common People of Christians nor ever been the means of that Idolatry which at length spread it self over the whole visible Church of these parts of the World had not this Device of prescribed Forms of Prayer wherein those Abominations were not only expressed but graphically represented and acted so violently affecting the carnal Minds of men superstitious and ignorant imposed them on their practice which gradually hardened them with an obdurate credulity For although they saw no ground or reason Doctrinally to believe what was proposed unto them about Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Mass and might easily have seen that they were contradictory unto all the conductive Principles of men and Christians namely Faith Reason and Sense yet they deceived themselves into an obstinate pretence of believing in the notion of Truth of what they had admitted in practice Men I say of corrupt minds might have disputed long enough about vagrant Forms Accidents without subjects Transmutation of substances without Accidents Sacrifices bloody and unbloody before they had vitiated the whole Worship of the Church with gross Idolatry had not this engine been made use of for its introduction and the minds of men by this means inveagled with the practice of it But when the whole matter and means of it was gradually insinuated into and at length comprized in those Forms of Prayer which they were obliged continually to use in Divine Service their whole Souls became leavened and tainted with a confidence in and love unto these Abominations Hence it was that the Doctrines concerning the Sacraments and the whole worship of God in the Church as they became gradually corrupted were not at once Objectively and Doctrinally proposed to the minds and considerations of men to be received or rejected according to the Evidence they had of their Truth or Error a method due to the Constitution of our Natures but gradually insinuated into their practice by Additional Forms of Prayer which they esteemed themselves obliged to use and observe This was the gilding of the poysonous Pill whose operation when it was swallowed was to bereave men of their Sense Reason and Faith and make them madly avow that to be true which was contrary unto them all Besides as was before intimated the things themselves that were the ground-work of Idolatry namely Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Mass were so acted and represented in those Forms of Worship as to take great impression on the minds of carnal men until they were mad on their Idols For when all Religion and Devotion is let into the Soul by Fancy and Imagination excited by outward spectacles they will make mad work in the World as they have done and yet continue to do But hereof I shall speak in the next place It had therefore been utterly impossible that an Idolatrous Worship should have been introduced into the Church in general had not the Opinion of the necessity of devised Forms of Prayer been first universally received At least it had not been so introduced and so established as to procure and cause the shedding of the blood of thousands of Holy persons for not complying with it By this means alone was brought in that fatal engine of the Churches Ruine from whose murderous efficacy few escaped with their Lives or Souls Had all Churches continued in the Liberty wherein they were placed and left by our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles it is possible that many Irregularities might have prevailed in some of them and many mistakes been admitted in their practice Yet this monster of the Mass devouring the Souls of the most and drinking the blood of many had never been conceived nor brought forth at least not nourished into that terrible form and Power wherein it appeared and acted for many Ages in the World And upon the account thereof it is not without cause that the Jews say that the Christians received their Tephilloth or Prayer-books from Armillus that is Antichrist It is true that when the Doctrine of Religion is determined and established by civil Laws the Laws of the Nation where it is professed as the Rule of all outward Advantages Liturgies composed in compliance therewithal are not so subject to this mischief But this ariseth from that external cause alone Otherwise where ever those who have the ordering of these things do deviate from the Truth once received as it is common for the most so to do Forms of Prayers answerable unto those deviations would quickly be insinuated And the present various Liturgies that are amongst the several sorts of Christians in the World are of little other use than to establish their minds in their peculiar Errors which by this means they adhere unto as Articles of their Faith And hereby did God suffer contempt to be cast upon the supposed Wisdom of men about his Worship and the ways of it They would not trust unto his Institutions and his Care of them but did first put the Ark into a Cart and then like Uzzah put forth a hand of force to hold it when it seemed to shake For it is certain that if not the first Invention yet the first publick Recommendation and prescription of devised Forms of Prayer unto the practice of the Churches were designed to prevent the insinuation of false opinions and corrupt Modes of Worship into the publick Administrations This was feared from Persons infected with Heresy that might creep into their Ministry So the Orthodox and the Arians composed Prayers Hymns and Doxologies the one against the other inserting in them passages confirming their own profession and condemning that of their Adversaries Now however this Invention might be approved whilest it kept within bounds yet it proved the Trojan Horse that brought in all evils into the City of God in its Belly For he who was then at work in the Mystery of Iniquity laid hold on the Engine and occasion to corrupt those Prayers which by the constitution of them who had obtained Power in them the Churches were obliged and confined unto And this took place effectually in the constitution of the Worship of the second Race of Christians or the Nations that were converted unto the Christian Faith after they had destroyed the Western Roman Empire To speak briefly and plainly it was by this means alone namely of the necessary Use of devised Forms of Prayer in the Assemblies of the Church and of them alone that the Mass with its Transubstantiation and Sacrifice and all the Idolatrous Worship wherewith they were accompanied were introduced until the World inflamed with those Idols drench'd it self in the bloud of the Saints and Martyrs of Christ for their Testimony against those abominations And if it had been sooner discovered that no Church was intrusted with Power from Christ to frame and impose such devised Forms of Worship as are not warranted by the Scripture innumerable Evils might have been prevented For that there were no Liturgies composed no imposed Use of them in the Primitive
would ever have come into the minds of men had not a necessity of their Invention been introduced by the establishment of set Forms of Prayer as the only way and means of Divine Worship And whereever they are retained proportionably unto the principles of the Doctrine which men profess some such Ceremonies must be retained also I will not therefore deny but that here lyeth the foundation of all our present differences about the manner of Divine Worship Suppose a necessity of confining the Solemn Worship of the Church unto set Forms of Prayer and I will grant that sundry Rituals and Ceremonies may be well judged necessary to accompany their observance For without them they will quickly grow obsolete and unsatisfactory And if on the other hand free Prayer in the Church be allowed it is evident that nothing but the Grace and Gifts of the Holy Ghost with a due regard unto the Decency of natural circumstances is required in Divine service or can be admitted therein Neither yet is this consequent how inseparable soever it seems from the sole publick Use of set Forms of Prayer in sacred Administrations pleaded to prove them either in themselves or their use to be unlawful The Design of this consideration is only to shew that they have been so far abased that they are so subject to be abused and do so alway stand in need to be abused that they may attain the Ends aimed at by them as much weakens the Plea of the necessity of their imposition For this also is another evil that hath attended their invention The Guides of the Church after a while were not contented to make use of Humanely devised Forms of Prayer confining themselves unto their use alone in all publick Administrations but moreover they judged it meet to impose the same practice on all whom they esteemed to be under their Power And this at length they thought lawful yea necessary to do on penalties Ecclesiastical and Civil and in the issue Capital When this Injunction first found a prevalent entertainment is very uncertain For the first two or three Centuries there were no Systemes of composed Forms of Prayer used in any Church whatever as hath been proved Afterwards when they began to be generally received on such grounds and for such Reasons as I shall not here insist on but may do so in a Declaration of the Nature and Use of spiritual Gifts with their continuance in the Church and an enquiry into the causes of their Decay the Authority of some great Persons did recommend the Use of their Compositions unto other Churches even such as had a mind to make use of them as they saw good But as unto this device of their Imposition confining Churches not only unto the necessary use of them in general but unto a certain Composition and Collection of them we are beholding for all the advantage received thereby unto the Popes of Rome alone among the Churches of the second Edition For from their own Good Inclination and by their own Authority without the advice of Councils or pretence of Traditions the two Gorgons heads whereby in other cases they frighten poor Mortals and turn them into Stones by various Degrees they obtained a pretence of Right to impose them and did it accordingly For when the Use and Benefit of them had been for a while pleaded and thence a progress made unto their necessity it was needful that they should be imposed on all Churches and Christians by their Ecclesiastical Authority But when afterwards they had insinuated into them and lodged in their Bowels the two great Idols of Transubstantiation and the unbloudy Sacrifice not only Mulcts Personal and Pecuniary but Capital punishments were enacted and executed to enforce their observance This brought Fire and Faggot into Christian Religion making Havock of the true Church of Christ and shedding Blood of thousands For the Martyrdom of all that have suffered death in the World for their Testimony against the Idolatries of the Mass derives originally from this Spring alone of the necessary imposition of compleat Liturgical Forms of Prayer For this is the sole foundation of the Roman Breviary and Missal which have been the Abaddons of the Church of Christ in these parts of the World and are ready once more to be so again Take away this Foundation and they all fall to the ground And it is worth Consideration of what kind that Principle is which was naturally improved unto such pernitious effects which quickly was found to be a meet and effectual Engine in the Hand of Sathan to destroy and murder the Servants of Christ. Had the Churches of Christ been left unto their primitive Liberty under the enjoined Duties of Reading and Expounding the Scripture of Singing Psalms to the praise of God of the Administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper and of diligent preaching the Word all of them with Prayer according unto the Abilities and spiritual Gifts of them who did preside in them as it is evident that they were for some Ages it is impossible for any man to imagine what evils would have ensued thereon that might be of any consideration in comparison of those enormous mischiefs which followed on the contrary practice And as unto all the Inconveniences which as it is pretended might ensue on this Liberty there is sufficient Evangelical Provision for their prevention or cure made in the Gospel constitution and Communion of all the true Churches of Christ. But this was not the whole of the Evil that attended this Imposition For by this means all spiritual Ministerial Gifts were caused to cease in the Church For as they are Talents given to trade withal or manifestations of the Spirit given to profit or edify the Church they will not reside in any subject they will not abide if they are by any received if they are not improved by continual Exercise We see every day what effects the contempt or neglect of them doth produce Wherefore this Exercise of them being restrained and excluded by this Imposition they were utterly lost in the Church so as that it was looked on as a rare thing for any one to be able to pray in the Administration of Divine Worship Yea the pretence of such an Ability was esteemed a Crime and the Exercise of it a Sin scarce to be pardoned Yet do I not find it in any of the ancient Canons reckoned among the faults for which a Bishop or a Presbyter were to be deposed But that hereon arose in those who were called to officiate in publick Assemblies as unto the Gifts which they had received for the Edification of the Church in Divine Administrations that neglect which hath given a fatal wound unto the Light and Holiness of it is openly evident For when the Generality of men of that Order had provision of Prayers made for them which they purchased at an easy rate or had them provided for them at the charge of the People they
the force of this Testimony some one at least would have this Intercession of the Spirit to be the Intercession of the Spirit in Christ for us now at the right Hand of God so that no Work of the Spirit it self in Believers is intended Such irrational Evasions will men sometimes make use of to escape the convincing Power of Light and Truth For this is such a Description of the Intercession of Christ at the Right Hand of God as will scarcely be reconciled unto the Analogy of Faith That it is not an humble oral Supplication but a blessed Representation of his Oblation whereby the efficacy of it is continued and applied unto all the particular occasions of the Church or Believers I have elsewhere declared and it is the common Faith of Christians But here it should be reported as the labouring of the Spirit in him with unutterable groans the highest expression of an humble burthened sollicitous Endeavour Nothing is more unsuited unto the present Glorious condition of the Mediator It is true that in the Days of his Flesh he prayed with strong cryes and tears in an humble deprecation of Evil Heb. 5. 7. But an humble prostration and praying with unutterable groans is altogether inconsistent with his present state of Glory his fulness of Power and Right to dispense all the Grace and Mercy of the Kingdom of God Besides this Exposition is as adverse to the context as any thing could be invented Ver. 15. It is said that we receive the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father which Spirit God sends forth into our Hearts Gal. 4. 6. And the blessed Work of this Spirit in us is further described v. 16 17. And thereon v. 23. having received the first-fruits of this Spirit we are said to groan within our selves to which it is added that of our selves not knowing what we ought to pray for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that very Spirit so given unto us so received by us so working in us makes intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered Wherefore without offering violence unto the Context here is no place for the Introduction of the Intercession of Christ in Heaven especially under such an expression as is contrary to the nature of it It is mentioned afterwards by the Apostle in its proper place as a consequent and fruit of his Death and Resurrection ver 34. And there he is said simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Spirit here is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies an additional supply unto what is in our selves Yet to give countenance unto this uncouth Exposition a force is put upon the beginning of both the verses 26 27. For whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth constantly in the Scripture denote any kind of infirmity or weakness spiritual or corporal it is said here to be taken in the latter sense for diseases with troubles and dangers which latter it no where signifies For so the meaning should be That in such conditions we know not what to pray for whether wealth or health or Peace or the like but Christ interceeds for us And this must be the sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet in the Text doth plainly denote an help and assistance given unto our weaknesses that is unto us who are weak in the discharge of the Duty of Prayer as both the words themselves and the ensuing reasons of them do evince Wherefore neither the Grammatical sence of the words nor the Context nor the Analogy of Faith will admit of this new and uncouth Exposition In like manner if it be enquired why it is said that he who searcheth the Heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit which plainly refers to some great and secret Work of the Spirit in the Heart of man if the Intercession of Christ be intended nothing is offered but this Paraphrase And then God that by being a searcher of Hearts knoweth our wants exactly understands also the desire and intention of the Spirit of Christ. But these things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and have no dependance the one on the other Nor was there any need of the mentioning the searching of our Hearts to introduce the Approbation of the Intercession of Christ. But to return That is wrought in the Hearts of Believers in their Duty which is pervious to none but him that searcheth the Heart This frame in all our Supplications we ought to aim at especially in time of Distress Troubles and Temptations such as was the season here especially intended when commonly we are most sensible of our own infirmities And wherein we come short hereof in some measure it is from our Unbelief or carelesness and negligence which God abhors I do acknowledge that there may be that there will be more earnestness and intention of mind and of our natural Spirit therein in this Duty at one time than another according as outward occasions or other motives do excite them or stir them up So our Saviour in his Agony prayed more earnestly than usuall not with an higher exercise of Grace which always acted it self in him in perfection but with a greater vehemency in the working of his natural faculties So it may be with us at especial seasons But yet we are always to endeavour after the same Aids of the Spirit the same actings of Grace in every particular Duty of this kind Thirdly The Holy Spirit gives the Soul of a Believer a Delight in God as the Object of Prayer I shall not insist on his exciting moving and acting all other Graces that are required in the exercise of this Duty as Faith Love Reverence Fear Trust Submission Waiting Hope and the like I have proved elsewhere that the exercise of them all in all Duties and of all other Graces in like manner is from him and shall not therefore here again confirm the same Truth But this Delight in God as the Object of Prayer hath a peculiar consideration in this matter For without it ordinarily the Duty is not accepted with God and is a barren burthensome task unto them by whom it is performed Now this Delight in God as the Object of Prayer is for the substance of it included in that description of Prayer given us by the Apostle namely that it is crying Abba Father Herein a Filial Holy Delight in God is included such as Children have in their Parents in their most affectionate addresses unto them as hath been declared And we are to enquire wherein this Delight in God as the object of Prayer doth consist or what is required thereunto And there is in it 1. A Sight or prospect of God as on a Throne of Grace A prospect I say not by carnal Imagination but spiritual Illumination By Faith we see him who is invisible Heb. 11. 27. For it is the Evidence of things not seen making its proper Object evident and present unto them that do believe Such a sight of God on a Throne of Grace is necessary unto
possible when they are left to work naturally towards God however unskilled and rude their Expressions may be a deep sense may be left upon their minds with a Reverence of God and Remembrance of their own Error which may be of use to them But the bounding and directing of the workings of Natural Religion by a form of words perhaps little suited unto their Occasions and not at all to their Affections tends only to stifle the operation of an awakened Conscience and to give them up unto their former security 2. Others such as by Education and the Power of Convictions from the word by one means or other are so far brought under a sense of the Authority of God and their own Duty as conscientiously according unto their Light to attend unto Prayer as unto other Duties also Now the Case of these men will be more fully determined afterwards where the whole of the use of Forms of Prayer will be spoken unto For the present I shall only say that I cannot believe until further Conviction that any one whose Duty it is to pray is not able to express his Requests and Petitions in Words so far as he is affected with the matter of them in his mind and what he doth by any Advantage beyond that belongeth not to Prayer Men may by Sloth and other vitious distempers of mind especially of a negligence in getting their Hearts and Consciences duly affected with the Matter and Object of Prayer keep themselves under a real or supposed disability in this matter But whereas Prayer in this sort of Persons is an effect of common Illumination and Grace which are also from the Spirit of God if Persons do really and sincerely endeavour a due sense of what they pray for and about he will not be wanting to help them to express themselves so far as is necessary for them either privately or in their Families But those who will never enter the Water but with Flags or Bladders under them will scarce ever learn to swim And it cannot be denyed but that the constant and unwearied use of set forms of Prayer may become a great occasion of quenching the Spirit and hindring all progress or growth in Gifts or Graces When every one hath done what he can it is his best and will be accepted of him it being according unto what he hath before that which is none of his CHAP. VIII The Duty of External Prayer by Vertue of ae spiritual Gift explained and Vindicated WHAT we have hitherto discoursed concerning the Work of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication enabling Believers to pray or to cry Abba Father belongeth principally unto the internal spiritual nature of the Duty and the Exercise of Grace therein wherein we have occasionally only diverted unto the Consideration of the Interest of Words and the use of set formes either freely or imposed And indeed what hath been evinced from Scripture Testimony herein doth upon the matter render all further dispute about these things needless For if the things mentioned be required unto all acceptable Prayer and if they are truly effected in the minds of all Believers by the Holy Ghost it is evident how little use there remains of such pretended Aids But moreover Prayer falleth under another Consideration namely as to its external Performance and as the Duty is discharged by any one in lesser or greater Societies wherein upon his words and expressions do depend their Conjunction with him their Communion in the Duty and consequently their Edification in the whole This is the Will of God that in Assemblies of his Appointment as Churches and Families and occasional meetings of two or three or more in the name of Christ one should pray in the name of himself and the rest that joyn with him Thus are Ministers enabled to pray in Church-Assemblies as other Christians in occasional meetings of the Disciples of Christ in his name Parents in their Families and in Secret every Believer for himself There is a Spiritual Ability given unto men by the Holy Ghost whereby they are enabled to express the matter of Prayer as taught and revealed in the manner before described in words fitted and suited to lead on their own minds and the minds of others unto an Holy Communion in the Duty to the Honour of God and their own Edification I do not confine the use of this Ability unto Assemblies every one may and usually is to make use of it according to the measure which he hath received for himself also For if a man have not an Ability to pray for himself in private and alone he can have none to pray in publick and Societies Wherefore take Prayer as Vocal without which Adjunct it is not compleat and this Ability belongs to the Nature and Essence of it And this also is from the Spirit of God This is that which meets with such Contradiction and opposition from many and which hath other things set up in Competition with it yea to the Exclusion of it even from Families and Closets also What they are we shall afterwards examine And judged it is by some not only to be separable from the Work of the Spirit of Prayer but no way to belong thereunto A fruit they say it is of Wit Fancy Memory Elocution Volubility and readiness of Speech namely in them in whom on other Accounts they will acknowledge none of these things to be at least in no considerable degree Some while since indeed they defended themselves against any esteem of this Ability by crying out that all those who thus prayed by the Spirit as they call it did but babble and talk non-sense But those who have any sobriety and modesty are convinced that the generality of those who do pray according to the Ability received do use words of Truth and soberness in the exercise thereof And it is but a sorry relief that any can find in cavilling at some expressions which perhaps good and wholesom in themselves yet suit not their Palats or if they are such as may seem to miss of due order and decency yet is not their failure to be compared with the Extravagancies considering the nature of the Duty of some in supposed quaint and elegant expressions used in this Duty But herein they betake themselves unto this Countenance That this Ability is the effect of the natural Endowments before mentioned only which they think to be set off by a Boldness and Confidence but a little beneath an intolerable Impudence Thus it seems is it with all who desire to pray as God enables them that is according to his mind and will if any thing in the Light of Nature the common Voice of mankind Examples of Scripture express Testimonies and Commands are able to declare what is so I shall therefore make way unto the declaration and Confirmation of the Truth asserted by the ensuing Observations 1. Every man is to pray or call upon God according as he is able with respect
judged by them a serving of God with the best that they have I shall not take the least notice of them nor of any Dissent about them But whereas a perswasion not only of their lawfulness but of their necessity is made use of unto other ends and purposes wherein the Peace and Edification of Believers is highly concerned it is necessary we should make some enquiry thereinto I say it is only with respect unto such a sense of their nature and necessity of their use as give Occasion or a supposed Advantage unto men to oppose deny and speak evil of that way of Prayer with its Causes and Ends which we have described that is that any way consider these Forms of Prayer and their Use. For I know well enough that I have nothing to do to Judge or Condemn the Persons or Duties of Men in such Acts of Religious Worship as they chuse for their best and hope for Acceptance in unless they are expresly Idolatrous For unless it be in such Cases or the like which are plain either in the Light of Nature or Scripture Revelation it is a silly Apprehension and tending to Atheism that God doth not require of all Men to regulate their Actings towards Him according to that Sovereign Light which he hath erected in their own Minds What the Forms intended are how composed how used how in some Cases imposed are things so known to all that we shall not need to speak to them Prayer is God's Institution and the Reading of these Forms is that which Men have made and set up in the Likeness thereof or in Compliance with it For it is said That the Lord Christ having provided the Matter of Prayer and commanded us to pray it is left unto us or others to Compose Prayer as unto the Manner of it as we or they shall see cause But besides that there is no Appearance of Truth in the Inference the direct contrary rather insuing on the Proposition laid down it is built on this Supposition That besides the provision of matter of Prayer and the Command of the Duty the Lord Christ hath not moreover promised doth not communicate unto his Church such Spiritual Aids and Assistances as shall enable them without any other outward pretended Helps to pray according unto the Mind of God Which we must not admit if we intend to be Christians In like manner he hath provided the whole Subject Matter of Preaching and commanded all his Ministers to Preach But it doth not hence follow that they may all or any of them make one Sermon to constantly read in all Assemblies of Christians without any variation unless we shall grant also that he ceaseth to Give gifts unto Men for the Work of the Ministry Our Enquiry therefore will be what Place or Use they may have therein or in our Duty as performed by Vertue thereof which may be expressed in the ensuing Observations 1. The Holy Ghost as a Spirit of Grace and Supplications is no where that I know of promised unto any to help or assist them in composing Prayers for others and therefore we have no ground to pray for him or his Assistance unto that End in particular nor foundation to build Faith or Expectation of receiving him upon Wherefore he is not in any especial or gracious manner concerned in that Work or Endeavour Whether this be a Duty that falls under his care as communicating gifts in general for the Edification of the Church shall be afterwards Examined That which we plead at present is that he is no where peculiarly promised for that End nor have we either command or direction to ask for his Assistance therein If any shall say that he is promised to this purpose where he is so as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication I answer besides what hath been already pleaded at large in the Explication and vindication of the proper sense of that Promise that he is promised directly to them that are to pray and not to them that make Prayers for others which themselves will not say is praying But supposing it a Duty in general so to compose Prayers for our own or the use of others it is lawful and warrantable to pray for the Aid and Guidance of the Holy Ghost therein not as unto his peculiar Assistances in Prayer not as he is unto Believers a Spirit of Supplication but as he is our Sanctifier the Author and efficient cause of every gracious Work and Duty in us It may be the Prayers composed by some Holy men under the Old Testament by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost for the use of the Church will be also pretended But as the Inspiration or Assistance which they had in their Work was a thing quite of another kind than any thing that is ordinarily promised or that any Persons can now pretend unto so whether they were dictated unto them by the Holy Ghost to be used afterwards by others as meer Forms of Prayer may be yet farther enquired into The great Plea for some of these external Aids of Prayer is by this one Consideration utterly removed out of the way It is said that some of these Prayers were prepared by great and Holy men Martyrs it may be some of them for the Truth of the Gospel and Testimony of Jesus And indeed had any men in the World a Promise of especial Assistance by the Spirit of God in such a Work I should not contend but the Persons intended were as likely to partake of that Assistance as any others in these latter Ages Extraordinary supernatural Inspiration they had not And the Holy Apostles who were always under the Influence and Conduct of it never made use of it unto any such purpose as to prescribe Forms of Prayer either for the whole Church or single Persons Whereas therefore there is no such especial Promise given unto any this Work of composing Prayer is forreign unto the Duty of Prayer as unto any Interest in the gracious Assistance which is promised thereunto however it may be a common Duty and fall under the help and Blessing of God in general So some men from their acquaintance with the matter of Prayer above others which they attain by spiritual Light Knowledge and Experience and their Comprehension of the Arguments which the Scripture directs unto to be used and pleaded in our Supplications may set down and express a Prayer that is the matter and outward Form of it that shall declare the substance of things to be prayed for much more accommodate to the conditions wants and desires of Christians than others can who are not so clearly enlightened as they are nor have had the Experience which they have had For those Prayers as they are called which men without such Light and Experience compose of phrases and Expressions gathered up from others taken out of the Scripture or invented by themselves and cast into a contexture and method such as they suppose suited unto Prayer in