any posture that is less reverent To sit is very offensive to all that desire to see this Service duely performed And it is reason it should be so for these words signifie a most immediate Address to God the Ever Blessed Trinity in Unity in the highest act of Christian Worship and so fitly do they serve to the Adoration of the Deity according to the Faith of our Religion that the Man that doth not express the inward reverence and adoration of his mind by the devout manner of his pronouncing them and by a fit deportment at that time gives suspition of some defect in his Christianity or of some mistake in the way of expressing the same And this erect posture of our Bodies would mind us to lift up our Hearts yea and our Voices too in giving praise and glory unto this Blessed Trinity whereas the other disposeth us to a defect in both and therefore not only to avoid giving offence but for our own benefit we should observe it Being next to proceed to praise God by the repetition of the Psalms of David c. the Minister that he may mind us that it is not the ordinary reading those parts of Scripture for instruction but the repeating them as an Office of Praise and Solemn Worship to Almighty God I say the Minister on that account is ordered to say Praise ye the Lord and the People to answer The Lord's Name be praised In hearing and saying which words we must endeavour to excite in ourselves holy desires to praise God and so to perform this Exercise as may tend most abundantly to his Glory and Honour The Psalm with which we always begin at Morning Prayer is O come let us sing unto the Lord and is most fitly chosen both for mutual provocation to this heavenly Exercise and for instruction in the reasons thereof and withal to insinuate that obedience to all God commands in the whole course of our lives should be consequent to the adoration and praise of God as our God shewing in the conclusion the dreadful danger of not attending to the same which excellent matter requires that we be serious and intent in repeating this Psalm as that which will prepare and dispose us to be so in all the rest As for the repetition of the Psalms in course that follows I have hinted before what is needful in that matter one thing pray remember that none should take liberty to fit in that performance except constrained by bodily infirmity because standing is so much more fit a posture for the Office of Thanksgiving and sitting was counted so indecent in the Primitive Times that the whole Service was called Station and sitting is only indulged now in some Parts for bodily weakness and because of the great decay of Piety which will not bear such strictness After the Psalms a Chapter is read out of the Old Testament that we may be instructed in the Doctrine of the Creation and Government of the first World its Destruction and Restitution the Promises of the MESSIA and procedure of God's Grace in preparing Men for Him in bringing them to Him and saving them by Him as also in the correspondency of our Saviour's Doctrine to that which God of old delivered by his Prophets his agreement to the Types and Figures of him under the Law and the accomplishment of what Moses and the Prophets wrote in that which he was did and suffered in such and many other respects the reading thereof is profitable and therefore all talking gazing and careless behaviour too often seen at this time should be avoided and we should appear as diligent Auditors of those Divine Oracles The instruction therein given us to it and the respite we have had hereby in it should cause us to return with greater joy and cheerfulness to this heavenly work of praising God For which there is next prepared the Evangelical Hymn TEDEVM the most excellent that ever was composed by Man and speaks as much of Divine Inspiration as any thing not acknowledged for such ever did 't is so fitted for Divine Adoration and apt to excite Devotion and to minister most abundantly to the Consolation of good Christians that even that alone methinks should draw us to Church if not with-held by great obligations I do therefore most earnestly recommend to you the most solemn appearance and the most devout acts of Worship and the most plain joyful and reverent manner of speaking and what ever you can think becomes the repetition of those excellent words The Adoration of God and of our Saviour by the foresaid Exercise cannot but dispose us to the next viz. the Chapter out of the New Testament which being called New for its excellency and perpetuety above the Old and reporting to us either the wonderful Works of Christ and his Apostles their holy and incomparable Doctrine or perfect and exemplary Lives cannot be too diligently and reverently attended to And I should think those who have strength of body would do very commendably in standing up at the reading thereof on the same reasons for which we do so at reading the Gospel Then we are ordered to return again to the work of Praising God which nothing but Carnality can ever be weary of And the Psalms here appointed are such as minister most fitly to the Joy conceived by hearing the glad tidings of the Gospel sent to the Gentiles of which we were as well as to the Jews and therefore to shew that we have not received that Grace in vain nor heard the Gospel of it without diligent heed we should repeat that Psalm devoutly and joyfully The next that follows is the CREEDâ— which contains those matters in which aâ—â— Christians are of one Mind all that believâ— with their hearts to Righteousness and oâ— which all Christians must make publicâ— Profession all that will Confess with theiâ— mouths to Salvation We therefore in one posture and all with our Faces one way as indeed it should be and would be if the Reader did give the example do with one mouth repeat that excellent Form of sound Words which so excellently ministers to the stedfastness of our Faith our rejoycing in Hope our unity in Love and cheerfulness in the Praises of God and our Saviour that no Man that considers it could chuse but stand up and bear his part with us and he that finds no spiritual joy and elevation of mind in repeating the Creed can have nothing else but a natural delight in hearing the most excellent Sermon or ravishing Prayer For neither of these can have any Matter that is more transporting and if it be only the words or passion of the Speaker that affects us 't is no spiritual delight Let those therefore take heed who regard not to honour God and express the joy of their Faith by a due performance in this matter After this we return to the solemn Duty of Prayer which that we may perform with mutual Charity and great Devotion
well as in conformity to God and his Church this is required at their hands And I insist particularly on this because I have observed that many Readers having this Prayer more perfectly by heart than any of the rest they ramble it over with a greater hast and have less care to express that Devotion which becomes this Solemn Exercise in reading that than any other the amendment whereof I humbly desire of them And because I have a great desire that this may be amended I shall here adde somewhat to what was said before I have observed so great a proneness in all even the most Grave and Devout to say this Prayer faster than is meet and without due expressions of their sence of the Majesty of God who is in Heaven though our Father in Christ Jesus and of the great concern of those things most briefly expressed therein that I have in my thoughts inquired a little into the cause thereof which seems to me to be this That this Prayer being the first thing that we teach Children in the Exercise of Religion there is not that care taken to make them say it distinctly and reverently as ought to bâ— but they are suffered to do it with such Rambling hast and without any regard of what they are about that it begets an ill habit by long custom which is so strong that all the powers of Reason can scarce overcome it for else it were impossible but that those Men who are exceeding grave and intent in the Prayer they make themselves should ramble at such a rate when they come to conclude with that our Lord and Master hath made for them and that they who in all Offices of our Church would have none to want that Prayer which is the sum and substance of all our Prayers yet should have less of Gravity and Devotion in the repetition of that than any of the rest I cannot but impute this to an ill habit that almost all Men get in their Childhood in this matter of saying the Lord's Prayer and upon account hereof I make it my earnest Request to Parents and especially those of the Female Sex who have usually the charge of hearing their Children say their Prayers that they will teach them and often call upon them to say deliberately and distinctly what they speak in this Holy Office but especially the Lord's Prayer the want of this care causeth most Men yea Ministers to have so ill a delivery that it is very prejudicial to themselves and others and a dishonour to the Holy Offices they perform and a great hindrance to Edification especially in Ministers And 't is this that would season their tender Years with a sence of God and Religion which would never go out Some Vessels never loose the savour of that which first of all is put into them especially if it stand long and if Children were first taught a right manner of performing their Devotions and kept constantly to it while under the Tuition of their Mother they would retain the effects of it through their whole lives And we see by sad experience the neglect of this not only is cause of the habitual Defect fore-mentioned but betrays them to some ill Habits that make them a Grief to their Parents all their days And I have hope if Mothers were but conscious of their Duty herein it would make them more wary of giving way to these frothy or froward humours and that inordinate concern for little things which indispose them for the same and more willing to put on the Ornaments of the inward Man of the Heart which inables them thereunto by giving them that reverence and respect with their Children without which it can never be effected I hint this 1. Because as the welfare of Mankind depends very much on the good Education of Children so their good Education will be most essectually begun in the well performance of this Duty for in teaching them to say the Lord's Prayer devoutly they will have occasion to discourse to them of the Glory and Presence of God of the Awe and Reverence we must have for him of his all-disposing Providence and our Dependance on him c. which are the Principles of all Goodness and also of the great Indearments of our Blessed Saviour and of the excellency of his Person who taught this Prayer whereby they will be disposed to true Christianity and this foundation being laid it will be easie to build them up in all Vertues 2. Because I believe that as Formality hath for the most part its beginning from the ill saying this Prayer so it is most like to have its ending by our learning to say it aright and he that can be devout as he ought in this will be able to perform all acts of Devotion as becomes him 'T is the Opinion of wise Men That Christ and his Church hath therefore thought better to teach us to pray by prescribing us Forms than by giving us a Directory for the Matter of Prayer and leaving the Composure to ourselves because no laborious Exercise of the Memory or Invention should hinder the free and vigorous Exercise of Devotion and that these Forms are usually brief except those for Fasts which for a peculiar reason are longer lest that vigilant and erect attention of mind which in Prayer is very necessary should be wasted or dulled through continuance if the Prayers were few and long as Mr. Hooker hath it out of St. Augustine Now when Men pervert these ends and because they are not necessitated to be intent by being put to study their Prayers just when they make them or to remember what they studied before therefore they will take no care to be intent at all but say their Prayers as a Hireling doth his Work as fast as they can that they may be at leisure for that which they take more pleasure in And because they have these brief Prayers very perfect their Devotion is the more imperfect this is a very unworthy requital of the Care of Christ and his Church and how justly may such Persons be given up to such Errours as have drawn many into Fanaticism as That Forms of Prayer are the bane of Devotion The Lord's Prayer is no Form The way of Extempore Prayer is the only acceptable Service of God And to pray by the Liturgy or other Forms is unlawful and such-like Let me therefore once more intreat the care of Parents in this matter that they will first by their own Example in saying this Prayer most distinctly gravely and devoutly and in the most reverent posture in their Family-Worship and then by Instruction suitable to the Capacities of their Children and by the exercise of Parental Authority bring them once to a good performance in saying this Divine Prayer by themselves which might be easily done if Men had a mind to it and then bring them to Church with them and make them joyn with the Congregation in that Prayer first and in
that Man is a Creature capable of two sorts of Pleasure Mental and Carnal and that these do for the most part militate against each other and if carnal Pleasures prevail and get the possession of our Life we are said to be dead in respect of our minds and spiritual part but if the Delights of the Mind once take place and become our Employment then the Body is said to be dead dead by reason of sin as the spirit is life because of righteousness So that it is of mighty avail to cherish these spiritual Pleasures and depress those that are carnal especially in the beginning of our life as that upon which the Happiness of our whole Life depends And this I think may be done by a pious and prudent Instruction in the fore-mentioned Duty and by giving a good Example to encourage the performance I cannot give this matter the explication it requires but I hope a word to the Wise will be sufficient Having hinted these things to rectifie what seem'd to me amiss I shall now briefly sum up all by representing that Behaviour which I judge most decent in the performance of these Sacred Offices First then having a due sence of what you are going about viz. to approach the most glorious and dreadful Presence of the Almighty and having composed your minds to worship him with that Reverence and Devotion you ought and declared this by the solemn manner of your coming into his House and placing yourself in the station wherein you are to perform your part in this holy Exercise you are to fix your eyes on the Reader as the Minister of God the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts sent to call you to Repentance with offers of Peace and Reconciliation that you may escape his dreadful Wrath which none can endure or withstand which Wrath the Host of Heaven and Powers of Hell as well as the Creatures here on Earth are ready to minister against all impenitent and prophane Wretches You are to stand up and attend seriously to the reading of those Scripture-Sentences wherewith he begins this Service wherein are declared in the very words of God himself the necessity of Repentance and the certainty of Pardon and of his gracious acceptance of all that truly perform it You are also well to consider the inforcement of those Sentences by his reading the Exhortation following in the mean time reflecting on yourself with a due remembrance of your particular sins that you may be the better prepared to accompany him with a pure Heart and humble Voice in the General Confession following And this Confession as it is ordered we should make in the most humble posture which according to the use and custom of this Country is kneeling on our Knees and this none are to omit except hindred by bodily infirmity or such inconveniences as are sometimes occasioned by Crowds of People and in such case they must take care to supply that defect by other expressions of humble Reverence And we ought so to speak in repeating the same after the Minister that we thereby express that we verily believe ourselves to be guilty in many particular instances of many sins contained under the several Heads there mentioned and that we are heartily sorry for the same and earnestly implore pardoning Mercy and Forbearance and to be restored to God's Grace and Favour trusting to his Promises made to us in Christ and with no less earnestness desire the assistance of God's Grace to inable us to live better for the future This faithful endeavour to appear as humble Penitents before God and the Congregation will suppress the workings of Pride and Self-conceit the Parent of all Vice and strengthen Humility the Nurse of all Vertues and beget that brotherly Love which is founded in true Piety and Humility In attending in the same posture while the Minister as God's Herald pronounceth Absolution and Pardon to the truly penitent that unfeignedly believe the Gospel we ought to express a great Reverence of the Almighty from whom he speaks and also the most humble Thankfulness and holy Joy for his rich Grace which Grace is communicated to us by the Stewards of his Mysteries and cannot be received in the contempt of their Administrations whom he hath impowred to dispence the same And withal earnestly begging according to his Exhortation that our Faith and Repentance may be assisted by Divine Cooperation that we never fail of the same Grace for want of meet dispositions to receive it nor neglect the improvement thereof when bestowed either at present or for the future When we have thus prepared ourselves we ought with heavenly Joy and great Fervency to joyn with the Minister and Congregation in repeating that Divine Prayer which our Saviour taught The beginning whereof being Eucharistical containing such Petitions as are for the immediate honour and glory of God it is fit that we lift up our hands and eyes to Heaven when with our voices we declare our joy in God and exultancy in his Praises In the rest we supplicate things necessary for ourselves therefore we should express greatest humility in bowing our Heads and Bodies towards the Earth as unworthy to ask so great things of so great a Majesty and speak we should also with more lowly and humble Voices in repeating the same Until returning in the Doxology to the acknowledgment of his Paternal Government which inclines him of his Power which enables him and of his Glory which engages him to be so good to his Creatures and especially to his Children we again lift up our hearts and hands to Heaven and repeat the same chearful Voices After this we pass to that high and heavenly work of praising God in the Psalms and Hymns following Now tho' it were the work for which chiefly we were made and the excellent power of Speech given us and that to which while we continued innocent and happy our mouth was still opened and we had freedom and power to perform the same yet now sin and sorrow guilt and fear cares and vexations have even made us dumb to God's Praises and disabled us for due celebration hereof Therefore in this respect we ought most devoutly to joyn with the Minister in the Response following the Lord's Prayer Lord open thou our Mouths And our Lips shall shew forth thy praise O God make speed to save us O Lord make hast to help us And while we seek his Grace we should use our own endeavours to open our own Mouths and lift up our voices while we sing his Praises and to awaken all our powers to a cheerful performance of this Service The Gloria Patri follows at the repetition whereof we are required to stand a posture most fit in all manner of Psalmody and when ever we speak or sing praise and glory to God but especially in the Publick Assemblies convened chiefly for that purpose And in pronouncing these words of Glory it would be very indecent to do it in
in all the rest It may not be inconvenient in the Conclusion to offer something that may help us to shew our Devotion in leaving the Church as well as in coming to it and continuing there It is said of the ancient Jews that they went out of the Synagogues backward that they might declare their unwillingness to leave God's House in which holy Men have desired ever to dwell And whatever that way of expressing this may seem to some I am sure there ought to be such affections in us as was thereby signified and nothing we do that is contrary thereunto can seem decent to wise Men and if People's hurrying out of the Church as soon as ever the Sermon or Prayers are ended be not apparently contrary to such affection my conceit deceives me especially when they will not stay to take God's blessing along with them I say God's for though a Man pronounceth it yet it is such a Man as is his Minister and Herald the Steward of his Mysteries whose words as such he will never suffer to fall to the ground but will give them their effect on all that are meet Subjects and therefore to despise that glorious and mysterious Blessing wherewith these holy Offices are concluded shews great Ignorance to Prophaneness and little manners and is an affront to the Blessed Trinity and to the Congregation met to do Worship thereunto POSTSCRIPT ONe thing I have thought fit to add as useful to the design of this Paper which is My humble Request to Ministers and Vestries that they will take care that fit and worthy Persons be put into the Office of Parish-Clerks for that the defects of the People in performing their part of this Service is chiefly imputable to this cause that they have not a Clerk that iâ— able to lead them in the right way of that performance for if the People would but consider that 't is the special work of a Clerk to Guidethem in what they are to say and do in this Service and would make such observation of him as they ought he standing so advantageously for the same it would bring the whole Congregation unto a good performance Some Persons that may offer themselves and that it may be the Parishes interest to chuse may have such natural Defects that they can never be made fit for the place and some are of such a profane Spirit that they will never set themselves to study to do their duty therein Both these are to be rejected whatever advantages the Parish may make by their Election for so sacred a thing as the Worship and Service of Almighty God is not to be subjugated to the secular interests of Men And it is a great reproach to any Parish that to save themselves a little charge in maintaining a poor Family they should employ a Person to be Guide to the People in this most solemn Office of Divine Worship that is in any way a scandal or dishonour thereunto or unfit to perform it as he ought And if any such be already in the place my request is that the Minister and Vestry will use their Authority to reform them and engage them to study the most decent and graceful manner of performance and if that cannot be effected to force them to admit the help of another in that matter though they continue to do the Parish-business in other respects I make this humble Request because I believe that a Clerk that was a devout Man and one that had a good command of his Voice if he would set himself to study to excel in performing what is required of him he would greatly assist the People in the well performance of their part and excite them thereunto AN APPLICATION TO THE Clergy and to the People To the CLERGY AND now I most humbly beseech the Reverend Clergy of this Church that they will not despise the Advice of so unworthy a Person If there be not Truth in what I write I desire not to be regarded but if there be Truth is a thing so Divine and Excellent as not for my unworthiness or for any defects in the delivery to be rejected especially when it is Truth of the highest concern that can be imagined that which concerns and that most immediately the glory and honour of the most High God and his Son Jesus Christ our most holy Saviour that which concerns the supream good of the best of earthly Creatures and that with relation to his better part and his eternal state that which much concerns the happiness and well-fare of this flourishing Church and tends to its Unity Sanctity and Glory That which concerns the discharge of your great Duty to God and his Church and is the best Return of the Benefits you partake from both I say when it is Truth of such concern methinks it should be consider'd and that whoever it come from as the Instrument since God himself must be acknowledged the Author The Worship and Service of God hath been esteemed of all wise Men the chief of those things wherein Men or Angels could imploy themselves 'T is the principal End of bringing Men into Holy Orders and of instituting Christian Assemblies the greatest Means of inducing that super-excellent Principle of the Divine Life that Evangelical Spirit which only can overcome our Vices and sublime Moral Vertues into Christian Graces and make our good Works Seeds of eternal Glory This is the Prelibation of and Preparation for the unspeakable Joys above 'T is this for which all our Noble Faculties were given us 'T is this that chiefly distinguisheth us from Beasts and that more then the meer shape of our Bodies or our Natural Reason and gives us the greatest Likeness unto and Communion with the Angels 'T is the Worship of One God that is the greatest Incentive to Love and the strongest Bond of Peace among Men and among Christians it becomes more so when we worship Him in and through One Mediator and Saviour our Lord Jesus Christ The Natural Worship which was offer'd in the State of Innocency the Superstitious Worship of guilty and affrighted Criminals the Typical and Pedaegogical Worship of Mosaical Institution all these had something of Excellency in them nay they were the best thing the World had besides But the Excellency and Glory of Evangelical Worship is above them all it far exceeds whatever else we can do in this Life and is the highest Felicity of the Life to come Angels began it here on Earth Luke 2.13 14 and shall rejoyce to accompany us therein when we are in Heaven A Man that hath the Power of Godliness in his Soul is apt to say when he is at Church as the Disciples when they were on the Holy Mount Lord it is good for us to be here or as David Blessed are they that dwell in thy house and are ever praising thee These Things I have touched that I might introduce this great Consideration That the most learned and highly dignified of