Uniniversal Church For we never read or heard of any Church in the World from the Apostles days to ours but what took this course Though all have not used the same yet no Church but hath used some Form or other And therefore for any man to say That it is not lawful or not expedient or not so edifying to use a Form of Prayer in the Publick Worship of God is to contradict the general sense of Christianity to condemn the Holy Catholick Church and to make himself wiser than all Christians that ever were before him Which whatsoever it may be thought now was always heretofore reckoned one of the greatest sins and follies that a Man could be guilty of Nay more than all this too For this is not only to make a Mans self wiser than all Christians but wiser than Christ himself For it is impossible to prescribe any Form of Prayer in more plain and express Terms than he hath done it where he saith When ye Pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Luke 11. 2. And I hope none here present but will acknowledge that Christ by whom alone we can be edified knows better what is or what is not for our Edification than we or all the Men in the World can do And therefore seeing he hath not only prescribed a Form of Prayer for his Disciples to use but hath expresly commanded them to use it we who profess our selves to be his Disciples ought to rest fully satisfied in our minds that the using of a Form of Prayer is not only lawful but much more for our edifying than it is possible for any other way of praying to be The same may be proved also from the nature of the thing it self by such Arguments which do not only demonstrate that it is so but likewise shew how it comes to be so For First In order to our being edified so as to be made better and holier whensoever we meet together upon a Religious account it is necessary that the same good and holy things be always inculcated and pressed upon us after one and the same manner For we cannot but all find by our own experience how difficult it is to fasten any thing that is truly good either upon our selves or others and that it is rarely if ever effected without frequent repetitions of it Whatsoever good things we hear only once or now and then though perhaps upon the hearing of them they may swim for a while in our Brains yet they seldom sink down into our hearts so as to move and sway the affections as it is necessary they should do in order to our being edified by them Whereas by a Set Form of Publick Devotions rightly composed as we are continually put in mind of all things necessary for us to know or do so that is always done by the same words and expressions which by their constant use will imprint the things themselves so firmly in our minds that it will be no easie matter to obliterate or race them out but do what we can they will still occur upon all occasions which cannot but be very much for our Christian Edification Moreover That which conduceth to the quickening our souls and to the raising up of our affections in our Publick Devotions must needs be acknowledged to conduce much to our Edification But it is plain that as to such purposes a Set Form of Prayer is an extraordinary help to us for if I hear another pray and know not before-hand what he will say I must first listen to what he will say next then I am to consider whether what he saith be agreeable to Sound Doctrine and whether it be proper and lawful for me to joyn with him in the Petitions he puts up to Almighty God and if I think it is so then I am to do it But before I can well do that he is got to another thing by which means it is very difficult if not morally impossible to joyn with him in every thing so regularly as I ought to do But by a Set Form of Prayer all this trouble is prevented for having the Form continually in my mind being thorowly acquainted with it fully approving of every thing in it and always knowing before-hand what will come next I have nothing else to do while the words are sounding in mine ears but to move my heart and affections suitably to them to raise up my desires of those good things which are prayed for to fix my mind wholly upon God whilest I am praising of him and so to employ quicken and lift up my whole soul in performing my Devotions to him No man that hath been accustomed to a Set Form for any considerable time but may easily find this to be true by his own experience And by consequence that this way of Praying is a greater help to us than they can imagine that never made tryal of it To this may be also added That if we hear another praying a Prayer of his own private Composition or voluntary Effusion our minds are wholly bound up and confined to his words and expressions and to his Requests and Petitions be they what they will So that at the best we can but Pray his Prayer Whereas when we Pray by a Form Prescribed by the Church we Pray the Prayers of the whole Church we live in which are common to the Minister and People to our Selves and to all the Members of the same Church So that we have all the Devout and Pious Souls that are in it concurring and joyning with us in them Which cannot surely but be more effectual for the Edifying not only of our selves in particular but of the Church in general than any private Prayer can be Lastly In order to our being Edified by our Publick Devotions as it is necessary that we know before-hand what we are to pray for so it is necessary that we afterwards know what we have prayed for when we have done For I suppose you will all grant that all the good and benefit we can receive from our Prayers is to be ultimately resolved into Gods gracious hearing and answering of them Without which they will all come to nothing But there are two things required to the obtaining an Answer of our Prayers First That we sincerely and earnestly desire such good things at the hands of God to which as I have shewn a Set Form of Prayer conduceth very much And then Secondly It is required also that we trust and depend upon God for his granting of them according to the Promises which he hath made unto us in Jesus Christ our Lord. And I verily believe that one great Reason why Men Pray so often to no purpose is because they do not take this course But when they have done their Prayers they have done with them and concern themselves no more about them then as if they had never prayed at all But how can we expect that God should answer our Prayers
when we our selves do not mind whether he answer them or no Nor believe and trust upon him for it For certainly trusting on God as it is one of the highest Acts of Religion that we can perform so it is that which gives life and vigour vertue and efficacy to our Prayers without which we have no ground at all to expect they should be answered For God having promised to answer our Prayers except we trust on him for his performance of such Promises we lose the benefit of them and by consequence our Prayers too And therefore as ever we desire that he should grant us what we pray for when we have directed our prayers to him we must still look up â—sâ—l 5. 3. expecting and hoping for the return of them Now as this is a thing of greater consequence so a Set Form of Prayer is a greater help to us in â—â— than it is commonly thought to be For if we hear another utter a prayer extempore which he never said nor we heard before nor ever shall do it again it is much if he himself can remember the tenth part of what he said how much less can we that heard him do it And if we cannot possibly remember what we prayed for how is it possible for us to expect it at the hands of God Or to depend upon him for it But now it is quite otherwise when we use a Set Form of Prayer For by this means when we have prayed we can recollect our selves look over our prayers again either in a Book or in our minds where they are imprinted we can consider distinctly what we have asked at the hands of God and so act our faith and confidence on him for the granting every petition we have put up unto him according to the promises which he hath made us to that purpose And as this is the surest way whereby to obtain what we pray for it must needs be the most edifying way of praying that we can possibly use These things being duly weighed I shall now take it for granted That the using a Form in general in the Publick Worship of God is agreeable to this Apostolical Rule Let all things be done to edifying and so shall proceed to shew that that Form in particular which our Church hath appointed to be used upon such occasions is so too For which end it is not necessary that I should run through every particular word phrase or expression in the Common Prayer much less that I should vindicate and defend it from every little exception that ignorance or malice may make against something in it For nothing ever yet was or can be said or written but something or other may be said or written against it either well or ill But my business must be to prove That the Form of Divine Service contained in the Book of Common Prayer which is now used in the Church of England conduceth so much to the edifying those that use it that it agrees exactly with the Rule which the Apostle here prescribes in that case And this I shall demonstrate from Four Heads 1. From the Language 2. From the Matter or Substance of it 3. From the Method And 4. From the Manner of Performing it For if it be edifying in all these respects it must needs be acknowledged to be so in the whole There being nothing in it but what may be reduced to these Heads First Therefore as to the Language you all know that the whole Service is performed in English the Vulgar and Common Language of the Nation which every one understands and so may be edified by it And this indeed is the ground and foundation of all the benefit that we can possibly receive from our Publick Prayers And therefore in the Church of Rome the Common People are made uncapable of being edified by the prayers of their Church in that they are all made in Latine a Language which they do not understand So that when they meet to worship God there are seldom any in the Congregation that knows what is said there except the Priest that reads it and oftentimes not he neither By which means they have no such thing really amongst them as Common Prayer Neither is it possible for the Common People to be ever edified by what is there said or done except they would be once convinced by it of the horrible abuse which their Church puts upon them in commanding all her Publick Devotions to be performed in an unknown Tongue directly contrary not only to the Rule in my Text but to the Design of this whole Chapter But blessed be God for it it is not so with us For ours is truly Common Prayer for it is written and read in that Language which is common to all the Congregations in the Kingdom and to every person in each Congregation So that all the People of the land whatsoever rank or condition they are of may joyn together in the use of every thing that is in it and so be joyntly Edified by it Especially considering that it is not only all in English but in common and plain English such as we use in our common discourse with one another There are no unusual or obsolete words no hard or uncouth Phrases in it but every thing is expressed as cleerly and plainly as words can do it so that the meanest person in the Congregation that understands but his Mothers Tongue may be Edified by it as well as the greatest Scholar But that which is chiefly to be considered in the Language of the Common Prayer is that it is not only common but proper too Though the words there used be all but common words yet they are so used that they properly express the things that are designed by them This I confess may seem to be no great matter at first sight yet it is that without which we might be subverted by that which was intended for our Edification For Impropriety of Speech in matters of Religion hath given occasion to all or most of the Schisms Errors and Heresies that ever infested this or any other Church as might easily be demonstrated Hence the Apostle gave Timothy a Form of sound words and charged him to hold it fast Hold fast saith he the Form of sound words which thou hast heard of me 2 Tim. 1. 13. As knowing that except the words whereby he usually expressed Divine Truths were sound and proper it would be impossible for his Notions and Opinions of the things themselves to be so And certainly if ever there was a Form of Sound Words composed by men since the Apostles times our Common Prayer may justly deserve that Title It being all made up of such fit and proper such sound and wholesome words that if we do but hold fast to them there is no fear of our falling either into Heresy or Schisme For they being duly considered will suggest to our minds right and true Apprehensions of all the Articles of our Christian
so upon composing our thoughts and preparing our selves for the due performance of it Our minds being thus brought into a right frame and temper for it we all both Minister and People prostrate our selves before the most high God confessing upon our knees the manifold sins and wickedness that we have committed against him Which Confession is so contrived that all and every person in any Congregation whatsoever may joyn in it For it runs in general terms And yet so too that every particular person may and ought in his own mind to confess and acknowledg his own sins which he knows himself to be guilty of As where we say We have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done At the saying of this every one should call his own sins to remembrance what Duties he knows himself to have omitted and what Vices he knows himself to have committed and confess them accordingly unto God And when we have thus confessed our sins to God we presently implore his Mercy in the pardon of them and his Grace that for the future we may forsake them And whilst we are thus upon our knees humbly confessing and bewailing our sins before the Lord our God the Minister stands up and in the Name of God declares and pronounceth to all those who truly repent and unfeignedly believe his Gospel The Absolution and Remission of all their sins Which though spoken also in general terms yet every particular person there present ought to apply it to himself so as to be fully perswaded in his own mind that if he doth but sincerely repent and believe the Gospel he is perfectly absolved from all his sins by God himself according to the promises which he hath made to Mankind in Jesus Christ our Lord. And now looking upon our selves as absolved from our sins upon our Repentance and Faith in Christ and by consequence as reconciled to God we take the boldness to call him Father humbly addressing our selves to him in that Divine Form of Prayer which he himself hath given us Which done we lift up our hearts and voices unto God for his assistance of us in what we do in the words of David the Minister crying out O Lord open thou our lips and the People answering And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise The Minister again O God make speed to save us the People O Lord make haste to help us And then immediately we all lift up our bodies too stand upon our feet and so put our selves into a posture of praising and magnifying the Eternal God Father Son and Holy Ghost for his infinite goodness and mercy towards us for which purpose the Minister first saith or sings the Gloria Patri Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost and the people to shew their consent answer As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen But not thinking this to be enough the Minister calls upon the people again saying Praise ye the Lord and the people answer The Lords name be praised and then we go on to praise him together saying or singing the 95 Psalme Venite exultemus Domino O come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our Salvation c. and so proceed to the Psalms appointed for the day After every one of which to testifie our belief in the most sacred Trinity and our acknowledgment of that infinite love and goodness which every one of those Divine Persons hath manifested to us we repeat that incomparable Hymne Glory be to the Father c. Our hearts being thus raised up to God in praising and admiring of him we are now in a fit temper and disposition to hear what he shall speak unto us And therefore have a Chapter read out of the Old Testament and that in its ordinary course except upon Sundays and Holydays when more people attending the Publick Worship of God then can conveniently come upon other days we read some Select Chapter proper for the day and such as is judged most edifying to all that are there present And having thus heard God speaking unto us in his holy Word we presently fall upon praising of him again for so unspeakable a mercy saying or singing in the Morning the Te Deum one of the most Heavenly and Seraphick Hymns that was ever composed by Men or else the Song of the Three Children which is nothing but a Paraphrase upon that which David sang so often upon Earth and which the Holy Angels sing continually in Heaven even Hallelujah Praise ye the Lord. Wherein we being all sensible how far short we our selves come of praising God sufficiently we call upon all the Creatures in the World to do it Bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever In the Afternoon we sing either the Magnificat or else the 98 Psalme both which being taken out of Gods own Word cannot but be very pleasing and acceptable unto him After this our Souls being got upon the wing again and soaring aloft in the contemplation of the Divine perfections we are now rightly qualified to hear and receive the Sublime Mysteries of the Gospel And therefore have a Chapter read to us out of the New Testament After which we being revived with the good Tydings of the Gospel and filled with admiration at the infinite goodness of God therein revealed to us we break forth again into praising and adoring of him in the song of Zacharias or else the 100 Psalm in the Morning and at Evening either the 67 Psalm or else the Song of Old Simeon still concluding with the Gloria Patri Now having thus heard some part of the Word of God read to us and expressed our thankfulness unto him for it to signifie our assent not only to what we have heard but to the whole Scripture we all with one heart and voice repeat the Apostles Creed wherein the summ and substance of it is contained And so profess our selves to continue in the number of Christs Disciples and that as we were at first Baptized so we still believe in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost God Blessed for evermore Hitherto we have been mostly taken up with confessing our sins to God imploring his mercy in the pardon of them hearing his most holy Word acknowledging his goodness to us and praising and magnifying his name for it By which means except we have been extreamly wanting to our selves our hearts cannot but be so united and fixed upon God that we are now rightly disposed to make known our wants and present our Petitions before him This therefore is the next thing we set upon But seeing that neither Minister nor People can possibly do it aright without the assistance of God himself therefore each of them first pray for his special presence with the other The one saying
Parish ever saw This therefore is that which I shall endeavour to prove at this time And for that end have chosen these words for the ground and foundation of all that I shall say upon this subject Let all things be done to Edifying For the right understanding whereof we must know that the Apostle having in this Chapter discoursed at large concerning the way and manner of holding Christian Assemblies and having proved that whatsoever is there said ought to be spoken in such a Language that all there present may understand and so be edified by it he at last sums up the whole in this Proposition How is it then Brethren when ye come together every one of you hath a Psalm hath a Doctrine hath a Tongue hath a Revelation hath an Interpretation Let all things be done to Edifying As if he should have said Whatsoever gifts any of you have or pretend to yet when you meet together upon a Religious Account for the Publick Worship of God take special care that all things be there done to the Edifying of all who are there present From whence it is plain that the Apostle lays down this as a general Rule necessary to be observed in all Christian Congregations So that whensoever we meet together to Worship and Serve God if any thing be there done which is not for our Edification we come short of this Rule and so we do too if any thing be there wanting that may conduce to that end For according to this Rule as nothing is to be there done but what is for our Edifying so also on the other side all things that are or can be for our Edifying ought to be there done But for our better understanding the true sense and purport of this Rule it is necessary to consider what the Apostle here means by edifying For which we must know That all Christians being as the same Apostle saith of the Houshold of God built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone Eph. 2. 19 20. Hence whatsoever tends to the strengthening supporting cementing or raising this Fabrick higher whatsoever it is whereby men are made more firm and solid Christians more holy and perfect men than they were before by that they are said to be edified And therefore it is a great mistake for men to think as many do that they are edified by what they hear meerly because they know perhaps some little thing which before they were ignorant of For Knowledg as the Apostle saith puffeth up it is Charity that edifieth 1 Cor. 8. 1. And therefore whatsoever knowledg we attain to we cannot be said to be edified by it any further than as it influenceth our minds excites our love and inclines our hearts to God and goodness And that this is the true notion of edifying is plain from the Apostles own words where he saith Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouths but that which is for the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers Eph. 4. 29. For from hence it is manifest that that onely is properly said to edifie that ministers grace unto us whereby we are made more pure and holy than we were before And therefore we read of edifying our selves in love Eph. 4. 16. and building up our selves in our most holy faith Jude 20. which are the two graces that make up a real and true Christian And nothing can be said to edifie but what tends to the exciting and increasing of them Vntil we come as the Apostle saith in the unity of the faith and of the knowledg of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4. 12 13. Hence therefore when the Apostle saith Let all things be done to edifying his meaning in brief is this that in all our Christian Assemblies when we meet together to worship and serve God All things there are to be so done that we may return home wiser and better than we came thither with our knowledg of God and Christ increased our desires inlarged our love inflamed our faith confirmed all our graces quickened and so our whole souls made more humble more holy more like to God than they were before The words being thus briefly explained I shall now apply them to our present purpose and shew that that Form of Religious Worship which is prescribed by our Church established by the Laws of the Land and therefore to be used now in this place agrees exactly with this Rule or Canon of the holy Apostle even that all things in it are done to edifying But before we prove that that Form in particular which our Church hath prescribed is agreeable to this Apostolical Rule it is necessary to prove first That the prescribing a Form in general is so For unless the prescribing a Form in general be according to this Rule no Form in particular that is prescribed can possibly agree with it But now that this Rule admits yea requires the prescribing of some Form is evident from the Rule it self For the Apostle here commands the Church of Corinth and so all Provincial Churches to take care that in their Religious Assemblies all things be done to edifying But how is it possible for any Provincial Church to see that this be done except she prescribes some certain Form for the doing of it If every Minister of a Parish should be left to his own liberty to do what he pleased in his own Congregation although some perhaps might be so wise and prudent as to observe this Rule as well as they could yet considering the Corruption of Humane Nature we have much cause to fear that others would not At least the Church could be no way secured that all would and therefore must needs be obliged to consider of and appoint some such Form to be used in all her Congregations by which she may be fully assured that this Apostolical Rule is every where observed as it ought to be And although we should suppose what can never be expected that all the Clergy in every Province should be as wise and good as they ought to be yet it cannot be supposed that every one of them should understand what is for the Edification of the people as well as all together And therefore it must needs be acknowledged that the surest way to have this Rule observed is for the Governours of every Church and the whole Clergy to meet together by their Representatives in a Synod or Convocation and there upon mature Deliberation agree upon some such Form which they in their Prudence and Consciences judge to be according to this Rule which the Apostle here lays down before them And besides that the prescribing a Form in general is more for our Edifying than to leave every one to do what seems good in his own Eyes We have the concurrent Testimony Experience and Practice of the