240 PREFACE TO THE READER.
God. Neither the nature of God nor our own duty towards him will admit that we should expect any acceptance with him, unless our design be to serve him with the best that we have, both for matter and manner. So is the mind of God him- self declared in the prophet: "If ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen," Mai. i. 8, 13, 14.
4. In our reasonable service, the best wherewith we can serve God consists in the intense, sincere actings of the faculties and affections of our minds, according xinto their respective powers, through the use of the best assistances we can attain. And if we omit or forego, in any instance, the exercise of them according to the utmost of our present ability, we offer unto God the sick and the lame. If men can take it on themselves, in the sight of God, that the invention and use of set forms of prayer, and other the like outward modes of divine worship, are the best that he hath endowed them withal for his service, they are free from the force of this consideration.
5. There is no man but, in the use of the aids which God hath prepared for that purpose, is able to pray according to the will of God, and as he is hi duty obliged, whether he pray by himself and for himself, or with others and for them also. There is not by these means perfection attainable in the performance of any duty, neither can all attain the same measure and degree as unto the useful- ness of prayer and manner of praying; but every one may attain unto that wherein he shall be accepted with God, and according unto the duty whereunto he is obliged, whether personally or by virtue of any relation wherein he stands unto others. To suppose that God requireth duties of men which they cannot perform in an accef>table manner, by virtue and in the use of those aids which he hath prepared and promised unto that end, is to reflect dishonour on his goodness and wisdom in his commands. Wherefore, no man is obliged to pray, in any circum- stances, by virtue of any relation or office, but he is able so to do according unto what is required of him; and what he is not able for he is not called unto.
6. We are expressly commanded to pray, but are nowhere commanded to make prayers for ourselves, much less for others. This is superadded, for a sup- posed conveniency, unto the light of nature and Scripture institution.
7. There is assistance promised unto believers to enable them to pray according unto the will of God; there is no assistance promised to enable any to make prayers for others. The former part of this assertion is explained and proved in the ensuing discourse, and the latter cannot be disproved. And if it should be granted that the work of composing prayers for others is a good work, falling under the general aids of the Holy Spirit necessary unto every good work what- ever, yet are not those aids of the same kind and nature with his actual assist- ances in and unto prayer as he is the Spirit of grace and supplications : for in the use of those assistances by grace and gifts, every man that useth them doth actually pray, nor are they otherwise to be used; but men do not pray in the making and composing forms of prayer, though they may do so in the reading of them afterward.
8. Whatever forms of prayer were given out unto the use of the church by divine authority and inspiration, as the Lord's Prayer and the Psalms or Prayers of David, they are to have their everlasting use therein, according unto what they were designed unto. And be their end and use what it will, they can give no more warranty for human compositions unto the same end, and the in- junction of their use, than for other human writings to be added unto the Scripture.
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These and the like principles, which are evident in their own light and truth, will be of use to direct us in the argument in hand, so far as our present design is concerned therein ; for it is the vindication of our own principles and practice that is principally designed, and not an opposition unto those of other men. Wherefore, as was before intimated, neither these principles nor the divine testi- monies, which we shall more largely insist upon, are engaged to condemn all use of set forms of prayers as sinful in themselves, or absolutely unlawful, or such as so vitiate the worship of God as to render it wholly unacceptable in them that choose so to worship him; for God will accept the persons of those who sincerely seek him, though, through invincible ignorance, they may mistake in sundry things as unto the way and manner of his worship. And how far, as unto particular in- stances of miscarriage, this rule may extend he only knows, and of men, whatever they pretend, not one. And where any do worship God in Christ with an evi- dence of holy fear and sincerity, and walk in a conversation answerable unto the rule of the gospel, though they have manifold corruptions in the way of their worship, I shall never judge severely either of their present acceptance with God or of their future eternal condition. This is a safe rule with respect unto others: our own is, to attend with all diligence unto what God hath revealed concerning his worship, and absolutely comply therewith; without which we can neither please him nor come to the enjoyment of him.