves nay sometimes they may be the cause of and excite maintain or increase affections in our selves For which reasons as well as others all instituted and appointed signs are to be the most natural and as little as may be purely arbitrary These last are very often separated from the thing signified which is called formality A common instance too of the unnaturalness of the signification of our affections c. is that we call over-doing i. e. too many and too great a vehemency of gestures and words as it seems to most Auditors These although sometimes in some persons that use them they may be signs natural enough to themselves of good affections for there are degrees in respect of time and persons yet by the generality of Auditors they are judged to proceed from ostentation or meer heat of bodily temper And here we may be admonished that we do not use those which are very natural signs to the generality of an Auditory hypocritically that we do not use them on purpose to beget in them a good opinion of us and to judge that we have such good affections or other worthy qualities in us when we have not nor care perhaps much whether we have them at all really so we may but seem so We may be further advised that they do not proceed from or are consequent upon meerly the heat motion agitation temper of body For there are some persons in whom sighs tears loudness or vehemency of speech for Example do not proceed from nor are conjoyned with their respective passions of sadness grief earnest desire towards any certain objects apprehended evil or good but meerly from the frame and temper or in one word from the mechanism of their body they cannot tell you what it is that so affects them In others again they are very easie and great from every small degree of real passion in them We may see in their abundance of tears deep and frequent sighs great vehemency and variety of speech and gesture whence generally we may think they are brim-full of extraordinary passions when in truth it is not so and either there is none of those passions at all or but in very mean and slight degree Those that affect and endeavour these natural signs of sanctity in Prayers and so in Preaching and all other their Conversation without the things signified for reputation and good opinion or any other self-interest are Hypocrites in intention and design The other in whom they proceed from other causes than those they for the most part naturally signifie but without their will or endeavour are Hypocrites only in event and effect They both often deceive the World but the first more seldom and chiefly by their own fault the second more frequently and by others fault viz. by reason of their ignorance and thinking those signs universal which are not and oft-times they are discovered especially by more observing Auditors which when it happens offends much and causeth them to be a verse from and not to attend to what shall be said by such persons All external signs used before there is the thing signified in us are not hypocritical They may be prudently used on purpose to excite or increase good thoughts and affections in us and to prevent the ill consequence of our bad example As kneeling and intention of the voice may not only be signs of reverence and affection but also the causes they may beget preserve and increase them in our selves and others by our Examples And it may be one good effect of a set Tone in Prayers as well as in other parts of Divine Worship to excite and signifie sutable affections SECT XIV 6. LEt the expressions or signs of our conceptions and thoughts convey them the most clearly in opposition to obscurity Obscurity and confusion of perception of a thing are not the same A man may see with his eye remote objects confusedly without distinction of their parts yet strongly and clearly and on the contrary near objects very distinctly but yet darkly or obscurely And so it is in the minds perception of objects Contrary to this direction generally are Tropical Speeches as Metaphors Metonymies by which names if we respect their Etymology all sigurative speeches might be called i. e. when a thing is signified or expressed not by a word proper to its essential nature but by some one which is proper to something related to it as its cause effect part like contrary The use of this tropical speech seems to me to have been one of the greatest impediments of good knowledge