_Theophilus._ I do not dislike your scruple at all; you do well to be afraid of saying any thing to God, which your heart does not truly say. It is also good for you to think, that many of the prayers of the church may go higher, than your heart can go along with them. For this will put you upon a right care over yourself, so to live, that, as a true son of your mother the church, your heart may be able to speak her language, and find delight in the spirit of her prayers. But this will only then come to pass, when the spirit of prayer is the spirit of your heart; then every good word, whether in a form, or out of a form, will be as suitable to your heart, as gratifying to it, as food is to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty soul. But till the spirit of the heart is thus renewed, till it is _emptied_ of all earthly desires, and stands in an _habitual_ hunger and thirst after God (which is the true spirit of prayer) all our forms of prayer will be, more or less, but too much like _lessons_ that are given to _scholars_. But be not discouraged, _Academicus_; take the following advice, and you may go to church without any danger of a mere lip-labour; altho’ there should be a _psalm_, or a _prayer_, whose language is higher than that of your own heart. Do this: Go to the church, as the _Publican_ went into the temple; stand _inwardly_ in the spirit of your mind, in that _form_ which he outwardly expressed, when he cast down his eyes, smote upon his breast, and could only say, God be merciful to me a sinner! Stand unchangeably (at least in your desire) in _this form_ and state of heart; it will sanctify every petition that comes out of your mouth; and when any thing is read, or sung, or prayed, that is more exalted than your heart is, if you make this an occasion of a farther _sinking down_ in the spirit of the _Publican_, you will then be helped, and highly blessed, by those prayers and praises, which seem only to fit a better heart than yours.