Opinion thus stated I present you with this Argument If the Duty of Prayer may be performed without an Ability of Expressions then the Gift of Prayer cannot consist in an Ability of Expressions But the Duty of Prayer may be performed without an Ability of Expressions Therefore the Gift of Prayer cannot consist in that Ability The Minor I prove thus He that wants a Tongue or hath lost the use of it hath no Ability of Expressions But he that wants a Tongue or hath lost the use of it may perform the Duty of Prayer Ergo The Major must be granted unless you will say that a Man is able to speak and express himself without a Tongue Neither can the Minor be denied unless you will deny to Deaf and Dumb Men all faculty of praying which hath been allowed to them by lifting up their Hearts unto God And therefore the Conclusion must follow of Course That the Duty of Prayer may be performed without an Ability of Expressions So that the Minor Proposition of the Argument stands firm and there is no getting out there Come we then to the Major which I prove thus That without which the Duty of Prayer may be performed cannot be the Gift of Prayer Therefore if the Duty of Prayer may be performed without an Ability of Expressions the Gift of Prayer cannot lie in it The Antecedent must be granted because otherwise the Duty of Prayer may be performed without the Gift of Prayer Now though any Wise Man would think this absurd enough and pity a Man that was reduc'd to the necessity of affirming it yet because you cannot see the Absurdity of it for I find you affirming that the Duty of Prayer may be and often is performed without the Gift of it I will therefore give you One Argument that may serve as a Pair of Spectacles to help your weak Eyes to discern it and that is this If the Gift of Prayer be the Power or Ability of performing the Act or Duty of Prayer then the Duty of Prayer cannot be performed without the Gift of Prayer But the Gift of Prayer is the Power or Ability of performing the Act or Duty of Prayer Therefore the Act or Duty cannot be perform'd without the Gift The Minor is evident and hath been proved before viz. That the Gift of Prayer is the Power Faculty or Ability of performing the Act of Prayer The Consequence of the Major is thus proved The Act or Duty cannot be performed without the Power or Ability of Acting or Performing it And therefore If the Gift of Prayer be the Power or Ability of performing the Act or Duty of Prayer then the Duty of Prayer cannot be performed without the Gift The Antecedent is proved by this Because otherwise a Man may be said to be able to do a thing without the Power or Ability of doing it Which is all one as to say A Man can do that which he cannot do And if you cannot see the Absurdity and Contradiction of this you are stark Blind and can see nothing So that the Major too of the Argument with its Consequence being lock'd fast 't will be hard for you to scape there too And I hope you will not deny the Conclusion And now Sir being beaten out of these Subterfuges I fear you are caught And 't is good enough for you for you would take no warning but would needs be hopping up and down till you fell into the hands of some body or other that would hold you fast And now like a Bird in a Snare the more you Flutter the more you 'll be entangled But stay let us look about and see whether there be any Loop-hole or Cranny for you to get out at for if there be you 'll surely find it and run clear away The only Loop-hole I can espy at present is what I find you nibbling at and seeking to creep out at already and that is this Though there be one sort of Prayer that may be performed without an Ability of Expressions as Mental Prayer yet there is another sort that cannot as Vocal Prayer So that there may be some hopes that That at least may lie in the Ability of Expressions But pray Sir Must not the Gift of Prayer extend to all sorts of Prayer Otherwise it cannot be the Gift of Prayer in general but the Gift of this or that way of praying But the clearing of this will require a little Logick You must know then that Prayer in general is the Genus and Mental and Vocal Prayer are the two Species of it Now you know the Genus must be common to both the Species as Animal is to Homo Brutum for Tota Natura Generis continetur in qualibet Specie So that the Nature and consequently the Gift of Prayer must lie in something that is Common both to Mental and Vocal Prayer Now what should that be that is Common to both these Why It cannot be the Ability of Expressions since Mental Prayer hath nothing to do with that and may be perform'd without it and therefore must needs be something else which I believe you will find at last to be the good Motions and Elevations of the Heart Now by this Sir you may see that neither Words nor an Ability of uttering them is any necessary and essential part of Prayer for God neither needs them nor values them unless the Heart go with them He knows our Necessities before we ask and hates the much speaking and vain Repetitions of the Hypocrite So that Words are only an accidental Adjunct or Circumstance of Prayer that relates to our selves and all the use of them is to help us to joyn and agree in putting up the same Petitions And here the fewer of them the better if the Heart be sincere and sound in offering them for Solomon minds us That God is in Heaven and we upon Earth and therefore our words unto him should be few And now I think this Loop-hole is pretty well stopt and 't will be hard for you to get out there You see Sir how I am forc'd to watch you as narrowly as the Cat watches the Mouse And I am mistaken if you are not hunted into the Trap where I must leave you to work your self out as well as you can And if you yet creep out and run away after this I 'll defy any Mouse or Squirrel to out-do you Sir I expect your Answer as soon as conveniently you may but be sure to keep close to the Argument and Matter in hand For you cannot think how nauseous and troublesome to Men of Sense your Impertinencies and Excursions are Let me hear then no more of King James or Bishop Ken nor of Tobit and Judith and other Apocryphal Stories nor of the Troubles of the former or the Happiness of the present Times for these things are all impertinent and nothing to our purpose Not a word neither as yet of Bishop Hall or Bishop Wilkins for though what you
the point are they so or not If they are so that is words not penn'd but pour'd out of a sudden then the Reproach will lie upon such as use them and not upon those that call them by that name In your Prayers then either the Matter and Words are well digested considered and compos'd before-hand and then 't is a Form of Prayer or else they are left to such sudden Conceptions and Expressions as their Fancy suggests upon the place and then they are no better nor no worse than Extempore Effusions if there be a Medium betwixt these two pray let me know it and you shall have your own term But you do not like the word Extemporary because it implies such an hastiness or rashness of expression Eccl. 5.2 as Solomon forbids in our Addresses unto God and indeed so it does And I heartily wish you would as much abhor the Thing as you do the Name and then there might be some hopes in time of having such Prayers from you as are fit for Wise Men to hear and Good Men to join in But you would have it called by the name of Conceived Prayer or Conceiving of Prayer with all my Heart if that will please you tho' you must own it a preposterous course to Conceive and bring forth together and that great care should be taken to prevent Abortion in publick Congregations But I perceive by a Paper that I receiv'd this day that the term of Free Prayer seems to carry it from all the rest by which I suppose you mean a freedom of your own Conceptions and Expressions in Prayer without being bound up to any Form of Prayer of your own or others Composing and so it comes all to one and I am content to let it pass under that Name for this being only a dispute about Words I am not willing to differ about it Secondly Another thing you complain of in my Sermon which is a great grievance is my disparaging the Gift of Prayer as a thing not to be coveted a very bad thing indeed if it were true but how is it prov'd Why thus I disparage the Gift of Extemporary Effusions which I say is not the Gift of Prayer therefore I desparage the first Gift of Prayer Most profound reasoning And yet this is all the proof that can be gather'd from thence for your Assertion and by this way of Arguing you may prove any thing or nothing as you shall see occasion But I suppose you take the Gift of Prayer to consist in the change and novelty of words or a faculty of talking to God every day in new and varied Phrases Now this is that I expos'd and think it justly deserves it too as you shall sind more at large when I know your mind about it In the mean time I recommend to you a Book Entitled The Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence where you may sind the admirable Elegancy and Rarity of such Prayers as they were taken in Short-hand from the most celebrated Preachers in Scotland Whereas the Gift of Prayer rightly understood lies principally in the Heart and consists not in pouring out many and new Words but in pouring out the Soul unto God and lifting up the Heart to him and this I am so far from disparaging that I esteem it a highly valuable and desirable Gift Now because the Hinge of the Controversie between us is like to turn upon this Point I will try for once whether it be possible to prevent Excursions and to keep you close to it and to that end I will first propound the Matter in Debate between us and then give you some Arguments to confirm my Sense and Opinion about it The Question then is Whether the Gift of Prayer doth properly consist in a Faculty of varying Phrases and expressing our selves to God in our own Words or Whether it consists in the pious Motions and good Affections of the Heart Your Papers run plainly on the former and my Sermon affirms the latter Here then we are to engage and enter the Lists and I warn you once more beforehand to keep close for I shall look on all Excursions as a down-right running away which you know is the Loss of a Battel First then I shall prove to you That the â—ift of Prayer consists not in Words or Expressions and much less in the Change and Variety of them which I shall do by this Argument If neither Words in general nor our own Words in particular are absolutely necessary and essential to the Duty of Prayer then the Gift of Prayer cannot be said to consist in them But neither Words in general nor our own Words in particular are absolutely necessary and essential to the Duty of Prayer Therefore the Gift of it cannot consist in them The major is evident because the Gift or Faculty of doing any thing is necessary to the actual doing and performing of it and therefore if Words are not necessary to Prayer the Gift of Praying cannot consist in them The minor consists of two Parts viz. that neither Words in general nor our own Words in particular are necessary and essential to the Duty of Prayer both which I prove thus If Prayer may be acceptably performed without the use of any Words and likewise without the use of our own Words then neither of them are absolutely necessary and essential to the Duty of Prayer But Prayer c. That both these are true we have plain Evidence and Examples in Holy Scripture 1 Sam. 1.13 for Hannah prayed in her Heart when her Voice was not heard and all that speak of mental Prayer which is the Soul 's sighing out its Desires unto God own that the Duty may be performed by the inward Motions and Operations of the Mind without the use of the Voice or uttering any thing with the Tongue The Prophet Zachary describes the Spirit of Grace and Supplications Zech. 12.10 by looking upon him whom they have pierced and mourning over him which imports the inward Compunction of the Soul but hath no relation to Words and outward Expressions And S. Paul sets forth the Assistance which the Spirit of God gives in Prayer not by helping us to utter and express any thing with the Tongue Rom. 8.26 but by sighs and groans that cannot be uttered So that Prayer may be performed without any Words and that it may be without our own Words is evident by the Experience of many good Christians who daily serve God in the use of Forms which are not their own but the Words of others so that neither Words in general nor our own in particular are absolutely necessary or essential to the Duty of Prayer and consequently the Gift of Prayer cannot be properly said to consist in them which was the thing to be proved SIR I am forced to break off here intending God willing to give you a farther Account of this Matter in my next in the mean time when you have chew'd the Cud upon this
I expect your Answer I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Wellwisher M. H. March 13. 1696. LETTER II. To J. M. I Was forc'd to break off in my last before I had finish'd my Argument which I shall therefore pursue a little farther in this that you may the better see the force of it and how to shape your Reply to it but still I must mind you to keep close for there 's all the Danger and I assure you I am more afraid of your Excursions than of your Arguments The Question in Debate is concerning the Gift of Prayer scil Whether it consists in a Faculty of expressing our selves unto God in our own new and varied Words or in the pious Motions and Elevations of the Heart unto him Against the former which both your Papers and Practice manifest to be your Opinion I argued thus That we may pray acceptably unto God without any Words as in mental Prayer and without our own Words as in godly Forms and without new and varied Words as in standing Publick Liturgies and therefore the Gift of Prayer cannot consist in any Faculty of Expressions and much less in the changeable Novelty and Variety of them The Antecedent I proved in my last and shall do it more fully when I know your Exceptions against it The Consequence I take to be firm and undeniable for the Gift of Prayer must extend to all sorts of Prayer as the Genius does to every Species for else 't is not the Gift of Prayer in general but merely a Gift of this or that particular way of Praying and I think it sufficiently absurd to affirm that there is an acceptable way of Praying without the Gift of Prayer for then this Gift will be like the Philosopher's Stone he that has it may do Wonders but he that wants it may do well enough without it 'T is strange Sir to me that a Man of your Sagacity and deep Insight into Things should discern no better betwixt the Gift of Speech Utterance and Elocution which is applicable to any Subject or Occasion and the Gift of Prayer which is of a different and a higher Nature and you may as well take a Lawyer 's Volubility in Pleading for the Gift of Tongues and a Physician 's Readiness of Discourse concerning Diseases and Medicines for the Gift of Healing as a Fluency of Words about our Wants and the Supply of them for the Gift of Prayer the Life and Soul of which lies in the inward Desires and Devotions of the Heart and not in the Nimbleness and Volubility of the Tongue Before I conclude this Argument I will recommend this short Remark to your Consideration scil That the Use of Words is to Inform the End of many Words to perswade the Design of new Words to please the first affects the Mind the second the Passions the third the Fancy Now none of these are of any Use or Consideration in our Addresses unto God for he is not to be informed by any Words nor to be perswaded by many nor to be pleased with new These things may do much with Men who are wont to be wrought upon this way but they have no Force or Essicacy at all with God who hears the silent Language of the Heart and answers the secret Sighs and Breathings of a devout Soul And to think that God either needs or is pleased with a fanciful Variety of new Expressions is to form mean and unworthy thy Notions of him and to think him such a one as our selves And now Sir I fear your Notion of the Gift of Prayer may begin to totter and unless you take some speedy Care to prop it up by a firm and close Answer it may be in danger of falling And thus having shewn the Weakness of your Opinion I come now to try the Strength of my own scil That the Gift of Prayer properly consists in the pious Motions and good Affections of the Heart And here my Comfort is that I have the general Concurrence of the most judicious and pious Divines of my side in this matter so that whatever comes of it I am like to stand or fall with good Company and that you may the better see upon what firm Ground we stand I here present you with these two Arguments Arg. 1. That which best enables to the right Performance of the Duty of Prayer That is properly the Gift of Prayer This I suppose will be easily granted for the Faculty of doing any thing well is commonly stiled a Talent or Gift of that thing and he that performs it in the best manner is said to have attained to the Art or Gift of it But the inward pious Motions and good Affections of the Heart do best enable to the right Performance of the Duty of Prayer neither can this be well denied seeing the Heart is generally owned to be the chief Spring and Seat of true Devotion without which the greatest Readiness and Copiousness of Speech is but empty Noise and vain babling and therefore the Conclusion must hold good That the divine Art or Gift of Prayer lies principally in the pious Motions and Affections of the Heart Arg. 2. That which best answers the End of Prayer and tends most to the Success and Acceptance of it That is most properly the Gift of Prayer This no doubt will be granted for he that prays most successfully may be supposed to be best endowed with the Gift of it but the inward hearty Desires of the Soul best answer the End of Prayer and tend most to the Success and Acceptance of it And I think you will not venture to deny this for the Prayer of the Wicked with all its Flourishes and Enlargements is an Abomination to the Lord and a short silent Ejaculation darted from a pious and devout Soul will sooner pierce the Heavens and enter the Ears of God than the loudest and longest Harangue of the Hypocrite And therefore the Conclusion must be true scil That the divine Art or Gift of Prayer resides within and consists chiefly in the pious Motions and good Affections of the Heart Which was the thing to be proved Sir when you have well consider'd these things 't is possible you may come to some better Understanding than you have at present in this matter And because 't is a double Act of Charity at once to direct the Shepherd and to reduce the wandring Sheep misled by him give me leave to take a little more pains with you to set you right in a matter of so great moment To that end as we have already seen the Reasons so let us now weigh the Consequence of both these Opinions which I will assure you are of no small Consideration in this matter On the one hand then the placing of the Gift of Prayer in the Heart may be a means of setting Men upon a stricter Watch over it and keeping it close to the Duty and because the Imbecility of the Mind is such that it cannot
offer shall be fairly heard in due time yet that time is not yet come For though in Divine Revelations Authority may go before Reason because we are to believe what God saith though it may seem without above or against Reason yet in Humane Testimonies Reason is to go before Authority Because we are not to believe any Man without shewing good Reason for what he saith So that we are in the right way for satisfaction and therefore you must not go out of it your self nor seek to draw me out of it by any impertinent Excursions But you tell me you have other things wherein you desire satisfaction Ay Sir that is one of your Scurvy-Tricks and a plain Hint and Intimation of your design of running away I 'll hear nothing of that till we have finished the Point in hand No Sir I will not step a Foot out of the way though it were to prove That Extempore Prayer was brought into these Kingdoms by Romish Emissaries which in due time shall be proved to you by as full and clear Evidence as any Wise Man can desire You see Sir what pains I am forced to take to hedge you in and keep you from flying off And if after all this you will still be gadding and running away you will not only appear to be a Fugitive and Volatile Animal but likewise shew What an Able Champion you are like to make to defend the Dissenting Cause In the mean time I am SIR Your Humble Servant M. H. March 29. 1697. LETTER V. To J. M. SIR HEaring nothing from you these three or four Posts I have had the leisure to go on further in the Perusal of your Letter Where I find you cannot yet come off from that frivolous Distinction between the Gift and Grace of Prayer for you tell me these Terms must not be confounded but carefully distinguished by all that would speak Intelligibly in this Matter Now I think these Terms have rather confounded than clear'd up your Understanding in this Matter and hindred you from Speaking or Writing any thing Intelligibly about it For this is a Distinction without a Difference as I proved in my third Letter But finding you are not very quick or ready to take a thing I 'll try to make it a little more plain and obvious to your Understanding for if it appear that the Gift of Prayer is the Grace of Prayer and the Grace the Gift of it you will then see the Absurdity of it which you may by this Argument The Faculty of performing the Duty of Prayer aright is the Gift of Prayer But the Faculty of performing the Duty of Prayer aright is likewise the Grace of Prayer Ergo The Gift of Prayer is the same thing with the Grace of Prayer Et vicissim The Major is proved from the nature of a Gift or Talent of a thing As Of Writing Reading Speaking Painting Carving c. which are nothing else but Abilities of doing these several things in the best Manner The Minor must remain firm till you can shew any more in the Grace of Prayer than a gracious Gift vouchsafed by the Spirit of God to dispose and enable to the right performance of the Duty of Prayer And therefore the Conclusion must follow That these Terms are Identical and import the same thing So that really Sir This Distinction is much like his who distinguish'd between Operation and Working saying that Pepper was hot in Operation but cold in Working And 't is every Jot as absurd to say that a Man may be hot in the Gift but cold in the Grace of Prayer But because I find you too apt to be impos'd upon by Terms and Phrases without knowing or attending to the true Sense and Meaning of them I shall for the better clearing of this Matter enquire 1. Into the Original of this Distinction Whence it came and of what standing it is in the World 2. Into the Occasion of it Or what it is that hath betray'd and misled so many into it First then Whence Sir had you this Distinction and in what Mint was it coyn'd If you look over the Bible you will not find this Phrase of the Gift of Prayer from one end to the other You may read there of the Gift of Tongues and I think a Gift of Utterance but for the Gift of Prayer in those very Terms you must seek somewhere else And if you are at a loss for the first Term of the Distinction and cannot find the Gift of Prayer there then pray take the Bible again and see whether you can find the other Term of the Grace of Prayer there And if you are at a loss for that too and cannot find the Grace of Prayer in those express Terms mentioned Then to be sure that Distinction never came from the Holy Scriptures where neither of the Terms are to be found Whence then might it come And who was the Author of this famous Distinction Why I have searched into some of the Centuries after the Apostles to see whether any of the Ancient Fathers had heard or spake any thing of it But as far as my search can reach at present I find no News or Tydings of any such Distinction among them but rather the quite contrary Aust Epist 105. St. Austine plainly makes the Terms identical For he tells us Ipsa Oratio inter Gratiae munera reperitur Prayer it self is to be reckon'd among the Works of Grace Hil. on Matth. 5. St. Hilary wills us Orare ad Deum non multiloquio sed Conscientia i. e. Not by pouring out many Words but with the purity of the Heart and Conscience Cypr. de orat dom St. Cyprian tells us that Deus non Vocis sed Cordis Auditor est i. e. God hath no regard to the Voice or any Ability of Expressions Basil de orat but to the Heart only St. Basil speaking of Prayer saith We do not at all define it to a business of Words nor an ability of Expressions And Clemens Alexandrinus gives a Reason for it Clem. Al. Strom. Lib. 7. Because saith he we can speak distinctly unto God tho' with Silence and can utter loud inward Cryes where no Voice is heard A Learned Divine who hath made a narrow and particular Search into the Writings of the Fathers about this matter tells us Dr Falken That all the Ancient Writers discourse of Prayer as a work of the Heart and Soul and not of Words Whereas you discourse of it as a Matter of Words and an Ability of Expressions So that this Distinction was not known in the days of these Fathers No nor in many hundred years after How then did this Distinction come into the World that hath made so much Noise and done so much Mischief in it Come I think you have pointed unto the first Author of it which if I mistake not is Bishop Wilkins Who in his Preface to the Gift of Prayer seems to own and acknowledge as
there But you must needs have an external verbal Gift made up of new Words and Phrases to serve upon occasion and this again is your Gift of Prayer Furthermore you distinguish between an acceptable way of Praying with respect to God which is the right performance of this Duty and this you very well place in the inward Desires and Elevations of the Heart Now the other Member of this Distinction must be an acceptable way of Praying with respect to Men and this may lie in new and varied Words which are most apt to tickle the itching Ears and please the Fancies of vain Men And This is your Gift because you say Old Words are good for nothing but to dull and deaden you Devotion Again you distinguish between a Moral or Theological way of performing the Duty of Prayer and This you place in the devour Affections of the Soul And an artificial way of performing this Duty and This you put in Apt Words and Expressions though they are no part of it Lastly you distinguish between a successful way of Praying the Gift whereof you own to lie in the good Motions and Dispositions of the Soul and an Unsuccessful or a way of Praying to no purpose And This being good for nothing you may place it in Words or the Ability of Expressions or where else you please And now Sir be pleas'd to look back to the new Sating of the Question in the beginning of this Letter and tell me whether the Special Spiritual Internal Devout and Successful way of performing the Duty of Prayer be not most properly principally and deservedly stiled the Gift of Prayer and whether the common external artificial and unsuccessful way of Praying be not very improperly and abusively called by that Name I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Wellwisher M. H. April 12. 1697. LETTER VII To J. M. SIR I Hope by this time you begin to see what a vain empty thing your own Arguments and Distinctions make of your Gift of Prayer for whether you put it in Words or in an Ability or in a Variety of Expressions 't is a meer windy and flatulent Notion apt indeed to puff up but not to edify and perhaps 't is hard to find a greater Instance of Pride and Folly together than to hear one venting his Talent of Words among the Ignorant deluded Vulgar where his affected Tone mingled with their affected Groans renders it rather a Scene of Mockery than Devotion You know Sir Verba dare is to deceive and that a great deal of Guile and Hypocrisy lies under the Pomp and flourish of Words One would think Sir that when God saith my Son give me thy Heart he had plainly directed to the Gift he expects in Prayer but instead of that you give him the Tongue and offer up the Calves of the Lips and with the Heathens think him delighted with the Gift of much Speaking 'T is too evident Sir by both your Letters that you cannot yet discern between the Gift of Speech and the Gift of Prayer for you confound and take one for the other without knowing it as you may plainly see by this Argument The Ability of Expressions is nothing else but the Gift of Speech But your Gift of Prayer is an Ability of Expressions and therefore your Gift of Prayer is nothing else but the Gift of Speech The Minor is your own the Major is evident because Ability is the same with Gift and Expressions the same with Speech and consequently they are both the same thing And yet you Labour hard to prove that some Men can and do pray very fluently without this Gift of Speech which being the same with your Ability of Expressions is to prove that they may pray without your Gift of Praying and likewise that they may speak very fluently without the Gift of Speech The Absurdity whereof is gross enough to be felt Again I find you Arguing That because that extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration which was peculiar to the Apostles and appropriated wholly to the Matter and Words of Prayer is by St. Chrysostom and others called the Gift of Prayer therefore your common and ordinary Gift of Speech or Ability of Expressions which is applicable to any other occasion must be stiled by that sacred Name Thus are you Bewildred and Lost as it were in a Mist or Cloud of Words and led by an Ignis fatuus so far out of the way that you scarce know where you are But come I fear 't is this word Gift that hath thus impos'd upon you and done all this Mischief and therefore let us lay it aside a while and enquire into the Nature of Prayer wherein that mainly consists and this perhaps may be the best way to lead you out of this Cloud and to clear up the whole Matter Prayer then in its proper Notion is the application of the Heart and Soul unto God with a due sense of the Divine Majesty and an humble Dependence upon him for the supply of all our Wants This is the Nature and Essence of Prayer which you see is no verbal thing but a pious Address of the Heart and Soul unto God Here is nothing of Words nor Expressions that enters this Divine Composition which may be as well and sometimes better done without them than with them But when I told you that God is not to be inform'd by any Words nor to be perswaded by many nor pleas'd with new you ask me What then must we pray without any Words And in another place Must we set down with the Quakers silence and settle in Quietism To which I answer No For there are some times when we may pray either with or without Words as when we are alone and there are times likewise when words are necessary as when we pray with others both these have their proper Seasons When we are alone in our Closet we may breath out our desires unto God either with or without Words as we find most conducing to the inward Piety and Devotion of our Soul And when we are in our Callings we may frequently lift up our Hearts unto God with or without Words and mingle some short Ejaculations with the Affairs and Business of this Life 1 Thes 5.17 which is that Praying continually and without Ceasing enjoyned by the Apostle and is a way of Praying very acceptable and well pleasing unto God But when we pray with others in Publick or Private Words are to be used not by way of Information for God knows our Necessities before we ask much less for Vanity or Ostentation but to help us to joyn in our Petitions to agree in what we ask and to glorifie our Maker with one Heart and one Mouth Rom. 15.6 Now here the known compos'd Words of a Form are far more conducing to this end than the sudden Conceptions and Expressions of free Prayer for by the former Men are acquainted before-hand what they are to ask of God and so may
me a sad Story of yours and others misfortunes in falling under the Miseries of bad times having your Studies rifled and your Books taken from you Now though this be a sad Calamity and justly deserves Pity yet here 't is a deplorable Excursion and serves for no other End but to let us know that you are forc'd now to speak without Book which will easily be believed Next you take a Leap into the Apocrypha and fall upon the Stories of Tobit and Judith and to shew what a Canonical Man you are Damn all the Apocryphal Books as unworthy to be read by Christians upon any occasion Admirable well to the purpose still and about as near to it as East is to the West In reading a little farther I find you taking another Jump into France for speaking of conceived Prayer you very wittily fall upon the Conception of the Prince of Wales and wonder at two things first how he crept into the World and after that how he crept into the Liturgy Yea you would fain know whether he were not an extemporary Effusion as if he had crept into Free Prayer too But pray Sir what hath the Conception of Prayer to do with the Conception of Princes Must not Publick Worship be well perform'd think you if left to the present and vain Conceptions of such rambling Brains But I have not time to go through your Letter which is a meer Rapsody of Non-sequitur's and nothing to the purpose And as I told you of former Papers that 't was a great exercise of Patience to read them so I may say over and above of this that 't is a perfect Pennance to go through with it However I resolve God willing let the Task be as irksome and unpleasant as it will to go through by the next In the mean time as far as we have gone already what think you Sir are the forementioned Particulars Excursions or no Or rather are they not a plain running away Were you not sufficiently warned and told of this that 't was the loss of the Battel And yet Sir could you not stand the first Brunt but must betake your self to slight upon the first Attack And can you think I will run all the Kingdom over after you yea out of the Kingdom too and cross the Seas in the pursuit At present Sir I have no time for it but hereafter I may have more time to follow the chase and to hunt you out of all your Subterfuges and lurking Holes But what 's to be done at present Why all these and many more Impertinencies of the same kind are clearly to be lopt off and thrown away and I must be forc'd to do with your Letter as Men do with their Gardens Weed it and throw aside all the Trash and Trumpery of it that we may discern the good Seed if there be any And to tell you truly your Letter is so over-run with Weeds that 't will take up more time than I can spare at present to Weed it All that you say of Bishop Hall and Bishop Wilkins though it shall be fully examined in its due time is at present Impertinent because it does not yet come to bear upon any part of the Argument to which I must bring you back in my next In a word all the Rubbish of your Letter must be removed and when that is gone we shall see what little Sense and Reason is left But really Sir I am loth to let this Letter altogether pass without something for your Edification and because matters must be instilled into you by degrees I will tell you where the mistake lies truly your great unhappiness of which I gave you a hint in my last is that you cannot discern betwixt the Gift of Speech and the Gift of Prayer between which there is a manifest difference but instead of that you distinguish between the Gift and Grace of Prayer where there is none for here if the terms are Identical and import the same thing the distinction must be frivolous and that they are so you may easily discern by this short Argument A Gift or Talent of any thing is a faculty of doing that thing aright and as it should be as I proved in my last Now do but apply this to Prayer and then the Gift of Prayer will be a faculty of performing the Duty of Prayer aright and as it should be and then tell me Whether the Grace of Prayer be any thing else than an Ability of the right performance of that Duty and then you will see the Gift and Grace of Prayer to be both one If you say some offer to God only the Calves of their Lips and put him off only with words when the Heart goes not with them Very true Sir now these are said to have the Gift of Speech or an Ability of Expression by pouring out so many words But they have not the Gift or Grace of Prayer which is the doing the Duty aright and making the Heart accompany the words I hope Sir you are not so slow of understanding as not to discern this though I find you are slow enough and therefore if you do not take it presently let me advise you to read it over and over again and 't is possible by Study and beating your Brains it may enter into them I am SIR Yours M. H. March 22. 1696. LETTER IV. To J. M. SIR I Have try'd once whether it were possible to keep you close to a Point and to prevent Excursions but I find it a very difficult if not impossible Task For let a Man warn you never so oft and point to the very place where he would have you stand and keep to yet you wriggle and fly off from it in spight of ones Teeth and like an Eel slip away when one thinks to hold you fastest However I will not utterly despair of you upon the first Experiment And therefore will try again once more Whether there be any way or means of fixing you and though you have shamefully run away once into gross and palpable Excursions yet let me perswade you to rally again and see whether you can stand a second Brunt To that end let us state the Question once more for I find you creeping out there and complain That I make you put the Gift of Prayer there where neither you nor any body else ever placed it i. e. In Words and Expressions whereas you put it as you say not in the words themselves but in the Ability of Expressions as appears by your Definition of the Gift of Prayer which you style An Ability of expressing our selves suitably to God in Prayer on all Occasions Remember this then and stick to it That whereas I put the Gift of Prayer in the good Motions and Affections of the Heart you put it in an Ability of Expressions So that I hope now we are agreed about the State of the Question and shall hear of that no more Now against your
much For in the beginning of the Preface he tells us That little or nothing was ever written on this Subject before him and seems to wonder that this excellent Art should be hid from all former Ages and reserv'd for his discovery in the latter Days In the next Page he repeats it again and saith For ought he could find there was little written of it in any Language In the Close of the Preface he speaks home and makes himself plainly the first Author of it for he tells us he drew up the substance of his Book many years before he knew so much as any one Author who had formerly attempted this Subject So that this is a mere Novelty by the Author 's own Confession And yet you think he has infinitely oblig'd Mankind by presenting the World with this singular Gift But I think he had no such high Thoughts of it himself in the latter and wiser part of his Life And would willingly have recall'd this Gift when he saw what bad use was made of it But I shall give you a more particular account of this in a Letter by it self In the mean time let us proceed Secondly To enquire what might be the Occasion of this Distinction between the Gift and Grace of Prayer And 't is more than probable that this proceeded from an unhapy mistaking a Readiness of speech for the Gift of Prayer There is indeed in some Men a great Faculty and Readiness of Speech whereby they can express themselves with greater Fluency and less Hesitation than others And this as all other Faculties of Body and Mind may be stiled the Gift of God But that this is not the Gift of Prayer I shall prove to you by this Argument The Gift of Prayer must be something that is peculiar and appropriated to Prayer for else it may be the Gift of any other thing as well as Prayer But this Readiness of Speech is not peculiarly appropriate unto Prayer For we know it may be and daily is applyed to many other Subjects and Occasions as the Lawyer discovers it in pleading And men of Parts daily shew it in matters of common Converse and Observation and Therefore The Readiness of Speech you so much talk of cannot be the Gift of Prayer Besides if the Gift of Prayer should lie in such a Readiness of Speech what shall they do that want it 'T is most certain that the far greatest part of Christians have neither a Readiness of Mind to conceive nor a Readiness of Tongue to express for themselves such Prayers as are sit to be offer'd up to the Divine Majesty What then Shall they not pray at all Or can they pray without the Gift Why say some in Publick let them attend to the Ministers Words and Pray by his Gift that is Let them be tyed up to his Words which tho' sudden and unknown to them before-hand must be a Form to them and preferr'd too before the Publick Deliberate Forms of Godly Men yea of the whole Churches composing And is not this an excellent way think you to preserve Sober Serious and True Devotion and to help Men to agree and speak the same thing in the Publick Assemblies But what shall they do in Private Why there you would have them Try and Practise and Learn this Art Yes And whilst they are studying and beating their Brains about Matter and Words what will become of the Heart How shall they watch that Or excite those inward Motions and Desires that are fit to attend their Petitions Since the Mind can't attend two such different things at once I fear Sir that some by trying to practise themselves and hearing it irreverently and rudely practised by others have wholly laid aside the Duty and settled in a total Neglect and Carelesness about it These are some of the many doleful Evils with which your Notion of the Gift of Prayer is unluckily clogg'd All which are wisely prevented by placing the Gift or Grace of Prayer where it should be viz. in the Heart and the Pious Motions and Affections of the Soul And thence Perswading Men not so much to rely upon their own Abilities as to make use of those many Pious and Excellent helps both for Publick and Private Devotion with which the Wisdom and Piety of the Church of England hath so happily furnished them SIR I have sent you this to entertain and refesh your Memory before your Answer comes which I shall earnestly expect by the next I am SIR Your humble Servant M. H. April 5. 1697. LETTER VI. To J. M. SIR I Find by your last that 't is as hard to please as 't is to convince you For though we stated the Question last by your own Definition of the Gift of Prayer and I thought to hear no more of that yet now you are out of conceit with that too and complain still of the State of the Question 'T was first put in new and varied words which is the main if not only difference between Forms and Extempore Prayer the former consisting in the constant use of the same Words upon the same occasion The latter in the change and variety of them where no occasion requires it But that would not do thence we came from the Words no the Ability of Expressions and yet now that does not please neither for you say this is a mere Logomachy or Lis de Nomine a Dispute about Words and so it must necessarily be whilst you place the Gift in them What 's to be done then You see this Notion of yours is a mere Proteus or Changling that is still varying and changing the Scene Why you must try again and see whether you can fix it upon something that is more constant and lasting For there is no Building without a Foundation nor no Arguing without a true State of the Question If you would place it in the Heart that would be a sound and safe Bottom and a stable Principle of Devotion but whilst you put it in the Tongue which is so slippery a Member and daily given to many Windings and Turnings you will never be able to fix it upon so unsound and uncertain a Bottom You would have the Question then stated thus Whether an Ability of Expressions may not be called the Gift of Prayer or Whether the inward Desires and good Motions of the Heart do only deserve that Name With all my Heart provided you will take an Answer and stand to it I say then That an Ability of Expressions is very improperly call'd the Gift of Prayer because the whole business of Prayer may be done without it And that the pious Motions and Elevations of the Heart do most properly and principally deserve that Name because this is the very Essence of Prayer which is required to all sorts of Prayer and none of them can be well perform'd without it If you could but come to this it would be a fair step to a right Understanding in this Matter for
hereby you would see that Words are no part of Prayer and how absurd it is to place the Gift of it in that which does not appertain to it and likewise how impossible it is to perform the Duty without the Gift which is nothing else but the Ability of performing it Can any Speak without the Gift of Speaking or Think or Write without the Gift of Thinking or Writing How then should it come to pass that a Man can Pray without the Gift of Praying Moreover you might learn from hence that God's bestowing the Assistance of his Grace to kindle and excite Pious Dispositions of Heart in seeking unto him is most properly his vouchsasing the Gift of Prayer and our Exercising or Exerting such earnest and affectionate Desires with a lively Faith and inward Devotion is our having or using the Gift of Prayer And really Sir you may as well distinguish between the Gift and Grace of Charity as the Gift and Grace of Prayer both which are the Gracious Gifts of God's Holy Spirit the one enclining us to shew Mercy to our Neighbour and the other to ask Mercy and Favour at the Hands of God If you will consider this well and make it the Subject of your second and best Thoughts 't is possible it may help to bring this matter to a good Issue In the mean time I am glad I have in some measure cur'd the Malady of Excursions for I find the Number of them mightily abated there being in your last Letter not above five or six that are very considerable viz. about King William the Assassination the Jacobitish Insurrections French Invasion and their Preparations c. of which because I find you sensible by asking Pardon for them and desiring me not to be too severe upon them I am willing to pass them by hoping they may wholly wear oft in time though such an Inveterate Habit cannot be cur'd presently But the Misery is the curing of one Evil hath made you fall into another and from Excursions you are run into plain Contradictions For there is no reconciling your last Letter with the first In the first you told me that I made you put the Gift of Prayer where neither you nor any body else ever put it viz. in Words and Expressions In your last you place the Gift wholly and solely in them so that as t' was once Rich. against Baxter so 't is now I. against M. But how does this appear Why as clear as the Sun both by the Arguments and Distinctions of your Last Your first Argument is an Appeal to the common way of Speaking For when 't is said that such an one hath a good Gift of Prayer we mean not say you that he hath any pious Motions or good Affections but that he aptly expresseth himself in that Duty So that the apt Expressions are with you the Gift of Prayer Whereas I say that without those pious Motions and Affections such a one hath a good Gift of Prating as appears by pouring out so many Words but he hath no good Gift of Praying for that is the pouring out the Heart and Soul unto God But you say 't is Vulgarly so stiled I hope Sir you are not to be led by the Vulgar into their Errors and Mistakes but to lead them out of them But I see your Notions are as Vulgar as the Persons you converse with and there is no raising you a Twirl above the Vulgar where all your Interest lies Your next Argument is more Home for the Words than this for therein you tell us that the Words themselves whereby we express our selves may be and are commonly term'd Prayer which you prove thus Because when a Man is said to rehearse the Lord's Prayer or to read Common Prayer the meaning is say you that he rehearseth or reads the Words of those Prayers not that he hath any Pious Motions or Affections And can any thing more plainly follow from hence than that the Words whereby we express our selves are with you the Gift of Prayer But pray Sir Is the bare rehearsing the words praying why then a Parret may pray for that may be taught all or most of those words You did not then think of that and therefore must think it over again But you have one Argument that quite contradicts and destroys all this again And that is to prove that a Man may have the Gift of Prayer without the Gift of Speech Utterance or Elocution and so it can neither lie in the Words nor in the Ability neither The Argument runs thus If there be a great many who have a Talent or Gift of expressing Desires to God in a suitable manner in Praying that have not the Gift of Elocution applicable to other occasions Then there is a difference between the Gift of Elocution and the Gift of Prayer And who doubts it Did I not tell you before that 't was your unhappiness not to distinguish and discern between them But the design of the Argument is to shew That you can and do distinguish between them and that because as you say there are a great many who have a Talent or Gift of uttering their Desires in a suitable manner unto God that have no Gift of Elocution upon other occasions That is there are many Men who can scarce speak a word of Sense between Man and Man who yet can pour out abundance of wonderful and powerful Sense unto God in Prayer Now how should this be What are they inspir'd with Matter and Words in talking unto God and left to their own natural Dulness in their conversing with Men For the proof of this you appeal to the Experience of many Christians whom you have heard and known I know not Sir what wonderful things you have heard of this kind but I fear the great Sense you speak of if Wise Men had the hearing of it would be frequently found great Nonsense Pass we then from your Arguments to your Distinctions And here you shew as nice and distinguishing a Head as most Men and for splitting of a Hair I think 't is hard for Peter Lumbard or any Schoolman of them all to go beyond you But let us see what your Distinctions are to what end they serve and where they most properly place or six the Gift of Prayer First then you distinguish between a special Gift of Prayer which by the Name should be the best and this you place in the Heart and the good Motions of it and here you are safe as in a Church or Castle for that is all that is necessary and essential to Prayer But besides this there is a common Gift which lies in Words and Expressions And this is your Gift of Prayer though it may be done without it Again you distinguish between the Internal Spiritual Gift of Prayer in which consists the Life and Spirit of it and this you place in the Elevations of the Heart and here you are right again if you would but rest
come prepared with suitable Affections to joyn in it in the latter Men being uncertain what will be ask'd or offered up they must be uncertain too whether they may safely joyn or say Amen to it Again by Men's joyning together in Publick well compos'd Terms Unity and Order may be preserv'd the Peace of the Church and the Decency and Harmony of publick Worship may be secured 1 Cor. 1.10 For hereby according to the Apostles direction they may be enabled to Mind and Speak the same things Phil. 3.16 whereas by the Liberty of free Prayer Men may vent what they please they may and often do pray one against another and mingle their Passions and Errors with their Prayers by which means Confusion must necessarily break in and Sects and Schisms be unavoidably Multiplied and Increased Again by the joyning together in publick establish'd Forms we shew that Duty and Reverence that is owing to our Superiours to whom the care of the Church is committed we pay that Obedience Heb. 13.17 that is due to them that rule over us in the Lord and manifest our Subjection Rom. 13.1 5. and that not only for Wrath or for fear of Punishment but for Conscience sake which things are frequently taught and inculcated in Holy Scripture whereas by indulging this Gift of free Prayer in opposition to publick Establishments Men throw off the Duty of Obedience to the lawful Commands of their Superiours Jude 8. They come to despise wholsome Laws and to Speak evil of Dignities and this prepares them for Sedition and all manner of Disobedience Once more The joyning together in the same Prayers in publick Worship is a good means to preserve Love and Charity among Neighbours for Mens Religion hath a great influence on their Manners and conversation with each other They that go to the House of God together as Friends commonly continue so and maintain an Amicable and Friendly Correspondence whereas they that break into different parties and communions soon become Strangers and very often Enemies to one another Different ways of Worship necessarily breed Differences among Men and they that divide in Opinion generally do in Affection too sad Experience shews this both in Families Towns and Countries and he that will consider the hearty Love and Amity that was found in this Kingdom before the Civil Wars when all Men resorted to the same place and way of Worship and compare it to that Hatred Falshood Division and Contention that reigns in these present days will easily see the Miserable effects that have proceeded from your Gift of free Prayer which as it first caused our Divisions so is still the main Tool to uphold and increase them Sir These are serious and weighty Truths and very well deserve your deep and impartial Consideration which if you please to bestow upon them I doubt not but you will see cause to believe that to bring ardent Desires and good Affections to the publick Prayers of the Church whereby the inward Piety of the Heart towards God the outward Duty of subjection to Superiours and the mutual Offices of Love and Charity to our Neighbours are best promoted is far to be prefer'd before the Gift of free Prayer which being chiefly exercis'd about Words and Expressions is apt to disturb the Devotion of the Mind to give offence to our Governours and to create Feuds and Animosities among Neighbours Call to mind Sir the many affectionate Exhortations to Unity and Order 1 Cor. 1.10 with which the holy Scriptures do abound how heartily our Saviour prayed for it at his leaving the World John 17.20.21 22 23. Eph. 4 3 4. c. That they all might be one and how earnestly the Apostle presses the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace and how sharply he rebuked all that cause and foment Divisions 1 Cor. 3.3 4 c. and consider whether Joyning together in the same pious and publick Prayers appointed by the Church be not a better means to preserve this Unity and Order than to leave Men to the freedom of venting and hearing what Prayers they please which must necessarily distract their Minds and lead them into great Confusions and Disorders But I find two Objections in your Letters against publick Establish'd Forms and for the exercise of Free Prayer The one is taken from the variety of emergent Accidents and Occasions of humane Life which cannot be so well provided for by Forms as by Free Prayet The other is taken from the tendency of the constant use of Forms to flatten and dull the Devotion which must therefore be quickened by the help of new and varied Prayers I shall shew both these to be popular Mistakes and bring on greater Mischiefs than they pretend to remedy and when that is done I shall consider what you offer from Bishop Hall and Bishop Wilkins In the mean time I am SIR Your hearty Friend and Well-wisher M. H. Apr. 15 1697. LETTER VIII To J. M. SIR I Promised in my last an Answer to two Popular Objections against Forms of Prayer which I find you making use of as Arguments for your Free Prayer The first whereof is taken from the variety of emergent Accidents and Occasions which you say cannot be so well provided for by Forms as by Free Prayer Now I would not have you be too positive and confident in this matter till you have well weigh'd these following Considerations viz. First The daily and ordinary matter of publick Prayer is still the same and therefore that may well be provided for by stated and useful Forms Now the daily and ordinary matter of publick Prayer are Confession of Sin Petition for Pardon with other Temporal and Spiritual Blessings Thanksgiving for Mercies received and Intercession for all Men whether Friends or Foes And more especially for those whom we are more particularly directed to pray for All which may be and are provided for by standing prescribed Forms and those so wisely ordered and composed too that as all Men may know and satisfie themselves in them before-hand so they may come prepared to joyn in them To instance in Particulars For Confession of Sin we have Two excellent Forms of it in the Publick Liturgy the One in the Daily the other in the Communion Service of the Church Where the general Aberrations of humane Life in Thought Word and Deed are so piously and pithily express'd that every true penitent Christian may and ought with one Heart and one Mouth to joyn in them But these you say float too much in Generalities But must not the publick Confession be so General that all Men may be able to make it Would you have it descend to those particular Sins which many are not guilty of and so make them confess that to God with which they cannot charge themselves There are many no doubt in every Congregation that never committed Murder or Adultery by taking away the Life or Chastity of any Person and would
true Devotion But besides this there are Feverish Heats of Fancy and Enthusiasm which inflame and disorder the Spirits and in Men of hot Brains and strong Imaginations raise them to some degree of Extasie and spiritual Frenzy This is a Disease of the Mind and is very far from the Temper of True Devotion And the want of knowing and distinguishing between these hath led Men into many Mistakes about the Duty of Prayer and other parts of Religion for finding themselves somewhat warm and earnest at a Religious Exercise they presently conclude themselves fir'd with true Zeal and Piety towards God when all the while it proves no better than false Fire and a plain mistake of the heat of Fancy for the Fervors of true Devotion But how may we discern the one from the other Why chiefly by observing these three things viz. 1 What is it that creates this Warmth 2 How long does it continue 3 And what Fruits does it produce First then Let me ask you what is it that heats you in such Prayer Is it the Matter or only the newness and variety of the Phrases and Expressions in which 't is delivered If it be the soundness of the Matter that thus affects you then the same Matter delivered in a well-composed Form would have the same effect and this would shew it a sincere Fit of Devotion But if it be only a new conceived Prayer that does this Feat then 't is plain that 't is not the Matter but the mere Novelty of the words that thus tickles and warms you Such sudden Transports are occasion'd only by new and surprising words which striking briskly upon the Fancy are apt to move and enliven it But this does not go deep enough to reach or warm the Heart but are only the Fallacies and false Heats of Imagination Again Secondly let me ask you How long doth the Warmth you feel at such Prayers continue Does it abide with you and keep up a constant heat of Love and Desire towards God Is it like the Vestal Flame that never goes out Or is it only like the Fit of an Ague that comes and goes again and where the Hot Fit is soon follow'd with a Cold one If it be only so be not deceived this is not the inward Flame or Heat of a devout Heart for that is permanent and lasting but either a Feverish Fit of Hypocrisie or a Delusion of Imagination True Zeal is Uniform and Constant and though it may admit of some Intermissions yet like the Natural Heat of the Heart 't will abide as long as Life continues but if it grows cold again and wears off this pretended Warmth is no other than the transient and preternatural Heats of Fancy Thirdly and lastly Let me ask you What Fruits does this Warmth you speak of produce Does it enkindle and cherish in your Breast the Love of God and your Neighbour If so 't is a good sign of a kindly heat and spiritual Life in the Soul But if as it too often happens it enkindles the Flames of Wrath and Contention If it leads you into ways of Division and Separation by which you become Undutiful to your Superiours Proud Censorious and void of Charity to your Equals This Heat is but an Ignis fatuus that hath led you out of the way of Truth and Peace Such a Zeal is no better than Wild-fire and hath more than once set whole Kingdoms in a Combustion In a word if this be the best Fruit that grows upon this Stock 't is evident it springs from a rotten and corrupt Tree All this pretended Warmth that ariseth from the Novelty and Change of Words is only the gratification and amusement of Fancy and not the Fervours of true Devotion So that what our Saviour said of False Prophets may be said of false Lights By their fruits you shall know them The sum is This deadness and dulness Men complain of is not in the Prayers which are admirably fitted to enkindle and excite holy Desires and Affections but in their own Prejudices which lie as a Clog on the Soul and hinder both its fervency and flight unto Heaven And therefore these must be removed that they may the better lift up their Hearts unto God And if they will be perswaded to mend themselves they will see little reason to mend the Prayers but rather great Cause to bless God that the Church whereof they are Members hath provided for them such a pious and excellent Model of Devotion There is one thing more to be considered which I find frequently mentioned in your Letters where though things lie scattered up and down without Order or Method yet I shall endeavour to bring them all into their right places and so leave nothing material unanswered and that is The imposing of Publick Forms is a great Grievance and the not leaving Men to the Liberty of Free Prayer that have a Talent that way Which shall be consider'd in the next I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Wellwisher M. H. April 26. 1697. LETTER X. To J. M. SIR I Find by your Papers that you can sometimes speak as meanly of New and Varied Expressions in Prayer as one would wish and yet at other times can cry them up as the only Lively and Spiritual way of Praying And tho' sometimes your Objections against Publick Forms are so fierce and terrible that one would think you utterly condemn them to be thrown out of the Church yet in a milder mood you can speak more favourably and allow them to be pretty harmless if not useful things These are some of your many and usual Inconsistencies But what is it that thus unsettles you and makes your Pleas as various as your Prayers Why 'T is the Injunction of Forms that sticks in your Stomach and can't down with you You would have them left Free and not impos'd upon those who you think have no need of them And here you magnify your own and some others Talent this way and complain most bitterly of Silencing so many Brave Men that could not comply with the Publick use of them You call them only helps of Impotence and Insufficiency and compare them to Spectacles for bad Eyes and Crutches for lame Legs c. Now to set these things right let us consider 1. what Authority our Superiours have to command in these matters and who gave them this Authority And 2ly Let us see what Obligations lie upon Subjects to obey and observe them And then we shall the better see what force your fine Similies and frivolous Objections have against them First then let us see what Authority our Superiours have to command in these Matters To clear this we must note that Governours being God's Ministers are set up by him and invested with his Authority which must therefore extend to all Lawful things and whatsoever is not forbidden or countermanded by God himself Now Forms of Prayer are so far from being forbidden that we find them recommended
the Praise of the whole Earth you would do well to remove into that blessed Countrey where there is no Liturgy to dull your Devotion but Free Prayer enough to serve for all Emergencies and nothing but the Voice of Joy Peace and Unity can sound in your Ears But you would have me Petition our Governours for removing the Occasions of our Divisions which you say are Declarations and Subscriptions that you may continue here with much more comfort Sir I have learnt more Manners than to direct and prescribe to my Governours who have a further prospect and deeper Insight into these matters than 't is fit for me to pretend to But it s a piece of your wonted Modesty to set up your vain Opinion above the Wisdom and Authority of your Superiours And you are resolv'd to be out of humour if they order matters otherwise than you would have them If you would but root out this piece of spiritual Pride and learn so much Humility as to suspect your own Judgment which God knows and any Wise Man may see is weak enough you would soon find there were no need or occasion for such a Petition But you have one Fetch more against enjoining of Forms that must not be past by and that is this viz. The Magistrate thinks these things to be but indifferent whereas many of us judge them to be Unlawful And therefore we are to be born with and his Judgment to be laid aside An excellent way indeed to set up your selves above your Superiours and to obey only what you please for 't is but for you to say or think any thing they Command to be Unlawful and then you have an Excuse or Dispensation from all Obedience to it Is not this an easier way than that of Corban to evacuate the Law and make void the Commandments both of God and Man But how come any among you to judge Forms of Prayer Unlawful which have ever been used in the Church from the beginning of Christianity to this Day If you have led any into this Mistake your Duty is to undeceive them and lead them out of it and not to desire that such weak or rather wilful persons should be humoured in such Fooleries As for things plainly forbidden by the Law of God I hope we may so far trust to the Care and Integrity of our Governours as not to fear the enjoining of them Or if they should you have a good Dispensation from obeying them But for Matters judged to be good and profitable to the Publick as the use of Forms against which some may have a few Scruples and Prejudices here I hope the Wisdom and Authority of Government may turn the Scale and the certain Duty of Obedience ought to weigh down an uncertain Scruple Sir I have no time or room left to consider your fine Similies of the Spectacles and Crutches at present but you shall not fail of it in my next I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Servant M. H. April 29. 1697. LETTER XI To J. M. SIR I Observ'd in my last that tho' you can pretty well digest Forms of Prayer yet 't is the Injunction of them that sticks in your Stomach But I hope what I farther observ'd concerning the Just Authority of Superiours to command and the necessary Duty of Subjects to obey in a matter so lawful and expedient too may help to make it go down a little better However against the Imposing of them you go on to tell me that Forms of Prayer were at first brought in and intended only as Helps of Impotence and Insufficiency and to confine Men still to them is to necessitate them to a continual Impotence You own them to be excellent and useful Things in the Times of Ignorance and Darkness but now there is such a Meridiam Light that shines about us there can be no other use of them than to send us back again or keep us in the former Darkness for Christ and his Apostles say you never enjoyned these things and to Impose them now under the Gospel is no better than to force Spectacles upon good Eyes and Crutches upon able Legs Now to set these things in their true Light I shall readily grant you 1. that Forms of Prayer are Helps of Impotence and Insufficiency but they are such Helps as have been necessary ever since the days of Inspiration and will be so to the end of the World For there is a natural Impotence in all Men as to the Great Duties of Religion and more especially to this of Prayer And therefore all possible Helps are to be used to aid and assist us in the due performance of it Under the old Testament God Almighty appointed many Forms of Prayer Praises and Blessing the People and the Jewish Service consisted of these together with the Psalms of David and other Occasional Prayers composed by their Learned Doctors And these were the Helps for their Impotence under the Legal Dispensation Under the Gospel we find Forms of Prayers compos'd and prescrib'd to help the Impotence of Christians under that Dispensation St. John the Baptist the first Gospel Preacher taught his Disciples to Pray Luk. 11.1 2. which could not be Praying by the Spirit for none but the Holy Ghost could teach that but he composed and taught them a Form of Prayer After which the Disciples of Christ came to him and beg'd him to teach them to Pray as John taught his Disciples and he instantly gave them a Form of Prayer and this was done to help the Impotence and Insufficiency of both for we find the Apostles acknowledging that they knew not what to Pray for as they ought and that they were not sufficient of themselves to think a good thought And because the whole Oeconomy of the Jewish Worship was then to be abolished and a more Spiritual and Christian way of Worship to be set up in its room there was granted to them for a while an extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration for the setling and propagating of it And when that was done this extraordinary Gift ceased and Publick Prayers were compos'd according to it And this hath continued in the Christian Church ever since So that as Necessity at first brought in Forms of Prayer to help Mens natural Impotence and Insufficiency for this Duty so there now is and ever will be the same necessity to continue them 2. But Secondly 'T is a Mistake Sir to affirm that they were brought in and intended only for Helps of Insufficiency for there were other wise and great Ends in it namely when Christianity multipyed to preserve Order and Unity and to prevent Schisms and Divisions in the Church And likewise that all Men may be acquainted with what they offer up unto God in Publick Worship without which they cannot agree in their Petitions nor Pray as we are bid with one Heart and one Consent But Christ and his Apostles say you never enjoyned Forms of Prayer I would not have
and to say with Grotius That our Lord did not command the recital of the Words nor tie up his Followers to Words and Syllables Pray Sir be not too obstinate Let the Ancient Fathers and Assembly of Divines have some small Sway with you Do but think Sir that 't is possible for you to be mistaken and consider what an Unreasonable piece of Confidence and Presumption it is to oppose the General Sense of the Christian Church in all Ages And if you could be perswaded to this ordinary piece of Modesty and Self-denyal there might be yet some hopes of your Conviction Your second Request is to explain to you the Meaning of the extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration about which you have some Exceptions which shall be answered in my next I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Wellwisher M. H. May 25. 1697. LETTER XV. To J. M. SIR HAving in my last given you I hope some Satisfaction about the Apostles using the Lord's Prayer according to their Master's Command and Direction I proceed now to give you some Account of that Extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration that was granted to them which you desire may be explained to you To which end you may observe 1 That when St. John the Herald and Harbinger of our Saviour Proclaimed him to the World he declared of him Mat. 3 1◠that he should Baptize his Disciples with the Holy Ghost meaning that the Holy Spirit should come down visibly upon some of them to assure them of the Truth of his Doctrine and to enable them to Preach and Propagate it to the whole World 2 In the next place you may observe that when our Blessed Saviour first called and gathered his Twelve Apostles among other things for their Encouragement he bid them To take no thought before-hand what they should Speak Mark 13.11 nor to Premeditate for it should be given them in that hour what they should Speak for it is not ye that Speak saith he but the Spirit of my Father that Speaketh in you meaning That they should find that assistance from a Divine Spirit that should help them far better in the Work they were called to than any Fore-thought or Premeditation of their own could do for the Spirit of God should Speak in and through them 3 Again Christ a little before his Ascension into Heaven promis'd to send them the Holy Ghost to be their Paraclete Joh. 14.16 17. ◠Joh. 2.1 which Word signifies not only a Comforter to comfort them in his absence but an Advocate to plead their Cause by teaching them to pray and forming their Petitions for them Now upon the day of Penticost which is our Whit-sunday the Spirit according to Christ's most Gracious Promise was poured out upon them the Holy Ghost coming down on the Apostles in the Sound of a mighty Rushing Wind as a Token of Inspiration and sate upon their Heads in the Appearance of Fire to represent those pious Ardours or Fervency of Spirit that should accompany their Devotion And likewise in the shape of Cloven Tongues to signifie that diversity of languages with which they were endow'd By this Descent of the Holy Ghost the Apostles were furnished with a great Variety of Spiritual Gifts many of which are mentioned by St. Paul in sundry parts of his Epistles Among these as St. Chrysostom tells us Chrys on Rom 8 26. was a Gift of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Spirit Zach. 12.10 that was promised to be poured out is by the Prophet Zachary stiled a Spirit of Grace and Supplications And St. Paul tells us Rom. 8.26 That this Spirit helped their Infirmities in Prayer For God saith that Father then gave Gifts which are also called Spirits particularly mentioning this Gift or Spirit of Prayer and he that had it saith he pray'd for the whole Multitude By which it appears that the Publick Offices of the Church were in those Days performed by these extraordinary Gifts the Holy Ghost inspiring into them both the Matter and Words of their Prayers without any help or recourse to their own Invention And this Gift was generally accompanied with the Gift of Tongues whereby the Apostles who were before but ignorant Fisher-men and Mechanicks and scarce understood their own Mother-tongue were by this means enabled to pray in the Languages of all Nations and declare to each of them the wonderful Works of God for so we read Acts 2.4 that the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance This the Men of all Nations who were then present at Jerusalem saw and heard to their great amazement for they marvelled to hear these Illiterate Galilaeans speak to Men of all Countries in their own Tongues And without any previous Learning or Meditation pray fluently in Languages they never heard or understood before And this Gift was likewise attended with the Interpretation of Tongues by which these Apostles were able to interpret in their own Vulgar Language those Prayers which themselves or others had uttered in an unknown Tongue Of this we read at large 1 Cor. 14. Now the design of these Supernatural and extraordinary Gifts was chiefly for the Confirmation and Propagation of the Gospel for so we read that Tongues were a Sign 1 Cor. 14.22 not to them that believed but to them that believed not meaning that these Divine Impulses and Inspirations were intended for the converting of Unbelievers and propagating the Faith of Christ And therefore to attest the Divinity of them they were frequently attended with the Gifts of Healing and Miracles For the Apostles did not only pray for the Sick but healed them too of all manner of Diseases with a word 's Speaking And by many miraculuos Signs and Tokens convinced the World that they were not only sent from God but that what they delivered were the immediate Dictates of his Holy Spirit Now these Extraordinary and Miraculous Gifts were peculiar only to the first Ages of Christianity and were calculated for those Times when the Christian Faith needed Confirmation by the Demonstration of the Spirit and Power for the Christian Religion being then new and forc'd to struggle with the Opposition both of Jew and Gentile These extraordinary Assistances were necessary to overcome the Prejudices of both and thereby to convert some and confirm others in the belief of it But when these had obtained their Effects by the spreading and success of the Gospel which prevailed every where And when the Spirit of God had Dictated and Finished the Holy Scriptures in which are sufficiently contained the Rules and Directions both for the matter and manner of our Prayers Then began this Extraordinary Gift by degrees to cease and the Duty of Prayer to be left to that Ordinary way and means in which it continues to this Day when by the Help of pious and publick Forms composed by the Church for publick Worship and
Prayer could find from the Authority of Bishop Hall I come now to see whether they are like to find any better from the Authority of Bishop Wilkins This is your last Refuge and if this Prop fails your Cause may be in some danger of Sinking What you alledge from him is out of a Book Intitled The Gift of Prayer from which I find you transcribing many passages upon all occasions In that Book the learned Author endeavour'd to reduce Free conceived Prayer into an Art a Design as himself acknowledges that was perfectly new and never attempted by any before him Now that must be acknowledg'd to be a very considerable prejudice to the Undertaking for new Devices and Inventions in Religion have been ever found to be very dangerous and all Churches have felt the Mischief and inconveniences of such Novelties He that walks in a new and untrodden Path may easily lose his Way and many by leaving the Antient Track have found themselves in the Briers Jer. 6.16 and therefore we are bid to Enquire for the old Ways and to walk in them it being much more safe to keep in the beaten Road of Antiquity than to seek out and wander in the By-paths of Innovations But to come to the Book We find that Great man in the Preface wondring that so little should be said or written on that Subject to help him in his Undertaking Now this Wonder may soon cease by calling to mind that all Christian Churches in all times and places perform'd their Publick Worship by Set prescribed Forms and so as there was no use so neither was there any need of this Artificial Gift which is a sufficient Reason of the Silence of Antiquity about it But when this Art began to be studied and put in practice it soon became an Instrument of Division and is at this day one of the principal Wiles and Artifices of Seducers Accordingly therefore this Great man finding the bad Effects of this new Experiment in Divinity and observing how greedily it was catch'd at and abus'd by Sectaries thought fit to abandon this New Art without adding improving or so much as correcting the Imperfections of it and He himself to his dying day became a constant frequenter of the Publick Prayers of the Church and likewise according to the Duty of his Office strictly kept his Clergy to them But the better to clear up this Matter you must consider Sir the Time of the writing of that Book together with the Occasion and End for which 't was written and then you will soon see what little stress is to be laid upon it For the Time of writing it 't was when the Liturgy and Discipline of the Church of England were by a prevailing Faction laid aside and all godly Forms of Prayer decry'd at which time a whole Deluge of Errors and new Opinions broke in upon us and by the help of Free Prayer were vented and spread abroad to the great increase of Sects and Schisms among us By this means Men lost the Reverence that is due to the Divine Majesty bespeaking him in a loose careless and indecent manner and the Solemnity of Prayer was prostituted to vile and secular purposes Now to remedy those Evils this Great Man wrote this Book to direct Men in this Duty when they were deprived of the Assistance of Forms and to preserve if possible some Sense in their Prayers at a time when there was so little of it to be heard Moreover if we consider the manner and model drawn up by this Reverend Person for this purpose we shall find it in effect to be This. When one sort of Forms were cryed down he endeavoured to bring up another that is when Book-Forms were removed by the subtlety of Designing Men p. 11. he endeavoured to set up Mental-Forms or repeating their Prayers by memory which he stiles An invisible Book for the Register of our Thoughts hoping thereby to keep up that sense and seriousness that was requisite in this Duty there being but little difference as he tells us betwixt Repeating by memory and Reading out of a Book That this was the main drift of the Author in that Book appears by these following things First p. 10. He forbid's Men to depend altogether upon sudden Suggestions or Effusions as if it were A Quenching or Confinement of the Spirit to be furnished before-hand with Matter and Expressions for this Service p. 13. In another place he requires them To prepare themselves by study and premeditation for this Duty that is as appears by what is mentioned before to lay up both Matter and Words in their Memory for the more decent and orderly performance of it Again p. 3. 18 he condemns leavning these things to suddain Infusion which occasions Mens bespeaking God Almighty in a loose and careless manner Furthermore he would have them settle and compose their Thoughts or fix these things in their Memory p. 19. for the more solemn performance of this Duty that they may the better avoid all idle impertinent and wild Expressions the usual Embellishments of extempore-Extempore-Prayer Secondly p. 17. He condemns all Affectation of varying Words and Phrases in Prayer by which means Men become expos'd to empty vain and unseemly Expressions Now you know Sir that the great difference between Forms and Free Prayer is that in the former the same Words are used upon the same occasions and the latter changes Phrases without any necessity and 't is well known that the chief Excellency of the conceived Prayers of Sectaries lies in this vanity of Variation which this Great Man severely condemns Thirdly He condemns all Affecttaion of Length which you know is one of the great Ornaments and Attendants of Free Prayer p. 17. and to avoid this Prolixity p. 19. he cautions against all empty Repetitions and Digressions letting us know Eccl. 5.2 that God is in Heaven and we are upon Earth therefore our Words should be few Fourthly This Author distinguisheth between Praying in Publick with others p. 16. and Praying Secretly betwixt God and our own Souls allowing Men in secret to take a greater Liberty of enlarging themselves in their own Expressions which though not in themselves so significant and proper may yet suit their Minds and serve to set forth their own immediate Thoughts But in Publick Prayers where we are the Mouth of others and should engage the Affections of those that joyn with us there greater care must be taken that our Expressions be so proper and deliberate as may be most Effectual to that End and for that purpose prefers premeditated Forms wherein Matter and Words are prepared before hasty and present Conceptions In a word this Reverend Author places the great work and business of Prayer p. 2. 3. in the Heart which he stiles the Life and Spirit of it and consequently the Words are but the Carkaess and Shell of it adding withal that 't is not essential to Prayer
that it be either read or rehears'd by Memory p. 10. 11. but that it be delivered with Understanding and suitable Affections with Humility and Confidence and an Inward sense of our Condition and therefore wills Christians not to sit down satisfied with their Book-Prayer but to endeavour to imprint it in their Memory that they may go on to perfection withal narrowly watching their Hearts for fear of that Lip-service and Formality which in such cases Men are more especially expos'd to The plain Sense then of that great Man seems to be this sc When the Publick Liturgy was abolish'd and all Book-Forms were cryed down he labour'd to teach Men to Pray by Memory and to that end willed them to premeditate and to prepare both Matter and Words before-hand not affecting Length or Variations nor leaving so weighty a Duty to sudden and present Conceptions for fear of falling into crude idle and impertinent Expressions And tho' in secret Prayers he allows a greater Latitude yet in Publick he directs them to make use of premeditated Forms to preserve the Solemnity and Reverence of Publick Worship And what wiser Expedient could be thought of in those unhappy Times when all pious prescribed Forms were thrown out of the Church and only the Froth and Vanity of Mens Brains cryed up in their room That this was the Sense of that Learned Author appears by his own practice which is a truer Indication of Mens Minds than Words or Writings for when the Liturgy of the Church was reviv'd and the ancient Order and Uniformity of Publick Worship restor'd he soon laid aside this unpolish'd and by many unpracticable Art and betook himself to the use of the Established Devotion and not only so but advis'd and required all those over whom he had any Power to do the same The present Reverend and Learned Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield who preach'd his Funeral Sermon in the Character he gives of him among other things tells us how he asserted the Liturgy and the Rites of it how he conform'd himself to every thing that was commanded and likewise brought others to Conformity even some eminent Men in his Diocess Yea that he endeavour'd to bring in all that came within his reach and might have had farther success if God had pleased to continue him And now all things consider'd what have you gain'd from the Authority of this Reverend Prelate whom you have so often quoted and insisted upon Does this make for the neglect of Publick Forms of Prayer in quiet and settled Times or the setting up Free Pray-against them where they are duly Established Do not Cases of necessity allow of many things which cannot be so well justified when that Necessity ceases Distingue Tempora was an antient and wise piece of Advice and will help to solve and remove many Difficulties and if you consider the Difference as well as the Badness of the Times for which this artificial Gift of Prayer was Calculated it may well enough excuse if not justify the Attempt But because Maturity of years ripens the Judgment and Length of Days encreaseth Knowledge you may take a better Estimate of Mens Opinions from the Practice of their latter and wiser Age than the Rawness and Rashness of younger Years If Time and Experience hath added any thing to your Knowledge and you begin to see farther into this matter than formerly let me advise you not to withstand the Evidence of Truth but to imitate the Example of this Great Man and let your latter End be like his which is the hearty wish of SIR Your affectionate Friend and Well-wisher M. H. June 1. 1697. FINIS