but yet come up from the Heart into the Mouth where they are secretly or silently whispered such as the Prayer of Hannah was 1 Sam. 1. 12 13. And it came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her Mouth Now Hannah she spake in her Heart only her Lips moved but her Voice was not heard c. Q. May Vocal Prayer in words that are audible to others at some distance be used in private when a man is alone by himself A. Upon some solemn or extraordinary occasions it may be used as if such a wicked Law should be made that no man should pray unto God as in the case of Daniel cap. 7. Where it was decreed that none should ask any thing for thirty daies but of the King Daniel found himself the more concerned to bear a testimony against such a Law or Decree that even his private Prayer came under the observation of his accusers so that he could not satisfie himself with meer inward and mental Prayer which none of them could observe And it seemeth it had been Daniel's custom formerly so to do he living among Idolaters that so he might more abundantly bear a Testimony against their false Worship and for the true Worship of the True and Living God. Again 2. Vocal Prayer in private may be the more freely used when any hath the opportunity of some remote or retired place where none are within the reach of hearing them for sometimes the earnestness and pressure of Spirit in their earnest wrestling with the Lord may provoke and constrain some to use Vocal Prayer and sometimes the using of it helps them that are weak to excite and make them more servent and lively but it is to be used with great wariness and discretion when used in private to take away all occasion of Ostentation or Hypocrisie which is too incident to many who pray or cry out their private Prayers of purpose that others may hear them as the Pharisees did of old whose Hypocrisie Christ sharply reproved and he taught his Disciples the best manner to perform their private Devotions Matth. 6. 6. But thou when thou Prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy Door Pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Now as this Closet or secret Chamber may partly be understood to be outward when men have the opportunity thereof or any outward place of retirement yet because it oft falleth out to good Christians that they have no Closet or outward Place of Retirement many being oft confined to a Prison where they must alwaies be in Company with others and sometimes with bad People In that case the Lords Servants have the Closet of their Hearts to retire into at all times where they may freely pray unto the Lord in secret and here also they must be careful to shut their Door to wit the Door of their Heart whereby shut out and exclude all idle and wandering Thoughts and Imaginations yea all thoughts even of their Lawful occasions that their hearts and thoughts may be wholly exercised for that space of time towards the Lord as he shall be pleased to assist them Q Is it not requisite and necessary that every true Christian set apart some time every day in a Solemn way for Meditation and Private Prayer as well as that some time is set apart once or twice every Week by a company of Christians for publick Worship where opportunity can be had A. That some part of our time is to be set apart for private Prayer and Meditation and waiting upon God as well as for publick Prayer and Worship or any other Religious performance is most clear from the practise and example of the Servants of God both in the Old and New Testament for not only the Prophets of old under the old Testament used frequent times of retirement to give themselves in a Solemn and peculiar way to waiting upon God Meditation and Prayer as did Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses David Elijah Daniel c. But Christ himself used such Solemn times and so did the Apostles As concerning Christ it is said Matth. 14. 23. And when he had sent the Multitudes away he went up into a Mountain apart to Pray And when the Evening was come he was there alone And a little before his Passion or outward suffering at the place called Gethsemane Matth. 26. 36. he retired from his Disciples and Prayed alone at three several times saying O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Next as for the Apostles we find in the Acts cap. 10. 9. That Peter went up upon the House in some upper Chamber to Pray about the Sixth Hour Which according to the Jewish Account of Hours was the middle of the Day And no doubt Peter made it his frequent practise to retire himself thus unto Prayer And Paul after his Conversion lodging at the House of Iudas was exercised in Prayer when Ananias was sent to him at which time he had a Vision of Ananias his coming as Peter had of the Vessel coming down from Heaven as he was at Prayer in private in the House of Simon the Tanner Thus we see how the Lord did bless and countenance such solemn private exercises of Prayer unto his Servants And no doubt the same was the practise of the other Apostles and servent Christians of those times But as to any limited time for Prayer we find no Precept in the Scripture for Christians or those who live in Gospel Times Under the Law Morning and Evening Sacrifices were to be offered up which no doubt were accompanied with Prayer by the Faithful David said Morning and Evening and Mid-day he would call upon the Lord yea Seven times a Day and Daniel used Thrice in the Day to pray unto the Lord. And surely the Devotion and Fervent Zeal of Christians should be no less in Gospel Times than was theirs under the Law but rather more and more frequently exercised Although Christians are not under any tye or command given in general as to the number of times how oft to be retired out of all worldly occasions to give themselves solemnly to Prayer every day that and many other things being wholly left to the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit which as it teacheth all true Christians what and how to Pray so no doubt it sheweth also the times when which times are frequent even of the Holy Spirit his moving of the Souls and Hearts of true and tender Christians who are become acquainted with the movings and leadings of the same And if by outward occasions such true and tender Christians may be diverted or hindred by some inevitable lets or hindrances as to the outward as oft falleth out that they cannot have either conveniency of time or place to be so frequently retired in the outward posture of
And although Luke 11. 2. hath it When yee Pray say Our Father c. Yet Luke may be expounded by Matthew as one place of Scripture is oft expounded by another So that Luke may very well be understood according to Matthew his words thus When ye Pray say viz after this manner Our Father c. Nor can this one only short Form of Prayer be a sufficient argument to make a large Book of Forms of Prayer and impose them by constraint upon Christians For either this one Form of Prayer taught by Christ was sufficient for the Apostles without any other or it was not if sufficient for them why not also for all other Christians And yet I know not any sort of these called Christians who confine themselves only to it or are willing so to do but think it needful to express their Prayers frequently in other Words for variety and change of Words when the matter is the same doth help to stir up and beget in men the more Fervent Affections But if that one only Form was not sufficient to the Apostles it is clear that Christ did not intend by teaching them that Form to give them or their Successors an intire System or Scheme of Common Prayer but as is already said to be a Pattern or Example unto them and also to afford unto them matter of Meditation as the Holy Spirit should open the deep and comprehensive Sense of it unto them so that by a due and serious and deliberate Meditation upon all the parts and words of it by the help of the Spirit they might be stirred up unto Prayer their hearts being lifted up unto God upon the Meditation on every part of it by saying Amen thereunto or expressing the inward desire and prayer of their hearts in the same or more words as the Holy Spirit should be pleased to enable and assist them And though I cannot and dare not recommend it to be read or said as a Prayer twice or thrice every day in a dead formal customary way as too many do nor can I limit any to the strict and precise number of words in it to pray by without using any more or less words lest thereby I should seem to limit the Holy Spirit who is most free in all his Workings Yet I can and do freely thus far recommend it even unto all Christians as well great as small as a most worthy subject of their frequent Meditation which the Spirit of the Lord will not be wanting to incline them unto and assist them in And how often in the Day Week Month or Year they are to Meditare upon it or how long their Minds and Hearts are to dwell upon the Thoughts and Meditations of it or any other places of Holy Scripture no outward rule can be given but must all be left to the free ordering and leading of the Spirit which I certainly believe as it is regarded and minded will be found very frequent For it is a great part of the Spirits Work and Office to bring the Scripture words and especially the words of Christ to our remembrance and the more useful and necessary any words of Scripture are unto us no doubt the Holy Spirit that Faithful Remembrancer will bring them to our Minds the more frequently and seasonable And I know no words in all the Scripture that are more necessary and profitable unto us to be remembred and often meditated upon than those very words contained in this excellent Form of Prayer taught by Christ. And indeed not only these few Words of Prayer taught the Apostles by Christ but any other words of Prayer whither Recorded in Scripture or that are Writ and Recorded any where else that have proceeded from a true Breathing and Spring of Life in these who first conceived and expressed them in word or writing may be and are of great service So that Forms and words of Prayer which proceed in the least measure from the Spirit of Prayer we are not against but for and our Souls have oft been greatly refreshed and quickned by them and the Spirit of Prayer yea true Prayer and Supplication hath oft been excited in us at the reading or hearing read such Prayers as are frequently to be found not only in the Scriptures but in the Books of true Martyrs and Witnesses of Jesus What precious Words of Prayer have oft dropped from them althongh but a little of those is recorded and it might be wished more of these precious words of Prayer or Thanksgiving and other Testimonies that came from the Spirit of God in them which flowed from them had been preserved if it had been the will of God. How oft when we hear or read or call to mind these precious Words of Prayer or some part of them that any Servant or Hand-maid of the Lord has uttered either at the Hour of their Death or any other time by the Spirit of the Lord which we find upon record in true History How oft I say and how purely doth Life spring in us and bear its Living Witness to the Original and Fountain of those Prayers out of which they have proceeded even the Pure and Holy Spirit of God and Christ And what pure inward living powerful and comfortable Touches of the same Spirit have we felt at such times confirming our Heavenly and Spiritual Unity with those dear and precious Servants of the Lord. Therefore I say we are not against Words or Fruits of Prayer for all Words have a Form that have at any time come or do and may come from the Spirit but are very much for them as fit and proper Subjects of Meditation and Occasions as the Spirit of the Lord is pleased to concurr to excite the Grace of Prayer in us thereby or any other Divine Grace and Gift as doth oft come to pass Also all such Prayers are excellent patterns and examples unto us of Prayer but yet we cannot set them up to be read or heard as our Prayers so as to tye and confine our selves or others to the precise number of the words contained in them Not can we acknowledg that the bare reading or repeating the Words are a Prayer as many do ignorantly imagine for all true Vocal Prayer comes from the Heart as it is moved and wrought upon by the Holy Spirit and the Words of Prayer simply considered are not properly the Prayer otherwise every one that hath and useth the words should pray those Prayers which is far otherwise but the words are but the signs and expressions of the Prayer which was in those who first conceived them and are called Prayer only by a Figure or Metonymie of the Sign for the thing signified And whereas it is objected by some that these Forms of Prayer as they are good and fit patterns of our Prayers so they may be used by us as Prayers even as some Weights and Measures which are kept as Standards to make other Weights by may be used themselves as
as a natural Tree bringeth forth its natural Fruit from a principle of activity in its own Nature as it is assisted and helped by the influences of the Heavens and especially the heat and warmth of the Sun and the Heavenly Dews and Rains. And certainly the Prayers of the Prophets and other Holy Men and Women recorded in the Scripture were of this sort God moved and wrought upon their Souls and the powers and faculties thereof from the highest to the lowest and caused them all to concur and made them fruitful to bring forth Holy Prayers and Praises unto God And thus was it also with them in respect of their Preaching and Writing the Holy Scriptures in doing of which they were not bare passive Instruments but partly active and partly passive for most part at least as is demonstrable from the variety of stile and different manner of expression used by the Writers and Pen-men of the Holy Scripture the Holy Spirit acting upon them according to the diversity of their natural as well as spiritual Capacities and gifts whether natural or acquired wherewith they were endued So that as the Fruits of the Earth with their beautiful forms and shapes and diversity of Colours proceed not from the Earth alone nor from the Sun and Heavens alone but from both acting partly together and as the Child which the Mother brings forth in the comely and beautiful linements and proportion of its form is not the Mothers Child alone but the Fathers also So all true Preaching and Praying which proceeds from the Spirit of God and also true and right Meditation and Thanksgiving or any other true spiritual and acceptable Performances is a Birth of two Parents whereof the Faithful Soul is the Mother and God by the working of his Spirit is the Father And therefore it is that all Faithful Souls in Scripture are called the Spouse of the Lord and the Church is called Christ's Wife because as the Wife bringeth forth true and lawful Children to her Husband lawfully begot of him so the Faithful Soul brings forth as it were Spiritual Children unto God and Christ whose Father God is by the working of his Holy Spirit And these Spiritual Children are good Words and Works which the Soul brings forth unto God by the help of his Holy Spirit And therefore all such Preaching and Praying and Thanksgiving which proceed not from the Spirit of God in its inward workings upon the Soul And also all kind of Meditation or any other performance or work that is offered up unto God without the said inward working of the Holy Spirit is but a spurious and bastard-brood and cannot therefore be received and accepted of the Lord who only accepteth what is of his own begetting in the Soul. For what man will accept of a Bastard as if it were his own Child Now in this doth appear both the Wisdom and Love of God that he hath made the Soul an active as well as passive Instrument to joyn and co-operate with him in his work and service and in all what he requires of it And that there are none of the powers or abilities of the Soul or Faculties of it from the lowest to the highest but they may be actively imployed in some part of his service as the Imagination the Memory the Reason and Understanding of Man and its institutive Faculty which being opened and made alive in man through the Work of Regeneration can see and behold God as he doth reveal and discover himself to his Children many times without all words so much as inwardly conceived or remembred though all times it pleaseth God to make use of Words and through them as through the Lattess to show himself unto the Soul as also God maketh use of the Will Love and Affections of his People in the day of his power making them a willing People giving them not only to think and understand what his good and acceptable and holy will is but also to will and to do it For thus the Faculties and Abilities of the Soul which God hath given it are most nobly and excellently exercised when they are exercised in his service immediately and attain to their noblest and best end and herein is the Wisdom and Love of God also manifest that the Soul being thus made active with all its powers abilities and faculties in the works and service of God as co-works with him the Soul it self is the more delighted and hath the more joy and pleasure in those works when it reflecteth on them and considereth them as having a share in them as the Mother hath in the Children whom she hath conceived and brought forth for as it is natural to all Mothers to love their own Children whom they have conceived and born and suffered for so is it also natural to the Soul to love its works which it hath wrought in God and take delight or pleasure in them as God doth in his and as the Mother loveth her own Children whom she hath conceived and born and travelled in great pangs to bring forth into the World more than she loveth any other Children whom she hath not born although these other may be more beautified so the Soul loveth and delighteth most in those works which it bringeth forth as the fruit of its Womb through the assistance of God's Holy Spirit and it is well allowed of the Lord so to do provided it be with due moderation for this is a part of our own reward even to rejoyce in good works which the Lord hath enabled us to perform but the praise is wholly and alone to be given unto the Lord for them all for he it is who hath given to the Soul its being and powers and every ability both Natural and Spiritual so as without him it could not do any thing that is good neither Spiritual nor Natural They are therefore greatly mistaken who think as some foolishly and idly have done and Printed it against us that because we plead for the Spirits Immediate Revelation and Teaching and Immediate assistance to help us in attaining the true knowledg of God in right and true Meditations Preachings Prayers Thanksgivings c. That therefore we lay aside not only the use of the Scripture and other outward means and helps but also the whole use of our Reason and Understanding as men and of any other faculties and abilities of our Souls and become as so many dead and unactive Truncks Stocks or Stones or as if we did judg that the Divine Revelations Inspirations and Motions of God's Holy Spirit helping us to know and understand Divine things to Meditate to Preach and Pray and give Thanks c. did pass through us as a Sound passeth through a hollow Cave or as Water through a bare Conduit These and such like absurd consequences are but the idle and foolish dreams of mens vain imaginations who as it too much appeareth have never had any experience of or acquaintance with the
liberty to each other in the Holy Spirit of Truth and growing up together in God's Heavenly Garden as lovely Plants and Flowers each one having their proper Shapes Forms and Fruit all of a sweet and pleasant smell and taste and of a lovely Beauty and all useful and profitable one to another and to the Church of God in general without any envy or grudging but rejoycing in the manifold and various Graces and Gifts of God freely bestowed upon all and all growing and springing from the same Holy Root and Ground And now these two main Objections being Answered at length which did require the opening or explaining of divers things which may be of service to some I shall proceed to answer some others wherein I may be more brief 3. They object That some having good Hearts and great Love and strong Affections towards God and Heavenly and Divine things yet have weak Heads and Understandings and are not able well to conceive Words of Prayer in their Understandings And therefore should not these be helped by hearing or reading set Forms of Prayer well and Piously composed Answ. None have such weak Heads or Understandings if they have good Hearts or any measure of True Love and Affections towards God and Divine things but the same Spirit of Love which beget in them those good desires and affections hath been and is also in them a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding to beget in them or help them to conceive good Thoughts and Words of Prayer sufficient for them as is above proved and made apparent for the Spirit of God works upon the whole Soul and all its powers and abilities and as well upon the Understanding as the Will and whatever the Will cleaveth unto or the Heart loveth is first proposed and represented to the Understanding in Thoughts as lovely and desirable And if a Man have not Elâ—cution either none or small God requireth but of every man as he giveth him and he who cannot Pray with his Mouth as in the case of those who are Dumb if he pray with his Heart shall be accepted But he who can read a Prayer if his Heart and Understanding were as well and as much exercised in Divine and Spiritual things as in Earthly and Temporal and had as great a love to them and delight in them would soon find himself furnished with Words ex tempore whereby to express the desires of his heart to God And indeed in true and real Love there is for most part an admirable Force or Virtue to make a man Eloquent both to praise the thing he loveth most and also to find out Reasons and Arguments wherewith to perswade to the obtaining it He who loveth a Woman and greatly desireth to have her to be his Wife he needeth not go to a Book and steal or borrow an Oration or Form of Discourse to speak unto her in order to perswade her and if he did it would but coldly come from him and if she did know it as a very small measure of good discerning cannot but discover it that it was a borrowed Speech she would not perhaps accept it nor answer it But the natural and simple words that flow from the love of his Heart would most prevail and have the greatest force It is not Eloquence or Excellency of Speech that God requires or regards the profit and service of it is unto men and not unto God. It stirreth up mens Affections to make them the more servent but doth not more prevail with God than more simple and mean words yet God will have every man to use his own Gift and it is but want of Love to Divine and Heavenly things and want of exercise in improving and stiring up the Gifts which God hath given them that makes them think extemporary prayer by the help of the Spirit to be so hard and difficult Why may not Men find Words and Expressions as ready and easie wherewith to seek a thing of God by the help of his Spirit as they find them wherewith to seek a thing from Men which few or none do in borrowed Forms of Speech composed by another unless it be to some King or great Person that some who are feeble minded and want courage make their address by borrowed Words or by something writ on a Paper or by some other they get to speak for them But none of all these things is necessary in this case for God invites the weakest and meanest to call upon him as well as the strongest and the meanest words where the Heart is sincere are accepted of him yea suppose the words were broken and imperfect and not according to the Grammar of the Language they may be used at least in private And as for publick Prayer in the audience of an Assembly or Congregation these whom God calleth to such an Employment or Office he will no doubt sufficiently qualifie and furnish them for he who made the mouth can easily put words in it As when Moses excused his being sent to Pharaoh for his want of Eloquence The Lord said unto him Who hath made man's Mouth or who maketh the Dumb or Deaf or the Seeing or the Blind Have not I the Lord Now therefore go and I will be with thy Mouth and teach thee what thou shall sav Ex. 4. 11. And tho the Lord sent Aaron to assist him who was naturally more Eloquent yet God also put Words in Moses his Mouth as well as in the Mouth of Aaron And when Moses Prayed unto God in the Mount that Israel might prevail over Amalek we do not read that Moses borrowed any words from Aaron or that Aaron put any words into his mouth only Aaron and Hur helped to hold up his Hands And surely Moses in his Prayer here used not any Form of Prayer borrowed from Aaron or any body else altho some from this passage and Moses his being less Eloquent than Aaron have argued for using set Forms of Prayer But we cannot find it in Scripture that Moses stood with a Book of Common Prayer in his Hand and Read or Prayed out of it upon the Mountain but that he had in his Hand a Rod. 4. They Object That many by Reading or Hearing read set Forms of Pious and Godly Prayers both in publick and also in private have found their Souls and Hearts refreshed thereby and what they did read or hear read hath oft stirred up true and living Breathings in them and hearty Desires and Supplications with Thanksgivings unto God. And it is hard and uncharitable to judge that all they who read or hear set Forms of Prayer in private and publick and seldom or never use Extemporary Prayer are altogether void of true Devotion and never Pray by the Spirit because they alwaies or for the most part Pray by the Book Answ. I do readily grant that Reading or hearing Read Words of Prayer whether in publick or private if these Words have been originaly conceived by the Spirit