_Theophilus._ Dear _Academicus_, abate your fright. Can you think, that I am against your praying in the words of _David_, or breathing his spirit in your prayers, or that I would censure your singing his psalms seven times a day? At three several times we are told, our Lord prayed, repeating the _same form of words_; and therefore a set form of words are not only consistent with, but may be highly suitable to, the most divine spirit of prayer. If your own heart, for days and weeks, were unable to alter, or break off from inwardly thinking and saying, _Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done_; if at other times, it stood always inwardly in another form of prayer, saying, _Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, with all thy holy nature, Spirit, and tempers, into my soul; that I may be born again of thee, a new creature_; I should be so far from censuring this, that I should say, Blessed are they whose hearts are tied to such a form of words. It is not therefore a set form that is spoken against, but an _heartless_ form, a form that has no relation to, or correspondence with, the state of the heart that uses it. All that I have said is only to teach you the true nature of prayer, that it is the work of the heart, and that the heart only prays in reality (whatever its words are) for that which it habitually _wills_, _likes_, _loves_, and _longs_ to have. It is not therefore the using the words of _David_, or any other saint, in your prayers, that is censured, but the using them without that state of heart, which first spake them forth; and the trusting to them, because they are a good form; tho’ in our hearts we have nothing that is like them. It would be good to say incessantly with holy _David_, _My heart is athirst for God. As the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God._ But there is no goodness in saying daily these words, if no _such thirst_ is felt in the heart. And, you may easily know that numbers of repeated forms, keep men content with their state, because they make use of such holy prayers; tho’ their hearts, from morning to night, are in a state quite contrary to them, and join no farther in them, than in liking to use them at certain times.
_Academicus._ I acquiesce, _Theophilus_, in the truth of what you have said, and plainly see the necessity of condemning what you have condemned; which is not the form, but the _heartless_ form. But still I have a scruple upon me: I shall be almost afraid of going to church, where there are so many good prayers offered up to God, as suspecting they may not be the language of my own heart, and so become only a _lip-labour_.
_Theophilus._ I do not dislike your scruple at all; you do well to be afraid of saying any thing to God, which your heart does not truly say. It is also good for you to think, that many of the prayers of the church may go higher, than your heart can go along with them. For this will put you upon a right care over yourself, so to live, that, as a true son of your mother the church, your heart may be able to speak her language, and find delight in the spirit of her prayers. But this will only then come to pass, when the spirit of prayer is the spirit of your heart; then every good word, whether in a form, or out of a form, will be as suitable to your heart, as gratifying to it, as food is to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty soul. But till the spirit of the heart is thus renewed, till it is _emptied_ of all earthly desires, and stands in an _habitual_ hunger and thirst after God (which is the true spirit of prayer) all our forms of prayer will be, more or less, but too much like _lessons_ that are given to _scholars_. But be not discouraged, _Academicus_; take the following advice, and you may go to church without any danger of a mere lip-labour; altho’ there should be a _psalm_, or a _prayer_, whose language is higher than that of your own heart. Do this: Go to the church, as the _Publican_ went into the temple; stand _inwardly_ in the spirit of your mind, in that _form_ which he outwardly expressed, when he cast down his eyes, smote upon his breast, and could only say, God be merciful to me a sinner! Stand unchangeably (at least in your desire) in _this form_ and state of heart; it will sanctify every petition that comes out of your mouth; and when any thing is read, or sung, or prayed, that is more exalted than your heart is, if you make this an occasion of a farther _sinking down_ in the spirit of the _Publican_, you will then be helped, and highly blessed, by those prayers and praises, which seem only to fit a better heart than yours.