Christ came to visit us in great humility that in the last Day when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost now and ever Amen ALmighty and everlasting God which art alwayes more ready to hear than we to pray and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy forgiving us those things whereof our Conscience is afraid and giving unto us that that our Prayer dare not presume to ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty and merciful God of thy bountiful goodnesse keep us from all things that may hurt us that we being ready both in body and soul may with free hearts accomplish those things that thou wouldst have done through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Eternal God Almighty Father of Men and Angels by whose mercy care and Providence I have been preserved blessed comforted and assisted I humbly beg of thee to pardon the sins and follies of this day the weaknesse of my service the strength of my passion the rashnesse of my words and the vanity and evil of my actions O just and dear God how long shall I confesse my sins and pray against them and yet fall under them O let it be so no more let me never return to the follies of which I am ashamed which bring Sorrow and Death and thy displeasure worse than death give me a command over my evil Inclinations and a perfect hatred of sin and a love to thee above all the desires of this world be pleased to bless and preserve me this night from all sin and all violence of Chance and the malice of the Spirits of darknesse watch over me in my sleep or wake and whether I sleep or awake let me be thy Servant be thou first and last in all my thoughts and the guid and continual assistance of all my actions preserve my Body pardon the sins of my Soul sanctifie my Spirit let me alwayes live holy justly and soberly and when I die receive my Soul into thy hands O holy and ever blessed Jesus that I may lye in thy Bosom and long for thy coming and hear thy blessed sentence at dooms-day and live in thy Kingdom singing praises to God for ever and ever Amen Save me Lord waking and keep me sleeping that I may watch with Christ and rest in peace Amen Preserve me as the Apple of thine Eye and protect me under the shadow of thy wings Vouchsafe O Lord to keep me this night without sin Have mercy on me O Lord have have mercy on me Thy mercy be upon me O Lord. As I have put my trust in thee O Lord hear my Prayer And let my Supplication come unto thee VIsit we beseech thee O Lord this Habitation this Countrey and Township wherein I live and repel far from it and them all the snares of the wicked Enemy of Mankind and let thy holy Angels dwell therein to preserve us in peace and thy Blessing be upon us and all that we have and all that belongs unto us both now and for ever through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen God the Father bless me Iesus Christ defend and keep me the vertue of the Holy Ghost illuminate and Sanctifie me this night and for ever Amen Concluding Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit Lord Iesu receive my Soul When you are in your Bed and cannot sleep exercise your self in some Spiritual Meditation If thou chance to awake in the dead of the night forthwith imagine thy self present amidst the Quires of Saints and Angels and with sudden Acclamation cry out with them reciting that Himn which they incessantly sing both day and night saying Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus c. Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabboth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen WHen I had ended these Devotions for the Morning and Evening for your private use I thought to have proceeded no further but when I considered the difference holy Church makes of Dayes some for holy Feasts and others for holy Fasts I thought it convenient to set you out some other Devotions for the great weekly Feast of the Church being the Lords day upon which he did rise from the Grave and that weekly Fast of the Church being Friday upon which he was Crucified besides the Publique I mean those appointed by the Church for those days and your other private Devotions For as those dayes are great in the esteem of the Church so they bring a greater duty with them DEVOTIONS For Sunday Mornings before the Church Prayers begin The fifth Psalm 1. POnder my words O Lord consider my Meditation 2. O hearken thou unto the voice of my calling my King and my God for unto thee will I make my Prayer 3. My voice shalt thou hear betimes O Lord early in the Morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up 4. For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickednesse neither shall any evil dwell with thee 5. Such as be foolish shall not stand in thy sight for thou hatest all them that work vanity 6. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor both the blood-thirsty and deceitfull man 7. But as for me I will come into thine House even upon the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple 8. Lead me O Lord in thy righteousnesse because of mine Enemies make thy way plain before my face 9. For there is no faithfulnesse in his mouth their inward parts are very wickedness 10. Their throat is an open Sepulchre they flatter with their tongue 11. Destroy thou them O God let them perish through their own imaginations cast them out in the multitude of their ungodliness for they have rebelled against thee 12. And let all them that put their trust in thee rejoyce they shall ever be giving of thanks because thou defendest them they that love thy Name shall be joyful in thee 13. For thou Lord wilt give thy Blessing unto the righteous and with thy favourable kindness wilt thou defend him as with a shield Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. Then humbly kneeling upon your knees say In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Blessed be the holy and undivided Trinity now and for ever Amen Our Father c. Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Jesu receive our Prayers Lord Jesu grant our Petitions BLessed Lord who hast caused all holy Scripture to be written for our learning grant that we may in such wise hear them read
mark learn and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen O Lord Jesu Christ who at thy first Coming didst send thy Messenger to prepare thy Way before thee grant that the Ministers and Stewards of thy Mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way by turning the hearts of the disobedience to the wisdom of the just that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable People in thy sight who livest and reignest with the Father and the holy Spirit ever one God world with out end Amen PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ God of Patriarks and Prophets God of Apostles and Martyrs God of Virgins and of all Believers I beseech thee have mercy on us thou who didst send thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to redeem us thy Son born of the Virgin Mary by the operation of the Holy Ghost by the Annunciation of the Angel deliver us from eternal death I beseech thee O Lord have compassion on thy Servant judge me not according to my works for I have been disobedient to thy Commandments but thou who lovest Repentance have mercy on me who before thy face make confession of all my sins and for the love of thy holy Name wipe away all my offences Make me to abide in thy holy Catholick Church with an undefiled Faith and pure Heart with a firm devotion and continual love of thee and perseverance in good works to my lives end Deliver me from the eternal pains and everlasting torments which thou hast prepared for the wicked Grant this for our good and blessed Saviours sake by whom and in whom be ascribed to thee all Honour Power and Glory for ever and ever Amen O Almighty and most merciful Father we most humbly beseech thee that we may keep this Day according to the commandment of thee and thy holy Church Give me O Lord true contrition of all the sins I have committed against thee and my neighbour by thought word or deed or by omission of good works which I ought to have done And I most humbly beseech thee most sweet Jesus not to consider the multitude of my sins but remember thy infinite mercy grant me grace to spend this week following without offending thee and for thy death and Passion sake give to all sinners knowledge and grace to be penitent in this world and particularly we intreat thee have mercy on all those for whom thy holy Church commands we should this day pray that with her we may be made partakers of the infinite merits of thy sacred Passion Amen The Litany O God the Father Creator of the world Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of Mankind Have mercy on us O God the Holy Ghost Perfecter of the Elect. Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity three Persons and one God Have mercy on us Behold we were Conceived in sin and in Iniquity our Mothers brought us forth Have mercy on us As we have grown in years we have multiplied the number of our offences and every day thy goodness adds to our lives our wickednesse increases the heap of our transgressions Have mercy on us The Law of our body makes War against the Law of our mind and brings us into subjection to Sin that the good which we would we do not and the evil which we would not that we do have mercy on us We have sinned in the vain thought and unlawful desires of our hearts in the idle talk and perverse words of our mouths in the wicked works and fruitlesse course of our lives have mercy on us We have sinned against thee by our Ingratitude for thy Blessings and impatience of thy Chastisements by preferring our selves and the satisfaction of our own inordinate desires before Thee and the observance of thy holy Comandments have mercy on us We have sinned against others in not doing to them as we would they should do to us and against our own Souls in pursuing more eagerly the things of this life than those that belong to our eternal felicity have mercy on us We have sinned in delaying our Repentance and breaking the solemn promises of amending our lives in exposing our selves to the danger of temptation and often omitting the opportunities of thy Service and even our best endeavours are full of imperfections have mercy on us We have sinned in not profiting with the talents of Grace and Nature which thy bounty has committed to our improvment but idly spent that precious time and unthankfully neglected those gracious means which thy goodnesse allows us for the work of our Salvation have mercy on us Have mercy on us most merciful Father and according to the multitude of thy tender Compassions pardon the multitude of our grievous offences Remember what our substance is that we are but as the grass of the field or a vapour that passeth away and returns not again Remember what thou art Infinitely glorious in thy Self and Infinitely good to the least of thy Creatures Remember thy gracious Promises in Jesus Christ and for the Merits of his sacred Passion from all our sins O Lord deliver us From the Evils of this present world from War Pestilence and Famine from all disastrous mischances in our Bodies Minds or Estates from suddain Death and all other thy heavy Judgments O Lord deliver us From the Evils of the world to come from the dreadful Sentence of condemnation and the chains of everlasting darkness from the Worm that dies not and the Fire that shall never be quenched O Lord deliver us From the evil of Sin which is the onely cause of all Misery from the temptations to which by nature or custom we are most exposed from ignorance of thy Will and neglect to perform what we know to be our duty O Lord deliver us From Pride Covetousnesse and Luxury from Envy Gluttony and Anger from a slothful Coldnesse in what concerns our Salvation and from those enormous sins that cry to Heaven for Vengeance O Lord deliver us From Slander rash Judgment and Flattery from self-love vain-glory and hypocrisie from stubbornness and irreverence towards those that are above us from disdain and oppression of such as are below us from the great guilt of inducing other to sin and from the unhappinesse of being perverted by them our selves O Lord deliver us From Error Schism and Heresie from denying thee before men for worldly respects from new and factious interpretation of thy Word and from proudly preferring our private Conceits before the Judgment of
evil deliver us O Iesu From all sin deliver us O Iesu From everlasting death deliver us O Iesu By the mistery of thy holy Incarnation and humble Nativity deliver us O Iesu By the sanctity of thy heavenly Doctrine and miraculous Life deliver us O Iesu By the Merits of thy bitter Passion and All-reviving death deliver us O Iesu By the joyes of thy victorious Resurrection and triumphant Ascension deliver us O Iesu By the glory of thy eternal Kingdom and Incomprehensible Majesty deliver us O Iesu We Sinners beseech thee hear us That it would please thee to protect and govern thy holy Church which thou hast purchased with thy precious Blood We beseech thee hear us That looking continually on thy admirable Life we may faithfully endeavour to follow thy steps We beseech thee hear us That denying all vicious and inordinate Inclinations we may live soberly justly and piously We beseech thee hear us That through thy love the World may be crucified to us and we to the world We beseech thee hear us That whatever we ask in thy holy Name we may receive through thy infinite Merits We beseech thee hear us Son of God we beseech thee hear us Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Spare us O Iesu Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world hear us O Iesu Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us Our Father c. EVery day will we repeat thy Perfections O glorious Iesu that every day we may grow in our esteem of thee Every day we will attentively reckon over thy Mercies that every day we may still increase in thy love All that we have and are we received from thy Grace Alleluia All we desire and hope we expect in thy Glory Alleluia O Lord hear our Prayers And let our Supplicationâ— come to thee ALmighty God and most merciful Saviour the Light of this VVorld and glory of the next vouchsafe we beseech thee to illuminate our understandings and inflame our wills and sanctifie all the faculties of our Souls that whilest with our lips we recite these Prayers we may inwardly with our hearts adore thy Person and admire thy goodnesse and conform our lives to thy holy example till at length by frequent meditation of the Blisse thou hast prepared for us hereafter we break off our affections from all irregular adherence to this world and place them entirely on the enjoyment of thee who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest one God world without end Amen GLory honour and praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ may all the world adore thee blessed be thy holy Name who for us sinners vouchsafedst to be born of an humble Virgin and blessed be thine infinite goodnesse who diedst on the Crosse for our Redemption O Jesu Son of God and Saviour of Mankind have mercy on us and so dispose our lives here by thy grace that we may hereafter rejoyce with thee for ever in thy glory Amen ASsist us mercifully O Lord in these our Supplications and Prayers and dispose the way of thy Servants towards the attainment of everlasting Salvation that among all the Changes and Chances of this mortal life they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help through Iesus Christ our Loâ—d Amen The Blessing of God Almighty Father Son and Holy Ghost descend upon us and dwell in our hearts for ever Amen And then devouâ—ly rising up and say The 38. Psalm 1. PUt me not to rebuke O Lord in thine anger neither chasten me in thy heavy displeasure 2 For thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore 3. There is no health in my flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there any rest in my bones by reason of my sin 4. For my wickednesses are gone over mine head and are like a sore burthen too heavy for me to bear 5. My wounds stink and are corrupt through my foolishness 6. I am brought into so great trouble and misery that I go mourning all the day long 7. For my loins are filled with a sore Disease and there is no whole part in my body 8. I am feeble and sore smitten I have roared for the very disquietness of my heart 9. Lord thou knowest all my desire and my groning is not hid from thee 10. My heart panteth my strengâ—h hath failed me and the sight of mine eyes is gone from me 11. My Lovers and my Neighbours did stand looking upon my trouble and my Kinsmen stood afar off 12. They also that sought after my life laid snares for me and they that went about to do me evil talked of wickedness and imagined deceit all the day long 13. As for me I was like a deaf man and heard not and as one that is dumb which doth not open his mouth 14. I became even as a man that heareth not and in whose mouth are no reproofs 15. For in thee O Lord have I put my trust thou shalt answer for me O Lord my God 16 I have required that they even mine enemies should not triumph over me for when my foot slipt they rejoyced greatly against me 17. And I truly am set in the plague and my heaviness is ever in my sight 18. For I will confess my wickedness and be sorry for my sin 19. But mine enemies live and are mighty and they that hate me wrongfully are many in number 20. They also that reward evil for good are against me because I followed the thing that good is 21. Forsake me not O Lord my God be not thou far from me 22. Hast thee to help me O Lord God of my Salvation Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The 51. Psalm 1. HAve mercy upon me O God after thy great goodnesse according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences 2. Wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin 3. For I knowledge my faults and my sin is ever before me 4. Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and clear when thou art judged 5. Behold I was shapen in wickedness and in sin hath my Mother Conceived me 6. But lo thou requirest truth in the inward parts and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly 7. Thou shalt purge me with Hysop and I shall be clean thou shalt wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow 8. Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce 9. Turn thy face from my sins and put out all my misdeeds 10. Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me 11. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me 12. O give me the Comfort
a most perfect Example and finally thou didst consent upon that tree to die and by thy Death to Redeem us I humbly beseech thee for the incomparable patience thou shewedst in the whole course of thy Life and then especially when thy malicious Enemies so raged against thee when they mocked thee and spit upon thy Face when they hood-winked thine eyes and with their most impure hands buffeted thy Cheeks when they cruelly scourged thee fast bound to a Pillar when they did thrust upon thy sacred Head a Crown of Thornes and prest their sharp points into thy Temples when with Iron Nails they pierced thy blessed Hands stretched along upon the Cross when thy blessed Side was transfixt with a Spear when in thy great thirst and extreme Agony they offered thee a spunge full of vinegar and gall when with thy Head inclined down thou saidst It is Consummate when thou didst commend thy Spirit into the hands of God the Father and in the end gavest up thy last breath for the Redemption of Mankind For all these Pains and Passions O most gracious Lord Jesus Christ I poor and miserable sinner humbly beseech thy infinite Majesty not to forsake me nor suffer me to be Condemned in thy terrible Judgment but let thy dolorous Passion so help me that I may be brought to everlasting felicity let thy holy Angels alwayes be in my Company and specially at the hour of my death that they may protect defend and keep me so that the cruel â—nfernal Enemy may never have any power over me Amen O Jesu who for the Redemption of the World patiently enduredst so many Injuries Calamities and Afflictions and even Death it self We humbly beseech thee by all thy Sufferings and by the effusion of thy precious Blood deliver us from the dangers of this Life from the pains of Hell and from suddain and everlasting death Amen O Holy Jesus who for our sakes didst suffer Incomparable anguish and pains Commensurate to thy love and our miseries which were infinite that thou mightest purchase for us Blessings upon Earth and an Inheritance in Heaven dispose us by love thankfulnesse humility and obedience to receive all the benefit of thy Passion granting unto us and thy whole Church remission of all our sins integrity of mind health of body competent maintainance peace in our dayes a temperate air fruitfulnesse of the Earth unity and integrity of Faith extirpation of Heresies reconcilement of Schismes destruction of all wicked Counsels intended against us and bind the hands of Rapine and Sacriledge that they may not destroy the Vintage and root up the Vine it self Multiply thy Blessings upon us sweetest Jesus increase in us true Religion sincere and actual Devotion in our Prayers patience in troubles and whatsoever is necessary to our Souls health or conducing to thy glory Amen O Holy and eternal Jesus who didst for our sakes Fast forty dayes and forty nights and hast left to us thy Example and thy prediction that in the dayes of thy absence from us we thy Servants and Children of thy Bride-Chamber should Fast teach us to do this act of discipline so that it may become an Act of Religion Let us never be like Esau valuing a Dish of meat above a Blessing but let us deny our appetites of Meat and Drink and accustome our selves to the yoke and substract the fuel of our lusts and the incentives of all our unworthy desires that our bodies being free from the intemperances of nutriment and our Spirits from the load and pressure of Appetite we may have no desires but of thee that our outward Man daily decaying by the violence of time and mortified by the abatements of its too free and unnecessary support it may by degrees resign to the intire dominion of the Soul and may passe from vanity to piety from weakness to ghostly strength from darknesse and mixtures of impurity to great transparencies and charity in the society of a beautiful Soul reigning with thee in the glories of eternity O holy and eternal Iesu Amen O God the Authour of peace and lover of Charity give to our Enemies peace and true Charity grant them remission of all their sins and deliver us from all their deceipts through our Lord Iesus Christ Amen O Almighty everlasting God the eternal Salvation of them that believe hear us for thy Sick-Servants for whom we humbly crave the help of thy mercy that health being restored to them they may yield thanksgiving to thee in thy Church through our Lord Iesus Christ Amen O Almighty everlasting God the Consolation of the sorrowful and the strength of those that travel let the Prayers of all that call upon thee out of any tribulation distress or calamity whatsoever come to thy ears that they may rejoyce to find thy mercies present with them in their necessities through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen TUrn thou us O good Lord and so shall wee be turned be favourable O Lord be favourable to thy People who turn to thee in weeping fasting and praying For thou art a merciful God full of compassion long-suffering and of great pity Thou sparest when we deserve punishment and in thy wrath thinkest upon Mercy Spare thy People good Lord spare them and let not thine Heritage be brought to confusion Hear us O Lord for thy merty is great and after the multitude of thy mercies look upon us through the Merits and mediation of thy blessed Son Iesus Christ our Lord Amen O Lord hear our Prayers And let our Cry come unto thee O God whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble Petitions and grant that the tender mercy of thy piety may mildly absolve us whom the chain of sin doth bind through thy sweet Son Iesus Christ our Lord Amen The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen Then devoutly rise from your knees and say The 143. Psalm 1. HEar my Prayer O Lord and consider my desire hearken unto me for thy truth and righteousness sake 2. And enter not into judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified 3. For the enemy hath persecuted my Soul he hath smitten my life down to the ground he hath laid me in the darknesse as the men that have been long dead 4. Therefore is my Spirit vexed within me and my heart within me is desolate 5. Yet do I remember the time past I muse upon all thy works yea I exercise my self in the works of thy hands 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee my Soul gaspeth unto thee as a thirsty land 7 Hear me O Lord and that soon for my Spirit waxeth faint hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit 8. O let me hear thy loving kindnesse betimes in the morning for in thee is my trust shew thou me the way
very perfect accompt and Experiment of the sad and Hellish effectâ— of their Schismatical Pragmatical and most diabolical opinions so directly opposite to the doctrine of the Prince of Peace that they can never march under his Banner without a sad and serious Repentance Therefore beware the Jesuite with one hand and them with the other for if the Jesuite seize you by one hand or the Presbyterian by the other you shall be then certainly led either into Rebellion or Apostacy or into both for indeed they seldom go asunder From which good Lord deliver you and all good people Amen WHen ever you hear the Bell toll for the publique Prayers of the Church presently take into your thoughts the great goodnesse of God in Redemption of the World by his blessed Son and your own unworthinesse occasioned by your evil Custom of sin and with this Meditation repair to the Church But if it should happen that you are in such a place that you cannot go to the Church as my unhappinesse is at this present and I pray God deliver you from the like then if opportunity will give you leave upon your knees beseech God that you may pertake of the benefit of the Prayers of the Church When you are come to the Church and entring within the Gates thereof make a reverend bow towards the East end and say GLory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen When Prayers are beginning make a reverent bow and be very ready in all the Responsals of the Church Liturgy If it shall so happen that you may hear a Sermon and not the Service of the Church or the Church Service and not a Sermon rather make choice to hear the Service of the Church than a Sermon although if your occasions will permit you neglect not the other When you are in the Church where you meet with God and his holy Angels never behave your selves irreverently but attend your duty there with all reverent postures as your head being uncovered and not sitting at any part of the Divine Service considering the businesse you have there is either to hear God speak to you by his Priest or you speaking to God in your Prayers As we ought to take all opportunities of serving of God so I would advise you when ever you come to any place where you never were before privately to your self at your entrance desire God to bless your coming thither and say OUr Father which art in Heaven c. And if you come to any place where you have been before then privately to your self desire of God pardon for the sins you have committed and praise his holy Name for all his Mercies you have received since you were last there and say OUr Father which art in Heaven c. When ever you come to any Town or other place about any businesse where you may hear the publick Prayers of the Church so order your affairs as to do that before you go about your other businesse that God may give a greater blessing to your endeavours and the better success in what you came about When any poor person shall beg of you meditate with your self what a great blessing God hath bestowed upon you that you are not the person begging of him and what you can spare freely but privately give Remember to hold your peace in such things as appertain not to you use no extravagant speeches or gestures at any time but especially in open or publick Assemblies but in all things observe a grave modesty and discretion In all things desire and prefer that which may most redound to the greater service of God as to comfort the afflicted to reconcile the discentious to visit the Imprisoned and relieve the poor Observe the learned and pious Dr. Taylor in his History of the Life and Death of the holy Jesus in his Discourse of Prayer saith he That Prayer in publick or private in the Communion or Society of Saints or in our Closets these prayers have lesse temptation or vanity than others have more advantage of Charity example fervour and energy In publick Offices we avoid singularity in the private we avoid hypocrisie those are of more edification these of greater retirednesse and silence of spirits those serve the needs of all the world in the first Intention and our own by consequence these serve our needs first and the publick only by a secondary intention these have more pleasure they more duty these are the best instruments of Repentance where our confessions may be more particular and our shame lesse scandalous the other are better for Eucharist and Instrustion for edification of the Church and glorification of God The Postures of our Bodies in Prayer had as great variety as the severiâ—ies and Civilities of several Nations came to The Jews most commonly prayed standing so did the Pharisees and the Publicans in the Temple so did the Primitive Christians in all their greater Feastivals and Intervals of Jubilee In their Pennances they kneeled the Monks in Cassia sate when they sung the Psalter and in every Country whatsoever by the Custom of the Nation was a Symbole of Reverence and humility of silence and attention of gravity and modesty that posture they translâ—ted to their prayers but in all Nations bowing the Head that is a laying down our glory at the feet of God was the manner of Worshippers And this was alwayes the more humble and the lower as their devotion was higher and was very often expressed by prostration or laying flat upon the ground And this all Nations did and all Religions Our deportment ought to be grave decent humble apt for adoration apt to edifie and when we address our selves to Prayer not instantly leap into the Office as the Judges of the Areopage into their Sentence without preface or preparatory affections but considering in what presence we speak and to what purposes let us behave our selves with reverential fear And when we have done not rise from the ground as if we vaulted or were glad we had done but as we begin with desires of assistance so end with desires of pardon and acceptance concluding our longer Offices with a shorter mental prayer of a more private reflexion and reference designing to mend what we have done amisse or to give thanks and proceed if we did well and according to our powers In private Prayer it is permitted to every man to speak his prayers or onely to think them which is a speaking to God Vocal or Mental prayer is all one to God but in order to us they have their several advantages the Sacrifice of the heart and the Calves of the lips make up a Holocaust to God but words are the arrest of the desires and keep the Spirit fixt and in lesse permissions to wander from fancy to fancy and mental Prayer is apt to make the greater fervour if