Holy rules and helps to devotion both in prayer and practice In two parts. The fourth edition. Written by the right reverend father in God, Bryan Duppa, late Lord Bishop of Winton, in the time of his sequestration.

Of the Reverence and Ado∣ration that is to be used in Prayer.

AMong all the Du∣ties that relate to Prayer, whether of Preparation to it, or of Deportment in it, there is none of more prime Concernment, than to con∣sider that when we pray, we do place or set our selves in the immediate presence of God, whose eyes, though they are at all times over us; yet then we must imagine them more particularly and earnestly fixed upon us. And

as from this Consideration flows all the care and solici∣tude of fitting our selves by the former preparatives, so besides, it suggests to us with what reverence we should present our selves before so infinite a Majesty; not only because God expects it from us, (though this were enough to oblige: For if I am your * 1.1 Father, where is mine honour? If I am your Master, where is my fear? The words of him that looks for Reverence) but be∣cause our Prayers are then only effectual when they are presented with acts of Ado∣ration: For so saith Siracides, The Prayer of him that hum∣bleth * 1.2 himself goes through the Clouds, and ceaseth not till it

come near, and will not depart till the most High have respect thereunto: Nor doth the Son of God himself disdain to be a President to us in this, whose prayers upon the Cross being offered with strong cries and tears, were heard (as St. Paul saith) Propter Reverentiam; importing, as Aquinas ob∣serves, * 1.3 not so much the Re∣verence due to his own Per∣son, but rather the Reve∣rence which he did in his own Person to God the Father. But because the Reverence which was done there, was only the act of his Mind (for his Body being then nail'd unto the Cross, was not in a Capacity of per∣forming outward Adorati∣on)

he gave us before that pattern in the Garden; where St. Luke saith, that he kneeled; St. Matthew, that he fell on his * 1.4 face, when he prayed.

Having shewn this of the Son of God Incarnate; of whom it is said, Let all the * 1.5 Angels of God Worship him: It were much to descend to tell you of the four Beasts, or * 1.6 the twenty four Elders that fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever: But then if this lowly Reverence was done by them who were in such a nearness to God, when they offered up to him the Prayers of the Saints, what posture can be low enough for us miserable men, whose Prayers those

are, and who in comparison of those heavenly Spirits are viler than the Worms we tread upon?

That Adoration therefore is necessary, none will deny, that either know the Ex∣cellency of God, or their own baseness. But because this may be done either by the mind alone, or by the Body alone, or by both con∣joyned, which makes the compleat Adoration, let us inform our selves, first what the inward act of it is: For, as our Saviour taught the Woman of Samaria, God who is himself a Spirit, must be * 1.7 worshipped in Spirit; for the most profound outward Re∣verence, if not accompanied

with this, is but a Body without a Soul, a Pharisai∣cal Ceremony, or an Adora∣tion of Complement, of which God sadly complains, when he saith of his people, That they drew near to him * 1.8 with their lips, but their heart was far from him. The in∣ward Adoration therefore is * 1.9 the humbling of our spirit to God in regard of the ex∣cellency that is in him, sub∣mitting our very Soul, with all the powers and faculties of it to his Divine Dispo∣sal, as being the necessary Homage of the Creature, due to the Greatness and Majesty of the Creator. The exercise of this Adoration consists in several acts, part∣ly

of the Understanding, partly of the Will: For first there is an act of Reverence required before you begin your Devotions, in an hum∣ble Recognition of your un∣worthiness; of which the Patriarch Abraham hath left you so excellent a pattern, * 1.10 when being about to beseech God that he would spare So∣dom, he doth not only ac∣knowledg himself to be dust and ashes, but upon every return of speaking to God in that Cause, he doth it with that fear and reverence as to ask leave, and to deprecate his anger before he spake: O let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak.

I Confess, O Lord, it is an ex∣cess of holdness in me, that I so poor a Worm, so vile, so contemptible a Creature, should presume to speak to Thee: Yet be not angry with me for this, for it is not because I value my self more than Abraham did (for if he were but dust and ashes, what am I?) but because I dare not under value Thy Mercy, that I make my humble approaches to Thee. Behold, I am nothing in mine own eyes, O let me be something in Thine; and dis∣d••in me not when I speak unto Thee, for Christ his sake.

Amen.

THis humble Recogni∣tion being made of your own vileness, there is a second way of spiritual Ado∣ration, when the Soul hum∣bled by this Reflex upon it self, changeth the Object, and raiseth a further Reve∣rence by the consideration of the Excellencies and several perfections that are in God; sometimes crying out in such Ejaculations as these: O most excellent God, I adore Thee for Thine Infinite Wisdom, I reve∣rence Thee for Thine Incompre∣hensible Goodness, I glorifie Thee for Thine Immense Charity. Sometimes again by a pro∣found silence, making a ta∣cite acknowledgment that all

that can be said by thee is nothing: For not only the tongues of men, but of An∣gels, must fail in the expres∣sion of his Glory.

Besides, there is a Reve∣rence to be used to God in the Stile or Titles which you give to him; and these you may vary, according to the variety of the matter of your petitions, wherein the Psalms of David are admirable, and afford you no less than forty several ways of Compellation of him, some relating to his Power, as when he calls him by the names of, The King of Heaven, the King of Glory, The God of my Strength, The God that doth Wonders; (the very stile striking a kind

of fear and reverence into the Soul.) Others again re∣lating to his Goodness: My Saviour, My God, My Might, My Hope, My Refuge in the time of trouble: Which though they run in a stile of Confi∣dence, yet are not without reverence too: But then (as Gerson observes) the stile that is best fitted for all persons on all occasions to use, is the compellation of Father, which our Saviour first taught his Disciples to make use of in that excellent Prayer never to be disus'd, nor laid aside by us. Before the time of Grace published to the World, we do not find this Title in the prayers of Holy Men, either Patriarchs or Prophets: But

after the Son of God, by ta∣king our Nature upon him, became our Brother, then was the boldness given to call God our Father; given even to sinners conditionally, that they use it with that reverence as the converted Prodigal did, who though he had the confidence to call him Father, yet he had the humi∣lity withal, to confess that he was not worthy to be called his Son, and therefore his Petition reached no higher, than to be made one of his hired Servants.

O Most Great God, what shall I say in Thy presence, when I come to pray to Thee? By what Title shall I call thee, or

how shall I sufficiently adore Thee? If I stile Thee a Iudge, I adore thy Iustice; If a Ma∣ster, I know my Obedience; if I call Thee my Saviour, I ac∣knowledge Thy Mercy: What∣soever name I use, I find cause enough of Reverence. And since therefore I now appear be∣fore Thee, to pay the Tribute of Adoration by a Thousand Titles due to the Thee, let thy Truth direct me, and Thy Spirit guide me, that I may so adore Thee in Spirit and Truth, as Thou re∣quirest: And that all the in∣ward Faculties of my Soul, may be as so many fiery Tongues, to set forth thy praise for ever∣more.

Amen.

BUT as in a Watch, though there must be Wheels within, yet there must be a hand without too, or else the inward Motion of the Wheels is useless; so though the principal of all spiritual Motion is within, yet the Virtue of it must have a time to work outward too, or else our Adoration is not com∣pleat: For as the Nature of Man is not comprised singly either in Soul or Body, but in both conjoyned; so the Adoration due to God, who made both, is to flow from both: And if the Soul be God's inward Chancel, the Body must be the Temple that includes it: For know you

not (saith St. Paul) that your * 1.11 body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost that is in you: Your own it is not; For you are brought with a price, therefore glorifie God in your Body, as well as Spirit, for both are his. We are not therefore to think, the Reverence of the Body to be an useless or an unprofi∣table Ceremony: For besides this Argument of St. Pauls for the necessity of it, St. Au∣stin observes, that this out∣ward Adoration of the Body is a notable help to the more inward acts of the Spirit, and adds much to the earnestness and fervour of it. For the stretching forth of the hands, the bowing of the knees, the beating of the breasts, the

prostrating and casting down the Body, with the like Gestures of Humiliation, are not therefore used to disco∣ver to God what is within the heart, or to move him the more, but to move thy self, and by these exterior acts, as by a vigorous blow∣ing, to continue and increase that invisible fire of Devo∣tion that burns within. But then as these outward acts are not always absolutely necessary; for you may many times be inwardly moved to pray, when outward gesture cannot either easily or conve∣niently be used; as Manasses praying in his Fetters, Eze∣kiel in his Bed, Susanna in a Throng of People;

so neither can I say, that any one particular gesture of the Body in Prayer is so prescri∣bed in Scripture, either by way of Precept or Example, as to oblige to that gesture only. For in the exercise of Prayer, we find several postures of Holy Men. Be∣fore the Law Abraham is said to have fallen on his face; * 1.12 under the Law, Moses did the like. Among the Pro∣phets, * 1.13 Elias fell on the earth, bowing his face between his * 1.14 knees; Solomon stood before the Altar, with his hands * 1.15 spread forth toward Hea∣ven; Saint Stephen kneel'd, * 1.16 when he pray'd for his Ene∣mies; Saint Peter, when he raised Doroas; our Saviour * 1.17

himself in his Agony in the Garden, not only kneel'd but prostrated himself, as hath already been mentio∣ned.

The acts of outward Ado∣ration being of this diversi∣ty: St. Austin's Rule is, that in private Prayer (for in pub∣lick we are to conform our selves to the Commands and Customs of the Church wherein we live, rather than to the bent and inclination of our own Wills) we are so to compose and order the outward man, as may be of most advantage to the rai∣sing and continuing of the inward Devotion of the mind. Of all these outward Gestures, Prostration is the

lowest act of bodily Reve∣rence that can be used, when the Supplicant casting him∣self upon the earth, acknow∣ledges by that act, that he doth but cast dust to dust, that he is more vile than the least grain of that earth he lies upon; and this posture best becomes us in times of great Affliction, and ever to be then lowest, when our necessities are at the highest. But though this casting of the body upon the ground, hath been the practice of many Devout Men, especi∣ally of those in the first Ages of Christianity, who after a more strict way wor∣shipping God in Desarts and solitary places; yet because

they found by experience (as Cassian tells us) that the con∣tinuance of their posture long might incline to ease, and provoke to drousiness, they us'd it rather upon some short Ejaculatory Prayers, than in their larger and more conti∣nued Devotions, casting them∣selves often down with some short and vehement breath∣ings of the Soul; but rising again so suddenly, that some of them have been observed to have prostrated them∣selves in this manner an hun∣dred times in the day, and as often in the night. But this we must leave to be imi∣tated by those whose Devo∣tion is of an higher strain than ordinary, and which

these latter times are hardly capable of.

But the more ordinary and more convenient for all per∣sons, is Genuflection: Though we may have some excuse not to cast our whole body down, shall we not cast our knees down at least? Hath God said, That every knee * 1.18 shall bow to him, and shall any of us think to be dispenc'd with? Our Saviour kneeled, who knew no sin; and is the posture too low for us, that are nothing else but sin? Whether Elephants have no joints in their knees, and therefore cannot bend them, I will not enquire: But sure the Christian, that hath not this excuse, is a stranger

Creature to be wondered at, if he become once so spa∣ring of his trouble, or so over-familiar with his God, as not to bend his knees in solemn Prayer unto him.

But then you will say, Where is there Command for this? No Gesture of the body can be other than a Ceremony, which being in its own Nature a thing indifferent, may either be used, or laid aside.

But first, Though it be a Ceremony, every Ceremony is not of that indifferency, especially such which the very Law of Nature dictates to all Nations in all Ages, to fall down and kneel in the Veneration of their God, whether true or false: But

then, lest this inward Prin∣ciple should apply and cast it self upon a wrong Object, God hath expresly given his Precept too: For every knee (saith he) shall bow to me: And what terms can there be of higher command than these?

But yet because Affirma∣tive Precepts, though they bind always in the Habit, cannot be said always to bind in the Act, this cannot be pres∣sed so indispensably, as that neither sickness nor weak∣ness, nor any other accident, can be a bar to it: For where necessity intervenes, the ben∣ded knees of the heart may well excuse the Body.

There is therefore one po∣sture more that we find hath been used in Prayer, which though it may hear ill, being practised by the Pharisees, who, as our Saviour de∣scribes them, loved to pray standing, not only in their Synagogues, but in the cor∣ners of their Streets; yet this * 1.19 is not enough utterly to ex∣clude it from our Devoti∣ons: For not only the proud Pharisee, but the humble Publican stood at his Prayers, * 1.20 although with this note of difference: He stood, but it was afar off, in the lowest place of the Temple, as thinking himself unworthy to come higher: His body stood upright, but his eyes

were cast downward to the Earth. But not to stop either upon these Particulars, or upon the Custom of the Iews in general, (for it was their Custom to pray standing) we find in the best times, the Christians had their sea∣sons to make use of it: For besides that, as between Ea∣ster and Whitsontide (to ex∣press their Exultation for the Resurrection of their Savi∣our, and their Expectation of the Descent of the Holy Ghost) they were not seen to kneel openly in their publick Service of God: So, many times in their private Devotions, (especi∣ally when they continued them long upon their knees)

they relieved themselves with that change of Posture. But to avoid all necessary Scru∣ples in cases of this nature, the result of all is this:

1. That Adoration is an act of Religious Worship, exhibited to God in Recog∣nition of his Supreme Do∣minion.

2. That as in Man the heart is first framed, so the heart must be first offered as a spiritual Sacrifice of in∣ward Reverence.

3. That the outward A∣doration by Prostration, or kneeling, is not so much a Ceremony, as a part or

duty in Divine Worship, not to be omitted, but either in case of necessity, or when we find some o∣ther posture upon some oc∣casion really to be of more advantage to us in our De∣votion.

4. That this Duty of ex∣ternal Reverence doth not then necessarily oblige, when the Soul being suddenly and inwardly moved to lift it self up by Prayer, the out∣ward man is as it were sur∣prized in some other posture: as walking, standing, sit∣ting, or lying down; in which case, God will rather look to the inward Motions and Raptures of the Mind,

than to the outward Form and Composure of the Body.

Someother, though more minute, yet usual Circum∣stances of Adoration, are summed up by Bonaventure; as the uncovering of the head (as it relates to Men) the posture of either looking up to Heaven, with the con∣fidence of Saint Stephen, or fastened down to the Earth, with the humility of the Publican: The hands lifted * 1.21 and stretched out, a Gesture which God honoured with that famous Miracle: Thus * 1.22 as long as Moses in this man∣ner held up his hands, the Israelites prevailed; but when he let them down, his Ene∣mies

prevailed. But the choice of these must be regulated by the former Rule of Saint Au∣stin, and so far made use of, as they shall conduce most to every particular Man's Devo∣tion.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Mal. i. 6.
• * 1.2

  Ecclus. xxxv. 17.
• * 1.3

  Heb. v. 7.
• * 1.4

  Luke xxii. 41. Matth. xxvi. 39.
• * 1.5

  Heb. i. 6.
• * 1.6

  Rev. v. 8. 14.
• * 1.7

  John iv. 24.
• * 1.8

  Isa xxix. 13.
• * 1.9

  Matth. xv. 8.
• * 1.10

  Gen. xviii. 29. 30.
• * 1.11

  1 Cor. VI. 19, 20.
• * 1.12

  Gen. xvii. 3.
• * 1.13

  Deut. ix. 18.
• * 1.14

  1 Kings xviii. 42.
• * 1.15

  1 Kings viii. 22.
• * 1.16

  Acts vii. 60. & 20. 36.
• * 1.17

  Matth. xxvi. 30.
• * 1.18

  Isa. xiv. 23.
• * 1.19

  Mark vi. 5
• * 1.20

  Luke xviii. 13.
• * 1.21

  2 Chron. vi. 13.
• * 1.22

  Exod. xvii. 11.