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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44145	Letters written to J.M. a nonconformist teacher, concerning the gift and forms of prayer The second part. By Matthew Hole, B.D. sometime fellow of Exeter College, Oxon. now vicar of Stoke-gursey in Somersetshire.; Correct copy of some letters written to J.M. a nonconformist teacher, concerning the gift and forms of prayer. Part 2.	Hole, Matthew, 1639 or 40-1730.	1699 (1699)	Wing H2410; ESTC R215281	96,332	185

LETTERS WRITTEN TO J. M. a Nonconformist Teacher Concerning the Gift and Forms OF PRAYER The Second PART By MATTHEW HOLE B. D. sometime Fellow of Exeter College Oxon. now Vicar of Stoke-gursey in Somersetshire LONDON Printed for and are to be sold by J. Taylor and T. Bever Book sellers in London H. Clements in Oxen and J. Miller in Sherborn Dorset 1699. THE PREFACE THE Occasion of this Second Part of Letters was briefly this When the Author had withstood the first Assault of the Adversaries Papers hoping to have clos'd up and rested there he was set upon afresh by another Packet the Adversary designing either to weary him with Work or to worry him with Cavils and so to make him drop the Cause to be rid of the Labour and Trouble of defending it Hereupon the Author knowing the Wiles and Artifices of the Party and how apt they are to triumph without a Victory found it necessary to take this Second Packet into Consideration And the better to bring this Matter to some good Issue began to treat with the Adversary upon his own Concessions which if stood to seem'd to bid fair for a Reconciliation But he fearing a Snake in the Grass and doubting lest by yielding one Thing after another he might be drawn in to give up the whole Cause abruptly broke off the Treaty return'd the Authors Letters and would hear no more of an Accommodation That the World therefore might see the inexcusable Obstinacy and Perversness of the Man the Author was desir'd to Publish this Second Part in which not only the trifling Exceptions of the Adversary but all the material Objections of the whole Party are briefly discuss'd and that with as much Mildness and Gentleness too as the Cause could well admit of For the Reader will find that nothing bites but Truth and all the Salt and Smartness in it is design'd meerly to season the Discourse and not to fret the Party I know the Adversaries Complaint is hard Vsage which is wont to be the last Refuge of a bad Cause and this hath betray'd him into an indecent Passion and many unseemly Expressions which are to be pass'd by as the Follies and Frailties of depraved Nature But how little Reason there is for this Complaint any wise Reader may easily discern for he hath been rather gently stroak'd than roughly handled and Corrosives have been never us'd but where Lenitives could work no Effect A necessary and seasonable Rebuke hath been ever reckon'd among the good Offices of a Friend not the Wounds of an Enemy And I think upon the right understanding of the whole Matter the Adversary may see greater Cause to commend the Faithfulness than to complain of the Hardship of such Vsage After this Second Part was gone out of my Hands to the Press there comes forth a Book Entituled A Contract Answer to my Correct Copy of Letters In which besides some Cavils and rude Calumnies the usual Effects of Choler and the feeble Supports of a sinking Cause the Reader will find nothing material that is not replied to in the following Letters In the Preface he tells us That a Civil Peace being restor'd 't is greatly desir'd that the Ceremonial War were at an end Now are not these Peaceable Men to continue a War with their Superiors upon Matters of meer Ceremony Or can they be thought to desire Peace who resolve to differ and contend about such indifferent Things But how would they have this Ceremonial War ended Must Governors submit to them or they to Governors For this is the great Question If they would but know their Station and pay the Duty they owe to the Lawful Commands of those that are set over them this Ceremonial War would soon cease but if nothing will please them but to over-rule Authority and do as they list 't is plain they are Enemies to Peace and whilst they speak thereof are but making ready for Battel So that themselves are plainly the Persons he speaks of in the following Words who instead of allaying inflame the Differences and Animosities at home For are not Conventicles the Nurseries of Discord and Division And do not all the Flames of Contention and Animosity arise and break out from thence This all Men see but Themselves who are too wise to be in an Error and too holy to be in a Fault 'T is with great Reluctance he saith that he bears any part in this present Controversy Though himself began it by reviling the Doctrin and Discipline of the Church and still continues it by abusing the People with false Notions of Both without any Reluctance However being engag'd Necessity he saith extorted an Answer to my Letters Now what was this Necessity Why there was a double Necessity in the Case the one to answer the Importunity of the Party that would not be satisfied without it The other to keep up the Ceremonial War which else would soon come to a happy end To prevent which he hath revok'd or at least omitted some Concessions in the Print which were granted in his Original Papers beside other gross Prevarications too many to be here recited In the next place To excuse his Excursions he complains of my Rambling which is the old way of shifting a Fault by charging it on another In proving of which he falls into this evident Mistake viz. That I discours'd in my Sermon not of Prayer in general but only of Vocal or as he calls it Ministerial Prayer which is a notorious Falsity and the rotten Foundation of his whole Book For my Design was to Treat of the Gift of Prayer in general Mental as well as Vocal Both which agree in the Nature of Prayer and differ only in the manner of performing it the one being done with Silence and the other with the Voice which are only Cicumstances of the Duty and therefore I plac'd the Gift of Prayer as it should be in something that was Common and Necessary to both these to wit not in an ability of Expressions which is nothing else but the Gift of Speech applied to the Matter of Prayer and is peculiar only to vocal Prayer but in an ability of lifting up the Heart in Holy Desires and Devotion unto God which is common to mental and vocal Prayer and necessary to the right performance of both Again To exclude mental Prayer out of the Controversy he would exclude it out of the Devotions of the Church Whereas if we search into the Devotions of the antient Christians we shall find the silent Breathings of mental Prayer made up a great part of them Their publick Service was performed partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Silence and partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the use of the Voice And we read of secret mental Prayers us'd by Christians in the publick Assemblies in the Intervals between the publick Offices when all the Congregation kept Silence and these were made and offer'd up as St. Cyprian tells us Tacite Modeste

inter ipsas Pectoris Latebras Silently and Modestly within the Secrets of their own Breasts So that as the Nature So the Gift of Prayer must be so defin'd as to extend to and comprize both The not knowing or considering this hath led him into this Mistake of restraining the Gift of Prayer only to that which is Vocal by which means he passeth by that which is Essential and Common with it to the several kinds of Prayer viz. the elevation of the Heart and places the Gift of it in an Ability of Expressions which belongs only to vocal Prayer and that too not as 't is Prayer but only as 't is Vocal which hath occasion'd that vulgar Error of calling the Gift of Speech applied to the Matter of Prayer by the Name of the Gift of Prayer This plainly shews the Falshood of what he affirms about the State of the Question that 't is not concerning Prayer in general And likewise the Absurdity of what follows in calling his Gift of free Prayer by the Name of Ministerial Prayer As if the great Work and Duty of the Ministry lay in Praying by these Effusions and none were to be admitted to the Ministerial Function that cannot or will not venture to Pray Extempore But is not Praying by a Liturgy or publick Forms Ministerial Prayer And are there no well qualified Ministers in the Church of England because they do not presume to utter any things hastily before God or use this Talent of free Prayer Beside do not many among the Laity Exercise and as he saith Excel too in this Gift How comes it then to be stil'd Ministerial Prayer Do the People invade the Ministers Office when they Pray Extempore Into what gross Absurdities hath these wrong Notions led him And yet upon these and many other Mistakes is his whole Answer grounded which having so bad a Foundation all the Frame and Superstructure rais'd upon it must fall with it Yet he is fully satisfied he saith That sincere Prayer whether conceiv'd or compos'd is as ill chosen an Enemy as any can light on for 't is dangerous to expose and difficult to conquer it Now how tender soever he may be of conceived Prayers 't is plain he can load compos'd Devotion with the blackest Reproaches for Liturgies are with him only the Brats and Imps of Darkness the effects of the Ignorance and Laziness of the Clergy and the product of a Dark and degenerate Age. Whereas free Prayer he saith is the Issue of a Meridian Light and none can triumph in the Conquest of it For the Proof of which he tells us of a Triumphant Paper in the time of the Civil Wars that had this Expression in it Nil restat Superare Regem c. which being Ambiguous he saith was construed in a double Sense viz. Either that nothing remain'd but for the King to conquer the Prayers of the Fanaticks or for the Prayers of Fanaticks to conquer the King And the Fanaticks Prayers it seems had the best on 't for they brought that good King to the Block and made three once flourishing Kingdoms miserable and unhappy ever since A glorious and triumphant Atchievment of Extempore Prayer Moreover it seems by him That the Oaths of the one Party were Extempore Effusions as well as the Prayers of the other and 't is not easy to say which did the most Mischief But he is not he saith upon equal Terms with the Vicar in this Controversie How so Does the Inequality lie in the goodness of the Vicars Cause That 's a great Inequality indeed Or does it lie in the greater Power and Authority that backs it This is true too tho' he will scarce acknowledg it for the one is establish'd and the other only wink'd at But the Vicar may say any thing against free Prayer And hath not he said the worst he can against Liturgies 'T is to be fear'd if some Men had the Power they would scarce give the liberty they take and this Shew of Modesty is only an Excuse for their too great Boldness But there are some dainty Remarks in the Close of his Preface that must not be pass'd by As First he very wisely blames me for not printing a Letter that was never intended for the Press but design'd only for a private Check of his Vanity in exposing the Liturgy as defective upon a particular Occasion And likewise for disparaging some Reverend Clergy-men in a Matter that plainly appear'd to be a Notorious Falsity Secondly He complains that I corrected my Letters before they were sent to the Press Now I think he is the first Person that ever blam'd any Author for so doing which is so far from a Fault that it would be great Folly in any to do otherwise And yet he hath instill'd this silly Objection into his credulous Followers who are thereby persuaded that 't is as necessary to print as to pray Extempore But That which renders this monstrously gross and inexcusable is that himself or some Body for him hath far out-gone me in the very thing he complains of For tho' my Letters had only the ordinary and usual Corrections that Books are wont to have that are sent to the Press and all the Additions and Alterations may be compriz'd in a Phrase-leaf his are contracted chang'd and almost corrected all away insomuch that tho' I had seen and read the Letters before and have a Copy of them by me yet they are so alter'd that I can scarce know them again And tho' J. M. be in the Title-Page yet for the most part I am to seek for the True Author Now if the little I did in this kind were well done why does he complain If it were ill done why does he imitate it Yea and run so far into the other Extreme For his are not only corrected but for the most part made anew and like some of our old Ships have undergone so many Emendations that few of the first Materials are remaining But There is yet a worse thing than all this for tho' he grants that he denied me a Correct Copy and his Consent for publishing them any otherwise than by the first rude Draught which must have unavoidably expos'd him to the World and might have afforded just cause of Complaint yet he still complains of what I said of his not consenting to publish them which shews that either he doth not know or will not own when he is civilly dealt with I shall detain the Reader no longer from looking into the Merits of the Cause when I have minded him of one Thing viz. That the Party having with much difficulty procur'd this Book they have now got something to say namely that mine is answer'd tho' it matters not how or by whom And tho' any understanding Reader may easily see the Weakness of it yet they triumph in it as an unanswerable Piece and resolve before-hand not to hear or read any thing that may be said or written against it which

in his Church yet he never gave any Authority to Ecclesiastical Persons to controul the commanding Power of Princes in lawful and indifferent Matters But left all such things intirely to their Disposal and Determination And we never read That the Apostles or Primitive Christians ever claim'd such a Power or suffer'd for disobeying in such Things There is but one Limitation assign'd of our Obedience and that is To obey God rather than Man If the Commands of God and the Prince clash and contradict each other there the Prince hath no Right to be obey'd because his Will is counter-manded by a Superiour Authority And therefore we find Christ and his Apostles who were very tender of giving the least Offence to Secular Powers in lawful and indifferent Things would yet yield no Obedience in things forbidden by the Express Will of God This is evident in Matters between God and the King And 't is no less so in the Case between the King and his Subjects where if the Spiritual Power of the one clash with the Temporal Power of the other 't is manifest which must yield the Inferiour Power being to give place to the Higher Powers For St. Peter stiles Kings and Emperors Supream in their Dominions And a Supream you know can have no Superiour Power upon Earth to controul or over-rule him But tho' the King say some be Supream in Temporal Affairs yet there may be and is a Superiour Power to him in Church-matters This is the Power that is claim'd and usurp'd by the Pope over Christian Kings and Emperors And there are others who are great Enemies to the Pope that put in their Claim to the same Power in these Matters and would fain take it out of his Hands to put it into their own But St. Peter from whom the first claim as his Successors expresly asserts Kings to be Supream in their Dominions without Limitation or Exception of Spiritual Matters And what Authority have any to except where the Spirit of God makes no Exception And our Saviour Christ from whom the latter claim hath no where limited or circumscrib'd the Sovereign Power of Princes in these Things So that Kings had need look well to the Rights of their Crown to preserve them from the unjust Pretensions and Encroachments of both Besides what mad work must two Co-ordinate Supremacies make in the same Kingdom For since Sacred and Civil Matters are many times so closesly twisted and inter-woven together that they can hardly be separated or distinguish'd what sharp and unavoidable Contests must frequently arise about them And if these two Rival-Supreams differ about the extent and limits of their Power what shall the Subject do who cannot possibly obey or please both For since no Man can serve two Masters the serving of the One will be the despising of the Other which may draw on him the Displeasure of both And can it be conceived that the Great Sovereign of the World who hath styl'd himself A God of Order and not of Confusion should lay such a Stumbling-block in our way and leave so weighty a Matter upon which the Peace and Welfare of Kingdoms depend to such great Uncertainties Again if these two Rival-powers fall at variance who shall reconcile them or what shall decide this great Controversie Why nothing upon Earth is able to do it but the Sword with which the Spiritual Power hath nothing to do for that hath no other Weapons but the Censures of the Church and can only strike with the Thunder of Excommunication and if these be dis-regarded as they too often are it hath nothing left to preserve or maintain a Supremacy So that if the Sword be the only Weapon to defend it he who is of right intrusted with that is thereby design'd and constituted Supream But those Scriptures you say that require Obedience and Subjection to the Higher Powers respect Church-governours 300 Years before the Christian Magistrate appeared in the World Sir If you consult Expositors or the History of those Times you will find those Scriptures to respect the Roman Governors who then sway'd the Imperial Sceptre To whom our Saviour would have all due Submission and Obedience paid For he commanded To render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar 's He acknowledg'd Pilate's Power to be given him from above And the Apostles and Primitive Christians demean'd themselves towards them accordingly Indeed for the first 300 Years after Christ when the Roman Power not only persecuted but sought to root out Christianity the Church was govern'd by its own Laws and by its own Legislative Power provided the best it could for its own Safety and Edification but when the Roman Emperors embrac'd Christianity to the great Joy of the Christian World they took the Church into their Care and Protection which by that means got out of that heavy Storm of Persecution under which it had long labour'd and began to flourish in Peace and Prosperity For Constantine and other Christian Emperors built Churches for publick Worship and provided for the decent Celebration of it They conven'd General Councils and often presided in them ratifying their Canons with their Imperial Edicts and enforcing them with Temporal Sanctions and Penalties By which means the Church is derived down in that happy and flourishing State in which it now continues Thus Sir you see who those Rulers and Superiors are that may enjoin an Invariable Form And I hope I have in some measure satisfy'd your Demands and remov'd your Exceptions against the Authority that enjoins them But when you have nothing to say against the Authority of Superiors you are wont to complain of the Injustice and Severity of their Laws and to cry out of Persecution when you suffer for the Breach of them how justly this is done must be examin'd in the next I am SIR Yours to serve you M. H. August 10th 1697. LETTER VI. SIR I Shew'd in my Last what that Authority is that lawfully may and hath enjoin'd Forms of Prayer together with the Equity and Obligation of those Laws that require them My next Task must be to inquire into the Reasonableness and Justice of those Penalties that are annext to the Violation of them And this must be the rather done because I find you talking much of Goals and Imprisonments and other Hardships which you have endur'd upon the account of them You complain most bitterly and frequently of Persecution as if you lived under Nero or Dioclesian and felt all the Tortures that were inflicted on the Primitive Christians and that for the same or as good a Cause too All which is done merely to derive an Odium upon the Laws and Lawgivers and to procure the greater Pity and Liberty for your selves And here I must observe a double Artifice which I find you making use of the one to evade the Duty the other the Penalty of these Laws To effect the First you are wont to call the Injunctions of Superiors not by the Style of