which is an evil no way to be compared with the fore-mentioned good, considering that it is but in the weak, and that if that weakness be so great as to require it, Forms might be imposed on those few, without imposing them on all for there sakes, (as we force not all to use spectacles or Crutches, because some are purr-blind or lame,) and considering that God heareth not Prayers for the Rhetoric, and handsome Cadencies and neatness of expressions, but will bear more with some incuriosity of words (which yet we plead not for) than with an hypocritical, formal, heartless, lip-service; for he knoweth the meaning of the Spirit, even in the groans, which are not uttered in words. And for the Common Prayer, our observation telleth us, that though some can use it judiciously, seriously, and we doubt not profitably, yet as to the most of the vulgar, it causeth a relaxing of their attention and intention, and a lazy taking up with a Corps or image of devotion, even the service of the lips, while the heart is little sensible of what is said: And had we not known it, we should have thought it incredible, how utterly ignorant abundance are of the sense of the words which they hear and repeat themselves from day to day, even about Christ himself, and the essentials of Christianity: It is wonderful to us to observe that rational Creatures, can so commonly separate the words from all the sense and Life. So great a help or hinderance even to the understanding, is the awakening, or not awakening of the affections, about the things of God: And we have already showed you many unfit expressions in the Common Prayer Book, especially in the Epistles and Gospels, through ⟨p. 54⟩the faultiness of your Translation, as Eph. 3. 15. [Father of all that is called [Father in Heaven and Earth] and that Christ was found in his apparel as a man] [that Mount Sinai, is Hagar in Arabia, and bordereth upon the City now called Jerusalem] Gal. 4. 25. [This is the sixth Month which is barren] Luke 1. [And when men be drunk] Joh. 2. with many such like; which are parts of your public Worship: and would you have us hence conclude, that the mischiefs of such expressions are greater than all the benefits of that Worship? And yet there is this difference in the Cases, that weak and rash Ministers were but here and there one, but the Common Prayer is the Service of every Church and every day:
which is an evil no way to be compared with the fore-mentioned good, considering that it is but in the weak, and that if that weakness be so great as to require it, Forms might be imposed on those few, without imposing them on all for ther sakes, (as we force not all to use spectacles or Crutches, because some are pur-blind or lame,) and considering that God heareth not Prayers for the Rhetorick, and handsome Cadencies and neatness of expressions, but will bear more with some incuriosity of words (which yet we plead not for) than with an hypocritical, formal, heartless, lip-service; for he knoweth the meaning of the Spirit, even in the groans, which are not uttered in words. And for the Common Prayer, our observation telleth us, that though some can use it judiciously, seriously, and we doubt not profitably, yet as to the most of the vulgar, it causeth a relaxing of their attention and intention, and a lazy taking up with a Corps or image of devotion, even the service of the lips, while the heart is little sensible of what is said: And had we not known it, we should have thought it incredible, how utterly ignorant abundance are of the sense of the words which they hear and repeat themselves from day to day, even about Christ himself, and the essentials of Christianity: It is wonderful to us to observe that rational Creatures, can so commonly separate the words from all the sense and Life. So great a help or hinderance even to the understanding, is the awakening, or not awakening of the affections, about the things of God: And we have already shewed you many unfit expressions in the Common Prayer Book, especially in the Epistles and Gospels, through ⟨p. 54⟩the faultiness of your Translation, as Eph. 3. 15. [Father of all that is called [Father in Heaven and Earth] and that Christ was found in his apparel as a man] [that Mount Sinai, is Agar in Arabia, and bordereth upon the City now called Jerusalem] Gal. 4. 25. [This is the sixth Month which is barren] Luke 1. [And when men be drunk] Joh. 2. with many such like; which are parts of your publick Worship: and would you have us hence conclude, that the mischiefs of such expressions are greater than all the benefits of that Worship? And yet there is this difference in the Cases, that weak and rash Ministers were but here and there one, but the Common Prayer is the Service of every Church and every day:
