ffering, saith the Lord, should
I accept this of your Hands_?

Ans. 1. Can we pretend to make better Prayers {269} than the Spirit of
God has made and scatter'd up and down thro' all the Old and New
Testament? Can we compose better Sermons than _Moses_ or _Solomon_?
Better than our Saviour and his Apostles preach'd, and the Spirit of
God hath recorded? Why then should not we use Scripture Forms of
praying and preaching, as well as of Singing? And tho we may hope for
the ordinary Assistance of the Spirit in our Prayers and Sermons, yet
how can we expect that these shall be as good as those which were
compos'd by his extraordinary Inspiration?

Ans. 2. Divine Wisdom accommodates its Inspirations, its Gifts, its
Revelations, and its Writings, to the particular Cases and Seasons in
which he finds a Saint or a Church. Now tho we cannot pretend to make a
better Prayer than that of _Ezra_ or _Daniel_, or our Lord, for the Day
and Design for which they were prepared; yet a Song, a Sermon, or a
Prayer that expresses my Wants, my Duties or my Mercies, tho it be
compos'd by a humane Gift, is much better for me than to tie myself to
any inspired Words in any part of Worship which do not reach my Case;
and consequently can never be proper to assist the Exercise of my
Graces or raise my Devotion.

Ans. 3. I believe that Phrases and Sentences used by inspired Writers
are very proper to express our Thoughts in Prayer, Preaching or Praise;
and God has frequently given Witness in the Hearts of Christians how
much he approves the Language of Scripture; but 'tis always with a
Proviso that those Phrases be clear, and expressive of our present
Sense, and proper to our present Purpose: Yet we are not to dress up
our Prayers, Sermons or Songs in the Language of _Judaism_ when we
design to express the Doctrines of the Gospel: This would but _darken
Divine Counsel by Words without Knowledge_; it would amuse and confound
the more ignorant Worshipers, 'twould disgust the more Considerate, and
give neither {270} the one nor the other Light or Comfort: And I think
it may be as proper in our Churches to read a Sermon of _Moses_ or
_Isaiah_ instead of preaching the Gospel, as to sing a Psalm of _David_
whose Expressions chiefly refer to _David_ the Shepherd, the King, the
Fugitive, the Captain, the Musician and the _Jew_. In short the
Prayers, Sermons and Songs in Scripture are rather Patterns by which we
should frame our Worship and adjust it to o