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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76163	A sermon preached at Bridgwater at an ordination of ministers, August 2. 1698. By J.B. Published at the request of some of the hearers.	J. B.	1699 (1699)	Wing B123A; ESTC R172637	21,060	32

Performances and expose us to their people let us patiently bear it 't is no new thing for men to pretend that there are Barbarisms and Solecisms in the Prayers of Ministers This St. Austin takes notice of in his time Ita enim non irredebunt se aliquos autestetes ministros ecclesiae forte animadveniunt vel cum barbarismis solecismis deum invocare So they will not jeer if perhaps they take notice that some Bishops and Ministers of the Church do invocate God with Barbarisms and Solecisms to such as feared this he saith God mindeth not so much the Expression as the inward Affection This passage by the way proves that such Prayers were then used in which some might pretend there were Barbarisms Surely they could not be Forms prescribed by the Church However if we meet with the same usage the same Language that St. Austin in his time observ'd let us not wonder at it it seems it is no new thing and therefore we should the more patiently bear it and watch our own Spirits that we do not expose and make their way of Devotion worse than it is because they expose ours For the Spirit of Prayer and true Devotion may be in those that confine themselves to a Form And they that use no Forms may be as formal as other Men. There is as one saith and I think he saith well in it a particular Gust as to Spiritual things that may differ as much as men do as to Meat and Drink In which one liketh and is nourished by that which another loatheth and it may be would do him hurt if it were impos'd upon him I do believe that the true Spirit of Prayer may be in those that do not well rellish our way and they ought and I doubt not but many of them do think so of ours Let every one have what he liketh and let no man be drench'd with what he loatheth It is but a few of that way and they I doubt none of the most devout Persons that will dare to impose upon any but especially upon such frivolous pretences Christians have more need to be rebuk'd for the neglect of Prayer in Secret and in their Families than for praying without or with a Form However it should quiet us to consider that if the Controversie be as for ought we know it is who shall do best it is the more pardonable provided it be done on both sides with that Reverence and Unweariedness as it ought to be done but woe be to that Hypocrite that shall be found in the Omission of that great Duty for which he was such a Stickler They eat up my people as they eat Bread and call not upon the Name of the Lord Psalm 14.8 To conclude this particular it doth seem to me whatever is pretended to the contrary that our first Reformers who composed the Liturgy were far enough from the mind of those that plead for its Imposition they compos'd those Forms to assist Ministers that coming newly out of Popery must be suppos'd to need those helps not with an intent to exclude and run down extempore conceiv'd Prayer There is one passage in the Office of Ordination that makes me think so it is immediately after the Sponsions and in these words viz. After this the Congregation shall be desir'd secretly in their Prayers to make their humble Supplications to God for all these things for the which Prayers there shall be silence kept for a space By this passage it appears that the Compilers of our Liturgy as being sensible of the defect of a Form of Words thought it necessary to give the Congregation a space of time that every person might abound in his own way of conceived Prayer Secondly Being we are to speak from God to the people in which respect a Minister is as God's Mouth to declare the whole counsel of God to them we should endeavour to accomplish our selves for this work that we may do this according to the direction that St. Paul gives Titus chap. 2. v. 1 8. With soundness of Doctrine and with Speech that cannot be blam'd First Let us endeavour to do it with Soundness of Doctrine v. 1. Speak thou the things which become sound Doctrine Now to do this there is need of skill the Christian Religion is baited with many Controversies and that in some material points The Enemy hath sown his Tares Books that strike at all reveal'd Religion are in all parts of the Nation Ministers whose Calling it is to look into Books should be able to discern that they may do their part to prevent the spreading of those opinions 1 Tim. 4.16 Take heed to thy self and to thy Doctrine Secondly Soundness of Speech that cannot be blam'd v. 8. That not only the matter we deliver be agreeable to the Analogy of Faith but we should be able to express our Thoughts so as that the wording of our matter be not despis'd The English Tongue is much refin'd of late years I confess we should avoid on the one hand quaintness of Speech that which the Apostle calls the words of man's wisdom 1 Cor. 2.4 In the use of this it is possible for those that affect a florid Stile to preach to the people to as little purpose almost as if we preach'd in another Language he no doubt is the best Preacher that can make every thing that he preacheth to the people easie to be understood And yet we should take heed of falling into an extreme this way and fill mens ears with an empty Sound of Words nauseous Repetitions and for want of Matter say over and over the same thing and deliver words without Matter Having gotten these Gifts let us see to it that we don't lose them The way to have the continuance and increase of these is to use them to the end for which they are given The way to pray better is to pray more the way to preach better is to preach more Every one learneth by teaching and gets at least a more orderly digested knowledge Let every one do his best and stir up the Gift that is in him and by this means he will attain to do better and his profiting will appear God threathens the Idol-shepherds that their arm should be dried and their right eye darkned Zech. 11.17 This is a Judgment to be feared by all men Ministers especially even the darkning withering Operations of God's Spirit In a word we should endeavour in a particular manner to accomplish our selves for occasional Discourses I confess 't is more natural for some men all have not a presence of Mind and Thought nor a command of words to express their own thoughts and yet 't is that which Ministers especially should endeavour after that upon all occasions we may be able to speak a word in season suited to the occasion I could not but take particular notice of what I lately met with in a Book written by a Jesuit one of the Missionaries that the French King employed in that great Empire of China to convert them to Christianity in those parts He observes that he found more good done by those occasional Discourses than by his studied Performances People were