ends at the 118 inclusively And the Scripture mentions it as part of our blessed Saviours devotion and of his Disciples that they sung a Psalme 15. That this afterward became a Precept Evangelicall that we should praise God in Hymnes Psalmes and spirituall Songs which is a form of Liturgy in which we sing with the spirit but yet cannot make our Hymnes ex tempore it would be wild stuffe if we should goe about it 16. And lastly that a set form of worship and addresse to God was recorded by Saint John and sung in heaven and it was Apoc. 15. composed out of the songs of Moses Exod. 15. of David Psal. 145. and of Jeremy Chap. 10. 6 7. which certainly is a very good precedent for us to imitate although but revealed to Saint John by way of vision and extasie All which and many more are to me as so many Arguments of the use excellency and necessity of set forms of Prayer for publick Liturgies and of greatest conveniencie even for private devotions 17. And so the Church of God in all Ages did understand it Numb 39. I shall not multiply Authorities to this purpose for they are too many and various but shall only observe two great instances of their beliefe and practise in this particular 1. The one is the perpetuall use and great Eulogies of the Lords Prayer assisted by the many Commentaries of the Fathers upon it 2. The other is that solemn form of benediction and mysticall prayer as Saint Augustine calls it Lib. 3. de Trinit c. 4. which all Churches and themselves said it was by Ordinance Apostolicall used in the Consecration of the blessed Sacrament But all of them used the Lords Prayer in the Canon and office of Consecration and other prayers taken from Scripture so Justin Martyr testifies that the Consecration is made per preces verbi Dei by the prayers taken from the Word of God and the whole Canon was short determined and mysterious Who desires to be further satisfied in this particular shall Numb 40. find enough in Walafridus Strabo Aymonius Cassander Elacius Illyrious Josephus Vicecomes and the other Ritualists and the other Ritualists and in the old offices themselves So that I need not put you in mind of that famous doxology of Gloria Patria c. nor the Trisagion nor any of those memorable hymnes used in the Ancient Church so knownly and frequently that the beginning of them came to bee their name and they were known more by their own words then the Authors inscription At last when some men that thought themselves better gifted Numb 41. would be venturing at conceived formes of their own there was a timely restraint made in the Councell of Milevis in Africa Placuit ut preces quae probatae fuerint in Concilio ab omnibus celebrentur nec aliae omnino dicantur in Ecclesia nisi quae à prudentioribus factae fuerint in Synodo That 's the restraint and prohibition publick prayers must be such as are publickly appointed and prescribed by our Superiours and no private forms of our conceiving must be used in the Church The reason followes Ne forte aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum Lest through ignorance or want of deliberation any thing be spoken in our prayers against faith and good manners The reason is good and they are eare-witnesses of it that hear the variety of prayers before and after Sermons there where the Directory is practised where to speak most modestly not only their private opinions but also humane interests and their own personall concernments and wild fancies born perhaps not two dayes before are made the objects of the peoples hopes of their desires and their prayers and all in the meane time pretend to the holy Spirit I will not now instance in the vaine-glory that is appendant Numb 42. to these ex tempore formes of prayer where the gift of the man is more then the devotion of the man nor will I consider that then his gift is best when his prayer is longest and if he take a complacency in his gift as who is not apt to doe it he will be sure to extend his Prayer till a suspicious and scrupulous man would be apt to say his prayer pressed hard upon that which our blessed Saviour reprehended in the Pharisees who thought to bee heard for their much babling But these things are accidentall to the nature of the thing And therefore though they are too certainly consequent to the person yet I will not be too severe but preserve my selfe on the surer side of charitable construction which truly I desire to keep nor only to their persons whom I much reverence but also to their actions But yet I durst not doe the same thing even for these last reasons though I had no other But it is objected that in set forms of Prayer we restrain and Numb 43. confine the blessed Spirit and in conceived forms when every man is left to his liberty then the Spirit is free unlimited and unconstrained I answer either their conceived formes I use their own words Numb 44. though indeed the expression is very inartificiall are premeditate and described or they are ex tempore If they be premeditate and described then the Spirit is as much limited in their conceived forms as in the Churches conceived forms For as to this particular it is all one who describes and limits the form whether the Church or a single man does it still the Spirit is in constraint and limit So that in this case they are not angry at set forms of Prayer but that they do not make them And if it be replyed that if a single person composes a set form he may alter it if he please and so his spirit is at liberty I answer so may the Church if she see cause for it and unlesse there be cause the single person will not alter it unlesse he do things unreasonable and without cause So that it will be an unequall and a peevish quarrell to allow of set forms of prayer made by private persons and not of set forms made by the publick spirit of the Church It is evident that the Spirit is limited in both alike But if by Conceived forms in this objection they meane Numb 45. ex tempore prayers for so they most generally practice it and that in the use of these the liberty of the spirit is best preserved To this I answer that the being ex tempore or premeditate will be wholly impertinent to this Question of limiting the spirit For there may be great liberty in set forms even when there is much variety and there may be great restraint in ex tempore prayers even then when it shall be called unlawfull to use set forms That the spirit is restrained or that it is free in either is accidentall to them both for it may be either free
God to judge It concernes all persons to see that they doe their best to finde out truth and if they doe it is certain that let the errour be never so damnable they shall escape the errour or the misery of being damn'd for 't And if God will not be angry at men for being invincibly deceiv'd why should men be angry one at another For he that is most displeased at another mans errour may also be tempted in his own will and as much deceived in his understanding For if he may faile in what he can chuse he may also faile in what he cannot chuse His understanding is no more secur'd then his will nor his Faith more then his obedience It is his own fault if he offends God in either but whatsoever is not to be avoided as errours which are incident oftentimes even to the best and most inquisitive of men are not offences against God and therefore not to be punished or restrained by men but all such opinions in which the publick interests of the Common-wealth and the foundation of Faith and a good life are not concern'd are to be permitted freely Quisque abundet in sensu suo was the Doctrine of S. Paul and that is Argument and Conclusion too and they were excellent words which S. Ambrose said in attestation of this great truth Nec Imperiale est libertatem dicendi negare nec sacerdotale quod sentias non dicere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE END A DISCOURSE CONCERNING PRAYER Ex tempore OR By pretence of the Spirit In justification of Authorized and set-Set-forms of LITURGIE 1 COR. 14. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets For God is not the Author of confusion but of peace as in all Churches of the Saints Printed for Richard Royston 1647. A Discourse concerning PRAYER Ex tempore c. I Have read over this Book which the Assembly of Divines is pleased to call The Directory for Prayer I confesse I came to it with much expectation and was in some measure confident I should have found it an exact and unblameable modell of Devotion free from all those objections which men of their own perswasion had obtruded against the publike Liturgy of the Church of England or at least it should have been composed with so much artifice and finenesse that it might have been to all the world an Argument of their learning and excellency of spirit if not of the goodnesse and integrity of their Religion and purposes I shall give no other character of the whole but that the publike disrelish which I finde amongst persons of great piety of all qualities not only of great but even of ordinary understandings is to me some argument that it lies so open to the objections even of common spirits that the Compilers of it did intend more to prevaile by the successe of their Armies then the strength of reason and the proper grounds of perswasion which yet most wise and good men believe to be the more Christian way of the two But Sir you have engaged me to say something in particular to satisfie your conscience In which also I desire I may reserve a leave to my self to conceal much if I may in little doe you satisfaction I shall therefore decline to speak of the Efficient cause of this Directory and not quarrell at it that is was composed against Numb 2. the Lawes both of England and all Christendome If the thing were good and pious I should learn to submit to the imposition and never quarrell at the incompetency of his authority that engaged me to doe pious and holy things And it may be when I am a little more used to it I shall not wonder at a Synod in which not one Bishop sits in the capacity of a Bishop though I am most certain this is the first example in England since it was first Christned But for present it seemes something hard to digest it because I know so well that all Assemblies of the Church have admitted Priests to consultation and dispute but never to authority and decision till the Pope enlarging the phylacteries of the Archimandrites and Abbots did sometimes by way of priviledge and dispensation give to some of them decisive voyces in publike Councels But this was one of the things in which he did innovate and invade against the publike resolutions of Christendome though he durst not doe it often and when he did it it was in very small and inconsiderate numbers I said I would not meddle with the Efficient and I cannot meddle with the Finall cause nor guesse at any other ends and Numb 3. purposes of theirs then at what they publiquely professe which is the abolition and destruction of the Book of Common-Prayer which great change because they are pleased to call Reformation I am content in charity to believe they think it so and that they have Zelum Dei but whether secundum scientiam according to knowledge or no must be judged by them who consider the matter and the forme But because the matter is of so great variety and minute consideration every part whereof would require as much scrutiny Numb 4. as I purpose to bestow upon the whole I have for the present chosen to consider only the form of it and because it pretends against the form of set Lyturgy and that ex tempore forms doe succeed in room of the established and determined services I shall give you my judgement of it without any sharpnesse or bitternesse of spirit for I am resolved not to be angry with any man of another perswasion as knowing that I differ just as much from them as they doe from me And first I consider that the true state of the Question is only this Whether it is better to pray to God with consideration Numb 5. or without whether is the wiser man of the two hee who thinks and deliberates what to say or he that utters his mind as fast as it comes Whether is the better man he who out of reverence to God is most carefull and curious that he offend not in his tongue and therefore he himselfe deliberates and takes the best guides he can or he who out of the confidence of his own abilities or other exteriour assistances speaks what ever comes uppermost And here I have the advice and councell of a very wise man no lesse than Solomon Eccles. 5. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth Numb 6. and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few The consideration of the vast distance between God and us Heaven and Earth should create such apprehensions in us that the very best and choycest of our offertoryes are not acceptable but by Gods gracious vouchsafeing and condescension and therefore since we are so much indebted to God for accepting our best it is not
upon another point which also perhaps is as Questionable as the former and by this time our spirit of devotion is a little discomposed and something out of countenance there is so much other imployment for the spirit the spirit of discerning and judging All which inconveniences are avoyded in set formes of Liturgy For we know before hand the conditions of our Communion and to what we are to say Amen to which if we like it we may repaire if not there is no harm done your devotion shall not be surprized nor your Communion invaded as it may be and often is in your ex tempore prayers And this thing hath another collaterall inconvenience which is of great consideration for upon what confidence can we sollicite any Recusants to come to our Church where we cannot promise them that the devotions there to be used shall be innocent nor can we put him into a condition to judge for himselfe If hee will venture he may but we can use no Argument to make him choose our Churches though he should quit his own 3. But again let us consider with sobriety Are not those Numb 34. prayers and hymnes in holy Scripture excellent compositions admirable instruments of devotion full of piety rare and incomparable addresses to God Dare any man with his gift of prayer pretend that he can ex tempore or by study make better Who dares pretend that he hath a better spirit then David had or then the Apostles and Prophets and other holy persons in Scripture whose Prayers and Psalmes are by Gods Spirit consigned to the use of the Church for ever Or will it be denyed but that they also are excellent directories and patterns for prayer And if patterns the nearer we draw to our example are not the imitations and representments the better And what then if we took the samplers themselves is there any imperfection in them and can we mend them and correct Magnificat In a just porportion and commensuration I argue so concerning the primitive and ancient forms of Church service which are composed Numb 35. according to those so excellent patterns which if they had remained pure as in their first institution or had alwayes been as they have been reformed by the Church of England they would against all defiance put in for the next place to those formes or Liturgy which Mutatis mutandis are nothing but the Words of Scripture But I am resolved at this present not to enter into Question concerning the matter of prayers But for the forme this I say further 4. That the Church of God hath the promise of the spirit made to her in generall to her in her Catholick and united capacity Numb 36. to the whole Church first then to particular Churches then in the lowest seat of the Category to single persons Now then I infer if any single persons will have us to believe without all possibility of proofe for so it must be that they pray with the Spirit for how shall they be able to prove the spirit actually to abide in those single persons then much rather must we believe it of the Church which by how much the more generall it is so much the more of the spirit she is likely to have and then if there be no errours in the matter the Church hath the advantage and probability on her side and if there be an errour in matter in either of them they faile of their pretences neither of them have the spirit But the publick spirit in all reason is to be trusted before the private when there is a contestation the Church being Prior potior in premissis she hath a greater and prior title to the spirit And why the Church hath not the spirit of prayer in her compositions as well as any of her children I desire once for all to be satisfied upon true grounds either of reason or revelation 5. Or if the Church shall be admitted to have the gift and the spirit of prayer given unto her by virtue of the great promise Numb 37. of the spirit to abide with her for ever yet for all this she is taught to pray in a set form of prayer and yet by the spirit too For what think we When Christ taught us to pray in that incomparable modell the Lords Prayer if we pray that prayer devoutly and with pious and actuall intention doe we not pray in the Spirit of Christ as much as if we prayed any other form of words pretended to be taught us by the Spirit Wee are sure that Christ and Christs Spirit taught us this Prayer they only gather by conjectures and opinions that in their ex tempore forms the spirit of Christ teaches them So much then as certainties are better then uncertaines and God above man so much is this set form besides the infinite advantages in the matter better then their ex tempore forms in the form it selfe 6. If I should descend to minutes and particulars I could instance Numb 38. in the behalfe of set forms that God prescribed to Moses a set form of prayer and benediction to be used when he did blesse the people 7. That Moses composed a song or hymne for the children of Israel to use to all their generations 8. That David composed many for the service of the tabernacle 9. That Solomon and the holy Kings of Judah brought them in and continued them in the ministration of the temple 10. That all Scripture is written for our learning and since all these and many more set forms of prayer are left there upon record it is more then probable that they were left there for our use and devotion 11. That S. John Baptist taught his Disciples a forme of prayer 12. And that Christs Disciples begged the same favour and it was granted as they desired it 13. And that Christ gave it not only in massâ materiae but in forma verborum not in a confused heap of matter but in an exact composure of words it makes it evident he intended it not only pro regula petendorum for a direction of what things we are to ask but also pro forma orationis for a set form of Prayer In which also I am most certainly confirmed besides the universall testimony of Gods Church so attesting it in the precept which Christ added When ye pray pray after this manner and indeed it points not the matter only of our prayers but the form of it the manner and the matter of the addresse both But in the repetition of it by Saint Luke the preceptive words seeme to limit us and direct us to this very form of words when ye pray say Our Father c. 14. I could also adde the example of all the Jewes and by consequence of our blessed Saviour who sung a great part of Davids Psalter in their feast of Passeover which part is called by the Iewes the great Hallelujah it begins at the 113 Psalm and
or not free in both as it may happen But the restraint is this that every one is not left to his liberty Numb 46. to pray how he list with premeditation or without it makes not much matter but that he is prescribed unto by the spirit of another But if it be a fault thus to restraine the spirit I would faine know is not the spirit restrained when the whole Congregation shall be confined to the form of this one mans composing or it shall be unlawfull or at least a disgrace and disparagement to use any set forms especially of the Churches composition More plainly thus 2. Doth not the Minister confine and restraine the spirit of the Lords People when they are tyed to his form It would Numb 47. sound of more liberty to their spirits that every one might make a prayer of his own and all pray together and not be forced or confined to the Ministers single dictate and private spirit It is true it would breed confusions and therefore they might pray silently till the Sermon began and not for the avoiding one inconvenience runne into a greater and to avoid the disorder of a popular noyse restraine the blessed Spirit for even in this case as well as in the other Where the spirit of God is there must be liberty 3. If the spirit must be at liberty who shall assure us this liberty must be in forms of prayer And if so whether also it Numb 48. must be in publike prayer and will it not suffice that it be in private And if in publike prayers is not the liberty of the spirit sufficiently preserved in that the publike spirit is free That is the Church hath power upon occasion to alter and encrease her Litanyes By what Argument shall any man make it so much as probable that the holy Ghost is injured if every private Ministers private spirit shall be guided and therefore by necessary consequence limited by the Authority of the Churches publick spirit 4. Does not the Directory that thing which is here called restraining Numb 49. of the spirit Does it not appoint every thing but the words And after this is it not a goodly Palladium that is contended for and a princely liberty that they leave unto the Spirit to be free only in the supplying the place of a Vocabulary and a Copia Verborum For as for the matter it is all there described and appointed and to those determined senses the spirit must assist or not at all only for the words he shall take his choyce Now I desire it may be considered sadly and seriously Is it not as much injury to the spirit to restraine his matter as to appoint his words Which is the more considerable of the two sense or Language Matter or Words I meane when they are taken singly and separately For so they may very well be for as if men prescribe the matter only the spirit may cover it with severall words and expressions so if the spirit prescribe the words I may still abound in variety of sense and preserve the liberty of my meaning we see that true in the various interpretations of the same words of Scripture So that in the greater of the two the Spirit is restrained when his matter is appointed and to make him amends for not trusting him with the matter without our directions and limitations we trust him to say what he pleases so it be to our sense to our purposes A goodly compensation surely 5. Did not Christ restrain the spirit of his Apostles when he Numb 50. taught them to pray the Lords Prayer whether his precept to his Disciples concerning it was Pray this or Pray thus Pray these words or pray after this manner or though it had been lesse then either and been only a Directory for the matter still it is a thing which our Brethren in all other cases of the same nature are resolved perpetually to call a restraint Certainly then this pretended restraint is no such formidable thing These men themselves doe it by directing all the matter and much of the manner and Christ himselfe did it by prescribing both the matter and the words too 6. These restraints as they are called or determinations of the Spirit are made by the Spirit himselfe For I demand when Numb 51. any Assembly of Divines appointed the matter of Prayers to all particular Ministers as this hath done is that appointment by the Spirit or no If no then for ought appears this Directory not being made by Gods Spirit may be an enemy to it But if this appointment be by the Spirit then the determination and limitation of the Spirit is by the Spirit himself and such indeed is every pious and prudent constitution of the Church in matters spirituall Such as was that of S. Paul to the Corinthians when he prescribed orders for publike prophecying and interpretation and speaking with tongues The spirit of some he so restrained that he bound them to hold their peace he permitted but two or three to speak at one meeting the rest were to keep silence though possibly six or seven might at that time have the Spirit 7. Is it not a restraint of the Spirit to sing a Psalm in meeter by appointment Cleerely as much as appointing formes of Numb 52. prayer or Eucharist And yet that we see done daily and no scruple made Is not this to be partiall in judgement and inconsiderate of what wee doe 8. And now after all this strife what harm is there in restraining the spirit in the present sense What prohibition what law Numb 53. what reason or revelation is against it What inconvenience in the nature of the thing For can any man be so weak as to imagine a despite is done to the spirit of grace when those gifts to his Church are used regularly and by order As if prudence were no gift of Gods spirit as if helps in Government and the ordering spirituall matters were none of those graces which Christ when he ascended up on high gave unto Men. But this whole matter is wholly a stranger to reason and never seen in Scripture For Divinity never knew any other vitious restraining of the Spirit but either suppressing those holy incitements to virtue and Numb 54. good life which Gods Spirit ministers to us externally or internally or else a forbidding by publick Authority the Ministers of the Word and Sacraments to speak such truths as God hath commended and so taking away the liberty of Prophecying The first is directly vitious In materia speciale the second is tyrannicall and Antichristian And to it persecution of true Religion is to be reduced But as for this pretended limiting or restraining the spirit viz. by appointing a regular form of prayer it is so very a Chimera that it hath no footing or foundation upon any ground where a wise man may build his confidence 9. But lastly how if the spirit
as in the cases before instanced And I am sure if the people be intelligent and can discern they are hindred in their Devotion for they dare not say Amen till they have considered and many such cases will occurre in ex tempore prayers that need much considering before we attest them But if the people bee not intelligent they are apt to swallow all the inconveniencies which may multiply in so great a licence and therefore it were well that the Governours of the Church who are to answer for their soules should judge for them before they say Amen which judgement cannot bee without set-forms of Liturgy My sentence therefore is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us be as we are already Few changes are for the better For if it be pretended that in the Liturgy of the Church of Numb 64. England which was composed with much art and judgement by a Church that hath as much reason to be confident she hath the Spirit and gifts of Prayer as any single person hath and each learned man that was at its first composition can as much prove that he had the Spirit as the objectors now adayes and he that boasts most certainly hath the least If I say it be pretended there are many errours and inconveniences both in the order and the matter of the Common-Prayer Book made by such men with so much industry How much more and with how much greater reason may we all dread the inconveniencies and disorders of ex tempore prayers where there is neither conjunction of heads nor premeditation nor industry nor method nor art nor any of those things or at least not in the same degree which were likely to have exempted the Common-Prayer Book from errours and disorders If these things be in the green tree what will be done in the dry But if it be said the ex tempore and conceived prayers will Numb 65. be secured from errour by the Directory because that chalks them out the matter I answer it is not sufficient because if when men study both the matter and the words too they may be and it is pretended are actually erroneous much more may they when the matter is left much more at liberty and the words under no restraint at all And no man can avoid the pressure and the weight of this unlesse the Compilers of the Directory were infallible and that all their followers were so too of the certainty of which I am not yet fully satisfied And after all this I would fain know what benefit and advantages Numb 66. shall the Church of England in her united capacity and every particular in the diffused capacity receive by this new device For the publike it is cleare that whether the Ministers pray before they study or study before they pray there must needs be infinite deformity in the publike worship and all the benefits which were before the consequents of conformity and unity will be lost and if they be not valuable I leave it to all them to consider who know the inconveniences of publike disunion and the publike disunion that is certainly consequent to them who doe not communicate in any common formes of worship And to think that the Directory will bring conformity is as if one should say that all who are under the same Hemisphere are joyned in communi patriâ and will love like Countrymen for under the Directory there will be as different Religions and as different desires and as differing formes as there are severall varieties of men and manners under the one halfe of heaven who yet breath under the same halfe of the Globe But I ask again what benefit can the publike receive by this forme or this no form for I know not whether to call it Shall the matter of prayers be better in all Churches shall God be better served shall the word of God and the best patterns of prayers be alwayes exactly followed It is well if it be But there is security given us by the Directory for the matter is left at every mans dispose for all that and we must depend upon the honesty of every particular for it and if any man proves a Heretick or a Knave then he may introduce what impiety he please into the publick formes of Gods worship and there is no law made to prevent it and it must be cured afterwards if it can but before-hand it is not prevented at all by the Directory which trusts every man But I observe that all the benefit which is pretended is that it will make an able Ministery which I confesse I am very much from believing and so will every man be that considers what kind of men they are that have been most zealous for that way of conceived prayer I am sure that very few of the learnedst very many ignorants most those who have made least abode in the Schools of the Prophets And that I may disgrace no mans person we see Tradesmen of the most illiberall arts and women pretend to it and doe it with as many words and that 's the maine thing with as much confidence and speciousnesse and spirit as the best among them And it is but a small portion of learning that will serve a man to make conceived formes of prayer which they have easily upon the stock of other men or upon their own fancie or upon any thing in which no learning is required He that knowes nothing of the craft may be in the Preachers trade But what Is God better served I would faine see any Authority or any reason or any probability for that I am sure ignorant men offer him none of the best sacrifices ex tempore and learned men will be sure to deliberate and know God is then better 〈◊〉 when he served by a publike then when by a private 〈◊〉 I cannot imagine what accruements will hence come to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be some advantages may be to the private 〈…〉 For there are a sort of men whom our blessed 〈…〉 do devoure widowes houses and for a pre 〈…〉 They make prayers and they make 〈…〉 meanes they receive double advantages for 〈…〉 to their ability and to their piety And although the Common-prayer Book in the Preface to the Directory bee charged with unnecessary length yet we see that most of these men they that are most eminent or would be so make their prayers longer and will not lose the benefits which their credit gets and they by their credit for making their prayers Adde to this that there is no promise in Scripture that he who prayes ex tempore shall be heard the better or that he shall bee assisted at all to such purposes and therefore to innovate in so high a matter without a warrant to command us or a promise to warrant us is no better then vanity in the thing and presumption in the person He therefore that considers that this way of prayer is without all manner of precedent in
impiety It might possibly be that the Bishops did it in tendernesse of their reputation but yet hardly for to punish a person publikely and highly is a certain declaring the person punished guilty of a high crime and then to conceale the fault upon pretence to preserve his reputation leaves every man at liberty to conjecture what he pleaseth who possibly will believe it worse than it is in as much as they think his judges so charitable as therefore to conceale the fault least the publishing of it should be his greatest punishment and the scandall greater then his deprivation * Simplicitèr pateat vitium fortasse pusillum Quod-tegitur majus creditur esse malum Martial However this course if it were just in any was unsafe in all for it might undoe more then it could preserve and therefore is of more danger then it can be of charity It is therefore too probable that the matter was not very faire for in publike sentence the acts ought to be publike but that they rather pretend heresy to bring their ends about shewes how easie it is to impute that crime and how forward they were to doe it And that they might and did then as easily call Heretick as afterward when Vigilius was condemned of heresy for saying there were Antipodes or as the Fryars of late did who suspected Greek and Hebrew of heresy and cald their Professors Hereticks and had like to have put Terence and Demosthenes into the Index Expurgatorius sure enough they raild at them pro concione therefore because they understood them not and had reason to believe they would accidentally be enemies to their reputation among the people By this instance which was a while after the Nicene Councell where the acts of the Church were regular judiciall and orderly Numb 18. we may guesse at the sentences passed upon heresy at such times and in such cases when their processe was more private and their acts more tumultuary their information lesse certaine and therefore their mistakes more easie and frequent And it is remarkable in the case of the heresy of Montanus the scene of whose heresy lay within the first three hundred yeares though it was represented in the Caralogues afterwards and possibly the mistake concerning it is to be put upon the score of Epiphanius by whom Montanus and his Followers were put into the Catalogue of Hereticks for commanding abstinence from meats as if they were unclean and of themselves unlawfull Now the truth was Montanus said no such thing but commanded frequent abstinence enjoyned dry diet and an ascetick Table not for conscience sake but for Discipline and yet because he did this with too much rigour and strictnesse of mandate the Primitive Church mislik'd it in him as being too neere their errour who by a Judaicall superstition abstain'd from meats as from uncleannesse This by the way will much concern them who place too much sanctity in such Rites and Acts of Discipline for it is an eternall Rule and of never failing truth that such abstinences if they be obtruded as Acts of originall immediate duty and sanctity are unlawfull and superstious if they be for Discipline they may be good but of no very great profit it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S. Paul sayes profiteth but little and just in the same degree the Primitive Church esteem'd them for they therefore reprehended Montanus for urging such abstinences with too much earnestnesse though but in the way of Discipline for that it was no more Tertullian who was himselfe a Montanist and knew best the opinions of his own Sect testifies and yet Epiphanus reporting the errours of Montanus commends that which Montanus truly and really taught and which the Primitive Church condemn'd in him and therefore represents that heresy to another sense and affixes that to Montanus which Epiphanius beliv'd a heresy and yet which Montanus did not teach And this also among many other things lessens my opinion very much of the integrity or discretion of the old Catalogues of Hereticks and much abates my confidence towards them And now that I have mentioned them casually in passing by I shall give a short account of them for men are much Numb 19. mistaken some in their opinions concerning the truth of them as believing them to be all true some concerning their purpose as thinking them sufficient not only to condemn all those opinions there called hereticall but to be a precedent to all Ages of the Church to be free and forward in calling Heretick But he that considers the Catalogues themselves as they are collected by Epiphanius Philastrius and S. Austin shall finde that many are reckoned for Hereticks for opinions in matters disputable and undetermin'd and of no consequence and that in these Catalogues of Hereticks there are men numbred for Hereticks which by every side respectively are acquitted so that there is no company of men in the world that admit these Catalogues as good Records or sufficient sentences of condemnation For the Churches of the Reformation I am certain they acquit Aërius for denying prayer for the dead and the Eustathians for denying invocation of Saints And I am partly of opinion that the Church of Rome is not willing to call the Collyridians Hereticks for offering a Cake to the Virgin Mary unlesse she also will runne the hazard of the same sentence for offering Candles to her And that they will be glad with S. Austin l. 6. de haeres c. 86. to excuse the * D. Thom. l. contr gent. c. 21. Tertullianists for picturing God in a visible corporall representment And yet these Sects are put in the black book by Epiphanius and S. Austin and Isidore respectively I remember also that the Osseni are cald Hereticks because they refused to worship toward the East and yet in that dissent I finde not the malignity of a heresy nor any thing against an Article of Faith or good manners and it being only in circumstance it were hard if they were otherwise pious men and true believers to send them to Hell for such a trifle The Parermeneutae refused to follow other mens dictates like sheep but would expound Scripture according to the best evidence themselves could finde and yet were called Hereticks whether they expounded true or no. The * Euthym. part 1. tit 21. Epiphan haeres 64. Pauliciani for being offended at crosses the Proclians for saying in a regenerate man all his sinnes were not quite dead but only curbed and asswaged were called Hereticks and so condemned for ought I know for affirming that which all pious men feele in themselves to be too true And he that will consider how numerous the Catalogues are and to what a volumn they are come in their last collections to no lesse then five hundred and twenty for so many heresies and Hereticks are reckoned by Prateolus may think that if a re-trenchment were justly made of truths and all impertinencies and all opinions either
had so expounded it he therefore chose a new one This was malice But when a prejudice works tacitely undiscernably and irresistablâ— of the person so wrought upon the man is to be pityed not condemned though possibly his opinion deserves it highly And therefore it hath been usuall to discredit doctrines by the personall defaillances of them that preach them or with the disreputation of that sect that maintains them in conjunction with other perverse doctrines Faustus the Manichee in S. Austin glories much that in their Religion God was worshipped purely and without Images L. 20. c. 3. cont Faustum Man L. 1. c. ult de Imagin S. Austin liked it well for so it was in his too but from hence Sanders concludes that to pull down Images in Churches was the heresie of the Manichees The Jews endure no Images therefore Bellarmine makes it to be a piece of Judaisme to oppose them He might as well have concluded against saying our prayers and Church musick that it is Judaicall because the Jews used it And De reliq SS l. 2. c. 6. Sect. Nicolaus he would be loth to be served so himself for he that had a mind to use such arguments might with much better probability conclude against their Sacrament of extreme unction because when the miraculous healing was ceased then they were not Catholiques but Heretiques that did transferre it to the use of dying persons sayes Irenaeus for so did the Valentinians And indeed L. 1. c. 8. adv haer this argument is something better then I thought for at first because it was in Irenaeus time reckoned among the heresies But there are a sort of men that are even with them and hate some good things which the Church of Rome teaches because she who teaches so many errors hath been the publisher and is the practicer of those things I confess the thing is alwayes unreasonable but sometimes it is invincible and innocent and then may serve to abate the fury of all such decretory sentences as condemne all the world but their own Disciples 3. There are some opinions that have gone hand in hand with Numb 3. a blessing and a prosperous profession and the good success of their defenders hath amused many good people because they thought they heard Gods voice where they saw Gods hand and therefore have rushed upon such opinions with great piety and as great mistaking For where they once had entertain'd a feare of God and apprehension of his so sensible declaration such a feare produces scruple and a scrupulous conscience is alwayes to be pityed because though it is seldome wise it is alwayes pious And this very thing hath prevail'd so farre upon the understandings even of wise men that Bellarmine makes it a note of the true Church Which opinion when it prevailes is a ready way to make that instead of Martyrs all men should prove hereticks or apostates in persecution for since men in misery are very suspicious out of strong desires to finde out the cause that by removing it they may be relieved they apprehend that to be it that is first presented to their fears and then if ever truth be afflicted she shall also be destroyed I will say nothing in defiance of this fancy although all the experience in the world sayes it is false and that of all men Christians should least believe it to be true to whom a perpetuall crosse is their certain expectation and the argument is like the Moone for which no garment can be fit it alters according to the success of humane affairs and in one age will serve a Papist and in another a Protestant yet when such an opinion does prevaile upon timerous persons the malignity of their error if any be consequent to this fancie and taken up upon the reputation of a prosperous heresie is not to be considered simply and nakedly but abatement is to be made in a just proportion to that feare and to that apprehension 4. Education is so great and so invincible a prejudice that he Numb 4. who masters the inconvenience of it is more to be commended than he can justly be blam'd that complyes with it For men doe not alwayes call them principles which are the prime fountaines of reason from whence such consequents naturally flow as are to guide the actions and discourses of men but they are principles which they are first taught which they suckt in next to their milke and by a proportion to those first principles they usually take their estimate of propositions For whatsoever is taught to them at first they believe infinitely for they know nothing to the contrary they have had no other masters whose theoremes might abate the strength of their first perswasions and it is a great advantage in those cases to get possession and before their first principles can be dislodg'd they are made habituall and complexionall it is in their nature then to believe them and this is helped forward very much by the advantage of love and veneration which we have to the first parents of our perswasions And we see it in the orders of Regulars in the Church of Rome That opinion which was the opinion of their Patron or Founder or of some eminent Personage of the Institute is enough to engage all the Order to be of that opinion and it is strange that all the Dominicans should be of one opinion in the matter of Predetermination and immaculate conception and all the Franciscans of the quite contrary as if their understandings were form'd in a different mold and furnished with various principles by their very rule Now this prejudice works by many principles but how strongly they doe possess the understanding is visible in that great instance of the affection and perfect perswasion the weaker sort of people have to that which they call the Religion of their Forefathers You may as well charm a feaver asleep with the noise of Optima vati ea quae magno ossensu recepta sunt quorumque exempla multa sant nec ad rationem sed ad similitudinem vivimus Sen. Vid. Minut. Fel. octav bells as make any pretence of reason against that Religion which old men have intayl'd upon their heirs male so many generations till they can prescribe And the Apostles found this to be most true in the extremest difficulty they met with to contest against the rites of Moses and the long superstition of the Gentiles which they therefore thought fit to be retain'd because they had done so formerly Pergentes non quo eundum est sed quo itur and all the blessings of this life which God gave them they had in conjunction with their Religion and therefore they beleeved it was for their Religion and this perswasion was bound fast in them with ribs of iron the Apostles were forc'd to unloose the whole conjuncture of parts principles in their understandings before they could make them malleable and receptive of any impresses
must be restrained and that by Numb 55. precept Apostolicall That calls us to a new account But if it be not true what meanes S. Paul by saying The spirits of the Prophets must be subject to the Prophets What greater restraint then subjection If subjected then they must be ruled if ruled then limited prescribed unto and as much under restraint as the spirits of the superiour Prophets shall judge convenient I suppose by this time this objection will trouble us no more But perhaps another will For why are not the Ministers to be left as well to their liberty in making their Prayers as their Sermons I answer the Numb 56. Church may if she will but whether she doth well or no let her consider This I am sure there is not the same reason and I fear the experience the world hath already had of it will make demonstration enough of the inconvenience But however the differences are many 1. Our prayers offered up by the Minister are in behalfe and in the name of the people and therefore great reason they should know before-hand what is to be presented that if they like not the message they may refuse to communicate especially since people are so divided in their opinions in their hopes and in their faiths it being a duty to refuse Communion with those prayers which they think to have in them the matter of sin or doubting Which reason on the other part ceases for the Minister being to speak from God to the people if he speaks what he ought not God can right himselfe however is not partner of the sinne as in the other case the people possibly may be 2. It is more fit a liberty be left in preaching then praying Numb 58. because the addresse of our discourses and exhortations are to be made according to the understanding and capacity of the audience their prejudices are to be removed all advantages to be taken and they are to be surprized that way they lie most open But being crafty I caught you saith Saint Paul to the Corinthians and discourses and arguments ad hominem upon their particular principles and practices may more move them then the most polite and accurate that doe not comply and wind about their fancies and affections S. Paul from the absurd practice of being baptized for the dead made an excellent Argument to convince the Corinthians of the Resurrection But this reason also ceases in our prayers For God understandeth what we say sure enough he hath no prejudices to be removed no infirmities to be wrought upon and a fine figure of Rhetorick a pleasant cadence and a curious expression move not him at all no other twinings and complyances stirre him but charity and humility and zeale and importunity which all are things internall and spirituall And therefore of necessity there is to be great variety of discourses to the people and permissions accordingly but not so to God with whom a Deus miserere prevailes as soon as the great office of 40 houres not long since invented in the Church of Rome or any other prayers spun out to a length beyond the extension of the office of a Pharisee 3. I feare it cannot stand with our reverence to God to permit Numb 59. to every spirit a liberty of publike addresse to him in behalfe of the people Indeed he that is not fit to pray is not alwayes fit to preach but it is more safe to be bold with the people then with God if the persons be not so fit In that there may be indiscretion but there may be impiety and irreligion in this The people may better excuse and pardon an indiscretion or a rudenesse if any such should happen then we may venture to offer it to God 4. There is a latitude of Theology much whereof is left to Numb 60. us so without precise and clear determination that without breach either of faith or charity men may differ in opinion and if they may not be permitted to abound in their own sense they will be apt to complaine of tyrannie over consciences and that men Lord it over their faith In Prayer this thing is so different that it is imprudent and full of inconvenience to derive such things into our prayers which may with good profit be matter of Sermons Therefore here a liberty may well enough be granted when there it may better be denyed 5. But indeed if I may freely declare my opinion I think Numb 61. it were not amisse if the liberty of making Sermons were something more restrained then it is and that either such persons only were intrusted with liberty for whom the Church her selfe may safely bee responsall that is to men learned and pious and that the other part the Vulgus Cleri should instruct the people out of the fountaines of the Church and upon the publick stock till by so long exercise and discipline in the Schooles of the Prophets they may also be intrusted to minister of their own unto the people This I am sure was the practice of the Primitive Church when Preaching was as ably and religiously performed as now it is But in this I prescribe nothing But truly I think the reverend Divines of the Assembly are many of my mind in this particular and that they observe a liberty indulged to some persons to preach which I think they had rather should hold their peace and yet think the Church better edified in your silence then their Sermons 6. But yet me thinks the Argument objected if it were Numb 62. turned with the edge the other way would have more reason in it and instead of arguing Why should not the same be allowed in praying as in preaching it were better to substitute this If they can pray with the spirit why also doe they not preach with the spirit and if praying with the spirit be praying ex tempore why shall they not preach ex tempore too or else confesse that they preach without the spirit or that they have not the gift of Preaching For to say that the gift of prayer is a gift ex tempore but the gift of Preaching is with study and deliberation is to become vaine and impertinent Quis enim discrevit Who hath made them of a different consideration I mean as to this particular as to their efficient cause Nor reason nor revelation nor God nor man To summe up all If any man hath a mind to exercise his Numb 63. gift of Prayer let him set himself to work and compose Books of Devotion we have great need of them in the Church of England so apparent need that the Papists have made it an objection against us and this his gift of Prayer will bee to edification But otherwise I understand it is more fit for ostentation then any spirituall advantage For God hears us not the sooner for our ex tempore long or conceived prayers possibly they may become a hindrance
the Primitive Church against the example of all famous Churches in all Christendome in the whole descent of 15. Ages without all command and warrant of Scripture that it is unreasonable in the nature of the thing against prudence and the best wisedome of humanity because it is without deliberation that it is innovation in a high degree without that Authority which is truly and by inherent and ancient right to command and prescribe to us in externall forms of worship that it is much to the disgrace of the first reformers of our Religion that it gives encouragement to the Papists to quarrell with some reason and more pretence against our Reformation as being by the Directory confessed to have been done in much blindnesse and therefore might erre in the excesse as well as in the defect in the throwing out too much as casting off too little which is the more likely because they wanted zeale to carry it farre enough He that considers the universall deformity of publike worship and the no meanes of union no Symbol of publike communion being publikely consigned that all Heresies may with the same Authority bee brought into our prayers and offered to God in behalfe of the people with the same Authority that any truth may all the matter of our prayers being left to the choyce of all men of all perswasions and then observes that actually there are in many places heresie and blasphemy and impertinency and illiterate rudenesses put into the devotions of the most Solemne dayes and the most publike meetings and then lastly that there are divers parts of Lyturgy for which no provisions at all is made in the Directory and the very administration of the Sacraments left so loosely that if there be any thing essentiall in the forms of Sacraments the Sacrament may come ineffectuall by want of due words and due ministration I say he that considers all these things and many more he may consider will finde that particular men are not fit to be intrusted to offer in publike with their private spirit to God for the people in such solemnities in matters of so great concernment where the honour of God the benefit of the people the interest of Kingdomes the being of a Church the unity of minds the conformity of practice the truth of perswasions and the salvation of soules are so very much concerned as they are in the publike prayers of a whole Nationall Church An unlearned man is not to be trusted and a wise man dare not trust himselfe hee that is ignorant cannot he that is knowing will not The End OF THE SACRED ORDER AND OFFICES OF EPISCOPACIE By Divine Jnstitution Apostolicall Tradition and Catholique Practice TOGETHER WITH Their Titles of Honour Secular Employment Manner of Election Delegation of their Power and other appendant questions asserted against the Aerians and Acephali new and old By IER TAYLOR D. D. Chaplaine in Ordinarie to His MAJESTIE Published by His MAJESTIES Command ROM 13. 1. There is no power but of God The Powers that be are ordained of God CONCIL CHALCED 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed for RICHARD ROYSTON at the Angel in Ivie-lane 1647. TO THE TRVLY VVORTHY AND MOST ACCOMPLISHT S r CHRISTOPHER HATTON Knight of the Honourable Order of the BATH SIR I AM ingag'd in the defence of a Great Truth and J would willingly finde a shrowd to cover my selfe from danger and calumny and although the cause both is ought to be defended by Kings yet my person must not goe thither to Sanctuary unlesse it be to pay my devotion and I have now no other left for my defence I am robd of that which once did blesse me and indeed still does but in another manner and I hope will doe more but those distillations of coelestiall dewes are conveyed in Channels not pervious to an eye of sense and now adayes we seldome look with other be the object never so beauteous or alluring You may then think Sir I am forc'd upon You may that beg my pardon and excuse but I should do an injury to Your Noblenesse if I should onely make You a refuge for my need pardon this truth you are also of the fairest choice not only for Your love of Learning for although that be eminent in You yet it is not Your eminence but for Your duty to H. Church for Your loyaltie to His sacred Majestie These did prompt me with the greatest confidence to hope for Your faire incouragement and assistance in my pleadings for Episcopacy in which cause Religion and Majesty the King and the Church are interested as parties of mutuall concernment There was an odde observation made long agoe and registred in the Law to make it authentick Laici sunt infensi Clericis Now the Clergy pray but fight not and therefore if not specially protected by the King contra Ecclesiam Malignantium they are made obnoxious to all the contumelies and injuries which an envious multitude will inflict upon them It was observ'd enough in King Edgars time Quamvis decreta In Chartē Edgar Regis A. D. 485. apud Hen. Spelman Pontificum verba Sacerdotum in convulsis ligaminibus velut fundamenta montium fixa sunt tamen plerumque tempestatibus turbinibus saecularium rerum Religio S. Matris Ecclesiae maculis reproborum dissipatur acrumpitur Idcirco Decrevimus Nos c. There was a sad example of it in K. Iohn's time For when he threw the Clergy from his Protection it is incredible what injuries what affronts what robberies yea what murders were committed upon the Bishops and Priests of H. Church whom neither the Sacrednesse of their persons nor the Lawes of God nor the terrors of Conscience nor feares of Hell nor Church-censures nor the Lawes of Hospitality could protect from Scorne from blowes from slaughter Now there being so neer a tye as the necessity of their own preservation in the midst of so apparent danger it will tye the Bishops hearts and hands to the King faster then all the tyes of Lay-Allegiance all the Politicall tyes I mean all that are not precisely religious and obligations in the Court of Conscience 2. But the interest of the Bishops is conjunct with the prosperity of the King besides the interest of their own securitie by the obligation of secular advantages For they who have their livelyhood from the King and are in expectance of their fortune from him are more likely to pay a tribute of exacter duty then others whose fortunes are not in such immediate dependancy on His Majesty Aeneas Sylvius once gave a merry reason why Clerks advanced the Pope above a Councell viz. because the Pope gave spirituall promotions but the Councels gave none It is but the Common expectation of gratitude that a Patron Paramount shall be more assisted by his Beneficiaries in cases of necessity then by those who receive nothing from him but the common influences of Goverment 3. But the Bishops duty to the King derives it selfe