straitness, both of conception and expression, when they come before God in prayer ; and if they had not somewhat of a form prepared for them, they must abandon the use of family prayer altogether.
As to the lawfulness of such forms, I conceive that to be placed beyond a doubt, by the answer which our Lord gave to the request made to him in our text. His Disciples desired him to teach them to pray, as John had taught his Disciples : and our Lord gave them a prayer, which they were directed to use, either in form or substance, whenever they drew nigh to God at the throne of grace: a clear proof that forms are good ; and that in the use of them we may " worship God in spirit and in truth."]
Assuming that sound formularies are good, I pro- ceed to point out,
II. The peculiar excellence of those which are used and sanctioned by the Church of England —
The Articles, the Homilies, and the Liturgy, are the standard of Divine truth, as embraced and pro- fessed by our Established Church. Now,
The Articles are peculiarly excellent, both as to
the soundness of their principles, and the moderation
of their statement —
[They have evidently been drawn up with a view to com- prehend all persons whose views, upon the whole, are right. The Calvinist and the Arminian meet upon the ground there stated, each being satisfied that his own sentiments are con- tained in them. And this, considering how unqualified the Scriptural expressions, on which their respective creeds are founded, often are, is very desirable. They are articles of peace, and not of war : and they serve to combine in one Church all that is truly good, whilst they repudiate those only who deny some fundamental truth of Christianity.]
The Homilies are a pattern of simplicity and godly sincerity—
[Never was truth more plainly stated than in them. The language in which they are written is indeed antiquated; in consequence of which, the use of them has been discontinued : but, in their mode of stating divine truth, and enforcing it upon the conscience, they never have been excelled by any composition whatever. It were well if they were more re- garded as a pattern for popular addresses at this day : for, in comparison of them, the great mass of public addresses, if viewed with candour and with Apostolic zeal, would be found,