undertaking goes not so high as to urge these things against the lawfulness of Communion or joyning in the Religious Worship which is so performed 4. If some things be said in behalf of your Separation or as proofs that your withdrawing is no Separation and your dividing no Schism which till they be throughly examined and understood may seem plausible to you even this is not enough Plausible Arguments are no security to them who neglect their duty to justifie your practices without certain evidence that Communion is sinful Those who are men of any parts and learning among your selves know how easie it is to make some fair pretence and plea for almost any Error yea and to bring some subtle Arguments against any truth in the World But no Christian may hence conclude that hereupon he may safely neglect his duty of imbracing that Truth or rejecting that Error And I presume that those who are of the meanest rank among you may know that there are few causes so bad but that a Lawyer who hath used himself to pleading though he be not a person of profound skill in the Law may say something plauble in the behalf thereof But this will not justifie him who doth an injury to his Neighbour in his civil Rights Much less will the like secure you if you act against that which is really your duty to God his Church and other Christians in matters of Religion 5. In reading the holy Scriptures nothing can be more plain than that the Peace and Vnity of the Church The Precepts for Peace and Unity are plain and weighty parts of of our Christian duty is frequently and earnestly commanded and enjoyned and Divisions vehemently condemned and censured in the Christian Religion We profess our selves the Disciples of that Jesus who before his Death expressed his affectionate desire and prayer for Vnity in his Church And he declared this to be a great means whereby his Religion might be propagated and take the greater place in the World John 17.11 21 23. In Christianity while many are eager in prosecuting their Contests too highly in other things the Apostle assures us that Peace is one of the great parts in which the Kingdom of God consists Rom. 14.17 19 And he persuades to Unity in the Church with very great and affectionate earnestness Phil. 2.1 2. and urgeth the same in almost every Epistle Declaring also that they who make Drvisions contrary to this Christian Doctrine serve not our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 16.17 18. But can any persons be the better Christians by despising the weighty and frequently inculcated Precepts of Christianity Or can they be the faithful Disciples of Christ who are earnest in disobeying him even in such Precepts which besides his Authority are intended for the Honour and the progress of his Religion 6. The ancient Church zealous practisers hereof How unlike are these practices to the ancient Catholick temper of Christianity which long continued in the Church sutable to Rules of our holy Religion by the ancient Canons of the Vniversal Church they who would withdraw from the established Church (b) God Can. Eccl. Univ. can 65. and as disesteeming that would privately and without the consent of the Bishop set up another Church were under an Anathema And that the Ancient Fathers and Christians accounted the Precepts of the Gospel for Peace and Vnity to forbid and condemn Divisions and Separations from the Church and that they themselves were zealous in rejecting such practices may sufficiently appear from what I have shewed in (c) Libert Eccles p. 17 18 19 20 23 24. another Discourse But are the rules and practice of Christianity now changed and become quite different from what they were in the Primitive Times Or can any man pretend to a sufficient Warrant and Authority for altering the nature of these Duties or cancelling their Obligation 7. I know that some plead on your behalf that you are not chargeable with any blameable separation You meet indeed by your selves to perform publick worship in a different way from us as one Church may do distinctly from another but you do not censure the Church of England to be no true Church but profess to own her to be a true Church and her Communion to be lawful and therefore you are chargeable with no Schism Those Dissers not excused from schism who professedly acknowledg us to have a true Church and a true worship or unwarrantable division Now though this profession is not always made with sufficient clearness and freedom the acknowledgment thereof is so far from being a plea on your behalf that it is rather an unanswerable charge against you For you reject in your practice the Rules and Constitutions established by Authority concerning the order of the Church and its worship you generally express your dislike of our way of worship or at least your disesteem and undervaluing thereof many of you use your utmost endeavours to draw off persons from our Communion and to bring them to your Congregations and some of your chief Teachers have written their Letters to that purpose to such persons in whom they think they have any great interest some of which I have seen some years since your party frequently useth sharp censures against such pious persons who will not forsake our Church to joyn with you Your people ordinarily use reproachful expressions of our service yea concerning our Church and Ministry and so do your Teachers too frequently and if any persons forsake you and return to our Church they then fall under the load of your displeasure And because this behaviour is used towards that Church which you acknowledg to be a true Church and her Communion not sinful this is so far from justifying your practices that it renders them unaccountable and unexcusable 8. Can it be supposed The contrary proved from one end of Christian Unity that the Vnity and Peace our Saviour recommended for the gaining upon the world was only this that his Disciples and followers should all profess his Name and Doctrine but might make themselves of as many several parties as they pleased all of them openly before the world protesting their dislike of the several models the other parties embraced and also of that worship which was most publickly used and established by the chief Guides and Governours of the Church Now if all this might be done and care must only be taken that the dividing parties do not charge the main body of the Church to be no true Church or to have no true worship could this be the way to promote the honour of Religion or would it not rather make it appear contemptible And in our own present case do the enemies of the Protestant Reformation when they observe your dividing behaviour honour our Reformation because of our Vnity or do not you know that upon this account they upbraid our discord and divisions and make ill use of them And besides this
from the first Ages of Christianity and in the Jewish Church both in their Temple worship and Synagogues p. 136 Sect. IV. Some expressions vilifying Uniformity and charging Forms of Prayer to be an Engine of perpetual discord with some others examined p. 164 Chap. IV. Forms of Prayer are not forbidden in Scripture Some things are necessary to be determined in Gods worship which he hath not particularly enjoined Of the Authority of Superiours and the judgment of discretion and some other things p. 177 Chap. V. Of other Prayers besides those in the Liturgy and publick service p. 193 Chap. VI. Of Preaching Whether it be as useful and fit to preach as to pray in a set Form of words Of what account preaching is Exceptions against the Sermons of our Ministers as being satyrical advancing the power of nature and justification by works answered p. 206 Chap. VII Praying by a Form is rashly charged with mocking God p. 219 Chap. VIII Forms of Prayer do not debase the Ministry Of the Ministerial Office and the need of learning and knowledge Of the Priestly Office under the Law and the large Revenue God appointed for the Priests and Levites The pretence of ill effects from Liturgies refuted p. 225 Chap. IX Several Arguments for Forms of Prayer proved solid and substantial and among them some things concerning submission to superiours p. 241 Chap. X. A Perswasive Conclusion directed to our Dissenters to consider how unaccountable to God and how dangerous to themselves their separation is p. 266 A Vindication OF LITURGIES The Introduction giving the Reader an account of the occasion of this discourse HAving several years since published my Libertas Ecclesiastica wherein I endeavoured a Vindication of our Liturgy there came lately to my hands a Discourse in which is a pretended answer to two Sections of my Book concerning the lawfulness expediency and antiquity of set forms of prayer When I first looked into it I thought it a strange undertaking to attempt to prove that it is sinful for Ministers who are able to compose Prayers themselves to make use of any form of Prayer in their Ministration which was composed by other men and that any man might justly suspect his own reasoning when it engaged him in such an enterprize But when I had read it I found many things said therein which might possibly misguide the weak and unwary Reader but nothing which was of any great weight And indeed no false position is capable of being firmly proved by solid Arguments though to undiscerning men it may be rendred plausible by mistaken fallacies Yet because I am very sensible that the Assertion maintained by this Author is both in it self false and erroneous and also tendeth to undermine the true exercise of Religion and the Peace and Well-fare of the Church of God I resolved to examine all his Arguments and to return a fair Answer to so much of his Book as was needful for the discussing of the Question proposed and for the defending my self against his Oppositions And this I thought my self the more concerned to undertake because so far as this strange assertion should be received as true it would make void the design of my former Book which was to manifest that it was both lawful and a duty for Ministers and People to embrace attend upon and join in the publick service worship and Ministrations of the Church of England And I knew not how far any appearances of reasoning might be magnified by such persons who are engaged against our Church many of whom in a sinking cause so far as concerneth the evidence of truth and reason may be willing to catch hold on any twig The Author of this Book hath not published his own name therewith and therefore I shall not be curious to enquire after it but shall treat him as an unknown person And I confess I cannot easily conceive that he under whose name it goes should be so defective both in learning and consideration as to be guilty of such mistakes and palpable over-sights as may be found in some places of this Book For besides many other unaccountable positions and misunderstandings divers of which I shall mention in my following Discourse it is observable that what he writes concerning the ancient practices of the Church after the Apostles time or concerning any thing written in those days is generally done so loosely and sometimes with such wonderful extravagancy as may surprize an intelligent Reader with some kind of admiration of which I shall give the Reader here one instance 4. When he speaks of the original of Liturgies he saith a Ch. 2. p. 68 69. We do believe that Gregory the Great under the protection of Charles the Great was the Father of all those that dwell in these Tents and this eight hundred or a thousand years after Christ But first to speak of Gregory the Great eight hundred or a thousand years after Christ is far enough from truth when he died about the year 604. And secondly that Gregory the Great should be under the protection of Charles the Great is impossible when he was dead about two hundred years before Charles the Great began his Reign And thirdly it is altogether as unaccountable that the original of Liturgies was in the time either of Gregory the Gerat or Charles the Great when they were in use many hundred years before them both as I shall shew b Ch. 3. Sect. 3. in the following Treatise This mistake concerning these persons whose names were so famous in History that a man of ordinary reading could not be unacquainted with them is as if any person should presume to give an account of the Church of the Israelites and should assert that the offering of Sacrifices under the Mosaical Law had its beginning in the days of Eli the Priest in the Reign of King Jehosaphat six hundred or eight hundred years after the Israelites came out of Egypt Surely it is a strange confidence for any person to vent such things and to write positively what he no better understandeth 5. But whoever the Author of this Discourse is I shall apply my self to the clearing of the truth concerning the matter of it which I shall do with as much succinctness as is expedient And therefore though I shall not willingly omit any thing considerable which he urgeth against the lawful use of constant publick Liturgies or against what I have said in their defence yet where he mentions objections made by others against the force of his Arguments and gives his Answers to them I shall pass by such things where the insisting upon them is not needful for the defence of our Church or the decision of the Case proposed And in answering his Arguments I shall wave the repetition of his long Syllogisms which is a tedious way of proceeding and in rational Discourses of this nature is acceptable to few others than those who may admire the art of making a Syllogism But I
shall give a faithful account of the substance of his Arguments and leave it to the impartial Reader to judge of the validity of my Answers And that I may the more gratifie such who will compare his Discourse and mine I shall keep to his method which he hath used except where he speaks to the same thing in different places and in that Case I shall think it sufficient to have spoken to it once for all And I shall so order my Answer that my first Chapter may answer his first my second his second and so onward to the end of his Book 6. But touching my former Discourse which this Writer opposeth he seemeth not very well pleased with my having chosen that subject c In his last leaf to the Reader to write on viz. the defence of our Liturgy nor with the time when my Book was written which he saith was in that nick of time of his Majesties most Gracious Indulgence if it was possible to perswade the Parliament that there was no need of any indulgence towards them Now as to the subject matter of my Livertas Ecclesiastica if he dislike my having engaged therein or my undertaking now to defend so much of two Sections thereof as he hath opposed I am content so far to bear his dislike and censure but I think my self to have given a sufficient d Libert Eccles B. 1. Ch. 1. account thereof And if what he observes concerning the time was true I think that was a fit time to defend and justify our Communion when they who divide themselves from us made the greatest opposition against it and involved themselves in the heinous sin of Schism But the truth is I was engaged in that work before that Declaration came abroad but may Book was not published till after his Majesty had cancelled that Declaration the Declaration which was made March 1671 2. was Cancelled about the end of 1672. and my Book came abroad in Octob. 1673. 7. But as to the perswading our Governours against any Indulgence or favour towards them it is possible the positions of this Writer may do more to that purpose than I have done I did indeed justify the lawfulness of performing what is required of Ministers concerning the Liturgy which was no more than to vindicate what the practice and acknowledgment of every conforming Minister had before owned But I think it my duty to leave the ordering of publick affairs to my superiours and did not by any expression that I am aware of interpose in their work 8. But I know not how far such Discourses as this of this Author ma◠〈◊〉 vince superiours that such persons ar◠〈◊〉 capable of being taken in into any duly regulated and setled establishment because of the unreasonableness of their demands and the weakness of their Arguments since he declareth against the enjoining the ordinary use of any Liturgy or set form whatsoever in publick Ministrations And we may see by e Ch. 10. p. 164. the close of his Book that he accounteth it the only medium he can fancy for a just comprehension that there be no Forms of Prayer enjoined though they may be recommended by superiours and left at liberty And yet it seemeth probable from his f In the two last leaves Preface that all this is not enough for he there tells us of other six things he hath to put in dispute besides this I do not doubt but all those six things may be as easily answered as produced and the Reader may make a probable judgment of the strength and force of those other things by this one which he hath singled out from the rest and therefore surely he thought it to be as considerable as any of the other 9. And it might be expected that he who is curiously severe in judging of a fit time for publishing other mens Discourses should have a sufficient care of the seasonableness of his own And he who considers the business of our Enemies abroad and how they are encouraged by our discords at home may well think that they who have any true value for the Reformation should at this time encline to promote a setled establishment of the Church which may tend to uphold and secure it And since our dissenters by sufficient tryal found in our late distracted times that they could not erect much less maintain any establishment in their way we may thence discern that no settlement can reasonably be expected but upon the foundations of the Church of England which hath also the advantage of truth and agreement with Primitive Christianity And therefore it was no fit time now to vent such notions which widen our breaches are inconsistent with any publick establishment of a Church and which put advantages into the hands of other Enemies and serve their purposes And yet I confess this of the time is the least fault of this Discourse but that which is the greater is that the drift thereof tends to confusion and the things contained in it are unsound and untrue which I shall now come to manifest CHAP. I. Of stating the Question concerning the established constant use of Forms of Prayer in the publick service of God IN managing his opposition against the constant use of prescribed Forms of Prayer The Question proposed concerning the lawfulness of using Forms by Ministers who have gifts the forementioned Writer doth in his first Chapter give us the state of the Question which he undertakes to dispute and therein he expresseth what he yieldeth and granteth as lawful and what he judgeth and esteemeth to be sinful and undertaketh to prove it so and herein he hath declared himself with sufficient clearness and plainness What he contends for he thus expresseth a Reasonable Account p. 5. All that we affirm is this That our Consciences do from arguments which to us at least seem highly probable judge That it is unlawful for Ministers having the gift of prayer ordinarily to perform their ministerial acts in solemn stated publick Prayer by reading or reciting forms of Prayer composed by other men confessedly not divinely and immediately inspired although our superiours do requrie this of us 2. But he alloweth and acknowledgeth b p. 2. that their labours are profitable who have drawn the matter of Prayer into Forms c p. 3. that any Form of Prayer contained in the Scripture may be used as part of our Prayer whether it be under any command or no but if it be commanded it undoubtedly ought to be used d ibid. That if a Minister distrusting his own memory or invention shall compose Prayers for his own use he may do it e ibid. that it is lawful yea necessary for them who join with others in Prayer to make use of their words which yet are but a Form to them f ibid. that he that ministers in Prayer to others may use a prescribed Form of anothers composure if he have not the gift
the affecting variety of words in the worship of God where fit words may be best secured by a good Form is both apt to hinder due devotion and it also speaks such persons much concerned about that which is too low and mean to procure Gods acceptance And it implies a misconception of the divine nature and Being in them who look upon such things as of great concernment to please him And the making that a necessary part of Religion which is not such by laying a doctrinal necessity upon it where men are able to perform it cannot be excused from being a piece of superstition or a teaching for doctrines the precepts or fancies of men Chap. I. 9. Obs 2. Opposition against our Church and Liturgy is upon uncertain grounds It may be noted that this Author though he sometimes talk high doth not account himself certain of the truth of this position which he layeth down in his stating the case and in the following part of his Book undertakes to prove His position expresseth the sinfulness of using Forms of Prayer in the Case he proposeth and he saith t p. 2. their judgment of Conscience is that they are unlawful and this they u Ch. 8. p. 132. from their hearts believe and so must practise But when he speaks of his Arguments he saith they have Arguments which x p. 2. appear very probable and y p. 5. seem highly probable with other like expressions And how far this evidence doth prevail with himself we may discern by these words z p. 164 p. 70. We judge not our selves infallible in our sentiments in this case we condemn not our brethren which judge otherwise and accordingly practise a p. 132. in p. 22. We dare not judge those who we think have the gift of Prayer but think not fit to use it in their ordinary service Whether it be sin in them we leave to Gods determination we pray God that if we be in the mistake God would reveal it to us These words do plainly speak doubtfulness and uncertainty as do those in the Margent for no understanding man can use such expressions concerning what he certainly knows to be sin In speaking of the sinfulness of theft or lying he would not say we condemn not them who practise otherwise c. to wit thieves and lyars since he certainly knows these things to be sin and therefore that the practisers of them ought to be condemned Yet at sometimes he speaks as if he proceeded on b P. 25. p. 123. demonstrations 10. Now I hope to make it manifest that his Arguments do not so much as prove any probability of truth in his assertion yet I could in the mean time heartily wish that both he and others with him would seriously consider how unsafe it is for themselves The hurt and danger of such practices considered and dangerous to Religion for men to oppose the state and order of a well setled Church upon probable Arguments Where we have certain evidence of any thing being our duty we are bound to embrace it whomsoever we contradict but certain evidence no man can have of an errour being truth And to proceed upon probable Arguments only yea or on such as men may by their mistake esteem and confidently assert to be certain is in an errour no safe foundation for practice 11. The Donatists by their restless Pleas and various disputations manifested that they proceeded on such Arguments which to them seemed highly probable the same may be said of the Arians and Eunomians whose Arguments are frequently produced by c Athan. contr Arian Or. 4. passim Athanasius d Naz. Orat 35 36. Gr. Nys Basil adv Eunom Gr. Nazianzene and other ancient Writers to a greater number than this Writer hath against Forms of Prayer And almost all who were of old guilty of any Heresy or Schism as also at this day the Romanists Anabaptists Quakers and other such Sects have their Arguments which they account probable And for the Brownists who declared in their e Praestant Viror Epist p. 925. Preface to their Confession that the Church of England its Ministry and its worship were all adulterous Fr. Johnson published his f John â— Reasonâ— for sâ—â—â—â—tion seven Arguments of one sort and seven of another sort such as to them seemed probable and all of them in Syllogisms as our Author produceth his seven Arguments in Syllogisms against Forms of Prayer And Erbury and others with him had their Arguments which to them seemed probable which they undertook g Mr. Long in Exam. of Mr Hales of Schism p. 133. at Oxford to produce and urge against all ordination and ministry Yet if I should ask this Author whether he thinks all these persons did perform their duty to God aright and were to be discharged from sin in thus venting their errors and heresies and that the Church of God received no disadvantage from them I presume he would not assert this however we are sure of the contrary And then the consequence will be that if it be a duty to hold Communion with our publick Assemblies and to perform the worship of God according to our established Constitutions they cannot be acquitted from sin nor excused from doing hurt to the Church of God who reject these duties upon their probable Arguments 12. But in requital for his so favourable expressions towards us in not condemning our using the Liturgy of the Church this Author expects that we ought not to change him and others of his perswasion with any blame in their dissent and separation h Reasonable Account p. 64. Dissenters are to be blamed We condemn not our brethren Let not them saith he judge and condemn us We are in our dissents in the case anothers servants Now it becomes no man to pass that judgment on others which is peculiar to God as concerning the hidden things of the heart of man or his final state but we are allowed to account and judge those actions of men to be evil which are manifestly so And it is very unreasonable that if they who violate any Laws of God or Man do not blame others for keeping them that therefore they must not be charged with the breaking them If S. Peter did not fault S. Paul who according to his duty kept Communion with the Church at Antioch S. Paul did not therefore think himself obliged not to rebuke S. Peter for his unwarrantable withdrawing from it but he declares in this case Gal. 2.11 I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed and v. 14. I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel 13. Wherefore because I think it my duty to deal faithfully and plainly in these things I do freely profess that besides what concerns the Laws of the Church and of the Realm I account my self to have as plain
evidence from the Laws of God and the Constitution of the Christian Church that Schism and unnecessary separation is a sin in the breach of Christian Vnity as that Adultery is a sin in breaking the bond of Wedlock And I account my self to be as certain that if ever there was any unwarrantable separation from any known Church since the Apostles time the separation from the Church of England is really such since our Church is truly as free from any just exception in its Constitution doctrine and worship as any other since that time either was or is And it seemeth highly probable if I do not mistake plain words that some of our dissenters themselves are at some times satisfied either of so much or of that which comes very near it concerning the excellent Constitution of our Church Dr Owen saith i Of Evang. Love p. 54 55. We look upon the Church of England or the generality of the nation professing Christian Religion measuring them by the doctrine received since the Reformation to be as sound and healthful a part of the Catholick Church as any in the World and again k ibid. p. 87. We believe that the generality of the inhabitants of this nation are by their profession constituted an eminent part of the Kingdom of Christ in this World But if pitieth me to consider upon what weak and unwarrantable pretences such persons venture upon the practices of real separation and by what insufficient excuses they plead for themselves in the defence thereof 14. This Authors opinion is a heavy charge against the most eminent Churches and men Obs 3. There are considerable prejudices against the truth of our Authors assertion as it is by him stated even such which beside the more direct evidences of which hereafter will perswade a sober man to be wary of entertaining it if he duly observe them For this opinion is not only against the Church of England but the most famous Churches in the Primitive times who used such set Forms in their publick worship as besides what hath been said already will sufficiently appear in the following Discourse This is also against the Constitution of many eminent Protestant Churches abroad which I have elsewhere l Libert Eccl. B. 1. Ch. 4. Sect. 1. n. 11 12. observed briefly and shall not need here to add further proof since this Author doth not deny the same but tells us m Reason Acc. Ch. 2. p. 9. the continuance of Liturgies upon the Reformation owes it self in a great measure to their not having men able to pray without a Form And yet I cannot but think that this Author is a person of so much modesty and hath such a respect to many of those Reformers and their Successors as not to think them inferiour to himself and then they must come under the censure of his assertion And to me it seemeth a very hard thing to embrace such a position as must cast reproach on almost all the Churches of Christ in all Ages and must also conclude all the most famous Ministers therein to have lived and died in the constant practice of the same sin unrepented of Now I can easily apprehend that such a consideration as this will have a different influence upon such men as this Author according to the different temper in which it may meet with them For at one time he tells us n Ch. 9. p. 163. authority or practice is a lamentable Argument but at another time he declares concerning the sense and apprehensions of good men that o Ch. 2. p. 44. the sensus piorum neither is nor ever was judged by persons of sobriety and worth an inconsiderable Argument for the truth of a proposition especially a practical proposition not plainly determined in holy Writ 15. Nor is it consistent with it self his very stating his Question overthrows the main foundations and chief Arguments of his Discourse and then he who will embrace our Authors assertion according as he hath stated it upon such Arguments as he chiefly urgeth must learn to affirm and deny the same thing or to reconcile things contradictory which to me and to all rational men must be when observed another great prejudice against his opinion Now in stating his Case he grants as I above observed that such Forms of Prayer as God hath commanded in Scripture if any such be must be used and other Scripture Forms though not commanded may be used as part of our Prayer and yet he declares it sinful for such Ministers who can pray otherwise to use Forms 1. From the duty of using their own p Ch. 2. p. 6 7 c. and Ch. 3. gifts and 2. From the hindrance of pious dispositions or attention and fervency from the use of a Form of words in Prayer and yet if these Arguments are of any weight they must conclude against the lawful use of Scripture Forms as well as of others which yet he asserteth to be lawful And indeed some Scripture Forms being in the New Testament commanded to be used that sufficiently manifesteth that a set Form of words in Prayer can be no hindrance to a religious temper of mind unless we will grant that our Saviours commands are hurtful to his Religion and that such Positions of men which are contrary to his Precepts ought to be preferred before them 16. He acknowledgeth also p. 3. that it is lawful yea necessary for them who join with others in Prayer to make use of his words who speaketh which c an be but a Form to them And p. 19. he saith such persons have nothing to do but to exercise their grace And this consideration was made use of to prove the lawfulness of Forms by q Pract. Catechism B. 3. Sect. 2. Bishop Tayl. Of Prayer Extempore n. 46 47. Disp of Liturg. Prop. 1. Arg. 6. Dr Hammond Dr Taylor and Mr Baxter Now from hence it not only follows that such Prayers are acceptable to God which are put up by pious men with devout hearts but without the exercise of their own gifts but it must also be hence concluded that Vnity in publick Prayer is more acceptable to God than the use of mens own abilities in conception or expression For otherwise it would be the duty of all persons in the publick Assemblies who have any such abilities not to take notice of the Ministers words or to join in them but distinctly to exercise their own gifts or make use of their private conceptions there or else to withdraw themselves from the publick Assemblies that they may have the more free opportunity for the exercise of them 17. Nor generally owned by the Non-Conformists I shall only add in the last place that this assertion of our Author is such that a great part and I think the greater part of the Nonconformists themselves will not own Indeed in Qu. Eliz. her time the r In Bishop Whitgifts Defence Tr. 9. Ch. 2. Div. 2.
he would hereby in some degree avoid this difficulty But he hath shut himself out from this Plea since in the same place he declareth that Christ and his Apostles made use of this Version though as full of mistakes as any other And in that the Pen-men of the New Testament did sometimes vary very considerably from the Septuagint as for instance in that Prophecy of Zech. 12.10 cited Joh. 19.37 where the Septuagint in p Hieron in Zech. 12. S. Hieroms time were observed and affirmed by him to read it as our most ordinary Copies thereof now do this is evidence enough that they did not esteem that Version to be of divine inspiration 25. A second instance I shall give No new Creeds to be daily made concerneth the Creed or profession of the Christian Faith Now supposing according to the assertion of q Voss de Trib. Symb. Dissert 1. c. 25. c. Vossius that the Creed called the Apostles was not made by themselves In reciting the Articles of the Christian Faith at Baptism or according to the ancient Custom to the r Aug. de Symbol ad Catechum Catechumeni before Baptism it cannot be expedient that every Minister should every time exercise his gifts in forming a new Creed And if he should do this it would neither be so close and pithy in its matter and substance nor of that authority which the received Creeds are and this would be the way to lose the old faith by a changeable novelty of words The ancient Custom of the Church was to keep to their Å¿ Ruffin in Symbol fixed Creeds And then they who would not acquiesce in the received Symbol or Rule of Faith were looked upon with t Socr. Hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suspicion of having designs against the true Faith 26. Publick Forms allowed by Dissenters The like may be said of publick Confessions And which way soever our Author may be enclined in this Case some of the chief persons of the Presbyterian Party in our late times discerned so much hurt by the rejecting these publick Forms as made them earnest in pleading the usefulness of them Thus for instance Dr Tuckney on 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the Form of sound words Whence he declares u Form of sound words p. 246. Forms so much decryed in our times were not so undervalued in Paul ' s who you see left with Timothy a Form of words And he said x p. 248. these have been ever in use since God himself wrote the Decalogue and Christ taught us his own Prayer And the Apostles their Canons Act. 15. and the Primitive Churches and Fathers their Creeds And he not only asserts y p. 252. that the Forms of sound words are useful and in some cases necessary but complains also that our z p. 258. experience in these wofully distracted times too sadly cryeth aloud that the not keeping more close to such Forms of sound words which our Church was sometimes famous for in point of Doctrine hath miserably torn us in pieces and divided us in semper divisibilia with more to that purpose And concerning every man taking the liberty of venting his own novel composures of this kind he declares a p. 272. many such Forms are in these times of Deformation rather than Reformation minted daily So he in the Year 1650. 27. And amongst the Independents when their Elders and Messengers from the several parts of the Realm met at the Savoy to publish their joint Declaration of Faith and Order this their General Assembly it seems thought it not necessary or requisite for them to make use of their gifts to compose a new Confession of Faith For in the main part of what they published b In Declar of the Faith and Order of the Congr Churches in several whole Chapters and most of their Paragraphs they kept exactly even to the words of the Confession of the Assembly at Westminster making very few alterations in any other things save where the Independent opinions differed from the Presbyterians And yet themselves c In the Preface highly magnified and applauded their own proceedings in this Convention and their Vnity therein 28. And it may be further considered Well consiâ—â—â— Forms more compleat than other varied composâ—res that in all these things viz. the Version of Scripture the Declaration of the Articles of Faith and in publick Prayers it may well be presumed that what is well considered and setled or prescribed as a Form is more perfect and compleat in the composure than can be expected in any method of ordinary variation And to assert that these things may be always better or as well performed and composed by every Minister or even by the most eminent person whomsoever in a constant way of varying in the use of their own abilities than in a well considered and digested Form is as much as to affirm that the varied expressions of men at every particular time are more proper pithy expressive and full than the best composed Prayer that is at any time made and reviewed with the greatest consideration and care for so it may be expected that a publickly established Form is 29. And he who talketh of this our Church that if all her Ministers cannot constantly in their daily new Prayers equal or out-do the perfection or exactness of a well considered Form for this must be his sense if he speaks to any purpose that d Reas Account p. 157. this may be spoken to the shame of the Church of God in England these raw and extravagant speeches will be to the shame of those who utter them so far as they will be ashamed of uncharitable and reproachful calumnies against the Church of God and of speaking against all sense and reason 30. Now the result of what I have hitherto discoursed is that what our Author contends for is neither the true and proper gift of Prayer which is necessary to be exercised nor yet any singular or peculiar gift of the spirit of God as a special benefit of Christs Exaltation but it is an ability of a more common and ordinary nature And that it is neither a duty nor yet expedient that such abilities should be used and constantly exercised any further than is agreeable to the rules of edification and order Thus much I thought fit to write for the Readers better satisfaction concerning the subject or matter of his first Argument but I shall not need to do the like concerning the rest And now it will be no hard thing to Answer the Argument it self 31. The substance of his Argument is e Reas Acc. p. 5 6. that a Ministers own gift of expressing his mind fitly to God in Prayer is a mean given by God for the performance of the Religious act of Prayer and therefore may not be omitted no not at the command of man To which I Answer 32. First
in a persons being able to express his mind whereas it is chiefly to be provided that the conceptions of his mind be sober and well ordered comprehensive and every way sutable to the nature of the duty 2. In that he only mentions the expressing his mind Whereas in publick Prayers it is not a mans own private desires or wants so far as they are peculiar to himself which he is to present to God but he is to express what is fit to represent the minds of the whole Assembly and the common desires and wants and joint Devotions of all the Congregation 46. Another place I shall examine is where he tells us they x p. 9 10. His defavâ—ing the ministry of our Church is unjust and unreasonable think it will be hard to find nine or ten thousand Scholars in England furnished with the gift either of praying or preaching in any tolerable manner and one great reason is because they have been so tied to a Liturgy that they have never applied themselves to the study of the Scriptures and their own hearts as they should Thus in this place and in many others he takes any occasion to reproach and cast dirt upon the Ministry of the Church of England even to such excess as sometimes to call them though he excepts very many particular persons from that charge y p. 124. an ignorant lazy and sottish Ministry And he is the more liberal in these exorbitant Censures when he doth withal bespatter our Liturgy as in both these places or what he terms z p. 149. that pitiful thing called Vniformity in words and syllables and phrases 47. Now I conceive my self abundantly warranted to say that the abilities of the present Ministry of the Church of England are such as were never in this Church outdone if equalled in any foregoing Age nor as I verily believe in any other part of the Christian World since the Apostolical times in any Church of so large extent And it is an easy thing but mightily unworthy of a Professor of Christianity to speak bad and evil words of the mosT worthy men and things But doth the use of a Liturgy hinder men from studying the Scriptures or their own hearts which is a loud calumny upon our Ministry and many other excellent persons of eminent piety and goodness who have a very high value for our Liturgy and were the ancient Fathers and our first Reformers and their Successors who closely adhered to a Liturgy men of no understanding in the Scriptures and men of no piety of heart or holiness of life Or is the dayly reading the Scriptures as is done in the Liturgy and by the Ministry of England at other times also that which must hinder mens study and understanding in them and is the constant use of morning and evening devotions which the Liturgy directeth the great obstacle to piety and to mens taking serious care of their own hearts to have them possessed with fear and reverence of God and disposed to the exercises of Religion and universal obedience And what a wild accusation is this to revile and asperse a National Ministry at random and at a venture concerning such things wherein every Reader may discern that it is impossible for him to know what he speaks to be true and others blessed be God know them to be false 48. And I wish our Author be not himself defective in some part at least of what he chargeth upon others For in studying the Scriptures he could not but meet with Precepts against evil speaking false accusing rash judging and uncharitableness and in studying his own heart he would discern whether he had not offended in any of these And I presume him though I am not very certain who he is to be so much a Scholar as to know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the usual Greek word for the Evil one doth properly and primarily signify a Calumniator and it is thence unlikely that any of the spirit of Christianity should be contained in reproaching others which Nazianzen accounted to be a Naz. Orat 53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the greatest evils 49. In Answer to such words I could also without much pains find out defaming and reflective expressions if I were enclined that way but I am content herein to be inferiour to him but truly sorry to see what liberty he sometimes gives himself in such things I have long since learned from the example of our Lord and Saviour from the rules of the Christian Religion and particularly from our Church-Catechism to keep my tongue from evil-speaking lying and slandering And if he will not take it ill from me which I assure him I intend no otherwise than with a truly charitable mind I dare confidently affirm that if he shall please to be a strict observer of so much though it be out of our Liturgy he will not thereby be the worse man 50. And I hope he may be the less offended with me for this Counsel because I do not write it out of any private provocation or any apprehension of disrespectful expressions towards my self I acknowledge his expressions towards me in particular to have been very civil and courteous and I thank him for them And I shall not return to him any thing unmeet But I should not be faithful to the truth nor to himself if I should not shew the weakness and mistakes of his Arguments so far as I discern them And the duty I owe to the Church of which I am a member cannot well be discharged without taxing his reproachful words against it where I meet with them 51. What he speaketh concerning b p. 18 19. Hymns and Anthems I shall have occasion to take notice of in the next c Ch. 3. Sect. 2. n. 38 c. Chapter CHAP. III. Of Devotion and attentive fervency of mind in publick Prayer and whether the use of Liturgies be hindrances or helps therein SECT I. His pretences for Forms of publick Prayer being an impediment to attention and fervency examined and the contrary manifested HIS second Argument against the lawfulness of the ordinary publick use of Forms by him who hath abilities of expressing himself without them is that they hinder the attention intention and fervency both of Minister and people and therefore a Reas Acc. p. 23. may not be used But this charge against well-ordered Forms can never be made out and his proofs will appear very weak and slender 2. Now I freely acknowledge and assert Pious devotion greatly needful in Prayer that in our Prayer we ought to have a holy and Religious sense of God and of Jesus our Mediator We ought also to be serious in minding and attending to the duty in hand Ch. III. and as free as may be from distractions and to have a lively exercise of faith hope reverence and such other Christian Graces as I mentioned in the b n. 2. former Chapter And the
concerning their use in worship There were indeed Cherubims graven upon the walls and doors of the temple 1 Kin. 6.29 35. but God never allowed or appointed these to such ends and purposes as the Golden Calf was made and used but for the adorning the Temple They were not intended as representations of God himself nor might the people give to them any part of divine honour or say to them these are thy Gods O Israel Ex. 32.4 But molten or carved work when it was not made to be worshipped or to be a Symbolical representation of God was never forbidden to the Jews as many of the Jews themselves have by mistake imagined nor were those pieces of art when secured from these abuses any disadvantage to Piety and Religion There was anciently the stamp of a Castle and other resemblances upon the Shekel of Salomon and other Jewish Medals as appears from the representation of them in t Waser de Antiq. num Hebr. Walton in Supplem ad Brerewood de Pond c. Waserus and Bishop Walton and neither this nor the Lyons about Salomons Throne were to be condemned as unlawful 1 Kin. 10.19 20. Nor did the second Commandment forbid the likeness of any Creature to be made so as in general to condemn the Arts of limning carving and engraving but only forbad it to be made so as to receive any part of that worship which is due to God as u Ant. Jud. l. 3. c. 4. Josephus truly gives an account thereof 24. Nor will the command given to Abraham to offer up his son prove that Gods Precepts require any thing to be performed which is in its own nature prejudicial to Piety For this was only a Precept of tryal God did not desire that the Father should slay his Son but as x Amb. de Abr. l. 1. c. 22. S. Ambrose said tentabat si Dei praecepta praeferret filio made a tryal whether he esteemed the commands of God above his son Of the Precept for Abraham's Offering Isaac And this Tryal was no disadvantage to Abrahams Piety but a great evidence and high exercise of it But Gods withholding Abraham from slaying his Son by giving him a countermand after he had tried his obedience is a considerable instance to shew that nothing is grateful and pleasing to God that is not every way reconcileable to goodness and the ancient Christian Writers accounted justly the bloody inhumane and obscene rites of many of the Pagan Deities to be a sufficient objection both against them and their worship And besides this Isaacs bearing the Wood and being laid upon the Altar hath been accounted y Aug. de Civ Dei l. 14. c. 22. First Lesson on Good Friday in our Common Prayer a figure of the suffering of our Saviour and this act of Abrahams obedience might be commanded with some respect thereunto and upon this obedience Abraham received some peculiar instructions and promises concerning the Messias Gen. 22.16 17 18. all which tended to promote and advance his Faith and Piety Now as it is unsafe from such instances as this to censure the usefulness of any of Gods ordinary Precepts which he appointed to be of continued use so I desire our Author to consider whether this branch of his discourse be an help or hindrance to piety and Religion in teaching men to slight and disesteem and consequently to neglect and break any of the least of Gods Commandments 25. But he further saith z Reas Acc. p. 57. it is not unquestionable whether God and Christ prescribed Forms of blessing and prayer to be used by Ministers and people Gods command is express in the Old Testament for Forms of Prayer Now the Forms of Prayer I above mentioned out of Deuteronomy are so plainly and expresly directed that he who will be so bold as to assert that God only intended that they should use those words or such others as themselves should think more fit for that purpose he may as well say that when God appointed his particular Sacrifices his meaning was that they should either offer those sacrifices which he had appointed or some other which they should think more expedient For the injunction of the special sacrifices God appointed is not more express than of those Prayers which he commanded 26. And as the particular Form of the Priestly benediction is plainly appointed Num. 6.23 24 25 26. so it hath been observed by a Buxt Synag Judaic c. 21. Buxtorfe Drusius and other learned men that upon the day of atonement the High Priest solemnly pronounced this Form of blessing the people in the Temple And for the Priests blessing and did then peculiarly pronounce the name of Jehovah And some Christian Writers have thought that the name Jehovah being thrice expressed in that Benediction was some intimation of the Trinity And the b Par. Chald. Jon. in Num. 6.23 24 25 26. Chaldee Paraphrase under the name of Jonathan ben Vziel to express the constant and strict observation of the very words of this solemn Benediction in the Hebrew Tongue reciteth all the words thereof in the Hebrew before he gives the sense of it in his Paraphrase but doth not do the like in other places of the Law And this very blessing is not only used as a Form by the Church of England in the Office for the Visitation of the sick but the same is in the Geneva Liturgy composed by c Prec Eccles Form Genev. Calvin and also in that drawn up by d Luther Tom. 3. f. 10. Luther at the beginning of the German Reformation And the members of that Assembly which set up the Directory in the place of our Liturgy did so far assert the Form of this Priestly Benediction that in their e Assembl Annot. on Num. 6.23 Annotations on those words On this wise ye shall bless saying they say Or thus in a set Form of words 27. All that our Author hath against this is to declare in these strange words of Mr Cotton f Reas Acc. ubi sup The Priests are indeed directed to a Form of blessing Num. 6.22 c. but that they used that and no other Form doth not appear It is certain the Apostles used divers other Forms Now though what I have said be sufficient to give an account of the use of this Benediction yet it is very unreasonable to suppose that Gods Precepts have not authority enough to make what they prescribe a duty unless we can prove that men undertook the ordinary and constant practice of them Nor is the Apostles using other Benedictions at all to his purpose since this Benediction was not prescribed for them but only for the Priests Aaron and his Sons in the Temple Service And besides this a Benediction prescribed for any solemn publick service doth not hinder the use of other Benedictions out of that particular service and upon other occasions though they be given by the same person as was
the Benediction of Eli the High Priest to Hannah and Elkanah 1 Sam. 1.17 Ch. 2.20 28. He goes on to tell us that they g p. 57. do not think that ever our Saviour intended the Lords Prayer to be used syllabically And h De Casib Consc l. 4. c. 17. qu. 5. Amesius also declares that our Lord did not intend to prescribe a Form of words to be constantly observed in the Lords Prayer Now it may well seem strange that any persons should harbour such an opinion as this if they had not some interest which enclined them to have such apprehensions concerning the Lords Prayer But as our late Gracious Soveraign observed i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 16. its great guilt is that it is the warrant and Original Pattern of all set Liturgies in the Christian Church And I cannot but wonder that k Grot. in Mat. 6.9 in Luc. 11.1 Grotius should entertain this extravagant and unreasonable conceit 29. But that our Saviour delivered this Prayer as a Form to be of ordinary use I gave manifest evidence l Libert Eccles p. 100 101 102. from the expressions of his precept from the occasion of his delivering it from the manner of its composure and from clear testimonies concerning the usual practice of the Primitive Church in the first second and third Centuries in observing it as a Form And our Author thought not fit to answer any thing to these proofs The Lords Prayer was directed to be a Form nor indeed to take any notice of them unto which I shall refer the Reader But this novel and groundless notion is also greatly opposite to the sense of the ancient Church in the following Centuries and would have been then earnestly exploded since they looked upon the Apostles themselves and all other Christians to have been enjoined by divine Precept to make use of this Prayer as a Form S. Hierome declared m Hieron adv Pelag. l. 3. c. 5. Docuit Apostolos suos ut quotidie in corporis illius sacrificio credentes audeant loqui Pater noster c. He taught his Apostles that every day believing in the sacrifice of his body they should say Our Father which art in Heaven c. And n Aug. Epist 89. S. Austin saith Omnibus necessaria est Oratio Dominica quam ipsis arietibus gregis i. e. ipsis Apostolis suis Dominus dedit ut unusquisque Deo dicat Dimitte nobis debita nostra c. The Lords Prayer is necessary for all which the Lord gave to the chief of his flock that is to the very Apostles themselves that every one should say to God Forgive us our trespasses c. 30. Among the Protestants as their Writers do generally acknowledge it to be a prescribed Form so Apollonius and the Classis of o Consid contr Ang. p. 177 178. Walachria observed In omnibus Reformatarum Ecclesiarum Liturgiis c. In all the publick Liturgies which are extant of the Reformed Churches the Lords Prayer is prescribed to be used But our Authors Assertion not only contradicts the sense of the ancient Catholick Church and the generality of Protestants abroad but he herein clasheth as well with the Directory and with that Assembly at Westminster which rejected our Common Prayer as with the Church of England In the p Direct Of Prayer after Serm. Directory they said The Prayer which Christ taught his Disciples is not only a pattern of Prayer but it self a most comprehensive Prayer and we recommend it to be used in the Prayers of the Church And the members of that Assembly in their Annotations affirm that q Assembl Annot. on Luk. 11.2 It is the most exact and sacred Form of Prayer indited and taught the Disciples who were to teach the whole World the rules and practice of true Religion by Christ himself who is best able to teach his servants to pray And again Christ prescribed this Form of Prayer to be used by them 31. Now it is an unreasonable confidence and presumption to oppose and contradict the general sense of the Christian Church in all Ages and even the truly Primitive and Reformed Churches if it be not upon great evidence Wherefore I shall now examine what this Writer hath to say for his opinion He saith r Reas Acc. p. 57. If the Apostles had apprehended it left for a Form of words and syllables we should have found some after record of the use of it But if he mean there would be some record of this in the Scriptures and writings of the Apostles this is very vain since it is certain they do not contain such Prayers as were used in the publick Assemblies and it is as unreasonable to expect this in them as to expect that all Books of instruction written by any of our Church should repeat our Publick Liturgy and it is very usual for such Books to have other expressions of Prayer and Supplication than those of our Common-Prayer And if this objection were of any weight it would as much prove that our Saviour never intended that Christian Baptism should be administred in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as that the Lords Prayer should not be used though he plainly commanded both 32. But if by record The Lords Prayer used as a Form in the Primitive Church he means evidence beyond all exception from authentick ancient Writers concerning the practice of the Primitive Church though the producing such evidence is not necessary to make the Precepts of our Saviour valid I have sufficiently manifested so much in the place lately referred unto but if he took no notice thereof I cannot help that And besides what I mentioned above n. 29. S. Aug. assures us ſ Hom. 42. inter 50. Ad altare Dei quotidie dicitur Oratio Dominica The Lords Prayer is daily said at Gods Altar And in another place speaking of the Communion Service he saith that the Prayers thereof t Ep. 59. ad Paul Qu. 5. fere omnis Ecclesia Dominica Oratione concludit almost every Church doth conclude with the Lords Prayer And the use of it after the receiving the Sacrament was also observed by u De Sacr. l. 5. c. 4. S. Ambrose 33. But our Author saith 2. If Christ intended it for a Form x Ibid. p. 57. all that can be concluded is that Christ may appoint a Liturgy for his Church which surely none denies But it will also follow that Forms of Prayer are not to be rejected and condemned but ought to be esteemed of profitable use It gives an approbation to other publick Forms For since such Forms were of use among the Jews in our Saviours time as I have observed and shall more particularly manifest in the end of the next Section our Lord was so far from reproving this practice or John the Baptist his conforming to the like that himself taught his own
a rite of thanksgiving and after that their Sacrifice And their incense was daily offered before the rising of the Sun as y Anriq Jud. l. 3. c. 10. Josephus declares which is also agreeable to the direction of the Law it self Exod. 30.8 But in the evening service the incense was constantly offered after the Sacrifice 29. And their Sacrifices were attended in the Temple with particular prayers and praises The Levites in the Temple sung praises in a set form of words 2 Chr. 29.27 30. And the Priests joined prayers with their Sacrifices and that these in their constant and ordinary service were set forms besides what hath been by z Thornd of Rel. Assemb Ch. 7. some observed from the Samaritan Chronicle hath probable evidence from Philo who describing the Priest in this action saith he is a De Victim p. 843. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making common lauds for all the people Publick forms of prayer accompanied their temple-sacrificis in the most holy prayers And we can produce instances of set forms of prayer used not only by the people but even by the Priests themselves upon the most high and solemn occasions Such is that when in case of a great impendent danger of sad calamity the Priests weeping between the Porch and the Altar were to say Joel 2.17 Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine Heritage to reproach c. And both the Talmud and other Jewish Writers declare how upon the day of atonement the High Priest himself used several stated prayers as b Hor. Heb. in Mat. 6.13 hath been observed by learned men and the very prayers themselves are thence expressed by c de Sacrif l. 1. c. 8. p. 95. c. 15. p. 169 170. Dr Outram And the forms of prayer used at the Jewish Passover have been noted by Scaliger Buxtorf Syn. Jud. c. 13. Ainsworth in Exod. 12.8 Dr Lightfoot on Mat. 26.26 and divers others 30. In their worship in the Synagogues and their Schools besides other prayers added of latter times the eighteen prayers which are much mentioned and of great account amongst the Jewish Writers are asserted by d Seld. in Eutych Buxt Syn. Jud. c. 5. the Rabbins to be as ancient as the time of Ezra But that little or nothing of this whole number of the eighteen prayers is of any later date than the time of our Saviour Dr. Lightfoot e Hor. Heb. in Mat. 6.9 affirmeth might be proved at large if need did require And I shall think it sufficient for me further to observe The like used in the Jewish Synagogues that it is certain they had forms of prayer of ordinary and common use in the Jewish Nation as early as the times of our Saviour from the testimony of Josephus concerning the Essens expressing before Sun-rise in their supplications f de Bel. Judaic l. 2. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some such prayers as were delivered to them from the foregoing Ages and were received amongst the Jews And upon a view of what I have now produced in this Section the Reader may see reason to believe the truth of what was asserted by g in Loc. Theol. de Precat Melancthon concerning forms of prayer Ecclesia semper eas proposuit publicè privatim eas exerceri jubet The Church of God hath always proposed them and thought them fit to be used both publickly and privately SECT IV. Some expressions vilifying Uniformity and charging forms of prayer to be an engine of perpetual discord with others in the latter part of his third Chapter reflected on HAving sufficiently I hope answered what hath been urged in this Discourse to prove the use of forms of prayer to be any hindrance to piety and devoutness in religious worship and vindicated my arguments whereby I undertook to prove the contrary it is but expedient to consider some other reflective expressions which are in the latter part of this his third Chapter 2. When our Authour observed that the Walachrian Classis commended forms of prayer as conducing to several good ends and particularly to this Sect. IV. That uniformity in publick worship may be in all Churches observed Of Vniformity or the having the same form of worship throughout the whole Realm he takes occasion to fall foul upon that Vniformity which they thought valuable and which is established in our Church But he first declares his approbation of h p. 54 55. Vniformity in the ordinary matter of prayer pursuant to an unity in Doctrine and this he tells us is necessary And then he thus expresseth his contempt of Uniformity in that sense our Church approves it and our Laws and Government establish it calling it i Reas Ac. p. 55. that pitiful thing now called Vniformity which lyes in an oneness of syllables words and phrases a thing which never came into the heart of God to command And in another place he enquires how it shall be proved that k p. 149. that pitiful thing called uniformity in words and syllables and phrases was ever desired of God or that it ever came into his or his Sons heart Thus he can come very nigh to a form of words and phrases in reviling them in others And here is one part of the difference between us that whilst we use a form of words in the holy exercises of Religion he useth his form of words in scoffing at this religious exercise and the Constitution of our Governours and to us it appears that the deriding religious exercises is not so good a work as the practising them 3. But whether God or Christ ever commanded a set form of words to be used in prayer which our Author so confidently denies Excellent benefits by the establishing this uniformity may be sufficiently discerned from what I have said in the foregoing Sections But is this Vniformity in the use of a devout and pious form such a pitiful thing as he represents it when by this means almost all the advantages in the use of forms which I have above mentioned are obtained Hereby a decent and regular way of worship in full and comprehensive sense and fit words is secured in all Assemblies of the Church of England Hereby sober and understanding Christians are assured that they can heartily join in the publick service which is to be presented to God Hereby the minds and affections of the people may be particularly prepared before-hand to go along with the several parts of worship Hereby both Ministers and people are relieved against various distractions which new variety of words and expressions do suggest Hereby the Unity of desiring the same things in so many several Assemblies may quicken a considerate mans devotion And hereby all unbecoming and scandalous expressions which disturb the soberest Christians and administer matter for derision to others of which too many instances might be given are in the chief parts of Divine service and worship
(k) Whitak Controv. r. 1. Qu. 3. c. 4. Daven in Loc. requires an Epistle written from the Church of Laodicea to be read in the Church at Coloss Col. 4.16 8. But though I have a due value and esteem for Preaching yet I can by no means come up to our Author's height who not only calls Preaching the (l) Reas Acc. p. 99. greatest Ordinance of the Gospel but he also declares (m) P. 108. from the Commissioners in the Savoy that Preaching is such a Speaking in God's Name to the People and a speaking his Word Truth or Message that we make God a Lyar if we speak a falshood in his Name Surely he who thinks Of the due esteem and value for Preaching that every expression he useth in Preaching must be a Divine Oracle and that if he be guilty of any Mistake he becomes thereby so horrid a Blasphemer as to make God a Lyar had need confine himself to the manifest Articles of the Christian Faith and the clear and plain rules of Practice or to some certain form of sound words and for other things had need shut and seal up his lips until he have surely attained what he must never expect the gift of Infallibility and our Author if he preach at that loose rate which he writeth hath reason then to tremble and stand amazed 9. In preaching the Minister by considering the general rules of Goodness and Truth and the particular Doctrines of the Scripture and divine Revelation is conscientiously towards God and man to declare what he discerneth to be useful and wholsom Truth And in the main and necessary things of the Christian Faith and Life there is such certain evidence thereof that I do willingly call it infallible and other Expositions Directions and Notions he is to express with pious care and sincerity but not with any pretence to Infallibility I do acknowledg that it is matter of Lamentation that very many persons are much wanting in that due Reverence they ought to have for their spiritual Guides whom God hath set over them and their Counsels Instructions Exhortations and Discourses are not received with such an humble temper of mind as is suitable to be expressed to Gods officers and Ministers unto whom he hath committed a very great Authority And there is also another great miscarriage on the other hand in them who lay too high a stress upon preaching and hearing and too little upon practising or upon the fearing God and keeping his Commandments upon honouring the peculiar Institutions of our Saviour in reverencing the Ministry he sent highly esteeming the Unity and Communion of the Church which he founded celebrating the Sacraments which he instituted and in being peaceable humble meek and charitable towards men and obedient to Superiours 10. I shall take no further notice of any thing in this Chapter save of one clause wherein he reflects on the Ministry of our Church and their preaching saith he (n) p. 107 How many Discourses of late years have we had in Pulpits pretending to prove men have a natural power to things spiritually good That we are not justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ but by our own works How many perfect Satyrs Railleries and evomitions of the lusts and choler in the Preachers hearts These are the kind words and meek expressions of one who judgeth and censures the sharpness of other men and in almost every Chapter he breaks out into the same temper and spirit of Reproaching Now whosoever they be Our Author no fit person to complain of contumelious expressions in Sermons who are over fierce and Satyrical in their words I shall neither justifie nor excuse them But thus much I shall add that within these Twenty years last past I have heard very many Sermons preached by Reverend and worthy persons of the Church of England besides what I have preached my self and in all these Discourses I do not remember that I ever heard so many Contumelious expressions towards our Dissenters as may be found against the Ministry of our Church in this one little Book of our complaining Author 11. And concerning Discourses to prove that men have a natural power to do things spiritually good Of the power of men to do things spiritually good it is easie to see through his mistake All the Ministers of our Church with thankfulness believe and profess Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the World and that the new Covenant of grace is confirmed through him and that we are now under this day of grace and Salvation wherein God gives his aids and assistances besides the instructions of his word the mighty motives of his Gospel and the benefits of the Ministry of reconciliation and his holy Sacraments And surely all this is more than the power of Nature Now to say That men under these helps if they be not wanting to themselves may work out their own Salvation believe and submit themselves to the Doctrines of the Gospel and live Godly Righteously and Soberly this is not to exalt the power of Nature as our Author mistakes it but it is to own the advantages of the Gospel-Grace and of the mediation and undertaking of our Saviour But if under these gracious circumstances men are in no capacity of doing any spiritual good or of being persuaded to it I cannot understand to what end Preaching can tend when it must be in vain to exhort them to their Duty and unreasonable to reprove their neglect of it Nor can they act without natural powers and faculties 12. And concerning Justification there is as little reason for his complaint as in the former head We disclaim every where merit in our own works and actions and do here acknowledg That our Saviour hath as our mediator interposed by his Obedience Righteousness and Sacrifice to expiate our Sins give the sanction to the new Covenant of Grace and Righteousness and to assure the mercy of God and pardon and forgiveness upon the terms thereof Of the terms arnd condition of our justification an its dependence upon the Righteousness and Sacrifice of Christ But if we speak of the Gospel-condition of Justification that must be performed by us our selves and we do account that as Repentance which excludes forsaking evil and doing good is a necessary condition to the obtaining pardon of sin which I presume no sober Christian will deny so consequently it must be necessary to our being justified unless we can be justified and yet unpardoned 13. Or to speak plainly all sin whatsoever stands forbidden by the Holy rules and precepts of the Gospel as much as by any other Dispensation but the terms of the Gospel-Covenant are so gracious and extensive that they admit Repentance tender pardon and accept the sincere obedience of the Christian faith and life yet all that is necessary as the condition of the Gospel in order to our being accepted into Gods favour is necessary to our justification And that
Author that giving thanks to God is in Scripture expressed to be done in reciting the words of others 1 Chron. 16.7 But though I was not willing to pass by any thing which he urged though but under the appearance of an Argument I must intreat the Readers pardon in giving him the trouble of perusing a thing so very inconsiderable as this Argument is 7. Indeed he tells us (i) p. 120. he layes a greater stress upon his former Arguments than upon this but what little reason he hath to lay any such stress upon them may I hope by this time appear But he saith he cannot think this altogether vain and impertinent but of that let others judge But withal this Argument had need to be of great force when upon the account of this he tells us again in the (k) Ibid. close of this Chapter he makes it a great question whether if we think to fulfil the command of God for vocal Ministerial prayer by reading Forms we should not come short of what God requires and both mock God and deceive our own Souls Thus some men with extravagancy enough can speak great and swelling words supported or rather unsupported by weak feeble and impotent Arguments And his last words of this Chapter are That there is neither Precept nor President for praying by Forms which assertion he hath peremptorily avowed again and again though it be plainly against both the Scriptures and the sense of the Vniversal Church and the contrary thereunto I have above (l) Chap. 3. Sect. 2 3. plainly proved CHAP. VIII C. VIII Forms of Prayer are falsly accused of debasing the Ministry and of several unblest Effects HIs seventh Argument is (a) Reas Acc. p. 120 121. That Ministers performing their Ministerial acts in Prayer by prescribed Forms tends to level the sacred Office of the Ministry to the capacity of the meanest of the People but saith he (b) p. 121. God would never have erected an Office to do what the meanest person in the Church hath a natural ability to do And he there adds there is nothing plainer in the whole Book of God than that God hath established a peculiar order of persons to be his Ministers to declare his will unto his People and on their behalf to intercede with God in Prayer And he saith if this (c) p. 122. might be performed by Forms there would be no great reason for any peculiar maintenance for the Ministry nor for Honour and Reverence to them Now in answer to this I shall observe four things 2. Obs 1. That he gives a very defective description of the work and business of the Ministry as if it only consisted in being Orators and in the well using words and expressions Of the work and Office of the Ministry And this is no more than a master of a Family may do to instruct and pray for those of his Family but it must be the exercise of a special power of Office which must be the chief Ministerial performances of those who are in the Sacred function of the Ministry Wherefore by special Authority and Commission to receive persons into the Church in the name of Christ and to govern them in it to exercise the power of the Keys to consecrate the holy Sacraments and therein to exhibit in Christs name the tender and seal of remission of Sins and by his Authority Ministerially to dispense Absolution and Remission to them who are qualified to receive it by performing the conditions of the Gospel these and other such acts of Authority are the great and chief parts of the Ministerial office which he wholly omits And even instructions and prayers performed by those who are in this Sacred function are of greater moment because of their Office But what God worketh by their Ministry is especially to be regarded and if this was nothing as (*) Chrys in 2 Tim. c. 1. Hom. 2. St. Chrysostome argues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Thou thy self neither hast any Baptism nor dost thou receive the Sacraments nor dost thou enjoy Benedictions nor indeed art thou a Christian 3. Obs 2. The use of Forms of Prayer is far from rendring learning knowledg and such like abilities useless or needless for the Ministry nor can any man that knows the work and duty of a Minister judge so Besides his preaching so as to approve himself a workman that need not be ashamed he is by his Office to be a spiritual Guide to the consciences of others Learning and knowledg greatly requisite to the Ministry when they apply themselves to him for Counsel and Advice not only for their comfort but chiefly for their practice He is to direct and oblige Offenders who are under his care to observe the due rules and exercises of Repentance and this with respect to conscience men ought to take more notice of than most persons do And in a time when the Church and Truth hath many enemies and this Author might have been better employed than to have appeared as one the Ministers of the Church are to be able to convince or at least to confound their Adversaries and detect their errors and the danger of them They are also to watch over their charge and as much as may be to preserve them from being led aside by the slight and cunning craftiness of them who would deceive them And these are things which require far greater abilities study care and diligence than is needful to enable any man to use fluent expressions in Prayer 4. The weanest persons Aâ—â—ristred in the Church when forms of Prayer were disâ—â—ed most Obs 3. The time when Liturgies were laid aside in England was that time when many of the meanest of the People both men of weak abilities who yet could speak confidently and also men of bad and erroneous Principles were thought fit to be taken into the Ministry in the place of many sound and able men who were cast out And the performing Prayer and popular Sermons after that method our Author contends for in expression of their own may be effected to the satisfaction of great numbers of ordinary hearers whatever may be pretended to the contrary by a man who hath a forward tongue and but indifferent parts without any considerable learning or study and without much knowledg of the Doctrines of Religion and Christianity There are so many evidences of this among the several parties of our divided Separations that the chief persons among our Dissenters do very well know the Truth thereof 5. Obs 4. Our Author's assertion That God would never erect an Office or Order of Persons to do what the meanest of the People have a natural capacity to do is also certainly false The Priests Office under the Law For under the Law the office of the Priests was particularly appointed to minister before the Lord by offering Incense and Sacrifices though Corah and his Company and any other of the
matters of Demonstration to us These (l) P. 131. he calls Effects obvious to every Eye and entring upon them saith (m) P. 124. Let us instance in some too evident effects of Forms of Prayer c. And the first of these is The filling the Church of God with an ignorant lazy and sottish Ministry He indeed here excepts very many Persons but yet these are his reproachful words reflecting upon the generality of our Ministry or in his own expression those that fill the Church Now such an open notorious and shameless Calumny ought not to pass without just rebuke The great accuser of the Brethren to his grief and indignation knows that there is now in England as Learned Able The English Clergy falsly aspersed as Ignorant Lazie and Sottish and Industrious a Clergy as this Church ever had or any other of so numerous a Ministry Nor can the main Body of our Clergy be called Ignorant and Sottish but by such Persons as make no conscience of Slandering and speaking falsly And truly Sir to say no more the reason and understanding part of this your Discourse which you intitle A Reasonable Account c. is very far from being above the pitch of the generality of that part of our Ministry which I have had the opportunity to know And if you were indeed the main Men acquainted with Knowledg and Learning and had the advantage of Truth also on your side as you pretend how easily might you bafle and confute us by clear and plain Evidence which your selves are sensible enough you cannot do And therefore your most usual Methods are to work upon the fearful and melancholy temper of some and upon the fierce and angry disposition of others and upon the earnest and weak affections and the prejudices of many well-disposed People But you can hope to prevail little on men of even calm and composed Tempers and Persons of the best judgment and understanding 11. A second effect he instanceth in is (n) P. 125. The loss of Ministerial Gifts and Abilities But blessed be God there is no loss in our Church of any Abilities requisite for the due discharge of the Ministry But he here again falls upon the gift of Prayer of which as also of the lawfulness and profitableness of using of Forms of Prayer I have sufficiently discoursed in the former part of this Book 12. His third and last (o) P. 130. If not effect yet experimented consequence of prescribed Forms is a flood of Iniquity for more than an hundred Years caused thereby in our parts of the World Hence saith he Bitter words in Pulpits and printed Books which have vexed righteous Souls who have had nothing to reply but The Lord rebuke you They it seems wholly imitating the pattern of the Archangel contending with the Devil Jude 9. Ill effects charged upon Liturgies proceed from another cause Or of the Lord checking of Satan Zech 3.2 Hence saith he Are ungodly representations to Superiours of Men of whom the World was not worthy hence suspensions of so many thousands and Ruines of so many eminent Servants of God and their Families and hence the separations of Christians from one another Thus our Author chargeth a great deal of evil upon our Laws and Governours which according to his rash Position they must stand guilty of unless all enjoyned Liturgies and Uniformity be utterly rooted out of the Church and unless they will lay aside that care they ought to have of the due order and decency of the publick Worship of God and unless an Inlt may be opened to such Confusions Heresies yea and Blasphemies as in these Kingdoms were brought into the Church when Liturgies were shut out and the publick Worship was performed even by men of Erroneous principles according to the vanity of their own minds But that our Author hath mistaken the true cause of that evil he complains of I have shewed (p) Ch. 3. Sect. 4. above to which I refer But that the violent and ungrounded oppositions against lawful constitutions are too great an inlet into much iniquity will I think appear manifest enough from what I wrote in my (q) B. 1. Ch. 1. throughout Libertas Ecclesiastica And I do both heartily pity and am really grieved and sorry for the temper of such persons who by their mistakes and too much of eagerness and passion in them not only expose themselves to outward inconveniencies but which is of far greater concernment both run themselves into many sinful undertakings and are the occasion of much hurt and evil to the Church of God and make use of the latter as a remedy against the former 13. If any persons among us have spoken or written with overmuch passion or sharpness we will defend no man wheresoever he deserves blame but our Governours and the Constitution of our Church are not concerned herein But have our Dissenters replyed nothing but calmness and meekness as this Author suggests One might be apt to think upon considering such words that he is a stranger in England and unacquainted with affairs here and may have lately come from some unknown Island separated from converse with other parts of the world I heartily wish their party had been as free from all fierceness as this Author pretends Many sad and evil effects from the opposers of our Liturgâ— and then both Church and State would have enjoyed more quiet and many things had never been heard of which have been a scandal to Christianity But if their writings be reviewed from Martin Mar-prelate to this present year many of them will manifest that keen and bitter words and reproaches and revilings are no strangers to their Tents It seems not wholly to have savoured of the spirit of Christian meekness patience and gentleness when they made such violent invectives against our Governours and Establishment as kindled our late dreadful civil Wars when they ejected sequestred imprisoned and put to Death great numbers of the Clergy Gentry and Nobility for their loyalty to the King and their honourable respect to the Church when they strained their hands and more deeply their Consciences in eager and forward shedding the blood of many thousands of Christians and dared to stretch out their hands against the Lords Anointed and to take away the life of one of the best Princes that ever the Christian world enjoyed All this seems not to speak only the meekness of the Lamb and the innocence of the Dove 14. Besides the writings of particular persons could it be any other than a strange fierceness in (r) Answ to Remon p. 83.84 Smectymnuus in charging the Clergy of our Church with bringing in a new Creed other Scriptures another Baptism and Eucharist and another Christ too and another Heaven from what Christianity proposeth which they call an Heaven receptive of Drunkards Swearers Adulterers c. Can it be otherwise than that passion and uncharitableness made them write what they could