the Man of God When such a person by the Inspiration of the holy Ghost used and left to be used by us in our Supplications such a set and prepared Form of Words we ought not to doubt but that manner of Address is acceptable to God 3. The third part of Prayer is Intercession in the behalf of others Now Blessing is an eminent sort of Intercession and for the use of a set Form of Words in this we have likewise the Command of God Numb vi 23 On this wise ye shall bless the Children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee c. Here we have not onely a Blessing but an earnest Intercession with God for his people and the Form and Words prescribed by Himself which were not to be used by mean ignorant people who are only now supposed by some to need the help of Forms but by Aaron and his Sons the Chief Priests From which we may be assured That God approves that manner of Address in our Blessings and Intercessions for one another not onely from mean people but from the greatest 4. The fourth part of Prayer consisteth in Petitions for averting evil commonly called Deprecation and for this purpose we have several Forms prescribed by God Joel i. 14 Gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land into the House of the Lord your God and say unto the Lord Alas for the day the day of the Lord is at hand c. We have God's Commandment for another Form Joel ii 17 Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach c. From whence it clearly follows that God approves the use of a Form in this part of Prayer tho' commonly the most earnest and importunate and such as seems least to admit of being bounded by a Form so that we have the Approbation and Commandment of God for the use of a set Form of Words in all the parts of Prayer II. And accordingly we find Holy Men of God tho' full of Wisdom and of his Spirit using the same set Form of Prayer always on the same occasion Thus the Scriptures inform us concerning Moses Num. x. 35 When the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested he said Return O Lord unto the many Thousands of Israel From whence it appears that God approves the use of one set constant Form of Words in our Prayers as long as the occasion of repeating them is the same for I presume none will suspect it was for want of Words or of the Spirit of Prayer that Moses confined himself to this Form I shall add further that the whole Book of Psalms is a Collection of Prayers of all sorts And there are few of them but what are most Excellent Forms of Prayer expressed in such pathetick significant and moving words that we have great reason to thank God for furnishing us with them and which we can never hope to equal by any of our own invention such are the 4 5 6 7 9 10 12 c. On this account they were used by the Jews as the constant Service and Liturgy performed in their Temple as we may gather from what I formerly quoted 2 Chron. xxix 30. III. But perhaps some may think these Commands and Examples of set Forms of Prayer not to be a sufficient Warrant to Christians because they are taken out of the Old Testament before the Spirit was poured out in so plentiful a measure as under the Gospel I shall therefore proceed to examine the Commands and Examples of the New Testament and here 1. I think it is certain that our Saviour and his Apostles prayed by a Form for they joyned in the Worship of the Temple and Synagogues which consisted in Psalms as I have already shewed and in some certain Forms of Prayers added to them and constantly used in their daily Service as we learn from those that give an Account of the Jewish Worship at that time Now our Saviour and his Apostles being frequently present at their Service both in the Temple and Synagogues 't is manifest they approved the manner of Addressing themselves to God in a set Form of Words 2. But our Saviour has put this matter out of all dispute with impartial Men by prescribing a Form to his Disciples when they desired him to teach them to pray as John taught his Disciples For we find his way of Teaching them was not by directing them to wait for the impulses of the Spirit and immediate Inspiration from God of what they were to offer up to him We do not find him saying When ye pray speak what shall then come into your minds or what shall be given you in that hour without taking thought about what they should say as He did in another case that is when they should be brought before Governours and Kings for his sake Mat. x. 19 But in addressing themselves to God he prescribed them a Form of Words and Commanded them to use it Luke xi 2 And he said unto them When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Here is an express Command of Christ to his Disciples to use these Words when they pray Our Father c. A Command for the use of a Form so plain that it is impossible to express it in clearer terms 'T is not to be doubted but Religious Persons among the Jews offer'd up constantly prayers to God We see it in David Psal. lv 17 and in Daniel Chap. vi 10 And no doubt the Disciples of our Saviour were not wanting in this Duty nor in skill to perform it since we find that other devout Persons of their time had their hours of Prayer as we see in Acts iii. 1 Therefore what they desired of our Saviour was not to teach them absolutely or in general to pray but to teach them to pray as John also taught his Disciples that is to give them a Form of Prayer proper to His Institution as they saw the Disciples of Moses and John had proper to theirs Upon which our Saviour gave them the Lord's-Prayer as a summary of the main points of his Doctrine and as a constant badge of their being his Disciples As if he should have said When ever you offer up to God your usual Prayers which Religious Custom has taught you as Jews and Disciples of Moses or of John whether in Secret or Publick add this always to your other prayers for a continual Remembrance to you of those Duties Priviledges and Qualifications which belong to you as My Disciples and as a means of obtaining Grace from your Heavenly Father to enable you to persevere in them The Lords-Prayer is therefore a badge of Our Profession imposed by Christ himself and to be used by Us
the sense of it and in that respect very inconvenient and is likewise a late invention of our own never used by any Foreign Church either Popish or Reformed for ought I can find to this day and has been taken up to supply the negligence and laziness of people who will not now as formerly be at pains to get Psalms by heart or so much as procure Books or learn to read them 5. Notwithstanding your Directory requires the voice in singing Psalms to be tuneable and gravely ordered yet you have not only refused the Use of Instruments which are a natural means to help the Voice and make it tuneable and are used by most of the Reformed Churches in Europe but have also determined it to be Unlawful I would intreat you to consider that though perhaps it may not be so proper to press the Use of Instruments in the service of God in these parts where so many for want of being used to them have entertained prejudices against them and some are uncapable of being affected by them yet the making them Unlawful is against Nature and Scripture and is on that account a dangerous Superstition and Encroachment on Christian Liberty 6. The same Superstition and Encroachment it is not only to forbear to praise God in singing or saying Psalms and Hymns by way of Responses or Answering of which I have given such Noble Precedents out of Scripture but even to determine it to be Unlawful Lastly I would entreat you to consider That forasmuch as appears you have altogether laid aside the Psalms in Prose and the other Scripture Hymns that are of God's immediate Appointment and for the Use of which we have the Example of our Saviour and his Saints insomuch that they are no where used by you in the Praises of God but in their stead you have substituted as is before observed a few Verses of a Psalm of Human Composure without Scripture-Example or Precedent and sing them in a way that has nothing of Antient Practise much less Scripture for it but is purely and immediately an Invention of Men. IV. The Case then between our Church and you in this point I think impartially stands thus Our Church praises God every day with five or six Psalms besides other Hymns of His Own Appointment and in His own Words and Method and yet is deserted and condemned by you in this very point as Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men whereas you who only praise Him in a piece of a Psalm of a few Verses and in a Method of your own finding out perswade your selves that you keep the Ordinances of God pure and unmixed from Human Invention This is a thing seriously to be considered by you for as it is easie to think what all unprejudiced Men will judge of it now so we may conclude what God will judge it at the last day If you in earnest lay these things to heart and reflect on them I perswade my self that they will at least prevail with you to be modest in your Censures of us your Brethren and prevent your Judging much less Condemning us or our manner of praising God as Unacceptable to Him CHAP. II. Of Prayer Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning it I. LEt us now proceed to the Second main part of the Worship of God in the Publick Meetings of Christians which I observed was Prayer or Supplication And if we consider what Rules Directions and Examples the Scriptures afford us for the performance of this Duty we shall find That they direct us to offer up our Prayers in a set and prepared Form of Words That we may more clearly judge of this matter it will be fit to consider the several parts of Prayer distinctly by themselves such as Confession Supplication Intercession c. 1. Confession of our own Unworthiness and of God's Mercy to aggravate it is commonly looked on as the first part of Prayer and proper to introduce our Supplications Now in searching the Scriptures we shall find express Command to use a set Form of Words in both these sorts of Confession So Deuteron xxvi 3 Thou shalt go unto the Priest that shall be in those days and say unto him I profess this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come unto the Countrey which the Lord sware unto our fore-Fathers to give us And then the Offerer was to make his Confession vers 5 And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God A Syrian ready to perish was my Father c. Here we have a Form of Confession of the person's Vnworthiness and of God's Goodness and Mercy together with a profession of Obedience and dependance on Him prescribed by God Himself in set prepared words The same appears from Solomon's prescribing a Form of Confession for the penitent Israelites 1 Kings viii 47 which words we find accordingly applied in Psal. cvi 6 and made part of a larger Form of Confession to be used in their Captivity as Solomon designed them which appears from the 47th Verse of the same Psalm taken from the Form prescribed by David 1 Chro. xvi 35 And Daniel in his Form of Confession in Captivity Chap. ix vers 5. uses the same Form of Words From whence it appears that they were not left Arbitrarily to Choice or Discretion tho' other Words might be joyned with them when there was occasion to enlarge or vary the Form Many of the Psalms are Forms of Confession and were used and daily Repeated by the Jewish Church Psal. li. was the Form of Confession David prepared and us'd for his Murther and Adultery and he not only used it himself but directed it to the Master of his Choire to be used in the Publick Service as appears from the Title of it Psal. lxxviii is a general Confession for the whole people setting forth at large the Mercies of God to them and their Ingratitude Disobedience and Rebellion and this not as a Pattern but as a set and prepared Form to be used in their publick Service All which shew us that Addresses to God in such Forms are of Divine Institution and are a warrant to us that he approves that our Confession should be made to him in that manner 2. The second part of Prayer is Supplication for good things and in this Case we have likewise the Commandment of God for a Form of Words Deut. xxvi 13 15. Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God Look down from thy holy Habitation from Heaven and bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swarest unto our Fathers c. So Hos. xiv 2 Take with you words and turn to the Lord your God and say unto Him Take away all Iniquity c. Moses in the Wilderness used a set Form of Words to this purpose and recommended it to be used by the Church of God for ever as is manifest from Psal. xc which has this Title A Prayer of Moses
effectually upon you then those carnal and servile motives do on others Let me therefore earnestly encourage and intreat you to do it more and more and that you will endeavour to become all things to all Men and decline none of those Arts which are allowable when applied to gain the people to Truth and Holiness But very wicked when employed to divide and seduce them 5. Let me put you in mind That you are Ministers of the Gospel and not of a Party And therefore it concerns you to mind the common interest of Holiness and Religion more then those differences that are often of little concern in themselves and are insisted on only as the occasions and badges of those people who being resolved to seperate themselves are obliged to take up little differences for a distinction The less you meddle with these disputes it is commonly the better And indeed it is not prudent to mention them till Mens minds be fitted and prepared by a true sense of the great Duties of Religion And then the best way perhaps will be to shew of what little weight they are to cause or justify divisions or quarrels amongst Christians I am well aware that it may be objected to us that whilst we press the great Duties of the first and second Table and spend our pains and diligence in defending our common Christianity against Papists Socinians Deists and Atheists those that are our Adversaries in these lesser points have made their advantage of Our being employed against the common Enemy to undermine us with the people nay that some of them have even joined with those Enemies to pull down Our Constitution But yet I persuade my self that we are in less hazard from them whilst we do our Duty and apply our selves to the great and common Obligations of Our Holy Religion then if we should leave this exposed to the Assaults of Our Common Enemies to guard our selves from the attempts of such back Friends We must therefore have an eye to them But the other the great and common Truths and Duties of the Gospel must be our main business I might add many more Remarks proper to my present subject but I know your own Prudence and Observation are sufficient to suggest them to you I shall only add my Prayers for you that God will encrease your Wisdom and Zeal and effectually turn them to his own Glory To the Dissenting Ministers of Derry BUt as to You My Brethren That disown my Communion and Authority I have reason to fear that what I shall offer to you may receive some prejudices from my Station and Character with which you seem offended Yet reason is reason from whom soever it proceeds and I only desire that you would weigh seriously what I have here offered in defence of the Service of Our Church and if the Arguments do not convince You yet let me pray You to reflect thus far on the matter as to remember that all Mens minds are not of the same make and that it becomes You and all good Men at least to treat Our Service with respect Since we believe and think we have proved That it is clearly founded on the Word of God It will not excuse scurrilous or unseemly Reflections on it to say that we are mistaken For all Men are fallible and You may as well be mistaken as you suppose We are And therefore lest You should be in the wrong it will be the safest way to be modest in censuring No Man ought to take it ill that another proposes Reasons against his Opinion but to scoff at or revile any practice or opinion that another believes to be founded on the Word of God is not only ill manners but is of dangerous consequence being apt to breed Bitterness and Animosities between the Parties And if it should happen in a Case where the Practice or Opinion is really Warranted by the Word of God it would be Blasphemy and Impiety And therefore in all matters of Religion we ought to avoid this manner of treatment and whatever Book uses it we need trouble our selves no further with it for it certainly is written only to serve a Party and not Truth There is another thing that in Justice I think I may request of You which is That in Your Worship and Practice You will not make the difference between us seem greater then really it is To abstain from a thing confessed to be lawful in the Service of God meerly because observed by us is surely very far from a Spirit of Meekness and Moderation And therefore I may hope that you will not Indulge Your People in such affected distances that can serve to no other purpose but to make Parties irreconcilable and must proceed from a greater bitterness of Spirit then a good Man can be guilty of towards any Christian. And that You may understand my mind the better in this matter I will give You a few instances that I hope will be inoffensive and in which we may justly expect Your Complyance 1. The first is in the use of the Lord's Prayer which is owned in Your larger Catechism to be Not only for Direction as a Pattern according to which we are to make other Prayers but may be also used as a Prayer And in your Directory 't is recommended to be used in the Prayers of the Church Yet I am informed that You my Brethren of this Diocess who separate from Our Communion do universally neglect it and thereby confirm Your Hearers in an Opinion too common amongst them that all Forms of Prayer are unlawful And that for no other reason that I can learn but to keep up a difference from us in practice where we really agree in point of Doctrine 2. Your sitting at Publick Prayers may be a second Instance in which we may reasonably expect some Reformation 'T is a very irreverent thing in it self against the Command and Examples of Scripture as I think I have sufficiently shewed and against the Opinion of your best Casuists particularly of Dr. Ames de Conscientia Lib. 4· Cap. 18. Sessio per se non est gestus Orandi quia nullam exprimit reverentiam neque in Scripturis approbatur That is Sitting is not of it self a posture of prayer because it expresses no Reverence neither is it approved in Scripture Yet I understand that this is the general posture in which your people Offer their publick prayers and either because it is for their Ease or because you are unwilling to seem to lay any stress on Outward Performances or lastly lest you shou'd be like us you indulge them in it and some of them are so ignorant that they reckon it a piece of Superstition in us to kneel at our prayers and are averse to our Service amongst other Reasons because this is required at it Which Notions I suppose you your selves do not approve and therefore we may justly expect that you shou'd endeavour to inform your people better and