412 / 808
;96
Gen.
4S.
z.
Cautions
couching bo-
dily
gellures
in
prayers.
Efay
ft.
Efayzg.
s;.
Yfe
z:
Ephefians,ChapO;.
V
ER.
14.
tture.
Hit
be
rude=
ffetofpeake
to the
King
or Counfell
otherwife,
how
that(
it
not misbefeem
to
fpeak on
our
knee
tothe higheft
Majeftye
But
when it cannot be, then (landing:
and for fitting,
it
is
an unfit ge-
fture, though inveterate cuftomesmay make
men ftraine curter),
to
re-
forre
themfelves
in
fuch circumftance.
If
we were
like
takob,that
411
our
flrength
could
farce
retire us up to
fit,
then the
gefture were more
warrantable.
There
be
yet
certaine cautions
to be put
unto it.
z .
We
muff take
heed
that
we reft
not
in
any
outward
carriage
of
the
eye,
the hand, the
knee,
as a
gefture (hewing
reverence,I
fay, wee
muft
not
reft
in
any
of
thefe
as
if
they
were
in
themfelves
properly
a
worthìp
and fervice
of
God,
if
they come alone, or
as
if
God
would
bee pleafed
with outward complements
ofthe body,
and outward
be-
haviour, when the heart
is
not before him. Hee that
acts
a
part
upon
the
Rage,
that hath
nothing
to
doe but
to
ad
the thing he
undertakes to
expref e, can
eafily
turn himfelfe
to the
gefture without
truth
of
affe-
Ction:
God
will
not
have
us
when we come before him,
as
if
it were to
ad
a
play, to
j
eft
before him;
but hee will
fir((
have
the
heart
rightly
fet,
and
then the
body to
be thence
rightly commanded
;
hence
the
Lord difclaimes
the
hanging donne
the head; in
their
countenance
there
was
nothing but fubmißïon, when
in
their
heart,
there
was nothing
but
rebellion: fo
for theoutward
adof
prayer
,
bee
calls it
off.
This
people
draw neare
with their lips,
but
their
hearts are
farre
from
me.
2.
If
by fome meanes we
fhall
be
retrained
from outward
conve-
niency
of
kneeling,
of
lifting up
the
head or hands,
or
proftrating
the
body,or
any fuch
like
gefture,as might well become the
prefent occa-
fion
of
that prayerwhich
is
offered;
yet
we
muft not
languifh upon
the
want
of
thefe things,
as
if
our prayers
might not
pierce the
heavens:
I
fpeak
this becaufe I have found force well
affected
perfons, but
not
well
inftruCìed
in
that
point,
that when they
could
not kneele, by rea
fon
of
bodily infirmity, therefore
have
thought they
could
not
pray,
becaufethey
could not kneele.
God
hath not
laid
the law
of
thefe
out-
ward things upon
us, as
he hath the inward:the lifting
up
of the
heart
is
iimply
neceffary,and without
ir, no
comfort:the other
is
ofconvenie{i-
cy,fo
farre
forth
pleating
to God,
as
it
is a
figne
of
our inward
integri-
ty,
and
a
help
of
our owne weakneffe.
For juft reproofe,
if
we examine
our
felves
touching our
carriage
in
the
duties
of
Gods worlhip, what
dulneffe
of
heart,
what
irreve-
rence,
what
want
of
fervency, what want
of
zeale have our
geftures
manifeftly
difcovered
to
our
facestA
man happilyrifeth out
of
his
bed,
he
buttons himfelfe
and he prayes, and he prayes
and he
buttons,
but
where
is
the heart
of
this
man,
or
the
reverence
of
that
Majefty
to
whom he
fpeakss
He hath not fo much thew ofgodlineffe
as
of
hypo
-
crify.
Never
excufe
thematter, for
our
God
will
teaif),
to
our faces,
if
we think
not
of
this and repent
of
it,that
our loofeneffe
in
the
very
fathioning
of
our
bodies
in
the
duties
of
devotion are come from
the
ncgletof
him
whom
wefeemto
ferve.
The Lord
Jefus Chrift
bath
fet
E,