eaten do not they forbid to handle i. e. Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs which St. Paul has commanded to be Sung And what is all this but to subject others to their own Ordinances which are but the Commandments and Traditions of Men Thus those very Texts of Scripture which these Men foolishly brandish against us sometimes urging them against Infant Baptism sometimes against Sprinkling sometimes against the Cross and other Ceremonies and sometimes against our Common Prayer as our Author here do all turn upon themselves and give them a deadly and incurable Wound CHAP. VI. BUT if none of the aforementioned Texts will serve the turn but rather prove mischeivous to him Jo. Bunyan has Two in reserve that shall effectually confute us the first is Zachar. 12.10 I will pour upon the House of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplication c. which being Prophesied of the Gospel Days he thence infers that the Spirit is the Author of all our Prayers and therefore must needs invent and dictate them to us in Answer to which I say 1st That what we Translate the Spirit of Supplication may as properly be rendred the Spirit of Mercy and so the Seventy render it the Word in the Original signifying as well to shew Mercy as to Pray and then the Argument deduced from this Place is of no force at all that because God wou'd have Mercy upon the Jews who are here meant by the House of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem in bringing them out of Captivity that therefore we Christians have a Promise here to Pray by the Spirit in that Sense our Author wou'd have it 2dly If we allow the Vulgar Translation in rendring it the Spirit of Supplication and that this Prophecy has respect to the Gospel Days it was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when so many Thousands were Converted by St Peter's Sermon of whom it is said they were first pricked to the Heart Acts 2.37 i. e. for all their Sins and particularly for that great one of Crucifying of Jesus Christ and so they looked on him whom they had pierced as the Prophet foretold they should in the same place by the Eye of Faith and Repentance and received from him the Spirit of Grace and Supplication i. e. such miraculous Gifts and Graces as were bestowed upon the Apostles and first Disciples of our Lord and were confined to that Age when was fulfilled also that Prophecy of Joel Chap. 2.28 29. as St. Peter assures us Acts 2.16 This is it i. e. those miraculous Gifts which you see us have which was spoken by the Prophet Joel 3dly The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Supplication because all those Prayers in the Old and New Testament which were made by the Prophets and Apostles and particularly that of our Lord were immediately Inspired and Dictated by the Holy Ghost and they are left upon Record as so many Patterns for us to Compose our Prayers by them on the like occasions and so the Spirit helps our Infirmities in teaching us to Pray according to these Scripture Forms 4thly Because the Holy Spirit stirs us up to this Duty and assists us with fervent Desires in the actual Performance of it on this account also he may be Styled The Spirit of Supplication altho' he does not Dictate to us the very words of our Prayer as he did to the Prophets and Apostles and for any to pretend he does unless they can produce the like Miracles as the Prophets and Apostles wrought is the greatest vanity and Presumption in the World 5thly We may on as good or better Grounds affirm that he is called the Spirit of Supplication because He assists us in the Composure and Devout use of godly Forms of Prayer since 't is said Zach. 12.11 In that Day shall there be a great Mourning in Jerusalem as the Mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo and how that was we are given to understand 2 Chron. 35.25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the Singing-Men and Singing-Women spake of Josiah in their Lamentations to this Day and made them an Ordinance in Israel i. e. the Jews had a Form of Prayer and Lamentations to be Sung with doleful Notes every Year to Condole the great Loss of that good King Josiah And if the Spirit of Supplication will cause us to Mourn in our Prayers before the Lord as the Jews did we must compose and use the like Form as they did and such a Form have we in our Common Prayer Book wherein on January the Thirtieth we Mourn for our English Josiah I mean King Charles the Martyr and therefore it ought to be continued as an Ordinance among us like that of Jeremiah 's among the Israelites and 't is to the Shame and Scandal of some of our Clergy that this Day is antiquated and the Anniversary-Service disused in several Places and I mention it for no other Reason but in hopes they may be speedily Reform'd or exemplarily Punished John Bunyan's second reserved Proof is p. 112. How will the Favourers of such a Practice i. e. Forms of Prayer answer that Scripture which commandeth the Church should turn away from such as have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power thereof 2 Tim. 3.5 and this he had urged before p. 57. The great Cheat that the Devil and Antichrist deludes the World withal is to make them continue in the Form of any Duty the Form of Preaching of Hearing of Praying c. These are they that have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power from such turn away But this Text also tho' he repeats it and puts false glosses upon it makes nothing to his purpose but rather against him for 1st St. Paul does not here Condemn a Form of Godliness having Commanded it a little before in the very same Epistle 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the Form of sound Words which thou hast heard of me And surely the same Apostle who Commands us to hold fast cannot be supposed so changeable as to Command us to turn away from a Form of Godliness that can never be the meaning of the Place to make the same inspired Penman to Write Contradictions in the same Epistle When therefore he upbraids them with having a Form of Godliness it was only because it was separated from the Power thereof i. e. they had put asunder those things which God would have united as Almighty God upbraids the Jews with the Multitude of their Sacrifices their vain Oblations Incense new Moons and Sabbaths as if he did not require but abominate them and yet these things God himself had strictly enjoyn'd under great Penalties Isa 1.11 12 13. But the Reason why he is there said to loath them is because their Hands were full of Blood they did not bring these Sacrifices and Oblations with such pure Hearts and clean Hands with which he commanded them to be Offer'd at his Altar ver 15 16 17. Now this Author might
Expressions by no means agree to St. Paul who was Converted before this being quite contrary to the Nature of a Regenerate Man who is said in other places of this Epistle to be free from Sin and the Servant of Righteousness Rom. 6.18 That the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 That he has crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Gal. 5.24 That Sin does not Reign in his mortal Body that he should obey it in the Lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 So that unless we can twist Contradictions we cannot suppose St. Paul to speak of himself in that seventh Chapter but only of a Judaising Christian or a Convinced but not Converted Person and nothing is more usual than for Prophets and Apostles to speak in the Person of others when they say I or We did so or so for we cannot suppose St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles or indeed any sensible Christian so very Ignorant as not to know to whom and thro' whom and for what to Pray and therefore the we know not c. must have respect to other Men and such as were Heathens and Unconverted who had not before heard of Christ or seen the Gospel where there are Rules laid down and those Dictated and written by the Holy Spirit how they and all Men ought to Pray even to our Father which is in Heaven thro' his beloved Son Jesus Christ for such Lawful things as are according to his Will And when Men Pray thus according to that excellent Form which Christ has prescribed his Holy Spirit will also assist them with good Desires so that they shall Heartily wish and long for those things for which they Pray with submission to the Will of God and thus the Spirit helpeth our Infirmities in revealing to us the Holy Scriptures where those that were Ignorant before are taught how to Pray as they ought But our Author goes on with his Paraphrase p. 30.31 The Apostles when they were at best yea when they were assisted with the Holy Ghost yet then they were fain to come off with Sighs and Groans c. Mark here says he they could not so well and fully come off in the manner of performing this Duty as these in our Days think they can But is not this another good Argument for Forms of Prayer when the Apostles themselves stood in need of them and therefore desired Christ to teach them such a Form as John had taught his Disciples Luke 11.1 Lord teach us to Pray as John also taught his Disciples And certainly they had need to be taught such a Form to help them out if they were such Bunglers at Prayer as J. Bunyan represents them viz. That they were not able to make an end of the Prayer they had begun in the Congregation but were forc'd to break off abruptly perhaps in the midst thereof which must needs cause Shame to themselves and Disappointment and Confusion to the whole Assembly which all their Sighs and Groans would never be able to compensate but no Man of Sense can believe the Apostles ever Prayed at this rate in the Church of God where they command all things to be done Decently and in order and to the Edification of the People 1 Cor. 14.26.40 For what Order Decency or Edifying is there in Sighs and Groans which Hypocrites may utter as well as Sincere Christians And when either does it who can tell the meaning of them And may not a Man edifie as much by the Quakers Silent-meetings as by such Sighs and Groans which have no certain and determinate Signification as Words and Speeches have And yet if we may believe Jo. Bunyan these were a good part of the Apostles Prayers even in their publik Assemblies but the Proof which he brings for it is Simple and Ridiculous viz. For the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered Whereas these are not the Groanings of the Apostles or of any Man else upon the Face of the Earth but the Groanings of the Holy-Ghost himself in Heaven where together with the Lord Jesus he maketh Intercession for us at the Right-hand of God and that in a very fervent and powerful manner which St. Paul calls his Groanings which cannot be uttered and therefore can never be applyed to the Groanings of Men which are always heard and make a sound in their very utterance So foolish and presumptuous is this Man in Expounding and Applying this Text especially in endeavouring to prove from it that the Holy Spirit does invent and dictate to us the very words of Prayer for here are no Words at all proceeding from the Spirit but only Groanings How then can this place prove that the Spirit suggests to us the Words of our Prayer when he interceeds for us without Words even with Groanings but pray mistake not not with such Groanings as Jo. Bunyan and his Party makes and may be heard in every corner of the House and in the very Streets but with Groanings that cannot be uttered And that these are the inexpressible Desires of Christ and the Spirit of God in Heaven is plain from Rom. 8.27 He that searcheth the Hearts i. e. Almighty God whose Prerogative it is knoweth what is the Mind of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God So that this Text also as all the rest turns upon the Objector and proves that the Spirit does not put Words into their Mouths nor cause those Groanings which are so loud and frequent in their Meetings the Spirits Groanings here being said to be without noise or sound without utterance or expression they are such as cannot be uttered Whence I may well conclude that Jo. Bunyan 's extemporary Prayers his dismal Groans and those Fits and Agonies of the Spirit which he says he was sometimes in when he was strongly perswaded to leave off and to seek the Lord no longer p. 71. I may conclude I say that this is a great Cheat of the Devil and Antichrist by which he does delude and deceive the World by which Men would perswade themselves and others that they Pray with the Spirit that they Preach with the Spirit and Hear with the Spirit even with the same extraordinary Spirit which St. Paul had when there is no such thing but they are rather possessed by an evil Spirit which makes them think and speak so highly and vain-gloriously of themselves and so contemptibly and uncharitably of others their Mouth speaketh great swelling Words having Mens Persons in admiration because of advantage These be they that separate themselves Sensual having not the Spirit Jud. ver 16.19 CHAP. VIII HAving said in the Conclusion of the former Chapter that J. Bunyan and his Party have not the Spirit to which they so much pretend I come now to prove this Charge against them from two substantial Arguments 1st Their Disobedience to their Lawful
in the Holy Scripture for their continual Observation as Psal 116.15 Precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of the Saints and 't is the Days of their Death and Martyrdom and not of their Birth which we Commemorate not their first Days in which they were Born into the World but the last Days in which they were Born into an happy Eternity and on these Days we do not only Bless God for those eminent Vertues and Graces which Shone in them but also we desire him to enable us to follow their good Examples that being compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses we may run with Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus their Captain General who with them has endured the Cross and receiv'd a Crown in Heaven and by this means we do what we can to perpetuate their Memory on Earth as God expects we should Psal 112.6 The Righteous shall be had in everlasting Remembrance And this the Primitive Christians began by first keeping the Day of these Saints Martyrdom at the very Place where they suffer'd and this after Ages follow'd by Celebrating it in all other Places where Christianity was professed and I doubt not but it will be continued in all future Ages even unto the end of the World among all Orthodox Christians CHAP. III. HAving in the former Chapter detected the Sophistry and Fallaciousness of John Bunyans Arguments against Forms of Prayer and shewn how they rather conclude for them and against his Pretences to Pray by the Spirit I shall now proceed to discover the Weakness and Folly of his Answer to that convincing Proof for the Lawfulness of Forms even our Saviour's Command for it Luke 11.2 When ye Pray say our Father c. To this he says p. 80. I cannot think that Christ intended it as a stinted Form of Prayer because he lays it down diversly But how diversly Mat. 6.9 our blessed Lord says After this manner Pray ye Our Father c. the plain import of which is that this ought to be the Pattern by which we shou'd Compose all our Prayers but least his Disciples who had desired their Master to teach them a Form of Prayer as John Baptist had taught his Disciples shou'd think it well enough to have an Eye only to this Pattern in Composing all their Prayers by tho' in the mean time they never made use of this very Form it self therefore in Luke 11.2 our Saviour said unto them When ye Pray say Our Father c. i. e. do not content your selves to Pray after this manner in other Prayers of your own Composing them according to it but also use this very Prayer it self together with your own of the like Nature that putting up your Petitions to Almighty God with a good Heart in Christ's own Words ye may be sure to be heard and let any honest Christian but Read and Compare these two Evangelists together in this Point and I am confident he will acknowledge that Christ must needs intend this Prayer of his should it self be daily used and also the true Standard of all our Devotions and consequently he must needs intend it for a Form or else his Words and Intentions would not agree which is Blasphemy to imagine But out Author answers farther p. 81. We do not find that the Apostles did ever observe this Form as such neither did they admonish others so to do search all their Epistles c. But did not the Apostles do many things which are not written there As St. John says there are also many other things which Jesus did which are not written every one of them in the Gospel Joh. 21.25 For were not all the Apostles Baptized And yet we do not Read in the New Testament of the Baptism of any one of them so the Apostles might and without doubt did make use of the Lords Prayer tho' there be no mention of it in their Epistles otherwise how were they Faithful in keeping Christs Commandments themselves this being one of them When ye Pray say Our Father c. and this doubtless they taught others to use also or else they were not Faithful in executing Christs Commission who at the delivery thereof speaks thus Mat. 28.19.20 Go ye therefore and Proselyte all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you and this being one thing that Christ had Commanded them when ye Pray say Our Father c. we cannot suppose that they fail'd to teach others to observe this also as well as Baptism or any other Gospel Duty But after all his trifling Answers to this invincible Objection Jo. Bunyan confesseth p. 81. That Christ by these Words Our Father which art in Heaven doth instruct his People what Rules they should observe in their Prayers to God And if it is a Rule for all our Prayers is not this as great a Confinement of the Spirit as the limiting of it to this or any other Form of sound Words This Author p. 75. and those that made the Directory tho' they are Enemies to all Forms of Prayer and therefore abolished our excellent Liturgy yet lay down certain Rules which we must observe in Praying to Almighty God which is indeed to do that thing themselves which they condemn in us and call a Restraining of the Spirit for to dictate to the Spirit the Heads of Prayer which he must insist upon and leave him at liberty only in the choice of Words is every whit as much if not more a restraining of the Spirit than only to appoint the Words and leave him at liberty in the choice of the Sense the Matter of Prayer being more considerable than Words and the Sense more valuable than Language If therefore the Spirit must be left free why do they themselves confine him in imposing on him the Heads of his Prayer As if he needed help for Invention as our * See his excellent Book p. 686. Royal Martyr observed tho' not for expression or as if Matter did not as much stint and obstruct the Spirit as if it were cloathed in and confined to fit Words so slight and easy is the Leger-de-main which will serve to delude the Vulgar And from hence any one may well conclude that these Men instead of being inspired with the Spirit of God are possessed with the Spirit of Pride and Singularity what else is the meaning of their taking away the Book of Common Prayer and yet establishing a Directory in its room which is as much a restraining of the Spirit as the other What else is the meaning of that Passage in the entrance of the Directory p. 5 Let all enter the Assembly not irreverently but in a grave and seemly manner taking their Seats or Places without Adoration or Bowing themselves towards one Place or other But that because when we enter the Church the Place of
to Despair than perswade them to Pray but as he immediately subjoyns bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and what can that import but to teach them to say the Creed Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments which contain the Sum and Substance of the Christian Religion even what we ought to believe and do and how to Pray in order to Salvation But especially to teach our Children to Pray according to that perfect and compleat Form which our Lord Jesus has taught us and left upon Record in the Gospel this is to Breed them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord and not the next way to make them cursed Hypocrites and puff them up with Pride as our uncharitable Author says it will p. 78. I am confident to tell little Children of Hell-fire and Damnation and their own Wretched and Miserable estate if they understand what we say is the next way to cast them down into the Gulph of Despair and therefore our blessed Saviour took a quite contrary Course with them Mark 10.14 Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven and v. 15. Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child he shall not enter therein and ver 16. He took them up in his Arms puts his Hands upon them and Blessed them which without doubt he did by some short Form of Prayer and so by that taught little Children to Pray also Our Lord Jesus to encourage little Children to be good betimes says of such is the Kingdom of Heaven but J. Bunyan to discourage them says of such is the Kingdom of Hell Christ proposes them as a Pattern of Meekness Innocence and Humility Mat. 18.2 3 4 5 6. But John Bunyan exposes them as the Objects of Gods Wrath and Vengeance and so many Brands of Hell-fire and this he says will make Tears run down your sweet Babes Eyes and hearty Groans to flow from your Hearts tho' any one else would imagine this would swallow them up with overmuch Grief and sink their tender Spirits into downright Despair and here I cannot chuse but take notice how much this Man is for Groaning since he would have Children to learn it instead of their Prayers Why according to his way of Expounding Scripture Rom. 8.26 the Childrens Groanings may be as acceptable to God as the best of our Prayers for as I observ'd before Chap. 7. he says The Apostles could not so well come off in the manner of performing this Duty c. When the Holy Ghost assisted them yet even then they were fain to come off with Sighs and Groans falling short of expressing their Minds but with Sighs and Groans which cannot be utter'd But how then could they express their Minds by them if they were unutterable and cannot Children as well express their Minds this way as the very Apostles themselves if they can but Groan lustily as he supposes the other to have done So that our Author has found out a new Way to teach Children to Pray as well as their ungifted Brethren 't is but for them to Groan well and often and loud and the Work is done and they may be said to Pray as well as the Apostles ever did and this Groaning will save them the labour of Reading the Bible or Learning any Catechism that has the Lord's Prayer in it O poor sweet Babes The Lord open your Eyes and make you see and shun the wicked and pernicious Counsel of such groaning Hypocrites And I must farther observe that J. Bunyan does not in all his Advice here put Parents upon Teaching their Children to Read the Holy Scriptures tho' Timothy had done it from a Child and St. Paul commends him for it 2 Tim. 3.15 And I doubt the true Reason why he does not mention the Reading their Bibles is for fear they should meet with the Lord's Prayer in it and so have a mind to learn by Heart that excellent Form which Christ himself has made and enjoyned all his Disciples to use yet p. 79. he Quotes a Passage out of Psalm 34.11 which is this Come ye Children hearken unto me and I will Teach you the fear of the Lord Which after his silly way he Paraphrases thus David does not say I will Nuzzle you up in a Form but I will Teach you the fear of the Lord. Where if the words refer to Children and not Men as they seem to do from the next Verse ver 12. What Man is he that desireth Life Yet 1st Jo. Bunyan uses a Beastly Comparison in calling our Teaching Children a Form of Prayer a Nuzzling them up in it which is an Expression belonging to Hogs whose young ones are said to be Nuzzled up by them and 't is a piece of Profane Wit to compare the Teaching our Children Godly Forms of Prayer to the rearing up young Pigs this is to offend and despise not only one but all these little ones tho' we are cautioned against it at the Peril of our Souls and least their Angels Revenge the Contempt we throw upon them Mat. 18.6.10 Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me it were better that a Milstone were hanged about his Neck and that he were Drowned in the depth of the Sea Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in heaven 2dly 'T is plain that David was for Educating Children in a Form or else he had not kept the Commandment of the Lord who required him to do it as is evident from Deut. 6.6 7. And these Words which I command thee this Day shall be in thine Heart which relates chiefly to the ten Commandments mentioned in the 5th Chapter And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy House and when thou walkest by the Way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up And Deut. 31.12.13 Gather the People together Men Women and Children and the Stranger that is within thy Gates that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the Words of this Law And What was all this but the Teaching their Children Forms So that David himself according to this Fellows unseemly Comparison did Nuzzle up Children in Forms or else he had disobeyed God which required it and the Teaching them such Forms is here called the Teaching them the fear of the Lord so unhappy still is this Man in urging Texts of Scripture that they all conclude against him and for that very thing against which he produceth them CHAP. X. NOW after all least any should censure me for speaking too lightly of these Mens Groanings and Pretences to Pray by the Spirit I have this which I presume will be thought sufficient by all Honest and Impartial