immediate Inspiration to Dictate our Prayers Therefore with all our Prayers we must still Pray for the Spirit of Prayer that our Prayer may be Supplication in the Spirit And when it is but such it will have a Recommendation that will help it to find Acceptance tho it be not set out in Perfection of Stile In Private I am not so curious of my Words but often let my Expressions Follow my Affections And I may make a Continued Oration or Break off and Pause and begin again as I see occasion They that in Private by themselves alone Do Pray may take What Liberty they please In chusing of the ways Wherein to make Their Souls most intimate Affections known To Him that sees in Secret when Th' are most conceal'd from other men Harv Po. p. 14. In such Retirements we are out of the reach of any Momus to carp at our Words And free from all Concern but to have our Hearts Right with God who will not take offence at a Misplaced or Improper Word When he hath the Heart Engaged and Buisy at work in his Service He calls That to draw nigh to him in the first place let the Tongue follow after as it can And as it 's most Natural when our Mouths speak Out of the Abundance of our Hearts So a few words that come Warm from the Heart are more Valuable than Ten thousand said after another or in a customary Round Sine Monitore Apol. c. 30. quia de Pectore Oramus Tertul. We are not Told all that we must Say in our Prayers because we fetch them out of the Bottom of our Hearts And he needs no other Prompter be he never so Weak that has the Spirit of God himself for his Tutor But when I am called to be the Mouth of the Company I must be more Cautelous especially if they be Captious and such as are apt to be scandalized should any thing drop that sounds Unadvis'd 'T is good then to Forecast What to say and How in words pertinent and Becoming And when the Heart Indites a good matter the Tongue will be the Pen of a Ready Writer Suitable Expressions are apt to fall in with Well digested Meditations I confess that which the Dr. alledges may be an Inconvenience of the Extempore way When he that Ministers hath his Mind taken up to find out Words it looks more like Studying than Praying Beating the Brain when he should be Drawing out the Affections And I heartily Subscribe to his Rule Pag. 152. That whatever gives the Soul Scope and Liberty to exercise and imploy the hearts Affection and Devotion That doth most effectually help and enlarge the Spirit of Prayer But together with this Let it be considered That some are in more Concern and Pain to be tied up to Others Words than to be at Liberty to express themselves in their Own Especially when it is supposed They are such as are Acquainted with the Holy Scripture and all the Heads of Prayer and have a Good Treasure within them both of Matter and fit Phrases to dress it out And when as the Dr. expresses it They are not to study Finess but Decency Pag. 141. Not to Declaim as Orators but to speak as men Therefore methinks they may tell their own Tale as well as they can and not only Read a Paper Think of the Substance and Words too but not just say a Lesson A Judicious man sure may speak the Sense of his Soul and not fraught with Nonsence and Incoherence Confusion and Impertinence Nay tho' A Child of God may be of so weak Parts as to shew himself Broken and incoherent when put upon common Discourse saith Bishop Hopkins Alm. Christ p. 72. Yet engage him in Prayer How doth he expatiate and enlarge and what a Torrent of Divine Rhetorick will he pour into the Bosom of God Yea the Dr. tells us That where God hath given Ability Pag. 143. he will be served by acts proportionable to it and that our Parts ought to be employed in the worship of God that gave them Or else not wearing Gods Livery in his own Service we add Sacriledge to Profaness and Strip and Starve our Devotions Now what would he have We Must use our Parts and we must Not. Where God hath furnished a Readiness and pertinence of Expression Yet must we not dare to Speak for our selves or others No not a Word but what is just set down for us on the Paper Tho' I am not accustomed to the Sudden Effusions not finding in my self a Sufficiency for that Service Yet I dare not from hence conclude That God hath given such Abilities to none And where he hath given them Must they be Restrained from the Use of them because I cannot do as they And must my Scantling be made a Rule to all and the Measure which none must offer to Exceed The Dr. it should seem hath had the opportunities which I have not had to hear the Pretenders without Ability with their endless Repetitions insufferable Nonsense and Prayers full of Ramble and Inconsequence which he counts of an Opiate nature to cast one Asleep P. 217. The Temptation I confess was never set before me But if it were I think it would more try the strength of my Patience than my Ability in Watching For I should be too full of Indignation to Sleep But whatever Extravagancies have attended the thing and tho it be the thing which I dare not pretend to be Master of my self Yet for the sake of many of my Betters that have Appeared for it and been Happy in it I dare not Decry and run it down as a Scandalous and Insufferable practice Nor so Limit the Holy One as to conclude He hath given to none any more Sufficiency for it than to my self But shall even leave it as I find it in the Holy Scripture Undecided and at Liberty And as our Saviour said in another case Let them Receive it to whom it is given But when I see no Jus Divinum for Forms or no Forms I cannot but wonder at the Assuming Humor of those men that will take so much upon them to Brand and Damn the one or the other where the Word of God hath not past the Sentence on either SECT VII The Liberty of using One Form or Another SEeing God hath not put all the very Words into my Mouth Wherewithal I must Appear before him I am left to Chuse for my self and may take words of my own Contriving and collecting Or such Prepared and Fitted to my hand as I find most conducing to Minister to my Devotion Yet here I design not to offer any thing tending to Loosen what Authority has bound Nor to Vnhinge the things that are Settled as to the Liturgy and Publick Offices of the Church Which I know not how any can Calumniate without an ill Reflection on the Compilers who dyed Martyrs of our Professed Religion and approved themselves the greatest
is the main Trial of them There they are apt to Personate others Here they are Themselves and make it appear whether they would have God or themselves to be Vppermost A Prayerless Family is no better than a Beast house and indeed a Den of Thieves too where God is robb'd of his Tribute and all their Souls of the Benefit O what Masters of Families are they and how unworthy of that Name and Post who will Provide no better for those of their own House but Justle out of doors Him that has most to do there How can he walk in his House with an Vpright Heart who resolves not with Joshua I and my House will serve the Lord Doth any man think to keep up the dignity of his Place with Huffing and looking Big As if he were too goodly to Cringe every day at God's Footstool Silly as well as Proud wretch Whoever thinks to bear himself up with a Credit Vsurpt at the loss of God's Honour who will be sure to make his Despisers Contemptible When men Live together as if they were Ashamed to Pray together or to take any notice how they are all Oblig'd to the great Benefactor whom they every one continually live upon They can scarce hold their Countenances to make such a Mock business of it to Bow the Knee to him in Prayer whom they make so Bold with every where else They so walk in their Houses that we may ask in quite another sense than David did O when will the Lord come to them The ill Education and want of any good Orders that is got into Loose Families is the Bane of Church and State and Plagues the World with such Mischiefs as are the daily Grief of every Sensible heart But the Zeal which should be Exerted in this Service how commonly is it turn'd against it Men Ill affected this way stand upon Terms with Christ Jesus to Reason themselves from under his Yoke They cry out Imposition and Slavery and Twenty Evasions to keep them off their Knees 'T is Hyperdulia and wherefore is all this Waste And O how glad of any thing like an Apology to Supersede the Irksom Imployment He that will but undertake to prove That they may do as well without Prayers in their Families shall Oblige them to be his Humble Servants or any ones rather than His that Made them Nay he shall be even Ador'd as a Saviour that comes to set them Free where God and some of his Ministers would tie them up The Preacher of such Latitudinarian Doctrine shall have Espousers and Proselytes in abundance But who and what are they Any to Credit the cause Why all the Swearers Drunkards Fornicators Rude Ruffians and Vile companions of the neighbourhood are ready to be his Converts and Admirers For he speaks their very Hearts and exactly fits their turns All the Scandalous company whose Carriage puts them out of conceit with all pious Offices and makes it a Hell to them to draw nigh to the Holy God They catch with the greatest Greediness that Liberty which any of the Sons of Corruption offer them When they shall be taught to Slight God with good Warrant and to ask Who shall Confine them where the Scripture it self hath left them Free But they that are so ready to stand off here for want of an Express Command are known too well to be none of the Tenderest or forwardest men to Follow the Lord fully where his Word doth speak out Expresly When they are commanded to Walk in the Spirit and by it to Mortify the deeds of the Body Yet who more Carnal and Loose than they By which we may too evidently perceive That it is not so much out of Conscience as for the Belly-God that they plead and contend They would have Elbow-room enough to Expatiate after their Lusts and a Way in Latitude and Ease and State to Heaven and not be Limited to that Narrow way which they could never abide But doth not the Holy Scripture oblige us to Serve and Honour God in all our Relations and to Recognize our common Lord in our Joint as well as Personal Capacity Not neglecting those Conveniencies which we have to Adore him Then how can the Housholder with his Family think themselves Excused If we are to Pray Every where that is fit for it Is the House in Vtopia no where to be found And shall we omit those Inviting opportunities when we Dwell together and Eat and Drink and Converse together and yet not Pray together How can the Master reasonably expect Homage of his Servants when he lets them not see him as careful to serve his Master in Heaven Men will not dispute themselves out of their Meals and their usual Refreshments because the Scripture doth not determine just Where and When and How they shall Eat and Drink and Divert themselves Nor will they ask What Text binds me to go to such a good Friends House and receive his Kindness Or to go to such a Market or Fair to Buy and Sell and get Gain They can go Without a Command and it 's well if they do not often venture to go Against the plainest Commands for their Bodily pleasure and their Worldly profit And then what is wanting but the Spiritual Appetite to Savour and relish the things of God's Spirit as good a Stomach to the Food of their Souls and as great a Concernment for their Eternal Advantage to Determine their Choice and Practice this way And to make them flock as fast to the Throne of Grace and to see that all their Houses be Houses of Prayer A dear Love to the Service would be above all Arguments in the World for it And assoon as any are Quickned in Christ Jesus and become Alive unto God they will save us the labour of Persuading them to go and Feast their Souls with Him and to join in the Sacrifice wherewith he is well-pleased Whatever Short cuts some may fancy to Heaven and laugh at the Round-about-way of Morning and Evening Prayer I never heard of any Dying man that was of that mind How many then do sadly Bewail it that they had not taken this course So that the Praying Families are on the Surest Side all must acknowledge And they may be infinite Gainers But for certain they can never Lose by this Service When it looks like Loitering by the way and Hindring their work Yet they are about their Heavenly Father's Business And he that Imploys them in it will not suffer them to Lose ground by it It stops them but like a Traveller's Eating and Refreshing himself to recover Strength for his Journey And poor people that cry they have not Time for it may more truly say They have no Mind to it For they can find Time for many matters of less Importance And they had better abate some Gains and themselves be turn'd out of Doors than grasp so much Business as to Justle Prayer out of Doors But indeed Prayers never made any
the most prevailing Master of Requests to Sollicite for us and make our unworthy Prayers as Current and Authentick even as the most just and powerful Commands SECT II. The Liberty of Vsing the Voice or not PRayer is the proper work of the Heart Lifting up itself and presenting its Desires to the Lord. It is only the Heart that Prays The Mouth can but Say Prayers And as many Words of Prayer may be spoken by one that doth not Pray at all So another may Tacendo clamare Pray heartily and effectually who yet says never a Word Words let them be never so Apposite and pithy are not Prayer but only the Vehicle of Prayer and the outward Signification of our minds 'T is all one to Him who searcheth Hearts and knoweth the Meaning of the Spirit Whether we send up to him our Naked Desires or Cloathed with Expressions He that Hears us without Ears Understands us without our Words and needs not our Voices to tell him what we would have It is at our own Choice then Whether we will use our Tongues or no every time we make our Prayers If we have the Spirit of Supplications we may offer up the Mental Prayer and hold our peace i. e. Humbly bethinking our selves of our Wants and earnestly craving and waiting for Supply from Above As Hannah spake in her Heart only her Lips moved but her Voice was not heard 1 Sam. 1.13 The Desires of the Heart are sometimes too Big to come out of the Mouth And then we pray more by Sighs and Groans than by Speech and Phrases And so as Bishop Hall speaks Our Silence may be more Devout than our Noise And to this sort of Prayer no Book or Learning no Invention or Utterance are requisite They that cannot Indite nor so much as Read or well Express themselves Yet can Think what most Troubles them and Ruminate on their Wants and Grievances And they can also Think what they would be most glad to have And raise up their Hearts in Wishes and Longings and desires of help and Relief at the hands of God And they can also Bethink themselves of any others that are more Wretched and worse than themselves And let their Souls then Bless the Lord for all happy Respects in which he hath made them to Differ And all this seriously and devoutly managed with the Soul and all Within us is good Praying thô not a word said And in such Offices we are only concerned to inspect our Hearts and look to the Frame they are in And need not the usual Vigilance to take care that there be a good Agreement between them and our Tongues And that these run not on before or without the other to draw nigh to God with our Lips when our Hearts are far from him But if I shall speak my own thoughts and experience I take this way of Prayer among most men to be more fine in Speculation than useful in Practice I only mention the Liberty which they have to Use it who can make any thing of it and find it available to answer the Ends of Prayer But as Words are of great and continual Use to express our Thoughts So I cannot but think them as useful to Fix our minds and Affect our hearts To Enflame our desires to regulate our devotion and to Engage all our Faculties to a due Attendance on the Work we are about That it may not be a thin Notional Business Too Spiritual for us to perceive it Or too Nice and difficult for us to discern when it is at a Stand or how it Proceeds And as long as we have the Use of Tongues Why should not he that Made them have them Imployed in his Service We are not only to Think Prayers but to Open our Lips that our Mouths may shew forth his Praise Psal 141.1 I cried to the Lord with my Voice with my Voice to the Lord did I make my Supplication He that is to Hear teacheth us what to Say When ye Pray Say Our Father c. Hos 14.2 Take with you Words and turn to the Lord And say to him Take away all Iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the Calves of our Lips The only Fatlings which we are now to offer If Words be needful to Digest our Thoughts and shape the Ideas that arise out of our Minds If they make us more Sensible of the things which we Conceive And a Happy Expression that exactly fits our Meaning gives such a Pleasure as the Joy of a New-born Child Then in our Addresses to God where we have need of all Helps where we ought to have the Liveliest sense and our Dulness wants to be Excited by Pathetick words and all Quickening means We may find it very advantageous to the Service to form our Notions into agreeable Expressions Yea thô we are by our selves Yet to speak in our Own Hearing such Words of Prayer as we find conducing to Compose our thoughts and set our Affections afloat and make us in Earnest upon it Fervent in spirit serving the Lord. Here then where we are under no Limitation but left to ourselves Whether we will at all times Think or Speak our Prayers Our care must be to take that way which helps us to perform our offices Best and makes us most Sincere and Lively Zealous and Devout That we may do all Heartily as to the Lord and Approve ourselves unto God In being curious to Examine and Discern what is Best and Conscientious to Hold in words or Pour them out thereafter as we find them to Help or else Hinder us in the Service SECT III. The Liberty to Vse Long Prayers or Short LEngth or Brevity are such Indifferencies as do not enter the Essence of Prayer For either of them may be Good or Bad thereafter as they are Designed and Vsed A Short Prayer made so through dislike and Weariness of God's Service And a Long one stretch'd out in Pride and Ostentation of Parts or Affectation to be Tedious that we may be thought more Pious are both of them equally Abomination to the Lord. But when we Contract our Prayers that we may strengthen our Devotion and cut them Shorter to make them the Livelier Such Short Prayers shall prove long enough to reach to Heaven And so we Pray much thô we say but Little And again when we Enlarge our Prayers as we find our Hearts Enlarged Our Attention and Affection keeping pace with our Matter and Expressions we need not fear the guilt of that Much-Speaking condemned Matth. 6.7 Nor of the Long Prayers Chap. 23.14 made a Pretence to Eat up the Widows When the Spirit of God Moves on the face of the Waters to raise up a full Tide of Affections in our Souls We have a Call and Invitation then to be more Free and Full in pouring out our Hearts before the Lord. And at Lower Ebbs we must take up with ordinary Offices No matter how Short is the Cold and Dull Prayer But
unexpected occasion happen Diatrib on Mat. 6.9 for which the Church cannot provide The Spirit of her Ministers is Free Who will forbid them in such a case to supply that by a Voluntary and Arbitrary Form which the Church could not provide for in a Set Form With whom Dr. Falkner sets in Lib. Eccles p. 120. Nor doth the Establishing a Form for the Publick Office of the Church deny the Liberty in due place of using other Prayers according to the practice of ours and the Ancient Church A Christian that cannot Pray says the good Bishop how much more a Minister is like an Orator that cannot Speak or a Traveller that cannot go This Gift is a part of our Spiritual Armour And for a Soldier to be without any skill in the Vse of his Arms is both an Vnsuitable and a Dangerous condition And what he there speaks of the Advantages of this Gift and the Inconveniencies of its Want to Private Christians is still more applicable to him that is the Mouth of the People viz. To be able upon all occasions to relate their Condition according to especial circumstances and several Emergencies Or else when surpriz'd by any sudden Exigence or lying under any great Strait wherein no Help is to be expected but from the Hand of God To be at a Loss what to say without having recourse to some prescribed Form which perhaps has no proper reference to the particular occasion How Inconvenient and prejudicial will this be to lye under such a Disability of Expression The Readiness of Expression and Enlarging our Desires in fit manner That he calls the Gift of Prayer Tho some I know would have it to consist in those Pious Dispositions within us which I take to be rather The Spirit of Supplications For sure we ought to Distinguish the one from the other However it is Possible for them to stand together and most Lovely they are in Conjunction Yet one may have a Praying Heart that hath not a Voluble Tongue And again another may Roll in apt Expressions that is a Stranger to the Spirit of Supplications Now tho it is not for the Weak to put themselves upon Services above their Strength Yet it looks ill when men are Fluent on other Occasions and only Tongue-ty'd at their Prayers When they pass for good Speakers every where else but are Down in the mouth at the Throne of Grace This speaks a Defect that is suspicious to be not only their Calamity but their Impiety Indeed the very Sense of Want and Pain where prevalent will open the Mouths not otherwise Eloquent and sometimes suggest and dictate things above their common Capacity As a Malefactor tho no Orator yet when Begging for his Life will find Words Significative and Moving However many may often need the assistance of Books and Forms And whoever find their case better Exprest by others than they know how to do it themselves have their Liberty so to help themselves And instead of Scrupling to use Others words may Thank God for that Advantage to warm their Hearts and raise their Affections and Enflame their Devotions It makes my Prayer neither better nor worse whether my Eyes take words off the Paper before me Or whether by recollection I fetch them out of my Memory which is as the Bishop calls it but a kind of Invisible Book To Read or speak by Rote Is all alike to him that Prays With 's Heart what with his Mouth he says Harvey But that I will conclude to be the Best way for me to take whichsoever it be that helps me to Pray most pertinently humbly faithfully and fervently Some can Pray better with this Form some with that and some with none Therefore Let every Devout Christian that makes Conscience of Worship and gives himself to Prayer consult his own Experience and Enjoy his Liberty to take that way which he finds Best for himself There is an Abridging ourselves that gives Check to our Improvement And I am not tied always to use this very Staff or any at all If I find that I can do as well or Better without it There is a Growth in Knowledge and Grace as well as in Bodily Stature and Strength And some Sutes of Prayer as well as Suits of Cloaths we may be Out-grown As Piety brings me upon my Knees then So Prudence must Adapt my Words Tho Old words it 's true may be used with New Affections and serve as well where the case is the same Yet there are some New Occasions of my Life that call for a New Song And where the Expressions as well as Affections are New and the best that we can fetch out of our Treasure It speaks the Value which we put upon our Benefactors favours That we prize them more than to mention them still in the ordinary Rote We count it not only Flat and Dilute but Contemptuous and Slighting to speak after that Manner to our great Friends on earth How much more concern'd should we be to Appear before the Greatest and Best of all which is in Heaven with somewhat to express our highest Regard of Him and his Blessings and also our most Careful Hearts to approve our selves Sensible and duly Affected Of which our Speech is the Indication And so that we Express our selves to the purpose it matters not whether the words be our own or Borrowed from one or another We may Press them into this Service wherever we find them But thou poor weak Christian whose Parts and Abilities are not equal to thy Zeal and Piety When thou art Moved to Pray and hast but a Praying Heart O take heed that thou never Forbear thy Prayers for want of Words at Command to Set them off For if thou couldst not so much as Read or Speak at all Yet thou might'st Pray And tho thou hast not a Fluency of Speech and Choice of Expressions in a Readiness which indeed are Gifts more for the Service and Edification of others than for any Saving Benefit to the Owners Yet throw and Prostrate thy self before the Lord and Try to make somewhat of it in opening the fense and the Desires of thy Soul at the Throne of Grace 〈◊〉 Doing as thou Canst where thou canst not as thou Would'st And thou may'st do e'en as well without the Flowing Utterance and Elocution Yea peradventure Better Because thereby thou art kept Humbler and so fitter for his Acceptance who to this man will Look even to him that is Poor and of a Contrite Spirit and trembles at his Word SECT VIII The Liberty of Varying our Prayers as to the Parts and Words THE usual Method of Prayer is Confession Petition and Thanksgiving Yet we are not in every Prayer tied up just to this Order We may sometimes omit one of the Parts or put the Last First or only Beg without Explicite Confessing our Sins or Blessing the Lord. Tho we are bound to all these things yet not at all Times that we make our
the Oyl to keep in the shining Lamp of Heavenly Hope and Joy And when the Heart instead of stooping down under the humble Sense of Sin is Lifted up in a Proud conceit of themselves and so directly Contradicts the Self-abasing work they are upon Instead of Praying in Faith Believes nothing that God hath said and so puts a Bar to all their Hopes of receiving any thing at his Hands Instead of abounding with Love is full of Cores and Malice neither for the Giving or Forgiving Charity and so turns the Supplication even into an Execration because our Lord who has charg'd us when we Stand or set ourselves upon Praying to Forgive Teacheth us to ask and Expect the Mercy to Ourselves but only as we shew and Extend it to Others And when instead of Burning with fervent Zeal like the Fire in the Alembick to send up its earnest Desires the Heart is Playing behind the Curtain and the Oscitant pretenders to Worship do but Trifle and offer up a Heartless Service as those who seem very Indifferent whether they be Heard or not yea rather Afraid to be taken at their Words All this while there may be somewhat like Seeking but here is no Striving to Enter when the Heart is no more Engaged to the Lord. Nay 't is but a meer piece of Mock-Devotion that instead of Attoning for our Sins does but Add still more to the Number And then alas What Hope can men have from such kind of Prayers even for which they have a great deal more to Answer No Wit or Parts or the most curious Art to Pack words neatly together is enough to make a good Prayer without the Drawing Nigh of the Heart and the Spirit of Supplication The Springs of Action upon what Motives we proceed and to what Ends we do it are most of all to be regarded tho they be Latent like the Roots of things that lye under Ground Yet in the Scrutiny and Examination of ourselves this is the main Enquiry Whether our Principles and Designs be right and sound at the Bottom Whether God's holy Fear and Faith and Love set us a going and whether the Pleasing of his Will the Honouring of his Name and the attaining of his Favour to be made Liker and to be brought Nearer to Him be our grand Aim and Intention Better let the Heart lead the Words thô they be but few and mean than be full of fine Expressions and no Heart to follow But O how is the Deceiver Deceived that goes about to Mock the only Wise God As good Affront him in the Face of the Sun as to Dissemble with him in the Secret of the Heart And let such as are for playing the Hypocrite with him but forbear till they can do it so as he shall not be Aware of it And then be sure they will never Dare to offer it SECT II. Taking no Care of the Words THE main Province of man is to Keep his Heart but yet it is not All nor the Only thing that he hath to look after He must see that out of the Abundance of his Heart his Mouth speak to the Purpose and as Becomes him 'T is an intolerable Presumption for poor Mortals that are but Sinful wretched Worms to be Rash with their Mouths to utter any thing that comes Vppermost tho never so Crude and wild before the most High and Wise and Holy God As if the Words of Prayer needed no other recommendation than Boldness and men might speak what their List in the greatest Presence As if they thought the Lord either such a Sorry Master whom any thing were good enough for Or one so far off as to be out of Hearing and not to Know what were said But it is the Liberty of Praying not of Prating that I plead for If it be a License taken I am sure it is not Given to roll and Luxuriate in empty Expressions without either Spirit or so much as any Good Sense To prevent which we may do well to Digest aforehand the Words as well as the Matter of our Prayers At least to have in store and readiness such a Stock of Authentick Expressions as are fit and proper for our Devotions Out of which we may produce what is Pertinent and not be at a Loss to express the Sentiments and wishes of our Hearts Tho an easy Vnaffected Stile suited to the Understanding and Infirmity of the Worshippers is the fittest and best Because Words in Prayer are used more for our own Sakes than His that understands our Desires without our Words Yet too Loose a Dress argues a Contempt of the Presence we are in When if the Tongue be but kept Going any impertinent Clack or the most course and tatter'd stuff shall serve the turn Nay so Weak and Flat are some and so Homely and Fulsome are others in their Prayers that if we may here credit Reports The Silliness of the one and the Rudeness of the other makes their Company in Pain for them and where others beg to be Heard it might be better for them if God did not Hear them Their very Tone of Prayer betraying their Contempt of Heaven when they Gabble over what they have to say without any Submissive Voice or Lively Accents or Affectionate Strain to shew how Awful and in what good Earnest they are Our Voice is the Index of our Mind and by that we signify the Devotion which is in our Hearts And he that talks at Random before the Lord shews little care that his Heart is in to perform Service meet for God's Acceptance We had as good Pray in an Vnknown as in an Vnregarded Language The one is to say We Know not what and the other We Care not what But if we must Worship with the Spirit it is requisite we should Know what we say and Pray with the Vnderstanding or else how can our Mind and Spirit be concerned 'T is less Affront to be Silent before the Lord than to offer to Him Service that is to us Vnintelligible Gibberish or Empty Talk And I cannot but tax it for a very condemnable Intemperance and Looseness of Speech in Prayer when the Tongue is suffered to run out quite beyond the Sense and Devotion of the Speaker and also as far beyond the Attention and Patience of the Hearers When the Prayers are spun out to a Tedious Length to shew how far a man is able to hold out and Jade and tire all his Company till they Long for nothing more than to be out of that Pain and then rejoyce in the Deliverance and Dread such another Affliction May they Beware by whom such Offence comes that they Distaste not any too apt to Imbibe such Prejudices against the Worship of God to whom they should use all Ingenuous and harmless Artifices to Recommend and Endear it SECT III. Taking no Care of the Behaviour in Prayer GOD that is Terrible out of his Holy Places ought Greatly to be Feared of all
with Reverence and Godly Fear But withal Remember That in Prayer thou art going to thy Father Displeased indeed at thy Sins but Reconciled in his Son And having so great a Friend and so good an Interest in Heaven tho thou thinkest thy self Unworthy to Look up thither Yet with the Publican cry for Mercy to thee a Sinner And after all the Mischief done thee by thy Sins let them not quite Ruine thy Soul by taking thee off thy Prayers But the more Sensible thou art of Sin cry the more mightily unto God Yea from the very Magnitude of it that makes it look most against thee thou hast a Plea put into thy Mouth Psal 25.11 For thy Name Sake O Lord Pardon my Sin for it is Great He does not go about to Palliate and Excuse his Guilt and cry Lord it is but a Small matter therefore thou maist Easily pass it by He was Wiser and Better than so to Argue But my Case is Bad and Sad My Sin is Heinous and Grievous past all Help and Cure in the World but Thine who art never at a Loss to Effect what we would have Too Great for any but the God infinitely Great and Good to Forgive There is no Good in me to Invite thee to do it for me O do it therefore for thy Glory even to Glorify thy Power and Mercy That where Sin hath Abounded thy Grace may Triumph in Superabounding And then what can Spoil the Freedom of thy Prayers when thy very Sins may be turned into Arguments not only to Hasten thee to the Throne of Grace but also to Prevail for thee there Thus thou hast all the reason in the world to Beg hard for Mercy now in this only Time of Mercy and thou hast all Encouragements too on every side thee upon thy Seeking to find it Whatever thou hast Been and however thou hast Done Yet thy case would not be Desperate didst thou Return upon thy Submission with the Prodigal to thy Father And not only Confess thou hast Sinned but Beg and cry Mightily to be Reincorporate of his Family and numbred among his Servants Then matters would Clear up with thee and Heavenly Hopes would Dawn upon thee and Mercy on every side Embrace thee and our God would Abundantly Pardon For he delights to be so Won with a poor Sinner's Cries and Waits to be Gracious that we may Remember ourselves and let him have the Opportunity to Glorify his Mercy in our Recovery But O Sick and sadly Distemper'd are the Souls and Rueful and Ruinous is their Case to whom Prayers are a Burthen and affliction and who are out of Conceit with all that should do them Good and Prejudiced against the very Means of their Salvation Even ready to be Vndone and yet Listless to seek for Remedy having no Heart nor Tongue to cry to Him that alone is Able to help them To Conclude then Not only Believe and own but take and Vse the Liberty granted and make thy Benefit of it Down with thy Knees up with thy Voice Herb. And do not lie and Perish in thy Sins for want of thy Prayers But being Permitted to Speak for thy self O Prize the Happy Priviledge and with all Thankfulness and gladness catch hold of such an Advantage Let not Prayer as the Poet said of Probity be Prais'd and Starv'd After the manner of such as will cry God forbid we should Neglect our Prayers We must Pray Every where When God knows that in good truth they Pray no where But their Chambers and Families their own Houses and God's too can Testify against them that they are no Lovers of this Exercise nor were ever any Well willers to Prayer But do thou give it a real Commendation as thou dost to the Beloved Fare that pleases thee best by Feeding Heartily upon it And not only Talk of Praying but Do it Nor only in a Fit or on the By But make a Serious and Solemn Business of it And Ply and Follow it like one that is in Love with it and Fond and Greedy of it even as a Miser is of the greatest Lucre or an Epicure of the Choicest Dainties O whither should the Cold and Hungry go but to the Fire and to the Table And whither should the Obnoxious and Guilty repair but to the God that Pardons Iniquity Transgression and Sin with whom is Forgiveness that he may be Feared Whither should they Betake themselves that want Every thing but to Him that is the Possessor of All things And as we count our Meat does us Good when we come to it with a Good Stomach So to have such a good Appetite to our Prayers will make them Salutary and the Savour of Life to our Souls O never think much to Leave all to go unto Him whom thy Soul Loveth But say Welcome Sweet and Dear Prayer Come bring me to my God to Converse with Him to Draw from him and to Receive what he is not only infinitely Full of but as Inclinable to make his poor Creatures Happy with Let it be the most pleasant Entertainment of thy Life which thou need'st not be Spurred on to But set thy Mind upon it have thy Heart in it and make it the Solace of thy Soul to be taken up with thy God Let the God of all Grace hear thee every day at his Gates There Throw thy self and lie and Cry and never leave off thy Prayers till they be turn'd into his Everlasting Praises and thou hast no more to Beg but all thy work will be For ever to Bless His Name For Answering thee in all the Wishes of thy Heart FINIS Advertisement of Books A Philosophical Discourse of the Nature of Rational and Irrational Souls By M. S. 4 to price 6 d. An Enquiry into the Nature and Obligation of Legal Rights with Respect to the Popular Pleas of the late King James's Remaining Right to the Crown 4 to price 1 s. The Geometry of Landskips and Paintings made Familiar and Easy Useful to Limners in Drawing and Gentlemen in chusing Pictures and Beneficial to Architects and Carvers in proportioning the Graces and Statues of their Buildings to the due distance of Sight and to Country Gentlemen in the more convenient Framing of their Platforms for Seats and Prospects 4 to price 6 d. A Discourse of the Growth of England in Populousness and Trade since the Reformation Of the Clerical Revenue and the same Asserted to be Reasonable and Necessary here Of the Numbers of the People of England founded on the Poll-Bills and the Bishop's Survey in the Year 1676. Of the Bills of Mortality and Political Observations thereon Of the necessity of Future Publick Taxes for the Support of the Government and our Religion Of the Advancement of the Linnen Manufacture with an Account of the Linnen Cloaths Canvas Linnen Yarn Hemp Flax and Cordage Imported into the Port of London from Holland Flanders Germany France Eastland Russia Scotland East-Indies from Mich. 1688 to Mich. 1689. With Various Political Remarks and Calculations Relating to most parts of Christendom Shewing likewise from Natural Causes the Impossibility of Advancement of Popery and consequently the folly of those that attempt to restore it in England With some Observations on the Jesuits Principles favouring Fraud and Claumny Therein also is largely discuss'd that Papal Tenet of the Lawfulnoss of Burning Heretical Cities Fol. price Eight Shillings The True Notion of Passive Obedience Stated and Clear'd from the Mistakes of those who are for and against it 4 to Price 6 d. State Tracts In Two Parts The First Part being a Collection of several Treatises relating to the Government privately Printed in the Reign of King Charles II. The Second Part consisting of a farther Collection of several choice Treatises relating to the Government from the Year 1660 to 1689. Now publish'd in a Body to shew the Necessity and clear the Legality of the late Revolution and our present happy Settlement under the Auspicious Reign of Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary Fol. Price Twenty Shillings