411 / 808
VIM.
14..
ephefans,
Chap.3.
I
395
ward
man
amid
accompany the inward
in
fuch parts
of
his
worfhip,
that
itfhould outwardly
fignify
how the
mind
is
affefted.
Andgteat reafon,feeing
be
is
theRedeemer
as
well
of
the body
as
the
foule,
our
outward
man
therefore
muff
be
ordered reverently
in
prayer.
We
fee
then that there
is
a
lawfull, yea
a
comely and
need-
full ufe of
compofing our gefture when
wee
fet
upon
God
in
prayer
and thankfgiving.
It
is
true
that outward
obfervance
in
fafhioning .of
thebody
is
not the
maine,
nor
may
we take
it
fo,
as
if
God
were like
to man, to be
mocked with complements, but yet it
is a
thing
of
con-
gruity and needful!,
both to
expreffe
our reverence,
and
alto to
whet
ouraffetions
in
prayer,and therefore
geftures are variable according
to
theoccafions: for example;
to
expreffe our
dependance upon
God,
the
eyes are
fet
towards
heaven, as
if
we would fetch our help from
thence,as
(es
lifted
tip
his
eyes
toheaven:to expreffe the fervency
of
the
the delire,the
stretching
out
of
the hand
is
ufed,
fo
did
Solomon
at
the
dedication
of
the Temple; which ftrctchingforth
of
the
hands
to
hea-
ven, did
not
only
import their looking
up
to God, but
even
the ve-
hemency
of
their delires
to draw
downe by ftrength
(as
I may fay)
of
both hands,
a
bleffing
from
God.
Again,
humilityand contrition
offpirit ought to
bee
expreffcd in
prayer,
and in fuch cafe
our
allions mutt
be fuitable ,
as Luke
18. r
3.
the
Publican
knocked
himf
lfe upon
the
bread, and for
his eyes
, hee
lifts
them
notup
,
but
holds them
down; not through
infidelity,
but through
dejection,
as
not thinking
himfelfe
worthy to look
up
to
God;of
this,
likewifeis
that
gefture
of
the people
,
Ezra
9.6.
in
their anfwer to
God;
they worJhipped
god with their
faces toward the ground.
Sometime
great diftrefte
is
exprcffed
in
prayer,
and therefore
in
fuch a cafe ,
the
body
it felfe
is
raft
downe
, even
groveling to the
earth,
as
David
whenhe was
Petitioner
to God
for
his
child. Thus you have
feen,
the
ne-
cefhary
de
of
outward gefture
of
the
body
in
prayer
is
to
expreffe
the
variety and
affections
of
the
heart
in
praying to God.
Now
as
ir
ferves
to ftirreup
reverence,
fo
afro
to help
to
a
kind
of
cheerefulneYfe,
for
even
as
the inward heat
is
fometime recovered and
enlarged, or drawne into the parts
of
the body
by rubbing
and cha-
fing:
fo
the inward
fervour
of
prayer is fometime helped
by the
out
-
ward reverence
and gefture
of
the body
:
for they
are remembrancers
toa
man
to
charge him (unleffe hee will play
the
groffe hypocrite)
when bee lifts up his hands,
to
lift up his
heart;
when hee
lifts
up his
voyce,
to
lift
up
his
foule; when he ftretcheth
forth
his hands
to
hea-
ven,
to
ftretch
forth
his delires
with
his
hands ;
when
hee
rafts downe
his
countenance,
to
calf
downe
firft his
proud
thoughts.
All gefturestherefore being thus reverent,
it
doth
teach
us
that we
mutt
rife
in prayers reverent carriages
of
our
bodies;
&
though
I
would
notteach
you
to
firainegnats
and
fwallow
Carrells,
nor
yet
be too
righte-
ous
in
making
this
a precife
tye,
and though
I
know the Scripturedoth
defcribe
many geftures
and not precifely injoyne any, yet I dare
fay,
that
kneeling,where commodioully
we
may
knelt,
is
the
fitteft ge-
M
m
x
flure.
Outward
gel
fiures
are to
expre
We
in-
ward
affecti-
ons, (hewed
in
particulars.
Iohn
r7.s.
I
Kings 8.xx.
Luke
rt.
r;:
And
to flirre
them up.
What
gettures
molt
fitting
prayer.
4