PART II. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. 319 t6. That whereas orderly Conne&ion of Prayers, and of particular Petitions and Expreffions, together with a competent length of the Formsufed, are tending much to Edification, and to gain the reverence of People to them. There ap- pears to us too great a negle& of both, of this Order, andof other jufi Laws, of Method. Particularly. a. The Colle&s are generally lhort, many of them confiiing but of one, or at moll two Sentences of Petition ; and thefe generally ufhered in with a repeated mention of the Name and Attributes of God, and prefently concluding with the Name andMerits of Chrift ; whence are caufed many unneceffary Intercil ons and Abruptions, which when many Petitions are to be offered at the fame time, are neither agreeable to Scriptural Examples, nor fuited to the Gravity and Serioufihefs of that HolyDuty. 2. The Prefaces of many Colle&s have not any clear and fpecialRefpeçt to the following Petitions ; and particular Petitionsareput together, which havenot any due Order, nor evident Conne&ion one with another, nor fuitablenefs with the Occafions upon which they areufed, but feem to have fallen in rather cafually, than from an orderly Contrivance. It is defired, that inftead ofchore various Colleets, there may be one methodical and incite form of Prayer compofed out of many of them. 17. That whereas the publick Liturgy of a Church Mould in reafon compre- hend theSumm of all fuch Sins as are ordinarily to beconfeffed in Prayer by the Church, and of fuch Petitions and Thankfgivings as are ordinarily by the Church to be put up to God, and thepublick Catechifms or Syflems of Do&rine, fhould fummarily comprehend all fuch Do&rines as are neceffary to be believed, and thefe explicitly fee down : Theprefent Liturgy as toall thefefeems very defe&ive. Particularly. I. There is no preparatory Prayer in our Addrefs to God for Aflîfiance or Ac- cepptance; yet many Colle&s in the midft of the Worship have little or nothing cite. z. The ConfefEon is verydefe&ive, not clearly expreffing original Sin, nor fuf- ficiently enumerating a&ual Sins, with their Aggravations; but confifting only of Generals : Whereas confeffion being the Exercife of Repentance, ought to be more particular. ;. There is alfo a great Defe& as to Inch Forms of publick Praife and Thankfgi- ving, asare fuitable toGofpel-worlhip. 4. The whole Body of the Common-Prayer alío confifleelsvery much of meer Generals: as, (To bave our Prayers heard) to be kept from all Evil, and fromall Enemies, and all AdveJty, that sue might do God's WiR; without any mention of the Particu- lars in which thefe Generalsexilt. y. The Catechifn is defeetive as to many. neceffary Do&rines of our Religion ; fome evenofthe EJfential of Chriftianity not mentioned except in the Creed, and there not fo explicite as ought to be in a Catechifm. 18. Besaufe this Liturgy containeth the Impofitionof divers Ceremonies which from the firft Reformation have by fundry learned and pious Men been judged un- warrantable, as u. That Publick Worfhip may not be celebrated by any Minuter that darenot weara Surplefi. z. That none may baptife, nor bebaptifed, without the tranfient Image of the Crois, which hath at leaf/ the Semblanceof a Sacrament of human Inititution, be. ing ufed as an ingaging Sign in our firft and folemnCovenanting with Chrift, and the Dutieswhereunto we are really obliged by Baptifm, being more exprefly fixed tothat airy Sign than to this holy Sacrament. ;. That none may receive theLord's Supper that dare not kneel in the alt ofre- ceiving; but the Minifter inuit exclude all fach from the Communion: although fuch kneeling not onlydiffers from the pra&ice of Chrilt and of his Apollles, but (at leali on the Lord's Day) is contrary to the pra&ice of the Catholick Church for many hundred Years after, and forbidden by the moll venerable Councils that ever új
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