that Man is a Creature capable of two sorts of Pleasure Mental and Carnal and that these do for the most part militate against each other and if carnal Pleasures prevail and get the possession of our Life we are said to be dead in respect of our minds and spiritual part but if the Delights of the Mind once take place and become our Employment then the Body is said to be dead dead by reason of sin as the spirit is life because of righteousness So that it is of mighty avail to cherish these spiritual Pleasures and depress those that are carnal especially in the beginning of our life as that upon which the Happiness of our whole Life depends And this I think may be done by a pious and prudent Instruction in the fore-mentioned Duty and by giving a good Example to encourage the performance I cannot give this matter the explication it requires but I hope a word to the Wise will be sufficient Having hinted these things to rectifie what seem'd to me amiss I shall now briefly sum up all by representing that Behaviour which I judge most decent in the performance of these Sacred Offices First then having a due sence of what you are going about viz. to approach the most glorious and dreadful Presence of the Almighty and having composed your minds to worship him with that Reverence and Devotion you ought and declared this by the solemn manner of your coming into his House and placing yourself in the station wherein you are to perform your part in this holy Exercise you are to fix your eyes on the Reader as the Minister of God the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts sent to call you to Repentance with offers of Peace and Reconciliation that you may escape his dreadful Wrath which none can endure or withstand which Wrath the Host of Heaven and Powers of Hell as well as the Creatures here on Earth are ready to minister against all impenitent and prophane Wretches You are to stand up and attend seriously to the reading of those Scripture-Sentences wherewith he begins this Service wherein are declared in the very words of God himself the necessity of Repentance and the certainty of Pardon and of his gracious acceptance of all that truly perform it You are also well to consider the inforcement of those Sentences by his reading the Exhortation following in the mean time reflecting on yourself with a due remembrance of your particular sins that you may be the better prepared to accompany him with a pure Heart and humble Voice in the General Confession following And this Confession as it is ordered we should make in the most humble posture which according to the use and custom of this Country is kneeling on our Knees and this none are to omit except hindred by bodily infirmity or such inconveniences as are sometimes occasioned by Crowds of People and in such case they must take care to supply that defect by other expressions of humble Reverence And we ought so to speak in repeating the same after the Minister that we thereby express that we verily believe ourselves to be guilty in many particular instances of many sins contained under the several Heads there mentioned and that we are heartily sorry for the same and earnestly implore pardoning Mercy and Forbearance and to be restored to God's Grace and Favour trusting to his Promises made to us in Christ and with no less earnestness desire the assistance of God's Grace to inable us to live better for the future This faithful endeavour to appear as humble Penitents before God and the Congregation will suppress the workings of Pride and Self-conceit the Parent of all Vice and strengthen Humility the Nurse of all Vertues and beget that brotherly Love which is founded in true Piety and Humility In attending in the same posture while the Minister as God's Herald pronounceth Absolution and Pardon to the truly penitent that unfeignedly believe the Gospel we ought to express a great Reverence of the Almighty from whom he speaks and also the most humble Thankfulness and holy Joy for his rich Grace which Grace is communicated to us by the Stewards of his Mysteries and cannot be received in the contempt of their Administrations whom he hath impowred to dispence the same And withal earnestly begging according to his Exhortation that our Faith and Repentance may be assisted by Divine Cooperation that we never fail of the same Grace for want of meet dispositions to receive it nor neglect the improvement thereof when bestowed either at present or for the future When we have thus prepared ourselves we ought with heavenly Joy and great Fervency to joyn with the Minister and Congregation in repeating that Divine Prayer which our Saviour taught The beginning whereof being Eucharistical containing such Petitions as are for the immediate honour and glory of God it is fit that we lift up our hands and eyes to Heaven when with our voices we declare our joy in God and exultancy in his Praises In the rest we supplicate things necessary for ourselves therefore we should express greatest humility in bowing our Heads and Bodies towards the Earth as unworthy to ask so great things of so great a Majesty and speak we should also with more lowly and humble Voices in repeating the same Until returning in the Doxology to the acknowledgment of his Paternal Government which inclines him of his Power which enables him and of his Glory which engages him to be so good to his Creatures and especially to his Children we again lift up our hearts and hands to Heaven and repeat the same chearful Voices After this we pass to that high and heavenly work of praising God in the Psalms and Hymns following Now tho' it were the work for which chiefly we were made and the excellent power of Speech given us and that to which while we continued innocent and happy our mouth was still opened and we had freedom and power to perform the same yet now sin and sorrow guilt and fear cares and vexations have even made us dumb to God's Praises and disabled us for due celebration hereof Therefore in this respect we ought most devoutly to joyn with the Minister in the Response following the Lord's Prayer Lord open thou our Mouths And our Lips shall shew forth thy praise O God make speed to save us O Lord make hast to help us And while we seek his Grace we should use our own endeavours to open our own Mouths and lift up our voices while we sing his Praises and to awaken all our powers to a cheerful performance of this Service The Gloria Patri follows at the repetition whereof we are required to stand a posture most fit in all manner of Psalmody and when ever we speak or sing praise and glory to God but especially in the Publick Assemblies convened chiefly for that purpose And in pronouncing these words of Glory it would be very indecent to do it in
the highest dignity at the right hand of God I say he that considers this I hope will think as I do I know prejudice hinders Men from observing what is excellent in any thing but especially in such things they are not used to but as I suppose none will deny that God is thus to be worshipped so where Men are not prejudiced I verily believe they will think that in no Way they can do it better There is something also to be inferred as to this matter of God's Worship from the plentiful effusion of the Spirit in Gospel-times and our Fellowship and Communion in that Spirit There are some Phrases in the New Testament which I think have been perverted to a wrong sence such as Praying in the Holy Ghost Worshipping God in the Spirit and in Spirit and Truth which I think may better be referred to the worshipping God as revealed by the Gospel which is called the Ministration of the Spirit in the respect forementioned or else to our worshipping God in Faith and Fervency in Vnity and Vnanimity without distinction of Jew and Gentile in spirituality without legal Types and Figures and carnal Ordinances in the vertue of Christ's Merits which was the truth of all the bloudy Sacrifices of Atonement for acceptanceâ— with God in the legal Worship and this according to the Revelations whereof the Spirit of Christ is Author and by whose Gifts and Powers they were confirmed I say better refered to these things than to praying without study or a prepared Form onely by help of the Spirit It seems to me that if those Expressions had any relation to praying by any extraordinary and supernatural assistance of God's Spirit as was their praying in Languages they had never learnt or in Expressions that were above any attainments they could be supposed to have by ordinary means it must be appliable only unto that time For however an Opinion hath been insinuated of late of a miraculous and supernatural assistanceâ— for the performance of that Duty which hath given considence to many who are naturally unable for the same to venture on it and that even in publick Administration to the great dishonour of Religion and just offence of all wise Men yet I think none will dare to affirm that any Christian or Minister hath any promise from God of such assistance of the Spirit as may make it to be truly said that be prays in the Spirit in the sence above-mentioned But now praying in the Spirit as I first interpreted it of praying as the Revelations of the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel requires is appliable to all Times and Persons and this I think to be done as in the forementioned respect of worshipping the Trinity in Vnity and our Lord and Saviour as God-man so also when our Prayers are ordered for the greatest advantage of Faith and Fervency and of the Unity and Fellowship of the Spirit and so I think ours are ordered For in the first place our Faith is helped by the assurance that we ask such things as are pleasing to God and secondly by the frequent mention of the merits of Christ When we pray in the words which our Lord and Saviour himself hath taught us and use such Forms as have been composed by Men famous in the Church and approved by multitudes of Christians and that for many Ages when our Prayers are ordered with great advice of those that are most learned among our selves being also such as are orderly called to direct the publick Ministrations in Sacred Things and when they are approved by all the Christians united into one National Church under one Civil Government which approbation is declared by the Representatives of both Clergy and Laity with whose advice they are by Law established and when we ourselves may consider and weigh the same before we use them having them in our Books to read at any time certainly we may on all these accounts he more assured that we pray for such things as we ought than when we joyn in a Prayer we never heard before and such as is the sudden conception of a private Minister as the use is with those that are against our Way And finally the frequent mention of the Merits of our Saviour at the conclusion of our brief Collects is more helpful to our Belief that we shall find acceptance for Christ's sake than when it is only once at the end of a long continued Prayer if my own experience and that of wiser Men do not deceive me And secondly for Fervency we have great help also having nothing to do but to apply our minds to earnestness in praising God and praying to him no need of attending to hear what is spoken that we may judge whether it be fit for us to joyn in it or not and when we know the Prayers before-hand we can joyâ— with the Minister and Congregation though wâ— hear not every word that is read And the briefness of the Prayers being composed of such weighty and comprehensive Expressions helps more to true Fervency than long Prayers though the Novelty and Variety may more work on Mens fancies Then thirdly the Vnity and Fellowship oâ— the Spirit is hereby assisted I mean that Vnity and Fellowship which that Spirit of Goâ— hath constituted by whom we are all baptized into one Body and made to drink in to one Spirit and so are obliged to all possible Concord and Agreement both external and internal For first We agree with the Saint of all Ages in this That the publick Worship of God is to be administred by a prepared Form and not by the present Conceptions of the Administrator For I cannot understand that either the Jewish Church or the Christian did ever administer their publick Worship in any other way except what those Persons did who were divinely inspired as many were among the Jews and in the first Ages of the Church who therefore were said to Prophecy when they uttered such excellent Psalms or Prayers Extempore of which this is a sufficient demonstration to me That in the Jewish Synagogues all things at this day are administred by Forms and in all the Christian Churches that have not been accounted Enthusiastical the same Way was ever observed or at least none can deny that it now is so in all the Christian World except those Congregations united in some odd Opinions that do separate from the Body of Christians the only considerable Body of these that ever admitted the other Way of Administration being the Scots formerly and the English in the late Distractions but on many accounts that Admission cannot be esteemed an orderly Settlement or excuse them from Schism though it were by the prevailing Party Now since it hath scarce ever been known in Matters sacred and of long custom that great Alterations have been made but with great Oppositions and Commotions I conclude that if in the beginning of the Jewish Worship in their Synagogues or of the Christian Worship in
never so Divine except he designs by such thinking so to do Students of several sorts are ingaged to think of such things as would serve to this and other excellent Ends but without any Effect The Reason is because their Minds by being so intently fixed on the love of Carnal Pleasures do not discern even the things they look full upon nor understand those very things they teach to others and altho ' they are constrained to think how they may talk or write of such things yet they are with-held by these Sensual Affections from considering the Concern which themselves have therein There is no way therefore by meditating to attain Devotion or any Vertue but by crucifying the Flesh with all its Affections and Lusts and awakening our dead and drouzy Souls to design and endeavour to live that Life for which they were made and in which alone they can be made happy And to this our Blessed Saviour hath given us such Assistance by the Grace of the Gospel that no Man that will take hold of it can complain of infirmity for altho' we never so much feel the weight of earthly things which press down the Soul as when we strive to ascend to God in the Exercises of Devotion yet if we fix our Minds on him who was God manifested in the Flesh shewing us how little these things are how great soever they seem how little to be desired or feared tho' seemingly dreadful or pleasant by his refusing all the Glories we so eagerly prosecute and accepting the Sufferings we so fear and fly and would contemplate the Heavenly Joys which he offereth us on condition we will receive his Spirit and lead our Lives after the Pattern he hath set us I say if we would thus look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith we should soon find ourselves able to lay aside these Weights how easily soever they beset us and to ascend to him in Holy and Devout Affections while we are imployed in these Sacred Offices But it is not so much the want of Ability as of Intention that is cause of the Decay of Devotion as I said before and therefore to awaken that I would represent the Excellency of this Heavenly Affection Devotion it is a most Divine Spirit in Man his greatest Exaltation above Beasts and his nearest Approach to Angels 't is as Herbert saith of the Sabbath the Fruit of this World and the Blossom of the next the highest enjoyment which we are capable of here and the fore-taste of what we shall most fully enjoy hereafter It transforms the Soul into a Seraphim burning with the Fervours of Divine Love carrying it to Heaven as Elias in a Fiery Charriot to take its place in the Choir of Angels and joyn in their Halalujahs and Adorations of him that sits on the Throne and of the Lamb that is at his Right Hand But yet it carries us not above any of the Concerns wherein we may be useful to Men but descends to the Consideration of all their Wants and Necessities Sorrows and Miseries taking them into its Breast and presenting them before God with earnest request for comfort and relief in them all yea it begets in Men such a Divine Charity as reacheth to the uttermost of what may be done for the Well-fare and Happiness of their Neighbours For while we Adore God who is the Supream Benefactor and our Saviour God-Man the Example of Self-denial and Meekness Vertues that Cure our Hurtful Lusts and such a lover of Men as to prosecute their Salvation and Felicity with the shedding of his most Precious Blood I say while this is the Object of our Adoration as it is in these Exercises of Devotion how can it be otherwiise but that it must beget in us a Life and Temper most pleasant and profitable to Mankind And indeed I have observed that this Heavenly Flame of True Devotion is like that which descended on Elias's Altar it licks up all our opposite Interests as that did the Water and makes both ourselves and all we have a Sacrifice to the Honour of God and Good of Mankind None therefore that considers the Excellency of Devotion but would set himself with great attention of Mind to the Consideration of such Things as may render him a Devout Man The Things that are of this Nature are principally such as relate to God to Ourselves or to Others we are to Pray for We should think upon God That he is worthy all our Adorations and Praises for his Glorious and Infinite Perfections his Wonderful Works and for his Innumerable Blessings and Mercies That he and he only heareth Prayers and is nigh to all that call upon him and is pleased when Invocated for the things he is willing to give us That he alone Orders and Disposeth all the Affairs of this World according to his Soveraign Will and Pleasure Restrains or Inlarges the Powers of Nature Stops or Diverts the Course of it Over-rules Second Causes Prospers or Disappoints Human Undertakings Gives and Takes away Lifts up and Casts down even how and whom he pleaseth We should think of our Dependance on him That we Live Move and have our Being in him and cannot Subsist a moment without him that we are subject to innumerable Casualties which may destroy the strongest Body and healthfullest Constitution and to such Vexations as will four the sweetest Temper and to such Amazement as will shake the most fixed and composed Mind which he only can prevent from befalling us as being under his Divine Government and can by his immediate Influxes Comfort us when they do so We should think how many things we want what woful things we are in danger of of our manifold Temptations by allurements of sensual Objects and suggestions of evil Spirits of the weakness of our Graces and insufficiency of all things in Heaven or Earth besides God for our Supply and Succour And if we would think seriously of these things we should find great help to Devotion in Prayers thereby we shall find how much we are concerned to reconcile ourselves to God by humble and penitent Confessions to seek his Grace and Favour by Fervent Supplications to pray for the Aid of his Spirit to help our Infirmity and to assist our Victory over our Spiritual Enemies and to give him thanks that we have not fallen into greater Sins and Miseries to attend to his Holy Word that thereby we may receive Grace from him to learn to please him and oblige his care and kindness for us and these things will beget and excite Devout Affections in us It will be profitable also to this End to think of our Obligation to our Christian Brethren and of the Particular Regards we ought to have towards all Sorts and Degrees among them For we Pray as Members of the Catholick Church and must have a Concern for all Christians as Fellow-Members of one Spiritual Incorporation But particularly we should often think what Affection we
apt to divert the Mind from its proper End and Vse which to say is to reproach the Wisdom of God-incarnate and to tell Our great Teacher sent from God that he did not understand his Office nor teach in the best manner a thing of greatest concern to the Glory of God and Happiness of Mankind as the Doctor rightly saith the well performance of Prayer is Words which no Christian can patiently hear of his Saviour Now according to my weak opinion there is but one of these two ways for the Doctor to avoid this consequence from his words either that he confess the truth and say That our Saviour intended to teach his Disciples a Form of Prayes and that it is not only Lawful but a Positive Duty to use this his Holy Prayer as we do Or if he will hold to this Opinion viz. That 't is a Doctrinal and Directive Help to teach to Pray Ex tempere Then he must prove that it is not cast into the Form of a Prayer Now this later seems utterly impossible to be done for since it so plainly appears that it is cast into the Form of a Prayer And since the Christians of many Ages throughout the World have esteemed and used it as a Form of Prayer And since the Doctor himself notwithstanding his Opinion that it was not so intended cannot forbear in many places of his Book to call it The Lord's Prayer I say since it is so he will never make Men believe it is not cast into the Form of a Prayer Therefore I hope the Doctor on second thoughts will retract his Book and confess that there is a Work of the Spirit in Prayer that he hath therein much opposed A Work wherein he moved our Saviour and Holy Men to compose Forms of Prayer and to teach their Disciples to say them as the best Help to Prayer A Work whereby he moved and inabled our Reformers as well as the Governours of other Churches to Compose and Prescribe a Liturgy or Form for the Publick Service of God A Work whereby he excites Men to approach daily to God in this Solemn Office of Prayer in the Church and not to think it enough to Pray occasionally when they are pressed with the present sense of Dangers Miseries or Wants as I confess every Christian can and may do in his Closet Ex tempore A Work whereby he teacheth Men thankfully to accept and faithfully to use as Prayers the Form our Saviour taught and other Forms taught and prescribed as before Lastly A Work whereby he teacheth and assists the Preparations I before mentioned that in the use of such Forms we may be truly devout and fervent And if the Doctor will believe and consider this I hope he will use no more such Insinuations to perswade that no Forms of Prayer should ever hereafter be made nor those that are be used any otherwise than to help the attainment of the Art of Praying Ex tempore nor will while he professeth to oppose our Liturgy as set up to exclude their Way of Praying endeavour by such Insinuations to banish our Way of Praying out of the World as the use of Ex tempore Prayer did once the Liturgy out of the Church And I hope the Doctor will excuse this warmth which the conceit of such a design hath occasioned But to return if our Saviour meant to teach a Form of Prayer there can be no greater proof than that That in the use of Forms we may best pray in the Spirit For since by his Inspiration the Precept of Praying in the Spirit was given the Way of Prayer he taught must be acknowledged best for the performing the same This I hope will put an end to the common way of appropriating the phrase of Praying in the Spirit to the use of Ex tempore Prayer and give those that pray by Forms and by our Liturgy some share in the honour of it and then I hope we shall hear no more Scoffing at Praying by the Spirit which this appropriation hath caused however the Doctor complains of it which I by no means approve But Lastly When we have done our best in our Preparations and Performances we must take heed that all be not intended to gain an Indulgence for living in any Sin either of Omission or Commission The Enemies of our Church boast much of their good Lives and condemn us that are for the Common Prayer as a profane sort of Men I do heartily wish them as good as they think themselves and that their goodness may consist as much in the Government of their Passions in Just Retributions in Meekness Humility and Candid Interpretations as in decrying Sensual Vices and Worldly Pomps and Vanities And I wish also that ours did not give just occasion for this their complaint and that we may indeavour to Equal yea Excel them in Temperance and Heavenly-mindedness adding Sobriety and True Sanctity to Conformity and Loyalty But that I may also to my Wishes add my Faithful Endeavours I shall offer Two Considerations to perswade thereunto 1. That of the Incongruity of a Vicious Life to daily Attendance on Divine Service and appearing Devout therein 2. Of the Unacceptablness thereof without the Conjunction of a Holy Life 1. The Incongruity is Evident to all Men. None that see a Man to go constantly to Church to bow very low at his coming in to appear very devout in the several Parts of Worship both by Speech and Behaviour I say they that see this expect that such a one should be very exact in the Course of his Life And if they come to know that they are not they will be very apt to take offence at it I confess for my own part it hath been so with me and others have told me it hath been so with them and reason tells me it must be so with all For it is absurd to hear a Man at Church very devoutly to own himself a sinner and condemn himself of silliness in wandring from God's Ways and following his own Desires and Devices as in our General Confession and then return home as Proud and Self-conceited as ever and never the less inclin'd to wander from God in prosecution of Self satisfaction as before To call God our Father at Church as if we did partake of a Nature like his inclined to all Righteousness Goodness and Truth and when we come Home by our Ill Nature and Destructive Practices to shew ourselves the Children of the Devil To call him Our Father in Heaven when neither the consideration of the Heavenly Original of our Souls generated first by Divine Spiration and regenerated by that Word which is of Divine Inspiration on both which accounts we call him our Father can raise our Minds from this Dunghill Earth to seek the Things above Nor the Heighth and Excellency of God's Glory and his Advantage of Seeing and Punishing expressed by his being in Heaven can move us to fear him To Pray that his