of David or any other though it be not injoyned but the use of it debitâ cum reverentiâ hath its acceptance there is no reason to question the acceptation of this which is prescribed Let us sincerely perform the dutie and we may confidently trust God with the reward whether expresly annexed or not yet if as Saint Cyprian saith there be a promise Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you how much rather if unto his name we adde his words also Dr. Owen Whether the Spirit of Grace and Supplication be not promised unto all believeers and whether he be not given to inable them to pray both as to the matter and manner Reply All persons that have the grace of the Spirit have not the gift of utterance and of a readie elocution nor is it the proper Office of the Spirit of Grace to dictate words but to quicken and raise the affections The Spirit of God doth not teach believers to despise forms nor alway inable them to solemn devotions without the help of forms They who have their hearts enlarged toward God whose very sighs and groans are accepted may yet like narrow-mouth'd vessels not be inabled to express their desires in a ready composed manner yea there be many believers on earth and glorified Saints in heaven who never were enabled to pray unto God in a more publick solemn manner but by the help of composed forms and Mayer observeth that if a Minister have the Spirit yet there is danger through weakness of memory of omitting things necessary to be prayed for in the congregation of Excursions and running out into Clauses impertinent and idle and of tautologies repeating the same things again and again to the wearying of the hearers and Plutarch observed the like danger in speaking ex tempore long before him But besides all this the Objection lieth as well against the observation of the matter as the form prescribed for if believers are inabled to both they are not obliged to regard either Dr. Owen And if so whether the repetition of the words mentioned by them who have not the Spirit given them for the ends before mentioned be available Reply The repetition of these words by them who have the Spirit but are not alwaies inabled by that Spirit as to the gift of utterance and a ready composure may certainly be available for even they who have the gift of utterance as well as of the Spirit of Prayer may effectually pray unto God in this or in other formes composed by themselves or others and therefore they that have the Grace but want the gift of exercising that Grace externally may also for if the Spirit of God doe inable them to pray effectually in their own formes certainly that Spirit will not withdraw from them when they address themselves to him in that form which was taught us by his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased Dr. Owen And whether Prayer by the Spirit where these words are repeated as to the letters and syllables and order wherein they stand be acceptable to God Reply Prayers by the Spirit of Grace in whatsoever words syllables and order are acceptable yet God is the God of Order also but not of confusion and if the broken expressions of the weakest believer then much more Prayers by the Spirit in the words which our Saviour hath in great Wisedome and order composed and sanctified are acceptable to God there are degrees of acceptation Dr. Owen Whether the prescription of a form of words and the gift of the Spirit of Prayer be consistent Reply When Christ prayed in the words of David and sung a Hymne in the words of David Quere whether the use of a form of words and the gift of the spirit of Prayer be consistent I am sure beyond all scruple that Christ never used any thing in Prayer himself nor commanded it to be used by others but what was highly consistent with the gift of the Spirit and if the use of any one or more forms of Prayer in Scripture not positively injoyned be lawful and consistent with the spirit of Prayer much more that form of words whereof Christ is the prescriber hath a Benjamins portion They who have the spirit of assisting them in their extemporary prayers need not doubt of it when they study and meditate for the composing of one or more formes to be used by themselues and indeed the people who in the Congregations pray unto God in that forme of words in which the Minister goeth before them should never pray with the Spirit if the prescription of a forme of words and the gift of the Spirit of Prayer were not consistent And why may it not be as well questioned whether the Spirit of Grace be consistent with a form of words in the administration of the Sacraments as in Prayer I aver therefore that nothing is more consistent then such a Divine Prescription of a forme of words and the Spirit of Prayer for as much as the prescribed words of God are that Chariot and Jacobs Ladder by which the Spirit of God ordinarily descendeth into the hearts of men and the souls of men ascend up to God and therefore to intimate an inconsistency of these two is as the dashing of the two Tables against each other it is to oppose Martine to Luther and to sowe discord among brethren they have both one Father The gift of the Spirit of Prayer is either Internall which we may call the infused Grace or Externall which is the ability to exercise that Grace which ability is attained per modum habitus acquisiti as an acquired habit by study meditation and frequent exercise so that he who would fitly exercise the Grace of the Spirit is obliged to use such means as God hath appointed to inable him thereunto even as he who would exercise the gift of the Spirit in preaching and this studying and reducing the gift of the Spirit into a form either of Preaching or Praying doth not extinguish but cherish the Grace of the Spirit as Saint Pauls precept to Timothy doth plainly teach Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all And seeing it is likely that we may serve God better and edifie his people more by our premeditating and studying both the matter and expressions of our Prayers we ought to do it unless we will adventure to appear empty before the Lord and to serve him of that which cost us nothing The truth is there is an immediate infusion and an assistance of the Spirit in an extraordinary manner pretended unto in exemporary Prayers as if there were a dabitur in eâ hor â a present enthusiasme given from above to supersede them from all study and premeditation which Opinion all sober Christians must condemne or they will cast a great prejudice upon the Devotion of all
that have not a like faculty I deny not but ingenious and exercised persons may by the Gift of God and the concourse of Naturall causes and circumstances have their spirits so quickned their faculties of inventing and disposing matter so improved and their delivering thereof in ready and significant expressions so familiar as may become the publick service of God but still I say he that can doe this ex tempore may doe much better with study and meditation and that as well in Prayer as in Preaching Dr. Owen Whether the forme be prescribed because believers are not able to pray without it Reply The Apostles desire will in part resolve this doubt Lord say they teach us to pray they were conscious of their own insufficiency and yet were believers indeed neither they nor we could have prayed so regularly and devoutly as now we may had not this forme been recorded And had that of the Apostle been considered All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished to all good workes this Quere might have seemed superfluous It may in a sort be as justly questioned whether the Scriptures be written because we cannot be instructed in our Christian Faith and obedience without them for Eadem est ratio partium totius Seeing that Christ did prescribe it to teach his Disciples doubtless it was intended as a help of devotion for all them that should believe in his Name unto the end of the world Master Hutchinson in his fourth Note on Hos. 14. 2. speaketh very pertinently to this Quere It may be saith he the condition of Gods humble and exercised People that they cannot command their own dispositions nor get their heaerts brought into frame before God in which case however he abhor those that draw nigh unto him with their lips c. yet they who are sensible of the backwardness of their hearts ought not to stay away because of that but should come if it were but with words to God to seeke of him that he would give them more to bring unto him So much for this take with you words albeit they could command no more So that it is not derogatory to the glory of God either to say that all believers have great help to their devotions from this form or that some believers at sometimes need this or other formes of inferiour rank with which they may go to God in Prayer nor doth it derogate from the efficacy of the Spirit promised and given to believers because that spirit doth not alway work the external faculty or gift of exercising Prayer where it doth infuse the inward Grace the most gracious heart may be joyned with a slow tongue as it was in Moses And where the spirit doth work the gift it is not by an immediate inspiration suddenly elevating the Intellectuals and Faculties of man to an extraordinary degree of Invention and Elocution but gradually by Meditation study and the use of means especially such as are commended and prescribed in the Word of God for that purpose of which means this form is the chiefest and therefore most usefull to teach believers for what and how to pray Dr. Owen Or because there is a peculiar energy in the letters words and syllables as they stand in this form And whether to say this be not to assert the using of a charm in the worship of God Reply I grant that in bare words and syllables used in Prayer and in opere operato the lip-labour onely there is not any efficacy at all Saint Cyprian saith indeed Agnoscit Pater verba Filii sui that the Father will own his Sons words but it is when filiall affections are joyned with them in the suppliant else they have no peculiar energy with God But yet as to man whose affections are ordinarily wrought upon by words these words of our Saviour may have a peculiar energy for being sanctified by his lips they are more then common and being so appositely fitted to the matter they are like to make the greater impression upon our understandings and being injoyned by our mercifull Saviour and Mediator they have yet a greater energy because they raise the devout soul to a more confident expectation of receiving the desired blessings because as to the matter and words they doe not aske amiss So Calvin magnum consolationis fructum percipimus c. We gather hence abundant fruit of consolation in that we know we aske nothing that is absurd or strange or wicked yea nothing which is not acceptable to him who beseech him in words that came out of his own mouth And what if we should say with the Poet Inest sua gratia verbis Job saith the same How forcecible are right words and Solomon A word fitly spoken is like Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver and the Preacher is said to have sought out acceptable words of which words it is said in the next verse they are as goads and nails fastned by the Masters of Assembly And holy Job speaks of choosing out his words to reason with God upon which Doctor Wilkins observeth that it is amongst expressions as with persons and things some are choice and beautifull others refuse and improper And certainly that injunction of Saint Paul to Timothy is very considerable as to this who biddeth him to hold fast the forme of sound words which he heard of him that is saith Master Calvin not onely the substance but the very form of speech for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth the lively representation of things by words properly accommodated to their Nature which because none can be more adapt and fit then the Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures therefore the least declining from that form of words is dangerous So that in these respects the words of this Prayer being deliberate proper and pertinent they will leave a strong and lasting Impression upon the hearers and as Master Calvine saith once again Unigenitus Dei Filius nobis verba in os suggerit quae mentem nostram omni haesitatione expediant The onely Sonne of God hath put such words in our mouths as may clear our hearts from all doubtings So that there is certainly great reason to keep exactly to these words because although there be no peculiar efficacy in them in respect of God yet there may be in respect of men and therefore it is an unhandsome Expression to name a charm with that form of Divine words God give us all grace to heare and obey the voyce of that Charmer then whom never any charmed more wisely Dr. Owen Whether in this respect the Pater Noster be not as good as Our Father Reply It is to him that knoweth the use of that Language every way as effectual in Latine or Greek as in English yet to him that wants
true devotion there is much difference between the use of a prayer in a known tongue where possibly the expressions and the necessary blessings desired by him may inflame his affections and in an unknown tongue where in all probability no such effect can follow I think if we should preach all our Sermons in Latine and so pray before our people we should do less good upon the unconverted then we may by Gods blessing in English There is utterly a fault as Master Mayer observeth in those Popes that promise pardon for the saying of seven Pater noster's and as many Ave Maria's every day and it is a fault too as he addeth so to detract from this Prayer as to account 〈◊〉 better or not so worthy as a mans own conceived Prayer which is derogatorie and arrogant Dr. Owen Whether innumerable poor souls are not deluded and hardned by satisfying their Consciences with the use of this forme never knowing what it is to pray in the Holy Ghost Reply The right use of this form never deluded or hardned any nor is it easie to think how any that hath in faith and knowledge used this Prayer should not also endeavour for other inlargements Instruct a poore soul in the right use of this and there is no such method in the world to fit him for praying in the Holy Ghost and therefore to oppose the use of this form under a pretence of satisfiing the Conscience therewith to pray in the Holy Ghost is no pious or laudable Artifice as if this Prayer were exclusive of the Grace of the Spirit or as if that Holy Spirit had refused the waters of Siloah that goe softly and chosen to reside in troubled waters and whirle-winds Dr. Owen And whether the asserting this forme of words hath not confirmed many in their Atheisticall blaspheming of the Holy Spirit of God and his Grace in the prayers of his people Reply Cujus contrarium This I dare affirm with equal truth and confidence that not the asserting but the disusing and condemning this form of words hath confirmed many in their Atheistical blaspheming of the holy Spirit of God and his Grace in the Prayers of his People I offer this instance which is notoriously known When a Minister of God of great integritie and abilitie for many such there be beyond all contradiction that use this form cannot repeat this Pryaer but a great part of his auditors in some Congregations instantly conceive an invincible prejudice against both his Person and services as if there were an impossibility of being edified by them Can any good thing come out of Nazareth yea and when some actually withdraw from the Ordinance of Christ as if the Preaching of the Gospel by such men were foolishness indeed this is not far from an Atheistical blaspheming of the Holy Spirit of God and his grace in the Prayers of his People and this effect hath not been produced by the asserting but by the laying aside the use of this form in our Prayers as a fruitless carnall ordinance which hath made too many of our people to conceit of it as so much Collquiutida that maketh all the Service of God unsavourie And in my best observation I could never discover that it was the designe of those that assert this form to cast any contempt upon other well-ordered Devotions although contrarily the practice and pleading against the use of this bringeth a certain disrespect both upon this Forme and upon all other Prayers to which this is annexed But what if the asserting of a commanded duty doe confirme some in causeless prejudices It is better that others be scandalized without our fault then Christ be disobeyed and dishonoured by our fault The preaching of the Gospel is a rock of offence and a savour of death to many shall these evil effects be charged upon the Gospel as the proper products thereof God forbid Indeed the wilfull neglect of an injoyned duty and fixing of contempt upon a Precept of our Saviour and upon the universall practice of his Church in all Ages may make wary Christians jealous of some other practices of such men for we all know they have not the Spirit who despise the Word and it is as well known that to speak against some opinions and practices which in our generation pretend much to the Spirit is neither Atheisticall nor blesphemous I suppose therefore we may safely walke by this rule Not to judge of our duty by the event but by the lawfulness thereof and the authority of its prescription If any draw an ill conclusion from good premises it is his fault not ours When Christ hath commanded a duty we must doe it though all the world should be offended at it Fiat justitia ruat coelum Dr. Owen And whether the repetition of these words after men have been long praying for the things contained in them as the manner of some is be not so remote from any pretence or colour of warrant in Scripture as that it is in plain terms ridiculous Reply That our Saviour intended we should use other Prayers besides this I doubt not and what warrant the use of this hath in Scripture let every Christian Reader judge I am sure the reviling of this Practice hath none And now it is too apparent who it is that casteth reproch on this Prayer when the repetition of it is in plain terms pronounced ridiculous that stomach must be very foul that nauseates manna it self It cannot be adjudged ridiculous in our Saviour to prescribe this form twice and how cometh it to be so to use it once It was not ridiculous in him to use the same words three times on the same occasion in a great agony nor in David to bless God six and twentie times in the same words annexed to other Nor is it adjudged ridiculous to use frequent variations of words on the same matter in our Prayers nor when we have gone over the heads of our Sermons more then once to recount them again in our Prayers and yet when we have prayed to God and being conscious of the imperfections and failings of our Prayers both as to the matter and manner doe continue them in Christs own words as a supply of those defects this is pronounced in plain termes ridiculous The Prophet speaketh of some that have swords in their lips such a sword is this thorough the sides of Christs Ministers teacheth his own I end this with a note of Master Mayer As a wrestler saith he having used his best skill and strength to over come in wrestling yet finding the getting of the victory to be very hard he reinforceth himselfe at the last with all his might force and skill together that be may carry away the prize So the Christian man wrestling as Jacob with God by Prayer in the end reinforceth himselfe in this Prayer that he may not depart unblessed Dr. Owen When Master Beedle or any on his behalfe hath answered
cannot be good So far that pious Doctor And if his reason be good it will follow That the Church doth no more quench or limit the Spirit in prescribing a form to the Ministers then they doe quench or limit the Spirit in the people whom they from time to time doe confine unto those forms which they do presently conceive and utter among them And as the spirit of the people is in this respect subject to the Prophets so the spirit of the Prophets divisim severally is subject to the Prophets conjunctim joyntly That which is objected by some against the use of forms from 1 Corinthians 14. 15. I will pray with the Spirit c. is not at all understood by the Objectors Calvine sayes Spiritus voce singulare linguarum donum c. By the word Spirit that extraordinary gift of tongues is to be understood And Beza on Orabo spiritu i. saith he linguâ perogrinâ quam mihi dictat Spiritus I will pray in the spirit is no more then this I will pray in a strange tongue as the Spirit shall dictate to me and so on verse 16. When thou shalt bless with the spirit i. in a strange tongue how shall he c. Or if this place could possibly be understood of extemporary effusions in Prayer they were extraordinary ones wherein the Spirit dictated words as well as matter and such as cannot now be pretended to But lastly if by that Scripture praying in the spirit excludes forms of Prayer then by Verse 15. singing in the spirit excludes forms of singing and so we should bring in extemporarie Psalmes too and then I fear we should transgress that of our Apostle verse 40. Let all things be done decently and in order According to appointment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among you It is the dutie of every Christian to grow in the exercise of his gifts and graces in Prayer to be able on all occasions to lift up holy desires to God and he that indeavours not this may be marked with that Character of an hypocrite which Eliphaz would have stamped on him Thou restrainest prayer from God Thou keepest thy prayer from growing So Fenner And they that cannot go to spread their wants in the presence of God without the help of a form are strangers to a great part of their happiness which consisteth in a free filial and ingenuous communion with God And I make no question but Ministers may and ought on new occasions to adde and alter many Petitions and after long experience and practice in private may exercise those gifts of Prayer which God hath given them in publick but yet if the occasion may be fore-known if it do not surprize him too suddenly no question but by study and deliberation he may better comply with it and excite the peoples affections more then he can in an extemporarie manner And when in the main both the matter and method of Prayer as Invocation Confession Supplication Intercession and Thanksgiving are still the same there can be as no sure sign of grace in varying the words so no just cause of rash censure in retaining and using the same for since we pray to the same God in the Name of the same Mediator profess our belief in the same truths feel the same wants and fear the same evils inward and outward and all these are in a great measure common to all we may as well meditate and prepare in what words a in what sense and in what manner we ought to come before the Majesty of God as for what end and certainly wholesome words deliberately fitted by one or more judicious and experienced Disciples to the capacities and understanding of the hearers are soonest received into their hearts and have a greater influence upon the affections to raise them and lift them up to God in Prayer then any other But enough of these premisses The conclusion is this If both publick and private forms be lawful and expedient as both the practice of the Church and the judgement of men famous for Learning and Piety do assert surely then there cannot be any fault on the account of its being a form justly imputed to our Lords Prayer or which may justifie the disuse of it For let all the Arguments that are brought in defence of other forms as for singing Psalmes administration of the Sacraments blessing the people be all summed up and each of them may be easily and highly improved for the lawfull use of this form I shall give you for instance a view of these Arguments that are urged by a Reverend and judicious Divine for singing Psalmes and every one may perceive how fitly they may be accommodated to the use of our Lords Prayer 1. If singing of Psalmes in Davids forms in which are many Prayers be a Gospel-Ordinance so is praying unto God in our Saviour form 2. If there be no reason why our conceived Psalmes should thrust out Davids Psalmes neither is there any reason why our conceived prayers should thrust out our Saviours Prayer 3. If upon concession that we must sing Psalmes Davids Psalmes will carrie it there being no art or spirit of man that can come near that of David Then also upon concession that we must pray Christs Prayer will carrie it there being no art or spirit of man that can come near that of Christ. 4. If none dare deny but that the Levites had the assistance of the Spirit when they praised God in the words of David then neither can any denie whatever they dare but that the Disciples of Christ may have the assistance of the Spirit when they pray to God in the words of Christ Quâ nulla spiritualior oratio Then which there is no prayer more spiritual as Tertul. 5. Are Davids Psalmes to be sung because they suit with all occasions of the people of God as well or better then any songs composed by an ordinarie gift for the same reason ought our Saviours Prayer to be used it being fitted to the necessities of the people of God in all ages in all conditions and for all just desires And thus every Argument for any other form may à fortiori be more strongly applied to this and all Answers to any Objections against them will be subservient to this most excellent form Of which as Hooker saith Though men should speak with the tongues of Angels yet words so pleasing to the ears of God as those which the Son of God himself hath composed were not possible for men to frame for he that made us live hath also taught us to pray to the end that speaking to the Father in the Sons prescript form without scholy or gloss of ours we may be sure that we offer nothing that God will disallow or deny A Prayer which uttered with true devotion and zeal of heart affordeth to God himself that glory that aid to the weaker sort to the most perfect that solid comfort
which is unspeakable A Prayer saith Dr. Espaigne dictated by the supreme wisedom of God that great and eternal Mediator who presents all our prayers to God and perfectly knowes his Fathers mind the most compleat Prayer that can be made summing up all lawful requests which can be imagined The Epitome rule and mi rour of all others A Prayer which in its wonderful brevitie includes so great a plentie of matter as if it would cause a Camel to pass through the eye of a needle a Prayer which contains more matter and mysteries then words the most Methodical Emphatical and Divine that can be found All the parts cohere with an admirable symmetrie and proportion all full of torches inlightning each other and it is confest by all that all the wits on Earth and all the Angels in Heaven were not able to dictate the like Tantum series res junctur aque pollet Its body is compos'd with so much art That Christs soul breaths in all and every part There is not in it perhaps so large an enumeration of particulars as to some weak apprehensions may seem necessary nor indeed can all the necessities of particular persons be fully and to their apprehension exprest by any Minister that hath the best facultie and takes the most time to do it but this excellencie is eminently in our Lords Prayer that there are both general heads and significant words under which an inlarged heart may conceive and present to God all his grievances and necessities and beg any blessing that concerns life or godliness as some of the Rabbines say of Manna that it yielded to every man the relish of that daintie which his appetite and palate did most desire and delight in It is like a well-limm'd Picture that respects all and yet seemeth intent upon everie one in the roome sit pro omnibus Christianis omnes Christiani vicissim illam pro nobis recitant as Alsteed saith It is made for all Christians and by all Christians for each other It is a dayly miracle whereby our Saviour with six Petitions supplies all things necessarie for souls and bodies not for a few thousands but the whole Christian world and there remain fragments for the heathen world too When thou comest to God to present thy prayers in the Congregation the Minister ufeth his own words to express his own conceptions and confines himself sometime to one or two particular heads of Prayer so as thou maist not meet with any expressions that may signifie thy desires which therefore may languish and never ascend up to the Throne of Grace but our Lords Prayer hath this certain advantage above others that it is accommodated to all persons things times and places and to all sorts and conditions of people Capi potest as Alsteed It may be understood and used of children and all people of those that are sick at home and busied abroad those that are of a slow memorie or of the quickest invention there is such an ocean of matter that the Elephant may swim the most inlarged spirit may expatiate in it and yet the tender lamb that hath any knowledge of other essential parts of Christian Religion may wade through it without either sin or danger Herein though we are alone we are sure to hold communion and joyn in consort with the Universal Church and to have the united aid of the Prayers of all Gods people and what a comfort is it what an incouragement to pray in faith when we know all the people of God agree with us and there is a promise to two or three to aske the same things in one and the same effectual Prayer compassing the Throne of Grace with many hands and eies but with one heart and lip as if they would offer violence to the Kingdome of Heaven and take it by force And now I beg leave to reason the case briefly with my dissenting brethren Quae tanta fuit causa what great cause prevailed with them to neglect so good a practice was it any thing intrinsecal and essential to the Prayer that cannot be It is a land that flowes with Rivers of pleasure infinitely beyond those of milk and honey a Paradise wherein everie tree is a tree of Life whose fruits never fade nor fail Uno avulso non deficit alter Aureus Of which as eloquent and pious Mr. Herbert in like case I value this Prayer so That were I to leave all but one Wealth fame endowments vertues all should go I and this Prayer would together dwell And quickly gain for each inch lost an ell Let us view this Canaan in a Map and we shall find it to be full of all perfections 1. The Preface what term of invocation gives better incouragement then Father what works greater reverence then Heaven what can raise the soul to a higher plerophorie of of faith then when Christ that made the God of Heaven to become our Father bids us also call him ours Then for the matter and method of all the Petitions which accord like Beautie and Bands they are equally admirable In them we ask first that which is the principal end of our being viz. Gods glorie in the first Petition then the subordinate our own salvation in the second Petition and thirdly the things conducing to both ends either principal as Sanctification in the third or secondary as sustentation of life in the fourth Petition and lastly the removing of impediments all our former sins in the fifth and all occasions of offending for the present or the time to come in the last Petition and so we conclude all in a Hymne of praise which doth no less incourage us to expect then it doth acknowledge Gods Power to grant the things prayed for to all which things there is no Christian but will say Amen so be it Thus there is nothing intrinsecal as to the matter or method that may make us offended at it it must be in the form therefore or not at all But first S. Paul cōmends a form of wholesome words and approves the observation of it And when our Saviour did not onely make it a forme in St. Matthew but use it as such in St. Luke and having fitted it for publick Devotion prescribed it to his Disciples it is an invincible Argument that the use of a form quà talis is not offensive to God or man we may safely follow that Lambe whereever he leads us In the next place therefore they must be some extrinsecal arguments that have perswaded to this omission But if it appear as I hope it doth to be a Precept of Christ when we pray to say Our Father let the motive that prevailed with us be what it will be it can never excuse us for as we may doe no evil that any good may come of it so neither may we constantly omit any good dutie that is prescribed on pretence that it may occasion evil Si de veritate scandalum sumatur
quickness plainness significancie and fulness of it Suppose our Saviour instead of this form had set down only the heads of Prayer as thus when ye pray observe these Rules First invocate God as your Heavenly Father and pray that he would dispose of you and all things to the glory of his Name and Holy Attributes then for the inlargement and consummation of his Kingdome grace and glory c. And having so done a Christian Disciple should have done by our Saviours Directorie as some have done by the Assemblie's turn the heads and matter of Prayer with little alteration into a form which form would have been like this of our Lords Prayer doubtless that prayer would have been very pious and acceptable and seeing it was our Saviours good pleasure to save us that labour and to compose those heads more summarily and significantly then we can do I wonder why the same words ought not to be used by us If it be required that in all our prayers we should have this pattern for matter in our minds why should we not sometimes have the same form of words in our mouths It is hard measure to make a man an offender for such words as these Our prayers which are then onely acceptable when presented in our Saviours Name do not ipso facto become void when presented in his words That rule which gives rectitude to another is it self most right and perfect to all uses and purposes If on sudden emergencies we may use some briefer forms of prayer without a precept why on more solemn occasions may we not use this most exquisite form which is so positively injoyned Every prayer by whomsoever indited is acceptable to God when presented in faith though read out of a book or repeated by memory other essential properties of prayer being joyned why not this then which is put into our mouths by him who gave us a right to ask as well as instructions how to ask aright That holy Spirit which helpeth our infirmities and assists our weak devotions even in sighs and grones did and will doubtless abound in every Petition of this prayer when offered from a penitent heart That Dove loves such Olive-branches I have heard and read that wicked spirits have been conjured and dispossessed by an impious perverting and abuse of this prayer but that the good Spirit of God who indited it for use should abandon it when used by humble and faithful Christians is a degree of blasphemy to think And upon what account we Protestants shall be able to justifie our quarrel against the Papists for leaving out the Doxology when at once we casheer the whole Prayer will be hard to find Beza saith it is Vera omnium Christianarum precum summa ac formula Annot. in Matth. Let us therefore dear Brethren whom God hath made his more publick servants as gladly and readily continue and reassume the practice of this long-neglected duty as the people did the feast of Tabernacles which they celebrated with very great gladness after it had been omitted for some hundreds of years I can only pray and hope that every publick Minister will bring the spices and flames of his Devotion that he may help to raise this Phoenix out of her ashes or at least that everie one whose judgement and conscience is convinced that 't is his dutie to use it will not be withheld from the exercise of it by any shame or fear whatever it is no shame to rectifie an error but to persevere in it and fear and shame where there is no sin but contrarily a manifest dutie incumbent on us are but bugbears to affright children and cowards and should not at all move any good souldier of Jesus Christ from his station or if any such thing might befall us yet the great dishonour that hath redounded to our Nation and the Church of Christ among us through the neglect of this dutie should to a publick person and will if he have a publick spirit too render all personal reflections inconsiderable We have not been afraid or ashamed to plead for and practice some forms of which there is not so clear a warrant in Scripture as for this although they are lawful and necessary in their kind onely this like the wounded person is past by without any commiseration from Priest or Levite although we cannot practice any of them in so much faith as this for God having commended his Son to us saying this is my beloved Son hear him how confidently may we recommend our prayers back unto him and say Lord thus thy beloved Son hath taught us to pray Hear thou us in his Name and Words Besides it may be considered whether this prayer may not as well be left out in our Catechismes for the instruction of youth and if this then the Creed and the Commandements too and so we should reduce our selves to that which some would have i. no Catechisme at all for fear of forms as well as from our prayers in the Congregation for even among the elder people are some children in knowledge who need to be taught again the first Principles of Christian Religion and who indeed are uncapable of higher attainments unless such a soundation be laid and if these things should be disused experience may assure us that some would slight them and others forget them and a great part of our people be willingly ignorant of the true sense and meaning as well as of the letter of them and which is also a sad truth cast off the very form of godliness as well as the form of prayer all which mischiefs seeing the frequent use and occasional interpretation of these fundamentals of our Religion may in all probability through the blessing of God prevent for the future we are in duty obliged to the use of them And if those masters of Families which wholly neglect the duty of prayer and so have not the appearance of Christianity among them the Heathen and the families that call not on Gods Name being both alike would begin that duty with this form and some other joyned to it and having learned themselves the true meaning of each Petition the prime and literal sense whereof would be easily found would teach it to their families I doubt not but as hereby they would give an evidence of their being Christians so they might certainly obtain the blessing of God for themselves and families and who knows whether the wisedom of God did not abbreviate the Doctrine and form of prayer and make it so plain and easie for this end among others to render them inexcusable who should omit this duty when it would cost them so little labour study or time the words being so few and plain so nigh them even in their mouths Oratirnem saith Lyra brevibus verbis composuit ut sit nobis siducia citò annuendi quod breviter vult rogari Our Saviour composed this prayer in few words that
we might believe to receive speedily what he commands us to aske briefly And Mr. Calvine to the same purpose The onely Sonne of God hath put words into our mouths which may clear our minds from all doubting It was convenient saith Aquinas to the consummation of our hope that a form of Prayer should be delivered by Christ wherein he shewes what things we may hope for from him by what he hath willed us to aske of him It is doubtless a commendable Office to instruct both our Churches and Families as Christ did instruct his yea and to inculcate the same lesson again and again as Christ did untill they be perfectly acquainted with it Not that I would have any the most private Christian to set up his rest here or in any other forms but my desire is that such as have not yet gone so far would begin with this as a step and help yea as a pillar and foundation of their devotions and whatever progress they make they will see so much imperfection in this if they be humble Christians that as they say of Apelles when with great care and skill he drew the picture of Campaspe he fell in love with the Original they will imbrace and reverence this Prayer the more as long as they live Remember therefore that Christ hath injoyned the use of this prayer whose injunction as it makes it our duty so it will be our discharge and the practice of learned and pious Christians will be our incouragement And if any contentious spirit shall withdraw his neck from this gentle and easie yoke that is imposed by the precept of Christ and so kick against both I will onely say as the Apostle doth we have no such custome neither the Churches of God If all this will not move I beseech my brethren sadly to reflect on the manifold inconveniences and mischiefs that have followed upon the neglect of observing the matter and form of this prayer for of both these omissions our age is generally guiltie and it is a rare thing to finde any that neglects the form to comply duly with the matter and method of it and then they doe undoubtedly offend when they neither say this nor thus as Christ did command them Do not some men forget the Publicans confession and onely satisfie themselves with the Pharisees congratulation are not those faults grown rise and common against which our Saviour prescribed this prayer as a remedy Is it not true which the Poet observed of old nocitura petuntur some things have been desired that have been for the matter unlawful and for the manner of asking sinful One thinks this prayer a mean contemprible thing unfit to be taught their children another speaks it out That there is more devotion in a verse or two of Davids Psalmes then in all our Lords Prayer It is agreeable to the nature of publick prayer that whatsoever news or occurrences opinion or interest passion or prejudice whatever design or debate publick or private men do espouse should be made the subject of publick prayer and so the people have many times stones given them instead of bread And whereas it is said that the use of this and other forms hath a direct tendency to spiritual laziness and formalitie in prayer I can onely wish that the prayers of those that despise this were secured from the temptations of speaking rashly and unadvisedly with their lips of priding themselves in the ostentation of parts and gifts to the raising of invincible prejudice in the hearts of the people against such as have not the like faculties and causing them to have some mens persons in admiration as if invention and the apt cadencie of words and confident elocution were the principal parts of Christian oratory whereas it is undeniable that men of unsanctified spirits may in these exercises exceed the soundest Christians as the Rabbines say Achitophel did who had three new prayers for every day and our late writers affirm of Hacket who in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth died a blasphemer yet could perform this exercise to the admiration of his hearers Alas how many disorderly and impertinent prayers have been publickly delivered what a monstrous excess in some and a like defect of the essential parts of prayer in others no marks of our Saviours rule either in matter method or form as if we had found out some new North-west passage to the throne of Grace which the wisedome of our great Pilot did not discover Against such prayers as these good Christians may safely oppose that form of Plato Deus Rex optime bona quaeque nobis voventibus non vo ventibus tribue mala autem etiam poscentibus abesse jube O God our great King grant us all good things whether we aske them or not and command evil things to be kept from us though we desire them never so earnestly These things remember me of Esops Fables of a River that railed against the Fountain as being sluggish and immoveable and had not a Fish in it whereas her streams did abound with variety of fish and did incessantly pass by the fruitful vallies making musick as they went whereat the Fountain was displeased and restrained his waters and so the streams dried up the fishe perished and all the pleasant murmurs ceased I speak not this any wayes to reproch the holy prayers of those ancient and experienced Saints of God who by his blessing upon their daily industrie and constant exercises of devotion have attained a more excellent way for which gifts and graces as I do from my soul bless God and account them the horsemen and Chariots of our Israel so it is also the desire of my heart to be remembred of them in all their addresses to the throne of Grace But onely to express the just regret of my soul for the many miscarriages of rash and inconsiderate persons discovered in publick devotions which through the defect of necessary matter and the redundancy of impertinencies and for the great disorder and want of method having no imaginable resemblance with our Saviours form we may name Ichabod where is the glory Against all these real or but possible evils did we lay the line and rule of our Lords Prayer to our devotions and apply it to each part Componens manibusque manus atque oribus ora as the Prophet Elisha put his mouth upon the dead childs mouth his eyes upon the childs eyes c. we might perceive new life and spirit to inspire them to the comfort of all that hear them To such therefore especially as are conscious to themselves that they have been often surprized to speak rashly and impertinently in the Congregation to such as in Mr. Calvines phrase are guilty of desultorie levity and are tempted to ostentation and vain glory I earnestly recommend this remedy that they would better observe the matter and method of Christs Prayer and study more to conform their
unjustly This taste is enough to make us know how much that impure vessel hath tainted the precious liquor of Gods word and yet the Papists will not permit the people to drink at the Fountain but only at these impure streams Huntly sayes Nos Graecum textum corruptum esse pronunciamus praesertim ubi dissentit à vulgatâ nostrâ We pronounce the Greek Text to be corrupted especially where it dissenteth from our vulgate Latine but I hope that the premisses which we have laid down will bear this conclusion That the Greeke copies ought to be consulted and believed by us both for the determining of controversies the understanding of difficulties and for the intire and pure delivery of the truths of God And thus we have proved the Doxology in St. Matthew to be authentique and the forms in both Evangelists to be entirely the same though delivered at several times onely in Saint Luke the Doxology is not added whence will arise ano-Objection The form in Saint Luke which is most strictly injoyned is less perfect and the quere will be which form ought to be used To this I answer that it is usual with the later Evangelists to deliver those particulars more briefly which had been insisted on more at large by the former thus in an important cmmand v. 33. of this Chap. Seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof c. St. Luke reads onely this seek the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added and this is also the method observed by the Evangelists as to repeat some things already delivered more briefly so to express other things omitted more plainly and it seems it was the aim of St. Luke to express the word of precept and injunction for the using of this form so as that it should admit no contradiction But I remember that this Prayer was twice delivered and so our Saviour himself might here in Saint Luke repeat it more contractedly to his Disciples alone who we may suppose had all recorded and learned it throughout or at least that St. Luke might abbreviate it as a thing sufficiently known from St. Matthews relation But however it be when two forms are prescribed we need not dispute which we should use much less may we deny to use either but as it is our duty to use one so it will be our sin to omit both and our own prudence and the practice of the Church in all ages may direct us to use that which is most perfect And our Assembly gives the same advice in a like matter for whereas the Apostle differs from the Evangelist in the form of words used at the Institution of the Lords Supper which in St. Matthew 26. 26. is Take eat this is my body and at the cup Drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins But in St. Paul thus Take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me and at the cup This cup is the New Testament in my blood this do you as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me The first are Christs own words according to St. Matthew and St. Paul saith also That he received of the Lord that which he delivered unto the Corinthians yet as there is a necessity of using one of those forms so the Directory giveth us liberty to use either The same advice will hold in this business of the two forms of Prayer One we are bound to use we have liberty to choose which but Christian prudence directs us to use that which is most compleat and Chemnitius assures us that the Doxology which is wanting in St. Luke may be piously supplied from St. Matthew and then there is not the least difference in the forms That all our Prayers ought to be made in knowledge and understanding But these Petitions are either obscure in their terms or comprehend such mountains of matter and mysteries under each expression as the common sort of people cannot actually apprehend under such brief expressions Having proved it to be our duty by vertue o Christs command all objections for the non performance of it arising from our own incapacity will be found to be but vain pretences an such is this For first I beseech the Objectors to consider what our Saviour was doing when he delivered this Prayer he was instructing not onely his Disciples but the whole multitude also in the chief parts of Gods worship wherein he no doubt descended to the capacities of them whom he intended to instruct and did not now speak in Parables as at other times but proposed plain truths to guide their spirits and raise their affections in Prayer and other exercises of Religion And I cannot thinke any man as good a Master of Method or a plainer teacher then our Saviour 2. They that have not a competent degree of Knowledge to apprehend the prime sense of each Petition in this Prayer if they be Ministers they are not sufficiently qualified to utter Prayers ex tempore in the Congregation or if they be people they are less able at one and the first hearing to understand all the uncouth words and mysterious expressions of those that do so pray before them 3. The prime and literal sense is obvious and easie to be understood by every ordinary capacity but if there be any thing difficult there are few established Ministers but are able to expound it and were all Ministers as diligent in unfolding the Method and heads of this Prayer as the ancient Fathers were and as it is their duty to be this Objection would soon vanish 4. That which the whole Assembly makes an argument to commend the use of it as a form namely the comprehensiveness of it is but unhappily urged by any one or more inferior persons against the use of it as such 5. This Objection would condemn the use of any Petitions wherein the Attributes of God are mentioned and any Scripture-purase to which more senses then one may be accommodated is used and as the Jewes say there are Mountains of Divinity on every point of Scripture 6. Nor indeed is it necessary that we should in every Prayer have an actual apprehension of every particular that may upon deliberation be referred to each head of this Prayer but onely of such things as we do stand in need of and for the supply of which we do at that time make our addresses to the throne of Grace and if we should stand to enumerate our particular wants to confess our several sins and to implore grace against each infirmity in every Prayer it is not a day that would be sufficient for these and such like things And it it not in vain that our Saviour hath said Your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of so immediately before this injunction Thus therefore pray ye 7. This Objection is so