as Expositors generally interpret it thou shalt utter Spiritual Psalms and Hymns by immediate inspiration on the place and to the same purpose is the word used Numb 11. 25. 1 Chron. 25. 1. and accordingly in the New Testament it is said of Zacharias that he was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying blessed be the Lord God of Israel c. The matter of all which Prayers and Praises together with those in the Book of Psalms and sundry others recorded in Scripture was immediately dictated to those inspir'd persons by the Holy Ghost and deliver'd by them without any recourse to their own invention or consideration though as to the words of them it may be justly question'd whether they were not left to their own composure as it seems very probable the words of all other inspirations were for considering how the inspired persons differ'd in their stile according as they differ'd in their education in their natural parts and intellectual improvements it is very likely they themselves composed and worded their own inspirations the Spirit of God taking care only so to oversee and direct them that their words might not misrepresent their matter and if so how much less reason have we to suppose that the Spirit inspires the words of our Prayers but this I shall not insist on However after that great descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost wherein the gift of Tongues was communicated to enable the first Planters of the Gospel to propagate it through the World it 's certain that not only the Matter of their Prayers but even the very Language too in which they express them was immediately inspired insomuch that they were not only inabled to Pray upon the place in apt and fluent Expressions but also to Pray in Languages which they never understood before and which even then they understood but very imperfectly and also to interpret those Prayers into the vulgar Language which themselves or others had utter'd in unknown Tongues and this among others the Apostle calls a Spiritual Gift 1 Cor. 12. 1. which as I remember is the only place where the Gift of Prayer is mention'd in Scripture and in 1 Cor. 14. 14. it is also call'd a Spirit where he gives us an account at large of this miraculous way of praying Now that this miraculous Gift of praying in and interpreting Prayers out of unknown Tongues was extraordinary and temporary and peculiar to the Primitive Ages of Christianity is evident because the design of it was not only to enable the first Planters of the Gospel to perform their Ministerial Office in the vulgar Languages of the several Nations they were sent to but also to be a sign from God as all other Miracles were for the confirmation of the Gospel for so the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 14. 22. That Tongues were for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not and therefore since it 's granted of all hands that the gift of Miracles was extraordinary and intended only for a demonstration of the Gospel to the Infidel World and after that to cease there can be no doubt but this miraculous Gift of Prayer was so too But that the Spirit 's inditing the Matter and if you will the words of those inspired Prayers was also extraordinary will require a larger proof because it is look'd upon by many of our dissenting Brethren as an ordinary and standing Gift which the Spirit doth and will communicate to all successive Ages of the World Against this Opinion of theirs therefore I shall briefly offer these following Reasons to their consideration 1. That there is no promise of any such Gift and therefore no reason to expect the continuance of it For whatsoever standing and ordinary benefits we receive from God we receive them by vertue of the New Covenant in which he hath promised to us all those good things which we can reasonably expect at his hands and the promise of God being the only foundation of our hope it is presumption to promise our selves what he hath not promised us but now in all the New Covenant we have not the least intimation of any such promise viz. That the Spirit will immediately indite to us the Matter and Expressions of our Prayers For as for that of Zachary 12. 10. which is the only promise that is pretended in the case it 's evident at first sight that it 's nothing to the purpose I will pour out upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierc'd and they shall mourn What is all this to the immediate inspiration of the Matter and Expressions of our Prayer when it 's plain that the Spirit of Supplication here is the same with the Spirit of Grace or of inward Piety and Devotion even as the following words imply and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn that is for their horrid sin of crucifying me But that there is no such promise in the New Covenant is evident from what is acknowledged of all hands viz. That there are many good Christians who could never pretend to any such inspiration who are some of them fain to be beholding to their own recollection and invention for the Matter and Words of their Prayers and others for want of a sufficient quickness of invention to be beholding to Forms of Prayer of other mens composure neither of which they need were they immediately inspir'd And I am very confident 't would be look'd upon by all sober Dissenters as a very rash and unjust censure to affirm that a man cannot be a good Christian who doth not pray by immediate inspiration but is always fain to depend either on his own invention or a Form of Prayer for the Matter and Expressions of his Devotions and if so how can this consist with a standing promise of immediate inspiration of Prayer in the New Covenant unless we will suppose that there are Blessings promised in the New Covenant to which good Christians may have no right or title and of which they may never actually partake which is utterly to destroy the nature of the Covenant which extends to all who perform the conditions of it and to cut off all our dependance upon it 2. That as there is no promise so there is no need of any such immediate inspiration 'T is true Christ hath promised by his Spirit to be with us to the end of the World and assur'd us that he will give his Spirit unto every one that asks and to what end hath he promised this but only to supply our Necessities and inable us to perform those Duties which through our own impotency we cannot perform without him for so he argues from the readiness of Parents to supply their Children with what is necessary to their bodily life and subsistence to the readiness of God to bestow his Spirit that is to all the purposes that
thought by us and others to be inspired is that we are many times enabled in them to enlarge extempore with so much readiness and fluency which may be easily resolv'd into meer natural Enthusiasm or present fervour of temper And that from hence this fluency and enlargement in Prayer doth ordinarily proceed seems very evident by two undeniable signs first that according to our Brethrens own confession it comes upon them much oftener in their publick than in their private Devotions For this is an ordinary case in their Divinity how comes it to pass that good men often find themselves so enlarg'd in their publick and so strengthen'd in their private Prayers And indeed supposing the Spirit did ordinarily inspire the matter and words of their Prayer I see not how it could be well resolv'd unless we suppose the Spirit to be more concern'd to inspire us with fluency of matter and words when we are to speak before men than when we are only to speak before God The true resolution therefore of the case is this that in our private Prayers we want the sighs and groans and passionate gestures of a devout Congregation to chafe and excite our affections and the reverence of a numerous Auditory to oblige us to teaz and wrack our inventions for want of which our spirits are not ordinarily so vehemently agitated and heated as when we Pray in publick where being more than ordinarily warm'd partly with our own efforts and struglings to invent and partly with the warmths and pious fervours of the Congregation we are many times transported by this natural Enthusiasm into raptures of passion and inlargement this I say is the only reason that can be assign'd of it unless we will suppose that which is very unsupposeable of the Spirit of God viz. That he is more solicitous to indite our Prayers when we are in the presence of men than when we are only in the presence of God Secondly Another sign that this admired fluency and enlargement in Prayer proceeds from meer natural Enthusiasm is this that generally in the beginning of the Prayer they find themselves streighten'd and confin'd both as to the matter and words of it till they have Pray'd on for a while and then they grow more ready and fluent which how it should come to pass I know not supposing the Prayer were inspired unless perhaps the Spirit comes in only in the middle or towards the latter end of their Prayer but leaves them to their own invention in the beginning and what reason there should be for such an imagination I confess I am not able to guess The true account therefore of the matter is this that in the beginning of the Prayer their Spirits are usually dull and sluggish and do not flow and reflow so briskly to their heads and hearts as afterwards when they have been throughly chaft and heated with a labour and exercise of invention by which being excited and awaken'd they naturally raise the drooping fancy and render the invention more copious fluent and easie So that meerly by the Laws of Matter and Motion as plain an account may be given of this extemporary fluency and enlargement of Prayer as of any other natural effect whatsoever and therefore for our Brethren to attibute to the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God that which hath such apparent signs of its derivation from natural causes is I conceive very unwarrantable By all which I think it 's very evident not only that we have no sign of the continuance of this Gift of Inspiration of Prayer remaining among us but that we have manifest signs of the contrary 4. And lastly That to suppose the continuance of this Gift of Inspiration of Prayer is to suppose more than our Brethren themselves will allow of viz. That their conceiv'd Prayers are infallible and of equal authority with the Word of God For if our Prayers are dictated to us by the Spirit of God they must be as infallible as he whose infinite knowledge cannot suffer him to be deceiv'd and whose infinite veracity will not admit him to deceive and if so then whatsoever he dictates or inspires must be remov'd from all possibility of error or mistake and consequently our Prayers must be so too supposing he inspires the matter and words of them And as they must be infallible in themselves so they must be of equal authority with Scripture for that which gives the Scriptures the authority of the Word of God is their being inspired by the Spirit of God and therefore whatsoever matter or words are so inspired are as much the Word of God as any matter or words in Scripture All Scripture is given saith the Apostle by the Inspiration of God And therefore whatsoever is given by his Inspiration must necessarily be his Word for what those Holy Men of God spake who deliver'd the Scripture they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 1 Pet. 1. 21. and therefore what they deliver'd was the Word of God because their Mouths were the Oracles through which God spake if therefore when we Pray we are mov'd as they were by the immediate inspiration of God what we pray must be as much the Word of God as what they spake So that either our Brethren must affirm that their conceiv'd Prayers are of equal authority with Scripture which I am sure no sober Dissenter will presume or deny that they are immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost And thus I have shewn what those extraordinary Operations are which the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer I proceed in the next place to enquire what the ordinary and standing Operations are which the Scripture attributes to him and which he hath promised to continue to the end of the World Of which I shall give but a very brief account because herein we are all agreed In short therefore the ordinary Operations of the Spirit consist in exciting in us the graces and proper affections of Prayer such as shame and sorrow in the confession of our sins a sense of our need of mercy and a hope of obtaining it in our supplications for pardon resignation to God's will and dependance on his goodness in our Prayers for temporal mercies and deliverances hunger and thirst after righteousness in our Petitions for his grace and assistance and in a word gratitude and love and admiration of God in our Praises and Thanksgivings for Mercy For in these divine and gracious Affections the life and soul of Prayer consists as for the Words and Expressions of it about which our Brethren disagree with us they are of no other account with God than as they signifie to him the graces and affections of our Prayers without which he regards them no more than he doth the whistling of the wind and therefore since these affections are the main of our Prayer and words are nothing in his account in comparison with them can any man be so vain as to imagin that
are not to be always understood of praying Extempore but sometimes of praying by a Form and therefore by the way I cannot but wonder why they should appropriate as they do the name of vocal Prayer to praying in their own words and not as well allow the expressing our desires to God in the words of a Form to be called Prayer but onely saying or reading of a Prayer for I would fain know did the Priests and Levites praise the Lord when they praised him in the words of David and Asaph did they pray to him when they exprest their desires to God in those Petitionary Psalms which were directed to be used in their publick Worship or did the Primitive Christians pray when they pronounc'd the Lords Prayer in their solemn Devotions If so then there is no doubt but speaking to God in a Form of words may as well be called Prayer as speaking to him in our own Extempore words for vocal Prayer consists in the speaking of our devout affections to God and if they are spoken they are vocal whether it be in our own Extempore words or in a Form if we onely speak the words of Prayer whether they be Form'd or Extempore and do not send up our affections with them we onely say a vocal Prayer but do not vocally pray but if the words we speak carry our affections with them we vocally pray whether they be the one or t'other If our Brethren can prove that vocal Prayer consists in speaking our desires to God in words of our own Extempore effusion we will readily yield them the whole Cause but this they will never be able to prove whilst there are so many instances in Scripture of vocal Prayer by a Form But they pretend that whatsoever instances there may be of Forms in Old times God hath declared in the New Testament that it is his will we should pray by our own Gifts of Expression and Utterance for the future which if they can prove we will readily yield that praying by Forms is unlawful though not impossible but as for the matter of proof they do not so much as pretend to produce any express prohibition of praying by Forms and all that they urge is onely some remote and far-fetcht consequences against it Now supposing it had been the will of God and our Saviour that we should not pray by Forms it seems very strange that in all the New Testament there should be no express prohibition of it for first the Jews as I shewed before had several Forms prescribed them in their publick Worship and that they used Forms in our Saviours time not onely their Modern Rabbins do assert but Philo himself who lived not longer after makes mention of the holy Prayers that Phil. de victim p. 843. were offered by the Priests in the time of Sacrifice And the Samaritan Chronicle as hath been observed upon this Argument makes mention of a Book in the year of the World 4713 which contained those Songs and Prayers that were always used before their Sacrifices And since the Jews who were a most tenacious People of their Rites and Customs were always wont in their publick Administrations to worship God by Forms how necessary was it to have given some express prohibition of them had it been his intent to exclude them out of his Worship for the future especially considering that the Sect of the Essenes who as it 's highly probable did of all the Sects of the Jews most readily embrace Christianity are particularly remarkt by Josephus for that De Bel. Jud. l. 2. c. 7. p. 785. they did use before the Sun-rising 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain Prayers which they receiv'd from their Ancestors And when those Jews who were the most disposed for Christianity and did most readily embrace it insomuch that in a little time the whole Sect of them seems to have been swallow'd up into the Christian Church were so addicted to the use of Forms how can it be imagin'd that had our Saviour intended they should use them no longer he would not have taken care to give them some express warning of it But when instead of so doing he bids them when they pray'd to say Our Father how could they otherwise apprehend but that it was his meaning that they should still continue to pray by a Form as they had always done before And if he had not so intended it seems very strange he should take no care to undeceive them or to prevent their being deceiv'd in this matter by some express command to the contrary for considering all there was not a more urgent occasion for an express prohibition of any Rite or Usage of the Jewish Church than of this of praying by a Form supposing the prohibition of it had been intended and yet I dare boldly affirm that there is not one Rite of that Church which our Saviour intended to forbid but is much more plainly and expresly forbidden than this is pretended to be For the proof of this and which is more of the main assertion viz. that there is no injunction in Scripture of praying by our own gifts of utterance without a Form I shall particularly examine the several Pretences from which our Brethren infer such an Injunction 1. Therefore they pretend that God hath promised and given to all good Christians an ability to utter their minds in vocal Prayer to him and therefore for them to omit the using this ability to the end for which God hath given it to them and pray by Forms of other mens composure is contrary to his mind and intention which Objection hath for the main been answered already Part 1. Case 2. wherein it hath been prov'd at large that this ability which they pretend is promised and given by God for the purpose of vocal Prayer is a common Gift which God hath no more appropriated to Prayer than to any other common end of utterance and elocution and that therefore to omit the using it in Prayer is no more contrary to the intention of God than to omit the using it upon any other just and lawful occasion But because our Brethren urge some places of Scripture to prove that God hath promised and given it meerly to inable them for vocal Prayer I shall briefly inquire whether it be so or no. First therefore they urge Zech. 12. 10. I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplications which as I shew'd before Part 1. Case 1. singnifies nothing to their purpose 'T is urg'd indeed that the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated Supplications doth always denote vocal Prayer and that therefore pouring out the Spirit of Supplications must imply communicating an ability to Pray vocally but this is not so for if we examine the places where this word is used we shall find 't is no more restrain'd to vocal Prayer than any other word by which Prayer is
express'd in Scripture so that it may be as truly said that Prayer always signifies vocal Prayer as that this Hebrew word for Prayer doth so Nor indeed doth it necessarily signifie vocal Prayer in the onely place that is urg'd to prove that it always signifies so viz. Psalm 28. 2. Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry unto thee for this phrase the voice of my Supplication and the voice of my Prayer is a Hebraism and denotes no more than my Supplication or my Prayer for so in Gen. 4. 10. it 's said The voice of thy brother's bloud cries from the ground that is it cry'd just as mental Prayer doth without any material voice or sound yet so as to move God as effectually as the loudest vocal Prayer so that the Psalmist might cry to God with his mind without opening his lips and supposing he did his Prayer had a voice which God could hear as well as if he had pronounc'd it never so loudly But then in other places this Hebrew word plainly signifies at large both mental and vocal Prayer indifferently so in Psalm 86. 6. Give ear O Lord unto my Prayer attend to the voice of my Supplications and Psalm 6. 9. The Lord hath heard my Supplication the Lord will receive my Prayer And as Prayer and Supplications signifie the same thing so the word Supplications is used to express Prayer in general as in Jer. 31. 9. They shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead them where the word plainly denotes Prayer in general without restriction to any kind of it and so in several other places which it would be needless to name But suppose it were true that the word were always used for vocal Prayer there is no doubt but this promise of pouring out the Spirit of Supplications intends a much greater good than the Gift of extempore utterance in Prayer of which bad men may have a greater share than the most devout and pious and if it doth denote a greater good what can that be but the gift of pious and heavenly affections in vocal Prayer of which we may as well partake in praying vocally by a Form as by our own extemporary utterance But 't is yet farther urg'd that in pursuance of this promise the Apostle tells us Gal. 4. 6. God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son crying Abba Father and that we have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. Now because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies crying with a loud voice 't is from hence inferr'd that we are gifted and inabled by the Spirit to express our selves to God in vocal Prayer and that therefore we ought not to pray by Forms To which I answer first That if by any thing in these words we are obliged to cry vocally to God by our own Gifts we are equally obliged to cry to him in these words Abba Father in all our vocal Prayers because that is the cry or vocal Prayer which the Spirit inables us to make and the Text is every whit as express for the one as the other and therefore if crying by the Spirit must needs denote receiving a Gift from him to pray vocally then crying Abba Father by the Spirit must needs denote receiving a Gift from him to pray vocally Abba Father and consequently not to use these very words when we cry vocally to God will be altogether as sinful an omission as not to cry vocally by our own gift of utterance or expression Secondly I utterly deny that crying here doth necessarily denote vocal Prayer for how often do we find the word applied to things that have no voice at all Thus Luke 19. 40. I tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out and yet no body imagines that our Saviour meant that the stones should make a Speech to prove him the true Messias Thus also the Labourers hire unjustly detain'd by rich oppressors is said to cry to God James 5. 4. not because it offer'd any vocal Prayer to him but because it moved and provok'd him as the vocal crys of injured persons do us to avenge them upon their oppressors and in this sence mental Prayer may be said to cry because it moves and affects God as effectually as vocal And accordingly it 's said of the Jews That their heart cryed unto the Lord Lam. 2. 18. so that crying unto God signifies in the same latitude with Prayer which includes both vocal and mental Thirdly That supposing that our crying Abba Father by the Spirit were to be understood of vocal Prayer yet all that can be gather'd from it is onely this that when we pray vocally we are inabled by the holy Spirit to address our selves to God with boldness and assurance as to a kind and merciful Father and this we may as well do when we pray by a Form as when we pray extempore for if we never cry Abba Father by the Spirit but when we word our own Prayers we can no more be said to do it when we joyn with a publick extempore Prayer than when we joyn with a publick Form because we word our own Prayers in neither But 't is further insisted on that the Scripture makes mention of a Gift of utterance which the Spirit communicates to true believers as particularly 1 Cor. 1. 5. 2 Cor. 8. 7. which Gift say they was doubtless given for the purpose of Praying as well as of Preaching To which in short I answer That it is most evident that this Gift of utterance or readiness of Speech was extraordinary and peculiar to the primitive Ages of miraculous Gifts wherein the Preachers of the Gospel were ordinarily inspired with a supernatural fluency assurance and volubility of Speech for as St. Chrysostom observes Hom. 24. ad Ephes c. 6. this Gift of utterance is that which our Saviour promised his Disciples in Mark 13. 11. When they shall lead you and deliver you up take no thought before-hand what ye shall speak neither do ye premeditate but whatsoever shall be given to you in that hour that speak ye for it is not ye that speak but the Holy Ghost So that what they spoke was by immediate inspiration without any fore-thought or premeditation of their own and it being God that spoke immediately in and through them what they deliver'd was the Word of God and this Gift certainly no sober Dissenter will pretend to and that this gift of utterance was extraordinary is evident from Acts 2. 4. where it is said That the Apostles were fill'd with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance so that we may as well pretend to the Gift of Tongues as to this Gift of Utterance they being both miraculous and extraordinary This I think is a sufficient Answer to those Scriptures which our Brethren urge to prove that God hath promised and given to every good Christian an ability
a Church upon the Account of promiscuous Congregations and Mixt Communion 9. An Answer to the Dissenters Objections against the Common Prayers and some other Parts of Divine Service Prescribed in the Liturgy of the Church of England 10. The Case of Kneeling at the Holy Sacrament Stated and Resolved c. The First Part. 11. Certain Cases of Conscience c. The Second Part. 12. A Discourse of Profiting by Sermons and of going to hear where Men think they can profit most 13. A serious Exhortation with some Important Advices Relating to the late Cases about Conformity Recommended to the Present Dissenters from the Church of England 14. An Argument for Union c. 15. The Case of Kneeling at the Sacrament The Second Part. 16. Some Considerations about the Case of Scandal or giving Offence to Weak Brethren 17. The Case of Infant-Baptism in Five Questions c. 18. The Charge of Scand I and giving Offence by Conformity Refelled c. 1. A Discourse about the charge of Novelty upon the Reformed Church of England made by the Papists asking of us the Question Where was our Religion before Luther 2. A Discourse about Tradition shewing what is meant by it and what Tradition is to be Received and what Tradition is to be Rejected 3. The Difference of the Case between the Separation of Protestants from the Church of Rome and the Separation of Dissenters from the Church of England 4. The Protestant Resolution of Faith c. A CATALOGUE OF ALL THE Cases and Discourses Contained in the second Volume of this COLLECTION 1. CErtain Cases of Conscience resolved concerning the Lawfulness of joyning with Forms of Prayer in publick Worship In two Parts 2. An Answer to the Dissenters Objections against the Common-Prayers c. 3. The Resolution of this Case of Conscience Whether the Church of Englands symbolizing so far as it doth with the Church of Rome makes it unlawful to hold Communion with the Church of England 4. A Defence of the Resolution of this Case of Symbolizing c. 5. The Case of Infant-Baptism 6. The Case of the Cross in Baptism considered 7. A Persuasive to frequent Communion in the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper 8. The Case of Kneeling at the Holy Sacrament stated and resolved In two Parts 9. A Discourse about Edification 10. A Discourse of Profiting by Sermons 11. An Argument of Union taken from the true Interest of those Dissenters in England who profess and call themselves Protestants 12. A Serious Exhortation with some important Advises relating to the late Cases about Conformity recommended to the present Dissenters from the Church of England CERTAIN Cases of Conscience RESOLVED Concerning the Lawfulness of Joyning WITH Forms of Prayer IN Publick Worship PART I. VIZ. I. Whether the using of Forms of Prayer doth not stint and limit the Spirit II. Whether the using Publick Forms of Prayer be not a sinful omission of the Ministerial Gift of Prayer III. Whether Praying by a Publick Form doth not deaden the Devotion of Prayer The Second Edition LONDON Printed by H. Hills Jun. for T. Basset at the George in Fleet-street B. Tooke at the Ship in St. Paul's Chuch-yard and F. Gardiner at the White Horse in Ludgate-street 1683. A RESOLUTION OF THE Cases of Conscience Which concern the Use of FORMS of PRAYER ONE of the main Points which our dissenting Brethren insist on to justifie their Separation from our Church is That our Publick Worship is perform'd in a Form of Words of Man's Invention which they conceive is unlawful for hereby say some of them the Holy Spirit who inspires our Prayer is stinted and limited and hereby the Gift of Prayer say others which the Holy Spirit communicates to Ministers to enable them to express the Devotions of their Congregations to God is rendred useless and not only so but even the Devotions of the Congregation too are mightily deaden'd by being continually express'd in the same form of words besides that the wants of Christians being various casual and emergent cannot be so fully represented in a fixt Form as in conceiv'd Prayers which upon the account of their variation in Expressions may be the better extended to the continual variations of Mens cases and circumstances besides all which say they we have no warrant for the use of Forms either in Scripture or pure Antiquity and if we had yet an universal imposition of them can by no means be lawfully compli'd with this according to the best recollection I can make is the sum of what our Brethren urge against the lawfulness of joyning with us in a stated Liturgy or Form of Publick Worship and therefore in order to the satisfying their Consciences in this matter I shall reduce their whole Plea to these following Cases and indeavour a plain and clear resolution of them 1. Whether Praying in a Form of Words doth not stint or limit the Spirit of Prayer 2. Whether the Vse of Publick Forms of Prayer be not a sinful neglect of the Ministerial Gift of Prayer 3. Whether the constant Vse of the same Form of Prayer doth not very much deaden the Devotion of Prayer 4. Whether the common wants of Christian Congregations may not be better represented in conceiv'd Prayer than in a Form of Prayer 5. Whether there be any warrant for Forms of Prayer either in Scripture or pure Antiquity 6. Whether supposing Forms to be lawful the imposition of them can be lawfully compli'd with Case I. Whether Praying in a Form of Words doth not stint and limit the Spirit of Prayer In order to the resolution of this Case it will be necessary to explain first what it is that the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer and secondly what is meant by stinting or limiting the Spirit in Prayer 1. What is it that the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer I answer there are some things attributed to him which were extraordinary and temporary and others that are ordinary fixt and standing The through state and distinguishing of which will very much contribute to the resolution of this present Case and therefore I shall insist more largely upon it First I say there are some things attributed to the Holy Spirit in this matter of Prayer which were extraordinary and temporary and that was the immediate Inspiration of the matter of Prayer together with an ability to express and utter it in known or unknown Languages thus as for the immediate inspiration of the matter of Prayer we read in the Old Testament of Prayers and Praises which upon special occasions were immediately indited by Divine Inspiration for so when Hannah presented her Son to the Lord in Shiloh the Text only saith that she praid and said but the Targum paraphrases it that she praid by the Spirit of Prophesie and accordingly praying and praising by immediate inspiration is frequently call'd prophesying So 1 Sam. 10. 5. The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee and thou shalt prophesie that is
are necessary to their Spiritual Life as the parallel plainly implies upon them that ask him So that all we can expect by vertue of these promises is only this That the Spirit of God will be ready to aid and assist us in all those necessary cases wherein our Duty and Spiritual Life is concern'd and therefore if there be no necessity of an immediate inspiration of either Matter or Words to inable us to Pray it is an unwarrantable presumption to expect it by vertue of these or such like promises And that there is no necessity I conceive is very apparent for First As for the Matter of our Prayers the Holy Spirit hath already sufficiently reveal'd it to us in the Gospel and as plainly instructed us what we are to pray for as he can be suppos'd to do by any immediate inspiration so that with a very little consideration we may thence easily recollect what it is that we need and what we are warranted and commanded to pray for and for a summary of the whole we need go no further than our Churches Catechism which in answer to that Question after the Lord's Prayer What desirest thou of God in this Prayer sums up the whole matter of our Prayer in a few plain and easie words And to suppose after such a clear revelation of the matter of Prayer a necessity of immediate inspiration of it is in effect to suppose that we have neither reason enough to understand the sense of plain words nor memory enough to retain and recollect it But against this that passage of St. Paul is objected by our Brethren Rom. 8. 26. We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be utter'd For which words We know not what to pray for as we ought they infer that how plainly soever the matter of Prayer is reveal'd to us we cannot in all cases know what it is without an immediate inspiration which must either suppose that all matter of Prayer is not plainly reveal'd to us or that though it be we cannot understand it whereas the Apostles words imply neither the one nor t'other for it 's plain those words we know not what to pray for are not to be understood simply but with reference to as we ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for what to pray for as we ought we know not which plainly refers to the manner and not to the matter of our Prayer how to pray for any thing with that fervency of desire that dependance upon and resignation to God as we ought of our selves we know not without the assistance of the Spirit of God if therefore the Spirit hath already sufficiently reveal'd to us what the matter of Prayer is as he must be suppos'd to do if the Scriptures be sufficient I see no reason why he should reveal it again by immediate inspiration and if there be no necessity of it I know no warrant we have to expect it But then 2. As for the Words of Prayer by which we are to express the Matter of it what necessity can there be that these should be immediately dictated to us when as if we have not quickness enough of fancy and invention to express our wants and desires in our own words we may readily supply that defect by Forms of Prayer of other Mens composure which with very short additions and variations of our own we may easily adapt to all our particular cases and circumstances and to imagin that with such helps and assistances we cannot word our desires to God without an immediate inspiration is to suppose that we are meer whispering Pipes that can breath out nothing but what is breath'd into us 3. That as there is neither promise nor need of any such immediate inspiration of Prayer so there is no certain sign or testimony of it remaining among us whenever God inspir'd men with Divine matter and words his Way was always to attest the divinity of their inspiration with some certain sign by which themselves and others might be well assur'd of it and though at this distance from the inspired Ages we cannot certainly determin by what token it was that the Prophets knew the divinity of their own inspirations while they were seiz'd with them yet this we know that after they were deliver'd of them God always took care to attest them by some miraculous operation for so Miracles are styled by the Apostle the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit as being the constant signs and tokens of Divine inspiration and indeed without such signs to distinguish it from false pretences we were better be without inspiration than with it because we shall be left under an unavoidable necessity either of admitting all inspirations which pretend to be divine or of rejecting all that are truly so as to instance in this case of Prayer we know 't is possible for men to have the matter and words of it dictated to them by a natural or Diabolical as well as a Divine Enthusiasm and therefore it is highly requisit if such Divine Enthusiasm or Inspiration be continu'd to us that the proper signs and testimonies of it should be continu'd too that so we may be able to distinguish that which is divine from that which is natural or diabolical otherwise we must either conclude them all to be natural or diabolical or believe them all to be divine and entertain them accordingly If you say there is no need of either because the Scripture is sufficient to distinguish them I answer that thought the Scripture may be sufficient to distinguish the matter of the inspiration whether it be true or false yet it is not sufficient to distinguish the inspiration it self whether it be divine or natural or diabolical For First as for natural Enthusiasm it is not at all impossible for a man to pray agreeably to Scripture by natural inspiration by which I mean a natural or accidental fervency of temper arising either from a constant heat of constitution or a casual agitation of the spirits occasion'd either by vapours of heated melancholy or an intermixture of sharp and feaverish humours with the blood which as all men know who understand any thing of the nature and composition of humane bodies naturally heightens and impregnates the fancy and causes the images of things to come faster into it and appear more distinct in it and consequently produces a very ready invention of matter and extraordinary fluency of words so that if under a fit of this natural fervency a man's fancy happens to run upon God and Religion he cannot fail to pray with great readiness and fluency and sometimes with that extraordinary passion and enlargement as shall cause him assuredly to believe himself immediately inspired by the Spirit of God of the truth of which instances enough might be given not only among Christians but also among the Devoto's of Mahomet and
those affections will be ever a whit the less acceptable to him because they are presented in a form of words and not in extemporary Effusions Sure that Father would be very capricious that should deny Bread to his hungry Child meerly because he askt it to day in the same words that he did yesterday and to imagin that God will dislike or reject the good affections of our Prayer meerly because they are every day express'd in the same form is to suppose him a very captious Being and one that is more taken with our words than with our affections the contrary of which he hath given sufficient proof of in this very particular in that whereas he hath withdrawn from us as I have prov'd at large the inspiration of the words of our Prayer and left them to the composure of our own or other mens invention he still continues to inspire us with the affections of Prayer and to excite them to a due activity For to this among other purposes it is that he hath promised to continue his Holy Spirit to us to enable us to address our selves to him with devout and holy affections thus Gal. 4. 6. Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba father that is by kindling devout and filial affections in your souls inabling you to cry to God with all earnestness and assurance as to a kind and merciful Father and hence also we are said to Pray in or by the Holy Ghost Jude 20. it being by him that those good affections are rais'd in us that we offer up to God in our Prayers and therefore we may well be said to Pray by the Spirit because 't is by the Spirit that we are inspired with those holy affections which are the soul of our Prayer and accordingly the Spirit is said to make intercession for us with sighs and groans which are not to be uttered Rom. 8. 26. which words are far from asserting the inspiration of the matter and words of our Prayer though they are urg'd by our Brethren for that purpose for as for the matter of Prayer here is not the least hint of the Spirits inspiring it for as to that the Christians whom he speaks of were well instructed already by their Christian institution but all that is affirm'd is that the Spirit inabled them to offer up the matter of Prayer to God in a most devout and affectionate manner with sighs and groans that is with earnest and flagrant affections And as for the words of Prayer the Text is so far from implying the inspiration of them that it plainly tells us that those sighs and groans which the Spirit inspired were such as were not to be utter'd or worded And surely to inspire us with affections that are too big for words cannot imply the inspiration of words So that the Spirit 's interceeding for us with sighs and groans that are not to be utter'd can imply no more than his exciting in us the proper affections of Prayer and in this sense he is said in the next Verse to make intercession for the Saints according to the will of God viz. by inabling them to offer up the matter of Prayer to God with such fervent and devout affections as are necessary to render it acceptable to him which is properly to interceed for us for as Christ who is our Advocate in Heaven doth offer up our Prayers to the Father and inforce them with his own intercessions so his Spirit who is our Advocate upon Earth begets in us those affections which render our Prayers prevalent and wings them with fervour and ardency the one pleads with God for us in our own hearts by kindling such desires there as render our Prayers acceptable to him and the other pleads with him for us in Heaven by presenting those desires and soliciting their supply and acceptance And thus you see what that standing and ordinary Operation is which the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer And now before I proceed to determin the present case I shall only farther inquire what is means by that Phrase of stinting and limiting the Spirit In short therefore to stint or limit the Spirit is a modern Phrase of which there is not the least intimation in Scripture or Antiquity but 't is a term of Art coin'd and invented by our Brethren and appli'd only to the present controversie concerning the lawfulness of Forms of Prayer Which by the way is a plain evidence that this argument against Forms viz. That they stint the Spirit is very new since though Forms of Prayer were used not only in the Scripture Ages as I shall shew hereafter but also in all successive Ages of Christianity yet till very lately we never heard one syllable of stinting or limiting the Spirit by them The meaning of which Phrase is this That by using Forms of Prayer we hinder the Spirit from affording us some assistance in Prayer which otherwise we might reasonably expect from them for so our Brethren explain the Phrase viz. That by confining our selves to a Form of Words we restrain the Spirit from giving us that assistance which he ordinarily vouchsafes in conceiv'd Prayer And now having fully stated the Case the resolution of it will be short and easie It hath been shewn at large that there are two sorts of assistances in Prayer which the Scripture attributes to the Spirit the first extraordinary and temporary viz. the immediate inspiration of the matter and words of Prayer the second ordinary and abiding viz. exciting the devotion and proper affections of Prayer If therefore the Spirit be stinted hinder'd or restrain'd by Forms of Prayer it must be either from inspiring the words and matter or from exciting the affections of Prayer as for the latter to which this Phrase of stinting is never apply'd by our Brethren I shall discourse of it at large in the third Case wherein I shall endeavour to prove that Forms of Prayer are so far from restraining the devotion of it that they very much promote and improve it And as for the former viz. the inspiration of the matter and words of Prayer that I have prov'd was extraordinary and intended only as other miraculous Gifts were for the first propagation of the Gospel and therefore since as to this matter the Spirit hath stinted himself it 's certain that Forms of Prayer cannot stint him for how can that be stinted which is not and if now there be no such thing as immediate inspiration of Prayer how can it be limited by a Form of Prayer In a word if the Spirit of his own accord hath long since withdrawn this Gift of inspiration how can it be now said that he is restrain'd from communicating it by any cause without him Case II. Whether the Vse of Publick Forms be not a sinful neglect of the Ministerial Gift of Prayer In order to the resolution of which Case it would be necessary
onely oversaw their being dictated rightly in order to their being repeated rightly When therefore Tertullian saith We pray without a Monitor his meaning is not that we pray without a Priest to dictate our Prayers to us whether it were out of a Book or extempore but that we pray without a Custos or Overseer either to admonish our People of their repeating the Prayers falsly or to admonish our Priests of their dictating them falsly in order to the Peoples repeating them rightly Because saith he we pray from our hearts which words may admit of a twofold interpretation first because we do not vocally repeat our Prayers after our Priest but onely joyn our affections with them and send up our hearts and desires after them or 2ly because we can say our Prayers by heart and so are in no great danger of repeating them falsly and consequently have no such need of a Monitor to observe and correct us for it is well known how much Tertullian in all his Writings affects to imitate and express the Greek which renders him oftentimes so very obscure and therefore it 's probable enough as hath been observ'd (p) (p) (p) Thornd Relig. Assem p. 237. that his de pectore here or from the heart may be onely a translation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to say by heart according to which account these words of Tertullian are so far from testifying against the use of Forms that they rather argue the use of them for since he onely denies their having a Monitor he doth in effect grant their having a Priest to read the publick Prayers to them as well as the Heathen and if from the heart be in Tertullian's Language the same with by heart it 's a plain case that they used Forms for otherwise how could they have them by heart That this is the true account of this difficult phrase I will not confidently affirm because it is onely my own single guess but whether it be or no it 's certain it can no more signifie without a Form of Prayer than without a Minister to pray extempore the one being as much a Monitor to the People as the other The last Testimony which our Brethren urge against the Antiquity of Forms of Prayer is that of Sucrates Scholasticus (q) (q) (q) Soc. Hist l. 5. c. 21. whose words they thus translate Everywhere and in all Worships of Prayer there are not two to be found that speak the same words and therefore say they it 's very unlikely they should pray by receiv'd Forms But how far this is from the sence of the Author will evidently appear by considering what he had been before discoursing of In short therefore he had been just before relating the different Customs that were used in several Churches and among the rest he tells us that in Hellas Jerusalem and Thessalia the Prayers were made whilst the Candles were lighting according to the manner of the Novatians at Constantinople and that in Caesarea of Cappadocia and Cyprus the Presbyters and Bishops always interpreted the Scripture on the Saturday and Lord's-day in the evening the Candles being lighted that the Novatians in the Hellespont did not observe the same manner of praying with those of Constantinople but that for the most part they followed the Customs of the chief Churches among them and then he concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. upon the whole every where and among all the Worships of Prayer there are not two to be found that agree in the same thing where by Worships of Prayer it 's plain he means the Ceremonies and Rites of Prayer that were used in several Churches for 't was of these he had been immediately before discoursing and therefore his meaning can be no more than this that among all the constituted Rites and Ceremonies of Prayer that were used in the several Churches there were not two to be found that agreed in the same and how doth it follow that because they did not use the same Rites and Ceremonies of Prayer therefore they did not use Forms of Prayer for even now we see there are different Rites of Prayer among those Churches which do yet agree in using Forms of Prayer And now I proceed to the second thing proposed which was to prove the use of Forms of Prayer in the primitive Ages by a short Historical Account of the Matter of Fact That in the first Age there was a Gift of praying extempore by immediate inspiration seems highly probable both from what the Apostle discourses of praying in unknown Languages 1 Cor. 14. and from what St. Chrysostom asserts concerning it (r) (r) (r) Chrys in Rom. 8. 26. viz. That together with those miraculous Gifts which were then poured out there was a Gift of Praying which was called by the Apostle a Spirit by which he who was endued with it poured out Prayers for all the People and while this Gift continued perhaps which how long it was is very uncertain there might no other Form be used in publick Worship in those places especially where it abounded but onely that of the Lord's Prayer and it may be in imitation of this Gift upon which even in the Apostles time the Christians were apt to over-value themselves some might affect to pray extempore after it was wholly expired but it is highly probable that upon the ceasing or abatement of it it was in most places immediately supplied by Forms of Prayer which were composed either of the words or according to the method and manner of those inspired Prayers by Apostolical persons that heard and remembred them for so as the same St. Chrysostom goes on (s) (s) (s) Chrys ibid. For we being ignorant of many things which are profitable for us do ask many things which are unprofitable and therefore this Gift of Prayer was given to some one person that was there i. e. in the Congregation who ask'd for all that which was profitable for the universal Church and taught others to do so that is to form Prayers according to those inspired Models for though I do not pretend that there were no other Prayers used in publick but onely Forms either in or presently after the Age of the Apostles yet it seems most probable that even from the Apostolical Age some part at least of the publick Worship was perform'd in Forms of Prayer and if so we have all the reason in the world to conclude that these Forms were composed according to the Pattern of those primitive inspired Prayers Now that there were Forms from the Apostolical Age seems highly probable because so far as we can find there never was any dispute among Christians concerning the lawfulness of praying by a Form Had this way of praying been introduc'd after the Primitive Ages it would have been a most observable innovation upon the Primitive Christianity and that in such a publick matter of fact that every Christian could not but take notice
disparagement at all to the Ministers Office upon these accounts 1. Although the Formal Words of Good Lord deliver us and We beseech thee to hear us Good Lord be uttered by the People yet it must be acknowledged that this is but part of the Prayer of the Litany that which the Minister utters being the other part and the far greater part 2. That the Words of Prayer are begun by the Minister not only in the Invocation of the Holy Trinity first of all but in that Prayer Remember not Lord our Offences and Spare us Good Lord and We beseech thee O Lord God c. So that the Minister does utter the Formal Words of Prayer and the People take them all afterward from him excepting only the Words of that Petition Good Lord deliver us 3. They are but these two short and known Petitions Good Lord deliver us and We beseech thee to hear us Good Lord upon the uttering of which by the People the weight of the Objection lies And if they will allow the People any Vocal part in the Words of Prayer I know not what Petitions are more proper for them than such as these As for the Repetition of them there is this reason for it that there is still new and distinct Matter to which they are applied And I will be bold to say that the repeated application of them is a great relief to attention and minding the business we are about and evidently contributes to keep up an affectionate and ardent frame of Heart in desiring those weighty things we ask of God in this Prayer I could almost appeal to the keenest of our Adversaries if that Petition Good Lord deliver us were applied but once in gross to the Deprecations and Supplications of that part of the Litany to which it belongs whether we should not be more apt to let our attention fall and to forget the meaning and to languish in the offering up of those Prayers than as it is now ordered But 4. I think it is plain that in offering up these Prayers to God the Minister has the Principal and Guiding part in that he utters all the distinct Matter of the Prayer which the People do not whereas he utters Words of Invocation as well as they And now I desire our Brethren to consider whether if the People were to utter that which is the Ministers part now and the Minister to say that only which is theirs they would not have more grievously complained that the Ministers Authority was slighted in the whole design since he seemed only to learn from the People what the Congregation was to pray for It is of great Consequence with what Mind we come to consider any thing if with prejudice and dislike we are then ready to turn all that is reasonably produced in favour for it into an argument of distaste and that seems unreasonable with the quite contrary to which we should have been more displeas'd if this had been instead of the other But surely we may judge of these things with Impartiality and if need be with Candor as we ought to do And if the difficulty of doing so be seen in the frequency of doing the Contrary even amongst Men otherwise good we have the greater need to intreat of God to enlighten our Understandings and to rescue us from prejudices and passions in the Judgment we make of all things of this nature I do not intimate this any way in affectation of seeming not to need this exhortation my self but remembring my own frailty I do hereupon admonish my self as well as others In the mean time if there be any Biass upon my Judgment in that esteem I declare my self to have of the Prayers of the Church I must confess that I believe my self to be byass'd on the right hand For I take it to be much more for the safety of my own Soul as well as the security of the Churches Peace that I should be inclined rather to Judge too favourably of Publick Rules than to value them beneath their just worth and usefulness But I must confess That of all the Prayers in our Liturgie that are of Humane Composition I should be most unwilling to part with the Litany as it now stands there It seems to be what it was designed to be a Form of Prayer apt to excite our most intense and servent desires of God's Grace and Mercy Whilest the Minister leads the people to pray against those several Sins and Evils which a Christian is most concerned to be afraid of and at the end of every convenient period the Congregation with one voice cries out Good Lord deliver us while the Minister leads them to pray for all those particular Blessings which ought to be most dear to a Christian and the whole Congregation with one voice cries out We beseech thee to hear us Good Lord. These Prayers seem to be offered with such affection as I am not well able to express by any ordinary instance In Offering them we seem to be as passionately concerned as a Malefactor upon his knees that begs his own life The whole Office is framed with respect both to matter and contrivance for the raising of the utmost Devotion of good Christians and for the warming of the coldest hearts by the heat of the Congregation And in such a disposition it is then most fit to express our Charity by praying for others even all sorts of Men as distinctly and particularly as Publick Prayers will bear And this the fullness of this Prayer doth admirably provide for as no Man will deny who considers it without aversion and prejudice against it which I pray God deliver all well meaning people from that they may not deprive themselves of so great a benefit I shall say no more concerning this Matter of the peoples joyning in Vocal Prayer and Praise And indeed the Reason why I have dwelt so long upon an Answer to this Objection is because I have observed that some honest persons are very confident that in this thing at least our Liturgie is to be blamed And I hope what hath been said will to such persons give reasonable satisfaction that for this thing it is rather to be commended But because upon this occasion the part of the Congregation in the Litany was last mentioned I shall now speak briefly to some other Objections against the Litany which are commonly made The first of these is That we pray to be delivered from all deadly sin which seems to imply that there are some Sins which are not deadly Now in answer to this it is by some truly enough said That these Words do not necessarily imply a distinction between Sins that are and Sins that are not deadly But admitting that such a distinction was intended yet I think no understanding Christian has reason to be offended with it By Deadly Sin a Protestant means all such Sin as puts a Man out of a state of Favour with God But all
Churches and Societies of Christians 2. I observe further that tho the exercise of Church Communion as to most of the particular Duties and Offices of it must be confined to a particular Church and Congregation for we cannot Actually joyn in the Communion of Prayers and Sacraments c. but with some particular Church yet every Act of Christian Communion though performed in some particular Church is and must be an Act of Communion with the whole Catholick Church Praying and Hearing and receiving the Lords Supper together does not make us more in Communion with the Church of England than with any other true and Orthodox part of the Church tho in the Remotest parts of the World The exercise of true Christian Communion in a particular Church is nothing else but the exercise of Catholick Communion in a particular Church which the necessity of affairs requires since all the Christians in the World cannot meet together for Acts of Worship But there is nothing in all these Acts of Communion which does more peculiarly Unite us to such a particular Church than to the whole Christian Church When we pray together to God we Pray to him as the Common Father of all Christians and do not challenge any peculiar interest in him as members of such a particular Church but as members of the whole Body of Christ when we Pray in the Name of Christ we consider him as the great High Priest and Saviour of the Body who powerfully interceeds for the whole Church and for us as members of the Universal Church And we Offer up our Prayers and Thanksgiving not only for our selves and those who are present but for all Christians all the World over as our Fellow-members and Praying for one another is the truest notion of Communion of Prayers for Praying with one another is only in order to Praying for one another And thus our Prayers are an exercise of Christian Communion when we Pray to the same common Father through the Merits and Mediation of the same common Saviour and Redeemer for the same common Blessings for our selves and the whole Christian Church Thus when we meet together to Celebrate the Supper of our Lord we do not meet as at a private Supper but as at the common Feast of Christians and therefore it is not an Act of particular Church Fellowship but of Catholick Communion The Supper of our Lord does not signifie any other kind of Union and confederation between those Neighbour Christians who receive together in the same Church than with the whole Body of Christ The Sacramental Bread signifies and represents all those for whom Christ died that one Mystical Body for which he Offered his Natural Body which is the Universal Church and our eating of this Bread signifies our Union to this Body of Christ and therefore is considered as an Act of true Catholick not of a particular Church-Communion And the Sacramental Cup is the Blood of the New Testament and therefore represents our Communion in all the Blessings of the Covenant and with all those who are thus in Covenant with God So that there is nothing particular in this Feast to make it a private Feast or an Act of Communion with a particular Church considered as particular but it is the common Feast of Christians and an Act of Catholick Communion Which by the way plainly shews how groundless that scruple is against mixt Communions that Men think themselves defiled by receiving the Lords Supper with Men who are vicious For tho it is a great defect in Discipline and a great reproach to the Christian Profession when wicked Men are not censured and removed from Christian Communion yet they may as well pretend that their Communion is defiled by bad Men who Communicate in any other part of the Church or any other Congregation as in that in which they live and Communicate For this holy Feast signifies no other Communion between them who receive at the same time and in the same Company than it does with all sincere parts of the Christian Church It is not a Communion with any Persons considered as present but it is a Communion with the Body of Christ and all true members of it whether present or absent Those who separate from a National Church for the sake of corrupt professors though they could form a Society as pure and holy as they seem to desire yet are Schismaticks in it because they confine their Communion to their own select Company and Exclude the whole Body of Christians all the World over out of it their Communion is no larger than their gathered Church for if it be then they must still Communicate with those Churches which have corrupt members as all visible Churches on Earth have unless we will except Independents because they have the confidence to except themselves and then their Separation does not Answer its end which is to avoid such corrupt Communions and yet if they do confine their Communion to their own gathered Churches they are Schismaticks in dividing themselves from the Body of Christians and all their Prayers and Sacraments are not Acts of Christian Communion but a Schismatical Combination This does not prove indeed that particular Churches are not bound to reform themselves and to preserve their own Communion pure from corrupt members unless all the Churches in the World will do so too because every particular Church whether Diocesan or National has power to reform its own members and is accountable to God for such neglects of Discipline but it does prove that no Church without the guilt of Schism can renounce Communion with other Christian Churches or set up a distinct and separate Communion of its own for the sake of such corrupt members which was the pretence of the Novatian and Donatist Schism of Old and is so of the Independent Schism at this day 3. I observe further that our obligation to maintain Communion with a particular Church wholly results from our obligation to Catholick Communion The only reason why I am bound to live in Communion with any particular Church is because I am a member of the whole Christian Church which is the Body of Christ and therefore must live in Communion with the Christian Church and yet it is Impossible to live in Communion with the whole Christian Church without Actual Communion with some part of it when I am in such a place where there is a visible Christian Church as no member can be United to the Natural Body without its being United to some part of the Body for the Union and Communion of the whole Body consists in the Union of all its parts to each other Every Act of Christian Communion though performed in a particular Church or Congregation is not properly an Act of particular Church-Communion but is the exercise of Communion with the whole Church and Body of Christ as I have already proved but it can be no Act of Communion at all if it be not performed
p. 10. it unlawful then all Communion in any part of God's Worship with such Ministers is unlawful and so the Church in all Ages of the World the Prophets our Saviour Christ the Apostles and the V. Ball 's Trial p. 310. Faithful in the Primitive Churches sinned in holding Communion with such when the Priests were dumb Dogs that could not bark and greedy Dogs that could never have enough when the Prophets prophesied Lyes when the Priests bought and sold Doves in the Temple c. when they were such and did such things they were ungodly Ministers but we never find that the Prophets our Saviour and the Apostles did either forbear themselves or warn the Faithful not to communicate with such in the Ordinance of Worship So much Mr. Nye doth grant More cannot be objected against our Ministers Case of great and present use p. 14. that Conform than might against the Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's Time either in respect of their Doctrine which was loaden with Traditions their Standing which was not according to Law their Lives which were vicious yet Christ not only permits but requires us to attend the Truths they deliver Secondly They plead that our Saviour himself did Arg. 2 Communicate where such did Officiate So Dr. Bryan In some Countries I am sure there are many Sober Dwelling with God p. 313. Godly Orthodox able Preachers c. And if you know any Country where it is worse This is attested by another in his Farewel Sermon Our Saviour England's Remembrancer Serm. 4. p. 94. Christ used to attend on the publick Worship in his Time notwithstanding such Formalists and superstitious Ones as the Scribes and Pharisees did Officiate in it Thirdly They say that the Sin of the Minister is Arg. 3 not theirs nor doth bring any detriment to them though they Communicate with him So Mr. Baxter A Minister's personal Faults may damn himself Câ—ristian Directory p. 747. Cure p. 113 114. and must be matter of Lamentation to the Church who ought to do their best to reform them or get better by any lawful means but in case they cannot his Sin is none of theirs nor doth it make his Administration null or ineffectual nor will it allow you to separate from the Worship which he Administreth So the Ministers sent to Oxford do assert Some evil Men may and always have de Account given to the Parliament p. 27. facto been Officers and Ministers in the Church c. and the wickedness of such Men did not null or evacuate their Ministerial Acts for our Saviour would have the Scribes and Pharisees heard while they sate in Moses's Chair c. And that the Ministrations in such a case are not invalid and that the People suffer not by it they further prove 1. Because they officiate not in their own Name So the Old Non-Conformists It hath ever-more been held for a Truth Letter of the Ministers p. 11. in the Church of God That although sometimes the Evil hath chief Authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own Name but in Christ's and minister by his Commission and Authority we may use their Ministry both in hearing the Word and receiving the Sacraments neither is the effect of Christ's Ordinance taken away by their wickedness 2. The virtue of the Ordinance doth not depend upon their Goodness but God's Promise So Mr. Rogers saith of Prayer If this burden of bad Ministers Tract 3. p. 223. must be born I ask If among many sweet Liberties we enjoy we may not join in Prayer with them if we can pray in Faith seeing their unworthiness cannot with-hold the Fruit of God's Promise from us which is to one kind of Prayer as well as another So saith Mr. Cradacot of the Word Take heed saith he of being leavened with prejudice Farewel Sermons Vol. 3. p. 22 23. against the Ministry of the Word because of the misdemeanors or miscarriage of the Minister It is the Word of the Lord which converts not the Person of the Dispenser or Speaker Hence it was that the Ministry of the Scribes and Pharisees was not to be rejected but to be esteemed so long as they failed not of the Substance thereof c. I conceive it 's a rare thing for unconverted Ministers to convert and yet we must remember not to tie the efficacy of the Word and Sacraments to the goodness or badness of a Minister's Person So when it 's Case of great and present Use p. 14. objected How can we expect a Blessing upon the Labours of such though they preach truth Mr. Nye replies Answ 1. The mixtures in Sermons are nearest the irregularities of their Calling next the sins of their Conversations furthest from their Doctrine and therefore have less efficacy at such a distance to prejudice it Answ 2. It 's God's Word and not their own they preach c. 3. That if Persons themselves do believe and are sincere they are notwithstanding such a Ministry accepted The Sacrifice of a faithful Elkanah saith one England's Remembrancer Serm. 4. p. 94. was pleasing to God even when Hophni and Phineas were Priests From all which we find some declaring that notwithstanding this they would Communicate So a Learned Person The Peoples Prejudices Bonasus Vapulans p. 133. against the Liturgy are grounded for the most part upon the wicked Lives of those that are the most constant readers and frequenters of it doubtless the Author if he had considered this would rather have said that they are grounded upon the wicked Lives of some of those that read and frequent it I shall never upon that account cease to join in Prayers and to hear Sermons Others we find exhorting their Auditors to attend even upon such So Mr. Fairclough in his Farewel-Sermons Get all Pastor's Legacy p. 125. good from shew all Duty to him that follows If he should be weak or evil yet while he preacheth Truths while he sits in Moses's Chair hear him seriously and carry your selves towards him as becomes a People to their Minister I have thus far considered the Case of scandalous Ministers because many make it an Objection as well those that are not concerned as those that are Otherwise it must be acknowledged that England was never better provided with a Learned and Pious Ministry than at present who have as good Vnderstanding Non-Conformists Plea for Conformists p. 12 23. preach as good Doctrine do as much good by their Preaching as any others as a late Writer doth confess But though many Congregations are well supplied with a Pious Able and Industrious Ministry yet there are few or none but what have some more or less amongst the Laity that are as it may be supposed not fit to be received into Communion with a Church or to be communicated with This brings me to the next thing in Worship which
touch viz. the unclean and abominable Practices that were us'd by the Heathens in the Worship of their Gods It 's call'd by the Apostle in another place the unfruitful Eph. 4. 11 works of darkness and again thus describ'd by him it 's a shame to speak of those things that are done of them in secret These they were not to touch to have no fellowship with them in but rather to reprove them that is in judgment to condemn them by words to reprove them in conversation to avoid them But now because Christians are not to communicate with Heathens in their filthy mysteries nor to partake with any sort of wicked Men in any Action that 's Immoral does it therefore follow that they must not do their duty because sometimes it cannot be done but in their company Must they abstain from the Publick Worship of God and their Lord's Table to which they are commanded because Evil Men who till they repent have nothing to do there rudely intrude themselves May they not joyn with bad Men in some cases where it cannot be well avoided in doing a good Action because they must in no case and on no account joyn with them in doing a sinful one Because they have omitted their Duty must I neglect mine Because they sin in coming unpreparedly must I sin in not coming at all Will their sin be any plea or excuse for mine If I Communicate with them will their unworthiness be laid at my door If I separate because of that shall they answer for my contempt as well as for their own prophanation of it No surely every Man shall bear his own burden The soul that sinneth it shall dye The Ezek. 18. 20. second is that Text Obj. 2. In the Revelation Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive 18. c. 4. not of her plagues Answ This place is most certainly to be understood of Idolaters and according to most Interpreters of the Roman Idolatrous Polity and is a command to all Christians to forsake the Communion of that Church lest they endanger their own salvation by Communicating with her in Masses and other Idolatrous Worship And if this be the true sense of the words it abundantly justifies our Separation from the Roman Church But affords not the least plea for Dissenters to separate from ours unless any of them are so hardy as to say that there is none or but little difference betwixt the Church of Rome and the Church of England But blessed be God we have a Church reform'd from all her Superstitions that retains nothing of hers but what she retains of the Gospel and the Primitive Church Here 's no drowning Religion in shadow and formality nor burying her under a load of ritual and ceremonial Rubbish nor dressing up Religion in a flanting pomp to set her off or a gaudy garb to recommend her much less in such fantastical Rites such antick Vestments and Gesticulations that may justly render her ridiculous and contemptible but her Ceremonies are few and decent countenanc'd by Primitive Antiquity and very much becoming the gravity and sobriety of Religion Here are no Half-Communions no more Sacraments thrust upon us than our Lord himself instituted and yet those left whole and entire for our use and comfort that he did no Prayers in an unknown Tongue which the votary neither minds nor understands no praying to Saints or Angels no adoring Images Pictures and Reliques no worshipping the Creature besides or more than the Creator which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they do who in all their publick Offices of Devotion for one Prayer to God have order'd ten to be made to the blessed Virgin Here 's no Doctrine obtruded on our Faith that 's contrary to reason nay to sense to all our senses no Practices allowed that are forbidden by God no Pardons to be bought no Indulgences to be purchas'd no expunging any one Commandment out of the Decalogue or contriving arts and devices to make void the rest but as her Devotions are pure and spiritual having God and him only for their object so her Doctrine is found and orthodox having Christ for its Corner-stone and the Prophets and Apostles for its Foundation A Church that needs no counterfeit Legends no incredible Miracles no ridiculous Fables to promote her veneration whose security lies not in the Peoples ignorance but in their inlightned understandings that can defend it self without the help of spurious Authors or corrupting the words and sense of Authentick ones a Church that dares to be understood and is sure the more she 's lookt into the more to be embrac'd and admir'd And I would to God 't was as easie a matter to clear every one of her Members from Vice as it is her Constitution from Corruption But let those that stand take heed lest they fall and be sure to sweep their own door clean who are so apt to throw dirt in the faces of their Fellow-Christians St. Paul's advice is that every Man should examine himself and I am much mistaken if spiritual pride a rash and censorious judging of our Bretheren be not as great a crime as some of those that are lookt upon to be of so polluting and infectious a nature in other Men I need not say how directly oposite this Pharisaical humour is to that humility meekness and self-denial that the Gospel of our Saviour injoyns how unsuitable to the temper of all good Men who are more apt to suspect and accuse themselves than others who the more holy they are the more sensible of their own imperfections How contrary to the example of our blessed Lord who balkt not at any time the society of Publicans and sinners who when he knew what was in Man and who it was that should betray him yet admitted Judas into the number of his Disciples and familiarly converst with him And yet how fully it answers to the Spirit and Genius of those ancient Schismaticks the Novatians and the Donatists Might I stay to run the parallel both those Schisms and this amongst us would be found to begin on the same Principles slackness of Discipline in the Church and corruption in Manners To be carried on by the same pretences zeal for purity and fear of pollution to spring from the same bitter fountain pride and arrogance But I speak not this to excuse our selves or to recriminate them My hearty Prayer to God is that all Isarel may be saved that they who dissent from us would now at last lay aside all passion and prejudice all groundless scruples and pretences and come in and joyn their forces with our Church against the common Adversary And that we who profess our selves Members of the Church of England would be extreamly careful for the honour of our Religion for the preservation of our Church for the recovery of our straying Bretheren for whose sakes in some cases we are bound to lay down our lives
Authority for it is not so absurd as may by some be imagined for the Common People to take upon trust from their lawful Teachers what they are not competent Judges of themselves But the difficulty here is how shall a private Christian govern himself when the very Guides and Ministers of Religion determine differently concerning these matters in question amongst us Some warranting and allowing them others as much disapproving and condemning them by what Rule shall he choose his Guide To which I briefly reply 1. As for those who scruple at Conformity and are tolerably able to judge for themselves let not such relye barely upon the Authority either of the one or the other All we desire of them is that they would equally hear both sides that they would think that the Ministers of the Church of England have some Sense and Conscience too as well as other Men and are able to say somewhat for what they do themselves or require of others that laying aside all Prejudices Favour to or admiration of Mens Persons they would weigh and consider the Arguments that may be propounded to them being diffident of their own Apprehensions and indifferent to either part of the Question that they would think it no shame to change their Mind when they see good reason for it Could we thus prevail with the People diligently to examine the Merits of the cause our Church would every day gain more Ground amongst all wise Men for we care not how much Knowledge and Understanding our People have so they be but humble and modest with it nor do we desire Men to become our Proselytes any further than we give them good Scripture and Reason for it 2. But as for those who are not so capable of examining or judging for themselves as few of the common People who separate from us really are they not being able to give any tolerable account of their dissent from us only in general Words declaiming against Popery Superstition Antichristian and Unscriptural Ceremonies Humane Traditions c. such had better trust to and depend on those Ministers of known Sufficiency for their Office who are regularly and by the Laws of the Land set over them than any other Guides or Teachers that they can choose for themselves This to be sure is the safer course which in doubtful cases is always to be taken I speak now of these present Controversies about Forms and Ceremonies so hotly agitated amongst us which are above the Sphere of common People out of their profession not of such things as concern the Salvation of all men which are plain and evident to the meanest Capacities When therefore in such cases about which we cannot easily satisfie our selves we follow the Advice of the publickly authorized Guides and Preachers of Religion if they chance to mislead us we have something to say or apologize for our selves Our Error is more excusable and pardonable as being occasion'd by those to whose Judgment by God's Command we did owe a great Respect and Submission But when we choose Instructors and Counsellors to our selves according to our own Fancy and liking and they teach us contrary to the Doctrine of our lawful Ministers if then we prove to be in the wrong and are betray'd into Sin we may thank our own Wantonness for it and are more severely accomptable for such Mistakes Thus let a Man that is troubled with any threatning disease apply himself rather to the Licensed Physicians or Chyrurgions of approved Skill and Honesty and if he chance to miscarry under them yet he hath this contentment that he used the best and wisest means for his Health and Recovery But if he leaves them all and will hearken only to Quacks and Empiricks tho they advise him quite contrary to what the others prescribed if under their hands he grows worse and worse he must then charge his own perverse Folly or idle Humour as the cause of his Ruine 4. In order to the curing of our Scruples we should thoroughly understand and consider what is the true Notion of lawful and how it differs from what is necessary and from what is sinful That is necessary or our Duty which God hath expresly commanded that is sinful which God hath forbid that is lawful which God hath not by any Law obliging us either commanded or forbid for Where there is no Law saith the Apostle there is no Transgression Rom. 4. 15. There can be no Transgression but either omitting what the Law commands or doing what the Law forbids For instance If any Man can shew where kneeling at the Sacrament is forbid in Scripture where fitting is required where praying by a Form is forbid and extemporary Prayers are enjoyned then indeed the Dispute would soon be at an end but if neither the one nor the other can be found as most certainly they cannot then kneeling at the Sacrament and reading Prayers out of a Book must be reckon'd amongst things lawful And then there is no need of scrupling them because they may be done without Sin nay where they are required by our Superiours it is our Duty to submit to them because it is our Duty to obey them in all lawful things This way of arguing is very plain and convincing and cannot be evaded but by giving another Notion of Lawful And therefore it is commonly said that nothing is lawful especially in the Worship of God which God himself hath not prescribed and appointed or that hath been abused to evil Purposes And on these two Mistakes are chiefly grounded Mens Scruples about indifferent Rites and Ceremonies in God's Worship 1. That only is said to be lawful in God's Worship which he himself hath prescribed and appointed so that this is thought Exception sufficient against the Forms and Usages of our Church that though they are not forbid yet they are no where commanded in Scripture Who hath required these things at your hands Now here I only ask Where our Saviour or his Apostles have forbid us doing any thing in God's Worship which is not by himself commanded or where in the New Testament we are told that God will be angry with us for doing any thing which he hath no where forbid either by general or particular Laws For unless this can be shewn there can be no colour for this Pretence and we are sufficiently sure that no such Place can be produced out of the Bible It is acknowledged by all that the Holy Scriptures as to all that is necessary to be believed or done in order to Salvation as to all the essential and substantial Parts of Divine Worship is a plain and perfect Rule but it is as certain that the outward Circumstances of Time Place Habit and Gesture are not determined in the New Testament as they were in many cases by Moses's Law and yet God cannot be at least visibly and publickly worshipped without them If therefore these be not determined in Scripture and it is unlawful to
to give a brief state of it according as it is put and urg'd by our Brethren By the Gift of Prayer then they mean an ability to express our minds to God in Prayer or to offer up our desires and affections to him in words befitting the matter of them which ability say they is given by God to his Ministers as a means of publick Prayer and in order to their being the Mouths of their Congregations to God to represent to him the common Cases and Necessities of their People and therefore since God say they hath given us this Gift as a means of publick Devotion and in order to our offering up the Prayers of the People it may be justly question'd whether we may lawfully omit the use of it by using publick Forms of other mens composure Now before I enter into a particular consideration of this Case I shall briefly premise these two things 1. That this Case concerns the Clergy only and not the Laity For suppose that it be unlawful for Ministers to omit the use of their own abilities to express the Devotions of their Congregations what is that to the People are they accountable for their Ministers faults or will God reject their sincere Devotions because the Person that utters them is guilty of a sinful omission if so it will be of dangerous consequence to them to joyn in any publick Prayers at all whether they be Forms or Extemporary they being every whit as accountable for the nonsense impertinence and irreverence of their Ministers in the latter as for their omitting the use of their own abilities in the former if therefore this omission be a sin it is the sin of the Minister as for the People they joyn with him indeed in offering up the matter of Prayer which is contain'd in the Form he pronounces but they join not with him in the omission of the use of his ability that is his own proper act and deed and therefore if it be unlawful it 's he and he only that is accountable for it and if the matter of Prayer in which they join with him be good and express'd in decent and suitable words they join with him in nothing but what is acceptable to God and 't is not to be imagin'd that God will be angry with them because he neglected to express their desires in words of his own composure and invention 2. I shall also premise that this is not the case of the Clergy of the Church of England who though they stand obliged to the constant use of a stated Liturgy yet are not hereby restrain'd from the exercise of their own abilities in publick Prayer for after they have finish'd the Service appointed in the Liturgy they are permitted to use their own conceiv'd Prayers in the Pulpit in which they have the same liberty that the dissenting Ministers can claim or pretend to that is to express in their own words all the matter of publick Prayer with all the sobriety affection and seriousness they are able And a long and unrestrain'd permission of our Governours though it be against Law is a kind of allowance untill they reinforce the Law upon our parties and some there are who believe the conceiv'd Prayers which we generally use to be expresly allow'd in our 55th Canon which directs that before all Sermons Lectures and Homilies the Preachers and Ministers shall move the People to join with them in Prayer in this form or to this effect as briefly as conveniently they may Now that to this effect as it stands opposed to this form is meant some Prayer of our own composed to this purpose seems in their opinion very probable from what is generally practised in the Church which in doubtful cases is the best explication of her meaning Since therefore the use of our Liturgy doth not exclude the exercise of our Gift of Prayer But leaves us free to exert it so far as it is fit that is with convenient brevity I see not how this Case can concern our Clergy for if the evil of Forms consists in the Ministers omission of his own Gift as this Case supposes then where the use of Forms doth not oblige us to this omission but leaves us as free to exercise this Gift as those are who use no Forms at all the supposed evil is remov'd from it Having premised these things I shall proceed to a particular resolution of the Case which I shall do in these following Propositions 1. That this Ministerial Gift of Prayer or ability to express in our own words the common Devotions of our Congregations to God is either natural or acquir'd 'T is true if we had any reason to believe that in their admission to holy Orders God did inspire his Ministers with this ability we might thence more plausibly infer that 't was his will that we should ordinarily exercise it and that it was not lawful to neglect or omit it by using Forms of other mens composure it being unlikely that God should inspire them with an ability which he did not intend they should make use of but of Gods inspiring us in our Ordination with this Gift or Ability we have not only no promise in Scripture which is the only foundation upon which we can reasonably expect it but in fact we have no experience of any such matter among us for not only we but the Dissenting Ministers must own if they will speak ingenuously that just before their Ordination they were as able to express the Devotions of a Congregation as they were just after which shews that they had no new ability to Pray inspired in their Ordination and as yet I could never find any proof either from Scripture or Experience that this ability to Pray in words of our own composure had any thing more in it than a promptness of invention and speech which some men have by nature and which others have acquired by art and practice and if so this ability is no otherwise the Gift of God than our natural strength and vigour or our skill in Languages and History And methinks it 's very strange that after all this talk of the gift of Prayer which is supposed ordinarily at least to be conferr'd on rightly ordained Ministers our Brethren should not be able to produce one Promise wherein God hath ingag'd himself to confer it no nor one Text of Scripture which implies such a Promise all that he hath promised his Ministers is to concur with their honest indeavours so far forth as it 's necessary to inable them to discharge the Duties of their Office and to suppose that they cannot do this without praying Extempore or in their own words is to take the matter in question for granted 2. That this natural or acquired Gift is no where appropriated by God to prayer but left common to other uses and purposes For though in Ministers especially it is ordinarily called a Gift of Prayer yet it is no where stiled so
in Scripture indeed the ability of praying in unknown languages is once called a Gift as I observed before but as for this ordinary ability whether natural or acquir'd of praying in our native language it is no where spoken of in Scripture under the name of a Gift of Prayer nor is there the least mention of any such ability given by God to men purely to inable them to pray and unless our Brethren can produce some Text of Scripture which yet they never attempted wherein God hath appropriated this Gift to the purpose of Prayer they must give us leave to conclude that he hath left it common to all other honest uses and purposes that it can be apply'd to and that in short it is nothing but a freedom of Utterance and Elocution which in some is natural and in some acquired by which they are enabled readily to express their minds to God or men and therefore to how many honest purposes this common Gift of God is applicable to so many it 's design'd and intended and consequently may as well be call'd the Gift of Conversation in good company and the Gift of pleading at the Bar and the Gift of disputing in the Schools or the Gift of Oratory in the Forum as the Gift of Prayer in Private or Publick worship it being all but one and the same Gift applied to several uses and purposes accordingly we find that those who have this Gift have it not only while they are speaking in Prayer but when they are speaking upon other occasions and that ordinarily they can express themselves to Men with the same readiness and fluency in conversation as they express their minds to God in Prayer which is a plain argument that their Gift is not appropriate to Prayer but common to all the other uses and purposes of Elocution 3. That this Gift of utterance not being appropriated by God to Prayer may upon just reason be as lawfully omitted in Prayer as in any other use or purpose 't is designed for I do confess had God any where appropriated it to the end of Prayer those who have it were obliged to use it to that end and to omit it ordinarily by confining themselves to forms of other mens inditing would be to neglect a means of Prayer of Gods special appointment and institution for had he any where intimated to us that he gave it us purely to inable us to pray without any respect to any other end we could not have omitted the use of it in Prayer without crossing his intention and frustrating him of the only end for which he intended it but since he hath given us no such intimation we may justly conclude that he intends it in common for all those honest ends to which it is applicable and if so 't is no more unlawful to omit using it to one end than to another so that either it must be wholly unlawful to omit using our own Elocution to any purpose whatsoever whereunto it may be honestly applied or it must be lawful to omit it in Prayer and consequently supposing I have this Gift of utterance either I may not use a form in petitioning my Prince or a Court of Justice or I may use a form in addressing my self to God in Prayer since my Gift is common to both these purposes and no more appropriated to the one than the other in short therefore as for those common Gifts of God which are applicable to sundry purposes and which he intends no more for one than for another it is left to our own liberty and discretion whether we will apply them to this or that particular purpose or no and no man is obliged to use his Gift to all those just and lawful purposes it is capable of and if he hath two Gifts which serve to the same purpose there is no doubt but he may lawfully omit the one and use the other as he sees occasion and so it is with this Gift of utterance which is naturally serviceable to sundry excellent purposes and among others to this of expressing our minds to God in Prayer but it being serviceable to this in common with others it is left to our liberty whether we will imploy it in this in that or in another purpose and we are neither obliged to imploy it in all nor in this more than in another but if we have another Gift that is serviceable to the purpose of Prayer as well as this of utterance it is left to our own pious discretion whether we will use this or the other so that unless our Brethren can prove that this Gift of Utterance or Elocution is by special command of God made an appropriate means of Publick Prayer they will never be able to prove either that it is more unlawful to omit the use of it in Prayer than in any other Office of Elocution or that if we have any other means of Prayer we are determined to this more than to another 4. That to read our desires to God in other Mens Words is as much a means of Prayer as to speak them in our own for to speak in our own Words is no otherwise a means of Publick Prayer than as it serves to express to God the Common cases and necessities of the Congregation and if these may be as well exprest by Reading them in other Mens Words as by speaking them in our own the end of Publick Prayer is as effectually serv'd by the one as by the other and sure no man will deny but that by a Form of Words composed by another he may express the common Devotions of a Congregation as well as by extempore or premeditated words of his own invention for this would be in effect to say that none but himself can compose a publick Prayer or at least none so well as he for if another Prayer may be as expressive of the Devotions of a Congregation as his own I can see no reason why the reading of that may not be as proper a means of publick Prayer as the speaking of this here then are two means of Prayer viz. reading other mens Forms and speaking our own Conceptions and therefore unless our Brethren can prove that God hath expresly chosen the one and rejected the other they must acknowledge both to be lawful and if we cannot lawfully omit the one because it is a means of Prayer neither can we lawfully omit the other because it is so too and therefore either we must be obliged to use them both which is impossible at the same time or we must be left at liberty to use either according to our own discretion In sum therefore since we are not inspired with any peculiar Gift of Prayer in our ordination and since our Gift of praying in our own words is not appropriated by God to this use but left in common to other purposes and since what is not appropriated by God may be lawfully omitted when there are other means of
Prayer and since in fact there is another means of Prayer besides this of praying in our own words viz. praying in the words of others which God hath left as free to us as the former it plainly follows from the whole that to omit the use of our own Gift and in the stead of it to use that other Gift of praying in the words of others is not in it self any way sinful or unlawful Case III. Whether the Vse of Publick Forms of Prayer doth not deaden the Devotion of Prayer For thus our Brethren argue that by the command of God we are obliged not only to pray but to pray with the utmost devotion we are able and accordingly to use such means of Prayer as are most apt to heighten and intend our devotion and thus far we agree with them if therefore Forms are in themselves and not through our fault and erroneous prejudice less apt to quicken and raise devotion than conceiv'd Prayers it will be granted of all hands that this is a good Argument against the use of them This therefore is the case wherein we differ our Brethren say that Forms of Publick Worship for 't is that we are now discoursing of are in themselves apt to dispirit and deaden the Devotions of those that use them we say the contrary viz. that publick Forms are in themselves more apt to improve and quicken the common Devotions than Extemporary Prayers of the Ministers own conceiving In order therefore to the clearing and full resolution of this Case we will briefly enquire into these three things 1. What these advantages to Publick Devotion are which conceived or extemporary Prayers pretend to 2. Whether these Advantages are not for the most part fantastical and imaginary and whether so far as they are real they are not much more peculiar to Forms than to extempore Prayer 3. Whether besides these common advantages publick Forms have not peculiar advantages which conceiv'd Prayers cannot pretend to 1. We will enquire what those advantages to the publick Devotions are which conceiv'd or extemporary Prayers pretend to in short it is pretended in the behalf of conceiv'd Prayers that they do much more fix the attention and raise the intention of the Peoples minds in Prayer than publick Forms that is that they do more confine the rovings of mens thoughts in Prayer and keep their minds more attentive to it and that they do much more warm and enliven their affections in it for say our Brethren the Devotions of the people are very much rais'd or deaden'd by the performance of the Minister according as he is more or less devout in it and as for the Minister he must needs be much more devout in a Prayer of his own conceiving than in the use of a publick Form because first say they 't is impossible for him to keep his mind so attentive in reading a Prayer as in conceiving one in his own mind and speaking it from his own conceptions the care of performing which naturally bounds the wanderings of his thoughts and keeps them more fixt and attentive and secondly because when he utters his words immediately from his affections his thoughts have not that scope to wander as when he reads them out of a Book And as conceived Prayer doth more fix the attention of the Minister so it doth also more raise his intention or in other words more warm and inflame his affections for first whereas in reading a Form his affections follow his words and are raised and excited by them in conceived Prayer his words follow his affections and are immediately utter'd from and indited by them and secondly How is it possible say they that the words of another which he reads out of a Form should so well express his affections as his own besides thirdly that while he is reading his Form his soul is so intent in directing his eye to read that it cannot direct its affections to God with that fervour and intention as it might do in conceiv'd Prayer These are the supposed helps which the Ministers devotion and from his the Peoples receive from conceiv'd Prayers above what Forms of Prayer can afford and as conceiv'd Prayer hath these peculiar advantages to raise the Ministers devotion and by his the Peoples so it hath another advantage by which it more immediately influences the devotion of the People viz. that the matter of it is still exprest in new words which must needs much more affect the attention of the People than when it is always exprest in the same words without any variation And this so far as I can gather from the Writings of our Brethren is the sum of what they plead in behalf of conceiv'd Prayer as to its peculiar advantageousness to publick Devotion above stated Forms 2. Therefore we will inquire whether these Advantages are not in a great measure imaginary and whether so far as they are real they are not much more peculiar to Forms than to conceiv'd Prayer And here I will readily grant that by expressing a serious and devout affection the Minister doth really advantage the Devotion of the Congregation even as by his good example in all other things he excites the people to a pious and virtuous imitation in whose eyes devotion never looks so amiable as when 't is exprest in serious and well compos'd words accompanied with a devout a sober and affectionate behaviour both which are equally necessary to excite the devotion of the People if therefore it be really true that the use of conceived or extempore Prayer is in its own nature most apt to fix the attention and excite the intention of the Minister in Prayer it must be confest that herein it hath the advantage of Forms 1. Therefore we will inquire whether these advantages it pretends to as to the exciting the Ministers attention in Prayer be real or no The first advantage is that the very conceiving the matter of his Prayer and speaking it from his own conceptions doth naturally more bind his attention than the reading it out of a Form but I beseech you what doth it more bind him to attend to is it to attend to the words and phrases if so then 't is not to attend to the acts of Prayer or is it to attend to those acts which are the proper business of Prayer that is to be asham'd of sin and to bewail it in confession to be sensible of the common wants and common dependancies upon God for supply in petition to admire God's perfections and gratefully commemorate his goodness in praise and thanksgiving for in these things the true devotion both of Minister and People consists and 't is only by being an example of these in his Prayer that the Minister excites the devotion of his people 't is by confessing sin as if he were asham'd of and sorry for it that he excites their shame and sorrow by petitioning for mercy as if he were sensible of the want of it and did
heartily desire it and depended upon God for it that he excites their sense of need and their desire and hope of relief and supply by praising and thanking God as if he heartily admired his excellencies and gratefully resented his goodness that he excites their admiration and gratitude that mode of Prayer therefore which is most apt to fix the Ministers attention to these acts of devotion must needs be most apt to excite the devotions of the people Now as for the mode of praying from his own conceptions I really think that it is much more apt to unfix the Ministers attention to these acts than that of praying by a Form because it forces him to attend to other things at the same time viz. the recollection of matter and invention of sutable expressions which must more or less divert him from attending to the inward acts of devotion according as his fancy and tongue are more or less pregnant and voluble it being impossible for him to attend at the same time to several things as closely as he may to one but when he prays by a Form his matter and words are ready before him and so he hath nothing else to do but to attend to his devotion and certainly when a man hath but one thing to do in Prayer he may attend to that more fixedly and closely than when he hath two or three 't is true by being released from attending to the invention of his matter and words his mind is more at leisure to wander and instead of attending as he ought more closely to the acts of devotion by imploying those thoughts which in conceiv'd Prayer he imploys in invention in a closer attention to the acts of devotion he may if he please permit them to rove abroad but if he doth the fault is in himself and not in the Form he prays by the design of his Form is to release his mind from all other business in Prayer but only that of inward devotion which is the life of Prayer that so it may be the more attentive to it but if instead of applying his mind to this design he suffers it to wander abroad he makes an ill use of a good thing and converts that which is in it self a help to devotion into an occasion of indevotion But 't is objected that while his thoughts are imployed in inventing the matter and words of his Prayer they are attending to the duty of Prayer and while they are so they are well imploy'd though they should not be so attentively fixt upon the inward devotion of Prayer as they might be in the use of a Form to which in short I answer That to invent the matter and words of Prayer is not to pray but to study a Prayer and till our Brethren have proved that our inventing the matter and words is a part of our duty of Prayer which is the Question in debate between us we can by no means grant that our attention to it is attending to the duty of Prayer we believe that when we pray devoutly by a Form we discharge the whole duty of Prayer though we do not invent the matter and words our selves and when we see the contrary proved we will not only yield that to attend to inventing is to attend to the duty of Prayer but that it is unlawful to pray by a Form but in the mean time we can yield neither one nor t'other Seeing then that Forms are in themselves more apt to fix the Ministers attention to the inward acts of devotion and seeing that 't is by attending to these acts or at least by seeming to do so that he influences the attention of the people it necessarily follows that in this respect Forms are more advantageous to publick devotion than conceiv'd or extemporary Prayer But then 2. It is pretended that conceiv'd Prayer is in it self more apt to fix the Ministers attention in Prayer than Forms because in conceiv'd Prayer he utters his words immediately from his affections by reason of which his thoughts have not that scope to wander as when he reads them out of a Book to which in short I answer That if he hath devout affections he may utter his words as immediately from his affections in a Form as in a conceiv'd Prayer and therefore this pretence is altogether insignificant for his own invention is as much a medium between his affections and utterance in Praying extempore as the Book in praying by a Form as for instance suppose that in confessing sin he be affected with shame and sorrow he cannot express it in words but by using his own invention or a Form and whether he uses one or t'other he uses a medium to express it and why those words which he reads should not be as immediate to his affections as those which he invents provided they do as fully express them I am not able to apprehend in short therefore if he hath devout affections they will at least as much confine his thoughts from wandering when he prays by Form as when he prays Extempore if he hath not he cannot utter his words from his affections either in the one or t'other 2. We will inquire whether those advantages which our Brethren ascribe to conceiv'd Prayer above Forms as to the raising the Ministers intention in Prayer be real or no first they pretend that in reading a Form his affections follow his words and are raised and excited by them whereas in praying extempore his words follow his affections This I confess is a very curious distinction but I am not able to apprehend either what foundation there is for it or how it is applicable to the matter for first what necessity is there either that his affections should follow his words in a Form more than in a conceiv'd Prayer or that his words should follow his affections in a conceiv'd Prayer more than in a Form why may not a man be devoutly affected with the matter he prays for before he expresses it in a Form of words as well as before he expresses it extempore since if he be acquainted with the Form he cannot but know before-hand what he is to pray for in it and therefore if he be truly devout cannot but be affected with it before he prays for it and so on the other hand why may not a man as well be unaffected with the matter he prays for in conceiv'd Prayer till he hath exprest it as with the matter he prays for in a Form or what reason can be assign'd why the affection may not follow the words and be excited by them in the one as well as in the other may not a man pray inconsiderately and suffer his tongue to run before his heart in both and may not his affections which were before asleep be awakened by the sound of his words in either In short therefore since in praying by a Form a man may know as well at least and hath as much time to consider the
matter he is to pray for before-hand as in praying extempore what reason is there why it should be more difficult for him to affect his soul before-hand with it in the one than in the other and if it be equally hard and easie in both than 't is equally possible for his affections to go before or follow his words in either But then secondly suppose it were true that in conceiv'd Prayer the words follow the affections and in a Form the affections the words how doth it from hence follow that conceiv'd Prayer doth more intend and heighten the affections than Forms what reason can there be assign'd why those acts of inward affections which follow our words in Prayer should not be as intense and vigorous as those which go before them why may not a man exert as flagrant an act of desire immediately after he hath exprest his Petition as immediately before especially if that be true which our Brethren affirm and which most men find by experence that the words of Prayer if they are proper and expressive do naturally quicken and excite the affections so that if it be the matter only that excites the affections they may be as vehemently excited after the words are spoken as before if it be the words also the afflections must be less vehemently excited excited before the words than after in short therefore when the Minister prays in publick whether it be by Form or extempore he prays on without making any long pauses between one Petition and another so that as soon as ever he hath conceiv'd the matter he expresses it and whether it be immediately before or immediately after or while he is expressing it that he joyns his affection to it there can be no reason assign'd if it be the matter he joyns them to why he should more affect it now than then there being nothing in the order of before or after to raise and excite his affection and if so his affections following his words though it were necessary to his praying by a Form can be no disadvantage to his Devotion nor the contrary an advantage to it though it were necessary to his praying extempore but then secondly it is pretended that the Minister cannot so well express his devout affections in other mens words as in his own and therefore when he prays in a Form of words of other mens composure 't is impossible his affections should be so livelily represented as when he prays extempore To which in short I answer That the Ministers business in publick Prayer is not to express the degrees and heighths of his own affections or to acquaint God of the particular and extraordinary fervencies of his own soul for in publick he prays as the common mouth of the Congregation and therefore he ought not to express to God in the name of the People any matter that is peculiar to himself or to represent his own particular extraordinary fervours as the common case of the Congregation but his words ought to be such as every honest and ordinary Christian may truly joyn with as the sense and meaning of his own soul and for him to express to God in the name of the People such heights of Devotion as few or none of them are arrived to is as bad as to confess in their names such sins to God as few or none of them are guilty of So that if the Minister hath such peculiar heighths of affection as can be fitly exprest only in his own words he ought not to tell God of them in a publick Prayer in which he is to express nothing but what is the true and common sense of every honest and sincere Christian and this certainly may be as fitly exprest in another mans words as in his own unless we will suppose that no man can so well express the common sense of a Christian Congregation as he that prays extempore yea and that he himself cannot so fitly express it in premeditated words as in extemporary ones neither of which I suppose any sober Dissenter will affirm But then Thirdly and lastly it is also pretended that in the use of Forms the Ministers soul is so ingaged in directing his eye to read that it cannot be so intensly affected with what he prays for as when he prays extempore in answer to which I leave the Reader to judge whether the recollecting of the matter of Prayer the disposing of it into a due method and inventing of proper phrases to express it neither of which are acts of Prayer as I shew'd before must not much more busie and ingage the Ministers foul when he is praying publickly than the directing of his eye to read that is whether one that hath so perfect a habit of reading as that he can readily exercise it without imploying one thought about it cannot read a Prayer more easily than invent one for so much easier as it is to read than to invent a Prayer so much less his soul hath to divert it from being affected with what he prays for when he prays by a Form than when he prays extempore And thus you see that those advantages which are ascribed to conceiv'd Prayer as to the raising the Ministers Devotion are such as are either imaginary or as ought rather to be ascribed to Forms But it is pretended that Forms of Prayer do not only deaden the Ministers Devotion and so by consequence the Peoples but that they do also deaden the Peoples by a more direct and immediate influence because they still express the matter of Prayer in the same words which when the People have often heard will be apt to cloy their attention whereas the very newness and variety of words in which conceiv'd Prayers are exprest doth naturally awaken and entertain their minds and keep them more fixt and intent For answer whereunto let us consider upon what it is that this novelty and variety of expression doth keep our minds so fixt and intent on is it upon the matter of Prayer doubtless No for that is generally the same especially the matter of publick Prayer and therefore if it were that that fixt our minds 't would as well do it in the same as in new and varied expressions and since the matter of publick Prayer is old and for the main will be always so why should it not as well affect us in old words as in new provided they exprest it with equal propriety and fitness but if it be meerly the nowness of the phrase 't is express'd in that fixes their minds there is nothing in it but a meer surprise and amusement of their fancies which instead of fixing doth unfix their minds from the internal acts of Prayer and divert its attention from the devotion to the oratory of it so that this fixation of their minds on the novelty of the phrase and method of Prayer is so far from being an advantage that 't is a distraction to their devotion As for Forms of Prayer
there is no doubt but they may be composed with the same advantage of expression and pronounced with the same affection as the Prayers of our own extempore composure and if they are so they will have the same advantage of the musick of speech to excite the Devotions of the People but as for novelty of method and expression that may indeed entertain their minds and divert them from roving out to other objects but even this entertainment is a roving and excursion of their minds from the acts of Prayer which while they are amused with the novelty of the phrase and method of the Prayer can be no more intent on the devotion of it than while they are busied about secular objects and affairs And indeed that seeming devotion that is raised in the minds of the People by the gingling of the Ministers words about their fancies is generally false and counterfeit for as words do naturally impress the fancy so the fancy doth naturally excite the sensitive affections so that when the affections are excited meerly by the art and musick of the words of Prayer it is not Devotion but Mechanism for there is no doubt but men may be and many times are strangely affected with the words of Prayer when they have not the least spark of true devotion to the matter of it for when they fancy the matter of Prayer and are affected with it meerly for the sake of the words the movement of their affection will cease as soon as the impression is worn out which the words make upon their fancies and if in the mean time they happen to hear any other matter exprest in the same affectionate words they will in all probability be as much affected with it as they are now with the matter of Prayer but if the mind be truly devout and doth affect the matter of Prayer for it self and not for the sake of the words I cannot imagin how new words should any way advantage its devotion unless they were to express new matter Since therefore the matter of publick Prayer neither is nor ought to be new unless it be upon extraordinary publick emergencies what colour of reason can there be assign'd why the devotion of the hearers should be more affected with it in new words than in old supposing it be express'd and pronounc'd with the same propriety and affection in both And thus I have shewn that those advantages of publick Devotion which are pretended to be peculiar to conceiv'd Prayers are for the most part imaginary and that so far forth as they are real they are more peculiar to Forms of Prayer I proceed to the third and last enquiry viz. 3. Whether there are not sundry advantages of publick Devotion peculiar to Forms of Prayer which conceived Prayers cannot pretend to That there are I do affirm and will indeavour to prove by these following Instances 1. One great advantage that is peculiar to publick Forms of Prayer is That the People may address themselves to them with greater preparation for if they please they may peruse the words before-hand and consider the sense and matter of them and indeavour to affect their minds with it as for instance when I know before-hand what words my sins will be confest in when I am to joyn in the publick Devotions I can consider before-hand the sense and meaning of them and prepare such affections as are sutable to them as suppose the confession be that of our Church's Liturgy wherein we begin with Almighty and most merciful Father I can consider the meaning of these words before I come to Church and from the consideration of God's almighty and most merciful nature excite my affections to an awful dread of his power and an ingenuous sense of his mercy by which when I come to joyn with these words in the publick confession I shall be duely affected with the sense of them and my soul will be ready melted into all that filial sorrow and humiliation for my sin which the consideration that I have offended by it an Almighty and most merciful Father suggests and so if I consider and apply before-hand all the rest of the confession I shall thereby tune and set my affections to the sense and matter of each particular phrase and expression in it which 't will be impossible for me to do when I am to joyn with an extempore Prayer because I cannot know before-hand what the phrases and expressions of it will be besides which upon the words of publick Forms there may be written excellent Paraphrases and Meditations such as is that of the Companion to the Temple by reading of which the Devotions of the People may be very much excited and improved which is such an advantage as the words of extempore Prayer will not admit of 2. Another advantage peculiar to publick Forms is That in joining with them the People may pray with more understanding than they can well be supposed to do in conceiv'd and extempore Prayer wherein generally the Minister is forc'd to make use of such words and expressions as come first to hand having not leisure enough to pick and choose his words without making long and undecent pauses and interruptions so that sometimes he is fain to use a hard word which perhaps not half the People understand because an easier doth not come to his mind and sometimes to intangle his expressions with long Parentheses sometimes to darken his matter with far fetch'd Metaphors or to express it by halfs in broken Sentences and sometimes to run out his Periods to an inordinate length by which the sense of them is very much clouded and obscur'd these and such like inconveniences all the World knows do very commonly attend extempore Effusions and let a mans fancy and tongue be never so fluent and voluble he can never be so secure of expressing himself intelligibly to the People when he prayers extempore as he might be if he took time enough before-hand to choose his words and form his expressions so that the People may be much more secure of understanding what they pray for when they joyn with a Form than when they joyn with an extempore Prayer for to be sure in composing publick Forms more care will be taken of the phrase that the words may fit the matter and express it intelligibly to the People than there can be in extempore Prayer which admits of no long consideration no alteration upon second thoughts no after-scanning or revisal as Forms of Prayer do but it must pass as it happens whether it be intelligible or no by reason of which those who occupy the room of the unlearned are many times forc'd to break off praying for want of understanding what the words and expressions of the Prayer mean for whether the Prayer be spoken in an unknown Tongue or in words that are unintelligible to the People it is all one to them for still their understanding is unfruitful and so long their devotion must
be broken and interrupted 3. Another advantage peculiar to publick Forms is That the People may joyn with them with much more faith and assurance than they can with extempore Prayers it must doubtless be of great advantage to a mans devotion in publick to be satisfied before-hand that the matter he is to pray for is good and acceptable to God for by this means he will be inabled to pray on with a stronger saith and surer hope of being heard and accepted but this a man can never be satisfied of aforehand that joyns in extempore Prayer unless he hath an implicit faith in his Minister that he will say nothing to God but what is true nor ask any thing of him but what is lawful which how he can certainly depend on I cannot imagin especially consisidering that the Minister who prays is many times a stranger to him both as to his person and principles and for all that he knows may be very erronious rash and unadvised or very ignorant of what is matter of Prayer and what not And even those Ministers whom he knows and can best confide in are not always so very sure of their hands but that some times they may mistake their passion for their zeal and reak their anger or faction in their Prayers or in the heat and hurry of speaking what comes next let drop an error before they are aware or express themselves so doubtfully or unadvisedly that an honest and discerning mind may not be able to joyn with him so that in joyning with an extempore Prayer it is very necessary as hath been observed by an excellent Divine upon this Argument that as we go along with the Minister we should judge of what he saith before our hearts consent to it and if it should so happen that by reason of the novelty or ambiguity affectation or indigestedness of his expressions or any such rub in our way we cannot readily judge but are fain to hesitate and deliberate upon this or that passage in the mean time he who prays is gone on and now upon a new subject and we are left behind and at a loss and perhaps miserably confounded before our Devotion can close in again and no sooner it may be is it well fixt but 't is led away again into the same inconveniency and maze all which may be easily prevented by the use of publick Forms of the matter and expressions of which the People may easily satisfie themselves aforehand and when this is done they will have nothing else to do but to pray and keep their holy affections a going they will have no new Judgment to make of what is said no doubtful phrase or matter to examin and their judgment being satisfied before they begin to pray with the words and matter of the Prayer their devotion may go on with it without pause or stop in an even and uninterrupted current 4. Another advantage peculiar to publick Forms is That they have much less in them to divert the affections of the People from the matter of Prayer For as for extempore Prayer it is very apt to disturb the devotion of the People whether it be well or ill perform'd if he who performs it hesitates or blunders or expresses himself in crude undecent or fantastick phrases instead of attending to the matter and joyning their affections with it they will in all probability be pitying or contemning him carping at what comes next and running descants on his weakness and impertinence if he perform well and his method be orderly and artificial his matter good and his expressions fluent and apt and easie they will in all probability be admiring his parts and entertaining their curiosity with the elegancy of his phrase the solidity and promptness of his judgment and the art and finery of his composure either of which must very much divert and call off their affections from the matter whereas while they are joyning in publick Forms to which they have been accustomed and in which neither the strength nor weakness of the Ministers parts appears they have none of all these snares to intangle their devotion for being used to the words and phrase and method they have no temptation to concern their minds any farther about them than as they convey the matter of the Prayer to them and having none of the above-named diversions to carry away their minds from the matter they may doubtless if they please attend to it with much more fervour and affection 5. Another peculiar advantage to the Peoples Devotion in joyning with publick Forms is That they are more secur'd as to the decency and solemnity of their publick Worship and I suppose there is no body will question but that the decent and solemn performance of publick Worship is highly advantageous to the Devotion of the People But now whilst they joyn in extempore Prayers the decency and solemnity of the performance doth altogether depend upon the ability and present disposedness of the Minister So that if he happen to be a man of a mean elocution of an unready memory or an unfruitful invention it is impossible the Office should be perform'd with that decency and solemnity that is necessary to affect the minds and excite the devotions of the People yea instead of that perhaps the wretched dulness the blundering confusion and impertinence of the performance may turn their devotion into scorn and laughter for of this I have seen too many sad experiments but suppose the Minister be a man of pregnant parts and ready invention and elocution yea and of great Piety and Devotion too yet 't is possible he may be frequently liable to great indispositions of body and mind to dulness and inadvertency to wandering and distraction of thoughts to deficiencies of invention and failures of memory and incumbrances of mind with outward cares and accidents and if he be what remedy is there but that he must many times pray confusedly and omit a great deal of the matter of Prayer and utter a great deal of it in broken or undecent expressions and how can he avoid being sometimes at a loss both for words and matter and being forc'd to supply the present defects of his invention with fulsome repetitions of what went before and how is it possible almost but that a great deal of flat and empty nonsense a great many crude and undigested conceptions and rash and unadvis'd expressions should escape from his lips before he is aware and this if he hath any grain of modesty in him must upon the least reflection put him into a greater confusion and so amaze and bewilder him that throughout the whole Prayer perhaps he will hardly be able to recover himself to any consistency of thoughts Now is it not a hard case that the decency and solemnity of the publick Prayers of a Congregation should depend upon the uncertain and variable temper and disposition of one single person so as that if he happen to be indispos'd
or disorder'd in his body or mind the Devotions of 500 or 1000 persons must partake of his disorders and distractions for how much soever he is indisposed their Prayer can be no better than what he is able to pour out extempore and how flatly unadvisedly or confusedly soever he prays they must pray after him or not pray at all which vast inconvenience is wholly cur'd and prevented by a well compos'd Form of Prayer for how weak soever the Ministers parts be or how much soever he may be at present indisposed if he can but read distinctly and seriously the Devotion of the People will not be at all affected or influenc'd by it for whatsoever his parts or present temper be they will be sure to find an orderly and methodical Prayer to joyn with a Prayer that is comprehensive of all their common cases and necessities that is sober and good mature and well advised as to the matter that is full and plain and decent as to the phrase and expression of it and in a word that is every way suted to all the parts and ends and offices of publick Devotion And if they please they may satisfie themselves before-hand that there is nothing in the Prayer they are to joyn with but what becomes publick Worship which is the most serious and solemn thing in the World 6. Another peculiar advantage of publick Forms is That in joyning with them the People may be better secur'd of the reality and sincerity of their own Devotion For in joyning with extempore Prayers there is no doubt but they may and many times do mistake the tickling of their fancies for true and sincere Devotion for their fancies being surpriz'd and amused meerly by the novelty of the expressions will naturally influence their sensitive passions and chafe them into such warmths as an undiscerning judgment may easily mistake for the holy fervours of Devotions they find themselves strangely heated in the Prayer and upon that immediately conclude that they are wonderfully devout without ever enquiring whether it be the matter or the phrase and expression that heats them and so from those transports of passion which are meerly the effects of new and surprising words striking briskly on their fancies they many times take occasion to flatter themselves into a great opinion of their Piety and Godliness whereas many of these persons are notoriously immoral in their lives and utterly disaffected to the matter they pray for with so much seeming earnestness and affection which is a plain argument that their affection is not to the matter but meerly to the words and expressions and in all probability the same surprisingness of expression would have as much effected them at a Play as it doth at a Prayer thus for instance when they hear God or Christ spoken of and their goodness and perfections presented in a new and surprising strain of expressions their fancy many times is strangely smitten with it and this makes their spirits flow with a sweet and placid torrent to their heart and by their frisking about it to sooth and tickle it into great complacency and pleasure till at last it opens and dilates its orifices and the grateful flood breaks in and drowns it in delight and ravishment and yet all this many times instead of being a real complacency of their souls in God is only a complacency of their fancies in the phrase by which he is described and represented and had they heard the Hero of Play describ'd in the same phrase they might probably have been moved to the same affection to him as they are now to God and their Saviour for the same kind of influence that new and surprising expressions have upon mens fancies in Prayer they will have when applied to other matters And if we will believe Plutarch it was an ordinary thing with the Greek Sophists by their honied words surprising phrases singing tones and effeminate accents to excite their Auditors into a kind of Bacchical Enthusiasm and no doubt but those hearers of whom he there speaks who were wont to applaud their Orators at the end of their Declamations with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divinely heavenly unimitably spoken found themselves as much moved as many a man doth at an extempore Prayer who yet verily believes that it is not meerly a movement of his fancy but of his sincere and true devotion This therefore is a great disadvantage of extempore Prayer in publick that meerly by amusing the fancies of the people with the surprising novelty of its expressions it puts them into fits of counterfeit devotion and makes them many times imagin that they are heartily affected with the matter of the Prayers when 't is meerly the phrase of it that by striking on their fancies moves their sensitive affection But whether this movement of affection be fancy or devotion a man may much more easily distinguish when he joyns with a Form than when he joyns with an extempore Prayer for he being acquainted aforehand with the phrases and expressions of the Form it is not to be supposed that they should much surprise and amuse his fancy and therefore if notwithstanding that he finds himself heartily affected in the Prayer he may much more securely conclude that it is the matter and not meerly the words that moves and affects him And thus with all plainness and sincerity I have indeavoured to represent those peculiar advantages which Forms of Prayer have above extempore ones as to the quickening and improving the Devotions of the People I might have given other Instances of it but these I think are sufficient to determin the case in debate and to convince any unprejudic'd man that pious and well composed Forms are so far from deadening the publick Devotions that they contribute sundry great advantages to it And indeed if publick Forms do deaden the Peoples Devotion it must be either as they always confine the Devotions of the People to the same set of words which as I have proved at large is a great advantage to their Devotion or as they do pro tempore confine them to a certain set of words in which sense the Ministers extempore Prayer is a Form to the People and doth as much confine their Devotions to a certain set of words pro tempore as any stated Form whatsoever And now if after all this it be objected by our Brethren that they find by Experience which is the best Argument that Forms do actually deaden their Devotion I would beseech them seriously to consider whether this experience of theirs be not founded in an unreasonable prejudice and if it be whether it 's fit that their unreasonable prejudice should prescribe to the whole Church it's certain that there are other men as truly pious and devout as they who find by experience that joyning with the publick Forms is a great advantage to their Devotion so that here is experience against experience and certainly where there are two contrary experiences
a more publick and general concern though the Composers of our Liturgy could not foresee the Horrid Powder-Plot and the strange discovery of it the impious Murder of the late King and the happy Restoration of this yet upon the happening of those great Events our Church hath always taken care to provide such Forms of publick Prayer as are every way suitable to the Case and as for those extraordinary Cases which might be foreseen because they happen more frequently in the course of things such as want of Rain or fair Weather Dearth and War Plague and Sickness there may be Forms composed for them afore-hand as there are in our Church's Liturgy so that it is no Argument at all against publick Forms that they cannot make a due provision for extraordinary Cases and Events for before they happen extempore Prayers can no more make due provision for them than Forms and after they happen as due a provision may be made for them by Forms as by extempore Prayers 3. That supposing such provision for extraordinary Cases be not or cannot be made in the publick Form yet that is no Argument why it should not be used so far forth as it comprehends the main of the common Cases and Necessities of the People for as I shew'd before the main matter of publick Prayer may be much more fully comprehended in a studied Form than it can reasonably be supposed to be in an extempore Prayer in which in all probability there will be more omissions as to what respects the ordinary cases of Christians than there are in the publick Form as to what respects their extraordinary cases so that if the Form ought not to be used because it extends not always to all their extraordinary Cases for the same reason extempore Prayer ought not to be used because it extends not always to all their ordinary Cases But since as hath been proved at large the use of Forms is upon sundry accounts of great advantage to the publick Devotion it 's very reasonable that they should be used so far forth as they can and do express the common Cases and Necessities and that the people should not be deprived of the benefit of joyning with them in the main matters of publick Prayer because such extraordinary matters may occur as either are not or can be express'd in them especially when 4. The defect of such new provision for extraordinary Cases may be supplied by the Minister in a publick Prayer of his own for as I observed before our Church allows or at leasts permits the Minister to use a Prayer of his own composure in the Pulpit in which if any extraordinary Mercy or Judgment for which there is no provision in our Liturgie happen to the place he lives in there is no doubt but he may and ought to supply the Devotion of his People with such Confessions Petitions and Thanksgivings as are proper and suitable to the occasion and where this is allow'd of or permitted the non-provision for such extraordinary Cases in the establisht Liturgy can be no bar at all against the use of it provided its Prayers be good and comprehend all ordinary matters of Prayer it is sufficiently provided for ordinary publick Devotion and so far doubtless may be lawfully used sufficient provision being otherwise made for all those extraordinary matters which it doth not or could not comprehend The sum of all therefore is this That as for the ordinary and main matters of publick Prayer they may be more fully and distinctly comprehended in a Form than in an extempore Prayer and as for those new matters which extraordinary publick Emergencies do administer they may for the generality be as well comprehended in a new Form as in a new extempore Prayer and though it should not or could not be express'd in the publick Form yet that is no bar against our joyning with it in all other matters of Prayer especially when these new matters of Prayer may be comprehended and express'd in a publick Prayer of the Minister's own composure CASE V. Whether there be any Warrant for Forms of Prayer in Scripture or pure Antiquity IN which Case there are two Enquiries to be made 1. Whether there be any Warrant for Forms of Prayer in the holy Scripture 2. Whether there be any evidence of the publick use of them in the primitive and purer Ages of the Church 1. Whether there be any Warrant for the use of Forms of Prayer in holy Scripture Where by Warrant must be meant either first positive Command or secondly allow'd Example for upon both these our Brethren insist First they require us to produce some positive Command upon this pretence that nothing ought to be used in the Worship of God but what is commanded by him which how true it is is not my present business to enquire that being done already to excellent purpose in the Case about Indifferent Things But because upon this pretence our Brethren reject the use of Forms as unlawful I shall endeavour to prove these two things 1. That supposing this pretence were true yet it doth not conclude against the use of Forms 2. That supposing it did conclude against the use of Forms it equally concludes against conceiv'd or extempore Prayer 1. That supposing this pretence were true viz. That what is not commanded by God ought not to be used in his Worship yet it doth not conclude against the use of Forms for though we do not pretend that God hath any-where commanded us to pray to him by Forms and no otherwise or that all the Prayers which we at any time offer to him should be first composed into a Form yet we do assert that he hath injoyn'd some Forms to be used and offer'd up in Prayer though together with those particular Forms we grant there might be and doubtless sometimes were other Prayers to be offer'd up to him Thus in the Old Testament we read of sundry Forms of Prayer injoyn'd to be used by God himself and which is the same thing by persons immediately inspired so Numb 6. 23 24 25 26. On this wise or thus shall Aaron and his sons bless the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace In which words the Priest did solemnly invocate and pray for a Blessing on the people and he is commanded to do it saying unto them this very Form of words The Lord bless thee c. which is as plain an injunction of this Form as words can well express So also in the expiation of uncertain Murder Deut. 21. 7 8. the people are injoyn'd by God to say Be merciful O Lord unto thy people Israel whom thou hast redeem'd and lay not innocent bloud unto thy people of Israel 's charge So also at their paying their third years Tythes they were expresly injoyn'd to use this Form of words I
have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house c. Look down from thy holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given unto us as thou swarest unto our fathers the land that flows with milk and honey And as God injoyn'd them these and such-like Forms for particular occasions so David by inspiration from God appointed them the Book of Psalms for their Publick Service for so in the Titles we find several of them particularly recommended to the Choires of the Priests and Levites for parts of their Vocal Service some to the Sons of Korah others to Asaph others to Jeduthun and a great many to the Master of the Musick And though others have no title at all as particularly the 96th and 105th yet 1 Chron. 16. 7. we find that they were deliver'd by David into the hands of Asaph and his brethren for Forms of Praise and Thanksgiving to God and accordingly 2 Chron. 29. 30. we are told that Hezekiah the King commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer And this Liturgy was renew'd by Ezra at the laying the Foundations of the second Temple for so Ezra 3. 10 11. the Priests and Levites were order'd to praise the Lord after the Ordinance of David King of Israel and accordingly they sung together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endureth for ever towards Israel And besides all these instances of Forms of Prayer appointed by God in the Old Testament we have a very considerable one in the New and that is the Lord's Prayer which in Luke 11. 2. our Saviour thus prescribes When ye pray say Our Father c. in which he doth as expresly injoyn them the using of that Form of words as was possible for him to do in any humane Language for if he had said When ye pray say or use this Form of words it could not have been more expressive of his intention to impose it as a Form than his bidding them when they pray'd to say Our Father And if we will not admit that to be the sence of a Text which the words of it do as plainly signifie as they could have done if it were we have no way to determine the sence of any Scripture but may eternally play upon the plainest words of it with quirks of wit and fancy But it is objected by our Brethren That in Matth. 6. 9. where our Saviour also delivers this Prayer to the Disciples instead of bidding them say Our Father he onely bids them pray after this manner Our Father c. which is a plain argument say they that he gave it to them not as a Form but as a Pattern and Directory of Prayer To which I answer 1. That where the same matter is mention'd ambiguously in one Text and plainly and expresly in another it 's a necessary rule of interpretation that the sence of the doubtful and ambiguous Text should be determin'd by the words of the plain and express Text. Now it 's plain that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pray thus is of a doubtful signification and may as well denote Pray in these words as after this Pattern and Direction and he who is bid to pray thus obeys the command whether he prays for the same things in others or in the same words so that had our Saviour express'd himself in no other words but these it might have been doubtful whether he meant to prescribe it as a Form or as a Directory of Prayer but say Our Father is plainly and expresly say these words Our Father and he who is bid to say such words disobeys the command though he should say the same thing in other words so that had our Saviour express'd himself in no other words but these there could have been no doubt but that his meaning was to prescribe those words for a Form of Prayer unless we could have supposed that by this Injunction say Our Father we are not oblig'd to say Our Father and how could we have supposed that without high presumption had it not been for this pretence of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pray thus Since therefore pray thus is a doubtful expression it is very reasonable it should be interpreted by say Our Father which is a plain and determinate one and if so the sense of both must be this When ye pray use this Form of words which I here prescribe you Our Father c. 2ly I answer that our Saviour gave not this Prayer to his Disciples after the manner of a Directory but after the manner of a Form of Prayer had he given it to them meerly as a direction what they were to pray for in all probability he would have exprest himself after another manner and instead of bidding them say Our Father or pray thus Our Father he would have bid them call upon God by the Name of their heavenly Father and beseech him to cause his Name to be glorified and hallowed in the World and his Kingdom to spread and advance c. instead of which he gives them a form'd Prayer and bids them say it And therefore since he gave it to them after the manner of a Form and not after the manner of a Directory and since we may reasonably suppose that he intended they should use it after the same manner in which he gave it it follows that he gave it to them to be used as a Form and not meerly as a Pattern or Directory 3 ly I answer That supposing that when he bid them pray thus in the sixth of St. Matthew he prescrib'd it onely as a Directory for Prayer yet it doth not follow but that when he bad them say Our Father in the 11th of Luke he might prescribe it as a Form because it is not the same prescription in both but different and given them at a different time and upon a different occasion the first was given them in the Sermon upon the Mount and in the second year after his Baptism the second was given them upon their own request after he had done praying and in the third year after his Baptism and whosoever shall consult both places will soon be convinc'd that the Lords Prayer in St. Luke was delivered at another time and upon a quite different occasion from that in St. Matthew It 's highly probable therefore that the Disciples when 't was delivered in St. Matthew lookt upon it meerly as given 'em by way of a Directory or Copy by which they were to frame and compose their Prayers for if they had thought it given 'em as a Form of Prayer it is not imaginable why they should request him to teach 'em a Form to pray by again when he had taught 'em one before either therefore their request in St. Luke must be very impertinent or it must be to desire him to teach 'em something more
than they apprehended he had taught 'em in St. Matthew but they knew that in St. Matthew he had taught 'em already how and in what manner to pray and therefore what further could they now request of him in St. Luke but that he would teach 'em a Form of Prayer Supposing then that St. Matthew's words were intended by our Saviour meerly for a Directory according as his Disciples apprehended yet it doth not follow that St. Luke's were so intended too because it was not onely given at a different time and upon a different occasion but the occasion was their requesting our Saviour to teach 'em something more than what he had taught 'em in St. Matthew that is something more than a meer Pattern or Directory for Prayer and what else could that something more be but a Form Especially considering 4ly That the occasion of Christs giving 'em this Prayer in St. Luke was their requesting him to teach 'em to pray as John taught his Disciples for it was the custom of the Jewish Doctors as our Learned Lightfoot hath proved to teach their Disciples a Form of Prayer as the Badge and Livery of their Discipleship according to which custom it seems John the Baptist had taught his Disciples a Form of his own composure which the Disciples of Jesus understanding they make it their request to him that he according to this laudable custom would teach them to pray also that is teach 'em a Form of Prayer even as John had taught his Disciples And that it was a Form and not meerly a Directory of Prayer which they requested is evident not onely from this custom of the Jewish Doctors but also from the reason of the thing for how can we reasonably imagine that either John or our Saviours Disciples should be ignorant how to pray since as they were Jews they had their set hours of dayly Prayer which they constantly observed viz. the third the sixth and the ninth besides which as I observ'd before the Disciples of our Saviour had already received a Directory of Prayer from him so that without all controversie that which they now request of him was not a Directory but a Form When therefore upon this their request he bid 'em say Our Father they had all the reason in the World to believe that he prescribed it as a Form and unless he prescrib'd it as a Form he did not answer their request even when he pretended to answer it But it is further objected by our Brethren That supposing our Saviour did prescribe it as a Form of Prayer to his Disciples yet it was onely pro tempore till such time as they were more fully instructed and inabled to pray by the coming of the holy Ghost To inforce which they observe that this Prayer was not directed by Christ to be offered up in his Name as all their Prayers were to be after his Ascension into Heaven for though hitherto that is while Christ was upon Earth his Disciples had asked nothing in his Name John 16. 44. yet he enjoyns 'em after his Ascension to ask in his Name John 14. 13 14. John 16. 23. which is a plain token say they that if he did prescribe 'em this Prayer as a Form he intended it should be of no longer use than till after his Ascention otherwise he would have inserted into it his own Name in which from thence to the end of the World all Christian Prayers were to be offer'd up and accordingly say they in all the New Testament we have not the least intimation of the Disciples using this Form In answer to which Objection I shall endeavour to make out these three things 1. That our Saviour hath not given us the least intimation that he prescrib'd this Form pro tempore onely or for a certain time 2. That his not inserting his own Name into it is no argument at all that he so meant or intended 3. That though there be no mention in the New Testament of the Apostles and Disciples using it yet this is no argument either that they did not use it or believe themselves obliged to use it 1. That our Saviour hath not given us the least intimation that he prescribed this Form pro tempore onely and not for continual use nor indeed do those who object it produce the least shadow of any such intimation and I would beseech my Brethren to consider of what dangerous consequence it may be for them to pronounce Christ's Institutions null and extinguish the Obligations of them without producing his authority for it for at the same rate they may make void all the Institutions of our Saviour and pronounce even Baptism and the Lord's Supper temporary Prescriptions as the Quakers do as well as the Lord's Prayer Whatsoever Christ hath instituted without limitation of time doth always oblige though the perpetuity of the Obligation be not express'd by him and therefore unless the Objectors can prove that Christ hath limited the use of the Lord's Prayer to such or such a time say Our Father must as much oblige now as it did when it was first deliver'd But perhaps it may be said that though Christ hath not in express words limited the use of this Form to such a time yet since his own Name wherein all Prayers were to be offer'd up after his ascention is not inserted into it this is a fair intimation that he never intended it should be used after his ascention I answer therefore 2. That his not inserting his own Name into it is no argument at all that he never intended it should be used after his ascention we do acknowledge that after he was ascended and sate down at the right hand of his Father all his followers were obliged to offer up their Prayers in his Name or Mediation but withal we do affirm that they may offer up their Prayers in his Name though they do not name him for thus we have several Prayers of Christ's Disciples recorded in the New Testament which without doubt were offer'd in his Name and yet his Name is not inserted in them at least not as implying his mediation as particularly Acts 4. 24. for indeed to pray in the Name of Christ is to pray in his mediation and to hope and depend upon his sacrifice and intercession for a gracious answer of our Prayers and if we expect all good through Jesus and wholly rely upon his merit for the acceptance of our Prayers we pray in his Name though we do not name him so that Christ's not inserting his Name into this Prayer of his doth not at all hinder us from offering it up in his mediation 'T is true could it be made appear that he did not intend we should offer this Prayer in his Name it would thence follow that he did not intend we should use it after his ascention but his not inserting his Name into it is no argument at all that he did not intend we should offer it in his
Name since we may as well and truly offer it in his Name though he is not named in it as if he were and he hath not given us the least intimation of his will to the contrary 't is true he did not express his Name in it because as yet they to whom he gave it were not to ask in his Name he being not yet ascended but now that he is ascended we can as well offer it in his Name as if his Name had been express'd in it how then doth it follow that because he did not direct them to offer it in his Name before his ascention therefore he did not intend they should offer it in his Name afterwards especially considering that he himself had so fram'd it that after his ascention when the Doctrine of his Mediation was to be more fully explain'd to them they could not offer it at all but in and through his mediation for now that we understand his mediation we know that we are the Sons of God in and through him and therefore when we thus invoke God Our Father which art in Heaven we must implicitly invoke him in and through Jesus Christ through whom alone we acknowledge it is that God is peculiarly our Father Since therefore our Saviour hath so composed this Form as that after his ascention his Followers could offer it up no otherwise but in and through his mediation this is a plain indication that he intended that after his ascention they should offer it in his mediation though his Name be not exprest in it and what though it be not exprest yet it may be exprest and always hath been in the Prayers immediately preceding it for though we do believe that our Saviour hath commanded us to use this Form at least in our publick Worship yet we do not pretend that no other Prayer is to be used besides either in publick or in private and if we use another Prayer before it we may express in the transition to it as we ordinarily do that 't is in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ that we pray Our Father c. Since therefore when we say Our Father we do implicitly pray in Christ's mediation and also explicitly in the Prayers annext to it how doth it follow that because Christ's Name is not express'd in it therefore he did not intend we should offer it in his mediation or therefore he did not intend it for a standing Form 3. That though there be no mention in the New Testament of the Apostles and Disciples using it yet this is no argument either that they did not use it or that they did not believe themselves oblig'd to use it for the great designe of the New Testament being to give an account of the Life of Jesus and of the Doctrines and Precepts of his Religion together with those miraculous Works by which it was confirm'd it can no more be expected that the Prayers of the Christian Assemblies should be recorded in it than that the Liturgy of the Church of England should be recited in the Exposition of the Creed or the whole Duty of Man And therefore as the New Testament takes no notice of their using the Lord's Prayer so neither doth it take notice of any other particular Prayer that they used in their publick Assemblies from whence we may as reasonably conclude that they used no Prayer at all notwithstanding our Lord commanded them to pray as that they did not use the Lord's Prayer notwithstanding he commanded them to say Our Father or at least that they did not Baptize in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost since notwithstanding Christ commanded them to do so yet there is no record in the New Testament of their baptizing any persons in that Form So that from the silence of the New Testament in this matter it would be very unreasonable to infer that the Apostles omitted the Lords Prayer notwithstanding he once commanded them to use it especially considering that those who lived nearest the Apostolical Ages and so were the most competent Judges of what was done in them where the Scripture is silent did always use this Form in their publick Prayers and believe themselves obliged to do so For thus in the Apostolick Age Lucian makes mention of a Prayer which they used in their publick Worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beginning from the Father which doubtless was the Lords Prayer vid. Lucian Philop. And Tertullian who lived about an hundred years after the Apostolical Age discoursing of the Lord's Prayer tells us that Novis Discipulis novi Testamenti Christus novam Orationis Formam determinavit i. e. That Christ hath instituted a new Form of Prayer for his new Disciples St. Cyprian who was but a small matter his Junior reckons his giving a Form of Prayer among those divine and wholesome Precepts which he imposed on his People and a little after Oremus saith he Fratres dilectissimi sicut Magister docuit c. Let us pray as our Master hath taught us let the Father own the words of his Son and since saith he we have an Advocate with the Father when we ask pardon for our sins let us ask it in the words of our Advocate and how much more shall we prevail for what we ask in Christ's Name if we ask in his Prayer De Orat. Domin So St. Cyril acquaints us that after the general Prayer for all men followed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Prayer which Christ taught his Disciples Cyril Cat. Myst 5. Thus also St. Jerom Docuit Apostolos ut quotidie in corporis illius sacrificio credentes audeant loqui Pater Noster Hieron in Pelag. l. 3. And St. Austin tells us that in his time the Lords Prayer was every day said at the Altar and that almost every Church concluded with the Lords Prayer And St. Chrysostom speaking of those who would not forgive injuries tells 'em c. When thou sayest Forgive us Hom. 42. 50. ep 59. ad Paul Qu. 5. St. Chrysde simultat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Trespasses as we forgive if thou dost not forgive thou beggest God to deny thee forgiveness which is a plain evidence that this Form of Prayer was of ordinary use in his Age and that 't was then thought matter of duty to use it syllabically is evident from what follows But saith he you will say I dare not say Forgive me as I forgive but onely Forgive me To which having answered That however he said it God would forgive him as he forgave he concludes thus Do not imagine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you are secured from this danger by not pronouncing all the Prayer do not therefore curtail it but as it is instituted so use it that so the necessity of dayly using the whole may compel thee to forgive thy Brother And St. Gregory expresly affirms That the Apostles themselves Ep. l. 7. c. 6. did always
thing it self is good and useful and imitable by us if God doth such or such a thing because it is good and useful to some end that is a sufficient Warrant for us to do the same provided we have the same reason for to imitate God is not onely our priviledge but our duty But how can we be said to imitate Him if so far as our power extends we do not the same things that he doth when we have the same reasons Since therefore God as supreme Governour of his Church hath prescribed Forms of Prayer because they are good and useful those whom he hath substituted to govern for him are thereby sufficiently warranted to prescribe 'em too so long as they continue so so that Gods prescribing 'em is a sufficient argument that they are useful and that they are useful is a sufficient reason for the Governours of the Church to prescribe 'em also because for that reason God himself hath prescribed 'em and certainly our Spiritual Governours who are in Gods stead are sufficiently warranted to do as God hath done when they have Gods own reason to do it Against this I know nothing can be objected but onely that common and fundamental Principle of all our Separations viz. That God himself hath forbid the prescribing of any thing in or about his Worship but what he himself hath prescribed and therefore whatsoever reason there may be for it no other Forms ought to be prescribed but what are of his own inditing and prescription The falseness of which hath been sufficiently demonstrated in the Case about Indifferent Things And therefore as to the matter in hand I shall onely say that the Objection strikes with equal force against Extemporary words which God hath not prescribed as against Forms of words which he hath not prescribed for as I have already proved Part 1. and shall yet further prove hereafter praying Extempore by our own Gift of expression is no more prescribed by God than praying by a Form and therefore the words of Extempore Prayers are no more prescribed by him than the words of Forms so that if the latter may not be admitted into the Worship of God because they are not prescribed by him neither may the former And indeed he who prays extempore doth as much prescribe a Form of words to the people in publick Worship as he who prays by a Form their devout desires and affections being equally confined to this particular Set of expressions in both And if each single Presbyter may prescribe a Form of words to the People which God hath not prescribed 'em how much more may the Governours of the Church Admitting therefore that such words may be prescribed in Prayer as God hath not prescribed his prescribing of Forms of Prayer must be a sufficient Warrant for the Governours of his Church to prescribe 'em when they have his reason so to do Fourthly and lastly That though it follows that because God by inspir'd persons hath prescribed Forms of Prayer therefore the Governours of the Church may prescribe 'em upon Gods reasons yet it doth by no means follow that therefore they may prescribe 'em as Scripture or Divine Inspiration As briefly to instance in another case Because God the supream Governour of his Church hath taken care to instruct it by inspired persons it thence follows that those whom he hath appointed to govern it should take care to instruct it too but it doth by no means follow either that they should instruct it by inspired persons or that they should pretend to instruct it by Divine Inspiration for they have the same reason that God had to instruct it viz. because it 's good and useful to the best purposes And so far as they have the same reason with God they ought to do the same thing but they cannot have the same reason that God had to instruct it by inspired persons because 't is not in their power so to do and therefore as they cannot be obliged to it so neither ought they to pretend to it And so it is as to prescribing Forms of Prayer for That God himself hath prescribed 'em to his Church by immediate Inspiration may be a sufficient Warrant for Church-Governours to prescribe 'em too but it cannot be a sufficient Warrant for 'em to prescribe 'em by immediate Inspiration for they may have the same reasons to prescribe 'em that God had viz. because they are good and useful for publick Devotion but they cannot have the same reason to prescribe 'em by immediate Inspiration because that is not in their power and therefore 't would be a manifest cheat for 'em to pretend to it Had they the same common reasons with God for both his Example would warrant 'em not onely to prescribe 'em but to prescribe 'em as Scripture and Divine Inspiration but since there is a peculiar reason why they may not prescribe 'em as Scripture viz. because they cannot without manifest falshood and presumption which reason is not at all applicable to the bare and simple prescribing 'em therefore it doth by no means follow that if they may lawfully do the latter they may lawfully do the former also Having thus answered the Objections of our Brethren it remains that supposing that Principle were true viz. That nothing ought to be admitted into the Worship of God but what God hath commanded yet it doth not universally conclude against the admitting Forms of Prayer into his Worship because he himself hath commanded some Forms and by commanding them hath licensed and authorized the Governours of his Church to prescribe others upon the same reasons I proceed therefore to the second general Head proposed which was to shew that supposing this Principle viz. That nothing ought to be admitted into the Worship of God but what is commanded by him did conclude against Forms of Prayer it equally concludes against conceived or extempore Prayers because these are no more commanded by God than Forms nay indeed as to publick Worship have much less claim to Divine Authority than Forms but we will suppose at present the Forms of Prayer were not at all commanded yet this we assert makes no more against them than it doth against Extempore Prayers there being no command of God requiring us to pray Extempore or to utter our affections in Prayer in our own conceptions and expressions It is indeed very confidently asserted by our Brethren That wheresoever we are commanded to pray vocally we are commanded to pray in our own conceptions and words but that this is not so is evident from what has been discours'd before viz. that God hath commanded men to pray in sundry Forms of his own composure and sure in those cases wherein they were commanded to pray vocally in Gods Conceptions and Words they could not be commanded to pray vocally in their own Thus far therefore our Brethren must grant if they will be determin'd by express words of Scripture that the commands to pray vocally
to express their minds to him in Prayer these being the onely Scriptures that are urg'd by them to prove it But they object yet further That supposing God hath not given to all Christians the Gift of praying extempore yet to a great many he hath and therefore these at least he requires to pray by their Gift and not by a Form for so in 1 Tim. 4. 14. He expresly requires them not to neglect the gift that is in them but to stir up the gift of God that is in them 2 Tim. 1. 6. And as they have received the gift even so to minister the same to one another 1 Pet. 4. 10. And that having gifts differing according to the grace given to us whether prophesie to prophesie according to the proportion of Faith And if they are obliged by these Texts to exercise their Gifts in general then are they obliged by them to exercise their Gift of praying extempore in particular In answer to which I shall need do no more than explain the nature of the Gifts here mentioned from which I doubt not it will evidently appear that these Texts make nothing to the purpose for which they are cited First then as for the Gift spoken of in 1 Tim. 4. 14. the words themselves will sufficiently inform us what it is Neglect not the gift â—â—t is in thee which was given thee by prophesie with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery By which Gift it 's evident St. Paul means that of the Episcopal Dignity for first it 's here said to be given him by prophesie for so at the first plantation of the Gospel when the Apostles after they had made some Converts in any City or Country could make but a short stay among them and were forc'd to substitute some new-made Convert to supply their room and perfect their beginnings it was impossible that in so small a time they should be able by any humane means to discern which of their Converts was most fit for that employment and therefore the Holy Ghost did ordinarily point out the person to them by immediate revelation for so Clemens Rom. tells that at their first preaching in every City and Country 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. they ordained their first-fruits making proof of them by the Spirit Bishops and Deacons And thus Acts 20. 28. it 's said of the Bishops of Asia that the Holy Ghost set them over the Flock and in Acts 13. 2. that as they were ministring the Holy Ghost said Separate to me Barnabas and Saul And St. Clemens * * * Ep. 1. ad Cor. tells us that in those times they ordianed Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. discerning by the Spirit who should be ordain'd and that they did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon perfect fore-knowledge who should be the man even as Moses saith he foreknew by divine revelation that Aaron should be advanc'd to the Priesthood And accordingly St. Chrysostom upon this place thus discourses The dignity of being a Doctor and a Priest being great wants God's suffrage that a worthy person may receive it thereupon the Priests were made anciently by prophesie that is by the Holy Ghost thus Timothy was chosen to the Priesthood Since therefore this Gift of Timothy's was conferr'd on him by prophesie it 's eviâ—â—nt 't was the Episcopal Office which in those days was always conferr'd by prophesie i. e. by the immediate direction of the Holy Ghost especially considering 2ly That it was not onely given him by prophesie but also with or together with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery which was the outward signe or ceremony of ordination to spiritual Offices as is evident Acts 6. 6. 8. 17. 13. 3. And that this Gift was not the Gift of prophesying and of laying hands upon others as hath been pretended is evident not onely from the words of the Text which assert it to be given him by prophesie together with the laying on of hands but also from 1 Tim. 1. 18. compar'd with 2 Tim. 1. 6. where this phrase by prophesie is thus explain'd According to the prophesies which went before on thee and this phrase with laying on of the hands of the Presbytery is thus rendred By the putting of my hands that is together with the hands of other Presbyters Which is a plain evidence that by this phrase here by prophesie with the laying on of hands must be meant by divine Predâ—ctions concerning thee together with the laying the hands of the Presbytery upon thee and if so what other Gift can be here meant but onely that of his Episcopal Office which was always conferr'd by prophesie and imposition of hands So that the meaning of these words Neglect not the Gift which is in thee stir up the Gift which is in thee is onely to admonish him to a diligent exercise of his Episcopal Power and Authority in the Flock of which he was Overseer And what doth this signifie towards the proving it necessary that we should exercise our own Gifts in vocal Prayer and express our Affections in our own words And then as for those other Texts viz. 1 Pet. 4. 10 11. and Rom. 12. 6. I answer 1. That there can be nothing in them against praying by a Form for if so they would make as much against using the Lord's Prayer as any other Form 2. That all that is intended in these Texts is to stir men up to diligence and fidelity in those particular Offices and Capacities wherein they are plac'd So 1. Pet. 4. 10 11. As every man hath received a Gift i. e. according to the Office or Capacity he is plac'd in even so minister the same to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God If any man speak that is if it be his Office to teach let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man minister or distribute to the poor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that is proportionably to his estate for just before he had been pressing them to be hospitable to one another without grudging So also Rom. 12. 6. Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us that is being put into various Offices and Capacities according to the various dispensations of Divine Grace whether it be that of prophesie let us prophesie according to the proportion of faith i. e. according to those principles of faith and good life which are known and received among us or whether it be Ministry that is Deaconship let us wait on our ministring or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation he that giveth let him do it with simplicity he that ruleth with diligence he that sheweth mercy with chearfulness In all which it is evident the designe is to excite them faithfully to discharge those several Offices whereunto God had call'd and appointed them for so the word Gift as
all agree doth in Scripture frequently signifie an Office and that in both these Texts it is so to be understood is evident because those things which the Apostles exhort them to are the proper acts and exercises of those several Offices and Capacities of Bishops Presbyters Deacons and rich men and the Argument by which they exhort them is that they had receiv'd the proper Gifts to which these acts appertain So that if by these Gifts we understand abilities to perform those acts we shall force the Argument to prove too much viz. that it is the duty of every one to Rule and Teach and Minister and Prophesie that hath receiv'd an ability to do so whereas in truth none can have a right to perform these acts as all sober Dissenters will acknowledge but onely such as are vested with the Offices to which they appertain Wherefore either this Argument having received Gifts must oblige all men to rule c. that are able to do so or else by Gifts must be meant the Offices to which those acts of ruling c. belong But you will say 'T is evident that by some of these Gifts must be meant the ability of doing the acts here specifi'd as particularly that of distributing to the Poor and shewing Mercy I answer That as for these acts the meer ability to relieve the poor and miserable not onely authorizes but obliges us to them and by putting it in our power God doth as much make it our Office to relieve them as if he had set us apart to it by a solemn Ordination and because the ability here confers the Office the Gift though it signifies the Office must necessarily include the ability too but in all those other particulars where the Office and Ability are distinct things the Gift must signifie the Office distinct from the Ability because here it being the Office and not the Ability that authorizes and obliges us to perform the acts the necessity of performing the acts must be argued from the Office and not from the Ability So then if by the Gifts here spoken of onely such and such Offices are intended by what consequence doth it follow that because those who are vested with these Offices are here exhorted faithfully to discharge them therefore those who are able to pray extempore are hereby obliged to do so Our Brethren may as well argue from these words that all those who are able to rule are obliged to exercise the Episcopal Office as that those who are able to pray extempore are obliged to pray extempore But then thirdly and lastly I answer That supposing that by these Gifts were not meant Offices but onely Abilities yet all that can hence be argued is that those who have them are obliged to exercise them so far forth as is consistent with edification for so the Apostle exhorts That all things be done to edification and to be sure what he exhorts to in one Text doth not at all clash with what he exhorts in another and even of those extraordinary Gifts that were poured out in the Primitive times the Apostle declares 1 Cor. 14. that those who had them were no farther obliged to use them in the Church than the use of them tended to edification vers 2 6 18 19. and particularly for the Gift of Tongues though it was immediately inspired he totally forbids them the use and exercise of it where there was no interpreter vers 23 27 28. If then we are not to exercise our Gifts meerly because they are Gifts but because the exercise of them tends to Edification and if when they do not tend to it we are to suspend the exercise of them as it 's plain we are by this instance of the Gift of Tongues then although by the Gifts mention'd in the above-nam'd Text were meant Abilities and not Offices yet it doth not follow that those who have an ability to pray extempore should therefore be obliged to exercise it any further than as it tends to Edification and therefore if praying by a Form in publick Worship be more for the publick Edification and that it is hath been proved Part 1. Case 3. we are no more oblig'd to pray extempore though we have an ability to do so than he who had the Gift of Tongues was to exercise his Gift when he could not edifie the publick by it and if we ought to suspend the exercise of our Gift when it is not at all edifying at least we are not obliged to exercise it when we may perform the same thing without exercising it in a more edifying manner Having thus shewn the insufficiency of those Scriptures which our Brethren urge to prove that those who are able to pray extempore are oblig'd to do so it remains that hitherto no discovery can be made of any Command of Scripture by which we are oblig'd to pray vocally by our own gift or ability of expression for upon the utmost enquiry I can make these which I have answer'd are the onely Texts which with any shew of argument our Brethren produce to this purpose Supposing therefore it were true that nothing ought to be admitted into God's Worship but what he hath commanded yet this makes a great deal more against praying by our own Gift and in our own words and expressions than it doth against praying by a Form because there are express Commands for praying in some cases by a Form but there is no Command at all for praying by our own Gifts Since therefore there are sundry instances of God's prescribing Forms of Prayer and since no instance can be given of his requiring us to pray by our own Gifts and Abilities this certainly is a sufficient Scripture-warrant of the lawfulness of worshipping him by Forms I proceed to the second Enquiry included in this Case and that is Whether there be any Warrant for the use of Forms in pure Antiquity For it is pretended by some of our Brethren that in the primitive Ages of the Church all publick Prayers were perform'd by the Gifts and Abilities of him that minister'd and that there was no such things as Forms admitted into their publick Worship for the proof of which bold Assertion they onely urge two or three doubtful Authorities against a whole current of plain and express Testimonies to the contrary In the prosecution therefore of this Enquiry I shall endeavour 1. To answer those Authorities which are objected by our Brethren against the use of Forms in the Primitive Ages 2. To prove that they were used in those Ages by a short Historical Account of the Matter of Fact The first Authority which they object against the Primitive use of Forms of Prayer is that of Justin Martyr (a) (a) (a) Apol. 2. p. 98. who tells us that at the Communion the Chief Minister did send forth Prayers and Thanksgivings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is say they according to his ability from whence they infer that in Justin Martyr's days
the Ministers pray'd by their own Gifts and Abilities But this hath been so fully answer'd by our learned Doctor Faulkner (b) (b) (b) Libert Eccles 113. that I am apt to think 't will hardly be objected any more for he hath prov'd at large that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must signifie with all his might i. e. with his utmost intention and fervency for so as he shews it must necessarily signifie in another place of his Apology (c) (c) (c) Apol. 2. p. 60. where speaking of the praying of Christians in general at the Eucharist he tells us that they did praise God with Prayers and Thanksgivings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is with all their might which cannot signifie according to their Gifts and Abilities Since whatsoever the Minister might do it 's certain the People did not compose their own Prayers at the Eucharist and therefore it must signifie with their utmost fervour and intention in which sence as he shews the same phrase is used by Nazianzen (d) (d) (d) Nazian Orat. 3. Another Testimony they object against the use of Forms is that of Tertullian who affirms (e) (e) (e) Sine Monitore quia de pectore Oremus Tertul. Apolog. That the Christians did pray without a Monitor or Prompter because they pray'd from their hearts in which words say they he plainly alludes to a Custom of the Heathen who in their publick Worship had a Monitor to direct them in what words and to what God they were to offer up their Prayers When therefore he says that they pray'd without a Monitor his meaning must be say they that they pray'd without any one to direct them what Form of words they were to pray in To which I answer first That supposing he here speaks of the publick Worship as it seems most probable it 's evident that by this phrase without a Monitor he cannot mean without any one to dictate or prescribe a Form of words to them for in their ordinary publick Prayers their Minister was the Mouth of the Congregation and whether he pray'd by Form or Extempore his words were a Form of words to them in which they were obliged to frame and express their Devotions so that either this phrase without a Monitor must import that they had none to dictate and minister to them in their publick Prayers or it cannot import that they had no publick Forms to pray by because if they had any to dictate to them his extempore Prayer would have been as much a Monitor to direct them what words to pray in as if it had been a stated Form of Liturgy Whatever therefore this obscure phrase means it 's certain it cannot mean without a Form unless it be allowed to mean without a Minister too But then 2ly not to take notice of the various guesses which learned men make at the meaning of it and by which it is sufficiently vindicated from meaning without a Form of Prayer it seems to me most probable that without a Monitor here is meant without any one to correct them when either they repeated or the Minister recited the publick Prayers falsly for the Gods of the Heathen being various and having each their various Offices and Provinces allotted them it was the manner of their Priests to begin their publick Sacrifices with a Form of Prayer (f) (f) (f) A. Gellins Noct. Attic. l. 13. c. 21. which began with an Invocation of Janus and Vesta and proceeded with various Invocations of all the greater Deities by name (g) (g) (g) Rosm Antiq Rom. l. 3. c. 33. in which they implored such favours of each Deity as lay within their particular Province to bestow thus for instance when they invocated Bacchus they began thus O Bacchus Son of Semele the bestower of Riches (h) (h) (h) Casaub in Ann. Eccl. Exercit 16. N. 42. when they offer'd the Cake to Janus O Father Janus with this I offer thee my good Prayers that thou wouldest be propitious to me c. (i) (i) (i) Festus in verbor signif So for Jupiter Dapalis With this Cake O Jupiter I offer thee my good Prayers that thou wouldest have mercy on me my House and Family (k) (k) (k) Cato de re Rustic c. 134. and so for Mars I pray thee O Mars to be propitious to me my Field and Corn and Wine and Cattel (l) (l) (l) Ibid. 141. Which several Invocations that there might be none of the names of their greater Gods pretermitted nor none of the Prayers falsly or disorderly recited or repeated were with great care recited by a Priest out of the Ritual and repeated after him by the People (m) (m) (m) Brison de formal l. 1. p. 61. there being another Priest appointed for a publick Monitor for so Pliny tells us (n) (n) (n) Plin. l. 28. cap. 2. Vidimus certis precationibus obsecrasse summos Magistratus ut nequid verborum praetermitatur aut praeposterum dicatur de scripto praeire aliquem rursusque alium custodem dari qui attendat When any of the Chief Magistrates offer certain Prayers lest any of the Sacred Words should be omitted or preposterously pronounc'd they have one to dictate them to them out of a Book and another who is Overseer diligently to attend And accordingly Livy observes (o) (o) (o) Liv. l. 4. Obsecratio itaque a populo duumviris praeeuntibus est facta That Prayer was made by the People two men going before or dictating to them now that this latter of the two whom Pliny calls the Custos or Overseer was the Monitor whom Tertullian alludes to seâ—ms very probable because as Livy observes his business was proeire populo i. e. to dictate to the People after him who according to Pliny's account did de scripto praeire i. e. dictate to them out of the Book and to what other purpose should he dictate to them what had been dictated before but onely to admonish and correct them when they repeated falsly or disorderly especially considering that the reason which Pliny assigns why this Custos was appointed was lest any of the Sacred Words should be omitted or preposterously repeated which was look'd upon as a very ill Omen But how could he prevent this unless it were his Office to admonish and correct either the Priest or People or both when he read or they repeated them falsly This Monitor therefore was not he who read the Prayers or dictated them to the People out of the Book but he whose Office 't was to oversee either that they were rightly dictated or rightly repeated or both and indeed there was more need that he should oversee that they were rightly repeated than that they were rightly dictated because they were dictated out of a Book and so could not be so easily dictated as repeated falsly But suppose his Office were to oversee both yet since they were dictated in order to their being repeated he
of it Now that such an open Innovation should be so silently admitted into the Church without the least contest or opposition seems very strange if not incredible 'T is true there were some Innovations that crept in very early without any opposition but none that was of such a publick cognizance as this and unless the whole Christian World had been fast asleep it is hardly supposeable they would ever have admitted such a remarkable alteration in their publick Worship as from praying extempore to pray by a Form without the least contradiction If therefore praying by a Form were an Innovation upon their Primitive Worship it was certainly the most lucky and fortunate one that ever was of that kind there being no one Innovation besides it of that publick nature but what hath always found powerful Adversaries to withstand it But not to insist upon probabilities we will inquire into the matter of fact And first we have those three ancient Liturgies which are attributed to St. Peter St. Mark and St. James which though they have been all of them wofully corrupted by later Ages yet are doubtless as to the purer parts of them of great antiquity and probably even from the Apostolical Age for besides that there are many things in them which have a strong relish of the simplicity and piety of that Age that of St. James in particular was of great authority in the Church of Jerusalem whereof he was the first Bishop in St. Cyril's time who wrote a Comment upon it (t) (t) (t) Cyril Catech Mystag 5 and is declar'd by Proclus Archbishop of Constantinople (u) (u) (u) Alat de Liturg S. Jacob. and the sixth General Council (w) (w) (w) Concil Trull c. 32. to be St. James's own composure which is a plain argument of the great Antiquity if not Apostolicalness of it for St. Cyril flourish'd in the year 350 and as St. Jerom observes (x) (x) (x) S. Jerom de Scrip. in Cyr. composed this Comment on St. James's Liturgy in his younger years Now it is not to be imagin'd he would have commented on it had it not been of great authority in the Church of Jerusalem and how could it have obtain'd any great Authority had it not been long before receiv'd that is at least seventy or eighty years Supposing then that he wrote this Comment Anno 347 as 't is very probable (y) (y) (y) Vid. Dr. Cave 's Life of St. Cyril and that this Liturgy had been receiv'd in the Church of Jerusalem but seventy or eighty years and less cannot well be supposed it could not be above a hundred and seventy years after the Apostolical Age that this Liturgy was receiv'd in the Church of Jerusalem And that there are Forms of Worship in it as ancient as the Apostles seems highly probable for first there is all that Form with a very small variation from ours call'd Sursum corda Lift up your hearts we lift them up unto the Lord it is meet and right so to do it is very meet right and our bounden duty to praise thee c. Therefore with Angels and Arch-Angels c. all which is in St. Cyril's Comment (z) (z) (z) Cyril Catech Mystag 5. which is a plain argument that 't was much ancienter than he And the same is also in those ancient Liturgies of Rome and Alexandria and in the Constitutions of St. Clemens (a) (a) (a) Constit Clem. l. 8. c. 22. which all agree are of great antiquity though not so great as they pretend And St. Cyprian who was living within an hundred years after the Apostles mentions it as a Form that was then used and receiv'd in the Church (b) (b) (b) Cyprian de Orat. Dominic The Priest saith he in the Preface before the Prayer prepares the minds of the Brethren by saying Lift up your hearts that so while the People answer We lift them up unto the Lord they may be admonished that they ought to think of nothing but the Lord. And lastly St. Austin tells us that this Sursum corda which is the Name and Title of the whole following Form and consequently includes it even as Te Deum Venite exultemus do the Hymns that go under that Title are verba ab ipsorum Apostolorum temporibus petita i. e. words derived from the very Age of the Apostles And the same is asserted by Nicephorus of the Trisagium in particular Hist lib. 18. cap. 53. And that even from that Primitive Age there was a certain Form prescribed in Baptism is evident by those solemn Questions and Answers that were made by the Priests and return'd by the person to be baptized for so Tertullian (c) (c) (c) Tertul. de Resurrect Carn speaking of Baptism tells us That the Soul is not establish'd by the washing but by the Answer And St. Cyprian expresly calls it Interrogatio Baptismi the questioning of Baptism (d) (d) (d) Cyp. 76. 80. which plainly shews that there were certain Questions and Answers given and return'd in Baptism and what the Question was may be guess'd by the Answer which was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I renounce Satan and his works and his pomps c. (e) (e) (e) Clem. Constit lib. 7. And accordingly Tertullian (f) (f) (f) Coron Milit. In the Church and under the hand of the Priest we protest to renounce the Devil his pomps and works Which form of Question and Responsal Origen who lived not long after derives from Christ or his Disciples Who is there saith he (g) (g) (g) In Numer Homil. 5. can easily explain the reason of some Words and Gestures and Orders and Interrogations and Answers that are used in Baptism which yet we observe and fulfil according as we first took them up they being deliver'd to us by Tradition from our Great High Priest or his Disciples If it be objected that this is no Form of Prayer I answer that 't is a limiting the Minister from exercising his own Gift in performing his Ministerial Office and if in performing he might be limited to a Form of Question why not to a Form of Prayer And if the Church thought fit not to leave him at liberty to question extempore in Baptism it 's very improbable it should leave him at liberty to pray extempore in publick there being as great a necessity to prescribe him a Form for the later as for the former And that de facto there were Forms of Prayer as well as of Question and Answer used in Baptism is not onely affirmed in the Constitutions of St. Clemens but some of the Prayers also are there inserted (h) (h) (h) Clem. Constit l. 7. But that the Christians did very early use Forms of Prayer in their publick Worship is very evident from the denominations which the Primitive Writers give to the publick Prayers such as the Common-Prayers (i) (i) (i)
preces aliunde describit non eis utatur nisi prius eas cum instructioribus Fratribus contulerit i. e. And whosoever shall write out Prayers for himself from elsewhere that is from any Book that hath not been publickly received and allowed for what else can be meant by aliunde he shall not presume to use them till he hath first consulted about them with his more learned Brethren Which is a plain evidence that they used Forms before otherwise how could they have written them out from elsewhere or from other mens composures Whereas before therefore they had liberty to add new Forms as they thought fit to the received Liturgy they are so far restrained by this Council as not to do it without the advice and approbation of their more learned Brethren but this restriction being found insufficient to prevent the ill consequences of their former liberty it was ordained a few years after in the Council of Mela (s) (s) (s) Concil Milev c. 12. That those Prayers which had been approved of in the Council whether Prefaces or Commendations or Impositions of Hands should be used of all and that none should be said in the Church but such as had been treated of by the more prudent or allowed in the Synod lest any thing contrary to the Faith should be inserted either through ignorance or want of care Now though these indeed were but Provincial Councils and so in themselves could oblige no farther than their particular Provinces yet the very Canon above-cited out of the first of them (t) (t) (t) Concil Laod. c. 18. is taken into the collections of the Canons of the Catholick Church being the 122th therein which Collection was received and establish'd in the General Council of Chalcedon (*) (*) (*) Concil Chalced. c. 1. An. 451. By which establishment the whole Christian Church was obliged to the use of Liturgies so far as the authority of the General Council extends And then in the year 541 these Canons are made Imperial Laws by the Emperour Justinian who enacted (u) (u) (u) Justin Novel 131. c. 1. that the Canons of those four General Councils of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcadon should oblige as far as the Empire did extend Of what authority the use of formed Liturgies were in this Emperour's time and long before may be easily collected from his Novels for he complains of the remissness of some Bishops that they did not take care to inforce the observance of the sacred Canons and tells us that he had received several complaints against the Clergy Monks and some Bishops that they did not live according to the Divine Canons and that some among them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not acquainted with the Prayer of the Holy Oblation and Holy Baptism (w) (w) (w) Id. Nov. 137. Preface and then he declares that for the future he was resolved to punish the Transgressors of the Canons which had it been done before saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (x) (x) (x) Id. ib. c. 1. Every one would have endeavoured to learn the Divine Liturgies that he might not be subject to the condemnation of the Divine Canons Which is a plain argument not onely that there were form'd Liturgies before Justinian for otherwise how could he expect the Clergy should learn them but that these Liturgies had been long before establish'd by the Canons of the Church And then among other things he requires that for the future such as were to be ordained should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (y) (y) (y) Id. ib. c. 2. Recite the Office for the Holy Communion and the Prayer for Holy Baptism and the rest of the Prayers which Prayers were not made in Justinian's time but long before they being as he tells us before establish'd by the Ecclesiastical Canons And after this he enjoyns all Bishops and Presbyters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (z) (z) (z) Id. ib. c. 6. That they should not say these Prayers silently but so as that the People might hear them that so their minds might be raised to an higher pitch of Devotion Thus for near six hundred years after Christ we have sufficient testimony of the publick use of Forms of Prayer And from henceforth or a little after down to Mr. Calvin's time all are agreed that no other Prayers were admitted into the publick Worship but what were contain'd in the establish'd Liturgies of the respective Churches and even that great Light of the Reformation Mr. Calvin though he used to pray extempore after his Lecture yet always used a Form before (a) (a) (a) Praef. ad praelect Calv. in Min. proph and his Prayers before and after Sermon were rather bidding of Prayers according to the ancient usage than formal Prayers (b) (b) (b) Beza in praef ad Conc. Calv. in Job and as he used a Form himself so he composed one for the Sunday-service which was afterwards establish'd by the Order at Geneva And in his Letter to the Lord Protector in the Reign of Edward the Sixth he thus declares his judgment concerning publick Forms (c) (c) (c) Calvin Ep. 87. For so much as concerns the Forms of Prayers and Ecclesiastical Rites I highly approve that it be determined so as that it may not be lawful for the Ministers in their Administration to vary from it Nor is there any one reformed Church whether Calvinistical or Lutheran but what hath some publick Office or Form of Prayer especially for the Administration of the Sacraments So that our Dissenting Brethren in England who disallow the use of publick Forms do stand alone by themselves from all the World And as for that extempore way of praying which they so much celebrate and for the sake of which they despise and vilifie our publick Liturgy as a Relick of Popish Idolatry they would do well to consider who it was that first introduc'd it into England and set it up in opposition to our Liturgy For first there was one Faithful Commin a Dominican Friar who in the 9th of Eliz. to seduce the People from the Church thereby to serve the ends of Popery began to pray extempore with such wonderful Zeal and Fervour that he deluded a great many simple People for which he was afterwards amply rewarded by the Pope (d) (d) (d) Vid. Foxes and Fire-brands p. 7 c. After him one Thomas Heath a Jesuit pursued the same method exclaiming against our Liturgy and crying up Spiritual or Extempore Prayers (e) (e) (e) Id. p. 17. thereby to divide the People from our publick Worship telling the Bishop of Rochester by whom he was examined That he had been six years in England labouring to refine the Protestants and to take off all smacks of Ceremonies and to make the Church purer (f) (f) (f) Of which see more in the Preface of the Learned Treatise The Vnreasonableness of Separation beginning at p. 11. And I hope when our Brethren have well considered
would have ours to be And though there is greater need of Caution against it in such places yet the way of their Confession makes the mistake more difficult to be prevented Indeed we find in the Scripture Examples of Holy Men confessing such Sins as themselves were not guilty of Thus did Jeremiah Nehemiah Ezra c. But this was upon Solemn Humiliation for those known and publick Idolatries of the Nation which had brought Gods heavy Judgments upon them or for Common and Scandalous Transgressions afterward They considered themselves as part of that Community which had provoked God to send them into Captivity and therefore they bore their part in the Common Calamity with such meekness and confessed the Common Sins with such humility as if themselves had offended as greatly in their own Persons as their Countrey-men had done But I conceive there is a great deal of difference between those Confessions of Sin that such extraordinary occasions of Publick Humiliation require and those that are fit for the ordinary Service of God in the constant and stated Assemblies of the Church But it ought not to be forgot that those particular Confessions of Sin which some Men want in our Liturgie are not properly the matter of that Publick Service we are to offer daily unto God in Religious Assemblies but of that Private Devotion which is necessary to be performed in our Closets And if we could be persuaded seriously to enter upon this Work of Examining our selves impartially concerning those Sins which we have more openly or secretly committed and then to humble our selves before God for them with particular Confessions and sutable Prayer for his Grace and Pardon we should then find our Affections prepared to comply with those more General Confessions of Sin which we make with the whole Congregation we should then have less reason to complain that those Confessions are not apt to move us because this way would cure the deadness of our hearts which commonly are most to blame when we find fault with the means that God hath provided for us To conclude this Matter There is great need of Particular Confession of Sins in Religious Assemblies but that of another sort than what I have yet been speaking of and that is the particular and humble Confession which every Scandalous Sinner ought to make in the Congregation for the satisfaction of the Church and the declaration of a true Repentance This is not properly an Act of Worship but of Discipline but alas almost lost in this miserably divided state of the Church a loss never enough to be lamented For so it has fallen out that by quarreling for a Reformation in things of an Indifferent Nature that ought to be left to the Prudence of Governours and the Communion of Christians is broken and the Spiritual Authority which Christ left in his Church is exposed to Contempt which is a Matter of a thousand times more concern then all the Objections against the Book of Common Prayer put together though they were as considerable as our Adversaries seem to believe they are The second Objection I shall take notice of is that against the shortness of the Collects by reason of which it is pretended that the Prayer is often suddenly broken off and then begun again And this is thought not so agreeable to the Gravity wherewith this Duty ought to be performed nor so likely a means of exciting Reverence and Devotion in the People as one continued Form of Prayer that might be as long as all those put together Now in answer to this I say 1. That the meer shortness of a Prayer is not to be found fault with by any understanding Christian since this would be to disparage that Form of Prayer which our Lord taught his Disciples it being not much longer than most of our Collects and not so long as some of them 2. That it will be hard to prove That many of these short Prayers being offer'd up unto God one immediately after another is either not so Grave or not so Edifying as one Continued Form I do not believe the difference to be so great as it is made by those that do not approve our way For the Work of Praying is as much continued all the while as if there were but one Continued Form Indeed in the Book the Printed Prayer breaks off somewhat often and there is a distinction made between the several Collects by a New Title shewing the Matter of the Prayer and by beginning a New Line But I hope our Brethren do not mean that in this there is a defect of Gravity or any hindrance of Devotion and Edification For the abruption of the Printed Forms is by no means an interruption of our Prayer since we still go on in Praying or in giving Thanks to God and without breaking off pass from one Petition or Matter of Invocation to another as immediately as if the Distinct Forms we use together were all brought into the Compass of One. And as there is no Interruption of our Praying caused by the frequent beginning and ending of the Collects so neither can this cause an Interruption of Attention in the People which is rather helped by that frequency of saying Amen which this way requires Nor can it be charged with a tendency to Interrupt that Devout Affection and Godly Disposition of Mind which is the best thing in Prayer But on the other hand this may be kept alive and more effectually secured by calling upon the Name of God and pleading the Merits of Christ so often as we do I know some have said this is done more frequently than is meet But it would be a lamentable thing if there should be any difference about this Matter When the Decence and Convenience of a thing is considered we should attribute much to the Wisdom of Authority and to the Judgment of Prudent and Holy Men such as our first Reformers were and great numbers of Learned Persons since their time were also who thought this manner of Praying to be Grave and Edifying And I believe others would be of the same Mind if they would not altogether dwell upon their Prejudice against our way but attend a little to those considerations that favour it and which discover the advantage and usefulness of it which sort of Equity they that are Wise and Humble will shew to all Men much more to their Governours Now the Invocation of God somewhat often by his Attributes does of it self tend to maintain in our Minds a reverent sense of his Majesty and Presence which we all know is of necessary use to make us Pray unto him as we ought to do I make no question but those that have been blamed for repeating Lord Lord so very often in their Extempore Prayers would think themselves somewhat hardly used if they should not be believed in saying that this was not for want of Matter but for the exciting of a reverent sense of Gods Authority in
themselves and others And I think there is a little more reason why this Construction should be made of the frequent calling upon God by his Name and Perfections in the Prayers of the Church In like manner the frequency of mentioning the Merits and Mediation of Christ is profitable for the strengthening of our Faith and Assurance that we shall be heard And to Pray unto God in the Name of Christ being the most distinguishing Character of our Christian Devotion This also will justifie our frequent use of it And the reason is so much the stronger because this is one main thing that distinguisheth us from the Church of Rome which pretendeth the Mediation of the Virgin Mary and the Angels and the Departed Saints as well as of Jesus Christ And it had not been so agreeable to the Principles of the Reformation to have left the Name and Mediation of Christ out of the Conclusion of any of the Collects when this Church declared her detestation of calling upon God in any other Name but the Name of Christ This is all I shall say to this Matter and I hope enough is said to remove the Prejudice of all Sober and Understanding Persons against the shortness of the Collects and against the recital of the Name or Attributes of God and of the Name and Merits of Christ in every one of them The next Exception I shall take notice of is that against the Repetition of the Lords Prayer in the Offices of the Liturgie and of that Hymn Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy-Ghost c. and of that Petition Lord have mercy upon us and the like Now I hope that they are but very few and I heartily wish they were none at all that so little understand the Christian Religion as to disapprove all use of these Forms in our Worship I do not mean of the Lords Prayer only but of those Affectionate Petitions Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us and of that excellent Doxologie Glory be to the Father c. which moreover contains a short Confession of our Faith in opposition to the Arians and Socinians But that which is thought too much is that these things are too often repeated and that regard enough is not had to that Rule of our Saviour When ye Pray use not vain Repetitions But I hope nothing of this will appear upon farther Examination For by our Saviour's Caution against Vain Repetitions it seems that there are some Repetitions which are not vain and which therefore he doth not forbid And this we must necessarily suppose because himself Praying in his Agony thrice used the same Petition and that in the same Words Now the Vanity of this kind among the Heathens which our Saviour would have his Disciples to avoid seems to be that Repetition which proceeds from the Affectation of much speaking in Prayer or from a belief that God will not be moved to help us unless we use many Words or repeat the same thing over in a tedious manner And thus the Prophets of Baal cried out from Morning till Noon O Baal hear us O Baal hear us We are far enough I hope from such kind of Repetitions And since they are such tedious Repetitions as these which our Saviour here calls Vain Men should have a care of calling those Repetitions of Good Prayers and Praises Vain which are nothing like these especially in contempt of a Publick Rule I never yet could find that those who charge our Liturgie with this fault have attempted to shew us those marks of difference by which we might distinguish Vain Repetitions from those that are not Vain which I think their pretence obliged them to do But although the Gravity and Usefulness of that part of our Service which they make this Objection against might well excuse us from any farther Vindication yet I shall say something to this purpose for the satisfaction of those that are willing to be satisfied I conceive there are these two things only to be regarded in using Repetitions in Prayer or Thanksgiving that they may not be liable to the charge of Vanity 1. That the Matter Repeated be very weighty and considerable and that it be singularly apt to move those Pious Affections which God is most pleased with in our Addresses to him And in this respect I dare say there is no sober Christian but will grant our Repetitions to be secured from Vanity Such Petitions as Lord have mercy upon us deserve the putting forth of the whole strength of our Desires and Affections And when we ascribe Glory to the Holy Trinity we express what we ought to make the end of all our Worship and of all the Actions of our Lives And therefore these things will bear being Repeated and the Repetition of them may be profitable both to excite and to express the fervour of our Minds And I trust we shall agree that if any one Form of Prayer will bear being used more than once when we Worship God it is the Lords Prayer 2. The second thing required to secure Repetitions from Vanity is That they be framed with Judgment both with regard to the frequency that they do not come over too often and with regard to the disposal of them that they come in fitly and in due place I do not mean that this is so very nice a thing that the difference of an hairs breadth as we use to say will spoil all For in things of this Nature there is a Latitude in which Prudent Men may take their choice but only that this is to be done with discretion and choice and with respect to the Ends for which Repetitions may be useful And I am persuaded that this also is not wanting in our Liturgie For I do not find that this was ever Objected against the Repetitions we mean that they are ordered injudiciously unless upon the only account of too much frequency And yet the Lords Prayer is but twice in the Ordinary Service and but once in every other distinct Office of Prayer or Thanksgiving The Gloria Patri is used but once at our beginning to Praise God with Spiritual Hymns and once at the Conclusion of every Psalm and of some of the Hymns besides one recital thereof in the Litany when that is used And as for those short Ejaculations Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us The former is repeated but once in the Ordinary Service and both but twice in the Litany So that there is no such ground of Complaint as is pretended that there are many Repetitions in our Form of Worship much less that those are Vain which are there And I do not see how they that charge our Common-Prayer Book with Vain Repetitions upon these accounts can have a reverent esteem of the 136 Psalm where for 26 Verses together His mercy endureth for ever is repeated in every Verse There is indeed one thing more requisite to secure our
Repetitions of the same thing in calling upon God from being Vain and that is That our Desires and Affections should be raised to keep pace with our Expressions But this belongs to us to take care of And if we would endeavour to stir up in our selves that Zeal and Devotion of Heart which should answer that Appearance thereof which these Repetitions make this would satisfie us beyond all other Argument that they are not Vain To Conclude this Matter I desire those who do not yet approve our Repetition of the Lords Prayer and the other short Devotions to consider whether it be so easie to spend the time it takes up more profitably than by joining in good earnest with the Congregation in these Prayers In the next place the Responsals of the Congregation are Matter of Offence to some Persons They do not approve the Peoples saying the Confession and the Lords Prayer after the Minister nor their alternate Reciting some Petitions in the daily Service with the Psalms and Hymns and least of all do they approve that part which the Congregation bears in the Prayers of the Litany Now it were well if they who blame our Prayers upon this account would consider what has often been said to shew the usefulness of this way Namely That it is apt to check a wandring Spirit and to help and relieve Attention and withal that it tends to quicken a lively Forwardness and Zeal in Gods Service whilst we invite and provoke one another to Pray and to give Thanks These things we say not without some experience of their Truth and we think they carry plain Reason along with them and I do not find that they have been Contradicted by the Leaders of the Dissenting Party It is True they have declared their dislike of this way but still without taking notice of what may be said for it If I have observed right the main Reason of their dislike is this That the Minister as they say is appointed for the people in all Publick Services appertaining to God and that the Scripture makes the Minister to be the Mouth of the People to God in Prayer And therefore I shall Examine this Reason in the first place And 1. If it were granted that the Scripture maketh the Minister to be the Mouth of the People to God in Publick Worship yet this must by no means be so Interpreted as to make all Vocal Prayer and Thanksgiving in Religious Assemblies unlawful to the People For then they must not declare their Assent to the Prayers which the Minister utters by saying Amen which yet the Scripture approves and is not disapproved by any of those that Object our way against us Nor must it be so taken as if the People were to be excluded from a Vocal Part in Praising God by Hymns and Spiritual Songs For this also is warranted by Scripture and seems to be confessed by our Dissenting Brethren who allow the People to Sing Psalms with the Minister Now he that audibly says Amen to the Prayers of the Congregation makes a short Responsal to the Minister And moreover they that sing Psalms in which there are Passages of Prayer Confessions or Petitions containing matter of Invocation proper for us as the Psalms often do they pray Vocally So that notwithstanding what is pretended concerning the Ministers being the Peoples Mouth to God it shall still be lawful for the People sometimes to joyn Vocally in Prayer as well as in Praise and not only by saying Amen but by expressing the very words of Confession or Petition But 2ly Where is it said in Scripture that the Minister is the Mouth of the People to God or that no Prayer may be Offered up to God in Religious Assemblies otherwise than by the Mouth of the Minister I doubt these sayings are grown so samiliar amongst some People that they believe them to be the Words or very near the Words of Scripture But there are no such Words nor meaning in the Bible that I can find or that they have found for us It is not good to pretend the Authority of Scripture for a Doctrine that is not to be met with there It is true that the Minister is the Mouth of the People to God in all those Prayers which he utters for them and because these are many more than what the People themselves utter he may be said to be their Mouth to God Comparatively but not Absolutely It will be true also that the Minister is appointed for the People in all Publick Services appertaining to God if this be understood for the most part or of All with little exception Some Publick Services there are which are inclosed in his Office and he is appointed for them in behalf of the People that is for Administring the Sacrament Absolving the Penitent and Blessing the People And therefore Prayers that immediately concern these things are to be pronounced by him only And as for the rest the Order of the Church and the Authority and Dignity of the Ministerial Function makes it fit and decent that the Minister should utter most ever of them that in those wherein the People have their part he should ever go before and lead them and guide the whole performance which is all taken care for in our Liturgie I said before that the Dissenters do not utterly debar the People from all Vocal Prayer and Thanksgiving of their own in God's Solemn Worship And therefore it were great pity that they should keep at a distance from us upon Questions of this Nature And I heartily intreat them to consider whether they may not upon their own Principles come up to the Rules and Customs of our Church in this thing 1. If they grant the Peoples interest in Vocal Praise let them consider whether they have reason to Condemn the Peoples bearing a part in any of the Hymns and Psalms by alternate Responses For the plain End of reciting those Psalms in the Congregation is to Praise and Magnifie God's Name and to excite in our Hearts such like devout affections in doing so as those Holy Men felt in themselves who were assisted by God's Spirit in Composing them And therefore the Dissenters are not obliged to demand that the People be silent all this while I have heard some of them say that if these Psalms and Hymns were Sung the Congregation might then challenge to put in their Voices with the Minister But when they are read as they generally are in our Parish Churches they say this ought to be the Work of the Minister only But I cannot see why singing or not singing should make such a Difference I grant it were better if they were every where sung because this is more suitable to the Design of Psalms than bare reciting is But if they be not sung which is customarily omitted in Parish Churches for want of skill as I conceive the next use of them that is most agreeable to their Nature and Design is not
danger of unworthy receiving and therefore they had better wholly to abstain from it By which it came to pass that in very many Places this great and solemn Institution of the Christian Religion was almost quite forgotten as if it had been no part of it and the remembrance of Christ's death even lost among Christians So that many Congregations in England might justly have taken up the complaint of the Woman at our Saviour's Sepulchre they have taken away our Lord and we know not where they have laid him But surely men did not well consider what they did nor what the consequences of it would be when they did so earnestly dissuade men from the Sacrament 'T is true indeed the danger of unworthy receiving is great but the proper inference and conclusion from hence is not that men should upon this consideration be deterred from the Sacrament but that they should be affrighted from their sins and from that wicked course of life which is an habitual indisposition and unworthiness St. Paul indeed as I observed before truly represents and very much aggravates the danger of the unworthy receiving of this Sacrament but he did not deter the Corinthians from it because they had sometimes come to it without due reverence but exhorts them to amend what had been amiss and to come better prepared and disposed for the future And therefore after that terrible declaration in the Text Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord he does not add therefore let Christians take heed of coming to the Sacrament but let them come prepared and with due reverence not as to a common meal but to a solemn participation of the body and bloud of Christ but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For if this be a good reason to abstain from the Sacrament for fear of performing so sacred an action in an undue manner it were best for a bad man to lay aside all Religion and to give over the exercise of all the duties of Piety of prayer of reading and hearing the Word of God because there is a propoâ—â—ionable danger in the unworthy and unprofitable use of any of these The prayer of the wicked that is of one that resolves to continue so is an abomination to the Lord. And our Saviour gives us the same caution concerning hearing the Word of God take heed how ye hear And St. Paul tells us that those who are not reformed by the Doctrine of the Gospel it is the savour of death that is deadly and damnable to such persons But now will any man from hence argue that it is best for a wicked man not to pray not to hear or reade the Word of God lest by so doing he should endanger and aggravate his condemnation And yet there is as much reason from this consideration to persuade men to give over praying and attending to God's Word as to lay aside the use of the Sacrament And it is every whit as true that he that prays unworthily and hears the Word of God unworthily that is without fruit and benefit is guilty of a great contempt of God and of our blessed Saviour and by his indevout prayers and unfruitfull hearing of God's Word does further and aggravate his own damnation I say this is every whit as true as that he that eats and drinks the Sacrament unworthily is guilty of a high contempt of Christ and eats and drinks his own Judgment so that the danger of the unworthy performing this so sacred an action is no otherwise a reason to any man to abstain from the Sacrament than it is an Argument to him to cast off all Religion He that unworthily useth or performs any part of Religion is in an evil and dangerous condition but he that casts off all Religion plungeth himself into a most desperate state and does certainly damn himself to avoid the danger of damnation Because he that casts off all Religion throws off all the means whereby he should be reclaimed and brought into a better state I cannot more fitly illustrate this matter than by this plain Similitude He that eats and drinks intemperately endangers his health and his life but he that to avoid this danger will not eat at all I need not tell you what will certainly become of him in a very short space There are some conscientious persons who abstain from the Sacrament upon an apprehension that the sins which they shall commit afterwards are unpardonable But this is a great mistake our Saviour having so plainly declared that all manner of sin shall be forgiven men except the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost such as was that of the Pharisees who as our Saviour tells us blasphemed the Holy Ghost in ascribing those great miracles which they saw him work and which he really wrought by the Spirit of God to the power of the Devil Indeed to sin deliberately after so solemn an engagement to the contrary is a great aggravation of sin but not such as to make it unpardonable But the neglect of the Sacrament is not the way to prevent these sins but on the contrary the constant receiving of it with the best preparation we can is one of the most effectual means to prevent sin for the future and to obtain the assistence of God's grace to that end And if we fall into sin afterwards we may be renewed by repentance for we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for our sins and as such is in a very lively and affecting manner exhibited to us in this blessed Sacrament of his body broken and his bloud shed for the remission of our sins Can we think that the primitive Christians who so frequently received this holy Sacrament did never after the receiving of it fall into any deliberate sin undoubtedly many of them did but far be it from us to think that such sins were unpardonable and that so many good men should because of their carefull and conscientious observance of our Lord's Institution unavoidably fall into condemnation To draw to a conclusion such groundless fears and jealousies as these may be a sign of a good meaning but they are certainly a sign of an injudicious mind For if we stand upon these Scruples no man perhaps was ever so worthily prepared to draw near to God in any duty of Religion but there was still some defect or other in the disposition of his mind and the degree of his preparation But if we prepare our selves as well as we can this is all God expects And for our fears of falling into sin afterwards there is this plain answer to be given to it that the danger of falling into sin is not prevented by neglecting the Sacrament but encreased because a powerfull and probable means of preserving men from sin is neglected And why should
us to observe onely a Feast-Gesture for the due Celebration of it 3. Kneeling is very Comely and Agreeable to the Nature of the Lord's Supper though no Table-Gesture Which I hope will be made evident to every Honest and Unbyassed Mind which Impartially seeks after Truth by these following considerations 1. Kneeling is allowed on all Hands to be a very fit and sutable Gesture for Prayer and Praise and very apt to express our Reverence Humility and Gratitude by and Consequently very fit to be used at the Holy Sacrament and agreeable to its Nature This will appear if we reflect upon what hath been delivered concerning the Nature and Ends of the Lord's Supper For at the Sacrament we express that by Actions as I hinted before which at other times we do by Words and the Lord's Supper is a Solemn Rite of Christian Worship which implyes Prayer and Praise It includes all the Parts of Prayer By partaking of the Signs of his Body broken and Blood shed for our Sins we do Commemorate Represent and Shew forth to God the Father the Sacrifice which his Dearly Beloved Son made upon the Cross we Feast upon the memorials of the great Sin-Offering And in so doing we make an open Confession and Acknowledgment of our Guilt and Unworthiness to God and we plead with him in the Vertue of his Sons Blood which was shed for us for the Pardon and Remission of all our Sins We further Humbly entreat him to be Propitious and Favourable to us and to bestow upon us all those benefits which our Lord purchased with his most Precious Blood We Intercede with him too at the Communion for the whole Church that all our Fellow-Christians and true Members of his Body may Receive Remission of their Sins and all other benefits of his Passion And as Eating and Drinking at his Table is a Visible and Powerful Prayer in the sight of God so it is a Visible Act of Praise and Thanksgiving whereby we let our Heavenly Father see that we retain a deep and lively sense of his Unexpressible Love in sending his onely begotten Son into the World to Dye for us that we might Live through him And that which enlivens our Faith and emboldens our hopes of finding Favour and Acceptance at his Hands at this time above others is this viz. Our Prayers and Praises are not onely put up in the Name of Christ but presented and as it were Writ in his Blood and offered to God over the great Propitiatory Sacrifice All this our Actions signify and speak when we Eat the Consecrated Bread and Drink the Cup of Blessing at the Lord's Table If therefore these things be True and I think no body who understands what he doth when he partakes of the Lord's Supper will gainsay it then Kneeling must be judged as fitting and convenient to be used at such a time when we signify our desires and affections by external Rites and Ceremonies of Gods appointment as when we do it by Words that is when we say our Prayers 2. Our Dissenting Brethren and all good Christians will Grant that our Blessed Saviour ought to be Worshipt and Adored by all worthy Communicants inwardly in their Hearts and Souls when they Receive the Tokens and Pledges of his tender and exceeding great Love in laying down his Life for the Sins of the whole World And if so then whatsoever is very apt and meet to express the inward esteem and veneration of our minds by can't be thought Unsutable and Repugnant to the Nature of the Lord's Supper Because that is a Religious Feast Instituted in Honour of our Lord and is a Solemn Act of Christian Worship performed to our Crucified Saviour Our meeting together at thâ—s Holy Feast in Obedience to his Commands to Commemorate his Death and tell of all his wondrous Works perpetuate the fame of our great Benefactor as much as in us lyes throughout all Ages is an External mark of the Honour and respect we bear towards him in our minds and is properly speaking that which we call Publick Worship Since to Bow our Knees then is allowed to be a proper mode of publick Worship and an External Sign of Reverence why should an adoring posture be thought Unmeet and Unsutable to the Sacrament which in its nature imports Worship and Adoration 3. No good Christian of what Party or Perswasion soever will deny but that to lift our Hands and Eyes to Heaven and to Employ our Tongues in Uttering the Praises of our Blessed Redeemer even in the Act of Receiving is very agreeable to the Nature of the Sacrament why then should Kneeling be thought Unsutable which is no more but onely Glorifying God and our Blessed Saviour with another part of our Body Why should the Gesture be scrupled at more than the Voice or the Bowing of my Knees be esteemed incongruous and unfitting any more than moving my Tongue or raising my Hands and Eyes to Heaven Especially if we consider that the high degree of Honour and Glory to which our Lord is advanced in the Heavens by God the Father as the reward of his Humble and Submissive Obedience here on Earth challenges from us all manner of Respect and Reverence both of Soul and Body He Humbled himself and became Obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Jesus Phil. 2. 8 9 10 11. every Knee should Bow c. and that every Tongue should Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father 4. The Holy Sacrament was Instituted in Remembrance of our Blessed Saviours Death and Sufferings And therefore I request all our Dissenting Brethren to Consult one place of Scripture concerning our Saviours Bodily Gesture or Deportment in the Heat and Extremity of his Passion wherein he presented himself before his Father in his Agony and Bloody Sweat in the Garden Being in an Agony he offered up this Prayer to his Father If thou be willing remove this Cup from Luke 22. 42 44. me Nevertheless not my Will but thine be done But after what manner or in what Gesture of Body did his perplexed Soul utter these earnest Supplications Why Kneeling or fixing his Knees upon the Earth Now though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 41. we may remember and meditate on our Saviours Sufferings in the Garden when his Soul was so exceeding Sorrowful when he was reduced to such a Weak and low Estate as to stand in need of Comfort and Support from an Angel though I say this may be done Sitting Ver. 43. yet sure no Sober and Considering Mind will say that to Celebrate the Memory of these Sufferings with bended Knees as his were on the Earth is an Improper and Unsutable behaviour to be used at the Sacrament where our proper work is to Commemorate the Death and Sufferings of our Saviour and particularly these among
joy and triumph viz. over Death and the Grave and therefore on these days we neither Fast nor bend our Knees nor incline and bow down our Bodies but with our Lord are lifted up to Heaven We pray standing all that time which is a sign of the Resurrection St. August Ep. 119. ad Jan. c. 15. By which posture that is we signifie our belief of that Article From whence we may conclude that as the Christians of those first Ages did at other times certainly Fast so they did also certainly Kneel at their Prayers in their publick and religious Assemblies 6 Another thing I would have observed in order to my present design is this That the Primitive Christians were wont to receive the Holy Sacrament every day as oft as they came together for publick Worship which Custom as it was introduced Acts 2. 42 46. Acts 20. 7. compared with 1 Cor. 10. 16. and practised by the Apostles themselves according to the judgement of very Learned men and that not without good grounds from the Holy Scripture so it continued a considerable time in the Church even down to St. Austin who flourisht in the beginning Ann. Dom. 410. St. Aug Epist 118. ad Januarium c. 2 3. p. 556. 7. Basil edit a Froben 1541. St. Ambr. cap. ult lib. 5. c. 4. de Sacram. p. 449. Paris St. Hier. adver Jovinian p 37. Paris id in Epist ad Lucinium Baeticum p. 71. edit of the fifth Century and seems clearly to intimate to us in his Writings that it was customary in his days as St. Ambrose and St. Hierome had hinted before him concerning the Churches of Millan and Rome in their times From St. Cyprian we are fully Vid. Dr. Cave Prim. Christ p. 339. St. Cypr. de Orat. Dom. p. 147. Oxon. edit 1682. Can. 9. Apost Antiochen Concil Can. 2. Basil Ep. 289. ad Caesariam Patriciam To. 3. p. 279. assured that it was so in his days viz. about the year 250. For in his explication of that Petition in the Lords Prayer Give us this day our daily bread he expresly tells us that they did receive the Eucharist every day as the food that nourisht them to Salvation St. Basil Bishop of Caesaria who lived about 370 years after Christ affirms that in his Church they communicated four times a Week on the Lords day Wednesday Friday and Saturday two of which were station-days or set days of Fasting which were punctually observed by the generality of Christians in those times And this I the rather note because in all probability since they did receive the Sacrament on these days they did not alter the Posture of the day but received Kneeling For if Kneeling was adjudged by the Catholick Church an unsutable and improper posture for times of mirth and joy such as the Lords days and those of Pentecost were and if they were thought guilty of a great irregularity who used that posture on those Festivals then we may reasonably conclude that Standing which was the Festival Posture was not used by the Catholick Church on days of Fasting and Humiliation and that they who stood at their publick Devotions on Fasting days were as irregular as they who kneel'd on a Festival And that this was really so may I think be clearly collected from a passage in Tertullian to this purpose Tertull. de Orat c. 3. p. 206. Edit Col. Agrip 1617. We judge it an unlawful and impious thing says he either to Fast or Kneel at our Devotions on the Lords day We rejoyce in the same freedom or immunity from Easter to Whitsontide To be freed and exempted from Fasting and Kneeling not onely on the Lords day but all the days of Pentecost was esteemed a great priviledge and matter of much joy to this Holy Father and the Christians who lived in his days And from hence I infer that at other times when they met together for publick Worship especially on days of Fasting they generally used Kneeling and that at the Lords Supper which was administred every day in the African So St. Cyprian before cited Church whereof Tertullian was a Presbyter For if they had generally stood at all other times of the year in their religious Assemblies as well at their Prayers as at the Lords Supper where is the priviledge and immunity they boasted so much of and rejoyced in viz. that they were freed from Kneeling on such days and at such certain times Not to Fast on the Lords day was a Priviledge because they did Fast on the Week-days and so say I of Standing To Stand on the Lords days and all the time between Easter and Whitsunday could not be thought a special act of favour and the Prerogative of those seasons if Kneeling had not been the ordinary and common Gesture at all other times throughout the year And if Kneeling was the Didoclavius his own argument retorted Si stabant inter orandum viz. Die Dominico toto temporis intervallo inter Pascha Pentecosten non est probabile de geniculis adorasse cum perciperent Eucharistiam sed potius contrarium nempe stetisse Altar Damasc p. 784. Gesture which the Christians did then commonly use at their Prayers on the Week-days then in all probability when they received the Sacrament on those days they received in the ordinary posture The 7th and last particular which I would observe relating to this business is this That the Primitive Christians received the Holy Sacrament Praying The whole Communion Service was performed with Prayer and Praise It was begun with a general Prayer wherein the Minister and the whole Congregation joyntly prayed for the Vniversal Tert. Apol. c. 39. p. 47. St. Aug. Ep. 118. Const Apost l. 2. c. 57. p. 881. St. Chrys Hom. 1. in 2. cap. Epist 1. Tim. Peace and Welfare of the Church for the Tranquillity and the quietness of the World for the Prosperity of the Age for wholesome Weather and fruitful Seasons for Kings and Emperours and all in Authority c. The Elements were sanctified by a solemn Benediction the form whereof is set down by St. Ambrose and De Sacr. lib. 4. c 5. p. 439. See Dr. Cave's Primitive Christianity c. 11. p. 347. the whole action was concluded with Prayer and Thanksgiving But that which more particularly affects the matter in hand is that the Minister used a Prayer at the delivery of the Sacrament to each Communicant to which every one at their receiving said Amen The Apostolical Constitutions though in some things much corrupted and adulterated yet in many things are very sound and in this particular seem to express the most Ancient Practice of the Church For there we find this Account The Apostolical Constitutions confessed by all hands to be very Mr. Daillé sets them at the latter end of the 5 Century Const Apost lib. 8. c. 13. p. 483. Ancient though not altogether so much as is pretended in some things give us this
practice of our Church as being agreeable to that of pure Antiquity For the proof of this numerous testimonies both of Greek and Latine Fathers might be alledged but I will content my self and I hope the Reader too with a few of each sort which are so plain and express that he who will except against them will also with the same face and assurance except against the Whiteness of Snow and the Light of the Sun at Noon-day And first for the Greek Fathers let the testimony of St. Cyril St. Cyril Hierosol Mystag Catech. 5. versus finem Paris edit p. 244. be heard than which nothing can be more plain and express to our purpose This holy Father in a place before cited gives instructions to Communicants how to behave themselves when they approach the Lords Table and that in the act of receiving both the Bread and the Wine At the receiving of the Cup he advises thus Approach says he not rudely stretching forth thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 245. A. hands but bowing thy self and in a posture of Worship and Adoration saying Amen To the same purpose St. Chrysostome speaks in his 14th Homily on the first Epistle to the Corinthians Where he provokes and excites the Christians of his time to an awful and reverential deportment at the Holy Communion by the example of the Wise men who adored our Saviour in his Infancy after Matth. 2. 1 11. this manner This Body the Wise men reverenced even when it lay in the Manger and approaching thereunto worshipped it with fear and great trembling Let 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 24 Hom. Ep. ad Cor. p. 538. To. 9. Paris us therefore who are Citizens of Heaven imitate at least these Barbarians But thou seest this Body not in a Manger but on the Altar not held by a Woman but by the Priest c. Let us therefore stir up our selves and be horribly afraid and manifest a much greater Reverence than those Barbarians lest coming lightly and at a venture we heap fire on our heads In another place the same Father expresly bids them to fall down and communicate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Chrys Hom. 3. in Ep. ad Ephes in moral p. 1151. when the Table was prepared and the King himself present and in order to beget in their minds great and awful thoughts concerning that Holy and Mysterious Feast he further advises them that when they saw the Chancel doors opened then they should suppose Heaven it self was unfolded from above and that the Angels descended to be spectators I suppose he means of their carriage and behaviour at the Lords Table and by giving their attendance to grace the solemnity With the Testimony of these ancient Writers Theodoret concurs who in a Dialogue between an Orthodox Flor. A. D. 440. Christian and an Heretick introduces Orthodoxus thus discoursing concerning the Lords Supper The mysterious Symbols or signs in the Sacrament viz. Bread and Wine depart not from their proper nature for they abide in their former Essence retain their former shape and form and approve themselves both to our sight and touch to be what they were before but they are considered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dialog 2. To. 4. p. 85. Paris edit for such as they are made that is with respect to their Spiritual signification and that Divine use to which they were consecrated and are believed and adored as those very things which they are believed to be Which words clearly import thus much that the consecrated Elements were received with a Gesture of Adoration and withal assure us that such a carriage at the Sacrament was not built upon the Doctrine of Transubstantiation For there is not a clearer instance in all Antiquity against that absurd Doctrine which the Church of Rome so obstinately believes at this day than what Theodoret furnisheth us with in the words above mentioned Lastly to produce no more out of the Greek Fathers that story which Gregory Nazianzen Gregor Naz. Orat. in laud. Gorg. p. 187. Paris edit Gregor Flor. Ann. Dom. 370. relates concerning his Sister Gorgonia will serve to corroborate what hath been said viz. That being sick and having made use of several Remedies to no purpose at last she resolved upon this course In the stilness of the night she repaired to the publick Church and being provided with some of the consecrated Elements which she had reserved at home she fell down on her Knees before the Altar and with a loud voice supplicated him whom she adored and in conclusion was made hole I am not much concerned whether the Reader shall think fit to believe or censure the Miracle but it 's certain that this famous Bishop hath put it upon Record and applauds his Sister for the method she used for her recovery and which speaks home to my purpose it 's clearly intimated that this pious Woman did Kneel or use an adoring posture at least when she eat the Sacramental Bread And there is no doubt to be made but Gorgonia in Communicating observed the same posture that others generally did in publick She did that in her sickness which all others were wont to do in their health when they came to the Lords Table i. e. fall down and Kneel For it is not to be imagined that at such a time as this when she came to beg so great a Blessing at Gods hands in the publick Church at the Altar stiled by the Ancients the Place of Prayer she would be guilty of any irregularity and used a singular Posture different from what was generally used by Christians when they came to the same place to Communicate and Pray over the great Propitiatory Sacrifice which they esteemed the most powerful and effectual way of Praying the most likely to render God propitious and to prevail with him above all other Prayers which they offered at any other time or in any other place So much for the testimonies of the Greek Fathers who were men famous for Learning and Piety in their generations and great Lights and Ornaments in the Ancient Church With these the Latine Fathers perfectly agree in their judgements concerning our present subject And of these I will onely mention two though more might be produced for brevity sake and they very eminent and illustrious persons held in great esteem by the then present Age wherein they flourish'd and by all succeeding Generations The first is St. Ambrose Bishop of Millain in a Flor. A. D. 370. Psal 98. Ps 99. 5. in our Translation Ambros de Sp. Sto. l. 3. c. 12. Book he wrote concerning the Holy Spirit where inquiring after the meaning of the Psalmist when he exhorts men to exalt the Lord and to worship his Foot-stool he gives us the sence in these words That it seems to belong unto the mystery of our Lords Incarnation and then proceeds to shew for what reason it may be accommodated to that Mysterie and at last
Subjects more lov'd commanding equally Bowels and Affections and Duty and Honour Masters and Servants Husbands and Wives and all Relations are kept in their just Bounds and Priviledges With other Churches we make good Works necessary to Salvation but think our selves more modest and secure in taking away Arrogance and Merit and advancing the Grace of Christ With other Men we cry up Faith but not an hungry and a starved one but what is fruitful of good Works and so have all that others contend for with greater modesty and security 3. How fitly this Church is constituted to excite true Devotion When we make our Addresses unto God we ought to have worthy and reverend Conceptions of his Nature a true sense and plain knowledge of the Duty and of the Wants and Necessities for which we pray to be suppli'd All which our Church to help our Devotion plainly sets down describing God by all his Attributes of just wise and laying forth the Vices and Infirmities of Humane Nature and that none else but God can cure our needs When her Sons are to pray the matter of her Petitions are not nice and controverted trivial or words of a Party but plain and substantial wherein all agree Her Words in Prayer are neither rustick nor gay the whole Composure neither too tedious nor too short decently order'd to help our Memories and wandring Thoughts Responsals and short Collects in Publick Devotion are so far from being her fault that they are her beauty and prudence There are few Cases and Conditions of Humane Life whether of a Civil or Spiritual Nature which have not their proper Prayers and particular Petitions for them at least as is proper for publick Devotions When we return our Thanks we have proper Offices to enflame our Passions to quicken our Resentment to excite our Love and to confirm our future Obedience the best instance of gratitude When we Commemorate the Passion of Christ we have a Service fit to move our Affections to assist our Faith to enlarge our Charity to shew forth and exhibit Christ and all his bloudy Sufferings every way to qualifie us to discharge that great Duty She hath indeed nothing to kindle an Enthusiastick heat nor any thing that savours of Raptures and Extasies which commonly flow from temper or fraud but that which makes us manly devout our Judgment still guiding our Affections When we enter first into Religion and go out of the World we have two proper Offices Baptism and Burial full of Devotion to attend those purposes So that if any doth not pray and give thanks communicate and live like a Christian 't is not because the Services to promote these are too plain and hungry beggarly and mean but their own mind is not fitly qualifi'd before they use them bring but an honest mind to these parts of Devotion a true sense of God sober and good purposes and affections well disposed that which is plain will prove Seraphical improve our Judgment heighten our Passions and make the Church a Quire of Angels Without which good disposition our Devotion is but Constitution or melancholy Peevishness Sullenness or Devotion to a Party a Sacrifice that God will not acccept 4. Her Order and Discipline Such are the Capacities and Manners of Men not to be taught onely by naked Vertue a natural Judgment or an immediate Teaching of God but by Ministry and Discipline decent Ceremonies and Constitutions and other external Methods these are the outward Pales and Guards the Supplies and Helps for the Weakness of Humane Nature Our Church hath fitted and ordered these so well as neither to want or to abound not to make Religion too gay nor leave her slovingly neither rude nor phantastick but is cloth'd in Dresses proper to a manly Religion not to please or gratifie our senses so as to fix there but to serve the reason and judgment of our Mind There are none of our Ceremonies which good Men and wise Men have not judged decent and serviceable to the great ends of Religion and none of them but derive themselves from a very ancient Family being us'd in most Ages and most of the Churches of God and have decency antiquity and usefulness to plead for them to help our Memories to excite our Affections to render our Services orderly and comely Were we indeed all Soul and such Seraphical Saints and grown Men as we make our selves we might then plead against such external helps but when we have Natures of weakness and passion these outward helps may be call'd very convenient if not generally necessary and as our Nature is mixt of Soul and Body so must always our Devotion be here and such God expects and is pleas'd with Our Church is neither defective in Power and Discipline had she her just dues and others would do well to joyn with her in her wishes that they might be restor'd which would turn all into Confusion nor yet tyrannical want of Authority breeding as many if not more Miseries than Tyranny or too much Power both of them severe Curses of a Nation But her Government like her Clime is so well temper'd together that the Members of this Christian Society may not be dissolute or rude with her nor her Rulers insolent being constituted in the Church with their different Names and Titles not for lustre and greatness and Secular purposes but for suppression of Vice the maintaining of Faith Peace Order and all Virtues the true Edification of Mens Souls And if those Vices are not reprov'd and chastized which fall under her Cognizance 't is not the fault of her Power but because by other ways ill restrain'd unnecessary Divisions from her hindring her Discipline upon Offenders and so they hinder that Edification which thy contend for This Government is not Modern Particular or purely Humane but Apostolical Primitive and Universal to time as well as place till some private Persons for Number Learning or Piety not to be equall'd to the good Men of old who defended it and obey'd it and suffer'd for it out of some mistakes of Humane frailty and passion or born down with the iniquities of the times began to change it and declaim against it though so very fit and proper to promote Christianity in the World This is a general account of that Edification that is to be had in that Church in which we live a more particular one would be too long for this Discourse but thus much must be said that examine all her particular Parts and Offices you will find none of them light or superstitious novel or too numerous ill dispos'd or uncouth improper or burthensome no just cause for any to revolt from her Communion but considering the present circumstances of Christianity and Men the best constituted Church in the World If therefore Edification be going on to Perfection Heb. 6. 1. 2 Pet. 3. 18. Rom. 15. 2. 1 Cor. 14. 3. or growing in Grace if it is doing good to the Souls of
have brought your self to much liberty I doubt not you will find that you are in a wrong way and therefore resolve to alter it and come into the way of the Church Where if you do not meet presently with such advantages for your Spiritual growth as you are told you may receive you have reason to conclude as the forenamed Mr. Hildersham doth to those that said they could not find such Lights such Power such Comfort in the Word as was spoken of First either you have not sought it aright not with earnestness or not with a good Heart or Secundly if you have and do not find it at first yet you shall hereafter if you seek it here with an honest heart VIII And the preaching of Gods holy Word among us would be of greater efficacy upon your Hearts if when you come to partake of it you would remember and observe some Rules delivered by the same Author in another place Lecture XXVI about the Publick Worship of God which now alas are generally neglected and therefore had need to be pressed for the disposing all Mens Hearts to profit by their attendance on it 1. One is that at your coming into the Congregation and during the whole time of your abode there you would behave your selves reverently For we may not come into the place of Gods Worship as we would into a dancing-School or Play-House laughing or toying c. neither may we go out of it as we would out of such a one but in our very coming in and going out and whole outward carriage there we ought to give some signification of the reverence that we bear to this Place and that we do indeed account it the House of God Which serious temper of Mind and awful sense of Gods Presence possessing the Mind would no doubt be an excellent preparation to receive benefit by the whole Service of God as well as by the Sermon For which end 2. Another Rule is that we must all come to the beginning of Gods publick worship and carry till all be done Yea it is the Duty of Gods People saith he to be in Gods House before the beginning For it becomes them to wait for the Minister of God and not to let him wait for them The Reasons he gives for this are two First there is Nothing done in our Assemblies but all may receive profit by it For example by the confession of Sins and Absolution I may add and all other Prayers used in the Congregation a man may receive more profit and comfort than by any other Which is the reason why the Apostles even after Christs Ascention when the typical Honour of the Temple was abolished c. were so delighted to go to the Temple to pray at the times of publick Prayer 1. Act. 3. c. And so he goes on to shew how by hearing the Word read all may profit and by hearing it preached even by the meanest Minister of Christ if the fault be not in themselves How the singing of Psalms also furthers the fruit of the Word in the Hearts of Believers and much more benefit may the faithful receive by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Nay by being present at the Administration of Baptisme all may receive profit being put in mind there-by of the Covenant God made with them in Baptism c. Lastly by the blessing pronounced by Gods Minister all may receive good and therefore none ought to absent himself from any part of the publick Service of God For which his second Reason is very remarkable that though we could receive no profit by the Exercises used in our Assemblies yet we must be present at them all to do our homage unto God and shew the reverent respect we have to his Ordinances For there is nothing done in Gods publick Worship among us observe this but it is done by the Instruction and Ordinance and Commandment of the Lord. As he shews particularly that it is his ordinance there should be all sorts and kinds of Prayers used yea this is the chief duty to be performed in our assemblies 1 K. 11. 1 2. that in our publick assemblies the Word of God should be read as well as preached the Holy Communion administred c. that is all things should be done as they are now in our Common-Prayer to which it is plain he hath respect And this he repeats again Lecture XXVIII If thou wast sure thou couldst not profit yet must thou come to do thy Homage to God and to shew thy reverence to his Ordinance 3. Another of his general Rules is that when we are present we ought to joyn with the Congregation in all the parts of Gods Worship and do as the Congregation doth For it makes much for the come liness and reverence of Gods Worship that all things be done in good order without confusion And it is a principle part of this good order that should be in the Congregation when they all come together and go together pray together sing together kneel together in a word when every part of Gods Worship is to be performed by the Congregation as if the whole Congregation were but one Man And in several places he reproves with a great deal of Zeal mens great carelessness in this particularly their neglect of kneeling in the Prayers having observed that men who will kneel at their own private prayers can never be seen to kneel at the common and publick Prayer His last general Rule is that we ought to teach our Children and Servants to shew Reverence to the Sanctuary and publick Worship of God For God cannot indure profaneness and contempt of Religion no not in Children And it stands us all upon to use the utmost Authority we have to maintain the Reverence of Gods Sanctuary for the open contempt done by any may bring Gods curse on us all And certainly saith he among other causes of the Plauge and other Judgments of God upon the Land this is not the least that Gods publick Worship is performed among us with so little Reverence and Devotion as it is I am tempted to transcribe a great deal more of these Lectures because by them you may see that if I had moved all that hath been said about our Sermons I might according to the Judgment of this devout and learned man have maintain'd that there wants not sufficient means of profiting in our Congregations if there were none as long as the word of God is there read by which together with the other holy duties all may receive the greatest profit and comfort if they please For it is of far greater excellence authority and certainty than the Sermons of any Preacher in the World First because it comes more immediately from God and though it be translated by men yet is there in it far less mixture of humane Ignorance and Infirmity than in Sermons While the Word is read we are sure we hear God speaking to us and that it is the
Revelation insomuch as when the truth which is but One shall appear to the simple multitude no less variable than contrary to it self the Faith of Men will soon after dye away by degrees and all Religion be held inscorn and contempt Fourthly If several contrary Parties be established by way of sufferance no progress is likely to be made towards the perfecting of Religion For the suffering of divers Errors is not the way to the reforming of them One Principle only can be true and the blending of such as are contrary with it createth the greatest of Impurities a mixture of that which is profane with that which is sacred Fifthly Many Dissenters are not likely to erect a Model by which Christianity may be improved amongst us because they lay aside Rules of discretion and rely not on God's assistance in the use of good means but depend wholly upon immediate illumination without the aids of Prudence And some of the more sober amongst them have inclined too much towards this extream In Reformation said one * * * Mr. S. Sympson in A. 1643. Reform Preservat p. 126 27. in his Sermon before the Commons do not make reason your Rule nor Line you go by It is the line of all the Papists The second Covenant doth forbid not only Reason but all Divine Reason that is not contain'd by Institution in the Worship of God God's Worship hath no ground in any reason but God's Will Sixthly There are already provided in this Church more probable means for the promoting of pure Religion than those which have been proposed by all or any of the Dissenting Parties It is true each Church is capable of improvement by the change of obsolete Words Phrases and Customs by the addition of Forms upon new Occasions by adjusting discreetly some Circumstantials of External Order But to change the Present Model for any other that has yet been offered to publick consideration is to make a very injudicious bargain There are in it all the necessaries to Faith and Godliness there is preserved Primitive Discipline Decency and Order And under the means of it there are great numbers grown up into such an improvement of Judicious Knowledge and useful prudent serious Piety that it requireth a Laborious Scrutiny to find Parallels to them in any Nations under the Heavens I do not take pleasure in distastful Comparisons Yet I ought not sure to pass by with unthankful negligence that excellent Spirit which God hath raised up among the Writers and Preachers of this Church their labours being so instrumental towards the right information of the Judgment and the amendment of the Lives of unprejudic'd Hearers It must be confessed that there is some trifling on all sides And it will be so whilst Men are Men. But there is now blessed be God as little of it in the Church of England as in any Age. And the very few who do it appear plainly to be what they are Phantasticks and Actors rather than Preachers But amongst the Parties the folly and weakness puts on a more venerable pretence and they give vent to it with studied shews of mighty seriousness and deliver it solemnly as the immediate dictate of God's Holy Spirit And I cannot but call to mind one Minister in this Church who would for instance sake have deliberately used these words of Mr. Rutherford in a solemn audience * * * Ruth on Dan. 6. 26. p. 8. A. 1643. bef the Commons and after this manner God permits Sins and such solemn Sins that there may be room in the Play for pardoning Grace It seemeth also not unfit for me to take notice that the Changes formerly made in Church-matters in England by Dissenters were not so conducive in their nature to the edifying of the Body of Christ as the things illegally removed The Doctrine of God's Secret decrees taught in their Catechisms was a stronger and more improper kind of meat than that with which the Church of England had fed her Children Ordination by a Bishop accompany'd with Presbyters was more certain and satisfactory than that by Presbyters without a Bishop There was not that sobriety in many of the present and unstudied Effusions which appeared in every of those publick Forms which were considered and fixed And it sounded more decently for example sake to pray in the Churches words and say from Fornication Good Lord deliver us than to use those of an eminent Dissenter * * * Prayers at the end of Farewell Sermons Mr U's Prayer bef Serm. p. 31. Lord un-lust us Nor did the long continued Prayers help Men so much against Distraction as those shorter ones with breaks and Pauses in the Liturgy and the great and continued length of them introduced by consent sitting at Prayer Neither did it tend less to edification to repeat the Creed standing than to leave it quite out of the Directory for publick Worship Neither was it an advantage to Christian Piety to change the gesture of kneeling in the Eucharist when the Sacred Elements were given together with Prayer for that less reverend one of sitting Of sitting especially with the Haâ—t on as the most uncomely practice of some was the People being taught to cover the Head * * * Edward's Gangrena part 1 Error 112. p. 25. whilst the Minister was to remain bare amongst them Nor was the civil Pledge of the Ring in Marriage bettered by the invention of some Pastors who as is storied of them took a Ring * * * See Edw. Grangr 2 part p. 13. of some Women-converts upon their admittance into their Church Neither was the Alteration of the Form of giving the Holy Elements an amendment For the Minister was directed to the use of these words * * * Directory for publick Worship p. 27. Tak ye eat ye this is the Body of Christ which is broken for you This Cup is the New Testament in the blood of Christ which is shed for the Remission of the Sins of many The words denoting Christ's present Crucifix and either actually or in the future certainty of it give countenance to the Romish Sacrifice of the Mass though I verily believe they were not so intended Nor did the forbidding the Observation of Christ's Nativity and other Holy-days add one Hairs bredth to the Piety of the Nation but on the other hand it took away at least from the common People one ready means of fixing in their Memories the most useful History of the Christian Religion It is easy enough even for Men who are Dwarfs in the Politicks in such sort to alter a constitution as to make it more pleasing for a time to themselves during their Passion and the novelty of the Model in their Fancy not yet disturbed by some unforeseen Mischief or inconveniencie but 't is extream difficult upon the whole matter to make a true and lasting Improvement there being so many parts in the frame to be mutually fitted and such
that since themselves were desired by them to undertake for this Child they as such Sureties are particularly concerned to mind the Parents of their Duty and if need be to rebuke them sharply for neglecting it since they did in effect and to all purpose of Obligation undertake for the performance of it when the Sureties undertook for the Child Moreover when the Child is grown to years of Knowledge and come abroad into the World he is liable to the Charitable Admonitions of his Sureties as well as of his Parents in case he does amiss and their Reproofs are more likely to take place than those of most other Persons Now though all Christians as Members of one Body are to take care of and to watch over one another yet some are more Particularly Obliged and have greater Advantages to do those Works of Spiritual Charity than others And I appeal to all considering Men if Sureties at Baptism may not with great Authority and with likelyhood of good effect Reprove both those Negligent Parents and Vnruly Children for whom they have undertaken to the Church The Parents for not minding to Educate their Children in the knowledge and keeping of the Baptismal Vow or the Children for not hearkening to good Admonition And in this Age when the Duty of Christian Reproof is so generally omitted it were well if the defect were this way a little supplied But it is by no means desireable that the opportunity thereof and the obligation thereunto should be taken away I know some will be apt to say that this is but rarely Practised But that is no sufficient Answer to what I have said For when we use to judge of the goodness of a Rule or Custom by the good that comes of observing it we must look where 't is kept though it be kept but by few and not where 't is broken And if the Dissenters have nothing to say against the use of Sureties but that the end of this Appointment is seldom regarded themselves may help to remove this Objection by returning to the Church and encreasing the number of those that do pursue the End of it And thus doing they shall have the benefit of this Order of the Church and the Church the benefit of their good Examples As for the use of the Interrogatories put to the Sureties and their Answers they are a Solemn Declaration of what Baptism doth oblige all Baptiz'd Persons to and that Infants do stand ingaged to perform the Vow of Baptism when they shall come to years of knowledge This is the known meaning of the Contract nor did I ever hear of any that otherwise understood it and therefore I see not why it should be said to be liable to misunderstanding After all there is one General Objection yet remaining which still prevails with some Persons and that is That some of our Prayers are to be found in the Mass-Book and the Breviary and the Offices of the Church of Rome This Objection hath made a great noise but I appeal to Understanding Men if there be any sense in it No Man will say that 't is enough to make any Prayer or Form of Devotion or Instruction unlawful to be used that the same is to be found in the Mass-Book c. For then the Lords Prayer the Psalms and a great part of the Scriptures besides and the Creeds must never be used by us And therefore whether any part of the Roman Service is to be used by us or not must be judged of by some other Rule that is by the Word of God So that 't is a vain Exception against any part of our Liturgie to say it was taken out of the Mass-Book unless it could be shewn withal that it is some part of the Romish Superstition I know it has been said that the Scriptures being of necessary use are to be retained by us though the Church of Rome retains them but that there is not the same Reason for Forms which are not necessary but in those we ought to go as far from that Church as ever we can But what reason is there for this For the Danger that may happen to us in coming too near them lies in things wherein they do ill not in which they do well And as for the Papists themselves we do not in the least countenance them wherein they are wrong by agreeing with them wherein they are right And as for the Things themselves they are not the worse for being used by them We should allow the Papists a greater Power to do mischief than they have if their using of some good things should render all use of them hurtful to us The Case in short is this When our Reformers were intent upon the Reformation of the Liturgie they designed to Purge it of all those corrupt Additions which the usurpt Authority of the Church of Rome had long since brought into it and to retain nothing but what was agreeable to the Holy Scriptures and to the Practice of the purer Ages of the Church And in this they did like Wise Men because thus it would be evident to all the World that they Reformed upon just necessary Reasons and not meerly out of a desire of Change and Innovation since they Purged the Forms of Divine Service from nothing but Innovations and Corruptions and an unprofitable croud of Ceremonies No Man can shew a good Reason why those Passages in the Common-Prayer-Book which are to be found in the Mass-Book but which were used also by the Church before Romanism had Corrupted it are not as much to be Valued because they were once used by good Christians as to be run down because they have been since used by Superstitious and Idolatrous Men. But to conclude this Matter If any Man would set himself to expose the Mass-Book he would I suppose lay hold upon nothing but the Corruptions that are in it and things that are obnoxious to just reproof not on things that are justifiable and may easily be defended And the reason of this is plain because the Mass-Book is to blame for those parts of it only but not for these Now for such Passages as the Mass-Book it self is not to be blamed for neither is our Liturgie to be blamed if we will speak justly of things and without Prejudice and Passion I have now considered all those Exceptions against the Solemn Service of God by our Liturgie which the Dissenters are thought to insist most upon Not but that some other Exceptions have been made by the Ministers of that persuasion But this I hope was without design to prejudice the People against our Communion but rather to gain some alterations which in their Judgment would have been advantageous to the Book of Common-Prayer and given it a greater perfection whether they were right in this or not I will not now dispute being very desirous as I pray God we may all be to avoid Controversies in this Matter as much as may be Nay
I believe those Prejudices of the Lay-Dissenters against the common-Common-Prayer which I have endeavoured to remove have wrought in them a greater a version to it than the best Divines of that way intended I should be very sorry to find my self mistaken in this And this consideration was some encouragement to me to give a true account of those things they seemed to dislike most of all Which I have endeavoured upon the plain grounds of Reason and Scripture almost wholly avoiding appeals to other Church Antiquity not but that great regard is to be had of it and that we can defend our selves by it but because they are very few in Comparison who are qualified to Examine this kind of Argument And the like I say of the Concurrence of other Reformed Churches with us in those things that are disliked As for the Sign of the Cross in Baptism it is pretended that this is a part of Worship or a Sacrament of Mans making The contrary to which has been so plainly shewn in late Discourses that unless I am called to give an account of it I cannot think fit to trouble you with this Dispute But I heartily desire our Brethren to consider at length that though the use of this Ceremony were not so easie to be defended as I think it is yet that it is no Condition of Communion because the People are not required to Sign with the Sign of the Cross but the Minister only As for Kneeling at the Communion of the Holy Table that is indeed every Communicants Act but of this you may expect a Discourse from another Hand which I hope will give satisfaction to all Sober Persons that are yet unsatisfied about it And now I intreat all those of the Dissenting Party into whose hands these Papers shall fall that they would seriously consider whether it be fit to venture the Guilt of Schism and the sad Consequences of it likely to come to pass upon such grounds as these Let us at length consult for the Honour of this Age with Posterity who will stand amazed to find a Separation of Protestants from this Church carried on so long upon so little occasion given and such weak Objections so strongly insisted upon as to build an opposite Communion upon them Let us Consult the Honour and the Safety of the Reformation and no longer suffer it to be exposed to scorn and dnager to be Laught at and Disgraced by the Papists our dangerous Enemies always but never more dangerous than now If the Dissenters are not yet convinced that the wide breach they have made in the Communion of Protestants will certainly let in Popery if it be not prevented by a timely closing with the Church of England Nothing remains but to wait till they are convinced by the last Extremity I can take no comfort in being assured that at last they will believe it when alas it will be to no purpose to believe it I beseech them to consider whether we are likely to be united in any other Communion but that of the Church of England as it is by Law Established and whether so little account ought to be made of Law and Authority as to say that our Governours may as well come down to them by forbearing to require what they dislike as they come up to the Law by doing what it requires Will our case bear this wantonness Will such Expressions consist with our Duty I beseech them by what is most dear to them by the Honour of God and the Love of Christ and the Care of their own Souls and the Charity they have for the Souls of other Men that they will take pains with themselves to lay aside Prejudice and Anger and all Passions that obstruct a clear Judgment of things that have been disputed amongst us and that they would consider impartially what we have said as in the sight of God who knoweth the Hearts of Men. Can they propound to themselves more beneficial Designs than to check the Prophaneness and Atheism which in this last Age hath been so much complained of than to restore in some measure the Ancient Discipline of the Church for the excluding of vicious Men from the Communion of the Faithful than to transmit the Profession of the true Religion Establisht among us down to their Posterity The most effectual means by which they can contribute to all those good Ends is to return heartily and unanimously to the Communion of the Church of England all the true Sons whereof are ready to receive them with open Arms with joy and thankfulness to God and to them for the good they will do us and themselves by it But as for them that for Worldly and Corrupt Interests encourage and support the present Separation from this Church I cannot expostulate with them in this manner since such Men have not the fear of God before them and 't is impossible they should be touched with tenderness for the Concerns of Religion while they continue as they are All I shall say to them is That when that great day of Judgment comes which they of all Men have most reason to be afraid of then all the dismal Consequences of this Schism which are likely to happen will be fully required at their hands to be sure whilst those that in meer Ignorance and Mistake have contributed to them shall have an easier Account to give especially if they have taken pains to inform themselves better What good Effect our Applications to Men will have we cannot say but if it shall appear that they are not yet prepared for Instruction we have the more reason to turn our selves to God by earnest Prayer that he would please to open the Understandings of the simple and to detect the ill Designs of dishonest Men and to enable us to bring forth more and better Fruits of Repentance that whatever happens to this Church it may not be forsaken of his Favour and Protection Amen FINIS THE RESOLUTION OF THIS CASE OF CONSCIENCE Whether the Church of England's Symbolizing so far as it doth with the Church of Rome makes it Unlawful to hold Communion with the Church of England The Second EDITION LONDON Printed for Fincham Gardiner at the White-Horse in Ludgate-street 1683. The Case Whether the Church of Englands Symbolizing so far as it doth with the Church of Rome makes Communion therewith Vnlawful IN speaking to this Case we will First Premise that there is a wide and vast distance betwixt the Church of England and that of Rome Secondly Shew that a Churches Symbolizing or agreeing in some things with the Church of Rome is no Warrant for Separation from the Church so agreeing Thirdly Shew that the Agreement that is between the Church of England and the Church of Rome is in no wise such as will make Communion with the Church of England Unlawful First We think it necessary to Premise that there is a wide and vast distance betwixt the Church of England and that