outward Expression of such affections of our Souls as are due unto God alone and such an Expression as is most unto his Honour and our own and others Edification This I think no Man will deny And for that reason our Liturgy for this Worship is fitted to express a great humility and fervency in supplicating the Divine Majesty as the Spring and Fountain of all our Comfort and a great joy and exultancy in extolling his Greatness and praising his Goodness as the Perfection of our Felicity and also to be accompanied with actions suitable thereunto And he that reads the Prayers with a rambling Hast without such due expressions of Devotion in the manner of his Speech and Actions quite alters the nature of the thing and spoils the design of it Every Man of any sence can discern the Indecency of reading such words as Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us with such a manner of speaking as signifies but little Devotion and Fervency of Mind And so they may also of saying the Gloria Patri and Te Deum c without such cheerfulness of Speech and reverent Acts of Adoration as become the same Neither can we think that we honour God by any words we speak if we do not appear fervous and devout in pronouncing the same nor will it at all edifie ourselves or others For words do not work here as Spells and Charms but as rational Instruments that signifie the belief and affections of our Souls which they cannot do but by being so pronounced and accompanied with fit actions as aforesaid So that upon these reasons the Reader is obliged to the expression of Devotion in his performance of this Service But besides he that is careless in making such expression of Devotion in reading the Prayers doth very much to prevent the Conversion of Infidels and Papists to excuse the Nonconformity of all kind of Separatists and to encourage the Prophane in their Neglect to attend these Sacred Offices To explain this I must intreat the Reader to consider That notwithstanding the Confusion of Tongues there is one Universal Language understood by all Mankind high and low the ignorant as well as the learned And those that know not the meaning of the words we speak or can well perceive whether we speak Sence or Nonsence yet by this can give account of what we say or do as to the general tendency thereof And this Language consists in the Tone of our Words and Mode of our Actions by these they know whether a Man means love or hatred anger or good pleasure honour or contempt in common conversation and so they may do also in the matter of Religion they know by these whether a Man being in the Church means the Adoration of a God or a phantastick Observation of Persons or Things there present whether he means a natural delight in exercising his Gifts and natural Powers and in attending to the Musick of Words Voices or Instruments for there is no great difference if no more be meant or a spiritual employment of his Mind upon God and the things of Religion as his chiefest Joy And this kind of Language for so 〈◊〉 here call it as it is understood most generally so it works most powerfully on the minds of Men and disposeth them to believe what it expresseth more than any Rhetorick of Words can do And though these Expressions as well as that of Words requires some caution for the right understanding them and may be abused by Hypocrites to cheat and deceive the World yet since according to Mens understanding of them and till they are convinced of the Hypocrifie they do incline and affect their minds Men are to account themselves concerned to make such expressions for their Conviction and Edification and that the rather because else the Souls of Men will be betrayed to those that lie in wait to deceive by such false Appearances And it is not a thing arbitrary and at Mens liberty whether they will use these expressions or not For since they are so significant of our Adoration of God or fervency in our Prayers to him and exultancy in his Praises we must be obliged thereunto by vertue of the Commands of worshipping God of so praying and praising as is worthy of him besides the many examples of this in Scripture And indeed the minds of Men are so apt to be inclined by these that they will scarce believe we truly mean the Worship of God except we express it by such signs Now to apply this to the present purpose All Nations according to that knowledge which naturally they have of this have instituted and practised such Expressions of their Honour and Respect unto the God they worshipped and the more the Papists have declined from the Substance of true Piety the more they have endeavoured to keep up the reputation of it by outward Signs of Devotion and a Sects as they have formerly so do the still make the Appearances of extraordinary Devotion as means to introduce the Errours and Schisms Now taking this for granted That it is part of the Law written in the hearts of all Men that what ever is acknowledged to be God is to b◠worshipped and adored and that as th◠Name of God is great and dreadful so hi◠Worship should be awful and serious and that they all undestand by the means forementioned when it appears to be so I say on such premises we may conclude That be our Religion never so good neither Papists nor Sectaries will ever be inclined t◠consider it nor brought to embrace i◠while they perceive a Defect of these Expressions of Devotion in our most solemn Offices of Divine Worship and whilst the◠think they out-do us in a matter they are so certain to be good and well-pleasing t◠God and profitable to Men. And I believe there can scarce be assigned a more probable Cause then this of the great Averseness both of Papists and Separatists to joyn in our Common-Prayer◠For both these have great Appearances o◠Devotion in their several Ways The Papists in their frequent Bowing and other acts of Adoration the Fanaticks in their seeming fervency and seriousness in Extemporary Prayers And these latter in whom we are most concerned are necessitated to some kind of seriousness and intention as that without which no Man can pray in that Way with any tolerable sence and method and many who with greatest intention and seriousness can scarce do either are the more obliged to a greater fervency at least in shew in calling on the Name of God with seeming earnestness and to use his Titles and Attributes over and over and all to cover the defects of their Invention But this however looks like the Expression of a great Devotion and is so understood by the unwary Multitude If therefore they perceive no Expressions in our Way that bear proportion to the same it is impossible but they will prefer
in these Holy Exercises of God's Worship which by the prevalency of false Opinions and vicious Practices is greatly decayed and I have done it with full perswasion of mind but without contempt of any that are otherwise affected I pity all that will not make a through tryal of the Felicity of a Holy Life and of this practice of Holiness which is according to the example of the ancientest and purest Times and as purged from all Superstition and Fanaticism for such I think is that I recommend And I am the more moved to this compassion by the experience I have of the good success of this practice in my self I was bred to the exercise of Piety in another Way and endeavoured to be devout therein as my Conscience told me I ought I conversed with the wisest and best I lived with and had some Interests among them to perswade me to a continuance in that Way but when it pleased God to bring in another Order I thought it my Duty to consider well before I sat down in a fixed Disobedience I thought I could not express the honour I owed to my Superiours if I should refuse to consider what was said for Obedience to their Laws nor yet the love I should have for Communion with all Christians and especially those to whom I was united by manifold Obligations if I should forsake it on Scruples easily resolved or for the bare liking of some other Mode of Worship as better than that they used And upon an impartial consideration of what I have heard and read having never balked any Argument that I met with against the lawfulness of Lay-Nonconformity I am now satisfied that it is my Duty to obey the publick Order and having endeavoured to do it with the Devotion I ought I have found it no way inferiour to speak the least to what I was formerly used to as to the uses and benefits of publick Worship and especially to the exercise and entertainment of a heavenly Mind This experience moved the Importunity used to Ministers and People in this Book that they which Conform might do it so devoutly as might he to the comfort of themselves and attracting others to our Communion And I have insinuated some Arguments to inforce the same as so brief a Discourse would permit which with the former I recommend unto God's Blessing and a candid Interpretation being resolved to make no more Additions thereunto although it should have the good hap to be printed again I hope they will not be angry with me that have bought any of the first Edition because I believe most of them are such as Six-pence will not much concern and it will be a good Work for them if they have a mind to this Book to give the former where they find any guilty of the Faults therein noted and in this they will very much gratifie the Author of the Book who desires nothing more in this World than to see the excellent Order of our Church observed with that Care and Consideration as well as with true Devotion that it may have its true Beauty in the eyes of all good Men and may also have a mighty efficacy to their Spiritual Joy and Consolation in this Holy and Heavenly Communion and to the Reformation and Sanctification of their Minds and Lives A PREFACE Concerning DIVINE WORSHIP THE Worship of God is a thing much talked of and that with great Reverence by many who have not as I think such Apprehensions of it as they ought And on the other hand of some it is as much slighted as if there were something of Fanaticism in all Pretences to Devotion My Design therefore in this Preface shall be to beget Right Thoughts about it and a Due Esteem thereof as I have in what follows endeavoured to direct a Right Behaviour therein If Men would consider the thing it would not be difficult to understand what the true Notion of Divine Worship is Every Man knows what it is to give Worship in the common sence of that word viz. That it is to signifie our Respects to Persons above us by reverent actions suted unto their Dignity And so it must principally signifie when it is applied unto God The expression of the greatest Dread and Reverence towards his Glorious and Tremendous Deity by the most humble Postures of Adoration This hath been the sence of all Mankind concerning this Matter and this is the sence of the Holy Scriptures and this all the Christian World agreed in until the Corruptions and Cruelties of the Church of Rome made those that justly opposed her in many things to forsake others without any other reason but the hatred of being like to Her who had been so cruel towards them And among these I reckon this to be the chief That they not only left off the Daily Offices of God's Publick Worship but also that Ancient Order for the performance thereof on the Lord's Day which was most accommodate unto the conjunction of these Actions of Devotion and Adoration by which means bowing the Head and Body and Knees c. which have in them the principal sence of that word Worship have become almost quite out of use among them I cannot imagine for my own part any other reason why these solemn Actions should become so wholly disused for I cannot believe that any who are acquainted with what is written of the former or present Customs of the World can be ignorant what the usage thereof hath ever been and still is in worshipping whatever they called God nor did I ever hear it proved that their common sence did herein deceive them It seems to me also that it is impossible for any that read the Scripture to be ignorant that when it speaks of any Person or Assembly that they worshipped the Lord it means principally they bowed their Heads before him in acknowledgement of his Deity or in a sence of Gratitude for his Mercies nor that these two words Bowed and Worshipped are almost every where in Scripture joyned together And those that have read Ecclesiastical Histories or conversed with any of other Churebes even those that never were of the Popish Communion will find that it is not the Papists only among Christians that abound in these solemn Acts of Adoration but that they ever were and still are used by all Christians and by some as much if not more than by them except only those whom I speak of who have forsaken them on the account aforesaid Certainly there is some Reason upon which this common Consent is grounded and for which this expression hath ever been made by good Men of the Worship and Honour they desire to give to Almighty God and hath ever been accepted and approved of him and for the same reason it ought not to be forsaken and disused of us And indeed the very general Custom and Vsage of the World and of the Church hath so much reason in it self that it should be evidently proved
there is positive Sin or great Inconvenience in the things recommended thereby before we venture to contradict or oppose them We are commanded to give no Offence to the Jew nor Greek nor Church of God whereas it seems to me by forsaking these solemn Acts of Adoration we offend them all And I verily believe nothing more perswades the Papists of the Goodness of their own Religion and makes them think ill of ours than observing the Decency of these solemn Actions so frequently used in their publick Service and that it scarce looks like the Worship of God where they are wholly omitted as they are in some Protestant Churches and in all Nonconformists Meetings and too much in our Parochial Assemblies also But it is not only the avoiding Offence that should recommend these solemn Actions and especially that of Bowing but many great Reason 1. There is nothing more effectual to impress on the mind a sence of God's Presence than this action of Bowing before him It is impossible a Man can use such an Action but he must think there is some One present to whom it is performed and where Men have not a true belief of God's presence and are conscious unto themselves of that defect it will seem so unreasonable and foolish to perform such acts of Adoration that they will be hardly perswaded thereunto And for this reason when the World became so carnaliz'd by indulging their brutish Part that they could scarce have any apprehension of invisible Things but by the help of something that was the Object of their Senses they invented Images to represent the invisible Powers they worshipped and fancied that by their Incantations and Charms their Gods were drawn to inhabit those Images by which means they found they were helped in performing those Acts of Adoration to them But the only living and true God hath utterly forbidden any such Representations of himself as being a dishonour to the infinite Glory and Spirituality of his Nature but yet requires External Worship from us in acknowledgment than he is every where present but especially in the Assemblies that meet to do him honour and service and that he and he only is to be feared and had in reverence of all that are about him and if we would perform this act of Adoration as we ought we should find great help thereby against the weakness of our Faith and the dulness of our Spiritual Sence and it would beget in us such an habitual apprehension of God's spiritual and invisible Presence that it would be as a new nature or principle of spiritual and holy Life in all other things I say if we perform it as we ought because I would have none think that I impute a Magical Force to this Action as if all that do it on what account soever should become inspired with such an habitual sence of God and his universal Presence For I know that where this is in repute Men may be very observant thereof for carnal ends and be inwardly Atheistical and outwardly prophane still but if it be done with a design to signifie our belief of God's presence and our awful sence of his infinite Glory and Greatness it hath tendency to work a habit of spiritual sensibility in this matter and by the efficacie of the same we shall be continually kept in the fear of offending God and excited to all holy and vertuous Actions that are pleasing to him which I think is a very weighty matter Besides it prepares and disposes our minds to the performance of all the Offices of Divine Worship whereby we explicate the signification of such acts of Adoration and therefore it hath been used to be done at our first coming into the Church that we may remember what we are chiefly to intend in all we do there viz. The Worship and Honour of Almighty God The want of this consideration is a cause of great mischiefs in the Church Men have learnt to think that all the Ministries of Religion are intended to work on their Affections and Passions and to gratifie a Religius Fancy and so they judge they are best ordered when they serve most effectually to that end and upon this account it is that they condemn the Common Prayer as a dead Form and cry up the Extempore Way as the only acceptable Mode of serving God And while they thus judge they are subject to be drawn into Schism and Errour by every subtile Seducer that can handle the Instrument of his Tongue well and affect their minds with some devout Passions For so long as they think That Way of Religion best which most affects them Novelty having a great force in that matter and Men that design to serve their Interests by making Disciples being apt to bend their minds most strenuously to study to speak to Mens passions Men can never be fix'd in any way of Religion But now if they were once perswaded that those publick Administrations are best which serve most fitly to the Worship and Adoration of the Deity and are most advantageous for the conjunction of these solemn Actions which I here speak of it would be hard for them to find any better than ours among those which separate from us For the better understanding the beginning of the foregoing Paragraph wherein I say That in the Offices of Divine Worship we explain the signification of the acts of Adoration I must observe 1. That as the Worship we perform to God by humbly bowing down in our approach to his glorious Majesty doth declare our obligation unto all we perform in the following Offices so those Offices do contain the explication of the Worship we thereby give to the Almighty For since we declare by that action that we worship him as the only true God we oblige ourselves to perform that service which Deity makes his due and this we do when we give him thanks for the great benefits we have received at his hands and set forth his most worthy praise when we attend diligently to his holy Word and seek at his hands things requisite and necessary for Body and Soul for by these things we do acknowledge him to be the Fountain of our Being and of all the benefits whereof we are Partakers and to be the free and gracious Donor thereof and that he is most worthy of all the Praise and Glory that we can give him as by reason thereof so also because of the infinite Perfections of his Nature and his mighty and wonderful Works which we behold That he is infinite Wisdom and Truth and to be believed in all that be reveals to us That he is our only supream Law-giver and to be obeyed in all that he commands us That he is our Soveraign Lord and our Weal or Wo doth wholly depend on his Favour or Displeasure and that no Arts or Labours of our own can secure us against Misery or instate us in true Felicity whether it be internal or external present or future but
that our whole dependance is on his Favour and Blessing And all this and much more is contained in our acknowledging him to be God which we do by bowing down before him in the place of his Publick Worship 2. Since the chief end of our Publick Service is the most explicite worshipping God by acknowledging those things which Deity doth imply It is very meet that we joyn this act of Adoration with our Prayers and Praises in fit places as at the mention of God's glorious Titles and Attributes in the beginnings of the Collects and when we implore his gracious acceptance through the Merits of our blessed Saviour in the conclusion thereof and there are also many places in the Te Deum and in the other Hymns and Psalms where this action is very fit both to express our sence of God's presence our reverence towards him our belief that he sees us and that he hears all we speak to him and also to keep our Devotion in life and strength and to assist it in each other I find in many places of Scripture where the manner of the solemn approaches of the People unto God is described that they did bow their heads and worship in conjunction with their Praises and Prayers And it seems to me that there is such a natural Decency in the thing that all unprejudiced Persons must approve it Sure I am that the devout behaviour of such as I have known to be truly pious Men in this kind hath had a great influence on me and I may think it will have the like on others 3. That it seems to me that the intention of Mind which is required to the speaking in any good Sence and Method in the Extempore way of Prayer is a great hindrance to the due use of such acts of Worship in the Speaker and that the necessary attention to what is spoken and the inward discourse of Reason whether it be fit for us to joyn with the Minister therein is as great hindrance to such Devotion in the Hearers 4. That the brief and comprehensive Prayers into which the general Office of Prayer in our Way is divided seems much better in this respect than if the several matters whereof they consist were composed into one long continued Prayer 5. That it would be very convenient that every one would keep to their own Parish-Church where they might have conveniencies to perform both this and other Expressions of Devotion better than they can in a Crowd into which many throng for lesser benefits than they might have by a devout performance of these Holy Offices This then I conceive according to what I have said before to be the Worship of God When Men knowing and considering that there is one eternal infinite Being of most glorious and tremendous Majesty of incomprehensible Goodness Wisdom and Power and that is present in all places who having made us with such powers and faculties as fit us for his Worship and Service and enriched us with such benefits as give us greatest obligations thereunto doth expect that we perform the same to the greatest advantage of his Glory and Honour I say when we knowing this go unto the place of God's Publick Worship and there do by actions worship God bowing our Heads and Knees before him and also by words declaring our belief of his Being Presence Perfections and wonderful Works and our thankfulness for his infinite Mercies and joy and delight in his Service when we humbly and seriously attend to the solemn reading of his Divine Truth the Histories of his mighty Works to his Promises and Threatnings whereby he hath enforced his Laws to the Prophecies and miraculous Gifts whereby he hath assured us the Doctrine is from himself though by Ministry of Men and such-like things of great concernment to the glory of God as well as our good which we hear out of the Holy Scriptures As also when we make our Supplications and Prayers before him as our supream Lord and Governour and thereby acknowledge his Vniversal Presence and Providence extending to all Times Places and Persons with all their circumstances even in the minutest things and withal over-ruling the greatest And when 〈◊〉 all these we intermix due Acts of Adoration as continually intent on the consideration of God's Presence and waiting for occasions in the Offices of Praise Hearing and Prayers to adore his Divine Majesty internally and externally and to express our devout affections by such actions as bowing and lifting up our eyes and hands to Heaven c. and also kneeling and standing as it is most fitly ordered by the Church And when every one at the conclusion of the Service using some short Ejaculation to beg God's pardon for what Defects we have been guilty of and his acceptance of our sincere desire to honour him humbly bowing before him at our leaving the Church this I conceive hath very much Conformity to what all Men that consider their natural apprehensions of things will judge most like to that which is the plain sence of Worshipping God 'T is some wonder to me that many who seem to have a great Zeal for the Worship of God and make every thing they do about Religion a part thereof as the Church-Covenant which they add to that of Baptism and the Suffrage of the People in the matter of the Ordination of Ministers c. should be so inobservant of that Worship which Heathens have known by the Light of Nature to be due to God and which all that ever worshipped a God true or false have used Certainly the Law of Nature is God's most pâ—â—mitive Law and cannot be altered while things remain the same and all Divine Institutions in the matter of Worship do but supply the Defects of that Law and were Modes of Worship added for special reasons to that which Nature taught but no way exclusive thereof or contrary thereunto and the Sacraments of the New Testament are instituted on the same account Besides I have observed in the Writings of the Non-conformists an acknowledgment of the Duty of Natural Worship and of the use of such Natural Actions whereof it consists but always this of Bowing which is the chief is left out of the Catalogue and some hard Names such as Cringing Gesticulation c. put upon it to disgrace it of which I never could find any reason but their enmity to our Church and their disuse of it in their own Way 'T is true in one I find this That Custom doth limit and determine Nature's Laws upon which account Prostration and wearing Sack-cloth and rending Garments are now disused And Bowing since it is still left out seems to be put among the number of those Natural Actions determined by Custom But what Custom is this Surely not the Custom of the Community of Mankind nor of the Church of Christ but of some that have almost banished all other Expressions of Devotion but such which may be as proper to the hearing any
theirs before it and hence they generally argue That they are not bound to joyn in a Way of Worship that is worse when they have opportunity to have Communion in a Way that is better Now the main thing in which it is better in their opinion is this That they perceive in the Ministers of their Way a great sence of God's invisible presence and a great seriousness and fervency of mind in their Prayers to him which they cannot perceive 〈◊〉 our Way when the Prayers are read without such Expressions of Devotion as I heâ— affirm to be necessary And then it encourages the profaner soâ— in neglecting these holy Offices For whâ—â— they see the Readers of the Prayers so slight and superficial and to express so little Seriousness and Devotion in Reading theâ— will never think themselves guilty of anâ— great sin in being slight and careless iâ— hearing or very indevout if they neveâ— come to hear them at all These thingâ— shew a necessity of expressing Devotion iâ— Reading the Prayers But Secondly This Men will very hardly dâ— if they have not the truth of it in their oâ—â— Souls 'T is true Men may very easiâ—â— discern by Natural Reason the Decency oâ— humouring words with a pronunciation suitable to the matter they contain and oâ— joyning therewith a fit and comely deportment of the Body and they may known by common Observation that as this iâ— Praise-worthy so it is of good Report among Men And so it may be thought that in compliance with their own Reason and to gain Applause among Men Readerâ— may well enough compose themselves tâ— counterfeit Devotion in performing the Office of Common-Prayer and that altho' they have none of the truth of it in themselves I confess for my own part I think a counterfeit Piety so much better for the Church than a profess'd Formality that I wish the Prayers were devoutly read on what account soever it be done But when I consider how Errour hath weakened the respect that should be had to Devotion in â—he way of Common-Prayer and observe â—he great slightness and general formality that is too common in hearing it I am afraid that this will prevent that consideration in most Readers and quite inervate the â—â—rce of such Arguments so that if Men have not a great Devotion in themselves they are more like to be ashamed than inâ—ined to counterfeit it For when they â—e that Men generally think they have acâ—â—itted themselves very well in the Matters of God's Worship if they do diligentâ—â— attend to what the Ministers prays and â—â—eaches in the Pulpit though they little â—â—gard what the Readers do in the Desk â—â—aders will think it little concerns them 〈◊〉 regard it neither and so they are apt 〈◊〉 hasten the Prayers out of the way to â—â—ke room for that which they see is chiefâ—â— intended viz. the Sermon But now if we may suppose a Reader to design this we may find reason to think that it is much harder for any one in this case to personate the Man he is not than in any other that can be named for the sence of aâ—â— Omniscient Being who is especially present and requires truth in the inward partâ— abhorring all Hypocrifie and Dissimulation and that more peculiarly in the Offices 〈◊〉 his immediate Worship and Service I say the sence of this will be apt to beget suâ—â— a dread in their minds as will hindâ— their attention to the right performance 〈◊〉 a counterfeit Devotion For certainly 〈◊〉 nothing is more helpful to the most deceâ—â— expression of Devotion where it truly 〈◊〉 than the lively sence of God's Presence so nothing can be more apt to discompâ—â—â— the mind that designs not at all to expreâ—â— but only to counterfeit Devotion than thâ—â— Again Mens defect of true Piety oft bâ—â—trays them to gross Vices which not oâ—â— impress a guilt on their minds but aâ—â— make them conscious that all that knâ—â— them will judge their seeming Devotion 〈◊〉 be but a kind of Pageantry and this 〈◊〉 very much increase the difficulty of 〈◊〉 thing So that I think I may concluâ—â— that he which would read the Common Prayer well ought to be prepared with tâ—â— Devotion But here I must incert a Caution That do not approve of them that make a scorn of the Appearances of Devotion in some Readers because they are reported â—it may be truly to be often guilty of â—ome gross Vice For I believe notwithstanding that they may be sincere There 〈◊〉 no Man that lives and sins not And there 〈◊〉 a great deceitfulness in sin and this deâ—eit operates most on the persons where it most prevails and therefore I have often observed and so have wiser Men that â—â—me persons whom all the Town have â—â—arked for covetous Men would not believe themselves to be so and so it is with â—â—iteful rageful froward and revengeful persons and many others And it may be 〈◊〉 with these And though Intemperance the Vice oftâ—â—st insisted on may seem to the Objectors and many others not inclined thereâ—â—to to be much a greater Vice than those â—â—e-mentioned yet it may not so seem to â—â—em that are guilty and also they may â—â—nk that their ordinary measures though â—â—eater than others is no excess in them â—â—d that their lapses into such measures as â—â—ey cannot deny to be Excesses and to â—â—guise them as all Vices in some kind 〈◊〉 may be but Infirmities and as such be pardoned by the mercies of the Gospel 〈◊〉 the exercise of their daily Repentance And though I think as I said that theâ— is much of Cheat in this yet while thâ—â— believe their sins to be consistent withâ—â— state of Grace and profess and practiseâ—â— kind of Repentance though not such 〈◊〉 will obtain their Pardon I say in such â—â—ses I believe their expressions of Devotiâ—â— may not be charged with Hypocrifie Fâ—â— they may truly mean to adore supplicaâ—â— and praise God and it may be the mâ—â—â— truly because they think he will not exaâ—â— such Observances as they think themselves unable to perform And I am afraid thâ—â— sort of Men who most complain of tâ—â— Reader hold some Principles that give 〈◊〉 much help to that vain Hope whereby suâ—â— Men cheat themselves to their eternal ruiâ—â— and while they blame others Sin deceivâ—â— in this matter even themselves For iâ—â— a great cheat to think that because Mâ—â— do amiss in some things God will accâ—â— nothing that they do and as great tâ—â— Men may commend nothing in such Fâ—â— as it is evident never any did any thiâ—â— well for God but it was accepted at 〈◊〉 hands unto such purposes as were meâ—â— and as tended to draw them farther aâ—â— not discourage them Nebuchadnezzar â—hab Jehu and many more are instances of this All wise Men and some inspired ones have commended whatever of Vertue or Piety they found in the worst of Men Paul for instance in the Jews Therefore I conclude though some Readers who perform
well as in conformity to God and his Church this is required at their hands And I insist particularly on this because I have observed that many Readers having this Prayer more perfectly by heart than any of the rest they ramble it over with a greater hast and have less care to express that Devotion which becomes this Solemn Exercise in reading that than any other the amendment whereof I humbly desire of them And because I have a great desire that this may be amended I shall here adde somewhat to what was said before I have observed so great a proneness in all even the most Grave and Devout to say this Prayer faster than is meet and without due expressions of their sence of the Majesty of God who is in Heaven though our Father in Christ Jesus and of the great concern of those things most briefly expressed therein that I have in my thoughts inquired a little into the cause thereof which seems to me to be this That this Prayer being the first thing that we teach Children in the Exercise of Religion there is not that care taken to make them say it distinctly and reverently as ought to bâ— but they are suffered to do it with such Rambling hast and without any regard of what they are about that it begets an ill habit by long custom which is so strong that all the powers of Reason can scarce overcome it for else it were impossible but that those Men who are exceeding grave and intent in the Prayer they make themselves should ramble at such a rate when they come to conclude with that our Lord and Master hath made for them and that they who in all Offices of our Church would have none to want that Prayer which is the sum and substance of all our Prayers yet should have less of Gravity and Devotion in the repetition of that than any of the rest I cannot but impute this to an ill habit that almost all Men get in their Childhood in this matter of saying the Lord's Prayer and upon account hereof I make it my earnest Request to Parents and especially those of the Female Sex who have usually the charge of hearing their Children say their Prayers that they will teach them and often call upon them to say deliberately and distinctly what they speak in this Holy Office but especially the Lord's Prayer the want of this care causeth most Men yea Ministers to have so ill a delivery that it is very prejudicial to themselves and others and a dishonour to the Holy Offices they perform and a great hindrance to Edification especially in Ministers And 't is this that would season their tender Years with a sence of God and Religion which would never go out Some Vessels never loose the savour of that which first of all is put into them especially if it stand long and if Children were first taught a right manner of performing their Devotions and kept constantly to it while under the Tuition of their Mother they would retain the effects of it through their whole lives And we see by sad experience the neglect of this not only is cause of the habitual Defect fore-mentioned but betrays them to some ill Habits that make them a Grief to their Parents all their days And I have hope if Mothers were but conscious of their Duty herein it would make them more wary of giving way to these frothy or froward humours and that inordinate concern for little things which indispose them for the same and more willing to put on the Ornaments of the inward Man of the Heart which inables them thereunto by giving them that reverence and respect with their Children without which it can never be effected I hint this 1. Because as the welfare of Mankind depends very much on the good Education of Children so their good Education will be most essectually begun in the well performance of this Duty for in teaching them to say the Lord's Prayer devoutly they will have occasion to discourse to them of the Glory and Presence of God of the Awe and Reverence we must have for him of his all-disposing Providence and our Dependance on him c. which are the Principles of all Goodness and also of the great Indearments of our Blessed Saviour and of the excellency of his Person who taught this Prayer whereby they will be disposed to true Christianity and this foundation being laid it will be easie to build them up in all Vertues 2. Because I believe that as Formality hath for the most part its beginning from the ill saying this Prayer so it is most like to have its ending by our learning to say it aright and he that can be devout as he ought in this will be able to perform all acts of Devotion as becomes him 'T is the Opinion of wise Men That Christ and his Church hath therefore thought better to teach us to pray by prescribing us Forms than by giving us a Directory for the Matter of Prayer and leaving the Composure to ourselves because no laborious Exercise of the Memory or Invention should hinder the free and vigorous Exercise of Devotion and that these Forms are usually brief except those for Fasts which for a peculiar reason are longer lest that vigilant and erect attention of mind which in Prayer is very necessary should be wasted or dulled through continuance if the Prayers were few and long as Mr. Hooker hath it out of St. Augustine Now when Men pervert these ends and because they are not necessitated to be intent by being put to study their Prayers just when they make them or to remember what they studied before therefore they will take no care to be intent at all but say their Prayers as a Hireling doth his Work as fast as they can that they may be at leisure for that which they take more pleasure in And because they have these brief Prayers very perfect their Devotion is the more imperfect this is a very unworthy requital of the Care of Christ and his Church and how justly may such Persons be given up to such Errours as have drawn many into Fanaticism as That Forms of Prayer are the bane of Devotion The Lord's Prayer is no Form The way of Extempore Prayer is the only acceptable Service of God And to pray by the Liturgy or other Forms is unlawful and such-like Let me therefore once more intreat the care of Parents in this matter that they will first by their own Example in saying this Prayer most distinctly gravely and devoutly and in the most reverent posture in their Family-Worship and then by Instruction suitable to the Capacities of their Children and by the exercise of Parental Authority bring them once to a good performance in saying this Divine Prayer by themselves which might be easily done if Men had a mind to it and then bring them to Church with them and make them joyn with the Congregation in that Prayer first and in
the Minister salutes the People with that excellent Option The Lord be with you and they return And with thy Spirit Which words spoken with the holy affection they ought are apt to beget such a disposition of mind as will render the Prayers very acceptable to God and edifying to one another The Minister yet farther to awaken all the powers of our Souls to this most serious business is to say Let us pray which therefore we should compose ourselves to do with all our might The Response wherewith we begin Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy serves most fitly to assist this endeavour of great fervency and being repeated without it seems very indecent and a kind of vain Repetition therefore remember this Then we renew the Repetition of the Lord's Prayer which Prayer certainly is of that excellency that no Christian should think it too much to use it both in the beginning and end of this Service And indeed this is the very sum and substance of all our Prayers and others are added only for greater solemnity and fuller explication And therefore the oftner it is repeated the more devoutly it should be said and greater fervency excited by it of which before To relax a little the great intention of mind that should accompany all our Prayers but especially the Lord's prayer we have that excellent Response wherein the Minister and People exchange some devout Ejaculations for themselves for their Superiours and for their Brethren which as they mix holy delight with fervency so they greatly strengthen the Bands of Christian Unity The rest of the time we spend in repeating several Collects most excellent for the matter and comprehensive for the words In praying for the King and Royal Family for Magistrates and Ministers the Church and State all Christians and all Men and in giving solemn Thanks for God's mercies to us and them in all which we should strive to preserve a constant intention and true devotion of mind and if to that end we accompany the Minister with our voice as many do it should be always with such caution as I have expressed before and so it may be very useful thereunto and also it would make us perfect in saying those Prayers which may be of great use to us in other cases besides that of our joyning with the Congregation therein But now if Men having got the faculty of saying the Prayers readily by heart do let their Tongues run before Wits and say faster than it can be thought they understand or can consider what they say then they abuse God's good gifts and shame themselves and disturb others It was greatly blam'd by the Apostle that some of those who had received the miraculous Gift of Tongues were so forward in the use of it as that it hindred their due consideration of the things they spake and others understanding them for amending whereof he proposeth his own example to their imitation saying I will pray with the spirit but yet so as with the understanding also and I think we may infer something from hence for our instruction in this matter I have taken liberty of some repetition and inlargement here because I have often heard this Disorder complained of since the first Edition of this Book and many wish the Reprinting of it for this very reason that it may be lent or given to those in whom they observe this Disorder to rectifie their practice herein What I have here discoursed shews that I believe this Service to be well ordered to prevent all wandring thoughts to preserve a due presence of mind to promote pious affections and to give the best entertainment to true Devotion and indeed on all these accounts I do wonder very much that it is not had in greater estimation But Men must do their own part also towards this therefore I earnestly admonish all Men to avoid sitting lolling leaning and all indecent postures and to continue kneeling meekly and devoutly in the whole Performance if they can And I think Men too apt to plead Infumity out of indulgence to the Flesh which should be taught to suffer something for the honour of God and interests of our Souls which have suffered a great deal by its pleasures and passions and I doubt not the pain we endure to express our reverent Adoration of the Almighty in this his Solemn Worship shall be accepted of God as a part of Our Mortifications and of our Conformity to Christ and his Church and no Christian that considers the great and most dolorous pain wherein Christ offered himself in Sacrifice on the Cross can think much to endure some little pain that we may offer our Sacrifices of Prayers and Praises with that reverence which becomes us nor can any Man have that sence of the adorable Majesty of the most High when his head and elbows lye on the bench of his seat as when he kneels in an erect posture with his eyes and hands lift up to Heaven The actions of the Body have a great influence on the Soul as well as on the contrary the Souls affections move it to act Besides the decency of this which is so evident that I may appeal to Men themselves in this case as the Apostle in another of the same nature being in a matter of Indecency in God's Worship Judge in yourselves what is meet Can any Man think it fit to supplicate the infinite Majesty of Heaven and Earth in any but the most humble posture of body which with us is Kneeling or that we ought to sit on our breeches when we sing or speak praise unto him Certainly the power of Errour is very great that it can blind the mind of Man in a matter so evident and plain But I trust that those to whom I write are not so deceived Yet I would not be thought to commend any such Uneasiness as is either against the due composure of the Mind or the good estate of the Body I know God will have Mercy and not Sacrifice and prefers the due operations of the Mind before the most devout actions of the Body especially where they cannot be both in perfection but our exactness in one must necessitate some relaxation in the other But there is an uneasiness that is so small that it rather helps than hinders inward Devotion and disturbs nothing but a lazie humour or ill habit things no way to be indulged But yet where there is such real Infirmity as justly excuseth from Standing or Kneeling upright c. Men should be careful that in what posture soever they be they make such expressions of Seriousness and Devotion that it may appear to the Congregation that they omit nothing out of Laziness Contempt of the Orders of the Church or a prophane Spirit I have now run over the Daily Office of Morning Prayer and shall proceed no farther because he that will observe what I have written in that cannot be to seek in ordering himself a right
comply with my Desire and save me the Labour of Arguments I shall only say the Inward Peace and Satisfaction they will find in governing themselves in this Matter by Reason and not by Fancy and in following the Custom and Usage of all good Christians for many Ages and of most even in this and not that of Hereticks and Schismaticks by obeying the Orders of our own Church made with the greatest Advice and by the most unbias'd Persons of any in the World and not Herding with Quakers Fifth-Monarchy men Anabaptists and other turbulent Sects that oppose the same and seek its Ruin the Satisfaction they will have in finding all that was Good and Profitable all that was Decent and Solemn all that was truly Primitive or any way Praise-worthy in the Service of the Church of Rome a Church which was once very Famous for Learning Piety and Stedfastness in the Faith still retained in ours and all that which Ignorance Error or the Corruption of Time had introduced into that purged out in this I say the Satisfaction they will find in considering the Excellency of our Form of Divine Service in this and such like respects Will prevent all Inclinations to turn into other Ways And should they have any Scruples suggested unto them by cunning Seducers I dare say if they will but do what may be justly expected from Men so educated and obliged that is Consult the Ministers of our Church they will find the fullest satisfaction that they can desire Again As these Considerations so the good Effects of a Devout Attending this Service will perswade them to continue the same The Exaltation of our Minds thereby above the mean Concerns of this World so that they shall not be influenced by the Revolutions and infinite Changes to which it is subject the Confirmation of our Faith and Hope in God's Promises and the inward Joy and Peace that results therefrom the Excitation of our Love to God and the Exercising thereof in Holy Adorations and Cheerful Praises the Increase of our Love to one another by Holy Communion in such Sacred Offices these and such like which will be the Effects of attending this Service will inforce our delight therein and our endeavours so to order it that we be not kept from the same To which I may add some outward good Effects such as 1. The Preventing many Idle and sometimes very Chargeable Clubs and Visits from which this will both excuse and oblige us 2. The inducing Harmony and Good Order into our Families For our contriving that as many as possible may attend God's Service will make much for Order in other things and also for Love and Peace and Good Success of our Affairs I cannot attend the Demonstration but I am sure he that will try shall find it true by Experience 3. The Chearfulness induced into our Minds by our Communion in the Psalmody and Responses and the use of our Voice in other parts of the Service tends much to the health of our Bodies and the mending our Temper For as silence feeds the Melancholy Humour the worst that Mans Body is affected with and of most pernicious influence on the Mind so Speaking and especially in such Heavenly Converse doth much to dissolve and disperse the same and preserves the Body healthful and lively and the Mind in a sweet and pleasant Temper I shall mention no more I hope it may suffice to have touched these things in so short a Discourse to perswade a Constant Attendance on the Publick Prayers 2dly I shall say somewhat also to perswade an indeavour of a right performance which even those are in danger not to do who daily frequent these Holy Offices Education Custom and various Interests may have great force to effect a constant attendance at Prayers when yet want of consideration may betray Men to Formality and undue Performance There is a Fear of God so his Worship of old was called which is taught by the Precepts of Men Matth. 15.8 and this is when Men go to Church meerly because the Magistrate Commands or their Parents bred them to it or because it is the Custom of their Neighbours so to do These shew themselves of a good dactile and sociable Temper and are more to be esteemed than such who in despite of the Laws good Education and a pious Cohabitation contemn and scorn a daily attendance on God's Worship Or than those that strain their Wits to find Faults in our Liturgy and that do all they can to create Scruples in themselves and infuse them into others But they must not rest here but while they constantly go to Prayers they must indeavour to exercise that Fervent Love to God and to our Blessed Saviour and that Divine Joy in the Hope of Glory to come and to Fore-taste the Blessedness we shall partake of in the Communion of Saints above in these Exercises wherein as Saints we have communion here below and will to that purpose attend more diligently to the Preparations wherewith they should come to Worship and to those Expressions whereby they Honour God while they do so Therefore I beseech these to whom I write to consider that God will be Sanctified in all those that come nigh to Worship him and this he only is by those who Worship him with a Holy Worship both Internally and Externally Which we do not except our Minds be so disposed and our Words and Actions so ordered as is aforesaid and as becomes the Glory of God's Essence the Immensity of his Divine Perfections the Sense of our own Concernments and of our Relation to those we are to pray with and to pray for and so as is suitable to the several Parts of Worship which we are to perform Now these Dispositions cannot be attained but by serious and frequent Meditation For there is a Connexion in the Duties of Religion which make it impossible to perform some as we ought except we make Conscience of others that are preparatory thereunto in this Connexion I suppose Meditation to be the first and he that makes no Conscience of that or knows not how to Perform it will be hardly brought to a Good Performance in any other Duties especially this of Prayer Men may by a natural fluency of Speech assisted with a quickness of Wit and ready Invention easily pray to good acceptance with Men but as to our acceptance with God and the effects of Prayer to our own Benefit and Consolation it depends on the preparation of such Affections and such Expressions thereof as can never be without frequent Meditation Meditation in the most common sense of the word is taken for more than bare thinking it is a thinking of things that we may have such knowledge of them and esteem and affection toward them as we ought to have And so great an Influence hath the proposed End into the Efficacy of any Action that I cannot expect that any Man should excite his Devotion by thinking of things though