Parish ever saw This therefore is that which I shall endeavour to prove at this time And for that end have chosen these words for the ground and foundation of all that I shall say upon this subject Let all things be done to Edifying For the right understanding whereof we must know that the Apostle having in this Chapter discoursed at large concerning the way and manner of holding Christian Assemblies and having proved that whatsoever is there said ought to be spoken in such a Language that all there present may understand and so be edified by it he at last sums up the whole in this Proposition How is it then Brethren when ye come together every one of you hath a Psalm hath a Doctrine hath a Tongue hath a Revelation hath an Interpretation Let all things be done to Edifying As if he should have said Whatsoever gifts any of you have or pretend to yet when you meet together upon a Religious Account for the Publick Worship of God take special care that all things be there done to the Edifying of all who are there present From whence it is plain that the Apostle lays down this as a general Rule necessary to be observed in all Christian Congregations So that whensoever we meet together to Worship and Serve God if any thing be there done which is not for our Edification we come short of this Rule and so we do too if any thing be there wanting that may conduce to that end For according to this Rule as nothing is to be there done but what is for our Edifying so also on the other side all things that are or can be for our Edifying ought to be there done But for our better understanding the true sense and purport of this Rule it is necessary to consider what the Apostle here means by edifying For which we must know That all Christians being as the same Apostle saith of the Houshold of God built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone Eph. 2. 19 20. Hence whatsoever tends to the strengthening supporting cementing or raising this Fabrick higher whatsoever it is whereby men are made more firm and solid Christians more holy and perfect men than they were before by that they are said to be edified And therefore it is a great mistake for men to think as many do that they are edified by what they hear meerly because they know perhaps some little thing which before they were ignorant of For Knowledg as the Apostle saith puffeth up it is Charity that edifieth 1 Cor. 8. 1. And therefore whatsoever knowledg we attain to we cannot be said to be edified by it any further than as it influenceth our minds excites our love and inclines our hearts to God and goodness And that this is the true notion of edifying is plain from the Apostles own words where he saith Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouths but that which is for the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers Eph. 4. 29. For from hence it is manifest that that onely is properly said to edifie that ministers grace unto us whereby we are made more pure and holy than we were before And therefore we read of edifying our selves in love Eph. 4. 16. and building up our selves in our most holy faith Jude 20. which are the two graces that make up a real and true Christian And nothing can be said to edifie but what tends to the exciting and increasing of them Vntil we come as the Apostle saith in the unity of the faith and of the knowledg of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4. 12 13. Hence therefore when the Apostle saith Let all things be done to edifying his meaning in brief is this that in all our Christian Assemblies when we meet together to worship and serve God All things there are to be so done that we may return home wiser and better than we came thither with our knowledg of God and Christ increased our desires inlarged our love inflamed our faith confirmed all our graces quickened and so our whole souls made more humble more holy more like to God than they were before The words being thus briefly explained I shall now apply them to our present purpose and shew that that Form of Religious Worship which is prescribed by our Church established by the Laws of the Land and therefore to be used now in this place agrees exactly with this Rule or Canon of the holy Apostle even that all things in it are done to edifying But before we prove that that Form in particular which our Church hath prescribed is agreeable to this Apostolical Rule it is necessary to prove first That the prescribing a Form in general is so For unless the prescribing a Form in general be according to this Rule no Form in particular that is prescribed can possibly agree with it But now that this Rule admits yea requires the prescribing of some Form is evident from the Rule it self For the Apostle here commands the Church of Corinth and so all Provincial Churches to take care that in their Religious Assemblies all things be done to edifying But how is it possible for any Provincial Church to see that this be done except she prescribes some certain Form for the doing of it If every Minister of a Parish should be left to his own liberty to do what he pleased in his own Congregation although some perhaps might be so wise and prudent as to observe this Rule as well as they could yet considering the Corruption of Humane Nature we have much cause to fear that others would not At least the Church could be no way secured that all would and therefore must needs be obliged to consider of and appoint some such Form to be used in all her Congregations by which she may be fully assured that this Apostolical Rule is every where observed as it ought to be And although we should suppose what can never be expected that all the Clergy in every Province should be as wise and good as they ought to be yet it cannot be supposed that every one of them should understand what is for the Edification of the people as well as all together And therefore it must needs be acknowledged that the surest way to have this Rule observed is for the Governours of every Church and the whole Clergy to meet together by their Representatives in a Synod or Convocation and there upon mature Deliberation agree upon some such Form which they in their Prudence and Consciences judge to be according to this Rule which the Apostle here lays down before them And besides that the prescribing a Form in general is more for our Edifying than to leave every one to do what seems good in his own Eyes We have the concurrent Testimony Experience and Practice of the
Uniniversal Church For we never read or heard of any Church in the World from the Apostles days to ours but what took this course Though all have not used the same yet no Church but hath used some Form or other And therefore for any man to say That it is not lawful or not expedient or not so edifying to use a Form of Prayer in the Publick Worship of God is to contradict the general sense of Christianity to condemn the Holy Catholick Church and to make himself wiser than all Christians that ever were before him Which whatsoever it may be thought now was always heretofore reckoned one of the greatest sins and follies that a Man could be guilty of Nay more than all this too For this is not only to make a Mans self wiser than all Christians but wiser than Christ himself For it is impossible to prescribe any Form of Prayer in more plain and express Terms than he hath done it where he saith When ye Pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Luke 11. 2. And I hope none here present but will acknowledge that Christ by whom alone we can be edified knows better what is or what is not for our Edification than we or all the Men in the World can do And therefore seeing he hath not only prescribed a Form of Prayer for his Disciples to use but hath expresly commanded them to use it we who profess our selves to be his Disciples ought to rest fully satisfied in our minds that the using of a Form of Prayer is not only lawful but much more for our edifying than it is possible for any other way of praying to be The same may be proved also from the nature of the thing it self by such Arguments which do not only demonstrate that it is so but likewise shew how it comes to be so For First In order to our being edified so as to be made better and holier whensoever we meet together upon a Religious account it is necessary that the same good and holy things be always inculcated and pressed upon us after one and the same manner For we cannot but all find by our own experience how difficult it is to fasten any thing that is truly good either upon our selves or others and that it is rarely if ever effected without frequent repetitions of it Whatsoever good things we hear only once or now and then though perhaps upon the hearing of them they may swim for a while in our Brains yet they seldom sink down into our hearts so as to move and sway the affections as it is necessary they should do in order to our being edified by them Whereas by a Set Form of Publick Devotions rightly composed as we are continually put in mind of all things necessary for us to know or do so that is always done by the same words and expressions which by their constant use will imprint the things themselves so firmly in our minds that it will be no easie matter to obliterate or race them out but do what we can they will still occur upon all occasions which cannot but be very much for our Christian Edification Moreover That which conduceth to the quickening our souls and to the raising up of our affections in our Publick Devotions must needs be acknowledged to conduce much to our Edification But it is plain that as to such purposes a Set Form of Prayer is an extraordinary help to us for if I hear another pray and know not before-hand what he will say I must first listen to what he will say next then I am to consider whether what he saith be agreeable to Sound Doctrine and whether it be proper and lawful for me to joyn with him in the Petitions he puts up to Almighty God and if I think it is so then I am to do it But before I can well do that he is got to another thing by which means it is very difficult if not morally impossible to joyn with him in every thing so regularly as I ought to do But by a Set Form of Prayer all this trouble is prevented for having the Form continually in my mind being thorowly acquainted with it fully approving of every thing in it and always knowing before-hand what will come next I have nothing else to do while the words are sounding in mine ears but to move my heart and affections suitably to them to raise up my desires of those good things which are prayed for to fix my mind wholly upon God whilest I am praising of him and so to employ quicken and lift up my whole soul in performing my Devotions to him No man that hath been accustomed to a Set Form for any considerable time but may easily find this to be true by his own experience And by consequence that this way of Praying is a greater help to us than they can imagine that never made tryal of it To this may be also added That if we hear another praying a Prayer of his own private Composition or voluntary Effusion our minds are wholly bound up and confined to his words and expressions and to his Requests and Petitions be they what they will So that at the best we can but Pray his Prayer Whereas when we Pray by a Form Prescribed by the Church we Pray the Prayers of the whole Church we live in which are common to the Minister and People to our Selves and to all the Members of the same Church So that we have all the Devout and Pious Souls that are in it concurring and joyning with us in them Which cannot surely but be more effectual for the Edifying not only of our selves in particular but of the Church in general than any private Prayer can be Lastly In order to our being Edified by our Publick Devotions as it is necessary that we know before-hand what we are to pray for so it is necessary that we afterwards know what we have prayed for when we have done For I suppose you will all grant that all the good and benefit we can receive from our Prayers is to be ultimately resolved into Gods gracious hearing and answering of them Without which they will all come to nothing But there are two things required to the obtaining an Answer of our Prayers First That we sincerely and earnestly desire such good things at the hands of God to which as I have shewn a Set Form of Prayer conduceth very much And then Secondly It is required also that we trust and depend upon God for his granting of them according to the Promises which he hath made unto us in Jesus Christ our Lord. And I verily believe that one great Reason why Men Pray so often to no purpose is because they do not take this course But when they have done their Prayers they have done with them and concern themselves no more about them then as if they had never prayed at all But how can we expect that God should answer our Prayers
acceptable unto him to whom we pray it being a Prayer of his own Composure So that we speak unto God in his own words and so may be confident that we ask nothing of him but exactly according to his own will And though all things necessary for us be vertually contained in the Lords Prayer yet our Church in Conformity to the Catholick and Apostolical hath thought good to add some other Prayers in which the same things are more particularly expressed and desired at the hands of our great and most Bountiful Benefactor All which are so contrived that there is nothing evil or hurtful for us but we pray against it nothing good or useful but we pray for it There is no Vice or Lust but we desire it may be subdued under us no Grace or Vertue but we pray it may be planted and grow in us In so much that if we do but constantly and sincerely pray over all those Prayers and stedfastly believe and trust in God for his answering of them and so obtain what we there pray for we cannot but be as real and true Saints as happy and blessed Creatures as it is possible for us to be in this World Neither do we here pray for our selves only but according to the Apostles Advice we make Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks for all Men yea for our very Enemies as our Saviour hath commanded us Mat. 5. 44. And what can be desired more than all this to make the matter of the Common Prayer Edifying either to our selves or others Nothing certainly but truth and sincerity of heart in the using of it I cannot pass from this Head before I have observed one thing more unto you concerning the Prayers in general and that is That they are not carried on in one continued Discourse but divided into many short Prayers or Collects such as that is which our Lord himself Composed and that might be one Reason wherefore our Church so ordered it that so she might follow our Lords Example in it who best knew what kind of Prayers were fittest for us to use And indeed we cannot but all find by our own experience how difficult it is to keep our our minds long intent upon any thing much more upon so great things as the object and subjects of our Prayers are but do what we can we are still liable to distractions So that there is a kind of necessity to break off sometimes to give our selves a breathing time that our thoughts being loosened for a while they may with more ease and less danger of distraction be tyed up again as it is necessary they should be all the while that we are actually Praying to the Supream Being of the World Besides that in order to the performing our Devotions aright to the most high God it is necessary that our Souls be possessed all along with due apprehensions of his greatness and glory To which purpose our short Prayers contribute very much for every one of them beginning with some of the properties or perfections of God and so suggesting to our minds right apprehensions of him at first it is easie to preserve them in our minds during the space of a short Prayer which in a long one would be apt to scatter and vanish away But that which I look upon as one of the principal Reasons why our Publick Devotions are and should be divided into short Collects is this Our Blessed Saviour we know hath often told us That whatsoever we ask in his Name we shall receive And so hath directed us in all our Prayers to make use of his Name and to ask nothing but upon the account of his Merit and Mediation for us upon which all our hopes and expectations from God do wholly and solely depend Hence therefore as it always was so it cannot but be judged necessary that the Name of Christ be frequently inserted in our Prayers that so we may lift up our hearts unto him and act our Faith upon him for our obtaining the good things we pray for And so we see it is in the Common Prayer for whatsoever it is we ask of God we presently add Through Jesus Christ our Lord or something to that purpose And so ask nothing but according to our Lords direction even in his Name And this is the reason that makes our Prayers so short for take away the conclusion of every Collect or Prayer in the Name of Christ and you may joyn them all together and make them but as one continued Prayer But this would be to offer manifest violence to the Prayers by taking away that which gives them all their force and energy and so making them ineffectual to the purposes for which they are used For certainly the asking all things in the Name of Christ as we do in the Common Prayer is the only way whereby to obtain what we desire and by consequence the most edifying way of Praying in the world The next thing to be considered in the Common Prayer is the Method which is admirable and as Edifying if possible as the matter it self This none can deny that doth but fully understand and seriously consider of it Which therefore that you may all do I shall briefly run through the whole and give you what light I can into it that you may clearly see not only the reasonableness but the excellency of it all along For which purpose I shall instance only in such things which offer themselves at first sight to any one that doth but cast his eye upon it Let us therefore suppose a Congregation of sober and devout Christians such as we all should be met together to perform their Publick Devotions to Allmighty God every one of which hath lift up his heart privately unto him already imploring his Aid and Assistance in the performance of so great a work and so are all now ready to set about it The first thing we do is to read some Sentences of Holy Scripture that so we may begin our Devotions unto God in his own words And they are all such Sentences as put us in mind of our sins against him and of his promise to pardon them if we do repent That so we may present and carry our selves with that Reverence and Godly Fear before him as becometh those who are sensible of their own vileness and unworthiness to approach so great a Majesty and likewise with that Faith and humble Confidence which becometh those who believe that he upon our Repentance will pardon our sins and accept both our Persons and Performances according to the promises which he hath made unto us Then follows a grave Exhortation concerning the end of our present Assembling which is of great use and ought never to be omitted For Men generally are apt to rush into the presence of God without ever considering what they go about Whereas this Exhortation puts us upon considering the greatness of the work which we are now engaged in and
ordained to be used in this Sacrament as the Breaking of the Bread and the Consecrating both that and the Wine to represent his Death the breaking of his Body and the shedding of his Blood for our sins that so our hearts may be the more affected with it and by consequence our Souls more edified by it But this cannot be so well done except there be a place set apart for it where they may all be placed about or near to the Communion Table and so behold what is there done at the Consecration of the Elements Hence also it is that the Seats there are and ought to be so ordered that all that are in them may still look that way and contemplate upon their Blessed Saviour there evidently set forth as Crucified for them The other thing that I would observe unto you concerning the Holy Communion is this that our Church requireth or at least supposeth it to be Administered every Lords-day and every Holy day throughout the year as it was in the Primitive Church For that is the reason that the Communion Service is appointed to be used upon all such days and to be read at the Communion Table that so the Minister may be there ready to Administer it unto all that desire to partake of it Which shews the great care that our Church hath of all her Members that they might be edified and confirmed in the Faith To which nothing contributes more than frequent Communion at our Lords Table Which if people could once be perswaded to they would soon find greater benefit by it then I can express or they themselves till then imagine I shall say no more of it at present but only this That I am so sensible of what I now say that could I be sure to have a sufficient number of Communicants I should be heartily glad to Administer this Holy Sacrament every Lords day both for their sakes and my own too Thus I have given you a short Scheme of that excellent Method wherein our Divine Service is performed Which whosoever rightly considers will need no other Argument to convince him that it is according to the Apostles Rule very Edifying indeed The last thing to be considered in it is the Manner of its Performance by which I mean only the several postures of the Body as standing and kneeling which are used in it for they also are done to edifying While we say or sing the Hymns and Psalms to the Praise and Glory of God we stand up not only to signifie but to excite the Elevation of our minds at that time For as on the one hand if our Souls be really lift up in the praises of God our Bodies will naturally lift up themselves to accompany them as far as they can towards Heaven so on the other hand the raising up of our bodies helps towards the raising up of our Souls too by putting us in mind of that high and heavenly work we are now about wherein according to our weak Capacities we joyn with the Quire of Heaven in praising God now as we hope to do it for evermore For this cause also we stand at the Creeds for they being Confessions of our Faith in God as such they come under the proper Notion of Hymns or Songs of praise to him All our praising God being really nothing else but our Confessing and acknowledging him to be what he is in himself and to us And besides that by our standing both at the Creeds and Gospels we signifie our assent unto them and our readiness to defend them to the utmost of our power against all opposition whatsoever And as for the Gospels particularly they contain the very Acts which our Lord did and the very Words which he spake when he was upon Earth and therefore we who profess him to be our Lord and Master cannot surely but stand up when we hear him speaking and listen diligently to those gracious words which proceeded out of his Divine Mouth And as when we praise God we raise up our selves as high as we can towards Heaven so when we pray unto him we fall down as low as we can towards the Earth not daring to present our Supplications to the absolute Monarch of the whole World any other ways then upon our knees Which is so proper so natural a posture of Supplicants that if all men would but duly consider what they do when they pray to Almighty God the Church need never have commanded them to kneel at that time For they could not chuse but do it No not although the place where they are should seem never so inconvenient for it For we find our Blessed Saviour himself kneeling at his Prayer in the Garden upon the bare ground Luke 22. 41. and St. Paul upon the Sea-shore where he could have no other Cushion but Stones or Sand Acts 21. 5. Howsoever To take off all those little excuses that men are apt to make for themselves in this case the Seats in this Church are so disposed and all things so prepared in them that there can be no inconvenience at all in it but rather all the conveniences for kneeling that can be desired And therefore if any of you shall yet neglect to kneel while the Prayers are read they will give us too much cause to call their Religion into question or to suspect they have none at all For if they had they durst not they could not offer such a manifest affront to the great Creator of the World as to carry themselves no otherwise while they pray to him then as if they were conversing with their Fellow Creatures But why do I speak of their praying unto God It is too much to be feared they do not pray at all nor come to Church for any better purpose then only to see and be seen I am sure they perform no Act of External Worship or Adoration unto God nor shew hm that respect and reverence which is due unto him and so give very great offence to all pious and devout Christians Whereas if all and every person in the Congregation would always be upon their knees while they put up their petitions to the most high God what a mighty advantage would this be not onely to every one in particular but to the whole Congregation in general For as every one would by this means keep his heart more stedfast in the true fear and dread of God and likewise more certainly obtain the good things he prays for as the Fathers frequently assert so the whole Congregation also would be very much edified by it For by this means we should excite and inflame each others Devotions confirm and strengthen one anothers Faith and convince both our selves and all that see us that Religion is indeed a serious thing and that we believe it to be so by our serving God with so much reverence and godly fear as this humble posture representeth And therefore as you tender the love of God the credit of
Religion or the salvation of your own souls I beseech you all in the name of him that made you that whensoever you come hither to pray unto him you do it in that awful lowly and solemn manner which our Church commandeth and as becometh creatures when you speak to your great and almighty Creator that so you may give true worship and honour unto him and also receive that benefit and edification to your selves which he hath promised and you expect from your Publick Prayers This being certainly the most edifying posture that you can possibly use upon such occasions From what we have hitherto discoursed concerning the Language the Matter the Method and the Manner of Performing Divine Service as contained and prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer we may positively conclude that it agrees exactly with the Rule in my Text even that All things in it are done to edifying Which was the thing I undertook to prove I know that many other Arguments might be brought to shew the Excellency and Usefulness of the Common Prayer But these already produced are sufficient to convince any sober and considering Christian of it And if there be any here present who are not yet convinced by what they have heard of it I desire onely one thing of them and that is That they would but make tryal of it for a while For my Charity prompts me to believe that all the Zeal that some express against the Common Prayer and all that indifferency that is in others for it proceeds only from their ignorance of what it is or at least from their want of an experimental knowledg of it For let any Man that seriously minds the Worship of God and the Salvation of his Soul before all things else let such a one I say set himself in good earnest to use the Common Prayer as he ought to do for some considerable time and I do not doubt but that by the blessing of God he will find that benefit and edification by it that his own experience shall convince him of all that I have now said more than all the Arguments that I have or any man in the World can ever produce to him Some perhaps may think this to be a Paradox But I do not question but that many here present can attest it upon their own knowledge Having found themselves more confirmed in their Faith more settled in their Religion more humbled for their sins more supported under their troubles more enflamed with Love to God and desires of Heaven every way more Edifyed by the constant use of the Common Prayer than they could ever have believed it possible to have been except they had found it to have been so by their own experience Now these things being thus briefly considered I shall observe only two things from them The first is the extraordinary prudence as well as piety of our first Reformers who first compiled the Book of Common Prayer so exactly Conformable to the Word of God and that Apostolical Canon in my Text which I cannot but ascribe to the same extraordinary aid and assistance from God whereby they were afterwards enabled to suffer persecution yea Martyrdome it self for his sake and so to confirm what they have done with their own Blood Which certainly is no small commendation of it The other thing I would observe unto you is the reason why the Devil hath had such a spight against the Common Prayer ever since it was first made For the more edifying it is to Gods People the more destructive it must needs be of the Devils Kingdom And therefore it is no wonder that he hath all along employed the utmost of his power and policy to blast its Reputation and so to discourage and disswade Men from the use of it And by the permission of God for the punishment of this ungrateful Nation he hath so far prevailed in his design that the Liturgy hath been twice cast out of the Church since it was first brought into it once in the Reign of Queen Mary and then again in the days of King Charles the First In the Reign of Queen Mary you all know who were his Instruments in the doing of it even the Papists For they cleerly and truly fore-saw that their Erroneous Opinions could never be believed nor their superstitious Practices observed in the Nation so long as the Common Prayer was used Forasmuch as there is nothing in that but what is sound and agreeable to the Doctrine of the Gospel and so contrary to the groundless Opinions which the Church of Rome would obtrude upon the World for Articles of Faith And besides that there are many expressions purposely inserted in it to arm us against the Popes Supremacy Indulgences Invocation of Sainâ—s Transubstantiation and other Popish Errors So that it would have been impossible for the Romish Religion to be ever restored in the Nation unless the Common Prayer was first removed Which therefore they took care to have done as soon as possible But within a few years after even the first of Queen Elizabeth it was brought in again And as the Reformation was begun before so from that time forward it was carried on and perfected chiefly by means of the Common Prayer For it is very observable that in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth and for several years too of Queen Elizabeth there was little or no preaching in most parts of the Kingdom and few then could read English and yet by the constant and general use of the Liturgy and Gods Blessing upon it the whole Nation was so edified in the True Religion that there was scarce one in an hundred but forsook and abhorred all Popish Doctrines and Superstitions Which is an undeniable Argument that in this respect also it is as edifying as it is possible for a thing of that nature to be In so much that so long as the Common Prayer is used and frequented as it ought to be it is morally impossible for Popery to get any ground amongst us But if this Bulwark was once removed which God forbid our grand Adversary would soon accomplish his malicious designs upon us one way or other This he knows well enough and therefore hath left no stone unturned to effect it But what he had done before by the Papists he afterwards brought about again by other means in the Reign of King Charles the First For by what kind of Spirit the Common Prayer was then cast out you all know and some of you found by woful experience All that I shall say of it is only this That the same Spirit that then stirred up people so violently against the Common Prayer stirr'd them up at the same time to Rebel against their King to take away Mens Estates and Lives contrary to all Law and Justice and at last to Murther one of the most pious Princes that ever lived And whether that was the Spirit of Christ or Antichrist God or the Devil judge you