Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

the priests should bless the people. As the people stood in need always of the fame bleffing, fo was it to be implored always in the fame words; The Lord bless thee and keep thee; Numb. vi. the Lord make his face fbine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee, the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace; which very form of bleffing we ftill retain in the commination-office, and in the order for the visitation of the fick. In like manner the form of bleffing at the Numb. x. removing and resting of the ark, the 35, 36. form of prayer for the expiation of Deut. xxi. an uncertain murder, the form of 7, 8, 9. confeffion and prayer of him who offereth the basket of first-fruits and 3, &c. of him who giveth his third year's tithes are all prescribed and appointed in the law; and would fuch forms have been appointed, if all forms were unlawful? But we need not infift upon fingle proofs, when we can produce a whole book toge

ther.

Deu. xxvi.

ther.

[ocr errors]

For was not the book of pfalms compofed for the fervice of the temple? And is not this evident from the titles and infcriptions of most of the pfalms themselves? And can you fuppofe that the man after God's own heart was ignorant of the true manner of worshipping him? Nay not only that David, but the whole Jewish church were in an error from the beginning to the end? But you may conceive that this imperfect way of worship was proper only for that imperfect difpenfation of the Jews; you may imagin that it favours altogether of their beggarly elements, and there fhould be no fuch reftraint and impofition upon the spirit of Chriftians. But how then cometh it to pass, that John the Baptift delivers a form of prayer to his difciples, as the Jewish mafters and doctors had alfo done before him to their disciples? And why is our Saviour fo far from reprehending,

that

that he follows his example? Would our Saviour have given a fet form of prayer to his disciples, if a set form had been any ftinting of devotion? Or rather would he have done it, unless it had been an help to devotion? And much more would he have repeated and recommended the fame form twice, at different times and upon different occafions? As Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream Gen. xli. was doubled because the thing is efta-32. blifh'd by God; fo may it be faid in this cafe, the prayer was doubled, was repeated twice, that it might be established, and together with it the lawfulness and expediency of fet forms of prayer might be evinced and established beyond all reasonable doubt and contradiction. Nor were. there ever any chriftians, who queftioned and opposed the use of set forms of prayer, till a century or two ago. The univerfal practice of the church from the earliest ages,

which

which is the best interpreter of fcripture, hath constantly favor'd it.

The

Nor fecondly let it be pretended, that tho' fcripture be for us yet reafon is against us; for we have the reafon of the thing on our fide as plainly as the authority of fcripture. A prescribed form of worship is not fubject to the fame inconveniences with extemporary effufions. great danger of unpremeditated prayer is, left it fhould degenerate into a rhapfody of abfurdities and enthufiafm; and he must be an uncommon and powerful mafter indeed of thought and expreffion, who is able to speak on a fudden and yet fpeak nothing improper in an addrefs to the majesty of heaven. fhould be ashamed of appearing with fuch indigefted crudities before his earthly fovereign, or indeed before any perfon of understanding. But if there fhould be nothing abfurd and unbecoming, yet the audience

A man

muft

must first endevor to understand the words; and then they must weigh and confider the fenfe and meaning; and then they muft deliberate whether fuch requests are proper for perfons in their condition, before they can lawfully join in them; and by that time the minifter is paffed on to some other subject, which requires the like attention and confideration; and fo their curiofity may be raised, and they may exercife their judgment, but there can be scarce any room left for devotion. And as a precompofed form of prayer is not fubject to the fame inconveniences with extemporary effufions, fo neither is it liable itself to any just objections. It is fo far from obftructing or quenching our devotion as is pretended, that it rather affifts and inflames it; the matter and the words are both prepared to our hands, we know before what is to follow that we may lawfully join in it, and no

other

« FöregåendeFortsätt »