may not pray to a wrong object or to none at all Now in this I fear many may fail and in their prayers make an Idol in their fancies when yet they abhor one that is sensible or material represented to their bodily eyes For we are apt to frame to our selves especially men who are not used to abstraction a representation of God by something which has been exposed to our senses or at least by a confused joyning of many of these objects together But this is worshipping by a false similitude which we justly accuse and condemn others for And yet the difference seems not to be so great whether the similitude of our God in prayer be represented to our external senses or in the Idea and Image of our minds when we frame such an uncouth Picture there and turn our eyes inward to behold it For the fault seems not to be much alleviated when we refuse to frame a carved Image to represent him to whom we pray if in the mean time we create one in our own imagination and then prostrate our selves before it and pray with the direction of our intentions to it Were we capable indeed of framing an Idea of him that is conceiving an exact similitude of God no doubt but it would become our duty as well as our priviledge to make this representation of him to our selves and it might become an excellent mean to keep our souls and minds intent But there are two reasons among others why this is impossible to be done 1. Because God is a Spirit something that is void of all matter not capable of parts or such quantitative extension as bodies have and consequently we cannot frame any positive and proportionate notion of him all together as we can of those things which we have seen but we know his being only by his Attributes which we cannot consider all at once as we can the figure and proportion of a man together with the Being to which these Attributes belong That God is may easily be demonstrated but what manner of Being he is to which these Attributes are fixed will I think be difficult to be apprehended by men to whom the bare essences of things far inferior are so latent and abstruse So that they must be forced to acknowledge God to be incomprehensible For we find that when we retire within our selves and shut up our souls never so much from any communication with exterior objects though we can frame propositions and discourses concerning spirits yet we can have no representations of them or figures of proportion as we can make of other things which have been the objects of our senses though they are at present at a distance from us or shut out from our view by the darkness of the night or a closure of our eyes And to say truth could a spirit be drawn by us under a similitude it must put off its nature and become material whilst we draw an Image of it it must be subject to our external senses Hence was it that our Saviour confuted the worship of the Samaritans who as Mr. Mede has evidenced worshipped God under the similitude of a Dove and plainly told the woman he convers'd with that they worshipped they knew not what because the object to whom they directed their intentions was confined to this resemblance whilst they were at their devotions When all this while God was a spirit and such as pretended to his service ought to address themselves to him under that notion in spirit and in truth and not by any corporal representation And indeed it seems to be very unreasonable to draw lineaments and proportions of God by our own fancies and imaginations when he has no such things in himself nor as Christ sayes has any man seen the Father 2. 'T is impossible for us to frame a positive Idea or any adequate representation of God in our minds because he is an infinite Being and our souls are but of finite capacities And what is finite cannot frame or receive an Idea that is infinite For what is so can no more be limited or circumscribed than an infinite space can be measured or drawn into the number of proportions and this can never be because whatever a thing is measured by must either singly be commensurate to it or else by the reduplication of a shorter measure we must at last sum up its parts and proportions into one intire dimension in breadth depth and length But what infinite measure can we find out that shall stretch it self parallel to what is altogether infinite since what is so has no ends Or what number of measures can possibly reach it If it could be run over it had an end and then how could it be called infinite If it could be supposed that one infinite could be the measure of another and no penetration yet admitted then one must be where the other is not and then neither could be accounted infinite because one bounds and limits the other If a penetration through the whole should be supposed and granted both infinites would be but one and consequently the thoughts of a measure must perish So that for a finite Being to endeavour to comprehend an infinite essence or to frame an Idea or an adequate representation of him is more impossible than for a man to grasp the Globe of Earth in the hollow of his hand to carry the greatest Mountain upon his shoulder when he has torn it from the rest of the earth to drink up the Ocean at one draught or any thing else that is more difficult there being some proportion betwixt things that are finite but between a finite and an infinite none at all When we can contain the Sea and Rivers in an empty-eggshel shoot the fixed Stars down from heaven take a leap from the Earth to the Moon make the least Vessel to hold all the contents of the greatest or do any thing else that is more impossible then may we attempt though we shall not accomplish it to frame a notion and representation of the Deity that may be equal to his infinite being But in the mean time let us beware of a notional Idol whilst we endeavour to avoid a substantial one Yet since the nature and constitution of man is such that we are apt in our invocations of God to frame similitudes and representations of that Being to whom we make our religious addresses It may not be amiss if I here endeavour briefly to inform you what as I conceive ought to be the apprehensions and sentiments of mens minds with reference to the great and supream God to whom they pray that the intentions of their souls may be rationally and also piously directed in this important and necessary duty of their lives To effect this it must be remark'd that the God whom we pretend to worship contains within himself all manner of perfection and consequently he must include all those things which his own declarations have
those to whom we acknowledge a civil respect to be just and due this being only an estimation expressed by outward signs and gestures suitable to their beings and degrees of perfection And however men of contrary perswasions especially the Romanists who pretend to proportion their practice suitable to the conceptions of their minds may save themselves in this particular from the imputation of Idolatry by stating curiously the termination of their worship yet they cannot free themselves in this particular from error and presumption from a voluntary humility and will-worship when they pay such acts of Religion to creatures in glory as approach so near to the worship of the Deity that betwixt it and Idolatry there hangs no more than a small cobweb a very nice and thin distinction But we dare not constitute Mediators of our own when God has appointed one for us One even as God is so and consequently must exclude others There is one God sayes the Apostle and one Mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 Nor will any distinction here serve because our Mediator intercedes in vertue of his Sacrifice and therefore if there are more Mediators for us in Heaven more must have shed their blood on earth We desire indeed the prayers of men living among our selves as S. Paul did when he beseech'd the Brethren to pray for himself but we do not invocate them by acts of Religion when we beg this charitable office from them Not do we intrench upon the great Intercessor in the highest Heaven when we desire these intercessions upon the earth but only that the incense of other mens prayers ascending through the Skies to the supream Palace of the Most High may be presented unto God by the hands of our High Priest resident there not only as a token of his triumphs and victories whilst he was upon the earth or reassuming the right belonging to his God head but on purpose also to make intercession for us If the Saints above could receive notices of our desires and we knew how to signifie our wants to them and present our grievances to their apprehensions as we do to those who converse with us here It is then probable that many men would think it reasonable to make that their desire to them though not by a religious act of prayer which now they conjecture to be vain and fruitless Because their own necessities themselves being not yet compleatly glorified might incline them to pray for men whom they left in this lower world in relation to those things especially that may tend to the fulfilling the number of Gods elect and the hastning that Kingdom which shall be compleated hereafter that all partaking in a glorious translation or resurrection they themselves may have the compleatment of that happiness which they now desire but shall not fully possess till the re-union of their bodies to their souls which death yet keeps in a state of separation Besides this seems reasonable to be allowed that the charity of souls now in Heaven cannot but be advanced and extended far beyond the possibilities of this world and therefore as it is very probable unless we suppose their understandings and memories to dye with them that they may be now so mindful of the necessities of men in general that are left behind them in a miserable world as to exert some acts in common that may be proportionable to prayer for us So could men who are yet resident on the earth know any method of signifying their particular desires to them they might perhaps insert them in their wishes and make such petitions their own For if the rich Glutton in Hell was so sensible of his Brethrens danger as to beg Abraham to send Lazarus to them to assure them of the truth of a future torment and to warn them to flee from the wrath to come much more may we suppose the Saints in Heaven to carry away with them such notices and remembrance of the hazards and miseries of mankind in this world that their enlarged charity may cause them in general to petition for their relief But it does not at all from hence follow that the Saints above can be sensible of all the particular accidents in this world which now happen since their departure Nor does Bellarmine's making a Looking glass of his Maker at all help the contrary assertion the viewing all things in God tanquam in speculo being as unintelligible by the reasons of men as it is invisible to those who have no eyes to see it 'T is true indeed God may reveal to them the necessities of the world and somethings which happen here and there is joy in Heaven for the conversion of a sinner Luke 15.10 But that he does these things to Saints departed we have no evidence but the contrary is asserted in Sacred Writ For Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel acknowledges us not Isa 63.16 And therefore nesciunt mortui etiam sancti quid agunt vivi etiam eorum filii sayes S. Austin in curâ pro mortuis The Saints that are dead know not what the living do nay their very Children In vain therefore would it be though it were not mixed with any impiety nor done in the way of prayer and religious invocation to desire any help from those who are not acquainted with our wants nor any where appointed to convey blessings to us Nay if we were assured that they knew all our particular needs as they have been acquainted with the infirmities of mankind it could not be an argument to incline us to implore their aid and assistance especially with such solemnity and devotion as is used in prayer Because God from whom we receive directions for the substantials and essential methods of our devotion has no where commanded such circular prayers that by the mediation of these we should at any time address our selves to him We are directed only by our Blessed Saviour to ask in his name and to this we have the promise of an answer Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name sayes Christ he will give it you John 16.23 And the Author to the Hebrews plainly exhorts that since we have so great an High Priest who is passed into the Heavens Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.6 Here is no need of similitudes from Courts below to teach us methods of address to him by whom Princes reign Or if there were what man that may himself present his petition to an earthly King and discourse his affair freely with him would use the mediation of a Master of Requests especially if the King himself had committed the care of this business to his Son We need not argue our selves to reverence and humility in our addresses to God when we consider the distance and disproportion betwixt him and our selves that he is our Creator and we the
manifested to the World or the reason of men have lawfully and by good consequence concluded to be most excellent and glorious in themselves He must be endow'd therefore with all knowledge power goodness impassibility justice truth mercy faithfulness and the like with self existency and eternity crowning and adding an ornament to the whole To this God then under such glorious notions adorned with such transcendent Attributes and all possible perfections imaginable To this King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only Wise God we are to give all honour and glory adoring those Attributs of which we are transcribing the Copy as far as frail humane nature will permit and by which only we can declare his essence To this transcendent Being we ought to pray without pretending to form an Idea or similitude of his living substance which we cannot make any likeness of nor frame a due Image of his being without notions attending that are unworthy of him and such accidents as would be blemishes and imperfections at once leading us into impiety and a snare And to such a Being when we have once setled a notion of him before we enter upon our devotions to him we may address our lawful petitions and direct all the intentions of our minds without framing any similitude and worship him who is and was the Maker of all things sustains the Creation by his Almighty power and influences the whole by his daily providence Who as I believe cannot be drawn otherwise by the most accurate judgment the most towering phancy or sublimest and most retired contemplation because he is invisible To this universal Being who is the cause and parent of all others if we thus direct suitable petitions we shall worship God in spirit and in truth and the Father seeketh such to worship him John 4. 23. And thus I have done with the first part of the manner of our address in relation to the intention of our minds I proceed now to the second particular to make inquiry into that manner in which we ought to pray with reference to the gesture of our bodies Now this in general ought to be such as is most expressive of our humility reverence profound devotion and dependence on God and therefore such as is used to these ends and purposes in the Regions and Countries in which we live For prayer testifying our religion to others and by our outward example for they cannot know our inward thoughts drawing them into the same acts of devotion with our selves as well as according to the expectation of our Maker to raise and signifie our own dispositions and affections to him since therefore other men can no way be made sensible of the intentions of our minds but by those representations which they receive from the external acts and gestures of our bodies we ought to use such in prayer as may best signifie those to them which can be no other than those by which we represent both our humility and affection to those persons with whom we converse 'T is true indeed I cannot say that the sacred Scriptures have commanded any one gesture in prayer so strictly as to exclude all others For in these things an absolute necessity at any time becomes a reasonable dispensation A man may be enseebled in his limbs lay stretch'd upon a bed of languishing be moved to ejaculations when he is imployed in his Trade or occupation He may be inclined to pray when he is walking in the field or travelling on a journey and may often be lifting his thoughts to God when he is sitting at his ordinary meals In such cases and others like them he is not obliged to alter his posture but God will accept of his secret whispers or more outwardly express'd language nay the humble breathings and wishes of his mind with or without the words of his mouth And further yet sometimes even in publick Assemblies a man or woman may be in a Croud or his Knees so benum'd and his body wearied with the length of his devotions that any one posture may be so uneasie and painful too as to blunt the sharpness of his affections and hinder the most acceptable intention of his mind And God forbid that the more noble part of our devotions should be slackned or interrupted by the necessary attendance on the frailty and weakness of our own bodies for this would render them not only the restraining prisons of our souls but their Jaylors too And certainly he to whom our prayers are directed being gracious and merciful will not injoyn any burden upon men who are humble and devout which neither they nor their Forefathers were able to bear I cannot therefore sufficiently admire the piety and prudence of our own Church whose Service is so admirably contrived that the frequent intermixtures of praises and thanksgivings readings and confessions of our faith with our prayers and the confessions of our sins give frequent relief to the aged or wearied bodies of men by injoyning suitable though uniform postures that by their variation become easie and delightsome and advance the fervour and affections of the mind But that I may not deviate from this duty of Prayer We find goodmen in Sacred Writ sometimes worshipping by prostration on the ground sometimes adoring by bowing their heads and without doubt kissing their hands as the act of adoring properly signifies sometimes standing upon their feet and sometimes kneeling upon their knees But in the New Testament the latter is more frequent though prostration is a posture more lowly than this When Saint Stephen had the honour to become the first Martyr to the Faith of Jesus next to himself and like his Master signaliz'd his charity in praying for his enemies the Text tells us that he kneeled down and prayed crying out with a loud voice Lord lay not this sin to their charge Act. 7.60 When Saint Paul prayed amongst the Bishops at Miletus he kneeled down and prayed with them all Acts 20.36 When Saint Peter sealed the truth of Christianity by that eminent miracle of raising Dorcas from the dead we are given to understand that he kneeled down and prayed Act. 9.40 And the blessed and holy Jesus himself who was more worthy than all mankind because he was accepted as a just and proportionable sacrifice for them and redeemed those who were prisoners to Death and Hell yet that he might testifie the great humility and submission of his mind did not only fall down upon his knees but prostrated himself with his face to the ground when with a reserved submission to his Fathers will he prayed saying O Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Matth. 26.39 When Saint Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they might not faint in the midst of their tribulations he bowed his knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3 14. And when in his voyage towards Jerusalem he landed at Tyre at his departure from thence himself with the disciples their wives 〈◊〉
upremeditated effusions of men in their prayers unto God their inventions so vary the phrases and transpose the matter that when all is the same yet they are so differently placed between antecedents and consequents that they are frequently altered till they become obscure and are so clouded either with Fogs or Dust that a considering man of parts and memory is not able to find either out when they are buried in the midst of rubbish and how should another search out that which he that hid it cannot find Sixthly If forms of prayer in publick devotions are either inconvenient or unlawful then they must be so in relation to the persons that utter them or else to those who are concerned in joyning with and consenting to them 1. If they are inconvenient or unlawful to the Minister only why should the people trouble themselves or any man startle them about it Unless men think it to be a glory to them to disturb the minds and Religion of the devout raise clouds that they may have the honour to dispel them bring scruples and pains into mens consciences that Casuistical Divinity may come the more into fashion and they like Quacks may sit gravely in their Chairs to scry waters and resolve doubts and take Fees of their wandring Patients This is plain forcing of a Trade and making men sick that they may cure the disease or rather live by the continuance of it For why should the people perplex their minds about that in which only the Minister is concerned Let every man bear his own burden and in this case relating to publick worship we are willing and chuse to bear ours For the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father nor the Father of the Son The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Ezek. 18.20 Yet certainly he who has duly considered that intention of mind which is to accompany the matter and expressions of our prayers will not charge a Minister with a fault because he cannot effect that which is impossible to mind three or four things at the same instant inventing matter and words to express it at the same time in which he must reflect upon what he has invented before he can understand it himself and raise his affections and desires in proportion to what he utters when he prayes and direct his intentions to the great God to whom he addresses Or else those that are so much for these extemporary effusions must conclude that the Minister need not pray himself whilst he is busie in inventing matter and words for others but that it is sufficient that he teaches others to be devout when he himself has no devotion at all and that his business in the congregation is to make prayers for others not for himself 2. If a form of prayer be either inconvenient or unlawful to the people then indeed all the former reasoning is ineffectual and more will be so which is yet behind But then whoever asserts this as none but a mad man will without limitation do I have this farther in this place to urge against him that there must be no publick prayer at all For all prayer is either uttered in words that are premeditated or conceived before and this on all hands will be yielded to be a form Or else it must be delivered in such language promoted by what helps soever as he that pronounces it did not think of before he is call'd to utter it which they that affect it call either praying extempore or by the spirit but whatever of this nature is uttered by a Minister in a publick congregation will howsoever be a set form to the people For both matter and words must be framed and fixed by the Ministers invention and pronounced too before they come to the peoples ears they must understand and consider them before they can rationally consent to the petitions and with earnest wishes say Amen And consequently whatever 't is to the Minister which though I have the faculty I cannot know unless I were an Enthusiast reason and antiquity being wholly excluded by a late Writer in this case it must be all one to the people whether the prayer be premeditated or extempore But the truth is they who manage this controversie on that side opposite to our Church turn their dark parts to us as the Moon does before a Change and like the little Foxes that spoil our vines whilst the grapes yet hang tender upon the branches are so hard hunted in this matter that after they have run out at length several miles from the place where they were first unkennel'd they are fain to take shelter in the Woods march upon dead or quick-set hedges and at last will have no refuge but to earth themselves when the darkness of the night hinders their being digg'd out again However if in the mean time we well watch and observe these persons we may find them out by the light of the morning when they thump and digg to make their way through And for the greater part though some are of a more quick and crafty invention if we well observe the frequent prayers of any one man pretending this gift we shall find it to be either the effect of a nimble nature quick invention with volubility of language pronounced with an endearing tone in Scripture phrases canted to the people or else an art of expressing himself by the strength of memory or frequent use most readily and sometimes though not always prudently in phrases and sentences diversified and transposed according to the various positions of the matter and to be a faculty only of amusing but not edifying the people making grateful percussions on their ears and screwing up their affections by turning round the wheels and all to be but mechanical Clock-work or a Jack to roast meat for their own bellies For how often have we heard these gifted men pretending to pray in an unpremeditated method or none at all as the fruit of a sudden and quick invention whilst they were willing it should be believed that all even their very matter and words were darted into them by the spirit of God that all might be shot back to heaven yet upon wise recollection by memory and observation we have concluded that their nimble effusions have consisted of many pieces of set forms jumbled together like Epicurus's atoms by a fortuitous concourse or at least of many preconceived sentences expressing the matter of former petitions in a new dress diversified by art varied and fixed in divers places as they present themselves to the memory or the fancy so that this is often like the changing of bells and may be managed by the same art four will make four and twenty and upon five they may ring six score I shall leave this therefore at present as a point that deserves no farther consideration among any religious men that are thinking and wise but shall
to have their advantage by it and have several years tried their skill but Gods Providence was too hard for them And even yet praised for ever be the great name of the eternal Jehovah though the Romanists as well as other weak yet presumptuous men have thought us marching directly towards Rome we have a Protestant King to rule and govern us such generous and faithful Counsellors who advise him and such skilful and stout Champions to encounter them and above all the God of Protestants to undermine and resist them that we may yet say The Lord is our helper we will not fear what man can do unto us Nay though an host of men should be encamped against as we will not slavishly fear evil although we are sensible that in this Cause of Religion which loves not to be planted with the point of a Sword our Adversaries have exchanged their writings for strategems left their Arguments and were almost ready to run to their weapons But whither will zeal transport a man beyond the present subject of debate when he meets with an enemy that is always betraying and ready to pierce a mans Bowels I shall therefore inforce this Argument and Inference against the Papists prayers in an unknown tongue with two Considerations that seem to me to determine the Controversie and are sufficient with reference to this particular to abate the kindness of any person at least all that are well instructed to the Roman Church and check any inclinations to the embracement of such a Communion whole constitution hinders them from understanding their prayers that ignorance may make men fit for their devotions and parting with their reason and sence too they may be drawn after the Popes Chariot with their eyes put out and at last be led into a feigned Purgatory howling and squaling as if they were all Quakers that he may when he pleases as the silver moves open the doors or keep them fast and when he turns the Key at last instead of giving them joy and liberty they may find they are entered into a real Hell from which there is no redemption at all But yet before we go thither or pray away our own understandings in such a worship in which it is impossible for those to joyn who ken not Latin in which it is delivered Let us 1. Consider whether St. Paul be not above the Pope and the word of God rather to be credited than the cunningly devised Fables of men This great Apostle and Doctor of the Gentiles 1 Cor. 14.14 acquaints the World with such language as this If I pray says he in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth but my undersanding is unfruitful By unknown tongue every body knows what is meant but in the latter clauses some may be ignorant and others make use of these expressions and their own vanity and unskilfulness together to lead men from Latin Service into a rude and ungovernable devotion By Spirit therefore is meant the gift of the Spirit not flowing forth in extempore expressions now but in strange languages in the times of the Apostles as appears by St. Pauls interpretation of himself For when he had exhorted men to employ one of the Spiritual gifts forementioned in this Chapter to the edification of the Church ver the 12th In the next he explains it by an unknown tongue Nay in the very particular Text quoted the praying of the Spirit is apparently the praying in an unknown tongue If I pray sayes he in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth but mine understanding is unfruitful That is though he understood the language himself yet it being unknown to others his being acquainted with the sense of his own prayers could not render them beneficial to those that heard them And therefore he concludes upon the whole that he would pray with the Spirit yet so that he might pray with the understanding too He would not only pray in such a language by himself which he understood that he might accompany his words with due intention and suitable affections But he would pray also that his understanding might be fruitful unto others by putting his petitions into such a language as the people might be able to understand that so they might joyn with him and be edified by it Secondly Consider that prayer not understood by those who are to joyn in it being uttered in a language which they are ignorant of loses those blessed influences and ends to which it was designed and ought to have upon the Devotionists particularly by their understandings to move their wills and obtaining their consent to raise their affections suitable to the petitions made for them that so the act of the Minister may become their own and they knowing what is delivered may rationally consent and earnestly desire the things prayed for and have their several interests in all For they are Beasts rather than men who are driven on they know not whither and say Amen to such petitions or at all adventures assert the truth of such propositions which they have no apprehension of and may with reference to their understandings be as well false as true In such a case they fix their seal either by the example or authority of another to what for ought they know obliges them to ruin and may sign their execution when they hope to receive a pardon It is impossible at man should with any reason signifie his assent to that or heartily wish for those things mentioned in a prayer when he does not understand whether they are included in it or no Unless men can think it rational to set their hands at all adventures to every paper that is brought to them when they may sign a Bond instead ofa Release or make away an estate instead of making it sure to them But I may be confident men are wary enough in this and need not unless they are foolish to a Proverb any Monitor to caution them in it though their want of skill may cause them to advise in some nice and critical difficulties And is it reasonable think ye that the Children of this world should be always wiser than the Children of light Or that any to whom the glorious Gospel is revealed should be more cautious and exact in relation to their secular welfare than they are with reference to their eternal advantages Will they beg a Serpent instead of a Fish or desire a Stone instead of Bread A little Child will hardly be so gull'd and cheated but when such an exchange is profer'd will throw it away with rage and contempt But further that which aggravates the fault of men so easily imposed upon is that where they give their assent without reason and desire what they do not understand whether it be advantagious or unprofitable to them they chuse what is no object of their choice because it is impossible for them to apprehend any goodness at all in that whose nature and accommodation to them they are totally ignorant of
in the mean time these wilful or at least ignorant Separatists pretend still with the greatest confidence to be the best if not the only worfhippers in Spirit and in truth But this assertion is vain and fond Because First They usually separate what the great God has joined and accepts together Nor do they worship him or at least they account it not necessary with their outward man as well as with the hidden man of the heart 'T is true indeed bodily worship profiteth little yet something it does but nothing at all when it is divorc'd from the intention and affections of the mind because it is a perfect demonstration of Hypocrisie which is very odious both to God and man But yet men cannot well pretend the devotion of their minds especially so as to convince others when it is not accompanied with humble and suitable deportments of their bodies For if there were no regard to be had to mens bodily gestures when they pretend to pay homage and worship to God then if we argue like men that have reasonable souls given them to discern betwixt good and evil it must be because our Maker knowing the designs of our hearts does not expect external demonstrations of what he concludes to be lodged within us But then we need no other pains to address our selves but only to raise our conceptions to the strongest and most fixed thoughts nimble apprehensions would be enough to compose a prayer and it would be utterance sufficient if we did but only temper our lips cough and raiseflegm into our throats nay without any action of our bodies at all if our prayer were composed or rather intended within our selves without the delivery of our own inventions or any signification of the purports of our hearts by the language of our tongues And if this were right Women themselves might bring forth too without any travail or pains to them if they could but keep their own counsel But alas such notions as these in those prayers which are in common do not signifie so much as a man that gapes when he ought to speak For even words in prayer serve only to utter our minds and are no more than an external sign and representation of what we had before inwardly conceived And since this is by all men of sence accounted to be a service acceptable to God why may he not receive the signatures and impressions of our souls by any other corporal demonstration Why cannot the lifting up of our hands to our mouths and kissing them as in old time be proper adoration Why cannot inclining our heads or bowing our bodies still continue to be a certain token of reverence and submission and of worship too Why cannot kneeling or prostration upon the ground Religiously signifie the humility devotion and the most profound lowliness of our minds Especially since 't is as old as David to worship and fall down and to kneel also before the Lord our Maker But if such reasoning may not be admitted by those who account all reason carnal from the experience of their own especially when it contradicts themselves If men can at all be brought to themselves nay but so far as not to think that Adams Fall has not beaten out the brains of his Posterity If we approvedly use words in our devotions to God although he knows our conceived petitions when no expressions are uttered by our mouths discerning our thoughts a far off Nor do I desire that even this plain position may be precarious or granted by Adversaries without proof since if they will but yield God to be a Spirit they may easily conjecture that he can be more quickly sensible of the thoughts of our souls especially if they account him to be infinite too by a certain near and prying intuition the mode of which is not so adapted to our apprehensions than having not the organs of sense by which we understand and express things he can be said in a literal sence to hear our prayers But for all this in publick prayers we having others to join with us as we use words to signifie our petitions which express the sentiments of our minds So do we also by habits and gestures represent our devotions and conceptions to others to raise their affections in proportion to our own that they by all means possible understanding what we are about may be inclined to assent and say Amen and be prevailed on to frame themselves into the same resemblance of mind and body that there may not only be an unity in our common worship but Uniformity too And if these other signs besides words in the postures of our bodies or both in conjunction may effectually conduce to the same end which is the raising and signifying our devotion I see no reason why the actions of other members of our bodies besides the articulate motion of our tongues that notoriously declare profound humility and present our devotions and signifie in the eyes of all the world unless it be to those who are resolved to shut them in their prayers to avoid the Argument our homage to and dependance on God should not be used in worshipping our Maker as well as words which an absolute necessity of understanding one another has improved and made copious by custom and art and a long time since were rendered fashionable in the world as being more ready than other signs and representations from any different members of the body For these are also the action and labour of the tongue and lips It will appear to all men that in prayer and devotion the body ought to accompany the mind they being such intimate and united friends that both make but one man because any that in private address themselves to God when they are in different appartments from one another and when they enter into their Closets and are still if they pray with any earnestness and affection being moved to it by the consideration of that great God to whom they address their own meanness when compared to him or the absolute necessity of obtaining those things which they petition for they express their minds with such servor and humility as affect their bodies and cast them into postures that customarily signifie and represent these things to other men However methinks they who dissenting from the Service of our Church are advanced to be the mouth of others ought in justice to declaim for the worship of mens bodies since commonly the motions and activity of their bodies in all even their publick devotions is that which more recommends them to their people than the sense of their petitions or the decency of the words by which they express it But let us argue this thing fairly with our selves and then can any man who has stript himself of prejudice and prepossessions in his enquiries about the worship of his Maker do otherwise than conclude that we nearer arrive at the perfection of that homage due to him by how much
the more we employ our bodies in decent expressions of gravity humility and apt affection to declare the inward intention of our minds which are full of all vigor and fervent desire and the most awful thoughts of that great Majesty whom we adore For this deportment gives to God a whole Sacrifice when others who in their prayers only hide their minds in their bodies as if they were confined as the Heathen Gods to an immovable and stiff Statue separating the inward actions of their souls from any correspondent gestures of their bodies if they worship God at all which they seem not very fond to declare Yet they devote only half of themselves and honor him in such a manner as other men can neither see nor know unless men had Casements in their Breasts that being opened others might look into them But that the worship of mens bodies ought to accompany the devotions of their minds is so apparent from Gods Injunctions under the Law that it cannot admit of any contradiction And if we argue for it under the establishment in the Gospel from those Commands we sind in the Law we have nothing returned but that the Jews were a dull and stupid people in comparison to our selves and men thus boast instead of having much cause of triumph For notwithstanding all the Invectives we have heard against the pitiful carnality and dulness of the Jews it appears too often to our great loss that they are as witty and more cunning than our selves We indeed having received helps and advantages by the Gospel and a greater proportion of the Spirit of Christ in whom they refused to believe are better instructed in the methods of a more spiritual Religion than they could be under the Law But yet what was then established which reason inforced being agreeable to the natures of mankind that was never yet repeated under the Gospel nor ever can I may confidently affirm may remain still without any check or controll for using it And therefore I cannot come to any damage in affirming that the worship of mens bodies in all their publick addresses unto God ought to accompany that of their minds till better arguments are brought against it than any which I have yet heard or seen 'T is true indeed our Saviour acquaints the woman of Samaria that the hour cometh and now is when those who are of the true Christian Church shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth because he seeks such to worship him John 4.23 Yet all this though when 't is interpreted according to the opinions of some men makes others stagger that are so weak as to desert their reason that they may become wise and go out of themselves to possess their souls and forsake the conduct of their own understandings guided by the rules of Gods Word that they may be frighted into the follies of others All this I say may when justly enlarged on rebuke Schism or Idolatry or false worship But this Text cannot authorize any detraction from external decency in the service of God nor abate from those orderly Rites and Ceremonies that promote Uniformity in the worship of him or tend to the sixation and establishment of true Religion under the Gospel nor such circumstances of devotion which are not in particular and directly abolished by the Messiah having been before Types and Prefigurations of him to come If any of that external worship of our bodies were of this kind which is injoyned by our Christian Superiors our practice would contradict our faith and deny Christ to be come in the flesh and justifie the Jews in the expectation of a Messiah But the truth is the conference betwixt our Saviour and the woman of Samaria is so far from prohibiting publick places of worship or external gestures of our bodies in devotion adapted to the inward reverence of our minds that it establishes a spiritual rational and Evangelical worship in opposition to the Mosaick Constitutions and the Samaritan Schism and Idolatry too and briefly declares that the Christian Religion was now to be established to abolish all other that were in the world that mankind being united in one faith and hope and consenting in one common principle and worshipping God through the mediation of their Redeemer having lived in this world with true devotion to the God that made them and in charity and peace among themselves might at last dye with comfort within their own breasts and then enter into the joy of their Lord. But if all this were largely controverted to a victory what shall we think of that Text of Solomon when he delivers points of a moral and perpetual establishment and of an universal concernment to mankind Eccles 5.1 Keep thy foot when thou comest into the Sanctuary of the Lord c. It was an usual custom amongst the Jews according to the fashion of those Eastern Countreys to signifie their reverence in a sacred place by putting off their Sandals before they entered that they might not prophane or which is all one render common by a defilement an holy place or what was separated from vulgar use to such as was sacred and related unto God From whence with reference to the reason of the thing was that Injunction more ancient than this Text Pull off thy shoos from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground Exod. 3.5 The place being before mean and inconsiderable a toft of ground on which bushes grew yet because God consecrated it by his own presence making it holy for Divine Offices to give Moses his Commission and to declare his Law therefore the signs of reverence were to be used there and external demonstrations of devotion to be exhibited Now this particular action of making bare the feet being an outward testimony of respect in those Countreys where this was commanded it sufficiently instructs all subsequent posterities of men that external signs of humility and submission must be given in the service of the Deity especially such in which we pretend to converse with him and in those places that are devoted to his honour And since divers Countreys use distinct modes of reverence and respect according to their customary signification and acceptance as the inhabitants of Japan salute by pulling off the Shoo when we do the same by pulling off our Hats and uncovering our Heads we may therefore fairly conclude that if Solomon in the forecited Text had spoken to persons used to our Customs and subject to the Constitutions of our Nation he would have said Pull off thy Hat when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil And then the inference from this will be That we ought in all places dedicated to God on which his Name and Honour are inscribed where we pretend to offer our Christian Sacrifice to testifie the inward devotion of our minds by the outward
understand the meaning of what is in the Text forbidden either by what is translated vain repetitions or from the custom of those Heathens who are said to use them The word used by the Evangelist is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When ye pray do not speak as Battus did Now though Suidas explains it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking much yet the Text even in the prime signification of the word prohibits all frequent repetitions of the same sense and language as one Battus did from whose name part of the compounded Verb is taken and translated into the Text who made long Hymns full of Tautologies he being a very idle and empty Poet. As to what Maldonate mentions of another of the same name who had an hesitation or stammering in his speech delivering such thick and swift language that it was difficult to understand him this could be no cause of the prohibition of our Saviour For this being only a natural infirmity and not any careless or affected extravagance cannot be the foundation of this caution and it is rejected by the Jesuit himself Secondly We may more fully understand what is here forbidden by a brief reflection upon the custom of the Heathens in this matter For sayes the Text use not vain repetitions as the Heathens do Now the Heathens as may appear from their Tragoedians were wont many times in their worship to make repetition of the same words especially of the names of that God which they prayed unto And they conjectured also that by how much the louder and more shrill their speech was so much the more ready would their Gods be to give them audience and to return answers to their petitions To this custom does Elijah seem to allude when he speaks Ironically to Baal's Prophets 1 Kings 18.27 Cry aloud for he is a God either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is on a journey or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked Now the prayer of the Separatist being conceived extempore he delivering those things and words that a quick fancy and sudden invention prompts him to it must needs be that from the nature of such worship he will be necessitated to use these prohibited repetitions For where matter and method yea and expressions too are not before hand studied and composed and put into some decent order the memory cannot firmly retain what has been before uttered when the fancy and invention has all along been so strictly imployed which is evident from this That a gifted man who speaks extempore cannot afterward remember his own prayer or give any tolerable account to men of what he has before spoken to God So that 't is a thousand to one in this attempt but something both in matter and phrase will often be brought upon the stage again and several petitions escape from the mouths of such extraordinary pretenders that have more than once been presented before For their prayer being wire-drawn into one length or delivered in a continued and uninterrupted chain of language and expressions that must not admit of any large Chasms or long intermissions but one thing must follow close at the back of another how can it be considering humane frailties and indispositions but through the defect of present and ready invention there must be some large gaping silence or else barrenness must be supplied with the repetitions of what has gone before Nay how often have we heard Lord Lord and we pray thee and we beseech thee and the like expressions to supply the want of invention or to draw a covering over inadvertent and incoherent thoughts of the man who pretends to be much gifted in this affair So that then he is fain to stop gaps in stead of making a new hedge he coughs and spits in the room of a full stream of language and seems to be like a Pump when the water is going away with an hiss making a great hollow noise with little sense or signification And like the Heathen Priests that worshipped Baal who from morning till noon cryed out O Baal hear us 1 Kings 18.26 and very probably to as little purpose whilst there is no voice nor any that answers Or else like those mutinous Ephesians stirr'd up by the subtilty of a Silver-smith with an argument drawn from the defence of their Trade who for the space of two long hours cryed out with a loud voice Great is Diana of the Ephesians Acts 19.34 And whether such a worship when strong Lungs become the bellows to blow men up that they may vent themselves in tautologies and repetitions and broken sentences when they pretend to utter a continued prayer is fit to be offered to the Supreme God and to be presented in such loose petitions to him by the hands of a glorious interceding Redeemer let any that are not resolved to be prejudiced against any reasoning in this affair and are not stupid or wilful to a Proverb consider first and then in Gods name let them judge But lest we should meet with an usual recrimination in this particular I must observe here what is easily inferr'd from a transient reflection upon the former exposition that all repetitions are not vain nor such as are prohibited by our Saviour But as Maldonate expresses it he forbids supervacaneam inanem studio affectatam verborum copiam A superfluous and an empty affected plenty of words when we permit our language too much to overflow our sense and abound in expressions as the Heathen did because they thought to be heard for their much speaking They conjectured it seems that such plenty of words might cause the deafest of their Gods to hear them when they pelted them with vollies of thick language and that they would better understand the matter and substance of what they offered in their petitions and more easily remember all when things were so frequently inculcated by repetitions But alas the Heathens worshipped one sort of God but the Christians present their prayers to another And as mens notions concerning the God whom they worship vary so will their worship vary too if they act suitably to the arguments and inferences of their own reason If men therefore who so bustle in this world about the manner of addressing themselves to the Deity would but impartially state the nature of that Being to whom they devote their acts of Religion and then compare their worship which they give him with those Attributes by which they describe him and enquire diligently what is worthy of him we need not have so many divisions where all worship the same God about those things that are not reveal'd nor foment disturbances about those that are since it cannot without blasphemy be supposed that God would require worship from Christians that did not correspond to his Essence and Attributes when he hath declared that he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth and that he seeketh such to worship him But to let this pass and to return to the
of the mischievousness and sinfulness of Schism lib. 5. Cap. 21. Schism saies he is a grievous sin 1. Because it is against Charity to our Neighbour 2. B cause it is against the Edification of him who makes the Separation in that he deprives himself of Communion in Spiritual good 3. Because it is against the honor of Christ in that as much as in it lyeth it takes away the Unity of his Mystical Body And 4. It makes way to Heresie and separation from Christ from whence they conclude that Schism is a sin by all good men to be abhor'd Nay if we look into Pag. 112. we shall find that when men separate from what they acknowledge to be a true Church 'T is Schism And to set up a Church against a Church and as the Ancients call'd it Altar against Altar This is the weakning the hands of the Church hindering the glorious work of Reformation causing the building of Gods House to cease and is a Deformation instead of a Reformation Upon such a dismal state and farther prospect of worse times if any could be so within less than a year after the Throne followed the downfal of the Episcopal Church of England these London Ministers gathered together in a Provincial Assembly thus exhort the people Pag. 110. After their being humbled for the evils that so much abounded for which as they say even those in their daies of Reformation the Earth mourned and the Heavens were black over them when they had mourned seriously every one a part Their desire and advice to them is this That you would put away the iniquity that is in your hand That you would be tender of the Oaths which you have taken and those which may be offered to you That you would prize the Publick Ordinances and reverence your Ministers That you would sanctifie the Sabbaths and hate Hypocrisie and self-seeking That you would receive the love of the truth lest God give you over to believe lies That you would not trust to your own understanding lest God blind your understanding That you would conform to the truths you already know that God may discover to you the truths ye do not know That ye would not have such itching ears as to heap to your selves Teachers nor embrace any Doctrines for the persons sake That ye would seek the truth for the truths sake and not for any outward respect That ye would study Catechism more diligently by degrees be led on to perfection And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity These were the excellent exhortations of a Province of Divines then separated from the Episcopal Church of England And why should not such admirable instructions and advice be prevalent in this paper since they are transcribed from their own To conclude therefore in the language of this Provincial Assembly If we are a true Church of Christ which the late Doctrine of occasional Communion sufficiently proves and Christ holdeth Communion with us why do any separate from us If we are the Body of Christ do not they who separate from the Body separate from the Head also If the Apostle calls those divisions in the Church of Corinth by the name of Schisms 1 Cor. 1.10 Though Christians there did not separate into divers formed Congregations of several Communions in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper May not your Secession from us and the profession that you cannot join with us as members and setting up Congregations of another Communion be more properly called Schisms Especially when Churches were gathered out of Churches as this Provincial Assembly there complains If any are willing to see more of this let them peruse the Book And the good God give us all a right understanding in all things FINIS