we might say with Solomon that one sinner destroys much good Answ. 2. Reader when thou desirest to be delivered from the power and rage of sin by Christs Passion and to have thy heart cleansed by the coming of the Holy Ghost as St. Paul had his Tit. 3. 5. a Christian hearing thee will charitably suppose that thou art praying however he will never suppose that thou art swearing Answ. 3. It were worth our enquiring to know if these men do desire or pray to be delivered from Christs death since they are angry with us for desiring to be saved by it and if they do so then to know unto whom they make that prayer and I shall beseech God that it may please him to forgive our enimies persecutors and slanderers and to turn their hearts Deal not with them O Lord after their sins neither reward them after their iniquities Obj. 7. Besides your Oaths that are in your Letany there is a Prayer that our hearts cannot say Amen to for it is or seems at least to be very sinful The Prayer is this That it may please thee to preserve all that travel by land or water here we pray for Thieves Robbers and Pirats which ought not to be done All Women labouring of Childe here we pray for all Whores and Strumpets All sick persons and young children and to show thy pity upon all prisoners and captives here we pray for all the damned souls they being in prison and for the devils they being captives Answ. 1. The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Jerem. 17. 9. T is Domine bonus ego malus tu Pius ego Impius tu sanctus ego miser tu justus ego injustus tu lux ego eoecus tu vita ego mortuus Blessed is the man that watcheth alway From all blindness of heart from pride vain glory and hypocrisie from envy hatred and malice and from all uncharitableness good Lord deliver us Answ. 2. As we are to have no communication nor communion with Devils so neither are we to make supplication for them But we are bound to remember them that are in bonds as in bond with them and them that suffer adversity as if we our selves also were in the body Heb. 13. 3. The Whore her self when she is in labour ought to be prayed for though if you had not more of the Serpent than of the Dove you would not see her at all in this prayer So is a Thief also though he were going to be hanged for stealing or a Murtherer for Murthering and if the Lord will bless all that travel by Land and Water with his grace there will be no Robbers It is the desire of the Church That all Israel both temporally and eternally be saved Why dost thou condemn her for her charity Qualis unusquisque intus est taliter judicat exterius Kemp. True Christian charity thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13. 5. Object 8. There are according to those directions given you concerning the reading of Lessons several Chapters to be read out of the Apocrypha in the Congregation where nothing should be read but Scripture Answ. 1. Should nothing be read in Churches but Scripture where then should we read Briefs Proclamations and Pattents for Collections which are appointed to be read in publick and upon the Sabbath-day too than which nothing doth more usually occurre and nothing less spoke against And yet if men did not delight in Controversies they might perceive that the Reading of those Chapters is left to the Ministers discretion Answ. 2. Sâ—…int Paul commanding the Colossians Col. 4. 16. to let his Epistle be read to the Church of Laodicea commands them withal that they reade in their Church the Epistle from Laodicea which Epistle not being Canonical yet appointed by that unerring Apostle to be read in the Church proves the weakness of the Objection against Apocrypha for not being Scripture Answ. 3. There is a Calendar prefixed before the Book of Common Prayer and amongst the Lessons appointed for every day of the month there are some 30 Chapters out of the books of Wisdom Tobit Iudith Baruch and Ecclesiasticus to be read In the books of the Apocrypha there are many falsities much non-sence things that agree not with Scripture and many things that agree not with it self Whether the Chapters that are appointed to be read contain in them any of these I have neither purpose nor leasure to search yet since most of them are out of the books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus we shall suppose the best but suppose the worst there is none to be read or at least no great fear that their reading will do much hurt except the people will repair whether their Minister will or no twice every day to their Church or Chappel to hear service that which I see no great reason for Ministeâ—…s to be very much afraid of For if the people do not so come they are not obliged to heed that Calendar Answ. 4. There is a Calendar prefixed before the Book of Common Prayer wherein the Lessons that are appointed to be read every Sabbath-day throughout the year are set down and in that there is only the first Chapter of the Book of Wisdom to be read wherein there is nothing but what favours of good so that according to the Common Prayer throughout the whole year there is but one Sunday that hath Apocrypha ordained for it and that is Whitsunday unless the Sabbath fall upon a Feast and that may bring or make a small alteration Many fear that the reading or hearing of Apocrypha in their Churches may do much hurt The first Chapter of Wisdom which is all cannot do hurt There is about this a great noyse and but small cause Answ. 5. There are two things that usually Ministers do in Churches 1. To observe Doctrines and 2. To exhort to Manners for observing and confirming of Doctrines the Scriptures are only to be used Article 6. of the Church of England For exhorting to manners Poets Heathens Philosophers are frequently cited there being in such Writers excellent documents and examples perswading to goodness and to a good life and for this the Apocrypha is appointed to be read viz. for exhortation to manners not confirmation of Doctrines Art 6. of the Church of England And indeed to me it is equally a sin to cite or speak sentences out of Seneca the Heathen in a Pulpit upon a Lords day or any other moral Author which is frequently done as it is to speak or read sixteen sentences of Philo the Jew or whoever was the Author of that book of Wisdom or Ecclesiasticus albeit it were oftner done Answ. 6. When you say that Apocrypha is not to be read I suppose you mean because it is humane inventions not the Word of God It is to be known that no more are Ministers Sermons there are in Sermons mens wit or invention exercised inframing Arguments in
â—â—NEM QVOTIDIANVM Or a short DISCOURSE Tending To prove the Legality Decency and Expediency of Set Forms of Prayer in the Churches of CHRIST With a particular Defence of the Book of Common Prayer OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND Wherein most of those Arguments urged against its Publick use are recited and briefly refuted Being the summe and substance of two SERMONS preached at Leighton Beaâ—dezort in Com. Bedford By William Annand M. A. Minister of the said place Eccles. 5. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to â—â—ter any thing before God Psal. 116. 10. I beleeved therefore have I spoken Deus meus refugium meum liberator mei suggere quid de te cogiten 〈…〉 bus te sermoibus invocem da quibus operibus tibi placeam scio na 〈…〉 unum quo tu placaris aliud quod non spernis utique 〈◊〉 Spir 〈…〉 bâ—â—ltus sacrificium acceptas cor contritum humiliatum Aug. 〈…〉 LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be sold at the Crane in Sain 〈…〉 Church-yard 1661. TO THE Most Noble and Right Honourable PATRIOTS THE Lords Knights and Gentlemen Justices of the Peace for the County of BEDFORD Right Honourable REceiving a command from your Honours met together at your Quarter-Sessions House in Bedford Octob. 2. for the publick reading of the Liturgy of the Church of England which hath been and still is looked upon by some as the troubler of our Zion and grand Malefactor of our Israel being sentenced before tryed as Popish and Antichristian Antichristian because Ancient and Popish because Orthodox I was bound in conscience by that duty that I owe to God and to his Church to blow away that dust and to wash away that silth which by maliâ—…ious and discontented persons had been cast upon that Book whereby it was noysome to the eyes of the weak and ignorant before I could own it as any way conducing to the edification of the Church which must have been granted by my publick using of it Enabling myself to graple with and in some sort to resist thâ—… brutish force I must so call it since it is irrational and which I foresaw I should be assaulted with in yielding obedience to your Honours commands in this particular gave a being to these few lines which at this time with all humility I present unto you hoping that you will give protection to this tender plant not yet ten dayes old siâ—…ce your Order was the sole and only cause of its production I come to your Honours Court as a Court of equity not doubting but that Common Iâ—…aw would do me Justice but hoping that your graver Judgements will give a quick hearing to this suit since it is so clear and I be dismissed without long attending if at your Bench it pâ—…ss for the Desendant I shall not be troubled though in a corner passionate men commence a suit against me Worthy Sirs there are two evil Spirits walking at this time through the Land hâ—…unting both our private houses and our publick Temples disturbing both our Church and State the one is of looseness and prophaneness the other is of giddiness and perverseness which must be conjured and that suddenly assaulted and that undauntedly both from our hâ—…bitations of Justice and Mountâ—…ins of Holiness Be not afraid of their faces nor dismayed at their looks Ezek. 2. 6. may be a fit Memorandum both for our Princes and for our Levites both for your Honours Benches and our Pulpits our Dread Soveraign hath sharpned the Axe for the one and you great Sirs must lay it at the root of the Tree You cannot but remember that it must be the fear of God in 〈◊〉 Land that must turn our Spears into Shares and our Swords into Pruning-hooks Your Honours are Justices of the Peace and your practice is to keep the Kings peace let not Warre be proclamed against heaven let there be free Trade ever kept with that Kingdom and we need not fear what our enemies can do against us One Frederick a Duke of Saxony as I have read proclaming Warre against the Archbishop of Magneburgh appointed one to go to his Court to inform him of the nature of the Archbishops preparations for an Invasion and finding that the Bishop made only God his Associate gave over his design with this advice to the World Alius insaniat ut bellum inferat ei qui confidit se Deum desensorem habiturum You have Right Honourable a happy opportunity both joyntly and severally to stop that Inundation of prophaneness which seems to overflow the strongest Bulwarks and Banks that can be made or cast up against it by a severe putting in execution those Laws that for that kind are made and provided As for that other spirit Noble Sirs we may divide it into two sorts It causes some out of petulancy and frowardness to oppose the best Laws except such as are made by themselves or for themselves or by those who are of the same judgement with themselves they are fiery and excentrical in their motion through the overflowings of their gall they speak bitter words even against Dignities they bring railing accusation like fiery Comets they predict some signal fatality to that Countrey wherein they are and some future judgement to that place over which they hang They are such that though favour be shown them they will deal perversely Clemency so vitious and cholerick are their constitutions like honey will but increase their distemper These Sirs must be observed and such mad spirits must be bound or charmed or extirpated out of the bounds of a Christian Common-wealth From the Bench the States Law must be read with all Authority to them and put in execution with a moderate severity upon them From the Pulpits they must hear with all boldness the necessity that lies upon them to obey principalities and powers lest they be delivered over unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme and forget to curse either God or the KING Your Honours may be very instrumental for making us to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty by making Application of that Doctrine Ezra 7. 26. Whosoever will not do the Law of thy God and the Law of the King let judgement be speedily executed upon him whether it be unto Death or to Banishment or to Confiscation of goods or Imprisonment There are others Right Honourable who purely out of ignorance are drawn from their obedience and are as it were made giddy staggering through the Doctrine instilled into them by those above-mentioned who out of a well-minded zeale though not well-grounded follow that light that such hold out and by a holy fear and care to avoid sinning boggle at the just demands of Supreme Authority disputing rather for the time with their own consciences than at any time against His Majesties Injunctions desiring to know how to keep their consciences void of offence not only
towards men but towards God in reference chiefly to Church-services Divine performances and outward Ceremonies If such Right Honourable be presented before you you may easily know them as transgressors of the Law they are to be handled with all meekness senitive medicaments had best be prescribed for the curing of their distempers Let them alone my Lords this year also and we will dig about them inform them of the nature of things and they may by beholding our Order bring forth the fruit of obedience we must behold them as if our selves were also in the body In the other case Fiat Iustitia but in this Innotescat aequitas vestra Knowing Right Honourable that Ueritas parit odium truth begets hatred and hatred begets contention I come to your Persons as Preservers of the Peace desiring that this innocent creature that lately spoke in defence of your Honours because of your Laws and set its face against that calumny which though not personally yet virtually is cast upon you for being Instrumental in so publick a way for the putting in execution those Laws that have been made touching the using of the Service-Book that it I say might be preserved from hurt and freed from abuse I put it into your hands as into the hands of its Father for indeed you begot it through the Law I bore it through the Gospel the information and instruction of that sort of people that hath been deluded by self-seeking men robbing the Ancients of all glory that alone they might have the Kingdom next your Honours Order was the sole cause of my preaching and now publishing of these sheets Praying that you may be in Counsels prosperous and in peace glorious happy Instruments of Gods glory His Majesties honour this Kingdoms prosperity and this Counties Piety I Subscribe my self Right Honourable Lords and Gentlemen Yours to command in all things lawful WILL. ANNAND From my Study at Leighton Octob. 12. 1660. To the READER Courteous and Christian Reader FOR so in charity I am bound to suppose until the contrary appear and â—…e known Thou hast here in thy hand the summe and substance of two Sermons with some alteration preached October 7. At which time the Lord knows there was nothing farther from my thoughts than that ever they should have seene the light more or to have craved thy courteous acceptance in the Land of the living but to have them had lyen perpetually buried among the rest of their brethren in a Box oâ—… Coffin but there they had not long beene when they were awakened with the sound of a Trumpet Out of thy ingenuity aske me not why I appear in the world since I am not pleased though not ashamed to discover If thou beest not one of my Parishioners they were never ordained for thee entertain them as thou hast them without farther questioning me concerning them If there be any that snarle at my doctrine yet if they answer not the Arguments never like my Book the worse nor esteeme them the wiser for their so doing I am not ignorant that there are as great diversities in mens judgments concerning Books as there are in mens pallates concerning cheese If this small Tract relish not with thee let it alone raile not at it Others possibly may close a good dinner with it and go to their work chearfully having sanctified their meat by a holy using of a set forme of Prayer For thy encouragement know that my Book tells no lyes it sayes indeed that Common Prayer is lawful yea and proves it â—…oo I have a small acquaintance with Counsels and Fathers yet they are not brought in to witnesse to the truth pleaded for from which I was kept not only by my small standing in Controversies of this nature but chiefly from the opposite parties excepting against such witnesses The Authority of a Councel being equally regarded with them to that of the Conclave and to cite a Father were to cite 〈◊〉 Antichrist himself But from Scripture and Scripture reason it 's â—…averred that it is lawful for Gods own people to call upon him for mercy in a set form of Prayer which proofs if you accept and without prejudice entertain and hereafter acknowledge them as lawful to any though necessary for none And though thou never use a set forme thy self yet if thou condemn not them that do I have my end Give God the glory and the poor members of Christs Church thy charity thou shalt have his prayers at the Throne of Almighty God who is called W. A. PANEM QUOTIDIANUM HOSEA 14. 2. Take with you words and turn to the Lord and say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips THis Prophet is the first of those that are called the lesser or the smaller Prophets not from their Authority which is equally great to the other but from their bulk and quantity wherein they are much less all of them together being but one Chapter longer than the Prophet Isaiah alone Some have noted that Isaiah in his single Book hath more verses than all the twelve smaller Prophets together Hosea receiving a Message from God according to direction communicates the Lords mind to the Church of Israel in this Prophesie three ways 1. By Types representing Israels sad condition by reason of Idolatry and Israels gracious restauration by reason of mercy Chap. 1. 2 3. 2. By powerful Sermons reciting their sins against God and predicting judgements from him from Chap. 9. to the 14. 3. By gracious and soul-reviving promises touching the future happy estate of that sinful yet beloved people throughout this Chapter In which the Prophet having set before their eyes the several and particular sins of their Kings Priests Princes and people and the judgements that God was resolved to send upon each of these for their so offending comes to perswade them betimes to break off their sins and shun heavy judgements by their speedy turning from their sin and returning to their God verse 1. assuring them that he hath not so farre yet shut up his tender mercy but that if they return he will heal their back-slidings and love them freely and refreshing them with his favourable presence will be like the dew and by his power sustaining them they shall flourish as the Lilly vers 3 4. And helping their infirmities in order to their so doing or Answering the Objections that they might make fearing the issue of their returning in as much as they might not know what Sacrifice God would accept or with what words he would be intreated he prescribes them to take words and these words Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips In which we have these things observable 1. The Prophets Exhortation to the people Take with you words 2. His Direction of the people Say Take away all iniquity c. In his Exhortation there are these things observable 1.
The substance of it which is To turn to the Lord. 2. The manner of it or how they must turn is by saying these words Say unto him In the Direction which is it self a Prayer instituted by the Prophet for them and given by the Prophet to them there is 1. A Supplication to be made by all for the removing the sins of all of what person or degree soever Take away all iniquity It was sin that first brought down judgments from God and therefore sin must first be removed by God 2. There is an Intercession of all for each other and of every one for all Every single person desires that God would be favourable to his Brother as he desires God to be merciful to himself Receive us graciously 3. There is a Covenant-condition or promise made of all That if God will receive them they will render to him praises called the calves of their lips so will we render the calves of our lips which is a giving thanks to his Name Heb. 13. 15. In this promise every one engageth for himself and each man becomes a Surety for his Brother so will we render and because optima poenitentia est nova vita they will trust no more to the work of their own hands but in God only as fatherless children have hope and from him only when they are in want expect mercy in the following words Ashur shall not save us c. We shall let pass many truths that might arise from the substance and method of this Prayer appointed to and given by this Holy Prophet for the people to collect and cull out one that makes for the clearing up of that truth to the obeying of which we are by Authority now commanded and from which we are by Turbulent spirits eagerly dehorted viz. Touching the lawful use of the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book established in England by all Legal Power since the Reformation A Book which hath been often Crucified among and between Thieves yet never could be put to death by them The Doctrine is this That Gods best Servants or his peculiar people may lawfully use Set Forms of Prayer in their approaches to him and begging blessings of him To him that reads this Text with understanding this observation needs no farther proof nor debate yet I shall not impose a belief of it upon any untill that I have 1. Shewed what the nature of a Set Form of Prayer is 2. Whether such a Form may lawfully be used 3. Whether such a Form is decent or comely for a Saint to use 4. Whether granting all this it be expedient for a Saint or for the Church now as it is constituted and increased to use such a Form 5. At what seasons this Form is chiefly to be used 6. In what place it is most expedient to use this kind of Form 7. Answer some Objections that are urged against such a Form All which if God permit we shall handle in these seven several Sections briefly and plainly SECT I. LET us in the first place see what the nature of a Set. Form of Prayer is and that may be done by this description It is a hearty calling upon God in the name of Christ in words prescribed by another or premeditated by our selves for the removing of judgements or receiving of mercies from or for our selves and others In all these points it agrees to and holds affinity with other prayers of what kind soever save in this that it calls upon God through Christ in using the word which have been either recommended to us as the Lords Prayer Luke 11. 2. Or 2. Prescribed by another and enjoyned to us as David required his Subjects the Levites to praise the Lord in a publick Assembly for the bringing home of the Ark in the words of that Psalm which he had composed for the same purpose It was the first Psalm as it appears that ever he publickly gave for the use of his people in the Temple or Sanctuary 1 Chron. 16. 4 6 7 3. Or 3. Such as hath been premeditated by us for our own use and as occasion served used of us And such was the prayer of the Prodigal Luke 15 he sits down and deliberates within himself what to say that his Father might again receive him I will arise saith he and go to my father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son c. Ver. 18. And at his coming to the father used the same words before resolved upon Such a prayer was also almost that of our Saviours Father if it be thy Will let this Cup pass from Me which He â—…ttered three several times in His passion Mat. 26. 4. And all this is done for the more orderly helping of us in our calling upon God Now some there are that say this is not to be done That Christians in this clear Sun-shine of the Gospel are not to give themselves or limit themselves this day or this week or this year to that kind of prayer framed or composed by or for our selves or others last week or last year but hold it altogether sinful and unlawful Others there are that suppose such prayers at some times for none that ever I heard of maintain them in all points places or in all times necessary but neveâ—… unlawful to be good and helps against their speaking any thing rashly before God and unadvisedly with their lips before him who will be worshipped in spirit and in truth fearing lest they offering strange fire from the censers of their deceitful hearts might bring fire from the Almighty to consume their souls Supposing and upon good grounds that to come every day to Heaven in the same suit may make us at last to be known for good Subjects though not for great Gallants And this opinion from the Text is the substance of our observation which to confirm take these three substantial Witnesses The first where of shall be 1. Ioel a Prophet of God he commanding the people of Iudah that grievously had fallen by their iniquity to turn unto God will have a Trumpet blown in Zion Ioel 2. 1. enjoyning all to come to mourning and weeping for their sins and offences makes a Set Form of prayer for and prescribes a prayer to the Priests themselves who are especially excited and enjoyned to weep between the Porch and the Altar and are commanded to say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach c. Ioel 2. 17. The second Witness is 2. Moses a man of God Exod. 15. where after the peoples delivery from Egypts slavery and Phardohs bondage and after they had seen the Egyptians dead upon the shore not one of theâ—… being killed by them Moses and Israel sing a Psalm of Thanksgiving ver 1. If it were enquired Who made or composed that Song it must be answered Moses by Revel 15. 3. and as a set Form used by the people To
this evil in thy sight It 's this that makes the House of David apart and their Wives apart Zach. 12. 12. to call upon the Lord for the taking away of their particular sins Now we cannot neither are we bound to let men know of all those things whereof we must and ought to accuse our selves of before God and therefore set forms wherein we usually are in generals are fitter for the publick than the private exercises of a Christian. 2. Reas. Rather are set forms to be used in publick for men cannot dispence with their infirmities without great discouragements so well in publick as they can in private It is better sometimes and fills the soul full of more true Christian joy to be heard of God alone than to be heard of God and man together God knows what they mean by their broken and half expressions and picks good sence from them out of his goodness which men would deride and scorne and smile at through their folly and wickedness Against these things they have no spirits to stand out but are discouraged and because of men they are dishear tned from serving God Now in private this would be removed and both with chearfulness and readiness make his request known knowing that God will hear him for his crying when men would condemn him for his very praying 3. Reas. Set forms are rather to be used in publick than in private for generally set forms are so composed that they pray directly for the good of the whole Church and indirectly for their own particular good and private prayer reaches directly for thy self and indirectly for the Church When thou art praying as here in the Text Receive us graciously thou art praying for all directly and begst favour for thy self as it were only at the second hand as one of that number But now in private thou art directly for thy self It satisfies the faith of a believer more when he hath directly prayed for himself than when he put himself in the croud and prayed for all he that hath spoken directly to the King for himself hath more confidence to obtain his smile than he that begged for an hundreth whereof himself was one the nature of the company may keep back that blessing which was asked for all speak therefore to the King directly for thy self and the God of Heaven grant thee thy Petition 4. Reas. Set forms are rather to be used in publick than private for they are generally composed in their length as to give sufficient edification to the bulk of the people the Minister or the Master of the Family may close before themselves or he be weary but they must have a respect both to the affections and vocations of the people and according to them order their Petitions But now in private it is otherwise thou mayst take thy leasure thou mayst with our Saviour Christ pray all night and if the string of thy affections be run out and they stand by a fresh meditation thou mayst wind them up again and so move untill thou come to the very high-noon of Assurance knowing that the Lord hath heard thy prayer and given thee the desire of thy lips which perhaps by reason of the Congregation thou canst not do in a set form SECT VII HAving thus Christian Reader run through the nature of and lawful using of Set Forms of Prayer and that plainly and yet truly we come in the last place to answer those Arguments that are brought against this practice and particularly those that are urged against the using of those set forms of prayer which we are now by Law required to use commonly called The Book of common-Common-Prayer When I say those Arguments I mean not every Caviâ—… which passionate or froward spirits are pleased to make against that Book but some chief and seemingly rational ' reasons that seem at first sight to be of power to hinder the using of it and yet can do it no more than Delilahs new ropes could hold Sampson Iudg. 16. 12. It is objected Object 1. That form or book of Common Prayer is not the same that formerly was established by Law especially that book that wâ—…s ratified by Edward the 6th of glorious memory but is as it were another book not confirmed by Act of Parliament and therefore as it is now composed not to be imposed upon the people Answ. 1. If there be no Law whereby this book as we now have it is not ratified nor estâ—…blished the greater sign of our obedience do we give to the Civil Magistrate and the nearer we come to Christs example whose Scholars we are who though there was no Law that the children should pay tribute yet least he should give offence submitted to the Magistrate Mat. 17. 27. Go thou and do likewise Answ. 2. If thou beest indited at the Bench for thy contempt or for thy not reading or using this Book and no sentence be given out against thee and he punished for his impudence that durst so openly accuse thee then and not before I will imagine there is no Law Knowing that at that time there are Statutes which are standing Laws and Proclamations which are mutable made on the behalf of that book and may then be produced against thee and to thy cost thou shalt know there is a Law Whatever thy judgment be I had rather in quietness believe there is a Law and so use it thâ—…n by trouble feel there is a Law and be made to use it Obj. 2. Set forms of prayer are of themselves very instrumental for the stinting of the spirit which ought not to be done and dangerous in the least degree if done 2 Thes. 5. 19. Answ. 1. It is denied was Christs Spirit stinted the third time because he had used the same words twice before Was the Spirit of God stinted in the Levites when they were commanded to use the words of David Cannot Davids Psalmes be sung with grace in our hearts nor holy Hymns with divine affections why then are we commanded so to do Col. 3. 16. We may sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord and be so far from quenching that we shall be filled with the Spirit Eph. 5. 18 19. Answ. 2. It is affirmed They do stint the Spirit but what Spirit not of God but the spirit of man some whereof ought to be stinted There are in this Age whose mouths must be held in with Bit and Bridle There are Seditious prayers as well as Seditious Sermons which must be looked to There are suspicious prayers such as men in charity cannot say Amen to and yet such as in Justice they cannot but say So be it The Common Prayer possibly stints that spirit and let it I need say no more in a point wherein I may so easily be understood whatever they pray yet let God say I have found David my Servant with my holy oyle have I anointed him with whom my hand shall be established mine arme also shall strengthen
him the enemy shall not exact upon him nor the son of wickedness afflict him And I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him and in my Name shall his horne be exalted I will set his hand in the Sea and his right hand in the Rivers He shall cry unto me Thou art my Father my God and the Rock of my salvation Also I will make him my first-borne higher than the Kings of the Earth my mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him His seed also will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the days of heaven Psal. 89. 20. Let him that heareth and let him that readeth say Amen Answ. 3. This would take the practice of publick praying from the Church for the prayer of the Minister seems and doth according to this Argument stint the spirit in the people that heares Inasmuch as they are not left to their liberty but limited to his expressions which is equally a stinting of the spirit in the people as the Common Prayer is a stinting of the spirit in him and by consequence would take away the ever received Custom of praying publickly for the Churches of God Answ. 4. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and for a while pray for them and with them have patience it 's but a very little while for when you are in the Pulpit you have liberty only remember that of Solomon Who so walketh uprightly shall be saved but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once Prov. 28. 18. Object 3. Your Common Prayer begets a tediousness or creates a weariness upon the people through the great number of the Prayers that are to be read and such exercises are to be made delightful and not tyresome or tedious Answ. 1. Though there be many prayers in that Book yet they are but short prayers And how much difference is there between hearing twenty prayers in one hour if so many were read and hearing one prayer an hour long the one sure is as apt to breed weariness as the other Answ. 2. As for the number of the prayers that are in that Book it is to be surmised that they are so far from tyreing that they refresh the spirits of men short prayers seeming to say as the Levites Father-in-law Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread and afterward go your way Judg. 19. 5. Answ. 3. A great measure of that weariness may be wholly prevented by the Ministers discretion To say no more remember that Gospel-precept Be not weary in well-doing and if thou be yet I counsel thee never to complain provoke rather to love and to good works Object 4. Set forms of prayer especially as they are said in the Common Prayer seem to breed a very great confusion in the Congregation so many speaking at once from one end of the Church to the other the one as it were hindering the others devotion Answ. 1. For all to speak at one time if all did speak breeds no confusion for they speak all one and the self-same thing Were there a diversity of words or gestures there might be a disorder but here all concurs to the speaking of that thâ—…t all know will be spoken of Answ. 2. This Objection takes away the high and holy Ordinance of Singing from all the Christâ—…n Congregations of the World for there all speak out aloud and in no Ordinance doth the Church on Earth come rearer to the Church in Heaven than in this and yet there is no confusion but all things are done in decency and in order But this is nothing the singing of Psâ—…lmes having been as greâ—…t offence to some of them that make this Objection as the Common Prayer it self ever gave Object 5. There seems to be many vaine idle and it is to be feared sinful repetitions in your Common Prayer as Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us and Glory be to the Father c. which gives cause to suspect the lawfulness of its use Answ. 1. How often would you have it done and at what number would you stand according as the Lords Prayer which is often used in our set Forms of Prayer was by you thrust out of your Houses and as farre as you were able out of our Churches so in all probability would you use Glory be to the Father But Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us we have left undone those things that we ought to have done Answ. 2. The oftner they be said they are the likelier to be heard Our Saviours asking thrice for one thing did show the vehemency of his mind to receive the mercie he was then asking To him that knocks shall be opened and the oftner we knock we show the eagerness of our desire That Widow in the Parable Luke 18. 3. came with a blunt request Avenge me of mine Adversary a Petition without much Rhetorick to set it forth yet her continual crying made the unjust Judge at last to Answer her suit And shall not God Answer his own elect that call day and night unto him Answ. 3. If this be granted we shall lose out of the book of God one whole and entire Psalm viz. Psalm 136. for in 26 verses 26 times For his mercy endureth for ever is repeated It was well that those men were not by when the Psalmist composed that Psalm doubtless they would have been earnest to have stinted the spirit and have informed him where he had done amiss Paul was something out of the way for in writing of the first ten verses of 1 Cor. 1. he hath the Name of Iesus nine times repeated but we have not so learned Christ for if with the heart men cry often though with the same words they are like to speed as well as he that alters his expressions as he changeth other Object 6. There are several Oaths and that grievous ones too that you speak as it were blasphemously uttering in your prayers that that breaks Commandments especially in your Letany where you swear By thy Agony and bloody sweat By thy Cross and Passion By thy precious Death and Burial c. Answ. 1. It is to be wondered how the Apostle Paul hath the confidence to say Heb. 10. 39. that he is not of the number of them that draw back into perdition but of them that believe â—…o the saving of the soul since in the very next Chapters he according to this goes smoothly on in swearing a great many times together For thus he sayes By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God By Faith Abel offered up a more excellent sacrifice than Cain By Faith Enoch was translated and so fifteen times over Reader if this Objection were prosecuted as to take either that prayer away or cancel this Chapter out of the Canon
drawing Corollaries applying those Arguments none of which in a proper sence are Scripture but so farre as they agree with and can be proved to be true by Scripture so farre we embrace them believe them practice them yet still never behold them as the Word of God so every Printed Sermon should be a Bible but as mens Exhortations suiting to the Word Look upon several Exhortations of the Apocrypha as no other particularly the first Chapter of Wisdome the only Chapter appointed to be read and thou mayst be satisfied Object 9. The Common Prayer is but in it self a heap of prayers collected out gathered and translated out of the Mass-Boâ—… of the Church of Rome and therefore to be avoided as sinful Answ. 1. Take heed and beware that thou beest none of those bruit beasts Peter speaks of 2 Pet. 2. 12. speaking evil of those things they understand not Answ. 2. There are in thy English Bible several things many things that are in the Mass-book yet keep thy Bible and throw it not away neither tear the leaves out as a Woman once toare a leaf out of her Bible as Popish for having the word Bishop written in it it being never awhit the worse the Sun may shine upon a Dung-hill and yet be clean the whole Bible may be put in ballads and yet the Word of God not the worse Answ. 3. It is not to be denied neither need any be ashamed to confess That there is much in the Common Prayer not to say all to be found in the Mass. The Papists in their Missal having with other Superstitious and often-times blasphemous expressions wound in many holy Hymns and Scriptural Songs as Mahomet did some things that either were in or agreeable to Scripture in his Alchoran which our Pious Composers of this Book the greatest Opposers of and burned for not compliance with Popery like wise Chymicks took away and what was good holy and either agreeable to or literally in the Scripture put together in this Book which by Supream Authority not as from the Mass but as from the infallible Word of God was thought profitable to the edification of the Church established and appointed in our publick Assemblies to be used and read And he that reads the whole Book of the Mass may know that there is as great difference between the Mass as it is used in Rome and the Common Prayer as used in England as there is between Ieroboams two Calves 1 Kings 12. 28. and Solomons twelve Oxen 1 Kings 7. 24. the one being absolutely forbidden as against the Law the other though never commanded in yet never disapproved by the Word of God his presence filling the place wherein they were his judgements falling upon the other where they stood They differ as Nebuchadnezzars musick unto his Idol and as Davids musick in Gods worship the one the three Children would not regard the other no holy Saint did ever oppose the one was to an Idol which was against the Law the other unto God not contrary to the Law â—…t King out of ambition invented the one the other out of Deâ—…on brought in the other The one was Nebuchadnezzars's mind against God the other Davids mind for God the effect shewed that God hated the one and that God was well-pleased with the other For though it was not mentioned in the Law but a pure invention of Davids yet no Prophet before nor after the Captivity before Christ nor Apostle after him did ever in the least give a check to it or blame any Israelite for observing of it In a word there is â—…s great difference between the Mass and the Common Prayer as it is used in our Churches let him that readeth understand as there is between a Papist and a Catholick This being conformable to the Universal practice of the Universal Church in all Ages the other to the late practice of the particular Church of Rome in these last years Wo be to such as call evil good and good evil Isa 5. 20. Obj. 10. The Common-Prayer-book to those that are strong may appear to be lawful but we being weak in the faith and having tender consciences cannot submit to it and it was formerly took away by them whose consciences could not close up with it Ans. 1. What tender consciences some of those men had that took away the Common Prayer and they that lately persecuted the users of it is known to the World that now is and shall be known to all generations that are to come how tender of mens lives of the Christian profession of sinning against God the world is not so dull as not to apprehend Answ. 2. Because there is such discourses about tender consciences let it not trouble the Reader if we enlarge upon that Theâ—…m And let us distinctly handle 1. The nature of conscience in general 2. The nature of this tender conscience in particular 3. The duty of him who hath such a conscience To let pass several distinctions and definitions of Schoolmen which are something obscure dark and intricate 1. The nature of conscience may be known by this description It is a faculty in the soul of man taking knowledge of and noting all his actions whether good or evil and accordingly approving or condemning It 's the souls Register as it remembers things it 's the souls Accuser as it reproves things it 's the souls Judge as it sentences the soul for things It may for a time sleep or be still and so not act as either of these yet at last it will awake and bite like a Serpent and sting like an Adder witness Iudas According to the light that this faculty receives of the nature of things is distinguished into a natural conscience and a suprrnatural the natural is that faculty that is only enlightned by natural reason and from rational principles holds this good and this evil is glad for doing this and sorry for doing that This the pure Heathen hath Rom. 2. 15. The supernatural is when the conscience or souls receives not only light from Reason but from Scripture and by that knows what is good or what is evil those that know not God know not what the Sabbath is they that know the Scripture do and their conscience will judge them if they do not performe what in that particular it requireth so doth not the conscience of the other 2. The nature of a tender conscience it 's a faculty in the faithful and religious soul perswading him to abstain from that the lawfulness of which he doth not fully apprehend upon the account of offending God Because we are speaking to Christians we suppose faith in him that is thus tender and in regard the conscience acts according to the apprehension it hath of things whether by Natural of Scriptural helps we define our conscience as perswading the soul to abstain and hindering the soul not mentioning those things that the conscience binds the soul to that being beside out purpose from acting