The Scripture Account of Prayer 
 in an Address to the Dissenters 
 in Lancashire 
 
 By 
 John Taylor
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 THE 
 
 SCRIPTURE ACCOUNT 
 
 O F 
 
 PRAYER, 
 
 I N A N 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 DISSENTERS in LANCASHIRE; 
 
 OCCASIONED 
 
 By a new LITURGY fome Minifters, of that 
 County, are compofing for the Ufe of a 
 Congregation at LIVERPOOL. 
 
 By JOHN TAYLOR. >. D. 
 
 Late Profeffor of Divinity and Morality, at the Academy 
 in WARRINCTON. 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 Printed for J. WAUGH, at the Turk's Head in Lombard- 
 Street; and W. FENNER, at l;he Angel and BiUe in Pa- 
 ter-Nofter-Row. 1761.
 
 r 
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 HAT the reader may have fome 
 idea of what gave rife to the fol- 
 lowing fheets, let it be obferved, 
 that the worthy Author, who chofe to fix 
 himfelf amongfl the DifTenters, upon the 
 moft honourable principle, thought it his 
 duty publickly to difavow the late extraor- 
 ^ dinary proceedings of fome Minifters in 
 2 LANCASHIRE. 
 
 ^ What thofe proceedings are, may be 
 
 cr. known from the following Letter, which ac- 
 
 * companied a fet of inftrudions to feveral 
 
 Minifters who were folicited to aflift in 
 
 drawing up a Liturgy. 
 
 " Reverend Gentlemen. 
 "A Society of Proteftants at LIVERPOOL, 
 3 <c who do not entirely approve of the prefcnt 
 Si" method of conducting the publick devo- 
 
 A 2 " tions 
 
 3O6791S
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 ( tions in diflenting Congregations, and who 
 " cannot comply with the terms of Confor- 
 " mity to the eftablifhed Church, are de- 
 " firous to introduce a rational Liturgy into 
 " their form of worfhip. And as they would 
 * wifh it as perfect as poffible, they make 
 " free to folicit the affiftance of fome of 
 " their learned friends, in the compilation 
 " of it, who may approve of the defign ; 
 " efpecially you, Gentlemen, to whom this 
 " Letter is addrefled. They are very fenfible 
 " of the difficulty of the tafk, and of the 
 " large portion of time and attention that it 
 " muft neceflarily take up j but they are in- 
 <c clined to hope, the great importance of 
 *' the work, and the agreable profped that 
 *' may be opened by the propofed reforma- 
 " tion, will induce you to favour their ex- 
 <J pedtations, and to join your abilities in 
 " this publick fervice." 
 
 LIVERPOOL, 
 Oa. 1 6, 1760, 
 
 Thefe (heets were finished but a few days 
 before Dr. Taylors deceafe*, and had he 
 Jived to have published them himfelf, they 
 
 would, 
 
 * He died Marcli the jth, in the 67th year of his age.
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
 would, no doubt, have appeared to greater 
 advantage. 
 
 The reader is defined ever to remember, 
 that the Author is defending Jree Prayer, 
 only fo far as it is rational j not any extra- 
 vagant effufions, which bring a reproach 
 upon religious worfhip. 
 
 No one could enter into this argument 
 with a better grace than he, who has given 
 fuch ample proof, that he never contended 
 for any thing but the TRUT^H, nor with any 
 other view but to advance true RELIGION. 
 
 A 3 PRE-
 
 THE 
 
 READER, 
 
 /BEG you would be a/ured, that 1 have 
 no deftgn, in any part of the following Ad- 
 drefs, to cen/ure the Church of England ; my 
 fole intention being to Jhew the DifTenters, 
 what may be f aid in 'vindication of their mode 
 ofworfhip. My thoughts and views are whol- 
 ly confined to ourjelves, to the Diffenters. And. 
 as our Superiors have favoured us with a tole- 
 ration of our worfiip, for which we are thank- 
 ful \ we hope we may, without giving offence, 
 freely difcujs among ourf elves any point relat- 
 ing to that worftip ; while we live in peace 
 and charity with all cur protejlant brethren 
 cf the Eflabliflment) and are willing to make 
 all candid allowances for thofe forms which 
 
 <-/ */ J 
 
 art in ufe among them. Liberty to choofe our 
 cwn way of worJJjip^ implies a liberty to deli- 
 berate which way is beji. 
 
 JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 WARRINCTON, 
 Ftbruary 25, 1761.
 
 THE 
 
 SCRIPTURE ACCOUNT 
 
 O F 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 T is the peculiar honor and high 
 I g diftinction of the human nature, 
 
 that we are the only creatures in 
 the earth capable of converfe with the mod 
 high God ; which, as he is the moft con- 
 fummate perfedion, muft be the nobleft ufe 
 of our rational powers ; and, as he is the 
 only fource of all happinefs, muft be of in- 
 finite importance to our well-being. We 
 have not one faculty of body or mind, nor 
 any one injoyment of life, abfolutely in our 
 own hands j all our fprings are in God, 
 
 and
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
 and upon him we continually depend for 
 life, and breath, and all things. This natu- 
 rally directs our defires and expeditions, 
 under all prefent infirmities, deficiencies and 
 difficulties, to the goodnefs and tender mer- 
 cies of our almighty Father. 
 
 Prayer is a duty of natural religion ; but 
 it is moft clearly explained, ftrongly incul- 
 cated, and highly recommended in the holy 
 Scriptures, by the moft illuftrious examples. 
 In all the facred hiftory we do not find one 
 eminent character of wifdom and goodnefs, 
 which is not diftinguifhed by a fpirit of 
 Prayer. Converfe with God by fupplicati- 
 on and thankfgiving mines moft confpicu- 
 ous in the characters of the moft excellent 
 perfons. And the fuccefs of their Prayers, 
 the rich and various bleflings with which 
 they were honored, are recorded on purpofe 
 to recommend this duty to our efteem, and 
 thofe examples to our imitation, (a) They 
 fought the Jjord y and be heard them, and deli" 
 vered them from all their fears. They looked 
 unto him and were lightened j and their faces 
 were not ajhamed. For the eyes of the Lord 
 are over the righteous, and his ears are open 
 to their Prayers, (b) He will fulfil the defire of 
 
 them 
 
 () Pfal. xxxiv. 4, 5, 15. (b) Pfal, cxlv. 19.
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
 them thatjear him. And in the New Tefta- 
 ment this duty is more forcibly inculcated, 
 in proportion to the much brighter dif- 
 plays of divine grace. There the Son of 
 God, and captain of our falvation, not only 
 commands the duty, but gives himfelf the 
 moft eminent example of it. And at once 
 to demonftrate his unfpeakable love, and to 
 encourage our addrefles to God, he has (c ) by 
 his oivn bloody or moft perfect righteoufnefs, 
 confecrated, or opened, a new and living 
 way, to the throne of God in the holiefl-, whi- 
 ther he himjelf as our high prieft, or agent in 
 things pertaining to God, is entered, to ap- 
 pear in the prefence of God for us, as our 
 advocate and interceflbr with him. And 
 it is on this account, he has directed us to 
 afk in his name, John xvi. 23. Verily , ve- 
 rily, I fay unto you , whatsoever ye Jhall ajk 
 the Father in my name, he will give it you. 
 What greater encouragement can poffibly 
 be given ? All the immenfe treafures of the 
 divine goodnefs are opened and offered to 
 our choice, and what we choofe we are al- 
 lowed to afk, and what we aik in the name 
 ofChrift, as the fincere imitators of his obe- 
 dience and goodnefs, and in a full perfu ail- 
 on 
 
 (c} Heb, x. 19, 20. ix. 24.
 
 [ 10 ] 
 
 on of the love of God in him, we are aflu- 
 red we (hall receive. We fhould therefore, 
 (d) come holdly to the throne of grace, in affu- 
 rance of obtaining mercy, and to fnd grace 
 to help in the time of need. This is the juft 
 ground and reafon of the frequent, warm, 
 and preffing exhortations to the duty of Pray- 
 er which occur in the epiftles. (e) Pray- 
 ing always with all Prayer and fupplication 
 in the fpirit, and watching thereunto with 
 all perfeverance and fupplication for all faints, 
 (f) Be anxioufly careful for nothing ; but in 
 every thing by Prayer and fupplication, with 
 thankfgiving, let your requefts be known unto 
 God. Labor fervently in Prayer, that ye may 
 Jland perfect and complete in all the will of 
 God. Pray without ceafing. The end of all 
 things is at hand ; be ye therefore fober, and 
 watch unto" Prayer. Thefe, and many other 
 texts, prove, that the duty and fpirit of 
 Prayer is effential lo the chriflian profeffion 
 and character, and plainly fuppofe that eve* 
 ry chriftian ought to be endowed with a 
 gift or ability to difcharge the duty. 
 
 But, my Friends, it is become a matter 
 of fome debate amongft you, in what me- 
 thod 
 
 (d) Heb. iv. 16. (e} Ephef. ri. 18. 
 
 (f) Phil. iv. 6. Col. iv. 1 z. i Theft v. 1 7. i Pet. iv. 7.
 
 t ] 
 
 thod Prayer, efpecially publick Prayer, is 
 moft properly performed j whether by read*, 
 ing Prayers already compofed, confining our 
 thoughts to the fenfe of what we read ; or 
 by free and extempore Prayer, dictated by 
 the fenfe, ftate and difpofition of our own 
 minds, and accommodated to any occafion 
 or event of life. 
 
 In order to form a judgment upon this 
 point, it mould be previoufly obferved. 
 
 I. That Prayer doth not properly confift in 
 language, how curious and elegant foever, 
 but in the real fenfe, and fincere deiires of 
 the mind. It is the heart, not the tongue 
 that prays. It is the true and fincere devotion 
 of the heart only, that can make our Prayers 
 acceptable to God. For it is this difpofi- 
 tion of fpirit alone, that can be agreable 
 to him, who is the moft pure and perfect 
 Spirit. Without which, how elegant and 
 moving foever the language of Prayer may 
 be, it is all lifelefs, and of no validity in 
 the fight of God ; and with which, plain, 
 fimple, and even illiterate fpeech will 
 meet with the moft gracious reception. 
 That manner of Psayer therefore, which 
 is beft adapted to ingage the pious attenti- 
 on and devotion of the mind, mufr, on all 
 
 hands,
 
 hands, be allowed to be the mod eligible 
 way of performing this duty. 
 
 II. That by free or extempore Prayer is not to 
 be underftood any crude unpremeditated ef- 
 fufion, in an entire dependance upon fome 
 fuppofed fudden extraordinary motion or fug- 
 geftion of the Spirit of God. We are not in- 
 couraged, at leaft, in our age of the Church, 
 to expect the affiftance of the Spirit, but in 
 conjunction with our own fincere endea- 
 vors : and jree or extempore Prayer, in the 
 juft and rational fenfe of it, fuppofes a due 
 degree of previous care to furnifti the mind 
 with proper materials and language, digefted 
 into good order and connection, that a per- 
 fon may be enabled regularly to adapt his 
 thoughts and expreffions, not only to gene- 
 ral topics, or fuch things as are common to 
 all cafes and chriftians, but alfo to fpecial 
 providences, and the particular circumftan- 
 ces of thofe, who join with us in this act 
 of divine worfhip. This I call the gift of 
 Prayer, which is but an imperfect attain- 
 ment, if it is not attended with the fpirit 
 of Prayer 3 meaning thereby a praying frame 
 of heart, or that pious temper whereby a 
 perfon is inclined and difpofed to lift up his 
 
 foul
 
 r 13 i 
 
 foul to God, and to hold communion with 
 him ; not excluding fuch aids of the holy 
 Spirit as are promifed to the faithful dif- 
 charge of all chriftian duties. 
 
 Thefe things being ftated and explained, 
 it ftands very clear in my thoughts, and ap- 
 pears to be very reafonably concluded by 
 the body of DifTenters, that free Prayer, dic- 
 tated by the fenfe, ftate, and difpofition of a 
 mind duely prepared for it, is the moft eli- 
 gible. You cannot, my Friends, be wholly 
 ignorant of what has been urged, namely, 
 that praying out of a book, hinders the free 
 exercife of our own thoughts and defires, 
 which naturally mould dictate our praifes 
 and fupplicationsj for the mind is the pro- 
 per fountain of Prayer ; and the affe&ions, 
 or pious fenfe of our minds, moft certainly 
 ought not to be ftinted or crampt in Prayer; 
 but, as we have freedom of accefs to the 
 throne of grace, mould be allowed to ex- 
 pand to their full dimenfions, and to exprefs 
 themfelves freely. We ought to ferve God 
 with our beft ; and nothing lefs than this is 
 the beft wherewith we can ferve God. 
 
 Further ; the ufe of a form prevents the 
 improvement and growth of our mental a- 
 
 bilities
 
 f '4 ] 
 
 bilities in our intercourfe with the fupreme 
 Majefty of heaven and earth, which is the 
 glory and higheft excellence of our nature, 
 and where we mould be mod felicitous, di- 
 ligent and induftrious, to exercife, enlarge 
 and difplay them in the beft manner we arc 
 able. He that only reads his Prayers, may 
 never be able to do any thing more than 
 read ; may never be able to ufe his own 
 thoughts, in conceiving a regular addrefs to 
 God his Maker, Father, and Ruler. Again, 
 the conftant repetition of the fame words, 
 (fuppofe, of the fame Sermon) hath a ten- 
 dency to make us lefs attentive to the fenfe, 
 and fo has lefs force to awaken, ingage and 
 imprefs the mind. They are read and re- 
 garded as things of courfe, but the Prayer 
 which proceeds from the abundance of the 
 heart and affections, is not only more live- 
 ly in itfelf, but more affecting to others 
 who hear it, and moft naturally fuited to 
 awaken their attention, and to penetrate and 
 move their hearts ; whereas reading a Pray- 
 er is no certain fign that a Prayer proceeds 
 from the inward fenfe, and conception of 
 the reader's mind ; and fo, in that refpedt, 
 muft have comparatively lefs effect upon 
 
 the
 
 [ '5 ] 
 
 the audience. Laftly, perpetual confinement 
 to a form may render our converfe with 
 God very imperfed ; for tf is not poflible, 
 that any forms of Prayer (hould be compo- 
 fed, that are perfectly fuited to every ftate 
 of our minds, and to all our occafions, in 
 the things either of this life, or of that 
 which is to come. But in the ufe of free 
 Prayer, the careful performer can take in 
 and expatiate upon whatever relates to parti- 
 cular cafes and occurrences, fo as to ingage, 
 affect, and pioufly difpofe the minds of thofe 
 that join with him. On all thefe accounts, 
 I reckon, that the fpirit and gift of Prayer, 
 are infinitely preferable to all the fineft com- 
 pofitions in the world j and furely every one 
 muft be convinced in his confcience, that 
 they are a mod excellent qualification in a 
 Minifter of the Gofpel. 
 
 But the cafe will ftand in a flronger 
 light, if we take a view of the means, and 
 of the difpofitions of mind by which 
 both the gift and the fpirit of Prayer 
 are duely attained, and preferved in their 
 proper ftate and vigor for con ft ant habitu- 
 al ufe. The ground and bafis of this ex- 
 cellent endowment is laid in a deep and fe- 
 
 rious
 
 [ '6 ] 
 
 rious fenfe of God and religion fixed in the 
 mind and confcience. As Prayer confifts 
 in the holy exercife of faith, love, truft, 
 and delight in God ; as it takes in the whole 
 compafs of religion, and is connected with 
 all our concerns both fpiritual and temporal, 
 this plainly makes it neceflary, that every 
 perfon ought for himfelf to furnifh his 
 mind with fuch knowledge of God, and 
 fuch pious fentiments and affections with 
 regard to him, as difpofe and determine the 
 mind to truft in him at all times, and to 
 look and feek unto him for every bleffing. 
 Every man mould believe that God is, and 
 that he is the rewarder of all them, without 
 exception, who diligently feek him. That 
 he is the fupreme Sovereign, the Lord and 
 Governor of the whole univerfe j the au- 
 thor of our being, and of all our injoy- 
 ments ; almighty in power, and can do all 
 things for us j unerring in wifdom, and can 
 neither be ignorant of our circumftance?, 
 nor pafs a wrong judgment upon them; of 
 perfect moral rectitude, a God of truth, and 
 without iniquity ; always intimately prefent 
 with us, wherever we are; the confcious 
 witnefs to all our thoughts and actions ; 
 
 and
 
 f '7 ] 
 
 and a being perfect in goodnefs, muft as a 
 
 tender Father, be gracioufly inclined to 
 make us happy in that way which his wii- 
 dom fees to be moft expedient. 
 
 Thus we mould be difpofed continually 
 to reverence and adore him; to retain a 
 moft grateful fenfe of his beneficence ; to 
 repofe a ftedfaft truft in his all-fufficiency 5 
 to adl righteouily, as always under his eye 5 
 and to fubmit with patience and resignation 
 to his difpofals. Every man mould be fen- 
 lible of his own ignorance, weaknefs, infuf- 
 ficiency and guilt, that he may converfe 
 with God in true humility, with lively and 
 ftrong defires, and with unfeigned penitence 
 and contrition of heart. Every chriftian 
 mould have clear apprehenfions of the grace 
 of God in Jefus Chrift our Lord, or of that 
 moft glorious, fublime, and rational fcheme, 
 
 which he hath formed to redeem us from 
 
 . 
 
 the guilt and power of all iniquity, to re- 
 fine and exalt our nature to a very high de- 
 gree of purity, honor and felicity in the 
 heavenly and eternal world j of all the no- 
 ble privileges, and advantages, the exceeding 
 great and precious promifes, and all the 
 things pertaining to life and godlinefs, which 
 B his
 
 f '8 ] 
 
 his divine power hath given us, as means 
 and motives to animate our obedience, to 
 raife our views and affections above the world, 
 and the flefh, to give us fortitude in refift- 
 ing temptation, and to make us ftedfaft and 
 unmoveable, always abounding in the work 
 of the Lord, in all fincere difmterefted good- 
 nefr, beneficence, virtue and piety ; the va- 
 nity and frailty of this life, the infinite im- 
 portance of our preient being, the near ap- 
 proaches of death, the coming of our Lord, 
 the refurreclion, the awful judgment, which 
 will affign the righteous to everlafting lite, 
 and the wicked to eternal perdition. 
 
 Thefe are the principles of religion, moft 
 juft and important, which ought to be firm- 
 ly eftablifhed in the mind of every chriftian, 
 to enable him to diicharge all the duties of 
 his profeifion, and particularly to qualify 
 and difpofe him to make his addreffes in a 
 worthy and acceptable manner to the throne 
 of grace. Thefe are the ground and foun- 
 dation of the gift and fpirit of Prayer. 
 
 And where this foundation is laid in the 
 heart, fuch a heart will be ftored with fuch 
 an abundance of pious fentiments, as will 
 naturally have a great effect upon the utter- 
 ance
 
 t 19 ] 
 
 ance of the mouth, for out of the abun- 
 dance of the heart the mouth fpeaketh* 
 And for a fupply of materials and the pro- 
 pereft language, the Scriptures are abundant- 
 ly fufricient. He who reads, and ftudieth 
 the word of God, as every chriftian, and 
 cfpecially every Minifter of the Gofpel, ought 
 to do, with conftancy and care, will be 
 thoroughly furnifhed unto this, as well as 
 unto all other good works j and cannot fail 
 of attaining both a divine fkill and elo- 
 quence, and alfo a pious difpofition for, 
 pouring out his heart before God on all oc- 
 cafions. 
 
 In order to prefer ve this gift, and 
 this fpirit, in a due ftate and temper for the 
 daily difcharge of the duty, in the exercife 
 of free Prayer, it is neceflary that a perfon 
 fhould keep a flricl: guard upon his fpirit, 
 his heart and affe&ions, and order his courfc 
 of life in fuch a manner, as to avoid what- 
 ever would diffipate his thoughts, or unfit 
 him for facred ccnverfe with Gocl. Carnal 
 thoughts fbould be expelled, fenfual, earthly 
 afte&ions mould be mortified, or held in 
 fubjeciion ; vain, light, frothy converfation, 
 and whatever is inconfiftent with an even, 
 B 2 eompofcd,
 
 compofed, ferious frame of mind, is to be 
 avoided. In the practice of the duty, the 
 mind fhould daily be exercifed, not only at 
 ftated convenient hours, but at other feafons, 
 in pious ejaculations, or breathings after God, 
 as bufmefs, or the intervals of it, will permit. 
 Thus we (hall have God in our thoughts, 
 and acknowledge him in all our ways. Thus 
 Chrift will dwell in our hearts, and we 
 mall be filled with the fulnefs of God. Thus 
 our minds will be well prepared for the in- 
 fluences of the holy Spirit, to give us life, 
 warmth, and enlargement of thought, which 
 will be attended with fluency of fpeech in 
 Prayer. 
 
 Happy, beyond expreflion, is the man, 
 who is thus qualified for communion with 
 God. He worships him in fpirit and truth, 
 in the pure, fpiritual, lively devotion of the 
 foul, and ftands in no need of other affift- 
 ance. His heart is his Prayer-Book, vaftly 
 preferable to the moft curious competitions; 
 he hath attained to fome perfection of beau- 
 ty in this fervice } he feels the pleafure and 
 power of it in his own breaft, and mews it 
 before men in all its lovelinefs and attrac- 
 tive force. 
 
 For
 
 From this reprefentation, which I am 
 perfuaded you will acknowledge to be juft, 
 you may fee, my Countrymen, in the nature 
 of the thing, the great advantage of free 
 Prayer. 
 
 For by laying in materials, and furnifh- 
 ing our minds with proper fentiments for 
 Prayer, in ftudying the holy Scriptures, we 
 take the moft effectual method to form and 
 fix in our fouls the beft principles and dif- 
 pofitions for a holy life. This is an advan- 
 tage which cannot arife from the reading of 
 Prayers, efpecially thofe that are compofed 
 by other hands. And in ufing our own 
 compofitions -f-, the fenfe is, in fome mea- 
 fure, transfered from the mind, to a wri- 
 ting, and the thoughts are not fo much 
 charged with our addreffes to the throne of 
 grace. And in the conftant ufe of reading 
 of the fame competition, there is danger 
 that the heart and thoughts will be dill lefs 
 and lefs imployed in the fervice. 
 
 B 3 In 
 
 f I would not be underftood abfolutely to preclude a Mi- 
 nifter's reading his own precompofed Prayer, on fome extra- 
 ordinary occafions, or under a difconcerted (late of mind. 
 Upon thefe occafions I think they may be allowed to read 
 fuch written precompofed Prayer.
 
 In the ufe of free Prayer a perfon is obli- 
 ged to fet a conftant watch over his fpirit 
 and behaviour, to keep himfelf always in a 
 fober praying frame, as before obferved. 
 This is another advantage to the chriftian 
 life in general, which every wife man, efpe- 
 cially every Minilter of the Gofpel, would 
 choofe to injoy, as being no more than what 
 our common profeffion of religion requires 
 of us, and yet of excellent ufe to enable us 
 to anfwer its obligations, by fetling our 
 minds in a devout ferious temper. But this 
 is an advantage which doth not fo much 
 attend that method of Prayer, which requires 
 not fo ftrift a guard over a man's felf, but 
 may be performed under almoft any diffipa- 
 pation of thought, or loofe difpoiition of 
 mind. 
 
 Reading of Prayers cannot give a Mini- 
 iler any character of tfteem in a DifTenting 
 Congregation, where it is confidered as a 
 very low manner of performing the office. If 
 aMinifter prays by heart or memory, which 
 is the leaft that is done among DiiTenters, 
 he muft at the fame time fhew fome previ- 
 ous care and application to qualify himfelf 
 for the duty, and fome prefent thought and 
 
 attention
 
 [ 23 ] 
 
 attention in the difcharge of it, and fo may ap- 
 pear to be deferving of fome refpecl; which 
 muft arife to a high degree of efteem when 
 the propriety of expreffion and fentiment, 
 together with the life and fervor of utterance, 
 plainly indicate that the addrefs proceeds 
 from the immediate conceptions and fenfe 
 of a well prepared and truly pious and de- 
 vout mind. Thus it is an admirable, excel- 
 lent, and honorable gift. And the Apoftle 
 exhorts us earnejlly to cwei the bcji gifts. 
 i Cor. xii. 31. 
 
 But, my Friends, the grand principle of 
 your religious profeffion, is fcripture evi- 
 dence, and divine authority; a very juft and 
 inconteftable principle. For every matter 
 of Faith, Doctrine and Worfhip, you require 
 divine authority, and fearch the Scriptures to 
 find it. You meet with precedents for read- 
 ing religious inftructions, in religious AfTem- 
 blies. Ezra the Prieft, read in the book of 
 the Law before a general Congregation of the 
 children of Ifrael. Neb. viii. i 9. The 
 Lord ordered Jeremiah to write in the roll 
 of a book, all the words of warning and ad- 
 monition to Ifrael and Judah, which he had 
 Jfoken unto him ; and Jeremiah ordered Ba- 
 ft
 
 t 24 ] 
 
 rucb to read that roll in the ears of the peo+ 
 pie in the Lord's houfe upon the fofting day ; 
 end fo he did, Jer. xxxvi. i 9. Our 
 Lord, on the Sabbath Day flood up in the 
 Synagogue, and read a portion out of the 
 book of the Prophet Ifaiah, Luke iv. 16- 
 20. St. Paul's epiftles, full of divine inftruc- 
 lions and exhortations, were read in ohri- 
 flian Aflemblies j and he gives a particular 
 order and charge about the reading of 
 them. Coloff. iv. 16. i Tbeff. v. 27. And if 
 he who reads the Scriptures in public, me- 
 ditates before-hand any remarks or enlarge- 
 ments upon their fenfe, and writes them 
 down and reads them for the fpirituai im- 
 provement of the Congregation, I apprehend 
 he is juftified in fo doing, by fcripture au- 
 thority. But in all the facred writings, we 
 find not one word about praying by precom- 
 pofed forms. Pfalms, Hymns, and fpirituai 
 Songs, mud neceflarily be precompofed 
 forms, becaufe they are in poetic meafures, 
 fitted for being fung, and fo they are ufed 
 by Diflenters, for teaching and admonim- 
 ing one another as they were by cur Lord 
 and his Apoftles. So alfo we ufe the forms, 
 jn fcripture prefcribed, in the adminiftration 
 
 of
 
 [ 25 ] 
 
 of Baptifm, and the Lord's-Supper, and in 
 difmiffing our AfTemblies. Here we have a 
 divine warrant. 
 
 In the Prayer which our Lord taught his 
 difciples, (Mat. vi. 9, &c. Luke xi. i, &c.) 
 he hath given us a fummary of the petitions 
 proper to be offered up unto God -, or a pat- 
 tern of matter, (hewing in general what 
 things we are to pray for, leaving particulars 
 to the enlargement of our own thoughts, 
 according to our particular occasions and cir- 
 cumftances. This appears to be the fenfe of 
 moft chriftians. No chriftians, I fuppofe, ever 
 imagined the Lord's-Prayer was a full and 
 complete form of Prayer or a Liturgy. For I 
 never heard of any chriftians, in any age or 
 part of the world, who thought the whole 
 office of public Prayer was abfolved, by on- . 
 ly repeating the Lord's-Prayer, or who ufed 
 the Lord's Prayer otherwife than only as a 
 part either of free Prayer, or of a fet form 
 or Liturgy. Some indeed do not ufe it at 
 all in public worfhip ; while others con- 
 tend that it is delivered to us as a form, 
 which chriftian Churches ought to ufe as 
 fuch. But thefe latter, my Friends, have no 
 controverfy with you upon this point, be- 
 
 caufe
 
 [ 26 ] 
 
 caufe you do ufe it in this manner in your 
 Aflemblies. 
 
 With regard to the Lord's- Prayer, Tome 
 have been pleafed to urge, " that our Lord's 
 " giving tms f rm wa s a precedent and 
 " warrant to his Church to give the like 
 <l forms to her difciples or members; a 
 " thing which from her infancy me ufed 
 " to do." So faith Mr.Jofepb Mede p. 2. 
 of his works. Now if thefe aflertions can 
 be fuppored by juft evidence, certainly we 
 ought chearfully to embrace fuch Liturgies 
 as public authority is pleafed to provide. 
 For why fhould we fubjecT: ourfelves to that 
 labor and attention of mind, which are ne- 
 ceffary to attain and fupport the gift and 
 fpirit of Prayer, as afore defcribed, when we 
 may be fufficiently fupplied with Prayers at 
 a much eafier rate ? But here the authority 
 on which every part of our religion refts, is 
 greatly deficient. We profefs fubjedtion to 
 Chrift alone, as our only Head, Governor 
 and Teacher, in matters of Faith, Doctrine 
 and Worship ; and therefore as his difciples, 
 we admit of no rules or forms, but what he 
 hath prefcribed.
 
 f *7 ] 
 
 And after the mod diligent and impar- 
 tial fearch, I am convinced, that no evi- 
 dence can be produced, that our Lord Je- 
 fus Chrift or his Apoftles, ever did compile, 
 prefcribe, ufe or join in any Liturgy, or 
 precompofed form of Prayer whatfoever, 
 whether fuppofed to be jewifh or chrifti- 
 an. There is not only a total filence of 
 fuch forms in the apoftolic writings, but 
 Prayer is there fpoken of and recommend- 
 ed in fuch an extenfive latitude, taking in 
 all particular cafes, circumftances and emer- 
 gencies whatfoever, as is not confident with 
 the limitation which mud neceflarily at- 
 tend precompofed forms. Had the Church 
 of Corinth ufed a Liturgy, St. Paul would 
 have had no occafion to have reprehended 
 their manner of praying in an unknown 
 tongue, (i Cor. xiv. 13, &c.) becaufe fuch 
 Liturgy would doubtlefs have been compo- 
 fed in the language which all the Congre- 
 gation underftood. But he corrects the per- 
 fons that prayed, not any form by which 
 they prayed j and therefore confiders the 
 Prayers, offered in the Congregation, as con- 
 cieved in the minds of the per/ons .who pray- 
 ed, and not as read out of any prefcribed 
 
 form.
 
 form. And for remedying the diforder for 
 the future, he could not have done better 
 than recommend to them the ufe of a Litur- 
 gy, which yet he appears not to have had 
 the leaft notion of. 
 
 It mould alfo be confidered, that if our 
 Lord, or his Apoftles had compiled a Litur- 
 gy, it could never have been loft - y for being 
 of divine authority, it would have been re- 
 ceived and preferved in all the Churches of 
 Chrift, in the fame manner as the other fa- 
 cred writings. As fure therefore as no fuch 
 Liturgy is now extant, * fo fure we are that 
 no fuch Liturgy ever exifted. And as our 
 Lord and his infpired Apoftles were, beyond 
 all difpute, the beft qualified for fuch a work, 
 and could not be ignorant of any advantages 
 that would attend it, in preference to free 
 Prayer, (as before defcribed) had it been in 
 reality more acceptable to God, and more 
 proper and effectual to promote the power 
 
 and 
 
 * There have been fome Liturgies as well as fome Gof- 
 pels, publiflied under the names of Apoftles, but they are 
 known to be grofs forgeries, the work of later times, impi- 
 oufly defigned to recommend the moft corrupt doclrinea 
 and practices under the cover of apoftolical authority.
 
 [ 29 ] 
 
 and life of religion in chriftian Aflemblies, 
 doubtlefs they would have provided and re- 
 commended a Liturgy. But whereas they 
 have not done this it feems to me a demon- 
 ftration that they had no fuch conceptions 
 of it. St. Paul (Acts xx. 20.) kept back no- 
 thing that was profitable to the Church of 
 Ephefus ; nor would he have kept back a 
 form of devotion if that alfo had been pro- 
 fitable to them. 
 
 It is urged, " that chriftians in the apof- 
 " tolic age, being endowed with the extra- 
 <c ordinary gifts of the Spirit, did not want 
 <c the affiftance of a Prayer-Book." Our 
 Lord and his Apoftles when they fpeak of 
 this duty, do always moft plainly reprefent 
 the gift and fpirit of Prayer as efTential to 
 the chriftian profeffion and character in ge- 
 neral j and evidently fuppofe that every 
 chriftian was, or mould have been, endow- 
 ed with both of them. They are never in 
 the New Teftament mentioned as an extra- 
 ordinary gift of the Spirit, but as a common 
 ability belonging to all the members of the 
 Church, to one as well as to another. Pray- 
 ing in an unknown tongue was a miraculous 
 
 gift
 
 [ 3 } 
 
 gift of the Spirit, (i Cor, xiv. 14 ) but pray- 
 ing, fimply conlidered, in the way of free 
 Prayer was not fo. Indeed how could free 
 Prayer be efteemed an extraordinary mira- 
 culous gift, when it had exifted and been 
 exercifed in the Church of God from the be- 
 gining of the world to that very time ?* 
 
 The miraculous powers of the holy Spirit 
 took place in fuch cafes as were new, and 
 never feen or heard of before, exceeding all 
 human abilities, in order to convince unbe- 
 lievers that the Gofpel was not of man, but 
 of God ; but the gift of Prayer was no new 
 thing, and any unbeliever, upon the flighted 
 inquiry or reflection, would foon difcover 
 it was but a common talent, which men of 
 ordinary capacities and pious hearts might 
 eafily be pofleffed of, and which had long 
 been exercifed from the earlieft times. It 
 could not therefore give any diftinclion or 
 commendation to the Gofpel when firft 
 preached j and therefore was no miraculous 
 
 extraordi- 
 
 * The holy Patriarchs prayed to God ; but for above two 
 thoufand years from the bcgining of t)ve world they could 
 not pray by a Writing or Book, becaufe Writing is not men- 
 tioned, as fomc learned men fuppofe,till the world had flood 
 251 3 years. Exod. xvii. 14. And if it was invented before 
 that time, it could not be long before.
 
 [ 3' 1 
 
 extraordinary gift of the holy Ghoft, but the 
 ordinary exercife of the powers of a pious 
 mind, of which therefore we are as capa- 
 ble now, as they were at that time. For 
 have we not the fame glorious difplays of 
 the grace of God to enliven and animate 
 our fouls, and the fame divine inductions 
 to replenish our minds with all fpiritual 
 knowledge and wifdom, were we but dili- 
 gent in itudying and improving them ? 
 
 " But they were directed to pray in the 
 " Spirit, Epbef. vi. 18. Jude ver. 20. and 
 " the Spirit helpeth their infirmities in 
 <f Prayer, Rom. viii. 26." And fo they are 
 directed to worfhip God in the Spirit, Phil. 
 iii. 3. and to mortify the deeds of the body 
 through the Spirit, Rom. viii. 13. and the 
 fpirit is faid to produce in them love, joy, 
 peace, long-fufFering, gentlenefs, goodnefs, 
 faith, meeknefs, temperance, Gal. v. 22. 
 But in th<?fe latter inftances, the fpirit ftands 
 in relation to the common duties of all chrif- 
 tians, in the prefent, as well as in the apof- 
 tolic age, and therefore can relate only to 
 the common influences of the Spirit, which 
 we, as well as they, have reafon to expect. 
 The fame may be concluded with reference 
 
 to
 
 [ 32 ] 
 
 to praying in the Spirit. Prayer is the com- 
 mon duty of all chriftians, in all ages, and 
 all chriftians now a-days, are obliged to 
 pray in the Spirit^ as much as to mortify 
 the deeds of the flem through the Spirit; 
 and therefore all are bound to pray for 
 the afliftances of the Spirit, and to difpofe 
 their hearts to receive them ; which if they 
 do, they will certainly, in our days, receive 
 thofe afliftances, to enable them to dif- 
 charge this, as well as other incumbent 
 duties, in an acceptable manner. The 
 
 * 
 
 Apoftle (Ephef. i. 16. 17.) prayed, that 
 God would give unto the Ephefians the 
 fpirit cf wifdom and revelation in the know- 
 ledge of Chrift. And ought not we, every 
 one of us, to pray fo for ourfelves ? Are 
 .not we obliged to know Chrift as well as 
 the Ephefians ? 
 
 By the way, I cannot but think that the 
 chriftian religion hath fuffered very much 
 in thefe later times, from an opinion, that 
 chriftians in the apoftolic age, the age of 
 miracles, were favored with extraordinary 
 helps for a holy life, far beyond what we 
 now injoy ; and that we therefore are not 
 obliged to the fame degree of holinefs, or 
 
 the
 
 t 33 ] 
 
 the fame attainments in the /piritual life : 
 as if, after the deceafe of the Apoftles, the 
 chriftian religion had been altered into a 
 quite different thing j and becaufe we can- 
 not now work miracles, therefore we can- 
 not live a fober, righteous, and godly life, 
 in the feveral offices of religion, as chrif- 
 tians then did. And it muft be allowed, 
 that if all the influences of the Spirit were 
 abfolutely confined to the apoftolic age, 
 then all the duties required to be performed 
 through the Spirit, that is to fay, all the 
 duties belonging to the chriftian profeflion, 
 muft be confined to the apoftolic age. But 
 this is a great and dangerous miftake, which 
 quite enervates the force of the Apoftles 
 example and exhortations. For though we 
 have not, what we have no occafion for, 
 the miraculous powers of the holy Ghoft, 
 yet we have the fame Gofpel difplayed to 
 us, as clearly in all its divine principles, 
 and precepts, as it was to them ; and are 
 aflured of the fame divine affiftance in our 
 conflicts, and in the fincere difcharge of 
 our duty, which they were favored with ; 
 and, therefore, we muft be obliged to aim 
 at the fame perfection, in every part of a 
 C fober,
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 fober, righteous, and godly life ; and parti- 
 cularly in that moft eminent and funda- 
 mental part of it, the duty of Prayer. 
 
 If any mould endeavour to prove that 
 Liturgies were ufed in the ages immediately 
 fucceding the apoftolic, I muft declare, that 
 I have clofely and impartially attended to the 
 difcuffion of this point, and am fo far from 
 finding any footfteps of the ufe of precom- 
 pofed forms of Prayer, in the firft three 
 hundred years, next enfuing the apoftolic 
 age, that, on the contrary, there are fuch 
 defcriptions given of the practice of chrif- 
 tian Churches in their worship, as are in- 
 confiftent with, and exclufive of fuch 
 forms. They prayed after the manner 
 they had received from the Apoftles and 
 our Lord, according to the beft of their 
 abilities -f-, without any external affiftance ; 
 becaufe they prayed from the inward fenfe 
 and affedions of their hearts J, with their 
 
 eye's 
 
 t Offti wa.yj<; t the Hi/hop prayed with the bejl of his abi- 
 lities, invention, judgement, expreffion, &c. Jujl. Martyr. 
 Analog. 2. He that prays muft blefs God y.cna. tPvvst/j.iv ac- 
 cording to bis power. Origcn. DC Oratione. .22. 
 
 J " We chriftians pray looking up to heaven, with our 
 " hands fpread abroad, becaufe we are innocent ; having 
 
 " our
 
 f .35 ] 
 
 eyes either (hut, or devoutly looking up CO 
 God their Father in heaven *, after, the ex- 
 ample of our Lord, Job. xvii. i. Thi, for 
 the reafons already given, is, in my'appre- 
 henfion, the mod eligible way of praying. 
 And in this way they continued to pray; 
 in the pureft ages of the Church, when 
 chriftian do&rine and worfhip were leafi 
 corrupted, and whilft the brighteft lumi-< 
 naries, the moft eminent Fathers, conti- 
 nued to fliine in the chriftian world -f-. 
 C 2 After 
 
 " our heads uncovered, bccaufe we are not afh'amed ; and 
 " without a monitor, becaufe we pray from the heart." Sine 
 monitore, quia de peftore, oramus. Tertul. Analog. Cap. 30. 
 
 * A true chriftian prays, /xwrasj TS TW? eu&Hfftuf o^BxX^vf, 
 59 >#fs TSf 7j 4 y ?C M clojing the eyes ofbisfenfes, lutereQing 
 thofe ofbii miifd, Origen. contra Celf. lib. 7. And again in 
 his book DeOrat. . 9. 
 
 f A particular examination of Antiquity upon this fubjeft 
 would fwell this Piece too much ; but there is a Treatife in 
 Manufcript, done by the Reverend and Learned Mr. Brekcll of 
 Liverpool, in which all that has been advanced by the ableft 
 hands, from the writings of the Fathers of the firft three or four 
 Centuries, in favour of Liturgies, is particularly confidered, 
 and clearly confuted ; which is well deferving of regard, and 
 will be pnblifhed, if properly encouraged. 
 
 Lord King hath alfo confidered this fubjedl, though not fo 
 fully, in his Inquiry into the Conflifution, Sec. of tie primitive 
 Church, where he faith, (Part II.-p. 34.) " Now as 'to thefe 
 " prefcribed forms, there is not the leaft mention of them,
 
 [ 36 ] 
 
 After thofe great lights were extindl, 
 and corruptions of all forts begun to crowd 
 into the Church, fome, if not many Mi- 
 nifters, were fo ignorant and unqualified, 
 that they were not only not capable of 
 praying from the fenfe and furniture of 
 their own minds, but were not able to 
 hammer out a Prayer for themfelves, and 
 borrowed Prayers from others, fuch as they 
 happened to meet with good or bad. It was 
 in this degenerate ftate of things, about four 
 hundred years from the birth of Chrift, that 
 Minifters firft begun to write, and, pro- 
 bably, to read their Prayers, in the public 
 offices of religion, as we have not the leaft 
 intimation of it in the writings of the an- 
 tients before this time. 
 
 No lefs a perfon than the famous St. 
 Auguftin^ who flourifhed in the begining 
 of the fifth Century, is the man who gives 
 us this account of the low flate into which 
 fome of the Clergy of his time were funk j 
 
 his 
 
 ' in any of the primitive writings, nor the leaft word or 
 " fyllable tending thereunto, that I can find ; which is a moft 
 " unaccountable filence, if ever fuch there were, but rather 
 " fome expreffions intimating the contrary."
 
 [ 37 1 
 
 his words are thefe J Si non fanffificatitr 
 
 aqua [baptifmatis fell.] cum aliqua errorh 
 
 verba per imperitiam precator effundit^ multi 
 
 nonfolum mail fed et jam boni J rat res, in ipfa 
 
 ecclefia non Janftificant aquam. Mult or urn 
 
 enim preces emendantur quotidie fi doftioribus 
 
 fuerint recitat<z y et multa in eh reperiuntur 
 
 contra catbolicam fidem. Multi quippe ir- 
 
 ruunt in preces, non folum ab imperitu loqua- 
 
 cibus, fed ftiam ab kcereticis compo/itas ; et 
 
 per^ ignorant ice Jimplicitatem> non eas valentes 
 
 difcernere^ utuntur eis t arbitrages quod bon<z 
 
 fint. tc If the water [of Baptifm] is not 
 
 " fandtified, when he, [the Prieft or Mi- 
 
 " nifterj who prays over it, through want of 
 
 " judgement utters fome erroneous expref- 
 
 " fions, many, not only evil-minded, but 
 
 " alfo honeft brethren in the very Church, 
 
 " do not fandify the baptifmal water. For 
 
 " the Prayers of many are corrected .daily, 
 
 " when they are recited before thole that 
 
 <c are more learned, and many things are 
 
 '* found in them contrary to the catholic 
 
 " faith. Becaufe many eagerly feize upon 
 
 " the firft Prayers they happen to meet 
 
 C 3 with, 
 
 $ De Baftifmo contra Donatijl, Lib. 6. Cap. 25. Tom. vii, 
 
 306798
 
 [ 3 1 
 
 " with, though they are compofed, not only 
 
 " by injudicious praters, but even by he- 
 *' retics j and, through an ignorant fimpli- 
 " city, not being able to difcern what they 
 ft are, make ufe of them, fuppofing them 
 " to be found and good Prayers." 
 
 Here St. Augujlm, when he faith " the 
 *' Prayers of many were corrected daily, 
 *' when recited before thofe that were 
 " more learned, teems to refer to the 
 23d Canon of the third Council of Car- 
 thage *, which probably was held not long 
 before he wrote the above quotation. In 
 that Canon it is decreed, Uf nemo precibus, 
 [vel Patrem pro Filio, vel Fllium pro Patri\ 
 nominet) et cum ad altare ajjiflltur^ femper 
 ad Patrem dirigetur oratio. Et quafcun- 
 que [quicunque~\ fibi preces aliquis [aliunde] 
 defcribit, ncn cis utatur^ nifi prius eas cum 
 infiruttioribus fratribus contulerit. " That 
 <' no one, in his Prayers, mould name either 
 
 " the 
 
 * Or rather to the 2 3d Canon of the famous Council of 
 fjippo, which was held in 393, (DupinJ and in which this 
 Canon, relating to the public Prayers of Minifters, was ori- 
 ginally decreed ; and from thence, with 38 other Canons, 
 wai tranfcribed into the Canons of the third Council of 
 Cartfage, held in 397. (Dupin.) See David Clarkfotis Dif- 
 eourfe concerning Liturgies, p, 4.6, 47,
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
 <( the Father inftead of the Son, or the Son 
 " inftead of the Father. And when they 
 <c officiate at the altar, the Prayer (hall al- 
 " ways be directed to the Father. And 
 ef what Prayers foever any mall write out, 
 " [from others] for himfelf, he mall not 
 " make ufe of them, 'till he has confered 
 " about them, with his brethren of better 
 " learning and judgment." 
 
 From thefe two authentic paflages, com- 
 pared together, the truth of which cannot 
 be contefted, we may conclude. 
 
 i. .That the firft writers of Prayers, that 
 we meet with in the hiftory of the Church, 
 were injudicious praters, or heretics, as St. 
 duguftin defcribes them. 
 
 2. That the Minifters, who firft made ufe 
 of written Prayers, were not the more 
 learned, judicious, and experienced, but 
 men fo wretchedly ignorant and unfkilful, 
 that they would take up with any Prayers, 
 any forry fluff that came next to hand ; and 
 in their Prayers would put the Father in- 
 ftead of the Son, and the So?i inftead of the 
 Father. 
 
 3. That the Church muft then, at leaft 
 in fome Congregations, be funk into a very 
 
 C 4 poor
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 poor low condition, when (as plainly is 
 fuppofed) fuch Minifters, fo fcandaloufly 
 ignorant, were ftill allowed to officiate, and 
 to ufe their borrowed Prayers, in divine 
 worfhip, provided thofe Prayers were but 
 corrected by men of better judgment. 
 Therefore, the ufe of fet forms is not a 
 fign of the moft flourifhing, but of a de- 
 caying ftate of religion, and of the infuf- 
 ficiency of Minifters. For, 
 
 4. Nothing but the infufficiency of thofe 
 Minifters was the reafon why they were 
 allowed to ufe written Prayers in the public 
 wormip of God. They were not capable 
 of conceiving a Prayer in their own minds, 
 or of praying from the fenfe of their own 
 hearts. From all this we may conclude, 
 
 5. That the practice of the Minifters 
 of better learning, and judgment, was the 
 reverfe of this, namely, that they were 
 not confined to forms of Prayer j neither 
 did they write down their Prayers, but 
 prayed from the fenfe and furniture of their 
 own minds. For had they wrote down 
 their Prayers, they would furely have fup- 
 plied the ignorant brethren at once with 
 their own compofitions, inftead of going 
 
 through
 
 [ 41 ] 
 
 through the daily drudgery of examining 
 and correcting fuch miferable fluff as thofe 
 ignorant brethren laid before them; or thole 
 ignorant brethren would have had fo much 
 fenfe as to have applied to the more judici- 
 ous for their forms of Prayer, had they 
 known that they had drawn up, and ufed 
 fuch forms themfelves. 
 
 6. That in St. Auguftiris days, full four 
 hundred years after Chrift, there was no 
 Liturgy in ufe, nor fo much as thought of. 
 For it is plain, that as thofe ignorant bre- 
 thren had before been at liberty, fo the Fa- 
 thers in the Council ftill left them at liberty 
 for the future, to ufe what Prayers they 
 thought fit, under the forementioned reftric- 
 tions. Which clearly fhows, that no Mi- 
 nifters whatever, were then limited or direc- 
 ted, in the public offices of religion, by any 
 Liturgy or prefcribed form of Prayer, and 
 confequently that no fuch form had then 
 been admited into the Church. Certainly 
 there was then a very proper occafion for 
 the Council to have decreed the compiling 
 of a Liturgy, at leaft for the ufe of the 
 ignorant brethren, had fuch a thing been 
 
 thought
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
 thought of, or thought to have been expe- 
 dient ; but the Council did not decree a Li- 
 turgy, therefore they either did not think 
 of it, or did not think it a proper expedient 
 for remedying even the great inconvenien- 
 ces arifing from the incapacity of ignorant 
 Miniftcrs. 
 
 It is true, in procefs of time as fenfuality, 
 pride, ambition, luxury, floth and ignorance, 
 like a thick cloud, fpread more and more 
 over the minds and manners of Minifters, 
 an inability to pray became ftill more gene- 
 ral, till at laft the fcheme of a Liturgy was 
 ftarted, when indeed it was almoft necefla- 
 ry to preferve the very form of public wor- 
 fhip in the Church. This fcheme could 
 not take place all at once ; it muft and did 
 gain ground by degrees, as people were in- 
 clined or compelled to comply with it; till 
 at length, the Roman MhTal or Mafs-Book, 
 by the ufual methods of policy and power, 
 was eftablimed and impofed, diffufing the 
 fuperftitions of the Church of Rome, and 
 her ufurped authority over confcience through 
 the body of the weftern empire ; but not in 
 the largeft extent, till five or fix hundred 
 
 years
 
 [ 43 } 
 
 years from the time in which St. Augujlln 
 flourished, -f- 
 
 And now, my dear Countrymen, from 
 what has been advanced concerning the na- 
 ture of Prayer, and the practice of the ear- 
 lieft ages of chriftianity, you may be ena- 
 bled to form fome judgment upon the new 
 fcheme of reading Prayers in your ArTem- 
 blies, and the ufe of a Liturgy which has 
 been for a long time meditated, and now is 
 puling in execution by fome of your Mini- 
 fters. * And weighing every thing foberly 
 and impartially, what do you think of the 
 
 cafe ? The Apoftles did not think they 
 
 had any warrant to depart from the exam- 
 ple of our Lord, nor did the primitive chri- 
 flians, for at leaft four hundred years, ima- 
 gine 
 
 t See Arch-Bifhop Ufoer's Djfcourfe of the Religion an- 
 ciently profefled by the Irirn and Britifli. p. 31, 32, 33. 
 
 *,I.do not here, nor in any following part of this Addrefs, 
 take in any confiderable number of the Lancajkire Ministers, 
 much lefs of the whole body ; whofe characters I know, to bp 
 worthy of efteem and honor. I mean only thofe who are. 
 immediately concerned in this affair. And though I cannot 
 do juftice to the Subject without arguing upon the cafe,, and 
 their conduct in it, yet I have no defign to expofe their Per- 
 fons, but fmcerely wilh they may be concealed from the jn. 
 quifitive Reader.
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
 gine they had any reafon or warrant to de- 
 part from the practice of the Apoftles. 
 Where then is the warrant for this inno- 
 vation ? I know of none that can be produ- 
 ced, but the infufficiency of Minifters. You 
 may plainly fee, that the infufficiency of 
 Minifters, was the firft occafion of reading 
 Prayers in the Church. That indeed can- 
 not be charged upon your innovators, nor 
 are you or I difpofed to rank them with St. 
 Auguftin's injudicious praters, or his ignorant 
 brethren. However, I will venture to fay, 
 " that if their reading of Prayers is not the 
 c< refult of ignorance and infufficiency, ig- 
 cc norance and infufficiency may* and, pro- 
 " bably, will be the refult of their reading 
 <c Prayers." For in this way, it is evident 
 enough, they will indulge a relaxation of 
 thought, and of that ferious attention to 
 the word of God, and to things fpiritual 
 and divine which is neceflary to fupport an 
 ability to pray. Through negligence, and 
 for want of due exercife, their heads will 
 lofe the furniture, the materials and expref- 
 fions, which they may already have acqui- 
 red, and their hearts will grow indifferent, 
 cold, and languid. Thus their parts will 
 
 ruft,
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
 ruft, their gifts and fpirits will wither, and 
 they will contrail an habitual indifpofition 
 to communion with God, and reduce them- 
 felves to a prayerlefs condition. The con- 
 fequence of which will be, a flothful aver- 
 fion to ftudy, a linking in all minifterial en. 
 dowments, and a general unfitnefs for every 
 part of their important work j and yet they 
 will (till ferve for reading of Prayers, and 
 other men's Sermons, even when they are 
 incapable of making any of their own. 
 
 c< But the defigfi is to improve the Dif- 
 
 fenting mode of Worfhip." The DifTent- 
 
 ing mode of Worfhip by free Prayer, is 
 
 formed upon the example of our Lord 
 
 and his Apoftles, explained and confirmed 
 
 by the practice of the pureft ages of chrifti- 
 
 anity. And whoever attempts to improve 
 
 it upon juft principles, muft fix it upon the 
 
 very fame foundation on which it now ftands, 
 
 and direct it by the very fame rule, and fo 
 
 muft leave it juft as it is. He may indeed 
 
 by his inftructions or admonitions improve 
 
 the abilities of thofe who perform the Wor-. 
 
 {hip of God after this mode or method j bqt 
 
 the mode itfelf no human wifdom can 
 
 improve, Lccaufe it is formed upon the moft 
 
 perfect
 
 t 46 ] 
 
 perfect plan of the example of Chrift and 
 his Apoftles, which cannot poffibly be im- 
 proved or rendered more perfect. Could 
 our blefled Lord or his Apoftles counte- 
 nance by their example, or recommend in 
 any fhape, a method of praying which they 
 knew, (and they muft have known it had 
 been fo) was of fuch an improper or im- 
 perfect kind, that it wanted no fmall cor- 
 rection ? 
 
 The Principles and Worfhlp of Diflenters 
 are not formed upon filch flight foundation, 
 as the unlearned and thoughtlefs may ima- 
 gine. They were thoroughly confidered, 
 and judicioufly reduced to the ftandard of 
 Scripture, and the writings of Antiquity, by^ 
 a great number of men of learning and in- 
 tegrity ; I mean the Bartholomew Divines, 
 or the Minifters ejedled in the year 1662; 
 men prepared to lofe all, and to fuffer mar- 
 tyrdom itfelf j and who actually refigned 
 their Livings, (which, with mod of them, 
 were, under God, all that they and their fa- 
 milies had to fubfift upon) rather than fin 
 againft God, and defert the caufe of religi- 
 ous and civil Liberty j which together with 
 fefious religion, would, I am perfuadec?, 
 
 have
 
 [ 47 ] 
 
 have funk to a very low ebb in the Nation, 
 had it. not been for the bold and noble ftand 
 thefe worthies made againft imposition up- 
 on cpnfcience, profanenefs, and arbitrary 
 power. 
 
 They had the beft Education England 
 could afford j * moft of them were excel- 
 lent Scholars, judicious Divines, pious, faith- 
 ful, and laborious Ministers ; of great zeal 
 for God and Religion, undaunted and cou- 
 ragious in their Mailer's work - y keeping clofe 
 to their people in the worft of times j dili- 
 gent in their ftudiesj folid, affectionate, 
 powerful, lively, awakening Preachers j aim- 
 ing at the advancement of real vital religion 
 in the hearts and lives of men, which it 
 cannot be denied flourished greatly wherever 
 they could influence. Particularly, they 
 were men of great devotion and eminent 
 abilities in Prayer, uttered as God enabled 
 them from the abundance of their hearts 
 and affections ; men of divine eloquence in 
 pleading at the throne of Grace, raiting and 
 melting the affections of their hearers, and 
 being happily inftrumental in transfufing in- 
 to 
 
 * See Dr. Calamys Abridgment of Mr. Baxters Life. 
 Vol. II. and the Appendix.
 
 t 48 ] 
 
 to their fouls the fame fpirit and heavenly 
 gift. And this was the ground of all their 
 other qualifications - t they were excellent men, 
 becaufe excellent, inftant, and fervent in 
 Prayer. 
 
 Such were the Fathers, the firfl Formers 
 of the Diflenting Intereft. And you, here in 
 Lanfafiire, had a large (hare of thefe burn- 
 ing and mining lights. Thofe who knew 
 them not might defpife them ; but your Fore- 
 Fathers, wifer and lefs prejudiced, efteem- 
 ed them highly in love for their works fake. 
 You were once happy in your Ncivcombes, 
 your Jollies^ your Heywoods, your Finches, 
 your Anglers^ your Harrijons, Pendleburys t 
 Cromptons, Mathers, and many others, who 
 left all to follow Chrift ; but Providence 
 cared for them, and they had great comfort 
 in their minifterial fervices. The prefence 
 and bleffing of God appeared in "their Af- 
 femblies, and attended their labors. How 
 many were converted and built up in god- 
 linefs and fobriety by their prayers, pains, 
 dodrine, and converfation? How many days, 
 on particular occafions, were fet apart, and 
 fpent in warm addreffes to the throne of 
 
 Grace,
 
 [ 49 1 
 
 Grace, and how much to the comfort of 
 thofe who joined in them P 
 
 But now, alas, we are purfuing meafures, 
 which have a manifeft tendency to extin- 
 guim the light which they kindled, to damp 
 the fpirit which they enlivened, and to dif- 
 fipate and diflblve the Societies which they 
 raifed and formed. 
 
 Cdhceive in your minds what the ftate 
 of religion among the Diflenters will be, if 
 reading Prayers be the common practice of 
 all your Minifters, as doubtlefs it will, if 
 you adopt the prefent fcheme. Indeed, to 
 induce you to admit a Liturgy, you may be 
 made to believe, you (hall therewith ftill en- 
 joy, in fome parts of the fervice, the benefit 
 of free Prayer. But what fecurity can you 
 have for that ? Are not thefe or any other 
 Gentlemen at liberty to vary, and make al- 
 terations when, and as they pleafe? You 
 may depend upon it, if reading Prayers be 
 once admited, as indifpofition and incapa- 
 city grow and fpread, you will have nothing 
 but reading, either in your public Affem- 
 blies, or on any other occasions. Young Mi- 
 nifters efpecially, (if they are not trained up 
 in reading Prayers at your Academies,) will 
 D naturally
 
 t * ] 
 
 naturally incline fo rieglecT: the culturp pf 
 this gift, when they cap be accepted in an 
 eafier way, without the application and pains 
 neceffary for the attainment of it. Tl^s 
 the gift and fpirit of Prayer will peri{h from 
 among you. While the faith and hope of 
 the Gofpel are lively and vigorous, the ipi- 
 rit of Prayer will be fo too j when this grow? 
 languid, thefe alfo ar? languifbing ai^d wi- 
 thering away. And though you and your MU 
 nifters may be alive to politenefsjamufemeot, 
 ini^th, gaiety and fenfual pleafures, you will 
 be dead to the life, power, and pleafure of 
 Religion. Such a profpect can he regarded, 
 with indifference, only by thofe who are al- 
 ready very cold and indifferent 3 tjo thofe 
 who have any degree. p fpiriiual life and 
 fenfe, it mull: appeat voty flecking. And 
 thus alfo your interejl, qf confiderable im 
 jiprtance to the caufe qf. Religion and h'ker/r 
 ty, wili.be rained. It can be fupported pnltf 
 by the fame fpirit of devotion, by which it 
 was at firffraiffid. People, will find, a Dif- 
 ference between a Prayer pn pape,r, an^i a 
 Prayer in the Heart; an^ vyhcn your Mini- 
 fters have funk their characters, but few, ifi
 
 L Si 
 
 flhy, will care for Attending upon their mini- 
 ftry, or contributing to their fubfiftence. 
 
 It may be urged, * that a fet form h the 
 "be ft mean to fecure propriety of fenti- 
 " merit and language ; and to prevent crude; 
 * c conceptions, and coarfe, low, unmeaning 
 *' expreflions, By which free Prayer may 
 " be expofed to contempt and ridicule." 
 Not language, but the fenfe of the heart, is 
 6'f the effence of Pt ayer. God who is a pure 
 nd perfect min'd, doth not fo much regard 
 What words we ufe, as with What difpofitionS 
 of rhino*. Thofe expreffions therefore are 
 ftioft proper in Prayer, not that are adorned 
 ri'd pollmed by the rules of human elo- 
 quence, but that are adapted to convey the 
 fenfe and afredtions of pious praying fouls ; 
 and every wife man will prefer that language, 
 how plain and fimple foever, which pene- 
 tfafts arid excites his heart, before all the 
 degaftce of fmooth, flowing, and harmoni* 
 6Us periods, which pleafe the falfe tafte of 
 Cations aeHcate ears, and are apt to lead 
 the thoughts to attend more to the didiori 
 tha'fi to the duty, to the words more than 
 to the fenfe. For which reafon, the hn- 
 and ftile of Prayer is the more im- 
 D
 
 t 52 ] 
 
 proper, the more it appears to have been 
 laboured ; and your new Prayer-Book may 
 pfbve a gilded Idol, which will be admired 
 and adored by thofe that ufe it, more than 
 the God they profefs to worfhip. 
 
 Natural plainnefs and fimplicity in divine 
 Wormip is mod fuitable to the Gofpel ; 
 which fimplicity if we deftroy by adding to 
 it the paint and patches of bold and wanton 
 fancies, we deftroy its purity, power, and 
 trueft beauty. That way of worfhip is 
 moft pleafing to God, not that we imagine, 
 but which he choofes. And, my Country- 
 men, may you not more ftedfaftly believe, 
 that your own fcripture-way is more ac- 
 ceptable? And is it not much fafer for 
 you to adhere to what you know Reve- 
 lation will vindicate ? And furely you may 
 bear with fome improper expreflions, or e- 
 ven incongruities of fpeech, (if it mould fo 
 happen,) if the Prayer be affectionate, and 
 hath fuch Oratory as the great God is pleaf- 
 ed to liften to, the Oratory of a warm and 
 fincere heart. Some in St. Augujlins days 
 ridiculed the coarfe and uncouth language, 
 which fome of the Bi/hops aad Minifters 
 
 then
 
 [ 53 1 
 
 then ufed in Prayer. " But, faith he, f Let 
 " them know, there is no voice befides the 
 w affection of the foul, that reaches the ear 
 ct of God j and they will not jeer, if per- 
 " chance they obferve that fome of the Bi- 
 " {hops and Minifters of the Church do call 
 " upon God with barbarifms or folecifms," 
 that is, with odd and improper ways of 
 fpeaking. |] " For," according to Chryfof- 
 tom> tc God feeketh not the eloquence of the 
 " tongue, nor the elegant compofition of 
 <c words, but the flower and vigor of the 
 " foul." % 
 
 But, my Friends, the foregoing objection 
 is not of your making, whofe ears, I dare 
 fay, have not been difgufted by any crude 
 conceptions, or low coarfe language, which 
 your Minifters have ufed in Prayer. Your 
 D 3 Minifters, 
 
 t Noverint etiam non efle vocem ad aures Dei, nifi ani- 
 mi affeftum ; ita enim non irridebunt, fi aliquos antiftites et 
 miniftros ecclefiae forte animadverterint vel cum barbarifmis, 
 vel foloecifmis Deum invocare. Augufl. De catech. rudibus, 
 cap. 9. torn. IV. 
 
 || This is another Proof, that fet forms of Prayer were not 
 in ufe in St. Augujlins time, full four hundred Years afte.r 
 Chrift. 
 
 t Oy ><*? ^A<yr7$T# xrtAA^- a 0ft-, oi/tTg p//et7 ffwQn- 
 v /y* u f AVt Cbryfo/iom. in Pfal. 8.
 
 54 } 
 
 to whom you give a lib^ra,! 
 cation, are trained up to perform the fplemrj 
 .duty, in a proper and agreable manner. 
 Why then do fome of them labor to difpa- 
 rage and difcard free Prayer? In this way 
 Minifters are obliged to greater care, thought, 
 and circumfpedtion j and it lies as a weighty 
 charge upon their conferences, to ufe all pro- 
 per means to qualify themfelves for doing hp- 
 por tp a manner of worship, recommended by 
 the Son of God. And np wife man would wall 
 to be exempted from this, as it is evident- 
 }y a mean of keeping the fenfe and power 
 pf Religion alive in his hea/t. But yet, I fuf- 
 pecl, it is here the difficulty lies. " We care 
 f r not for having o,ur mjnds under fuch con- 
 ff,Araints, always watching over our fpirits, 
 f c cultivating and guarding a ferious frame and 
 5? praying afTedlions." What's to be done? 
 Why furely we ought to rectify our hearts. 
 No " We defire and infift that you give up 
 ff free Prayer, as an improper way of wor- 
 f ' fhip, and allow us to read our Prayers out 
 V of a Paper or Book." But how can you 
 give up free Prayer, which {lands upon the 
 
 reafons, and the higheft authority ? 
 and mould reform - y 
 but
 
 [ 55 ] 
 
 but the mode cannot be mended, therefore 
 fllould not be difcarded. Should you com- 
 ply with this, are you fure we mall flop 
 here ? May we not in time be too indolent 
 to ftudy our own Sermons ? I fear we fhould. 
 Your Minifters, for above a hundred years, 
 haVe prayed in this manner with the appro- 
 bation, and to the advantage of their hear- 
 ers , and fo may your prefent and fucceding 
 IVtonifters, if they give themfelves to Prayer t 
 and ftudy to be good Minifters, nourified up 
 in te 'words of Faith and found Doftrine. 
 B(it if any are not capable of minifterial 
 qualification's] or reFufe to acquire them, 
 why do they ingage in the miniftry ? Or 
 wh'dt have they to do among you ? Let them 
 turn fome other way. 
 
 There is a Piece, and the only one writ- 
 teri upon this occafion, in favor of this new 
 fcheme, by one, though namelefs, who 
 rhtift be a principal leader in it, intitled A 
 Letter to a DiJfentingMinifter, reprefmtlng 
 the expediency of ftated forms of Prayer for 
 public Wofjhip. By a Diflenting MINISTER.* 
 04 Firft 
 
 * The Editor of thefe fheets has been informed, that 
 this " Letter to a Diflenting Minifter, t^f." is afcribed to th 
 Reverend Mr. SEOOON of WARRINGTON.
 
 f 56 1 
 
 Firft pablimed in London 1753. and again 
 
 10 the Country in 1758. This Letter has 
 been anfwered, and fufficiently confuted by 
 the learned Mr. BREKELL of LIVERPOOL, * 
 and by another hand. As it has been twice 
 published, without any reply to either of 
 thefe anfwers, we are left to conclude, that 
 the principles upon which the Author and 
 his Friends have acted, are contained in this 
 Letter, and in their judgment do fland good, 
 and ftill remain in their full undiminiflied 
 force. And without doubt, my Friends, they 
 would be pleafed if you alfo were of the 
 fame perfuafion. But whether this be the 
 cafe, you may judge if you pleafe to attend 
 to the few following reflections upon this 
 Letter. 
 
 He fets out thus - " The circumftance I 
 " confefs, which has the greateft weight 
 
 11 with me, and bears harde.ft upon our me- 
 " thod," (meaning the Diflenters method of 
 Prayer,) " is the tendency it has in general 
 " to deftroy the very nature of Prayer itfelf, 
 " confidered as a direct folemn addrefs to, 
 < c and immediate intercourfe with the Al- 
 
 " mighty." 
 
 * Under the tide of" Remarks upon a Letter to a Dif- 
 fenting Minifter, 5V." publilhed in the year 1758,
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 ' mighty." (p. 4.) That is to fay, the me- 
 thod of praying among the Diflenters, 
 confidered in general, by whomfoever, or 
 in what manner foever, it is performed, 
 has a tendency to deftroy the very nature 
 of it, or to render it no Prayer, no addrefs 
 to God, no aft of converfe, or communion 
 with the Almighty. 
 
 This is a moft ram and extravagant af- 
 fertion. Our Lord prayed with his difci- 
 ples, the only Congregation he then had 
 upon earth, Luke ix. 18, 28. xi. i. 
 John xvii. I, &c. in which laft place, we 
 have his Prayer at large, through the whole 
 Chapter. Now, no man of underftanding 
 can fuppofe, that our Lord read his Prayers 
 out of a Paper, or a Book - } or that he, and 
 his Apoftles after him, prayed otherwife 
 than in the free and extempore way, the 
 fame, in its general nature and ufe, as free 
 Prayer is now ufed. This is allowed by 
 the warmed and moft learned advocates for 
 Liturgies ; and, I am perfuaded, this Writer 
 himfelf is of the fame opinion. Therefore, 
 by common confent, it muft be judged, 
 that the fevere charge, which he has ad- 
 vanced againft the method of praying among 
 
 the
 
 the Diflenters, and which is the foundation 
 of his whole fcheme, infers the higheft 
 diflionour to our Lofd, and his Apoftles. 
 What, could our Lord, or could hrs Apof- 
 tles, pray in a method implying the moft 
 folemn mockery towards God, and the 
 groffeft hypocrify towards men ? In a wky, 
 which, if this Author knows it, they muft 
 certainly have known it, to have a tendency 
 ts deftro^ the very nature of Prayer itfelf,. 
 dr to fruftrate the end antt deTign of that 
 folemn duty ? God forbid* that' any one 
 fhould adopt a principle of fuch impious 
 tendency ! Or that any honeft chriftian 
 fhould be deluded by a- fentirrfent fo dif- 
 honorable to the blefled Redeemer of the 
 vforid ! And yet this is- the principle, for 
 any thing they have told us to the 
 trary, upon which the' new fcheme is 
 blifhed. 
 
 By the way, this hints an admonition to 
 fach as diflike the mode of praying .among, 
 the Diffenters. They may except againft 
 the manner in which it may be improperly 
 performed by particular perfons, butagainft 
 thfc mode itfelf, in general^ they canndt Cx*- 
 cept, \vithout excepting againft the prac- 
 
 tiCQ
 
 [ 59 I 
 
 tfce gf QJJ; bkflfed Lotd, and of his Apoftles, 
 who certainly prayed .in this manner. 
 
 As this Writer, by juft confequence, af- 
 firms, " that without fct forms, or Liturgies, 
 * ' Prayer, hath a tendency to deftroy itfelf, or 
 " to be no ; Prayer at all," he furely raifes their 
 utility a great deal too high. For thus he 
 reprefents them as eflentially neceffary to 
 fupport the very being of Prayer in chriftian 
 Afiemblies, But if this be true, our Lord 
 and his infpired Apoftles muft have known 
 it to be true. And then, as they were, be- 
 yond difpute, the beft qualified, fo doubtlefs 
 they would have taken care to have fup- 
 plied us abundantly,, and free from all error 
 too, with that which was neceffary to pre- 
 f^rve the very being of Prayer in chriftian 
 Congregations, I mean a Liturgy ; and not 
 have left it to be done by no body knows 
 who, in remote ages, and at a time when 
 they forefaw the chriftian religion would be 
 greatly corrupted. But neither our Lord, 
 nor his Apoftles, have left us fucfo a Li- 
 turgy, as this Author is contending for j 
 therefore he has carried his notion of a 
 Jjiturgy far beyond any opinion, our Lord, 
 
 Pf
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 or his Apoftles could have of it, that is to 
 fay, far beyond the truth. 
 
 However, to remedy the inconveniences 
 attending the diflenting method, he informs 
 us, that he collected and put together forms 
 of Prayer Jor his own ufe t with a defign to 
 introduce them into bis own Congregation. 
 (p. 9, 10, 13.) But upon further conjider- 
 ation> he found there was fufficient occafion 
 to believe^ that the generality of the Congre- 
 gation would be greatly fcandalized at the at- 
 tempt, and bis circumftances were fucb as 
 obliged him in prudence to decline the fcbeme 5 
 aftd fo, cocfulting with worldly prudence, 
 he went on ftill praying, as ufual, in the 
 public Aflembly in a way, which he was 
 confcious had a tendency to deftroy the very 
 nature of Prayer itfelf. I wim I could re- 
 concile this conduct with integrity. How 
 could he in honor perfift in ufing a mean 
 of divine appointment for the eternal fal- 
 vation of hitnfelf, and of his Congregation 
 in a manner, which he was perfuadcd had 
 a tendency to render it ineffectual, or rather 
 to annihilate it ? Our glorious firft Refor- 
 mers in England chofe the bittereft fuffer- 
 ings, and moft cruel death j and the Bar- 
 tholomew
 
 tholomew Divines, the Fathers of the Dif- 
 fenting Caufe, refigned all their Livings, and 
 caft themfelves entirely upon Providence, 
 rather than violate confcience, or, fin againft 
 God. Let my foul for ever be with tbefouh 
 of tbefe men. 
 
 But here, my Countrymen, I may appeal 
 
 to your own experience j you have, many 
 
 of you, for a long courfe of years, attended 
 
 upon the worftiip of God in diflenting 
 
 Affemblies, and do you find, upon reflection, 
 
 that you have been praying all this while 
 
 in a method, <c which has a tendency to 
 
 <c deftroy the very nature of Prayer itfelf ;" 
 
 and that the longer you have joined in it, the 
 
 more your hearts have been eftranged from 
 
 God ; or that you. have lefs prayed to God 
 
 in faith and hope, the longer you have fin- 
 
 cerely endeavoured to pray to him in this 
 
 way ? Have your Prayers, merely by the 
 
 ufe of this method, and by nothing elfe, 
 
 at length been rendered a folemn mockery 
 
 of God, and wholly infignificant to your- 
 
 felves ? On the contrary, are you not con- 
 
 fcious, that the more you have attended to 
 
 this way of praying, the more you have 
 
 been edified and comforted -, the more you 
 
 have
 
 6* ] 
 
 have improved in the lov of God, and 
 every chriftian difpofition ; the more hum- 
 ble, the more fcrious, and the more hea- 
 venly rfiiftded you have been ? Who then 
 can have the afluranee to affirm, that you 
 have been fo long praying in a method, 
 " that has a tendency to deftroy the very 
 ** nature of Prayer itfelf ? " Or you may 
 try the truth of the Cafe anotner way. 
 You have neighbours all around, who Wof- 
 fhfp God in the method riris perfott fc con- 
 tending for. Dbffr it appeai*, that tfte^ 
 have a much higher 1 i>elifh of ipirttda! 
 things, or a much dflspe? fenfe of God 
 and religion than the generality of your 
 fenting Acquaintance _* 
 
 You have had aittong jtotf melt df 4 
 moft excellent atimfterial abilirtes^ attd ! of 
 the rnofl: undoubted mtegfity, eminent iri 
 tfac gift and' fpirit of Grayer, who by the 
 fervor of their devotions, hatve raifed tfie 
 hearts of thoufands tllatf joirled c dierh, t 
 tha throne of grace ; and can you believfc 
 that fnch; worthy/ Minifters, and hafppy 
 inftruments of promoting the power of 
 religion in the hearts, c-tf fo many, either 
 old or would *a> i a* ittattfter whicfi
 
 I 63 ] 
 
 had a tendency to fruftrate all the important 
 ends and purpofes of it ? If not, can you 
 think thofe deferving of any regard who can 
 infinuatc fuch a vile reflexion? Or that 
 fcheme worthy of encouragement, which is 
 only fupported by a fentiment fo falfe and 
 groundlefs ? 
 
 It is alfo intimated, that you are too apt 
 to look upon Prayer as the Minifter's bufmefs % 
 and not to, confider it Jo much as you Jhould do* 
 as a du.ty in which you yourf elves are equally 
 concerned, (p. 4.) But is this true ? Here 
 again you are to anfwer for yourfelves. Are 
 you indeed fo ignorant or fo carelefs, that 
 you do not know or do not conficfer that 
 the Minifler is the mouth of the whole 
 Congregation, and that all prefent fliould 
 join him in Prayer, and lift up their hearts 
 to God as well as he ? I cannot entertain 
 aa opinion of you fo mean and difparaging. 
 
 But he fancies, " that a DnTenting Liturgy 
 " would turn much to the advantage both 
 u of the Church of England and of the Dif- 
 " fenters/' As how ? Why, manyferious and 
 fenfible people, who think, there are very juft 
 exceptions againft many parts of their public 
 fervice, and fnd fo little difpofaion in their 
 
 Governors
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
 Governors to make any alteration^ however 
 reafonable, might very gladly come over to us 
 if they could once fee us making ufe of a Li- 
 turgy, in which they could join with greater 
 fatisfatfion. (p. 12.) But can we be fo vain 
 as to imagine that any Liturgy we can com- 
 pile will ingage the attention and efteem of 
 Church-men ? At beft, it will be but a Pref- 
 byterian Liturgy, and that alone with the 
 generality will fink it into contempt. 
 
 A Prejbyterian Liturgy, drawn up by a 
 few obfcure inferior hands, the implement 
 of a Conventicle, without the fanction of 
 public authority, can have no great effect 
 upon our Brethren of the Church of - 
 'gland. But inftead of foftening, (p. 12.) 
 will certainly heighten old prejudices, when 
 we appear to be fuch Jlijf, obftinate, and 
 way-ward mortals, that even when we are 
 'convinced of the utility of Liturgies, yet 
 ' we refufe to accept theirs. Which, by the 
 / way, may poffibly, in fome future changed 
 / flate of public affairs, give the enemies of 
 religious liberty a handle, and fpecious pre- 
 text, to impofe upon us their own forms, by 
 fevere methods of perfecution. This de- 
 ferves to be confidered. 
 
 But
 
 t 65 ] 
 
 But if this Letter Writer wants to make 
 Profelytes, it is plain, in the cafe of the Me- 
 tbodifts, that free Prayer is the more fuc- 
 cefsful way. If their Preachers (though per- 
 feffed Churchmen) had read their Prayers, 
 they would have made no great impreffions; 
 but in the ufe of free Prayer they have 
 drawn confiderable numbers out of the 
 Church, and fettled them in Congregations 
 all over the land. For one Churchman this 
 Author will bring over to the DifTenters by 
 his Liturgy, the Methodifts, I will venture 
 to fay, have brought over a hundred, if nt 
 a thoufand, in the ufe of free Prayer. 
 
 Again ; he imagines a common Prayer- 
 Book among us, might help forward by de- 
 grees a reform in the fervice of the National 
 Church, (p. 13.) Indeed! Can we be fo pre- 
 fumptuous as to flatter ourfelves, that the 
 luftre of our example, or the excellency of 
 any Liturgy we can compile, will have force 
 enough to influence the judgment, or excite 
 the emulation of the Governors of the 
 Church, to whom the matter belongs, and 
 induce them to reform their Service-Book, 
 when of late they have not thought fit to 
 encourage the Addreffes of fome of the bed 
 E and
 
 [ 66 } 
 
 and wifeft among their own Clergy ? Some 
 wi(h for a Reform, but do they wifh, or 
 would they like, that we mould be the Re- 
 formers? It muft be a very extraordinary 
 juncture, and fuch as, in the common courfe 
 of things, can never with any 'probability be 
 expected, when the Church will conde- 
 fcend to be directed or influenced by the 
 DifTenters. On the contrary, I am confi- 
 dent that if any thing in a reformed Litur- 
 gy mould be copied from, or framed agre- 
 ably to the practice of DifTenters, it would 
 raife in the Nation a general diffatisfaction 
 and prejudice againft it. No. I cannot fee 
 in any (hape or view how we can be affift- 
 ing in this cafe. In truth they do not 
 ,want our afliftance, if they were inclined 
 to accept it. There are, and we may hope 
 will always be, men in the Church of En- 
 gland of good fenfe, learning and piety, 
 fufficient for this work, whenever a favora- 
 ble time for it occurs. Nor mould we bufy 
 ourfelves in a cafe of this nature, in which 
 we are not immediately concerned. It is 
 enough for us that we are favored with a 
 Toleration j for which we owe thanks to 
 God, and to the Government too, how 
 
 much
 
 T 67 
 
 much foever it may be our natural right. 
 And in the ufc of this privilege, it becomes 
 us peaceably and modeftly to worfhip God 
 fincerely in our own approved mode, leav- 
 ing our Superiors to follow their own judg- 
 ment, and take their own time and mea- 
 fures in reforming the eftablifhed worfhip ; 
 which as we injoy liberty for our own, af- 
 fe<5ls not us, but only with refpect to fome 
 temporal emoluments which we may well 
 fpare, and in the hope of eternal life, chear- 
 fully refign*. 
 
 Doth this Writer and his Friends ex- 
 pect that any common Prayer-Book they 
 have drawn or can draw up, will meet with 
 ready and univerfal acceptance among the 
 DifTenters, even of their own Denomination ? 
 So his way of arguing feems to imply. But 
 the DifTenters are a free people, flrongly te- 
 nacious of both their civil, and efpecially 
 of their religious liberties. In matters of 
 Religion, it is their avowed principle, which 
 they have long and bravely maintained, to 
 fubmit to no authority but what is divine; 
 and after feveral hard ftruggles, they at laft 
 E 2 prevailed 
 
 * For a fuller confutation of this Author, fe Mr. Ba*- 
 ELL'S Remarks before mentioned.
 
 [ 68 } 
 
 prevailed with the Government to grant 
 them liberty to worfhip God agreably to that 
 mod juft principle. And can thefe Reform- 
 ers be fo ridiculoufly abfurd as to imagine 
 the Diflenters will admit a Liturgy compo- 
 fed and offered by a few inconfiderable men? 
 So various are the religious fentiments of 
 men, or fuch is the nature of a Liturgy, 
 that no Liturgy can be eftablifted, as a com- 
 mon form of worfhip in a Nation, without 
 the authority and fanclion of the fupreme 
 governing Powers in that Nation. Shall a 
 few Minifters pretend to make a Liturgy of 
 their own compiling current through any 
 body of men now in England, where they 
 have neither authority to inforce, nor pre- 
 ferments to recommend it ? Such a Liturgy 
 muft be a naked defencelefs thing, expofed 
 to all manner of cenfure, ridicule, and con- 
 tempt. 
 
 " But, it may be hoped, it will make its 
 " way to efteem and regard by its own in- 
 " trinfic excellence and perfection." Small 
 hopes of that. No human wifdom, I pre- 
 fume, can frame any thing of this kind, 
 which will fuit every judgment and every 
 confcience. Something in the opinion of 
 
 fome
 
 r 6 9 ] 
 
 fome perfons, will always be offenfive and 
 erroneous, fometbing deficient, fomething 
 redundant ; and where every body is free 
 and inclined to judge, cavilling, objecting, 
 finding fault, and condemning will be very 
 eafy, if not very pleafing work. Private 
 judgment and confcience are fo nearly con- 
 nefted with a Liturgy, that the beft that can 
 be formed by the {kill of man, could not be 
 able to fupport itfelf, unlefs firmly upheld by 
 the higheft authority that can be ingaged. 
 
 " Perhaps, by proper management it may 
 <{ be infinuated by degrees into diiTenting 
 " Congregations." This doubtlefs will be at- 
 tempted by all the arts of addrefs and per- 
 fwafion ; and of this, my Countrymen, you 
 ought to be well aware. For confider what 
 will be the confequence. The fame fpirit 
 which has taken it into one AfTembly, will 
 be for thrufting it into others. Some may 
 approve, others difapprove, fome may ac- 
 cept, others reject, for it cannot be fuppofed 
 that all in any Congregation will at once, 
 without reluctance, give up their ufual and 
 approved method of worfliip. * Hence va- 
 E 3 riance, 
 
 * It coft Rome the patience and policy of fome hundreds of 
 years before its Liturgy could be univerfally impofed or e 
 ftabli/hed.
 
 t 7 ] 
 
 riance, difcord, animofity will be brought 
 into chriftian Societies and Families, and 
 war raifed among thofe who are now at 
 peace. Chriftian Congregations will be di- 
 vided, mattered, and broken j harmony and 
 love deftroyed. This you know is con- 
 trary to the fpirit, and doctrine of Chriftia- 
 jiity ; and muft infer much fin and guilt, in 
 which the firft authors will be moft deeply 
 involved. 
 
 The Scotch people chofe to pray without 
 ftated forms ; but King Charles I. and Arch- 
 Bifhop Laud* were determined to make 
 them read their Prayers out of a Liturgy, or 
 common Prayer-Book prepared for them. 
 The Scots refufed. Twice the King lead 
 an army into Scotland to force their compli- 
 ance, but to no effect. Hence, as from the 
 original fource, I apprehend, proceeded all 
 the following battles and bloodfhed, all the 
 violence, ravages, and difordcrs in the Civil 
 
 War. 
 
 
 
 Religious quarrels breed the moft ill 
 blood, and of the worft kind. The Dif- 
 fenters choofe their prefent way of wor- 
 
 ip, and upon very good grounds. They 
 
 choofe 
 
 * See CJ-AR^KPON'S Hiftory.
 
 f 7' ] 
 
 choofe it, and the Government is fo good 
 and wife as to allow it. They are at peace 
 among themfelves, and well fatisfied with 
 their own way of worfhip. And it is, in 
 the nature of things, impofiible that they 
 (hould be brought into any other, without 
 breaking peace, and introducing difcord, and 
 a world of evils among them. And who, 
 that wifely reflects, would choofe to have a 
 hand in, or any ways to encourage a fcheme, 
 which is manifeftly of fuch pernicious ten- 
 dency ? Therefore, my Friends, carefully 
 and refolutely guard your peace and comfort, 
 againft all infinuations that would deftroy 
 them. They that would break in upon your 
 tranquility, thanks be to God, have no power 
 over you, but what you yourfelves give 
 them. Be ftedfaft, and you are in no dan- 
 ger. 
 
 There is another thing, my Friends, you 
 ought to be apprized of, and it is this. That 
 a Liturgy, both with refpect to thofe that 
 compile, and to thofe that ufe it, implies a 
 confeffion of Faith, and this, in regard 
 both to what is, and to what is not therein 
 expreffed. People pray as they believe. The 
 points of faith exprcfsly mentioned, or plain- 
 E 4 ly
 
 [ 72 ] 
 
 ly implied, they are fuppofed to believe. 
 Such as are omited, and by others received, 
 they are judged to difbelieve, and reject. Re- 
 ligious knowledge is in a progrcffive ftate, 
 and has been fo, at leaft, ever fince the Re- 
 formation. It is not therefore poffible, that 
 the wifeft men, in our days, mould form 
 a Liturgy abfolutely and immutably perfect, 
 which (hall never want any amendments or 
 alterations ; becaufe, as in procefs of time 
 new evidence arifes, religious fentiments 
 ought to vary. What is found to be true, we 
 are bound to embrace, and to difcard what 
 is difcovered to be falfe. This will prove a 
 great inconvenience to your new Liturgy, as 
 people may be led to go on praying by it, 
 when their better informed understandings 
 and confciences may tell them, that it ex- 
 preffes a wrong faith, or corrupt doctrine, 
 or is filent upon fome article, which now 
 appears to be true, and well grounded, and 
 therefore ought to be taken into your devo- 
 tions. 
 
 What is to be done in this cafe ? I had it 
 from a principal hand in the affair, " That 
 " it was propofed to have a meeting of Mini- 
 " flers every Seventh Year, to review and ad-
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 " juft the orthodoxy of the new Liturgy, 
 " and to reform any faults therein, that 
 cc might from time to time appear/' This 
 would do, once for all, in the hands of 
 perfons infpired and infallible ; but, as things 
 now are, it will be directly to fet up an eccle- 
 fiaftical jurifdiction among you, over under- 
 ftanding and confcience, lodged in the hands 
 of fallible men. Therefore how well fo- 
 ever this may fuit the ambition of innovators, 
 you cannot but be lenlible it will fubject you, 
 fhould you conient to it, to an intolerable 
 yoke of bondage. A Septennial Synod of fal- 
 lible Minifters will receive from you, or af- 
 fume to themfelves, authority to (it as judges, 
 to determine and fettle for you matters of 
 faith, doctrine, and wormip. How do you 
 relifh this ? Can you digeft it ? It is the na- 
 tural refult of this wild fcheme. You muft 
 either incur the danger of ufing a corrupt. 
 Liturgy, or confent to eftablim fome autho- 
 rity to revife and correct it, as the cafe may 
 require. This is directly contrary to your 
 own principles, and to that freedom from fcu- 
 man impofitions which, as chrillians, you 
 are bound in confcience to difdain and reject j 
 and may, in time, bring you into fervitude 
 
 to
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
 to as haughty and extravagant a tyranny as 
 ever appeared in the chriftian Church. Not 
 to infift, that it is impoilible you fhould 
 forefee how this revifal of your Liturgy 
 will be performed j whether for the bet- 
 ter, or for the worfe j whether peacealbly, 
 or, (as is too common in fuch cafes) conten- 
 tioufly and tumuhuoufly ; whether fairly 
 and impartially, or, which is more prob- 
 able) by the arts and prevalence of a party. 
 
 The cafe therefore, my dear Countrymen, 
 in every view, is very plain ; you ought per- 
 emptorily and vigorously to withftand this 
 ufurpation, and to crufh it in its infancy. 
 If DifTenters fubmit to fuch a fcheme, their 
 liberty will be endangered. And can you at 
 length facrifice religious Hberty, to the fan- 
 cies of a few weak injudicious perfons ? Or 
 pay that fubmiflion to them, which you de- 
 ny to the Government ? For fhame! Surely, 
 you cannot, you will not. Jf your caufe is 
 funk never fo low, as to wealth and numbers, 
 I beg you would iwviolably maintain the ho- 
 norfrf it. You read in your Affemblies the 
 pure word of God, your Minifters, to the 
 beft of their abilities, inftrud: and pray accord- 
 ing to that rule. And according to that rule 
 
 you
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
 you fincerely indeavour to form your religi- 
 ous fentiments, leaving your fellow-chrifli- 
 ans perfectly free to do the fame, and living 
 with them in peace, and in all offices of love 
 and goodnefs, though they may happen, in 
 fome things, to differ from you in judgment. 
 Thus you improve in knowledge and piety, 
 faith and charity. And what would you 
 have more ? You pray, as from the begining 
 of the world, for about two thoufand five 
 hundred years, the Patriarchs prayed, thole 
 ancient favorites of heaven, fuch as, Enoch, 
 Noah, Abraham j you pray, as our bleffed 
 Lord prayed ; you pray, as the holy fervants 
 of God, the Prophets and Apoftles, and the 
 noble company of Martyrs prayed. I may 
 add, you pray, as Angels would pray, mould 
 they come down and officiate in your AfTem- 
 blies. 
 
 It is impoflible you mould, in this imper- 
 fect flate, rife to a higher degree of perfec- 
 tion. Therefore keep as you are, and do 
 not fuffer yourfelves to be unhinged and dif- 
 tradted by any new-fangled devices ; which, 
 however they may mine in the weak imagi- 
 nations of the inventors, cannot put you into 
 a better way, but will certainly miflead you 
 
 into
 
 [ 76 ] 
 
 into a much worfe. And though you may 
 be cenfured as a Jlijf\ obftinate, and wayward 
 people, for difienting from the Eftablifli- 
 ment, I hope you will not incur that cha- 
 racter by diflenting from thefe innovators. 
 Therefore it is your wifdom to adhere flea- 
 dily to your own approved way, and to re- 
 pel vigoroufly any attempts to difparage or 
 fupprefs it. 
 
 And can you tell me, my Friends, where 
 thefe things will end ? If you come into one 
 fchcme, are you fure you fhall not be drawn 
 into another ? In my own thoughts, I put 
 it down for certain that you will. If once 
 you defert your fcripture- principles, and 
 give into the inventions of bufy heads, 
 you may be left to wander and lofe your- 
 felves in the devious paths of the vaineft ima- 
 ginations. Some things have already been 
 moved, and others will follow, as ignorance, 
 vanity, affurance, a luft of power, love of 
 novelty, an averfion to ftudy and labor, a 
 difregard to fcripture-principles, a contempt 
 of Gofpel fimplicity, an undervaluance of 
 the Diflenting -intereft, and fuch like quali- 
 ties (which will flourish greatly under the 
 favor of your indulgence) (hall dictate. 
 
 Your
 
 [ 77 ] 
 
 Your Ordinations have already been bold- 
 ly attacked, though nothing is done, or re- 
 quired in them, but what is very agreable 
 to the nature of the folemnity, viz. That 
 the Candidate give fome fpecimen of his 
 learning and abilities, that he declare his be- 
 lief in, andaflentto,the Scriptures, as a divine 
 Revelation, his profeffion of his fincerity in. 
 undertaking the work, and his refolution to 
 be faithful in difcharging it ; and then he is 
 fet apart to it, by Prayer, and laying on of 
 hands But this may imply a more ftridt 
 and ferious regard to the feveral parts of the 
 minifterial office, than fome Minifters choofe 
 to fubmit to, who love to breathe in a free 
 air, and may not care to be tied up to that 
 holy temper and conduct, that vigilance and 
 felf-denial, that integrity and ardent defire 
 to fave fouls, which the Apoftles require in 
 the character of a Minifter. 
 
 Baptifm, by a ftrange liberty, has alfo 
 been changed into the dedication of children, 
 in one inftance, at leaft, where an Infant was 
 only dedicated to God, but not baptized in 
 the name of the Father, Son, and holy 
 Spirit. This practice has a direct tendency, 
 todiflblve, in the thoughts of chriftians, the 
 
 effen-
 
 eflentiai connexion between Baptifm and 
 the Covenant of Grace, of which Covenant, 
 Baptifm is the memorial, lign, token or 
 feal, moil properly confirming and afiuring 
 to the Infant baptized, and the reft of the 
 Family, all the unfpeakably great bleffings of 
 the Gofpel, as they are freely given to us 
 of God in Chrift : and fo all the comfort 
 and encouragement to a pious life, which 
 tnis Ordinance in fucceeding generations is 
 intended to infpire, will be loft to you and 
 yours, and funk into utter oblivion. Your 
 children will be dedicated to God, but you 
 fhall not fee the leaft glimpfe of the glory 
 of divine grace, which God has appointed 
 to fhine upon them in this very rational and 
 comfortable Inftitution. 
 
 The Covenant, or free grant of bleffings 
 in Chrift, the ground of the whole chrifti- 
 an faith, life and hopes, which feems at 
 prefent to be little underftood or regarded, 
 will periih out of your thoughts, and you 
 will fink nearer to the ftate of meer Deifm. 
 You will foon come to this, that good Mo- 
 rality is good Chrijilanity. Doubtlefs fo it 
 is j but not the whole of good Chriftianity
 
 [ 79 1 
 
 by one half. The peculiar Principles and 
 Dodrines of the Gofpel foar vaftly above 
 any thing the wifeft Heathens could poffibly 
 know $ though fome of them taught and 
 feem to have praclifed very good Morality. 
 But cbriftian Morality ftands upon much 
 nobler and far more fublime principles and 
 motives, and he who would teach it ought 
 to underftand the whole counfel of God, 
 relating to our redemption and falvation by 
 Jefus Chrift, as delivered to us in revelation. 
 
 The following pafTages, with many others 
 in the Apoftolic Writings, contain fenti- 
 ments vaftly fuperior to the utmoft efforts 
 of human Reafon. (a) Godfo loved the world, 
 that be gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
 ever believeth on him flwuld not periJJ.\ but 
 have everlajling life. (b) He bath made us 
 accepted in the beloved ; in whom we have re- 
 demption through his bloody the forgivenefs of 
 fins, according to the riches of his grace; 
 wherein he hath abounded towards us in all 
 wifdom and prudence. (c) Jefus Chrift, the 
 faithful witnefs y the Jlrjl begotten of the dead y 
 the Prince of the Kings of the earth, hatb 
 
 loved 
 
 (a) John iii, 16. (b) Ephef. i. 6, 7, 8. (c) Rer. i. 5, 6.
 
 loved us, and wafted us frcm cur fins in his 
 own blood y and hath made us Kings a fid Pr left's 
 unto God and his Father. (d) Te are not 
 your own ; for ye are bought with a price , 
 therefore glorify God in your body, and in 
 your fpirit which are God's. (e) I befeech 
 you, by the mercies of God, that ye prefent 
 your bodies a living facrifice unto God. 
 (f) He is a merciful and faitbjul High- 
 Prieft in things pertaining to God, to make 
 atonement for the fins of the people j and is a- 
 ble to fave, to the ultermojl, thofe that come unto 
 God by him, feeing he ever livetb to make in- 
 ter cejfion for them. (g) God has given to us 
 eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (h) 
 I give unto mine eternal life, and 1 will rai/e 
 them up again at the lafl day. (i) Te are 
 dead, and your life is hid with Chrifl in God t 
 that when Chrifl who is your life [hall appear, 
 ye alfo may appear with him in glory. (k) 
 God bath chofen us in him before the founda- 
 tion of the world, that we foould be holy and 
 without blame before him in love. (1) Te 
 
 are 
 
 (d) i Cor. vi. 20. (e) Rom. xii. I. (f) Heb. ii. 17. 
 vii.^j. (g) i John v. n. (h) John x. 28. (i) Col. iii. 3, 
 (k) Eph. i. 4. (1) i Pet. ii. 9.
 
 an a chofen Generation, a royal Priefthood, 
 a holy Nation, a peculiar People -, that ye Jhould 
 Jhew forth the praifes of him who hath called 
 you out of darknefs into his wonderful light. 
 He hath called us to his kingdom and glo- 
 ry. (m) Behold \ what manner of love the 
 Father hath beftowed upon us, that we Jhould 
 be called the children of God. (n) And if 
 children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint 
 heirs with Cbrift. (o) He hath quickened us 
 together and made us Jit together with Chrijl ! , 
 in heavenly places. (p) Becaufe ye are fons, 
 God hath fent forth the Spirit of bis Son into 
 your hearts, crying Abba, Father. (q) 
 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and 
 precious promifes, that by thefe ye might be 
 partakers of a divine nature. (r) Now the 
 God of hope Jill you with all joy and peace in 
 believing, that ye may abound in hope, through 
 the power of the holy Spirit. He that clear- 
 ly underftands, and is duely affected with the 
 Doclrines couched in thefe texts and others 
 of the fame fort, is an able Minifter of the 
 F new 
 
 (m) i John iii. i. (n) Rom. viii. 17. 
 
 (o) Eph. ii. 5,6. (p) Gal. iv. 6. 
 
 (q) 2 Pet. i. 4. (r) Rom, xv. 13.
 
 rttw Covenant, and a faithful fleward of tie 
 my/ieries of God. Happy is fuch a one in 
 bis imployment, as a Minifter of the Gof- 
 pel, whereby he is obliged to the daily ftu- 
 dy of fuch noble fubje<ts ; happy in the 
 {olid comfort and fatisfaclion of mind, which 
 naturally refult from principles fo divine and 
 heavenly, and from a conftant ferious en- 
 deavor to communicate the knowlege 
 and power of them to others ; and though 
 his circumftances in this world mould be 
 but of the lower kind, at the coming of 
 our Lord, he will be happy, rich and ho- 
 norable, beyond expreffion for evermore. 
 But how will they appear in that day, who 
 profefling to be Minifters of Chrift, yet 
 have not been confcientioufly ftudious to 
 gain the cleared and moft extenfive know- 
 lege from the divine Oracles of the Doc- 
 trines which he has there delivered to us ? 
 
 What remains, my dear Countrymen, is 
 humbly to requeft your favorable acceptance 
 of my honeft endeavors to ferve you in this 
 affair, which I reckon is of very great im- 
 portance. I was born, and received the firft 
 rudiments of learning among you. This is 
 
 ray
 
 iny native Country ; but the Providence of 
 God fo foon carried me into remoter parts, 
 and fo long detained me there, that I am 
 now returned in the capacity of a ftranger, 
 which by the laws of humanity pleads for 
 kind and tender regard. And 1 am comd 
 not with any felfifh or finifter views, but 
 with a fincere and dilinterefted defire to do 
 you fervice in the Gofpel of Chrift, by com- 
 municating to young Students that know- 
 lege in the holy Scriptures, which I may* 
 have acquired by a long courfe of thought, 
 and the moft impartial inquiry. It has been 
 a great advantage to my ufefulnefs, which I 
 reflect upon with thankfulnefs and pleafure, 
 that in every other fituation, I have lived 
 in peace, honor and efteem, with perfons 
 of the beft fenfe and fortunes ; efpecially in 
 my laft fituation, which I could not but 
 leave with reluctance, and from which no- 
 thing could have drawn me, bat a fenfe of 
 duty to God. And now I have confecrated 
 my ripeft, though declining years, to the 
 fervice of true Religion among you, which 
 (upon the moil jufl and catholic principles) 
 as God mall enable me, I will labor to 
 
 promote
 
 t 84 ] 
 
 promote to the end of my days. I hope 
 you will permit me to lay fome claim to 
 your patronage and encouragement. 
 
 I moil heartily wifli, that the Gofpel 
 may always fhine among you in all its 
 heavenly fplendor j that it may reign in 
 your hearts, and in the hearts of all your 
 Minifters 5 and that in the light thereof you 
 may walk in all holinefs and purity, in love 
 and goodnefs, in comfort and joy in the 
 holy Spirit to eternal life, through Jefus 
 Chrift our Lord. Amen.
 
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