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
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
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
to wipe off the soul Aspersions he casts on our Common Prayer Book and all that use it and to Examine and Confute his Pretences to Pray by the Spirit as St. Paul did which I have done in the ensuing Treatise wherein I have shewn the Vanity and Sophistry of all his Arguments for himself and against us especially those that are fetcht from Scripture and returned them with their genuine Force upon his own Head I have there also Proved that the Spirit does not now Invent and Dictate the very Words of our Prayers as they pretend he does tho' all their Pretences of this Nature are meer Cant and a Device how to please Men more than God for Almighty God who is the same Yesterday to Day and for Ever is not delighted with Novelty Variety and change of Words and therefore our Lord Jesus in his last Agony Prayed Thrice in the same Words Mat. 26.44 and without doubt in the use of that short pithy Form for so it was to him having said it Twice before he was as fervent in his Desires the Third time as he was at First 't is mortal Man only who has itching Ears that loves to have them Tickled with new Expressions and in Complyance with this vain Humour I fear it is that these Men decry all Godly Forms even that of Christ's own Composing and set up their Praying by the Spirit which yet is but a meer Artifice the effect of a good Memory and great Confidence and to cast a Mist before the Peoples Eyes they Chop and Change the very same Prayers beginning where they ended and ending where they began in such a Dexterous manner that their ignorant Hearers perceive it not but believe their Prayers are always New and the Product of the Spirit but more knowing Persons who often hear them discover the Cheat and that they are the very same Prayers still with some little Alterations and so they continue in the use of Forms themselves whilst yet they are so Presumptuous as to Condemn it in others for an Antichristian Practice I shall say no more but refer the Reader to the serious Perusal of the following Discourse where I shall leave him to determine how well or ill I have Managed it thinking it no less vain than improper to attempt the Byasing of his Judgment by a Complemental Preface only I Pray a Blessing may attend him in the judicious Reading what I assure him I have Written for no other end but God's Glory and his Churches good and so I bid him heartily Farewel A DEFENCE OF THE LITURGY Against the Dissenters c. CHAP. I. 'T IS Observable of Satan that when he temped our blessed Saviour to throw himself Headlong from the Pinacle of the Temple he urges Psalm 91.11 12. He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their Hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy Foot against a Stone but the Devil leaves out part of the Verse which made against him To keep thee in all thy ways i. e. the ways of God but not in all thy wandrings from them wherein it would have been Presumption to expect the Divine protection the like Course does John Bunyan take when he urges 1 Cor. 14.15 I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Vnderstanding also he omits the later part of the Verse I will sing with the Spirit and I will sing with the Vnderstanding also and he does not only omit this in the Title Page but in six or seven Repetitions afterwards which no doubt was designedly done because if he had once mentioned this it would have been a plain and full Confutation of his Argument deduced from the former part of the Verse and indeed of his whole Book for if we may Sing with the Spirit when we have a form of Words and a Tune also to observe which is supposed and allowed in our present Practice of Psalmody Why may we not as well Pray with the Spirit when we have a form of Words before us Is there not the same Reason for Praying as for Singing with the Spirit when both are done in a form of sound Words This is such a convincing Proof of the lawfulness of Forms of Prayer and that those who devoutly use them may be assisted by the Spirit of God that it overthrows all his Cavils and Exceptions against them and strikes his Cause dead thus the Author stumbles in the Threshold and discovers the cloven Foot in the very entrance and almost in every Page of his Book as is evident from his intolerable Pride and uncharitableness which he shews therein of which I shall give you a taste for to mentionall would be to Transcribe his whole Discourse Page 14 he says That Ignorance Profaness and the Spirit of Envy reigns in the Hearts of those Men that are so hot for Forms of Prayers c. scarce one in Forty of them knows what 't is to be born again to have Communion with the Father through the Son c. they still live Cursed Drunken Whorish and Abominable Lives full of Malice Envy Decit Persecuting of the dear Children of God Oh what a dreadful after-clap is coming upon them Which all their Hypocritical assembling themselves together with all their Prayers shall never be able to help them against or shelter them from and p. 43 44. he says Every cursed Whoremaster Theif and Drunkard Swearer and Perjured Person they that have not only been such in times past but are even so still these I say by some must be counted the only honest Men and all because with their Blasphemous Throats and Hypocritical Hearts they will come to Church and say Our Father Nay farther these Men tho' every time they say to God Our Father do most abominably Blaspeme yet they must be compell'd thus to do and p. 45 46. says he Give me leave to Reason with thee thou blind ignorant Sot it may be thy great Prayer is to say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Is not the Devil thy Father And darest thou say to God Our Father c. But as the Devil presented himself among the Sons of God Job 1. when they were to present themselves before the Father even our Father so is it now because the Saints are commanded to say our Father therefore all the blind ignorant Rabble in the World they must also use the same Words Our Father These are some of the base scurrilous and unchristian Reflections he every where bestows on the Members of the Church of England without excepting any out of that number making them as St. Paul affirms himself and his holy Brethren were accounted in his time 1 Cor. 4.13 As the filth of the World and the off-scouring of all things unto this day and I appeal to all sober and good Men whether this be not the Language of a pround and uncharitable Spirit and of a Tongue set on fire of Hell Jam. 3.6 and
the Vulgar most of their Prayers are presented to the Virgin Mary and to other Saints and Angels all our Prayers are offer'd up to God through the Mediation of Jesus Christ and with how many and to say no worse burdensome Ceremonies Baptism and the Lords Supper is Administred among them And with how few and Significant ones those Sacraments are Celebrated by us all which make a vast Difference between the Common Prayer and Mass Book any one will easily find that has leisure and opportunity to Compare them both together 4ly How does J. Bunyan know that St. Paul never composed a Form of Prayer The sound Words he commands Timothy to hold fast 2 Tim. 1.13 might for ought he can prove to the contrary be such a Form himself allows the Form of Godliness which the same Apostle speaks of 2 Tim. 3.5 to have respect to a Form of Prayer as I shall shew hereafter and is there not as good reason that this Form of sound Words should likewise regard Prayer And if it does we may thence infer that St. Paul made such a Form for the Church and commanded Timothy to hold fast the same by using it therein however this be we may be sure St. Paul used a Form of Prayer himself even that of Christ's own composing Luke 11.2 when ye pray say our Father c. and he taught others to use it also or else he could not have kept a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Man neither would he have declared unto his People the whole Council of God as he protests he had done Acts 20.27 and Chap. 24.16 and if St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles used no other Form of Prayer it was because they were assisted by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost and had miraculous Gifts bestowed upon them such as the gift of Tongues of Prophesie of Healing c. and so did not stand in need of it and let John Bunyan and his Party prove they have the like wonderful Gifts and can work the like stupendious Miracles and they shall be dispensed with in the use of the Common Prayer Book but if none of those extraordinary Gifts and Miracles can be truly pretended to by them then I think they need the help of such a Form of sound Words as well as we and this has been the constant Judgment of the Church of God in all Ages since those Miracles ceased and therefore did she at first establish Liturgies and has always used them if not in at least ever since the Apostles Days Page 31 our Author is very witty and says But here the wise Men of our Days are so well skill'd as that they have both the Matter and Manner of their Prayers at their Fingers end setting such a Prayer for such a Day and that twenty Years before it comes one for Christmas another for Easter and six Days after that they have also bounded how many Syllables must be said in every one of them at their publick Exercises for each Saints Day also they have them ready for the Generations yet unborn to say All this which is meer Banter must pass for an invincible Argument to overthrow our whole Liturgy at once and every Collect therein but such as it is we will examine it and shew the absurdity and folly of it 1st This Man does not shew his wisdom in pretending we make Prayers for certain Days twenty Years before they come since those very Days happen all within the compass of One Year and therefore there cannot be the distance of twenty Years between them and the making such particular Prayers and if it be said that these Prayers are repeated for more than twenty Years one after another we may answer there is good reason for it that as often as such solemn times return we should suit our publick Prayers and Praises according to such solemn Occasions having the Example of God himself and his Servant Moses to justifie our Practice for by the Divine appointment the Priests under the Law were confin'd to a Form of Words in blessing the People which they were always to pronounce when they dismissed the Assembly Numb 6.22 23 24 25 26. the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto Aaron and his Sons saying on this wise ye shall bless the Children of Israel saying unto them the Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his Face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his Countenance upon thee and give thee Peace in which one Blessing wherein the name of Jehovah or Lord is thrice repeated we are taught the great mystery of our Christian Faith even the Trinity in Vnity or the three Persons and one God it being the peculiar property of God the Father to bless and keep us of God the Son to be gracious unto us and of God the Holy Ghost to give us Peace as * See his Com. on Num. pag. 109. Dr. Patrick has observed to the like form of Words was Moses himself confin'd as often as the Ark moved and rested in the Wilderness Numb 10.35 36. When the Ark set forward Moses said rise up O Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee and when the Ark rested he said return O Lord to the many thousands of Israel and by the same divine Institution the Jewish People were obliged to a set form of Words in praying to God and praising his Name when they offer'd their first Fruits Deut. 26.5 6 7 8 9 10. Thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God a Syrian ready to perish was my Father and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few and became there a Nation great mighty and populous and the Egyptians evil entreated us and afflicted us and laid upon us hard Bondage and when we cried unto the Lord God of our Fathers the Lord heard our Voice and looked on our Affliction and our Labour and our Oppression and the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty Hand and out stretched arm and with great terribleness and with Signs and with Wonders and he hath brought us unto this Place and hath given us this Land even a Land that floweth with Milk and Honey and now behold I have brought the first Fruits of the Land which thou O Lord hast given me The like Form of Words were they obliged to use in the Offering of their Tythes Deut. 26.13 14 15. Thou shall say before the Lord thy God I have brought away the hallowed things out of my House and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the Stranger to the Fatherless and to the Widow according to all thy Commandments which thou hast commanded I have not transgressed thy Commandments neither have I forgotten them I have not eaten thereof in my Mourning neither have I taken ought thereof for any unclean use nor given ought thereof for the
in the Holy Scripture for their continual Observation as Psal 116.15 Precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of the Saints and 't is the Days of their Death and Martyrdom and not of their Birth which we Commemorate not their first Days in which they were Born into the World but the last Days in which they were Born into an happy Eternity and on these Days we do not only Bless God for those eminent Vertues and Graces which Shone in them but also we desire him to enable us to follow their good Examples that being compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses we may run with Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus their Captain General who with them has endured the Cross and receiv'd a Crown in Heaven and by this means we do what we can to perpetuate their Memory on Earth as God expects we should Psal 112.6 The Righteous shall be had in everlasting Remembrance And this the Primitive Christians began by first keeping the Day of these Saints Martyrdom at the very Place where they suffer'd and this after Ages follow'd by Celebrating it in all other Places where Christianity was professed and I doubt not but it will be continued in all future Ages even unto the end of the World among all Orthodox Christians CHAP. III. HAving in the former Chapter detected the Sophistry and Fallaciousness of John Bunyans Arguments against Forms of Prayer and shewn how they rather conclude for them and against his Pretences to Pray by the Spirit I shall now proceed to discover the Weakness and Folly of his Answer to that convincing Proof for the Lawfulness of Forms even our Saviour's Command for it Luke 11.2 When ye Pray say our Father c. To this he says p. 80. I cannot think that Christ intended it as a stinted Form of Prayer because he lays it down diversly But how diversly Mat. 6.9 our blessed Lord says After this manner Pray ye Our Father c. the plain import of which is that this ought to be the Pattern by which we shou'd Compose all our Prayers but least his Disciples who had desired their Master to teach them a Form of Prayer as John Baptist had taught his Disciples shou'd think it well enough to have an Eye only to this Pattern in Composing all their Prayers by tho' in the mean time they never made use of this very Form it self therefore in Luke 11.2 our Saviour said unto them When ye Pray say Our Father c. i. e. do not content your selves to Pray after this manner in other Prayers of your own Composing them according to it but also use this very Prayer it self together with your own of the like Nature that putting up your Petitions to Almighty God with a good Heart in Christ's own Words ye may be sure to be heard and let any honest Christian but Read and Compare these two Evangelists together in this Point and I am confident he will acknowledge that Christ must needs intend this Prayer of his should it self be daily used and also the true Standard of all our Devotions and consequently he must needs intend it for a Form or else his Words and Intentions would not agree which is Blasphemy to imagine But out Author answers farther p. 81. We do not find that the Apostles did ever observe this Form as such neither did they admonish others so to do search all their Epistles c. But did not the Apostles do many things which are not written there As St. John says there are also many other things which Jesus did which are not written every one of them in the Gospel Joh. 21.25 For were not all the Apostles Baptized And yet we do not Read in the New Testament of the Baptism of any one of them so the Apostles might and without doubt did make use of the Lords Prayer tho' there be no mention of it in their Epistles otherwise how were they Faithful in keeping Christs Commandments themselves this being one of them When ye Pray say Our Father c. and this doubtless they taught others to use also or else they were not Faithful in executing Christs Commission who at the delivery thereof speaks thus Mat. 28.19.20 Go ye therefore and Proselyte all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you and this being one thing that Christ had Commanded them when ye Pray say Our Father c. we cannot suppose that they fail'd to teach others to observe this also as well as Baptism or any other Gospel Duty But after all his trifling Answers to this invincible Objection Jo. Bunyan confesseth p. 81. That Christ by these Words Our Father which art in Heaven doth instruct his People what Rules they should observe in their Prayers to God And if it is a Rule for all our Prayers is not this as great a Confinement of the Spirit as the limiting of it to this or any other Form of sound Words This Author p. 75. and those that made the Directory tho' they are Enemies to all Forms of Prayer and therefore abolished our excellent Liturgy yet lay down certain Rules which we must observe in Praying to Almighty God which is indeed to do that thing themselves which they condemn in us and call a Restraining of the Spirit for to dictate to the Spirit the Heads of Prayer which he must insist upon and leave him at liberty only in the choice of Words is every whit as much if not more a restraining of the Spirit than only to appoint the Words and leave him at liberty in the choice of the Sense the Matter of Prayer being more considerable than Words and the Sense more valuable than Language If therefore the Spirit must be left free why do they themselves confine him in imposing on him the Heads of his Prayer As if he needed help for Invention as our * See his excellent Book p. 686. Royal Martyr observed tho' not for expression or as if Matter did not as much stint and obstruct the Spirit as if it were cloathed in and confined to fit Words so slight and easy is the Leger-de-main which will serve to delude the Vulgar And from hence any one may well conclude that these Men instead of being inspired with the Spirit of God are possessed with the Spirit of Pride and Singularity what else is the meaning of their taking away the Book of Common Prayer and yet establishing a Directory in its room which is as much a restraining of the Spirit as the other What else is the meaning of that Passage in the entrance of the Directory p. 5 Let all enter the Assembly not irreverently but in a grave and seemly manner taking their Seats or Places without Adoration or Bowing themselves towards one Place or other But that because when we enter the Church the Place of
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
with as much or more reason from these Texts infer that God had forbidden the Jewish People to Offer any Sacrifice or Incense to keep any new Moons or Sabbaths as from the other Text to pretend that God forbids a Form of Godliness whereas indeed nothing but the Abuse of these Religious Duties is reprehended in either place and when St. Paul commands Timothy 2 Epist 3.5 for this is spoken to him to whom this Epistle was sent to turn away from such the Apostle gives him Direction what to do with such notorious Hypocrites as had the Form of Godliness but denyed the Power thereof even to cast them out of all Christian Society by the Censures of the Church and so to withdraw from them but not from the Form of Godliness which was good still and never the worse for these Mens abuse of it Turn away from such Men but not from such a Form So that this Text likewise as all the rest he hath hitherto urged if it has any respect to a Form of Prayer as this Objector insinuates is a good Argument for the Lawfulness of such a Form and will justifie us in the use thereof provided we let the Power of Godliness go along with it and on this account St. Paul commands Timothy or the Church as this Man would have it to hold fast that Form of sound Words which he had heard of him and in another place to the same purpose with this and the former he says 1 Tim. 6.3 4 5. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome Words even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to Godliness he is Proud knowing nothing but doting about Questions and strifes of Words whereof cometh Envy Strife Railings evil Surmisings perverse Disputings of Men of corrupt Minds and destitute of the Truth supposing that Gain is Godliness from such withdraw thy self i. e. by passing the Sentence of Excommunication upon them Now do not all three places concern Jo. Bunyan and his Party who teach otherwise and who condemn that Form of sound Words which Christ himself has taught us and St. Paul commands us to hold fast Are they not also Proud false Accusers Trayterous Heady High-minded and plainly decipher'd under the black Character the Apostle there gives of such as reject that Form of sound Words which is according to Godliness And so we have hence also gain'd another good Proof of the Lawfulness of the Common Prayer Book as being a Form of Godliness and containing a Form of sound and wholesome Words and if we joyn the Power thereof with it we may and ought to continue in the Devout use thereof and never to Teach or Practise otherwise for fear of falling under the black Character before given and more at large set down in that Chapter CHAP. VII BUT our Author having had such bad Success in the choice of his Arguments against Forms of Prayer which prove no such thing but rather the Lawfulness of them and the Vnlawfulness of their withdrawing from them for the sake of their extemporary Effusions let us in the next place see what better Arguments he advances to make good his Pretences to Pray by the Spirit and that such extemporary Prayers are commanded in the Scriptures As for his Text out of 1 Cor. 14 15 which is the chief Proof he brings it is no Proof for but against him as I have already shewn in my first Chapter and shall now farther make appear For 1st This is no Command but an Example and that of an extraordinary and miraculous Nature even by the Confession of our Adversary St. Paul's Praying with the Spirit being accompanyed with the Gift of Tongues and therefore he says ver 18. I thank God I speak with Tongues more than you all so that unless Jo Bunyan and his Party had the same miraculous Gift of Tongues which I presume they have not the Confidence to pretend to they cannot urge St. Paul 's Example for their pretences to Pray by the Spirit having it not in the same extraordinary Measure which he had They may as well pretend to Visions and Revelations which were vouchsafed to that great Apostle in an high degree he being caught up into the third Heaven and hearing there such Words as are not lawful i. e. not possible for a Man to utter 2 Cor. 12.2 3 4. They may as well say I have been caught up into Paradice as I will Pray with the Spirit in the same manner that St. Paul did But if these Words should as I think they cannot refer to the ordinary Gifts of the Spirit then we may from them deduce not only the Lawfulness but necessity also of using a Form of Prayer as I have before observ'd being so closely connected with the latter part of the first I will Sing with the Spirit and I will Sing with the Vnderstanding also Now since all Christians make use of Forms in Singing or else the Congregation can never joyn with them and when they do they may Sing with the Spirit What Reason can there be given why they may not as well Pray by the Spirit altho' they Pray according to set Forms which are before them So that this is as unlucky a Text for his purpose as the Author could possibly have lighted upon for instead of concluding against Forms of Prayer it is such a convincing Argument of the Lawfulness of them as I believe neither be nor all his Party will ever be able to Answer His next Argument is from Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should Pray for as we ought but the Spirt it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings that cannot be uttered which he sets down in the Title-Page and repeats and flourishes with several times in his Book and does thus Paraphrase upon it p. 29. Consider first the Person speaking even Paul and in his Person all the Apostles We Apostles we extraordinary Officers the wise Master Builders that have some of us been caught up into Paradice we know not what we should Pray for And p. 31. The Apostles when they were at best yea when the Holy Ghost assisted them yet then were they fain to come off with Sighs and Groans falling short of expressing their Mind but with Sighs and Groans which cannot be uttered A false and silly Paraphrase indeed for first When St. Paul says We or I we are not to understand it always as spoken of himself but he takes upon him the Person of others and sometimes such as are unregenerate even after his own Conversion as Rom. 7.8 9.14.23.25 where he says Sin wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence Sin reviv'd and I dyed I am carnal sold under Sin I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin and Death with my Flesh I serve the Law of Sin All which