24. Prefatory note.

Prefatory note. The preface to the following treatise is of some interest as an earnest pleading against liturgical impositions on four different grounds; as having been instrumental: (1) in securing, at an early period, currency for the errors of the great apostasy; (2) in introducing the gorgeous embellishments of carnal fancy into the pure worship of the Christian religion; (3) in tempting ecclesiastical authorities to employ civil penalties in matters of faith; and (4) in leading to the cessation of spiritual and ministerial gifts in the church. The treatise itself unfolds the evidence and nature of the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit in prayer, and it would be esteemed meagre and incomplete if it were regarded as a treatise on the whole subject of prayer. To understand its precise scope, it must be considered simply as another book in the general work of our author on the dispensation and operations of the Holy Spirit. Given that the subsidiary discussions on the mental prayer of the church of Rome, and the use of devotional formulas, are evidently connected with the particular and distinctive object of the treatise, it is designed to illustrate the operations of the Spirit in the devotional exercises of believers.