Degrees of Authority and Jurisdiction For else they were advanced to nothing when they were elected or promoted to it 't is absurd to say they succeeded only to what they had before And what would the Apostolical Office over other Church-Officers signifie if they had no Power to oversee and govern them But that the Apostles both had and exercis'd a Power over them the Holy Scripture and Primitive Antiquity may abundantly satisfie you For we find St. James the Apostle and first Bishop of Jerusalem not only presiding in the great Council held there but likewise by his own Authority deciding the Matters debated in it about the Gentil Converts speaking in that commanding Style It seemeth goood to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon them no greater Burdens than these necessary things c. after which we find Timothy Ordain'd Bishop of Ephesus 1 Tim. 1.3 and exercising Episcopal Jurisdiction over that Church 1 Tim. 3.1 which extended over all the proconsular Asia Ch. 9.11.5.22 in which he commanded that the Laity be diligently instructed the Clergy provided with a competent Maintenance admitting none to be Deacons but upon due Examination and Ordaining none to be Elders or Presbyters till they had well-perform'd the Office of a Deacon receiving Accusations against them and putting guilty Persons to an open Shame all which are Acts of Power and Jurisdiction Again We find Titus left in Crete to set in Order the things that were wanting and to Ordain Elders in every City Tit. 1.5 By which it appears That he had an Episcopal Power confer'd upon him to do that in Crete which the Presbyters that were there before had not and this Power extended not only to the setting in order what was wanting and the ordaining of Elders but likewise to the rebuking of obstinate Offenders with all Authority Tit. 2.15 first admonishing them and if they persisted in their Obstinacy punishing them with the Censures of the Church Chap. 3.10 and rejecting them from the Communion of it which are all Acts of Power and Jurisdiction But this Power say some was only Temporary and to last no longer than the Days of the Apostles who were the first Planters of these Churches Why so Was there not the same Use and Necessity of these things in the following Times as there was in the Days of the Apostles Is there not a constant need of ordaining Elders and exercising Discipline and Censures in the succeeding Ages of the Church as well as the first Again where hath Christ limited this Power and made it Temporary Yea hath he not plainly made it perpetual by promising to be with them to the End of the World Which could not be with them in their own Persons who died in a little Time after but with them in their Successors who follow'd them in their Office to whom the same Promise of Assistance and Encouragement is given to the End of the World Beside Does not Ecclesiastical History give us a particular Account who succeeded them in their several Churches A Catalogue of whom you may find in Eusebius and many other Writers So that nothing in Antiquity is more plain than that the Apostles had a Power over others for the well-ordering and governing the Church and that this Power was deriv'd down to their Successors the Bishops who have exercis'd the same in the several Ages of the Church ever since Which Form of Government being first Instituted by Christ and seconded by the Practice of his Apostles and succeeded to in the primitive Churches by our Saviour's express Approbation is abundantly enough to make it an Order distinct from and superior to Presbyters Jure Divino and consequently there is little Reason why you should think it a Grievance to assent and consent to that which the Christian Church hath in all Ages assented and consented to But here you fly to Scotland and would know what I think of that and other Countries that have cast off the Government of the Church by Bishops Sir Though I have no Inclination to meddle with the Affairs of any other Church yet since the Importunity of your Argument requires an Answer I must tell you That as particular Persons and Bodies of Men may be guilty of Schism by breaking off from the Communion and Discipline of a National Church so a whole Nation or Country may be justly charg'd with it in breaking off from the Communion and Discipline of the Catholick Church of which that is a Member And this is the unhappy Case of your beloved Scotland which by casting off the Ancient Apostolical and Primitive Discipline and Government of the Church by Bishops and likewise by laying aside a Liturgy or Forms of Prayer for publick Worship both which having been received in the Christian Church ever since its first Establishment is thereby become Schismatical For by so doing it hath cut it self off from the One Body of the Catholick Church and is become no longer a sound Part of it but a Sect and Excrescence of it But you will say what then will you condemn all the Inhabitants of that Country as living in the Grievous and Damning Sin of Schism No Sir There were some who voluntarily and violently acted to the laying aside the Liturgy and Episcopacy in that Church and thereby wilfully brake the Communion Worship and Discipline of the Christian Church and these are truly and properly guilty of the hainous Sin of Schism which if not repented of and amended in Time will prove as fatal to them heareafter as 't is to the Church here But beside these There are many Thousands in that distracted Kingdom who abhorr'd and endeavour'd to prevent that wide and miserable Breach in the Catholick Church But being over-power'd were forc'd to see and bewail that miserable Rent made in it and can only wish and pray for the Peace and Repairs of Jerusalem Now these are no ways to be charg'd with the Guilt of this Schism for here the Succession being altogether involuntary 't is to be reckon'd their Unhappiness but not their Fault And the like may be said of the Inhabitants of some other Countries who being by the Misfortune of Times and Place depriv'd of that way of Worship and Discipline that should unite them to the Catholick Church may not be charg'd with that Schism which they could neither foresee nor prevent but being by unavoidable Necessity brought under it God Almighty will have Mercy upon them and make up that in the Ever-blessed Society of Saints hereafter which they want of the Communion of Saints here But do you not see say you in the Letter of June 28th how those whose Turn it is to be the Establish'd Church in that Kingdom may turn their own Artillery upon you and talk to your disaffected Brethren in the same strain as you do to us and tell them That all the Distractions and Divisions of that Church are to be put upon the score of their
Disobedience May'nt they be Characteriz'd for stubborn unquiet Schismaticks as we now are No Sir 't is one thing to stick to the truly Ancient Primitive and Apostolical Discipline and way of Worship and another to set up and promote new upstart Ways and Models in both the one is to endeavour to keep the Unity of the Church and the other to break it Now in the Kingdom of Scotland that prevailing Party that laid aside the ancient Discipline and Worship of the Catholick Church to set up those new-fangl'd Models are truly branded for Schismaticks for breaking into different Factions and Communions whereby they divide the Body of Christ and may be justly said to create Distractions and Divisions in the Church whereas they who adher'd to the ancient Doctrin and Discipline of the Catholick Church and would willingly have preserv'd both these can no ways be charg'd with the Schisms and Divisions of that Church for these differ as much from the other as the Keepers of the Peace do from the Breakers of it And you know 't is unreasonable to charge the same Disorders and Disobedience upon those that endeavour to keep the Peace as upon those who make it their Business to break it so that the Artillery you speak of still points to you and cannot be turn'd upon those against whom you level it But it may be your Case say you in another Century if any thing happen to be requir'd which you think unlawful to fall under the like Difficulties of the Government Sir That there is nothing unlawful requir'd in the present Government I suppose you are pretty well satisfied and therefore your Schism in these Circumstances is both unreasonable and inexcusable And 't is to be hoped That the Members of the Church of England will in no Century either voluntarily and causelesly cut off selves or be violently cut off by any others from the Worship and Discipline of the Catholick Church But if it should so happen which God forbid our Duty will be not to applaud but lament the Schism to enjoy as much as we may of the Communion of the Church and to pray and wait for a better Union and fuller Enjoyment of it But there is one Objection more urg'd by your Party against the Authority of Bishops viz. If the Bishops Power be Jure Divino how come they to execute it by Lay-Chancellors Sir Beside the Spiritual Power committed to Bishops as Successors to the Apostles Church-Censurers Ordination c. which are executed by themselves in Person there are other things Circa Spiritualia which are by Law committed to their Care and Inspection as the Cognizance of Wills and Testaments many Cases about Matrimony Alimony and Divorce about Tithes Dilapidations Defamation c. which Things containing many intricate Cases and requiring more time than the Bishop can well spare from the weightier Duties of his Office he is impower'd to commission one Learned in the Canon and Civil Laws to hear and determine such Matters so that as Moses did appoint inferior Officers and Judges to determine small Matters whilst the weightier things were brought to him So the Bishop by the Allowance of the Church is permitted to have these Officers under him to take off part of his Burden in ordinary Matters and to dispatch some of his Business when he is otherwise employ'd or hinder'd But you publish say you such Excommunications as are decreed by Lay-Chancellors according to the Canon And why not For though the Lay-Chancellors by the Authority of the Bishop may decree the Sentence for not hearkning to the Church yet being an Ecclesiastical Censure 't is never executed by him but either by the Bishop in Person or some other Spiritual Person that hath full Authority to do it and when this Censure is thus regularly decreed and pronounc'd why may we not publish it that others may know and avoid them and according to our Saviour's Order look upon them as a heathen Man and a Publican Thus I have consider'd your main Objections concerning the Order of Bishops What you farther offer concerning Bishop Hall shall be consider'd in my next I am SIR Yours M. H. LETTER XXI To J. M. SIR IN your Letter concerning Bishop Hall after a few flings and reflections upon the Order of Bishops which I endeavour'd to rectifie and remove in my last You tell me That you are far better pleas'd with some Bishops than we think you are and particularly instance in Arch-Bishop Vsher and Bishop Hall wishing there were many Hundreds more of them in England Now these Reverend Persons are much beholding to you that you have not so great an Aversness to them as to some others But what is the Reason of this great Kindness to those Excellent Men Why some By-End to be sure for 't is not out of any Respect to their Order which you will not allow to be distinct from nor Superior to Presbyters No nor yet for their Learning and great Abilities in deciding Controversies in Religion for you are not like you say to refer to their final Decision any Matters in Debate between us in their present Constitution Whence then should this Honourable Esteem of yours for these Great Men proceed Why this you will tell me in the next Words 't was for their Exemplary Piety discover'd by their painfulness in Preaching and likewise for their great Temper and Moderation in Ecclesiastical Matters As for their Exemplary Piety that was chiefly seen in their Pious Lives and Zealous adhereing to the Establish'd Worship of the Church of England and likewise by sticking as close and as long as they could to the Primitive Discipline and Government of that Church But you pass by these Eminent and Exemplary Instances of their Piety because they do not serve your purpose and instead of them take notice of their painfulness in Preaching and their great Moderation Now though painfulness in Preaching be indeed a very good Commendation in all that are call'd to it yet I think a Vigilant care and diligence in ruling well the Church of God and setting in order things that are wanting in it is a more necessary and commendable Qualification of a Bishop and indeed if you will rightly consider the multitude weight and difficulty of the Business that appertains to their Office you will find it enough to employ the Time and Thoughts of the ablest Overseer Besides The Bishops having generally spent their Younger Years in painful Preaching and being seldom advanc'd to that Office till they come to their Elder Years may by reason of the decay of Strength and Voice and other Infirmities that attend that Age be excus'd from that painfulness and may more usefully employ the Time and Experience of those Years in well-governing the Church over which they are appointed Overseers But if any beside their other Work have strength and leisure enough for this Exercise they may and ought to make use of it and you know some Time is by our Reverend
Augustine c. Where you will find either a short Collect or Form of Prayer us'd without variation or else only an invitation to Prayer like the Bidding Prayer mention'd in the Canon Yea your great Friend Mr. Calvin constantly used one short Form before Sermon which concluded still with the Lord's Prayer as you may find it recorded in the History of his Life Indeed when our Liturgy is so well stor'd with Divine and Heavenly Prayers suited to all necessary Occasions and when we have spent near an hour in offering 'em up unto God for all that can be thought fit for Christians to pray for what need can there be for beginning a new Harrangue in the Pulpit for the same things or making a fresh address in varied Phrases for them unless we think that God is either to be overcome with the Multitudes or charm'd with the Novelty of Expressions in both which we entertain low and unworthy thoughts of him Yea this is not only a needless but very mischievous Practice and has done the Church great harm for this slight perfunctory way of reading the Prayers has occasion'd the Contempt of 'em and put People in love with varied Extempore Effusions which tho' not half so sound either for Matter or Sense are yet recommended to them by a more affectionate Delivery insomuch as when they behold the Minister cold dull and careless in the Desk and all Life and Flame in the Pulpit they begin to think meanly of the saint languid Devotion of the one and are wholly taken up with the seeming Earnestness and Vehemency of the other And this has been one great Occasion of that giddiness and instability in Religion which is the pernicious Malady and Misery of our present Age These with many other sad and doleful Evils too many to be here reckon'd up are the miserable Effects of this false Notion of Moderation which you highly Extol and Commend in some Ministers But besides this there 's a piece of Moderation in the Laity that much resembles this and has much the same tendency and that is Mens halting between two Opinions or trimming between the Church and the Conventicle repairing sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other scarce ever Communicating with either and so dividing from both this is frequently stil'd and reputed Moderation which is indeed no better than Lukewarmness and such as was rebuk'd in the Church of Laodicea Revel 3.15 where the Members of it being neither hot nor cold but lukewarm and indifferent in their Duty our Saviour threatens to Spue them out of his Mouth such Persons as these steer their Course according as the Time and Tide of worldly Interest or Honour lead 'em if their Trade or other Designs may be best promoted by the Church they will be frequenters of that if by the Conventicle they can as freely repair thitherto Yea some can be content to divide their Family to carry it fair and keep up an Interest in both the Husband by consent going to the one and the Wife to the other These make Gain their greatest Godliness and do not so much serve God as Mammon If any of these moderate Men be put into an Office of which they are observ'd to be not a little ambitious they can then go to the Prayers and Sacraments of the Church to qualisie and continue them in it tho' they never come more till they are drawn by the same or like occasion which is in effect to make Sacred Things truckle to Secular and to take the Holy Sacrament to undermine the Communion of the Church Now to shew the Falshood of this Notion of Moderation we must Note That Moderation is a Vertue that wholly respects our Duty to Man that is to our selves and one another and consists in the due regulating our Passions and Defires with relation to both but has no respect to our Duty unto God for we can use no Mean or Moderation with relation unto him for the stronger our Minds and Affections are carried out after him the better it is if we do any Evil 't is all too much if we do any Good 't is all too little there is no middle way to be observed here between both Our Passions and Desires towards Earthly Objects may be Inordinate and Extravagant and therefore we are required to moderate them by the Rules of Prudence and Piety But our Duty to God admits of no Excess we cannot Love desire or serve him too much and to be moderate here is to be Lukewarm and Hypocritical To shorten the appointed Prayers we are to offer to him is to defraud our Maker of his due yea 't is a sort of Sacriledge to rob God of that portion of Devotion which the Church has set apart and devoted to him and being made his both by Divine and Human Laws to with-hold it from him either in whole or in part is to transgress the Rule of our Saviour by neither giving to Caesar the things that are Caesars nor to God the things that are Gods Matth. 22.21 In a word to halt between two Opinions is to halt between God and Baal and he that doth his Duty by halves and looks two different ways does no better than falsifie and prevaricate with God and Man for such an one has no sincerity or steadiness of Mind but like St. James's double-minded Man is unstable in all his ways James 1.8 And therefore we may not shelter a partial observance of the good Orders and Constitutions of the Church under the sacred name of Moderation or seek to hide the Obliquity of it under that Vizard But we are to call it by its right Name viz. Lukewarmness and Hypocrisie for if we take off the Mask from the Face of such Conformity nothing will appear under it but Deformity and Double-dealing Insomuch as St. James speaks of the Divine Law He that keepeth the whole Law and offendeth in one Point is guilty of all James 2.10 Because he slights the Authority in one that Commands and Confirms all the rest So he that violates the Authority of the Church in one thing will easily do it in another and as Interest and Occasion serves will be ready to do it in all I am SIR Yours M. H. LETTER X. SIR I Hope by this time you begin to see the Falshood of your Notion of Moderation and how unjustly 't is alledg'd to take off the Obligation either in whole or in part to publick Orders and Constitutions I proceed now to your Plea of Toleration to see what that can do towards it And here the great thing you insist upon is a late Act of Parliament for Exempting Protestant Subjects from the Penalties of some Laws By which you conceive that the Conventicle stands upon as good legal and firm Ground as the Church and would have the People believe your Preaching in separate Meetings as much Establish'd as our publick Assemblies But with what little shew of Reason this is affirm'd
them do but walk on still in Darkness and sit in the very Regions of the Shadow of Death One would think the bare mentioning of these things should fill you with blushing and make you asham'd of such unparallel'd Pride and Folly But you have a worse Charge than all this against Liturgies and that is That they breed nothing but Loosness and Laziness in those that use them and give your Reasons for it too which must be consider'd in my next I am SIR Yours M. H. Aug. 25th 1697. LETTER XIII To J. M. SIR I Have been endeavouring of late to Compromise Matters in difference between us shewing how we agree in the Main and rectifying some few Mistakes that create and continue the difference Hoping by this means to bring things to some good Issue But I am sorry to find that you are inclin'd to break off the Treaty and whilst we retain our Liturgy will hear nothing of an Accommodation For in your Letter of July the 1st you tell me that Liturgies and Laziness setled together and in the same Letter you have these Words sc That which I have affirm'd and will stand to is this That the establishing Forms for Universal Use particularly our Liturgy or the Imposition of them on all Ministers to be used in publick Prayer and none other does open a Door for a lazy I might venture to say a loose Ministry to enter in and that in the present lapsed State of Discipline many such in the Ministry must be expected yea are Now this is a bold Stroke indeed in which you act the part not of a puny Slanderer to cast a little Dirt here and there but like a Whole-sale Calumniator strike home and fall foul upon the whole Christian Church in all Ages which ever since she hath retain'd Liturgies which is from the beginning hath cherished only a pack of loose and idle Drones This you say you have affirm'd and like an undaunted Champion that scorns to flinch you will stand to it and prove it too And that First From the very Nature of the thing which will make it appear that this Loosness and Laziness are not any accidental Faults occasioned by the Neligence of some Persons but the natural and necessary Effects of Liturgies and whosoever useth them must unavoidably fall into these Enormities Bravely charg'd And if you pursue this well you must necessarily rout all Liturgies out of the World Well but how is this made good Why thus The Mind of Man is naturally sluggish and will take its Ease and remit the Reins if it be not urg'd by some Necessity or attracted by Delight and Complacency and the best of Men had need of all Obligations to keep it to its Duty Very true but is there no way to employ the Mind or to cure this Sluggishness but by making new Prayers Must the Mind necessarily remit the Reins if the Tongue be kept in with Bit and Bridle Does the great Work and Business of the Soul lie in studying new Expressions And must the Prayer be dull and the Effect of Laziness if the Phrases are not varied May not the Mind be well imploy'd in a hearty and devout use of pious and well compos'd Forms No say you a Musician will be weary if he have constantly the same Instrument and Tunes Variety pleases in Diet Novelty affects in Recreations and Commonness dulls c. So that the Mind must be entertain'd as much with Varieties in Religion as the Fancy of a Fidler with new Tunes and we must have as much Change and Novelty in our Prayers as in our Diet and Recreations or else we shall grow weary of them And is not this an admirable way think you to keep Men firm and stable in their Religion to be daily ringing Changes and putting the Matter of their Prayers every Day into new Phrases Hath not this Variety of Prayers already begot a Variety of Opinions Does not Mr. Baxter tell you that this is apt to breed Giddiness and Hypocrisy And have we not found Confusion enough already from this Principle but you must needs cherish it to breed more But must all Men necessarily be lazy that use a Liturgy Then what a parcel of idle lazy Persons have all former Christians been through every Age that have spent their time only in the old Mumpsimus of Forms without taking any Pains to invent or make any new Prayers of their own This Sir is a Calumny sharper than a two-edged Sword that wounds the whole Catholick Church and cuts through all Generations But is there no taking Pains in Prayer without the Invention and study of new Words Does not the principal Work of it lie in taking Pains with the Heart to keep that close and intent upon the Duty which is much better pains-taking than pumping for new Phrases this being for the most part but Labour in vain and such as may very well be let alone For since the whole Matter of publick Prayers may be and is compriz'd in well-digested Forms what need can there be to cloath it in a daily Change and Diversity of Expressions Yea this is not only needless but hurtful Labour for it takes of the Heart from the main Work and hinders it from minding the great Business of Prayer And will you charge them with Laziness who only decline such lost Labour and in the mean time employ themselves to much better purpose Besides Sir There is no such great Labour in this Extempore way of Praying as you would have the World believe 'T is a Knack that is easily learn'd and easily perform'd a Teeming Imagination and a ready Tongue will pour out Words enough without any great pains or difficulty and he that hath gotten any dexterity this way may as easily impose upon the People with this slight of the Tongue as Juglers do with the slight of Hand And I think if all things were well known this will be found a more loose and lazy way of Praying than that which you charge with it But you have Secondly Another way of proving this Charge and that is by appealing to the Experience of Mankind whether such an Imposition does not tend to let in a lazy Ministry And here I think the Experience of the best and wisest part of Mankind will be clearly against you for they see and know that keeping to a Form of sound Words in Prayer will help to keep Men more steady and sound in their Religion more serious and diligent in the sober Exercise and Practice of true Devotion than your changeable Method and Study of Variations But May not a Child of Ten Years Old say you read the Prayers and Homilies as distinctly and laudably as a learned Divine I think very hardly And he must be a very forward Child that can arrive to that at those Years But if this may be done 't is rather a Commendation than Disparagement of our Liturgy and Homilies that all things in them are brought down to
that end And this is that one Catholick Church or Body of Christ which Himself and his Apostles would have kept entire without any Schism or Division in it To which end they have left a strict Charge upon all the Members of it to Keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace which can only be by joyning together in one Fellowship and Communion And now what think you Sir are Christ and his Apostles to be reckon'd in the Number of Dissenters and Non-conformists Nay have they not left an Example of strict Conformity to the Jewish Church of which they were Members and shew'd an exact Compliance with all the Rights and Ceremonies not only of Divine but Humane and Ecclesiastical appointment us'd in it And will our Saviour think you approve of Rents and Dâ—ssâ—â—â—ions in the Christian Church which he hath 〈◊〉 his own Body upon the account of these things No certainly the Precepts to Unity and the Prohibition of Divisions are far more urgent under the Gospel than ever they were under the Law And how can you conceive Schism and Separation to be signs of Grace and purer Christianity when they are so directly contrary to the Rules and Precepts of both Thus you see Sir that your additional Stroaks serve but to add to the Resemblance and your compleating the Character of the Pharisees only shews you the more compleatly like them But you have something farther to say of the Pharisees Prayers and ask Whether they were by a Liturgy or not Which must be examin'd and answered in my next I am SIR Yours M. H. LETTER XVIII To J. M. SIR I Shew'd in my last that the additional Stroaks you gave to the Picture of the Pharisees did but encrease the Resemblance and what you added to compleat their Character serv'd only to make it look so much the harder upon you I proceed in this to consider what you have farther to say concerning your Prayers and here when I told That the Pharisees Prayers were remarkable for two Things viz. their length and their loudness you very fairly quarrel with both for your caviling Humour will scarce let any thing pass And therefore something must be added for the Illustration of both As for their length Our Saviour hath recorded it for a piece of their Hypocrisy Matt. 23.14 that they made long Prayers No say you 't was not the length of their Prayers but the making of them for a Pretence that is there blam'd But Sir Did not the making of them for a pretence imply an Opinion of some greater Excellency in them than in shorter Prayers Men are not wont to pretend to but hide Imperfections and if the Pharisees made these Prayers for a Shew or Pretence 't is a sign they took Prolixity for a Perfection and Ornâ—ment of their Devotion and plac'd greater Holiness and Sanctity in them that they had a value for long Prayers and valu'd themselves upon them which was the thing I observed in them As for their Lowdness we read That they pray'd in the Corners of the Street which being done for Ostentation and Vanity and before great Concourses of People Lowdness was necessary to attain their Ends and therefore as they sounded a Trumpet before their Alms that they might be seen of Men so they lifted up their Voices like a Trumpet in their Street-prayers to be heard of them But whatever becomes of the Lowdness you cannot away with blaming the length of Prayers For was not Jacob's say you a long Prayer Yea was not David's Solomon's Nehemiah's and Daniel's so Sir There are far more Examples of short than of long Prayers in Holy Scripture and we read of much greater Successes to have attended the one than the other As for the Prayers you mention the first of them was but like one of our short Collects the other like our longer Forms Compos'd for publick Fasts and Thanksgivings but none of them like the tedious long-winded Harangues of Extempore Prayer besides the former being the inspir'd Prayers of the Prophets and Dedicated by the Spirit of God upon some Solemn Occasions were both for Matter and Words sound pertinent and pithy Whereas yours proceeding from the sudden and hasty Conceptions of your own Brain are far from either being oftentimes full of Impertinences Tautologies and Unsoundness But was not the Lord 's a long Prayer say you when he continued all Night at it And the Primitive Christians spent sometimes many hours together in Prayer and some of their Fasts were Celebrated with Prayers prolong'd from the Morning of one Day to the beginning of another Sir 'T is a great Mistake to think that they spent all this time in Verbal or Vocal Prayer or that they were all this while speaking and uttering Words unto God No a great part of this time was taken up in silent and devout Soliloquies in Pious and Heavenly Meditations and the inward breathings of Mental Prayer which were very frequent and made up a great part of the Devotion of those Times As for our Saviour's continuing all Night in Prayer much of that time was doubtless spent in the secret Elevations of the Heart for we read of no other Words utter'd by him all that time but O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me nevertheless not my Will but thine be done The Disciples were so far from joining with him that they slept away the greatest part of the Night however having utter'd these Words once he awoke them and pray'd again the second time O my Father if this Cup may not pass away from me except I drink it thy Will be done After which he pray'd again the third time without any variation saying the same Words And with these few unvaried Words together with many inward Sighs and Groans that cannot be utter'd he past that Night before his Sufferings with great Devotion and hereunto the Apostle alludes when he tells us of Christ's praying to his Father with strong Cries and Tears Besides Our Saviour having blam'd the Heathens for their much speaking and the Pharisees for their long Prayers he was careful not to leave behind him an Example or Encouragement of either As for what you say of the Primitive Christians spending many Hours and sometime whole Nights in Prayer and Fasting you must not think that this was always done with the Voice or the Use of Words for the ancient Fathers tell us That a great part of their Service was perform'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Silence that is with the inward Motions and Desires of Mental Prayer which are oftimes more acceptable with God than the greatest multitude or variety of Words But you would have me tell you whether the Pharisees long Prayers were by a Liturgy or no And if not where is the Jewish Service that Christ and his Apostles frequented Adding That you believe we should find in those Days no other Common-Prayer-Book but the Bible Sir That the National Church