unknown Tongue in such a Language as a Man had never learnt and neither the Congregation nor perhaps himself understood tho he cou'd speak it for ver 14. he says If I Pray in an unknown Tongue which in the next verse he calls a Praying with the Spirit my Spirit Prayeth but my Vnderstanding is unfruitful being not able to Interpret what he said which was another extraordinary Gift of the Spirit and which he that had the Gift of Tongues sometimes wanted and therefore the Apostle intimates in this place that there may be a separation between them between Praying with the Spirit and Praying with Vnderstanding and when there is the latter is to be preferred before the former ver 19. in the Church I had rather speak five words with my Vnderstanding that by my Voice I might Teach others than Ten thousand words in an unknown Tongue i. e. in the Spirit which bestowed that Gift so that in St. Paul's Judgment Praying with the Spirit is not always to the Edification of the Church not always performed with Vnderstanding And so much my Author owns p. 58.59 This distinction was occasioned through the Corinthians not observing that it was their Duty to do what they did to the Edification of themselves and others too whereas they did it for their own Commendations so I judge for many of them having extraordinary Gifts as to speak with divers Tongues therefore they were more for those mighty Gifts than they were for the Edifying of their Brethren which was the cause that Paul wrote this Chapter to them to let them understand that tho' extraordinary Gifts were excellent yet to do what they did was more excellent for saith the Apostle If I Pray in an unknown Tongue my Spirit Prayeth but my Vnderstanding is unfruitful and also the Vnderstanding of others therefore I will Pray with the Spirit and I will Pray with the Vnderstanding also but as I observ'd in the beginning of this Chapter he stops short here without adding which I shall therefore add I will Sing with the Spirit and I will Sing with the Vnderstanding also the plain meaning of which Phrase is this viz. that in the Apostles Days some were enabled by a miraculous Gift of the Spirit not only to Pray in an unknown Tongue but also to Sing in an unknown Psalm or Hymn as appears farther from ver 26. When ye come together every one of you hath a Psalm hath a Tongue c. both these were extraordinary and miraculous Gifts by the Confession of our Adversary and he may as well pretend to Sing as Pray extempore from this Text of Scripture but unless he can Sing and Pray in an unknown Tongue he doth not Sing and Pray as St. Paul and the Corinthians did and if notwithstanding this devout Christians may Compose Spiritual Songs and Hymns and Sing them according to the Rules of Musical Notes and yet all that while be assisted by the Spirit so may they also Compose Prayers and Praises before-hand and read them in the Congregation who are to join with them therein and yet all that time be assisted by the same Spirit for Praying and Singing with the Spirit are expressed as * Discourse of extempore Prayer p. 13. Dr. Taylor observes in the same Place in the same manner to the same end and I know no Reason why there should be differing Senses put upon them to serve purposes CHAP. II. HAving clear'd the Scope and Meaning of this mangled divided and abused Text and detected the Authors Pride in Sainting himself and his own Party and his Diabolical Slanders in making Devils Incarnate of us I shall next consider the malicious Reflections he casts on our Churches Liturgy in the Prosecution of his Discourse Page 11. he says Our Common Prayer Book is taken out of the Papistical Mass Book being the Scraps and Devices of some Popes some Friars and I wot not what and this he repeats Page 29. Paul and his Companions were as able to have made a Common Prayer Book as any Pope or Prelate in the Church of Rome and could as well have made a Common Prayer Book as those who first Composed this c. But I have these things to offer to shew the Falseness and Senselessness of such Suggestions 1st That our Common Prayer Book was not Compiled by any Pope or Prelate of Rome but by some Reformed Protestant Divines who suffer'd Martyrdom for the Protestant Religion Sealing it with their Blood and how can that savour of Popery that was the joint and unanimous Work of Protestant Martyrs who without doubt were assisted therein with the same Holy Spirit that enabled them to resist unto Blood and one of them * See Fox's Martyrol p. 1524. They with weeping Eyes Prayed together and Kissed one another and he gave unto her a Book of the Church Service set out by K. Edward which in the time of his Imprisonment he daily used Doctor Rowland Taylor made use of the Common Prayer Book when he lay in Prison and a little before his Martyrdom commended it to his Wife as the last Token of his Love 2d If it were true that the Common Prayer Book were taken out of the Mass that is no Proof of its Unlawfulness if there be nothing else Sinful in it the Papists using some such Prayers as we do does not render them Unlawful They use to anoint Sick and Dying Persons with Oyl and so do the Anabaptists and when urg'd with this that theirs is a Popish Practice their Answer is that 't is never the worse for all that if it be according to the Word of God and may not we return the same Answer That our Prayers are never the worse tho' some of them shou'd be found yet in another Language in the Mass Book so long as they are agrâ—â—able to the Holy Scriptures and pursuant to those excellent Forms Recorded there 3dly The Papists are so far from likeing and favouring the Common Prayer that the first thing they did after Queen Mary ascended the Throne was to abolish and cast it out of the Church which they would never have done if they had thought it conducing to the advancement of their Cause but they knew it was the best Defence and Buswark we have against Popery and therefore demolished and took it away and so did the Dissenters again in the Cromwellian Days and we may on their own grounds conclude them to be Popishly affected because they shewed the same Enmity and Spight to the Common Prayer Book and with disdain laid it aside as the Papists had done before and if these Men are never the worse for doing the same things the Papists did Why is our Common Prayer Book the worse for having some things in it which the Mass Book has Especially if it be consider'd that all their Prayers are in Latin which 〈◊〉 a Language unknown to the common People all our Prayers are in English which is our Mother Tongue and understood by
Liturgy's Vindicated BY THE DISSENTERS Or the Lawfulness of Forms of Prayer and Liturgies PROVED From the very Texts of Scripture urged against them by John Bunyan and the Dissenters By the Author of the Religious Conference between a Minister and his Parishioner about Infant Baptism 2 Pet. 3.16 In which are somethings hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own Destruction LONDON Printed for C. Brome at the Gun at the West end of St. Pauls 1700. THE CONTENTS A PREFACE giving an Account of the Undertaking and secret Juggle of some in pretending to Pray by the Spirit how they are meer Deceivers and Men-pleasers in it Chap. I. Shewing Jo. Bunyan's Imitation of Satan not only in urging Scripture and suppressing so much thereof as makes against him as particularly 1 Cor. 14.15 which is Explain'd and Vindicated from the false Glosses he puts upon it and turned full upon him but also in his intolerable Pride impudent Calumnies and railing Accusations against us and a Question is asked How poor Creatures shall Pray in their Families who have not this pretended Gift of Prayer Which his Party are desired to Answer some better way than by bidding them to Groan Chap. II. Returning an Answer to his Objections against the Common Prayer Book and clearing it from the Imputation of Popery there being nothing thereof in it but Composed by Protestant Martyrs together with sundry Scripture Authorities for the Lawfulness of Forms of Prayer and our Observation of Christmas Easter and other Holy Days in Memory of the Saints Chap. III. Concerning his evasive Answers to our Saviour's Command for the use of the Lord's Prayer Luk. 11.2 which is briefly Explain'd and Confirm'd with some Reflections on his Rules for Prayer as also on the Presbyterian Directory wherein they as much limit the Spirit as we do by a Form as also concerning the falseness of his Assertion That none but Saints ought to say the Lord's Prayer from the known Examples of the Prodigal Son and Rich Man the one calling God and the other Abraham Father and from that Relation which God bears to us by Creation and Redemption he being on both accounts the Father of all Men. Chap. IV. Of the Anabaptists Persecuting Spirit and Cruelty towards other Protestants and particularly towards King Charles the Martyr and his Loyal Subjects and their Canonizing such Persecutors for Saints and Martyrs contrary to the Practice of those that deserved and had that Name among the Primitive Christians whose only Weapons were Prayers and Tears and of that Persecuting Passage in the solemn League and Covenant where they are Sworn to Extirpate us Chap. V. Of some Texts of Scripture Jo. Bunyan brings for the Prohibition of the Common Prayer Book which are all shewn to prove no such thing but rather the Lawfulness of using it Chap. VI. Of two other Places of Scripture which he produceth to the same purpose as Zach. 12.10 and 2 Tim. 3.5 which rightly Explain'd do both conclude against him and for the Lawfulness of Praying by a Form Chap. VII Of his two Scripture Arguments for Praying by the Spirit as 1 Cor. 14.15 and Rom. 8.26 shewing them to be impertinently Alleged and clearing them from the silly Exposition and Paraphrase he makes upon them and proving that one at least if not both of them establish Forms of Prayer and overthrow his Pretences of Praying by the Spirit Chap. VIII Of two plain Proofs that Jo. Bunyan and his Party have not the Spirit which they pretend to viz. 1st The Schism which they have made and continue in the Church with the Rebellions they have rais'd and carryed on against the State 2dly The scurrilous and unchristian Language they utter against us which is exemplified in some farther Instances than were given in the first Chapter Chap. IX Of another Proof to the same purpose from his evil Counsel about the Education of Children whom he would rather have to live without Praying at all than to be taught it by any Form whatsoever which does not savour of the Spirit of God no more does his Beastly Expression in calling this a Nuzzling them up in a Form Chap. X. An Apology for the Author least his Book be Condemned as undervaluing the Holy Spirit and the Assistance which he affords is farther Explained and Stated and Proved not to consist in the Groans or extempore Effusions of Men but in Godly Motions within us and the fervent Desires of the Heart the Life and Soul of Prayer being Faith Hope and Charity and such an Assistance of the Holy Spirit our Church admits and teacheth us to Pray for The Conclusion An Address to all the Members of our Orthodox Church of England not only to Pray but also to Live according to the Common Prayer Book even a Godly Righteous and Sober Life to the Glory of God's holy Name Amen THE PREFACE TO THE READER BEing sensible that some Men will censure me for entring the Lists with such a Combatant where it will be no Credit to Conquer but a mighty Disgrace to be overcome I think my self obliged to give this Account of the Undertaking to reconcile the Reader to what I have hereafter Written least otherwise looking only on the Title-Page he should grow Angry and Impatient and throw away the Book The Discourse I here Answer was sent me from an Anabaptist of my Parish and as I have reason to believe by the Order and Direction of one of their Teachers as a choice Piece which might take me off from the use of the Common Prayer Book whose Morning and Evening Service I wish were constantly offer'd up entire in all other Families as well as mine when it cannot be perform'd in Publick and I am confident they will receive no little Comfort and Satisfaction in so doing but having read it over I found so much Railing Wresting and Mis-applying of Scripture almost in every Page and so little Reason and Truth in any thing he said I once thought his reviling impertinent Discourse unworthy of any other Answer but what the Archangel returned to Satan Jud. 9. The Lord rebuke thee Bunyan But when I considered the high Value the whole Party set upon such slight scurrilous Pamphlets how this was Bequeathed as a Legacy by the last Will and Testament of one of them to a surviving Friend to convince the World That whether Living or Dying they have no Charity for us and how they are contented that themselves and subtle Books should be let alone to Creep into Houses and lead silly Women I may add Men too Captive who are sooner caught and seduc'd with crafty and incoherent Reasoning than with close and sound Arguments and when they have gain'd them for Proselytes and drawn them into the wild Mazes of their numerous Errors 't is very hard to reduce and bring them back into the way of Truth On all these Accounts I judged it needful
thou not been a Prodigal Spend-thrift wasted thy Substance with Riotous living and devouerd thy Estate among Harlots and yet darest thou say to God Father Thus Rudely Unchristianly and Uncharitably would Jo. Bunyan treat the Prodigal Son as the elder Brother would have had him treated but God himself treats him far otherwise even as a dear and tender Child for when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had Compassion on him and ran and fell on his Neck and kissed him and his Reception and Entertainment was extraordinary ver 22.23 The Author of the Pilgrims Progress had likewise forgotten the Parable of Dives and Lazarus the former tho' in Hell call'd Abraham Father Luke 16.24 But Jo. Bunyan wou'd for this alone have call'd him Damn'd Wretch and Child of the Devil and demanded of him What hast thou to do cursed Man to call Abraham Father But Abraham has better Language in his Mouth and is so far from reproving even this Damned Rich man for calling him Father that he gives him a mild Answer and the Title of Son perhaps because he was one of his Off-spring tho' much degenerated from him that was the first Root and Stock of them Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things c. In like manner the most wicked Person in the World may call God Father he being the God and Father of all Men by Creation who are therefore said to be all his Off-spring Acts 17.28 29. So on the Account of their natural Being which they receiv'd from God all Mankind may truly call God Father as all the Children of an earthly Parent tho' of far different Natures and Behaviour may yet call him their Father 2dly God is the Father of all Men by Redemption which is universal and extended to all that will sincerely accept and lay hold of it as is clear from 1 Joh. 2.1.2 If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World So that Jesus Christ dyed for all Men even the most profligate Wretches in the World or else they were not bound to Repent and Believe the Gospel for to what purpose shou'd they do either since none can be saved but those for whom Christ dyed and then all their Repentance and Faith wou'd be in vain So that on the account of Creation and Redemption we may all call Almighty God Father altho' we were never so wicked even as Satans Children as this Author supposes us to be and by consequence may safely use the Lords Prayer without being guilty of Lying or Blasphemy altho' none of us were Saints at least not one in Forty did deserve that Name Indeed William Pen and his Party upbraid us for saying in our Prayers Lord have Mercy upon us miserable Sinners and We have erred and strayed from thy Ways like lost Sheep And John Bunyan and his Party upbraid us for saying Our Father which art in Heaven c. So that if we should hearken to these Men we must not Pray at all neither address our selves to God as Saints nor as Sinners neither say Our Father nor God be merciful to me a Sinner but the truth is we may and on good Grounds do say both having the Examples of David and St. Paul to justifie our Practice whom I presume our Author will allow in the number of Saints and that they might truely call God Father and yet one of them says in his Prayer to God I have gone astray like a lost Sheep O seek thy Servant Ps 119.176 the other says Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1.15 and if after their Examples and that of the penitent Publican we come to Church and confess our Sins and desire God to be Merciful to us Sinners and also after the Example of the poor Prodigal we arise and go to our Father and say unto him Father we have sinned against Heaven and before thee and are not worthy to be called thy Children we may hope to go back again to our Houses justified before the envious Elder Brother and proud Pharisee that Censure and condemn us for our Humility and Faith CHAP. IV. AS nothing is more usual than for Hereticks and Schismaticks to propogate their false and pernicious Doctrines by Fire and Sword and all the studied Arts of Cruelty and Violence that what is wanting of Truth on their side may be made up with blind furious Zeal and ungovernable Rage so none are more forward to shift the Odium of such bloody Proceedings and cast it upon others that are not guilty thereof and to make loud Outcries of Persecution and Oppression which in reality must be charged upon themselves and laid at their own Doors Thus of old the Arians dealt with the Orthodox Christians complain'd of hard Usage from them and of their great Sufferings for Conscience sake and yet none were more bloody Persecutors than themselves as the Orthodox found by sad Experience when these Men had gotten the Power into their own Hands from whom they suffered more than ever they did from the most barbarous Nations or under the worst Heathen Persecutions And thus their Successors the Anabaptists have carried themselves towards the Churches of Christ where they have had means and opportunities to shew the Savageness of their Natures and Dispositions witness the dismal Tragedies they acted at their first rise in Manster and other Parts of Germany which were so barbarous and inhumane that the Modern Anabaptists pretend to be asham'd of them and of the levelling carnal Principles which their first Founders held However this by the way shews their Religion to be very bad whose Foundation was laid in Rebellion and Blood and so indeed has it been propogated ever since when any fair occasion has been offered for the discovery of their Intentions witness their Persecuting King Charles the Martyr and some of his loyal Subjects to the very Gates of Death and some of them to strange Cities in which these Men had a great Hand being some of the worst tho' most potent in Cromwel's Army who with their assistance rul'd all and accomplish'd those Villianies which are a Scandal to our Nation and Reproach to the Protestant Religion And yet Page 45 speaking to a member of our Church John Bunyan says art not thou a desperate Persecutor of the Children of God He is their Father whom thou Persecutest Strange confidence indeed that this Man should not be ashamed to complain of Persecution who was himself a great Persecutor as this very Book of his shews wherein he treats us with bitter Words and railing Language which is one kind of Persecution and not the least neither even that of the Tongue for what Moses calls Ishmaels mocking St. Paul styles his Persecuting of Isaac Gen. 21.9 compared with Gal. 4.29
and I doubt the Persecution of the Hand would soon follow if it lay in these Mens Power this way to hurt us and perhaps they might think it meritorious and that they should do God good Service in destroying us as the mad Jews did when they killed Christ's Disciples Joh. 16.2 This is certain that the Anabaptists and other Dissenters who now cry out so much of Persecution have proved themselves desperate Persecutors as often as they have had Opportunities to shew it witness their Ejecting Decimating and Sequestrating their Imprisoning Banishing and Beheading so many of the Loyal party in Cromwell 's Days who by these Mens advice and assistance acted all those Villanies upon his faithful fellow Subjects and imbrued his Hands in his gracious Sovereign's innocent Blood in the shedding whereof all the Sectaries concurred but especially the Anabaptists who some of them sat as his Judges and condemned him 〈◊〉 * See the Life of King Charles the First p. 55. interrupted him in his last Devotions and offer'd Affronts to him in his dying Moments and Agonies not suffering him to Pray or Dye in quiet without disturbing his Charitable Soul with unusual rudeness and injuries witness their Rebellion likewise against King James the Second under the Conduct of the Duke of Monmouth a considerable part of whose Commanders Officers and Soldiers were Anabaptists and this resistance of their rightful Sovereigns tho' contrary to Rom. 13. and the practice of all the Primitive Christians yet these Men Justify Defend and Canonize such for Saints and Martyrs as died in it and were executed for it as may be seen in a Rhiming Pamphlet of Benjamin Keach's entituled * See distressed Sion relieved p. 25 26 27. c. where some that were Rebels to two if not 3 Kings are named as Saints and Martyrs Distressed Sion releived or the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness wherein are to be found diverse instances of such Army Saints and Fighting Martyrs tho' I dare say the first the Christian Church ever heard of since the Foundation of it all the Martyrs in Queen Mary's Days and under the Ten Persecutions being Strangers to Carnal Weapons and accustomed only to Spiritual ones even Prayers and Tears thinking the other unlawful to be used against their Sovereign or for Christ's sake whose Kingdom is not of this World nor are his Servants to fight for him as himself expresly affirms Joh. 18.36 So contrary to the Gospel and the holy Christian Martyrs is these pretended Protestants Practice and so is that passage in the solemn League and Covenant the Presbyterian Idol to which they would have all Hands lifted up and all Knees to bow we shall in like manner without respect of Persons endeavour the extirpation of Popery and Prelacy that is Church Government by Archbishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch Deacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchy we shall also with all Faithfulness endeavour the discovery of all such as have been or shall be Malignants c. by hindring the Reformation of Religion c. or making any Parties c. amongst the People contrary to this League and Covenant that they be brought to publick Tryal and receive condign Punishment as the degree of their Offence shall require or deserve by which Clauses they are bound to destroy our Church Root and Branch and all others too that shall help us or hinder them in this reforming Work which any one would think could not be done without a bloody Persecution unless therefore John Bunyan and his Party renounce the solemn League and Covenant and their other Persecuting Oaths and Books and also all their violent and cruel Practises in this and other Countries let them not for shame complain of Persecution who have been and are themselves the great Accusers and grand Persecutors of their Brethren CHAP. V. OUR Author I suppose being sensible of the small success his railing against the Common Prayer may have to withdraw any rational Persons love from it or to raise his hatred thereof bethinks himself of better and stronger Arguments against it and endeavours to perswade the World that the holy Scriptures are on his side and do in several places manifestly condemn it which indeed would effectually do his Business if he could but prove this vainglorious Assertion but how well that is done we come next to examine for p. 35 36. Jo. Bunyan says The Common Prayer Book is a meer humane Invention and Institution which God is so far from owning of that he expresly forbids it with any other such like and that by manifold Sayings in his most holy and blessed Word and one of the Texts he quotes is Prov. 21.9 It is better to dwell in the corner of the House top than with a brawling Woman in a wide House which perhaps is a mistake of the Printer being nothing at all to his purpose but all the other Texts he produces being altogether as Impertinent and this a second Edition of the Discourse I am tempted to think this is no errour of the Press but what the Ignorant Author might imagine a good Proof of the unlawfulness of Forms of Prayer and as good Proof indeed it is as those that follow which he there inserts as Mark 7.7 8. In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men for laying aside the Commandment of God ye hold the Tradition of Men as the washing of Pots and Cups and many other such like things ye do where 't is plain our Saviour condemn'd the Hypocritical Scribes and Pharasees for preferring their vain Tradations of which they had a great many and particularly the Corban mentioned ver 11. before the Commandment of God i. e. they forbad Children to help their Parents when they were in want if they had either rashly made a Vow never to do it or had devoted their Substance to pious uses contrary to the Fifth Commandment which requires Children to relieve their Parents when they need it that being one way of honouring them and thus those Hypocritical Scribes and Pharasees were very curious in cleansing their Pots and Cups lest themselves should be polluted with any Legal uncleanness but yet they notoriously neglected those great Moral Duties which were plainly Commanded and also signified by them even the cleansing their Hearts and Lives from the filthiness of Sin as is evident from ver 20 21 22 23. and Luke 11.39 And the Lord said unto him Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the Cup and Platter but your inward part is full of Ravening and Wickedness But how does the Jewish Corban and their superstitious Washing of Pots and Cups conclude against the use of the Common Prayer Book Do we equal or prefer it to the Bible as the Pharisees did these things to the Commandments of God And what Commandment do we break in the use of the Common Prayer Book as they did
the Fifth in the Practice of their Corban Certainly if this place has any respect to Prayer it more forceably concludes against their extemporary Prayers which they constantly use in their Meetings whilst in the mean time they reject that excellent Form which Christ himself has Commanded Luke 11.2 When ye Pray say Our Father c. So that with more reason any one may think they themselves are the modern Scribes and Pharisees that are here Condemned by our Saviour of whom he says ver 9. Full well ye reject the Commandment of God even that concerning the Lords Prayer that you may keep your own Tradition even that of extemporary Prayer which is a meer Invention of Men and no where commanded in the Holy Scriptures But in our Common Prayer Book we retain that Divine Prayer and all our other Prayers are Composed according to it 't is after that manner we Pray in all the rest Mat. 6.9 so that in the use of the Common Prayer we keep the Commandment of Christ and they in despising thereof reject it and then these Words which they urge against us turn upon themselves and so does that of Deut. 12.30 31 32. Take heed to thy self that thou be not snared by following them after that they be destroyed from before thee and that thou enquire not after their Gods saying how did those Nations serve their Gods Even so will I do likewise thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God for every abomination unto the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their Gods for even their Sons and their Daughters have they burnt in the Fire unto their Gods what thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it For first are we such heathen People as these seven Nations were Do we Worship the Host of Heaven Sun Moon and Stars as they 〈◊〉 Do we Sacrifice our Children to Idols as they did If this were true they might have some pretence for urging these Texts of â—â—â—…ture and from them also might 〈…〉 that they are bound to cut 〈…〉 Branch as by the Covenant they are Sâ—orâ— to do even as the Israelites were oblig'd to destroy the seven Idolatrous Nations But if none of these things can be laid to our Charge who Worship the God of Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ and abhor Idolatry with what Face dare they produce such Scriptures against us as concern none but Idolaters In the next place How do we add to the Word of God or diminish from it by the use of the Common Prayer Book Do we thereby make more or less Canonical Books of Holy Scripture than the Church of God has allow'd and approv'd of in all Ages Do we not acknowledge and believe every tittle of the Holy Scriptures and abominate the least addition or diminution to them But some call it Divine Service and the Common Prayer Book is bound up with the Bible and is not this an adding to the Word of God No by no means for when we call the Common Prayer Divine Service we give it that Title from the Object thereof which is Almighty God to whom all our Prayers are directed and offered up and we are not so Presumptuous as to intend thereby that they are of equal Authority with the Holy Scriptures or that God himself is the immediate Author of them excepting that only of Our Father but only that Prayer being the Service of God and our Churches Prayers Composed according to the Rule of his Word some on that account call it Divine Service tho' that Title be not to be found in the Book it self and therefore can be no Objection against it and as for the Binding it up with the Bible that does not make it any part thereof no more than the Contents of the several Chapters and the Marginal Notes can be said to be part of the Holy Scriptures which yet are bound up with them but to shew the great value we have for the Word of God it is ordered by the Common Prayer Book that in this solemn Worship of Almighty God some Psalms and Chapters out of the Old and New Testament shall be read every Morning and every Evening wherein we follow the Example of Christ and St. Paul the former of which did read part of the Prophet Isaiah to the People and it was his Custom to do so Luk. 4.16 17 18 19 20. and the latter after the reading the Law and the Prophets preached to the Congregation Act. 13.15 16 17. c. a thing which is never Practiced as I am credibly inform'd by John Bunyan and his Party no more than it is by the Quakers which shews the little regard they both have to the Holy Scripture and that they prefer their own Extemporary Prayers and Preachments before it with what Forehead then can this Author pretend that we undervalue the Word of God either by adding to it or diminishing from it which not we but they themselves are guilty of for they never read the holy Scriptures to their Congregations as we do but instead thereof pretend that their Extemporary Prayers and rambling Discourses are the immediate dictates of the Holy Ghost and then both must be as good Scripture as any in the Bible which is truly to add to the Word of God and to break the foregoing Precept of Moses and that other to the same purpose Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that ye may keep the Commandments of your Lord your God which I command you which these Men thus openly neglect and contemn in rejecting that Form of Prayer which Christ requires all his Disciples to use and so those two other Texts he mentions as Rev. 22.18 and Prov. 30.6 concern themselves and not us in that pretending to pray in the very Words of the Spirit they thereby add unto the Revelation of St. John new ones of their own and therefore have all the reason in the World to fear the Plagues there threatned and lest God should reprove them and they should be found Liars lastly as for Col. 2.16 to verse 24. how does that effect the Common Prayer Book Do we therein teach the Observation of new Moons and Sabbaths and the Worshiping of Angels Or do we therein forbid to touch taste or handle those things which God has allow'd as some of the ancient Hereticks did as particularly Marriage and unclean Meats which they held to be unlawful but if nothing of all this can be fastned upon us what Impudence is it for this Man to produce this place of St. Paul against us especially when we may with better reason urge it against him and his Adherents for do not they forbid to touch i. e. any Form of Prayer even that which our Lord Commanded Do not they forbid to taste i. e. any Meat that has blood in it which they hold unlawful to be
Christians to offer in my Defence and justification 1st That when I reflect on Jo. Bunyan's Groanings I do it only to shew his false and absurd Interpretation of Rom. 8.26 where he misapplies the Groanings the Apostle there speaks of to himself and other Men which plainly belong to the Spirit of God being such as cannot be heard or uttered as the Groanings of Men are and I do not hereby condemn the Sighs and Graans which good People out of a deep Sense of their Sins and Sorrow for them may and often do utter in their Closet Devotions and private Ejaculations which tho' none but God sees and hears yet he approves and accepts them the better and meerly for their being Sincere and Secret he will one Day Reward them openly Mat. 6.4.6.18 but as for such Sighs and Groans which are vented in the Congregation a thing constantly practised among the Quakers as well as J. Bunyan and his Party and other Dissenters we have no Precept or Example for them either in the Old or New Testament We read or hear of no such thing in all their Religious Assemblies and particularly those three great ones wherein the Spirit of God assisted in a more extraordinary manner than he has ever done since that time I mean when the Apostles and Disciples to the number of an Hundred and twenty met together and Prayed to God to direct them in the choice of a Successor to Judas Acts 1.15.24 and when they were assembled on the Day of Pentecost Acts 2.1 when Three thousand were Converted by St. Peter's Sermon ver 14.41 when the first great Council was assembled at Jerusalem Act. 15.7.12 and when St. Paul Preached his farewel Sermon at Troas continuing his Speech till Midnight Acts 20.7 in all which places we read that the People either kept Silence or were sorrowful and pricked to the Heart or else spake in diverse Tongues the wonderful Works of God but we do not find there was one Soul that Groan'd among them which I the rather mention because all these were wonderful Conversions and extraordinary Effusions of the Holy Ghost so little Authority from the Scripture have any Dissenters for the frequent Groanings which are heard among them in their respective Meetings or for their making these Groanings an infallible Mark of their having the Spirit of God they are rather sometimes a Mark of Hypocrisie and that those that Delight and Pride themselves in them do this as the Scribes and Pharisees did of old only to be heard and seen of Men Mat. 23.2 And therefore whatsoever good Men may do in private between God and their own Souls when none sees or hears but God alone yet in publick they are careful to avoid such loud and frequent Groans at least to be very sparing in them least instead of passing for Saints they should be taken for vain-glorious Hypocrites 2dly As for my slighting J. Bunyans and the Dissenters Pretences to Pray by the Spirit I must confess I do so in that Sense they intend it who imagine and say That the Holy Spirit Invents and Dictates all the Words of their Prayer unto them which is to make Almighty God to multiply Miracles without necessity and to make also the Words of their Prayer as True Infallible and Divine as the very Words of Scripture being both equally Inspired by the Holy Ghost a thing that has not been known since the Apostolick Age and then it was always accompanyed with the Gift of Tongues and the different and contradictory Prayers of the Quakers Anabaptists Independents and Presbyterians who all confidently pretend to Pray thus by the Spirit and yet Pray one against another is a sufficient Confutation of it for the Holy Spirit is one and not contrary to himself and all his Intercessions for the Saints are to the same end in the same manner and according to the same good Will and Pleasure of Almighty God but all this is Perform'd in a Secret Invisible and Vnutterable way and so is the Assistance which he affords to good Men even by godly Motions and holy Desires which are kindled within them and which they can only feel in their Hearts but not hear with their Ears or express with their Tongues and such an Assistance of the Holy Spirit our Common Prayer Book allows of and teaches us to Pray for it in the beginning of Morning and Evening Service after Confession of our Sins the next Prayer which is in Form of an Absolution runs thus Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true Repentance and his Holy Spirit that those things may please him which we do at this present and that the rest of our Life hereafter may be Pure and Holy c. Before the repetition of the Ten Commandments the Collect has these words in it Cleanse the Thoughts of our Hearts by the Inspiration of thy Holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy Holy Name c. In the Litany one of the Petitions is That it may please thee to give to all thy People increase of Grace to hear meekly thy Word and to receive it with pure Affection and to bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit And 't is worth our Observation that what some are pleas'd to call the Gift of Prayer is not mentioned among the Fruits of the Spirit which are all particularly set down Gal. 5.22.23 as Love Joy Peace long Suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance neither is it reckoned among the Gifts of the Spirit which are recounted Isa 11.2 as Wisdom Vnderstanding Counsel Might Knowledge Godliness and the Fear of the Lord nor yet in 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. where they are plac'd in this Order The Word of Wisdom the Word of Knowledge Faith the Gifts of Healing the working of Miracles Prophecy discerning of Spirits divers kinds and Interpretation of Tongues in both which places there is no mention of the Gift of Prayer tho' in one of them there is of the Gift of Prophecy and therefore these Mens Pretences to Pray by the Spirit as a peculiar Gift of his has no Foundation in Holy Scripture indeed for any to express themselves well on a sudden and to Pray with variety and fluency of Words is and may be called a Gift of God and so is Speech Memory and Invention which nevertheless are all common to good and bad Men and capable of being improved by industry and use and more apt to Puff up than Edify and to make such as have them despise and decry all that use Forms as Formal Superstitious and Graceless Men that want the Life Spirit and Power of Prayer and yet I doubt not but many good People can testify this by their own Experience that some notorious Hypocrites have this Gift of Prayer and some devout and sincere Christians continue in the use of Forms and reap the Comfort and Benefit of it And 't is farther observable that all the Gifts of the Spirit enumerated by St. Paul were
of an extraordinary and miraculous Nature as the Gift of Healing diverse kinds of Tongues working Miracles and the Faith there mentioned among them was not such as is ordinary and saving even to believe that Jesus Christ is the true Messias and Saviour of the World but it was a Faith of an extraordinary and miraculous Nature even to believe that God would enable them to Work the Miracle they were about to perform before the People for the Apostles never attempted to work a Miracle till they had this extraordidinary Faith wrought in them first by some Divine impulse from the Spirit which assured them that they should certainly perform the Miracle they undertook for had the Apostles at any time failed in such attempts and set about a Miracle which they were not able to work it would have exposed them mightily to the World and given a great Blow to the Christian Religion and made them and it to be looked on as an Imposture and therefore they had always first a strong and infallible Impulse upon their Minds which St. Paul calls also Faith to assure them they could and should be able to work the Miracle before ever they attempted to do it but this and the other Gifts he there reckons up were not ordinary and saving which every good Christian may now hope for but they were extraordinary and miraculous as is farther evident from 1 Cor. 12.11 But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every Man severally as he will i. e. no one Person had all these miraculous Gifts before mentioned but they were variously distributed among them one had this another had that another a third and so on and they all ceased in that Age which cannot be said of the saving Gifts and Graces of the Spirit where he that has one in truth has certainly all of them as he that truely has saving Faith has also Hope and Charity Patience and Meekness in some measure they being all knit together as so many Links in the same Chain that there can be no Separation made between them and these shall never cease and the not understanding and considering this is the main Cause I doubt that many in this Age expect and pretend to those extraordinary and miraculous Gifts of the Spirit which are long since ceased as St. Paul declares they should 1 Cor. 13.8.13 Charity never faileth but whether there be Prophecies they shall fail whether there be Tongues they shall cease whether there be Knowledge it shall vanish away and now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity But little or nothing of this is to be found in all Jo. Bunyan's Book which I have here Answered as I believe any one will find that does not think his Labour lost to read it The CONCLVSION AND thus having with his own Weapons Vanquish'd this Anabaptistical Goliah that is Armed Cap-a-pee with Brass I shall close all with this short Address to the Armies of our Israel That they would every one of them get a Common Prayer Book that is able to use it and think himself Naked and Vnarmed without it as a Soldier does that is without his Sword and that they would not only have their Common Prayer Books about them but also make use of them in their daily Devotions and not only use them but put them also in Practise by their daily Conversation in living a Godly Righteous and Sober Life as they are therein taught to do without this tho' our Prayers are never so good and we make never so many of them they will signifie nothing they will do us no more Service than the Ark of God did the Israelites when they relyed on it only for their Deliverance and Preservation and did not take care to walk worthy of the Divine Presence which resided therein and dwelt among them 1 Sam. 4.3 Let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us that when he cometh among us it may save us out of the Hand of our Enemies Thus they thought and earnestly expected but were soon convinced of the contrary by the overthrow of their Army and the taking of the Ark it self and carrying it in Triumph into the Philistines Camp ver 10 11. And thus has it fared with our Common Prayer Book when we too much rested in it and made use of it with Formality Lukewarmness and Indifferency and not with a suitable Zealand Devotion it was twice thrown out of the Church and taken from us and carried Captive by our Adversaries of Geneva and Rome who tho' they seem to stand at a distance and defie one another yet they both agree in this to Hate our Common Prayer Book and to do what they can to destroy it and nothing but our walking unworthy of it nothing but the Sins of our Priests and the Iniquity of our People can give them once more their desired Success against it wherefore let all the Members of our Orthodox Church shew their Soundness and Sincerity by something else than the bare use of the Common Prayer in their respective Families by something else than Drinking numerous Healths to the Prosperity of both for I must needs say such numerous Healths as these are one of the Diseases she at present labours under and there is no hopes of a Cure till all her Sons grow wise unto Sobriety till they all shew themselves sincere Christians and sound Protestants by something else than bare Names and meer outward Professions even by living Godly Righteous and Sober Lives as our Common Prayer Book teaches us to Pray every Day in its general Confession and we are bound to Practice in our daily Conversation in short our leading reformed Lives and our Walking as well as Praying according to the Common Prayer Book is the best the only way to Preserve it and the Reformed Religion among us FINIS