that are about Him And none of his Kindness to us must ever tempt us to forget our Distance and Grow upon Him as if he were but Such a one as our selves Ignorant people think basely of God in the form of an Old man sitting in his Chair to which Bungling Conceit the Popish Painters have lent their Help daring so to Picture Him that is Invisible and Incomprehensible And answerable to the Opinion conceived of God uses to be the Worship paid to him When men think Low and Slightly of God they can be as Rude and Saucy with him and divulge their Inward Contempt in their Carriage Abroad Presenting no Oblations but what more Affront than Honour him As if they came not to Adore and Pray but to Vaunt and Huff to Shew or Divert themselves to Scandalize their Neighbours and Sadden the hearts of some and make a Game for others To cast their Dirt and Scorn upon Holy things in their Yawning or Sleeping over them or Laughing the while and Playing with them And by their Countenance and Gesture and Actions shewing no more Concern in the Worship of God than if it were an idle Gambol or the most Trivial business They will observe and Revere a frail man that shall Dye but make even nothing of the Almighty Everliving God who Awes the World with a Look and will make his Despisers discern to their eternal Cost between them that Honoured and them that so Vilified Him Christians that behave themselves Rude and Vnmannerly in their Worship shall be condemned in Judgment by the Turks who are said to be so Curious in this point they think it will Spoil all their Prayers if they but Scratch the head with a Finger while they are upon them The dreadful Judge of Quick and Dead is not to be treated after the rate of an ordinary man They that have such a Clownish Familiarity have never the more but the less Friendship with God The Prayer that Puffs up serves but to do us hurt When we are Proud of our Prayers which are indeed but Acknowledgments of Indigence and Guilt and Offices of Humiliation and Repentance we quite mistake their Design and shall as much fail too of their Success And instead of Drawing nigh to God He will See us afar off 'T is his Grace to take even our Best in good part at our hands which is but a mean Present for the most High and to imploy sinful Worms in his Service who Humbles himself to Behold even the things that are in Heaven and hath the highest Angels ambitious to Attend upon His Throne And if we use to Applaud ourselves Principibus placuisse viris to fit the Humour of Great men How much more should we rejoyce to be Acceptable to Him in whose Favour is Life Who unless we hold Back what is in our Power to Give will not Despise us that it is no Better when he sees we Have no Better But he will not endure that Proud Scorners and rude Lubbers should come to his Face only to Pollute his Ordinances but will cast their wretched Offerings as Dirt in their Faces especially when they are called by his Name and pretend to be a People Nigh to Him And yet he could not be worse Served by any that are Afar off but his Name is more Dreadful among the Heathen Tho Religion then is not to be Gawdy yet we must not strip it so Naked under pretence of Spirituality that it appear in no Decent Garb Nor make Irreverence and a Worship without any Becoming Circumstances the distinguishing Note of a Godly man For that is the way to bring all our Religion under a just Suspicion when we carry towards the great Adorable Object of it as if we had no Awe of Him nor Regard or Love to Him Cursed is he that doth the Work of the Lord so Negligently At his Peril it is who meddles not with the Worship of God but to Expose and Blaspheme it and Wo be to that man whose very Oblations are the highest Provocations SECT IV. Of Praying without taking care of our Living THE Blessed God who Lacketh nothing stands not in such Need of men's Services as to accept the Present that is all Soiled with Filthy Hands When he accepts nothing indeed from us but only to do us a Kindness and makes us much more Beholden to Him to take Notice of our Offering than ever we can Oblige Him with the Service He will Abhor even our Holy things if we Abhor his Holy Ways Therefore when we are off our Knees the Apostle cautions us to take heed how we Walk 1 Pet. 1.17 If ye Call upon the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work Pass the time of your Sojourning here in Fear All the Religion of wicked men is upon their Knees without looking to their Steps They may sometimes shew Devout in their Prayers who yet are most Profligate in their Lives and use their Offices only as a Cloak for their Sins and to Compound with the Divine Justice for Going on still in their Trespasses Depositing their Pageant-like Piety in the Church Pref. to Caus of Decay of Christ Pi. only to make a Shew with on Holidays But such as are so Rotten and corrupt at Heart and quite out in the very Drift and tenour of their Life must not think to put off the Holy Jealous God with a parcel of Good Words and Demure Looks and fine Postures He will scorn all the Prayers of such as cast off his Fear and disregard his Holy Word They shall cry in vain for his Help that neglect their honest Endeavors to Help themselves They that Trust in the Lord and do no Good but presume that Christ will Save them against his own Gospel are a sort of Worshippers that are like to find as little Success in their Praying as God finds Integrity and Piety in their Walking Their Carnal Living spoils all their Spiritual Worshipping They shall find small Wellcome with Him when they love to be most Vnlike Him When they cannot abide his Friends And love none so well as the Worst of his Enemies Nay can Blasphemously Swear elsewhere as fast by the Name of their Maker as they Bow mannerly at Church to the Name of their Saviour And when they take on them to Pray the Lord to have Mercy upon them for Taking his Name in Vain and to Incline their Hearts to keep that Law and yet are so far from Minding what they Say that presently after in the accustomed manner they fall Foul upon Him and make nothing of it to Play with that tremendous Name as their Bable O how Vain are their Oblations What Abomination is their Incense Yea what Iniquity even their Solemn Meeting As good they Slew a Man as Kill'd an Ox or Cut off a Dogs neck as Sacrific'd a Lamb. Isa 66.3 If any man be a Worshipper of God and do his Will him he Heareth Joh. 9.31 The only
Clefts of the Rocks in the Secret place of the Stairs Cant. 2.14 In such Retirements he uses most freely to Impart Himself And there should we cast and covet to Meet Him whom our Souls Love And not think it any hard Put upon us but the most sweet and blessed Advantage to leave even the best and Dearest Company to go to God our Exceeding Joy What care I for Chatting with Friends on earth said Bishop Hall shut up in the Tower when I may talk familiarly with the God of Heaven As our Saviour gave a discharge even to his own Disciples Mat. 26.36 Tarry ye here while I go and Pray yonder So get sometimes out of the Crowd and Hurry of worldly Avocations and distractions that thou maist find a full Vacation and happy Freedom to wait upon thy God And when so taken up with Him in Secret bethink thy self what main Grievance it is thou hast to make thy moan of What especial Favour thou hast to Beg What Sin that lieth hardest upon thy Conscience to be Pardoned What noisom Corruption to be Healed What most Wanted Grace or Good thing to be Desired And there tell all as having the fairest Opportunity to be Bold And put on hard as one that will not be Denied Abraham Retired into his Grove Isaac to the Field Jacob Wrestled with God upon the Way Elijah Prayed under the Juniper-Tree Jeremiah in the Dungeon Daniel in the Lions Den Jonah in the Whales Belly Our Saviour in the Garden and often in the Mount St. Peter on the House-Top No matter what is the Place so it minister to our Devotion and help us indeed to Draw nigh to God Which is not to be done with the Body and shifting of Places but in the Elevation of the Heart and Fervor of Affections Non Passibus sed Precibus itur ad Deum Aug. Prayer is the Messenger that doth our Errand there where Flesh cannot come And wherever a man is or however taken up even in the midst of his Worldly occasions His Soul may fly out and steal away to God Or send up Secret Ejaculations that shall pierce the Heavens and find as sure a Conveyance as if they had bounded from the Temple However then we should be Glad to to go into the House of the Lord when Opportunity serves Yet when we have a Motion to Prayer any where we must not withhold it for want of a Better Place from whence to send it up CHAP. V. The Liberty of Prayer as to the Persons Praying SECT I. The Liberty that All Sorts have to Pray EVery one that is Godly shall Pray unto thee ô Lord. Psal 32.6 No Godly man but will do it And all manner of Persons as they have Need So they are Allowed to do it Only the Priest of old entred the Holy Place Now he that hath Loved and Redeemed us and wash'd us from our Sins in his own Blood hath made us all Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 God is no Respecter of Persons The Poorest shall have as fair and full a Hearing with Him as the Biggest man in the World Tho he be the most High yet the Lowest are not beneath his Notice If they are Low in their own eyes and Poor in Spirit as well as of Low Estate and Poor in the World They are indeed the Nearer to his Acceptance Who hath Respect unto the Lowly And to this man will Look that is Poor and of a Contrite Spirit and Trembles at his Word Isa 66.2 This Poor man cried and the Lord Heard him and saved him out of all his Troubles Psal 34.6 From the Height of his Sanctuary he looks down even upon the most Abject wretches on Earth Even such as are Rejected of men and just ready to be Thrust out as not fit to Live in the World To hear the groaning of the Prisoner To loose those that are Appointed to death Psal 102.20 He will Regard the Prayer of the Destitute and not despise their Prayer v. 17. The Lord sees not as man sees To Regard men according to their Garb and Dresses but according to their Faith and Graces Yea according to their Cries and Necessities And even that Abjection and Beggary for which others Overlook and Scorn them is the very Motive of God's Inclining to them and taking Notice of them Do thou for me O God the Lord for thy Names sake because thy mercy is good Deliver thou me For I am Poor and Needy Psal 109.21 For the Oppression of the Poor for the Sighing of the Needy now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him at Liberty Psal 12.5 Tho God that hath Chosen the Poor of this World is not Fond of a man only for this reason because he is Poor For there may not be more Wicked men than many Poor men Yea such as are fain to Beg their Bread of Men may yet be none of Gods Beggars and so none of his Favourites This not for their Bodily wretchedness but for their Souls Ungodliness because matters are not so Ill with their Bodies but they are Worse with their Souls Yet caeteris paribus No Poor man shall be ever the less Welcome with God for his Poverty but be as soon Heard and as much Respected by Him as His Excellency or His Highness the most Eminent and Mighty who look to be Observed of all and that every one else must be Silent when they Speak Such are often too High to be God's Humble Servants Like the Wicked Psal 10.4 Who thrô the Pride of his Countenance will not Seek after God Tho there is none so Rich and well-provided but they stand in continual need of God's Alms And they that abound in the World 's Good must yet beg of him their Daily Bread and have need of all men to Pray hard That they may not be put off with their Portion in this Life and be Tormented when Lazarus shall be Comforted Let not the Rich man rejoice so much in his Riches as that he may go to God to save him from the Danger of them And let him not Pray the Less but the More That thrô so many Temptations he may get Safe into the Kingdom of God Let not any Nobles Gentlemen or Ladies ever fear it will Debase their Dignity to Cringe to Him that has far greater than any Kings or Queens on Earth for his daily Attendants If they are too Goodly to be Godly they will be too High to be Saved Prayer is Man well Drest Herb. The finest Creature is best Adorned when most Humbled And when the Knees are Bowed the Mouth Confessing the Hands Smiting the Eyes Blubbered the Cheeks bedewed Nothing in the sight of Heaven is more Becoming and Recommending Ephraim was heard so Bemoaning himself And presently it follows Is Ephraim my dear Son is be a pleasant Child For since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still I will surely have mercy on him saith the Lord. Jer. 31.18 19 20.
Still we must Examine ourselves for the Obstruction and strive to Amend the matter in the next Prayer And then we may take every Second Prayer for an answer to the former and conclude That he who gives us the Grace to Persist Favours our Cause Yea the very Perseverance which he gives may be Better than the thing which we asked Use the Liberty granted then and go on to Pray in Hopes to Speed Seek every day That you may not be sadly to Seek at your Last day Some have more Leisure and they should be much in Prayer And the men of Business ought to Pray for the Success and Sanctification too of their Business But whoever Fears and Loves God will find Time to Wait upon him Every Day whatever Stands the while In the Morning we are Exposed to the wide World and have need to put ourselves under the Divine Conduct And at Night we are as in the Suburbs of Death And therefore before we lie Down it concerns us to Even matters with Heaven lest we Rise not till it be in Another World Much of a Christian's business lies on his Knees Let us be Much in Prayer while we have Time And when all our Time is gone We shall have an Eternity to be ever Praising the Lord. SECT III. Of Chusing the Best Times for Prayer SEeing we are not punctually Determined as to particular Times of Prayer It will be our Wisdom and Piety to make choice of the Fittest Seasons for that purpose Tho we should have our Stated Times to which we may be Constant without any fear of Superstition And shall find it not so Dangerous as Useful to have the Sun and Clock for our Remembrancers And tho we count not one Time of the day Holier than another Yet the very Appointing of Set Times for Prayer shews that we value the Office more than to leave it at Random as a Chance business Lest so it should be Thrown by and not done at all And that we would Secure it at certain Seasons tho we do not Confine it only to those very Times And tho we are not lightly to Vary and Break so good a Custom Yet we may upon occasion Break our Vsual Times without Breaking any of Gods Commands Because he has no where bid us do it Just Now but to see that it be Duly done We must then Watch unto Prayer not only while we are in it But also to take the Fittest Times for it Those Mollia Fandi Tempora Favourable Seasons of Address when our Hearts are Fixed and the Feet of our Affections stand right When Our beloved puts in his hand by the hole of the door and our Bowels are moved for him Cant. 5.4 When He that is to do All for us gives us some peculiar Hint and intimation to come now and Receive what he is infinitely Full of and more Inclinable to make us Happy with than we to Seek it When he gives such Intimations of his Favour as Ahashuerus to Esther What is thy Petition and it shall be granted O! let us prize such Golden opportunities more than ever to Omit and Lose them when they are set before us Chuse the best Time of the Day when your mind is most Composed and your Soul in fittest Frame for the Work And neglect not the Spring and Flower of Age But Seek the Lord Early Remember him in the days of your Youth And he will not cast you off in the time of your Old Age. Let it not be only for a Shift that you Fly to him when the World is Shaking you off and you know not what to do with your selves But in Health and Prosperity be drawn by the Bands of Love Before you are Driven by a sad Necessity to Seek the Lord When he Slays you Yea lest then he turn you over to the Miserable Comforters for whose sake you Forsook Him and make you find the Verification of that Threat Prov. 1.28 Then shall they Call upon me but I will not answer them They shall Seek me Early but they shall not find me For surely in the Floods of great Waters they shall not come nigh to Him Psal 32.6 In such a dismal Plunge Ungodly mens Heads Turn instead of their Hearts They know not where they are then nor what to do nor how to apply to the God to whom they have been still the greatest Strangers And no wonder He is not at their Beck in their Adversity whom they did nothing but Slight all the days of their Prosperity SECT IV. The Liberty of Praying in Time of Trouble THO' Wicked men are at so sad a Loss in the Time of their sorest Need Groping in the Dark for what they would not Seek while they had Light Because they put off the Work of their Salvation till they were Weary of their Lives and a Burthen to themselves and good for nothing but to Nurse their Disease and Bewail their Troubles And so when Invaded with Sickness and the Messengers of Death They lie either like Dead Logs insensible of their condition Or Struggle as a Wild Bull in a Net full of the Fury of the Lord the Rebuke of their God Listless to Seek where their Help lies Or else Despairing to find it if Sought Yet all Pious Souls that have Given themselves to Prayers find the same God of Consolation to Shelter them in Affliction whom they Delighted in approaching to during their Better days In him they have Peace when nothing but Tribulation in the World Yea are Bold in their God tho he looks as if he were against them Knowing that they may be Cast down and not Cast off Poor and Needy Yet thought upon by the Lord. In a Low estate and yet Remembred in everlasting Mercy By that God who Abhors not the Affliction of the Afflicted Nor Loves his Children ever the less for Chastening them But in very Faithfulness Afflicts them Out of Kindness to them As that which he knows to be Needful and Best for them And like as we Sprinkle Water on the Fire to make it burn the Fiercer He lays Affliction on their Loins not to Discourage but to Quicken their Prayers and to make way for his Praises Not to Affright them from him but to bring them Nearer to Him Psal 50.15 Call upon me says he in the day of Trouble I will Deliver thee and thou shalt Glorify me Indeed that Trouble whatever it be does us a great deal of Good which does not Hinder but Invigorate our Prayers and makes us able to declare as that sore Afflicted man to his friend coming to Visit and asking him How he did I thank God says he I can Pray Better since these Troubles than ever I could in my life before Wilt thou not Pray to God then because he Afflicts thee Why for that very Reason thou must do it the Rather Jam. 5 13. Is any among you Afflicted Let him Pray At all Times we should gladly embrace the Advantage of Drawing
Hearts No good thing will he withhold from them that walk Vprightly Psal 84.11 Still there will be room enough left for his Pardon even when we have done our Best Yet will he not for that stop his Ears but Hear in Heaven and when he Hears Forgive Elias I know was an Extraordinary Person Tho the Apostle tells us he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 James 5.17 Passible as we are and that with Frailty of Mind as well as Body For so the Venerable Bede glosses upon it Et mentis Fragilitate Carnis Yet he Prayed and was Heard in what he Asked Some Inherent Holiness indeed we must have to give us Confidence towards God and to speak our Interest in the Holy prevailing Advocate Whatsoever we ask we receive of Him Because we keep his Commands and do those things that are Pleasing in his Sight 1 Joh. 3.22 Yet we cannot ground our Hopes all upon our own Holiness But must have a better Name and Righteousness than any in ourselves wherewithal to Appear before the Lord and Bow our selves to the most High God And He upon whose Interest and Mediation we go is pleas'd to call to Him the Labouring and Heavy-Laden They that feel themselves Burthened with their Sins are the fitter to make their Prayers The Sense of Sin is both the Weight to Humble them and also the Goad to Quicken them That they may think Ill of themselves and be in good Earnest with God Prayer is the Pillar of Smoak in which the Soul ascends out of this Wilderness to God Above Which tho it be Black as Smoak for manifold Infirmities still adhering Yet having a Principle of Energy and Spirit to carry it upward The Devout Soul ascends therein and by a humble Familiarity Converses and Parlies with God even as Abraham and Moses did Yea when our Sins are felt and Bewailed we may draw even from them a Plea why God should Hear us for his Glory For that he should Hear in Heaven and do and Grant the desires of Sinful Dust and Ashes who can claim nothing as due at his hands That he should Forgive us who have so Provoked him we deserve rather to be Abhorred than Pardoned Reward Vnprofitable Servants Yea Regard Ill-deserving Sinners O how much does this redound to the Honour of his Name and illustrate his Glory And what Encouragement have we even when Discouraged by our own Sinful Vileness to go and Strive and Plead with God in our Prayers by the things which he most Prizes and Loves That is to Move him with his own Glory to take the Motive from Himself and to be Merciful to us Sinners for his Names sake And Arise and Help and Deliver us for his Honour What Mean then the Faint Hands and Feeble Knees when the God so Greatly Offended will be so Easily intreated And expects not that we should come to him without our Sins But only with a Sorrowful Concernment for them and a pious Resolution against them And so even Fools corrected with their own Wickedness are Heard Psal 107.9 And the Wicked whose very Prayer is called Abomination are yet put upon Praying However they want Ability they are not Disengaged from paying the Debt because that Inability is only thro their own Fault And if they are Sinful even in their Prayers To leave them off will not Amend the matter but they would be yet more Sinful without them They may Pray and Escape But if they Pray not they are sure to Perish And therefore St. Peter bid Simon Magus who was in the Gall of bitterness and the Bonds of iniquity Repent and Pray God if perhaps the thoughts of his heart might be Forgiven him Acts 8.22 23. If there be but any Peradventure it is good to be Adventurers here Jehoahaz did Evil in the Sight of the Lord and yet he Sought the Lord and the Lord Hearkened to him 2 King 13.4 And what hath been may be As the Hand of God is not Shortened So neither is his Mercy Abated but still they are the Same as ever they were And Praying being the using of Gods Means In that very Vse both our Persons and our Prayers may be Sanctified But they that are not sensible enough of their Adoption to cry Abba Father must yet repair to God as the Common Father of all for a better Title and beg the Regenerating and Witnessing Spirit of Him as the faithful Creator with whom the Fatherless find Mercy And however Unworthy we are The Lord our Righteousness who is Infinitely Worthy maketh intercession for the Transgressors Isa 53. last v. And his Interceding is not by way of Petition but as an Advocate Pleading for his Client of Justice Because we have no Sins hanging upon us but what he to the full has Satisfied for And so they can be no Bar to our Prayers when we are Interested in his Merits And thus the way to the Throne of Grace is Open to All manner of Persons And Sinners even the Worst are not Excluded if they resolve not to Continue in their Sins but are on the Penitent Key and on the Parting Point He that Confesseth and Forsaketh his Sins shall have Mercy To which I may add He that Fears and Prays shall not Feel what he Fears and Prays against God will never condemn that earnest Supplicant who Deprecates the Evil which he dreads and from a sensible Heart thus pleads for the Life of his poor Soul From thy Wrath and from Everlasting Damnation Good Lord deliver me What profit is there in my Blood The Damned nothing but Blaspheme and Curse thee O let me live that I may Bless and Praise thy Name Let none then Debar himself of the Liberty which our Lord Allows us all But may every one lay hold of the blessed Priviledge and be a Petitioner waiting on the Lord our God till he answer him in the Wishes of his heart And O that we might have that once to say of every Vnconverted Sinner which was given as an Argument of St. Paul's Conversion Act. 9.11 Behold he Prayeth Lord I have Invited all And I shall Still Invite still Call to Thee For it seems but just and right In my sight Where is All there all should be Herb. CHAP. VI. The Liberty of Prayer as to the Persons Prayed for SECT I. The Liberty of Praying For All. OUR Blessed Lord in the first Word of his Prayer teacheth us to Pray in Love as well as in Faith and to take in Others together with ourselves And here we are to go as Wide as before None is Debarred from Praying And we must Leave out None in our Prayers If we do not still Name yet we must Intend them And Make Prayers and Intercessions for All men 1 Tim. 2.1 Not only men of all Orders and Sorts but All the men of every order and sort Our Charity should be as Extensive even as the whole Race of Mankind Like Fellow-Members of the same Body Every Member should have
better far to Err in the charitable Extream than in the other All Sin in its own Nature is Deadly But yet all that is Mortal doth not Kill thro the Divine Mercy And it proves Not unto Death thro Christ's Remedy No Sin so Deadly but shall be Pardoned to the Penitent And therefore we must Pray for all as Pardonable till we are sure of the Contrary as to any Our rash Censoriousness may as much Wrong others as Harm ourselves But our kind Prayers even for such as they can do no Good yet will do us no Hurt Yea we shall be the Better for our Charity tho they be never the Better for it Thro a Bar which themselves put in the Way Let us not then scruple to Extend our Litany as far as ever there is a man Alive to receive the Benefit Beseeching the Good Lord That it would please him to have Mercy upon All men The Close of the First Part Justifying the Liberty pleaded for THUS for the Matter and Manner Time Place and Persons we are at Liberty for Prayer Not tied up to move only as Puppets in a Frame but may walk at Large as the Lord 's Free men Let Papists call us Libertines because we challenge a Share in our Blessed Saviour's Purchase made for us We are not at Liberty so to Part with our Liberty But must rather Resist unto Blood than make ourselves Vnderlings to Unreasonable and Cruel men Such as would bind us under pain of Damnation As to Believe all that their Church Says So to do all as their Church Requires tho God's Word as well as our own Reason tell us we are Misled Those of a Bigotted Humor void of the truly Pious Temper shew little or no Religion but in the blind Hair-brain'd Hectoring for the Shells and Shadows of Religion For that Formal Religion which at best is but like the fine Birds Skin stuffed without any Life in it When as indeed the Heavenly Beauty of Religion is Within however the Outward Dress is not to be Wild and Slattering Yet it must not be so Strait lac'd to bind and Fetter us instead of Expediting our Motions in Drawing nigh to God It is not Christianity but Bigottery to Neglect the most Weighty things of God's Law as if Indifferent And the while to Plead for things Indifferent as All in All. Like those whom Socrates the Historian tells us of that held Fornication a thing Indifferent Lib 5. c. 21. But Tugg'd for a Holy-day as if their Lives had lain upon it Our hearts may be Free in spight of all Assuming Powers in the World Nor need we so much Perplex our Consciences about the Ritual Religion As if by Strictness in such Lesser matters we thought to Compound for our Carelesness in the One thing Necessary Never must we set any Humane Laws to Rival and Top the Divine Tho Submission to Just Authority in all Lawful things is no Infringement of our Christian Liberty Which we are not so to Dote upon neither as if we thought even our own Cloaths Abridg'd it But may preserve it still Good and fair to Ourselves even then when Prudence holds us in from Flourishing with it Before men As long as we do not tie up ourselves to the Observation of Humane Institutions as things in themselves Absolutely Necessary We may obey for Conscience Sake and yet keep our Consciences as Free in the Sight of God as if we did none of the things Prescribed by men While we make them no Parts of our Religion nor believe them Necessary to Salvation And yet thô we know the things to be Indifferent we look not upon our Obedience as Indifferent when as nothing is Commanded contrary to what God has Commanded And being thus Right in our Opinion and Apprehension of things and not Slaves to our own Conceits We are at Liberty still Enjoyed to ourselves for all our Deference to Ecclesiastical Appointments for Decorum and Order in the Church Our Thoughts and Judgment are Free even when our Practice is under some Restraint And thô we do the same things as others It is at our Liberty whether it shall be with the same Mind None can hinder but we may Think as we please Now in all this my Endeavour has been to Open and Smooth the way to the Throne of Grace That no Well-disposed Pious Soul may be discouraged in its Approaches to that Sweet Retreat but find all Encouragement Freely and Cheerfully to Draw Nigh to God without a Servile Dread Discharged from those fluctuating Doubts and Entangling Conceits wherewith so many are turmoil'd and kept under Hatches even all their days To Interrupt them in the course of their Religion to make their Offices their Torment to disturb the Serenity and Quiet of their Minds and to spoil all the Comfort and Sweetness of their Devotion While they drag on so Heavily as Strangers to the Spirit of Adoption and have a Hundred Rubs and Frights in the way When as their Prayers should be their Free-will Offering and the Festival Entertainment of their Lives and their Souls should run as oiled Wheels upon the least Touch of God's Attraction when he Moves them to Seek his Face For tho' he Draws he doth not Drag but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Carries such along as are Willing to Run after him and do Give themselves to Prayer Not as Compell'd but in Love to the Work and Delighting to do the will of God The End of the First Part. THE LIBERTY OF PRAYER Guarded from LICENTIOVSNESS PART II. Si de Veritate Scandalum sumitur utilius Scandalum nasci permittitur quà m Veritas relinquatur Greg in Ez. PART II. The TRANSITION To obviate Bigots and prevent Mistakes I have offered to the Worshippers of God all the Liberty that can reasonably be Desired And yet no more than I take the Gospel of our Lord to have Given and Granted No more than the Liberty of the children of God Who are to move Freely as an Ingenuous Generation and a Willing People and not to be hamper'd like Slaves under the Yoke of Bondage But from men of Narrow Souls and Stingy Principles that are under the power of false Notions and bound up in Superstitious Fetters I expect hideous Outcries of Loose Doctrine and a door opened to all Abomination I hear and Smile when I know some of the great Libertines in Practice to be the most Nice and Straight-lac'd men for certain Modes and Opinions They can make bold to take all Loose Liberties in their Conversation and Manners and go so far this way that they must be men of Large Consciences indeed and have as Little of God's holy Fear that dare venture to Follow them And yet at the same time and in the midst of all their Rants and Excesses who more hasty to find great fault with much Better than themselves And make heavy Complaints and Tragical Exclamations of the insufferable Boldness and Laxity of all that are
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
acceptable Worshippers are Conscientious Dealers and inoffensive useful holy Livers They must keep their Hearts in Awful obedient Frame at All times who would find them ready for the Service of God at Prayer-Times And such as live in Gods Eye and presence and are so much Concerned and taken up with Him Dare not do the Ill things which they know would spoil all their Welcome with Him and Turn his Face against them They that would not have God's Grace Wanting to them must be careful that they be not Wanting to his Grace and not think to have what they will in their Prayers who do what they list in their Lives Nor use their Prayers to save them the Labour of doing any thing else in the Religious practice but to get Strength for the performance of all their other Offices Psal 119.145 I Cried with my whole heart Hear me O Lord I will keep thy Statutes He askt not leave to Offend but such Mercy as might Enable and Encourage him with an Enlarged heart To run the way of God's Commands Our Prayers being but Instrumental duties therefore our Religion does not consist only in going over our Offices of Course but is to make us Like our Heavenly Father as like as ever we can be both in Being and in Doing Good To keep up a Face of Religious Worship then and a Circulation of some Customary performances which we are got into a Road of going over and to take up with so much done discharging the work but for it 's own sake Rids no Ground makes not the least Way Nor brings us ever the Nearer to the Blessed End If we mind not further purposes to which such Exercises are Intended we use them to no purpose Nay if we make our Prayers our Saviours and Rest in them and Trust to them They do but lie in our way to hinder us from the only true Saviour When we should use them but as the Boats and Bridges to help us over to him and as the Bucket to draw out of his Infinite Fullness Not only to Evidence the Grace that we have received but to Get still More that we have need of For such indeed is the Raggedness and insufficiency of all our Services that we extreamly want a Saviour to help us out and even to Attone for the Iniquities of our Holy things after we have done our Best all which is unavailable to Salvation if the Lord Jesus be not our Strength and our Redeemer 'T is mercy therefore from the Lord to let us see the Cracks and Flaws the Frailties and Imperfections of our best Performances that we may not Erect our Plumes and be Proud of our Prayers nor Acquiesce in them nor too much Value ourselves upon them But when men only Talk of Believing in Christ but never do it And when they boldly Sin on and Trust to their Prayers and Offices and Confess and Pray for Pardon and so to it again and make their accustomed Prayers a Super-sedeas to holy Practice and the Leaves not to Heal but to Hide their Sins thinking the little Services of course must set them right still and make Amends for all Publicans and Harlots may get to Heaven before such Formalists that so Profane Prayers to Use them without so much as Minding to grow better in the Use of them For no entring into the Kingdom of Heaven Except our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees And how is it that we must Out-do them Not in Fasting oftner or Praying Longer and making more ado about Forms and Ceremonies and external Observances in which who more Critical and Exact than they But we must Exceed them in being Honester men and Aiming at Righter Ends and leading Better Lives And not do the seemingly Right and Good things from false Motives and with ill Designs But make our Prayers the Rule of our Practice Endeavouring to do what we Pray God to Enable us for the doing And as we Beg his Help so Stirring up the Grace of God that is in us and putting forth all the Strength we have to Help ourselves CHAP. VII Licentiousness concerning the Success of Prayer SOME men will Pray no longer than they taste the Sweetness of it and are Drill'd on by the Pleasure that they find in it If themselves be not Favoured their Humour fitted and their Requests granted they take Pett at Heaven and are ready to Quarrel even with God himself as if they were not duly Attended and therefore greatly Wronged Like the King of Israel who flung away in a Chafe 2 King 6.33 Saying This evil is of the Lord why should I wait for the Lord any longer Such Proud Beggars are many of God's Petitioners that think themselves too Good to Wait thô it be upon the Most High and must have Him at their Beck or else have not the Patience to Stay his Time and take Mercy in his Way But must Limit the Holy One and go to Ravish and Snatch the Blessing out of his hand But our Blessed Saviour hath taught us more Manners and Grace That men ought to Pray always and not to Faint Luk. 18.1 Nor think it Long to tarry his Leisure who has waited so Long for our Return If we but Know ourselves and Remember our Sins how Ill we merit to be Regarded at all We shall wonder that Ever we are Heard instead of grumbling that it is no Sooner or Better Nay we shall see occasion to turn our Complaining into Thanksgiving and not be all upon the Craving for more without Acknowledging how much we have Received and how little we have Deserved Sinful men are very Bold to Ask all before them and not remember to Humble themselves in the Confession of their Sins nor Recount the Mercies and Loving kindness of the Lord and Admire and Bless and Praise him for all that he has Already done for them But to Pray only as long as we are chear'd on with a Briskness of Spirits and find our Souls filled as with Marrow and Fatness is not to mind the Pleasing of our Lord so much as our own Pleasure It is but to follow Christ for the Loaves or Drawn only with the Savour of his Sweet Ointments Not in the Sense of Duty and our Obligation continually to wait upon him with what Face soever he is pleased to look upon us 'T is not for poor Beggars that Live all upon him and have nothing but from him Yea for Obnoxious Sinners that have Forfeited all and â—are out of Hell only thro' his Mercy to be so High and touchy and Querulous if all is not done strait to our Mind and we have not every thing just according to our Wishes It is not such a Violence that will ever take the Kingdom of Heaven But the Humble Importunity the Unwearied Waiting and Patient Continuance in Well doing And this is Pleasing in the sight of God to Follow him even when he seems Displeased with us and not Leave
off our Prayers thô we think he looks Angry at them But As the eyes of Servants look to the hand of their Masters and as the eyes of a Maiden to the hand of her Mistress So let our eyes wait upon the Lord our God untill he have Mercy upon us Psal 123.2 CHAP. VIII Licentiousness inflying out against our Fellow-Worshippers MEN that are Proudly opinioned of themselves will take mightily upon them fiercely to Rally at all that Serve not God just in their Mode Some all for Common-Prayer and some for none but Conceived Prayers And they cannot forbear bitterly to Tease and Persecute one another as if it were worse than No Prayer that is not exactly after such a Manner Yea so Absurd are many to fill the World with Heats and Quarrels about the Way of others Worship that were never serious in any Worship of their Own And think they have done a great matter to make the Party Odious that is Opposite to theirs But the question is What Service is thus done to Religion And how much Devotion is a Gainer by it We know how Strict and Nice were the Pharisees for the Out-side Religion Tho none had fouler In-sides than they Who more took upon them to Quarrel even with Christ himself And would be Holier than the Holy One of God Who more Bitter against Better men than themselves And what a mad Zeal had Paul this way before his Conversion They that have only the Form of Godliness will be like Bears bereaved of their Whelps to have it taken from them Because if you strip them of that you leave them Nothing They have but a Name to Live and would you Perswade them out of that The very Worst man that cries up their Form shall please them better than the Holiest Christian that appears for the Power of Godliness it self And this makes the Romish Worship so Agreeable to Licentious Livers That the Offices may go on and the Heart be otherwise taken up the while The Inner man may Sleep while the Outer is so Concerned And all done to Satisfaction tho not a Sin wounded nor a Lust disturbed nor any Grace exercised It is enough to turn the Stomachs of all Serious Good men against that Cause which the Roaring Blades are the great Champions and hot Sticklers for And O how does even a Good Cause often suffer by such ill Abettors and lose its Credit for their Sakes I cannot but call in question my Zeal when it strikes in with the Blasphemies of a Swearer or the Revilings of a Drunkard and pleases them better than any else To Stigmatize Persons and Ridicule their Way makes me never the Better nor my Way at all the Lovelier If I have a Zeal of God according to Knowledge I may find room enough to shew my Strictness without spending all the Mettle in that which least Deserves it The sharpest Drolls are not the Happiest Teachers Nor is he the Best Christian that makes the Lowdest Cry against others Satyrical and Dogmatical Doctors shew too little of his Spirit who was Meek and Lowly in Heart But we may know whence the Wisdom comes that is Earthly Sensual Devilish To call every thing that I dislike by an Opprobrious filthy Name and spend my Choller upon it may shew that I want a Purge my self But where Contending Parties Overdo in their Heats on both Sides I do not think I am obliged to depart from Truth or Peace to Side and Ingratiate my self with either As long as the great Lord of the Church doth not Interess himself in the Fiery Disputes for Forms or against them Who art thou that Condemnest what he does not Or layest the Main Stress on that which he Least Regards Where doth he warrant thee to Despise any good Prayer because it is a Form or Imposed Or where does he give thee license to Scoff the Effusion that is more at Liberty In good truth What is even this but a Form to the Company and Imposed upon them I dare not call him a Graceless Formalist that uses Forms Nor him a Proud Hypocrite that uses none For I am satisfied that Forms may be used piously without Formality And as there may be the Spirit of Prayer without a Form So there may be natural or Feverish Heat without the Spiritual Fervour It is not Vtterance that makes a Saint Nor Crying up Church-Orders that must needs make one a true Member of Christ's Church I am equally Distasted at both That call Praying by Habit Whining and Cant and that call the Liturgy Pottage and Idolatry I dare not Deride Prayer thô it be not Cookt exactly to my Gust nor Drest just in my Mode Nor can I count it the Effect of real Piety to be forward in Drolling upon any Holy things Prayer is A kind of Tune which all things Hear and Fear Herb. I know I cannot Worship without Faults of my Own and yet I must not therefore leave off all Worship And if I will not bear with Another's Failings but fly from all Worship that is Faulty With whom then shall I Communicate on Earth But if the other perform not his Part aright the Fault is not mine And my Joyning with him is no Engagement upon me to give my Consent and Approbation to all that ever I Hear from him Yet if I am indeed Athirst I shall not refuse good Drink tho it have some Smack of the Cask And I should methinks be more Wary than Wise never to trust any Physitian or Proctor because it is Possible they may Abuse me Nor ever to Joyn with another in Prayer because I know not before-hand all that he will Say nor can tell but a Word may drop that I do not Like I will use my own Words Yet I will not be so tied to them neither but if I find others better than my own I will not scruple to take them When I am Conscious It is not out of Laziness to save trouble and take what is Next me But to Serve God with that which I count the Best I must not presently be out of Conceit with all that I hear Derided For some that are counted the Ingenious and Well-bred men can Scoff at Scripture as well as Prayer Yea and Descant on the words of Common-Prayer as well as those of other Prayers I care not who make themselves Merry with that wherewith I find my self Edified Licentious tongues Bespatter all But the most curious and hasty to Censure and Carp at Others are commonly the most Careless at Home and the Fairest Marks to be hit themselves The PERORATION with a Call to Moderation and Devotion I Have pleaded for that Liberty which may do us a Kindness and also have made some Strictures upon the License for which we may all be the Worse That which is most Sweet may soonest give us a Surfeit And therefore thô it is an Injury to be abridged of the Diet yet we must not think it hard to be cautioned