only for private use What hinders but if those variations are proper to answer the ends for which they were devised viz. the helping of people to perform the duty of Prayer with more understanding and better affections other variations in publick may be equally useful If P. 16. as the Doctor doth grant every good man may by the ordinary assistance of the spirit be moved to pray with Devotion and Fervency That is as I conceive may have his soul enlightned and possessed with a true apprehension and knowledge of his spiritual concernments and vigorously affected with them and carried out towards God in fervent desires inclinations and affections suitably to his present occasions What reason can be rendered why he may not by the ordinary assistance of the spirit be inabled to express his inward resentments in proper expressions The gift of utterance being the gift of the spirit as well as other gifts Mens discourses are usually answerable to their apprehensions and affections What we darkly apprehend we express obscurely and what we understand distinctly and clearly we discourse of plainly The principal thing indeed in Prayer is the frame and actings of our Souls the inward exercise of Faith Repentance Love and other Graces But saith the Doctor any good man may act these in the use of a Form And therefore may pray in or by the Spirit in the use of a Form But I say it must still be noted that if a man be to pray with others and that which we are now discoursing is concerning one that by way of Office is to perform this duty in the hearing of others so as to have them joyn with him in this performance he must use words and if he restrain himself to the words devised and put together by others and these words do not so well express and represent the sense he hath and which others should have of what is the matter of Prayer as others which do occur unto him and which he could very pertinently make use of for that purpose he cannot be truly said to pray in or by the Spirit according to the full import of that phrase But saith the Doctor then no man in the Publick Assemblies doth pray in the Spirit but the Minister for the Minister alone conceives the Prayer and it is a Form to the whole Congregation who must pray in his words To which I answer That the matter in dispute at present is only concerning him that officiates Besides it is not a Form to the Congregation taking a Form in the sense we are now discoursing of But the Congregation may joyn in the Spiritual Performance of this Duty acting graces suitably to the occasions which are administred and improving for this purpose the Abilities God hath bestowed upon others in order to the furthering and promoting of their devotion This is the work which pertains unto the Congregation at that time they not being called to express vocally their inward resentments during the Ministers officiating in this performance in the fittest expressions they are able The Doctor seems to be of the opinion that in the Apostles days there was an extraordinary gift of Prayer which some did partake of and that their Prayers were Divine Revelations They being immediately furnished by the Spirit both with the Matter and Words of their Prayers and that these Prayers were written down and after that gift failed they were preserved and used by the Church and were transmitted down to us by their Successors So that by this sort of discoursing our Liturgies are Divine Revelations But the Doctor hath none of the Ancients but St. Chrysostom to vouch for an Extraordinary Gift of Prayer in the Primitive Times This is certain before the Liturgies now extant or any part of them which is not expresly contained in the Books of the Old and New Testament will be owned by good Christians and sound Protestants for Divine Revelations very substantial particular proof must be made of their being such To father Liturgies in such an arrogant presumptuous manner on the Holy Spirit is not the way to bring them into credit with judicious and serious people It may effectually provoke God to pour forth in a little time so much contempt upon them they shall never get into repute any more This is further certain that our latest Liturgies have some prayers in them which by the very make of them any ordinary person may perceive they were not composed by Divine Inspiration And if the other could be proved to be of such an original surely these will not deserve to be thought the more venerable meerly because they have been added unto them Having said thus much concerning some passages in the Doctors Introduction before he enters upon the First Century I will now briefly consider the Testimonies he doth alledge for Liturgies In the First Century And he labours first of all to prove what he hath undertaken P. 28 c. by asserting that the Essenes who have been believed by divers learned men to be Christians had Forms of Prayer for Josephus saith they used Prayers which they received from their Forefathers which must be Forms and Philo saith they did sing alternately and Eusebius calls these the Hymns sung amongst us Christians And that excellent Historian labours to prove these Essenes were Christians by this Argument amongst some others Because they prayed and sung Hymns in set Forms as the Christians use to do Euscb Hist lib. 2. c. 17. Thus far the Doctor And I do readily acknowledge that Fusebius doth indeavour from what he sinds in Philo to prove the Essenes to be Christians And particularly from their way of singing Psalms and Hymns But he doth not say one word of their having set Forms of Prayers That they prayed in set Forms as the Christians use to do is the Doctor 's own saying for Fusebius doth neither say the Essenes had Forms of Prayers nor that the Christians did use any And yet Eusebius doth say That Philo's Book doth comprehend in it the Rules of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Valefius thinks this doth import that that Book did contain in it all the Rules or Canons which were observed by the Christian Church in Eusebius's time Further Eusebius doth gather out of that Book what he thought was proper to shew how exactly these Essenes and the Christians did agree in their Ecclesiastical Affairs as he himself assures us in the Chapter before referred unto And yet saith not one word of praying by set Forms which rather intimates there were no set Forms of Prayer used by the Christians in his time seeing he omits the mention of the Forms the Essenes used if as Josephus reports the Essenes had Forms of Prayer In the next place the Doctor thinks he hath a proof of Liturgies in Clemens Romanus But whoever considers Clemens will soon perceive that the passages the Doctor hath been pleased to quote are nothing at all to the present purpose
pray but hath also given Rules for the manner of performing this Duty when we perform this Service according to the Rules he hath appointed we may properly be said to use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if we consider the passage intirely as Origen hath it for the Doctor hath left something out it will clear it self We do affirm for a certain truth saith Origen that they who do worship God Orig. in Celf. lib 6. the Lord of all things through Jesus in the Christian manner or way and hee according to the Gospel using frequently as they ought night and day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such Prayers as are appointed or commanded are not vanquishable or cannot beovercome either by Magicians or Devils These last words the Doctor thought fit to leave out Now let any one judge whether by using appointed Prayers Origen meant offering up to God Prayers in such way as he had appointed or using such prayers as were composed by Men and saying them over in such order as they had prescribed which of these do you imagine Origen thought to be the Christian 's effectual security from Magicians and Devils Can it enter into any Mans head who knows any thing of Origen that he was for Christians to use Prayers as others did Spells How came the use of prescribed Forms to be better security from Magicians and Devils than any other way of praying There is further a Dispute betwixt the Doctor and Mr. Clarkson whether Origen P. 61. quoting some passages which are in the Psalms did by saying we find them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mean the publick Liturgy or the Psalter To which I shall only say That I do not perceive that there is any Antecedent proof that they had a publick Liturgy but it is certain they had the Book of Psalms amongst them I leave you to determine whether it is most probable that Origen being to quote Passages which were in the Book of Psalms would rather refer his Reader to another Book than unto that which was acknowledged to be divinely inspired St. Cyprian is next brought by the Doctor as a Witness for Liturgies And I might suppose P. 65. That he did allow the Lord's Prayer to be used as a Form of Prayer and that he would have us repeat the very words of it And yet this will not amount to any resemblance of a proof for Liturgies as they are here to be understood But the Passages in St. Cyprian the Doctor alledgeth do not I think import what he pretends they do St. Cyprian in his Sermon concerning the Lord's Prayer seems to have the very same Notions about it his Master Tertullian had expressed in his Tract concerning the same matter of which I have spoken before There are indeed some Passages in St. Cyprian's Sermon from which the Doctor doth draw his own inferences The enquiry must be whether St. Cyprian's meaning in those passages was what the Doctor pretends St. Cyprian hath this Passage Cypr. Serm. de Orat. Dom. Orandi ipse formam dedit ipse quid precaremur monuit instruxit I conceive he means no more than this That the Lord Jesus hath taught People in what manner they should pray and what things they should pray for I think if we consider St. Cyprian's Discourse we cannot warrantably understand any thing else by his Orandi forma than those Instructions our Saviour gave for our Direction in performing of this duty of Prayer St. Cyprian doth also certifie that the surest way to obtain acceptance and audience with the Father is to govern our selves in the performance of this Duty by the directions the Son hath given for this purpose Vt dum prece oratione quam filius docuit Id. apud patrem faciliùs audiamur If we strictly consider this Father's sense and meaning there doth not appear any ground to conclude that he laid any stress on our using the very words of which the Lord's Prayer doth consist And besides several passages which might be instanced in which do strongly intimate that what I have already mentioned is the substance of this Father's meaning here there is one short Passage at a little distance from these already mentioned which to me seems to put the matter out of all doubt Vt aliter orare quà m docuit Id. non ignorantia sola sit sed culpa Now let any man who knows any thing at all of St. Cyprian judge whether he thought that it was a sin to use any other words in Prayer than just those which were expressed in the Lord's Prayer and whether his meaning was not that it is a sin or fault to govern our selves in the performing of this duty by other Instructions than those the Son had given for our guidance in this Duty This I take to be the meaning of that other Passage Agnoscat pater filii sui verba cum precem facimus By cerba filii sui I conceive is not meant the words of the Lord's Prayer but the Instructions and Directions the Son gave for the right performing of this duty Here I may mind you that the Doctor in his Discourse on one of his Quotations out of Origen hath this Passage Note also Origen doth not say P. 60. the Christian made these injoyned Prayers but used them which supposes they were made into a prescribed Form before Now what doth the Doctor think might be noted here according to his way of making notes upon precem facimus But for my part I think the Ancients by making Prayers and by using Prayers meant much what the same thing viz performing the duty of Prayer Moreover St. Cyprian hath this Expression Si petamus ipsius oratione And this he immediately interprets I think by our governing our selves in this Duty by the Directions he had laid down about it And his account of these Directions is very like that Tertullian had given of them before him Id. Sit autem orantibus sermo precatio cum disciplina quietem continens pudorem There are two Passages more relating to this matter which the Doctor quotes out of this Author in which he considers the words the Author useth but neglects the sense and meaning the Author had in his using of those words The first is this Publica est nobis communis oratio Now St. Cyprian's meaning is neither more nor less than this That Christians must not be so confined and narrow-spirited in their Prayers as to pray only for themselves but they must extend their Prayers to others and pray for all People He does not call the Christians Prayer publick and common because he speaks of the Lord's Prayer as the Doctor pretends nor as intimating that there was one fixed prescribed form which all were to use but because their prayers were not to be confined to themselves but to be general or universal extending to all Men. That this is the plain and
relating what passed there that he had not patience to hear any more of that sort of stuff and that a further discourse about such matters would have the same effect on him as a story would concerning a Prayer beginning and ending as is before mentioned Which though Julian might design as a reflection on the Christians way of Praying yet for ought I know it imports no more than if you should tell me a Story of peoples beginning their Prayer as if they worshipped but one person and yet should conclude their Prayer in such a manner as if they had been Praying all the while to a great many persons The Doctor thinks that Lucian doth by this Prayer mean the whole Communion Office But this is only conjecture I will say no more of that but only mind you that when the Doctor suspected his evidence for Liturgies in this Century would not be very clear P. 29. he assigned this for his Reason We have no Authors who had occasion to Write particularly of the Church Service which they cared not to publish lest the Pagans under whom they lived should deride or blaspheme their Sacred Mysteries And yet in the next Page to serve a turn we must have the most jearing Pagan that Age did afford admitted to take a view of their Administration during their whole Communion Office But suppose Lucian was really at a Christian Assembly and did hear there a Prayer which began with the Father and ended with an acknowledgement of and an ascription of Glory and Honour in variety of expressions to every Person in the Trinity as is very usual with those who do not bind themselves in all their Prayers to a precise number of words might not he give that description of that Prayer which is before related and yet there be no prescribed Liturgy imposed on that Assembly The next Author the Doctor hath recourse unto is Justin Martyr Whether Justin Martyr undertaking to write an Apology for the Christians and in particular for their Church Service had not occasion to write particularly of their Church Service I leave the indisserent and unprejudiced Reader to judge P. 31. The Doctor doth acknowledge that he doth often speak of the Christian Assemblies and of the several Duties there performed c. Now if they were tied up to the constant use of a precise number of Words in their Prayers tho he might not think it convenient to report their words yet what can be imagined to obstruct his declaring they did celebrate their Offices in stinted Forms Ibid. But saith the Doctor when Justin Martyr mentions Baptism he only faith They are taught to Fast and Pray and ask of God the forgiveness of their former Sins and being brought where water is they are Regenerated in the same manner as we were Regenerated from whence the Doctor infers that even in his time they began to conceal the particular manner of Celebrating these Mysteries Now I conceive the Doctor is under some mistake as to this Passage for Justin Martyr doth immediately relate in what manner they were Regenerated Just Mar. Apol. 2. They are Regenerated in the same manner as we were Regenerated for saith Justin Martyr they are then washed in Water in the Name of the Father of all things and Lord God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit And then he proceeds to some extent in explaining and shewing the reason of all this so that here appears not any intent that he had to conceal any thing that was in use amongst them But notwithstanding Justin Martyr's reservedness in the Doctor 's opinion the Doctor meets with some general expressions which incline him to believe they had Forms in his time He will not insist upon his saying they prayed for the Conversion of the Jews and the Deliverance of the Gentiles from their errors and for all men though these are pieces of Antient Litany I only ask whether these things cannot be prayed for unless people be bound up to the constant use of particular prescribed words And whether there be any evidence that Justin Martyr borrowed this account from any Litany The Doctor next observes that when Justin Martyr speaks of the bringing the newly Baptized person to the place where the Faithful Worshipped God P. 32. he saith they there made Common Prayers for themselves for the person Baptized Just Mar. Apol. 2. and for all other men every where with great fervency Now saith the Doctor Common Prayers do signify Forms that are known to all and in which all may joyn But I answer the question is not what Common Prayers do signifie now but whether Justin Martyr by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did mean set prescribed Forms which they must constantly use and from which they must not on any account vary Here doth not appear any thing to incline us to think he meant prescribed Forms But his very next words intimate the Reason why he called them Common Prayers They made Common Prayers for themselves for the person Baptized and for all other men every where viz. because they did all hold Communion in offering up Prayers to God and their Prayers were not limited to themselves but did extend to the whole Community of Mankind What the Doctor doth here alledge out of Ignatius hath been considered already what he produceth out of St. Cyprian shall be considered when I come to his quotations out of that Author where you will meet again with this same passage In the next place the Doctor reports a passage which Mr. Clarkson cites out of Justin Martyr P. 33. about which they do both make some stir The passage is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The President in like manner offers up Prayers and Thanksgivings as well as he is able Mr. Clarkson urges this as a proof that he who did officiate in the Publick Worship was not tied up to the use of Prescribed Forms but did pray and give thanks according to his ability And he produceth many testimonies to prove that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used doth import so much The Doctor undertakes to prove that that phrase doth signifie otherwise in this place For saith the Doctor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place before cited and that declares the Prayers at Baptism He should have said after Baptism were made servently or with all their might He endeavours to confirm this interpretation by producing some other passages where the phrase seems to be of this importance And then determines that When we desire the several things prayed for in a Form with all the earnestness and vigor we can we may properly be said to pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as we are able or to the utmost of our power So that the power here spoken of refers to the affections and not to the phrases and expressions of him that prays To all this I have these things to