e why dos he not lay aside all the Collects of the Common prayer-book that are certainly of human Invention and confine himself to the Psalter as his only Liturgy for prayer as well as praise What can excuse his using worse when he has better Or rather why shou'd he imagin 'em intended for forms of prose-prose-prayer to us at all any farther than David's devout expressions may be us'd so far as they suit our case when the New Testament so largely instructs us to offer our prayers in so different a manner from that practis'd in the Old particularly with a more express reference to J. C rist as our great Mediator of Intercession nay when the Gospel more clearly furnishes us with sutable matter of Prayer by that â—uller Revelation it brings of the divine Will to us III. God was so far from confining the Jews to any stinted Liturgy that most of the prayers both private and publick recorded in the Old Testament are conceiv'd or free prayers without any sett or prescrib'd Forms Such were most of the private Prayers mention'd in the sacred History What prescrib'd form had Abraham's Servant when he so heartily prays 24 Gen. 12 13 for success in the errand on which his Master had sent him to fetch a Wife for his Son Isaac unless it had been compos'd for him by a spirit of prophecy Abraham's prayer 20 Gen. 17. was doubtless occasional and extempore So was Jacob's for deliverance from his Brother â—sau 32 Gen. 9 So are many of Moses on particular occasions of God's displeasure against the people 32 Exod. 11 12. c. 31 32 c. No doubt Hannah's Prayer for Children was of this sort and that too after she had obtain'd what she desir'd 1 Sam. 1.10 2 Sam. 1 c. Such was Hezekiah's when visited with sickness 38 Is 3. And such was Nehemiah's mention'd 1 ch 4 5 6 c. It were endless to produce all the particular instances of this kind And 't is plain these holy men wou'd have been at a sad loss how to address themselves to God on such occasions if they cou'd not have pray'd without a Book or had been ty'd to sett forms But they needed no Prompter when their necessities suggested arguments and expressions and out of the abundance of the heart their mouths spake For Publick Prayers there are no less clear Instances of such as were conceived or free even after the Psalms of David were penn'd which the Bp. imagines to have been the Jewish Liturgy Such was that Excellent Prayer of Solomon's upon the Dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8.22 Such was that of Asa when that vast Ethiopian Host came against him 2 Chron. 14.11 such was that of Jehosaphat on a like occasion 2 Chron. 20.5 c. That of Hezekiah in reference to Rabshekah's blasphemous Threats was an Instance of either private or publick free Prayer 36 Is 15 16. Of the same kind was Ezra's 9 Ezra 5 6 7. The Confession in Nehemiah 9 ch 5 6 7. c. is not taken from any precedent Form but wholly new And yet 't is evident that in most of these cases those Holy Men might have made up Forms of Prayer for those occasions out of H. Davids ' words in some of the Psalm prayers but they chose rather to offer up such Prayers as the serious sense of their present case did suggest to 'em and that made 'em ready suppliants to God for Relief without the need of seeking out a prescrib'd Form for their purpose Now as the Bp. may safely infer from God's having recommended a Form of words in Prayer in reference to some cases that prayer by a set Form is not in it self unlawful so I may much more infer from these more numerous Instances of free prayers That our prayers according to the Examples of these H. Men shou'd be accommodated to our several particular occasions and necessities and therefore 't is so far from being unlawfull to use conceived or free prayers without any prescribed Form that to tye up our selves to such sett and prescribed Forms will not ordinarily answer the frequent Calls which we have in the Providence of God to this holy Duty by such various Emergency's as no sett Forms can Exactly suit Nay whereas the Bp. can infer no more from his Instances then that when God prescribes us a Form we shou'd use it and he approves our doing so we may from these Examples last produc'd with equal reason infer that we may use free prayer in those occasions in which God has not prescribed us any such Forms and that he do's approve this way of addressing our selves to him with such Prayers as the feeling of our own necessities and consideration of our particular case dos prompt us to offer I shall only add That if there be no Evidence of such a stinted Liturgy in the Jewish we can much less expect any proof of one in the Christian Church because such a Liturgy if necessary at all was much more so under the Old Testament when there was not such an abundant Effusion of the H. Spirit in his Graces and Gifts as now under the New Nay if the Jewish Church had no stinted Liturgy prescribed by God much less had any uninspired men any power given 'em to prescribe one and confine all publick Administrations to Forms of their own Composure But this will lead me to consider the Directions Secondly Of the New Testament And here I shall first consider those 2 things the Bp. insists on and then shall propose some farther account of the directions that occur in reference to the mode of Praying in this part of the H. Scriptures I. I shall consider those 2 things the Bp. insists on in favour of Praying by prescrib'd Forms 1. I think it says he certain that our Saviour and his Apostles prayed by a Form for they joyn'd in the Worship of the Temple and Synagogues which consisted in Psalms as I have already shew'd and in some certain Forms of Prayers added to 'em and constantly us'd in their daily service as we learn from those that give an Account of the Jewish Worship at that time Now our Saviour and his Apostles being frequently prâ—sent at their service both in the Temple and Synagogues 't is manifest they approv'd their manner of addressing themselves to God by sett Forms p. 30. 31. Answ That our Saviour and his Apostles pray'd by a Form when they us'd the psalm prayers there is no doubt and so do all those that sing ' em That there was a stinted Liturgy besides or a collection of Forms of prose-prose-prayer to which the publick Administrations were confin'd to the exclusion of occasional free Prayer the Bp. has no where prov'd and the contrary is far more probable from many instances of such free-prayer in the Old Testament which I have before alledg'd Nay shou'd we to oblige his Lp grant him that some forms of prose-prose-prayer were ordinarily us'd in the Jewish Worship tho
we must do it on the uncertain credit of Rabbinical Writers whose testimony is of little value and not on the testimony of the H. Scripture yet I see not how the Bp. can make any more of this than that our Saviour thought it not unlawful to joyn in such publick forms of prose-prose-prayer but it will by no means follow that he preferr'd such publick forms before free-free-prayers and design'd by his practice to recommend the former to the Christian Church to the exclusion of the latter For as I shall shew him anon there are strong presumptions to the contrary And yet unless his Lp. cou'd draw this Inference from our Saviour's and the Apostles practice I see little service it can do him Nay I fear if the Argument from our Saviour's and his Apostles practice herein be urg'd so far it will prove much more than those intend who use it For it will prove that we ought in imitation of their example to retain and adhere to that Liturgy which these Gentlemen pretend the Jews had and which they tell us they can yet produce the particular parts of to whose forms of Prayer Dr. Comber tells us that our Saviour added his and was herein so afraid of Innovation as to take every sentence out of the jewish Forms then in use * Orig. of Lis. p. 6. If so why is not this jewish Liturgy still us'd by us If we must have a stinted Liturgy such a one were most unexceptionable as we are sure our Saviour approv'd by joyning in Why then shou'd ordinary Pastors presume to frame Liturgys of their own and use that liberty in composing 'em which our Saviour was too mâ—dest to allow himself And why shou'd they impose so many forms on others when our great Master impos'd but one and such a one as he borrow'd the very sentences of from the Forms then publickly us'd So that these Gentlemen shou'd if they will be consistent with themselves plead for laying aside our Liturgy and using that old one which Dr. Lightfoot has so happily retriev'd for us out of the Jewish Rabbins I wou'd therefore advise 'em to use this Argument from the practice of the Jewish Church in our Saviour's time about which we are at the best but very uncertain with great tenderness and caution least they overdo with it and least the jewish Liturgy instead of under propping the Common-Prayer-Book undermine and throw it down 2. He tells us p. 31. That our Saviour has put this matter out of all dispute with impartial men by prescribing a Form to his Disciples when they desired him to teach them to pray as John did his Disciples For we find his way of teaching 'em was not by directing 'em to wait for the impulses of the Spirit and immediate Inspiration from God of what they were to offer up to him We do not find him saying When ye pray speak what shall then come into your minds or what shall be given you in that hour without taking thought about what they shou'd say c. But here is an express command of Christ to his Disciples to use these words when they pray Answ His Lp. has a very happy faculty of arguing matters of Dispute before he state 'em For indeed the stating 'em might chance to spoyl all the force of his Arguments and therefore he generally thinks it more adviseable to let that alone He tells us Our Saviour has put this matter out of all Dispute with impartial Men by prescribing a Form to his Disciples What matter of Dispute dos his Lp. mean Is it whether a form of Prayer be lawfull Or is it whether our Saviour has prescrib'd a stinted Liturgy to the Christian Church in their publick Administrations or whether he has commission'd Ordinary Pastors to prescribe and impose such a Liturgy and confine others to the use of it Or whether he in general enjoyns us to pray only by a Form or not ordinarily without one If he mean the first whether a Form of Prayer be lawfull That 's no matter of Dispute at all between the Dissenters and the Establisht Church for as I shall shew him anon there is never a Meeting in which they do not use one and there are many in which this particular form of prayer is constantly us'd So that if this be all he wou'd prove he may spare his labour tho perhaps his Arguments for this are not altogether so convincing and solid as he imagines If the Question be whether our Saviour has prescrib'd a stinted Liturgy to the Christian Church as one wou'd think it shou'd What signifies his prescribing this single form to the proof of it unless the Bp thinks our Liturgy shou'd consist only of that one prayer or cou'd produce more forms prescrib'd by our Saviour to make up a Liturgy And if he cou'd do that what will become of the Service-Book What have we to do with that human Invention when we have a Liturgy appointed and compos'd by our Saviour himself If the Quest be Whether our Saviour has commission'd the ordinary Pastors of the Church to prescribe and impose publick Forms what dos all he here alledges about this single form prescrib'd by Christ signifie to prove any such thing when he can produce no such commission nor the least shadow of it in all the New Testament nay when the Rules of it about Prayer seem rather inconsistent with any such Commission as I shall shew him anon If the Quest be Whether our Saviour in general enjoyns us to pray only by a form or not ordinarily without one what dos any thing his Lp. has alledg'd signifie to the right determination of this Question If he design to prove that Christ by prescribing this form has enjoynd in general our Praying only by a sett form and never otherwise as one wou'd think his following words wou'd import when he tells us That our Saviour's teaching 'em was not by directing 'em to wait for the impulses of the Spirit and immediate Inspiration from God of what they were to offer up to him We do not find him saying when ye pray speak what shall come into your minds or what shall be given you in that hour without taking thought about what they were to say he knows well enough his Argument is no way conclusive For he himself owns that God has not forbidden all extempore prayers nay owns that some occasions require the use of 'em in publick and that in such cases a man may depend on the assistance of God's Spirit when he has not-time to reduce his desires into form before he offers 'em p. 54 55. He cannot therefore without contradicting himself pretend that our Saviour by prescribing this form intended to exclude all extempore or free prayer Nor is there any force in the Argument to prove that our Saviour intended to oblige us ordinarily to pray by a form because he once prescrib'd one as a comprehensive summary of our desires For his general Rules
one or the other way more convenient nay the general Rule of doing all to Edification may perhaps in some cases oblige men to the one and in some to the other I might say the same concerning singing in Prose or Meetre Reading a larger entire portion of Scripture without Exposition or a lesser with it c. So that in these cases wise men are very cautious on what grounds they go when they censure the Worship of others as unlawful or charge it with sinful human Inventions and confident Accusers do but usually betray their own Ignorance 2. We that are Christians shou'd chiefly attend to the Rules and Examples of the New Testament for our direction in the Worship of God For those of the Old Testament no farther concern us than as any Rules deliver'd there belong to the Moral Law and the Reason of such Examples equally extends to us as it did to them And indeed to urge the Precepts or Patterns of the Worship us'd under the Old Testament any farther were to bring us again under the Mosaical Pedagogy And as I hope None will deny me these 2 reasonable Postulata so the usefulness of 'em in these Enquiries will appear in many of the Remarks on the following Chapters which I shall now address my self to the consideration of Remarks on the 1 Chapter concerning Praises ANd here I shall so far observe the same method his Lp. has laid down as First to consider the directions of Scripture concerning this part of Divine Worship and then the Application his Lp. makes of 'em to the manner of performing it in the Establisht Church and in the Dissenters Congregations First As to the Directions of the H. Scriptures concerning this part of Divine VVorship I shall offer what follows as the Result of the most diligent Enquiry I cou'd make and hope 't is a juster as well as clearer Account than that his Lp. has given There are but these 2 ways of offering our publick Praises to God enjoyn'd in the New Testament viz. either by Singing Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs or by Thanksgiving without vocal Melody I. As to Thanksgiving without vocal Melody I wou'd observe 1. VVe have most express command for it as one principal stated part of our publick VVorship 1 Tim. 2.1 I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercession and giving of thanks be made for all men c. And this part of VVorship was usually joyn'd with that of Prayer Thus 4 Phil. 6. In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God So 4 Col. 2. 1 Thes 5.17 18. And accordingly Blessing or Giving of Thanks is mention'd as one stated part of the Devotions of Christian Assemblies 1 Cor. 14. v. 16. And that those Thanksgivings were different from Psalms or Songs is hence evident both because they were to be varied according to their different occasions for 'em from the mercies they daily receiv'd which such Psalms or Songs cou'd not be For those are always suppos'd to be a sett invariable form of words and because they were ordinarily intermixt with publick Prayer 2. For the matter of these Publick Thanksgivings the New Testament chiefly directs us to insist on those peculiar mercies of God to us thro a Mediator which the Gospel most clearly reveals to us and of which there is either none or but very obscure mention made in any Forms of Thanksgiving recorded in the Old For if we go thro all the solemn Thanksgivings that occur in the New Testament we shall find 'em to run in a strain as much sublimer than that of those in the Old as that clearer transcends that obscurer Revelation How sutable to the Evangelical dispensation is that Thanksgiving of the Ap. Paul 1 Eph. 3.4 5 c. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blest us with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly things in Christ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we shou'd be holy and blameless before him in love Having predestinated us to the Adoption of children by Christ to himself c. Or that of the same Inspired Writer 1 Col. 12 13. c. Of the same strain is that of the Ap. Peter 1 Ep. 1 Ch. 3 4 c. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible undefil'd and that never fades away reserv'd in Heaven for us c. See 1 Rev. 5.6 unto him that lov'd us and wash't us from our Sins in his own Blood and hath made us Kings and Priests to God c. 5 Rev. 13 14 c. These are certainly the best Patterns after which our publick Thanksgivings in Christian Assemblies shou'd be drawn And no Thanksgivings recorded in the Old Testament do so expresly and clearly mention these inestimable blessings of the New-Covenant or the matchless love of our God and Saviour in the manner of conferring 'em as these recorded in the New and consequently our praises shou'd ordinarily as to the very matter of 'em greatly differ from and go beyond those us'd in the Jewish Church 3. We read of no other part the people had in these publick thanksgivings in the New Testament more than their adding their Amen to ' em So much these words of the Ap. Paul imply 1 Cor. 14.16 Else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit how shall he that occupies the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks All Expositors on the place refer it to the custom of the peoples saying Amen at the end of publick prayers and praises I might produce the testimony of Justin Martyr and other ancient Christian Writers of the 3 first Centuries to this purpose but since the Bishop seems to allow this Exposition p. 42. I need insist no farther on it here And 't is the more requisite to take notice of this way of praysing God by Thanksgivings without vocal melody because the Bp. seems to confound it with that other way of praysing God with Psalms and from which 't is plainly distinguish'd And this leads me to consider II. The Prayses the New Testament requires us to offer unto God by Singing And what was to be thus sung we may learn from those 2 passages of the Ap. Paul cited by the Bishop 5. Eph. 19. and 3 Col. 16. viz. Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs or Odes On which passages I wou'd make the following Remarks I do fully agree with the Bishop that this Passage of the Apostle's do's warrant our use of the Psalms of David in our publick praises because 't is highly probable the word Psalms refers to ' em But then I must add 't is no less probable that the Apostle do's by Hymns and spiritual songs intend others besides those of H. David
general wou'd he take this well If not why dos he forget our Saviours Rule not to do others what he wou'd not they shou'd do to him 6 Luke 31. But as it is sufficient to justifie our disuse of Responses that we have neither Precept nor Example for their being us'd in a Christian Church so he has the least reason to blame any weak Dissenters for censuring 'em as unlawful since he has put the most dangerous Argument to Prove 'em so into their mouths and if I did not know his Principle to be erroneous I shou'd joyn with 'em in that censure As to Church-Musick I shall only add That what is commonly us'd in the Cathedrals seems at least to be very suspicious and hardly consistent with the Rules of the Ap. 1 Cor. 14 11 15 26. which I mention'd before and this sort of Musick has indeed been severely censur'd by many Protestant Divines at home and abroad nay by many Papists themselves who confess it to be unknown in the Church in its purest Ages and but a late invention which those that trace it the farthest referr no higher than Pope Vitalian's time about the year 690 but others make it of a much later date Aventinus and Anoimus in their Histories mention Organs as a Rarity never seen in France or Germany before the 7th Century Nor were they in general use in Aquiuas * Aq. Sec. 2dae Q. 91. Art 2. ad 4. his time as Cajetan observes upon his so freely declaring his judgment against ' em Even Erasmus himself who tho he favour'd the Reformation yet was cautious and slow enough in his advances towards it cou'd not forbear to complain of this in the Romish Church as an abuse which he thought needed to be reform'd as both unsutable to the gravity and solemnity of Christian Worship and needlesly expensive by introducing a crew of chargeable creatures into the Church to no good purpose or rather to an ill one His words on 1 Cor. 14. are these Operosam quandam theatricam Musicam in sacras aedes induximus tumultuosum diversarum vocum garritum qualem non opinor in Graecorum aut Romanorum Theatris unquam auditum fuisse In hunc usum magnis salariis aluntur puerorum greges quorum aetas in perdiscendis hujusmodi gannitibus consumitur Tantis sumptibus oneratur Ecclesia ob rem pestiferam c. We have brought a cumbersome theatrical Musick into our Churches a confus'd noise of many voices such as I think was never heard in the Greek or Roman Theaters For which purpose whole Troops of Boys are maintain'd at great charge whose time is wasted in learning this Gabbling Such expence is the Church burden'd with for a thing that is but mischievous c. I wou'd therefore advise his Lp. to be more cautious of censuring their Opinion who make such Musick in the Worship of God unlawful as against nature and Scripture and on that account a dangerous superstition and encroachment on Christian liberty For as to the Scripture it has certainly no foundation there in any precept or example that concerns us Christians and sure he dos not imagin that the light of Nature dictates such Musick in the Worship of God for then he must make it more necessary than he himself pretends to do And it looks more like superstition according to his own notion of it to introduce such Musick into the Church without any scriptural ground And he may be sure the Dissenters are not the more fond of it for being one of Pope Vitalian's inventions and retain'd among us in conformity to the practice of the Romish Church I confess if any use of Organs be allowable 't is that in the Parish-Church of directing the people into the Tune of the Psalms they sing and 't is on that account chiefly that the Reverend Mr. Baxter thinks 'em lawful and allowable But as this very use of 'em is certainly destitute of any scriptural precept or pattern obligatory to us Christians so however others may entertain a more charitable opinion of 'em yet the Bp if he will be consistent with himself must condemn 'em as a human Invention and to use his Countreymen's phrase must turn the Whistles out of the Kirk Remarks on the Second Chapter concerning Prayer AND here according to his Lp's method we must consider 1. The Directions of the H. Scriptures in reference to this part Religious Worship Of which it will be necessary to give a fuller and more exact account than his Lp. has done and to shew how far I agree with or dissent from that he has given And here I shall trace his steps and consider what occurs to this purpose in the Old Testament and the New First for the Old Testament I. I grant him that in some particular cases God did recommend to the Jews a Form of Words in their Addresses to him Such a Form that Confession he mentions seems to be which the people were to make when they entred into the Land of Canaan upon their offering the first-fruits 26 Deut. 3.5 Such a Form also was the Prayer mention'd in the same Chapter v. 13 14 15. which was to be presented by him that gave the third years tyths And by the way it may be observ'd that neither of these Forms related to the publick Worship celebrated on their weekly Sabbath Such a Form of Blessing I doubt not that mention'd 6 Numb 23. was And 't is highly probable that Form of words was repeated in the several Removes of the Ark 10 Numb 35. But then I must add that for the other passages he alledges as Instances of Forms They are either only directions as to the matter of Prayer or no Instances of Forms at all but rather of free or as he calls 'em extempore-extempore-prayers Thus 't is not reasonable to understand the words of Joel 1 ch 14. 2 ch 17. of any more than the Prophet's suggesting to 'em sutable matter of Complaint and Supplication For sure he cannot imagine that the Prophet intended they shou'd repeat only those few words when they were to sanctify a Fast and call a solemn Assembly If indeed the Prophet had made mention of a Liturgy they had already and had charg'd 'em to add these words as a new Form to it These instances had been something to the purpose but since there 's not the least intimation of any such thing we can no more conclude these words to be intended for a stated Form than those words form'd into Petitions which Ministers often in their Sermons suggest to the people when they instruct 'em in the duty of Prayer And I might on the same grounds say That all the patterns of Prayer in the Directory are prescrib'd Forms The same may be said as to the passage quoted from 14 Hos 2. On which place Dr. Comber from whom our Author seems to have transcrib'd the greatest part of this Section very boldly tells us Orig. and Vse of
Lit. p. 3d. but on no other warrant then his own word that God promis'd to heal their backslidings on their using that Form It is enough to make us more suspicious of Forms when men turn 'em into Charms by attributing so great Effects to the use of ' em But 't is strange that his Lp. shou'd imagine those words mention'd in that large Prayer of Solomon 1 Kings 8.47 We have sinned we have done perversly we have committed wickedness to be a Form of Confession prescrib'd to the Jews meerly because the same words are repeated in a very large Psalm mixt of Confession and Thanksgiving viz. 106 Ps 6. and in another different Confession of Daniel's 9 ch 5 When not only are these very words repeated in both those places with different additions to 'em but those 2 larger Confessions are in quite different words And the making use of these words of Solomon in each of 'em is so far from proving a prescrib'd Form that by the same Argument he may call all extempore-extempore-prayers Forms because there are several Confessions and Petitions in 'em put up in scriptural Expressions And yet his Lp. lays so great stress on this Instance as to tell us with admirable confidence That it appears from hence that they were not left arbitrarily to choyce and discretion tho other words might be joyn'd with 'em when there was occasion to enlarge or vary the Form Answ What did not the Pen-man of the 106 Ps think himself left to his choice when he enlarges Solomon's Confession that makes up but one verse into a Psalm that consists of 48 verse And did not Daniel think himself left to his own choice when tho this large Confession in the 106 Ps was prepar'd to his hands yet he uses another of his own quite different from this because more sutable to the sense he had of the present condition of the Jewish Church So that these 2 Confessions instead of being instances of Prayer by a prescrib'd Form are plain instances of occasional and free or as he calls it Extempore Prayer The same may be applied to those words 106 Ps 47. quoted from 1 Chron. 16.35 For sure the use of a few words recorded in one Psalm in the composure of another when all the rest of the Psalm in each is quite different is but a very lame proof of a prescrib'd Form and furnishes us rather with a stronger Argument to the contrary So that the Bp. had better have confin'd himself to Dr. Comber's proofs than add so impertinent ones as these which make rather against him And I wonder he omitted that very convincing one for the Antiquity of Liturgys which the foresaid Dr. draws from the 4 Gen. 26. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. All then that can be inferr'd from what is granted him is That God did in some few cases prescribe to the Jews a Form of words and when he did so they were oblig'd to use it So that this mode of Praying by a sett Form of words is not in general unlawful And if this Concession will do his Lp. any service he is welcome to it II. I see not the least Evidence in the Old Testament of a stinted Liturgy prescrib'd by God to the Jewish Church even as to their ordinary publick Prayers And if such a Liturgy be that which the Bp. intends to assert when he tells us p. 25. That the Scriptures direct us to offer up our Prayers in a sett and prepared Form of words I must desire his Lp. to bring us better proof of it than what he has alledg'd from p. 25. to p. 29. and I have here examin'd To which he adds what I wou'd now farther consider That the whole Book of Psalms is a collection of Prayers of all sorts And there are few of 'em but what are most excellent Forms of Prayer express'd in such pathetick significant and moving words that we have great reason to thank God for furnishing us with 'em and which we can never hope to equal by any of our own invention such as are the 4 5 c. On this Account they were us'd by the Jews as the constant service and Liturgy perform'd in their Temple as we may gather from what I formerly quoted Answ Why he shou'd call the whole Book of Psalms a collection of Prayers of all sorts when the far greatest part of 'em are undoubtedly Prayses as distinguisht from Prayers I know not That some Psalms consist much of Petitions and consequently may be call'd Prayers I doubt not But then he shou'd have consider'd that these Prayers are compos'd in the strain of Songs and most probably in metre and were design'd to be sung as appears concerning those he mentions viz. the 4th 5th 6th 7th ' 9th 10th 12th all of which except the 10th that has no Title are directed to the chief Musitian or expresly asserted to be sung Now 't is certain such Psalms of Prayer as are intended to be publickly sung must be sett forms But there is no necessity that other ordinary Prayers shou'd be such sett forms that were never compos'd in that manner nor design'd for that use And therefore 't is strange that he shou'd think the quoting the 2 Chron. 29. v. 30. a suffiâ—â—ent or of that these psalm-Psalm-prayers were us'd by the Jews as a constant Service and Liturgy perform'd in their Temple if by Liturgy he means such prose-prayers as our Liturgy consists of and about which we are now only concern'd to enquire For that Text speaks not one word of Prayers at all but only of Prayses and if it had mention'd or included Prayers it cou'd refer to no other Prayers but such as were sung which we all agree must be sett forms And these Psalm prayers the Bp. knows the D ssenters he opposes never scrupl'd For they are useful to be sung for Instruction by those who cannot offer 'em up as properly a prayer because their condition and circumstances are no way like the Psalmist's when he compos'd ' em But the Question is concerning prayers in the proper sense such as are not songs but compos'd in prose and in the same style as our other ordinary requests are for such are the prayers of the English Liturgy and 't is for such a Liturgy the Bp. is oblig'd to produce us some precept or pattern in the H. Scriptures And these Instances of psalm-prayers signify nothing to this purpose Nor indeed do we among all the instances of publick prayers recorded after the time of the Psalms being penn'd find one of these psalm-prayers us'd But on the contrary those that do occur are plainly free and conceived prayers such as the present occasions of presenting 'em did draw from the devout minds of the pious supplicants Of which I shall give some instances under the next head I shall only add That if the Bishop think these psalm prayers of H. David better for our use than any of human composu
as I shall observe anon do far more directly favour and countenance free prayer than this one instance dos the use of forms especially of forms impos'd by others about which the main dispute lyes And what he has here offer'd to confirm it signifies nothing to the purpose or if it did wou'd prove too much For our Saviour may teach men the way of free prayer without directing 'em to wait for the Impulscs of the Spirit and immediate Inspiration from God since none pretend to such impulses and immediate inspiration as necessary in order to it He himself owns that in cases of necessity we may depend on the assistance of the Spirit to pray extempore and yet he dos not I hope mean we may expect such immediate inspiration Nay our Saviour may advise us to free prayer without telling us We must speak what comes into our minds or shall be given us in that hour without taking thought what we are to say For free prayer is so far from excluding serious premeditation that no man shou'd use it especially in publick without it unless in cases of absolute necessity Nay if this reason signify'd any thing it wou'd prove too much that we are never to pray extempore at all because we have no ground even in cases of necessity to expect such immediate Inspiration And here I wou'd once for all caution his Lp. against that common mistake he seems to run into as if we imagin'd the assistance of the H. Spirit in Prayer to lye in immediately dictating our words to us Whereas we no more expect that in Prayer than in Preaching For we suppose this Gift of Prayer to be a common gift And tho we have known many private Christians whose natural parts in all other things are but weak and low endued by the Spirit of God with a considerable measure of this Gift as the fruit and reward of their diligence in this duty Yet we doubt not that many natural Endowments as readiness of apprehension copiousness of fancy tenderness of affection fluency of expression may contribute much to dispose a man for greater eminency in it Nor do we think the assistance of the H. Spirit in this duty alters that style or way of expression that nature or custom has habituated men to So that the H. Spirit is no more accountable for the indecent expressions of good men in Prayer than in Preaching tho we may expect his help both in our endeavours to acquire abilities and gifts for these duties and in the exercise of ' em But before I dismiss what he hath said in reference to this Prayer of our Lord I shall subjoyn the following Remarks thereon 1. If it shouâ—â— bâ— granted that our Saviour gave this as a Form of Prayer to his Disciples and intended it for the perpetual use of his Church yet no more can be inferr'd from thence than our obligation to use that particular 〈◊〉 For if he had intended our ordinary use of other Forms 't is reasâ—nable to suppose he wou'd have prescrib'd 'em himself or commission'd his Apostles to do so or instructed them to leave some orders with other ordinary Pastors to have compos'd ' em 2. Many learned men that do allow the Lord's Prayer to have been a prescrib'd Form do not think it design'd for the perpetual use of the Church but only for a temporary Form To this purpose they observe that the three first Petitions Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done c. seem to be chiefly calculated both to the doctrine which Christ as well as John deliver'd concerning the Kingdom of God being at hand and to the expectation the pious Jews then generally entertain'd of the Messiah's Kingdom being publickly set up in the world They observe farther that in the Petition for forgiveness of sins There is not the least mention made of the sacrifice the death or blood of Christ in vertue whereof we must now sue for pardon whereas our Saviour after his Resurrection and Ascention is every where propos'd as our High-Priest Mediator Intercessor and Advocate of which there is no notice taken in this Form And hence they suppose that 't is on this account that our Lord long after the delivery of this Form tells his Disciples 16 Joh. 24. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my Name and therefore he requires 'em now to ask the Father in his Name and assures 'em he will grant their Petitions And accordingly they observe that the Doxologys mention'd in Scripture after our Saviour's Ascension lead us directly and expresly to ascribe our Praises to God by Christ or in his Name of which there is not the least hint in that us'd in the Ld's-Prayer Whence they conclude it to be chiefly suited to the state of the Disciples of Christ while under his personal Ministry on Earth in which the principal mysteries of the Gospel that depended on his Death Resurrection and Ascension were not yet so â—learly reveal'd And the more some labour to prove these Peâ—itions taken out of some Jewish Forms the more do they strengâ—hen this Opinion That this Form was no farther intended for our â—â—se than as a Pattern in respect of the things pray'd for but was â—ot so much as to be a Pattern in respect of the manner of prayâ—ng In which respect 't is most reasonable to suppose our manner â—f praying shou'd greatly differ from that of the Jews particuâ—arly by being offer'd up in the name of Christ I do not give this opinion as my own but propose it to his Lp's â—onsideration to allay that confidence wherewith he asserts so poâ—itively our obligation to the constant use of the Lords Prayer for which I do not see any thing so Plausible and Probable produc'd â—y him as the Authors of this Opinion alledg in favour of it For â—e tells us without any limitation that we are particularly Commandâ—d whenever we pray to use this Prayer For which Assertion I can â—ee no shew of Proof Nor can I reconcile it to those many Instanâ—es of Prayer recorded in the New Testament in none of which do we Read of this being us'd Nay I do not think his Lp. or any Man else supposes himself oblig'd to use the Lords Prayer always â—e pray whenever we crave a Blessing on our food But dos his Lp. â—lways use the Lords Prayer on that occasion So that we must be cautious of stretching our Saviours words too far For if we shou'd take 'em in their most strict sense we shou'd never offer up any other Prayer but that at all 3. The compilers of the Directory seem to give the most fair and just Account of the Lords Prayer viz. That it was chiefly design'd as a perfect Pattern but may also be conveniently us'd as a Form of Prayer That 't is a perfect Pattern his Lp-will not deny and the admirable method and order as well as the comprehensiveness of it's Petitions shew it be so as to the matter
of Prayer And the words of our Lord seem to recommend it also as a fit Compendium and Summary of our Desires Tho that it was so strictly intended for a Form as that all alteration of the words in it shou'd be so dangerous as the Bp. suggests I do not see And 't is strange he shou'd no better ward off the common objection against this conceit viz. That the words of the Prayer are not the same in the 2 Evangelists For tho we shou'd allow him that trespasses and debts are the same in the Syriack yet sure he cannot be ignorant that not only are the words different in the 4th Petition but what is more material the Doxology is left out in the Evangelist Luke where our Saviour's words seem more express for the use of this Prayer Nay 't is pleasant that his Lp. shou'd to aggravate the danger of altering the words compare it to the danger of altering those of our Creed p. 35. As if he did not know that the words of it have been frequently alter'd that no writer in the 3 first Centuries has the Creed call'd the Apostle's in the same words that we have now and that the Forms we meet with in Ignatius Irenaeus Tertullian Origen Cyprian and Gregory Neocaesar are all in different words nay in some Forms several Articles are inserted that are not in others Nay in the Creed as we have it no doubt the Article of Christ's descending into Hell shou'd be alter'd as to the words of it because we do not commonly take Hell for the invisible state which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was design'd to express I confess 't is something more formidable when he compares the danger of altering the words in the Lord's-Prayer to that of changing the word given by the General in a Battel p. 35. Tho where the wit or sense of the comparison lies I cannot imagine unless his Lp. thinks the bare words of that Prayer to be as frightful to the Infernal Fiends as some crafty Priests have pretended the Name or Psalter of the Virgin Mary is but apprehends those our spiritual enemies will resume their courage if we make the least change in ' em I shall only add here That his Lp. has not produc'd any other instance of a prescrib'd Form of Prayer in the New Testament besides this He dos indeed p. 50. tell us That Christ in his Agony repeated a verse of the 22d Psalm and as some believe says he the whole Psalm by which Act he recommends to us Forms of Prayer with his dying breath as the most proper means of expressing our condition to God and as most sutable to the divine Majesty To which I shall only return this brief Answer That his Lp. wou'd have done well first to have told us what grounds any have to believe that our Saviour repeated the whole Psalm and if he did not how the repeating one verse of it so applicable to his present case shou'd be a proof of his using a form of Prayer at all and much more how it shou'd prove his recommending such forms to us with his dying breath c. As if a man might not in a free prayer choose out and apply some scriptural expressions to his own case Indeed the words he quotes are not properly a Prayer at all and if they were look altogether as like an instance of occasional free-prayer so that if I wou'd argue at this loose rate I might with as good reason pretend that our Lord recommended extempore-prayers with his dying breath c. II. The Bp. has not produc'd the least evidence of Christ's enjoyning or recommending to Christian Churches the use of stinted Liturgys even as to the ordinary publick Prayers which they are to offer up So that tho the same matters of Prayer constantly occur in that duty when publickly offer'd especially in the celebration of Baptism and the Ld's-Supper yet neither dos our Saviour nor his Apostles prescribe any stated forms for ' em Whereas if our Lord had judg'd 'em so necessary or so highly useful as some pretend Nothing cou'd have been more conducive to have fixt the use of 'em and prevented all corruptions in 'em as well as scruple about 'em than to have furnisht the Church with a Divinely inspired Liturgy Nay what is more considerable Christ and his Apostles content themselves with giving us general commands to pray and with all prayer and suppliâ—ation for all men c. but never gave the least order to the Pastors of the Church to compose forms of Prayer for publick Worship in those Churches that were planted and settled under the care of ordinary Teachers who had not the same immediate Inspiration as the Apostles themselves Dos not this plainly imply that they took not such an imposed Liturgy to be necessary to the Churches Edification and Peace but rather suppos'd that the ordinary occasions of publick Prayer were too various and different to be confin'd to such sett and prescrib'd forms If it be pretended there was no need of their prescribing such Forms when the Jewish Liturgy was still extant and us'd I answer That not to repeat what has been objected against the pretensions of a stinted Liturgy among the Jews I hope none can imagin that a Jewish Liturgy cou'd be sutable to the Christian Oeconomy after our Saviour's Ascension in the Christian Churches that were planted by the Apostles So that if a Liturgy in general were necessary to the Christian Church there was the greater reason why they shou'd have substituted one in the room of the Jewish in the Churches they settl'd Since then they no way so much as recommend such a Liturgy but left even ordinary Pastors to the free exercise of their own abilities in Prayer as well as in other parts of their publick ministrations We may with great probability infer that they judg'd it more conducive to Edification that the Pastors of Churches shou'd use those ordinary gifts wherewith they were furnisht for the performance of this duty without being ty'd up to any sett-forms And accordingly those that have been most anxiously concern'd to find out fixed and stinted Liturgys in the 3 first and purest Ages of Christianity have but lost their labour and have but trifled with us in their most confident pretences to discover such Liturgys As appears by Mr. Clerkson's Discourse of Liturgys and Mr. S B's Examination of Dr. Comber's Answer in his Scholastical History of the use of Liturgys III. 'T is evident That the general Rules of Scripture cannot be duly observ'd by those that pray no otherwise than by a sett Form of Words They command us to pray with all Prayer and Supplication and for all men In every thing to make known our Request to God 6 Eph. 18. 4 Col. 6. 1 Tim. 2.1 c. Now 't is evident there is a vast variety of occasions and emergencys in which we shou'd apply our selves to God by Prayer which it cannot be expected any
prescribed Forms shou'd exactly suit This is most obvious in our closet-Closet-prayers There is scarce any one day in which we have not some occasion to vary our Requests There are some particular failings we have occasion particularly to confess renounce and implore divine Aid against Or there are some particular dutys which we need to beg direction and assistance for the discharge of So that our own meditation every day must suggest to us the most proper matter of our addresses to God and many requests sutable to our particular case must be excluded if we confine our devotions to the sett forms of others So that such as are at present forc'd thro their Ignorance and inability to confine themselves to such Forms are like lame People that cannot go without the help of Crutches And for such so to sit down and satisfie themselves with their book-Book-prayer and prescrib'd Forms as to go no farther wou'd be to use the significant expressions of the excellent Bishop Wilkins as if a Man who had once need of crutches shou'd always afterwards make use of 'em and so necessitate himself to a continual Impotency Nay the Bp. himself cou'd not but own that the use of conceiv'd prayers is founded on that general Rule of Scripture which Commands us to ask of God what we lack p 56. But then he groundlesly adds the following words which 't is most proper I shou'd consider in this place viz. of this Rule our own Prudence makes the Application in such extemporary occasions but when we set up this human Application of this general Rule in opposition to that particular manner of asking Commanded by God and Practis'd by H. Men which is by sett and premeditated Forms in the ordinary Worship of God and turn God's way out of his worship to make room for one of our own This is to displace a particular Command of God on pretence of guiding our selves by a general one In which we are not only more liable to mistakes but we fail of paying due respect to God's directions For general Commands only take place in such Cases where God has not laid down a Particular Rule Answ His Lp. here very Prudently takes for granted what he has no where Prov'd that God has given a particular Command to the Christian Church to Pray in all ordinary cases by sett and premeditated Forms But has he brought any other Proof of this then that Christ once Recommended one comprehensive Pattern or Form And dos he think this amounts to a Command that we shou'd in all ordinary cases use Forms when there is not one tittle to that purpose in the H. Scriptures and Particularly in the New Testament when there are no such Forms given us by God nor the least Direction who shou'd compose 'em for us If we shou'd allow him that the Lords Prayer is prescrib'd as a Form that must be constantly us'd in Private and Publick Worship which he neither has nor indeed can any man Prove yet all that he cou'd infer thence were That we have a particular Command to use that Form but it will by no means follow that we have any such particular Command to use other human prescribed Forms in all our ordinary Prayers So that to use free prayer in our ordinary Publick Worship dos not displace any particular command nor turn God's way out of his Worship to make room for our own For God has undoubtedly by this general precept oblig'd us to free-prayer and has no way confin'd the use of it to extraordinary cases only having no way recommended any sett form to Christians unless we take this comprehensive patern of Christ's to be One and if we do that 's the only one he has enjoyn'd So that I may more justly hence infer That those turn God's way out of his Worship who confine men in their publick Administrations to such human sett-forms as God has no where enjoyn'd the use of by either general or particular precept and are indeed in the Bp's sense only human Inventions whereas those more exactly observe his directions who use the only form which there is any appearance of his having prescrib'd to us Christians but as to all other Prayers use the freedom which God allows us when he enjoyns no other Forms but this IV. It seems highly agreeable to the Wisdom of God that the mode of praying with or without a form shou'd be left so far undetermin'd as to confine us to neither way by any particular precept And therefore he has only given us general rules relating to this duty and one comprehensive either Pattern or Form but has left us in the particular exercises of this duty to the determination of Christian Prudence whether we shall use a sett-form or not For there is no doubt but that the ignorance and weakness of some may need such crutches as sett-forms especially when they pray with others and therefore such helps are allow'd ' em And yet more grown and improv'd Christians shou'd by their advancement in divine knowledge by their frequent consideration of their own necessities and by frequent exercise in this duty endeavour to attain those Gifts that may sett 'em above the need of those helps and enable 'em to express their own sentiments and desires in Prayer to God on all emergent occasions without running to other mens books and composures for that end Especially Ministers shou'd be furnisht with such a Gift And therefore God has not thought fit to hinder the exercise of and improvement in such an excellent Gift by prescribing to either People or Ministers a stinted Liturgy even in reference to the most ordinary occasions of Prayer V. For what his Lp. adds about the peoples joyning with the Minister in repeating of publick Prayer p. 36 37 38 c. I shall only subjoyn 1. That 't is not deny'd that the people exprest their joyning in the publick Prayers in Christian Assemblys by adding their Amen to 'em as appears from 1 Cor. 14.16 And if under the Old Testament they added to their Amen Hallelujah as 106 Ps 48. or He is good for his mercy endures for ever 2 Chron. 7.3 It makes no great difference in the matter 2. Yet he has brought neither precept nor example from the New Testament of the peoples Repeating the Prayer together with the Minister For that passage 4 Acts 24. proves no more than a consent of their minds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to that Prayer which was then offer'd up And the same might be said of his instance out of the Old Testament 21 Judges 2. And here the Bp. very gravely obtrudes upon us a wonderful conceit of that Assembly being inspir'd not only to think the same thing but to utter the same words p. 37 for which there is no necessity from the words nor indeed any great probability For the instance of Paul and Silas it has less weight in it They might pray together tho one only spake and yet both use their
voices in singing together And as the Bp. himself observes It might be a Psalm they sung including both matter of prayer and praise Nor will it follow that because they might sing a Psalm-prayer that they might say a prose-prayer together And 't is strange that his Lp. shou'd produce the 6 Rev. 9 10 c. as an example of peoples joyning their voices in publick Prayer because we read there of the souls of the Martyrs under the Altar crying with a loud voice How long O Lord holy and true c. For sure he dos not take crying with a loud voice in a literal sense when spoken of departed souls that have none If indeed he cou'd prove that those souls had aetherial vehicles and in those vehicles were furnisht with organs of speech this might be a notable argument to his purpose But otherwise That argument he uses p. 40. from the peoples saying Amen at the end of the Prayer is better of the two tho how it will prove their repeating the whole Prayer I know not any more than how the peoples joyning with the Minister in singing will prove their joyning in those Prayers that require no such use of their voice For the Angels and Elders 7 Rev. 11. I have shewn him his mistake before So that he is far from having brought any clear proof as he pretends p. 40. to excuse their practice herein from being one of his own sort of human Inventions And tho I am more charitable than to take this advantage to arraign it as unlawful yet I must confess I am not very fond of it because it seems less sutable to the gravity and solemnity of Christian Worship and brings in a confused noise in a Christian Assembly too like that of a Dover court where 't is said all speak and none hear Having consider'd the Directions of the H. Scriptures concerning this part of Religious Worship I come to examin the Application his Lp. makes of 'em to the principles and practice of Conformists and Dissenters And First for the Principles of Dissenters I shall give a true Account of 'em and then consider that very strange one his Lp. has offer'd I I shall give a true Account of their Judgment as far as it can be taken from their most judicious Writers on this subject or the publick proposals they have made in reference to these matters 1. Thâ—y always carefully distinguish between the Gift and the Grace or Spirit of Prayer By the Grace or Spirit of Prayer they understand those inward holy desires and devout affections which the H. Spirit forms and excites in the minds of good men and which are the life and soul of our external Prayers By the Gift of Prayer they understand An ability of choosing sutable matter of Prayer and offering it up to God in expressions fit to represent our inward pious desires and affections on all emergent occasions This Gift they have always own'd to be separable from the Grace of Prayer Many that have the one being destitute of the other So far are they from confounding these two distinct things as the Bp. unhappily supposes 'em to do This Gift of Prayer they suppose the effect of the divine blessing on our diligent study and meditation and frequent exercise in this holy duty As all other ordinary Gifts of the Spirit of God are For they suppose the Gift of Prayer as well as that of Preaching capable of falling under Rules for its attainment and exercise and do accordingly highly approve of those which that Judicious Divine Bp. Wilkins has laid down in that excellent Discourse he calls his Gift of Prayer That there is such a Gift his Lp. himself owns p. 46. and p. 54. And I shall add under this Head that there are very different degrees of this as there are of all other Abilities and Gifts 2. They do indeed suppose that ordinarily all Ministers shou'â— be furnisht with a competent measure of the gift of prayer as well as that of Preaching in order to their due discharge of this duty on that variety of occasions that occurs in their publick ministrations and private visits For as no prescribed Forms can possibly suit all such occasions so to be incapable of assisting the devotion of their people in 'em is they think a miserable defect in those whose office it is to give themselves continually unto Prayer 6 Acts v. 4. and who will but very lamely perform it without such abilities And therefore Bp. Wilkins justly censures the want of it in them as their great fault and shame * Gift of Prayer p. 13. 3. They do by no means suppose every good man to be endued with this Gift much less with such a measure of it as will qualify him to perform that duty in his Family without the help of Forms And therefore they often urge such to the use of Forms in their Families as cannot without such helps keep up that duty in 'em without the hazard of exposing it to contempt Nor do they disallow all use of forms in secret Prayer it self tho they think it no way adviseable for Christians to confine themselves to 'em in their Closet-devotions since they cannot do so without suppressing many desires sutable to their present condition Nor can their want of words be a just reason for their limiting themselves to such forms since they are not needful in secret Prayer Our very groans and sighs are a language our heavenly Father sufficiently understands But yet they do suppose the want of this gift to be a great defect and judge such a degree of it ordinarily attainable by continued diligence and exercise as is necessary to the suiting our Family-Prayers to our particular necessities and therefore do urge those under their care to endeavour after it And they do suppose that the H. Spirit is ready to assist good men in such endeavors not only by exciting their devout affections but by enlightning their minds to understand their spiritual necessities by directing 'em in the matter of their Prayers by bringing the promises of God to their remembrance by strengthening and elevating their natural faculties to more vigorous exercise by quickning their indisposed minds and helping 'em against their manifold infirmities And so much they think included in what the Apostle declares concerning the assistance of the H. Spirit in this duty 8 Rom. 26. And herein they assert no more than the Reverend Bp. Wilkins has done before 'em who not only affirms That this Gift if seriously endeavour'd after may be attain'd in some measure by any one that has common capacity p. 13. but speaks of such Christians as satisfy themselves with their Book-prayer and go no farther as remaining still in their Infancy p. 11. and recommends this gift even to private Christians from the Excellency of it from its sutableness and necessity as being part of our spiritual Armour which 't is as unbecoming a Christian to be defective in as for
a Souldier to be without skill in the use of Arms from its special advantages and fruits as enabling a man on all occasions to relate his condition and suit his desires and expressions according to several emergencys and from the inconveniences a man is expos'd to by the want of it when being surpriz'd with any sudden exigency or strait he knows not how to relate his condition or bespeak God's assistance without having recourse to some prescribed Form which perhaps has no proper reference to the particular occasion p. 22 23 24. And I cannot better represent our judgment concerning these 2 different modes of Praying than in his excellent words What one saith of Counsel to be had from Books may be fitly applied to this Prayer by Book That 't is commonly of it self something flat and dead floating for the most part too much in generalitys and not particular enough for each several occasion There is not that life and vigour in it to engage the affections as when it proceeds immediately from the soul it self and is the natural expression of those particulars whereof we are most sensible And if it be a fault not to strive and labour after this gift much more is it to jeer and despise it by the name of extempore-prayer and praying by the Spirit which expressions as they are frequently us'd by some men by way of reproach are for the most part the sign of a profane heart and such as are altogether strangers from the power and comfort of this duty p. 12. Thus far that learned and pious Bp. whose sentiments in this matter are I perceive very different from his Lp's 4. They are far from excluding premeditation in the exercise of this Gift of Prayer On the contrary they think it ordinarily necessary as to the matter of our Prayers Nay they do not exclude all premeditation as to words any farther than the tying our selves to a Form of 'em may shut out such sutable petitions as the Spirit of God may suggest to our minds in the fervour of our Devotions which did not occur to 'em in our previous meditation And therefore they think the name of extempore and much more that of unpremeditated Prayers very unfit to express those which they offer up according to such an ability and gift For they suppose that such as pray with others especially in publick Assemblys shou'd prepare themselves for it by considering before-hand the particular cases and necessities of those that joyn with ' em And against such Prayers I can find nothing in that Text he alledges When thou goest to the house of God be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God For God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy words be few 5 Eccles 1 2. For sure his Lp. cannot think they enjoyn of Prayers by a prescrib'd Liturgy For if we pray so there 's no need of this caution that we shou'd not be rash with our mouth and that our wâ—rds be but â—ew because it will not lye in our power to enlarge or contract what we say when we confine our selves to the words that others dictate to us The Text dos indeed properly refer to private vows in the house of God but may by parity of reason be suppos'd to forbid our Praying without due premeditation and multiplying our expressions without any sutable affections Which caution we account very necessary in all free-prayers even in private and much more in publick ones So that this place affords a much stronger Argument for Free-prayers than against ' em 5. They do not condemn all Forms of Prayer either in private or publick as unlawful in themselves They recommend such Forms to those whose inability renders such helps needful Many of their practical writings propose such Forms to the ignorant and weak The Westminster-Assembly expresly recommend the use of the ld's-Ld's-Prayer as a Form Nay the Nâ— Ministers that treated with those commissionated by K. Charles the 2d at the Savoy propos'd a Reformed Liturgy with some allowance of liberty to Ministers for free occasional Prayer as a ground of accommodation Of which I shall have occasion to take more notice in what follows Having premis'd this just Account of the Dissenters Principles I come II. To examine those which his Lp. ascribes to 'em p. 43 44 c. which I shall do in his own words least I shou'd be thought to wrong him as notoriously as he has done his Brethren Speaking concerning their way of Prayer I shall endeavour saith he to represent it with all fairness and impartiality and leave you to judge as God shall direct you and as you 'll answer it at the last day 1. And here I find that some of your Writers are of opinion that the Spirit of Prayer is given to all the children of God in some measure for enabling their hearts to conceive and their tongues to express convenient desires to God and that therefore Forms of Prayer are of no necessary use either in publick or private on the contrary that they stint the Spirit and hinder men from stirring up or using that Gift that God has given ' em 2. Others of you go farther and affirm that all Forms of Prayer are unlawful to Christians and that therefore 't is a sin to joyn in a Worship where they are us'd or to be present at it 3. That the Minister is the mouth of the Congregation and and that he only is to speak publickly to God in behalf of the people and that they are not to joyn their voices but only their hearts with him Upon these Principles you forsake our Worship c. And First For that position of your Directory that the Spirit of Prayer is given to all the children of God in some measure for enabling their hearts to conceive and their tongues to express convenient desires to God I entreat you to consider what promise or foundation it has in Scripture c. and in the same p. 45. This Doctrine is a meer Invention of men and the Worship built on it a vanity in the sense of our Saviour 7 Mark 7. This Principle his Lp. largely endeavors to confute from p. 45. to p. 53. where he calls it the great Principle of the Dissenters Worship and tells the people Now my friends it lies upon your Teachers who are of this persuasion to produce plain Scripture for your Principles or else to confess c. Again p. 62. he falls severely on this poor Principle Answ I am afraid I shall much surprize his Lp. when I tell him that I can find no such Principle nor indeed any thing like it either in sense or sound in the whole Directory I wou'd therefore entreat him to read it over once more that he may oblige me with the account of the page where it lies And I may the more reasonably request this favour of him because he has put me to the
trouble of reading it twice or thrice over on this occasion to no purpose And I suppose the Reverend Compilers of the Directory gave him no commission to coyn principles for 'em meerly that he might have the satisfaction of confuting ' em But I 'll do him the Justice he has not done them by acquainting the Reader that upon a strict enquiry I suppose his Lp. has mistaken some directions of a General Assembly in Scotland concerning secret and Family Worship c. printed there A. D. 1647. for the Directory of publick Worship publisht by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster A. D. 1644. And if I be in the right in this conjecture I must add that I cou'd very easily forgive him this mistake if he had us'd any sincerity in representing the judgment of that grave and pious Synod But if it appear that he has obtruded upon 'em an Opinion which they no way assert nay which the passage from whence he draws it is rather inconsistent with then the best Apology he can make for himself is to own his mistake and to make 'em some reparation for so gross an abuse And whether this be not the true Account of the matter I leave the Reader to judge when he compares the words of the Assembly with the Opinion the Bp. ascribes to ' em In the fore-mentioned directions of that Assembly concerning secret and Family-Worship p. 9. Direct 9. are these words So many as can conceive Prayer ought to make use of that Gift of God Albeit these who are rude and weaker may begin at a sett Form of Prayer but so as they be not sluggish in stirring up in themselves according to their daily necessities the Spirit of Prayer which is given to all the children of God in some measure To which effect they ought to be more fervent and frequent in secret Prayer to God for enabling their hearts to conceive and their tongues to express convenient desires for their Family Now if these be the words his Lp. refers to I wou'd desire him to consider a little better how he can deduce this principle out of 'em viz. That the Spirit of Prayer is given to all the children of God in some measure for enabling their hearts to conceive and their tongues to express convenient desires to God and as his Lp. adds p. 53. without a Form For the Bp. hereby supposes that this Assembly thought that the Spirit of Prayer was the Gift of Prayer and that this Gift was in some measure given to all the children of God to enable 'em to pray without a Form And therefore what the Assembly calls stirring up in themselves the Spirit of Prayer he explains by stirring up the Gift p. 44. And accordingly his arguments against 'em all run on this supposition that they oppose praying by the Spirit to praying by a Form and imagin the Spirit and Gift of Prayer to be the same thing and accordingly he makes decency of expression a part of the Spirit of Prayer p. 46. Now what can be more opposite to the words and scope of that Assembly Do they not distinguish Christians into 2 sorts such as are more judicious and strong and such as are more rude and weak Is it not the formâ—r whom they suppose to have the gift of conceiving Prayer And do they not suppose the latter to be at present destitute of that gift and as Bp. Wilkins expresses it to need Forms as impotent people do crutches they do indeed say the spirit of prayer i. e. a devout and praying disposition is given in some measure to all the children of God But they do not suppose therefore that all who have the spirit of prayer have the gift also but the quite contrary All that their words can be reasonably extended to import is That whereas there are manifold daily necessities of Christian Families which prescribed Forms cannot suit 't is a great infelicity to be unable to express our desires to God in those cases And therefore such as labour under that impotency shou'd be earnest to beg of God such an ability and gift so far as 't is necessary for their due discharge of this duty to the edification and comfort of their Familys that they ought in order to the attainment of it to cherish the spirit of Prayer i. e. those devout desires and affections which the spirit of God communicates in some measure to all his children according to their various necessities and which cannot but be greatly hindred and dampt when our inability confines us wholly to the use of Forms which cannot suit the particular condition of our selves and Families And they suppose that such an ability to pray sutably to our particular necessities is one of the ordinary gifts of the H. Spirit which private Christians shou'd beg of God and have encouragement to hope for so far as 't is necessary to their complyance with his general commands of making known their requests to him in every thing in the diligent use of such helps as they are furnisht with and frequent exercising themselves in this excellent duty Their words also do imply that the more we grow in a devout and praying disposition the more easily may we attain some measure of that Gift since out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and the more we feel our own spiritual necessities the more easily dos the pinching sense of 'em supply us with expressions and arguments in pleading with God for relief of ' em And as this is all that can be drawn from their words without offering violence to 'em so 't is no more than as I have shewn him Bp. Wilkins asserts and if his Lp. have any thing to object against any of these Assertions which are genuinely deduc'd from their words I shall be very glad to hear it But for the Position he ascribes to that Assembly as laid down and expounded by him 't is his own and not theirs And therefore 't is he is concern'd to prove it and seems not to deal so ingenuously as he shou'd in insulting so scornfully over his own man of straw For all his grave Reasonings concern no avowed Principle of the Dissenters and his discourse from p. 46. to p. 57. on this head is so far from being grateful and instructive to the Readers of all sorts as he imagins p. 49 that it rather nauseates all judicious Readers to find his Lp. when he pretends to explain these matters and set 'em in so clear a light so miserably confound those 2 things the Spirit and Gift of Prayer which all accurate Writers on both sides so carefully distinguish and must necessarily do so unless they have a mind to fight with shadows and contend in the dark without understanding one another And therefore because he may despise our Instructions I wou'd desire his Lp. before he writes any more on this subject to read the 3 first Chapters of Bp. Wilkins Gift of Prayer which he
will find wrote with admirable judgment and much more grateful and Instructive than those crude and indigested Notions he has here offer'd There are several passages in what he saith on this pretended Principle of the Dissenters which I have elsewhere taken notice of and shall only add that whereas p. 45. he tells us There is no Command in Scripture requiring us to worship or pray to God in a conceiv'd extemporary or unpremeditated Form or so much as an example in a settl'd ordinary Congregation where it was practis'd I hope I have already said enough to satisfy an unprejudic'd Reader that God's commands in reference to Prayer do certainly enjoyn free prayer that there is not the least command to pray in general by sett Forms that there is no command for the use of any particular Form unless the lord's-Lord's-Prayer which yet is but doubtful And that there are more examples of free prayer in Scripture than of Prayer by prescrib'd Forms That there is not the least evidence of any prescribed Liturgy us'd in the Apostles time or in the 2 or 3 succeeding ages and consequently there is great reason to conclude they us'd free prayer or pray'd in the exercise of their abilities and gifts so that we have far more probable grounds to conclude prescrib'd Liturgies of human composure destitute of scriptural precâ—pt and example And if his Lp. will on that account censure 'em as an human Invention and a piece of vain Worship he may use his liberty For I shall satisfy my self with defending our own practice without such harsh Reflections of that of others P. 50. His Lp. asserts without the least proof That Moses David and our Saviour us'd Forms of Prayer For the Instance that relates to our Saviour it has been already consider'd So when p. 52. he shou'd prove that H. men in Scripture reduc'd their Prayers into Forms before they offer'd 'em up in the Congregation he dos not produce one instance relating to Prayer in prose about which the only dispute lies much less dos he produce any instance of their using Forms of such Prayers compos'd by other men and those uninspired persons too His Lp. having examin'd this first Principle he charges the Dissenters with proceeds to the Second That all Forms of Prayer are unlawful to Christians and that 't is a sin to joyn in a Worship where they are us'd or so much as to be present at it And this Principle his Lp. takes the pains to confute from p. 57. to p. 65. I do indeed perceive that he was better advis'd than to quote any Writer among the Dissenters for this strange opinion But since in his laborious confutation of it he all along supposes some considerable part of the Dissenters to be maintainers of it I must freely tell his Lp. that unless he can produce some one Author at least that has asserted any such Principle I must make bold to charge the breach of the 9th Command upon him and hope he 'll either produce us some testimonies of such as avow and maintain it or do us the justice of retracting so gross a calumny For my own part I never yet met with any one person amongst either their Ministers or their people that ever entertain'd so wild and unreasonable an Opinion Nor indeed can they entertain it without plainly condemning their own continual practice Dos he not know that the Dissenters call'd Congregational as well as those call'd Presbyterian do every meeting dismiss the people with a Form of Prayer I mean the Apostolical Blessing The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the Love of God and the Communion of the H. Spirit be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13. v. 14. And can he deny this to be a Form of Prayer when the solemn Blessing among the Jews 6 Numb 23. which Aaron and his Sons were order'd to pronounce is one of his Lordship's chief instances of a prescribed Form of Prayer So that if there be any Dissenters of the Opinion his Lordship attributes to 'em they shou'd renounce Communion with their own Churches and much more with the Dutch and French Churches among whom larger Forms are frequently us'd which he knows they are far from doing whatever others may have done who so uncharitably unchurch 'em for want of Prelatical Ordination I have already told him that the Directory recommends the Lord's Prayer as a Form and such Forms of Prayer were drawn up for publick use by the NC Divines at the Savoy in their Proposals for Accommodation and indeed the most unexceptionable ones I have yet seen as consisting almost entirely of scriptural expressions Nay even those who are most severe in condemning stinted Liturgys do it not because they think Forms of Prayer unlawful but because they look on the confining all publick Prayers to such prescribed Forms as a pernicious Engine to exclude the exercise of that Ability or Gift with which all duly qualifi'd Ministers are endu'd for Prayer as well as Preaching nay to exclude many occasional requests which such sett Forms cou'd make no particular provision for So that the whole of what he has said from p. 57. to p. 65. dos no more concern the Dissenters than himself and 't is easy for his Lp. to triumph when he meets with no Adversary And yet there are some things in his confutation of this pretended Principle very liable to exception As to instance in two 1. Since it appears by the foregoing Remarks that God has no more commanded our Praying with a Form than without one he shou'd if he had been impartial have represented the contrary Opinion of the unlawfulness of free prayer to be of altogether as dangerous consequence as that which he confutes and he 'll find that the best arguments he brings against the latter are altogether as valid against the former For that former Opinion wou'd have divided men from the Communion of the whole Church in its first and purest Ages And the forbidding free-prayer is attended with as many pernicious effâ—cts as the forbidding of Forms and perhaps more so that the Devil may have altogether as subtil and dangerous designs to drive on by seducing men to the one of these mistakes as to the other Nay this Opinion of the unlawfulness of free-free-prayer may as much tend to flatter men with a good opinion of themselves as if they discharg'd that duty sufficiently when like the Papists they have run over their Beads As the other Opinion can tempt men to think they are partakers of the sanctifying influences of the H. Spirit because they partake of a common Gift And I am sure the condemning free-prayer has a far more pernicious influence to hinder secret devotion For in free-prayer a man needs not express his desires in words at all and therefore need not forbear praying for want of a Form whereas if he omit free-free-prayer he must rarely ever suit that part of his devotions to his particular circumstances and condition 2. As his
Lp. has sufficiently wrong'd the Dissenters by falsly imputing such a Principle to 'em so he has greatly added to the injury by telling the world That on this account the pious custom of training up young people to a constant course of Devotion in their morning and evening secret prayers is too universally laid aside among the Dissenters as he has found by experience and for the truth of the observation he saith he dare appeal to all of the Dissenters Answ What is it that a man who is grown remarkable for his Talent of asserting boldly dare not venture on But sure he cannot hope by meer confidence to persuade us out of our senses And therefore since he appeals to us in this matter we must needs tell him We take what he asserts to be contrary to undoubted matter of Fact For we know of no Protestants in the world that more universally urge all in their Families to constant secret prayer than the Dissenters And we cou'd wish there were proportionably to the numbers on each side one of their Communion for five or ten of the Dissenters that maintain daily Family-prayer I know comparisons are odious and therefore shou'd never have made this if his Lp's gross partiality had not extorted it who in this charge has seem'd to lay aside all regard to truth or indeed to any appearance and shew of it It were very desirable that some of our Convocations wou'd take as effectual a course to promote secret and Family-devotion as that General Assembly in Scotland on whose words he wou'd have obtruded his first pretended Principle of the Dissenters who not only advise all particular persons to prayer and meditation but enjoyn Pastors to press it on all under their charge and the Heads of Familys to have a care that both themselves and all within their charge be daily diligent therein Directions c. p. 1. And I can hear of no Ministers that so frequently urge this duty on their People as theirs Nor do I know of any among the Dissenters that scruple the teaching their children the Lord's Prayer or other short Forms tho they may perhaps take more pains than others to prevent their saying 'em by rote without understanding ' em But I wonder much what his Lp. means when he tells us so gravely p. 64. As for children and ignorant people among those of this persuasion I am well assured many of 'em never bow their knees in secret to God and several of those that are grown up are forc'd to speak aloud or cannot pray at all which is against the nature of secret-prayer and exposes not only the person that uses it to the censure of hypocrisy but the duty to contempt I shall not now enquire how he is assur'd of what they do or do not in secret Nor need he sure be told that there are too many children and ignorant people in their Communion as well as that of the Dissenters that after all the pains taken to persuade 'em to their duty do yet neglect it But sure there is some strange mystery in what he asserts of those that are grown up if we cou'd but find it out Dos hâ—s Lp. then imagin that praying without a Form must necâ—ssâ—rily dispose a man to speak loud whereas if he pray'd by a Form it wou'd oblige him to whisper his devotions softly Or wou'd a conforming Lay-man that 's unaccustom'd to secret Prayer be less liable to this inconvenience of bawling out because he has his Prayer book before him Sure one wou'd think there 's as little danger of this in conceived prayer in which we need not foâ—m our dâ—sires into words or use our voice at all But if his Lp. in this only design'd to â—ell us of the weakness that some indiscreet persons have run into perhaps thro their zeal and earnestness tho ill-govern'd but which their opinion or practice as Dissenters has no influence on Why dos he trouble the world with such little impertinent storys as signify nothing to the purpose unless it be to expose his way of arguing to be smil'd at by the children and ignorant people themselves But what trifling things may not a wise man say when he pleads the Cause of a Party instead of that of Truth For his Lp's Third Principle of Dissenters viz. That the Minister is the Mouth of the Congregation and that the people have nothing to do but to joyn with him in their hearts I shall only suggest concerning it That 't is true we think the Minister is the Mouth of the Congregation and can find neither precept or pattern in Scripture for the Congregation's repeating a whole prayer together with the Minister much less of their so dividing the words between 'em as that the people rather make the Prayer as in most Petitions of she Litany nor dos the passage he alledges from 15 Rom. 6. prove any such thing And therefore on his weak Principles we might condemn their practice in this point as unlawful But we are far from being so rash and forward in our blind censures as he groundlesly insinuates p. 66. Nor do we as he here asserts suppose that the people have nothing to do but to joyn in their hearts with the Minister but suppose their adding their Amen a fit testimony of their assent to the publick Prayers they joyn in and he may in the Morning-Exerciâ—es of the Dissenting Ministers Printed at London find a whole Sermon on that head urging the people to pronounce their Amen more audibly than usually they do Having examin'd his Lp's unjust Account of their Principles I think it requisite to add a few things relating to Secondly Their general practice Concerning which I shall only suggest 1. Such as follow the Directory tho they are not confin'd to the words there propos'd yet look on 'em as the patterns to which the ordinary part of their Prayers shou'd be conform'd And accordingly The Directory dos require Ministers to pray to that effect Nor dos it disallow the use of those very expressions where the defectiveness of the Minister's Gifts or his unpreparedness by meditation renders it most conducive to publick edification So that neither are such Ministers left arbitrarily to choice as to the most stated and constant matters of Prayer nor the people left wholly at uncertainty about ' em 2. All Forms of Words in publick Worship are not disus'd by ' em They constantly use our Saviour's words 2 S Matth. 19. I Baptize thee in the Name c. in that Ordinance So do they retain his own words in the delivering the Bread and the Cup in the Lord's-Supper tho by the way our Service-Book has groundlesly alter'd and transform'd 'em into a Prayer for which I hope his Lp. will censure the Compilers of it as having preferr'd their own Invention before Christ's Institution So when they give the Blessing which is a Prayer they do it usually in some of the Apostolical Forms mention'd in the New
Testament Several of 'em use the lord's-Lord's-Prayer as a Form according to the advice of the Directory And for those that disuse it 't is because they either think it no Form suited to the Christian Church after Christ's Resurrection and Ascention or else think it not intended as a Form but only a Pattern because they never read afterwards in the New Testament of its being us'd as a Form Nay perhaps some may be too much led to the disuse of it in opposition to the contrary extreme of others who place some peculiar merit or vertue in the repeating these words And his Lp. seems to be one that has run into this extreme not only by supposing us oblig'd to use these words whenever we pray p. 32 33. and making the use of 'em a Badge of our Christian Profession p. 35. but by recommending the saying these words as the way to obtain pardon for our infirmities in our other prayers p. 34. But I wonder who those are of whom his Lp. tells us that they publickly dispute against this Form because of that Petition in it Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us p. 34. For I cou'd never hear of any such publick Disputation on that Subject nor indeed of any Dissenter that ever offer'd such a foolish Objection some of 'em perhaps may have censur'd those as hypocritical in the use of this Petition who are so far from forgiving their enemies as to bear an irreconcilable temper towards their Friends and their Brethren 3. The true Reason why the Dissenting Ministers so generally disuse Forms of Prayer compos'd by others is not because they judge all Forms of Prayer unlawful but because they think free-prayer gives 'em the advantage to suit this part of their Ministrations better to the Edification of their people And they are very much confirm'd in this Opinion both by what they observe in the H. Scriptures and by experience As to the H. Scriptures They not only find no such stinted Liturgys prescrib'd either by Christ or his Apostles but no orders given to any Pastors of the Church to compose 'em for others much less any warrant to enjoyn the use of ' em They think it therefore most probable if not certain that even ordinary Pastors in the Apostles time and in some Ages after us'd free-prayer i. e. their publick Prayers as well as Sermons were the exercise of those ordinary Gifts and Abilities with which they were furnisht for their ministerial Office and not a meer repetition or reading of Forms presâ—ribed to 'em by others Nay they think the confining Pastors to such prescribed Forms renders 'em incapable of complying with the general Rules of Scripture that require us to suit our Prayers to all particular emergent occasions which the Bishop himself owns cannot well be done without the use of free or as he calls 'em extempore-prayers p. 54. They think it therefore every way the safest to come herein as near as possible to the practice of the Christian Church in the Apostles time and those succeeding Ages wherein it retain'd most of its primitive purity Nor are they less strengthened in their judgment by experience on which some stress may be justly laid when we are to determine the modes of Worship â—eft undetermin'd in Scripture agreeably to the general Rules of Scripture and especially that of doing all to Edification Now the Dissenters observe that where publick Forms have been impos'd and the ministration of Pastors confin'd to 'em It has been generally attended with ill effects both in reference to Ministers and people 1. In reference to Ministers For as in those Christian Countreys where Preaching has been disus'd and Forms of Instruction and Exhortation call'd Homilys or Sermons provided for the Clergy they have by this use of 'em sunk into general ignorance and sloth and taken little pains to furnish themselves with abilities to instruct their people So where stinted Liturgys have been impos'd the Clergy by the constant use of 'em generally so habituate themselves to these Crutches that they are unable to go without 'em and find themselves at a great loss when they shou'd accommodate their publick or private prayers to that great variety of particular occasions wherein they shou'd be the mouth of their people in their addresses to God Whereas the constant exercise of their abilities in publick Prayer as well as Preaching greatly improves 'em and furnishes 'em for assisting their Flocks with their prayers in all those manifold necessities in which prescribed Forms are no more peâ—tinent to their case than general remedies to particular diseases 2. In reference to the peâ—ple For they generally observe them prone to grow more cold and unaffâ—cted under the continual use of such forms and consequently in greater danger of turning that holy duty into a customary lifeless repetition of the words prescribed to ' em And tho this be not in it self a necessary inevitable consequence of prescribed formâ— because no doubt a well prepared mind may use such with true fervor of pious affection yet considering the common temper of mankind there is something in the constant use of the same words that dos as naturally tend to dull our affections as the constant use of the same Instrument and Tune is tedious to a musical Ear whereas a sutable variety tends more to raise and elevate ' em And tho perhaps some few very devout persons may avoid this inconvenience of constant publick Forms yet it seems incurable in the generality of the people whose case must be chiefly consider'd when we consult their Edification in determining the particular modes of Worship I will not disown that there are some inconveniencys on the other side which I shall propose with the same freedom and offer my thoughts of ' em 'T is indeed true as the Bp. suggests p. 41. that in a stinted Liturgy the people are more exactly acquainted before-hand with the words of the Prayer they are to joyn in than when the Minister is left to the exercise of his own Abilities But as this inconvenience relates rather to the words than the ordinary matter of our Prayers so how little weight there is in the argument drawn thence against free-prayer I refer the Reader to the excellent reply given to it by the fore-mentioned Bp. Wilkins Gift of Prayer p. 12. Whereas saith that pious Author 't is commonly objected by some That they cannot so well joyn in an unknown Form For so he calls free-free-prayer in respect of those that hear it with which they are not before-hand acquainted I answer That 's an inconsiderable Objection and dos oppose all kind of Forms that are not publickly prescrib'd As a man may in his judgment assent unto any divine Truth deliver'd in a Sermon which he never heard before so may he joyn in his affections to a holy desire in a Prayer which he never heard before If he who is the Mouth of the rest deliver thro
imprudence what we cannot approve of God dos not look upon it as our Prayer if our desires do not say Amen to it But the main inconvenience arises from the danger of exâ—osing the duty to contempt by unbeseeming expressions which men of weak judgments often fall into Of which his Lp. gives us a hint p. 56. and give him his due expresses himself with great modesty and truly Christian prudence on that occasion where the weakness and indecencys of some might perhaps have given him some real advantage to expose ' em But as to this I shall only suggest That I think such as are incapable of using free-prayer without apparent hazard of rendring it contemptible by their indecent manner of performing it shou'd no more be admitted to the Ministerial Office than those that cannot Preach without the same danger Or at least that where no better can be had such shou'd rather according to the direction the General Assembly in Scotland fore-mention'd gives to Masters of Familys begin with some good Forms till by study and exercise they are capable to do better Having said thus much in reference to our practice I shall only subjoyn as to that of the Establisht Church 1. That for persons uninspir'd to compose Forms of Prayer and impose the use of 'em upon others is neither warranted by scriptural precept or pattern and is in the Bp's sense only an human Invention But to confine all publick Prayers to such prescribed Forms is inconsistent with the general Rules of the H. Scriptures relating to this duty 2. That the Reading of publick Prayer I mean Prose not Psalm-prayers has neither precept nor example in the Word of God nor indeed in the practice of the Primitive Church in which it was the common custom to pray either with their eyes shut or lifted up towards Heaven And indeed this practice tends so much to dull the affections of those that joyn in this duty that 't is great pitty that those who for want of the gift of prayer are obliged to use Forms shou'd not at least be furnisht with the gift of memory to repeat 'em without Book 3. I think the Arguments us'd in the grand Debate at the Savoy against the frequent Repetitions in the Litany and the shortness of the Collects as defects that needed being reform'd have never yet been well answer'd And now I shall conclude this Chapter by taking a little notice of the wonderful discovery the Bishop has made of that double Artifice or Trick the Dissenters use to make Forms of Prayer of their own pass with the people for extempore-ones The one by composing several Forms and committing 'em to memory and then transposing the several parts of 'em The other by remembring the several ways they have tried in their secret prayers to express the same thing p. 55 56. As to which I shall only observe That the Dissenters have some reason to take it unkindly that he shou'd expose their secrets to the world But this is a piece of treachery that must always be expected from those that desert their own Party and have no other way to ingratiate themselves with their new friends Only they wonder why he shou'd strive to make two secrets of one For they cannot clearly discern any greâ—ter difference between these two methods than between two different ways of expressing the same thing But to do right to his Lp's admirable Wit what he has discover'd is yet so real a secret to all I have discourst about it that I cannot find one of 'em was acquainted with it before and therefore we are all oblig'd to return him thanks for teaching us this new and more dexterous Art of managing our Devotions Remarks on the Chapter concerning Hearing And First for the Directions of the H. Scriptures about it I shall only observe I. THat I do fully agree with him in general That the Word of God shou'd be Read in Christian as well as in Jewish Assemblys There is no doubt it was so in the Jewish Synagogues And 't is highly reasonable to suppose that the Writings of the New Testament were design'd to be read in Christian Churches according to what the Bp. has quoted from 4 Col. 16. And there is no doubt they were so read in the Primitive Churches Tho that other place which the Bp. cites wherein the Apostle Paul charges Timothy to give Attendance to Reading as well as Exhortation and Doctrine 1 Tim. 4.13 will not afford any cogent argument to this purpose Because Reading here as well as Meditation v. 15. may be understood of those private subservient means which young Timothy was here advis'd to use for promoting his proficiency in divine knowledge and furnishing him the better for the exercise of his Ministry in Exhortation and Doctrine And this I take to be the more probable sense of the words II. That Reading the Law is in the Scriptures call'd Preaching of it I do not find any solid proof for For in the passage he alledges for this purpose 15 Acts 21. Moses in old time has in every City them that Preach him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day Preaching may be there justly understood of those Expositions of the Law and Applications of it which were usual and are elsewhere observ'd by the Bp. from 13 Acts 14. p 75. And of such Exposition and Application 't is most reasonable to understand that noted place 8 Neh. 8. where 't is said They read in the Book in the Law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caus'd 'em to understand the Reading And the Bp. dos not expresly determine whether giving the sense must be understood of a Grammatical or a Theological Interpretation p. 74. I hope he includes the latter For indeed to suppose that those words meâ—râ—y relate to translating the words of the Law out of the Hebrew into another Language is to put a very jejune sense on 'em without the least necessity and contrary to probable evidence from other places and particularly from that fore-mention'd 13 Acts 14. To which I might add the testimony of Philo who tells us apud Euseb de Prepar Evang. lib. 8. cap. 2. that the Priests or one of the Elders was wont to read the Law and then distinctly explain it But tho I wou'd not exclude a Grammatical Exposition of the words of the Law from being intended here yet I fee no reason why the Bp. shou'd hence recommend to us the Reading the Original sometimes in publick Assemblys as he seems here to do p. 74. unless he cou'd suppose two things First that the body of our people cou'd as easily come to understand Hebrew and Greek as those Jewish Exiles might recover the knowledge of their mother-tongue and Secondly that the generality of Readers had the same Gift of Reading those Original Languages as some in the Primitive Church had of speaking all others viz. by Inspiration For I am afraid otherwise many of 'em wou'd but
this for a just temptation to suspect that he has some design upon his Readers For the 5th Excuse p. 96. viz. That the Word of God that dead Letter is a dull formal thing without spirit or life where it is not applied c. I wonder what Dissenter suggested it to his Lordship For 't is a very dull pretence and yet I do not see that the main thing he insists on in his Answer dos vary much from the nature of the Objection For not to insist on his still calling that a human Invention which is undoubtedly of Divine Appointment and by his own Confession has the warrant of Scriptural Example p. 75 If there be any thing to the purpose against the Dissenters practice in his 3d. and 4th Consideration it must be founded on this supposition That 't is a great character of a Spiritual Man to love to hear the Scriptures read without any Exposition or Application but of a Carnal Man to delight more in Scripture read and expounded too then in the Scripture barely read For so he applies that noted passage of the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 2.13 And thence He reproaches the Dissenters as notwithstanding all their pretences to a more then ordinary spiritualness and reformation little advanc't above the natural man that neither receives nor relishes the things of God at least not as they ought Answ If any thing cou'd put us out of conceit with Expositions of the Scripture it wou'd be such scurvy and abusive ones as this which his Lp. here offers And I do not believe there is any Dissenter but wou'd delight in the perusal of those excellent words of the Apostle while he nauseates such an insipid gloss on ' em For must it not argue a strange Confusion in a man's Notions of things to suppose those things so opposite and inconsistent that so admirably accord together Dos the Bishop think the style of the Scriptures is as familiar to ordinary Readers now as it was to those to whom the several parts of it were first immediately directed or that there is no difficulty in the ordinary parts of it that renders a brief Interpretation highly useful to the Church And do those love or relish the Word of God less then others who are not contented with the bare reading of it without desiring all the help their Teachers can give 'em for their right understanding and applying it Was it an Argument of a carnal mind in the Queen of Candace's Treasurer that he was not satisfied with reading God's Word by the Prophet Isaiah without desiring Philip to expound it 8. Acts 27 Is it so carnal a practice in Ministers to read Commentators on the Bible or in the People to desire to enjoy this fruit of their studies and labours Is it a carnal temper to be most affected with the Scriptures when we most clearly discern the true sense of 'em but on the contrary a spiritual disposition to delight in 'em most when we understand 'em least Or rather dos not such discourse as this look too like a shrewd design to gratifie the carnal and lazy humour of the Clergy by excusing 'em from the pains they should take in studying the Scriptures in order to the edifying their People by a judicious interpretation of ' em As if our Author wou'd have e'm all transform'd into such as the 49th Canon of the Church of England refers to who tho Benefic't yet being unlicens't to Preach are not to take on them to Expound in their own Cure or elsewhere any Scripture or matter of Doctrine and have no higher priviledge allow'd 'em then that they study to read aptly and plainly without glozing or adding the Homilies already set forth c. And by the way I perceive the Compilers of those Canons were great Strangers to our Author's Notion of Preaching But after he has examin'd the pretences he feigns the Dissenters to make for 't is evident they never brought any for not Reading the Scriptures he ventures to give us what he himself takes to be the true Reason of their supposed Neglect of it which he draws from 2 Tim. 4.3 of which he gives us an admirable Interpretation The Apostles words are For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own Lusts shall heap up to themselves Teachers having itching Ears Now an itching Ear saith the Bp. is one that loves novelty and variety Because therefore our Church gives the People little that is new in her prayers or reading the Scriptures but retains a Form of sound words in the one and the plain word of God in the other Hence it is that some People cannot endure our service but heap up to themselves Teachers that instead of Prayers and Praises of God's immediate Appointment will gratify 'em every meeting with a new Prayer without troubling 'em with such Prayers and Sermons as they think old which are incomparably better Only the itching Ears of the People as the Apostle foretold are pleased with the novelty and variety of the one and disgust the repetition of the other as the Israelites did that of Angels Food 78 Ps 25.21 Num. 5. Answ If we be so fond of Novelty and Variety as the Bp. supposes he has been very studious to gratify our humour in this new Paraphrase of which I dare say no Expositor before him ever dream'd For whereas the Apostle is plainly speaking of such as cou'd not endure sound Doctrine and therefore sought out Teachers that wou'd gratify 'em with some new Doctrines more grateful to their Lusts or Fancys and entertain their itching Ears as the Apostle explains himself in the next verse with Fables instead of Truth The Bp. dos with profound judgment apply it to those that desire to have the Scriptures clearly explain'd to their Understandings and impartially applied to their Consciences As if the Apostle had here quarrell'd with the People for desiring Sermons when he had in the very verse before urg'd Timothy to preach the word To be instant in season and out of season To reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and Doctrine And if we shou'd grant the Bp. for once tho as I have shew'd him before there is no reason for it that the Apostle by preaching the word understood Reading it yet according to himself Rebuking reproving and exhorting with all long suffering and doctrine must imply an Exposition and Application of what was read So that the Bp. has unhappily expounded and applied this passage of the Apostle in direct opposition to the very scope of it which was to urg Timothy to constant preaching in our and the common sence of the word as the most effectuall means to cure people of that itching desire after such new Doctrines and Fables as wou'd please their wanton fancys or vitious Inclinations Whereas the Bp. imagines that the Apostle here condems the People's fondness for such Sermons as the very fault they were to be cur'd of
great source of the deplorable degeneracy and corruption of our Youth And I heartily wish the Clergy were herein more exemplary to the Laity by making their Houses lesser Churches and fruitful Seminarys of Religion I hope the Dissenters of that Diocess as well as in other parts of the Kingdom set 'em herein a Pattern worthy their imitation But why his Lordship shou'd in their Family-Prayers seem to confine 'em to the words of the Church I see no reason unless he supposes those Forms such a Catholicon in Devotion as some boast their Recipe's to be in Physick that will suit all particular Diseases 2. In his exhorting 'em not only to Innocency of life but to Christian moderation too For certainly when our Zeal instead of being lay'd out to promote the great and important Interests of our common Christianity is chiefly spent about lesser matters disputable among truly good men It turns into a praeternatural and feavourish heat that preys on the Vitals of Religion But I must add That I understand not Why Innocency of Life and moderation in the Conforming Laity shou'd any more convince the Non Conformists of the unreasonableness of seperation from them then the like Innocency and moderation of the Non Conformists shou'd convince their Conforming brethren of the unreasonableness of seperation from them And no doubt but all good men on both sides enjoy that Communion of Saints which our Creed speaks of And where their difference of Judgment about some modes of Worship unavoydably occasions that difference of Practise which some improperly call difference of Communion yet there is no reason it shou'd disunite their Affections They retain Communion in the Essentials of Belief Worship and Holiness and are cemented by those common bands of Christian Unity mentioned 4. Eph. 4 5 6. One Body one Spirit one Hope of their Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father And so far as they are acted by the genuine Spirit of Christianity they will endeavour to preserve this Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace by mutual Forbearance as to that diversity of external Rites and Modes about which it cannot be Expected but that the different apprehensions of pious men will occasion diversity in their practise especially where any unnecessary or suspected Rites are imposed IV. For his Advice to the Dissenting Laity of Derry I Shall only offer the following Remarks 1. His Lp. dos well to refer 'em to their Bibles as I have also done in this Discourse and I hope they will herein imitate those noble Beraeans by examining what is said according to that unerring Standard and Test of Divine Truth 2. That Men are more fond of their own Inventions then of God's Commands is a Truth that Experience puts out of all doubt But that all those Popish Corruptions of Image Worship Prayers for the dead Purgatory the Intercession of Saints Half Comunion and Worshipping the Host were meerly introduc't by the violent fondness of the People for 'em against the will of the Church Governours who generally oppos'd and condemn'd 'em is an Observation that I can see little ground for in Church-History As to some of 'em I think it far more probable that they had their rise either from the imprudent Zeal or the politick Contrivance of the Clergy who found 'em Serviceable to squeeze the Purses as well as enslave the Consciences of the People 'T is certain that when those corruptions were once entertain'd the Clergy were generally the most violent defenders of 'em and the most cruel persecutors of all that made any Attempts towards Reformation But the Bp. applys this Observation to Extemporary Prayers which as he supposes to be an human Invention so he tells us The People have brought 'em into practise against the Opinion and Constitution of the Church Covernours and of the first Reformers who all did settle Liturgys in the Churches which they reform'd This Knox did in Scotland whose Liturgy we have ready to produce to the Conviction of those who pretend to be his Successors and yet condemn Forms of Prayer as unlawful This Luther did for Germany and Calvin for Geneva and for the French-Church whose Liturgys are still us'd by ' em Answ I hope I have already sufficiently prov'd That Praying without Forms is as much of Divine Institution as Praying with 'em and consequently the Bishop has no more reason to call the one a Human Invention then the other Nay since there is not the least evidence of any stinted Liturgy prescrib'd or recommended to the Christian Church by Christ or his Apostles but so strong presumption to the contrary that in the Apostolical and I may add in the two or three following Ages even ordinary Pastors us'd free-prayer or prayed in the exercise of their own Abilities There is much more reason to rank such stinted Liturgies among the Bishop's sort of Human Inventions For they have certainly neither precept nor pattern for 'em in the New Testament as us'd in the Christian Church and we do in the use of 'em vary from Apostolical pattern And I take this account he has given us of the Original of what he calls Extempore-Prayers to be a very lame and untrue one For if free-prayer unconfin'd to a stinted Liturgy was the practice of the three first Centuries and Dr. Comber's proofs to the contrary are I think invalidated by his modest and learned Examinator to the full satisfaction of an unprejudic'd Reader Then the Bp. is first concerned to acquaint us how such stinted Liturgies were brought into general use And if he will take the Opinion of the learned Capellus in this matter even in that very Disputation in which he so severely censures the Compilers of the Directory prescribed Liturgies were unknown to the Apostolical and succeeding Ages and were not introduc'd till those Persecutions ceas'd which kept alive the Zeal of the Primitive Christians and till through the favour of Christian Emperors the Number of Christians Encreas'd but the Fervour of true Piety and Devotion was Allay'd And then they were gradually introduc'd for the use of simple and unlearned Ministers who through their Sloth were unfurnish'd with Gifts and through their Ignorance in danger of venting such unsound Notions as subtile Hereticks might instill into ' em †See Thes Sal. p. 657. But it was much later before stinted Liturgies came into general use even in those Ages the Fifth Sixth c. in which the Clergy gradually degenerated into Laziness and Ignorance as well as Worldliness and Pride and true Devotion sunk into Formality and Superstition And hereby the ruling part of the Clergy had the easier opportunity to propagate all their gainful Errors and Superstitions among the People by infusing the poyson of 'em into the Publick Offices of Devotion For such prescribed Liturgies were first set up in Patriarchal and Metropolitan Churches such as Rome Alexandria Antioch Constantinople c. And there was very great diversity of 'em
in the Western as well as Eastern Churches for some Ages till by the Artifices and Tyranny of the Popes all or most of the Western Churches were reduc'd to a Conformity herein to that of Rome whose Publick Offices had frequent Additions to 'em and Changes in ' em And therefore 't is no wonder that when our first Reformers began to oppose the Corruptions of Popery they should yet retain the use of Liturgies For the Clergy were at that time so generally over-spread with deplorable Ignorance that it was not to be expected that those of 'em that embrac'd the Reformation should be immediately qualify'd to pray without Forms to which they had never been accustomed They were so far from being capable of that that they were judged generally unfit to instruct the People and therefore Homilies were composed for their use as well as Liturgies But as when by the Revival and Increase of Learning the Clergy generally acquir'd better Abilities and so Homilies were gradually laid aside the strong having no more need of such Crutches so the same might have been expected in reference to Prayer as well as Preaching And accordingly the Dissenters in England and the Presbyterians in Scotland did gradually revive the practice of praying without a stinted Liturgy And those in France and Holland that retain some few short Forms yet leave their 2Ministers at liberty to exercise their Gifts in free-occasional-free-occasional-Prayer and look on such stinted Liturgies as exclude this Exercise of the Ministers Abilities as too great an Encouragement to Sloth and Ignorance in ' em Insomuch as the foresaid Capellus when upon the like mistake with our Author he so sharply chides the N. C's in England for condemning Forms of Prayer as Vnlawful yet does he warmly censure the rigour of such as under pretence of certain and prescribed Forms of Liturgies study to banish out of the Church all use of Prayers conceived by particular Ministers Themselves and disowns this from being his Design So that the main Reason why our first Reformers retain'd Liturgies does not extend to such a state of the Church wherein the Learning and Abilities of Ministers are or should be so improv'd as to set 'em as much above the need of stinted Forms of Prayer as of Preaching And accordingly those Churches whose Reformation was carried to the greatest height did not by any Forms of Prayer they retain'd to express their Concord in that Duty exclude the use of free-Prayer Nor do any Dissenters condemn all publick use of Forms but only such as tempts Ministers to a neglect of the Gift of Prayer and hinders 'em from suiting all the Exigencies and Occasions of their Flocks in that part of their Publick Devotions For the Bishop's Reason why the generality of the People are better pleas'd with Extemporary Prayers than with such Forms viz. Because the Novelty of the one gratifies more Men's carnal and itching Ears with a kind of sensual delight and requires less pains to strain up their Minds to true Devotion p. 184 185. 'T is a very confused one wherein there is something of Truth mixt with weak and censorious Mistakes 'T is true indeed that considering the general temper of Mankind the Variety of Matter as well as of Expression in free Prayer tends more to raise Mens Devotion than the constant Repetition of the same Forms Nor can the People so readily believe that a Minister prays from his heart when he reads a prescribed Form as when he delivers a free Prayer that is the result of his previous meditation So that in this respect free Prayer has much the Advantage above Forms that 't is a greater Help to inward Devotion which is sufficient to recommend this mode of praying as in general far preferrable to the other There is something of Truth in those Expressions of Sir W. C. * Character of a Whig and Tory p. 20. tho' perhaps there is too much of the Air of a Gentleman in 'em When a Man qualify'd endu'd with Learning too and adorn'd with a good Life breaks out into a warm and well-deliver'd Prayer before a Sermon it has the appearance of a Divine Rapture He raises and leads the Hearts of the Assembly in another manner than the most composed and best studied Forms can do And the Pray-we's wou'd look like so many Statues or Men of Straw in the Pulpit compar'd with those who speak with so powerful Zeal that men are tempted to believe Heaven it self has directed their Words to ' em But why the Bp. should make it a carnal temper in the People to desire the best Helps that can be given 'em to excite their Devotions in Prayer and cure their natural indisposition to that Duty I cannot conceive It looks rather like a carnal temper in the Clergy to deny 'em this excellent Help to indulge their own Sloth and Ease Nor do I see why the People must be accus'd of itching Ears because they are prone to be more dull under the constant Repetition of the same Forms than under the Variety of Matter and Expression that occurs in free Prayer He might as well upbraid 'em with itching Ears because they wou'd be more dull in singing if the same Psalm and Tune were constantly used than when Variety of both is allow'd 'em or because they wou'd be more dull if the same Homilies were constantly read than under that more grateful variety of Instructions that Sermons contain But I wonder most why his Lordship shou'd in this respect compare free Prayer to Images and Relicks and Mediatory Saints p. 185. unless he fancies that the use of Images Relicks and Mediatory Saints does as much more contribute to raise true Devotion in the Worship of God than the simplicity of his own Uncorrupted Institutions as the use of free Prayer contributes more to it than stinted Forms And if he truly think so the Papists are greatly obliged to his Lordship for this favourable Character of the tendency and effects of these Superstitions But if his Lordship had duly consider'd that while free-free-Prayer continu'd in the Church these Superstitions were unknown in it and that they were gradually introduc'd in the same Ages in which stinted Liturgies gradually came into general use it might have prevented this invidious but groundless comparison between the influence of free Prayer and that of those gross Corruptions I am sure such stinted Forms when read out of a Book look more like lifeless Images of Devotion than those Prayers that are the result of the serious Meditations and Affections of him that delivers ' em And if the fondness of Ill People for any way of Devotion be an Argument that 't is not of God as the Bishop farther insinuates p. 185. I am apt to think it will make much more against stinted Liturgies than against free Prayer For he will hardly be able to perswade us that the Debauchee's of the Age dote on Extempore Prayers as he calls 'em and that the most serious
and religious have the same violent passion for prescribed Forms 3. We must beg his Lordships pardon if we cannot easily believe 't is only Conscience that makes the Conforming Clergy so generally decline Extemporary Prayers For if by Extempore Prayers he means such as are free and unconfin'd to any prescribed Forms he seems himself to own p. 54. That there are some occasions that require it even in publick p. 54. and I see no ground to doubt but that they are ordinarily more convenient then set Forms if those Prayers be most convenient that tend most to raise true Devotion in the minds of the People But we must much more beg his Lp's pardon for not believing what he adds for Confirmation of this account of their disusing free Prayer For it seems a very surprizing Discovery that he has made to us when he tells us p. 186. 'T is manifest that Extemporary Prayers wou'd be much more easy to most of us and less burthensom then the service we use You may think otherwise but assure your selves that you are mistaken And I dare appeal to those that have tried both whether is most easie There are such both amongst you and us that have made the experiment And I dare refer it to 'em to declare on their Consciences which of the two Services they look on to be the greater burthen to him that performs ' em Whatever you may think if we wou'd indulg our selves It were no hard matter for the meanest of us to pass an Extemporary Prayer on our Auditory or turn the heads of our Sermon into one Ans We pay a great deference to his Lp's Judgment but we cannot without offering great violence to our own understandings bring 'em to assent to so incredible a Paradox meerly because 't is deliver'd with so extraordinary an Air of assurance much less can we entertain that as a manifest Truth which to us seems so contrary to common sense For we cannot imagine what unsupportable burthen it shou'd be for a man to read the Service of the Church when he has the Book before him unless when he is pain'd with sore eyes or terribly hoarse with a great Cold For then it may possibly be some considerable Trouble to him But for a Minister to deliver a free Prayer in a Publick Assembly And the Bp. knows the Dissenters are seldom accused for theirs being too short requires both serious Meditation before hand to suit it to the occasion and to the state of his People and the Laborious Exercise of his Judgment his Invention and Memory which is a real burthen and difficulty to those that are not by deep Study and frequent Exercise habituated to it Nay tho the Dissenters shou'd Pray in that new way his Lp. has contriv'd for 'em by patching together several pieces of old Forms to make a new dress of it yet this wou'd require some Exercise of their Judgment and Memory to tack 'em right together and to repeat 'em without hesitation And this sure is not so easie a matter as what he cannot deny every School-boy to be capable of viz. to turn over the leaves and Read what is usually in a fair and large Print His Lp. may if he please appeal from common sense to Experience but by all that I have yet convers'd with on this Subject his assertion seems as strange to them as it does to us Nor can I meet with any of these Vertuoso's in Devotion that pretend upon any Experiments they have made to give their suffrage to his new Observation We do not indeed doubt of his Lp's Abilities but he must allow us to doubt of those of the body of the inferior Clergy who I fear wou'd think it a severe imposition upon 'em if their Diocesans shou'd oblige 'em to the frequent Exercise of their Talents this way For I have heard several Clergy-men of no mean parts complain of the unhappy inability for free Prayer that general disuse had brought upon 'em and I believe I might herein with much better reason appeal to Experience But since his Lp's hand is in for Paradoxes I think he shou'd have added one more viz. That 't is manifest that 't is a far greater burden for the Clergy to Read the Homilies of the Church or other Mens Sermons than to Preach Sermons of their own and I doubt not he may with as much reason appeal to the Experience of those that have tried both to attest the Truth of it And if he can make good the Truth of these two Paradoxes the N.C. Ministers will hence forward pass for lazy Drones while the poor Readers of the Church are accounted the truest Labourers But to give the latter their due the most of 'em take too much pains for that sorry hire that 's allow'd 'em by such of their Brethren as are laborious enough to engross Church-Livings but too far consult their ease to make the Duties of their Function any burthen to ' em Lastly For his Request to the Dissenting Laiety That they wou'd believe he heartily desires and studies the good of their Souls I hope they are willing to gratify him herein as far as rational Charity can allow Only it wou'd greatly facilitate their Belief of it if they found him more tender of their good Name and just Reputation And they are sory to find that notwithstanding all his professions of good-will he shou'd shew so little regard to that not only in a continued Series of unjust Accusations through his whole Book but especially in the following words in which he has drawn up a comprehensive Summary charge sufficient to render 'em odious if it be believ'd but they are confident too apparently groundless to gain credit with any that will pass a Righteous and Impartial Judgement on these matters His Lp's words are For how is it possible that any Man that has a Zeal for the Purity of God's worship shou'd not have his Spirit mov'd within him to see a well meaning People so strangely mis-led as to content themselves to meet together perhaps for some years with a design to worship God and yet hardly ever see any thing of God's Immediate Appointment in their Meetings Now to my thoughts this is manifestly the case of many of you since a Man may frequent some Meetings among you for some years and never hear a Prayer a Psalm or Chapter which has been imediately dictated by God and never be call'd on to bow his knee to God or see either Minister or People Address themselves to him in that humble posture Lastly never see any body offer to Administer or desire to Receive the Food of Life in the Lord's Supper These are melancholy Reflections to me who believe that God has requir'd these in his Worship And therefore I hope you will take it in good part that I Endeavour to Restore them to you Ans If the Case of the Dissenters be truly such as the Bp. Represents it His Zeal to recover the
Purity of Divine Worship among 'em is highly commendable and wou'd deserve their thankful acknowledgments But if the whole of this heavy Charge be so far from being manifestly true that 't is rather apparently groundless and unjust There will be some occasion to suspect that his Lordships Zeal has more of heat then light in it and is but the Zeal of a Party that often transports Men beyond all bounds of Truth when 't is their design to render those odious whom they account their Adversaries And whether this charge be not so apparently groundless and unjust will appear upon the Review of it For do the Dissenters content themselves to meet together for some years and yet hardly ever see any thing of God's immediate Appointment among 'em when they have every Lords-day Prayer Praise Reading and Expounding and Applying the Word of God and frequently Baptism and the Lords-Supper which are all Duties of God's immediate Appointment Or can he tell us of any other parts of Divine Worship besides these that are instituted by God But his Lordship perhaps does not speak so much of these parts of Divine worship themselves as of the manner of performing ' em For when he comes to make good his charge he tells us A Man may frequent your Meeting some years and never hear a Prayer a Psalm or a Chapter which has been immediatly dictated by God c. But why does he charge the Dissenters for never using a Prayer immediately dictated by God If he speak of Psalm Prayers what he saith is notoriously untrue If he speak of Prose-Prayers why does he make it our Crime to use no such Prayers immediately dictated by God when he cannot produce any shaddow of proof of any such Prayers immediatly dictated by God for the use of the Christian Church unless the Lords Prayer Nor is there any clear Evidence of its being dictated as a Form to be used in our Publick Assemblies Or does he think their Collects any more immediatly dictated by God than our free Prayers are I hope he may from the foregoing Discourse find that the latter are more agreeable to the Precepts of the New Testament and much more to the Pattern of the Apostolick Church than stinted Liturgies Again why dos he tell us that the Dissenters may in several years never hear a Psalm immediately dictated by God When Psalms are constantly sung in their Meetings much more than in the Parish-Churches And can he find any other use of 'em prescrib'd to the Christian Church except that of their being read for instruction as they are among us equally with other parts of the Old Testament Or is he so weak as to imagin that a Prose Version of the Psalms is immediatly dictated by God but a Metre-version is not when God has immediatly dictated neither and when the true sense of the original is as much the word of God when in metre as when in prose Again why shou'd he tell us of our not hearing a Chapter immedialy dictated by God when he never immediatly dictated any such division of the Scriptures into Chapters at all nay when an entire portion of Scripture and usually a whole Chapter and sometimes more is so constantly read and expounded besides the reading so many parallel Texts to explain and urge some doctrine or precept of the Christian Religion i. e. when the Scriptures are read all the several ways we have any pattern for in the Christian Church Again why dos he make it a Crime that we do not bow our knees to God when we either use that posture or that other of standing which is as much a scriptural posture and equally expressive of our religious reverence in all our immediate addresses to God Again why shou'd he accuse those as never seeing one offering to administer or desiring to receive the food of life in the Lord's-Supper who tho they communicate seldomer than other Dissenters yet ordinarily do it oftner then the Conforming Laity in most parts of the Kingdom One wou'd think his Lp. might have spar'd 'em the labour of so obvious and easie an Apology by forbearing such accusations as have not so much as an appearance of Truth or Justice But if he cannot perceive things that are so clear and plain the Dissenters will in requital of his prayer for 'em bag of Gâ—d that he may open the eyes of his understanding And they hope when those scales are fallen off I mean those unhappy prejudices that hinder him from discerning these things in their true light then these melancholly reflections will quickly vanish with which his mind has been so much disturb'd on this occasion For now if he please he may clearly see the Dissenters enjoy already all those divine Appointments which he is so sollicitous to restore to 'em and whatever others do free from any mixture of sinful human Inventions And as they thank him for his endeavour to instruct 'em so they humbly request he wou'd calmly and impartially consider what is here offer'd for their necessary vindication Which if he do they do not despair but it may recover him to a more favourable opinion of his Brethren and a more charitable temper towards 'em and may oblige him as an evidence thereof not only to retract his former uncharitable exclusion of 'em from the Catholick Church but this super-added injury in charging their Worship with human Inventions and so frequently misrepresenting their opinions and practices contrary to plain evidence in order to the countenancing that groundless Accusation For such Justice and Charity towards our Fellow-Christians is most becoming those that profess to expect that great day when the universal Shepherd will appear and call both Pastors and their Flocks to a strict account at that general and final Visitation APPENDIX To the Remarks I have already made on the Bishop's Discourse I think it necessary to subjoyn these two Additional ones I. THat his Lordship has omitted one material part of Divine Worship about the manner of performing which the Contest between the Establisht Church and the Dissenters dos most directly concern this charge of human Inventions in the Worship of God For of those two Sacraments which are the two parts of positive instituted Worship peculiar to the Christian Religion he has only consider'd that of the Lord's-Supper but has said nothing concerning the other which is as undoubted a part of Divine Worship and the very Sacrament of our initiation into the Christian Church viz. Baptism I confess his prudence and foresight seems very commendable in this wary silence and omission For 't is easier to answer such objections as he himself makes for the Dissenters than those they make for themselves But I cannot so much commend his candour and ingenuity in it For he cou'd not be ignorant that here the Dissenters particularly us'd to fix their charge of human Inventions in the Worship of God which the Bp. has been so far from endeavouring to clear their
of enquiring into any scandalous miscarriages among 'em and suiting their admonitions to the case of such Offenders and judging whether there be or be not a credible profession of Repentance made by ' em Nor can there be any danger of their abusing that sacred censure of Excommunication by being too rash in it for that danger is fully obviated by the method propos'd in the foremention'd model of AB Usher which refers the decreeing that sentence to the monthly Synod of the Ministers in that Precinct or part of the Diocess of which the Suffragan or Chorepiscopus is the Moderator In the mean time we cou'd wish that Parish-Ministers were more effectually urg'd to observe the 20th Canon which charges 'em not to admit to the holy Cammunion any of their Cure or Flock which â—e openly known to live in notorious sin without Repentance tho we can expect no very considerable effects of such a temporary suspension when it obliges the Minister to turn Informer against such Offenders in the Spiritual Court where they are sure to be put to great charges by which method he is but like to alienate their hearts from him and frustrate the success of all those admonitions by which he shou'd endeavour to recover 'em to Repentance 7. They wou'd farther humbly desire that some more effectual care may be taken for the tryal of those that are to be admitted into Holy Orders For the 32d Canon enjoyns the Bishop to examin 'em in the presence of those Ministers that shall assist at the Imposition of hands or at least take care that those Ministers shall examin them yet we understand this is too often put off to an Archdeacon or one of his Chaplains and at best but too superficially perform'd And we humbly conceive the Canon it self is very defective in not recommending such particular Tryals as are fit for such Candidates of the Ministerial Function to undergo in order to their giving a sufficient specimen of their proficiency in the study of Divinity and in the knowledge of the holy Scriptures And herein we wou'd humbly recommend to 'em the excellent method propos'd by the Westminster-Assembly in their Propositions relating to Church-Government and Ordination viz. That such Candidates be examin'd touching their skill in The Original Languages by Reading the Hebrew and Greek Testaments and rendring some portion of 'em into Latin They are to be examin'd also what Authors in Divinity they have read and trial shall be made of their knowledge of the grounds of Religion and ability to defend the Orthodox Doctrine in 'em against all unsound and erroneous Opinions especially those of the present Age of their skill and sense in the meaning of such places of Scripture as shall be propos'd to 'em in cases of Conscience and in the chronology of the Scripture and in the Ecclesiastical History They are to expound some difficult place of Scripture they are to frame a discourse in Latin upon some common-place or controversy in Divinity and maintain a Dispute upon it and they are to Preach a practical Sermon before the people those concern'd in their Ordination being present This method is so exactly follow'd among the Dissenters that those they ordain commonly pass twice thro these Tryals both when they are first allow'd to Preach as Candidates and at their Ordination And as 't is the most effectual that can be propos'd for preventing an ignorant and insufficient Ministry so 't is the more requisite that the like care shou'd be taken in the Establisht Church where so many are tempted to croud into the Sacred Office by the lure of secular interest and so many Parents from the prospect of preferment thrust those of their Children upon the service of the Church whom they are at a loss how to dispose otherwise of 8. We cou'd heartily desire some more effectual course were taken for the Reformation of such of the Clergy whose scandalous lives stain the honour of their profession For the infectious examples of such Clergymen are far more powerful to spread the contagion of wickedness and vice among their Flock than their doctrine to propagate piety and holiness And 't is no wonder that either the offerings of the Lord are abhorr'd by the people when they see 'em presented by so unhallow'd hands or that they run without restraint into all excess of Riot when they do but herein follow their spiritual Guides 'T is great pitty therefore that the 42d Canon which threatens such scandalous Clergymen with Ecclesiastical censures is not more faithfully executed And it seems unaccountable why it shou'd not as expresly order the suspension and deposition of such as are found incorrigible as other Canons of the Church of England order their suspension and deposition for no greater faults than Omitting the use of any form of Prayer or any other Rite or Ceremony prescrib'd by the Service-Book or appointing or keeping Fasts either in publick or in private houses without the Bp's leave For this is to lay greater stress on the Churches Injunctions than on God's commands and to punish non-conformity to the former more strictly than disobedience to the latter We shall only add that if the Law of Moses so carefully provided that its Preists shou'd have no blemish or deformity on their bodys sure much greater care shou'd be taken that those who serve at the Christian Altar shou'd not be persons of deformed souls and of a tainted conversation And we are heartily glad that their Majesties by their Royal Commission have begun so necessary a work in this Kingdom as the purging the Church from such scandalous Clergymen as have too long been the blemishes of their holy profession and hope it may extend to all other parts where there is the like necessity for it as there appears to have been in the Diocess of Down and Connor 9. They wou'd also earnestly desire that so gross a corruption as that of Pluralitys and Non-Residence so universally complain'd of may be at last effectually reform'd In order whereto they desire it may be seriously consider'd whether our Canons themselves do not rather confirm than reform these Abuses For by the 36th Canon every Master of Arts that is a publick and sufficient Preacher is capable of Pluralitys The Time which he that enjoys 'em is to reside in each of his Benefices is not determin'd And by the 41 Canon of the Church of England I find no other bounds set to the number of Benefices than that they must not be more than thirty miles asunder And tho every such Bluralist be requir'd to have under him in the Benefices where he dos not reside a lawful and sufficient Preacher yet it is both unreasonable in it self that such a sufficient Preacher shou'd sacrifice his painful labours to pamper the avarice and ease of another And 't is too notorious that such Pluralists for the most part give so despicable and stingy allowance to their poor Curates that it cannot reasonably