salvation of men as is affirmed in the First to Timothy chap. 1. vers 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners And this he was to perform in two particulars First In giving himself by the Passion of his whole Life and Death a ransom for all 1 Tim. chap. 2. vers 6. And Secondly In teaching the World by himself and his Apostles the way to true Faith and due Obedience in order to their Salvation through the all-sufficient Sacrifice of himself offered upon the Altar of his Cross so expresly Acts the 3d vers 22 23. Moses said unto the fathers A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people Now in answer to the Author's Opinion in this first Proposition it would be considered what Christ this Prophet and his Apostles have done in respect to this latter particular by Confirmation and Abolition of the Laws and Ordinances were in use and observation at his coming The Laws before Christ's coming are by Divines divided into Moral Judicial and Ceremonial The Moral Law contained in the Ten Commandments are 〈◊〉 veritatis of an everlasting truth There was no end put to these by Christ but were ratified by the Command and Observation of himself and his Apostles Matthew the 5th vers 19. I am not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil Then there was the Judicial Laws imposed upon the Jewâ— by way of Penalties and other ways 〈◊〉 Upon the breach of some Moral Laws as stoning to death upon committing Adultery and restoring things stolen fourfold c. Secondly Upon the breach of some Ceremonial or Typical Laws as the stoning to death the man for gathering sticks upon the sabbath day Nam 1â— vers 32 33. and cutting off those that should cat Leaven seven days before the Passover and such like All which Judicial and also all Ceremonial Laws and Typical Prefigurations of Christ were ended by our Saviour's coming Doctrine and Death as is evident Colos 2. vers 14. blotting out the hand-writing of ordidinances which was against us which was contrary to us nailing it to his cross Yea I say they were all ended by him together with several of the Jewish Festivals which the Apostle calls Rudiments or weak and beggarly Elements as is to be seen Galat. 4. vers 10. Ye observe days and months and times and years I am afraid of ye But now it remains that I answer to the following words next laid down indefinitely and Traditions of men which must not be granted in its latitude By Tradition is understood for nothing taught by word or writing for mens observation of which Traditions some are abolished and others may or must be continued There were some Traditions besides Rudiments and Ordinances before spoken of that our Saviâ—â—r condemned one was the Command of the â—â—…ers concerning washing of hands before 〈◊〉 as a religious Duty to be performed before this our Saviour condemned Matt. â—5 vers 2 3. And there he condemned several Traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees which made the Laws of God of none effect But secondly Notwithstanding Christ's coming and putting an end to superstitious and wicked Traditions as before mentioned There are some Traditions must and others may and ought to be kept some must be kept namely such as the Apostle speaks of in the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians chap. 2. vers 15. where he saith Hold fast the traditions which 〈◊〉 have been taught whether by word or our epistle These were the Doctrines and Directions of the Apostles in order to justifying Faith and a right worshipping and serving of God and were of Divine Authority and to be observed And secondly there were and are Traditions though not of the same absolute necessity with the former yet that may lawfully and ought to be observed Of this sort are the Instructions Exhortations and Reprehensions of the Ministers of the Word appointed and ordained by them in Authority to seed that part of the Flock of Christ they be set over Also of this sort of Traditions are all Injunctions Canons Liturgies Ceremonies provided first that they be either according to the Word of God or not against it And provided secondly that the end of imposing them be good that is not to make them essential parts of God's Worship as if God's Worship and way of Salvation were not compleated as to the Esse being or substantials of it by himself without them As also that the end of those things injoyned be but pro bene velmelius esse for the well or better being of our Worship in order to obtaining God's Favour and Mercy as also that we might tread the steps of the true Worshippers of God in our lawful Forms of Prayer joyning together and uniting one with another in a more powerful and prevailing way with our God than otherwise according to the Exhortations of David and St. Paul being for the forementioned end that of David Psal 34. vers 3. O saith he magnisie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together And the Prayer of St. Paul for the Romans and all believers to be like minded is for this very end and purpose Romans the 15th vers 5 6. Now the God of all patience and consolation graâ—t ye to be like minded ene towards another that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ But now how shall the Author make out the truth of what remains in the Proposition which is the point even only intended by him herein namely that the Common-Prayer Book Established in Queen Elizabeth's days c. as in the Proposition was one of those Rudiments or Traditions which Christ came to put an end to I think I have mentioned in my Answer to this Proposition most part of the Rudiments and Traditions that Christ ended and abolished at his coming into this World and at his death and I cannot but judge it a great piece of nonsence in the Author to say that Christ came to end that Liturgy which was not in being till above 1400 years after his coming Well but perhaps the Adversaries will say things that come to pass at any time have a being in the fore-sight and fore-knowledge of God before they have their actual being in the World as it was said of Christ Revelations 13. vers 8. That he was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the World To which I Answer Christ the Son of God was not the Lamb slain only from the foundation of the World in the sacrifice of the godly as in a type of him but was also said to be slain in respect to the foresight and design of God
A JUSTIFICATION OF Set FORMS of PRAYER And in Special of the LITURGY Of the Church of England In Answer to And Confutation of Vavasor Powel's Fourteen Considerations against all Composed and Imposed Forms of Prayer By Richard Lewthwat M.A. and Rector of Wethersdale in Suffolk LONDON Printed by A. Godbid and J. Playford for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-Yard 16â—9 To the Right Honorable Henry Earl of Arundel Lord Mowbray c. and his Virtuous and Religious Countess Great Sir BEing put upon the Vindication of Set-Forms of Prayer and especially of the Liturgy of our Church and hearing of your Honour's resolution and beginning according thereto of becoming one in Religion Worship and Service of God in the way of the Church of England with your Illustrious and Devout Consort as ye are become one by Wedlock I thought it my bounden Duty upon the first Opportunity to make known to your Lordship and your religious Lady the great joy there is among us Protestants at your coming in as also to throw in my Mite and small help to settle and continue your Lordship in the Religion you profess with us which I can do no way better than by commending to you with our God and Saviour the daily reading and searching of the Holy Scriptures And as to perusing of Books upon them of which I may say with the Preacher in his prediction namely Ecclesiastes 12.12 there is no end I shall presume to recommend the same Method my Tutor at the Vniversity gave me to settle me firm in our Protestant Religion which was to be conversant in the Homilies of our Church and in the 39 Articles and Rogers upon them And withal I beg your Lordship's favour to do what I intended with all holiness and meekness of Spirit to have desired of your Honourable Father the Duke of Norfolk had he not gone beyond Sea namely to vouchsafe the reading of this short Tractate made publick at the request of divers persons by him who officiated sometimes as Chaplain to your Honourable Family and who is and shall be a truly devoted and well-wishing Servant to your Lordship and your religious Consort and to both your renouned Relations whilest he shall be Richard Lewthwat To my Reverend and Worthy Friend Dr. Laurence Womock Professor of Divinity and Archdeacon of Suffolk Reverend and Learned Sir ACcording to my bounden Duty and the earnest Desire was in my heart to reduce as many as I could of that great number of Scismaticks and Separatists that are about us to the Unity and Communion of our Church among other things in order thereto having received the worthy Tractate of Mr. Robert Conold most fit to help on that my Design I commended the perusal thereof to the chief head of the Independant Faction and most inflexible heart to Reformation about us so I take him to be for he told me then it would be to no purpose he being as in his own expression an old grown Oak in the Principles he was in But through much importunity I got promise of him to read it over and give me his Judgment of it both he granted upon condition that I should answer to things against the late Common-Prayer Book of our Church that were in Print that he would send me Whereupon I promised to give my Answer to the chief Objections whereby I became engaged to return an Answer to him of the things of greatest concern therein which promise of mine will be made good and he obliged to return something about that Tractate of Schism if there be deliver'd to him what I have drawn up to Mr. Powel's Fourteen Considerations in the beginning of his Book of which promise if he fail I hope there will be conviction of him and of his constant hearers and thereupon conversion of them to another Judgment and Practice Now having made known to several persons the said Considerations and my Answers thereto as I have at times drawn them up and my purpose of delivering them to the party in Writing Divers pâ—râ—â—ns have advised and desired me to endeavour the publishing of them by the Press alledging withall several Reasons to perswade me thereto As first because the Factions spreading them by Copies may willingly adulterate the Original and so disable it as to the conviction of them they communicate it to Secondly because if not Printed it will not be so commonly had for the benefit of the Multitude of their weak Proselytes who are captivated and held in the sad bondage of the following and like erroneous Rudiments and Traditions of the Jesuitical Heads of the several Factions in the Kingdom And thirdly because they hearing of my Promise made long since and not yet performed he and others give out that the Allegations in that Pamplet against Set-Forms of Prayer cannot be answer'd by my self or any of my Judgment Upon consideration whereof 't is presumed that if my Promise be not performed and published it may occasion the more secure Settlement of them in those dangerous Errors as also make a greater seduction of others to them than otherwise would have been For which reasons I have pitched upon the latter way of publication hereof if Authority shall permit Now if your self shall upon perusal approve the Answer as Orthodoxal and that it may be helpful to the bringing back but of the simple yet as I presume conscientious Multitude ledd away through good Words and fair Speeches as the Apostle speaketh of those who have caused Divisions and Offences contrary to sound Doctrine Then I most humbly beg that your self would Patronize this small Work being Dedicated to your Protection To which request if you shall condescend 't is very probable those Adversaries of our Church will not dare to rally Forces again about the present concerns or to give me another challenge fearing that if so you may become Second upon the next Quarrel whose success in conflicts of this kind they know to have been such that they will not venture upon any further Undertakings about this matter But Reverend Sir whilst I am arguing against these and other Errors near of kin to one another and reading these Answers to Mr. Powel's Errors to some loth to come out of them they tell me I am not of the same Opinion as formerly they say I was against Infant Baptism and the Book of Common-Prayer I now write for Sir to say a little to these Charges 'T is well known to your self by my Letters word of Mouth and Practice but best known to my self that I can easily take upon me by acknowledgment of my Errors and Mistakes for God's glory my own and others Eternal Safety all the shame and Temporal Evils incident thereupon which is much evident when through your discovering to me the Error I was in your self knew I came as willingly as through your help safely down from that high and dangerous Precipice I had climbed up to of absolute and irrespective as
Tantum enim Deo c. For so pleasing to God is the Unity of his Servants therein that he will not have his Glory sounded forth in groundless and injustifiable Debates and Discords about the manner of his Worship and Service In Congregations and Churches with them by them where he is called upon and served according to or not against his Rule in his Word as our Church of England in all things punctually observeth For which additional Gloss of mine upon Mr. Calvin's last words I have the Apostle backing of me Romans 16. vers 17. Mark them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ And the aforesaid Author makes so good an use and application of the Apostle's supplication there that were it generally practised by the Factions among us the glory of God would be so magnified the Church of Christ here in England so comforted and augmented the State and Kingdom so settled and united and thereupon so strengthned that then England would be in the eyes of Christ her husband as his Espouse was in the Canticles chap. 6. v. 4. namely Beautiful as Tirzah and comely as Hierusalem and would be to Rome and all other her deadly Enemies terrible as an Army with Banners His useful Inference follows in these words Hac una cogitatio c. The thought whereof alone may be sufficient to restrain that mad and outragious behaviour of contending and scoulding without offence given he means about matters of Religion which as yet doth possess too much the heads of multitudes I translate it scoulding 't is so like the debates of froward Women being commonly carryed on ignorantly by meer passion and spiritual pride not by Scripture Reason Authentick or Church Precedents For as to the later St. Paul saith 1 Corinth 11. vers 16. If any man seem to be contentious we have no such Custom nor the Churches of God And to help all men among us to be as careful and studious to be quiet and to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace hereafter as it hath bâ—â—n their labour and glory to be disquiet and to break it I 'le remembrance ye with one thing more recorded of Mr. Calvan When Dr. Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Rogers upon the â—0 Articles in his Presaâ—â—… in the Infancy of the Reformed Churches being in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth was taking care for that one mainly necessary thing of Uniformity in Doctrine and Discipline among the said Churches To effect that blessed Work he imparted his thoughts to several persons of rarest note throughout Christendom Mr. Calvin understanding the Archbishop's intent addrest his Letters to him and offer'd his service thereto saying That might his Labours stand the Church in stead Ne decem quidem maria c. It would not grieve him to Sail over ten Seas to give his help to such a blessed Undertaking The which if he had done and had given assent and consent to the Labours of the Reverend Learned and Modest Divines of our Church it might happily have prevented his dangerous and doubtful Determinations about Election and Reprobation deposited in his Institutions or if they had been published before might perhaps have been retracted by him to the laying aside the long and fruitless disturbance of the Churches of Christ thereupon And now drawing towards an end I shall mind ye with the Argument our Saviour useth in his Prayer to keep all Believers in the before-mentioned Unity He prays the Father they may be all one c. That the World may believe that thou hast sent me Here our Saviour mentions the great help of Unity and Concord among men professing Christianity to bring the World that is as I may rightlier gloss upon the word World there than they that tie it up to a peculiar number of the Elect multitudes of people to the Faith of Christ For indeed Unity among Christians will do by the World sometimes doubting of the Christ or Messiah as Christ's Miracles did for John Baptist it will settle them so far in the Faith as to own That this is he that should come and that they will not look for another So our Saviour Christ expresly speaking of Unity under the Notion of Mutual Love among his Disciples or of both together John 13. vers 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have Love one to another And now see the fruit or benefit of Unity and Uniformity in a Church of Christ and among men professing Christianity 't is the great means under God to add to the Church of Christ daily such as may or would be saved and to bring the World to know and believe that Christ is the stone set at naught by the Jewish builders and is become the head of the corner and that there is no Salvation in any other and that there is no other name under heaven given whereby men must be saved Acts 4.11 12. And as Unity in the Church is thus helpful to bring in them that are without and Unbelievers to the saving Faith of Christ so Difference and Divisions there do keep men without from coming in that were entering which is evident from the rule of contrary causes which is to produce contrary effects which I could evidence from Examples if it were not for fear of being too tedious in so apparent truth And upon this consideration to bring back again and to reunite to us them that are separated and gone out from us I desire them to consult and mind the sad state and condition Christ and his Spirit say they are in In the life to come instead of their seat they might had with Abraham Isaac and Jacob it must be with Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites See Matt. 23.13 and Antichrist 1 John 2. vers 18. I shall now hint to you in a Breviate what might be shewed further to awaken ye to a return and come into the Society and Fellowship of our holy Church First God is not with ye for God is the God of Love Peace and Unity where he is truly and rightly worshipped as he is in our Church of England and therefore you separating from it in such groundless heady fierce and fiery storms as ye have done God is no more in you nor with you nor them than he was in the strong winds Earth-quake and are that made such noise and havock upon the Mount Horch 1 Kings 19. vers 11. where 't is said God was in none of them In the second place God by his word hath silenced ye and suspended ye from your usurped Office for that in the 50 Psalm vers 16. is against ye Why doest thou preach my Laws and takest my Covenant into thy mouth whereas thou hatest to be reformed and hast cast my words behind thee For vers 20. Thou sattest and spakest against thy brother and
hast standred thine own mother's son In the third place God's Spirit denys ye to be Churches of Christ or else at least he charges ye with such evil Customs as none of them have or at least as they ought not to have for those words of the Apostle 1 Corin. 11. v. 16. belong to you and to such as you are If any man seem to be contentious we have no such custome neither the Churches of God The Factions do not only seem contentious they have too deeply engaged themselves therein for either their own or others spiritual good In the last place Ye are by the Apostle deliver'd with the incestuous person up to Satan As I may say he hath excommunicated you Romans 16. v. 17. Mark them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine ye have learned and avoid them If ye will be holding forth the Word as ye call it the Apostle would have ye have no other Auditors than the Walls and Stools are with ye he orders all to avoid ye none to hear ye or associate with ye unless for your conversion And now from my Heart for your conversion to us in the Apostle's words to the Corinthians the 1st Epistle chap. 1. vers 10. I do exhort ye and beseech ye in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ That ye all speak the same thing that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together with us in the same mind and in the same judgment And to prevail with ye all to joyn with us speedily in Worshipping the God of Peace and Unity I convince ye in the words of the Apostle Philippians 2. vers 1 2 3. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded have the same love being of one accord of one mind with us Let nothing henceforth be done through strife or vain-glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves So biddeth farewel to ye all Richard Lewthwat February 26. 1677. Mr. Lewthwat I Have heard read and consider'd of your Treatise Intituled A Justification of set Forms of Prayer and in especial of the Liturgy of the Church of England in Answer to and Confutation of Vavasor Powel's Fourteen Considerations against Composed and Imposed Forms c. And upon the whole matter I conceive it may be very Useful and Profitable especially to the vulgar sort of seduced Dissenters to with-draw them from their former Errors and procure their Return to the Way of Divine Worship prescribed in the Church of England if you will be perswaded to permit it to be made Publick by the Press Hen. Nerford B. D. Rector of Attleburgh Norf. I Edward Atkinson Rector of Bunwell Norf. desire the same thing To the Composers Imposers Readers and Hearers of COMMON-PRAYER to the Disputers and Writers for COMMON-PRAYER I Would desire ye all in the Name and Fear of the All-seeing Almighty and All judging God to set these following and the like Considerations to your Hearts and your Hearts to them First How jealous the Lord of Heaven and Earth is of his own Worship and of all the Parts and Circumstances thereto belonging Deut. 5.9 Hos 5.11 Matth. 15.3 Col. 2.21 Rev. 22.14.20 2. How abominable and unacceptable to this holy just God have been and is all Idolatrous Superstitious and False Services and all that do serve him in any way or thing which he hath not himself commanded and appointed Deut. 7.25 26. Isa 30.22 and the 66.3 4. Jerem. 9.13 14. Ezr. 20.4 3. How sorely and severely hath he punished those Kings Priests Prophets and people that have been false Worshippers and swerved from his holy Commandments 1 Kings 11.6 Numb 11.34 4. Consider whether God doth call upon any of you all to offer him any such Service as this is and whether he may not say to you as he did once to Judah Who hath required this at your hand Isai 1.12 5. How inconsistant with the day and light of the Gospel is this Service God having sent his Word more fully and plainly to direct his Ministers and People and given his Spirit in a more abundant measure to help and enable them to call upon him 6. How little good if any at all hath been done by the long use of the Service-Book though men have prayed long by it that the rest of their lives might be holy and righteous and yet they still continue profane and unrighteous 7. How much hurt it hath done in sholdering and thrusting out many godly painful soul-saving Preachers and in bringing in and maintaining so many ignorant scandalous lazy and formal Priests and Curats to the deceiving and utter undoing of precious souls 8. Whether the imposing of the Scotish Liturgy which in some things was better though in some others was worse than the English was not the beginning and the first cause of the late grievous Wars and if so whether men should not be more cautious to do the like for the future 9. Whether if the truth were throughly and truly weighed and examined the first end of Composing the Common-Prayer-Book which do's so much symbolize with the Mass was not to bring Papists to Church but it effected so little therein not because they so much disliked it as because it was not in Latin and commanded by the Pope that it rather confirm'd them in their Mass-service 10. Whether some may not intend by the re-establishing this Book to oppose and put down that excellent and gracions Spirit of Prayer and Preaching which God hath poured out upon his Ministers and to make this a snare and net against all Preachers and people that out of Conscience cannot conform thereto 11. Whether any persons can produce any such Liturgy or Form of Prayer from the beginning of the World either among the Jews or Geztiles till above three hundred years after Christ when Anti-Christ began to exercise Papal Power 12. Whether if there were no other reason but that this Book hath been so much Idoliz'd by the generality of men and offensive to so many Christians it should not be done with as the Brasen Serpent was by Hezekiah 1 Kings 13. Whether one end of Christ's coming into and one part of his work in the World was not to redeem men from the Rudiments and Traditions of men of which this is one And whether it be not a sin against the Blood and Spirit and Gospel of Christ to impose maintain and continue still the use of the same 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Heb. 9.10 11. 14. Whether at the great and terrible day of Judgment any Magistrates and Ministers or People can justifie before Christ the making imposing reading or hearing of this or the like Service And whether good men as far as they build with this Material will not suffer loss And whether those can stand then in the Judgment
Vain-glory or of Covetousness even by the same Spirit or ends our Saviour said was in the Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites whose Prayers were lengthned for a shew or for pretences Luke 20.47 and Matt. 23. vers 14. But let 's see what can be said for their pretended more abundant help of the Spirit in respect to their Extemporary and Unpremeditated mode of Praying To this I answer If any will go thus to God in Prayer in private but especially in publick that is without a due premeditation and consultation with himself of the mercies received he and the people are to be thankful for or of the things they stand in need of and are to beg of God 't is no less than unwarranted singularity and rash presumption in respect to authentick and Scripture Precedents and Instructions and to term it praying by the help of God's Spirit 't is no less than Blasphemy in the highest nature Let 's look into the Scriptures for the truth hereof Gen. 24. vers 63. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field Another Translation renders it he went out to pray And the reason of these differing Translations Vatablus affirms to be because the word in the original which is Suach signifies both to Meditate and to Pray so that it might have been render'd Isaac went out to Meditate and to Pray And then it commends thus much to our Practice and the present purpose First we must meditate of God's goodness to us and our wants and that done then put up our Praises and Prayers to God being by that premeditation better inabled to perform that Duty than without it A Marginal Note upon this place saith That this was the Exercise of the godly Fathers in those times to meditate of God's merciful Pronuses and then to pray for the accomplishing of them And this was the practice of David Psal 63 vers 5 6 7. My mouth shall praise thee with joyfullips look on and you shall see David will not enter upon this Duty rashly without meditation of God's help and goodness what it was this he said he would do when he had remembred him upon his bed and meditated on him in the night watches because he had been his help The resolution of the Twelve Acts the 6th vers 4. will joyn in condemnation of this their mode of praying without premeditation at least there the Twelve said we will give our selves unto prayer continually and to the ministry of the word I presume that by their resolution of giving themselves much to prayer they neither meant a constant heathenish nor pharisaical length of prayer nor at all the late 〈…〉 kind of unpremeditated supplication both which modes have been and yet are too much in use No the Twelve by giving themselves to prayer considering the practice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Scriptures 〈◊〉 by the same Spirit with the Twelve it was â—eâ—…t of Composing Forms of Prayer for themselves and others to put up their Prayers by or at least of searching to know by meditation their own and others 〈◊〉 they were to take care of and then to seek up with Mâ—sâ—s David and others inabled by the same Spirit of Prayer such arguments and reasons from consideration of God's promises and properties and of Christ's undertakings and from considerations of mens wants and necessities that thereby they might put up to Godâ—… effectual and servent Prayers for themselves and those they were setover by Christ Which gloss may very well be admitted as the meaning of the twelve Apostles there considering St. Paul's direction concerning Prayer who was of the same dedication with the twelve both as to Prayer and the Ministry of the Word 1 Tim. 2. vers 1 2 3. the Apostle there directing Timothy and all other Ministers of Christ after him as to the manner of praying to God He doth not there exhort to the performing of that duty in such way as that praying in this or the fore mentioned mode or manner it should be done according to God's will His Exhortation is not that men pray for Kings and all in Authority The Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I exhort that Prayers be made which word bears to be composed prepared or made ready as in a form up to God to put the desires of their hearts for all men for Kings and all in Authority that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty 'T is confest that in the Apostles times among other miraculous gifts of the holy Ghost some had their Extemporary Effusions 1 Cor. 11.14 15. and with the 2â—th Every one of you hath a Psalm c. but the Apostle observing that this begâ—t so much Emulation Faction and confusion among them he restrained the use of those Gifts and injoyned that all things should be done decently and to that effect that they should be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to rule appointment and order vers 23. and the 40th Or again the former gloss upon the resolution of the twelve Apostles of giving themselves much to Prayer may be admitted as their meaning there considering what it was for them to give themselves to the Ministry of the Word for what is meant of giving themselves to the word is meant of giving themselves to Prayer Now the Apostles by giving themselves to the Ministry of the Word was meant their searching into the will of God their studying and meditating of the mind of Christ by comparing as St. Paul speaks spiritual things with spiritual Scripture with Scripture and by consulting one with another of the sure way of salvation as we see was their practice when the difference arose about Circumcision Acts 15. from vers 1. to the 30th Which thing is also evident from the practice of the Apostle St. Paul whose giving himself to the Ministry of the Word was doing what he commended in others 1 Tim. 5. vers 17. namely labouring in the Word and Doctrine by study and meditation of the word of God joyned to the assistance of God's spirit that was helping of him So that I see not but that that place where the twelve Apostles resolved to give themselves much to Prayer rightly expounded gives a suffrage with the practice of Isaac David and others in condemning this mode of unpremeditated praying to God And so I shall end my declamation against it with part of the second Verse of the fifth Chapter of Ecclesiastes the end whereof before with other places of Scripture gave sentence against the heathenish and pharisaical mode of Prayer Be not rash with your mouths and let not your hearts be hasty henceforth to utter any thing before God for God is in heaven and you upon earth But though I have said thus much against the two former modes of Prayer as they be used by the factious against both Scripture Precedents and Rules for Devotion yet I would have the Adversaries know that I am not so against sudden and unpremeditated Prayers or