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
in the midst of the waters Especially over such Fish as carry mony in their mouths If they did not in plain terms endeavour to make parties in the Church that their own may at last appear to be the greatest by whatever under the pretext of Religion conveighs delight by that variety which pleases the generality of mankind Why should they not as well Preach extempore as pray so In their Sermons I am sure they were wont to use all the art and study that they could accommodating their Doctrines and expressions too that their pains might bear proportion to their Auditory and the fashion and example of those who were in greatest repute amongst them And I cannot divine what might be the cause of this different regard to prayer and Preaching unless they had more care in those speeches they directed unto men than they took about those which they presented unto God For they seem to me to have no greater promise of an assistance from Heaven in relation to the one than they have also with reference to the other Do they think that Text in the Eighth to the Romans proves effectually that the Holy Ghost assists them in their prayers because the Apostle has delivered that likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities because we know not what we should pray for as we ought c. If it be well weighed and considered with the Context it will only evidence our Saviours most earnest and wise Intercessions for us in Heaven by the holy Spirit which alwaies accompanies him The support of our minds under the greatest pressures we meet with in this world Or most that the Scripture being dictated by the Spirit has given us directions for the proper heads and â—â—â—â—er of our prayers and resolves still by some benign and secret influence which we are not able to describe to others to proportion our affections and elevate our minds to the importance of the concernments we pray for and the greatness of that Majesty to whom we petition And because if I were the greatest Critick in the world I should alwaies abhor the founding any necessary Doctrine upon the signification of a word in Scripture which words we know as in prophane Authors are frequently equivocal and restrain'd according to the compass of that matter in which they are Therefore I say nothing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no nor concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither But if men are resolved for ends that will not serve them at the day of Judgement to which they refer many things that may be ended here to make these words against their own will in contradiction to the reason and experience of all thinking men that are not either knavish or mad to express a promise of some extraordinary assistance from the Spirit now in our inventions of matter and words in prayer unto God They may as well rely if they are pleased with such waies of interpreting Scripture upon that promise of our Saviour made to the Apostles to enable them to preach and write the Doctrines of the Gospel John 16.13 Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth And because there were Divine inspirations at the first which were necessary if God would deliver a Law by the mouths or writings of any selected out of the race of men Our gifted Brethren may if they please take occasion from the 10th of St. Matthew vers 19th and 20th to attempt any thing without premeditation or study and then to be sure we should be hard enough for them Since our Saviour there informs his Disciples that they need take no thought what or how the should speak because it should be given them in that hour i. e. when they might have occasion And he uses an Argument to raise and to confirm their belief of it For it is not ye that speak saies he but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you And yet I fancy that if our extempore men were in the same circumstances and put under those conditions which this Text supposes and were accused of something Capital before a Magistrate they would not only study all waies of clearing themselves to avoid the punishment what ever at last became of the guilt And this they would endeavour by all the means that a close consultation with their own thoughts could possibly suggest and not only with seriousness prepare an answer to any accusation of this nature But I believe too they would condescend to advise with the learned in the Law that they might if possibly avoid the Sentence of the Judge Nay in such cases whether they would fee bribe or make the greatest friends they could I leave to their own Consciences and experience that I may say nothing of making publick commotions to save themselves And as in business of this nature gifted men are inclined to think that such promises of assistance were only intended for a shorter time and not to reach this present age So though the Apostles Acts 2. Being fill'd with the Holy Ghost began to speak with divers languages as the Spirit gave them utterance they will submit their Spirits and condescend to the contrivance of heads of matter and modes of expression when they preach the Gospel though they are to speak in no other than their Mother Tongue Now why should this great care be had in their Sermons to the people when they usually have so slender a regard to what they utter in their prayers to God if there were no distinctions of times and seasons in relation to the promises and assistances of Gods Spirit For surely Preaching as well as praying is an ordinance to continue 'till the Elect are gathered and that will not be till the end of the world Unless they will affirm and give us too apparent an Argument to believe that the Spirit has so ordered matters that less pains and diligence are to be used when we address to God than when we speak only to the people And if any are so bold to talk thus I hate to refute such nonsence and blasphemy both together For it plainly appears that such men must be liable to the same rebuke which the chief Rulers of the Jews received from our Saviour recorded in the Gospel of St. John Chap. 12.43 Who though they believed on him did not confess him because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God And let their ears be never so much circumcised they render themselves opposite to the true circumcision whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.29 And how far such contrivances may comport with sincerity and be distant from that Hypocrisie which has so many woes attending it I shall leave to those who are concerned to adjust and content my self with that direction which the great Authour of our most excellent Religion has
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 〈◊〉
that knocketh it shall be opened Matth. 7.7 8. Furthermore he confirms this by the addition of a promise to use his utmost interest in it and his Mediatory authority to bestow what we lawfully pray for And certainly in this state of Christianity we may fully depend upon his Intercession and ability Because all power is given to him both in heaven and in earth See therefore what he ingages for John 14.13 14. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do and doubles the promise for the greater assurance to his Disciples Nay not only so but repeats it with a double asseveration Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Joh. 16.23 24 and 27. Our Saviour was so careful to prevent or scatter all those fears that like a Cloud hung over his Disciples heads upon the apprehensions they might have of his departure from them that he does not only promise to send the Comforter to them but assures them upon the word of truth that when in any straits and exigencies of affairs they should through him make their addresses unto God they should have ready audience and a quick return made to their prayers And therefore he bids them ask and they shall receive that their joy might be full and gives a sufficient argument to encourage them to petition and emboldens their faith and hope in their prayers because the Father himself has a great kindness for all those who evidence their affection to the Son of his bosom and the delight of his soul So that sooner shall the earth be dissolved and the heavens melt than such promises so powerfully confirmed fail of their accomplishment nor can any man possibly distrust them when he is himself that concludes God to be faithful and immutable and does not think our Saviour Christ to be the greatest Impostor in the World 2. God has heard mens prayers for such things as they have asked even when he had seemed to have determined beforehand what was contrary to the end of their petitions And therefore although he knows our wants before we utter and make them publick by open addresses yet as his command for prayer and promises of audience takes off that Objection So if his determinations have de facto been altered upon mens devout prayers and humble supplications it doth not only prove some Decrees conditional but sufficiently baffles all discouragements to prayer which we may receive from any uncouth and absurd Doctrines of men concerning absolute and irrespective determinations with reference to the beings here on Earth which in their consequence render prayers useless and justifie what they call persecution since in my opinion they should follow or at least submit to Providence if they state it right as well in what the vulgar call misfortunes as they pretended to do in their glories and in their triumphs But though Gods Providence is over all his works and like a wise Governour he superintends the World Yet since secret things belong unto him and only revealed to us and to our children His apparent commands are to be the rules for our practice and not his obscure and hidden Decrees which mystical and pretending persons who confidently assume the monopoly of Dreams would fain have authority to soothsay upon that they may not appear to be ignorant in that which no man can know and yet these would willingly when it might be propitious to their designs resolve all their villany into them But what a strange confusion would be introduced into the World although sincerity did attend opinion if Subjects should proportion their actions of life according to the uncertain conjectures they have of the intententions and designs of their Prince and not guide themselves by his known Laws The Laws would then no longer be his but their own and upon an uncertain though frightful prevision they would rebel either by nature or instinct and wipe their mouths whilst they gravely make Providence their Leader Such would our deportment be towards God should we measure our Duties by Gods Decrees which we could never know and leave his written Laws manifested in his word by which he has declared his will to men And certainly men who make Providence to be their conductor in these affairs though they have been in earnest yet now are but in jest with us since it seems but to serve their turn at such a time in which they say they groan under and cry out on persecution from those who having gained the whip hand exercise it very gently upon them nor would I have it were it in my power too severe upon the backs of any nor any ways intolerable on the Masters of Assemblies And truly I know not but it might be born with a little patience though they should be compell'd to take Country air to preserve their own health when they make others sick in the Town by staying But however it fares with particular contrivers that follow Providence whilst it comports with their own interest yet certainly whatever may be the mystical conclusions of any Enthusiastical men whose fancy may blow them up to the conceipt and for ought some others know to the very sense of an Inspiration Providence which was always dark and full of riddles was never designed as a Rule to mens lives because from this are frequently deduced opposite and quite contrary conclusions Alas men who when blown up like a bladder are no more though when broken they may make a louder crack cannot see through the Clouds of Heaven nor discern the Council of the adorable Trinity nor read the Decrees or Records above that accordingly they may act here on Earth Mortal men in this variable state below are to confine themselves to the Law and to the Testimony and if any speak not according to this word whatever illuminations they may pretend it is because there is no light within them Isai 8.20 And verily there is no cause to doubt if our Maker be a God of truth and designed not to impose upon the World but that I may affirm without any dangerous opposition that his secret will does not contradict his revealed notwithstanding the boldness and impiety of the distinction as it is made use of in Gods dealing with men or as the Symbol and infallible test of one party renouncing all Symbolical Ceremonies Having thus too largely prefaced that which I promised to prove which I strived to check my Pen in but my understanding would dictate to my will and both must unavoidably guide my hand I come now to give some instances where prayer has prevailed with God to grant petitions when yet he had seemed to have determined things contrary to the sence of them And I shall not fetch too large a compass but name a few The first shall be the case of the Israelites when in the absence of Moses on the Mount beyond their expectation they had caused a molten
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
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