Chap. IV. The HISTORY of the PuRITANS. "confirmed in their idolatry and fuperfiit ion, efpecially of late, when K. Cparlesi. '' new ceremonies were daily obtruded on the church. ~-' " Befides, the liturgy has given great encouragement to an idle and "unedifying minifiry, who chafe rather to confin~ themfelves. to forms " made to their hands, than to exert themfel ves m the exerctfe of the " gift of prayer, with whic;:h our Saviour furni!hes all thofe whom he calls " to that office. " For thefe and many other weighty confiderations, relating to the " book in general, befides divers particulars which are a jufl ground of " offence, it is thought advifeable to fet afide the former liturgy, with the " many rites and ceremonies formerly ufed in the wodhip of God, not " out of any affectation of novelty, nor with an intention to difparage " our firfl reformers, but that we may anfwer in fame meafure the gra– " cious providence of God, which now calls upon us for a further refor– " mation ; that we may fatisfy our own confciences; anfwer the expec– " tations of other reformed churches ; cafe the confciences of many godly '' perfons among ourfelves ; and give a public te!l.imony of our endea– " vours after an uniformity in divine wodhip, purfuant to what we had "promifed in our folemn league and covenant." It has been obferved, that the direClory is not an abfolute form of de– V()tion, but agreeably to its title, contains only fome general directions, taken partly from the word of God, and partly from rules of chriflian prudence; it points out the heads of public prayer, of preaching, and -other parts of the pafloral function, leaving the minifler a difcretionary latitude to fill up the vacancies according to his abilities. It is divided in– to feveral chapters, and being a book of a public nature, comprehending all the peculiarities of the pt:efbyterian reformation, I have given it a plate Appendix, in the appendix. Mr. Fuller obferves, that the independents in the af- Na H. fembly were hardly perfuaded to confent to it, for fear of infi·inging the liberty of prayer, yet being admitted to qualify fome things in the preface, they complied. The committee who compofed the preface vere Mr. Nye, Mr. Bridges, Mr. Burges, Mr. 'l'ho. Goodwin, all independents; Mr. Viws, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Marjhall, and Dr. 'Temple, wi•h the {cots commiflioners. The d,ret1ory paifed the a!Tembly with great unanimity; thofe who were for [et forms of prayer refolving to confine themfelves to the very words of the directory, while others made ufe of them only as heads for their enlargement. It may not be improper in this place to advife the reader of the follow- Variationsi1z ing variations introduced into the fervice of the church upon this occa- the direc7ory fion. Infl:ead of one prefcribed form of prayer, the direClory only points from the cam– out certain topicks on which the minifl:er might enlarge. The whole a. man prayer. P 2 pocrypha
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