that which is Faithful and Fervent can hardly be too Long. He that says nothing as he ought is long thô he pronounce but Two syllables But he that speaks to the purpose is not Long thô he speak Much and for a Great while together Philemon quoted by Grotius The Shortest Prayer is too Long that is Vox praeterea nihil Nothing but an Empty Sound But the Longest is Short enough where the Mind and Heart hold out to the End and the Devotion is as Long as the Supplication As when we are Cold we may get us Heat by Exercise So by Continuance in Prayer we may Warm our selves into more Devotion And from Fluttering along the ground find ourselves carried up at last as high as Heaven Some are too Nimble in their Frisking Prayers and in too much Hast to Speed They come to God's Door But they will not Stay and Wait and so go away without their Errand The Striving with our selves in Prayer to bring our Hearts into better Frame is our Wrestling to Prevail with God So we Preach to our selves in His Hearing Not to Inform Him but to Edify our selves And when Repetitions flow from Heat of affections we have Scripture instances that not only Allow but Approve them Tho' when dull and Heartless resulting from a Fictitious Sanctity or opinion to be heard the sooner for Much speaking They are but the Sacrifice of Fools which we are forbid to offer And must not Roll in such Multiplication of Expressions to Wire-draw Devotion and think to make out in Length what is wanting in Heat and Weight 'T is a good Rule of the Dr. Let a man Contract his Expressions Pag. 198. where he cannot enlarge his â—ffection That he may not hold on speaking when he has done Praying But then where his Affections do Grow upon him in the Use of Words sure he is not obliged to leave off because Solomon says Let thy words be Few Eccles 5.2 Some may think he mistook his Text who from hence took occasion to make an Encomium of the Large Service of the Church and those Prayers which he owns to be near an Hour Long. And that is I think Pag. 214. more than half an Hour Longer than ever I heard any other The Discourse to some may look like a Libel upon our Liturgy And if all Tautology were Battology Common-Prayer it self then must fall under the Common Condemnation Some are weary in the very Beginning of their Prayers And others can hold out well even to the Last and find the Fire still more Enflamed by more Blowing Else what should they do e're the First and Second Service were at an end Tho' the Liturgy hath Variety and is as he calls it A String of Pearls Pag. 209. Yet if the String should be too Long it would spoil much of his Reasoning And if the frequent Breaks and Pauses be the main Commendation Then who can sufficiently admire the Popish Service and all their multiplied Collects Responds Jesu's Ave's and Pater Noster's Pag. 211. But he says The people so share in the Service it is almost impossible they should be idle Hearers or meer Lookers on Indeed it 's possible they may be Neither i. e. if they chance to fall asleep at the Service Nor is it quite impossible they may be both and yet Parrot over the words As wanton children and some Merry Griggs like they were bearing their Part in another kind of Action and shew a very Comical sort of Devotion Tho' it 's true Their indecent Carriage doth not reflect any real Disparagement on the Offices themselves to make them ever the worse Which under the management of true Zealous Worshippers do shew quite another Face And there such Interlocution and Alternate catching the Words of Prayer helps and Refreshes each others Devotion and is like a pious Contest and struggle between them which of 'em shall be most Earnest in the Service of their Lord. But I think he might have left out the Always when he said that Much speaking is the effect of Confidence Pag. 176. 7. And Confidence springs from the persuasion that a man hath of his own Worth For a man may Speak Much and yet Distrust himself Or he may speak in Confidence of a Better Worth than his Own Yea there may be more Impudence in a Few words than in Many according as they are Our Grand Exemplar Continued All Night in Prayer And tho' he were so much more Able to manage it than we Yet from the drift of the Doctor 's reasonings It must be Impertinent to use so many words with God in a Long-winded Harangue I confess the Long Grace looks not Seasonable when a man is ready to Starve And at a sudden Pinch or danger Lord Save me is a good Prayer But when he has more Time sure it is not his Fault to Pray Longer The Lord's Prayer it 's true is short But are we Confined just to those very words Then why doth the Church so much enlarge in other And the thing that is done and may Lawfully be done why should any Son of the Church argue so much against it What Inconveniences soever may attend Long Prayers I cannot think it Convenient to go and prove or insinuate That it is Silly or Wicked ever to use them To say Pag. 194. That the whole heart and soul may be wrapt up in three or four words And to tell the Success of an Ejaculation that Cleans'd the Leper Enlightned the Blind Justified the Publican And then add Pag. 206. I never yet heard or read of any Long Prayer that did so much is a Reflection that I would forbear if but for the Credit of that Church whereof I am a Member which prescribes Longer Prayers than ever I us'd of my own or ever heard any one else use So that there are some besides Heathens and Phanaticks in this Horrid Guilt of Long Praying And to make the Long Robes and Long Prayers A Cover for all Pag. 208. and affirm That they who are like the Pharisees for Long Prayers are like them for somewhat else does but give the Brethren in Querpo an occasion for Retort and Drollery upon some very Canonical men According to his fine Argumentation Pag. 179. If a Short Petition be a Panegyrick on the Great man's parts to whom 't is offered Then the Shortest Prayer that can be made does the greatest Honor to God and if it should be any longer it would but Dishonor him Nay if A Word to the Wise then Half a Word to the Only Wise God might be enough Yea for matter of Informing him None at all But indeed our Words are neither to Inform Pag. 180. nor to Persuade nor to Weary and Overcome him Tho' the Dr. says They must of Necessity be to one of these three purposes Yet himself soon after finds another Use for them when he surprizingly tells us That the proper use of Words
Prayers We may Insist but upon one Point and yet not Maim or Mangle our Devotions According as we are particularly Disposed in our Minds or prest with any particular Occasions in our Lives That which at this Time we find we have most Need to do or are fittest for the doing To do it Heartily will suffice and find Acceptance Tho every thing be not mentioned that belongs to a Full Prayer It is not a Guilt at which we need to Deject our selves for Curtailing and Dismembring our Offices When we leave out some Part and are Intent upon another in which we think our selves Now more immediately Concerned 'T is well and indeed a great Attainment in which we may Hug our selves If we can dispatch but any one Part with serious and fervent Devotion Tho the Enumeration and Confession of our Sins with Confusion of face and Compunction of heart to Humble us before the Lord and prepare us for his Pardon and Grace is of the greatest use for poor Obnoxious Sinful Creatures Yet in our Lord 's own Form there is no Confession but only what is Tacit and Implicite As where in asking for Daily Bread we acknowledge our Wants and Indigence In begging Forgiveness of our Trespasses we acknowledge our Guilt and Wickedness And in Praying not to be Lead into Temptation we acknowledge our Weakness and how prone we are of our selves to go all to Naught And also that we Deserve the Punishment which we Pray to be Delivered from So that altho we should be us'd and forward to Confession Yet we must not Entangle our Consciences with a Conceit of the Necessity lying upon us expresly to Confess our Sins in every Prayer Nor yet the Necessity of particularly Reciting the Mercies and Favours which we have received at the hands of God Tho Thankfulness which is our good Manners towards Heaven as much becomes his Obliged as Confession which is a Self Arraignment to clear our Judge becomes his Offenders Yet there may be the Broken and the Grateful heart sensible both of Sin and Mercy without the particular Naming either our Sins or God's Benefits However 't is my own Sense and my desire to make all I can alike minded That it not only Becomes but Behoves us to be Thankful which being a Tribute we owe to the Crown of Heaven I count it no better than Wrong and Robbery to withhold it Nay so Material a point is this That some I think not amiss have summ'd up the whole of our Religion in the one Word Gratitude To be sensible of our Receits from Above and all our Obligations to the Lord and still Acknowledging the Debt which we are never Able to Pay Full of Concernment What we shall render to the Lord for all his Benefits And where the Poverty of our case checks all thoughts of Retaliation yet giving unto God at least the Glory of his own Gifts Yea for the due Expression of this Gratitude Loving and Honouring and Praising our great Benefactor Trusting and Delighting in him Afraid to Offend and Lose him and studying and striving in all things to Please him And as it is our Reasonahle Service and the most Ingenuous Disposition of Soul as well as the sweetest Solace of our Lives The Marrow and Fatness of our Religion and the joyful Employment of Blessed Spirits above thus to Observe and Recount to Particularize and Magnify the Favours of Heaven to us So 't is the most Decent Begging of what is yet Wanting and our prudential Gaining upon the Goodness of God to run on still in the same Channel Seeing he accounts his Benefits there best placed where they are most Gratefully Resented This then we must be in care not to leave Undone And yet I dare not say that we are bound to do it toties quoties every time we Pray So tho it looks most proper for the Guilty and Conscious to go upon their Submission to the Holy Majesty offended and before they Ask to Acknowledge how unworthy they are to Receive and make their Confessions the Introduction to their Prayers Yet a Great man well vers'd in these matters The Right Reverend Bishop Hall in an Epistle concerning the Continual exercise of a Christian to Keep his heart gives this Advice To begin our Prayers with the Praises of God Taking notice of all his Goodness to us and the great things which still he has done for us and the continued Favours with which he goes on to Oblige us To be in Thanksgiving first and then in Requests And to Bethink our selves How Unworthy we have walk'd of such Mercy and to recount our Abuses of his Kindness and Love may prove an effectual Method to Melt and Dissolve our hard and stony Hearts That laying to heart how Good he has been to us and how wretchedly we have Misbehav'd our selves and carried most ill to the Best of Fathers The Goodness of God may lead us to Repentance Now they that upon trial find the Benefit of this course are Free to take it And I shall not think it Preposterous in my Prayers To deliver my self First of that which lies most upon my opirit and chiefly Affects my Heart whatever it be Good things to be Begged Or Sins or Mercies to be Acknowledged I take it for a Direction and Call to Begin with that which I am so Full of and in Pain till I have poured it out However it may seem to Invert the common Order And if you make use of Another's Form You must not think your selves obliged to every Word and to take All before you But may alter or add or leave out as Diseretion shall suggest or you Judge fittest for your purpose They that are Conversant with God have a Taste for Spiritual things as well as for their common Food To Distinguish between better and worse And then they are not bound to take all that they find and to swallow that which they do not Like But may pick out of the Book all one as at the Table what is Agreeable and let the rest alone and make it up with what they find most Grateful to them and Beneficial for them Yea he that is to be the Speaker in Praying with others may Change his Prayers according to the Company without being a sinful Time-server or Man-pleaser Tho it is the same God I speak to every where Yet the Wants and Humours of men are so exceeding Different that what most Takes with some is as much Disgusted by others And tho I am not to Comply with them to Harden or Hurt them and must not care so much to Please men as God nor be check'd by the Company nor let my Devotion flutter among them instead of flying up to Heaven nor Regard any Men comparably to the Great God But Cease from Man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Yet there is a Lawful Becoming all things to all men and Pleasing all for their Good to
all Being for Support And in the want of every thing whither but to the Fountain of all Goodness for Supply We hang upon Him still for our Being and all the Comforts of it who continues to Create us every moment And Prayer is the Souls Flying back again to Him from whom it came Who exacts our Devotions as the Sun draws Vapours from the earth Not to retain them for his own Benefit but to rain them down in Showers of Mercy upon us The Debt is owing to him but the paying of it only Advantageous to ourselves And in serving him we serve our own best Interest He commands indeed many things above the power of Nature to bring us upon our Knees for his Grace that where our strength ends there our Prayers may begin And that we may Seek for that in Him which we have not in ourselves And tho the infinitely Wise and Good needs neither our Confessions to Inform him of our Wants Nor our Petitions to make him Inclinable to Relieve them Yet he will be Enquired of by us to do for us And notwithstanding He Blots out our Transgressions for his Own Sake Yet he Calls on us to Call upon Him And bids Put me in Remembrance Let us plead together Declare thou that thou maist be justified Isa 43.25 and 6. And by this means we come to Bethink ourselves From whence it is that we have all That we may not impute to our Good Luck what we owe to the Divine Bounty Nor Undervalue the Favours of Heaven coming so Lightly by them without any Seeking He will have us exercise our Repentance towards him our Dependance upon him and our Affiance in him So to Dispose us for the the Reception and Fruition of what we would have from him And therefore Invites us to his Gates that he may load us with his Blessings And commands us to Ask and Seek and Knock That we may receive and Find and Enjoy This Key the Gracious God is pleas'd to put into our Hands That we may go to all the inexhaustible Treasures of his Bounty even as we go to our Table for Meat That we who are so Indigent and Beggarly may be throwly furnished with Him who is Able to do exceeding abundantly even above all that we ask or think And O how well is it for us And what riches of Grace from the Lord of Love That the Gates of Heaven shall be open'd at our Knocking That a Supply shall be Granted for our Asking And that our diligent Seeking shall be rewarded with Finding Eternal Glory O how would the Courts of Kings be thronged if their Gates and Hearts and Hands were so Open to all Comers If it were no more but Come and Ask and Have It is not more needful for a Creature to live in Dependance on his Maker and Preserver But it is as full of sweet Satisfaction for poor frail Insufficient wretches who Want every thing and lye open here still to all Changes and Troubles and Dangers To have an All-sufficient Helper and the safest Sanctuary to Repair to and Solace our selves in O what should we do and whither Betake our selves if we had not this Happy Retreat to turn in at If left Desolate to shift for our selves and make us a Happiness or want it O Kind word then from a Good God Come unto me and Call upon me As if he should say Unload your heavy Hearts with me And Cast your Care upon me Make known your Requests to me and put the matter into my Hands And I will take Care of you and Provide for you O the easy Access that a poor soul has to the Throne of Grace Where as the good Bishop Hall speaks it is not Death to draw nigh before the Golden Scepter be extended No Time out of season No Person so inconsiderable No Words so ordinary no Boon so big No Grant so hard as to give the hearty Supplication a Repulse But rising like a thin Mist from the earth it returns in a plentiful Rain of manifold Blessings Our kind Redeemer chides us that we make no more use of this sweet and blessed Advantage Joh. 16.24 Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full And how well do we deserve to go without that which we count not worth so much as the Asking for O that we should be so Listless to do our selves Good when the God of all Grace is so Willing to be Kind As it was said of the Emperor Severus Molestius erat illi nihil peti quà m dare It troubled him more to be Asked nothing than to give much And to the Courtier that made not bold with him he would say Quid est quod nihil petis What 's the matter thou askest no Boon of me Let me know what thou wouldst have that thou maist not complain Thou art never the better for me So does the Lord of Love delight to see the Face of his Spouse and to Hear her Voice Cant. 2.14 He sollicites for Suiters Joh. 4.23 Waits to be Gracious Loves the Opportunities of dispensing his Favours And bids Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth Isa 45.22 So far is he who knows what Need we all have of Him from Discouraging any to Approach him That he gives free leave and License to every one All may come that Will. Nay it is not As they Will But he has made it their Duty to Come and all must be Supplicants or Rebels It is not then the Liberty to Pray or Not to Pray that is to be Discoursed of But the Permission that every one has to frequent the Throne of Grace The Boldness to Ask Seek and Knock at Heaven's Gates Yea and chiefly The Freedom of Address any Where at any Time or in any becoming Manner Thô it be not at the Church nor within Canonical Hours nor just in this or that Mode and Form We are indeed Bound to it But yet we must make a Free will offering of it and be Volunteers at our Prayers For if it be a Forced-put it is not Religion Beasts might but Men must not be Dragg'd to God's Altar nor be Threatned with Happiness nor Clubb'd into Heaven No compulsion here but by dint of Argument and the charms of Perswasion When we are so Convinc'd and wrought upon that we know not how to Stand out against that which appears every way so Rational Needful and Beneficial This Liberty of Praying i. e. All the Liberty which Nature and Scripture give So as not to run into that Licentiousness which I shall take care to Gard it from in the Second Part of this Discourse It may be considered Not only as to the Leave and Encouragement Given from Heaven to our Prayers And the fair Invitation made with Assurance of good Welcome and Happy Success to All Flesh that come to Him by the God that Heareth Prayers And who is pleased therefore to put
nigh to our Gracious God and Pouring out our Hearts before him But especially when his Hand is upon us our Eyes and Hearts should be lifted up to Him Who has Torn and Smitten and alone can Heal and Bind up our Breaches Whatever be the Distress God is a Refuge sufficient for us Our Refuge and Strength our present Help in Time of Trouble 'T is to some purpose to make our application to Him who at the Lowest can Raise and at the Worst is able to Relieve us Refuge failed me no man cared for my Soul yet I cried unto thee ô Lord and said Thou art my Refuge and my Portion in the Land of the Living Psal 142.4 5. Yea thô men Provoke him and are Brought Low for their Iniquity Nevertheless he Regards their Affliction when he hears their Cry Psal 106.43 44. Thô Foolish Sinners for their Transgressions and Iniquities are Afflicted Yet when they Cry to the Lord in their Troubles He saves them out of their Distress Psal 107 17-16 Whatever comes upon us it cannot Vndo us as long as we have the way open to the Almighty Friend in whom is our Help Whatever we Lose We may ask and have a Better thing at his Hands Whatever we Suffer if we make our moan and cry to him for Succor He will Remove it from us or Sanctify and Sweeten it to us that it shall do us no Hurt but Work for our Good With this Staff of Prayer we may walk over Rocks and Mountains and Surmount all our Troubles and Disasters Whoever are against us and run us down No matter if we can Appeal to Heaven and have God our Friend and Engage the Almighty Lord of all into our Interests For my Love they are my Adversaries but I give my self unto Prayer Ps 109.4 Instead of Wrangling with them I turn to Him that can order them and Save me from them Or make me more than amends for all the Damage that I can sustain by them When I am in Heaviness and my Spirit is overwhelmed within me To unload my Breast before the Lord Eases my Oppressed mind and helps me to that Relief from Above which the World cannot give As Hannah after she had Prayed to the Lord in Bitterness of Soul and pour'd it out and wept sore She went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad 1 Sam. 1.10 15 18. Let me be shut up in Prison none can Imprison my Prayers but my Soul may Expatiate and sally out to my Father which sees in Secret No Walls or Irons can stop me from Him who is every where Present and Nigh unto all that Call upon him I am but a Prisoner in the Body and in this World which is but a greater Jail But Prayer sets me at Large and carries me even to Heaven aforehand And however I am Tempted Troubled and sore put to it Still I have Leave and Liberty to Remonstrate and make my moan Above and seek Redress at the hands of Omnipotent Love And let me continue so to Seek and Pray Heartily And I shall be Happy in spight of all Disasters and misery CHAP. IV. The Liberty for the Place of Prayer THE Infinite Majesty that is every where Present is no more tied to Places than Times I will that men Pray Every where saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.8 The whole World is God's House and no Place of it unfit wherein to Invocate him that Made it Not a Hole or Corner where He that fills Heaven and Earth is not Aware of me We may Hallow any Ground we tread upon and Consecrate every Place we come in for a Proseucha the Chappel and Altar of our Devotion by offering up our Prayers to Jehovah Shammah The Lord that Sees us And when we have no better even a Dunghill or a Dungeon will be Oratories as recommending as the Temple Thô when it is at our choice The Church which is peculiarly stiled The House of Prayer must be Preferred And while we have the Liberty and opportunity of Going with the Multitude to the House of God and those Doors lie Open to us We must take heed of Slighting the Blessed Priviledge So much prized by the Servants of the Lord that Enjoy it and so much Bewailed by them that Want it We must dread to Excommunicate our selves from the Assemblies where the Lord Feeds and makes his Flock to rest and not be as those that Turn aside by the Flocks of his Companions Instead of making that heavy Judgment our wilful Choice To turn our selves out of the Courts of the House of our God we must greatly rejoice in the Favour and with all our hearts be glad of the Freedom To go into the House of the Lord. Yea we must Long for his Courts and Love the Habitation of his House and count it so Amiable that we had rather be Janitors in his Temple where his Reteiners are Still praising him and Every one speaks of his Honour than to have all the Pomp and Splendor of the World among the Strangers and Enemies to God that do nothing but despise and Affront him O! enter into his Gates with Thanksgiving and into his Courts with Praise Be Thankful to him and Bless his Name Psal 100.4 Not only accept the Benefit while offered but Prize it most highly and Embrace it most eagerly Rejoicing with all your Souls that you may be so Happy there to make your Prayers But yet you must not take Prayer for a Sacrifice tied only to that Holy Place nor use to Pen up all your Religion within the Church-walls and there let it lie till the next time Your own Houses also are to be Bethel's and Houses of Prayer Such Families where the Name of God is daily and duly Callâ—d upon Every Master in his House may Officiate as the Priest without Usurping the Honour of Aaron to himself And by such Leading the way in God's humble Worship at thy House thou ownest him to be more Master there than thy self Which will be so far from Losing that it will Greaten thee more than any thing else can do and make thee far more considerable and Worthy than all the Proud Scorning of his Service as a thing Below thee For them that Honour him God has promised to Honour But of all the House our Lord hath given a peculiar Consecration to the Closet where when the Door is Shut and Barr'd up to make it yet more a Closet under that Confinement lies the greatest Liberty And such a Prisoner is the most Free to Expatiate in Prayer When Sequestred from the World thou maist much better Descend into thy own Heart And more out of the danger of Ostentation maist Pour out all thy Soul and demonstrate thy Faith in the Omnipresence and continual Inspection of that God to whom Closets and Hearts are as Open as High-ways and the Face of the Congregation The Lord calls to see the Countenance and to Hear the Voice of his Dove in the
43.3 O send out thy Light and thy Truth Let them Lead me Let them bring me to thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles This was the One thing he desired of the Lord and resolved to Seek after That he might dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of his Life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his Temple Psal 27.4 But now alas where shall we find such A man after God's Heart How few such Flaming Lights in these last days to warm the World into better Devotion Our Church doors are Open but the Doors of Mens Hearts are Shut God Bows his Heavens and comes Down But they have somewhat else to do than give him the Meeting A Friend to be Entertained at Home must excuse them for Attending upon the Lord at Church A little Storm of foul Weather can soon Cool all their Zeal Or the very conceit of a small Journey quite Tire out their Devotion The poorest Trifles their very Fancies and Petts as well as Pleasures shall serve turn to stop them from the Church that would not be Enough to keep them from a worse place O how Small a matter will turn such Queasie Stomachs against the Food of their Souls which they have so little Love for And they that are most Behind hand in their Souls Affairs and have the greatest Need of all Men to Watch daily at the Gates and Wait at the Posts of Wisdome's doors use to be the greatest Truants here and the most slack and Listless of any to Frequent the places of their Improvement and duely to attend the Means and Helps that should do their Souls Good Such as can worst afford to be Absent are the most seldom Present They will rather Expose themselves to the devouring Enemy than come under God's Banner and Hide themselves in the Clefts of the Rock that his Goodness may pass before them If they must Worship Christ they will do it so as none but Himself shall take Notice Who does indeed take Notice That they are Ashamed to Own Him Before Men And so He will once Disown them before his Father and all the holy Angels The pretence is They can do the business as well at their own Houses when in truth they are too Stately or too Lazy to come unto God's But you must go to His House if you expect the Blessing to come to your Own For tho' Blessings have their Rise in Heaven they come to us thro' the Church Psal 134.3 The Lord that made Heaven and Earth Bless thee out of Zion They shall appear before Gods Judgment Seat to their Confusion that will not appear at the Mercy-Seat of his Temple in their Devotion And the Enemies of Churches shall once have occasion to Hate them yet more when they shall have another Erection at last and Rise up in the Judgment to Testifie against them And that which they now bear as a Burthen shall eternally load them with a heavy Remorse When instead of catching all Opportunities to Appear before the Lord they are ready to re-assume the hoggish Gergesenes Request and Beseech Christ to Depart out of their Coasts God knows how soon they may be Punished with their own Choice and turn'd out of those Churches which they so Slighted when they had them Yea they that are so Humoursome and Wanton they will not Worship the Lord in the Beauties of Holiness may fear to be for ever excluded that Holy Place Above which this below was to Fit them up for But there are who come to the House of Prayer not indeed to Pray but to Profane the Sacred Place and Affront Him to his Face who there Inhabits Sometime they give the Church their Bodies when Rome or Mammon has their Hearts The Intention of their coming thither is not to Seek and Enjoy the Lord. if they really believ'd Him to be in that Place they would less Care to be there or not be so Careless of ordering themselves when got thither But the Church is their Theatre to See and to be Seen There they can take their Ease and Divert themselves and not only Gaze about but Whisper and Laugh and make a Merry Bout even of that Meeting They Keep not their Foot when they go to the House of God Nor ever put off the Shooes of their carnal Affections when to tread the Holy Ground But carry even as if it were at the Play-House As if they came but to Air a fine Suit or to see how one is Drest Or how another Looks or Acts Which hath the best Face or the gayest Garb and to pick up matter for Tattle and Story Or else to loll and fetch a Nap and so Deceive the Time and cast Contempt on the Service The Church would be a Jayl to them if they did not take the Liberty so to Profane it They can never be Glad in the House of Prayer but when they Mistake the Errand that should bring them thither and find somewhat Gamesome and Ridiculous to make them Sport S. Hierom in an Epistle to one notoriously Scandalous for such Irreverence in God's House crys out Non possum ulterius progredi I want words to reach the Wickedness of this Abuse How then shall I undertake to Express it as it deserves May every one in Gods Fear beware of turning the House of Prayer into such a Den of Thieves where God is robb'd of those Hearts which are the only Sacrifice that he looks after Or to turn the Temple into a Stews where the fire of Lust flames above that of the Altar And impudent Goats are Intregueing for their lewd Amours instead of making their most humble and earnest Court to the Heavenly Bridegroom In God's House let your thoughts be Intent upon God The Market for Traffick the Hall for Noise The Stage for Vanity but as Moses left the Multitude behind him when he went up to the Mount So let all foolish Lusts and youthful Gauds and Worldly Interests be laid aside when you Enter the Gates of the Lord's House And let not the Coming to Church be a Counterfeit but Real Drawing nigh to God Nor only take on you to Serve Him but worship in Spirit and in Truth If you are none of the Scornfull Deserters that help to make the ways of Zion Mourn and her Gates desolate neither be any of the rude Intruders that tempt even the Stones of the Sanctuary to cry out of you coming thither but to Pollute the Habitation of God's Holiness SECT II. Of not Praying in the Family THE Church is the House of Prayer but not the Prison to confine it within those Walls nor the only House where Prayer is to be made It is vain to come unto God's House when you make no Conscience to Pray at your own In the Word God Serves us In our Prayers we Serve Him or rather ourselves upon him And 't is not what men appear Abroad but how they carry the matter at Home that