Unlawful This Luther did for Germany and Calvin for Geneva and for the French Church whose Liturgyes are still used by them Yet I find this weighs not much with you tho' you seem to me to have little to oppose to it besides a strange fondness and passion you have entertained for the contrary and let me tell you that it is no hard matter to give a reason why the generality of the people are better pleased with such Extemporary Prayers than with Forms For can any one wonder that a prayer which people never heard before and is adapted to the Fancies and Humours of a Party with all the Advantages which Novelty gives shou'd gratifie carnal and itching Ears more than the fixt and settled prayers of a Church or that Form dictated by Christ himself To joyn in these with Devotion requires us duly to prepare our Hearts to strain and lift up our minds with much seriousness and attention or we cannot be affected by them whereas there is a pleasure and a kind of sensual delight in the novelty of the other Prayers and the tone with which they are sometimes delivered makes the Hearers imaginarily Devout tho' they come to them without taking pains to strain their minds to true Devotion But you ought to remember that Images and Relicks and Mediatory Saints had the very same effect on people long ago which made them so fond of them that they brought them into their Worship in spite of the Bishops and Pastors of the Church as you have now brought in Extemporary Prayers But 't is rare to find the generality of Men fond of what is truly Spiritual And therefore people's fondness of your peculiar way of Worship is so far from being an Argument for it as I find some of you use it that on the contrary it is a shrewd presumption that it is not from God Especially since ill people are fond of it as well as good As is manifest from many undeniable Instances which could not be so if it were Truly and of it self Spiritual 3. I would desire you to consider that nothing can generally induce our Clergy to decline these Extemporary Prayers but their Conscience and Conviction that they are not convenient in the Publick Service of God 'T is manifest that Extemporary Prayers would be much more easy to most of us and less burthensome then the Service we use you may think otherwise but assure your selves that you are mistaken And I dare appeal to those that have tryed both whether is most easy There are such both amongst You and Vs who have made the Experiment And I dare referr it to them to declare on their Consciences which of the two Services they look on to be the greater burthen to him that performs them Whatever You may think if we would Indulge our selves it were no hard matter for the meanest of Vs to pass an Extemporary Prayer on our Auditory or to turn the Heads of our Sermons into one Lastly I have one thing which I would more especially request of You that You would believe that I sincerely and heartily desire and study the good of your Souls and that I have in this Treatise endeavoured to promote it and by God's Assistance ever shall in all my Undertakings And if You had the same Apprehensions with Me You would not wonder at my concrn in this matter for how is it possible that any man that has a zeal for the purity of God's Worship should not have his Spirit moved within him to see a well-meaning people so strangely misled as to content themselves to meet together perhaps for some Years with a design to Worship God and yet hardly ever see or hear any thing of God's immmediate Apointment in their Meetings Now to my thoughts this is manifestly the case of many of You since a Man may frequent some Meetings amongst You for some Years and never hear a Prayer a Psalm or Chapter which has been immediately dictated by God and never be called on to bow his knee to God or see either Minister or People address themselves to him in that humble posture Lastly never see any body offer to Administer or desire to receive the food of Life in the Lord's-Supper These are Melancholy Reflections to me who believe that God has required these in his Worship And therefore I hope you will take it in good part that I endeavour to restore them to You. I have only to add my most earnest Prayers to God for You. And to beseech him who is the God of Mercy and Purchaser of his Church by a price Inestimable to vouchsafe his blessing to these my Endeavours for your Souls Instruction That You may reap the benefit and I the comfort of them in the great day of our Lord Jesus Christ who only is the true Teacher of Souls by his Spirit and is able to Seal the Instructions of his Ministers to Your Hearts to open the Eyes of Your Understandings and to guide You into all Truth FINIS Errata PAge 5 l. 20. for words read word pa. 13 l. 10 r. the timbrel p. 14 l. 16 r contrary p. 24 l. 22 for judge it r. judge of it p. 33 ult r. pursuance p. 39 ult Levitical p. 41 l. 15 r. omitted p. 45 l. 11 instead of Exclusive of the use of Forms r promise to furnish us with words in Prayer without the use of Sett and Premeditated Forms p 54 l. 6 r. rashness p. 72 l. 15 and 16 r. people p. 73 l. 3 r. throughly p. 83 l. 16 instead of the first of put in a semi-colon p. 97 l. 7 r. deceive p. 98 l. 25 r. Meditated p. 101 l. 11 r. Calendar p 112 l. 1 after the same r. Person p. 114 l. 16 r. in the next p. 115. l. 4 de which Ibid. p 16 for much deelare r. much more declare p. 118 l. 17 after for ic r. And that p. 120 l. 1. after and r. to p. 127 l. 1 after Scriptures a colon Ib. 3 after Supper a comma p. 131 l. 7 de are 137 l. 16 de their Ib. l. 18 r. receive p. 149 de a. p. 164 l 14. for owning r. own 169 l. 3. after table a comma * Much to this purpose might be urged out of the Rabbins but the Author thinks it fit to confine himself to Scripture See Durel and Knoxes Book of Disc. The Author's Intention is not to assert that the Scriptures require Kneeling at the Lord's-Supper but to shew that it is not contrary to the Institution of Christ or Practise of the Apostles who compare our receiving it with the Jews partaking of their Altar to which they approached with Adoration
effectually upon you then those carnal and servile motives do on others Let me therefore earnestly encourage and intreat you to do it more and more and that you will endeavour to become all things to all Men and decline none of those Arts which are allowable when applied to gain the people to Truth and Holiness But very wicked when employed to divide and seduce them 5. Let me put you in mind That you are Ministers of the Gospel and not of a Party And therefore it concerns you to mind the common interest of Holiness and Religion more then those differences that are often of little concern in themselves and are insisted on only as the occasions and badges of those people who being resolved to seperate themselves are obliged to take up little differences for a distinction The less you meddle with these disputes it is commonly the better And indeed it is not prudent to mention them till Mens minds be fitted and prepared by a true sense of the great Duties of Religion And then the best way perhaps will be to shew of what little weight they are to cause or justify divisions or quarrels amongst Christians I am well aware that it may be objected to us that whilst we press the great Duties of the first and second Table and spend our pains and diligence in defending our common Christianity against Papists Socinians Deists and Atheists those that are our Adversaries in these lesser points have made their advantage of Our being employed against the common Enemy to undermine us with the people nay that some of them have even joined with those Enemies to pull down Our Constitution But yet I persuade my self that we are in less hazard from them whilst we do our Duty and apply our selves to the great and common Obligations of Our Holy Religion then if we should leave this exposed to the Assaults of Our Common Enemies to guard our selves from the attempts of such back Friends We must therefore have an eye to them But the other the great and common Truths and Duties of the Gospel must be our main business I might add many more Remarks proper to my present subject but I know your own Prudence and Observation are sufficient to suggest them to you I shall only add my Prayers for you that God will encrease your Wisdom and Zeal and effectually turn them to his own Glory To the Dissenting Ministers of Derry BUt as to You My Brethren That disown my Communion and Authority I have reason to fear that what I shall offer to you may receive some prejudices from my Station and Character with which you seem offended Yet reason is reason from whom soever it proceeds and I only desire that you would weigh seriously what I have here offered in defence of the Service of Our Church and if the Arguments do not convince You yet let me pray You to reflect thus far on the matter as to remember that all Mens minds are not of the same make and that it becomes You and all good Men at least to treat Our Service with respect Since we believe and think we have proved That it is clearly founded on the Word of God It will not excuse scurrilous or unseemly Reflections on it to say that we are mistaken For all Men are fallible and You may as well be mistaken as you suppose We are And therefore lest You should be in the wrong it will be the safest way to be modest in censuring No Man ought to take it ill that another proposes Reasons against his Opinion but to scoff at or revile any practice or opinion that another believes to be founded on the Word of God is not only ill manners but is of dangerous consequence being apt to breed Bitterness and Animosities between the Parties And if it should happen in a Case where the Practice or Opinion is really Warranted by the Word of God it would be Blasphemy and Impiety And therefore in all matters of Religion we ought to avoid this manner of treatment and whatever Book uses it we need trouble our selves no further with it for it certainly is written only to serve a Party and not Truth There is another thing that in Justice I think I may request of You which is That in Your Worship and Practice You will not make the difference between us seem greater then really it is To abstain from a thing confessed to be lawful in the Service of God meerly because observed by us is surely very far from a Spirit of Meekness and Moderation And therefore I may hope that you will not Indulge Your People in such affected distances that can serve to no other purpose but to make Parties irreconcilable and must proceed from a greater bitterness of Spirit then a good Man can be guilty of towards any Christian. And that You may understand my mind the better in this matter I will give You a few instances that I hope will be inoffensive and in which we may justly expect Your Complyance 1. The first is in the use of the Lord's Prayer which is owned in Your larger Catechism to be Not only for Direction as a Pattern according to which we are to make other Prayers but may be also used as a Prayer And in your Directory 't is recommended to be used in the Prayers of the Church Yet I am informed that You my Brethren of this Diocess who separate from Our Communion do universally neglect it and thereby confirm Your Hearers in an Opinion too common amongst them that all Forms of Prayer are unlawful And that for no other reason that I can learn but to keep up a difference from us in practice where we really agree in point of Doctrine 2. Your sitting at Publick Prayers may be a second Instance in which we may reasonably expect some Reformation 'T is a very irreverent thing in it self against the Command and Examples of Scripture as I think I have sufficiently shewed and against the Opinion of your best Casuists particularly of Dr. Ames de Conscientia Lib. 4· Cap. 18. Sessio per se non est gestus Orandi quia nullam exprimit reverentiam neque in Scripturis approbatur That is Sitting is not of it self a posture of prayer because it expresses no Reverence neither is it approved in Scripture Yet I understand that this is the general posture in which your people Offer their publick prayers and either because it is for their Ease or because you are unwilling to seem to lay any stress on Outward Performances or lastly lest you shou'd be like us you indulge them in it and some of them are so ignorant that they reckon it a piece of Superstition in us to kneel at our prayers and are averse to our Service amongst other Reasons because this is required at it Which Notions I suppose you your selves do not approve and therefore we may justly expect that you shou'd endeavour to inform your people better and
bring them to a Compliance with the Rules of Decency in their Religious Performances 3. My third Instance shall be in the Matter of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper I suppose no serious considering persons amongst you can deny but the celebrating it so seldom as it is done in your Meetings and the people's backwardness in Receiving it are very great faults and therefore we may reasonably expect that you should press home to your people the Danger of their Neglect and represent to them truly the sin of it so as not to suffer any to assume the Name of a Professor or a Religious Person that doth not in some measure come up to the Scripture-precedent in this particular and withal so order the celebration thereof that every one may have sufficient Opportunities to Receive as the first Christians did which in your present way of managing is impossible From whence you may be sure yours is not the Scripture-way and therefore needs Reformation 4. Let me put you in mind That it is ordered by your Directory as I have already observed that ordinarily one Chapter of each Testament be read at every Meeting and sometimes more I think you cannot dispense with this Rule without being liable to just Censure from all that have a true value for the Word of God And yet I am informed that there is not one of your Meetings in this Diocess where it is observed to the great detriment of our common Christianity and offence of your Brethren I know the people are fonder of Sermons and Lectures of Human Composure than of the pure Word of God in its Naked Simplicity but you know this to be a carnal and sinful Humour in them And God forbid any that claims to be a Minister of the Gospel shou'd indulge them in it And therefore as you wou'd maintain a due Reverence in the people for the Word of God I think we may expect your Conformity to us in this particular 5. I suppose you very well know that the most learned and sober Nonconformists do own that Occasional Communion with our Church is lawful and that people had better come to our Worship at least where he that officiates is of Ability and Sobriety than sit at home on the Lord's Day or frequent no Assemblies at all And you cannot be ignorant that many thousands in these parts neglect all Publick Worship and many suffer their Children to die Unbaptized for want of Ministers of their own Communion And therefore in this case it is a point of Justice due to the Souls of these poor people and to our common Christianity to let them know that it is their Duty to joyn with us both in Worship and Sacraments as far as your Brethren in England have Allowed it on such Occasions 6. You are sensible that amongst those Protestants that dissent from our Church some are Congregational and others Presbyterians You of this Diocess where I am concerned profess to be of this latter sort and agree with us in owning that by Christ's Appointment the particular Churches in convenient Districts ought according to Scripture-Precedents to Associate under one Government and these again to Unite themselves into greater Combinations of Provincial and National Churches The Difference between You and Vs is concerning these particular Districts Namely Whether the Government of them ought to be in a Presbytery with a Bishop as President and Governor by Christ's Appointment or in a Colledge of Presbyters absolutely Equal So then we both own National and Provincial Churches as well as single Worshiping Congregations but the Congregational Dissenters deny that Christ Instituted any other Church besides a single Congregation and affirm that all other Churches such as Classical Provincial or National are Human Inventions and that every single Congregation is Independent and may indeed keep a fair correspondence with its Neighbour Congregations but is not under any common Government with them These last are the avowed Principles of Mr. Baxter Dr. Owen Mr. Lob Mr. Humphrys Mr. Boyse Mr. Alsop Mr. Clerkson and generally of all the late defenders of the Dissenters cause in England and Ireland that I have met with Now it is manifest that these Principles of theirs are much more different from your Principles then ours are And the difference is much greater and more material For it is possible on your Principles and ours to preserve Unity and to keep up some value for Excommunication and other censures of the Church since he who is censured in one Church cannot be received into another neither with you nor us Whereas in the Congregational way he that is Excommunicated in one Congregation may remove to another or set up one for himself if he pleases at the worst if he shou'd it wou'd be counted but an Irregularity These Principles are destructive to the Peace and Unity of the Church as well as to our common Cause and our Learned Men have carefully Answered all the principal Writers of that sort so that no Books of that kind have remained Unanswered but such only as were meer Repetitions of what had been said and answered before I do not remember any of you have of late undertaken the Defence of this important Truth tho' the Assembly of Divines in their Humble Advice concerning Church-Government which I suppose you approve do prove it from the Holy Scriptures in their Title of Classical Assemblies Now we think in Justice to your Own Cause as well as to Us you ought to warn your people against those Books that maintain Principles contrary to us both at least not to bear them in hand that those Books written against Vs make for You for this will appear a great piece of Insincerity as well as Ingratitude and will tempt the World to believe that you are willing to encourage Principles destructive to your own Cause as the Principles of those Books manifestly are in this very Point so they do but serve a Turn and strengthen your Party amongst the ignorant People 6. Lastly I think we may justly expect from you a ready concurrence with us to beat down such Vices and Immoralities as are confessed on all hands to be against our common Christianity such as Adultery Fornication Blasphemy Profanation of the Lord's Day c. And since the Bishop's Courts are Legally Impowered to punish these and many are guilty of them who yet will not appear or submit to acknowledge their sins and upon that Account are Excommunicated The least that can be expected from you in these Cases is Not to encourage such Sinners in their Obstinacy or to admit them to Communion amongst You whilst they lie under such Censures which might be a means to Reform in some measure these Crying Vices These are but a few of those things that might be instanc'd in which we may concur in our Practice as well as we do in our Opinions and if we did I perswade my self that tho they did not bring us to one