when the Discourse saith the lawfull not the necessary use of a prescript form is now in question you make the question to imply a contradiction for a prescript form is put upon the Churches as necessary to be used in all publique holy assemblies else it is not a form prescribed but described only Disc But saith the Discourser if they will hear with patience the consequence of that argument The use of a devised and prescribed form of prayer will be justified from their own ground for they teach that God hath not appointed in his Word any prescript form which of necessity we are tyed to use at all that the matter of our prayers are divers according to the severall occasions which happen and fall out that the Inward frame is the elevation of the soul to God in humility love fear and confidence from which premises it will necessarily follow if one godly forme of prayer may be used another also fit for matter grave for phrase of speech may be allowed for none is absolutely commanded Answ The contrary conclusion doth rather follow from the premises for if none be absolutely commanded by God then none ought to be commanded or prescribed by men what God hath left free in his worship let no man limit To what Church did God ever give power to bind where himself looseth And if it be unlawfull for Church Governours to bind where God looseth it will be unlawfull for the people so deeply to offend the conscience of their Governours as to build them up or to harden them in their sins by ready subjection to such injunctions and serious and zealous pleading for them How much safer were it for the people of God to stand fast in the liberty which Christ hath purchased for them in accepting no other yoke of ordinances nor forms of worship then himself hath put upon them that so Church Governours might contain themselves within the power in Church affairs wherein the Lord hath contained himselfe throughout the Scriptures when shall it once be that the servants of God will learn to be wise and teach others to be wise not above that which is written but according to it that so an end might be put at length to the inventions and innovations of the sons of men whereby they take upon themselves an usurpation beyond the bounds of Apostolicall Authority and put upon the people an unjust restraint of the bounds of their dear bought Christian liberty Disc The use of a prescript form of prayer or Liturgy derogateth as some say from the honour fruit and benefit of Christs ascention who ascending up on high hath given gifts to men for the work of the Ministry Eph. 4.8 Let it be granted that every particular Minister is able in so full and ample manner at all times to open his heart before God which can never be proved as that he shall not need the help of a book Is there no warrant therefore for others to prescribe or for themselves to read or use stinted prayer why not an able Minister hath discretion to know what portion of Scripture is fit to be read Hath the Church then no power to appoint what Books and Chapters shall ordinarily be read or hath a Minister no warrant to observe that appointment A learned Linguist is able to translate a Chapter in the old or new Testament peradventure as well as it is translated may not the Church yet ordain one usually to be read Let our brethren judge the strength of their Reason in one framed after the same manner If a Minister be indued with gifts to judge what portion of Scripture is meet to be read then is there no warrant for another to prescribe nor for them to read stinted portions of Scripture prescribed by men prayer is a part of Gods worship so is reading of Scripture the externall form of words are humane so is the prescription of such a Book or Chapter Answ The Reason is of more weight against prescript forms then will so easily be cast off at least to our best apprehensions For if the Lord Jesus by his ascention hath given sufficient furniture of gifts to the Ministers of his Church for prayer as well as for preaching For the whole work of the Ministry for the edification of the Church For the perfecting of the Saints unto the fulnesse of the slature of the age of Christ Then it is dishonourable unto Christ and superfluous for the Governours of the Church to prescribe unto Ministers set forms of Prayer in Liturgies any more than set forms of preaching in Homilies If Christ hath not gifted them as sufficient for the one as for the other it doth indeed derogate from the honour and fruit of his ascention if he have then it is superfluous for Church governours Actum Agere even as much as to tie bladders under the wings of Sea-fowls to keep them from sinking or to help them to swim It is true that every good Minister is not able at all times to open his heart to God in Prayer but neither is he able at all times to open the mind of God in preaching but if he be not able to do both without book neither will he be able to do either upon a book prescribed to him I have known a Minister to edifie the people more by silence in the Pulpit through strength of temptation then ever I knew any do by reading a Homily upon the Book If an able Minister have discretion to know what portion of Scripture is fit to be read to what end should the Church appoint him what Books and Chapter to read ordinarily It is a commendable work in any state to procure a faithfull translation of the Bible to be extant in the mother tongue of each people under their dominions for the common benefit of them all And we do easily grant a Minister though he be a learned Linguist hath liberty not onely to make use of it in his private studies but also to make use of it in the Congregation for seeing reading of Scripture is an ordinance of God yea and reading of it in the mother tongue of each people it will best agree with the edification of each people to read it out of such a book as is frequent and currant in all their hands But yet the Church may not so bind him to such a translation as not to give him leave to amend it if need be and he be able And besides this will no way reach the binding of Ministers to a set form of Prayer upon a book seeing reading of Prayers in the Church as Prayers is not any ordinance of God as all the reading of translated Scriptures be CHAP. IV. Answering to the third Reason Disc IF it be lawfull to sing Psalmes in a form of words devised by men then likewise to pray unto God in a stinted forme If the one of these be an invention of men a strange prayer a similitude of a prayer
might appear to all That he might shew himself approved unto God A workman that needeth not to be ashamed 1 Tim. 4.13 14 15. with 2 Tim. 2.15 But give me leave to speak without offence You seem to me in this point to take too much liberty in a serious cause to play upon equivocation It is true in studying a Sermon the Preacher useth his Invention and Judgement and in that sence his Sermon may be called mans Invention But you are not ignorant we speak in this cause of such inventions of men as God hath given neither Commandement nor direction for in his Word In which sence a studied Sermon is no more a mans Invention than a studied answer which Solomon commendeth as a path of the Righteous Prov 15.28 The like may be said of the next instance which is Interpretation of Scriptures as also a conceived Prayer Interpretation of Scripture is from a spiritual gift which God hath given and commanded to be used for the edification of his Church 1 Cor. 14.26 Nehem. 8.8 So is Prayer conceived from a spirit and gift of prayer which is to be used also and attended to as a principall part of the Ministeriall office 1 Cor. 14.15 Acts 6.4 Obj If it be said but I may take an Interpretation or Translation of Scripture from others and therefore a form of Prayers from others also Answ 1. There is a broad difference betwixt an Interpretation of Scripture as it is put for translation of Scripture and read Prayer for reading of Scripture in the Church is an ordinance of God so is the reading of it in a tongue which the people understandeth and therefore it is an ordinance of God that the Word be read in some translation But the reading of a prayer for the prayers of the Church is no ordinance of God therefore there is not the like ground from the Word to make use of prayer-Prayer-Books to read prayers as to make use of a printed Bible for the reading of the Word 2. Every Minister that hath understanding of the originall languages wherein the Scripture was written ought to make use of his own gift in examining the truth of the translation which he readeth unto the Church which will not be allowed in prescript Lyturgies As for the division of Scriptures into Sections and Chapters and the reading of one part this Week and the other next It is certain division of Scripture is antient even from the times of the Prophets And evident it is the whole Scripture cannot be read over in one day And therefore it is from God that some divisions of Scriptures be observed according to the variety of matter therein contained and distinctly devideth it selfe and consequently it is from God that one part of it be read at this Assembly another at the next because all cannot be read at once And yet we know no warrant that one Church should prescribe another what division to make of the Scriptures or what part of it should be read this day and what the next what God hath lest free let no man limit Disc Preaching is commanded of God so is interpretation of Scripture but phrase and method of Interpretation is of men The matter of the Scripture is the immediate Word of God but the Word and phrase which are Vessels to convey this truth to us I speak of Translations not of the Originall Text are humane and not of God by immediate inspiration God commandeth us to call upon him both in publique and private but the words in which we expresse our desires are our own both in conceived and stinted Prayer Answ It is true preaching of the Word and the Interpretation of the Word are of God but the phrase and Method is of men yet so of men as they have commandement and warrant from God to preach and interpret the Word and not in what phrase and Method please themselves nor in such words as mans wisdome teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth 1 Cor. 2.13 Nor so from men as that the men of one Church may devise a set form thereof and binde all men as well of other Churches as their own to this or that manner of phrase or Method the like is to be said of prayer also But when your Discourse saith that the words wherein we expresse our desires are our own in conceived and stinted prayer you might as well have said that the words wherein we deliver our Sermons are our own both in conceived Sermons and in stinted Homilies Disc These two kinds of Prayer conceived and stinted agree in their Author Matter Form Object end and common nature the one is no more an Invention of man than the other so then devised Worship is unlawfull but not a worship in a form of words devised Answ And so might we say of prayer to God before an Image and prayer without an Image they are two kinds of prayer that agree in their Author matter form object end and common nature yet we cannot say the one is more an invention of men than the other As devised Worship is unlawfull so are devised forms and means of worship unlawfull also of which sort such set forms of words be as are devised and composed by the officers of one Congregation and imposed upon the brethren of another Congregation for the forms of their prayers Answ 2. We cannot say as you do that such conceived and stinted forms agree in their Authors for I am not the Author of the matter of that prayer which another man composed and was the Author of and is now stinted and prescribed to me no more then I can be said to be the Author of that Sermon which another man indited Battyllus was not the Authour of Virgil's Verses Though he resiteth them as his own Virgil justly challengeth his own out of his hand Hos ego versiculas feci c. Nor can we say that such conceived or stinted forms agree in their form if by form be meant externall form it is not the same form of walking to walk with Crutches and to walk upright It is not the same form of prayer to pray with help of mens inventions and with such helps only as the Holy Ghost supplyeth which also hindereth that they cannot be said to agree in their common nature The one being a lawfull form of prayer the other unlawfull And therefore when your Discourse saith that conceived and stinted prayer the one is no more the invention of man than the other we cannot understand the truth of that for in conceived prayer the Spirit of God within us teacheth us what to pray And for that the Ordinance and Word of God is plain Rom. 8.26 But in stinted prayer the matter is not suggested or indited to us by the Spirit of God within us but prescribed and imposed upon us by the will wisdome and authority of men whom the Holy Ghost hath not called to such a work as therefore a devised worship is unlawfull
the Crutch from the lame and bread from the hungry Answ In case a distressed soul do meet with a prayer penned by a godly and well experienced Christian and do find his own case pithily and amply deciphered and anatomized therein we deny not but his heart and affections may go along with it and say Amen to it And thus far may find it a lawfull help to him but if you set a part such a prayer to support him as a crutch in his prayers as without which he cannot walk straight and upright in that duty or if he that penned that prayer or others that have read it do injoyn it upon him and forbid him to pray especially with others unlesse he use that form this instead of a crutch will prove a cudgell to break the bones of the Spirit in prayer and force him to halt in worshipping God after the precepts of men as it hath been said before so it may be again remembred here a man may help his spirit in meditation of his mortallity by beholding a dead mans scalp cast in his way by Gods providence but if he should set a part a deaths head or take it up as injoyned to him by others never to meditate or conserre with others about his mortality and estate of another life but in the sight and use of the deaths head such a soul shall find but a dead heart and a dead devotion from such a means of mortification if some forms of Prayer especially such as gave occasion to this Dispute do now seem to be as bread to the hungry we say no more but this then hungry souls will never be starved that never want store of such like bread as this is Disc The ample and particular laying out of our necessities doth ease the heart and move affections and when this may be better done by the help of a Book in prayer then of our selves it is senselesse to accuse the use hereof as a lip-labour and a quenching of the spirit he stinteth not the Spirit that labours to blow the coals of grace c. Answ It is true he stinteth not the Spirit nor quencheth him that useth any means sanctified by the Spirit to blow the coals of grace but this we deny that a stinted form of prayer upon a book devised by men and enjoyned to be used as the prayers of a Christian soul is a means sanctified by the Spirit to blow the coals of his grace or that the repeating of such a set form of Prayer though ample and particular in laying out his necessities will ease his heart or move his affections according to God God doth not delight ordinarily to breath in the Masterly injunctions of brethren upon brethren or of one Congregation upon another especially in such things whereof we have neither precept nor president in the Word Disc He doth not substitute his Christian friend in the place of the word and Spirit who not able to lift up his soul to God by reason of straightnesse of heart and grievous pressure doth crave his help and assistance in prayer and may not a godly Book supply the want of a Christian companion Answ It is an ordinance of God to crave the help of the Prayers of our brethren and to joyn with them shew the like warrant for Prayer upon a book prescribed to us and then we will grant a godly book may supply even in this case the lacke of a Christian companion If a Minister be not able to preach by reason of the straightnesse of his heart and grievous pressure he may get his Christian friend to preach for him but he may not make use of a godly homily enjoyned to him by others to supply the lack of a Christian friend Disc Why should it be a sin to read or pronounce a godly form of Prayer is it for that it is read and pronounced or because a man cannot lift up his heart in faith unto God when he uttereth his requests in a stinted form of words to assigne the former is superstition To say the latter is to offend against common experience Answ We do not say it is a sin to read or pronounce a godly form of Prayer but to read a form of Prayer devised by others and to set it a part to read being devised by others enjoyned to me as my Prayer This is sin not because it is pronounced for all publique Prayer is pronounced nor alwayes in private because it is read for as hath been said a man may go along in his spirit and be affected with some Prayer which occasionally he readeth and may lift up his own heart in it to the Lord but a sin it is as it is set apart by himselfe for his Prayer or as it is so enjoyned to him by others and in publique it is of sin both because it is read as the Prayer of the Church and so another book brought into the Church besides Gods Book And because it is devised not by the gift of Gods Spirit in themselves but in others and also because by other it is prescribed or enjoyned to be read as the service and worship of God in another Church For we do not find that ever God gave warrant either for the offering up of read Prayers to God as the ordinary prayers of the Church and least of all for Prayers prescribed and enjoyned by one Church unto another It is so far off from superstition to affirm this that we look at it as a superstition to deny it for to speak of superstition according to the true nature of it and not according to the old Etymologie If superstition be cultus supra statutum there is none of all these kinds whether as read upon a book in the Congregation for their ordinary Prayers or devised by men of other Congregations for that end or as imposed upon us by them but they are all of them and each one of them cultus supra statutum worships and helps and forms of worship which never came into Gods heart to allow for his statute and worship Disc Will any man object that read prayer is not Gods Ordinance It hath been answered already that prayer is the ordinance of God but whether our prayers be onely conceived in heart or uttered by words whether in our own or other words whether by pronouncing or reading that is not appointed when spake he one word of prayer within Book or without in this or that form of words Answ Reply hath been made hereto before as Prayer is an Ordinance of God so are all the lawfull helps and means and forms of Prayer God hath plainly expressed his allowance of Prayer conceived in the heart and of prayer uttered and pronounced by words both in our own words and in the words of others whom God calleth to be our mouths in the present assembly but of set forms of read prayer devised by men of another Congregation and prescribed and imposed upon others it may
need to be shouldred speedily out of the Church than to be sheltered therein one day to an end And besides if such set forms be prescribed for the succour of ignorant Ministers then such Ministers as have received the gift of prayer have no need at any time nor use of prescribed and set forms of prayer at all Object And if it be said that it is not intended to make it lawfull at any time to tye or to be tyed to a set form of Prayer so as to offer up no more nor fewer Petitions than what are prescribed in the Book but only to warrant the lawfullnesse of some set forms of Prayer for some occasions Answ It may be justly demanded whether the same authority which tyeth to a set form of prayer for such or such occasions may not as well tye to a set form of prayer for all other occasions and if authority may tye the Church to any set form of prayer upon any occasion whether may not the same Authority by the same Rule forbid all other forms of prayers besides upon the same occasion Disc In Brief say you the controversie is whether it be not lawfull to read a Prayer upon a book or to make our desires known in a set form of words when the things we beg are allowable fit and necessary and when it is done with understanding feeling of our wants faith in Gods promises and reverence of his Majesty Which Question you spread forth into three branches Whether it be lawfull in private to use a set form of prayer or upon any occasion to read as prayer a prayer upon a Book Whether a set form of prayer sound and pertinent for the substance of the matter grave and simple for the order and manner not prejudising abridging or hindering by the length thereof the preaching of the Word may in any sort be tollerated in the Church or read by the Minister in the publique Congregation In case it should be unlawfull for the Minister or the Master of the Family to read a prescript form of prayer yet whether it should be unlawfull to be present at such assemblies Your Assertion is that a stinted form of prayer is lawfull to be used both in publique and private c. And though it should be sin in the Minister or in the Governour of the family yet may the people in the Congregation and the inferiour in the family be present at such prayers without sin or scruple of conscience Answ How far we go along with you in the Question thus stated and where we stick may be expressed in these particulars First We grant a Christian man whether Minister or of private place may by the gift of prayer which he hath received compile to himself a set form of prayer and may use the same for his prayer whether in publique or private according to his place yet so as not to limit himself to those words seeing he knoweth not what further occasion may be given him of inlarging his Petitions by new occurrences of matters from Gods providence and by the inlargement of the help of Gods Spirit nor so to limit himselfe as to stick long in any set form of prayer least it turn into a customary and empty form contrary to the watchfullnesse unto Prayer which must be Religiously kept of all growing Christians 2. A man may give unto another holy directions and rules for Prayer and may also set down some forms of prayer as examples of such rules but not to prescribe them as set forms to them to be used by them for their Prayers 3. A man that readeth a form of Prayer in a Book may be so affected with it as in the desires of his heart to go along with it and to use it for his present prayer as it may thus fall out in reading one of Calvins prayers printed after his Lectures or such other like 4. We deny not but a man that is affected with some Petitions in a Prayer devised by others he may lawfully make use of them and intersert them ordinarily into his own Prayers But not to take up an intire form of Prayer devised by another and to make it his own ordinary form of Prayer 5. We grant Magistrates or other Christians may commend some Heads or Petitions to the Church according to the present state of things which the Church as they see fit may present and commend to God in their Prayers Thus far we consent but farther we cannot go but do rather conceive it to be unlawfull 1. To set a part and take up a set form of Prayer and to use it as an ordinary prayer that which is devised by others whom God hath not called to be a mouth to me 2. We conceive it also to be unlawfull to bring in ordinarily any other Books into the publique worship of God in the Church besides the Book of God and therefore do see no more warrant to read out of a Prayer Book the publique Prayers of a Church then out of a book of Homilyes to read the publique Sermons of the Ministers of the Church 3. We account it alike if not more unlawfull for Ancestors to prescribe or injoyn set forms of Prayers to their posterity or for one Church to prescribe set forms of Prayer unto another 4. We hold it in like manner unlawfull for one Church to receive such set forms of Prayer from another and to use them for their own Prayers 5. We take it to be unlawfull also for the people of God to joyn in such prayers which are so divised and prescribed to be read unto them and to be offered up in their names as their prayers To apply these things more punctually to the particular branches of the Question as they are proposed and stated by you For your first branch we do not make it a controversie whether it be lawfull to make known our desires in a set form of words in such sence as we granted above in our first point of consent nor do we hold it unlawfull to read a prayer upon a book and therein to expresse our desires in such sort as we granted in our third point of consent But neverthelesse we do not discern it to be lawfull no not in private to use ordinarily a set form of prayer devised by others nor to read such a prayer out of a book for the ordinary prayer of a mans self much lesse of his Family For your second Branch though we neither deny the use of set form in private nor in publique so it be compiled by a mans own gists or by those whom God calleth to be his mouth Yet we dare not allow the reading of a set form of publique prayer out of a Book penned for the purpose and those prayers compiled by the members of one Congregation and imposed upon others 3. For your third Branch we for our parts cannot justifie it to be lawfull for to be present either in the family or in the
the devises of men as with Salt Cream Spittle Crosse and the like so is the case here aprescript form of prayer may consist of lawfull fit petitions and be delivered with a faithfull holy humble spirit and so be truly and properly prayer and yet fall short of some rule requisite to be attended to make it a lawfull worship of God to wit if it be offered to God in a strange Tongue or before an Image or by the help of an Image such as we conceive a prescript form of words to be injoyned and imposed to be read upon a book for the Prayers of the Church Answ 2. If by Matter and Form be meant not only Internall and Essential forme but externall also Then we deny that a prescript form of prayer injoyned to be read upon a Book is a lawfull externall form of prayer no more than a prescript form of Homilies is a lawfull externall form of preaching These Answers seem to us sufficient and unavoidable and we rest in them but the other Answers which are alledged by you in your Discourse and much and often beaten upon you though it was delivered by one whose works praise him in the gates throughout all the Churches of the Saints yet we do not insist upon it as not willing to turn aside to unnecessary disputes stinted set forms we do not look at as lawfull to them that need them but unlawfull to them that need them not For though there be a good use of the distinction in this case as we shall see anon yet not in this case where the necessity ariseth not from Gods Commandement but from the sinfull defect of the Creature for supply whereof God hath ordained sufficient help other wayes But yet in reply which you make to the Answer you give a distinction liable to the same exception which your self take against that Answer For that Answer consisting of a distinction of arbitrary and necessary help Your Discourse rejecteth it as a distinction not grounded upon the Word of God which in Divinity is as you say an unwritten tradition and is this distinction of your own any better Helps say you and surtherances in Gods Service are of two sorts some in nature and use the same with the true worship of God instituted by his highnesse and these are unlawfull because they are devised and others concern the Method Phrase of Speech outward manner of celebration onely as meer circumstances and these are not forbidden A distinction ungrounded upon the Word so no better that an unwritten tradition and withall both the parts imply a fals-hood for a prayer which a Minister deviseth for his own and his peoples use before the Sermon is in nature and use the same with the true worship of God instituted by his highnesse yet it is not unlawfull because it is devised for it is devised by him who is called of God to devise and indite it as David did Psal 45. v. 1. and all the rest and that by help of the Spirit of prayer again on the other part a prescribed Homilie doth conserve the method phrase of speech outward manner of celebration only as a meer circumstance yet no Word of God ever allowed it to be read for the publick preaching of the Word unto the people It is true which the Discourse speaketh of the Method of Sermons devised or studied by such as Preach them there may be some liberty whether to preach by doctrine reason and use or some other way the like may be said of forms of Chatechismes Blessings and Baptismes But the reason of this liberty is because we find in Scripture severall forms of all these and therefore we limit or prescribe no set forms to any Pauls Epistle to the Romans is carried along by Doctrine reasons and uses and so are sundry more of his Epistles But Christs Sermon on the Mount is carried in another Method The Apostles Catechise is of one form Heb. 6.1 2. Davids of another Psal 34.11 12 13 14. The Priests Blessings were of one form Numb 6.23 to 26. The Apostles Blessings of another 2 Cor. 12.13.2 Thes 3.17 18. Heb. 13.20 21. Jude 24.25 The forms of baptizing did also sometimes vary some using the words of our Saviour Math. 28.19 Others another form of words Acts 19.5 The thing is this where God hath used variety of forms he leaveth us at liberty to use that one form or the other But to gather a liberty to prescribe and limit a set form of any of these where God hath not limited is to pervert and abuse the power of the keyes of Christs Kingdome to wit to bind where Christ looseth but your Objection is as you say answered by others and that more safely Disc That mens inventions in the service of God are forbidden in the second Commandement But Book Prayer is an Invention of men To this your Discourse replyeth by retorting upon a former Answer which we said afore we did not make use of in this case You reply again the Objection it self is of no weight for by this reason all set forms of Catechismes studied Sermons Interpretations of Scripture divisions of it into Sections and Chapters reading one part this week and another the next conceived prayer it self may be disallowed Answ Touching set forms of Catechisme we do willingly approve diligent attendance to the Catechising of youth and Novices in any form tending to Edification but to devise and prescribe a set form of words wherein all the Questions and Answers shall run and no other we know no warrant for that from Scripture if God would have his people limited to a set form of words in catechizing he would himself have prescribed some set form of his own inspiration which might be defective in no principles nor incommodious in any expression 2. What though there might be some colour to put a set form of words of catechisme into the mouths of Children and Novices the better to help their memory and capacities will it therefore argue it to be a reasonable service of God to put a set form of words and prayers into the mouths of Ministers to help their memories and capacities in powring out their own and the Churches Petitions unto God Studied Sermons are of another nature it is an Ordinance of God that Sermons should be studied before preached Jude made it his whole study 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to write his Epistle Jude 3. How much more ought we to make it our whole study to preach who are not so immediately inspired Solomon gave good heed and sought out to find and set in order fit words and matter for the edification of the people Eccles 12.9 10. and behold lesse than Solomon are Ministers here though in respect of the cleer discerning the Mysteries of Christ The least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he Timonthy is exhorted to give attendance to reading Meditation Doctrine to meditate thereon to give himself wholly to them that his profiting
forms or manners of worship which are not instituted in his word Hence conformity to Idolaters in cutting their hair and beards is forbidden Levit. 19.27 Hence preaching in the wisdome of words or in carnall eloquence is forbidden as a painted Image against the second Commandement 1 Cor. 21. Hence Prayer towards the East falleth under the same reproof Hence the incense of Uzzia the strange fire of Nadab and Abihu the striking of the rock by Moses in the Wildernesse of Sin the Love-Feasts brought into the Lords Supper And many more such like forms and manners of Gods worship are forbidden in the Word as divers from the rule and pattern held forth in the second Commandement as it is opened and illustrated by these and such like examples in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles we are not ignorant that there is also a sinfull form and manner of worship which is forbidden in the third Commandement as when we worship God unreverently or droufily but that is rather Ro. modus colendus then modus cultus To apply then to this Rule and Commandement of God these set forms of Prayer devised by men and prescribed to be read out of a Book and so taken up by one Church from another as the forms of their worship and the helps of their devotion We find no Commandement nor Pattern for them in the Word nor any promise for their acceptance They are injoyned for helps and means of Gods worship which God hath not sanctified and for forms of worship which God hath not acknowledged and therefore we know not how to excuse them from sin against the true meaning of the second Commandement Object If it be said that it was granted before in stating the Question that in reading a Prayer penned by another man say one of Calvins Prayers after his Lectures a man may be so affected with it as that his heart going along therewith he may convey his own desires and Petitions to God in reading thereof and so make it his own Prayer though devised by another and read out of a Book Answ We grant that a man may make use of another mans penned Prayers read in private not only for an example or instruction how to pray but also occasionally for his present Prayer If he find the Petitions sutable to his present occasions Yea we grant further that in case one Church should send letters to another Church and in the end thereof should conclude with some Prayer suitable to the state of the Church to whom they write we doubt not but that the Church to whom the letters are sent finding the Petitions suitable to their condition may lawfully go along therewith in spirit and in the end say Amen thereto and so make it their own Prayer But yet here be two things different from the case in hand First They that penned such Prayers did not prescribe them as forms of Prayer for the brethren to use left them freely to their liberty 2. They that take them up occasionally for their present use and make them their Prayers they do not set them apart to be read for their ordinary Prayers either in publique or in private which seemeth to us a matter of weighty consideration and maketh a great difference in the cause in hand to clear it by a familiar instance A man passing through a burying place may see a dead mans scalp cast up and thereby take occasion from the present object to meditate for the present on his mortality and to prepare for like change but if he shall take up and keep that dead mans scalpe in his Closet or Bed chamber to be an ordinary help to him to put him in mind daily of his mortality Now in so doing he maketh an Image of it to himself by setting it a part to be an help to him in Gods worship which not being sanctified and set a part by God for that end it now becomes a sin to him against the second Commandement in the former case he took occasion to fall into a present good meditation of mortality by the present sight of an object of mortaliy as it was set before him occasionally by Gods providence wherein he did well according to the second Commandement not to passe by such a passage of Gods providence in vain But in the latter case in setting it a part to be an ordinary help to him in such meditations or injoyning the same to others He in so doing maketh it to him and them an Image it not being instituted or sanctified by God but devised and set apart by man for such a spirituall end which is forbidden in the second Commandement If it be said again when I read Prayer and sind some Petitions therein that sute well with my estate I may not only then use them for my present Prayer but may again and again ordinarily make use thereof in my own Prayers Answ We deny not that but it is one thing to take up a Petition or two or more and to insert them here and there into mine own Prayers and another thing to take up a whole intire prayer or form of prayer and use it ordinarily as mine own see the like in Preaching I may make use of a sentence or two or more here and there out of another mans Sermon and it may be inculcate the same again and again in many Sermons together of my own But I may not therefore take up a whole Sermon penned by another and preach it for mine own though it were never so fit for my Text and for mine own Congregation Whence also another reason and in our apprehension of just weight may be alledged against the ordinary use of set forms of Prayers devised by others If every Minister be to edifie the Church by the dispensation of his own tallents and gifts as well in prayer as in preaching Then he may not pray another mans penned prayer no more then preach another mans penned Sermon but the former is true 1 Cor. 12.7 Acts 6.4 Eph. 4.8.11 12 13. therefore the latter 3. Let me adde a third reason If I may worship God in the congregation with a set form of prayer read out of a book then I may bring into the Church another book besides the book of God to be read ordinarily for the publique edification of the Church But we know no warrant for the use of any book in the Church to be read ordinarily for the publique edification of the Church besides the book of God to bring into the Church any other book besides Gods is like the bringing in of another Altar into the Temple of the Lord and set it up besides the Altar of the Lord which did in time thrust the Altar of the Lord to stand behind and give place and at length to be laid aside 2 Kings 16.14 15. I need not apply it experience goeth far enough in applying of it If it be an unsanctified way of preaching to fill a Sermon with
why such a necessity as hath been opened of a set devised form of singing should excuse a set form of Psalms and yet not excuse a set form of prayer but rather excuse the people from joyning in it Answ Because there is no necessity at all of a devised set form of prayer unless it be through the sinfull defect of the Ministers gifts in Prayer which is such a necessity as God abhorreth both it and the Minister for it But the necessity of a set form of Psalms is such which God himself hath put for the Celebration of that service with one accord both in heart and voyce as hath been shewed and therefore you might well have forborn that confident expression Disc If Christians shall not exempt themselves from the stinted Prayers used in the Congregation untill a materiall difference be shewed in these particulars and that distinction of Arbitrary and necessary devised forms be approved by solid Reasons and holy Scriptures the world shall end I am confident before they shall separate For you see a materiall difference in these particulars between the necessity of a set form of Psalms and the necessity of a set forme of Prayer The necessity of the one is from Gods Ordinance and therefore warrantable The necessity of the other is from mans Ignorance and such ignorance as maketh him unfit for the Ministeriall Office and therefore sinfull As for the distinction of Arbitrary and necessary devised forms in your sence we neither use it nor approve it And therefore have no cause to bring either holy Scriptures or solid Reasons for the proof of it But in that sence wherein we use it the distinction is so manifest from what we have said already that we think your self will require no further proof of it CHAP. V. Answering to the fourth Reason Disc YOur fourth Reason may be thus contracted If the Spirit of God do work by means and if he stir up good desires yet giveth not ability to expresse our desires in fit and significant words Then it is lawfull for us to use all godly means to stir up the graces of God in us and to premeditate how to utter our Requests in such a form and manner as may best serve for our quickning and the edification of others and if the use of a premeditated form of words in prayer do not stint the Spirit a set form of Prayer cannot be injurious to the Spirit grant the one the other will follow Answ If the speech be of publique prayer the same spirit that giveth the Minister ability to deliver a Sermon in fit and significant tearms doth in like sort give ability to expresse his desires in Prayer in fit and significant tearms no man is called of God to be a Minister of his Church but he is as well apt to Pray as apt to Preach But if the speech be of private persons it is true many good souls have better desires than utterance In regard of which defect or without such defect we willingly condescend to you It is lawfull yea and necessary to him to use all godly means to stir up the graces of God in him and to premeditate how to utter his requests in such sort as best serves for his own quickning the edification of others But this we deny that the using of a prescript form of Prayer upon a book devised and imposed by one man upon another to be used as their Prayer is a godly means to stir up the graces of God in himselfe or to edifie others For that which the Holy Ghost hath not sanctified in his Word for the stirring up of the graces of God in a mans self or others that is not a godly means for such an end But throughout the Scriptures we cannot find any where that the Holy Ghost hath sanctified such a means to such an end And then it is but an Image which will rather teach a form of godlinesse than edifie to the power of it Disc Peradventure they would creep out by saying the Spirit of God is our only helper in the time of Prayer so that though at other times we might use helps to stir up the graces of the Spirit yet not in time of prayer But this distinction is not found in Scripture neither can be deduced by any sound reason from thence The Spirit of God is at all times the sole mover and enabler of us to pray and the use of lawfull means and such as sute with the nature of prayer are at no time unlawfull as it is fit we meditate and read before we pray so it is lawfull in prayer to kneel and lift up our hands and eyes to use the help of the voyce and the benefit of a Christian friend to stir up affection Therefore we may dispute for the lawfullnesse of book Prayer thus if it be lawfull to use externall helps in time of prayer the better to stir up affections then book prayer is not to be condemned Answ To creep out being a borrowed speech from worms It being put upon us holdeth us forth as worms and not as men yea worse than worms Serpents rather than Worms That being compassed in with truth are willing to creep out by any evasion rather than to submit to the authority of the truth But let our reverend and godly brother be intreated not to deal such measures to his Brethren Least the God and Father of us both be displeased and stir up others to returne like measure to you heaped up pressed down shaken together our plain and simple Answer without creeping or shifting Is this that it is lawfll to use any externall or internall helps either before Prayer to prepare us for it or in Prayer to quicken or inlarge us in it provided they be such means and helps as God hath sanctified to such an end at such a time As we readily grant the help of books and meditation before Prayer so we do grant also the help of holy and reverent gestures in Prayer as bowing down the knees and lifting up of the hands and eyes and voyce the presence and assistance of a Christian friend for all these God hath sanctified to help the inward affections of the heart in prayer do but shew that God hath sanctified Book-prayers imposed upon us for our prayers and that by the members of other Congregations and we will neither creep nor start away But willingly blesse the Lord for his goodnesse to you in this case as well as in many others like as Phineas and the Congregation of Israel blessed God for the Rubenites and Gadites that were able to give so good an account of their actions beyond the expectation of their brethren Jos 22. Disc In prayer penned by a godly and well experienced Christian the case of a distressed soul may more pithily and amply be deciphered and anatomized then he of himselfe is able to do it and in such a case to deny him this lawfull help is to take away
justly be demanded when did God speak one word of them And therefore what have we to do with them If it be said as God never spake word of reading Prayer within book so never did he speak word of pronouncing Prayer without Book the Text doth plainly enough expresse the contrary for the Word of God speaketh expressely that Christ lift up his eyes to Heaven in Prayer John 17.1 11.41 so did David Psalm 123.1 and God hath ingraffed it in the hearts of all his people to expresse the lifting up of their souls their faith and hope and desires to God by lifting up their eyes stedfastly to Heaven in Prayer yea God hath ingraffed it in the hearts of all men and even put some kind of instinct into all living creatures to lift up their eyes to Heaven for what they want Psal 145.15 Now if the lifting up of the eyes to Heaven in Prayer be expresly mentioned in the Word then how can it be truly said that God never spake word of Prayer without Book for they that lift up their eyes stedfastly to Heaven in Prayer cannot without some distractions cast them down in Prayer upon a book if lifting up of the eyes to Heaven in Prayer be a divine Institution as the Discourse said even now if it be an externall means to help the affection of the spirit in Prayer then it is against the Institution and an hinderance to Prayer instead of an help to set a mans self or others a form of read Prayers wherein whilest he is reading he must usually cast down his eyes upon a Book CHAP. VI. Tending to give Answer unto the fifth Reason Disc WHere there is no breach of Law there is no sin But the use of a prescript form of Prayer is no breach of Law or of any Commandement of God Answ It hath been shewed above that it is a breach of the second Commandement more wayes than one to devise and use a similitude and form and means of worship which God never appointed and such is the reading of a ser form of Prayer for the Prayers of the Church 2. It is an usurpation of more than Propheticall or Apostolicall authority to prescribe a set form of Lyturgie to the Churches and a greater usurpation for one Congregation to prescribe the same to another which is a sin both against the second and fifth Commandements 3. It is a sinfull and disloyall betraying of the souls of Magistrates to countenance their intruding such prescript forms of Prayer upon Churches by taking up the same forms from them which they have not authority from God to injoyne and stifly to plead for them a sin forbidden in the fifth and sixth Commandements 4. It is a sinfull betraying of Christian Liberty which Christ hath purchased to every Church of his by his precious blood For one Church voluntarily to take up the Injunctions and prescriptions of another contrary to Col. 2.20 22. which argument may be applyed another way by a Testimony from the book of Common-Prayer Gods Service is perfect Freedome but the reading of a set form of Prayer devised and prescribed by others is not perfect freedome for many would be right glad to be freed from it therefore such reading of prayers is not Gods service 5. It is a sinfull breach of the rule of decency to offer up prayers to God in such a form as cannot well stand with that decent gesture which is most sutable to Prayer It is a gesture most sutable to Prayer to lift it up to God as with hearts and hands so with eyes stedfastly lift up to Heaven But this gesture cannot fitly and stedfastly be used in read Prayer where the eyes must be usually cast down upon the Book CHAP. VII Wherein Answer is returned to the sixth Reason Disc IF a set form of prayer be disallowed then a prescript form of Catechisme and Confession must of necessity be condemned but how absurd this is he is very blind or will full that seeth not the necessity antiquity and excellency of catechising is known to them that know any thing touching the building and governing the House of God Answ Touching set forms of Catechisme we have answered twice before in clearing some objections against the first Reason whereto we refer you it hath been already shewed us that God himselfe hath set before us sundry forms of Catechisme Davids Catechisme was of one form Psal 34.11 12 13 14. Solomons of another Prov. 4. The Apostles of another Heb. 6.2 Yea the Apostles name the heads of their Catechisme but neither propound the questions nor answers them in use An evident Argument they never meant to bind Churches to set forms of Catechisme The excellent and necessary use of catechizing young men and novices as hath been said before we willingly acknowledge But little benefit have we seen reaped from set forms of questions and answers devised by one Church and imposed by necessity upon another They must look at them with coloured Spectacles that can discern them The like may be said of forms of Confessions when a Church is suspected and slandered with corrupt and unsound Doctrine they have a call from God to set forth a publique confession of their faith But to prescribe the same as the confession of the faith of that Church to their posterity or to prescribe the confession of one Church to be a form and pattern unto others sad experience hath shewed what a snare it hath been to both nothing in after ages must be held for a doctrine of the Church though never so necessary a truth unlesse it were found amongst the Articles of Religion agreed upon by their fathers in the confession of their Faith CHAP. VIII Giving Answer to the seaventh Reason Disc IT is lawfull to aske common blessings of God dayly in a set form of words Ergo. It is not unlawfull to use a set form of Prayer and if to pronounce it to read it also for reading of it selfe is not impure as pronouncing cannot make an evill matter good no more can reading make a good matter evill pronouncing and reading being Adjuncts in prayer both indifferent Answ First the Question with us is not so much about set forms of prayer in generall as about set forms of Prayer devised by men of other Churches precsribed and injoyned to be read as the Prayers of the Church or devised by one Christian and set apart by another as his prayers to which this Argument reacheth not Though we do not deny it to be altogether unlawfull to seek common blessings of God daily in a set form of words yet we would not encourage men to rest and content themselves in so doing much lesse to bind themselves so to do For besides that a daily set form will easily degenerate to a formallity how can a Christian be said to watch unto prayer which we are commanded to do Eph. 6.18 If we content our selves with the same set form of prayer this year as