never so Divine except he designs by such thinking so to do Students of several sorts are ingaged to think of such things as would serve to this and other excellent Ends but without any Effect The Reason is because their Minds by being so intently fixed on the love of Carnal Pleasures do not discern even the things they look full upon nor understand those very things they teach to others and altho ' they are constrained to think how they may talk or write of such things yet they are with-held by these Sensual Affections from considering the Concern which themselves have therein There is no way therefore by meditating to attain Devotion or any Vertue but by crucifying the Flesh with all its Affections and Lusts and awakening our dead and drouzy Souls to design and endeavour to live that Life for which they were made and in which alone they can be made happy And to this our Blessed Saviour hath given us such Assistance by the Grace of the Gospel that no Man that will take hold of it can complain of infirmity for altho' we never so much feel the weight of earthly things which press down the Soul as when we strive to ascend to God in the Exercises of Devotion yet if we fix our Minds on him who was God manifested in the Flesh shewing us how little these things are how great soever they seem how little to be desired or feared tho' seemingly dreadful or pleasant by his refusing all the Glories we so eagerly prosecute and accepting the Sufferings we so fear and fly and would contemplate the Heavenly Joys which he offereth us on condition we will receive his Spirit and lead our Lives after the Pattern he hath set us I say if we would thus look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith we should soon find ourselves able to lay aside these Weights how easily soever they beset us and to ascend to him in Holy and Devout Affections while we are imployed in these Sacred Offices But it is not so much the want of Ability as of Intention that is cause of the Decay of Devotion as I said before and therefore to awaken that I would represent the Excellency of this Heavenly Affection Devotion it is a most Divine Spirit in Man his greatest Exaltation above Beasts and his nearest Approach to Angels 't is as Herbert saith of the Sabbath the Fruit of this World and the Blossom of the next the highest enjoyment which we are capable of here and the fore-taste of what we shall most fully enjoy hereafter It transforms the Soul into a Seraphim burning with the Fervours of Divine Love carrying it to Heaven as Elias in a Fiery Charriot to take its place in the Choir of Angels and joyn in their Halalujahs and Adorations of him that sits on the Throne and of the Lamb that is at his Right Hand But yet it carries us not above any of the Concerns wherein we may be useful to Men but descends to the Consideration of all their Wants and Necessities Sorrows and Miseries taking them into its Breast and presenting them before God with earnest request for comfort and relief in them all yea it begets in Men such a Divine Charity as reacheth to the uttermost of what may be done for the Well-fare and Happiness of their Neighbours For while we Adore God who is the Supream Benefactor and our Saviour God-Man the Example of Self-denial and Meekness Vertues that Cure our Hurtful Lusts and such a lover of Men as to prosecute their Salvation and Felicity with the shedding of his most Precious Blood I say while this is the Object of our Adoration as it is in these Exercises of Devotion how can it be otherwiise but that it must beget in us a Life and Temper most pleasant and profitable to Mankind And indeed I have observed that this Heavenly Flame of True Devotion is like that which descended on Elias's Altar it licks up all our opposite Interests as that did the Water and makes both ourselves and all we have a Sacrifice to the Honour of God and Good of Mankind None therefore that considers the Excellency of Devotion but would set himself with great attention of Mind to the Consideration of such Things as may render him a Devout Man The Things that are of this Nature are principally such as relate to God to Ourselves or to Others we are to Pray for We should think upon God That he is worthy all our Adorations and Praises for his Glorious and Infinite Perfections his Wonderful Works and for his Innumerable Blessings and Mercies That he and he only heareth Prayers and is nigh to all that call upon him and is pleased when Invocated for the things he is willing to give us That he alone Orders and Disposeth all the Affairs of this World according to his Soveraign Will and Pleasure Restrains or Inlarges the Powers of Nature Stops or Diverts the Course of it Over-rules Second Causes Prospers or Disappoints Human Undertakings Gives and Takes away Lifts up and Casts down even how and whom he pleaseth We should think of our Dependance on him That we Live Move and have our Being in him and cannot Subsist a moment without him that we are subject to innumerable Casualties which may destroy the strongest Body and healthfullest Constitution and to such Vexations as will four the sweetest Temper and to such Amazement as will shake the most fixed and composed Mind which he only can prevent from befalling us as being under his Divine Government and can by his immediate Influxes Comfort us when they do so We should think how many things we want what woful things we are in danger of of our manifold Temptations by allurements of sensual Objects and suggestions of evil Spirits of the weakness of our Graces and insufficiency of all things in Heaven or Earth besides God for our Supply and Succour And if we would think seriously of these things we should find great help to Devotion in Prayers thereby we shall find how much we are concerned to reconcile ourselves to God by humble and penitent Confessions to seek his Grace and Favour by Fervent Supplications to pray for the Aid of his Spirit to help our Infirmity and to assist our Victory over our Spiritual Enemies and to give him thanks that we have not fallen into greater Sins and Miseries to attend to his Holy Word that thereby we may receive Grace from him to learn to please him and oblige his care and kindness for us and these things will beget and excite Devout Affections in us It will be profitable also to this End to think of our Obligation to our Christian Brethren and of the Particular Regards we ought to have towards all Sorts and Degrees among them For we Pray as Members of the Catholick Church and must have a Concern for all Christians as Fellow-Members of one Spiritual Incorporation But particularly we should often think what Affection we
should bear to those whether our Superiors Equals or Inferiors with whom we are united as one Nation and National Church and also should endeavour to represent to ourselves what may be the several States and Conditions of those we are presently to joyn with in the performance of Sacred Offices Such Considerations will much help our Devotion for the sense of the sins of others to whom we are united as well as of our own will help to make us humble and contrite in our Confessions the sense of their Wants and Miseries will help to make us fervent in our Supplications the sense of the Mercies they receive will help to make us joyful in God's Praises because we are obliged by our Union to reckon their Sins their Wants and their Mercies our own Thus the general knowledge that multitudes of Christians as well as our selves are concerned in the Matter of our Prayers and the sense we have in particular of the Concern of many of those we presently joyn with will add much more to our Devotion It may be there are many things in the Publick Prayers that we have not at present such a particular Concernment in but when we think there are Millions of Christians that have who are all of the same Divine Incorporation and that many of them are our own Country-men united with us as a National Church and some our Neighbours with whom we are one as a Parochial Church and of whose Concern we may have a particular knowledge I say this Meditation will greatly assist our Devotions and will also increase that Charity without which our Prayers as well as Ourselves are counted but dead in the fight of God And when we have wrought Ourselves to this excellent Temper our love to our Brethren will help our Devotion another way also For it will make us endeavour by our example to make them Devout and the more defefective we do perceive their Devotion to be the more shall we indeavour to assist it by the perfection of our own And there is certainly no better way for I have known those that Reproof and Disputation did but irritate by such Examples to have been reformed Lastly Frequent Reading these Holy Offices by ourselves and serious Meditation thereon would be a great help to our Devotion and Dr. Comber 's Excellent Book on the several Office of the Common Prayer will much 〈◊〉 us therein for when we have a full understanding of the great things contained in the brief comprehensive Sentences of the Lords Prayer and of our Collects c. the memory thereof when we come to repeat them will much assist our Devotion And I am perswaded that if Men were but conversant in the study of the Common Prayer-Book they would find more Instruction in the Matter of their Duty to God and Man more Assistance in governing their Affections and Passions and preserving Peace in themselves more Support and Consolation in Troubles and Afflictions and more Aid against Temptations c. than in reading many Books but especially it would be an excellent Means to increase those Holy Affections which prepare us for Publick Prayers and to assist our Devotion in the Performance I have mentioned this little of a great deal that might be said of the Matter of our Meditation but still it must be remembred that these things be thought on with a purpose and intention to beget in us such habitual Affections and Dispositions that we may be always fit to Pray and may in the most wonted Expressions exercise a servent Devotion and if we do so we shall not so need the Natural or Artificial Rethorick in Prayer as those do that want these Dispositions nor shall we be cloy'd with having Prayers always the same as some Dainty Stomachs are with eating often the same Meats for such Men constantly carry in their Breast such a sense of their past Enormities that it puts Life into their repeating our General Confession and such Esteem of God's Mercy in Christ as gives them a Behaviour not ordinary in receiving Absolution they have such Affection towards the Glory and Pleasure of Almighty God and such belief that he only can give what we want and forgive the Sins and prevent the Temptations that would involve us in evil now in this World and eternally in the next that it gives a great Devotion to their saying the Lord's Prayer and all the rest tho' they are still the same And where Men have such sense methinks no Man should deny that they pray in the Spirit or in the Holy Ghost as the Precepts of the Gospel require That Pious Nonconformist Mr. J. Corbet in his Kingdom of God hath these words The Spirit of Prayer is never wanting where the Heart hath a due sense of the Matter pag. 46. Although as he afterwards explains it we use a stinted Form of Words Dr. Owen I confess in a late Discourse of Prayer hath these words If Persons are able in the reading any Book meerly of Human Composure to rise up in answer to this Duty of Praying with all manner of Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit or the exercise of the Aids and Assistances received from him and his Holy Acting in them as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication endeavouring labouring and watching thereunto they have attained what I cannot understand That is in plain words the Doctor cannot understand how a Man that uses a Form can be said to pray in the Spirit It would be a high presumption in me to question the Understanding of so Great a Man but he will not be angry if I question my own for I cannot understand why our Saviour from whom we have these Precepts of Praying in the Spirit should teach his Disciples a Form of Prayer if in using a Form we cannot pray in the Spirit But it may be the Doctor will say as he doth insinuate in many places of that Book that Christ gave those words only for a Doctrinal and Directive Help to Prayer i. e. To teach Men how to pray Ex tempore for which End he saith we may read Forms of Prayer how unlawful soever the use be for which they were made But then I do not understand how the Doctor can say pag. 234. That it were better it may be that this were done Men taught to pray Ex tempore in some other way and these Doctrinal and Directive Helps not cast into the Form of a Prayer which is apt to divert the Mind from its proper End and Vse Which words seem to me to have such a Reflection on our Blessed Saviour as is little short of Blasphemy according to the Doctor 's Opinion of the Lord's Prayer For if that were not intended for a Form but for a Doctrinal and Directive Help to Prayer then those words applied to him plainly say That it may be Christ might have done better than to have cast his Instructions and Directions about Prayer into the Form of a Prayer which is
there is positive Sin or great Inconvenience in the things recommended thereby before we venture to contradict or oppose them We are commanded to give no Offence to the Jew nor Greek nor Church of God whereas it seems to me by forsaking these solemn Acts of Adoration we offend them all And I verily believe nothing more perswades the Papists of the Goodness of their own Religion and makes them think ill of ours than observing the Decency of these solemn Actions so frequently used in their publick Service and that it scarce looks like the Worship of God where they are wholly omitted as they are in some Protestant Churches and in all Nonconformists Meetings and too much in our Parochial Assemblies also But it is not only the avoiding Offence that should recommend these solemn Actions and especially that of Bowing but many great Reason 1. There is nothing more effectual to impress on the mind a sence of God's Presence than this action of Bowing before him It is impossible a Man can use such an Action but he must think there is some One present to whom it is performed and where Men have not a true belief of God's presence and are conscious unto themselves of that defect it will seem so unreasonable and foolish to perform such acts of Adoration that they will be hardly perswaded thereunto And for this reason when the World became so carnaliz'd by indulging their brutish Part that they could scarce have any apprehension of invisible Things but by the help of something that was the Object of their Senses they invented Images to represent the invisible Powers they worshipped and fancied that by their Incantations and Charms their Gods were drawn to inhabit those Images by which means they found they were helped in performing those Acts of Adoration to them But the only living and true God hath utterly forbidden any such Representations of himself as being a dishonour to the infinite Glory and Spirituality of his Nature but yet requires External Worship from us in acknowledgment than he is every where present but especially in the Assemblies that meet to do him honour and service and that he and he only is to be feared and had in reverence of all that are about him and if we would perform this act of Adoration as we ought we should find great help thereby against the weakness of our Faith and the dulness of our Spiritual Sence and it would beget in us such an habitual apprehension of God's spiritual and invisible Presence that it would be as a new nature or principle of spiritual and holy Life in all other things I say if we perform it as we ought because I would have none think that I impute a Magical Force to this Action as if all that do it on what account soever should become inspired with such an habitual sence of God and his universal Presence For I know that where this is in repute Men may be very observant thereof for carnal ends and be inwardly Atheistical and outwardly prophane still but if it be done with a design to signifie our belief of God's presence and our awful sence of his infinite Glory and Greatness it hath tendency to work a habit of spiritual sensibility in this matter and by the efficacie of the same we shall be continually kept in the fear of offending God and excited to all holy and vertuous Actions that are pleasing to him which I think is a very weighty matter Besides it prepares and disposes our minds to the performance of all the Offices of Divine Worship whereby we explicate the signification of such acts of Adoration and therefore it hath been used to be done at our first coming into the Church that we may remember what we are chiefly to intend in all we do there viz. The Worship and Honour of Almighty God The want of this consideration is a cause of great mischiefs in the Church Men have learnt to think that all the Ministries of Religion are intended to work on their Affections and Passions and to gratifie a Religius Fancy and so they judge they are best ordered when they serve most effectually to that end and upon this account it is that they condemn the Common Prayer as a dead Form and cry up the Extempore Way as the only acceptable Mode of serving God And while they thus judge they are subject to be drawn into Schism and Errour by every subtile Seducer that can handle the Instrument of his Tongue well and affect their minds with some devout Passions For so long as they think That Way of Religion best which most affects them Novelty having a great force in that matter and Men that design to serve their Interests by making Disciples being apt to bend their minds most strenuously to study to speak to Mens passions Men can never be fix'd in any way of Religion But now if they were once perswaded that those publick Administrations are best which serve most fitly to the Worship and Adoration of the Deity and are most advantageous for the conjunction of these solemn Actions which I here speak of it would be hard for them to find any better than ours among those which separate from us For the better understanding the beginning of the foregoing Paragraph wherein I say That in the Offices of Divine Worship we explain the signification of the acts of Adoration I must observe 1. That as the Worship we perform to God by humbly bowing down in our approach to his glorious Majesty doth declare our obligation unto all we perform in the following Offices so those Offices do contain the explication of the Worship we thereby give to the Almighty For since we declare by that action that we worship him as the only true God we oblige ourselves to perform that service which Deity makes his due and this we do when we give him thanks for the great benefits we have received at his hands and set forth his most worthy praise when we attend diligently to his holy Word and seek at his hands things requisite and necessary for Body and Soul for by these things we do acknowledge him to be the Fountain of our Being and of all the benefits whereof we are Partakers and to be the free and gracious Donor thereof and that he is most worthy of all the Praise and Glory that we can give him as by reason thereof so also because of the infinite Perfections of his Nature and his mighty and wonderful Works which we behold That he is infinite Wisdom and Truth and to be believed in all that be reveals to us That he is our only supream Law-giver and to be obeyed in all that he commands us That he is our Soveraign Lord and our Weal or Wo doth wholly depend on his Favour or Displeasure and that no Arts or Labours of our own can secure us against Misery or instate us in true Felicity whether it be internal or external present or future but
this Service well and make fit expressions of Devotion in their outward Behaviour I say though they may be often guilty of Intemperance and other Vices yet we cannot condemn them of Hypocrisie nor ought to discourage them in what they do well but our Duty is by all means to admonish them daily and to convince them of the deceitfulness of their sin that they be not hardened by it and perswade them of the necessity of universal Repentance and Obedience as that without which God will never accept them into the embraces of his Fatherly Love however he may forbear them some Temporal Judgments and give them some Temporal Blessings much less will he bring them â—o his Heavenly Kingdom Nor can the true Children of God and his Church maintain such intimate Converses with them nor shew such brotherly Kindness to them as to sober Christians Nor ought â—he Church to continue them in her Communion if they do not speedily reform and amend their lives But yet we may not decline their Ministration nor make any Schism in or from a Church on their account or condemn them of Hypocrifie in their expressions of Devotion But because I would not be though hereby to excuse such Men or give them any encouragement to presume I intreaâ—â— them to consider that the Evangelical Precepts of Perfection are plain and cogentâ— The Grace vouchsafed is mighty and powerful and to those that will fight manfully the Victory is certain every one that seeâ— as he ought shall find a way of escape oâ— of every Temptation for God will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are ableâ— If we will resist the Devil he will flie from us if we will walk in the Spirit we shaâ—â— not fulfil the lusts of the flesh for the Spirit that is in us is stronger than he which is 〈◊〉 the World or than the most importunaâ—â— lusts of the Flesh Therefore it is only oâ— willingness to yield that makes us easie 〈◊〉 be overcome and he that thinks otherwise dishonours the Grace of God discourages vigorous Endeavours after thâ—â— Perfection which is the mark we should 〈◊〉 aim at puts the Conscience on the raâ—â— or as the Prophets's phrase is stays longâ—â— the place of breaking forth of children enjoâ—ing no ease and content in his mind and prevents himself of the highest Joy in the hope of eternal Life Besides he is an offence to his Brethren tempts them to forsake if not abhor God's Altar and prove Separatists from the best Church in the World and neglect their attendance on the most solemn and edifying Form of Divine Service and many more mischiefs which are consequent unto an indulging themselves in Viciousness especially that unmanly Vice I here treat of Wherefore I earnestly beseech all Readers to break off all evil Customs of this kind and to endeavour a perfect Temperance and Sobriety I have been long on this Head because I think it of greatest weight I shall be brief on the rest 3. Being prepared as before he must endeavour to carry a sober Gravity in his Countenance as becoming his sence of approaching the Divine Presence in the most solemn Exercises of Holy Worship and also the knowledge of his Office that he is God's Embassador to his People and their Spokesman to God for so is every Reader rightly Ordained as well as the Preacher and in reading the Scripture as a Minister of the Church he speaks from God with the greatest Authority he should therefore suppress in himself all timerousness and bashfulness and carry a decent majesty and gravity in his Deportment and Countenance 4. He must make those ends to which the several parts of this Service are designed to be his own He must endeavour by reading the Sentences of Scripture and the solemn Preface at the beginning to compose the minds of the People to great seriousness and true penitence By reading the Absolution to confirm their hopes oâ— Mercy and Pardon but without presumption By reading the Prayers and repeating all parts of Praise and Thansgiving and the Responses and mutual Provocations to Devotion c. he must earnestly intend not only the expression of his own holy affections but to excite the like in others There is a vast difference between the bare reading the Prayers and this manner of speaking to God and Man thereby making the words as if they weâ—â— our own 5. He must endeavour by a clear Voice and distinct Pronuntiation to make himself understood of all and by a treatable Speech to make it easie for the People 〈◊〉 follow him especially in those parts 〈◊〉 Worship wherein they are to joyn the Voices But yet not so slow neither that many should run before him in repeating the Prayers and the Belief as People are apt to do which seems to me a very indecent thing and an affront to the Ministerial Office which is always to lead in the Publick Duties of Religion And in repeating the Psalms he should make such observation that his Speech may bear proportion with the generality of the Congregation and that there be no pause between their ending one Verse and his beginning another but that he come in with them at the last word which makes this Exercise more like Psalmody the thing for which it is intended wherein the People do much want to be well instructed for this would turn their Prejudices against this manner of reading the Psalms into a great Devotion and make them have a great delight therein as a thing which hath most of Heaven of any thing that is done here on Earth 6. In the reading the Solemn Prayers he must put on the greatest gravity and outward expression of humblest Reverence and Devotion this being one principal part of Divine Worship wherein we apply our selves most immediately to God himself and make the nearest approaches unto his Throne of Grace And he must labour to excite the same expressions of Devotion in the People as by his own Example so by the affectionate pronunciation of these words appointed thereunto Let us pray than which nothing can be better ordered to distinguish between the Solemn Prayers we offer up to God and those we make in the way of Psalmody Especially in the repetition of the Lord's Prayer I earnestly recommend the most devout Reverence and Fervour For we cannot but know that as God hath greatest regard to that as the Composure of his dear and only Son his eternal Wisdom appearing in our Flesh and as the Catholick Church guided by the Divine Spirit hath ever had it in great veneration as the Instruction of her Lord and Saviour in the most principal part of her Duty and the Declaration of her Catholick Vnity so every Minister of God and his Church should shew his great esteem thereof by the most solemn and devout manner of repearing the same Besides in honour of the Author and for the excellency of the matter and the comprehensiveness of the words as
any posture that is less reverent To sit is very offensive to all that desire to see this Service duely performed And it is reason it should be so for these words signifie a most immediate Address to God the Ever Blessed Trinity in Unity in the highest act of Christian Worship and so fitly do they serve to the Adoration of the Deity according to the Faith of our Religion that the Man that doth not express the inward reverence and adoration of his mind by the devout manner of his pronouncing them and by a fit deportment at that time gives suspition of some defect in his Christianity or of some mistake in the way of expressing the same And this erect posture of our Bodies would mind us to lift up our Hearts yea and our Voices too in giving praise and glory unto this Blessed Trinity whereas the other disposeth us to a defect in both and therefore not only to avoid giving offence but for our own benefit we should observe it Being next to proceed to praise God by the repetition of the Psalms of David c. the Minister that he may mind us that it is not the ordinary reading those parts of Scripture for instruction but the repeating them as an Office of Praise and Solemn Worship to Almighty God I say the Minister on that account is ordered to say Praise ye the Lord and the People to answer The Lord's Name be praised In hearing and saying which words we must endeavour to excite in ourselves holy desires to praise God and so to perform this Exercise as may tend most abundantly to his Glory and Honour The Psalm with which we always begin at Morning Prayer is O come let us sing unto the Lord and is most fitly chosen both for mutual provocation to this heavenly Exercise and for instruction in the reasons thereof and withal to insinuate that obedience to all God commands in the whole course of our lives should be consequent to the adoration and praise of God as our God shewing in the conclusion the dreadful danger of not attending to the same which excellent matter requires that we be serious and intent in repeating this Psalm as that which will prepare and dispose us to be so in all the rest As for the repetition of the Psalms in course that follows I have hinted before what is needful in that matter one thing pray remember that none should take liberty to fit in that performance except constrained by bodily infirmity because standing is so much more fit a posture for the Office of Thanksgiving and sitting was counted so indecent in the Primitive Times that the whole Service was called Station and sitting is only indulged now in some Parts for bodily weakness and because of the great decay of Piety which will not bear such strictness After the Psalms a Chapter is read out of the Old Testament that we may be instructed in the Doctrine of the Creation and Government of the first World its Destruction and Restitution the Promises of the MESSIA and procedure of God's Grace in preparing Men for Him in bringing them to Him and saving them by Him as also in the correspondency of our Saviour's Doctrine to that which God of old delivered by his Prophets his agreement to the Types and Figures of him under the Law and the accomplishment of what Moses and the Prophets wrote in that which he was did and suffered in such and many other respects the reading thereof is profitable and therefore all talking gazing and careless behaviour too often seen at this time should be avoided and we should appear as diligent Auditors of those Divine Oracles The instruction therein given us to it and the respite we have had hereby in it should cause us to return with greater joy and cheerfulness to this heavenly work of praising God For which there is next prepared the Evangelical Hymn TEDEVM the most excellent that ever was composed by Man and speaks as much of Divine Inspiration as any thing not acknowledged for such ever did 't is so fitted for Divine Adoration and apt to excite Devotion and to minister most abundantly to the Consolation of good Christians that even that alone methinks should draw us to Church if not with-held by great obligations I do therefore most earnestly recommend to you the most solemn appearance and the most devout acts of Worship and the most plain joyful and reverent manner of speaking and what ever you can think becomes the repetition of those excellent words The Adoration of God and of our Saviour by the foresaid Exercise cannot but dispose us to the next viz. the Chapter out of the New Testament which being called New for its excellency and perpetuety above the Old and reporting to us either the wonderful Works of Christ and his Apostles their holy and incomparable Doctrine or perfect and exemplary Lives cannot be too diligently and reverently attended to And I should think those who have strength of body would do very commendably in standing up at the reading thereof on the same reasons for which we do so at reading the Gospel Then we are ordered to return again to the work of Praising God which nothing but Carnality can ever be weary of And the Psalms here appointed are such as minister most fitly to the Joy conceived by hearing the glad tidings of the Gospel sent to the Gentiles of which we were as well as to the Jews and therefore to shew that we have not received that Grace in vain nor heard the Gospel of it without diligent heed we should repeat that Psalm devoutly and joyfully The next that follows is the CREEDâ— which contains those matters in which aâ—â— Christians are of one Mind all that believâ— with their hearts to Righteousness and oâ— which all Christians must make publicâ— Profession all that will Confess with theiâ— mouths to Salvation We therefore in one posture and all with our Faces one way as indeed it should be and would be if the Reader did give the example do with one mouth repeat that excellent Form of sound Words which so excellently ministers to the stedfastness of our Faith our rejoycing in Hope our unity in Love and cheerfulness in the Praises of God and our Saviour that no Man that considers it could chuse but stand up and bear his part with us and he that finds no spiritual joy and elevation of mind in repeating the Creed can have nothing else but a natural delight in hearing the most excellent Sermon or ravishing Prayer For neither of these can have any Matter that is more transporting and if it be only the words or passion of the Speaker that affects us 't is no spiritual delight Let those therefore take heed who regard not to honour God and express the joy of their Faith by a due performance in this matter After this we return to the solemn Duty of Prayer which that we may perform with mutual Charity and great Devotion
the Minister salutes the People with that excellent Option The Lord be with you and they return And with thy Spirit Which words spoken with the holy affection they ought are apt to beget such a disposition of mind as will render the Prayers very acceptable to God and edifying to one another The Minister yet farther to awaken all the powers of our Souls to this most serious business is to say Let us pray which therefore we should compose ourselves to do with all our might The Response wherewith we begin Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy serves most fitly to assist this endeavour of great fervency and being repeated without it seems very indecent and a kind of vain Repetition therefore remember this Then we renew the Repetition of the Lord's Prayer which Prayer certainly is of that excellency that no Christian should think it too much to use it both in the beginning and end of this Service And indeed this is the very sum and substance of all our Prayers and others are added only for greater solemnity and fuller explication And therefore the oftner it is repeated the more devoutly it should be said and greater fervency excited by it of which before To relax a little the great intention of mind that should accompany all our Prayers but especially the Lord's prayer we have that excellent Response wherein the Minister and People exchange some devout Ejaculations for themselves for their Superiours and for their Brethren which as they mix holy delight with fervency so they greatly strengthen the Bands of Christian Unity The rest of the time we spend in repeating several Collects most excellent for the matter and comprehensive for the words In praying for the King and Royal Family for Magistrates and Ministers the Church and State all Christians and all Men and in giving solemn Thanks for God's mercies to us and them in all which we should strive to preserve a constant intention and true devotion of mind and if to that end we accompany the Minister with our voice as many do it should be always with such caution as I have expressed before and so it may be very useful thereunto and also it would make us perfect in saying those Prayers which may be of great use to us in other cases besides that of our joyning with the Congregation therein But now if Men having got the faculty of saying the Prayers readily by heart do let their Tongues run before Wits and say faster than it can be thought they understand or can consider what they say then they abuse God's good gifts and shame themselves and disturb others It was greatly blam'd by the Apostle that some of those who had received the miraculous Gift of Tongues were so forward in the use of it as that it hindred their due consideration of the things they spake and others understanding them for amending whereof he proposeth his own example to their imitation saying I will pray with the spirit but yet so as with the understanding also and I think we may infer something from hence for our instruction in this matter I have taken liberty of some repetition and inlargement here because I have often heard this Disorder complained of since the first Edition of this Book and many wish the Reprinting of it for this very reason that it may be lent or given to those in whom they observe this Disorder to rectifie their practice herein What I have here discoursed shews that I believe this Service to be well ordered to prevent all wandring thoughts to preserve a due presence of mind to promote pious affections and to give the best entertainment to true Devotion and indeed on all these accounts I do wonder very much that it is not had in greater estimation But Men must do their own part also towards this therefore I earnestly admonish all Men to avoid sitting lolling leaning and all indecent postures and to continue kneeling meekly and devoutly in the whole Performance if they can And I think Men too apt to plead Infumity out of indulgence to the Flesh which should be taught to suffer something for the honour of God and interests of our Souls which have suffered a great deal by its pleasures and passions and I doubt not the pain we endure to express our reverent Adoration of the Almighty in this his Solemn Worship shall be accepted of God as a part of Our Mortifications and of our Conformity to Christ and his Church and no Christian that considers the great and most dolorous pain wherein Christ offered himself in Sacrifice on the Cross can think much to endure some little pain that we may offer our Sacrifices of Prayers and Praises with that reverence which becomes us nor can any Man have that sence of the adorable Majesty of the most High when his head and elbows lye on the bench of his seat as when he kneels in an erect posture with his eyes and hands lift up to Heaven The actions of the Body have a great influence on the Soul as well as on the contrary the Souls affections move it to act Besides the decency of this which is so evident that I may appeal to Men themselves in this case as the Apostle in another of the same nature being in a matter of Indecency in God's Worship Judge in yourselves what is meet Can any Man think it fit to supplicate the infinite Majesty of Heaven and Earth in any but the most humble posture of body which with us is Kneeling or that we ought to sit on our breeches when we sing or speak praise unto him Certainly the power of Errour is very great that it can blind the mind of Man in a matter so evident and plain But I trust that those to whom I write are not so deceived Yet I would not be thought to commend any such Uneasiness as is either against the due composure of the Mind or the good estate of the Body I know God will have Mercy and not Sacrifice and prefers the due operations of the Mind before the most devout actions of the Body especially where they cannot be both in perfection but our exactness in one must necessitate some relaxation in the other But there is an uneasiness that is so small that it rather helps than hinders inward Devotion and disturbs nothing but a lazie humour or ill habit things no way to be indulged But yet where there is such real Infirmity as justly excuseth from Standing or Kneeling upright c. Men should be careful that in what posture soever they be they make such expressions of Seriousness and Devotion that it may appear to the Congregation that they omit nothing out of Laziness Contempt of the Orders of the Church or a prophane Spirit I have now run over the Daily Office of Morning Prayer and shall proceed no farther because he that will observe what I have written in that cannot be to seek in ordering himself a right
comply with my Desire and save me the Labour of Arguments I shall only say the Inward Peace and Satisfaction they will find in governing themselves in this Matter by Reason and not by Fancy and in following the Custom and Usage of all good Christians for many Ages and of most even in this and not that of Hereticks and Schismaticks by obeying the Orders of our own Church made with the greatest Advice and by the most unbias'd Persons of any in the World and not Herding with Quakers Fifth-Monarchy men Anabaptists and other turbulent Sects that oppose the same and seek its Ruin the Satisfaction they will have in finding all that was Good and Profitable all that was Decent and Solemn all that was truly Primitive or any way Praise-worthy in the Service of the Church of Rome a Church which was once very Famous for Learning Piety and Stedfastness in the Faith still retained in ours and all that which Ignorance Error or the Corruption of Time had introduced into that purged out in this I say the Satisfaction they will find in considering the Excellency of our Form of Divine Service in this and such like respects Will prevent all Inclinations to turn into other Ways And should they have any Scruples suggested unto them by cunning Seducers I dare say if they will but do what may be justly expected from Men so educated and obliged that is Consult the Ministers of our Church they will find the fullest satisfaction that they can desire Again As these Considerations so the good Effects of a Devout Attending this Service will perswade them to continue the same The Exaltation of our Minds thereby above the mean Concerns of this World so that they shall not be influenced by the Revolutions and infinite Changes to which it is subject the Confirmation of our Faith and Hope in God's Promises and the inward Joy and Peace that results therefrom the Excitation of our Love to God and the Exercising thereof in Holy Adorations and Cheerful Praises the Increase of our Love to one another by Holy Communion in such Sacred Offices these and such like which will be the Effects of attending this Service will inforce our delight therein and our endeavours so to order it that we be not kept from the same To which I may add some outward good Effects such as 1. The Preventing many Idle and sometimes very Chargeable Clubs and Visits from which this will both excuse and oblige us 2. The inducing Harmony and Good Order into our Families For our contriving that as many as possible may attend God's Service will make much for Order in other things and also for Love and Peace and Good Success of our Affairs I cannot attend the Demonstration but I am sure he that will try shall find it true by Experience 3. The Chearfulness induced into our Minds by our Communion in the Psalmody and Responses and the use of our Voice in other parts of the Service tends much to the health of our Bodies and the mending our Temper For as silence feeds the Melancholy Humour the worst that Mans Body is affected with and of most pernicious influence on the Mind so Speaking and especially in such Heavenly Converse doth much to dissolve and disperse the same and preserves the Body healthful and lively and the Mind in a sweet and pleasant Temper I shall mention no more I hope it may suffice to have touched these things in so short a Discourse to perswade a Constant Attendance on the Publick Prayers 2dly I shall say somewhat also to perswade an indeavour of a right performance which even those are in danger not to do who daily frequent these Holy Offices Education Custom and various Interests may have great force to effect a constant attendance at Prayers when yet want of consideration may betray Men to Formality and undue Performance There is a Fear of God so his Worship of old was called which is taught by the Precepts of Men Matth. 15.8 and this is when Men go to Church meerly because the Magistrate Commands or their Parents bred them to it or because it is the Custom of their Neighbours so to do These shew themselves of a good dactile and sociable Temper and are more to be esteemed than such who in despite of the Laws good Education and a pious Cohabitation contemn and scorn a daily attendance on God's Worship Or than those that strain their Wits to find Faults in our Liturgy and that do all they can to create Scruples in themselves and infuse them into others But they must not rest here but while they constantly go to Prayers they must indeavour to exercise that Fervent Love to God and to our Blessed Saviour and that Divine Joy in the Hope of Glory to come and to Fore-taste the Blessedness we shall partake of in the Communion of Saints above in these Exercises wherein as Saints we have communion here below and will to that purpose attend more diligently to the Preparations wherewith they should come to Worship and to those Expressions whereby they Honour God while they do so Therefore I beseech these to whom I write to consider that God will be Sanctified in all those that come nigh to Worship him and this he only is by those who Worship him with a Holy Worship both Internally and Externally Which we do not except our Minds be so disposed and our Words and Actions so ordered as is aforesaid and as becomes the Glory of God's Essence the Immensity of his Divine Perfections the Sense of our own Concernments and of our Relation to those we are to pray with and to pray for and so as is suitable to the several Parts of Worship which we are to perform Now these Dispositions cannot be attained but by serious and frequent Meditation For there is a Connexion in the Duties of Religion which make it impossible to perform some as we ought except we make Conscience of others that are preparatory thereunto in this Connexion I suppose Meditation to be the first and he that makes no Conscience of that or knows not how to Perform it will be hardly brought to a Good Performance in any other Duties especially this of Prayer Men may by a natural fluency of Speech assisted with a quickness of Wit and ready Invention easily pray to good acceptance with Men but as to our acceptance with God and the effects of Prayer to our own Benefit and Consolation it depends on the preparation of such Affections and such Expressions thereof as can never be without frequent Meditation Meditation in the most common sense of the word is taken for more than bare thinking it is a thinking of things that we may have such knowledge of them and esteem and affection toward them as we ought to have And so great an Influence hath the proposed End into the Efficacy of any Action that I cannot expect that any Man should excite his Devotion by thinking of things though