Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n
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A48131
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A lady's religion In a letter to the Honourable my Lady Howard. By a divine of the Church of England. With a prefatory epistle to the same lady, by a lay-gentleman.
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Divine of the Church of England.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing L159; ESTC R212982
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13,260
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95
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to do justice to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And our Saviour summs up the whole Law in our Love to God and our Neighbour And in another place includes the whole scope of the Law and the Prophets in this one Rule Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you even so do ye unto them hereby directing us to make a right use of that Reason which God establish'd as his Oracle in our Breasts to which we may at all times resort and from whence we may be resolv'd in such cases as concern our duty to one another For as by consulting your own reason you know wherein you are justly dealt with and wherein you receive wrong when you are kindly us'd and when otherwise so from the same principle of reason you cannot but know when you deal justly or wrongfully and when you do kind or ill offices to another this one short comprehensive Rule takeing for its Foundation the Equality of Mankind in respect of their common nature renders Religion it self a matter sensible unto us For I can feel the wound of a sharp slanderous Tongue as sensibly as that of a Sword I can feel the wrongs done to my self and Family and am as much sensible of the benefits I enjoy from the just and kind dealings of those with whom I am concern'd and hereby I am in the shortest and plainest way admonish'd of my behaviour to others and if this one short Rule were reduc'd to practice the state of Paradise would be restor'd and we should enjoy a Heaven upon Earth For hereby first all Persecutions for Conscience sake which have occasion'd such violent disorders and vast effusion of blood would be at an end because every one who has any Conscience would most willingly preserve it free from the Impositions of Men in the worship of God To compel Men by Fire and Faggot to partake even of a delicious Entertainment is a savage sort of Hospitality Secondly All Factions in any State would be at an end if every Member thereof were contented that every one of his Fellow-Members who was not an Enemy to the Government might having equal pretence of Merit enjoy equal Privileges with himself Thirdly The occasions of War and Law-Suits would be taken away Since nothing but manifest wrong can be the just cause of either And Fourthly There would be no private quarrels and uneasiness among Neighbours Since by this Rule of doing as we would be done unto all rash Censures sharp reflections and ungrounded suspicions and jealousies which are the Seeds of private Animosities are taken away And hereby we may expect a plentiful store of God's Blessings among us who will measure out his kindness to us in the same manner as we measure out ours to one another The reason why Religion should be both a short and plain Institution will appear if you consider the common circumstances and conditions of Men in this World For though your Ladyship and many more have leisure enough to read and digest whole Volumes of useful Knowledge if there are any such yet the greatest part of Mankind being necessarily imploy'd in making daily provisions for themselves and Families and discharging the common offices of Life cannot attend to any religious Institution which is either difficult or tedious 'T is certain That the whole Life of Man is not sufficient for him to read all the Controversies which have been written upon pretence of Religion but 't is as certain That God never lays on us a greater task than what he affords us both Abilities and Opportunities to perform wherefore we may conclude That since the duties of Religion are laid in common upon all the poor Day-Labourer must have ability and opportunity sufficient to instruct himself therein without hindering the constant work of his Calling And in all this the Wisdom and Goodness of God are made known by adapting our duties to our circumstances of Life From hence you may save your self the trouble of reading the long and tedious Disputes which with such intemperate Zeal are always in agitation among the several Parties of Christians Indeed the true Christian Institution being short it cannot admit of being spun out into long Controversies And tho' I have read many Books of Controversial Divinity I do not remember that I have met with any one Controversy about the matter of meer Religion as whether I should maintain in my heart a high reverence and veneration for Almighty God Whether I ought to walk before him in Sincerity and Uprightness Whether or no I should be thankful to him for all the benefits which I have receiv'd from him Whether I shall submit to his will with Patience and endeavour to govern my Passions to bring them to a due moderation and temper by making them subject to the Law of Reason Whether I should be true to my Promise just in my Dealings charitable to the Poor and sincere in my Devotions Whether I should be temperate and sober modest and chast and demean my self in an humble civil and agreeable manner towards those with whom I converse Whether I should be heartily sorry when I come short of my duty and should be watchful in the denial of my irregular Appetites Passions and evil Inclinations for the future In short it has not that I know of been disputed whether Justice Benignity Meekness Charity Moderation Patience and Sobriety should be receiv'd into our affections or whether we should love God and our Neighbour Orthodoxy of Faith is made the pretence of Controversy but the one thing necessary is Orthodoxy of practice I know your Ladyship will not be pleas'd with a Discourse upon the subject of Religion unless Devotion have its due place in it nor ought it indeed to be left out because thankfulness is a necessary part of Religion and Prayer is the Preservative of the whole A frequent repetition of our thanks for all the benefits we enjoy preserve in our Minds the consideration of God as the greatest and best of Beings and thereby nourishes Veneration and Gratitude In like manner Prayer for Pardon of Sin and preservation of our Persons is a constant Recognition of the Mercy and bounty of God But Prayer against the power of Sin is the actual withdrawing of our Inclinations from Evil and Prayer for any Grace is an actual application of our Minds to attain the particular Virtue for which we pray Now although I would not advise you against set Hours and Forms of Devotion either private or publick yet I would rather recommend a sort of habitual and occasional Devotion as very proper to preserve the strongest Impressions of Religion upon your Mind It may be observ'd that many who are very punctual in keeping to their exact times and forms of Devotion have fallen short of any visible improvement in Virtue The same Pride Frowardness Falshood Covetousness and bitterness of Spirit have appear'd in many who have been constant frequenters of the publick
as well as Closet Forms of Prayer as if God had not been in all their thoughts The reason whereof seems to be because their formal Petitions supersede their habitual Endeavours Men are apt to think that since they spend in every day such a portion of time in Prayer they have done all their part And so they leave God Almighty to take care of the event And this is indeed all we can do when we make our Petitions to our Benefactors upon Earth viz. offer up our requests to them either by word or writing and then only expect their answer But 't is otherwise with relation to God Our Petitions to him must not take off from our constant endeavours to perform that work for which we pray his Enablement And this occasional Devotion which I would recommend is in its own nature a constant endeavour after Virtue as well as a serious Petition for it For it ariseth from a frequent observation of our selves in our particular occurring circumstances from which observation suitable desires will almost necessarily flow As if at any time I find that I have done an ill thing immediately upon the discovery I beg God's Pardon and resolve to make recompence for the ill I have done Or if I have design'd any evil in my heart and presently beg Pardon of him who knoweth the secrets thereof in so doing I have given check to its progress In like manner if I have spoken slanderously rashly or injuriously concerning any one and upon Recollection thereof I ask forgiveness of God and desire that I may not do the like for the future but on the contrary that I may govern my Tongue better in all this I am labouring to with-draw my Soul from evil and to form my self upon a principle of Virtue Every Night and Morning are proper times of leisure to call to Mind the preservation support and advantages we have receiv'd the day or night preceding And this Recollection being accompany'd with thankfulness to our great Preserver is the actual continuance and carrying on of our gratitude to God If I perceive Pride or Passion to arise in my heart so that I am apt to put a great value upon every thing I do and despise others or if I find my self eagerly concern'd for any little Worldly advantage or any small punctilio of honour and hereupon I beg of God for an humble Spirit and a Heavenly Mind I am herein endeavouring to expel the Poison of Sin by its proper Antidote We cannot but feel the Disorders of our Minds as much as the Diseases of our Bodies And the causes of a disorder'd Mind are much more easily discern'd than the causes of a Bodily Distemper For either my Mind is troubl'd for want or losses or it may be for the prosperity of others or want of a revenge or because I cannot have my will in what I design'd Upon these or such like occasions the proper Cure is Devotional in begging God's Pardon for my discontent and being desirous that my will should be submitted to his who has taught me that I should not return evil for evil but that I should love my Neighbour as my self This sort of Soliloquy and occasional mental address to God is a sure way to compose the disorders of our thoughts For the growing power of any Sin is most certainly suppress'd by introducing the opposite Virtue into our desires The same method may be used as to Sins of Omission A serious Person will observe neglects of common duties which respect either God or Man He cannot but take notice how much he has neglected his business or his health how little he has confider'd God as his Owner Governour and Benefactor and how small a portion of what God has bless'd him with he has laid out upon the good of his Fellow-Creatures And if hereupon a Man is seriously desirous to become more dutiful to God more useful to himself and beneficial to others he is therein actually bending his mind to supply his former Omissions This casual Devotion arising from the observation of our selves under the common circumstances of Life although it can have no set times and forms prescrib'd to it will be very effectual to produce preserve and increase a true sense of Religion within us And if you are pleas'd to apply your thoughts hereunto as occasion shall direct you this Devotion will soon become habitual customary and easy And its returns which will be frequent and short will be a continual restraint from evil-doing and an actual exercise of Virtue This exercise which I have been prescribing is commonly reserv'd to be perform'd all at once in an actual preparation before receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which is usually perform'd by help of an artificial Catalogue of Sins methodically collected out of the Ten Commandments according to which Catalogue set Forms of Confessions are drawn up which the Preparant is to take upon content and without any sort of judgment or discretion of his own he confesses himself guilty of all the Sins therein mention'd together with all their Aggravations though it may be many of them were of such a heinous nature as never enter'd into his heart to commit And if these Catalogues and confessional Forms are read over once a quarter of a Year or it may be once a Month against the usual Sacrament-Day the work of Preparation is thought to be well pass'd over Yet I cannot but think it better to keep a constant customary watch over our selves and upon the first discovery of any evil design or action immediately to retract it within our own hearts as in the presence of God and by mental Prayer proper to the occasion arm our selves against committing the like for the future Hereby you discharge a duty in its proper season which is better than to delay it to a prefix'd distance of time for what is most fresh in memory will make the most lively Impression upon us but may in a little time be forgotten Besides we are apt to turn Forms into Formalities And a natural discharge of religious duties must be more improving than an artificial one And by this your Ladyship sees the reason why I have written a Discourse of Religion in general in Answer to your Letter wherein you wrote only concerning the Lord's Supper viz. because I esteem a serious well-inclin'd temper of Mind to be the best preparation either for that or any other of the Ordinances of Jesus Christ that we may partake of 'em with advantage and delight David advises us to delight our selves in the Lord i. e. in all his ways and Ordinances And I cannot see why our preparation for the Lord's Table and participation at it should be accompany'd with greater Anxieties of Mind than our Communicating in any other holy Office such as publick Prayer or Preaching We expect the same Blessing of God in the improvement of our Virtues from all of these Ordinances alike And why with terrour upon our Minds we should use any of those means which God has ordain'd for our good I do not understand A Man indeed ought to perform every religious office seriously and soberly but Fear by amusing and distracting the Mind is apt to render the Ordinance unprofitable Men ought likewise to be discourag'd from coming to Prayer Preaching or Communicating at the Lord's Table with a careless or profane temper of Mind because such unpreparedness does harden Mens hearts and renders the Ordinance unprofitable Such as this was the case of the Corinthians who in celebrating the Lord's Supper were so inconsiderate of what they came to do that some of them were drunk at the Lord's Table as you read 1 Cor. 11.21 and to this their prophane behaviour those Texts of Scripture do particularly relate which affright some Men from and others in receiving the Sacrament on this account 't was said by St. Paul that they were guilty of the body and blood of Christ and to eat and drink damnation to themselves not discerning the Lord's body Ver. 27 29. i. e. by such a profane and unworthy communicating they call down God's Judgments upon themselves for so the word Damnation ought to be understood because it refers to the Judgments specify'd in the following Verse where 't is said that For this cause viz. of drunken Communicating many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep i. e. die V. 30. Now to avoid these Judgments he exhorts them to examine themselves i. e. to consider with themselves what was the meaning of that duty which they were to perform at the Lord's Table which duty was this viz. to call to mind the death of Jesus Christ And this Commemoration is by St. Paul stil'd Discerning the Lord's body The visible signs of our Saviour's Death which we discern on the Lord's Table do prepare our minds to contemplate a divine Person who for his great Charity to the stupid World suffer'd the highest injustice with such an invincible patience and Heroick Fortitude as was superiour to the sharpest malice of his Enemies Thereby setting before us the brightest Example of an unshaken resolution to do good in spight of all Discouragements You will perceive Madam by this Discourse that the Christian Religion is a wise a plain and a short Institution the Belief whereof was design'd to save our Souls from the power and danger of Sin by ingrafting virtuous habits in our Minds You will likewise perceive that I hold it necessary to keep a constant watch over our selves to repent as often as we perceive our selves to transgress and by occasional mental Devotion incline our hearts to observe the law of Christ and all this in order to build up a habit of Virtue within us You will also perceive that the Contemplation of the death of Christ with all its circumstances tends to the same admirable end And if these or any other means shall work upon you to be generously just to bear a good will to all Men to do what good you can and to be unconcern'd for the events of things which are not within your power you will be easy within your self and satisfy'd in your own Conscience which is the Dawn of Heaven upon Earth and you may chearfully Communicate at any time FINIS