detrectemus militiam si res ita postulet Respondemus ferre nos Imperatori auxilia suo tempore sed divinâ ut ita loquar armatura fretos non humanâ Idque facimus Apostoli monitis obedientes cujus haec sunt verba Obsecro vos primum ut faciatis deprecationes c. Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria who lived in S. Cyprians time that Dionysius so much admired by the Ancients as that Eusebius makes him the chiefe subject of more then one of his Books of Ecclesiasticall Historie in a letter of his recorded by the said Eusebius wrote thus of Gallus who succeeded Decius about the yeere of the Lord 250. Quin Gallus neque Decii recogitavit calamitatem c. As for Gallus he neither remembred the calamities of Decius neither did he so diligently as he ought consider with himselfe before hand what it might be that had bin the chief occasion of his ruine but unhappily to his great misery stumbled upon the same stone though apparantly set before his eys Who in the full sail of prosperity when he might have boasted of his hearts desire in all things by cruell Edicts began to proscribe those Religious men who {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} it is in the Greek whence may easily be gathered what men he speaks of both for the peace of his Kingdome and for the health and safety of his owne person were wont to make earnest Prayers and intercessions unto God who therefore at the same time when hee drove them away drove with them those Prayers also which for him they were accustomed to powre unto God This Gallus was a Heathen not a Christian And lest any man think it strange that this holy Bishop should lay it to a professed Heathen Empe 〈…〉 charge that he made no greater account of the solemne Prayers and Supplications of Christians I would not have it unknowne that even Heathen Emperours some of them though otherwise very ill affected to Christianity had neverthelesse such an opinion of these Prayers as that they thought themselves and their Empire the more secure for them as will appeare by an Edict of Maximinus recorded by Eusebius in the eighth Eccl. Hist. c. 29. where wee find these words Vnde Christiani hac indulgentia à nobis concessa devincti debent Deo suo obnixè supplicare pro nostra pro Reip. pro sua ipsorum salute ut quovis modo cum publicus rerum status integer incolumis retineatur tum ipsi in suis familiis absque cura solicitudine vitam traducere queant c. Thus a Heathen Emperour Let us now heare Christians and amongst them whom before him who was so highly favoured of God as to be the first-fruits though I know what is written of some before him of all Christian Emperours even Constantine the Great the glory of all Emperours Of him thus Eusebius in his life Ita igitur universo orbe sub unius gubernatoris prudentia constituto c. Imperator cùm existimaret pâ—orum hominum preces magnum sibi momentum afferre ad salutem custodiam universae Reip. eas cum necessario adhibuisset non solùm ipse se Deo supplicem abjecit verumetiam ut pro se ab Ecclesiae Praesidibus supplicaretur mandavit And thus he himself in an Epistle or rather Sanction of his by way of Epistle Quare eos qui in Provincia tuae fidei concredita in Ecclesia Catholica cui Caeâ—ilianus praeest huic sanctae religioni sedulo inserviunt quos Clericos nominare solent ab omnibus omnino communibus civilibus Rerumpub ministeriis solutos volo ut nullo modo per errorem vel per sacrilegam ac profanam prolapsionem quae in hujusmodi negotiis accidere solent à cultu divinae Majestati debito abstrahantur sed absque ulla molestia propriae legi obsequium praestent Qui quidem cum sacrum numen summo honore veneratione prosequantur incredibile est quantum Reipub. adjumenti videantur allaturi What Culius is here especially meant is more cleerly expressed in the Greeke by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} words which all know the latter especially to be commonly used of the daily Service of the Church Neither was this the Divinity of that godly religious age onely For Justinian who swayed the Empire two full hundred of yeares after spake much after the same manner As where he saith Omnem adhibentes providentiam circa sanctissimas Ecclesias in honorem gloriam sanctae incorruptae homousiae Trinitatis per quam nos communem Rempub. salvos fore credidimus insistentes etiam doctrinae sanctorum Apostolorum de creandis irreprehensibilibus sacerdotibus qui quidem ob id potissimum ordinantur ut suis precibus benignitatem clementissimi Dei rebus acquirant communibus id est Reipub. praesenti lege sancimus c. Where Dionysius Gothofredus a man well known amongst Scholars for his learned labours whose son or Kinsman as I take it Jacobus Gothof hee also a very learned man was lately Consull of Geneva his marginall note is Nota munus Episcopi ita Petrus Act. 6. ver. 4. Again the same Justinian elswhere Certissimè credimus quia Sacerdotum puritas decus ad Dominum Deum Salvatorem nostrum Jesum Christum fervor ab ipsis missae perpetuae preces multum favorem nostrae Reipub. incrementum praebent per quas datur nobis Barbaros subjugare c. Where again the marginall note is Munus Episcopi precari Preces Episcopi Reipub. utiles And again Novel 133. cap. 5. Si enim illi puris manibus nudis animabus pro Repub. supplicent Deo manifestum quod exercitus habebunt benè civitates benè disponentur Deo quoque placato c. Sed terra nobis feret fructus mare quae sua sunt dabit illorum oratione propitiationem Dei ad omnem Rempub. deducente c. And there also the Margin is Operae Dei Ministrorum quaenam sint Thus have I now through Gods grace gone over my three Positions and I hope I am not come short though I have endevored to be short of my undertaking in any of the three I have no more to say but that I desire them that shall read this if any shall all passion and prejudice laid aside as becommeth good Christians to consider whether the religious use of Cathedrals where as by the end of their institution it ought to be if through abuse incidentall to best things it happen to be otherwise anywhere authority may look unto that publike prayers and supplications for particular persons as Princes and Magistrates and for all men in generall of all estates and conditions for the peace and prosperity both of the Church and of the Common-weale with much reverence and devotion are daily offerd unto God may not hence in part bee inferred I say in part because of divers other particulars that might be alleaged to the same purpose as for example Sermons another mayne part of Gods worship which I think are more frequent not to say any thing of the Choice in Cathedrals then in any other Churches of the Realme and God forbid but it should be so FINIS Errata Pag. 6. line 2. reade little danger But this I conceive to be a matter of great consequence Let us therefore c. Auâ—â—st 〈◊〉 118. 〈…〉 6. ad Januar In Psal. 140. alibi 1 Tim 2.1 Answer to the Humble Remonst p. 7. Epâ—st â—41 p 1014. De Cler. lib. 1. c. 13. 〈…〉 rian â—pist 〈◊〉 D 〈…〉 t◠〈…〉 39. Cent. 3. c. 6. p. 135. De Mâ—ssa c. 3. Ed Gallansâ—l p. 32. This was written before the late Defence came out Lud. Capell Spicileg p 68.69 The Saints daily Exe 〈…〉 i 〈…〉 by J. P. D. D. p. 81. â— Tim. 2 1. Lib. 4 c. 14. 〈…〉 b. Ecc. Hist. l. 10. c. 7. 〈…〉 lib. 1. tit. 3 l. 42. Ibid. tit. 4. l. 34.
Jewish Liturgie yet extant containing severall formes of Prayers composed according to the opinion of the learned Jews not contradicted by the said learned noble man by Esdras and used by the Iews ever since their returne from the Babylonish captivity yea and of other forms of prayers long before that used by the Iews ever since Moses and them also yet extant And as for the Prayers that Saint Peter and Saint Iohn used when they went up together to the Temple at the houre of Prayer Act. 3.1 he might have read of set forms of prayers appointed for that hour and commonly used by the Iews of those days yea directly by the said Saint Peter and Saint Iohn in a late Protestant Writer of as considerable authority for his learning generally but especially in those kinde of studies as any whom he can alleage for the contrary opinion However I speak not this to interpose mine owne opinion in that point which I suspend but onely to shew that a little more reading would have done well in one that had undertaken such a worke as the refutation of that learned Author Now wee come to the examination of his objections against ours and proofs for his own assertion His words are But that there were not such stinted Liturgies as this Remonstrant disputes for appears by Tertullian in his Apol. cap. 30. where hee saith the Christians of those times did in their publike Assemblies pray sine Monitore quia depectore without any Prompter but their own hearts And that so it should be the same Authour proves in his Treatise de Oratione Sunt quae petantur c. There are some things to bee asked according to the occasions of every man the lawfull and ordinary Prayer that is the Lords Prayer being layd as a foundation it is lawfull to build upon that foundation other Prayers according to every ones occasions And to the same purpose Saint Augustine in his 121 Ep. Liberum est The passages out of Tertullian de Oratione and out of Saint Augustine in his 121 Ep. are nothing at all to the purpose and make as much for publike set Prayers as for private for publike set Prayers also are grounded upon this That it is lawfull to adde to the Lords Prayer What any Father ads of any mans particular occasions may be understood of private Prayers whether at home or in the Church For it is out of all question and we have store of examples to that purpose that the Christians of those times did frequently repaire to the Churches in private devotion and for particular occasions But now to the passage of Tertullian out of his Apol. c. 30 where hee makes Tertullian to say that the Christians of those times did in their publike Assemblies pray sine monitore quia de pectore I say first that it doth not appeare by Tertullian that he speaks it of publike Assemblies and more probable it is that he doth not Secondly I would know of this Authour what it is that he would have or doth inferre upon this passage of Tertullian What that Christians when they assembled together did betake themselves every one to his own private devotions and used such prayers every man by himselfe as his owne heart and particular occasions did suggest unto him This if hee say besides that it is very absurd in it selfe and never practised anywhere that I know amongst Orthodox Christians will easily be refuted by expresse passages of ancient Fathers as Ignatius Saint Cyprian and others who teach the necessity of joynt and unanimous common Prayers at such times But it is apparent that that which our Authour drives at by his whole Discourse is not that the people but the Minister is to be left to his owne liberty to use in publike Assemblies what forme of prayer himselfe thinks fit And are not then Tertullians words if understood as hee would have them of publike Prayers as much against this kind of praying with and after the Minister his conceived prayer as he cals it as against prescribed Book-prayers Nay if there be any difference they may more truly be said to pray cum monitore who follow the conceptions of a private man then they that follow a publike prescribed usual form which having often heard it is likely that in time they learn and can say without book so far at least as to follow it readily and with a quicke and cleere apprehension of what is said whereas they that depend of private conceptions which are not always the same must needs have their understandings suspended till the end of the sentence and when at the end have much adoe sometimes to make sence of it I have heard more then once some men who thought themselves as good at it as the best make this objection against set or stinted Prayers as they call them because by them the spirit is streightned Which though it be but a frivolous objection and easily answered yet because it is the nature of those men for the most part not to be satisfied with any reason that proceeds from men whom they affect not I was glad to see it in a book which lately came to my hands fully answered by one whose name I intend it not as a reproach to his memory whom I have heard men of singular worth to speak of with great respect is great amongst them It comes very neere to the point that wee are now upon and therefore I shall not thinke much to set downe here the whole passage Object That in stinted Prayer the spirit is straitned when a man is tied to a forme then he shall have his spirit as it were bounded and limited that he cannot goe beyond that which is prescribed and therefore say they it is reason a man should be left to more liberty as hee is in conceived prayers and not tied to a strict form To this I answer even those men that are against this and that use this reason they doe the same thing daily in the congregation for when another prays that is a set forme to him that heares it I say it is a forme to him for put the case that hee which is an hearer and doth attend another praying suppose that his spirit be more enlarged it is a straitning to him he hath no liberty to go out he is bound to keep his mind intent upon that which the other prayeth And therefore if that were a sufficient reason that a man might not use a set form because the spirit is straitned a man should not heare another pray though it be a conceived prayer because in that case his spirit is limited it may be the hearer hath a larger heart a great deale then he that speaks and prays so that there is a bounding and straitning and a limiting of the spirit to him And therefore that reason cannot be good Again I answer c. I have no more to say concerning this passage of Tertullian but
for them that were not Christians that Constantine either made himselfe or caused to be made that Prayer which Eusebius speaks of and setteth downe in his twentieth Chapter that being the only Prayer that Constantine can in any probability so farre as appears by Eusebius be conceived to have composed if he composed any For as for the Guard that lived within his Palace to them were appointed saith Eusebius those Prayers which he cals {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And as concerning the Souldiers whereof Eusebius says some were Christians and some were not those that were Christians hee commanded them dispensing with them for their ordinary service or attendance upon that day to repair to publike Churches and there to celebrate the day those that were not even them hee compelled to meet together in the fields upon that day and there to prayse God in that form of Prayer which is recited by Eusebius The Prayer was this Te solum Deum agnoscimus te Regem profitemur te adjutorem invocamus per te victorias consequuti sumus per te hostes superavimus abs te praesentem foelicitatem consequutos fatemur futuram future that is for the time to come as is more plainly expressed by the Greek adepturos speramus tui omnes supplices sumus abs te petimus ut Constantinum Imperatorem nostrum una cumpiis ejus liberis quam diuâ—issimè nobis salvum victorem conserves Here you see is no mention of Christ at all nothing but might very well be said by a Heathen of those times as may appeare by divers of their Prayers yet extant the first words Ye solum Deum agnoscimus excepted which neverthelesse might bear a very coÌ„modious interpretation according to the tenets of divers of their own Philosophers and Wise men If any shall presse the words Omnibus militibus praescripsit to shew that it was common to all whether Christian or Heathen Souldiers I shall not stand upon that it being likely enough that the same Prayer upon other dayes was to be used by them all when they were mixed together and therefore of purpose so composed that it might be used by any whether Christians or Heathens of those times But in the mean time if it be granted as I doe not see how it can be denied that it was principally intended for the use of the Heathen Souldiers how can it be conceived that such a forme should be sound in a Book of common Prayers appointed for the use of Christians how much lesse inferred from hence as this man would gladly that the Christians of those days had no Book of common Prayers But I have not done with him yet I think it wil easily be granted unto me by what hath been said hitherto that it is very probable that this man in these his allegations out of Eusebius tooke more notice of the Latine then of the Greek Now if you look upon the Latine in the Chapter just before to wit the 17 you shall finde that plainly contradicted which this man would have inferred out of the eighteenth The words because it is but a short Chapter are these Cap. 17. Sed his quidem multa magnificentiora contemplari potes si animadvertas quemadmodum in ipsis Regiis Ecclesiae Dei formam instituerit populo in Ecclesia congregato ipse studiose exordiens Sumptis enim in manus libris vel sacrarum literarum contemplationi diligenter animum adhibebat vel constitutas cum universo Ecclesiae coetu preces reddebat What sence can any man in the World make of these words but that it was Constantine his custome taking the books themselves into his owne hands somtimes to turne the Holy Scriptures somtimes the Book of common {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is the word in Eusebius Prayers according as the Order of the Liturgy by him there and then used required Now if any man shall aske mee for his owne satisfaction how it is in the originall Greeke I will ingenuously confesse that the Greek doth not so fully and distinctly expresse it as the Latine doth though it be as true that the Latine saith no more then what the Greek will very well beare And now I have done with this Author with whom I should not have had to do at all but that he came so crosse in my way in this point of set forms of Prayers Whether he or I be in the right I shall willingly submit to the judgement of any that are truly indifferent that is that seek the truth for it selfe and imbrace it where ever they find it not blindly zealous to maintaine their own side whether it be in a just cause or not If it shal appear to others as hitherto it doth unto me that this man as confident a man in his way of writing as ever I met with is much mistaken in this point then I shall yet before I leave him advise others whosoever shall happen to read this to pause awhile consider with themselves Much talke there is of a Reformation and for my part how hee can be accounted a true Christian that would not be heartily glad to see that amended what ever it be which to the prejudice of Gods Glory is amisse though perchance not to be amended without his particular losse and prejudice in worldly respects I know not Now then if that Reformation so much talked of every where and by many so much desired shall go on how farre such men as he so confident and so apt to mistake may either to direct or to informe bee trusted with it to the glory of that God which is the God of Truth to the content of men truly zealous that is zealous according to knowledge this is the thing and God is my witnesse I have no end in it but his glory that I would desire all men seriously to consider of But this by the way only and so I come to my third Position III. FIrst of all I would have it here remembred that what S. Paul writes 1 Tim. 2.1 2. I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Giving of thanks be made for all men For Kings and all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life c. is by S. Chrysostom S. Augustine expounded of the daily publike Prayers of the Church as hath already been declared Upon which I inferre that when the ancients speak of the power and efficaâ—ie of prayers and Supplications to the procuring of publike blessings as peace plenty c. they are which I think no reasonable man wil deny especially to be understood of daily publike Church-prayers So is Origen to be understood in those words of his in his eighth book contra Celsum thus rendred by Sigismundus Gelenius Postremò hortatur nos Celsus ut opem feramus Imperatori totis viribus geramus ejus auspâ—ciis justa piaque bella neve