Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A48248
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A friendly discourse between an English dissenter and a French Protestant concerning the liturgy and ceremonies of the Church of England. By Daniel la Fite, M.A. Rector of East-Dean, in the county of Sussex. The first part.; Friendly discourse between an English dissenter and a French Protestant. Part 1
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Lafite, Daniel.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing L177; ESTC R201987
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32,685
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118
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disagree at all in the meaning of the words F. P. I am glad we are so far agreed for it is evident that according to this meaning of the words a set Form of Prayer is so far from being a hindrance that indeed it is a great help to fervent praying by the Spirit and on the contrary Extemporary Prayer must needs be a great impediment to it To convince you of this I desire you would consider that when we pray by a Form we have more time to study the import of our Requests and to weigh and examine every Petition with greater attention we have more leisure to understand and discern our wants and to present them before God we can the better prepare and dispose our selves for so holy a Duty and in a word we can be more intent and recollected to improve the motions of the Spirit having nothing else to doe but to fix our mind wholly on God whilst we are praising of him and have our hearts suitably affected with the things we pray for Whereas in Extemporary Prayer the mind of the Minister or whoever else it is that prayeth is taken up in hunting for expressions to utter his thoughts and for fear of being put to a stand he is forced to follow not the motions of the Spirit or the dictate of his understanding but the fluency of an acquired habit of Praying and by this means doth often begin where he should end and end where he should begin And those very men that speak so much against the necessary and edifying Repetitions that we use in our Common-prayer do very frequently in their Extemporary-prayer repeat the same things over and over again though it may be in different expressions And as for the People that hear a Minister pray an Extemporary-prayer as they do not know before-hand what he will say they must first attend to what he saith in the next place they must consider whether what he prayeth be according to the Word of God and fit for them to join with but whilst the Hearer is thus employ'd he that prays is got to another thing and leaves his Hearers behind to overtake him as they best can which according to my apprehension makes the way of praying extempore so difficult and uneasie that it is morally impossible for both Minister and People to pray so devoutly or at least so understandingly as they ought to doe If you please well to weigh and consider what I have here offered I question not but you will be convinced that a set Form of Prayer is so far from being a hindrance that it is a great furtherance to zealous praying by the Spirit whereas the Prayer you are so much taken with is indeed a great obstacle to it E. D. However Sir I suppose you will grant me that it is this tying themselves up to a Form that hath made the Ministers of the Church of England so dull and devoid of the Gift of Prayer that they cannot pray without Book and may rather be compar'd to those Dumb dogs whom the Prophet reproves than be look'd upon as Ministers of the Gospel F. P. Though I am a Stranger here yet I have very good reason to believe that I am better acquainted with the Ministers of the Church of England than you are and am better inform'd of their parts and abilities than you can be for I have made it my business to be acquainted with them not maliciously to slander and abuse them but to the end I might the better understand and value them and profit by them And if you will give me leave to speak my Judgment which is not grounded upon hear-say but upon good knowledge of and converse with them I must render them this true and unbiass'd testimony That of all the Clergy I ever was acquainted with they are the most Learned and Godly E. D. You are a French man Sir and therefore I suppose that much of this may pass for Compliment F. P. I am indeed a French-man by birth but yet I value my self upon this account that in heart and affection I am a hearty true Englishman And since you are pleas'd to look upon my judgment of the English Clergy no better than a Compliment I challenge you to tell me what Nation in the World can boast of having such great and worthy Divines as we have E. D. Pray how comes it to pass then that they cannot pray F. P. Who told you they could not Sure I am that they both can and do pray and that so excellently that as they surpass those of other Nations for Learning so likewise in Devotion and the Gift of Prayer and if you had taken time to peruse their Books of Devotion you would never have told me as you do That the prescribing of a Form of Prayer has been the occasion why the Ministers of the Church of England are become so dull and ignorant even to that excess that they cannot pray E. D. However I think they are much to blame for that in their Pulpits if they pray at all they dispatch them in so few words that any one that hears them will be apt to conclude they cannot pray but should you once come to our Meetings ay there you would hear Praying indeed F. P. I will not deny but that commonly our Clergy in the Pulpit use onely a short Prayer before Sermon but don 't at all deserve to be blam'd but rather to be commended for so doing if we consider first that our Clergy chuse to make use of a short Prayer onely before Sermon because they have found by wofull Experience that long extemporary Prayers have begot in most People a dislike of the Common-prayer and consequently have been the occasion of those unchristian Animosities Schisms and Divisions that are so rife amongst us And I think you have no just reason to blame this pre-caution of theirs till you have made out first that the People doe well to undervalue and despise the Common-prayer and that the Aversion they have for it is a sufficient ground for Schism and Division A second reason why the Ministers of the Church of England use such short Prayers is that by this means they may condescend to the weakness of the People lest an over-long Prayer should weary those who have already attended upon and join'd their hearts and voices with the publick Prayers offer'd up to God by the Church And in the third and last place we shall find that there is nothing good or usefull for us which the Minister hath not already prayed for nor any thing evil or hurtfull which he has not deprecated in the publick Prayers appointed by the Church which methinks might at least lessen the fault of our Clergy in your sight and somewhat allay the bitterness of your Censure against them And as for your Meetings where you tell me there is Praying indeed I must freely tell you that though I never was at any Meeting in my
proceed if you please F. P. After the short Prayers and Responsals now mentioned follows the Doxology Glory be to the Father and to the Son c. which is both a sound Form of praising and glorifying the eternal and tri-une God Father Son and Holy Ghost and a short Creed or Confession of our Faith concerning the Trinity in Unity And if you demand of me why it is placed here in the close of the Penitential part of our Prayers I answer Because having before confessed our Sins and humbly entreated mercy and remission for them and being now in full hope that our mercifull Father has graciously heard and granted our requests we immediately change our Prayers into Praises and our Supplications into Thanksgivings and with transports of Joy and Gratitude we sound forth our Glory be to the Father for it is he who pardons our Sins and to the Son because 't is for his sake they are pardoned and to the Holy Ghost who alone assures us thereof And the Minister afterwards as if this were not enough because in the Gloria Patri we more particularly worship the Trinity in Unity and not the Unity in Trinity calls upon the People again to adore the Unity saying Praise ye the Lord to which the People answer The Lord's Name be praised which words contain the Christian Hallelujahs or Songs of praise and triumph for the absolution and remission of their Sins or else if you will you may take them for a Preface or Entrance to the Reading of the Psalms E. D. You may take them for what you please as for my part I don't concern my self about them and therefore you may go on F. P. In the Morning Service the Psalms are ushered in with the Venite O come let us sing unto the Lord c. as being an Exhortatory Psalm whereby we continue mutually to invite and encourage each other worthily to adore and worship the Eternal God And that this Psalm is very well placed here appears first Because by it we are informed what we are to doe and secondly how we ought to behave our selves in the performance of the succeeding Offices or Duties The former of these viz. what we are to doe we have in these words Sing unto the Lord Come before his presence Serve and worship him and lastly Hear his Voice or his most Holy Word The latter How we are to perform these Duties is thus express'd We are to sing unto the Lord heartily rejoicing in the strength of our salvation to come before his presence with thanksgiving with a gratefull sense and humble acknowledgment of all his Benefits serve and worship him with all becoming Reverence and Veneration falling down on our faces and kneeling before the Lord our Maker not hardning our hearts when we hear his voice but receiving it with Faith and Obedience And thus we proceed to the Psalms appointed for the day the Church having ordered them to be read over once every Month. E. D. Pray tell me the reason why they are appointed to be read oftner than any other part of Holy Scripture F. P. Because they are most accommodated for Prayer and Devotion and consequently of a more continual use than any other part of God's Word The ignorant will find here profitable instruction and information the wicked earnest exhortations and severe warnings the poor and afflicted will meet with sutable Prayers and Petitions to beg the good things they want as well as to deprecate the evils they groan under and the rich and prosperous will be furnish'd with Thanksgivings and joyfull Songs of Praise Indeed the whole contexture of them shews them to be fitted and suited to all persons in all circumstances whether young or old Kings or Subjects Nobles or Commons in prosperity or adversity in a wealthy and comfortable or in a pinching and afflicted condition and they are propoâ—tioned with that exactness to thesâ— several circumstances as if they haâ— been made on purpose to express anâ— represent every one's particular staâ—â— and condition E. D. I must own there is somewhat of truth in what you have said concerning the Psalms but one thing I find that spoils all which is your silly way of reading them by turns the Minister reading one Verse and the People answering another which certainly is a confus'd if not a scandalous way of praising God F. P. What you are pleas'd to call confus'd and scandalous is in my opinion very edifying and heavenly and my opinion is grounded upon Reason for this way of reading or singing Psalms by turns as hath been partly already hinted is extremely well suited to excite each others Affections and to encrease our Emulation making us as it were to strive to outvie each other in Zeal and Devotion and to contend who shall worship and praise God with most earnestness and fervency Now this holy Emulation cannot but be very profitable and edifying yea and Heavenly too because it comes nearest to the Pattern of Heavenly and Angelical Adoration for thus we reade that the Seraphims cry to each other by turns Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts c. Isai 6.3 E. D. Well but I have another Objection against your way of reading the Psalms and that is that at the end of every one of them you repeat the Gloria Patri Glory be to the Father and to the Son c. which certainly is a very vain repetition F. P. I am not of your opinion for if you observe this Doxology is not applied twice to the same subject for though we repeat it constantly at the closing of every Psalm yet because they most commonly differ and vary in their subjects for you will hardly find two Psalms together of the same Argument some being Psalms of Doctrine and Instruction some of Confession of Sins some of Profession of Faith some of Supplication and Prayer some of Praises and Thanksgiving And forasmuch as every one of these Arguments contain sufficient and powerfull motives to stir up our Hearts and Affections to bless and glorifie God therefore the closing of every Psalm with this Doxology Glory be to the Father c. cannot be judged vain and improper but rather very proper and edifying After the reading or singing of the Psalms we proceed to reade the Lessons the one out of the Old Testament and the other out of the New which order affords this great conveniency amongst several others that by this means the Old Testament is read over once and the New Testament thrice every Year E. D. This is a great mistake of yours whether wilfull or no I shall not enquire for the Book of Chronicles is never read as well as many particular Chapters of some other Books F. P. I confess the Books of Chronicles are not read but the reason of it is plain and evident because for the most part they are but a repetition of the Books of Kings which are read in their course and if any Chapters of other Books be