CHAP. V.] THE FOUKTH DAT. 157 



But manner too : TO READ, OR SPEAK, by rote, 

 Is, all, alike to him that prays, 

 Ill's heart, what with his mouth he says. 



They that in private, by themselves alone, 



Do pray ; may take 

 What liberty they please, 

 In choosing of the ways 



Wherein to make 



Their souls' most intimate affections known 

 To Him that sees in secret, when 

 Th' are most conceal'd from other men. 



But he, that unto others leads the way, 



In public prayer ; 

 hould 



Should do it, so, 



As all that hear, may know 



They need not fear 



To tune their hearts unto his tongue and say 

 Amen; not doubt they were betray'd 

 To blaspheme, when they meant to have prayed. 



Devotion will add life unto the letter : 

 And why should not 

 That which authority 

 Prescribes, esteemed be 



Advantage got? 



If th' prayer be good, the commoner the better. 

 Prayer in ike Church's WORDS as well 

 As SENSE, of all prayers bears the bell. 1 



CH. HABVIE. 



And now, scholar ! I think it will be time to repair to our 

 angle-rods ; which we left in the water to fish for themselves ; 



1 These verses were -written at or near the time when the Liturgy was 

 abolished by an ordinance of Parliament ; and while it was agitating, as a 

 theological question whether, of the two, preconceived or extemporary 

 prayer is most agreeable to the sense of Scripture. In favour of the former 

 I have heard it asserted by a very eloquent person, and one of the ablest 

 writers both in prose and verse now living, that he never, without pre- 

 meditation, could address his Maker in terms suited to his conceptions; 

 and that of all written composition, he had found that of prayer to be the 

 most difficult. Of the same opinion is a very eminent prelate of this day, 

 who (being himself an excellent judge of literature), in a conversation on 

 the subject, declared it to me at the same time saying, that, excepting 

 those in the Liturgy, he looked on the prayers of Dr. Jeremy Taylor, that 

 occur in the course of his work, as by far the most eloquent and energetic 

 of any in our language. H. 



