Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	form_n	lawful_a	set_a	2,091	5	11.0014	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42270	A short defence of the church and clergy of England wherein some of the common objections against both are answered, and the means of union briefly considered.	Grove, Robert, 1634-1696.	1681 (1681)	Wing G2160; ESTC R21438	56,753	96

was not Governed by the Mystery of Iniquity if Episcopacy be supposed to be so Clement Ignatius Polycarp and other holy men and Martyrs that had seen and conversed with some of the Apostles were all Bishops and it would be hard and uncharitable to think that such as they did not only not oppose but that they were great managers and promoters of the Mystery of Iniquity Nay I do not see if it should be thus how Timothy and Titus can be wholly excused for that they had an Episcopal power will be readily confessed and therefore they must be real Bishops and though the Apostle bid Timothy do the work of an Evangelist that was a thing very consistent with the Episcopal Office with which they were invested as it is confirmed to us by the Antients who had better opportunities than we of knowing the truth and who do account them the first Bishops of their respective Sees the one of Ephesus the other of Crete So that if we will not involve these and the other most holy men in one common guilt Episcopacy cannot be that Mystery of Iniquity that began to work so very soon It will be granted that the extent of the several Bishopricks might be various in some places of a wider and in some of a narrower compass and the number of Presbyters might be augmented as the number of Converts did increase But that one Bishop should have the Authority over many Presbyters was a thing practised in the Apostolical times and universally received in the Church and there is not the least mention to be found that this was ever to cease and any other Government or none to be established in its room So that the Church of England is very excuseable if she still retain the primitive form and it might be the highest presumption if no worse if she should attempt to make any substantial alteration in it SECT III. The next thing in the Constitution of the Church of England which is disliked by many is the Liturgy or usual Form of Prayers prescribed by Authority as the ordinary Office of our publick Devotions But it cannot be esteemed any blemish to the English Reformation that the use of these has been injoyned much less should it be accounted as a thing unlawful Before our Saviours appearance in the flesh there is no doubt but that set Forms of Prayer were lawfully used in the Jewish Church some were appointed in the Law and the whole book of Psalms is nothing else but a Collection of such composed by David and other holy men upon several occasions and fitted for the publick service of the Temple Besides these they have other Forms some of which they pretend to have been made by Esdras and some they say as old as Moses However that be Prayer being none of those Ceremonies that were to be abolished but a principal part of that natural worship which all men owe to Almighty God it may as well be offered up in a set Form now as it was then For that which was once lawful will always continue to be so unless there be some command forbidding that to us which was allowed unto them I do not find any such prohibition as this in the Gospel but of so much we are sure that there is a Prayer recommended unto us by our blessed Saviour in which it is true all things are comprized which it may be necessary at any time for a Christian to ask But yet we may not therefore think that this is not to be used by us as a Form of Prayer because it is the most excellent one that was ever made and may be proposed as the most admirable pattern by which we may direct our selves and be still furni●●ed with suitable matter in all our addresses at the throne of Grace This is no good reason why it should be laid aside because it is more exact and perfect than any other Form And that our Saviour intended it should be used as such a one it may appear in that it consists of several distinct Petitions and most of these as it has been observed by learned men were such as were then familiarly known amongst the Jews and are still to be found in some of their devotional Books And this Prayer was delivered to the Disciples at two several times in the same Words once in the Sermon upon the Mount and again when they came unto him and desired him to teach them to pray as John had taught his Disciples And this methinks might be enough to convince us that it was a Form which they were to use but to put it out of all question our blessed Lord expresly commands it After this manner or thus therefore pray ye When he bids them pray thus and then immediately sets down a certain Form who can doubt but that he plainly commands them to use that Form But if it should be possible for any one to conceive that when it is said Pray thus or after this manner no more should be implyed but only that this is to be a pattern to make other prayers by and that the following Form is not to be used to any other purpose than this to avoid that when the same Prayer is repeated by another Evangelist upon a different occasion as if the Holy Ghost had designed to prevent this exception it is not said thus or after this manner but only when ye pray say Our Father c. A command so positive and absolute that if it may be evaded I do not see but that all the precepts of the Gospel may be cancelled upon the same grounds that can be pretended for the dissolving the obligation of this If it should be said to have been no more than a temporary command laid upon the Disciples at that time and that it was to indure no longer in force but till they had attained some higher degrees of perfection which they had not then arrived unto It is manifest that this command has no such restriction annexed and it is exceeding dangerous to make any where the Scripture has expressed none For suppose we should allow it but in this instance first that the command were but temporary men's extravagant fancies would presently extend it to as many more as they pleased and when they began to dislike any command that seemed to contradict their fond opinions they would immediately decry it as a thing wherein they were not concerned that it was only intended as a help to Novices and beginners but did not oblige such great proficients and persons of such mighty attainments as all bold and ignorant Enthusiasts are apt to imagine themselves to be And thus by yielding it in one particular we should lay the way open to the making void of the whole Gospel And so it has been known by experience that some by the natural improvement of this principle have laid aside the use of Baptism and the Lord's Supper and thought themselves above

Ordinances and despised them all as beggerly Elements But not to insist upon these inconveniences that would follow it must be granted that our Saviour gave his Disciples a Form and commanded them to use it and what he commanded them cannot be unlawful for us It is plain what opinion the Primitive Christians had of prescribed Forms of prayer since they were very antiently received in the Church probably as soon as Christianity it self But this we are sure of that Justin Martyr towards the middle and Tertullian about the end of the second Century do both of them in their several Apologies declare to the heathen Emperors in divers particulars what the Christians of those times were wont to pray for in their solemn assemblies And where the matter of their Prayers was constantly the same we have no reason to think but that the expressions might be so too For why should not a Liturgy be altogether as lawful as a Directory And if they were ordinarily limited as to the subject of their Prayers why should we believe that they were always bound to vary the Phrase If this will not amount to a proof it is otherwise certain that the use of Liturgies has been very antient and never that I know of excepted against till of late years For the Lawfulness and expediency of these I shall only produce the testimony of Mr Calvin a man for whom many of our dissenting Brethren have justly entertained a very high esteem He in that known Epistle of his to the Duke of Somerset that was Protector here in the minority of King Edward the sixth delivers his judgement in this manner As for a Form of Prayers and Ecclesiastical Rites I do highly approve that there should be a certain one from which it should not be lawful for the Pastor in his office to depart He gives some reasons for it afterwards But by this it may be seen that he did not only allow of it as a thing that might be done without offence but that he thought a set Form of publick Prayers so extreamly convenient that it was very fit to have it strictly injoyned and that in such a Case no Minister should be permitted to use his own expressions but keep close to those that should be prescribed And the practice of all the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas has been agreeable to this opinion for though some of them do sometimes leave the Minister to his discretion to sute his Prayer to the particular occasion yet they have some received Forms from which they do not suffer them to vary And this indeed has been the custom of all Christendom some very few places excepted where another has been but lately introduced and there being no precise time that can be assigned when this universal custom first began it is a very strong presumption that it may be a thing of Apostolical institution But whether that be so or not it has been a thing generally submitted unto and the Lawfulness of it was never controverted in former ages For how could that be called in question that might be easily justified by the example of our Saviour and his Disciples and the whole Christian world Or what could make that unlawful which had been approved by all these but some subsequent Divine command expresly forbidding it And I think there is not such a one to be found in all the holy Scripture If it should be imagined that it may not be sufficient that it is not forbidden but that to make a thing lawful in the worship of God it is necessary that it should be positively commanded To this it may be answered that it seems very clear that that which is no where forbidden is not contrary to any Law and therefore may be innocently done for there can be no sin nor disobedience where there is not the violation of some Law And if we should admit of the foregoing assertion that a positive command is requisite to make the thing Lawful it would lead us into inextricable difficulties in this Case and many others that may frequently occur For if we may suppose that a Form of Prayer is unlawful because it is not commanded then a conceived or Extempore Prayer must be unlawful too because it is no more commanded than the other and then all manner of Prayer would be equally unlawful and this opinion instead of teaching us to Pray better would absolutely hinder us from Praying at all But to put this matter out of doubt our blessed Lord did command the use of a Form in one instance at the least as has been shewed and what he did but once command can never be unlawful unless he himself be pleased to make it so by reversing of his former command which it does not appear that he ever did But it may possibly be thought by some that a Form is unlawful because it was prophesied that God would pour out the spirit of Grace and of Supplications This prophecy might have some immediate reference to some extraordinary time and might be fulfilled as that of the Prophet Joel was at the miraculous effusion of the holy Ghost But if it should have a respect to all ages of Christianity as I will not deny yet this spirit of Supplications may be very consistent with praying by a Form Because it is given us to excite a greater fervency of devotion in us and not to furnish us with some pretty variety of words And this may be not unfitly gathered from that passage of St Paul The spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered Groanings are inarticulate sounds that do naturally signify the mind to be very deeply affected with something but they do not particularly declare what it is And with these the spirit helps our infirmities the assistances it gives us are not such as a voluble tongue and a great fluency of expressions but certain inward affections and emotions of the Soul which it is not in the power of any tongue to express And these sincere fervent and passionate desires may be raised in us by the Spirit at the repeating of a known Form as well as in the conceiving of the words of a Prayer But others may be ready to say that those that have the Gift of Prayer cannot be lawfully hindered of the exercise of such a Gift If by the Gift of Prayer they understand no more than a faculty of expressing themselves freely upon all occasions they may have to pray this is but what some may have a natural disposition unto which may be much improved by art and others may acquire the same by frequent use and repeated acts as all habits are generally produced And no man will deny but that such a Gift may be restrained as Authority thinks fit But if by the Gift of Prayer they mean an extraordinary