thou not been a Prodigal Spend-thrift wasted thy Substance with Riotous living and devouerd thy Estate among Harlots and yet darest thou say to God Father Thus Rudely Unchristianly and Uncharitably would Jo. Bunyan treat the Prodigal Son as the elder Brother would have had him treated but God himself treats him far otherwise even as a dear and tender Child for when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had Compassion on him and ran and fell on his Neck and kissed him and his Reception and Entertainment was extraordinary ver 22.23 The Author of the Pilgrims Progress had likewise forgotten the Parable of Dives and Lazarus the former tho' in Hell call'd Abraham Father Luke 16.24 But Jo. Bunyan wou'd for this alone have call'd him Damn'd Wretch and Child of the Devil and demanded of him What hast thou to do cursed Man to call Abraham Father But Abraham has better Language in his Mouth and is so far from reproving even this Damned Rich man for calling him Father that he gives him a mild Answer and the Title of Son perhaps because he was one of his Off-spring tho' much degenerated from him that was the first Root and Stock of them Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things c. In like manner the most wicked Person in the World may call God Father he being the God and Father of all Men by Creation who are therefore said to be all his Off-spring Acts 17.28 29. So on the Account of their natural Being which they receiv'd from God all Mankind may truly call God Father as all the Children of an earthly Parent tho' of far different Natures and Behaviour may yet call him their Father 2dly God is the Father of all Men by Redemption which is universal and extended to all that will sincerely accept and lay hold of it as is clear from 1 Joh. 2.1.2 If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World So that Jesus Christ dyed for all Men even the most profligate Wretches in the World or else they were not bound to Repent and Believe the Gospel for to what purpose shou'd they do either since none can be saved but those for whom Christ dyed and then all their Repentance and Faith wou'd be in vain So that on the account of Creation and Redemption we may all call Almighty God Father altho' we were never so wicked even as Satans Children as this Author supposes us to be and by consequence may safely use the Lords Prayer without being guilty of Lying or Blasphemy altho' none of us were Saints at least not one in Forty did deserve that Name Indeed William Pen and his Party upbraid us for saying in our Prayers Lord have Mercy upon us miserable Sinners and We have erred and strayed from thy Ways like lost Sheep And John Bunyan and his Party upbraid us for saying Our Father which art in Heaven c. So that if we should hearken to these Men we must not Pray at all neither address our selves to God as Saints nor as Sinners neither say Our Father nor God be merciful to me a Sinner but the truth is we may and on good Grounds do say both having the Examples of David and St. Paul to justifie our Practice whom I presume our Author will allow in the number of Saints and that they might truely call God Father and yet one of them says in his Prayer to God I have gone astray like a lost Sheep O seek thy Servant Ps 119.176 the other says Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1.15 and if after their Examples and that of the penitent Publican we come to Church and confess our Sins and desire God to be Merciful to us Sinners and also after the Example of the poor Prodigal we arise and go to our Father and say unto him Father we have sinned against Heaven and before thee and are not worthy to be called thy Children we may hope to go back again to our Houses justified before the envious Elder Brother and proud Pharisee that Censure and condemn us for our Humility and Faith CHAP. IV. AS nothing is more usual than for Hereticks and Schismaticks to propogate their false and pernicious Doctrines by Fire and Sword and all the studied Arts of Cruelty and Violence that what is wanting of Truth on their side may be made up with blind furious Zeal and ungovernable Rage so none are more forward to shift the Odium of such bloody Proceedings and cast it upon others that are not guilty thereof and to make loud Outcries of Persecution and Oppression which in reality must be charged upon themselves and laid at their own Doors Thus of old the Arians dealt with the Orthodox Christians complain'd of hard Usage from them and of their great Sufferings for Conscience sake and yet none were more bloody Persecutors than themselves as the Orthodox found by sad Experience when these Men had gotten the Power into their own Hands from whom they suffered more than ever they did from the most barbarous Nations or under the worst Heathen Persecutions And thus their Successors the Anabaptists have carried themselves towards the Churches of Christ where they have had means and opportunities to shew the Savageness of their Natures and Dispositions witness the dismal Tragedies they acted at their first rise in Manster and other Parts of Germany which were so barbarous and inhumane that the Modern Anabaptists pretend to be asham'd of them and of the levelling carnal Principles which their first Founders held However this by the way shews their Religion to be very bad whose Foundation was laid in Rebellion and Blood and so indeed has it been propogated ever since when any fair occasion has been offered for the discovery of their Intentions witness their Persecuting King Charles the Martyr and some of his loyal Subjects to the very Gates of Death and some of them to strange Cities in which these Men had a great Hand being some of the worst tho' most potent in Cromwel's Army who with their assistance rul'd all and accomplish'd those Villianies which are a Scandal to our Nation and Reproach to the Protestant Religion And yet Page 45 speaking to a member of our Church John Bunyan says art not thou a desperate Persecutor of the Children of God He is their Father whom thou Persecutest Strange confidence indeed that this Man should not be ashamed to complain of Persecution who was himself a great Persecutor as this very Book of his shews wherein he treats us with bitter Words and railing Language which is one kind of Persecution and not the least neither even that of the Tongue for what Moses calls Ishmaels mocking St. Paul styles his Persecuting of Isaac Gen. 21.9 compared with Gal. 4.29
to wipe off the soul Aspersions he casts on our Common Prayer Book and all that use it and to Examine and Confute his Pretences to Pray by the Spirit as St. Paul did which I have done in the ensuing Treatise wherein I have shewn the Vanity and Sophistry of all his Arguments for himself and against us especially those that are fetcht from Scripture and returned them with their genuine Force upon his own Head I have there also Proved that the Spirit does not now Invent and Dictate the very Words of our Prayers as they pretend he does tho' all their Pretences of this Nature are meer Cant and a Device how to please Men more than God for Almighty God who is the same Yesterday to Day and for Ever is not delighted with Novelty Variety and change of Words and therefore our Lord Jesus in his last Agony Prayed Thrice in the same Words Mat. 26.44 and without doubt in the use of that short pithy Form for so it was to him having said it Twice before he was as fervent in his Desires the Third time as he was at First 't is mortal Man only who has itching Ears that loves to have them Tickled with new Expressions and in Complyance with this vain Humour I fear it is that these Men decry all Godly Forms even that of Christ's own Composing and set up their Praying by the Spirit which yet is but a meer Artifice the effect of a good Memory and great Confidence and to cast a Mist before the Peoples Eyes they Chop and Change the very same Prayers beginning where they ended and ending where they began in such a Dexterous manner that their ignorant Hearers perceive it not but believe their Prayers are always New and the Product of the Spirit but more knowing Persons who often hear them discover the Cheat and that they are the very same Prayers still with some little Alterations and so they continue in the use of Forms themselves whilst yet they are so Presumptuous as to Condemn it in others for an Antichristian Practice I shall say no more but refer the Reader to the serious Perusal of the following Discourse where I shall leave him to determine how well or ill I have Managed it thinking it no less vain than improper to attempt the Byasing of his Judgment by a Complemental Preface only I Pray a Blessing may attend him in the judicious Reading what I assure him I have Written for no other end but God's Glory and his Churches good and so I bid him heartily Farewel A DEFENCE OF THE LITURGY Against the Dissenters c. CHAP. I. 'T IS Observable of Satan that when he temped our blessed Saviour to throw himself Headlong from the Pinacle of the Temple he urges Psalm 91.11 12. He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their Hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy Foot against a Stone but the Devil leaves out part of the Verse which made against him To keep thee in all thy ways i. e. the ways of God but not in all thy wandrings from them wherein it would have been Presumption to expect the Divine protection the like Course does John Bunyan take when he urges 1 Cor. 14.15 I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Vnderstanding also he omits the later part of the Verse I will sing with the Spirit and I will sing with the Vnderstanding also and he does not only omit this in the Title Page but in six or seven Repetitions afterwards which no doubt was designedly done because if he had once mentioned this it would have been a plain and full Confutation of his Argument deduced from the former part of the Verse and indeed of his whole Book for if we may Sing with the Spirit when we have a form of Words and a Tune also to observe which is supposed and allowed in our present Practice of Psalmody Why may we not as well Pray with the Spirit when we have a form of Words before us Is there not the same Reason for Praying as for Singing with the Spirit when both are done in a form of sound Words This is such a convincing Proof of the lawfulness of Forms of Prayer and that those who devoutly use them may be assisted by the Spirit of God that it overthrows all his Cavils and Exceptions against them and strikes his Cause dead thus the Author stumbles in the Threshold and discovers the cloven Foot in the very entrance and almost in every Page of his Book as is evident from his intolerable Pride and uncharitableness which he shews therein of which I shall give you a taste for to mentionall would be to Transcribe his whole Discourse Page 14 he says That Ignorance Profaness and the Spirit of Envy reigns in the Hearts of those Men that are so hot for Forms of Prayers c. scarce one in Forty of them knows what 't is to be born again to have Communion with the Father through the Son c. they still live Cursed Drunken Whorish and Abominable Lives full of Malice Envy Decit Persecuting of the dear Children of God Oh what a dreadful after-clap is coming upon them Which all their Hypocritical assembling themselves together with all their Prayers shall never be able to help them against or shelter them from and p. 43 44. he says Every cursed Whoremaster Theif and Drunkard Swearer and Perjured Person they that have not only been such in times past but are even so still these I say by some must be counted the only honest Men and all because with their Blasphemous Throats and Hypocritical Hearts they will come to Church and say Our Father Nay farther these Men tho' every time they say to God Our Father do most abominably Blaspeme yet they must be compell'd thus to do and p. 45 46. says he Give me leave to Reason with thee thou blind ignorant Sot it may be thy great Prayer is to say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Is not the Devil thy Father And darest thou say to God Our Father c. But as the Devil presented himself among the Sons of God Job 1. when they were to present themselves before the Father even our Father so is it now because the Saints are commanded to say our Father therefore all the blind ignorant Rabble in the World they must also use the same Words Our Father These are some of the base scurrilous and unchristian Reflections he every where bestows on the Members of the Church of England without excepting any out of that number making them as St. Paul affirms himself and his holy Brethren were accounted in his time 1 Cor. 4.13 As the filth of the World and the off-scouring of all things unto this day and I appeal to all sober and good Men whether this be not the Language of a pround and uncharitable Spirit and of a Tongue set on fire of Hell Jam. 3.6 and
in the Holy Scripture for their continual Observation as Psal 116.15 Precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of the Saints and 't is the Days of their Death and Martyrdom and not of their Birth which we Commemorate not their first Days in which they were Born into the World but the last Days in which they were Born into an happy Eternity and on these Days we do not only Bless God for those eminent Vertues and Graces which Shone in them but also we desire him to enable us to follow their good Examples that being compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses we may run with Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus their Captain General who with them has endured the Cross and receiv'd a Crown in Heaven and by this means we do what we can to perpetuate their Memory on Earth as God expects we should Psal 112.6 The Righteous shall be had in everlasting Remembrance And this the Primitive Christians began by first keeping the Day of these Saints Martyrdom at the very Place where they suffer'd and this after Ages follow'd by Celebrating it in all other Places where Christianity was professed and I doubt not but it will be continued in all future Ages even unto the end of the World among all Orthodox Christians CHAP. III. HAving in the former Chapter detected the Sophistry and Fallaciousness of John Bunyans Arguments against Forms of Prayer and shewn how they rather conclude for them and against his Pretences to Pray by the Spirit I shall now proceed to discover the Weakness and Folly of his Answer to that convincing Proof for the Lawfulness of Forms even our Saviour's Command for it Luke 11.2 When ye Pray say our Father c. To this he says p. 80. I cannot think that Christ intended it as a stinted Form of Prayer because he lays it down diversly But how diversly Mat. 6.9 our blessed Lord says After this manner Pray ye Our Father c. the plain import of which is that this ought to be the Pattern by which we shou'd Compose all our Prayers but least his Disciples who had desired their Master to teach them a Form of Prayer as John Baptist had taught his Disciples shou'd think it well enough to have an Eye only to this Pattern in Composing all their Prayers by tho' in the mean time they never made use of this very Form it self therefore in Luke 11.2 our Saviour said unto them When ye Pray say Our Father c. i. e. do not content your selves to Pray after this manner in other Prayers of your own Composing them according to it but also use this very Prayer it self together with your own of the like Nature that putting up your Petitions to Almighty God with a good Heart in Christ's own Words ye may be sure to be heard and let any honest Christian but Read and Compare these two Evangelists together in this Point and I am confident he will acknowledge that Christ must needs intend this Prayer of his should it self be daily used and also the true Standard of all our Devotions and consequently he must needs intend it for a Form or else his Words and Intentions would not agree which is Blasphemy to imagine But out Author answers farther p. 81. We do not find that the Apostles did ever observe this Form as such neither did they admonish others so to do search all their Epistles c. But did not the Apostles do many things which are not written there As St. John says there are also many other things which Jesus did which are not written every one of them in the Gospel Joh. 21.25 For were not all the Apostles Baptized And yet we do not Read in the New Testament of the Baptism of any one of them so the Apostles might and without doubt did make use of the Lords Prayer tho' there be no mention of it in their Epistles otherwise how were they Faithful in keeping Christs Commandments themselves this being one of them When ye Pray say Our Father c. and this doubtless they taught others to use also or else they were not Faithful in executing Christs Commission who at the delivery thereof speaks thus Mat. 28.19.20 Go ye therefore and Proselyte all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you and this being one thing that Christ had Commanded them when ye Pray say Our Father c. we cannot suppose that they fail'd to teach others to observe this also as well as Baptism or any other Gospel Duty But after all his trifling Answers to this invincible Objection Jo. Bunyan confesseth p. 81. That Christ by these Words Our Father which art in Heaven doth instruct his People what Rules they should observe in their Prayers to God And if it is a Rule for all our Prayers is not this as great a Confinement of the Spirit as the limiting of it to this or any other Form of sound Words This Author p. 75. and those that made the Directory tho' they are Enemies to all Forms of Prayer and therefore abolished our excellent Liturgy yet lay down certain Rules which we must observe in Praying to Almighty God which is indeed to do that thing themselves which they condemn in us and call a Restraining of the Spirit for to dictate to the Spirit the Heads of Prayer which he must insist upon and leave him at liberty only in the choice of Words is every whit as much if not more a restraining of the Spirit than only to appoint the Words and leave him at liberty in the choice of the Sense the Matter of Prayer being more considerable than Words and the Sense more valuable than Language If therefore the Spirit must be left free why do they themselves confine him in imposing on him the Heads of his Prayer As if he needed help for Invention as our * See his excellent Book p. 686. Royal Martyr observed tho' not for expression or as if Matter did not as much stint and obstruct the Spirit as if it were cloathed in and confined to fit Words so slight and easy is the Leger-de-main which will serve to delude the Vulgar And from hence any one may well conclude that these Men instead of being inspired with the Spirit of God are possessed with the Spirit of Pride and Singularity what else is the meaning of their taking away the Book of Common Prayer and yet establishing a Directory in its room which is as much a restraining of the Spirit as the other What else is the meaning of that Passage in the entrance of the Directory p. 5 Let all enter the Assembly not irreverently but in a grave and seemly manner taking their Seats or Places without Adoration or Bowing themselves towards one Place or other But that because when we enter the Church the Place of
Gods gracious and more immediate Presence we solemnly Worship God by Bowing our Bodies and Knees before him therefore the Dissenters when they enter the Church will not Worship God at all being required by the Directory to take their Seats without Adoration tho' herein they act contrary to David who says Psal 95.6 O come let us Worship and Bow down let us Kneel before the Lord our Maker They act contrary to St. Paul's Converts of whom he says That coming into the Church they will fall down on their Face and Worship God 1 Cor. 14.25 They act contrary to those Pious Souls that came to Christ to obtain a Cure for themselves or Friends who did not approach or address themselves to him without a solemn act of Adoration they always first Worshiped him by Kneeling Bowing or Prostrating their Bodies before him as you may see Mat. 17.14 Mar. 5.22 Luk. 5.12 And if those good People paid Christ's Corporeal Presence so much Reverence in the Days of his Humiliation certainly we ought not to give his Spiritual Presence less Honour in his Exaltation since he is now advanced to the Right-hand of God but when we approach him should Worship him with our Bodies as well as Souls but the Directory in opposition to the Practice of these Holy Men Commands the People to enter the Assembly where they suppose Christ Spiritually present or else What make they there without Adoration or Bowing their Bodies towards one Place or other and consequently they must not Bow their Bodies or Knees to Adore God at all for if they do so it must be towards some Place it being impossible to Worship God with our Bodies without it But to return from the Presbyterian Directory whither I have a little digressed presuming it would be a Pardonable Digression to our Anabaptistical Director of Spiritual Prayer John Bunyan p. 45. 46. he affirms That none but such as are Regenerate can truly with allowance say Our Father c. and yet even these must go no farther nor venture to say out the Lords Prayer because it is a Form and to use any such Forms is as bad as setting up and Worshipping Jeroboams Calves which was downright Idolatry and p. 110. What is this says he less than that accursed Abomination of Jeroboam which kept many from going to Jerusalem the Place and Way of Gods appointment to Worship But if this be less than Blaspemy I know not what can be called by that Name for if the use of godly Forms of Prayer not excepting the Lords Prayer it self be as abominable Idolatry as Jeroboam's Calves then our Lord in commanding us when we Pray to say Our Father which art in Heaven c. must Command the Practice of Idolatry which is to Charge God not only Foolishly but Presumptuously and in so doing to fall himself into Jeroboams great Sin in devising another way of Praying than that revealed in the Word of God and in slighting and despising that Form of Prayer which Christ has given us a Practice which we justly detest and abhor and therefore in our Morning and Evening Service we always use the Lords Prayer and all our other Prayers are Composed according to this divine and admirable Pattern and Mr. Baxter whose Authority may have great Influence on the Presbyterians if it should have little on John Bunyan and his Party was so much for the use of the Lord's Prayer that I am credibly inform'd he constantly concluded his own with it and on his Death-bed earnestly * See Mr. Baxters Funeral Sermon by Dr. Bates Recommended the like Practice to all his Dissenting Brethren and wondred that any of them should lay aside the Lord's Prayer assuring them he always found much Comfort in the use of it and his Heart raised and lifted Heaven-wards in the frequent Repetition thereof which I mention on purpose to silence the Clamours of these Men against our Church for using the Lord's Prayer twice and sometimes more in our daily Devotions for why may not our People receive as much Spiritual Comfort as Mr. Baxter says he did in such Repetitions And can a good thing be repeated too often They say it cannot when they require their Followers to attend the Repetition of their Sermons and I presume they dare not say that the very best of their Discourses are so good as the Lord's Prayer or that the Words of uninspired Men are equal to the Words of Jesus Christ besides the Lord's Prayer being delivered by the two Evangelists with some little Alteration the one reciting the Doxology the other omitting it therefore also we repeat this Prayer once with and once without it in the one ending thus Deliver us from evil Amen as St. Luke Chap. 11.4 and in the other thus for thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen Our Church enjoyning all its Members to make use of both Forms that none may fail to comply with our Lords Commands who requires us to Pray thus and after this manner and this I think is enough to satisfie the Scruples of any reasonable Person that may be offended with the Repetition of the Lords Prayer in our Churches Liturgy But if Jo. Bunyan cannot disswade Christians from using the Lords Prayer and 't will be hard to do so so long as they find it in their Bibles he invents such shifts to limit and confine this Divine Form that he will allow none but Saints i. e. such as himself and his own Party to use it tho' I believe few have ever heard it from their Teachers and sometimes he will not permit the Saints themselves to make use of it as p. 41. I tell you says he however Hypocrites may think yet the Christian that is so indeed and that surely must be one of the Saints finds all the difficulty in this very thing he cannot say God is his Father But certainly the Author of the Pilgrims Progress had here forgotten the Parable of the Prodigal Son who before he was a Saint and a great way off from God and in the far Country of Sin whither he had fled from him he said I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Luke 15.13 18.20 But had Jo. Bunyan heard this Prayer he would have School'd him thus Thou Poor Blind Prodigal Sot thy great Prayer is to say Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee Dost thou know the meaning of the first Word of this Prayer Canst thou indeed with the rest of the Saints cry Abba Father Art thou truely Born again Hast thou receiv'd the Spirit of Adoption Dost thou see thy self in Christ And canst thou come to God as a Member of him Or art thou ignorant of these things and yet darest say Father Is not the Devil thy Father And dost thou not do the Deeds of the Flesh Hast
Expressions by no means agree to St. Paul who was Converted before this being quite contrary to the Nature of a Regenerate Man who is said in other places of this Epistle to be free from Sin and the Servant of Righteousness Rom. 6.18 That the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 That he has crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Gal. 5.24 That Sin does not Reign in his mortal Body that he should obey it in the Lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 So that unless we can twist Contradictions we cannot suppose St. Paul to speak of himself in that seventh Chapter but only of a Judaising Christian or a Convinced but not Converted Person and nothing is more usual than for Prophets and Apostles to speak in the Person of others when they say I or We did so or so for we cannot suppose St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles or indeed any sensible Christian so very Ignorant as not to know to whom and thro' whom and for what to Pray and therefore the we know not c. must have respect to other Men and such as were Heathens and Unconverted who had not before heard of Christ or seen the Gospel where there are Rules laid down and those Dictated and written by the Holy Spirit how they and all Men ought to Pray even to our Father which is in Heaven thro' his beloved Son Jesus Christ for such Lawful things as are according to his Will And when Men Pray thus according to that excellent Form which Christ has prescribed his Holy Spirit will also assist them with good Desires so that they shall Heartily wish and long for those things for which they Pray with submission to the Will of God and thus the Spirit helpeth our Infirmities in revealing to us the Holy Scriptures where those that were Ignorant before are taught how to Pray as they ought But our Author goes on with his Paraphrase p. 30.31 The Apostles when they were at best yea when they were assisted with the Holy Ghost yet then they were fain to come off with Sighs and Groans c. Mark here says he they could not so well and fully come off in the manner of performing this Duty as these in our Days think they can But is not this another good Argument for Forms of Prayer when the Apostles themselves stood in need of them and therefore desired Christ to teach them such a Form as John had taught his Disciples Luke 11.1 Lord teach us to Pray as John also taught his Disciples And certainly they had need to be taught such a Form to help them out if they were such Bunglers at Prayer as J. Bunyan represents them viz. That they were not able to make an end of the Prayer they had begun in the Congregation but were forc'd to break off abruptly perhaps in the midst thereof which must needs cause Shame to themselves and Disappointment and Confusion to the whole Assembly which all their Sighs and Groans would never be able to compensate but no Man of Sense can believe the Apostles ever Prayed at this rate in the Church of God where they command all things to be done Decently and in order and to the Edification of the People 1 Cor. 14.26.40 For what Order Decency or Edifying is there in Sighs and Groans which Hypocrites may utter as well as Sincere Christians And when either does it who can tell the meaning of them And may not a Man edifie as much by the Quakers Silent-meetings as by such Sighs and Groans which have no certain and determinate Signification as Words and Speeches have And yet if we may believe Jo. Bunyan these were a good part of the Apostles Prayers even in their publik Assemblies but the Proof which he brings for it is Simple and Ridiculous viz. For the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered Whereas these are not the Groanings of the Apostles or of any Man else upon the Face of the Earth but the Groanings of the Holy-Ghost himself in Heaven where together with the Lord Jesus he maketh Intercession for us at the Right-hand of God and that in a very fervent and powerful manner which St. Paul calls his Groanings which cannot be uttered and therefore can never be applyed to the Groanings of Men which are always heard and make a sound in their very utterance So foolish and presumptuous is this Man in Expounding and Applying this Text especially in endeavouring to prove from it that the Holy Spirit does invent and dictate to us the very words of Prayer for here are no Words at all proceeding from the Spirit but only Groanings How then can this place prove that the Spirit suggests to us the Words of our Prayer when he interceeds for us without Words even with Groanings but pray mistake not not with such Groanings as Jo. Bunyan and his Party makes and may be heard in every corner of the House and in the very Streets but with Groanings that cannot be uttered And that these are the inexpressible Desires of Christ and the Spirit of God in Heaven is plain from Rom. 8.27 He that searcheth the Hearts i. e. Almighty God whose Prerogative it is knoweth what is the Mind of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God So that this Text also as all the rest turns upon the Objector and proves that the Spirit does not put Words into their Mouths nor cause those Groanings which are so loud and frequent in their Meetings the Spirits Groanings here being said to be without noise or sound without utterance or expression they are such as cannot be uttered Whence I may well conclude that Jo. Bunyan 's extemporary Prayers his dismal Groans and those Fits and Agonies of the Spirit which he says he was sometimes in when he was strongly perswaded to leave off and to seek the Lord no longer p. 71. I may conclude I say that this is a great Cheat of the Devil and Antichrist by which he does delude and deceive the World by which Men would perswade themselves and others that they Pray with the Spirit that they Preach with the Spirit and Hear with the Spirit even with the same extraordinary Spirit which St. Paul had when there is no such thing but they are rather possessed by an evil Spirit which makes them think and speak so highly and vain-gloriously of themselves and so contemptibly and uncharitably of others their Mouth speaketh great swelling Words having Mens Persons in admiration because of advantage These be they that separate themselves Sensual having not the Spirit Jud. ver 16.19 CHAP. VIII HAving said in the Conclusion of the former Chapter that J. Bunyan and his Party have not the Spirit to which they so much pretend I come now to prove this Charge against them from two substantial Arguments 1st Their Disobedience to their Lawful
to Despair than perswade them to Pray but as he immediately subjoyns bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and what can that import but to teach them to say the Creed Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments which contain the Sum and Substance of the Christian Religion even what we ought to believe and do and how to Pray in order to Salvation But especially to teach our Children to Pray according to that perfect and compleat Form which our Lord Jesus has taught us and left upon Record in the Gospel this is to Breed them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord and not the next way to make them cursed Hypocrites and puff them up with Pride as our uncharitable Author says it will p. 78. I am confident to tell little Children of Hell-fire and Damnation and their own Wretched and Miserable estate if they understand what we say is the next way to cast them down into the Gulph of Despair and therefore our blessed Saviour took a quite contrary Course with them Mark 10.14 Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven and v. 15. Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child he shall not enter therein and ver 16. He took them up in his Arms puts his Hands upon them and Blessed them which without doubt he did by some short Form of Prayer and so by that taught little Children to Pray also Our Lord Jesus to encourage little Children to be good betimes says of such is the Kingdom of Heaven but J. Bunyan to discourage them says of such is the Kingdom of Hell Christ proposes them as a Pattern of Meekness Innocence and Humility Mat. 18.2 3 4 5 6. But John Bunyan exposes them as the Objects of Gods Wrath and Vengeance and so many Brands of Hell-fire and this he says will make Tears run down your sweet Babes Eyes and hearty Groans to flow from your Hearts tho' any one else would imagine this would swallow them up with overmuch Grief and sink their tender Spirits into downright Despair and here I cannot chuse but take notice how much this Man is for Groaning since he would have Children to learn it instead of their Prayers Why according to his way of Expounding Scripture Rom. 8.26 the Childrens Groanings may be as acceptable to God as the best of our Prayers for as I observ'd before Chap. 7. he says The Apostles could not so well come off in the manner of performing this Duty c. When the Holy Ghost assisted them yet even then they were fain to come off with Sighs and Groans falling short of expressing their Minds but with Sighs and Groans which cannot be utter'd But how then could they express their Minds by them if they were unutterable and cannot Children as well express their Minds this way as the very Apostles themselves if they can but Groan lustily as he supposes the other to have done So that our Author has found out a new Way to teach Children to Pray as well as their ungifted Brethren 't is but for them to Groan well and often and loud and the Work is done and they may be said to Pray as well as the Apostles ever did and this Groaning will save them the labour of Reading the Bible or Learning any Catechism that has the Lord's Prayer in it O poor sweet Babes The Lord open your Eyes and make you see and shun the wicked and pernicious Counsel of such groaning Hypocrites And I must farther observe that J. Bunyan does not in all his Advice here put Parents upon Teaching their Children to Read the Holy Scriptures tho' Timothy had done it from a Child and St. Paul commends him for it 2 Tim. 3.15 And I doubt the true Reason why he does not mention the Reading their Bibles is for fear they should meet with the Lord's Prayer in it and so have a mind to learn by Heart that excellent Form which Christ himself has made and enjoyned all his Disciples to use yet p. 79. he Quotes a Passage out of Psalm 34.11 which is this Come ye Children hearken unto me and I will Teach you the fear of the Lord Which after his silly way he Paraphrases thus David does not say I will Nuzzle you up in a Form but I will Teach you the fear of the Lord. Where if the words refer to Children and not Men as they seem to do from the next Verse ver 12. What Man is he that desireth Life Yet 1st Jo. Bunyan uses a Beastly Comparison in calling our Teaching Children a Form of Prayer a Nuzzling them up in it which is an Expression belonging to Hogs whose young ones are said to be Nuzzled up by them and 't is a piece of Profane Wit to compare the Teaching our Children Godly Forms of Prayer to the rearing up young Pigs this is to offend and despise not only one but all these little ones tho' we are cautioned against it at the Peril of our Souls and least their Angels Revenge the Contempt we throw upon them Mat. 18.6.10 Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me it were better that a Milstone were hanged about his Neck and that he were Drowned in the depth of the Sea Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in heaven 2dly 'T is plain that David was for Educating Children in a Form or else he had not kept the Commandment of the Lord who required him to do it as is evident from Deut. 6.6 7. And these Words which I command thee this Day shall be in thine Heart which relates chiefly to the ten Commandments mentioned in the 5th Chapter And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy House and when thou walkest by the Way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up And Deut. 31.12.13 Gather the People together Men Women and Children and the Stranger that is within thy Gates that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the Words of this Law And What was all this but the Teaching their Children Forms So that David himself according to this Fellows unseemly Comparison did Nuzzle up Children in Forms or else he had disobeyed God which required it and the Teaching them such Forms is here called the Teaching them the fear of the Lord so unhappy still is this Man in urging Texts of Scripture that they all conclude against him and for that very thing against which he produceth them CHAP. X. NOW after all least any should censure me for speaking too lightly of these Mens Groanings and Pretences to Pray by the Spirit I have this which I presume will be thought sufficient by all Honest and Impartial