PART I. 1 OF THE MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. SECTION I. OF THE SENTENCES OF SCRIPTURE PREPARATORY TO §. I. PRAYER is not only an excellent means to obtain all blessings, but the very act itself is an elevation of the soul to contemplate the beauties of the Divine nature, that by beholding such transcendent perfections, it may learn to love, desire to please, and delight to imitate so great and exact a pattern; and consequently it is a duty of the highest concernment: for it is an honour and a benefit to us, and yet it is accepted by God as our homage, and the testimony of our observance. It is a high favour to be admitted to have familiar converse with the King of kings, and a huge advantage to have so frequent access to the fountain of all goodness. But then it is difficult as well as fair, and requires so much attention and serenity, zeal and vigour, faith and love, reverence and humility, that it can neither be well done, nor kindly accepted, without some preceding preparation; for these souls of ours are so clogged with corruptions, disturbed with passions, and so constantly entertained with the vanities which a Job xv. 4. n Vulg. et Angl. Preces. Prop. sign. Colloquium familiare. Drusius 'OpCOMBER, VOL. I. λία πρὸς τὸν Θεόν ἐστιν ἡ εὐχή. Clem. Alex. Strom. 7. B our senses present us with, that we find our minds pressed down, when we would lift them up to God. But as those fowls whose wings are not proportionable to the weight of their bodies, do usually run some paces before they can rise from the earth to begin their flight; so the Church directeth us, first to prepare our hearts before we begin to pray. The Jews are taught when they enter their synagogues, to stand silently a while in the posture of prayer, before they begin their devotion; and one of their masters told his scholars, this was the way to obtain eternal life. The primitive Christians had a preparatory preface to their public prayers, as long ago as the time of the famous St. Cyprian. And we are appointed to exercise our souls in the meditation of these sentences of scripture with the exhortation subjoined, that we may thereby become more fit to pray. That illustrious heathen temple had this inscription in letters of gold, Tu σeautòv, that the worshippers, by a true consideration of themselves, might approach with all humility to their supposed deities. And surely it is more requisite for us who worship the true God, to reflect upon the vast disproportion between ourselves and him, which is as great as between finite and infinite, holy and impure; and so we may be convinced of the necessity of being most lowly and reverent before him. The frailties of our bodies, and the infirmities of our nature, the defects of our faculties, and the misery that cleaves both to soul and body, doth command us to be humble in the presence of God. But that which should lay us lowest of all in our own thoughts, is the remembrance of our sins, b Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. c. 5. Quum vultis orare, cogitate prius coram quo stetis. Dict. R. Eleaz. Talmud. tract. Berachoth. d Sacerdos ante orationem præfatione præmissa parat fratrum mentes. Cypr. de Orat. Dom. which do alone alienate us from God; for he that pitieth our miseries hateth our sins, and he that caused the leper to be banished out of the city, admitted the lame man to the Beautiful gate of the temple: Joshua himself cannot be heard till the sin of Israel was taken away, and he meets with a check in his devotion for presuming to pray before he had removed the accursed thing, Josh. vii. 10. Wherefore our spiritual guides present us with these admonitions to repentance, before we begin to pray, lest we should stumble at the threshold, and pray in vain, while we remain impenitent; for there is a moral impossibility such prayers should prevail. The petitions of sinners are either an heap of contradictions, or a contexture of indignities against the God of heaven; for such men bewail that with their mouth 2 which they love in their heart, and ask forgiveness, where they are neither sensible of an offence, nor will own the pardon as a favour; they accuse themselves for that which they did willingly, and never condemned themselves for, but will reiterate upon the first opportunity: they require things that they hope he will not give, and if they ask any thing seriously, it is either inconsiderable or with evil designs, and so becomes a provocation. Now, can an all-seeing eye discern this without indignation? Will not an almighty hand be lifted up to destroy them, who both delude themselves and mock the King of glory? But lest we should experience the truth of this in our eternal ruin, we are advised to a serious repentance, which will be the best harbinger for all our petitions: for if we see our sins, and feel their weight, (it is to be hoped,) we shall draw near with low apprehensions of ourselves and strong de e Psalm lxvi. 18; John ix. 31; Isai. lix. 2. f Quæ nisi seductis nequeas committere divis. Pers. Sat. 2. sires after God, with an high opinion of him, and a hearty love to him, with many fears, and yet many hopes; and who can be more fit to pray? What better foundation for those prayers which must reach as high as heaven, than humiliation and repentance? §. II. Now the better to dispose us to pray in this manner, God himself is brought in speaking to us from sundry places of holy scripture: the voice of God brought our first father to repentance, Gen. iii. 9, and it will surely have the same effect on us, for who dare refuse when he invites that can pardon or punish, save or destroy? He begins first to speak to us in his holy word, to whom we are about to speak in our prayers; so that those who expect God should hear their prayers must hearken to his words, especially where the matter is so excellent and of so great concernment to us, as in these invitations to repentance from the mouth of God himself. It was therefore most prudently ordered, that we should begin with holy scripture; and for the particular sentences, I may say, they are the plainest and most pertinent that can be found in the whole book of God, which, though it be Divine in every part, yet that care is well bestowed which selecteth such portions thereof as are suitable to the occasion. And thus the reverend composers of the Liturgy, like skilful physicians, have walked in this garden of God, which is stored with remedies of all kinds, and have gathered the choicest and most useful, different in operation, but having the same effect, viz. to bring us to repentance. They have chosen many, yet they leave it to the discretion of the succeeding physicians of souls, to use such a sentence every day, as may suit best with their own and 8 Prov. i. 24. Deus S. B. nos preces nostras ei oblatas. Mid. vocat ad seipsum; si nos illius Tehil. Psal. cxvi. vocem audiemus, tum ille item their people's hearts: which was done with great reason, both because of the various dispositions of men's minds, and also of the different temper of the same man at several times: some are ignorant, others negligent; some obdurate, others tender; some are confident, others fearful; and that which will pierce the heart of ́the same man to-day will not enter his skin to-morrow; that which will now cure the wound, another time neither will abate the pain nor stop the bleeding: and it may be worth our while to take them in pieces, and see for what kind of persons every one of them may be proper; so that if we come, as we ought, before the service begin, we may entertain the time with a meditation agreeing to our present disposition, and such as may put us into the best frame for true devotion. Of the Sentences proper for those who fear God's anger. §. III. If we consider how universally men have deserved the wrath of God, we shall find it necessary for all to fear before him; but if we again observe how exceedingly this fear dejects and discourageth a tender heart, it will seem necessary to apply a cordial. Now lest such be swallowed up of overmuch sorrow, or hindered in their devotions, let them meditate upon the following sentences. Psalm li. 9. HIDE THY FACE FROM MY SINS, &c.] Holy 3 |