that have been and are but such as our Saviour said the Scribeâ— Pharisees and Hypocrites were Mat. 23 ver 13. where he said they did Shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men did neither go in themselves nor suffer them that were entering to go in But before I pass from the Consideration and Proposition I must touch a little upon the latter part thereof which is also by the Author misapply'd to our Liturgy and them that use it He looks upon our Worshipping of God in that form to be a false Service and the chief places he brings to discover what a false Service is are Isaiah 66. ver 3 4. and Jerem. cap. 9. ver 13 14. where the Prophets give the reasons why God had no respect to Israels offerings and why he gave up the Land to perish and to be burnt and it was they say because the People had forsaken God's Laws and followed their own ways and their own abominations Now all this makes nothing against our Liturgy or the Worshippers of God by it for our Service-Book hath nothing in it against the Will of God or his Worship set forth in the Scriptures I conclude therefore that had the Author applied the false Service he there spake of and the recited places out of Isaiah and Jeremiah to himself and the rest of the Factious as to their Worship and Service he had done rightly for I am sure that their Service both as to Prayer and Instruction in most things was truly what they falsely charge upon us namely a false Service As to their Prayers King Charles the First of most Blessed memory hath evidenced the falseness of their Service seeing God by St. Paul to Timothy 1 Epist cap. 2. ver 1 2. exhorts That Prayers and Supplications should be made for Kings and all in Authority For in the last Paragraph but one in his Observations upon the Ordinance against the Common-Prayer Book His words follow thus One of the greatest faults some men found with the Common-Prayer Book I believe was this that it taught them to pray so oft for me to which Petitions they had not Loyalty enough to say Amen Nor yet Charity enough to forbear reproaches and even Cursings of me in their own Forms instead of Praying for me Look upon the third Consideration beginning thus How sorely and severely hath he punished those Kings Priests Prophets and People that have been false Worshippers and swerved from his holy Commandments 1 Kings 11.6 Num. 11.34 The Author's Proposition in this Consideration is as followeth God hath sorely and severely punished those Kings Priests Prophets and People that have been false Worshippers and swerved from his holy Commandments His Proofs as before Answ The Proposition is true but nothing concerns them that worship God by the Common-Prayer Book nor are the places he quotes for Proof against them that serve God that way for that the Prayers of our Church are put up to the true God we are not gone to the Abominations of this Amorites nor to the Abominations of this Author nor of his Followers the Lord keep us in the Worship we are in and of his Mercy bring them back to us To the fourth Consideration I shall say no more nor otherwise than the Author hath there said to us mutatis mutandis Let them consider whether God doth call upon any of them to offer him any such Service as theirs is and hath been And whether he may not say to them for their so doing as they have done as he did once to Judah Who hath required this at your hands Isa 1.12 Look into the fifth Consideration being this How inconsistent with the Day and Light of the Gospel is this Service God having sent his Word more fully and plainly to direct his Ministers and People and given his Spirit in a more abundant measure to help and enable them to call upon him This Consideration in the beginning of it considering what in the beginning of the Treatise the Author writes to the Composers Imposers c. of Common-Prayer contains manifestly in the Author's opinion this following Proposition as a truth To make use of set Forms of Prayer in the time of the Day and Light of the Gospel to put up the desires of our Hearts to God by is no way justificable 'T is plainly his opinion for he saith that this kind of Service is inconsistent with the Day and Light of the Gospel And the following part of his Consideration is in manner of a reason to confirm it for he saith that in the Day and Light of the Gospel God hath sent his Word more fully and plainly to direct his Ministers and People and given his Spirit in a more abundant measure to help and enable them to call upon him than by that way of Common or Set Forms of Prayer In the beginning of my Confutation of this Author in my justifying set Forms of Prayer as there limited and that from the practice of our Saviour in his drawing up and commanding the use of his set Form As also from the practice of David of St. Paul Timothy and others I have sufficiently overthrown this Proposition and his Argument and Reason also brought for confirmation of it considering that it was the time and day of the fullest Light and Promulgation of the Gospel and of God's enabling Men by his Spirit to call upon him that ever was since in which was the justification of set Forms of Prayer after by the forementioned Examples and Precedents Well but yet for further Answer let enquiry be made what time the Author here means by the Day and Light of the Gospel in which he says the Spirit was given in a more abundant measure to help c. For satisfaction herein It was not meant of the time of Moses David Christ John Baptist or the Apostles for as hath been shewed set Forms were consistent with those Days of Light and help of the Spirit to call upon God 'T is certain therefore that by these words in his consideration namely the Day and Light of the Gospel the Author means the times of the late Wars and horrid Rebellion the times he wrote and inveighed against the best set Form for publick Worship and Service of God that ever was extant before it namely the Common-Prayer Book before this And now as for a fuller Answer I grant that with those their Days of Light which was as great a darkness as ever was since Christ as to Spiritual things the Glorious Liturgy of our Church was inconsistent being a Worship and Service according to God's and Christ's Rule and Doctrine for that the practice of the Opposers of the Common-Prayer Book was diametrically opposite to the Day and Light of the Gospel of Christ and his Apostles and therefore could have no more Concord together than St. Paul said 2 Cor. 6.17 Christ and Belial could have which was none at all therefore it was notable policy though nothing of true
Religion of the Counsil of Belial to use His Majesty's expression to Crucifie the Common-Prayer Book by an Ordinance for had the Liturgy of our Church and their Belial their Army stood together it would have been soon as it was with Dagon when the Ark of God and it stood together which soon fell down and brake in pieces their Army would soon have moulter'd to nothing what a confusion and consternation would have been among them and upon them had that Book or the substance of it either been in use by their Ministers as by the express word of God is commanded should have been 1 Tim. 2. vers 1 2 3. What thoughts of heart would have been in those rebellious spirits when being sent up to fight against his Majesty and his Forces before they had gone to Battel they must have prayed to God to be the preserver of him and them they were going to destroy for so 't is in the Litany according to the Command of God that it may please thee to be the King's defender and keeper and to give him victory over all his Enemies and in the Prayer for him 't is strengthen him that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies So that had they continued our Liturgy as was their duty to have done or had their Prayers been according to God's direction in his Word they must as much as in them lay have been by Prayer blessing and strengthning his Majesty and cursing and weakning themselves in their Enterprises by preceding Supplications for both To end therefore my Answer as to this in general I confess indeed the former common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book and almost all Prayers according to God's revealed will in his Word yea and all found Scripture Doctrine were inconsistent with the times of the day and light of the Gospel by the Author's calculation but in the light of the Gospel in the times of Christ and his Apostles they were consistent and justifiable for they had then no contradiction nor discouragement by God in the Old Testament nor by Christ and his Apostles in the New as is sufficiently proved at the beginning of my Tractate This may be sufficient to that fifth Consideration if not go on as followeth But to give the Adversary the fairest play that may be and to save him and his assistants the labour of replication perhaps they will plead their more abundant help of the Spirit to call upon God than formerly from their mode or manner of praying and that in three respects First in respect to the length of their Prayers or Secondly in respect to their Extemporary and Unpremeditated way of praying Or Thirdly in respect to their more powerful and argumentative way they use in their Prayers to prevail with God for the things they ask I will briefly consider what may be said for them and what against them as to the before-mentioned respects First They will say 't is evident they are much more inabled by the Spirit to call upon God than formerly considering the length of their Prayers To which I answer This is of no moment to them that will be guided by the Precedents and Precepts in Scriptures as to this mode of praying For first the practice of the Saints and holy men of God have in the weightiest matters and concerns been short in their Prayers put up to God Abraham's Intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah designed for destruction was but short Gen. 28. vers 23 24 c. Jacob in his great fear that Esau should destroy him and his going to God by prayer for safety his Prayer is past over in four short Verses with all the Arguments he used to prevail with God Gen. 32. ver 9 10 c. Nay Christ himself seeking by prayer for the Cup of Death to pass from him his Prayer was short every time in his Address to the Father Matt. 26. vers 39 42. Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt his Prayer was as short the second time and the third time it was no longer than at first for it was the same The Precepts of God and his Spirit are against this mode of long Prayers and therefore no argument from the length of their Prayers that they are more inabled by his Spirit to call upon God See for this 1 Ecclus 5.1 2. as concerning hearing when men come at the House of God he would have them very attentive as to the length of their Prayers he orders them to be short God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy words be few And our Saviour in his Sermon upon the Mount directing how to Pray effectually orders as well concerning the length of Prayer as to the matter thereof Matt. 6. vers 7. When ye pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated ne inania loquaemtra which our Church renders very well use not vain repetitions where our Saviour forbids tautological words variety of Expressions to one and the same purpose Learned Sharpâ—â—s in his Symphonia Prophetaâ—um Apostolorum saith That the word there used by our Saviour is taken from one Battus a soolish Poet in those days whose Verses were tedious to a loathing by means of many divers and vain words to the same signification So that there our Saviour admonished his Disciples and all men that their Prayers be not nauscous through tediousness or multiplicity of words which is abliorred of God and devout souls Vos 9. praedicti Capitis after this manner pray ye that is in a concise and short manner Further If in respect to the length of their Prayers they or their hearers will conclude their more abundant help of the Spirit to call upon God they do deny the Nature and being of God and Christ as described in the Scriptures for James 1. vers 1â— With God is no variablerese nor shadow of change And Hebr. 13. vers 8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Now if it be through the help and direction of the Spirit that their Prayers are so constantly long over they were by the direction of God and Christ and by the practice of Abraham the Prophets and others inabled formerly by the Spirit to call upon God then it must follow that with God is variableness and shadows of change and Christ is not now the same by his Spirit he was formerly for if they have now help to pray as they do by the Spirit of Christ then it follows he is now for long Prayers and whilst upon Earth by himself and by his Spirit in the days of the Apostles and Prophets he was altogether for short Supplications All therefore that can be granted the Adversary as to the usual mode of long Prayers is this That they are carried and helped thereto either by an heathenish ignorance or by that which is far worse namely by a Spirit of
St. Laurence Pulpit the peculiar Thanksgiving day for the Defeat at Worcester in the intention of the Contrivers and Managers thereof though it might be made use of by way of occasion to hasten to the Execution of their long before contrived rebellious Design and wished desire Nor shall I here enumerate or debate their pretended just grounds for their War Nor shall I argue to evidence the unlawfulness of those Insurrections otherwise then by remembrancing men of the displeasure of God with them for those their Enterprises manifested sufficiently in the succeeding events and issues thereof For we see the Presbytery in Scotland and their Confederates in England the Presbyterian Covenanters here the beginners of that horrid Rebellion soundly basted wholly subdued baffled and made the laughing stock of the World by the Sword of their own Party What became of the Hothams that so hindred and disabled his Majesty of most blessed memory to defend himself against these and other enemies in seising his Garrison and Magazine at Hull And as to this Topick I shall desire at present nothing more to be had in memory but the end of that heavy scourge and rod of God's Protestant Church and his beloved Kingdom of England I mean the Independant and Cromwellian Army and the imparallelable High-Court of Injustice the chief whereof though the generality had mercy died not the common death of English offenders but that death by the providence and justice of God appointed by the Law of the Land for the worst of Malefactors and so let all the implacable Enemies of our Church and gracious Sovereign perish And now I 'le have done speaking to this 8th Consideration in the same manner the Author ended it even by way of Application Seeing that God brought upon that party that raised Wars upon the imposing justifiable and pious Liturgies as I presume the Scottish was and am sure the English formerly was and this now is such a miserable and wretched end as the just wages of that rebellion as he did upon the chief heads thereof Let all men henceforth be so cautious as not to dare to think in the least of Disobedience or Levying Wars upon the same or such like grounds as the former Rebels did against this Church and in the close our dread Sovereign or Crown of England To the 9th Consideration Whether if the truth were throughly and truly weighed and examined the first end of Composing the Common-Prayer Book which doth symbolize with the Mass c. In this Consideration are couched divers Propositions of the Author concerning the Common-Prayer Book One may be this The first that is as I presume the chiefest end of the Author 's Composing the Common-Prayer Book was to bring Papists to Church Answer This is the first charitable Expression that I have hitherto observed Mr. Powel to have given them that were the Authors of this kind of Worship but had he made known in plain and full terms the other gracious designs of those men thereby as namely to help good meaning hearts to God by the only Mediator in Heaven Christ Jesus and not by Saints and Angels as also secondly as St. Paul directs 1 Corinth chap. 14. vers 15. to help those had in them a spirit or heart to pray that they might perform it with understanding and be able to say Amen effectually and servently I say had Mr. Powel mentioned these and other the gracious ends of the Composers of the Service-Book God's mercies and way of salvation being then vailed to the generality of men being set forth only in an unknown Tongue I say he and others thereupon might have owned them to have had to the people of England the like Imployment the Angels had to the Shepherds and the World at the Birth of Christ when vailed to many by the meanness of his coming in the flesh namely this to set forth by that Service-Book the glory of God in his peace on earth and good will towards men that so England might be in a right way to believe in Christ and so to call upon him that they might not perish but have everlasting life And to be short as to speaking to this ninth Consideration what though it be granted that it symbolize with the Mass book or that many things be in it that are in that seeing there 's nothing in our Liturgy but what is good lawful or useful to Edification as will be evident to men doubtful thereof if they will but peruse diligently Mr. Thomas Comber's Companion to the Temple or otherwise termed A help to Devotion in the daily use of the Common-Prayer In two Parts To the 10th Consideration Whether some may not intend by the re-establishing of this Book to oppose and pull down that excellent and gracious Spirit of Prayer As to their excellent Gifts or helps by the Spirit as to Prayer And as to their godly painful soul-saving Preachers both which they have assumed to themselves in the First and Seventh Considerations and have re-assumed in this Tenth Consideration under the notion of an excellent and gracious Spirit of Prayer and Preaching As to their mistake in presuming to such Gifts and Abilities I refer the Reader hereof to what I have before written concerning their Praying and Preaching upon those Fifth and Seventh Considerations And to make a short business as to speak to this Tenth Consideration I 'le give them my thoughts of the ends of re-establishing the former Book with some few Alterations and divers Additions of several Prayers and Services fitted to several accidental occasions The first whereof might be to answer such moderate Dissenters I call them so in comparison of them of these latter days as was Doctor Reynolds Mr. Chadderton and the others with them at the Conference at Hempton-Court on the behalf of other Ministers and themselves whose desires as to the Book of Common-Prayer then were that it might be fitted to more increase of Piety as our Common-Prayer Book now is Another end might be to oppose and pull down as it was high time to do the long tautological heathenish pharisaical extemporary nonsensical erroneous damning kinds of Praying and Preaching were then and had been too long in use in England A third end of confirming this Book might be to revive and re-establish this most blessed and excellent help for Devotion and Worship of God that ever was heretofore in the Church of Christ and to countenance Orthodoxal Preachers and so to maintain sound Doctrine which had for a long time been shut out of publick places for Worship and Instruction by an usurped Authority over this Church and State And whereas he concludes it made as a snare and net against such as out of Conscience could not Conform thereto I am sure no man can have any ground now for such accusation or uncharitableness if they do but consider the religious care taken by his Majesty soon after his Restauration to answer the Doubts and Objections of such
A JUSTIFICATION OF Set FORMS of PRAYER And in Special of the LITURGY Of the Church of England In Answer to And Confutation of Vavasor Powel's Fourteen Considerations against all Composed and Imposed Forms of Prayer By Richard Lewthwat M.A. and Rector of Wethersdale in Suffolk LONDON Printed by A. Godbid and J. Playford for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-Yard 16â—9 To the Right Honorable Henry Earl of Arundel Lord Mowbray c. and his Virtuous and Religious Countess Great Sir BEing put upon the Vindication of Set-Forms of Prayer and especially of the Liturgy of our Church and hearing of your Honour's resolution and beginning according thereto of becoming one in Religion Worship and Service of God in the way of the Church of England with your Illustrious and Devout Consort as ye are become one by Wedlock I thought it my bounden Duty upon the first Opportunity to make known to your Lordship and your religious Lady the great joy there is among us Protestants at your coming in as also to throw in my Mite and small help to settle and continue your Lordship in the Religion you profess with us which I can do no way better than by commending to you with our God and Saviour the daily reading and searching of the Holy Scriptures And as to perusing of Books upon them of which I may say with the Preacher in his prediction namely Ecclesiastes 12.12 there is no end I shall presume to recommend the same Method my Tutor at the Vniversity gave me to settle me firm in our Protestant Religion which was to be conversant in the Homilies of our Church and in the 39 Articles and Rogers upon them And withal I beg your Lordship's favour to do what I intended with all holiness and meekness of Spirit to have desired of your Honourable Father the Duke of Norfolk had he not gone beyond Sea namely to vouchsafe the reading of this short Tractate made publick at the request of divers persons by him who officiated sometimes as Chaplain to your Honourable Family and who is and shall be a truly devoted and well-wishing Servant to your Lordship and your religious Consort and to both your renouned Relations whilest he shall be Richard Lewthwat To my Reverend and Worthy Friend Dr. Laurence Womock Professor of Divinity and Archdeacon of Suffolk Reverend and Learned Sir ACcording to my bounden Duty and the earnest Desire was in my heart to reduce as many as I could of that great number of Scismaticks and Separatists that are about us to the Unity and Communion of our Church among other things in order thereto having received the worthy Tractate of Mr. Robert Conold most fit to help on that my Design I commended the perusal thereof to the chief head of the Independant Faction and most inflexible heart to Reformation about us so I take him to be for he told me then it would be to no purpose he being as in his own expression an old grown Oak in the Principles he was in But through much importunity I got promise of him to read it over and give me his Judgment of it both he granted upon condition that I should answer to things against the late Common-Prayer Book of our Church that were in Print that he would send me Whereupon I promised to give my Answer to the chief Objections whereby I became engaged to return an Answer to him of the things of greatest concern therein which promise of mine will be made good and he obliged to return something about that Tractate of Schism if there be deliver'd to him what I have drawn up to Mr. Powel's Fourteen Considerations in the beginning of his Book of which promise if he fail I hope there will be conviction of him and of his constant hearers and thereupon conversion of them to another Judgment and Practice Now having made known to several persons the said Considerations and my Answers thereto as I have at times drawn them up and my purpose of delivering them to the party in Writing Divers pâ—râ—â—ns have advised and desired me to endeavour the publishing of them by the Press alledging withall several Reasons to perswade me thereto As first because the Factions spreading them by Copies may willingly adulterate the Original and so disable it as to the conviction of them they communicate it to Secondly because if not Printed it will not be so commonly had for the benefit of the Multitude of their weak Proselytes who are captivated and held in the sad bondage of the following and like erroneous Rudiments and Traditions of the Jesuitical Heads of the several Factions in the Kingdom And thirdly because they hearing of my Promise made long since and not yet performed he and others give out that the Allegations in that Pamplet against Set-Forms of Prayer cannot be answer'd by my self or any of my Judgment Upon consideration whereof 't is presumed that if my Promise be not performed and published it may occasion the more secure Settlement of them in those dangerous Errors as also make a greater seduction of others to them than otherwise would have been For which reasons I have pitched upon the latter way of publication hereof if Authority shall permit Now if your self shall upon perusal approve the Answer as Orthodoxal and that it may be helpful to the bringing back but of the simple yet as I presume conscientious Multitude ledd away through good Words and fair Speeches as the Apostle speaketh of those who have caused Divisions and Offences contrary to sound Doctrine Then I most humbly beg that your self would Patronize this small Work being Dedicated to your Protection To which request if you shall condescend 't is very probable those Adversaries of our Church will not dare to rally Forces again about the present concerns or to give me another challenge fearing that if so you may become Second upon the next Quarrel whose success in conflicts of this kind they know to have been such that they will not venture upon any further Undertakings about this matter But Reverend Sir whilst I am arguing against these and other Errors near of kin to one another and reading these Answers to Mr. Powel's Errors to some loth to come out of them they tell me I am not of the same Opinion as formerly they say I was against Infant Baptism and the Book of Common-Prayer I now write for Sir to say a little to these Charges 'T is well known to your self by my Letters word of Mouth and Practice but best known to my self that I can easily take upon me by acknowledgment of my Errors and Mistakes for God's glory my own and others Eternal Safety all the shame and Temporal Evils incident thereupon which is much evident when through your discovering to me the Error I was in your self knew I came as willingly as through your help safely down from that high and dangerous Precipice I had climbed up to of absolute and irrespective as
hast standred thine own mother's son In the third place God's Spirit denys ye to be Churches of Christ or else at least he charges ye with such evil Customs as none of them have or at least as they ought not to have for those words of the Apostle 1 Corin. 11. v. 16. belong to you and to such as you are If any man seem to be contentious we have no such custome neither the Churches of God The Factions do not only seem contentious they have too deeply engaged themselves therein for either their own or others spiritual good In the last place Ye are by the Apostle deliver'd with the incestuous person up to Satan As I may say he hath excommunicated you Romans 16. v. 17. Mark them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine ye have learned and avoid them If ye will be holding forth the Word as ye call it the Apostle would have ye have no other Auditors than the Walls and Stools are with ye he orders all to avoid ye none to hear ye or associate with ye unless for your conversion And now from my Heart for your conversion to us in the Apostle's words to the Corinthians the 1st Epistle chap. 1. vers 10. I do exhort ye and beseech ye in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ That ye all speak the same thing that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together with us in the same mind and in the same judgment And to prevail with ye all to joyn with us speedily in Worshipping the God of Peace and Unity I convince ye in the words of the Apostle Philippians 2. vers 1 2 3. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded have the same love being of one accord of one mind with us Let nothing henceforth be done through strife or vain-glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves So biddeth farewel to ye all Richard Lewthwat February 26. 1677. Mr. Lewthwat I Have heard read and consider'd of your Treatise Intituled A Justification of set Forms of Prayer and in especial of the Liturgy of the Church of England in Answer to and Confutation of Vavasor Powel's Fourteen Considerations against Composed and Imposed Forms c. And upon the whole matter I conceive it may be very Useful and Profitable especially to the vulgar sort of seduced Dissenters to with-draw them from their former Errors and procure their Return to the Way of Divine Worship prescribed in the Church of England if you will be perswaded to permit it to be made Publick by the Press Hen. Nerford B. D. Rector of Attleburgh Norf. I Edward Atkinson Rector of Bunwell Norf. desire the same thing To the Composers Imposers Readers and Hearers of COMMON-PRAYER to the Disputers and Writers for COMMON-PRAYER I Would desire ye all in the Name and Fear of the All-seeing Almighty and All judging God to set these following and the like Considerations to your Hearts and your Hearts to them First How jealous the Lord of Heaven and Earth is of his own Worship and of all the Parts and Circumstances thereto belonging Deut. 5.9 Hos 5.11 Matth. 15.3 Col. 2.21 Rev. 22.14.20 2. How abominable and unacceptable to this holy just God have been and is all Idolatrous Superstitious and False Services and all that do serve him in any way or thing which he hath not himself commanded and appointed Deut. 7.25 26. Isa 30.22 and the 66.3 4. Jerem. 9.13 14. Ezr. 20.4 3. How sorely and severely hath he punished those Kings Priests Prophets and people that have been false Worshippers and swerved from his holy Commandments 1 Kings 11.6 Numb 11.34 4. Consider whether God doth call upon any of you all to offer him any such Service as this is and whether he may not say to you as he did once to Judah Who hath required this at your hand Isai 1.12 5. How inconsistant with the day and light of the Gospel is this Service God having sent his Word more fully and plainly to direct his Ministers and People and given his Spirit in a more abundant measure to help and enable them to call upon him 6. How little good if any at all hath been done by the long use of the service-Service-Book though men have prayed long by it that the rest of their lives might be holy and righteous and yet they still continue profane and unrighteous 7. How much hurt it hath done in sholdering and thrusting out many godly painful soul-saving Preachers and in bringing in and maintaining so many ignorant scandalous lazy and formal Priests and Curats to the deceiving and utter undoing of precious souls 8. Whether the imposing of the Scotish Liturgy which in some things was better though in some others was worse than the English was not the beginning and the first cause of the late grievous Wars and if so whether men should not be more cautious to do the like for the future 9. Whether if the truth were throughly and truly weighed and examined the first end of Composing the Common-Prayer-Book which do's so much symbolize with the Mass was not to bring Papists to Church but it effected so little therein not because they so much disliked it as because it was not in Latin and commanded by the Pope that it rather confirm'd them in their Mass-service 10. Whether some may not intend by the re-establishing this Book to oppose and put down that excellent and gracions Spirit of Prayer and Preaching which God hath poured out upon his Ministers and to make this a snare and net against all Preachers and people that out of Conscience cannot conform thereto 11. Whether any persons can produce any such Liturgy or Form of Prayer from the beginning of the World either among the Jews or Geztiles till above three hundred years after Christ when Anti-Christ began to exercise Papal Power 12. Whether if there were no other reason but that this Book hath been so much Idoliz'd by the generality of men and offensive to so many Christians it should not be done with as the Brasen Serpent was by Hezekiah 1 Kings 13. Whether one end of Christ's coming into and one part of his work in the World was not to redeem men from the Rudiments and Traditions of men of which this is one And whether it be not a sin against the Blood and Spirit and Gospel of Christ to impose maintain and continue still the use of the same 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Heb. 9.10 11. 14. Whether at the great and terrible day of Judgment any Magistrates and Ministers or People can justifie before Christ the making imposing reading or hearing of this or the like Service And whether good men as far as they build with this Material will not suffer loss And whether those can stand then in the Judgment
summ of this alledged out of St. Paul's practice to justifie set-Forms of Prayer whose Desire and Prayer to God for Israel was That they might be saved as Romans the 10th Vers 1. amounts to this That St. Paul Sosthenes Silvanus Timotheus and the brethren with Paul at Rome did put up their Prayers to God for his bestowing spiritual blessings upon the several Churches of Christ through the word of â—â—ace did put them up I say in a Common-Prayer in a set-composed or as the Separatists call it stinted Form of Prayer And considering that the afore-mentioned Christians and Saints continued so long in a Common set-Form of Prayer for those Churches I cannot think but the pride ignorance heady and high-minded Spirits of these men had they lived in days together would have charged St. Paul and the rest that joined with him in Devotion for the Churches with what they cast upon the painful orthodoxal conformable Clergy of our Church in the seventh Consideration where they call them Ignorant Scandalous Lazy and Formal Priests and Ministers to the deceiving and utter undoing of precious souls and should they have had but such Revenues Salaries Tithes and Gleabs gone along with their Labours as our reverend Bishops Deans and Chapters and some of our Clergy had with theirs their Conformity and Uniformity in Prayer especially it being so short how holy soever their lives had been was crime enough for their Houses to have been Plunder'd their Estates Sequestred and their Persons Imprisoned And now to leave off the further confirmation of this unjustly condemned Practice of Devotion by the use of set-Forms of Prayer in the times of the Old and New Testaments and in the times of the Antient Churches before Popery and in the days of the Reformed Churches fallen from the Pope I shall only commend to your consideration the Prayer of St. Chrysostom wherewith we even close our dayly Devotions as in all probability he and the people he was over did conclude their Worship of God in their set-Forms of Prayer Almighty God who hast given us Grace at this time with one accord c. I confess 't is not the Forms of Prayer be they never so Admirable as to Expressions without the fervent desires of the Heart be the man never so righteous that utters them that do avail ought with God but when a man from the ground of the heart ascends up to God in Forms be they never so antient short or Common provided they be lawful as to the Matter and laudable as to the manner of the Expression supplicating praying interceding and giving of thanks then they become at the Throne of Grace such as St. John in the 5th of the Revelations Vers 8. saw in Heaven when the 24 Elders fell down before the Lamb namely barps and golden vials full of odours even the prayer of Saints And hereupon was the exellency of David's Prayer of which he speaks Psalm 11â— Vers 58. I made my petition with my whole heart There are recorded in the Scripture divers Forms of Prayers and Thanksgivings Composed by David and other devout Worshippers of God questionless for the use of themselves and others in the frequent Commemorations of God's Mercies to them and for their Supplications to be made unto God their wants being again the same or alike as formerly But now that which made these Forms of Prayer effectual David mentions in the same place where he saith he did it with his whole heart All the powers and faculties of his Soul were now acting in their several places so as he might prevail with God to supply his wants And a devout soul setting dilligently to this as St. Peter and the rest of the Twelve resolved to do Acts the 6th Vers 4. namely give themselves much to prayer as David did namely petition the Lord with his whole heart let it be in a set-Form that that praying soul goes to God that soul cannot want success long For if the Spirit it self as St. Paul speaks Romans the 8th Vers 26. be not yet helping his Infirmities it will not be long before he be with him making Intercessions for him i. e. working in him gronings that cannot be uttered nor long unanswered by his God if the things petitioned may be consistant with God's glory and the petitioners true good and what hinders that this soul praying to or praising God in a Form as before limited may not be accepted of God seeing God hath his whole demand of him in a way not inhibited by him as is evident Prov. 23. Vers 26. My son give me thy heart So that what St. James said of faith without works and of faith with works may be said of Common or set-Forms of Prayer without the heart going up to God with them and with the heart going up to God in or by them In the 17 Verse of the second Chapter he saith that faith if it hath not works is dead being alone and in Verse the 26th as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also faith with out works is like the body without the spirit it acts nothing to the good thereof Even so the best Forms of Common-Prayer if there be wanting in the man that utters or uses them a spirit or heart of supplication they prevail nothing with God for him they may be Vials but they are without Odours or Incense and so no sweet savour to God But then in the 22 Vers the Apostle that faith by works was made perfect and in the 23 Vers that by virtue thereof faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousness and he was called the friend of God Even so Common Forms for Prayer by fervent earnest supplicating hearts going to God in them the Common Prayers but as dead in themselves are thereby made perfect yea lively and the praying man thereby is owned of God and dealt by as his friend I shall now end my reasoning for the lawful and justifiable use of Common Forms of Prayer that suit our wants our hearts being in a praying condition with the practice of our Saviour in his bitter Agonies Matth. 26. Vers 39 and 42. there is mention of Christ's praying to the father for the Cup to pass from him and having no grant and resolving to seek God further for it in the 44 Vers 't is said he went away again and prayed the third time saving the same words And lastly To prevail with ye to come off from the dangerous Frrour ye are in as concerning the present I shall mind ye with the Reasons King Charles the First of most blessed memory hath laid down for the present purpose in his Observations upon the Ordinance against the Book of Common-Prayer I will write down some Paragraphs in that Tractate that they that have not his Book may read the Judgment of that blessed Martyr concerning the matter now in hand In the sixth Paragraph his Words are these For the manner of using set
and prescribed Forms there is no doubt that wholsome words being known and fitted to mens understandings are soonest received into their hearts and aptest to excite and carry along with them judicious and fervent affections In the eighth Paragraph thus he writes I could never fee any reason why any Christian should abhor or be forbidden to use the same Forms of Prayer since he prays to the same God believes in the same Saviour professeth the same Truth reads the same Scriptures hath the same Duties upon him and feels the same dayly wants for the most part both inward and outward which are common to the whole Church In the ninth Paragraph he goes on thus Sure we may as well before hand know what we pray as to whom we pray and in what words as to what sense when we desire the same things what hinders we may not use the same words our appetite and digestion too may be good when we use as we pray for our dayly bread I will write down here the thirteenth Paragraph which though it justifies Common Forms of Prayer yet condemns not but rather approves what our Adversary so magnifies as to down with set-Forms of Prayer provided it be done with a religious and prudential care His words follow Though I am not against modest discreet and humble use of Ministers Gifts in publick the better to fit and excite their own and the peoples affections to the present occasions yet I know no necessity why private and single abilities should quite justle out and deprive the Church of the joynt Abilities and concurrent Gifts of many learned and godly men such as the Composers of the Service-Book were who may in all reason be thought to have more Gifts and Graces inabling them to Compose with serious deliberations and concurrent advice such Forms of Prayers as may best fit the Churches common wants inform the hearers understandings and stir up that fiduciary and fervent application of their Spirits wherein consists the very life and soul of Prayer then any private man by his solitary abilities can be presumed to have with what they are many times even there where they make a great noise and shew the affectations emptiness impertinencies rudeness confusions flatness obscurity vain and ridiculous repetitions the sensless and oft-times blasphemous Expressions all these burthen'd with a most tedious and intolerable length do sufficiently convince all men but those who glory in that pharisaick way And the said King Charles having in the 15th Paragraph shewed the necessity of the use of Forms of publick Composure in the performance of Sacramental Administrations and the like in the 16th Paragraph his words are as follow A serious sense of which Inconvenience in the Church inavoidably following every mans several manner of Officiating no doubt first occasioned the Wisdom and Piety of the Antient Churches to remedy those Mischiefs by the use of constant Liturgies of Common Composure And now for a close at present as to my Meditations upon the present subject of Common-Prayer what can solidly or commendably be said against the Use of Set and Composed Forms of Prayer to put up to God the servent desires of our hearts by If the said Forms be lawful laudable and convenient as to the Matter and Expressions suiting together with our wants seeing we have such a cloud of Authentick Authors for it as David Jesus Christ our Saviour St. Paul John the Baptist besides the Fathers the Antient Churches the devout and pious Modern Divines yea and I might have recounted even all late Reformed Churches till these late upstart anti-Christian heady high-minded late Factions arose disturbing the Unity and blessed Peace of our and other true Churches of Christ denying the Lord that bought them and without Repentance bringing upon themselves and their Proselytes swift destruction And now I shall end my Meditations as to what preceded the Author's proposed fourteen Considerations following now to be considered of in the very Words of the before quoted King Charles of Blessed Memory with which he ends his Observations upon the said Ordinance against the Book of Common-Prayer I wish saith he their Repentance may be their only Punishment that seeing the mischeif the disuse of publick Liturgies hath already produced they may restore that Credit Use and Reverence to them which by the Antient Churches were given to Set Forms of sound and wholesome Words And now having shewed the groundless Oppositions of the Author to Common and Set Forms of Prayer given me to peruse and to give my opinion concerning the aforesaid subject and having also from the Sacred Scriptures and otherwise justified the Use and manifested the Aptness of Common-Prayers for our Devotions Worship and Service to be put up and performed to God I now come to speak to the Fourteen Considerations which the Author proposeth to the World as unanswerable Evidences in his judgement to make the aforesaid kind of Worship and Service though never so Conscientiously Sincerely and Heartity performed to be damnable because abominable to God and not required of us by him as is to be collected out of his four first Considerations I shall therefore now spend a little time about the said Considerations and look into the Bowels of them they being in the whole like the great Horse framed at the Seige of Troy in the Body whereof were inclosed men enough to deliver up the City to Destruction For in this Fabrick and Womb of these Considerations are inclosed conclusions and opinions enough to deliver up treacherously the City of God the Souls Redeemed by Christ's Blood to Hell and its Assistants the Beseigers thereof to Eternal Destruction if impenitently followed and persevered therein I will therefore open the Door of this Monster composed by deceitful Workers having transformed themselves in the Apostle's sence into the Ministers of Christ And letting out the deadly Enemies therein the false conclusions shall slay them with the two edged Sword of God's Word and known Truth That they make no further devastation hereabout upon them for whom Christ dyed In he Considerations the Author falls from the way he begâ—n in as to the quantity of a proposition namely the universality of his condemnation of Common-Prayer in his Indefinite term for now he endeavours especially to keep the Common-Prayer Book of our Church of England from a glorious Resurrection which had been Crucified Dead and Buried so long time by the long Parliament and their Armies For all his Magazine is spent in killing again what they thought they had killed before for ever namely the Common-Prayer Book In the four first Considerations are contained four positive Conclusions which the Author endeavours to make good by Scripture and thereby to overthrow the Common-Prayer Book of our Church for which purpose even the whole part of the following Pamphlet is spent Look upon the first Consideration beginning thus How Jealous the Lord of Heaven and Earth is of his own Worship and of all the parts
Saviour in Luke 11. vers 11 12 13. to make men importunate and diligent seekers of God in Prayer If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father will be give him a stone or if he ask a fish will be give him a serpent or if he ask him an egg will be give him a scorpion No the summ is this an earthly Father will give a Child upon request the things he hath need of Ay but what follows how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to them that ask him But if there be never so much willingness to help yet if there be not ability to relieve there will be but a slack and faint address made though there be never so much want But now ye may see our Church here after the Practice of our Saviour hath made provision for the latter as well as for the former for it ascribes to him power to forgive all sins and to amend all sinfulness of life in man in attributing to him almightiness as well as it preached before his willingness in those words placed before the Confession and Supplication Almighty and most merciful Father See Exod. 32. Vers 31. And in the close of this Confession and Prayer the Church follows Christ there and the Saints of God close There our Church helps a devout soul to plead strongly with God for forgiveness and assisting grace by way of an humble remembrancing of God of his PRomise made to Mankind thereupon in Christ Jesus And citer that pleads with God for his help to amend their lives that they might be instruments for his glory thereby And indeed it ye look upon the Absolution upon the second Collect at Morning Prayer which is for Peace upon the third which is for Grace upon the second at Evening-Prayer which is for peace of Conscience peace with God upon the Prayers for his Majesty the King for the Queen the Duke of York and the Royal Family for the Ministers of the Word and all Congregations committed to their charge and upon most of the Pravers to be used with the forementioned Prayers in our daily Devotions they are fitted to awaken and help our Faith and â—â—…erchy to strengthen our wrastling souls with God by Prayer that we might overcome him as Jacob did at Peniel and the Lord not able to deny us blessings meet for us and his own glory And now look upon some of the Prayers and Thanksgivings of them that have so dispised the former and are so much more inabled by the Spirit to those Duties by their own Pretensions and see which have come nearest the help of our Saviour and the powerful and argumentative way of the canonized Saints in the Calendar of the Spirit of God At a Market-Town in Norfolk there being a Meeting in order to setting up the Presbyterian Government the Minister in his Sermon instructing the Lay-Elders as to the due execution of their places told them they must be as exquisite Chirurgeons who have Hauks eyes Ladies hands and Lions hearts But one of that Faction taking on him to pray a Blessing upon the work of the day among other things he desired God he would give the Lay-Elders Hauks eyes Ladies hands and Lions paws That I shall not omit of one in his Prayer before his Sermon in his Thanksgivings blessed God for the twelve Bishops being sent to the Tower in the long and mad Parliament because that thereupon God had set Christ Jesus twelve steps higher in his Throne than ever he was before Another Minister being to Preach a Funeral Sermon at another Minister's Parish he that officiated before the Sermon read the 8th of Ecclesiastes where in the 4th Verse 't is said Where the word of a King is there is power and who can say to him what doest thou The Minister that was to Preach being for the present Rebellion fearing the people in all probability might have been brought to or continued in Loyalty upon the remembrance of Solomen's Doctrine used this poisonous Antidote in his Prayer before the Sermon O Lord though Solomon hath said that Kings cannot be controuled yet we thy people know by the Spirit that Kings may be questioned and call'd to account I will insert but one more Expression in Prayer which was lately told me by one that heard it being present himself at a Church in Suffolk in the Prayer of a Minister in great esteem in those days After some Groanings and small coughing Respits these words came forth Lord go on with thy Reformation while it is time and after some more coughing Respits he went on thus For if thou dost not thou wilt not know what to do And that these and such like ridiculous and profane Expressions and dead argumentative helps were too frequently used in the Prayers of those so boldly assuming to themselves a superlative or extraordinary help of the Spirit to call upon God are in common charity and probability to be received as truth even by those that have not heard them or the like to them considering the report as to such like particulars left to be published by King Charles the First of most blessed memory being then in his own thoughts but a few steps from the grave For in his Observations upon the Ordinance against the Book of Common-Prayer in the twelfth Paragraph there having stigmatized many of their Prayers with statness rudeness confusion ridiculous repetitions yea with sensless and oft-times blasphemous Expressions c. In the thirteenth Paragraph he concludes to my present purpose in these following words Wherein they must be straâ—â—â—…ly impudent and flatterers of themselves not to have an infinite shame of what they so do and say in things of so sacred a nature before God and the Church after so ridiculous and indeed prophane a manner But notwithstanding what hath been last sâ—â—d I cannot but grant that some of them infatuated with the same spiritual pride and self conceitedness have been more prudent and careful than others in composing and wording their Publick Prayers but yet if they be weighed in the Sâ—des and with the Weights of the Sanctuary with the Collects and Prayers of our Liturgy so despised by them their best Prayers will be found lighter than the other in the judgment of meek humble and devout souls knowing how to pray as they ought through the help of the Spirit of God Look upon the sixth Consideration which begins thus How little good if any at all hath been done by the long use of the Service-Book though men have prayed long by it that the rest of their lives might be holy and righteous yet they still continue profane and unrighteous The Author's opinion there is thus Those men that have made never so long use of the Service-Book and have prayed never so long by it to God for a sanctified and righteous life have never attained to any part thereof It appears plainly to be his opinion for
positively and indefinitely he saith though men have prayed long by it that the rest of their lives might be holy and righteous yet they still continue profane and unrighteous To which I answer This being the judgment and sentence of the Author or of any that read his Pamphlet let them return speedily with a penitent heart for and from these thoughts For I see not but they may be ranked with the man of sin St. Paul speaks of in the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians chap. 2. vers 4. who as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing and professing himself that he is God For in the I st of the Corinthians chap. 3. vers 17. A Church of God a Congregation of believers are there called the Temple of God Now this man or any following this his opinion living with or among a Church of God a company of true Worshippers of God he or they holding and professing the aforesaid opinion are got into the Temple of God hereby professing themselves that they are God in judging and condemning a great part of God's Church before Christ to whom is committed all Judgment be come in the clouds to justifie some and condemn others Or if they may not be ranked there I am sure they may with them St Paul in the 2 Epistle to Timothy chap. the 3d at the first vers and so on said should come in the last and perilous times namely blasphemers and despisers of those that are good which evidently belongs to them if ye do but consider the conversations and spiritual comforts of the late reverend Bishops Deans Prebends and of others outed sequestred persecuted imprisoned and murthered both of Clergy and Laity that were constant Worshippers of God in that Form of the service-Service-Book in publick whilst it could be so used and in private afterwards Seeing that these through the grace and help of God serving God that way might and I believe did in and from their hearts say in St. Paul's hope as well as words 2 Epist to Tim. chap. 4. vers 7. namely that they had fought a good fight and kept the faith and that there was laid up for them a crown of righteousness Nay their blasphemy and unparallelable despications upon this their condemnation are yet more evident and rise yet higher in their not excepting our late King Charles the blessed Martyr It cannot be denied but that he was a constant Worshipper of God in Publick by the Service-Book And prayed even to the last unto God by it Now I do positively say and who shall contradict it that there was much sanctifying grace to him from God upon his Devotion and Worshipping God thereby which will be evident if his Book Composed by him were but perused Where ye may see a testimony of his Spiritual Comforts and of Sanctifying Righteousness vouchsafed him of God yea and of his possession of Christ's and Steven's Spirit at his approaching death in both freely forgiving and fervently praying for his cruel Enemies Nor can it be thought but that God through the use of that Service-Book did vouchsafe him help cheerfully to drink off that Cup of Death so imbitter'd by his Enemies especially considering the true report goes of his Morning-Worship the day before he suffer'd His Majesty being to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper the Morning before his Passion being the 30th of January The Service was to be performed by the Book of Common-Prayer which Bishop Juxen then officiating observed punctually and coming to the second Lesson to be read named it the 27 chap. of St. Matthew At the Bishop's naming the Lesson being the History of our Saviour's Passion His Majesty in all probability not eying the Calender as then it concerned him not to do steps to the Bishop and in meekness asked Why he did apply that Chapter to the present occasion The Bishop replied to this purpose and said It was the portion of Scripture that by providence was appointed for the second Lesson by the Common-Prayer Book for the Morning-Service Then said his Majesty Go on So that at the dreadful hour of his death being then at greatest need of help to suffer as Christ Jesus was in his bloody Agonies at the approaching of the hour of his Passion God by this his appointed Lesson for his Majesty's Passion made the Common-Prayer Book do for this blessed Martyr at that time what the Angel did for Christ when appearing to him in his Agomes from Heaven strengthning him for thereby questionless God helped his Majesty to pass towards the gate of death calmly undauntedly and chearfully as he did as thousands can yet testifie nor can I see how it should be less or otherwise seeing that God thereby gave an unexpected and extraordinary Testimony to him that that day he was to suffer with him even as he did one for many and consequently to reign with him and that he should this life ended be with him in Paradise sitting with the noble Army of Martyrs praising and magnifying the God of his salvation And last of all to conclude against this most false and damnable determination of the Author let it be consider'd of that God hath often given testimony of his acceptance of that Form of Prayer and of the Worshippers of him thereby seeing that when God at any time hath shewed his Indignation against the sinful people of this Land by his sore Judgments upon some places thereof why the repenting Inhabitants humbling themselves before this God and seeking his atonement and reconciliation in this Form of Worship and Service together with some few set Prayers and Portions of holy Scripture fitted to the present occasions why I say this Common-Prayer Book with those few apt alterations have oft-times done for England what David's rearing an Altar at the Word of God and offering burnt-offerings and peace-offerings thereon did for Israel 2 Sam. chap. 24. ver 25. it hath not been long before the Lord hath been intreated and the Judgments stayed To the 7th Consideration How much hurt it hath done in shouldering and thrusting out many godly painful soul-saving Preachers c. I presume that in this Consideration the Author hath respect to the times before the beginning of the long Parliament and the Wars they raised against his late Majesty of blessed memory when according to the Law of the Land as now it is the same the Ministers that would not conform to the Book of Common-Prayer could neither hold their Livings nor Preach In this respect he means the Service-Book shoulder'd and thrust out many godly painful soul-saving Preachers this being the sense of the Author in this former part of the Consideration as I verily believe it is it contains this following Proposition Those Ministers that would not conform to the Book of Common-Prayer were godly painful soul-saving Preachers Answer To make which Proposition true the Author must have recourse to some of their new light for I am sure that the old light the Old and
Pretensions in appointing a Committee of Bishops for that purpose where and when Bishop Reynolds had the Chair So that indeed all that can be said as to the Book in the intention of any of the Composers thereof as concerning net or snare in respect to the Penalties made thereby to be inflicted upon the Nonconformists to it they were only made against perverse obstinate and wilful opposers of the same and so are to be clear'd from the charge of any evil intention against tender Consciences To the 11th Consideration Whether any person can produce any such Liturgy or Form of Prayer from the beginning of the World either among Jews or Gentiles c. As to the justification of Liturgies and set Forms of Prayer I have spoken at large in the beginning of this Fractate and shall therefore answer the Author's Question in this Consideration no otherwise than as our Saviour answer'd the Question put to him in the Temple Mark 11. vers 29 30. And that is by giving a Question to him and his followers to answer and it is this Whether any persons can produce any such long tautological extempory nonsensical Prayers or any such soul-destroying damning Doctrins or Sermons since the beginning of the World either among the Jews or Gentiles or any Churches of Christ till this Rebellion in Scotland and England as theirs were Let any of them answer me this Question and I will answer further to this 11th Consideration To the 12th Consideration Whether if there were no other reason but that this Book hath been so much idolizeâ— by the generality of men and offensive tâ— so many Christians it should not be done with as the brazen Serpent was by Hezekiah 2 Kings 18. vers 4. The opinion of the Author may be set forth in this Proposition The generality of men have much Idolized the Book of Common-Prayer and 't is a just offence to many Christians also Here the Author chargeth first a great evil to have been committed by most men in praying unto God and in worshipping of him in thaâ— Form of the Common-Prayer Book And that is that they have Idolized it Now to Idolize a Creature or Thing is taken several ways out of mentioning two of them is first to esteem it as their God or Saviour In this respect it may be the Author means the generality of men Idolized the Service-Book To which I answer I am confident there 's not a man will set hiâ— heart to that part of the Consideration for who can think men so ignorant as to esteem that their God or Christ to save them which is that Form whereby they go to God and Christ their Redeemer and Mediator for forgiveness of sins and salvation But then secondly To idolize any thing is inordinately to set the heart upon it trusting in it more than in God and above him in this respect Covetousness is called Idolatry Colos 3. vers 5. Thus Mr. Wilson in his Christian Dictionary But thirdly We commonly say men idolize a thing when they have a greater respect to and esteem of a thing than it deserves In this respect I presume the Author means most men did idolize the Service-Book which he thinks sufficiently manifested by their so constant and frequent Worshipping and Invocating of God thereby To which I answer Considering the Counsel or rather the Command of God as to the frequent performance of this Duty of Prayer and Thanksgiving by St. Paul 1 Thess 5. ver 17 18. where he bids us Pray without ceasing and in every thing give thanks because 't is the will of God in Christ Jesus Considering that I say King Charles the first of most blessed memory in his Observations upon the Ordinance against the Common Prayer Book doth fully make void the Author's fore-mentioned Charge and Reason alledged for defence of it in the Eighth and Ninth Paragraphs The King's words I could never see any reason why any Christian should abhor or be forbidden to use the same Form of Prayer since he prays to the same God believes in the same Saviour professeth the same truths reads the same Scriptures hath the same Duties upon him and feels the same daily wants for the most part both inward and outward which are common to the whole Church Sure we may as well before hand know whâ—â— we pray as to whom we pray and in what words as to what sense when we desire the same things what hinders we may not use the same words our appetite and digestion too may be good when we use as we pray for our daily bread Now considering all this where is any cause for taking away this Book of Common-Prayer from the people as the brazen Serpent from them of Israel and Judah But 't is no marvel that the Author and his Followers charge men with Idolizing this Book in offering in Publick unto God their Prayers and Thanksgivings thereby according to the Order and Authority of the Church when I have heard them charge men with idolizing the Lord's Prayer using it but according to the Command of Jesus Christ himself that is in the several Services and Prayers of the Church fitted and appointed to be used upon several occasions before Mattens or Even song be over whereof by especial command of Christ the Lord's Prayer is to be part Luke 11. vers 2. When I consider the impudent Charge I my self heard from one of the Author 's chief fellow Chaplains against some of the Petitions of the Lord's Prayer in condemning one of them in the Pulpit unlawful as to the matter and another not fit to be used by most Hugh Peters at Norwich said of that Petition thy will be done c. What said he pray for an impossible thing and condemning another Petition said See what the Petitions are of that you call the Lord's Prayer as also when I consider the total neglect of our Lord's Prayer in these mens Devotions drawn up by Christ for a Form of Prayer as well as for an help to compose our own Prayers by I say when I consider these things then what David said seeing the transgressions of the wicked of his heart I say of mine namely thus I have said in my heart that they say in their hearts though not in right down words that Christ in Composing and Commanding that Prayer to be said as oft as men pray is accessary to a very great and general guiltiness of Idolatry in this last respect at least Or if they should not own this yet I am sure the total neglect of using it in their Devotions prove plainly they look upon it as a Prayer unworthy to be used which is no less than in their hearts to blaspheme the Saviour of the World But then further he saith the Book was offensive to many Christians He doth not say it was offensive to the Brethren or the weak Brethren as is usually the Phrase in the Scriptures in such cases as this here of the Author And